The Rock: Vulnerabilities, Being a Girl Dad, Future of XFL & How Wrestling Saved My Life

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find Taking a trip down memory lane to what it was like growing up as an only child and having the dreams to play in the NFL one day, The Rock shares with Ryan how he never imagined being where he is today and frankly never wanted this life either, he just had other goals that led him to where he is now. Fitness and being in the gym is an obvious part of The Rock's life, but the motivation is far beyond the physical aspects it provides as he opens up that its symbolic to his relationship with his dad and their time they had when it was just the two of them. After heartache and bouts of depression in his younger years and missing out on playing professional football, The Rock shares how getting in the family business of Wrestling saved his life, and years later realized how it saved four generations of the Johnson family. Looking back, The Rock says not making the NFL was the best thing to happen to him and led him on a journey that no one could ever script. Dealing with divorce, loss, heartache, tough times never fell short on him and he still lives with a survival mentality everyday never taking for granted his success and looking to his daughters as his source of pride and happiness. The Rock shares how his upbringing and determination to never be broke and always have more than $7 Bucks has fueled his success over the years. Never straying far away from his first love of football, The Rock talks about how ownership of the XFL gave him the opportunity to create opportunities for young men who were just like him shares his first conversation with Roger Goodell and how the league took off in it's first season! From a personal stance, Fred takes the opportunity to express his gratitude to The Rock for his commitment to helping others and for saving his son's football dreams. As someone who is a Jack of All Trades, Channing asks The Rock what does he believe he’s the best at? Let's just say the answer has Channing doing his own dance in his seat!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Channing Crowder?

  Key words or secret words?

• 0:32Ryan Clark?

  Huh?

• 0:32Channing Crowder?

  We don't even have like key words around the kids. We just say, "Did you wash?" She's like, "Yeah, I washed." And I say...

• 0:40Ryan Clark?

  Oh, that means y'all gonna do something?

• 0:41Channing Crowder?

  Yeah. Isn't that smooth? Instead of trying to run around the bush and what you doing? "Hey, you look good." No, "You washed?" "Okay, I'm gonna go wash." You don't like that?

• 0:52Ryan Clark?

  I mean, I think because I'm 43, it's obvious what you guys are talking about. Maybe it's not clear to your three-year-old or two-year-old.

• 0:59Channing Crowder?

  That's what I'm saying.

• 1:00Ryan Clark?

  And maybe Chaz doesn't get it?

• 1:01Channing Crowder?

  Isn't that clever?

• 1:03Ryan Clark?

  I'm sure Chan gets it.

• 1:04Channing Crowder?

  Nah, he doesn't. Our kids are naive. He's 11, but he's naive.

• 1:08Ryan Clark?

  Oh, there it is.

• 1:09Speaker 04

  All right, here we go.

• 1:11Channing Crowder?

  Good, that's gracious.

• 1:12Ryan Clark?

  I told you that joke was big.

• 1:16Channing Crowder?

  Good to see you, man. You're so good, man. You see what I'm saying?

• 1:19Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chan, y'all built just alike.

• 1:20Channing Crowder?

  We are.

• 1:21Speaker 04

  Hey, looking in the mirror.

• 1:22Ryan Clark?

  Yo, just alike.

• 1:23Speaker 04

  What's up, Brian?

• 1:24Fred Taylor?

  What's up, man?

• 1:25Speaker 04

  I'm a nice dude. Don't get intimidated, man. I'm trying not to. Okay. All right, here we go.

• 1:30Ryan Clark?

  Yo, real, my man.

• 1:31Speaker 04

  It's all going downhill now.

• 1:32Ryan Clark?

  The big seat.

• 1:33Speaker 04

  Hey, everybody.

• 1:35Channing Crowder?

  You left the Terra Mana home, man? I thought we were gonna have a birthday shot.

• 1:38Speaker 04

  It's here. It's here. Thank you very much.

• 1:40Channing Crowder?

  Happy belated.

• 1:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, thank you.

• 1:41Ryan Clark?

  I heard you had a special message in your gym with the term of endearment that the members of your staff like to call you. What was it again?

• 1:51Channing Crowder?

  I believe it was fuckface.

• 1:52Speaker 04

  Yes, yes. A strong, resounding, happy birthday fuckface was waiting for me in the gym. But here's what's cool. First of all, it was a great surprise. I walk in and I look and I'm like, "Oh, look at this." And I realized I got about five people in my life who would do that. So there's five people in my life right now who would call me fuckface. And I was like, "Mom, I can't believe..." No, motherfucker, no, no, no, no, no. Well, that was fun, though. It was cool. It was cool.

• 2:49Ryan Clark?

  Man, well, welcome to The Pivot.

• 2:51Speaker 04

  Thank you, man.

• 2:51Ryan Clark?

  Chan, Freddie T., I'm RC. This is truly, for us, an honor, just having an opportunity to follow who you are as a man and who you've become as an entertainer, but the father and all of the things that you've done that I don't think people get an opportunity to praise you for or hear from you about. So just thank you for continuing to show us daily that what you achieve doesn't have to change what your foundational premises and basis of life are.

• 3:22Speaker 04

  Man, well, thank you for that, RC. I appreciate it. Good to see you, Fred. Good to see you, Channing. And, you know, I've been following you guys for a long time. You guys do a great job. I love the setup. I love the show. I love how you guys interact, not only with each other, but also with the guests and what drew me probably almost two years ago. And I think I reached out to you. It might have been Fred where I hit him up on the side like, "Man, you guys are doing a great job. I might have started following you guys." Probably leaving comments, I think, too, as well. But you guys do such a great job of, first of all, making all the guests feel comfortable out of the gate because you've all been there. You know what the grind is like, what the hard work is like, what the ups of success

• 4:04Speaker 04

  in the game of football that we all love, what that brings, but you also know the pain of what happens as it starts to go down, or failures start to come your way again in a game that we all love. Because I always feel like the game of football that we love, the hard work, the discipline and things like that, it transcends just the game. It's the stuff that's applicable to life. So everybody you guys bring on, from Shaq to Kevin, everybody, I always love all these. And again, you make everybody feel comfortable because you've been there.

• 4:37Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 4:38Speaker 04

  And you guys know this, right? Being in the public eyes, a lot of times you could sit down with the media and wondering where they're going, what kind of agenda they have. You're still trying to be a professional and, you know, give a great interview, but it's different than this.

• 4:51Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate that, man. Well, this show is presented by Old Spice, and they did it especially for you, because the whole time coming up here, we were talking about self-confidence. And he was saying, he's excited that there's finally another 10 on the set with him. He said, so far, the, he said, the only, the only people that he felt a kinship with aesthetically.

• 5:12Channing Crowder?

  We walked in somewhere together. You and A-Rod might compete with me.

• 5:17Speaker 04

  In what way compete?

• 5:19Channing Crowder?

  Like if the women have to choose?

• 5:21Speaker 04

  Yes. It's hard.

• 5:23Channing Crowder?

  I'm one, you're one B. It's gonna be tough.

• 5:25Speaker 04

  It's a hard choice.

• 5:27Ryan Clark?

  Well, Chan, I must admit though, bro, you have gone up five notches to me now that you got the new team. Self-confidence, and as Old Spice says, self-confidence, sky high. But since they sent us something with a little 24-hour moisture for you, I think you need to take care of these knuckles before we finish our conversation with The Rock. There you go, man. Get yourself together. They put my sweat in this. It's called sweating. This is my sweat.

• 5:54Speaker 04

  He's not short on comfort.

• 5:57Ryan Clark?

  But you know, in talking about the things that we do get to see from you, especially just an overwhelming just bit of positivity every day. And the things that you try to do, whether it's mental health and continuing to give people the motivation to be their best selves. And even watching The Young Rock, which is, look what you said, a love letter to wrestling. You could see some of the ways you moved around. You know, your father being kicked out when he was 13, you living in different states by the time you were 13. I think it was what like Hawaii, Nashville, Pennsylvania, all in one year. When you have that sort of upbringing and you as a family and a young man as yourself

• 6:38Ryan Clark?

  go through those sorts of adversities, how did you use those things to shape who you are now as a man?

• 6:45Speaker 04

  Well, I try to these days keep those times in the forefront of my mind. I try to keep them close. And you know, we've all been there. So we've all had our seven bucks moment. And when I was playing up in Calgary for the CFL, I was cut in October, sent home. And at that time, you know, I'd left University of Miami. The guys who I was playing with at that time, Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, they were lighting the world on fire. Their dreams were coming true. They were buying their moms' houses. And when I got cut from Canada that season, it was, that was when I had seven bucks in my pocket. So we've all had those moments in seven bucks, with seven bucks, having seven bucks. But what I found in, as I got a little luckier down the road of life and was able to achieve

• 7:30Speaker 04

  a thing or two, I started to apply gratitude. And I was always trying to apply gratitude anyway. You know, I've always been that way. I think at my core, just trying to find the good in something. Cause it's easy to get lost in the sludge of things, especially when things are down. So what I tried to do is try to keep all those times, the hard times, to keep them in the forefront of my mind. And then I also tried to realize. But this didn't happen right away because I'd gone through two, three bouts of depression over the course of years and during that time, like the football one for me was a big one. You know, you three, you guys lived my dream of making it to the league, playing professional football and achieving that pinnacle.

• 8:15Speaker 04

  So the biggest thing for me was trying to understand the reason why, and if it weren't this dream that I was so focused on and so determined to make and work my ass off. You know how it is like in high school, then you go to college and you're working hard and all your boys around you, some of them are going to the league every year. And it's like, all right, my time has come, my time is coming and it doesn't happen. And the tidal wave of disappointment out of that, that was a rough one for me. It wound up being, I always say me playing in the NFL wound up being the best thing that never happened to me because it really helped shape and inform who I am, as you were saying. So, so, you know, I could sit here today and tell you that how grateful I am that I

• 9:00Speaker 04

  didn't make it.

• 9:03Speaker 04

  And I could also tell you, and I'll share this with you as my boys, is that every draft, every year, I'll watch that draft because I remember it like it was yesterday, as you guys did, right? Where we're just sitting in the house waiting for the phone to ring. My phone didn't ring on that first day. On the second day it rang and I was like, this is it. I picked up that phone and I said hello and I hear, "Twee fi aye." And twee fi aye is my son, my own name from my grandmother who passed away. I was like, Grandma? She's like, "You get drafted to the NFL?" No, Grandma, no. Goodbye, I love you, boom. So, anyway, it shaped me and helped me to who I am.

• 9:43Fred Taylor?

  We have one other person here that has that similar story. Ryan was undrafted, but he's also the only one here that has a Super Bowl ring. So that's his way of kind of throwing it back in our face. And you're larger in life, man. And, you know, I'm pretty sure a lot of players, a lot of guys that. That even though it was your dream to be in the NFL and it didn't happen, but you've accomplished so much greatness that I'm pretty sure at this point in these other guys' lives, they wouldn't mind that trade off. Uh, but you spoke about the, uh, the bouts of depression. And I'm, I'm big on mental health. I was once to a guy who suffered injuries in my career. Didn't feel like I was able to achieve my maximum potential and I've been there.

• 10:25Fred Taylor?

  Now, I, I totally been there, uh, just tons and tons of question, one question, man upstairs, all that different stuff, my faith, like where are you gonna go? But your other bout was, I think you say you were 15 when your mother of the attempted suicide, your mother due to you guys being evicted up in Nashville. Um, tho- those two different moments in terms of shaping your life, right? Uh, and when they look at us, they see the outside, looking at you.

• 10:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:56Fred Taylor?

  It just seems like everything is just amazing. You're fine. The inside, how, how is everything now? And is being a, a, a girl dad, does that help you tap into your vulnerability to deal with your mental health?

• 11:10Speaker 04

  It, it, it does, yes. Um, well, thank you for asking that and I really appreciate you being open in this. And again, one of the reasons why I love and respect this show is you guys do go to those places and you are vulnerable and you are open and it's important to be that way. So the first time depression hit me, I was at the University of Miami. I, I came in, I was balling out, I was gonna be the only freshman to play. And at that time, we were national champions, defending national champions. I was playing behind Russell Maryland, I was number two. As a matter of fact, I'll tell you this story.

• 11:41Speaker 04

  My defensive line coach, Coach Bob Carmeloix, I had two coaches, Bob Carmeloix and Ed Ogeron. And from Louisiana.

• 11:50Fred Taylor?

  Yes, sir. True, right.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  Yeah. By the way, you know Patrick Riley?

• 11:53Ryan Clark?

  Yes, Pat Riley went to my high school.

• 11:55Speaker 04

  Oh, you did, right? Marrero, I think.

• 11:56Ryan Clark?

  Arsham Shaw.

• 11:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, that was my boy. We played together.

• 11:59Ryan Clark?

  Wow.

• 11:59Speaker 04

  Um, so he told me, he goes, hey, listen, he brought me in his office. He goes, you're gonna be the only freshman to play this year. Behind Russell Maryland. I was like, wow. We had some ballers at that time on that team. That was a crazy team. And he goes, I'll tell you what's gonna happen. I said, what's that, Coach? He goes, you're gonna be the only freshman to play this year. You're gonna give me two more years and then you're gonna fuck me in a supplemental draft. Is what he said. He said it jokingly. He's like, but I know what's gonna happen. Man, now I had played two years of organized football. And I'm down in Miami, best school in the country, national champions, and my coach is telling me that. So now automatically I'm thinking, this is it. This is my work. In two years, two and a half years, you start doing the math. I'm gonna buy my parents their first house, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

• 12:44Speaker 04

  I get injured. I was in a middle drill with Mario Cristobal, who's now the head coach down in Miami. Down into the ground, my whole shoulder came out and I had to have a complete reconstruction done. But that sent me in a tailspin. And that hit me. And so my first bout of depression was down there in Miami. You didn't wanna go to school. I was ready to leave. I left school. I didn't take any midterms. And I just left. But the interesting thing at that time is I just didn't know what it was. I didn't know what mental health was. I didn't know what depression was. I just knew I didn't wanna be there. Wasn't going to any of the team meetings, wasn't, you know, participating in anything. I wasn't working out. And you know, for us, just as athletes, just any kind of sweat getting it in. Yeah.

• 13:28Speaker 04

  Will help get that shit out of you. Right. I couldn't do it because of my shoulder. So at that time, that was a tough one for me. And again, I didn't know what it was. Years later, I went through it again when I got a divorce. Didn't know what it was. Yeah. Years later, around 2017 or so, went through a little bit. Really? But knew what it was at that time. And luckily, at that time, I had some friends who I could lean on. Say, hey, you know, I'm feeling a little wobbly now. I got a little struggle happening. I'm seeing a little gray and not the blue.

• 13:59Speaker 04

  But to bring it all back around to your great question is, yes, the saving grace for me has really been my daughters, the three of them, and being a girl dad. Right. That's been the saving grace. Cause you look at them and you realize, well, I mean, really, this is what it's all about. And you look at the alternative too. Well, how, how am I going to respond in this moment? Like, what's the best way that I could respond in this moment? That's going to show them, not now, they're too young, but down the line? How I can help them? And this is how I responded to this moment? And hopefully, this will help you guys too as well? So they've been the saving grace. Do you, you guys feel like that, right? With your kids as well?

• 14:37Fred Taylor?

  Yes. Yeah, my daughter, my, I was running fast. Running through Miami. My daughter slowed me down at 21. She, she made me a man, quick.

• 14:47Channing Crowder?

  And, and DJ, I don't call, your team calls you, that's why I picked it up.

• 14:53Channing Crowder?

  You brought up friends and you talking about your physical physique and you are a damn door. But as your friend, bro, you got a decision to make coming up here soon.

• 15:01Speaker 04

  Tell me.

• 15:02Channing Crowder?

  You can't keep that 50 year old face on that 25 year old body.

• 15:07Channing Crowder?

  You either got to upgrade the face or you got to show, I'm just, as your boy, man.

• 15:11Speaker 04

  You mean upgrade the face? What do you mean, upgrade the face?

• 15:15Channing Crowder?

  I don't know what they do, pull the shit back? Lift the shit down? I don't know what they do to me.

• 15:21Channing Crowder?

  But no man, but at your age, honestly, 51 years old? How in the hell do you keep a 25 year old body?

• 15:28Speaker 04

  I'd love to train. I've always been a weight room guy. I've loved that, but also it, training for me, it really truly is my anchor. I love to get up early in the morning, hopefully before the girls wake up, before the babies get up, before the sun comes up. And it helps me level out my day. I think about my day and then I go train, get that sweat in. No, I'd train alone. You know, you listen to what you want to listen to as loud as you want to listen to it. Uh, I could challenge myself because you know, it's that old adage that we all know. It's you versus you. And so training for me is my anchor and I love training. And also it's just become my way of challenging myself every day. But also, I'll take you back. My old man, we had, my dad was my hero growing up.

• 16:13Speaker 04

  And then as I got a little older and, and I became a teenager, we started to have a real complicated relationship. Cause you start to feel yourself as a man. And he feels himself as a man and a lot of testosterone and he grew up one way. He would, like you said, Ryan, he was kicked out at 13.

• 16:31Speaker 04

  Quick story, it was Christmas. Uh, my dad's dad had died, I think a year earlier. And there was a new boyfriend in the mix. He came over and they had their turkey and he peed on the turkey. The boyfriend did, he got drunk and peed on the turkey.

• 16:47Channing Crowder?

  What?

• 16:48Speaker 04

  My dad was thirteen, they got in a fight. My dad took a toy gun and he drew a line in the dirt and said, if you cross that, I'm gonna take this shovel. I'm gonna kill you. And then he was drunk, he crossed the line, my dad at thirteen grabbed the shovel, laid him out cold as a block of ice. Cops came, as he was out, the cops looked at my grandmother. And said, when he gets up.

• 17:15Speaker 04

  One or two things gonna happen, either he's gonna kill him or he's gonna kill him. One of them got to go. And my grandmother looked at my dad and said, you're out. At thirteen, so he was on his own, so his capacity for love. Was what it was, very limited. So my point is, is that was my dad as I started coming into my own as a teenager, that capacity of love, that limited capacity. And so we were like this for a very long time. But the thing that always kept us together was him saying, come to the gym with me.

• 17:51Channing Crowder?

  Got it.

• 17:52Speaker 04

  Come to the gym with me. Now even, this was at five, six, seven, eight, nine years old and he's like, you can't work out, sit your ass in the corner and just watch. But come to the gym with me. And so the gym was introduced in my life when I was a kid, a boy, and it always meant something to me, so.

• 18:08Channing Crowder?

  It's more inside of you than just getting big, like being in the gym means something more to you.

• 18:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, exactly, and it's my anchor, like I feel like I need that in my life. Cause my life is so crazy, as you guys know, life is loud and crazy. It's all this shit going on that we gotta, you know, you're getting pulled in a million different directions, we all wear a lot of hats. But for me, as wild as my life is, as all our lives are loud and crazy, uh, getting away for that hour and a half, two hours. Where I can unplug and no one else is around and I don't have to hear from anyone, I don't have to answer my phone. It's perfect.

• 18:43Ryan Clark?

  I mean, you're third generation wrestler.

• 18:45Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:46Ryan Clark?

  High chief wrestler, your father wrestler. You got an opportunity to induct both of them into the WWE Hall of Fame.

• 18:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:54Ryan Clark?

  Which you'll be in one day whenever you decide to officially say it's time for me to go in. Your daughter now fighting, oh, wrestling under the name Ava Rain.

• 19:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:03Ryan Clark?

  As well. You are a cut from Calgary. You have the doubts, you have the questions. And you get into wrestling, which was, I mean, now we can call it the family business.

• 19:16Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:16Ryan Clark?

  How influential was that in helping you find your way in, in a way, sort of saving your life?

• 19:24Speaker 04

  RC, I loved wrestling. And when I was growing up, I loved wrestling too. But wrestling, it was the family business. It's what we loved. But it was a different time back then, especially in the eighties as you're growing up. It was almost like the movie The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke.

• 19:39Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:40Speaker 04

  Like, that's the way those guys were. That's the way so many guys, like my dad, and had it not been for the blessing of God that I was able to have to take care of them, he would have been like that too, where they lived paycheck to paycheck. They were stars in their own right. So there's this term in the wrestling business called working the gimmick. And what that means is, growing up, and wrestling wasn't as global as it is today. The guys make millions of dollars, the guys and the girls, and it's great. It's a great business to be in. It's hard, but it's great. Well, back then, wrestling was, the guys all had to have a Cadillac or a Lincoln. You had to have the gold, the diamonds. And then afterwards, after the match, you'd go back home to either the trailer park or your apartment. So we were always working the gimmick.

• 20:25Speaker 04

  So as I was growing up, I loved wrestling, but I wanted to make money. And I wanted to make a lot of money to take care of my family. Like, I didn't want, we never lived in a house. So my goal was I want to buy my parents their first house. How can I do it? I started playing football. That's my ticket. So wrestling was always there in my heart, but I never looked at it like, oh, I could take care of my family for it. Because, and also too, my dad would say, you don't want to get in this business. Look at me, I don't have anything.

• 20:55Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 20:55Speaker 04

  So, once I got cut from football, got sent back home to Tampa, moved back in with my parents, had seven bucks in my pocket. There was something in my gut and then there was a little voice that we always got to listen to. And if we're lucky enough, if we're smart enough to listen to it, it could usually lead you down the right path of something good. So my gut was saying, business is calling, wrestling is calling. I shared with my dad and my mom, hey, this is, this is what I want to do. So here's what happened. I get a call from Wally Bueno, who at that time was the head coach of the Calgary St. Peters, who has since gone on to become commissioner of

• 21:37Speaker 04

  the CFL and GM is, is, he's an OG up there. He called to say, hey, even though we cut you, DJ would like to bring you back next season. And I think they had just won the great cup. So they were on top. And I said, I really appreciate it. Now, my dad doesn't know who I'm talking to, but it's one of those old phones on the wall. And I was like, yeah, thank you, coach. I appreciate it. I said, I gotta be honest with you. I'm gonna close this chapter in my life. I can't thank you enough for everything. You've been a wonderful mentor. I wish you the best of luck. Hang up the phone. My dad was like on his little rocker and he's looking at me. He said, who is that? I said, well, that was Wally Bueno, the coach from CFL. He goes, what'd he say? Told him. He goes, and you

• 22:21Speaker 04

  said? I said, I'm not doing it. He goes, he just offered you a chance, a job to make money at something that you love and you're not gonna do it? I said, I'm not gonna do it. He goes, well, what are you gonna do? By this time, my mom's walking in, she starts to feel the tension, right? She walks in and I was an only child. So it's just the three of us in this house, in this little apartment in Tampa. She walks in. My dad said, what are you gonna do? I said, this is it. I said, I'm gonna get in the business. He said, what business? I said, the family business. The wrestling business. We got into the biggest fight. He hated the idea. And ultimately, he came back around and said, you don't have anything. What do you think you have to offer the business? I mean, it

• 23:02Speaker 04

  got heated and we fought. Eventually, we got out of that argument. I convinced him. I said, listen, I need you to train me. And if it's not you, I'm gonna go to somebody else. But I would love for you to train me. So we got into this huge fight, tears, all that thing, all that stuff. And finally, he trained me. And the very first day of training, it's called a lockup. We lock up. I was in love. That was it. So in a way, wrestling did save my life. And in a way, thank you, God and universe. If you look back now, in a way, it helped shape, inform, and save my grandfather's

• 23:44Speaker 04

  life, coming out of Samoa, my dad's life, being kicked out at 13. And then my life, having seven bucks in my pocket. We didn't have anything at that time. And now, years later, I have the privilege and honor of watching my daughter, Simone, and...

• 24:06Speaker 00

  Flowing ad budget on metrics that look great, till the CFO sees them? That's bullspend, and marketers are calling it out, in. Dashboard, Confessions.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  I remember telling my boss, "It'll be good for the brand," when leads were slow. Yeah, it wasn't.

• 24:23Speaker 00

  Cut the bullspend. LinkedIn lets you target by company, job title, and more. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/campaign. Terms and conditions apply.

• 24:37Speaker 04

  I had her when I was young, in my twenties. And you know, as dudes, we're still trying to find ourselves in our twenties, in our thirties. If we're lucky, we reach our fourth level and we find ourselves a little bit, we get a little bit more wiser. So when I had Simone, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I was wrestling full-time. I started transitioning into movies full-time. I had so much shit going on, so I like to say, me and Simone grew up together. So we had a relationship where I was always gone, but we tried to keep it together. Now, years later, as she becomes a pro wrestler, it's actually brought us closer together. So in a way, it's helped save that relationship too. So in many ways, pro wrestling has been my family savior.

• 25:21Channing Crowder?

  And speaking of your father, he's black Nova Scotian.

• 25:25Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:26Channing Crowder?

  Correct. And you identify as black. I used to talk about it all the time. And I used to, Junior say, "God rest his soul," was a teammate of mine.

• 25:33Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, down in Miami.

• 25:34Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, down in Miami. And we used to mess around. It's probably not appropriate, but Junior was never appropriate. So I would always be like, "Bro, are you on, yeah, buddy, buddy." I'd be like, "Are you on, are you on our side? You a black dude? What are you?" And it was actually very smart, his response, he'd say, "That's, that's what y'all do on the mainland." He's like, "We're coconuts. Over there, we're all coconuts. Y'all want to put titles on people here? I'm a coconut." In his way, I got what he was saying.

• 26:00Speaker 04

  All the same.

• 26:01Channing Crowder?

  But, if I didn't know, I wouldn't think you were black. Just looking at you, you're Polynesian, I would say.

• 26:08Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 26:08Channing Crowder?

  Did you ever get discriminated against? Just growing up? Or is there any discrimination there? Because you are a black man, but I'm gonna say you could wiggle out of it if you want to.

• 26:19Channing Crowder?

  You got some wiggle room.

• 26:25Speaker 04

  I love you, dude.

• 26:28Speaker 04

  Who would you guys have on the show? And it was like, it might have been a running back or somebody just had just enormous legs, quads.

• 26:36Ryan Clark?

  Saquon, Saquon.

• 26:37Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 26:40Speaker 04

  You got some leg on you, like, kept going up, man, that shit was so funny.

• 26:43Ryan Clark?

  You also told Mike Tyson, you could see his little man. That was the most uncomfortable.

• 26:48Channing Crowder?

  Mike had on little shorts with no drawers.

• 26:53Channing Crowder?

  And the man got something, I just said it, I was like, Mike, put that shit away. Nobody wants to deal with that shit right now.

• 27:00Speaker 04

  What'd he say?

• 27:04Speaker 04

  Kick his leg out.

• 27:07Speaker 04

  All of them.

• 27:11Speaker 04

  All right. Yes, so discrimination, yes, growing up. So I did a lot of my growing up was in the South. Texas and Georgia and Tennessee and North Carolina and down in Florida. At that time, and I was a 70s baby, I was born in the 70s. And then, you know, got a lot of my growing up in in the 80s. But yeah, so in those areas, in the world of wrestling, again, it was different back then. So you're wrestling in these small towns and I'm going to school in these small towns, living in trailer parks in the deep South. And kids are looking at me like, what are you, are you?

• 27:52Speaker 04

  Mexican, black, something, you look different, you got an Afro. They see my parents, so yeah, that happened. Yeah, for sure.

• 28:01Ryan Clark?

  Troy Polamalu is one of my best friends.

• 28:03Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:03Ryan Clark?

  And I know you probably were on it, the Playboy All-American Team.

• 28:07Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:07Ryan Clark?

  Right, and how they would go take pictures where Brady James went to LSU. Ended up being a Dallas Cowboy. And Troy used to always tell me the story, he's like, man, the first person I met from LSU was Brady James. And he asked me, what is you? Right, because, just because when you do grow up in Louisiana, or you grow up down south, there aren't a lot of Polynesians. Like, they're just...

• 28:27Speaker 04

  You see white and black.

• 28:28Ryan Clark?

  You see white and you see black. And so, I know a lot of times, it wasn't so much even the discrimination, but actually the curiosity that leads to some unawareness of who people are and what people are. And I could just imagine, you yourself, like you said, people could see your parents.

• 28:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:46Ryan Clark?

  Right, you're in the down south, in the trailer park, you got an Afro, you know, and just trying to understand how to even deal, how to get into those conversations. And so, it's about finding out who you are and how other people relate to you as well.

• 28:59Speaker 04

  When I got down to Miami, and probably to your point, is a lot of our players, they all either came out of Texas, they came out of the south. And there was a great curiosity then too, like, hey, what are you? And they didn't, like, are you black or white? I said, well, I'm half-black and half-Simoan. And a few times, it was, well, are you black or are you white? Well, no, I hear you what you're saying.

• 29:20Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 29:20Speaker 04

  Let me, I'm gonna be clear, I am this and I am that. No, no, no, no, no, no, you either gotta be, you know, so it was really interesting, considering where everybody came from. Would always inform how they interpreted, you know, like how I look, so it was interesting.

• 29:35Fred Taylor?

  I was curious, when you were talking about the family business wrestling, you talked about getting in there and you wanted to go and make some money. Your first paycheck versus Simone's first paycheck, who made the most money?

• 29:51Speaker 04

  I would say her. My first paycheck, well, in wrestling, my first paycheck was forty bucks. And that's what our guarantee. Wait, wait, wait, wait.

• 30:01Ryan Clark?

  Forty dollars? To do what?

• 30:03Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, to wrestle. So this was before WWE. So as you're starting out, I, of course, wasn't ready for WWE. And so I started, I made my bones down, down in Tennessee. There's a wrestling company down there, it was called the USWA Famous. Everybody came through there, Jerry the King, Lawler, everybody who became somebody went through there. And that's where you, you made your bones and you cut your teeth. The guarantee, every night, was forty bucks. Wherever, didn't matter where you're at on the card. That was your guarantee. And how did you make additional money? Oh, additional money, we, we, the word gimmick again.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  You made additional money by, when there was the intermission, we'd go to what's called the gimmick table. And so we would have, we'd have our Polaroids. So if we were wrestling on the card, and say we already wrestled for the night. You get your forty bucks, that's guaranteed. We could stay till intermission, the four of us, as wrestlers, would go out to the gimmick table. We'd have our Polaroids, and anyone who wanted to take a Polaroid with you, you'd sign it, five bucks. Take it, five bucks, sign it, ten bucks. So that's how we made our additional money. So on a good night, I could make maybe eighty bucks.

• 31:16Ryan Clark?

  Well, you are way beyond making forty dollars a night to be anywhere. You probably don't get to sleep in your bed for that amount of money. But, you know, you, now in your acting career, we've seen you do everything, right? We've seen you be serious, we've seen you be a father, we've seen you, obviously, in, in action movies. But that was a lot like your wrestling career as well, right? You started as, I think it was Rocky Mavia, and then, you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin is big time then. And then you turned to The Rock, and at some point, you're like the face, and then you're like the heel. And you're in Nation of Domination, and you got like Mankind, It's Big Show. Like, you go through all of these different phases of being who you are that makes you into this superstar.

• 32:00Ryan Clark?

  And then you get an opportunity to host Saturday Night Live, which kinda seemed like, oh my goodness, this dude can do all of these other things. When you look at how your career started, all of the things that you had to go through and learn to get here, could you ever have imagined being where you are today?

• 32:19Speaker 04

  No. No, no, never. My goal.

• 32:24Speaker 04

  My goal wasn't to be here. In Hollywood. Making movies, hopefully with a little bit of longevity. That was never my goal. And completely honest with you guys, complete transparency, my goal was just to not be broke. And I used to tell myself this all the time, excuse me for cussing, but in the spirit of just being completely open, I used to tell myself specifically, I cannot be fucking broke. Like that to me was, and I think because I we struggled a lot growing up. And I saw how hard my dad was working his ass off. We traveled all around.

• 33:02Speaker 04

  We were able to pay rent, live a pretty good life.

• 33:06Speaker 04

  But I saw what the end of the road was. And that was being evicted and not having any money and him and my mom like scrapping in Tampa. He opened up a cleaning company and they were just like cleaning houses, cleaning anything they could. And so for me, it was, I cannot be broke. I don't want that for them and I don't want that for my family. So.

• 33:31Speaker 04

  And I think also not being drafted, not being picked up, never getting that call from the league. Put a chip on my shoulder, player 54. Like that's what it is. You guys know a lot of 54s, right? So I was that dude. So that the chip that that put on my shoulder. And the drive and the I am gonna scratch and claw and kick and bite and fight my way. To have more than seven bucks. It was never, I want to make millions. It was, I need more than seven bucks. So I think in a way.

• 34:05Speaker 04

  The, the, the idea of being here. It's a, it's a convergence of being, of being grateful where I'm at and being aware of my position in this business. But also, as we talked about earlier, keeping all that stuff in the forefront of my mind. And, because to me, I'm a couple of days away from being broke. Like, it's that, like, we're gonna get kicked out.

• 34:35Channing Crowder?

  You ain't a couple of days away from getting broke. Come on, now, Rock.

• 34:39Speaker 04

  But, it's that.

• 34:40Channing Crowder?

  The drive.

• 34:41Speaker 04

  It's that, I've never arrived.

• 34:43Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 34:43Speaker 04

  We've never arrived.

• 34:44Ryan Clark?

  Isn't one of your motivational sayings, though, like, something like, hey, we're getting evicted around the corner? Or something like that?

• 34:50Speaker 04

  Eviction is around the corner.

• 34:50Ryan Clark?

  Eviction is around the corner. And is that one of the ways, how does that continue to keep in the forefront of your mind? Like, you keep mentioning gratitude. As you continue to accomplish certain things, it's also important to remember what it could be like, and what it was like.

• 35:08Speaker 04

  Brother, all the time. So, there's the gratitude, then there's grit, and then I think, well, what's the alternative? So, and the alternative is seven bucks. The alternative is struggle. The alternative is not having options, not having a choice. So, I think about that all the time. And it continues to drive me. And by the way, when I say, I say that, I'll say that in our meetings, in a variety of the businesses, I'll say eviction's around the corner. And I get a lot of, and then, for people who really know me, who are comfortable, go, hey, listen, we love you, but it ain't around the corner. I say, I know, but we need to say it.

• 35:48Channing Crowder?

  Oh, Rock, they can Google you. They can Google networks. It's easy Google search.

• 35:52Ryan Clark?

  But, speaking of that, taking the money out of it.

• 35:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 35:56Ryan Clark?

  What are you the best at? Because I'm better than you at football.

• 36:00Channing Crowder?

  Obviously, I went to the league. You didn't go, I went, nah, nah.

• 36:05Ryan Clark?

  Hey, easy conclusion to draw.

• 36:07Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, it ain't hard. It is, like, I made millions off football, sorry.

• 36:11Ryan Clark?

  But, but you produce, you act, you've been called the best wrestler of all time. You made a lot of money acting, but you've never been called the best actor of all time. In your mind, like, what are you the best at?

• 36:24Speaker 04

  Horzado Hula.

• 36:27Channing Crowder?

  One more.

• 36:30Speaker 04

  Oh my.

• 36:31Channing Crowder?

  Now he rock. You a monster?

• 36:34Ryan Clark?

  Chang, don't start that.

• 36:35Channing Crowder?

  He brought it up.

• 36:37Ryan Clark?

  Bro.

• 36:37Channing Crowder?

  You can get down low.

• 36:38Speaker 04

  I like, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

• 36:41Channing Crowder?

  Everybody knew. It wasn't, it wasn't.

• 36:44Ryan Clark?

  I do like that he's more comfortable with you than Kevin was.

• 36:48Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, Kevin didn't like his conversation.

• 36:50Speaker 04

  No, he don't like that. He, yeah.

• 36:52Channing Crowder?

  He don't like talking about that.

• 36:53Speaker 04

  No, no, no. I tried to joke with him about that.

• 36:55Channing Crowder?

  That's it. You got like an approach. You know what I'm saying? You got like a game plan going in, because I know like my first position, second position, like it's a, I have like, it's a movie script written now.

• 37:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, you got a beginning, a middle, and a end.

• 37:07Channing Crowder?

  A climax. Yes, there we go. See, now we rolling.

• 37:12Speaker 04

  If you get it, get two.

• 37:13Channing Crowder?

  Just get two.

• 37:16Channing Crowder?

  Sequels, the sequels are important.

• 37:18Fred Taylor?

  But you, you don't have to worry about the sequel if you pour up a nice little Terra Mana Reposado and a Zoa Pineapple Passion.

• 37:26Speaker 04

  It all goes.

• 37:27Fred Taylor?

  The energy drink, like.

• 37:28Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 37:28Fred Taylor?

  You gonna be revved up. You gonna sweat a lot. That confidence and that, you gonna sweat head out.

• 37:34Speaker 04

  I mix them. I mix them.

• 37:35Channing Crowder?

  But, but, but, yeah, but really, like, I, I was, I was interested in that because from your, everybody loves you at every, at every level. Like, you are a known wrestler, you're actor, the, like, what you do. But in your mind, I don't know if there was something that steps out where I excel at this.

• 37:52Speaker 04

  I think I'm pretty good at a lot of things. Uh, in terms of being the best at something, besides egotistically horizontal hula,

• 38:03Speaker 04

  I'm pretty good at what I love to do. And those things that I love to do, I'm passionate about, I like to say, whatever that thing is, I run towards it. If I, if I get up in the morning and I think about it, and I go, yeah, so I'm gonna run towards that thing, then I, there's a shot that I could be pretty good at it. But in terms of the best, I'm the best at this and the best of that, I just think that, you know, everybody's good at, at football, or this, or wrestling and things like that, so.

• 38:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, I would say I'm pretty good at the stuff I love.

• 38:33Ryan Clark?

  But DJ, the thing is this, though. You're saying everybody is pretty good? That's not the way it works, right? You, whether you are pretty good, whether you are lucky, to reach the magnitudes you've reached, whether it was wrestling, because it's a ton of people who have been great wrestlers, who may have not been able to entertain the way you could, who couldn't get SmackDown to become a household word, and people forget where it came from, right? Like, you were able to do all of these different things, move into acting, into being in action films, be able to jump and be a leading man. There are so many different things you could do, and so that comes with a level of hard work.

• 39:16Ryan Clark?

  And when you started talking about being the best, I'm a huge Kobe fan, right? And I just, I love the way that he approached, like you said, the thing he loved.

• 39:25Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 39:25Ryan Clark?

  Right? He was gonna run to it. But he famously said he couldn't be a good friend, right? Because he said he was so focused on being the greatest or being the best he could possibly be at what he loved, that he didn't have time for those things. When we saw Kevin, we was like, hey, man, we gonna talk to Dwayne. Like, we gonna sit down with Dwayne. He's like, ask him this, but don't get him on this, because if you get him on that, then he's gonna go corporate on you, and you don't want him to go corporate. But it made me think, though, immediately when we said your name, you could see him open up. You could see him have the type of feeling of like, that's my dude. For you, how hard is it to maintain relationships and friendships and those things?

• 40:07Ryan Clark?

  And also work to achieve everything that you're doing daily?

• 40:11Speaker 04

  That's a great question. So for years, I was the shits of a friend. And I didn't have a lot of friends. I had boys. That's my boy, that's my boy. And sure, I'll be there for you, like, I think you'll be there for me. But there was a real myopic focus. And not in any way drawing a comparison to Kobe. I love Kobe and what he stood for and his work ethic. And I love sometimes, as hard as Kobe worked, as you guys know, I love that when you, when he spoke in this way, that I always felt was so simplified yet powerful, he would say something to the effect of, it's...

• 40:47Speaker 04

  You're a little better today than you were yesterday. Wake up tomorrow, let's be better tomorrow than you were today. Don't think about this as a loss, you're gonna learn. And then that level of hunger was just always inspiring when it comes to Kobe, because he's a guy who reached the top. But yet, I don't know if there's anyone who's reached that kind of hunger. Do you know what I mean? So, anyway, for many years, I was running my style, running my game, and I was like this. But years later, like with Kevin and like some of my other guys, who I've actually become friends with and become close with,

• 41:31Speaker 04

  you find that life is an endurance race. As we're younger, in our twenties, you're rolling hard. You think you got all the answers and everything is like this. And then you start to realize, well, life is an endurance race. It's an endurance test. And maybe we don't know everything we think we know.

• 41:52Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:53Speaker 04

  And maybe you could be a little bit more open to the shit you don't know. So I started to apply that in my life, like, hey, it's okay not to know everything. You don't have to be micromanaging everything and everybody. I'll step back and bring in people who are much smarter than I am, much better at football.

• 42:14Speaker 04

  Right, bring them in. But then also, you start to gravitate towards these people. Like a Kevin, who he's been through the grind. He understands what it's like to fail, to learn. And he's also ambitious and hungry. And then you also start to realize that having friends is so vitally important as you just get a little older, because you lean on each other, you can open up. It's like, man, if you're having a wobbly day, call me, I'm there. Like, that kind of stuff. I felt like in college and in twenties and when I was running in WWE, we were there for each other, but it's a different kind of, I think, love and security that you have as you get a little older. You know, and invite certain people in your life,

• 42:58Speaker 04

  especially in your circle who share similar qualities, you know, who've kind of been up and down like you as well.

• 43:06Fred Taylor?

  Is there any particular actors or performers that have influenced you the most or taught you something since you started?

• 43:16Speaker 00

  Are your ad campaigns lighting up the dashboard? But not the pipeline? That's bull spend. And marketers are calling it out in dashboard confessions.

• 43:25Speaker 01

  My boss asked for results, so I opened my dashboard for the only positive sounding metric I had: impressions.

• 43:32Speaker 00

  Cut the bull spend. See revenue, not just reach. LinkedIn delivers the highest return on ad spend of major ad networks. Advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 on your first campaign and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/campaign. Terms and conditions apply.

• 43:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, I really, when I first got into the business, I always looked at Will Smith as the, and at that time, that was the early 2000s, where he was the biggest star in the world. And he was producing, he was singing, he was integrating his music into his movies. So I always looked at Will at that time. It was like, Will at that time was the biggest star in the world. Johnny Depp, George Clooney, guys like that. And I remember thinking to myself, wow, I'd love to have Will's career. And I remember having a meeting, because we were at the same agency at that time, and I brought in everybody who I could, who wanted to, you know, participate in this meeting. And again, I was not at Will's level at that time.

• 44:31Speaker 04

  I was just starting out. Scorpion King, Tooth Fairy, movies like that.

• 44:35Channing Crowder?

  The one you love.

• 44:36Speaker 04

  I love you, the Tooth Fairy. My favorite role. I appreciate it, really.

• 44:41Channing Crowder?

  You too damn mean and black, Adam. You got an attitude problem, you nasty to the baby.

• 44:47Channing Crowder?

  I like the Tooth Fairy.

• 44:48Speaker 04

  You like Happy, DJ.

• 44:50Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, something happy.

• 44:51Speaker 04

  Doing good stuff. Oh, I love that, man. Tooth Fairy was a lot of fun, man. Thank you, I appreciate that.

• 44:58Channing Crowder?

  No, sir, I got you.

• 44:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, thank you. It's a confident man that could say, I love the Tooth Fairy. Exactly.

• 45:04Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, he actually said this before you came, too.

• 45:06Speaker 04

  Yeah?

• 45:06Channing Crowder?

  So this is not a lot. They don't know that feeling.

• 45:09Speaker 04

  Confidence.

• 45:09Channing Crowder?

  We'll talk, yeah.

• 45:10Speaker 04

  Swag, yes, yeah.

• 45:14Ryan Clark?

  But the thing is, we had the conversation before you got here DJ. He got his teeth fixed, right?

• 45:19Speaker 04

  Oh nice.

• 45:19Ryan Clark?

  Like, yeah, his, his wife.

• 45:21Speaker 04

  Amazing.

• 45:21Ryan Clark?

  His wife went out, worked on her own to pay for his new teeth with the, under the premise of his teeth were embarrassing the family. Right or wrong?

• 45:31Channing Crowder?

  I don't know if my wife said that exact word. I don't know if she presented it that way.

• 45:36Ryan Clark?

  She didn't present it that way?

• 45:37Channing Crowder?

  No, I think she said, "Hey, I want to do something nice for you."

• 45:40Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 45:40Channing Crowder?

  And 20 rounds.

• 45:41Speaker 04

  Not like you need it, however.

• 45:43Channing Crowder?

  No, no, no.

• 45:44Ryan Clark?

  Cuz, right, at the time, at the time, like, let's say we were all going out, right?

• 45:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 45:48Ryan Clark?

  And a girl was like, "RC, who you bringing with you?" I'd be like, "Well, I'm bringing Fred and DJ and Chan," you know, and you know, they'll ask you, they want to run, because they got girls, so they want to run down the list. So what about Fred? Oh, man, good-looking guy, man, real smooth, kind of laid-back. If he's quiet around you, don't really trip, you know, but your girls gonna like him. What about DJ? Oh, listen, this motherfucker, like, stay in the gym. I mean, just ripped up, you know what I mean, handsome guy, great smile, like, super entrepreneur, talented. What about Chan? He funny as hell. And like, that's where, that's where it would have been.

• 46:21Channing Crowder?

  Bad, bad rhythm.

• 46:22Ryan Clark?

  He was, he was legitimately a five and a half. And that's if you add in, DJ, you got to add in personality to that, though, before he got his teeth fixed.

• 46:31Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 46:32Ryan Clark?

  Since then, he's been unbearable, bro.

• 46:35Speaker 04

  With the teeth. So the teeth took it to another level.

• 46:38Fred Taylor?

  He think he's a 10. He's a strong 7.5.

• 46:43Channing Crowder?

  Without mindset, we don't feel jealousy like they do.

• 46:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 46:46Channing Crowder?

  So it's just, yeah, something in jealous people, but...

• 46:49Speaker 04

  You recognize it.

• 46:50Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, you recognize it. It's cute, you tickle their little chin, and you let them go and...

• 46:55Ryan Clark?

  But DJ, you know, confidence, you know, and speaking of that, starting the XFL, because I really wanted to get here, and you keep saying, you know, player 54.

• 47:05Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 47:06Ryan Clark?

  And having an opportunity to do that and give a lot of guys who have been in your position, right? Which is why the XFL was very vital to them to continue to be able to live out their dreams. What was it for you that made, having that opportunity?

• 47:25Ryan Clark?

  Such a, such a one that you've seen to take with such an appreciation, a gratefulness. And it's almost you giving back to those who have been in your shoes.

• 47:37Speaker 04

  That's just it. The XFL for us, for me, and I feel very confident I can speak for Danny, who is my longtime business partner, also co-owner of the XFL. And she was down with me in Miami too as well. She was on the crew team down there. That's how we met. So she was living the football dream with me, coming to every game. Like, we were focused. Like, that was the goal, was to make it in the NFL. So now, years later, life can come full circle. I got the call from her in 2000. She said, "Word on the street is the XFL is folding." She goes, "I want to buy it, and I'd love for you to partner with me on this." It was the fastest yes I had ever said.

• 48:19Speaker 04

  And by the way, I remember I was ready to, I wanted to get in contact with you because I remember when we did buy it, you were a little like, "I don't know if that was a good decision," right?

• 48:27Ryan Clark?

  Yes, because it's failed so many times. Like, what made you think you could do it?

• 48:32Speaker 04

  Absolutely. And I love that, by the way. And I didn't have a chance to get in contact with you then because I was, that's when I was like, oh, I think that's when I started watching the show.

• 48:42Speaker 04

  And rightfully so, and I understand that concern. It was an easy yes for me because it wasn't, "Man, this thing has failed twice already. Maybe it's got some stink on it. Maybe it's got some bad juju on it.

• 48:57Speaker 04

  Maybe spring football just doesn't work."

• 49:00Speaker 04

  But it was just the opportunity to create opportunities for dudes like me, who just didn't get drafted. And I felt like, and Danny felt like this too, if we can take our time, let's not try and put it on its feet too quick. Let's go to New York and sit with Roger Goodell and Troy Vincent, hat in hand respectfully. Here's what we'd like to do. And we did that, by the way. So we flew up to New York after we made the acquisition, sat with Roger and Troy and some of their other executives and said, here's what we'd like to do. There is no competition with the NFL. That's the gold standard. I said, but what we'd love to do is try and grow the game of football. Out of respect.

• 49:45Speaker 04

  Is there a way that we could find a partnership? And Roger looked right at me and said, yes. Looked right at all of us and said, yes. So that's the first step. And then the next part was, well, let's take our time. Let's do it right. Let's build the league. We're storytellers ultimately, and we love telling stories. It's what we do at Seven Bucks. So what, so the challenge is, no one knows these players. They're not big time stars like you guys. They weren't making millions of dollars like you guys.

• 50:15Speaker 04

  But they are living the dream. Right. And you know, we've, no, these are your boys too, right? Like, we have all known these players. But they are living the dream. They're trying to work hard. They're trying to put food on their table, take care of their families. Can we make it interesting? Can we apply innovation? What does innovative ruling look like? What are our partnerships look like? So we took our time, and this is why in 2020, we purchased it. And now we just came out this season. So it just came down. It was the easiest yes, but also.

• 50:46Speaker 04

  I wish I had the XFL coming out of Miami. And you know, that, it didn't happen for me. I had the CFL. It was either, and really, as you guys know, it's either the NFL. CFL, yeah, but they're always going to take care of their Canadian players, understandably so. But it's really like NFL or nothing. And so that's really what it came down to. So now, as I could sit here with you guys now, thank God, we had a great season. Ratings continue to climb. It's, it's building the league day by day. You know, by the time this comes out, probably have. Maybe fifty, sixty guys who are already going to camps, which is really amazing. So I, I gotta tell you guys, it's, even though it didn't happen for me,

• 51:30Speaker 04

  life worked out in the way that it was meant to work out and thankfully it did.

• 51:33Fred Taylor?

  Let me speak to that really quick, DJ. I, I got firsthand experience with it. You called it, a post you posted the other day, you called it the league of opportunity.

• 51:44Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 51:44Fred Taylor?

  And so many rights, not just for the players, but for the coaches as well. Former teammates Reggie Barlow, who was just awarded the coach of the year for the XFL. You know, giving those guys an opportunity to live their dreams in coaching with the possibility of going to the, what you just called the gold standard, the NFL. And even my son Kelvin, coming, I came out of Florida, drafted in 2016, sixth round by the Niners. Few years, COVID happened, out of football, but he was hungry. Dad, I gotta get back, I gotta get back. And XFL came, I knew a few people and made a few phone calls. They were like, we'll bring him in the camp, give him a shot, work him out. He made the Orlando team, Coach Buckley up there, Orlando T. Buck.

• 52:28Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 52:29Fred Taylor?

  But even other former players, Hines, Coach Woodson, you know, Coach Stoops. You know, a lot of people that we all have relationships with, but just those opportunities.

• 52:40Speaker 04

  Coach Phillips, Wade Phillips now?

• 52:42Fred Taylor?

  Exactly, to fulfill those dreams and give those players themselves an opportunity. So I'm always giving people their flowers on this show, but no bullshit, no sugar coating. I thank you personally, cause I got tired of my son texting me, dad, what am I gonna do? But no, thank you, man, for, just for everybody and inspiring the notion that there is an opportunity outside of NFL, but even to get back to that if it does happen, so.

• 53:10Speaker 04

  Oh, thank you for those words, man. I received them. Thank you so much for saying that. I appreciate it.

• 53:15Ryan Clark?

  You know, this is one of those, and Chan and I were laughing about it. When we saw Kev, he was with Don Cheadle. And we've been doing this, what, like a year and a half now? And we've just been excited. And so when you can say, like, you're gonna sit down, it starts off as the rock, then it's Dwayne Johnson. And then after we talk about it for like a month, it's DJ, right? And then you get real excited, he gonna let us call him DJ, you know? But to, but to get to a point, to, to sit across from you or sit with you, and you will allow the world to see the man. You know, I always think those are the important moments that we share, that we bleed, we we cry, um, we have to deal with adversity and we have to try to learn to love people

• 53:57Ryan Clark?

  the best we can. So, thank you so much for that. We always ask about what's the biggest pivot. And a lot of times, the biggest pivot in people's lives helps so many other people outside of themselves, once they are able to tell that story. So, for you, and this is how we're in the show, what has been your biggest pivot in life? Just that moment that you will always point to, whether at the time it was difficult to deal with, or if it was one of those positive moments that the reason Dwayne Johnson can sit here today is who he is because of that time.

• 54:30Speaker 04

  Hmm, wow, okay. Uh, well, first of all, thank you guys very much for having me on this show. I'm very happy for you guys. I'm proud of you. I love how to see the show grow and grow and grow, and I'd love seeing all the guests. And again, you immediately, you just make everybody comfortable because it's just, you guys, we're all just shooting the shit here. But you guys have been through it, though. That's the thing, too, right? So, you automatically put the athlete in a comfortable position, a comfortable place, or whoever you have on. Um, so, thank you for those words. And thank you, boys, for having me.

• 55:01Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you.

• 55:02Speaker 04

  Um, biggest pivot in life for me, well, there's two. First would be, when I got out of wrestling, I transitioned into Hollywood, and I wanted to have a career that was, hopefully, had some longevity to it. And I wanted to be good. Um, and I didn't want to be boxing into just action genre. I want to do everything. I was told at that time, all right, in order for this to happen, here's the biggest stars in the world, Will Smith, uh, George Clooney, Johnny Depp. You look nothing like them. Uh, you gotta stop talking about wrestling. Stop calling yourself The Rock. You're too big. Go on a diet. Get out of the gym. I

• 55:46Speaker 04

  mean, all this shit that, at that time, if you don't know any better, and you're and you're trying to stay focused on the North Star, buy into it. Because you're trusting the people who are around you. And and it's not indictment on them. They were just giving me advice of what they thought the best thing to do is, if you want to be a leading man. You can't look like this, you can't talk, not The Rock, it's not wrestling. You bought into it a little bit. I bought into it a little bit for a few years. Until finally, I said, I can't do this anymore. I gotta be me. I love wrestling. It's my life. It saved, wrestling was my family's savior. I want to talk about it. And if I want to go back, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna call myself The Rock.

• 56:29Speaker 04

  I'm gonna call myself the motherfucking Rock. You know? And I love the gym. I love training. It's my anchor. I love challenging myself. So I gotta be me. Fired everybody. I hired a brand new team. Said, here's what I believe is the North Star, and here's how I believe it's gonna get there. And if at least I fail, then I fail being myself. And so I realized throughout the years that really the most important thing, one of the most important things we could be in our lives is ourselves. And that's a hard, it's so easy to say, just be you, man, be you. But it's fucking hard, you know, because there's perception, there's reality.

• 57:12Speaker 04

  You want to look a certain way. You want to, you know, show your teeth. There's a lot of things.

• 57:19Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna show these bastards.

• 57:24Speaker 04

  So it was that and the other pivot, I would say, is... I grew up an only child. I was... I always felt like I had a hunger. I was never afraid to work, because my old man taught me that. Right? Gotta work, get your ass in the gym and work. So in my teenage years, twenties, Miami, wrestling, Rocky Ma Via, Nation of Domination, The Rock. I was, I'm gonna eat first. I think Kobe might have even said that, like, I eat first. And it was, that was my mentality. I'm gonna take care of my family, but I'm getting mine.

• 58:09Speaker 04

  And I'm gonna go after mine, and I'm not worried about anybody else. Years later, through the grace of God, a little bit more success. I got out of wrestling, started, I got into Hollywood. Things started to expand a little bit, and I was like, ah, you know what? The most important thing now is not, I gotta eat first, I gotta get mine, cuz I got mine. The most important thing now is just to take care of people. That's been the biggest pivot. I think that's really been the most impactful thing in my life is now, XFL. Take care of people, create these opportunities. Grow these other businesses, create these opportunities for people. Take care of people.

• 58:48Speaker 04

  So that, taking care of people, from this only child, you know, to this idea of taking care of people, that's been the biggest pivot.

• 58:58Ryan Clark?

  Man, that's, that's amazing. And speaking of that, we will be on site for the XFL Championship. We'll bring our subscribers, all the viewers, all the fans of the XFL, a show from Texas. We'll have different people, whether it's coaches, players. And so, thank you for providing that opportunity for those young players, those young coaches. And also giving us an opportunity to sit with you, get to know you a little bit better. And we're trying to do the exact same thing. We're trying to allow people the space to be themselves, to be accepted, without critique, without judgment, and, and learn that taking care of other people, once yourself,

• 59:38Ryan Clark?

  is in a place to be able to do it, is truly what benefits you more than the actual people you help, man. So we appreciate you.

• 59:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, I appreciate you guys. Thank you very much.

• 59:49Ryan Clark?

  A lot of fun. It was amazing.

• 59:52Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chad, hey Chad, can you see though, he don't even thank you on his level of a training? He does.

• 59:58Speaker 04

  Appreciate you.

• 59:59Ryan Clark?

  He does.

• 59:59Speaker 04

  Thank you, man. That's very exciting, man. Appreciate you.

• 1:00:01Ryan Clark?

  Chad, Chad, it's not even close. I'll hit you on the thread.

• 1:00:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, hit me on the thread.

• 1:00:06Ryan Clark?

  DJ, this is what you gotta do though. So we wanna do something for social media at some point. He has not worked out since he played. 12, 13 years. 13 years. Why?

• 1:00:15Channing Crowder?

  I asked you a question next.

• 1:00:17Fred Taylor?

  So you weren't really a weight room guy to begin with then, right? That's what, that's.

• 1:00:21Channing Crowder?

  I just played ball.

• 1:00:22Fred Taylor?

  Got you.

• 1:00:22Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I had no new tricks.

• 1:00:23Fred Taylor?

  Like Sat, by the way, Sat was the same way.

• 1:00:26Ryan Clark?

  We just want one session. You and Chan in the weight room. Chan, you gotta give it to us. I got it.

• 1:00:35Channing Crowder?

  Swag gonna get you.

• 1:00:36Fred Taylor?

  Over, under five minutes?

• 1:00:38Ryan Clark?

  He not gonna, Chan, he not gonna make it 45 minutes.

• 1:00:40Fred Taylor?

  Three?

• 1:00:40Channing Crowder?

  How many is to get you 40 minutes?

• 1:00:41Fred Taylor?

  They said three. Over and under five? He said under three.

• 1:00:45Channing Crowder?

  Warm ups and stuff. He's old, his elbows get tired.

• 1:00:50Channing Crowder?

  Everything hurts.

• 1:00:52Fred Taylor?

  So you're not trained at all? You're like?

• 1:00:53Channing Crowder?

  I don't do nothing, man.

• 1:00:54Ryan Clark?

  Chan, do you wanna, do you wanna be next to? We take the tip to go ahead. He's been hyped.

• 1:00:58Channing Crowder?

  I got it.

• 1:01:02Ryan Clark?

  Are we smiling when you guys?

• 1:01:03Channing Crowder?

  I'm smiling, I'm smiling.

• 1:01:05Ryan Clark?

  And he paid 20,000 for these, bro.

• 1:01:08Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna do what y'all want. I'm gonna fucking do anything.

• 1:01:15Fred Taylor?

  I go, ah, boy, that's crazy.

• 1:01:17Channing Crowder?

  Do this, let me move this chair.

• 1:01:19Ryan Clark?

  There we go.

• 1:01:20Speaker 06

  Three, two, one.

• 1:01:46Speaker 07

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now it's your time.

• 1:01:57Speaker 07

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