Trick Williams WWE's rising star on WrestleMania surprise, talks bringing culture to the ring, “Whoop That Trick,” The Rock moment, future with Lash Legend, family roots and lessons from Steve Spurrier

“I had to go through the fire to be exactly who I’m supposed to be.”- Trick Williams In this special pre-WrestleMania episode of The Pivot Podcast, WWE Superstar Trick Williams pulls up in his lemon pepper steppers showing out for Ryan, Channing and Fred in a powerful, wide-ranging conversation that goes far beyond the ring, giving a rare glimpse of the same flair and energy that has captivated million around the world. Trick shocks us all sharing a full circle moment, from when he was a young boy having a run-in with Fred to sitting across from him now and how that impacted him forever. He opens up about his journey from the football field—where he played under legendary coach Steve Spurrier—to finding his true calling in professional wrestling, and how that athletic foundation shaped his mindset and work ethic in WWE. Trick dives into the importance of bringing culture, authenticity, and charisma to sports entertainment, explaining how he’s helping redefine what it means to be a modern superstar. He breaks down how his signature chant, “Whoop That Trick,” organically caught fire with fans and evolved into a full-blown WWE phenomenon—turning arenas electric, call-and-response moments that showcase his undeniable connection with the crowd. He even reflects on a surreal co-sign moment with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson —an unforgettable stamp of respect that signaled Trick’s arrival on the big stage. As he reflects on his upbringing and the deep influence of his family, especially his mother, Trick attributes his mom's strength and guidance key into molding him into the man he is today. The conversation also touches on love and partnership, as Trick shares insight into his relationship with his fiancée, who’s also a wrestler, and how they balance ambition, support, and the grind of the business together. With WrestleMania this week, Trick speaks candidly about the biggest matches of his career ahead, the pressure, the opportunity, and the legacy he’s determined to build. The true epitome of the word Pivot, Trick's compelling story is a lesson to all, that even when one door closes, never be afraid to kick another one down, because doing the unimaginable might end up being your true calling all along. Pivot Family, comment, like, hit the subscribe button, we enjoy hearing and learning from you- the good and the bad, we want to know! 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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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  Trick Williams is a shooting star in the WWE superstar universe, but this wasn't his first dream. He did realize that eventually he had to trade in the football cleats for the lemon pepper steppers, and once he did, he hasn't stopped rising since. His mom always told him that he was a star, though. But the 6'4", 250-pound Williams thought that that star would shine on the gridiron. Despite being extremely gifted in high schools, colleges didn't necessarily line up to offer him scholarships. So he started out at Hampton and eventually eroded at South Carolina as a walk-on. And yeah, he got to play for the old ball coat. And some of the stories he tells about Steve Spurrier are can't miss. So we explore his football career, the hits, the near misses, and all of the failure.

• 1:12Ryan Clark?

  The relationship with Doof Staley that landed him a tryout with the Eagles, and the email from the WWE that changed his life. And as we head into WrestleMania, he has a chance to truly leave his mark and punctuate his meteoric rise. He's engaged to the love of his life now, fellow WWE superstar, Lash Legend. And Channing talks a little bit about what they need to do to continue the lineage. Trick's journey is one of faith, it's also one of failure, and now it's become one of finishing, even though his story is far from that. He's here with The Pivot to talk his stuff and walk it like he talks it. We're excited to bring you Rising WWE Superstar Trick Williams' Biggest Pivot, and it starts

• 1:57Ryan Clark?

  right now.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Fellas, fellas, fellas.

• 2:20Fred Taylor?

  Whoop that trip.

• 2:21Speaker 02

  Aw, come on, man. Aw, come on, man. Hey, man, nice to meet y'all.

• 2:25Fred Taylor?

  Say, bro.

• 2:26Speaker 02

  Channing.

• 2:26Ryan Clark?

  What's up, my dog?

• 2:28Fred Taylor?

  What's up, man? Where we headed after this?

• 2:31Speaker 02

  Hey, man, you let me know.

• 2:32Fred Taylor?

  I'm going to.

• 2:33Speaker 02

  Hey, man, I'm glad to be here, man, for real. I don't play around, y'all. I got one in the car if you need one.

• 2:39Ryan Clark?

  Hey, my dog got on a two jacket.

• 2:42Speaker 02

  Yes, sir.

• 2:42Ryan Clark?

  He got on a meek and a leather. He got on the fur and the leather.

• 2:45Speaker 02

  I'm just moving, man, it's too cold.

• 2:47Fred Taylor?

  Hey, when you wear a meek and a leather, you a bad man.

• 2:50Speaker 02

  I don't play around, man.

• 2:51Fred Taylor?

  You are a bad man.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  Come on, man.

• 2:53Fred Taylor?

  You got the steel toes.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, man, my lemon pepper steppers, that's what I call it.

• 2:56Ryan Clark?

  I know the name, but you got a heel on them.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 2:59Ryan Clark?

  You 6'5" already, what you need a heel?

• 3:01Speaker 02

  I need it, man. I don't play around.

• 3:03Ryan Clark?

  Man, welcome to the show, Trick Williams.

• 3:05Speaker 02

  Man, thank you, man, thank you.

• 3:06Ryan Clark?

  Matic Belton, yes, sir. Freddie T., Channing Crowder, Ryan Clark, man. Pivot fam, thank y'all for pivoting with us. Bro, I'm excited about this.

• 3:15Speaker 02

  I appreciate you, I'm excited.

• 3:16Ryan Clark?

  You know, we've sat with Bianca, we had Seth on the show. Uh, this is a little different. This is the first time we've had somebody outside of The Rock, who was a football player in college, transitioned to WWE and is on his way to becoming a fast rising star. And we'll get to that. I want to ask you about September 28th, 2013.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 3:39Ryan Clark?

  Hampton visits South Carolina. They lose the game 35 to 14.

• 3:44Speaker 02

  Uh huh.

• 3:45Ryan Clark?

  You ain't got no stats in that game.

• 3:47Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 3:47Ryan Clark?

  But there's some news your mother delivered to you after the game.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 3:52Ryan Clark?

  And then you made some subsequent decisions after that. Talk to me about that time in your life.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  Wow, man, you did some research. Yeah, so that game, man, I actually, man, I got suspended for the first half of that game. My fault, overslept, you know what I'm saying? Late to the meeting. You know what I mean? On me. South Carolina is the crib. That's where I'm from. You know, I ain't played the first half. Now, mind you, South Carolina State, that's the crib. Like, my pops played at South Carolina State. You know, I got like 30 tickets. You know, everybody coming to see me and I messed up. I didn't play. Like, my high school best friend, he playing against me and everything. And it was a rough time. And I couldn't figure out why, you know, things was just not going the way I felt like it should have went. Then my grandfather passed like two days before. So now I'm like, I'm really jacked up.

• 4:42Speaker 02

  You know, I'm young, 18 years old, 19 years old. And my mom told me, she said, she looked me in the eyes. She said, "You are a king created by God Almighty. Never forget who you are, whose you are. They can't break you." And I say that to this day when I'm talking trash, walking to the ring. People don't know what I'm saying. Sometimes I ain't saying nothing, but sometimes I'm saying something that means something. You know what I mean? So, uh, yeah, that moment right there, like, she just reminded me and told me who I was. And I love that, like, when you can put your foot in the ground and just let people know, like, this is who I am. I'm a king created by God Almighty. Let's talk about it.

• 5:18Channing Crowder?

  And, bro, that, like, the trends, like you said, you, you, you leave and go to South Carolina as a walk-on.

• 5:23Speaker 02

  As a walk-on.

• 5:24Channing Crowder?

  And so you're, you're, you're leaving money to go as a walk-on.

• 5:27Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:28Channing Crowder?

  Confidence in yourself.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:29Channing Crowder?

  And then just your whole career, now football ends, and now you going WWE, like, or wrestling. Now it's all kind of numbers. I'm old. We remember WWE and WWF and all that. But it's TNA, you a TNA champion and all. Like, did those times build you? Did that game build you? Did that game build you what you do? Because you were a massive shit talker.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:49Channing Crowder?

  So you gotta have confidence in yourself to be like that.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  But so were you. You know what I mean? Like, it's, it's part of football culture, you know what I mean? And my family, man, we talk more trash the most. So you gotta talk trash to survive. But to answer the question, like, yeah, that's the first time I really had to take a leap of faith as a man. Like, hey, what am I gonna do? Like, this is unfamiliar territory for me. You know what I mean? I'm gonna leave a scholarship and walk on to the University of South Carolina, which at the time, you know, number four team in the nation. Did you play for Spur?

• 6:22Channing Crowder?

  Nah, I was zooked. I came right up. He did.

• 6:24Speaker 02

  You play for Spur? So you know you was at Florida, old ball coach, you know, like, that's a big deal. And, you know, that was where I wanted to play out of high school. But, you know, when the recruiting stars and everything panned out and they didn't recruit me, like, a little voice in the back of my head said, you know, "Are you good enough?" You know, and I had to think about it, like, and I don't know. I don't know, but I want to go find out. So I walked on. First day there, we had a meeting. They say, "If you don't run a 4.440, you don't got a 4.2 GPA, we don't need you. We the number 14 in the nation." 200 guys there, you know, notepads, cleats on, everything. Everybody wants that spot.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  Like, I know why I'm here. I gotta do what I gotta do. First day at trials, they cut it down from like 180 people, all the way down to 20. Ooh, damn. Cut it down from that 20 to 8. You know, from there, I was outstanding offensive walk-on. Then, um, playing the next year when I was eligible. So like, that was the first time when I would say, I took that leap of faith, and I've been jumping ever since. And so much good came from that. I could talk all day about the testimony, but so much good from just learning to take a chance on myself and jump, that, man, I've been jumping ever since.

• 7:41Fred Taylor?

  True. You say you can talk all day about your testimony, and we do want to hear a lot of it.

• 7:46Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 7:47Fred Taylor?

  Specifically, I want to know what did those moments in football, you know, that brief moment, what did that teach you about discipline and adversity?

• 7:56Speaker 02

  Man, so Fred, while we here, I got, I got a story about you.

• 8:00Fred Taylor?

  Oh, for sure?

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, I got, so I'm from South. About you, man. So, I'm from South Carolina.

• 8:05Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  My pops was in the military. He was in the Navy. So we stayed in Jacksonville for like 6 years.

• 8:09Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 8:10Speaker 02

  You know, around 99 to 2005, I think, we moved back to South Carolina. I played Pop Warner Ball, and like, my pops, he would bring us to the Jaguars preseason games. And, bro, we love Fred. I lie, you're not. Like, it's crazy being here right now, because this is a real story. Like, we love Fred. He wore 28. My dad wore 28. And, um, I remember being a little kid, 8, 9 years old, and you, you would walk out, you was last. And we would wait. I had a Fred Taylor card. And Fred come out, we would run, try to catch him. And Fred was so doggone fast, bro.

• 8:48Speaker 02

  Like he was just floating across the street, all the way to his car. Like there he was, and he ran right by us. And we chasing him all the way to the car. But like, that memory sits in my head, because like, that's when I was young and impressionable. And like, I wanted to make it in the NFL, so. Being here right now with you is cool, I didn't want to say that, had to share that story.

• 9:08Ryan Clark?

  Fred, this is a grown man now.

• 9:12Fred Taylor?

  You know, I did the research, what was it, May of 1994, right?

• 9:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, May 1994.

• 9:17Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I mean, that's when I graduated.

• 9:18Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so Freddie, you were saying like, oh, graduated high school.

• 9:21Speaker 02

  I ain't trying to age you like that.

• 9:24Fred Taylor?

  No, I just turned 50, I feel good about it. But no, I want to ask you though, did you get the autograph?

• 9:30Speaker 02

  I never got the autograph, man.

• 9:32Ryan Clark?

  Damn Fred, why you running from the face?

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Why say Fred was fast? It made sense, I'm like, that's why he run for so many yards.

• 9:41Ryan Clark?

  He 4'2" now.

• 9:42Speaker 02

  He 4'2".

• 9:42Fred Taylor?

  You talking about from the locker room to the car?

• 9:44Speaker 02

  Bro, I'm talking about 4'2" too.

• 9:47Fred Taylor?

  In the parking lot?

• 9:47Speaker 02

  In the parking lot. Like, his feet wasn't touching the ground.

• 9:52Speaker 02

  He was just floating, like, kid's coming, watch out. I like it that, bro.

• 9:56Ryan Clark?

  1900 kids?

• 9:58Fred Taylor?

  Nah, I always signed, I take the time to sign.

• 10:02Speaker 02

  I'm not trying to blast him like he didn't take. You know what I'm saying? But it's cool, it's cool to be here now, that's all I'm saying.

• 10:09Ryan Clark?

  We been, I been in Jacksonville with him, man, like, dude is royalty though. And he should be there for what he did for the organization, but Freddie T, man, the way Freddie T move around, you right, it's like he on a damn cloud when he in Jacksonville, bro.

• 10:22Fred Taylor?

  He's that, he's crazy.

• 10:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, my brother like, bro, you don't know that.

• 10:25Fred Taylor?

  That's a good story, bro, I appreciate it, for sure.

• 10:27Speaker 02

  But, like you said, the question was, taking those leaps of faith, man. Like that at South Carolina, when I decided to walk on. But walking on, walking on is not an easy path. You know, at all. But luckily, Steve Spurrier, I mean, he's a stand-up guy. You know what I mean? He sees talent for the most part. He gave me plenty of opportunities to ball and do my thing. But I'll say why that part of the journey was so important to me because, you know, when things wasn't panning out at Hampton, at HBCU, shout out to my HBCUs. I love my HBCUs. Knowing I should be the guy there and it wasn't working, I had to get my faith right. I remember going home and opening the Bible randomly and saying, "Hey, God, what you want me to do?" And when I opened it, I believe it to be the story of Jonah.

• 11:11Speaker 02

  They say, "I'm gonna take you from this land, you're gonna go to another land." And I was fighting it. Like, I had an ex-girl at Hampton. You know, the ratio was crazy. It was like 18 to 1, women to men. I got a fiance now, so I don't wanna say that.

• 11:25Speaker 02

  But, you know what I mean? But we good, you know what I mean? But that's what Hampton was, you know what I mean? My boys, who you got recruited with and everything like that. You know, that means something to you when you 17, 18 years old. And I didn't wanna lead these people, but like, I just knew that's what I was supposed to do. And they seen everything that came from just being obedient. And I wasn't obedient to God right away. You know what I mean? Like, it took me a whole nother year at Hampton. I had to pull my hamstring, girl, fooling around with other boys on the team, like, a whole bunch of stuff. Like, I had to go through, through the fire to be exactly who I was supposed to be. So, just seeing everything that came from that, like, when Steve Spurrier, he left the team, he quit the team after we lost to Tennessee. This is my junior year.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  He had a big banner on Williams Price Stadium, like, 80 feet tall. You know, the most winningest coach in South Carolina history. And they took that down, and it just so happened, like, me being who I was as a walk-on and having to prove myself and train hard, like, I was always just in the weight room, on the field, putting in extra reps. So, when guys wasn't there, they said, "Hey, ain't Magic?" You know, we want to take pictures of you. You know, we're gonna put all the tickets in the cups. They put me on the tickets in the cups. And then when they took Spurrier down off the banner, because my photos was already, you know, in the system, they said, "What we gonna put up there next? What we gonna put up there next?" But they put me on Williams Bryce Stadium. And it's a little thing, but it's a big thing though,

• 12:52Speaker 02

  because like, what if I never jumped? You know what I mean? Like, that was just a big 80-foot banner telling you like, "If you be obedient," you know what I mean? "You never know what's gonna happen." And I got, I can go all day. I get worked up.

• 13:05Ryan Clark?

  But I love that. You know, another thing about, you know, Jonah, Jonah was in the belly of the world as well. What's the bigger moment for you then? Right? They, they pull the banner down and they put your picture up? Or The Rock is talking about the belt, he reaches into his bag and everybody in the arena screaming, "Whoop that trick." What's that moment like when it is literally the pinnacle of wrestling? In the middle of the ring, doing his thing, and the people around are saying, "Whoop that trick," which is what they say when you walk out?

• 13:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, man. To me, it's just one of those moments like,

• 13:45Speaker 02

  and I'm gonna say it a few times, but since, I would say, since that jump, I'm talking about from reading that story with Jonah,

• 13:53Speaker 02

  been jumping since. You know what I mean? Jumped to South Carolina. Eventually found myself with a, you know, tryout with the Eagles. That took a year and a half. That was a jump. Then jumping to WWE. Like, just being real, it wasn't the popular thing to do at the time. You know what I mean? Like, because I played football. 20 years I played football. When they see me on social media, I'm Sweet Daddy Trick now and I'm making skits and I'm slamming people. Everybody didn't understand who came from that football background. But like, I just knew this is what I was supposed to do because it fit me. You know, seeing how that manifested to whoop that trick. And then The Rock, you know, being the one in the ring, you know, and they chanting, "Whoop that trick." Now, I'll lie to you now, I got stories all day. But here's another one.

• 14:39Speaker 02

  Here's another. I'm in church and I'm deciding like, "Bro, do I even want to wrestle?" I went to a trial. They said, "You never wrestled before. Go learn what to do and we'll bring you back for another trial." Just like that. Like, nobody's checking on me, seeing if I'm actually gonna do it. Like, take it or leave it. That's what they told me. So, I'm in church and I'm like, "Am I supposed to wrestle?" Like, it kinda seemed like self-seeking. You know what I mean? I'm coaching kids, you know what I mean? Substitute teaching and stuff. And I feel like I'm kinda making a difference where I'm at. Teachers need to get paid more money. I'm gonna say that on camera right now, because while I'm losing hair and sleep, everything. Long story short, I went to church and the pastor's word that day, "I'll lie you not," was

• 15:23Speaker 02

  talking about water coming from the rock. So, "Follow the rock." I said...

• 15:32Speaker 02

  I went to church, little one thing one mind. Do I need to wrestle or not? And the pastor told me, "Follow the rock. I'll lie you not." In Columbia, South Carolina, the Brook, Pastor Timian. And he said, "Follow the rock." I never told nobody that story. But I moved to Philadelphia two weeks later. I said, "I'm supposed to wrestle." It was something that simple. And like, when I say I be jumping, I just be jumping. I moved to Philly. I moved with my uncle. His name's Sweet Baby James.

• 15:56Channing Crowder?

  Sweet Baby James.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  Sweet Baby James. And that's where the swag, you know? He said, "Man, I'm putting these Stacy Adams on you, boy. They ain't gonna know what hit 'em, boy." You know? You know, like, I'm like, "Bro." And that's where all this kinda just kept falling into place.

• 16:10Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 16:10Speaker 02

  And so, long story short, to see the rock in the ring and people chanting, "Whoop that trick." I just like, I already know, it's bigger than me. It's not even about me. I'm just, I'm just doing what I'm supposed to do.

• 16:19Channing Crowder?

  Bro, in that black culture and wrestling where wrestling really isn't a black thing.

• 16:25Speaker 02

  It's not a black thing.

• 16:25Channing Crowder?

  But what's your uncle's name?

• 16:27Speaker 02

  Sweet Baby James.

• 16:27Channing Crowder?

  Sweet Baby James. You Sweet Daddy Trick.

• 16:30Speaker 02

  I'm Sweet Daddy Trick.

• 16:30Channing Crowder?

  Whoop that trick.

• 16:32Speaker 02

  My dad's Sweet Daddy Dog.

• 16:33Channing Crowder?

  The Lemon Pepper Stompers. You got Sweet Daddy Dogs. Like, that stuff that we've, we've heard of before.

• 16:39Speaker 02

  Right.

• 16:40Channing Crowder?

  You took that into an arena that didn't... I don't say they didn't even know what you was talking about. And they accepted that.

• 16:47Speaker 02

  People of all colors, races.

• 16:49Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 16:50Speaker 02

  Dialects, barely speak English, they whooping that trick in Saudi Arabia.

• 16:55Ryan Clark?

  That's crazy. What was that like for you to, for you to take the black culture over to that, to that arena and be accepted like that?

• 17:02Speaker 02

  Honestly, be real with you, Channing, like, that's all I could be. Like, that's all I knew. Like, if you asked me to be anybody else, you know what I mean, I'll be stuttering and, you know, trying to figure it out. Like, I can't be anybody else. Like, I don't know how to do that. You know what I mean? Like, this is how my people talk. This is how my pops talk. My uncles, all of them talk trash. You know what I mean? Like, if it don't sound like this, it won't be natural to me. So, it's just cool that everybody else was on the same page, but I, I ain't had no choice.

• 17:35Fred Taylor?

  Even, even when you walked in here, man, just the fur, the leather, you know, the vibrance, the swag, you know, demeanor. It's easy to see why WWE, you know, is preparing for the big moments for you, right? You're a superstar in the making, bro. Like, you're gonna continue to grow and build. But in those moments, how do you kind of step back and stay grounded as the hype starts to build?

• 17:58Speaker 02

  I got fiancee at the crib. She's six foot, 200 pounds.

• 18:02Fred Taylor?

  Six feet?

• 18:03Speaker 02

  And she like to fight.

• 18:06Ryan Clark?

  My bad. I did not think that. That's where it was going. I thought we was about to get into some John Brown, Breida-type talk. Like, I'm 6'5", she's 6'4", we finna have this linebacker, he gonna be an all-pro. And that man said, "And she like to fight."

• 18:23Speaker 02

  She's violent.

• 18:25Speaker 02

  Bro, she say, "Oh, I wish I would've played linebacker." I'm like, "Dang, relax." You know, I'm gonna brag on her for a second. She played basketball at Tayside A&M, Mississippi State. Drafted to Seattle Storm, Lash Legend, the bougie bully. She tag champ right now. But like, man, she tell me if I'm tripping. You know what I mean? Like, we call in a wrestling being a mark if you believe your own hype and your own press too much. And we have, we vow we'll never be a mark, you know? Like, thank that this is about us ultimately, because it's not about you, man. Like, we representing something so much bigger than us. So, if you over here caught up and reading your own newspaper clips, then you missing what this is all about in the first place.

• 19:06Ryan Clark?

  Your brother's name is Hassan.

• 19:07Speaker 02

  Hassan.

• 19:08Ryan Clark?

  Hassan said that you had a delusional belief in yourself your entire life. Where did that belief come from?

• 19:17Speaker 02

  I'll tell you, my mama. Like, she, she always told us we was gonna be exactly where we are right now. She said, "Baby, we're gonna practice interviews right now. Sit up straight, you know what I mean? Make sure you articulate. They gonna be throwing panties at you. You know what I mean? You gonna be swatting them away. They gonna be throwing panties at you." You know what I mean? Like, she programmed us to believe this from a little kid. Like, these words of affirmation, which is so powerful, that, man, honestly, Hassan, he say that's me, that's all three of us. Like, we go get his NASCAR pit crew right now, and, you know, my older brother, he does art, and like, like, she programmed us to believe that we are, we gonna be somebody. So, man, that's my mom.

• 19:59Speaker 02

  She had that faith that, you know, it's just crazy. Like, I get emotional thinking about it.

• 20:04Speaker 05

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• 20:34Channing Crowder?

  Mattrick Belton and Trick Williams. Is there, because you say you getting caught up in it, caught up in your press clippings, but there has to be a switch you gotta turn, because right now, watching you sit here and talk, just chill, and then watching you walk in the ring and wrestle and do all it. It has to be something different. Have you ever got caught up in Trick over Mattrick?

• 20:55Speaker 02

  I get caught up in it sometimes, you know what I mean? You know, you start thinking that, you know, you too big for your britches. But there has to be a piece of you on the inside that you can feel, that's organic, that allows it to, like, come out. So Trick Williams is just Mattrick turned up to 10. You know what I mean? That's, that's you after you get the sack. You know what I mean? That's you when you stuffed, you know what I'm saying, Eddie George, you know, at the line for a tackle for loss. And, you know what I mean?

• 21:23Channing Crowder?

  Now you're here.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  Now you're here, you know what I mean? And that's how I feel every single time that red light come on, like, this is my family. I'm like, this promo right here is gonna pay for college. You know, this promo right here can change the rest of my life. So I gotta turn it on. It's game time.

• 21:39Ryan Clark?

  I mean, you've done a lot of things to fulfill this dream, right? You substitute Ta- Ta- Ta- you met Alshon, you met Deuce. Right? You had that relationship with them, saved you pop in, check in with them. Deuce eventually called you, you got to go to a mini camp. But man, you've delivered food in California so you could train. Like, all those things that you've done. Was there ever a point, though, where you doubted that you could fulfill this dream?

• 22:05Speaker 02

  Honestly, that's probably what Hassan was talking about with that delusional faith. Like I said, once I got the word and I felt like God was talking to me, he said, "Follow the Rock." I know it was a whole different Rock. I was like, "This is what I'm supposed to do."

• 22:18Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 22:19Speaker 02

  And then, like, the way my life has worked, like, I just thank God because things always... There's always full-circle moments reminding me I'm exactly where I need to be. You know what I mean? I just look for the signs, like, "Okay." And if it doesn't work, like, the Eagles didn't work, but like, there was a sense of closure I had, you know, when it was like, "Your time here is done." That I was like, "Okay, it's time for something else." So even if it wasn't wrestling, like, I would feel comfortable knowing that something's gonna pop off. Like, it's sweat equity. Like, something has to work. I'm grinding. It's not for nothing, so, you know.

• 22:56Ryan Clark?

  Carmelo don't feel like that.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:58Ryan Clark?

  He said you backstabbed him, dawg.

• 22:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's okay. You gotta do what you gotta do.

• 23:02Ryan Clark?

  I see. You was in there pleading your case. You was like, "Man, I came to you." "And I told you I wanted to go see about me."

• 23:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:08Ryan Clark?

  And you said, "Go do it."

• 23:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:10Ryan Clark?

  He ain't see it like he felt like that, Trick.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  And I can see why he felt like that, because there's a lot of people similar to Mello. This ain't shade, this the truth, who feel like, "Man, Trick is new to this business." He been doing this four years, three years at a time. How dare he think he main event talent? How dare he think that he can be a superstar like me? I put 10 years on the Indies. I've been doing this 15 years. I studied and watched all these greats. I can tell you so-and-so's birthday and all this other type of stuff. Trick Williams can't do that. They right. I can do that. But it's what I'm anointed to do. And favor ain't fair. And just because I wasn't grinding here doesn't mean I wasn't grinding, period, bro.

• 23:52Speaker 02

  I worked so hard to be OK at football. I'm man enough to say that. I worked so hard, people don't understand. You know, people don't know like, man, I was substituting kids. Why am I so comfortable talking? Because I was doing motivational speaking. Now, I was talking to kids, you know. You know, I said, these kids, I couldn't take the role in the class as a substitute teacher. You know what I mean? I had to figure out, how do I like get their attention? How can I, you know, be more entertaining? How can I speak up in a certain type of way? Like, you don't get this type of presence from, you just wake up. Now, you're anointed with that, and you got to go through something to command a crowd like that.

• 24:29Channing Crowder?

  No, you talked about walking on South Carolina. You said there was 200 people. Then it was 20 to get down to 8. But we all played ball. You know, free agents come in, and by the second day, you'd be like, he could play, he can't play, he can't play, he can't play, he can play. So you, like, we saw that from the football side. From the wrestling side, like, there is a lot of people that went, and they told them, hey, go learn how to wrestle, come back. And they came back, and they told their ass to go home.

• 24:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, for sure.

• 24:54Channing Crowder?

  What do you have? You were just talking about like, you know, your mentality, the mental side of it, and the articulation side of it. But it's something different about a dude your size that can do what you do in that ring.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Y'all know how it is, man. I played Steve Spurrier, man. I played in the SEC. Let's not get it twisted. Like, if you play college ball, you are a specimen. You know what I mean? Like, that's just the real about it. And a lot of these things, it's opportunities, right place, right time, right system, that really puts you in position to really like exceed to a maximum level. Like, I was a dog on the field. Let's not get, hey, look, I said, my production didn't show everything that I was capable of. Because I was probably supposed to be here in the first place.

• 25:33Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 25:33Speaker 02

  Man, if my foot got in that NFL door any further, I probably wouldn't even be here right now. Because that's where I was walking the front table, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't toe that rock, you know? But, um, yeah, I was definitely, man, I'm an athlete, I'm a specimen.

• 25:47Channing Crowder?

  But what's the difference between you and the other guys that was all trying to be where you are? Like, your buddy said, I've been doing it 15, you're doing it 4. But now you holding belts and on national TV and worldwide tours.

• 25:59Speaker 02

  I'll be real with you, Chan, I can't, I can't tell you what it is. Because there's guys on my tryout, 6'7", 280 abs. Dog, where you play at? You know?

• 26:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, brothers from Africa, brothers from everywhere, like goodness, like. But I just gotta fall back and I say, it's an anointing thing, you know what I mean? I, I could say this, another story, football, like I said, I walked on, you know, of those eight, two of my best friends, one named Rod Tally, one named Darius Polk, they both played running back. And we was all roommates, we all like, we tried out together, we grinded together, like, we wanted to be, not just on the team, we wanted to be, you know, starters, we wanted to be all SEC, wanted to play in the league, that type of thing. I remember Steve Spurrier stood up, it was right before my junior season. He said, "Man, we got two scholarships, we're gonna award two guys with scholarships."

• 26:54Speaker 02

  I knew I was getting mine, I mean, I'm second, second string, I'm rotating with the starters, you know what I mean? My first season being eligible, I'm six foot four, you know what I mean, like, I'm playing, like, I already know I'm about to get mine. He said, "Rod Tally and Darius Polk, and they're one's on their side, one's on their side." And they stood up, and my heart sunk to my ass, I ain't gonna lie, like, and these are my friends. And I was happy for them, but at the same time, I wanted that spot so bad, so bad, like, people don't understand that, man. But at that moment, it's like a moment of truth, who are you right now?

• 27:36Speaker 02

  I had to clap it up for him, I had to clap it up for him, and I think, I don't know how God worked all the way, but I do feel like it's moments like that, that, like, it's hard for people to do. And that's why I'm unapologetic when it's my turn, because when it was everybody else's turn, clap it up.

• 27:53Fred Taylor?

  Right, and I respect that, you know, you got it, you know, whatever that is for the sport, you have that, and that's what they like, and that's what they can, they can sell, and that's what fans will gravitate themselves to. I wanted to ask you about mentorship in the sport, what, what wrestler has given you the best advice? And who do you look to, to serve as that mentor for you?

• 28:17Speaker 02

  Booker T, Booker T, man, right away, I'm coming for you.

• 28:24Speaker 02

  Booker T, man, like, and it's cool, like, you know, he's a legend in the game. WCW five time, five time. And, you know, you hear, it's like a legend, you know what I mean? Like, like today, like, you hear about people before you actually meet them. Brian Clark. So, you know, when you meet Booker T, you don't know how he's gonna feel, you know what I mean? And he say, "Brother, you got something. I wanna work with you." You know what I mean? Hey, when you hit that move right there, you hit him with that kick. Hold that pose and you flex your biceps so everybody can see how strong. Little stuff like that, you know what I mean? And like, he's just teaching you the game. I'm like, "Bro, this is the coolest thing ever, bro." Like, I'm living a video game, you know what I mean? So Booker T's definitely been that guy. And he helped to whoop that Trick thing really set off. You know, he did my ad libs and everything.

• 29:07Speaker 02

  You know, like, he's emceeing the track, you know, for the crowd or something like that. So, that's really cool.

• 29:12Fred Taylor?

  I've seen you rapping, bro. You really, you, you can go. Who wrote your rhymes? Me. Hey, where the hell goes writers? Me. Nah, I'm just asking him. He, he can spit, he can snap. I just wanna know. He confirmed it. Cause some people got ghostwriters. Some of the best.

• 29:29Speaker 02

  I can't afford that, you know what I mean? I gotta get it myself. I can afford it now.

• 29:34Ryan Clark?

  So my, my question is, and you being a walk-on, you understand this, having to make your own way. There are gatekeepers sometimes, right? There, there was the, the one veteran who would help all the young cats stay late, go through the playbook with them. And then there was the other one like, "Hey, man, I got it on my own. You gotta get it on yours." Is there a gatekeeping in wrestling to a standpoint where some people like, "Nah, man, I earned my spot. You gotta go get it by yourself."

• 30:01Speaker 02

  And, yeah, same thing in wrestling. And people feel like, I say, "You don't deserve it." Man, some people go out and they say, "Trick Williams." I tell you what, he's not all that. If he wasn't six foot five, 250 pounds, got eight abs, dressed like that, talked so cool, and had the entrance music, and can do this, and so athletic, then he wouldn't. I said, "Well, doggone."

• 30:21Ryan Clark?

  Take my home for a shot.

• 30:23Speaker 02

  Then I'd be you then after that, huh? Good gracious, like, what is it about him? Like, gatekeepers, man. But like, I ain't worried about that. Like, it is what it is. It's a business, man. I'm trying to take care of my family.

• 30:37Ryan Clark?

  What's the moment? What win? What celebration? What crowd cheer? Was the moment where you felt like? What I heard in church that day? When they told me, "Follow The Rock," it was now confirmed that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

• 30:56Speaker 02

  Man.

• 30:59Speaker 02

  I would say all of them. At my first match, it's like, in the indie scene in New Jersey, it was in front of 12 or 14 people. I'll lie to you not. And that joint was so lit.

• 31:12Ryan Clark?

  12 to 14 people, it was lit?

• 31:14Speaker 02

  I'll lie to you not. That was sweet daddy trick, you know what I mean? Bro, why I say it was so lit? Like, my boys pulled up, some of my teammates from Hampton, they was training with me at the time, too. And like, like, the atmosphere just felt different. I ain't sleep for 48 hours. Like, my drilling spiked so high, something I never even felt in football. Like, that's when I really knew this is what I'm supposed to do. Like, it's, it's a great feeling when you find out, like, "Bro, I love this."

• 31:42Ryan Clark?

  Wow.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  And I just, you know, where I'm from, it just wasn't the popular thing. You know what I mean? Like, we watched it. I watched The Rock, you know, Undertaker and all that stuff. But the idea of actually becoming, "No, like, my pops played football. I'mma play football," you know what I mean? But when I did it, training is one thing. But when them lights on, 12 people was there. And I still think about that moment to this day.

• 32:06Ryan Clark?

  That's when you know you're where you're supposed to be, though. Because if there's only 12 people there, you're not doing it because people followed in to see you. Right? You're doing it because you loved it. And if it could give you that feeling, even though it's not the arena that you will eventually be in, that's when you know you're right. Like, I knew I was doing the right thing in Little League. Right? So I didn't know where it was gonna end up, but I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do with my life, man. So I love the fact that you had a moment that wasn't about applause. It wasn't about what the outside people that could give you. It was an internal thing for you, man. That's a beautiful feeling to have.

• 32:41Channing Crowder?

  But, but that competition, that competitiveness, on our side, you kind of draw from, "I don't know what's gonna happen at the end." You know what I'm saying? This score, it's saying with zero, somebody have more points and they gonna win. When things are, you know, scripted or whatever you wanna call it, you almost know what's gonna happen. Like, what's the competitive drive? What's them 14 people doing for you? Cause you already know the outcome. I play for the outcome. I wanna get stats, I wanna win games. I like, there was an outcome that was undetermined. When it's already determined, is it a different competitiveness that comes in you?

• 33:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, I agree. I play for the outcome, but my outcome looks different now. You know what I mean? It's not about winning or losing. It's about, I need to hear them people. You know what I mean? That's what is the difference now. It's the same thing even in football. I mean, we have meetings, we have a playbook. It's a script. You go out there and you run your play. You know what I mean? If you doing a movie, there's a script. You go out there and run your play. The beauty is not in the script. Like, if it was that, anybody can get the play and then...

• 33:46Channing Crowder?

  It's in the execution?

• 33:46Speaker 02

  It's in the execution. The beauty's in the execution. And Trick Williams is the best executor. You know what I'm saying?

• 33:56Channing Crowder?

  Yeah!

• 33:56Speaker 02

  You know what I'm saying? That's the difference between the two.

• 33:59Channing Crowder?

  Yeah!

• 34:00Speaker 02

  You know what I mean? Like, it's not about the script. You know what I mean? Like, look what I do with it. Nobody can make you feel the way I make you feel.

• 34:07Ryan Clark?

  Me and Freddie T got to go in Madison Square Garden, right? And the one thing we kept saying was, they're so athletic, right? And then, and whether it was women, men, the, the ability to think to yourself, I'm gonna sacrifice my body for this. I know when I jump off of this top rope, there's not gonna be nobody there to receive me. But I gotta give it my all. I gotta make sure they're entertained. I gotta make sure I look like I fully expected that I was gonna land this where I wanted to. There's that. How do you balance the entertainment with the athleticism? Because there are people who have one of, one of them, right? There are people who could get on the mic and talk and entertain you, but they know, they don't have the athleticism.

• 34:52Ryan Clark?

  They don't have the presence in the ring. And then there's guys who know how to use it, utilize their athleticism in the ring, but you give them the mic and it's like, wah wah wah. How have you found the balance between the two to be for you?

• 35:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, man, and I think that is, you know... That's the special, the person who can do both. You know, playing football, I had a coach, it was Steve Spurrier Jr., matter of fact. And he would say, he'd say, if a guy could wrap both his arms around both your legs in open field, then you're not good. You know what I mean? The goal as an offensive player is to stay on your feet. You know, my first day of becoming a WWE superstar, you learn how to fall, flip, backflip, cartwheel, etc. So like, I'm not a gymnast, never been a gymnast. So this is like rewiring that had to happen for me to be good at the sport. You're right, like, that's the execution that you have to learn, how to give yourself fully to the moment, you know what I mean?

• 35:49Speaker 02

  And make things mean something. And everybody can't do it. Some guys are really good at being a stunt double, you know what I mean? Who can do all the stunts and everything like that. You know, I ain't no stunt double, I'm a superstar. So I gotta make everything feel like an experience when I've been there.

• 36:06Speaker 06

  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.

• 36:15Speaker 07

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

• 36:23Speaker 06

  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.

• 36:36Fred Taylor?

  You say you're not a stunt double, but you do have a little mini twin. I, I got a confession. As much as you say you were a fan of me, when they said we were doing this, I went on eBay, and I was going to buy the little mini Trent action figure, so I can bring it and get you to sign it. But time kinda ran out and I got busy. And I knew they would mess, they would give me hell if I walked in here.

• 36:59Ryan Clark?

  If you would've brought a Trick Williams action figure and got him to sign it, we was gonna end the show.

• 37:06Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, bro.

• 37:07Ryan Clark?

  Because we told you, "Stop doing that, Fred." This man coming to chill with us.

• 37:13Fred Taylor?

  But I'm in the collective, you would've hooked me up, right?

• 37:15Speaker 02

  For sure, I got you. I ain't gonna run from you the way you run from me.

• 37:18Ryan Clark?

  Yes, I knew it was coming.

• 37:20Speaker 02

  I'm not a 4'2", but I got a 4'5" seven.

• 37:23Fred Taylor?

  Damn, dude, I thought we was getting along. Nah, but, but seriously, like, on some real stuff, I knew the first time I saw my trading card, I was like, "Damn, I got a trading card."

• 37:34Speaker 02

  What was the feeling when you found out that you had a little action figure? Well, it's unreal. It was cool being able to give it to my nephew. You know, Hassan has a son. And he broke my damn own ponytail off, you know, first day. But he had it, you know what I mean? And to me, like, I think, like, everything, I don't know. I'm an old spirit, you know, at heart, I guess. But like, everything that I get that means something like that, like all my Eagles training camp gear and like my first training card, you know, my first pair of wrestling boots. I put it in a box and I just think about passing it to like the next generation. Because for me, I lived it. I was there, you know what I mean? Like, I want them to see it. And I think that's the coolest part about it.

• 38:15Ryan Clark?

  In your sport, in your business, how far ahead can you think? Right? Because when you're playing football, everything feels so like in the moment. Like, if I'm not present here, this dude gonna run me over. Right? If I'm not present in this meeting, I'm not gonna be ready to go to walk through. Right? All those things had to follow in place. So you had to be in the moment where your feet are. For you, how often do you give yourself an opportunity to say, "Okay, I know where I've come from, but this is where I want to be and here is how I'm mapping out those goals to get there."

• 38:50Speaker 02

  I think it's the same thing, but it's in the execution. It's like, if you think about what's gonna happen ahead of you and you're not present in the moment, it's gonna look like that as a performer. You know what I mean? You have to be right in this moment and make this mean the most as possible. As far as the moves, my knee that I'm gonna throw, any moves that I'm gonna throw, you know, my promos, you know what I mean? I might say, "Oh, I got this great line and I wanna hit this. Maybe I should save it." I'm like, "Why would I save it?" Tomorrow is not promised, bro. Like, you don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know the crowd gonna be rocking, you know what I mean? When you wanna use it again. So, right now, no, everything.

• 39:31Speaker 02

  I'm throwing my best work at the wall every single time.

• 39:33Channing Crowder?

  That's dope. And both sides of wrestling, it's the entertainment side, which you're extremely good at. And the, the, the physical side, which you're also extremely good at, like you said. But you went from one violent sport to another violent sport. And we talk about CTE and all this stuff comes up in football all the time, you hear about it more. But I watched the Andre the Giant documentary. I, you know, back in the day, I'm, we old, I'm watching Bill Goldberg and Jake the Snake Plumber and all them boys. But you hear about a lot of those guys, the Ultimate Warrior, you usually hear a lot, a lot of, a lot of tragedies and a lot of physical problems. Do you ever think about it, because football wise, people remind you all the time. CTE, head injury, CTE. But with wrestling, I don't think they put as much emphasis on what y'all put your body through.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think they do, but like, just like back then, like, I don't feel like it was studied as much back then. Like now, they got special helmets, like they do more to protect the players now. And they do the same thing with us, like we rehab more, we train different than they trained back then. You know what I mean, like we stretching, you know, a lot, I got a coach named Matt Bloom, he probably never reached down and touched his toes. And he looked like that way he walk today.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  So, he'll be mad I said that, but it's the truth. But you know what I mean, like now, like, a lot of us are coming from different backgrounds, football, basketball, track and field, gymnastics. Like we know how to keep our bodies in tip top shape. And we know, I mean, don't hit your head on stuff, man, like, we know that as much as possible.

• 41:01Channing Crowder?

  But y'all, like they do it now, they tackle different now than they tackle back in the day. They, they tell y'all, keep your head out of this.

• 41:08Speaker 02

  You couldn't play today, huh? It's, it's different, it's hard for defense, huh?

• 41:11Channing Crowder?

  See, I look crazy, because yeah, I used to go head first into everything. Yeah, that's the best way to do it to me.

• 41:17Speaker 02

  I know you come down here.

• 41:18Channing Crowder?

  I ain't know no other way. It was, it was what it was. His shoulder pads was buckled to his helmet.

• 41:25Ryan Clark?

  We talked about, right, your size, right? And we had Cody Rhodes on the show. And I think about like who, like the way his dad was built, but his dad was a superstar. Right? And I used to watch Junkyard Dog and Kamala when I was growing up, right? Like all of these guys and it wasn't, it didn't seem like everyone involved was the most athletic person. That has shifted. That has shifted a ton into, no, we are getting, like you said, there are people who are involved in other sports, Trick, who know that they're gonna make this transition. Chase Hatch was the fullback at Arizona State when my son was there.

• 42:06Ryan Clark?

  And he knew full, wholeheartedly that he was gonna graduate and go into wrestling. And he's done that. How difficult is it when you are with these people when you first start who have had this dream their entire life? And you working off of an email you got today after you sent to XFL your tape?

• 42:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:26Ryan Clark?

  Right? How difficult was it for you initially to kind of fit in with those people as you guys were trying to make this journey?

• 42:35Speaker 02

  I'll be honest with you, fitting in, it never happened. Like, I wasn't born to fit in, you know, in that circle, to be honest with you, because I came from somewhere totally different. Like we already said, like wrestling is not a historically black company. You know what I mean? It's not a football team, you know what I mean? It's wrestling, where people come from so many diverse backgrounds. We have a common denominator being entertainment. Yeah, fitting in was never what I was, I'd say specialized at inside these locker room. But when I read like I'm on.

• 43:07Ryan Clark?

  So the Sexy Red thing, the Electric Slide and all that, like.

• 43:11Speaker 02

  You do your homework, right?

• 43:12Ryan Clark?

  But I'm saying, but to me though, like those are things that are uniquely our culture.

• 43:17Speaker 02

  Right, right, right.

• 43:18Ryan Clark?

  Right? And you said it, like, we don't, there's nobody that comes to our high schools and goes, man, you could be in WWE, right? They bring back the football player that went to your high school or whatever it is. Like that's those, that are those conversations when you have an opportunity to. Incorporate a Sexy Red, or when you doing the electric slide on Juneteenth, where do those ideas come from? And how are you so confident in bringing our culture to a space that has not normally been for us in that way?

• 43:50Speaker 02

  Man, this is the greatest interview I ever had, I ain't gonna lie. I'm gonna say that first. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I don't know how to do or be anything else. So like, it makes my options very clear, you know what I mean? Like, you don't go out there and do something that you don't know how to do. You know what I mean? I know the electric slide. So when I hear, you know, a beat that can electric slide too, like...

• 44:16Ryan Clark?

  You right got away. You had the cookout.

• 44:18Speaker 02

  That's all it is.

• 44:21Speaker 02

  I got a good one. So wrestling is so simple, if you let it be simple. Simple as something Steve Spurrier made for us a long time ago. When I decided to walk on to the University of South Carolina, like, bro, I finally made the team. 228, right here, number four team in the nation. I finally made, alright, this is our first meeting, spring practice. Pull out your notebooks, let's see what Steve Spurrier gotta say. He say, alright, man, spring practice, this what we gonna do. And he wrote down all the positions on the offense on the board. He said quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, offense line. Quarterbacks, we're gonna throw the ball.

• 45:05Speaker 02

  Running backs, run ball. Wide receivers, catch the ball. Hopefully, ain't that right, Debo?

• 45:16Speaker 02

  This is, I was like, bro, I waited all this time to get here to find out it's still 52 and a half yards, 100 yards straight? Same football. The magic was, man, do what you do, you know what I mean? Another one real quick. You know, I was told I could jump a little bit, I was physical, I could block. He said, he said, Magic, can you jump and catch a jump ball? I'm like, yeah, I can catch a jump ball. He said, alright, let's throw him a jump ball. Give me a jump ball, caught it? Alright, jump ball wide receiver, let's put him in.

• 45:47Speaker 02

  Steve, yeah.

• 45:49Ryan Clark?

  Let's go get it.

• 45:50Speaker 02

  It made it so simple, you know what I mean? I'm like, I don't never gotta stretch outside myself. You know what I mean? Of course you want to work on all parts of your game. You know what I mean? You want to be well-rounded, as possible. But Steve Spurrier Jr. told me this too. He say, whatever it is that you do best, make sure nobody in the room can do that better than you. Because if they can do it better than you, then we don't need you. If you the 4-2 guy and you supposed to go get the deep ball.

• 46:16Ryan Clark?

  Go get it.

• 46:16Speaker 02

  Go get it. But you trying to be the best high point. Now you a halfway decent high point. And you're not focusing on the deep ball. And now, you ain't good. It's not that you ain't good, you just ain't know where you're supposed to be.

• 46:28Ryan Clark?

  I tell this story to kids I would coach. I was obviously undrafted, right? So my big thing was I could play a lot of positions. Because the way my brain work, if you told it to me, I remembered it. And I remember the first time, my first year in Washington, the first walkthrough I went through, that I could, you know, control the adjustments. And I would scream them all, right? And I would try to be the first one that set them. And to me, it wasn't that I didn't believe that anybody else knew it. I just needed them to know that I knew it.

• 47:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:00Ryan Clark?

  I needed them to know that I knew where people lined up. And it would be the same thing on Wednesday. When we go and they give us tips and tendencies. They say, you know, 3x1, X nasty, right? We're gonna get the mesh. As soon as I saw the formation, I lined everybody up. And I say, alert mesh, alert mesh, right? And it wasn't because, it wasn't because I was trying to work myself through it. I was trying to let them know that I knew it.

• 47:22Speaker 02

  Right, right, right.

• 47:23Ryan Clark?

  That I know you think I'm supposed to be smart. I know that you think I'm supposed to be able to do this. Let me show you every day and prove it to you that I am. And then you worked on the rest of the stuff that you can't do around that. And so that's such a great point. And I hope people who are watching get that, man. Like, if you have a thing... Be the best at that thing. This mother effin' is funny. Right?

• 47:43Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, he is.

• 47:44Ryan Clark?

  He is funny. He just is. He just is. And if we do a show, or if we're around him, and we don't give him an opportunity to be himself, we missed out. But it's also if he doesn't step up and be himself, he's missed out. So I love that point that you made.

• 48:01Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, and like RC said, hoping that people that watch the show get the message, because your journey is amazing. And for guys who tend to get lost in the transition, you know, they might not make the team, or their college careers, or their careers are over, they can look at you as inspiration and see that I can continue and find another career. So I think that's dope. But I do want to ask you about legacy. You know, I want to ask you, you know, what would you think or want people to say about, you know, 10 years from now? When people talk about you, because they will talk about you, what do you think they will say about the man behind the character?

• 48:39Speaker 02

  Man, hopefully, you know, what they say about Trick Williams, Matt R. Belton, that every room he walked in, he lit it up. Like, people feel better about themselves just having an interaction with him. You know what I mean? Just, like I said, I did motivational speaking, and shoot, my mom probably ingrained that in me when she told me, "You're a king created by God Almighty." I know what that did for me at that time and that moment. Like, those are the perfect words that I needed to hear. If I can do that, just make everybody in that room, you know, just feel like, "Man, I got it. I can do this." Then, you know what I mean? Even if it's just one person, honestly. You know, even if it's just one person. And that's what I do every single time I have my entrance, and they whoop that trick.

• 49:22Speaker 02

  Everybody feel like they tricked Williams for one moment. You know what I'm saying? For one second, they could put on they fur, they could put on they lemon pepper steppers, and they could whoop that trick with your boy. You know what I mean? And that's enough.

• 49:34Ryan Clark?

  How did that even become a thing? How did that start for you to where it became, "Hey, he's synonymous with whoop that trick"?

• 49:42Speaker 02

  Man, that's a great question. Because I told them I wanted an entrance song. I said, "Man, I want that Kendrick Lamar Family Ties with Baby King." I said, "I love the horns on it. The horns makes it feel like royalty." You know, and I'm black, so I want a little hip-hop on it too. So give me some 808 drums, give me some, you know, that hip-hop feel. Then they sent me back the song. Bro, this is perfect. Mind you, this is an instrumental song. There's no lyrics on the song. And I knew it was heat. So the first time I, you know, they played a song and I have a match. It's against Ilya Dragon off the Call of the Mad Dragon. It was like my first really big match at NXT. And the crowd filled it in perfectly. It was like meant to be. Whoop that trick. Like they been chant whoop that trick.

• 50:25Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 50:26Speaker 02

  But, but the song allowed them the opportunity to fill it in. You know what I'm saying? So I was like, whoop that trick. And you can see me smirk a little bit like.

• 50:36Speaker 08

  We got show.

• 50:38Speaker 02

  We got show now. And then like since then, it just kind of took off.

• 50:41Ryan Clark?

  Nah, I love that, man. Listen, we all know the Super Bowl of wrestling is WWE WrestleMania.

• 50:48Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 50:48Ryan Clark?

  That's the pinnacle of the entire sport, the entire business. That's, I think, April 18th and 19th.

• 50:54Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 50:55Ryan Clark?

  In Las Vegas. Every Monday night, we're all like, everything builds up to that. What are you most looking forward to in this stretch up to WrestleMania?

• 51:04Speaker 02

  Man, just killing every single show. Like I said, tomorrow ain't promised. So like, man, right now, like the momentum's going crazy. I'm thinking Friday, how am I gonna go viral again? You know what I mean? What can I do to up what I did last week? Trying to go crazy with this. I want them to say like, this is the greatest WWE superstar of all time. The most entertaining superstar alive. Like, that's what I'm thinking now. Like, how do I go crazier and crazier and crazier every single week?

• 51:30Ryan Clark?

  You know what's amazing? Your mother spoke into you, you know, that you were a king. And the thing I love the most about WWE is when you guys join the roster, even if they present you to a show or whatever it is, you're always introduced as WWE superstar. Right? They, they give you that moniker. They give you that name to know what the expectation of you is. The expectation of you when you get there isn't to just be here. Right? It's to excel. It's to be a superstar. And I think. That's the one difference in what you do from a lot of other businesses. They're like, nah, like, yeah, you got here, but we don't love you like that yet.

• 52:12Speaker 02

  Right, right, right.

• 52:13Ryan Clark?

  Whereas WWE is like, we love you like that. You still gotta show us every night. But we believe you a superstar. We're gonna let you know that you're a superstar. Now you go show the world every single day. And I think that's a lofty expectation to have. But I would rather the company I work for see me that way and present me that way than for them to be skeptical about who I am.

• 52:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Shout out to Nick Khan and Triple H because like they, they laying a platform for us WWE superstars like never before. I'm on the pivot, man. You know what I mean? I just left Breakfast Club, you know, did ESPN, you know what I mean? Like, I've been on the main roster two months. Like, that's insane in itself, man. So shout out to them, you know, because they make it happen.

• 52:55Ryan Clark?

  Well, also too, they don't miss though.

• 52:56Speaker 02

  They don't miss.

• 52:57Ryan Clark?

  Right? They are, they are, we were just talking about talent evaluators early. They are talent evaluators, right? They know what it looks like, they know what it has to be. And when they see it, they make sure they put the proper push behind it to make those people, make those athletes everything they believe that they could be.

• 53:15Channing Crowder?

  Bro, you're an entertainer and you do, you know, you sit down with a lot of people. I got a question I know you ain't heard, and I have to ask it. You're, you're engaged to Lash Legend.

• 53:24Speaker 02

  I am.

• 53:25Channing Crowder?

  She's what, 6'200?

• 53:26Speaker 02

  200.

• 53:27Channing Crowder?

  You 6'5", 260?

• 53:28Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 53:29Channing Crowder?

  There he goes. What y'all, bro, what y'all bed frame made of? What y'all, I, and y'all both wrestlers, I know y'all get after it. Like, you gotta have cedar blocks, two by fours something under the bed.

• 53:42Speaker 02

  That's right, man. You know, I keep that, what is it, Alaskan King, California King, one of them kings over there on the west coast.

• 53:47Channing Crowder?

  The big king.

• 53:48Speaker 02

  One of the big kings, you know what I mean? One of them things.

• 53:51Ryan Clark?

  I knew that was coming, dawg.

• 53:52Channing Crowder?

  Because I'm just, I'm like, goodness gracious. Yeah. Oh, they over there coming off, coming off the nightstand.

• 53:59Speaker 02

  Look, man, that NIL deal's about to be crazy. You know what I mean? I'm thinking, I'm thinking four, you know what I mean? That's my exit plan, you know what I mean?

• 54:10Ryan Clark?

  He got that John Brown. He got that John Brown, man. I ain't trying to be a friend, you know? You know what I mean?

• 54:16Fred Taylor?

  I could never be surprised with you. Asking about the bed frame?

• 54:20Ryan Clark?

  That's a lot of on that bed. A lot of humans getting after it, man. Lady says she wish she could've been a linebacker.

• 54:26Speaker 02

  Yeah. Man, you know, and my pops asked me, he said, you know, you know, Matt, you going out there to wrestle? You gonna date a wrestler? I'm like, no, I ain't gonna date no wrestler. You know what I mean? Here I am.

• 54:37Ryan Clark?

  I found you, baby.

• 54:38Speaker 02

  Here I am.

• 54:38Ryan Clark?

  Bianca and Tez, man. You know what I mean? It can work.

• 54:42Fred Taylor?

  Can't, can't stop God. But no, we always ask our guests their biggest favorite in life. That's that one moment you can look back on and say, because this happened to me or for me, I am who I am today.

• 54:52Speaker 02

  It's definitely, you know, I mean, going through that, that storm at Hampton University, you know, when I had to decide that I'm gonna take a leap of faith. I mean, I've been jumping ever since. So, you know, whichever camera's on me, like, man, if you got something that you think you wanna do, think you might do, something that you dreaming of doing, and it's in your heart, and you know it's something that's legit, man, go for it full speed, 100%. Don't ask nobody else for their opinion on it. Like, go make it happen, because you never know, you know what I mean, what's gonna happen from that.

• 55:24Ryan Clark?

  So my last question, this is a total wrestling question. WrestleMania, you're the guy. Who is your dream opponent for the championship belt?

• 55:35Speaker 02

  Roman Reigns.

• 55:38Ryan Clark?

  Why Roman Reigns?

• 55:39Speaker 02

  Cause he's the flag bearer of the company for the past three, four, five, six, seven, eight years. How long? I mean, and that's all due respect to Cody Rhodes, who's done an amazing job, an amazing job. Like, he's still on top of his game. CM Punk doing his thing. Randy Orton, who's talking trash, said that I'm not 6'5". We the same size.

• 55:59Speaker 02

  You just got quad muscles. But Roman Reigns is the guy, you know what I mean? Like the guy who put the company on his back. You know what I mean? If I want to be in the business and I say I want to be the best of all time, I gotta see the best of all time. And right now, that's Roman Reigns.

• 56:15Ryan Clark?

  Man, I love that. Bro, this was so much fun, man. I think the insight for you to talk about the transition, the parallels between the sports. But also, man, this show is called The Pivot, and you are a perfect example of that. You had one dream, that dream didn't manifest, but you manifested another one. And I mean, not everybody has the wherewithal or the fight and the ability to persevere like you do, man. So best of luck, man. Can't wait to see what you got up next.

• 56:44Speaker 02

  Man, thank y'all so much for having me, man. This is a dream come true, being here on The Pivot, man.

• 56:47Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate it. Hey, you should have bought that car for Fred.

• 56:51Speaker 02

  I should have. I didn't want to get turned down twice.

• 56:56Ryan Clark?

  Fred, it's you. Fred, you ran from the baby. I thought Fred, it's you, not the kid.

• 57:01Speaker 02

  He kept talking about, "Yeah, I signed every other kid."

• 57:03Ryan Clark?

  I signed every other kid.

• 57:05Fred Taylor?

  I was probably going to get a massage to get ready for the game.

• 57:07Ryan Clark?

  It was after the game, Fred.

• 57:09Fred Taylor?

  It was after the game.

• 57:12Ryan Clark?

  Fred, he left him hanging again. He tried to dap you off, but he just left.

• 57:16Fred Taylor?

  Oh, no, man, you know who's straight.

• 57:17Ryan Clark?

  Fred, Fred, Fred.

• 57:18Fred Taylor?

  These dudes straight.

• 57:19Ryan Clark?

  Fred Taylor, Mr. Taylor.

• 57:51Speaker 09

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