Wrestling the Pandemic, with WWE’s Xavier Woods

Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Gary O’Reilly and Chuck Nice step into the ring with WWE superstar Xavier Woods to explore professional wrestling, Esports, and how to keep sports thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

• 0:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now.

• 0:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  This is StarTalk, Sports Edition, and I'm your host Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, and I'm joined, as usual, by my two co-hosts, Gary O'Reilly. Gary?

• 0:28Chuck Nice?

  Ayyy!

• 0:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Gary in the house, former professional soccer player, I think they call it football over in the UK.

• 0:36Chuck Nice?

  We do.

• 0:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But we know it's not really football.

• 0:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And Chuck Nice, Chuck.

• 0:42Speaker 02

  Hey, hey, hey, hey, what's happening Neil?

• 0:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Chuck tweeting at Chuck Nice Comic, and who would've known how big a sports fan you actually are? You've been holding that a secret all those years, we were just doing pure StarTalks with you.

• 0:55Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, you know, Neil, I'm a very complex, multifaceted. Mm-hmm, you say don't put him in a box.

• 1:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And who else do we have? And we've got Austin Watson, uh, excuse me, Xavier Woods.

• 1:13Speaker 02

  I have like 10 names, I gotta stay out of trouble, you know, I got warrants on some, I gotta stay.

• 1:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I know. Maybe orders on others.

• 1:23Chuck Nice?

  Which ones do you use to cross the border?

• 1:27Speaker 02

  That's usually Austin Creek, that's like my gamer tag and people don't know that one as much, you know?

• 1:31Chuck Nice?

  Right on.

• 1:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So Xavier Woods of the WWE, which officially translates to what, out of that abbreviation?

• 1:42Speaker 02

  Uh, World Wrestling Entertainment. We put the E in entertainment.

• 1:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Very nice, very nice, and we've titled this Wrestling With Myself.

• 1:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Very cool. So.

• 1:55Speaker 02

  A lot of that throughout this quarantine.

• 1:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 1:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So you've been with WWE since 2010?

• 2:01Speaker 02

  Yes, sir. 2010 is when I got signed to a contract. I was in what we call developmental for a good while. At the time, it was called FCW, but now it's evolved into what's called NXT. Now it's its own brand. It's on USA Network on Wednesday nights. You know, it's a big thing now.

• 2:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You're one of the longest reigning tag team champions?

• 2:22Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 2:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Tag team champion?

• 2:24Speaker 02

  Yes, we broke the record a while back, and we are the longest reigning tag team champions in the history of WWE. It's kind of surreal.

• 2:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, so now, all that's cool and everything, but I care much less about that. You have a PhD.

• 2:38Speaker 02

  So, okay, so, long story on the PhD thing. So I got, I double majored in my undergrad. So it was psychology and philosophy, got a master's in psychology. This was all while wrestling as well. And then when I was at the PhD or at the dissertation portion, we got through the prospectus. And what eventually happened at the school that I was going to, I realized that I had been in the prospectus phase for like eight months, then 10 months, and then a year. And so I reached out to some other students and they said the same thing was happening with them. And all of my professors from college, I talked to them about it. They're like, no, it shouldn't, it shouldn't be like that. Like, let me see your stuff. And they looked through it and they said, ah, something's weird here. And so we found out that a lot of the students were being just held in that prospectus phase and a few filtering through so the cool school could kind of generate

• 3:23Speaker 02

  that money every couple of months. And so I went to transfer, but as you probably well know, you have to have the majority of your credits from the institution that gives you the degree. And so at that point, instead of being like three months away from getting my PhD, it would have been three years. And wrestling was ramping up. I had made a gaming channel on YouTube. I just had a kid, so I was like, you know what?

• 3:45Speaker 02

  This will be a dream that I pass along to my children. I got the two undergrads and a masters, and I have the knowledge, so I've been told, but just not use the paper.

• 3:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  As they say, ABD, all but dissertation.

• 3:58Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly.

• 3:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There you go, there you go. So your YouTube channel is called what?

• 4:02Speaker 02

  It's called Up Up Down Down. It's a playoff of a old school Konami code from back in the day, and it resonates with a lot of fans.

• 4:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Like deep insider referencing there, because otherwise it sounds like you're only partially literate.

• 4:16Chuck Nice?

  Or, or, or, or you're a toddler, you know?

• 4:19Speaker 02

  Exactly. It's, it's my son's unboxing channel.

• 4:23Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 4:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And what's this I hear that you're in the Guinness Book of World Records for what?

• 4:28Speaker 02

  Yes, so I am the, uh, I'm trying to say this correctly. I think it's a professional athlete with a gaming channel with the most subscribers. It's like the most specific thing that you could get.

• 4:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, start that again. Sorry. So the, the, the professional wrestler.

• 4:43Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 4:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  With a gaming channel.

• 4:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 4:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  With the most subscribers.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 4:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And that's a Guinness category?

• 4:50Speaker 02

  Yes, it is. Now it is.

• 4:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's just wrong. And I know you got the thing, just admit it, that's just wrong.

• 4:56Chuck Nice?

  No, no, that's not wrong. No, Austin, don't you be, don't you, uh, you own that. Because let me tell you something. I say this all the time. I am the funniest comedian that lives in my house.

• 5:06Speaker 02

  Bam, bam. And I commend you for that, sir. I would never take that from you. Because think about it, there's, there are people who have records for like eating the most watermelon, smashing the most origami swans. Why can't I have this one, you know?

• 5:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, no, yeah. Smashing origami. I, I like origami and I do origami. You smashed my swan, you know, you, that's hell to pay.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  So then you'll have the Guinness record for putting people in the hospital for smashing your origami.

• 5:33Chuck Nice?

  There you go.

• 5:33Gary O'Reilly?

  All I, all I think now is that we should get straight onto the Guinness Book of World Records and offer up our own world record.

• 5:41Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:41Gary O'Reilly?

  So that we can walk, walk around with our belts and our mantles and just rocking it.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, we could sell, we could do one right now.

• 5:48Chuck Nice?

  Exactly. By the way, Neil, that is the most awesome name for a metal band, uh, Smashing My Swan.

• 5:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Smashing Swans.

• 5:59Chuck Nice?

  Smashing Swans.

• 6:00Gary O'Reilly?

  The Smashing Swans, yeah.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  If you guys make search, I just want 10%.

• 6:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So Austin, I don't know if you knew, we, we, um, we visited a boxing ring, a training, uh, over on Long Island, and, um, it was.

• 6:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I don't wanna say delightful, it was delightful, but I mean, I I hurt for five days after that.

• 6:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 6:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And so we got a little taste of what goes on in a in a in a wrestling ring.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And I I I was teaching some of the guys some physics, you know, where center of mass would go relative to what they're trying to accomplish. So I I think there was a mutual exchange of sort of enlightened ways. And so I just wanna say we we we we did not walk quite a mile in your shoes, but a little bit.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  A quarter mile, it'll do you just fine.

• 6:52Chuck Nice?

  Now, now, try, how about this, we we kind of like stuck our toe in your shoe and then flicked it across the room like, I'm not wearing that.

• 7:02Speaker 02

  So were you guys doing, were you guys doing boxing stuff or were you doing wrestling stuff?

• 7:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I'm sorry, I said boxing ring, it was a wrestling ring.

• 7:08Chuck Nice?

  It was a wrestling. It's a regulation WWE ring.

• 7:11Speaker 02

  Oh, that's awesome.

• 7:13Gary O'Reilly?

  They threw me over the ropes.

• 7:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:16Gary O'Reilly?

  And out the ring. It's like, yeah, it's great. And I mean, I'll be honest with you, Neil was was in his element. He really did have a lot of fun.

• 7:25Chuck Nice?

  As quiet as it's kept, I gotta tell you, Neil looked like he wanted to be a WWE wrestler. But Neil was an actual wrestler, like from college days.

• 7:36Speaker 02

  Yes, I saw a picture of, so there was a few years ago, I was trying, I was, we were talking about something and I was looking something up about you and I saw a picture of you in the wrestling days, I was like, oh my God, I love him even more now. This is great. This is great. Cause for me, and I'm, I just wanna gush for a hot second. So so you're one of my guys because obviously my my parents just preach education in our house, like, yeah, we know you have this dream, but make sure that you're educated too. Because if you get injured, like I am right now, I tore my Achilles in October, so I can't wrestle.

• 8:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, we'll get to that in just a minute. Yeah, okay.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  So they always told me, even if something like that happens, you have to have something up here in order to know how to feed your family, know how to take care of your mortgage, pay your bills, all that kind of stuff. And so that's why I went to school. So there weren't tons of of black men in the media that were being pushed as intelligent. You know, anytime that I would see somebody who was a black male. In the media, it was like, oh, they're playing the role of like a thug or like a drug dealer or like some, like some, something negative, you know.

• 8:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, the singing and dancing, yeah.

• 8:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, you were one of the first guys that I saw that was like, oh, he's not on screen pushing an agenda like, hey, listen to me because I'm like smart and black. Like, no, just listen to me because I'm smart. And so just having you, having you there like in the zeitgeist, in the conversation was extremely helpful to me, you know, coming up and trying to get to where I am today. So, so thank you for that. Okay, I'm done.

• 8:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, after my introduction, like me, you still ended up as a wrestler.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  Well, it's, there's, there's this psychological aspect to it. It's, it's an incredible thing. So you know, the concept of group think and how it can be dangerous, but how it can be really positive. I think that wrestling is one of the greatest examples of, of positive group think on the planet because it's the last form of Shakespeare in the round, an audience in a 360 degree radius without having the opportunity to do things again. Everything is live. If it happens, it was supposed to happen. And being able to feed off of that energy that the crowd brings and then being able to make them feel a certain way, whether that emotion is happiness, sadness, whatever it is, that's, it's essentially, it's group think at its core.

• 9:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The record showed that Austin Creed analogized WWE to Shakespeare.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  Bam. That's what it is. That's what it is.

• 9:37Gary O'Reilly?

  I'm with that.

• 9:38Speaker 02

  I gotta give it to you. Yeah.

• 9:39Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, the, the fact that you've got that attitude is part of the reason why you're on because you're the different thinker. There's a different rhythm for, for you in, in your wrestling and how you see things. But go back to that point you made about being injured. Your Achilles tendon is, was long-term injury and that's one of the worst injuries you can get because the blood supply to the body is minimal. So the healing time is a lot longer and it's taken you out of your sport. I'm just sitting here thinking, how, how have you been able to adapt your mentality to being away from the scene that you are passionate about doing in the ring?

• 10:16Speaker 02

  Um, so honestly, it was, it wasn't, still is very mentally taxing, very difficult. Um, but I hadn't let it get to me for a good while. Then maybe like two or three months ago, uh, just out of the blue, I just broke down and I was just like, you know, crying in the dark for days. Like, you know that sitting in the shower, just letting the water hit you, just letting it all out?

• 10:37Gary O'Reilly?

  I've been there.

• 10:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. You, you know, you know. And so. I did that this morning, by the way. Hey, bless you for being on, taking the time.

• 10:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I don't mean to be the weird one of the bunch, but I've never done that.

• 10:50Speaker 02

  No.

• 10:51Gary O'Reilly?

  Well, blessings be upon you. You know what, Neil, I'm pleased, I hope you never do, because, I mean, I've had to sit through career-ending injuries. I've had to sit through long-term injuries, as Xavier is now, and it does, you just sit down and you wonder, where do I go from this particular moment in time?

• 11:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  How could it be a plural in career-ending injuries?

• 11:12Speaker 02

  That's called comedy, Neil.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  Every show I do is a career-ending injury.

• 11:20Gary O'Reilly?

  See, it's insult to injury. It is an insult to injury, when it's not enough to get one injury. You get another, and the combination of it just adds up, and it's an avalanche of injuries that just takes you out of the equation.

• 11:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, it's called age.

• 11:34Gary O'Reilly?

  That too.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  It adds up on you.

• 11:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, so Austin, are you young enough to come back from this injury?

• 11:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, so I'm 33, so my body is good to go, so I'll probably be back. Hopefully, things in the world get back to normal, and we're all good to bounce around again. But I should be back in like two or three months, if you're feeling good. So, it popped it in Sydney, Australia, in the middle of a match, and so I had to just stop and leave. And it was terrible, because it was the first match of the night in Sydney, the crowds going insane, and I did a backflip, and when I landed, it just felt like somebody kicked me in the back of the foot, and I went down, and I was like, oh, that's weird, and I went to stand.

• 12:09Gary O'Reilly?

  You didn't get the snap, you didn't get the gunshot, because people always talk to me about when Achilles goes bad, it's like a crack of a gun.

• 12:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, mine was, it wasn't super loud, but it just, it felt like, legit, like, that was kind of what I heard. But when I went to stand, you know immediately, even if it's never happened to you, I went to stand, I was like, I prayed, I was like, please, not my Achilles, and I got in the back, and they did a little calf test, and just wrapped it up. The next morning, flew home, had surgery the next day. Then I went to a convention the next Friday, because I love cosplay.

• 12:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh.

• 12:44Chuck Nice?

  So how, how?

• 12:45Speaker 02

  But I went as Professor X because I had a little motorized scooter.

• 12:48Chuck Nice?

  Nice.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  We built a little thing around it, so it worked out.

• 12:51Chuck Nice?

  That's cool.

• 12:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, I see. So you would not have otherwise have been Professor X were it not for your disabled Achilles.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 12:58Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, you said you're thirty-three years of age right now?

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Yes, sir.

• 13:02Gary O'Reilly?

  I mean, through my career, my recovery time from injury got longer and longer. Are you blessed with still rapid recovery? Or are you finding this thing takes more than time than you need it to?

• 13:14Speaker 02

  Um, for the average, I'm, I'm a little bit a ahead of average time wise. Um, so I'm still in that zone of where my body is like, kind of pumping on whatever cylinders it can to get healed.

• 13:25Gary O'Reilly?

  Yep.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Um, so I'm, I'm lucky that if it was gonna happen, that it happened to me now and not in a couple of years, when I feel like I would have slowed down a little bit. But, uh, but the, the switch to being at home at that point in time, it, it was weird. But one of the reasons that I've had this gaming channel and tried to build up all my gaming stuff on Twitch, and I've been hosting events at big gaming cons for the past couple of years is because it's something else that I am very much in love with, very passionate about. And I'm lucky that I have something like that. And so I've always wanted to build that so that when I was done wrestling, whether it got taken from me or whether I just hung up the boots on my own, I would have my next chapter already half written. So I wouldn't have to start from scratch. And so this, this, this really helped out in showing me that I'm making the right decisions. Because I kind of, I really didn't skip a beat when I got hurt.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  I just called everybody who was running conventions and gaming stuff. And they just, I was, my calendar was more full than it was when I was wrestling. So, uh, so it worked out in that aspect to kind of keep my mind off of everything.

• 14:19Chuck Nice?

  So not to bring in another show that we have done, but, uh, uh, when are you going to start your own gaming team? Your professional gaming team?

• 14:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. So that's kind of in the works, uh, and it has been for a while. But the biggest thing is I, I really want it to be a, a thing that's connected with WWE because I'm doing my best to try to be the, I'm, I'm the gaming guy of the company. And so I'm trying to shine that light to the higher ups. So they understand like how important this, this culture and this community is. So before I was to invest in my own, because I'm kind of investing in creating a video game right now. So money, money, money's on hold for that stuff. But if I can convince WWE to invest in a team, then we're gonna be all good.

• 14:59Chuck Nice?

  Nice, man. Wow. You are, uh, I have to say, a man of vision. Good for you.

• 15:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah. And, and, and to go from the wrestling to the gaming, that's still not really falling back on your education.

• 15:12Speaker 02

  Well, video games helped me a lot throughout school to kind of relax and have some downtime.

• 15:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, I see. So they kept you sane during your education?

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. But I'm hoping at some point, so my focus was helping children and families that are dealing with children that are dealing with autism. Because one of the biggest things that affected me throughout school was taking a seminar class in autism. And the parents coming in and telling their stories about what's going on with their kids. It's so sad.

• 15:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You get this in your psychology classes?

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah, definitely. But the most interesting part about it was the fact that all of the spotlight, all of the attention was given to the children, which they definitely need it. And it's definitely helpful for them. But no one was thinking about how this is also affecting the other members of the family. Because between the time a mother and a father have to spend with child A, while the second child, who doesn't really understand what's going on because they're too young, they just see that other kid getting more attention. And it's affecting them mentally. So I want to be the kind of person who is helping with the entire family and how they're feeling with this.

• 16:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, you're laying this stuff out. So you have multiple options.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  Got to.

• 16:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's not enough people do that. And they think luck is against them. When in fact, of course, luck comes to those who are best prepared.

• 16:27Speaker 02

  Luck is the intersection of skill and opportunity.

• 16:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Exactly, exactly. Oh, take a break. When we come back, more of our conversation with Austin Creed.

• 16:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We're back. StarTalk, sports edition. This time WWE World Wrestling Entertainment? Is that right, Austin?

• 17:06Speaker 02

  Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

• 17:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Austin Creed, that feels like a fake name. Like you're trying to walk the Apollo Creed thing.

• 17:12Chuck Nice?

  I know. You went with Xavier Wood, but yet your name is Austin Creed. Yes. And if I were to meet you and you were to tell me, oh, no, my real name is Austin Creed, I'd be like, yo, bro, if you don't want to tell me who you are, that's fine.

• 17:28Speaker 02

  So, okay, so I'll break it to the names now. So Austin Watson is my birth name, right? When I started wrestling, I was given a set of wrestling gear from my trainer and there was like American flag stuff. So we were like, oh, I can be the son of Apollo Creed. Cause that's my favorite character in all of anything ever. Um, he's got charisma, he can fight, he's jacked, like he's just awesome. And so I was Austin Creed. But then when I came to WWE, I had to make a new name that would fall underneath their legal structure. And I picked Xavier Woods. And so I kind of just cycle in between all three of those when I do stuff like this.

• 18:00Chuck Nice?

  Dude, that's great. That's great. So now, wait, when you talk about Apollo Creed, is he your favorite? Or is, is, is Michael B. Jordan your favorite, the son of Apollo?

• 18:10Speaker 02

  Apollo Creed is my favorite.

• 18:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ah.

• 18:12Speaker 02

  Carl Weathers.

• 18:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Thirty-three. He's, he's with, with Mr. T. All the way.

• 18:16Speaker 02

  Yeah. Carl Weathers is, is the man, uh, very talented actor and that role, like, I don't know, watching Rocky, like, did something to my soul as a kid.

• 18:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, oh, excuse me, I missed, I mixed it up. Right. There's Carl Weathers. So he was Apollo Creed. What was Mr. T?

• 18:34Speaker 02

  Clubber Lang.

• 18:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Clubber Lang, excuse me.

• 18:37Speaker 02

  Clubber Lang. That's the man right there.

• 18:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, um, you, you are dialing into us from Atlanta, is that correct?

• 18:46Speaker 02

  Yes, sir. I am in Atlanta, Georgia, about 15 minutes outside of the city.

• 18:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Normally, we'd bring it to New York for this, but we are in the, we are in the Corona-verse right now. Uh, we are not socially distancing because we are socially completely connected right now. We are physically distancing. Uh, let me just ask you, what, what impact does the pandemic have on live entertainment? Where the crowd is what would normally feed you in terms of your performance and your, your, your gesturing?

• 19:17Speaker 02

  Um, it's interesting because like you said, the crowd is such a vital part of what it is that, that we do in wrestling. But at the same time, if you were one of the guys or girls who came up on the independent wrestling scene, you most likely have experiences before because I know myself, I was wrestling on like random baseball fields in Rome, Georgia, which is like four hours away from me and I'm wrestling for like a coke and a hot dog and there's two people in the crowd and it's outside. So you wrestle, you wrestle differently based on things like that. And I think that with having no audience in the crowd this past couple of weeks and especially for WrestleMania, which is our biggest event of the year, it's going to be interesting, but you're going to be able to really see the talents that these men and women have shine through because

• 20:02Speaker 02

  everyone's so used to it being a one way. Everyone's about to find out it can be done this way as well. Because everything that we do is improv, for more or less anyway, it's improv, physical storytelling. And so, yeah, everybody's gonna get the opportunity to see the actual talent that these men and women have for going out and performing live. And it'll make everyone appreciate wrestling, I feel, so much more once everything is back to normal and crowds are there. Because you don't really sometimes appreciate what you have until it's gone. I feel like that's the same in a lot of forms of entertainment or just life in general. But wrestling, obviously, something special to me. I'm just excited for everyone to realize how good everyone is at this.

• 20:48Gary O'Reilly?

  How are your fellow wrestlers dealing with this, I call it a COVID timeout? Because you're part of an impact sport, literally. And you're gonna wrestle on your own.

• 21:01Speaker 02

  You're air wrestling.

• 21:03Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah.

• 21:04Speaker 02

  I'm just falling down in my house.

• 21:06Gary O'Reilly?

  Right. So how are the wrestlers, how are professional athletes getting to grips with having this enforced timeout?

• 21:13Speaker 02

  So I think that, for us at least, the wrestlers, a lot of us have like gyms in our homes and so, you know, keeping up with working out and things like that. I know that some of the shows were taped before because we knew a lot of this stuff was coming down. And so, trying to keep safety first as a measure, but then also trying to give people something to be entertained by during all of these hard times. A lot of the content was filmed beforehand and precautions were taken so it would be as safe as possible for everybody that was involved. But other than that, people are staying home and just trying to stay in shape and get ready for when everything is back rolling again.

• 21:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let me ask you, in terms of, I have a general wrestling question, if I can.

• 21:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Different wrestlers have different kinds of bodies, right? Some are short, some are tall, some are sort of all top-heavy, you know, like Greco-Roman upper body. And I'm just wondering, I've never seen a skinny wrestler.

• 22:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And just while we have here, let me see your guns. Let me see what you got there.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  Guns, let's go. Wow, come on Neil, come on. Look at that, man. Boom, boom. I'm like 5'9", so I'm one of the shorter guys, so I can't grow this way, so I gotta grow this way.

• 22:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So presumably, the portfolio of moves that you execute need to be within your own body's strength and flexibility combo, right? So you only choose to do things that you know your body's capacity can handle, correct?

• 22:52Speaker 02

  100%, yeah.

• 22:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  100%. So if someone else is putting a move on you, they're gonna put you through what they can do, right?

• 23:00Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 23:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, so one of my favorite moves is when, and not everyone can do this, right? You just go to some, you just pick them up and just put them over your head, just walk around.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:12Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  This is like a serious overhead press.

• 23:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I presume these are big guys doing it to little guys, right?

• 23:20Speaker 02

  Um, I mean, sometimes, yes. Most of the time for crowd reactions, if there's a big, strong hulking guy, so we've got a guy by the name of Braun Strowman, who's like 7 feet tall and 375, like, he does that stuff. I think we had, he threw Colin, Colin Jost, is that his name?

• 23:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Colin Jost, yeah.

• 23:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, SNL. Yeah, Mania last year, him and Michael Shay were up against, or were doing stuff with Braun Strowman, and he ended up throwing Michael out of the ring onto a bunch of the guys. And so, yes, a big hulking guy like that. But then also too, so shorter guys like me, when I'm wrestling guys that are my size or around there, I will do that as well sometimes, just because, try to show off.

• 24:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, that's what I'm saying, that's what I'm saying, yeah. Yeah, it's like, okay, don't mess with me, because look what I can do.

• 24:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, I'm not gonna do it to The Undertaker. Because he's a touch bigger than I am, but smaller guys, yes.

• 24:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, plus, I don't know that I'm that impressed that your seven-foot-tall, 375-pound guy did it to Colin Jost.

• 24:18Speaker 02

  See? Now, that's where this comes in.

• 24:23Chuck Nice?

  I gotta tell you the truth, I wouldn't be impressed if you did it to Colin Jost, Neil.

• 24:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We've actually had Colin Jost as one of our comedic co-hosts once. It was fun to have him. And he was already on Saturday Night Live, but he wasn't as big as he is today. I don't think he was yet dating Scarlett Johansson.

• 24:43Speaker 02

  So, so this show elevates me like that?

• 24:46Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  I appreciate you having me on, thank you.

• 24:49Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. It's called the StarTalk bump, yeah.

• 24:54Chuck Nice?

  But instead of bump, we like to call it gravity assist.

• 24:58Speaker 02

  There we go. StarTalk Gravity Assist. Well, Addict's everyone's PhD or my socials, what's up? Let me know.

• 25:06Gary O'Reilly?

  Those t-shirts will be already online very shortly. I must, I must ask you, Austin, just how good is your knowledge of anatomy? Because from my experience of wrestling, which is being thrown over the ropes and out the ring...

• 25:22Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, thank you for laughing. It's that point where, if you do this professionally, you've got to know where to hurt and how to do things so as you don't get hurt. So your landings, your impacts, everything, this knowledge has to really be on speed dial for you.

• 25:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a situation where, how do I explain this? Here, so if there are two people who can speak Spanish fluently, their conversation is quick. No one needs to slow down for anybody, they can just have the conversation and then go about their business. But if there's one person who's fluent and one person who speaks okay, then the person who speaks fluently will lead the conversation, walk them through, make sure they understand everything, and they talk that way. It's the same thing with wrestling. So, once you get past the point where you become fluent, that's because you spent X amount of hours in the ring, being thrown over the rope as you were. So, I can't tell you how many times that happened to me before I had my first match. So that, when it happened to me in front of a crowd with more adrenaline,

• 26:19Speaker 02

  I wouldn't overdo it and overshoot my, my landing area where I'm, where I know I won't get hurt, things like that. And obviously, there are still accidents, because like you said, it is a contact situation, and things do occur, but we're doing them as safely as possible, so don't try this at home. Years of training. I've been doing this since I was 17, so relax.

• 26:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, we don't, we're not, we actually don't have urges to throw each other over the road.

• 26:43Speaker 02

  Really?

• 26:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  If you're wondering.

• 26:45Chuck Nice?

  I was gonna say, you should speak for yourself.

• 26:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, wait. So, so Austin, that would mean, not to put words in your mouth, but that the least experienced wrestler is the most dangerous?

• 27:01Speaker 02

  Yes, definitely.

• 27:02Chuck Nice?

  Wow, that's a very good point, you know, it's, it's, and it's, it's kind of like, people who are not as skilled in any other professional sport. For instance, if you're a pitcher and you're got opening day jitters and you're not calmed and you're not connected mentally, you might look like you're throwing at a guy's head when really you're just so freaked out, like,

• 27:26Chuck Nice?

  I'm so sorry!

• 27:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 27:28Chuck Nice?

  You know?

• 27:30Speaker 02

  And that's all you could do. And it's, and it's on an even more intense scale, in my opinion, because I'm trusting that person with my body. And if my body, something happens to that, then that impedes my progress and my ability to make money in that line of work, you know? So you've really gotta always be thinking, for me, so I used to be a cheerleader as well in college, and we would do partner stunts, so essentially we're throwing girls up in the air and catching them and everything. And so, one thing I learned there, that's the most important lesson that I've learned in, like, physical, uh, physical activities, is always make sure the other person doesn't get hurt. Like, put your body on the line before you put theirs, because they're trusting you with their body. And they're gonna do the same for you and everybody's gonna come out okay.

• 28:11Chuck Nice?

  You just described why I could never be a cheerleader or a wrestler.

• 28:20Gary O'Reilly?

  I, I might echo that as well.

• 28:25Gary O'Reilly?

  Going back to something we discussed just a minute ago, was the empty arenas, the, the empty arena that WrestleMania will take place in front of.

• 28:35Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, you've talked about it from the point of view of the wrestlers. How do you think the psychology of your, your viewers is going to be when they see an empty stadium? And just the simple silhouettes of the wrestlers in the ring?

• 28:51Speaker 02

  I think it's gonna make them want to tune in, because...

• 28:55Speaker 02

  Everything that we do is based in the fact that anything can happen at any time. And so, people not having the opportunity to come physically to WrestleMania, when every single year prior, it's people from over 160 different countries, flying into town X for a week being there. We have a thing called Access, it's like a huge wrestling con all week. We take over the whole town. So not having all of those things, not having the actual bodies at Mania, I think it's gonna make people want to tune in even more. And I think that they're gonna be fine. I think they're gonna still understand everything because it's the same kind of audience. Like, Game of Thrones has no crowd. It's a television show that's dramatic and well-written storylines and things like that. And so, I think it's the same kind of vibe. This is a TV show. And this show, fortunately, like, will go on.

• 29:40Speaker 02

  So people have something to watch and something to be entertained by. And, uh, honestly, the empty arena is, is, it's a selling point, honestly, I think, for a lot of people to tune in, because they wanna see how it's gonna go.

• 29:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, it's a little bit of a hybrid between you performing on stage and me in a pay-per-view situation, right? I'm not there.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, how much do I really need to listen to somebody else react? When I can do my own reacting, uh, plus I paid for it.

• 30:07Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly. So you're watching. And you can check out WrestleMania for free, uh, if you subscribe to the WW Network. First month's free, I believe, so check it out.

• 30:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, Chuck lives off of that kinda stuff, Chuck.

• 30:18Chuck Nice?

  Yes, I do, because I'm sorry to tell you, uh, Austin, they will not like me. I subscribe to everything for the first month, and then I send myself a Google reminder to cancel 48 hours before the subscription. And you are shameless. You are shameless.

• 30:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Don't you pay you enough, Chuck?

• 30:39Chuck Nice?

  What's that?

• 30:42Chuck Nice?

  I will say, um, you guys take good care of me, and I enjoy every single dollar that I make here, because I love what I do. But, that don't stop me from being a cheap bastard.

• 30:55Gary O'Reilly?

  I gotta agree with you.

• 30:59Speaker 02

  One of the things my, so I'm on a team called The New Day with a guy named Kofi Kingston and Biggie.

• 31:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's the tag team, right?

• 31:05Speaker 02

  Yes, yes, sir. And so Biggie always says, there might not be a recession in the nation, but there's one in my house. So I'm saving some money.

• 31:13Gary O'Reilly?

  No one's gonna argue with it.

• 31:17Gary O'Reilly?

  Go on, before you do, Neil, sorry, can I, can I ask Austin this question? How do you think other sports are going to behave? Are they going to follow your lead with, with empty arenas? And how are fans going to react to that? Maybe with baseball, basketball, with football, when it...

• 31:34Chuck Nice?

  Everybody, let me just tell you, everybody's gonna be watching WrestleMania.

• 31:39Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 31:39Chuck Nice?

  Everybody from the NBA, everybody from MLB is gonna be watching WrestleMania to see what kind of response. They're gonna look at the numbers, they're gonna make some analytical data analysis to see whether or not it's worthwhile. Because these television contracts are beyond lucrative and it just gives them an opportunity. WrestleMania is gonna give them an opportunity to see whether or not a crowd-free transmission of a game is a viable model to pursue.

• 32:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Chuck, did Gary ask you that question?

• 32:18Chuck Nice?

  I'm sorry.

• 32:22Speaker 04

  We, in WrestleMania, we are, we are, we are gonna get a go. We all got a shot at this.

• 32:33Speaker 02

  Call him out like that?

• 32:35Chuck Nice?

  Oh my god.

• 32:36Speaker 04

  You just been smacked down.

• 32:36Chuck Nice?

  Neil, you just totally housed me.

• 32:41Chuck Nice?

  Speaking of wrestling, you totally bodied me, man.

• 32:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, see?

• 32:44Chuck Nice?

  You totally bodied me.

• 32:46Speaker 02

  Neil's ready on the mic.

• 32:47Chuck Nice?

  He just bodied me on the, on the show.

• 32:53Chuck Nice?

  Sorry, sorry, Austin.

• 32:57Chuck Nice?

  Let me follow that up with a question for you. Do you agree?

• 33:02Speaker 02

  I was gonna say, I couldn't have said it better myself.

• 33:06Speaker 02

  No, but honestly, I feel like, so wrestling is its own beast. So with the rules of, let's say that for the next year, we still have to keep it to where only 10 people can be around each other at the same time. So we couldn't play a regular football game, excuse me, American football game. No problem. But I think that if something like that occurs, yes, people are going to be watching WrestleMania to see how everything goes. But, and they're gonna try to figure out how to take that model and use it for themselves. So if it turns into like three on three NBA games and the rules change, because if this lasts long enough, people aren't gonna wanna miss out on, one, the entertainment, because TV shows are gonna run out eventually.

• 33:47Speaker 02

  If this stuff stays, entertainment, sports wise, is all gone right now, but they're gonna get back to it. And they're just figuring out how, and I think WrestleMania is really gonna give them a good look on how to do that.

• 34:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You said you had a kid, how old's your kid?

• 34:03Speaker 02

  Uh, my kid is two, and then I have a seven month old as well.

• 34:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, so they have no idea what you do professionally?

• 34:11Speaker 02

  The two year old, the two year old gets it, because he's been to shows, he's been running around in a ring with me. I'm definitely not trying to push him into wrestling. If he likes it, cool, but uh, just like Apollo Creed said, don't be like me, carry your briefcase to work.

• 34:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ooh, okay.

• 34:26Chuck Nice?

  And then use that briefcase to crack the back of your coworker.

• 34:34Gary O'Reilly?

  Wasn't there a wrestler who used to come in in a suit with the briefcase?

• 34:39Speaker 02

  Erwin R. Scheister, IRS.

• 34:42Gary O'Reilly?

  There you go, IRS.

• 34:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But it seems to me that you have a kid now, who throughout school, the kid can tell everyone else, my dad can kick your dad's ass.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  And I gladly will if anyone wants to step up to the plate.

• 34:57Gary O'Reilly?

  Ooh, gauntlet.

• 34:59Speaker 02

  Big dad fights at school.

• 35:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And if you're at the soccer field, and you know, the parents get all involved, you know.

• 35:08Gary O'Reilly?

  And they do.

• 35:11Speaker 02

  But see, my fight would go like this. It's gonna look great, but you're not gonna feel a thing.

• 35:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, yeah, there you go. Because you know how the body bends.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly.

• 35:20Chuck Nice?

  That's, that's, that's ugly. That's an ugly statement you just made.

• 35:25Chuck Nice?

  That's a scary statement. That's a really ugly, frightening statement.

• 35:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah. No, but it's completely true, Chuck.

• 35:32Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, yeah, no.

• 35:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You know how bodies... So I'll tell you an example. I had a wrestling coach who said, "Wherever you take the head, the body will follow."

• 35:42Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 35:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And I thought that was an interesting point.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  And it's true. That's why, like, as soon as you collar tie somebody in amateur wrestling, you bring them down some, their whole body comes with them. They're toast.

• 35:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, they're all... So the body does things, and as long as you do with the body what it will do naturally, then you're in complete control.

• 36:02Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then my kid never sits out. Always keep him in the game.

• 36:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh-huh. Alright, so we gotta wrap up. When we come back, more of this conversation with Austin Creed on StarTalk.

• 36:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We're back. StarTalk, Sports Edition. Austin Creed, which apparently is sort of his real name.

• 36:48Speaker 02

  Sort of.

• 36:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  WWE Xavier Wood. Thanks for being on StarTalk.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 36:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh, let me just ask, just to round out this show, we haven't talked much about your exercise regimen. What do you do to stay in shape, particularly now that you're 33, not, you know, 25 anymore?

• 37:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So what do you do? Because you're looking really good shape right now.

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Oh, thank you very much. Uh, so for me, it's been weird. So I've, like I said before, I've been wrestling since I was 17. I'm 33 now. I wrestled all throughout college, throughout grad school. And so this is just what I've always done. And so it's weird for me, when I got hurt, my thought was, "Well, I'm gonna be out for X amount of months, so what should we do? Let's just get real fat." So I ate everything in sight. My, my delicacy is chocolate ice cream with Cool Ranch Doritos mixed in.

• 37:40Chuck Nice?

  Oh my God.

• 37:41Speaker 02

  It's delicious. I'm telling you.

• 37:43Chuck Nice?

  Woo, it is also, it is also an affront to God.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  Well, if that's wrong, I don't want to be right.

• 37:51Speaker 02

  It's an affront to God in seven different religions.

• 37:55Speaker 02

  Vishnu is pissed. So, uh, after, I guess, October to like January, I just kind of ate everything. Stuffed crust pizza like four times a week covered in barbecue sauce. I was loving it. And so all of this was because I, I couldn't walk around really. I could, I could gingerly, but I couldn't jog, I couldn't run. But I guess in the last month and a half, I've, I've gotten there. So, uh, normally what I'll do is I'll get up and I'll run like two and a half, three miles. But that's running and walking because I'm still trying to strengthen the Achilles back. And then I have like a small gym in my garage. And so I've just got like dumbbells and, uh, and a bar. So I might, I'll go run first and then lift for maybe 30 or 45 minutes.

• 38:37Speaker 02

  Uh, just very focused thing. Like I might just like focus on biceps, might just focus on abs, might just focus on shoulders. But whatever it is that day, that's what I'm focusing on. Go to sleep, rinse and repeat, hang out with the kids, play video games, wake up, run, workout, get on Twitch, twitch.tv slash Austin Creed. And just that's, that's, that's been my everyday. And so I would say to any athletes that are, that are out there and not necessarily in the zone of, hey, there are things they can do at home, like get in that zone because even if you're not an athlete, just waking up and doing something to where you're sweating, it activates everything in your body. Cause if you work out first thing in the morning or first thing in the afternoon, whenever you wake up, no judgment.

• 39:17Speaker 02

  It ups your metabolism. You kind of burn calories all throughout the day, a little bit extra than you would, uh, normally. If you didn't work out first thing in the morning. So that's what I do to stay in shape and I've been, uh, lucky enough to have, uh, pretty sweet genetics from my parents. That I can fluctuate if I'm trying to lose weight, I can lose it quick. But if I'm trying to gain weight, I'm going to gain it quick too. So it's a lot of knowing your body and how it responds to the things that you do for physical activity and what it does when you intake certain foods.

• 39:43Chuck Nice?

  So did you have one fat parent and one skinny parent?

• 39:48Chuck Nice?

  You can leave the room.

• 39:51Speaker 02

  I wish it was that easy.

• 39:55Speaker 02

  Here you are, here's your genetics.

• 39:58Gary O'Reilly?

  Alright, okay, so we spoke about your up, up, down, down YouTube channel and how the Guinness Book of World Records has you listed.

• 40:08Gary O'Reilly?

  How did that come about? And you've partnered with Riot Games?

• 40:13Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:14Gary O'Reilly?

  We've got to explore esports more because, I don't know, with sport, live, active, human sport, off the menu right now, seeing as we're talking about food. Is it time for esports to come forward? Things like, we've done a show recently with drone racing.

• 40:30Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 40:31Gary O'Reilly?

  Is it time for those sort of things to come forward and stake a claim on mainline TV?

• 40:36Speaker 02

  100%, so esports is already at the, they've been there for years where they've been on ESPN with big events, but there's still not that huge cultural acceptance of what it is that we do. So there was a kid who won a Fortnite tournament a few months back and it was millions of dollars and I think he was like 13 or 15, something like that.

• 40:55Gary O'Reilly?

  Sounds right.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  And so like, at that point, mom comes in and says, "Clean your room", and he goes, "Ah, why?". You know? So, uh, there, these are avenues to make money and avenues that are fun to watch. And so I feel like in this time, like you're saying, esports is going to definitely take a much stronger foothold in what our current society accepts as, as work, as entertainment, as far as that stuff goes, because if they're not being, if people don't have the ability to watch, like, so March Madness, Ruined, right?

• 41:23Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  And there are people that look forward to that all year and it takes so long and you get so invested and you do your brackets. We can't do that and so people need something. And I feel like, so I'm on Twitch pretty much daily, playing, playing video games with people that are in my chat, people that come through, and so I'm finding more and more people are getting on Twitch, doing things like that. Uh, whether they're sitting just chatting about what would have happened in sports or they're playing video games or they're talking about anything. This, this type of, of virtual in-home entertainment, is how I'll kind of deem it, is definitely going to be... One of the most important things to us at this, at this point in time.

• 42:01Chuck Nice?

  Well, you know what? So, I mean, we are, first of all, so sports driven in America. I did, I was on, uh, somebody had me as a guest a couple of days ago on a sports podcast and, um, um, I said, you know, the rest of the world is on lockdown, but all they lost was soccer. Cause that's all they play. Look, we lost soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, that strong man competition where they just pick up boulders and walk around. Hot dog eating. I mean, you know, dude, we make everything a sport in this country, you know?

• 42:41Chuck Nice?

  So, uh, you know, and to prove it, I saw, um, FIFA, um, what's it called? Is it FIFA something? It's like Madden for soccer?

• 42:52Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, yeah. Just FIFA and then the year.

• 42:55Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. Yeah. Well, they had that playing on ESPN on TV a few days ago. It was, it was just the video game match. Okay? And it was the avatars of these players and it was straight up video game. Not showing players, not just showing the actual video game.

• 43:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  See, see, this isn't, Chuck, you're making an appeal for us to up our computing power. So that what we have on our computer is an exact simulation of ourselves. And then we wouldn't know whether we were in that simulation or not.

• 43:36Speaker 02

  Or are we already there?

• 43:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We're already.

• 43:38Chuck Nice?

  Oh.

• 43:40Speaker 02

  Is this the simulation crashing?

• 43:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ah.

• 43:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The philosophy of what student has spoken. Biological, but it's actually an electronic virus that's in the, in the code.

• 43:53Speaker 02

  Chuck glitched out.

• 43:56Gary O'Reilly?

  What twisted programmer decided to throw that in?

• 44:00Speaker 02

  But yeah, to that point, it's super interesting seeing stuff like that. So WWE was doing stuff like that yesterday, so just streaming across a bunch of platforms. So having dream matches that wouldn't happen, but then having those two people call in and live commentate what's going on. I think we as a country definitely feed off of competition. And once people realize their form of in the competition that they enjoy watching isn't going to be around for a little while, they're going to find something else. And the only thing that's really available is esports.

• 44:32Gary O'Reilly?

  What else have we got you going into? Because I mean, we know that, you know, if we take you out of your sport, you're going to sit down with a control panel and play the games. But where else has your desire led you to gravitate?

• 44:46Speaker 02

  Um, so it's been mainly video games and wrestling. We've been doing like some charity stuff. So right now, my friend that I cosplay with everywhere across the country, his name's Michael Mosley. So I put in a bunch of money so we could get materials and he's actually making a bunch of masks for a bunch of our healthcare friends because obviously masks are in short supply right now. And so doing things like that.

• 45:12Gary O'Reilly?

  Cool.

• 45:13Speaker 02

  And then just hanging out with my kids, you know? Honestly, like I've, so I've got my own podcast. It's me and my boys, The New Day. Every Monday, check it out, The New Day. And that's, that's really it. A lot of the things that I'm doing are getting on the internet, looking into this camera and talking to a bunch of people on Zoom for podcasts or for my-

• 45:34Gary O'Reilly?

  And who, what kind of guests do you have on your podcast?

• 45:36Speaker 02

  So for our podcast, a lot of times it's just us, but other times we'll have other wrestlers or people that are attached to wrestling and we're trying to get through all of those and make, essentially make a bigger schedule, especially right now.

• 45:49Gary O'Reilly?

  So my invitation, it must still be in my inbox.

• 45:52Speaker 02

  No, I was gonna, I was gonna ask you when we're done, actually.

• 45:54Gary O'Reilly?

  Man.

• 45:55Speaker 02

  Because we would, we would love to have-

• 45:57Gary O'Reilly?

  Maybe I missed it.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  We have a, we have a list of people and at the top for me is you and Michael McDonald.

• 46:07Speaker 02

  The singer.

• 46:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The singer.

• 46:09Speaker 02

  I love Michael McDonald. He's the greatest voice of all time.

• 46:12Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, God, love you.

• 46:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. He's incredible.

• 46:17Chuck Nice?

  That's so funny that you say that. My wife loves Michael McDonald. I got a chance to introduce her to Michael McDonald because I was doing a show with, what's the father of the OJs? He's, he's the original OJ, but his sons were two singers too.

• 46:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:34Chuck Nice?

  God, but anyway, uh, and it was so funny because I, he, he introduced me to Michael McDonald and then I introduced Michael McDonald to my wife and now my wife lives with Michael McDonald.

• 46:53Gary O'Reilly?

  Chuck, you're too happy at that and you know you're gonna pay for that remark.

• 47:00Speaker 02

  It'll get us digging. Uh, but no, we would, we'd love to have, honestly, we'd love to have all three of you guys on the podcast, just pushing the podcast, talking about what you're doing. Cause for, for us, yes, it's, there's some wrestling stories, but we try to just keep it as three guys who enjoy hanging out with each other, have good chemistry and the people that we bring on, we try to let them tell people what else is going on besides wrestling in the world. And so, uh, we'd be very interested to see, uh, what you guys would want to tell people on our show.

• 47:28Gary O'Reilly?

  Before Neil wraps this up, I have one question. Do you have any advice for the athletes and for those of us who are spectators during this particular pandemic?

• 47:39Speaker 02

  Uh, to the athletes, especially those of you with large followings on social media, just engage with the people that have been rocking with you all throughout your careers because at this point in time, uh, they just need something. They need something and for years they've given something to you. So, uh, do your best to give back to them, whether it's just videos, hey, you know, working out, like people want to see anything, any, any sense of normalcy that you can give the people who are following you, do your best to give them that. And then for the spectators, uh, just keep constantly supporting everybody that's doing their best to bring you some form of entertainment, some form of normalcy. Uh, because that's the only way we're going to get through this is by constantly supporting each other. So there's no need to be negative. Don't put any negativity out there. We don't

• 48:23Speaker 02

  need it. We don't need, there's enough negative energy out there already. Just put the positive out, put the positive and keep everybody smiling.

• 48:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's got that philosophical angle on.

• 48:31Chuck Nice?

  There you go. Yeah, man. Hey, speaking of philosophy, one last thing for me. How do you solve the trolley problem?

• 48:41Chuck Nice?

  How much longer do we have?

• 48:45Chuck Nice?

  Forget it.

• 48:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I try to save the most number of lives that I can at any given time.

• 48:52Chuck Nice?

  Really? Is that, is that, are you, okay, all right.

• 48:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I think in philosophy circles that I'm utilitarian, I think they call that.

• 49:00Chuck Nice?

  Yes. That is utilitarian. Yes. So, so you don't believe in moral absolutes then?

• 49:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Um, I don't believe in anything.

• 49:11Speaker 02

  He said, I believe in.

• 49:12Chuck Nice?

  Oh, well, there you go. Neil for the win. I gotta give it to you. Forget it.

• 49:20Speaker 02

  You can only do what you can do.

• 49:21Chuck Nice?

  Ah, there you go, baby.

• 49:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  On land is playing, I just gotta say, um, the three of us,

• 49:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  that is everyone but Gary, look like we're in our home in some room somewhere. But Gary, you're in like a safe house in Siberia.

• 49:39Speaker 02

  Big game hunter. Big game hunter Gary.

• 49:42Chuck Nice?

  Big game hunter.

• 49:43Gary O'Reilly?

  These are, I'm in the space with them, but they're not mine.

• 49:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 49:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's what any safe house person would say.

• 49:51Gary O'Reilly?

  And now, and now I have to change my safe house. Thank you.

• 49:54Speaker 02

  Exactly. Officer, I've never seen these in my life.

• 49:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, Austin, it's been great to have you on.

• 50:01Speaker 02

  It's a blast.

• 50:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And we'll await our own invitations to appear on your podcast.

• 50:06Speaker 02

  A hundred percent.

• 50:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We'd be delighted to do so.

• 50:08Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, and speedy recovery, my friend.

• 50:11Speaker 02

  Appreciate it.

• 50:12Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 02

  Yes, this is, this is great. I appreciate you guys having me. Everybody that's listening, check me out on twitch.tv slash Austin Creed and on YouTube, up, up, down, down, and on Instagram and Twitter, at Xavier Woods PhD, and listen to our podcast every single Monday. This, wherever you listen to podcasts, search The New Day, click the pink picture with the three black guys' heads on it.

• 50:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  See, we would have said that, but I, there's no way I can remember all of that, so I'm glad.

• 50:36Speaker 02

  It's fine. I'm a natural, I'm a natural plug machine.

• 50:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So you've been watching, possibly even listening to StarTalk Sports Edition, and I've been your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson. I'm thanking Chuck and Gary and Austin for being on this program. As always, I bid you to keep looking.