Loyal to the Vision w/ The Undertaker

How do you stay at the top of your game for 30+ years? If you want to WIN, you must BECOME your definition of success even before you’ve made it! When you’re building a business or climbing the corporate ladder, as the years go on, there is a physical and mental toll that you must learn how to deal with if you’re going to last! My next guest is the world’s most well-known and longest-tenured WWE superstar in the history of the organization! He is a seven-time WWE world heavyweight champion and one of the greatest superstars of all time! With a streak of over 21 straight victories and a multiple times headliner for Wrestle Mania I know you’ve heard of him! I am so excited to bring you, Mark Calaway, AKA The Undertaker! In this interview, Mark shares his habits, rituals, and routines that empowered him to remain at the top of his game and the top of the WWE for over 30 years AND we dive deep into how YOU can implement them into your life to achieve your greatest successes. You’ve got to have all the right pieces to become great! “I lived this thing…” Mark actually BECAME the Undertaker. His words embody the passion and commitment and dedication you must have to accomplish greatness. It’s not just about your performance in the ring. What you do, how you live, and what’s in your heart OUTSIDE of the ring is just as, if not MORE important. You’ll learn the key elements to becoming a LEADER and the number one core value you MUST have. You’ll learn how to build trust within your organization and how you can make a comeback DESPITE the effects of COVID-19! With a surprise appearance from Mark’s wife, Michelle McCool, an acclaimed WWE superstar herself, together they share their story on how they cope with having experienced 3 miscarriages. This interview gets DEEP, it gets EMOTIONAL and it will help you get the RESULTS you’re fighting for. Living your dream is by far the GREATEST feeling you will ever experience. Mark shares what it was like for him at the moment he realized he made it and how that energy transformed his entire life. If you are on a journey to achieve your GOD-SIZED dreams, this interview is for you! 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.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is.

• 1:12Speaker 03

  Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up.

• 1:16Speaker 02

  From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:38Speaker 04

  This is The Ed Mylett Show.

• 1:46Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I'm Ed Mylett. Fired up about today because this is a man that I've admired from a distance. We have some mutual friends that connected us. And today is about, really, the longest-tenured WWE superstar in the history of the organization. Kind of a leader in the locker room, more television appearances than anybody ever. Had the streak at WrestleMania forever. But what I'm excited about is we get to talk out of character now, not just in character the whole time. So we can talk about life and growth and longevity and being productive. With uh, someone who's highly qualified to do it. So my guest today is the Undertaker, AKA Mark Calaway. So Mark, thanks for being here, brother.

• 2:28Speaker 03

  No, thanks for having me, man. I'm excited.

• 2:31Ed Mylett?

  The thing that stands out the most about you to me is, you've been doing this a long time.

• 2:36Speaker 03

  Real long time.

• 2:37Ed Mylett?

  Real long time. When did you start it?

• 2:39Speaker 03

  Thirty years with WWE, and then I was in the business another three years before I got that break. So yeah, going on thirty-three plus years in the wrestling business.

• 2:51Ed Mylett?

  And not only you guys, and by the way, many of you listeners are WWE fans and many of you are not. And I think we're gonna be able to navigate both worlds today. But guys, you know, thirty-plus years in his industry, the mental toll, the physical toll, the traveling toll, all of those things. And you know, a lot of entrepreneurs listen to my stuff, Mark. A lot of people who want to win, one of the things I always say is the best ability is availability.

• 3:17Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 3:17Ed Mylett?

  Being available, you've somehow done that better than any human being in the history of the WWE. What are some of the things that have been the key to that? Or was it just fortunate over time, or were there things you think you did, other guys didn't?

• 3:31Speaker 03

  I think uh, it's a little of both. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. But I was, I knew my passion. And I realized that this business is so competitive that you, you have to be present and you have to make yourself available. And then you also have to realize that, you know, everything's kind of on a wheel. And sometimes you're gonna be at the top of that wheel, and sometimes you're gonna be at the bottom. But the goal obviously is always to, you know, you know, try to kind of be up at that top. So uh, you know, there's been a lot of times where, yeah, I would be at the top.

• 4:14Speaker 03

  And then, you know, you start to slide down as other people come in and fresh faces are, you know, and you accept that.

• 4:22Speaker 03

  Or you figure out, okay, what do I do to get myself back up to the top and become relevant? And I was, I think a lot of it was being fortunate, but a lot of it was not being content. And that's one of the things I always tell these young guys when they're, you know, they're coming up and they're kind of starting to get a little bit of the taste and a push. It's like, don't ever be content in this business because once you become content, you're satisfied and you cease to grow. You know, and that's, and, and they look at you like, oh, you know, well, I just got recognized at the Waffle House and we got a free cup of coffee. I was like, well, if that's your goal, you are in the wrong business, man, because it's too hard a life

• 5:08Speaker 03

  uh, to, to not want to be at the top of that circle and, and to be at the top of the page.

• 5:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I say that all the time. Like, guys, this is why I wanted Mark on today. Everything he's going to say is going to be part WWE, part life. And really in life, if you set these low standards for yourself, you keep hitting them, you're going to hold yourself back. What he's really saying is he's set a higher standard. And by the way, everyone, I, I gotta tell you this. I was just telling Mark, I just watched the entire, I guess you call it docu-series or documentary called The Last Ride that Mark is a part of. It's gripping. It's not just WWE. It's about life. It's about family. It's about he and Michelle, who's going to be joining us at some point probably today as well. And one of the things that I noticed about you, brother, on the, that 30-year arc

• 5:55Ed Mylett?

  was how hard you are in yourself, how self-aware you are, particularly as it, as it opens. I won't give the whole thing away, but it opens up with your match with Roman Reigns.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Right.

• 6:06Ed Mylett?

  And you were injured at the time and, you know, maybe not at the top of your game. And to watch you watch you back.

• 6:15Ed Mylett?

  In that video, it made me emotional. I was out on my balcony alone. It was like 11 o'clock last night and I literally got tears in my eyes because I so admired your self-reflection, your awareness and your desire, even at that time, you're probably 52 probably, in your 50s already, right? He's 55 years old guys and if you're watching YouTube, look at this man's physique, right? But talk about that, like setting that standard for yourself, being aware, you setting the highest standard for yourself, not Vince, not someone else but you.

• 6:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm my toughest critic and I always have been. You got everybody telling you through the course of your career, especially when you're coming up, "Oh man, you're great, you're this, you're that." And I mean, yeah, that's fine, but you have to, you've got to take that and you have to put it aside. And it's like when I, when I watched my back when I was coming up and I watched my matches back, good, bad and different. I always had to watch them alone because I didn't want any feedback from anybody else saying, "Oh man, that was, that was great. That was, oh man, how did you do that? That was so cool." You know, I wanted to watch, even on the good stuff, I wanted to watch

• 7:28Speaker 03

  and see what I did wrong. I wanted to know what, okay, in that situation, what could I have done better to make that match better? And that's, like I said, that's how you continue to grow. The Roman match at WrestleMania, I was, that was tough. And what was so good about the doc was, that was the actual first time that I watched it back. Being later in my career, I was, at that point when I watched it back, I was pretty much done. I was just like, I can't, my bodies give out on me, I can't. And I have to start thinking long-term after 30 plus years.

• 8:06Speaker 03

  And so that was, that was really raw and, and real because I knew, I knew, I knew it was gonna be tough to watch. Um, and then having to do it in that environment with cameras on me and it was.

• 8:21Ed Mylett?

  And out of, and out of character too, right? I mean.

• 8:24Speaker 03

  Completely out of character, right? So you got, what you got is, is, is Mark thinking in his head like, you know, there's a lot of things that I wanted to say. Obviously that would have been bleeped and, and edited just because I was so disappointed. And not just disappointed for me, I was disappointed for, for Roman in that sense.

• 8:45Ed Mylett?

  I saw that.

• 8:46Speaker 03

  Because it was, it was my, it was my opportunity to, to give him something that was gonna push him. You know, that was gonna push him to a higher level and it didn't, I didn't deliver on that. Um, and I can't make excuse, yes, I was banged up and beat up, but I was there. So, you know, I, I, I have a response, in my mind, I have a responsibility. If my name is on, is on the page, then you gotta go. And I was just, I got. I knew when, I knew in January that I was physically. I was physically not gonna be at my best, but it was too late at that point. Like I'd already committed, it's already down, this is what's gonna happen.

• 9:30Speaker 03

  And I was scrambling, trying to figure out how to, you know, how I was gonna make this work. And it just, um, I, I was, yeah, I was thoroughly disappointed and, and, um. And then there we go. Then the documentary kinda gets, gets rolling because.

• 9:45Ed Mylett?

  It does.

• 9:45Speaker 03

  Initially, you know, initially it was just, I had those guys there to, to cover that weekend.

• 9:53Ed Mylett?

  Oh, is that right? That's all it was gonna be?

• 9:54Speaker 03

  It was all, it was on the beat because I said, I, because I thought that was gonna be it.

• 9:58Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 9:59Speaker 03

  Oh, the stuff with the hat and the coat, everything in the ring, all that was, that was just raw and real.

• 10:08Speaker 03

  And um, you know, so I just, I'm not gonna get another chance to catch the stuff backstage and my interactions with my peers and Vince and I just wanted that and not knowing what we were gonna have, but I knew that I wasn't gonna have another chance to get it.

• 10:24Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, guys, I gotta tell you, Mark's being humble. I don't care if you're WWE fan or not, if you're a fan of achievement, of redemption, of comebacks, which a lot of people need right now, um, learning about a beautiful marriage and how it can make a man stronger, uh, you should go watch this. I gotta tell you, The Last Ride, I watched the entire thing and the thing that, you know, the reason that the show is called Max Out and Mark person, you're talking about maxing out a career, that's the definition of Mark's life in the WWE as the Undertaker. He's maxed out that career and I have a funny feeling he's not done, which we'll talk about at the end, but, um, but I gotta tell you all something, what he's describing here, guys, this not believing your press clipping

• 11:06Ed Mylett?

  saying, not buying into all the rah rah and hype and accolades you get, I talk a lot about, is your will to win for sale. And yeah, people can lose their will to win when they lose, but you can lose your will to win when you win. In other words, enough accolades, enough money, enough success, it buys your will to still want to get better. It buys your will to want to improve. The thing that I love about Mark and watching him was you can't buy this man's will to win. And I think that's linked to the 30-year-plus career. The other guys, the accolades, the success, the access to different things at some point stole their will to prepare. I'm not doubtful that you didn't get off track a couple times, but getting back on track. And I gotta ask you, because even as you're talking, it's

• 11:51Ed Mylett?

  a little odd for me to talk to you as Mark, because I think unlike, this is why The Last Ride's so interesting too. You've done very few interviews ever, not as the character. Did you take that to the extreme? Like, I'm just, I ran into you in an airport when I was very young. I'll tell you about that in a minute, but. Like you were in character at the airport when I was there. We were at a baggage claim, guys. And I don't know how old I was, Mark and I aren't even that far apart in age, but I was on like one of my first business trips. I was at a baggage claim. I never came, I didn't say anything to you. But I watched you interact with the fans first. You had your bag with you for about forty minutes, brother. And you've probably done this hundreds of times. And I watched you talk to every single fan, take every single picture, shake every single hand. And I watched him, looked them in the eye too. And I said, I like this dude.

• 12:37Ed Mylett?

  But you looked like the undertaker, not with the, you know, the eye makeup on, but it seemed like you were kind of halfway in character. Am I crazy? Or did you do that in real life when you went out?

• 12:45Speaker 03

  No, I, I lived this thing. Uh, I, I really did. When I, when I started and this character was so unique, especially for the time period. Um, Vince had all these over the top, these all over the top characters and, uh, and he, and he gave me this, the whole, the, the original likeness, the name was all Vince's brainchild. And he gave it to me. And he said, this is your opportunity. And so I took it from there. So, you know, when we developed, when I started developing the character,

• 13:24Speaker 03

  I was like, there's only one way that this is going to work. And it was a lot simpler back then because there, you know, there, there wasn't cell phones and, and people recording everything that you do.

• 13:35Speaker 03

  But I said, I've got to be this for this to work. I can't be that on TV and then be at the airport in a Hawaiian shirt, you know, slapping high fives and, and it, because it was too big to me. It was too big a, a disconnect. And, you know, there was a lot of opportunities that I was presented with early on that I passed on. Like people thought I was absolutely nuts, but you'd have to realize that this was my passion, like. Being a professional wrestler, being with the WWE, that was, that was me, right? That, I mean, that's what my focus was. And yes, I had opportunities to go and, and do a lot of different things, but in my head,

• 14:20Speaker 03

  like, okay, this is, this is my, this is my passion. Now, how am I gonna go off and do this and be this completely different character and be the, and then come back and expect people to buy into what I was doing?

• 14:32Ed Mylett?

  There's all the elements of being the greatest. So he's being humble, but he's the greatest of all time. He's the most respected guy in the locker room, most longevity. By the way, he's not gonna tell you this, kind of known as being involved in maybe three of the top three matches of all time, also has one guy in common, him. And, and you guys, forget what you do, you're an engineer, listen to this, you're a school teacher, listen to this, you're an entrepreneur. There are elements that he's giving you that are the pieces to being great. And one of them, I'll help him say this, because he's got so much humility, is his loyalty. It's his loyalty. When he's saying he passed on things, let me be specific, he passed on movie roles and things like that, that he could have done out of character.

• 15:16Ed Mylett?

  There were times where he was offered more money to leave the organization, like other guys did, that were hot, and he stayed and was loyal. And I think loyalty is a very undervalued commodity in becoming a leader. And you're sort of a leader in the locker room for that organization. I gotta think that, and I'd like you to talk about both these things, Mark. One is being a leader and the way you do it, because I get the feeling you're not a rah-rah dude, jump up and down, and, you know, all that, but you are a leader in the organization. And then, since we're on that topic, talk about the very unique relationship you have with the overall leader of the organization in Vince McMahon. It seems that that's become a special friendship forged through loyalty, probably more than anything.

• 16:01Ed Mylett?

  And I gotta think that friendship's been both good to his career and your career as well, so speak to those couple things.

• 16:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, absolutely. So as far as the, you know, being the leader, it was never really...

• 16:13Speaker 03

  It was never really something like I tried to pursue. It just, it just kinda happened through the years and I, I fell into this unique position where the, the boys, the guy, the wrestlers, you know, they saw what the business meant to me and that the business always came first. No matter what, the business came first as far, when we're out on the road, obviously, you know, your family comes first, but in a business sense, when I'm, when I'm, I don't care how late we stayed out, how, whatever we did nightlife wise, it did not affect the next day's performance. If it did, then you knew you were gonna get, you know, you

• 16:57Speaker 03

  get pulled aside and say, "Look, if you can't handle this, then maybe you shouldn't be doing this." Because at the end of the day, it depends on what we do for our audience the next day. Guys appreciated that, but they, they knew, like, okay, hey, you know, takes one of us, he goes out and he has a good time, just like everybody else, but at bell time, all that goes out the window until after it's all over with. And so, yeah, so there was this, I had, and then I had the also, I had the, the trust of what we call the office, you know, there's the office and then there's the boys. Somehow or another, I kinda landed in the middle. Like, I was always accepted as one of the boys, but the

• 17:39Speaker 03

  office knew that, that they could, they could trust me. And there were a lot of times, like whoever our, um, our, uh, our talent relations VP was, there was a lot of times they would come to me and say, "Hey, this is, you know, we're having this, this issue." And I could go to the guys, or a guy, or a person, pull them aside and say, "Look, man, you know, I understand." And they appreciated that because they know that I've been through every, everything possible to go through. So, you know, it wasn't like, oh, well, you know, Undertaker's a stooge for the office and he's trying to. Ah, right. You know, they trusted me. So I had that trust on each side.

• 18:25Speaker 03

  But I could, many times I could talk to somebody and say, hey, look, this is, this is their perspective. Okay, I understand your perspective because I'm, you know, I'm talent, right? I'm talent, I'm with you. So a lot of times that happened and I could divert bigger issues with guys. If they could kind of get over, you know, if they could get over the ego and then they knew and they trusted me enough like, well, you know, Taker's not going to screw me over. So it worked out, it worked, it worked out really nice. And then with Vince, and, and the loyalty and everything else.

• 19:03Speaker 03

  I, um, so I was told by WCW.

• 19:09Speaker 03

  I was told, I went, I, I'd been there for about a year. My contract was coming up. And I went in to renegotiate my contract. And I wasn't looking for a huge bump, but I was looking for, you know, I'd been, I had a pretty good year and I was just looking for a slight, just a slight bump. And I was told by, you know, Jim Heard, who was running the company at the time, Ole Anderson and Jim Barnett, they looked me square in my eyes. And they said, you're a great athlete, but no one's ever going to pay money to watch you wrestle.

• 19:45Speaker 03

  Seriously. Okay. That's all I needed to hear. So Vince, so I get a meeting with Vince and, you know, he eventually gives me that opportunity. And that's all he ever promised me was an opportunity. He never told me, hey, you're gonna be, you're gonna be this guy here for 30 years and do all these things. He said, I'm gonna give you an opportunity. When I did become a commodity, when WCW wanted me back, you know, they wanted to pay me big bucks because they were paying everybody big bucks.

• 20:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 20:15Speaker 03

  You know, it's like, no, I, I, I can't do that. You know, they're offering me a lot more money, but this is the man who made me and, and that's just the way it is. And then obviously we just, our, our, our, we've been through so much together professionally, personally, that, um, you know, most times now I don't even deal with Vince hardly when it comes to business.

• 20:39Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 20:39Speaker 03

  Our, our relationship 90% of the time is more of that of friends than it is of, of business. Unless there's a special ask that nobody else wants to ask me to do, then they, they, you're the only one that's gonna be able to get him to do it. So.

• 20:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Well, I think when it comes to you second nature, which is loyalty, isn't second nature for most people. And I think that's one of the other elements. I see Michelle sitting back there.

• 21:03Speaker 03

  Yeah. Come on in.

• 21:05Ed Mylett?

  So there's Michelle, everybody. And when y'all get the chance to watch this docu-series, you'll get it. Okay. But I'm glad you joined at the perfect time. Thank you for doing that.

• 21:14Speaker 05

  Thank you.

• 21:15Ed Mylett?

  Because what I want to shift to involves both of you and I want you both to comment on it. Let's be real. We just had COVID, right? The economy's in the tank, you know, things aren't going good. There's millions of people that have had a job and lost it right now. There's entrepreneurs that had a business that are losing it. There's people that got really fit the last couple of years. I haven't even go to a gym in three, four months. They've lost a little of their fitness. Bottom line is there's millions of people around the world right now that need to make a comeback. And as I was prepping for this, and then I watched the last ride, I'm like, oh, man, all right, this is perfect. Because what really happened was, guys, when you watch this, it's really becomes a part of how these two people in love with each other unify and create

• 21:57Ed Mylett?

  a comeback in his career. Because Michelle is and was a WWE superstar in her own right, everybody. And we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute too. But talk a little bit about the comeback because it's pretty cool. You watch it like, it's a broken down CDO repair place or whatever that thing was that you were training in.

• 22:15Speaker 03

  It was, uh, yeah, that place, that place hadn't been touched.

• 22:20Speaker 05

  It was not sanitary, I can tell you that.

• 22:23Speaker 03

  I don't think anybody had even walked in that place in over 15 years.

• 22:26Speaker 05

  Oh, it was bad.

• 22:27Ed Mylett?

  That just blew my mind because I'm like, the, the greatest WWE superstar of all time, ends up making his comeback in a place that's like no one's been in for, like, it looked like they're in the middle of nowhere, like an abandoned whatever they were in, you know? And, and that's where the comeback started, but let's talk about that for a minute. I want to set the stage for everybody for whatever your career is. This is a man who's climbed to the top of his industry, right? And Michelle's also been at the top of that industry. He ends up for his la- he's gonna have his last match and doesn't go the way he wants it to. And over time, it gnaws at him a little bit. Like anybody, he wants to make a comeback. It's like many of you right now listening to this, driving in your car, or you're finally back on a treadmill at the gym, listen to this.

• 23:11Ed Mylett?

  And imagine after 30 years, his body's beaten up, he's already been to the top, he doesn't need to do it, he's already the most admired dude in the sport, yet he makes a comeback. What were some of the things mentally that you both had to do in order to create the mindset where you're willing to go do that work again? Like you changed your body. That, the, the Roman Reigns match to the comeback match, Mike, you just physically look like a different person, right? So talk a little bit mentally what you had to do to do that. What were some of the elements? And both of you can comment on it.

• 23:43Speaker 05

  I think one thing that's key for both of us, it's a blessing and a curse, is we're both completely stubborn. So sometimes though, that helps out, like in situations like this, you know? We both have the mentality of you

• 23:56Speaker 05

  gonna do something, you're gonna get it done and do it right and go after it, you know? And just give it your all. And I think, you know, being stubborn helped.

• 24:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, I definitely wasn't gonna let that be the last memory. That people had of me. So I knew, you know, as you get older, you you had you have to accept the fact that you're going to have to put in twice the work and get half the results. You have to accept that fact. So I had to make the we had to make the the mental decision like, okay, if I'm gonna do this, I mean, we gotta go. And she's like, all right, if that's what you want to do, then we're gonna do it. So on her end, she, you know, she drops everything that that that she's got to do to make sure that

• 24:46Speaker 03

  I've got meal prep and I've got, you know, all my appointments lined up like for for rehab, stretching, all all these different things that normally that just she took all that worry off the table. And then, so then it's just the training aspect. And then the training was obviously getting my getting my hip fixed, which was covered pretty well in the in the in the doc. Um, that allowed me to train at a much different level. Um, and then that was kind of a that that alone was a breath of fresh air. Although although it's a, you know, that's one little part of the the of my body that I have issues with, that was the main one.

• 25:31Ed Mylett?

  Was there doubt, Mark, like, hey, I'm gonna come back and have a second match I'm not proud of, and I'm gonna embarrass myself or something like that? Because I think a lot of people right now that are thinking about making a comeback, they're like, if I fall on my face again, I don't know if I can handle doing that again. Did you have any of that? Michelle, were you worried about that?

• 25:48Speaker 05

  Um, no, but I know how he operates, and I was worried that he was, I mean, knowing him, I think it's safe to say you're probably thinking about it, it was in the back of your head, which is the reason you're going back in the first place, because you weren't happy of, you know, from the last one, and just kind of out there to prove something, so. I knew he wanted to do it, but I think in the same regard, we're both the type of people, you can't fear failure. If you're gonna do it, go out there, you know, learn from the past mistakes. And like he just said, train the best way possible for his body to get into the ring and, you know, see what happens. You just can't fear that failure.

• 26:23Ed Mylett?

  It looked to me like, and I think there's a huge lesson in this, guys. I'm seeing, I want y'all to watch this thing. And I'm not pumping the documentary. I'm just telling you it'll make an impact on you. And a WWE fan, of course it would. But the millions of you listening to me right now that aren't, it'll make an impact on you and where you are in your life. You're gonna see, you're gonna see what, they're both really humble people. You're gonna see what Michelle did. I think what made the comeback work, guys, I don't think you can dabble in your comeback. Like, they threw the kitchen sink. It was like shock and awe at this thing. All hands on deck. The whole family rallied. They get this place set up. Even the little details, Mark, with like the banners of the other dudes and you up in there, like, you're looking, you said one point, you said, "Those guys are watching me." Right? Like, to me, man, like, that was, it was like,

• 27:08Ed Mylett?

  almost like a real-life Rocky movie, for real. And then, everybody, and I'll warn you of this, then he comes back, and he does great, but it's not even really what he wished for. It wasn't like, it was a five-minute match. He trained for 30, 40 minutes. And so, even when you get your comeback, the first time you come back, it may not even be exactly what you wanted. And then he went past that moment, true, Mark? It wasn't what you were looking for.

• 27:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, I trained, I trained for a 45-minute, all-out, back-and-forth war and was so ready for that. And then I got there the day of, and that's, that's, you know, it's gonna be five minutes, and you're gonna be a romping, stomping dragon. And, you know, and that's what we sell. I mean, we sell, we sell entertainment. We don't sell time. And...

• 27:58Speaker 05

  But we were just talking the other day about how life and wrestling matches are so parallel, right? Like, you know what your ultimate finish is gonna be, or what you would like it to be, but you're gonna get knocked down. You're gonna get beat up. You're gonna have like a little hope spot, where there's this ray of light, like, "Oh, I can do this." You're gonna get knocked back down again. You know, then you have this comeback. And it could be this great comeback and you can finish on top, or it can be a great comeback and then you just get knocked back down. And what do you do from there? You know, you can, it's your choice.

• 28:26Speaker 03

  What hap- yeah, but what happens there, if you decide to stay down, then that's, that's, that's kind of gonna dictate the rest of your life, really. If you accept it. If you accept where you're, you're at, I couldn't accept after watching that match back, I couldn't accept leaving on those terms. And then I, I knew where I wanted to be and I knew, like, okay, this is, this is what we gotta do to get, to get to the point where I wanna be.

• 28:54Ed Mylett?

  That's powerful, man. Like Malcolm X has this great quote, it says, "That which you do not hate, you will eventually tolerate." You almost have to hate where you're at, and it's not a negative thing to wanna move out of it. If you accept it, as you said, you're there. Speaking of that, like, life story, Michelle, can I get personal a little bit with you guys?

• 29:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:14Ed Mylett?

  Okay, oh, you got uncomfortable. You're like, I think so. No, I, I always do that on the show, so, so I wanna know what really makes this work, cause guys, that was part of their comeback. But I watched you, Michelle, I noticed like little things, maybe I'm crazy, you had a jacket on at one point that said, "God is dope." And I'm wondering how faith, whatever you wanna talk about that, how faith plays into your lives or your marriage? And does that give you strength, or is that not part of your life, or just a random jacket I saw?

• 29:45Speaker 05

  Oh, no, it's not random by any stretch of the imagination, yeah. No, that definitely gives us strength. Um, doesn't mean life's gonna be any easier, doesn't mean we're gonna have stuff thrown at us that's, you know, sucks, uh, but that's life and we just have to trust that, you know, whatever's meant to be, it's in God's plan. And we've, we've had a lot of things we've had to overcome that people, you know, they forget that you're people. And so we've had a lot of issues that we've had to overcome personally while all this is going on. And yeah, we have to lean on our faith.

• 30:20Ed Mylett?

  Without getting super personal, but I want, if you will, I want to talk about this for just because I want to help people. This show is to help people, right? And everything's in perspective. You know, you've lost your career. It's horrible, but you can come back from that. Right? Um, tonight, I have a series of interviews where I'm the guest the rest of the day today. And then I fly on a red eye and tomorrow morning, I'm at the funeral for a 25 year old boy that's uh, was the son of a friend of mine. And one of the most emotional moments on my show is I had a woman on named Jenna Kutcher. And she's had children, but they also lost a child. She miscarried. And I know that that's, you guys have had loss in your lives as well. How have you dealt? Has it been your faith? Has it been, has it strengthened your marriage when you've gone through loss?

• 31:05Ed Mylett?

  Do you mind talking about either specifically or generally how you guys have gone through loss together?

• 31:12Speaker 05

  Yeah, um, we, I retired in 2011 to try and have a baby. And um, didn't think that was anything, you know, no big deal. I'm not retired. I'm young, I'm healthy. My mom and her sisters have had kids. Well, come to find out, I struggle with infertility. And so did IVF, first rounds, shots don't bother me. Only produced, I have a problem with producing eggs. So the qual, the quality's fine, quantity just doesn't exist. Um, produced four eggs, two matured. We transferred both and had our daughter Kaia. Okay, no big deal. Like the shots don't bother me. This is perfect. We can do it. So I think when she was, all I've ever wanted is kids.

• 31:55Speaker 05

  And um, so when she was seven months old, we started trying again. And mind you, again, this is, you know, during all of this comebacks for the past seven years, surgery, train, WrestleMania. I've done 14 rounds of IVF, um, three miscarriages. And you know, it's, it's frustrating. It's, it's hard. It's, doesn't make sense, you know, but you know, there's a reason. So um, we have to lean on each other and that's what we do.

• 32:29Speaker 05

  We're obviously blessed. I know there's people out there that can't have any kids whatsoever. So, and believe me, the one we have is a handful, so there might be a reason, but um.

• 32:39Ed Mylett?

  Well, thank you. I'm really grateful. I wasn't sure whether I was gonna ask you that or not, and I'm really grateful that you shared it. Because, one, I want people to know that you are human beings. And that,

• 32:52Ed Mylett?

  you know, everyone's saying to me right now, "Man, there's a lot of people in pain in the world." There's always a lot of people in pain. There's just a lens on it right now that might be a little bit more bright. And I, I, I'm so grateful you're willing to say that because I want people to see, look at these two people. They're in love, right? Like, two people in love can do great things in their lives in spite of tremendous obstacles. Right? Like, Mark lost a brother, I think, this year. You've had these miscarriages, you've had these injuries, you've had physical setbacks. And that's why I wanted to start with faith, and then see if you were willing to share that. I want y'all to know that you can win in your life, and you can have redemption in your life, and that part of life is going through really difficult times in life.

• 33:35Ed Mylett?

  And I really appreciate you sharing that, because it really, there's a lot of people in the world who are going through something like that. And I promise you, you sharing that's made a difference. So, thank you. I really do appreciate it. I don't feel like when you get here, the interview would get better. I knew it.

• 33:56Ed Mylett?

  I accepted it. I accepted.

• 33:59Ed Mylett?

  I don't want to make Mark mad at me, so I was just kidding, brother. So, there's one, you're gonna say something, Michelle, go ahead.

• 34:07Ed Mylett?

  What's that? She's about to go too far.

• 34:11Ed Mylett?

  So, a couple of things I want to talk about. We're gonna, we're not gonna have a ton of time, but I want to make sure I cover a couple of things that are important to me. I want to ask you both a question, because I think it's a super unique experience you both had. What's it feel like to walk out in front of twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, eighty thousand people? What is that, all the work, all the training, you know, all the dreaming of it? What is that mo, I got, I got, I've had the good fortune, I'm getting goosebumps, to speak in front of crowds that big, right? So, but from your perspective, what does it feel like to actually be living your dream? Like, you step in and you're actually, there's had to be a moment, I've had them, where you're like, "I'm in the middle of my dream right now." Like, I dream this, and I'm doing it. What is that like for each of you?

• 34:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's cool. I, I remember.

• 34:58Speaker 05

  First big WrestleMania, you know, you walk out and there's all these people and I'm a bad girl on TV, but all I want to do is just smile from, you know, cheek to cheek, just looking around like this can't be real and I'm supposed to be really, you know, mean right now, but look at the, you know, this is amazing. It's just, um, it's hard to soak in those moments in the moment, so it's really important to try to remember to soak in those moments, you know, in the moment, because they're, you know, they won't always be there and they are very special.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  What about you, Mark? Yeah, it, it's just amazing. When I decided to start in on this journey of being a professional wrestler, I never could envision wrestling at Texas Stadium in front of over a hundred thousand people. I mean, and that, that happened late, that, that happened late in my career. We broke the indoor attendance record and all that, all that stuff. And it was just, I just remember like, and trying to be in character and, and, and focus on what I had to, to do, but it was pretty damn cool. And it makes, it makes all that training. Yeah. Makes all the, the aches and pains that I live with every day.

• 36:10Speaker 05

  Forget about it.

• 36:11Speaker 03

  You forget about it just for that. People ask me why my, my entrances are so long. It's like, I just, you, you absorb all that energy. But, you know, that's what I'm going, I'm like, this is.

• 36:25Speaker 05

  And your hips and knees are pretty bad.

• 36:26Speaker 03

  Well, their hips and knees are bad, not just, but there wasn't always, there was always a time, you know, there was a time when I was healthy and, but it was just, it's just amazing to feed off of that, that energy. And, and it's amazing what that energy does to you physically and mentally. Um, it, it's the, it, it's more for me especially, it's more, that's more of a payoff than what the monetary, uh, is gonna be. It, it really just. You still chase that feeling? If we're being real, are you still chasing that feeling?

• 37:02Speaker 05

  That's why I've been doing it.

• 37:04Speaker 03

  I tell you, it, it's a, it's a, it's a very. I don't know what, it's a very weird web that I weave because my mind tells me when I get ready for something regardless of how I feel, which normally, I mean, I have my, you know, I have my aches and pains, but on that way to the ring, I feel invincible. I feel invincible and like I could do it forever. And then I could, and then I could go, then I go and do what I have to do and then I come back and the adrenaline wears down and that's when reality sets in. And that's the, so that's the, that's the, the, the, you know, the game,

• 37:46Speaker 03

  that's the, the wheel that you're on there. But that walk to the ring, man, there's, there's nothing better than that. And it will definitely mess with you mentally. You're like, shoot, I could do this forever.

• 37:57Ed Mylett?

  Well, you're kind of proving that's true, but I, it is, it's interesting to me because of all people to hear someone say that probably with you, it's the coolest just because you're so stoic when you're doing it. You know, you don't get to express that energy until you actually get in the, in the ring in your, in your character. But I'm also curious, and Michelle, I'll have you answer this too, but what about as I think as pressure increases, great people at anything have a way of almost slowing down and performing at a higher level. And one of the things, Mark, in your case is in some of the biggest moments, you've delivered the best, right? Like I think to the Shawn Michaels match or the Triple H

• 38:41Ed Mylett?

  stuff. I mean, those are, those are known as like from a, and I'm not a wrestling expert, but from an execution standpoint, like the best execution in the biggest moments in the history of, you know, the, the entertainment of your sport. Talk about that a little bit for both of you. Have you been able to do that? Like you, are you able to get more focused and execute at a higher level when the pressure's there? Has that separated you from say guys that don't last 30 years? Cause I, I have to think it does.

• 39:14Speaker 03

  I I do any personally, I I want that that job and it was so funny. Uh, especially there's a, there's another layer to that. Like when you get to WrestleMania, there's no, I mean, to get to WrestleMania, all right, that's, that's awesome to be on the card. I'll be on the card with somebody with Sean, like the caliber of Shawn Michaels. But then you're, then the ego kind of kicks in a little bit too, where. You don't put this match on last, you're making a really big mistake.

• 39:47Speaker 03

  So that's especially on the first one, like we felt like we should be on last and it's like, okay. I know we, we were, I, I, I mean, you can't, Shawn Michaels could have a great match with a broom, okay? I mean, that's just how great he is. So, and it's, it's fun to be able to work with guys like that because I don't have to worry about them. One, he's not intimidated because he's in the ring with the Undertaker. And so I don't have to worry about what Shawn Michaels is gonna do, because I know Shawn Michaels is gonna do Shawn Michaels. Which allows Undertaker to do Undertaker and then because there was an incredible chemistry. It was just a phenomenal result, um.

• 40:29Speaker 05

  I don't think anybody wanted to.

• 40:31Speaker 03

  I, I.

• 40:32Speaker 05

  Follow that match. I, I bet they all wish y'all were on last.

• 40:35Speaker 03

  But that did put a little bit of a chip on our shoulder as well. It's like. Okay, all right, let's go. Let's go through this, right? But yeah, you have to, I mean, you have to wanna live for those moments. That's the, that's the, you know, you're down, you're down, you're down six points in the Super Bowl and you're on your own. Ten yard line and you gotta drive the field. You want those moments. If you wanna be great and you wanna consider yourself one of the greats, if you wanna have that drive that takes you down the field and score. Do you wanna steal the show? At WrestleMania, that's it. If you don't wanna steal the show, you're.

• 41:18Speaker 03

  You shouldn't be there. It's not always gonna happen, but you've gotta have that desire. And if you don't desire to have those moments, then you know, you're really, you're missing out on, on the whole, the whole big picture of the thing.

• 41:31Ed Mylett?

  You just heard the mindset, y'all. You just heard the mindset. And I don't care who you are, you know, their moments have been in front of thousands of people. But if you're a human being, there's gonna be a handful of moments that define your life. Every human being, there's a handful of moments that define lives. And it could be the moment where an opportunity is presented to you in a business, and you take it and jump on it, or you don't. It could be the moment where you meet your soulmate and you find the courage to walk across the room and talk to her or him, or you don't. Right? There's these moments, look at him. There's these moments. What I like, I kinda got from this, from this thing too, is like, I think Mark's like a little bit of a softy romantic dude too,

• 42:12Ed Mylett?

  which is sort of bizarre when I'm watching the, you know.

• 42:17Speaker 05

  Definitely, yeah. He gets a little offended when I always say that I never wanted to meet him, because the time he didn't look all warm and fuzzy, it's not like he's the most inviting character to look at on TV. And he's always like, really? I'm like, yeah, like, who would wanna?

• 42:31Speaker 03

  But you follow that.

• 42:33Speaker 05

  You.

• 42:34Speaker 03

  You follow that up with, you follow that up with, you know, really not in the long hair and tattoos.

• 42:39Speaker 05

  I'm not, that was the truth.

• 42:40Speaker 03

  I'm not warm and fuzzy.

• 42:42Speaker 05

  Tell you that we, sweet personality won me over after many, many, many months.

• 42:49Speaker 03

  I'm not warm and fuzzy. I don't, I don't wanna meet him. He's not warm and fuzzy. I don't like long hair and I don't like tattoos. That's my guy.

• 42:57Ed Mylett?

  That's my green man. That's my green man. Well, hey, you don't get to say that, because as beautiful as Michelle is, you picked her evidently because she could throw a football.

• 43:06Speaker 05

  Right? Like, seriously.

• 43:07Speaker 03

  Priorities.

• 43:08Ed Mylett?

  Tell him, I want y'all to hear this. This is how this man selected his soulmate. Tell him.

• 43:13Speaker 03

  This helped.

• 43:14Speaker 05

  Simple minded.

• 43:14Speaker 03

  No, this, this, this helped considerably. Actually, actually, no, no, no, no, no, actually, the first thing, I mean, obviously you can tell she's beautiful and I way out kicked my coverage. Okay, I said it.

• 43:30Speaker 03

  First thing that I, first thing.

• 43:32Speaker 05

  She's being supportive, right?

• 43:34Speaker 03

  The first thing that I was, more so than anything, was our work ethic. That that caught my attention more than the blonde hair, blue eyes and everything else that goes with that. It was her work ethic. Okay, so she's on the radar, right? So, so early, you know, on a TV day, we get there sometimes noon, one o'clock. And the the the crews haven't set up the the ring and the chairs. So you you're basically got the whole floor of an arena.

• 44:08Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 44:09Speaker 03

  So I used to have in one of the cases on the trucks, I had I had a football. So kill a little bit of time during the day if we didn't have anything to do. And some of the guys would get out there in the arena, you know, throw the ball back and forth, right? Some guys can throw a football, some guys can't throw a football. I happened to be out there with a few guys that day that could not throw a football very well. So anyway, uh, somebody drops something happened, the ball hits the hits the floor and is rolling. And here she comes, she was walking out onto the floor, you know, and she picks the ball up.

• 44:43Speaker 03

  It was about, I I I want to say probably about a thirty yard, thirty five yard. Spiral. I mean, it was, it was a bullet.

• 44:55Speaker 03

  Uh, caveman kicked in, I was like.

• 45:01Speaker 03

  I've never seen, I had never seen a girl throw a football like that. I mean, I'm telling you, uh, like, the funny part is, like, a couple of the guys just like. Dropped their head, shrugged their shoulders and walked out of the arena.

• 45:18Speaker 03

  We we ended up throwing the football back and forth again, I was like. This is great.

• 45:27Speaker 03

  Yeah, so.

• 45:29Speaker 05

  Mark told me this story, but we were doing an interview with Busted Open and Mark Henry said. At that very moment, you turned to JBL and said, that's gonna be Mrs. Calloway.

• 45:38Speaker 03

  That may, that may, it may not have happened, but.

• 45:43Ed Mylett?

  That is the coolest story. So he don't look anything like what you like. And he picked you because you throw a football and now you've got this amazing relationship. So this is, hey, guys, there's hope for all of you.

• 45:53Speaker 05

  There is.

• 45:54Ed Mylett?

  Hope for everybody. All right, last thing, no lying, we're friends now. So I want the truth, all right? Let's break it here, truth. Are you coming back, both of you? Like, when are we gonna see you back? Legit, don't, no BS, Art, will we see you back and when?

• 46:13Speaker 05

  Well, my daughter doesn't like, apparently, I went back to the, uh, all women's pay-per-view, to Evolution, because my daughter had never seen me wrestle. Apparently, she doesn't like seeing me get kicked and punched and all that. Um, she doesn't mind her daddy. In fact, somebody asked if they wanted her, if, if, if she wanted him to retire, and she said, "No way, like, he still needs more practice because he can't even beat me." And I was like, "Ooh, okay." But, um, she doesn't like, she doesn't like to see me wrestle, but I do love it, and I've always just said, "All they have to do is ask."

• 46:45Ed Mylett?

  So that's a yes, that's a yes. We'll see you back. And what about you?

• 46:52Speaker 03

  I'm not, I don't know, not there yet. Um, I'm definitely not thrilled about working in front of no audience. Especially after elaborating on how, on, on how, uh, I feed off of that crowd noise. What those guys are doing right now is really amazing, working in front of zero people. They, they really need a pat on the back for that because it is, it is not easy. But I'm just, uh, you know, we have, there's two episodes yet to come, uh, of The Last Ride.

• 47:23Speaker 03

  I think the next episode airs on the 14th.

• 47:25Ed Mylett?

  It does, yes.

• 47:26Speaker 03

  And the 21st. Um, hopefully, by the time we get there, I'll have a, a conclusive answer and, um...

• 47:34Speaker 05

  Can't wait to hear.

• 47:38Ed Mylett?

  He's answered this question very similarly for the last 30 plus years, you guys. So I have a sense, I know what that answer will be, but wouldn't it be cool, maybe the first time there are large crowds? Never. That's all I'm saying. Ever. Never say never. Brother, you chasing that feeling you described earlier. You chasing that feeling, you know it. He wants that walkout, he wants to execute, he wants to do what he was born to do, both of you. So, I can tell you, I love today. This was so good, so good. And, uh, I'm here for you and your lives now, we're friends now, we're gonna get connected. I can get you my contact info, if there's anything I could ever do for either one of you. I am a text and a call away.

• 48:20Ed Mylett?

  So you're, you're a beautiful family and, uh, I pray for nothing but great things for both of you in the future. And, uh, thank you, you've helped so many people today. I guarantee you, when, when this comes out, you'll see, you're gonna see the feedback on social media and all the other places, so it was wonderful. So, thank you both.

• 48:35Speaker 05

  Thank you for having us, man. Thank you.

• 48:37Ed Mylett?

  All right, everybody, a reminder, max out two minute drill, everybody with me on Instagram every day. When I make a post, 7:30 Pacific, 10:30 Eastern, make a comment, turn your notifications on. I pick winners, they fly on my jet, come see me speak, they meet my guests, they get maxed out gear, all kinds of cool stuff. So engage with me on social media. If you miss the first two minutes, just make a comment every day. We pick winners at the end of the week, I, I announce winners every Sunday. I do that so I can connect with you, I do it so I can bring you the guests that you wanna hear and see, like these two wonderful people. And, uh, I want you to continue to max out your lives. God bless you.

• 49:15Speaker 04

  This is the Ed Manin Show.