Work Or Shoot?: A Wrestling Podcast

From Snowmageddon To Spotlights: Gen Z On AEW, NWA, And The Grind

• Team T4 • Episode 43

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We trade Snowmageddon for steel cages, hot dogs, and a fast-rising 19-year-old who went from ROH tapings to NWA Exodus. Gen Z breaks down the grind, from AEW emails and backstage pivots to heel craft, hardcore limits, and why the first 20 seconds decide everything.

• NWA Locked & Loaded recap and why cages change pacing
• Innovate Pro shocks with title changes and heel turns
• KCW Ascension preview and junior heavyweight stakes
• Gen Z’s AEW day: bloodwork scramble and security spot
• Backstage culture, catering, and respected pros
• Buffalo Wild Wings season and summer indie routing
• Character building: aura, timing, and anti–cool heel rules
• Favorite finishes, hardcore boundaries, and skewers vs blading
• Working Kerry Morton and respecting lineage
• Support for local promotions and fan community stories

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RING THE BELL!

SPEAKER_05:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, the team that brought you Show and Color podcast at T4 Productions proudly brings to you the greatest wrestling podcast in the world. No for nothing, Noah. Cotton ball, Clay Bunny. Not mini-word west. And I'm Heavy D, the Worker Shoe Podcast. And if you don't like that, we got two words for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome back. No yeah. Hi.

SPEAKER_05:

Clay? You did uh one word again? Do you know about the two words thing? About the oh yeah. I figured you didn't know at this point.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, two, three.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, it's it's fine. Not worried about it. Uh Snowmageddon. Um Snowmageddon 26. We're all here, we're all recording from our own rings uh tonight. Um yeah, it's nobody can go anywhere. Yeah, it's so but we do have a special treat for for everybody tonight. Uh Clay, who do we have on the podcast tonight? Tonight we have it's your boy Gen Z. Um we met him at a KCW show. But he's been in Ring of Honor, he did a photo shoot with AEW. Um he wrestles mainly with Appalachian Championship Wrestling. And uh he's 19 years old and from West Virginia. So sweet. We're excited to have him. Now, funny story, we've we've done this before, and uh and uh there was a technical issue and the episode is gone. So we've we've actually recorded with Gen Z before, so we're gonna ask him the same questions again, and we're gonna pretend like we don't know what his answers are. Uh that's that's that's the whole plan.

SPEAKER_02:

Um worker shoot.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, but before we get there, uh we have some indie show talk because we've been to some indie shows. When like we had a we had a triple, we had a triple threat indie show uh weekend uh last weekend. And if you watched the last episode, you know that we recorded from Net Pro Studios uh on Sunday, and we didn't really get to talk about any of the indie wrestling because uh, you know, shout out shout out our boys. Um uh the faction the faction took up most of the took up most of the time with the stories. That's what we wanted. So we didn't really get to talk about our indie as our indie wrestling, but uh Wes Noah, you guys went Friday night. Uh want to talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, Friday was killer.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, of course, uh we went all the way to uh pretty much Pigeon Forge. It was severe real. Uh went to the NWA block and loaded, which I mean, it was so killer. Every match was in a cage. Every match. Um it was uh the oldest Wes's little Wes's birthday. That's what he wanted for his birthday was go to go to a good show. Um but dude, I mean, I can't tell you how great that show was from the start to finish. I mean, let even Noah, you know, me and Noah both were just like jaws dropped the whole time. Um Swantons off the top of the damn uh cage onto people. Um Thrill Billy was there. I mean, we got to meet everybody. Dude, it and the food was good, which is a big thing as Noah. Um yeah, great time, dude.

SPEAKER_03:

Great time. It took Cash App for everything. Uh not to meet more people than Sword Disney.

SPEAKER_05:

That's you're like on the level of reviews, like uh when we're reviewing indie shows, we need to put we need to put like do they take credit cards? Like, do they take Cash App, PayPal, Vinmo, credit cards? It matters.

SPEAKER_04:

It does matter. I'm so used to taking cash, so I brought all cash, and they're like, we take cash app. And I turned around and know that I was I was like, I got you. Um, but yeah, we met some great guys. Um, you know, the West has had a good time, the Little West did, they got some merch. Uh I mean, dude, the matches were so killer. It like it was like being at an NWA show, and I'm not talking about as an MD show, like an actual episode of Power. Yeah. Um, and also we were talking a little about how edgy we'd like our wrestling to be.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Bro, and I think I texted somebody about this. They were dropping F-bombs and everything every two seconds, throwing up the birds. Yeah. It was a good time. It was a good time. I would strongly suggest anybody that's able to catch a crossfire show, NWA Crossfire Show, be there. Yeah. Absolutely. Every bit of it.

SPEAKER_05:

And you know, we went, um we Saturday we had a house party at uh at Innovate at beautiful Bobby Eaton Arena at Net Pro Studios, Innovate Pro Wrestling. Um and we had that Saturday night and seen insane matches Saturday night, seen seen uh titles change hands, heel turns, um, you know, some of the best stuff we had seen. We were losing our minds, man. It was that was one of the best indie shows we've been to ever.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that that was awesome.

SPEAKER_05:

And then um we got to see uh was it was it just one title that Chinese hanging?

SPEAKER_02:

No, there's two because um our boys lost the tag titles double or nothing um and we seen Appeal turns, we've seen um uh um what's his name? Um get kicked out dude that turned on Toby.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, Andy Optimal turned healed.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, we've seen Andy Optimal turn and win the innovative championship. Yeah. Another so many members of the Eliminati. It's insane.

SPEAKER_03:

Let's not forget this one too. We we witnessed an attempted V hit UNARD.

SPEAKER_02:

Got hit by far.

SPEAKER_03:

Allegedly, allegedly. Yeah, allegedly. But I'm I know what my eyes tall.

SPEAKER_05:

I know what my I know what my phone's tall.

SPEAKER_03:

Me too.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, and and then yeah, and then Sunday we did Sunday we were there, you know, at Net Pro Studios uh recording while they were training. So cool. You hear people in the background training, go back and watch that last episode. Um, you know, we we really had a blast doing that there. And that was that was one of the best times of all of our lives. I don't know about you guys, but we all I mean it was like it was it was uh great opportunity. Uh thanks so much for uh thanks so much to Dragon for uh you letting us letting us come down and and uh Jeff and Jeff for hooking us up with those boys and uh yeah Tony Tony Gibbons, thanks, thanks everybody for giving us a shot down there. And um, you know, hopefully we're gonna have a lot of those a lot of those boys and girls on the on the podcast. They got talent all over the place. Love to have them there. We're we're sorry we can't make it to the next show y'all are having. Well, February 7th is a big day. February 7th, they have a huge show sold out. Looks awesome. But then February 7th is also uh KCW, Kentucky Championship Wrestling Ascension. You know, and we're gonna have, I mean, everybody's uh everybody's gonna be there. Well, we're gonna have uh Sean Cruz is there. With Berno's gonna be there with uh with Hippo, and then what we're um uh the goose is loose, right? He's gonna be there, and then what's the women's match that we have?

SPEAKER_02:

Um is it NWA?

SPEAKER_03:

It's Kobe Max. Uh it's that Kobe Max juice. She was at the UH. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

I know you're talking about and then we just got a big announcement from KCW. The NWA World Junior Championship is on the line. Yeah. With um Landon what's his name?

SPEAKER_03:

Landon Hale.

SPEAKER_05:

Landon Hale. Landon Hale. And who's the champ?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh Slade. Slade, yeah. It's gonna be awesome. Gonna be a great show.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, and uh I feel like well I was I was just saying that there's there's you know they have it like booked. There's so many awesome matches booked for that show.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh god, yeah. I mean, I honestly I don't it's gonna be it's gonna be a fight for what's gonna be nice or not.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, I think so too. And we got our banner. Our banner, we're gonna have, we're gonna be sitting behind our banner uh at the show. Uh shoot, workers shoot podcast uh banner, and then we're really looking forward to it. Speaking of good food, that those we're gonna get some hot dogs as soon as we get there, Noah.

SPEAKER_04:

And that fixes us.

SPEAKER_05:

Wes, I'm so excited for you to be there. Clay's quit and buy some dogs.

SPEAKER_04:

Um there was uh there was someone that really stood out that Noah liked at that NWA show that we watched. Who was that, Noah? We actually got my hot twin my my twin. Maybe it was your twin. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

I I remember we talked we talked to a few. It uh it was JAC. He was he was the failure at the Cotton I Joe show desk. He was a tough dude in my lap.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh yeah, right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I honestly I think the match he was in at Lost and Loaded probably was my favorite match of the night, dude. It was just chaotic from the get-go. And you got JHC, dude. He the year he was rocking just looked hard as hell. He was climbing up on the cage, got hard, and you know, where's my F people? That's awesome. He got right out into the crowd, dude. He was right beside right behind me, had the dude up against the wall beating the hell out of it.

SPEAKER_05:

And I know how you are. I know you lost your mind with that.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, dude. He was dressed like a mubby. I had my American badass shirt on. Had this hat on, dude. I bug the hell out.

SPEAKER_05:

No, you had an American badass shirt on. Nobody's surprised.

SPEAKER_04:

That's actually the shirt that Little West chose to buy was a JAC shirt. And then he wore it to that program. Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_02:

It was awesome. All right. Uh I do I do want to give a shout-out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Real quick.

SPEAKER_02:

Give a shout-out, baby.

SPEAKER_03:

My dude that was sitting beside us at locked and loaded. Pretty sure his name was said his his folks call him A B. But me and him, dude, that that was that was like my that was my crowd partner, dude. He was getting up, getting in, he had his baby in his hands, they're getting up in his master's faces, and I was like, you know what? I mean, if he can't be alone, I'll hop up there with him and just form formed a bond right there.

SPEAKER_05:

That's beautiful. Man, honestly, like, you know who we didn't see it, did you we didn't see any of the indie shows we went to this weekend as the dudes that we usually see at indie shows that usually sit opposite of us. The guys that we've seen a bunch of times. They didn't I didn't see him at no show this weekend.

SPEAKER_04:

We did see the NWA guy.

SPEAKER_05:

The guy we talked about.

SPEAKER_03:

He he was at the locker mode.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. We knew he'd be there. He's the one that told us about the show.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he was there decked out. We didn't we didn't get to talk to him, but we were standing in line and he came through. I was well talking about that to him.

SPEAKER_04:

I will say this freaking hilarious was when you went to the concession stand to order food, like if you this girl ordered like four bowls of chili. And like literally while they were trying to get all the chili out for, um, that dude, the NWA guy, walked up and just grabbed one of those bowls of chili and walked off. What the f never paid for it, never asked. He just walked up and grabbed it and turned around, walked off. They're like, he just took one of my chilies.

SPEAKER_05:

I think it's so hard though. Welcome back in, everybody. We have a super special treat for you. Hailing from beautiful West Virginia, brought to you from the rings of ACW, KCW, AW, BGW. It's your boy Gen Z.

SPEAKER_00:

Gen Z, what's up, man? What an intro. What an intro. That was great. That was great. What's going on, boys? So happy to have you, dude.

SPEAKER_05:

Um, sorry about the last time. Uh I know we were gonna say it didn't happen, but it did happen.

SPEAKER_03:

Technical difficulties. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_05:

But we're here now.

SPEAKER_03:

We got video for this one.

SPEAKER_05:

Uh you see Klaybo with the the, he's the champ. If you can't tell, he's got all the belts. Um uh Wes, uh Noah. We've um we've been talking about indie wrestling, man. We're uh we're so heavy into indie wrestling right now, and we've been we've been everywhere. We go to Kingsport and and uh Severeville and Virgie and Pikeville and uh Corbin and Corbin. Corbin and Middlesbrough. We go everywhere, man. We've been everywhere. Uh have you been uh have you been on the road this year so far? How many matches have you had this year?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it's been pretty slow this year. The beginning of the year is always pretty slow, I think, for everybody. Uh not a lot of people want to run with this bad weather and stuff. Um and then the people that did run all got shut down this weekend. Um but uh I wrestled Carrie Morton a couple weekends ago. Uh got the win over him, uh, was just up at Exodus Pro, NWA Exodus Pro in Cleveland. Uh got to do some cool stuff up there. Uh, but other than that, man, it's been it's been pretty dead. It's been pretty, pretty slow. Um next weekend, uh I have a little TV taping on Sunday. That's about it. Just a little TV typing. Then it starts picking up a little bit. Yeah, just T O T on TV. Well, it's like it's like a little studio taping. Um uh it's for HCW. Uh and then it starts picking up a little bit. Uh, then I have I'll be up in Morgantown for a no-ring deat match.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, hold on.

SPEAKER_00:

Wait a second. Oh, usually, usually that's not my thing. I don't really care for that stuff. But the dude reached out to me and was like, yo, he was like, I'm doing this like big birthday thing because it's like his birthday. So he's putting on a show for it. And he was like, it's a no-ring deat match tag. I was like, uh, I don't know, man. And he was like, I'm gonna put you in a hot dog eating contest that turns into a match. I said, Double pay, I'm in. I was like, hot dog and money? What are you kidding me? Like, um, so I think it'll be pretty fun. I'm not trying to do a bunch of crazy stuff. We're just I mean um it's gonna be clips for social media, and that's about it. We'll come we'll come to that show.

SPEAKER_05:

Bet, bet. Where are you guys at? We're we're in um Lecture County, Kentucky. It's right from like you wrestled in Burgie for KCW. We're about we're about 30 minutes from Virgie.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I'll be in Morgantown for that. Uh, and then the next day I'm in Fairmont for another TV taping uh for RSW. Uh then I think the next weekend's pretty empty. Uh then I'll be at IWA East Coast uh for or in Clendennan, West Virginia, then RCW in Portsmouth, Ohio on the 28th, and that's all I can remember off the top of my head. But that's a lot of you guys. It gets pretty it gets pretty steady after like mid-February.

SPEAKER_05:

So well, you're over, so you know you get you get booked. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I do what I can. You're right. I I try my best. I try. I wish I was booked every single week, every day. I wish I was booked every day. Wrestling every day wouldn't happen just yet.

SPEAKER_05:

There, and you know what's funny is that'd be amazing. You wouldn't think there are shows like, but there's just random Tuesday and Thursday shows all the time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like during like the beginning of last year, we did a lot up in Pittsburgh for 880 wrestling. Uh because they ran every Thursday, and we were just trying to go out and get reps and stuff. And they have an amazing production, good talent, met a lot of good, a lot of good people up there. Um, and it was a blast because it's it's like a rated R show pretty much. Um and the first time I went up there, I wasn't really I didn't really know what to expect. And I thought it was just any other show, but it's like in this skate park. So it's got like graffiti all up on the walls, and our locker room had like skate ramps and stuff. Oh, that's awesome. So it was pretty sick. But then I walk out for the match, and there's like little kids who are probably no more than eight years old sitting there flipping me off and cussing me out, and I'm like, you can't even do your times tables, and you're sitting here flipping me off. Like, where are your parents? It's like nine o'clock on a Thursday. It's a school night. Where where are your guards? Where are you all? Um right, yeah. I'm in Pittsburgh. Yeah, exactly. Uh, and then I get told in the ring for maybe 30 seconds, and the crowd starts chinting drink his blood, and there's a picture somewhere out of my social media of me just like because I didn't know what to I didn't know what to expect. Like, because I've never met these guys before that I'm in the ring with. Great guys, I love them to death. But at the time, I'm like, I'm gonna die. These guys are gonna die in Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_05:

Why are they chanting that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I was like, I'm going to die in Pittsburgh. These little kids are probably gonna jump me, then they're gonna drink my blood, and they're gonna throw me in the river, and it's game over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But uh, yeah, man, that place is a mess. I really want to go back. We've been talking about hitting 880 back up soon. Uh but because they do they do some weekend shows too. So I've always wanted to do like a Thursday, Friday, because sometimes either Friday or Saturday, but I like to go up for a Thursday and stay for the weekend and do a couple shows with them. But we haven't made that happen yet. Um, but maybe we'll be able to make that happen this year.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, in the summer, we're gonna try to get we're gonna try to go places we've not been before for shows. So that's gonna include a bunch of places you're at.

SPEAKER_00:

Um this summer. Uh we're I think we're gonna be pretty busy with I don't know if you guys heard of beat dub season around here, uh, but ACW runs at a bunch of Buffalo Wild Wings in our area. So you can get wings, beer, whatever, and watch wrestling in the parking lot. Oh, let's go. It's a blast. That's my favorite season because I can show up, get my belly full, wrestle a match, you got me, get my belly full again.

SPEAKER_05:

For you, dude.

SPEAKER_02:

I hear it screaming my name right now. Perfect.

SPEAKER_05:

We're literally there for those. Those will be awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. So I know they have Crosslanes, West Virginia, and Beckley this year. I'm pretty sure they're doing three at Crosslanes and three at Beckley. And then they didn't do Charleston last year, but they have the past years. So I think if they get Charleston back, they're going to try to do three there as well. So there's either going to be six or nine of them this summer. And it's usually between like June and the year. So between those two months. Yeah. So yeah, between the two months, there's going to be either six or nine of them. I hope there's nine of them because that's one just about every week. So that'd be exciting. We've been going I love them.

SPEAKER_03:

I love them.

SPEAKER_05:

We've been trying to go on Sunday nights. They they have at uh Kingsport, Tennessee, there's that at uh Innovate Pro Wrestling or at NetCrow Studios, they have like their their student showcase. And we recorded the podcast there last week. Yeah. Uh from their from Net Pro Studios. That was that was a lot of fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh we were gonna go up, was it I think it was either this week or last week for training with uh the Mortons. Carrie invited us down, but our work schedule wouldn't let it happen. Uh but we're wanting to go up there for some training and stuff with the Mortons, and hopefully we'll be able to get on some shows. So that'd be cool.

SPEAKER_05:

They're fun, they're a fun promotion, man. We've we have a blast every time with Eric.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

For sure.

SPEAKER_05:

Um yeah, these boys have some questions for you, Gen Z. Uh um, Clayboat, you wanna you want to go first? You you talk to Gen Z more than the others, more than we so we talked about this last time we had you on, but um So you was in Ring of Honor and that I'm sure that was a fun experience for you. So just walk us through like the process of getting there and just the experience you had.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Uh so I was actually on my way to work one morning and I was sitting at a stoplight, and I just opened my emails just to kind of check what's going on. And I have an email from uh Captain Sean Dean inviting me to the Huntington AEW tapings. I was like, oh, hell yeah. That's awesome. And so you have to get a bunch of blood work and physicals and stuff done. I was like, all right, no problem. Because you got to get that done for wrestling licenses anyway, for some states, especially Kentucky. Um, so um it's it's a whole story. I know I've told you guys this before, but we gotta tell the Nobody's heard it. So it's a it's a legendary story, nobody's a legendary story. So the first time, I just go to the it's like a local hospital, and I'm like, yo, I need to get this blood work done. First they tell me no, and I'm like, okay. And then she was like, wait, which ones do you need? And I was like, I already told you, but I need these three right here. I don't even remember what they were. And she was like, I can do exactly those three. I was like, all right, cool. So she does it, whatever, yada yada. They come back, oh, it was it was um hep B, hep C, and HIV. So I get the results back, and the hep B came back negative, the hep C came back positive, and the HIV came back equivocal or something, which means you can't determine it. And I was like, shit. I was like, this can't be right. This is not right. So we go back in, we're like, we got it, we gotta do something about this because this isn't right. I don't have hair. Y'all don't understand what this means. Like, I have to get this done. And they were like, Yeah, we those look right. They were like, we tested tested you for the vaccines. I was like, so you tested me, so it came back positive because I had the vaccine. They don't make a HEP B vaccine, apparently. So that's why that came back negative. I'm like, how are you gonna test me for a vaccine that you don't even make? Why don't you have that that I was? What? What? Or maybe it was the HIV, one or the other. One of them they didn't even make. I was like, how are you gonna text me for something that you don't even make? Well, Magic Johnson has. I was like, whatever. Well, maybe there's a vaccine. We don't know. We still don't know. Department had it. Um, but so I find another place. It's like the Putnam County Health Department, and she was able to do it, but we're like two weeks out. And I needed it within like the not the next Monday, but the Monday after. So like 10 business days. And she was like, Well, I can have your results back within 10 to 12 business days. And I'm like, it's gotta be in by the 10th business day. I was like, so if you can speed this up, that'd be great. And she was like, I'll see what I can do. I was like, let's just do it anyway, see what happens. She was like, All right, cool. So I get it done, and then I go to the Valley Health near my house. And I'm like, yo, I need this physical done. Got it done, no problem. And then I was like, Do you guys do blood testing here? And she was like, Yeah. And I was like, Well, I need these three done. She was like, Well, you can do it today and have your results by tomorrow. I was like, let's do it. So I have it done for the third time. The results come back all negative, we're good. And I submit it all to AEW, we're good to go. So the night before uh the tapings, me and my buddies are hanging out, whatever, and I get an email from their head doctor. And he's like, hey man, the person who did your physical didn't sign this part of the physical. It's like somewhere in the middle. I was like, okay, uh, can I get it done in the morning and send it back? He was like, Yeah, no problem. So I go back at like 10 in the morning. I have to be the venue at two. So I go back at like 10 in the morning. I'm like, hey, I need this sign. She was like, okay, the lady at the desk takes it back. That lady's not there that did it. I was like, okay. I was like, well, can somebody there sign it? She was like, no, they won't do it. Some type of legal thing. They have to redo the whole physical. I was like, okay, whatever. Let's do it. I was like, here's like, because the form that I had was already filled out. So I was like, can I email you the form and you print it? She was like, no, we don't have a printer. As I'm sitting there looking at a printer that's bigger than me. Like, you know, one of those big box ones that like they have in schools. I'm like, it's right behind you. Like, what? So I'm like, all right, whatever. So I drive all the way back home, print it back out, drive all the way back. It's like, I'd say about noon, and I'm still, I still live 30 minutes away from the venue. So I have to leave my house by 1:30. Noon, I get there, they check me in, whatever, they take me back, and I sit there. And I sit there and I sit there and I sit there. And this lady is not showing up. I'm like, lady, I gotta be on TV in about two hours. Like, we gotta speed this up. One o'clock comes around. She finally comes in. So I mind you, I have to be at the venue in an hour. I'm still 30 minutes away from the venue, still have to go home, shower, pack my bags, everything. I'm like, I'm screwed. It's game over. So I'm sitting there in the doctor's office. I call my mom. I'm like, mom, you gotta help me out. Pack my bag for me. So I just tell her everything I need. She packs it all for me. Mom came in clutch. Mama Z came in clutch. If she didn't do that, I probably wouldn't have made it. Shout out, Mama Z. Shout out, bro. She made that happen. So I leave there. I rush back home. I take a quick shower, get on all my fancy clothes because I hate dressing up. So I was already mad about that. Wearing these giant ass clown shoes. It's terrible. I leave. I dude, I'm going like I'm about to admit to a felony right now. I'm going like 120 down this interstate. Trying to do that. Or not to listen to our be there by two. Okay, good, good. So by like, I so I have to be there by two. And if I'm any later than 215, they will not let me in the door. So I'm going. I'm going. I pull in. There's a chili fest or something going on in Huntington. So there's traffic everywhere. I'm like, you have to be kidding me. There's no way. Finally, I find a parking garage. I pull in, lines, lines everywhere. No spot to be found. I'm like, I'm screwed. I'm screwed. It's not happening. So finally I find a spot that my car will like literally, you have to come straight in and like there's no turn and no nothing because you will hit a car. So I had to maneuver it. I pull right in. I'm like squeezing through my door. Luckily, I had my suitcase in the trunk. So I didn't have to maneuver that out either. Finally, I get in. I'm I walk in at about probably 210. And any later than 215, you're not getting in. Right. So 210, I'm there. And then Sean Dean meets us at the door, gives us our little stickers and everything, checks us in. Um then we find our little dressing room, which was just a like a pipe and drape. So we didn't even really have a dressing room. We had curtains to kind of hide behind, and they were almost like transparent too. So you could like see the I mean, it works. You can't see the details, but you can see the silhouettes of who's in there. It was hilarious. Uh so we get there, he's like, all right, guys, you have like an hour to kind of roam around, then come back, get in your gear. We're gonna do pictures. Cool, no problem. So we get the pictures done. I'm getting out of my gear. I put on my nice clothes again. He comes in, hey, you, you, you, you're wrestling whoever, and then Gen Z, Calpo, Reese, you're wrestling premier athletes. Awesome, let's do it. We go talk to them about the match. We come back, and I'm like, it's like five o'clock at this point. Show starts at 7. I was or 7:30. I was like, I'm gonna go ahead and get dressed, get in my gear just so I'm ready. Literally, as soon as I get done putting on my gear. I mean, I'm putting my kick pads over my shoes, everything. Sean comes back. He was like, hey, so I know you just got dressed, but and I was like, he's about to tell me I don't have a match, bro. Like he's about to tell me I'm just chilling out. He was like, but do you have any black clothes? I was like, Yeah. He was like, I need you for a security segment right now. He was like, Meet me at the loading dock in five minutes. I was like, bro. So I've already put this gear on once. I just put it on again. So I'm taking a bag off, putting on this security gear. Then we do that whole security segment with Kyle Fletcher, which was really cool. Uh Kyle Fletcher is one of the nicest guys ever. I was super intimidated when he walked in. I was like, dude, Christ. Because I'm like 5'8. I'm not a big guy. And he's like six foot five. And I'm like, just looking up at him. Sweetest guy ever, dude. Sweetest guy ever. Uh, I'm pretty sure Kyle Fletcher fears Gen Z because he just kept running away from me. So that makes sense. I need to start posting that more, try and get some traction, get a match out of it. You know what I mean? Checks out, yeah. Well, I will. So then after that, we go.

SPEAKER_05:

We'll make sure everybody knows.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll get that hashtag out there. We'll get that hashtag out there. I'll clip this right now. Kyle Fletcher fears Gen Z. Whenever this goes up, I'm gonna clip it and we're gonna post it. You're damn right. So I get back in the gear, we do the match, it was a blast. Salute professionals, class acts. They were great. Uh, and then the rest, man, it was just kind of weird, just chilling out in the back. A lot of people would come up to us and like shake our hands, introduce themselves. It wasn't like like we were very welcomed and everybody was happy to happy to be there, and they were glad to have us there too. Because I really thought it was gonna be like one of those, like, oh, you're lucky to be here, blah, blah, blah. You don't belong. But everybody was super welcoming. Um, Sammy Guevara came up to us. He was been one of my favorites for a long time. Um, and he came up and just chatted with us for a little bit. Uh, Scorpio Sky sat with us while we watched the monitor. Um, and it was really cool seeing how hands-on Tony Khan was too, because like we saw him a lot throughout the day. Uh the catering was great. The chicken, oh, the chicken was immaculate, dude. The grilled chicken, whatever it was, I wanted every day. It was so good. And like they had little to-go boxes. So, right when we were about to leave, I got one of those little to-go boxes and I stuffed it with chicken. That's like a whole different level of it was amazing.

SPEAKER_05:

It's like we were talking about reviewing, we've been reviewing like food at indie shows. Because when we go to indie shows, it's like every indie show and what kind of food they have and how good their food is. That's like a whole different level of food that uh that you get backstage at. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. The extra, yeah, yeah. The catering food. Oh, it was so good. And then they had a but like, so the funniest thing was is like I was on, I was cutting right there. So I was like weighing out all my food. I still kind of am. I've slow, I've kind of through the holidays, it's been really hard to pick back up. But um, but I was I thought it was hilarious because they had like a food scale and then they had all this healthy food, and then you go to the next table, and there's like rice crispy treats and Pop Tarts and brownies and all this crap that we don't need to be eating. But they had like the healthy stuff with like a food scale to to make your body look halfway decent, and then you have the celebration treats with all the and they were homemade rice krispies too. So those are the the extra, like all the marsh, like one of those that you use goat apart. It's got that marshmallow, just pull off. Like it was I I use that like a as like a celebration meal. Like I was just on TV. I gotta eat all the rice crispy treats that are, and then I took a bunch of chicken home, and that was about it. And um time of your life. You know, I haven't lost a lot of matches since that happened either. I haven't lost a lot of matches. So that's good. I even won a title and I lost it. So, but I I got a belt out of it too. So that's awesome. You still won't. You did get a belt out of it. Yeah, it was a great experience. It was an amazing experience. And like I always tell the boys, like, I would pay them what they paid me to have another experience.

SPEAKER_05:

To do that, right. It's it's amazing. Like, you're getting paid.

SPEAKER_00:

And they they paid me a lot more than I thought I was gonna get paid. And like I would pay them what they paid me just to do that. I would do it.

SPEAKER_05:

Getting paid to be a professional wrestler is kind of surreal in itself, right? It's like I'm having a blast. What's going on?

SPEAKER_00:

Especially, like, especially for something like that. And then some of them, like you get home and you're like, Well, I had a terrible match in front of about 20 people out in the middle of nowhere, and I'm out$40. How did that happen? Like, you're like, I never want to do this ever again. Yeah, like why am I even here? Yeah, like why am I even here? I got nothing out of this. Terrible match, 40 people, middle of nowhere, and I'm out 40 bucks. Like, and then you do that and you make tons of money, and it's great.

SPEAKER_05:

We've been to about we've been to about eight of those shows. Middle of nowhere, 20 people.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I've done a lot more than I'd like to admit. I did one in Brenton, West Virginia, and there was about 10 people there. Six of the guys on the flyer showed up. Oh. The whole show. Oof. So we did, or no, there was eight of them. There was eight of them, because one of them only wrestled once. So we did three singles matches, intermission, then the three that were in the singles did a six-man tag, and then the main event match, which I don't even remember who it was, but for some reason they only had to wrestle once, and then the rest of us wrestled twice, and we got like an extra 10 bucks out of it. It was awful. We lost service like an hour out from the venue. It was terrible.

SPEAKER_05:

We went to a show, we went to a promotion that was like there was we didn't know that they were recording two episodes of a show, and we've seen like the same, we've seen a whole faction get created and then like break up and turn on each other in in like in one in like one event. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah, right. It's like the NWA stuff. Like I saw um where Kill Billy won the NWA world title. And then I think I was at a A, I think I came to an AMW show with Lifeguard Ross, and I was just sitting there watching, and Tom Lattimere still had the NWA title. I was like, but he just lost the Kill Billy. So like I talked to Ross because I like I don't get to watch a lot of NWA, but he was like, oh yeah, dude, it's like eight months out from when they release it. And I'm like, I was so confused because I just saw where he won it, but then he was at an indie show and he still had it. I was so confused.

SPEAKER_05:

We've seen that we've seen him wrestle at uh NWA Joe Casanna at um at the Joe uh in Knoxville, Tennessee at a bar. And we seen we had that match. Me and Noah were front row for that for that match. It was awesome. Nice, awesome. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Hell yeah. Yeah, but like we just got to do that. Me and Noah seen him again on the 16th. Yeah, last this last Friday. Yeah. Yeah, we gotta take pictures of him like him and us posing together, and he had what was it, like leopard print pants on, sweatpants? I don't I don't know where he got those dan pants, but I need some.

SPEAKER_05:

That belt, man, that belt is unbelievable. That belt is unreal when it's in your face. It's been in Noah's face, too. It's the most unreal, like so, it's a surreal thing to look at that belt.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's beautiful. All the people that's that had that thing just to lay your eyes on.

SPEAKER_00:

It's right. And I just wonder if it's the same one, like if it's been the same exact title throughout the whole time.

SPEAKER_05:

Like, has that been around Harley? Harley Rice's waist, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't, I don't know. But like, because we were at NWA Exodus in Cleveland, and Thrillbilly was there, and I remember somebody said something to him about the belt, and he was like, Oh, yeah, I fixed it. I think it was Alex Taylor said something to him. He was like, Oh, I guess something looked different about it. He was like, Yeah, I fixed it. I don't know if it was broken, I don't know if some stuff fell off. That's why I'm wondering. I'm like, I wonder if it's the same one because he was talking about he fixed it himself. So, and I've I've had to do that before. I've had to fix the championships that I've won because they've come to me and they're all falling apart and the leather's all leather. Like, yeah, the leather is like become so just non-existent that the plate is falling off. Like it's usually terrible. So I just got screws with a bigger end on it. Yeah, yeah. It's and it's like a it's like a foam too. It's like a foam with like a leather like wrapping on it. So I just bought screws that had like a bigger end on it just to keep it together, and then it still ended up falling out. I'm not keeping this forever anyway. Whatever. Right, and they've been talking about making a new one for a year before I got it. So I'm still waiting.

SPEAKER_05:

Uh Claybo, you got any more questions? So Yeah, I got one more question. So um you talking about Lifeguard Ross actually brings it me to it. So you guys just had a segment with um Carson Drake, right? Um and you were the gross voice. And I just I was a little confused on what it was, I guess. Because I'm not caught up with it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Just walk me through what it was, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So basically, uh we were we were at Exodus, EC3 invited us down. He was like, hey man, uh come set up, hang out. And I was like, All right, cool. We didn't have nothing going on. So we're there setting up, and it's pretty much done. So we're just kind of standing around talking. And Carson, Carson Drake comes up to the stage, he's like, uh Gen Z and Lifeguard, come up here. Okay, like We're one of the only ones left at this point. And we go to the go to this office, and it's just him and EC3. And we're like, what is happening? So they're like, all right, we have this golden opportunity for you. And I was like, they're about to tell me some crazy stuff. And they were like, so you're going to be the slime balls, but not the slime balls. Me and me and Ross just kind of looked at each other like, what are they talking about? They were like, you're going to be called the gross boys. We were like, this is awesome. They're like, you're literally going to be the slime balls. But like a worse version and like extra trashy. We're like, all right, cool. So they were like, you're going to wear all their gear. And like, I'm a I like the slime balls. I've been watching them for a while. So I'm a big fan of them. So like when I heard we got to work with them, I was like, all right, that's awesome. And then uh he was like, see if you can find some like cardboard boxes and make the NWA United States tag titles out of them. I was like, all right, cool. So we found some and we made the belts out of cardboard. And what was even better is when you flipped them over, there was a Frito Lays logo on the back of them on each one because we cut it so perfectly where the Frito Lays logo is on the back of them. Amazing. Amazing. And uh so we meet the slime balls. We're like, hey guys, we're um we're Z and Ross, we're also you guys. They're like, oh, you're gonna be the gross boys. All right, cool. And so they're like, well, what like none of us really knew what was happening. So then Carson comes down, he's like, all right, boys, put your gear on. We're like, we only have our gear. We don't have like gross boy gear. Like, we were told this was gonna be given to us. So then the slime balls just reach out of their bag and just start handing us gear of theirs, and we're just like relatively the same size. So we put it all on. Oh, yeah. So what's even crazier is their gear fit us perfectly to a T. You guys look like if we were them, like it was made for us. Yeah. Y'all were made for those ones. It fit perfectly. The only thing we didn't have is Tommy Rance. He wears boots, so we had to share kick pad sleeves. So only so we wore one kick pad each. But so we would be standing around the locker room and stuff with their gear on, and people would come up to us talking to us like we were the slime balls, and then we turn on, they're like, Oh, you're you're not you're not Tommy and Sage. Like they legit thought we were them. Craziest thing ever. That's and uh so we're about to go out for the first segment, and you saw my hair where it was like poofy and all over the place in my face, annoying. Yeah. Well, I'm about to go wet it down, and Carson Drake goes, This is completely real. Like, this is 100% shoot. He goes, Yeah, man, um, please don't wet your hair for this.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't want to get water on my suit. He's dead serious. What?

SPEAKER_00:

Dead serious. I thought he was joking with me at first. I was like, oh, okay. He was like, I this is he's like, don't don't get no water on it. I was like, are you serious? Knowing what my hair looks like when it's not wet, I was like, this dude. Other than that, super nice, loved working with him. That's funny. But but that I was just like, really, bro? Really? Like, come on, man. But it like, but at the end of the day, I think it looked a lot better without the without being wet. It just really fit the gross boys. Uh, but then we went out for the match and I wet it down because I was tired of it being in my face. But and the match match was a lot of fun to be a part of. I didn't even know Ross got carried out by whoever took him. Uh, because we attacked EC3 and then the lockering came out and jumped us, and they picked up Ross like they were gonna sacrifice him. It was hilarious. They were just carrying him out. Uh, and then Lord Crewe and Pastor CeeLo took me to the back. But man, that that night was a blast. So much fun. I think we're gonna be back on the tour.

SPEAKER_05:

Carson Drake worked, he's he's awesome, dude. He's so crazy good.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

We had him and him and Carrie. We watched him and Carrie at uh at the at that bar. They had they had a match. It was awesome. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Carrie's great, Carson's great. I'd I'd love to get in there with a lot with a lot more of the NWA guys. I'm sure you will. And hopefully, uh getting in with Exodus, hopefully we'll be able to get in there. I'm sure you will.

SPEAKER_05:

And we'll see you a lot more too when you're wrestling with NWA and a lot of the other things.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05:

Noah, you got uh for sure. You got questions? Wes went to get a charger and now he's vanished.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I got a few. Um I feel like we it's already been mentioned a few times, so I might as well circle back to it. Take us through what it was like being in the ring of Carrie Morton because I mean I'm sure it was just insane.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. Um Carrie, I idolized him for a while because he was kind of starting when I was starting. Um so getting to wrestle Carrie was also really cool because Ricky and Robert were some of my mom's favorite when she was growing up. So it was kind of a cool moment for her, too, getting to watch me, getting to watch her son wrestle Ricky Morton's son. And so I was already kind of nervous for the match, but I wasn't like shaking in my boots or anything, but I was like, all right, it's kind of a big match, but we'll get through it. And I get in the ring, I'm waiting for Carrie to come out, and I look to my right, and there sits Ricky Morton on the table, just like this, sitting there looking at me. I'm like, oh, like if I wasn't nervous before, I sure as hell am now. Um, but it was a breeze. I mean, it was like I was in there with just somebody that I've wrestled a thousand times. It's like I was in there with a lifeguard Ross or a Tyler Jacks or somebody like that. It was a breeze and class act, class act. Um, and I think Ricky was ready to go home after that, because by the time that the match was over, and then I went back out to sell gimmicks because we were the main event, so I went back out to sell some stuff. By the time that was over, I went to the locker room, they were gone. So I didn't even get to talk to him after the match, but I we chatted back and forth after um on social media, but yeah, they they were gone. But it was it was a great experience. Every time we've met the day of the week.

SPEAKER_05:

They're awesome. Like Carrie and Ricky both. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I could sit there and listen to Ricky talk for hours. He has stories that don't even seem real, but they are hilarious.

SPEAKER_05:

And we we love watching uh Lifeguard Ross work too, and that I mean we've seen we've seen him at the last KCW show, and he was he was awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, he's he's he's great. He's great. One of my best friends, too. We've we've been on the road a lot recently together. So we've we became pretty close. Like in just a year ago, we barely knew each other. But then some then some stuff happened. We got on some more shows together and started traveling together, and he's one of my best friends. That's awesome now.

SPEAKER_05:

So that's good when you don't have to go at it alone, it's always good.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure. I like I love going to new promotions and stuff. I love it, but I hate going by myself, especially if I don't know anybody that's gonna be there. Because I I don't like to be that guy that's just kind of the new guy by himself in the corner. Yeah, yeah. Don't know anybody, so I like to take at least one person with me just to know that I have somebody there. So but Wes, welcome back.

SPEAKER_02:

Sorry about that. You have a you have a question for Jenzi? Can you hear me? Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Um I have a couple, but I'm gonna really narrow it down. I I've you know really been following you uh your career and watching you wrestle. Love everything about you. I want to ask you about really um with your your way of wrestling, what was like your inspiration? Like what wrestler do you go to for inspiration as a kid growing up or anything like that, you know? Like, and I know um obviously you're a different generation than us, so like just like our podcast, like you know, Clay's the youngest, so he's he's you know, all about like that new age. No one knows all about um the ruthless aggression era when you and Dusty were raised up in that attitude era. Like, what era do you go to to get inspiration for with like your wrestling?

SPEAKER_00:

Good question. Yeah, yeah. So I I grew up more of like the PG era. So y'all are gonna love this. But my very first memory of of wrestling was Horns Swaggle in a crocodile outfit. You guys remember that? Yeah, that is what I saw on TV and was like, I love this. I'm gonna tune in every single week. This is my thing. Um, I don't actually know if that was a thing, but that was my first memory of of watching wrestling. Um, but like some of my favorites growing up, of course, John Cena, number one always. Uh Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, uh Jeff Hardy. Um I mean, the list the list goes on and on, and then AEW started. So then there's uh Sammy Guevara, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega. Um, so I love a lot of the new school stuff, um, or the flippy stuff, as some of the older guys call it. Um, like I I feed into a lot of um Jeff Hardy with the Agile and um how he moves around. Uh Dolph Ziggler uh with the selling and his cockiness and uh just how he acts and Seth Rollins and his cockiness, especially as a heel. Um and then like I like to feed into a lot of the Cena and Reigns, especially as a babyface, uh, just being that strong uh underdog type baby face, uh, and just having that superstar aura to you. Uh, because like you gotta be larger than life. You can't be just like some normal Joe Schmo off the street. You have to be something that they don't see every day, even if you are just some ordinary person. You have to make them believe that you're not an everyday person. You have to make them believe that you're like this special surprise toy that you pull out of this cereal box. You know what I mean? So um, but yeah, there's a lot of guys that um I feed into an idolized uh Kevin Owens is another one. Um, with him being a heavier set guy and still able to move around like the guy that he like like he does in when I've seen you work heel, uh it reminded me of heel KO. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I try to I try to feed into a lot of uh his character work and like I said, Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler. I love the cocky like chicken heels. I love them. Um and like I feel like a lot of people try to be these cool heels, um, and that just doesn't work. You can't because everything about a heel is you're taking stuff away from the audience, you're not giving them what they want, you're taking everything away that they want. It's for the it's the babyface's job to give them what they want. But the cool heel just kind of does whatever. You know what I mean? Like he's just there trying to be cool, but uh he also doesn't want to talk like talk crap to the fans and like I don't know if any of that makes sense, but that's something that I see a lot around I wouldn't say our area, but just the independence in general. Um not a lot, but more than I would like to do.

SPEAKER_05:

I see a lot more than I would like to of um like somebody who's not sure if they're the heel or the baby. You know what I mean? Like a lot of right, we see a lot of that like of course almost getting high fives, not really like not really faking the high five. Like, dude, the first thing you should do is fake that high five as soon as you come out. That's immediately like I I already know.

SPEAKER_00:

Do something, rip that poster up, do something. Or all you have to say is this town is a dumb. Yeah, it's not hard. You can all you always have those go-tos, especially when you're in a brand new place. You're in a brand new place, you always have to have those go-tos, and then you can go into your normal character work and stuff. But you have to establish immediately. Like I was always told, if you don't establish who you are within the first 10 to 20 seconds in a match, you've lost.

SPEAKER_05:

That's it.

SPEAKER_00:

Because then they don't care anymore. They don't care anymore. Um, but I I always try to be the heel that makes themselves look like an idiot. And then if I'm supposed to win, then I somehow outsmart them with the three brain cells I have.

SPEAKER_05:

So that brings me into my question for you, right? So it's a two-part question for you. Um one is what's your favorite finish to a match? Like for you, the uh finish to a match, maybe that you've ever had, or just in general, the favorite way to finish a match. And two is what's your favorite type of match that you've had?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh man, that finish one's gonna be tricky. Uh I mean, I I love ending it with with my swanton. I mean, I love just one, two, three, it's over because the crowd's like, Jesus Christ, I didn't know he could do that. Especially when I started doing the cannonball into the Swanton. So I like I call it my Swanton cannonball because I like arch the bag, look at it. My favorite thing is when I make eye contact with them, knowing that I'm about to murder them. I tell them, I'm like, dude, there's there's no protecting this move. Like, I'm sorry, it's gonna hurt. And most of the time they're like, oh, no, no problem. But I love making eye contact with them, just being like, well, it's your final breath for the next minute and a half. So I'd hit him with that, then hit my swant on, and then everybody's just like, oh beautiful. I didn't know he could do that. So um, but that or I like um one of my favorite finishes that I did recently uh as a heel. I had the ref distracted with something, blasted the dude over. The match started, and it was at a bar, and there was a bunch of drunk guys, and they were like, hit him with the belt. And I was like, I was like, for 20 bucks I will. And he was like, Bet. So I we shook on it, knowing that I was already gonna do it. I already had a call. And this drunk dude was like, hit him with the belt. And I was like, 20 bucks and I will. We shook hands. So the finish comes, the ref distracted, I smashed him over with the belt, I tucked it under my shirt. One, two, three, ref raised my hand, belt drops, goes back to the baby face. But I got out of the ring and this dude met me ringside with a$20 bill in his hand. And I dude, I snatched that up so quick and got out of there. But that was, I mean, that just with that alone was probably my favorite finish to a match. That is beautiful. Um, but uh I love I I really enjoyed doing hardcore matches, not death matches, but like hardcore with some doors and chairs. Like I'll do skewers. Um, I've done thumbtacks once. Um Yeah, um, I know one of your biggest matches is was Zayd and Kane.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes. And um, I don't know where it was, but um one of the big spots was putting somebody went through a door. Yeah. And it was awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we did a we did a big superplex through the door, and the chairs under it kind of folded out, and the door just went down. So we didn't really go through the door. But then the next week we had an yeah, yeah, we just landed on the door. Uh it just kind of went down with us. But then the next week we had a tag team street fight where it was uh me and okay versus Tyler Jax and Zayd and Kane. So we were like, oh great, we still have a door for next week. So uh so we got we saved that door, and then eventually we I'm pretty sure we broke it the the week after. Uh but yeah, we did uh thumbtacks on that one. We did a souplets on the ring trailer. Sweet. All kinds of crazy stuff. Like that match was probably the most painful match I've been in. Like halfway through, I was like, God, I cannot wait for this to be over. And like I didn't know, I didn't know it was I didn't know I was winning either. Like I was told Zayden was over because it was supposed to be Swanton, kick out. Uh, I was gonna be mad at the ref or something. He was gonna poison missed me, and that was gonna be the end. And I hid the Swanton and he didn't kick out. He just goes, Congrats, kid, because he was one of the ones that trained me coming up. So that was how I won the international title. That's cool. Because I was originally told they were like, so you're gonna win it. It was supposed to be in like October. I was like, all right, cool, because it was gonna be another match like that. And I was like, all right, cool. And then they randomly booked it for that Putnam County fair show, which I'm from Putnam County. Um, so I had a lot of friends and family there. But then they booked this match for it was like July, and I'm like, why are we gonna do this twice? Right. Like, I don't want to do this twice. I only want to do it once. Like, I don't want to do it twice. Uh, but then they put it on me there. So then it made a lot more sense. But I was like, why are we doing this twice within like three months? But that match, it was a lot of fun, but that was the most painful match I've been in. It sucked, but I've gotten a lot of good clips out of it, and people still talk about it. It won um two match of the year awards. Oh, shit.

SPEAKER_02:

So there you go.

SPEAKER_03:

I I I want to ask, just following off that what do the skewers feel like? I saw I've always wondered what do the skewers feel like in the head? I've always wondered what you know.

SPEAKER_00:

They're not they're not as bad as they seem, but they're not great. I mean, they they hurt, they're still going in your skin. Um I don't even know what to compare it to. Because I mean, there's not a lot of things that you can be like, oh, it's like jamming this in your head. You normally don't jam anything into your head. Uh no, it does. But I I will say that's a good thing. But they're not they're not as bad as you would think they are, but they're not comfortable, they're not fun. Uh, I always try to get a little extra money out of it because it sucks. Yeah, for sure. Uh but like I would do that over like I'm not touching, we'll not touch glass, will not touch fire, I'm not doing any of that. Not happening. There's no reason to. Um, so that's that's about as hardcore as I'm gonna get is the skewers. Um, because the first, it was the second hardcore match I've done. It was uh last man standing, and this guy just pulls him out of his gear bag. He was like, Hey, do you want to use these? And I think I was like 16 at the time, and I was like, no, no. And he was like, Oh, come on, they're not bad. Let me let me put it in your arm. And he did just one in my arm, maybe two of them, and it wasn't terrible. So I was like, All right, all right, and then I did them in the match with the adrenaline pumping, it wasn't that bad. Like, I'm sure if I would sit here and do it right now, it would suck. Imagine telling us you have the adrenaline pumping.

SPEAKER_05:

Right, yeah, yeah. He was like, Do you want to use these?

SPEAKER_00:

And I was like, No, no. And the dude wasn't even in the match that gave us the skewer, so he had nothing to do with this. He was just in the locker room, yeah. Actually, we never use them. That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_05:

We don't even know who he was. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because we were at a it was at a park. Like it was called Valley Park, and they have a pool. So during the summertime, there would be like just random people from the pool in our locker room. So we're sitting there putting on these shiny spandex and stuff, and these people who are just coming in the bathroom with their swim trunks on are like, what the hell did we just walk into? Like they probably think they're at a strip club or something. If they've never seen this before, they probably think this is some type of drag queen show or something with some of the stuff that these guys wear. They were probably like scarred for their life after that. But but yeah, that dude wasn't even in the match. So he had nothing to do with it. So he didn't care to offer them up. But yeah, I did it. So I've I've done them a few times since then. But that's always how I prefer to bleed. Um, I've used the blade one time, we'll never do it again. It made me sick to my stomach, having to sit there and like the poking what it like it didn't even hurt. It didn't even hurt, but it was the the thought of sitting there putting a blade into my skin. And as I would sit there and poke it, because I was always told to poke and twist, don't drag it. I was always told to poke it, and I could feel the blade going into the skin. It was like a pop. It's like popping every time. And then I wasn't even bleeding, so then I was like, you know what? Screw. And I just started like lightly dragging it into the into the hairline. Never again. And I barely got anything out of it. I've gotten more out of skewers than I did blading. I was like, I'm not doing that ever again.

SPEAKER_05:

I'd just do it the hard time, man, rather than that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, and then I told the dude like because I didn't have a lot going on, but there was a little bit. I was like, all right, just punch me in it. And he had like this white wrist tape on, and he just starts punching it and dragging it and just wiping it all off. And then it all ends up on his tape. I'm like, so I did all of that for nothing because it's all in your hand, it's all off my head.

SPEAKER_05:

He's showing color and not you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like he didn't even punch it. He was sitting there dragging it. Like, so just wiped it all off. Didn't do any good. But it is what it is. Went mama bear on him. Yeah, yeah. He was sitting there dragging it. Like, dude, you're defeating the whole purpose.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, that's awesome, man. We've had a blast with you. I think we're, you know, uh big things in the future for you. Um, but the the worker shoot crew is gonna see you soon. Um, I'm gonna give you a second here. You tell us, you know, you said where you're gonna be, but I'm gonna let you say anything else you know that you want to say there. Uh, you know, let people know what you got going on, where they can check you out and what you got on socials and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure, for sure. Uh, you can follow me on Instagram, TikTok, uh, Facebook, uh, YouTube, Twitter. I think that's it. They're all at real underscore gen underscore Z. Um, I post just about every day where I'm gonna be, match clips, stuff like that. Um, I have some merch over on Pro WrestlingTees.com slash Gen Z. Go check that out. Um, yeah, that's about it. Try to get me to a thousand followers on Instagram. That would be Instagram has been terrible. I've been trying to grow this to help you for like four years. I haven't even hit 800.

SPEAKER_05:

We'll help each other, right? Instagram sucks too.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll help each other. Yeah, dude. I hate Instagram. And my TikTok's one was at 4,000. That thing blew up overnight. I know I don't even know how I did it. And then Instagram, I can't get it to grow at all. Facebook's terrible.

SPEAKER_05:

We got our Facebook over, but only Facebook, nothing else.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So Facebook's pretty good.

SPEAKER_05:

It's pretty good. Facebook's Facebook wasn't having a lot of trouble. We had help from help from other pro wrestlers, but it seemed like it's way easier than Instagram. You can't get Instagram over at all.

SPEAKER_00:

For sure. For sure, yeah. And there's some people with like 20,000 followers, and they're just some random indie guy. I'm like, how did you do that?

SPEAKER_05:

To be fair, like you don't have like really good boots or a really good butt like to show like that is true. That is true.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. That is true, bro.

SPEAKER_05:

It's been awesome. Um, yeah, we'll we'll have you back on anytime. Uh love having you on. Love your work. For sure, for sure. Looking forward to seeing you in the future, bro. Thank you. Thank you. For sure, man. Thank you guys. I had a blast.

SPEAKER_04:

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it, brother. Thank you. See ya, boys. Be safe.

SPEAKER_05:

All right, boys. Um now we got now we got Gen Z. That was awesome. Great interview. Uh what we got coming up, work or shoot crew. Hey, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. No, go ahead. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_05:

No, you're good. What we got going on, work or shoot crew. Um next big show that we know that we're going to. I mean, we got because we had Saturday Night Main event last night, and we got Royal Rumble next weekend. So we're we don't have any indie shows planned for these two weekends. Um we may go next weekend, you may catch us at at Net Pro Studios because every uh every net, you know, they have that the wrestler showcase, right? But um you'll catch us February 7th. You'll catch us at K KCW Ascension in Virgin, Kentucky at the Nest. Um I think Belltime is seven, Clay. Bell time is seven doors. I'm pretty sure. Belltime seven doors open at six. Uh Sean Cruz, uh, Berto.

SPEAKER_02:

Um Luis Cortez.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, Luis Cortez is gonna be there. There's some more announcements coming up. Pretty sure. Um pretty sure life is. Yeah, part uh, Party McFly. Party McFly just got announced he's gonna be there. Also, want to shout out uh Innovate Pro Innovate Pro Wrestling. Uh Innovate has a show that same day on February 7th uh in King Sport at NetPro Studios, beautiful Bobby Eaton Arena. Um it's uh Innovate sold out. Um and it's basically gonna be the backlash of of the Illuminati Fallout and uh and um uh suboptimal uh making his turn. So that's that's what shows those are coming to the same thing.

SPEAKER_03:

There's also gonna be, you know, maybe we get a report from accident, you know, after what happened.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that's true. And then the can uh uh Appalachian Mountain Wrestling, AMW has a show coming up in Lexington, right? The Lexington Ice. What day is that February 1st? February 1st. Uh they got that show uh Lexington Lexington Ice Enzo Amore is gonna be there. Um Marty defending the title. Marty Marty Clay defending the title against uh Stan Sierra, right? I'm sure Stan Sierra's got some Stan Sierra's got some crap up his sleeve always to try to beat Marty Clay. I'm sure the the Freelanders, I'm sure Wes will be there to help Marty. Um uh yeah guys, follow me.

SPEAKER_02:

No, I'm not there. What Wes? I can't help Marty. You gotta get the other way. Yeah, I know I know.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, not this West. This Wes is not gonna help Marty at all. You're definitely not gonna help Marty. Uh remember, guys, follow us on uh YouTube, go comment on the videos, check us out on there, check us out on all the socials, Facebook, go like the page, comment on the post, share it. Um we post every day on there. Instagram, we're gonna try to go up on Instagram, follow Gen Z on Instagram as well. Uh Kentucky Championship Wrestling Ascension, go follow that event, check it out. You can get tickets ahead uh ahead of time. The links on the page at Eventbrite, you can get you can get tickets there.

SPEAKER_03:

The Golden Ticket. The Golden Ticket.

SPEAKER_05:

The Golden Ticket. The Golden Ticket. Yeah, Golden Ticket. You can check that out on their page too. Just look up Golden Ticket on their page and you'll see all the information about that. You can only get on their website and you can only pre-order it. Um But yeah, there's a lot of stuff coming up. Uh stay tuned to um stay tuned to the Worker Shoot podcast. We'll have we'll have uh updates for you. Indie shows. Uh as always, support indie wrestling. Uh go to your go to your indie wrestling shows and buy the merch, watch the wrestlers, support them, do them what they love, do what you love, so we can keep doing what we love.

SPEAKER_02:

Anything else, boys? As always, man, just piggyback what you said. What was that? I was just saying, as always, wrestling's good.

SPEAKER_04:

Absolutely. Just to piggyback what off off of what heavy D said, you know, um, go to the socials, super kick that follow button on everything. We're close to 700 followers on the Facebook man. Get us up there. Maybe if we hit a thousand, we'll start doing some giveaways. You know, we got some good stuff. You never know. Get us to a thousand, we'll definitely be doing that. But yeah, you know, keep just following us. Download the podcast, you know. Let that helps us do what we need to do to give you good stuff, let you know everything that what's going on. Um, of course, also with that, we're trying new things out as you can see. So uh be on the lookout on the YouTube, see you know if we had any new videos, anything going on. Um, so yeah, just be on the lookout for everything. And like Noah said, Wrestling is rational take the fall. Hey, Noah.

SPEAKER_05:

What playbook ring the belly mark today?