How are you doing? And how is
that recovery coming for you
after what you went through?
I'm good. I'm good.
Thankfully, for those who don't know,
I broke my neck in March and broke it
in two places, at my C1 and at my C6.
But I'm doing really well.
I feel great. I can do this. Hmm.
But it's just a matter of waiting
for the bone to fully heal. Heal.
So we're just waiting on that right now.
But thankfully, no pain,
no function issues.
I feel great.
Have they given you?
Once everything is healed?
Would you still like to
come back as a full time?
You know, competitor with W
is that still a possibility
or just kind of wait and see?
Right now?
Yes. Right now the plan is to get some
more scans the one year mark and you know,
I've been doing this for the last 13 years.
But it's also something, you know,
you don't want to mess around with your one.
It's a very important bone.
So yeah, I just want to make
the smart decision for myself.
So we'll see when March rolls around.
But I'm someone I like to meditate.
I like to stay present.
So right now I'm not too
worried about all that.
I'm just trying to to be in the moment.
But I will see when March comes around.
I was going to ask you just if there's
anyone you draw inspiration from as
you try to to to come back and rehab.
And everything. I'm obviously,
I'm sure you have a great
support system there. Sure, WWE.
But anyone else that you're kind of,
you know, drawing inspiration from as
you as you try to come back from this.
Yeah. Well, I mean,
even from Atlanta's own Cody Rhodes,
the Atlanta area, at least it made
he wrestled with a torn Peck.
Talk about people who put
their bodies on the line.
You think of him and seeing him,
he's also in his recovery as well.
So there are so many people too.
And you think too,
like I look at cases like Edge and Edge
had this injury that ended his career.
He was out for years and then
see him fight back to see.
And have incredible matches.
He he's someone who's
definitely inspirational.
So yeah,
a lot of people that I draw inspiration
from. Let's talk about the show here
Atlanta next week, you know the the week
before between Christmas and New Year's
is usually one of the best weeks for
WWE business because people are off.
They want to get out and do stuff,
maybe tickets for Christmas presents.
So Atlanta on that schedule this year,
in in between Christmas and New Year's,
why do you think Atlanta was so lucky
and and what kind of market is it?
For you guys, when you come down here,
just because, I mean, there's a,
there's a long wrestling tradition
here in in the city and in the South.
Really.
Yeah, this was going to point to Atlanta
has such a great wrestling tradition.
It just makes sense to keep coming back here.
And the last time I was here, you know,
I think it would have been more
fun and it was day one in Atlanta
and I I lost my WWE Championship.
But besides that,
it was an incredible experience,
incredible crowd. And Atlanta,
like when you think of wrestling,
when you think of what we do,
I think of the South.
I think of Atlanta,
and I grew up on WCW and that was Atlanta.
It's like. So there are just so many.
We just have in this city.
There's so many people who love
what we do and, and like you said,
it's so great for the
families you're talking about.
You can bring your grandma,
you can bring your little kids,
you can bring everyone.
It's really,
it really is meant for families.
Business
right now for you guys is,
is really, really great.
I mean when you look at live ticket sales,
you know when you look at TV,
there are so many people who are
quote UN quote cutting the cord,
but your ratings compared to other cable
stations are actually pretty good.
Merchandise is good.
Why do you think the
product is so hot right now?
Well, I think there's just something too.
For one, there's just something too
being there live, like you said,
a live event, watching it live on TV,
being there in person,
knowing that this is going to happen
right now and it's that live feeling.
There's nothing like that.
But I really think a lot of it is
attributed to just kind of the
direction of the company right
now with Triple H running things.
I think there's this renewed excitement.
You have new leadership and people are
excited to see what this Triple H.
It looks like and I think there's
definitely big element of that and you
just have so many talented athletes in
WWE and some a new breed, a new crop.
When you're looking at Austin theory,
who's from Atlanta,
he's doing an incredible job.
Bianca Bel Air,
she's a star from just the last few
years who has absolutely been killing it.
We have this new crop of young
talent that I think is really
invigorating our audience
and obviously one of the keys to being
successful over twenty 30-40 years is
you have to bring in new talent on on,
you know every once in a while you guys have.
Done a lot with what you call the NFL,
your version of the NFL
program recruiting colleges.
Do you think that's maybe the future
of of stars in in in your company?
Is it other promotions,
is it independence,
is it the college athletes or is it
a combination of all those things?
As you look at the future
I think it will be definitely,
definitely will be a mix of the two.
I think you'll definitely want to have people
who have been grinding on the independent
scene who who really have honed their craft.
But then you also look to so
many of the stars from WWE.
You're talking about the
rock play football at Miami.
Stone Cold played football at North Texas.
So many of the biggest stars in our industry
have long come from college sports.
So instead of, you know,
for people like me,
I play football at Iowa and I didn't
really know the path to get to WWE.
I was fortunate enough that a scout,
you know, I knew someone who
knew someone who knew a scout.
But now I love with NFL,
with what we're doing.
We call it next in line with WWE.
Now there is a more clearly defined path
as a college athlete to getting to WWE
when you go to a live event.
That be a TV taping or what they used to
call pay-per-views premium live events.
Now if it's even if it's just a
regular live event what is the key
to making it fun for everybody who
wants to come out or or maybe people
are at home on the fence about do I
want to go what is the key what do you
guys do to make those events so fun
man. I would say as a performer live
events are what we really look forward to.
TV is great it's obviously that's
how we make our money that's that's
the bread and butter of what we do.
But you know there are commercial.
Breaks and you know you have to follow.
It has to be very regimented.
But the beautiful thing with our live
events is you get this opportunity to play.
And I love for me every time on a live event.
I'm always looking for people
to interact with.
I'm always looking for fans to
give a memory or someone to whether
it's passing someone a shirt,
whether it's giving a kid a,
a DAP or a high five,
that's always what you do.
And we even like we'll we'll cater
what we do in the ring for that live
audience reaction because that's
that's really the point of it.
You're not just in the ring just
doing moves and hoping people like it.
But point is.
To engage people as much as possible.
That's what makes a great superstar,
someone who can engage someone.
So that's why we love life events.
And for anyone who's never been to a
live event, I'm telling you, they're special.
They're different.
You're gonna see another side of
superstars that you haven't seen
on TV and you just get that live
in person's ability to interact
with with your favorite superstars
is nothing like
it. Before I let you go and do
one more hard sell for the show,
but I've got to ask you about
the College Football Playoff.
You were a college football player.
The Peach Bowl is here.
George is involved. Ohio State.
Big 10 Team is involved.
So is Michigan as well as TCU.
Are you into the College Football
Playoff and do you have any thoughts or
predictions on what's going to happen?
Yeah, college was my first love,
so this is this is right up my alley.
I'm not saying this simply
because we're here in Atlanta,
but Georgia is on a run,
they're on a tear.
Big fan of Brock Bowers,
just an incredible talent at tight end.
Stetson has been playing incredibly well.
I know we didn't have the Heisman
numbers from, but in big games,
Stetson looks incredible.
And that defense, you look at all
the guys they lost to the NFL,
over a dozen guys who were drafted.
Last year I think from
the defensive side alone,
and they might be even better on defense.
So I think Georgia is not gonna
have much trouble in this playoff.
We'll see how things shake out.
I think the Michigan TCU game should be fun.
I I'm going Michigan there.
I think we'll get Michigan and
Georgia in the national title game,
but it feels like George
is going back-to-back.
Alright, so let's do the hard
sell State Farm Arena next week.
This is an exciting time of year
because this period between now and
WrestleMania is when things really,
really gear up. So Tuesday,
State Farm Arena next week.
Why should people come out?
There is nothing. Like being there in
person to feel that energy, to feel your
favorite superstars shine you
out slapping high fives with you.
You gotta be there in Atlanta State
Farm Arena. The show starts at 7:30.
You gotta be there.
Don't miss it. Buy your tickets
at Ticketmaster or State Farm.
You can just walk up the State
Farm and say I need tickets.
I need to see this.
Enjoy your holiday. What
better way to enjoy your holiday than
coming to WWE live? Come on.