Speaker 1:
From the library of the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad streets in New York City, you're Inside the ICE House, our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange on markets, leadership and vision in global business, the dream drivers that have made the NYSE an indispensable institution for global growth for more than 225 years. Each week, we feature stories of those who hatch plans, create jobs and harness the engine of capitalism right here, right now at the NYSE and at ICE's twelve exchanges and seven clearing houses around the world. Now here's your host, Josh King, head of communications at Intercontinental Exchange.
Josh King:
Let me take you back to March 28th, 1985. President Ronald Reagan, standing on the Bell podium of the New York Stock Exchange, looked across the trading floor and remarked to the crowd of traders.
Ronald Reagan:
This is a great view from up here. It's kind of like being at a Saturday night tag team wrestling match at the Garden.
Josh King:
Three days later, at that other iconic New York arena, which trades as NYSE listed MSG, "A Ronald Reagan with a horseshoe mustache and 24-inch biceps," as The New York Times would describe Hulk Hogan later on, and his tag team partner, Mr. T, stepped into the ring to face off against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. The match which saw Hogan and Mr. T come out on top was a keystone of WrestleMania 1. It cemented World Wrestling Entertainment, better known as WWE, which is also the company's NYSE ticker symbol, as the top wrestling organization following Vince McMahon's aggressive expansion and marketing since taking the reins of the business from his father just two years earlier. McMahon's WWE, then known as the WWF, completed a successful IPO in 1999, and a year later brought the ring to Wall Street, where a live event broadcast from a setup right in front of the facade, announced the beginning of trading here for their shares under the ticker symbol, WWE.
Josh King:
Throughout the company's growth and changes, WrestleMania continues to be the annual highlight of the wrestling schedule, known as the Super Bowl of wrestling, not just for the importance it plays in the sport, but its economic impact. In just the past 11 years, the event has brought over a billion dollars to the local economies of its host cities. And tomorrow night, down in New Orleans, it will be the 34th occurrence of the event. Today's guest, Big Show, visited earlier this week to ring the opening bell and give us a sneak peek of what to expect at WrestleMania 34 and his future wrestling plans.
Speaker 4:
Inside the ICE House was brought to you this week by Norwegian Cruise Line, NYSE listed NCLH. Norwegian Cruise Line's 16th ship, Norwegian Bliss, will begin cruising Alaska and the Caribbean seasonally in June 2018. For more information, visit www.ncl.com.
Josh King:
Our guest today, Big Show, made his WWE debut coming to the defense of Vince McMahon in a match against The Rock, just a few months before the company filed for its IPO. Big Show became the WWE champion a month after the company went public. He's one of a few select wrestlers in history to complete a Grand Slam by holding all of the major championships at some point during his time with the WWE. Big Show's coming off of hip surgery and over the last few months has been rehabbing hard to get back in time for this weekend's WrestleMania. He just rang the opening bell and now joins us Inside the ICE House. Welcome, Show, to the program.
Big Show:
Hey, thank you guys. Very, very much. Yeah. Exciting day, definitely. A lot of busy times going on.
Josh King:
What was it like up in the podium? Not your first rodeo up there.
Big Show:
No, it was the first time I ever rang the bell. Last time Kane rang it and this time I did. It's funny, my thumb's so big it almost didn't fit in the hole to ring the bell, but Tom's a great host, told me where to stand, what to do, when to do it. And luckily I'm smart enough to take directions, so it was a fantastic experience. And mainly, it's just overwhelming with all the history.
Josh King:
And whether it's the opening day of trading or the first round out of wrestling match, that bell is going to ring whether you like it or not. You got to be ready.
Big Show:
Yeah, you can't avoid it. That's the thing. If you put yourself in that situation, you just better be ready to rock and roll. So ringing the bell was cool, ringing the bell up here was cool. So for me, like I said, I got a little bit more of a history, I know they revamped some of the rooms and I got see the Faberge statue, got the history behind that. That's one of the great things about coming up here, everybody here has always been so kind and so nice to us. And throughout the country, sometimes you don't get the respect. And I go back a long time wrestling and this, that, and the other. And now that we're publicly traded, we're sports entertainment, people understand that we have such a global impact. We're not the ugly stepchild anymore. We're actually the person you want to talk to if you want to get something done.
Josh King:
Talking about getting ready, Show, I was watching your tweets over the weekend. I know you're getting ready for WrestleMania. I want to play a little video clip of you doing some road work, not basically your feet on the ground, but on two wheels and the harm you were doing to that bicycle as you were going up the countryside.
Big Show:
All right. Big Show here. Little update, good strong leg workout this morning, great hip therapy, finishing off the day with a bike ride, put a couple miles in. I know you can't hear it right now, but my bicycle is screaming for its life. If there was a such a thing as bicycle torture, I'm committing it right now. I'm slamming about 390 pounds down this bike and it's going to be a crumpled pile of metal and rubber when I'm done with it.
Josh King:
Show, what happened to the bike, man?
Big Show:
Well, we stopped riding the bike a little bit and I started doing more indoor cardio, because apparently on my route, I started drawing too much of attention and people were damn near running over me to stop me to get an autograph or had some interaction. So rather than potentially causing an accident or scene, I moved my cardio inside for a while until I find another route, so that happens every now and then.
Josh King:
Marvin Hagler used to go out to Provincetown in the dead of winter to train. No one out there on the far reaches of Cape Cod. How do you get away and get some places where people aren't watching you rehab your hip?
Big Show:
It's very difficult. I mean, like a lot of my bike rides that I'll have to move to, I'll end up doing in Miami. And we have some places where I can run the power line access roads on Turkey Creek and its back road, dirt road, 33 miles, I think is what it does. You drive one way and get picked up at the other end, but it's gravel and a little hilly. The only thing is there's crocodiles, not alligators, crocodiles because it's brackish water, and there's 16, 17 feet laying on the bank. There's horseflies as big as my thumbnail and there's a few Florida panthers back there. So when you ride that ride, you don't want to stop. You just want to keep pedaling. It's a great motivation to keep moving. You're kind of a buffet on wheels back there in that part of the country, so you want to keep moving.
Josh King:
I mean, fans aside, is biking something you like to do?
Big Show:
I like it for the exercise, because before it was less impact on my knees. But as the weight's come off, legs gotten stronger, hips gotten better, I'm able to do other forms of cardio now, so we're changing up as best we can. Sometimes if you do too much of the same kind of cardio, your body adapts so fast that you're not getting the same impact you are if you change it up every now and then. So, especially with me lately, I've been changing it up from climbing stairs to different types of air striders and whatnot.
Josh King:
Your fans following you on social media have tracked every step of both the injury and the rehab.
Big Show:
Yes, they're very gracias. Yes.
Josh King:
But for folks who don't know, Show, what happened with the hip and what are you trying to do now at age 46 coming back for WrestleMania?
Big Show:
Well, I'm good to go now. I mean, I went through a lot. For the past few years, I worked in a lot of pain and slowly over time I had some arthritic degeneration in the hip. I actually had holes in my femur ball joint that goes into the hip. I just wore holes in it like a bowling ball. I wore it out, wore the collar, the cartilage out, wore the bone down. I was in a lot of pain and I had bone growing over it too, so I lost a lot of range of motion, my steps were shorter, got some atrophy in my quad, my hamstring from not having range of motion in that leg. I couldn't use that leg as much as I wanted to. And I powered through it and then it just came to enough was enough. I didn't want to do a full hip replacement because that's metal and plastic. And to me, my size and weight, that just seems like a no-win situation. I ran to Dr. Su here at HSS in New York, who is one of the top hip specialists in the world. And we did a resurfacing, which you keep 98% of your bone. It's basically a titanium cap over the ball joint with a titanium receptacle in the hip that's press fitted in and bonded. It doesn't come out. And it's also a bigger joint, there's more range of motion.
Big Show:
So for me, I went from being in pain, basically 24/7, to no pain at all. Three weeks after the surgery, I walked a mile and a half, which was fantastic. And then I started having little complications. And then what I found out is that all our bodies have staff and stuff like that, and sometimes your body reacts to foreign devices. So, I built up a surgery infection, which is pretty serious because it can get into bone and it can cause a lot of problems. So they had to go in, open me back up, flush, clean everything and then I was on a pick line for seven weeks over Christmas, which is basically an IV drip, three times a day of vancomycin and cefepime to combat the infection and to corral it, because if it really got on the device, they would have to put a spacer in for three months, pull the spacer out, then remove the joint and then do a full hip replacement, because apparently once, if the infection gets on the joint, because the metal, no matter how smooth or how polished, the microbes are so small, it never goes away.
Big Show:
So we were lucky to get ahead of it and to beat it. And I just got cleared two weeks ago for back in ring competition, and I'm waiting to see what's going on. I have a good idea of what I'm doing at WrestleMania. I'm not going to say because it'll be a surprise, but I'm very excited about what's coming up.
Josh King:
What WrestleMania is this for you?
Big Show:
For me? Oh God. Dude, I don't know. I started in not '99. I think I've missed two. I missed one in Detroit and I missed one in Toronto. Detroit was 2007. I took that year off. And the Toronto one, I was at our restaurant here in New York. I never keep track of all that stuff. Some guys... Like Edge was always the bested. Edge just could tell you what match it was, who his opponent was, what the date was, what the weather... I mean, he was one of those guys that was so smart, he was annoying. I can't remember what I did three weeks ago.
Josh King:
December 8th, 2014. It's a match between you and John Cena in RAW, and hear a little bit of how that match ended up.
Speaker 6:
You can't see me.
Speaker 7:
No, Big Show saw him.
Speaker 6:
Big Show says, "I read in your book, Cena." Whoa, another counter. Cena from behind. Big Show on his shoulders.
Speaker 7:
Oh god. That's incredible.
Speaker 6:
450 pounds. That is super human strength. And he got him. He got the Big Show. Here's the cover. And he did it the Big Show.
Speaker 7:
Unbelievable.
Speaker 6:
Shoulders are down and... Seth Rollins, Seth Rollins. and AJ security.
Josh King:
Now, this is radio show, so people can't appreciate the fact that Cena is picking you up.
Big Show:
Yeah, he's the man.
Josh King:
Above his... And then flipping you over and a three count. But Cena actually outside of the ring had an important conversation with you that was documented pretty well in a ESPN article, Big Show: The Giant with the Six-pack, gave you some thoughts about how to look at a different stage of your career.
Big Show:
It's different, John and I have been good friends for a long time and great competitors. And John is a very intelligent individual. It's not very hard to... You've heard John talk before. Obviously he's very smart, but John also was a smartass. And John and I are good friends. He's a terrible card player. I have beaten his ass so many times playing gin. I have a hundred dollar in quarters in a jar that he signed, because I made him pay me in quarters. So anyway. For the record, I'm the better gin player, but that being said, John and I was talking about weight training and stuff like that. And I always had a self-deprecating sense of humor. And I would pick on myself, "Oh, I'll die young. I'm fat, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And then I made the comment to John. I was like, "Yeah, a giant with abs. Who the hell would want to see that?" And John got real serious with just no expression on his face. And he is like, "Yeah, a giant with abs. Who'd want to see that?" And he walked off.
Big Show:
But I think the way he did it, it just was such a motivator because it was a challenge, it was almost a plea from one friend to the other, like, "Please start taking care of yourself." And at the same time, like, "There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it." And there was so many emotions that went into that, it pissed me off. I remember him walking away and I wanted to punch him in the back of the head. I really did. I mean, I would never hit somebody from and behind in real life, but it flashed through my mind. I'm like, "Okay, well I'm going to show him." And then I started slowly eliminating things here and there out of my diet, finding the right meal plan that worked for me, finding the right training, and it was an experience. And rather than going and asking, because people ask you for diet advice all the time. "Oh, hey, what do I do? What did you do? What did you do?" And I used to do that too. I would ask Triple H, I would ask all these guys what they did. And in one hand, when you do it yourself and you earn it, you appreciate it more. When you do the research just asking somebody, you're not that serious about it.
Big Show:
The first three letters in the word diet is die. That's why they fail. It's a lifestyle change. You have to change who you are. If you're an emotional eater, you have to learn not to be an emotional eater. Certain foods that you crave are not good for you, you don't react well to them. We all have different body chemistry and makeups, and you have to learn who you are and what works the best for you. And you have to pay attention to it, and then you have to believe in yourself that... It's one day at a time. The main thing is finding what works for you and having a little bit of discipline. And discipline was the whole thing that I think I lacked my entire career with a lot of things. I wasn't very disciplined with it, because I was such a good athlete, because I was bigger than everybody, I didn't have to really apply myself like a lot of other people did. So later in life, wow, gee, I wish I'd applied myself like this a long time ago. Things happen for a reason. I'm applying myself now, I'm happier for it, I'm wiser for it, and I feel better.
Josh King:
The results of that regimen, I think the announcer at that RAW match had you somewhere over 400 pounds. You're aware now.
Big Show:
Oh God. Yeah. When I wrestled John, then I was probably 470, 480. I could have been 490 and lying about it. Right now, I think I weigh 389 before I left home, so in this week we're really concise on what we're eating this week and in our training, and our cardio, and whatnot. So I'm looking to probably be in the low 380s by Sunday.
Josh King:
The role of the big man in wrestling, I think I've read an article with you that had you talking about the number of wrestlers who are above 6' 8" is a small amount.
Big Show:
Small percentage. Yeah. Of those guys that can actually wrestle too.
Josh King:
Yeah, and you're an athlete, you played basketball, Wichita State. What defines success and failure for the big man in wrestling?
Big Show:
A lot of things go into play with it. Being able to be a character, being... Being a big guy is about size and presence, but it's also about what you bring to the table. It's what keeps... I always have a thing called putting asses in seats. What makes you different that you put asses in seats where people want to watch you? How can you build your opponent? I mean, it's easy to go out there and be a star if everybody makes you look good. That's easy. You see that every new guy that comes in and gets a lot of wins, he hits his finish, he looks so amazing. Woo-hoo. That's all good. Now, how's he survived? And everybody's like so hyped when they're winning all the time. Now your love for this business to be tested is when you don't win, is when you make other people look good, is when you make people that are worse than you, look better than you on purpose. How you swallow that? That tests your love and commitment for the business. That's your job security.
Big Show:
That's how guys like Kane, myself, Mark Henry. We've always been able to make other of guys look good, because sometimes being a big guy doesn't mean you're the leading man. You're not a John Cena, you're not a Mark Wahlberg, you're not a Dwayne Johnson. You're the guy that they have to topple to get to the next challenge. You might be the partner that they run with to overcome another challenge. You might be the wrecking force that needs to be slain, just like the dragon. So that's your role. It's not like, "Oh, you should be the champion all the time." If I was a champion all the time, it'd be boring. It'd suck. That's not the role. The role is you want someone that people can root for, that they can get behind. Human history throughout evolution, if you look at psychology, we've always overcome fire, famine, disease, war. So many things that as human beings to exist in this world, we've had to overcome for centuries to exist today in the world we're in. So that David versus Goliath syndrome is packed in our psyche. It's the same thing with wrestling.
Big Show:
Yeah, it's okay to root for the big guy. You're going to have fans if the big guy's nice. If the big guy's a bad guy, well, yeah, you might like him, but deep down inside, you still want to see the spectacle of somebody taking that person down. And I think that's the thing that a lot of big guys need to learn and also need to learn to be safe, because you can go out there and be a monster and a terror, but if you're hurting guys and you injuring guys, nobody wants to work with you.
Josh King:
One of the big guys in all of our memories, those who followed professional wrestling from its earlier days is certainly Andre the Giant.
Big Show:
Of course. Yeah.
Josh King:
You were telling me that you were in LA a couple days ago, watched the new documentary for HBO from Bill Simmons. I want to hear the trailer for that and then have you reflect on the trajectory of the big guy's role in wrestling from Andre to the Show.
Big Show:
Fantastic.
Speaker 7:
How about your diet? How much food do you eat a day?
Speaker 8:
You knew that you were seeing something unique in the world.
Speaker 9:
Andre was an attraction. There was no level of comfort. It had to be an uncomfortable life.
Speaker 16:
There's only one.
Andre:
They think of him as this legendary drinker. He drank because he was in pain.
Speaker 11:
People would not leave him alone.
Andre:
Its bleeping dog shit.
Speaker 12:
The reality of who he was was getting more intense on him. He knew he wasn't going to live long.
Speaker 11:
Month after month you could see Andre failing.
Speaker 13:
Andre commanded great respect.
Josh King:
What parts of Andre's story did you relate to on the screen and what are of any other era?
Big Show:
Well, it's funny, I started in Andre's shadow a couple years. I never met Andre. I started business a couple years after he passed away. He passed away at what, 46? That's how old I am now. That was a moving documentary for me personally, because when I started, I was brought in, build as the son of Andre the Giant. And that was a whole angle and that's pro wrestling back then. But in all sincerity, after watching that HBO special, I learned so much about Andre that was so parallel to my own personal experiences, it was moving. From the athlete that Andre was when he was younger and the things that he could do, and it was different times, but he was an athlete, I mean he could do anything, to the pain and agony of the traveling and being uncomfortable, and the people staring, and you walk by sometimes and people do laugh. That was one of the things during the documentary that caught me. You walk through an airport and people do laugh when you go by. It's a natural human reaction. I mean, I understand that now. I mean, I've had a few psychology classes in college, so I'm a little bit more forgiving, I think.
Big Show:
I don't take it personally, I just know that people when confronted with something that either frightens them or is awkward to them, sometimes people laugh. It's the same thing as sometimes people gasp. It's the same thing, it is just a reactionary response, but to see and understand that, yeah, Andre went through a lot of pain. Just emotional pain too, because he never really fit in anywhere. He was this marvel, he was this freak, he was this man among men and he ran a locker room, and he ran a business, and he ran territories by his presence. And the way he loved the business, I think a lot of the passion that I discovered that Andre had, I have similar passions about our business and how I wanted to do well and how I wanted to continue. And just to see how his life, where he was beloved by so many, and at the same time the heartache that he went through. I think I could have very easily, had I not made a conscious effort with Vince giving me grief, and Cena, and friends that are close to me, about... Taker, guys that I know that love me, that wanted me to... I used to smoke two packs a day.
Big Show:
I could drink a bottle of Jack Daniel's in a sitting. Yeah. "I've a liver the size of a Buick. Yeah, I can drink." But to start making that change and getting myself healthier after 2006, I took a year off to really try to make some headway on that, on just getting in better physical health and I was able to do that. And then, I came back and beat myself up a little bit on the road and tried to attack it from a different angle. And I attacked it this time through nutrition and specific exercise modes to enhance and get serious about it. It prolonged my life. I mean, I'm 46 now. I have no fears, no doubts I'm going to live for a long time because I know how to care of myself now. But for the longest time like Andre, when I was in my 30s, I didn't expect to be 50. I used to make jokes about it. Like Samoa Joe would slap his forehead and go, "Geez. Oh, don't do that. It's so depressing." "I'll be dead next week. Just say something nice at my funeral." I mean, that was my self-deprecating humor, but that was my fear, I think, on the inside of trying to express that it's not easy being me.
Big Show:
It's not easy being in pain. It's not easy never fitting in. It's not easy having people stare at you and gawk at you, and everyone, "Your hands are freakishly large." So I went through those emotional periods in my career too, as well. And to be able to be fortunate enough to have good people around me, to help pull all that together and turn it to a positive, after seeing the HBO special, it saddens me a little bit because Andre was such an amazing human being from everyone that knew him, that if there was a way to help him, I wish I would've been around to be able to help him. I think there's one testimony in the HBO series that Bill Simmons did, that Timmy White, who's a dear friend of mine, Timmy White spent a lot of time with Andre. And I remember Timmy and I were together on the road and we were talking about Andre, and he told me about how Andre passed in France, in the hotel and he was by himself. And Timmy was really emotional and upset about that, because Andre was his friend. He didn't want the Giant to pass away alone. He says, "I wish I'd have been there."
Big Show:
And I said, "Timmy, if I was passing away, the last person I'd want to see is your face." And he said, "Well, it'd be mine because I'd be choking you, you big bastard." So I made him laugh at the time when we had that interaction ourselves personally, but then they brought that up in the documentary and asked Timmy, and Timmy got upset, but I couldn't console my friend and I lost it in the theater because Timmy's my friend and I saw the pain that he had. And then I'm thinking, on one hand, is emotional, on the other hand, I'm very blessed because there's a lot of people that do, outside of sports entertainment, of course my fans, I'm very thankful for all of them. I'm very blessed to have anyone that appreciates what I do, but I have a lot of personal friends that really care about me, and I'm happy for the fact that yes, I've made the transformation to get healthier and be healthier for myself. But also, so I don't cause my friends that kind of pain that Timmy White has. Even Vince, who's like granite marble, you could tell Vince was upset too.
Big Show:
I mean, and I can tell when Vince tells me stories of Andre and how Andre did things, and Andre's different than me. It's a different time, it's a different era, he was a different man, but there was a lot of similarities between him and I and what we've both been through in our careers and gone through physically, that it really resonated with me, more so than it ever has in my entire career. That HBO special for me hit home in a whole new place, because I learned so much about Andre, and even after being in this business for 20-plus years and all the stories, and all the guys, I learned more about Andre the Giant in that documentary than I ever knew.
Josh King:
And that documentary debuts on April 15th on HBO, Andre the Giant from producer Bill Simmons. Show, the show must go on. I think WWE stock now is trading somewhere north of $36 a share, certainly an all time high territory since it went public in 1999. Do you and your fellow wrestlers take some sense of pride and achievement in the business that you've built and what that reflects to shareholders for the WWE?
Big Show:
Of course. I mean, one of our main responsibilities is you always want to leave this business as a talent better than when you came into it. You always want to build the territory better. In this case, our territory is WWE. We're global, it's our company, we're part of it. So for those of us that work through the attitude area, that are working now, that are contributing now and to see this growth and this expansion, there's a lot of pride in that. I mean, I can remember in the locker room, we didn't have trainers, guys taped each other's ankles. Now we have orthopedics on staff, we have concussion impact testing. We have financial advisors, insurance advisors, like there's so many things that WWE does towards the athlete that most of the outside world doesn't know. I mean, right away, these new guys are coming in, they're getting financial investment advice, they're getting insurance advice, they're getting like healthcare in the form of blood testing and cholesterol levels.
Big Show:
And WWE has taken a really big step investing in a superstar, because it's not like the territory days where you keep a guy a couple of years and send him on out. Like they're investing in talent now because they see the long-term advantages of keeping talent 15, 20 years, as much as possible, that long term investment so the crowd becomes more emotionally invested. It's in better investment for them as a company to invest more in their employees because it's a better return rate over a longer time.
Josh King:
You talk about the globality of this sport. Last week we had a visit, and continues this week out in California, of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, a lot of reports coming out about the Greatest Royal Rumble at King Abdullah Sports City on April 23rd in Saudi. Are you going to be...?
Big Show:
27th.
Josh King:
27th. Are you going to be in that match?
Big Show:
Yeah, I'll be there. I go out the 19th to do the media for it. I'll be there. I've been in Jeddah before a couple years ago. I went there. Yeah. So...
Josh King:
What's the experience like? Different kind of fan base.
Big Show:
Different kind of fan base, different culture. Still, I'll say that's one thing that's great about my industry is it transcends all race, religion, creeds, colors. In sports entertainment, there's something for everyone. And fans are fans. And even with all the turmoil that goes on in the world and crazy people on both sides, it seems kind of crazy, but sports entertainment brings everybody together. I mean, they're very gracious hosts and very exciting fans, so that's all you can ask for as a talent, is to go over, perform well, be treated well, and make sure the crowd never forgets that you were there.
Josh King:
I also saw a photo you tweeted out of yourself recently, flanked by Special Olympians, you do a lot of work with the troops.
Big Show:
I love the Special Olympics guys.
Josh King:
What do you feel is your duty to give back to those who are helping to fill arenas, but also your biggest fans?
Big Show:
I just enjoy the people. I don't know how else to explain it. I mean, as much as I stand out, as much as a freak as I am, I still enjoy people. I think I overcome a lot of my insecurities about being different by engaging with people more. I think that's one of the insights it's worked for me rather than becoming more of a recluse and hiding from people. I've tried to get involved with other projects and other things where I can use this freakiness in this spectacle that I am and use it for more good. I mean, let's face it, a lot of people need to do a lot more good in this world. So if I have the opportunity to do some good, I'm going to try it. And working with the Special Olympics athletes, recognizing our veterans, working with Make-a-Wish, anything like that. It's good for your soul and it's good to help other people. If you can help make one person have a good day, then you've done a good thing. And I think that if we all tried that a little bit more, just try to help another person have a good day with a smile, a kind word, a helping hand, that's being human, that's true humanity.
Josh King:
Dwayne Johnson of course has gone huge, John Cena was...
Big Show:
Dwayne Johnson. Who's Dwayne Johnson?
Josh King:
Also Cena was huge in Trainwreck. You've got The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania coming out. How much do you enjoy doing things outside of the ring in the entertainment space?
Big Show:
Great. I actually just left LA and I just came home with three scripts, so I've got three potential films that are pretty big blockbusters that I'm looking at now, being heavily considered for. So I'm very excited about the opportunities moving forward for me to get out there and meet with the studio heads and meet with some of the creative directors and whatnot. So they get me, they understand me now. It's a little bit different. You see me on TV or see me in a picture, but once they interact with me, they realize that, "We might be able to do something with him." So now we're starting at the bottom, we're going to work our way up. I mean, like I said, I'm not a John Cena or a Mark Wahlberg, or a Rock. That's not my role, but I can be that best buddy, that fun guy, or that archvillain. So who knows? I mean, if things pick up, I might be able to do Shakespeare. I'll do a fellow in the park or something.
Josh King:
You're still the biggest show in town though, at WrestleMania, that comes up this weekend in New Orleans. For those who don't usually tune into WrestleMania or will for the first time, it's not just one night, it's a whole week of events. What should a fan look for at WrestleMania?
Big Show:
Well, WrestleMania is going to be a week-long event. We've got Axxess, which we'll have superstars signing autographs, we'll have superstars taking pictures. You're going to have events where superstars are at local events. I have a Special Olympics basketball game, I'm coaching. I have National Taxi Cab Appreciation Day. I've got some other interactions on media, RAW, which I'll interview a lot of podcast people, a lot of media people, so it's really Axxess is exactly that, is access to a lot of the superstars, new up-and-comers, there'll be matches with new NXT talent. But I remember seven, eight years ago, some of the NXT talent performers like you're Seth Rollins and stuff like, or if not longer, I could be maybe even longer, they were performing at NXT. They were performing at the Axxess and now they're headlining WrestleMania. So it just shows that you get to see a lot of talent before they're really created and really made. And then of course you have merchandise and all the unique items that are for sale, and opportunity and experiences that go along with Axxess. And then the event itself, April 8th, Mercedes Dome, New Orleans, Louisiana, it's going to be one humdinger, that's for sure.
Josh King:
One humdinger. That's for sure. Show...
Big Show:
There you go, that's almost like a JR word. Jim Ross, humdinger, slobber knocker.
Josh King:
Best of luck of luck at WrestleMania.
Big Show:
Thank you guys very much. Thank you for having me.
Josh King:
That's our conversation for this week. Our guest was Big Show, who's making his return to the ring in time for WrestleMania 34 on Sunday, April 8th. If you like what you heard, please rate us on iTunes, write a review, let other folks know where to find us. And if you've got a comment or question you'd like one of our experts to tackle on a future show, email us at [email protected], or tweet at us at NYSE. Our show was produced by Pete Asch and Ian Wolf with production assistance from Ken Abel and Steven Portner. I'm Josh King, your host, signing off from the library of the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.
Speaker 1:
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