Episode 26

full
Published on:

21st Oct 2025

Maven on Hating His Entrance Theme, The Best Entrances in Wrestling, Tough Enough, YouTube Channel

Hi guys! John here.

Totally had to steal his gimmick for a sec. If you know what I'm talking about, you know who today's guest is...Maven!


You may remember Maven from his time as WWE Tough Enough FIRST winner! You may remember him for his awesome entrance theme, Tattoo (which apparently he hated!). You may remember him for knocking Undertaker over the top rope in the Royal Rumble. You may know him for his successful YouTube channel! You may know him for all of those things and more, but one thing you should know him for is being an absolute class act and awesome human being.


We talk about his entrance theme in WWE, his entrance theme in TNA, how he's crafted his YouTube show and how he continues to come up with awesome content, and more.


We also play our favorite game on the show, Music City Rumble, and Maven names the musicians he'd book in a wrestling match: one men's match, one women's match, and one tag team match!


Enjoy!

-

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About The Show:

Do you like wrestling? Do you like music and stories from the road? Join John Kiernan, wrestling entrance theme song composer, and professional musician of over 10 years for stories and interviews with your favorite wrestlers, rock stars, and personalities!


About the Host:

John Kiernan is a wrestling entrance theme song composer with over 150 themes written for wrestlers in various promotions such as NJPW, WWE, ROH, MLW, and many more. As a professional musician, a veteran in the podcasting space, an avid pro wrestling fan and wrestling personality by way of creating the soundtracks for your favorite wrestlers, John Kiernan forges his latest podcasting venture into diving into stories of music, stories from the road, and wrestling from all walks of life from your (and his) favorites of all time.



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Contact via email at johnkiernanmusic@gmail.com. Or fill out this form here! https://johnkiernanmusic.com/custom-wrestler-entrance-themes/#contact


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Transcript
Speaker:

I heard it when the rest of the world heard it.

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I had no clue, literally.

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I just, knew because I'm standing in gorilla position and I heard the, Pat Patterson and

Briscoe telling me, go out.

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So, yeah, that's it.

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Yeah, that's it.

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Welcome to this episode of the Ropes and Riffs podcast.

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my name is John.

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am a wrestling entrance theme song composer and talking about wrestling entrance themes.

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One song you may remember if you're a lifelong wrestling fan is tattoo the one that Maven

from tough enough used during his time in WWE.

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And that's actually, why would I bring that up?

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Because that's going to be today's guest.

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My guest today is none other than Maven.

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who you've probably seen for the last 20 years in the wrestling industry, but most

recently, who's launched a really successful YouTube channel talking about everything

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wrestling and interviewing some of your favorites as well over the course of time.

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We talk about how music has played an impact in his life.

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We talk about how music has had an impact on his life.

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We talk about how and why he went into creating YouTube channel and what his thoughts have

been on his entrance theme tattoo and...

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what it might have been and what he might have wanted it to be.

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But I'm excited for you guys to be here with me today

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you can find the Ropes and Riffs podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or any place

that you pick up your podcasts.

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If you head on over to any one of those and you leave us a five star review and rate the

show, it would be greatly appreciated.

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And if you leave a comment, we'll go ahead and read them out here on the show.

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If you want to support the show, you can go to PayPal and make a PayPal donation and any

donation of $10 or more.

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We'll also get you a shout out on the show.

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You can also follow us over on Instagram, TikTok and over on Facebook and YouTube as well.

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so without any further ado, let's get into the conversation with the one and only Maven.

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The man, the myth, the legend is in the house with us today.

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And that's not me, ladies and gentlemen, that is this man sitting on the other side of

this camera, the one and only Maven.

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Thank you for changing the world and thank you for taking the time to hang out with us

today.

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I don't know if I changed the world, but I'm definitely having some fun.

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So thank you for having me.

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Totally.

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And the thing is, like, I say you're changing the world because I think that there's so

many different, you know, podcasts in this industry and especially around wrestling,

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right?

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But you're somebody that in, you think about all the different podcasts that are out

there, right, in wrestling, I think that you've really done a great job at figuring out,

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okay, cool.

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What do people want?

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And what is my unique perspective, you know, with the entire career that you've had both

in and out of wrestling, the honesty that you bring and just.

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everything that you continue to bring to the table through your show.

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When you sat down to make your YouTube show and your YouTube channel, what kind of what

went into those decisions of, okay, this is the kind of content I'm going to create to

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make myself a little bit different?

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Or was it just, this is what Maven does, baby, let's go.

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No, you hit the nail on the head.

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It was all about being different.

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If I would have sat down and done what a lot of other wrestlers do, I would just be a long

list of another wrestler that has uh an average YouTube channel.

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ah But I luckily had a partner who knows YouTube is successful already on YouTube prior to

even working with me.

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and said we're gonna do things a little bit different.

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We're gonna use what gifts God gave you and we're going to make YouTube videos that just

so happen to deal with wrestling.

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And that's the key.

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We make YouTube videos.

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They just happen to have a wrestling title and wrestling thumbnail and the subject is all

about wrestling.

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That's the difference.

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And I think you nailed it with a couple of the first ones that I had seen, because I think

some of the titles were things like, what does a WWE wrestler make or, you what, like you

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basically were just like, Hey, I was someone that was there and I'm just going to shoot

straight with you.

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And people feel that honesty.

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People know who you are.

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People know your story, or at least the parts that they've seen.

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And now they're seeing that behind the scenes of, wow.

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These are all the things that Maven has gone through.

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These are all the things he's kind of like, he's pulling the wall back, but at the same

time.

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You know, I think it gives people lot deeper respect and perspective on the wrestling

industry and that's awesome.

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Yeah, it's, I love it.

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And I don't know if it's a compliment or an insult when people tell me, you know, or blame

me for pulling the curtain back.

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We get a lot of the same comments.

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And one of the comments we always get is, you know, something to this, to the topic of, I

wish wrestling was back like it was back when I was young and

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You guys weren't telling the secrets that you are.

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And that's fine.

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If you have that opinion, that's perfectly fine.

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But we live in the world now of information.

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This has changed the world more than anything.

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to people, they value and they desire and they search for information.

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And I truly believe people care more about what's going on backstage.

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than what's going on in the ring sometime.

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we're just, we're trying, man, we're, know, not everything we does is successful.

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We learn just like every other content creator.

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And in some cases, you know, we find stuff that works, we lean into.

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And in other cases, we find videos that don't work, stuff that I'm probably not the best

to speak on.

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And we try to shy away from it.

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Well, it was also interesting though, because you there's a topic that I think that a lot

of wrestling fans get a lot of interest in outside of just, what happened with Maven in

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his career?

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But you've started talking to a lot of people in the industry and people that you've kind

of run into over time or people that it's like, Hey, you should have this person on the

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show and talk about this topic.

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You know, and I think you've had a lot of really heartfelt stories.

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have had a lot of really honest conversations in a lot of ways that

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other podcasters and other people in the space haven't done before.

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And you know, that was even after all of the content of you saying, Hey, here was my

experience.

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So for you, when you were talking about, let's bring on like, for example, Saturn and

let's bring on these people.

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What was the conversation on, Hey, let me go to these people and have these conversations

where we're just talking raw.

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The conversation was I'm running out of shit to talk about.

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We better figure out how to have a bout face and figure something else.

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uh I'll be honest with you.

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The channel was probably a good bit more successful than I thought it would be.

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once, you know, once we got into year, you know, going into year two, it was, you know, I

mean, how many times can I explain what my backstage experience was like, you know?

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So we had to change.

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had to, if we wanted to continue, we had to add in and bring on other people.

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But that solved the problem.

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That was, and the problem was at the very beginning, I said, I will never speak to

something I'm not capable or...

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uh

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I don't to say, I just don't want to tell stories that aren't Like I don't want to, yeah,

I might've been there for certain things, but if the story isn't mine to tell, I don't

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want to tell it.

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So the easiest work around for that problem was hell, let's bring people in.

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For instance, a couple of weeks ago, we did a video with Mike Chioda.

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I know Mike, I...

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traveled the roads with Mike, I hung out with Mike.

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And I had a good idea of what a lot of answers were to the questions I'd be asking him.

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But I was never a referee.

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Therefore those stories aren't mine to tell.

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You know, I could stand here, I could sit in front of the camera and tell, you know, in

the riffs, you know how much they made, they made this.

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But it was a lot more authentic coming from my Kyoto.

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And so it was just basically a workaround.

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And we found success with it when, and the, the Perry Saturn bit video, the very first

Perry Saturn video we did was an accident.

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I was at the hotel waiting to meet Perry.

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He was, you know, if you're later than I am, you're late.

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And he was later than I am.

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And my, my cameraman was there and he was just filming when Perry came in, just trying to

get some B roll.

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Turned out the very first video that was

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all by accident.

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That wasn't even the video we went there to film.

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Yeah.

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But again, that goes back to giving people what they want.

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That's they want the they they a lot of times they want to feel like they're in that car

ride with you.

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They want to feel like that's why some videos we do in the car.

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uh You know, I want people to feel like they're in the in the passenger seat and they just

asked me a wrestling question and wherever we're driving, I'm just answering.

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The Buff Badwell video.

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Buff reached out to us.

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I wouldn't have the balls to ask him, hey, I know you're getting your leg cut off.

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Can I film it?

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Like, you know, so I'm glad we've carved out this lane.

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I'm glad we've become a destination for fans to get the answers that they've always

wanted.

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uh There's a video that just went up and I'm some promotion to Devon's channel.

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Video just went up a couple of days on Devon's channel where the Dudley boys, I

interviewed the Dudley boys.

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You know, I mean, the fact that I'm now and Devon asked me to do it.

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The fact that, that, that I'd like, I'm able, you know, at this advanced stage to continue

to evolve, continue to grow.

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Yeah.

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It, it's, it, it's caught me by surprise.

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Not gonna lie, but Hey, in life, I do know in life adapter dies.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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But that's also the thing too, is it's the way you're having these conversations.

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And like you said, something like Buff Bagwell having that conversation when he's about to

go through this process and you're just like, all right, cool.

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He calls you and then you're having all these conversations, all these different people.

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It's a very raw conversation.

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And, you know, it's something that certain podcasters may be able to handle with delicacy

and grace and, you know, some, may be a bit difficult to do.

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And I feel like you've been able to really do that and really bridge the gap between like,

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Hey, this is a tough topic to talk about.

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And you know what, let's have an honest conversation about it.

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And you know, let's just really bring out the best conversation that we can.

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And it really goes to the work that you've put in too.

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And I wonder in your head, the Maven that wins tough enough and shows up for the first

time and drop kicks the undertaker over the top rope, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know

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if you know, but the man did that.

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But how does that Maven look at the Maven in 2025 and say,

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Did we make it?

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Do you look down and you're like, yes, my son, we totally did.

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living proof that there's not one direct route to get to an end destination.

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If I would have, if you would have interviewed me on the night I won tough enough and you

would have said what a success to you in the wrestling business, obviously this isn't it.

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But if you ask me, gosh, what 24 years after winning tough enough, I'm happier now.

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than I've probably ever been.

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I'm my own boss in essence.

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And I only stress once a week and that's when the videos go out on Fridays for the first

few hours.

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And other than that, I get to do fun stuff like this or get to travel.

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I'm back to traveling and seeing more of the world.

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I'm back in touch with the Mike Chiotas, the Shelton Benjamins, the Perry Saturn.

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Hell, Perry and I...

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you know, this channel allowed Perry and I to get a relationship, one that we did not have

prior to the channel.

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I was on the phone with Perry for 30 minutes last week, helping him with his channel.

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You know, that just, yeah, that just blows my mind.

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Like, yeah, it's, it's, so it's proven to me that I wouldn't have viewed this as success.

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But I wouldn't change it now for anything.

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Regrets probably the ugliest word in the human language and it's tough.

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And to look back and think, man, I could be sitting with a bunch of championships and a

bigger legacy in wrestling.

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And I could have made a lot more money.

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But at that point then am I?

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Am I motivated to do what I'm doing now?

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Probably not.

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Probably not.

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you know, I remember when I remember when Undertaker started his channel, I was like, what

the hell is he doing this for?

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Like he's yeah.

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If I had his career and his money, you'd never see me again.

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So I'll never disregard my journey.

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Because I'm happy at where I'm at now.

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I love that.

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And, but now I know you're talking about change and I love everything that you've set up

to hear, but there's one thing that I've heard that you've changed over time.

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And as we are in the entrance theme space on this show here, one of the things that I've

heard over time that you would have changed was your entrance theme tattoo.

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Although let me just say it for the crowd, ladies and gentlemen, I loved that theme.

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Me watching you come to the ring with that.

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I loved that theme.

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And over time I'd hear you in interviews like, man,

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I don't know that theme wasn't a great one or wasn't a thing for me.

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I'm like, no, please don't say that.

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It's so good.

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know I was in the minority.

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Still am.

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I still get a lot of people.

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And again, it's hard to explain to people.

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As a kid, know, when you're growing up and you're, you know, forecasting what your career

in wrestling might be, if you dare to dream, that's just not the song I came out to.

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That's it.

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That's it.

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You know, but it is a good song.

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It just wasn't, I think it would have just been a better song for someone else.

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Sure, and now, so in that way then, two questions, and we can answer them in whichever

way, if you were to have your entrance theme at that time, what would it have been?

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And if you were to have given your entrance theme to somebody past or present, who would

that person be that would adopt Tattoo?

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If I've always thought that that tattoo probably would have been a good entrance thing for

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oh I've never been asked that question.

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I know the interesting thing that I wanted at the time, it was either something really

rock, like the takers, mean like Hunter's Motorhead.

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I always loved that.

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Or something hip hop related.

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Like when I started doing TNA and I could come out to what I wanted to, I came out to what

you know about that from TI.

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Honestly, as crazy as this is, the song was probably perfect for me with where I was

coming, what I was coming in from being the first ever tough enough contestant and just,

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you know, how it just starts off and you know, I can see my fantasy.

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It was probably, yeah, it was probably perfect.

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God damn it.

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It probably was.

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I admit it.

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Yeah.

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I guess I'd give it to me if I had to.

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Well, so let me ask you that too, because at that time, Jim is still writing.

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Jim Johnston is writing for WWE.

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And nowadays there's a little bit of a different dynamic, right?

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When I work with wrestlers, a lot of the time it's me working directly with the talent.

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Like someone would come to me and say, Hey, I'm looking for this.

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And I work with them directly.

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It's not so like I do work for a United wrestling network doing themes, but at the same

time, even then I'm working with Dave Marquez and then the wrestler and we're putting

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together something, right?

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But

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A lot of wrestlers now are going through a library or they're doing something like that,

or they're having a theme kind of written for them with, Hey, here's maybe one or two

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songs that would be a reference for it.

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Okay, great.

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But you hear stories down the line of Jim Johnson, working with lots of different people

and being like, Hey, what do you want?

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What's the framing with your theme with tattoo?

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How was that getting it to you?

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Was that something that was written with you?

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Or is that something that was like, Hey, Maven, here's your theme.

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And that's it.

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That's what you're doing.

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I heard it when the rest of the world heard it.

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I had no clue, literally.

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I just, knew because I'm standing in gorilla position and I heard the, and I got, you

know, Pat Patterson and Briscoe telling me, go out.

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So, yeah, that's it.

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Yeah, that's it.

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So yeah, there was zero input.

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from me.

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uh

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there maybe an invitation to be like, hey, let's adopt this or update it?

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Because like I said, I know that in TNA, you use, so it was just, that's it, that's what

it is.

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And yeah, and when I started doing, when I got to TNA and was doing the TNA house shows in

essence, it was, I could go up to them and I could go out to whatever I wanted.

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And that was my opportunity at that point to just try to get away and try to get something

that was more personality based, something that I felt on the way to the ring.

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But again,

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That's, know, we talked earlier about change and in my advanced age, I have realized in

this business, it's not about me.

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It's about the fans and it don't matter what I like.

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It's what they like.

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I can assure you the videos we put out on Friday.

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I don't care to know the information that I'm telling.

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I'm doing it for the fans, you know, so, and, and I'm fine with that.

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I'm perfectly fine with that.

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I'd like.

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I actually love telling people information that they've either wondered about or questions

they didn't even know they had.

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And again, too, that speaks to that honesty too.

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And I think that, you know, when you're titling things like what does a WWE wrestler get

paid?

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And then you're actually breaking it down and going into this whole like, you know, this

is what you're expensing.

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This is this.

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I think a lot of people are just like, Hey, this is the life of a wrestler.

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And they just see the camera on, but they don't see that camera offside, right?

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They don't see the developing of the character.

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They don't see the road miles.

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They don't see the road where, you know, so it's like, again, the way that you've been

able to frame that and

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You know, you've also been in wrestling for so long that you've seen some great entrances,

some great entrance themes come through the door.

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And like you said, you're talking about Team 3D, the Dudley boys, you very, you know, just

again, you've been able to see all these different people.

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To you, what have been some of your favorite entrance themes of all time for some of the

people that are some of your contemporaries?

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I've had original DX music.

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I love that original DX music.

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I always loved Goldust's thing.

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I thought that was perfect for him.

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I like Dan Grale's thing too.

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Again, it was another one that was perfect for him.

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You named three right off the bat that were just perfect for the people they were for.

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Perfect.

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Perfect.

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Yeah.

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Good things to me elicit a reaction.

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if that's the criteria, I mean, you can't do better than Stone Cold's glass breaking.

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I mean, the moment that the crowd hears that, that just, they go unglued.

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So.

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It's such a good one.

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And again, I think you can't have a conversation about Entrancy without Stone Cold.

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And you know, it's so interesting how it's evolved over time too, because, you know, I

spoke with Dijak recently on the show and he was just like, you know, it's interesting

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when you think about like your favorite themes, but he also goes, the talent has to sell

it too.

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And Dijak has this real awesome theme now written by Mikey Ruckus from AEW.

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And it's one of these things where it's like...

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you see his presentation, you see he walks out like Sin City, he looks like this total

badass, and he's just like, yeah, if you have an entrance theme and it works for you,

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that's great.

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But he's like, after you hit that entrance and you're out there, you gotta make it work

for you too.

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And it's such an interesting thing for me.

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Like, I'm always just like, what's gonna make people think of what you do before you even

get out of the curtain?

293

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But there's that other side of it.

294

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Like, how does it make you feel when you're going to the ring?

295

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It's such an important thing, yeah.

296

:

Yeah, that's what made Hunter's theme so great.

297

:

But he was doing the long, elaborate entrances way before anyone else.

298

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mean, you know, I got yelled at one time for taking, I think, 30 seconds to get to the

ring.

299

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You know, now guys take several minutes to get to the ring.

300

:

Well, Hunter was doing that back then, but it fit his character and people waited for it.

301

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They waited for him to do the thing

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The look on the ring ropes, looking from side to side, spit the water.

303

:

Same with Taker.

304

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Taker's things, you know, I still love the keep rolling, rolling, rolling.

305

:

I mean, when you hear that and you see him come out on a motor motorcycle, it's peanut

butter and jelly.

306

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You know, it just goes together.

307

:

And it has longevity too, because you're seeing them even now, like a year removed from

today, right?

308

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2024, 2025, they're doing all their things and you're just like, man, it still sticks.

309

:

That's awesome.

310

:

So yeah, you've seen so many over time and it's just been such a cool thing to see where

those have all come from.

311

:

I just want to touch on something real quick.

312

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You said that music had a big role in your life.

313

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And, you know, for me, obviously, music is basically what I've dedicated my life to.

314

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And I love it.

315

:

But what role has music played in your life?

316

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Nostalgia.

317

:

Like it's just, it's the one thing that whenever I need to go back and think of something

from uh a memory from past musical, it'll give me a date, it'll give me a year.

318

:

If I think of something bad or good, I can oftentimes think of ah what song I was either

listening to or what song I was playing.

319

:

A prime example back in 2017.

320

:

It's good.

321

:

This is such a weird example, but it's proof of what I'm saying.

322

:

In 2017, I had to I even get I even bring in a a I even bring in a an exhibit in 2017.

323

:

I had to put down there's a good nice picture of Stevie Richards crotch and my crotch.

324

:

There you go.

325

:

In 2017, you had to bring in Stevie Richard's crotch.

326

:

2017, had to put down a pug that we saved.

327

:

And that's how I got this little guy right here.

328

:

Because literally, we put him down and my girl and I were heartbroken.

329

:

And two days later, she's on the couch.

330

:

I'm like, go get something else.

331

:

Let's replace her.

332

:

And that's how we got this, and that's how we got this little guy.

333

:

And he's been, he's been my boy ever since, but I still remember, and this is proof that

of what I'm saying, the song, as I took her to the place to put her down, the song that

334

:

was playing was toad the wet sprocket.

335

:

ah Well, what is it?

336

:

oh We spotted the ocean.

337

:

I forget what that is.

338

:

ah

339

:

Yeah, and it's just such a weird song that like I'm, that I never would have thought, but

now I, anytime I think I hear that song, it takes me to that.

340

:

And for whatever reason, puts a, it puts a good, it makes me remember that dog.

341

:

if that makes any sense.

342

:

Walk on the Ocean, that's the name of that song, Walk on the Ocean.

343

:

And it's like, I'm not a Toad in the Wet Sprocket fan.

344

:

I never have owned any of their music, but that song takes me back to that day.

345

:

it's nostalgia.

346

:

And it could be good or in this case, sad, you know.

347

:

Yeah, but it's powerful too.

348

:

And like you said, it's one of these things where maybe it's not from a band that you are

ultimately listening to, but it's something that takes you back to that time.

349

:

And it's something that in that moment, you're just like, I'm never going to forget that

moment.

350

:

The important memories that it comes to.

351

:

Yeah.

352

:

And it's just, you know, I could name hundreds of songs like that.

353

:

You could name hundreds of songs like that.

354

:

And it's just, it shows the power of what music can do.

355

:

you know, as cheesy as it is, even though we

356

:

do a show here about entrance themes.

357

:

It's like, people think about that too.

358

:

People think about, man, I was here when this happened, you know, or, my dad, you hear it

all the time in these interviews and just with fans and whatnot.

359

:

Hey, I was here with my dad when we did this and like, you know, we saw this and it's

just, you never know where, and I've said this to people before, you never know where the

360

:

music's gonna take you.

361

:

I just had Jarrett from Bowling for Soup on and he's just like, our song got played in

space?

362

:

What the hell is that?

363

:

And he's just like, know, when you're sitting there in 2002, writing music and it's all

punk music.

364

:

You never think that you never know where it's going to go.

365

:

just, you know, it's music can be such a powerful thing.

366

:

I have a couple of things for you.

367

:

And these are questions that I ask everybody who comes on the show as again, we talk

music, we talk wrestling.

368

:

I do something on the show called Music City Rumble, where you are in the hot seat.

369

:

to book a men's singles match, a women's singles match, and a tag team match where the

participants are musicians.

370

:

So you get to pick three matches, musicians versus musicians in the squared circle, and

then you get to say who would win.

371

:

Oh my goodness.

372

:

I mean, obviously the obvious answer is, know, Drake and Kendrick.

373

:

Yeah.

374

:

That's the best one.

375

:

And I don't know if that's the second time, but it's been on here before.

376

:

Absolutely.

377

:

Who goes, who goes over in that one?

378

:

I think Kendrick takes it.

379

:

I think, yeah.

380

:

But if you look at longevity, man, God, know, Drake's coming up on, shoot, probably 20

years that he's been relevant in the music industry.

381

:

So I'll go back to my childhood.

382

:

I'll do, oh man, I'll do Michael Jackson and Prince.

383

:

Yeah, just because those...

384

:

you in honesty who goes over in that one.

385

:

That's a hard one.

386

:

Okay.

387

:

Before I knew I liked music, I liked Michael Jackson.

388

:

I think that was the first album I ever bought.

389

:

Michael Jackson Thriller.

390

:

So yeah.

391

:

going over on Prince on that one.

392

:

I love that.

393

:

And now you got a singles match for the ladies.

394

:

Alright, I'm gonna go back and go.

395

:

I'm gonna go back to my roots and.

396

:

bring up somebody that I still remember my mom putting listening to growing up and since

she's been in the news recently Dolly Parton and Crystal Gale.

397

:

still okay.

398

:

I a what are the songs that if I'm ever in a bad mood, I'll listen to it's a guilty

pleasure is Crystal Gales.

399

:

Don't don't that make my brown eyes blue.

400

:

I still remember my mom listening to that when I was growing up.

401

:

And if I ever need to just put a smile on my face, that song will do it.

402

:

So Crystal Gale, yeah, so Crystal Gale gets the victory.

403

:

Yeah, she gets the victory.

404

:

I grew up country.

405

:

I know I don't look it, but I grew up country.

406

:

I love that.

407

:

didn't get into country till I was older.

408

:

And then like for me, cause I do a lot of guitar playing and that's my primary instrument.

409

:

All of a sudden I get my Brad Paisley is going and I'm like, dang dude, these guys are

monsters.

410

:

But then again, like you see these guys who are just great players and then they're

writing this beautiful love song stuff.

411

:

And then you're just like, man, there's some great players out there.

412

:

Dang.

413

:

Strait, if I had to pick three musicians to listen to, three, let's say I was on the

desert island and I could listen to three people for the rest of my life, George Strait

414

:

would be on that list.

415

:

I love, love George Strait, yeah.

416

:

so good.

417

:

And actually hold the three, hold the three pieces of music.

418

:

Cause that, may be coming next, but then you got the tag team that you got a book too.

419

:

uh Tag team.

420

:

Let's do...

421

:

Yeah, it's gonna be Metallica.

422

:

Do they have to have a tag partner?

423

:

No, no, could be Metallica versus somebody else.

424

:

versus Alice in Chains.

425

:

Oh my gosh, Alice in Chains is probably because it was, that was my graduation of high

school.

426

:

And you know, we all come of age when we graduate high school.

427

:

And I can still remember listening to on road trips, listening to wearing out those Alice

in Chains CDs.

428

:

So yeah, unfortunately, Alice in Chains takes it for me.

429

:

Yeah, I love Alice in Chains.

430

:

I can go with that too, because again, I think Metallica is like the entry and then

everything else is a stack upon, right?

431

:

You're like, okay, cool.

432

:

I get in the Metallica.

433

:

You know, they're goats, you know, they're great.

434

:

But then all of sudden it's like, what's the one that changes you?

435

:

And for you, that's Alice in Chains.

436

:

And they are probably, you'll get no argument for me.

437

:

Metallica is the greatest of all time.

438

:

They are Mount Rushmore.

439

:

But for my enjoyment, like I just, to me, Laine Staley was probably the most talented rock

singer of all time.

440

:

Like I just, his voice is like none ever.

441

:

For me, yeah.

442

:

with that.

443

:

And the last question I got for you that relates to all that, if you had to make a Spotify

playlist, or if you had to make a music playlist that had three songs that define Maven,

444

:

what would those three songs be?

445

:

Ooh.

446

:

Hmm.

447

:

Wow.

448

:

That's, yeah.

449

:

How about that?

450

:

don't, don't, I don't, can I give you just the artists instead of the song?

451

:

All right.

452

:

George Strait's on there.

453

:

And then George Strait's, his catalog.

454

:

uh Tupac is on there.

455

:

Cause there is, there's my hip hop again.

456

:

My whole college was.

457

:

nothing but listening to Tupac.

458

:

And uh gosh, I would say Alice in Chains, but I've already given that, but let me give you

a different one.

459

:

Huh.

460

:

just because I grew up with it, Alabama.

461

:

I know I don't look it, but man, I love country music.

462

:

I love it.

463

:

I love it.

464

:

So there you have it.

465

:

There you have it.

466

:

like in Jersey you'd be surprised There's a decent country scene up here, too.

467

:

I think it's cuz like your ma was and things like that you know there's a There's a

country scene here

468

:

Yeah, it's funny because my my girl, she's she's an 80s rocker.

469

:

I mean, she's been to more kiss concerts and you know, we just lost an icon last week.

470

:

ah But you know that it's it's it's crazy because like anytime that there'll be somebody

on television, you know, and I'll be like, what band are they in?

471

:

She knows him immediately.

472

:

But

473

:

That's, know, music plays such a just pivotal role in her life.

474

:

So I think music does that for most people.

475

:

I think it comforts us when we need it.

476

:

It saddens us when, you know, when, you know, when we need it and it can motivate us as

well.

477

:

How many people in the gym do you see, you know, getting their music ready before set?

478

:

So, yeah.

479

:

And there's that joke too.

480

:

It's like, hey, if I don't have my headphones, I'm just leaving.

481

:

Forget it.

482

:

If I don't have my headphones, go to the gym.

483

:

Forget this.

484

:

I have been in the gym and had my headphone battery died and I've left.

485

:

And I've been like, yeah, this thing, this didn't happen.

486

:

This thing gonna work.

487

:

I love that.

488

:

Well, maybe thank you so much for making the time.

489

:

are such a busy person that you're doing so much and you know, everything that you've been

and wrestling, you're back in:

490

:

thank you for taking time to chat with us.

491

:

Thank you.

492

:

It was my pleasure, a lot of fun, a lot of fun.

493

:

Thank you so much.

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About the Podcast

Ropes N Riffs - A Podcast About Wrestling, Music, and Wrestling Entrance Themes
Join John Kiernan, wrestling entrance theme song composer, and professional musician of over 10 years for stories and interviews with your favorite wrestlers, rock stars, and personalities!
About The Host:
John Kiernan is a wrestling entrance theme song composer with over 150 themes written for wrestlers in various promotions such as NJPW, WWE, ROH, MLW, and many more. As a professional musician, a veteran in the podcasting space, an avid pro wrestling fan and wrestling personality by way of creating the soundtracks for your favorite wrestlers, John Kiernan forges his latest podcasting venture into diving into stories of music, stories from the road, and wrestling from all walks of life from your (and his) favorites of all time.
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