If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
** The latest guest to join Ryan Satin on his Out of Character podcast was Sami Zayn. Zayn shared that he’s interested in venturing in acting and detailed a meeting he had with an agent. He felt that he maybe should’ve treated it like a job interview. Zayn recalled being asked if he had acting experience and told the agent that he did not. With hindsight, Zayn feels a great answer would have been sharing his 20 years of pro wrestling experience and equating that to acting.
Their conversation was over shortly after. Zayn said he hasn’t felt rejection in a long time. The meeting did not discourage him, but he wants to find the true root of his interest in acting.
Yeah, it’s (acting) something I’m very interested in and the more I got to flex those chops a little bit with that (Bloodline) storyline because of the level of depth and the range of emotions, I got really bit by the bug. I was like, oh man, this feels great. I love it, I love wrestling stuff where I can really act more. I’d love to act. It kind of opened my door a little bit for me a little bit. Yeah, it’s definitely something I’m interested in. How interested I am and how far I pursue it? I don’t know but it’s definitely something I’m interested in.
I’ve explored that a little bit (talking to an agent). I can tell you a funny anecdote real quick though. I talked to an agent recently but the agent was not necessarily — didn’t really know my body of work, you know? It’s not someone that saw me and was like, hey, you’re really good. Are you interested in this? It was somebody I knew put me in touch with somebody and I don’t know, maybe they were talking to me as a favor. I really don’t know but I had this conversation with an agent but it was really interesting because, you know, I’ve kind of somehow reached the top of this industry and you kind of take that as a given in a weird way. You kind of forget all the hurdles along the way when you’re here because you’ve kind of made it and you’re accepted. But as I’m having this meeting with this agent, I didn’t treat it like a job interview which maybe I should’ve. I was really just talking to him like I’m talking to you. He’s like, ‘So you have acting experience or anything like that?’ And instead of saying, well, I’ve been wrestling for 20 years. Every component of it has something to do with acting and body language and physical mannerisms and storytelling so the manner I’m speaking in, I’ve been acting for 20 years. Now that would’ve been a great answer. Instead, I said, ‘Nope!’ So then he was just like, ‘Oh, okay. I kind of see what I’m dealing with. Let’s reconvene another time’ or whatever and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure’ and I hang up the phone and I go, ‘God, what is this?’ That didn’t go very well.’ What is this feeling I’m feeling? I go, oh my God, rejection. I haven’t felt rejected in so long, because I’m married so I’m not getting rejected by women, you know? (He laughed) And I’m successful in my industry so I’m not getting rejected in terms of like, no, you’re not good enough in wrestling but now it’s like when you venture outside of your comfort zone and try to tackle this whole new medium, there’s new gatekeepers that you gotta prove yourself to and all this thing. It’s like, it was just a real interesting experience. I don’t know. It was really funny.
No, no, it hasn’t (discouraged me). What I mean is I just don’t know my level of investment or genuine interest or what my motives actually are if I’m being totally honest. If I’m genuinely just interested in pursuing the craft, then it doesn’t need to be for a Hollywood movie. Then I could do local theater, I could do — that’s almost more intriguing to me in some ways. Genuinely learning the craft. But is that really what I’m interested in? Or is it an egotistical component that like, well, I’d like to leverage this popularity with WWE. I’d like to do shows that I’m a fan of or work with people that I’m a fan of and it’s all in a bigger sphere so I need to kind of sort out what’s really at the bottom of some of this interest.
Zayn touched on his rivalry with Johnny Knoxville and Knoxville continuing to go after him even when he turned babyface. He saw videos and photos of Johnny booing him at WrestleMania 39. Zayn feels it’s not over between them and there’s somewhere to go with that story. He added that his recent success does not make him feel he’s above working with Knoxville again.
It’s deranged (that Johnny Knoxville is still coming after me) and actually, what’s very funny is he showed up at this year’s WrestleMania and the tide had turned. I was obviously very disliked that year going into the match with Johnny Knoxville and through the story with The Bloodline and everything, people kind of softened on me and by the time WrestleMania 39 comes around, I’m pretty well-liked and I’m in the main event and it’s this really big deal and Johnny Knoxville shows up and he’s sitting out in the stands and he’s still cursing me out and flipping the bird the entire match and people start turning on him and it was just so funny. I saw all these pictures and videos of fans filming him and he definitely comes off like a crazy person. But really, the whole thing makes me laugh and his dedication to pettiness and revenge, I suppose is somewhat admirable and the fact that he won’t let it go I think is a little sad but, also kind of enjoyable as well.
I don’t know if we’ll ever bury the hatchet. We bumped into each other at WrestleMania 39 actually and just, it doesn’t feel right, I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right but I feel like it’s not over. I feel like, obviously, turned the page and I’ve gone into a new chapter in my career here and as you’ve said, I’ve reached even higher highs than before but, I still feel like this thing with Johnny Knoxville’s not quite over and I feel like there’s somewhere to go with that, you know?… I’m not above it, I’m not above it. I want you to know that. I’m not above it. I’m also petty in some ways and I’m not like, oh, well now I’m a big star and I don’t need Johnny Knoxville. No, I’ll happily mix it up with Johnny Knoxville any day of the week.
Earlier in the conversation, Zayn spoke about his former persona, El Generico. He explained why he feels like he’s not watching himself when he goes back and watches footage of him as that character.
And for me, even when I’d watch that character back (El Generico), there’s times it really doesn’t feel like me. I don’t move like that, I don’t act like that. I don’t know. It really feels like I’m watching someone else. But then you see a little of, I don’t know, something that humanizes it and you’re like, oh, there’s a guy playing that guy and that guy takes that thing off. That’s not his actual face. There’s a guy under there playing that guy. I don’t know. Just little things like that (seeing my hair show while I had the mask on) would drive me crazy.
** Brian Gewirtz is continuing to make the media rounds to further promote his book about his time as a writer for WWE. Gewritz was invited onto Busted Open Radio and told a story having to do with John Cena writing, ‘JBL is Poopy’ on JBL’s limousine. Gewirtz did not know Cena was going to write that and when Cena returned backstage, he jokingly told Gewirtz that wrestling fans who are aware of the ins and outs the business are going to have a field day with him because they’ll think he scripted Cena to do that.
The most infamous example I could think of (when I felt fans being upset via social media) is when (John) Cena — is when he was with Cryme Tyme and desecrating JBL’s limousine, wrote, ‘JBL is Poopy’ on it and then came backstage and was like, ‘Yep. They’re gonna have a field day with you now’ and I had no idea he was gonna write that (Gewirtz laughed). But, you know, sure enough, came my way but either way, it’s something we laugh about. It wasn’t anything upsetting.
** As IMPACT X Division Champion Lio Rush was being interviewed by Darren Paltrowitz, he was asked how he’s been able to bounce back from the injuries he’s suffered throughout his career. Rush said slow and steady wins the race and a lot of care is put into his recovery process.
Slow and steady wins the race but I never stop moving. Never stop moving (Rush responded when asked how he’s able to bounce back from injuries). A lot of care goes into taking care of my body, now it does. A lot of rehab, a lot of therapy, a lot of cryotherapy. I’m actually gonna train in this ring and then go head on to cryotherapy right after this so, I gotta keep up with my body, I gotta keep up with my nutrition. I’m very particular and strict about what I put in my body so, those two play a huge part in me being able to do what I do today.
** Season nine of The Amazing Race Canada featured the duo of Gisele Shaw and Gail Kim from IMPACT Wrestling. Shaw spoke about the experience on Busted Open Radio. She feels her bond with Gail has grown stronger. She added that they did butt heads and argue but they squashed things soon after.
So Gail (Kim) and I are current participants… Gail and I, not were, are, current participants of season nine of The Amazing Race Canada and it has been, well, no pun intended, amazing. We met such — here we go again — amazing people and everyone has so many different stories and different platforms, why they’re racing, that it’s been so incredible and it was really, really hard (she laughed). I’m not going to lie. One day, when you see it on TV as a civilian and you’re just there and you’re just like, ‘Oh come on!’ And you’re screaming at the TV, ‘Why is this person so dumb? It’s right there, it’s right there.’ But when you’re in the race… and it can be staring you in the face and you’re just like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.’ I’m going down a building three times because I couldn’t find the word and it was really, really high and I had to repel down, like face-down, feet on the building and I’m thinking, oh my gosh, you know what? I feel like if you rush through things, that’s when you miss things and that’s what I did. I was like, let’s just get down the building and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Where is it?’ But, it’s been incredible and I got to share weeks with Gail and she’s someone that I’ve looked up to growing up and sharing the same locker room as her is a dream. Spending three weeks with her and actually getting to know her personally on a deeper level, it’s like, woah, I’m hanging out with Gail freaking Kim and I always tell her, ‘Gail freaking Kim. Remind yourself. Hello?’
She and I, I feel like our bond has grown bigger, stronger… We were locked in a room together. You don’t go to a hotel and everyone’s like, oh yeah, cool, whatever. Everyone has separate hotels. You’re locked with this person and during training week, it was like one week of her and I just in a room. We weren’t allowed out by the way. So we just had to stay in a room, order in, whatever and it’s these moments that you get to talk about — when you go work, you don’t have time to really talk much at work, because everyone’s so busy, everyone’s on the go so I think this was an opportunity for Gail and myself to just really — who is Gail Kim? And who is Gisele? Not the performer but Gisele the person.
We did headbutt and argue and she’s like, ‘You have to respect me too!…’ I feel like everyone was looking forward to seeing myself and Gail have at it, duke it out, whatever. But they never showed that on-air and once we got to the cab, we were like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s all good. It is what it is.’ People will have arguments all the time but I feel going forward, that’s the most important thing.
** B-roll footage from the filming of ‘Black Adam’ starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson:
** NJPW is running a TAMASHII event on September 15th in Sydney, Australia.
** August 16th birthdays: STARDOM’s Ruaka.
If any of the quotes from the following podcasts or video interviews are used, please credit those sources and provide an H/T and link back to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
