Big E Interview with Justin Valentine
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00:00what's going on justin valentine with motor city sports talk the roar and i have here with me a
00:10very special guest with some big news wwe superstar big e who as of recently just announced
00:16is teaming up with the michigan panthers of the usfl as the team's official home game mc now wwe
00:24fans sir we know you can pull this off but for you trying out a gig like this what type of excitement
00:30and potential nerves is it for you to do something like this no i'm really excited about it uh for me
00:36it's no nerves it's all excitement um i think it's just a perfect synergy summer slam coming to
00:42ford field on august 5th the michigan panthers coming back to play in detroit for the first time in 40
00:47years also playing at ford field it just made so much sense and i've developed a great relationship
00:52with uh with fox sports too doing big noon kickoff so when fox approached me and we started working
00:58on this idea uh it just felt right it was really natural and you know i got to play football at
01:02iowa playing in the midwest uh unfortunately uh the michigan wolverines have beat up on my iowa
01:07the last few years but i still have so much love for for the fans of michigan for michigan for
01:12michigan for football in michigan so uh it's just a part of a partnership that to me made uh so much
01:17sense look i wasn't gonna bring it up you brought up the michigan wolverines uh you did it first i i
01:22mean i can't disagree though i can't disagree you brought up summer slam being here august 5th
01:27at ford field again it makes all the sense in the world of course i'm sure we have plenty of
01:31wrestling fans watching this can we get an update how are you feeling how are you doing with everything
01:35that uh has gone on for you over the past year plus i feel great man and thank you for asking so
01:41for those who don't know i broke my neck uh in two places at my c1 and also broke in my c6 as well
01:48um but thankfully uh there's no displacement issues so for me it was i was just in a in a hard
01:53collar for three months um but no surgery and thankfully i'm so thankful i have no nerve issues
01:59no disc issues um my strength is great i have no pain like i i feel normal i'm so grateful for that
02:05but uh unfortunately it's just a complicated fracture and originally it was healing fibrously
02:11but not ossifying and it just means it's not fully turned into bone again yeah so that's that's kind
02:17of what we've been waiting on and so right now it's just i want to make the best decision uh we'll talk
02:23to the doctors and figure out the the best move forward um but for me kind of the underlying things
02:28i'm just really grateful that my day-to-day life uh is really awesome man yeah really great and uh yeah
02:33i feel great awesome hey so i gotta ask you look you started off in wwe as somebody who didn't talk
02:41much on the mic if at all and now of course we see you you know we saw you with the new day and now
02:46you're doing something like this where did this come from where did this energy come from were you
02:50hiding it from us or is this something that kind of developed as you you know we're in wwe
02:54um you know it's funny i always i always think back to so there was a time shortly after the new day
03:02took off um we started doing more stuff uh it was undertaker i remember came came up to me and
03:08pretty much the same thing like where you know i remember when you first got on the scene like
03:12where did where did all this come from um for me i think it was a matter of one i it just took me
03:18some time to get my sea legs i didn't get comfortable as a performer uh even just being
03:23comfortable being out there half naked in front of you know a lot of people that's very different
03:27um and i grew up as an introvert uh i still in many ways i consider myself an introvert
03:32but uh it took it's a combination of things i think for one i always thought in wrestling i wanted
03:39to be the big strong guy and over a while i realized you know we had the mark henry's we had
03:45big show we have rock lesnar you guys are bigger stronger they're going to do those things well so it
03:49took me a while to find like what is it that i really want to portray what is my niche what do i do
03:53well so for one i'd get comfortable in my own skin as a performer and then i just also had to like
04:01with the new day i i had to finally it helped me break out of this idea that i needed to be so
04:07you know kind of tight and i needed to give off a certain thing so i just started allowing myself
04:11to play with certain things and be more obnoxious and be more free and really to find my voice and it
04:17just took me some time and that's why i really encourage a lot of talent and fans as well to be patient
04:22with talent as they kind of find their footing even i look at a guy like dominic mysterio and if
04:26you look at the online sentiment for him even just what a year a year and a half ago like you know
04:33there are people who are very very critical of dom and he needs to be back down in x and look at this
04:37man flourish now yeah look at how you know the amount of heat he gets like he really has just
04:42grown into the role but it's i know for some people it's a matter of just getting more comfortable
04:46it's a matter of getting more reps so for me with a lot of those things coming together
04:50just getting more reps more opportunities more time and i just got better and better as a performer
04:54and uh now i just i yeah it's you really you're right though it is a stark contrast my personality
05:00on screen now is a stark contrast from what it was a decade ago well and from my point of view i think
05:04your relationship your genuine relationship with kofi and xavier in a new day i think that i mean that
05:09shows on screen and it has to make it a lot more comfortable for you uh and to take the time now
05:14with you being such a great talker now and the personality that you are and not being able to be in the
05:19ring for a while what type of interest have you had if at all to be on screen maybe as a manager
05:24maybe as an announcer some type of on the commentary team you know to get yourself back into the groove
05:30of it yeah well it's something that we definitely talked about and discussed and we're still you know
05:35playing with those things um but right now i've also kind of uh been fairly busy doing stuff on the
05:40nil side and that's you know more behind the camera as opposed to in front of the camera but so i've
05:45been helping wwe out with uh you know we're going on these college campus tours uh campus rush tours
05:50trying to find talent uh finding athletes and also you know people who are college athletes but also
05:56have a love for what we do as well or who can develop a love you look at someone like a bianca
06:00belair and she didn't grow up watching this but you see how incredible she is she developed a love for
06:04this so that's not you know i really enjoy contributing to the company right now i've been doing
06:08more of that stuff behind the scenes um but as far as like a manager role or gm role or a commentary
06:15role uh it's something that we've definitely discussed and uh we'll kind of see you know it's
06:20kind of up in the air right now so with michigan panthers of course having you as your their mc for
06:25the home games there's a saying that's gotten over big time in the wrestling world from you sir
06:30and that is the big meaty man slapping meat did you expect this to get as over as it is and
06:37will we be hearing any of that in usfo uh you know what you might man i i did not expect this
06:44thing to continue to be a thing for so long i thought it was a funny moment and i thought we'd
06:49move on but i will say like this thing has grown i think it's been what three or four years since we
06:55did it on the podcast it's been years now but i get mentioned i get tagged in someone saying it
07:01or mentioning it on almost a daily basis uh i love that people love my nonsense but it's i can't even
07:07just give myself credit uh you know kofi was in the clip my buddy or shot down was in the clip too
07:11but it's woods woods and his maniacal infectious laughter is really what makes the clip so good
07:18um but you know it's it does as you alluded to the fit in the usfl with the michigan panthers
07:25especially makes a lot of sense a lot of big meaty men on the defensive and offensive lines uh you
07:31know look at breland speaks uh defensive player of the week uh that's a big meaty man doing
07:36incredible things on the it would make sense so uh yeah it does make sense so we might have to we
07:42might have to find a way to make that fit uh with the michigan panthers so a summer slam coming here
07:48in august you have had time to sit back and watch the product a little more now who's somebody you
07:54have an eye on that we should have an eye on that could be doing big things by the time wwe gets here
07:59to detroit for summer slam man that's a great question i think the cool thing for me is now
08:03you know being out with with my neck injury is i've been able to kind of sit back as a fan more
08:07and uh man there's been an influx of younger talent that uh i i think it's just i'm really impressed
08:14with you look at uh solo zakoa uh who's just really stepped up and like he's been that's that's
08:20not easy to be going to go from nxt in a smaller environment uh you know in that crowd and to go
08:28and now you're doing you know wrestlemania in front of 70 something thousand and he has someone
08:34who's taking the bull by the horns has done a great job uh even though he's been uh butting heads
08:38with my buddies out of two guys who've been butting heads with my buddies lately uh gunther
08:41yeah i i imperium as a whole their presentation uh gunther is just incredible in the ring so many
08:49incredible matches uh i just love his style he's done an incredible job and i think la knight is
08:54one of those guys that people have clamored for to get this opportunity to to do more and more
08:58um so charismatic man what an incredible talker great look um and just he he did me scream star
09:05uh and even then i look to it she's been around for several years we all know her but seeing rhea
09:10ripley uh just like she to me has always had the ability to be in the position she's in but to
09:16continue to climb up the ladder to get these bigger and bigger spots and moments uh i'm really just it's
09:21been really awesome to see her grow so uh man i really looked throughout the company and it feels
09:27like such a healthy time in our industry as a whole uh i think the wrestling is a great spot and i
09:33continue to look forward to people continuing to ascend and and take those spots and and to grow as
09:39performers all right so before i let you get out of here you mentioned you played at iowa i want to
09:43play a quick game with you how well do you know your stats from your sophomore season as a defensive
09:48lineman tell me how many total tackles did you finish with in 2006 oh man it had to be a low number
09:55mind you i was a backup defensive tackle defensive tackle let's oh uh it's not gonna be great let's what
10:03would he like like let's go with eight eight okay you you lowballed 14 14 okay 14 it's funny you say
10:11eight you had eight solo and then six come on so you know i think the eight solo really stuck out to
10:17you that that must be it yes you'll be able to check out wwe superstar big e at all the michigan
10:22panthers home games the official mc the first ever wwe superstar to host a professional football game
10:28that's more history being made by you sir at for ticket info the usfl.com summer slam here august 5th
10:36tickets available at ticketmaster.com biggie thank you so much for taking the time sir we'll see you
10:41here soon okay i appreciate it thanks for having me and go panthers