Latest / Shawna and LaLa: Life Beyond The Mic / The Bear Attack That Changed Everything

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The Bear Attack That Changed Everything · Shawna and LaLa: Life Beyond The Mic

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Speaker 1: From the heart of the city, where the beat meets
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Speaker 1: the rhythm of your day.
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Speaker 2: It's Shawna.
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Speaker 1: What's up. You're listening to Shauna and Lalla. Check us
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Speaker 1: out at Shauna and Lala dot com on all social
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Speaker 1: media platforms at Shauna and La La. You can follow
0:24
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at the real Shauna May.
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Speaker 3: And check me out at Bella Underscore Laala one two five.
0:32
Speaker 1: We have been gone for about two weeks. I don't
0:36
Speaker 1: think we recorded last week.
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Speaker 3: No, No, last week was just it's been very, very
0:42
Speaker 3: crazy over here. And I know we always say that,
0:44
Speaker 3: but it's been it's been nuts. My dog was mulled
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Speaker 3: by a bear, so that's probably why we didn't record.
0:52
Speaker 1: Yes, I think you were at the hospital with him. Yeah,
0:55
Speaker 1: actually yeah, So how is he doing? Because he was
1:01
Speaker 1: just outside peeing and many of you saw the gofundmate
1:05
Speaker 1: and saw the news articles. He made the news.
1:08
Speaker 2: I know my dog is famous now.
1:10
Speaker 3: They said that the article and the post has spread
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Speaker 3: all the way to like Alaska. People in Alaska told
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Speaker 3: someone and they're like, oh, that's my hometown, and it's
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Speaker 3: just crazy. It's crazy how far this has spread. He's
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Speaker 3: doing better, he's his spirits mentally and like how he's acting.
1:26
Speaker 3: He's almost back to normal, but his wounds are just
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Speaker 3: not healing properly, and that comes down to the bear.
1:34
Speaker 3: The bacteria that is on a bear in their mouth
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Speaker 3: and their claws. They have a ton of bacteria and
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Speaker 3: it's very hard to combat that, you know, even with antibiotics.
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Speaker 3: So his wounds keep getting infected. The flesh around the
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Speaker 3: wound keeps dying like necrosis, and they have to cut
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Speaker 3: away the dead's flesh and it's it's been a process.
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Speaker 3: So I do think he's still infected right now, so
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Speaker 3: this would be his fourth surgery. He might need tonight,
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Speaker 3: and I'm praying it's not doesn't come down to that,
2:01
Speaker 3: but I just have a feeling it's going to be,
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Speaker 3: and you know, it's it's scary.
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Speaker 2: My sister told me a story this morning.
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Speaker 3: She's like, I haven't wanted to tell you, but my
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Speaker 3: father in law's best friend, the dog was mulled by
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Speaker 3: a bear two years ago.
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Speaker 2: And they took him to the vet. He had surgery.
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Speaker 3: He was acting great, all fine, and he died and
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Speaker 3: it was from the bacteria and the bear wound. Even
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Speaker 3: though everything seemed okay with him and he was on antibatics.
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Speaker 3: It just it killed him. It was like sepsis and
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Speaker 3: the dog died. And so she's like, I haven't wanted
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Speaker 3: to tell you that to scare you, and I know,
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Speaker 3: I know that's a possibility right now, but I'm just
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Speaker 3: praying that he's fighting it and the antibatics are doing
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Speaker 3: their job, and that this will be the last surgery tonight.
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Speaker 3: As anyone can imagine, it's just it's expensive, and the
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Speaker 3: GoFundMe has helped a lot, so I think every one
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Speaker 3: of you who has donated, we didn't expect that at all,
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Speaker 3: the outpouring of support and the donations coming in, and
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Speaker 3: it's been amazing seeing the community come together to try
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Speaker 3: to help my dog and help us. People showed up
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Speaker 3: at my house with dog trees the other day.
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Speaker 2: They live down the road.
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Speaker 3: They don't know us, but they asked around and it
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Speaker 3: was very nice.
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Speaker 2: So it's just been really it's been really.
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Speaker 3: Great to see how the community has come together for
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Speaker 3: my dog and us. So and yeah, the bad parts
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Speaker 3: of it is like my voice box is still not
3:24
Speaker 3: back to normal. If you heard the video of me
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Speaker 3: screaming like a lunatic, I like I must have damaged
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Speaker 3: my vocal cords and it'll take time for them to heal.
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Speaker 3: And my daughter, she's petrified, she's traumatized. She does not
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Speaker 3: want to go outside. Every day when I get home
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Speaker 3: from work. If my husband's home, she said, she cries
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Speaker 3: and says, have daddy come out and get me with
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Speaker 3: the gun. So my dad, my dad, my husband has to,
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Speaker 3: you know, get his handgun, come out, carry her in
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Speaker 3: the house. She's afraid for us to let the dogs out.
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Speaker 3: So she's really been affected by it. My dog, he's
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Speaker 3: not afraid. He whenever it came and goes out, he
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Speaker 3: wants revenge. He wants to go to the backyard and
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Speaker 3: he starts barking like he wants to go after this bear.
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Speaker 3: H So he's not traumatized. I mean, it's PTSD where
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Speaker 3: he wants to fight, but he's not afraid. Because everyone's like, oh,
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Speaker 3: he's gonna be afraid to go outside, It's.
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Speaker 1: Like, no, that's what I would do.
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Speaker 3: No, He's like he wants to get this bear. My
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Speaker 3: son is okay, he's been playing outside, but it's just
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Speaker 3: my four year olds. She's absolutely traumatized.
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Speaker 1: So and she didn't see it happen she was there.
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Speaker 2: She heard the screaming.
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Speaker 3: If you watch the home the home video that I
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Speaker 3: had from inside, she was traumatized in the house just
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Speaker 3: hearing of screaming and being she knew something was wrong,
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Speaker 3: so she started sobbing. And it was very heartbreaking to
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Speaker 3: watch that video because she's just pacing back and forth
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Speaker 3: and running back and forth in the house sobbing, and
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Speaker 3: it's like her little brain didn't know how to handle
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Speaker 3: it or what to do. And then she did come
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Speaker 3: out in the porch and she still came and like
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Speaker 3: I finally when we finally got came in up on
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Speaker 3: the porch after my husband shot at the bear.
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Speaker 2: He was ripped open.
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Speaker 3: So she witnessed that and she started screaming because she
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Speaker 3: saw his you know, his muscle hanging there the blood.
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Speaker 3: So yeah, she was I don't think she saw the
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Speaker 3: bear getting him, but she knew it was going on.
5:15
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe she.
5:15
Speaker 3: Saw a glimpse of it, because she did, Shay, she
5:17
Speaker 3: saw the black thing on Cayman because from the window,
5:20
Speaker 3: because she did come to the sliding door and look out,
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Speaker 3: so she could have seen a little bit of it.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, it's gonna take time, and uh, hopefully for
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Speaker 3: her that she's mentally and emotionally she'll.
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Speaker 2: Heal from this. And it's sad because she loved the woods.
5:34
Speaker 3: Just that day, my husband and my neighbor even said,
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Speaker 3: he's like, you know, what's scary, Lauren. My neighbor said
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Speaker 3: to me, I saw you in the woods with your
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Speaker 3: daughter an hour before the bear attack. I said, I know,
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Speaker 3: I said, Jolina. Every day when we come home from
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Speaker 3: work or when we're home, mommy, can we go play
5:48
Speaker 3: in the woods. We have a little picnic table in
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Speaker 3: the woods right near where the bear attacked. And there's
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Speaker 3: a little fairy house, a fairy house that we got
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Speaker 3: on the show years ago as a review, and it's
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Speaker 3: in the woods, and my.
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Speaker 2: Daughter loves the place with it.
6:01
Speaker 3: And now she does not ever want to go in
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Speaker 3: the woods again. So it breaks my heart, you know,
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Speaker 3: for her.
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Speaker 1: I don't blame her. I would be so afraid to
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Speaker 1: even walk outside my door.
6:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, me and my husband are.
6:14
Speaker 3: We're not like like Jelina is, but we are looking
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Speaker 3: over our shoulder all the time when I go out.
6:20
Speaker 3: I used to go out to my chicken coop at
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Speaker 3: night all the time by my or with kyman with
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Speaker 3: a flashlight or by myself. I'm petrified to do that.
6:27
Speaker 3: I'm petrified to go in my car if I forget something,
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Speaker 3: I'm like, Mike, Mike, can you get.
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Speaker 2: The handgun and come outside?
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Speaker 3: You know, it's really changed us all to be most
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Speaker 3: except for my son. He's just in lalla land, even
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Speaker 3: though he witnessed and was traumatized by it, Like he
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Speaker 3: is scared, I guess at night. But during the day,
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Speaker 3: him and his friends were playing football right next to
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Speaker 3: the woodline, and we're like, are you crazy to get
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Speaker 3: away from the woodline?
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Speaker 2: You know?
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Speaker 1: So does he think that it's just not gonna happen again?
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Speaker 3: No, he says he doesn't think about it when he's
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Speaker 3: out playing with his friends, but when he's by himself, yes,
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Speaker 3: like with the door, because at night he said, Mom,
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Speaker 3: can you come out with me and take the dogs out?
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Speaker 3: And I do, or my husband does. So he is
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Speaker 3: a little I guess has a little PTSD for that
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Speaker 3: at night time. But during the day I think he
7:09
Speaker 3: feels safer or maybe or when he's playing with his
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Speaker 3: friends his brain is elsewhere, which is good. He's distracted,
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Speaker 3: but we want him to be smart and say, all right,
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Speaker 3: don't go near the woodline that close, because if there's
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Speaker 3: a mama bear there, she might attack you too.
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Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, it's changed me. You know me.
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Speaker 3: I was in the woods every day, even without my daughter.
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Speaker 3: I go for a morning walk in the woods, go
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Speaker 3: sit by.
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Speaker 1: The creek, and you always had Cayman with you.
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Speaker 3: Always had Cayman. I felt safe. So it's taken away
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Speaker 3: that safety net of Oh, the bear is more afraid
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Speaker 3: of me. That's what I was always told. The bears
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Speaker 3: more afraid of you, make loud, noise, get big. They're
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Speaker 3: afraid of dogs unless you run into a mama bear.
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Speaker 3: If if you corner a mama bear, if your dog
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Speaker 3: chases a mama bear or chases her cubs, the bear's gonnattack.
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Speaker 2: And that made sense, Okay, cool.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, because you're disturbing, you're disturbing it, you're going you're
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Speaker 3: running into it. But for a bear to have the
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Speaker 3: option to run the other way, because we hadn't seen
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Speaker 3: her yet, my dog did smell her, and I know
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Speaker 3: that's what triggered her because as he was peeing he
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Speaker 3: lifted his head. He must have smelled her.
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Speaker 2: In the woods.
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Speaker 3: He barked like two times, and that was enough, I
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Speaker 3: guess to trigger her, but she still had the option
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Speaker 3: to run. She still had the option to disappear into
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Speaker 3: the woods because we hadn't seen her, and she chose, no,
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Speaker 3: I'm gonna charge out of these woods and I'm going
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Speaker 3: to go charge them and mail the dog. And she
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Speaker 3: didn't care what I threw at her, how much I screamed,
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Speaker 3: how much I hit her. She was like she was
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Speaker 3: gonna she wasn't going to stop until he died. And
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Speaker 3: I'm just grateful my husband was home because if he
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Speaker 3: didn't come out with his gun and shoot, she would
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Speaker 3: have never let go until Cayman was dead. And that's
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Speaker 3: what scares me the most.
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Speaker 1: So after the bear attack, the cops did show up
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Speaker 1: with the DC.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, they came by, They checked the woods, they were
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Speaker 3: out there with flashlights, but there was no sign of her.
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Speaker 3: I think she she got the hint and she took off,
8:55
Speaker 3: so I didn't expect them to find her. But yeah,
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Speaker 3: they just told us that if she did come back
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Speaker 3: and was attacking the dog, talking the livestock, attacking us,
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Speaker 3: obviously we could take her down, take her out, shoot her.
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Speaker 3: But if she wasn't, we had to leave her alone.
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Speaker 3: So that's like the lead the laws in New York State,
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Speaker 3: and I get it, but I'm also it's concerning because
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Speaker 3: if this mama bear had no fear to do that,
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Speaker 3: it's kind of it's really scary to me that she's
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Speaker 3: gonna be wandering around and what if I'm a person
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Speaker 3: or a child scares her or she feels threatened, It's
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Speaker 3: just gonna moul the kid to death, you know, and
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Speaker 3: not let go. I could see if she like hit,
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Speaker 3: swiped at my dog or bitten once and then let go,
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Speaker 3: But like that, she it's concerning. It's very concerning to me,
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Speaker 3: and I am worried.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I would be too. Hopefully she leaves everybody in
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Speaker 1: the town alone and stays in the woods. And you
9:52
Speaker 1: are going away next week and I am going for
9:55
Speaker 1: a procedure for my migraines. Think God, the day is
10:01
Speaker 1: about to be here because I've been really struggling with
10:06
Speaker 1: these migraines. So there will not be a show for
10:10
Speaker 1: two weeks. And when we return, we are going to
10:15
Speaker 1: do our summer segment, which is one of my favorite
10:19
Speaker 1: segments because I absolutely love summer. And I've already reviewed
10:24
Speaker 1: a few of the summer items and I just love
10:27
Speaker 1: the Sofia Vogara sunglasses that she did with Foster Grant.
10:33
Speaker 1: They're absolutely gorgeous and I'm so excited to collaborate with them.
10:39
Speaker 1: We're going to hop into an interview I did with
10:42
Speaker 1: McKenzie Mitchell right now. I am here with McKenzie Mitchell
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Speaker 1: and she is the author of Threads of Triumph. And
10:54
Speaker 1: you have been a staple in WWE for many, many years,
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Speaker 1: and can you tell us a little bit about what
11:01
Speaker 1: the book is about.
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Speaker 4: Sure? Yeah, So I've enjoyed my time at TNA Wrestling.
11:08
Speaker 4: I'm currently the ring announcer for TNA Wrestling, but previous
11:11
Speaker 4: to that, I was at WW for five years and
11:13
Speaker 4: before then I was again at TNA as the backstage correspondent.
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Speaker 4: So I've had some experience in professional wrestling for sure,
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Speaker 4: nearly ten years. Threads of Triumph it blends the world
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Speaker 4: of fashion and professional wrestling all into one. It's the
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Speaker 4: first of its kind of a conversation. It's meant to
11:28
Speaker 4: be a coffee table book for all kinds, all fans
11:31
Speaker 4: of all ages. It really talks about and dives into
11:36
Speaker 4: the aspect of the gear and how the gear and
11:38
Speaker 4: the costuming in your wardrobe as a wrestler, a star,
11:42
Speaker 4: a talent, whatever it may be, it really sets the
11:45
Speaker 4: tone for your connection point to your fan base. So
11:48
Speaker 4: it dives into really the psychology a little bit behind
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Speaker 4: those wardrobe pieces and those choices. Again a conversation that's
11:55
Speaker 4: never been had before, which is kind of crazy.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, do the wrestlers pick what they want to
12:00
Speaker 1: wear and pick their outfits or is it kind of
12:04
Speaker 1: like a management team saying this is what you got
12:07
Speaker 1: to wear. Yeah.
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Speaker 4: In the book, we really explain all of that. We
12:10
Speaker 4: dive deep into who exactly takes that charge, And ninety
12:15
Speaker 4: nine point nine percent of the time it is the talent.
12:18
Speaker 4: It's up to their discretion, it's financially their responsibility, it
12:22
Speaker 4: is their creative decision. So it's really about the talent
12:26
Speaker 4: and what they're bringing to life. Yes, some pieces have
12:29
Speaker 4: to be approved, some pieces have to go through the
12:32
Speaker 4: creative writing team if they're going in a different direction.
12:34
Speaker 4: But for the most part, I think that that's a
12:37
Speaker 4: misconception of the industry, is that the company, whatever you're
12:40
Speaker 4: working for, whether it's WWE or TNA or AW, they're
12:44
Speaker 4: choosing and really creating your looks. But in reality, it's
12:48
Speaker 4: all up to the talent.
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Speaker 1: And was there a specific moment in your career that
12:54
Speaker 1: when you realized your story could help others and the book.
13:00
Speaker 4: I think it's more of a combination of my story.
13:03
Speaker 4: I have been in professional wrestling for ten years, as
13:06
Speaker 4: I mentioned, but my family's seventy five years in the
13:10
Speaker 4: fine jewelry industry. I created my own jewelry business that's
13:13
Speaker 4: a spin off of my family business called Headline by
13:16
Speaker 4: MM about four years ago, and so I've really been
13:20
Speaker 4: loving exploring that creative aspect of designing pieces. I started
13:24
Speaker 4: creating custom pieces for a lot of professional wrestlers, which
13:27
Speaker 4: is a unique niche in the industry. Not a lot
13:30
Speaker 4: of people are creating wrestling jewelry.
13:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, and yes, I have never heard of that before.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, so I started creating pieces. Originally, my first person
13:38
Speaker 4: I was working with was Roxanne Perez. I created her
13:41
Speaker 4: this piece that said Prodigy that really is a big
13:44
Speaker 4: part of her character. And then from there worked with
13:47
Speaker 4: the likes of Seth Rollins. He started wearing his design
13:50
Speaker 4: on pretty much everything from ESPN to Good Morning Football
13:54
Speaker 4: to even Netflix. If you want, if you look at
13:58
Speaker 4: Unreal and you see the Netflix show Unreal. He is
14:02
Speaker 4: the poster child for Unreal, and it's him and black
14:05
Speaker 4: pants the necklace, and then he's swinging his title above
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Speaker 4: his head. So I think that that's something that is
14:11
Speaker 4: one of my bucket list moments, and the fact that
14:16
Speaker 4: my piece has been seen in such a great way
14:18
Speaker 4: is really cool. Trick Williams, A. J. Francis, Jeff Hardy,
14:23
Speaker 4: Trey mcgel That's just to name a few of how
14:26
Speaker 4: I kind of segued that life into it. And then
14:28
Speaker 4: I was finding how much those pieces that I was
14:31
Speaker 4: creating was helping create the star's identity. It was helping
14:35
Speaker 4: work in coordination with their perception from the outside world,
14:38
Speaker 4: or that connection point to their fan base, just the
14:41
Speaker 4: little minute details. So I've always been interested in the
14:44
Speaker 4: fashion of professional wrestling, and I thought, why not explore
14:47
Speaker 4: this in a deeper way, why not dive in and
14:51
Speaker 4: see what we can find. I'd had this idea for
14:54
Speaker 4: six years really, to kind of start conceptualizing something, and
14:57
Speaker 4: then thought, why not just make it into some thing bigger?
15:01
Speaker 4: Why not create this moment. I had an interview with
15:04
Speaker 4: Italian Nightheart, and she was a big inspiration for this book,
15:07
Speaker 4: and so when we sat down and talked. She was like, McKenzie,
15:10
Speaker 4: you have so much more here. You need to create
15:13
Speaker 4: a book out of this. And I was like, okay,
15:16
Speaker 4: what's holding me back. So did all the labor of
15:18
Speaker 4: love behind it, all the work, all the time effort,
15:21
Speaker 4: put the pieces together, and then Threads of Triumph was born.
15:24
Speaker 1: Now did it take you a while to write the book?
15:27
Speaker 4: Absolutely? Yeah. As I mentioned, I had this idea for
15:31
Speaker 4: about six years. The threads of Threads with Mackenzie Mitchell
15:35
Speaker 4: was my original concept. I did a podcast YouTube series
15:40
Speaker 4: for quite a while. We dove into the closets of
15:42
Speaker 4: your favorite wrestlers or musicians or celebrity figures, and it
15:46
Speaker 4: did really well and people were appreciating the art of
15:48
Speaker 4: this conversation. And then as I interviewed in Italia, that's
15:52
Speaker 4: where all this came together. So I started really putting
15:55
Speaker 4: a mock design of everything together in June of twenty
15:58
Speaker 4: twenty four, and I got my publishing deal in about
16:02
Speaker 4: October of twenty twenty four and then wrote for the
16:06
Speaker 4: past year and a half. So it's been yeah, a
16:09
Speaker 4: little bit over a year and a half, so it's
16:12
Speaker 4: it's been a lot of time and effort and thought
16:15
Speaker 4: I wrote every single word that goes into the book.
16:17
Speaker 4: I did every interview, so to see it come to
16:20
Speaker 4: fruition and people really enjoy the work, it's just so
16:22
Speaker 4: fulfilling to me.
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Speaker 1: Was there any any point, like, did anyone give you
16:27
Speaker 1: a hard time doing an interview?
16:30
Speaker 4: No, not a hard time. I think there were a
16:32
Speaker 4: couple of people that passed on the opportunity, but that
16:37
Speaker 4: also where they are in their life and their career
16:40
Speaker 4: at the moment. I understand they're off doing great, crazy movies,
16:44
Speaker 4: but I think that if there's a volume two, there's
16:47
Speaker 4: opportunity to explore that in a different way. I think
16:50
Speaker 4: this conversation is very interesting to people because there's a
16:54
Speaker 4: lot of unknown question marks. So it's like, what do
16:56
Speaker 4: you mean we're talking about gear? What does that mean?
16:59
Speaker 4: What is that look like? Just last night, I was
17:03
Speaker 4: after the show at TNA Wrestling. I'm in Syracuse, New York.
17:05
Speaker 4: We have TNA tonight, and I spoke to Jeff Hardy
17:08
Speaker 4: and gave him the book and he was able to
17:10
Speaker 4: flip through a little bit during the show, and afterwards
17:13
Speaker 4: he pulled me aside and he's like, McKenzie, your book
17:15
Speaker 4: is really cool. I'm like, thanks, Jef, and he's like,
17:18
Speaker 4: it's just really different. Like I love flipping through and
17:22
Speaker 4: looking at all the stories and I can't wait to
17:23
Speaker 4: dive in and start at Gorgeous George and read Adrian
17:26
Speaker 4: Adonis and then go from there. So I think there's
17:29
Speaker 4: been a big question mark surrounding of like what does
17:31
Speaker 4: this look like? How does this book come to life?
17:35
Speaker 4: And making it happen and just creating this work, this
17:39
Speaker 4: piece for people to start to understand the gear and
17:42
Speaker 4: the costuming side of it a little bit from talent
17:45
Speaker 4: to fans. Again, I just keep saying it opens the
17:48
Speaker 4: door for such a new conversation.
17:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, it absolutely does. And I know you talk a
17:53
Speaker 1: lot about We talked about it the identity through what
17:57
Speaker 1: people wear and the fans know, you know each wrestler
18:01
Speaker 1: from what they wear. But how much of that is
18:05
Speaker 1: do we actually present to the world And is this
18:08
Speaker 1: something that they feel they have to be, like they
18:11
Speaker 1: have to keep up this persona or can they be
18:14
Speaker 1: who they are?
18:16
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think that's the cool thing about wrestling gear,
18:20
Speaker 4: and that's what's so unknown to people is the aspect
18:23
Speaker 4: of there are so many hidden messages of who people
18:28
Speaker 4: authentically are in their wrestling gear that you may have
18:32
Speaker 4: never connected those dots, but they've intentionally been doing it
18:35
Speaker 4: for quite a while. I think there's so much work
18:38
Speaker 4: and so many pieces of the pie that goes into
18:41
Speaker 4: becoming a professional wrestler. Have I ever gotten in the ring. No,
18:44
Speaker 4: but I've seen all of my friends and I've listened
18:48
Speaker 4: to those conversations and been a fly on the wall
18:50
Speaker 4: just to really absorb and learn so much about the industry.
18:53
Speaker 4: And I think that there's so much of the presentation
18:57
Speaker 4: aspect to it. That's not just the match, that's not
18:59
Speaker 4: just what happens in the ring. Your gear is a
19:02
Speaker 4: representation of who you are, how you wear it, and
19:06
Speaker 4: what you wear truly speaks volumes. I say this, and
19:10
Speaker 4: I mean this. Fashion can speak louder than words. I
19:13
Speaker 4: think there's an idea that before a wrestler even steps
19:17
Speaker 4: into the ring, they make this grandiose entrance, they have
19:20
Speaker 4: this moment where they're in the spotlight and everyone is
19:24
Speaker 4: soaking into their moment. So I think that that's their
19:27
Speaker 4: opportunity to showcase who they are, whether it's they're coming
19:31
Speaker 4: out the end to the entrance ramp or they're backstage
19:33
Speaker 4: in a promo, or they're arriving to the building. They're
19:36
Speaker 4: telling you who they are, almost three layers deep in
19:40
Speaker 4: psychology terms, without even having to say who they are.
19:44
Speaker 4: And that's the beautiful thing about wardrobing and costuming.
19:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, and do you ever find people like switch it
19:51
Speaker 1: up to kind of like be like, oh, you look
19:54
Speaker 1: at what so and so is wearing tonight and they're
19:57
Speaker 1: not in their usual outfit.
20:00
Speaker 4: Every week, every single week, there's a new wrestler that
20:03
Speaker 4: debuts something, whether it's an evolution of their character or
20:08
Speaker 4: there's a story point point that they're wanting to get
20:10
Speaker 4: across that maybe they can't get it done through a
20:13
Speaker 4: backstage promo or they can't do it in their match. So, yes,
20:18
Speaker 4: every week someone is evolving and creating something brand new.
20:21
Speaker 4: Every single year, we look to WrestleMania and we go,
20:25
Speaker 4: what is Charlotte Flair going to wear on the grandest
20:27
Speaker 4: stage of them all? What is Seth Rollins going to debut?
20:30
Speaker 4: What is Ria Ripley going to bring to the table.
20:32
Speaker 4: So I think these opportunities, these capstone moments, provide such
20:38
Speaker 4: a brand new, fresh opportunity for everyone to showcase who
20:42
Speaker 4: they are in different ways. Some characters remain the same
20:46
Speaker 4: weekend week out. You've got a Joe Hendry that wears
20:49
Speaker 4: a royal blue and white every single week. But then
20:51
Speaker 4: you've got someone like Chris Jericho who's evolved himself so
20:54
Speaker 4: many times over the years, and being able to watch
20:59
Speaker 4: him create this new evolution for himself in every era
21:03
Speaker 4: of Chris Jericho is a really unique thing and really
21:09
Speaker 4: really important thing because I think that that's something that
21:12
Speaker 4: sometimes people miss is they don't think about how much
21:14
Speaker 4: work and time has gone into it, but he's actually
21:17
Speaker 4: taken so much time and he's done that intentionally over
21:20
Speaker 4: the over throughout the years.
21:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, it does take a lot
21:24
Speaker 1: of time to kind of figure out who you want
21:27
Speaker 1: to be in the ring and who you want fans
21:31
Speaker 1: to think that you are, you know, but then there's
21:34
Speaker 1: the person who they are behind the scenes and off
21:39
Speaker 1: camera and what do you think like people don't see
21:44
Speaker 1: about that. Like I do interviews because I like to
21:48
Speaker 1: see who they who the person really is.
21:51
Speaker 4: I think that a lot of people don't realize that
21:55
Speaker 4: when we're talking about the book, when we're talking about
21:58
Speaker 4: the gear aspect of it, they don't realize how much
22:01
Speaker 4: thought goes into it. They don't realize these little details.
22:06
Speaker 4: Maybe they're maybe they have a child's name embroidered inside
22:10
Speaker 4: their jacket on a weekly basis, and they wear that
22:13
Speaker 4: to represent their family because that's who they are authentically.
22:17
Speaker 4: Maybe there's a reason why they're changing their character because
22:22
Speaker 4: they're going from a babyface to a heel, and so
22:24
Speaker 4: they want you to slowly evolve with them and understand
22:26
Speaker 4: this beautiful story. In wrestling, we tell stories, That's what
22:30
Speaker 4: we do. We tell we make there's a beautiful magic
22:34
Speaker 4: to it. Whether you're a first time fan and you're
22:37
Speaker 4: kind of casually under twanting to understand the industry, or
22:40
Speaker 4: you've been in there for a long time you've been
22:41
Speaker 4: in the industry and you understand it, or a lifelong fan,
22:44
Speaker 4: I should say, but I think that's what we do,
22:47
Speaker 4: is we tell those stories. We pull you in with
22:49
Speaker 4: that magic and create those moments in the arenas. And
22:52
Speaker 4: so when a star, when a wrestler is able to
22:57
Speaker 4: provide that context in a slow burn, or able to
23:02
Speaker 4: divulge just a little bit of their personal life, because
23:05
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, we all are human,
23:06
Speaker 4: you know, we are. They present themselves as larger than
23:09
Speaker 4: life superstars on a weekly basis, but being able to
23:12
Speaker 4: connect to humanity and be able to put something fresh
23:15
Speaker 4: and new or tell their story and they're in a
23:18
Speaker 4: greater way is something that I don't I think that
23:21
Speaker 4: people miss a lot of the time, which again is
23:23
Speaker 4: why we're having this conversation.
23:24
Speaker 1: Have you ever met somebody who has like the same
23:28
Speaker 1: persona in the ring as behind the scenes, you know,
23:33
Speaker 1: outside of the ring, when they're the cameras aren't on
23:35
Speaker 1: them everybody.
23:37
Speaker 4: To be honest, I think that the best wrestlers are
23:41
Speaker 4: themselves with the volume turned all the way up, so
23:44
Speaker 4: they're becoming really who they are. Yes, there are some
23:49
Speaker 4: characters that are pretty aloof for pretty interesting to say
23:54
Speaker 4: the least, and are are doing something specific for a
23:58
Speaker 4: specific reason, whether it's like there, you know, there's a
24:02
Speaker 4: million ways we could talk about this, but I think yes,
24:05
Speaker 4: a lot of the professional wrestlers that is so great
24:07
Speaker 4: about the industry. When we go from town to town,
24:10
Speaker 4: especially TNA Wrestling. I've been in this locker room two
24:13
Speaker 4: different times. The staff, the general managers of the buildings
24:19
Speaker 4: always come up and say, we love have TNA, we
24:21
Speaker 4: love to have TNA wrestling. We love to have wrestling
24:23
Speaker 4: in our building because we are authentic people. We are
24:29
Speaker 4: who we are. We understand the grind being on the
24:32
Speaker 4: road fifty two weeks a year. If you're on Raw
24:35
Speaker 4: and SmackDown and you're doing live television, then you have
24:38
Speaker 4: to include some of the pay per views. If you're
24:40
Speaker 4: at TNA, we still are putting out fifty two weeks
24:42
Speaker 4: a year televised episodes that are going out, So we
24:47
Speaker 4: are on the road quite often. But being able to
24:50
Speaker 4: understand that we are people. We are just trying to
24:54
Speaker 4: do our job. And it's the media industry, it's entertainment,
24:57
Speaker 4: it is that lifestyle. But I think that the wrestling
25:01
Speaker 4: industry across the board is pretty grounded and humbled behind
25:03
Speaker 4: the scenes.
25:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what do you want readers to take away
25:07
Speaker 1: from the book.
25:09
Speaker 4: I think that there's a lot that they could take away.
25:12
Speaker 4: I'm really I'm loving the feedback that people are letting
25:16
Speaker 4: me know that this is finally a book for them.
25:19
Speaker 4: I think that wrestling gets so pigeonholed sometimes into just
25:22
Speaker 4: being professional wrestling and now getting to open this up
25:27
Speaker 4: to mainstream media and compare this to your favorite celebrity figure,
25:30
Speaker 4: your favorite musician or whoever it may be. So I'm
25:35
Speaker 4: loving getting to hear people's thoughts and how they're relating
25:38
Speaker 4: to the concept or they're going, oh, my favorite Yes,
25:42
Speaker 4: of course, I don't remember what happened in my favorite match.
25:45
Speaker 4: I don't remember every single move, but I remember how
25:47
Speaker 4: it made me feel. It touched on all my senses,
25:50
Speaker 4: my sight, my sound. And that's something that I think
25:53
Speaker 4: that this book really brings to life is we talk
25:55
Speaker 4: about why we go deeper, we talk about the gear,
25:59
Speaker 4: we relive some of your favorite moments, and then we
26:01
Speaker 4: have hidden stories that have never been told before. You
26:05
Speaker 4: think about how many interviews Sean Michaels has done over
26:07
Speaker 4: the years, over the entirety of his career, but no
26:09
Speaker 4: one had to talk to talk to him specifically about
26:12
Speaker 4: his gear. So being able to uncover truths and uncover
26:17
Speaker 4: these stories that just would have lived in the archives
26:22
Speaker 4: has been really special. And I hope that people find
26:25
Speaker 4: that in the book and they find the AHA moment
26:28
Speaker 4: for them when they look at the world of professional wrestling.
26:30
Speaker 1: And where can our listeners get the book?
26:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, Threads of Triumph is available at your favorite retailer,
26:35
Speaker 4: Amazon and Barnes and Noble Books a million. If you're
26:38
Speaker 4: over ces or if you're the UK, you can go
26:41
Speaker 4: to Waterstones. In Canada, we're an indigo, so we're a
26:44
Speaker 4: little bit of everywhere. There are some independent retailers that
26:47
Speaker 4: carry the book as well, So just check out your
26:49
Speaker 4: favorite retailer and they'll be able to let you know
26:51
Speaker 4: that they can either order it or have it for
26:52
Speaker 4: you in store.
26:53
Speaker 1: Now, does the wrestling company allow you to sell the book?
26:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, TNA Wrestling has been incredibly support so they bought
27:00
Speaker 4: a few copies. So, as I mentioned, I'm in Syracuse,
27:03
Speaker 4: we were here for two days. We were just in
27:05
Speaker 4: Cleveland for Rebellion for one of our big pay per views,
27:08
Speaker 4: and they actually bought a few copies. And so we've
27:11
Speaker 4: been selling them at TNA Wrestling at the merch stand
27:15
Speaker 4: and it's been awesome to see even the staff kind
27:18
Speaker 4: of have that reaction and go, oh, I absolutely am
27:21
Speaker 4: buying this book, like I want a copy now after
27:23
Speaker 4: flipping through it kind of changing that perception almost people
27:27
Speaker 4: that don't come from wrestling, the staff that are behind
27:29
Speaker 4: the scenes that maybe come from another sport. So yes,
27:32
Speaker 4: it's available for purchase at any show that we're out
27:35
Speaker 4: at TNA Wrestling.
27:36
Speaker 1: Thank you so much McKenzie for coming on the show.
27:38
Speaker 1: Everyone check out Threads of Triumph and we look forward
27:43
Speaker 1: to having you on the show again.
27:44
Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
27:45
Speaker 1: And that's our show for this week. Thank you so
27:47
Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Be sure to follow us on
27:51
Speaker 1: all social media platforms at Shauna and La LA. You
27:55
Speaker 1: could follow me on Instagram at the Real Shauna May
27:59
Speaker 1: and
27:59
Speaker 3: Check me out at LA Underscore, La LA one two
28:01
Speaker 3: five and we'll see you when we get back