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A message from the Colorado Department has been a part of the pandemic. A message from the Colorado Department has been a part of the pandemic. A message from the Colorado Department has been a part of the pandemic. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. There is no product that we have promoted more on Fightful that I use while I'm awake, the NordVPN.com/fightful. You guys have probably seen me anchored to my desk an awful lot for quite a while. And I've always got NordVPN on all my devices. That's because that's what NordVPN.com/fightful allows. You get the fastest VPN in the world on all your devices, on all your operating systems. It is so beneficial to have that versatility. Here at home, I put it on my router, just in case, and I put it on my phone, laptop, desktop, PC, and smart TV. That allows you to get all the benefits, the online threat protection, the ability to change your virtual location with just one click, the ability to use that NordPass password manager, the file encryption tool, all that good stuff on everything. Also, you can subscribe to all those overseas services I'm telling you all about. All with 24/7 tech support and a 30-day money-back guarantee on top of an already amazing deal. Protect yourself on all your devices with NordVPN.com/fightful. What's up, you guys? Sean Ross App, welcome to Fightful. Here with a name, you know. You know him by many names, you're about to know him as a different name. You've known him as Reggie, Reginald, Scripps. Now he's Sydney. Akim, how are you doing, man? I'm doing good, my man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we saw each other at Wallea Mania. We were talking there, and we realized the St. Louis Rumble was probably the last time we ran into each other. I was fortunate enough to do an interview with you there, and now we're about to talk about your future, first and foremost, how are you feeling right now? I'm feeling really good, actually. Very positive, you know. The news came, you know, a couple of, well, I don't know, three, four weeks ago, whatever. But I mean, I've been in really good spirits. It's not, you know, how it was, like, several years, a couple of years ago, when those releases and fire incidents happened, and people were just devastated. I know it's still tough, but I'm in a really, really good headspace, actually. So I know that when the news dropped, a lot of people wondered, what will he do next? Because of your background, wasn't necessarily direct from the independent circuit or anything like that, but it looks like you're attacking that head on. And I mean, I've already heard from independent companies that were like, when's he available? So yeah, I am full on excited for this next chapter in my story. People don't know this, but I've done, I did circus for 16 years, and I was ready to lay that career aside, stop that career and go on the independent circuit if WWE didn't offer me a contract. So I was willing to dive into this head first from the very beginning, but I was fortunate enough to get a contract with WWE so that didn't happen. But now I'm here, and I'm excited to do that. And like you said, lots of companies have hit me up, lots of projects in the works. The future is very, very bright. - So I'm interested to learn, like, how do they even go about recruiting you? Now, obviously, there is some crossover there. Like there was Mason Ryan who went from WWE to Cirque du Soleil and all that stuff. And obviously, there's a lot of like crossover in the performing aspects there. But also, you were that class that snuck in right before the pandemic, right before they went on a big hiring freeze too. - Yeah, it was, man, it was divine timing, I say, because I did my initial tryout in 2019, it was April, 2019. And the week before that, we had the Cirque du Soleil and WWE exchange. And, you know, my coaches from Cirque du Soleil said, "Hey, you know, WWE wants to do this exchange." I'm like, "What?" Ain't no way, this is, no, no. Like, I want more information about that. We were only in Orlando for five weeks. It was one of the shorter cities that we had, but it just kept getting postponed and postponed until the last week of our shows in Orlando, they said, "Oh, it's on our dark day, it's on Monday." So we came to the PC on Monday, and man, I was a kid in a candy store in Toys R Us. It was insane, we walked in, I saw titles and cases, I saw WrestleMania, I don't know which one, I can't remember, it was playing on the screen and then Shawn Michaels walked in. I looked at my guy, I'm like, "Was that?" He's like, "Yep, are we, yep." And it was like, "Oh man, this is crazy." But I woke up that morning, I told myself, I was done with circus, it was 16 years, I have done everything that I said I wanted to do in the circus world, and I'm like, "I need a change." And so I went in and said, "I wanna get myself a job." And I started flipping off the ropes and doing all of these different things, and Scottie saw me do something, Scottie of all people, I did like a little back one, under like a whole line. He said, "Hey kid, do that again." And one thing led to another, he showed Matt, Matt talked to him and then I said, "Hey, how does one get a tryout?" And they said, "We have a tryout next week if you make yourself available, then we'll invite you." I never made myself available, I just said I was available. And so I flew back to Atlanta with the St. Louis, flew back a day afterwards, did the tryout, completely crushed it. And got told on the last day, said, "Hey, we love you, we love your story, we're a stud athlete, we wanna bring you in." And rest is pretty much history, you know, typical WWE fashion, you didn't hear, I would hear anything for like months. But I told myself, you know, this is what I wanna do. So I still had like six or seven months worth of a tool and would search this a late. So I just searched up every wrestling school in every city that we went to. And I said, "I'm gonna make this work." And so I'm training wrestling on my days off, on Saturday and Sunday mornings before double shows. I went to Connecticut and Tesla Strings, I went to St. Louis Dynamo Pro or Montreal, Torture Chamber, I was in Calgary, Vancouver, training with a lot of people. And I said, "I'm gonna make this work." And it's fortunate enough to come in January of 2019. - It's so wild when you look at the time in which, I think you said your tryout was April, 2019, and you got your call up that we saw on TV, we saw you pop up in December of the next year. That is, that's rare for people who have been on the independent circuit for years and years and years, or even through their system and all that. You had your tryout, had a months long gap of not hearing from them, got signed, and then in like less than a year from being signed, were brought up as an onscreen character. Like, that had to be, anybody prepare you for that? Anybody say, "This is very rare that this is happening to you." - Well, they didn't have to tell me because I knew for a fact it was rare. And I was blessed for the opportunity. And, you know, I am a creator, I am a person that I'm just gonna attack whatever's opportunity head on, and I'm just gonna go for it. I remember a coach told me, "Hey, steal at the PC, what I got there?" He said, "Dude, you're playing catch up. "You're not gonna get better by training "for three or four times a week. "You have to do more." And so I said, "Okay, cool." And so I went into goal mode. I started training outside the PC with EJ and Duka, the judge, Trevor, I mean, I could have her. Ricochet, Aiselle, Rich Swan, Joaquin Wilde, Moose, I'm training with all of these guys because the pandemic happened, I got to the January, pandemic happened the day after my birthday was everything was shut down much for two. I said, "I don't have time to take a vacation." And so I was training throughout the whole pandemic or whatever, and then we get back to training around like August or something like that. And I remember I came back and I was in the best shape of my life, I had a PC live match, and some people came up to me and said, "Dude, you really impressed a lot of people. "We have some big plans for you." And then when that happened, I get called to, not a month later, I get called to smack down, to be an on-screen, not even a character, it was just an on-screen moment for Carmella as her Somalia. And when that happened, first time that happened, I got my butt whooped. I got thrown to a table, I got hit with a finisher, I got slapped, hit with the clipboard, table flipped on me, it was just insane. I'm like, "Oh, that was cool, that lasted." As long as it lasted, I don't expect to be back, but I was happy because I was going back to two or five live stuff at NXT. - So was your first match in front of a non-PC crowd that match on SmackDown with Sasha Banks? - Yeah. - That is insane, that is wild. Or one box against Sasha Banks or in prime time, and he never done it before, that is wild. - You know, I did my first PC live, my first match ever was at the PC, and it was in, it was my second match, and it was in front of Edge. And Edge gave me some great feedback, saying do for the, to be your second match ever, that was incredible. I never did like a show in Orlando, I never did anything like that coconut live event. It was just really thrown into the fire, and I'm not gonna lie, I performed my entire life. 16 years of performing, I was nervous as hell. And we were in the virtual, virtual fans, I was like, I don't know what, I was nervous as hell. And when I went out there, I'm like, oh, this is very similar to what I'm used to. And so I went out there and had fun, and that thing blew up. It blew up. - That's what I remember from that show. Like I don't remember much else from that show, I remember your debut, and everybody going like, okay, will it be like a schmoz, we're at the beginning, he's taken out, and somebody replaces him. And then it happened, and we were like, oh, okay, he's capable of things that most human beings are not capable of, which worked out really, really do your favor. - While you were in NXT, had you been presented like any creative plans? Like, oh, well, we might put you on NXT, or was it just you were training, and then all of a sudden, Bam, SmackDown. - I was training, I was actually getting ready for another PCI. I did my first one, they said, dudes really impressed a lot of people. We got some plans for you or whatever. And it was a Friday morning. This is when SmackDown was in Tampa. Friday morning or St. Pete, whatever, channel one. And I was going to the PCI, I had my gear and whatnot. And they said, hey, you need your first SmackDown. And I went to coach, I'm like, hey, should I do my PCI, and then go right after you. He's like, no, we're about SmackDown, bring your suit. And I've always been a stylish guy, so I had the suit. And then the week after I bought another suit, another suit, then I started adding all of these small things to the character, I'm a Somali eight. I didn't know what the hell that was. I don't drink wine, I don't drink anything. - I was gonna ask, 'cause I'm not a wine guy either, but yeah, you were a Somali eight. - Yeah, I said, oh, Somali eight, this is French ties or whatever, I speak French. Let's put the French back in on, let's do this. And then everything is like layers after layers after layers. And then next thing you know, this was a character on SmackDown. And it was insane. No creative plans on NXT or nothing. I did get word that they were gonna put me on 205 Live, but that was like weeks and months into me doing the Somali eight character. And they said, once it's done, we'll put you on 205 Live. I'm like, great. But then the Somali eight character became more and more and more. I'm just like, what am I to do? I love it. - So again, you got signed in 2020. So even being at the PC, everything's different. Like they had to cancel classes for a while, all that. Were you doing any of the stand in stuff at WWE Raw when they had like the audience there, so to speak? - Yeah, I was in the crowd. I took my first bump on TV. It was doing the Drew and Bobby. - Okay. - I came in and he gave me a big headbutt bump. And I was so proud of that moment. Then NXT came back. I was a stand in at Thatcher's Statue Academy. - Oh yeah, yeah. - And that's what my name was Akim Young. That was my first. - Yes. - I was Akim Young there and that was it. And the rest, I was just in the crowd randomly. - I remember we called it chair gate 'cause they made you all stand for like eight hours in a row at those tape things. And I was happy 'cause like, I got like 10 NXT wrestlers dropping me messages like, please publish that they are not letting us sit for eight hours. - That's so funny. - And it's like, okay, sure, sure. So you're doing the Somalia thing and again, that's not a thing that you're used to, but also like they play to your strengths an awful lot and your ability to evade and do things that most people aren't doing. And that naturally brings you into the 24/7 title picture. And I've heard a lot of the pitches that were brought up there and all that stuff. But I mean, you were such a natural fit for that because that was an evasive title. Like you wanted to avoid people and you had a unique ability to do that more than anybody else. How are you told, okay, we're gonna factor you into this now? - Oh my goodness, it's incredible because you know, I went from stuff with Carmella and Sasha and then one random day, Nia and Shayna enters the picture and I see it all no longer on SmackDown. I'm with Nia and Shayna. And we did all of that amazing stuff, amazing stuff. And then one day I hear, it was like right before we started to go back on the road. It was the week or two before we got on the road. I heard that this is the direction we're gonna move towards. I said, okay, we don't know when it's gonna happen, but then come that next Monday, first show on the road, you are gonna be, you're gonna win the 24/7 title. I'm like, okay? And when that happened, didn't really know what to expect, but it was my first time in front of a crowd, a live crowd and I won the 24/7 title, man. That time was just so incredible because everything was new for me. Being in front of that crowd was new, walking out hearing those noises and they knew who I was. They were like genuinely cheering and like, Reggie, you know, it was cool. And then they turned on me when I turned on me. And then the 24/7 stuff happened, now I hit the zone with the spinning crossbody. They cheered for me, come this way, come this way. I just experienced everything in like a WWE crowd in one moment. It was pretty dope. - Are you aware of how much of a hit a lot of your stuff was on YouTube? - Oh, very much so. - I'm like, I wrote down some of the numbers. You and Ricochet, 1.3 million. Reggie and Gabel, 3.3. Reggie and Dana, 1.3. Reggie and Truth, 11 million. Drake Maverick, 1.6. Omos, 1.4. Tazawa, 4.3. The love story thing with you and Dana, as well as Tamina's as well. 10 million views. - Oh, my goodness. - You and Sasha, 5.2 million. Like there are some other things during that era. Like retribution somehow did insane numbers as well. But we have long kept track of the YouTube numbers 'cause in our opinion, it's something that somebody's going out of their way to see. Like, are you ever told about this? Is it something that like just you happen to check out your own stuff? And then you see, damn, that performed really, really well. Like, is it ever even brought up to you? Because you were a consistently strong performer in that regard. So, I've checked some numbers. A lot of those numbers, I'm like, oh my goodness. I didn't know that. Those were that high. One that you did mention was the first time I did my entrance with our truth. That TikTok did, I think it was over like a hundred something. And that thousand a hundred or closer, it was high. It was high for a long time because I recall that because they put it on the screen every time I came out. Or now with TikTok, the highest viewed TikTok in all of entertainment or whatever, I'm like, that is cool. And I didn't really check it out, but I was aware that, you know, these, I was getting high numbers and people wanted to see it and it was entertaining. And I took that as, it was a pride thing because I am different. I am very much so not from a traditional wrestling background but I've always been a true entertainer and that's what this business is. - And even beyond that, like I didn't even mention Tamina over a million, the tag match 2 million. The shopping spree was something a lot of people love that did over a million too. How was it filming that? Because like Nia Jax is a very polarizing character on WWE TV, but as soon as that started, people were like, yeah, that would be fun and it was. - You know, I don't take all the credit for this. When you say things like our truth 11 million that match with me, him and I, and the shopping spree, all of this with Nia and Shayna, dude, I just had fun and I was, I've been blessed to be around so many amazing, amazing talented people. And like, everything is a dance, it's the tango they talk about in the ring and all of these different things. But we, I had chemistry with all of those people because I went into it like, that's just how fun. It's not about how I look or how I'm presented. That's just not every single situation, every single promo, every single segment out of the water. And that was my mindset. That's what, that was their mindset and it showed. So. - So, I mean, of course during that time, you're associated with Dana Brooke, heavily tied to her. She's over in TNA right now. - I'm going, I'm going, yeah, she's crushing it. I'm going over there to watch Shaza face her on Sunday actually. - Nice. - But is that something like you're looking to revisit or are you looking to maybe go out and do your own thing now? Like, do you have any aspirations in that regard to maybe specifically pave a different path or maybe are you open to revisiting some things like that? - You know, everything that I did in WWE in my WWE career has been four years, four incredible years. And every opportunity is an opportunity. But like you said, you know, I was presented in such a unique way. I do sometimes think that if I never got the opportunity to do the whole, some OLEA thing, how different would my career have been? I don't know. I don't know if I would be this popular because it did give me a platform to showcase my skills. But I know that that's not all that I have to offer. So I'm very much so trying to carve out a career and not just be known as a gimmick act, a gimmick performer and whatnot. Because regardless of what gimmicks I was given, the skills are real. And all of those views tell you that. Like, my skills aren't a gimmick. It's really stuff that, you know, people can't do. And it's unique in its own way of like a ricochet, of like, you know, early on Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles or whatever. It's different, but it's unique enough to wear, oh, if given the proper storyline and the proper situation, he could be a real, a real contender. - Why wear a seatbelt? The math speaks for itself. You have a one in 40 chance of being in a crash this year. But wearing a seatbelt reduces your risk of serious harm by 50%. And a rollover crash, more than three out of five jets are from those who weren't wearing theirs. Seatbelts save lives, over 370,000 in fact. Most passengers killed in crashes weren't buckled up. Nobody is above the laws of physics. Buckled up and shifting to safe. A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation. - Don't deal. - Yeah. - I look at the match with ricochet. They have the 24/7 stuff at the tail end of it. What man, the beginning, we were going to do, we were going to get some things cooking, most definitely. - I always liked that pairing as well. Also a question, like when they switched you from Reggie to Reginald, how was that brought up to you? - I don't know. - They just said, you're Reginald now. - A rumor, a rumor, I think it was. Oh no, actually I do know. I got the name Reginald just like that. Didn't know I was Reginald. I went on camera. I did my segment, came out, and I heard my name was Reginald. (laughing) - Oh my God, I love that. - I went out as a Somali eight and I heard that Reginald, that's his name. So I came back and I was Reginald. And so funny, when I switched from Reginald to Reggie, it was kind of, you know, I'm a kid from St. Louis. I'll just use that Reginald French Somalia stuff to get going. I'm Reginald from St. Louis. That's all it was, so. - So I'm one of the people that watched WWE main event 'cause I watch everything. That's when we really got to see you start to do a few things, like it was more than just the 24/7 thing. I remember you were facing Tommaso Champa a few times, Die Jack, Tzawa, like in matches, it actually went five, six minutes. Shelton was another one I remember seeing. Like we got to see you actually work a bit. How was that for you from the learning process and how different was it considering that most of the stuff that they had you doing was a pretty fine niche on WWE Raw. - It was different, but I was asking for that. I'm like, I want you guys to see me more than just the gimmick wrestler because I offer so much more. And unfortunately, we had those five or six minutes, eight minute matches, and I wanted to showcase a different side of me. And I did that, and I had great, great people to go against, to work against, to work with. And it was just incredible because I'm just like, no matter what I do, I feel like I'm still, that light is so bright of who I was, that it's gonna be, I'll have to work double time to try to brighten this light over here of a serious worker and whatnot. But it was all, it was the start of what was to come, for sure. - There are some really, really fun matches on main event. And I always tell people, I'm like, that's where you go to see, like if you're wondering, how has this person changed since NXT? How have they changed since the last time they were on TV? Like, man, I enjoyed watching stuff like Shelton Benjamin versus Reggie, because it was something I wasn't gonna get the opportunity to see on Raw. And I could see how people were developing and adjusting. And I remember it was a very short, it was like maybe a couple months between you being on main event and then scripts debuting. I wanna know how your pitch scripts, and then first off told, hey, you're gonna be in Orlando, more you're gonna be at NXT more, because there are some people that I know that are like, hell yeah, I don't have to catch those flights. Then there are some other people that are like, I don't wanna do that. But I will say this, the stigma has long since gone away because all the main roster people I talk to are super excited to work in NXT. - Of course. So, going back to NXT wasn't my idea, but I was in this process, I knew the 24-7 time stuff was on its way out. I think we wrote it until the wheels for sure fell off. We wrote it for a long time, and it was at, I think, one of the highest peaks when we were doing all of our stuff. I started to try to say, I started to figure out what was I gonna do next? And I presented myself, I wanna wrestle in a mask. It's something, I'm a writer as well, and so I write all of my stories. And I wrote the story of going under a mask, but it wasn't as a heel. It was gonna be something super cool, super, I was basic, and it was original talks with Rey Mysterio. I was gonna do something with him. Him and I discussed it, and he was completely down. This is way before judgment day and all of these different things, but it was something to where I was gonna get attacked and him and Dom came to my aid, set up a six man, and I'm nervous, it's like my first match, I'm a Rey Mysterio Dominic, all of these different things, and he was gonna give me a mask to try to calm my nerves. We win or whatever, I'm gonna get it back. He said, "No way, you keep it, you deserve it, "you earned it or whatever." And that was gonna be me in the mask. Flippy, flippy, fun, happy guy, whatever. That didn't work, that didn't happen. So I said, I was told that I was gonna go back to NXT. All right, sweet, I still want to do the mask stuff, and I had like a meeting with some people and just basically talked about who I was and my story and all these different things, what I wanted to do, very open, very grateful. First time dealing with NXT, and I'm like, this is pretty amazing. But I said, I want to do the mask, and they asked what do I like to do, talked about poetry, and then someone said, "I had this idea for dark COVID, would you be interested?" I'm like, sure, I mean, I don't really, I don't turn down, you know, anything. I'm very happy, and I do my job. I am the performer, and I know that there's a hierarchy to themes or whatever. So I do what I'm told, but I'm knocking out the part, just like I did the 24/7 stuff, the Somalia stuff or whatever. I strike down every time and whatnot. And I never felt comfortable because, you know, one thing that Sean told me after I told him my story, he heard my story for the first time, he was like, oh shit. He didn't say well shit, but he said good luck with making these people try to hate you. For one, I have a very unique skill set, and my story is incredible. It's one of the reasons they hired me, but we went away from all of that, and I have to be this dark poet. So all of the poems and things I was writing, and then not knowing when I was gonna debut, had a guy make my gear, and he did a horrible job, my mask, horrible job. I mean, this was the first for me. I had suits, I have a tailor, so I get all my suits custom. I didn't have a gear guy. So I found the guy to do something together quickly before the match, earlier that day, they ripped, so I had to get it stitched. So my gear was bad, my mask was bad, and I'm just like, oh man, I feel so out of black with this character, and it was a huge fail. - Were you relieved when the mask came off? - Very much so, and we started to pick some things with Axiom and I, and it was great, very, very great, and that story between us didn't develop quite like we wanted it to, 'cause time and getting rushed and whatnot, and so that was rushed, but then the mask came off, and I thought we were gonna do something that we didn't do anything. I said, man, this sucks. And so I did my part, I talked to my guys, I pitched the idea of doing something that was very personal to me. This is the first time that I was gonna use my real story, and instead of writing it up, I filmed it. I filmed it, and I put the Easter eggs in the back of the two guys that I wanted to use, which were Bronco and Lucian, and we filmed this vignette that the public doesn't, they didn't see it, but I showed it to some creative people, and they said, I love this. It's exactly what we envisioned for you. It's like a hurt business, a nation of domination type of faction, and were not, after the pay-per-view, we're gonna move forward with this. Where was that next week, they planted the Easter eggs on this faction and were not, I'm like, oh heck yeah, we're moving forward, right where we wanna be. And for the majority of that, and I'm writing all of these promos and filming these vignettes and sending it to them, sending it to them, and they were so on board with it. I don't know where along the line, where it went from what I originally wrote to what OTM, to how OTM was presented, because it went from a very strong faction to almost a knockoff crime time. And I didn't write that, you know? And that wasn't my vision for it, but that's how it turned out. - Were you surprised they didn't abandon the script's name and go back to Reggie original? - In my original vignette that I shot and recorded, it said, I told him, I'm not scripts, I'm Reggie. And I was gonna transition, but they wanted to keep that script's name, maybe it was something to where we created it, we wanna make it work or whatever. But again, I'm never a god to say no, no, no, until they wanted us to do some things that I was like, yeah, we're not gonna do that. - And I have heard similar things like that, like Mustafa Ali said that one of the things that led to his issues with Vince was, he was asked to do something that they knew he would never do type of thing. - Minds weren't so severe. I don't wanna make it seem like it was like, sure, something crazy, but I just didn't want OTM to be portrayed in that one. Like I never set out to be a thug or an angry black man on camera, but OTM we were presented of like so mean and angry, which yes, from our upbringings, but it wasn't like I'm a thug now or whatever. I tried my hardest to break that stigma even when I joined the circus. I didn't wanna be that guy, 'cause I'm really from the streets. I really was in the game. I really sold drugs and been in prison and been shot at all these different things, watched people die, my uncle in my bedroom. And I said, I have nothing to be upset about, nothing to be angry about. I am a, it's a huge blessing that I was able to have 16 years in the circus and then make it to the WWE with almost zero training and whatnot. I have nothing to be upset about and I wanted to be happy. - I've only heard positive stories about you and all my interactions with you, you're such a welcoming presence as well. I will say this, at least they didn't ask you to lose to Quincy Elliott. So I mean, hey, that's one thing that you did. That would have been too far. You'd have been like, that's it. That's the two fun. - No, no, no, but this is the thing. Again, I am a performer. So when it comes to wins and losses, you know, I don't care. I don't care at all. I'm just gonna go out there and make the match the best that I can do. I will lose to anyone. That's never my problem, but don't ask me to drink Molt Licker on top screen and whatnot. Things like that. The shooting dice was, you know, we did it, but it wasn't gonna be an ongoing thing, you know? I didn't wanna do that. And they gave me a lot of freedom to say those things. So that's why I felt comfortable like declining certain things. We had a great relationship. Like there's no hot, like bad blood or anything. I had a great time there. And, you know, I didn't really see the writing on the wall, but there was some evidence to show like, maybe we're gonna move on a bit. - At the same time, like they put UOTM and street profits in the Snickers candy bar commercial too. Like, I remember I saw that and I was like, "My God, what a great spot for them." Like that was-- - Amazing. - That was incredible. How did that come about? How was it filming that? 'Cause I mean, that is legitimately like such a kick-ass spot to be a part of. - You know, again, it's just being a decent person. You know, I don't think it was like, oh, we want the OTM to be their Snickers commercial. It was, I'm sure it was Guy's NXT or the higher-ups of NXT saying, let's give it to OTM or whatever. Because we generally had great connections, not great connections, but great relationships with almost everyone. I didn't rub anyone in one way. The boys didn't. Like we were genuinely liked to buy a lot of people. And so when it happened, it was kind of like a thank you, I guess, for being decent people, you know? In a business where it can be a lot of real people, for sure. - Did you get paid extra for it? A little bit? Okay, there we go. - A little bit. - There we go. - Mm-hmm. - So for like, I'm always interested in like the process of video games and action figures and all that stuff. What type of process do you have to go through for the video game? Like, do you get scanned? Do they call you up and say, is there anything you want added or not added or anything like that? - It was pretty dope. And I knew that I was gonna be in the video game. I went into the trailer, put all of the things on my body. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is pretty freaking dope. I never thought I'll be in a situation to be scanned for a video game or whatever. And it was, I mean, all of these things were dreams come true. Because I never thought that this was possible. Just like I thought Cirque du Soleil wasn't possible. But I was living, I was walking a path that wasn't for me in a sense. And so it was just super dope. And I knew that I was doing something right because not everyone get to be in a video game. Not everyone get to have an action figure. I had two, I had merch and whatnot. So regardless of what anyone said, said about who I am on screen, people were invested, people were tuned in. And so I wear that badge with honor. - So also this year we've really seen you like coming to your own singles wrestling and stuff like that. Like the JV on Evans match, the Dragon Lee match. Like we're starting to see that just from a TV perspective. What, is there anybody specifically on the Indies or maybe a place that you're looking at? And you're like, yeah, I think that me and that person could do something special because a lot of the restrictions are awful on the Indies. Not to say that they were necessarily on hard in WWE but they have time, a lot of things that restrict talent in that regard. - Man, I'm looking to work with a lot of people. EJ, the judge, that's my dog. He's been my dog from the beginning. He was a part of that training outside. He was the one that really introduced me to like working out into. And so, I mean, I owe that guy a lot. He's been a brother for me long time and he prays with me, he prays for me. He's gotten me a lot deeper into my faith which I was slacking a lot and I owe him so much. That's my dog. So love to work with him, love to work against him and whatnot. Some notable names as well. Leo Rush, been a huge fan of his for a lot of help. I know we can tear the house down. Linsing, that's my dog too. We actually got some stuff maybe in the works of the other, together. - Multi-talented too, great gear maker. - Great gear maker and he was someone of the guys that came in in the clutch and got me a better mask. Oh, good. - So he was pretty dope. I'm excited to go back to St. Louis. You know, I trained at DynamoPro. I'm just excited to wrestle for all the promotions there. Got some guys that, it's some ATM, you know, that he's pretty dope. Camaro, it's a lot of people out there that I'm looking forward to, I'm looking forward to get back in Montreal where I started training in Calgary. They reached out to me and whatnot. So, I'm excited and outside of wrestling, I got so much stuff lined up. Like I told you, I'm a writer, also aspiring actor. I get some important, some exciting, like lead character roles in some movies and TV shows lined up. So I say this, them not renewing my contract. It's, you know, it's sucked with, you know, having a fiance that's pregnant. But I'm free to do a lot of those things that are really put on the back burner. So it's a blessing and a curse for sure. - So, yeah, not to be a damper. How did that conversation occur? Do they email you? Do they call you into the office? How do they let you know that they're not renewing the contract? - You say not to be a damper. It was probably one of, it was a great conversation because I don't know what a conversation like that is, like if it's like, yeah, we're not gonna go the other direction. Good luck on your future endeavors. That was the conversation people said was happening. But I got a call and it was like, "Hey, Reg, I hate to be the one "to have this call give you this news." And I knew right there, but it was, it's a guy to have a really good relationship with a person that have a really good relationship with. He said, "Unfortunately, we're not gonna renew your contract." But I want you to know this isn't, the door isn't closed. It's forever open. You're such a great talent. You're great to work with, a joy to be around, just flattering message. And it was like, I thought in my hand, I'm like, I'm that great. Why can't I not get a new contract? But it was a good conversation. I'm like, okay, what's next and whatnot. And my biggest thing was, I didn't leave on bad blood. Like, that's not who I am. I don't like, like, I'm a very positive guy. Like, I have, my brother's heavy on drugs right now. My grandmother is sick. My other brother's in jail. My other brother is in a mental hospital from a car crash when he was 16. And I have people that are constantly dying back in St. Louis. And I'm living a life that many were killed to be in my shoes. - You live multiple lives by 30. By 30, you live multiple lives. - And so I have nothing to be upset about. I'm just like, this is just, you know, another obstacle, another hurdle that I have to jump. So it wasn't a bad call at all. - Well, we certainly look forward to you doing it. I mean, I can tell you that immediately when we ran the story, I had promoters hit me up and say, how can we book him? Do you have his info, anything like that? So, I mean, I could see the immediate interest from the independent world. And it made me happy to see it because I've only had positive experiences with you. But before we go, where can people follow you, support you, check you out, and keep up to date with what you're doing? - On those platforms, Scripps and WWE, it hasn't changed. My email, it's also in my bio on Twitter and on Instagram, SydneyAkeem@gmail.com. Just look out for, I have so many projects. Also pushing my nonprofit right now, it's called RBB Rise Beyond Borders to help the youth. And also diving into some motivational speaking, tell them my story, finally getting my story out there, a book, my book, my autobiography titled A Way Out. So, yeah, lots of ways. - We barely scratched the surface in 40 minutes. Me and you are gonna have to talk again because there's so much to always talk to you about. Sydney Akeem, I look forward to seeing what you do. And thank you so much. - Of course, my man, I appreciate you for having me. - Until next time, guys, we're out. [BLANK_AUDIO]
