PWPODCASTS REPORT
Podcast: Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast
Episode: 132 – X-Pac
Release Date: May 3, 2017
Duration: 108 mins.
Report By: Rock Manor
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
SHOW STOPPERS:
-Sam and X-Pac are personal friends outside of the wrestling industry and both agree that this is the healthiest X-Pac has been in a very long time.
-X-Pac was arrested at the LAX airport last week and charged with intent to sell after customs agents found marijuana and what they believed to be meth.
-X-Pac avoids sugar in his diet because it’s a drug. During his arrest at LAX, he even declined an offer of gummy bears from a customs agent.
-X-Pac uses marijuana as medicine. He takes about 300 milligrams of cannabis capsules at one time because his tolerance is high. He had four bottles of cannabis capsules, a few cannabis edibles on him at the time of his arrest, all of which is legal in the state of California where he resides.
-The meth was actually Solaray’s Yeast Cleanse that anyone can buy at a local Vitamin Shop. Faulty testing equipment and an overly ambitious customs agent might have led to the bogus charge against X-Pac.
-Because of this incident at LAX, it was revealed that X-Pac had a probation officer from a drug paraphernalia charge in Pennsylvania from a year and a half prior and a warrant for a DUI hit-and-run incident years ago while he was still in a relationship with Chyna.
-The House of Horrors match at Payback – the pre-taped segment – was a bust.
-Great Balls of Fire sounds like a WCW-type PPV title Vince McMahon has always wanted to use but never had the chance to…until now.
-NXT would benefit having Adam Cole on its roster.
-Chris Jericho just had the best run of his entire career.
TIMEKEEPER
00:00 – Opening Plugs
00:54 – Introduction
10:06 – X-Pac Interview
51:28 – Post-Interview Comments
54:20 – Mid-Show Plugs
56:39 – State of Wrestling
1:43:48 – Interactive
1:47:55: – Closing Plugs
1:48:39: – End
THE WHOLE F’N SHOW:
00:00 – Opening Plugs
00:54 – Introduction
This week’s guest is X-Pac. Sam says the podcast was put together a few hours before going live since the interview covers X-Pac’s recent arrest at the LAX airport this past week. While Sam’s goal with his podcast is not to go after breaking news and headlines, X-Pac is one of Sam’s first professional wrestler friends. He knows him on a personal level. He did an interview with X-Pac years ago after the wrestler was busted for marijuana at a New York airport. Sam says X-Pac wasn’t in good shape back then but X-Pac is a different person today. He last hung out with X-Pac at this past WrestleMania and, before that, he hung out with him in Los Angeles where X-Pac was exercising, watching what he eats and living a healthy lifestyle. Sam says the only thing X-Pac does is cannabis, which is legal in many states today and not considered dangerous by most standards.
Sam extended an offer for X-Pac to appear on his show to tell his version of last week’s events.
10:06 – X-Pac Interview
Sam: He heard X-Pac went MIA this past weekend and wondered what happened. He’s known X-Pac for a long time, even during X-Pac’s struggles with addiction. The last time Sam hung out with X-Pac, however, he X-Pac was mentally and physically healthier than he’s ever been in life.
X-Pac: He mentions the people he surrounds himself nowadays helps with his healthy lifestyle. He name drops Maria Menounos and Kevin Undergaro [Rock Note: Both Menounos and Undergaro run AfterBuzz TV and are sometimes featured on WWE programming.] With that said, he understands why people would doubt him considering his past. He says that’s all it is though: his past.
Sam: Sam says he has no reason to lie about X-Pac’s healthy lifestyle. If he didn’t believe X-Pac was telling the truth, then Sam would say so and address the problems. Sam reiterates how much healthier X-Pac is today than he’s ever been. He even avoids sugar, soda, and other junk food. He mentions that X-Pac has been open about his use of marijuana.
X-Pac: He says there’s nothing to be ashamed about using marijuana. He uses it medicinally instead of opiates and other drugs. He says he follows the Paleo diet which is low carbs, high protein and a ton of greens. He avoids sugar because it’s a drug.
Sam: What happened at LAX?
X-Pac: On the way to LAX, he stopped by his cannabis dispensary to get his medicine [Rock Note: Both medicinal and recreational marijuana is legal in California]. He bought four bottles of cannabis pills. Each pill contains 35 milligrams of cannabis. He takes about 300 milligrams at a time which equals about one bottle because his tolerance is high. In the end, he was never charged with possessing the marijuana. It was the meth accusation where he found himself having trouble. When the customs agents couldn’t extradite him on the marijuana he possessed, they scrambled to pin something on him. So the agents made up the meth part by claiming the Candida (yeast infection) cleanser pills he had were filled with meth. X-Pac says he’s had the infection for quite some time and he doesn’t know what caused it. He said it wasn’t sex though.
Sam: Why would the agents say it’s meth?
X-Pac: He has a feeling that they didn’t really mistake it. He figured the authorities knew who he was and his past and thought they had an easy case. He said once he got to LAX, they scanned his boarding pass and the scanner gave a bad sound so he knew something was wrong. He walked down the jet way and there were customs agents waiting for him. They pulled him aside, and X-Pac said he fully cooperated knowing he didn’t do anything wrong. When asked, he told them about the cannabis and yeast infection pills. He said it didn’t matter because the head customs agent was a real hard ass. X-Pac’s past didn’t help either. He says had it been someone like Montel Williams traveling with his cannabis medicine, they would have treated him differently because Montel has a clean past including his military service.
Sam: He mentions how people may not believe X-Pac. Some say “X-Pac is an addict, you can’t trust what he says, etc.” Sam said he believed X-Pac and also knew he had an uphill battle coming.
X-Pac: He gets why people would doubt him when he considers his past. He said people shouldn’t feel bad about doubting him because he can understand why they would. He says there was a total of three customs agents including the hard-ass one on a mission. This customs agent’s mission was to make sure X-Pac didn’t leave there without being in handcuffs. Immediately upon seeing him, X-Pac knew it wasn’t going to go well. The interrogation took hours and caused him to miss his flight and the Impact Pro Wrestling show. He was thankful they had a stacked card so his inclusion wasn’t as important for the show but he still felt awful about missing the show. As far as the cannabis, X-Pac knows it’s legal in California and hasn’t had problems in the past with it. He said having it in his life is worth it because his health is very important and cannabis is a huge part of it.
Sam: Sam says X-Pac’s addiction has been well documented and X-Pac has never lied about it.
X-Pac: He says lying is a hallmark for most drug addicts, but he is very honest with his drug addictions. He doesn’t relate to being a drug addict anymore. He’s not on the edge like he used to be or like some of his friends still are.
Sam: Sam says he doesn’t drink or do drugs and never has so he knows his surroundings and knows people who are still using and those who are not. He doesn’t believe X-Pac is the same person he was during X-Pac’s worst moments of drug addiction.
X-Pac: He says you can tell when people are still addicted because they’re not comfortable in their own skin. He says he feels so good now. Solitary confinement sucked though. He was in solitary confinement for two days because of his notoriety status. This time it was better than the time he was deep in addiction while in solitary confinement for three days while he came down from using coke, meth and other drugs.
Back to the interrogation: the customs agent finds the yeast infection capsules he bought from the local Vitamin Shoppe. He says anybody can buy them at the store or online. It’s all natural ingredients. He says the head customs agent never told him it was meth. Instead the agent just kept talking about cannabis and THC. During all of this, the agents found X-Pac’s probation officer’s business card. This probation officer stemmed from a traffic stop X-Pac experienced in Pennsylvania a year and a half ago. During the traffic stop, the officer found some marijuana and a left over bottle of Xanax in his car. He says he’d quit using the Xanax at that point in his life but the bottle was still inside his car. He ended up with a drug paraphernalia charge. That was the moment the head customs agent made it a mission to bust X-Pac with something, so the agent had to come up with this felony possession of meth charge in order to extradite X-Pac out in handcuffs. X-Pac said the pills didn’t test positive for meth during their field test while he was there but they kept testing and trying anyways. He said the agent even laid everything out on the table and said “we got to make this look good.” They came back a few hours later and said “we have to re-do all of this” (meaning the tests). X-Pac figured that they didn’t get the result they wanted so they decided to keep doing everything they could until they had something to charge him with.
Sam: This could reflect badly on the customs agents if X-Pac’s story pans out. Everyone will ask why they pinned a bogus charge on X-Pac.
X-Pac: The only way his story doesn’t pan out is if the customs agents literally planted stuff on him. He doesn’t think that will happen though. While he’s waiting in the interrogation room at LAX, a different customs agent offers X-Pac gummy bears. He declined because he avoids sugar in his diet.
Sam: Sam quickly interrupts to say how funny this scene plays out. Here’s someone they are accusing of having meth and being a drug dealer and he just declined an offer of gummy bears because it’s bad for his health. Sam says it’s hilarious from an outsider’s perspective.
X-Pac: He says he would have eaten then ten years ago because ten years ago he didn’t like himself and didn’t take care of himself. During the interrogation, X-Pac asked for a bathroom break. A few of the customs agents – X-Pac says these agents were nice and were only following their head customs agent’s orders – escorted him to the bathroom and were talking about the process of letting him go. But once they got back to the interrogation room, the head customs agent just wouldn’t let go. Instead, the head customs agent kept getting frustrated because he couldn’t find legal reasons to handcuff and extradite X-Pac to jail. That is until the head customs agent came back with a fax order from a judge approving of an extradition. X-Pac said the head customs agent was jumping for joy; he couldn’t even hide it. The LAPD finally arrived to arrest him and take him to jail. Then a big argument happens between the arresting officers because it’s the feds versus the state of California over the legality of marijuana. Federal law still prohibits marijuana while most state laws do not, including California. One officer gives X-Pac some phone numbers for him to contact once he gets to jail. The phone numbers are to legal reps who deal in these cases and will help him get out of jail quicker.
Sam: What was X-Pac thinking once he was in jail? Were the phone numbers helpful?
X-Pac: He couldn’t get ahold of anyone because no one takes collects calls anymore. He said word got out there about his situation and so everyone thought he fell off the wagon without knowing the facts. He knew that even if no one believed him, he knew he was in good health and not doing what he used to do.
He’s out of jail now and waiting to go to court on May 25th in a few weeks. In the whole process of this incident, he found out he had an old warrant from back in the days when he was still with Chyna. It was for a DUI hit-and-run incident. He was drunk and wrecked a Viper. He and China had been out drinking all night before he left their place and went to a grocery store. It had been raining and the road was wet. He ended up spinning out and hit a car. He was messed up so he decided to take off and leave the scene. After he finished up at the grocery store, he went back home on the same route, speeding down the road. He ended up getting pulled over right at the same spot where he previously wrecked the Viper into another car. He said during the traffic stop, the guy who owned the other vehicle even came out of his house, pointed at X-Pac and said “that’s the guy who hit my car!” X-Pac says it was pretty obvious because the Viper was all wrecked as well.He ended up with a DUI and a hit and run but somehow the case was never fully closed so now he has to wrap that up.
Sam: Sam asks if the yeast infection is going to be re-tested.
X-Pac: Yes because the field tests are bullshit at the airport. He says candy bars could get tested positive for drugs with those tests so they have to re-test everything.
Sam: Asks how his friends at WWE are reacting.
X-Pac: They seem to have faith in him. He told them don’t feel bad if they have doubt in their minds. At the time of his arrest at LAX, he had $736 on him which the customs agent said was evidence he was dealing the meth. X-Pac said a close WWE friend texted him [Rock Note: Based on recent reports, this may be Triple H] “$736 dollars? You’re the worst meth dealer of all time!” X-Pac says he’s never sold a drug in a life. He always bought tons of them but never sold them. He would also share drugs but never sold them.
Sam: Notes how X-Pac has a busy schedule and never misses a date. He has a Sirius radio show every morning. He’s on the Tomorrow Show twice a week. He doesn’t miss any wrestling dates, except the one during the LAX arrest. He also has his own weekly podcast called X-Pac 1-2-3 360 that he never misses. Sam says there is a video version on YouTube and everyone can see how healthy, coherent, consistent X-Pac is on it.
X-Pac: He says his recovery didn’t take just a day. It was a long hard journey with a couple of missteps before he got to where he is today. He said even when Chyna died he didn’t fall off the wagon because he had his dog at that time to comfort him.
Sam: Asks if X-Pac is going to wrestle anytime soon.
X-Pac: His bail bondsman doesn’t want him leaving the state right now. He does have a show with APW in San Francisco at the Cow Palace this weekend. Everyone there is very supportive of him. He thanks Sam for his friendship and says it means a lot to him.
51:28 – Post Interview Comments
Sam says many smart messages were sent to him in regards to last week’s guest, Vince Russo, said what Russo said on his own podcast that Sam really disagrees with. Sam wishes he would have known about it prior to his interview with Russo so he could have addressed those issues during the interview.
Sam was on the Payback Kickoff show this past Sunday and a couple of things struck him. It’s amazing he got to know Sasha Banks during her time in NXT and now they were on the same kickoff show. He also grew up as a teen in the Attitude Era watched Jerry The King Lawler all the time. He came to realize that he just co-hosted a kickoff show with Jerry The King Lawler. It amazes him.
54:20 Mid-Show Plugs
56:39 Sam Roberts State of Wrestling
Bray Wyatt. Sam’s a fan of Bray Wyatt but one thing became clear to Sam this week: less is more particularly when it comes to Bray Wyatt. He said while some moments were great for Wyatt this week, they were overshadowed by moments that were not well-received. His first case-in-point: the House of Horrors match at Payback 2017. Sam doesn’t mind new settings, new storytelling and such when it comes to pro wrestling, but the House or Horrors was not set up properly. The pre-taped portion should have been a part of the build up to a pay-per-view match. Perhaps on the go-home edition of Smackdown Live before Payback. The major problem with having both the pre-taped and the live portions on the same night and on the same pay-per-view was its lack of logic. The pre-taped portion was filmed at night while the finish of the match happened in San Jose when it was still daylight when the pay per view ended. It wasn’t cohesive and it took fans out of their suspension of disbelief. Sam was in the live audience. He said the live portion worked great; the pre-taped House of Horrors segment not so much. WWE fans want everything finished inside the ring. He says the Triple H-Randy Orton feud from some years ago, the one involving Triple H invading Randy Orton’s house, was shown on Raw as part of the build up to their match on pay-per-view. Sam says that’s what they should have done with this Wyatt-Orton angle. Sam mentions that maybe they could have had Orton’s photo appear upside down on the big screen and then Wyatt hits him in the face with a two-by-four. Sam says that would horrify him if someone did that to him [Rock Note: Maybe I’m sadistic, but I laughed at the thought of this and the way Sam said it.] He says Wyatt’s promo with Kurt Angle on Raw was weird. It felt like Wyatt was doing the basic stuff and nothing specific. There was no reason for it. If the Wyatt Family isn’t going to be there, there needs to be more mystiques added to the Bray Wyatt character. Here is where less is more. Bray Wyatt needs to be WWE’s greatest chess player where he controls all the pieces. The only way to make this work is with a long term investment into the character. Wyatt can do a promo maybe once every two weeks or once or twice between pay-per-views. They need to make Wyatt’s appearances limited. If they add all the elements of Shango, Undertaker, Waylon Mercy, Barry Windham, Irwin R. Shyster, and Kane, they could have a monster. It has to be disciplined though. It’s more about the idea of Wyatt rather than Wyatt himself on the show. Sam says it seems every few months he has to talk about the ways to save Wyatt’s career. He says this idea will do it. He enjoyed Wyatt and Orton as a team – he thought they split them up too soon. It should have played over a longer period of time. He sees a lot of potential with Bray Wyatt but he can’t be doing promos on television every week like the unnecessary one he had with Angle recently.
Raw Triple Threat Match For Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender. Sam says it was terrific as well as the storytelling and the pacing of the match. He also liked the interview segment with Dean Ambrose. He appreciated how they acknowledged the history between Balor and Rollins. Sam was worried about The Miz when he first came to Raw but he’s not worried anymore. According to Sam, The Miz is the top heel on Raw while Braun Strowman to be the top babyface. The Miz is now a compelling character when he wasn’t five years ago. Sam cares more about the Miz-Amborse feud now than ever before. He also thought the ending of the triple threat was perfect. It set up feuds and future pay per view matches between Miz-Ambrose, Rollins-Joe, Balor-Wyatt.
Universal Championship. He thought Payback was a really good show because of the surprise outcomes. He didn’t think the show was lacking without a Universal Championship match. However, he is disappointed that Lesnar is not defending it until the July pay per view. He said we need to disregard the 30-day rule because Lesnar set the precedent during his last reign as WWE Champion. That said, Sam thinks 3-4 months without a challenge is a long time between bouts. He says 2 months are long enough. Sam says once we get to SummerSlam, the time between bouts should lessen. Right now is the longest drought period between WrestleMania 33 and …Great Balls of Fire.
Great Balls of Fire. Sam sarcastically says it will be the next Royal Rumble or WrestleMania or SummerSlam or Survivor Series. People will be able to say “I was there for the first Great Balls of Fire!” It worries Sam because Royal Rumble has a Royal Rumble match; Elimination Chamber has an Elimination Chamber match; King of the Ring has a King of the Ring tournament. He wonders what Great Balls of Fire will bring – a bunch of Hulk-Hogan-burning-paper-fireballs? Sam can’t explain the PPV title. He has no idea why anyone allowed it. He says he doesn’t mind watching old WCW-type titles on pay per views even if they’re questionable. He said with publically-traded companies, everything goes through multiple approval steps but the name of July’s pay per view leads him to believe that this may not be the case because how else do you explain Grate Balls of Fire? He said one person made the decision and after 33 years of promoting pay-per-views, he never got to call one of them what he’s always wanted to call one. [Rock Note: If you aren’t aware yet, he’s talking about none other than Vince McMahon himself…which is most likely the true reason for the pay per view title.] Sam would like to see WCW – he corrects himself and says he means WWE although it might as well be WCW now [Rock Note: hahaha] – put on a show called Great Balls of Fire. It’s a Raw show so we’ll get to hear Michael Cole and Corey Graves and Dave Otunga say it all night long. In a total facetious role, Sam says he’s excited that this will be a part of history forever. This will be something we will see on WhatCulture YouTube videos and what people will discuss on wrestling programs for generations to come. We’re currently witnessing history where something happens that no one will ever be able to explain for eternity.
Adam Cole. Sam is a fan of Adam Cole. He’s been a fan for a long time. interviews are good. His promos are amazing. His in-ring style is great. He’s still young. And now Adam Cole’s no longer with Ring of Honor and is a free agent. Sam would like to see him in WWE, but he says NXT needs him. Sam thinks it would be a great idea if Cole goes to New Japan for now so he could increase his value even more, similar to A.J. Styles. Sam says Cole should not go to TNA. He can go to NXT now or spend time in Japan. If he went to NXT, it would be for NXT’s benefit most of all.
Chris Jericho. Sam says we should applaud Jericho’s recent run. In 9 months, the same time it takes for a baby to be born, Jericho created a great run. It was like Jericho created his favorite child. Nobody thought his run with Shawn Michaels would ever be topped, but this did it. Jericho created the List, wore the scarfs, started saying new catch phrases like “take it in maaaaan,” showed new moves, and had great matches with new opponents. The run was special. It doesn’t happen particularly this late in careers. It reminded everyone why wrestling is great.
United States Championship. They have elevated the United States Championship on Smackdown Live and not just because of what Kevin Owens is doing with it. Smackdown Live is in a situation where there is a debate on which is a more important match at Backlash: A.J. Styles versus Kevin Owns or Randy Orton versus Jindar Mahal. There are two things at work here: the Style-Owens match has elevated a title while the Orton-Mahal match is elevating a superstar in Mahal. If they elevate the United States Championship, it could set up a WWE Champion versus United States Champion match. The Intercontinental Championship is also being elevated on Raw but even more so while the Universal Championship is out of the picture.
Women’s Divisions. Sam says the Raw opening segment was strong with the Raw roster of the women’s division standing in the ring. He says Charlotte leaving Raw may be a good thing for the brand. It will add depth to the roster and create new stars much like Smackdown Live did the past year. Sam says if Alexa Bliss is good now – she’s only in her early 20s -, then she’s going to get even greater. He sees Bliss having a great future in the business. Sam also praises the Smackdown Live women’s division. He thinks the welcoming committee idea is a great angle and freshens things up on the blue brand.
1:43:48: Interactive
Sam goes over emails he’s received but before he does, Sam makes a note that one of the superstars used one of the lines he suggested during the Payback PPV. He won’t say who or what the line was [Rock Note: I believe it involves TJP and Neville since he just talked about TJP using the dab the way he wanted him to prior to this conversation].
Sam says someone suggested they have 205 Live air during one hour of Raw’s time. That doesn’t work for Sam. It would take people out for an hour of the show and then people may not return.
Some fans tells Sam to stop saying Braun Strowman is a babyface because they believe he’s a heel. Sam says listen to the live audience. They aren’t booing Strowman.
Charles asks Sam if he thinks with Triple H running things, if he thinks they will ever induct C.M. Punk into the WWE Hall of Fame? If so, would it be Paul Heyman who inducts him?
Sam doesn’t think discussions of CM Punk going into the HOF are appropriate right now. The discussion should be about if CM Punk will ever wrestle again. It’ll be at least 15 years before any discussion of CM Punk to the WWE Hall of Fame will be appropriate. CM Punk’s got at least 10 years’ worth of comeback matches to go.
1:47:55: Closing Plugs
1:48:39: End
ROCK SAYS…
7/10.
The X-Pac interview was different than the usual interview on Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast. It was more of a public defense. Sam noted this at the beginning of the podcast. As for my take on the whole case, I’m not a judge or a jury and I wasn’t there so I cannot say much about the case. I thought the interview set out what it was meant to do whether the listeners’ reactions were positive or negative. As a pro wrestling fan and a fellow human being, I do wish X-Pac/Sean Waltman the best and hope he can get past all of these issues and remain clean and sober.
The House or Horrors match reminded me a lot of the Hollywood Backlot Brawl at WrestleMania XII. The only thing missing was footage from old horror movies inserted during the match the same way they inserted the O.J. Simpson car chase in the Piper-Goldust match in 1996. I knew it was going to be bad when the ring announcer said the match would finish in the ring when I already knew they were filming at an abandoned house somewhere else. Not good. They should have opted by staying in the ring. They could have created a new structure similar to the Thunderdome in WCW or the Elimination Chamber and have it contain different sections with different weapons and creepy items. Throw some special effects into it. One way in and one way out. The first one to make it out of the House of Horrors wins.
I agree with Sam about Balor-Wyatt. It makes sense to have a pay-per-view match between Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor without the Demon. Have Wyatt go over Balor the first time around making Balor realize he has to unleash the Demon. Then it sets up for a SummerSlam return of the Demon one year after Balor’s injury.
The cruiserweight show 205 Live needs to get out of the Raw lineup. I think it eventually will much like NXT. A smaller venue like Full Sail would work perfect for this brand just like the Cruiserweight Classic worked very well. The majority of people that go to Raw live are not the same who would go to the cruiserweight shows and the audience reactions prove it. The other option is to assimilate the cruiserweight division into the Raw or Smackdown Live brands where the cruiserweight becomes another belt on the show like they did years ago. I think the former would be better for business.
ABOUT ROCK MANOR
Rock Manor has been a professional wrestling fan since 1987 and has a special interest in its rich history. He is the producer of Manor House, a collection of dark stories presented with a full audio drama production. Bestselling horror author Brian Keene says “It’s like Tales From The Crypt. It’s really fu@king cool.” You can listen to the podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher Radio and other podcast platforms. Rock Manor has also been a featured performer on podcasts such as The NoSleep Podcast, Pseudopod, Tales To Terrify, and StarshipSofa. Visit https://www.manorhouseshow.com/ for more details. Follow on twitter @manorhouseshows
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