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The neXt GA Legend
12_Gauge_Uncut_-__From_the_Heart_s_Edge__Confronting_HCM_-_One_Warrior_s_Journey_to_Triumph_-_The_12_Gauge__Rocky_Shaw-webcam-00h_00m_00s_164ms-StreamYard
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Rocky Shaw: [00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 12 Gauge Uncut. Today is a little bit different than normal. I have with me. 12 gauge yourself, Tania Shaw. Hello everybody. So we're gonna sit down and today have a personal conversation with you. Some of you have known through time that I have what's called H C M. It is known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Rocky Shaw: And basically what this condition is is my heart muscle itself. Over time, and this genetic condition has become thicker and the, if I'm gonna say the chamber, as you would have it, the valve brings in and the chamber doesn't, isn't allowed to fill with as much blood because of the thickening of the muscle.
Rocky Shaw: There's less room inside of the chamber. [00:01:00] So in turn, I get less oxygen in my blood flow when it pumps out. Instead of coming in, and which can also cause an error with my mitral valve, which case the two to collapse together. And in case in cases of this where this has happened many of you will remember the football players and so forth throughout the years and college players that you've heard that just during an event dropped dead.
Rocky Shaw: It's a sudden cardiac event. This sudden cardiac event is associated with H C M and it's usually undiagnosed and most people die much earlier from it because it was undiagnosed. I have been lucky, blessed call it what you will to have survived being an athlete this whole time with this and just having it in the last few years being detected.
Rocky Shaw: So, [00:02:00] Now we have a new journey, a new fight. H C M is that fight. So I brought myself, Antonia, here with us today for us to talk about and tell you kind of the challenges. We're just like you guys, there's challenges I know that you've come up in, come on guys. We all know in the United States, di Diabetes, heart cancer.
Rocky Shaw: Kidney disease, kidney disease lung issues, they, they're all plaguing against right now. And so none of us are above it. Some of us all have family members struggling with this kidney disease in particular. We just went through a struggle with that. Mm-hmm. And Tania's, a transplant survivor from that.
Rocky Shaw: So, with that being said we're gonna just gonna have a conversation back and forth. I'm gonna let her talk a little bit about, you know, what. What this means to her, and going through this again now on my side where she was, you know, the one [00:03:00] going through a struggle, now we're reversing and it's my role to be the one that actually has to go through the struggle.
Rocky Shaw: So, Tania, take it away. Well,
Tenia Shaw: I mean, you're, you're right. You know, we, I feel like we just kind of got over one thing with the kidney disease and waiting on a transplant and, you know, The years that we spent doing that. And then we had like a small reprieve. And now now we have another hurdle, another hurdle across.
Tenia Shaw: And so you know, we've got some appointments and you know, this is definitely caused you to kind of have to step back from doing some things that you love to do. And for me, that's hard to watch. And so, but as we do. You know, every tough fight in life, you know, the only choice is really just to stand up and move forward.
Tenia Shaw: And so that's kind of what what we're gonna do.
Rocky Shaw: Yeah, absolutely. We those of you who know either one of us strong-willed, stubborn [00:04:00] that pretty much sums both of us up. We, neither one of us know how to lay down and we had a good buddy of mine Dalton. Asked me one day, and it was a, it was a joke, but it was funny.
Rocky Shaw: It tells you how, how people do notice your personality type. He said, when are you going to give yourself a vacation? And I honestly don't know. I just don't know how to stop. Mm-hmm. That's, I'm always in continuous mode of going forward. So Tania's the same way in that. So we, we make a good. As far as we, we are always driving forward to a new goal.
Rocky Shaw: Now, a lot of people, you got two options. You sit down with an option like this and you're like, you know, I can sit down and quit and mope, whine and cry. Or you can put a fight on and do what nobody else has done and redefine what [00:05:00] it means to. Being diagnosed with one of these things? Is it final? No, I don't think so.
Rocky Shaw: I, I think I know my body better than anyone else, and so it, I've overcame, you know, any other injury that I've had, some sicknesses and so forth. And Tania has as well. So now, I mean, Is there a possibility that I might not return to the ring? There's, there's a slight possibility. I'm not really ready to accept that yet.
Rocky Shaw: We're gonna see how that goes. But there's other avenues, and you guys have shown me that you still want me a part of your lives as far as you know, whether it be this podcast me being ringside and, you know, some of the events. Who knows, we've talked about and you know, let your local showing provider know a 12 gauge uncut.
Rocky Shaw: We can do it live in the, in the ring. I can interview who you want me to. Mm-hmm. And I'll ask the questions. [00:06:00] Nobody else is willing to ask and we'll get to the heart of the issue every time. But going back to the arts I. Tania kind of tell me, let's tell them about your, as your side that you gotta get a little more in depth on.
Rocky Shaw: I guess explain to 'em them. I'm gonna let you kind of do it 'cause you're better in medical terms. The tests that I've already had and kind of what they included so far.
Tenia Shaw: So, so far we just yesterday went to Piedmont Hospital. They have a A hoku specialist there that not all hospitals, this is a condition that people, that they've kind of known about, but they don't really know exactly what causes it or exactly, there's not any really great treatment options as far as like lots of medication and, and everything.
Tenia Shaw: So so we're looking at those options. [00:07:00] Medication did, has not really benefited at this point. Benefited Rocky at this point. And so our next option is looking at surgery. And what is those possibilities? What's the potential outcomes? So we're going to Piedmont hospital in Atlanta. So yesterday was a day of testing and he started with a stress test with an echocardiogram.
Tenia Shaw: And so what that is, is an echocardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the heart, and they use that to see the different chambers and the valves and how everything is functioning. And sometimes you get that a lot just by itself. You can get an echocardiogram by itself for different reasons. Doctors would order that a stress echo.
Tenia Shaw: They wanna see what the heart looks like when it is being stressed. And so they take a baseline with the echocardiogram, see what it looks like in, in a resting mode and then they make you run on a [00:08:00] treadmill. They get that heart up there and they get it pumping and they get it to beaten, and then they take you off the treadmill, lay you down really quick and do another ultrasound.
Tenia Shaw: And they may do that three or four times, you know, get that heart good and stressed and they're measuring you know, the output of blood, how much blood flow's getting through the heart. What are I know, you know, Rocky mentioned the valves. One of this Aspects of this condition is for him. He has an obstruction.
Tenia Shaw: The muscle is actually obstructing part of the valve, so the blood is not going in and out of the heart like it should. And because of that, he doesn't get enough oxygen to the rest of his body. And so that was the first test we did yesterday was a stress echo. And then that took about I don't know what, it was about three hours.
Tenia Shaw: It was a long time. No, we were, we were at Piedmont all day from our, you know, early morning yesterday. And we didn't get home till late. Yes. Till late last night. The second test he had done [00:09:00] was A A M R I with contrast. And that one, they did you know, it was a long M R I, I think we were in the M R I machine for what, like an hour and a half?
Tenia Shaw: Yeah. And then they shoot contrast and die into your veins and that. Goes through the different arteries and veins and everything, and it also gives them a good picture of what's happening in the heart, where areas of the heart are not functioning as correctly as they should be. So all of these tests are kind of leading up to our next appointment, which is next Wednesday.
Tenia Shaw: We go back to Piedmont to meet with the cardiothoracic surgeon. And to talk with him about, you know, the test results and you know, if Rocky is a good candidate for surgery, you know, asking some of those, some of my questions at this point are, you know, what are the risks? What are the benefits?
Tenia Shaw: What outcomes can we expect? What's the recovery time going to to look like? Is he [00:10:00] gonna be able to get back in the ring again? You know, I know for us and. Me as a wife watching him, that's his dream. That's his, you know, his passion, and I want him to be able to do those things. So this is just kind of a, the next step in, in this journey is looking at, you know, where, where we go from here.
Tenia Shaw: So the next thing is the, the appointment. And we would certainly you know, can update our, our fans and everything about what goes on next, what we learned from the appointment and the outcome of that in, you know, Sometime, maybe sometime next week or so once we kind of have a little bit more information about where, where we're going
Rocky Shaw: from here.
Rocky Shaw: Yeah. And here, here's an interesting thing. So during the M R I, so for those of you who don't know what an M R I is, there's basically this tube that they send you in. And I'm a big fella, so you know, They're shoving me in this little tube and first of all, think [00:11:00] thinks a lot. Touching your shoulders in Yeah.
Rocky Shaw: Tucking your shoulders in so that you can get up inside of there. And you know, the, the, the cylinder's right there on your face. There is a picture that, a lovely picture that they decided to place there, I guess to keep you from thinking about the claustrophobia of like this castle with this ocean side right here that you stare, that you can stare at.
Tenia Shaw: Imagine yourself there. Yeah.
Rocky Shaw: So you, I guess you can imagine yourself there instead of this small fish can that you're in at this point in time. That being said, so I, I sit there and, you know, I'm usually not one, especially as I was younger, being claustrophobic, but you know, me a much bigger guy, you know, a 235 pound guy and a little bitty tube, you know, seems to be a little.
Rocky Shaw: Compress, of course, they have cool air blowing on your face, which I appreciated, so I don't have to fill my own hot breath, you know, rolling back against my, my face during this. But I sit there and this gives you time. I was in there so long to reflect. They [00:12:00] give you commands like, breathe, hold your breath.
Rocky Shaw: Now once, once you've had this condition, long enough, holding your breath for a long period of time is very complicated. And so when they want you to hold your breath for 16 seconds, I know it doesn't seem like that long, but 16 seconds when you need the oxygen, you know, continuously that is, it seems like forever to try to hold your breath.
Rocky Shaw: And they want you to be really still, you don't wanna move or anything so that you're, 'cause your heart's all lined up so that they can monitor it the whole time and get pre images. They at different times, they shoot contrast through your veins as well. So they have an IV hooked into your arm and they, they send contrast back and forth through your arm.
Rocky Shaw: So those of you, a contrast feels like it can feel cooling. It can feel warm. Mm-hmm. It can make you feel like you've got a pee really bad. Like it'll, when it, once it hits your kidney systems, like you just feel this [00:13:00] warm urgency to go. Mm-hmm. That being said, there was different things when in there that reflect.
Rocky Shaw: First of all, I was thinking, I don't remember the name of that movie. What's the horror movie? The NUN two or no,
Tenia Shaw: no, it's The Insidious, the la, this last version of Insidious, this last
Rocky Shaw: movie. That's la Yeah, the, the trailer. I don't know if, oh, you saw the trailer, but they have one where someone's, the guy's in the M R I and he looks down and like this ghost or creature comes running up, crawling on top of his body inside the M R I with him.
Rocky Shaw: So thankfully for them I thought of that as well. So good job guys on that. Thank you. Thank you. You probably ruined every M r I text life with that, that movie. So, but on a serious note, I sit there and reflected on, you know, because you always get in that mode for just a moment or two. Some of us, some of us stay any longer.
Rocky Shaw: Poor me, owe me that. This is what I'm going through. But immediately as I went to thinking of that, I was like, how dare [00:14:00] I, even from a moment sit there and feel bad for myself because I'm 44 years old and there are kids that are going through this at four years, six years old, two years old.
Tenia Shaw: They're going through, you know, a, a major health issue.
Tenia Shaw: They're going, they'll be the same
Rocky Shaw: thing. They're going and, and they're probably, and a lot of them are never gonna leave that hospital. They went in. Two years old and they leave dead at four years old. Unfortunately that's, you know, some of these kids' lives, they don't ever get one. So even though I wanna be back in the ring, I did get a chance to be in my dream and, and actually get there.
Rocky Shaw: So, you know, I have stopped looking at that fact that I've got to do something that a lot of kids in a lot of lives never, ever get to experience. So, That being said, I just wanna remind all of you when we're, when we're looking at that, make sure you're looking at the right aspect. No matter what you're going through in life, [00:15:00] you know, whether it be the bills, the kids, your health, look at where you're at in this and then compare it to, there's always someone who has it worse.
Rocky Shaw: So you always wanna be careful about thinking about how deep your hole is. 'cause someone's always got a deeper hole.
Tenia Shaw: Well, I would say also be careful about comparing yourself to people who look like they're doing better than you. I think in today's society we see lots of things on social media, and not all social media is bad, but we see the best parts of people's lives.
Tenia Shaw: You know, we see the houses, the cars, the, the things that they, that you think are, that we perceive makes them better than us, but it really doesn't because everybody goes through struggles. No matter where they're at and you know where they're at financially, you may be seeing somebody who, you know, puts a nice house on, but is, you know, two missed payments away from it being foreclosed on.
Tenia Shaw: You don't know those types of [00:16:00] things. And so I think it's easy to look at somebody else's life and say, well, they have it easier. That's not always the case. And so because we don't know the struggles that are going on behind closed doors and you know, we are putting ourselves out there letting you know our struggles these are major, major health struggles that we're having and that also have.
Tenia Shaw: Major financial impacts. You know, these are medical bills that we have to pay, you know, moving forward after just coming through on the other side of some, you know, a major health issue. So I would just, you know, encourage people to not compare themselves to, to other people and to really look at yourself and what you can do to make life better for you.
Rocky Shaw: Yeah, we were looking at it when she said that I actually got emailed while we were actually at Piedmont. The cost of the test that I was receiving that day, 14,000, almost $15,000, guys. Mm-hmm. [00:17:00] For one day, two tests, two tests, $15,000. Now, I'm not rich by any means like any of you guys. I've, you know, I'm poor, you know, as, as it gets to be honest we struggle from paycheck to paycheck most times.
Rocky Shaw: Right now we've had better times. Yeah, and we, we've had, we've had worse times. Right now we're, you know, we're kind of at that slump where things aren't so great. So, so we understand kind of while we're talking to you now, to let you understand, you know, we know what it's like to be, I've never been, let's say, at the top of the mountain, but I've been in a much more comfortable position, but I lacked the responsibility and.
Rocky Shaw: The know how money wise, when, when I had that, that that high rise in money that I knew what to do with it and how to invest it and how to, you know, properly go about that. I've spent many a times in the last few years, you know, learning [00:18:00] to train myself as far as my health, my responsibilities, how to use my money and, and be wiser with my money.
Rocky Shaw: So, All those things come with age. You can't unfortunately, experience, you know, experience. Yes. I mean, you can't really, we all talk about you can't tell your kids nothing. You really can't. 'cause they all have to learn their own way. But especially
Tenia Shaw: when you got two stubborn kids like ours. Yes. They, they get it, honestly.
Rocky Shaw: And so when, when it comes to money, things like this, I will talk money, support and learning to develop yourself. There's a lot of great resources and people. Around Rome to look at talk, to follow. Keith Osmond, one of my buddies gave Keith a big shout. Mm-hmm. As far as we became friends on my health journey.
Rocky Shaw: I don't know. We'd say maybe five years ago. Yeah, probably. Yeah. And Keith has been [00:19:00] there consistently to. He's a great guy, but he is also not one to baby me. So once, not till till a couple weeks ago, you know, we were talking about what was going on in my heart and he said, well, I get that, but what can, let's talk about the things you can control.
Rocky Shaw: Mm-hmm. Is your diet back on point? Yeah. You know, are you sleeping right? You know, are, are you getting enough exercise? Are you walking? Are you doing what you can do mm-hmm. To help yourself? Dude that was spot on. And so I wanna thank him for that. If he's listening if, if not, again, follow this guy.
Rocky Shaw: You know, his advice he has got a business called Omni Health. I've appeared on one of his episodes and I plan on, me and him are going to do a little co-op episode here in the future. So. Now we get off on tangents. I guess that's what happens when, when you let a 12 gauge loose, right? So let's kind of pull it back in and reel back in.
Rocky Shaw: So what [00:20:00] happens now, again, I'm gonna let Tia explain if, if I'm a good candidate for surgery, what happens in the procedure.
Tenia Shaw: So the surgical procedure we are looking at and I honestly, I cannot remember, do you remember the name of it? It's septal
Rocky Shaw: Sepal. Septum
Tenia Shaw: Myectomy. Myectomy septal. Anyway, so we'll just forego the big technical term.
Tenia Shaw: So basically it's like open heart surgery only instead of fixing arteries or. Putting in stents or anything like that. 'cause he has perfectly clean arteries. It is just these valves and this muscle. They're gonna go in and basically trim back some of the muscle that is blocking these arteries and valves and causing them to not work properly.
Tenia Shaw: So it is a major, major operation. With some, it cracked
Rocky Shaw: me like a crab guy. It's right down the middle.
Tenia Shaw: With [00:21:00] some definite recovery time and I, you know, I don't know what that's gonna look like for him. You know, with when I had my transplant, it was eight weeks, 12 weeks of recovery. And then, you know, life was pretty much back to normal as far as, you know, most things.
Tenia Shaw: So I would imagine that we're probably looking at a very similar recovery time or even maybe even a little longer. I'm not sure. Okay.
Rocky Shaw: Yeah, I'm not sure either as much what she, as she explained that from my understanding is they, they take my heart and they shave the muscle away. Mm-hmm. And then thin it out, so like a little meat slicer.
Rocky Shaw: Like a little meat slicer. Yeah. That's, that's comforting to think about it inside your chest, right?
Tenia Shaw: Yeah. You can go to the deli counter at Walmart and just think about them. You know, just shaving that meat off.
Rocky Shaw: It's probably disturbing. Sorry. Okay. Yeah, she put too, too, too much effort. Way too much effort in that one for you
Tenia Shaw: guys.
Tenia Shaw: I'm a visual person, I can't
Rocky Shaw: help it. So if [00:22:00] any of you are in the insurance company business and you see her come see you individually. Can gimme a call just to make sure. But anyway, guys, so. As far as,
Tenia Shaw: so, you know, you're irreplaceable
Rocky Shaw: as far as tell me what this journey's been like for you for the last year.
Rocky Shaw: Kind of, let's tell them we went from but let's, let's go pretty hard and talk about the journey from me to the ring, to and you can't see them back here behind me, but I'm very proud of these My K l T promotions, the I guess you would call the feud of the year. Mm-hmm. In 2022. Rocky versus Big Dog and then also K l t's most popular performer in 2022.
Rocky Shaw: And I mean, invented superstars in a steel cage, dog collar match versus big dog. [00:23:00] So, From your point of view and the perspective, you know, what it means to me and me to get to see those crowds. Mm-hmm. The fans, the kids, but maybe most of them don't know what your, what's your view and the viewing that is?
Rocky Shaw: Well, I've,
Tenia Shaw: I mean, when Rocky came to me and was like, I have this opportunity and I want to wrestle Rocky and I have been together for 19. Almost 20. We're going on 20. And I knew he grew up, you know, watching wrestling, kind of idolizing these, these superstars. And, you know, I'd heard the stories from him and from his friends about the backyard wrestling antics.
Tenia Shaw: You know you know who they mimicked and imitated and. What moves they like to use. So I knew [00:24:00] that this was an integral part of who he is and an integral part of what his childhood was. And so when he came to me and he was like, I have this opportunity. I know I'm old, you know, I'm, I'm not in the problem of my life anymore.
Tenia Shaw: You know, I'm not a 20 year old, you know, seizing the day. I was definitely encouraging, like you have an opportunity. To follow a dream that you didn't have when you were 20 or when you were 22 or when you were younger. So definitely go for it. See how, see, see how far you can take it. I didn't think, I didn't know that he would take off and create the universe that he has created for himself.
Tenia Shaw: I, Rocky's always been charismatic and pe well liked by most people,
Tenia Shaw: and[00:25:00] I. So to see him like I, I remember your first match and to see you come out and the response that you got from the crowd was just, I mean, incredible. And it made me so very proud at that moment and happy to see that you were getting to achieve something that you had always dreamed about. And so, and then on the flip side of that, having knowing, yes, you're having to step out of the ring, And kind of put what you've achieved inside the ring on the back burner for now is also it, it's hard, it's hard to watch.
Tenia Shaw: You have to make those adjustments, but I think what we have created for yourself as far as being the 12 gauge and is just something that you can, you know, cap not. Gives you momentum and it gives you something to work for to return to. [00:26:00] And so it gives you kind of a focal point. I think sometimes when we have health issues, we lose sight of those things that drive us, and we, it's easy to see you know, I'm, I'm sick, I don't feel good.
Tenia Shaw: I can't breathe today. This humidity makes things worse. You know, just those different things. I. To really have something that you hold onto and that you hold dear to you. That is, well, I'm gonna get over this because this, this, and this. I know for my own experience with the kidney transplant dialysis, a terrible, very hard life to live when you are having to spend hours at a dialysis center and you.
Tenia Shaw: Are coming home completely wiped out. Those are hard days, and for me to have something my kids and Rocky to really hold onto was super, [00:27:00] super important. It was those things where you remind yourself on days that you feel like giving up because it doesn't matter how positive you are, you're always gonna have some day that you're like, I'm just so over this.
Tenia Shaw: To hold onto and be like, I can't. I can't. I can't, I can't. And so so those are those, being able to see him have something like that to hold onto a dream that he wants to pursue is, you know, even more important. You know, at this point in life and with, with what we are the, this mountain that we're facing at the moment,
Rocky Shaw: Yeah, and I have had so much encouragement as far as, again, you know, I've heard, I've had people tell me it is kind of, you have different people that are in your field and it kind of tells you which, which people you want backing you at times.
Rocky Shaw: Mm-hmm. I've had people being like, well, you know, you had, you gave it a good shot. And then I've had people, like my buddy I had a [00:28:00] conversation with yesterday, Jason, me and Jason been friends. A long time since we were, since, well into my twenties probably my mid twenties. And he just had recently moved.
Rocky Shaw: But when I told him my plans and he says, he says, well, rock, I'm with you. He says, if Edge can come back mm-hmm. From breaking his damn neck, then you can come back from your heart. So I, I, I love that kind of motivation, you know, as far as someone that'll tell me and, and put in alignment with me exactly what I'm, I'm planning on doing, because nothing's impossible.
Rocky Shaw: The only people who say something's impossible just means they've never tried hard enough or haven't done it yet. And so maybe nobody with H C M has done it yet. Maybe there has. There's a lot of people in those wrestling locker rooms [00:29:00] that have conditions that they've never told anyone about, and so we're, we're kind of going out and probably setting some precedence here and talking to you guys about things that again, maybe, maybe they didn't talk about.
Rocky Shaw: Maybe it can save some lives if they were willing to talk about it, but. You talk about it, you have to look at the, because when you talk about it and become and say it's real, you have to deal with the responsibility of coming out of the ring and things like that, because I owe that to my fans and the kids.
Rocky Shaw: What if something were to happen to me and I did have a cardiac event in front of some children, you know? What does that leave, what kind of impression does that leave on them For wrestling? Mm-hmm. That could be a scary thing to watch a man die right there in front of you. So I, [00:30:00] I don't wanna leave that as a legacy.
Rocky Shaw: So my plan is once I'm in a good condition and I know how my body's reacting things, and I've recovered from a surgery, if all those things are in alignment, And then I'm assured then, then I'll step back and I'll tear a line to that heavyweight championship like no one's ever seen before. But if that doesn't happen, we're still gonna work on this podcast.
Rocky Shaw: Mm-hmm. I'm still going to be with you. We, there's ways I can support, and right now we have with the interviews Nick Diaz, Erica Deia. These big Andy Toner. My Good brother, zero. There's so much great talent to, and I'm not leaving out any names. Nate Wild there, there's so many people that that I could talk about mm-hmm.
Rocky Shaw: That have so [00:31:00] much great talent. I'll at Deep South very soon and for a media event and I'll get to talk to narcissism. Scrilla the great and dude, if don't, don't sleep on Skrilla, one of the most decorated champions in this side. And we both adore him, a great individual. So, and another person to not, to forget those, Brandon Zero and I, I'm gonna shoot and say Tavar Illa has been.
Rocky Shaw: Close brothers to me ever since I started. And so always encouraging, always backing me up. Me and big Andy have met here lately and he's, he's been another one of those pillars that's come in there and been a great support system to me. And I appreciate that. You know, the gun club, you know who guy you are and Dalton and et cetera.
Rocky Shaw: You know, my, my adopted son, Chris McCoy and and all the Mcy family. [00:32:00] So we appreciate you guys so much. You, you don't even realize you know, I'm gonna get choked up a little bit there. But guys, my, my ultimate plan though is my passion, and I love all you fans, but there's nothing better than the seeing a young kids.
Rocky Shaw: Eyes or his arms stretch out to me. Mm-hmm. The knuckle bumps, the smiles to see their experience and that uplifting in their face and character. So for those parents of you that are supporting your kids and bringing those to the events and the, for those, look, you know, I, I talked about this, but, but there's no, whether it be me being your, being the rest of your support or another one.
Rocky Shaw: You buying these merchandise, the 12 gauge t-shirts, the 12 gauge hat or anyway, if you support us on the podcast, if you join the Patreon, you are helping so much because [00:33:00] we do this and there there's not a, we're not like superstars in wwe. There is no contract K l t deep south primetime. Nobody pays us a weekly check.
Rocky Shaw: We only get paid when we perform in the ring. When we're not in the ring, there's not a paycheck coming. It's based on if you're subordinate us with the merchandise. Mm-hmm. That's how we get by. That's how we produce this podcast. The podcast ain't free. I, I can't tell you how much you probably notice the new screen and how, how well it looks.
Rocky Shaw: I hopefully the sound runs great. There's a lot of money that goes into this. There's a lot about time and putting together and learning how to operate each individual aspect of this. Edit the podcast so you know, you don't hear me stutter and go and stam around for 30 minutes. So I'm not, I'm not a professional speaker.
Rocky Shaw: I am a wrestler who can [00:34:00] talk a little bit. And so I hope you enjoy that and appreciate that.
Tenia Shaw: He is a perfectionist.
Rocky Shaw: I, I, I am a perfectionist. I want the best product to hand to you guys. Yes. Whether that be the podcast, the video quality, my t-shirts. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I spend some of, you know, if you wore my T-shirts, I spend extra money to get you the soft cough.
Rocky Shaw: I don't pass that charge on to you guys. I charge just as much as the other guy does for a shirt, but I pay more for the t-shirts because if it's something that I don't, I won't wear because it's not comfortable to me. I wouldn't expect you to wear it. So, and we want you to wear it. Yeah, we want you to wear it.
Rocky Shaw: We want you to wear it proud. And because without you guys that are listening right now that support my page, there. Is no 12 gauge. There never would've been a 12 gauge. I mean, my personality could have only got [00:35:00] it so far. Mm-hmm. There is over 7,000 people on my Facebook at this point now that are supporting me with a reach of 65,000.
Rocky Shaw: I was looking at my YouTube and even though my YouTube's only like 129 subscribers and still growing pretty fast at this point around 14,000 views A hundred either, I wanna say a hundred thousand hours or 10,000 hours. I can't remember which one of that's a big difference, but I can't remember the exact vomit.
Rocky Shaw: In video views. In hours of video views. So, I mean, for someone who grew up in, came from Shannon, Georgia and to a, to a broken home, and some of you heard that story to. Being able to be in the ring in front of, I mean, guess I did, there's a mom more than one occasion in front of a thousand people.
Rocky Shaw: Mm-hmm. Per show. I [00:36:00] got to do that at the, I guess our first show would've that I, that I had about a thousand people would've been the The fairgrounds. The Kusa Valley Fairgrounds. Kusa Valley Fairgrounds. Last year. Yeah, last year. And I had so many of my colleagues and friends, so we walked in and we heard your music, we saw you come out and, and guys, you were incredible when I came out.
Rocky Shaw: Like just tore down the roof, you know, with the chairs and the ovations. And then, then to go on to Superstars Band Fest, where again, we repeated. Over a thousand people and me coming out to my first ever cage match with, and they had to wrap a dog collar on this thick neck. And, and that's the story in itself that we're gonna have to talk about one day is trying to get, and even I warned them, is you better make sure the dog collar's big enough because.
Rocky Shaw: I've, I've got a 19 and a half inch round neck, so [00:37:00] I have a hard time finding t-shirt finding shirts that will go around this neck and especially if I gotta put a tie on it.
Rocky Shaw: So I guess we're, we're kind of getting close to wrapping up at the 40 minute marker here. You wanna kind of talk to us a little bit more and. Talk to you a little bit
Tenia Shaw: more. Yeah. Well, is there anything else left to say?
Rocky Shaw: What's the future look like?
Tenia Shaw: Our future's bright. I think the future's bright. I think it is kind of what you make it and I think that we are.
Tenia Shaw: We'll get over this. We, we move, we get through everything together and with surrounding ourselves with those people that are aligned with our goals. And our goal right now is you know, to, to move [00:38:00] through this health issue that you have and to kind of get onto the other side of this, of this mountain and Get you back to the ring.
Tenia Shaw: I mean, I think that is, as far as you know, this area of life, our ultimate goal is to get you healthy and back in the ring where you're, where you're supposed to be, where you belong. And I think we have a good support system in place with all those people he talked about earlier that. Help lift us up and push us forward.
Tenia Shaw: And on days that we don't feel like putting a step in front of the other, we, you know, you've got somebody behind us. Even if it's, you know friends or family or even know, even other competitors. Push you forward because they bring out that competitive spirit that you have where you're like, Ooh, that's somebody I'd like to, I'd like to meet in the ring one day.
Tenia Shaw: And that you see and you're like, Ooh, I'd like to [00:39:00] learn how to do that. And those are things that push you forward just with your innate nature of being, of pushing your own self. So, yeah, I, I see on the other side of this that you will be back and better than ever. And so, you know, keep fans out there, keep supporting us letting us know that that's what you want.
Tenia Shaw: You wanna see 'em back in the ring better than ever. And you know, your support also pushes us forward. And that's, you know, he wouldn't be the 12 gauge if there wasn't fans that. Made him the 12 gauge. And so that, that's my view for the future.
Rocky Shaw: Yeah. So, absolutely. So when it comes to the future, let me say a few things.
Rocky Shaw: So as she said, there's a lot of people that I still wanna step in the ring with. Sella, you're still on my list. Zero buddy. It's, I love you to [00:40:00] death, but there's gotta come a time where it's me and you and we gotta see. Who walks out on top. And then lastly, there's, there's some friends that I, that I wanted, some, some of the guys that I mentored and trained with that we need to have another match.
Rocky Shaw: Again, you know who you are and we will get to that Lamar Phillips and Chris Kamikaze. It might be a long time coming. I got an ass whooping waiting on you boys. So just know that. So that closing out, I want to tell you again, find my Patreon and we will, we will have the, excuse me, tongue tied completely.
Rocky Shaw: We will put them inside the group chat. We will put them in the links that you wanna know how to follow us on YouTube, our Patreon I'm on. Again, Facebook, [00:41:00] YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, you name it. We're pretty much there. You can also find us and please subscribe to us on the Apple Podcast or Spotify, whichever you prefer to listen to and give us those follows on.
Rocky Shaw: Definitely subscribe on YouTube. Mm-hmm. Each one of those things, I know they seem small to you guys, but they mean mountains to us as far as support. It gives them a tracking number. It gives us a way to know who we're reaching out to, who our audience is, and so that I can provide the content that you want.
Rocky Shaw: So I thank you very much. And again, we will say for me and Tania beware the 12 gauge.