Big E: The New Day, Career Ending Injury, Becoming WWE Champion, BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT
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What inspired Big E to finally write his memoir 'How I Got Over'?
Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Vliet!
It is so good to see you. It's good to be here, man. I appreciate you. We've been talking about doing this for a long time, and you kept saying, we'll do it at some point, man. We'll do it when I have something to talk about. Well, you definitely have something to talk about now.
Yeah, yeah. I was kicking the can on this for a while, so I appreciate your patience. But yeah, man, I wanted to hop on. I knew I had a book in the works that I'm never one to like to... Talk about, oh, I got this thing coming, got this thing coming. You know, when the time's right, I'll let you know. And the time is now. So I'm very excited to talk about it. It's interesting. I was talking to my partner about it's interesting naming something because you have this loose idea. But once you put a name on it and now like your publisher is putting it out. But anyways, the book is How I Got Over. And yeah. Its pre-sales are now live, so I'm excited to sit down and talk about it. And for me, man, the idea of sitting down to write a memoir about my life and my career, for me, was not something that really excited me.
But really, a lot of this was, I had my creative partner, Johnny Davenport, who I think the world of, who's designed our gear with The New Day. He designs gear for a ton of talent and has for a long time. He first kind of put that spark in me for writing a book. several years ago, but at the time, I was like, I don't want to sit down and write about my life. That felt too self-aggrandizing. But then I had that Players Tribune article sour, and man, the reception for that, seeing how many people were talking about it or texting me about it, even the people at Players Tribune told me, that internally they hadn't had an article that was kind of this buzzy. And there's so many big names that write on that platform.
And actually I was also, my article was included in a book on the best sports writing pieces of 2025, and the only Players Tribune article ever to be placed in that prestigious book series. So I think all of that feedback and seeing how people connected, not with, hey, here's a guy who got to play football and wrestled. That wasn't what I was getting the feedback on. It was about my mental health journey. And for me, man, how I got over is just so important because I think there's so many people who are quietly struggling with their mental health. You look at me, and I'm this, throughout my career as a wrestler, especially in the new day. I'm this bright, colorful, obnoxious, goofy character. But oftentimes I would go home and I was still struggling with my mental health and if I even wanted to be here.
And the worst of my mental illness, which I really dive into, was in college. Ages 19 to 23 were the worst years of my life. And I'm so thankful because I never could have envisioned All the things that I got to do when I was 22 years old and didn't want to be alive, I could never fathom getting to be with WWE and travel the world, eventually finding love, being in TV shows and commercials and movies. But it's not even really about all the trappings or about the money or the accolades. For me, I never fathomed getting to a place where I was truly at peace, where I was content with myself. So I just really wanted to write a story of hope. for other people who are struggling. So yeah, man, I'm really excited to sit down and talk to you because I think it's just, mental health is so vitally important, especially now.
Man, you are so open with your experiences in this book. You are, it's raw what you speak about. Were there certain topics that were difficult for you to write about?
I think they would have been difficult if I started writing the book a few years ago, but not really. I've really been excited about this idea of Sterling K. Brown talks about being naked with your clothes on. That idea of being so transparent and open and honest and honest with yourself as well. So for me, the last few years, that has been the thing that's excited me is I want to make
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What inspired Big E to finally write his memoir 'How I Got Over'?
0:00–5:11
2
How did therapy, medication and meditation help Big E overcome college depression and injuries?
5:11–1:01:19
3
How did Big E develop The New Day’s goofy persona and stand-out backstage bits?
1:01:19–1:04:41
4
Why did Big E grease up for the Royal Rumble and what became of that meme?
1:04:41–1:08:59
5
What led to The New Day’s heel turn and how was the breakup executed on TV?
1:08:59–1:24:31
6
How does Big E reflect on his career, mental health journey, and purpose behind his book 'How I Got Over'?
1:24:31–2:06:48
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Insight with Chris Van Vliet
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