Wrestling legend Diamond Dallas Page talks owning your life outside the squared circle

The WWE Hall of Famer talked with Nestor and Luke ahead of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

ddp yoga, wrestling, yoga, ddp, night, talk, helping, career, friends, workouts, business, wcw, muscles, create, rehab, wwe, hear, jake, body,

SPEAKERS

Diamond Dallas Page, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome back, WNS G Towson Baltimore and wn S. t.net. I promised Luke Jones the greatest mystery guest in the history of radio row Superbowl 53. You walk through here an hour ago and you effed it all up. He looked up, he saw you and he’s like, Well, there goes your surprise. So an hour ago, and I’m sitting here eating the grease, use wings, gym and Nick’s barbecue, and I’m the guy who does the hot yoga. I’m the 50 year old old fart, that is an act. But this guy is the wrestling. He’s going to drop here and DDP yoga holes loop down some loop.

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Luke Jones  00:43

Yeah. It’s first of all, he said wrestling or something. Or he said special guests, thinking Atlanta WCW. And I’m thinking, Okay, this has to be at WCW guy. And he said special to me. And he knows I do DDP yoga as well. That’s awesome. You were on the list of about two or three guys. I was thinking who else who else was out there was the that’s a big one. I was just thinking kind of that. You know, I grew up with watching WC WWF. And just really cool to meet you. And really cool to have you here.

Diamond Dallas Page  01:17

It’s your pleasure.

Nestor Aparicio  01:21

The Yoga part of this. That’s going back to loving you.

Diamond Dallas Page  01:25

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What is this second?

Nestor Aparicio  01:26

d d p y.

Diamond Dallas Page  01:28

So what does that say four

Nestor Aparicio  01:30

times how it’s made you feel good? Yes.

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Diamond Dallas Page  01:32

DDP yoga. The reason why you see DDP why and a move to brand it, it will always be DDP yoga, but the move the brand it to DDP. Why, why is because I want people to stop calling it just yoga, because it’s not. And you testify that when you’re hooking it up, shoulders back chest. I mean, you don’t hear that. When you’re doing a younger class. You know, you hear inhale, exhale, find your innermost self. That can push things a whole different,

Nestor Aparicio  02:06

but this is where we got to start with this guy here. And I’m gonna roll them onto the bus right now. If he didn’t know you were here, he’d be eating some greasy ass wings right now. That’s why he but he knew you were coming over and he watched me food and I’m all greased up. And then he’s acting like he’s the fifth one here. To

Diamond Dallas Page  02:27

understand something, I still eat chicken wings. I just don’t eat the really greasy ones that really aren’t that good for you. On my app, I DDP yoga now app, besides 180 workouts that start from laying in bed, like, can’t get out of bed, I got three workouts help you get out of bed, and then sit in a chair, you know, and then work out in the chair, and then get up and then use the chair for balance to help you strengthen your body. You see DDP Why isn’t just stretching and stretching and strengthening muscles, ligaments and tendons. But that’s just an workout section goes all the way to psycho extreme. I got cooking shows, I cook wings on those shows, and what are the best wings you’ve ever eaten? Because I don’t care how healthy something is. If it doesn’t taste really great. I ain’t eating right. So there’s a way around all of that. And now when you’re someplace like this, I’m bringing my food by throwing Alexei burgers out some killer killer that’s tuna fish fuel every never. And it’s some chips and we chips are just there to healthier choice. And today, if people don’t get what with this whole insurance thing now this health insurance, like if you pay a little bit more for your food now is going to save you 1000s 10s of 1000s of dollars.

Nestor Aparicio  03:54

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Later on when I said leukemia twice we buy only organic berries you get you get that I totally understand. I could sit here and talk root of yoga and your background and all that. I want to let Luke Have at you because I’ll call you call in six months and you and I can talk more about yoga. But this is a thrill for him. He from the wrestling side of the I came in the room last night I was out to dinner come in. He’s watching wrestling. Watch royal rumble

Luke Jones  04:19

on WWE Network Sunday night. But let’s let’s start with DDP yoga and work backwards. I think

Diamond Dallas Page  04:25

if you if you talk about WWE, you got to talk about DDP. Why because Drew McIntyre, exactly, that there’s a YouTube about work ethic on some guy. He drove seven and a half hours to come to work with me coming up one of his injuries, like my program is injury prevention, as well as healing and injury prevention for someone like Drew McIntyre, who drove seven and a half hours to work out with me and hang with me for four hours in Job seven and a half hours back. You know, I go down to the power the W web performance Lehrman Center Tomasa Are you no Aleister black? Lacey Evans Shana, Shana, Easler, Bazer. Like all these kids are doing it. Because today, how wrestling is changing, you’ll say absolutely. These kids are bumping like so much more absurd. It’s like sick take so many falls. You can’t fake gravity, like fools are as real as they can be, and the impact that they’re putting on their body if they didn’t have my program, because in WWE, they got the best wellness policy of anyone MLB NFL I don’t care who it is. WWE really tests are guys. So

Nestor Aparicio  05:39

when you start getting hurt, you’re you know, you can’t work right you can’t work with Vince can make money. That’s what

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Diamond Dallas Page  05:46

same thing. The NFL, how many guys go out in the NFL. On Sunday, we’re gonna see I’m not gonna win. Hopefully, nobody. But there’s a good chance we’ll see at least three players sure or more go out. Like, who really wins the championship at the end? The team that’s the strongest here, but also here, who’s the bee? Who’s?

Nestor Aparicio  06:08

That’s that guy right there. Right? TB 12? Have? He talks about nothing but pliability? You know, and you talk about bumps and getting back up. And stretching. I’m 50 years old, Brian Baldinger was the one that got me into hot yoga and then pick them and that’s not what you were doing. But 20 years ago, I got into it. I couldn’t touch my arms. I guess I’m 30 years old. I’m 50 now, and I’m like, I can’t touch that. To your point. Even if you’re lying in bed. You can do yoga, you can start a brand for playability, flexibility, all the things that you talk about that you’ve built, that maybe you didn’t know about when you were 20 year old kid, no idea. I had no idea it was beer drinking and go on the road and do what everybody else is showing you what to do. Right?

Diamond Dallas Page  06:50

I didn’t even start wrestling. I was 35. So you know, mine was a little bit different. And you know, I’m just trying to teach these young kids who are doing that, starting at 2224 26 years old, like, you still feel indestructible. No pain, no gain, still works until about 30. After 30 You need to start changing the way you train. Absolutely. After 4050 A whole different world. Yeah, so I train everybody. It’s not like I’m working with Brooks. I was on Joe Rogan show. Okay, and Brooks Reed from the Falcons. He saw me on there and he got a hold of the strike coach Sean down at WWE Performance Center. He gave me a call. He said Brooks wants to get what he wants to see what you’re doing. You know, he’s 30 Right now, man, what did he get done five years and a week. I mean, that’s a lot of money, you’ll never make that you’re never make the money you’re making right now in the NFL, if you’re a player, and if I can help hold you there for another year to three. Who knows, you know, what I’m really looking for, is I’m looking for that player that might rent for six 800,000 yards, early in his career, but now he’s running for, you know, Buck 5200 for the year because he’s injured, barely hanging on and maybe got a year left on his contract, like you give me that guy with just a third. Now, half of my work ethic, I will help him improve his game at different level. And who knows, maybe he starts doing what I do hold back to him to time. And it’s not that hard. It’s just a commitment to add something else to your toolbox.

Luke Jones  08:32

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I think the legacy that you’ve created and are continuing to create with DDP yoga. I mean, you’re talking about WWE stars of today and tomorrow, wanting to be involved in it. But the work that you’ve done with peers of yours, Scott Hall, Jake, the Snake Roberts, who I know is a mentor of yours, and to just see what you’ve done for them, and anyone who’s loved the professional wrestling business, we know the stories of guys who we lost way too young, and what you’ve been able to do to be a resource to be an outlet to, to help out individuals to hold back the hands of time as you as you preach. It’s a lifestyle. It’s not just getting on the mat. It’s really understanding what you need to do to to prevent those from going down that dark or if you have to go back. I think anyone that cares about the business just has such an appreciation for what you’ve been able to do.

Diamond Dallas Page  09:26

It’s been an amazing journey. I’m super blessed to have had this impact. But again, it was really just trying to heal me. You know, and then from there, I just

Nestor Aparicio  09:36

shared with you, right? When you’re broken or if you feel like,

Diamond Dallas Page  09:41

well, I was broken, but just give you the cliff notes because you don’t know my career. He does. I grew up I got in the business of 35 and a half. That’s when I started wrestling. My career did not take off until I was 40 and a half, like on the second half of 1996. My career started to move by 90 97 on top guys in the world 9798 I probably headline 13 main event, pay per views like really crazy work schedule, bumping in that ring to earn 70 Nights Tom Brady’s age at Tom Brady’s age. Exactly. And bottom line is, is what came out of it is I am rupturing my L four and l five. So I just signed a multimillion dollar contract. And now they’re telling me my work, right? They’re about done. Now, you talk about emotional gravity, like pulling yourself down because your career is over. Well, that’s what they say. And I’ve been to having people my whole life. Tell me what I can’t do. And I prove them wrong. You know, because I just have a different work ethic. I started doing yoga, the guy who wouldn’t be caught dead doing yoga, started doing yoga. It was

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Nestor Aparicio  10:57

it was the first time you heard of yoga, where you said I’m going to do it

Diamond Dallas Page  11:01

or wanting because I was married, I was married and she was doing it. And she was trying to get me to do it. I’m like, I’m, I ain’t effing doing yoga. Not doing it. Because that was my mindset. I was ignorant. Once you finally got me down there, when you’re telling you you’re a loser, multimillion dollar deal. And you’re just got paid kind of will change your, you know, your playability.

Nestor Aparicio  11:24

And the first time you walked in, was it No, no, I

Diamond Dallas Page  11:28

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walked in to a VCR tape. And I saw a couple of night No, I’m not doing that. But then she came across a guy named Brian cast, who is like the whole Cogan of power you’ll spell that Brian with a why cast KST. Okay, great human being great guy. Gaga is a great guy.

Nestor Aparicio  11:53

Stand on TTPs court,

Diamond Dallas Page  11:55

you know, when the bottom line is, is that I started doing his power tapes. And it was frustrating in the beginning, because there was no modifications back then. So I did figure them out. And it was really helping me though, and I could really three weeks feel significant difference. Now, here’s where it changes. I’m still doing rehab. I’ve rehab both shoulder surgeries, both knee surgeries. So I know a lot about rehab. But there’s something that I’ve been gifted from God, I really understand that a break up scar tissue, which helps create flexibility and alleviates pain and hurts like hell when you’re doing exactly but that’s that’s the secret of getting through that breaking up the scar tissue that you create, by lack of doing anything. So I add the rehab one night with the yoga positions, like for DDP why, you know, you’ll never hear me call it a pose or a posture. I’m an athlete, I know how to get into position I play position. That’s what I relate to it’s position position. So I took those positions makes it a rehab, thanks to an old school calisthenics, push ups, squats crunches, but I had to do them with a slow burn movement. Now what I figured out by accident was when you start doing a push up, where you’re lowering three to one, and then you hold for three, and then you come up three to one or five seconds or 10 seconds, you have to incorporate more muscles. If you’re doing curls, and you just grab five pound dumbbells, you’re gonna do this 55 pound dumbbells or 45. Now, you’re not just engaging your bicep, you’re engaging your hand, your form, your shoulders, your traps, your core, your feet, your quads, your glutes. Every time you flexor engage a muscle. Your heart has to be faster and get the blood to the muscle. So here’s yoga. Fold forward, gaze up, go to plank lower down me, I’ve got you flexing your quads, flexing your glutes, grabbing the ball, look at my hands like this. And like this. When you do this, and you open your fingers, push your thumb away from your index finger. All these muscles engaged like a fire hydrant. Exactly. So now, time under tension, creating your own resistance as you’re moving. Exhale, bringing it down, creating that resistance. So flexing all of this. I’m talking about seated workouts in a chair. Put your thumb and index fingers together. Inhale taking it back out to a deal. Get it up. Attention.

Nestor Aparicio  14:40

kick my ass this week in Atlanta. Come on. Let’s do a class DDP.

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Diamond Dallas Page  14:45

I’m actually going to do one. Demonstrations for the NFL to

Nestor Aparicio  14:49

get you worked on around here. We’re doing DDP. Come on here, man. Let’s go to DDP yoga right now.

Diamond Dallas Page  14:56

Be ye baby. And the remain reason I’m bringing In a DDP wise because I’m trying to get people to call it not just yoga, right, because it’s not any Yogi does it is like, wow, I never received the same thing. Exactly. So I’m just trying to brand my own thing the way I know it is because again, I didn’t develop this for people who do yoga, they got other yoga, I developed for all those people who wouldn’t be caught dead doing,

Nestor Aparicio  15:23

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you won’t go to Hot class with me.

Diamond Dallas Page  15:26

Tell you what I went to one. I felt like he was a Nazi instructor, the one I had because we’re all different. It’s all come to truck shoulder. I felt like he was not the instructor. He was super crazy strict and it was like, it reminded me more of lifting weights and wearing Come on, you’re not far more

Nestor Aparicio  15:45

peaceful man, we we throw some throwback jams and just roll for about an hour. I do like it a little hotter. You know, when I do my yoga, especially in a cold winter day, I don’t want to walk in the studio at 70.

Diamond Dallas Page  15:57

I don’t either I need 90,

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Nestor Aparicio  15:58

I don’t need a buck 10. But I want 90 I

Diamond Dallas Page  16:01

want some I like at 85 I want

Nestor Aparicio  16:02

to walk in and feel the room warm. I want to feel that warmth in my body. And I want to start to get a little sweat going before I get moving. And I find that my muscles open up more I get a better workout, I get a deeper burn. I’m certainly a little more sore. You know, after the hotter it gets the deeper I’ll go into a stretch, especially, you know, the hard places, the hips, the places that don’t want to open up that the last place.

Diamond Dallas Page  16:25

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Sure. And you know, bottom line is it’s repetition after that just continue doing anything. It’s like anything.

Luke Jones  16:32

Come on, man, I want to go back and talk a little wrestling with you. And I mentioned some of the guys at the Performance Center. So many of the names you mentioned in NXT right now. I mean, are you amazed by where the wrestling businesses has, how its transformed now what they’re doing physically compared to what you guys did in the late 90s, early 2000s. In the 70s and 80s.

Diamond Dallas Page  16:53

I’m amazed that they’re able to take the punishment that they are, you know, because again, you can’t fake gravity. And these guys, I’m glad I wrestled when I did, I’d be on my body. I’m still at Ferrari at Yo, too much of 63 but, you know, I’ve got 998,000 miles on me. I can’t imagine where the kids today are going to be when they’re my age.

Luke Jones  17:19

They wonder how long their careers are gonna be you know, it’s

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Nestor Aparicio  17:21

a living on the edge the hard life The Wrestler life. In the modern era, these kids know how much is at stake that they’re taking this way more seriously. They may be 30 years ago. Oh, my health sample? Yes, absolutely. They appreciate all of it.

Diamond Dallas Page  17:35

They still cocktail but nothing like we did nothing like we did when we drank every night you know and and that will wear your body down. Mickey Mantle drank every night. Probably imagine what the MC would have hit. If he wasn’t drunk every night or Babe Ruth, sir, he was another one. But boozing back then wasn’t a big deal. You know, for us, it was booze and pills, too. I didn’t do him. Because I saw what they did. And I was fortunate enough to be around Jake Roberts. Back one night, one night we were out and I was yo is bad carrier back when I was one of his protegees. But I watched him queue up. Pillar, I went Jake, used to a Percocet. He’s like, Yeah, why would you do that? They taste horrible. He said, Well, I wanted to get right into my system. I go, How many is that? And he said, I don’t know. 910? I did. Jake probably took as many as 30 Some nights, you know. And that’s the thing, you know that once you start taking them and I asked why. So why do you? Why are you taking so many? Because will they lose their potency after a while, so forth? And short. Right? So then you got to take more and for me, I needed those things to work. And I was 3536. I’m just starting my career. So I never made them recreational drugs. And I wasn’t going to do that. Today. These kids can’t do that to WWE. They can’t if something comes up on their sheet that strike one. Oh, they got a doctor or not sure. They got to know the doctor. They gotta know what the deal is. What the injury is. They’re super strict, super strict. And they know which is great for DDP. Why? Because it has become a pain reliever it has become a preventative maintenance, so they don’t get injured. If they are injured. It helps heal them. Yogi’s like guys who started out they’ll be doing great and then they’ll stop and then they get injured and they’ll go which one should I do for my hips? I go you stopped doing it then you know I’m not doing as much as I should I go your career bro. Not mine your paycheck. Yeah, man. Like think think, you know AJ Styles the guy took one time on. Soon you heard his back coming out of Japan. For with WWE. He’s a five day a week dude. It’s why AJ at 41 is keen to win. And the best example ever is Chris Jericho. Because at 41 He blew his back out just like I did. I sent him that tape you ever seen a disabled veteran? I helped. I have not. Oh my god, I just got to show you the picture on his and I got to Brian has given me to wrap it up. Get a wrap it up. But this guy right here. Okay, this is Arthur Borman. Okay, this is day one. That’s 10 months later, wow, forget the weight loss.

Nestor Aparicio  20:30

This is the healthier human being this to that different human being

Diamond Dallas Page  20:33

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from that to that, from that to that, from that to that that’s a one year anniversary is five, bigger piece five, six, took a picture of his six foot two son. This is what dDpi is. Look at that standing on his back. Bike. That’s what my program is.

Nestor Aparicio  20:55

We gotta get you out of wing going on to you missed up web.

Luke Jones  20:59

WWE Hall. I know. I know. 17 right.

Diamond Dallas Page  21:03

Yep. I just wrote a new book called positively unstoppable the art of owning it. And I talk about work ethic and I talk about rebooting your brain. It’s on Amazon right now. If you get it, please put up a review. But on the inside of this ring. It says work ethic equals dreams. explanation point DDP.

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Nestor Aparicio  21:23

I will talk about your book next time have you on okay. Now check back in V and DDP yoga and a throat for Luke our mystery guest has been solved here on radio row. We’re in Atlanta, all things Super Bowl 53. It’s all brought to you by friends and like for Joe Sports Medicine Institute, when you break down like me because I’m not doing DDP yoga. Because your friends, I had to stand stays yakka that maybe I should bring that out for him on the on the heart punch put up all of our WASD coverage brought to you by our friends at like Michelle Sports Medicine Institute, as well as pizza John’s, I’m mixing this side of the pizza John’s cup, back river neck Road, find a pizza jobs.com Make sure you get a cheesesteak and a ravioli as well. I am Nestor nasty at wn St. dotnet finds me Luke is here. You want to let you know what we should we should do an addendum to this before I roll out the break. So you get a picture with him. Well, I know man. I mean, why would you not get a picture with him?

Luke Jones  22:21

And I said this in the middle of our conversation, anyone who’s cared about pro wrestling, and you and I talked about this off air a couple of nights ago when I was watching some wrestling and we were talking about some of the names who left this world way too soon. And so much of its self inflicted, but so much of it also, they put their bodies through hell to entertain guys like me and you like football players playing late Northtown. Four, do you remember your body or no question, but what he’s been able to do with DDP yoga, anyone who’s followed the business knows that, you know, Jake, the Snake Roberts, where he was for a long time, and how Dallas has helped him out with DDP yoga and he took him in they lived, they lived together for a time, and just helping him

Nestor Aparicio  23:04

out. He told the whole story, the last ride, right, Scott

Luke Jones  23:06

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Hall, another one. And you just think about some of these individuals who are wrestling fans have loved I mean, they brought so much joy to our lives as entertainers and what he’s been able to do with DDP yoga and, you know, just his positivity, you know, live nutrition, all those different things. I was so happy to see him

Nestor Aparicio  23:27

think how much energy’s gone now that he’s adding. Absolutely. But But for him, and I have a lot and he had

Luke Jones  23:33

a brief run in WWF, after Vince McMahon bought WCW. As a performer he didn’t have he wasn’t prioritized in the way he was in WCW. But for him to be in the WWE Hall of Fame, both of what he did in WCW. I mean, he was a world champion in WCW. He was one of the great protagonists against the New World Order in the late 90s. But for him to have that honor for that, and to have his career, which didn’t need validation.

Nestor Aparicio  24:00

The ring he was he was Miss anorak of seeing the ring. And I’m like, we gotta talk about

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Luke Jones  24:03

what he’s done as a performer and as a pro wrestler, and what he’s done as an ambassador, helping so many of his peers and now helping the likes. And I mean, he mentioned Drew McIntyre and Shana basil are and Tommaso Champa. Some, some of the ones I’ve never right. But these are stars of today, and more. So tomorrow. I mean, these are some of the big names you’re going to hear about over the next few years. If you’re not familiar, as familiar with NXT. He’s just, he’s an absolute. He’s a treasure to the pro wrestling business. And he’s branching out NFL alumni and,

Nestor Aparicio  24:35

I mean, it’s robbing school wrestlers.

Luke Jones  24:36

It’s very cool and, you know, doing his workouts and look, I’m not paid to

Nestor Aparicio  24:41

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not a pitch yoga,

Luke Jones  24:44

just the positivity that, you know, with his workout videos and all of that. It’s fun, and

Nestor Aparicio  24:49

it was having Paul Rogers from which was the time I got starstruck, yeah, so

Luke Jones  24:55

very cool. And you delivered on your surprise there it is, man

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Nestor Aparicio  24:59

mystery. us for a loop. And we’re only we’re only couple days in here

Luke Jones  25:03

you can go home now right? It’s not gonna get better than that for me anyway, the morning

Nestor Aparicio  25:07

newspaper delivered to your email inbox each every morning at 7am It’s all brought to you by Planet Fitness and planet fitness.com Where it’s still 10 bucks a month fine I was down to get in the best shape of your life guaranteed. Also the Maryland Jockey Club in our friends at Laurel get on down Laurel Park check out the new sports bar they built there last but never least when the Ravens trade Joe Flacco that’s weird to say that isn’t it Lou? When the Ravens train Joe frayed and or release I mean it’s you’ll get it first in the WASD tech service all brought to you by our friends at Koontz Ford obscurity Boulevard. Dennis will be here on Thursday from three to five driving you home getting you ready for Super Bowl 53 Well radio row with the Georgia World Congress all of our coverage brought to you by our friends at strategic factory creating your masterpiece learn more about all they do like hats like this shirts like this cups like this, it strategic factory and strategic factory.com Putting the strategy behind your marketing plan and branding also LifeBridge Health’s Sports Medicine Institute we’ve talked so much about Dr. Craig Bennett as well as Dr. Kevin Crutchfield. They will join us next week I’m talking concussion and we talked with DDP about body’s breaking down and orthopedics and all those things that go on Lightbridge health Sports Medicine Institute, they are your new game plan for all Sports, medicine and sports related health needs, including my wife who wants to run a half marathon. I think she’s crazy. They said like DDP. You can do it. Don’t tell me what

Luke Jones  26:30

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to own it turn back the hands of time.

Nestor Aparicio  26:33

Next position. There you go. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke we are wn St. dotnet. I am 1570 and wn st Towson Baltimore and we never stop talking. Baltimore sports