Rob Gronkowski talks about what it's like to be friends with Mojo Rawley

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Cageside Seats was lucky enough to catch up with Rob Gronkowski on the set of his forthcoming Nickelodeon show, Crashletes. The half-hour show, executive produced by Rob Dyrdek, follows the Ridiculousness model of riffing on sports-themed viral videos. Gronkowski is one of the three hosts of the show, along with comedians Stevie Nelson and Brandon Broady.

We knew we needed to get the inside scoop on Gronkowski's close friend and shipmate, NXT star Mojo Rawley, so we went straight to the source.

Cageside Seats: I want to talk to you a little bit, if I may, about Mojo Rawley.

Rob Gronkowski: Oh, jeez. 

I want to know, first of all, how you and Rawley first hooked up.

He played football at Maryland with my two brothers, so they knew him. And then we just met him through my brothers and from Maryland [football].

And he's always like that, right?

Yeah, he's always like that, nonstop. 

Is he too much even for Gronk sometimes?

Yeah. Sometimes I have to hide away from him, to get some sleep or something. Because I don't think he sleeps.

It's because of him that you started going to and getting into NXT, right?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Definitely. Once he joined wrestling, that's when I started going to all that. 

Were you a wrestling fan beforehand?

I mean, I've always been a wrestling fan. Definitely as a kid. But it wasn't like the last few years. I wasn't like, "Oh, I've got to go see wrestling." But then, ever since he's been in it, now I know way more about wrestling and I'm definitely a way bigger fan now.

It's always something like that, when you have a buddy [doing] something, you always pay a lot more attention to it. Say like a pro athlete team, if you have a buddy on that team, you pay attention a lot more to that team. 

Who's your all-time favorite wrestler?

All-time? Probably Val Venis.

Wow, that makes a lot of sense! Would you say at least part of your football career was modeled on Val Venis?

[Laughs] Somewhat. Yeah, definitely. 

What was it like to be trapped on a boat with Mojo Rawley for a week?

That's good. [laughs] You know ... [laughs]

Is he the loudest guy on the boat?

You know what you're getting into, so you bring him for the entertainment for the whole time. That's when you bring Mojo, is when you need entertainment.

Where do you think Mojo's WWE or NXT career is going to be in five years?

I think he should be a superstar in the WWE.

Do you think that Mojo's ratio of getting hyped to staying hyped is something that you ascribe to as well?

In a way. But he stays hyped. I don't know how he does it. I've actually got to get rest. I don't think he rests. It's true. He stays hyped.