Paul Walter Hauser (@paulwhausergram) is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor. He is known for his roles in Black Bird, Richard Jewell, Queenpins, Cobra Kai, I Tonya and many others. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood to talk about his upcoming wrestling match against Matt Cardona at Wrestling REVOLVER, why he decided he wanted to become a wrestler, training with Paul London, his appearance on AEW, taking a guitar shot from Jeff Jarrett, his approach to acting roles, singing Fozzy’s song “Judas” on Cobra Kai and much more.

Quote I’m thinking about: “Dedication makes dreams come true.” – Kobe Bryant

On getting in shape:

“I mean, if you look at my body, you wouldn’t think so. But I’m transitioning back and forth. I kind of have that, you know how Jonah Hill kind of had like weight fluctuation? Now he’s like, super healthy. I’m kind of in that space of fluctuating, but yeah, I’m trying to get ready for the match with Matt Cardona March the 16th. So I’ve been I’ve been hitting the weights.” 

On wrestling before:

“Sammy Callihan and I are mutual fans. And he hit me up and was like, Do you want to do something at the at the show with Ronda Rousey It’s like to raise money for the fires in Maui, the victims and I was like of course I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever. Like a week later he is like you want to have a match. And I was like, Alright man. And I had been training a little bit with I took a couple of classes with Darien Bankston, who’s been on AEW Dark and doing the indie circuit. I had a little bit of help from Preston Vance and Anthony Ogogo, and even DDP a little bit, but then my real trainer is this guy, Paul London, he’s got his own school, Kayfabe Academy. And I’m now working with him out of there, but I’ve probably done like 15 16 hours worth of training with Paul London. So like, I only had about 20 hours total and I just went in there and did the match and was like we’ll keep it simple to what I actually know how to do. I’m not gonna do a poisonrana off the top rope. Like I can give you a Side Russian Leg Sweep. I can take some bumps.”

On his wrestling Mount Rushmore:

“I think Hogan Rock, Flair, Austin. Those four Hogan, Rock, Flair, Austin, I think is what I would say for the world. Not my favourite, but like okay, yeah. To the world of wrestling. Yeah, it made the biggest impact. My personal Mount Rushmore is Sting. Bret Hart, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho.

On Chris Jericho:

“The Jericho addition, and he’s such a controversial figure right now. But Jericho reinvented himself like nobody else has. He has made things work that should not have worked. He can work in the Attitude Era, he can work in crappy WCW, he can work in the PG era now he’s working in AEW and it’s like he can do New Japan or he can bleed his face off with Nick Gage. I just think the ability all around is really underrated. And I think after he’s done and hangs up his boots, people are gonna go back and go holy crap. This is like he’s like the Willem Defoe of wrestling where it just, he just nailed a million different things while doing it.”

On Kenny Omega:

“He’s one of those weird guys who has the crazy strength and the crazy speed. It’s like it’s usually one or the other, right? It’s usually a Vader or a, you know, Guerrero, it’s not usually both and anytime you find both in a Keith Lee or Kenny Omega, it’s like, all the respects of the world.”

On getting into wrestling:

“I literally remember what it was. It was I watched Clash of the Champions with my uncle Robert, my mom’s brother in Florida back in the summer of 94, something like that. I think it was Arn Anderson and maybe Barry Windham versus Brian Pillman and El Gigante. And I just remember seeing Arn Anderson and Gigantae. And thinking, one guy looks like somebody out of a comic book. And the other guy looks like my friend’s dad. And then the pendulum swinging, the polarity, the polarity of the dad has to fight the giant from the comic book. And actually the giant from the comic book is the good guy and Arn Anderson’s the bad guy. It was like it was just a very, unclear layered thing that now you know, people are like wrestling is dumb it’s fake. And it’s like, but it also plays with the reality of duality. And the reality of polarities. And I think it’s almost like politics, right? It’s like, you can have this politician that looks perfect and then you find out they’re doing something egregious behind the scenes. It’s like that’s what wrestling plays with. It plays with the duality of nature. And that’s why if you don’t have someone like Paul Wight going heel and face every five weeks, the poor guy, when you do have a great heel, turn or even a face turn, it can be the most meaningful, powerful thing because you the audience member is like, Wait, he just saved so and so. And it’s like, it plays with that. I think it’s psychologically really interesting at times. From a storytelling standpoint.”

On wrestling angles in real life:

“Let’s call it out. Will Smith slapping Chris Rock is the most wrestling moment I’ve seen in culture since I’ve been alive. And what’s crazy is, people were so attracted to what it was they were affected by it. And they were so attracted to it. There were people who even said they thought it was staged and it wasn’t real. So it’s like, when you take all that into consideration, it’s like, people would like wrestling if they really engaged and understood what it is. Because there are many moments that are just like that, that we all talk about with the same kind of energy and appreciation as everyone else does.”

On referencing wrestling in his Golden Globes speech:

“I don’t think I mentioned anything about wrestling in The Golden Globes speech. It was the next night I brought the globe to Dynamite and Rampage, taping. I texted Tony Khan before I won. So like three days prior, I go, Hey, man, I know you’re gonna be in town Wednesday, I wanted to come to the show regardless. But if I win the Golden Globe, can I bring it and you guys can use it as a foreign object where like, they pan to me and they’re like, wrestling fan wins Golden Globe or whatever. Then like, during a match, somebody grabs it and uses it to win. And I just thought it would be a funny little pop of a moment. And then true to form just like Callihan asked me to have the match for Revolver. Tony’s like, I arrived there. And he’s like, we’re actually gonna put you in the ring. I was like, Cool. And he’s like, we’re thinking, you and Jeff Jarrett could kind of have a moment together. And I’m like, Cool, not knowing. And so they tell me what to do as far as like, you’re gonna have this moment in the ring with Jeff and talk smack to him. And then I think somebody’s going to come out to save you or whatever. I’m like, Cool. And then the moment, it’s that thing of watching wrestling your whole life, you so want to do something in the ring. The moment Sonjay Dutt grabbed my shirt. I was like, I’m slapping this guy. And then Jay Lethal. Just wham. I went down. And then when I saw the guitar, I’m like, Oh, this is what he’s talking about.” 

On the guitar shot not being planned:

“This is Jarrett legit, just like being Jeff Jarrett. And I’m gonna take it. I’m not gonna not take it. So I was wiggling around a little bit, but I was also just like, oh, sh*t, bam. Heard a ringing in my ear for about six or seven seconds. Mind you, I don’t think people are dumb enough to think it’s like a totally real guitar. But it didn’t hurt as much but like, I heard her ringing in my ear and was down for the count. And then they came and checked me. Then I hear the music. And I’m like, oh, yeah, they show up now.”

On the Golden Globe being real:

“It was the real one. Yeah, I had a case for it and everything. So I hope we get to finish that story. I don’t know if we ever will. Tony has been super cool, always helping me with you know, here’s some tickets to the show or come hang out. He’ll invite me into gorilla and I’ll just stand there and watch him do this.” 

On Matt Cardona:

“He also knows I’m a big action figure guy and that I collect them so he’s he’s definitely hitting the right nerve. Man, Matt Matt Cardona. Let’s put him over first. I thought he was great as Zack Ryder in WWE. His following online was way ahead of its time clearly. And like many brilliant performers in WWE, they didn’t know what to do with them, and basically made them into the job guys and then you can have the US title for five minutes or the IC, the ladder match?  But I think he’s really great now that he’s doing his own thing. And he’s actually who he is. And he’s, appreciative that he’s putting over the Indies by engaging them in the exact same enthusiastic manner as he did being on television.” 

Why he wants to wrestle:

“Part of it was just because I wanted to know what it was like. Kind of like when you do research for role and I was like. I can see Cardona now, he’s probably like, Oh, you’re gonna do the Bastion Booger biopic. I learned it because I thought it was interesting. And I never done it and I wanted to. And in doing so, I had people like Dallas Page, Sean Waltman. Anthony Ogogo, and Paul London all telling me hey, you’re actually really good. And you’re taking to this pretty quickly. I sent footage to people like Natty Neidheart. She’s saying you have it, but it just needs to be refined. So it’s like, and also from a physique standpoint, they can say what they want about me being a big guy. It’s like, some of my favourite wrestlers are you know, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Kevin Owens and Vader. These guys are not known for being in shape. They’re known for being agile and strong, and having some form of charisma or something. So I look at it like this, too, because I’ve had some people, there was an interview with Tony Deppen indie wrestler, he, I guess he’s a GCW guy. But somebody mentioned my name to him. And he was like, Tony is like, yeah, I don’t know who that is. But they’re probably just copying what me and Ron Funches did. And I’m like, maybe you and Ron Funches copied what Dennis Rodman did before you. And maybe Dennis Rodman copied what Lawrence Taylor did at WrestleMania 95. So it’s like, everybody likes to think that it’s like, oh, some actors coming in to do their 15 seconds of wrestling fame. And it’s like, no, I’ve been a student of watching it my entire life. Now I’m actually doing it in the ring. And to be fair, I don’t know who Tony Deppen is either. So it’s mutual bud.”

On following the David Arquette path:

“I disagree, I don’t want to pay my dues, I want to learn the craft. I don’t have to pay dues. And you know why? Because when a guy like Dave Bautista comes into Hollywood and gets Guardians of the Galaxy, I don’t say to him, Whoa, get in line, you have to go do a guest star on NCIS before you get to this Marvel film, it’s not really the way the world works right? Now, wrestling thinks that that’s how it works. And they try to put people in line. The reality is a guy like Maxwell Jacob Friedman, or Goldberg, or Sheamus can have a very quick rise out of nowhere because they’re just good. So I can pay respect, which I’ll always do, but paying dues. It’s like if somebody asked me to be in a WrestleMania match and do the Snooki routine, where they’re like, you’re gonna be the random celebrity who gets in a tag match. Like, I’m doing it. I’m not doing seven years on the Indies until then. I’m just going to do what comes across my plate. In fact, I got hit up, I was talking with somebody from high spots, and they’re doing this show WrestleMania weekend at the ECW arena. They were like, if you came here and did a match, would you like to wrestle? I was thinking it over and I was like, well, maybe we could do like a Philly Street Fight type of thing. And the guy who came to mind immediately was Sami Callihan, he’s the guy who kind of put me on and gave me that spotlight at the Revolver show. So you know, I think I’m gonna hit up Sami. Or if he’s watching, I guess we can also just say, Hey, dude, you want to wrestle me on WrestleMania weekend at the ECW arena for High Spots because I would love to get in the ring with an absolute hardcore wrestling legend. And a hell of a booker, I must say for Pro Wrestling Revolver. He’s probably busy.” 

What is Paul Walter Hauser grateful for?

“My wife and nice people.”