BDE (@itsbrandonde) is a YouTuber and professional wrestler signed with TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Albuquerque, NM to discuss his success on YouTube and how that led to him making his pro wrestling debut, competing at TNA Bound For Glory 2025 and signing a contract, overcoming criticism from fans, why he spent $20,000 on a ticket to the WWE Royal Rumble, when he realized BDE has another meaning, dream matches, a possible NXT appearance, his goal to win the X Division Championship and more!
It’s funny, you and I go way back. You were making thumbnails for my channel while you were still having a very successful YouTube channel of your own. But to see your growth over these last five, six years has been crazy.
“If you would have told me five years ago that I’d be wrestling, I would say you’re crazy.”
Was this ever the goal?
“It was something I always wanted to do, but I wasn’t sure how to get into it, or if it was even possible for me. But once I started training back again in 2024, I was hooked. I was like, I got to keep doing it. Then I had my first match, and I was definitely hooked after that.”
Here’s the thing, a lot of wrestling fans watch it and go, I’d love to do that one day. I dream of doing that one day, and then they never take the steps towards doing it. What for you went from I’m a fan of this to I’m going to give this a try.
“Surprisingly, it was just because my friends at the time wanted to go to training. So they wanted to train to be wrestlers, and it was something that I was interested in. I wanted to see what a bump felt like, because I was watching it for a decade at this point. So I was like, well, if I’m gonna watch and critique it, I gotta at least try it. So I start going as a referee. Because I was like, I won’t be a wrestler. I took like, one bump, and my trainer at the time was like, ‘You’re not a ref. It’s not happening.’ So then it all just kind of fell into place after that.”
How’d that first bump feel?
“It was pretty jarring. My neck was hurting. I had a headache. It was bad.”
It’s funny, because people online love to play Monday morning quarterback, right? ‘Oh, I would have done this, or they should have done that.’ So many of them have never taken a bump, right? So now that you’ve gone in there and you’ve done it, you know what it feels like, you know how it should be, and it completely changes everything for you.
“Yeah, it changes how you think. It changes the moves you want to do for your own move set. It changes how you watch wrestling, too, after getting into the business and wrestling, I’ve only been wrestling for a year, but now it goes from when I watched wrestling, it used to be as a viewer. Now I’m studying. So it’s a lot different.”
Congrats on signing with TNA. How did that come together?
“I think it was the Bound for Glory match, the call your shot gauntlet. And then after that, it was the Turning Point match with AJ, and then I heard about it from Carlos in the back. He pulled me to the side, and he said, ‘I want to offer you a contract.’ I was happy as hell, man. I actually hugged him.”
How’d you even get on their radar?
“What an opportunity. You know, I’m forever grateful for that. But I think it all came to be because TNA wrestling has this creator program. So we were coming out to Slammiversary, and like doing vlogs and filming. So we’re meeting people and getting accustomed. I think Sami Callihan put in a good word, and just the Bound for Glory match happened. I don’t know how it happened, but it happened.”
Because it’s difficult. You’re already cast in the certain light of, Oh, you’re just a YouTuber, you’re just a content creator, and then people, I think, are already painting you in a certain light, you won’t be able to do this because you didn’t come from this. Do you feel like you have to overcome that?
“Yes, and no, there’s a certain chip on my shoulder that I feel like I need to prove. But at the same time. I don’t mind being called a YouTuber. That was my first dream job when I was a kid, so being called a YouTuber doesn’t bother me. But I also want to prove that just because I’m a YouTuber doesn’t mean I can’t be a wrestler either.”
How did this debut match with AJ Francis come together?
“Honestly, that’s above my pay grade. I just get booked in these matches. I just get surprised every time. But I think it just came together because the Bound for Glory spot that we had, eliminating him from the call your shot gauntlet. I think it just led to that. We have a lot of history from the Indies as well, so I think that was just a way of seeing how I could hang in a one-on-one.”
I think you have to give a ton of credit to AJ Francis, you got to give him his flowers. He is so good at making his opponents look great.
“He does not get enough credit. He really doesn’t. I completely agree.”
It’s pretty crazy that you went from playing as someone like Nic Nemeth Dolph Ziggler in a 2K game. Now you can have a match with him.
“Yeah, I don’t appreciate him unplugging my switch, but at the same time, I am excited for the match. Everyone knows, if you’ve been watching me for a while, Nic is the reason I got into wrestling. The very first wrestling match that I remember watching had Nic Nemeth in it, and I’ve been a fan of him ever since.”
Now that you’re in TNA, what are the goals in TNA?
“I want to win a championship. That is definitely why I’m here. I want to win the X Division Championship, eventually the World Title. That’s way down the line. I still got to earn my stripes. But, you know, debuted in the call your shot gauntlet. I would absolutely love to win that 100%. That’s like goal number one, really.”
You recently had a match with Mr. Anderson, Mr. Kennedy. Talk to me about that
“Speak about dreams come true. Just being able to share the ring with people that I grew up watching is something that I never thought would happen. I feel like I’m still having imposter syndrome sometimes.”
How do you deal with that?
“Yeah, I think it’s just time. Over time, it’s gotten more normal. But I don’t even think I’m still there yet, truthfully, but I think it just comes with time and just asking questions too. That’s what makes me feel more comfortable, because I really want to understand what I’m doing in the ring, so the imposter syndrome fades the more I ask questions backstage with some of the wrestlers.”
I know that Jeff Hardy gave you some advice. What was the advice?
“Really, it was just to be yourself and be authentic. I was asking, what do you think is the best way to connect with the audience? He told me, just be authentic. Be yourself. You’re already doing that because you have your content and stuff like that. But that was really the gist of it. Was a quick conversation. He was putting his makeup on, so I didn’t bother him. But yeah, he was, he was very kind about that. So, yeah, the authenticity for sure.”
Have you officially come up with a name for your finisher?
“Yeah, yeah. So the knee of glory, that’s like the running knee. The Frog Splash, I call it the Fall From Glory. And now we just named the springboard cutter, the clip cutter. The clip cutter. I was trying to figure out a name for it for a while, but I was like, I’ll just leave it until I find something I like. And then it was actually at TNA last week where I came up with it, and I was like, that’s staying, I like that.”
With your videos, titles and thumbnails are crucial. They’re the most important thing. When you have a video titled, ‘I bought a $20,000 seat to Royal Rumble’ I’d click on that.
“That was a risk. That was a really big risk, because I’ve never [spent that much]. I’ve spent a lot of money on videos.”
You actually bought a $20,000 seat?
“I dropped $20,000 of my own money. That was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken.”
The video got 4 million views. So you made your money back. But what are you thinking when you hit purchase?
“On one hand, I was excited, because I was like, I’ve never sat that close at a wrestling show before, so I was like, either way, it’s gonna be awesome. But I was like, I really hope the ROI is gonna be there. It all came about because I was playing video games with Brent, and we were just chilling, and we were like we want to go to this event. He was like, why don’t we just get tickets? And I was like, hold on, that’s a good idea. So then I call my business manager, and I was like, ‘Hey, I kind of want to drop $20,000 on a ticket. What do you think about this?’ He was like, ‘What are the plans to make that back?’ I was like, ‘Oh, we’ll do streams. We’ll do whatever we got to do. I don’t know. We’ll make it back.’ We ended up doing streams to make it back. So the video before we even filmed it, we had already made some of it back, but it was still a big risk. I’ve never dropped that much money in my life.”
So when you’re thinking about titles and thumbnails, what are kind of some do’s and don’ts?
I like to keep my titles relatively short. I don’t like to go above 60 characters. I would even say 50, because some devices, it gets cut off. So I like for a viewer to be able to know exactly what the video is, and especially with the thumbnails too. I don’t like repeating myself in the thumbnail and in the title.”
What’s your relationship like with criticism? Whether it’s helpful or maybe it’s hurtful?
“I invite it because at the same time, even if it’s negative, I feel like there’s some truth in it to an extent, right? If it’s overly negative, I think you can tell the difference, you know. You can tell the difference between someone who’s hating and someone who is just giving their opinion. I don’t mind someone critiquing me or giving me constructive criticism, because I’m only a year in. So there’s things that I need to get better at. There’s things I still need to improve on. I think the only thing is, is like, if I wouldn’t trade places with the person that I’ll just take it with a grain of salt.”
If you’re here with TNA full-time now, what does that do to your full-time content-creating job?
“So the content is still going to stay the same. I would say, since full-time with TNA, the content is not necessarily on the back burner, but it’s not my primary focus anymore. My primary focus is getting the gym, studying practice and promos, all that. This is the main goal now, because I feel like, with content after I hit a million subscribers, that was my real last goal for YouTube, it’s something that I’ll still do. I tell my viewers all the time, I’ll be making content till I’m old and gray. My mom gave me my first camera when I was, like, nine years old. I used to make family movies, skits with my friends. That’s just something I enjoy doing, like it was a hobby before it was a job, so I’m always gonna be making content.”
With the partnership that TNA has with WWE and NXT. Is that another goal for you.
“Yeah, that’d be sweet. Obviously, my main focus is TNA. But if the opportunity ever rolls around, I’m definitely down. I’m a team player, whatever TNA wrestling needs me to do. I’m there.”
What is Brandon grateful for?
“This contract and the opportunity to show what I can do.”
Please support our sponsors:
HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide!
BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder
DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT
PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv
SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount
NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup!