John Hennigan (@therealmorrison) & Taya Valkyrie (@thetayavalkyrie) are professional wrestlers signed to AEW. John is also known by his ring name Johnny TV in AEW as well as John Morrison, Johnny Nitro, Johnny Impact, Johnny Mundo and others. They join Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to talk about the season finale of their show “Johnny Loves Taya” on the AEW YouTube channel, how they pitched the original idea to Tony Khan, signing with AEW, their memories of working in Lucha Underground, their matches against each other, how Johnny came up with his move Starship Pain, the iconic ladder moonsault at WrestleMania 24, Joey Mercury’s brutal ladder accident, whether they would wrestle each other again and much more!

Watch “Johnny Loves Taya” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Lp7UyDzXA&list=PLILTWWX_AIJTbkLzCpEnHudFu1HZuTIvT

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On Johnny Loves Taya:

Johnny TV: “This is a three-person collaboration. A friend of ours Justin Donaldson has been shooting, directing, editing, and supervising posts doing so much work, but we collaborate together on the stories and say, after we leave here, we have one day to finish all that we need for episode 10 It’s mostly done.”

Taya Valkyrie: “Yeah, so we’re gonna do some professional shoots and some different things later today. But yeah, it’s never ending. But we’re almost done, the season finale is coming out. And it’s just been like so much work and a labour of love. I just feel like, we are so much more layered than just pro wrestlers, and it’s been an opportunity for us to showcase how creative and how different we can be than some other pro wrestlers or different stories that you see about couples and stuff like that.” 

Johnny TV: “Do you know any other pro wrestlers who would buy a skateboard, cut it in half, put on the trucks and then ratchet a llama on a stick to it so they could ride it down a hill.”

On the reality show being scripted:

Taya: “First of all, it’s not a reality show. It’s romcom scripted. Fully scripted. I think that when we came up with the idea, it was because we were finally getting put together in AEW. And we were trying to find a way to introduce us again to that audience because even though a lot of people might know us from Lucha Underground, from Impact, from AAA, from everything else we’ve done, we are very aware that like a lot of the AEW audience might have to be reintroduced to us or like get to know us again.”

Johnny TV: “The beauty of it is because it lives online you have the time and creative autonomy to put out what you want. If it’s a segment on Dynamite, Collision, Rampage, or something like that, there’s not enough time and there’s not enough like real estate on those shows. So if you really want to get into the nitty gritty of our relationship, and also it’s heightened because we are nuts.”

Taya: “We really are such creative perfectionists and we both have so many ideas. So we wanted to make sure that whatever we were putting out there is genuine to us. And makes sense and is funny and different and makes people think. Whenever you’re putting your art out there for the world to see, there’s gonna be people that get it and there’s gonna be people that don’t get it. But we just were very competent, and the concept and everything and like we started shooting it in November But we shot the finale in February, like, you know, it’s been a neverending labour of love.”

On how the show will lead into AEW storylines:

Taya: “I think it’s really helped to remind people of who we are, establish us again as characters together, I think it positively influenced the way that people perceive us when we were doing our angle with Dalton Castle and everything like that. And moving forward, we hope to be able to create a second season and we hope to continue doing this because we’ve added a lot of fun.”

Johnny TV:  “I think that’s the main thing, it’s really fun for us to do we get to do it together. It’s like, for work, technically. But it’s a really fun way to spend time together.”

Taya: “We hope that, ideally, if the network wants to give us a 30-minute sitcom, that’d be great. I’m gonna reach for the stars here.” 

On the show feeling authentic:

Johnny TV: “I would agree, and I think that Taya is an extremely natural actor. Her process and my process are so different. She just nails it on the first day. And then I want the script overnight, and I want to read it and make notes and have like little motivations and secrets and all that.”

Taya: “But that’s how we are with promos, too. But also to be fair, I know who Taya is better than anybody else. So when I’m being Taya on the show or being Taya in a promo backstage or whatever it is, I know exactly how I want to be in that moment. And if I was trying a different character, maybe it would be different. But yeah, I feel like I just am able to, even though Taya on Johnny loves Taya, and Taya in a promo about The Boys being eaten by bears with Dalton Castle are completely different versions of me. They’re still the same. If that makes sense. I don’t know.”

On positive comments about the show:

Taya: “I want people to just have fun with it and not overthink it and not, try to analyse it because it is that. It’s campy. It’s John and I, it’s our characters.”

Johnny TV: “I think based on the fact that we really care about each other. I mean, really, obviously, but in the show the two characters really care about each other. And if you’re watching the show, and you can tell that the two characters just hate each other. It’s not fun to watch.”

On becoming Johnny TV: 

Johnny TV: “I think because Johnny Elite, The Elite is a group already this established. And I think Johnny Elite was like, Tony’s first idea. And then when I came back, and I’m not signed full time. It doesn’t make full sense to have a Johnny Elite and a group called The Elite. Hence Johnny TV. Like we mentioned last time TV is perfect because it’s ambiguous. It could stand for anything.” 

Why not John Hennigan:

Johnny TV: “I kind of like this fake name thing because it’s almost like I’m somewhere else in the ring. Whereas John Hennigan, I could play that, but it wouldn’t necessarily have to be me just like an actor playing a role in a movie. But the Johnny TV thing just spurs a whole bunch of ideas. Like what if I suddenly come out of the TV? What if that TV is off and suddenly it comes on and I am cutting a promo? There’s all kinds of just fun like puns and things that go along with Johnny TV.”

On Bad Bunny:

Johnny TV: “He does not want to have a bad wrestling match. Because he really respects and is a fan of the business. And he’s got all that entertainment background so he knows how to entertain. To me, I think he’s the most high profile humble and deserving star, celebrity guest that wrestling has had.”

On coming up with Starship Pain:

Johnny TV: “So basically, like my finish originally was a corkscrew off the top. And even in my 20s It started just taking a lot out of me like, that’s a lot of impact on your knees, your elbows. And then I realised I could hit like RVD’s split leg with a twist. And it looks cool because it’s fast. But if you think about like, you’re basically three to four feet lower. And that’s much less like speed and force on the landing. I came up with basically to save my knees.”

On the Joey Mercury ladder incident:

Johnny TV: “If you watch that clip close, we both took the ladder. I’m a little taller than Joey. And he was leaned over and the ladder hit me on the chin. And I went out one side of the ring and he went up this way. I didn’t see what happened to him. I thought my jaw was broken. I’d never been hit that hard in my life. And I was on the floor holding my jaw. And just like quietly I’m trying to decide if I was hurt or injured. If you are injured, then you’re like, done match over. If you’re hurt, you’re like, I can go, I can finish this. So a minute or two goes by, it’s almost time for me and Joey had run back in the ring. And I crawled over and I was like, where’s Joey? And I looked up the ramp and just saw this trail of blood. And like, like the trainer’s escorting him out and thinking to myself, like, oh, we have a lot of stuff left. And then I just kind of ran in and tried to do my best to do what we’re both supposed to do as a tag team by myself. And then, man, that night was rough. Like we were in the hospital about six hours. He stitched his cartilage. They reset his bone, his orbital, and then they stitched his skin on top of his stitched cartilage Yeah. I think that’s the gnarliest ladder accident I’ve seen to this day.”

On the most painful spot for Taya:

Taya: “I mean, I’ve been very lucky in my 13, 14 years of wrestling like that knock on wood. Having my nose broken sucked. I mean, I’ve been kicked and dropped and all sorts of things like, you know, especially like some people aren’t there to catch you when you’re diving to the outside. I’ve had several of those. I’ve had several you know, different people kick me in the head that weren’t supposed to kick me like that. I’ve been powered bombed multiple times by Brian Cage that sucked.” 

On a possible John vs. Taya match in AEW:

Johnny TV: “In AEW it’s tricky, because they’re not big on inter-gender violence. I’d love to beat the crap out Taya [laughs]. Because, you know, treating each other equally, to punch each other and kick each other in the face.” 

Taya: “We’ve done it before. We’ve had two matches against each other. We’ve also tagged together against each other. We’re talking about performance, or this is not Come on, guys. Yeah, like this is wrestling. I mean, he’s the best wrestler in the world in my opinion. And of course, I want to wrestle the best wrestler in the world. So I would love to have a match against him.”

What are John and Taya grateful for?

Taya: “Our marriage, optimism and family.”

Johnny TV: “Daddy’s little boy, Mommy’s boy Presley and The first lady of slam town.”

Dustin Rhodes (@dustinrhodes) is a professional wrestler signed to AEW. He is known for his 35+ year career where he also worked for WWE, WCW and TNA Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Philadelphia, PA to talk about his legendary career, his emotional match at Double Or Nothing 2019 against his brother Cody, his father Dusty Rhodes not wanting him to be a wrestler, debuting in WWE as “The Natural”, the original pitch from Vince McMahon to become Goldust, his comedic moments with Booker T and R-Truth, why his character Se7en didn’t work in WCW, his decision to sign with AEW, why he knew Cody would leave AEW for WWE, calling out The Rock and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee

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On the match against Cody Rhodes at AEW Double or Nothing 2019:

“It meant a lot. Really at the beginning of it before it happened, I wasn’t sure. AEW crowd, I’d been at WWE for so long, are they going to respond like I want them to respond? Are they going to boo me out of the building? What’s going to happen? Nervous, of course, you’re working with your brother, you want to have a good one. And your music hits and they responded in kind. And get out there and it’s just, I’ve explained it before and it’s it’s very special. Very emotional, very heart-driven. You stand there and I just look at Cody across the ring and point up to the sky, right. And they just started the Dusty chants just like crazy loud, and it was just like electric. And it was so focused. And I tell the fans this, I can see the fans, but I can’t really see them. I can hear them, but I can’t hear them because I’m just we were so focused on each other and what needed to be done at that time to really shotgun this company, AEW, into existence. And it was it was amazing. We could have missed a bunch of stuff and it wouldn’t have mattered the story was there. Two promos set it up brother versus brother. It worked. You know, and we were told years ago, it just wasn’t good enough to be on like the big card, the Big Show and they were wrong. And we just went out there and absolutely slaughtered it. It was incredible. The stars aligned, it was perfect. I mean, couldn’t have been more perfect.”

On possibly retiring after that match:

“I was actually. So that I didn’t have any idea about what Cody was doing. I thought ok, he was leaving the ring, this is my time right now just to go okay, I’ve had a great career. And, you know, he surprised me with his throwback with, you know, the promo I need my older brother. And it was very emotional. That’s when people started squalling and then there wasn’t a dry eye in the place and it was just both of us. We were crying holding each other, you know, hugging it was just a very strong, strong feeling. So it was really good.”

On his first vision as a wrestler:

“Just 80s cowboy. You know, I just looked at my dad, he was always a cowboy. You know, big dust, always a cowboy, always a hat on and the boots and stuff like that. And it’s kind of what I wanted to do. I wanted to be just like him, but that’s impossible. And you know, it took me years to figure that out. I finally realised that, you know, I can’t fill my dad’s shoes. I can’t, not even close. So I had to that’s when the Goldust thing came along. And you know, it opened my eyes to Hey, maybe I need to fill my own shoes. And I did and it was something completely different than what I am.”

On not knowing the meaning of androgynous: 

“It sounded like something that’s not good. So I went to the dictionary and looked it up and I’m just like, my jaw dropped. And I was like, What did I just sign up for and agree to do? I thought about it for a while and I was like, You know what, this may be a chance to do something good. I wasn’t looking at it as is Vince trying to rib me or any of those things. I’m just trying to make my way make my name in the business and try to just grow my legacy as much as I possibly could, and it worked out. And I had to put 110% in it. And there was a lot of tough things that We did that I was scared to do, didn’t want to do didn’t want to, touch on these issues that were very important to people later on down the road. They’re all you know, they’ll DM me or something saying You really helped me come out or whatever it is. So you hear that a bunch of times from fans and it’s like, wow, I really had an impact back then. But that was tough for me to step out of that comfort zone. But when you do that, and I’ve learned to realise when you step out of your comfort zone, in your little circle, and you’re everything’s very comfortable in your little circle, but you step outside of that and you’re trying something brand new that might frighten you. That’s where the magic happens.”

On Goldust being sexualised:

“I didn’t want to cross [the line]. But when I did was when this stuff happened. Vince gave me the reigns for this character. He let me find myself I mean, he was hands-on in my voice a lot trying to bring out a creepy sexual Goldust voice. he worked with me hands on we did a bunch. And I finally got it, you know, and you have your few little catchphrases that stick or whatever and your body mannerisms and I was at. We ran with it. And it was incredible. He gave me, he took it away from me at a time too later on. And I was like, why man? I couldn’t understand why but it was still very young.”

On The Undertaker saying he should be in the WWE Hall of Fame:

“That was nice of him, I love to work and Mark man. He was great. Always great. Just, you got two people that can work, it makes things a lot easier, and back then everybody could work. You had good matches and good storylines. It was just different. The Attitude Era was a different beast man, different than anything we’ve ever had. And it was Ruthless Aggression Era and all the other eras that we have gone through and look at where we’re at now, and just how much the business has changed over the years. I’m an old-school guy, and I say this to my students all the time. Without the old school, there is none of this new school, right? You have to learn this sh*t right here. Then you add your little spices and your little 2024 attitude with it and a couple of new movesets people want to be told a story, period. And I swear to God, it still works. And it’s just, that’s me. I’m a storyteller. I’m big on psychology. I’m big on making people feel something because that is the most important thing. If they’re feeling something at home sitting in the recliner, I touch their lives and or move them in some waythey’re coming back, they’re not turning the channel. And there’s a lot of people that don’t, and there are a lot of people just going through the motions and doing moves and moves with no rhyme, no meaning and you know, nothing against them. But that’s just not me. I mean, there’s different styles and mine is it’s old school.”

On the wrestling resurgence:

“It is like a renaissance, isn’t it? It is cool, man. You know how it goes in cycles. And I think we’re on an upcycle right now, and it’s incredible business for everybody. Everybody’s kicking ass. The indies are strong, AEW is strong. WWE is strong. You know, you look at TNA coming back. It’s It’s incredible to watch, right? People love to be entertained. They want to be taken out of their day for two or three hours, however long the show is and whatever they’re going through good, bad, whatever, they get away. They want to watch this. And that’s our job to take them out of that and retain them.”

Did you think Cody would leave AEW?

“I didn’t actually, I didn’t. But I know some stuff that went on. And you know, I think it was just his time he made a smart decision. He made a very smart decision. Look at him now. You know, he is the man here. So it’s incredible. Incredible ride credible journey from him leaving the first time in WWE and saying he’s betting on himself and just taking the ball and f*cking running with it. And he created something really cool. That’s awesome.”

On how Cody has changed compared to his first WWE run?

“More wisdom, more business sense. He’s gotten very smart for his age in a short period of time. And he studies. He’s a studier of the business, studier or of politics, a studier of all kinds of things. I mean, he studies his vocabulary he uses such big words and that’s just not me. I’m like, what does that mean? Thinking then I’ll look it up. Oh, that’s a good word. But I won’t ever f*cking remember it. That’s what kind of sets us different, he wears suits all the time. I can’t it’s just it’s too hot. You know what I mean? And just comfort for me. But he’s everything, when you look at a true superstar or megastar he is, he is fitting that bill right now. And he is doing an amazing job of carrying the company along with the great talent that are there yet but he’s right now he can do no wrong. They’re pushing them to the moon and it doesn’t happen that much to people. So it’s really good to see that a Rhodes is really getting in there said due in the business with WWE.”

On anything he didn’t enjoy doing in WWE and possibly saying no:

“I mean, there’s probably a couple of storylines that I really didn’t want to be in. But you know, back then I was just, let’s go, let’s do the thing, get it over with, whatever. Looking back at it, if I were to change anything, which I have no regrets, because those were my teachers. And they taught me a lot of lessons, I would have probably changed the way that I approached certain things diplomatically instead of losing my temper, or losing my sh*t, I don’t want to do this or whatever, you know, those are probably the only thing. But you grow up and you see possibly how you were back then. And it’s like, man, I was rough around the edges here, but this is all I knew. And it was like, you kind of get a little wiser as you get older. And it’s not worth it. You’re thinking about it. Why did I do that? Why didn’t I just say no? Or, you know, changed it to make it a little different? There’s all kinds of sh*t that I’ve done that was not very good. But, you know, whatever.”

On thinking about the last match:

“No, I did last year a little bit. But then it’s just like I’m not [ready]. It’s one of those I need to sit down and think about this type of conversation with myself and weigh the cons and the pros and not yet. I would say, two to three years, maybe.”

On possibly leaving AEW when Cody did:

“No, I’m happy there. I’m very happy in AEW and it’s a good place for me. We’re growing, we’re doing some wonderful things. Business is up. Everything is great. It’s a different style over there as it is WWE, you know. We have some of the greatest professional wrestlers on the planet in that company, man and it is special to watch them even to have a chance to step in the ring with him. My God, there’s some good talent there. They do some amazing stuff. Just incredible stuff like different category stuff. Will Ospreay, they have to build a new category for him because he is insane. And he’s so young. It’s amazing how just the incredible things that he does, it’s nuts.”

On how AEW has changed in the last 5 years: 

“I think it’s changed a little bit. I don’t think it’s changed for the worse. I mean, every company grows and you have somebody like Tony, who is a huge wrestling fan. I mean, huge. I’ll sit in and gorilla. Okay, and say, I’m not wrestling that night, I’m coaching. Right now I’ve been coaching Swerve a lot in all of his matches in the last year. I’ll be really focused on watching the things and talking to the referee and given the times and telling them you forgot to do this, do this or whatever. Tony goes, Hey, Dustin, do you remember in 1991, you were in Syracuse, New York, you were wrestling so and so and he did this spot in this match? And I’m like, No, I don’t Tony, let me let me concentrate on what’s going on right here. We’re on live television. I mean, he’s got such a mind. And he remembers everything. And he loves my Dustin Rhodes. He’s always loved them and one of his favourites. And it’s pretty cool to be under him as you know, the boss. And I’ve never had a boss like that, because Vince was completely different. Very intimidating, and very business all the time. Tony’s business, but he’s also a very kind man, his doors are always open. And it’s good because I feel very comfortable conversing with him, pitching him ideas constantly and just enjoying this from the beginning. It’s been one last ride and it’s still going on. So it’s doing something and it’s got my passion, still piqued.”

What is Dustin Rhodes grateful for?

“My wife, my daughter, my family, my health and my sobriety”

Barbie Blank (@thebarbieblank) is an actress, model, entrepreneur and retired professional wrestler known as Kelly Kelly in WWE. She joins Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about recently becoming a mom to twins Jaxon and Brooklyn, getting signed to WWE at 19 years old, her retirement from wrestling at age 25, winning the Divas Championship from Brie Bella, her memories of the late Andrew “Test” Martin, how she inspired Chelsea Green to become a wrestler, tagging with Maria Menounos at WrestleMania 28, her iconic theme song, returning for the Royal Rumble and much more!

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

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On being a mother to twins:

“It’s amazing. They have such different personalities, which is so fun. And they’re just so cute to just watch them interact. Being a twin parent, it’s unlike anything. It’s just their bond. I mean every day is like something new with them, you know, and they are just so cute together. They just started interacting in the last month. And they just, son adores my daughter. He just like looks at her and she does the same to him and like they have their own little language and they like talk to each other. It’s wild and my daughter is so sassy. Out of the womb I was like we are in trouble. Like she is my karma. Like, I feel like how North is with Kim. Brooklyn is gonna be with me. I’m a little scared.”

On getting the call from WWE:

“It was just wild how it happened. Getting a call from my manager saying they saw my picture, love the look, is she athletic? My manager calls me and he’s like, so I have this, you know, and what do you think? What do you think about going in and trying out for WWE? And I was like, Sure. I liked going to school, it was fine, but it was not my passion. It was not what I wanted to do. I want it to be in entertainment in some way. And that’s why I chose broadcast journalism. But I hated going to school. I was doing it to please my mom. You know, I was out partying, 18 years old in Jacksonville, living my best life.” 

On her ECW gimmick not existing today:

“Oh my gosh, never in a million years. And it’s so wild to think that’s how I started. It was so funny too. I went to try out, got the job. I had to move to Kentucky. I had never been on my own. I had never even really done my own laundry. And I had to move all my stuff, me and Alicia Fox got an apartment together. We literally had no furniture. I had a bed, she had a bed. It was like two college kids were living together eating ramen noodles. Wild to think about this. This is OVW because we had the choice to go to Atlanta or OVW. We both chose OVW. I don’t know why.”

On getting called up:

“I got three months in. And I remember Paul [Heyman] called me. It was Paul who called me and he was like, Hey, we have this idea for you. Do you have any experience with dancing? I was like, No, I’m like a gymnast, very rigid. I was like I have no [experience]. He was like, well, we’re gonna teach you, because we have this idea you’re gonna do this like striptease and your jealous boyfriend’s gonna come and cover you up. And 19-year-old me is like, alright, screw it, I can get my foot in the door. Let’s see how it goes. And the first day I got there, I just remember having to tell my parents, because all my family and friends were watching because I was debuting they didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t tell them. I just said, Watch ECW at eight o’clock or whatever time it was on. And I was like, well, they’re gonna see, I’m not gonna tell them. I just remember, my mom called me afterwards. Somebody was teaching me backstage, the dance moves. And then I had to go and like Vince was like, Okay, this is what I want you to do. And I just remember Vince is like, it’s Vince McMahon and Hunter is sitting there too. And he’s just like, takes like his jacket and goes like this [spins it above his head]. Because I admired him so much, he was like my boss and he was the most amazing boss. But he kept it so professional. [He said] ‘I want you to just swing it like this and then put the jacket down.’ Ok Kelly? I was like, Okay. So I go out. And I had rehearsed with a chair, there was supposed to be a chair there. There was no chair. There was no chair on my first night. And I just remember on live television, and I was like, Oh my God, and I just started dancing. And I was like, I feel like I’m getting ribbed on my first night. I feel like this is my test to see how I would do. And I just went with it and you will never forget it because it took me 20 minutes to take my bra off. So embarrassing. Oh my gosh, so many things.”

On taking a cane shot from Sandman:

“It’s wild. We rehearsed it backstage and he made it seem like it was nothing, he was kind of see Kelly it’s gonna be this little. I was like, oh, that’s fine. We get out there. And man, when Mike pulls me in front, and I see him I see him launch it back. And I’m like, This is not. And he goes boom. And I remember going back and literally, I think I got concussed. I saw stars. I did this face, my mom called me. She was freaking out. She’s like, you made the face that you make right before you’re gonna cry. And I’m like I was crying. I was in so much pain. When they put me on the stretcher, and I just remember coming to the back and everyone’s waiting there. And my eyes are shut and then I open them and Vince is standing over me. He’s like, Kelly, are you okay? I’m like yeah. Tommy [Dreamer] is right there. And he’s like, when you go to the locker room, everybody’s standing out there. Don’t you let them see you cry? I’m like, okay, I get it together and I’m walking. Everyone’s like, how was it? How am I good? It’s fine. It’s It was great. I get to the locker room and I [break down].”

On Vince McMahon:

“I always looked at him like he was my boss. I only went to him one time and that was when I wanted to become Divas Champion. Because I only saw him during rehearsal. This is rehearsals and he was like on it. Like, here we go. Okay. Rehearse done on the next one. Just so professional, like, just an amazing boss, literally. I have nothing but amazing things.” 

On approaching Vince to become Divas Champion:

“Girls had told me okay, if you really feel strongly about this, you’ve been here for five years, go talk to Vince. I’m so scared. What if he says no? Actually [I approached him] twice, because the second time I wanted to try and become a heel. That didn’t go over well. So the first time they were like, the worst he can say is no. I’m like, okay. So I go and say, Hey Vince, I have this idea, like I’m talking to you. What do you think about me becoming Divas Champion? And he was like you know Kelly, I think that sounds like a great idea. And I’m like okay. So I didn’t know when, I didn’t know what, I just was like, Okay, well, I put it out there, see what happens. So I think it was like a few weeks after that it was you go and you vote for [the opponent], Power to the People. And there was going to be three of us. It was like me, Beth and Eve against Brie Bella. And whoever the fans voted for was winning the belt, the Divas Championship. Brie literally had to learn three different matches we did not know. They were like, We don’t know, this is literally up to the fans. We actually had no idea. And Brie, poor thing was like, oh my God, I have to remember three freakin matches in my head. Girl more power to you, because I couldn’t do that. So I just remember standing there. And I was just there. I think I got a really high vote. And so I as soon as they’re like Kelly Kelly, oh, my God I’m winning.”

On the WWE environment:

“I definitely got put through some things. Because a lot of girls, they hired a lot of women and a lot of women couldn’t take it. You have to have thick skin. It was a male-dominated business at the time. And you just had to learn, have thick skin, just take it off, whatever. Don’t let things get to you. Even like hardcore fans, being in ECW I had no idea about the fans in ECW. Oh my gosh, the names I got called in the Philly arena. I mean, I could have cried. I feel like I probably went to the back and cried a few times because they are hardcore and seeing somebody like me come into ECW. And that’s another thing. I was like, I have to prove myself. I was like, I’ll take the Singapore cane shots. I took Mike Knox’s move onto a chair and I was like, I’ll prove it. And now at my age, I look back and there’s no way. I just had no cares. I was like, Yeah, throw me into this. Let me do this. Now I’m like, Oh my God, if I get in the ring, I’m like oof my back.”

On retiring at 25:

“I just think I was on the road nonstop for six years. No injuries and the injuries that I had I was still on the road because I was still able to do things because I had a broken rib or bursa sac burst or whatever. It’s gnarly. You don’t want to [experience it], it’s disgusting. Like, literally, I hit it. I hit my knee. And I remember it doesn’t happen right then. It’s kind of like you feel like a little sting. And then like seven hours later, we were at dinner. It was like me, Eve [Torres] and the [Bella] twins. It’s in Chicago, 11 at night, we’re at dinner. And I just remember my knee getting nasty, like, so big. And I’m like, You guys. They are like, what is happening with your knee? I’m like, I don’t know. I texted the Doc I’m like my knee. [He says] Oh my god get to the hotel. Literally, they had to cut me out my jeans. So what happens is it fills up with blood and pus, I guess. And it’s just like, they got to drain it. But the blood had already clot. And so he is stabbing it and he’s like, I can’t drain it. You’re gonna just have to let it disperse. And so my leg was bruised from the toes all the way up to you know, my butt like, just bruised. It was wild.”

“It was The Price Is Right. Bob Barker was hosting. And so I was like backstage and doing the thing with him that night and I had this thing on my knee, and I still had to work. I never took a weekend off. I was there. And I just was like, ready to take a break. I think my neck had been hurting. And so they were like totally, take some time. I took a few months. And I felt like I was ready to do more stuff outside, and girls aren’t really doing things outside of WWE, like you weren’t really getting that much stuff. And I was like, Well, I want to do like modelling, I want to maybe get into some acting. And I just remember having this conversation with Hunter. And he’s just like, look, the doors always open, just whatever. Right? And I was like, Okay, I think that there was nothing like really, there was not one thing. It was just like one day I had taken the time off. And I remember I got the call and they’re like, look, we’re gonna release you. But, you know, door’s always open.”

On wanting to come back to wrestling:

“I really want my twins to see me wrestle. I think it would be so amazing when they’re like four or five. And I don’t even know if they would still, they probably would get it then. But like seeing that’s my mom and they’re sitting in the front row. And I just remember watching Michelle McCool when she came and did into the Rumble and her daughter was sitting there and her daughter’s face was priceless. I want and I’m like, Oh my gosh, because that’s what I want. If you could just see her daughter’s eyes we’re just so big. And she was just like, that’s my mom, so proud. And I just want that moment for me and my twins one day for them to just be like, That’s my mom and just go out there and kick some butt for a few minutes.”

What is Kelly Kelly grateful for?

“My kids, my husband and my friends and family.”

Matt Hardy (@matthardybrand) is a professional wrestler signed with AEW. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Squared Circle Expo in Indianapolis, IN to talk about his AEW contract coming to an end, being offered a new contract from AEW, the rumors of him and Jeff Hardy returning to WWE, what he considers the most important factor to either re-sign with AEW or go to WWE, wanting to help young tag teams, the legacy of The Hardy Boyz, the original plan for his AEW debut in March 2020, how his leg drop off the steel cage to Edge at Unforgiven 2005 changed the way he wrestled, Jeff Hardy’s craziest moves, his podcast “The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy” that he co-hosts with Jon Alba, he reviews my backyard wrestling moves and much more!

Get tickets to Friday’s live episode of “The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy” at WrestleCon here: http://matthardylive.com

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been.” —T.D. Jakes

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On his recent weight loss:

“200 is the goal. You know, just being older, it’s like being big and being bulky isn’t going to change at all. I’m Matt Hardy. I am who I am. I mean, I’ve been doing this for 34 years, just the more athletic and the more nimble and agile I am, the better. So that’s just kind of what I’m shooting for.”

On changing his in-ring style:

“I think a lot of it changed after the Unforgiven 2005 match vs. Edge when I did a leg drop off the top [of the cage]. I’ll never forget I walked back through the curtain, Ted DiBiase and IRS Mike Rotunda, they looked at me said, Oh my God, how are you feeling after that? And I said, I have adrenaline going right now, ask me tomorrow. But I couldn’t walk straight for like four weeks, I had a little kink in my step. And that’s the point where I said, instead of doing that leg drop every single time I’m gonna and drop an elbow to the back of the neck and land on my feet. That was the biggest turning point for me as far as learning how to work smarter, especially with the way it pertains to bumps.”

On what hurts right now:

“Not as much. It’s been really good doing those cold plunges. I swear by the effects that I had and I feel pretty good. And just like the way I train now, I’m not a guy who goes heavy, I do a lot of reps, I try and do stuff back to back to get like a good pump and I do super hard cardio. I do feel like that makes a huge difference in the way my body feels and it functions. I feel like once you stop, if you stop working out and stop training, and you can probably feel this too, like then as soon as you take one bad bump or you fall or something that’s when everything shuts down. It’s crazy how physically that prepares your body to go out and take bumps or do whatever. If you keep your body up to date, if you keep it tuned up, it reacts so much better with the way it recovers even being older.” 

On thinking about winding down:

“Yes, I do. And I think a couple more [years], just depending on how my body feels. And like the way my body felt over the winter break. And it was so good, it was weird. I was feeling so good and so healthy. When Jeff, Sting had an injury and he wasn’t there. And they ended up doing Jeff vs. Darby and Jeff had some singles matches for a few weeks. And just during that time I was ready, that’s when I started dieting and I was trimming down, I was ready to like get in the ring and started rock and roll, whatever, and it’s just I’ve had time off, but just the way my body felt so good during that time, that makes me feel like I can go for a little bit longer. But I would love to do another two years, especially if I’m capable. Because I feel like I don’t have to do the things the young guys do. As long as I can go out there and be competitive and do my stuff, do the greatest hits of Matt Hardy, and sell for these people or take their stuff and then we’re good.”

On his thoughts as his AEW contract is coming to an end:

“What’s important to me, I think more than anything else right now, it’s just like the legacy of Jeff and Matt. Because we do get that we are mentioned in the conversation of the greatest tag team and we want to help younger teams, we want to build teams. But also you have to be put into to a position succeed where you do seem relevant, where you do seem like you’re at the top of your game, you can’t just go out there and get beat every single week. So it’s very important to me that we’re utilized in the right way so that when we do have a program with someone, and we build to a big match, and when they beat us, then it means something. Because if you just get beat without reason, it doesn’t really mean anything.” 

What do you need to add to your legacy?

“I think a legacy could be completed, like a good run as Tag Team Champions somewhere else where we have good quality matches, especially working with guys that we are smartly booked against. Because Jeff right now is in one of the best stages of his life that he’s ever been in throughout the entirety of his wrestling career. He’s just got everything together in his personal life, which is really good. And he’s also a maniac now that he’s in this position. He gets up every morning at 5 am and he does cardio for an hour. This is kind of what he does, and that’s his drill, but he’s also taking really good care of himself and he’s got it together. So I think between him and I kind of going through this midlife transformation and trying to be in the best shape that we can possibly be. I do think there’s legs in us being successful as a tag team, wherever it may be.”

On his WWE return not being Broken Matt Hardy:

“I worked really hard to try and be an in-between type figure, like still have these elements of Broken Matt and then still be like original Hardy Boyz Matt. Because like we had the thing that happened right before that with ROH where TNA was claiming the copyright deal and we had that little legal battle. So I didn’t go over the top but I still wanted to keep it consistent in case we could get back there and I wanted to go back there. I remember Triple H said something to me a little later on he said, Hey let’s do old-school Hardy Boyz. We can have a good run with that and I could see down the road and we get a Broken Matt Hardy run, we can revisit that again and he was definitely down for that. So I thought that was really cool.”

On the original plan for his AEW debut:

“The original plan was that we were still going to do a double reveal. It was going to be in Rochester, New York, Brodie Lee’s hometown. We were both going to reveal on that day, so that didn’t necessarily change. But it was going to be a deal where I joined the Elite and I was their fifth man, because Nick Jackson was out, and I was going to be in that first Blood and Guts with him, which ended up getting postponed for a year.”

On the All Out 2020 match with Sammy Guevara:

“It’s crazy, my memory is much better than you would probably guess. I just remember being so mad I couldn’t stand up when I was trying to get up. And I felt like you were super drunk or something. You know what I mean? Just like, stand up why can’t I stand up? But I didn’t realise I had been knocked out, which was crazy. So it is what it is.”

On appearing at a WWE Raw taping:

“So what happened there is my wife has a spa that she’s part of, and she gets a lot of stuff there and she goes and visits there a lot. So she has a real close friend in Raleigh. And she invited my wife and I just said, I’d probably rather not go, it’d be chaotic, especially if there’s people around. They say no, it’s a skybox, it is a private suite, whatever. And it’s like, okay, so like we walked in about nine o’clock. And then it turns out it was like open on the front or whatever. And then I was still sitting back up there and people went Matt Hardy is there! We start seeing people do delete! Then people started coming and the line formed. And then, I wanted to look friendly, and I took pictures with everybody and did that. And then we cut out, we stayed they’re about 80 minutes in home. And my wife was salivating over it. I think it was it was great content, she’s a content creator, she can put some good content up.”

What is Matt Hardy grateful for:

“My health, the chance I have been given and the health of my family.”

Maven Huffman (@mavenhuffman) is a professional wrestler and YouTuber. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in NYC to talk about the impact his YouTube channel has had on wrestling, other similar YouTube channels that have popped up since he starting having success, how he comes up with his video ideas, the mistakes he made while in WWE, the advice he got from The Rock before WrestleMania 18, what he’s learned from John Cena, whether or not he wants to return to WWE as a commentator or manager and much more.

Subscribe to Maven’s YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/@mavenkhuffman

Quote I’m thinking about: “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed.” – Napolean Hill

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On revolutionising wrestling YouTube:

“I don’t want to say that, we’re taking it a little too far. I don’t think I’ve revolutionised anything. I think I’ve opened people’s minds up to what the possibilities are. And again, there were many guys that had way bigger careers. Many guys that were way up in the food chain in the WWE higher than I was that are doing the same type of platform. But we’ve just showed that there’s a different way, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. And yeah, we’re taking advantage of that.”

On giving himself credit:

“Here’s what I will give us credit for, and it’s not me. It’s my partner, as well. He’s the he’s the brains behind the operation. Here’s what I will say. The same way Matt Cardona revolutionised indie wrestling, the same way he showed other people there’s just different ways of doing this. There’s other ways, you don’t have to be hired by one of the big three, to have a job in this business and to be successful and flourish. I think we’ve done that with YouTubing. Yeah, Stevie Richards, he’s a good friend of mine, we talk daily, multiple times a day. I think that Stevie and I are putting out just different material. It’s not a podcast. I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe the undertaker would do something more like a Cafe de Rene type of podcast, man. I can’t think of him taking anything [from me].”

On the Vince McMahon video:

“We would have done the Vince video even if what he’s embroiled in even, if that wasn’t the case. Now the Vince video was going to come out regardless. But it’s just, every time we go and we text each other potential possible topics. And you know, sometimes I’m like, Nah, I don’t think I can talk about this, speak to that. And I have fans comment do something on ECW do something on WCW. I wasn’t in ECW I wasn’t in WCW. So I am basically trying to speak to what I have experience in. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries, but we’re trying to do it in a way where we’re making YouTube videos first and foremost that just happened to deal with the wrestling topic.”

On returning to WWE in a non-wrestling capacity:

“I see it as well. And I can honestly say because people ask me, I haven’t gotten one call. If I get the call, I’m obviously going to listen to any opportunity that comes my way. I don’t care what the opportunity is, I’m going to listen to it. But now I haven’t heard anything from [WWE], I don’t know. Would I love to go back, because in one of my videos, I talked about how in 2020 I went and had an interview with them to do just that. And it just didn’t pan out because of COVID. I would love to have that opportunity again, but I’m also 47, If it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to sit and twiddle my thumbs and hope. I’m gonna keep I’m gonna keep moving. I learned a long time ago life there’s a couple of key things about life. And that is you got to keep moving no matter if it’s good or bad. Keep plugging, keep moving, put one foot in front of the other, and just keep charging. If I sit and wait for a call from WWE that might not come, then I’m opening myself up to let myself down. And I refuse to do that. Because I’m already, if you would have told me a year ago, that you’re going to be a YouTuber, I would have laughed in your face. But look where we’re at now. So if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then other things will present itself.” 

On sabotaging himself in WWE:

“I was just young during my time my first run in WWE. I was young. I was more interested in all the things that wrestling gave me rather than all the things I could give wrestling if that makes sense. I was more interested in what me and Randy were doing after the shows. I was more interested in the people, what can you do for me? Not what how can I make the show better? That was an afterthought. I’ll go out and wrestle my match. You know, but what am I doing afterwards? Or how much money am I going to make in this? And I just went to I went about it with the completely wrong mindset. I didn’t try to get better, if I could go back and slap young Maven I would have been like yeah, get better. Look at these guys that you emulate. You obviously have the talent to be here. Now. Just put a little bit more into it and actually see what you could pull out of yourself.” 

On John Cena:

“I got a lot of heat from people when my first ratings video came out, people thought I was burying John. I don’t think John thinks John was a great technical wrestler, but what I will give that man credit for two things. One, there’s no harder worker in the world than him. No one deserves success more than John. I could not be happier for the success he’s gotten. I’m not learning Mandarin, I can barely speak English. Two, he could teach a class on marketing and you know, just reinventing yourself. Like, look at what he’s been able to do just from 2002 through now. And I mean, he’s a full-fledged bonafide movie star.”

On previous heat with Test:

“I took Test’s spot in WrestleMania 18. The Taker spot you know happened and then they have a couple of months later was Mania. Test was supposed to wrestle in that match. And that’s a hell of a payday that he was missing out on that I took.”

On WrestleMania 18:

“Oh my God, the long ramp. That was the longest ramp. Also, what The Rock said to me beforehand. I was nervous and it’s probably about an hour before I go out. I used to think it before every match. I used to literally stand in the back and have that feeling in the pit of my stomach and be like I hate this. Why did you pick this as a career? I don’t want to do this anymore because I was so nervous. But then the moment my music hit and I went through the curtain, it all went away instantly. But this was WrestleMania so I’m obviously terrified. And Rocky sees me and he comes he’s like and just like the epitome of cool. But he’s like Mave! I’m like, Yes, he’s gonna give me the secret. He’s gonna give me the special sauce. And as deadpan as you can imagine. He goes Mave, no one’s expecting much out of you just do the best you can and turns around and I’m like, what? And he turned and he turned and you know, that smile. And he gave me a wink. But that was the levity that was needed at that. Yeah, like, just listen dude, we’re out here to entertain go out there and have fun.” 

On messing up his spot at WrestleMania 18:

“It wasn’t it was not one just a spot. I completely. That’s me missing the trashcan. Yeah, that is me missing the trash can. I’ve dissected that, I threw him in the trash can. And then the last minute, he underestimated how high I could jump and the fact, I should have told him, You know, I can dunk pretty easy. Keep it up at your head. And he puts it down at more like chest level. Then I went over top of it.” 

What is Maven grateful for?

“New opportunities, hope and good people.”

Mike Santana is a professional wrestler known for his time in AEW and TNA Wrestling. He was one half of the tag team Proud N Powerful with Ortiz in AEW. Mike sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about his decision to ask for his release from AEW, what led to him and Ortiz splitting up, turning down WWE to sign with AEW in 2019, never winning the AEW tag team titles with Proud N Powerful, joining LAX in TNA, going to rehab and being sober for over a year, working with Chris Jericho in The Inner Circle, his future plans as a singles wrestler and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “People pray for the cake. Then the universe gives them the batter, oil, icing, a pan, an oven and they get frustrated and leave the kitchen. Let that sink in. Sometimes you have everything right in front of you, but how bad do you want it?”

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On leaving AEW:

“Like I was telling you, my decision to leave AEW came well before my injury. I got hurt in June of 2022 and at that point, I was just dealing with so much in my life personally and professionally at work, and I was just burnt out. My contract was coming up in September, I believe. And I had already made the decision that I’m not going to re-sign, and I just needed to take a break and deal with the things that I needed to deal with. And yeah, so then the injury happened. So, a lot of that was going on during that time. 

Did AEW want to re-sign you?

“I’m not sure. But I wasn’t really actively pursuing it, the time was coming up. Like I said, it was June when I got hurt. Our contract was up August I think it. And I wasn’t really like actively pursuing [and saying] ‘Oh, are you guys going to re-sign us?’ Because already in my head, I was like, Yeah, I need to get away. I need to take a break. But I’m sure something would have worked out and they probably would have re-signed us. But yeah, man. During that time, it was a very dark time for me.”

What was going on?

“Unhappiness personally in my life, outside of wrestling. And then professionally, things weren’t really going good. I was miserable to say the least, I was unhappy. My partnership was falling apart. Things at work just like, a lot of things were just very stagnant. And I’m the type that, I’m a go-getter and I’m very goal-oriented. And again, in this business, I treat it as such. I treat it as a business and if you’re not striving to be at the top and be a champ and grow yourself then what are you doing? And that’s with anything I feel. But I was also dealing with my addiction issues during that time. At that point, they were getting pretty bad. And then the injury, when the injury happened, I remember it happened and laying there in the ring, and I was like, damn, I got hurt, but thank God I got hurt, it was a weird time.”

On knowing when it was time to get clean:

“I knew it was getting bad because I wasn’t coming home. And I would be out for days. Christmas was coming up and every year my daughter always wrote her Christmas list to Santa, and in her list, one of the only things on her list was that she wanted daddy to stop. Then my grandmother wrote me a letter. And my grandmother has always been a saviour of mine in my life. And growing up, I had a pretty rough childhood. And she showed me that there was more to life than just trauma and a lot of the bullsh*t I was going through. And she’s always been a saviour of mine. Seeing that I was causing her pain, especially after my dad passed away. Then my daughter, and her mom, it was like, when you’re an addict, you think you’re just hurting yourself and you don’t see the others around you and they’re hurting.”

On thinking about what was next in wrestling:

“I mean, at that time, back when I got hurt, I was just thinking I need to get out of here. I need to get away from this, I need to figure my life out. I wasn’t even thinking, Alright, once I get everything situated, I’ll come back, I’ll do what I got to do. I was just so overwhelmed with everything and so unhappy and dealing with [everything]. Because when my dad passed away, I’ve always lived my life in survival mode, it was something I just got used to. So my entire life was just like constant guard up, constant just surviving day by day. And there was a lot of things that I went through as a kid and experience that I held inside because I wasn’t really taught to speak about these things. My mom, you know, because of the things that were going on. And for her to protect us and make sure that everything would be okay. She always would be like whatever happens at home stays at home. We don’t talk about this. So I grew up with that. I was like whatever I deal with, I deal with on my own and keep it pushing. I held on to a lot of things from my childhood and things that I never really dealt with and spoke about. And when that stuff builds up, it’s like a soda bottle. When you shake it up, eventually something will happen and really explode. And that’s what happened when my dad died. My dad died and everything just came to the surface.”

On never becoming AEW Tag Team Champions:

“Your guess is as good as mine. I will be real, I’m gonna shoot straight with you. The reason I was given was that there were too many other people fighting for that spot. And that p*ssed me off more than anything. I understand that when you get to a certain level in this business, if you don’t fight for yourself, if you don’t advocate for yourself, you’re gonna get nowhere. And that was a big part of my fight within my team. And when I heard that, it just validated everything that I was like, alright.”

Was there ever talk of giving you the titles:

“There was in the beginning. It was right before the pandemic. We were feuding with The Bucks, we were ending our feud with The Bucks. And they both told us, they were like, hey, after this, you’re gonna go and start working a programme with Frankie and Scorpio, at the time they were still champs. And then you guys are going to grab the belts from them and whatever. So that was the week of New Year’s Eve. And then we were supposed to have a match New Year’s Day, and then start the programme with them. We were gonna go into some promos. And then that morning, I woke up and got the call that my dad passed away. So I had to leave. So I left and then I was gone for two weeks. And in those two weeks, everything changed.” 

On the fallout with Ortiz:

“Well, we were together for 10 years, I think. And when you’re together with someone that long, it’s like a married couple. Right? There’s good, there’s bad. And I think, honestly, for the most part, it was like, I think we just grew apart over time. And also our visions for the tag team and its future and, its success, we weren’t on the same page when it came to a lot of those things. And it is what it is everybody has their thoughts. Everybody goes about things differently. But yeah, like I told you, I’m a go-getter. I like to create opportunities for myself, I like, I’m more than willing to fight for our spot. But also, I’m not going to be the only one.”

Did you want to do more stuff on your own or more as a team?

“I wanted more for the tag team. And that was the main thing. And again, it just wasn’t, how do I say it? Our visions just were not the same for the most part. And then that’s when I was like, alright, well this is going to drive me crazy. I refuse to be miserable. So I think I want to start doing more single stuff, start challenging myself as a performer start growing. I’m not one that likes to stay stagnant. And it wasn’t met with a lot of support. And it created like a friction. And I was like, man, you’re my brother. And that for me, it was like, alright, we can’t do this anymore.” 

Is there still heat there?

“I wouldn’t say [so]. I mean, for me, I don’t hold any [grudges]. I told him after the match Yo, I hope the best for you, hope you do well and there is no hard feelings. I hold no hate no grudge, nothing. I’m in a different place in my life in general. And I’m good. I’m chillin’.”

Was there ever interest from WWE?

“Oh, yeah. When our contracts were coming up with TNA there was interest with AEW and WWE. We had spoken to WWE extensively and they made it very hard for us to turn them down. But our thing was, so Cody was the one who hired us right and we had already before anything we had spoken a while back and we had giving Cody our word before, and our word is everything. So by that point, they asked, Hey, have you signed anything? And we’re like, no but we gave our word and we would like to stick to that. At the time we both had young children and we wanted to see them grow up and the schedule was much easier with AEW. Plus the opportunity to be part of history, be a part of something that was brand new and fresh and be at the ground level. And honestly, like even now, I could honestly say I was part of that legacy and part of that history no matter what. People could always go back to the very first show, the very first main event. My name is there so I’m happy with that.”

On possibly going to WWE now:

“I’ve had some discussions. I’ve been very open with everybody. Right now is just going where I’m going to be able to grow the most. I don’t want to just be another guy on the roster. I already did that. I want to be part of something, I want to do something special. Thankfully, I’ve been smart with money and I’m not hurting and I’m taking my time with things and you know, I just want to have fun.” 

Would you go back to TNA? 

“Everything is on the table, and they’re doing great. They are they are doing amazing at TNA.”

On Cody Rhodes:

“It’s funny because now he’s doing the whole finish the story thing. That’s real. And I always knew that there was a lot more that he needed to do. I knew that AEW wasn’t going to be the end-all-be-all for Cody. I give him a lot of praise man. So I found out my dad passed away when we were at Daily’s Place, I flipped my sh*t. I got the call and I go outside and I’m flipping my sh*t. I’m tossing guardrails and I was having a breakdown. Brandi found me. And Brandi is like, what the hell? She snatched me up. I’m like bawling my eyes out and I tell her what happened. And she’s like, come with me right now. And she puts me in a room and she’s like, stay here do not move. And she went and got Cody and Cody came and sat with me, and he cried with me.”

What is Mike Santana grateful for?

“God, my family and the strength I still have despite everything I have been through.”

Sam Roberts (@notsam) is a broadcaster, podcast host and WWE personality. Chris Van Vliet sits down with him at the NotSam Studios in New York City to talk about how wrestling has entered a new era and what it should be called, the exact moment this era began, how The Rock’s return has changed the landscape of WWE, how social media promos play a factor in TV storylines, Cody Crybabies, our predictions for WrestleMania 40, the best and worst WrestleMania of all time, his favorite movie starring a wrestler, dissecting The Fast & Furious franchise and much more!

Subscribe to NotSam Wrestling on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotsamWrestling

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On balancing life and work:

“Honestly, sleeping is not great. There are days where it’s like, you’ll find days in the week where you’re like, that’s gonna be the night that I can sleep. I mean, after the Australia pay-per-view, when we did the pre-show from Stanford, it was that Saturday night. Because the pre-show was on at 4 am, call time was 1:30. So then we did a Bump post-show after the pay-per-view. So, I probably went to sleep at like 10 o’clock that night, and then slept for about 11 hours, probably. Except, I have a newborn. And I didn’t hear that baby. Thank God I have an attentive wife. Because I was like, that’s where my body was like, No, you’re gonna be unconscious for the next 11 hours. And then we’ll catch up after.”

On prioritising:

“That’s the other thing, it becomes difficult to prioritise the things that are being done in self-interest. And I don’t mean that in like a bad way. I mean, you’re doing that to maintain yourself at your peak, physical, whatever. But when you have kids and a wife and you’re now doing this together, you can’t go well, it’s very important that I eat every three hours. I’m gonna need to take a break from that so I can have my meal here and my meal there. It’s like, you can’t justify it anymore.”

On watching wrestling:

“You have to be very honest, I think with yourself when it’s like, Yes, I am doing this thing. Like, I’m rewatching the rock’s promo from SmackDown. And it is actually essential. I know, I’m gonna have to I want to get on and do like a monologue. It’s gonna be like 25 minutes. And I want to have every detail in my head, like, I want to really be able to talk about this with that level of expertise. Then there are other things where it’s like, well, if I can watch that Rock promo for work, then I should also be watching this movie for work. And it’s like no, you’re watching the movie for pleasure. You have to constantly keep yourself in check. I think the trick is like, can I justify this to my wife? Like she’s like having a trainer at the gym like she’s there to hold you accountable? Can I explain to her why it’s so important that I watch 90 Day Fiance? No, of course not. That’s absurd.”

On the current wrestling landscape generating new fans similar to how The Attitude Era did:

“And you could say the same thing for Cody I think too. It’s been really like, one of my favourite parts about this era of wrestling has been meeting new wrestling fans, because that’s I feel like how you know that things are really getting hot again. without even realising it. I went years without ever meeting a new fan. I met fans, but I never met a new fan. I met fans that have been like, oh, yeah, I’ve been watching for years. Oh, me, too. Let’s be friends. But never like, Oh, I’m a hardcore fan today. And I started watching eight months ago. And that’s happening all the time. Now, even when I’m doing my podcast. My podcast is such an inside baseball nerdy, like you have to be a hardcore wrestling fan, to listen to my podcast. And then you have to be an even more hardcore fan to email into the podcast for the email segment. And then I’m getting emails from people that are like I started watching at WrestleMania last year. And it’s like that’s how you know there’s so much going on right now that it’s brought people in over months to become that level of fan.”

On The Rock’s return: 

“It’s also not Hollywood Rock, which people are like, Oh, Hollywood Rock is back. No Hollywood Rock wore a black leather vest. It’s a different deal. It was a different evolution of the character to me. Yeah, this is like, Wouldn’t Rocky Maivia was a white meat babyface. And people started chanting Rocky sucks. Rocky sucks. The Rock came out and he was The Rock and he was disrespectful to the fans. And he spoke in the third person. He started wearing those shirts, and he wore sunglasses all the time. And what happened all these years later, The Rock comes out as a white meat baby face to take on Roman Reigns. And what do people start chanting? Rocky sucks. Rocky sucks. And what happens? The exact same thing. This is what happens when you chant Rocky sucks. This is the monster that you create.” 

On letting storylines play out:

“Yeah, that’s where let them cook comes from. That’s what I mean. Just let them cook. And that doesn’t mean necessarily, don’t worry, there’s an exact scientific plan here. And they’re going to follow it to the letter and it’s going to wow us all. It’s just these are people who know how to use the ingredients that they have in front of them. So even if there is a misstep along the way, and who knows if there was or not. That’s the beauty. I mean, we don’t know if this was a pivot, or if this was the plan all along because both theories to me make sense. But by the time we get to the destination, it’s going to be like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, there were people after WrestleMania 39. Cody loses I’m done, they don’t know what they’re doing. This is so stupid. Cody’s finished. Cody is finished after this. How could you do this? Cody is hotter than he’s ever, ever, ever been. And I mean that to me is what you have to look at. And I do think that the Triple H era and the creative around that regime, I mean, it’s earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt. You could say before, like, oh, no they screwed this up. They screwed that up. They screwed this up. But this isn’t that. Yeah, this is a different day.”

How long will The Rock be around for?

“That’s a great question, because and I’m optimistic because he’s on the board now. Right? Like he’s a part of TKO and a very strong, important part of the company now. So I feel like and I also think that that’s what makes it fun that it hasn’t been said, We know he’s gonna be on SmackDown three weeks in a row. Right. But it hasn’t been said. Is he just in for WrestleMania season? Is he in for longer than he’s gonna pop in and pop out more often? We don’t know. But we can speculate wildly now. More so than ever because he is attached, which he hasn’t been attached in a long time.” 

On Roman Reigns vs. The Rock never being announced:

“It didn’t have a graphic. That’s my thing. The graphic, I’m all about the graphic. When you show me a graphic, it’s for real. And they never had a Rock versus Roman Reigns graphic for WrestleMania. Then the second press conference was over, which was great. But the second the press conference was over. There was a Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes graphic. I said, Okay, that’s a match. I saw a staredown between the rock and Roman Reigns. I saw Cody leave the ring looking not happy. No graphic. This tag team match. The challenge has been made. I think the tag team match is happening. I’ve thought it was happening a week ago, like going into the Elimination Chamber. I said, You know what? I think the tag team matches the way to go. But as of this recording, no graphic.”

On what will define this era:

“I say that this era, and I talk about it all the time. Rule number three, there’s three rules on Not Sam Wrestling. It’s watch the product, speculate wildly, and rule number three is essential to this era, which is everything counts. And it hasn’t always been that way. Everything counts. When The Rock says this at a press conference. It counts. It counts for the story when Seth Rollins is standing there and he’s not even announced as part of this thing, but he’s a part of this thing. It counts you can’t discount it you can’t just go like what’s that’s now gonna fight Drew. Well okay, but that doesn’t justify it, why did Seth and Cody happen? Why did Seth have Cody’s back? Like, why is all this happening? If he’s just gonna go fight Drew? Well, no, because everything counts. So now that has to be answered too, as well.” 

On nostalgia:

“When TNA does a pay-per-view and the brand is back, I’m like that rules. When Nic Nemeth shows up and it’s just this moment and you’re like, that’s awesome. You don’t need to go, but are they going to be able to capitalise on it? What are we going to do from here? What is the difference between TNA and impact? I don’t know. But what do you feel right now is cool. It’s cool to see like, Sting coming down from the rafters. That’s awesome. On his last Dynamite one more time Sting comes down from the ceiling, that rules. I mean, those are the moments where you’re just like, that’s the point of being a fan when you could just go like, that’s awesome. And you know what else is cool? Two days later, The Rock is gonna be out to SmackDown. And I know, I got more amazing stuff just happening. We’re getting hit with it multiple times a week.”

On Cody Rhodes:

“You’ll love this. I was in Stamford watching SmackDown. And we do the SmackDown Low Down right after SmackDown, it’s a half hour show. What we watch is a truck feed of the show. So we’re not watching on Fox. I mean, it’s live but it’s whatever. We taped the whole show. And we came back into the room to just grab our stuff and go home. And on the truck feed. Cody was still around the ring signing things for everybody in the front row. Still there as the ring crew is just sitting there like can we take this ring apart? But he’s there like putting in the hours and that’s why one of the reasons why people are interested. I mean, when was the last time that you recall the good guys got cheered, bad guys got booed and adults and children were cheering for the same person.”

On his first wrestling interview:

“Okay, so my first wrestling interview that was like a wrestling interview. So I was working for this radio show called Opie and Anthony. And it was like a kind of shock jock comedy show. And I was like a lowly intern slash associate producer, right, like one level above an intern. They knew I was a big wrestling fan and everything. And so we’d have WWE guests come in. And one of the WWE PR guys who was a fan of the show, and I became really great friends with. It was WrestleMania 23. He goes, Are you going to the press conference? I go, it’s not open to fans. He says, You can go to the press conference. You work in media. I go, really? Because, yeah, obviously. That’s who goes. I went to I never even thought of it. And once the press conference. And so like I started going to stuff like that and getting content for the purpose of rebroadcasting on their radio show. And then sometimes it’d be like, I don’t know what I’m going to do here that fits into their radio show. Or I get a little bit for their radio show and also go I just want to talk to these wrestlers about wrestling. Like I’m just a fan. So I did it. I was also started asking people what’s the haps? I got a couple of clips for them, but it was probably the WrestleMania 24 press conference was the first time that I really did like almost a medley of interviews that I put up on my YouTube channel, which back then YouTube channels were really just like a, an unorganised toy box where you would just upload clips. You know what I mean? There was no rhyme or reason. So yeah, that was one of the early ones that I put up. And slowly but surely, an audience started to find it and it was very little, it was like me and Peter Rosenberg. And that was it. Very little wrestling content going up on YouTube, especially interviews. And I was like, oh, when I do this stuff. I can get clips for the radio show but also put stuff on my YouTube channel where just the wrestling audience, so find it. And then it was like, oh, there are wrestlers in town, I can interview this wrestler and just upload the whole interview onto my YouTube channel, but slowly, and it just built and built and built.”

What is Sam Roberts grateful for?

“My family, my health and Roman Reigns.”

AJ Francis (@ajfrancis410) is a professional wrestler signed to TNA and is best known as Top Dolla in WWE. He is also a musician and a retired NFL player. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood to talk about how his NFL career lead him to signing with WWE, training with D-Von Dudley, being part of Hit Row in WWE, his wrestling persona being inspired by Suge Knight, partying with Tom Brady when he played for the New England Patriots, signing with TNA and making his debut at Hard To Kill, his music career and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “You are not your past. You are bigger than your past and you are better than your past. Let it be part of who you’ve become, but don’t you dare let it define you.” — Lexi Ryan

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On life after WWE:

“So I live in Orlando. Saturday I drove from Orlando to Tampa. I stole the show with Joey Janela at GCW. People have been talking about it all weekend. Shout out to Joey, great match, great opponent. That night went to Battle Rumble with Mega Ran, DNA, Max Caster was there, Lio Rush was there. It’s this really cool Hip Hop wrestling show where we all perform songs and then we did a cypher at the end. It’s been getting a lot of traction. Mega Ran is gonna take it on the road. I’m gonna be doing a lot of stuff with him, that was also in Tampa, same night, double booked same night. Then didn’t even have time to sleep. Because that same night, at 5 am, I fly out of Tampa to Sacramento. I land in Sacramento, go straight to a signing. I do a signing in Sacramento, watch the Rumble. People pay these like VIP things to not just see me but we all watched the Rumble together. It was a great time, great people. I can’t wait to go back, loved my time there and then went to my hotel, played EA Sports FC till about three in the morning when I had to leave for my next flight which was 6am. Fly to LA at 6 am, 7:30 took a nap. After my nap I got picked up, went and kicked it with the great people at Jimmy’s World Order. Did the show with them and a signing with them. Then after that went back to the hotel, played EA Sports FC again, you know, before I passed out and finally got 10 hours sleep which is more than I got in the previous four days combined. And now And then I woke up to a text from you saying I’m 15 minutes away.” 

On being busier than ever: 

“Yeah, and I’m making more money too. It’s crazy because like, I made more money this weekend that I made at any time, any weekend. Yeah, it will surprise people, it actually surprises me. It’s at the point where like, I loved my time in WWE, but they decided to do something else and go another direction. But there’s not just one place in this world you can make money. And so now I’m using the fact that I have these connections already in the wrestling industry. I have a fan base of people that want to see me. People flew me from Royal Rumble weekend to Sacramento in LA just to have pictures and sign autographs take pictures. I’m saying it’s a great time and I’m enjoying my time being able to do the things that I love, like going to GCW, going to TNA, being able to do all the other things that I’m going to be doing this year that people don’t even know is coming yet.”

On his music career:

“So I just released my new single We Outside with DJ Whoo Kid. Great song. It’s my entrance music. You know, we’re working on the music video now. We did the music video for the TNA show, but really it was all a set up just to get the Joe Hendry thing. It was so funny to see people’s reaction online like, ah, TNA is back to trash because they’re doing music videos. Why are they signing AJ Francis? In the meantime, it’s all a work, the video was never gonna play longer than 25 seconds, right? But because it works so well, because you can play wrestling fans like fiddles, like, you know how they’re gonna react to these things. If you go back and watch the clip, TNA did it on purpose. A lot of times when you play a music video, you like overlay the audio, so that you don’t hear the audience. So you’re going to hear the video, but the video plays for like 25 seconds and you hear the audience booing the entire time. Because you that’s what you want. You want them so that when Joe Hendry’s face appears on the screen, they’re like yeah” Because that’s wrestling.”

On signing with TNA:

“I trained at the Team 3D Academy when I first started wrestling, so I had a relationship with Bully Ray already. One of the very best friends that I’ve made in this industry, he’s like my second dad really is Mark Henry. He looks like my dad too. He looks like my Daddy, looks like my dad’s next-level evolved Pokemon. So I have very good relationship with him. And they both also do Busted Open Radio with Tommy Dreamer. And because of that, I also have a relationship with Tommy, and I’m talking to Tommy and Bully about going to TNA. When I knew I was leaving WWE, I wanted to go to TNA. Honestly I wanted to go to Impact, but then when I found out it was going to be TNA, I was like, Oh, I gotta go to TNA. I was knocking on Tommy’s door. My agent AB, he does a lot of work with Swerve and other people too. He talked to Tommy a lot and talked to Scott for me and we set it up. So we have a very good relationship now. And it was funny because people, thanks to guys like Dave Meltzer who just say things without facts or any actual backup or just innuendos and just lie on my name and perpetuate these myths that I’m a terrible person, when not a single person to ever come on record to say, Hey, this is the thing that he did. What is the thing that I’ve ever done? I don’t know. I’m accused of being a bad person. And when people ask why it’s, oh, he’s hard to work with. Oh, he’s hard to work with. Well, nobody who’s ever actually worked with me thinks it’s so hard to work with. AJ Styles doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. Rey Mysterio doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. Legado doesn’t think I’m more to work with. Pete Dunne doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. The Usos don’t think I’m hard to work with. Rhea Ripley doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. Naomi doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. Paul Heyman doesn’t think I’m hard to work with. Michael Hayes doesn’t think so. So who are these people? But because of that, you have these guys like Tommy telling people at TNA bring him in, we’ll see how it works. If he is hard to work with like they say he is, then we just won’t bring him back. Scott’s like, okay, cool. I meet everybody at TNA. I do the show in Vegas. And they’re like, Wow, you’re great to work with. Brian Myers goes on his show with Matt Cardona, who I hate, and he goes, Man, AJ was great to work with. He’s hard-working. Scott, I have a conversation with him at TNA. He’s like, man, you’re good to be around, the boys like you, the girls like you, you’re not causing any problems. You’re hard-working, you’re on time, because I love the energy you bring. So it went from, we’ll see how it works with TNA. Maybe we’ll do one day in Vegas to now I’m at TNA for the foreseeable future. I’m not signed anywhere. Now, that’s not saying that I wouldn’t sign with TNA. I’m not saying that at all. It’s just like, I’m at a point now where I just got out of a pretty tough relationship with WWE. I loved my time there, but apparently, they didn’t love my time there. So I’m at the point now where like, do I want to be locked in anywhere? I don’t know. That was my thought process for the entire time. But now that I’ve been at TNA, I’ve had such a great time at TNA, and I love the people at TNA, and I love what we’re doing at TNA. I would not be opposed to it at all. But that’s another conversation down the road long-term thing. Like, that’s not a conversation that we’re having right now. Down the road, could TNA be my permanent home? That would be great. I’d love that. I love working there. I go there and I have fun. I love being around that environment.” 

On the first WWE release:

“The first time I got released I personally I don’t know. Once again, nobody’s ever told me. No one’s ever been like, this is what happened. They always make it seem like oh, this is just business right? And budget cuts, that’s what they always try to make it seem but it never feels like that. The first time I got released. It felt like I got released because I stood up for B-Fab. Like that’s what it felt like. It felt like because B-Fab got released, because what happened was when they were doing a bunch of call ups. They were getting ready for the draft in 2021. John Laurinaitis came to the PC, and they would have shows and they would just have him sit and watch acts because John Laurinaitis and Vince they weren’t watching NXT. I’m sorry, this is a newsflash but they don’t watch. They didn’t watch the next day. So they didn’t know anybody on NXT. So they would literally come to the PC and like, see the talent in the PC and oh, okay, that’s cool. Well, I wonder what I can do with him. So B-Fab had already planned a vacation that she was going on, right? They sprung a show up on us on a Wednesday, they’re like, Oh, we got a PC show Saturday for John Laurinaitis, but B-Fab was already out of town. So she was gonna change her stuff to get back and she wasn’t wrestling anyway. It was a singles match me versus Mace. Swerve, and Tehuti were there. So the first time that John Laurinaitis ever lays eyes on hit row, it’s just me, Tehuti and Swerve. He doesn’t even know B-Fab is there with the crew, which in my opinion, she was the most integral part of the crew. Because, let’s say you want to take the four original members of Hit Row, and you want to get rid of one of them? Well, if you get rid of me, you still have a beautiful woman valet who can also wrestle and you got a good tag team. If you get rid of Swerve, it’s a beautiful woman valet that can wrestle and you have a tag team. If you get rid of Ashante Thee Adonis, it’s still a beautiful woman valet and you got a cool tag team. But if you get rid of B-Fab, we’re just Hip Hop New Day. We were not different, we’re just a three man group. She was the special element plus she raps. She’s sexy. I go places where people see me because they see how big I am. But they stare at her. She got released because whatever reason they released her for. I feel like John Laurinaitis didn’t think she was a necessary part of Hit Row. Because when he saw Hit Row, she wasn’t with us. So when she got released, I went to Laurinaitis and Vince, and was like, Yo, I feel like you shouldn’t have done that. I feel like she added a lot to the group. I feel like, yes, we can still do this and it’ll still work. But I feel like you shouldn’t have done that. And that conversation is somehow I’m an asshole three years later. Mind you, she’s still in WWE right now. So clearly I was right. Clearly I was correct.”

On coming back to WWE:

“Then I get brought back because Hunter gets the power. And Hunter recognises the wrong of the situation as well. So Hunter calls me and says, When can I have you? And I was like tomorrow if you booked a flight, I’m ready right now. I was like, but I don’t want to come back if I’m not coming back with the rest of the Row. I don’t know if me saying that is the reason he decided to bring them back too or if he was already going to bring us all back. But I said that to him. So then two days later, we set up a call with all of us and Hunter, laid out the plan, and then we re-debuted the week after that. And that’s when we came out in North Carolina. And it was a great time and the crowd reacted crazy. But then like after that, like there was never really a plan for Hit Row. We would pitch ideas and 90% of times they wouldn’t use them. And a lot of times when they did use them like it was cool and it worked.”

On creative plans being denied:

“I wanted to do the diss songs, obviously, like the diss song went viral with The Young Bucks. Like the songs went viral a lot of times I did them but they never put them on TV. So we did one. Finally, they reached out to us. And they’re like, We want you to diss The OC. I’m like finally. Like finally so I literally mind you they tell me this on Wednesday at like 10 pm and my flight is Thursday at noon. So in about three hours I write record, shoot the video, edit the video. So I posted it Friday morning at noon. Across all platforms, it gets almost 2 million views by 8 pm. So in eight hours, by the start of SmackDown, it has almost 2 million views. So clearly it worked, the plan worked. So much so that we had the match with The OC. Crowds red hot behind it, the match is great. AJ Styles at the game gives me a phenomenal forearm. Everything goes great, couldn’t ask better. That night is why me and AJ Styles are so much cooler now because he had never actually worked with me. And you know, he heard all the same rumblings about everybody else talks about me. And then that night, he’s like, man, you’re great. I’m so happy we got to work with you. So I can’t wait to work with you again. And we became good friends out today. I call him Big AJ, he calls me little AJ. It’s hilarious. I know. So we do that, it goes great. And then nothing like nothing ever came from that storyline. We never brought it back up. We could have did like a match between B-Fab and Michin. We could have did singles matches with AJ, we could have ran back tag team matches. We never did anything because there was never a plan for Hit Row.”

On his final WWE match:

“There’s just no point in doing a chokeslam when you’re losing the match in three minutes. My last match, which was with LA Knight, go watch it, great match. It’s three minutes long. It’s incredible. The crowds go crazy all the time. If I give LA Knight a chokeslam in this match and a three-minute match and he kicks out my chokeslam is terrible. So why would I even think about trying to give him a chokeslam? And why would he want to take that bump? This match is three minutes long. My longest singles match in WWE is literally that match with LA Knight. I never had time to do anything like that. And then my other long matches were tag team matches. So there’s at least three sometimes it was a fatal four way tag match, sometimes seven other people in the match that all have to be able to do things, you can’t always get your stuff in. People see me do the two-man move the three-man move where I carry three people around the ring. Nobody else has never been able to do that successfully in WWE, or any other high promotion I’ve ever seen. No one gives me my credit it’s the greatest feat of strength in the history of wrestling. Let’s talk about it. The only other one you can count you can say Cena with with Big Show and Edge. That’s cool, too. But he also didn’t carry them around the ring. Mark Henry is a legit well, at the time, like 400 pounds. That’s less than three people. I’m just I’m just calling it like it is. Love Mark. Also, he’s my second dad. He’s also the strongest man ever. I’m not saying I’m stronger than Mark Henry. Mark Henry could have done that move. Big Show also could have done that. But there’s a lot of people that could have done that move. I’m just saying I’m the only one that has.”

On the diss track gimmick being too similar to John Cena:

“The one good thing is that Paul Heyman used to stand up for me a lot. And Paul Heyman would say they can’t see the difference between what John Cena and Max Caster and what you’re doing. He said this is like, not comedy, but kayfabe rap. It’s rap within the wrestling room. Yours is like actual, livable, breathable hip hop. And he said because of that it makes it more real. So if you’re not into that you can’t understand it. Do they not want me to do it? No, they had no problem with me doing it. They just wouldn’t go and put them on TV. There’s so many times Paul Heyman would text me, man, this should be how we start the show tonight. I would send him a video, I sent him one I did for the Christmas show. He was like this should start the show tonight. I did it, sent them so many different ones that we did. And mind you I never get my flowers, Hit Row never gets our flowers. When LA Knight had that 2 million view video on YouTube in 24 hours from the Madison Square Garden dark show we were in the segment with him. No one ever gave us our flowers for that. I don’t know how many times that happened on WWE, not just with LA Knight, but just on WWE YouTube since, but we never got flowers for that. The only match that that was promoted for the Christmas show. That’s one of the highest-watched shows in SmackDown history. And I think the highest-watched pre-taped show in WWE history. The only promoted match for that was Usos vs. Hit Row for the Tag Team Titles, we never got flowers for that. But Paul Heyman would always show me love. I would send him my videos, and he would love them. I would send other people my videos and they would love them, but they just would never put them on TV. And then sometimes I would make videos we would make videos, Hit Row, and we would send it to the creative team. And they’d be like this is great. We’re gonna try to put this on the show and then something would happen I don’t know who, I don’t know why, but it just wouldn’t be a part of the show. And it happened with LA Knight. We did a whole segment, people don’t remember this, but LA Knight was a heel, even though he was getting babyface reactions everywhere he went. He was a heel until he crossed paths with Hit Row. That’s what made him officially a babyface, go check the timeline. And it started with that night in Madison Square Garden. And then he ended up having a match with Ashante two weeks later, and he had a match with me two weeks after that, which is my last match in WWE. I had the idea to set up our match, I made a diss song that was dope to try to set up a match with LA Knight because we were already gonna have a match, but like add a little juice to it so that when he eventually beats my ass, which is what happened, there’s like, oh, yeah, LA Knight  So they loved it. But then they were like, Oh, well, we don’t know if we can air some of the things you said. One of the things I said was my line was, they say you biting off Stone Cold and The Rock, but you did it wrong. You’re clearly biting off Little John. That was the line. And they were like, Oh, we don’t know if we can say he’s trying to be like Stone Cold and The Rock. And then two weeks later, The Miz said all that. So it’s like, Do you not know or do you not want me to say it? You see, I’m saying like, it’s cool. You can literally come out and be like, we don’t want you to be the person to say this. And I’ll be like, respect. I know my role. My role in WWE was to be the class clown punching bag. Do I think that anyone who actually was saying these things to me, in character would ever say that to my face in real life? No. These fans? No, they never would. Because I’m playing a role. I’m playing a character. I’m cool with that. But don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes and make it seem like, Oh, well. We don’t know if we could say that and then let somebody else do it. Like two weeks later.” 

What is AJ Francis grateful for?

“To be alive, to be able to support my family and to get to do what I love.”

Former WWE Superstars Emma (@realtenilledashwood) and Riddick Moss (@themikerallis) are professional wrestlers known for their time in WWE. They sit down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood to talk about the recent wedding, being released from WWE, their plans now they are not under contract, their new travel YouTube channel called “Where To Next, Honey?”, Mike talks about the scary moment when he got dropped on his head in the ring by Drew McIntyre, being renamed from Riddick Moss to Madcap Moss, what Emma learned from working with Santino Marella, her time in TNA, cold plunging and much more!

On life after WWE:

Tenille Dashwood: “Well, I will say that I was that person the last time I got released, I literally had everything lined up. I had new entrance music I had tours planned. And I went and wrestled for, the top companies around the world. I did, like different countries too, everything. So I definitely have been there. And I think this time, it was more of that thought of now let’s do all the other things that we haven’t been able to do, like, the new businesses were starting. And all of those things. It was like an opportunity and like a positive in that sense.”

On what they are doing now:

Mike Rallis: “So there’s a few of them. Yeah, I mean, because there really is it kind of was like, when we first looked at it as like, oh, we want to do this, and this. And then a week later is like actually, I kind of want to do that too. And it got to the point where it’s like screw it, let’s just try it all. And so, for me, I mean, the YouTube series we’ve already mentioned. Then there’s The Rallis Regimen, which I just launched with my brother. It’s a holistic health and wellness programme for people that basically you just have to sign up and you get all of this for free. And it’s completely comprehensive guides to training, nutrition, sleep and environment. They’re easily digestible, and they’re immediately actionable. So basically, there’s so much information out there. And we help people sort through that, make it simple and actionable right away, and implement it right away.”

On travelling:

Tenille: “That’s the thing was we talked about what we were most passionate about, what we enjoy and things that we like to share with people in our lives or our audience. And for me, it’s very clear, I love to travel. So this website has a travel blog, I talk about places I’ve been or new opportunities. I also have a shop where I sell itineraries and guides so people can literally go purchase them and it tells them exactly you know the best spots to go for meals, the best hotels, and hikes it tells them hidden gems best photo spots, like for instance, probably by the time this is I’ll have a new Paris itinerary up as a guide with a free itinerary actually. And that will tell them some of the best places to take photos for the Eiffel Tower, but that people don’t know about so. So you know, you see like my page and I have these pictures and these places and I find people always saying to me, how did you find that place or how did you go there or how did you arrange this? And so basically, I’m just kind of putting it together and saying, This is how this is how you do it. Just go click the button and get it.”

On Tenille being released hours after promoting Elimination Chamber:

Tenille: “It was a rough day. I will say, since I returned to WWE it was definitely a thought and a goal of mine to be able to do a big show in my home country, and even just to return there in general on a tour. And it’s something that I did ask many times about when I was there. When’s the next tour? They hadn’t been there for years, because of all the lack of travel and the restrictions for years. But basically, I kept asking, and I thought it wasn’t happening. And then so was kind of a surprise, when I saw that tweet that there was a show happening there. I still hadn’t been told by anyone. So then I was like, wow. And I just thought what a dream to be able to wrestle there. And then throughout the next few hours or so we started hearing that people were getting released. And at that point, I mean, I can’t say that [we were safe], we were basically expecting calls at that point. Like we were kind of in that position where we thought we’re probably gonna get released. And then we did.”

Did they call you together?

Mike: No, we actually weren’t together at the time. So I was just at the archery range, and that I felt bad not being there with Tenille when she got the call, especially given what had happened earlier that morning, I was with her when they announced the Australian show.

On the possibility of one getting released and one staying:

Mike: I’ll tell you, for me personally, I would have felt very guilty if it were me staying. I probably wouldn’t have wanted to stay. If it was her who was staying, I would have been totally fine with that. I would have been happy for her and I don’t [know], maybe she would feel the same way. I’m not sure. But I just felt like and maybe for me, it’s partially the fact that I mean, obviously I didn’t get to do everything there is to do in the industry. But I had that year, year and a half as Madcap that I felt pretty good about where I got to really express myself at least in this character and have a tonne of fun with it, you have no idea how much fun I had as Madcap. It was just a great time. I got to do goofy stuff. I still got to wrestle in long matches against great opponents. I mean, and just part of the team. I was a mainstay on the television show with a defined actual role. And I felt good about that. And I just felt like of course no one [feels like they are being fully utilised] I’m sure there’s literally Roman Reigns who probably feels he’s not used to his fullest potential. And maybe he’s not, it’s just like, that’s probably not going to happen for 99.9% of people. But I really felt like Tenille had so much more she could contribute do and she just really never got the chance to do especially the second time around. So I definitely felt like I wish she had gotten more.”

On wrestling again:

Tenille: “I will say I was a little disappointed with that last run, and a little upset with how things went. But I do think I had a lot more to contribute. I had very high hopes when I returned, and it just didn’t turn out the way that I would have liked. But in saying that, we did see it as a positive, we just weren’t being used, you know. So when we finally got released, we were like, Okay, let’s go do the things we want. And that has been very exciting. So I think at this point, we’re kind of focusing on that. And we do have a tour coming up in Australia that we have committed to.” 

Mike: “We are wrestling again.” 

Tenille: “There are some autograph signings and a match that will both have. But past that, we are kind of just focusing on all our other things right now. And yeah, I guess I can’t imagine ever fully stepping away from wrestling. It’s been my dream since I was a little girl and that was the only thing I ever really wanted to do. And I mean, I’m so glad I’ve gone after it and had the career I’ve had. So it would be hard for me to say I’m done with wrestling. But in that same instance, I am not actively pursuing anything or don’t have a plan moving forward at this point, either.”

Mike: “I mean, I would probably echo a lot of what she said. Like I just mentioned, I had so much fun wrestling, and I met so many cool people, I love wrestling. Having said that, there’s a lot of other things I really love that I want to pursue. And the one thing about wrestling and when I was a football player I used to say this, the one guaranteed thing is like it’s going to come to an end. And it’s very physical and I’ve taken my fair share of punishment with Achilles, ACL surgery, I’ve got a wonky eye from a few too many concussions and blows to the head, so like, it, that’s definitely a consideration is is the health. And as much as I love the wrestling part of wrestling, there’s a political side of wrestling that I don’t necessarily love. And all of these businesses that we’re doing have its own, I mean, feel like we’re we’re way busier than we were with WWE. As anyone who’s tried to do anything on their own, or have their own entrepreneurial venture of any kind knows, there’s a lot of work that goes in upfront. It’s stressful, and it’s exciting, and it’s fun. But there’s something to it being all on you, and not having to worry about who you’re rubbing the wrong way or anything like that. And just am I standing the correct way to not anger the wrong person? Or what is so and so think of me, there’s just, it’s really freeing. No drama.”

On Madcap Moss being pitched:

Mike: Well, first I came up, to summarise my career real quick on the main roster. I was Mojo’s lineman, that’s its own story that was not at all what they wanted. It was what was written on the paper, but someone got confused. They didn’t want him doing football references. Anyway, a few weeks later, I turned on him and I had a run as the 24/7 Champion. When COVID hit that kind of took the 24/7 thing to the side for a bit. And then I came back on Raw Underground, I tore my ACL on that. And then I came back and I felt really good about where I was at and I made some Riddick Moss pitches, and they were bringing me up, I did one dark match on SmackDown. And then the next week, they said, Yeah, we’re gonna bring it back for another dark match. And then the night before, like, Thursday night, they said, Actually, you’re gonna be on SmackDown with Baron Corbin, Corbin is doing Happy Corbin. And you know his game, he’s got the custom-tailored suits and all that stuff. And so I’m like, Dude, I brought something like this, I do not have the appropriate wear. So we were in Philly, my brother was living in Philly at the time, so I went and raided his closet. I got some stuff, but not enough. And then went shopping and just like, got a nice thing. And so I was like, I have no idea what I’m doing. And then I sat down with, first was Corbin, but then, Vince, and basically he told me what the schtick was, but I didn’t have a name yet. And so, and Corbin, to his credit, he warned me, he said, he’s going to make you laugh. So be ready for that. And so, you know, he explained like, basically you guys just think everything’s hilarious.” 

Couldn’t you be Riddick Moss?

Mike: So then he [Vince] said, we have to come up with the name. And I said, just to be clear, we’re talking like a moniker or like a whole new name, right? And unless I misheard, I’m pretty sure if we said moniker, and so I’m thinking okay, so that’s gonna be like Riddick the clown Moss. So, then I’m on my way to SmackDown the next week on the plane, and I get a text like, hey, from the writer, you’re gonna be Madcap Moss now. And so I thought that was pretty funny. And like, well, probably there goes to the main event of WrestleMania. And then a couple of minutes later said, here’s the idea we have for your look, but on the plane, you can’t download pics. So I had a whole flight across the country like what is this? And I hit download when we landed. And it was what the look was basically, you know, the suspenders and the shirt and the kind of short pants. And they were like you didn’t happen to bring suspenders did you? So anyway, that I had to go buy those, I think I think maybe they helped me out with that. But yeah, so it kind of just came together like that. And like I said, Vince made sure I could laugh. And you know, at this point in my career, I think in a good way I had kind of done a good job of relinquishing the things that you can’t control.”

On the Alabama Slam from Drew McIntyre:

Mike: “So first of all, 100% my fault. Let me just, not at all trying to throw Drew under the bus. He walked it through with me. And it’s just one of those things that I guess it’s like a guy thing not asking for help when you need it or clarification. But when we run through it. He was doing it half-speed. You know what I mean? He’s not actually finishing it. So it felt to me like Oh, I gotta help them a little bit. But I didn’t have to help them. And so anyway, that’s what happened. I was fine and I knew what went wrong, just because I didn’t land flat. But I was never loopy or anything like that. So when the ref came and checked on me, Jess, she checked on me multiple times actually because she was like you Good? Are you sure you’re good? I was fine. It didn’t feel great. But mentally and everything, I was all there. And after the match, I knew, well, actually what happened was we went to the outside after that, and Drew was throwing me over the table and stuff. And I heard Corey Graves say, I don’t even know how he’s walking right now. And I thought, maybe that was a little worse than I thought. But anyway, I felt fine. And so I knew everyone was gonna be like, Oh, my God, are you okay? And I was just like, Guys, guys, I’m fine. And they brought me up to Gorilla and showed me that super high definition super slow motion, where you’re talking about where my spine just looked like it just shrunk, vertebrae by vertebrae. And I thought, Okay, let’s go check this out just to be safe, because that looks nasty. And I gotta go call my mom. [Did you get an MRI?] I did. And we got all the scans after that. I had a sore neck. But it was never anything worse than that. And, but it just looked so nasty. I thought, I don’t care what I’m feeling, we got to check that out. And they were great about it.

On Tenille’s dance:

Tenille: “It was just back at NXT or even, maybe FCW, that old building back in the day, We were going through entrance music to pick and then I was like that one’s kind of like weird, a bit quirky, kind of. I like a little dubstep kind of music or club kind of music. And anyway, so that came on and I was like, It sounds a bit different. And then I think it was Saxton was kind of like [dance] What would I do? He’s like, you could try some kind of like dance. And at first he did, it was very like Egyptian I kind of think like, like, yeah, it was just completely I was like, that’s just like an Egyptian dance. That’s what he did it back to me. So I was like, Well, I don’t know, I could play with it a little bit. And that’s kind of what happened is, it was some kind of just do something, move around something with your hands or your arms. And then the more I kind of did it, the more silly I just kind of went, whatever, who cares, you know. So I just like spin in circles or this or that. And then it became like, I started bringing bubble guns and then popping my bubbles. And I was just thinking, What can I do with this that makes it like in someone’s face and, and I just kind of had fun with it. And that’s when I started doing the whole, all the puns with my name, Emma, Emmalution. Just silly things, but I was just having fun with it.”

On Madcap Moss going back to Riddick Moss:

Mike: “I actually found out via Twitter question from a fan tweeting me. [They said] Hey, they updated the website. He’s back to Riddick Moss. So the communication for that one? Yeah, I mean, it was just, when you’re a priority, you’re a little bit more involved in those decisions. And then, for whatever reason, I’ll let everyone draw their own conclusions. But when I was in NXT, I wasn’t much of a priority from the beginning of the Madcap run until about halfway through, I think, to 2022, I think I was on every Premium Live Event, that what they’re calling them now? I was on TV every week, and then never again.”

On wrestling at WrestleMania 30 the match after The Streak was broken:

Tenille: “I guess it really hadn’t crossed my mind that Taker would lose, those thoughts hadn’t really gone through my mind. And then, basically, I remember everyone was just super excited to be in that position, have this girl’s match and going out there. My first WrestleMania, something I’ve always wanted to do. And then that happens. And I remember then the girls taught to kind of like, look around and talk and then there’s people saying oh, a match might get cancelled because of like the reactions or what’s happening or if it’s going long. So we thought maybe we weren’t even not even gonna go out. I was like, What do you mean what’s happening? And then I’m then I’m seeing you know, the, on the cameras and the screens, the reactions of people and everyone’s devastated. There’s an awkward silence. And, and then it just became awkward for us or for me anyway, because then they will just kind of like alright, we’re going to do it. We’re going to have the match and they’re just like, Come on, get out there. So we just file it out side ramp to the ring. And then we will just kind of stood in the ring until we came back from whatever it was, and like they were ready to start the match. But it was just, we were out there in front of everyone. And probably the last few entrances need to happen with the music. But the rest of us were already in the ring. And then she was looking around like, no one wanted to see our match. At that time. No one cared about Battle Royal.”

What are Madcap and Tenille grateful for?

Mike: “Being alive, quality time and our lives together.”

Tenille: “My health, my family and my friends and I have Mike in my life.”

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.”

Sydney Zmrzel aka Maxxine Dupri (@maxxinedupri) is a professional wrestler with WWE. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood to talk about her journey to becoming a WWE Superstar, getting signed after her tryout in Las Vegas, being a cheerleader for the LA Rams and Phoenix Suns before starting her wrestling career, her experience at Super Bowl LIII, getting called up from NXT to Smackdown and being given the Maxxine Dupri character, learning from LA Knight, teaming up with Chad Gable and Otis in Alpha Academy, continuing to improve in the ring with every match, making her Royal Rumble debut, her goals for this year and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about:

“You don’t get results by focusing on results. You get results by focusing on the habits and behaviors that produce results.”

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On the move to the main roster:

“So I’m in NXT, I get my name. I’m on TV But I am not wrestling and I am paired with Mr Stone and Von Wagner. [My name was] Sofia Cromwell, I was very adamant that I wanted it with an f and not ph. I don’t know why, maybe because of Sofia Richie. I don’t know, was a weird thing but they agreed to give it to me so that was awesome. I didn’t have a big role, I think I talked a couple of times but very minimal. Then LA Knight gets called up and turns into Max Durpi and they start promoting his sister Maxxine for weeks. No one knows who Maxxine is, not me. I don’t know if creative knew to be honest it was like we are going to do something and we will figure it out. The other part of this is that I had actually gotten injured while I was Sofia on TV. I was out with an ankle injury and I wasn’t cleared, so I wasn’t training. So I was on TV but not doing much, I couldn’t do any physicality. Of course in the moment I was like, my life is over. But it hindsight that was the biggest blessing because I was one of the few that they saw as TV ready in a sense in NXT that was not in a real story. I could be plucked and it didn’t change anything. My name could be changed, no one knew who I was. I think it worked out for me in hindsight that I was able to be called up as Maxxine. But it is really crazy because my boyfriend and I were at that SmackDown the week before I debuted, it was in Orlando. We go and it was up in the 300s. They were promoting Maxxine again and we both looked at each other and giggled and were like there is no way. But we kept seeing it every now and then. Everyone thought it was going to be Gunther’s wife, it was all over Twitter, I could totally see it. Because at that point she had done NXT UK and had this fashionista brand and I could totally see her doing it. Then there was maybe 2 Tweets that said me, but you best believe I was like oh, 2 people think it may be me. Then alas, Thursday they tell me and I flew out that way.” 

On the backstory of being told:

“I don’t even know if I was supposed to tell this story because this is I’ll give you the backstory is what happened was. No, I didn’t hear from creative or anything. So Wednesday night, I go to sleep and I’m like, Okay, I would have known by Wednesday night. It’s not me, give it up. Thursday morning, I wake up to go into the PC. And it’s like 7 am and I get a text from travel, saying, Hey, I heard you’re needed for SmackDown I’m gonna book your travel. And I’m like, okay, okay, don’t get your hopes up. But it could be me. And when I went to the PC, I pulled my coach aside because I’m shaking and I’m like, wait, me going to SmackDown like what’s going on? And he’s like, don’t even stress like, it’s they probably are bringing all three of you up, they just want to see you in person. Like, it’s probably just you as a fraction. No big deal. So I’m like, okay. Then I go to the lead writer at like noon, and I’m like, Hey, what’s up and his phone have been dead so he’s not seen the email yet. So he’s like, Sofia Cromwell being called up as Maxxine Dupri. Okay. And then because my name was Sofia. I didn’t even get like my flight info, didn’t get put into my app, because my names were not lined up. Yeah. So then I’m like, what time is my flight? And they’re like, it’s at four. And I’m like, I gotta run. I gotta Get out of here. But what was crazy is I told that story one time and then I was talking to travel. And they were like, Yeah, that’s why like, now we have to really make sure that creative tells you guys first because creative was like, I think they were supposed to tell me not travel. And I accidentally, like fully exposed them, which I wasn’t meaning to. I just thought that’s how it worked. Yeah, I was like, oh, yeah, travel tells you and you go.”

On figuring out the character:

“I really had no idea. The benefit was that Mace, his younger sister actually signed with my class. So I had at least met him and I was friends with her. So I had a little comfortability, at least with him, which was really, really nice. Because it’s first of all, it’s scary. You’re going up there and then when you don’t know anyone, and you have no relation to anybody so at least I had a little like something of like a little safety net. I felt like or at least I kind of knew these guys. And I was like, okay, and I had met LA Knight a couple times at the PC before he got called up but not much like our past did not really cross. So it was very interesting.” 

On pointers from the Maximum Male Models:

“All three of them were awesome with me. We went to the PC and like worked on like, I’d never done an in-ring promo, I had never really done backstages. I did a few on an NXT. But the way that NXT films is very different than main roster main roster is very like one and done. Gotta get show on the road where NXT is developmental. So you’re gonna do multiple takes, it’s more analyzer learning and everyone’s learning. So it’s a very different speed and different flow. So I’m very lucky that I had all three of them to guide me.”

On advice from LA Knight:

“So he actually wasn’t there on my first day. So that was the day when he ended up not coming in that week. They had me there and then the next week, he was there as my brother. So day one was just me, Mansoor and Mace. And that day was also really crazy because things were changing a lot, which is how it is. So live show. It’s entertainment, but I just hadn’t experienced that yet. So even when I walked in, let me give you the backstory. I’m packing, I pack 20 outfits. I’m like, I got it all. Originally, they had said that they were doing a swimsuit debut thing with the models. So I was like, Okay, literally I have options of everything they could ever need me to where I’m like, I got this on lock. I landed like 10 pm and creative says hey, can you wear a black dress tomorrow? You best believe I did not pack a black dress. And I was like you got it. I woke up, went to the mall. Found a little black dress. And I did Monday morning I called Natalya. They told me not to tell anyone. So I told no one when I was going, my boyfriend knew. And that was it. And I actually think I told Brennan’s sister because I knew it was going to be with them. And then I call Natalya, because I was hoping she was gonna be there and I had trained with her. And that was the one week probably in her entire career that she was not going to be a TV. And I was like, oh, no, but gratefully I walked in and Liv was like the first person I saw in the locker room. And she took me under her wing, showed me catering, brought me into the makeup room, just really helped me so much because I was shaking in my boots.”

On her first main roster match:

“So our first one was a six-man with The Viking Raiders. And it was amazing because I had the comfortability of being with the boys. And I had them as my safety net to fall back on. I was extremely nervous as I am every single Monday, just because you want to be great, but I’m also so new. I haven’t performed in front of a crowd like that ever. So it was scary. The thing that I was grateful for in that moment was I had done a little bit of physicality. We had done the arm drag on the outside the suplex on the outside and like shout out Valhalla for just taking bumps from me on the outside all the time. I love her for that. I think having those interactions helped a lot for that first match. I was way more nervous for the first singles. Because just, you know, it’s us, we’re out there.”

On the Women’s Royal Rumble:

“Back to being prepared. I didn’t know if I was gonna be in or not. I found out a week before. But you best believe I had gear coming in four months prior for the rumble. But I didn’t know if I was. And I was very nervous just because I’m like, it’s obviously it’s a huge platform. There’s only so many spots. So you want to like to represent well and do well. And it’s always nerve-wracking. As much as I feel like for some people, maybe it’s less nerve-wracking. There’s a lot of people in there. I think because I’m so green. It’s more nerve-wracking for me when there’s that many people in there because I’m like, Am I in the way What do I do my like, I don’t want to you know, step on anyone’s thing. It’s there’s so many moving parts. And I’m not quite to the headspace yet where I can just like be calm.”

On learning from being in the ring with Rhea Ripley:

“I think a lot of things. I think, one for me timing in that match. I was so nervous. I think that I was just a little scatterbrained, I think that she is so calm, cool and collected. And I think that’s the coolest thing about her. Like, I that’s some energy that I want to take and run with, like, she knows who she is. She knows what she’s doing. And like there’s not an ounce of worry or anything on her face. And I think that’s so cool. And that’s something that I would love to steal from her and, and carry with me just a little bit of that kind of confidence.”

On WWE goals:

“My goal is, honestly, I want to do this as long as I can, as long as they will employ me I want to be in. God, I have so much fun and I am happy to do whatever they want me to do. I just, I love going to work. I love performing. I love the people I work with. I just feel so lucky to be in this position. Of course, I would love to win some gold or something fun like that and I really want to improve in the ring and just continue to prove myself there and even like with promos goes everything. I think my goal for this year is I just want to look, I want like to have a match or something in December, where I look back at January and what I did and be like, Oh, it’s not even the same person. Yeah, that’s my goal.”

What is Maxxine Dupri grateful for:

“Quality time with good people, a body that works hard for me and to get out of bed every day and do something I love.”

John Cena (@johncena) is an actor and professional wrestler known for being a 16-time World Champion in WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about his new comedy “Ricky Stanicky” that he stars in with Zac Efron and Andrew Santino on Amazon Prime, what he thought of Zac Efron’s wrestling skills in “The Iron Claw”, what he said to MJF when they met at the premiere for The Iron Claw, his approach to making movies now compared to when he made “The Marine” 20 years ago, his recent WWE return, fans singing his theme song instead of singing “John Cena sucks”, his detailed plans to turn heel for his match against The Rock in 2012, his favorite Championship win, how much longer he thinks he can wrestle for, why the phrase “control the controllable” is so powerful for him, what his match with Bray Wyatt would have looked like at WrestleMania 36 if there had been a crowd, how he recovered from his torn pec so quickly in 2008, his favorite lyric from “Basic Thugonomics”, three things he is grateful for and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about:”Control the controllable.”
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On who is the GOAT in wrestling: 

“I would say people who elevate the business to new heights from a performance standpoint. I mean, this is just my perspective, and again, we’re talking objectivity. So it’s only opinion, there’s no truth to what I’m saying. Hulk Hogan would have to be in there, Steve Austin, Dwayne Johnson, and Roman Reigns. When the company went public, I think they started to trade. And then my tenure has kind of helped everybody put the pieces back together again. And Roman has done a fantastic job of taking the business to heights it’s never been to before.” 

When did you feel like you were the guy in WWE?

“Never, never. And I think that’s a perspective that has gotten muddled, again, just my opinion. You just used to want the championship. Now, as the area’s become grey, people want to be, the term like locker room leader is thrown around and the guy is thrown around like that, the championship should be on an identifiable instrument of that. And I think it helps the believability of the championship, either one or any Championship. The importance of that is you channel whatever you want to say on inside industry terms through the prompts that we give you. And that’s again, just my perspective.”

On taking the moment in: 

“So life in the WWE is fast. And I’m a performer who enjoys being present. And my head is always on a swivel, because the objective is obviously to give the audience the best show that you can possibly do. I also have a lot of stress off of my shoulders. Because when you’re one of the pieces of the machine that is responsible for the financial well-being, if you fail, the bottom line is directly affected. You’re hypersensitive to that. If I go out there and fail now, the bottom line doesn’t matter. It’s the class carrying the torch now that needs the stress that I had. And I think before I had that weight on my shoulders, it was the stress of how do I get there. And then once you’re there, it’s the stress of am I doing enough, is this working? And then you finally get to a place where it’s somebody else’s turn, I saw this firsthand with the DX run when they came back with the glow sticks. And they were just having fun. And I remember a European tour where Shawn and Hunter came through the curtain after doing some sort of match that was heavily entertaining. And I was going on last. And they were the match before and I was like man, you guys get to have all the fun, I’m paraphrasing. They said, We hope someday you will too, but it’s not today. We’ve been where you’re at and you’re in a very important place, go out and do that stuff. And then hopefully one day, you’ll get to goof off and have fun and say to the other person when they come to the curtain all right, I made them laugh. Now you’re gonna make them believe. I just think I’m in a spot where I can be more present, which is great. Because that’s the thing I was trying to do before I was trying to hear every voice, acknowledge every noise, live every moment, try not to miss a beat. But like now, I just operate with that construct, but don’t have the stress of like, if I mess up, it’s all going to crumble, or they’re going to fire me. Both of those things, the crumble thing is going to happen and they can fire me That’s it, they can do that.”

On not politicking despite having the resume to:

“I guess you’re not wrong. But what does that even mean? Like if I want to write the story, cool, great. I’m relying on the wisdom of someone who is somewhat, the people creating the show saying, hey, we need you here. So rather than say, I need to be here, they say we need you here. Okay, how can I make here the best spot? Not steal the show. Not go into business for myself and ruin the whole broadcast? How can I just make this meaningful? What do you need from me? Well, we need to make each night exciting. We need to help LA Knight. And then we need to help Solo. Cool, what’s the best way we can do that? That’s just one example of the way to operate.”

On the difference between 2002 John Cena and 2024 John Cena:

“I think the things that they share in common are gratitude, grit, perseverance, and humility. I think the difference is the younger version lacks self-worth and the younger version lacks wisdom. So John Cena in 2002 gets to go out and fight Kurt Angle under the impression of two words, Ruthless Aggression. It was a failure because I was neither ruthless nor aggressive, and I wasn’t able to see the opportunity. My blinders were, you’re getting a chance to go out there. Do everything you can and show him you can wrestle. No, I was given a golden ticket and a gimmick. Ruthless Aggression. And sure I wasn’t ready. The match was at the last second because Undertaker was sick. So the gear doesn’t match. But neither did the attitude at all. Like sportsmanship and grateful, especially after I slapped the guy, I should have been doing more than the match to gouge out an eyeball or rip at his tights, or be the exact opposite of ruthless aggression. Be a pacifist, whatever it is, but I didn’t dive into the opportunity I was given. I just went out there to do stunts. Even the handshake thing with The Undertaker, somebody who’s ruthlessly aggressive would have slapped him like he slapped Kurt Angle. And now you’re like who the f*** is this guy? But I didn’t understand. Because I had blinders on about what the business is about. And now, I love to go to NXT because everybody has a different personality. And I was like, what would I do? Have you ever thought about this idea? But people are thinking the same way I was about I just want to go out and do these moves. Man, you need that, but you got to also get them to believe.”

When will acting overtake wrestling?

“I don’t think I’ll ever not be a member of the WWE family first. So, to answer that question in my perspective, the switch has never happened. As you know me, I always speak fondly of WWE in my time and experience there. I can’t tell you how much the audience has made me the man I am today. Having to deal with all the polarising audiences, we’ve seen a lot of performers not be able to do that. And to have to do that for so, so long. It teaches you about you and you really go through a journey of self-worth. So I don’t think I’ll ever not be WWE family first.” 

On being really close to another heel turn:

“It was Cena Rock 1. I got word that they were going to do it. I went out and recorded a new song. I went out and got all new gear. I wasn’t prepared for ruthless aggression, that was the last time I wasn’t prepared. I mean, I heard rumblings of we’re going to do it. And in 48 hours, I had a new track, a new studio mix theme song, final mix. I had seven new singlets, low-cut singlets with boxing-type robes. I already had the boots in storage, so I dusted them off. I was ready to go and already thinking about like what I could do with the story. Okay, what is a heel? A heel is not just new gear. The objectivity, or the message behind the singlet and the boxing robes and the boots is the exact opposite of what you saw with the street gear, the jeans shorts, the t-shirt, the ball cap, the sneakers, no, go the opposite route. And now lean into the opposite of everything you stand for. So I would begin to not work as hard. I would show up less, I would be untrustworthy and unloyal. I would lack respect in what I did. Like all you have to do is turn that on its [head]. I would give up a lot. All those things you can take and make interesting stories. And this is the stuff that’s running through my head, not what moves can I do. It’s like how can I take the intellectual property that people are familiar with and twist it so it’s like this guy’s f*cking insane. It’s everything I’ve come to love and now I genuinely hate it. And in being a real bad guy, and I think that was the conversation that was eventually had where it’s like, okay, it’s a bad idea. I’m like, Hey, I know this is going to sting but I’m not going to sell another T-shirt. I’m going to take all merchandise off the market. I’m not going to put on anything new. I’m not going to do any more appearances. I’m not going to do any Make-A-Wish. I’m not going to do anything like that. I’m going to be a bad guy to make your good guy so your good guy does all that. And that’s what I was like our we’re kind of into deep. So it worked out the way it worked out. But bro, I was ready.”

On the remixed theme song:

“I recorded it with saxophones instead of trumpets. It’s called Fear my Name. I still have it locked away somewhere If it ever sees the light of day, I want to remix it with trumpets instead of saxophones. But it has the hit of time is now.”

On speaking to MJF at The Iron Claw premiere:

“So the whole totality of the thing is I knew he was going to be there. And I don’t think the old me would have associated with him just because of how maybe WWE I was, I still am WWE, but there is room for competition and competition is great. And just because you don’t wear the company brand I have doesn’t mean you’re a bad performer. Sports entertainment is a finicky business. And again, there’s a lot of chance to make moments. So this is one of their top performers for AEW. And I don’t know if I’m going to be the target of a moment. I’m just going to support my friend in a movie. He couldn’t have been nicer. He couldn’t have been more cordial. And we meet each other and I got pulled away to take some pictures. And then we were about to go do everything else before I even got to you. And I was like, hold on, give me two minutes. I shook his hand. I said, Man, I’m so sorry. Excuse my ignorance, I didn’t know what to expect from you today. You are a class act, I can’t believe you’re as professional as you are. That’s just my ignorance. I’m sorry, I had that judgment, I want to thank you for being so special, thanks for making my night. And then we got back I was able to talk to him more. And I kind of [said] maybe we can get you to play for the right team one day all that. There’s no denying the fact that he’s doing good work. And I don’t think that I should ignore that. Honestly, I was floored by his professionalism, where it would have been an easy target at a wrestling movie premiere, to have yourself a moment. And we did have a moment. And it was one that the internet paid attention to. And it was one where I was hoping that this person that I met, I could once bet on like, Man, oh, we just get you over here. That’d be awesome. But it was great. It was great to meet a professional, classy, driven young man.” 

On the quick return at the 2008 Royal Rumble:

“So I completely respect James Andrews who did the surgery and Kevin Wilkin, who did help me with physical therapy. They have to put a realistic timeline on their work. And that timeline is based on the construct that you do physical therapy three times a week. I would do physical therapy three times a day. And I moved to Birmingham, and my goal as a professional was to get back on the field in a safe manner. So because I just did a lot, six days a week, you heal.  I was pretty much put in a heal tank, I didn’t have to go back. The reason they say six months for a pec tear, is because a lot of people that tear their pecs, maybe they did it during recreational sport, or maybe they’re a student athlete, or they have other responsibilities, people’s got families or whatever, you have to split time. I was like, a physical therapy Terminator. Show up for the morning session, go get some food show for the noon session, go get some food show up for the afternoon session as they’re closing. Alright guys see you in a few hours. And I just did that for three months. And everyone Dr. Andrews was fine. Kevin was fine. I passed all my tests. And I passed it like two and a half months in and the Rumble was coming up. And they’re like, Okay, we’ll keep it a secret. I don’t want to advertise you. Because I don’t even know if you’re gonna be there. But then when everybody gave the Okay, they’re like we really have the chance to keep something secret. And it was only let out to like a few people. And, once again, we only remember the moments. Tell me anything I did in that. [You won]. Bingo. But the action to win was very slim. The action was very simple. Because it was as it happens, we couldn’t really plan anything crazy, because we didn’t want people to tell people to tell people to spoil the surprise. So it was like he’s coming out. He’s gonna win. That’s happening now. Oh, so it was great.”

On Logan Paul:

“I actually told him, I’m like, the old me would have hated it. And the old me would have been like, what are you trying to take from us? And that’s just an archaic way of thinking that I was taught. And I understand why. Old carnival business don’t trust this guy who’s coming into our territory. That idea was archaic in the 80s. We bring in outside influence to help us. And then you have someone you don’t really need to convince that much to come on in. And then somebody who embraces our world and is completely respectful and risks a lot more than I would in the ring, like does stuff that I’ll never be able to do every single time he’s out there. And he knows how to set a story. He knows how to drum up interest. He’s using all of his talents that he’s built over the years in our universe. He’s been doing what we do, he’s just been over on his own channel. The me now appreciates the fact that he is bringing his world into ours and respectfully so.”

On the Bray Wyatt match in 2020 being originally a standard match:

“Yeah, and then things happened. And I remember three days before we filmed the Firefly Funhouse match. It was the last TV taping where they came in and they’re like, you’re gonna have a Firefly Funhouse match. And I remember there was three people in one of the conference rooms in NXT with me, I said, What’s a Firefly Funhouse match? They said, I don’t know. I said great! What can we do? And that was like, oh, man, again control the controllable. I wish we had an audience. Performers are like I wish there could be blood. I wish we could do chair shots to the head. I wish we could swear I wish I could flip people off. Control the controllable, use the tools in your tool belt. How do we make something entertaining over a two day period with no audience? And they gave us a stipulation. Everybody else has a regular match. And it’s your stip like it’s your stip. It’s not a doctor of Thuganomics match or hustle, loyalty, respect match, that’s completely different. You have these definitive characters, you have all this ammunition, you have all this personality. And that’s what people really radiate towards. Holy sh*t we can make this a meta look at my life and we can get away with it. What do we have up in the warehouse, we have the fist, we have the blue cage. I can get some NWO stuff, we can make this work. And I remember this the only match I’ve ever written from start to finish. And my poor wife, I made her print it out and I’m writing and giving her paper. [She said] What is this? What does it even mean? I said just print it, I need it. And somewhere I still have the original draft in my handwriting of the Firefly Funhouse. But man Bray couldn’t have been better. He knew what was up. And he knew the whole thing. I wrote it the night before. So I’m trying to text these guys like I got something weird and I think I might have sent a picture of the draft. And I still in my phone. I don’t have it with me. But I have saved a text that I sent him the night of the match, especially after we saw The Undertaker’s match tonight before Oh, my man, they crushed it, and there was a whole lot more physicality, we got one punch. And I text him how nervous I was. But I wanted to thank him for being so brave and trusting me and I think I couldn’t have done any more. And I think we gave it our best shot. And hopefully it works. And it was an effort that I am very proud of.”

On the you can’t see me jokes still going on:

“I love it. And I gotta be honest with you, I went through a period of being frustrated with that. And it’s the same thing with trying to be empathetic with fans. I went through a period where I deserve my time, I put on a show for you guys. I deserve my time when I’m out. No, I don’t at all. The trade-off for getting to do this is understanding that your work has affected people. And even if someone’s being a dick, they’re trying to tell you like, Dude, I know you and your work has affected my life. And I operate under a construct of respect. And if someone is disrespectful, I can try to calm down the situation the best I can. But pretty much everybody just wants to say what’s up. And when you go outside a place that’s not your home. You got to understand that that’s awesome. And it’s also going to stop. And there’s going to come a time when nobody gives a sh*t. And I’m probably gonna remember where people used to come over and say hello, yes. Hey, guys. Hey, what’s up? What’s going on? So I haven’t always felt like that. It’s taken a lot of work to get there. But dude, when you can land in that pocket. It’s sweet doing 60 interviews today. I’m still good.”

What is John Cena grateful for?

“For those I love in my life, my health and that every day I get to open my eyes.”

Roderick Strong (@roderickstrong) is a professional wrestler with AEW and is known previously for his time in WWE NXT, Ring Of Honor and TNA. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his match against Orange Cassidy for the International Championship at AEW Revolution, being on the same card as Sting’s last match, reflecting on his first year in AEW, why he decided to leave WWE for AEW, his neck strong gimmick, getting cheering for yelling “ADAM!”, the first time he met Adam Cole in Ring of Honor, his role in The Devil storyline with MJF, how his workouts have changed since getting injured and much more.

Quote I’m thinking about: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

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On AEW highlights:

“Wembley Stadium, my debut, my match with Chris Jericho, and just the whole story leading up to where we are now. It was just interesting because it gave me an opportunity to test myself with becoming more of a character and doing more of that stuff. And for me, that was my favourite part. Honestly, it was just from how it started to how it ended. I don’t know, I really, really enjoyed that time.”

On keeping the debut a secret:

“It was just a situation of like, when my contract came up with WWE, I was injured. So I wasn’t even sure if I could wrestle again. So then it was one of those things that once I got cleared, it was kind of what is best for me at this time. And through the injury and stuff, I went through a huge self-reflective period just of who I was at the time, and where I needed to go, just for life. And then that’s kind of when the decision to go to AEW was a little bit easier for me because it was like, I want to use all the knowledge I’ve acquired over these years now. I can’t do that WWE, but it was just a different opportunity to have a little bit more freedom in that sense. And really, put me in a situation that happened, where I’m doing something outside of the box, and it’s by choice and really being able to grow and lean into it. I don’t know, it was just amazing.” 

On wrestling on the same card as Sting’s last match:

“I mean, it’s a big honour. And to be going against somebody like Orange Cassidy, whatever we have going on aside. He’s been a tremendous champion. I mean, he’s just an amazing wrestler and a great human. So it’s just one of those things that the right opponent at the right time. And, I haven’t wrestled as much as I thought I was going to my first year, and I’m okay with it. This gives me an opportunity to kind of blow the door open because people don’t really know exactly what to expect of me in these kinds of matches. I haven’t been in a big match like this in quite some time. So I’m very excited to show the world and I get to do it on the same show as Sting in his last match.”

On the neckbrace:

“I think because I was all in on it. I would wear that neck brace freaking everywhere. It didn’t matter where I was going. All the time. It didn’t matter. It was one of those things that like, honestly, our medical team was like, Hey, you can’t wear this as much, because it’s like weakening your neck muscles slightly. So then I would give it a little bit of a break. But yeah, it was something and it was a real-life thing for me. I came back from a bad neck injury. So it wasn’t something that was too far-fetched to my mind. And my son loved it.”

On if yelling Adam would catch on:

“Some of the production people started coming who worked behind the scenes. And they’re like, yeah, the fans are screaming it before the show. It’s like, whoa. Then I was just like, Oh my God, because a lot of stuff was pre-taped and or, you know, filmed off-site. So then, like, the first time that I got to really, like after a stretch go out in front of the people. And I was like, Oh, my God, this is ridiculous. And it’s and it’s kind of funny, because whatever, like the yelling happened. But then it was like, I can’t just yell everything. It’s funny because my son does the thing when he’s fired up. And he’s so mad. He just will yell one of the words he’s saying. Sometimes it’s the right word. Sometimes it’s not. And then he just talks really calm afterwards. And I thought, like, oh, man, that’s hilarious. So that’s kind of the yelling and then like this monotone speaking was kind of just mimicking him.”

On meeting Adam Cole for the first time:

“It was in Philly in the locker room. He was just an extra. But I just know, a lot of people were mentioning, this guy has a lot of potential. So it was one of those, like, where I came up, because at that time was, trying to be as helpful as I can. I still didn’t know much. But we’re going back to yeah, it’s Ring of Honor, I think 09 maybe? Yeah, it was just one of those things. I approached him and obviously, so many people that said good things about him, and then sort of just talking, give them some feedback or whatever. And he was very responsive to it. And it was like, Okay, this is one of the guys that, I will give my time to now, at the moment. From that, because we started conversing so much from that. It was kind of like, Hey, you want to come hang out? Like we’re all doing this and then it grew from there.”

On advice for younger wrestlers:

“One thing I would say is don’t bump until you’re older. You can learn the basics, the technical aspects, the footwork, and all that kind of stuff without bumping. That’s one thing I wish I wouldn’t have done as much of, because you feel invincible when you’re young. And then, so my style I like doing that, I like taking bumps. I like the physical aspect of it. So that is just one thing I wish I would have been a little bit smarter about because it’s not necessary.”

On the Spanish Fly spot:

“[Was it scary?] Oh very much so. But because I immediately checked everything like, Okay, I felt it at its worse. Oh, this just feels normal, I’m fine. No, I’m saying. And then it just made me super grateful for the training that I was doing, because a lot of it is creating the space in your joints and like my vertebrae and working on my flexibility. I was just thankful for that.”

On Wembley Stadium:

“Oh my God, it was surreal. I couldn’t sleep after that at all. It was so, so intense. And it was overwhelming. It really was, like, in a good way, though. I had been in the company 4 months. And just was like, wow, look, what these guys did before I got here. Like, they’re the ones that laid the foundation to kind of set the situation up. And for Tony to take the risk, I don’t know, it was just awesome to be a part of it. And, you know, just see, good people get an opportunity to show themselves to the world in such a big way. It was awesome.”

On wrestling into his 50s like Chris Jericho:

“It depends on how I feel. And if I keep doing the things I need to do, and obviously, my goal was to improve the stuff that I’m doing, especially as science continues to improve and more stuff comes out and what’s going to help like, Yeah, I mean, I’d love to. I will always be a part of wrestling no matter what, like some aspect of me will be involved for the rest of my life. [As a producer?] For sure. And I’d like to open a little school. I know, there’s a lot of them, but you know, like, small, more personalised Dojo style school and take a crack at that. Because I feel like, that’s something that I really love to do. And, you know, giving people the best opportunity that I can with what I know, and people I know.”

On AEW goals:

“One day World Champion is on that list. But currently, the most important one for me is to win that International title and do with it how I think I can. Because that’s the thing, like I was saying earlier about Orange. I have so much respect for the kind of champion he was his work ethic. I’ve said I can do it better. And that’s kind of my thing. I want to wrestle all the random people I want those opportunities, I need to test myself against everybody, for every part of the world and against our roster. I mean, there are so many people there for me to work with. And I think I can make memorable moments with all of them. So that is something that’s like on the front of my mind and my main focus currently.”

What is Roderick Strong grateful for?

“My family, my friends and health.” 

Glenn Gilbertti (@therealdisco) is a professional wrestler best known for his time in WCW and TNA Wrestling. He is also the co-host of the podcast “Keepin’ It 100 with Konnan & Disco”. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about how he got into wrestling, his six years in WCW, winning the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, Television Championship and Tag Team Championship, Jimmy Hart singing his entrance theme, the recent tweet Tony Khan sent calling him an “irrelevant parasite”, co-hosting K100 with Konnan, his job at Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club in Las Vegas and much more.

Quote I’m thinking about: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela

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On being called an “irrelevant parasite” by Tony Khan:

“I do a podcast, fans mail in me mail me and letters, I answered the mail. And I review the shows. I mean, I’m not doing anything. [Fans only see online the negative things] Unless you’re a listener of our show. And you listen to our review, and we put over, we review Dynamite. Here’s the things we liked, here’s the things we didn’t like. What goes viral? Everything I didn’t like, right? Because there’s, there’s no positivity in promoting anything I say. Like SportsKeeda was funny. They would always take negative things I say, honestly, and put them up on their website, everybody thinks I’m just this big hater. I have an opinion of certain things. They’re pointed. I think they’re accurate. I just have opinions on things I don’t like.”

On getting heat on his podcast: 

“It is what it is. You know what, I think one of the reasons that I got more heat than I used to. When me and Konnan were doing the podcast before it started growing, I did a podcast with Vince [Russo] but that was on a paywall. So it never really went viral that much. But when I did that, I went back to Impact and I did like the Andy Kaufman thing. You know, the women’s wrestling stuff, they’re all that. People took me way too seriously. But I read the room in professional wrestling. Okay, these people are very easily offended. You know, wrestling fans these days, right? Plus social media is very polarising. So we’re the old-school guys. So we’re in that camp. And then there’s the new school, people choose sides. But I just embraced it, the women’s wrestling sucks. That was fine. Thank you to like, they can’t do as good as me. And just people, like when I walked out in Philly, the old ECW arena. Joe Feeney, he was an old-school ECW fan. He’d been a fan and has been in that arena a million times just ECW. He said, it’s like, I got like the second most heat of anybody that has ever seen in that building before. These people just hated me. [Who was ahead of you?] I think the night that they Shane Douglas with the neck brace thing that he did. But look, it was very well done, it looks real. So people think that like, I was like this guy, I hate women, misogynist. But it was so easy to do because it was so as I saw how easy it was to trigger the fans. I don’t know that’s like a skill, I don’t even want to call it a skill, an idea. If you just look, you know, what people get upset about? You see it on social media. Just embrace it. It’s what I want to do, you want to be a heel because ultimately it got Tessa Blanchard over pretty good the way we did it.”

On playing a character on his podcast:

“Not really. What’s the word I want to use here? It’s called ribbing on the square in professional wrestling, where you’re joking but you’re half serious. It’s a joke but there’s a good chunk of truth behind the joke. I had been very critical of some of, we would review the shows. See we’re watching these shows, some of the matches stink, in my opinion. I used to be an agent I used to wrestle. People criticise my work back in the day, so I’m very free to do it to what I see if that’s what people want to hear, right. So just some of the women’s matches I was watching. I don’t want to personally attack these people, but some of the matches were terrible. And I’m like, it’s fair to criticise the work collectively if everybody wants to be pro women’s wrestling, okay, that’s fine, I’m very for it, women draw good numbers. You can’t deny that that’s a recipe. They’re like, it’s a male audience, attractive women, they draw, the people don’t really change the channel? So my whole thing was like, what? I’m not allowed to critique a women’s match the same as a men’s match. That doesn’t seem very fair. Well, why are they like a protected group? There’s tonnes of them in the business. Back in the day, we had the Nitro girls and there weren’t that many women wrestlers on the card. Remember, like growing up what it was just Moolah and Wendy Richter. When it was just like two girls, and once every two, three months, they would be on TV for three or four weeks and they have a match, The Divas era changed that and all of a sudden, there’s a considerable amount of women on the show. My whole thing was like, I’m watching somebody who’s bad. So I have to watch all these shows, and I’d be critical to some of the work and people say, Oh, you’re just being a misogynist. So like, come on. I can stay true to my principles. If I think something’s not good I’ll tell you. If I like something, I will tell you I like that a lot. You know, so it’s just honest criticism.”

On the nature of the podcast:

“Honestly, when we do the show, it literally is, I’m not trying to do anything. Our show is we take mail, anybody can ask us a question, mail your questions, and we generate the discussions because usually the questions are about the topical stuff of the week, what happened and stuff. So we don’t really format the show. Like say, Hey, we’re going to talk about this. We know we’re going to get asked questions about stuff that happened to wrestling this week, right? We read every email. We read every word of every email, we read the insults and stuff, we read it out loud, we answer everything. Just our honest opinion. You know, Konnan has got skin in the game, because he’s the booker for AAA, he has a working relationship with Tony Khan. But yeah, but neither of us will compromise. Like if you’re telling me something, I’m like, did you like this match? I’m not gonna lie to you? If it’s like two guys, two friends of mine, I’m like I really didn’t like it. I’m just giving my honest opinions of what I’m seeing and then viewing it as a fan. Now the funny thing is, I get hated for having certain opinions because I’m not being a fan of the product enough. I’m not supporting it. Dude, I have no skin in the game. I go, my skin in the game literally is like when I talk about professional wrestling. I would love it, people don’t really think of it this way. I would love professional wrestling to get back to where it was as popular as it was. Because our shows would grow in popularity too. So that’s where my skin in the game is, is that if professional wrestling became more popular, we would have more fans.”

On AEW: 

“I love MJF, love Christian Cage. Jericho is my boy, love a lot of his stuff. The product, It’s different. Okay, because then this was my show, Guys like Cornette and they’re very polarising, too. But we all share the same basic philosophy, there’s a way to promote professional wrestling. And what we talked about is like, it’s very easy for the WWE to engage the fans. Tremendous video packages or like movie trailers with music sometimes if there’s just engaging fans. AEW does not do that at all. They’re constantly always trying to like to talk about the ratings, the demo number now. They talk about the ratings all the time, but they’re not drawing. And I’m like, sitting there looking at you guys. You’re not doing some of the basic things that you need to do to draw, which is if somebody’s tuning into your show, they’re completely confused. Like, there are guys on their show, Ring of Honor characters. I don’t watch Ring of Honor. And I don’t think a lot of people watch it and I think they’re only doing like 30,000 people on that subscription service they have. So they’ll take these guys and put them on the show. And I’m like who is this? I watch Dynamite every week. I don’t know who any of these people. And they’re acting amd announcing like I’m supposed to know. They booked their show basically for their fans. Okay, that’s fine. The guy’s a billionaire. Tony Khan is not going to run out of money Tony Khan has way more money than Vince McMahon. That’s what people don’t understand. Everything’s well they’re gonna go out of business. No they’re not. A guy that’s got $8 billion that’s investing $30 million here, let’s say he loses $30 million this year in a hobby that’s nothing like billionaires I think spend way more than that. But the thing they do, there’s basic principles to promote that they do not do and we don’t necessarily, me and Konnan are constantly critical of it’s like I don’t know the storylines. You got a storyline on here on Collision on Rampage. I’m just watching Dynamite. So when I’m watching Dynamite, you’re not filling me in on what happened on those other shows. That is very difficult for fans to engage with it. If I’m watching this I don’t know what’s going on. What’s he gonna do, you change the channel? I don’t know what’s going on, change the channel.” 

On AEW dropping the ball:

“I think the first month they dropped the ball. Okay, you can understand, nobody realises this. If you looked at the TV ratings as a stock, and like it was an IPO and they went public on October 2019. 1.4 million fans watch the show. So if that number represents a stock since that date, you’ve never been able to sell that stock and make a profit, that stock has been at a loss, they’ve never reached that first show that benchmark, they’ve never been back to that mark. And the whole first month, they lost say 400,000 fans during that first group, then they teetered between like 1 million to 900,000, that that number is pretty consistent for about a year until the pandemic hit, which screwed everybody. But yeah, I always say that was your mistake right there. Because they took basically independent wrestlers, and independent wrestling. And instead of putting it through the professionalism that the WWE does, which is incredible packages for the guys, outfits, just as branding of their characters stuff. They just threw them out there on TV, had them wrestle and had Dave Meltzer give his star ratings for the matches. And what great wrestling this was, what great matches this is like, I’m just sitting there watching going like, Okay, that’s great, guys. There’s been nine hours of wrestling on for 20,30 years. I’ve seen enough of wrestling matches, I go, that’s not what interests me in this product. I don’t think that’s what interests a lot of people this product. Are you interested in the matches or the storylines? Well, what’s the most important thing to you? If the storyline stinks, are you interested in the matches?”

On wrestling fans: 

“Well, if you look at the wrestling fan, they’re on like a bell curve right? In the middle, you have your basic fans that will they turn on the product, they get nothing else to do, they’re not going to change the channel, they just watch the show, right? Then on the extreme end, you have people that are watching it, on one extreme end you’re having people that hate watching. Okay, and then on the other extreme end, you have people that watch it with way too critical of an eye, which is not the way we want people to watch a product. I don’t want people like the Dave Meltzer fan base, okay, that have never wrestled before, they’ve never done this. And they’re just fans, you know, doing critical commentary over professional wrestlers work in the ring. And the thing is, like, a lot of these people don’t even really know what work is. When I grew up in like anybody from my era who trained to be professional wrestlers, you were taught how to do it to make it look as real as possible, while protecting yourself and your opponent. Okay. One company tries to do that. Okay, the other company if I told you that this, you watch some of the things he’s doing the shows like, these guys are going to get hurt. I’m scared watching some of this. For me, watching one his career, it’s uncomfortable for me watching Bryan Danielson out there wrestle now, because I know the guys had like a lot of concussions. I know he’s had like your issues and seizures and everything. And I want you to he’s still beating himself up out there. And I’m going like, why is he doing this?”

On the evolution of the modern style:

“And that I think is one of the problems okay. If you go back and watch, just pull up a Mr. Perfect versus Bret Hart on just a random YouTube clip, and you watch two minutes of these guys. You’re going this doesn’t look like wrestling today, okay? They’re not slapping their thighs, they’re not standing there letting the guy like you stand there and let me hit you and then you stand there and I’ll hit you back and you stand there in the middle of the match. Like when they shoot guys in and you’re trying to clothesline the guy, and the guy is ducking your clothesline, you look like you’re trying to take the guy’s head off. You’re diving out of the ring, the guys aren’t standing there looking right at you and then catching you. There’s a lot of basic things that make it look a lot faker than it used to. When we would lock up, punch sell, just like the basic ruggedness of professional wrestlers we had. Okay? Today it’s very choreographed and smooth and it doesn’t really look like combat a lot. But that’s what everybody’s doing, so it looks completely different than back in the day right? And like you said they raised the bar. Guys are trying to outdo the guy that when went before but they’re doing more risky versions of the exact same stuff. The original thing was back in Lucha Libre the suicide dive, which is basically just you run and dive through the second and third ropes. Even when we did that back in WCW had a Lucha guy, you would eat it. Like the guy would come like a missile. He would hit you, you would fall back but they try to have him fall on you. But it would look very violent, right? These days it’s like, you run you do the dive. The guy claps hands and lands on his feet like he just did a gymnastics move. I was like, that didn’t look like you’re trying to hurt the guy or anything. So now guys, since everyone just dives into the second third rope. Now we gotta run, now we gotta dive, off the top rope and we got to flip off the top rope. And now we have to dive, jump on the top have to turn yourself backwards to do moonsault off the top, all these different variations. Somebody’s gonna ever really hurt 1 time. I don’t want it to be, people don’t think about this right? With the way social media is, the mobs will just come after you right? If somebody gets seriously hurt like breaking their neck on a professional wrestling show. It’s like you don’t tell me that there’s gonna people coming out of the woodwork going like, like wanting to try to ban professional wrestling or you have to throw a wet blanket on professional wrestlers. Because that’s just a way things are these days and I’m seeing guys do this and like I think wrestling if you continue to do that very high-risk stuff. You’re looking down the road it may be these people coming after the professional wrestling business you know and I don’t want to see that happen because. I’ve dealt with the commissions these people are a joke. You know, these wrestling commissions come there and they act like wrestling is real. You know? I remember that we’d be in Baltimore these had these old school like gangster-looking guys, you know, maybe the guy was standing by the tables I know blood denied. If I catch it if you bleeding, he’s yelling at us. You don’t want the government coming in trying to regulate this again, which could happen if somebody gets seriously hurt.”

On WCW having issues:

“We would be at Nitro. Okay. And literally, me Konnan, Kidman, Benoit, we would find a TV and we would be watching Raw okay. The Rock and Stone Cold was there, it was just like entertaining and they were doing kind of cutting edge and they were doing the edgy stuff. And we were still, it was Hogan, Macho, Flair with him is still like just like all of our you know all those guys were still kind of on top there was a glass ceiling. We called it the we had what we called the top 12 by 12 stars.”

Why didn’t you go to WWE?

“I had done a stint in booking, right. So they put me on the I was on the booking committee for a while, like there was a nine-month period where it was near the end just wasn’t good. We didn’t have a boss kind of, you know, like Eric was kind of out of the picture but Eric would come back to the picture. But Brad Siegel was our boss. Okay, we be in the booking committee committee, asking, we had a question for the board. Hey, can we do this? You know, it’s like an edgy thing. Put in a call to the guy, wouldn’t return the call. So it’s like that. That’s when you knew like, and plus we were we were competing. I wouldn’t say competing, but they were like, butting heads with production. Just like one time, we wanted a limo at a show. And they brought like a Volkswagen Audi or, you know, just I don’t know. It was just like, we were asking for things. And they say like, it wasn’t in the budget. I was like, Well, how are you? I’m watching Raw and like, they look like they have like a ridiculous budget. You don’t like that they’re spending tonnes of money. We weren’t spending any money on production.” 

On not going to WWE after WCW ended:

“I was burned out. Because I was wrestling and booking. And it was just stressful. And I was in the first quarter of making $350,000 a year. My contract was 250, 300, 350. Okay, so when I was in the first quarter of collecting $350,000 is the most money I’ve ever made and what they did, they had a clause in your contract every quarter, they could terminate your contract. Okay, so I like started the first week of the 350. So I could have either forgone like $80,000 For three months for doing nothing. Okay, or just gone to WWE. And I was burned out and Nash was a good friend of mine. He was taking the money. A lot of the other top guys like Goldberg lay like guys were taking the money. Yeah, you know, and I was like, I’m just gonna take the money and hang out, me and Jeremy Borash and Kevin Nash would like, each day we’d come over like, they play video games, we’d watch TV, we go eat sushi separately, we just just just just go to the gym and stuff that we just kind of chilled. And after that happened when it was a kind of like maybe like time if I could have got a WWE, Johnny Ace was the guy, was the point man. Me and Johnny Ace didn’t get along.”

What is Disco Inferno grateful for?

“Health, my mom and still making decent money.”

Bobby Roode (@realrobertroode) is a professional wrestler and producer for WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Tampa, FL to talk about his incredible career, growing up in Peterborough, Ontario, wanting to play professional hockey as a kid, how he started training with Val Venis, getting his first big break with TNA, joining Team Canada, seeing Petey Williams do the Canadian Destroyer for the first time, being randomly paired with James Storm to form Beer Money Inc., becoming a 2-time TNA World Champion, getting signed by WWE in 2016, how important his “Glorious” entrance theme was to his character, winning the NXT Championship, his tag team with Dolph Ziggler, how a neck injury and surgery has kept him out of the ring, his current job as a WWE producer and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. – Carol Dweck

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On still working for WWE: 

“Yeah, I had two neck surgeries. I had my C5 and C6 fused in November, on November 30 2022. And then May 11 2023, my birthday. I had my level four and five fused. So I have a two-level fusion.”

On the injury: 

“A lot of wear and tear over the years. I can kind of relate it back to almost 10 years to the day that I got re-injured. It was just a weird circumstance. I was in a match with Rob Van Dam and just something happened. I don’t know what it was. It wasn’t his fault, wasn’t my fault. It was just something that happened and I just landed on the ground. He does that front suplex thing where he lands you on the barricade and then jumps off and does a twisting Leg Drop. And Rob and I worked together for a month at least doing live events doing this exact same thing. And just so happened to be on pay-per-view that this happened and my leg went numb for it that felt like, you know, a minute and a half, two minutes. I felt like my leg, I had no feeling in my leg. But watching it back was more like 10 seconds. But I had no feeling in my leg. And then I ended up finishing the match and that was a ladder match. Finishing the match ended up wrestling the next day and the day after. I want to say I wrestled AJ on television the next day, and had like, no issues, totally fine. And I remember waking up Friday that week. And it felt like I had a golf ball in my back. And I had noticed I went to my cupboard to pull out a coffee mug to make coffee and I grabbed the coffee mug and my wrist just went like this. I had no strength and just lost everything. And I thought it was just you know, I’ll go to the gym and roll out and workout. It’ll be fine, just a stinger. And man, I lost all kinds of strength. I lost a bunch of muscle and I had a lot of nerve damage in my neck. But at that time, I just became the world champion at TNA. I didn’t tell anybody I was hurt. And different time of course. Yeah, I worked through it and miraculously enough, you know, the injury kind of repaired itself so to speak, I guess for 10 years and was able to continue on and do what I’ve done and then just so happened to be in Amarillo, Texas in a match with Omos and just landed wrong and nobody’s fault again. Just you know, I think just the wear and tear over the years, just kind of my neck said that was it.”

On wrestling again:

“Ironically enough, I just got green-lighted. The fusion has completely fused. So as far as like, looking at it from a medical point of view, it’s safe to get back in the ring, I guess. But at almost 48 years old, given the opportunity that I’ve been given now to work as a producer, which was my goal coming to WWE almost eight years ago. I’m quite happy doing this. And I feel like I’ve had a good run, as they say, and I’m happy to do what I’m doing now.”

On wrestling in the future:

“Could I do this full-time? There’s no way I could. Look, to be honest, the injury I have three levels that are bad. The level six and seven are not good either. So when I got my injury, back in 2022, when I re injured it, I got an MRI done the next day. And like, I mean, they said that your three levels are just not good. Two levels are not great. You need to get fixed. So I went to Birmingham and saw Dr. Cordova who was amazing. And he thought we need to do a two-level. Because the thing was, is that I wasn’t living in any pain. I didn’t have pain. I could go through the day without feeling any sort of pain that the issue with me was my strength. And then because I was losing strength, I started to lose muscle in my right arm. It just scared me because the first thing I thought it was like Paul Orndorff, right. And his injury and that’s what was happening to me, I was starting to atrophy really bad in my shoulder and in my bicep. So long story short, I was set to get a two-level fusion back in November 30, of 2022. And Dr. Cordova called me the night before, and I was in the hotel room in Birmingham, getting ready to get up at 5 am the next day to get up and go to do the surgery. And he’s like, I talked to you know, a couple of the doctors and I think we can just get away with doing one level, I think you’re gonna be fine. So we went in, and we did the one level and I felt great. Not great the next day, but like after the six weeks of doing nothing, and once I started, the physical therapy and all that other stuff, I felt pretty good, like my strength was coming back. And I felt like the muscle was coming back. And then just out of the blue, I remember March the 10th. I just remember having such wild pain that I never experienced before. And I don’t know what happened. We really don’t know what happened. But I remember getting really sick and vomiting and blacking out and then kind of coming to and not being able to like raise my arm up over my head. So what happened was the level above it just went. So level four and five just kind of went for whatever reason. So in hindsight, maybe we should have gotten both done at the same time. But look, that’s life and we just move on. But I had to get this other fusion done. And that level six and seven, like I said, is still not great but I’m feeling better. And so I just don’t mentally, I don’t think I could take the risk of going back in the ring and working a full-time schedule. Just knowing that as well. I just feel like I look differently to you know what I mean? I always kind of prided myself in the way that I looked on television. And sure, no, I love being in the gym and working out. And it’s just when you physically don’t look the same, it’s just a mental thing as well.” 

On one final match: 

“I think everybody would like to have one last match, right? But sometimes you just when the wheels fall off, the wheels fall off. It’s just that’s the nature of the beast in this sport.” 

On transitioning to a producer role:

“I mean, it’s like I said, that was kind of like the game plan. When I came to WWE, I had my conversation with Triple H, before coming to NXT. And at that time, I was almost 40. So I remember him, I was on a three-way call with him and Matt Bloom and I remember him asking me, like, what do you want to do? Do you want to be a coach? And I’m like, Well, maybe one day, like, that’s my goal, but I feel like I have a lot left in the tank. And yeah, he gave me that opportunity, which I’m super grateful for and here I am today. I had a pretty good run in NXT and then had a pretty good run on the main roster. And it is what it is. Like I said, when the wheels fall off, the wheels fall off.”

On not being hired by WWE in 1999: 

“A lot of things I guess. Look, this is not a bad thing, because I appreciate them telling me I was a good hand. They just creatively never had anything for me. I was also Canadian, I needed to get a proper visa. And back then, I’m six foot and 225. Back in the Attitude Era I’m not a big dude. You know what I mean? Back then, like there was some giants. I was a good hand and I could make guys look good, I was a good enhancement guy. But I was never I don’t think considered for a full time job in WWE as a performer. I mean, we talked about a developmental contract I did a developmental I guess it was like a camp in Cincinnati. And I did quite well there Dr. Tom ran it. And, everything was pointing towards me being hired finally in 2002 I believe it was and then Cincinnati ended up closing down HWA, it was one of the developmental territories for WWE. So when I finished that camp, I went home thinking I’m gonna get signed. A week later they shut it down and fired a bunch of guys and move the guys that they kept OVW, and just again just never got hired but kept coming back and kept showing my face and doing these enhancement and dark matches for the next two years until 2004.” 

On the Canadian Destroyer: 

“Chris Sabin, I think he’s probably told the story, but it was all Chris Sabin. It was Chris Saban’s idea. And Chris was like, I think he was the first one to take it. Because basically, you’re just doing a backflip. Petey [Williams] is just hanging on for dear life. But Petey got the credit. But it was the guys that were taking that that really made it look good.”

On Beer Money:

“Dutch Mantell was pretty instrumental in that. And Jeff Jarrett too. If it wasn’t for Jeff, I don’t think I’d be here doing this still. I mean, Jeff gave me the opportunity in TNA when nobody else really would. So Jeff, I owe a lot to Jeff Jarrett. But it was Dutch that came up with the Beer Money thing. At the time I was doing my singles run and James was doing his singles run. And we were just kind of floating around, kind of midcard guys, and they had an idea to put us together and just like and throw away tag team match. And we just kind of had this spark there. I don’t know when Dutch saw it. And Dutch just, you know, once you’re in Dutch’s sights and he’s any like something he sees, he kind of runs with it and makes it his baby. So yeah, we were just we were paired together I think we had a match. Again, we weren’t Beer Money yet. And we had a match. And we did a backstage promo right after and I think it was Vince Russo that wrote it. But it was I think that end line was something to the effect of the two things that make the world go round was beer and money. Because I was like the Wall Street, James was the beer-drinking cowboy. And we just said like, the two things that make the world go round or beer and money. And then it was like a light bulb went off. And we’re off to the races.”

On the Hogan and Bischoff era of TNA: 

“It definitely changed. I don’t know, it was different for sure. And I can’t really put a finger on what exactly changed, but I could just feel it. It was great for a while it really was. I can’t really say anything bad about Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan. They made me their champion. And I had a really good run. And you know, but it was different for sure. It’s just like this the changing of the guard. I don’t deal with change very well, and I think it just that’s just the nature of the wrestling business, when change happens, people kind of freak out a little bit. But yeah, I don’t know what it was. I think it was okay, for a while it was good. And then I think just the kind of the wheels just kind of fell off and everybody just stopped caring. And I think there was too many cooks in the kitchen.”

On losing the six-sided ring:

“I mean, I heard rumblings of it. Like when Hogan and Bischoff came in that they were going to switch back to the more traditional style, more traditional look. And yeah, it was just one day we just walked in, and the six-sided ring was gone and the traditional four-sided ring was there. And it was just one of those things.”

On his theme song being originally planned for Shinsuke Nakamura:

“I believe so. Yeah, I believe so. I think you’re right. I remember just being, look, when I signed, I had no idea about this song. We kind of talked, we being Triple H and I, talked a little bit about what I wanted to do character wise and what I was doing at TNA. I always like wearing the robes, I always like being like a throwback guy. Not that I wanted to be Ric Flair. But I always just love that look. I wanted to bring the robe back. I was at NXT TV one day, this was before I debuted and he’s like, I want you to listen to the song. I listened to it and it was like meh, It was just it was different, right? It wasn’t like a traditional theme song. But then I was like, Wow, this might work with like the robe and like, if the presentation is right, this will work. The presentation was above and beyond what I ever imagined right? But yeah, definitely that song changed my career.”

On WrestleMania 34:

“It’s quick, I remember that. Our time got cut, I remember that. That was a little bit disappointing. I remember our time got cut. I think the girls went a little bit long. But I was really looking forward to obviously getting a chance to work [WrestleMania], and it was for the US title. So getting a chance to work with Randy, who I worked with a couple of months prior, I think I dropped the US title to Randy the month prior, a couple months prior in a singles match, which was one of my favourite matches, by the way. But yeah, getting a chance to work with all four of those guys at WrestleMania in front of 80,000 people. But the thing that I was looking forward to the most was my entrance, and it got cut. Yeah, so I mean, it is what it is. But like, Yeah, I mean I can always say I got the opportunity to work WrestleMania that was like, bucket list, for sure. I got the entrance. But it was like a quarter entrance. The entranceway was like a mile long, of course. But like, I think I got three-quarters of the way down in the next guy’s music head. So I didn’t get to do the full Glorious entrance. But you know, it’s WrestleMania.”

On transitioning to WWE producer:

“So for me, I was off for almost a year, at least a year with my surgeries. So I was kind of, during that time, after my first surgery, I was like, Okay, I’m gonna get through this, I’m gonna be back in the ring in six, nine months. And then I remember going last February, going to while I was injured. I had my surgery in November and February was, I believe it was a Raw in Ottawa. So I drove two and a half hours to the show and see everybody. And I was there. And I was like, walking around ringside and thinking to myself, Man, I don’t know if I could do this full time anymore. This is with the one fusion, and I was like, I don’t know if I could. I don’t know if I could go out there and do this every night again. And then I saw Jason Jordan and saw Bruce Prichard. Bruce came up to me, he’s like, Hey man. Obviously asked me how I was doing from a physical standpoint, and have you ever thought about working as a producer. I just kind of thought about it for a second, not at that moment with him. But I kind of walked away thinking I think I’d really like to do this or at least give it a shot anyways, and see if I’m any good at it. Because I feel like I have a pretty good mind for the business. I have some good ideas. And look, I still have a long way to go. I’m still learning the creative aspect of it. I think I could be a really good coach and help guys in the ring. The younger guys, the younger talent coming up, I really like to help them with their in-ring stuff. But I really want to get good at the creative stuff. I’m good at it, but I want to be great at it.” 

What is Bobby Roode grateful for?

“Family, health and the business.”