Moose (@themoosenation) is a professional wrestler and the current TNA World Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas to talk about the return of TNA Wrestling, beating Alex Shelley for the TNA World Championship at Hard To Kill, why he chose to sign the longest contract in TNA history instead of going to WWE or AEW, his friendship with Scott D’Amore, how he came up with the flipping Spear as his finisher, what he learned from his 7-year career in the NFL,  wanting to open up the Forbidden Door and have a match with Roman Reigns, who he puts on his TNA Mount Rushmore and much more.

Quote I’m thinking about:

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller

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On TNA being back:

“[It feels] great. It is something that within the boys that we’ve always talked about and we’ve always said to each other, like, what if TNA came back and we wasn’t Impact Wrestling anymore? We were just TNA, I didn’t know personally, they never told me anything. I’m the last person that finds out about anything that’s going on. And I remember the night. I think Josh was in the main event. And everybody was like, make sure you watch the monitors after the match. In my head, I was like, what’s going on? Is CM Punk coming in? Because he was a free agent. Is CM Punk coming in? No way like, well, I’m going to watch the monitor and then the match is over and the reveal happens and there was a reaction video and you can see me jump up, get on the chair and start chanting, TNA, TNA TNA like with the rest of the boys. I think that was probably the most epic part of the last year for us.”

On Nic Nemeth:

“I’m sure he’s gonna have great matches with other talented guys on our roster. And people, this is the crazy thing about it. Like, you go on Twitter, and you see all these idiots that never watched a product, only say bad things. But then you watch the product. And as soon as you watch it, you’re hooked. You’re like, Oh my God, I didn’t know. TNA was this f*cking good? And we are. I think in my personal opinion, we are the best wrestling company from top to bottom.”

On his ability to sell:

“So it’s two things with that. When I first got into wrestling, 10-11 years ago, I was in a company called Ring of Honor. And I met a guy called Chris Hero. One thing Chris Hero told me that always stuck with me, he told me his words, You’re not going to be determined on how good you are about the things you do offensively, we’re gonna determine how good you are by how you sell. And that always stuck with me. And another thing, part two, one of my favourite wrestlers, to this day is Brock Lesnar. And the reason why he’s my favourite wrestler is, despite the wrong reasons, because yes, he’s a monster. He’s a beast, he kills people. But that’s not why I like him. He’s, in my opinion, the best seller in pro wrestling. I’ve literally watched a match with him versus Ric Flair, 60-year-old Ric Flair. And in that match, I literally thought the 60-year-old man was going to beat this beast, and all due to this beast selling. And just watching that I knew, Okay, whenever I get to this spot, I have to do a good enough job as he’s doing or a better job than him to be successful and be good at this. Every time I go to a match if a guy tells me Oh, I’m working the body part. I know the whole night my goal is for them in the headpiece to get the ref to ask them is he really Okay. So that’s my goal to get them to ask me that.”

On selling big moves:

“It’s a lot of work, man. Like I said, when I told myself I was going to leave that life of football and get into professional wrestling, I put 110% into it and getting in shape, losing the weight, being more agile, putting in countless time in the filming room watching some of my favourite wrestlers and some of my friends are like some of the best wrestlers in the world. So they’re just them being my friends. I learned from Eddie Edwards, one of my best friends. I look at him as a brother and I’ve learned so much from Eddie. I did one of my longest tours in Japan, it was probably like five weeks with Eddie and just in that short period of time I learned so much about Japanese wrestling and how they do things differently there. And then you have Brian Myers. He’s a good friend of mine, but we just became close in the last maybe year. Just in this last year. A lot of people don’t give credit to Brian on his knowledge of wrestling like things that he does as a heel that is so freakin good. And I get to learn from him every day because for a while we were a tag team. Then you got guys in other companies, Ricochet, probably one of the best wrestlers in the world. Scott D’Amore, a mentor Big Brother, he actually brought me into wrestling, one of the greatest minds in wrestling. I get to learn from him. I just think because of who I put myself around that’s probably one of the reasons why I’m in this position I am today like, just being around great human beings Apollo, I forgot to mention him such a great wrestler, in my opinion. I think he’s being underutilised right now up where he’s at, but he’s a great wrestler. A great friend of mine, I get to learn from him. And it’s like, just without those guys all those names I mentioned, probably someone I’m missing. I wouldn’t be in the position I am.”

On re-signing with TNA despite there being other interest:

“It was a few things. Number one, I’m a very loyal person. And my relationship with Scott D’Amore, honestly, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if I never met Scott 10-plus years ago. So it’s hard for me to ever say no to him when we’re discussing numbers and what my future would be. Because I feel like in this business. First of all, I played in the NFL for seven-plus years. I’ve made a tonne of money doing that. So money was never something precious to me. I was good with my money. You hear you hear bad stories. Luckily for me, fortunately for me, I did good. I saved a good bit. So money has never been something that rained heavy over my head like, oh, I need money I need so but I’ll stick to Scott for right now for the first reason. My relationship with Scott playing in the NFL. So for so long and knowing that that business can be so cutthroat they can really let you go in any second. But my relationship with Scott is, it’s more than just a boss-talent relationship is almost like a big brother little brother. So he’s had to be my coach, be my friend and be my boss. So now I had to think about that.

If I go to AEW, I don’t have a relationship with Tony. So he’s literally just my boss. If I go to WWE, I don’t have a relationship with Hunter. He’s really just my boss. So some of the things that some of the situations I could potentially be in are just a boss talent conversation. Where here in TNA is a friend first, a friend-friend conversation, a big brother little brother with compensation, and then there’s a boss talent compensation. So I had to throw that in, that was a big decision making for me. Number two, because I’ve made money playing over seven years in the NFL money wasn’t a huge burden for me. So going to AEW or going to WWE wasn’t the money wasn’t attractive. And for me, the guys who know me will tell you everybody loves me, because that’s my goal is to make everybody love me. But some people like hate dealing with me, because my greatest gift is also my greatest curse. I take wrestling so seriously, that if I’m gonna go somewhere, I know how good I am as a wrestler. 

I know that In my humble opinion, I’m one of a kind. I know what I could do in the ring. I know how I look physically. I know that I could talk on the mic. So if I’m not in a spot that I deserve, I should be. Money is not attractive to me to get me to be happy with where I’m at. I want to play, I don’t want this much money to be on the bench. I want to be on the field. So I had to think about that. And at that point, I don’t know if I was confidence confident enough to make that jump and be the starter. I don’t know that wrestling is one of those things that it doesn’t matter how talented you are. It matters how somebody perceives you. So your control is out of your hands.” 

On knowing his talent: 

“I know how good I am sure. I know if I go to any of those companies. I should be up there with whoever their superstars and top guys are. But like I say the difference between wrestling and pro sports is it doesn’t matter about how talented, it matters about whoever’s writing the script, how they perceive you. So I could be the best athlete, best look, best on the mic. But the guy writing the stories thinks the next guy is better and I get to stay at home.” 

On retiring in TNA:

I can’t answer that question because I don’t know. I can’t tell the future. I can’t tell you if I’m even going to wake up tomorrow, so I can’t speak for that. But I will say this. I’m not one of those guys that you see, who wants to wrestle until he’s 60 or 50 years old, that’s never been my goal. I want to be able to leave wrestling young and still be able to run around and play with my kid, be active and do fun things. So I can’t tell you that I’m going to retire in TNA. But I do know for a fact that I’m not one of those guys, that is gonna wrestle til he’s 50 years old, I turned 40 this year. It all depends on how I feel physically. If I still have confidence in my abilities, to still perform the way I perform now. And if I feel like there’s any dip in that down the road then I’ll hang it up.”

On using the spear as a finisher:

“So funny story about the spear. And it’s so annoying, because sometimes, the few times, I will go on Twitter. And I will see some areas like oh, you stole Bobby Lashley’s move. And it was like first of all, Bobby great friend of mine. Great individual. So happy for success. But if you look at the footage of when I started doing the spear, the flipping spear I started that in Ring of Honor in 2014 and Bobby just doing a regular spear. So yeah, so but I didn’t make the spear up. Everything is stolen in wrestling from somebody. So I remember training in wrestling in 2012 and Curtis Hughes had an indie show that he just did. And was watching some of the matches in the show. And there was some guy and I can’t even tell you what his name is. He did a spear and he actually flipped in it. And I was like, oh my God that is so cool. I was like can you rewind that? And he rewound it and I saw it again. I was like, I think I want that to be my finish. It makes sense. I’m a football player, right? Now, can I flip when I spear somebody? And I did it, it was so easy. It didn’t hurt my opponent. And I was like, well, that’s my finisher.”

On his TNA Mount Rushmore:

“That’s easy, that’s very easy. AJ Styles Jeff Jarrett, Abyss and Kurt Angle.”

What is Moose grateful for?

“All the individuals that I have met that have helped me, my wife and this path of life.”

Patrick Clark (@patrickjr) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE from 2015-2021 where he performed under the ring name Velveteen Dream in NXT. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Los Angeles, CA for his first interview since being released from WWE and opens up about the apology video he posted on January 2, the allegations made against him in 2020, being labeled as a “pedophile” and “groomer”, his arrests in 2022, spending time in jail, whether he wants to wrestle again and more.

EC3 (@therealec3) is a professional wrestler and the current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. He is also known for his time in WWE and TNA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Blizzard Brawl in Milwaukee, WI to talk about winning the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, retiring Tyrus, working with Billy Corgan in NWA, his relationship with Dixie Carter, would he want to return to WWE, the status of Control Your Narrative and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein

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On wanting to be uncomfortable: 

“You have to suffer to succeed. And so I’ve actually started making sure I put myself in situations that will be kind of uncomfortable, or I don’t want to, for example, our interview, super uncomfortable right now. No, but like in a social setting and conversations meeting what would make me just feel awkward, so I can get out of it, or at least challenge myself to enjoy it. So I do do that. So yeah, uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is comforting.” 

On Control Your Narrative: 

“And I think too first off, what is a professional wrestler’s number one job? This is an Al Snow question. So I don’t know if he said it on your interview. But to get attention, right, so getting attention. And like, yeah, there’s good attention, and there’s bad attention. It received bad attention. But the bad attention was all based on fruitless lies, and people trying to sabotage something before it even started. Because in theory, we did make some strong waves and provided something unique, where once you become a threat in the industry, you’ve sought to be destroyed before you grow.”

On banning moves in Control Your Narrative: 

“That it is still the most genius concept to have. Because if on the surface, you’re overreacting to something where you don’t understand or haven’t seen the context develop. It’s probably my fault. You don’t understand because the content wasn’t readily available. But I banned superkick, suicide dive, and the Canadian Destroyer. And the reasons were, because those moves are so cool, but they’re so overdone, they’ve lost their meaning. So if you watch our CYN show in Dallas, we have this big kind of multi-man match, where somebody who does a super kick was out of position or like thought about it couldn’t do it. Something happens, their instincts kick in, they hit the super kick, boom, nails somebody he’s out, that dude gets disqualified. So as he’s getting thrown out of the building, another guy comes in and pins him, because the super kick was so effective. It left that man devastated. So it wasn’t like to hate superkicks it’s just we’re doing them so much. They have so much value if we do them, right. Same thing with a suicide tope. Why did I do that? We had a really good reel where I went over every move you’re allowed to do, you just can’t do this one. You can go over the top. You go through the bottom rope, you can do a moonstone You can do a front flip, you can do a quadra breeder, you can do a lion. So you can do an Asai moonsault, you can do a backflip off the top rope, you can do a shooting star off the top rope, you can do whatever you want, just don’t go flying through the middle rope. But then the idea of that too, was I had somebody go for it. They missed. And they got stretched out of the building, because it’s so devastating that they didn’t hit it. That was the point. And then as far as the Canadian Destroyer that was all me leading up to getting a Canadian Destroyer from Ricky Morton and getting pinned by his son. That was my idea. So that’s why I banned them for long-term storytelling, which all these fans claim they want. We want long-term stories. We want context. You have to let it develop sometimes if I gotta ruffle a few feathers to get there so be it.”

On NWA now controlling his narrative:

“Are they though? NWA has provided me the freedom to control my narrative and here I sit as the NWA world’s heavyweight champion narrative controlled, which is another thing I’ll get online, how’s Control Your Narrative going? I control my narrative, I became a world heavyweight champion, I’m a sexual stud. I’m physically perfect. I’m mentally acute. I’m super happy. I’m doing well financially. It worked out pretty well. Thank you for asking, like controlling your narrative, the concept is to tell your story. That was the concept. And that was a story for each and every talent that wanted to come there those that need to be discovered, those that want to be reinvented, I’m giving you a platform to tell your story. And the whole thing started because when I would be in WWE, or even Impact, TNA Ring of Honor, when we’re looking at the camera, and when the red light would come on, people would play what they think they should be. Cut, you have a conversation with them, dude their stories are amazing. They’re super intriguing people, they’ve had these ups and these downs in life that I’m like if you can tell that to the world, we’re all like becoming stars because people can resonate with your truth and reality. As opposed to you think you have to do something you don’t like Control Your narrative was a test to be an individual and self-realised, self-actualized performer.” 

On Braun Strowman’s return:

“He controlled his narrative into a nice contract. You start something new, the growth seems to come. I started in sort of an off-kilter kind of way while still working with Ring of Honor at the time. And then with NWA, but like it was always off-brand, I would call it subsidiary content to the wrestling lore, you know, whatever is happening within wrestling. This is off the side, it’s supplemental material, its shadow of empires to the Star Wars trilogy. That nerd reference. But like, then the growth happens, you attach a fairly big name to it. There’s some intrigue. Next thing, you know, there’s, quote, television, and there’s quote, agents involved, there’s quote, people are, like, see a financial endgame, where a lot of things are offered. But at the end of the day, the the foundation is me and my MacBook at a coffee shop. And I’m like, Well, there’s a lot to do, and I need help doing it. And so when you bring on talent to that’s come through them the system of the WWE, their job is to perform, their job is to be their character. Their job is to have the itinerary somebody gives them to do this, this and this. And so when you’re starting something new, you have to do everything. And it’s hard. So at the same time, if you’re going to walk back into guaranteed money, I was totally fine with it. But you have to go back.” 

On still keeping in touch with Dixie Carter:

“Yeah, I text her once a month. We have a little exchange. It was pulling teeth to get her on that OVW show. But we did it was cool. That was Al Snow and I were helping her produce it because she was filming it at home. And like it was just like old times micro-managing and analysing things that don’t matter. Like all you have to do is just show up and say hi and just have fun with it. She said I don’t know if this is the right tone. I said, just have fun. That’s what this sh*t is supposed to be. And I think that’s what she never really got to experience because she jumps into the business in the deep end to like, you know, the competitive, Shark filled waters of the professional wrestling world where a lot of people are utilising her and probably manipulating her and trying to get money and this and that. I don’t know if she ever just had to have fun. She got to have that fun that this is the reason we do this.”

On Tyrus:

“I grew this industry with him. So we’re, you know, very close. And at the end of the day, in the concept of what we do as a business, he did me a huge favour, passing that torch, his career, bestowing me to be the one to take him out which one day I will bestow upon somebody and that’s how we grow the business and we try to leave it better than when we found it. But yeah, I mean, partly because he’s in a political atmosphere. So he’s going to alienate 50% of people. And partly because he’s been around for a while. People don’t like big men. In reality, he’s huge, He’s a dominating figure, that match too was one of my favourites by no means is a, quote, good wrestling match. But what I wanted it to be was a Greek tragedy. And I think I accomplished it, so I owe him a lot. And that probably does help why I’m a protagonist because I defeated him. But also I’m pretty good too.”

On a WWE return:

“I’m so thoroughly content with building what we’re building right now. And I’m very on board. And I feel very much I could be a gear in the strongest machine possible. Or I can sink or swim being a catalyst to build something for the future. And so it’s how much are they paying? No, what we’re doing. I believe in what we’re doing, I believe in WPC. They put me in a great position, not just champion, but sort of like, I don’t know, I guess I’m a locker room leader and things like that. And being able to help cultivate the future intrigues me greatly, especially because I’m still in my prime, and I could beat everybody.”

On Dean Ambrose interactions:

“I didn’t have any [momentum]. I think it was a weird spot because Dean has been on top Shield, awesome, loved, adored, whether they’re protagonists or antagonists, they’re ingrained in the culture. Also, at the same time, he’s publicly announcing I’m bucking the system. I’m out of here. I love the dude. But like, when you have the freedom to like, it doesn’t matter what I do. Like he did like that promo was great, because he’s just feeling it. Usually when you don’t give a shit. Sometimes it’s when your work is the best. That was scripted, I think. I believe so I just know that. Every time I’m going to speak, I get cut off. So does that kill the momentum? A bit, unless we delivered something in the back end. So the match, a decent little match. It’s a TV match. And I think I won like with a roll up, as opposed to I don’t know, should I have just beat the dog sh*t out of him? Or like what would have made me keep the momentum but then the momentum was killed the next week anyway, so didn’t matter. And I think partly the reason that was killed is because we were working the live events together. So Dean and I, we would have these really good live event matches, you know, eight minutes, like third on the card, they’re solid little, you know things. Right Place Right Time. He’s the antagonist. I’m a protagonist. But he’s getting cheered, and I’m getting booed. So in the middle of that match, I’m like, this is exactly where I want to be. If I can garner the sort of push of I’m a baby face, but people generally don’t like me. That’s Roman, Cena level, I can get to that. Like, that’s where I need to be because I’m a sh*t baby face. So like, we’re working these matches, and I’m working to baby face and my comebacks, getting booed and his, you know, he’s getting cheered. And like, I’d slip over and slip over and slip over on the last night, because we’re really good professional wrestlers and tired of like always doing the same thing. We’re in the middle of the match. And they’re really anti-me. And they’re really for him. I think he has me in a hold. He’s like, you switch it up? Well, yeah. And so in the middle of the match, I take over and now I’m playing kind of the bad guy, and I’m, you know, beating the sh*t out of him. And now he’s fired up, and he’s making a comeback. And same finished, like, whatever. But like, we went about it a different way. Apparently, that got back to the office to Vince, perhaps I don’t know for sure. But, like, when you buck the system, you’re spitting in his face sometimes. So it’s like a power play. So the next day on TV momentum is cut. And then it’s just nothing after that. I mean, the point of what we do is to garner the reactions that people are feeling and getting so like, by doing that, I think that’s the right move is a pro for a wrestling show without any context. It’s a live event. People are there to have fun cheer and boo and see a good show. But then, at the end of the day, you know, wrong place wrong time.”

What is EC3 grateful for:

“The opportunity to have poignant conversations, the opportunities that my work has provided me and what I can do in the position I’m in.”

Lexis King (@lexiskingwwe) is a professional wrestler signed to WWE and appears on NXT. He is also known for his time in MLW and AEW where he wrestled under his real name Brian Pillman Jr. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about leaving AEW and his decision to sign with WWE, what the meaning behind his name “Lexis King” is, what his goals are in WWE, why he considers Cody Rhodes a dream opponent for him, living the gimmick by driving a Lexus, being coached by Fit Finlay, the hatred that he gets for his beard, memories of his father Brian Pillman and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “What you know is limited. What you don’t know is limitless.” – Tom Brady

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Who is Lexis King:

“I don’t know who he [Brian Pillman Jr.] is anymore. But Lexis King is starting to establish himself on the NXT roster, I would say I’ve already made quite a few waves. I’ve proved a lot of doubters wrong, made lot of made a lot of enemies too. And that’s kind of comes with the lay of the land, you know, yeah, the more you succeed, the more people you piss off, and then it just, it’s a never-ending cycle. You know, you can’t move up in the world without robbing a few people wrong.” 

On the epic entrance:

“I was just sitting in it [the throne]. I’m backstage and I’m thinking is this real? I spent, and this isn’t a knock on anybody. I spent so many months of my career at the previous company just second-guessing myself, am I really any good? Am I worth it? A lot of self-doubt. And just to see how my career has done a total 180 since then, it went from just sitting in the back and filming a few dark matches in Orlando, here and there, six-minute tag matches, barely getting in the ring and feeling the canvas. Now I’m sitting on a throne, and I’m making my entrance in the biggest wrestling company in the world. They have this confidence in me and it kind of fuels me, I now have confidence in myself. Hell, they gave me the name King. You can’t get any better than that. So, just to feel that 180 And to go out there and, and perform with a certain level of grit and attitude. I’m gonna prove everyone wrong that didn’t believe in me. It’s a dream come true.” 

On AEW:

“Like I said, there’s no ill will but it’s sort of just that mindset. I put myself in that mindset, nobody else put me in that. It’s just I put myself in that mindset of like, what’s going on here, that sort of that self-doubt. Then I kept grinding and like I said, I moved back home, I kept grinding going to the local school, trying to find out what makes me tick as a performer. And just the experience living there, the experience I gained, and travelling with AEW made me the performer I am today.”

Signing with WWE:

“I mean, it wasn’t so much of a decision as it was just a necessary transition. I think my time came up at AEW, and it was a great, great run, a great deal financially, I did very well there. But like I said, just that sort of that self-doubt of not knowing the future, not knowing if I’m going to be used, or if I’m going to do anything? Well, it was pretty apparent when they didn’t re-sign me that I wasn’t going to be doing anything there anymore. So God bless agents and attorneys that picked up the phone that day, my contract was up and got the conversation started. I think I got a paycheck from both companies in the same month. That’s how quickly the ball got rolling. Because you’re so worried. It’s like, Oh, my God, like, are they gonna pick me up right away? Am I gonna be able to go there? But now the ball got rolling and the King was crowned pretty quickly.” 

How did you come up with the name? 

“So this funny, the name, it was never supposed to be this like royalty come out on a throne kind of thing. And it kind of still isn’t. I would say a little bit more of a rock and roll, you know, kind of guy. I mean, I do have a cane. But I’m not going to come out and be cosplaying as a king. But the name has a lot of meaning behind it. And then sure, there are little things that we can play off of, but, the true meaning was that it was my stepfather’s name. It was my little sister’s last name. And the first name was my older sister’s name. So my older sister Alexis was actually an indie wrestler. She was going by the name Sexy Lexie Pillman. My father adopted her when she was young. Her real name was Alexis Reed. But my father did adopt her. She wasn’t biologically a Pillman when she took on that name, and she was travelling, and she was also a dancer. That’s how she made most of her living with dancing. And she passed away in a tragic car accident, so I wanted to honour her, she died when I was about 15. And then my little sister Skyler, I thought I’d just put their names together and make a cool name. I actually wrestled my very first indie match as Alex King. So this is an idea and a creative thought that has rested in my mind for six years. For as long as I’ve been wrestling, as soon as I got on a training. It’s funny Lance Storm, my trainer, he was like, I don’t know about using the name Pillman, it’s a lot of pressure, maybe you should throw on a mask and go by, you know, some gimmick name for a while. I’m thinking sh*t I’m not hiding this. I can’t do a bunch of flippy spots and cartwheels. I got to show my face. But I was like, well, maybe no one will know who I am. I’ll just use a fake name.” 

Was there ever talk of Brian Pillman Jr. in NXT?

“I don’t want to get into the details. But like when I first got there, like everything was just Brian Pillman, Jr, yada, yada, yada. And then I had some talks, they gave me the whole, you know, we can’t keep your name kind of talk. And I thought, well, I don’t want to make it seem like that’s a bad thing. Honestly, I’ve always sort of fantasised about having my own wrestler name. Because my whole career I’ve had his name. My whole life I’ve had someone else’s name I’ve been I’ve been walking around for 30 years with someone else’s name. Brian Pillman is a name that my father made. He made that name on his own. There’s not much I can add to it.”

On his father’s legacy:

“I got to the point where I felt like I was sort of subtracting from it. And I was sort of drawing away from his legacy because I am using his name and I was tired of being compared and everything. So it’s like, as much as it was the company’s initial push for that. I was already kind of on board with that. And I was excited for that. And I wanted that to happen. And I had people telling me oh, no, like, don’t let them change your name. You want to keep all the intellectual yada yada and I thought, You know what, screw it. Like, I’m not gonna try to swim upstream. I’m gonna go with the flow. I’m gonna go with what the company wants. I’m gonna put the company first and foremost, and if this is how we can not only benefit me by rebranding me and giving me a whole new identity to work with. But also, it shows the creative capacity for the company to work with its performers and build brand new [stars].  Sure, they could have just said, Alright, he’s Pillman, Jr. and we play the clips of my dad playing football. But then it’s like, where do we go from there? But with Lexis King, we have so many places that we can go and explore my true personality, which is not my father’s because he didn’t raise me. And we have this sort of dark story where I am the son of my stepfather, right? Like, he influenced me, he raised me all by terribly, he abused me and neglected me. But that’s what makes me a King. Right? I am a King because I was raised and influenced by that man. And whether that means I have certain habits or tendencies that a guy like him would have and that’s who I am. I’m a lot less of a Pillman, was more of a Pillman if my father was around, but he isn’t. So internally, I am a King, I am Lexis King.”

On Brian Pillman: 

“I didn’t know him at all. I remember as a kid, I remember seeing the bolts in the weight that would hold his ankle together. I remember seeing that sticking out of his leg, the scabbing and the in the oil and just the gruesomeness of it. It was like a Frankenstein movie. And I was like, three or four. But I vaguely remember it. Because I’m just like, this tall. And he’s sitting in a chair like this, like the ankles like right in my face. I mean, I’m just like, oh my god, like my dad’s a cyborg. And I like, vaguely remember that. But that’s it. That and his voice maybe, but I don’t remember much.”

On NXT dream matches:

“You know, people always ask that question about dream matches. And I look at it as a bigger picture than that. I look at the match, the match is the means to the end. But I look at the end result. And I look at the story that built up. One of the best things to happen in my career was being put into that storyline with Trick and Carmelo Hayes is the first time in my career that I had an opportunity to, to get some attention on me. And to get some storytelling happening. You know, at the end of the day, you know, the story is about this about those guys, but to be able to put myself in a high profile setting, and have sort of a payoff blowoff match at the pay-per-view, it just goes to show how much more important wrestling is when there’s a story. Throughout my career, I never really had that. I did have some moments and some stories that led up to some matches, but not to the degree where it was built up that well. So you go out there, and you’re having this match and the crowd super into and you’re like, man, like, what’s so different about this match than any other match I’ve had? It’s like, oh, wait, we did weeks and weeks of television and building up and building the character. And then now this match has a story.” 

On imposter syndrome:

“I’ve really like, had to deal with my whole career, the imposter syndrome am I really that good? I’m not really worth it or am I just marketable because of my name, and then to finally just be able to just throw it to the wayside and become Lexis King. And this is my I’m doing things my way. This is my life. You know, I’m gonna wrestle how I want to wrestle. I’m gonna wear what I want to wear, I’m gonna be myself. And people can make comparisons to him all day if they want, because I’m not using his name anymore. So it’s like, you can love Lexis King, you can hate Lexis King. But Lexis King is his own man. He’s doing it his way. And it’s his life, and that’s just like the best thing that could happen. You know, and I love that little sting. I love that little line. And every time I come through that curtain, it’s like, I’m doing it.”

On advice from John Cena:

“He actually came in did a seminar with us at the PC. And I thought, okay, I’ll go and see what see what’s going on. But man, I’m so glad I went. And it was the most enlightening. Like, it wasn’t just like, little questions that people would ask, like, Oh what’s your favourite food? No, we were getting into it, we’re talking about, contract negotiations all this different stuff, I’m so glad I went. Yeah, it was, it was amazing, and the amount of questions that we were able to ask and get to answer it. And one of the coolest things he said, you can’t control the booking, you can’t control who’s wearing what belt or this, that or the other. He’s like, but you can be the best version of said character. And if you’re the best, like he was the rapper guy, if you’re the best rapper guy on the roster. And creative goes, Oh, we want the rapper guy to take on a huge monster. Then they’re gonna pick the best rapper guy they have and put them against the best monster character they have, and then go, oh what does the match look like? So it’s like, people say I’ll never pitch an idea again, let’s put it that way. He said, There’s no point in pitching anything. Because if you pitch something and they don’t use it. Now, you’re disappointed. Now you’re upset. But if you just be the best version of your character. And then they decide to choose you for these things that they created because they’re the writers, they’re going to come up with the ideas. And it’s like, they don’t want you pitching them stuff. They want to come up with it, because it’s their job. So I think it’s kind of a contrast from the company I was at before where that was where our success came from because there was not as much of a writing team there. So anytime I would pitch out and I’ve had successful pitches in AEW I pitched Julia Hart to join The Blondes and I pitched the name, so I had Oh, like, my pitch was successful. I must be doing something right. But it’s like, here in WWE, we have people for that we have right we have creative we don’t have to pitch ideas. We just have to be the best in-ring performers on the mic performers. And be the best f*cking rock and roll sleaze ball, conniving, pick me, look at me kind of guy. And then if I’m the best dirtbag that they have, yeah, that dresses like a rock and roll wannabee, then they’re gonna pick me for those roles. You know what I mean? They’re gonna go, you know what we really want the sleazeball guy to take on our top babyface Carmelo Hayes and then he’ll prove them wrong and prove all the haters wrong, and it’ll be a good story.”

What is Lexis King grateful for?

“My coaches, being here in NXT and my girl.”

Steph De Lander (@stephdelander) is a professional wrestler known for her time in GCW, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling and also WWE NXT where she performed under the name Persia Pirotta. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how she reinvented herself after being released from WWE, how meeting Matt Cardona completely changed her wrestling career, her lipstick line and the origin of its risqué name, her appearances in IMPACT Wrestling and AEW, her goals for the new year, she teaches me some Aussie slang and much more!

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On the differences between NXT and the indies:

“I would say the biggest difference is just my confidence and knowing myself, knowing what I want, and what I want the people to see of me and think of me and just like the portrayal of what I’m doing. I feel so much more connected to what I’m doing and my character and all of that than I did previously when I was in NXT. So I think you can just see, if you compare my performances in WWE, and on the independents, like I think the biggest thing is just, I look a lot more and I feel a lot more sure of myself.” 

What do you attribute that to?

“I think it was a mixture of a few different things. But I think the biggest thing, actually, which is so interesting when I got released, I had to do a few shows for my visa stuff on the Indies. But then I kind of felt like it wasn’t clicking, I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. And it didn’t feel right. So I took a break, I took six months off.”

On not wanting to wrestle after NXT:

“I knew it got to a point where I wasn’t motivated, I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. And I knew continuing to work through that and wrestle while I was in that mindset was actually going to be detrimental to my career because I didn’t want to start putting out work that I wasn’t proud of. And I knew my mind wasn’t right. So I kind of took a tactical break of like, six months, take a step back, recalibrate, figure out what it is that you want out of this. And also, I had to find my love for wrestling again. Getting released was such a big shock to the system. And it did take quite a while to go through all of those emotions. And I didn’t feel like I could process that while I was wrestling. I had to really step back, miss it, learn to love it. And then that’s kind of what happened over that period of time. I had the time and the clarity to sit down and really figure out who I wanted to be. And I think that really helped kickstart this amazing run that I’ve had.”

On the face tattoo:

“I knew that about myself. I knew I was never gonna have a corporate job anyway. But the mentality behind my face tattoo was, I didn’t have many other tattoos, like I’ve got a couple of thin ones on my arms. Initially, I wanted to get a full sleeve or two full sleeves. But I was just thinking about it and I was like, tattoos are so common now. So many people have tattoos, and it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of money to get a full sleeve. Not that I really care about any of that kind of stuff. But it’s actually hard to take time off to heal a tattoo when you’re wrestling. Because you’ve got to have a couple of weeks without bumping it and stuff. So I kind of thought, Alright, what’s even more dramatic than getting a full sleeve? A face tattoo. I was like, no, not many people have face tattoos. And a lot of girls now do like the little look where they like drawer on like a little something with a bit of eyeliner or something. And I was like, why don’t I just do it, just be dramatic as hell, just get it. I didn’t tell anyone. I wasn’t even planning on doing it that day. I was going to get an ear piercing. And she was like do you want to do it today? And I was like yeah, let’s do it.” 

On building the brand:

“It was all little ideas of things that I wanted to do. But either I had been told by a few different people, you know, bangs won’t look good on you, for instance, an ex-boyfriend [said] you won’t look good with bangs. Okay, you shouldn’t shave slits in your eyebrows. You shouldn’t do this. You shouldn’t do that. So I’m kind of like sitting there cooking and being like, Oh man, I think it would look cool. I think that would look good. I’ve been had almost all these piercings since I was 14 years old. So I was getting piercings at a really young age. So I’ve always been into that. But then when I got released from WWE, it was kind of shedding the old skin of like, okay, I was trying to fit into whatever mould I thought people wanted from me or I thought they wanted from me, and obviously I wasn’t doing that very well because I ended up getting released. So what happens if I just really lean into who I want to be and who I feel like I am on the inside? And when I cut my bangs and I cut the same kind of thing. I went to get a haircut and I said, you know, cut the bangs. And she goes, really? I said, she goes, What do you want to do? Maybe maybe some longer softer curtain bangs. I said, No, cut them cut them short. She goes, no one’s doing short bangs. Like, no one’s doing that look. And I said, That’s exactly why I want to do it. Because no one else is. It’s not trendy right now. It’s trendy to have that soft, feminine look. I want it sharp and edgy. And then I got home and I went, That’s not erratic enough. I have to bleach it. So then I get the bleach out because I used to be a hairdresser. So I kind of know what I’m doing. So I just bleach and bleach and bleach it. And then I was like, okay, that’s the look, that’s cool.”

On WWE hiring Australian wrestlers:

“The kind of first crop of Australian wrestlers to get signed was Emma, The IIcomics and Buddy Murphy and those kinds. And once they got signed, because they pretty much as I came in, they left. So when I saw them get signed, I was like, Okay, this is this is doable. This isn’t a pipe dream. If they can do it, I can do it. And I remember when I had just maybe been at training for a couple of months, I couldn’t do anything. But I would sit there and say to everyone, I’m moving to America one day, and I’m getting signed to WWE. They would go Are you sure you want to be saying that to people? And I’m like, yeah, 100% Like, I know that’s what I want. I know I will not stop until I get there. I will figure out a way but that is what is gonna happen.” 

On being on the cover of PWI:

“It was incredible. Because for me, so I sit down and I write out my goals at the start of the year of what I want to achieve every year. I do one year, three year, five year and lifetime. And every year it kind of changes. But on my one year, one of them was to just be ranked in the PWI 500. Because somehow I that list has eluded me my entire career which 500 wrestlers I’d never been listed on any of them. So I had just said, I just want to be on the list. So then Matt messaged me one day and he goes, Look, I don’t want you to get your hopes up. Because you know what it’s like in wrestling until something is printed and out there. Everything can change. But he goes, I think there’s a chance we might be on the PWI cover. I said no. And he goes, Yeah, I said, all right. I’ll believe it when I see it. And then we did a photoshoot for it. And I was still like until it’s printed. And until I see it  I’m not gonna get my hopes up. But sure enough, it was real. It’s, you know, we were the cover of I think the November issue or something like that. But yeah, it was a very incredible moment for me, because not many people like they told us that the last time a true independent Act was the cover, like the main focus was in the 80s.” 

On the Matt Cardona partnership:

“That’s something that we talk about all the time is, you know, we’ve been speaking about it the last few weeks, I think, winding down the year and going into the next year. I think it’s common for everyone to get a little bit reflective. But we’ve both kind of been sitting here going wow, like we had such an amazing year. What are we doing next year to top this? Because if you’re not going up, you start going down. So we’re already brainstorming like certain places we want to go that we haven’t wrestled out yet. Different countries we want to go to you know, all what can we add to our act? What can we maximise for our social media? What can we be doing more of? He and I are always thinking of what’s next and what we can be doing more of and we’re never getting complacent. And I think that’s why this pairing has worked so well. Because it’s not one person steering the ship and dragging the other person along. It is very equal, we are both super motivated. And we’re also both motivating each other.”

On getting connected with Matt Cardona:

“So we were on a tour in Australia, in I think, March of this year for World Series Wrestling, and he came up to me I guess we’d met each other like once before, but just a hi and bye. But he came up to me and he was like, Hey, I have a question to ask you. And instantly I’m gone. I’ve done something wrong. I’ve sh*t talk someone I’ve buried myself somehow like Well, I’m about to get yelled at, it was like this is negative. And he goes, Do you want to work with me on the Indies like you want to be my heater? Wow. I said, Are you serious?”

Because Chelsea Green got re-signed to WWE?

“Yes and he’s going what’s next? Yeah, actually the first before he even said that. He goes question, are you signed anywhere? And I said, No. And he goes, perfect. Do you want to be my hater? I said, Yes. 1,000%. He goes, you can take some time to think I said, There’s nothing to think about. What are you talking about? Me? Are you sure? Yes 100% yes.”

On taking chances:

“I have this conversation all the time. I think so many people in life, but especially in wrestling and independent wrestling. They’re their own worst enemy and they get in their own way. And they tell themselves no before someone else tells them. No. And I’ve always made sure that I don’t do that. I’ve always taken it. What’s the worst thing that happens? They say I’ve always just tried to take the leap. And I said it to Matt when the first couple of weeks, we were sitting down in a diner eating and we were just kind of in that getting to know each other phase. And I said, Look, you don’t know it yet. But you picked the right girl. I said I don’t have bags of money but anything that you need me to invest money in, I will do. I will spend money on gear I will spend money on whatever I need to for wrestling because I see the investment in this. And as committed as you are to this. I am just as committed if not more, and I’m willing to make this work, I promise you.”

On a possible WWE return:

“I think that’s definitely the end goal, but it’s not like I’m rushing to get there. And I think when I again, when I had that mentality switch, that’s when things started coming together for me too. Because when I the firt, when I got released, the first thing I did was I texted Matt Bloom, I said, How do I get my job back? And I got him on the phone, I said, What do I need to do? And I spent the next couple of weeks like what’s going on? How do we undo this? And then I thought about and I would dream about it all the time, and it was this unhealthy obsession with like, all I want to do is get back there. And then once I kind of let go of that, and I made peace with what I was doing. And I realised if I do the indies begrudgingly, and I do it dragging my feet, and I do it not really enjoying it, always looking to the next thing, I’m not going to have fun, and I’m not going to put out my best work. So I kind of had to like pack up that WWE box and put it away and really focus on what I was doing. And then have the faith and know that if I do what I need to do, and I work really hard and I commit fully to this. The end result will be I be getting new interest from WWE and from elsewhere, which I have, because of how hot our act is.”

Competing in a deathmatch:

“It surprised me that I thought it was fun. Because I hate deathmatch wrestling. And I’ll say it I don’t care. I hate it. I don’t enjoy watching it. I have respect for the people that do it. Because I could never put my body through that on a regular basis. But I don’t enjoy watching it. And it’s not my thing. And I openly say that all the time. And if anyone has an issue with it, you can DM me and I won’t reply. But no, the biggest thing that I noticed from that was I came backstage and I looked at Bret and I said, I hate that I had fun doing that. He goes, Oh, you’ve got the bug. And I said I don’t have the bug because I will never ever do it again. But I think there was something about the adrenaline and such a build-up and the crowd and the blood like that was the first time I’d ever bled in a match like, oh, there was so many different elements. And the thing too, is, for me, I had to mentally get myself into such a zone to accept the fact that I was gonna get smashed over the head with a light tube that it was just this big buildup of energy and then a huge adrenaline dump. But then yeah, backstage I was like, I feel like I’ve just gone on like 10 roller coasters and climbed a mountain.”

Life after wrestling: 

“I do all the time. Because it’s Yeah, it is hopefully a long time from now. But also we’ve seen careers end in an instant. So I think you always have to think about what’s next. For me personally, I’ve decided and realised that I do want to stay in the entertainment business in some way. I love stand-up comedy.

What is Steph De Lander grateful for?

“Family, my boyfriend and Matt Cardona.”

LA Knight (@reallaknight) is a professional wrestler signed to WWE. He is also known for his time in IMPACT Wrestling and the NWA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about the incredible year that he had in 2023, what his plans are to top it in 2024, his goal to win a Championship, wanting to be “the guy” in WWE, being the top merch seller several months in a row despite only having a few pieces of merch in the WWE Shop, almost winning the Money In The Bank briefcase, his epic promo battles with The Miz, his rivalry with Logan Paul, his WWE Championship match with Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel, the various TV shows and commercials that he has acted in and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about:

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. – Henry Ford

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On a change of fortunes:

“I can’t put a finger on that. But I think, God, I don’t want to give you all too much credit. But I think that people did it in a lot of ways. Look, at the end of the day, I did it. If I’m not doing my thing, then the people can’t get behind me. So look, you got a little bit of credit. But let’s leave the credit where it is supposed to be. But yeah, I mean, once I made the people demand me and, as cliche as it sounds, became undeniable. There was a point in time where it’s like, alright, well, we got to do this. Then there’s the time where it’s like, alright, well let’s see if he’s really got it. Let’s see if he can really do it. Sink or swim. Here we go.”

On reactions getting louder each week:

“I think every week I’m always looking at it like, man, it’s gonna slide off at some point. And you know what, when it does, I’m just gonna roll with it and I’m gonna get even better from that point. Because at that point I’m out, you’re all getting jabbed. But no, I don’t know, at this point it’s just been growing and growing. And I remember the very first time I think we talked about it last time it was, it was in DC in March. And from there, it was like, oh, okay, now we’re starting to get somewhere. And then it was like, more and more, and that wasn’t necessarily the reaction I was looking for. Because especially coming out of the Bray Wyatt thing, it’s like, Alright, let me keep getting heat, let me keep getting heat. But then it was like they put me out there with guys who were supposed to be big babyfaces, who were getting big reactions and stuff like that. But then there was just something about me coming out there where it was like, I can’t put a name to what they were seeing or thinking or anything like that. But there was something there where they were just like, I want this guy. We want this.”

On hesitancy to produce LA Knight merch:

“It’s a process, getting all that stuff done. Because I have ideas for things and it’s like so you might try and run it through somebody. Okay, well, yeah, we might do that. And I think there was also just scepticism at first, like, is this really a thing? Is this just gonna be a flash in the pan? Is this just gonna be a flavour of the month? And that was kind of even a thing that we had talked about and was even talked about with me, it was like, Well, we don’t want to give it to him too soon, because then they might get over it. And it’s like, look, fine. If that’s the case, and I’m not good enough to carry that cool. Let’s go with that. But I understand the idea of also wanting to protect me at some point as well. But I have the belief in myself that I can pivot and move and adapt to whatever the situation is. So if the thought is, well, if we give it to him too soon, you don’t wanna give it to him too soon, but if you just try not to give it to him at all, come on, man. I feel like I’m better than that. I don’t mean that in like a boisterous way, but just, I’m confident in what I do. I’m confident in my skills. And at the same time, I want to be able to fail. Because when I fail I get better.”  

On thinking the release was coming in 2022:

“Well, the problem is you look around the wrestling landscape. And I even think to my past, and I’m like, Man, I had so much freedom to kind of be me and do my thing. And now I’m doing whatever this stupid model thing is. I don’t know who this is or what this is but all right, well, I gotta a nice raise out of it. So at least I try and make this thing work. And so I’m sitting there and I’m trying to do it. And, all praise to Mace and Mansoor because I mean, I even heard them kind of sharing the stories about how Vince was just, it was really weird. Because I was told not to talk like I did, nothing. Don’t say any of the things you said [before], don’t talk the way you did. And I’m like, Okay, I mean, what brought me to the dance is getting completely stripped from me. But alright. I mean, at the same time, I kind of looked at it as a challenge. I’m frustrated by it but I’m also kind of like, okay, well, let’s see how we can do this. And then I mean, in short order, it was just like, this is crazy. And then he and I kind of felt like we were butting heads, but it was just like, he had a vision for this thing that puts such a microscope on it. And I didn’t know what the hell it was, but I was trying to figure it out. And it just was not going well. And I was very unhappy. And I’m sure he probably was and then at some point, it was just like, all of a sudden, I’m not on TV and I’m like, Well, I’m pretty sure I’m fired. Pretty sure this whole ride is over. And at that point, I’m kind of looking at other options and what I can do and where I can go to kind of, you know, just keep my whole thing rolling. And, lo and behold, circumstances prevailed that kind of put me in the right spot where I could at least, come back in a wrestling capacity, do my thing. And again, like I said, I don’t think there were great expectations thrust upon me, it was just, hey, here’s a guy who can handle himself. He’s a professional. He knows how to do his thing in the ring. And we can work with some guys, he can have some good programmes. Well, surprise, surprise on your eyes, because things just got a little crazy after that.”

On not winning Money in the Bank:

“And it’s funny because I just joked, story my career. But at the same time, I always hesitate to say this stuff because I feel like it sounds like I’m like being self-congratulatory, but like, I can’t help but state the fact that I willed this sh*t into existence. Like I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t just be like, Well, I’m just here, I’m just going to be happy with that, and that’s cool. I wrote an email to one of the writers when I first came back as LA Knight and I just said, Hey look, I’d like to do this and this and this and at some point, I’m going to ask for the ball. And he was like, probably just was kind of brushing me off. I don’t know, I can’t speak for him, but I’m sure at the time was probably just like, his response was I appreciate the ambition. And it was kind of that. I’m sure at the same time, he’s just thinking who is this guy, whatever. But I meant that and I meant that in the realest possible way to where like, I want the damn ball. And I’m going to make that happen. And so, as many times I’ve been told no, as many times, maybe I’ve shot myself in my own foot or slipped on a banana peel, or whatever it is, I need to will this thing into existence. So far 2023 has been a hell of a climb and making that happen. And so my goal is to just continue on in 2024 and 2025 and who knows from there. And you know, people want to look at the age number, but my God, I’m in some damn good shape.”

On having a promo battle with The Miz:

“Miz was really bringing it to the point where like I remember a couple guys in the back just being like Wow, I feel like this is like the best work Miz has done and while coincidentally I felt like I was some of the worst work I’d done in a while. So God, I hate pulling the curtain back a lot, but I’m not a good planner. I like to be off the cuff and I like to kind of just listen and react. But sometimes in these scenarios, when you’re doing this, you have to plan a little bit more. Just because there’s so many moving parts and things like that. And people want to know where you’re going and whatever. But in the past, other places I’ve worked, it’s just kind of, alright, well, we’re gonna go out there, we’re gonna generally talk about this, okay, cool. I’ll save some stuff, they’ll listen to me are you reacting go back and forth. In this case, it was like, now I had kind of like planned canned stuff, but it’s like, I don’t know, whatever I’m thinking or saying at like three o’clock is not going to be the same stuff at eight o’clock. And so where I should have probably just dropped some of that stuff, and just listened and reacted and just shot back that way. It was like, I gotta keep the stock. So we got time, and I gotta hit the time, and they’re expecting this. And so some of that I was just kind of like, Ah, this just doesn’t feel like, don’t feel like my best. But that’s also I think, a bit of a process and, and still adapting, because I’m still that old school, let’s go out and call it out there. Let’s go out there and do it on the fly. And let’s just kind of, you know, I’m gonna listen and react, you’re gonna, I don’t want to know, and I don’t want you to know, because I want it to be fresh. I want it to be real. Like, I don’t want you to already know what I’m going to say. Because then it’s like, Okay, let me react. Let it be real. And then that way, I can really digest what you’re saying to me, and then just bring it back. So yeah, but at the same time, I think that feud in general, rivalry, whatever you want to call it. Some people hate the word feud. So that in general I think helped elevate us both in certain ways, because I mean, I think it brought out a passion in him. Because I think there are similarities between us even though I think we’re different, but we have some similarities to us. He was doing some great work. I feel like I was doing some great work. And at the same time, it was kind of like, showing a little bit of adversity because for so long, like I said, I was floundering and I wasn’t doing much and now it’s like, all of a sudden, now there’s a little bit of elevation. So okay, let’s show a little bit of adversity. Let’s show here’s the guy who is established, he’s been there for a while, at the same time, I’m gonna get under his skin. He’s gonna get under my skin a little bit, but at the end of the day, I’m gonna kick his ass. And so that’s really what it comes down to. So as long as that happens, we accomplish that then we’re good.” 

On regrets about not going back to WWE in 2016-2018:

“Yeah, a lot of it. I had overstayed my welcome. It wasn’t overstaying my welcome. But I had overstayed bad booking. I had overstayed misuse, I’ve overstayed multiple regime changes. And so with that being the case, it was just like, man, it was like, start, stop, start, stop, start, stop. And then when they did throw me the bone and gave me the title was like, they still didn’t really feature me as the main event. And I’m like, What is this this like, consolation prize or something? And, at that point, I was like, Alright, I have to leave, I have to go. But the only reason I was staying was because I had been broke for so damn long. And I’m now making good money for the first time. I had never seen money like this before. And so I’m just like, I can’t pass this up. I need this at least for two or three years before I can go and take the risk in my mind for the first time around that is going back to WWE. And for what I was promised was not hey, you’re going straight to NXT TV, it was we’re gonna bring you into the PC and then you prove yourself and that’s because I left with heat the first time. So understandably so I guess to a degree but at the same time, I’m thinking like, I’m on TV. I’m ready-made. I’ve proven in other places. I know how to do TV. I know how to do this stuff. Now look, WWE is always different from other places. It’s a whole other level as far as like TV production, all that stuff, but not to toot my own horn. But if you look at what I would do on Impact or whatever else, I think that I knew how to work TV above average from most of the people that were there. I know how to work the cameras but also interact with the crowd and the house and stuff, and I think a lot of people struggle with that, especially guys who come from the Indies because they want to go to the crowd are sure the camera or some people only do the camera and then they never, you know, look at the crowd or that stuff. So it’s finding those balances and stuff like that. So I’m just like, why am I only going into the PC, but again, it was because just we want to make sure you’re a team player, this kind of stuff and whatnot. So finally, when I did make the jump over there, there was a little bit of not necessarily negotiation, but it was just kind of like, I knew I was going to have to take a pay cut coming in. But I was willing to take the pay cut on the bet that I could turn it into much more. Because I had hit the ceiling basically in Impact. And I had an awesome time and NWA for that little bit that we were able to do before the pandemic hit. But I knew that I needed to be, although I’m gonna tell you during the pandemic 2020, I remember having a conversation with my girlfriend, and just being like, I gotta accept that this thing was just over. And like, nobody’s taking me now 37 or whatever it was at the time. And I just gotta make whatever money I can in any of these other companies. And I had been given Triple H’s email, and his phone number, just before the pandemic started. And I was like, Well, what am I going to do with this, I have no relationship with this guy. Like, I mean, we knew of each other and like, I had spoken to him like, once or twice the first time I was in NXT but like, I didn’t have a relationship where I was like, I could just hit him up. And so my relationship was with talent relations, and I’m like, I’m probably gonna get heat if I go over their heads, so I’m just not gonna mess with it. But then when I was at the point where I’m like, this ride is probably over. I was like, Well, screw heat. I’m messaging. So I was like, hey, look, this is what I’ve been doing for the last year that ended. Here’s pictures, here’s videos, whatever. And then I just let talent relations know, hey, look, by the way, I sent this email, whatever. Just give me a heads-up. And that’s where it was just kind of like, well, we got to talk about some things, whatever.”

What is LA Knight grateful for:

“To be in LA, my health and tonight’s New Year’s Eve party.” 

Featured image: WWE

Eric Bugenhagen (@eric_bugenhagen) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE as Rick Boogs. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about what his plans are after being released from WWE in September 2023, his YouTube channel focused on fitness and weightlifting, what his PRs in the gym are for squats, deadlifts and bench press, being brought up to the main roster with his guitar gimmick, performing Shinsuke Nakamura’s theme song, the knee injury he suffered at WrestleMania 38, his new brand “Thick As Frick” and much more!

Check out Thick As Frick here: http://thickasfrick.com

Eric’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ericbugenhagenOfficial
Quote I’m thinking about:”Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” – Dale Carnegie

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On gaining size:

“So anyway, I don’t know if I am allowed to talk about this. Like I was told I can’t talk about anything creatively. But this isn’t really creative I guess. So anyway, I was doing a dark match. And they were like, weighed 200 and I don’t know what they said, well, first of all, my action figure says 233 pounds at the back, which is a huge slap to my face, like disgustingly slap to my face. Like I weighed 233 when I was 15 years younger. Like when I was first trying to bulk and put on bulbous tissue I was 233. So you know, this has been a long journey. So, I was going to 260 to 270 to 280 to 290. So anyway, it’s dark match time. They’re like weighing in at 260 pounds, and I’m coming out, and I can’t even focus on the crowd or the match. I’m just thinking about 260 pounds, that’s not right. So I go back there and like, Hey, what are we doing with this? Listen, I’ve put on so much frickin mass. Okay, and this isn’t just blubber. You know, this is pure, dense bulk. So they’re like, has anyone seen it? So I went to the back, I weighed myself in front of four different people. And I made sure it was all up the totem pole. And then, sure enough, I get this frickin dark match next week. And it’s like, What do you weigh in at? I was 291.7 or whatever, when I weighed myself. [They said] weighing in at 260, What? And then another thing too, and I won’t say any names. I’ll praise WWE, praise my time there. It was great. Very thankful for everything. But if certain things like this is like, what are we doing?”

On having tons of energy:

“The coffee is just the catalyst. That’s not where the energy comes from. The energy comes from just, Body Dysmorphia anxiety, mental illness. I gotta keep moving. I usually stuck to that. When I was doing the Mr. Coffee. I was doing one pot a day. And then I tried doing two pots of the Mr. Coffee, boy. And that’s it. I was like, Oh, we got an issue here. So now what I do is, I listen, I got a couple of different systems. I mean, these people are not going to be entertained. Well, if people like coffee, you’re going to enjoy this. But I went to the extremes. I’m an extreme person. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to go all in or all out. So for the coffee. It’s like, well, if I can’t have a pot a day, I don’t even want to make any of it. So I was like, Well, if I don’t have a pot today or I don’t want to have any I will meet in the middle. So I’m going to drink. I’m going to drink the instant coffee. Which people say instant is terrible, but if you’re having a scoop of instant it is terrible. Bro, I had 20 scoops one time.”

On the WWE release:

“I’m great. Yeah, I’m better than ever right now. I’m at. I mean, where do we want to start? Let’s talk about this. So basically, I started a YouTube channel. It’s like, I’m just gonna lead the interview.” 

On wrestling elsewhere:

“No, it’s not so much that bro listen here. When I first decided I was going to do wrestling pursue it. I have to be all in on something. So like, I was doing strength conditioning stuff, personal training. And I was like, if I’m gonna commit to this other endeavour, I just gotta get [in the zone]. So I just quit my job, I have a wife and a daughter. I just got unemployed for the sake of you know, getting hungry that I really wanted to make it happen. You want to be here, which was my wife was not happy about. She was like why did you have to quit?”

On knowing the release was coming:

“Well, dude, I mean, if you want to talk about my second run on the main roster. I mean, I kind of saw the writing on the wall, but it wasn’t like alright, well let me get ready for it. This is just basically thank God for my YouTube community and stuff. Because I always knew I had that. I have an awesome community. ” 

On real-life fans:

“The funny thing is, everyone I meet in real life is awesome. I’ve had to do a tonne of meet and greets and stuff and it’s great. And everyone’s awesome. And you meet people at the airports and stuff and other people complain about that. What are you complaining about? People want to [meet you]. Even if they’re like selling stuff online, which people complain about, they’re just selling on eBay. Who gives a shit? They’re still waiting hours for you at an airport and they still see value in your name.”

On his proudest WWE moment:

“Debuting on SmackDown. Because just from humble beginnings. I got one opportunity in NXT and I think I absolutely hit a frickin Grand Slam with it. I was set up to get squashed by Drew Gulak and ended up making some magic out of it and making a name for myself from supposedly just getting squashed. Like, this is the turnaround of things. This is the change of things and it’s just literally went nowhere. I guess this is a lesson, one of those hard lessons in pro wrestling. You know, you’re there’s somebody’s guy or not. Which, you know, I mean, like, and then I got to be that guy for that, which is crazy. Once I did Old Spice, I don’t think this is creative. And I don’t understand. But anyways, like I was told, you can’t talk about anything creatively or whatever it was, I don’t understand. This is my life. I think I can talk about my life. And it’s not creative. So anyways, they needed someone to do this Old Spice ad that like, looked like a wrestler and was entertaining and had personality and had no TV equity. And like, oh, Rick Boogs, that’s the guy. Old Spice, the people like running the ad or whatever, just loved it. And they wanted to do it again. But stuff happened and it never happened again, unfortunately. But it was supposed to happen again like a big whole series.”

On commenting that Vince McMahon’s removal played a part in his release:

“I mean, I guess, if you just look at it objectively, like look at my NXT run, and then look at, you know, when I was seen by Vince, and look at that run, and then when management or the whole regime changed again, look at that run. So a lot of people say, Oh, but he was injured, I think I can say this, I was supposed to be brought back earlier, like, when I wasn’t even cleared yet, a month or two after rehab. And I was really planning on it. pumped. Oh, man, like, I can’t really bend my knee yet Let’s get back up there. And that was just kibosh.”

On someone having a grudge against him:

Grudge isn’t the right word. In development, I was told, ‘You have an awesome personality, and people like you, and the crowd is with you. Just keep getting better in the ring.’ Basically, with that regime, that’s all I ever heard. It’s frustrating, but at the same time, I get where both sides are coming from.”

What is Rick Boogs grateful for:

“My wife and daughter, my community.”

On meeting Vince McMahon:

“The first time I met him. So it was in Stamford. It was like the WWE tour or whatever. And everyone’s like, trying to be like, respected. I’m not an ass-kisser, I don’t care. It might be to my detriment but at the same time, I think it’s why people like me as well. So everyone’s like Vince, nice to meet you, sir. And I see him like Vince, where’s the gym? What the hell? Give me a tour. He’s like [laughs] how much weight do you think you can pit shark? I’m like dude, I don’t know, I maxed the thing out I’ve done as many plates as you can fit. I say you know you can get those thin plates, the kilo plates. He says, How much weight do you think you can get on them? I don’t know. I mean, I’m not a mathematician, couple 1000? Meanwhile, the other people are just awkward while we are male bonding about pit shark squats. And another time at TV they say, Oh my god Boogs, Vince wants to talk to you. I don’t know what [it was about], they’re freaking me out. He wants to talk to you. He thinks that you’re a yes man, you’re not listening, you’re not doing what he wants you to do. Oh sh*t, okay. So I go in there and I’m like what’s up Vince? And I said Hey, by the way, I was at a gym today. And I just did like 585 on squat or whatever. [Vince says] What do you squat? I tell him I go as low as possible. We are talking about squats, it is like the greatest conversation ever. Everyone is intimidated by him. I’ve always had a great [relationship], we just talked about lifting, about squats. It’s always about squats.”

Did you ever work out with Vince McMahon:

“I asked him a million times, when are we gonna work out? Dude I’ll frickin cut some suit pants off, make them shorts and do it at 3 am with you if you want. That’s what I’ve heard he does, I would love that. I’ve tried to, I’ve messaged him and stuff and I think only to my detriment probably. [Vince thinks] What the hell is this guy messaging me for? I don’t have his number but somebody was like hey, try his email like chairman or something like that.”

Al Snow (@therealalsnow) is a professional wrestler and the owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). He is known for his time in ECW, WWE and on the series “Wrestlers” on Netflix. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Blizzard Brawl in Milwaukee, WI to talk about how “Wrestlers” came together on Netflix, why he decided to buy OVW, how he trains aspiring pro wrestlers, his take on the importance of psychology in wrestling, how he first got over with “Head” in ECW, being part of the JOB Squad in WWE, his friendship with Mick Foley, his Kennel From Hell match vs. Big Boss Man at Unforgiven 1999, why he thinks deathmatches are stupid and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about:“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” —Michael Jordan

Sponsors:
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MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at 
http://mybookie.ag

BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com

GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at 
http://ghostbed.com/cvv

MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF

PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com

BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25%

On lapsed fans watching the Netflix docuseries:

“I don’t know if they’re lapsed fans. I gotta say that I’m very flattered. And I’m always surprised when people recognise me. And surprisingly, it does happen still quite, quite frequently. But, boy, it’s there’s been a major uptick in it since obviously, the Netflix thing. And I don’t want to say like, they don’t seem like your typical wrestling fans. They seem like they’re very casual wrestling fans, or not at all. And then they seem to recognise me.” 

On the original Netflix pitch:

“I don’t know. It clearly was a one-in-a-million shot. Okay, so the president, Mayor of Louisville is one of my business partners in OVW, his name’s Craig Greenberg. So he and Matt Jones, another partner by the name of Jeff Tablin. They all came on board. And shortly after they bought into the company. Craig and his wife attended a wedding and a high school friend who happened to be an executive with BBC America was in attendance at the wedding. They get to having a conversation. He points out that they’ve just bought into this wrestling company, she finds it immensely fascinating, leads to another BBC executive. And then Matt Jones pitches the idea just out of the blue because he’s a sports radio host, he had watched Last Chance U and was like Hey, what about if Greg Whiteley were to come in here do similar to what Last Chance U was the documentary doc series on OVW. Yeah, so the BBC producer Alejandro Mendez caught his interest. He came out and did a about five or six-minute teaser tape was in OVW for about a week. He pitches it shows the sizzle reel to Greg Whiteley. Yeah, Greg Whiteley is like I want this to be my next project. He goes to Netflix because he’s under a developmental deal with Netflix and goes, Hey, I’ve got this idea. They paid for him to go out and film, a reel to show the executives at Netflix. And then they’re like, Yep, let’s let’s do it.”

On his deeper voice:

“I had severe chronic hiccups for almost 3 weeks, I was exhausted. I would fall asleep hiccuping and I would wake up like an hour or two later. And then I just said and then I’d pass out again while sitting and it just went for weeks but. I did not know this. Two things one. They treat chronic hiccups with anti-psychotic meds. So let me tell you something. I had some really intense dreams. One of them at a former WWE wrestler’s home. Kevin fertig seven. Jessica and I had went up to a wrestling convention there in Indianapolis and we’re like, ah, you know, stay at our house. Dave Hero was along and Kelly Hero and you normally play stay at somebody’s house like I’m you know, I believe that I in the most unobtrusive I hate it because I’m so on edge, you know that I’m going to offend somebody so but hey, this was different so I go to sleep. And I don’t even realise normally I’d have sweatpants on or something in case I had to go to the bathroom. I’m just in my underwear. And I’m laying and I wake up and I gotta go the bathroom I’ll prior to waking up. I have this. I can’t remember the dream but I know I was planning some celebration and if I found and I still don’t know what this is. But if I found it, it was going to be the best day ever. Doesn’t make sense. It’s a dream. Right? So I woke up, I got to go to the bathroom. I go the bathroom, done. I’m like can I find that? So I start looking through their entire bathroom. All the drawers cabinets, the shower. I take the tank the lid off the tank of the toilet, you know? I mean not there. You think I’m done? No not. That would be that’d be a dull story. I literally now go from room to room upstairs looking through everything including Katie and Kevin’s room, who are laying in the bed watching me do this. Not doing anything. I go into the nightstands go through the closet, lift up the mattress, walk out. You think I’ve done? No. I head downstairs and go through their entire kitchen, their entire refrigerator, every cabinet, the stove, and then around the rest of the house. I didn’t go in the garage or the basement. But I had thoroughly searched the rest of the house if I had been a cop I could have found evidence. So back upstairs I go. I’m disappointed and fall back asleep. Wake up the next morning. Oh god, what did I just do?”

On his body transformation:

“A lot of it is because of the way I change my routine change the way I work out. So you know, I enjoy it more, it’s more of a challenge. I don’t wrestle as much obviously in the ring as I used to, but it certainly helped at that time when it would conditioning-wise and training-wise to because really, the only real thing that can condition to be in the ring is to be in the ring. But that was the one thing I found that really helped me perform better and move better and endurance wise, it really helped.”

On the head entrance:

“I don’t know. I wish I could figure it out again. I mean, I kind of do know, and that is, and this is the advice I always give to all the wrestlers these days. And that that is number one. everybody’s forgotten what we really sell in wrestling. In wrestling, we use that term selling, and immediately think it’s to act like your hurt, and that’s the last thing we’re selling. Because an audience has never physically done what we’ve done. So they can’t relate to it. Unless of course they’ve grown up in a trailer park or something.”

What is missing from wrestling today:

“The performers do two things. And that is, first and foremost, they sell what they do, that it’s all about what, it’s all about the moves. They don’t sell the who and they don’t sell the why. The real definition of work is a sham. It’s a con. So make you believe a lie. And the only lie in professional wrestling that has ever been told, is that we don’t know who’s going to win, that we’re going out there with the full intent of anything we do to you is being done for one reason, that’s to increase the odds of us being able to win, and then decrease the odds of us losing. That’s it, because I could do anything to you anything at all, but the only consequence from it is that it might make you lose, or and allow me to win. That’s it. And that has been lost. That is no longer what they sell anymore. Now they sell you what because they think that you’re impressed, which we have more athletic ability now in the wrestling business than we’ve ever had in the history of the wrestling business. I mean, it’s astounding. And I mean really when you think about it in general, the athleticism of a professional wrestler, it’s incredible. I mean, and I’m not saying that because I’ve been one. I’m saying that because you’re taking people that are, you know, some of them are 250 280 pounds. And they have the coordination, the timing, the distance, the footwork and the spatial awareness, to be able to pull off incredible, almost Olympic gymnastic-type moves, and have the control and distance to not even truly injure the other person and do it in one take. I mean, they only get one shot at it because it’s live, you know what I mean? And that’s incredible. But that never, ever sells tickets. That doesn’t even in football, baseball, basketball, UFC, boxing, none of that ever sells tickets. Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest boxers ever. Nobody bought a ticket to see him box, they bought a ticket to see him lose. Because he sold who he was, and the fact that he could box so incredibly helped, but that never sold tickets. And he knew that. And I even watched an interview where he’s like, you know, look, they’re never gonna go and just see me because I’m a great boxer, people are gonna come see me because they want to see me lose. Yeah, because I’m gonna run my mouth. Yeah. And that’s what he did. You know, he built what we call heat, heat is not what everybody in the wrestling business these days think that they think that’s offence for the bad guy. And it’s not, heat is a want, a need. It’s a desire, you build within the audience. And then they gotta they gotta buy a ticket to see the outcome.”

On the Kennel from Hell:

“Yeah, they were very very polite, one had some disciplinary training, but that was it. They’re out there urinating deprecating and fornicating to the point where two owners are back at the back exchanging addresses for puppy rights, Good lord.”

On being a punchline for Mick Foley:

“When you realise that, the more he talks about you, the more he puts you over, the more he draws attention to you, the more he acknowledges you, it’s not negative. You know, people have a misinterpretation of what the term like a wrestling term to bury somebody. They think it is anything to talk about them negatively. To bury someone is literally the actual term is just like burying somebody would for a funeral. Once you’ve put them in the ground after a period of time, you don’t talk about them anymore. They don’t exist. That’s burying somebody when you don’t speak about somebody. When you speak about them, whether it’s positively or negatively. You’re drawing attention to them, you’re actually putting them over. So he could make jokes about me all day. I mean, you know, especially in his comedy show, which probably that’s probably the only thing that’s funny. I remember Mick you know, in the locker room when he was wrestling, he tell everyone when I get done wrestling ‘m gonna be a stand up comic. We’d all laugh You know, he’s a stand-up comic now. Nobody’s doing it. Nobody’s laughing.”

On students thinking it’s easy:

“Even from when I started my own school back years ago, I was at first I was really dismayed. And I was really shocked. Like I had high calibre athletes would come in what I’ll never forget, there was an athlete out of Canada. He was professional, like cross-country mountain biking. And, like MMA or not. It wasn’t MMA at that time. It was, I think he was in full contact karate. Bunch of like three or four sports. He lasted a week, and was like, as a for me.”

On a career highlight:

“Still being able to do this. People asked me they go hey, what was your favourite moment? What was your favourite match? Who was the person you enjoyed? Every time I have gotten to do this. I have loved. I mean, there’s not. I mean, there’s certain moments that stand out more than others. But from the very first time on May 11 of 1982 When I walked to a 20 man two ring Battle Royale in Springville, Ohio, to walk it out in front of six people to walk it out in front of 66,000 people.”

What is Al Snow grateful for?

“Everything.”

Sammy Guevara (@sammyguevara) is a professional wrestler signed to AEW. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about being in AEW since the beginning, having the first ever singles match in AEW history against Kip Sabian, being part of the Stadium Stampede match, getting hit by a golf cart driven by Matt Hardy, his wedding to fellow AEW wrestler Tay Melo, welcoming their daughter Luna into the world, being thrown off the cage by Eddie Kingston, the false reports about him online, his matches with Darby Allin, turning on Chris Jericho, winning the TNT Championship 3 times and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes because if you are making mistakes, then you are trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself and changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.” – Neil Gaiman

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On his favourite spot:

“It’s gotta be probably the cutter off the ladder, spring up, boom. You know, it’s funny, the day before at the airport I was talking to Alan Angels, that’s when I thought of doing that. I was like, Do you think this would be cool? Or do you think this is not cool enough? I wanted to do something that’s never been seen. And then he was like, Yeah, I think it’d be cool. [I said] Should I try to twist with it? And I’m like, Nah, I guess I’ll just do it like this. I was so scared the latter was going to kick back from me though. But I remember in midair I’m going I jump off the ladder in midair. I’m like, Oh, wow, it worked, wow, then ow! And then you know, we landed like in midair I’m thinking like, oh, wow, I got a good jump, but it didn’t kick back or anything.”

On Cody Rhodes’ reaction:

“He was down for everything, he wanted to do so much craziness. This was his last AEW match I didn’t know at that time maybe he knew. But like he wanted to go balls to the wall like the ending, he wanted to do like a superplex to the outside through a ladder and all this. I’m like we got to get up and still climb this ladder and yeah, we ended up doing swanton with the ladder that didn’t break, literally broke my back.”

On nearly killing Sting:

“So, story about that. He was supposed to move. But for whatever reason, either the 630 is too fast or timing, whatever, I landed off. And I remember going through the table, and I feel his body on my back. And I’m thinking, Oh, I just killed Sting. Oh, no, and like I land, kind of roll off that look at him. And then he pops up like a minute later, you know? And like, finishes the match, because he’s such a pro. But I remember for a minute, I was like, oh no. He took complete total blame for it. He was like, Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t move, whatever. I’m just happy he’s okay. He’s like, Sorry, I no sold your move. And I’m like, bro, you’re good. You know, like, I’m just happy you’re alive.”

On Chris Jericho: 

“I feel like maybe because it’s Jericho and it’s me and the internet likes to pick us as the guys to like, hate or whatever. And I’ll say this about Chris, I feel like he gets a target on his back just because he’s doing it at such a high level for such a long time. And it’s like, sometimes easy to look at a guy and be like, he’s the reason my favourites are not doing this or whatever. But in reality, it’s like, this guy doesn’t need to do this anymore. He does it because he likes it or loves it. And, you know, the fact that he’s still doing it 33 years, like you’re saying is a testament to him, because the motivation to keep going and doing this is hard. And you know, I’m 13 years in this now. And sometimes I struggle with motivation every now and then it’s like, man, to think of like, all the things I got to do to get to where I want to go, it’s a lot of work.”

On the Matt Hardy spot:

“That was scary for everybody. The tables were, I think too close. That’s what it was. Yeah, they were a little bit further or we went too high on the scissor lift. Man, it was just such an unfortunate thing because we had so much cool stuff for that match, like, so much. I was actually getting thrown off Daily’s Pace to end the thing. Like we’re going to climb to the roof and Daley’s Place.”

On the aftermath:

“But man that match. You know, unfortunately, it’s remembered as one of the worst moments in AEW, but I think it was a lot of learning from all aspects of what to do in a situation like that. You know, and I’m just happy Matt was okay, I remember when I was in the back crying, so upset. He’s like, a hero of mine and stuff keeps happening because the chair thing just happened like couple of weeks before that. And I followed him to the hospital and I stayed with him until like five in the morning to make sure he was good.” 

On Stadium Stampede:

“That was such a crazy time for wrestling, the pandemic and everything. And then it’s like, Okay, we’re gonna wrestle in this big empty stadium, and then we’re all talking about ideas and stuff. And then it almost became a bit of like, how much bad stuff can happen to me in the match? I mean, I’m chased by a golf cart. I’m getting chased by a horse. I’m getting hit by sprinklers. I get thrown off of this thing through this platform by Kenny. I remember the day there was one idea for the horse to chase Hagar, and I knew the golf cart was chasing me later. And I was like, Nah, guys, I think this should be the bit, just bad thing after bad thing, I don’t ever catch a break. It was probably one of the most fun matches, even though it took forever to film. And then, as we’re filming it, too, we find out it’s probably going to be the last match of Double or Nothing, so it’s like the main event. So that was like really cool, too. And then, you know, I was mad I wasn’t a part of this year’s. You know, I got to be a part of the first two and missed the third one, but it looked good.” 

On the WrestleDream concussion:

“I’m cleared, I’m good. That was crazy. You know, I do the cutter so much and it’s the stupidest thing. This cutter that I do all the time, this time just bumped my head on the canvas, and then saw the future. And if you go back there, you can tell like, okay, maybe he’s not good. But I didn’t know at that time. I actually thought that they had a match booked for me that Wednesday, I thought I was good. And then it was until like, a couple of days later. I was like really feeling it. And then Tay contacted the doctor. [Were you dizzy?] No. Just like the lights are bothering me. [Were you throwing up?] No, no, thankfully, it wasn’t like that. But I had a headache and stuff and it was like the lights were bothering me. Like bright lights. Like my future is bright [laughs]. But yeah, then they obviously took me off and let me chill and sent me to some people to see. But yeah, that was like probably the longest I’ve been out of wrestling so far, it’s been since October 1.” 

What is Sammy Guevara grateful for?

“Tay, my baby and my life.”

McKenzie Mitchell (@mckenzienmitchell) is a broadcaster and TV host who is known for her time in WWE and IMPACT Wrestling. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about being released by WWE, what she wants to do next, her jewelry brand “Headline by MM”, how she started her broadcasting career, getting hired by IMPACT Wrestling, how she landed her job with WWE, favorite moments in NXT, meeting her husband Vic Joseph in WWE, his love for the Cleveland Browns and much more.

Find out more about Headline By MM here: https://www.headlinebymm.com/

Quote I’m thinking about:“Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

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MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag

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MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF

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On being released from WWE:

“I’m good. You know, I think once the dust has settled, it’s been really, it’s a blessing. I think that there are so many new beginnings, and I’m excited to see what’s to come in the future. The outreach, and the support that I’ve gotten from friends, family, coworkers, colleagues, production, staff executives in WWE, the fans most importantly, it’s been insane. That’s what made me emotional when I got released was being able to hear from everyone how much I impacted their opinion in when watching WWE and when watching NXT. That’s what made me emotional was hearing from all of the people their favourite moments in my career and the favourite interviews that I’ve done and the magic that was created on screen like that made it made such a big impact on me to see what I made on them.”

On processing the release:

“I think it’s like I said, I think this is a way to say there’s a new beginning and everything and just kind of like Okay, what’s next? I know, like I said, I have my jewellery business. And so I’ve been putting all my efforts into that into my creativity there. That’s almost my full-time. My husband still works within the company, obviously. So that’s really interesting that he’s still there, I’m not. I don’t know if people know but we were the first couple on the announce team. Like genuinely like that our announcer and announcer that are married. So we kind of like really figured it out there but I’m of course still supportive of WWE and NXT and I still watch him and I still text him good luck before every show. I’ve still obviously all my friends are still there. So I’m still supportive.”

On being the only release:

“And I think it’s interesting. And I think there’s still, I know a lot of people in wrestling. I think people say I just needed to take a break. When they leave WWE, and they go and do something else, or they leave AEW, and they just need a break sometimes because wrestling is 24/7. It’s 365. For me, like working in WWE, I was fully ingrained. I’m watching Raw on Monday, I’m watching SmackDown on Friday. I’m there at NXT on Tuesday, I’m doing the live events on Saturday and Sunday, it’s a full immersed, you’re submerged, I guess I should say, into the business. So for me, it’s like some people, say that they just need a break. But I never got that opportunity to really say I needed a break. I was in it. I was like ready to conquer whatever came at me next. But like I said, there were so many people that reached out and I am endlessly grateful and thankful for all of that from the fans online and messages I still get today. I mean, we’re doing this, what three, four weeks later, at the end of the month. This happened December 1 and I’m still getting messages and people reaching out. Probably the most surprising of people who messaged me that really took me back I got a personal phone call from Terry Taylor, which he made me cry and tear up because he’s had such nice things to say about me, not about my work, but about my character and my person. And that really spoke to me because it meant that I had an impact on him and other people in the Performance Center and in WWE. And then Becky Lynch sent me like a three paragraph text message. And that was really cool, because Becky is someone that I think she’s such a role model to so many people in WWE and just who are a fan of wrestling and that are not a fan of wrestling. And so to hear that the really kind words from her, and how highly she thought of me was really awesome. That’s another thing is Shawn Michaels I respect to the ends of the earth, Shawn Michaels and Triple H I think there’s such amazing humans. And so for Shawn to say that in the media presser that they had going on was just that was another thought of like, wow, this, this is really cool.”

On possibly returning:

“Never say never. I know that people say that. And it kind of sounds cliche. But it’s true. Like I didn’t get to have my goodbye in WWE. I didn’t get to choose to leave. And that’s where I was saying I think it’s, some people need to take a break, I didn’t get that opportunity to say like, I’m ready to take a break. I was ready to keep on going and go to WrestleMania and do the Royal Rumble and all of those things. So it was really awesome to hear Shawn say those things and never say never.”

On goals that were never accomplished:

“I really always wanted to have my WrestleMania moment, just as the Superstars do. They want to have their moment of having all their hard work that’s built up to this moment, to this match to this exact, huge capstone experience. I didn’t get to have that WrestleMania interview or host a kickoff show. That was something I did for NXT. But I didn’t get to do that on a larger scale with the WWE main roster. So that’s something I’ve always really wanted to do and to have the Royal Rumbles and go on the road and say, Hey, I made it to Raw to SmackDown so that was a bummer. That’s a bummer to say like, I wanted to do those things. And I wanted to do WrestleMania.”

On doing the research:

“I was like, writing articles or doing my research to sound so silly, but I would have like a spiral notebook. And at the time in Impact, it was Bobby Lashley, Drew Galloway, which Drew McIntyre and so I was like, writing these guys out like, okay, Bobby does not like Drew and this is why. I was like, trying to compartmentalise it in my brain because there’s storylines, there are rivalries, it all go, it’s very intertwined. And so I just did the grunt work of just learning and like putting my head down and just getting to know the business. And I think there’s something cool about that now to take a look back and go, she knew nothing, absolutely nothing. And here we are, we made it to the majors, aka WWE. That wasn’t my goal. But then it became my goal, and it became my life.”

On applying to WWE:

“So I’m going to be very honest. When I applied to work with WWE, I had a tryout in 2017 I did not get hired. I applied in 2019. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and I applied online for my role. WWEcareers.com. I swear I was like, How does this happen? How am I applying? You think like the wrestling business is very small. So we all know each other. We all end up seeing each other down the line. If somebody gets released, or they go to a different company, we all still connect. We’re all still friends. And so I applied for the role online and started in Connecticut for the digital team. And then was there for six months and then got called to NXT. And so then I was on TV immediately for NXT which was always my goal. I wanted to do television I wanted to do interviewing. That’s what I had learned throughout the years.” 

Day 1 on the job:

“The first thing I did was interviews. Well, let’s take it back a little bit further. I was doing WWE Now, it’s like a weekly news show for WWE on Mondays and Fridays, kind of giving the scoop the rundown of what you can see on the show that night. So I was doing that. And then once I got moved to television, I started doing the interviews. I remember very vividly, I actually think I remember my first interview in WWE. I think it was Austin Theory and Tyler Breeze. There was an interview that we did. There was a show that we did at the Performance Center. I think it was like a homecoming type thing before COVID happened and before we moved to the Performance Center, so we were still filming at Full Sail. I don’t remember but it was something like that. I did some kind of interview like that. And we had to do it a few times because there was a moment they took the camera and I think they said, take a picture, it’ll last longer, Theory said that to Breeze, but we kept screwing up the photo. And so it’s a moment I’ll have to go back and find the interview. But that was pretty fun. I remember that very vividly.” 

What’s next?

“I don’t know. I think that’s okay sometimes to say, I don’t know. And I think sometimes it’s nice to take a break, and stop and change direction and go, What is it that I really want to do? Do I want to continue in wrestling? Do I want to do something in entertainment and in music and in media? So there’s a lot of question marks. But I also think, I don’t know. I’m excited to see what’s next. Vic and I have talked about having a baby.”

On wanting to return:

“I’d love to get back to WWE and finish, I’m not going to use Cody Rhodes’ line here, I was gonna say, finish the story not doing that. He wouldn’t care if I did. Anyways, I can say that I’ve known Cody and Brandi for so many years. But to get back in and continue to do interviews, but do it on a different stage. I think that’s a goal that I never got to check off. And I don’t know if I mentioned this, but somebody tagged me in a post. And I thought it was really, really nice and really beautiful. I always had this chemistry on camera with Wes Lee. And we would do the high fives I’ve known Wes since we worked at Impact together. And the high five was just so natural, because that’s just who we are as people. So a lot of what you saw on camera was so many of these talent was genuinely the feeling like of course you turn it up a notch when you’re on camera. But somebody had tagged me in the fact that the last thing you see of me on WWE television is Wes and I giving a high five. And he and I say good luck. And he goes alright, can you go girl, and then he goes off-screen. So I think that’s very poetic. I believe in those types of things. And I, when somebody mentioned that, to me, I was like, holy cow. That’s cool. That’s really a nice moment to have as your last moment seen on WWE television.”

On Vic Joseph calling the action on NXT:

“It’s really cool to see the dynamic between him and Booker. I absolutely love, I should say this too. I absolutely love Stu Bennett. What is the on-camera Wade Barrett? Yeah, Wade Barrett. I can only call him Stu. He’s like family to us. So when he was coming down to NXT and we were doing the shows together we would watch the Premium Live Events at our house and have like a pool day with Stu and so we had so much fun he’s like family truly. And then when Booker came along, it’s just interesting to see to see the different dynamic. But I love Book like he’s awesome. He always calls me M like hey M and Sharmell is amazing. And so she Booker will call Sharmell throughout the day, or we call Sharmell throughout the day. And she’s like, where’s my girl? And so I would jump on the phone and we talk fashion and, and purses and boots and all the things and so it’s really cool to see the dynamic between the two. And see how they come across on air and watch it from behind the scenes too.”

What is McKenzie Mitchell grateful for?

“My husband, my kids and my dogs.”

Kayla Braxton (@kaylabraxtonwwe) is a broadcaster signed to WWE where she works as a host and backstage correspondent. She joins Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how she got her start working on TV in Orlando, her childhood dream to play in the WNBA, getting hired by WWE, learning about pro wrestling on the job, her on-screen feud with Paul Heyman, why she insists that she is 4’11.5″ tall and that her Wikipedia page should be updated, hosting The Bump and her decision to leave the show, being backstage for The Rock’s return on Smackdown, what the atmosphere was like in Chicago when CM Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “If you’re willing to do things others aren’t willing to do, you’re going to get results others aren’t going to get.” – Tony Robbins

Sponsors:
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FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT

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MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF

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On life before WWE:

“So I studied broadcast journalism in college, I minored in sports broadcasting, I really wanted to be a sports reporter. But before that I wanted to play in the WNBA let me just start there. Okay, I played basketball through high school was my favourite thing. And I wanted to cover it one day, back to the me not hitting five feet tall just wasn’t realistic. So the next best thing was let’s be a sports reporter. But my first job out of college ended up being an entertainment and travel host. You can’t be picky when you’re right out of college, and it was an awesome opportunity in Orlando. And I did that for a couple of years. If you’re ever on YouTube. People at work pull me aside all the time and they’re like, was that you giving a tour of the Cinderella Castle like, look it up does not look like me, but it was like 15 years ago, and it’s like the main thing you’ll see if you want to see inside the Cinderella Castle. It’s 22-year-old Kayla showing you round. This was for NBC the local NBC affiliate in Orlando.”

On making it to WWE:

“Actually, someone within the company reached out to me, a former employee who I knew outside of work, asked if I wanted to work with WWE. And initially, I was like, I’m good. Like, No, thanks. That was still true. I was still chasing that entertainment travel gig. Yeah. But then I growing up like one thing my grandfather always told me it was like, he always used the term unexpected opportunities and how you just need to grab them because you never know where it’s gonna lead. And that was kind of like my drive to do it. I was like, You know what, I can do it for a year. It’s gonna be great on my resume. I’m gonna learn a lot. I meet a lot of people. There’s no downside here. And then it was not even six months. And I was like, I am obsessed with this place. It’s so cool.”

On the WWE audition:

“So when I came in, I was a ring announcer. People tend to forget that I ring announced for my first several years. I hated it so much not like I always say this the ring announcers I mean, Samantha, which by the way freakin incredible she’s gonna be historical in this company. But people don’t give ring announcers I think the credit they deserve a lot of times because they’re just this voice of God. That is the hardest job I’ve ever held. When I say I hate it, it’s not because I didn’t like think it was a great gig. It terrified me. It is a very difficult job to do. I’m a TV person. So I’m used to camera this is to crowd I have extreme stage fright in front of people like that is a fact. I have a hard time with people. And then you have to memorise all those things like the weights the the hometowns, the monikers everything. It just a lot put on the ring announcer and they make it look so freakin easy. And then using your voice that way. I can’t talk like that.” 

On wanting to change direction:

“So I give so much kudos to all of our ring announcers. But it wasn’t for me, but I told them, I’ll be the best ring announcer I can possibly be for you as long as you want. But I made it very clear, I’m a journalist at heart, I want to like be able to be that here. And like host shows like I did The Bump for the last four years. And they were very open to that. And Michael Cole has been instrumental and getting me to where I wanted to be in WWE. And when the opportunity came up for The Bump, they came to me and asked me if I wanted to host it. And then that like revived my career here. That’s been that was like the coolest thing I could have ever done.”

On Paul Heyman:

“I mean, I give a lot of credit to Paul. I had so much fun doing all that back and forth with him with The Bloodline. But, you know, Paul and I were doing Talking Smack together and we didn’t really know each other at the time. I knew that we didn’t really interact a lot and getting to know him on that panel. And getting to go back and forth and realising we’re both kind of Spitfires like helped immensely. And then you know, got me on camera to do those bits with him on SmackDown with The Bloodline and then now I am the sassy backstage interviewer like the writers, My interviews though, I’ve been told I can be a little sassy.”

On being a great interviewer:

“I think one thing we as backstage interviewers have to keep in mind is that it’s not about us at all. Like our job is to put the talent over the moment we make it about us like being too expressive, or whatever, it takes away. And over time, the more you’re on camera. Like with me being here most eight years, you naturally become a personality that people expect and want to see on camera. But I think the more that you even show to talent, that you respect them enough to realise this about them. They want to bring you in more as a part of it, but I think yeah, 100% I think it’s just keep yourself small. It’s not about us, but do a great job and it’ll make you rise.”

On The Rock being on SmackDown:

“[I found out] I think 30 minutes prior made maybe like because he was with Pat McAfee that day on College GameDay. I don’t even think this was planned. Pat McAfee has this way of making everybody want to be his best friend. In fact, he got The Rock to come to SmackDown just I mean, that’s a very Pat McAfee thing, but I think it was just like that, like, you know, Rock was in town. So why not swing by Smackdown? A little bit before that [his music hit], but like very, it was like right then it was a surprise for all of us. Wow. Like I freaked and that was the second time I’ve ever met him. The first time was when we premiered on Fox for the first time. Was that like three or four? More than that? However many years ago? And I saw him I was like, I have to say hi to him. And I kept like, talking myself up. It’s now never Kayla, he’s got to do it. And I saw him. And he was like, done socialising. And he was walking back to like his bus. And I was like, now’s your time that I went up to him was like, and I said, Mr. The Rock. I was like, Oh, my God has called him Mr. The Rock. But he turned around, and we had like, a five-minute conversation. And he’s so good about making you feel like you’re the only person in the room. And he like, looked me in the eye and just asked questions about me. And that was incredible. He’s such a genuinely good human being. And so this time, he remembered me. I was trying to get an interview with him. But he’s a busy man. He promised me next time he sees me. I’ll get my interview with him. Third time’s a charm. But it was it was it was so cool. And like you said with Cena there.  The fact that fans bought their tickets without knowing that was going to happen was such an incredible, incredible. Imagine fans who have been fans forever. And that may have been their very first show. And they bought their ticket. I think when they bought tickets, we didn’t even know Cena was going to be there at the time when the tickets went on sale. So people bought their tickets, then they find out Cena is gonna be there, then Pat McAfee’s there and then The Rock comes out like holy cow.” 

On making a mistake:

“When I first started I was doing a house show, a live event. And I’m going around and, less is more, as I’ve learned don’t try to look like you know everything by trying to spit out too many facts, because you’re probably going to mess up. But I was trying to, and I think I missed the amount of time someone has held a certain title by like one. But this guy sitting in the front row stood up and he schooled me like he just was like, actually, it was this many times. He schooled me on like, needing to know my stuff. wrestling fans are very passionate, but I didn’t make sure after that, and since then, just to make sure I do my due diligence, or just don’t bring it up if I don’t know enough about it.” 

What is Kayla Braxton grateful for:

“My health, the freedom to travel the world and my friends.”

Matt Cardona (@themattcardona) is a professional wrestler who has worked for WWE, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling, GCW and several other promotions. He was known as Zack Ryder in WWE where he spent 14 years of his career. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how he reinvented himself after being released from WWE in 2020, his hectic travel schedule as an independent wrestler, why he says Zack Ryder is dead, how his deathmatch with Nick Gage in GCW completely changed his career, how Brandi and Cody Rhodes introduced him to his wife Chelsea Green, his WrestleMania 32 moment when he won the Intercontinental Championship, being pushed off the stage in a wheelchair by Kane, wanting to be signed to a big company before his career ends and much more!

Check out Matt Cardona’s website here: https://mattcardona.com/
Quote I’m thinking about: “Do what is right, not what is easy nor what is popular.” —Roy T. Bennett

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On rebranding:

“Listen, this wasn’t this master plan like, Ooh, how can I reinvent myself? I knew I had to. And like I said, when I got fired it was the pandemic, there was really nothing going on. Had the cup of coffee in AEW, that didn’t work out. But then like, okay, so I’m not Cardona. But who is Matt Cardona? Even I didn’t know that. And even when I was in WWE towards the end, I dropped the headband, dropped the glasses dropped the woo woo woo, but I don’t think people really recognise that, you know, because I wasn’t really featured that much on TV, which is fine. But now everything was in my control. You can’t just turn heel on the Indies, you can’t just be a different character. One day, it’s not going to work. So is that deathmatch with Nick Gage That really was the catalyst the snowball that I needed that changed not just my career, but changed my life.”

On the GCW deathmatch:

“So John Carlo, my friend, John Carlo, who was working for GCW at the time worked for  WWE, now works for AEW awesome, dude. He pitched it to me. I was like absolutely f*cking not. Nick Gage was just on Dark side of the Ring. Yeah, right. He almost killed David Arquette in the ring, criminal, drug addict, I’m not wrestling this guy. And then I took a step back and said, Wait a minute. People are gonna watch this. We’re going to talk about this they’re gonna want to see Zack Ryder get carved up by Nick Gage. And I said let’s do it. And it was only a three-shot deal three shows. Go in attack, Nick Gage have the match. And then the one show after. But we I think we change independent wrestling. I say we because without GCW, you know, GCW needed to be GCW I needed to be me, Nick Gage needed to be Nick Gage. We just needed all those ingredients. You know, I’m saying and like that night. You know, if you really look at it, it’s an independent show in Atlantic City, New Jersey. But it trended number one over the UFC pay-per-view that night and the Olympics, which is nuts, and we captured, you know, lightning in a bottle, you hear that expression all the time we had it. And I just ran with it.”

On saying goodbye to Zack Ryder:

“That’s what I needed. Because you know, it bled into other indies where I’d go out 25% of the fans go f*ck you, then 50% Then 70 If not 100%? You know, like, Yeah, we talked about this earlier. There are definitely some WWE fans who come up to me now like, what do you do these days? They think I just retired. But if you’re in the indie scene and if you’re a fan of indie wrestling, Zack Ryder is f*cking dead. You know?”

On never returning as Zack Ryder:

“I say this all the time. This isn’t my Honky Tonk Man run. I wasn’t going to just tour the Indies with the headband, the glasses, woo woo woo. This is like my reinvention. This is my Hollywood Hogan run. If anything. But I knew I needed to change I knew like Zack. Listen. so, so grateful for WWE. For Zack Ryder. That was my dream. I lived it. Highest of highs lowest of lows. I’m forever grateful for that time. It set me up for who I am today. But it’s over. Zack Ryder is dead. And if I ever want to go back to WWE if it was up to me, it’d be as Matt Cardona.”

On not everything working on the indies:

“There are things that are absolute flops, like for instance, okay, I’ll give you two sides. The death match with Nick Gage. Okay, I had this blood. I knew, I thought I was gonna be a couple of drops of blood on me. So I wore like white bro that the white turn maroon the shirt was maroon and like, I gotta sell this somehow. Now I’m a diehard collector and diehard fan. I said wouldn’t it be cool if it was like that WrestleMania plaque with an autograph and a piece of the canvas? You know, I’m saying yeah, so I contacted that company, the actual company, and I made the plaque that has the picture of me bloody, they cut up the t-shirt. I made over $20,000 on that on a t shirt, essentially. But then on the flip side, right, I thought all the Deathmatch King crown let me make like Burger King style crowns. Sell them for like 10 bucks, I can’t give them away. So you know, but I’m taking the chance. You know, I’m taking a risk. And some are calculated, some are not. You gotta invest in yourself.” 

On raising the bar for indie wrestlers:

“So listen, this is not the run to pass the torch, right? That’s not what it’s about. I’m lighting a new torch for myself. But if I can help people along the way, so be it. If I can change independent wrestling, if I can get f*cking water bottles backstage for the locker room, I’ll be that guy. And there are people, you know, who are too afraid to speak up about certain things like, listen, I understand paying your dues. You got to split a room with somebody, okay? I don’t think you need to split a bed with somebody. Now. I don’t, I don’t do that. But I want I want to change certain things for the people who can’t necessarily speak up. And if he’s getting water, water bottles backstage, then I’ll be that guy.”

On the end goal:

“I certainly don’t want to end my career in a high school gym, in a bar, you know, I want to end it in an arena. Well, that would be WWE, AEW, something else starts up. That is the goal. But also the goal is not oh, what can I do to get back to WWE? Or what can I do? I don’t think about it like that. You know, I’m the most successful I’ve ever been right now. I don’t care how you define success we talked about before. Accolades, like my PWI ranking was higher as Matt Cardona than I ever was, as Zack Ryder I won more titles. This is the BS stuff that people want to count. I am also making more money. And the most important part. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. That’s the most important, I’ve been more fulfilled than I’ve ever been. Yeah. But I’d be lying if I said that if my phone rang and it’s is a 203 which is Stamford, Connecticut, of course, I’m going to pick it up. You know, of course.”

On multiple previously released WWE stars returning:

“I mean, I’ll be honest when all those people got rehired, I was thinking, not me? The guy who has been doing everything. What was the prerequisite to getting re-signed, not doing anything? Besides like Chelsea and like The Good Brothers, and a handful of others, most people didn’t do anything. But that’s fine. Everyone has a different paths, a different story. Do you have a chip on my shoulder about that? I wouldn’t say a chip, like a little crumb. But listen, this isn’t about proving people wrong. It’s about proving myself right. My fans right. If I can convert some doubters and get some new fans along the way, so be it. You know, but I can’t have this goal of being the absolute best with like negativity driving it, if that makes sense.” 

On Dolph Ziggler:

“I think Ziggler is gonna be fine. I’m anxious to see these people come, because I just want some competition. I love it. I say on Twitter to all these these these guys or girls. Somebody please step up. This is too easy. You know,  we talked about accolades, right? The PWI independent wrestler of the year, last year spoiler I won it again this year, okay. I don’t know when this episode comes out. That’s two years in a row. An ex-WWE guy should not be the PWI independent rest of the year twice, step up. And if that pisses someone off, good, please, please. That’s all I just want competition. And I’m not saying I’m the best wrestler, who gives a shit about that? Nobody creates more buzz than me, nobody has a longer merch line than me consistently. Nobody also elevates other wrestlers like I do. Yeah, it’s true. And I’m just begging for some competition.”

On rejecting a deal in 2019:

“I didn’t take the deal, because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay or go. It weighed on me every single day. Like what am I going to do? Am I going to stay? Am I going to go? And ultimately, the decision was made for me, thank God. Because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew I didn’t want to just be a guy on the roster. Even now. Like I don’t want to go to WWE or AEW and just be a guy on the roster. Been there done that. And if someone is doing that, or wants that then fine. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. It’s just not right for me.”

What is Matt Cardona grateful for:

“Chelsea Green, my dogs and my family.”

Macey Estrella (@limitlessmacey) is a professional wrestler known as Lacey Evans in WWE. She joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about why she let her WWE contract expire, why she is happy that she didn’t re-sign with WWE, her mental health crusade, the cafe she opened in Beauford, SC called “Sunny Summers Cafe”, how she originally came up with her sassy southern belle gimmick in NXT, her thoughts on Sgt. Slaughter’s family not liking her gimmick on the main roster, the original plans for her and Ric Flair, asking Vince McMahon for time off to get pregnant, the exclusive content on her Fan Time site and much more!

Find out more about Macey Estrella at http://limitlessmacey.com
Quote I’m thinking about: “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

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On not taking wrestling bookings:

“No, I have not [taken any bookings]. I’ve had a lot obviously reach out. But I did WWE for seven years and it was never my passion, that was never a secret. It was incredible to see my fellow sports entertainers [succeed], that is their passion. But I just knew that, you know, I went out there and did the best that I could, I did my job. But I always looked forward to coming home. My family obviously travelled with me, everywhere that I went for the most part. And that was a struggle, right? Because when I got signed with WWE, I was a mom and I was a wife. I’ve been with my husband since I was 15. It was an incredible opportunity. But it was a lot for whenever you compare what your passion is, and you’re wise and WWE is very, very difficult. If you’re on the road well over 300 days a year, they want a lot from you. And I just, there was always something in the back of my head that was like what the f*ck am I doing? When I wake up now, and I’m on my way to my cafe and I have like, just last night we did a big group outreach for I think it’s NAR-ANON, it’s like alcohol anonymous, but it’s for the families that have family members that struggle with addiction, or have lost their lives to overdose, right? So it’s just the things that I get to do now and the difference that I get to make to me is so rewarding that I have never since August 16, so a few months [on], I have not once questioned if I’m doing the right thing, or if I’m happy or if this is my why. I wake up every day, get my coffee and I go and I try to change lives and make a difference, including in my own home with my kids and my husband. So it’s been awesome.”

On not missing WWE:

“Do you want me to lie? No, there’s not. You know, some people, they wake up and they put on six-inch stilettos and 10 pounds of makeup and their extensions and they go walk the red carpet and they feel amazing. I’m not those people. And it was very difficult for me, right? To kind of put on that front. And because WWE does a lot of good stuff for a lot of people, but I just felt like more could be done for my why, right? So for my passions and mental health and addiction, and life struggles and PTSD and all the sh*t that people have to deal with every day. It’s like, why the f*ck am I on a red carpet right now? Like I’m looking out in the crowd and I see people that are f*cking hurting and they’re taking photos of my shoes. I’m not gonna lie I miss some of the people, right? Because it is a struggle, and we do kind of become a family at some point. But I don’t I want to I want to help I want to do more. I want to fight different battles that aren’t in the ring.”

On getting pregnant in WWE:

“So yeah, I think that another [thing] when I said at the beginning of this interview, WWE is hard, you know, we’re on the road. And as women, not to be biassed, it’s harder, especially if you want to be a mother, especially if you want to be a wife. Because as you know, you can’t be pregnant. And looking that way you can’t be pregnant and wrestling, so, you know, you really have to make some long-term decisions in life. And one thing I will not do is freeze my eggs for a career. Now if you do that’s great, that’s all on you. But whatever eggs God gives me, I’m not freezing them and I’m gonna do what I have to do if I want to be a mom, and that was one of our options as women in sports entertainment is well if you can’t reproduce now there’s other science options that you could like hold off and chase your dream and chase the money and chase the fame and the fortune. [Did WWE offer this?] It has nothing to do with WWE, I’m just saying as a woman, right, so like, scientifically if a woman you know, just can’t have a baby right now, because she’s chasing the fame and the fortune and it’s just not something that she wants, we have options. I’m not doing that. And also women have a certain timeframe in that’s what doctors deem healthy to have babies, and we can all go into that. But that was never in my cards, I would never do that. And I’ve always wanted to be a mom. Unlike a lot of women. I’ve been with my husband since I was 15. We got married at 19 and since 16 years old we’ve been picking out our kids’ names. We’ve always wanted to be a mom and a dad. Summer’s name was picked out when I was 16. Sunny’s name was not too long after. So when I was in WWE, and I’m looking around at what I thought my life would be, and not only the difference that I could make in people’s lives, but it’s like, Man, I’ve given my husband the sh*tty end of the stick here. Like, you know, he loves me, and he supports me to the fullest, but like, where are all of our babies at? Where is all the little sound of feet on our hardwood floors and the smell of bacon in the morning? And instead we’re on a plane at 3:30 in the morning heading out. So I went to Vince and I said, Hey, sir, I’m not being used. And I want to have a baby. So I won’t if you plan on using me, I’ll stand by. I said it’s COVID it’s like I’m not being used. And he kind of got quiet and he said go have a baby. And I said are you sure? I made sure because that man is f*cking awesome. He has done a lot for for me and my family. And I was just very thankful to be in that room having that discussion and having that opportunity in WWE, right? Life-changing money, blah, blah, blah. And I’m in a cool experience. So when he said go have a baby I said are you sure? Like I could wait you know, it’s not like I’m waiting 10 years like you tell me. He’s like No, go have a baby. Just promise me you’ll come back and you know, and I said I’ll be back six weeks after I push this motherf*cker out if you just if I could just go at least give husband one more quickly. So I you know and that was the game plan I wasn’t being used and next thing you know talent creatives Oh, you’re gonna be with, you know, Ric Flair and Charlotte and I’m like, What the f*ck? It was wild. But me being the motivator? I am I’ll show up. I’ll do the best and keep rocking and rolling. Well, I’ll be damned if a week before I was supposed to get the title. I have my baby. And it was the best feeling in the world that my husband now has another child that he’s about to hold in his arms in nine months and nobody could take [it away]. So a lot of people say and I ruined my career and this and that. But this morning when I woke up and saw that little sh*t looking at me with a big smile on her face and my husband waking up in stride. You can’t tell me I ruined anything. I got exactly what I wanted and I’m very thankful and blessed that I have the life that I have.” 

On being paired with Ric Flair:

“It was typical heel and to go after the title and get it. I was supposed to get it but fortunately, Sunny Loretta decided that she was coming.”

On the rumour that Ric Flair is the father:

“Yeah, and don’t get me wrong there was a part of me that I felt terrible for remember those people that work their ass off and have a passion for this, like, that impacts a lot on that professional side. But it wasn’t like I just decided to sneak off and like, do you know what I mean? Which by all rights, I could have done anything I wanted but I ensured that the powers that be knew, you know, knew what I wanted and gave me the blessing and told me to do it and I was ready. But yeah, it was it was supposed to be a very entertaining and it could have been and it would have been but God had other plans for this moment.”

On the military character:

“I loved it. It was easy. F*ck em. F*ck everybody, I p*ss everybody off anyway, if it’s not on social media and WWE saying take that down, you’re not allowed to say that, or what? Like, it was just perfect. I didn’t have to wear the dresses anymore. I could tell everybody to go f*ck themselves and then go home. But one thing that Vince knew from the beginning was I wanted to tell my story, and that was a highlight of my career, getting in. There was a lot of like, well, it might not get over. That’s great. And professionally, I’m stupid as hell. But personally, and my why and my passion, the fact that I got to go on a platform that big, and show the people out there hurting and mothers and fathers who are choosing addiction over their kids and kids that are going through it. And the fact that I got to stand up there and tell my story and impact people on that scale. I wouldn’t change a thing. It was my favourite thing that I got to do.”  

On offending Sgt. Slaughter’s family:

“I think they’re frickin weak. Remember that weak word we just talked about? Yeah. And no disrespect to like Hall of Famers in WWE that have paved the way, he can kiss my ass and his daughter can too so record that. Have a good day. I don’t know where the hell that came from. They know the game. You go to work. You get told this is what you’re doing. And what a lot of people don’t know what was said and what was done and how they discussed it with him and they talked to him and that’s that is none of my damn concern. You have a what do you call it in the military when you frickin you have seniors above you? Yeah, you have a rank structure right like and in WWE when you’re a performer you’re like down here like whatever goes above your head is like a lot of times unless you start crying about it and go banging on doors like I don’t like that you know I was never I’m not gonna cry about it you tell me what the f*ck you need you tell me what time the bell rings and then and I’ll do whatever it is and then because I got a family to feed a husband a love come on and I say that with conviction because I made sure I was in shape I made sure I could do the flippy flops, the drop downs I made sure to create the character they told me you know you’re gonna go out you’re gonna do the Cobra clutch and he’s you know gonna come in and help and then whatever happened. Next thing you know he’s not out here I’m still doing the Cobra clutch. But don’t get mad at me. Because I’m doing my job you know what I mean? Or let’s have that conversation. Right? And at no point was that conversation ever had and whoever his daughter is is like so from the side like, that was wild. It didn’t really like it didn’t really ruffle my feathers. I kind of thought it was funny like you know, bless their f*cking hearts but I didn’t lose no sleep over my family still got fed I still did what I f*cking needed to do. And I just hope they keep that same energy. That same kayfabe energy when they see me because I don’t do sh*t like that.”

On her new cafe business venture:

“It’s been awesome. Obviously, you know, I started a construction company when I was in the military. I’ve got to do a lot of cool stuff. But I’ve always wanted to be a barista. That was like, kind of my goal even in WWE. I wanted so badly to work, like part-time at my local barista, you know, because I just love coffee, and I love little cafes. But I never thought that I’d actually open my own. And it comes with a lot, right, a lot of learning a lot of trial and error. And it’s been so much fun, because I love challenges. And I love to help people. So combine the two and you got my cafe.”

On where it all started:

“I started working on this two years ago. So backstage if I wasn’t booked, I was on my iPad starting my business plan, working on my future endeavours. So yeah, I’ve it’s been in the pipeline for a while because it’s my passion. And it’s something that I wanted so badly to do. So I was working on it back then.”

On customers recognising her as Lacey Evans:

“We have that a lot. And, you know, my action figures are at the cafe. It’s not a secret. I mean, if anything, it’s empowering. It’s cool. It’s something cool to talk about with my customers. And so yeah it’s a balance. So we have fans that come in all the time. And then we have people that aren’t WWE fans that come in and they’re like, is that you? And I’m like, Yeah, well I say no, it’s just this girl that looks a lot like me, it’s crazy. And then we kind of laugh about it, and I let them know it is me. And it’s just a good conversation. So yeah it’s fun.”

On enlisting in the military: 

“Oh, I had to get away. When you come from a family of addicts and mental health disease, you feel like you are obligated, especially when you work hard to stay sober and you work hard to set the example. Then you feel obligated that since you made it, and since you’re doing a good job, you’ve got to reach down and extend your hand to pull your next sibling or your next family member up. And I found myself following them wherever they were to make sure that I was there to help. And I realised that you could lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. But I loved them so much that I was willing to drown to do that. And that’s when I knew that that was not okay. And so it sounds so dumb, but I, I knew that if I signed that dotted line to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, that there was no turning back, that when I got that next overdose phone call, or that next I’m in jail, or that next I need some money, can you come, I can’t come. I am legally obligated to serve, and so it was just kind of my way of running away without running away. It was kind of letting it go and just and for one and then the other one was to find what I what life is supposed to be like because growing up stepping over my dad and the domestic and the anger in the mental health and the laziness, the lack of accountability. I can go all day with what I saw growing up. That’s what I knew, That was my future. I knew what I didn’t want to be because it was in front of me. Every morning I woke up 12 years old looking around. I knew what I did not want to end up like, but I didn’t know what I wanted to be. And I knew I needed to find it. So when I read what the United States Marine was the finest fighting force in the world bad motherf*ckers in shape. Motivated, disciplined. I was like f*ck yeah, that is opposite of everything that I’ve seen in my life. I said, I’m leaving. I’m going and I’m going to learn what I how to get what I want to be out of life. And that’s why if you in WWE, I was built out of Parris Island, because that’s where they make Marines and that’s what made me become the woman that I am today.”

What is Lacey Evans grateful for:

“My family, my cafe and WWE.”

Featured image: WWE

Chavo Guerrero Jr. (@mexwarrior) is a third-generation wrestler and is known for his time in WCW, WWE, TNA, Lucha Underground and AEW. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about working as the wrestling coordinator on “The Iron Claw”, teaching Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White how to wrestle, what their skillset looks like as actors compared to professional wrestlers, how he became Hollywood’s choice for wrestling choreography in TV shows and films, his thoughts on whether they should make a movie like “The Iron Claw” about the Guerreros, his opinion on Dominik Mysterio using Eddie Guerrero’s name and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: “More is lost by indecision than wrong decision.” – Cicero

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On The Iron Claw:

“You know, when I got approached by Sean Durkin, the director to help him make this movie. I didn’t know who the production company was. I was kind of like, alright, let’s make this movie, sounds like it’s a legit thing. And you know, not a lot of legit things in Hollywood are contacting me all the time. So that I agreed to it. I was telling my youngest son who’s a junior in college studying film. He researches it and he’s like, Oh, my God, Dad it’s an A24 movie. I’m like, Alright, is that good? Like I’ve heard before, and he’s like, No, that’s my favourite production company, you don’t understand. This is the most incredible thing of all time. Great, awesome. So then, as we keep going, A24 still try to pretend they’re a small production company, but they’ve won the last five Oscars or whatever, you know. So they’re getting much, much, much bigger. So it’s a really good thing. It’s a really cool thing. And just to be a part of, it’s like, awesome, but to be more of a part of it, you know, I’ve said that a long time. Just to be part of this is cool. But to have when the directors be like, Hey, can you help me make this movie? That’s pretty huge.”

On being acknowledged by the cast:

“You don’t get that all the time, even though you’re putting in the work. But, you know, I just created a bond. Wrestling creates bonds with people being on the road, travelling on the road, working for [the company] being in the trenches, we call it that with other wrestlers, of course. But also, when I’m training actors, you know, there’s this trust that we have to build on each other, I have to get theirs. And when that happens, you just create this bond. I think that I have a bond with all these actors. I know them as people, not just, Zac Efron the actor or Jeremy Allen White [from] The Bear. I know him as the guy in the ring. Let’s do this kinda type thing. So it’s pretty cool to be able to get that rapport with people.”

On how big the movie will be:

“I was concerned at first, okay, and we’re gonna get a lot of eyeballs on this, how big of a movie this is going to be? How much they’re going to put into it? Because there’s been other wrestling movies of course, you know, back, you know, for last 40 years from Paradise Valley with you know, Sylvester Stallone basically. But to see the buzz that an actual production studio, like a legit one put behind their movie and made, of all the movies they got coming out, they made us their Christmas release. Yeah, that’s pretty big. That’s pretty big. And it’s one of those moments.”

On Zac Efron’s training:

“You squish in as much as you can. And whatever they can absorb. Every actor is different. But, you know, Zac was able to absorb a lot. So we kind of sped them through it. But I threw a lot, at him. And when you’re creating the scenes, there’s a lot of things you have to take into consideration. You have to take in the script, what the director wants, how the DP wants to shoot it, but also what your actors can and can’t perform. So you have to work within their parameters. Once I can get them to give me trust, and just know that I’m never going to put them in harm’s way. Safety is the number one important thing for me. Of course, we have to get the shot, but at the same time, if I ever have a hurt actor, it’s bad. So the number one thing is safety. And I won’t let them do anything that I am sure they can’t repeat 100 times. It’s one of those things, you know, there’s fluke accidents and freak accidents, things that happen. But I explained it to the to the actors. Same thing with my GLOW girls, you know, everybody on like that awesome Netflix show? I explained to them. Y’all know how to wrestle. You just don’t know yet. And they’re like, What do you mean? So I portray it to acting a lot. What do you do in acting? Constantly you’re, you’re convincing the studio that you’re better looking than you are, you’re a better actor than you are. You’re taller than you are. You’re much more handsome or much more beautiful than you actually are that like, Yeah, well, that’s what I’ve been doing and wrestling for the last, you know, 20 years, 25 years. People every time they see me they go, I thought you were a lot bigger. Well, yeah, I portray myself a lot bigger. There are little tricks that we have, and I take a lot of those tricks and put them into the act and put them into Hollywood. So those actors I’m showing them, you may not be able to do that move, and that’s okay. There’s 100 ways to get from A to B. Let’s figure out what’s best for you. And let’s make that work. And then I got a lot of Hollywood tricks as well.”

On being the go-to guy for Hollywood wrestling projects:

“You know, when I stepped away from WWE, I was like, What am I going to do? I just couldn’t be on the road at that time. We were on the road 250 days a year there was one year I was on the road, I was in a hotel room 300 days that year, so I was only home 65 days the entire year. So I was like I can’t do that anymore. Not just mentally but my body I knew my body had started breaking down, I’m gonna have to start getting an exit plan. I should have really started five years before this, 10 years before this, but the Guerreros was wrestling, wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. So when I stepped away I was like, What am I going to do? Let me possibly try get into some stunts and some acting this was what my uncle Mondo did when he left wrestling. He retired with you know, a SAG pension that was all about acting in stunts and stuff like that by his mentor, Gene LaBelle, my mentor as well. So I started doing that a little bit and started taking driving courses and high fall courses, and my wife looks at me, she’s like, why are you doing that? You’re not just a stuntman. You’re like, super specialised in what you’re doing. And I was like, I guess you’re right. So like, the pieces fell into play and in the right spots, and I became the person for GLOW. And that morphed into, you know, Young Rock and all these different TV shows that I’ve done, you know, like one-offs, like I just did another show on Apple TV called Loot with Maya Rudolph and they had a wrestling scene. They had a wrestling episode. So they called me up and I put Ron Funches to work through it. So it’s like, there’s a wrestling show and they’re calling me and if they can afford me to do it.”

On how training for wrestling in a movie:

“[It’s] 80% different, so different. I’m not training these actors to be in a Wrestlemania match. I’m trying to look like a wrestler in a scene.”

On filming for The Iron Claw:

“In Iron Claw, we filmed entire matches. Sean Durkin, the director really wanted to get the feel of a real match, and then pick and choose what he wanted. There’s other productions that I’m shooting like 30 seconds, or 10 seconds or sometimes they want one move. But Sean wanted these wrestling sequences. So, if you see one of the opening matches, that happens to be me and Zac. That’s probably a 10 to 12-minute match. And we film that probably 10 or 15 times. So I tell the actors that go, sometimes this is easier than what we do in WWE. But sometimes it’s much harder, because give me 20 minutes in a match at WrestleMania. Great, lets do it on a pay-per-view. But I’m 20 minutes and I’m done. I go you’re doing this three to four to five or 10-minute match 10 to 15 times you’re doing over four hours, and then you’re taking a break to go to lunch and you’re coming back and filming it again. So that’s it’s very difficult by the end of a couple of those matches that Zac had, he was spent. You couldn’t tell in the match. But afterwards, he even came to me. He goes, Man, this is maybe one of the hardest days I’ve ever had on set. This is really hard. Well, yeah.”

On avoiding bumps:

“I tried not to bump them as much as I can. There’s sometimes you can’t avoid it. But I work around it. So a lot of times I’ll have the actor in there with another actor who’s maybe a wrestler in a perfect world, that they can bump and it hides those bumps. I mean, that’s what we do in wrestling as well. There are a lot of times I’m in there with somebody who’s hurt. You’ll never tell if they’re hurt. Because I’m the one doing all the moves. I am the one bumping around.”

On learning production:

“I didn’t come in the very first time and pretend I was a Hollywood guy. I would definitely step back and let the Hollywood people do their part and then me do my wrestling part. But I’m a really good learner by watching and that’s how I learned to kind of how to do all this really not only from my family, from watching Vince McMahon, from watching Kevin Dunn, from watching Triple H, from watching to all these guys and how they did they didn’t take me side and Vince wasn’t going okay job. Well, this is ABC, [this is] how you do things. No, but I learned all that by watching him. And then the same thing with Hollywood. Once I started getting a little bit more and more, I had some really, really good teachers really good people that I was watching. That’s kind of how I became that guy. So now I am that guy behind the camera. Eventually, I’m gonna direct that’s where I’m going. I follow directors all the time on different movies and really kind of watch the same things, studying how they do it. That’s my next role is directing. That’s really where I’m going.”

Could Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White have a match on WWE TV:

“Really tough. Really, really tough. Now saying that they aren’t awesome. But I didn’t train them for that. I didn’t train him to go to a match. Give me a month with them. Absolutely. Jeremy was incredible in the ring. He was so good. He will just kind of sit in the corner and kind of thinking, I’m gonna get right. He’s like, hold on, hold on. He’s like, Alright, I got it. Let’s go. Yeah, he was really, really good like that. They’re all really good just in their all different ways. But I didn’t train them to go have a match. I trained them to look like a wrestler in a scene. But give me time with them, if I was training for a match is totally different. It’s a different thing.” 

On one of the Von Eirchs not being featured:

“I brought that up to Sean when I read the script, I said, you know that there’s the other [brother], Chris Von Erich is not in the movie. And Sean had a great point. He just said it’s just, It was too much tragedy. I mean, we only have a certain amount of time to tell the story. I explained this to, I think it was Lacey and Holly. And they kind of mentioned you know, Uncle Chris isn’t in the movie. And I said, Well, this thing about where the movie wanted to go, are we doing a great movie or are we doing a documentary? Two different things. And they’re like, Yeah, you got a point here and I said the documentary and we’re gonna put it on on Discovery Channel. You know, the whole three-part series, you know, whatever. Great, let’s do it to tell it justice. I go but for a movie. I mean, who wants to see a three-and-a-half-hour movie? Yeah, with more and more tragedies and more and more. It’s gonna be tough.”

On Dominik Mysterio:

“Dominik Mysterio is killing it. He’s doing so good. He’s far beyond where he should be. As far as being good as well. It’s pretty cool to see them doing all this stuff. And we talked about that before. You get a lot of people especially because of Eddie and how monumental and like cult following he has and how many people see how really great he is and was. You get a lot of people really trying to capitalise off of the Guerrero name and Eddie’s name. You’ll see it all the time. I just saw it on our house show the other day I was on and they started doing Eddie spots. And I’m like, why are you doing that when I’m was next after you guys? Oh, yeah, we didn’t think about that. I’m like, Guys, I get it. But you just did it. And everybody thought about Eddie. They didn’t think about you. And they’re like, Yeah, you’re right. But I see that a lot. And anybody can do it. Dominik can do it. And Rey can do it because of what you know the history with them and stuff.”

On issues with people imitating Eddie Guerrero:

“[It bothers me] When Eddie’s daughters aren’t reaping the benefits yes. To me, I’m always looking. And if anybody should be making money off of Eddie Guerrero, it should be Eddie’s daughters. [They are making money from the merchandise]. I don’t know if that’s correct. I don’t know that’s correct. At least talking to them about it. I’m not them. I’m not the say all be all, but that’s something that I would definitely wish that they were. That’s her dad, they shouldn’t have to worry about that. That should be in his will. His persona. His name and likeness should be to them. Just like Elvis Presley, it first went to Priscilla, but his granddaughter who was in that when did the TV show right, Riley? She owns Graceland now. She had a fight with Priscilla for it for a little bit from what I understand. But she owns that. It’s the daughter’s, you know, and then after her mom died. After Lisa Marie died it went to her. But Lisa Marie had that own that Graceland stuff. So I just Eddie’s daughters don’t have and I really, that upsets me a little bit. I mean, anybody, right? It’s just gone up to the daughters for sure. So that’s maybe something we hopefully we can change. In the future. I really would wish them because not for me. I don’t need to. I got my own thing. Yeah, let them make the money off of their father.”

What is Chavo Guerrero grateful for?

“Family, faith and to be able to wake up every morning.”

Ethan Page (@officialego) is a professional wrestler currently signed to AEW and Ring of Honor. He is previously known for his time in IMPACT Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about getting into the best shape of his life, his AEW World Title match against MJF in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, the most painful part of his coffin match with Darby Allin, why he asked to be put on Ring of Honor, working with UFC Legend Junior Dos Santos, why he stopped doing toy hunt videos on YouTube, the return of his Alpha1 wrestling promotion, working with Matt & Jeff Hardy and much more!

Quote I’m thinking about: How you do anything is how you do everything. – Martha Beck

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On taking a backseat with YouTube:

“If I’m putting something out, it’s something that inspired me. And also, I’ve decided to kind of, once I realised that like the last time we did an interview, I was doing American Top Team stuff, things were going fantastic. Not to say that I’m not happy. I just noticed a change in my career. And I realised that I really needed to start focusing on professional wrestling more and dedicating myself to that, which is actually why I requested to do the Ring of Honor stuff, because our roster has grown so big that the opportunities to be physically active in the ring, come a lot less. And that’s just the nature of the beast, Tony wants to have the best wrestlers in the world, and I commend them for it, we have them all. But the matches come less. So I wanted to be more active. And as I age, I started to notice that my body was starting to feel a little bit tighter. And when you’re not wrestling as often your body is just adjusting way different. So I was like, okay, dude, you’re either going to end your career by just getting stagnant and fatter and more depressed. And like, I could have definitely kept continuing to do the YouTube videos and selling ads through an agency and I was doing very well and things were great. But that was kind of my full-time job. And then everything else kind of took a backseat in the trajectory of that, if that makes any sense.”

On the coffin match against Darby Allin:

“Oh, no, it definitely doesn’t [help with longevity]. That coffin match was, I think it still is taking time off my career, that one was rough. It was easily the scariest moment of my career. So wild last night, I asked Matt Hardy, I was like, hey, what’s the one thing that happened in your career that was easily the scariest moment? Like, what was that thing? And while he was thinking about it, someone was like, well, Page, what’s yours? And I was like, oh, laying in the coffin. The coffin is closed the lid shut. I have no clue what’s happening. If I’m gonna get hit when I’m gonna get hit. I’m just [thinking] thank God the matches over that was extremely painful. But also, I’m alone in this box, no one’s talking to me. It’s not like I have something in my ear. And then here comes this body crashing through this box and it’s landing right on my knees and like I’m in the foetal position, which is not something you want to be in just to be cramped in the box. Anyway, that was the scariest thing for me. He said it was when Jeff Hardy jumped off in Orlando to Swanton him through the table that ended up turning him into a Broken Matt. He said the anticipation of how high he was in the air. He’s like, I’m gonna die. He’s gonna kill me and break my ribs. But yeah, being in that box was the scariest thing ever in my career, and probably will be ever.”

On getting in better shape:

“I think I have three or four weeks left. Well, my plan was the Ring of Honor pay-per-view is coming up on December 15 on the Honor Club app, and that’s where I’m wrestling now. So I had a goal and I don’t want to assume them on the pay-per-view but in my mind, I’m trying to manifest the fact that I’ve gotten in great shape. I’m on a roll there, I’m having better matches physically better, mentally better. My confidence is up. So in my mind, I’m on the pay-per-view. So make sure you watch it. But that’s going to be my last day for this diet. So that’s my like, end goal. So whatever however long that is, that’s what I have left.”

On learning the science:

“One thing that I was really stuck on was this thought, if I don’t eat food, I will lose weight. I get there’s some truth to that. But I was not fueling my body enough. And then I was working out to just burn calories. So I was eating away at my muscle while storing fat, like this old nerdy science bodybuilding stuff, but I was not eating enough food, malnutrition, overworking and never resting. And now I understand the science of rest and working certain body parts on certain days. And this is all just, I don’t know any of it. I’m being told what to do. And I just shut my brain off and I do it, I’m a robot.”

On future fitness goals:

“I’ll say in the interview, so I have to do it. Screw it. I’ll probably do a fitness competition in 2024. Something happened, I don’t know, maybe it’s just kind of the way the landscape of wrestling or just my age or point of my career, I’ve kind of just come to terms with the fact that I can’t control anything other than what I do with myself. So, career-wise, I mean, it’s kind of in somebody else’s hands. But my body, no one’s gonna force me to eat a donut. So I can control that I can control what I eat, what I do, what I lift, how I train, how I sleep. And then that got me excited. And I just got obsessed with the fact that if this is a thing that I put my effort into, and I dedicate myself to, no one can stop me from succeeding in it. Whereas with professional wrestling, there’s a lot of things that you kind of have to magically line up to get to where you envision. Whereas with this, it’s just me and only me.”

On how it feels to take a skateboard to the back:

“Not good. You got the trucks, it’s just steel. That’s sucked. And then not only that, when I take the skateboard to the back, I’m in so much pain that I’m flexing my shoulder blades just to like, extend my muscles. I fall into the coffin. But when I fall into the coffin, my back scrapes the side of the coffin and the way they built the coffin to make sure that there was enough support, I guess. So you had the actual outline of it. Then they put, I don’t know, some support beams in there. But they weren’t shaved down. So my back scrapes against all that. And I’m just laying in there. And I’m like, Thank God, it’s over. And you could see literally, it’s not the doors not even shut. You can tell by my body language. I don’t care. The match is done. Shut the damn thing. It’s over. Like if you see the footage. I fall in, I just gave up.”

On American Top Team:

“I mean, we had Andre Arlovski, who was one of my favourite mine and my father’s favourite UFC fighters. So that was like, mind-blowing to me. Dude, he was so jacked and he had the coolest mouthpiece with the fangs. He’s such a badass. So we had him and then we had Junior dos Santos, and then we had Paige VanZant and all three ended up wrestling. All three brought something completely different to the table and a completely different perspective to the table. Out of all three, I have my fingers crossed and I pray every day that JDS gets back into professional wrestling. He is one of the most naturally charismatic people out of all three of them. And this is not a knock on anyone. He picked it up the fastest. The timing, the footwork, everything, the presentation and the fact that he understood that we were putting on a show. And the first time we all went, I think it was we jumped Lance Archer or on the stage or it was just all of us in the ring talking trash. I can’t remember but Junior ended up coming to the back and he was ecstatic. What is this? He’s like, they were yelling at me and I started yelling back. There’s another booing me And he’s like, then they gave it more back. He’s like, this was the best. Like right away he got it and he was like, Okay, how do I do this? Okay, what do we do this? How do I do that? Well, I want to learn this. Like he was the best out of the three I hope he comes back to wrestling. He’s a natural showman. And one of my favourite dudes, just the nicest, nicest dude.”

What is Ethan Page grateful for?

“My kids, my wife, AEW and my trainer.”