Rob Van Dam (@therealrvd) is a professional wrestler and a WWE Hall of Famer known for his time in ECW, WWE, Impact Wrestling and AEW. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his new podcast called “1 Of A Kind” on the Premier Streaming Network, his recent appearances on AEW, using his ECW theme music “Walk” by Pantera, the story of losing his WWE Hall of Fame ring and getting it back, his viral segment with Matt Riddle, the chemistry he had in the ring with Jeff Hardy, his thoughts on Brock Lesnar, people thinking he is related to Jean-Claude Van Damme, Shane McMahon using the Van Terminator and calling it Coast-To-Coast, why he wishes he didn’t impersonate Shawn Michaels, his favorite ECW memories and much more!

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Quote I’m thinking about:
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill

On losing his Hall of Fame ring:

“So the very first week that I got it, I did a show in Wisconsin, and I wasn’t used to having it. I left it in the hotel room, went back to Las Vegas. And so it took an honest maid, and an honest front desk person and an honest wrestling promoter. Thank you, Ben McCoy for calling me and saying, Did you forget something dude? I didn’t even know yet. I just got home the next day and wow, I had it for I don’t know. I think it was it was the same week, so I didn’t have a very long, I lost it already.”

On a second AEW appearance:

“I was at a convention in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Legends Fest and I got the message, you know? Hey, can you do the 23rd in Grand Rapids? Interestingly enough, last year, at this exact same time, they messaged me with that, September 5th, actually. And that’s when I got, you know, the okay to do it. It was like a year ago, and then I did it. But some time had passed then. But that day was, you know, near Battle Creek. Yeah, from Battle Creek hometown boys was so obviously, same idea. Again, that’ll be cool. It’s one, it’s one week before, I’m going to be doing my show in Battle Creek, which those guys have been working on that for like a year, you know, promoting it. And it’s a big full circle return home and then just the week before they put me in Grand Rapids, which is just right down the street.”

Why didn’t RVD debut for AEW in 2022?

“Communication dropped. So that’s it. Sometimes that would happen. Sometimes. Both of the companies over the years, every once in a while, would call, just to check out my schedule. I don’t hold it [the date]. I hold it in mind sceptically as a possibility. And that’s all because I know how it works. But that’s how it works, never hear from them again. And then it’s like, well, all right, whatever, I can hypothesise. You know, I wonder what did I do? But you know, I’m very stoic and in part of stoicism is really being able to accept things as they are and just let it roll right off my shoulder.”

On the first AEW appearance:

“Well, they reached out to me so long ago, like towards the beginning of the year, it was kind of hypothetical checking my interest and availability, and the dates that they mentioned, even though it was way back then and ended up being the exact same dates, August 2 and August 9. And I couldn’t believe that how could you be that far planned ahead? It was like, January maybe, or, you know, maybe February. It was a long, long time ago that they first brought it up. So that was one of those things where every once in a while, I’d be talking to a fan at a con. And they’d say, you know, are we’re gonna see you show up on WWE. It’s real, you know, and I’d be like, maybe you might see me pop up on the other show, too. I don’t know. But I didn’t really expect much of it until it was like, boom, alright cool, we’re going through with it. So I would have thought, based on that, if I was going to return again and they hadn’t planned it yet that it would be a year from now, you know what I mean? But apparently, that’s not always the case, as Matt Hardy and Jeff told me when I had this conversation saying that exact same thing. And he said, No, it’s not always like that, you know, sometimes, you know, boom, something changes, you know, the day before.”

On planting the seed for Walk by Pantera:

“I did, but it was already planted. So I wasn’t the first one. I reached out to them and it was very shortly before my trip happened. You know, I don’t remember, it was just right before and I was just like, man, you know, that’d be so awesome if we could get Walk, it would really add a lot. And the producer I was talking to said, yeah, Tony tried and he couldn’t get it and I was like, oh, okay, that was the day of the show. [Then] They told me, boom, we got Walk. And it was a few hours before I’m at the arena. And I was like, wow are you serious dude? That changes everything about because otherwise they’re gonna have to look at the monitor and you know, be like, okay, yeah, that’s RVD. What song would they use? [They would make a song for you?] They would make it and then that wouldn’t get over nearly as much so, so super cool. And does that mean that they’re gonna have it this week? I don’t know. I hope so.”

Do you know how much it costs to get the rights to Walk?

“No. But Tony did tell me when I left after my match with, Jack Perry that I got the rights to use your song just for these two shows. Hopefully, if we can work together in the future, hopefully I can get it again. So I was like, awesome dude.”

On thinking about if it is time to wind down:

“Not really. I mean, you know, sometimes the thought goes through my head. If I’m having a bad travel day, for instance, I’m done, I hate this, I just want to be home, travelling sucks. I’ll have those moments inside my head. But they usually don’t last that long. And I used to think I was gonna retire, that was like several years ago, and I thought I was probably close to hanging the boots up. And now I just don’t even think I will. I think I’ll be like Dory Funk Jr. And just [keep going], and I may quit taking bookings. But I don’t think I’m gonna make a big deal out of being retired because the credibility of wrestlers retiring is so broad anyway. You know, so I don’t [know]. Sabu used to say, it’d be cool if we did a retirement tour. And we went around the world and wrestled for all the companies that we’ve wrestled for. But the timing of that didn’t work out too well, because he finished up before me.”

On still being able to do the RVD chair stretch:

“Yeah, I just filmed that recently. When I say haters or doubters will be held accountable. You saw that video, right? And so that was just a few weeks ago, that was before my match with Jack Perry. But I still stretch and still keep in condition. You know, my pre-match stretch is something that I don’t do as often because I don’t wrestle as often. And that really is the best stretch where I’m stretching for a full hour going through every muscle in three or four different positions, you know, complete body check and test. And it’s a real self-learning experience. You know for years, I’ve thought on and off about trying to have a platform where I could share my stretch, and I filmed it lots of times and even at one time. I was at DDP studios and he was going to distribute it which is a shoo in right? So yeah, winner. But I can’t really translate what’s going on in my head when I’m stretching in a way that I’m comfortable with. I tried walking Stevie Richards through it at DDP studio one time, and we got like, halfway through and he said that he understood what I was saying, but it’s just such an inner experience for me that I’ve come to believe that maybe it’s just for me, and it’s not something to share. There’s so much. It’s not just positional, but it’s like it’s balance, it’s where you hold your weight, it’s pressure, it’s breathing. And then it could be like twisting your hips this way, it could be like bending back and looking up. And there’s just first you have to teach your muscles to trust you to relax so that they don’t contract against your stretches because that’s counterproductive. And that takes a long time of being inside yourself because your muscles don’t want to be injured. So they’re protecting themselves. So when people are grunting and groaning, and they’re fighting their own stretch, that’s the opposite of what you need to do. You need to have that muscle go to sleep, and then trust you to elongate just past, you know, the comfort zone there. And it’s like, there’s so much going on. I don’t know how to do it.”

On having great chemistry with Jeff Hardy:

“Well, we are like-minded in what we think is cool about a match. And that has a lot to do with it. You know, when you think about what inspires you as a fan, because certain fans, there were four of us as kids that decided we were all going to be wrestlers, me and my best friend Dango. And then we had Robert and Eddie, and we would always have these tag matches, and we learned way back then. But when you’re a kid, you’re so judgmental. You know, we would tell Robert, he was so stupid for the things that he liked, and the wrestlers that he liked. What do you like him for? He’s fat, he doesn’t do any moves, you know? And he’s got the best chops. Oh my god, that’s so stupid, chops? So it’s really cool, Robert, because kids are stupid. But we, you know, we’d be like, Okay, we want to get these big moves that we’re going to put in the mats. And he’d say, like, he wants to, like when he gets hit spit, like One Man Gang used to get hit. And he spits way in the crowd, and we would just make fun of him because we didn’t understand everyone’s got their own values, they’re drawn towards different things, you know. So that’s something that me and Jeff I think had in common, is what we think is cool. Because whenever we talk about an idea like, what if? You know what if I’m doing the split, and I roll back to give you the reverse monkey flip, can you like, grab my feet? And like, you know, boom, do that. I don’t know why, but I call it the trash compactor. I don’t know what the name is. He puts his legs down and crunches me. Oh sweet, that’d be awesome! Like that. That has a lot to do with the outcome of the match and the kind of energy going into it. As opposed to Yeah, yeah, we could do that.”

On the Five Star Frog Splash being painful:

Of course [it hurts]. And there are a lot of moments that people don’t know about where you’re already hurt before the match. As a matter of fact, probably, maybe most moments, sometimes at least half the moments, like when you get to the building, I was like, Hey, how you feeling today? Anything bothered me, it was like you know, my shoulder bothers me a little bit you know. And if you’re Tommy Dreamer then you say, Tommy would say like, you know, my back hurts. I’m good, except I can’t take a backdrop or Body Slam or a suplex or a forearm… But, man, have you ever had bruised ribs? It’s so painful to have bruised ribs, and it can last for a really long time. So that very famous match that I had with Eddie Guerrero, the ladder match, he goes over the ladder does a senton and landed on me, that moved my rib, where my rib connects to my spine. And that bothered me for four years. In fact, that was the source of the back problem that I was telling you just recently went away. And that was that. He died in 2005, and that was just like two years ago, that’s not bothering me. What I was gonna say though, was while that was it would come on and off it will come on maybe for like four months where it just hurts so bad. There was nothing I could do. I go to chiropractors, I go to all these physicians that have like a pile drive around my back trying to loosen it up and I just had like this knot where my last rib connects into my spine like I say, bulging discs compressed, blah, blah, blah. But it was that one bump that started it and afterwards. Every time I go out to the ring, I’m already sore, but I have to give 100% RVD to the fans. They’ve been waiting two months to see me. They don’t know that my ribs are hurting. So when I go out there, you know, I got to present that image that they want. And sometimes I remember Randy Orton just covering me and it hurts so bad. I was like, I was just waiting for the two count to kick out because his weight was on and I was like, oh my god, kicked them off. I was like, Oh, holy crap, I’m in a lot of pain. And in those times, you know that lasted through my TNA run too. I remember when I was with TNA in 2010, 2011 and 2012. My back was messed up through all of that there were times when I couldn’t even reach my boots earlier in the day and I’m like, how am I going to be doing the Rolling Thunder tonight? Holy crap. But with enough stretching and drugs and warming up and whatever I could do you know, I sucked it up and went through.”

On Brock Lesnar:

“Yeah, I’m a fan. I always have been. Definitely, you know, like, what’s not to love? He’s good for the business and the fact that he can back it up and has backed it up. When he was UFC World Champion that was, like, there’s nothing else that would legitimise. If you want to go that far. What we do doesn’t get enough respect. Because every fan thinks they can do it. And that seems to be more and more what they’re after. You know, like with that all-inclusive, whatever it is, it seems like they’re reaching out to get normal people like to get a skateboarder and a basketball player, it seems like athletes that are normal kids or whatever, so that people do relate more, and then people do think it’s easier, and then everybody can do it. At least that’s one observation I’ve had looking at where it seems to be going, you know, when I grew up, someone had to tell me that they could get me in, you know if I started lifting weights and stuff, they’d get me in. Otherwise, I don’t think I ever would have had the idea. These guys were just larger than life. Don’t you have to be born a pro wrestler? You know, you think I could do that.”

On being one of the few ECW to WWE success stories:

“I think just the package that I had. I think, prior to coming to WWE, when I was wrestling in ECW, from 1996 to 2001, I had a lot of eyes on me. And as I got better, I was already a viable product that would already be you know, a commodity in one of the other companies. So it wasn’t like I had to start adjusting as soon as I got in the door. I did, but not completely from zero. I was already while I was in ECW in 98, 99, 2000 2001 In those years, when we were really crushing it, and I was really, really crushing it with the TV championship and you know, having a really good showcasing matches. I was already at that point, somebody who could have fit into a good position in WCW or WWE if they knew what to do with me. I feel like.”

What is RVD grateful for?

“My health, my wife and all the love.”

Maven Huffman (@mavenhuffman) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and for winning Season 1 of Tough Enough. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet for an in-person interview in New York City to talk about the success of his new YouTube channel and getting 100k subscribers in less than 2 months, why he hates his theme song, wrestling Tazz in his debut match, taking shots of Jack Daniels before eliminating The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble in 2002, the vicious chair shot from The Undertaker, his picture-perfect dropkick, why he felt he needed to take steroids in WWE, what his current job is on Wall Street and much more!

Sponsors:

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MUDWTR: To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv and use the code CVV15

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

MANSCAPED – Get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code CVV at manscaped.com 

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

Quote I’m thinking about:

I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. – Mark Twain

On the success of his YouTube channel:

“No one’s more shocked than I am. Literally, you met the guy who runs it with me [Zack]. When he came to me with the idea, I tried to talk him out of it. I was like, listen, I was like, There’s bigger names out there. And he explained to me and he was right about one thing. He said wrestlers use YouTube wrong and it’s an underutilised platform. And basically, here’s the simple, simple process that we do. Most wrestlers make wrestling videos and put them to YouTube and then wonder why they don’t do well. Obviously, if you’re Steve Austin, your podcast is going to do great numbers. But for the most part, there are so many podcasts and stuff out there. He told me, we’re gonna make YouTube videos that deal with wrestling. And at that moment, that was our first Zoom, the light went off.”

On telling evergreen stories on his YouTube channel:

“That’s what that’s what the goal is. I told him I didn’t want to bury anybody. There are so many if you want to see some site or a video where somebody just buries other pages, there’s plenty of that stuff out there. That wasn’t my goal. And I wanted to put out content that dealt with my time, my experiences, my life. I can’t speak to other people’s experiences. I can only say how it affected me. And that’s what we’re trying to do. And I try to put that disclaimer in almost every video that listen, this is how it was for me, it might have been different for somebody else. And they’re probably doing it differently now. But this is what it was for me.”

On breaking 100,000 YouTube subscribers:

“Yeah, I don’t know, I get literally nervous about checking it during the day. Because here’s the great and here’s the beauty about this. And I tried to say it in interviews and everything. It’s not like there’s a bag of money that I’m trying to get all of it. My success can only help your success, which can only help Stevie Richards’ success, which can only help Matt Cardona’s success and vice versa. If your video does, well, who knows the recommended video under it might be mine. So let’s get as many people doing using this platform using this, you know, model if you will.”

On eliminating The Undertaker from the Royal Rumble:

“I think it was just one of the things that at the time, everyone was just I don’t want to say in awe of, but just happy that the dropkick spot went as well as it did. Because think of it this way. What if I flopped the drop kick? What if I miss him? What if I don’t hit him hard enough to knock him over? Then what? It’s just me and him. It’s not like we’re gonna start a wrestling match. I mean, where’s that gonna go? And he still has to be eliminated for the next person to come in. So there was a lot riding on that spot. And I didn’t practice the drop kick at all throughout the day. And I was getting color that night. I’m allergic to aspirin. So I had taken a couple of shots at Jack backstage with tape. So I was a little buzzed by the time we did it.”

On The Undertaker coming up with the idea to drink:

“Yeah, he told me he was like, kid, I’m gonna be giving you getting you some colour. And he’s like, why don’t you take some aspirin in your blood out so it comes out? And I told him I’m like, I’m allergic. And he’s like, I got you. And he had some like aeroplane bottles of Jack. And I’m like luckily for me I bought Jack Daniels. It is like how most people drink beer for taste. Yeah, that’s me with Jack.”

On the chair shot: 

“It wasn’t a butterfly kiss, I can tell you that. Listen, at that point, I was just elated. My night was over at that point, hitting the drop kick. At that point, everything else was just gravy. And the chair shot I knew I was just gonna have to just, you see it in slow motion you see me like clench up to take it. But I was so concerned that the entire day, I was concerned with just my life revolved around hitting that one drop kick. And you know what? The following pay-per-view. I was on the next pay-per-view, WrestleMania. I was wrestling Goldust he was holding the gold trash can and I missed it. So if I would have missed that drop kick [on Undertaker], I don’t think I have a career. But the chair shot. It stung more than it hurt. But honestly, I was on top of the world just knowing because after I did the type of chair shot Yeah, I think Taker goes and he throws the camera guy down and they stayed on that shot. Normally they’ll change shot, but they stayed on that on purpose. He had to get the gig out to give me color. And he came over. And he told me great job, kid. And at that point, I just knew my night was all I had to do was sell and then get thrown into a popcorn machine.”

On The Undertaker:

“There is nothing bad to say. Let me tell you my opinion. Here’s why. Because he’ll do business look what he did with me. The only way you can create stars, the only way you can actually put yourself over is by putting other people over. He knows that he is willing to do that Rock is the same way. Rock will do business. And I think that’s why that’s why Taker is just so beloved in that locker room.”

On the origin of the Maven name:

“Do you know what Maven means? It was when I was a school teacher. It was lesson number one every year that I would send my kids home with, I’d be like, my name is Maven. Tell me what it means tomorrow. And then they would all come in Mr. Huffman, it means an expert. I don’t know about that. But it sucked growing up with it. And here’s why. No one ever could get it right. Marvin, Melvin, Mavis. I was literally playing sports one time and the announcer called me, Megan Hoffman. And I was like, usually when I get it wrong, it’s a guy’s name. Yeah. So but it did work for for wrestling.”

Would Maven change anything from his WWE run?

“It would probably be, wow, that’s a great question. Yeah, I do. It would probably be when they moved me when they did the draft and they split. And they moved me from SmackDown to Raw, that was when I felt like my training wheels were off. And like I just said, I wish I would have just stopped playing wrestler and let more of my personality come out. Because I really didn’t. I was just always terrified. I was scared, not to mess up everybody messes up. But I was just terrified, terrified to turn the volume up too much. If I could go back and when I debuted on Raw after my broken leg. I should have come out literally and had them pulling me back. I was cutting promos with the words they gave me and I wish I would have done what Rocky does what you know, other great talkers do taking bullet points. Just put them in my words.”

What is Maven’s day job?

“Well, often people ask about the suit. Actually, we’re in Midtown right now in the 50s I work downtown I work on Wall Street I walk by all the iconic buildings that you see I walk it’s a 10-minute walk I have from the train every day. I work for a capital firm down there. We provide capital to needy businesses. It’s funny, I’ve been told that you’re just the mascot for them, which is probably a little bit accurate But I help us get I help us get capital so we can then in turn help others who can’t get bank funding.”

On being honest on his YouTube videos:

“If somebody likes me, outstanding, if they hate me, that’s fine. But they’re gonna be able to say, Maven is at least honest, and he’s not hiding anything. And I mean, what am I going to [say]? I mean, if you look at a picture of me in 2002, and then a picture of me 18 months later, it’s a drastic change. And it’s pretty obvious of what that change was. So why not just be open and frank about it? It’s not something I was the least bit upset about. I’m not ashamed of it. Yeah, I was in a career and that’s what it took to be at the next level. [Did you feel like you had to do steroids?] Had to in the form of forced by someone? No. Had to in the form of I wanted to be on TV? Absolutely.”

What is Maven grateful for?

“New opportunity, old friends and hope.”

Sean Waltman (@realxpac) is a professional wrestler and a 2-time WWE Hall Of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how healthy he looks and feels these days, the potential to return to WWE at the Royal Rumble, the amazing entrance themes he had, how the Red Hot Chili Peppers almost did his theme song, the story behind Uncle Kracker doing his “X-Factor” theme, how he came up with the Bronco Buster, beating Razor Ramon on Raw, does he think he could get inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame on his own?, the promo that he got sued for in WWE, getting kids in trouble with “Suck It”, his memories of invading WCW on a tank with DX, wrestling Shane McMahon, never winning the Intercontinental Championship and much more!

Sponsors:

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MYBOOKIE: Get a 50% welcome bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag

MUDWTR: To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv and use the code CVV15

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

MANSCAPED – Get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code CVV at manscaped.com 

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

Quote I’m thinking about:

I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. – Mark Twain

On the possibility of there being one more match:

“Most definitely. Yeah, I’ve been training and feeling good. I’m not saying like, you know, another run or anything like that. But like if I needed to be in a match, like a six-man or, you know, something like that. I could kill it. I could do all the stuff I used to do.”

On the X Factor theme:

“I was the one, my God. You know, and I’ve already admitted this a bunch of times, but that was my idea. Not necessarily that song. Shane McMahon comes up to me and they’re trying, they’re trying with me. And he goes hey, we’re thinking about having Red Hot Chilli Peppers do your new theme music. I go no, I want Uncle Cracker.”

On being a big dog lover:

“And I didn’t have that [before]. I always liked animals. And I’ve had dogs and stuff. And like, I never had the connection I have now it’s just way different. Honestly, man, like, I think it has something to do with like, you know, like, all the shit that I went through, put myself through whatever, just those years of just really, like really rough stuff, you know, and just, I just think that, in general, overall, I’m more empathetic, you know, people, animals, everything coming out the other side of that.”

On turning his life around:

“Yeah, but I had you know, I had a lot of people that care about me. You know, people get tired of, like, you know, helping but like, there were other people that cared too. I didn’t run out of people that cared. You know, like, a lot of people got tired of trying to help me, and they should have you know, you don’t want to keep wasting your time on somebody if they’re not ready. But eventually, I was at a place man, right when I right before I came out here, you know, Maria Menounos, Keven Undergaro they were those people that cared, and they were willing to just help me you know.”

On the Razor Ramon match being his favorite:

“It’s beyond, there’s no close-second moment that was as important as that moment was in my career and, you know, really in my life to like, I mean, that was so huge, like, that was life-changing. Yeah. You know, not in my career, like my trajectory. My life changed because of that moment. And it was, it was huge. You know, it was it had so much impact. It was just, it was a unique way of, of introducing somebody besides just the Hey, like, Let’s do six weeks of vignettes and like some, you know, squash matches where he comes up and beats a guy.”

On the return to WWE after a run in WCW:

“It was rough. I mean, it was it was real, you know, it was authentic. And, you know, I was able to, I was able to deliver a couple of memorable you know, zingers. But I mean, it wasn’t the smoothest of promos, but it was real. He [Vince McMahon] sees me standing there getting ready to go and he goes, Hey, they’re expecting something big from you. Like, give it to him. Not like, you should say this, you know, like, here’s the script. None of that, he didn’t have the first clue what the f*ck I was going to say.”

On getting sued for the promo:

“It was in there. Yeah, it probably would have been a good idea if they would have asked me what I was gonna say. Right? Because part of it was why they sued. But some of it was like one of the things from my promo that was part of the lawsuit when I got deposed because I got deposed for that, which is a classic, that the deposition was classic. You would have loved it if you were there. The part where I said, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall would be right here with me if they weren’t being held hostage by WCW. And so I’m sitting in the deposition, and WCW or the Turner or whatever lawyer, and I have my lawyer. That was also Jesse Ventura, his lawyer, David Bradley Olson, who’s there with me and in, you know, he goes, so why did you say, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall would be right there with you if they weren’t being held hostage by WCW? I said, Well, I was talking to Kevin the night before. And he told me it would be a good idea if I said that.”

On being arrested for the WCW invasion with a tank:

“We did. We didn’t get like, handcuffed and taken to like to get booked or anything. I mean, we had to go to the station, but they let us stay in our van. Because when we went to their offices, not to CNN tower, but their WCW offices. Vince had already paid off the local police and they were with us, then they called the police. And so then like, I don’t know if it was the sheriff or the police department or how that worked out. But we ended up having to go down and technically get booked.” 

On being a smaller wrestler:

“Yeah, and well I mean, just I’m built you know, so that was a big part of it too. Because there were guys that had gotten the push before that was like, you know, five foot and change or whatever but they were just you know, like Ivan Putski on a few members of that course yeah, you know guys like that or whatever but yeah. I think I was able to learn how to like my I adjusted my style to where I was good at working with big guys. I just knew how to do it and knew how to keep everything at like you know as believable in the context of what we’re doing like you know, you never saw me shoot like a 300-pound guy into the ropes because I mean that’s just silly. Yeah, you know, I always had ways of getting movement without having to do sh*t like that or in just you know, fighting that you know, that’s that underdog you know, fighting from underneath. You know, I was really comfortable fighting from underneath like a lot of guys I just want to shine, shine shine. Yeah, dude, shut me down right away. I’m fine.”

On being paired with Kane:

“I don’t know [who’s idea it was], but I’m really grateful to whoever it was. I don’t know if Vince Russo was still there, I think he might have been. I don’t know. But I’ll say this. You know, we had just broken DX up, Paul [Triple H] had just turned on me at WrestleMania you know, and cost me to match with Shane. Like, that was a thing where originally I was supposed to beat Shane. And, you know, when Paul told me he was turning heel. In my mind, as you know, your heel turns not going to mean sh*t if you don’t turn on me. So we did that. And I got rewarded with a hell of a run as tag champs with Kane. I mean, we had a really good run together.”

On Shane McMahon:

“My match with Shane was his first. It wasn’t his first actual, like, match. But it was his first match, like big, you know? And a lot of those ideas, a lot of the things you saw out there in that match were his ideas. Because I told Vince I’m like Hey, okay, Vince tasked me to work with him. And I had these conditions. I’ve told this before, but, you know, I was like, I get to go over and he has to, you know, listen to me. And so, Shane came in with this whole list of ideas. And at first, I was kind of standoffish about it. I brought it to Vince and I’m like Vince look. And then Shane comes to me, okay, whatever. In the end, I actually just sat down after he said that and read it. Yeah. And we ended up doing like 3/4 of it. Like, they were all great ideas.”

On the conversation before the match:

“I told him before our match, I’m like, Dude if I don’t light you up there, and you know, people are gonna look at me, you know, he’s like, bring it, he wanted me to do it. I did. Yeah, like was, I made a beat. I made him hit me hard, you know, we had the weight belt. Yeah, yeah. I made him like, just tee off on me with it. Because when I got it, you know you know, he was, he was great to me.”

On the Bronco Buster:

“It came from, do you remember Hakushi? Yeah, he would do that. But like, he would just do the part where he landed on Yeah, that was not the extra stuff. And so like, you know, he wasn’t using it anymore. Like, I just decided to do it one day, because I remember him doing it to me. And he was gone. And it wasn’t something I think people really remembered him for. I don’t think it was one of his signature moves.” 

What is X Pac grateful for:

“An incredible marriage, my family and my health.”

Chris is back answering your questions from social media on another edition of AskCVV! If you have one that you want answered next month, don’t forget to send it in using the hashtag #AskCVV!

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Quote I’m thinking about:

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. – Zig Ziglar

What are your thoughts on the CM Punk situation? 

“What a question to kick things off with here! There is so much to bite off and chew on and talk about with this situation. But I will say this, I never thought CM Punk was ever going to come back to wrestling. And I know that in pro wrestling, you never say never. But from everything that he had been saying all the years that he was gone, it just certainly sounded like he was done with it. And then he came back and it was, depending on who you talk to, it was either the best return of all time or arguably the best return of all time. I mean, it was incredible. And I think one of the big elements of his return that is not talked about is it worked so well not just because it was in Chicago, but it worked so well because it was right after the world had just started to get back to normal after all of the craziness of 2020 and early 2021. And it was like one of the first shows where there was a full crowd inside an arena. It was like, Oh my gosh, we’re already excited because you know the world feels normal again for the first time in over a year. And oh my gosh, I heard the rumours, this is actually happening. “Look in my eyes!” Oh my gosh! Yeah, it’s happening, he’s here! And it was just so exciting. And those are the moments that whether you’re an AEW fan, WWE fan, New Japan, IMPACT Wrestling, whatever it is. Those are the moments as a wrestling fan that you look at and you go, yes, this is it like what a cool moment. And then we started hearing all these stories about things that were going on backstage and I will preface that by saying we don’t actually know the full stories, these are always just reports of like, oh, you know, this person is saying this thing happened. But then when All Out happened and the press conference there and the things that he was saying with his boss sitting next to him, Tony Khan sitting next to him. I just thought it just went too far. I get that he was frustrated I get that he was upset with a lot of the things that were going on behind the scenes, but to air that dirty laundry in the way that he did, it just didn’t sit well with me. Then him being suspended and him not being on TV and I stopped seeing him for months after that felt like it gave that whole situation a chance to breathe a little bit and I honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to come back again or not. And then he did come back and it just seemed like whatever the situation was, whatever that dirty laundry was that had been aired, it seemed like none of that had been fixed. And it left Tony Khan in this really difficult spot of like well he is one of our biggest draws. We have kind of created this whole show on Saturday, Collision, around CM Punk, and it’s like what do we do now? Again, we don’t know the full situation of what went on, but obviously was bad enough for Tony Khan to get rid of CM Punk to fire CM Punk, and on that note, I will say that Tony Khan did, I remember Eric Bishoff being like the fact that he like actually had the was brave enough to fire CM Punk like congrats to him. On that note though, I will say that it was strange timing to do it on Saturday right before Collision and then right before All Out. I feel like All Out already was fighting for relevancy I feel. I felt like All Out already had its back up against the wall. Because All In, a huge show. You know, they’re the biggest show that AEW has ever done by far one of the biggest wrestling shows of all time. And then a week later, they’re saying Oh, yeah, by the way, like, don’t forget this pay-per-view that has been a tentpole pay-per-view for AEW, since the beginning, Labour Day weekend means it’s All Out. And it’s kind of just like, it just kind of felt like it was buried off the back of everything that had gone on positively for All In and then it’s like right before Collision, you know, we terminated CM Punk. And it’s like, oh my gosh, well, now, if I was a CM Punk fan, or I was watching Collision for CM Punk, well now I’m probably not. And if I had an idea, you know, if I was thinking, Oh, maybe CM Punk will show up in had in Chicago at All Out? Well, that’s now off the table. And I just thought that that announcement should have been made on Monday. I felt like there should have still been this mystique around Collision and All Out of like, Oh, could his music hit? You know, rumours are swirling about everything that happened with him and Jack Perry, could he still be here? What’s going to happen? And I just felt like, I don’t know, the timing didn’t seem right on that. I felt like it took all of the focus away from Collision. And all the focus away from All Out, which was by all intents and purposes, a pretty great pay-per-view. And I just felt like all of the headlines and all of the focus around All Out was talking about CM Punk. And I just felt really bad for the performers who worked at the show. So I will sum all this up by saying, I will sum this up with an analogy. I feel like CM Punk coming back to wrestling is kind of like when you break up with that girl. And you know, it’s been a few months, and you’re like, Yeah, I’m glad I’m broken up with her. And then, you know, a few years go by, and you think about her every once in a while, and you go, you know, it really wasn’t that bad, right? It wasn’t that bad. Like, you know, we could have made things work. We had our issues, but we could have made things work. And then you get back together with them. And like, very quickly, you go, Oh, yeah, that’s why we broke up. I just kind of feel like that’s the situation here. Like CM Punk left WWE, walked out of WWE, walked out on pro wrestling and it just seemed like he was pretty happy with how everything was going. I’m sure he missed pro wrestling. But in the back of his mind, there was probably that little voice going Yeah, but it didn’t work out because of this reason, or it didn’t work because of that reason, and then whatever happened, came back. And it just seemed like all of those reasons, just happened to still be there. So that’s what I think of the situation. I think that he was one of the best things to happen for AEW. And also in a way, it sure seems like he was also one of the worst things to happen to AEW. So very, very curious about what the fallout from this is.” 

Do you think CM Punk should return to WWE and finish his career? 

“That seems to be the big question that is surrounding CM Punk. And I would say that under the management now, I feel like CM Punk would actually be a great fit in WWE. So I think there are two questions here. It’s, do you think he’ll return? And should he return? Maybe not in that order, maybe I should have reversed the order there. But like, should he return? Does it make sense for him to return? I think it would actually make a lot of sense for him to return. And he has a big legacy in WWE. I mean, when you think of a promo that really walks the line of is this real? Is this not? Is this a work? Is this a shoot? What do we call them now? We call them a pipe bomb. And we will forever call them a pipe bomb because of the pipe bomb that CM Punk dropped. And it’s so interesting that he’s created a lot of memories in WWE. And it sure seems like there’s some unfinished business that could happen there. I mean, I think, here’s what my prediction is. I’m just thinking this right off the top of my head here. I feel like we’re not going to hear anything really, maybe there might be lawsuits. That’ll be very interesting here. I feel like with the release of the wording of what AEW said when CM Punk was released, I felt like it was worded in such a way that like, there may be some pending litigation from this, like firing someone with cause sounds like oh yeah, well let’s have the lawyers talk about this. But it seems like as we head into the Royal Rumble in January, I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of buzz of like, Will CM Punk be there? Will his music hit? And I just feel like if he had a short run, maybe it’s the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania. Just him being there. I don’t even think he needs to be in the title picture. I think just him being there could really be a very interesting situation. But I think to answer so I think like should he go back? Could he go back? I think the answer there is yes. Will he go back? As I sit here right now, in September of 2023. I think the answer to that question is no. But it’s pro wrestling. Really, anything could happen.” 

Looking back through the many years of interviews, which interviews do you feel have really changed your approach to the job and how?

“I’ll actually give you a kind of a non-traditional answer here. It wasn’t one of my interviews that really changed my approach to the job. It was from my now very good friend Jake Hamilton. You could check him out on YouTube at Jakes Takes, it’s the name of his channel. He is one of the best interviewers on the face of the planet. And I am so grateful to be able to call him one of my friends. But when I first met him, he wasn’t my friend. I mean, I didn’t know him, we were strangers. And here was this guy. It was like, 13 years ago when we met in 2010. I was doing a movie junket for the movie Dinner for Schmucks. Remember that movie, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell? So I was doing that interview in Los Angeles and I’d never seen him before. But here he came in very well dressed, with beautiful hair, and he has great hair, and just a good looking guy who’s I think he’s like, so at the time, he would have been like 22 and I would have been like 26. And the dude just crushed these interviews. And I went back and looked through his highlight reel. And he had these moments where he was just swinging for the fences. He was creating what I later called Jake Hamilton moments. He asked Angelina Jolie if she would dance with him because she had so many great slow-dancing scenes in movies. He asked Morgan Freeman to read his eulogy because Morgan Freeman has such a great speaking voice he just did incredible, amazing moments. And I’m like, here you are sitting down with the biggest stars in the face, the planet and you, my friend are swinging for the fences, and you are knocking it out. And it was from watching his interviews of just like, I thought the work that I was doing at that time was good. Actually, at the time, I would have thought it was really good, but then I saw him and it made me level it up. And I’ve told him this many times. But you know, he’s so incredibly talented, but it was seeing him not be afraid. And it was seeing him word things in a certain way of like, if I ask it like this, the chances of it actually happening might be better. So it was, you know, those were the interviews that really changed it for me. And I highly encourage you to go check out any of Jake’s work. And there’s actually a compilation not made by him, made by just a fan of celebrities saying that’s a great question to Jake. And it’s like a 15-minute compilation of him asking these brilliant questions and celebrities going that is a great question. So you asked a great question here and that’s my answer. Those are the interviews that changed my whole approach to the job, and really just started to make me think about the way that questions were worded because, at the end of the day, these are just words, right? But words in a different order can have a very different effect. So that was it for me.” 

Who was your crush during the Attitude Era? 

“Oh man, well, you know, being from Toronto, Trish Stratus was obviously a big crush. But when I saw Torrie Wilson for the first time in WCW, I was like, wow, yeah, that’s it. So, Torrie Wilson, and then you know, I feel like everything she did in WWE was even that much better. So, Torrie Wilson, who I have yet to ever meet, or have on the show, but that is certainly a guest that I would love to have on the show. I mean, Trish as well. I’ve met Trish twice. Never done an interview with her. But I’ve met her twice. Once when I was 17 I was like my gosh, I met Trish Stratus. And then I met her at WrestleMania 35 in New York. And I’m like, I need to do an interview with you. And she’s like, absolutely just send my people an interview or an email with an interview request and for whatever reason just never come together. But I feel like that one could happen. I feel like a Trish Stratus interview is imminent at some point in time. I’m not saying it’s like next week or next month, but I feel like that one could be possible.” 

What was your favorite restaurant in Cleveland? 

“Oh, man, I love Cleveland. I miss Cleveland. I miss you guys. I’m still a Browns fan. And my goodness, what a start to the year with that huge win over the Bengals. I love it. So I lived in Cleveland from 2010 to the end of 2014 so five years total. I lived right downtown at that time. So there were a lot of restaurants that were downtown that I loved going into. One of them was called Cleveland Chophouse at the time. Now it’s just called Cleveland Chop. That was one of my favorites. We would go there for lunch all the time because I was working a later shift. I was on the afternoon news shows on 19 Action News, which is now just I think it’s Cleveland’s 19, CBS 19. I was on the afternoon show so I started work at like three-ish o’clock and ended around midnight. Which was, you know, I get off work at like midnight and I wouldn’t be like ready to go to bed because you just come off of like, working on TV and like being on TV and being all amped up. And a lot of restaurants wouldn’t be open. The reason I say that is Bar Louie was across the street from where I lived, I lived in this apartment building called the Bigham. And there was no like hardly anything that would be open after midnight unless it was a Friday or Saturday night. But Bar Louie was. I spent a lot of time at Bar Louie and I know that’s like a place chain. There are several of them all over America. Quaker Steak and Lube had the best wings. And The Winking Lizard downtown had the best wings. And I’m a huge wing fan. By the way, if you have any chicken wing suggestions, like chicken wing restaurants, please tweet them at me. Please, please, I travel a bunch. Maybe I’ll be in your city and I will eat those wings. Maybe I’ll eat those wings with you. And one more is Melt Bar and Grilled. It is a grilled cheese sandwich restaurant in Lakewood. It’s so so good. So there’s a bunch of them there for you. And I just love Cleveland. And it’s been like two years since I’ve been back. I miss you guys. So I’ll have to head back there again sometime soon.”

What are some of your pet peeves or things that you always try to avoid doing as an interviewer that you notice others doing? 

“I get a lot of compliments for this. And I don’t even feel like I consciously do it. But I get a lot of compliments from people who say I love how you don’t interrupt your guests. Something like oh, yeah, I mean, I brought them here for them to talk, why would I be interrupting them? But yeah, I guess that’s a thing where people will interrupt a lot. So that is something I’m aware of when I see it in other interviewers. And I think another thing that I see in other interviewers is, the person that you brought on to be your guest will start to tell a story. And then you’ll interject with your own story. And then oftentimes, the story of the host is longer than the story from the guest. And it’s like, what’s going on here? And I’ve never understood that, it’s like, no, please stop talking so we can listen to what the guest is saying. That’s always been. Yeah, that’s always been a big one for me. And I think that just all falls under the category of not listening. And I think a really simple one too is not doing your research. Like, I think there’s a lot of people that just do like the real simple, very basic Wikipedia, bullet notes, bullet points. And I think it just like this has to go at least one layer deeper than that, like, especially if we’re going to talk wrestling here. At the very least fellow interviewers type that person’s name into Google and click the news heading. What are some of the most recent headlines about that person? What are some of the most recent quotes that person has said, and I think it’s just little things like that, that are just like, Ah, man. I’m sure bothers you as much as bothers me. When someone starts to tell a story or reference something that’s like, very like for that person, like a very well-known thing, and the interviewer, you can tell just has no clue what that person’s talking about. It’s like, Ah, I’m listening to this podcast because I’m a fan of the person that you’re interviewing. Like, just do have the respect enough to do some research. So that’s it right there.”

What tips can you give for doing in-person interviews compared to online interviews? 

“I’ve said this before, but I think it bears repeating. The interview begins the second you see that person, the second you walk into the room if it’s in person, or the second the Zoom window opens or the Stream Yard link opens. If it’s a virtual interview. For in-person, I think a really important element of this, falls into the technical side. Make sure the shot the camera shot looks good. And I’m not saying you need to have a new camera or anything like that. Like I shot so many of my interviews on my iPhone for years and years and years, I still often shoot my two shot on the iPhone. I just think that’s a really important part. If your interviews look like crap, people will think they are crap. If your interviews sound like crap, people will think that they are crap, perception is reality. And I think that’s a really big thing. And people make a decision really quickly, especially if they’ve ever seen your content before or heard your content before. People make a decision within the first 3 seconds of a video. So I think that it needs to be fairly well lit, even if that’s just natural light, you and your guests sitting in front of a window like that’s a really important thing. Don’t make it backlit, don’t make it too zoomed out, don’t make it too zoomed in don’t have too much headroom, little things like that I think are really important. Other than that, I think the nuts and bolts of interviewing remain the same, I will stand by the fact, that yes, it is a fact that interviews in-person are far superior, far better, and a much better connection than doing interviews over Zoom. But I think the nuts and bolts of doing an interview, whether it’s in person, or whether it’s over Zoom, are pretty much all the same. And one more little, tiny little baby tip about doing an interview in person, just make sure to show up early. If you say the interviewer is going to be at two o’clock show up at like 1:45 Just so you can set up, be ready to go so that you’re rolling at two o’clock. I think that that’s a really important one.”

What’s the best tip for creating a connection with your guests?

“I think that it’s really important to structure interviews and the fact that like what’s going to be a good opening question? And if things go really well, with that opening question, could it lead to this next question, if the conversation leads that way? So I think that that’s a really important one, like, start off strong, especially if this is someone that you’ve never interviewed before if you’re just meeting them for the first time. Again, going back to what I was just saying people, people will make judgments very quickly, not just about content, but people make judgments about other people all the time in person when they meet them. So I think you can do whatever you can to try to win that person over and really build a rapport with them. Even before the cameras are rolling, start to build a rapport in the same way that you would if you ran into someone at the bar who happened to be a fan of the same sports team that you are. You would just you would have something in common and then you would build on that. So I think rapport is a really important thing to build that connection. And to keep that conversation going.”

If given the opportunity to interview a past legend, who would you choose and why? 

“Eddie Guerrero and he was taken from us far too soon. And I feel like there was still so much that we would have seen from Eddie I would have loved to see that. So I just would have loved to have a conversation with him. I think that he’s one of the very best to lace them up. The answer to that one is it’s for sure is Eddie Guerrero.” 

Would you rather win the Money in the Bank contract or the Royal Rumble? 

“I mean, you’re listening to this right now. I know that you already have a decision in your head as you hear that question. And come on let’s say it all together here. The Royal Rumble, right? Because when you win the Royal Rumble, you’re guaranteed the main event at WrestleMania. And I get with the Money in the Bank contract you can call your shot. It can be anytime, anywhere, any place. But I just feel like there’s a very special time in wrestling between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, you know, the road to Wrestlemania. And if given the chance if given the option, I would like to be the focal point of that if this is me, I would like to be the focal point of that road to WrestleMania. Also, I just think that they’ve dropped the ball just a few too many times with the Money in the Bank contract, especially in recent years. It used to be you won the Money in the Bank contract, it was a foregone conclusion that at some point in the next 365 days, you are going to be the World Champion. And that’s really shifted in the last few years here and I hate what happened with Austin Theory. And I’m guessing, this is a guess, I don’t know this at all. But it just feels to me like they gave him the Money in the Bank contract and maybe they didn’t feel like he was getting the reaction that they were looking for or didn’t think that he was ready to be the World Champion at the time. And him cashing in for the US title and then not even winning the US title. Even though he had been the US Champion before that just didn’t sit right with me. So yeah, Royal Rumble. And also like there’s something about winning the Royal Rumble where the person who wins the Royal Rumble is already a main eventer. And now they’re like just continuing to be main eventers. I feel like the Money in the Bank is a great stepping stone for someone who’s like right on the cusp of being a main eventer or like very high mid-card and then they get Money in the Bank and it like you know raises them and elevates them to that next level.”

How can I book guests with little to no contacts? 

“Well, I would say that you can book guests with little to no contacts, you could book guests with no contacts, in the same way that you got your question right here on the podcast. We’re all connected now with social media. And I think you don’t need to have contacts, you don’t need to be able to know someone who knows someone, all you need is a keen eye on someone’s Instagram bio or Twitter bio to find out their email and just send them a message. And I think the second part of that is you need patience, you need to be able to know that, like, you’re gonna send quite a few emails that aren’t gonna get responses. And you’re gonna send emails that are gonna get just, No, sorry, not interested. And then eventually, you’re gonna get one that’s like, yeah, that sounds good, what date and time works for you? And it may take you six emails to get there may take you at eighty-six emails to get there. But just know that every no that you hear or every no response that you get is going to get you one step closer. And I’m not sure what you’re booking guests for, I’m gonna guess it’s a podcast, please, for the love of God, please make sure to link your podcast in the email that you send. There is nothing more frustrating than getting an email from someone who’s like, Hi, I’d love to have you as a guest on my podcast called The ABC Show. If you’re interested, please write back. And then you’re like, well, what’s The ABC Show even about? Oh, can I hear an episode? And then you’re basically saying to the person that you’re trying to book, The onus is now on you to go into YouTube or podcast app, type in The ABC Show and then listen to it. You want to try to eliminate as many barriers as possible, just link to it. The ABC show highlighted hyperlink, boom, go. And it’s just amazing to me how many people don’t do that tiny little step. Also, one more thing. And at some point here, I should probably actually like formulate, like what does the guest booking email look like? To actually like, make sure that you increase your odds, I can’t say you’re gonna book a guest every time or you gonna book more guests, but increase your odds to book more guests. I think another thing is like, list off some of the previous guests that you’ve had on the show, if you want to take it one step further link to those episodes so that the person who is potentially going to be a guest can have a listen to that.”

How has being a dad changed your view on life?

“I mean, it’s changed everything. I was just interviewed for a podcast earlier today. I actually I’ll share this out on I think I am going to share it tomorrow on Twitter, Facebook Instagram, and on YouTube. I post a lot of stuff on the YouTube community wall. But I did this really fun podcast. And we talked a lot about the dad journey a bit on it was with Kia Nalbandi, who is just crushing it at like 2 million subscribers on YouTube, just crushing it with his content. And it’s changed my life in every single way for the better. And I love how I now see the world through her eyes. Logan is three-and-a-half months old. And then there’s these little moments where like, you’ll say something goofy or silly. And she just has this big smile that fills her entire face. And it’s like, Ah, man, it’s the best, and I can’t wait to take her to our first baseball game together. I can’t wait to take her fishing. I can’t wait to take her to our first pro wrestling show. Like I’m just excited to like, make these memories with her. And I’m so so so grateful every single day that I have the best partner, my wife, Rachel, and we’re in this journey together as husband and wife, and as mum and dad now to our little girl Logan. So yeah, that’s I mean, it’s changed my view on life in the fact that I now see things through her eyes. She’s seeing everything for the first time. You know, and then there’s this real childlike innocence that all kids have. And I feel like I am now seeing things through her eyes. And it’s just made me have this so much of a better appreciation for everything. And it’s also really helped me to understand situations a little bit more, I feel like I’ve been so much more empathetic. I think there might have been a younger version of me that like when a kid cried on a plane, I was one of those very stereotypical people that would roll their eyes and be like, oh, man, good, someone shut that kid up. And now I have so much more empathy for what those parents are going through. Like when a kid is crying on a plane the kid doesn’t go onto that plane, this little baby doesn’t go onto a plane with like, the intention of like, I’m gonna ruin everybody’s flight. Watch this! They’re just a baby. They’re trying to figure things out. And I can guarantee you this, we’ve been very, very, very fortunate Logan’s now flown on four flights to Nashville and back, to New York City and back. So four flights total very long flights, the New York flight was six plus hours with the delay that we had. So I was like, eight hours of sitting on a plane. We’ve been so so so so so so so fortunate that she slept for most of the flight, and just been overall just like, really good. I’m sure that’s not always going to be the case, there’s going to be one where I’m sure she’s gonna have a meltdown. But I now have the empathy. And I understand that you know, there’s always more going on in a situation than what you see on the surface. So I guess that is to say, I have been much slower to come to a conclusion about something because you never really know the full situation.” 

Who would win in a shoot fight? Batman or Iron Man?

“I feel like the answer here feels pretty obvious, right? Batman. Iron Man is just really at the heart of it like a great inventor. They’re both rich. They’re both like billionaire playboys. But Iron Man is just like really good at using technology. But if this is a shoot fight, just people fighting it’s Batman. Bruce Wayne, for sure Bruce Wayne beats Tony Stark, I think every single time like 100 times out of 100. Batman’s good with his utility belt. But at the end of the day Batman doesn’t really have any weapons like Batman’s for the most part, like punching people in the face and ties them up with whatever that thing’s called, that he ties him up with and the batterang kind of just like gets their attention but like, I mean, for the most part, Batman is hand to hand combat. Iron Man is a rich guy in a suit. I have great love for both Batman and Iron Man, but I’m just saying this is a shoot fight. We were looking at the odds there, I feel like Batman would be a minus 5,000 or something like that. You know what I mean?”

Cathy Kelley (@cathykelley) is a journalist, TV host and backstage interviewer for WWE. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about her decision to leave WWE in 2020 and what made her return in October 2022, how she got started in broadcasting, moving to Los Angeles, what she learned working in NXT, her favorite interview moments, the relationship she has with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, working with Rhea Ripley, her thoughts on Grayson Waller, what kind of DMs she receives and much more!

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Quote I’m thinking about:
If you do what you’ve already done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.- Tony Robbins

On wrestling training:

“I did try once back in the day. Dave Marquez had a little wrestling ring in Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. I took a couple of bumps until I had the wind knocked out of me. Also running the ropes, people don’t realize that until you have done it, it’s intense, you end up having calluses on your back. I was bruised for a week.”

On watching back her WWE debut:

“I actually talked about this the other day, it was sink or swim and I sunk. I was thrown in at the deep end, it was WrestleMania weekend. So, coming from where I had not done real-life television before, I don’t think my high school television show counts. I had come from a podcast world and those two are so different from doing live to tape to doing live, live. Nothing can really prepare you for that I don’t think.”

How did Cathy Kelley sink:

“I remember reading Twitter comments and they were not too nice. As you know as well, there is so much history and so much respect when it comes to wrestling, there were some things that I was not prepared for. Also if I flubbed a line or made a mistake I didn’t know how to recover.”

On the WWE machine:

“There is no industry, entertainment or otherwise that accomplishes what WWE does week in and week out, multiple times a week. It is an absolute monstrosity every week in the best possible way. You look at SNL who does a live show every week but they have seasons and they have multiple rehearsals. Then you look at a sporting event and the people that are an athlete are also not expected to cut a promo 10 seconds after they get off the field.”    

On getting on WWE’s radar:

“It was actually through Ryan Katz. He was working very closely with WWE and Dusty at the time. They were putting on this try-out where I think JoJo got called up, Eva Marie, Lana and a couple of other people. I remember Ryan saying, Hey, I think you should do this, and I was scared sh*tless! I said, Nope, I’m good. I wanted to work at WWE but I didn’t see myself as a Superstar, and that was what the try-out was for. So a few months later I end up seeing some of the girls from that try-out in backstage roles and I was really bummed that I did not capitalise on that opportunity.”

What was the next step?

I think it was a few months later. I was working with Sam Roberts at the time and he was very close to Michael Cole. I kind of stayed in touch with Michael Cole and there was an opportunity to do Live Event hosting, which I tried out for. They brought a bunch of people to Orlando and we got to sit in on an NXT show. I think a couple of people tagged me back in the day just sitting in the audience. I was told I was going to be starting soon, they had a hiring freeze a couple of months later and started hiring internally. Two years later another opportunity turned up and that was in Stamford.”

On the first day in WWE:

“The first thing they had me doing was WrestleMania weekend in Dallas. I was kind of hidden because they wanted it to be a surprise. But I was in Stamford just sitting in on a couple of the shows.” 

On the nature of backstage interviews:

“90% of them are live, it’s rare that you will get another take on something. Because I loved it so much I watched a lot of old WWE stuff. Mean Gene is obviously the GOAT but I love old Michael Cole backstage interviewing. It’s money. I told him that I miss the frosted tips.”

On Michael Cole being underrated:

“I think that in his career you can see all of those moments that add up to where he is today. If you are not in it week to week then you don’t know how much work has to be done. I mean, his job is crazy. I don’t know how his voice withstands everything, he’s a monster.”

On who gets Cathy Kelley excited to work with:

“I feel like there is an obvious answer to this, but I do really enjoy working with Rhea [Ripley]. I know the WWE Universe enjoys it in some capacity as well but I think it’s fun because it’s a different interaction from me and while you said that I will know what a lot of people will be saying, I don’t a lot of the time. Sometimes I do but Superstars have a lot more leeway coming up with what they are going to say more so than they did a few years ago.”

On Rhea Ripley:

“We actually talked about this the other day. I did her first live interview after an NXT TakeOver. Hunter and I used to have those Breakdown sessions and she came to one of them to make an announcement, and that was her first ever live interview on a WWE platform.” 

On leaving WWE:

“I was really tough and I struggled with it for about a year. It was partially promises that were made when I started and the trajectory of where I wanted to see my career go, and it didn’t feel like that opportunity was going to come to fruition, which was going to be on one of the main shows, Raw or SmackDown as a backstage interviewer. While I was at NXT they said that I wasn’t ever going to be on a main show, that was my catalyst. I’ve talked about this recently, but the first week where I don’t feel like I not necessarily brought my A Game, I wasn’t prepared for that opportunity, that loomed over me for the next couple of years. I did a lot of digital stuff but they didn’t feel like that was enough to prepare me for live television. And then even though I was doing a paragraph of live NXT each week, I was in an overlook every week and run down the matches or talking with William Regal about the show. Then a couple of weeks later I remember putting in my resignation letter that I had a conversation with Cole that it was probably never going to happen.”

What changed:

“I was with my mom in Alaska at the time and I just texted him Happy Birthday and I expected a thanks kid or whatever. And then he starts to send me all these things of like oh I remember when I was there fishing in Alaska. And then he sends me this long thing which turned into, Hey, would you have a conversation with Steph? Which obviously I would any day of the week.”

Who can make Cathy Kelley break:

“I don’t want to give him this credit, but Dom Mysterio, there have been a couple of times. Honestly, I love working with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn too, they just have this dry humour that is unmatched.”     

Does it feel different for Cathy Kelley this time around?

“Yeah, I feel more confident, I feel like I am doing what I was supposed to be doing all along. It just feels a lot better.”

What is Cathy Kelley grateful for:

“My dog, my mom and all of the people that use their platform for good.”

Nick Aldis (@realnickaldis) is a professional wrestler known for his time in IMPACT Wrestling and NWA. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at his house in Nashville, TN to talk about his recent trial as a producer for WWE, he clarifies that his in-ring career is not done, what’s next for him after his recent stint in IMPACT Wrestling, why he decided to leave NWA, being the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion for 1043 days, his iconic match with Cody Rhodes in 2018 at All In, what his favorite memory from TNA is, what it was like working with Sting, the best advice he received from Bret Hart, turning down an offer from AEW and betting on himself, his wife Mickie James and much more!

Sponsors:

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

Quote I’m thinking about

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings. – Charlie Wardle

Clarifying his status with WWE:

“They just invited me to come and, you know, see how everything works and, you know, shadow as a producer and see and just sort of be part of the meetings and oversee the whole, you know, the whole television operation, which is, I mean, it’s, again, it’s, I’ve done a lot, I’ve worn a lot of hats. I think people who have followed my career, particularly in the last few years know that, in addition to wrestling, I was wearing a lot of hats behind the scenes, you know, at my last place. So, I certainly don’t feel like it’s a completely new sort of situation for me. Having said that, there’s pro wrestling, and then there’s WWE. So you know, just taking in just the sheer sort of volume of the operation, and just, you know, the number of people involved in that this, the scale of everything is like, just that alone is has been the basis of like, my time so far. But it’s like, it’s all very much, it’s all very much a sort of handshake situation at the moment very much a, hey, why don’t you come in and see how all this works? See, if you like it. I will say this. They’ve been very, very good to me, and very, very accommodating. As far as they’ve said, Look, this is as much about whether you like it, you know. Now, where that goes, I don’t know, and I’m okay with that. Like, it’s tough with, with the internet, you know, and social media, because people want to put this sort of definitiveness on everything. And this finality like, Oh, that’s it. He’s with WWE. That’s it game over, you know. And so now, you know, people say are you not wrestling anymore? Have you retired? Are you not wrestling? I mean, even the boys are saying that, like, are you done wrestling? You know, and it’s like, slow down.”

On unfortunate timing:

“The timing of that I can, I can accept and concede that. And I knew that even when I did it, you know, it was kind of like mad at the timing of this isn’t great, because now people are going to put two and two together and go holy, you must be injured, you must have a back problem and can’t wrestle anymore, that’s not the case. [So you can still wrestle?] 100% I just took a couple more dates recently. You know, I have a few days in September, like, I know that Mickey and I doing a show in Canada at an Indian Reservation. And it’s another show in Ohio that we’re both doing and you know, so I mean, I’ve had stuff on the books, and I’ve already and I told Bret [Hart] that I would whenever he has a date for Calgary Yeah, that because I’m the Stu Hart you know, champion for his son’s promotion for Dungeon Wrestling. So it’s like, I was like, Look, I’ll always be there for that. You know, so it’s not like, you know, that’s the frustrating part, right? Is when you just got you literally go and try something and just go and you know, see, try it on, see if you like it. And next thing you know, it’s like, oh, that’s it, you know?”

On keeping options open:

“Yeah, well look and everything could change next week or the week after or anything like that. But I guess to sort of, to put a pin in this because obviously, there’s only so much we can discuss. And it’s not like I’m trying to be secretive or anything. It’s just not that interesting. It’s just like, yeah, they called me and said, Hey, how would you feel about coming in and, you know, seeing how things operate on the production level, and, you know, shadowing the producers. And I was like, That would be interesting, that would be fun to see how that works, even if nothing comes of it. Or even if, even if I and again, I have to make this point. They also were very open with me about it and said, Look, if you don’t want to do it, like if you’re not cool with this, like, absolutely no hard feelings, you know, like, if you don’t, right now, the same for me or not, I’m not ready to do this yet. That’s totally cool, too. May as well say it, obviously. I would love the other thing. But until that day comes or doesn’t, you know, it’s I’m gonna explore other opportunities. Because ultimately, that is absolutely something that I would want to do. In the end. I just, it’s, you know, the question it will be, I guess, whether or not I’m ready to do it now. You know, and we don’t know that yet.”

On back issues in the past:

“It was an injury. Like, you know, I mean, like, I’m not about to say that, you know, I’m sure I have any number of underlying long-term issues, like any wrestler who’s been doing it for, you know, 15 years would have but no, I had an actual back injury, I can’t remember the thing that I injured, but it was the way that they described it was like a sheet, like, there’s a thin sheet of muscle, like, your lower back, that can sometimes just get sort of strained and inflamed. So while it felt like a disc issue, and I’m, you know, I’ve had MRIs and stuff like that, to rule all that out, because of course, the first thing you start thinking of is oh, God, like, you know, it’s a disk. And by the time I went, Oh, like, I’m, I’m not alone on that, like most wrestlers, I would say, in this sense that by the time we go to the doctor, it’s like, well it’s serious. If we’re going to a doctor, it’s because it’s, it hasn’t gone away with ice and, you know, some Advil or whatever, right?” 

On missing shows due to the injury:

“I take a lot of pride in the fact that in most of my career, I think, with the exception of when I tore my bicep in, in Mexico, there’s not been many times where I’ve missed shows, like from being hurt. This was the first time where I sort of had to call up a couple of, you know, promoters, one in Chicago, one in Puerto Rico and say, I’m sorry, I just can’t make it because I was just, it was, just every time I would like, I’d worked the two weeks before, but one week, I was in England,  and then North Carolina. And, you know, the next day, I was just like, every day, I would every time after I’ve after the match the next day, I was just like struggling to get out of bed struggling to get dressed. And I was like, whatever this is, it’s not you know, this is this is a smart. Turns out that it was actually just, like, a huge amount of inflammation that we’re just getting aggravated, you know, from this injury. So, you know, just took some time off feels good.”

On All In 2018:

“Most of the time you know what people want, like at All In. We all knew what they wanted, we never had a discussion about the finish. [There was never] Hey, what if I win, brother? We never had that discussion. There was never a definitive discussion of, would you mind doing the honors? I was like, Don’t talk to me, I know what the people want here. We had to give it to them in a way that they couldn’t predict and weren’t fully able to expect and predict. That’s your job, give the people what they want in the way that they aren’t expecting.”   

On being the best-kept secret:

“I guess. The point I was making when I said that was just like, it’s subjective. Right, like, but wrestling fans, particularly the very opinionated ones, God love them, you know, they tend to conflate their opinion with fact. So it’s sort of like, everybody knows that insert name here is the best wrestler in the world. And it’s like, do they all know that? Because I think that’s what you think, right? Like, the same way that you know, a lot of the time, they’ll qualify it with that, like, Oh, everybody knows this is a thing or.”

On moving on from the NWA:

“Yeah. I mean, look, you know, I’ve moved on, right? I have, there are people who work there who I care about a lot, and I’m really, I’m really happy that my contributions to that company, sort of facilitated those guys earning a living. But, you know, again, there’s nothing I really need to say, you know. The evidence is, is there’s there for anyone who wants to, to look, you know. I’m sort of done talking about Billy [Corgan] and that, that whole thing, it’s like, you know, he sort of to me, I would just say that. He’s kind of shown everybody who he is. And that’s, you know, that’s unfortunate, but I’m not I’m certainly not going to spend any more time, you know, saying anything sort of denigrating about him or the company or anything like that. People can make up their own minds and it looks like a lot of them have, you know, and that’s pretty much it.”

On his proudest moment in TNA:

“Breaking the glass ceiling and winning the world title. No Brit had ever done that before. The irony is that guys like Russo and Dutch would laugh at that now because I always used to say that I didn’t want to be known as a British guy. It doesn’t matter if I am British, who gives a sh*t? I don’t want to be the token British guy, I want to be the top guy. It doesn’t matter where I am from. Then I won the world title and there was this outpour of love from British people of like he’s the first British guy to win the world title. Suddenly you are like all patriotic again, but I think both things can be true. That was part of it I wasn’t really thinking about.”

On LA Knight:

“Look, it doesn’t come as any surprise to me, and I don’t think it has come as a surprise for anyone who has followed his stuff in the last few years. I see it as a great inspiration and there is hope yet. He’s literally on the ascent and it is the run of a lifetime.” 

What is Nick Aldis grateful for:

“A happy, healthy son, a great marriage and opportunities”

Featured image: Post Wrestling

Lance Storm (@lancestorm) is a professional wrestler known for his time in ECW, WCW and WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to talk about his current job as a producer for Impact Wrestling, the fact that he and CVV went to the same college Wilfrid Laurier University, moving to Calgary for pro wrestling training, having his first match against Chris Jericho, being tag team partners with Justin Credible in ECW, signing with WCW, forming Team Canada, meeting Bret Hart for the first time, joining WWE, The Alliance angle, how he came up with his catchphrase “If I can be serious for a minute”, The Un-Americans, his thoughts on 5-star match ratings and much more!

Sponsors:

To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv to support the show and use the code CVV

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

MANSCAPED – Get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code CVV at manscaped.com 

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

Quote I’m thinking about:

Happiness comes from WHAT we do. Fulfillment comes from WHY we do it.

– Simon Sinek

On making it but having a plan B:

“Although with that, and this is where I think I differ from a lot of people. I gave myself a five-year window. Like I told myself if I’m not making progress, where it seems like this is a viable career, I’m gonna go back to university. I’m not going to be just some guy chasing some silly dream. I think I might enjoy this job. I think I can make a living at it let’s see if I have an aptitude for it. And it was funny. A friend of mine’s dad, Steve Benning, if he ever happens to listen to this, everyone I knew was supportive. Everybody was like, Yeah, go for it, go for it, go for it. And he was the only one, he pulled me aside and just said, Whatever you do, just don’t become a bum. And it meant a lot to me. It’s like, hey, chase your dream, but don’t chase it down a garbage dump. You can’t always achieve this. Maybe this isn’t as inspirational as it should be. But you can’t always succeed at your dreams, you have to be realistic. So I set the goal that if I wasn’t making progress, if it didn’t seem like, I had a real chance of success at this. I was gonna go back to school. And I was making my living in three [years].”

On meeting Chris Jericho for the first time:

“We all stayed at a hotel. Well, there was two people from Calgary who lived in Calgary, but we all stayed in a hotel in Okotoks, Alberta, which is you know, it’s basically a bedroom community now. And it was this crappy hotel and I got picked up at the airport and taken to this hotel and every person I see when I get there is a skinny little kid, big fat guy. Like no one looked like an athlete at all. And I had no again you didn’t have internet, you didn’t know that. That’s what all wrestling schools look like. I was you know, and I trained and was in good shape. It’s like I’m expecting to show up at like an NFL camp right where I’m like, praying to God I’m in good enough shape to hang. And then I see this and because my stepdad had looked into the power plant and looked into the Hart Brothers, I chose Hart Brothers because Stampede had a rep for smaller guys and staying in Canada made it easier But I went to the end of the hallway there was a fire escape and I’m standing on the fire escape and in my mind, I’m thinking I’ve made a huge mistake. This place is a joke. So I’m in my mind going, can I change my flight? Can I, you know, I’ll call my stepdad. I’ll see if he can get me into the Power Plant. I need to get the hell out of here. And then this green beat-up-looking 76 Volare pulls into the parking lot, and out jumps Chris Jericho. And I see a kid that clearly goes to the gym and clearly looks like an athlete. And I’m like, running down the fire escape to meet this person. Because maybe if there’s someone else here that has a hope in hell, then maybe I didn’t make a mistake. So I ran down and introduced myself to Chris and helped him carry his trunk of clothes and stuff out of the trunk of his car, and helped him move in. And it’s like, if not for seeing him, I probably would have been on a plane back home the next day.”

On Chris Jericho still wrestling today:

“Yes, that’s sort of the running joke between us because we’ve over the years have made a pact, because our very first match was against each other. We did like a 10 or a 15-minute draw, I don’t remember which in Ponoka, Alberta out here. And I’ve always contended that it would be cool specially because we know each other still to do our last match with each other too and have us both bookend our careers. And on one of the Talk is Jericho podcast as well as recently just personally, we’ve sort of, you know, what’s the word, reaffirmed the pact to do it. But I keep joking with them. It’s like, Dude, you have to retire at some point, or I’m not going to be able to do it. You know, you’ve got to retire inside the next five or 10 years, dude, or I’m not going to be, I don’t want to do it at 75.”

On wrestling fans knowing where Calgary is:

“I laugh because that does seem to be so many people now say it that way as the way you’re supposed to say it. And I will forever hear from people where it’s, you know, they’re flying in from somewhere. It’s like, we’re about to land in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And really, they say it just like Lance does. And it just became my gimmick, if you will. And it was just naturally the way I said it. But the dramatic pause became a thing. And yeah, just sort of stood there. And that too, was. Paul [Heyman] wanted me basically doing the Bret Hart deal that Bret was doing in WWF. Before that, Canada versus the US. And I didn’t want to do the exact same thing as Canada versus the US. So I decided to just pick the city. I’m from here. It’s the wrestling capital of the world. I’m just  Calgary. This isn’t a nationality thing. I’m not out here waving a flag. I just think My hometown is better than every other place. It’s the you know, the grassroots of pro wrestling and because of that, I’m better than everyone. And just to make it my own and not have Paul realise I’m not doing what I’m told. I went just with Calgary.”

On Canadian wrestlers always being heels:

“Well, I think and only in the US and that’s something that you know, WWE, never understood. But it’s all about America’s always America’s the greatest place in the world. And, you know, if you’ve actually been anywhere else, it’s not necessarily the truth. And I think any foreign person who touts their country as being good, gets heat in the US. And I say how WWE doesn’t realise it. But that, like, they assumed the Unamericans would be heels everywhere. Yeah. And I’m like, No, we’re gonna be baby faces everywhere but the US you don’t get this. And they didn’t understand that. My pro-Calgary thing would be a babyface in other parts of Canada. They’re like, Well, you’re not from New Brunswick. Why would they like you here? It’s like, because Canada’s the world’s biggest small town. It’s like if you’re a Canadian that made it on the international scene. You’re our hometown boy. Doesn’t matter if you’re from Victoria, you know, Moosejaw, New Brunswick, or Ottawa. If you’re a Canadian that made it internationally. You’re our hometown boy, you just are We’ll buy you a Tim’s that’s the way it goes.”

On Canadian wrestlers not being announced as from Canada after 9/11

“Well, that was primarily again, I will say my fault. Well, it started when the Unamericans became a thing, which would have been 2002. Actually, you know, a little bit before that, because we were already the Unamericans at the anniversary of 9/11. So it was just not long after 911 that we were doing the Unamericans. And the office figured that the wrestling fans were too dumb to tell the difference between Test, Christian and Lance Storm who are Canadians, and hate the US. And Chris Jericho and Edge who are Canadians don’t hate America. So they actually Edge was the only one I don’t think they changed. But Jericho was using his birthplace of Manhasset, New York, and Benoit was from Atlanta, and they were there just Vince didn’t think people could tell the difference and thought that while all Canadians would be heels now because test Christian and Lance Storm are evil people from Canada.”

On the origin of If I Could Be Serious For A Minute:

“I think like many that it was just one line in one promo. That when I said it, everyone just sort of thought it fit. Like I don’t remember who wrote it. But because in WCW, I would always be given the page of the booking sheet with what I was doing. And they would have a promo written out with what you’re supposed to say. I would always rewrite it in my own words. Because I think the very first promo I did in WCW, I did it verbatim. And it wasn’t in my words. And I botched a couple of the words because it just the sentences were the wrong length. That wasn’t how I spoke. So I always rewrote my promos. I keep much of it the same but I would rewrite them my own way. But I do remember the but if I can be serious for a moment that was written in there because it was when I won the US title. I’m a heel but I start putting over all the other great US champions and then I do the bit if I can be serious for a minute I deserve much better. And then I denounced the US title and you know name it the Canadian title. And when I came back one of the writers or the agent I don’t recall who it was. Someone just went you have to say that in every promo now. It’s like it just it’s you. I’m like, okay, and then I said it in virtually every promo for the rest of my career. And it wasn’t you did it. You did the point with two fingers. I didn’t know I did that until they did the Bill Demott and the misfits in action did the spoof promo where they dressed up like us which is a very Rousseau trait, it was done really well with either DX or the nation or whoever it was the first time and then everybody did it, whether it was any good or not. But they did that and Bill Demott did the promo and he when he pointed at the camera with two fingers, I’m like, why is he pointing with two fingers? And when he came back, I even asked him, I’m like, that looks ridiculous. Why did you do that? He’s like, that’s what you do. I’m like, really?”

On match star ratings:

“I think for the most part, they’re asininely stupid. Well, it’s just someone’s opinion like, you know, a Siskel and Ebert giving it two thumbs up. It’s like, Oh, great. And I think when it started, it was very valuable. Because it started during the tape trading era. And if you’re old enough to be part of the tape trading era, it’s like you would get lists of tapes that someone had in the mail, where you actually went to the post office picked up your letter and opened it up. And there would be a printed photocopy sheet of all the tapes the dude had. And if you’re ordering three tapes of All Japan Pro Wrestling, which tapes Do you buy? Well, if you have access to the Observer, you can go look up the shows. And you can find out oh, sh*t, this show had, you know, really highly rated matches, it’s probably good. So it’s like a movie critic, what movie you want to see? Well, what are the critics saying is a good movie? I’ll go watch that. So it would help you. But I just find it insanely ridiculous that someone would watch the movie, and then want to know what someone else thought about it. And determine their enjoyment based on the like, you’ve seen the movie? Did you like it? If you did, it’s great. If you didn’t, it wasn’t. And going back and comparing, like, I’ll go watch this match. Man. I think that was three and a quarter. I’m gonna go see if I’m right. What do you mean if you’re right? It’s like, that’s just his opinion. Who’s to say either one of you are right?” 

On being offended by the more wacky wrestling:

“Yes, there’s an additional part to that, but we will leave that out. I think too, like, I’m appalled as much as anyone. When I see people wrestling, eight-year-old girls blow up dolls in particular. But if I was, in year, two of my wrestling career, year five of my wrestling career, and the only booking I got was this company in Japan. And I’m in Japan working and other people on the show are doing these matches, and then I’m told your turn. Even as much as I would hate it. I don’t know if I quit my job over it. Yeah. And I think that’s something that like, I’ve never talked to Kenny about it. I know him but not well, obviously, we both have Don as a mutual friend. So there’s an association there. But it’s like, I don’t even know whether he was particularly happy with doing it. But that’s what DDT was and to a certain extent still is. And it’s not something I would like to do. But I don’t know if I would have been mad enough to not.”

Will the wrestling academy reopen?

“I don’t see it happening. It was such a giant task of getting it started. Getting insurance is a gigantic hurdle, even just getting a ring getting it, it was a lot of work. And I don’t know if I have the desire to do that much work again. And I stopped doing it primarily because I’m a hands-on teacher. I took literally every time we taught moves, I was pretty much taking them from all the students first from a safety standpoint too because I’m really good at protecting myself. So all right, we’re doing DDTs today, I’m going to make sure you’re doing it right DDT me first, okay, we’re doing suplexes, suplex me first, if you don’t hurt me, and I feel like you’re competent, you can give it to the rest of the students. And I had matches with every single student but one. He was someone who kept showing up late and his last day, which was his turn to have a match. He showed up late and didn’t get his match. But I had a match with every student and it just started taking its physical toll. It was probably more abuse than having a wrestling career was and I was just no I’m done. I really enjoyed the producer teaching aspect of it. So I suspect I will stay with Impact for an extended period of time because I love the atmosphere and the talent there and very much enjoy the schedule.”

What is Lance Storm grateful for?

“My family, Chris Jericho and Fit Finlay.”

Featured image: Bleacher Report

Kurt Angle (@realkurtangle) is a WWE & TNA Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his house in Pittsburgh, PA to talk about his podcast called “The Kurt Angle Show”, why he doesn’t consider himself the greatest of all time, his reaction to never having a 5 Star match according to Dave Meltzer, his list of matches that should have been rated 5 stars, his favorite matches in TNA, working with AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Sting, his thoughts on Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, his “man who pays with boys” promo in WWE, the moonsault off the cage onto Ken Anderson in TNA, wanting to retire against John Cena at WrestleMania 35 and much more!

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Quote I’m thinking about:

“Most already know what to do and simply don’t do it. It’s not ignorance. It’s fear.”

– Alex Hormozi

Is there a chance Kurt could still go in the ring:

“I wish. you know what, my quality of life right now Chris isn’t so good. I had my knees replaced about a year ago, I have back surgery about four months ago, I have to have my shoulder replaced, I still have another neck, same surgery coming up. That will be my fourth neck surgery. I really paid the price wrestling as long as I did. I wrestled amateur wrestling for 20 years and then Pro for 20. And looking back, sometimes I regret maybe I should have retired five years earlier. Because you know, it comes to a point in time in your life where you’re older, and you want to play with your kids. And here I am having these surgeries, I can’t really do anything with them. I can’t pick them up. I can’t play with them. I can’t run with them. So it gets a little disgruntled thing that I’m not able to be the father that I want to be. And what I’m doing now is I’m having knee surgeries to have a better quality of life so I can play with them. And I just want to make it fast. Because these kids are growing up quickly. And I don’t want to miss it.”

Are you in pain every day?

“Every day, every day, my back, my shoulder. My knees are good. My knees feel great. They recovered really well. I’m 100% with my knees. But my neck and my back and my shoulder. I  have a lot of pain running all day long all night. So it’s something I just have to deal with until I have these surgeries and until I recuperate.”

On thinking about a WWE return while in TNA:

“Yeah, I thought about it all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I really love TNA. The thing is, when I started thinking about going back to WWE, was when the money started running out, and people are getting let go, or people were getting laid off. And, you know, I signed my last contract with them. I think it was for five more years. And I figured you know what, after this contract is up, they probably won’t have the money to pay me because they were paying me seven figures, and it was a part-time deal. So I knew that they probably wouldn’t give me that money that I was making. So I figured you know what it’s time to think about going back to WWE. And I also want to go back because I wanted to go back for the fans and to thank them, the WWE Universe, because I had six and a half Incredible Years in WWE. And I wanted to go back and thank the fans personally and perform for them before I retired.”

On ignoring orders to cut the Ken Anderson cage match time down:

“Yeah, I was pissed off. They cut our match a lot of time, I was like screw that we’re taking we’re taking our 23 minutes. So you know what, you don’t do that in pro wrestling, I shouldn’t have done that. That’s the wrong thing to do, unfortunately, but I knew this match was really special. I knew Ken and I were gonna have a great match. And let me explain why. Okay, Vince Russo put this match together, he set the rules for the match. It made no sense because they wanted the match in a cage. Okay, but you can’t claim out to win. All right, you can’t get pinned to win. The only way you could win is going outside the door. So they painted us in a corner. They because what are we going to do? Why would to climb a cage to have studs off the cage? If you can’t leave the cage over the top? And win. So why would you climb in the first place? So we had to think of ways we had to get creative and think of ways of why we would go up there. And it was, it was a really tough match to put together. Because we were limited to just leaving the door. And you know, if you just have two guys trying to leave the door, and that’s what the whole match is all about it’s gonna be boring as hell. So we had to get creative. We had to think of reasons why we had to climb a cage and why we had to use the cage. And when not having pins, really, we couldn’t have any false finishes. So that kind of sucks. So they painted us in the corner, and I was pissed off. So I was like, I’m taking all the time I want and we ended up taking the whole 23 minutes. We might have taken more than that, actually.”

On Gable Steveson:

“First of all, he’s an incredible athlete. You know, he not only incredible on the mat wrestling, I mean, this kid, you know, he can do backflips. He’s he’s really athletic, super athletic. And I think he’s gonna have a great future. I just don’t know how entertaining he’s gonna be. I know that he loves to talk, a lot of his friends that I talked to say he’s kind of a loudmouth, which is kind of good. Because you want to be able to, you don’t want to be shy when you’re in this. You know, I was a shy kid, and when I went to WWE, I had to learn how to suck it up and just go out there and put everything on the line. And it was really a hard transition for me. But I think Gable Stevenson will have the same thing. He’ll probably, you know, have to, you know, break that mould of being an amateur wrestler, because as an amateur wrestler, you show no emotion. You go out there and you focus and you wrestle and you go from the pen. It’s not like pro wrestling, we have to show people emotion. You have to show if you’re scared, or if you’re mad if you’re, you know, excited. So there’s, there’s a lot of you have to have incredible charisma. And I think that Gable has that. I just don’t know how well he’s going to translate that when he starts talking. I do remember doing a pre-tape with him in Pittsburgh. And he did all right. You know, he didn’t do incredibly well. But he did well, that it was like, Okay, this kid. He has potential. I think he’s going to be pretty good. And so I expect him to have a great career. I don’t know if he’s going to have the career I had, but I think he could he could definitely.”

On nearly quitting wrestling on day one:

“Well, you know what the first bump I took, I actually quit. I was like, this is self-abuse. I’m not doing this. I told my manager. I got up and walked out of the ring. I said I can’t do this. And he said, Just stay for the day, get through the day and see how you feel afterwards. And I did and you know I ran through it but I’m not gonna lie to you. It was crazy, it was crazy that these guys bumped themselves in the ring. And being an amateur wrestler, you’re taught to take the person down, you know, you take them down and you control them and you stay on top of them. You’re not used to falling on your back. So what I did is I forgot everything I ever learned, I cut off my instincts. Because if I would have went in there with my instincts, actually on, I wouldn’t have been able to bump backwards, I would have been, you know, using my amateur wrestling techniques, but I forgot everything I learned. And I put myself in my opponent’s hands and said, Do what you want with me. And that’s how I learned and I learned very quickly because of that.”

On not being the greatest of all time:

“No, I think if you want to be the greatest of all time in one company, you’re gonna have to be there for 20 years at the very least. I think that’s a fair assessment when you’re talking about wrestlers, especially looking at Shawn Michaels and Undertaker, you know, they spent over 30 years there, you know, I’ve only been there nine years total. And that was six and a half before I left and then two and a half after. So I didn’t put in the amount of time that what you consider to be the greatest of all time.” 

On who is the greatest of all time:

“I mean, there are a lot of people I can throw up there, you know, a Mount Rushmore of wrestlers. But you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin. You know, Eddie Guerrero. There’s so many talented wrestlers, it’s really hard to pick the greatest of all time. It truly is. Because fans, they have their preferences, and they’re gonna pick Do they like, and I don’t think you’re ever gonna get like, you know, out of 100 votes, you’re not gonna get 100 votes for one person being the greatest of all time, it’s not going to work.”

On Kurt Angle’s comedic timing:

“I don’t know how I did it. I was never a funny person. Actually, I was never a talker. When I started in WWE, nobody trained me to learn how to cut a promo. Now they have NXT and they have the amenities to do that. But back then, you know it was sink or swim. You know, Vince actually told me that the first time on the air, he said, I want you to cut this promo. This is what I want you to say sink or swim. And, you know, he said something for five minutes straight. He’s telling me what he wants me to say. And I’m not listening because I’m like, holy crap this is a really long promo. And when he got done, I said, Vince, I’m sorry, but I didn’t hear a word and said, Can you repeat it? You should I’ll repeat it one more time. And you got to go out there. And if you don’t succeed, you’re gonna sink. You’re done. If you do it fairly well. Or well, then you will swim. You won’t drown is what he said.”

On figuring it all out:

“I would probably say, probably my match with Chris Benoit. I can’t remember when it was or where it was. It was before my first Wrestlemania. And Chris and I had this match and it was phenomenal. And I felt like I had gotten into my own groove. It was a pay-per-view before Wrestlemania. And it was against Chris Benoit. And that’s when I thought, Okay, I think I’m starting to get this, I’m starting to learn because I was clueless, you have to understand, I only trained for seven months before I went on TV. That’s literally nothing. And four of those months, were only four days a month a month, training up at the WWE headquarters. And the rest of the month, I stayed at home doing nothing. So I didn’t have much training. So they just told me learn on the job. And I was learning on the job. And what’s what I was very fortunate of this Vince really pushed me hard at the beginning. Like, you know, he pushed you to the top, you know, within a few months. And it was like, Whoa, you know, I need to get a hold of this. I need to learn what I’m doing. And before I get to that level, but that’s why he was rushing me he was pushing me hard. So I was forced to learn on the job. I really was.”

On not having a Dave Meltzer 5-star match:

“I don’t know if Dave likes me or not or what’s going on. But you know what, it’s his opinion, I will respect that. I do understand. He’s very knowledgeable with wrestling. Maybe he just doesn’t like my style. I don’t know. But it’s unfortunate that I’ll have a five-star match from him considering that people take his, you know, his word as valuable. You know, they, they look at him and say, Okay, this is the guy that rates the matches, and he’s pretty accurate with it. So you know, I just, I don’t know what to say I’m really surprised. I haven’t had one five-star match. But, you know, that’s his opinion. And I have to respect that.”

On going head to head with Raw:

“Big mistake. Big mistake. You know, I always told the boss Dixie Carter, I said, Listen, there’s no shame of being number two, you know, WWE is a machine and nobody’s gonna pass them up. Not TNA? Nobody, nobody ever. And I said just be happy with number two, but she wanted to be number one. And you know, we took chances and you know, some that backfired on us and we lost a lot of money doing it, but at least we tried.”

On the Moonsault from the cage:

“I am praying to God, I don’t get injured. I even did the cyclocross right before I went. Yeah, it’s scary, man. And you know what, I never practised it before. My first Moonsault ever was on Bob Holly. And I broke his arm. I fell short because I never did it before and I never practised so I didn’t know how far out I was gonna go. And I came up short my legs hit his arm, and broke his arm, right in half. And so never practising it. You know, those aren’t the moves you want to practice. Because they’re the bumps are so hard. They’re ridiculous and hard. So that somebody’s just saying what the heck just go, you know, and hopefully you land properly.”

What is Kurt Angle grateful for:

“My faith, my family and my health.”

Featured image: WWE

Here we go for another AskCVV episode! Chris is back at it answering your questions submitted on social media with the hashtag #AskCVV. If you have one that you want answered next month, don’t forget to send it in! We’ve got a range of topics from ALL IN to content creation to Edge’s final match on Smackdown.

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Quote I’m thinking about:

Not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do is the secret of happiness.” – J.M. Barrie

What are your thoughts on All In and which match are you most excited for? 

Look, All In was a success from before one match was even announced. When they announced that All In was happening and 70,000 Plus tickets were sold at Wembley without a single match being announced, massive success right there. Because if I told you five years ago, that there was going to be another wrestling company that wasn’t WWE that was going to have I mean, even 10,000 people, right? Because when the first All In happened in Chicago in 2018, 10,000, was, you know, a huge deal. So now there’s 70,000 plus before one match is even announced. As we sit here right now 80,000 People are going to be there for All In massive success. And this just is a testament to where we’re at with pro wrestling right now. Pro wrestling is hot right now. And I get that pro wrestling does this cyclical thing. And we do this often as fans ourselves where you’re really into it for a few years and then you’re like, Yeah, I can go you know, without seeing it for a few weeks, or I don’t need to watch every single episode. And then it cycles back around where it’s like, I gotta watch everything. And that’s where we’re at right now. And a rising tide lifts all ships. And that’s kind of been a thing since AEW came in 2019, rising tide lifts all ships. AEW, doing better AEW, having success is better for WWE and better for New Japan and better for Impact Wrestling, all the way down every single company independent wrestling compaies as well. As for the match that I’m most excited for? I think this main event is really interesting and seeing MJF as a babyface has been so, so entertaining. I feel like there’s no way that MJF doesn’t leave this match as champion like he for sure is the champion at the end of this. And I think there’s going to be an iconic moment, or an iconic shot where it’s MJF holding up the championship, zoom out 80,000 fans screaming, I think that that’s going to be an iconic moment that’s going to be played in AEW videos and like legacy videos for decades to come. The match I’m most excited for though, selfishly, is Will Ospreay, Chris Jericho. I’ve been such a Will Ospreay fan that is no secret. If you listen to my interview with him from a few months ago, you know this. But Chris Jericho is one of the greatest of all time, whether you like him or not, you cannot argue against the fact that he’s one of the greatest of all time. And it doesn’t matter what gimmick he’s had, whether it’s Lionheart or it’s Y2J, suit and tie guy, the list, The Ocho, Pain Maker and everything in between, they’ve all gotten over. And here he is now 30 plus years into the business still as relevant as ever. And one of the biggest names in the business now and one of the biggest names in the business of all time, really. And I love Will Ospreay and I also hate the fact that unless you watch a lot of New Japan, you might not be that familiar with his work. So I love that this is a chance for him to display what he’s capable of on the biggest possible stage. And I think it’s going to make a lot of people go, Oh my gosh, I knew Will Ospreay was good. I’ve heard the buzz about him. Now I need to go back and watch a whole bunch of his other 26 Five-Star matches that he’s had. So I can’t wait for that match. But the whole card top to bottom. I don’t think there’s a match that you’d want to miss. And I’m so excited to see how this all plays out. I think from the second this show starts it’s going to make us all go wow, look at this. This is unbelievable. So congrats to AEW, on pulling off the success they’ve had even before the show starts. And I will say a pre-congrats to them on making this event happen. And whether you’re an AEW fan or not, this is just great for pro wrestling.

I would love to hear about the whole WWE press conference experience. It was so cool seeing you kick off that press conference and ask Cody Rhodes a question. 

Yeah, that was really cool. That was such a cool thing. I was also at the press conference for Wrestlemania. I don’t know if you saw it maybe you saw the back of my head there. But it’s such a cool thing that WWE is doing giving us access and there’s like, I saw someone make a comment that was like, Oh, these questions are all scripted. No, the questions are not scripted. And there was no one from WWE going, Okay, so Chris, what question are you going to ask? Okay, great that yeah, we can give you a mic for that question. That’s not how this happens at all. This is like an actual press conference for any other sport. The journalists, reporters, whatever you want to call us, put our hands up and Byron Saxton literally selects you and then a microphone comes over and you ask your question. There’s no one pre-approving these questions. So I think the fact that this has been a thing I mean, AEW started this with the media scrums right after Double or Nothing in 2019, the very first AEW event, they were media scrums at that point in time where you were literally holding a microphone and putting them in the person’s face. And now they’re like these press conferences, and it’s a really cool opportunity to get some actual answers. It’s also really interesting, especially when you see someone like say, Paul Heyman, how he walks the line of like, what’s real and what’s not real, and weaving in the storyline into the answers. It’s really cool. So WWE has been doing these for their bigger shows every single time they come around. So that’s Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Survivor Series, SummerSlam. I am hoping to be there at Survivor Series, although Survivor Series is on Thanksgiving weekend, I know Thanksgiving is on a Thursday and Survivor Series is on a Saturday in Chicago, but I don’t know, might be hard to leave my baby’s first Thanksgiving to be like well, I’m gonna go to Survivor Series now. So I don’t know I’m kind of on the fence whether I’ll be there or not. But it’s a really cool thing. And it was also really cool to have WWE hand me the microphone and I got to kick off that press conference and ask the first question, so I think you’ll be seeing my face in the crowd with many more of these to come.

What kept you going when you first started creating content? 

I think the simple answer to that is just the love of the process. You have to love the process. Let’s talk about podcasting as an example here. There are so many elements that go into making a podcast, especially if it’s an interview show. You have to book the guests, then you have to research the guest, then you get to do the interview and actually record the interview, then you have to edit it and produce it and upload it and then also promote it. So there’s so many different hats that you’re wearing here. And if you don’t love the entire process, and you don’t love every single element of it, it makes it really tough. So for me, I’ve always loved creating content, we’re going way back here to when I was a backyard wrestler and I was 16 years old. I was the one editing the videos. I would take them at that time from like the video camera, we were recording on actual tape and digitising them, and then putting them into my computer and then editing them from there and uploading them to our website. I love the whole process of it. And I think that that’s a really important part of this is you can’t enjoy just the results of what you get and the views that you get and possibly the money that you make from that content without enjoying everything that goes into making that. That’s just my personal opinion. And I think that the best creators like look at how much Mr. Beast loves the process of creating a video and then putting it out there and Okay, now it’s on to the next one. And that’s always been it for me, that’s what’s kept me going from way before I even knew that there was a possibility to make any money with this. I’ve been making content since I mean, you guys know I’m 40 years old, right? You know, I got in the best shape of my life for my 40th birthday in May. But I think I started editing videos for the very first time in the year 2000. So here I am 23 years into this, and I just love it. That’s that is my short answer to it: appreciate the process, love the process. And don’t try to think about the outcome. Try to think about the process of like, getting to the next step here. So what I mean by that is like, let’s try to book the best guest Okay, great. check that off the list. Now let’s try to do the best research for this interview. Okay, great, awesome. Now let’s try to conduct the best interview and listen and follow the conversation. Okay, check that off. You know what I mean? Like I think that that’s the most important part about creating content. 

If Edge were to wrestle another match who’s the opponent and where is the setting?

I think he for sure wrestles another match. I think what we saw on SmackDown was his last match in Toronto. This is just my opinion. I don’t know the full situation here. But I think he looked at the schedule and went, Oh, man, we’re not gonna be back for another televised show in Toronto until maybe about this time next year. I don’t know if I’m still going to be wrestling by this time next year, so I think that was a send-off in Toronto and his hometown crowd. I think that’s what we saw there. I think there’s one more match. And I think that if you’ve had a career like Edge has had, and he’s really had two careers, really, you know, kind of pre-injury pre-first retirement. And now, the second version of this after the Royal Rumble returns everything after that. So I think that when you’ve had the careers that Edge has had, I think that it has to end at WrestleMania. So I think it’s a match at WrestleMania 40. The opponent? I don’t know. I could throw out some names, but I’m not gonna be right here. But I just think it’s a match at WrestleMania. And I think it’s a match where, as you know, the traditional wrestling is, you know when you’re about to retire, you put over the person that you’re wrestling, you’re the one looking up at the lights 1 2 3, and you ride off into the sunset, giving them a victory. So I think that that’s what happens. It’s WrestleMania 40. It’s a loss against somebody who I think could really benefit from a win over Edge. 

Edge possibly going to AEW? Thoughts? 

Yeah, I think there’s like a 0% chance that he goes to AEW. And I know that it’s fun when someone’s contract ends, or when someone gets let go of like, oh my gosh, are they gonna be All Elite now? I think when you look at Edge’s career, a guy started in WWE. And he at this point has wrestled nowhere else but in WWE. I think there’s a 0% chance that he’s gonna go 25 years in WWE and then go wrestle one or two or three matches elsewhere. Not happening, fun thing to think about, and those graphics that everybody makes are highly entertaining. But no, this is not happening. It just, it would not make sense for the legacy of Edge the person and the legacy of Adam Copeland the person. Like, I just don’t think that that’s what’s happening. 

What’s the best tip you could give for doing an in-person interview?

I am a big fan of in-person interviews and I’m trying to do as many in-person interviews as I can now. That’s not to say I won’t do interviews over Zoom. And I’ve got some big ones coming up in the next few weeks here. Oh, it’s true. It’s damn true. I’ve used that reference a few times but you clearly know where I’m going with that. I prefer in-person interviews so much just because you can really connect with a person, you can shake their hand, you can look them in the eye, and you can give them a hug. And there’s something about like, you know, even though Zoom is great, there’s still a tiny little slight delay, you’re talking but they’re talking and then you got to pause because they’re talking. So I prefer interviews in person, way more than doing them over Zoom. I know I’d rather spend the time and the money to fly somewhere and put myself up in a hotel and do all that stuff. I’d say the biggest tip for doing something in-person number one, you have to have great gear. Like if an interview looks and sounds like crap if your content looks and sounds like crap, people will just automatically assume that it is crap. Like perception is reality here so get a decent camera. If you don’t have a decent camera, like just make sure you’re in a well-lit area with your phone. I shot so many of my interviews on my iPhone, I still shoot like the wide-angle shot of my in-person interviews using an iPhone. That’s such an important part about it. It’s just like being in a well-lit area, having decent recording gear, you know, an okay camera, but like microphones I think are so important. I’m talking right now into a Shure SM7B. That’s kind of the gold standard of microphones. And podcasting is the microphone that Joe Rogan speaks into, you know, the black microphone, it’s like, cylindrical in shape. It doesn’t need to be a Shure SM7B but get a decent microphone. And I always say the most important part of any interview, whether it’s in-person, or it’s a virtual interview is the interview starts the second you walk into the room or the interview starts the second you walk into that, you log on to that Zoom Room and that conference room. Bring the energy like be excited to be there like be excited to be partaking in this and hopefully that person will match your energy. But I think that’s a really important thing. You can’t just walk in like, Oh, hey it’s good to meet you really appreciate you taking the time to do this with me. And then like three to one. Hey, I’m here with so and so and it’s so good to be having this conversation with you. I think you got to bring that energy from the very start. So that’s the biggest tip that I would give you. 

How do you get into the right frame of mind to record an interview? And how do you get back into the real-life mindset after recording?

I didn’t purposely put these questions back-to-back like this. But I feel like they make sense to get into the right frame of mind, I always try to be in the best mood possible, and I get that life happens, right? Other things may be going on in your world, and life may be happening around you and maybe it hasn’t been a great morning or a great day. None of that matters when the red light goes on and you hit record, because these interviews exist very much in their own little bubble, right? Someone’s gonna watch this a week from now, someone might watch this a year from now or four years from now. And the fact that your dog died that day, or the fact that you didn’t get a lot of sleep, or you know, any other terrible thing that may have happened, doesn’t matter, because within the existence of those 45 minutes, half an hour, an hour, however long that interview happens to be, it exists with this within its own little bubble. So I would say, leave all of the things that have happened that day, at the door, and you’re walking into this with a clean slate, a clean, excited slate. That person is giving you their time, I would say the very least you can do is be present with them. So that’s a really important thing to keep in mind to get into that right frame of mind. I also work really hard on like, how are we going to start the conversation? What’s the first question gonna be? Because if the first question is good, it can lead to like really setting the tone for the rest of it. The first question doesn’t go off too well, my gosh, you’re really struggling to get out of the gate here. So I would say that that’s another important thing is to really focus on what’s the first question going to be, what’s the icebreaker going to be. How are we going to build the rapport here, and then getting back into the real-life mindset after the recording? I think for me, this does kind of feel like real life. So I don’t really have a lot of advice for getting back into how life functions after that. I just think it’s like, you know, you closed up the laptop or if you’re doing an in-person interview, you get back in your car and you go home and I think it’s on to the next one, right? And it’s thinking about okay, what’s, how can we get the best content out of this in terms of making like TikToks or shorts or clips or something like that? And then it’s like on to the next one. That’s it for me. 

What wrestling move have you taken that just hurts like hell? 

I haven’t taken a tonne of wrestling moves. But I think the one that hurt the most and was certainly the scariest was when I took the Impaler DDT from Gangrel. And if you haven’t seen the video, if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go take a quick look right now on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. I got a little too excited. This is not Gangrel who is one of the nicest people and one of the safest workers. I jumped up a little too high. I spiked myself pow right on the top of my head folded over and I was a little nervous. I mean, I landed on the top of my head. I could have been really injured here. But I landed on top of my head. I got winded instantly and I was like, Oh my gosh, did I break my neck? And I was like oh, I can feel my fingers. Oh, I can feel my toes. Okay, we’re good we’re good. But I was just so scared and I think about it to this day. I think about it to this day, like how terribly bad that could have gone. So that’s probably it for me. It didn’t hurt a tonne but more like I was just really, really scared for what could have happened. And of course, you know, I think the immediate thing when people think about moves that hurt and CVV you think about the chops. Yeah, of course they hurt and you know, my chest was really tight and sore for a while after that. So yeah, they hurt. Would I take a chop from Gunther? Yes, of course. I don’t know if I’d take more than one. I don’t know if I’d take 20 chops from him. But yeah, I would do it again. Especially if there’s a camera there and we can make another video out about that one.

What’s your favourite cuisine? 

Pizza. Is pizza a cuisine? I guess pizza technically falls under the Italian cuisine umbrella. But yeah, pizza. I love pizza. And when I was doing that get into the best shape of your life. I was eating a lot of ground turkey breasts and a lot of beef and a lot of bison, a tonne of vegetables, a lot of rice. There was no room for pizza in that diet. So every once in a while I would have like a cheat day or cheat meal I should say, not a full cheat day. But like I’d have a refeed day, really carb up and then I’ll be able to get some pizza in so pizza for sure. Number one. I am such a sucker for Domino’s Pizza. 

What title belt do you see LA Knight defending or wrestling for at WrestleMania 40?

I feel like it should be the World Heavyweight Championship. And I feel like him popping up on Raw kind of sort of lent itself to that story. So I feel like between now and WrestleMania 40 he’s either been the World Heavyweight Champion, or he’s definitely in the picture for that. So that’s what I see. And I say that because I truly believe that Roman Reigns is going to be the champion, the Universal Champion, leading up to WrestleMania 40. I don’t know how it’s going to work right now with how things are lined up, but I think it’s Cody Rhodes walking out of WrestleMania 40 and finishing the story there as the champion. But I just don’t see you know, Cody’s on Raw and Roman’s on Smackdown I don’t know as we sit here in August how that’s gonna happen, but I guess we’ll see. But LA Knight is far too talented to not hold gold at some point in his WWE career. So let’s see what happens there.

Is there such a thing as trying to monetize too late in the game? 

No, absolutely not. And at the risk of sounding like Gary Vaynerchuk here, you still got time. And look at all these creators on I mean TikTok, a tonne of them on YouTube that became famous content creators in their like 50s or 60s or later. You’re never too late. If you’re breathing, you still got time. And I think that there is an avenue and a way now to monetize any niche that you happen to be in. And I think it’s just a matter of finding someone who’s already in that niche, figuring out how they were able to get to where they’re at reverse engineer that back to where you’re at and go, Okay, when they were at step two in the game where I’m at, they were doing this thing. And then the next step after that is doing this other thing over here. Okay, great. I got to do that. But no, it’s never ever too late. And I know that we’ll talk specifically about the pro wrestling space because I think a lot of us are pro wrestling fans here. There are content creators even now that are coming into the space and that are just absolutely crushing it like look at my friend, Mr. SantiZap, who is I guess a Twitch streamer and also a TikToker when I first became connected with him, not even a year ago, so like 10 ish 11 months ago. I think he had like 80,000 followers on TikTok. And now as we sit here right now, he has 575,000 followers, and he recently quit his day job, and now he’s a full-time creator. So this definitely still exists. And there are people who are every single day finding a way to monetize what they do. So no, there is no such thing as trying to monetize too late in the game at all. Crush it, go crush it. 

What advice would you give for breaking into the reporting and behind-the-scenes of pro wrestling?

I always come back to you got to bring value, you have to be able to bring value to the space that you’re entering into. It is very obvious what is in it for you, right? I think it’s really obvious if like I, you know, I’d have a chance to interview the people I’ve always looked up to, and I’d have a chance to write these articles for a big website or something like that. But what’s the value that you are bringing? And I think that if you really truly want to break into the space,  find someone who’s just willing to say yes, like reach out to if it’s reporting you to want to do and let’s say it’s a written reporting, you want to do reach out to literally every wrestling website, it’s not hard to find those emails and say, Hey, here’s who I am. Here’s what I’m passionate about, here’s what I’m capable of doing. Here’s the value that I bring. Would you be willing to give me a chance to write an article for your website for free, and maybe you could give me some feedback? And if you’d like the article, you’re welcome to post it on your website. That’s what I think people need to do. And I think there’s too many people that are trying to skip that first step of like, the getting experience part and just skipping right to the well, what can you pay me? Yeah, my time is valuable what can you pay me? Oh, whoa, pump the brakes there, homeboy. I think it’s the idea of like, what can you bring here? What have you, what are you able to do? Are you even good? Why should I be paying you if I don’t even know what you’re capable of doing? So I’d say, find a way to intern for somebody, find a way to volunteer for somebody, find a way to write articles for free, and get somebody who’s been there and done it to give you feedback on your work, and then move from there. That is the best way to do it. Always, always, always lead with value. 

What was the hardest thing to grasp that helped you gain traction in terms of content creation? 

I think the biggest one, it was really hard to wrap my head around this two-ish years ago, was just how much content I thought was important to be creating, because I was like, Oh, I posted like one thing a day. I’m posting a photo a day or a throwback photo a day or something like that. And I saw when reels were starting to become a thing on Facebook, I saw a fellow creator that was like, I want you to do the 30-day 30 reel challenge. Post a reel day for 30 days. And I was like a reel a day? Are you kidding me? I don’t even have the content to put out one reel a day. That’s crazy! At that point, I was probably putting out like one reel a week. And I realized that the more content that you put out there, it’s kind of like the analogy here would be like taking swings at a baseball game, like how many bats are you getting here? And the more content that you put out, the more plate appearances that you’re getting, the more chances to swing that bat, the more chances to hit a home run, and the more chances to get on base. So you know, by not posting a lot of reels two-ish years ago, I just wasn’t getting as many plate appearances. Now, if you follow me on TikTok, or Instagram or YouTube, you know, I post a lot of videos. My editor actually makes 75 videos a month for me. And then there are some older videos that I repost so I’m probably posting, I would call it 90 vertical videos a month. So on average three a day, maybe more. That was the hardest thing for me to grasp is the more spaghetti you throw at the wall, the better the chance for one of those pieces to stick. So you know, you throw 100 pieces of content at a wall. Maybe one of those is a million views. And if you only posted 90 pieces of content this month, or 80 pieces of content or 70 pieces of content, maybe you wouldn’t have found that one piece of content to stick. So that was the hardest thing for me to grasp. I really think it’s about quantity over quality. And that’s not to say that the videos that I’m posting I don’t believe their quality. Because I really think that my shorts editor named Troy Blair, is so talented at the type of videos that he creates and the stories that he tells within those, but I really just think it’s a matter of like if you have an hour-long interview, and you can break that up into 10 or 12 shorter pieces of content, post them all. And you’re going to be shocked Buy some of the ones that do end up taking off. And you’re gonna be shocked by some of the ones that you thought would do really well and you know, really just fell flat. So that’s what I would say

Is there any difference between CVV, the host, and Chris at home? 

I’d say if you ask my wife Rachel, she will tell you probably not. I like to have a lot of energy. I like to have a tonne of energy. And I don’t know if there’s anything that’s really that different from when the mic is in front of my face. Or when the camera is on and when it’s not. Maybe it man might even be a little bit sillier. We were just singing and dancing to some song about dinosaurs, with our little girl Logan. So I guess you don’t see the singing and dancing to silly songs on YouTube or on the podcast. But look, I think the best creators, and I’m certainly not putting myself in the category of I’m the best creator. But I think that the best creators are authentic. Because we live in a world now where people can so easily see through the fact if you’re not being real or not, if you’re not being authentic, people can smell it from a mile away. So I think that the more authentic you can be, the easier you can connect with people. So if the person that you are off camera isn’t similar to the person that you are on camera, I think you’re really going to have a tough time connecting with that audience.

What was it like meeting and interviewing Tom Cruise in Paris? What are your thoughts on the new Mission Impossible movie?

So I love telling the story. Because it’s one of my favourite interviews that I’ve ever done. So The Rock was at the top of my bucket list for interviews. And then I was fortunate to be able to interview The Rock for the first time in 2012. And, you know, not that I’m counting or anything, but I’ve interviewed The Rock now 10 times, and hopefully there’s some more around the corner. But after I interviewed The Rock, I was like, Oh, who’s the next person that I would love to get an interview with? And it’s Tom Cruise, you know, arguably the biggest movie star in the world. Arguably the last real movie star that’s opening movies based on name value alone, that doesn’t really exist anymore. So I was so fortunate to be invited to interview him for Mission Impossible Fallout, which is the sixth Mission Impossible movie. And the red carpet, the world premiere was in Paris, the Eiffel Tower is right behind us. And we’re getting there. We’re all getting ready to do these interviews. And the way that a red carpet works is that the media kind of all lines up behind like a red velvet rope type of thing and like a partition of some sort. And I was I don’t know, 30 40 people down the line. So when Tom Cruise came out, he signed some autographs he posed with some photos with some fans and then he started doing interviews. And that’s like, he does the first interview. Then the second interview and the third interview, he works his way down the line. And the closer he gets you kind of like oh my gosh, Tom Cruise’s four media outlets away. He’s 20 feet away from me, I can see him. And so if each interview is two or three minutes, oh my gosh, I’m like 12 15 minutes away from interviewing Tom Cruise. And then you know, he moves one interview closer and then one interview closer. And then all of a sudden he’s right next to me. And he’s doing an interview with one of my best friends Jake Hamilton. Oh, my gosh, I’m next. Here we are, we’re doing the interview. And then he was so kind, so generous with his time. And he, he looks you right in the eyes when you’re talking. And even though there are 1000s of screaming fans, snapping photos and yelling things. It is as if it’s just you and him having a private conversation, and he’s so incredibly present for that. And then afterwards, I’m like, Would it be okay, if we take a photo he is like of course, yes. Then we took this great photo, it actually hangs on my wall along with some other great moments that I’ve really been fortunate to be part of. And it’s me, him, the red carpet and the Eiffel Tower literally behind us like it looks so cool that it almost looks like it’s green screen. So one of my favourite moments and to answer the second part of your question, I liked the Mission Impossible movie. I liked Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One I liked it. didn’t love it. Like I think objectively It’s a great movie and what really holds it together are some absolutely insane stunts. Perhaps some of the best stunts in the history of cinema. But I just think the story of the movie is just a little flat. I don’t want to give too much away for people who haven’t seen the movie yet but the whole story centering around AI and like at one point like changing the lights at this party they’re at it was just a little far fetched and I just thought that Mission Impossible six had a great story that from start to finish had you like, invested in everything that was going to happen. And I think that most Mission Impossible fans would agree that number six is the best of the franchise and number two is not the best and the worst in the franchise. So I’m excited to see what they do for the next one. And I think that it’s really setting up here. Like how you can outdo that motorcycle off the cliff and then fight on the train. Those two stunts are so good. I don’t know how you can now do that for part two, but it’s Tom Cruise and he is going to find a way. 

Best way to grow a podcast? I’m already uploading weekly interviews and making TikToks and shorts. 

This might sound too simplistic, but this was some advice that I followed really early on. If you’re posting one interview a week, honestly, the best way to double your download numbers or at least come close to doubling your download numbers for the podcast is to double the amount of podcasts that you make. Like seriously, if you’re getting I’m making up numbers here, 1,000 downloads a week from posting one episode a week. Well, what would happen if you double that up? You probably get pretty close to 2,000 downloads a week. And I know that’s a lot, especially if you’re doing interviews a lot that goes into making an interview and you know, finding those guests and everything else that goes along with that. But I truly think that we’re in a game right now. And I don’t know how long this is going to be around for. But I think that we are in a moment of content creation right now. Where the more you create, the more followers you’ll get, the more views you’ll get. If you’re monetized, the more money you’ll be able to make from this, like, there are really no diminishing returns from posting more content. So I think that that’s if you have the bandwidth to do it yourself. If you’re editing your own videos, if you have the bandwidth to do it yourself, I would say try to post as much content as you can. If you have the ability to hire someone out and have someone make videos for you edit videos for you, I would say do that as well. But I really think that if right now you’re posting one a week, trying to make a two week if right now you’re posting one short a day, why not try to make it two shorts a day? Or if it’s seven a week, could you make a 10? I really think that that’s a big part of it. These on-camera videos are doing so well. I mean, I personally could be doing a lot more than myself, I probably should be leaning into that a lot more than I am. But I think that that’s a really big thing is just like make more content, if you have the capability to do that, you know, if you have the free time and the bandwidth to do that, that’s what I would say is the best way to grow a podcast. And also if you have the ability to do it, try to be a guest on a podcast that is within your niche, or do a guest swap with somebody who’s in your niche. Because the best way to find podcast listeners are to go on other podcasts because you know for sure that the person that’s listening to that is a podcast listener. 

As a man who has interviewed so many people, are there any people left that you’d say that you’d want to get an interview with? 

Oh, yeah, there’s still a lot. And I’ve had people that are like, Oh, you’ve interviewed everybody in the wrestling space. There are still so many that I haven’t like Vince McMahon I’ve talked about at great length. Of course, he’s at the very top of my list of someone I want to interview but I also have never done an interview with Bret Hart, Scott Steiner, Sting, Edge, Triple H, Christian, or Shawn Michaels, like there’s still a lot, there’s still a lot of people that I want to be able to do interviews with. And of those people I just listed, I think all of them are probably possible. Now they’re all still with us. They’re all still actively doing things in the wrestling space, I think it’s possible. Of those, I think maybe one or two of those might even be able to happen this year. So stay tuned here, and we’ll find out. Could it be Bret Hart on Insight with Chris Van Vliet before the end of the year? Could it be Scott Steiner? Maybe? I mean, I’ve been in the same room as Triple H a bunch of times he does all those press conferences for WWE. So I mean, me asking a question at the WWE press conference have Triple H doesn’t really count as an interview but maybe down the line. This could turn into I don’t know something else, maybe a longer interview Tim, I guess we’ll see.

Eric Esch better known as Butterbean (@butterbeanboxer) is a professional boxer and mixed martial artist. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Atlanta, GA to talk about how Diamond Dallas Page and DDPY helped him get out of a wheelchair and lose over 200 pounds! He also discusses his legendary boxing career, being the “King Of The 4 Rounders”, how he got the nickname “Butterbean”, being invited to be part of Brawl for All in WWE, the vicious knockout to Bart Gunn, the invitation from Johnny Knoxville to knock him out on an episode of Jackass, why he never fought Mike Tyson during his prime, wanting one more fight before he retires, his mixed martial arts career and more.

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Quote I’m thinking about:
“Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” – Roy T. Bennett

On working with DDP:

“Well, the main thing was stretching my legs. The muscles in my legs were so bound because I was at a 90-degree angle. I mean, if we walk up, you know, Hey, bro, how you doing? Yeah, I’d be in your chest. My head. My head. Was that just bent over? Wow. I mean, I have some friends that are little people. And I was about their height. That’s how bent over, I was in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk.”

On getting connected with Dallas:

“I mean, they got a hold of me probably 10 years ago trying to hook me in Dallas up. I said I’m not doing yoga. It ain’t gonna help me, yoga? I laughed at him. And then I had Dallas on a podcast mean, Bas Rutten, Flex Wheeler. Flex goes Dallas, you gotta help Butterbean. Dallas goes I have a show coming up, called Change or Die. He goes, I can’t tell you much about it because we just thought it up. I don’t have much to say about it. And I said I want to be on it. And I was willing to do anything just to be able to walk.”

On preparing for another fight:

“Yeah, I mean, people laugh because I mean, you know, I’ve done appearances and things and I was talking about fighting. The lady comes on the internet and goes, he can’t fight. He’s in a wheelchair. You were right. I was in a wheelchair. But that’s the remarkable part about this is to come from being wheelchair. I was inducted into the Alabama Hall Boxing Hall of Fame. Didn’t go I was too embarrassed. So now it’s like, I’m gonna prove to the world if you have discipline, and you’re determined to do something you can accomplish anything. It’s just like, just like Vinny Pazienza, broke his neck came back and won a world title.”

On wanting to fight Mike Tyson:

“I would love to fight Tyson. That’s one of the guys that we’re seriously talking about. And that’s why we’re here. We’re shooting basically a sizzle reel for a major company to show like, he’s serious. He came from a wheelchair to like being a badass like he used to be. I never fought 300 pounds. When I walk in the ring, I’ll be about 280. I’ve never fought that light. I’ve never fought under 315. That was the lightest I’ve ever fought is 315.”

Did it ever get close?

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean, right now, it’s probably the closest it’s ever been. Because there are serious serious people in the business that want to see this tape and know I’m serious. I’m very serious about it.”

On fighting Jake Paul:

“I would love to fight Jake Paul. But he’s too smart to fight me. I’m being honest. I mean, I’m not saying he’s a coward or anything like that, but I would destroy him. I think he knows I mean, I hit way too hard for him.”

On Jake Paul’s boxing:

“It’s getting better. You know he made a statement a while back about me, he’s like, they said something about him. He goes I’m not I’m not like Butterbean, I’m not I’m not a joke. Yeah, ever since I wanted to fight him. Just to show him I mean if he thinks I’m a joke, I want to fight him.”

On strangers challenging him to fights:

“I really never did. When I first started as a bouncer had one guy you know, kind of challenged me. I’m gonna do it. If you beat me up. I’m gonna lose my job and won’t have a boxing career. If you know how to talk to people, you can get out of fights. I mean, if money wasn’t involved, I didn’t want to fight, it hurts.”

On being brought in for the Brawl For All:

“I was supposed to be on the pay-per-view before Tyson got out. Me and Tyson were going back and forth about me and him fighting. No bad blood me and Mike get along great. But they didn’t want us in the same arena because they thought it’d be legit. See to me, fighters don’t fight like that. I mean, if you’re a legit fighter, you’re a professional fighter. You act like a professional. You don’t get in a fight prior to the fight. There’s no sense, it’s stupid. But they didn’t want to put us together. So, Bart, my understanding was supposed to lose to Dr. Death. And he didn’t, he knocked him out. So I was brought in as punishment. That’s the story I got behind the scenes.”

What Vince told Butterbean before the WrestleMania match:

“Vince would say Bean just give it all you got. I mean, it was like okay, I’ll do it. I mean, it was easy. It was pretty easy. If he had come out like brawling, I just went back to tough man days three one-minute rounds. So I went back to just giving everything you got just go wide. Open your box and get three minutes. You gotta pace yourself a little bit. People don’t realise how long three minutes is. One minute goes too quickly. And he tried to box, bad mistake.” 

On knocking out Johnny Knoxville:

“They just called me up and I thought it was like a movie. And my son goes Dad, you never seen Jackass? I said no. He said just make sure you know what they want you to do before you go. So I go they want me knockout Johnny. All right. And so I thought I was talking to Johnny about like, the script. You know, what do you want? How do you want to do this? They go, we really want you to knock me out. Like okay, in Johnny goes. That’s when I got scared because me and Johnny became friends. He goes when you agreed to knock me out so quick he said I got terrified. You know, he goes out and let’s say a 1,200-pound bull charges him. He said I got scared.”

On possibly becoming a wrestler:

“They actually talked to me and they’ve even you know, they’ve come to me and Vince even said he says you’re more of a wrestler than a boxer. But the money is making so much more money boxing and I was fighting so regularly. I was fighting, I fought three times a month.”

What is Butetrbean grateful for:

“DDP, all the people that do support me and just to be alive.”

Shane Helms (@shanehelmscom) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE as “Sugar” Shane Helms and in WWE as The Hurricane and Gregory Helms. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Detroit, MI to talk about how his career started in WCW as a Cruiserweight, being part of 3 Count with Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias, what happened when WWE bought WCW, his “stripped down” debut match in WWE, becoming The Hurricane, leaning into being a comedic wrestler, working with The Rock and getting a victory over him, Super Rosey and Mighty Molly, getting serious with Gregory Helms, his current job as a producer for WWE, producing Logan Paul’s matches and much more!

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Quote I’m thinking about:

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

On being furloughed in the pandemic:

“Because I had like, originally, because I had a talent contract and they were working on the legends deal. Because of that and actually being an employee, as a producer, I was in a temporary phase. So when the pandemic hit, you know, just the temp workers are the ones that get the x kind of right away.”

On what a WWE producer does:

“And I’m not going to fully tell. You can’t have all my secrets. You know, we’re kind of the go-between between creative and the talent we get with the talent. We get the assignment from creative to what we want to do for our segments that night. We get with the talents and between us and the talent, we go out and try to put out the segment that they’ve given us to the best we can.”

On producing the Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn match:

“Yeah, and I knew going in there’s gonna be some people they’re gonna hate this. And so I just completely ignored those people from day one. I was like, there’s a certain portion of the audience that is not gonna like this no matter what. So to hell with them. I’m aiming for you know, the audience that I thought would like it. I know being in Gorilla for that your own headset. Just the laughter in Gorilla is popping as loud as anything I’ve ever heard. It’s the most pops I’ve ever seen in Gorilla.”

On the Royal Rumble return:

“That hurt so bad. That was the first time and only time, this is a true story, that the referee came and asked me if was I Okay, and I said, No. I thought I broke my back. Like when I hit and I kind of landed on my [back] my heels hit first. It was Bobby Lashley and Big E gorilla pressed me and threw me over. And I kind of hit heels first. And they kind of shot out from underneath me. And I just went down on my tailbone. And I kind of had probably what would be described as a little bruise, you know, probably on my lower spine, something like that. Because like, everything hurt. That was one of the most painful bumps I’ve ever taken in my entire career.”

On the Steve Austin and Triple H elimination at the Royal Rumble:

“Well, all I knew was that I was gonna go in and get thrown out. That’s all I was told. Okay, and now I knew Triple H came out before me and this is his big return. So you got to think like, here’s where the performer in me thinks like, okay, he’s going to get this monster pop. So whoever comes, you know, whoever comes after, sometimes that pop is comparatively going to look diminished because of who goes before. And I’m like Mman, I gotta follow this monster pop, you’re gonna have Triple H and Steve Austin, two of the biggest stars in the game going at it and here’s my little green ass coming out there. So I was just trying to figure something out. So I came up with the idea it was, you know, 100% my idea. But I’m so new to this company. I don’t know how to pitch this. How do I go to these two mega stars and go hey, I got an idea. I grab both of y’all by the neck and I’m gonna be running this thing for a hot second. I just didn’t want to come across as you know big-headed or anything. So what happened was I knew Kurt Angle a little bit more than anybody else, any of the WWF regulars at the time, outside of Matt and Jeff of course. And I just wanted to Kurt and I was just hoping that somehow if I explained the idea to him that he would help me go pitch it. He loved the idea. And he goes, go run it by Steve. And I’m like, okay, so I go to Steve. I pitched the idea because he goes I love it go run it by Pat Patterson. You know, so I had to go run it to Pat back go love it go with it by Hunter. So I had to pitch it 4 times, each time just like such a nerve-wracking day but they were all just so gracious. And like yeah, I love it and understood the entertainment of what I was going for with the spot making the most out of that moment. And man to this day when somebody meets brings that up. I’ll ask them who won and most of the time they can’t even tell me who won. And to me, that’s a perfect example of what making a moment means. I made you remember that. And you don’t remember who won and then went on to Main Event WrestleMania that year. So of the two, I would have rather been the one that won and went on to Main Event Wrestlemania. But as it stood, that’s a perfect example of making a moment.”

On Kurt Angle being great at comedy and in-ring:

“Oh, does that mean we weren’t? Oh, wow. See, Gregory Helms would be very upset. But that’s actually why I had to. That’s why I did the heel turn because everybody got so swept up in the comedy, creative and my company included, that they forgot I could wrestle. And that’s why I had to turn heel and be Gregory Helms. You know, because there’s still to this day, even when I worked with some talents if they only knew me as Hurricane, it’s like, oh, this is just the funny guy. Not understanding how hard that character was compared to all the tough guy stuff anyway. You know, having a character with layers is way harder than a big mean tough guy cutting a promo and go win a match. That’s the easiest thing in the business to do. You know, so that being that Gregory Helms, that was me having to remind them, hey, I can still do this other part of the business as well.”

On transitioning from comedy to a more serious role:

“It wasn’t difficult for me, because I mean, I knew there was going to come a time when it had to happen. You know, everything gets watered down to a degree or hits a low at some point. And Ric Flair really kind of jumpstarted did, because that was you know, doing a lot of stuff with him, And he just one time just pulled me aside and Ric has been so you know, such a mentor to me and in different ways. And, you know, he just pulled me to the side one day, and he’s like, You’re too good for this gimmick. And, you know, it wasn’t about like, the gimmick was bad, but I can only go so far. And that company was only going to let me go so far with that gimmick. And I understood that too. So and I believed him and it’s just like, you know, I need to go and remind him of who I was before I came here because Sugar Shane is one of the best light heavyweights in the world. And then, you know, that same guy was Hurricane you know, Tom Hanks that did Big. That’s the same Tom Hanks that used to do Philadelphia. But in wrestling, that message wasn’t coming across. You know, so until it was I mean, I did The Hurricane really good. You know, part of his, it was just because I did it really well. And I committed to it, and I got so good at being the funny guy that just became who I was. Yeah, you know, and I wasn’t getting the opportunities to do serious stuff. So it wasn’t it was kind of, it was time for it at that point.”

On interacting with The Rock:

“It’s not easy. And all the pressure was on me. You know, people don’t realise that. Like, if I go out there and stink it up with The Rock, he’s still gonna be The Rock. You’re never gonna see me again. Even I mean, even going into the match, you know, people. You know, we were talking a little bit earlier about Logan and Ricochet. And who’s the pressure on? Well, as a producer, yes, the pressure is on me I’m gonna get yelled at if this goes sideways. But um, yeah, with Rocky. I was like, we had all the pressures on me. Because if when we have that match, if this match sucks, he’s still gonna be The Rock. He’s still going to WrestleMania against Steve Austin. You won’t see my little [ass] if go out there and blow it with Th Rock. Then it’s gonna be over for me.”

On the origins of What’s Up With That?

“I don’t really even remember the first time I said it or why. It was just one of those things that Brian [Gewirtz], like I said, Brian, would encourage me to go off into these comic book tangents you might have picked up that I’ll go off on a tangent. So whatever the promo I beat and I was like, Yeah, it’d be you against Christian and just go off into one of your things. And I would just be talking normally, like when I was starting to introduce The Hurricane character, and then it would turn to me at the time. And I don’t know even why I decided to do that. Because you know, you watch superhero movies, and none of them like that. I have no idea why I started doing that. And then just kind of getting lost in my own like, nonsense. Hey, what’s up with that? You know, and but the cameraman was laughing and like we but we were bust takes with the camera. And so that’s a good sign because they’ve seen everything. And you know, they’re, you know, just so like I said, they’ve seen everything, so to pop them, that generally would always tell me something if I can pop the production crew.”

On the additional superheroes: 

“Yeah, that’s, that’s a thing that I think when it’s all said and done in my career is really examined by you know, people to do those things. The fact that I gave a new character to three other people like that’s how strong that character was. Because between Molly, Rosey and Stacy Keibler and when she was Super Stacy, three other people came in and did my gimmick and became new versions of themselves. And that’s pretty unique. I don’t think That’s happened a lot. Every now and then, but you know you don’t want two Stone Colds, you don’t want two Undertakers so when you do that you you got to be careful about not watering yourself down to a degree. So when I had Rosey first that one actually concerned me at first because I’d already done that with Molly. I turned Molly for Molly Holly into Mighty Molly. So when the Rosey thing was pitched to me, you know, I wasn’t sure at first, but I like Matty so much as a friend. Because I’ve worked with him when he was in Three Minute Warning a couple of times and then he was when he was managed by Teddy Long. I think they were still doing a white boy challenge or something like that, him and, Rodney Mack. No, I worked with him then too. And we got along really well.”

On a Hall of Fame induction:

“I think he should, you know, and I think if you know, Shane Helms’ story in terms of how, you know, I think I really helped light heavyweight wrestling as well as anybody, you know. Definitely, there are people you know, I think they did more than and definitely a lot of people did less. But, you know, the style I brought as Sugar Shane, I think that’s the style you see on TV the most now. And, you know, I was definitely one of the first pioneers of that in terms of, I was studying Lucha, I was studying the European style and the Japanese style. And in the American style, both old school and the northeastern style, you know, the Philadelphia area style. So I really tried to like combine all of that into this, you know, to this hybrid thing. And if you look at that, and you look at what I did with Hurricane and what I did with the three count gimmick, and then what I did with Gregory Helms and as Gregor Helms, I think that was actually my best body of work in terms of You know, match structure and mechanical mechanics and technique that was probably my best body of work. But to go from a beloved character to where people want to absolutely loathe me, yeah, like, that’s not as easy as one might think, as well. So I was very happy with that. And then to come back and just to stay around as long as I have, and I think my producing gimmick, I mean, my producing career, I think it is kind of a gimmick, I guess. You know, that’s going well, you know, I still got so much to learn. So I’m looking for it. And I’ve done a lot of good stuff so far. But I think as the more I learn, and the more I grow as a producer, I think that’s gonna get better. I might actually be known more for that. I think going forward.”

On Nikki A.S.H. and discussing it with Shane Helms:

“She came to me and asked me what are thoughts on and they would at different times when I first came. And I’ve gotten this question a million times, would you ever consider letting somebody else be The Hurricane? Like, that’s an interesting thought, that I become the mentor to the new Hurricane. That was like, you know, hey, if you guys present me something interesting, I will do whatever. You know, I like producing but if you need to own screen character, if it helps another talent. Now, here’s my thing with Nikki. And I will do something with you on screen. If it helps you. I don’t need it to help me. And I don’t want to detract from you. Because right now, one of the things against her was that everybody would think of me when they saw her. So now, if you’re trying to fight that it’s not going to help if I show up on screen with her, that’s just going to reinforce it. So, you know, I was trying to help her figure out a way for her to do her own version of this thing that I had done so well. So it was a tough spot for her too. But I supported it from the very beginning. Like whatever you need, I will help you and I you know, I gave her advice whenever she asked for it, which, you know, she did a lot which was a good credit to her.”

What is Shane Helms grateful for:

“My family, my health and the people who stuck with me.”

Shelton Benjamin (@sheltyb803) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about his incredible career that started when he signed with WWE in 2000. He discusses being training partner with Brock Lesnar, what Brock is really like outside of the ring, being part of the legendary OVW class of 2002 with Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Dave Bautista, John Cena and Rico, his iconic match with Shawn Michaels on Raw in 2005, how they came up with the idea for the springboard into a Sweet Chin Music, the voting for Taboo Tuesday that lead to being Chris Jericho’s legit surprise opponent, being part of Team Angle with Charlie Haas, working with Chavo and Eddie Guerrero early in his career, the story behind Shelton’s Momma storyline, Shawn Michaels saying he has a guaranteed spot in the WWE Hall of Fame, who he would like to induct him and much more!

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Quote I’m thinking about: “All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone” – Tony Robbins

Meeting Brock Lesnar for the first time:

“Yes, I do, actually. And you know, it almost annoys me to tell the story. Because we were at a wrestling tournament in I want to say it was Fargo at you know, their university and Brock was still in junior college. And of course, we’re gonna say, you know, he’s hungry. And long story short, he won the tournament because I lost a match and we would have wrestled, but he won the tournament. And he was a junior college kid and I just remember everyone who saw him was like you see that? There’s never been a scrawny version of Brock that that I saw like, from the time we saw him he was rocking it. Our coach was salivating to the point where just because he was in junior college they immediately started recruiting him. So I’m kind of over in the corner like you know, I’m your heavyweight and you are recruiting another heavy right in front of me. But I mean you see the guy how would you not?”

A surprising Brock Lesnar fact:

“Something that you will be shocked to learn. Well, yes, everyone knows the Brock Lesnar persona. Now, if Brock is your friend he will give you the shirt off his back, the nicest guy in the world, fun and cool to hang around with. That might surprise people how actually cool Brock can be if he likes you, keyword is if he likes you. But if he doesn’t like you he’s just what you’re seeing on TV, that’s not an act. You’re not seeing a different version of Brock. You know, I spoke on this earlier Brock is not acting, Brock is not playing a role. Brock is Brock. What you’re seeing that’s real. Brock does not. He’s not social. He doesn’t give a blip. Like Brock is Brock so don’t get it twisted. And yes, he’s a world destroyer. I call them a juggernaut like Brock is, he’s a bad boy.”

On being underrated

“Um, yes, from an in-ring. Actually, take this back. I feel like I am an extremely good pro wrestler. But that being said at times, I do feel like I could have been a better WWE superstar.”

On the backstage reaction to that Superkick:

“So standing ovation. When I went back to the curtain Vince and everyone’s clapping and even Michael Hayes is like, you did something special tonight. And I was like, really? Again, I didn’t realise how special was, you know, I watched it back. This match is great. It’s really good. And but again, like I’m so like, is it really that good?I didn’t think of it until I kept getting it the very next week. You know, the kick is in the opening promos. I am like Okay, now, I’m starting to get it now. I’m starting to really get it.”

On the unplanned Taboo Tuesday match against Chris Jericho:

“Me and Chris have spoken about this, our match was the only match where it was 100% we don’t know what we’re going to do. Every other match has some sort of gimmick involved, you know, falls count anywhere or hardcore match or something. So everyone has some idea of what they were going to do. They just, you know, and who with. Chris had 15 guys, and they refuse to give him any information. And he kept, you know, he kept trying to get a feel for who’s it leaning towards, like, they wouldn’t tell him anything. Me, I was expecting to be in the back watching the show. So I wasn’t even asking anything. But Chris was trying to get an idea. So Chris was going around going, you know, talking to guys he goes, you know, to Dave [Batista] and be like, Hey, do you know when I do this, and I do this like, and Dave will kind of go, you know, I’m just using Dave as an example. But he is just kind of getting an idea of do people know my stuff and just trying to plant seeds for everyone. And he came to me and he’s like, Hey, Shelton, do you? Do you know when I do this? And I said I’ll stop you right there, Chris. I know all your stuff. He goes knew I didn’t have to worry about you. So I’m gonna go. You know, maybe you have to figure out something with Jonathan Coachman. And like you said when they announced the winner, I wasn’t paying attention. Like I was waiting for them to say Batista’s name. So and if you look at the tape, my reaction is a little delayed because I was like, Oh, wait, me? So I knew nothing. Went down to the ring. I knew nothing. We hadn’t called anything. It was all like I said, Chris, I know all your stuff, that’s still that’s as much as I know. You know, any information was conveyed to him. The ref never told me anything. So when we locked up as soon as we locked up off, he goes what’s your finish? I said T-Bone. He just kind of backed off and then we locked up and from there, I just listened. And he called everything. I just listened and followed. And when he said okay, for a finish, he’s like, Alright, stop short. I’m gonna jump catch with your finish. He still didn’t know what my finish was. So he just kind of jumped in turn and just did this. I try to hit him with a T-bone 123. I heard 3 and I was like, wait, what?”

Who did Shelton Benjamin learn from the most?

“I still say, Eddie. Because again, I was married to him for eight months. But I’ve said it before, every time I wrestled Shawn Michaels learning experience every time I wrestled Triple H. learning experience every time I wrestled Undertaker learning experience every time I wrestled Rey Mysterio learning experience. So I’m constantly learning from all of these great guys but at the same time. I’m learning from people behind the scenes to Arn Anderson was the brains behind Team Angle. Like Kurt was the figurehead but as far as our moves and our style and how we developed as a team, Arn Anderson.”

On Chad Gable:

“Gable, holy cow. That guy is a workhorse he is such a badass. I don’t think he realized how much respect I have for him. That guy’s badass. So and to see him like, like, say he’s turned on his comical chops. He’s constantly surprising me and I’m like, this would be a breakout star. We’re constantly trying to develop new talent, but I’m like man, this guy’s got it all. He’s my favorite worker. Like because you can put him in the ring with anyone, he can make him look good. He can toss anybody around you know? Like, when he tossed Braun Strowman it’s like you’re not supposed to be able to do that. But man, I’m so impressed by his work. So impressed.”

On being accompanied to the ring by his momma:

“I had a meeting with Vince and I was just like, okay right now I’m not doing anything, I want to contribute. And I had an idea and like first, and I don’t know where he came up with the momma thing. So when he first approached me about it, he basically said, How would you feel about having your real mama on the road? And I said, Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m going to expose my mother to this locker room. Because as nice as a guy I am. I love everybody on the roster. But if one person were to say something frost to my real mom, I would have had a really short career. So yeah, and so, like I said when he said it I was just kind of like huh, because the only reference I had to that was Buff Bagwell and his mom. I guess Jim Cornette used to always reference his mom way back in the day, but I don’t remember her ever making a television appearance, but I definitely remember the Buff stuff. So when things started with that, and I’ve said this before, I feel like that whole storyline gets a bad rap. Because my mom, Thea Vidale who’s, you know, she’s a comedian. And you know, she’s been on TV shows like I said, Me and Brandi have a mother in common. Me and the singer Brandi have a mother [in common]. When they brought her in they narrowed it down to just her and one other woman. And, yeah, it was like soon as she walked in, I knew exactly who she was. [Were you in the casting process?] Yes, it was me one of our producers and Vince. Ultimately they left it down to me and but everyone agreed Thea like she blew it out of the water and the day she did that audition in front of us was the day she made her debut on television, we made a decision that day. And she was a lot of fun to work with on camera because she is obviously way more animated than me. But you know, it was easy to slip into that whole momma’s boy role because like she had a very domineering personality, to say the least. And I was having a lot of fun with it. Like some of the skits like particularly when you know I walked in on her and Mr. McMahon with his pants down like, I was having so much fun with that. But unfortunately, like she has some medical problems and you know some other things that you know, I guess management wasn’t happy with you know. Basically, she got let go before the story could be completed. You know, that’s kind of a buzzword these days. Yeah, we didn’t finish the story because, as I said, I was supposed to be a momma’s boy, you know, and it’s successful, but at some point, I had to grow up and stand on my own without my mom.”

On The Gold Standard:

“I had been toying with the idea of dyeing my hair because they put us, they reformed World’s Greatest tag team. And while Charlie, I love Charlie to death, he’s my brother, best friend. But at that time, I tasted single success to me going back into the tag team was a step backwards. And so, I was thinking okay what can I change about myself, what can I add to make myself that basically changed up made myself more interesting and more marketable? And but I didn’t want to do anything so drastic that if I didn’t like it I couldn’t kind of morph back. I thought about dyeing my hair blonde, but I always held off. Because at the time, Viscera still had the blonde Mohawk, you know, so for me, that would be encroaching on his gimmick. So when he became Big Daddy V, and you know, at this time now  I’m in a tag team and I went to him, I said, Hey, I thought if I dye my hair blonde, do you mind? He was like, I don’t care. I’m not doing blonde anymore, knock yourself out. So because I had his blessing, I was like, Okay, and what finally, what finally made me pull the trigger on it. I don’t even think he knows this, but Stone Cold had addressed the talent, you know, talking about, you know, coming out of your shell, working hard to be a star like taking risks and all these things. And it was that day like, I’m listening to Stone Cold and I’m going I think there was a hint of asking for forgiveness, not permission. And that day, I was like, I walked out of the meeting, I went to one of the one of the girls, that’s hair like, Hey, would you bleach my hair for me? And I bleached it.”

On the Ain’t No Stopping Me Now theme returning:

“So I have been trying. Fans, anyone listening, I’ve been trying. I’ve asked over and over since the day I got back I’m still trying. I and I just keep going, please. Like I was making it very public that I don’t like my theme music. I want my old music. And like for, you know, for reasons that even I, I don’t know, if I’m even willing to accept that they may be true to me. No, I don’t know if I’m willing to accept that. But, you know, they just haven’t conceded to give me back my own music because I want it too.”

On The Hurt Business:

“The Hurt Business will always be something I hold near and dear, I consider it one of the greatest accomplishments, one of the greatest factions one of the greatest situations. I have nothing but love for The Hurt Business. Like nothing but love. You know, again, with the world being in a situation it was like, and, you know, in a lot of cases, limited talent, you know, for safety, obviously, everything’s understandable. But the company still needed people to step up. Like, yes, we understand what’s going on. But we’re still a business, you know, the show must go on, we need people to step up. And I think myself, Bobby, MVP, and Cedric did exactly that. And like I said what we created, all of us are extremely proud of what we’re able to do expressly during that time when the company really needed something. And like I said, that came out of nowhere, it was a surprise to all of us. And again, it was just such a great time. The biggest regret is that we never were in front of a live crowd.”

On a potential Hurt Business reunion:

“Definitely. First of all, I think they’re there. I think there are more books and novels for The Hurt Business. Personally, you know, because when things as all things do, when things fell apart I don’t think any of us were happy about it. Yeah, we did everything we could. It was above our pay grade, and our job is to perform Yep, the decision-makers have made the decisions. Our job is to perform. So that’s what we do. But at the same time, it’s like, man, we really, really want it to just have that one time we can just walk out in front of an actual crowd. You know, because it’s one thing to know that what you’re doing is getting over when there’s no one around. You know, but we still felt it. So we wanted to you know, we all wanted to experience Okay, The Hurt Business in front of a live crowd. That’s, you know, that’s what we work for it as we live for. Yeah, that adrenaline rush there’s, there’s nothing like it.”

What is Shelton Benjamin Grateful for:

“Health, being the father of two daughters and the life that I have.”

Billy Corgan (@billy) is the lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins and also the owner and promoter of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about NWA 75 on August 26 & 27 in St Louis. He also discusses the growth of NWA, the decision to make Tyrus the NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, what he learned from working in TNA, becoming the subject of a Family Guy joke, will there ever be a “Rat in a Cage” match, working with Eli Drake (LA Knight) in NWA, balancing Smashing Pumpkins and wrestling, finding a media partner for NWA and much more!

On NWA’s not being nostalgia but a revival:

“I hear it all the time. Not just in regards to the NWA. I hear it all the time. Not everybody I talked to is like an NWA fan. They might be old school, WWF fan or whatever. They just don’t get it. And yeah, so my whole point of the NWA at this point, going about six years into owning the company, is trying to figure out that formula where you can take really good mainstream professional wrestling, and bring it to the people and once again, sort of bring back those greater numbers.”

Where does NWA fit right now in the wrestling world:

“I think we’re properly positioned to be the next big company. I know people will kind of go, how does that work? I think it has to do with my access to mainstream media. I think it has access has to do with my access to every network in the world who’s interested in what I’m doing, and I’m just trying to find the right business models with them. And I think it has to do with presenting a mainstream wrestling product that the average person if presented on television will respond to. I think, once the NWA can get in that position if we can get in that position, and you could argue that’s a big if, but if we get in that position, I think we will run side by side with the biggest companies in the world. Because wrestling by large is a cheap product to make. That’s always been its great attraction to television. And it has a consistent audience, they’ll show up week after week. So getting from let’s call it the bottom of the pile, to the top of the pile. Now that’s a vast distance. But if you can cross that desert and get to the other side, well, it’s pretty wide open. In terms of product, I think the NWA fits quite comfortably between AEW and WWE. WWE has a very hardcore fan base, but they do business in a very particular way. Of course, that’s much debated through the years, Vince, of course, is the only promoter that’s ever made money in wrestling. So we always have to pay tribute to that. AEW, of course, is running a very brand-specific product. Tony has found business where people didn’t think business could be found and all credit to him on that. But again, that mainstream up-the-middle position of professional wrestling is sorely lacking. Many people would argue that WWE is that mainstream thing. I would argue it’s its own version of niche.”

On figuring out the algorithm: 

“I don’t mean this disrespectfully. And I don’t mean it disrespectfully to Mr. Beast. Look, I signed with the record label in 1990. And as an artist, content creator, you know, I had all the pride and ego of somebody like, hey, you need me and I could never understand why the labels treated us so poorly. And they paid for that over time. But the essential idea is it’s still the networks that are the thing because they’re the people that have to make those decisions. Most talents rise and fall meteorically in windows. Some stick around, which is why down the street we have a bunch of Gordon Ramsay restaurants every time you turn around, right? He’s built his brand off of what became his television personality, right? Where I’m going with this is I understand the pride of a content creator, I understand the pride of an NWA to make 100 plus hours of television a year now, like, that’s a big deal for me, right? Yeah. Not to mention the expense that’s involved in the logistics that are involved. But if your YouTube if your Paramount Plus, Peacock, whatever, they have to figure out who’s hot in the market, and that’s ultimately what it’s about. So what I’m trying to say to you is, I think we’re already there. If you look at the losses that are going on, I think it was it was a Peacock, that just came out $635 million loss in three months. But why are they willing to endure that loss? Me speculating? It’s because what’s coming is the business. So what I’m saying is, we’re already there, they just haven’t figured out the math yet.”

On wanting to take the NWA live in the future:

“Yeah, I think everybody knows that you know, again, you have a smart audience, you know, when you run live event stuff, that’s a lot more expensive than say putting stuff on TV. So you know, just like, look at the respect that you must give something like Raw that’s which is run, how many years. It’s like running a live show on time, delivering, you know, main events and stuff that really matters. Keep an audience coming back. I mean, that is quite an accomplishment. You look at the infrastructure and stuff like that. So when you look at why an Endeavour would pay $9 billion for WWE, one person would sit there who doesn’t understand say, well, you’re just buying wrestlers and a ring. No, you’re buying a whole culture that knows how to make that work, week after week after week, in their case, multiple times a week.”

On possibly selling The Smashing Pumpkins back catalogue:

“I don’t plan on it. I’ve had those conversations. You know, my catalogue is valuable. But what I’m saying is, is, you know, I don’t think all the math is in yet on what the true value of artists is. I made this argument about 10 years ago at a music symposium. And people kind of rolled their eyes at me, because, it was mostly radio programmers and I was chastising him for saying, do you understand that the Beatles and Queen are far more valuable to your stations than the band that had the one hit? And you really should get in behind the branding of the brands that really have made a difference in your business. Paint a quick picture because it does kind of work back to wrestling. In 1992 I walk into a radio station, my band is just one of 500 bands. It took real visionary people to go no your band means a lot more to this radio station than everybody else we’re going to kind of lean into you. When my band hit fallow times in the late 90s, early 2000s. We started getting shoved aside, and I started saying, but you’re still playing all my other songs like nine times a day. Don’t you want still want me in the room? And they were like, No, we don’t need you anymore. So what happened? They all came back around. Why do they come back around? Because of the value of the brand, Nirvana, Pearl Jam is Pumpkins is far more valuable than the band that had like one or two hit songs. So we see the same thing in wrestling. It’s like we’ve seen it with them fan conventions and stuff like that. Let’s call that the lower tier of why is WWE now sort of getting very much in the business of documentaries and because the brand of Ultimate Warrior is far more valuable than they would even imagine 10 years ago.”

On LA Knight:

“Yes, one of the great promos of all time. And that’s not to take away anything from his wrestling. He has a main event-level ability in the ring. But we all know that if you can walk and talk, that’s you hit that other echelon. It’s great to see him hitting that now. You know, we booked him, you know, he was being set up to be NWA Heavyweight Champion. And that’s right around, I think the time of the pandemic. He was under an NWA contract, and it got to the point where it was like, you know, I can’t remember what it was. But me and him always did good business so no heat there. But it was obvious that it was like, he needed to go pursue other opportunities. And where I was standing at the time was just going to hold him back. There was something there. But it was clearly understood that you know, obviously, was built around Aldis for a while. But once Aldis was going to drop the title, it was going to clearly go to him. So it’s a shame that it never happened because we would have had a lot of fun. Always great to work with him. And somewhere there’s a picture of my 50th birthday. And it’s me, Aaron Stephens, Eli Drake, ECE 3 and I can’t remember another person from wrestling was there. So yeah, I’ve always gotten on with him. And I’m very happy for him and he deserves every bit of success that’s coming his way because he’s fought and clawed his way to get there.”

On TNA and Dixie Carter: 

“There are moments of frustration where I wish I’d gotten the TV deal, but seemed like it was there and then you realise it’s a little bit of what I went through with the band. The minute you jump into deeper water now you’re subservient to a greater set of forces which are beyond your control, put simply to the camera, the minute you take somebody else’s money. Now you’re in a different negotiation. And they start you know, I remember, just tell a quick funny story. I remember being in a TNA and there was some grousing about Kurt Angle being the champion, which seems strange to me because Kurt Angle was one of the all-time greats and always a great person to do business with behind the scenes. Nothing respect for Kurt. So I was like, why are people complaining? Oh, well, you know, somebody pulls you aside, well, we are on Destination America, Destination America told Dixie Carter, you need someone as a champion who represents America. So Dixie just switched the belts. But the thing was, it was the grousing in the company was it was because it wasn’t a wrestling decision based on setting up wrestling characters. It was like the network who’s paying us all this money, told us so we’re going to do what the network said.”

On not defending himself: 

“So that’s what I’m saying is, you know, sometimes you get frustrated, you think I really wish I got the TV deal. But we may be in a worse position now. Because maybe we wouldn’t have been able to fulfil the thing that we would have obligated ourselves to if we entered into a deal that we weren’t ready to make. Now I feel, so for doing a report card assessment, you know, about six years into me owning the company, I think the wrestling is at the highest quality that it’s been in the six years, I’m very, very happy with where the wrestling is, and it is getting better. And we’re getting younger, which I think is the key. We have a lot of key young talents under contract. So very happy about that. And so the future looks bright there. And I think moving away from this kind of lazy take of old school and modernising the product. And now we’re about ready to flip the switch into a much more modern style of production. So and I think honestly, to be fair, past, past clickbait, I think a lot of the criticisms have been fair, I think the only thing I would say in defence is a lot of the criticisms that are fair, they don’t know the whole story. And I’m not a person who’s always gonna run out and try to defend myself. When I was getting a lot of heat about Tyrus-related stuff. Let’s call it round one and round two of Tyrus-related issues. Some of my friends and some of my friends in wrestling who aren’t in the company, let’s just say people around the biz, who know me and sort of don’t understand why I’m doing what I’m doing would call and say, Why aren’t you out there defending yourself more? Because there is this other kind of aspect of these stories, not just Tyrus, other stuff involved. And I’m like, I have a different game I’m playing because the band is very successful. I can’t be fencing with Dirt Sheet writer number seven over some point that makes a lot of sense in the wrestling bubble. I got bigger fish to fry and I got a company to run that’s called the NWA. Yeah, so my focus has been getting the NWA culture right. So one of the things I’ve said through the years is Don’t sleep on the NWA. There are a lot of people in the wrestling bubble who sleep on the NWA. Because they don’t understand what I’m doing. And because I’m not sort of fellating them every day, and feeding them Dirt Sheet information. They sort of see me as sort of a curiosity in the corner. They don’t understand I’m running a real business here that has a real opportunity to succeed.” 

On reviving the NWA:

“I took the company, which in about its 68 or 69th year, I’ve literally picked it up out of the ashes. As we said before, WWE didn’t even want to take it off the market. I brought it back to life. I’ve given a lot of people work. I gave people opportunities when nobody else wanted them. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. They didn’t see what I saw on them. I’ve created now, you know, there was a year where we didn’t work because of the pandemic but I created about five years worth of content. And I’ve got matches with Ricky Starks and Eli Drake and Thunder Rosa that people have passed through the doors. And in some cases, people credit, certain talent’s work in the NWA as the best work that those talents have ever done. I’d like to think I have something to do with that, not in their wrestling, but I’ve certainly put them in a position to succeed or, or thrive. And I’ve been happy when talents have gone on to bigger and better things out of the NWA. Because I’m not so crazy to think that I can provide them with that same opportunity. Eddie Kingston is a person that comes to mind. Love Eddie, great person to work with. So I created a unique voice in wrestling that has some ties to the past in terms of product, not just historically. And I’m creating another voice in wrestling, how’s that a bad thing? It isn’t. We have probably the strongest women’s division in all of wrestling, I would make that argument. A lot of great female wrestlers in the NWA. Very proud with the way we’ve run that and we built it and we’ve invested in that. And, and even, you know, we’re able to put on a show, an all-female show. And that, of course, became its own version of controversy after that.” 

On not needing outside help:

“Again, I’m going back to the let’s call it the more respectful side of the conversation. Tony is worried about Tony, Scott’s worried about Scott, Billy’s worried about Billy, you know, everybody could do what they want to do. I’m not the little kid in the corner begging, I don’t need anybody’s help. NWA is completely self-funded. I don’t have any partners. I don’t need anybody’s permission is everything we’ve talked about is basically NWA being its own ecosystem and its own world. So if that’s all we ever that is, it’s fine. I think it’s a disservice on a business level and to the fans to not put something together that the Goliath over here. And trust me if you thought WWE was powerful before, you have no idea what’s coming now. Yeah, none. Because now you’re opening up. You know, and now that we’re past some of the political issues with the Saudis and stuff like that, and I’m not saying it’s not, it’s not dicey. It has its own issues, but I’m saying is, the world is opening up into a global economy. If you’re a business person, and you don’t sit there and go, Oh, my God. You know, many people don’t watch television, the way that we watch television in the West, and they’re now coming on board because all you need is a phone. You don’t even need a cable box. I mean, that is the stuff of wet dreams of imagining going back in time to Sam Mushnik and saying this is where wrestling can be and what wrestling could reach. They wouldn’t even believe it was possible. They were worried about selling tickets at the Kansas City war memorial. You know what I mean? We’re in a totally different ballgame because the digital reach which is why these companies are putting together this big piece. So why we’re over here worried about all this minutia and clickbait stuff over here. There’s big, big business going on over here. And I’m at least somebody who’s lived in the other world who can tell you, that’s what they’re doing. If you want to put your fingers in yours and pretend and say, I like this better, and I, well, there may come a point where your liking of it may not be the difference maker.”

What is Billy Corgan grateful for:

“Family, longevity and living my life the way I want to live it.

Brandi Rhodes (@thebrandirhodes) is a professional wrestler and media personality. She joins chats with Chris Van Vliet on the red carpet at the premiere of “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes” in Atlanta, GA to talk about her husband Cody Rhodes leaving AEW for WWE, her reaction to his torn pec before the HIAC match with Seth Rollins, would Cody make a good politician, will she ever return to the ring and much more!

Congratulations, I don’t think I’ve talked to you since becoming a mom. 

“Well, thank you. Yeah, probably not. Well, congratulations to you, too.”

Thank you. Maybe you can give me some parenting advice. We are going through it right now.

“Well, here’s the advice. You get used to something, and then something changes and you go through it all again.”

I feel like that’s what’s happening right now, so a lot has changed. And I feel like a lot has changed for Cody too, like it feels like he’s a completely different person since the last time that I saw him, which was a few years ago. What do you think has been the biggest change professionally for him?

“Um, honestly, I think just becoming comfortable with everything that he’s done and confident in who he’s become. It really just shows in the presentation of Cody Rhodes now. I mean, 10 years ago, that Cody, he had a presentation and you know, he had something about him. But it wasn’t this. I think he had to grow into this, experience a lot of things to become this.”

 How much do you help him dye his hair as and is it every week? Is it every other week? 

“I know nothing about white folks’ hair dye and stuff. So I stay out of that because I would have his hair like an orange colour on accident or something? No, no, he handles his own hair, he handles his wardrobe, like he does his thing. I am very much just focused on the hair and wardrobe of me and a two-year-old right now. And the two-year-old doesn’t like what I’m doing half the time. She’s like, No, I don’t want to wear this anymore.”

He is impeccably dressed all the time.

“Well good, I’m glad because I don’t want to be on the opposite end.”

Any chance we’ll see you back in the ring?

“You know, not as an active competitor. For sure. [You’ve retired as a wrestler?] Yeah, I mean, it was really anticlimactic. But yes, I did. I just said you know what? Okay, well, we are either gonna do this the Becky Lynch, you know, Seth Rollins way. And they are amazing for doing it, because I can’t. It just was too hard, well not too hard, but just something that I just didn’t think would be the best for the family. So, you know, we’ve gone a different route, and I’ve started business ventures on my own and he’s doing his thing and we’re just doing a couple of different things.” 

I feel like when Cody’s done with wrestling, whenever that happens to be 40 years from now or whatever, feel like he would make a great politician.

“Oh, please don’t wish that. I think he feels the same way. No, you know, he probably would, I don’t know that I would make a great politician’s wife. Therein lies the problem with that.”

Have you seen the final cut of this film?

“You know, I don’t know. I’ve seen a cut of the film. I don’t know that I’ve seen the final, final cut. So you know, I might be seeing some new stuff here, too, along with everybody else, which is cool.”

Was there something that when you saw you went? Wow, they put that in the film? I can’t believe it.

“No, but I was the most impressed with everything I say that’s kind of sh*tty. Not like, sh*tty, it’s just kind of like, well, I’m telling the truth. I’m smiling, I kind of look like an asshole. But it’s kind of funny. It’s like a smile delivery of well, that happened. And that was a mess.”

I mean, I’m sure, there were so many different things that went into Cody being back with WWE, but how difficult was it to kind of keep that between you guys for so long?

“Um, you know, it really just didn’t come up for me very much. I mean, I’m sure he was getting asked like left, right and in-between, but like, you know, Cody’s, he’s socially different than I am the way that I’m social. I think people know that I’m not asking her because she’ll straight up tell me no, and I don’t want to be told no. Whereas Cody will maybe be coy or beat around the bush, I’ll just say no.”

What’s something that you would say you’re most proud of, of your husband?

“I’m just really proud of his ability to just stick with whatever it is that he originally planned. I’m a shapeshifter, my original plans sometimes don’t work out and then I will just shift and mould and I’ll become something else. Cody is Cody Rhodes. He’s the same Cody Rhodes I met when we met 10 years ago, and he’s had the same dream. And he had that dream since he was a little kid, you know, and he’s gonna see this through.”

What was the phone call like when Cody tore his pec?

“So it’s so disappointing on my part because he called and he said to me, don’t panic. And Immediately I thought the baby fell, something happened there at the hospital. So I went, Oh my God, what? Just tell me, just tell me. He goes I  think I tore my pec and I said, Oh, thank God. You’ll be fine. The baby though. Then, of course, I was like, did you really tear it? Are you sure you know? And yeah, he had torn it.”

And then were you like, and what do you mean, you’re still gonna wrestle in Hell in a Cell?

“I was that person that wanted him to. And I did check with Doc Amon, to make sure that I was giving sound advice because I was like, well, if nothing really worse can come of the situation. If you feel okay with it, then I’m, I’m giving my blessing too. So yeah, I mean, I was a performer. So I know I know the feeling like if you can you want to make it happen and those people are counting on you. And you know, people bought tickets for the show, to see the main event with Cody and Seth. So yeah, if you can do it, do it.”

you heard me ask this question of Cody when we were on the bus. But what are three things that you’re grateful for in your life? 

“Oh, wow. I’m gonna do what you did because it just gives me three more Genie wishes by saying, family. So everybody, you know, Cody, baby. My mom and dad, my brother and his kids. whole fam. And then honestly, drive, just, you know, I’m 40, when I was 16, 40 was old. I don’t feel old. I feel really driven. I feel like I just kind of got a new second wind and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. And I’m, you know, embarking on this crazy venture that I never thought I was going to do. And you know, I just feel really good. And wisdom with age. I feel like every year the older I become, the less stupid things bother me anymore. They just don’t. Yeah. And so I’m happy for that. That allows me to be clear-headed. And just move forward.”

Featured image: Sports Illustrated

Danielle Moinet (@daniellemoinet) is a former WWE Superstar who performed under the name Summer Rae. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about her recent return to WWE at the Royal Rumble, appearing on Total Divas, the slap heard around the world to Natalya, her storylines with Rusev and Dolph Ziggler, becoming a dancer for Fandango, the heated promo she cut when her character broke up with Rusev, what he DMs typically look like, her advice for men trying to schedule a first date and much more!

On wanting to get back in the ring:

“So I miss wrestling. I personally wouldn’t, I have a bone spur on a vertebra in my neck and I have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. So I’m doing good, but at the end of my injury I like, I kind of have the tingling in my hands where I couldn’t really open doors and that was a little scary to me. So for me, I miss storytelling. I constantly write ideas and pitches down and like, submit them to certain promotions. And I have all these ideas that I miss and I do want to be a part of it again, I do think I have a lot more to give. And especially from like, I was telling you a standpoint of being present in the moment, how I would do things so differently, so much more confident and have fun with it, like so much more fun. I don’t think I could wrestle every week and be in that role. And I don’t think that’s my purpose, either. I think, you know, being able to highlight talents, and pull the best out of them and being able to make them the main thing and being able to showcase new younger talent and bring them up with what I know from the business. I would love to do something like that.”

On swearing on her Royal Rumble 2022 entrance:

“I don’t remember that. I definitely blacked out. I definitely blacked out. Um, again, I don’t know how I’m on live TV like streams for horse racing. I used to work for NASCAR. And there’s like all this stuff where you can’t curse and I’m just because of wrestling. It’s just f this f that like I have the worst potty mouth. So I don’t remember that. But that went viral. Yeah. And I’m like, Oh, no. And so I knew what I was given, you know, was two minutes, and I was gonna make the best of it. So it definitely wasn’t the F you. But Nattie and I milked our storyline.”

On being announced for the Royal Rumble ahead of time:

“You know, I was bummed that they announced me before because I felt like no one thought I was going to come back ever. And I’m so good at hiding stuff like pretending that I’m somewhere else and I’m like, I’m going to pretend I’m in Dubai or something like that. also, like, old like I travel so much that like, I can put that on a boat somewhere and I don’t even have to put that it’s St. Barts or you know whatever it is. I hit my hair colour change. I wanted it to be When I was in Maxim Hot 100 I wanted to debut on the red carpet. So I think I posted me with blonde hair for like a week and then I just showed up one day. Yeah. So I remember when they said they were gonna announce me, they literally called me the day of and I was doing cardio. And it was Smackdown. And they were like, Hey, we need to sell tickets. We’re gonna announce the twins, you, Mickie James. And I was like, Mickey, I’m like, don’t announce Mickey. She’s the champ like no, like, ah, and which is I mean. Oh my gosh, that’s like such a no, no, with WWE and like, the forbidden door and everything like that. So I wasn’t gonna fight with him on me. But I’m like, I really think that’s a mistake for Mickey, but like, well, what company I’m in to be announced, you know, with the twins and Mickey. I’m like, okay, cool. And then I’m like, I haven’t told any of my friends. Like I was fabing everyone. And so I was like, Okay, now I have to call my best friend. So I like stopped doing cardio. And I called, like, two or three people. But guess what, I’m going back. Like, how long have you known three weeks? So when it came out that night, I will say that was cool. The internet was like, super excited. You know, even the haters were like, well, at least she is not back for good. Like, they’re like, cool, I’ll have one night you know, or whatever. But people, most people were excited. And it’s crazy. Because you just don’t know, if you’re gonna have a five-minute thing or a two-minute or whatever. So for me, I was like, I don’t need to train. I’m fine. Like, you know, it’s like riding a bike spin kicks, spin kicks, cover, like, it’ll be fine, you know. And so when we showed up, it’s just so many moving parts. And I can’t imagine having the job of the producers to do that. And as my first rumble, you know, I’ll show up, do what you want. But I’m gonna get my stuff over character-wise online, and I’m gonna get myself over. So yeah, and everyone says that too like, Oh, you’re only in it for a little bit. And then like, we all get paid the same? Well, not really. But like, I’m like, we’re all getting paid. And what a moment. And I actually was so so so so nervous backstage, so I’m like, Oh, God, I only have like a little bit to get it out. And it makes the fans want more, you know, you don’t go in there and mess up a 10-minute thing and then they never want to see you again.”

On people thinking there is heat between her and Natalya:

“I know. And I was thinking before I was even thinking before this that I was like, Do I fabe save him the whole interview and like keep the natty thing because even when I’m down training, Natty won’t post me on their Instagram, she’s, we got to keep it up. And I’m like, Yeah, before Natty leaves wrestling, we have to have our feud. She absolutely crushed her double segue match with Rhea and it was so good. Natty is such a good trainer. And I think that’s the one thing that people don’t know about her is she’s so patient. And when you’ve wrestled decades, and it’s just in your blood, how can you not? She probably knows like 72 pins. And so she’s so patient. And her and TJ are just so in love. It’s so gross to say. They’ve been together since they like, met when they were 13 I was actually just telling someone this like they met when they were 13 years old and she’s in the ring teaching us all and he’s just like looking at her, and like being in love and I’m like I hate this. What am I gonna find like, what is this? Like aren’t you sick of her? I’m sick of her.”

On the storyline between Summer Rae, Dolph Ziggler, Rusev and Lana:

“The Rusev, Lana, Dolph storyline was cool because it actually seems really organic like bringing in Dolph, you know, like having us do that we all really enjoyed working with each other when it first like started happening, me Single White Femaling her like pretending to be her and stuff like that was good. But yeah, when it definitely broke down Lana got injured. I can’t remember what and she was still learning how to wrestle at the time. Like she hadn’t wrestled much on the main roster so I was trying to teach her things as well as we’re going along. Yeah, when the TMZ storyline got mysteriously leaked to TMZ no one cares, we aren’t Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, you know. That really set Vince off and like everyone, because I don’t know why. But we were like the favourite storyline of him. It was crazy. I think at the time, Cena had had a storyline for four months, and we were going on three, so just wasn’t something you were seeing like how they do nowadays, like amazing, long storylines. The storytelling in WWE right now is just really coming around so differently. But it was interesting that we were like, we were getting crossover position, like great, you know, positions. And so when I went there, he was really upset. I think the head writers at the time were really upset too, because they had just been so invested in it. And I think the fans aren’t dumb like to know that there was never a payoff like we never had a payoff match. Lana and I never went back and forth. We never had the doubles match even like, so clearly something went wrong in the storyline. And so thank God, we were in Chicago, the best wrestling crowd, in my opinion in the nation, because Europe is great, as well.”

On the sudden conclusion to the storyline:

“So when the Rusev Lana storyline blew up in our faces. We’re in Chicago just happened to be and I lived in Chicago, for seven years big Bears fan. So like people knew that. And usually, I would get pretty solid reactions even if I was on Main Event or something. I was like, Oh, that’s weird I’m over. And we found out that day, I think they called me into the office. I don’t even think it was Vince. I think the head writers called me and they were like, hey, it’s on TMZ no one’s bigger than WWE. That’s a big thing for Vince was like, and Cena would always talk about that, like, no one’s bigger than WWE. And they don’t want you to think that either. So like, Oh, you want to go to TMZ and say you guys are married? Well, and that kind of ruins our storyline, which in my opinion, I don’t think it did ruin it, it’s kayfabe it’s day one. But yeah, like you want to do that? Well, watch this. It’s over. You’re breaking up with him today. Do you want to write your own promo? And I’m like, what? And yeah, and they’re like, Okay, great. We’re gonna put you together with a writer. You guys can go out and like write it. Because I was p*ssed, like, I was so mad. I was like, God, we just did all this. There’s no payoff. Like, what do I do? I’m on the European tour with them. Like, now am I kicked off European tour like that’s $15-20,000. Like, I’m just not going on tour. So the whole thing I was like so mad. And so Jimmy Jacobs and I sat in at the United States are in the arena. And Jimmy Jacobs was like, not obviously new to wrestling, but I think he was like, newer at WWE. And so he was like, Okay, we got to write this. And I just sat there. And I really told him everything. I love writing promos. I love it. Like, I want to write things for other people. I have this whole idea of watching Jungle Boy Turn the other day, and I was like, Oh, I’m gonna DM him and tell him this idea. Like, I have these ideas pouring out of me. And so we wrote the promo. And I think he went and got it approved. And right before and I was hot, like I was p*ssed and right before we went out Rusev came up to me and he was like, I don’t like this line, I don’t think we should do this line. And I said, Okay, well, I don’t like that this just happens. So this is what’s happening. [what was the line?] I think it was about him not having balls or something like or being I don’t remember if I said that you’re a little bitch, but he says, I’m like, This doesn’t make sense. But then I also described what I said to him, I said I put you over, like Dusty’s thing was always like, if you trash someone, then who cares if you beat them? So if you don’t put them over first, and then say like, Oh, that was the hardest match. You know, like people in the NBA will be like, Oh, it was a hard game, blah, blah, blah. But here we are. Yeah, if you just start like, oh, so easy. I beat him this and that. And it’s like, well, then, why should we care?”

On a rumoured Royal Rumble 2023 return:

“Yeah. So I recently God I think it was like in January, I went in the ring, Tenille was going back to the Royal Rumble. Wait, that was this year. Yeah. And she said when she showed up to the rumble practice that all of the girls were like, where’s Danielle? And she’s like, what do you what do you mean? She’s like, Danielle, like she’s in the rumble, right? And they’re like, No. So she’s like, why is the why the hell is she training? And I’m like she’s like, I don’t know, she just wants to cardio. So it was interesting that the girls thought I was like, like, fabing them. Like, I’m gonna tell like, the girls, you know.”

On never winning a championship in WWE:

“Yeah, so I’ve never held a title. Every signing that I have, everyone likes to remind me of that. But it’s nice. It’s sweet. Like everyone’s like you were so underutilised and you didn’t get, you know your flowers, and I wish you would have done that. And the main thing that I always say to everyone and the fans that consistently say that to me is I got my dream, like there is a small percentage of women in this world that ever get to be a professional wrestler and say they wrestled on the grandest stage of all in WWE, multiple WrestleManias, and that was my dream like growing up. That’s what I wanted to be I wanted to be a WWE Diva. And they were called divas and that’s what I looked up to. So I won the prize. Sure that would be cool to have, you know, a title shot but that didn’t make or break my career. Just being a part of such an amazing family and living out my passion, that’s a win for me.”

On not living in the moment:

“To be fair, now looking back and going to the Royal Rumble last year. I don’t think I ever really lived in the moments in WWE, I don’t really remember walking out in the crowd and being like oh wow. I was very in it. I was very like next thing, what do I do? And I think a lot of athletes can relate to this. It’s like, okay, got that. Okay, now I’m out of NXT. Like, where can I go here? Okay, I’m on this week, I’m on Main Event, how can I get on SmackDown? And so I never, I would have an amazing, I had a double seg match was Mercedes twice. And she loved it. And she was like, oh, let’s pitch stuff. And I’m like, Cool. Let’s see if it sticks. Like I just never really got my hopes up because so many things wouldn’t stick. And now looking back, like being at Mania, not Mania, Royal Rumble, I made sure to be present. Like I was like, I want to remember this, like, I had nerves, but it was different kinds of nerves. Like when you’re still trying to make it and you’re in it, you can’t appreciate it. Like, it’s so hard. And now going back. I’m like, look at the crowd. Look at St. Louis, Missouri. It was different. And yeah, I feel like it’s weird, you can’t absorb it almost.”

What is Summer Rae doing now?

“Yes, so in 2020, maybe 2021 After the great pandemic, post-COVID PC, that’ll be in the history books. Yeah, I had a mutual friend that got offered a position with America’s best racing. And she couldn’t take it because it was a conflict of interest. So she goes, Oh, I met this one girl in passing. Actually, you know Lisa Ann? So Lisa Ann was a sweetheart. I met her at Sirius Radio years ago. We followed each other on Instagram and didn’t really chat much. And she was so sweet. She teed me off this full-time gig The first year we live streamed every month, I went from COVID getting no checks and no money to actually getting paid monthly from this company. And then they took me on the road. And to be fair, I had no idea about horse racing or gambling. But, you know, Dusty Rhodes always would say about me, he’d be like, just put her in a room and she’ll figure it out. I don’t know if it’s I’m full of shit or what it is. But yeah, but now through osmosis and doing it weekly for three years. I know a lot about horse racing.”

What is Summer Rae grateful for?

“My health, my family and my friends.”