It’s that time of the month again when we hit you with another edition of #AskCVV! Chris Van Vliet answers questions that were submitted on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube from Insight listeners just like you. This is a monthly tradition so if you have a question that you’d like answered in the next edition, just send it with the hashtag #AskCVV. Here is a look at some of the questions from this month:

What’s been your favorite interview so far this year? 

“We’re only like three months into this right? So I guess that’s a quarter of the way through the year. But my favorite so far has got to be The Undertaker. That’s an interview that I knew might be possible but I was like man, when is this interview ever gonna happen? And if he checked it out, I hope that you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. They told me it was going to be about 15 minutes, we ended up going a little longer than 20 minutes, and what a down to earth guy Mark Callaway is. And so great to just hear him telling stories about the legacy that he left. I mean, he is truly one of the greatest of all time. And to be able to sit down and share a bit of a conversation with him was so cool. So that for sure is the favorite episode of the year so far. So if you haven’t checked that one out, it is available. It’s just a few episodes ago, so you can go see that thing, it is episode number 452. So it’s just 1,2,3,4 episodes ago, you can go check that one out. So thank you so much for that question.”

Have you ever interviewed a wrestler or a celebrity who was way way late for the interview? Or who just didn’t show up, but was scheduled to show up? 

“Yes. And I think that when you do, I think last year we had like 120 episodes, you know, some stuff is gonna fall through the cracks. But there was one this year, and I’m not going to name any names. But there was one this year where we set it up, and we were going to do this in-person in LA. We set this one up, we agreed on the date, we agreed on the time. I gave them the directions, the instructions, everything. And I got to the studio now 15 minutes early, we’re getting all set up. And I just messaged him and said, Hey, let me know when you’re on the way. And usually, that gets you a response just a few minutes later, I’ll have like, Oh, I’m on the way, see you in five, or, Hey, I’m running a little bit late, but I’ll see you in 15-20, whatever it happens to be. I message them and I didn’t hear anything back. And I went, Oh, this isn’t good. And I looked at my audio engineer and I said this isn’t, this isn’t good. So the interview was scheduled for I think it was like one o’clock. And it was like 1:05. And I’m like I still haven’t heard from them. And then it turned into 1:10. And then it turned into 1:15. Then it turned into 1:20, and I’m standing outside the building like looking around. I’m like, maybe they’re lost, like, and they’re just not responding to me. But I don’t know what’s going on. And I finally turned to him, the audio engineer, and I said I don’t think that’s what’s happening. I just, I I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I feel like I would have heard back from them in some sort of way. And then finally, after like 45 minutes, they were like, Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I was double scheduled during this time, and it just, it didn’t happen, let’s reschedule for another time. But that’s okay, like stuff comes up. It was just so strange that we had this schedule that locked in and it didn’t end up happening. It still hasn’t happened, we haven’t rescheduled them. So don’t, don’t go like looking through the previous episodes trying to figure out who it was. I will tell you right now, the episode has not been rescheduled yet. And when it does get rescheduled, perhaps we’ll make a joke about this. And you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. But yeah, that was one.” 

“I did another one, actually, not that long ago either, where this one was gonna be over Zoom. And I sent them the Zoom link, and I was dealing with like, their people. I wasn’t dealing directly with the person, I was dealing with their people who scheduled this. They gave me the date, they gave me the time. I said, Yep, that works, let’s do it. I sent them the Zoom link, and I thought we were good to go. And I logged into the Zoom room a little bit early. And I think this is the thing, especially with the Zoom interviews, if a Zoom interview is scheduled for like, let’s call it 10. And that person is not there and hasn’t messaged you by like 10:05. It’s not looking good. So it was like it was 10:05. And I messaged them, and I was like, hey, yeah, I’m in the Zoom room, ready when you are, and there was no response. And then I got an email from their people. And they said, Hey, can you give us a quick call? I was like, this isn’t gonna be good. So I called and they said, Oh, we are so sorry, we scheduled this with you, but it didn’t get put onto their calendar. So we’re so sorry, let’s reschedule it. So we ended up rescheduling that, you’ll end up seeing it at some time in the next few months. But all of this is to say that this is the communications business. And I think the most important part about this is not just the communication that happens when the camera is turned on or the microphone is turned on, it’s all of the communication that happens before and afterwards too. And it’s just so funny how, I get it, some things slip through the cracks, and it sucks, but that’s just the way it goes. So if you have a podcast, or you have a YouTube channel, or you’re doing any sort of interviews, you know what I’m talking about. And you just can’t take it personally, that’s the biggest thing I’ve realized none of this is personal at all. They just, it just happens. It just happens.”

You are seemingly genuinely positive person most of the time, which is really refreshing, by the way, out of curiosity, what is something that someone does or says that immediately annoys you? Or upsets you? 

“That’s such an interesting question about pet peeves. And I travel a bunch, right? And this is so silly, and it’s so petty. But my biggest pet peeve is people in airports, who like, have no sense of the space around them. So here’s what I’m talking about. Everybody’s kind of walking at like a similar pace. And this is the same thing you know, when you’re going anywhere, a train station will be a similar thing to so in the airport, you know, you’re going from point A to point B, and it’s fascinating that when you’re keeping up with the pace of the person walking in front of you, and they’ll just stop dead in their tracks, they’ll just stop. And you have to do everything in your power to not crash into them with your suitcase. And it’s just amazing to me how someone can be so unaware of their surroundings. If you got to stop to, you know, check the signage, or you want to stop to go Oh, does that store serve Fiji Water, have Fiji Water? Or oh my gosh, are those Skittles there? I think you need to like, kind of like you’re on a highway, you can like pull over to the side and look? Like, it’s just amazing. The next time you’re in an airport, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about if you aren’t already with me on this ride here. But it’s this idea of like, walk, walk, walk, and they just stop. And then you’re like, woah, oh my gosh. So that’s it. It’s so small. It’s so petty. And I think, you know, kind of tying into the last thing that we talked about just lack of communication in general. Not just talking professionally, but personally to like, when someone, you ask someone a question, I think that, you know, response is, like, when you’re talking to a friend, a family member or someone you like, have an ongoing relationship with, and you send them a message and they don’t respond. I get that people get busy. But I think that that’s another one for me is just like, oh, man, come on, like, we were, we were going back and forth, we were ping ponging with these messages. And then you’re like, hey, so whatever the question happens to be, and then there’s no response. And then you know, you follow up a few days later, and then they go, Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I missed this. I’m so sorry. So I think that that’s, that’s it for me. I know, the airport one is so silly. If you ever see me in an airport, you’ll know I mean, doesn’t happen all the time. It doesn’t happen in every airport trip. But when it does, it’s like I just kind of wish, just kind of wish you knew you knew there were you know, dozens of other people walking behind you.” 

What’s the funniest interview you’ve ever done? 

“Wow, I’ll give you two. I’ll give you two, and they’re just hilariously funny people. One is Will Ferrell, who is just a naturally hilarious person. And the way that he says things and his delivery. It’s so funny. I’ve had the good fortune of interviewing him a few times. And it’s just something you always look forward to because I mean, you want to talk about someone who’s always positive, geez, he’s great. And he just yeah, really naturally funny. And the second one is Kevin Hart. And he like brings it every single time you talk to him, I think I’ve talked to Kevin Hart, I think I’ve interviewed him like, seven or eight times. In fact, there was a point when I was living in Miami, and working for the Fox station in Miami, where he had just so many movies coming out, it was back to back to back to back. And there was a point when I interviewed him for like, the fourth time in six months or something like that. And I said, this is gonna sound crazy, but I’ve actually seen you more than I’ve seen my family over the last six months, and it was true. I hadn’t seen my, I think I’d seen my family like once, and I’d seen him like on four different occasions. And he’s like, Well, I guess that I guess that makes us family. So those two people are just effortless, effortlessly funny. And I feel like they’re the type of people that were put on this earth to do what they’re doing, and they are living in their passion and he just loved to see that. Yeah, just love to see it.”

What do you do when you have trouble sleeping? 

“Well, first of all, I love sleep, like so much. And I think that that old thing of like the old mantra of like I’ll sleep when I’m dead. I think that we’re starting to realize now, like this generation is starting to realize now that no, like sleep is so important for like, the rest of you know, restoring your body and like being at your peak. So I’m a big fan of sleep. And I know that sometimes your mind just races and you lay down and that’s like when all those thoughts enter your head. So for me, I try my best to just like think of like nothing, and I physically like picture it in my mind of like, I am looking at a black space, I’ve actually closed my eyes right now as I’m saying this I’m like just looking at a black space. And my focus then becomes on like, just looking and thinking about just darkness and nothingness and really focusing on my breathing, in through my nose and also out through my nose. And that’s been it for me. And it’s been difficult because my wife is almost eight months pregnant right now and our baby is due very soon, as I’m recording this due in May. And she’s obviously for you know, very obvious reasons having trouble sleeping right now. So me talking about how much I love sleep and here’s what I do to get to fall asleep makes me feel bad because she’s got a baby kicking her at all hours of the night and pushing on her bladder and making her go to the bathroom. So I get that’s not, I get that that’s not a you know, there’s a real dichotomy there. Between the two but that’s it for me.”

Where do you stand on cinematic matches? It still feels like it can be spun off into something original to me, especially given the number of sci-fi crossovers. 

“Really great question. And I think that cinematic matches serve an amazing place in time. And I think for a lot of us, that will be, those will be some of the best matches that will remember from what I’ll call the pandemic era of wrestling. And I think that the matches that we saw before and the matches that we may see after, are matches that are going to serve a real specific purpose. Like when Matt Hardy did The Ultimate Deletion, it made a lot of sense. You know, like that was kind of the world that he lived in, or Bray Wyatt doing something like that, that was the world that he lived in, and it made sense for that match to happen. And I think that when there were arenas that had you know, they were having WrestleMania with no crowd and they were doing all those shows with no crowd. ThunderDome was a really great way to kind of like, make the best of a bad situation. But nothing, nothing is better than having a live crowd at a wrestling show. So I think that they were really good at during that time going, man, if we can’t have a live show, let’s do the best that we can with what’s in front of us. So, I think that they were a great thing in 2020 and into 2021. And I think that if we’re gonna see another one beyond that, it just has to make sense. Like it just can’t be two people for the sake of having a cinematic match doing it. And I also think that if you were to have a, you know, if this was a pay-per-view match, I’m sorry, Premium Live Event match. It wouldn’t make sense to, you know, have a match in-person. And then basically be like, tell everyone like, we want to draw your attention now to the jumbotron to the TitanTron, to watch a match, it just wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have an arena full of 15,000 20,000 Maybe if it’s a WrestleMania 80,000 people just watching a screen for 15-20 minutes. So I think that was very much a product of that era and did a really good job. Like the boneyard match. So, so good. And it also allowed Undertaker to do some things that maybe he wasn’t able to do in front of a live crowd. So if I, to answer your question where do I stand on them? I liked them. I just think that they serve a certain purpose and a certain time.” 

Can you describe the feeling of having your own action figure? 

“This is pretty cool. If you follow me on Instagram, or you follow me on Twitter, Rush Collectibles, announced that I have a figure coming out later this year, and it’s so cool. It’s like me wearing a suit, I’ve got a microphone there, and it’s, man, it’s hard to describe the feeling. Because I grew up collecting action figures. I was a big Triple H fan, of course a Rock fan, had their action figures, so to be able to have one of my own is pretty cool. So you can see the prototype right now; it’s unpainted, but we’re working on it. You can see that on my Instagram. And once I have all of the details, I will get them to you. As soon as I get them on how you can buy them, we’re going to do I think two editions, we’re going to do just like the action figure in the very cool packaging that we’ve been working on, and then we’re also going to have one that’s an autographed version of that. So two different versions. And as soon as I get the details, you’ll be hearing about it here and of course on all social media. So yeah. Oh, really, really cool. Like, super cool to have that be a thing.” 

What’s the first match You’ll show your child? And at what age will I show my child this match? 

“So our baby girl will be with us in less than two months, it’s coming up real quick. I don’t know, I think that my favorite match of all time has got to be a match that I show someone, or show my daughter, Rock versus Hogan WrestleMania 18. Just because that crowd tells the whole story. It’s the way that the crowd gets into it. And look, if you’ve listened to the show for a long time, this should come as no surprise to you how much I love that match and just that I love the storytelling in that match. So that’s got to be up there. And I think that if I were to show my daughter or just a non-wrestling fan a match to say look how good these wrestlers are, like, look at how good the athleticism is, look how good the storytelling is. I would show them my second favorite match or I guess my favorite like in-ring like wrestling. Like if we’re talking in terms of like athleticism. It’s the TNA match. With Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. And that match is just so so good. And I always go back to that one too, just because the athleticism in that match is crazy. It’s the epitome of what TNA was all about. That match is so so great.” 

I noticed the Batista interview, your time is cut, but Batista asked for one more question. Do you know how much time you’re allowed during celebrity and movie interviews? And how do you deal with a celebrity that is either unresponsive or disinterested in your time? 

“So yeah, that was a really cool one. If you want to check that out It’s on my YouTube channel. It’s fun when Dave Bautista was in the James Bond movie Spectre. And I went to ask him a question. And I knew that it was being wrapped up, but I want to squeeze in a wrestling question. And he said to the person who was doing the timing in the room, like oh, no, it’s okay, let’s do one more question. It was like, Oh, my gosh, thank you so much, Dave. Like, I appreciate that. So yeah, you do usually know how much time you’re gonna have. And for those celebrity junket interviews, as they call them, you’re usually given four to five minutes. And not only do you know how much time you have, when you’re walking into it, there’s someone that’s standing right by the camera that’s over the shoulder of the celebrity, and they’re giving you time cues. So the interview starts, you do your thing. So there’s a camera over their shoulder and a camera over my shoulder. And you’ll see someone they have cards, and they will hold up a card for two minutes left. They’ll hold up a card for one minute left, and then they’ll start doing the wrap sign, you know, like the waving the finger, the wrap sign. So yes, you walk into it knowing exactly how much time you’re, you’re gonna have. So if it’s a four minute interview, I would usually prepare four to five questions and hope if the conversation goes well that you can get to all of them. But that’s also not to say that if something that you ask springs off into another conversation that you can’t follow it down that path. So that’s just always something you got to keep in mind so it’s an actual, like, true conversation. And how do you deal with a celebrity that’s either unresponsive or disinterested in your time? I think the thing is, you just got to try to build rapport from the second that you walk in the room. And I think that a big mistake that a lot of interviewers make when they’re just getting started, is they think that the interview begins the second that they say, Okay, we’re rolling, or the you know, the second that red light turns on or the second that you hit record on your recorder, the audio recorder. The interview really begins the second that you walk into that room, or the second, that Zoom window pops up if it happens to be a virtual interview. And I think it’s important to set the tone, set the mood, try to build rapport, as much as you can, attempt to find some sort of common ground. My friend Kevin McCarthy, who is blowing up right now on TikTok, give him a follow if you have TikTok, he’s @KevinMcCarthyTV, he’s so good at talking to actors or directors and like, his enthusiasm for film is just off the charts. And I love the way that he will talk to a director about their use of a certain lens. Or they’ll he’ll talk about how much he loved the score and a movie or like, the cinematographer doing something. And I think that that brings the person that he’s talking to, it brings the connection in a different way. So, you know, obviously, you know, the same things are not going to work for different people. But if you could find something, find some sort of way to just win them over a little bit. That’s how I find the conversation will flow that much better. So that’s what I always attempt to do.”

Top three airports?

“Oh, probably should have thought about this before I answered this question. Man, top three airports, I can give you a few of my least favorite airports. And we’ll start with Atlanta. It’s nothing against the city of Atlanta. But everything is so far away there, and very rarely running on time, so Atlanta is a tough one. And like, there’s nothing that’s more frustrating to me than having to take a train to get to another terminal, and that’s Atlanta, that’s also Dallas, where it’s like, you land on one side of the airport and you’re like, Oh, sure, I’ll just walk there and you’re like, Oh, I can’t, I can’t actually walk there. Even if I wanted to walk there, I have to take a train there. So that’s always a frustrating one. Toronto is a favorite airport of mine for obvious reasons. That’s my hometown, that was the airport that I flew out of as a kid and as a teenager and in my 20s and when I go back, like I did this past weekend, I was at the awesome toy show in Mississauga, Ontario and had such a great time there hanging out with everybody at the show and just such a great, so much fun. Can’t wait to go back there for another awesome toy show. But there’s just something cool about especially going back home after being away for a few months. Or in the case of 2020 and 2021. I hadn’t flown back in like a year and a half just because of all the silly travel restrictions that were going on at that time. And there’s something great about going back and seeing the Canadian flag for the first time. It’s just so exciting. So top three airports, I don’t know and I’ll give you my favorite and my least favorite right there.”

WarGames? Elimination Chamber or Hell in a Cell? 

“I think for that, boy I like them all for different reasons and I disliked them all for different reasons. So my favorite there is WarGames just because of how unique the setup is and how many different possibilities there are, so I’m gonna go WarGames. Hell in a Cell, out of those three is actually going to be my least favorite. I guess it’s my, or at least one of my least favorite pay-per-views. I don’t like the fact that there’s a Hell in a Cell match, just because the pay-per-view or Premium Live Event is called Hell in a Cell. Like I like when it serves a purpose. Like when it’s WrestleMania, Finn Balor and Edge, like I love that it’s like, this has gotten so out of hand that a regular match can’t contain this. We’ve got to put it inside Hell in a Cell. So just having a Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, it’s like, hey, let’s throw these two people in Hell in a Cell and see what happens. I’ve never been a fan of that. I like, I like storytelling a lot. So yeah, and I think Elimination Chamber is really interesting. I prefer the old setup of Elimination Chamber, and you know what I’m talking about here.”

“Suga” Rashad Evans (@sugarashadevans) is UFC Hall of Famer and the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about growing up in Niagara Falls, NY, how he got started in MMA, getting an offer to appear on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter as a Heavyweight, knocking out Chuck Liddell, beating Forrest Griffin to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, his beef with Rampage Jackson and settling it on the set of the movie “Boss Level”, his function mushroom company called Umbo, does a hilarious impression of Mike Tyson and much more!

On Vegas being special for fighters:

“It brings back a lot of memories. When I first started to come here during The Ultimate Fighter days, it just brings back that whole familiarity. My whole fight career for the most part was born in, you know, Vegas. It’s one of those things that every time I come here, as soon as the plane is about to touch down, I feel the butterflies. But then it’s like, oh wait, I don’t gotta fight. Because it just becomes ingrained in you for so long, but it is home to me. I have my routine here in Vegas, and I love it here in Vegas.”   

On what it is like to walk through the curtain:

“Oh man. It’s one of those things where you are battling yourself, and that’s when you realize that competition is not about your opponent, it is all about you. When you are battling yourself and you are sitting in the room 8 hours before you gotta walk out, it’s like fight purgatory. You are just sitting there and battling yourself, the good one on one side and the bad one on each shoulder. You’re battling your mindset. You’re battling those thoughts of giving in. When you get to that point of I’ve got this and you’re confident, you start making that walk. Every once in a while, you know, you train so that you don’t have to think. Like when you are warming up, you don’t think about what will happen, you’re just in your routine. As you start to walk, every once in a while, the you comes out, and you’re like oh my God, this is about to happen. When you walk out and the lights hit you, it’s like oh sh*t, this is happening right here and right now, I gotta get ready.”      

On the importance of a routine:

“When you have all eyes on you, it is important to have a routine, because the routine can help to eliminate all of the thinking parts. When you are getting ready to fight, you want to eliminate the thinking component of your mindset. You want to just be able to react, and that is what training is about, it is teaching you to just react.”

On original career plans:

“You know what? I was going to be a police officer, that was what I was going to be. I loved the police officer lifestyle. One of my biggest mentors at the time was my karate teacher, and he was a police cop. I just love the whole mindset of what a cop brings, so I wanted to be a cop.”

On the journey ending:

“Once I graduated from Michigan State I tried to become a police officer but they had a hiring freeze. So I started to work in the hospital as a security guard, biding my time. But then I discovered MMA, which started as a hobby and led me to where I am now.” 

On being on The Ultimate Fighter:

“So Dan Severn was being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, and at the time the first season of The Ultimate Fighter had just wrapped. They said that they were going to do a second season of The Ultimate Fighter, do you [Dan Severn] have any talent that you think might be good here? He said yeah I might know a guy. So he reaches out to me and said, Rashad, have you heard of the series The Ultimate Fighter. I’m like, yeah I am crazy about it. He then said, Well they are doing another season, and they want to know if I knew anybody. The problem is that it is heavyweight, and you are like 190 lbs, so there is no way you can do this. I was like no Dan, I can do it. I put on all kinds of weight, I put on 20 lbs, but not good weight. It was mashed potato, mac and cheese, that was what I ate until I got to 220 lbs.”

On the fight that put Rashad Evans on the map:

“I would say it has to be the Chuck Liddell fight. I’ve had great fight with Rampage and feuded with Jon Jones, but the fight with Chuck Liddell was the one that made me realize. I had a couple of KO’s until then, but it was still like eh. I was still being doubted, they were like all you are going to do is wrestle hump people. They were tired of it [decisions]. When I laid that punch out, it was like wow this kid has got some punch. Dealing with fear and uncertainty is something that a lot of fighters fear, they fear it all the time. But not a lot of fighters articulate it, not a lot of fighters would speak on it. Back in the day, to admit that you were afraid and had doubt, that was a taboo thing. It was like you were the shield and be like I will smash him up, be the uber tough guy. But inside, you feel scared, you know. George St. Pierre was one of the first ones who started to speak about how he really felt. He’d be like ‘My God my friend, this is crazy. This is my last fight, I’m done! I’m finished!’ The buildup got into his head, but he would battle out and he would win. When I saw him go through that mental preparation, it was like alright, it is alright to feel these feelings. It is important to ot only train your body, but to train your mind too.”

On the head kick against Sean Salmon:

“It did it [knocked out Salmon] and it came out of nowhere. I was training with Mike Winkeljohn, who has a really good eye on what you can capitalize on. I would train again and again and throw that kick all the time. In the first round, he was just taking me down and I couldn’t land any of the kicks, I was getting embarrassed. That fight was on the launch on Spike TV, and we only had a limited time. The UFC was like yo, this card is going longer than we want it to, we need to finish. Here I am being served up a guy, he wasn’t the original guy I was supposed to fight. I’m going out there and losing the first round. I look over and I see Dana [White], and he has this look when he is disappointed in you, it is worse than your parents. I’m like relax, I got this. So the next round I am p*ssed off, this dude is embarrassing me. Then I saw the opening, I threw it, and I hit him. When he went down, I didn’t know if he was out so I hit him again, and he was super out! Then I got nervous like, what did I just do?”

On beef with Rampage Jackson:

“Oh yeah, there was beef with Rampage. It was to the point where it was almost like on site, like whenever I would see him, we were about to fight. It was like that because I don’t like it when someone tries to raise a leg on me, p*ss on me, you know. If felt like every time I tried to interact with him, he would always try to do that. So I’m like, I’m not going to be your whooping boy, so I’m going to try and be more offensive and take him by surprise. It was a combination of that and us both being in the same room. It got to the point where it spilled over. We were training in Vegas and had to coach, so we would see each other in the same places. One night he jumps in my face, the security guys get involved, and I get kicked out of the club!”

Are you both Ok now?

“Yeah, we actually just did a movie together called Boss Level. We both play German twins. When I read the script, I was like this is awesome man, I thought it was excellent. But for me, the caveat was getting to work with Rampage. Up until then we were like ok, but we didn’t get to sit down and talk. When you talk to somebody that you fought, it is amazing how you see things from their narrative. It was good to talk to him and bury the hatchet and know him as a person. We are so alike.”

On Sean “Sugar” O’Malley using the same nickname:

“At first I was like hmm, that’s interesting. But I’m like, it’s flattering. If I couldn’t have carried the name sugar then he wouldn’t have picked sugar if there already wasn’t one who was very flavourly. He bit, but that is the age and the time that we are in right now. I look at it as flattery, and I wish the best for the kid, he has made it his own.” 

Who is Rashad Evans now?

“I am at peace, which is something I couldn’t say during my fighting career, which I can’t say if that’s a good thing or not. Me not being at peace was part of the fuel that allowed me to be such a savage. This is not a civilised game, you are trying to separate a man from consciousness or take a limb home. Not being at peace helped me be successful, but I could have avoided some of the pitfalls.” 

What is Rashad Evans grateful for:

“The ability to be here right now, health and the understanding and relationship I have with God.”

Chris Masters (@chrismasters310) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and also in NWA and IMPACT Wrestling where he works under the name Chris Adonis. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how his upcoming match for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship was manifested in our last interview, what his thoughts are on Tyrus, the difference between Chris Masters and Chris Adonis, the story of how he saved his mom from a burning house, breaking Stevie’s Richards’s nose in his WWE debut match, what working with Shawn Michaels was like and more!

On wanting to face Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania:

“Yes, he did [react to the last interview]. And I just noticed today that Wyatt is out for WrestleMania. So Bobby, he is looking for an opponent and I told Bobby under his Instagram posts that I left that date open for him. So maybe one day, we will get this Hurt Lock, Master Lock match. Believe me, I’m pushing for it. But um, you know, couple loose ends I got to tie up there.”

On if a Bobby Lashley match were to happen:

“I mean, it would be really cool. But it’s one of those things where oh my gosh, it’s just so, it feels so far fetched that it could actually happen. But like, if it did, I mean, just imagine the surprise, it would be like. Let’s just say he didn’t have an opponent, and they didn’t know. Although, you know, I have a feeling they could fill that spot. Obviously they have a big talent roster. But you know, it definitely be a very interesting surprise to out of nowhere have a Hurt Lock vs. Master Lock. But it would kind of hurt to not be able to properly build it either if we weren’t able to do that, because, you know, the build for that thing would be freaking great. You know, Full Nelson versus Full Nelson. And, you know, I have so many ideas just based on the fact that he is still as big as he is, and I’m much different. So I mean, the matchup would just be completely different.”

On Tyrus being the NWA World Heavyweight Champion:

“Well, here’s the thing. What as he calls them, the trolls, what I will give him is this. What the, as he would call them, the trolls, don’t understand is Tyrus does love professional wrestling. He does have a love for [it]. But what he doesn’t understand is the trolls. It’s not they’re not woke, it’s not a right or left thing, it’s a professional wrestling thing. And quite frankly, the wrestling fans are resentful of a guy who comes in to, or back into professional wrestling, as kind of, say, a side hustle. Or, you know, let’s put it this way. If he lost the NWA title, he’d be just fine because he’d be out there hosting Greg Gutfeld, he’d be doing his thing on Fox News. And you know, the wrestling audience, what it comes down to is they want the best wrestler in that position, and they want the best wrestler holding the most prestigious title in professional wrestling. And quite frankly, they don’t think that Tyrus fits the bill.”

Why does Chris Adonis feel like the number one contender?

“Well, I mean, I felt like I was the best wrestler in NWA for a long time now. Every time I’ve gone out there, I feel like I’ve had to go out there and, and prove myself. And, you know, I see a guy like Tyrus, who now you know, sits in his ivory tower back in New York at Fox News, holding the NWA title hostage. And when I see that, all I see is a guy, you know, using the NWA title as a prop for his own personal vanity, and I’m not cool with that. And when I come into Chicago, April 7th, for the NWA 312 Pay Per View, I am going to represent all those trolls representing all the wrestling fans representing all the marks representing all the smart marks. And how ironic is it that formally Chris Masters, the guy who was never an internet darling, will come into Chicago, a wrestling town, if there ever was one, and will represent the wrestling audience against big bad Tyrus?”

On an upcoming NWA World Championship match against Tyrus:

“Yeah. You know, Chris, I mean, quite frankly, we spoke it into existence. A lot of people are wondering what the heck is Chris Adonis, Chris Masters doing back here. But yes, we did speak it into existence. From my perspective, I feel like I’ve been one of the best wrestlers in the game for the last year. And it’s just taken everybody else this long to kind of catch up. So like, I’ve seen this all in my head and it doesn’t surprise me. But it is nice to have hard work pay off. And you know, based on our last interview that I’ve put everything into professional wrestling and being the best professional wrestler, and to see it pay dividends in the form of a world title match with Tyrus on pay-per-view, is pretty cool.”

On the prestige of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship:

“I do every day, Harley Race, Nature Boy Ric Flair, just to name a couple. But those are two of the most influential guys in my professional wrestling career. Nature Boy, Ric Flair, obviously being one of the goats in Harley Race. Being a guy who kind of took me in right outside of WWE. I don’t actually get to talk about that very much. But the first time I got released, Harley Race really took me under his wing for a good 6 to 12 months. I met his then wife BJ, and they really taught me the game from the independent aspect. And they let me stay at their house and like, it was just, it was an incredible experience. So when you bring up the NWA title, those are the first two that come to mind of many.”

On Chris Adonis being different to Chris Masters:

“He’s just so much [different]. It’s just night and day. Chris Masters started out focused, but I mean, just completely lost his way and, you know, didn’t prioritise what he needed to and didn’t focus solely on professional wrestling, his ultimate love, which it’s always been. And now Chris Adonis is a guy who is a polished performer, a great in-ring worker, a guy that understands psychology, one of the best sellers in the business, not to completely break the third wall. But I mean, honestly, these are the things I stand by when it comes to me. So like, he’s different physically, he’s different mentally, he’s different spiritually, he’s different emotionally.”

On saving his mother’s life:

“Okay, so I’m at Gold’s Gym, which we both worked out at, just not too long ago. And what happened, I received a phone call from my mom’s neighbour saying that something was going on at her apartment. She didn’t know what was something funny was up. So then I go to call my mom. And anytime I call my mom, I get a voicemail without fail, like, you know, it’ll ring but then it’ll go to voicemail. This particular time, it just kept ringing, which doesn’t sound like much, but for me was a big red flag. Why is the answering machine? It always goes off. So I immediately hopped in my truck, and I went from Venice to West LA, it’s only about 10 minutes. Thank God, I was in town, by the way, and I get there and it’s an odd scene, I get there, and my uncle who was staying with my mom at the time is locked out. That’s all I see is him at the door. So I get out of the truck. And I don’t know what’s going on. I’m like, What is going on? And I get to the door. And you know, I’m trying, I don’t even know what my uncle told me. But I start trying to make communication through the door. And somebody starts speaking to me, it’s a voice I don’t recognise and they are just speaking. Like I’m asking about my mom, and this person is like talking crazy. They’re like, she’s my mom too now. And, you know, we’re gonna go, I don’t even know he said something like, we’re gonna go to heaven together. Like it was, yeah, it was out. But here’s the thing, so I realized within, it didn’t take long for me to realize oh, this guy’s tripping on something. Like he’s either tripping on meth or crack like this is not what comes out of a straight even a crazy person’s mouth. It just sounded too bizarre. So I had found out also to another twist this whole thing that the cops were actually there and had left so like, I don’t know where the confusion was like they didn’t obviously, didn’t know she was locked in the house. But somehow they come by and did not read the situation and left. Okay, so I’m in so I’m trying to figure out what to do. And I’m looking at the door. And I’m thinking about kicking it down, obviously, because there’s a madman in the house with my mom. [Chris – The house isn’t on fire yet]. No, no, no fire. No, I don’t even know that. It’s barricaded. [You’re just trying to get in]. Yeah. And he’s not letting me in. And so like, you know, your first instinct is like f*ck, this guy’s you know, I’m sure doesn’t matter. And I’m gonna kick the door down. Thank God I didn’t. I had the smarts to know that, like, what if I don’t get this door down? What if I can’t get in and then I escalate the situation. So you know, I took a breath. I walked out to the street so he couldn’t hear me and I called the police. And I told them hey, you know, I heard you guys were here. I need you to come back. I don’t know what happened. But my mom was barricaded with a madman. And I’m about to kick the door down and I need some help.”

Did you know this guy?

“Well, it turns out no, I don’t know who it is initially. But it turns out he’s actually staying with one of the other neighbours. But like, this is a guy who’s on the outs. And he’s just, he’s a mess I guess apparently. I don’t know I wasn’t around there at the time, except for right this instance. But so where are we? So I tell the cops and then they come back. The cops are back now. And they form a perimeter and they put me on the perimeter, right? And like, you know, this whole time, man, this whole thing sucks. Like your mom is [inside], and here’s an important detail left out. As I’m communicating with her through or him through the door. I hear my mom yell something about fire. She’s like speaking in code. And I can tell that she’s saying that he’s basically, he’s threatening her to start a fire in there. So I already knew that much. So and that’s why I didn’t also didn’t kick the door down because she had said that and it made me think he’s gonna start a fire and I can’t get the door down then I’m screwed. What do I do? Okay, so anyways, now the cops come, they form a perimeter, I’m on that perimeter. And they start trying to communicate obviously, same thing. And then they start trying to get the door down. And again, this just kind of solidifies my position. They couldn’t get the door down. They get the battering ram. I did, a cop bigger than me with boots on because I had like athletic shoes too. He couldn’t get the dirt on it kicked it three times and they get the battering ram and it takes about three to four tries to get the door down. This is because the door first of all is very sturdy, but it’s also barricaded by a tonne of sh*t. Like just he took whatever he could and put in front of the door and barricaded it. But hold on a second now. So while all this is happening, this is where it gets intense. Okay, they forced me on the perimeter, right? So I’m watching this all happen. And as they’re trying to get this door down in the corner window, I see a fire emanate. And so right at that moment is where everything starts for me. I’m like, Oh, hell no. I sprang into action because I’m just like, I’m on, like I’m, because while all this is happening to once they get the door down, like actually I’m going a little forward like okay, so I see the fire. I come over there, and I grabbed the hose, and I think one of the cops breaks the window and I stick the frickin hose through there. I don’t even know what that was. That was probably the stupidest thing I did out of the whole exchange but like you see a fire and you’re just trying to like, you know, it’s also it’s the house, its possessions you’re trying to like, what can I do to preserve that, in addition to more importantly, save her life. But okay, so now as this is happening, I stick the hose in there for whatever reason, and I come around the corner, they’ve gotten the door down with the battering ram, but like smoke comes burrowing out. So the fire had already been starting for like the little bit of time elapsed between these two, you know what I mean? As far as the story, but and I see all the cops back like they basically they take steps back. And you know, this is my mom. So I’m completely irrational, I’m like thinking in my head, what are they doing? Like she and then you know, like, why are they backing off. And again, we’re talking about smoke burrowing, so they can’t, they have no choice, but it’s my mom. So I’m completely irrational. And that’s when I realized this is the moment. Once the smoke came burrowing out, I realised she might die, and it’s not gonna be from the fire, she’s gonna die from the smoke. And it felt and that was the moment that it all, it was real the whole time, but that was the moment where the adrenaline shot through the roof and I just knew I have to save her right now. And so what I did is I knew exactly where her room was. She had two windows, and one of the windows was blocked by a tree. So I told the cop break these windows break these windows, she’s in this room because again, they can’t enter because the smoke and she breaks one, no sign of her. Now the other window is blocked by a tree. So I freaking grabbed the tree and I bear hug it, and I basically rip it to the ground. Like I like come to the ground with it. She breaks that window. Nothing. Nothing. All of a sudden my mom pops up. But it was like for me, it was like, Oh my God, thank God and I got up, I scooped her out, I brought her about 50 feet from the scene. I made sure she was okay. And then the last bit to the story was the next thing I know, I’m checking on her and I see them wrestling him out in front of the apartment. And I rushed over there and I give like, you know what I can only describe and what most people identify kind of as like almost an RKO punt to his head when there was an opening. So and that was I mean, that’s pretty much the story, you know. And like I’ve and that’s as detailed as I think I can get with I’ve had to tell that story a lot of times, but it’s been a while. And this is also the perfect platform for it. So yeah, that’s what happened, man and this guy. You know, you ended up going to jail for four years. I think he’s out now and I’m pretty sure I’m assuming he was on meth or something like I don’t know. He was really, the behaviour was just so odd.” 

On working with Shawn Michaels:

“By far for me, he was, even to this day still, by far the easiest working experience I’ve ever had. And not to say I wasn’t like nervous working him or anything. But like, there’s something about first of all, when you first of all, it goes without saying he’s the best in-ring guy ever. He’s over, which is also a very important thing to like, have the crowd invested in him. But um, when it’s your favourite wrestler, there’s something like you already know, like you know, you know what I mean? Like, the only thing I remember early on is I was trying to like, as super excited. I was trying to get him to do some of the like, some of the things he did back in his first run. He’s like, whoa, whoa, kid, we got to create the illusion of movement of which, you know, so you rein me in and I kind of understood like, oh, okay, so this is why he does it and this is how we worked things. But like, yeah, it was the easiest, easiest experience in my life and one of the greatest learning lessons because after I gained his trust after like one or two matches, which, by the way, just kind of happened. It was in a, it was during Raw on a break. And I remember I took Shawn and we’re in commercial and I’m going to ram his back into the post, like I got him like a body slam. And I can hear, I’m running full force, and like, this is a second time in the ring, I can hear that fear in his voice. He’s like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And like really last second, I put my hand in between his back in the post. So he didn’t get any of it, if anything, my hands took all of it. And I always feel like that was one of the moments where he at least he trusted, okay, the kid won’t kill me. And then we worked a live event. And it was our first live event and the match was okay, like it felt okay, but I just remember after he had this confidence, it’s like, whoa, kid, if that’s the worst day you got for me, then we’re gonna be all right. And then from that point on, he just let me call all the matches, which, you know, when you’re 20 year old, I mean, you’re a 20 old kid, calling the matches against your favourite all time wrestler growing up, it was just like, everything was phrased in a question. I couldn’t help it. Yeah, I mean, it’s just like, duck, one baseball slide. I don’t know, chop, chop, you know. So anyways, but like it was amazing.”

Featured image: WrestleZone

Austin Theory (@austin_theory) is a professional wrestler signed to WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his upcoming match at WrestleMania 39 against John Cena for the United States Championship, his dream to become a pro wrestler at age 8, looking up to John Cena, what he learned from working closely with Vince McMahon, what happened when he was just known as “Theory” on WWE TV and how he got his first name back, taking an unforgettable Stunner from Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 38, what his diet and workout routine look like, his aspirations to be at the top of the WWE and much more!

The last time we did an interview together was like the start of 2019. And you manifested what’s happening right now you, manifested this match with John Cena.

“Yeah, it’s so funny you bring that up, too, because this is the interview you’re speaking of specifically, that’s the one that’s floating around all over the place right now. Just because of this. Yeah, it was definitely manifested for sure.”

Like, I feel like you weren’t just talking about like, oh yeah, I want to match with Cena because he was the top guy. You want to match with Cena because you feel like you deserve a match with Cena, and I love that about you.

“Yeah. And it’s funny, because all of that is. It’s kind of tying into how I feel now. And that’s feeling inevitable. Because when I really look at the, you know, the timeline of how long I’ve wanted to do this, since I was eight, I said I would be in WWE. And when I did that interview with you, I said I would face John Cena, you know, like I wanted to come after him. That’s the guy I wanted. And here we are at WrestleMania 39 man.”

What made you feel like when you’re eight and you say I want to be in the WWE? A lot of eight year old say that. But what made you feel like it was actually possible for you to do that?

“I think it was just one of those things where I completely, I don’t know if you’ve had an experience where you just completely know you’ve got it. And it just felt that way at eight, like there was no man, but what if I don’t grow up to be tall enough? Or what if I don’t grow up and I’m not strong, or I don’t have this, like it was none of that. I just knew it. And it was like 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 25, it just never changed, and I’m grateful to be able to have that mindset and stay, you know, in that one lane. Especially, you know, since I was eight, but it was a constant drive to just, you know, make sure that it was going to happen.”

So if that’s what you were manifesting when you were 8, what are you manifesting now at 25 for the next 5, 10, 15 years?

“Man, you know, I gotta really think about this, because I know in 5 to 10 years, this interview will come up, and I will be right again. Honestly, I will say, just really being at the top of the WWE. And people really fully understanding that. Because I get it, right now I’m making my climb to stand at the top of that mountain. But I think once you get to the top of that mountain, it’s about staying there. So I would say on manifesting being at the top of that mountain, and making sure that nobody gets up there with me.”

I love it. So when we did that interview the last time, you hadn’t met John Cena yet at that point, he made a very cryptic Instagram post about you, which was so cool to see. But now you have met John Cena. So what was that first conversation with him like?

“Man, the first conversation came about. And it’s funny because I brought up that photo that he posted on his Instagram. It was at the Performance Center one day, and we were all leaving. And we got told, hey, just everybody stay, we’re gonna have a little meeting before everybody leaves, and out comes John Cena. And he took the time out of his day to come down there and talk to you know, everybody that’s aspiring to be on the main roster. And a lot of us weren’t even on NXT TV then. So this was the very beginning for me. And he told us, you know, I’ll answer any questions you guys have, but if there’s anybody that wants to talk to me, you know, personally, I’ll stay here all day I’ll go in this room in the office, and you guys one by one can come in there. And I remember waiting, like three hours to talk to him. And I just went in there. And I remember the first thing I showed him was the picture of me as a kid, where I couldn’t afford the actual, like, the shirt and the wristband, so I made my own kind of off brand stuff. But I was eight years old, and I showed him the picture. I was like, Man, this is probably crazy. But check it out. He’s like, man, that’s not crazy, that’s awesome. And we got to sit there and I kind of just really just asked, you know, everything I could, you know, because this is the source. This is the man that’s, you know, held it down for well over a decade. And it was just, it was a lot for me to take in though at the time, you know, because he was spitting knowledge. But you know, I’m still, you know, whoa, this is John Cena, you know, so I’m, I’m just trying to take everything in, man. But that moment specifically, I’ll never forget. And I just remember like, leaving that room that day like, whoa, like I’m here, like I met the person that inspired me and motivated me, and now it’s on me to build this journey and to actually make it happen. And I know I can do it, because I’m the inevitable Austin Theory.”

I feel like there’s a new attitude since you grew this beard, like what’s changed since having a beard?

“Man, I guess, just growing up man, just not being a kid anymore. And just really, you know. And it’s funny, too, that you mentioned attitude because the attitude has certainly changed when it comes to, you know, you’re the next John Cena. That’s something that, I used to hear and maybe when you interviewed me, that would have been really cool to hear. But now it’s something that I don’t want. Because when I realized as a kid, every day, I went to the gym and worked on this dream. And every little thing in between that I did to work on this dream, John Cena was never next to me. He was never standing there, inspiring me, it was me, I did it all. And then getting here now, and being away from home, doing all these shows, being away from media, you know, appearances, and I love it all, that’s why I do it all. And I show up with a smile on my face. But it’s me putting in that work, and it’s me putting in that grind. And that’s why everything I do is my own way and my own unique way. And that’s why I want to be the first Austin Theory and not remembered as Oh, that’s the kid that’s the next John Cena. It’s like, no, that’s Austin Theory.”

You did such great work when you were on camera every week with Vince McMahon. And I’m curious to know how much of that fast track you to become a better performer working with Vince, week in week out?

“I will say the first thing that hits me when you say that is really just, you know, the first thing he ever said to me was before I went out and I did my first ever thing on Raw, he goes, you’re confident, so go out there and be confident like I know you are. And I noticed in my situations with him, there wasn’t a lot of time to prepare, because these segments would come together so fast. And you know, you’d have your promos so last second. So it taught me how to just be, you know, in the uncomfortable. So, you know, expect the unexpected. This is really how it was. And I was just in a situation where it’s like, oh, man, I really got to figure out like, what do I want to say? Like, how can I make this really genuine? How do I know what’s really going on here? And in those situations, it just prepared me to be ready for anything last minute, and just be out of that comfort zone. Because honestly, in the WWE, there’s not really a comfort zone. And if you find yourself in one, you’re probably not doing what you should be doing.”

That moment you had at WrestleMania 38 last year. So you’re in the ring, Vince, Stone Cold. And I think that your sell of the Stone Cold Stunner is right up there with the best to ever do it.

“I think it is the best. I don’t think it’s right up there. I think it’s right past [the others].”

The Rock, Scott Hall, they take pretty great Stunners

“I mean, you know, we didn’t say they didn’t. But you know, if we’re, what are we going based off of height here? You know, cuz your boy was a rocket ship.”

What went into that? Because like, there’s a bunch of ways you could take the Stunner. 

“Yeah, so when I was on the independent scene, I would wrestle in Evolve. And sometimes on other shows, if somebody hit me with a Stunner, I remember one time, I just jumped as high as I could, and just with the roar of the crowd, you know, you want to bring that energy. So I remember being really high in the air and landing on my back. And then I’m flipping and I’m on my feet again and then I’m flying into the ropes. And I was like, man, and I knew at WrestleMania, the day of, Austin is there’s there’s the little, you know, golf cart pulling up. And it’s right out front front of the locker room and Stone Cold has his back to me. And I go up to him, and I’m like, Hey, how’s it going? I just want to introduce myself. I’m Austin. And he’s like, very nice to meet you, I’ll be seeing you later, and then that was it. And I was like, what? So that’s how that day went? And then I find out you know, no, I’m gonna get Stunned. And sure enough, and I knew the entire time that that is how I was going to do it. And I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t want anybody [saying] no, don’t do that. Because that’ll make this look, you know, like this or it’s like, Nah, I’m gonna take my moment and that’s gonna be it.”

That whole gimmick with like taking the selfie in the ring, like you legitimately did take some pretty great photos and I’m wondering if there’s one that you’re most proud of?

“Man, there’s so many I think one of the funniest ones was when Brock Lesnar put the cowboy hat on my head in the corner, you know, trying to downgrade me and I just took a selfie with it on you know, I thought that was a great one. A funny quick story about those selfies though, is, I guess the phone that I was using is tied to like the company tablet, which I guess like certain people have the tablet and Wade Barrett it specifically has the tablet. So at NXT every Tuesday after all, even from the live events he would see every selfie that I took, he can see them all. Yeah, so it’s cool but I mean, in some matches man I probably took 30, like it would be a lot of photos. Like I was just clicking away man you know you want to try to get that perfect one and you’re sweating and you just you know beat somebody up it’s a lot of work.”

The thing is you’re just looking for one right, you just need one good one.

“That’s all you need, man. Just one”

I love that you’re wearing the hat right now representing when you first heard A Town Down when you first heard your theme song What did you think?

“Well, the song was actually my idea. I had the idea of some like ring, like you know everybody knows once you hear, ‘You think you know me’ everybody’s pulled in. When you hear the glass break when you hear, you know, ‘If you smell what The Rock is cooking’ sounds like what can I use? And you know having Atlanta and being you know from Atlanta and going to a wrestling school in Atlanta and starting Austin Theory there. You know Usher says it best in the Yeah song with Lil John, peace up, a town down. And that was it. I was like, yeah, that’s perfect. So I was looking for something that could really engage the audience. So A Town Down, get everybody, and then here comes the song. But it was cool. I got to specifically go through. And if you listen to the lyrics, a lot of them are what I’m trying to do and what I’m trying to say I am, you know. Like going straight to the top, you know, all day this, all day that, that’s it, that’s true. So I had a lot of input on the song for sure.”

This ride you’ve been on is so amazing to watch, especially from like the outside looking in for me, like I knew you before you were signed, who do you think’s helped you the most during this journey?

“Man, I always like to say AR Fox. I like to start with him just because, and people that don’t know who that is, that’s somebody that you know, he’s an independent wrestler as well. But that’s the guy that trained me from the beginning and really took me under his wing and and you know, sped up the process for me and I was doing you know, shows in front of nobody to doing really good shows like with Evolve and WrestleMania weekend independent shows, and then getting noticed by the WWE. But he’s definitely somebody I owe a lot to just because of the the time he put into me and you know, the limits he was willing to break to go that extra mile for me.”

I’m so happy that as we sit here right now, you’re back to being Austin Theory. Like what was the conversation like when you lost your first name? And then you got it back?

“Yeah, so I remember walking into, this is the time you know, Mr. McMahon was head of creative. And I remember the writer bringing my promo and the promo said, you know, don’t call me Austin, it’s just Theory. And I was like, what, like, the names gone? And, you know, I was wondering why. And I spoke with Mr. McMahon about it, and he felt that, you know, Theory could be a name that stood alone, he felt it had enough power behind it. And also, I think he just wanted to get away from that comparison of Stone Cold because we just did the WrestleMania stuff. So I think maybe out of circumstance, that’s maybe why it happened. But the funny story about Austin Theory coming back, is I just got a text one day, or like that just pretty much said, like your Austin Theory. And then I show up to the show and the, you know, the matches are on the wall, and there was my full name again. And I’m like, I guess I’m Austin Theory again, you know, so I thought it was kind of funny. Like, that’s how I find out, you know what I mean? But, uh, I never, I never felt like, I guess like negative about it. Because Theory just meant the most to me, because I’ll always have my first name, people are always going to know me as Austin. But Theory was just that name I came up with as a kid. And even as a kid I was searching for, you know, besides it being a cool name that I came up with, and nobody had it like how can I give it meaning. For the longest [time], Theory was supposed to mean, you know, a Theory is unproven. But to me when you’re unproven, that means you’re not proven so you can always get better. If you’re somebody that’s proven, that’s it for you. So me being a Theory always being able to change to adapt to evolve. That’s what it’s all about. And I still feel like to this day, it still works for that.”

One of my favorite stories of spending time with you is after that show, we all went out to eat. We were having chicken wings, fries, whatever. You demolish it, and then you’re like, Dude, I got to see the dessert menu. And I’m like, but you get to look like that by eating dessert? And you got the biggest piece of chocolate cake and you destroyed it.

“Man, it’s so funny. You bring up chocolate cake, because that’s still my thing, brother. That’s still my thing.”

So is that the secret to look like Austin Theory? All we got to do is eat chocolate cake?

“You know what? To all my haters, absolutely.” 

What does the workout split look like right now?

“So it’s, it’s kind of the same as it’s always been one thing that I have changed maybe in the last few years is the legs have changed. I don’t do legs together anymore, I like to do quads separate from hamstrings. So I have an extra leg day now, but uh, the routine is pretty much the same. I’ll go two days of upper body parts that I train, and then I’ll go a day of lower body and then two days of upper, and it’s just simple stuff like chest day back day, then quad day, then arm day, shoulder day, then hamstring day, and then it’s just the rotation just keeps going.”

And then a whole chocolate cake day?

“Every day, probably six times a day for all my haters, make sure you write that part down.”

I’m gonna write that down for you.

“Just write it on the wall behind you. Just real big.”

You talk about being inevitable. I feel like when you won the Money in the Bank, it was inevitable you were going to become WWE Champion. Why was the decision to cash-in for the US title?

“Well, I think you know, I was in a situation where every time I did try to cash in, yeah, it wasn’t even The Bloodline that was stopping me. You know, and that’s already its own, you know, fence to try to get around that [Tyson Fury stopped you]. That’s what I’m saying, Man, how ridiculous you know. And, and even that same night, you got to, you know, like, Tyson Fury did that, and then that’s when we seen the debut of Solo [Sikoa]. So it’s one of those things where I was like, man, what can I do? Because I’m kind of stuck. I know that, you know, we’re gonna be around to the next Money in the Bank coming up. So what can I do? And I looked at Seth Rollins, the guy that had the United States Championship, and I realised like that championship is the championship of Monday Night Raw, it is. And it’s on its way of, of getting to the top. So how can I make that much better? I decided to cash-in. And once again, because that’s just how my life went when I was Mister Money in the Bank, Bobby Lashley ruins my moment, and I had enough. I had enough. And I did what I needed to do. And the vision I had for the United States Championship, I am seeing it clear as day now. I’m making it happen. Nobody’s stopping me. And if John Cena thinks he is he’s out of his damn mind, because after WrestleMania 39 I’m gonna go to my show Monday Night Raw, and John Cena is gonna go back to his little set, put on a skirt, put on his heels and go about his day.”

What did you think about him saying if you win, you lose. If you lose, you lose.

“Yeah, I get it. I get it. Because he wants everybody to believe that I don’t have it, that I am screwed. But that is a man that says that because he knows when he looks in my eyes, he knows that I have everything, I do. And he has a legacy, he has so much, everybody knows John Cena, he’s the top of the top. But I think when he looks at me, and he sees that I’m 25, and he sees that the level that I’m on, and the things that I’m doing and the growth that I’m going at, it can’t be touched. It really can’t be, so you have to look me in my eyes and tell me that if I beat you that I lose everything. But we all know that’s wrong John, because why? Why? If it means nothing, why does he even want to have this match? He wants to have this match because I’m the most important thing in the WWE. I am, and it’s clear as day. And there’s a lot of people that want to sit there and you know, they want to go like this and go no, like I don’t I don’t want it to I don’t want to but then they’re gonna have to go okay, Theory is the guy. They’re gonna have to, it’s just where we are man. So him saying me winning me [losing] is going to mean I lose everything. Okay. I can’t wait to lose everything when I show up on Monday Night Raw, my show holding my title because that’s the inevitable. And all those people that he says don’t believe in me, I could care less. Guess how many people believed in me when I was 8 when I told him I wanted to be a WWE superstar? Guess how many people laughed at me when I was 12 sitting at the table in school when I told them I wanted to be a WWE superstar. I don’t need people to believe in me, that’s a proven fact that I don’t. And I’ve always shown that and if I believe that, I don’t think at 25 I would be where I am today. So it is what it is, WrestleMania 39, it’s my night, it’s my show. And I’m going to own that and I’m going to show that and that is all day that is the inevitable.”

So after this match with Cena you look at the entire WWE roster, who’s someone there that you want to work with but haven’t had a chance to work with yet?

“Roman Reigns. The Big Dog, The Tribal Chief, whatever you want to call him. That’s it. And you know, maybe Cody Rhodes puts down The Tribal Chief, that’s something that I’m very interested in. Because when I’ve been asked about that match, that is, I’m a little caught up there, because I don’t know man, I have, something tells me Cody might have it man. I think with enough fire and his dad being brought into this, that is his wheelhouse. That’s what the American Nightmare’s you know, named after Dusty Rhodes. And I think Roman Reigns bringing that in and saying, hey, you know, your dad taught me and he never talked about you, and he didn’t teach you anything. Man, that’s got to really take you know, a man to a deep place when that’s his route, his fire, his why.”

That’s two Atlanta guys too, you know, so make sense. What do you think is the best piece of advice in this journey that you’ve been given, and then you’ve taken and ran with it?

“You know, something that kind of pops up that, uh, it’s like the one thing that Mr. McMahon said to me before I ever did anything on Monday Night Raw, and it was the thing about, you know, I know you’re confident, so go out there and be confident. And I think that’s something that always sticks in my mind, because it’s like, remember that, remember how confident that kid was the eight, that was eight and really didn’t have anything, you know, and didn’t, you know, have a connection to WWE, didn’t know how he was going to get there, was skinny was small, didn’t look like a WWE Superstar, didn’t look like I had the genetics. And it’s just that confidence that I had of just knowing and manifesting that. And I think that’s something to this day, every time I go out there, remember that confidence. Remember that. Because that confidence has that, you know, those years of work built in. All the times you went to the gym, all the parties you missed, all the opportunities of you know, just I guess having fun you missed but really just being on that grind and making this happen at 25 and going to the biggest show there is, the grandest stage WrestleMania 39, against the guy that you idolised, and that’s John Cena. It’s confidence. And that’s, that’s it, you know, go out there with the confidence that you know you have.”

Looking forward to seeing it, Austin Theory, John Cena, WrestleMania 39 for the United States Championship before we wrap this up, gratitude is a big part of my life. So I end every conversation with this, what are three things in your life, Austin, that you’re grateful for right now?

“Man, I’d have to say, the position I’m in just with my work. My body being being healthy and being able to do what I can do. And definitely my family, being able to inspire them, especially my little brothers seeing me what I do, getting little text messages from them after something I did on TV, that means the world to me and just knowing that I’ve created that picture for them. If that confidence isn’t there for them right now, it has to be, you know, because I’m showing them their own brother they hang around and joke around with is doing it every single week and the world is talking about him.”

Featured image: USA Network

The Undertaker (@undertaker) is a legendary professional wrestler and a member of the WWE Hall Of Fame. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his 1 deadMAN SHOW at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas on March 24. He also talks about lifting the curtain on his character after an incredible 30-year WWE career, Brock Lesnar breaking The Streak at WrestleMania 30 and the decision to lose to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33, other wrestlers trying to get him to break character, the biggest lesson he learned from his friendship with Vince McMahon, whether or not he believes that kayfabe is dead, three things he is grateful for and more!

You know, we’ve gotten to know you so well since your retirement especially with The 1 deadMAN SHOW. I’m curious, as we’re getting to know you more, are you also getting to know yourself more?

“I’m becoming more comfortable sharing myself, I can say that. I’m in touch with who I am and all that, but it has been a challenge to lower the curtain and lower the veil and let people see behind the hat and coat. I still find myself at times, I’ll get immersed into a story, and I’ll be halfway through the story, and then I go, Hmm, how much of this do I want to [tell]? Because I still, I fight, I fight it. I’m an old school guy, and I don’t think that’ll ever change regardless of you know, how we progress and how we evolve. I just, there’s certain things that I struggle with, and that old school mentality of protect this and protect that I think will always be with me. But it’s all, you know, I’m coming to grips with all of it.”

When you talk about being an old school guy, you know, letting us kind of peek behind the curtain a little bit. Do you feel like is kayfabe dead?

“I think, yeah, I think kayfabe died for sure when I came out and started talking as Mark Callaway. I shouldn’t say that, no, you know what, because there are a few guys that are out there that are, they’re living their gimmick, and doing a really, really good job at that. And I think, obviously, we go out of our way now to let everybody know what sports entertainment is. But I think, and we did that even while I was working, right. But the way I approach things and even with my character and my over the top gimmick as, you know, as The Undertaker, especially the last probably 10-15 years of my career. I really, the way I set my matches up and I tried to, I always tried to suspend that sense of reality. I didn’t want people thinking, like, I wanted people, when I threw a punch, I wanted people to go ooh, that’s different. Or the things that I did to make sense, even like before I do old school, which is a stretch for somebody to grab someone’s arm and to be able to walk [the top rope]. But so I would take the time to work that arm over and it hit that shoulder with the shoulder tackles and the shoulder tackles and this and that. I tried to have things make sense, and I always tried to get people invested and to forget everything else that we’ve told them about what sports entertainment and wrestling is, and try and let them immerse themselves into what’s going on. And that’s the way I approach things, and I think there’s some of that that is still applicable if you make the effort to do so. I think enlarge there’s just this okay, everybody, everybody’s in on it, and, you know, this is the way it is. But I think, I think there is room for kayfabe still. I just, I know everything’s evolving, and people have different perspectives on it, but that’s mine. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a dinosaur.”

You look great, though. Come on! 

“Well, I’m a dinosaur, but I’m a T Rex. So, you know, take that for what it’s worth.”

Your relationship with Vince McMahon is well documented what you guys both mean to each other. But I’m really curious, what’s the biggest lesson that you’ve taken away from your friendship with Vince?

“Um, there’s several. You know, and I mentioned it last year in my speech at the Hall of Fame, perception is reality. And, you know, I think sometimes he may have forgotten that, but I never did. And so that went a long way. Perception is reality and how I dealt with people through my career. I always, I didn’t want anybody to ever think that, you know, that I swerved them or that I had to go behind their back or do anything. What they saw is what they got, and I think that was probably a large factor in people always considering me the locker room leader. Everybody knew my relationship with Vince and Bruce and all of those, Pat Patterson, everybody knew my relationship there. But those same guys that I was on the road with, that I was hanging out with and partying with, you know, they knew what happened there was safe, and there was never going to be any crossover. Don’t let what we’re doing at night get in the way of business. I mean, that was a, that was a really strong rule with me. I don’t care what we do, don’t be late, and work hard. That was, that was the only thing that I [told people], don’t get in trouble, don’t make us late, don’t embarrass us, don’t be late to work and work hard. And I think that was why I garnered, I guess the respect because people trust me. And they knew that the two never the two never cross, I was going to do what was best for business, and that’s something that I learned from Vince. With Vince, regardless of what anybody thinks, deep in his heart he’s one of the boys, he really is. And he has that mentality. Things had to change, obviously, whatever, things changed, when the business, when the company went public, there were a lot of changes that had to happen, changes for the better. Everything’s, you know, we’ve evolved into a whole I mean, it is a, I think, I think WWE is in a lot of [ways], a lot more now is regarded in the same way as as other major sports franchises, you know, NBA or the NFL, we’re on that, if we’re not on that level, we’re really close, and the company is run that way. It is not that circus, you know, carny kind of thing anymore. It is a big, huge business, as everybody knows. And that’s the way it’s treated. The product has evolved, and it’s evolved for the better.”

I know everyone wants to talk to you about the streak and I was there at WrestleMania 30 when it ended. 

“What happened? I don’t remember.” 

We don’t need to talk about that! I want to ask you about WrestleMania 33. And what went into the plans of the loss to Roman Reigns, because I don’t feel like that is given nearly as much attention.

“Yeah, so I was extremely beat up. And, you know, I had toyed with the idea of hanging it up. I knew it that year when I got to the Rumble, I wasn’t going to be ready, I wasn’t gonna be ready for Mania, but I’d already committed to the programme. Didn’t know that, didn’t know what we were going to do yet, I just knew that I was going to work with Roman, and we got there that day, and I was like man, I knew I was in bad shape. And my hip, my right hip, which I had surgery right after that, to have it, a Birmingham hip resurface done after that. You know, it was just the right thing to do. Not knowing if I was going to be able to come back again, and work anymore. So there I was, he was on the, you know, he was coming up, and he was going to be the face of the company, and it was the right thing to do. And I didn’t, you know, I’d already [lost], the streak had already been beat, so it was the right thing to do business wise, because I didn’t, like I said, I didn’t know that I was going to come back again. I mean that all that hat, the hat on the coat, all that being placed in the ring was 100% legitimate. At the end of it, I was done, and that was my way of saying goodbye. And yeah, it wasn’t, it wasn’t a plan or staged thing. And then I get my hip fixed, I get a call, and they want me to work with Cena. I’m like oh crap, man. So I trained, I know I’ve given you more than you asked for, but it was like, Okay, this is my chance for redemption. Because I was so just, if you watched The Last Ride, you know how disappointed I was in my performance, and that I put myself in that situation because I just couldn’t physically get to where I needed to be for Roman, and how important that was. And just as hard as I tried, I mean I trained like a like an animal, but I mean my hip just, it just, it held me back and I’m not making excuses, but that’s that’s the extent of it. So now I’ve got a new hip, and I’m like oh man, and it’s Cena and I was like, oh crap. So Vince called me and said what do you think? And I was like I don’t know, I don’t, I haven’t really, I’ve rehabbed my hip and I’m working out again, but I had no plans of getting back in the ring. And so I said, give me, give me a few weeks. So I get a ring shipped down here to Texas, and I rent a place and I build this, I put the ring in this building, and I start training and lo and behold, I can move again. So, probably the hardest that I’ve ever trained, not ever I trained, but the hardest I’ve been able to train in probably 10 years. And I was ready, man. I was, my cardio, I trained for like a 45 minute [match].” 

But that match was so short though.

“Yeah, I didn’t know it was gonna be short till I got there that day. So I’ve trained for a 45 minute war, right, and all right, here’s redemption. I’m gonna, man, I am going to light this place on fire, I felt good. And Vince calls me into his office and he goes okay, he says it’s just gonna be about five minutes, you know, you’re gonna squash him. I’m like, what? What? And, you know, Vince, he just thought that was the funniest [thing], because he knew how hard I’d been training. I mean, he, and I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I said, I’m going. I said, I’m doing 30 or I’m not going out. And he’s like, Mark, that’s not what we need. And I’m like no Vince, I was like, Where’s John? Where’s he at? So John comes in he goes, Oh no. He goes I talked mad smack about you dude. Yeah, you need to beat me quick and get this over with. I’m like are you kidding me? It’s like we’ve never worked on pay-per-view are you [serious]? And this is WrestleMania, give me a break here. And they both, they ganged up on me. I was finally, I threw my hands up. I was like, I can’t believe [it], and Vince just thought that was the funniest thing because like I said, I trained like an animal, I was so unbearable at home. I mean, as far as my diet and the training and just all my protocols of you know recoup, rehab, I was a nightmare. I get there and yeah, five minutes. And it was like that was it.”

When you did finally say goodbye to WWE, and you hung it up and you had the farewell at Survivor Series 2020. Is there a part of you that wished you were doing that in front of a sold out arena?

“It’s funny. Yeah, I can, you know, I can see where you’re coming with that, but I, I didn’t [want to]. Even though I knew I was done, and it was over, like I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to cry, I didn’t want to break down, you know, I was like I was still trying to protect that character. And I was like man if I, if I’m out here in front of a live audience, like, I mean you saw how hard of a time I had at that at the Hall of Fame, and I you know, that’s another year or two later, I would have been a wreck man. Because I didn’t, I didn’t want to retire. In my mind, in my heart, there’s nothing more that I want to do than get in the ring and perform. You know, it was my body that just said no, you’re done dude, we got everything out of this we can get, and it’s time for you to move aside and let these guys come up. So I would have been a wreck if there had been people there and, you know, all that all that kayfabing I did and protecting, the character would have been destroyed in one, in one promo, I would have been balling.”

So Triple H tells this great story about how everyone’s trying to always get The Undertaker to break and that the genesis of the People’s Elbow was The Rock creating this ridiculous move to try to get you to break. Do you remember that?

“I do. You know what, I always thought that was the hokiest ever, but iconic, right? And always to get me to laugh. There was such a time period there where, I think that was the company’s goal was to see who could get me to break. I mean, it was nonstop. We spent an hour and a half one night after a TV event in Seattle trying to get me to the Spinaroonie. Booker T swerved me, we’ve been doing this same match after TV tapings that was our advertised dark match. We’ve been doing it for weeks, and, you know every night I’d get on there and say let’s have Booker do a Spinaroonie, everybody go crazy. Well, Booker gets the microphone one night and completely swerved me, which was all set up. Vince was in on it, everybody was in on it. You know? He tells his sold out crowd and Seattle that he wants to see a Takeroonie, and I was like you son of a bitch, I was p*ssed. And here they come, one after another, just I mean everybody on the roster, everybody, Rock comes down, Triple H comes down, Big Show’s down, everybody’s down and doing these absolutely awful Spinaroonies. and I remember, I remember seeing my spot to leave because the ring is full of people now, right? And the crowd is going nuts trying to get me, everybody’s chanting Takeroonie and all this. And I finally saw my spot and I jumped out of the ring and I headed back to the back. And I looked over my shoulder and here comes Big Show, Vince had sent Big Show to come get me right and he came through that curtain. I said, I said you may kill me and eat me, but I’m gonna punch you in the face if you touch me. Vince, never forgive me. Because I always told him, I don’t care who you are, what you do, you’ll never get me to do that. And you don’t tell Vince that you can’t or won’t do something, because it becomes his passion in life. But I can honestly say he never got me to do a Takeroonie. So, I won. That’s the one battle I won with Vince.”

As we wrap this up, you’re one of the greatest of all time, but you’re also so humble. Well, for a second, don’t be humble. And I want to ask you, what do you think it was that made you have the success that you had in WWE?

“I think it was, the one thing that kind of really put the fire under me was being told by WCW that I would never draw money. I mean, to this day that motivates me, you know, being told to my face that hey you’re a great athlete, you’re never gonna make money. And, you know, so that and then just the passion that I had for this, and then I knew, right, really early on what I was doing with the character. I mean, that was such a gift, that character. I mean, it hit me. I mean, it just hit me right between the eyes. I knew when I got it I was like, wow, this is special, this is really special. And then it just, it just became part of me and I lived it. And I think the dedication to always being that guy everywhere I went, every time somebody saw me, it was that guy. And, you know, it, there was probably to, you know, probably to a fault, my personal life, everything kind of took a backseat to being The Undertaker, which is probably not fair, I mean, to my older kids, and I’ve made amends with them. But you know, I’ve heard different guys, I’ve heard Austin talk about this, you can’t be, or we couldn’t figure it out, a lot of guys do it now. But back then we just, we grinded everything and everything that we were as human beings were poured into our characters, and I just, it was the most, probably the most important, you know, outside of my kids, it was the most important thing in my life was to be Undertaker, and for that to be genuine, and for people just to like, even if they didn’t understand or they didn’t know, or there’s like, there’s something different about that guy. It wasn’t a character for a long time. It was just, I think that guy’s really like that. Not whether I was a zombie or whether I was dead. They, I mean, obviously they knew that I was a live human being. But they genuinely believed, I think, that I thought I was The Undertaker. And I think that came off, you know, I think that’s the way that I was perceived, like, this dude is just different and different from what everybody else was doing. So I don’t know, I think it was just like the dedication to the craft and the character that and nothing else came before that.”

That’s such a great answer. And you’re so good at telling stories. And we’re all looking forward to seeing you. Friday, March 24, the 1 deadMAN SHOW at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas. And I have just one final question for you. Because I’m all about gratitude is such an important part of my life. And I wake up every day, I say out loud three things I’m grateful for and I do it before I go to bed too. So what are three things in your life that you’re grateful for right now?

“I’m grateful for, I’m very grateful for my wife and my kids. And I’m grateful for the people that I realised that I don’t get to where I’m at, or do I have the career that I had, one without the people who paid their hard earned money to come and see me perform, and two, the people that I performed with, because you don’t you don’t get to the heights that you’re that I got to. There you go, that’s me not being humble. You don’t get to that level without a lot of people staring at the lights for you, and putting their gimmicks and everything else aside to make mine what it was, and that’s something that you know, I probably don’t say it enough because I didn’t do this by myself, and you can’t, no one does. There has to be a lot of people involved to help get guys over and to stay over. So yeah, my family, my fans, and my co-workers.”

Featured image: WWE

Ben Reinberg (@therealbenreinberg) is an entrepreneur, real estate mogul and podcaster. He started building his commercial real estate empire at 24 years old with nothing but shoe leather and a lot of hustle. Today he owns over $500 million dollars in assets across the country and shares his wealth building, commercial real estate investing, self-improvement and leadership insights and knowledge with his audience around the world. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about what “Owning it” means to him, how he built his business from the ground up, the lessons he wished he knew when he was starting out, what he has learned from his podcast, the important of fitness, his morning routine and much more!

What does “Owning it” mean to Ben Reinberg?

“Well, I’ve been in commercial real estate for under 30 years as a principal, which means to your audience, I am an owner, like a landlord, not a broker. And I’ve owned commercial real estate, pretty good [for] over half of my life. And when we were creating the show, we said what really creates success in our industry in business? And it was really looking at your inner self and being responsible for everything in your life and your actions. And it was something that I had to learn at a young age. And as I aged, I’m now 53 years old, I spent the last five years working on myself. And I realised for a long time I didn’t own it, I wasn’t responsible, I couldn’t keep my word at times, and I looked at myself and I didn’t like the version of myself. So I transformed myself, and the meaning behind the show is owning it, owning every aspect of your life. Now through our life, Chris, we don’t own everything. We’re not responsible. We don’t have the knowledge. And as you get older and you develop you really start realising what it means to own it. And so when I bring guests on my show, like yourself, it’s people that own it. It’s people that are responsible for lives, they make their decisions, they own their decisions, and they own their behaviour. And it’s such a key aspect in your personal and business life that I found, I said well, we want to create content and knowledge to help people so they can own it too. So it’s not about commercial real estate, my podcast, it’s about, really, it’s bringing on celebrities, it’s bringing on icons and commercial real estate, it’s bringing on ultra ultra high net worth people that are in my circles, and we bring them on and we talk about success to significance. It’s about them owning their entire world. And so these people come on, and I’m just so grateful, because I learned tremendously from my guests, and I take great notes, and they provide me a lot of knowledge. And it really has taught me a lot having a podcast. So the people you meet can share a tremendous amount of knowledge with you. And when I seek the truth, and when, when I meet people, I see how they contribute to my life. And so what I want to do is I’m on a mission to help people and give back in my industry. And so the I Own It podcast is just the genesis of where I’m going for the rest of my career.”

On becoming a better version of himself:

“As you get older, you evolve and you learn and you gain more knowledge, you interact with different people. But by the way, as you’re going through your life process, people are dumping things into your brain and your thoughts, and that’s what ends up happening. And you have a couple of paths in life you want to go, you could stay the same or you can continue to grow. And I always felt for years, I want to grow. I want to become the best version of Ben Reinberg that I can. Why? Well, it impacts my family, impacts my personal life, impacts my interaction with you, impacts my employees. When I show up as the best version of myself, I create a lot of value for others, and it fulfils me. It’s something that I love to do. And so I took a step back and I realised that I could become a better version of myself. I could become a better listener. I could love people more. I’m in a ruthless cutthroat business and commercial real estate. And it Jade you when I started this when I was 23 years old, you know People are beating on Yeah, you know, we’re in a no business. No, no, no, no, yes, you got the deal. Or you get a loan or hey, Chris, you want to invest in our fund? No, you go through a lot of no’s and a lot of failure being in commercial real estate, you have to have thick skin. Well, as you go through this for a period of time, it changes you, it creates things in your mind that aren’t really reality. So you start taking a step back and start breaking things down and taking care of your limited beliefs. And you start looking at yourself and say, who is really Ben Reinberg. And I started looking at myself and five years ago, I looked at myself in the mirror, and I didn’t like what I was looking at. I said, I don’t really like, well, I need to learn how to love myself, so I can love other people. And that’s what started I’ve hired great mentors, I’ve spent, I’m not going to tell you the money that I’ve spent on incredible mentors, I have some of the best top minds in the world that I work with. And so I’ve learned to work on myself every day, Chris. I meditate every day, I do a sun salutation I do it morning and night. Before I came on the show, I meditated, because I want to make sure I was in the best state to make sure I can be on point and provide the best knowledge and content I can for you. And that’s how I carry my life. I work at a high integrity level, and personal development and being able to control my mind and emotions are critical to how I show up in life, because I want to show up as the best version. And that’s what personal development, that was the journey I went on five years ago. And I’m extremely grateful for all the people who have helped me, because now I’m in an incredible place in my life. And by doing personal development and becoming the best version of yourself, it attracts money, it attracts opportunities, it brings new relationships into your life, it allows you to provide a lot of value, you learn and you grow faster. And all these things have culminated into just a fulfilling life for me, that has really showed me. People always ask me like, what happened if you knew about this 20 years ago, and really did it, I would be an incredible version of myself. So just happy and grateful for where I’m at, and I owe my gratitude to a lot of people that believed in me and help support me.”

On how to find the time for everything:

“Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you my morning routine. You’ll think I’m crazy. I’m a huge health nut and I love to work out. And so I wake up at about 4:45 in the morning, every morning, and I meditate for 36 minutes. [why 36 minutes?] That’s just what I was ingrained in my head through all my mentors. I don’t [question it] I’m just surrendering. I don’t question it, okay, all right, I’m not the expert, I’m just listening, right. So then I do a 36 minute sun salutation that he walked me through, then I get ready. And I drive and I train with a trainer five days a week. And I get in there, and I warm up, and I’m 53 years old, so I got a warm up, I always encourage people to do like eight to 10 minutes of just walking on a treadmill or do the gauntlet, the stairs and get your body warm. I stretch. I’m very into stretching now, as I’ve aged to keep me loose, because I don’t want to get injured. And I’ve worked out with some of the best trainers in the world, I found a great trainer here in California and I really have a good vibe with, because that’s important, you got to really connect with your trainer. And we go at it and he trains me like I’m in my 20s. And we go at it, and there’s nothing better. I mean, when you can wake up and challenge yourself and really go through a grinding workout, you’re ready for the day. So that’s my routine. And so I realized that where I struggle is if I don’t get to work out and do my routine in the morning, like it agitates me a little bit because I’m like, I’m not living in that world that I’m normally used to. So I enjoy it. And then that’s part of my routine. So we do different body parts, we challenge each other. When I get to fly back to Chicago, see my headquarters there. I have one of the best workout facilities in the world in the north suburbs called BPC, and I work out with my boy Josh Ellis. And I was working out with him for years before I moved to California. And I just bring it every day. I just bring it, I changed my mindset, I focus, and it’s a routine for me. And that’s the way I do it. Because I figured in my business to grow this business to where I’ve been, and the success I’ve had. I need to work on my health and fitness, I needed to understand what it takes to get through a day. When you’re in commercial real estate, you do a tremendous amount of travelling in your career, and it wears on you. And if you’re not in good health or good shape, you’re just you’re doing a detriment to yourself. So I do that for working out and then I eat healthy. I’m big into intermittent fasting. I’ve been doing that a while I do change it up a little bit. One of the doctor’s good friends said you should change it up a little bit so I changed it up a little bit. But generally speaking, I intermittent fast ate a tremendous amount of fish and chicken. I’m a Chicago kid, so I do eat my steak once in a while, and I’m a huge foodie. And I collect wine too, so once in a while, I’ll have a glass of wine. I love wine, I love learning about it, but I don’t really drink alcohol anymore. I mean, when you’re out to dinner with me, Chris, you’ll see I don’t really drink, and I drink sparkling water. And I do that because again, it goes back to how do I show up in life? How do I become the best version of myself? How do I connect with people on a deeper level? And I realise if I’m drinking, or I’m not my authentic self, I’m not doing myself justice, and I’m really not helping the other person that I’m interacting with.” 

How to start tomorrow:

“I think the first thing is you write down your insecurities. Look at yourself, and you say where am I insecure? Where am I struggling? Do I have trouble showing up in a room and might be having challenges networking? Am I having challenges listening? When I was younger, I had to learn how to listen. But I would listen, but I really wouldn’t understand because I wasn’t seeking the truth and what someone was telling me. So what I would suggest to a young person that is just getting started is write down your insecurities and look at yourself and become a good listener. And find a mentor that has whatever industry you’re in, or whatever you want to accomplish in life, whatever your mission is. And you look at yourself, you say well, who do I know, that’s high in the learning curve that can help me get there, that’s already had tremendous amount of success. And by talking to those folks, they’ll help you figure out where your deficiencies are and how to get better. Because we’ve all been there, when you’re a successful businessman or woman or an entrepreneur, a lot of us go through these experiences, we go through ups and downs, we go through challenges, it’s a good way to start to pick someone’s brain. And that’s what I always encourage is hire a mentor that’s been there, done that, shorten that learning curve. When I was younger Chris, I didn’t know that. Like, you know, it was all this green ledger paper and stamps and envelopes and cheques, and it wasn’t the internet. So there wasn’t the knowledge and the content that you have. Now, what’s beautiful about being a young person, I could, and I look at my kids, and I’m jealous is they can go on and go on Google and Instagram and all these different technology platforms and social media platforms, and really gain knowledge on items and topics that I didn’t have an opportunity when I was a kid. And so using the internet and Instagram and following people and see what they do, you can hire or go to a mastermind and put yourself in a room to really learn how to empower yourself to become a better version. So I always encourage, if I’m a young man or woman out there and you’re listening to this show or you’re watching it, just look at yourself, write down where you struggle, write down what you want to achieve. And on the internet alone, you can go and ask people as well, and on the internet alone, you will figure out who you need to connect with. And once you connect with that person, hold on to him and learn and listen and be open minded, not judgmental, and have the opinion saying I’m here to learn and grow. And when you can open that filter in that mind, you will grow. And that would be my suggestion. That’s what I would have told my younger self when I was younger is work on yourself. I just didn’t know.”

What is a skill that Ben Reinberg wishes he worked on more:

“When I was younger what I realised, especially today I look back, working on my communication skills, and listening. I’ve been writing a newsletter for almost 20 years now. It’s called a blog. And it was a labour of love for a long time. And when I was younger, communicating better with a lot, something that someone would have taught me how to read body language, how to interact with people, that would help me tremendously in my career. Over time, in small increments, I’m now an outstanding communicator. But I realised that when I was younger, that would have been a huge win, to really learn and double down on communication skills.”

On the power of social media:

“I realized that how you make it in social media is being your authentic self, being vulnerable. And I think a lot of people have, you know, a lot of people build this house of cards, like, you know, I gotta show someone, the McLaren, or I gotta show someone that I do this, or where I have this stream of women hanging around me. I think people pull up this house of cards, and I don’t know if that’s the best value to provide. So I found that the way for me to go about social media is I’m going to provide value. And if you like me, great. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. You might not like what I’m shooting out there or my staff is, but I’m going to do it consistently and we’re going to provide value and knowledge and see if it helps you. And if I could touch one person, or impact one person through social media, then I’m doing my job, that’s how I look at it. But I look at it that it’s, you know, it’s a lot of it’s a lot of content out there, and it’s a lot of moving parts. And if you’re going to follow someone, follow someone that’s authentic, follow someone that cares, maybe has some empathy, willing to share and give back. And I see a lot of these, I see a lot of the people on your show, that’s what they do and how they live their lives, and that’s their social media, and those are the people I like to follow. So I think you got different sides of the coin when it comes to social media. That’s how I approach it.”

What is Ben Reinberg grateful for?

“My family, the people who have supported me, my health, being on your show and everyone that is around me. I could go on and on.”

Featured image: Commercial Search

Santino Marella (@milanmiracle) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and is currently signed to IMPACT Wrestling where he serves as the Director of Authority. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his legendary WWE career, making his WWE debut at 31 years old, some of his most memorable moments like becoming Miss WrestleMania as Santina Marella, almost winning the Royal Rumble, setting the record for the fastest Royal Rumble elimination, how he came up with The Cobra finishing move, nearly beating Daniel Bryan at Elimination Chamber to win the WWE Championship, his daughter Bianca Carelli who wrestles in NXT as Arianna Grace, a possible dream match with Orange Cassidy and much more!

On shifting from serious to comedy wrestling:

“The shift happened, so the WWE Universe, as you probably know, they do not like to be force fed anything. And all of a sudden, this guy comes out of the audience. And, you know, he beats Chris Masters and, you know, Shelton Benjamin, he sneaks a victory, and it’s like, if he’s not fully trained, he’s beating the roster kind of doesn’t make sense. And, you know, there is a pay-per-view in the summer and Umaga was like, killing me in Houston. The audience was like one more time, and like the audience wasn’t taking to the initial babyface Santino that was kind of like, just thrust in you know, into them. So they said okay, we’re gonna have to turn him heel, and if that doesn’t work, you know, see you later repackage. And immediately upon turning heel, Vince found it very funny, because once I did my first heel promo, I did guest commentary next week, another promo, another promo, another promo and another pre-tape, because I actually separated my shoulder, this one. So it was an opportunity to get to speak on the mic. And, you know, people that were in Gorilla are like, dude, Vince is cracking up when you’re out there. He loves the character as a heel. So, if you can pop Vince you got a job, right? That’s, that’s the idea. So Vince was a fan and from what I hear, and you know, and there was actually no competition for a long time in terms of the comedic, the comic relief character. R-Truth a little bit at the time, he’s kind of doing now but at the time, there was really no no one was like, like Hornswoggle a little bit, but I was on Raw. So for a long time. I just kept quiet and didn’t draw attention to it, but there was no competition.”

Who was Santino Marella’s favorite person to break:

“Oh, that’s a good question. Probably John Cena. When it comes from John Chainer. It’s funny because people come up to me like signings or conventions, and they’re like, you know, we can’t call him John Cena for like, the last 15 years. We call him John Chainer. And like, it’s changed the way a lot of people speak to, but it was just so sudden, like the pop was just kind of like, just caught himself, but it actually became a goal of mine to try and pop everybody.”

On going all in on the pitches:

“Yeah, my philosophy was always if you’re given lemons, you make lemonade. And if this is going to be the character, then you know, I’m going to be the funniest guy I can be and you have to be very giving, you can’t take it too [seriously]. Santino got beaten up a lot in the beginning. And you can’t take it personally, you know, it’s a show, it’s not real competition. And, you know, I was known for being very giving in matches in general. Yeah, and that was really, the base of it was just swing for the fences every single time, whatever you’re given. I was appreciative from day one. When I first got there, there seemed to be a little bit of a locker room culture of people being dissatisfied, you know, like, you know, what, what’s the point? They chose that guy, and you know, whatever. I’m gonna do jobs. And, and I’m like, this is the WWE, I love being here, you know, and this is amazing. I was 33 years old when I debuted, and I was green. And I’m five foot 10. Like, I’m already defying the odds just being here. So I was appreciative from day one. And I was super grateful my entire career. And I had people at the end of my career come up to me and say, you know, you’ve always such a pleasure to work with, thank you. You never had a problem doing anything with anybody. And you made it really easy, and you make it fun. And as we’re having an awesome time, look, this is our job, this is amazing. You know, so I was very conscious of that the whole time.”

On WrestleMania 25:

“Is that the Santina one? Yeah, no, I’m bad with the years and the numbers. It’s oddly enough, that was my biggest WrestleMania moment actually. I was the captain of Team Teddy, I had a match with Kofi against Big Show and Kane, so I had some matches. But that was like, the most highlighted, spotlighted moment in Wrestlemania. [What was the lead up to that?] So the lead up was the storyline with Beth Phoenix in my life where I was just trying to, I was battling to be the alpha in the relationship. So the relationship dynamics was what we were going after. And you know, I was insecure, and I’m trying to show that men are better athletes. So I’m going to dress up as a woman and enter the Women’s Battle Royale. And the whole idea was just for the storyline with Beth and I, and it was supposed to be a one off. But it was so funny that it ended up lasting for months and months. I had to get fake lashes every day and all that stuff. I had to go shopping in Houston at a mall for like the gear that day.”

On the fastest ever Royal Rumble elimination:

“I know how to beat the record. I’m the only one that knows how to do it. Well, no one’s done it yet. But that’s a perfect example of when you’re given lemons, you make lemonade. You know, when they were going, we were going through the Rumble and Dean Malenko was like, Yeah, you’re coming out getting eliminated pretty fast. I said, you know, can we try and break the record? He’s like, let me get back to you. [The record was] Like two seconds? I think it was Warlord. And he [Malenko] came back to me and said, By the way, you’re good on trying to break the record. So Kane had a huge part in that he had to be there at that moment, right. I’ve slid under, stood up and I’m gone. I’m going. And he was there. I mean, he was there. Like it was perfect.”

On being Santino Marella in IMPACT Wrestling:

“Yeah, so the big thing, I guess in 2021, somebody did not renew the trademark. And as a habit. When IMPACT gets guys that were former WWE guys, they look up the trademarks, you know, they have to come up with a name for me. Well, what can they call me? St. Tino? Or you know, something? [Santino’s real name is Anthony] Anthony? No, nobody wants to see Anthony. I found out you know, nobody really wants to see Anthony they’ve in fact disappointed when they see Anthony. But it [Santino] was available, IMPACT grabbed it. And it’s great news, you know. I was gonna have a great time anyway. But the fact that I can be Santino Marella and be the genuine article, and not a knockoff, it was just the icing on the cake.”

On the origin of The Cobra:

“I was in Japan. So for most of 2004 I was living in Japan. And after the shows there, we all go to the bar restaurant every day. There was a gentleman named Carl, who was friends with my coach, Mr. Ishikawa. And he’s just sitting at the table and just showed me this thing where he transforms his arm and his little kind of wooden puppet type thing. And I remember looking at Mr. Ishikawa like, I don’t get it. What is that? He goes it was a funny thing he does, you know. So he made me try it. The next time I saw him say, do you remember how to do it, you know, and that was it. Like that was it? That was the little funny thing between us. I’m guessing about five years later, I believe it was Atlanta. And I was wrestling either Chavo or Carlito I think it was Chavo. I go I am I try something during my comeback. So it’s like you know jab and clothesline or whatever punch and then next I stop and this transformation in my arm and I hit them they turned away into a schoolboy. And without seeing it on TV, the audience immediately laughed. So Cena, I always stand beside Cena, you know. So he came back, I came back through the curtain. He’s like, I would keep that if I were you, that was funny. And so I was doing it only on live events. And then one day I go to TV and Ricky Steamboat was my producer, and he’s like, I was wrestling Zack Ryder, he goes you know, you’re going over with the Cobra. Vince wants to see the Cobra. Vince knows about the Cobra? He goes yeah, he reads the reports and I go okay, so then yeah, I did The Cobra. The Cobra was crazy, like in three weeks. Really quickly, I would gesture for it. I would see in my peripheral vision like entire arena, like jumping up. I’m like really? Ok, they like it. I mean, I didn’t find it that spectacular, but they loved it. So and then I think they did it for like a year without the sleeve, and then we introduced the sleeve.”

On the WWE debut:

“Someone was talking about it yesterday, there was, people believed it, people really believed it. I can, I watched the footage, I can break it down to the moment where I got them. It’s when Vince says, you know, you and I’m like, you talking to me kind of thing. [Not] the guy [behind me] But I think I even point to the guy beside me like him. And they’re like, no, no, you and the confusion I had with like, is for real me? That was the moment people like, this guy’s really coming out of the audience. And so now, okay, that’s like 15 years ago, 16 years ago, in then April. So there’s kids that were 10 years old that are now 26 years old. And they’re telling me, you know, like, they thought it was real for years and years and years and years.” 

On learning Italian:

“So Dusty came down to kind of see Cody and talk to the class. And he said, if anybody ever calls you and says can you do something? The answer is yes, of course. And then you better learn how to do it. And like a month later, they call me and they say, can you speak Italian? I’m like, yes. And then after I said a few lines, because I used to work downtown Toronto in rush hour traffic. I had a cassette in my car that will just play and like flip over and play in rush hour traffic. I listen to this tourist Italian tape, and so I said a few lines from the tape. Like ‘Voglio comprare mezzo chilo di formaggio.’ I want to buy a half kilo of cheese. It’s something you would say at a market.”

From learning Italian to the WWE debut:

“And I could see them sitting at a boardroom table with a speaker and they’re all like, sounded good to me. And they go okay, you’re gonna fly out tomorrow. You might debut on Monday. So they sent me my passport. Like that day I flew out. Well, first I went to Borders, And I bought the eight CDs for Italian. I downloaded them to my iPod, and the entire flight. I’m just drinking espresso, was trying to learn Italian the way there. And that was it. Yeah, then like so I got there Sunday morning. And then I had a day in Milan by myself and then maybe the next day. And then like, I come home and it’s like pack your bags, you’re on the road. And so it was zero on the road, and then I was on the road for like a year straight.”

On Santino Marella’s Italian accent:

“Well, it’s funny, my high school, like almost my entire high school, all the parents were from another country. So it was a Catholic school. So Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Italian, Croatian, and so all our parents had these funny accents. You know, they all spoke English, but they had accents. So I have like tonnes of material just from my friend’s parents. And that was kind of a lot of my friends even call me out on it like, because my neighbour Simon Maganivan, is where I got Sonnamagun from. And he’s literally my next door neighbour. And it caught on but yeah, I have a plethora of material to choose from.”

On moving to northern Canada:

“COVID had a lot to do with it. You know, we just kind of got a little just fed up and we just wanted to change and, you know, it was in our plan to do that. But it just got sped up and man, I’m still in the honeymoon stage. It’s been over two years and I wake up and look out my backyard. And I’m like, I can’t believe we live here. It’s amazing. [We have] Deer every night, we put corn out for them. You back on to 500 acres of environmentally protected land. We have a couple of acres and we’re like a minute walk from the beach. And that’s fine like you know like we go to the farm to get our growing vegetables in the summer and stuff. It’s honestly, it’s incredible.” 

What is Santino Marella grateful for?

“My children, my health and my lifestyle.”

Featured image: WWE

Lewis Howes (@LewisHowes) is New York Times best-selling author, keynote speaker, industry-leading show host, and former pro athlete. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Los Angeles to talk about his new book, The Greatness Mindset which is now available for purchase at https://lewishowes.com/gmbook and wherever books are sold. Follow Lewis on Instagram and subscribe to his podcasts “The School of Greatness” and “The Daily Motivation Show”. Lewis talks about how to develop a mindset for greatness, the biggest lessons he learned from interviewing Kobe Bryant, the difference between success and greatness, what his 3 truths are, and much more!

What makes greatness so attractive:

“Well, because I was driven by success. That was what I wanted my whole life. I wanted to succeed, but I was driven to succeed based out of a wound, based out of a need, which was a need to be liked, to be accepted, to be seen, to be acknowledged, to be loved, to fit in, to belong. And it was coming from an unhealthy need. It was coming from a wound, there was a wound inside of me that needed something to feel safe and protected, because I didn’t know how to protect myself emotionally and mentally. So therefore, I would work so hard to accomplish my goals, but most of it was to prove people wrong or to fit in. And when I would accomplish it, 20 30 minutes afterwards, I would be kind of let down and have an expectation hangover and almost get angrier after I would accomplish these goals. And I would spend 5, 10, 15 years on a goal until it happened. So I was willing to do whatever it took, but I didn’t get the feeling I wanted once I accomplished it.”

What is the common greatness goal:

“They’ve got a clear mission, and I call it a meaningful mission. You know, and there’s no Olympic gold medalist that just said, Oh, I did this by accident. You know, there’s no world champion that gets there by accident, they’re very clear on what their meaningful mission is. It’s the first thing I talked about in the book, where if you don’t know in one sentence what your life’s mission is, for this season of life, then you’re not going to get there. So again, when I was on my sister’s couch, I don’t know 15 years ago, or something I couldn’t think of beyond that season, which was, I just want to make enough money to get my own apartment. And that’s all I could think I wasn’t like, I’m gonna change the world or make a tonne of money. I was like, I just need to get my own apartment. What can I do during this season, in order to make that happen? I was clear on my direction. Now I have a different mission. It’s to serve and impact 100 million lives weekly, to help them improve the quality of their life.”

What has been the biggest struggle:

“Learning to heal my past. I think there was a lot of pains, and wounds and insecurities and doubts that I was afraid to face and look at. And so I would compensate by trying to be a better athlete, by trying to be a better entrepreneur, by trying to make more money or do certain things I would compensate to project, an image that I wanted people to see. But I was living in shame and insecurity and doubt around what I knew about myself, thinking that if anyone knew these things about me, they wouldn’t like me, they would unfollow me they want to buy from me, they wouldn’t accept me, they wouldn’t love me. And so it was the fear of facing all the shames from the earliest memories. Up until now, the things that I was most afraid of insecure of and ashamed of. And once I started to face all those things, and address them, and process them in a healthy way through different therapies and modalities, it literally, like I had a pain in my chest off and on for most of my life. And it went away a couple of years ago when I truly said I’m going to face this fully, when I’m going to go all into the darkness, and create new meaning around the pain that caused me to feel this way. And when I did that, that’s when everything started to unlock in a whole new way, it started to flow. My relationships, because I had peace inside of me, and I still have this peace and it’s beautiful. It doesn’t mean I don’t, you know, deal with stressful moments, or there’s not challenges to face. But I face it from a place of peace inside of me and calm, versus pain inside of me and reaction. And that has been the hardest thing to do over the last decade. And it’s been a journey of creating new meaning around memories that used to hurt me.”

On having no money to start with:

“When I started out, I didn’t have the money, I was on my sister’s couch. But I found these personal advisors and mentors who, they believed in me, and they believed in me, because I was willing to do whatever they said. The worst thing you can do is reach out to someone and say can you give me some advice, that’s the worst thing to do. Instead of that, reach out to someone and say, it’s amazing what you’ve done and what you’ve accomplished, I’d love to hear your story of success and how you overcame your biggest obstacle. People love to talk about their success, but they don’t want to give advice, because giving advice to someone who doesn’t take action is exhausting. So I found some great mentors early on, and I just said, I will do whatever you tell me to do. And then I would report back when I did it,  I would not ask for any of their time, I would not check in with them unless I took extreme action, and typically failed a lot. And figuring out okay, I did these things, here’s what I figured out. What do you have next to me, what’s the next step I should do? And then it would tell me, and I would just go do it every single week on repeat, and then I’d come back to them. And that was a powerful relationship for me. Because I got wisdom from older men who had had success in different areas of life that I was looking for. And they were able to share wisdom of what worked for them and see someone actually take action. The worst thing you can do is waste someone’s time and not take action.”

On why the podcast does not have an intro:

“I realised, you know, I was looking at the data on YouTube, and I was noticing that people just drop off the longer if you didn’t get into the content right away. It’s just like, people don’t care. So I started testing that and saying, let’s cut this, the intros out on YouTube, and just get right into the first question. And we’ll put people’s names up and they’re kind of bio up on the video overlay. We’ll have it in the description, so all you have to do is click drop down and you see like a whole intro and a bio. And the same thing with the audio experience, but it was just kind of like, let’s test it out. And it started to work well, just by getting right into the hook. What do people need? Let’s ask this question right away, and then I can go back into like, backstory and who they are. But let’s, let’s give as much value upfront as possible.”

Lewis Howes’ dream podcast guests:

“I mean, it’s funny, I was thinking about this this morning. I’ve, when I launched the podcast, for whatever reason, I had like a top five that I wanted, and I haven’t had any of them still, which is, you know, so it’s still a journey. But The Rock was on there, Sylvester Stallone was on there, Oprah was on there, Jim Carrey was on there, and Barack was on there. It was part of that kind of my top five.”

On the LA journey:

“Mine is Interesting. I moved here for a girl, and the day I land. So I was living in New York living the dream, I was playing with the New York City handball team. I was running my business virtually from there. I was doing webinars and online seminars back then, LinkedIn, and then doing marketing with webinars and creating courses. So no one really knew what this was in 2010, right. Everyone now knows with Zoom and webinars and things like that now in 2020, but I was doing it 10 years prior. And so I could travel around, I just needed a laptop to make money, and build my business and I could be anywhere. And I was in New York City, living the dream, just like in awe of the city and like every day was magic meeting people having fun. I moved there to go play with the New York City handball team to pursue my goal and dream of playing with a US handball team and making it to the Olympics one day. Long story short, never made it to the Olympics, but did make the USA team, was with the team for about eight years, haven’t played in a couple of years with them. Anyways, meet a girl and she had just moved to LA, and we’re kind of dating long distance at the time for I don’t know, four or five, six months. And she is like I really want to date someone like in my city, and I don’t want to do long distance anymore, and she had done that in the past. And I was like, Well, I can come travel here like two weeks out of the month. I can work from my laptop, but I want to stay in New York. And she was like, No, I really think we should do it, like, a trial. And I was kind of like resistant and frustrated, because I told myself I would never move for a girl. And I was like, You know what, I don’t want to regret this, let me at least like give it a shot. So I let go of my place in New York. I hadn’t, didn’t have much anyways, I had two suitcases, a guitar and a laptop. Got on a flight one way to LA I had no place to stay. I was just renting an Airbnb for a week, no apartment yet. I land, she break ups with me the minute I land. And I’ll go what is going on? I just moved through my life across the country for this girl that I said I would never move for a girl for, this is why. And we ended up getting back together I think the next like day or two or whatever. But it was just like this emotional roller coaster for the first six months. And I hated LA because of that. I was like man, why did I do this? I should be in New York. But it was a beautiful journey for me to rediscover myself, reinvent myself, and start kind of mending and healing some things that were breaking down in my life. So that first year was a big eye opening journey, and a reflection for me to start opening up in different ways. You know, the girl didn’t work out. But being in LA eventually worked out. And now I love it here” 

On the happy accident of moving to LA:

“I started the school of greatness because of the breakdown. Because of all that was one of the things along with other a business breakdown I was having, other relationship breakdowns I was having, and just like LA not working for me at the time. I realised I was the common denominator of all the breakdowns in my life. So it was a perfect opportunity to step back, look at the mirror, look at myself in the mirror and say, Well, who are you? Why are you causing these things to happen? If you’re the source of your life? Why are these things showing up in your life? And I really went down a journey for the next year and a half of working on myself healing, developing, going to workshops, coaching, therapy, just reimagining what life could be. I hit 30 Around that time. And I said, Okay, I’ve got to learn, I have a lot to learn, whereas I thought I knew a lot. I was successful in sports and then in business, but emotionally I was breaking down, mentally I was breaking down. And I was making decisions without the best wisdom, right? And so I was causing a lot of breakdown. And this journey, the first year and a half being in LA was beautiful, where I was stuck in traffic in LA, kind of like on my way here, that’s why I was a few minutes behind, unfortunately, I apologise. But I was stuck in LA traffic during this time, and I remember just feeling like everyone in the cars around me were like screaming and honking and flipping people off or cutting them off. And I was like, this is kind of how I feel my life right now, stuck. And it was literally no joke during the time when I was in traffic, going two miles for an hour where I was like, man, there’s got to be something I could do with my life right now where I’m feeling like stuck in transition, that I can help me improve. There’s something I’m missing, there’s something I don’t know. I thought I knew what to do, it got me certain results, but I’m still not feeling fulfilled or happy or peaceful inside. I go, maybe I could start this podcast thing. I just started hearing about podcasts, this was in 2012, this was the early days of podcasting, 2012 end of 2012. And I I knew two people that had a podcast. So I called both of them during this car ride, stuck in traffic, and I just asked them about it. Hey, what’s this? How’s it going for you? They just started it maybe six months prior. Both of them said they loved it, it was a thing they enjoyed doing the most, they’re having the most fun. And they love hearing the responses from people listening. And I go, well maybe I could reinvent myself by going on a personal journey by reaching out to the people that I know and some business and sports and, and all these different areas and have them kind of teach me how to get unstuck. And maybe people would listen in traffic, like driving around LA or whatever in the world, stuck in traffic. And it helped them in their life as well, and that is where the idea came from, feeling stuck and trapped and broken down in my life. And it’s been a just hit 10 year anniversary a few weeks. It’s been a beautiful journey of doing a show for myself to learn and improve and then saying, hey, hopefully others want to hear it. And it works for them too, and it’s been a beautiful ride.”

What is Lewis Howes grateful for:

“For meeting you in this moment, my health and my girlfriend.”

Featured image: Hollywood Reporter

Bully Ray (@BullyRay5150) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE, ECW, NWA and IMPACT Wrestling. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 as part of the Dudley Boyz tag team with his partner D-Von Dudley. He joins Chris Van Vliet at Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to talk about his career that has spanned 30+ years in professional wrestling, how he is currently working as a hell in Impact Wrestling and as a babyface in NWA, his thoughts on Roman Reigns in WWE, why MJF is the biggest heel in the business, how Mae Young being powerbombed through a table helped to put the Dudleyz over, what the idea of “heel heat” means to him, why he likes to keep people on their toes, his goals in Impact Wrestling and much more!

On a possible Dudley Boyz reunion:

“Physically I don’t think so because I don’t think that D-Von can do it anymore, we’ve had the conversation. And for the world to know, because people on social media take things out of context and run with sh*t, it’s ridiculous. [Crosses fingers] Me and Devon have been like this since day 1. There has never been an issue with me and Devon. All this sh*t that you like to run with, these clickbait headlines, f*ck off!”

On D-Von wanting to re-sign with WWE and Bully Ray did not:

“That’s true though, but it didn’t cause a divide. I told Vince that I can’t do the Dudley thing anymore. I can’t do this Dudley thing the way that you want to do it, did it for a year. Vince sat me and D-Von down and said here’s what I want you to do. Work with The New Day, help them get over. Work with The Usos, help them get over. Work with The Wyatts, help them get over, and then whoever else we throw at you. You got it, no problem. The boss sat us down, this is how much he is paying us, this is what he needs. Ok, no problem. But after a year of doing it, I’m like ok, I am burnt on The Dudleys, I know I’ve got Bully Ray in the back pocket. I told D-Von upfront, I said listen, I don’t think I am going to re-sign. So we knew all of this. He re-signed and became a producer in the company, an employee in the company. Just recently they parted ways, but he had a great career there as a producer, did very well. It was never any animosity with D-Von, we talk all the time, we have done shows together. We are doing an autograph session in England, we got something coming up at the arena soon. It’s all good.”  

On reported heat with D-Von Dudley:

“Zero, Zero, there’s nothing! D-Von said that Bubba has got his school and I’ve got my school. Well yeah, I moved out of Florida. D-Von wanted to do a school on his own, this is just normal stuff that went on. There’s zero heat.” 

On MJF:

“People want to talk about Max like oh he is the best heel, but people love to hate Max. When Max comes out for his entrance, there’s a lot of smiling, there’s a lot of people like oh my God, what is he going to say? I can’t wait for the zinger! When Bully comes out, nobody is smiling, there is worry. I love Max to death, I am his biggest supporter and biggest fan, and he knows it. But it would be very easy for Max to go out there to a sea of boos, but also to a standing ovation. If they love you that much then they can’t hate you that much in that moment.”  

On not being a good wrestler:

“I am very much a perfectionist when it comes to my business, my livelihood, wrestling, I’ve always been that way. When I say that I am not a very good wrestler, I’m not kidding. So I don’t, a lot of stuff that the guys today do, or the great mat wrestlers, when you think of guys like a Malenko, like a Guerrero, I never had that ability, I never had that skill. What I was good at was the storytelling and the character and the smoke and mirrors and the use of everything else at my disposal to create something that might be more interesting than just a regular wrestling match. So I play to my strengths, I know what my weaknesses are, I try to keep them by my side. That is the beauty of this business, you don’t have to do what you are not good at doing.”   

On being one of the best heels in the industry today:

“It goes back to giving my all and investing in what I am doing. If you’re going to hate me, I’m going to be the most hated guy in the entire industry. I don’t think there is another guy, maybe there are 3 or 4 really good heels in wrestling right now, and I would put my name in that group. When I am on my game, I don’t think that there is anyone who can elicit that emotion of hatred, of pure disdain, like I can. You know, some guys go out and the fans “love to hate” them. If people are loving to hate you, then there’s an emotion of joy. When I go out there, nobody loves to hate me, they just f*cking hate me.” 

On knowing if the What’s Up spot would get over:

“I knew [it would], D-Von didn’t. D-Von was adamant about not doing it. He was like it is stupid, I’m not doing it. I’m like yes you will. We used to do the diving headbutt into the balls, that was part of our repertoire. Then the Budweiser advert came out with the wazzup, I just said to D-Von when you go up just wait, I’ll do the wazzup, you do it back to me. It’s stupid sh*t that gets over in this business, but it works, and it still works today.” 

On putting Mae Young through a table:

“I was very hesitant, because it was an 80 year old woman. But after that first thing and I saw her attitude and everything, I’ve told the story a million times, but I was raring to go. I remember when Vince came to me and he was like I got it, I’ve got how we are going to get people to hate you. You’re going to put a woman through a table. Yeah that’s gonna f*cking work [shakes head]. They love us for it!”    

On the Meltzer Driver finisher:

“I would never name a finishing move after a f*cking dirtsheet guy. I’m not kidding about naming the move, Dave is not a dirtsheet guy, I love Dave. I take little shots at the star rankings, but Dave is a bigger worker than any wrestler I know.” 

On wanting to be the IMPACT World Champion again:

“If you put the character under a microscope then yes, the goal is to be the champion. But when you look at it from a business point of view, the goal is to utilize the character for everyone and anyone in the company. I look at the entire locker room and I can honestly tell you, Bully Ray can work with anyone in that locker room. Any babyface, I can make that babyface in 5 minutes. You give me 5 minutes with that babyface and they will be made. It’s because of the way that Paul Heyman made me and D-Von. Me and D-Von lost all the time, but he handed me the microphone the next night and said go and get your heat back. Give me this [a microphone], and let me do what I do with this. No matter what, whoever walks out there is going to get a huge pop, because they are just wanting to see them punch me in the mouth and shut me up.” 

What is Bully Ray grateful for:

“My friends, my family and the wrestling business.”

And we’re back with you for another edition of #AskCVV! Chris Van Vliet answers questions that were submitted on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube from Insight listeners just like you. This is a monthly tradition so if you have a question that you’d like answered in the next edition, just send it with the hashtag #AskCVV.

What’s your thoughts on Jake Paul versus Tommy Fury? 

“So, I think that the judges got the decision right. I think that Tommy Fury won the fight. I think that they got the points a little messed up there. Like I don’t think that there were too many 10 8 rounds. And for two of the judges to say that there were, that Jake lost some of those rounds 10 8, doesn’t really make a lot of sense. I’m excited to see the rematch though. But I was saying like as soon as that first round happened that it was evident that Jake Paul had not been in there with a true seasoned professional boxer, because Tommy Fury looked good. Tommy Fury looked like a real boxer in there, his head movement, the way his feet move, the way he was landing his punches with the accuracy of the punches. He definitely looked like the fight was in his control. It was impressive to see Jake Paul knock down Tommy Fury. But I think that in the end, the decision was right. I think Tommy Fury won that fight. It’ll be so interesting when they run this back for the rematch. But I was interested, I am interested, I’ve been following Jake Paul’s journey since he became a pro boxer three years ago. And that’s the other thing, you got to remember this is only his ninth fight. He’s only been a pro boxer for three years. So for someone who just started this three years ago, looks pretty good in there. So I was entertained. And I think that that’s really the whole point of all this was an entertaining fight, and I look forward to seeing another one. So what do you guys think? I know, there’s a lot of hate. I know there’s a lot of hate on Jake Paul, and on Logan Paul. And for whatever reason, not a lot of respect for what these guys have built. These guys are from Cleveland, Ohio, actually just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. And they have worked so hard for everything that they have. Whether that’s on YouTube, or as a podcaster, or as a boxer, or now as a professional wrestler for Logan Paul, as an entrepreneur, for Logan Paul, and what he’s building with Prime, they’ve worked so hard for all of this. And it’s funny to see people that are just like, oh, yeah, well, it came easy for them. And they just want to like discount this or take it away from them. All I’m saying is you’ve got to respect, whether you love them or hate them, the Paul brothers, and I know your question is not about what do you think about the Paul brothers, but whether you love them or hate them, I think you have to respect them. You don’t have to like them. But I think you have to respect what they’re doing right now and what they’re continuing to do. They’re doing everything they’re doing at the highest possible level. It’s impressive.” 

Who do you think your next interview will be?

“I know exactly who my next interview will be. I was just in Las Vegas this past weekend. If you follow me on Instagram, you see some of the shots that I posted there. I was in Vegas for like, five hours, and we did three pretty big interviews while we were there. So IMPACT Wrestling was in town for No Surrender. That was the pay-per-view live on Friday night, then they did two TV tapings, Saturday and Sunday. So I interviewed Santino Marella, fascinating conversation. Then I did an interview with Bully Ray, another fascinating conversation. And I did an interview with former light heavyweight champion, Rashad Evans. Amazing conversation. So you’ll be seeing all of those in the next few weeks, which one’s going to be first? We will upload, I’m making the decision right now as I’m saying this in one breath, we will upload Bully Ray on Thursday. So there you go, that’s the next podcast episode, it’s Bully Ray. Fascinating conversation because that guy doesn’t pull any punches. So you’ll be seeing that on Thursday, both on the podcast and on the YouTube channel. So go check that out. If you aren’t subscribed on the YouTube channels, both Chris Van Vliet and CVV clips. Please go and subscribe there so you don’t miss out on these conversations that we post and the clips that we post on there.” 

How can one stand out in an oversaturated industry like online journalism? 

“That is such a great question. And I think that the key to standing out in any industry is just consistency. And I think that if we’re going to speak specifically with like content creation and online journalism, I think there’s a lot of people who get into the space. They do one or two things and they go oh, how come this isn’t popping off? How come that video I posted isn’t getting 1000s or tens of 1000s of views. How come that article isn’t getting all the click throughs. It’s just all about consistency. It’s about, especially with journalism, it’s about constantly putting things out that is a value to other people. And it’s not it’s not about doing it once. It’s not about doing it twice, it’s about doing this each and every time so that you start to build up a reputation for yourself. And I’ll use my friend Sean Ross Sapp as an example of this. He was breaking stories years ago, and you know, a few people were paying attention but not a lot of people. But then when he kept doing it, people went oh, well, Sean Ross Sapp is saying it, it must be actually happening. And then he started to build up this reputation for himself, where every time that he reported it, you took it as fact, because he was getting it consistently right so frequently. So I think it’s the idea of showing up. And it’s also the idea of being like honest and transparent, and trustworthy. If we’re talking specifically about journalism here, it’s about people being able to rely on you. And if we’re just talking about content creation in general, you just got to keep doing it. You just got to keep doing it. If you say to people, I’m going to put out a podcast episode every Monday, well, then just like a job, you’ve got to show up every Monday and put it out. And I think that too many people treat this like a hobby, and then you get results like a hobby. If you treat it like a job, you will start to get results like a job. So that’s just my two cents here from my now 18 years in the broadcasting industry, and it’s shifted and changed a lot.” 

What is one of the best matches that doesn’t get enough recognition? 

“Fantastic question. And we could do 17 podcast episodes about some of my favourite matches that a lot of people don’t talk about, but I will point a finger directly at TNA wrestling, and say there are not enough WWE fans, or just wrestling fans in general, that watch any of the great matches that happened in TNA, or currently happening in TNA IMPACT Wrestling. And if you have never seen TNA IMPACT Wrestling, if you’ve never seen anything, go look up the three way match between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. And I think that that’s the type of match that really set the tone for TNA and what they were all about, especially the X Division. And I think it’s those type of matches, like AJ Styles is phenomenal, right? It’s his nickname, but he’s phenomenal. Everything he does every everybody he works with, he makes them look great. But I don’t think that there’s a lot of WWE fans that realise the amazing work he was doing like 05 to 09, it’s not really fair to just like single out a span of five years. But those years in particular, are what really sucked me into being an IMPACT Wrestling fan, TNA fan. So I would say that he was like AJ Styles versus whomever. And I will also piggyback on that and say that Kurt Angle had his best matches, Kurt Angle did his best work in TNA, and there were so many people that didn’t see it. So go check out like TNA, Kurt Angle in TNA versus AJ Styles, or go check out Kurt Angle versus Sting. Like, these are just great matches that I don’t think get nearly enough recognition from fans that maybe weren’t watching that back then. So that’s kind of my long answer. And of course, you know, I think that the best match of all time, and the match that you should show anybody who’s never watched wrestling before is Hulk Hogan versus The Rock, WrestleMania 18. Just because that crowd reaction is amazing. And that crowd reaction is so loud and it makes the whole match. A lot of people talk about that being a great match. I think that doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves sometimes for it being as good as it is.” 

Do you think gimmick matches like Hell in a Cell or Money in the Bank need their own PLE? Or should they be included in another show? 

“That’s a really good one. And I think you could go either way on this. I also love that we have ditched the term pay-per-view and there are now PLE’s, premium live events. I love that fans are now using that term instead of saying pay-per-view, and it makes sense right? We’re not paying to view them anymore. There are Premium Live Events. I loved back in the day, when you’d have a Hell in a Cell because it fit the storyline, like the build up was like, well, they’ve already done this type of match, or they’ve done this type of match or this match really favours this person, now it’s time to have a Hell in a Cell match. And I think that my problem sometimes with a Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, is you’re having a Hell in a Cell match just for the sake of having a Hell in a Cell match. And I don’t think personally, it falls into the same category as like the Elimination Chamber match, like, that’s a match where you go, Okay, this match happens at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, I get it, and we kind of go on from there. I think that Money in the Bank makes sense as a pay-per-view, because that match then leads up to WrestleMania. You know, the whole storylines that we end up with, you could have like cashing in the Money in the Bank contract all the way until WrestleMania. I think that like, that one makes sense. But I never understood the Hell in a Cell thing. So I think that might, I guess, I guess, in a roundabout, in a roundabout way, I’m saying like, I think it needs to make sense for the story. And then you don’t just have it for the sake of having it. Does that make sense?”

I met Drew McIntyre last week and I froze. Have you ever had a situation where you’ve completely frozen and needed to quickly compose yourself? 

“Well, first of all, that’s awesome that you met Drew McIntyre. Isn’t he great? Isn’t he such a good dude. So even though it may be it didn’t go the way that you wanted it to go. That’s still pretty cool that you met Drew McIntyre. And you know, there is gonna be a bunch of people listening to this right now going, oh, man, I wish I could meet Drew McIntyre. So I’ve definitely had moments where I wouldn’t say I’ve completely frozen. But I think that what this comes down to is you have an expectation in your mind of how you want the situation to go, and sometimes it doesn’t go that way. And then you go oh, man, that wasn’t so great. I can promise you, Steve, that it wasn’t nearly as bad as you’re imagining it was in your mind. But I had a moment and it’s on YouTube, if you want to go check this out. I had a moment on the red carpet for the Baywatch group. And we did this in Miami on South Beach, they did the world premiere on the red carpet, and The Rock is obviously in that movie. And I was told I wasn’t getting The Rock. So I’m doing these interviews on the red carpet, like, did an interview with Zac Efron, who’s in the movie. And I was interviewing all kinds of other people that were on the red carpet, and then The Rock is kind of making his way down the red carpet. I’m just not prepared for this. And then Rock ends up coming right in front of me and boom, next thing you know, we’re doing an interview. And I was kind of just in shock that like, I didn’t expect this to happen. It was a big lesson learned too that you’d have to prepare in all of those situations for anything that could possibly be thrown your way. So the interviews, fun, fine, short. And there’s actually a moment where I wrap up the interview, probably earlier than it should have been wrapped up. And you can kind of see, again, this is on YouTube, if you want to check this out. There’s a moment where I think he’s kind of like oh, that’s it? Like, I think it’s 37 seconds long. Let me look, I’m standing here, or sitting here on my computer. So let me take a look here. But I didn’t, I wouldn’t say like I froze, but I definitely could have made this a much better interview much better situation than I did. So let me see here. Usually on a red carpet, you’re talking to someone for like, two questions. It was a minute and seven seconds. So 67 seconds of me talking to The Rock. And that was it. So yeah, I would say though, for anybody, you gotta remember that celebrities are also human beings. Right? And without using the cliche of oh, they put their pants on one leg at a time or you know, they also take a sh*t too. You got to remember that they’re just a person who chased after their dreams and didn’t let anything stand in the way. And of course a little bit of luck sprinkled in there, but they’re just a person like you and I. So you just talk to them. Like they’re a person just have a conversation with them like they’re a person. They’re obviously very successful person. But you have a conversation with them. Like they’re a person.” 

Hey Chris, are you excited about being a dad?

“I am and it’s happening so quickly, it’s really coming up on us here. So as I sit here right now, I’m going to be a dad in less than three months. And I, I have all kinds of different emotions that I’m feeling about this, of course, I’m excited. I also have no idea what to expect from any of this. So I’m excited, I’m a little nervous, I’m at times emotional about this. And it’s funny because it, this whole process, and if you’re listening right now, and you are a parent, I’m sure you can relate. The whole process starts to make you think a lot about your own childhood, and the relationship that your parents had with you, and the way that you were raised. And there’s a lot of those things that you want to do that they did, and maybe there’s a few things that you don’t want to do that they did. And I think about that all the time. And I have so much, so much love for my parents, and they’re still together, my parents are going to celebrate their 49th wedding anniversary this year. It’s amazing. Dirk and Helen Van Vliet, Pickering Ontario. But I think about that a lot. And I just I, I want to be the best father, for our baby girl, as she grows up in this world, this ever changing world. So yes, the short answer to your question is, are you excited? Yes. Yes, I am. And then I’ve a whole bunch of other things. And now I can start to relate to other, you know, soon to be fathers, or soon to be mothers that, we talked about this, love, like, all of the emotions and all this stuff that goes into it. And then they have the kid and then I see where they’re at whether this is some of my friends or just you know, even celebrities. It changes a person, I think it changes them for the better. But it changes them, and I’m excited, because I feel like I’m already starting to change. But I’m excited to see what’s kind of on the other side of this.”

Have you and your wife picked out a name for your daughter? 

“I think yes, I think so. We’ve narrowed it down to a few names. But I really think we have to meet her first. And then we’re going to find out like Okay, so this is the name we have in mind, or these are the names we have in mind. Does that fit who you are? So I can’t wait. The due date is May 21st. My birthday is May 19th. So I’ve been saying like, I just hope she, I don’t mind sharing my birthday. But I’ve been jokingly going, that is my day, May 19th is my day. So you could have any other day but mine. Obviously love if she were to come on May 19th. We’re just excited for her to join us. 

What are your predictions for Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39?

“I feel like we kind of all know what’s going to happen here, right? Certainly feels like they’re lining this all up for it to be Cody’s night. And I do think that if anyone’s going to dethrone The Tribal Chief, that Cody Rhodes it makes a lot of sense. Especially with the way they’re building that storyline now that like Dusty Rhodes trained all of these people in NXT, and they’re all big superstars now. Trained Roman Reigns, you know who Dusty Rhodes didn’t train? That’s right, he didn’t even train his own son. What a storyline this is gonna be. So I feel like all signs point to WrestleMania 39, ending with Cody Rhodes as the champion. But with that said, this is WWE. And WWE is known for basically going oh, yeah, you think that’s gonna happen? Think again. So my prediction is going to be Cody Rhodes, but all of that’s to say I wouldn’t be surprised if they threw us a curveball and when actually Roman Reigns, but if I was a betting man, I would put my money on Cody Rhodes here.

Would you ever consider interviewing fans on the podcast? 

“I feel like every time I interview a pro-wrestler, that’s exactly what I’m doing. Because all of them started as a fan first, and then you hear these great stories of like, oh, yeah, growing up, this person was who I looked up to. Well, I wanted to have a career like this person, or I wanted to meet this person, and then all the wrestlers watch the product now, so when you’re talking to them, they’re giving you their take on it as a fan, which I think is always so interesting. So that’s what’s interesting to me is being able to talk to people who are the very best at what they do. And when it comes to pro-wrestling, who was better than the people who were in the ring to be able to give you their insights, pun, of course intended, on everything that’s going on, and everything goes on in their life too.” 

Thank you for the book suggestions in the last ask CVV. I’ve already read the Subtle Art of Not Giving an F and Atomic Habits, two great books, by the way, what should I read next?

“Thank you for checking those books out. It was very cool. After that episode aired, I had a few people send me messages or they would take a screenshot, and they would tag me on Twitter, like hey I’m listening to this book right now or I’m just finished this book. That was really cool, because those are two books. And then I also talked about the Four Agreements, those are three books that really changed my life and changed my perspective on life. So what should you read next, I’ll give you two more of my favourites here. Never split the difference by Chris Voss. He’s a former guest on Insight, he’s a former FBI negotiator. And it is a fascinating book on negotiation, and also just about the conversation. And he talks about how everything in life is a negotiation. And it’s really interesting to see some very small little tips and tricks and tactics that you can employ in your everyday life. I mean, whether you’re, whether you’re talking about like who’s going to take out the garbage, or you’re negotiating the price on a new vehicle. It’s interesting, there’s some really cool insight there. And it’s just written in such a great way. So never split the difference by Chris Voss. And then Start With Why Simon Sinek wrote this amazing book called Start With Why. And it talks about how so many people are, in companies, are selling you what they do, this is what we do, and this is what I do. And he says that people aren’t interested in what you do, they’re interested in why you do it. And the book uses some really interesting case studies that will make you, it’ll just blow your mind. I don’t want to like give too much away here. But it talks about why Apple, it has been so popular. And whether you’re an Apple user or not, it doesn’t matter. But it talks about like Apple has always led with Why? Why are you buying their products? Why are they making their products, not what we’d sell. So Start With Why and Never Split The Difference. Those will be my two books, suggestions for the Ask CVV number three.”

Lio Rush (@iamliorush) is a professional wrestler, musician and actor. He is known for his time with WWE, AEW, MLW and NJPW. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Los Angeles to talk about coming out of retirement, the recent matches he has had in MLW and NJPW, why his time in AEW was so short, what he thinks of Tony Khan, whether or not he thinks he will return to WWE, his music career, what he learned from working with Bobby Lashley in WWE and much more!

On Lio Rush’s time in WWE as a manager:

“When I got put in that role, it was very confusing for me. It was very confusing and very frustrating. I think it was confusing for me, I didn’t really know how to wrap my head around what was actually happening, things were just moving so quickly, I feel like I didn’t really have a chance to think to myself or just have a grasp on, you know, why I feel so upset. And I think getting older and not being in that environment anymore. Just realising, you know, I just got signed to WWE, I’m 21 22 years old. I was able to get signed here without like, really a try out or, or anything, but I got noticed because of my wrestling in Ring of Honor. And then when you get told to be in a speaking role, and mainly just like a speaking role. Yeah, I’m still so, I feel like I’m still so hungry, athletically, and I feel like I just got to this place where, you know, I’ve always wanted to be. I grew up an athlete, my entire life feels like I should be an athlete and feels like I should be doing something physical. And I made it somewhere, you know, at the top of this mountain, doing something physical and being the best at doing something physical. So when that physicality kind of got, like, chopped from underneath me, at 21 22 years old, you know, I didn’t grow up, like 4 5 6 years old, saying that I wanted to be a manager in WWE. So I feel like I also got a little scared and nervous that, okay, this is gonna be my legacy and WWE, like I worked so hard, so many years to try to be a professional wrestler in WWE, and then that stamp of like, okay, you’re a manager. And I didn’t really know how to sit with that. Now, I was making decent money. I was out there with Bobby Lashley, a guy that I grew up watching and admired, still to this day.”

On a potential WWE return:

“Um, I think that it potentially could. I think yeah, I think it potentially could lead me back to WWE. I think at a certain point, it would ultimately be up to me whether I want to go that route again or not. I realised that nothing is forever. So being presented certain opportunities, I truly want to make the most out of them, and I want to do my absolute best to make sure there’s no, you know, wasted time, no wasted movement, no wasted effort. And every little thing that I do needs to be a building block to, you know, a bigger legacy or a bigger whatever the case may be to continue to do the things that I want and to continue to create opportunities for my kids to be able to do what they truly want. So if you know spending another 3, 5, 10 years in WWE to build something bigger than me, then I’ll take that. And I feel like me going through that process and me already knowing what that system is like and how things are ran. I mean, who knows if it’s ran the same? I have no idea. But I think already having that experience and having that, that showing on their television network could work out in my favour. I mean, I see it all the time. I think a great example of that, and obviously he’s not the only one, but I definitely, I mean, I’ve seen in real time, you know, Drew McIntyre getting released, coming back. I wrestled him when he was on the Indies. And I think if I’m not mistaken, I think I was his very last match on the Indies or second to last match before he ended up going back.”

Has the hatchet been buried with Tony Khan:

“Um, probably a little bit [of animosity]. I mean, how can there not be? But I think Tony, I like Tony a lot. I really, I really, really like Tony. I think that’s the first time I’m saying that out loud. Yeah, I can’t take it back now. But I do like Tony and I, like, I was, one thing that made me so willing to give AEW, a chance because I feel like I was scarred from my WWE run. I feel like I was, you know, traumatised a little bit. Tony liked me a lot. I feel like we connected pretty quickly. And I feel like that’s why things probably, there was a lot of emotion involved with. And I probably shouldn’t have brought it, brought the emotion out, but I’m glad again, I’m glad. I’m glad that I did. I’m glad that I show people that I stand for something. I’m glad that I show people that I care about myself, I care about others. It’s not always about a pay check to me. Yeah, I am, I’m sorry, I’m kind of, I mean, this is huge. For me, like really, because this is the first time that I’m really, really speaking on it. Like, you know, I’ve talked about it, but I haven’t really, really talked about it in that sense, like with my actual like relationship with Tony and stuff like that. [Chris – But have you talked to him since you left AEW]? Uh, yeah. Yeah. I’ve talked to him a few times. Yeah. I’ve, we’ve talked to a number of times. And it’s always great. It’s always, you know, how you been good to hear from you. You know, if the show was on the air, yeah, I try to like pop out and see and stuff like that. So the love is still there. The support is still there. Yeah, I think there’s just other factors into me actually being there. I mean, I’m doing so much right now. I’m happy with what I’m doing. It’s not really like I’m trying to force something to happen. You know if it happens, it happens. But I love the direction that I’m going in right now. I love what I’m doing, I’m glad that I feel like I don’t really have any true like bad blood within wrestling, I feel like with me being so active right now. And being in front of people. It’s a lot different when you’re in front of somebody, you can see them, you can kind of feel their energy, you can see why they’re doing what they’re doing and stuff like that. So I think a lot of people with me popping up back up like this so consistently and so kind of like making a pretty big splash with, you know, any show that I that I do, I feel like people are starting to see me and see my characteristics more and you know, who I am as a person, as a performer. Maybe respected my work a little bit more realising that I’m 28, but I’ve been doing this for almost a decade now. I think people are just kind of coming to terms and, and just really starting to see me. Yeah, it’s a nice feeling.”

On being inspired by Kevin Hart:

“Yeah, he really did [inspire me]. There was, it’s funny, there was a point in time in NXT, right when I got signed to WWE when I was doing some house loop shows around the Florida area. Kevin Hart chants would break out, like in the audience, and, and, you know, nobody ever wants to be called somebody else but for me, it was, it was a huge compliment, and I was really enjoying it. You know, I, if I could give off that feel that Kevin Hart gave me like watching him on screen or watching him on a stand up special or whatever. Yeah, I just wanted to be a small loud mouth. You know, like, such like a big presence for like a smaller guy. Like, that’s what I wanted. You know, that character was supposed to be like, loud, brash, arrogant, cocky. And I feel like it worked really well. Maybe a little bit, too well, They already hated me really.”

On coming out of retirement:

“Yeah, I was going through a lot in that time period. I think personally, I was going through a lot on top of the physical injuries that I had, and it kind of just made me put a lot of things in perspective. Just wanted to figure out what I needed to, like, prioritise in my life. I definitely feel like I grew up with a lot of responsibility that someone my age isn’t really, I wouldn’t say supposed to go through, but it’s definitely an interesting situation with me being currently 28 years old.”

On returning to wrestling:

“No, it’s good to be back in a wrestling setting really. I feel like I’ve been away for so long on and off. But I’m glad that I’m, you know, here for a good chunk of time without any really distractions or things pulling me away from the wrestling scene. So yeah, I’m having a good time right now.”

Was the decision to return financial or personal?

“Both really. And family has always been there for me, it always will be there. It always will be my number one priority. And the reason why I do what I do. Having more experience in wrestling and you know, having my kids get older. I always say like I do this, I do this for them now. This is my reason for doing it. You know, before that I was a fan of wrestling. I wanted to become a professional wrestler for me. It was my goal for me, it was what I wanted to do for me. But now with so many people that I love and care for and provide for I feel like I’m doing this for them. But there was a rare switch in me recently that I feel like I haven’t felt since I wanted to get signed to WWE. And it was feeling like this is what I’m meant to do. You know, I grew up being a fan of wrestling. I grew up dedicating, you know, my athletic skill set to, you know, morph myself into being a professional wrestler, like I became an amateur wrestler so that I can be a professional wrestler. You know, I was an all American in amateur wrestling, but I never wanted to wrestle at a collegiate level. I didn’t want that, I wanted to take that skill set and use it to have a strong foundation in professional wrestling. But it was definitely that switch that went off that said, this is what I’m supposed to do. This is what I worked so hard for. Literally blood, sweat and tears to, to get to where I am at the age that I’m at and yeah, it feels like this is what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I feel like I could, I’m not gonna say I feel like I can, I feel like I am, I feel like I am the best wrestler in the world. I feel like with me saying that, it always sparks. But that’s how much I believe in myself a lot. I feel like I’ve shown myself a lot. And I feel like I can afford to say that to myself. And when I say that. I’m not saying [that to myself], I’m saying that to everybody. Because if I don’t say it, and if I don’t put it out there and make people think like, oh, is Lio, the best wrestler in the world? Why is he saying this? Let me pay attention to some of his matches just a little bit closer than I was before. Let me try to see if this is what he’s saying. Is it true? Does it have some kind of, you know, truth to it.”

On other wrestlers’ reactions to Lio Rush saying he is the best wrestler in the world:

“I would hope that they would say the same thing that I would say. I hope that they would say good for you. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like if you’re not saying that you’re the best in the world, like, you know, what are you really working towards? Why are you doing this? What is your, what is your drive? Where’s your motivation coming from? I feel like, Will Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world, and he should think that he’s the best wrestler in the world. He’s, he’s incredible, but I feel like he’s incredible at what he does. You know, I don’t want to, you know, steal a quote from, from, from Chris Jericho, or Triple H of, you know, saying, you know, I’m the best wrestler, or I do what I do best, better than anybody, you know, something around those lines. And I feel like I have my own style, and, and my own way of doing things, and I’m the best at doing it that way.”

On being back full time:

“Yeah, it definitely feels like I’m back full time. That’s what the schedule that I’m on, how often I’m wrestling. The amount of matches? Yeah, the amount of matches that I’m having, it’s kind of, you know, blown me away really, with the schedule that I was able to, to kind of pull it together and be full time.”

What is Lio Rush grateful for?

“My family, all the people who are not blood relatives who care about me and the fact that I am still living.”

Travis King is an entrepreneur who helps people achieve their dream of financial freedom with land flipping. After a number of years entrenched in the corporate world and with multiple side hustles failing to provide financial freedom, Travis discovered land flipping. The results would be life-changing: within 2 years he had built up passive income which enabled him to pursue this venture as his full time job, resulting in a seven-figure empire over the following decade. Unsurprisingly, it was from this pursuit that Travis found true purpose – helping others experience wild success through niche land flipping opportunities; now providing coaching programs and training courses so all can benefit! Travis joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about how to maximize your side hustle, what finding your passion looks like, how he discovered land flipping, what to look for in a great deal, the power of gratitude and much more!

Where to start your side hustle:

“Yeah, well, I have like, so what I did, I created a free challenge. Because when I started, everything was paid, right? Like everything was if I had questions, or I emailed somebody, like, you got to buy the course. Right? So for me, I thought if I ever get in a position of educating, I want to give people like without [money]. Because it took me several months, Chris of like Googling and watching YouTube videos, like trying to get familiar with land. And then also like, I was very sceptical and needed proof of concept, right? So I’m, it took me a long time, almost like a year of analysis, paralysis of getting started. So I’m like, Okay, if I ever do this education thing, like I want to give somebody a free like kind of like an intro class. So if you go to travisking.com, I have a free challenge that’s a seven day 100% free challenge. And it’s kind of like though seven days. Each session is like anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour where you’re really getting oriented with the concept and the idea that over the course of seven days, you have a feel for me, and you’re also familiar with land without having to you know, get out your your wallet, right and buy a course or anything. So that’s probably the best like starting point, you know.”

On beginning to side hustle:

“Well, the passion like, or the interest was always there. But the execution is what I lacked. So very similar to how people would go to like a seminar and fill that motivation and rah rah feeling and then leave it like that. It doesn’t mean you’re educated, it just means you’re hyped, right? That was kind of me, I was interested in real estate, and I started reading like, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and some of these, like very well known or traditional books. But the problem was, I didn’t really study them, right? And I didn’t execute them on like, they’re fantastic books and have amazing concepts, but I use them more like they got me hyped up. And then I ran out there really naively as a young 20 something right, with a high income and pretty good credit score, and bought up as much property as I could not knowing anything about, like, how to vet the properties and what’s a good property and and where are we at in the market? You know, so it looked like a good strong start in the like, mid, like 2004 2005. And then, you know, I’m sure a lot of listeners can tell where the story is going. Right?” 

What happened next:

“What happened in 2008 ish is even billionaires, right, very intelligent guys lost 40 50% of their net worth, right, with the economy so that’s kind of what happened to me. I got bit early on with foreclosures, and you know, losing houses. And so I started really young, kind of trying to be that entrepreneur on the side, like with houses and house investing, but due to just not seeing the, you know, the recession coming, and then also just being young and naïve, right, and not really studying things, just diving in, I got hit pretty hard. So that was like my first attempt to kind of be an entrepreneur side hustle, and it didn’t end well. Right. So then we spent the next five, six years kind of licking my wounds and recovering and just getting up going to work in that same routine and kind of going what’s next. And that’s where, you know, fast forward five, six years, I still had that itch and at this time, speaking of side hustles and so I mean, that’s why people say side hustle, like we’ve done everything. And I say we, like my wife and I, so we, you know, we’ve been on this journey together and we’ve done all these side hustles so we like we flipped cars, we flipped campers, we mystery shopped, right, at what point at our lowest point right. Looking back, we’re doing a mystery shop at like Payless Shoe store, right? Not even like Nike, right? Or a Cool Kicks like Payless, right? So we’re in the middle of a mystery shop and it’s like, what are we doing, but we’re just trying to make outside money and trying to do something outside of work. And then fortunately, I stumbled across like land flipping as a side hustle or as kind of land as an asset class. And that’s really when we, you know, we grabbed that and it didn’t have the barriers to entry, like house investing did or multifamily single family multifamily, where you gotta have gobs of money for, you know, 20% down payments on three $400,000 houses. You could buy cheap property at auctions, and it just had a really low barrier to entries. And I still had PTSD from the crash of housing. So I felt like starting small with something cheap, where I wasn’t betting the farm would be like a safe way to try the side hustle again, within real estate.”

How to flip land:

“Yeah, well, now it’s a lot different than when we started. When we started we would buy off of tax online tax auctions. So whenever somebody doesn’t pay their property taxes for enough years, three to five years. And not all states are the same, but in a lot of states, you know, they want to, they want to collect those property taxes, obviously, right. So they want to bring it back from the tax roll. So they have auctions. And they have online auctions, that it’s not like the 80s and 90s, where you need to go stand at the courthouse steps, right, and hold up your like, you know, your paddle. And like bid like you can just online and put your max bid, and it’s very similar to eBay, right. So that was our first flips were like buying a property for $500. And then selling it for $2500. So this was all like we would buy on an auction, and then we’d resell it on eBay for $2500. And then we bought one for like $600 and sold for $5000. You can sell land on eBay, I know it’s insane.”

On low barriers to entry:

“Yeah it’s, the thing is, it’s really like the boring, less sexy, like under looked asset class, right. So like, you turn on HDTV, you’re watching flipping this house, people are picking out cabinets, they’re remodelling homes, right? That resonates with people, they get excited about that. But like, can you imagine, like, turn on your TV and like people are like, Okay, so here’s this dirt, right? We’ve got a little hill over here, like, here’s where the driveway will be, you know what I mean? Like, it’s just, it’s not an attractive asset class. So because of that, it’s kind of overlooked or dismissed. And then the reality is, it’s a little more challenging to appraise or value, because the assessed like county assessed tax values, there’s not always a correlation with market value. So it’s not like houses where there’s 10 different estimates or 10 different places, you can see what a house is worth. So that’s where the opportunity comes in, because it’s harder to value, and everybody’s occupied with houses and house investing. So land is just kind of this like blue ocean right over here that people aren’t interested in. Because there’s all the stigma from decades ago of like, land is just this thing that sits, it doesn’t make money, right. But the reality is with the internet, you know, with the internet and visibility and reach now, it’s not the same as it was I think in the 80s of like owning land. You know, it’s just like any it could be flipped just like you said, like a couch or like anything.”

On life before business:

“Yeah, so I you know, so I started college with little to no direction, so what do you do, right, when you have no direction out of high school? It’s either military, or it’s college, and you know, figure it out. I, you know, snuck in my four or five years of fun in a semester and a half of college right? And so I enjoyed all the social aspects of college but had no clue where I was going, you know, with it like as far as profession or degree and really was like, just impatient, you know, like, just kind of wanted to get out there and take on the world and start doing things, you know, not learning, right? If I had a lot of clarity on what I wanted to be, I think it would have felt different, right? But because of that, it just more felt like this like holding pattern of like, alright, like, I’m just here because I don’t know what I want to do next.”

On side hustling running in the family:

“So I’ve got a 14 year old, a 12 year old and an 8 year old. My boys, the older two, they’ve been buying this energy drink Prime right? They’ve been buying Prime, Logan Paul’s energy drink. They’ve been buying it for a $1.89 a bottle by the case and taking it to school and selling it for $5 to $7 a bottle. Okay, so like this is like, on their own right, it’s really cool to see them like, you know, kind of be little entrepreneurs. And that arbitrage buy by the case, sell by the bottle, right? So it’s really cool to see them like load up their backpacks and shorts to go push their prime right product. So it just shows the like, the asset class or the item or the arbitrage or whatever you’re doing, it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s legal. Right? Like, it doesn’t matter. But it’s just like that desire, you know, of recognising that opportunity and then capitalising on it, you know, at any age, right.”

What is Travis King grateful for:

“My wife, my kids and that I get to help people.”

Featured image: Land Investing Mastery

Matt Morgan (@BPMattMorgan) is the current Mayor of Longwood, FL, and a former professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and TNA Wrestling. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about why he decided to run for mayor of the town he lives in, how he met Vince McMahon before he became a wrestler, appeared on Tough Enough, what could have been with his wrestling career in TNA, and WWE, a potential storyline where he was going to be Kane’s brother named Abel, using Brock Lesnar’s F5 finisher, his plans to return to WWE in 2014 and why it didn’t happen and much more!

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Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (@rampage4real) is a mixed martial artist and actor known for his time in Pride FC, Bellator and as the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He joins Chris Van Vliet in the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about his legendary UFC career, his fights with opponents like Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, why he says Jon Jones is the dirtiest fighter, what happened when he signed with TNA to become a pro wrestler, his movie roles and what he learned from Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper on “The A-Team”, his viral clip destroying the door on “The Ultimate Fighter”, why he thinks Jake Paul will beat Tommy Fury, his support of United Fight League and the fact that they are paying for fighters medical coverage, his plans for another fight and much more!

On Jon Jones:

“Jon Jones is like the dirtiest fighter. I’m cool with Jon, when I see Jon Jones we cool. Its a side of me that wants to do stuff to Jon Jones. I’m gonna keep it real. I never got a rematch. I never got it. Yeah, it’s a side of me that you know, every time like I used to, I used to have a Lambo and I used to get in and out of it. I used to get it in the Lambo and be in a lot of pain. But then it’s like. I always had honor when I fought. You know, I want to be the best fighter on the day, I want to win the fight clean. But I know that every fighter is not like me, so I can’t get mad at him, you know what I’m saying, I can’t get mad at him for that. But it’s just me. But you know, now my son is fighting. If like somebody did this sh*t to my son. I don’t know what happened because I can’t control my temper sometimes. I don’t know if I would jump in the cage and go ahead. You know, somebody kicked my son, I don’t know. But me. I don’t love myself as much. I love my son. So it’s just different.”

Is Rampage Brown retired?

“No, I never officially retired. I do want to fight like maybe like two or three more fights and I want to do at least one boxing match before I get too old. [There is a lot of money in boxing] It is a lot of money. But I just want to do a boxing match, I always have.”

On being misdiagnosed:

“I remember I had to start cutting 30 pounds while I was in Bellator, already cut 30 pounds. So because some dumb ass specialist misdiagnosed me with hypothyroid. And they put me on medicine. It made me gain weight, I was supposed to lose weight, but I was gaining weight. So I didn’t figure it out, you know.”

On knowing about the misdiagnosis:

“Well I didn’t figure it out until a month before my last fight. I was training with Coach Cowell, I don’t know if you know him, he trains a lot of trainers, a lot of guys, he trains a lot of good athletes and stuff, and he’s a scientist. And he said, I mean, I tell him about my problem, [he said] let me look at your blood. And he looked at my blood and those specialists, I don’t think they did this. And he looked at and he said there’s nothing wrong with your thyroid. He says your T3, something’s wrong with T three, and he said that medicine that you on is making you gain weight. And that’s why I quit cold turkey, he was like, no, no, no, no, you shouldn’t quit cold turkey. But I was like man, I gotta cut weight to make it, I gotta lose weight. So I quit cold turkey and it just backfired. So I’m still trying to get everything right. But I think that my body style, I think that maybe I’m gonna have to cut out a whole bunch of stuff like carbs, sugars.”

On possible being a wrestler instead of going into MMA:

“Oh, it was always supposed to be pro wrestling. You know, I used to be a really big pro-wrestling fan from Memphis, and my oldest brother was a big pro wrestling fan, so it was like I grew up watching him watch it. And we always go to like, not Monday Night Raw, something else, it was called Monday, it was Monday night fights. And they used to have it free on Sundays. Where they give you free tickets. You go to the studio. I’ve been there a couple of times.”

On meeting The Undertaker:

“Well, this is kind of a long story. I bumped into my favourite pro wrestler, the master of pain, Undertaker, and this is when I started wrestling. I started wrestling, and I went to state so I’m in Chattanooga, and I’m in a hotel and I see The Undertaker and I asked for a picture, I mean for autograph. He said no. Then I saw him sign a little white kids autograph and I was like, oh. But then years later, I think about when I was 17 years old [at the time], he didn’t see me as a kid, I was still a kid. But he probably [saw me] at 17 years old. I thought I was you know, I thought I was a kid.”

On Rampage’s time in TNA:

“It was big news. I was so disappointed that they didn’t use me like I thought they were gonna use me. [Chris mentions the debut going nose to nose with Kurt Angle] Dude, that broke the internet for me]. I don’t want to talk bad about TNA, but if I’m gonna keep it 100 Like I always try to do I just think they stupid.”

What went wrong with TNA:

“They were supposed to train me, they sent the ring to me at my gym, I had my own gym at the time. But they never sent anybody over to train me and they never like, you know, put the time in to train me. I was serious about it. Who knows? I probably would have left MMA and been like Ronda Rousey or somebody now.”

On hearing about MMA:

“I remember watching UFC, back in college, one of my college, one of my high school wrestling coaches was doing this fight in UFC. He retired probably, he retired before the UFC got mainstream, but he’s a UFC veteran, one of the pioneers. So he was trading for the UFC, that’s when I learned about it.”

On Rampage’s first MMA experiences:

“And so I got injured in college and I went home and healed up. And one of my old teammates that I used to wrestle against in high school, man, his coach was really good friends. So me and him, we knew each other, we was friends, became real good friends. And he wanted me to have him trained for a fight. I was nervous. He took me to the gym, he took me, he took me to a fight, and I saw this guy like, as the champion of Memphis. He put a guy in that armbar triangle choke and he tapped the guy, which was flipped on his face and kicked him off. And I was like man, I like to fight that guy. And I ended up fighting him like a couple of weeks later. You know, I go back to the gym, stuff like that. And he was like hey, you still want to fight? Yeah, I’ll fight like, you know, when? It was like, oh, three days? Yeah, I was like, cool. He’s like, that guy you saw you want to fight? Here’s your chance. I’m like, damn, I spoke too soon. So I couldn’t back out right? So I followed him. Three days notice and I end up winning by decision.”

On Jake Paul:

“He’s going to beat the sh*t out of Tommy Fury. And nothing against Tommy Fury. I got nothing against them. You know, I look up to his brother and everything. But I I thought Tommy Fury, I was rooting for him to beat Jake Paul as well. I just want to see him fight a real boxer and get beat, I’m sorry. Because just so you know, I’m a fan of his. I like it, but he beat too many MMA fighters right? So I’m, I’m like, now he’s, he’s going to sh*t the bed again. And then I looked at Fury and I’m like oh my God, that guy sucks.”

On starring as BA Baracus in The A Team movie:

“It was pretty cool. So I took direction from everybody. Anybody has something to say? I didn’t have ego and I just laugh, you know, some stuff because they knew that wasn’t like a seasoned actor. And they understood it. Everybody was no good. But I’m still close friends, all these guys. That’s great. Everybody. Still, all those guys are great. They’re all super cool.”

Featured image: MMA Fighting

Dylan Postl (@dylanpostl) is a professional wrestler and actor who is best known as Hornswoggle from his time in WWE and Swoggle in Impact Wrestling. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new podcast called “Going Postl”, his iconic career in WWE, how he got started, getting trained by Mr. Kennedy, being part of the storyline where he was Vince McMahon’s son, his role as the anonymous Raw General Manager, being part of the first ever WeeLC match, his friendship with Ethan Page, coming out to AJ Style’s music on Impact Wrestling, getting ask to be a member of Degeneration X and much more!

On not going into the Hall of Fame with DX:

“No. And it’s one of those things like I get it, I do. I was the mascot, I was always known as the mascot. People didn’t view me as such. But I knew it and it’s fine. I never like to think about that, because if it never were to happen, I can only be let down rather than if for a crazy reason it does happen, it’s the coolest surprise ever. But I never think about that. People ask me all the time and all that they say it to me all the time. But it’s like, I don’t like thinking that way. At this point. Now. It’s like, it would just be cool for my son, like I have so much now where it’s just like, I want to do fun things that I can bring him along to as well. Like, it’s all I care about nowadays. And that’s, hey, when can I get a AIW booking in Cleveland so we can go to this Hall of Fame or we go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame or the Rock Hall again and just get spaghetti pizza again, just like fun things that he can do along with me that at this point in my career, that’s what I really enjoy is him coming along for the ride.”

On potentially joining a Royal Rumble:

“[Someone watching is like] Oh Dammit, he took a number! And everyone’s all mad because they have that number in their draft pool and obviously I’m not gonna win. That stuff like that makes me feel Good. When I did the greatest Royal Rumble, when I had involvement in the Women’s Royal Rumble a few years ago, all of that stuff, kind of just makes me feel good. And it makes me feel like, oh, they remember. And it’s doing conventions, and doing wrestling shows still and being as active as I still am. It’s just, it’s fun that people remember and it’s that they come up to me [and say] ‘hey, remember when you did this?’ Yeah. Or ‘hey, you remember when you did this?’ I didn’t do that. And like this podcast recording the podcast with George Going Postyl. He brings up things that I did that I have no recollection of doing, and then they’ll send me a picture. And I go, I did do that.”

On being the in case of emergency break glass ending to a storyline:

“So it was kind of funny. Like, I always laughed during WWE stuff at times because it was like, how are we gonna get out of this one? Here comes Hornswoggle. It was like, we need someone to work with a guest host, here’s Hornswoggle. It’s like every, the guest host stuff was so much fun. My bar downstairs in my basement. I built a bar, and it’s just signed stuff from the guest host era. Like every week, I was like, hey, what can I get Bob Barker to sign? Oh, Happy Gilmore, there’s a random thing. Mike Tyson is gonna sign The Hangover, but just like fun stuff. Betty White signed a Golden Girls DVD set. So good. Floyd Mayweather gloves and Mike Tyson gloves down there. Ozzy Osbourne, I have a vinyl from him. I got a vinyl for my dad too which is like, mind blowing to my dad. But it always was like, What are we gonna go back on? Oh Hornswoggle is here, let’s have him be the answer. Fine by me, like I don’t care. You’re putting me on television, on worldwide television. How dumb would I have been to be like, not gonna work for me, boss? Nope. Not gonna work. Mae Young gave birth to me as the New Year’s Baby. I dressed as a cow. Like, the sh*t I didn’t want to necessarily do, but then I sit back and go, I’m on worldwide television, getting paid to do my dream job from when I was four years old. Life could be a lot worse. Like, again, I don’t take myself seriously. Although that’s where an ego comes from. I don’t, it is just what it is. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t care enough about how I’m viewed. It doesn’t matter to me.”

On being Vince McMahon’s son:

“So many of those things just get swept under the rug and forgotten about obviously. But then, as everyone was leaving, rehearsal was done. And Bruce goes, ‘Okay, I need to know where your bag is in the locker room.’ I go, why? He goes, ‘because you’re going under the ring right now.’ Until then, I was like, it’s 3:30. [Nobody knew]. No, literally. I get under there. And Kevin Dunn gets on headset with me. And he goes, ‘Hey, Vince will talk to you about what you’re going to do.’ Vince went over it on headset, the whole segment of Vince said please stay off headset until we ask for you again. Because they didn’t want any producers, nothing to know. And no one or no one to hear me over the headset talking. I was like, so I’m changing underneath the ring. And I had my Cruiserweight title in my bag, and I go, do I come up with it? Oh, no. What do I do? What do I do? Oh, no. And I’m like, freaking out.”

On not talking in the early WWE days:

“It took a while for me to talk. And that was like, but even without the talking, we still were able to pull off, like the Vince’s son stuff and the hospital stuff. And like when I was in the hospital and JBL still attacked me. And all of that, the JBL attacking me in the cage match. It’s just all that stuff without talking, and we still like we’re able to get emotion out of people. Thinking back on it is pretty, pretty incredible.”

On having WWE props:

“The Wee LC table, obviously, it’s like the coolest, the best match I’ve ever done and the best thing I’ve ever done in my career in the ring. And so immediately after the match, I headed the props department say, hey, I need a piece of that table right now. And I got a piece of the table and I got it signed by everyone that was involved in the match.”

On getting into wrestling early:

“Wrestling figures got me into pro-wrestling. My brother always played with these, the original series of Hasbro’s, Andre, Warrior, Hogan, Jake, Bossman. That’s who he had. And then me being the little brother. I of course took those figures from him, and my parents that had to buy me separate ones as well. I didn’t know what these were, I just thought they were my brother’s cool toys. And so he then showed me what they were from, and this is professional wrestling, and I was hooked, immediately hooked. And I’ve been hooked ever since.”

When did Hornswoggle want to be a pro-wrestler:

“From that day, I was like, that’s all I want to do. People want to be superheroes. People want to be firefighters, or police officers or pro-football players, I just wanted to be a pro wrestler. And, like, it was like, one of those things where my family, okay, all right, it’s not gonna like, again, I don’t have the body type of a pro-wrestler. So it was kind of like, just tongue in cheek yeah, that’s gonna happen Dylan. And then I found a training school around the area and started doing that after backyard wrestling. And then I started taking it a little more seriously, obviously. And they were supportive of it until I dropped out of college to do it. But then they were still like, hey, just, you know, whatever, he’s still a young kid, do your thing. And then I made it to WWE, and it was one of those oh, he accomplished this. That’s incredible. And they were never insanely like, not supportive, but they’re just, I shouldn’t have made it. I say all the time, I shouldn’t have made it. I shouldn’t have like, I’m not the typical hire for WWE. It was a specific role that they needed me for, that is crazy. And that lasted for so long is nuts to me, because they told me this could be six months, and they first hired me. And it all lasted just under 10 years, which is incredible. And thinking that is now seven years ago, is even more nuts that I still like, man, it’s just crazy. This year in August. I’ve been wrestling for 20 years. Wow. 20 years. That’s all, that’s more than half of my life. Like, it’s nuts. It’s crazy.”

On which term is the correct one to address Hornswoggle: 

“Kevin Dunn on a headset. I was underneath the ring, and I could always hear the conversations between everyone. Everyone. The producers in the back, Kevin Dunn in the truck, Vince in the back. Whenever he had to, like, say a specific direction. I was like, on this headset, I loved it. I was like, Oh, I get to hear a lot of things. So Kevin Dunn’s like ‘Vince, we need to figure out how to get the midget back to the back.’ [As Vince] ‘Goddammit Kevin! We don’t use that word. He’s a little person.’ [Dunn’s response] ‘Oh, sorry. Sorry, Vince. Sorry.’ And it was like apology after apology after apology. And they apologised to me, too. It’s like, I don’t care.”

On the wildest thing that happened under the ring:

“I fell asleep. I talked about it in my book. Life is short and so am I. I fell asleep overseas. And there was a six man tag match. It was Finley Big Daddy V and Khali against Undertaker Kane and Batista. So a very heavy match going on above me. It was an overseas tour, international tour. And I was very sleepy, very tired. Just tired from the night before, didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before, went to bed late. That’s what I’m going with. I was not overserved, and like they put me under the ring at intermission. And so I was like, okay, whatever. And I just fell asleep and I woke up to Finley opening the curtain and yelling at me. Hey, hey, and then he finally goes like, I’m not waking up and he sees me face down. He thought one of the ring things knocked me out. He goes [makes slapping sound]. I go ‘Hey man.’ He goes ‘You’re on!’ And I go Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit, because I knew I had a spot with Undertaker who was waiting above me. Yeah. He rolls me in and Takers laying down and we’d always did this thing where Taker would be laying down. I’d walk up to him and he’d sit up, scare the sh*t out of me. And like, either just goozle me or chokeslam me off his knee or something. But now he throws me in and I go, the whole time walking up to Undertaker I go. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” 

On The Undertaker’s reaction:

“We get to the back and Undertaker asks where were you? I said I was sleeping. He goes, where were you? I said I was sleeping. He goes, holy sh*t, and he just walks off. I go oh I’m dead. I’m done, I’m done. This is it, it’s been a good run. It’s been a good two years at that point. Did a lot of fun things. But I’m done. And he just couldn’t believe it. And so I graced him with a bottle of brown liquid as an apology gift. And we sat on the bus that night and indulged in that and played cards. And he was just like he goes, I can’t believe that you fell asleep with that much weight going on above you. Like I just the ring wasn’t loud to me after a while. It’s probably why I need my hearing aid all the time nowadays.”

What is Hornswoggle grateful for?

“My dad, my town and my son.” 

Featured image: Sky Sports