The Dangerous Summer (@thedangeroussummer) are a rock band from Ellicott City, Maryland comprised of AJ Perdomo, Matt Kennedy, Josh Withenshaw and Christian Zawacki. They join Chris Van Vliet inside the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about their new album called “Coming Home”, how the band came together, overcoming personal hardships and breaking up, why they got back together, the process of writing songs, they reveal the name of their new album “Gravity”, their take on Blink-182 reuniting with the three original members and much more!

On the breakup:

“It was painful, man. It was like watching one of your best friends die, it was a sad time for us. I think we needed it though, I talk about it all the time, the steps that it takes to get there, you have to go through the sh*t to get there. Sometimes you need to get away from stuff and I felt like I hated it all completely.”

On bands staying together for 30 plus years:

“Dude how do they do it? Like who is on there? The Rolling Stones are they original? But how do you keep it together? Especially with being artists, we are all f*cking insane.”

On new members feeling like a different band:

“Man, it’s funny. I was initially like we should just drop the summer. Let’s just call it The Dangerous. But The Dangerous Summer is The Dangerous Summer, it’s just this kind of machine that despite falling apart millions of times it always comes back together. It’s a wild thing man, but starting over is never a good thing.”

On Blink-182 reuniting:

“I actually had an awkward interaction with Tom DeLonge [Blink 182 lead singer]. So we were playing a show in Australia with Angels and Airwaves, we actually flew on the plane there [with them]. We were instant messaging on the flights. When we fly back, I had to talk to them, because not now then when? I was like ‘Hey man, I’m in The Dangerous Summer, we played Soundwave. I’m a huge fan of everything that you’ve done.’ He goes ‘How was it?’ I’m like it’s good, and that was it! I ruined my moment!. Someone you care about and you grew up listening to, what do you say?”

On writing a song that is personal to other people:

“It’s crazy man. You know, I think my coping mechanism of dealing with the magnitude is that I’m like a good antenna man. It all comes from the universe, whatever it is, it comes from somewhere else. I feel like the words are a message from the universe and people interpret it the way they want to interpret it. For me it is like a healing, so I take peace from it. It’s unreal to hear the stories where people say things like we’ve saved their life. But it’s not just me, it’s the magic of the universe.”

On where The Dangerous Summer are currently based:

“I’m in Richmond, Josh is in Nashville and Christian is in Virginia Beach. We all fly in when there’s a tour but it makes us work harder. When we have to fly in together, it’s like ok, let’s make an album. When we are on vacation, we are off and we are chilling, we have a new album ready to go. It might be called Gravity, there you go, you heard it here first.” 

On being put on earth to be musicians, but then doing the 9 to 5:

“I actually kind of loved that. If people say I should be an artist, a part of me is like well no, f*ck you. I need to have that power to do whatever I need to do. I saw the grass was greener on the other side, it was nice to have that for a while. So I was living a peaceful life, but it was then too peaceful.”

On being in LA:

“You know what it’s like being in LA. No one actually works here in LA, everyone is just like super chill and whatever. There’s just a lax atmosphere man, my boss was high every day. We travel so much, sometimes you dream of not travelling. But then you get home and you realize you do like the travelling. You always want the other side.”

On life after touring:

“To deal with the feelings of being on such a high from playing shows and then it just stops. Some days you don’t want to get up in the morning and you don’t know what to do with your life. You just have to stay busy and just keep working.”

On Machine Gun Kelly:

“I think he’s cool man, I like a lot of the music that he has put out. I see him carving his own way, he is an artist just like us. A lot of the Soundcloud stuff now is like the Lil Wayne thing, they are rappers but they want to be rockstars. This feels like the return of rock, guitars are coming up and rock is returning to the radio.”

On what is the most emo lyric of all time:

“Do you remember the era of Hawthorne Heights like ‘Cut my wrists and black my eyes.’ I think Hawthorne Heights have a good picture of what popular emo became.” 

Featured image: Gig Goer

Saraya (@saraya) is a professional wrestler signed to AEW and is known for her time in WWE as Paige. She joins Chris Van Vliet from her home in Los Angeles to talk about getting medically cleared to wrestle again after a neck injury in 2017, what it was like being forced to retire from WWE, who she would like to wrestle in All Elite Wrestling, getting sober from drugs and alcohol, clears up rumors about the plastic surgery she’s done, what her future goals are and much more!

On being cleared to wrestle:

“Thank you. Yeah, so I never thought I’d see the day where I’d be back in a wrestling ring, especially in a physical capacity. That day was never gonna come from me. By the way. Apologies for the viewers. But you can’t be that mad at me. I have two dogs. People love dogs. But he’s a puppy. So he’s gonna be [excitable] He’s all black too, so it’s like black carpet black dog. He’s chewing up one of my slippers. Actually, he’s being very sweet. And chewing up my stuff for me Yeah, it feels really good to be back. In the wrestling world, in general, like before we even knew that I was going to be completely cleared to wrestle. It was just really nice to be in a new world too with AEW. Everyone is so sweet and so fantastic and kind of holding my hand throughout the whole thing. They welcomed me with open arms, like I’m having a fantastic time. And now I get to wrestle too, miracles can happen.”

On wondering if a return could happen after the returns of Edge and Bryan Danielson:

“Well, when I got told that you can’t wrestle anymore, the thing that was causing me the issue is that there was no fluid around my spinal cord, a couple of points of my neck where you know, the first surgery was, and the second surgery like there was no fluid there. And so if I was to get even like a little kick or you know, an accident happened, like I could be completely paralysed. So in my head back then I had come to terms with the fact that I’m probably never gonna be able to wrestle anymore, or at least for a very very long time. Like I didn’t have my hopes up to wrestle. But you know, when Edge did come back, I was like nine years, okay, nine years is doable, I’ll still be kind of young by then, you know. And so, you know, going into AEW, there wasn’t really a plan of like me to wrestle straight away. And what people get confused about is that they think AEW doctors just paid me to wrestle and that was that. They weren’t the ones that cleared me to wrestle. They told me I couldn’t take a bump until I get like, a full scan of absolutely everything. So, you know, the first physicality, we didn’t really ask permission, we kind of just did it. Then the doctors were like yeah, I mean, do that just don’t take a bump, please. So they will give us the okay to do the physicality of limited physicality. Like once you get the taste of it and just coming back to wrestling in general is just like, man, I want to do more than just to get on microphone or doing things backstage and like, I probably will be able to do something. If I can do this small physicality. Maybe I’m able to do a little bit more. So I asked Tony about it. And at first he was like, well, maybe we can do tag matches, depending on how cleared you are, you know, kind of like how we did with Sting. And I was just like, Yeah, but like, if I was to come back, I would want it to be like a singles match. I feel like that’s such a big deal. Not that I didn’t want to work with the rest of the girls, I was just like, if I wanted to come back, I just had this dream in my head that it will be a singles match. And so I took it upon myself to be like, Alright, I’m gonna go to a non-wrestling doctor. Nothing to do with WWE, nothing to do with AEW, just a doctor as like, doesn’t have like [bias]. I know doctors are not supposed to be biased, but that was in my head. There’s zero bias if I go to someone outside of wrestling, because this time around, if I was potentially able to get cleared, I would want it to be because I’m 100% ready to go. Not because they’re like, well, maybe we can squeeze her in these and these matches. Like I know, I want to be 100% Ready. I want to go to a doctor that works with NFL NBA singers, like actors, just all these massive people were like, if it was declare me, it would be because again, I’m 100% ready to go because he wouldn’t want his job to be [in jeopardy].”

On doctor’s advice:

“So we get everything done. He brings me back upstairs, and then he just like, he looks at it. And okay, so I’ve seen a few of my MRIs now and I’m fully aware of like, I’m not saying I’m a doctor of any kind and I know how to perfectly read them, but I saw where I didn’t have any fluid. And this time around, I see that there’s nothing like it on my neck. So I’m just like, am I like reading this right, or does that look like this fluid around my spinal cord? So then the doctor straightaway was just like your neck looks fantastic. And I’m like what? he’s like you got all your fluid back around just fine. I’m like, what? after five years? He’s like yes, you have all the fluid around your spine. Again, your fusions look fantastic. He said the top one is nearly like 100% fused, there’s just a tiny bit where like, you know where there’s a little bit of wiggle room, but he’s not worried about it. You know, like that’s not going to hinder me in any way shape or form. But usually the most important part is that you have your fluid around your spinal cord. So I said to him like, well, what are the odds of me being paralysed now? Because that’s the thing that was holding me back, not the fusions because my neck wasn’t 100 cent fused when it came back the first time, and it’s perfectly fine this time around. And then the top one is like, 99% there right? And so he was like, oh, it’s very rare. He was like, now you have all that cushion around your spinal cord. And here’s like, if something does happen, when someone does kick you, the most that will happen is what happened before or you’ll get like a little pain, and then you just take some time away. [With] your body, you know what to do, you know what not to do. He was like, but I trust that you can go in there. He’s like, if you were in the NFL, and you had to do like, you know football games where you have to charge each other like full pelt and stuff, maybe like, probably not, but he was like, but I trust that you could go in there and limit what you want to do and adjust what you need. And he was like your neck is great, it’s in great health. And I put that to the five that like the last five years, I’ve been nothing but healthy being, being sober and going the gym, just leaving a very, very healthy lifestyle. My boyfriend is kind of like the one that kind of kick started that for me too. Like he was the one he was like, we should not drink anymore. I’d already been sober off drugs at that point. He was like, we should not drink anymore. We should not vape. I was vaping, we should not vape anymore, we should eat cleaner. So we should go back to the gym. So he kind of was the one that ignited that fire. So I thank him a lot because I feel like if it was five or so years ago, and I was still in Orlando and partying and stuff like that, I don’t think my neck would be as healthy as it is now. You know, I’m not saying a green drink is going to make my neck healthy. But I’m saying like, I’m less likely to do some stupid, you know, if I’m sober.”

On Saraya’s body healing itself:

“In five years, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, everyone’s body heals differently. I know that like Cena had his neck surgery and within a couple of weeks, he was back in the ring again, or something like that Edge, it took nine years for him to finally come back to the ring. So and I just fought mentally for a while I couldn’t do it because I was too scared. But also, I just didn’t know how far my neck came compared to how it was when it first got injured. So I was very fortunate in a way that my neck healed the way it did. I couldn’t believe it, I cried my eyes out. I called my family straightaway. I FaceTimed them, and they’re all crying and stuff because like wrestling is their life. You know, and for somebody to like, you know, had their career taken away from it at such a young age without, you know, an end in sight when it comes to it. It is just a miracle and absolutely fantastic. So I was just over the moon. And then one of the first people I texted was Mercedes, Sasha Banks. Because Sasha went through a lot too. She wasn’t the one that was hurt, but she was the one who accidentally ended someone’s career. And she went through a lot mentally, like, social media were cruel to her. And then it just messed her up in general, because she was just like, I can’t believe that happened. And it was a freak accident, you know, wrestling is wrestling, you’re gonna get hurt eventually. Luckily, if you don’t, you know, in your whole career, you don’t get hurt that’s a miracle in itself. But it happens. And I just wanted her to be one of the first people to know that I was like, I’m back. You don’t have to stress anymore, like I’m back, you didn’t end it, I’m good. And she was just over the moon, she was so happy. She was very pleased for me, she was very encouraging. And I just like the fact that it kind of took all that weight off her shoulders too.”

On having a match with Sasha Banks:

“That’s what I said. So I really wanted to have that match for Sasha. Like I wanted to have that rematch with her, because we have a built in story you know, so I really wanted that. But she’s kind of going down her own path and stuff now, doing her own thing. You don’t know where she’s going to be. She has an exciting life going on right now, I’m very pleased and like she’s building her career outside of wrestling too, you know, awesome. And Naomi. So it’s really really cool to see. But I get to face Britt too, who I’ve always wanted to face, and then in this brand new company as well. And the crazy part is that she’s always been like a big fan of mine. I’ve seen the interviews Britt, I’ve seen them all, she was a fan of mine so it’s kind of cool that I get to have like a comeback story with her, and she’s so supportive. So I’m excited. I’m excited to have that match. One day I’ll have that match with Sasha, though.”

On being smarter this time around:

“So I’m still focusing on things outside of wrestling and kind of building Saraya up as a brand rather than, you know, Paige and being a wrestler and stuff like that. So I was always still in the mindset of still building that, but it’s so good to be able to do something that I have been in love with my whole life. And just, I mean, doing it 100% too, like, I can go in there. I’m not saying I’m gonna be doing 100% of the things, I’m gonna be going crazy. I’m not gonna be doing like, you know, I didn’t come off my feet a lot anyway when I was wrestling, but yeah, I’m not gonna be doing too crazy. Because the thing that I love to do the most back then is I love to take a bump, I love to take people’s stuff. I loved to bump mostly on the back of my neck, so we had to adjust that. So I have to adjust that to like a regular flat back bump and trying to just like, completely protect myself, even if my neck is 100%. Just because I want to be smarter this time around.”

On the reaction to Saraya’s AEW debut:

“I have never had a pop like that before in my life, and I had a good reaction coming back the first time. I was like, I’m back, you know? That was crazy. And then like my debut just for the Divas Championship was crazy. Even when people didn’t know who I was back then you know, but it just felt really good to have just all the support from so many people. It just felt really good. I was like, man, they really did miss me. Because again, you get in your head a lot. You’re like, Well, maybe not because social media is real. And then it’s, you know, the trolls that followed us on social media. You think the whole world hates here when in fact, it’s just like six people with different like multiple accounts just attacking you.”

On Saraya’s name being pronounced wrong at the debut:

“I was a surprise from everyone backstage too, so it wasn’t even their fault. And that’s why I even mentioned it on my Twitter. I was just like, it’s not their fault. You know, they didn’t like get to see me beforehand. And so everyone just assumes the American way of saying my name is Sar-i-ah because of the way you guys pronounce that r-a-y. Yeah, the way I like to pronounce it is Sa-ray-a like a ray of sunshine. Um, but yeah, I like I didn’t get to talk to them beforehand. But after that Taz still kept getting it wrong. He cannot get my name right to save his life. He’ll be like Sariah? Saraya? Throughout his commentary. I’m like, bro, come on.”

On taking that first bump:

“[It’s going to be scary] For everybody. Everybody watching, just everybody in general is just going to be it’s gonna be a big deal. I’m going to be under a microscope that day. And everything that I’m going to be doing is going to be scrutinised, it’s just I’m fully expecting it. That’s why after the match, I’m not even going to look at social media, I’m not even going to have it on my phone, because I’m already too much in my head to the point where I just want to be good and I have to focus on making sure I keep myself safe. Make sure that Britt is safe, you know, and just the pressure just having a match. It’s just, it’s just wild to me. It’s just, it’s a beautiful story, but it makes me nervous.”

On the difference between Saraya and Paige:

“Saraya is more mature, that’s definitely a big thing, and sober. But the thing is, with Paige, you know, she was, I’m trying to explain how she was. First of all, she was like, you know, this little emo girl teenager, kind of like, I’m like the angsty teenager phase. And going into Saraya. Like, I can’t imagine myself being that character anymore. Just that I would rather be a more elevated version of that character, a more grown up version of that character. Because I’m not her anymore, she’s the young version of me. And now I’m like the older version. Yeah, that kind of Paige just didn’t give an F about anybody, not even herself. She just cared about, outside of wrestling, partying and stuff like that. As Saraya, I focused on elevating myself, remaining healthy mentally being happier.”

On the leaked videos that went public:

“So WWE were really fantastic. I mean, they were helping me and they were keeping me updated. And they were texting me and just just constantly, like, sending out like that olive branch of like, we want to help you like, let us help you. And at the time, I didn’t listen to people because I didn’t think that I could be helped. I was like, you can’t help the person that doesn’t want to be helped, and I didn’t want to be helped at the time either. And so I was just going through a whole lot, you know, the first surgery, all the public stuff that came up the videos that came out, and it was just completely rock bottom, like, it was a f*cking awful time in my life. I said to myself, I was like in a bush outside of Walmart right when these videos came out, like I ran out of my house, and I just started running. And I don’t know why I was running, but I was running. And I got to like Walmart, and then I hid in a bush. I don’t know why, but I just felt so humiliated that I was out there on the f*cking internet for people to see. And no one was ever supposed to see those. You know, I was 19, you know, and I just remember being so low at that point. I’m saying like to myself, If my dad doesn’t accept me in this, my dad’s opinion of me mattered so much, I probably wouldn’t be here today is how bad it was. And I remember calling him and I was absolutely devastated. I’m like, I’m so sorry. You know, I was completely f*cking heartbroken. I was like, I’m so sorry, and he straightaway was like, I don’t care. I’m like what? He was like, I don’t care. He was like, Look at Kim Kardashian. He was just like, everyone does what you’ve done, you’re just in the spotlight? So you had sex, if they’re mad about it, they’re probably virgins, or they can’t pull a decent bird. But he was just like, who cares? And so I called my brothers after that. And I was like, I’m so sorry, and they said the same thing. My family was just like, we don’t care about that stuff, we just want to be there for you. And so after that, I just remember feeling like a lot of weight coming off my shoulders. Although publicly, people would recognise me and say the meanest sh*t. Like Twitter was real life for a second, which Twitter is not usually real, like people would be hurling f*cking sh*t at me. I remember one time I was sitting at a bar with my friends and someone asked for like a picture or something like that. And I was like, yeah, like, we get it afterwards I’m just like, gonna eat my food, and then totally we can we can, I’m just in the middle of eating. And then he was just like, I only want it because you’re a f*cking porn star. You know? And like, it was the first time hearing it in public, like someone’s saying that to me. And usually it’s just on social media and I have control of that because I can just delete it off my phone, right? But having that in person. I like ran to the bathroom. And I started sobbing. I was like crying my eyes out. I was just like, I can’t believe someone said that to me. And I’m not a f*cking porn star. Like this is not who I am. Like, this is not what I wanted. Like, this is the you know, somewhat like I’m the victim in this like, people don’t realise that I’m the f*cking victim in this. People just think I put them on the internet. And I’m like, I would never that wasn’t even on my phone. That stuff wasn’t on my in my cloud. It wasn’t in my stuff. It was on my boyfriend’s at the time phone. And so I mean, I believe it was him, he can deny all he wants but I believe it was him. Because no one else had that stuff.”

On an argument with Sebastian Bach:

“He’s an asshole, I was so disappointed. So this is the story right? My boyfriend was about to go and do this festival. And then his laptops like got stolen, he didn’t know where they were. But the laptops are so important because it has the lighting, it has the rap beats, it has the synths, it has everything right? It doesn’t have his vocals and stuff on there. He’s naturally so gifted with his vocals, but these laptops went missing and he doesn’t like to put on half assed shows, right? So he was like, I’d rather cancel than put on a show that’s 50%. So Sebastian Bach saw that and said that he’s not a real rock star and all that kind of stuff and you shouldn’t have to use laptops. It’s just like, I don’t know if you listened to my music, but I rap in my music too, as well as sing so like the band can’t just do these like rap beats like, you know, you can’t just do that using your instruments and f*cking beatboxing. You need laptops, there’s laptops for that and for the lights and stuff like that. So and then Sebastian Bach tried to say that he never cancelled shows, which he has. But he also said that he doesn’t use laptops, which he does like there’s literally videos of him with the laptop, I don’t  what he’s talking about. But he just like decided to say that when he’s not a real rock star. Anyway, the whole of the music industry had phonies back like Nicky Sixx from Kiss was just like, What are you talking about Sebastian? Like, you’re so old. And you know, like, you don’t have the gatekeep rock’n’roll, and Ronnie just became like this f*cking like God in the music industry like talking to Sebastian Bach, we didn’t realise how much the Sebastian Bach was f*cking hated. And I was like this guy is a menace, he got in an argument with Chris Jericho at one point, like he is a menace. So I tried to like write on his Instagram, like something nice, like you don’t realise like, you know, what you would use as like a backing tape tape. So like, for example, when Aerosmith had like, you know, like, Welcome to the Jungle or something like that already. Or even Kiss, they had like intros and stuff like that they didn’t play those live, they had like, even if it was like a CD or like a cassette, you know, like, they had that. I was, I was trying to say to him, like, it’s 2022, we can use laptops now. You don’t have to put in a tape and play the intro that way or that way. Anyway, he was telling me I was fake that wrestling’s fake and stuff like that. And I was like, Look, I’m just as fake as your f*cking hair plugs. Because if this all sounds like one of my music idols like I love like Sebastian Bach, he was in my favourite band like of all time but I can’t believe him arguing with him. So long story short, he is not on my top five list anymore.”

On what Saraya is grateful for:

“My health, my boyfriend and my family.”

Millie Bobby Brown (@milliebobbybrown) is an actor and producer known for playing Eleven in the Netflix series “Stranger Things” as well as her roles in “Enola Holmes”, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Godzilla vs. Kong”. She joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about Enola Holmes 2 which is streaming now on Netflix, whether she feels people underestimate her because of her age, her 6 dogs and whether they get along with Henry Cavill’s dog named Kal, the role where she felt like she had to prove herself the most and more!

Does anyone call you MBB? I get a lot of CVV myself.

“You do? No, if anyone does call me MBB I would not respond. I would tell them to call me Mills.”

What has Enola been up to?

“She has now created her own detective agency. It’s not going well becasue people are not trusting her because of her age and gender, so she has to really prove herself this time. Just as she thinks she has to cut her losses, this young girl comes in and takes her on a wild adventure.”

The whole theme of this movie is about proving yourself. I am curious, when did you feel like you had to prove yourself?

“Actually I think during the first film [Enola Holmes]. With this one I got the incredible opportunity to be a producer, so I really wanted to prove myself despite my gender or age.”

Do you feel like people do underestimate you becasue of your gender or age?

“I think it can be done. But I also think it is a systematic thing that women or young women are not capable of doing things. It happens every day, not just in this industry but in everyday life. I think it’s about breaking down those stereotypes so that we are seen as an equal.”

You and Henry [Cavill] get on so well on camera. I’m curious, what is it like when the cameras stop rolling?

“Well I mean, he’s an animal lover and so am I. Both of our dogs mean the world to us, we have a common denominator there. But overall I am very lucky and grateful to work alongside someone like Henry.”

Is your dog with you today?

“No, she goes to this luxurious doggy day spa to get her grooming, but I miss her terribly. I have 6 dogs, they don’t all come with me but they do fly overseas with me.”

Millie Bobby Brown stars as Enola Holmes in Enola Holmes 2. For more information about Enola Holmes 2 visit: 

www.netflix.com/EnolaHolmes2

Featured image: Teen Vogue

Chris Van Vliet answers the question “What is the best piece of advice you’ve received during an interview” and talks about the 3 words that John Cena (@johncena) told him that completely changed his life forever. It’s powerful and poignant advice that could change anyone’s life.

One question that I get asked a ton is “what is biggest thing you’ve learned during one of your interviews” or “what is the best piece of advice you received during an interview” and there’s two that really stand out for me. At least for now, I’m sure there will continue to be more.

Learning from The Rock:

The first one is from The Rock. I’m sure you’ve heard me mention this before so I’ll make it brief, but he told me a great story about how sometimes the best things in life are the things that don’t happen. It was his goal in life to play in the NFL. He had an amazing college career, tried out for the CFL, and he got cut from the CFL and never made it to the NFL. But that everything lined up to get him to exactly where he is right now, which is one of, if not the biggest star on the planet. He also recently told me a quote that I love so much. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” And Dwayne is a shining example of that. He is one of the kindest people, not just celebrities, but one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He always make space for whoever he is talking to. I have learned so much from him to make the person you are interviewing just feel so special. It doesn’t take much to make people smile, so always go that extra mile to make someone feel special.

Lessons from John Cena:

And the second was from John Cena. I’ve interviewed him a bunch of times but the interview we did in 2019 during WrestleMania 35 weekend in New York City was really special. This interview was was all about making time, making space and making someone feel special. If you remember the interview, he just seemed so grounded and so self-reflective of his career, present and future. He said 3 words during that conversation that immediately changed my life:

Control the Controllable.

Far too often we worry about things that we have ZERO control over and we focus our thoughts, our emotions and our time on them. We can’t control what happens to us, but we can control how we react to the things that happen to us. there’s no point in getting mad about something you have ZERO control over. But what can you do is think about how you can react in this moment. You can choose to get angry, or you can choose to go well that person’s actions have nothing to do with my life. That is where you should focus your efforts.

Takeaways from Tony Robbins:

Tony Robbins says “What you focus on is how you feel.” If you focus on being angry, how are you going to feel all day, all month or all year? What you can focus on is all the things that happen in your life. Not every day will be perfect, but you do have control over what you have in front of you right now.

Criss Angel (@crissangel) is a magician and illusionist. His Las Vegas stage show MINDFREAK is live 5 nights a week at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and his new television show “Magic With The Stars” airs on The CW Network on Saturdays at 8pm ET. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his earliest memory of magic, how Vince McMahon helped him get his big break by allowing him to perform at WWF New York in Time Square, the illusion that put him on the map, what his biggest fear is, the difference between an illusion and a magic trick, why he says “life is death without change” and much more!

On spelling his name Criss:

“Oh it’s just to be a little different. I always wanted to spell my name a little different, it is my signature. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be successful in the world of entertainment. All I ever did was magic and music since I was 6 years old.” 

On an introduction to magic:

“My aunt Stella taught me my first card trick when I was 6. I saw her do it and didn’t understand how it worked. I drove her crazy to find out how it was done until she showed me, then I drove everybody crazy in the house doing the same trick over and over again. Then when I was 10 I got a magic set under the Christmas tree, and I really got the bug. I started performing at birthday parties when I was 12 and at bars when I was 14. It was quick.” 

Criss Angel on working at WWF New York:

“That’s true, it was the McMahons [that hired me]. We are still good friends to this day. They gave me an opportunity to take their banquet room in the basement in what was WWF [New York], then they got the F out and it was WWE. Eventually I was supposed to do a few weeks there, but I did over 14 months there. I did 600 performances on Broadway and 43rd, it was the real start of all these other things that followed, such as my first television special. It all kind of evolved and escalated from the WWE.”

On the balance between skill and showmanship:

“Well for me, I have been doing it for so long. It’s all about creating experiences that are really unique and original. For me it is about reverse engineering. What do I want to see as a fan? What do I want to see that would be a visual feat? I then reverse engineer that and how to do it.”

On a celebrity getting involved in a trick:

“Well we break it down into 3 different categories. There is closeup magic, stage magic and grand escape. We take the 3 different categories, take the celebrities and teach them the same categories but different effects. Sometimes the grand illusion would be the same, but we want to see what effect they would bring to it so the audience can see the difference and who can do it better. But then we have different closeup effects where they bring their own style and character to it. It’s about breaking it down to what they are learning, and how do I teach it to them? I look at their discipline, if they are an actor, they are used to learning lines and hitting marks, interacting with props and people. So I do a layered approach with them. It’s fascinating when you get different celebrities, like UFC fighters, teach them their disciplines while taking them out of their wheelhouse.”

On Criss Angel’s favorite movie about magic:

“Oh man. I’m not that big of a movie buff, but there has been several. If you go classic then it is obviously the Houdini [starring] Tony Curtis movie. It’s not true, how Houdini died at the end, but it is an interesting movie. They are always presented to me in a little bit more of a bubble. Burt Wonderstone had the opportunity to be special, but it really missed the mark. The people who are creating it don’t do magic every day like I do, so they don’t really know how to translate it in a way that is believable or engaging in a funny or serious way. Movies by enlarge are magic by themselves, it’s movie magic. How do they create these special effects? Things that inspire me are movies like the terminator, that had movie magic at that time.”

On Criss Angel’s favorite celebrity on Magic With The Stars:

“I mean they all did a great job, but I think that Frank Mir and Randy Couture did a really really great job. Donnie Osmond and Debbie Gibson did a really good job. I think a lot of the celebrities stepped up and did what they had to do and I was really proud of them. Everybody that did season 1 should be really proud of themselves. We had to pick someone for the sake of the show, but everyone did a great job.”

Trick or illusion?

“To me there are illusions and illustrations. I don’t use the word trick, to me the trick is a bit cheaper. I guess levitating is a trick, but to me there is a bit more substance or meaning than a card trick.”

On what scares Criss Angel:

“The only thing that scares me is when I go before God. My faith in God is the most important thing, I don’t want to push that on anybody. For me, that really is it. I try to be true to myself, look at myself in the mirror and look at my kids. We have all made mistakes, but life without change is death. As you get older, your priorities get in order.”

On what Criss Angel is grateful for:

“My better half, my 3 children and family and friends.” 

Featured image: EDM

Ryan Duey (@ryanaduey) is the co-founder and CEO of Plunge. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Plunge headquarters in Sacramento, CA to talk about the many health benefits of cold water exposure like reduced inflammation, increased energy levels, lower stress and many more. He discusses how the company got started, why he says cold is his medicine, his morning routine, tips for longevity, why Chris looks up to Tom Brady’s diet and exercise routine, Ryan’s experience on Shark Tank with his co-founder Michael Garrett, getting a deal with Robert Herjavec and much more!

On the success of cold plunge:

“I think about that a lot. When Mike [Garrett, co-founder of Cold Plunge] and I started we were like let’s build 20 of these. We had an email list from our other companies, so we would message them ‘Hey, this is what we have been working on through COVID…’ Our other businesses were shut down, so we were like let’s do 20. Then it was about what micromovement we had to do at the time. We sensed and we both knew how impactful cold plunging would be, but we didn’t lay out a number or do this or that, we never played that game. But we did think that there was a special opportunity, and it’s all about the magic of it. I never played it out to what it could look like, we have always shot short. Whenever we have tried to plan, we have always done it short to our capabilities of what is happening.”

On submerging in cold water:

“There are a million different names for it now. It is called ice baths, it is called cold plunging, cold water therapy, cold immersion, all of the things. It is all about getting into cold water and getting your core temperature down. There are a lot of different benefits that show up, the big one is that it will increase your baseline dopamine levels. Dopamine is the key chemical that turns on the motivation and the drive. We commonly hear that people that cold plunge are motivated, can think clearer, all the long term benefits. It is a crazy concept but that is what is so cool, you have to do the crazy thing and you get the same sensation every time. I don’t know of anything else out there that is like it. You don’t have to go to the gym to work out, you don’t have to go for a run. With a cold plunge, all you have to do is to get in it, breathe, and then the magic happens. But why? We are still figuring out why. We are seeing benefits that we never saw. Mike was doing it for energy boosting and mental clarity, I was getting sick loads so I was using it to beef up the immune system. The big one we are noticing now is customers with autoimmune disorders coming in with things like MS or anything with a hormone imbalance. Cold plunging regulates that imbalance. There is not a lot of treatment for those diseases, and one of our customers with an autoimmune disease did it and it changed his life. The fun part is all the testimonies.”

On an entry to cold plunge:

“You can do cold water in the shower. I think the cold shower is actually more challenging than the cold plunge. The shower to me is more annoying how it hits a certain part of your body. But as we are getting into the colder months, you can do it with your tap water in the morning. Aim for the chest, the back and the crown of your head. If you can rotate 30 seconds in each of those sections and breathe through it, it will lower the heart rate. There’s also a ton of local facilities, if you go onto Google, there is probably a ton of communities where you can just go in and get a day pass.”

On Ryan Duey’s morning routine:

“I feel like everyone has a morning routine, mine varies. I probably achieve 70 to 80% of these things consistently. I wake up and I like to do 3 rounds of Wim Hof breath. I get groggy, I don’t hop right out of bed. Also I have a trainer, so on many mornings a week I will do a workout, and I will cold plunge after. If I am not working out, then I will cold plunge after the breathing. Some mornings there is a workout, but all of the mornings there is a cold plunge.”

On negative comments:

“You get people who just take shots at things like how people look, they are doing it wrong, they could do better, stuff like that. But 95% of comments are so positive, however the 5% get 100% of the attention. I’m getting better at it, but I used to just want to defend myself. I am learning to deal with the comments better though.”

On the education process:

“Of course the person buying it is excited. They have been talking about it for weeks, and they didn’t just buy it on a whim, they have seen the changes. But the coolest thing is to do it with people, the greatest feeling is to do something hard with someone. Cold plunging is a community piece. There is nothing better than cold plunging as a group.”

On who Ryan Duey looks up to for peak health at an increased age:

“I mean Mark Sisson, The Primal Kitchen guy, is like one of the most healthy and jacked guys I’ve ever seen. There’s also a guy named Doug Steiny, he is not well known. He is a Wim Hof instructor, I think he is about 70, and he is maybe the epitome of health right now. He was in his 60’s and he was on his death bed and paralysed, then he found the Wim Hof method. His family rolled him into the shower each day before, but now he can do power cleans, do the splits and he is just healthy now. Those are the guys who are doing the cold plunges at 6am and those are who I look at from a health standpoint.”

On changing your life today:

“Yes you can do it when you are 60, but getting that momentum will be harder. There will be later, but do one thing now. Do 2 push ups today, that’s 1 degree. In 6 months you are at 180 degrees and going in the other direction. The body wants to go back into homeostasis, you just have to do it right. I would say start smaller than bigger, you are witnessing a tree that has been growing for years, you are just planting the seed.” 

On appearing on Shark Tank:

“It definitely made [a difference]. The web traffic was insane, it was really fun that first night when we aired in May. We kind of named ourselves the thing, which is great for SEO but the trademark is the challenge. The show was a great experience. They reached out to us from the beginning, it was never on our radar when we reached out. They were like we think you should apply, so we were like let’s do it, but it was the most intense application process that I have ever been through. It was a lot of dots, a lot of interviews, probably took a month of things to go through. We got our flights booked and went into the studio, and I didn’t know what to expect. You know, how much of this is staged? What really goes on? But it was really an authentic show, it was cool to see how much they cared about business. It was authentic, us and the 5 sharks. Everything is open and here we go. The set is silent and no one tells you a thing. They did prep us a lot with our pitch.”

Did they change anything?

“I would say 90% of it was us, they did give us feedback. If we said a stat, they need to know the study and that it was real. They would say that it is too long or too short, just trying to coach us on things. It got to a point where we went to a music festival the week before, and all we were doing was practicing our pitches.”

On the biggest lesson learned in the past 2 years:

“I think I have learned from having a co-founder, that was massive. The fact we could accomplish so much together, that is such a testament to finding the right co-founder. I think learning for us as a company and being all into the process, that has been a massive learning overall. And I am still learning every single day.”

On what Ryan Duey is grateful for:

“My health, my parents and my partner.”

Featured image: The Journey Podcast

Henry Cavill (@henrycavill) is an actor known for playing Superman and for his roles in films and TV series like Enola Holmes, The Witcher, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about returning as Superman in Black Adam and how much Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson helped to make that happen, his American Akita dog named Kal, playing Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes 2 on Netflix, having to prove himself in Hollywood, the best advice he has ever received and more!

On The Rock getting Henry Cavill to return as Superman:

“Look, it’s always tough to say after the fact. There have been so many voices that have gone into this. Whether it’s Danny Garcia working endlessly and tirelessly to make this happen, or Hiram Garcia and indeed The Rock as well. But there are other voices too, the important thing is that I feel so fortunate that there are those people doing that, and also the opportunity to be back, look to the future and to do something exciting.”

How do you approach an iconic role like Sherlock Holmes or Superman, when fans have an idea in their head of how that character should be?

“Well this Sherlock Holmes has a very unique situation in that he exists in the Enola Holmes universe. None of the other Sherlock Holmes have that. Especially with Sherlock as a supporting character rather than a lead character, this is not a universe that revolves around him, he is a color to this universe. The decision for me was to collaborate with Harry [Bradbeer – director] and with Millie [Bobby Brown] and make sure that every decision I made, everything that I did, tied into their plans for Enola’s arc and for the story. That’s how I approached it. The important thing is recognizing that there is a difference and that Enola is that difference. That changes a lot.

There’s a big theme in Enola Holmes of Enola trying to prove herself to everybody. When was it in your career that you felt like you had to prove yourself?

“I feel like I have to prove myself every day. I don’t think there is any letting up of that, you are only as good as your last day of acting. You got to keep it up, there is no relaxing and you have to give it 100% every day. I don’t think there is any point where I am like ‘I don’t need to try anymore, I got this.’

Henry Cavill what is the best piece of advice that you have been given in your career?

“That’s a good question. I’m not too sure that I have the answer on the tip of my tongue. One of my best friends says love living, and that life is for living. I take that with me, work is enjoyable, but it can be tough and very consuming. For me it is important to have that balance. If you don’t have that balance and you can’t enjoy things, then you are doing it wrong. If after 22 years I am not enjoying it, then something is going wrong.”

Featured image: People

Marcus Bagwell (@marcusbuffbagwell) is a professional wrestler better known as Buff Bagwell from his time in WCW and WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet from Diamond Dallas Page’s house in Atlanta, GA to talk about his recovery from an addiction to alcohol and prescription pills and the gratitude he has to DDP and Steve Yu for helping him get sober. He also discusses the docuseries he is part of with Butterbean called “Change Or Die”, his career in WCW, why he only had one match in WWE, what he thinks lead to him being fired by WWE, the infamous Cameo that he sent to a fan, the recent passing of his mother Judy Bagwell and much more!

On DDP helping Buff Bagwell:

“Dallas is so great. He’s got such a great team man. With Steve Yu and all of his family, it’s family. From the camera guys to everyone, it’s a team, it’s a family. Steve is Yoda man, it just happened that he picked out [me] in the Change or Die docuseries. So it was what can we do that is the complete opposite of Buff Bagwell? Steve came up with Mr. Rogers, how much different is that? The gigolo Mr. Rogers so to speak. So we didn’t really know, we put the outfit on and I felt like Mr. Rogers. Everyone just started laughing, puppets came in the scene and all the Mr. Rogers stuff, and it all just happened, it was magical.” 

On transitioning from Buff to Marcus Bagwell:

“So Buff has got me a long way in life. But Buff is also what has got me into a lot of trouble. I think everybody was just thinking that it was time for a change. Then the show came out with Dallas, the docuseries, The Change or Die thing. Dallas from the get go, was not wanting to call me Buff anymore. It was all about me, and it got me a long way. But I think that Dallas and Steve saw it before anybody, Buff had maybe had his run. Dallas was not wanting me to bring the hat out, and I said ‘But Dallas, people want to wear that hat all the time.’ He goes ‘I know, but just leave it on the table. Let them see it but don’t wear it.’ He also said that he feels sorry for the older guys that are holding onto things. He said to me ‘I kind of feel sorry for you when you walk in here with your top hat on.’ I said that I feel sorry for me too, but the fans love it. Dallas then said ‘Yeah, but I think we need to recreate you, man.’ I’m thinking to what? Then all of a sudden the Mr. Rogers thing came to life. Then we did the debut in Baltimore with Mr. Bagwell’s Neighborhood. Buff was something that was great, to be Buff in the 90’s with that frame, it was so much luck, but so much work.”

On multiple trips to rehab:

“I have been 4 or 5 [times]. Out of those 4 or 5, I didn’t know what was wrong with me for 3 of them. I didn’t know about my sleep apnoea, and I had severe sleep apnoea. So the 4th one, I took my CPAP with me, and if I had listened and would have been ready, I probably could have gotten clean there. But I didn’t, I didn’t and came home 20 something days clean. My sobriety date was August 27th of this year. I am clean 40 something days, I am not a big counter, but I know my sobriety date. Everyone decided for me to go, and it was time. So I went.”

On being ready to go to rehab:

“You have to be ready and that was what happened before, I wasn’t ready. Everybody wants to know why this time was different. This time, I had a lot on the line. Along with my age and my maturity, I was ready, and I was tired. I would have asked for help if I had known all about it, but so much was going on. I was making a lot of money and trying to manage my life and do all these things, but my life became unmanageable. I saw videos of myself that my friends were taking, and I was just in this position going [slurring] ‘I’ve got to straighten my life out. I’ve got to go [to rehab].’ Even though I was blacked out there, I was still thinking that I have got to kick out. When they said that it’s time to go, intervention style, Dallas led it and they ran the intervention and had every answer. My life had become unmanageable, my niece took over and it went from there.”

On drinking:

“To escape, I was so depressed. I was depressed about my life. I think this was the min key, I was lonely. Do you know how many times Marcus or Buff Bagwell has been lonely in his life? Never. A woman, from the time when I was a kid, whether it was my mom or my wife, a woman took care of me. I’m so thankful for that it is not even funny, but all of a sudden there was no one there. I had run off everybody except for Dallas Page and Steve Yu. they stood by my side through the whole thing. I started isolating and got so lonely, I just stayed by myself and drank. But I was still saying professional, I was calling Steve to do some work, and he wasn’t returning my calls, he didn’t know what to say to me. He knew I was drinking or drunk, so he didn’t answer. So they came down and I am so grateful for my niece, their family is phenomenal.”

On the infamous Cameo video:

“Oh yeah that was really bad. I saw that back the day I got out of Black Bear [rehab]. I either turned away or didn’t watch the whole thing, but man I watched that thing back. When that was playing, I almost said cut it off, it was that bad. So much was going on when you are doing what I was doing with drinking and taking pills. You think you are thinking clearly but you are not, it’s just this fog. It’s just a crazy place to be, but you make it make sense, and addicts are the best at that. But this young boy needed a Cameo, it’s not about the money, this kid needs this and I am doing the right thing. No bro, you are not doing the right thing. Dallas called me the next day and says ‘What are you doing? Bro, don’t get on the camera.’ he was brutal when he saw me, I don’t know what I was thinking, I was screwed up.”

On what’s next:

“It’s really hard for me, but it really is one day at a time. But I am really excited about being sober for the first time in my life. I think this is the first time I have been totally sober since 16. That is totally sad and pathetic but those are the facts. I got arrested at 16 for blowing a 0.01. I had a sip because I was trying to be cool, I get in my Jeep and I got arrested at The Big Chicken. I have been at the wrong place at the wrong time so many times. But where do I go now, the sky is the limit. That is great and dangerous. I have Dallas and Steve with me, the sky really is the limit.”

On having one match in WWE:

“Absolutely I am [upset], that’s where part of the depression part of drinking was. You throw it into a pile and set fire to it, that is in there. It was so depressing to me, the only thing that didn’t make it worse was that the fans knew that I got screwed. The fans know, and still know, that Buff Bagwell got jibbed man. Without that I would be completely depressed. But they know that, I did get jibbed. I was Buff Bagwell bro, and I got fired in Atlanta, Georgia. A lot of guys may have the same story, but they don’t have this one. I’m the only guy, to my knowledge, I’m the only wrestler in history to be the main event one week and then fired the next. Where do you sign up for that? Buff Bagwell was main eventing against Booker T, and then they fire me in Atlanta, Georgia the next week.” 

On the backlash from the Tacoma match:

“We were in Tacoma, Washington and the next week is Atlanta. Now you are Vince McMahon, are you going to put us in Tacoma, or are you going to wait 7 days and put us in Atlanta? They call it the invasion, what are we invading, Alaska? Little things I never told anybody, they were about to play my music and Booker went out first. Think about it, he had 2 belts, and I went out second, I never saw that before. He may have not got music, I will have to check that. But my pyro was off the charts, here was what I was told 10 seconds before I came through the curtain, out of nowhere like a ghost, Shane McMahon appears. He says ‘Mark, you can’t look in the cameras?’ I go what? He goes ‘You can’t look in the cameras.’ I go ‘Shane, that’s all I do. I look in the cameras, I pose and wear the top hat, that is my whole gig bro.’ He says ‘You can’t do it or your fired.’ I want you to watch a Buff Bagwell match anytime the year before, and then watch that match. I don’t look anywhere near that camera the whole time in 3 years. That takes me completely out of my world. I come out, do the pyro, do the posing, but then it is like where is the camera? I see it and I start talking to someone over here, I was out of my game right there. They took my leg off right there. I was told not to look in the camera or I was fired. Jim Ross called me that Wednesday before Atalanta saying that they have big plans for me in Atlanta, so they took me off of the house shows. That got to be that my mother took me out of them, it stuck bro, he started a rumour that stuck so much. So I started a rumour, so let’s say that she did do it and she was lying to me, do you fire Buff Bagwell over that? Let’s say it was the bad match, how about 5 years of never tripping and stumbling previous? You don’t fire a Buff Bagwell over one match. So the match and the mother stuck bro, to the point where I was like if she did, you don’t fire Buff Bagwell over it. You say to Buff to tell your mother to leave us the hell alone, you don’t fire me over that.” 

On an in-ring comeback:

“I would love to wrestle again, I think I have got one more run left in me. I know I do. I know I have got a little bit of a career left, I took a bump with crutches at the GCW pay-per-view a year ago. I took a superkick from Joey [Janela] and I took a good clean bump.”

On what Buff Bagwell is grateful for:

“Sobriety, Steve Yu and Dallas Page, and God.”

Featured image: Bleacher Report

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Los Angeles to talk about the new Warner Bros & DC Comics film BLACK ADAM, what The Rock’s superpower and weaknesses are, his definition of success, whether he still keeps up with pro wrestling and the WWE, his thoughts on Roman Reigns as the Head of the Table and being the Tribal Chief.

Your superpower is just being so kind.

“Look, man, I always say like kind of being kind is and being nice. I heard a quote when I was 15, and I’ll never forget it. And I use it as my lead foot, by the way, like in life, which is it’s nice to be important. But it’s more important to be nice. And I still feel that being nice and being kind is truly one of the easiest things to do. Because to me, it takes effort to be an asshole.”

So that’s your superpower. What’s your weakness? Mine is pizza.

“Mine is tequila. That’s a real bad combo man.”

With everything that you’ve done in your career, wrestling, Hollywood, everything in between? That’s such an amazing career. How do you define success?

“That’s a great question, you’re making me think about this, I’m gonna take a crack at it right now. I would say define success by having a positive influence on people. And in the world of entertainment, that is a small sector, but yet it can be very influential. And my goal in terms of the things that I do in this, on this side of entertainment, and some of the other businesses that I’ve started is the key, the number one anchoring element is to always make sure that people walk away feeling good, and that’s important, walk away feeling good. Walk out of the theatres feeling good watching a movie. If they’re watching it at home, they feel good when the credits are rolling. If there’s a product that I’ve created and I deliver it, they feel good with that too, as well. So I define success by how it makes people feel. And I also would define success by raising some good babies, if you’re fortunate enough to have some kids. I would define success that way too.”

I mentioned wrestling. Are you keeping up with what’s going on in WWE?

“I love wrestling. Always. Yeah, absolutely.”

You’re on chat wrestling. Do you want to let’s do it. You acknowledge the tribal chief?

“I do. It’s my family.”

He says he’s at the head of the table. But yeah, look, it’s you.

“I think those guys are I think they’re doing a great job. And I think what an interesting shift that the company has gone through this year, unexpected in many ways. But when expectations happen in that kind of way, and form and fashion, especially in that business, you got to have the ability and the agility to pivot, which they have. So with Roman I think he’s doing a pretty good job and the boys too, The Usos, those two as well.”

Dan Lambert (@danlambertatt) is an entrepreneur, AEW Wrestling personality, black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the owner of the MMA gym American Top Team. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about being part of AEW, why he loved being a heel, working with Chris Jericho, why he started American Top Team, what they look for in an athlete at ATT, how close he was to buying the UFC, his take on the Jorge Masvidal vs. Colby Covington feud, taking legendary wrestlers out for dinner and much more!

On AEW fans:

“Every time I went out my goal was to make them hate me as much as I hate them. Every one of them, hate.”

On being booed:

“I don’t know how the faces do it. I don’t think I could do it, it’s got to be way harder.”

On praise for Chris Jericho:

“He is so good. He said ‘Ok, you are going to cut my song off at this point, and people are going to lose their minds but keep singing the song.’ I’m like ok, and whatever he said happened, it happened.”

On how the partnership with AEW started:

“Tony Khan is an MMA fan. He just happened to be down in Miami meeting with Jorge Masvidal and his agent, they were talking about doing something together when Jorge was so hot after the whole flying knee thing. His agent gives me a call and says ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ I’m like well I just sat down for dinner with some friends that came to town. He says ‘Well tell them to p*ss off. I am down in Miami sitting with Tony Khan, you guys are like brothers from another life. You have got to come and meet this guy.’ I’m like really? Okay. I told my friends see ya, nice seeing you, I’m out of here. I went to meet him and we just totally hit it off and became friends. He is a total wrestling nerd, I’m a total wrestling nerd. Obviously he is a big football guy and football is the greatest thing in the world to me. We just totally hit it off and became friends and stayed in contact. When he came down to do a Miami show, it was actually the first show they did there after the pandemic was over in front of a live crowd. He reached out to me and said ‘Hey, do you want to come to the show? Maybe bring some of the guys down, grab a mic and cut a promo on people, just for fun?’ Yeah why not. So I did it and it was a blast and I thought that was it. But then I get a text 2 weeks later saying ‘Hey, what are you doing? Do you want to come to Jacksonville and do a show?’ Yeah why not? And then it just kept going.”      

On being involved in wrestling before AEW:

“I actually met Jeff Jarrett at a UFC show in Nashville, just happened to be sitting next to him. I hit it off with him, and Bobby Lashley was their champion at the time, he fought and trained with us, super good guy. Jeff reached out to me and said ‘Hey, would you like to bring some of the fighters over and cut some promos.’ I was like yeah, and that was a lot of fun.”

On being a heat magnet:

“I got really lucky with the people that they matched me up with. I got to do stuff with Jericho, got to do a short something with Cody, got to do something with Lance Archer against Hangman Page. Some of these guys are so over, getting heat off of Jericho, he does all the work, you can’t get an easier assignment than that. Once you do something with him, everybody knows you from that and the heat just kind of has a residual effect. I guess I just got lucky.”  

On wanting to be a wrestler:

“I still want to be a wrestler. Who doesn’t want to be a wrestler? [Chris mentions he trained to be a wrester] If you want to be a wrestler you are a dork. [If you want to] Go and do something easy, then go and be a fighter. That’s not an easy way to make a living, those guys take a beating. I don’t think that people appreciate the toll that it takes on those guys.” 

On having a match in AEW:

“I figured that the heel cowardly manager gets somehow tricked into a match to get his ass kicked. So yeah, I figured I would. I mean Chris Jericho beating me up with a kendo stick in front of 20,000 people on pay-per-view, how cool is that? I can’t tell you how much I was having, it was the coolest thing ever.” 

On if Dan Lambert is still working with AEW:

“Not now. About 2 months ago we finished up our feud with the Men of the Year, we had Scorpio Sky drop the belt to Wardlow. Sky was going to take a couple of months off because he had a knee injury that needed to heal. Page was being repackaged so he could do what he is doing now with The Firm and with MJF. So I thought that it was a good time to wind down, I thought that I was getting stale. The reactions were still good, but I just grabbed Tony after the show and said that I think this has run its course. I don’t want to go backwards or overstay my welcome. He was like yeah man sure. If you have an idea for something in the future then come back then sure whatever, call me. If Tony called me tomorrow and had a good idea and I liked it then sure, I’ll do it.”

On getting recognised more:

“It depends on where you are. No one cares about teams in MMA, the fighters get recognized, the coaches don’t. They may mention where the guy trained, but people don’t care, it’s an individual sport. In wrestling it is more about the individuals and stuff, so you get a bit more recognition.”

On Dan Lambert’s promo style and comparisons to Jim Cornette:

“Jim Cornette is the greatest manager of all time. He just is. I think [better than Heyman] and I love Heyman, but I grew up with Cornette. A lot of it, who you remember as the greatest football player or basketball player is who you were the most exposed to when you were younger. Bobby Heenan towards the end of his run, I have been watching since the late 70’s, but it was towards the end of his run when he was in the AWA when I first started watching wrestling, so I didn’t have much exposure to him before he went to WWE. We didn’t get AWA until it was on ESPN for a short period. But Cornette was right in my wheelhouse. Man, he was just so good. I know a lot of people have said that the things I have said in your promos are what Cornette has said on his podcast, but I don’t listen to podcasts. So I’m like oh cool, if Cornette says it, then it must be right. I always took that as a complement, I thought the guy was so great back in the day.”   

On MMA improving over the years:

“It’s still such a young sport, it’s still evolving so much, especially from the training and the running teams side of it. There are so many things that are different from 5 years ago, never mind 10, 15 or 20 years ago. But these athletes are studs, if you are a 145 lb guy and you want to make money in sport, you aren’t gonna play football or basketball, where are you going to make your money? The level of athlete is changing, what works now and what works before are completely different.”

On the biggest shift in MMA:

“Probably the ranking of what disciplines matter the most. Back 20 years ago it was who was the best ground fighter. People would laugh at karate back in the day, it was all about ground fighting. Now, who wins fights on their back these days? Not named Charles Oliveira or Brian Ortega. You don’t win fights on your back anymore. Everybody knows enough of the ground game to defend it. The person on top wins the grappling, and now there is karate working in fights, holy sh*t that stuff actually works. I think that karate may work more in MMA now that Jiu Jitsu does. It’s just the evolution of the sport.”

On what Dan Lambert looks for in an athlete:

“Go back 15 years and it was like where would we get our next generation of fighters from. But now the sport has evolved so much that we probably get 30 legit fighters a month reaching out to us to do a camp and do training. We have a big gym but we have limited resources, only so much mat time and so much training. If 30 people want to come and train, we will only say yes to 2 of them. We just want to make sure that they are the right fit. It might not be because they are a stud, undefeated and will be a champion. It might be that this guys is a heavyweight that has a good ground game, he has potential and will be a really good training partner. Or this guy is a 125 lb good wrestler, he is a great fit as a training partner. When we think they will be a good git, we take them in a for a week and see if it’s a good fit for them. Some are better in the smaller environment than ours, but we just look to see is a good fit. But if you were to ask me for the number one thing to look for in a fighter, athleticism. It used to be the best ground guy, then the best wrestler, then the best striker. Now it’s just give me the best athlete, we will do the rest from there.”

On his proudest moment:

“The coolest thing that I have ever seen was Masvidal’s flying knee. Without a doubt the coolest moment I have seen in a fight. But the coolest thing I have seen is Jorge’s resurrection. He called it. He had so many highs and so many lows in his career. I never thought he reached his potential, the guy is a nut job. You hear about him jumping over a table at a restaurant to punch someone, that’s him. I could probably get arrested just telling the stories of what this guy has done over the last few years. But to hear his story and to see what he has done coming up from a split decision loss here and a dumb decision there and thinking he was on the tail side of his career. To see him catch fire like that, he was in great shape and he said that he was going to kill people. At first I thought he was full of sh*t. He came out and had that run, the BMF belt, the Askren fight, he was a next level star. You know how Chris Jericho can lose and put over the next 10 people he has feuds with, he is still Chris Jericho. He is still going to get that heat and people still want to see him. Masvidal is like that, people have such crazy respect for Masvidal. He can still lose a fight here and there, but people want to see him because he is Jorge Masvidal. He still is a BMF and his story is so cool. This guy is making money, he calls me from Saudi Arabia, to see that guy, his story and where I thought he would end up. That ascension is the coolest thing I have ever seen.”   

On Dan Lambert’s favorite belt from his collection:

“I would say my favorite is not the one that people would say is the coolest belt that I have. But my favorite is the old Georgia Heavyweight Championship belt because that was the one that was on TBS during the 6:05 to 8:05 timeslot, and it was same one for like 20 plus years. A lot of these belts, they change every 4 or 5 years, it gets beat up, broken, stolen, thrown off a bridge. This was the same belt forever, and everyone held that belt. The only belts I collect are actual used belts, so all of them are ring used.” 

On what Dan Lambert is grateful for:

“The fact that MMA has become such a mainstream sport, that I got to meet Tony Khan and I am at point in my life where I can do stuff I like.”

On this episode, Chris Van Vliet is a guest on the podcast “Learn Speak Teach” on the Real Business Connections Network hosted by Ben Albert. Chris talks about being laid off early in his broadcasting career and what he learned from that, the science of asking better questions, why gratitude is so important, changing your mindset and a fun rapid fire round at the end.

On pain points:

“I would say the biggest one, and look, I was super passionate about broadcasting. It was the dream of working in television or radio, but I had zero connections to make this happen. I didn’t have a cousin or an uncle who could get me an internship. So I think that was a big pain point for me early on, I had to figure all of this out on my own and how to get there.”

On being laid off:

“Fast forward a few years and I think the biggest pain point for me was, two years into my career I had a dream job. I was hosting a show on MTV2 Canada where I was interviewing all kinds of celebrities. Our show after me being on it for a year got cancelled after one big media conglomerate bought another one and they merged together. I was at work that day and typing on my computer, my boss came in and said ‘Everybody stop what you are doing, the show just got cancelled.’ It felt like in an instance that the rug got pulled out from underneath me and I had to figure out what do I do now? I picked up my life and moved it 3,000 miles to Vancouver, and that was a big one for me. It felt like I was living my purpose, but I had to re-evaluate and recalculate my purpose from there. But I am a really big believer that things happen for a reason, because if that didn’t happen then it would lead me to where I am. Because being unemployed for 7 months that led me to try and get an agent in the United States and look for jobs there.”   

On what was next:

“When I got back home I was like this is not a vacation, I have got to find another job. It sucked. It sucked because things were going so well and one day it was all gone. My new job became finding a job and finding one that juiced me as much as the old job did.”

On levelling up:

“I will say that this felt like my purpose even before that moment where I got to do my story at the internship. I was so excited to be there, learning the ins and outs and asking so many questions. I think that really helped, I was asking about shooting on tape and the editing system. It wasn’t until 6 months in that I really felt comfortable with the editing system. If I didn’t know me, I would believe what that person was saying, I felt like I was levelling up every day. Even if it was a 0.01 each day, I felt like I was improving. There is a thing called the stand up where the reporter speaks with the microphone and setting the stage, it’s usually one or two sentences. I would record the stand up 5 or 10 times saying the exact same thing. I would then watch it back in the editing room and hopefully pick the least worst take.”

On Chris’ 1% of his day to get better:

“A lot of it, and it is uncomfortable too, is watching yourself back. You gotta do it. You will realize that you do the weird thing with your eyebrows and what your voice sounds like. Getting comfortable with meeting the digital version of yourself, that was part of it. Once you are comfortable with it, and that takes a long time, you look and go ‘I said a lot of this’ or ‘I did a lot of ums.’ I started cutting that out. I also started looking at people that were crushing it, looking at their skillset and making it my own. I think that was a really big thing. Tony Robbins says that success brings clues, if you take one thing from someone and put it in your toolkit. Then you take it from someone else, if you do that a dozen times, you have a pretty good set of tools.”

On going all in:

“For me, I just want to swing for the fences, especially in the celebrity interviews. If they are promoting a movie, like recently I was in Las Vegas interviewing Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco. You get 5 minutes with them, and they are answering a lot of the same questions doing 40 to 50 interviews a day. I learned that if you ask better questions, you get better interviews, so I have been trying to look for those moments that have never happened before. So if you swing for the fences and it doesn’t work, then you edit that out. But if it does work, my goodness you get an amazing moment. For instance, I got to rap Miami with Will Smith in Miami. If you don’t ask, the answer will be no, so why not at least ask.”

On back to square 1:

“I changed the home screen on my internet browser to be a job search website. That was a huge change for me. When I opened up Internet Explorer, that was the first thing I would see, so if I wanted to click away from something, it was like ‘Really? You don’t want to just take 5 minutes and scroll to see what is out there.’ I would use that tactic a lot, there was a sports radio station that I volunteered at, I also changed the home screen there to their website. That way I could see what was important to them and that was a huge help for me. I mentioned earlier that I made it my job to look for a job, and I was doing everything to edge myself better than the next person. I always got down to the final 2 people for a presenting job, and it would always go to the other person. Maybe they had more experience or was more recognizable in Canada. I was getting so frustrated, so I went well if I can’t get a job in my own country, I’m going to look elsewhere. There were so many opportunities in the USA, so I started spending my days googling TV agents. I sent this one cold email to an agency in Los Angeles saying that I am LA frequently, I was only in LA once in my life at that point, and I would love to come by. They asked when I would next be in LA, and I said it would be in the next month. I stayed in the cheapest motel I could in Hollywood, I was brushing away the cockroaches at the door. But the agency signed me and it worked out, they got me auditions. That got the ball rolling and got me to where I am at, but it would never have happened if I never had a clear goal on how I got there.”

Why Chris Van Vliet was hired:

“I think that I just had the momentum of being on MTV 2 Canada. I was a fresh face, which is important in Canada. Also it was low risk, if they sign me and I don’t get hired, well I’m the next one. I am guessing they liked my demo reel and they were like well let’s see what happens.”

On the big break:

“It wasn’t a break, but it was a very big audition. It was with TRL, Carson Daily was moving on and was replaced by Damien Fahey, then he was moving on and they were looking for someone to replace Damien Fahey. I am like oh my God, TRL? In Times Square? I actually had an interview at the TRL studio. In the end they didn’t hire me because they ended up cancelling the show. But to be in the final 2 of that conversation, it gave me the confidence that something is going to happen here. I think that was the really big one that made me look at things through a different lens.”

On YouTube success:

“I think it is about experimenting. Yes, I was early to the game, we are talking over 10 years ago with interviews from stars of The Hunger Games or Twilight or the Marvel films. But I was also early to the game of getting them to YouTube first. Henry Cavill would be talking about putting the Superman suit on for the first time, and I was sat in the airport trying to edit it so I could get it up onto YouTube first. It shifted a lot recently though, short form content is where all the attention is. I started a clips channel 2 years ago and really put time into it last year. It now has over 130,000 subscribers and the total views are now higher than my main channel.”

On going viral with short videos:

“I would say find a title that is highly clickable. Don’t be clickbait, but have a title that is clickable. Something like ‘This person explains this…’ What makes you want to click on an article? I saw all of these podcasters doing this and it made sense. Joe Rogan’s podcast is 2 to 3 hours long, asking someone to stay on their phone for that time is a huge ask. But if there is a 6 minute clip, that is much more suggestable.”

What makes a good question:

“It is always difficult when it is just one question. Definitely something that is not just a yes or no answer. If you can tie it into you and endear it to yourself somehow, it makes it a better question. I think also to go one layer deeper and make it into a question that has not been asked before. You always hear ‘What was it like working with…’ You always hear the answer of ‘Oh they were great.’ I take it one layer deeper to ‘What is one thing you have learned that you will take to the next set.’ That is when you can get that great soundbite, because they are revealing something they have never revealed before.”

Dane Cook (@danecook) is a stand-up comedian and actor known for starring in movies like Waiting, Good Luck Chuck, My Best Friend’s Girl and Employee Of The Month. He sits down in person with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about his new comedy special called “Above It All”, why he funded it himself, what he’s learned from doing comedy for 32 years, how he was able to use MySpace and the Internet early on to grow a fanbase and explode his popularity, why he feels a lot of comedians were jealous of him, why it became cool to dislike him and much more!

On Dane Cook’s first time onstage:

“Honestly it all happened so fast. I think if I knew I was going on that night then I would be sat there thinking well what if I bomb? But it all just happened so fast. I was up there doing some jokes and some routines that I thought of, but I was just going into it. I got a few laughs from that room of 30 to 40 people, but what I remember is feeling like right away I am a pressure planner. When it was really on me that I had to do this and I identified with it. Even though my jokes were not great and parts of the routine might have been a little lacklustre, I was prepared to meet that moment. Moving forward it was like I will be ok when I get back onstage.”  

Dane Cook on being anxious growing up:

“Yeah I was an introvert. I was one of those people that in school, forget standing up in front of the class, just the thought of the teacher asking me something, I was mortified by it. When it did happen, it was more discombobulating in that moment. I was there in class tapping my foot like please don’t call me, or in sports I would be like please don’t pass the ball to me. I didn’t want any participation because I was so scared that I would not come through.”

Dane Cook on overcoming the anxiety to become a comic:

“People ask me that at school like where did this version of me come from. I called my mom that night after the first show and she asked me how did I do? I think I exceeded my expectations, even if some of the jokes missed, it wasn’t cringey. I did like a ‘Well that joke is not ready for public consumption yet, let’s move on.’ I was covering and improv-ing, it was like a Clark Kent/Superman moment. Except I was still Clark Kent on stage, not Superman.”   

On when Dane Cook felt like a comedian:

“I was really embarrassed to say it for a long time. I wouldn’t say I do stand up comedy, I think I was ashamed of it. Up until then I worked at a pizza place, a dietary aide at a nursing home, I worked at a video store. I did anything I could to continue the stand-up career and avoid the 9-5. I knew if I went to a plan b I would get stuck in that, so I did a lot of miscellaneous stuff and got $20 here and there for stand-up.” 

On people saying ‘You’re a comedian? Be funny.’

“Oh that and a lot worse. People think that just because you are a comedian then they can just have at you. It’s strange, in Boston in that era, stand-up comedy was 2 things at once. There was the boom of the 80’s with Robin Williams, Boston identified that if you are good at  the job then you are exceptional. But also with it being Boston and being rough, if you didn’t come with something that was exceptional, they would really bring the hammer down on you. Looking back it was the best thing ever because it was like a boot camp for comedy.”

On Tik Tok being used by comedians:

“There is still an ability to craft and create something that is original. I don’t think I have engaged with much on Tik Tok for a while. But Tik Tok felt like the MySpace that can cultivate the kind of audience that you want. It is up to the creator to come up with something that will get eyes on it, but you have to have a long form game plan to where you want to take your career. I tell people there is no rush to get that 5 million, because when it happens you have to be ready. If you are not, then the next one slips down to nothing, it’s gonna feel like you are over. You are not, it’s just the way society vibes with content. But if you know where you are going to take your audience, then you have a chance to utilize the machine to feed your machine. You need to have a sustaining plan to sustain.” 

On being the Nickelback of comedy:

“I’m not looking at that at the time, I’m looking at 20,000 people that loved me. I was on the cover of Time magazine when people were saying that I sucked. I was one of the most influential people on the planet and was accepting that. This is true, I was an influential person, if they did a feature on where did they misstep, I would be in that too. But I have never had an audience abandon me so I can’t do gigs, I have never not performed in 31 years. So that really helped business, because it made me more interesting than I actually am. Being that person that people really loved or hated was great for business.”

On comedy styles for different jokes:

“I made a decision in 2011 to plant my feet and not move on stage for a whole year. So I have a story in my new special about a stalker that I have been dealing with. This is a violent stalker, LAPD involved and everything. This is a person who has physically threatened to kill me. I knew that if I was going to make this story funny, I had to be caustic and tell it like this [deadpan] this woman said ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m going to find you and I’m going to murder you. I’m sitting there and all I can think of is man, I wish I read this after I ate that pizza, because I have been waiting all day… It was finding the humour, because I grew up in a family where humour helped as a coping mechanism. I was scared, genuinely, but the 2011 planting my feet, in 2022 that is the best decision I made. I can now be completely transparent.” 

On an allegedly infamous Dave Chapelle story:

“The guy that told the story even told the story by saying ‘I heard this thing. I don’t know but I heard…’ Basically he prefaced it by saying, so it was my night and Dave Chapelle did a set and said ‘Join me outside for a cigarette.’ And then the whole crowd went out, this is like 2006 and 2007 where we were both at the peak of our powers. At that time, the two people you don’t leave the room when they are on stage are me and Dave. It’s just not true. Dave would never do that, and I know people want to believe that, but 6 million people have seen that and 6 million people have been lied to.”

On the internet:

“The whole internet is someone claiming that they heard a thing, then someone makes a meme out of it, then someone is like ‘A source said…’ Then you watch it blow up, but that’s not me.”   

On movies taking Dane Cook to the next level:

“Yeah so it’s people who are really big fans of you asking if you want to play in this sandbox for a little bit. I wanted to do film and broaden my aspirations, but I just followed where stand-up takes me, and it took me to some really interesting places. I just continue to feed the stand-up, because I am excited where it takes me.”

On Dane Cook’s fiancee hearing about their relationship on stage:

“Oh she is super funny and silver tongued. You’re a comedian, you want to be with someone who thinks you are funny, but she is also funny. She will say sh*t and she will go there, she’s amazing. We laugh a lot and we have a great time.”

On advice Dane Cook gives to comedians:

“I tell them the best advice I was told, you know better than anybody what you should be doing up there. I would never dare say to anyone ‘You should be doing this…’ I would never do that. The only advice I would give is the legal side, because I have dealt with that a lot. My whole mentor thing is helping a comic, it doesn’t matter if I don’t think it is funny, it’s what you believe in in your messaging. Stay away from the noise from other people saying things like it’s too offensive. This job is about turning some people off, you won’t make everybody laugh all of the time. You want some laughing and some to be like no, I don’t want this.”

On pushing the envelope:

“It’s not really about pushing the envelope, some comics write and think what is funny to them. But the comics I love is they say what is funny to me and how can they bring me into their world, that is what you want. And if you can crack that, you can have a persona where more people who won’t laugh won’t show up to the show and more people that do laugh will.”

On what Dane Cook is grateful for:

“Love, there is a stage I can get on and that I got to show my mom and dad everything that they hoped for me.”

Featured image: IMDB

Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) is an actor, filmmaker and the owner of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, GA. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about new movie called “A Jazzman’s Blues” which is streaming now on Netflix. He talks about writing the original screenplay for this movie in 1995, why now was the right time to make it, the lessons he learned from Oprah Winfrey, working with David Fincher on the movie “Gone Girl”, his partnership with Netflix and much more!

You have been so kind to me throughout the years! Who has been the person who has been kind to you early in your career?

“Gosh, early on in my career I ran into a lot of people who were really kind. Oprah was one was definitely one of them. Every major celebrity that I have met of the older generation, they were just so kind and parted a lot of wisdom to me.”

What do you think is the lesson from Oprah that you still carry with you today?

“Just in how authentic she is in herself. Just how it is important to her to make everybody feel seen and feel heard and feel loved. I love what that did to me and I want to do that for other people.”

When you make a film like this, how do you decide if you are going to star in the film or just do everything behind the scenes?

“When I wrote it 27 years ago I wanted to star in it but I got too old, so I had to rethink all of the casting. I went you know what, I’m going to sit back in this director’s chair and really take my time and paint every image like a photograph and find some incredible talent. We were able to do that and I am very proud of the work.”

When you have it in your mind that you are playing Bayou, what does that actor have to do to impress you in that audition?

“You know what, I was just looking for someone who understood the period and the time, and asks the right questions. Joshua Boone asked the right questions, he challenged my thought process in some of those situations and made me think. But also understanding the picture that we needed to paint together, so it’s really great.”

I think a lot of People are surprised that you are making this movie. It’s not a movie that people will typically expect from you. Do you enjoying surprising people?

“You know, most of these 25 years or so has been about making sure that I establish myself in my career so I can do things like this. I always felt with every hit that I was still fledgling in the business. If I had one miss, something would go off, so I had to stick with what I knew worked. But now I am in a place and having a partner like Netflix where I am able to do something that I wanted to do for a very long time.”

I’m curious about Gone Girl. When you are on the set of Gone Girl, what is something that you are learning from David Fincher that you take as a director now onto the sets?

“Everything except for 100 takes for each thing. 1 or 2, if I am doing 4 or 5 takes then something is wrong. He was very much a wealth of information. He knew so much about so many different things.”

Life is all about moments. What is the one moment that has set you on the path that you are on now?

“I think it was hearing no a lot. I don’t know the one specific moment, but when I heard the word no it gave me the strength and desire to give me a yes somewhere.”

Featured image: Tyler Perry

David McClellan is the CEO and founder of Social Catfish (@socialcatfish), a website that helps people to find out if they are being scammed or catfished. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about how his website helps to stop online scammers, his craziest story of catching an online predator, his thoughts on the Mante Te’o Netflix documentary called “Untold”, how to protect yourself when you are on a dating app, books that you should read and much more!

On what David McCellan does:

“We want to be the site that protects you while you are online. That is our goal and that is what we do. If it’s making sure that who you are talking to is real or making sure that the picture is who they say they are so you are not wasting your time, that’s our mission. Finding out who that weird phone number that called you is? That’s part of what we do.”

On how catfishing has evolved:

“I will say that we have evolved from the Nigerian prince scam. We all make fun of it, but if it didn’t work then they wouldn’t do it. Social media, especially with all the apps out there, have made it so much easier for criminals to target innocent people. Especially with the pandemic, with all the apps that people are using, it is a breeding ground for people scamming.”

On romance scams:

“That has evolved too, the majority of romance cams don’t happen on dating apps anymore. Now they happen on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and even apps like Words With Friends. What these scammers do is they will message thousands and thousands of people a day, and they only need to talk to one or two people. If they can get a hold of ten people, one will probably talk to them. And of those 10 that the scammer gets, one of them they will make money from.”

On the warning signs:

“The easiest thing is to not click on links that you don’t recognize and don’t give out your personal information and don’t give people money. That will generally keep you safe from most scams. But with romance scams, those can last 6 to 9 months, it’s not just someone getting you to click on a link, someone is grooming you for 9 months to get your money. The scammers will contact random people and will tell them things that they have never heard. People were lonely, especially in the pandemic, and someone is there day and night every day messaging them that they love them and asking them how they are. Eventually they groom them and they ask them for money, one person lost $2 million.”

On the victims being scammed:

“A lot of people see these cases and they say things like ‘They are stupid. They deserve to lose their money.’ You have to look at it on the flipside that these scammers are criminals that are meeting people online with the intention of stealing from them. For every person that has lost a lot of money, there are many more who have only lost a smaller amount. Only 1 in 3 people who fall for this scam actually report these people.”

On internet crimes:

“The scammers even call their victims clients. From their end there is a mental perception where they justify what they are doing. Also because it is the internet, there is not a high chance of getting caught until recently.”

On becoming an entrepreneur:

“Just do it, make mistakes and f*ck up. Like my son, he plays guitar and wants to make a TikTok account, but he is too interested in making sure the lighting is right, I’m like just get it out there. The hardest part is starting and then being consistent. My superpower is consistency, I may not be smarter than you, but I can outwork you, be consistent and that will work every time. If you can get things done and make a habit of it, then you will be successful.” 

On evolving as a person:

“I graduated highschool with a 2.3, but the guy that graduated high school is not the same guy that is running the business now. You can’t be the same person you are today, have ambitious goals in 5 years time, and still be that same person. You have to change and improve, and not just hit those goals.”

On how David McCellan lost over 80 lbs:

“So I had yo-yo dieted a lot, I lost 40 lbs and then gained it back. One thing I realized is that I kept making excuses like ‘I don’t eat that much.’ Or ‘My metabolism is low.’ I then started to realize that I could diet but a diet is not permanent. I then thought about what I could do to permanently change my lifestyle so I can live longer, I am all about longevity. Before I was eating a lot of fast food and drinking a lot of energy drinks, because I was so busy all of the time. So then it was okay, how can I make better decisions that are permanent? I changed my diet to paleo and lost 40 lbs. Then I hit all of these plateaus and was getting discouraged, so I started to track my food for 30 days just to figure out what I was doing wrong. I was eating things that were high calorie that would just throw me over, like 1,200 calories in wings. I started cutting those things out but did not want to feel like I was suffering when I was dieting. So I decided that it would be something permanent with no timeline. That is what helped me out the most was the mindset where I was committed to change my lifestyle.” 

On what David McCellan is grateful for:

“My family, my team and opportunity.”

Claudio Castagnoli (@claudiocsro) is a professional wrestling signed to AEW and Ring of Honor and previously worked for WWE under the name Cesaro. He joins Chris Van Vliet for a special live interview at Starrcast in Nashville. He talks about his decision to leave WWE and sign with AEW, what winning the Ring of Honor World Championship means to him, what happened to his partnership with Paul Heyman, who the strongest wrestlers in WWE are, Vince McMahon’s criticism of him lacking charisma and the “it factor”, his love of coffee, his match with CM Punk that was supposed to happen the night that CM Punk walked out of WWE, winning the Tag Team Championships with Tyson Kidd and also Sheamus, his current workout routine and much more!

On winning the Ring of Honor Championship:

I always believed, but I never really believed until it happened. I never really get excited until it happens, because a lot of stuff changes. But when it finally happened, I won the title, and I was able to raise it and to hear the crowd go crazy. And to hear it in Boston, which is where I have a lot of history with Ring of Honor. It felt really special, I felt validated. I also felt like I had to do this for my fans who have followed me for the past 20 years and are still following me. For me to win it for them meant a lot to me. 

Claudio Castagnoli On being labelled as underrated:

I do appreciate the underrated label, but I don’t think they [the fans] ever thought that I was underrated, maybe under utilised would be a better thing. I think the underrated thing is the best kept secret kind of vibe, and I really appreciate that. I have never been the one to go out there and tell everybody how great I am, I would rather go out there and show it. It may take longer but in the end you have a longer lasting effect. And to me, that is more important. The fact that I had so many people calling me underrated, that is such a big complement. 

On Claudio Castagnoli looking like Jason Statham:

Not as often as you would think, it’s usually when I do interviews and stuff. ‘Has anybody told you that you look like Jason Statham?’ I would say ‘No it’s the first time.’ And they are like ‘Really?’ 

On Claudio Castagnoli doubting himself at times:

I feel like every person goes through times where they doubt themselves. Okay, did I make the right choice? I am over here but I could have done this. For example, for the first few years when I moved to the United States, I was doing ok but not uber successful. I went to Ring of Honor and didn’t win the world title, then went to WWE and didn’t win the world title. It is like am I doing the right things? What am I doing? You just doubt yourself, especially when you are a creative person who wants to have success. I feel like everyone has their own way of finding success. But the way that the fans are going crazy, they do still like me. You go to a live event and the crowd goes crazy and they have not forgotten about you, that means a lot.

On Claudio Castagnoli leaving WWE:

A lot of thought [went into it] actually. I felt for a while that I needed a change, and leading up to it there was a bunch of signs and a bunch of stuff that different people said that they did not even realise that helped me make up my mind. One of the things that just popped in my head was Johnny Gargano’s last promo in NXT where he said to bet on yourself. That was one of those thoughts where it was like yeah he is 100% right. ‘Rather go out on your own horse…’ Is that even a saying? But it is now, I will tell you that now, put it on a t-shirt! But it was a lot of things leading up to it. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, because a lot of people do. When Cody left the first time he made a list of people that he wanted to wrestle, and then after that everybody made that list. So I just wanted to do it different, I am kind of against the grain a lot. Oh, someone is doing this? Let me try and do something over here. I felt that it was better that way because if I want to keep wrestling and then I pop up somewhere, it’s going to be a bigger surprise. I feel that wrestling is all about moments, and if I went ‘All right. I am leaving.’ Then people would have known and it would have been like oh he is going to show up somewhere or whatever. But if it’s quiet, then no one really knows what is going to happen and when it’s going to happen, that is the beauty of wrestling, you want to be surprised. Yes you want to know, but you want to be surprised. To me that is a very important thing of you do know maybe, but there is always that doubt, and that is what makes magic happen. 

On the deciding factor to join AEW for Claudio Castagnoli: 

There was a couple. One of the things was that there’s so many people that I want to be in the ring with at AEW and at Ring of Honor. I’m like man I have matches for the next [few] years that I want to do. While there are still guys in WWE that I want to wrestle, that number is less than at AEW. At my core, I always wanted to improve and get better and have new challenges. When I first went to WWE from Ring of Honor, I didn’t do it because I wanted to get onto TV, for me it was just the logical next step. Ok, I have done a lot in Ring of Honor, what is the next step? Where is the next challenge? Where are the best guys? It was the same thing here, what the next step and the next challenge? And AEW has been awesome, I have had the best first month that I could have dreamt of.   

On Vince McMahon’s comments about Claudio Castagnoli on the Stone Cold Podcast:

I thought he was wrong. Yeah I feel that charisma comes in very different forms, shapes and sizes. Not everybody has that over the top Ultimate Warrior shaking the ropes and running around crazy, yelling and screaming charisma. Not that I’m sitting here telling you all how awesome my charisma is, but I felt like I had a connection with the fans, with the WWE Universe, whatever you want to call it, in the United States and all over the world. While other people were known for long promos that get translated into many other languages and doesn’t necessarily come across, mine was about the in-ring work and people can connect with that. It may take a bit longer, but I did connect with the fans and they were behind me. I don’t know if that was not what he was looking for, but the end effect brought me here and you get to see that.

On winning the Andre the Giant Battle Royal:

So I don’t know if you remember, but the trophy I had got destroyed the very next day. What happened was, that thing is heavy, it’s huge. The base is completely solid. Until Corbin picked it up the other day, no one had picked it up. I don’t know if you remember but every time someone won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal after me, they stood next to it and did the pose next to it, and afterwards they had it ringside. They brought it in for me, and this is my second match of the night. I’m like no I want to lift it, it will look cool and I want to have pictures and everything. And I lifted it and it is so heavy, I was like [makes strained face], and I wanted to carry it to the back as well. So the next day they just kind of carted it around for me, and they have those little baby ramps that goes over cables. Someone pushed it, it went this way and the trophy just absolutely shattered. So they fixed it as good as they could, they still have it at the warehouse. The broken parts I was supposed to get them, I never did, but I still have the first ever plaque that was made. 

On the swing:

The longest I have ever swung someone, the crowd once counted to 100, but I was told by someone online that it was actually 88. I’ve heard from many people that it is their least favourite move to take, and they absolutely hate it to the point where they refuse to take it. Because it makes them so dizzy, they hate it. I just tell them to relax, which I guess is the wrong thing to tell them. 

On where the UFO swing came from:

OK you would never guess it, but I stole that move from Dancing With The Stars. That was probably again 15 years ago when you didn’t have the option of Netflix or anything, you just got to watch cable. I was watching Dancing With The Stars, I don’t know why, and they just have this cool lift, where they throw people around and everything. One of my Mexican teachers, he would watch gymnastics or whatever, and he would figure out new moves just watching anything. So I watched that because they had really cool lifts, the way they pick people up and stuff. And they did a variation of that, I’m like that’s cool, so I gave it a try.  

On losing the tag team championships to Braun Strowman and Nicholas:

I didn’t even realise. So I met Nicholas earlier that day and I didn’t realise that he was going to be the mystery opponent, because no one told us until the last minute. It was like 3 hours later and I asked Sheamus or somebody ‘So who is it?’ And he was like ‘You met him 3 hours ago.’ I’m like ohhh! I thought it was really cool. I mean every show, what I love about wrestling, all the kinds of different matches, the roller coaster ride it takes you on. That show needed a match where it was fun. Every show needs fun matches. WrestleMania, everyone is nervous and hyped, it is WrestleMania. Once everything was figured out, everything was so much fun. We had the float with the big head guys, it was a crazy, awesome entrance. The match was just fun, and it is all about moments. If you are a kid watching WrestleMania, that could be you. For people to still talk about it to this day, that WrestleMania had a lot of bangers on it, but for people to come to me and still say ‘So Nicholas?’ That’s cool. 

On Claudio Castagnoli teaming with Tyson Kidd:

We found out on Twitter that we would be teaming up on Raw that night in a tag team gauntlet. That is legit how we found out. We get to the arena and it’s like I guess we are teaming together tonight. We were always friends, but then the first time we teamed was that night and it instantly clicked. 

On what is on the bucket list for Claudio Castagnoli:

There are so many things. I did an in-ring segment with Tony Schiavone the other day and then I was like well there is another one off the list. There are so many moments that I can’t foresee, but when they do happen it is amazing. AEW is going to Arthur Ashe Stadium, and being a huge tennis fan that will be a big thing for me.

On what Claudio Castagnoli is grateful for:

Only 3 things? My family, my fans and my health.