Eric Stoffers is the CEO and Founder of BioXcellerator (@bioxcellerator). He joins Chris Van Vliet to explain exactly what stem cell therapy is and how it works, why athletes like Kevin Nash, Brian Cage, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, Frank Mir and hundreds of others have received treatment with them, what kind of results you can expect, what the future of medicine holds and much more!

On helping wrestlers:

“It turns out, I haven’t been a wrestling fan since I was a kid, but now we treat some of the best wrestlers out there. It turns out that they are probably the most elite athletes of them all. Kevin Nash says in his testimonial, being a wrestler is like being in 100 car wrecks a day. Their bodies go through so much trauma, they go through so much but we are so proud to be showing the great results.”

On how it all works:

“So the stem cells are the ones in your body that are inherently able to continuously divide over time. Just like everything else in time, things slow down, stem cells included. They are not able to divide as rapidly and heal yourself nearly as well as you could when you are younger. The cells that we use are the mesenchymal ones from the umbilical cord. One thing I would like to point out is that this is not the controversial embryonic ones that you might have heard about on the news. There is no controversy here, we take a healthy mom and healthy baby, but if the mom decides to donate the healthy umbilical cord, we can help thousands of people that are suffering from chronic pain or autoimmune disease. We can take those cells, multiply them and help them fight disease.”

On why they are based in Colombia and not in the USA:

“Unfortunately the highest level science has progressed so quickly that the FDA have not really caught up to how far the technology has advanced. Some of the language in the FDA we consider as antiquated, when they catch up we hope we can administer this in the USA. Right now we have to go offshore to countries like Colombia and other progressing countries in South Asia.”

On a typical patient:

“We are very fortunate to have guys like Kevin Nash, Bobby Lashley and guys from the UFC and the NFL. So we are very fortunate to have athletes do these testimonials, but really it is the guy or gal that is getting up there in age and wants to live a better and stranger life without the pain. We also have people who are suffering from neurological or autoimmune diseases. Everyday folk are the majority of our patients, but athletes who depend on their performance, they are visiting on a consistent basis.”

On if this will be a normal procedure in the future:

“Absolutely. I am an entrepreneur and a business guy. I wouldn’t get into this if I didn’t believe that this wasn’t going to work, but it should be a paradigm shift in the way that we treat the condition. As incredible as surgeries and drugs are, I think they are over prescribed and in the wrong direction. The most invasive surgeries are the go-to for doctors, when they could be the last. Stem cells help to get to the systemic cause and help the body repair itself. I do believe that this will be a shift.”

On where the journey began:

“So I started in the real estate industry where I was selling homes and flipping houses. For me, when I was in the real estate career, I came across this group of scientists that were performing their research with remarkable results. I immersed myself in the technology and in stem cells and made the transition away from real estate. This was another entrepreneurial endeavour, where now the stakeholders are patients and giving people the opportunity to live a better life.”

On if anyone can have stem cell treatment:

“Yeah we get healthy people come to us all the time. What we are doing is increasing the ability of your own body to fight disease and promote the body to do its own healing. What we see a lot of is celebrities and millionaires looking to live longer, which we all want to do while living better as we get older. A simple IV injection can reduce inflammation and upregulate or downregulate the immune system.”

On what treatment looks like:

“The treatments are mostly non-invasive. It can be a simple injection, a couple of needle pokes and 2 seconds later it is over. What we do see is there is a little bit of inflammation depending on how bad the injury is. An athlete can have around 48 hours of inflammation, that’s the worst it can be. We mostly ask our patients to be there for 5 days, because we complement the stem cells with things like cryogenic therapy and red light therapy, cryotherapy and a host of alternatives. We like our patients to be there for a week. But if you wanted a shoulder to be done, it can only take a couple of hours.”

On if someone can’t afford stem cells:

“Unfortunately people in America don’t like talking about it, but nutrition is essential. But also the cold plunge, which is essentially free, that is a good place to start along with nutrition and exercise.”

On the 5 year plan:

“I hope that we can have a stronger presence in the USA. Most of our patients are from America, but the stronger presence is down to the FDA and not us. But now we need more locations in more strategic areas. We will continue to be the global leaders and expand the technology and apply it to real life and help patients every single day.”

On what he is grateful for:

“The people in my organisation, my parents and great people like you.”

Featured image: Maxim

Road Dogg (@BGJames) is a WWE Hall of Famer known for his time as part of the tag team “The New Age Outlaws” and as a member of D-Generation X. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new podcast called “Oh… You Didn’t Know”, how he first teamed up with his tag team partner Billy Gunn, his thoughts on Gunn Club in AEW being compared to the New Age Outlaws, his struggles with addiction, how he was able to get clean, what he learned working under Vince McMahon as the head writer on Smackdown, his relationship with Triple H, why he was jealous of The Rock and much more!

On the first time Road Dogg used ‘Oh you didn’t know?’:

“I don’t remember the date, but I remember that it was on a house show. The Underfaker, Brian Lee, he always was a great friend of mine, and we always used to mess around. He was like ‘You better fax somebody.’ Or ‘You better Page somebody.’ We were saying all kind of different stuff. So one night we were backstage and he came and he unbuttoned my tag titles. I turned around and I was mad and like ‘When I get back here…’ And he was like ‘Oh you better call somebody!’ I said ‘Oh OK,OK.’ And then I went out there, the music went [sings first bars of theme song] and I went ‘Oh you didn’t know?’ It was totally just to make the one guy laugh that I had been messing with. But it sounded so decent between the guitar riffs so I was like I’m going to try that again. And then the rest is just history.”

On The Gunn club:

“I do see some [of myself and Billy Gunn] in them, and that is kind of weird of me to say and weird for me to feel that way. But I see Austin [as myself] but the difference is that he can work too. I wasn’t a very good athlete, I was just entertaining I guess. But both of his kids are great athletes, it’s just that Austin is out there a bit more. Colten just kind of brings home the bacon, he just does what he has to do. I see some similar things in what they do, and I have actually talked a couple of times with them about coming up with something. It can’t be like what we did, but coming up with some like sing-songy thing. Like when you are a heel, it’s like the Kurt Angle you suck thing, we are trying to do something like that.”

On the Road Dogg/Billy Gunn intro:

“Oh man, I think I stole that from the Ringman brothers. You know like when you come to a fayre like ‘Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children of all ages…’ It was just like a carnival barker. Basically it was just that which I modified to fit mine and Billy’s names. I would tweak it each week for the town name. You give them the sing-song part that they can holler at you, but then you tweak it to make it personalised for that city.”

On how the podcast is put together:

“All I can say is thank God for the researchers. Half of the time I don’t remember the stuff before I read through the notes. But they schedule out what we are going to talk about, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

Or podcast topics:

“The one I was scared to talk about was the VKM one. Not because we were them, it was just a dark time in my life. It was like do I really want to live that? The one that we just did was with Billy and his kids. I hope it turns out as fun as we had recording it. Sometimes you can have a wrestling show that was fun and it was a great show, but then you look at the ratings.”

On The Ass Boys chant:

“I think they actually like it because it is something. It is something that people can get behind. But to their credit, they sell it, because that is what they are supposed to do. If they didn’t do that, I don’t think the crowd would chant.”

On not remembering a lot due to being high:

“I honestly do think that was the case. I do remember stuff when I start reading about it, it will bring stuff back. But I don’t know where my head was at. I did a lot of foolish things, crazy bumps, crazy chair shots, a lot of crazy stuff. Who can pinpoint who doesn’t make me smart, but there is something there.”

On getting clean:

“Yeah, it was, I didn’t have a job at the time and I was riding back with my brother from an independent show in upper Alabama. We just drove up and drove back, and I had got a bunch of pills, because I am still the Road Dogg at the indie show, still a big deal. So they gave me all of the pills and wanted to share with me, and I got hammered. On the ride back I was really down on myself and on life, and messed up. My brother Scott just got clean at rehab, they paid for it. He said ‘You can call Anne Russo.’ Who was in charge of the wellness policy at the time. I called that day, I don’t know if I was ready to quit doing drugs and alcohol, just to do something. So I called her and she set me right up, but by the 28th day, I didn’t know how to stop living that way. I didn’t know how to get off of the roller coaster. I didn’t care for a while, I didn’t care which handful of pills killed me, my only problem in my mind was that my kids would find me dead. That is what kept me from doing it and when Scotty told me to go to rehab. And thank God I did, I only went for 28 days. But if you are ready to quit living like that, you’ll take suggestions and quit living like that. But you have to get ready, no human or place will get you there, you have to get there and be ready.”

On mending bridges:

“100%. In the program of recovery I follow, there is some making amends parts to it. I had to make that list, Jim Ross was one, The Rock was one, The Undertaker was one, these are guys that tried to help me. Well Rock didn’t try to help me but I was mean to him because I was jealous of him and he was a threat to me, because he could do everything that I could do, but he looked friggin great too. It was like, son of a bee sting, you’ve got everything. And at that time it bothered me, because he was a threat to me, so I treated him horribly in front of everybody all of the time. I went to him and he said ‘Thank you, that’s nice to say.’ I don’t know if he does forgive me, that’s none of my business. But I had to do it to clean up my side of the street. Jim Ross, I treated him badly too because he dealt with all the contract side of stuff. The Undertaker, he tried to help me but I went ‘You ain’t my daddy. You don’t know nothing about me.’ It was just where I was at the time, and I don’t have to be there anymore.”

On keeping in touch:

“Oh yeah, I still keep in touch with Taker. Every time I see Rock we talk, he came to the Performance Center when I was down there and watched some matches. It helps me lay my head on my pillow at night. The more I can figure out what is more my fault, the better I can sleep at night.”

On the VKM segments being personal against DX:

“It was. It was at the time. But people change, people who say they don’t are wrong. At that moment in my life, I would have fought both of them at the drop of a hat, and I don’t even know why. The drug and alcohol addiction is very self centered and very selfish. It was very much all about me, why didn’t you stand up for me and why didn’t you keep me on? But I would have fired me too, because I was a liability. But at that moment, how dare you? You son of a guns. When Vince Russo came aboard and said do you want to do this thing? I was like, I will do whatever to keep the lights on and to keep my drug habit going. That was basically my whole tenure there.”

On Vince knowing about the VKM gimmick:

“Let me tell you something, Vince has never watched an episode of TNA ever in his whole life. But Hunter said something to me, it was in Baltimore and I will never forget it. He said ‘Hey Dogg, what’s going on?’ We had just seen each other for the first time and it was like come on in. I went into his office and he went ‘So what’s this VKM thing?’ I was like I am so sorry, he said ‘I’m just kidding, don’t worry about it.’ And that was it. I think everyone gets that you go over there and you just do what they say. But it was personal at the time, and I believe that VKM TNA was some of my best mic work. There were some really good promos I cut down there that I didn’t even realize until I did the podcast. I was like holy crap they gave me some mic time.”

On comparing the Monday Night Wars to AEW:

“Yeah it’s a little bit different because they are not going head to head. It almost feels like not a war but another wrestling show being on. I know that they are watching the higher ups, maybe Punk, are following the ratings. But I think the boys are just loving that they have a place to work. I’m just a boy that chased a dream into millions of dollars, but I don’t think the boys are in as much of a competition as the boys are. I think the boys are just happy to be paid to take the bumps.”

On lessons from Triple H:

“I came to him and I said ‘So and so wants to say this in their promo, but it’s not what we wrote in the promo, are you ok with that?’ He said ‘Does it get the same point across?’ I said that it did and he said ‘Yeah Brian, do that and the talent will trust you more. It empowers them.’ He told me that on a one on one basis, because sometimes he writes the promo and that’s what you say if he can’t fully trust you to go out there live and do and act accordingly and do your promo in a professional way, because he doesn’t trust you yet. I think this was Dolph Ziggler to be honest, it’s one of those things where it’s like I trust Dolph, but then he shoots himself in the foot! But I love Dolph and I would have loved to see him teaming with Billy Gunn in his prime. Holy crap man, The Suicide Blonds or something.”

On learning from Vince McMahon:

“Dude you sit under that learning tree and sometimes you sit under it until 3 in the morning. It was where you learn stuff and little stuff, not just about the business but being an executive. He had somebody coming to the office once a week from Carnegie to teach me how to be an executive. He wanted to make me an executive and work it, to the point where I couldn’t handle it. To work with that man is difficult, not because of how he is, but because of who he is. He will work all night and be the first one up in the morning to get to work the next day. One time we got in late, we were doing Monday Night Raw and then SmackDown on Tuesday. We flew to the next town and landed at 2am. I just wanted to go to my bed, we get off the place and he says ‘Brian, you got SmackDown?’ I said ‘Yes sir.’ I sit down and pull it out, we go over it, and then I said ‘Sir, I would like to talk about this in the morning.’ He threw it back in my lap and said ‘You’re going to regret that!’ I look over to Kevin Dunn and I said ‘Oh God I am going to regret that.’ And Kevin said ‘You should.’ Next morning he called me early and I went to his room, but I got some sleep so it didn’t matter. But he is a workhorse and I couldn’t keep up. My sobriety was a white knuckle and I just couldn’t keep up, that’s how it was in the WWE, I couldn’t handle it. That’s why I went to NXT for a little while because I thought I could skate for a little bit and I did. Then for business decisions they needed to trim some fat. Hey, it’s no secret that I got fat, it’s a business decision. I called him after to thank him. Not only did he employ me for 10 years, he paid for my rehab and for my brother. If you are bitter at that guy, something is wrong with you.”

On a possible WWE return:

“I don’t know that. I would love that, but at this stage in my life, knowing what I know now, I don’t know if I could take that. It’s not that if I could, but also if I want to. I was there for a decade, I’ve only been gone for a few months but it feels good. Nick Patrick said it best when he said that it feels like getting out of prison. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, but it’s like what do I do now.”

On people comparing DX and the nWo:

“I get that, they came at the same time. I just think one of them, of course I am biased because I was in one, but we were more distinct. They added people at every chance that they got and split into different things. I liked it when it was just Hogan and The Outsiders. Then it was Bischoff and Bagwell and Dennis Rodman, it felt like it was bastardised. I am biased but I thought that we were cooler.”

On what Road Dogg is grateful for:

“Family and friends, the health of my family and sobriety.”

Featured image: SE Scoops

Melissa McCarthy (@melissamccarthy) is an actress, comedian, writer and producer known for movies like Bridesmaids, Tammy, Spy, Ghostbusters, The Boss, Identity Thief and many others. Her husband Ben Falcone (@benfalcone) is an actor, comedian, writer, director. They join Chris Van Vliet to talk about their new Netflix series called “God’s Favorite Idiot”, why they love working together so much, what their first date was like when they met in the 90s and much more!

I think there is so many people who would hate working with their significant other. What’s your secret?

Melissa McCarthy: “It’s my favorite thing. We met doing it and it’s why we became such good friends. We have never not done it, he is my favorite person to work with and we just have a blast. That’s not a bad day in the office.”

Ben when you write this, do you instantly think that Melissa is going to be in this?

Ben Falcone: “Uh, yeah. If you happen to be married to one of the funniest people in the world, it would be silly to not think of them for a role. I wanted her to get to play this rambunctious and kind of rock n’ roll energy, and I think that she did a great job with it. It was really fun to get to work with her as my wife as well as all the other great cast members.”

Melissa McCarthy: “It was such a great group of people. Everyone is so fast and so funny, it was just like a ridiculous good time. Someone would go off on a tangent and everyone would go with them. Everyone was so loose and comedy assassins, it just makes it all great.”

I’ve lost count, is it now 15 times you have appeared on-screen together?

Melissa McCarthy: “Oh gosh I don’t know.”

Ben Falcone: “I would have to Google it.”

Melissa McCarthy: “I would definitely say a few. Specifically I would say more than 5 but less than 50.”

Where did the idea come from to write this?

Ben Falcone: “I wrote a book with a similar title when I was in my 20s. I then put it away in a drawer, and 23 years later I was talking to Melissa and we thought that it would make a funny comedy. Then she said ‘Oh he should work in an IT office. that’s who God would pick.”

Melissa McCarthy: “I still have no idea why I said that, but I said it right away.”

Ben Falcone: “The idea of this unassuming person who is touched by God, and how would people react? Would they be accepting and would the believe it or not? That could be a really dramatic idea, but I wanted to play it for comedy and be respectful to all religions and put some positive ideas out there.”

We see you go on a first date in the TV series. How similar was it to your actual first date?

Ben Falcone: “Well I didn’t glow on our first date.”

Melissa McCarthy: “Well he did to me. Our first date was just after shows, we would go down to The Snake Pit, which is a bar, and those were our first dating moments.”

Check out “God’s Favorite Idiot” on Netflix: http://www.netflix.com/godsfavoriteidiot

Featured image: Women’s Health

Kevin Hart (@kevinhart4real) is an actor, producer and comedian. Woody Harrelson (@woodyharrelson) is an Emmy Award winning actor and playwright. They join Chris Van Vliet to talk about their new action-comedy movie called “The Man From Toronto” that is streaming now on Netflix. We discuss Woody Harrelson’s most iconic roles from Cheers to Natural Born Killers to White Men Can’t Jump, Kevin Hart talks about getting mistaken for both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Gary Coleman from “Diff’rent Strokes”, he details his intense 4:30am workout routine and much more!

Despite living in America, I am in fact a man from Toronto

Kevin Hart: “Hence the pronunciation.”

Woody Harrelson: “Yeah he never put the T in it. This is the first time we talked about this, we never brought this up.”

In the movie Kevin, when your character messes something up it would be “Teddying” it. If Woody were to mess up, what would “Woodying” it look like?

Kevin: “Kill too easy. Killing without a real solid reason behind it, that was a real problem for Teddy. Just like how fast he went to murder, it’s not that necessary and how you don’t deem that to be that a problem.”

OK Woody, what would “Kevining” it be?

Woody: “You know, just crushing it in life, that’s Kevin. Now Teddy, he just messes everything up in life. With Kevin, it is the complete opposite, everything he touches turns to gold, it’s unbelievable. What he he got like 19 TV shows and 12 movies, it’s incredible.”

As this is about mistaken identity, Kevin, what it is like being constantly mistaken for your friend Dwayne Johnson?

Kevin: “I get it a lot, it’s the arms though, all bicep related. I told Woody earlier that it’s either Dwayne or Willis from Different Strokes. Two different sizes.”

Woody, who do people mistake you for the most or which character do they want you to be the most?

“I always find it kind of interesting. Some people say Natural Born Killers, some say White Men Can’t Jump. It’s interesting to see which one they say.”

Who would you say is the biggest action star here?

Kevin: “Woody.”

Woody: “Kevin is an action star, I’ve only done one action movie.”

Kevin: “Woody man. He cones in and kicks ass. I love seeing Woody come in and kick some ass. I loved playing across him in The Man From Toronto. He never really let anybody in and he and Teddy’s relationship would progress through the movie. I like that we got to see that through the movie and that journey of so tough break down by the time we got to the end. It takes a great mind to pull that off.”

Kevin can you walk me through what your workout routine looks like?

Kevin: “Consistency. It’s more about the diet than anything. But you know I am true to.”

Woody: “Chick Fil A.”

Kevin: “I can’t find one in Ireland. But it’s just the dedication to the schedule. I am a 4:30am riser, workout for an hour and a half, and Sunday is a steady cardio day. Sometimes when I am on set, I treat it like boot camp. You want the days to burn, workout in the morning and cardio at night when you have done the work. It just keeps the days moving.

Featured image: Netflix

Cody Hall (@realcodyhall) is a professional wrestler and the son of the late WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about the recent passing of his father, what it was like growing up with Razor Ramon as a father, following in his footsteps as a professional wrestler, working for New Japan, what happened when he signed with MLW, his favorite Scott Hall matches, how DDP saved his father’s life, what his current career goals are and much more!

On Cody Hall wearing his father’s HOF ring:

“I mean I would much rather have my father than the ring, but it takes me back to all the memories. All the times, I wish that I could talk to him about LA and that I met you and stuff. I feel that all the time, but when I look at this at least I know that I have a part of him with me.”

On Cody Hall stepping away from wrestling and then coming back:

“So like I said, wrestling can be a lot of things, it can be good or bad. The highs are high and the lows are low. I felt like I kind of experienced both and felt more of the lows. So I had been living in Japan, so living abroad, it can be exciting but also tough. I had some personal stuff too along with living abroad. But I was getting to 30, and even though I love wrestling and it is my passion, there are other things that made me happy. So I kind of thought about stepping away and finding other things in life. But the whole time I missed it, I considered coming back. But then of course, losing my father,  seeing all the outpour and the love, seeing what I meant to people, remembering all those experiences that I had similar with the travel and meeting all of the people. It just made me appreciate it and be a part of it more.”

On living up to his father’s legacy:

“Yeah, I used to think that it was my burden to bear, but now I’ve been trying to see it as my torch to carry. I am so proud, my father was a great man who lived a great life who did a lot of great things in his life. He lived a full life, so I am very happy for him and very proud of him. But it is hard, every show that I go to, people want to say such and such about your father. Oh he was the coolest, he was the best, and it’s hard to live down. It is hard to over shine him or step out of that shadow, so I always had like an inferiority complex about it. Like no matter what I did, it would never be good enough and no matter what I did, people would never acknowledge it, it would always be about my father. So that was definitely a struggle for me, and it kind of still is.”

On Cody Hall coming into wrestling as himself:

“I would say that I am still searching for it. In my first couple of matches I wore my father’s old gear. I wore the dripping blood and would go out there and hit The Razor’s Edge. And it was fun, I loved doing my father’s moves and like doing an old Razor Ramon match. But it definitely became hard, every time people looked at me they would think of my father. So accentuating that is only gonna make it worse. I’m not going to come out and do his cha cha or his fire and play into it. Because being an imitation is always like a losing effort from the start. Who I am trying to be is still up for debate still.”

On Cody Hall’s older matches:

“I’m a very self deprecating moment, I am very hard on myself. I’ve always wanted have my moment, like my ladder match, something I could tell someone to look at, and I have felt like I have never had that moment. I have had good matches where afterwards I have gone back and thanked the guy and say that we should have a rematch and believe it. But it is never as good in my head as I have wanted it to be.”

On joining the service:

“I guess that I was like just a lost soul. If you don’t have a lot of direction then the military is good for you. My parents were kind of going back and forth, I was living with a single mother at the time, I knew she was woking hard to feed me and my sister, she was cleaning houses for a living. That was really hard work, so I wanted to get out the house and alleviate the burden. So I did it, had a great time and still keep up with some of those guys. But my friends back home were telling me that I should have joined either a college or a community college. My father was finally talking to me and said that I should be a wrestler and he would coach me, so I went with him.”

On training to be a wrestler:

“I started training at 21, mostly with him in his living room. He had a DVD with 4 or 5 of his matches burnt onto it, we would just watch them over and over and I would lock up with him. This was when he was not doing good and really frail, so I had to be gentle with him. We would just go through the holds, and eventually we found a wrestling school. I would have a couple of basic matches where I would just do the moves and get through it. Then from there, he started having a hard time, so he moved to Atalanta to live with Dallas, where he really got cleaned up. I followed him up there and that was where my indie push and Japan all took off.”

On DDP saving Scott Hall’s life:

“OK, well like I said my father was kind of gone when he first decided to go and when Dallas convinced him. But he had definitely been knocking on death’s door for a while there, that’s what kind of brought me back in to push through his tough times and how he was being, just because I thought that I should spend this time with my father before he was gone. We even did like an ESPN special around that time, you can look back and see the kind of condition that he was in. I thought that would be our goodbye, so just for Dallas to step in and to give him a whole other decade of his life, give him the chance to go on and earn these Hall of Fame rings and to leave the world in a better place and create so much more goodwill and memories for my sister and I. Dallas is an angel.”

On WWE reaching out to Cody Hall:

“No I have never had a try-out or a contact actually. I mean nobody has ever talked to me, so I am not sure what to think about it. My father’s advice was to always go to Japan and to learn how to work, and I always assumed that I would go to Japan, be really good and then someday someone would call me and they would want me and say ‘Hey we have something for you.’ But that day never came. I remember being there for years and once a year William Regal and Canyon Ceman would come and watch the show. I remember looking out into the crowd and seeing two white faces and being like wow that’s them, they are watching tonight. After the show I would sell my gimmicks and I would see them go to the bathroom, they would be right in line as close as I am to my camera, and they just wouldn’t look at me or say anything, so I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

On collecting royalties from Scott Hall:

“I think that is possible. I think Triple H mentioned to me and my sister at my father’s funeral that some royalties should be coming our way. But I’m sure that something that I can sit back on my laurels for, but a little extra money never hurts, peace of mind. Once upon a time when my father was not doing so well and hard up for cash, he did sell a portion of his royalties for a lump sum. So I don’t think they are nearly what they should or could be. So that’s why I say that I am not trying to look to pave the way for me.” 

On the best advice Cody Hall received from his father:

“That’s a tough one, because my father was really good with the advice. He had so many quips in and out of the ring. Maybe ‘Don’t be a mark for yourself in the ring.’ It’s not all about you and your moves and what you do in the ring every night. You have to take care of the other person out here with you, you have to care about the promoter. Whatever business he wants to do, you just have to keep your head on straight.”

On Scott Hall’s passing:

“I guess in some sense [ I was kind of ready]. I had kind of mentally come to terms that my father was not going to live forever. He liked to be a rockstar, even when he came back to life. He liked to drink, liked to party and liked to stay out late. So he had those crazy nights, but when you live that life you don’t live to be 80, 90 or 100. So I  always knew, but goodbyes are hard like change is hard, so I wasn’t ready for it. I am still trying to come to terms with it, but I believe that he is in a better place. By the time I did see my father, it was pretty clear that this wasn’t going to be a kickout situation. He was ready to go, and I accepted it for him. I wanted him to move on and to not be in pain anymore. So it’s this kind of life, we are always going to lose our father’s at some point. I’m just glad mine was a great one before it happens.”

On who Scott Hall was to him:

“My father was like my best friend to me for a while. Definitely in those years in Atlanta, that’s all I ever wanted, because I feel like I never really got to know him growing up. So I stopped looking as him as a father, because the things he would do would hurt to much. But I embraced him as a friend, he was one of the boys and my buddy that I could talk about all the regular stuff with. That’s what made all the difference for me.”

On what Cody Hall is grateful for:

“To wake up for something today, for health and for friends and family.”

Image credit: Instagram

Ethan Page (@officialego) is a professional wrestler and YouTuber currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. Ethan sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about teaming with Scorpio Sky, what he has learned from working with Dan Lambert and American Top Team, his fashion sense and why he never wears the same shirt twice, being inspired by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, why he stopped doing vlogs on his YouTube channel, his toy hunt obsession, goals in AEW and much more!

On moving to America:

“Dude you were such a help with that too. Two Canadian boys hanging out in Vegas talking about stuff, that is just amazing! I’ve only been here for a few months, but the opportunities that I have had and the change of schedule, it has done wonders in the short term, I can’t wait to see what it will do in the long term.”

On travel issues possibly preventing wrestling: 

“Oh 100%. That was when I reached out to you on WrestleMania weekend in Tampa and I was meant to do The Body Guy Extravaganza. I was like well I can try and honor this commitment I gave to the fans, I ended up doing the voiceover for the cartoon, and that really put my YouTube channel onto a different platform. People now relaize, I guess, were willing to work with me on these wacky projects. It kind of gave fans a new level of trust on this guy is going to go above and beyond. That was when I started to notice the channel grow.” 

On being a part of AEW:

“I was literally just talking to Hornswoggle in the car last week about these pinch me moments. Maybe that tag match against Darby and Sting, which was Sting’s first match after the pandemic, that was one of the moments. But also, wrestling against a fellow Canadian Chris Jericho in front of 22,000, and winning, I can’t believe that. Honestly, jit all happens so fast that this is the thought I have after. All I am trying to do is knock it out of the park and not waste an opportunity. Afterwards I will be like oh that was cool.”

On Dan Lambert:

“Honestly, the amount of people he has had us rub shoulders with, the connections, and the heat he gets. People don’t like him, but I am noticing lately that people are turning a corner on Dynamite Dan. I think it is because they understand the fact that he is a world class entertainer and performer. He is knocking it out of the park every single week. Us as a unit, I don’t think there has been a point where people have been like well that sucks. Whether it is 60 to 90 seconds, we make sure that we maximise our seconds. I have noticed that we are on TV every week and people don’t really notice the length, they just remember that they got to see us.”

On Ethan Page tattoos:

“A guy got ‘Tight Tits’ tattooed on his calf, so that’s there forever. But that’s not the first, a guy literally got my face tattooed on him. It kind of looked like Eddie Guerrero, but he told me that it was me so I will take it.”

On “Tightest Tits In The Game”:

“So I am all about wordplay. Things that sound good and shock value to stand out. My social media has always been like well what will get a laugh, a like or an interaction. So I am there like well why do women only get to talk about tits. I’ve got tits too and they are the tightest in the game. I got the best smile and the tightest tits in the game, “All Ego” Ethan Page.”

On the response:

“I just walked past everyone. I’m just so glad that it happened on Dynamite where it was live. [Chris asks if he ran it by anyone.] No, could you imagine? “So Tony I was thinking that tonight I was going to talk about my tits.” I could get this all approved, but people don’t understand the delivery or the context, it might get shot down. I know that we won’t get taken off of the air for it, but someone might say ‘You’re going to say what?! No no no, we are going to take that out.’”

On his future goals:

“As long as I am in a better position than I am now. It’s not that I am not about chasing titles or main events, it’s just that I understand how the business works a lot more now in my old age. I started this very young and I have been doing this for 16 years. My mindset has changed, as long as I am on an upward trajectory, I am happy.”  

On possibly not making it as a wrestler:

“Oh yeah many times. Just the fact that when I am flying home I am staying in America, that blows my mind. A company values me that they will sort out my paperwork and allow me to live here with my family. I thought it would happen before my family, maybe I am a greedy dude that wants the family and the dream. But everything happens for a reason, why tempt fate?”

On AEW titles:

“I would love that of course, but I won’t hang my hat on that. My goals have changed where I want to work for a long time, but I don’t want to be in the ring for a long time. I want to leave a legacy in wrestling that has a large enough connection so that when I am at conventions in my 50s or 60s fans that grew up watching me perform have that connection with me and in pop culture. For me, to retire and sit at home, I don’t think that is going to be me. Maybe as a producer to help people with their promotions or something.”     

On who Ethan Page looks to for advice:

“Oh man there are so many options. I love talking to Jerry Lynn and I love talking to Arn Anderson. I love talking to Dean Malenko, these guys have a wealth of knowledge and have helped some of the biggest stars in professional wrestling. Jim Ross too, the guy that signed The Rock. If these are the footsteps I am trying to follow, why not go to the route of everything. These guys have moulded me without knowing it and have made me apply things without knowing it, why not give it a shot?”

On what Ethan Page is grateful for:

“My wife, my son and my daughter as one, family is two and that I am in AEW.”

Miles Teller (@miles_teller) is an actor known for his roles in films like Top Gun: Maverick, Whiplash, The Spectacular Now, War Dogs, Bleed For This, Footloose and The Divergent Franchise. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new movie SPIDERHEAD that starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, June 17th. He talks about working with Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski on Spiderhead, what he learned starring with Tom Cruise, his wife Keleigh Sperry’s thoughts on his moustache, the role that changed his career and much more!

Miles Teller you are just absolutely crushing it! You have this and Top Gun, two movies out at the same time:

“I know, and a show. The Offer is now on Paramount Plus. It might be a bit too much.”

This is incredible, congratulations. When you work with Joe [Kosinski] on Top Gun and then on Spiderhead, is it like rekindling with an old friend?

“100%, I mean Joe and I have had such a good time. We are still in the middle of the Top Gun press tour right now and doing Spiderhead press together. He is my brother from another mother. I feel like we have a good thing going together, we have done 3 now and I hope there are many more to come.”

That Top Gun moustache was epic. When you wrapped Top Gun did you shave it right away or did you hold onto it for a while after?

“I was sad to see it go, my wife, I think she was like on a calender counting down the days until she could shave it.”

Your character in this film is in the place that he is at because of a specific moment in his life. I’m curious, what for you is that defining moment that got you to that next level?

“Oh man, I don’t know. I think that I got really lucky with this first movie that I did, which was Rabbit Hole. To get that opportunity right out of college, right off the bat I was in a movie that people saw. Nicole Kidman got nominated for an Oscar for it, that was a really, I couldn’t have started with a better film. I think each film builds the audience in a bigger way, and now with Top Gun I will see what happens after this. I am taking it all in as it comes.”

What do you think is one piece of advice you learned as a young actor that you carry onto the set as an older actor?

“I think it carries over with the work. I think some people get too caught up in how they are perceived, so they try, I don’t know, it’s really all about the scene work. Something that I have taken, I have been first on the call sheet a couple of times, that’s something I take with a heft amount of responsibility. I try to be there for the cast and the crew and try to bring a certain levity to certain situations. I understand that there are people working tougher than you and longer hours than you, so don’t take yourself too seriously. That is something that I have maintained.”

You have to play a wide range of emotions in this movie, which is the hardest?

“One scene was tough because I was talking like it was the most beautiful thing that I had seen. My character’s serotonin was pumping and it’s all imaginary because I am just staring at a bunch of crew guys. I remember there was this garbage truck that kept driving by and I was frustrated by it, that was a tough one.”

When you have to learn a specific set of skills, such as playing the drums in Whiplash, can you still do those like you did on set?

“Well I have always been a good dancer, I just want to put that on the record. You either have rhythm or you don’t, it’s not really something you can learn. But with the jets, that was something, being able to withstand the G Force, that is a depreciating skill. If I went up in an F18 tomorrow, I would puke.”

You filmed Maverick and then you did Spiderhead, what is something you learned from Tom Cruise and took to this?

“I think like I said before it’s that leadership and responsibility. Also to understand how many people are feeding their families from this business. There is always somebody working longer hours than you and doing a job you don’t want to do. It’s all about acknowledging everyone and I try to get to know a but about everyone that I am working with.”

Featured image: Games Radar

Miles Teller stars in Spiderhead, which is released on Netflix on June 17th.

Chris Bey (@dashingchrisbey) is a professional wrestler known for his time in IMPACT Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about how he got started as a pro wrestler, moving his entire life to Las Vegas to chase his dreams, how he got signed by IMPACT Wrestling, winning the X Division Championship, his main event with Rich Swan, joining Bullet Club in NJPW and much more!

On Chris Bey being his real name:

“My first wrestling name was terrible. It was, shout out to Roderick Strong, but it was Chris Strong, The Genetic Genius. I thought it was pretty hard, but everybody in Vegas, like all my trainers said ‘Wait, your name is Chris Bey? Why don’t you just wrestle as that?’ I didn’t know how wrestling works, I didn’t want to get heat with anybody like ‘Oh this guy thinks he can use his real name.’ Like John Cena right? When I first realized I had a great last name, I was in middle school. I was writing down my initials in biology class, terrible at biology so I wasn’t paying any attention. I’m just writing down my name a million times over and over, I’m looking at my name and I’m like imagine this on the back of a football jersey. I had written raps and I was going to start again, so I’m like OK, I’m going to drop everything under the name Chris Bey. Like I’m going to do it now, and it just took on a world of its own.”

On where the story began:

“I was born in Maryland and I grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, a lot of my family is still in that area. All of my family is back there and I started there, I’m the youngest of 6, I have 5 older brothers. I am so tough because they were always trying to jump me back then. Naturally I was super small until high school, but I’m like if I want to be a pro wrestler then I should probably start lifting weights. But bro, they were wrestling fans and they beat me up, but it was good times.”

On wrestling being his dream:

“It was either that or being the first black president, but Obama beat me to it. Man I was tight when he won, but Obama, you took my dreams away from me so many years before I could try. I was the school president, I was trying to be you before you were! But it was around 8 when I knew I wanted to be a wrestler. It was when Eddie Guerrero won the title from Brock Lesnar, we couldn’t afford cable so we were watching a lot of DVDs. The first one I got was Cheating Death, Stealing Life and I watched that every day. People in my life, a lot of them have had addiction problems. When I saw what Eddie had overcome, he got his family back and made it to the top of the mountain when people thought he couldn’t. And watching the people in the building when he won that title, man I couldn’t imagine how it was going to play out. Just that story, this is what I want to do, make people feel how this made me feel.”

On realising he could be a wrestler:

“I implore all wrestlers to do their research, because there are so many people out there with different schools and different availabilities, styles, techniques and opportunities. I have been doing my research since 15 in graphics class, doing no work! I wish I had paid attention anymore. But instead I was researching and training Team 3D training academy, emailing Ring of Honor, watching videos. Then when I was 18 to 20, I knew I wanted to go into wrestling after I graduated, but I had no money. I remember sitting on the side of the road and I had like 70 cents. Fresh out of high school, I knew I needed to get a job but I had no experience. Eventually I got a job as a cashier and that was my home for the next 2 years.”

On saving up:

“I’m watching wrestling and I am saving up. But the more I am saving up, the more that doubt is creeping into my mind. My friends are coming back from college and seeing me at the restaurant, they are on the other side like ‘How’s the wrestling going?’ I’m like ‘Yeah, still going good but still saving.’ I am realizing that damn I am procrastinating. Looking forward to my 20th birthday, I had a friend who lived in Vegas, so I went there. I land in Vegas and it’s 76 degrees, and I’ve never experienced a birthday where it is not cold. The last day it dawns on me that they probably have wrestling here. I looked it up, Future Stars of Wrestling. But I didn’t have time to see the school, so I’m like damn, I wish I got to see that. But the next month my dad passes away, I get the call, he was going through colon cancer at the time. There were times I would get off work and go and see my dad in the hospital and not responding. He started to reject the medicine up until the last day, I’m standing over him and this is real. I took a seat and it the machine started beeping, they said that now is the time for last words. Selfishly, one of my thoughts was that he would never see me wrestle, because he bought all of the wrestling toys, the DVDs, took me to 12 WWE events. He didn’t care for wrestling, but he knew that I did. After he passed, his funeral and birthday was the same weekend as WrestleMania 32. I decided to go to Connecticut to watch it with one of my friends, who I had been friends with for a while, because I wanted to be around someone who likes wrestling.”

On the deciding factor to pursue wrestling:

“I remember doing the funeral, hopping on a plane and going to Connecticut. This was the biggest WrestleMania of all time at that point. I am watching the opening match and Zack Ryder, Matt Cardona is in the match when he not supposed to be, I think Neville got hurt. He wins the Intercontinental Title, his dad gets in the ring and I am pissed off, because I will never get to have that moment. I just buried my dad and I am watching this guy celebrate with his dad. I’m just like, that’s it, I am getting the f*ck of my ass and I am doing this. I started researching Future Stars of Wrestling, the cost and the living, and they called me right before I was about to start a workout. They gave me the low down and I said I will probably see them in a couple of months. After deciding whether or not this was the move I wanted to make, I bought a one way ticket to Vegas, no insurance. I said to my mom ‘I’m going to Vegas to do wrestling.’ And she’s like OK, and that was it.”

On having no excuses:

“That’s how you to have to do it. I used to say that I would have my back against the wall so I would either do it or do it. That’s why I came to Vegas. People don’t realize how much I have to sacrifice. I haven’t just sacrificed my nieces and nephews growing up, a lot of family passed after I moved out here, so I missed a lot of funerals. I couldn’t go back for the funerals and for the important moments. After 6 months of living in Vegas not getting a job that would also let me train, it was like 6 to 9pm, well sorry, training is 4 until 7pm. I did nothing for money, what I did first was I blew through my savings and sold all my finest possessions. I sold guitars and my collection of wrestling belts. All I had left was a bed, no car and I couldn’t afford an apartment, for a while I was sleeping in the school and then in a friend’s kitchen. But I knew if I had the wrestling, then the rest of it wouldn’t matter. I had been obsessing for 20 years and didn’t have it, but now I have it.” 

On never giving up:

“There were times where I would call my mom and I would break down. There were times where I was like this is hard, I can’t get on my feet. She was like well come back here and you can that job back and stack up some money. I said ‘Listen, I know you don’t want to hear this, but I would rather be homeless here than go back there.’ The difference between me here and me there is that I got to be me here in Vegas. People were like ‘You were too small.’ So I avoided it all this time, I only went back there recently, it’s a dangerous place where I come from.”

On the first break:

“I started getting a little better with it about 2018. The first time I touched IMPACT was 2018. It took me a while because I was young and dumb, I was not concerned about real life at all. I was negating credit, bills and savings because of wrestling. I don’t have my dad to tell me some of these things, he was a very smart person. I didn’t understand, I was struggling. I would have this plan where if I worked hard and hustled, I could then get a contract and take things more seriously. But it wasn’t until I started wrestling as Chris Bey that things changed.”

On being a WWE extra:

“So I did some extra work for WWE about a year in. I’m not on screen for this one, but I did a 3 day loop and got to work a match in front of the talent. I worked a local wrestler named Nino Black, me and him had just lost out tag titles at the time, so we were like if we are going to get contracts, then we are going to have to wrestle each other here at The Staples Center.”

On his goals moving forward:

“To keep shocking the world with everything that Bullet Club is doing. Bullet Club is something that people want to say is watered down, nah you ain’t seen nothing yet. The big LG, Karl Anderson, me, Juice Robinson, we are only getting bigger.” 

On Bullet Club merch money:

“I’ve never asked. There have been 16 members so probably 1/16th of it. I see people wearing Bullet Club shirts who don’t even know who I am! I am fan of when things in wrestling bleed into real life.”

On being mistaken for other wrestlers:

“Yeah, all the time. At first I thought it was just a trolling thing, but now that it is happening more in person, I don’t think it is. It started with Kofi, but he has gone on his New Day Podcast that he got the blonde from me. I told it so many times that I thought I was lying. I was doing 205 Live when I was doing it, and Kofi said ‘Man I like your hair, I was thinking about doing it. And now I see it, it’s a great idea.’ I’m like yeah do it so they can think we are the same person even more, we laughed about it. So he debuts on SmackDown with the hair and my timeline is blowing up of ‘Is that Chris Bey on SmackDown? Oh wait it is Kofi.’ The other one is Swerve, I guess now because he is on AEW it is happening more. We were at Wale Mania, me and him are walking up the stairs, I am right behind him. This girl looks me dead in my soul, walks by and goes ‘Oh my God Swerve! Can I get a picture?’ She is looking in my soul. I stop and look at her, look back at him, and look back at her. I’m like, it’s literally the guy right in front of me. People are like does it trigger me? I’m like yes!”   

Using mistaken identity to his advantage:

“I’ve had my moments where I have benefitted off of it. I ran in a Jack In The Box one time when the inside was open at like 3am. The guy was in the back cleaning and I’m like ‘Excuse me, can I get a milkshake?’  He goes ‘yeah just give me a second.’ He comes to the front and he’s like ‘Hey, you that’s wrestler aren’t you?’ I go [leans back] ‘Which one?’ He goes ‘Kofi.’ I’m like ‘Yes sir, that’s me. What’s up with that milkshake though? Is it on the house?’ And it was, I have reaped the benefits. But it does suck that you work so hard to separate yourself and be you, and then you get immediately discredited by people who are not caring to look at the work. ‘Oh you look like that person, so you are that person.’ You’re like, ok.” 

On pandemic wrestling:

“I’m a vocal wrestler, I like to tell one liners and things like that. If you see me live, I do a lot of that and you won’t hear it on TV. When we wrestled during the pandemic, I got back and agents were like ‘Yeah, maybe don’t do that. Maybe wait until we get crowds back.’ Well how else do I entertain the people if all they can hear is me breathing? We worked so hard but, man. But wrestling will always be there. When the pandemic started, once the world had to legit stop, I had been going non stop since I moved to Vegas. I was doing everything and setting goals. I did extra work with WWE and did work with IMPACT, and I wanted to sign with IMPACT. I was there and I was figuring it out, and anybody who is anybody got shook up by what happened. Everybody got affected, but in my position, I’m in Vegas 2000 miles away from my family and trying to figure out what was going on. We didn’t film for 9 weeks, the world is shut down and people are trying to balance what is important, to me it was family. My nieces and nephews are getting older and understanding what I do and watch me on tv. So I asked myself, if wrestling stopped, what would I do with my life? I then got motivated, got my real life stuff together like my vision and getting my tooth fixed, it got knocked out in 2018. I made more money than I ever had, then I blew my calf out. I couldn’t walk to the kitchen, but what if it was worse, how could I survive? And at this point, there is no crowd so I am getting no response. My whole career in IMPACT was in front of nobody. I won the X Division Title in IMPACT, I called my mom and she fell asleep during the pay-per-view. I’m like is any of this real? Now I am getting hurt, nothing felt certain and that I was going in the right direction. I started feeling like, I’m getting older and looking at my 30s, what do I want that to look like? Well I want to be mobile, have enough money to eat, a lot of that to figure out. Once we got back to live events and my shirt are selling out, now I get to feel that again and see people you inspire. That is why I got in this business, not money and not security, it’s what you do out there. Now I am doing shows again, it reminded me of what I am doing and my legacy.”

On what Chris Bey is grateful for:

“The ability to wake up today, my family has been supportive and all the people.”

Image credits: Instagram

Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) is an actor and producer. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new movie SPIDERHEAD which begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, June 17th. He talks about what Father’s Day looks like in the Hemsworth household, the role that changed his life, what being Thor has meant for him, whether he is still working on a Hulk Hogan biopic with director Todd Phillips and much more!

Happy Father’s Day for this Sunday! I’m curious, what does Father’s Day look like in the Chris Hemsworth household?

“It varies. My boy is 8 and my daughter is 9. I guess now they are at the age  where it looks like something, breakfast in bed or let me go for a surf and have some space. But I’m sure that they will make it all about them. I will be making them breakfast and taking them out for a surf.”

How nice was it being in Australia to film this?

“Oh it was fantastic. We were right in amongst the COVID lockdowns and restrictions when we were shooting. People were shooting and I spoke to a lot of people in the film industry who were wanting to go to work but just sitting around. But if we were going to do something, it had to be contained and set on 3 or 4 sound stages an hour from my house, and it was fantastic. We shot what would have taken 2 or 3 months, we shot it in 4 or 5 weeks. It was so much fun and we shot it like we would if it was a piece of theater. Everything was set up weeks in advance and every little piece of the set, once we got on the set we just powered through.”

You are in Australia but you are doing an American accent. How easy is it to slip into that accent?

“It’s a lot of work. When I lived in LA for 10 years, I was around the accent a lot and immersed, so it was very easy to switch it. Since I have lived in Australia and mainly playing Thor, I haven’t done an American accent in a while. I worked really hard on this, a had a voice coach and became obsessed about it. We listened to endless tapes on people who had the vocal quality that we wanted to have. It’s just repetition and immersion over and over. Then you just don’t think about it and you can concentrate on the performance.”

I am a huge wrestling fan and was so excited when I heard that Chris Hemsworth was going to be Hulk Hogan. Is this happening?

“Err maybe. Todd Phillips is busy doing Joker 2 I believe. I’ve been off doing other films, so it has all been in conversations and developments amongst other things. A lot of different things need to come together, I don’t have 24 inch pythons, yet!”

So many people in Spiderhead have this defining moment in their life. For you Chris, what is that defining role?

“Star Trek really kicked it off. Thor is the obvious next step, but I was in LA and did a couple of things and then Star Trek came along. I remember being called into J.J. Abrams’ office and read opposite him the scene. I had no idea what the film was going to be. We shot it, forgot about it and then it came out and it got me all of this attention. That is what got me back in the room on the Thor auditions and started that journey.”

Featured image: Refinery 29

Jeff Goldblum (@jeffgoldblum) is an actor and musician known for his roles in films like Jurassic Park, Independence Day, The Fly and many others. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about the new movie Jurassic World: Dominion, what his meeting in 1993 with Steven Spielberg for Jurassic Park was like, how his character was almost cut from the original movie, his iconic line “Life finds a way”, his thoughts on being considered a national treasure and more!

I’m curious, does anyone call you Jeffrey?

“You know, that is on my birth certificate and passport. You may call me Jeffrey, do you know what my middle name is? It starts with L. Lynn”

Do you think Ian Malcolm is the character you know the best since you have played him so many times now?

“I did a TV series, I did characters over and over and I have done plays. But the way we have a chance to get a crack at this over 30 years. I have never done that before, that is unique. It’s been able to simmer like in a crockpot.”

Take me back 30 years to the original meeting with Stephen Spielberg about Jurassic Park.

“Well my agent said that I am going to meet Stephen Spielberg. Well great! I adore him and this is the opportunity of a lifetime. My agent said it’s about the Jurassic Park story by Michael Crichton. I went out and got the book, loved it. I loved my character, then I had this meeting where Spielberg said ‘Jeff it’s nice to meet you, I love your work and I didn’t want to cancel the meeting. But the most recent version of the script, it doesn’t have your character in it, so this may be moot.’ I said ‘Really? Oh my golly. Well I just read the book, here is why that character could be interesting.’ I’m sure it had no impact on the decision, but it got the character back in the script and got me into the movie. They offered me the part and it changed my life.”

What is more famous from the movie. Either your line ‘Life finds a way.’ Or the shirtless meme that is making the rounds? 

“I couldn’t compare them. That is apples and oranges. I am shocked that either of them or any part of what I did has struck anybody’s long term interest. I like the ‘Life finds a way’ thing.”

Everyone has said that you Jeff Goldblum are a national treasure. At what point did you think that?

“Maybe they just think the movie that Nicholas Cage has acted in. I don’t know if I am any kind of treasure though.”

Featured image: Cinema Blend

Austin Gunn (@theaustingunn) and Colten Gunn (@thecoltengunn) are brothers known by their AEW tag team name “The Gunn Club”. They join Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about how they got started in wrestling, having WWE Hall of Famer Billy Gunn as their father, their reaction to his Billy and Chuck storyline in WWE, what they think of the “Ass Boys” nickname given to them by Danhausen, their goals in pro wrestling, Austin’s music career, why Colten left his job to pursue a career as a wrestler and much more!

On teaming with Colten:

Austin: “So Colten has been in California when I started.”

Colten: “I was in Santa Monica. Right after college I was ready to move into corporate America. I was moving to LA and was building custom houses out there, like 3 stories with elevators. We had a few Lakers players move in and the CEO of Snapchat. I was doing that, I was in my trailer and on the job site, and for some reason I always, because him and dad were on AEW and doing their thing. So I just kept thinking of promos or moves or names of stuff.” 

Austin: “He would just text me out of the blue like ‘This would be cool if you and dad did it. But it would be cooler if we did it.’ He was subtly over time just pushing and pushing.”

Colten: “So I called Rikishi because he has a school out there. I was like ‘Don’t tell my dad and don’t tell your students.’ But I was going to come in one time to see what it was like. Of course when I got there, I am like a clone of my dad, so everyone knew who I was. That didn’t work very well! So after that I called my dad and I said ‘Dad I want to try this, I went to Rikishi’s school…’ And he was like ‘Why didn’t you tell me!’”

Austin: “He was heated. We were driving to some town one day and he says ‘Did Colten tell you he went to Rikishi’s the other day?’ I went ‘Yeah.’ Then he went ‘Well why didn’t you tell me! What does he want? Does he want to be a wrestler?’ He started asking me and I’m like I don’t know.”

Colten: “So I took 2 weeks off from work and went to the Breeze and Spears school, Flatbacks. My dad said ‘Do you really want to do this? 110%, no half ass?’ No pun intended. So I quit my job in LA and drove across the country and started. In November that will be 2 years.”

On having a famous dad:

Colten: “That’s how I was at first, I did not want to be a wrestler.”

Austin: “Yeah he ran away from wrestling and I ran to it.”

Colten: “Yeah I was like I do not want to do this. Then for some reason I wanted to do this, I just wanted to do this.”

Austin: “I was getting more and more texts. Eventually I was like dude if you want to do it then do it, dad will train you.”

On Austin being the MVP of Daily’s Place:

Austin: “Absolutely I am owning that! First I was like oh I am doing a good job, but now I am owning this one. It’s like on BTE, Nick Jackson said ‘There is no crowd, there is just Austin Gunn.’ When I hear that it’s kind of true. Me and dad were there at Atlanta and we thought that we would have to film at Atlanta for the rest of time. We were like oh my gosh. It was very quiet and I was injured at the time, I said ‘Dad, do you want to just go out there and have some fun?’ He says ‘Yeah I will go out there with you.’ So I made water bottles with coins in them, I was like dude how can I make as much noise as possible. Just to let our talent and wrestlers know that someone is cheering for them. Fans are crucial in our business, we feed off of them and switch direction based off them. If they can feel something then it will make them feel comfortable. The opening scene to that Atlanta one is a camera right in my face going ‘Wooaaahh! I love it here!’ People online didn’t know me as a wrestler yet, they were just like who is this annoying kid? I just kept reading terrible comments about me, so I am getting attention. But then every week I would buzz Jamie, our camera guy, and every opening scene was right in my face. Over and over, and when we went to Daily’s Place I ramped it up. And my voice doesn’t give out, I can just keep going and going at like 2am.”

Colten: “We did like 7 hours.”

Austin: “Yeah 7 hours of yelling. Someone from our company said ‘Well how hard can it be to cheer in the crowd.’ Me and Colten looked at each other and I’m like I dare you to do what we are doing for 7 straight hours! Rinse and repeat, match after match. And then we would go in the back, change and wrestle at 2:30 in the morning. When we went out there everyone was like [claps quietly]. I’m like really? This is how we are going to do this? Let me take advantage of what I can do.”

On trying to fill the shoes of The New Age Outlaws:

Austin: “You don’t try to fill those shoes ever. That’s always one of those things that dad told us is like, it was never pushed on us. It was never ‘You have to live up to this level.’ He was like ‘If you have fun, I will teach you everything you know. If you are just trying to fill our shoes, then get out of the business.’ We still get super nervous before shows, but we just go out there and be ourselves.”

Colten: “I think if we are like, how are we going to fill the shoes of The New Age Outlaws, then you lose sight of who you think you are. What makes you different? The more we are in front of a crowd, the more we find ourselves.”

On seeing WWE stars growing up:

Colten: “They [The New Age Outlaws] travelled so much, but we would travel with dad sometimes in the summer when we didn’t have school, so we knew all the guys. But they travelled so much that when you are home for like 2 days, no one is going to come over.”

Austin: “We didn’t see Road Dogg as much unless we went to the shows. We maybe saw Big Show more, he gave us our first Playstation and Xbox at Christmas, at the same time. He was like ‘I have a little present for you, it’s in my trunk.’ He opened it and it was an XBox with 5 games, PS2 with 5 games and he goes Merry Christmas. I think he was the closest one to an uncle. We were on a wrestling cruise one time for Disney, and me and Colten were getting too crowded in the adults pool. There was like a captain’s pool, very private. Big Show took us over there so we could have some privacy. The boat captain comes out and starts yelling ‘Those kids, you need to get the hell out of this pool!’ Big Show was in the water and have you ever seen those workout videos where the guy jumps out of the water and onto the thing? That’s exactly what he did, as heavy as he was and he grabbed the captain by the collar and says ‘If you ever talk to them like that again, I will throw you over this boat and I will drive us home.’ The fear in that man’s eyes, dude I can’t even imagine! I would poop my pants.”

On being on TV with Billy Gunn:

Colten: “When he is on TV you are just drawn to him.”

Austin: “He is more of a camera hog than I am! He tries to downplay it.” 

Colten: “This is the problem, I am the third. You’ve got Austin and dad fighting for this camera and I’m just there.”

On Danhausen:

Colten: “We don’t really talk about that guy.”

Austin: “Bleep that out because that is a curse word to us.”

On Billy and Chuck storyline:

Colten: “I was in 5th grade and the teacher I had in 2nd grade asked me ‘How is your other dad?’ I’m like what?”

Austin: “It’s like when you are talking to a new girl and they don’t know what wrestling is, I’m like ‘Yeah we went out there, the whole crowd chanted Ass Boys, we hated it and it was crazy.’ Then they are like what? And I’m like oh they don’t know about wrestling. When you are growing up, they would Google dad and it was the Billy and Chuck Storyline and they were like, what? What is this? What are you guys into? Sometimes it is super awkward when you are trying to explain what we do.”

On a tag team dream match:

Austin: “It would be The New Age Outlaws. Actually no, because dad hits really hard and he beat the crap out of us at practice one day. We were like ‘Me and Colten are gonna wrestle this new kid.’ Dad was like ‘Maybe I will jump in and be his tag team partner.’ We are like ok, whatever. Literally a warehouse with 3 people in flatbacks, Breeze, Spears and a student. When that guy tagged my dad, I don’t know, but his pupils just went and he turned into a machine. I was like is he going to him me, and he was like right in the nose boom! I get up and again boom! I get up and I’m like do you realize you are doing this. He says ‘Sorry guys I get a little jacked up in there.’ Dude my nose is bleeding do you not realize? He’s like ‘No I kind of blacked out, I got the tag and I blacked out.’ Just like boom, psychopath.” 

On what they are grateful for:

Austin: “I think the freedom to do a job I love, having a sibling that wants to take this career path and being able to wrestle with my dad.”

Colten: “Just that I am healthy, everyone has a roof over their heads and I have a job I love.”

Adam Sandler is an actor, comedian and filmmaker. He stars in the new movie HUSTLE with NBA player Juancho Hernangomez from the Utah Jazz who makes his acting debut in the film. They both join Chris Van Vliet to talk about HUSTLE which is streaming on Netflix as of June 8, producing the movie with LeBron James, Adam Sandler’s Oscar snub for Uncut Gems, how acting in a drama is different from a comedy, the life lessons that basketball teaches, the dream team of Adam Sandler characters and more!

Adam I am curious. Since you produced this movie with LeBron James, does this officially make you LeBron’s teammate?

Adam: “We’ve been teammates, I can say that for the rest of my life. When LeBron and I were on the same team, we shared the rock [laughs]. Yes, yes it does, thank you man.”

Juancho: “Yeah man, my teammate LeBron James asked me for movie, I said ‘yes of course.”

Adam: “He [Juancho] has got a picture with him and LeBron. I’m in it too, but I happen to look a lot shorter than these guys.”

So much of this movie is about betting on yourself and trusting your gut. What was your moment in your life where you did that?

Juancho: “It was probably before the draft. Coming to the NBA I did not speak English. I had been playing pro in Spain for 3 or 4 years, but it is nothing close to the NBA or NBA players. So I take my chances, work out really good and I was a first round pick. It made my dream come true, and it was probably the best day of my life.”

Adam: “The ebay day of my life was where I thought I was going to get drafted. But the dream was over when my father said to me ‘What the hell are you talking about!’ My bet on myself was like a slow bet. I was dumb enough back in the day where I said that I was going to be Eddie Murphy. I thought I would be the next Eddie Murphy, I had no idea how I got that confidence, but that became the obsession.”

What is your approach with a drama and how is it different to a comedy?

Adam: “You know what, when you are shooting you know what the scene means in a comedy and you know what the scene means in a drama, it’s just the day to day work. When you make a movie, 30 40 50 days on a set, it’s just doing your days work and making sure that it makes sense.”

Juancho, what do you think is the best lesson that basketball has taught you about life?

Juancho: “Same as the movie. Never give up and keep chasing your dreams. I don’t have any regrets on how hard I worked to make my dream come true. Even if I fail at the end, I will have a career and I would do it all again. I have no regrets on the bad moments, I became who I am for every moment. I would not change the past, I love how it goes and how I learned from the bad moments and the good moments.”

So picture this, it’s a game of basketball and you have all the Adam Sandler characters. Who are you picking first?

Adam: “Bobby Boucher come here.”

Juancho: “I’m picking Happy Gilmore. He can shoot good 3 point shots.”

Featured image: Gold Derby

Tyrus (@tyrussmash) is a professional wrestler, cable news personality and bestselling author. He is known for his time in WWE as Brodus Clay and he is the current NWA Television Champion. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new book called “Just Tyrus: A Memoir”, being a co-host on The Greg Gutfeld Show on FOX News Channel, why he says his WWE character The Funkasaurus was a punishment from Vince McMahon, how John Cena gave him his special moment at WrestleMania 28, what winning the NWA Television Championship means to him and much more!

On The Funkasaurus being a punishment:

“So first of all, Triple H and Stephanie were just phenomenal. I was with Alberto Del Rio and I really turned some heads. We had a good WrestleMania and they were like this guy is legit. Arn Anderson was getting me ready in the ring as well and making me into this killer heel, with the ultimate goal to be Cena. You want to go there as a heel, against Cena, Taker, Big Show, that’s what you want. So it was a combination of 2 things. One, I make a lot of jokes, obviously. I tease and make jokes in the locker room, I think it was Yoshi Tatsu, who had an all white leather outfit. Boots, pants, shirts, jacket and man bag, all white. He payed like some ungodly amount of money for that. I started teasing him about it, something like how many cows died for you to realize that this is a bad choice? I think he paid 10 grand for this, so I’m like what are you doing? Mark Henry recorded the jokes and he was laughing about it, apparently he decided to show it to the boss, who thought it was funny. The next meeting, Triple H is getting ready to debut his monster, and the boss is like ‘Are you sure? He makes a lot of jokes. Pretty funny guy.’ They are like ‘This is how he is.’ They approached me with being a babyface, to which I responded F no. Maybe at some point, but not now. Then Triple H came back to me, we are running vignettes and stuff, just came off the staples in my head healed and finished the movie No One Lives, I was ready to go. Triple H says ‘[sighs] The old man thinks you are funny.’ I’m like OK man, what does that mean? Triple H then says ‘He thinks you are a babyface.’ I’m like what? I’m the house of pain, how do we get them to cheer for that? Triple H said ‘We don’t. So we change things up.’ You are looking around like someone is trying to jump out like got you! Triple H said ‘One more thing, he wants you to dance too. He loves to dance.’ I don’t dance, even when I was a bouncer in the club. He loves it but I do not! It’s not my thing.” 

“I went back to FCW, went to Dusty and was like ‘They are doing this to me.’ He took it from me and said ‘Look, you are mine, you are my history, you have to pay for my sins. When I wore the polka dots I had a family and a mortgage to pay. I went out there, wore the polka dots and I was a 3 time Heavyweight Champion! Are you saying you are better than me?’ When he did that, it made me feel like an idiot.’ Dusty asked what I like so I said I like Run DMC because they don’t really dance, got the tracksuit. Dusty kicked everyone out the arena and put on the song Moves Like Jagger. He said ‘Dance with me!’ And after a few minutes, you can’t resist The American Dream! Before I know it, we are laughing and having fun. Then he said well who can we get to help you. It just so happens that Naomi was in the position where she was the best athlete in FCW, but they didn’t have a spot for her. This was a step back for her, because she will be a Hall of Famer, but she was like ‘I got you.’ I love The Godfather, but it couldn’t be the ho train, it had to be cheerleader or team situation. We were able to get that together, and with choreography she made me look cool. The thing is, if I don’t want to dance, who cares when you got Naomi and Ariane dancing and doing flips and stuff. No one is tripping, I’m winning!”

On locker room backlash:

“The Undertaker hated it. He’s like ‘Look at you, you are the one guy that looks the part, why are you doing this?’ He was always tough love with me. He goes ‘You should fall. Go out there and fall on the ramp, they will cut the gimmick and you can go back to what you need to be.’ I said ‘Would you do it?’ He said ‘No, I would do what I was told.’ So I didn’t fall, you do what you are told, and it will all work out.”

On John Cena

“We were supposed to have a match with Heath Slater, but time got cut. Cena did one of the most selfless things that a top guy doesn’t have to do. Vince was shaking his head, the match before went over and they were heavy on time. Vince was shaking his head and was like I think we have to cut it. All of a sudden Cena is getting ready, looks at me and says ‘I got to go the bathroom.’ I’m like what? He said ‘6 minutes?’ And he just left, now I had to go! I’m out and I got my WrestleMania moment becasue Cena had to go to the bathroom.”

On his new book “Just Tyrus: A Memoir.”:

“There’s a lot of cutting and a lot of trimming. Like you Chris, you don’t just decide one day to be a reporter. You went through other things you wanted to do and the doors closed. We all have stories, but the thing I tell in the book is that my story is not better than yours, but the color of my skin doesn’t make my story more compelling. We all have to get back to we all have issues, and if we all talk about them honestly, then we have a lot in common. I get a lot of that, especially with all the father stuff. Just on Amazon alone I am at over 3,000 reviews, and I take the time to read all of them. That’s the part where your message gets across and not being praised as a victim. If you are going through stuff now, it’s just all part of the process. The Funkasaurus was technically a punishment, but I turned it around. It could have gone a million different ways.”

On where the story begins:

“Probably just, you always think of that one memory you have as a child. I can think of like 4 specific memories that I can just go back. The most unpleasant memory was the day that we got rescued from my mother, who got away from my biological father, who was a monster to her. Then when he turned it on to me, that was when she had enough. You hate to say that he turned it on me, but if he didn’t then he would have kept the abuse to her. I don’t think that she would have ever got out of it, and it would have ended with her death. We get out of it, catch our breath and not being afraid of the noises in the night. Then my grandfather comes down and basically says that I’ve got to get my life together. I got to go to school, be a nurse, just go and do something, but they can’t stay here. Being pointed out that I can’t have black kids in my house, that it was a shame to the family, that to me was a changing point in my life. That was the first point where I felt like I didn’t belong and there was nothing I could do about it. But I was going to show him that he was wrong and I did belong. You’re not going to change someone’s mind who is set in their ways, but you can change your own mind.”

On the changing day for Tyrus:

“Probably the day that I got fired from the WWE for a second time, that was a game changer for me. My last 3 months in the WWE, I was bitter and angry and was mad that my WrestleMania match got cut. The other guys, Cody and Dustin went on to be tag champs, Tensai was going on to be a trainer, Sandow is Sandow, and I just got left holding the bag. It was a tough pill to swallow and I refused to swallow it. I was there like ‘I could be an actor instead of being here.’ You say those things and you say them enough, it gets around enough so that when the next release comes they release you. I got the call when I was on my way to train at Hard Knocks South. It was Carano calling me. I knew it was either I am going back on the road or I was getting canned, and it was the latter. I remember sitting and going ‘OK big mouth, what have you got.’ Are you going to be that guy sitting backstage at a house show when Triple H walks by and say ‘Hey can I get a dark match?’ You see those guys when you are there, you either feel sorry for them or you are like that’s not going to me. I get it, closed mouths don’t get fed, but you have the least amount of leverage if you are going over to ask. More often than not, you are getting the pity and the worst.”

On the iconic entrance:

“The music wasn’t mine, it was originally Ernest “The Cat” Millar’s. But then I had heat with him and I’m like ‘You know we don’t pick.’ Then that song became where to this day people will still sing it to me.”

On hosting Fox News:

“I was terrified. A lot of my friends were, because I believe the hype, Fox News is supposed to be this super racist network that hated black people if you listened to anybody that was against them. If you didn’t listen to CNN or if you were not a democrat, there was something wrong with you. Also Hollywood wouldn’t hire you. I was apprehensive when Fox News first reached out and wanted me on. I was like well this is a setup, they want me on to try and embarrass me, they picked the wrong one. But my whole thing was to walk towards the fear because it is less scary. I was waiting for them to say ‘Wrestling is fake.’ I didn’t know what was going to happen. I think it was Ariana Grande licking doughnuts and putting them back, I mean taste tests have changed since I was a kid, but when you are her you can just lick stuff and put it back. I made some jokes and we went to a commercial, they said that my timing was great and if I lived in New York I could be a co-host. I said I wouldn’t move to New York, but I could do once a month. It was kind of fun, he asked for my opinion and I made a smart ass comment. It didn’t hurt, there was no lynch mob waiting for me. I came back a month later and did another one. The 4th appearance was where it all went wrong, I lost my suitcase and had to do the show in a t-shirt and shorts. Never good. I believe he wanted to talk about a police brutality accusation in New Orleans. It was being blown up as all cops are racist, the last thing I wanted to talk about. I’m like I want no part of this. But I was told if not me then who? I have been on both sides of it with the police. I really was conflicted, when a black man talks about police or politics, there is a box we are supposed to fall into. If we fall out of the box, we are not only disagreed with but our culture is taken from us, there is something wrong with us. So I was thinking about skipping the show, but a buddy of mine was like interview some cops. If you don’t like what they say then say what you think. So I interviewed cops from different backgrounds, got some stuff off my chest, went on TV and just said it. The response blew up and they wanted me on every week.”

On what Tyrus is grateful for:

“My family, friends and work ethic.”

Embedded images: Instagram

Featured image: Wrestling Inc.

Joey Janela (@thebadboyjoeyjanela) is a professional wrestler. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his contract not being renewed with AEW, recently lighting his foot on fire for a flaming superkick in GCW, the original plans for him and Sonny Kiss in AEW, his regrets about drunkenly trying to fight Enzo at a Blink 182 concert, breaking Eddie Kingston’s orbital bone with a kick to the face, the hate he gets from fans on social media and more!

On the flaming superkick:

“So this is the situation. The night before, me and Drew Parker, who is one of the top deathmatch wrestlers right now. So he’s from England and he moved to Japan to wrestle some of the best deathmatch wrestlers in the world. So he went over there, he lives there, and we bring him over sporadically for GCW maybe once a year. So this match was supposed to happen on New Year’s Eve, but he didn’t want to come over because of the COVID restrictions. So we delayed the match until Los Angeles, and he is one of my favorite dudes. The night before I said to him ‘You are doing a lot of deathmatches, let’s take it easy.’ Instead we did a Joey Janela hybrid plunder match. Outlaw mud show bullsh*t. So we are at The Rainbow Room in South California and I drink a ton of whiskey. |I go ‘Drew, I got an idea. Let’s do 15 minutes of a regular wrestling match, but then it’s like an M. Night Shyamalan twist. All of a sudden it turns into a deathmatch.’ He’s like ‘Let’s do it!’ The next day I’m like f*ck, why did I agree to this? At this point in my career, I don’t want to do deathmatches. I don’t want scars on my face, I got glass still from the last one I did in my arm. But I’m like, let’s do it. Then I came up with the idea, what if I light my foot on fire while doing a superkick? Just playing with the idea and he’s like ‘That sounds cool, can we get lighter fluid?’ I ask Rob Sh*t, that’s his wrestling name, to go out and get me some lighter fluid. Within 10 minutes he comes back with lighter fluid. OK, I guess this is going to happen. I go to Brett Lauderdale, I go ‘Brett, I’m going to light my foot on fire and give Drew a superkick.’ He thought I was bullsh*tting him, being like whatever.’ 

‘So we get out there, and fire spots rarely work perfectly, they go to the right or the left. Either the fire goes out and you look like an idiot, or the fire is blazing and you nearly die. I didn’t want to make it a sh*tty fire spot, so when I took the lighter fluid, I used probably ¾ of that bottle on my foot. When we were ready to go, I took that lighter and that foot was blazing. I didn’t feel it at the time and it was a perfectly executed superkick with the fire, couldn’t have gone any better. But then I am waiting for the water, the only people that [knew about the spot] were me, Drew, the ref and some young guy that was helping out and building stuff and Rob Sh*t. I didn’t want a fire extinguisher, usually they are pointless. Usually you put water on the fire and it goes out. The last thing I want is some f*cking guy spraying a fire extinguisher at me and me breaking out in a rash and my eyes swelling up. The chemicals in a fire extinguisher are terrible for you, these are real and I don’t want that sprayed at me. Usually a bucket of water will do, and that’s what they had. So they get the water and I am trying to get my shoe off. I tied the shoe so tight, I didn’t want there to be a chance that my flaming shoe flew off and went into the crowd. So it was hard to get it off, I get it off and the shoe is on fire, and I look and the sock is on fire, how the f*ck did that happen. So I try to grab my foot and try to put it out with my hands. Eventually Rob Sh*t got his leather jacket out and saves the day.”

On the contract not being renewed:

“There’s chances that I might have been renewed either here or in Ring of Honor. But I just ran my mouth in an interview saying that I hadn’t heard from anyone. Then I heard that Tony was hot about it because it made him look bad and the talent relations look bad. But at the same time, it made them improve their communications with talent. I had talent from the company saying ‘You are 100% correct. That was cool for you to take that risk.’ So I said yes to an interview with Denise Salcedo, I had it and I was stressed out and frustrated. It was just a situation, but I created a lot of good out of it, and I haven’t talked to Tony since. It’s kind of a little, it kind of irked me. We were so cool and I would go out with him after the early shows, because I would stay up with him until 7am drinking tequila. I’m sure it irked him but there are no hard feelings on either side.”

On Tony Khan:

“Tony tries to make everyone happy. It is a fantastic working environment for professional wrestling. There is going to be a lot of politics, but when you have 25 minute matches every week, you are not going to fit everyone on the show and make everyone happy. He tries to make everyone happy.”

On the Joey Janela social media backlash:

“I love it, I love being polarizing. Growing up I was always drawn to the celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee, Marilyn f*cking Manson! When I was a kid, that was who f*cked up my life, ECW and Marilyn Manson. I know he is cancelled at the moment, but back then I was obsessed because he was always in the headlines for doing something controversial. People think I have thin skin, certainly not. I have been dealing with this harassment for years. When I rattle the hornet’s nest, it can rattle so much attention. I can light my foot on fire, say something to someone, and then I am trending. Not only am I doing something stupid, but I am acting like an asshole. I am blurring the lines more because I am not with AEW anymore. Now I am an independent guy, I don’t have to worry about TNT or whatever.They would go to Tony Khan ‘This is one of your wrestlers?! Why the f*ck did you hire him?’ This happened to me a few times over there.”

On Joey Janela being creatively stifled:

“I could never completely be myself while being under contract. The Joey Janela before AEW is similar to the Joey Janela now, I am a lot smarter and more mature than I was then. But to the outside people, I am just as idiotic and immature. I watered myself down a lot, I made money every 2 weeks for 3 years. What I learned being part of a TV company is that you can’t buy that sh*t. I learned so much from a lot of the guys there, you learn so much. People think I am untrained, but that’s not the case. I trained the same way a lot of their favorites did in the 70s and 80s. I went to camps and travelled the schools in the United States.”

On Joey Janela not re-signing with AEW:

“So this is the situation. People are going to take this and say that I am creating false narratives and craziness. So the plan was to bring me back to TV, that’s why Tony was like ‘Listen, your act with Penelope was stellar. We have to find a way to replicate your act, we need an athletic female that we can pair you with so we can do a similar act and bring you back to TV. I said that I would start to look on the indies for gymnasts or former cheerleaders that can do some amazing stuff. We looked at a few girls and were on the fence about it, when the lights are on you’ve got to be able to hit those big moves. Penelope was able to do that, she was able to while teaming with me on the indies. But I said to her ‘You have to hit this in one shot!’ And she was like ‘OK, let’s f*cking go!’ Tony wanted something similar to that, I see the girl Kayla doing Phoenix Splashes and Moonsaults, I find out she is a former Olympic gymnast and pro bodybuilder, so I’m like alright! This is different and this is great, she could be Chyna but with crazy aerial moves. We pitched it to Tony, and he is like let’s bring her in. I wanted it to be in the United Center, they debuted her there and was only training for a couple of months in one of the biggest shows in AEW at that point. But she Powerbombed Robert Anthony a bit too hard, he leaped right into it, she’s not a wrestler so she tried to make it as good as possible. It all went around the botches so Tony didn’t like it. So I then did this match with Sonny Kiss and we had 12 minutes on Dark. Right before we go out we are told we have 6 minutes, no 5 minutes, that usually happens on TV. So f*ck, we are supposed to have this big match in our home state, but that match was hot. All action, not a lot of psychology, but a hot crowd. We had them and we had her do the Moonsault on Sonny afterwards and the crowd loses it. Tony is like ‘We have something.’ And Big Show is giving her advice too. Some of the girls were not too happy that someone comes in off the street after 2 months and is on TV. So Tony says the plan is to do another Sonny Kiss and create the whole storyline. So I did and I pitched it to Cody, he liked it and OK let’s go. I’m told after we do the street fight, which I win and another great match, I’m told I’m going back on TV. But after that I am just rolling with the punches and I don’t know what happened.”

On what’s next:

“I want to explore my options and do international tours. Right now I’ve got it down that I am making more money now than in my AEW contract. People think I am bullsh*tting but I was making 6 figures there. Now I am selling my merchandise and stepping up my creative [items]. I am walking out with a ton of merch money. I was doing the indies on top of AEW, but I wasn’t allowed to sell my own merch or take Friday bookings. Tony doesn’t want people promoting their indie shows when they should be promoting the show that signs the cheques. Some of these guys are asking for $6,000 a show, all I ask for is a hotdog and a handshake. They are paying me, but as long as you work hard and want to take this route, I recommend you do. But I am gone 4 to 5 days a week, but I don’t have a family or pets. I’m not mailing in any shows, I am just brutalising myself. But I love wrestling again now.”

On joining NXT:

“Probably not. I have gotten feelers before and I know I am local, but I thought I was restricted and watered down in AEW and walking on eggshells. But NXT is a whole new level, they have the password to your Twitter. If you post something wrong they will take it down and take you into the office and yell at you. But this is me, 95% when I am on social media I am working, I don’t give a f*ck. But I do know how to blur the lines enough.”

On his teeth:

“I just decided that 2022 will be bad boy summer part 2. I want to get buff and get my teeth fixed, which we are in the process of doing right now. Thank you Britt Baker! These are just temps, the real teeth go in in June. These are just temps that are glued in dentures, but they look good for the time being. It’s expensive but it’s worth it. New teeth, new physique and bad boy summer part 2!”

On  Joey Janela fighting Enzo Amore:

“The week later I am at PNC Arts Center and I keep on saying ‘I’m going to f*ck with Enzo.’ Well, we couldn’t find him. I see some guy with a beard walk by dressed in what looks like a potato sack. I go ‘Oh sh*t it’s Enzo.’ So I start punching him in the arm and he didn’t take too kindly to that. The whole thing got caught on video and I look like the biggest f*cking idiot ever. It’s like ‘Tony, this is the guy you put in the main event with Moxley? This f*cking idiot!’ Some of the guys were like ‘F*ck this guy, he makes us look bad.’ There’s guys who are p*ss drunk at Blink 182 concerts and I look like the biggest f*cking idiot. Me and Enzo have talked out and I have apologised, if there is one thing I wish I didn’t do in my life it was that. If you get in a fist fight in New Jersey it’s a $15,000 fine and jail.”

On what Joey Janela is grateful for:

“The places I have gotten to see, the wrestling business and for the booze, drugs and whores!”

Featured image: Post Wrestling

Kim Orton (@kim.orton1) and Giovanna Angle (@giovannaangle) are the wives of professional wrestlers Randy Orton and Kurt Angle. They are also the hosts of “The Wives of Wrestling Podcast” with Jon Alba. They join Chris Van Vliet to talk about how they first became friends, the story of how they met their husbands, how Kim Orton went from being a Randy Orton fan to marrying him, when she thinks Randy Orton will retire, the song they chose for their wedding, the pressures of being married to a WWE superstar, what Randy and Kurt are like when the camera are off and much more!

On how they became friends:

Kim: “It’s been 5 years. We both went to WrestleMania and it was when Kurt was fighting with Ronda [Rousey]? No, he was going into the Hall of Fame. We kind of met by the pool, Giovanna took her babies and was in the lazy river and came over to where me and my rather loud family were. She was like ‘Hi I am Giovanna.’ It was so nice to meet another wife that I have so much in common with. You know, I was mostly friends with a lot of girls and guys in the back because of Randy. To have another wife friend sounds awesome.”

On seeing each other in person:

Kim: “No but funny story. I was in Pittsburgh last weekend and waiting for my car to come and I am texting Randy like ‘Babe, the car never came.’ Randy tries to get in touch with the car company, but then who comes around but Giovanna. She went all out, she had the WWE sign, a wig and glasses, I’m like oh no! She was nervous and waiting for me in disguise, but like us it made sense for it all to get screwed up. It was so great to see her, even if only for one night.”

On names for their husbands:

Giovanna: “We try because of the kids, we call him daddy sometimes. My son is 18 and it’s not his father, but it is daddy in this house. Whenever he is being an idiot I call him Curtis or some stupid little thing, there are many names for him.”

Kim: “It’s actually weird but we for some reason, we call Randy Kevin. I don’t even know a Kevin, but I would just scream babe and it’s the weirdest story, it just reminded me of Home Alone where the mom would scream Kevin. Oddly enough he will answer to it. Then 2 years after the whole Kevin thing started, he did Changeland with Macaulay Culkin. It was weird that it went full circle.”

On podcast rules:

Kim: “Not really. Randy just kind of says to me ‘Try not to mention names.’ Me and my husband get gossipy with each other, so he knows I know a lot. But he also knows that I am not trying to mess with anyone’s life or give out juicy dirt stories. As far as he goes, he is an open book, he will be 100% honest with you and he is cool with it. Sometimes he gets embarrassed when I talk about shaving stories though.”

On a week in the life of Kurt Angle:

Giovanna: “Right now there are a lot of doctor’s appointments because he is getting surgeries done. There is that, Kurt is getting 2 knee replacements at the same time on Tuesday. I am terrified, the thing about Kurt is that I wanted him to go straight from the hospital to the center so he can’t think about anything else. But I guess after the hospital we will be going home for a few days and then someone to help him every day. The thing about Kurt is that I see him in so many situations after recovery where he is like ‘I’m good.’ He has always had that mentality because he always wanted to get back in the ring, but I have said to him ‘You are not getting back in the ring.’ This is serious, after every surgery, he just did the minimum so he was healed, that was why his knees were bent. This time they are also going to be straightening his legs again, he’s going to be so tall again!”

On Randy’s nagging injuries:

Kim: “I would say right now for Randy it’s the hamstrings. He wakes up and he uses the massage gun. After a few hours with that he is ready to go.”

On a typical day for Randy:

Kim: “So it’s been so busy since COVID. It is crazy, since COVID he has had this awesome schedule. He has really been going just for Raw, so he would leave on Sunday, do Raw on Monday and be home on Tuesday. But now he is also doing SmackDown, so he is gone Thursday, does SmackDown on Friday, maybe a house show on Saturday, pay-per-view Sunday, he can be gone the whole weekend. Now there is Europe too, so he has been gone a lot more, which does suck. We have a lot going on and I kind of need him here, but he does get those relaxing few days.”

On Randy’s career:

Kim: “He looks great and he can just keep going. I get so jealous why he is so shredded and I’m not. He says to me ‘Well you eat like sh*t.’ [laughs]. Maybe if I tried a little harder.”

Giovanna: “We will just get fat together, it’s all good.”

Kim: “Well the warmer it gets, the more I eat, I don’t know what is going on there. But yeah I think that Randy will stop when he doesn’t feel like doing an RKO anymore. Right now he does a lot of physical therapy and warming up before his matches. The bus helps too in so many ways.”

Giovanna: “Kurt says he wishes he had the bus when he was wrestling. He said ‘That’s one thing I wish I had.’ I’m like that’s the thing? You should have taken care of your body better Kurt. Just like the RKO, the Angle Slam was on his back too, it’s rough on your body. But Randy is doing it right and I wish Kurt did that too.”

On having wrestlers as husbands:

Kim: “So we were at 2 different stages of our lives when we met our husbands. I had kids, he had kids and we had both been married. I had a life for a very long time of people not knowing or caring about me. Just normal things that you get to do, not that I go around fighting people. Just normal life where no one cares about your daily activity. But now people are interested and they have opinions. People were saying things about me that were just not true. Randy taught me how you have to have a thick skin, because people are always going to talk. I feel like people always did talk, but I never heard it, but now I do. You just have to make the choice. But you know, it is what it is. I think it is weirder for our kids, they grew up watching Randy on TV, and now they see him and they see Shawn Michaels and Triple H and they are dying. It was an adjustment but it is not a thing anymore.”

Giovanna: “I think it’s the same with Kim. You don’t have anything in common anymore, my problems are not the same as their problems. It sucks because I could only hold a certain type of conversation with my friends growing up or people I know, but that is where it ends. If they talk about wrestling, I didn’t grow up watching it, I just kind of fell into it. I don’t look at a person as a wrestler, just as a person. The fans are so loyal and so hardcore, our husbands are known around the world and I forget who he is sometimes.”

On how they met their husbands:

Giovanna: “So we met on the set of an independent movie. We just kept running into each other and it was the craziest thing. We just ran into each other and a friend introduced us and I thought he was so sexy, a sexy Kurt. So I ended up being friends with his friend who ended up losing his keys at the Arnold Classic in Ohio. We were like how are we going to get home? Kurt had a spare key and my mom was 4 hours away, so I called her to help me, and my mom comes out in the morning with the spare key, threw the key at me and drove all the way back, she is the coolest mom ever. This psycho mother of mine kept Kurt’s number all this time and she called me to call him to see if he is ok. So I texted him to make sure he was OK, I am walking back to my class and he called me. He was happy I reached out and was going to ask for my number. It was crazy because he was going through some sh*t at that time, I wasn’t going to jump in but I knew he needed a friend. We started hanging out and then started dating in November. A couple of months later we got matching tattoos. Shortly afterwards he proposed, he proposed in March and I got pregnant in April, it was a wild ride.”

Kim: “I think it was a he was supposed to be with me type of thing. I watched wrestling as a kid like everyone did. But I grew up, fell out of love with wrestling and had kids. But then they got into wrestling and Shawn Michaels was still there so I got into it. Then I’m like who is this guy, it’s Randy Orton and I’m like this guy looks good. I started watching Randy more, didn’t care too much about his personal life but he was this fine, fine guy. I feel like if I met him, we would fall in love. It was so strange, I lived in New York when I met him, and there was this little arena in the Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, and they announce WWE is coming. I’m like there is no way that Randy is coming 10 minutes from my house. So I am calling for tickets, I took my 2 oldest and we went to the show. We got there 30 minutes before doors opened, standing out there and Randy’s bus was there. We have all these pictures of Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns and Dolph Ziggler walking in. It was so hot out but I wanted to see Randy, my kids were getting too hot. He has his match and he walks past and takes pictures, stops right in front of me and asks if I want a picture. He asks me my name and I was dying! I was trying to be cool but I was shaking. I gave the security guard my phone number and the guard gave me Randy’s and we started texting. So I meet him and we go hang out for an hour. He then said he would be around for a few more days and do we want to hang out, and we have been together ever since that day.”

On what they are grateful for:

Kim: “Health, happiness and to be working with my best friend.”

Giovanna: “Healthy family being alive and having an amazing husband and dad for the family.”

Featured image: Pintrest