Cassie Lee (Peyton Royce) chats with Chris Van Vliet after being released from her WWE contract along with her IIconics tag team partner Billie Kay (Jessica McKay). She talks about what’s next for her, why she thinks she was released, her husband AEW star Shawn Spears’s reaction to it, the motivational speaker gimmick that she pitched to Vince McMahon, her new podcast called “Off Her Chops”, the issues she is currently dealing with getting her green card and much more!

On why Cassie and Jessie started a podcast:

“I had been wanting to try a podcast for a few years, but just with our schedule and rules that came in we weren’t allowed to do it. So as soon as we got the call I texted Jess [McKay] and said ‘Look I know you want time to grieve this. But I just to let you know that I really want to start this podcast with you.’ She was like ‘Screw it! Let’s do it!’ And we just got to work.”

On the meaning of the show’s title Off Her Chops:

“Off Her Chops has multiple meanings. If you are in Australia and you are off your chops it could mean you are drunk. Or it could mean your off your chops like you’re crazy. But in a positive way. Not like a you’re crazy, you need help. It’s more like the fun one in the group.”

On how similar Cassie is to Peyton Royce:

“Ok so when Cassie and Jessie are together, those two people are exactly the same as Peyton and Billie. But Cassie, I’m like really shy. I don’t like to be in crowds of people, I get anxious. When I am by myself I am very anxious and inside my shell. With her [Jessie] there is no shell I am completely fine.”

How does someone so shy get into an industry that is the opposite of that:

“Well I just grew up on the stage. I was a dancer, I started dancing when I was 3. So I was used to performing. I love performing and being able to create someone else that I can be. If I am being judged by this person, then it’s not me, it’s this character that I have created. So I do like that. I like having the person that people get to know, then I like being me. I can differentiate them.”

On mental health struggles:

“Yeah I would say it has been a rough couple of months. I would say it has been a rough 6 months. Since the draft and since they split Jess and I up I would say. But I am doing well, every day I am feeling happier. I’m just excited for the future and these opportunities I can chase. I have my moments where I get sad that everything didn’t work out, but I truly believe everything happens for a reason and there is something bigger out there for me.”

On her goals now:

“I don’t feel like I am done with wrestling. I have dreams that I especially wanted to grasp between me and Jess getting split up and me being let go. Although I still want to chase that, but my big dream now is I want to be a movie star. I feel that is a natural way that wrestlers want to go. So I have been taking acting lessons for going on 2 years now. I just love it, I love the process of learning a new industry. And I can’t wait to feel like I know the industry inside out like I do with wrestling.”

On how the release affected her:

“Being let go really broke my heart, and for a long while it kind of took my love. It stole my love of wrestling. And I would love to get that back and not move on with my life with this bitter feeling about wrestling. I still get emotional about it. But I know one day I will get over those circumstances and not let it affect me like it does now.”

The behind the scenes conversation of The IIconics breaking up:

“So I have never told anyone this and I hope Jess isn’t upset with me for saying this… but I wanted to go singles. There was just things I wanted to tick off of my bucket list as a singles competitor. I vocalized that to Jess in January last year. I didn’t do anything about it, I just told her where I was at, I didn’t try and get us broken up or something like that. It was during the PC era and Jess was out for a week, I had this random singles match, I don’t even remember who it was against. Vince loved it, he said to me ‘You’re so good, what are we doing?’ I just said to him ‘Look. If it is possible in future plans, I’m not saying right now, but in the future I would like to see what I can do on my own.’ I am so comfortable with Jess, we can conquer the world together. But I wanted to see what I can do for myself. So many people were like ‘Why did they break you up? It was so stupid.’ I’m like I feel like it’s my fault, because I wanted to push myself and see what I was capable of. But that might of been the worst decision that I made, because nothing ever happened.”

On a character that got pitched in a meeting with Vince:

“The freaking dirt sheets! ‘Peyton lost her job because she didn’t know what to say to Vince… blah blah blah.’ That’s not the case dummies! I just went in there with what I wanted to present, and we just moved on from it so quickly. In my head I was thinking how can I steer this conversation back to that? I really thought something was there and I hadn’t explained it properly. I sat in that room with him and Bruce [Prichard] for 45 minutes tossing up ideas. At one point we had come up with the idea that I was going to be a motivational person, a motivational speaker. Vince loved how much I had sacrificed to be there. I didn’t want anything else in my life other than to work for him. He loved that and was so thankful for what I had sacrificed, my family, everything in Australia, my whole life. So that’s what we had come up with and obviously nothing ever came of it. But that conversation wasn’t a complete dud. From my perspective it was this is what I want to present and move forward with.”

On Rhea Ripley helping her through tough times:

“I really struggled when Brodie [Lee] passed. I struggled with the big picture and putting things into perspective. I was really unhappy at work, really unhappy. A few times I thought to myself I can’t do this anymore and I am going to ask for my release. A few times I was in the locker room, some sort of creative would change and it would just… I would be juts so upset. Rhea [Ripley] of all people had to talk me off the ledge, because I was about to walk into talent relations and say ‘I’m out. I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I was so unhappy. So the release was a blessing in disguise. I was so close to asking for my release but I never actually pulled the trigger.”

On why she lost her passion for wrestling:

“I mean it was completely taken away when we got let go. Just knowing that I had only scratched the surface with my goals. I felt like there was this roadblock, and I couldn’t get past the roadblock. That was hard to sit with, because nothing I did would move.”

On the future of the podcast:

“We kind of wing it. We film 2 at a time, because our producer has his own life and job. We always have 2 episodes planned, then we see what is going on in the world before we film the next 2.”

On what she is grateful for:

“For health, safety and happiness of everyone I care about.”

Cassie Lee can be found on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Off Her Chops can be found here.

Featured image: Instagram

Xavier Mortimer is a magician who has racked up more than 5 billion views on social media and is headlining his own show called “The Dream Maker” at The Strat Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. He joins Chris Van Vliet for this in-person interview to talk about how he became a magician, the thought process that goes into creating a new trick, moving from France to Las Vegas to make his dreams come true, how he used social media over the last year and a half to go viral with his tricks and illusions, the art of storytelling and much more!

On what impresses him and what he enjoys:

“There are so many things that impress me everyday. I enjoy little things too like travel and adventure. There are many things I enjoy, just being in Vegas is my project.”

On how he got famous:

“I had a few videos on TikTok that were working. A friend of mine called me and said I should do longer videos. I was like well with the pandemic I have all the time in the world now. I started producing them and I had a month where I was looking for things to do and trying to find my marks. After that the videos started to blow up one after another. I was like whoa 300 million views! To me, a hit on YouTube was 1 million views. It was unexpected and it was amazing to keep doing what you love while everything is shout down. It was a blessing.”

On which video started it all:

“The one that really blew up was the one where I was up against the wall and people were smashing boxes at me. Everyone saw it. I went to the dentist and to the pharmacy and they are all like ‘Hey, you’re the guy…’ All combined it had like 400 million views. Starting at that point, I didn’t know what I was creating. It was just another video on social media. When you post it you have no idea what is going to happen. Suddenly you post it on social media and it blows up. I then realize I am doing a 3 minute illusion on social media, which no one had ever done. I then told my friend we need to build more grand illusions on social media. Every video was reaching 100 million views, it was crazy.”

On the difference between a trick and an illusion:

“An illusion is something you believe, but it’s not [what you believe]. A trick is more me telling you. It’s the same ending, but a trick is more talk and bringing your mind somewhere. An illusion is what you see.”

On the appeal of magic:

“It’s like every art. It’s fascinating, it’s different and it touches people when they see something. I was in the mountains and no one knew I was a magician. I did an illusion and everyone is so fascinated, they looked at me and everyone suddenly gathers over something extraordinary. That’s the magic of the magic.”

On how to perform on stage:

“You just go for it. I was super shy. I just went on stage and do my thing. I was shaking the first time, but you just go and give it everything you have. I started when I was 20 and I just love seeing the smiles on people’s faces at the end of the night.”

On if a trick has ever gone wrong:

“Many times. So I hope they won’t know, but some can be messed up in a big way where people can see and know [it messed up]. If a magician tells you he has succeeded in his tricks every day, he is a liar. But the goal is for the audience not to know. You have backups and contingencies.”

On his biggest setback:

“I think it was when I was starting my career. I am a live performer, TV was kind of dangerous. I was on France’s Got Talent, but I said no to the show for 3 years. Eventually my friend said to me that if I go on the show I’m going to kill it. Of course you are putting yourself in danger. But if you put yourself in danger you can win. I have failed a lot but in the end I win. I have this show in Las Vegas and have loads of followers on social media.”

On his goal as a magician:

“My goal is to sell tickets. If I am the best or not, I just want to bring people in the room. If it goes by I am the best magician or the most followed, then OK. But it’s about how I interact with the audience and how they respond. I hope people think I am the best but it is about their appreciation.”

On what he is grateful for:

“I’m just grateful in general. I’m grateful I’m healthy, which is the most important thing. Also for people around me and that I have a show in Vegas.”

Xavier Mortimer can be found on Instagram here and YouTube here.

Featured image: Las Vegas Weekly

Samantha Joy is an entrepreneur, identity coach and the author of the bestselling book “The Less Effect”. She joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about why less is actually more, the importance of eliminating the things and people from your life that might be holding you back, clearing out old stories about yourself to give yourself more mental clarity, designing an environment that attracts abundance, purpose and fulfillment and more!

On what “The Less Effect” method is:

“I’m not a should person. But I will say that if we were able to boil down the less effect method, which by the way found me, it was an experience. But if we boil the entire method down and all the work that I do, it is the solution to your problems is not found in more. It is more commonly found in removing something or releasing something.”

On how “The Less Effect” is not going minimalist:

“People will say to me ‘Oh so you’re like Marie Kondo?’ Well no, I really respect her work and I understand it, but that’s just one layer of it. The work that I do is all based around identity. If we talk about minimalism in the context of the less effect, it is not about living off the grid. It’s not about whittling your life down to nothing. It is about removing old conditioning, removing old stories. That’s where we go into action and release a lot of these things around us in these environments. We bring about those old things in the form of physical items or physical space. It’s also, the people around us, our social environments and the habits that we do every day. We are running on this autopilot. There is the subconscious part of our brain that is creating every moment. We chose to do this podcast together, to be around each other and to exchange energy. I think it was conscious but a lot of times the decisions we make are very subconscious, based on those beliefs. Think about running on autopilot every day and what we create. The less effect is about removing old conditioning, old stories, limited beliefs, so we can expose our new identity. From there we can step into creator mode.”

On what is step one of the programme:

“If I were to summarize it, I have this program, and I emphasize that you don’t just do this program once. Removing layers is a lifelong process. We spend a lot of the foundational work in the feminine energy. This is an energy that lies in all of us regardless of gender. We are going inward, we are connecting. We are harnessing trust within ourselves. The other part of this journey is moving into action. Going back to the beginning, it is about pulling out these stories. In this western world, we are so conditioned to keep going and keep adding more. We keep buying, keep fixing, keep adding more. I would say we are in this out of balance, masculine energy of doing, doing, doing, that we don’t spend as much time in the being.

On the next steps:

Then we bring the subconscious thoughts into consciousness and we ask ourselves ‘Is this true?’ A lot of these stories started when we were younger and we wanted to be validated. We were in survival mode, and it doesn’t serve a lot of us anymore. The second part is now that I have tethered these beliefs to the environment around me. I am holding on to this thing, like a sweater from an ex-boyfriend, because it is a limiting belief. I am holding onto this person, because of this belief and the comfortable dynamic. So I am then stuck in these patterns because of these beliefs. We start to go through these environments and we start to become aware of what we have created around us that is rooted in those beliefs. We can then start to release them. The over arching process is discover, declutter, design.”

On a common limiting belief:

“I work a lot with high performers. One of the most common limiting beliefs is my worth is found in my productivity. If we deconstruct what limiting beliefs are, it’s a belief that is not necessarily true. There may have been a time when we were younger that it was true, because that was the dynamic that we were raised in. Parents may say ‘I want to see you get all A’s, I want to see you do extra curricular, I want to see you work around the house…’ That is something in our western culture that we bring into adulthood. So we start to rewire the brain and start to introduce new beliefs. A new belief might be I am whole, I am perfect, I am amazing as I am. I don’t need to perform in order to be worthy of all the things that I want. That blows people’s minds. This is one of my beliefs that I had to release in layers, it doesn’t just go away immediately.”

On how work affects your identity:

“Being an entrepreneur is the quickest way to come face to face with your limiting beliefs. When I was in the corporate world in accounting and finance consulting, I could go to work, go home, drink on the weekends. I thought I was balancing out the work with the play, but instead I was literally living outside of my body. I was not connected to myself. This is about diving deep in there to pull out these beliefs. Once you see how these beliefs affect the things around me, you can say ‘I am the co-creator of my life.’ Sometimes it can be a hard pill to swallow to say that I chose all of this. What is on the other side of that is that I can choose differently.”

On how The Less Effect found her:

“So mom, if you are listening, I love you. She liked to hang onto things. I don’t know if it’s that generation of hanging onto stuff. There was a lot of stuff. She was also hanging onto things in the past that were not physical. Things that were experiences and beliefs, there was a lot of hoarding of that. My mom learned the laws of attraction and a lot of these different tools to start stepping out of that. In that environment of being surrounded by the energy of lack, it’s so interesting of our energy of hanging on. When you have that energy, it’s what you put your energy into. There are these notions that if we lose it, it will be hard to get it back. I experienced a lot of anxiety growing up. It was a combination of that and a tumultuous environment growing up with my parents. They got divorced and the way it manifested in me was tons of anxiety. A lot of beliefs were made and I moved into my adult life with the same issues. I found minimalism years ago and dove into it. I didn’t have a lot of control growing up, so it gave me back that sense of control and choice. So I realized I felt relief from my anxiety when I decluttered, so I understood the concept of energy. I was starting to understand detachment and releasing, which felt good. Then it expanded to the people around me, so I started decluttering that. I then moved onto my habits and started decluttering my habits. It taught me I wasn’t broken and I could start fixing myself.”

On how people can change their identity:

“There’s so much that goes into that. The identity starts when we are young. We start to learn who we are through the labels that we are given. The starting place is going all the way back. Learning about the concept of our inner child and where the conditioning started. Where and when did we start learning these limiting beliefs? There is usually some type of experience about 4 or 5 years old, where we are so impressionable. You get to realize why you formed these ideas in the first place and why you dragged them into your adulthood. It is really transformative and you realize how the change can happen.”

On what she is grateful for:

“All of the insightful human connections, my son and being a mother.”

Samantha Joy can be found on Instagram here.

Featured image: Coloradopreneurs

Maven Huffman is a former WWE Superstar and the winner of the first season of “Tough Enough” on MTV. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at The Legends of Hamburg Fan Fest in Hamburg, PA to talk about his time in WWE, being a school teacher before he submitted an audition tape for Tough Enough, how he knew he was going to win the show, eliminating The Undertaker from the 2002 Royal Rumble and the chair shot that followed, why he never liked his entrance theme, working as a host for HSN, his run-in with the law, going to rehab, what he’s up to now and much more!

On competing on Tough Enough:

“The show came out pre 9/11. So it was like 2001 when we started filming. This was the early days of reality television, back before you could make a career out of being a reality star. Literally going into it we were promised one thing and that was a chance to get into the WWE. I’ll tell you a secret too that I haven’t told very many because I kind of feel stupid. When I was interviewing to go on Tough Enough, the MTV people pulled me aside. They asked me ‘Do you want to be a wrestler, or do you want to be on TV?’ They offered me a spot on the upcoming Real World or Road Rules. But I was a wrestling fan I grew up watching wrestling, that’s what I wanted to do.”

On wanting to be a wrestler as a kid:

“How do you become an astronaut? It’s the same thing. How do you become a wrestler? I did, but who knew how to get into that business? I was a schoolteacher, I was teaching 6th grade. Man I can’t believe people trusted me with their kids but they did. So I was 22, it was my second year teaching 6th grade. I was a high school baseball coach living in Portland, Oregon. I was at home with a buddy of mine watching RAW. Jim Ross came on and said ‘Have you ever wanted to be a wrestler?’ I said ‘Yes. Yes I do.’ Then things fell into place at that point. I made the dumbest video you could imagine.”

Chris asks how dumb?

“Ok this is how dumb. Skin tight neoprene shirt and indoors with sunglasses on. I acted like I was reading a newspaper that the person recording the video interrupted. I put the paper down and I went into my spiel. It was just complete ridiculousness.”

On thinking the Tough Enough call was a joke:

“Me and my buddy played jokes on each other. I am in my classroom and the phone rings, I’ve got 6th grade going on. I pick up the phone and the lady on the other end went ‘Maven this is Christina from WWF and MTV.’ I went ‘Yeah right. Tell Kirk very funny.’ And I hung up. I called him later and I was like yeah very cute have that person call. He said to me ‘No it wasn’t me. That was somebody calling you.’ So I prayed they would call back, they did. They invited me to go to New York and I did. It was at Times Square when WWF New York was at Times Square. I get there, if you want to get into steroids later, yeah I admit it. I took steroids and I took a lot. I loved the reaction it gave me. Probably not good for my health, but I did it, I’m not going to hide that. I get there having not taken anything, and I see these gigantic, enormous, jacked dudes. I’m 205, what am I doing here? I almost left right then. The only reason I didn’t was because I paid for a plane ticket to get there and I said I’m going to see this through. I was this close [puts fingers close together] to leaving. It was a 2 day process, by the end of the second day I was on the show. No part of me thought I was going to quit my teaching job, but I had a plane ride back to Oregon to figure out how it was going to be done.”

On his main competition on the show:

“Chris Nowinski. For the mere fact that he had wrestled before and he was good. He was a big kid and in wrestling Vince likes big guys. Chris was a good 2 inches taller than I was, probably 30 pounds bigger, Harvard educated, actually f*ck that [laughs]. Josh Matthews was the best in-ring technical wrestler. But with Chris, you know how your mind plays tricks on you? You see a girl and you think she won’t like me for this, this and this. That was what my mind was doing to me, WWE doesn’t want me for this, this and this. Of course I thought they are going to want someone like Nowinski. Someone who has got experience, is not going to make them look stupid. Technically, he was good enough and had the look. But I was all in. I quit my job, sold my car and pretty much when I knew it was over, if I didn’t win I was moving back home with my mom.”

On knowing the result beforehand:

“I knew I was winning going into it. [They told me] In so many words. My mom was sick at the time. My mom was battling cancer and I had to leave the show probably at week 7 of the 9 week show. 13 people started Tough Enough and 8 people quit. I couldn’t get it. Is it easy? No, it’s going to hurt, it’s going to suck. But I wasn’t going to quit. The only thing that was going to make me quit was my mom. I sat Al Snow down and said ‘Listen, I don’t want to leave, but my sister literally just sent me a message saying “Your mom is in the hospital. They don’t know if she is going to make it through the weekend.” I got to go. I don’t want to but I have to. I’ll pick up training on my own when I figure out what is up with her.’ They said to me ‘Listen. We’ll stop the show, fly you home and figure it out.’ Without the cameras there they pretty much said ‘You are the front runner right now. Get home then get back here, just don’t be a f*ck up and it’s pretty much yours.”

On what he is doing now:

“Crazily enough I work in the weirdest industry you can work in right now. I work in finance at Wall Street. I travel in and I work for a company that is right there on Wall Street. I have never worked in this industry before. I found out that a lot of people in finance are really into music. Everyone I work with has a CD coming out or a video coming out. I live in New Jersey and I commute.”

On addiction issues:

“It started in wrestling but wrestling didn’t do it. I wouldn’t even take Tylenol for a headache back then. The pill I ever took I was like yeah I am onto something here. I was in pain at the time, I just had hand surgery. But that’s life man.

Is it the crazy slippery slope?

“It is. One pill turn into two, turns into thirty. When that happened I was taking forty to fifty a day. But here’s what’s crazy, I could function on them. I could do them and then do two hours on HSN [Home Shopping Network] and sell the hell out of some football merchandise. I knew this ends bad, just not today. Next day, this ends bad, but not today. Then you are three years later and it’s still the same thing.”

On WWE helping him with addiction:

“They reached out to me. It hit the news on TMZ and they reached out to me a day or two later. Johnny Ace and D-Von Dudley reached out to me on the day. No one knew I had a problem. I could maintain and I could hide it. I said it wasn’t a problem for me, but yeah it wasn’t sustainable. I needed that. It also hit me financially pretty difficult, but that’s just life. You are going to get kicked down, but it is about falling forward.”

On whether he was supposed to go through the second rope at the 2002 Royal Rumble:

“No. Taker f*cked that up big time. Of course he did, and I told him. I said ‘Listen, when you throw me out, you better…’ No honestly it was something that no one really thought about. It wasn’t a f*ck up at the time, it was something that just the spot was kicking him. Then the spot was him coming in and me cowering like ‘No I didn’t mean to do it.’ After that was just the chair shot. I will still say that is one of the hardest chair shots ever. Then the whole popcorn machine. No one ever thought about the going through the ropes scenario. Then it blew up on the internet. Maven’s not eliminated! They fixed it with the title shot against Jericho the next day.”

On being pitched the spot with The Undertaker:

“I dare to say that it was the spot. If you ask anyone to mention anything from the 2002 Royal Rumble, what are they going to say? I honestly have no clue who won that match. So at the time I was finally training and I was in HWA in Cincinnati. They flew to be to Atlanta and they said ‘You’re probably going to have a spot in the Rumble.’ I’m like OK maybe I will get to come out. But I had wrestled Taz a couple of times and I had also wrestled Booker T on SmackDown. I had a little bit more TV experience by this time. I get to the arena and I am walking to the ring. Shane [McMahon] and Taker come up and see me. They say ‘Mave, we want to tell you what we’ve got going on tonight.’ Already, Shane, why does he care? And why is Taker here? I thought it would be one of the agents coming up to me telling me ‘Hey you are coming in 17th and going out 18th.’ The they tell me. They are like ‘Taker is going to sh*t can everyone out. The Hardys, Lita, then you are going to come out. It’s going to be you and him. You’re going to hit him with that drop kick and eliminate him.’ I’m like ‘What?’ Taker, no lie, turns, looks down at Shane and says ‘Are you f*cking kidding me?’ I didn’t know. I thought he was being told this information at the time too. I’m like Jesus I’m dead. Please just die right now. Then he just turns and winks at me. That just shows what a professional he was. He was willing to put me over and to do that favour. It wasn’t just for me, it was for the wrestling business. I will spend the rest of my life answering questions about that for the rest of my life. He gave me a career.”

On not liking his theme song:

“I don’t love it. It’s the saddest thing because if people bring up The Undertaker thing first, they bring up my music second. That’s no joke. Everyone loves it but me. I feel bad because the band is great, it’s a good song. But here’s what it is, it’s just not the song I would have picked for me to come out to. When I was growing up and thinking late at night about the theme I would come out to, that isn’t it. What would I have picked? At the time I was probably into a bit more hip hop music. Or, to this day, if I need something to bump to, then Kickstart My Heart [by Mötley Crüe], old Metallica, stuff like that. Stranglehold by Ted Nugent. To me that’s the best opening music ever. But I love the song because of how much the fans love it.”

On missed opportunities:

“I could have been a lot better on the mic than a lot of the guys that they had. I definitely think they could have done more with me. They could have exposed more of my personality. Trust me, when I left and started doing stuff with TNA, I am a hell of a heel. I’m a damn good bad guy.”

On deciding to retire from wrestling:

“Retired? I did a show a couple of weeks ago. But as far as making my money from wrestling, retired? Fair enough. Other stuff came. I started ding the Home Shopping Network and that was the best job. I did it as a joke at first. It turned out to be the best place to work and I was good at it. Other opportunities came. When I got to speak on HSN for half an hour selling football jackets, no one is hitting me with a chair. It pays really well, who isn’t going to stay there?”

On who is the most successful Tough Enough contestant:

“I think is between The Miz and John Morrison. You got 2 guys that are amazing in-ring. The Miz is a former WWE Champion and has had success outside the ring. They used to bring us in when they did the future Tough Enough. I remember seeing John Morrison with his short hair, you could definitely see something in him. These guys followed in my footsteps, it’s crazy to think.”

On deciding to use steroids:

“I was told, I won’t say by who, that I was 205 and we need you to get a little bit bigger. I listened to that advice, but I would have sought that out regardless. Just to look good. If you look at me when I started compared to two years later it’s night and day. But looking like that, that’s the addictive part of it. You just feel great, you feel that hardness and it feels good. It’s not a euphoric feeling, you just feel it when you look good. It also gives you a psychological edge. I would go to the gym and I was like I am here so I’ve got to get my moneys worth. I had a doctor that was telling me how much of each to take. I was getting good stuff from good pharmacies that was shipped to my house completely legal, because it was prescribed. I have bought vehicles that were harder to get.”

On advice from The Rock:

“So it’s WrestleMania 18 in Toronto. I went in the Hardcore Champion and left the Hardcore Champion. I’m backstage and I am scared to death, there’s 70 something thousand people out there. The Rock sees this and he says ‘Mave, come here.’ So I go up to him and I think I’m going to get words of advice from the best. He goes ‘Hey, no one is really expecting much out of you. So just do the best you can.’ He turns around and walks away I’m like what the f*ck was that? He then turns and winks at me. That calmed me down. That one little joke, then it was like f*ck it lets have some fun.”

On what he is grateful for:

“Health, opportunity and family.”

Featured image: IMDB

Chris Voss is the former lead international hostage negotiator for the FBI and the author of the bestselling book, “Never Split The Difference”. He is also the founder and CEO of The Black Swan Group which offers negotiation training for businesses and individuals using Chris’s hostage negotiation tactics. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about how everything in life is a negotiation, he also discusses powerful negotiation techniques like mirroring and labelling, he describes the scariest situations he has been involved with while negotiating with kidnappers, gives tips on how you can get upgraded when you check into a hotel and much more!

On what negotiation is:

“It’s any time we are looking for a co-operation or an agreement. If you define it as just trying to get collaboration, and having a good relationship, there is very little it doesn’t touch.”

On when a negotiation can happen:

“It’s anytime that you see somebody. The most dangerous negotiation is the one that you don’t know you’re in. You don’t know for sure that you are going to ask somebody for something, partly because you don’t know if they have something they can do for you. I was just being really pleasant with someone on the phone the other day and she says ‘I’m going to give you 10% off.’ I had no idea that she could just throw that out there like that. Also at the grocery store. I’m going to the self service checkout, I try to minimize the amount of plastic I use, so I bring my own bags. I give a pleasant look to the guy supervising the self service checkout, and they give me a discount for using my own bag. How do you get to that point? You see somebody and it looks like they are having a tough day, that’s a cold read. It’s a good habit because you can help make the world a better place. Suddenly someone gives you something for free you didn’t know they could give to you.”

On how he learned things as a child:

“My father expected me to figure stuff out from an early stage, he expected that from all of his children. He was an entrepreneur, blue collar, Mid-Western guy. I think I was nurtured to figure things out. When I finally got introduced to communication in a really big way, I’m coachable and into learning. That’s what gave me an advantage in picking up negotiations.”

On if negotiation is manipulation:

“A lot of people are worried about that. Manipulation is about what’s your intent? Negotiation, tactical empathy, is a tool. You can use your powers for good or use your powers for evil. A knife in one person’s hand is an instrument of death. But in a surgeon’s hand, it’s a scalpel and an instrument of life. It’s all about what it has been used for. The tool itself is not evil, it’s how it is being wielded.”

On some of his scarier situations:

“Scary is a matter of definition. Negotiators work over the phone, even with kidnappings. There were times where [it was scary]. I once went to the Philippines and I got flown to the south, it can get dodgy down there. But I am a calculated risk guy. If people whose risk assessment tell me I’m good, I go on down there. We went down to the south and we were at a military installation. My negotiation partner, it was her first time overseas. When we get there, I ask what is the evacuation route? What I mean is where do we go if the terrorists overrun our position. I can feel the look she is giving me! I say to her ‘It’s not always like this.’ Yeah that was a dodgy one.”

On how bank robbery negotiations are in real life:

“The movies love bank robberies with hostages. The bad guy’s intention is to get out of the bank before the police show up, because the police are on their way. They have a tendency to get out there before the good guys show up. It is a rare event. Rational thinking is out of the window in these situations. This is a common thing because your biggest problem is your biggest problem. The bad guys will throw something crazy out there. If they ask for any means of escape, they want to live. Then we can talk them out. You want to listen to what is driving the other side. An escape demand means there is something there that we can talk about. If a guy says ‘I want a car in 60 seconds or the hostage dies.’ I think more about the future and the escape, because I know the hostage will not die. Every human will be thinking about the future.”

What if the clock drops to zero:

“If it drops down to zero and I am interacting with you, I am not going to say no. I will imply difficulty. I will say ‘That’s going to be difficult.’ ‘It’s chaos out here.’ I’m going to start telegraphing what is making it impossible. If the clock is still ticking, what’s the dynamic? I will say ‘It sounds like you won’t give me a chance.’ When I was negotiating a tenant-landlord deal I said ‘It sounds like nothing I can say will change your mind.’ The landlord came back and said what they wanted from the deal. If you can focus on the moment, it helps. If you are focused on the future, that’s when you worry.”

On how the tone of voice affects things:

“The baseball player Yogi Bearra once said ‘Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.’ Well Negotiation is 90% your tone of voice and the other half is the choice of words. That math doesn’t add up. The tone of voice is going to have a neurological impact on the person before you have even finished the word yet alone the sentence. So before your word is complete and the sentence is finished, you’ve spoken to someone and they do a 90 degree turn. Your brain reacts to a tone of voice before the sentence is done.”

On whether negotiations can still take place online:

“The answer is yes, but with caveats. Your tone is always going to be read harshly unless you put in softeners. I sent an email a long time ago with a one word response of no. The other person read it as a screaming no! If you don’t soften your words, it will be read harshly. We do that by using phrases like ‘I’m sorry.’ Also only make one point in your email, most make 7 or 8. Your job is to get across one point, some don’t read the emails to the end. Finally, leave a lasting impression. The opening statement should be at the end too.”

On using negotiation tactics to buy a car:

“If you say what the salesman is going to say, it leaves them speechless. I was in love with this car, the color, the mileage, there isn’t any leverage. Also it’s rare, if I want it, there aren’t 50 out there. So I say ‘I’m in love with this truck.’ He can’t point that out to me. Instead of using it against me I have deactivated one of his main arguments. I said ‘I can’t find this anywhere else, you could get more than what you are asking for.’ I end with ‘I can’t believe you are not charging more for this car.’ The salesman didn’t say anything, he blinked and he went to the back. In the end he came down to my price. But he went to the back 5 times and ever time I used his argument against him and it took the wind out of his sails.”

What he’s grateful for:

“I’m grateful for the little things. Today it was my coffee maker, my journal and the pen I used to write in my journal.”

More information on Chris’ negotiation services, The Black Swan Group, can be found here.

Featured image: New York Times

Dan Cummins is a comedian and podcaster and the host of three podcasts: Timesuck, Scared to Death, and Is We Dumb? He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about how he started his career in comedy, the massive success he has found in podcasting, why he moved out of Los Angeles and back to Idaho, where he finds inspiration for his comedy, advice for aspiring podcasters, and more!

On if he identifies as a comedian or a podcaster:

“I’ve kind of questioned that for so long. I was a comic, and then I did a few other things peripherally. I worked on some reality shows in production and few other things. But that was always something I would do on the side. It would be I am doing this but I am also doing stand-up. When I started the podcast, my agent was excited. The mentality was if it does well, more people will come to your stand-up shows. Then there was a big shift because of the pandemic. It was already shifting a bit before that, but then it became a small business. I didn’t have this huge business plan of I want to hire this person, then this person and this person. It was I wanted to keep working on the show and grow it, but I ran out of hours. Now I have to hire an audio engineer. Then I did another show, and I didn’t have time for social media. Before I know it, I have this small team and I became a small business owner. I haven’t done stand-up since March of last year, I’m going to go on tour again in August. Although I have notes, I’m really nervous. I identify now primarily as a podcaster who also does stand-up.

On going back to the stage after so long away:

“Oh I know I am going to be rusty. Everyone who doesn’t do stand-up tells me ‘You’re going to be fine, it’s going to be great.’ But I know how hard stand-up is. The thing with stand-up is that you are making something really difficult look easy. You are telling a story and just telling it off the cuff. But it took a long time to figure out the beats of that story. The only thing that makes me think it might be OK after a few shows is because when things were getting bad in early 2020, I tried throwing out as many new bits in my shows as I could. I didn’t think it was going to last that long, I thought we were going to get shut down. So I recorded them, and I have these recordings from my last show in Nashville. My plan is to listen to it a whole bunch of times, rinse and repeat the notes onstage. With stand-up you can be really transparent with the audience. What I’m not going to do is go up onstage and pretend to be like I was before. I am going to begin with ‘Hey guys, this is going to be weird. This is going to be different.'”

On how podcasting will help his material:

“I’m hoping that I have been able to work those muscles enough through podcasting, especially on the show ‘Is we don’t we do.’ The show is more reactive, my co-host presents information and I try to react to it in the moment, improv style. I try to build little vignettes out of it, which is kind of how you build the beginning of a stand-up bit. With stand-up I am doing all of that by myself, it’s different than just being in the studio. I have worked with guys who are really funny podcasters or really funny radio hosts, that’s actually my favourite. The radio show hosts do a five minute bit on stage, almost every time it’s really bad. They are in their bubble with their producer and their buddies. It’s very frat house and very insider. The they go to an audience of strangers. That’s what is so weird about stand-up, everybody knows that you are there to try and make them laugh. You don’t know what the people’s sense of humor is. It’s weird that it works.”

On if he thought he was going to be a comedian as a kid:

“No not at all. I felt like an outsider in stand-up for a long time. A lot of my peers said how they would watch Conan [O’Brien] late night and say how they wanted to do stand-up because of that. I didn’t have that, I didn’t dream of doing stand-up as a kid. I was happy to do those shows, but it was never that feeling of this is what I have been waiting for. It felt like it was my job and it was what I was supposed to do. My family wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor, because then it looked like I made it. I went to college and studied phycology, but I didn’t really have a plan. My plan kind of stopped at getting good grades. I thought when you get good grades, the universe hands you this amazing career. But I was so naïve. I went to this job interview and it shocked me how much it paid. Looking back I can’t believe I didn’t know the pay. I am doing the job and I asked my boss how I could move up. They told me that there was a ceiling and it was low. Comedy was a total whim. I had done theatre comedy in college. My wife said ‘There’s this amateur night in town, why don’t you do it?’ I did it and it was fun, I had never been to a comedy club before that. I went the next week and I really liked it. It was a very pragmatic thing of doing it on the side and then re-evaluate. It didn’t take much to surpass what I was making, so lets give it a go for a few years.”

On if the rejections affected him:

“You do[feel sad]. It took me a long time to get around that. It was devastating when they don’t want you. It’s not that they don’t want an idea from you, they don’t like you. They don’t believe that your voice is worth hearing. I think what helped me get around it is just how subjective the nature of comedy and art is. I would think that there are so many successful people I don’t resonate with. They don’t do it for me but they have so many fans. When I went to the Montreal comedy festival, I thought the executives knew more about comedy than anybody else. They do not. It’s just someone who likes what they like. If they like you, awesome, if not, well ok.” But you don’t need these gatekeeps anymore. If you have an audience or a YouTube following, it doesn’t matter. But 15 years ago, if they didn’t like you, then you’re done.”

On his decision to make a podcast:

“Initially it was motivated by failure. I couldn’t sell a show. It would have been different if I actually sold one. I worked on so many spec scripts and got close a few times. But second place is still last place. And when you spend all that time on it, no one is going to see it. It’s an all or nothing game. If the show doesn’t get mad, no one will ever see it. So if I make a podcast, and only 100 people listen, it’s better than zero. At least it’s not all or nothing. I got so sick of going nowhere. At least I can control podcasting and something is better than nothing.”

On the best advice he has gotten:

“Life-wise, my dad told me ‘Don’t get so caught up in what’s about to happen that you forget what is happening now.’ Take a second to enjoy what you have now. If you are listening to this, you are alive and it’s a gift. You don’t have the car you want, but you are still alive. It’s a great sunny day outside, I will go outside and enjoy the sunshine. They don’t last forever, enjoy them while you got them. Career wise, I was told that it’s show-business. There are 2 parts to that word and there is no shame in treating it like a business. Do you want to be in a gallery in London or on Venice Beach. There is no shame in getting a couple of bucks on Venice Beach, but if you want to get further, you have to treat it like a business.”

What he is grateful for:

“The love of my family, my health and the support of my fans.”

More information on Dan Cummins can be found here.

Featured image: Vanyaland

David Feldman is the Founder and President of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He joins Chris Van Vliet from Philadelphia, PA to talk about how BKFC has become the fastest growing sport in the world, the struggles he went through to get it sanctioned, what signing Paige Van Zant meant for the company, the offer they made to Mike Tyson to have a bare knuckle fight, the 5-year plan for him and BKFC, why he feels this is safer than MMA or boxing and much more!

Chris Van Vliet: It’s been a wild two years for you guys with Bare Knuckle F.C. What’s it been like for you on the inside watching this grow?

David Feldman: “Looking for the nicest restaurant to celebrate at and looking for the closest bridge to jump off of [laughs]. It’s been such a wild and crazy ride, but I mean it’s really just been an unbelievable experience that I couldn’t have even imagined when I thought of this thing. How fast this would grow and the kind of recognition and acceptance that we got so fast. I always thought this was going to happen, but I thought it would take 5 to 7 years to get where we are at now. We have a tremendous team, they did a really good job of coming together and having each other’s back. It’s been a tremendous ride and I am really happy with where we are at. I can’t wait for the growth.”

Chris Van Vliet: What did you think was missing from combat sports. I mean you’ve been around combat sports for pretty much you’re whole life. What do you think was missing that Bare Knuckle was going to fill?

David Feldman: “I don’t know so much if something was missing or there was something extra that could be added. I thought that if you could do something that is a little bit more fast paced in today’s environment, I like to call it the A.D.D [attention deficit disorder] environment. Everybody either has A.D.D. or thinks they have it. It was faced paced, exciting, shorter rounds and closer atmosphere. You’ve got nothing but action the entire fight. So I think that it could fit in to today’s society and they love it. It’s action packed, fast paced excitement. It’s the purest form of fighting that there is. We are giving the fans something great, the fighters are fighting their asses off. Everyone is doing tremendous and it seems to be working out.”

Chris Van Vliet: A lot of businesses have struggled so much during the last year and a half with COVID. BKFC has exploded, so what’s the secret here?

David Feldman: “It was really just forward thinking. This whole thing has been a risk. I gave ten years of my life to try and get this thing sanctioned. I didn’t know if it ever would get sanctioned, and finally it did. So I then gave the next two and a half years just trying to get this thing going. So I had to ram it down people’s throats because they didn’t know what it was. When COVID came, it was really just another speedbump. I’m not taking light of it. I feel so bad for everyone that lost their life or got seriously injured from this. I feel closer to those that lost their livelihoods. That was a tremendous setback for those individuals and I feel really bad.”

“But on that note we had to make something happen. Do we do a closed door show? I saw the UFC did one, it was tremendous and it was great for them to set the tone. But it didn’t have the atmosphere as much there. You didn’t hear the crowd and you didn’t see the atmosphere. So I said lets do a live event where we can have fans. We found a place in Oxford Mississippi. So July 24th 2020 we became the first live sporting event in the country with fans. Then we just moved on to September, October, November, December. We skipped January, then we did February around the Superbowl. It was KnuckleMania, a tremendous event for us. From there things have just started to explode. I think if you can give a fan a consistent product, they are going to like what they see and they will continue to be a fan. That’s how we were able to grow our fanbase.”

Chris Van Vliet: You talked about getting this sanctioned and getting this legalized. What does that process look like?

David Feldman: “Right now, I’m not going to say that it’s simple, but it’s a lot easier. It’s a different presentation to what I was presenting without any experience under my belt. Imagine I am going into a board of commissioners, ten of them, and I say ‘I want you to sanction bare knuckle fighting, because it’s safer than boxing and MMA.’ They are looking at me like what is wrong with this dude? How is he telling us that bare knuckle is safer. I would do two simple things. First thing I would do is have the main commissioner come over to the wall, and I would ask him to punch it with his bare knuckle. He would tap it a little bit. Then I would put a glove on him and ask him to do it again. Then boom, he would crack it. I then say ‘that’s my case.’ I didn’t have to explain it, they would get it. Then I would also imitate smashing my knee into someone’s head. I then ask ‘Which do you think is harder? The bare knuckle or the knee?’ They would all say the knee. Then I would ask ‘So why can’t I do this?'”

“From March 2018 to June 2018 they gave me that opportunity to be the first legally sanctioned bare knuckle fighting promotion. We just made a big splash that day. Now, because we were lucky enough to acquire the consulting of Dr Don Muzzi, who is the president of the Association of Ringside Physicians. He is the number one fight doctor is all of the country, he is our consultant. We have compiled data that shows that in our fights we have less injuries than in boxing and MMA. We have less concussions, less head trauma, less facial fractures and even less hand fractures. The only thing we have more of is more lacerations. We knew it as we were doing it but now we have data. You can argue my opinion all you want, but you can’t argue the data. The data is the data, it is what it is. that is what is helping to open up these doors that have been shut for so long.”

Chris Van Vliet: I feel like BKFC is being looked at the same way that UFC was being looked at 25 years ago. What’s it going to take to shift that mindset for the general public?

David Feldman: “I think it’s just staying the course really. Every fight people go to, they watch it and they love it, especially live. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s fast paced. It’s got that little bit of brutality to it. But they see the fighters walk out of the ring fine, not carried out on stretchers, not groggy, they just walk out of the ring. Yeah they are busted up, but you see a picture of them a week later and they are perfect. I think it is staying the course a little longer, getting these studies behind us. The really great thing is that next Wednesday BKFC becomes part of the Association of Boxing Comiisioners. It should be a lot easier for us to then open up these doors.”

Chris Van Vliet: Was there a possibility of BKFC being sold?

David Feldman: “I was offered a lot of money just last week to sell. I have to tell you I stayed up for two nights in a row just thinking do I take the money? But you know I am a passionate person. I’m not in it for the money. I have a core three or four people that have worked with me since the beginning. Some have worked for free for two years. Until I can change their lives and change my life at the same time, leave money for the next generation, that’s when I know it is time to go. By that time I am sure we are really going to change the minds of a lot of people.”

Chris Van Vliet: Is the hope to take some fans away from boxing and MMA, or are you trying to create a whole new fanbase?

David Feldman: “I think we will certainly borrow some fans from boxing and MMA. I’m not going to say that we will take them. I think that if you are a big MMA fan, you will stay a big MMA fan. Same with boxing. But there is always room for improvement of something different. I think what sets us apart for the common person is everybody in the world has either witnessed a bare knuckle fight or been in one. Also I think it’s more adaptable to the common person than boxing or MMA. I think we can certainly open up a new fanbase. The thing about BKFC is that we stay in our own lane. We market the way we want to market, we use some fighters from mixed martial arts and from boxing. We are gaining new fans that have never watched combat sports before. But we are here just to do our thing. We are here to build our thing up.”

Chris Van Vliet: Mike Tyson was a name that was thrown around with BKFC. How close was that to actually happening?

David Feldman: “I don’t know how close it was to actually happening. The offer was official, we talked to the team a couple of times. Everything about it was real. Did Mike Tyson want to get hit with a bare knuckle at his age? that was the big question. Ultimately the answer was no. He did his fight, which was a great fight against Roy Jones. But I don’t think they went in there at a war trying to kill each other. I think they went in there as more of a show. You know what, Mike Tyson, for all that he has accomplished, he deserves the opportunity to just entertain and get paid for it. That’s what happened for him.”

Chris Van Vliet: You’ve been so successful two to three years in. What’s the five year plan from now?

David Feldman: “Five years from now? That’s definitely sitting on an island somewhere. I got three to five years left in this thing. All the stress, I can’t spend as much time with my family. I want to be able to do those things and I can’t right now, they understand why. I can’t just sit at home, but in three to five years I can get it to a point where I don’t want to walk away from it, but I can consult whoever would be the predecessor. But I would love to be continually involved with it in some way, shape or form. It’s kind of like a baby to me. I hatched it and made it happen. I love this, it’s not a job, it’s something I really love. The fans love it and the fighters love it.”

Chris Van Vliet: We had Paige VanZant on the show a few months ago. I think when you guys signed her people went ‘Oh. This is the real deal if they are getting names like that.'”

David Feldman: “Absolutely. Paige did wonders for us. She wasn’t getting paid what she should have been getting paid. I think we overpaid her. I don’t mean we overpaid what her value to us is, I mean we overpaid her compared to what other people were going to pay her. She was worth every cent that we spent on her. She was the most expensive fighter that we ever had, on the most expensive card, and we brought in the most revenue. Definitely she was every bit as valuable to us as what we paid for her, so it worked for us. While other companies were bidding for her and we won that bid, people were like wow this is serious. I love the direction where this is going.”

Chris Van Vliet: What are three things you are grateful for?

David Feldman: “My team, Brian Peterson for giving me a shot and my family.”

Featured image: Sporting News

Wesley Blake (Westin Blake) is a professional wrestler known for his time in NXT and WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Orlando, FL to talk about his recent release from WWE, what he plans to do next, his time in “The Forgotten Sons” faction with Steve Maclin and Jaxson Ryker, his reaction to Jaxson Ryker’s tweets that derailed the momentum of The Forgotten Sons, his love of pro wrestling and football as a kid, his wife “Tough Enough” winner Sara Lee, how becoming a father changed him and much more!

On how being a father has changed him:

“I wouldn’t say it has changed my career path, it changes your focus. From our first daughter that we had four years ago, I still remember that day when Sarah told me that she was pregnant. We were at NXT at it was right before [TakeOver] Brooklyn 2. I had a match with Shawn Spears. That was an interesting day, when I got to the building, I didn’t know who my opponent was going to be. They were like hey you’re going to wrestle on the pre-tape before TakeOver. I think they were trying to figure out a thing with Kota Ibushi at that time. So I just sat there for hours waiting, I think it was Adam Pearce who kept coming up to me and saying ‘We don’t know who your opponent is going to be yet.’ It wasn’t until about an hour and a half before doors when I finally got told ‘Hey, you’re going to be wrestling Shawn Spears.’ I was like great. Then I get a phone call from Sarah. She said ‘Hey can I talk to you? Are you around anyone?’ I walked away and that was when she told me that I was going to be a father for the first time. With that sentence alone she made me the happiest man in the world. Two things I have always wanted to do is wrestle and be a father. When That happened I was overwhelmed. I felt bad though because she was in Orlando, I felt like I should have been there when she found out she was pregnant. When I got that news it switched my focus. I’ve always prided myself on work, trying to put the best product I can out there for myself. But that night I was driven. I wanted to steal the show and I want to show everyone what Wesley Blake was all about. I couldn’t have done it without Shawn he is excellent. That match will always be near and dear to my heart.”

On his new wrestling name:

“I’m going by Westin Blake. When I was in NXT the first time, I pitched a bunch on names. I was always told it’s best if you can have a name that you can connect with. I have an older brother named Blake, so that was a big driving factor. Most of my life I have been called Weston, because that’s my last name. When I gave them the list of NXT names, Wesley Blake was the winner. They had 3 or 4 on there, I can’t remember them but they were not that good.”

On what he learned from Dory Funk Jr:

“Every match he told me that you are going to learn something new, no matter if you are wrestling a guy for the 50th time or the very first time. With his foundations he was able to help evolve when the business was evolving. He has been around from the 70’s and still training athletes to this day. Someone like that to be like it’s always going to be evolving, wrestle how you want to wrestle. You never stop learning in that aspect of wrestling. Every opponent you learn something.”

On his times in WWE:

“Looking back I have nothing but great memories there. I felt like I was able to evolve with NXT as well from when I started in 2013 to where it is now. Winning the NXT Tag Titles with Buddy Murphy was one of the highlights. Getting with Steve [Cutler] and pitching The Forgotten Sons, that was another proud moment where we gave them something as an idea and they ran with it. Meeting my wife there and getting to start a life with her. Getting to travel and wrestle in places that I never thought I would be able to travel to. I got to wrestle in Paris in a circus tent, little stuff like that. Of course all of the friendships you get to make.”

On different names for The Forgotten Sons:

“When we first pitched the name we wanted to use Prisoners of Society or Prisoners of the System. We wanted to be these 2 guys who felt like we did everything right in life, but nothing was given to us. So we were going to take it by any means necessary. We pitched that but they didn’t like the Prisoners of the System. They thought that the name would bring NXT in a bad light. We then started pitching other names and The Forgotten Sons is what stuck. We were happy that they liked it so well.”

On how Jackson Ryker halted their momentum:

“The whole situation got halted. When we got called up we were told that we were going to be feuding with The New Day. It looked like we were going to be with them for the foreseeable future. Xavier Woods was out at that time, and I believe they had plans once he was ready to come back. They were going to have us do 6 mans, integrate with each other, stuff like that. Then that tweet happened. Steve and myself, we asked [Jackson] Ryker if he would take it down, but as a man of his own, he respectfully said no. So Steve and I told him ‘Well listen, we are going to separate ourselves from you with our own opinions.’ So we did. When Steve and I went to creative the next day at the Performance Center, we talked with some creative and we were told that we were going to let this blow over for about 2 o0r 3 weeks, then we will bring you back and you will still feud with The New Day. Then it was about a week later where we got a text saying ‘Nope, New Day is going with Shinsuke and Cesaro.'”

On how he handled the situation:

“When something like that happens, it’s something that you can’t weigh on. You can’t sit there and gripe about it. I did what I felt was right and what I felt was needed to help move on. After that Ryker has called me and has apologized. He never meant for that to hurt our careers or to dismember The Forgotten Sons. He is very apologetic towards me and Steve. That was one thing that I told Steve and I told Ryker ‘Now we have to move forward. I can’t sit here and keep blaming this or that.’ I’m going to try and make the best of a situation. Me and Steve started pitching ideas to get us onto TV again. Fortunately they did this thing where they paired us with Baron Corbin.”

On his plans for the future:

“I’m looking ahead to tell my story and to wrestle how I want to. When you are with WWE, you get to wrestle people from different backgrounds and cultures. But now I get to wrestle in front of different crowds. They won’t be WWE crowds, they will be more hardcore fans. It’s going to be exciting to work with guys across the globe. Hopefully get my story out there and get my craftsmanship up to a level that I would like. July 15th is the last day of my 90 days.”

On potential dream matches:

“That’s always tough for me, there’s so many talented people out there. You have AEW, who has a great, talented roster. But then you have IMPACT, ROH, MLW, New Japan, NOAH, all these stacked rosters with all sorts of experiences. It makes me giddy wanting to wrestle these rosters.”

On how he met his wife Sara Lee [Tough Enough winner]:

“We met at the Performance Center. When Tough Enough was coming out I used to go to a friends apartment and we used to watch it. I will never forget when they announced the 11 Tough Enough people. When Sarah came across the screen, I said to the guys ‘I don’t know what it is, but I think she is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on.’ It was crazy, this was before the show was even a thing. Just by fate, she ends up winning it. I was super proud of her. When you are that beautiful inside and out, it shows through the camera. I think that was what helped her win. We started talking on the NXT Combine. We were doing some weight room testing. We did the rower and I did so much where I threw up. I was in the weight room, head over a trash can as the girls were about to start, great first impression [laughs]. She was so sweet that later on that night she massed me on Twitter saying ‘Hey I hope you feel better.’ And from there it just took off.”

On what he is grateful for:

“My wife and kids, the friendships I have had and the life lessons I have learned in WWE.”

Featured image: Wrestling World

Wesley Blake can be found on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Darren McCarty is a retired NHL player, broadcaster and 4-time Stanley Cup Champion known best for his time the Detroit Red Wings. He talks about his role as an enforcer on the ice, his most memorable fights, being part of the “grind line”. his love for professional wrestling, how he went from the minor leagues to the NHL, life after his professional hockey career, his battle with addiction and much more!

On when he wanted to be a hockey player:

“To be completely honest, I was the kid that since 8 years old this was what I wanted to do. You told me ‘how do I get here?’ I say ‘You have to do this.’ Even if it’s breaking through a cement wall I will do it! I didn’t get drafted until I was 19 years old. Back in 1992, you didn’t go until the later rounds and you were a late bloomer. I grew up a Wings fan and they sucked in the 80’s. Also with my style, with Bob Probert, I knew he needed a Robin to his Batman. I don’t need to be the lead guy, I can be the meek. And the meek will inherit the earth. You give me a role and I will give you everything that I got. I need to know the why, not the right or wrong. If I know the why, I can correct it. It wasn’t my love of being physical or fighting, it was my love of my team mates and not doing it first.”

On how attributes have changed for players:

“With sports now it is more regulated. We understand that there is concussions and there are different rules. But the whole thing is that the game has changed. Like with wrestling, the 205 Live, there is a spot for everyone. The transition from my NHL where size would you get you anywhere. But now it’s speed, there is more opportunity now. When I grew up, if you were a big kid you would get more of a chance.”

On his NHL persona D-Mac:

“I always knew who D-Mac was. D-Mac is my wrestling persona, he is the guy. Darren McCarty didn’t understand who he was. I always knew how much the love and appreciation of your brothers you would get back. It doesn’t matter who it was, they knew I had their back. that is what wins you championships. My role was the enforcer, until I decide it’s not anymore. The game started changing and the priorities started changing. Hockey is what I did it’s not who I am.”

On why he loves hockey and the fights:

“We do what we do because the chicks dig scars. Off the ice I’m a lover not a fighter bro. You get some sympathy from that. I came from Ontario, I grew up with guys who worked in the fields and family businesses. If I didn’t take the opportunity, the I am doing a disservice to the boys. A lot of the stuff I got myself into I knew it wouldn’t end well, but that’s the way it is. You have to be accountable for what you do. I never wanted to miss that moment. You never know if it’s going to be taken away. I know how things will end now and I’ve been there and done that.”

On people trying to fight him and his love of wrestling:

“I tell everyone you get 3 shots. It’s either kill me, knock me down or it’s my turn. It makes people think when they pull back the swing, you will never get the shot in. With who I surround myself with, there never is any trouble because they have my back. I just turned 49, the priorities are different than what they were when you are younger. I tell people my favourite sport is wrestling, because it’s scripted. I’m a storyline guy, I don’t have to like it but it has to make sense. The forbidden door, I love that! When they have control, it gets them interested. It’s the love and the passion to what you want. I have regained my love bigger than it was when I was a kid. Now I have friends in the business, I go around the independents. I want to see the kids succeed. I can’t physically help people on the ice but I can tell people mentally.”

On being a fan during the Attitude Era in WWE:

“Yeah man suck it! The Road Dogg was my dude man! The wrestling is a dance, it’s such a brilliant script. With technology and social media, you feel like you know the real people. There is a place for kayfabe though. Some Cold was my guy growing up. I would stun people in the locker room. Mathieu Dandenault was The Rock, he could do the eyebrow really well. We made Mike Knuble be Mankind because we would always beat him up. We loved it. Being at the Joe Louis too, I got into it with D’Lo Brown and Hardcore Holly.”

On winning The Stanley Cup:

“There’s a superstition that you can never touch the cup unless you have won it if you were playing. How heavy is this thing? You hear that it 35lbs but it’s as light as a feather. I’ve been fortunate to do it 4 times. Each one is like a kid, I don’t have a favourite. Each story to get here is a lot different.”

On training to be a better fighter:

“Yeah I boxed every summer for about 10 years with a guy called Al Irish. I did that for conditioning. If you want to get in the best shape of your life do some rounds of that. I also did some MMA stuff because I like that sh*t. I’m not the biggest guy so I need to be able to fight these bigger guys. It wasn’t that I wanted to learn, it was more getting into shape. I sometimes had 2 minute rounds on the ice. I will fall over skating in a straight line but in a hockey fight I’m like a ballerina.”

On stepping away from the ice:

“For me it wasn’t difficult. For me, I checked out in 2004 when I decided to do my band Grinder. Hockey at that point was a business. I wasn’t happy in my life, I was going through a divorce and other stuff. So I was coming out of my 4th rehab and trying to be around my kids. I was having lunch with my friend and I was like I think I’ve got something left. When I said I was just looking for a chance, I had to make sure I was sober. I got a 2 week try-out in Grand Rapids and I scored a hat trick. In the end, they needed me more in the dressing room, because those were my guys. I got hurt again and I was done, I had proven it to myself. I was supposed to ride into the sunset but that didn’t happen. Also I was struggling with alcohol, over 300lbs and had high blood pressure. I got clean and realized why I was kept alive. It was for this plant cannabis. 11/11/2015 was the last time I took a drink or a pill. In Michigan, cannabis is legal and I have created my own CBD. I am never high, I am medicated. Instead of passing out from booze, you have a plant that can work with your system.”

On struggling with alcohol:

“In my life there is no rock bottom, there is just an endless pit. The truth is, as an alcoholic no matter how much time you have away from alcohol, if you go back you are right back at the start. I have abused my body if I drink now I will be dead. Now I am in better shape than when I was playing. It wasn’t until I had that physical relief. With alcohol I would die. I’ve had so many different things you wish you wouldn’t have done. But you did them, I did it, I will own up to it.”

On now being sober:

“When you are an alcoholic it’s the lifestyle and the pain relief. I went years and years not drinking when we were in the playoffs. But I knew there was always a date. Now there is no date. Also I couldn’t get to sleep. I’m not a machine but alcohol can help switch the brain off.”

On what hockey has taught him:

“Never give up. Never get up off the ice. You can stay down, but when you are ready to get up, then get up. As long as you don’t quit, you are still in the game. And you are not alone. There is somebody out there that is connected with you. It’s the get knocked down and get back up. Through injuries and everything else. The biggest thing is to get outside of yourself. If you are having a tough day, go and do something for somebody.”

On what he is grateful for:

“My best friend who is also my wife, the health of all my kids and people around me.”

Featured image: NHL

Kaliso (aka Samuray Del Sol) is a professional wrestler and entrepreneur. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Orlando, FL to talk about his 8-year career in WWE and being released in April of this year, what his plans are next, the businesses that he has started, his love of horror movies, the storyline he pitched for a mask vs. mask match with Rey Mysterio, the meaning behind his luchador mask, why his wife “Lady Lucha” wears a mask, how he transformed his body and got into incredible shape and much more!

On what his new name is:

“Samuray Del Sol, that’s the name that I started with. I actually started with Samurai first, the I had to spell it differently, with a Y, just to be different. I started as Samuray Del Sol in Chicago, that’s where I adopted the name. Then everything else is history.”

On how Brodie Lee helped him through tough times:

“That’s really hard. I’m going to talk about the time that I got injured. I got injured back in 2019. That was a life changing experience for me. Two months before, I was in a bad place. You know, when things don’t go the right way, the way you had planned, you let it get into your head. I was in my own head, I was going through so much stress. Two months before I got injured I reached out to my good friend who has now passed, Brodie Lee. Just before this interview, I was looking at the last text messages he sent me. It was the usual ‘Hey, how are you? How is the family?’ First of all he was like ‘Who is this? New number.’ I was like ‘It’s Mani bro, Kalisto.’ He was then like ‘Oh hey bro what’s up.’ I looked at my response, and I responded to him ‘Trying to reach God.’ Why did I text that? Man I was in a bad place. His response was ‘Oh how’s that going?’ I’m like oh good old Brodie [laughs]. He was so great man. The last thing he told me was ‘I miss the boys.’ I just get chills thinking about it. I reached out and he listened. I’ve been through so much.”

On getting injured and very ill:

“After that, two months later in December 2019 I got hurt at The Staples Center. It was the last week in December. I signed on the Friday [my new contract] and I got hurt on the Sunday. When I got hurt, I got super sick. When I got home, I went to the hospital and I told my wife that I’m not feeling good. Throughout the whole flight it was the worst. I was super sick. This was my breaking point that helped me be awake. Once I got back to Orlando, they tell me I have a 105 fever. They ask me ‘Do you feel sick?’ I say ‘No it’s just my shoulder. I’m in a lot of pain. I keep shaking’ They say I have a torn shoulder. I could have surgery but I am trying to avoid it. I say ‘Just give me anything I am in pain.’ So they give me Percoset, and I feel like a zombie. So I was going through hell that night, I was falling out of love of wrestling. I was listening to Buddy Murphy’s interview with you, we have a lot of similarities but different paths. I have a lot of respect for Murphy. I couldn’t go to the hospital, I couldn’t go to therapy, I was stuck at home. I am assuming I had COVID, no one knew what it was and I had it bad. On top of that I had a rotator cuff tear. I was going through a lot.”

On how he has inspired fans:

“On top of that, the media. I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I can’t hate social media, because that’s where all my fans are. Those people rely on me, but the other fans ruin it for me. The thing with me, I was in a fast spot. I feel throughout my whole life and my whole career, I felt under utilized and under valued. That’s why I believed in myself. I am a human being, I can go off track. But it takes long for you to get back on track. You work so hard for what you love and you see no change. As one of the few Latinos in sports entertainment, my major goal is to be a symbol outside of wrestling. Not just in Lucha Libre. There always one fan in Mexico that dressed like me. She would say ‘I am not a fan of Lucha Libre, but I love it when you scream “Lucha” Why is that? Every time you scream and you fight that struggle when you are down. That made me want to be a doctor.’ I just wanted to cry, I was like please wear this US Title, you inspire me! It’s more than just wrestling. My mask means more than that, it’s a symbol that no matter what you do, you can be a superhero. You can be a symbol of hope, you just need that motivation.”

On mental health struggles:

“Me being injured, I thought about so much. When I was driving and I was in a bad place, I thought about driving off tracks sometimes. Because no matter what I did, I couldn’t do anything to make people happy. Then I realized I was not happy. I had to change and stop thinking about what people think about me. I had to think about myself, and I have never done that. I’ve always been nice, always done everything right. I worked so hard, Vince even said I am a hard worker. We always had a good relationship, I just wished we talked more. We just never got that chance, that’s one of my biggest regrets.

On his biggest regret in WWE:

“My biggest regret is not pitching my idea to Vince. Pretty much the whole world knew except for Vince. [I wanted to do] a mask vs. mask match against Rey [Mysterio]. I had Rey’s blessing, Dominik’s blessing, everyone. They all loved it. I showed it to Paul Heyman too. Paul said ‘This is genius, do it.’ I was like let’s do this! It’s just such a good story, it’s my biggest regret not talking to Vince about it. Right before I was going to, I got released.”

Chris asks if Samuray was prepared to wrestle without a mask:

“I was prepared for anything, I had such a great story that nobody would have expected. So for Paul Heyman to say that’s genius, I got something. The writers, everyone loved it. I even showed it to Daniel Bryan and Edge, they loved it. But it’s my own fault. I should have gone [to Vince].”

On if not pitching the match was his biggest regret:

“I believe so. It was such a good story. Not only that, I chose to better myself and to be different. I had a Hollywood acting coach help me with my promos. On top of that, coming back in the best shape of my life. I laid everything down and let my actions speak, words are useless. But it takes so much, I am human. When you work so hard and you see everything around you, you ask yourself why? Maybe I’m not working hard enough, so I work harder, and I get wiser. It’s still not enough. That was my whole career and my whole life. I have always been under utilized, but then I hear I had a great show. OK then put me in the main event. It’s just I am a human being, it’s hard. But at the same time I look at what I have been through. When I started, I had no friends and no connections in wrestling. I knew nobody. Everything on my own, I went out there and got it. I went out on the red carpets, the Latino game shows, the Latino publicity. Nobody else has done that. Then again, I’m the one trying to make a difference. I’m just saying that even being in GQ Mexico is a big deal. It doesn’t hit me until now. Look at what I have accomplished. Now I don’t know.”

On if he knew he was going to be released:

“Deep down I did. I wanted to lay everything down on the table and say ‘Here it is. I am giving you my best. You take it or you don’t.’ They didn’t and I feel good.”

On how he got into incredible shape:

“So coming back that was my major goal. I got hurt in 2019 and I got COVID, I was out for about 8 months. I did my own therapy, my own fitness and workouts. I started going to the Performance Center here and there. My main focus was when I come back, all eyes are on me. Not only are they going to see my new look, they are going to see my new body. that is exactly what happened. When I went to talk to Vince, I decided to show up at The Amway Center. I had a shirt on that said ‘impossible.’ I wondered if he got it. So the shirt was covered so he didn’t know I was ripped. We [Lucha House Party] did a segment and I go back and they are in a meeting. I think it was Shane, Vince. I kid you not, I turn around and say hey ‘Hey Vince how are you doing?’ He goes ‘Goddammit pal! You’re f*cking ripped!’ Man that was awesome. I looked at myself and said ‘This is my I don’t give a f*ck body, thank you boss.'”

On his mask design:

“Each spike represents the style I have developed throughout the years. [There is] Lucha Libre, Japanese and American. The American style goes down the middle because WWE has their own style. I was blessed that I went to NXT first. I learned a lot and it made me wiser as a wrestler. These are they styles I have developed. The design of the wing is the type of high flyer I am. The tail at the back represents my journey. Every color has meaning too. It could be for cancer, diabetes, autism, anything. So to me, the mask means a lot. If you are going to wear a mask, I suggest you take your time and you pick every symbol that you feel strongly about. The wings, the type of spikes, why are you going to do that?”

On why his wife started wearing a Lucha mask:

“She started wearing a mask when we started doing all of the red carpets. Even on the Latino Family Feud, which was my family vs. Rey Mysterio’s family. But my wife wanted to wear a mask to support me. Her first time wearing a mask was in 2011 in Mexico. This was before WWE. We were at the Expo-Lucha. All of the big shows are there. [the show time] From 8-until midnight. My wife was like ‘It’s a long day what am I going to do?’ I said ‘I will make you a mask and you are going to come out with me.’ There was like 10,000 people. She was so nervous! But it was a fun experience for her. She did it a couple of times in Mexico and that was it. She also wears a mask because she wants to be a symbol for women empowerment, which is great. Even though the mask has my eyes, which is unique to my mask. The eyes mean everything to me, it will be on everything. So that’s why I told my wife ‘it can mean women empowerment. Your mask will represent women empowerment and mine will represent hope.’ We can all be a part of that and part of the Lucha family. So that’s what we did, everyone knew us. My major goal was to be a start outside of WWE. Now WWE is great, they are doing their job on booking me and getting me out there. But my wife, she is the one helping me and letting me know when the Latin Grammys are coming up. My wife helped me, so did the media. There were not a lot of Latin people that understand how we work. It was difficult at first but we made it work. We went out there and people knew us, even though they are not WWE fans. WE are just trying to be a voice for everybody.”

On where the Lucha chant started:

“The Lucha chant started in 2010 in Miami WrestleMania. I started it in 2010 and I brought it to WWE. I started using the Lucha Lucha chant when I was feuding with El Generico. He was using his ‘Ole’ chant and I thought that really connected with people. How can I connect with the people. Oh ‘Lu-cha Lu-cha.’ I brought it to WWE and the rest is history. They still play it on RAW so it’s pretty cool.”

On how the theme song came to be:

“I’ll tell you how it happened. We were in NXT and we were trying to figure out a theme song. me and Sin Cara were just thinking what is our entrance music going to be? All of a sudden it just happened. I’m like oh that’s my voice from a promo. I could have recorded it if you told me. I’m like cool I’ll go with it. My old theme was more rock like, but they made it more kid friendly. I don’t mind that, the kids are my friends.”

On his favorite WWE moment:

“Man it’s hard to say. My favorite moment throughout my whole career in WWE was that one minute where I had the faceoff with Rey at the Royal Rumble. I never stepped in the ring with Rey. My whole life and my whole career I have been compared to Rey Mysterio, which is great, it’s awesome. But I am my own person. I want to create my own legacy.”

On a possible WWE return:

“I’m not going to hold my breath. I’m just going to focus on me. I am going to focus on my mental state, which is very important. I’m going to try and fix myself first. I’m trying to see what I can do. I like challenging myself a lot. I have never boxed before, but I want to box. The reason I became a wrestler was because of my grandma. My grandfather wanted me to be a boxer. Not only that, all the [boxing] pay per views, my dad would bring home a box of oysters. We would sit there, hammer open the oysters, watch the pay per view and that was our night. This was as kids, which was pretty cool. I’m still going to wrestle here and there. If the time is right, here and there, I am going to give it a shot.”

On being on Family Feud:

“So going back to me representing Latinos outside of WWE, Family Feud was amazing. I got in contact with my family and Rey got in contact with his in Mexico. They were in awe, they were so excited. That was the first time I faced Rey Mysterio in anything. I was blessed to be on that gameshow. It was fun, it took about 8 hours but it was fun.”

On John Cena’s Luchador persona “Juan Cena”:

“It was cool and it was interesting. Me, Lince and Metalik got together and were like ‘Yeah he [John] has a mask, he is Juan Cena.’ Lince, I and Metalik went to talk to him and he was like ‘what do you think?’ We were like ‘it’s cool.’ So he went ‘OK, I will bring it next week.’ He brought it and he was like ‘Si cabrones [yeah f*ckers]. Lu-cha Lu-cha.’ I’m like alright this is so dope man. I love the fact that John never says no. He will sit down if you have a question, he is always willing to give you time. It’s a whole different world to how it was when I first got there. I was feuding with Alberto Del Rio when I first got there. I was picking John’s brain a lot. He gave me such great advice on how to hear the crowd, how to control the crowd, so many good techniques and advice. He is a great person to talk to, he is so cool. I wish I could have talked to him more.”

On winning the United States title:

“It didn’t hit me until I got in the back. 2 weeks before that, Sin Cara got hurt. We were supposed to be in a tag team feud with The New Day. Sin Cara did a dive onto Big E and he hurt his shoulder. I’m like oh great, what’s going to happen now? The following week I went to Vince’s office to the first time, I’m like f*ck it. I had a great conversation with him. I called him boss or ‘hey sir.’ He’s like ‘You have a lot of potential, you’re going to go far.’ I was going to talk to him next week but they [writers] were like you are in a program with John Cena. I’m like OK cool. Then you are in a match with Del Rio for the title. I’m thinking how is he going to win? But the professional that I am, you throw something at me, I will put on a show. When that [the title win] happened, they told me the finish right before I went out there. Del Rio helped me so much. We went at it, and when I won, I’m in the back and I start tearing up. I’m in the back and it started hitting me when Del Rio in front of Vince and me said ‘You see this kid. This kid is ready. You need to do something with him.'”

On what he is grateful for:

“My fans, my family and WWE.”

Samuray Del Sol can be found on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Featured image: WWE

Buddy Murphy (Matt Adams) is a professional wrestler known best for his time in WWE and NXT. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Orlando, FL to talk about what his plans are since being released from WWE, his thoughts on signing with AEW, growing up in Australia, what he learned from being tag team partners with Seth Rollins, the original plans for why he started going by just “Murphy”, his storyline and kiss with Aalyah Mysterio, why he is grateful for Alexa Bliss, his opinion of Tommy End (Malakai Black) in AEW and much more!

On his new physique:

“It was a strategically taken picture. I look a lot bigger than what I actually weigh. I don’t hold much water, so if you take the water weight out I’m maybe a little smaller. My last match in WWE, I think it was around WrestleMania Battle Royal, I was about 200lbs. But visually I look a lot bigger, it’s just a number on the scale to me. Right now I am about 213-215. But I definitely gained size, my strength is really good at the moment. I had a bad mentality when it came to food, especially towards the end of my run in WWE. I would diet like crazy Monday to Friday, in hopes that maybe Friday is the day. I always wanted to be ready. I didn’t want to be that guy where when his ticket is called, he is not ready. Also I have been training at a wrestling school for the last 6 months in case you need a 20 minute match that I can go. I’ve also spent more time in the gym so when I take my shirt off I look good. Every time is like a job interview, you just don’t know. But then you get to Friday, you don’t see your name on the sheet and you binge eat on the weekend. Then Monday comes and it starts again. So I’m eating more now, nothing has changed except for being ultra lean heading into a TV taping. I’m not binging and on a bad cycle.”

On his initial weight loss:

“So I was originally about 230lbs. I hated wrestling in NXT. Once the tag team broke up I was off TV for a long time. We were promised stuff like me and Blake were going to get this thing, that never happened. When we finally got our match, it was 30 seconds, Samoa Joe wiped us out and we were never seen on TV again. So then I’m doing live events and I’m sometimes booked but not booked. Or I am wrestling guys that were 7 foot but didn’t really know what they were doing. I just wasn’t enjoying wrestling, and my fiancée at the time was always on the road. I’m here working a job that I wasn’t enjoying and looking after the animals. I needed something for myself so I started looking at the gym. I started changing my body and learning about nutrition. From there I kind of lost a little bit of weight. I wasn’t the full 230, I was about 218.”

On how he got to 205 Live:

“I wanted to go to the cruiserweight division because I thought it was my style. They weren’t doing anything with my in NXT, I’m doing all the right things every day but I’m not getting any proof that I am doing any good because I’m not doing anything. That’s where the best kept secret came from, you’re telling me how good I am but no on knows. They only know the enhancement guy who was in the tag team. The people in NXT knew what I was capable of, but the rest of the world didn’t. I’m not saying I am the best in the World, because we have one of them, but I have the potential. I wanted to go to the cruiserweight division for such a long time. I was yelled at, I was kicked out of meetings for mentioning it. I end up reaching out to Adam Pearce secretly via Twitter. I said ‘Hey man I see you are doing this tournament. I don’t know if all the spots are finished, but I would love to throw my name in the hat. Weight is not an issue.’ I was doing a live event from NXT somewhere and I got a call from Ryan Kats. He said ‘Hey, what’s your availability on Saturday?’ I said ‘What are you talking about?’ He said ‘Didn’t you know? You’re debuting on Tuesday, we need a creative vignette.’ I didn’t even know. I went in there and filmed it, and I did have to weigh in. I had to go in there and prove that I was under 205lbs. I just went to the sauna, didn’t eat and weighed in.”

On moving to the main roster:

“My whole time in the cruiserweight, loved it. I can’t be more appreciative of my time in 205 Live. It was fun, I was creative, I was having great matches. We felt like we had a little bit of pull and we could suggest stuff and it would be considered. It was an awesome group of guys, we all travelled together. I win the title, do some great stuff, go to WrestleMania, lose it, pass it to Tony Nese. And then I get drafted to SmackDown. I’m like this is it! But then I don’t do anything for 4 to 5 months. The I just so happen to accidently be in the background of a Roman shot, which gave me a spotlight and had the internet talking. When the internet talks they [WWE] can shy away from it. But luckily in my case, they brought attention to it. Then I had this killer match with Roman and the week after I had this killer match with Bryan. Then I was in the King of the Ring against Ali. 3 weeks in a row I have killer matches, but then I’m just dropped. I didn’t understand it. I was in talks with [Paul] Heyman, and he was going to take over RAW. I assumed that he had spoken up and said he wanted me, and the people of SmackDown didn’t want to use me. They didn’t want to highlight someone who is going to Mondays. They say that if Paul wants to advocate for you, it can work for you or against you. Maybe it worked against me, but I felt like I was delivering. Did I lose out or did you?”

On going from Buddy Murphy to just Murphy:

“That was my idea. But the whole story behind it was never told. So I was talking to Michael Hayes and he goes ‘Buddy!’ I’m like ‘Hey Michael what’s up?’ He goes ‘Buddy, it’s too friendly.’ So I’m like maybe I should go back to Murphy. In NXT it was Blake and Murphy, I don’t need Buddy. Maybe because I am this disciple character, and Buddy doesn’t fit. I said ‘Well how about I sacrifice my given name for the greater good?’ Now I am becoming a reborn to Seth. I’m giving away my birth name and I will be known like a number for the greater cause. Next week, I am just Murphy, never explained. The whole idea was I am doing this for Seth and when I leave Seth, I go back to Buddy Murphy. I didn’t like that. They could have explained it a lot. The fact that we are talking about it now, they are questioned that should not have to be answered a year and a half later.”

On the angle with kissing Aalyah Mysterio:

“I wasn’t comfortable kissing Aalyah. I did that because it was my job and it was going to create more drama in the story. Originally, there was no kiss scripted. They [the producers] went and they talked to Vince about something. They come back and they pitch it to me but they are kind of like weird. Then they say ‘…and then you kiss her.’ I start laughing and go ‘f*ck off.’ But then they are like ‘No we are serious.’ I look at the other producer and he was like [nods head]. I’m like ‘No way! How did you come back with this?’ My whole thing was I had to play it very carefully. I said to them ‘I’m not going to express feelings to her. I can’t pursue her, she has to pursue me.’ This was because of the age difference. You don’t make it any easier when you use my birthday as ‘the message.’ So now you have given them [fans] the information of how old is he? How old is she? What? I think them saying ‘Happy birthday’ basically just outed that. I wasn’t comfortable with it, but they didn’t help with the situation. I’m like ‘What does she [Aalyah] think about it’ They go ‘She’s cool with it.’ I’m like ‘What!’ They went to her first, I thought she was going to shoot it down. So then I go ‘What about Rey?’ they say ‘They’re OK with it?’ I’m like well if they are OK with it, I can’t be the one that goes whatever. I was very blunt with them, I can’t pursue her, if I do, I’m a creep. I’m a ‘pedo’ as people say on the internet. If she goes for me, she’s an empowered woman that knows what she wants. I think they sold her on a Hollywood style kiss. I’m not in Hollywood, what’s a Hollywood style kiss? They explain the camera shots. We are live on TV you can’t do these behind the head camera shots. There’s 8 cameras on you, who knows which one they are going to shoot you on. If there’s a gap, the whole thing is done. Seth was nervous about it, because this whole storyline rides on this one kiss. I’m uncomfortable, and she’s new. We are out there and about to cut the promo and I said to her this needs to look good. If you have any second minds, I am giving you the green light. Do whatever you want, it’s 100% you. Do what you need to do, this needs to look good. It looked great, the aftermath wasn’t great for me. But we are both adults, we are both acting, we gave each other a high 5 after it and that was it.”

On troubles for international stars:

“Imagine you had to pack your life up and you had 10 pairs of shoes. You then had to narrow it down to one pair of shoes to bring to your next life. For no reason, for a budget cut. It’s disheartening when you break it down like that. A budget cut could cost me my life, I have dogs, I own a house. I know The IIconics have been very open about it. I think a system needs to come out. They do these programs with substance abuse, there needs to be something with internationals after it happens. You give me money and tools to build a life, and on a budget cut it gets torn up. It’s disheartening. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, at the end of August we will see what is next.”

On the non compete clause and mass releases:

“The 90 days is to kill all buzz and all hype. It’s so you don’t have any momentum when you go somewhere else. I’m not going to blow my load in the first week. I have to expand it over the 3 months. That’s why I drop the progress photo. Then I will drop something else. I feel like they hoard a lot of talent, and now they are saturating the talent. It is a business move I believe they are making. If you send out 3 guys, they can do what they want. If you send out 40 guys, the work gets cut. But wrestling can boom again. Now the pandemic is ending, more talent can go to the indies, and the fans can see it all.”

On the best advice he got in WWE:

“It’s tough, because I used everything, stripped it down and learned. When I would finish a match, I didn’t care about what I did good. What was sh*t? I can fix the bad things and then become better. Seth was massive with this stuff. I would go what about ‘buh buh buh?’ And he would hit back with ‘That sounds good, but what about buh buh buh?’ I would break that down and go why did my mind go A but his go B? Why are we on 2 different wavelengths. I don’t know if I annoyed Seth by asking all these questions. But literally and figuratively I was his disciple. Working with Roman was great because he worked on selling. With the cruiserweights it was so fast, Roman was like slow it down.”

On what he is grateful for:

“For WWE, for Alexa Bliss and the next steps.”

Buddy Murphy can be found on Twitter here and Instagram here.

Featured image: WrestlingWorld.co

Travis Chappell is an entrepreneur and the host of the “Build Your Network” podcast. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his studio in Las Vegas to talk about how anyone can make money from their podcast, tips to book better guests, the secret to getting more downloads, how he has recorded almost 650 episodes of his show, how to bring value to everyone you interact with and much more!

Why he wanted to start podcasting:

“I wanted to make money [laughs]. But I quickly realized you have to change your strategy up because podcasting is not the thing to make money. I was at a position in my life where I was trying to make money online. I just wanted to build a lifestyle for me and my family to make money while I am travelling. At the time, I wasn’t in that position. I am a millennial, if I want to do anything in business, it has to be online. I had no experience or connections, but I had to figure it out. So I started listening to some of the top podcasts on iTunes. When I realized how much they were making I was like wow, I should be a podcaster. I started a show but realized you don’t just zoom up to 1 million downloads a month and make $100,000 a month in 90 days. I had to go back to the drawing board.”

On advice for new podcasters:

“What is the ultimate goal of starting your podcast? Do you have any existing leads or an existing business? Do you work 9 to 5 that you enjoy but you don’t want to do it forever? So you want to leave that and podcast full time in 5 years? Do you want to talk crap with your buddies in the garage? There’s so many different reasons to get into podcasting. I think you should be as clear as you can. You should take stock of the goal every month. If it is still something you want, then you should keep going. After clarity, it is important to find your niche. All the other questions will be ran through the filter of who you are creating the podcast for.”

On the success of Joe Rogan in podcasting:

“Now that he [Joe Rogan] is on episode 1341 people are now finally listening. Also with Rogan he hit the perfect timing in the right market that no one was paying attention to. He was one of the few people that was already a celebrity but became an A-List celebrity through a podcast. There’s a bunch of A-list celebrities that have started a podcast and furthering their audience like Kevin Hart. But there’s not a lot of people who did what Joe Rogan did. Before it was ‘Oh is he the Fear Factor guy?’ He was barely in the limelight, but he exploded in popularity just from his podcast.”

On how to be successful:

“Consistency is everything. The number one killer of shows is lack of consistency. The reason to start a show is like and trust. If the audience can’t trust you to release episodes consistently, how are they going to trust you to do anything else for them. We started at 3 episodes a week, then we moved to four. Now we are at 6 episodes a week that we are releasing. Consistency is super important. I tell people consistent quality content over a long period of time is the key to success.”

On people getting frustrated and stopping their content:

“I understand it. I was 18 months in and doing 3 episodes a week. Also I wasn’t doing the podcast full time, I was working to pay the bills. I understand that perspective. If I didn’t make a commitment to put a certain amount of time in, I probably would have given up on it. It makes sense why people quit. If you are fully committed, it makes sense to throw in the towel when you are 6 months or even 14 months in. You are talking into a microphone and no one is hearing what you are saying.”

On the turning point for his podcast:

“Guests. My big thing was getting guests on the show. For me, the quality content was not going to come from me. It made sense that people were not going to listen to this because of me. They are going to listen to me because I can find guests and ask quality questions. Then report that information back to my audience. You don’t have to be an expert to get started, but you have to get started to become an expert. That was the position that I took and when my podcast took up steam. I was then asked to be on podcasts with people who have big audiences, because they would look at my guest line-up. That gained traction from my show and we built from there.”

On how he books guests for his show:

“We have a 5 step process for getting people for the show. It was done through hundreds of reach outs, lots of rejection and ignoring. But eventually we got a good idea of what it is. The first thing is lead with value. I’m going to say something nice about what someone is up to lately, but it can’t be disingenuous. Number 2 is give information. This person is busy, they don’t say yes to a lot of things. If you ask for their time, you have to give them information in the reach out. If not, you give them homework. Number 3 is build your request. Number 4 is offer credibility. This answers the question of if this will be a waste of time. I write out a list of former guests that is relevant to that person. The last thing is finishing with a thanks in advance, it creates this psychological loop where they want to do it a little bit.”

On the biggest obstacle for him:

“Growth. That was a big thing for a long time. It was so slow it was like a snail or watching grass grow. I was like why isn’t this working? I was going to figure it out eventually, I just didn’t know how. Growing the audience was the biggest obstacle.”

On if people can still make money from podcasting in 2021:

“100%. It’s all about the long term. What are your goals and how will you get there. I believe that in 2021 everyone should have a side hustle, especially if your job doesn’t fulfil you. It’s an outlet that will let you create and will fulfil you. A podcast is a great way to start a side hustle, it’s a lot of fun. You can pick it on a topic you care about, and talk about it with whoever you want to. It’s 100% possible if you are prepared to out the work in. But it better be something you want to talk about in 3 years.”

On what he is grateful for:

“A supportive family, my kids and all the small things.”

More information on Travis Chappell can be found here

Featured image: American Snippets

Jay Lethal is a professional wrestler currently working for Ring of Honor. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about “Best in the World” which is ROH’s first show with fans on July 11. He also discusses how he broke into the business, the difference between working hard and being lucky, his time in Impact Wrestling as “Black Machismo”, working with Ric Flair and the viral “WOOOO off” that they had, the phone call he had with Macho Man Randy Savage before he passed away and much more!

On what has kept him busy while there has been no wrestling:

“Twitch. I have fallen into the Twitch. I stream anything on there, I am not a big Minecraft fan though [laughs]. Among Us is a great game though, it’s a great game of deceit. It’s easy to pass the time. Fall Guys is currently what I am playing. Easy to play but hard to master.”

On the impact of the pandemic and no fans in attendance:

“So here’s the thing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who did this but I put all of my eggs into the wrestling basket. I didn’t have a backup plan, it’s wrestling or it’s nothing. I hope that it isn’t nothing because I don’t want to live on the street. Because all of my eggs were in the wrestling basket, there was sheer panic in my life. I was terrified, because this pandemic had the ability to end wrestling for the foreseeable future. I was terrified, that’s an understatement. Then slowly but surely the shows with no fans became a thing. Wrestling hurts, no ,matter what they tell you. No matter how long you have trained, it hurts. The fans give you a boost of adrenaline, there is no match for it. Wrestling doesn’t hurt until you are back in your hotel room. When the fans are there, you can do this forever. But when they are not there you realize exactly what you are putting your body through. It is not fun. But whether there are 0 fans or 100, I’ve got to be wrestling. For me it’s wrestling or nothing, I am fine doing it either way.”

On how excited he is for fans to return:

“I have the same feeling as you do on Christmas Eve. I get to perform in front of people, I can’t tell you how excited I am.”

On how big wrestling is in his life:

“I have struggled to think of other things I could do. It definitely opened my eyes, especially as I thought COVID would end wrestling. Ever wrestler had to be panicking. We don’t want to think about life after wrestling, because then it’s real. When we wrestle, we can make up this world and control everything that happens. If you were bullied at school, you can go out and be the Macho Man.”

On when his passion for wrestling started:

“I think it was always there. My oldest brother got hurt in the living room wrestling. I can remember in school every report topic was wrestling. When we had lunch we would never eat sometimes. Me and my buddies would bring wrestling magazines and would sit there talking about RAW. In those moments I knew it would be tough to pursue it but that was my dream. The backup plan was going to be a carpenter like my dad. The moment where I realized I wanted to be a wrestler was where we went to a show with my buddies and they said there was this contest. If you won they would train you for free. From that moment on, I always knew I wanted to be a wrestler. When I told my parents, my mom looked like she wanted to say no, but my dad nodded. But they never said no to me once.”

On if there ever interest from WWE:

“So I think working for the WWE for most of the people of my generation, that’s why you go into wrestling. Most of us, along the way your goals kind of change and you realize there are other things besides the WWE. For me it was I can make a living and not have to go to WWE. I didn’t even know that was a thing. It wasn’t [then] but thank God it is now. There was a few times where there was interest, but because of contracts it wasn’t something that I could pursue. Part of me thinks it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Hindsight is 2020 but I became the face of a wrestling company, I was a World Champion. In Ring of Honor it’s like you worked so hard you got that corner office looking out over the water. Who knows what would have happened over there. Now I have that promotion, why would I give that up? I might as well have a big Ring of Honor tattoo on my back because I am going to be there until I die.”

On when people think of Ring of Honor they think of Jay Lethal:

“Every wrestler that is a dream scenario for them. You can get that on some of the smaller indie shows it won’t pay the bills. I have got that and financially pays my bills, so it’s a dream scenario. I have won the lottery, I got the chocolate factory.”

On being called ‘The Franchise’:

“I remember one day they just started calling me the franchise. Right away, because I am such a wrestling historian, I thought of Shane Douglas and thought he is not going to like that. But it was something that was brought onto me from Ring of Honor. I hate for anyone to refer to me as a veteran. We are all on the same playing field, we are trying to make ourselves and this company as big as possible. A lot of people call me captain in the locker room. If they had a vote they have told me I would be the guy. But that’s not me. Being the franchise is not something I said.”

On having imposter syndrome during his first Ring of Honor run:

“I have done so many interviews where they ask me what it was like my first time in Ring of Honor. In my first few years I was terrified. I was wrestling Samoa Joe, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, all of the legends. I didn’t even finish training, because my school had closed down before joining. I couldn’t lay out a match because I wasn’t that skilled. Along the way someone thought I could hang here but I couldn’t. I felt like it was only a matter of time before I get exposed and someone goes ‘Hey, what are you doing here.’ That is a description of my first run in Ring of Honor.”

On his time in IMPACT and his view on the promotion:

“How do you mess that up?! That roster was stacked. Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe. We had this great relationship with CMLL, New Japan. They had Okada there for crying out loud. I’m there rubbing elbows with them all. I got to hang out at the bar with Ric Flair.”

On The Black Machismo gimmick:

“I didn’t want to do it originally. This impression was something that I was always able to do. Any time in a locker room if it was too quiet, I would bust out the Randy Savage impression. Kevin Nash would love to hang out with the X-Division guys. I think it’s because we laughed at everything he said. He is so funny, he is the funniest man I have met in my life. I remember one time he said to us ‘If you met me in WCW, you would hate my guts.’ Because he didn’t like the small guys. He heard me do the impression backstage and he said ‘Why don’t you do that on TV, that’s hilarious.’ I go ‘No, I don’t want to do it on TV.’ My fear was I was going to become the joke. No one wants to become the joke, they want to be this badass World Champion. Somewhere along the way, you realize not everyone can be Stone Cold Steve Austin. Everyone has a spot, you just have to realize what your spot is. He got me to realize that.

I also didn’t want anyone to think I was mocking Randy. I idolized Macho Man and Ric Flair. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I would have become a wrestler. So I was like I don’t want to make fun of him. Kevin said to me ‘Think of this, no one is talking about The Macho Man right now. If you do this, at least people will be talking about him. If anything you would be helping him.’ With that logic I was like you’re right. I was all for it after that. Nash then went to Jeff Jarrett and Jeff loved it. Jeff said do your impression and I did. When they played it back it sounded just like him. I had never heard it recorded before. That character lasted way longer than I thought it was going to last.”

On Randy Savage’s family reaction to The Black Machismo:

“I became great friends with Lanny Poffo. Here’s a Macho Man story for you. I was doing the shows in the Midwest ran by a man named Ed Schumann. Ed would say to me ‘I know the Macho Man.’ He’s like ‘I know him, I told him about you, he wants you to give him a call.’ Of course there are ribs in wrestling. I thought I would call the number and someone would do a Macho Man impression. I can’t be the only one who can do it. I never called the number. I did the shows with Ed 5 or 6 more times and every time he would say to me ‘Macho Man hasn’t heard from you why haven’t you called him?’ The fourth time I would call him to get this over with and they can all laugh at me. So I called the number and I explained. The guy on the other end kept going [In Macho Man voice] ‘Is that right?’ I go ‘I’m a big fan I’ve been doing this thing on TV.’ [Randy] @I don’t watch too much TV but Ed showed me this thing on YouTube and it’s pretty good.’ [Jay] ‘Yeah I’m a huge fan it’s an honor.’ [Randy] ‘Is that right? Well me and my girl got to get something to eat so I’ll talk to you later.’ When I do the next show, I talked to him. I’m waiting for the ‘We got you!’ But I never heard anything about it.”

“3 years later I meet Lanny Poffo. Someone books me on a show with Lanny Poffo. He is such a cool guy. At the end of the day after I wrestle him I say ‘Hey man, do you know a guy named Ed Schumann.’ He goes ‘Oh Ed Schumann!’ And my heart started pounding too hard. I explained that Ed gave me Macho Man’s number and could he find out if that was actually him. The next day I got an email from Lanny and he said that was Randy. I wanted to cry, I found the number and called him 3 more times. Every time the conversation was only 10 seconds because he was busy. I just didn’t believe it was him. Then he passed away and you have no idea. I just thought I was protecting myself against being made fun of. There is no feeling to describe how I felt. I let that opportunity slip through my fingers because I thought it was a rib.”

On what he would ask Randy Savage if he could:

“There’s so many things. I enjoyed most of his heel stuff as opposed to his good guy stuff. I wanted to become better at wrestling so would ask for his advice. I wanted him to hear me plan a match and go what was good about it and could I try this instead? Because the way his matches came out to me when he was a bad guy was incredible. Him and Triple H, they never have bad matches. The way it is structured, the way it is planned out to me is flawless. I would have asked him to hear me plan this match, and then tell me what I should do and shouldn’t do.”

The Woo-off with Ric Flair:

“If you were to ask me what the scariest moment of my life is, it’s not any near death experience. The scariest moment of my life is that segment with Ric Flair. Vince Russo said to me ‘Bro I got this great idea. You’re gonna have this interaction with Ric Flair.’ Of course the little kid in me is jumping for joy. But then Russo continues ‘But bro, the problem is Ric Flair won’t let anyone write anything for him. When a wrestler goes to the ring for a promo, they have bullet points. But Ric Flair won’t even let us write bullet points. You got to go to Ric Flair and ask him what you want to do in the promo.’ So I go to Ric Flair and I go ‘So we have an in-ring segment, Russo told me to come and get you.’ So I am standing in a locker room, he stands up and says to me ‘I don’t talk about my promos, I’ll see you out there.’ He slaps me on the shoulder and walks out of the room. It was like a movie. In that moment, I was like I think he’s joking but I hope he’s not. I had been in IMPACT for 6 years, and they had never let me cut a promo in front of a crowd live on television. I was doing The Macho Man schtick. All of my promos were pre taped and I was told to say 1,2,3. If I said 1,2,7 in The Macho Man voice, they thought it was funny and they didn’t care. I could say anything in the Macho man voice and they would love it.”

“Going from that to live TV in front of Ric Flair, that was the scariest moment of my life. Literally, I didn’t know what was going to happen. Nothing was planned, before I went out my hands went numb. Simon Diamond said I looked so scared, I said I was. He said ‘You’re only in this position because you have this killer Ric Flair impression backstage. He [Ric] loved it so much that he wanted to work with you. Don’t go out there and do anything you wouldn’t do back here.’ That made me a little better. I knew I had to go out there and pretend to be Ric Flair, he was going to come out and we would go from there. Every promo between us was the same way. It was so terrifying. It panned out and I couldn’t believe it. I don’t want to mess up, and Ric is the best promo guy in the world. The whole woo-off was not planned, none of it.”

On ending The Black Machismo:

“I didn’t [decide to end it], they [TNA] told me it was time. I was just having so much fun. When it was over, I didn’t know what to do with myself. Raven had this joke. He goes ‘So the one thing I noticed, your Black Machismo impression is amazing. Your Ric Flair impression, spot on, it’s great. Your Jay Lethal impression, it needs some work.’ I agreed with him. I was so good at being other people I didn’t know how to be myself. It took a while to figure that out. I just wanted to be a mesh of all the things I thought were great about wrestling. When you watch me you’re watching some Macho Man, some Ric Flair, some Kurt Angle, some of everyone.”

On what he is grateful for:

“That I have a dream job, the fans are coming back and to be alive and healthy.”

Jay can be found on Instagram here and Twitter here.

Featured image: Rolling Stone

Mojo Rawley (Dean Mutadi) is a professional wrestler, entrepreneur, actor, and former NFL player. He joins Chris Van Vliet from Orlando, FL to do his first interview since being released from his WWE contract. He also talks about his NFL career and how a calf injury caused it to end early, going from football to WWE, his friendship with Rob Gronkowski and his brothers, why he didn’t like wearing face paint during his heel turn, winning the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania, his role in the new GI JOE movie “Snake Eyes” and much more!

On if he has always been this hyped:

“Yes, since birth I have always been this way. I came out very loud and very obnoxious. Always a pain in the butt. I just decided that’s how I wanted to do things so I just stayed constant through the years. I’m an 11 or 69 out of 10, you got to up the ante.”

On being in the movie Snake Eyes:

“Dude how incredible is that? I had every G.I. Joe toy there ever was and now I am in the movie years later. I couldn’t believe it when I got the call I was so excited. I didn’t think that it was true at first. I just got out of a yoga class and I got this voicemail mentioning it and I’m like your kidding! I was in my zen at that point, so much for that. It was an incredible experience, it was really difficult not saying anything about it for a while. We filmed that a bit ago and now it’s finally coming out. I’m ready to talk about it finally.”

On how he got the role:

“Well apparently the director and one of the producers were on YouTube and they found me on there. It might have been that or a clip on my Instagram. But that’s how it started, just literally seeing a clip and they are like ‘Yep, we want that guy.’ That was it, it was crazy. You never know, everything you put out there what it’s going to lead to. Especially in the wrestling world. You never know which promo is going to get you a push. Now it’s like what social media post is going to get you a movie?! I think it was a wrestling related post that they saw.”

On The Rock also being in a G.I. Joe movie:

“Oh I’m aware of that! I’ve been talking to my friends and family since the movie came out. I’m making sure everyone knows that I am a huge movie star now. The Rock better watch out, because Mojo is coming through.”

On the original airdate for the movie:

“I think it was supposed to come out in July last year [2020] but with everything going on we had to push it back, which was tough as well. But I am also glad, you want to see this in theatres, you want the big screen. I have a home theatre but it’s nothing compared to going to the theatres. I used to love in my football career going to see 2 or 3 movies in a row on my off days.”

On how his WWE try-out came about:

“It was such a strange thing. Rob Gronkowski’s brothers are like brothers to me and his dad is like a dad to me. His dad, Mr Gronk, was college roommates with Mike Rotunda. So I guess they were having a conversation and my name came up. IRS [Rotunda] said that this is a guy we would like to look at. I went to a house show in Buffalo, the boys had a blast. We went to a RAW in DC and met Mr Regal. I also talked with some of the guys to see all things backstage. That was it, they offered me the developmental deal right there on the spot. I had no idea what I was getting into that was it. All of it was based on a phone call I wasn’t on.”

On becoming a WWE Superstar:

“I knew what WWE was as a fan, but I had no idea what the training was going to be like. I didn’t know what becoming a WWE Superstar was going to entail. I came into this thing blind. I was trying to show my personality whilst also trying to be respectful. I wanted to be the first top show up and last to leave. But I didn’t know the best way to get a push, it was just hustle. It gets tricky.”

On his role in the beginning of his NXT run:

“I came in with this personality and my football background. They were really high on me in the beginning, they just needed to teach me a few things and let his hype take care of the rest. I had my first match at a live event 7 weeks after my first day. It was very quick and some people backstage were not happy about that. But there were 7 people in the audience so who cares? They were like this is our opener. Big babyface, gets the crowd hyped. They kept the matches basic because at the time in NXT, the opener was supposed to have a basic match, no false finishes, super generic. All the high spots were saved for the rest of the card. I was stuck in that spot for a long time. I was grateful for the reps but I was pigeon-holed. If you open every show, what a career you will have, but it got tough man. I was seeing some of the guys I started with pass me because I was the opener. I was grateful but I wasn’t being challenged. My first match with a near fall came when I was on the main roster.”

On how his name came about:

“Rob Naylor was a creative assistant at the time. He was like Dusty’s right hand man. He came up with the name and I think he came up with it after a week of knowing me. He said ‘You should be Mojo.’ And I’m like ‘No. Who is going to take a guy named Mojo seriously. That is ridiculous.’ I could not have been more against it. But he explained it to me, told me to take some time and think about it. So I did and I started chopping it up from a marketing perspective. All the crafty marketing too. You meet Mojo one time, you are going to remember it. You know what, lets run with it but tag a real life name on the end. The thought was originally to be just Mojo. I wanted to do ‘Monday Night Rawley’ which of course 30,000 people have already done. The funny thing is we never used Monday Night Rawley. But even after not being with the company, Mojo has still stuck with me.

On if he can use his WWE name now:

“Not Mojo Rawley. But Mojo Muhtadi or Dean ‘Mojo’ Muhtadi. I think I will go with Mojo Muhtadi, but we will iron that out when I resurface again.”

On his plans following his WWE release:

“I want to do everything. Right now, it has been almost 10 years I just put in. You know how the commitment to WWE is, you can’t do anything outside of it. I wart to do anything and everything. I definitely want to wrestle again, but right now I just need a little bit of time for me to get all of my stuff in line. I’ve got a lot of stuff I am working on. I also want to take some time to let my body recover. I mean ask Rob [Gronkowski] he took a year off football and now he could go another 10. Sometimes getting hurt is the best thing that can happen. Your brain can rest up and some nagging injuries can heal up too. You can look at things from a fresh perspective and see what thigs will entail. That is where I am at right now, I am busier now than I ever have been. But I hate resting, so it’s a cool thing. I know it’s daunting leaving that career with the constant pay check and security, but I am loving that freedom.”

On his heel turn:

“I can’t remember whose idea it was. It was mine or Vince’s I think. Zack got hurt and I had my singles run, I had a good stretch there. Zack came back and we teamed up again. Everyone knew we were going to break up because we prefaced it for months. But I don’t I think anyone knew who was going to turn on who. We didn’t really know either. Then the thought came down to have me do the heel turn and I was all for it. I know they wanted me to get as far from the hype persona as possible, they didn’t want me to mention the word hype at all. We had a good run there. I would have preferred if Zack and I could have had our run for a bit. I turned on him, then they aired a dot com exclusive on the breakup. We had our one match on the kick-off on a pay per view. When you are doing a kick-off, you have so many handicaps. You can’t swing for the fences and show people what you got. Me and Zack instead went lets just cut promos on each other on socials. I did one in my garage that got good traction. But that was it, the turn, the kick off match then that was it. I would have loved to do more but it is what it is. As long as you did all you could, that is what will propel you through the years.”

On how the face paint idea came about:

“[laughs] I was so against that. I really didn’t want to do that. But truthfully the sketches didn’t look half bad. I remember thinking I hope when I wear this it looks this cool, it couldn’t be furthest from. I pitched this idea of everyone looks at themselves in the mirror and everyone hypes themselves up. Everyone has that degree of vanity, let me run with it. Let me cut promos where I am berating them for their shortcoming, and you don’t know who I am talking to. You find out later it’s me, and we can take this whole new attitude and run with it. Somehow that lead to me losing my mind and drawing on my face, I don’t know what it became. We literally did one match with that character. Me and Apollo [Crews] were paired together on a Europe tour. I remember I was like 2 and half weeks of everyday working together, we put on some great matches. There was so much that we pitched together. We put on matches that nobody was really expecting out of us and the fans gravitated towards. It’s hard though. You got 2 guys with no TV time going after these guys with established rivalries. But it was in the reports every night. These 2 are onto something, lets give them a run. So they booked Apollo for my debut match in this new run. We were stoked, we were like lets go out and kill it, show them what we got. Then we found out it was a 60 second match that was written out entirely for us. Two and a half weeks, then it’s that, then it’s over. I just painted my face like an idiot for nothing.”

On winning the Andre The Giant Battle Royal:

“I think the plans all went into that [me winning]. I’ve come to learn that when you win the Andre it’s not to start a push afterwards. It’s either the lead in to a great moment sometime, or it’s a reward for a guy who’s been quietly busting his ass and here’s a thank you. It doesn’t always mean that it’s going to amount to a push. I don’t know what their thoughts were at the time, I know they put me on this path to win it, especially in retrospective. Looking at the weeks leading up to that, it made sense that I was going to take it. When I heard that it was probably going to be me, that’s when I had the idea to bring in Robbie G [Rob Gronkowski] and just hype it up even more. I always try and focus on big picture. I can do this myself and people are going to look at it as an average Andre moment. Or we can make it bigger than it is and get it out to more eyes and make it a bigger moment. They moved it to the pre-show, which a lot of people were upset about. But the pre-show was on cable, the pay per view was on the network, the pre show gets more views by a mile than the network did. I was looking at it as a plus all around. But then afterwards they didn’t know what to do. I think I was doing some strange promos with kids or something.”

“Honestly I think that was what my whole career boiled down to. It’s we got this guy, he is perfect for this one spot, high energy, hyped up dude. We are going to put him in this space and we don’t know what to do with him after. I remember meeting with Vince one time, I felt pretty boosted after it. He sat me down and went ‘Alright, you may be one of the best athletes in the company. You may be one of the strongest in the company. You have one of the best attitudes and one of the best work ethics.’ He literally went down the list of all these superlatives where I was number one or top three. Then he was like ‘We’ve just got to figure out what to do with you.’ I remember thinking to myself I think you just said it. How do we not use that? There are so many things you could do with it. But you never know what’s going on behind the scenes. All you can do is work your butt off. I was pitching things constantly, very seldom does that come to anything if at all.”

On if he thought he would survive this round of cuts:

“Truth be told there’s some other stuff going on there. All I can say is I’m grateful to have been with the company as long as I was. I mean putting in almost a decade, that’s a hell of a run. Truthfully I am happy it happened. It was time for a change. Sometimes you never want to be the one to necessarily initiate that, but you needed it to happen. It was a thought that was going through my head for a while. Let’s give this another year or two, if this amounts to nothing, or very little, then yeah it is time for a change. I am going to turn 35 shortly. If I am thinking about starting another industry, the more you wait, the less is on the table. I got pigeonholed a lot as being this big hyped up guy that very much did a lot outside of the ring.”

“I was one of the few guys they used for the community service drives. There aren’t a lot of guys in the company that can do those. I know that Titus O’Neil is the poster boy for that stuff. Honestly in my opinion I think Titus is one of the top 3 most valuable people in all of WWE. I know that might come of a shock to some people, but we got tons of guys that can wrestle. Almost everyone on the roster can put on a hell of match. But how many guys can go out there and make change and bring in a new fanbase from all of the promos that he does. There is no one that does more in that space than Titus. I felt like I was used for both, but again, sometimes those guys don’t get the big Roman Reigns career. But sometimes change needs to happen, whether it comes from you or them.”

On what he is grateful for:

“The opportunity to be living, family and friends and this interview with the main man CVV!”

Mojo Rawley can be found on Instagram here and Twitter here.

Featured image: The Sportster

Ted DiBiase Jr. is an entrepreneur, actor, former wrestler and the son of WWE legend “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his new marketing and branding company called “16 Creative”, growing up as the son of the legendary Million Dollar Man, why he decided to leave WWE in 2013, how being a father has changed him, being semi-retired from wrestling, starring in The Marine 2 and much more!

On people assuming he would have a rich lifestyle because of his dad:

“Far from that bro. Yeah it was a gimmick I wish it was real, that would be nice. When you are down there, the microscope is a lot bigger. My dad was not only a former professional wrestler but a legend. He’s a Hall of Famer, so there’s big shoes to fill. There’s self expectations that you place on yourself, and then that feeling, whether it’s there or not, what the fans expect from you. And the desire to carve out your own name and legacy and to improve yourself, that’s a long story.”

On raised expectations due to his name:

“Personally I feel like they are, that’s a personal opinion. But yeah you want to do justice to the legacy, when that torch is passed and you are trusted with the opportunity and to be blessed with the opportunity. But yeah they give you time and pay a lot of money on these networks to deliver, and in a short time. The difference was my dad had I don’t know how many years in Mid-South and in the territories leading up to his career in WWF. Whereas for me, I trained for a year in Elden, had 4 months in Japan and when I get back WWE hires me. A year later I am debuting on TV. It’s about 2 years in the making and then here I am a WWE Superstar. And my dad introduces me May 26th 2008 I believe it was in Denver Colorado. I felt the pressure big time that night for sure.”

Did he want to follow in his dad’s footsteps growing up:

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. There was a period where I just didn’t think it was gonna be a possibility. He was pretty adamant about us not wrestling. That was due to a lot of road life and his focus on having a family when he shifted out of the business. That focus on having a family became more his faith and became more important than being a global icon. But when you’re watching your dad wrestle Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant at Madison Square Garden, it’s like watching Batman and Superman go at it. Of course I wanted to be like him.”

On if he has retired:

“I’ll say yeah. As of today I’ll say yes, but if somebody called me, I’d be totally lying if I said there wasn’t an itch. I can still go, I just like to keep doors open and don’t burn bridges. If you’re going to burn one then blow it up. My connection to that world, at times it’s like being married. Sometimes it’s this love-hate relationship. No it’s hard, but it’s such a deep routed piece of who I am and what I come from being a 3rd generation wrestler. My grandfather and grandmother were wrestlers, then my father so you know. I leave that door open, but it would have to be the right scenario for me to get in the ring again.”

On why he left WWE:

“I was offered another 5 year deal. It was generous, but when it came down to it I was battling some things internally. There were some mental health issues. I was going through depression and anxiety, and also being a new father. I just knew. What I didn’t have growing up, although I had this iconic father I love dearly, he wasn’t at my birthdays. He also wasn’t there for my football or soccer games. I believe the greatest asset we have in our world is time. You’re not guaranteed more and you can’t get it back. That was one of the greatest gifts I could give my son. With no plan I left and we are doing good. I thought I was going to wrestle and have a long career, but I really believe it’s not what we do that defines us but who we become along the way. I spent a lot of time while I was there trying to climb the ladder. But I realized that’s not who I am. My core values are faith, family, love, wisdom, service, in that order. I was dying internally and losing sight of who I was. I love helping and serving people, and also entertaining people. To be able to walk into a hospital or a base and bring a smile onto the face of a family or a veteran, that was such a blessing.”

On saying no to WWE:

“There really wasn’t a lot of back and forth. I think at that time in my career it was kind of part of me thinking I was just going to come back. I was going to figure this out, but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t the usual best of luck in your future endeavours. I quit on YouTube or Twitter, I did a video and announced [I was leaving]. I just wanted to be me, I wanted to let people know how grateful I was and let WWE know how grateful I was. Also, I was walking out on my own accord for personal reasons. There wasn’t any back and forth. There’s tons of guys sitting in the wings waiting to take that spot. That’s what makes this industry hard to get into and even harder to hang onto.”

On what he is doing now:

“I launched Combat Veterans with a couple of buddies of mine. It’s also majority veteran owned. I love those guys, they are mission minded like me. They are always seeking significant living. You learn how to define what success is for you. For me, that is serving and serving alongside guys that served for our country. It’s really to serve guys like my father. When you leave WWE, which is this global conglomerate multi billion dollar marketing machine. Minus the work you do in the ring, everything is done for you. When you leave, it’s good luck in your future endeavours. The average life of a wrestler is 5 years. A lot of guys don’t plan for life after wrestling. We’ve got subsidiary collections as part of 16 creative. There’s the wrestling collection and the military collection. We are getting NFL legends soon too. It’s helping these old timer legends too. We are building a community where they can engage with their fanbase and take care of their families. It’s creating a legacy and an insurance policy. When they pass, their legacies will live on for their families.”

On his identity now:

“I am a father first and a husband. I’m a child of God, I love the lord with all of my heart and soul. I’m a serving leader, I am not serving myself anymore. The motto ‘Mission minded, purpose driven, always seeking significant living.’ That’s my motto for life. Those core values faith, family, love, wisdom, service, is how I base my decisions now. Instead of chasing luxuries of the world, for me it’s about what am I passing onto my kids. When I die, I want people to say he wasn’t perfect but that’s what he was striving for.”

On what lesson he learned from his time in WWE:

“Never stop growing and never stop learning. I think my time with Legacy, I can look back at how focused I was. It wasn’t that I stopped, but I got comfortable. What it took to get to the WWE was this insane focus and mental grind. Then you get there and for 2 years I show up and I’m in 3 segments. All night long we are opening and closing the show. We were main eventing all of the overseas tours and I was having the time of my life. The second we had that match at WrestleMania 26, Michael Hayes asked me what do I want to do next? I’m like that’s your job. We had all of these promos and storylines, but there was nothing planned for after that day. You can always live out a mission. If I can’t serve someone who is needy, I can serve my wife or my son. If I’m constantly serving myself, it is easy to get distracted from what really matters. When they said what do you want to do next, I should have had a book of ideas. I got dependent on the system.”

On if The Million Dollar Man’s laugh is the same in real life:

“A little bit, it is that loud. If we are at a restaurant and I go to the bathroom, I hear a laugh and I know who that is. That signature laugh is so iconic, there’s nobody else that has that. I was like I think we need to trademark this, we are trying to figure that out.”

On bringing back the Million Dollar Championship:

“That started with WWE. I think that was one of the things that felt like a downfall. You go from up here to working the dark matches. That was probably a test. But I just never owned that, because there was that part that was this is my dad. That was stupid on my part, because this is entertainment. I should have owned it, made the most of it and be as authentic as you can. I think I had some subconscious barriers that kept me from getting into that character or developing that character. When you don’t know who you are, or feel separated from that character, it does not come off well.”

On if he would let his kids wrestle:

“Oh man. I’m gonna support whatever they do I believe in that, and giving them the proper instruction. Also positioning them for the greatest success they can have, whatever that is. I would want to know if it’s something they are really passionate about or if it’s chasing fame or money. Those things are fleeting and it isn’t a good reason. I remember my dad told me ‘You’re not going to be a wrestler. Over my dead body.’ I’m not going to do that to my kids. My daughter wants to be a diva, oh man. She is 3 and I am already struggling. If some punks around I’m answering the door in my boots and Speedos. I’ll show him highlights of me beating up John Cena.”

On his work with children:

“Before I left to go and wrestle, I did a lot of mission trips and it was really about serving people. It’s not a façade it’s what I love to do. That’s the part of not what we do but what we do with what we have been given. I’ve not been given a platform to just be happy and just be selfish. The greatest joy I get is taking a kid, or 300 of them and put together a week long camp. Some of these kids, underprivileged is not the right word. They have been abused, neglected and homeless. To put them into a safe environment and teach them that they have value, that is priceless. There is nothing in return except seeing them smile and knowing someone has their back. To me that is fulfilling and that is happiness.”

On what he is grateful for:

“My faith, my family and friends and our health.”

Ted DiBiase Jr can be found on Twitter here.

Featured image: WWE