Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ariya Daivari's WWE release, his brother Shawn Daivari, Muhammad Hassan, What's Next

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

Ariya Daivari is a professional wrestler known best for his time in WWE where he performed on the 205 Live brand. He talks to Chris Van Vliet about being released from his WWE contract, what he plans to do next, his excitement to work without any boundaries, his brother Shawn Daivari and his time in WWE with Muhammad Hassan, why he wanted to be a pro wrestler as a kid, how speaking Farsi helped get him signed to a WWE contract and much more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. The. Oh, man, so much energy with that new intro music. And, of course, you can't go wrong. With the incomparable Justin Roberts. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. Thank you so much for being with us.

By the way, just random thought here. Can you believe summer's going to be over in a month? How did that happen? And there's only four and a half months left in 2021. This is insane. It's just flying by. But with that said, let's make the most of the remaining months in this year. You can find my guest today, Aria Davari, on Instagram and Twitter.

It's simple. It's just his name at Aria Davari. And mine is also just my name at Chris Van Fleet. And if you haven't done so already, please make sure to give insight a follow or a subscribe wherever you happen to be listening to this right now. Thank you to Novelty Act for leaving this review on Apple Podcast. it says, love listening to the podcast, never fails to intrigue and give perspective. Beyond that, the show manages to always leave me with a feeling of motivation. Keep up the great work.

Well, thank you so much for that. And hopefully this conversation here inspires you. And if you haven't left a review yet on Apple Podcasts, and that's your listening platform of choice, please take a few seconds today to just leave a few words, few emojis, whatever it happens to be. That really helps the show climb its way up the charts. Okay, we cover a lot in this conversation, and I want to make these intros shorter so we can get right into it. So let's do that here.

Please welcome Aria Davari. Good to see you, man. Thanks for coming on. Of course. Thank you for having me. Big fan of the show. My goodness, big fan of you, so this is great. Thank you.

What is this photo that you have behind you? That is a, it's a Rob Schamburger, I hope I said that right, a painting of his. So quick story, I bought this house a few years ago, my first home. And I wanted to put something wrestling in my house, but not too much. Like I'm past the days of having all my shit up on the walls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was trying to think of what's something I would want. And I thought, man, Rob does really cool paintings. And I thought of one picture in particular. And that was from Stone Cold Steve Austin's last match. Let's see. All we see, always see, right now are knee braces. Yeah. Oh, yes. It's a, it's a very famous picture that popped in my head. Like, I thought, I was like, you know, Stone Cold is my favorite wrestler. So I was like, I'll do something of him.

And I thought about the sharpshooter where he's bleeding, but I'm like, everybody kind of, that's a played out picture in my head. Also, if somebody comes into your house and doesn't know about resting, they're like, why is this bloody man? Yeah, right, yeah. So I just thought about that picture. And I was like, man, him walking to the ring is really cool. It's his last match.

And I asked Rob, I was like, hey, can you paint this for me and just let me know, you know, whatever it costs? And he just gave it to me for free. He said, consider it a housewarming present. And we shared the video of it. I posted a picture. And so many fans are like, oh, that's so awesome. That's so awesome that he made like prints of it to sell for other people. So I have the original painting and everybody else has all the prints.

Well, then shout out to Rob for just being a great guy. And look at that. You know, he gifted you something and it came around and it worked out for everybody. Yeah, yeah, totally. I was very, I couldn't believe he was giving it to me for free. I was ready to pay for and everything. And he's like, nah, don't worry about it. So I thought that was super cool.

What match is that that he's walking to the ring for? It's his last match, the WrestleMania 19 against the Rock. So it's like Russell, a WrestleMania 19 in Seattle. And they did this cool shot where they were behind him the whole time, the cameraman. I believe those two, the same guy who does the entrance now. The John Cena guy. He's always shot. Yeah, yeah.

And Stone Cold was making his way to the ring and the guy was following behind him the whole time. So it was just this really long shot of his back walking to the ring. And I never noticed this until someone told me, but CM Punk did that same entrance at whatever WrestleMania he worked Jericho. But he did the same thing where he's walking to the ring and it's on his back and it says best in the world. So I think he did that as like an homage to Stone Cold, which I thought was really cool. But it's a really cool shot when a guy has a long way to walk to the ring and the cameraman. It's like following behind them. I think I speak for everyone when I say as soon as this interview is done,

I'm going to go watch that entrance now. Yeah, right? It's badass, dude. I think it's super cool. Yeah. Man, and what a great image, too. I guess that's also something that must inspire you when you look at that. Yeah, totally.

I mean, like I said, he's my favorite wrestler of all time, you know. So when I always think of like his intensity in the ring and stuff like that, it's cool to look up at that picture and be like, yeah, he's a badass dude, you know? You were pretty young, though, when Stone Cold was like. like in his attitude era prime. Oh yeah, I was eight, nine years old. You know, that was 2003. So I was an eighth grade at that point.

But like I lucked out that right when I started watching wrestling, which was like early spring of 98, that's when like shit was really taken off. You know, every episode of Raw was like must see. So I came in right at the perfect time. I know Colt Cabana has a theory that you think the best wrestling is like the wrestling from your childhood. And we were talking about it. And I was like, I think I have an argument to say that mine was actually the best.

I'm a huge attitude era fan. So when I say growing up, I feel like I grew up on quite possibly the best wrestling. Was your brother always a big wrestling fan too? Yeah, we started together. We just became big fan. He was 14. I was eight. We just started watching together.

Obviously, he's the one who kind of discovered it. But we always did a lot of stuff together. So we watched it together. And it was super cool. And just over time, He got to be an indie wrestler first, obviously. So that's why his career kind of took off far before my did. He's just older, you know.

But yeah, we were always big fans together. He had all the T-shirts. I had all the toys, you know, it was something that we shared. Actually brought us a lot closer, you know. We were just typical brothers, you know. We hung out, but not a lot. But pro wrestling, like, really brought us closer and closer. And to this day, that's why we're still super tight just because of our love and our careers in wrestling.

So he's 14, you're 8. He's like twice the size of you. Is he just throwing you around all over the place? We had a trampoline growing up. We were one of those kids. Yeah. Which is code for we had a little backyard ring. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So we had, he was giving me power bombs, outsiders, edges, all those kind of stuff I remember. But I was his practice dummy until he finally got to wrestling school. Is it just the two of you or there are other siblings too? Yeah. We have an oldest brother as well, too. He's a lawyer. He's a smart one of the family.

Doesn't get beat up for a little. living. But yeah, he's the one who actually lives in LA. That's who I was going to go visit soon when I mentioned about coming and doing this show face to face with you. So he's lived down in California most of his life. He moved out there when he was 18. And he works for NBC Universal. He's an entertainment law. Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, maybe, you know, now that you're not working with WWE, maybe you can come out here and get some sort of job in entertainment. Yeah, he tells me that all the time. He ever, as soon as I got signed by WWE, He was super about like, you got to move to LA and you got to get you set up with all this kind of stuff.

And like, I was just so focused on wrestling. I was like, let me tackle this wrestling part first. But also like knowing how the WW is. They're not crazy about guys finding outside projects. And let's say I did find something when I'm brand new. I can't be like, hey, can I have two weeks off to go like film this thing? You know, so that was my only real hesitation about doing it. But you're right.

Now that I'm not in WW, we have been talking about it more about going out to California. foreign year and just kind of seeing what things we can get set up. Well, you've got an infinite amount of freedom now. You can wrestle wherever you want. You can act wherever you want. You can do whatever you want. And acting is like the reason I like acting is the same reason why I kind of fell in love with pro wrestling because I've always loved the pageantry of it. When I became a professional wrestler, I learned to appreciate like the actual technical side of it as well too, which I do enjoy a lot. But my initial draw and love for pro wrestling was always just like the crazy shit. shenanigans and the storylines and that kind of stuff. And that to me is more tied in with like

acting and entertainment. So you're growing up, you love wrestling, you want to be a wrestler when you grow up. Obviously, this sounds like, you know, a bit of a crazy pipe dream. When did you realize that it might actually be a possibility that you could do this for a living? When my brother got signed when me and him were about the same size. So, you know, we're both about 510, 180, you know, so we knew it's a, for him, especially like I knew as a long shot, back in his time, it was even more so land of the giants, you know. He always talks about, he's like, man, I had to, I debuted alongside like Gene Snitsky and Chris Masters and like all these huge dudes. So he had a real hard chance of getting to WWE and he made it. And I was with him the

day, I can't remember who called him. It was Jim Ross or whoever was in talent relations at that point. But we were just chilling in my mom's house and he gets a call and he's like, dude, I just got signed and like, couldn't believe it. Like, mind was blown. I was a freshman in high school. So once that happened, I was like, damn, like I already knew I wanted to be a wrestler. Like, I was already getting ready to start training and stuff like that. But to actually see someone in my family make it at WWE, I was like, oh, shit, this is really a possibility. Well, I think that's such an important thing to be able to follow in the footsteps of somebody. It doesn't necessarily need to be a family member, but to be able to look at someone who's

accomplishing the thing that you want to do and go, oh, well, if that person can do it, and they're a little bit further ahead, maybe a little bit older, maybe a little bit more experience, I can just take where I'm at now in their journey and just reverse engineer back to there. Right. Yeah. And I always tell people I got so lucky that I had a brother who was in the WWE who could give me good advice to kind of get me ready for the WWE and just kind of. Because I always tell people the information that he was getting, the advice he was getting, it was from guys like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Ben Juan, the Undertaker and Chris Jericho and Sean Michaels. I was like, when he would tell me some advice, he'd be like, oh, this was something Sean Michaels told me. So when he tells me that I go, well, it's obviously correct information. It's correct advice. It's not just older brother telling little brother what to do. All of his sources were some of the top guys, Hall of Famers, legends of this business.

When was the first time you got to visit Sean at work? Well, he's brought he's not Sean to you, but Sean too. Yeah. Yeah. So I actually never went backstage while he was. Yeah. while he was working there. But every show that came to town, he got me tickets to. The one thing he did get me into was the WrestleMania 22 after party in Chicago. So I got to go there and just meet a bunch of people and stuff like that. That was the only real time. I got to like see everybody.

But even then he was kind of like, he was still super young at the time. You know, he was like 22 years old, 23. So he was very like, don't embarrass me. Like don't be a mark. Don't be super crazy. Don't be asking for pictures and all that kind of stuff. And I knew right away. Like even at, I think I was like 16.

I even knew like play it cool. Like I already knew all. Like I'm not going to take pictures. Like I just want to meet some people. Just say hi. And it was cool enough that he did introduce me to damn you everybody. And some guys, you know, didn't want to really be bothered. They just said hi.

But then some guys like the Undertaker when my brother was like, hey, this is my younger brother, Aria. He wants to start wrestling. Undertaker was like, oh, that's cool. And like talk to me for like five, ten minutes. So it was a really unique experience to kind of see all these guys. but they had just performed at WrestleMania. So a lot of them were kind of letting loose, getting drunk,

and they're with family and friends. So you don't want to bug people too much. Yeah. So what age were you when you enrolled in wrestling school? It was summer going into my senior year, so I was 17. A senior year of high school. Yeah, yeah. If you were at my high school,

you would have been the coolest person in the entire school. This guy's already going to wrestling school. Yeah. So funny enough, I would say, like, freshman, sophomore, junior year, I don't really play any sports, and that's kind of how you are cool in high school if you're a quarterback of football team or whatever. I never did any of that shit. But once I started pro wrestling, and I want to say September was my first match.

So from September on, so most of the school year, I did kind of get known as like, oh, he's the pro wrestler. And that's on like, my popularity went up a little bit. And I went from like, oh, he's just the wrestling guy who wears wrestling t-shirts to school. So like now he's actually a pro wrestler. And people are asking me, they want to like come to my shows. and stuff like that. So it was pretty cool once I started. And you went to the same wrestling school

as your brother, right? Kind of. Like his wrestling school eventually shut down and then like the same people there opened another one. That one shut down. Then they opened another one. And that was the one that I trained at.

So it was somewhat the same people and kind of the same place, but it was a completely different building. But I only got to do training there for like six months or so because again, the school shut down, which kind of sucks. So after that, it was just attending a lot of seminars and getting a lot of experience under my belt that way and just wrestling matches. Another piece of advice my brother told me,

he's like, he's like, you can train as long as you want. You can train for six months, one year, two years. He's like, the only way you're going to get better is by going out there, traveling the roads and like doing different shows. He said, if you train in a wrestling camp for one year, no matter what, your first match is probably going to suck. So he's like, just get as much experience as you possibly can. So that was really what I did. I just did a bunch of a lot of traveling in the Midwest and trying to get on many shows. And that was the best learning experience you could possibly have. It's the same thing I tell. I was telling some of the younger guys at the PC. Like you can train at the PC a couple years if you want to. You're probably still not going to be very good when you start.

So making sure you're getting on those like Florida house shows they do, those coconut loops, you know, or just getting on NXT TV. I said that's when you're, I feel like you'll go to that next level. your training underneath the, but once you start doing matches over and over and over, that's when you really start seeing your level and your ability, you start to go up. And is that because you're able to play off of the crowd? Is that a big factor? Yeah, I mean, sometimes you think things look good in wrestling training, then you go do them in front of a crowd and they shit on it or something. You're like, oh, I guess I won't do that again. But it's just, there's just so many different variables that go

into a live performance compared to just doing it in like the safety of your wrestling school that like I said, it's hard to explain, but it's just, it's just different. You know, honestly, this past year of the pandemic and doing the no crowd wrestling, it felt like wrestling at a wrestling school again. And that, and maybe at first, when you first start your career, that's fine. But I've been 15 years on the job now. So it really sucked having to go back to that. Well, the difference is it's like wrestling in a wrestling school.

And then you go backstage and check Twitter and go, oh, that was really good or, oh, that wasn't so good. And that was the hardest thing about. during this pandemic is no feedback. No feedback from the crowd. You're just wrestling. You're doing spots. You're doing moves.

And you're like, I hope this looks as cool as it felt because you don't have a crowd that cheered or booed or whatever. You're trying to get heat because you're a heel. But like, there's no one there to boo you. So it's kind of like, I hope this is translating on TV, like how we're trying to make it happen here. So, I mean, you had these matches early on when you're a kid with your brother, you know,

and you guys are like being each other up in the backyard. How long was it to you actually wrestle the match against him? So we wrestle, we've only wrestled each other one time. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was actually right when he got released or asked for his release from WWs. It was like 2008, late 2008. So I was only about a year in.

So we had a match against each other in Green Bay. And that was the only promoter that really wanted to have us wrestle each other every other time. We've always been a tag team. We've always, in which I totally understand. Us tagging, I think is where the money's at anyway. But only one time we wrestled each other. And I was so green at the time that I wish we could do it again because I feel like it would be a completely different story because it really just felt like really wrestling like a real veteran of the business. Like I just like I didn't say anything.

I just let him put the whole match together. But I said now I feel like the roles would almost be reversed. You know, he very proudly always says like, oh, my brother's a better wrestler than I am now. So I'll say if we got to wrestle today, it'd be a much different experience. I feel like growing up where you grew up in Minnesota, you're close to a lot, right? You're close to Chicago and Green Bay. You're drivable to Ohio and Michigan. You've got a lot of places where you can really hone your craft.

Yeah, totally. And that was what we did. There was a veteran wrestler here named the anarchist Eric Cannon. And he was kind of a guy who broke in with my brother as well, too. He was someone like he did the very original like TPI's for IWA. So he was wrestling with guys like Daniel Bryant. and Cesarro and Chris Hero and all these guys like early, early on. So he had a lot of like independent clout, as you can say.

So he took me in a lot of rides with him on we go traveling up and down the Midwest together. And he really helped me out because like I said, my brother helped me, but he was also like in the W&E. And then he was in TNA. Like he was gone a lot. So I would say he helped me. We could talk on the phone and stuff, but actually in person face to face, Eric Cannon was someone who really taught me a lot about. It probably doesn't seem like it now, but maybe while you're living it, it was a long time before you got signed by WWE. And you had an audition match. I think was it 2013 you had an audition match or dark match?

Yeah, yeah, 2013. I had a dark match against the great collie. Oh, wow. Yeah, right? I mean, I'll give you the story real quick. So, yeah, by the time I got signed in 2016, I was 10 years on the independent team. which is probably the longest 10 years while you're in it and doing it. But trust me, yeah. I was always very tunnel vision as far as like I liked indie wrestling, but I was very like I need to get to WWE. I need to get to WWE.

That was always my like main mission. It wasn't to be the biggest independent star I could possibly be. I just want to get to WWE. But yeah, I had a tryout in 2013. I got like the extra talent. I had a tryout match with a fellow Minnesota guy. we did a really good job, so they put us in a handicapped match against the great colleague. That went well, too.

And from there, I got invited to go do an NXT trial. And unfortunately, I didn't get picked up then. So I just kind of went back to independent wrestling for a few years until the CWC happened. But you probably feel like you're so close. Oh, yeah. Feeling it, you're eating the catering. You know, you're in the same halls as all these people backstage with them. You feel like you're so close.

And then maybe it's like it feels like it's ripped away. I was very confident at my NXP trial that just because like I know what they were looking for and I know I did everything right. I wrestled my match good. I'd cut a good promo. I can speak another language. You know, I was in great shape at the time. I knew I did a good job. But when they sent me a very generic email, just like, we have nothing for you right now.

I was kind of like, man, what the fuck? I was like, I could have sworn I'd crush that. And luckily, that's why I. stayed on their list. They had nothing for me at that time, but then like a year and a half later, I believe it was Triple H came up with the CWC concept and I was initially contacted for that. So it made me feel a little bit better because I said, I knew I did a good job. I was kind of surprised I didn't get signed. But then when that happened, I said, okay, so maybe it really was one of those things like, hey, not right at this specific moment, but maybe a future project.

Did part of you want to take the momentum that you had and reach out to, impact or Ring of Honor? Not really because, I mean, to me it was just a tryout. You know, it wasn't like anything. But I'm saying from that, I did get eventually booked with Ring of Honor, but it wasn't because I had a WW tryout. When I said earlier, like, I never wanted to be like a huge indie star. I just wanted to be at WWE.

Well, I got the no from WWE. So I said, well, where else can I wrestle as a career, you know? And that ring of honors on the first place that popped in my head. And I went and did like a tryout camp for them as well too. And they said I did a great job and they gave me dates like immediately after the camp. So I don't know if me doing some Ring of Honor stuff made them go like, oh shit, you know, maybe he does have a little bit of credibility. We should use him or what.

But I knew after I got the no from WWE, I was like, I'm not going to let this deter me, you know. Never once was I like, well, this is it. I'm going to quit. I was like, let me really get back to it and see what else I can make happen. and maybe we'll revisit WW some other day. If Aria, you were so tunnel vision focused on WWE, and you were there, you did it, you lived it, and now you're not there.

What is the focus now? So I tell a lot of people, I say one thing that I can take like a nice, like, breath of fresh air is that like, I've done it. That thing that used to keep me up at night when I was an India wrestler and just thinking over and over, what do I have to do to make it? Like, I did it, I made it.

I wrestled on a pay-per-view. I wrestle on NXT. I wrestled on Monday Night Raw. I got to have conversation with Vince McMahon and Triple A's. I did all these things and make great money while doing it. I did all these things that I always wanted to do. So a small part of me gets to be like, ah, okay, like you can like close the or turn to the next chapter and go to the other part of your wrestling career.

And now, luckily, this is a great time because places like AEW and New Japan and Impact and MLW and W, like all these places are popping up, GCW, all. All these places are like popping off. There's so many places to wrestle now that I can say like, cool, I did the WWE thing. I know what that's all about. I know what it's like to wrestle for Vince. I know what it's like to wrestle on Monday Night Raw. Now let's go explore the other places and see what else we can do because I've always respected

the guys like Chris Jericho and stuff who've wrestled everywhere. You know, so part of me says I kind of want to do that too. But if we look at this image behind you, you never had that moment. You never had that WrestleMania moment walking out to that crowd. Is that something that you still want? Yeah, of course. Like, there's, don't even wrong. There's definitely things in WWE I didn't accomplish that I wish I could have accomplished.

But I'm also a little bit realistic about it that I said, I had a five-year run, which I did more than I thought I would do at five foot 10, 180 pounds. You know, like, majority of my life was thinking, like, how can I make it to the WWE at this size? You know, this is going to be a, it's going to be a real uphill battle. And it was. But the fact that I made it, it's something I can really like rest my mind. hat on be like, I did that, you know, a lot, a lot of wrestlers out there, a lot of talented wrestlers out there didn't even get to do a fraction of the things I've gotten to do. So sometimes you just have to be grateful for what you've gotten and kind of understand.

Because look, I'll be honest, there was a point of my indie career where I was like, if I could just be like a jobber in NXT, I'd be so happy if that's all I could do. Even if I never win a match, if I just wrestle there for one year, I'd be so happy. And like, it went above and beyond all those type of things. And so I can't sit here and kind of dwell because I feel like that's what makes people like really bitter on the inside or depressed or something. Like you got to look back on those times. It is great times, man. Like I was in my 20s, early 30s, traveling the country, traveling the world, wrestling for the WWE.

Like, it doesn't get much better than that. Yeah. There's a lot of guys who are 510, but maybe have a little bit more weight to them that have been incredibly successfully. You know, Chris Jericho, Chris Benwite, Guerrero, Kurt Angle, just off the top of my head. Did you ever think in your career, maybe I should put on some size, be 210, 220? Yeah, I mean, on the Indies, I tried that. Like, when I was in college and stuff, I was eating a ton. I think the heaviest I ever got out to was like 206, but it was...

206 live. Yeah, right? Yeah, one pound over. But I was kind of soft. When I looked back on those, like, at the time, I was like, you know, 21 in college, I was like, oh, I'm huge. But I look back on those pictures. I was very soft looking.

Yeah, full of pizza. Yeah, yeah, pizza and pizza. beer. And I looked back on that, I said, even though I was bigger, it wasn't a very, like, good TV body. So that's when I got to WWE, I tried to, like, lean out as much as possible because also the business has changed. Like, at that time, I was like, oh, am I going to make it at five foot 10 had I known that NXT and 205 and all these places that were going to pop up or the average size is about five foot 10. I wouldn't have stressed about it too much. And I don't anymore. You know, you look at some of the top guys and other places, like, they're not that big.

WW is really the only place that puts like this emphasis on size over talent. Like there's so many talented guys in WWE, like a Chad Gable, for example, who just doesn't seem to get his fair shake just because he's a little bit smaller. So I feel like the nice thing about all these other companies is your talent speaks far more than you're just how big you are, how tall you are. Some of these photos you've been posting on Instagram lately. I mean, you're jacked. Like you're popping out.

My goodness. I mean, that's the thing. say like don't get me wrong every wrestler should be in good shape but you should be in as good as shape as you can be you know for your genetics for your body type yeah yeah i think like i always give credit to connor mcgregor i say he's someone who i think really made people see oh if you're five 10 under 200 pounds you can still be a badass fighter because he looks the part you know so i always that would be my advice like other guys my size i'm like just getting the best shape you possibly can get into like genetically you know if you want to do like

steroids and stuff, whatever, that's your call. But just try to get in the best shape you can possibly for your size and your genetics. And I think that's at least the least you can ask, you know. You've also been posting these amazing Taekwondo videos on your social media. That needs to be worked into what you do, I think, more often. You know, everybody says that. My brother always says that too. He's like, you got to do like more karate stuff.

Those head kicks. My God. Yeah. So I'm a second degree blackbell. I got it my sophomore year of high school. Everybody should know this. Come on. I know. I need to get some kick pads and start kicking the shit out of people or something. Yes. I just, my thing was I was just, I try to be like the wrestlers who I watched, you know, and Stone Cold, the Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, Randiore and all these guys. Everybody you just listed is like six foot three. I know, right? 30 pounds. Never clicked in my head that maybe that's why that shit works. But I was just such like a classic pro wrestling fan that I just want, that's what I always wanted to be. But hey, man, I was saying in, One of my last interviews, like, they asked me, like, are you going to do this DeVarri De Niro thing the next place you go? I said, I don't know. I said, I think this might be a great time.

It's always a good time to evolve. You know, when you have these turning points in your careers, like, I don't think you should always just do the same shit because I don't want anyone to just be like, oh, he's just doing his WWE thing. Like, I'm taking this as an opportunity to maybe change up my look, change up my gear, change up my attitude. And who knows, maybe introduce more of my martial arts into my wrestling. I think when you first debuted in WWE, there were some people who were a little bit confused because obviously your brother had the same last name. They're going, are they related?

Are they the same person? What's going on here? Was there ever talk of you having a different name? No, luckily for me, everyone in the CWC, and I don't know if this was Triple H's call or what, but they wanted everyone to have their names because I think they wanted to just like capitalize on buzz. Like they said this was the most, you know, the free agents, the best free agents in the world and stuff like that. So for some reason, they just kept everyone.

The only people who had to like have their gimmick names or guys who had gimmick names on the Indies, you know, Mustafa Ali, Lince Adirado. It's not their real name. So they were the guys who, WWE, like, took their wrestling name. But everybody else, Drew Gulac, Tony Neese, myself. Like, it's our shoot names. Do you think it helped you because the crowd was already familiar with the Devari name? Or do you think it kind of made things difficult because now you had to fill the shoes of your older brother?

Yeah, I went back and forth about that. I do think on one hand, again, I don't want people like, oh, he's just like his brother, or he's just a copy of his brother. Or, you know, unfortunately for me, I would admit that my brother was in the wrestling business when it was even hotter, you know, so he had a lot more eyes on his career back in like 2004.

So some people were, you know, cheap rip off or whatever. But I was also very proud of the fact, like I said, like making it to the WW at my size. And on top of that, I'm getting to keep my name, you know, like, this is me. This is all me that's being presented on the WW. So a small part of me was actually kind of happy about that. So you're going to keep Aria DeVari as you move forward? Oh, yeah. I mean, it is your name. Yeah. So they sent me like a termination letter that had like a bunch of like legal mumbo jumbo and stuff you use and blah, blah. And it said in parentheses, Ariya DeVari. So I had to call the lawyer just to like double check. And I was like,

you guys know that's my real name, right? Like all my platforms, Indies, like they're all going to say Aria DeVarre. Like, yeah, we know. It was just like a formality letter and they just kind of put that stuff in there. But I want to make sure I was like, are you guys stealing my name from me? My real name? But no, the lawyer.

We trademarked your actual name. Sorry, man. The lawyer actually kind of like laughed on the phone and he was like, no, dude. He's like, it's your real name. And I was like, yeah, good point. I just want to double check. I don't know. There's some crazy rules and laws and shit like that.

I don't want to make sure I got screwed over or something by a gig. giving my name away. I mean, you mentioned that there's a lot of options now. Wrestling is hot. I mean, I would argue it's the best time to be a wrestling fan and subsequently the best time to also be a wrestler. So as your 90 days come up, where do you want to pop up? I just want to wrestle as I want a busy schedule. That's the only thing I want. Because right now, like sitting at home with these 90 days and not too long ago we were dealing with a pandemic, like that shit sucked. I did not like sitting at home. home. The pandemic was a little bit different because obviously like nobody could really do anything.

But right now seeing all like the crowds have now just come back. So wrestling is super hot. And I'm sitting at home not doing anything. Like it's driving me fucking crazy. So I really want to just be as busy, busy, busy as possible. So it doesn't matter where it is. If it's at AEW impact, New Japan, back to the Indies. Like I just want to wrestle the best guys possible and just keep a very busy schedule. Like this is my life now. This is all I care about. This is all I want to. to do so wherever can keep my schedule busy and wrestling the best matches. That's all that matters to me. Do you have some indie dates lined up right now? Yeah, I've started to get him slowly lined up. I haven't been a lot of promoters that I've been talking to still don't have like a lot of like October, November, December dates. Like they're still figuring out. Everything's still kind of up in the

air with us. It is. So a few promoters promotions I reached out to were just kind of like, oh, we haven't hammered down. Because my 90 days. is up September 23rd. So basically October. So a lot of promotions I've talked to have kind of like, oh, we haven't got to our October dates yet. But when we do, you know, we'll give you a call and stuff like that. So I've been lining up more like signings. And I do have like a few promotions that do like show that have like annual shows they do in like November and December got those locked down. But a lot of remote, that's what you're talking about. Yeah, Blizzard brawl is a lot of them. And then there's one I'm doing a, it's called Lucha Libre and Laughs out in Denver. That's a, that's a day

before Thanksgiving. So that's like on a Wednesday. So, but you're right. You hit the nail on the head is that a lot of places are still figuring their shit out, you know, there's not even a lot of promotions in Minnesota that are up and running like full time yet. Like Minnesota had a hotbed of independence. And right now they're all just like slowly coming back, trying to basically find venues that will have them. Dave here is a very good friend of mine. That's why I dropped in Blizzard brawl there. Now, I love Dave here. I was I was backstage hanging out of impact with my brother because he was finishing up his final dates there. And Cal was there, his son, who, like, I haven't seen him in like five, six years. And he's like his big Jack 19 year old now. And I was like,

oh shit. I was like, you're doing great, man. I see him on, I saw him on like dark. And then he's doing dark matches at impact and stuff like that. So it was cool to see him. And he's always been a really kid. And Dave Hero was always someone who treated me very well. Yeah, Cal is just crushing it. And he has that laser focus, that tunnel vision that you talked about. Like for him, especially considering who his father is, but for him, it's wrestling or nothing. Yeah, right, yeah. No, he's a, I think he has a bright future. And to be 19 years old and he's already has like TV experience and stuff like that, like, man, sky's limit for him. Well, it's not unlike your story. You know, it's not unlike your story where he has someone who's able to go, yeah, do this, don't do this. Right. Then just having lots of

connections. Like you said, his dad booked a lot of wrestlers, you know, on his shows in the last 10, 15 years. So if anyone's going to put in a good word for Cal, it's going to be all these guys at all these different promotions. So as we sit here now, it's July, you've got a little less than two months before you can start showing up at different places. What do you do for the next 55 days? Get in the best shape I possibly can. I really enjoy training. I really do enjoy lifting weights. And it actually would kind of like piss me off when I would go wrestle a match and I'd come home and like my lower back.

or my neck or my shoulder was kind of bugging me. So I go to the gym and I could only lift at like, you know, 60, 70 percent because something was nagging me. Like I haven't woke up sore from wrestling in like 20, 30 days now and I have another 50 days. I'm like, this feels great. Like nothing hurts. My neck feels great. My back feels great. So I just been going to the gym and having these long, two, three hour workouts, tons of cardio, you know. So that's been kind of fun. Like I said, just taking a little break. The only time you get off really in the wrestling business is when you get hurt. The pandemic was the first like long break I had in wrestling and then this is the second one. And other than that, it's just been like nursing injuries, you know, when I hurt my neck, I got like three months off.

But like, you don't count that as like time. I wasn't enjoying my time off. Like I was at home hurting. I was like, this sucks. But right now having time off and my body feels good and just being able to go to the gym and work out every day and we have a couple of vacations coming up. So right now it's just kind of reset, recharge because I know once September 23rd comes, it's really. right back to it. Did you ever feel like you had an opportunity in WWE where you were so, so close? You were teetering on like whatever was going to be on that next level for you and it just didn't happen for whatever reason. Yeah, honestly, right before we got released, me and Tony Neese were doing a lot of tag stuff together. You know, me and him tagged on and off like since the beginning of 205. But the last like four or five months of TVs we did, they were tag having us tagged pretty regularly.

they're having us do promos together. And everyone in the office, Sean Michaels, Bloom, stuff like that, they would always be telling us, like, you guys are killing it as a tag team. You know, you guys are doing a great job. You look good. You know, we're having good matches.

A lot of the boys were coming up to us telling us, oh, you guys look good as a team and stuff like that. So we were definitely thinking this was going to hopefully take us to the next level. We thought either be a tag team on NXT. Me and him discussed, like, hey, should we go talk to Vince and see if you'll bring us to Raw or Smackdown? I was always told the unfortunate thing is that maybe it's Vince or WWW in general isn't really like big in the tag team division. So that was the only like hurdle we kind of have to climb just to get them to pay attention to tag stuff.

But I really thought that was going to take us to the next level. And unfortunately we got released, which was a little bit surprising because like I said, we were wrestling every. If we weren't doing singles every single week, we were doing tags every single week. And I really think we were crushing it. But over the last year, so many of your friends. so many of your colleagues were unfortunately released. Every time that happened where you're like, oh my God, like I'm safe, I can't believe that I'm still here. And then one day you do get that call.

Yeah. So I thought, I mean, my own brother. My own brother was part of the COVID releases. Just recently he got brought back to WW, which I was very, very happy for. And I was very upset when he got released during COVID. After the COVID releases happened, I was kind of like, okay, that sucks. but, you know, I survived. So I think I'll be good.

And then there's been like three waves of firings in 2021. And that first wave that happened when Samoa Joe got let go, I think the Iconics were on WrestleMania and then they got let go. And then when the Braun Stromben won, that's when the whole roster, I think, from top to bottom, Brawn, Smackdown, NXT, everybody was like, oh, shit. Like if they're letting guys like Braun and Samoa Joe go, it could be anybody.

So I would say for the last four or five months, I wasn't expecting it because like I said, I was wrestling all the time. But a small part of me said, like, if it's going to happen, it might be around this time. And then unfortunately it did. Are you hopeful that once things finally do get back to whatever normal is going to be? Are you hopeful that maybe you can go back? I think so. I kind of have like this five-year plan in my head because I'm 32 now. I said, if I don't go back to WWE in the next five years, then maybe that's.

door is closed, but I still feel young. I still feel good. You know, and you just see so many guys, like I think Drew McIntyre and Jinder are great examples. Obviously, they're very large men, you know, so they have that advantage. But seeing them, like, leave WWE and like, let's be honest, they were kind of at the bottom of the barrel when they left WWE and to go out there, get in great shape, reinvent themselves, and then come back and have the success that they've had. Like, it's awesome to see, you know, Shelton Benjamin, you know, the Hardy Boys. Like, obviously these are all guys who are big stars, but they were guys who I thought when they left WWI,

I was like, that's probably it for them, you know, because they've done everything they can do. They're a little bit older now, probably not going to come back. And now to see, they've come back and they've all done,

you know, extraordinary work. I don't think the door for WWV is completely closed. It might just be, right now they're just kind of reshuffling things and figuring things out like the whole world is doing right now. How much pressure do you feel or did you feel to lean into your culture,

heritage. At first, I felt it more because it's WWE. They love people from different countries. They said that to, they said that to me in my trial. They said, we love the fact that you're Iranian and can speak another language. So it makes you kind of be like, okay. Were you like, I'm actually from Minnesota? Yeah, I'm actually from Minneapolis. Now, they, I mean, they knew all that shit, but they knew that I spoke another language. And, you know, at first I was kind of about it, but then some people's like responses on Twitter like, like, oh, like another like foreign guy, like great. So I was like, I think that era of wrestling is definitely ending. And it was it was on me. Like I'm the one who took a divinic man and said like, hey, I don't want to do this

chic thing anymore. Can I switch to this DeVari De Niro character? And he was all about it. Yeah. Well, I mean, you speak perfect English. Like it makes sense that you were born and raised in America. Yeah. It makes sense that maybe you could just be an American who happens to look the way that you look. And that was kind of that was so I didn't want to completely like abandon the fact that I'm Middle Eastern and that I'm Persian. So the Davari de Niro character was actually based on this TV show called Shaz of Sunset, which is like, and I mean you you know, people call, uh, L.A., they call it Tarantilus or something like that. You know, there's a lot of, uh, Iranian and Persian people in L.A. So I said, hey, if you want me to represent like, you only be a character,

like I got a way better character for you guys. And there's these, all these Persian guys out in L.A. who are driving these like white BMWs and gold chains and all that kind of stuff. And I said, and I find it, you know, it's, I don't think it's as offensive. You know, it's a little bit more funny, a little bit more tongue and cheek. So that was why I wanted to switch to that character. And on top of that, like I said, a lot of Persian people like that, they may be born in California or something like that. They're born in America.

I was born in Minnesota. So we can, we don't have to like insult the crowd's intelligence by saying from Tehran Iran. And they go on my Wikipedia and it says from Plymouth, Minnesota. So I was like, you know, you can stop announcing me. from Iran and shit like that. So that was kind of why we switched to DeVarie De Niro character because I just didn't want to continue doing like a typical foreign deal.

I had Muhammad Hassan on the show like at the end of last year and he doesn't do a lot of interviews at all. So it was like such an honor to have him on the show. But as I was diving into the research, I realized and watching the old promos, what he was saying and what Sean DeVari was saying at the time was like completely accurate. And it was so funny. All they were doing was speaking the truth. Like you're stereotyping me because of the way I look.

I'm American. Yeah, right. No, people joke about that when they look back on a novice. These guys should have been baby faces, you know. Seriously. And I feel like Mustafa Ali has done a great job of kind of, you brought that up on Twitter a lot. Just kind of saying like when people would say, you know, mean or racist things to him. He'd say, like, hey, I'm an American too.

I was born here just because I'm proud of my heritage. It doesn't mean you guys need to like rain down hell on me and stuff like that. So it's just things like that, you know. And I always had my brother, Muhammad Asan, in my head when I was doing like the sheik stuff. And just seeing how that turned out, I knew right away when I got to WWE, like, I'll do the sheik thing. This is what, you know, this is what they saw when they signed me. So maybe this is what they want. But I knew right from the get go.

I said sooner or later, I'm going to get rid of all this stuff and kind of distance myself from that and try to do something completely different because I wanted longevity. And unfortunately, sometimes I feel like a over-the-top gimmick or maybe even like a foreign gimmick might have like a shelf life on it. So I knew being myself was going to last a lot longer than being like a foreign heel. It's Farsi that you speak? Yep. Farsi is the language of Iran. What was the first language that you learned? English.

So I'm the youngest. So when my oldest brother was born, they were only speaking Farsi in the house because my parents were still getting acclimated. to America. You know, they moved here in the late 70s. And then Sean was born. And then by the line- I think you call him Sean. I just do it because everyone knows him. It's really, his name is Darla, everybody. But I just call him Sean because that's everyone knows him as. Yeah. But by the time I was born, both of my brothers were already in school. And my parents were actually very good about saying, like, we don't want you guys to fall behind in your education and anything like that because you're not, you can't speak English well and we can't speak English well.

So my parents practiced their own English with my brothers. So by the time I was old enough to like talk and everything, it was a pretty English speaking household. And they always said like we just wanted you guys to do well in school. We don't want you to fall behind because there's some sort of language barrier. So they really practiced their English. And then I basically grew up in an English speaking household. But just being around my parents and all my cousins and aunts and uncles who constantly

spoke Farsi when they were together, that's just how I kind of learned it. I can understand it a lot better than I can speak it. I'll say it that way. Who would have thought that years later, Farsi would be what got Sean DeVari over? Yeah, it really was. It was both of our tickets into the WWE. Yeah, that's so crazy that it's this, I don't know, this skill that you didn't even know would be so helpful for you. Yeah, I know.

Great. I mean, I did a lot of, like, I leaned into more on the Indies, but the Indies are a little bit more free reign. You can have more fun, you know. There was a lot of shows on the Indies where, like, I was doing like the chic character doing the foreign heel, but it was a little tongue and cheek. And like I would say things like in English and stuff like that or make the crowd laugh, know, that this is like, it's just like a gimmick that I'm doing. Or, you know, how many times can I be announced to the ring from Tehran, Iran? And I wrestle every show in Minnesota, like,

damn, this guy flies here every single week, you know? So it was a little bit like tongue and cheek on the Indies. I'm like, yeah, evil foreigner. Yeah, wasn't your finisher on the Indies, the magic carpet ride? The Magic Carpet Ride, yeah. My brother did it once as a goof, like just to kind of pop the crowd and like they really liked it so when he went to w w i was like do you mind if i started doing he's like yeah go for it and it always got a great reaction from the crowd but funny enough when i i did it in my tryout match at at nxte like i did it uh on the road uh when i did like try out stuff like on the road and it popped all the boys who were watching and stuff like that so i was like well shit i'm going to keep doing it it makes you stand out right when i did it i did it in my tryout match

Bill DeMott was the head coach of the time of NXT. As soon as I hit the magic carpet ride which is like a top rope splash holding a carpet, I hear the bell ring. And I was like, oh shit, what happened? And on the microphone, there's like a big microphone in front of everybody, he goes,

we don't do that indie bullshit here next. And I was kind of like, oh, sorry. So ever since then, I continued doing on the indie the ones I got to WWE, like that memory is so burned in my head that I never even bothered asking if I could do it or something like that, because he just made me feel like, I was kind of like, oh, is this one of those things that is too silly for the WWE? But then a few months later, Jack Gallagher was jumping on me, like holding an umbrella.

So I was like, yeah, what the fuck? Wow. Well, I mean, this is one of thousands of stories about Bill DeMont, though. Yeah, right, no. And then, yeah, like a few months later, he got fired. So that was another thing that when I didn't get picked up, I was like, nah, it's all his fault. It wasn't really. Well, now in two months, we can see the Magic Harbor ride again.

Yeah, right. on the Indies, I'm definitely bringing it back. Because I was like, it was something unique that made you stand out. You know, I have a, I have a hard name to remember, I guess, for some people. So people would always be like, ah, the magic carpet guy. Like, hey, that's me. As long as you remember something. I mean, that's the biggest thing.

It's just get over. Whatever it is it takes. Get over. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm excited to see what's next for you. No, I'm excited too, man. Like I said, the business is, it's popping right now, man. Like all these promotions are drawing like record.

crowds. I mean, when I was when I was an indie wrestler, like my last indie show was like in 2016. And I think even from then till now, the indies have gone up more so. But like I, I, the biggest crowds I used to wrestle in front, I was like two, three hundred people, occasionally a thousand people. But I go on Twitter, Instagram and all these indie shows I see. They're drawn 500, 600, 800,000, thousand, two thousand people. I said, damn, like, once you get to like four, 500 people in a crowd, like, it's great. Like, that's when the crowd can be super loud and have, you can have a good show and all that kind of stuff. So I see that, like, that's kind of the norm at a lot of these places now. So I'm really excited to go meet a bunch of new fans. That was another thing that I really

missed was, like, the interactions with fans. Like, there's no, like, gimmick table. There's no gimmick table at the WW where you go, like, meet these fans and stuff like that. So I'm really excited to kind of meet a whole bunch of fans that I haven't got to meet in the last, you know, five years I was in WWE. Yeah, it's going to be exciting to see what you can do with no restrictions at all. That's one thing I'm very excited for. No more PG restrictions. I end every interview with the same question. So I will ask this of you because I start and end every day with gratitude. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Well, from the get go, I'll save my health. I'm very,

grateful for my health because we know how this business is. We know what this business can do to people, whether it's injuries or drug abuse, alcohol abuse, just the grind of being on the road. I'm happy that I'm healthy. You know, I have my sanity and all that kind of stuff. So that's one thing I'm very grateful for. The second would be my family. I'm very grateful for my family. They've always been very supportive of what I do. They've always been there for me. You know, any, even when I got released, you know, they were calling me nonstop just to make sure I was okay and I was trying to tell them, you guys, I'm fine, you know, everything's good. It's just, it is what it is. This happens to tons of wrestlers, you know, so I'm very grateful for my family. And then lastly, I know this might

sound cheesy, but I am grateful for my time in WWE. Like, like I said, I used to think about that all the time. From 12 years old, up until the day I got signed, all I think about is being in the WWE. I had, I'd have a hard time focusing in college, even after college when I was working like shoot jobs. that I have a hard time focusing on that. Because I always just felt like this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm supposed to be wrestling in the WWE. And it was hard for me to like focus on anything else, you know, relationships, friendships, friendships, all that kind of stuff.

I'm now very grateful that I had my time in WWE so I can finally focus on other aspects on my life that may have got kind of put to the side in the last 30 years. So, yeah. Well, where can everyone find you online? My Twitter and Instagram are at Aria-Divari. I know it's hard to tell. Real name, by the way. Yeah, real name, shoot name.

Yeah, just Instagram and Twitter. I'll be updating it as time goes on. Like, I do have these things that, like, man, I really need to be like getting to work and doing all this kind of stuff. But I'm really enjoying this time off a little bit. You know, I have about another month where I want to relax. But then I, like I said, I just know everything's going to go back to normal soon. I'm going to be on the road a bunch and all that kind of stuff. So I'm just enjoying my time off.

But just keep an eye on my Instagram. Keep an eye on my Twitter. that's where I update most of my stuff. I've spent this last interview or this whole interview thinking we could probably be brothers. We have all the same like features. We do, right? Nice facial hair. You have better hair than I do, though.

That's the only thing. You're just wearing a hat. That's the only difference. Yeah. Oh, no, we got it. Are you, what's your ethnicity? Do you have anything in your background? My mom was born in Greece.

Oh, really? Okay. My mom is Macedonian. Okay. Born in Greece, came over to Canada when she was like four. So I'm Canadian. Oh, my dad's side of the family, many, many, many generations. ago, Dutch.

Dutch, okay. That's why my last name was Van Fleet. I've been mistaken for Greek before, like Greek. I'm sure you've been mistaken for it all, Greek, Italian. Mexican, all of them. Yes, me too. When I lived in Miami, people would speak to me in Spanish first. That happened to me when I lived in Orlando.

I'd go to the bank and they just started talking to me in Spanish. And I was like, I am so sorry. I don't know. Yeah, right. We can talk Farsi if you want, but I will nod my head if you want to do that. Yeah, right. Yeah. Thank you again, Aria.

No, man. I appreciate you having me on here. Like I said, I'm excited to do these interviews and stuff. So maybe in the next few months, once I start some more things cooking and get some more stuff to promote, we can do this again. I wanted to do it in person. And I'm so sorry that when you're going to be in L.A., I'm actually going to finally be back in Canada visiting my family.

No, I'm happy. Is this the whole pandemic and stuff? You haven't been to Canada? I saw my sister and their family, my niece and nephews and her husband. but I haven't seen my parents since December of 2019. Wow. Yeah. Trust me, that's far more important than doing a, we'll get this interview done at some other time.

I appreciate that. Thank you, of course, of course. Been 18 months, 19 months, not seeing my parents. I'm very, I'm very fortunate that I was able to, like, my mom lives in California too, so I was very fortunate I did get to see her twice during the pandemic. I just kind of took the risk. I was like, I guess so, I mean, I was already flying to Orlando every week. So I was like, I have a semi-level of comfort.

But obviously it's much harder for you because I assumed just getting it to Canada was the issue. Well, it was you had to first it was a two-week quarantine. Right. Then they changed it to a government, like a quarantine where you had to stay in like a government-approved hotel at like some ridiculous price. Yeah. But now it's if you're vaccinated, you have to show that you've had a negative COVID test on the way in and then on the way back here. Okay. But it's just.

opened up recently. Okay. Well, hey, that's good. The fact that you get to see your parents, that's all that matters. But I got to see you doing this. Yeah. Awesome.

Hey, thanks for having, man. I really do appreciate it. I like being able to finally tell my story to everybody. No, it's my pleasure. Thanks for coming on. No problem. There we go, my friends. Thank you to Aria for joining us for this.

Of course, thank you to you for choosing us in a sea of podcasts. And the goal every episode is to learn something new. so I hope that you were able to learn something or many things from this conversation. Share it with a friend. Take a screenshot, tag us on social media. Let us know what stood out the most for you. Tag Aria, he's at Aria Davari on Instagram,

tag, and Twitter. And tag me, mine's just at Chris Van Fleet. And I'll leave you with something to ponder for the rest of your day or night or week or month, perhaps even year. I am not a product of my social. circumstances. I'm a product of my decisions. That's from Stephen Covey. Great words. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do

with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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