Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Braun Strowman On Bray Wyatt, WWE Return, Neck Injury, Brock Lesnar Receipt

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Braun Strowman (@adamscherr99) is a professional wrestler with WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at a WWE Priority Pass On Location event in Philadelphia during WrestleMania week to talk about the neck injury that kept him out of action for over a year, returning to WWE after being released in 2022, his friendship with Bray Wyatt, how being part of the Wyatt Family changed not only his career but his life, the receipt that Brock Lesnar gave him in the ring during the 2018 Royal Rumble, wrestling The Undertaker and Kane early in his career, getting into the best shape of his life and much more. Quote I'm thinking about: "The greatest lesson I've learned in life is that I still have a lot to learn." Sponsors: PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! RHONE: Upgrade your closet with Rhone and use CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com 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.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. All right, my friends, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. How you feeling? How's your week been? Thank you for being here. Thank you, as always, for making Insight, one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. And at last check, we've got Jim Cornett and The Undertaker ahead of us on the charts. That's some pretty good company to be in. Ooh, what would happen if we had The Undertaker on the show? That might push us up the charts. That might get us to number one, along with you hitting follow, of course, wherever you're listening to this right now.

That's super awesome and amazingly helpful. But the Undertaker in person, in June, in Texas, man, that'd be big. And I'm not saying that it's happening in June in Texas. in person, but I'm also not saying that it's not happening if you follow here. Speaking of in person, we recorded this one with Braun-Strauman during Russellmania week in Philly. And just like the Tiffany Stratton episode from Tuesday, this was in front of a live crowd at one of the WWE Priority Pass on location events that they had going on.

So if you bought the priority pass, you had access to the superstar brunch where I hosted interviews on stage, the one with Tiffany, the one with Bronch. Ron. We also recorded with Liv Morgan, Carmela, Ivar, and Sonia DeVille, and you'll be seeing those in the next handful of weeks here. Bronz Strowman is a beast. And I know he looks big on TV, but I don't think you truly grasp how big he is till you're next to him and you realize that his arms are bigger than most people's legs. He actually calls them thiceps. Thiceps. He should get that trademark. It was great to see him make his return on Raw this week after the neck injury that he had. And he talks about it during this interview. It sounded pretty scary.

He also gets pretty emotional when he starts talking about the impact that Bray Wyatt had and being part of the Wyatt family, what that had on his life and the impact that it had. And I don't know about you, but I was surprised when he got released during the pandemic, not surprised as at all when they brought him back in 2022. And I think we're going to see a lot from Braun Strowman in the remainder of this year. Snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening.

Tag us when you posted on social media. He's at Adam Scher, 99. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. Enjoy this conversation with Braun Strowman. Forget how gigantic you are. You know, and honestly, I don't realize that I'm this big. Like, I just feel like a normal person until like I see.

pictures with my friends and fans and things and they go, holy shit, I'm pretty freaking big. Were you always just an abnormally large human? Honestly, no. So when I was born, I was a normal-sized kid. I think I was 17 inches or something like that in like seven and a half pounds. And I was kind of normal-ish for a while. And then around like 11 or 12 years old, I went through this crazy growth transformation. I remember how miserable it was with growing pains and stuff.

And I started high school at like five-foot-eight. or five foot nine, I think like that. And then when I graduated at 17, I was six, five, and 300 pounds. So it was, yeah, thinking about that, I still have PTSD from the growing pains and everything that I went through when I was a kid. But, you know, it worked out all right. How's your neck feeling? It feels great.

I mean, look at this range of motion I got in this thing. Look at this. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm pretty much a Wolverine. I got some titanium in there and things like that. I was a little nervous. Like, I asked Doc when they put all this hardware. I was like, so am I going to set off metal detectors when I go through the airport? Because you know we're in airports like more than what our houses.

And luckily it doesn't. So a return is soon-ish then, it's possible. We're getting close. So I'm actually having, it's today Friday. Yeah, today's Friday. I'm actually having dinner with my doctor tonight, Dr. Cordova. Unbelievable talented doctor, one of the absolute top neurosurgeons, spinal surgeons in the world. I was very blessed and fortunate to be able to go to have him do the surgery.

drum me at Andrews Medical down in Birmingham, Alabama. So I actually going to have dinner with him tonight and talk. And I have another CT scan, and I believe like two weeks. So we're getting really, really close. When did you start to realize this is an issue? So I didn't know. So come to find out, I didn't know I had stenosis of the spine. So stenosis of the spine, yeah, it's basically where it's a tightened of you around your spinal

column. So I only had nine millimeters of clearance around my spine between my C4 and C5. vertebrae's and I didn't know that and I got hit wrong during a match and my head whipped back and my head went back and it felt like lightning bolt shot out of both my arms my arms went limp so if you watch the matchback you can see the match where it happened there's a there's a point where you see me my arms drop to my side and I kind of look around really weird and like finally my hands and stuff start to move again and I'm like looking at my hands and I go to take off running and I'm all wobbly my balances off and things like that and we got the match finished and I got in the back and

And it felt like someone was pouring, boiling hot water down both of my arms. So it was on fire. So I was in this really terrifying place for a couple of weeks of not knowing. Am I ever going to have a normal life again? Am I going to be able to do what I love? Am I going to be able to, yeah, just do anything? So it's very fortunate that I've become friends with so many of the legends and things like that in this business. So I called Stone Cold because I knew Stone Cold went through something like this.

because come to find out, his injury was almost exactly like mine. It was just a little bit more severe. So he had tenosis his spine when he got pile-drived, and it pinched his spine, and it pushed all the fluid out of his spine and bruising. He was actually paralyzed from the neck down for like 30 seconds. So having him talk to me and kind of almost giving me the proverbial, it's going to be okay. It was a very big breath of fresh air,

because, like I said, I didn't know what was going on. and then WWE takes unbelievable care of their talent and like talking with the hunter and stuff like that and him going, look, what we're doing right now is not as important as what you're going to be doing in 15 years of your life. Get it taken care of. You're important.

You're not going anywhere. If you can wrestle again, you can. If you can't, we'll figure it out, but we're going to go. So like having that pat on the back again, like giving that reassurance because, you know, you're not guaranteed anything. So having them. be able to put me in the place to have the best surger that I can,

going to the WW Performance Center, having the best rehabilitation that I can. I can't be more thankful that I'm taking care of by such an amazing company. That's got to be hard because you had just returned. And now you're basically saying, I don't want to be off TV, but I have to. Yeah, because that was it. I was like, how can I work around this?

Because that's what I've done my whole career. Like, that's a lot of people don't realize would be at WW. We're banged up all the time. There is no off season. And this is the longest break that I've had doing this in 11 years. So for me to be sitting at home and doing nothing for four months, losing my mind, like watching my muscle mass that I work so hard for diminishing and just sitting there.

Like, I'm not going to lie, weight on me. 2023 was rough. I mean, my neck injury. And then, you know, so yeah. Yeah. That brings tears to your eyes even just thinking about it. Prize picks is America's number. number one fantasy sports app with more than 5 million members.

It's the most fun and exciting way to get in on the action while you watch your favorite sports and players. You just pick more or less on two or more player stats for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash. It's playoff basketball season. Now is the time to join the prize picks community of over 5 million members who have already downloaded the app. They have quick withdrawals, easy gameplay, and an enormous selection of players and stat types.

That's what makes prize. prize picks, the number one fantasy sports app. This week on prize picks, I'm looking at the playoff basketball board, and I like Kevin Duran for more than 28 points, and James Hardin for more than nine assists. Check it out for yourself. Download the app today and use the code Insight for a first deposit match of up to $100. Download the app. Use that code insight for a first deposit match of up to $100.

Prize picks. pick more, pick less, it's that easy. Whether you're a world-class athlete or a podcaster like me, we all understand the importance of mental and physical well-being and proper recovery for top-notch performance. That's why I'm excited that Unified Healing is sponsoring this episode of Insight. Unified Healing is a new and super innovative global network of wellness centers powered by energy enhancement system or EES system.

If you haven't heard of the EES system yet, This technology promotes wellness, deep relaxation, purification, and rejuvenation. They have hundreds of locations across the globe, so access to a center is easy and affordable. And if you're interested in experiencing the EES technology for yourself, go to Unifiedhealing.com slash insight to learn more and to find a center near you. That's Unifiedhealing.com slash insight. U-N-I-F-D-healing.com slash insight. No materials or testimonials on the Unified Healing website

are intended to be viewed as medical advice or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen,

including EES system. When did you get this done? We all... A goosebumps, though, too. A group of us went. out after the Smackdown when we talked about when it was passing. So a group of us

went out and got fireflies done that night afterwards. He's still with you, I feel like. Oh yeah, yeah. I see him all the time. It's crazy. It really is crazy. Like, uh, I don't know how spiritual anyone is or this and that, but uh, I had a very deep connection with him. I mean,

uh, it's just, I see him and there's things that remind me of him and constantly every day there's something like I can feel him he's still around. How much did the Wyatt family, just in general, change your career as a whole? I'm changing my entire life. I was this kid that, you know, was told he was never going to make it, never going to be anything bullied, fat kid growing up,

and having a group of guys, three talented, unbelievable human beings take me under their wing and show me the ways through this crazy business. Like, words can't really explain how grateful I am for that because I'm not where I am in life without those guys. How did you get added into the family? Because they already had what they had going on. And then this monster of a man, the monster among men, just added to the group. From the day Wyndham saw me the first time, he knew that he needed me. And he did everything he couldn't lobby for me to be a part of the family.

So we just, like I said, just it was meant to be. Do you think if it wasn't for being part of the Wyatt family that you would have ever become Universal Champion? No. Without a doubt, no. Because that was just, I mean, look what we were capable to, you know, what we were able to do in such a short period of time. It might be like, like, you'll never see anything like that again in this business.

Walk me through what one of those entrances felt like. Just unbelievable. Like, I'll never forget my first WrestleMania walking out at Texas Stadium or 18, he's stadium, whatever, is where Dallas plays with 101,000 people shining their flashlights when we're about to go out and face off against the rock and John Cena. Like, it doesn't get any bigger than that. I mean, how, like, for this kid from Cheryl Ford, North Carolina, walking out with two of his best friends in front of 100,000 people to wrestle two of the absolute

most iconic wrestlers of all time. Like, I constantly have to pinch myself because I don't believe this is reality. I'm living in absolute fairy tale. It's one of the most iconic wrestling, uh, wrestling, wrestling, uh, wrestling, entrances of all time. Everybody with their flashlights out, the entire place goes black. It doesn't matter if it's WrestleMania or it's Raw or it's Smackdown or it's a house show. It's just so special to just be in the audience watching that.

I can't imagine what it's like being at the center of it. It's so nuts because, like I said, a lot of backstory like people don't know and things. Like when I debuted on television, I'd only had five wrestling matches in my entire life. So like being out there and being taken into the deep end of the pool and getting the proverbial kick in the ass. and I've been doggie paddling with my nose above the water for over a decade now. So, you know, it said, another crazy, the 11th wrestling match I ever had in my life was me in the late great Luke Harper versus the Brothers of Destruction and Merritt of Mexico in front of 20,000 people.

Wow. Yeah. And for a kid new to the business and things like that and how the old-timers like to mess with us refused to talk to me, wouldn't say anything to me in the back. I was terrified and would have said, we'll see you out there, kid. And I'm standing in a ring with Brody.

And thank God I was still wearing that sheet mask at the time because the gong hit. And literally every hair on my body stood up and I was underneath that mask just like this. Like, what the fuck? How did I get here? Like, yeah, it's like, I just gave myself goosebumps thinking about it.

Like, literally, it's so crazy. Like how, like, truly blessed. Like, my life has been. Like, I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I'm so thankful for it. How long before winning the championship did you know that it was going to happen? In my mind, I didn't know how long it would take, but I knew it was going to happen. I've been very good at manifesting things, I guess, in my life, because I just, I grew up with nothing, so I had to work for everything.

And the only thing I've ever had given to me in my life is a fucking hard time and part of my French. But yeah, so like just knowing that, and if you watch the, I can't remember what documentary it is, I start off talking at the beginning of it. And it shows the full circle where at one point we were getting close for me to be the champ and something happened. And Vince, it changed his mind on it. And it comes to this interview after I had this meeting with him. And I was pissed off about it because I was like, I don't know what I'm not doing right, what I'm not doing wrong, this and that. And that whole documentary leads up of me being told that it's not my time.

time to be champion, and it leads up to me beating Goldberg to become the universal champion. Wow. And it's so crazy to see all that come to fruition in the story. And to beat a Hall of Famer for the championship. Yeah, I'm the only person to ever squash Bill Goldberg. What did that match me and do you? It meant the world because I, like I said, as a kid growing up, idolizing him to becoming friends with him and, you know, unfortunate circumstances with everything going on with the

pandemic and what happened, he wanted me. So he picked me to do that and do the honors and pass that torch. Did he reach out to you to tell you that? Not initially they reached out, but when we got there, it was a whole thing. He goes to me. He's like, look, let me not paraphrase it wrong. He said, I can count on one hand how many people that I would do this for, and I still have three fingers left. Wow.

Yeah. Wow. That's special. Yeah, very. So that's just it. I mean, it's the whole thing. Like it said, being able to work with Undertaker and Big Show and Mark Henry and Kane and all these legends and them taking me under their wing because I didn't know the difference from the headlock and a hole in the ground when I started this. And them just working with me, talking with me, showing me the way, sitting up late at night having cocktails talking about the business and things like that.

It's, yeah, it's, I don't, yeah, it's unbelievable. I feel like a lot of people were surprised. when you got let go. What was your reaction when you found out? It fucking sucked. I mean, at the end of the day, I don't know how else was saying. I mean, it sucked. I mean, I had no intents as of going anywhere,

but that's unfortunate part of business. You know, business is business. And at the time, that was a decision, I guess, that they needed to make. And clearly, it wasn't the right one because I'm back. Did you always feel like in the back of your mind, like, this is just temporary? I knew.

I knew for a fact. You do? Yeah. And that's what I said. I got reached. out by everybody, come here, come wrestle for us. And I've said it time and time again, I'm loyal to this company because what this company has done for me, my family, my loved ones, that it's, I'm just loyal. And I knew for a fact that I would be bad because this is where I

belong. Like, I truly believe I was put on this earth to be a WW superstar. When I saw you last year at WrestleMania in LA, I said, it's good to see you back here. And you said, it's good to be home. And it was like the fact that this is, this is home. You were so happy to be back home. Yeah. And that's it. It's being away, like I just realized it's like less than, it's three weeks from a year since I had my last wrestling match. And I've been away and I haven't seen anybody. So coming here at WrestleMania, getting here to Philly and stuff,

and seeing everybody and feeling that family again. Because I knew it was there, but it's just, everyone's so busy. Everybody's lives are so busy. Once we leave work, we're all over the place. We all live different places, different countries, all this stuff. We all have other businesses going on and things like that. and then coming here for our big crescendo of the year, you know, it's such a special time.

Everything you could feel like this walking around, you could feel it's WrestleMania. So seeing everybody, the hugs, the cries, the having cocktails at the bar, catching up. I mean, that's what it's all about. Life's short. Yeah. I've always been so curious about the moment

that happened in the ring between you and Brock Lesnar. He gives you some receipts. What's the actual story of what happens here? I got a little overzealous with him, and he had to check me. And that's just at the end of the day, it's two big, dominant dudes out there going at it. And things happen.

This ain't ballet. You just hit him by accident? Yeah, I stiffed him on accident with the knee, and he wasn't happy with it, so he's clobbered me on the side of the head. And I like to think I'm the only human on earth that's ever taking a right hand for Brock. It didn't go night-night.

I went 20 more minutes in the match. Did it hurt? It didn't feel good. I mean, you can see the slow motion. My skull moves, and then the skin catches up. What's your favorite moment that you've had in your WWE career? Man, because it's all so special. It really is.

It's a heck of a career so far. Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, as hard as it was, the swam match, I would bray. Because that was my teacher, my mentor, my master, being able to go out there and use the tools and the assets that he told. taught me and he gave me and be able to go out there. And like, well, a lot of people don't realize with that match and stuff, when we had it, it took us like 32 hours of continuous work to film this in hot-ass Florida. And it really put a toll on bobas.

I ended up in the hospital after it. So I got home and I collapsed in my house with full-body cramps. I had to be pulled out of my house by the, by the EMS and have double IVs hooked up. It took four liters of fluid to get my body to start cramp it, stop cramping. So like that's when I got a little, you know, you got your critics on the internet and people were bashing it. And I'm like, really, I mean, that's great. I get it. It's your opinion or title to it.

But like, I almost killed myself to make this happen for y'all. So it's kind of hard, you know, dealing with the critics at times when you're sacrificing your health and well-being to put smiles on other people's faces. Was it dehydration? Yeah. It was just a lot. I mean, you're out in the middle of a swamp for, yeah, all day long, all night long. You're sweating, not drinking enough water. And then literally getting it done and then going.

straight to Monday Night Raw right after I went home, took a shower, went to TV, got that done, and then got home and collapsed while I was taking a shower. Wash the swamp off of you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. So yeah, it's just said, I mean, but I wouldn't change the thing. Because I know how important what we do on television to the people out there in the world when they need an escape from reality.

As I said, nothing I would change. All the surgeries I've been through the pain, the missing out on normal life. whatever normal is anymore, excuse me, to seeing the videos of kids that are going to have brain tumors removed. As they're going under anesthesia, they're holding my action figure. That's what it's all about. The Braunstromen that debuted in WWE looks a lot different from this Bronzstromen. This Bronzstromen is insanely jacked. When did you make the decision to make that transformation? One, it was just, you know, my physique coming in was, it was built for a different, purpose. I came from world strongest man. At 2011, I was North America

Strongest Man in 2012, the Arnold Amateur World Championship. So at that time, yeah, I had to be big. The heaviest ever was was 418 pounds is what I weighed in my last strong competition. And right now I'm sitting around 360. So I've been all the way between, in the last decade, I've been from 295 to 400 pounds, everywhere in between and for me this is my this is my life's work this is my work of art that's what people want to see they want to see when I walk in and people go he's even bigger in real life than he's on television and that's why I work so hard to do this that's why I literally carry food around with me everywhere like I track all my calories I track all my sleep like I'm so obsessed with it

because that's how I got to where I am in life and a lot of it attest to what I went through in my childhood with the bullying and stuff like that of proving all these people wrong. And I continue to do it day in and day out. And it's so important because it allows me to portray this message when I go and talk to elementary school kids, when I talk to special needs people, about not listening to what bullies and what other people have to say,

it's your life. You can control it. You can do what you want with as long as you're willing to put some work in. You could do anything. I love that message. Let's just put things in perspective, just how giant you are. I'll stand up.

I'm a normal-sized human. And then you stand up next to me here. And, yeah, it really puts it in perspective. If I were to try to go nose to nose with you, I'd be, yeah. Nosed to pits. Okay. I'll wrap this up with the same question that I ask everyone. And by the way, congrats on everything.

We can't wait to see you back in the ring. I can't wait to be back. I miss it. I miss it a lot. What are three things that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? My family and loved ones, my health, and the ability to travel around the world and do what I love and make a living. And God is without God, none of this is possible.

There we go. Braun Strowman in front of a live crowd. I love doing these in front of a live crowd. I've been talking about it for the last month or so, but the plan is still to do an event where you could come, not part of Priority Pass, but an event where you could come during SummerSlam weekend in Cleveland. So keep an ear out for the official announcement about that. We're still trying to put the pieces together, still trying to book a guest that's going to make you go,

yes, I need to be there. So we will see. Bronz-Strauman is awesome. And I appreciate just how open he was about everything during this conversation. I also laughed a lot when he was talking about getting punched by Brock Lesnar and like his skin going one way and his skull, you know, catching up with it or the other way around. Just so funny. Can't wait to see what's in store for Braun Strowman this year. He is an absolute beast of a man.

Snap a screenshot and let us know that you're listening to this one and tag us so we can share it out on Twitter or Instagram. He's at Adam Scher, 99. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and here's a quote that has stayed with me quite a bit, and I'll share it with you here. The greatest lesson I've learned in life is that I still have a lot to learn. Yeah, so much to learn. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more Insight.

Ask CVV number 29 tomorrow. 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. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.