Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Brian Cage's crazy diet to get HUGE, winning the Impact World Championship, Melissa Santos

Episode Date: August 5, 2019

Impact Wrestling World Champion Brian Cage talks to Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA. Brian talks about how he spent both of the biggest nights of his life, winning the Impact World Championship and his wedding night in the hospital, he discusses how much he has to eat, the day he met his now wife Melissa Santos, his wrestling inspirations growing up, the meaning of GMSI, his favorite Lucha Underground matches and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no?

Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, fam. You're talking like I'm 50. Taylor, Rokes, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcast.

It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you. man with the powerful questions this is the Chris Van Vleet show Chris Van Bleachow Ladies and gentlemen Chris

Here we go Welcome to another download of the Chris Van Vleet show And this is our first one on our brand new podcast Network Blue Wire I'm stoked to be with Blue Wire as we continue to grow the show Bigger and better And thank you to you

for being with us on this audio experience, whether this is the first episode you're listening to or if you've been with us all the way back since the beginning. And man, I can remember that like it was five weeks ago. I mean, oh, wow, it was five weeks ago. It's been great. It's been a great ride. And the whole idea behind this is YouTube's great.

I love YouTube. I've been doing YouTube for eight and a half years with the channel. I'm super grateful if you're a subscriber, if you've ever watched a video on there. It's amazing. But you have to be like super dedicated to watching the videos on YouTube as they're playing. I mean, unless you have YouTube premium, you have to have the app open to be able to watch the interview. So the idea here is that you can listen to the audio version of these interviews wherever you want, whenever you want. Although I will say there still is a lot of like visual cues, a lot of things that you'll probably after listening to the podcast, you'll want to go back and be like, oh, I need to see this now to understand how it works.

I listen to a lot of podcasts when I'm at the gym. I wonder how many people are listening to this while you're working out right now. If you are, that's awesome. Or maybe you're in your drive to work. I also listen on my drive to work. My guest today does a lot of working out, obviously. Probably not necessarily listening to the CVV show while he works out. But if he does, if you're listening right now, Brian Cage, that's awesome.

What's going on? Hey. Also, thank you to the five-star reviews that you've been leaving on Apple Podcasts. I'm going to keep reading one. every single week as a way to say thank you for listening. Thank you for leaving a review. And also like a free shout out to you for leaving a review and for being a fan of the show. So the Ho 11, shout out to you.

Yeah, T-H-E-H-O-11. He writes, professional and having fun. Such an outstanding interviewer. I never get enough of his interviews. Always entertaining and informative to let us know what goes on behind the scenes. As everyone has already mentioned, it's amazing. how he sits there and enjoys the company as the stars he asks do enjoy theirs. Also, great content for when working on the road, which I always do. Hey, so do I. If I could give this 10 out of five

stars, I would. Well, the whole 11, thank you very much for those kind words. And keep those reviews coming in. They really do help our rating on Apple Podcasts. And, you know, we're just trying to make the show bigger and better so we can get bigger and better guests. That's the idea here. All right. I mean, and you don't get much bigger physically than our guests. This is. time. Brian Cage is a very large, incredibly large, in shape, individual. I mean, I guess he's not just an individual. He's certainly not a man. He's a machine. And he's the current impact wrestling world champion. And I hadn't done an interview in like a week or so. We hadn't posted since the Dolph Ziegler interview. And I'm like, I'm free this weekend. What should I, where should I do some

interviews? So I flew to L.A. is what I did. I flew myself there. Stayed with a good buddy of mine, Jason Hammond. And I went to the Impact show. They had a live Twitch show in Hollywood. A great show. And I did a bunch of interviews there. So keep an eye out for those. Now, before we get to our chat, and it's a very interesting chat because Brian Cage talks

about how on the two most important nights of his life, both marrying Melissa Santos and winning the Impact World title, they both ended with him in the emergency room. What a story. Before we get to that, though, I'd like to welcome in our new sponsor, Shipstation.com. You can use ShipStation for free for 60 days when you use the promo code blue. The Chris Van Vleet Show also brought to you, as always, by Green Roads. And CBD oils are popping up here and there and everywhere. And ever since the CBD boom has kind of started in the last couple of years,

but not all CBD companies are created equal. Green Roads is a pharmacist founded company that cares about the ingredients and cares about you. And for as much stress as we have going on in our lives, Green Roads really helps. A little bit of CBD oil under your tongue or the relaxed bears. They taste like gummy bears. Or the things that I really enjoy using. You use my code, Chris15 at greenroadsworld.com to say 15%.

I don't know. Figure that out on any of your CBD products. Also, a big thank you to Samson Technologies for making us sound so good. You can go to samsonTech.com to check out their full line of equipment like the mics and the cables and the mixing boards on the headphones that we have. Also, a big thank you to Brian Cage for making this interview happen. I also did an interview that night

with his lovely wife, Melissa Santos, Jimmy Jacobs. We had a very introspective... You'll see. It's quite the interview. I think that's going to be the next one that I post. Also talk to Ethan Page, who is one half of the Impact Tag team champions.

Now, you really do need to see, at least a portion of this interview with Brian Cage on YouTube, just to see how large he is compared to a normal sized human like me. I'm 5'10, 180 pounds. I go to the gym. I like to think I'm in pretty good shape.

He makes me look like a toddler. I'm also super impressed by Brian's knowledge of nutrition. I mean, you don't get to his size by accident. But here you go. Enjoy this conversation with the machine. Brian Cage. It's been like two and a half years since we did an interview.

I feel like it's been longer. Oh, no, you've got to put this thing up to your face, too. Oh, I thought it's been longer. Exactly. I don't know, about two and a half-ish years. Obviously, a lot's changed for you, though, in that time. Yeah, yeah, quite a bit. I mean, I still got this sweet shirt.

I had this two and a half years ago and probably the same size of arms. But I think you're kind of looking smaller. No. I'm just joking. It's impossible. It is impossible. Because when was that was September 2017 then, huh? Something like that.

Yeah, around there. You were at Ronan in South Florida, and you were doing a badass Scott Steiner impression. That's right. And then just three days ago, yeah, right? Three days ago, whatever, I teamed up with Scott Steiner. Had my own headpiece and everything. And you know what? Every fan there, like, not only online, but they're in person.

Everybody thought it was Scott Stiner when I came out. Like, man, Scott looked exactly the same. So hats off to me and I will take those compliments gladly. Everybody thought I was, you know, the old school, OG Scott Stiner. That means the work. world to me. Yeah, well, do you think that you and your prime is bigger than Steiner was in his prime? No, no. I won't put myself over that hard. No. Okay. No. Steiner was a freak, man. He's out of control. He was the freaks with the peaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Freaks in my peaks.

He's got me beat. Maybe I'm sure I probably could have out, like leg worked him maybe, but no, he was, he was out of control. I don't know if there is someone who has the size and agility that you have right now on the planet, at least in wrestling. Yeah, you know what? I would probably have to agree with you with that. You can put yourself over there. Yeah, yeah, of course. Not only like, if you don't even want to call me a big guy, because I'm not seven feet tall, well, they're fine. I, uh, I dare to find anyone that's more,

that's more of an athletic body guy than Brian Cage because I don't think you're going to find one. I mean, what, what do you need to be to be considered a quote-unquote big guy? I know, because it was just, I mean, I'm still super heavyweight. Like, even if I was going to go in UFC or whatever, that's my weight class, I'd be or, or any sort of competition. Like, what do you weigh standing here right in front of us right now? 265.

Yeah, then you're having a anyway. So, I mean, yeah, I'm not 75, but I'm like, I weigh just as much as like, hey, Luchisorce, you said he's a beast, you mentioned, I weigh more than he does, so. Yeah, I'm like a fairly normal sized human and you weigh 80 pounds more than me. There it is, so. Yeah. Poor Melissa. I'm not going to go there, but geez.

Wow. You're like probably, you probably weigh two and a half times what Melissa weighs. Two and a change. Two and change. We could do some Steiner Math on this one. Oh, yeah. You know what? I love that he's been doing Steiner Math, like, before every match problem.

He, like, somehow Google there or something saw that it was so over. So he always, like last night he did a new rendition of it, and he added some numbers with PD and the six-man tag. And then it's bar wrestling. He said that his little go-to is he only has 141. And one, the two-thirds chance of winning. But then he always puts over that the place smells like weed, and then females genitalia, rejuval.

gin and he says as Popeye was powered by Spinnage he goes Big Papa punk is powered by pussy. It goes you're your chance of winning. Go drastically down. He doesn't give a number. It just says I don't think people quite understand what GMSI means

which I still think is crazy because it's been your thing for so long. I don't know. My favorite is people go, oh my God Brian Cage, I'm your biggest fan. I love you. I've seen you for everything. What's your misi mean? I'm like, well. Do you make something? thing up for them? No, no. I just, I usually, like, if it's online, people, I just wait for somebody else to answer for them. Like, I've answered that so many times. I'm like, I put

in the hashtags and this and that. But yes, get my shit in, which is an inside wrestling term for somebody who likes to go out there and just get their shit in. And because I always wanted to do these cool innovative moves, which is Chris Canyon. Everybody go, oh, okay, there's cage. You just wants to get his shit in, get his shit in. It was in developmental, actually, in FCW. I got ribbed before then in the Indies, and then during FCW. And just one day I was like, yeah, that's right,

because I'm Mr. Get My shit in. Yeah. And I'm like, hey. So that's all I came up. But if someone's looking for you on Twitter, it takes some searching to find you. It does. It does. I do on any interview,

podcast, this and that. They're like, hey, put out your social media. I'm like, yeah, Brian Cage on Facebook, Brian Cage on Instagram, Mr. Gmasa underscore BKJ. Yeah, it sucks. But I got a blue check mark because I can't change it. I lose it.

Oh, that's so true. Because Melissa did. She lost it. She had to get it back. Oh, yeah. So I'm like, yeah, I know, because people always tag at Brian K's. That's not me. Which, you know, makes sense.

That's the easy one. And then here I am when I'm trying to tag somebody on a post and you're like, I don't know why too. How come when you search somebody like in for a post? It's so much harder to find them than we just search for them to find their profile. Twitter is not as intuitive as Instagram is. I'm saying either one. Like, yeah, okay, if I'm looking for you for it on Instagram, I can just pop you up.

Say, take a photo list. I put it in my story and I'm trying to tag you. It's like, unless you know the exact name, I feel like it's always like the last name. Yeah. And I'm like Max and he's like names like underscore X0822. I'm like, what is this? What does this? Put your damn name. I interviewed Jungle Boy recently here in Hollywood because he lives here.

And he was talking about how he wants to put on size. But he was saying how difficult it would be to like have the eating regimen that you have. Like you show up to show is like with like a suitcase. Yeah, we just went downstairs and I dropped it off. I was actually thinking like, oh, should I get a meal before we eat? I'm pretty hungry. But I was like, I don't want to have food on my face. normally do.

Yeah, it's a full, people who don't really is a full-time job. Not only getting the food, prepping the food, then you have to eat the food. It all takes quite a bit of time. And then as soon as you're done, cooking, prep, and eating, you're like, oh, now I'm out of food. I've got to do it all over again. So, yeah, you definitely have to get into a habitual form. So then it's not so, not so mind-boggling, I guess.

Walk me through from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Well, when we saw, when we last year, until 17, it was probably a lot more, um, monotonous and a little more regimented. Okay. You weren't a married man then. I don't know if that factors in. No, no, it just once I finally gave, like, okay. Melissa was also the first girl ever been in that was like almost equally. Almost equally into fitness as I am.

So then she had more of appreciation for like the cheats and the foods because she eats pretty healthy stuff to you. Whereas like past relationships, people would just would eat, you know, they did whatever. So like, they get as excited like, oh, it's going to eat this place. They weren't as much of a foodie as I was. So then once her and I got together, I started to just cheat more often because it was more fun with her, especially a new relationship, yada, yada. And then eventually I just kind of finally, because I used to weigh out my peanut butter, like, tablespoon, my pre-workout, my BCA's, like everything to the tea.

Like my egg whites, everything. And I'm like, eh, that's about right. Like, so I still eat just as much, if you will, but I'm not like so like, oh, it's got to be exactly 10 ounces of cooked ground beef with, you know, 50 milligrams of. sodium here. Like, no, I don't. But is it wake up and do you eat instantly? It depends now. I'm not, like, before it was like exactly every single, every day it's the exact thing.

Sometimes I will eat it right away. Sometimes I'll go and do faster cardio or faster workout. I've been enjoying that, especially if I eat more carbohydrates the day before. I feel like that's a good way to energize your body. But then, it's my version of intermittent fasting because I can't just sit around, not eat. I will eat then. But if I go to the gym right away, I feel like, and I have enough. carbs from yesterday, you're not in a catabolic state, because you're still having glycogen

load from the day before. So, sometimes will do that. But, I mean, I still eat my first meal, whether it's before the gym or after the gym, is still usually always about a dozen egg whites, and now it's up to four whole eggs. I've then up to a cup of oatmeal. Or I'll do like half a cup of oatmeal, and then I'll use this supplement from 5% nutrition called Real carbs, like the sweet potato powder. It's amazing.

And then I always have a shake post-workout. like the second I'm done, like the last step of cardio or the last rep, it's shake right away with carbs and protein. And then I've been eating a lot more beef lately. I was doing a standoff reading's vertical diet for a while. But I mean, yeah, then it's usually, you know, about four meals. That's why I have downstairs. I have four meals.

Two of them are. You have four meals here? Yeah. Well, it's three now because I ate one on the car. But, um, so is it what, eight meals at a day? Uh, no, it's six. And then shakes on top of that or there's including shakes? No, no, that's with the shake.

I just do one shake a day. I try not to do more than that anymore. Because you're doing legit, real protein. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Chakes is easy and convenient, you know, when you're struggling. I actually feel like shakes help more if you're, like, in a full keto diet, just because you kind of get that sweet tooth craving crush. But, no, real food is just better, digest better,

and if I'm able to do it, then I prefer to do that. What do you think of fats instead of carbs in a diet? I've been having avocado with my breakfast instead of oatmeal. Oh, all. I don't if I can do that. It was so good. I mean, but, no, like, when I get eggs, I get, like, the fancy eggs. I try to get, like, omega-3 eggs, too, so you get healthier fats and lower cholesterol and the yolks.

That's a better fat source anyways, because avocado is great, but it's super-rich calories, and it's only omega-9s, which your body can produce on its own. You're like a scientist. So it's healthy fast, yeah, but you don't need those. So, man, you're like, like, obviously, you mean, you don't just look like this by accident. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. You know the science behind this. You know, and I've learned through many.

trial and error. So, you know, when I, when I first started training really hard and I wasn't getting anywhere because I was eating Cheerios later in the day and maybe some frozen burritos later at night and then maybe something else. And that was it. I'm like, oh, how come when I came inside? Like, oh, maybe because I'm eating, you know, 100,000 calories at best and it's all junk food. But yeah. So, yeah, just throughout the course of time, yes, I've, I've learned plenty of things about nutrition, diet exercise, what works, what doesn't work. And what works for somebody doesn't mean that it'll work for you too. Everyone's, you know, their own individuality. Does it bother you when people pull up the old photos of you looking like basically my size? Oh yeah, yeah. So like,

I even made that that transformation Tuesday tweet like a few weeks back, wherever, because everybody pulls up that photo from like 2011, like in 2010, the very end of 2010 and throughout most of 2011, usually the PWG photos when I was, oh, the worst shape of my life. And I was like, man, look, if you look at my photos from like 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, now they're look better at each of those years in 2011. But I suddenly got better and better and better a year after year after year after year. And then I was just, I would try to throw a pity party,

but I'm like, yeah, man, I just gave him the rundown. I'm like, look, I was hurt, I couldn't train, I was broke, I was depressed, I was in eating because I couldn't afford to. I mean, it was just hard times. But then once all that turned around, then I got right back into it. Yeah, and look at you now.

And then boom, boom, boom, boom, every year, just right back down track. Was Steiner the guy that you looked up to growing up? No, I always thought Steiner was awesome, and I thought his arms were out of control. But no, I mean, as far as like body-wise, I didn't really have a whole lot of inspiration from wrestling, so to speak. Was it from bodybuilding?

I mean, I just knew I wanted to be in better shape. I mean, actually, because it was the biggest guy, too, I was actually probably more like a crisper wall type of physique or something. That's a pretty good physique. I was like, oh, he's jacked and he's huge, but he's not, you know, gargantuan. I didn't want to lose the athleticism. And then actually, when I even started training and put it outside, My goal, I didn't even think this would be possible to get to the size.

I wasn't trying to. It just kind of started to happen to go that route, and so be it. But because I've been wrestling and doing this the whole time while I was gaining size, that's why I'm able to still do a lot of stuff that I'm able to do, just because, I mean, I'm not, I was just already athletic, but I was already doing stuff. And also I'm a wrestler that just happens to bodybuild. I'm not a bodybuilder.

That all of a sudden's like, oh, maybe we should be a wrestler now. Right. Who were the people in the ring that you looked up to? Um, well, so like, like, I did love Baltimore, and same thing. He looked, he looked like a superhero, right? As a kid. Yeah. And then Sean Michael was in Razor, were my two first, like, favorites, like, when I was, you know, getting a little bit older and like, more like who's actually, like, a good worker.

And then when I wanted to be a wrestler, the three people I wanted to emulate was Canyon, Jericho, and Binwa. This is a Binwa too, but the physique. So that's three Chris's. If only Canyon was Canadian, that would be the Canadian chrises. But, hey, well, I'm Chris and I'm Canadian. I would say. I was able to say that. Toss myself in there.

I mean, I don't take so. Honorable mention. We're just going to take a quick time out from our chat with the machine to tell you about shipstation.com. And when you're selling online, getting your orders out can be a real pain, which is why you need shipstation.com. It's the fastest, easiest, and most affordable way to manage and ship your orders. No matter whether you're selling on Amazon, Etsy, or your own website, Shipstation brings all your orders. into one simple interface. ShipStation helps you get your orders out quickly,

saves you money on shipping costs, and most importantly, it keeps your customers happy. And right now, Blue Wire listeners can try ShipStation free for 60 days when you use the promo code, Blue. There's absolutely no risk either. You can even start your free trial without entering your credit card info. Shipstation works with all the major carriers,

including USPS, FedEx, UPS, even Amazon fulfillment, so you can compare and check. choose the best shipping solution for you and your customer. No wonder ShipStation is the number one choice of online sellers. You'll ship more in less time with the best rates available. Just visit Shipstation.com, click on the microphone on the top of the homepage and type in the code word blue.

That's B-L-U-E. That's Shipstation.com and the promo code is blue. Shipstation.com. Make ship. You obviously come to these shows. now, both of you and Melissa are working impacts. Take me back to the day that you guys met. And I'm going to ask her this too.

Okay. Okay, well, okay. So the first time, I think we just did this recently too, not so long ago, talking about this. I better get this right. Okay. So the first time, it was a Lucha Underground's my first day. And she, like, walked in. I remember if she walked by a door, like, she kind of looked in real quick.

And instantly, I was like, oh, my God, who's that. She's beautiful. And I knew she wasn't, I've never seen her for her. I'm like, she's not a wrestler because I've never seen her for anywhere. And she's way too pretty to be wrestling and not know who she was. Right. And then I'm like, I'm like, but she's obviously here. She's doing something.

And so she was like, oh, that's the ring announcer. I'm like, oh, dang. But I was, I was taking there and I actually, she only said, she was like the only person on the set that didn't flirt with her. And I think the first time we actually engaged was, the two times I don't remember, I remember which one was first. But I was eating treats because it's much like to eat food. If there's some free sweet treats around, I'm going to be eating them.

I was eating them. She came. I've been to Lucha. There was catering, the catering and the crafty. There's food everywhere. Both the locker rooms, the green room. Dricking the actual catering area. I just said, oh, she's a foodie like I am.

So I'm eating it. And she comes. And she's eating it. I'm like, oh, you eat this stuff too. I didn't think you could for how you look. I'm like, well, I don't normally, but if it's here and it's free, and it was the end of the night. I'm like, I'm not wrestling now?

This is going to get thrown away. I can't let that happen. I got to take one for the team. And then they're pulling aside doing like all these interview, like they're asked us all the same questions. So Melissa kind of went in. I don't know if she went before me, then I went in after her.

And they asked the same thing. One of the questions, like, oh, who's your favorite? Lucidora. So I'm assuming that Dukhli would ask her, who's your favorite, lucidora, like when you like. And I came back out, she was still there. And I started eating food. And I go, I said something to her, and I go,

oh, so I'm your favorite, huh? And she goes, they told you? What? And I go, nope, but you just did. So that was like, ah, that's why you say 55, so cool. So she was a little key crushing on me, I think. But we didn't actually first hang out until,

sometimes was season two. I know I did talk to her a little bit here and there, and I got her like a PWG and a couple of indie bookings. But then season two is when we actually had our first gym date. Oh, your first date was at the gym. Yeah, that was technically. We should probably do some squats. That's even in our wedding invitation and the opening of her wedding somewhere.

We talked about that, the Brian Cage, Melissa Santos' gym date. That seems like a Brian Cage date. Right? Where you want to go? The gym? Well, usually, too, maybe I meet the girls at the gym. Like, yeah, you want to go to the gym tomorrow? There's nothing worse than a gym pickup, though.

Are you using this thing? Cool. You come here often? Yeah, right? So that's where I started. It just kind of slowly began. And then even then, I don't know if she'll say this, but like it was funny because, like, To be honest, like all the guys would always talk about Melissa,

and they're always like, oh, sorry, don't, don't, we take offense, but just the guy, but he was like, oh my gosh, I would totally, you know, want to freaking be like, hey, what's up with that? But it was like, that's never going to happen. And then it slowly was like, oh, if anyone's going to do, it's going to be Cage. And I'm like, no, because even though

I wasn't two of them were starting to hang out, I really didn't think it was ever going to happen or go that route. And then it just kind of randomly did. Wow. And then our first, like, weekend together was WrestleMania, um,

What city was it? Dallas, in 2013. Yeah, so a few months prior to us. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and now look at you guys.

So, yeah, wedding and everything. Got a little kid, you know, on the same team elsewhere. And now we're finally doing something together. I think he's watching the impact product, but the final master is my fiancé on there, and she did some skits with us back at our home, and yada, yada, yada. So that was cool because the whole time at Lucha,

I always wanted to do something with her. I thought it would be so cool because not her and I were both over, but every new were together. And every time, and you can hear them quite often, they still try to dome down. Every time anything happened in any of the season's Lucha, especially with the Phoenix storyline stuff too, they'd always start doing the Terminator clap.

Yes. That was obvious. I remember in like the season finale or Ultimate Lucha, whatever episode it was for them on season three, when like they have that match and Smarty and Mariposa. and then the kiss on top of the stairs, all the fans are chained cage is gonna kill you.

So I go, it's like, come on, it's right there. The fans already know, and like, wrestling couples are so it at the time. It still are. I'm like, just make us together because we're really together. Fans would love it, so. But, oh, well.

Omega gets the Terminator clap. How do you feel about that? You know what's funny is everybody asks, like, who did it first? Yeah. And somebody said that you looked at it and said that I did, but I honestly don't know and I didn't even know he did it

and when it started to get more and more over people were like oh, made in reference to it and I didn't know what they're talking about because I didn't see him like oh he did it because for the longest time I always wanted some sort of

you know chant or taunt or whatever before I did discusclery and like way back when if anybody remembers this viral video I used to say you're going to jail now from that bus driver that I prepared of that lady

yeah I was in Cleveland I lived in Cleveland at the time so I was like you go home to jail now so like it was funny for a few months and people didn't get it it. I was like, man, I need something else. Like, oh, you don't be cool? If I did the Terminator to clap right before and so, I remember when

it aired, but the first day I did it was actually in the match against Taya on Lucha Underground, right before I was too much through the tables, I stopped. I didn't be edited out though. I stopped along the crowd and I started and they start picking up on it, and that's how it started. That's great, though, when you put something out to a wrestling

crowd, you tell instantly, you know this. You know instantly if it's going to work or it's not going to work, and they obviously put it right up on that. Yeah, but that's all it took the one time, And then every time I'm in there, it's just do-do, do-do. That's so catchy. So everybody goes, come on, man, that's cute. I'm like, hey, Kenny just does a dive.

I'm an actual machine, all right? I'm ever talking terminus here. I'm definitely the T-800. All right, even if he's the T-1,000, he's an upgraded version. Every loves the Arnold version more. Or maybe I'm the T-559. That'd be more suitable. Last time I talked to you, you said you were,

you would be more interested in working New Japan than a WrestleMania. How do you feel about that, you know, a couple of years later now? Oh, that's good question. Because you haven't worked either still Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, right? I was close. Just done everything else.

And you know, too, I almost just kind of gave up on mutual too, because there was like, so many like almost opportunities. And then there was just like always like, because I worked here because I did this or just different reasons. They were just like getting annoying. I'm like, man, whatever. Like Russell Keene, I still think is cooler. Especially this year's WrestleMania, in my opinion, I didn't think it was that great.

Like, this was the first year I thought there was like, there's okay matches, but there was no like WrestleMania match, you know? Maybe the Kofi, you know. And that's where everybody says. And I probably have to agree with that. The only thing sucks about it was that's the only match that I knew the finish before I watched it.

So my investment in that match wasn't as strong and that always kind of makes the match seem less because you're not fully invested. Into it, you can't really appreciate the story. But yeah, that probably was the best one. But since I knew it, I kind of chewed out a little bit throughout it. I kind of had it on the background

and just saw some of the falsies. But, yeah, there's plenty of good matches, but I just feel like it was nothing, you know, like, holy crap. There's no, like, WrestleMania moments. The women's main event was pretty exciting, too. No, it was good, but even then, like, I didn't think it was like, I don't know. Like, I mean, if you talk about WrestleMania, triple threat main event, I don't know, anybody's going to do better than Sean Triple H and Michael's. I mean, that's... Wait, Sean Triple H and what?

Oh, damn. Wait a second. That was like a WWE Cincinnati because you can't say his name. That was. You self-senseed yourself there. Is there someone that you haven't worked yet that you're really looking forward and hopefully getting the opportunity to do it?

Everybody always asked by dream match and it's always been AJ Styles mainly too because a prime John Michaels is no longer in existence and he doesn't work at all anyway. So that would be like, you know, the real dream match that couldn't happen would be like, you know... Sure, if we had a time, you should.

Yeah, of course, HBK. But outside of that, it's been AJ Styles since I started wrestling. Always wanted to wrestle that. That could possibly happen. some point in time. Outside of that, if there's just like, like, I mean, I mean, I know everyone see me and Kenny. I love Russell Kenny. Jericho's been doing a lot of stuff. I'd love Russell Jericho because he's in the three Chris's. Ben-Wazgonsky, but I got the Russell Canyon.

I mean, two out of three ain't bad. Pretty much everyone you're talking about here is Canadian, too. Kenny's Canadian. That's true. Right. Kenyon, Canadian, Jericho. Well, I wish you would be awesome to work. There you go. I'll throw some different flavor in there. But, I mean, I mean, there's several talents. Obviously, it's great. And it's funny. A lot of times you all forget. I'm like, oh, man, we're a work. That guy. I want to work that guy. Other people I have worked, I haven't worked that much. Like Jack Evans, I've only had two solo matches things, but I love working Jack.

I'd love to work him again. Drew McIntyre and I were supposed to have a match at PWG. It had to cancel, like, right before, because of myself with my son. I was so bummed, and we never got it again. I would love to work Drew one-on-one. Do you think being with Melissa and be married now has changed anything for you, for better or for worse, in the wrestling world? Do you work safer?

Do you not work? You know, something like, anything like that? I don't really think so. Like, she'll, she'll try to put her two sits in and educate me on stuff or, you know, someone I should or shouldn't do. Oh, yeah? I don't really, the higher-ups your impact wrestling tend to agree with what she says. So I feel like they tell her stuff to tell me because they think I'm not to listen to her.

And whenever I don't, usually something happens. what happened. Then you freaking crippled yourself. That was your fault. I'm like, well, I guess you're probably right. Yeah, I guess you are injured here right now. Yes, yeah. So, yeah, it's been a rough year, man. The two biggest moments of my life and career this year, Mary Melissa Santos and winning the Impact World's title,

and both nights I spent in the ER right afterwards. Oh, my God. A little bit of a, a little bit of a salt of the moon there with that one. What happened on your wedding night that sends you to the ER? So, so I was off, so like, I was off for like, what, five or six weeks after I hurt my back. And I slowly started, you know, doing some stuff. And I wasn't fully good to go.

He always pushed it a little bit. I was doing all right. I was doing all right. And then the New York tapings in June, my hip was just like really stiff and acting up. And that's how it felt when I hurt my back just because it swolled up so much everything on the right side. I just couldn't move my hip or my leg. And I'm like, what the hell is going on? But I know I wasn't like working in a mass.

I was just doing some spots and angles with Mike. And going to a wedding. And so I took like a week off or so. It felt good. I had a match to defy. My leg couldn't remove it the next day. But then the day after that, it wasn't too bad. And I eased up and it kind of healed up again.

I didn't know what was going on. I did my tour in Australia and during the middle of the tour after a couple of matches, I could barely walk again. I couldn't do the rest of the tour. So I'm like, what the hell is going on? So I got all this treatment on it, all this stuff. I had to go get an MRI. I ended up getting three MRIs on it because they kept on switching it around on me as far as like,

oh, you have to get this MRI. You have to get him right with contrast. You need a different MRI with this frequency, with the contrast over it. It was a nightmare. But, so I took a couple of weeks off and did the match with Elgin because I had it to because it was a pay-per-view. And I felt pretty good.

It didn't hurt really at all during the match. Later that night and the next day, it definitely did. It was horrendous, but it was there. And then I had a sweet little 4-1 lap dance match at bar wrestling that I put together for my bachelor party the day before the wedding. And the match was fine, too. It was going fine. And then there's just one, actually when I discused Larry Tessa, I just felt weird on my hip.

And it just blew up instantly. I knew it was bad. And the next day, it was horrible. And then just being on my feet and move around all day and night. It just kept on swelling. By the end of the night, I couldn't move. I couldn't move at all. And I didn't want to go to the yard.

And they kept trying to get me to go. I said, take me home. And by the time I got home, it was in such unbearable pain. And they tried to pick me up because I couldn't stand at all. I literally had to have two guys, two big guys too, like hold underneath my arm, and I just lean into them, and they'd pull me up, and any movement still hurt excruciating wise. And then they just kind of give me like a little hop, and then I base all my weight in my leg like this, so I could try to just do like a little zombie track.

Oh, my God. So they'd get like 15 yards, it took like 40 minutes to get in this car, and then to the yard, and then they had to give me Valium, Toradol, which is a strong pain killer and anti-inflammatory, and two doses of morphine, and that just settled the pain, didn't even take it away. It was out of control. And once the inflammation, calm down that morning, it was so horrible, but it was still bad. And then I tried to go to bar wrestling the next night because it was our wedding reception show. And I wasn't working anymore.

I was just going to be there to do some commentary. But even just right in a car was too much for me. I rode like not even halfway there. So that's it. Turning some bitch around, I'm not going to make it. Like, I can't do it. This is awful. So the wedding night and the wedding weekend on with this shit.

And I have to make that up to Melissa. And I got a surprise coming forward. But, yeah. So, man, it's been rough. And then they've kept me off. All the impact shows since then. I've canceled a lot of bookings. I canceled Triple Mania today, too.

I've had to cancel the big Defy tournament, which I was bummed about. So, I mean, it's part of the deal. I haven't really had to cancel. I've worked through almost every injury. So this has been the most, I've tried to take time off. And then I had my little match with Steiner because I had to. But I was working Orange Cassie and Joey Ryan. So it was, it was a not-a-M-Sye match.

It was a little... You didn't... I started to get his shit in. Well, those guys are, you know, they're over in a completely different way. Oh, yes, yes, yes. The match still was awesome. Like, people were under the illusion

that we had an amazing match. And the match still awesome. I'm sure you did. But in a different way. Yeah. Well, you mentioned working Tessa, and that's kind of been like an interesting subject for a lot of people.

How do you feel about intergener wrestling? Who asked me that? It depends. It depends on who it is, both the guy and the girl, and the reason for, for it. Okay. I feel like, and I feel like it's different, and I don't know why, but I feel like it's different too when it's on TV or, you know, more national or international product as opposed

just the Indy Spot Show. I'll wrestling, like, I'll wrestle on any chicken, I'll do anything on like bar wrestling, where like, it's just a fun show, that crowd's amazing, but I feel like in certain avenues, it makes it, I don't know, I was saying risky, not risky, but it just needs to make sense. Like, I'm going to have people ask me doing an agenda of matches, too, if they have asked me. Same thing. It depends on who it is and why as well.

That's probably the more important. Rather than just watch Brian Cage come beat up this girl. Like what? But so, and I have no problem with it are people doing it. It just, again, it's those factors that make it mean more or less.

And I think it can be done, like Lucha Underground did it. Oh, totally. Great. Well, and what works so great with Lucha Underground was that it was already like it wasn't supposed to be real. Yeah, it didn't.

It wouldn't exist in this realm. Yeah, yeah. So, like, you know, it was, it was, like, superhero's fighting, so it didn't matter. And it's funny enough, too, I think that's the only, not only my only international match. It was my first intergenre match, and it was the only one that I was ever in where I was the baby face and not the heel. Because I almost feel like the guy almost always has to be healed, especially someone in my position. Yeah. And that was, I was like, I just thought about that, like, a couple days ago, like, oh, yeah.

I was beating the crap out of a tie, but else the face and we loved it the whole time. Yeah. Have you, is Luch Underground officially done? Um, officially done, I guess not, because nothing's been, I mean, we all kind of just assume, but there's never, there hasn't been a statement. And actually, though, the, um, I think they're, AAA's doing a show at the LA Forum here in September, October, excuse me. And, um, I think they're, the Lucha's actual, like, actual parent company, the actual, like, you know, official name title of it, is involved with, like L. Ray network? No, no, no, not L. Ray, because L. L.R.A.

Okay. But, um, it's like Lucha, it's like Lucha, it's like Lucha, it's like Lucha, LL or whatever, whatever the LLC thing is or whatever. Yeah. But yeah, because Melissa did some stuff with them and then she was getting paid from them. So I think they're involved with it somehow. So I don't know. I guess technically it's not officially closed up, but I don't know what's going to, I don't see anything happening. It's still in your Instagram bio. It is, it is. Well, it's, and I mean, season two and three, I mean, one was great too, but two and three was probably the most fun I've ever had in wrestling.

Oh, and it was amazing to watch as a fan. Yeah, that was, that was, I actually just watched matches from those seasons during cardio today. But yeah, I don't, I've done a lot of awesome before than and after then, but those couple years, man, were just so much fun. If there's someone watching this right now that's never seen a Lucha Underground match, which match, which Brian Cage match from season two or three should they watch?

Oh, man. Well, I think my favorite match on there's probably a match with Batonza only because it was like a lot of people liked it. It was two big guys going at it. And it was like the only match that was like really raved about that wasn't, because we had a lot of extreme and hardcore stuff. from Lucha. And that match was just straightforward. There was no objects or any, you know, gimmicks in the match.

So I really like that one. But I mean, there's I mean, my old series at Hanoa I liked a lot. My match is Willie Mack. Obviously, it is amazing. Everybody loves those. The triple threat with, with Crane and Mil Mortez was amazing. My whole feud with Puma in the first season was great. Like, there's so many good matches. So many good matches.

It's funny hearing the Lucha names for all those people you just said. Right, right? Yeah. You just... Johnny Mundo? You just listed off Sammy Callahan, uh, Rickache. did you list off there that has another. I still William, but Willie Mac, but Willie Mac.

It's just so funny hearing that, yeah. Yeah, right. I didn't say, son of havoc, but you know, but you know, but you're in there. Matt Cross, yeah. All right, we did this last time, and I think it's just, you know, it, we need to show people the difference between a man

and a machine. So, uh, I work out. You're in shape. I'm in shape. I work out, like five days a week, but when I flex, it's like an arm. And then, then when you flex, it's like gonna eat my arm. And you do that one too.

I think the right ones. If I put it back here, it looks even smaller. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm going to get a little closer to you. Thanks so much, brother. The problem, man. It's great to see you. Keep a trainer, man.

You'll get one of these T's maybe. Maybe kind of okay size. Yeah. Like slightly above average. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember above average Mike Sanders? Yes, yeah. In WCW?

Yes. That could be me. That could be you. Yeah. Slightly above average arms. The Canadian Chris version. Canadian Chris. Thank you.

So there we go. And just to give you a visual of what was going on there at the end. It was like a twig compared to a tree trunk. Well, maybe not a twig. My arm isn't like a twig. Maybe like a tree branch versus a tree trunk. Thank you to Brian for the time. I hope he heals up quickly so we can see him back in the ring soon,

back in there defending the Impact World Championship. If you enjoyed this chat, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcast to help us out. And if you're listening right now, take a screenshot. Share this on Instagram or Twitter. Tag me at Chris Van Fleet. If you're not already following me, it's at Chris Van Fleet. Tag me and I will be happy to repost this for you. Thank you to shipstation.com.

You can use the code blue to get 60 days for free. Also use the code Chris15 at greenroadsworld.com to get 15% off your order of CBD products. And thank you to Samson Technologies for making all of this audio possible and making us sound good. Every time I do that, I go into this voice like the radio announcer voice. This is the first of four interviews we did in L.A. this past weekend. I literally just landed. I just got back to my house. I landed. It's like a five and a half hour flight from L.A. back here to Miami. So we've got Ethan Page coming up, Melissa Santos coming up, and a very interesting, very existential conversation with Jimmy Jacobs, which I'm going to post next. And I want to leave you with a quote. I want to leave you with a quote from Henry Ford that's really spoken to me a lot recently. Maybe you know it. Super powerful quote, though. Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. Boom, there you go. Go out there and crush it today. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock. Buck bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.