Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Brooklyn Brawler's 33-Year WWE Career, The Term "Jobber", The Rock's First Opponent, Beating Triple H

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

Steve Lombardi (@brawlerreal) is a professional wrestler known for his 33-year career in WWE where he wrestled under the name Brooklyn Brawler. He was also known as Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz and Kimchee. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis, IN to talk about how his career got started, having matches with pretty much everyone including Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart and many others, being The Rock's first WWE opponent in a dark mark in 1996, getting a win over Triple H on Smackdown in 2000, the hilarious backstage segment he did with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, his legacy as the greatest enhancement talent ever, whether he should be inducted in the WWE Hall Of Fame and much more. Quote I'm thinking about: "Going from being worried about what might happen to being excited about what might happen is only a mindset shift away" Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.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 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

All right, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for being with us. And thank you, as always, for helping to make Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. Hope it was a nice holiday weekend for you if you happen to be here in the U.S. I was honored to throw out the first pitch of a baseball game on Sunday.

The Lake Alessonore Storm had wrestling night on Sunday. And their on-field MC, Kaz. Big shout out to Kaz. What a great guy. He was kind enough to invite me and the fam to be part of it. And because I know you're wondering, I know you're going to ask, oh, yes, it was right down the middle. And that's the thing when you throw out the first pitch, when you throw out that

ceremonial first pitch, there's two concerns. One is, will it make it all the way to the plate? And I wasn't, I wasn't that worried about that. I played baseball ever since I was four years old, up until I was in college. So I was like, I know I'm going to at least get it there. But it's like, is it going to be just a bit outside? Little reference there, the major league. I was just like, is it going to, am I going to embarrass myself?

Are they going to be reaching high, low inside, outside to grab this? I'm very grateful to say and happy to report that it was right down the middle. So what a fun time. Go check out the videos and the photos that I posted on social media. I have wanted to have today's guest on the show for a long, long time. Steve Lombardi, better known as the Brooklyn Brawler, was in WWE for 33 years, and has been in the ring with pretty much everyone. Hulk Hogan, Brad Hart, he was in the ring with Ultimate Warrior when he was known as the Dinga Warrior.

He's been Doink the Clown, you know him as Abe Knuckleball Schwartz and Kimchi. He was the Rock's first opponent in WWE in a dark match. in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1996. This was before The Rock was officially hired long before the debut at Survivor Series. And you probably already know this. The Rock and Brooklyn Brawler wrestled again on Raw in 2000. And Brawler is known as the greatest enhancement talent ever. And that's what he did so well.

He highlighted what people were good at and he hid their weaknesses. And he had a great career doing it. worked behind the scenes as a road agent. And I will have you know he didn't always lose. Brawler has a win against Triple H on Smackdown in 2000. It was a great segment. Go check it out if you don't know what I'm talking about. Give him a follow on social media. He's Brawler Real on X. He's that brawler real deal on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and snap a screenshot and tag us so we can share it out as well. Enjoy this one. It's so good. Please welcome Steve Lombardi. aka the Brooklyn Brawler.

Steve, I don't even know where we begin. What a career. Well, are we on the air right now? This is it. Okay. My life is a storybook that came true. Everything in my life that happened happened the way I wanted to happen.

When I was 16 years old, I got a spark inside of me when I was watching wrestling on television. And so I look at you or something. Yeah, just look at me. We'll start over again. Okay, I'm sorry. Let's go for it.

Yeah, look at me. I just want to do everything perfect. Okay. Hold on. There we go. Steve, I don't even know where to start with you. What a career. Well, the career is beyond my expectations.

It all began when I was 16 years old. I used to watch wrestling on television in Brooklyn, New York, but it was called Lucha Libre. All the competition was in Spanish. I did not care. about the, the, uh, commentation, I, I was looking at the guys and I was saying,

holy cow, it was Bruno San Martino, the Valiant brothers. There was, people like that, superstar Billy Graham. And I'm, and I'm,

16 years old. I'm in my mother's backyard, looking at wrestling magazines, with my brother and my friends, not realizing I am going to wrestle every one of these guys on their way out. And I actually had Bruno San Martino's last match of his entire career.

which he reminded me of every autograph session I was on, which he was a great guy. He really was. I don't know if you ever met him. I never met him. No. Well, I'll tell you what, he was a fantastic person. He had no ego, and he just had all good intentions in life.

Did you think at 16 that this was possible, or did it just seem like a crazy dream? It was possible to me because I got a spark inside that became confidence. And when you get confidence inside of you, You believe it with all your heart and soul. People around you can feel it. But the people around me were telling me that I was never going to make it. It's a dumb dream.

You're not going to reach that goal. And I call those people inspiration. I says, you're telling me I'm not going to do it. You're just driving me even more towards doing it. They said, don't you fear it? Aren't you worried about it? And I was 16. Now, why is a 16-year-old able to say, fear and worry?

does not exist because it has never changed the outcome of any situation. They looked at me like, you're too young to say that. You know what I mean? But I knew it. Where'd you get that from? I always felt that. I just made it up, or I don't think I read it because I was 16. I said, I said, just crazy things when I was 16.

The teacher says, what's your theory? And I raised my hand, I said, a possible explanation. Why did I say this? You know what I mean? It's like, it's like freaky things like that. Speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. It's like, it's like I, things are retained in my mind. So anyway, I just, as I got older, I started getting more into the wrestling,

mostly bodybuilding because I was looking at the restless bodies, and I was, I emulated, I looked at Bruno San Martino and I worked my chest and I got really big. My brother was looking at a superstar Billy Graham. He got all, he got biceps like bowling bowls, you know what I mean? So it was, it started like that. So then finally, someone gives me tickets to Madison Square Garden. I'm watching, I'm watching the show. The guy next to me says to me, he says,

I could tell this is your first wrestling match you ever been at. I says, and how's that? He goes, because the way you're watching the match, you're watching it, like you're intrigued by it. You're looking at it in a way that no one else looks at. I said, I'm fascinated. I'm fascinated. He said to me, well, if you want to meet all these guys,

they go to this bar that's about four blocks away. It's called the Savoy. He goes, wait about an hour. First of all, it's going to take you about an hour for the garden's empty because there's 23,000 people. And go to that bar, and you'll meet all these guys that you're watching in the ring right now. So I looked at my friends because they were with me,

and I said, what do you think? They said, we're in, you know? So I go, we walked because you take the, trained. There's no cars in New York and we're kids. And there was cars, but we were kids. Sure. But we go to the Savoy

and I walk up to Mr. Fuji and he was talking to Bar-Borton Jr. or somewhere like that. I said, Mr. Fuji, I am so intrigued. It's my first wrestling match. I can't believe it. I think I fell in love with the sport. And he says to me,

can I get you see we are talking? He goes, you're interrupting me. And I said, okay, I apologize. And I went to sat at the bar. And I said, holy cow, strike one. I said, and who's sitting next to me at the bar? Jimmy Superfly, snooker.

So I say, Jimmy, he goes, brother. He became a very good friend of mine. And I said, Jimmy, I just want to let you know. I've never been to a wrestling match before. I said, I watched you fly off the top rope. and I watched you wrestle and it was amazing and for some reason

I wanted with all my heart and soul I want to be a wrestler he turned to me and he said brother if you believe if you believe in what you want to do and you have it in your heart you could do anything you want

if you want to be a wrestler you will be a wrestler I never forgot those words later Jimmy and I I became really good friends. I know his daughter. We traveled together. We shared rooms together.

We, I mean, I just, my first year in wrestling, when I first got to WBE, they give me a deal where they said, if you show up and somebody doesn't come to the town, somebody doesn't show up, we'll pay you, we'll pay your trans, we'll pay everything. And if you don't, if everybody shows up, you will not work. You will not get paid. knew and I get your expenses paid. And I said, fair enough, fair enough. I said, I said, I'll do it. So I did it. I made $43,000 that year.

Because everybody was not screwed up, but they had demons. Sure. And they would miss shows and do all this and that. But to backtrack a little bit, I was going to St. Francis College for medical technology. and I was doing very well with my grades and I had a three-hour gap in between my classes

so I worked in a supermarket in Brooklyn as a dairy manager and then I was in my boss who was the manager I was under the manager and the safe got wrong and then they gave everybody a lie detector test so my manager failed the lie detector test

wow, and they promoted me to manage. So I worked that job probably for like two or three years as I was going to college, I was going to college, and then a guy, a medical technologist comes in the classroom, and he goes, I would just like to speak to all of you. And if you actually study hard and you do well in college, you can make up to $14,000 a year. I said to myself, I'm out. I am out of here. I don't want to do this.

So then when the manager got fire and I became the supermarket, I became the manager. I was full time. So I was making decent money, really, really good money. And I kept going to the garden, kept going to the Savoy,

kept going, you know, talking to the wrestlers. Now that you're getting it on me, now they're calling me Steve. I'm like, oh my God. And then they told me, show up Arnold's, on the schooling. He said, show up. to Ag Hall, Agricultural Hall is called it's in Pennsylvania.

We do TV tapings, and we do in Ready, Pennsylvania. We do three hours of TV in our Ag Hall, and it'll be three weeks of TV. We won't air it, you know, each week. But to the people in Ag Hall, I had no experience at all. I would get thrown in the ring with Roddy Piper. He'd beat the shit out of me. Then I would get thrown in the ring with Sheik.

He would get beat the shit out of me. And then I get thrown in the ring with Piper. You know, all these different wrestlers. The people in Ag Hall were saying, this guy is Superman. He's taking everybody's finished, but he still keeps coming out. The people at home are saying,

this guy loses every night. But the thing is, as time was passing, as time was passing, I was getting better and better and better. Then Ricky Steamboat came in. Then they used to put a paper on the wall and show all the matches. And my name was next to Ricky Steamboat.

And I went up to Ricky Steamboat, and I said, Mr. Steenbo, my name is Steve Lombardier. I just like you to know, I'm going to wrestle you tonight. He says, it's a pleasure to meet you. I just want to let you know. I do not beat Dishrags. He goes, I'm going to give you a competitive match. You're going to have an offense, and you're going to really, really have a great match.

I said, really. So then we go in the ring. Ricky Steamboat was a fantastic wrestler. You know, he's over in the Caroliners, and we had a great match in it. I mean, this guy was selling for me. You know what? He's doing double leap frogs. He's doing this.

He's doing that. And then I come back, and all the other wrestlers seen it. I remember Chito Santana came up and says, how did it feel? I said, how did it feel? I said, I could always do this. I said, you guys were always just. not giving me any offense. From that day on, they started giving me offense.

Then time was passing. Time was passing. And then all of a sudden, make four years pass or something. Bobby Heena comes up. He says, Steve, I've been watching you. He says, you learn how to wrestle. Now I'm going to teach you how to make money. He goes, I am going to create you as the Brooklyn brawl.

he says, you're going to wrestle with a rival of mine who's in my family right now, right, Terry Taylor. He says, and I am going to take you under my wing. He goes, and you are now in the Heenan family. Wow. So all of a sudden I go from Brooklyn ball and getting beat every night. Yeah. And now he puts a, he says, wear a Yankee shirt.

The only reason I wore a Yankee shirt because in the 1980s, everybody hated the Yankees. Yeah, don't they still hate the Yankees? And he says, wear a Yankee shirt because you're going to get a lot of Hearder. And he said, wear a leather cap. He goes, put a cigar. And then we're in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We're wrestling. He goes, come outside with me.

He said, you see that mud right there? He goes roll around in that mud. I said, Bobby, come on. Stop joking with me. He goes, no. I want you to be a grimy, greasy, dirty-ass kick in Brooklyn night. I said, anything you say, Bobby, I'll do anything you want. And then I just started winning every single night.

He was walking out with me. and people were weird. Like when I went to the garden, they were asking for autographs of the Brooklyn Brawl and not knowing that I was Steve Lombardi because I had a leather cap on. Like they weren't putting two or two together. Was your shirt ripped up at this point?

Bobby said, rip their shirts up, the shirt up. And when people ask you why your shirt is ripped up, I want you to tell them, this is where the rip came when Hogan was crawling up and grabbing me with desperation. And he tried to, he tried to stand up and he couldn't. And this one is when Randy Savage, he snatched me and he was, he was like fighting for desperation. And he tore my shirt.

He says, you can say anything you want. He says, don't worry about it. So that I'm wrestling. I'm wrestling. Then finally the magic comes. I wrestle at Madison Square Garden. The place that people told me I would never wrestle in my entire life. They told me that.

And I told them, keep telling me it and watch it and watch it. And I wrestled at Madison Square Garden. And it was funny because I would watch it in the garden. It was pre-taped. Then I would go back to my house where I was living with my parents at the time. And I would watch myself on the garden because at an hour delay. And I wrestled in the garden dozens and dozens and dozens at times. So time was going on.

Time was going on. It lasted about a year with Terry Taylor. and then we wrestled in Bobby wrestled Terry Taylor in WrestleMania 5 at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and then I jumped back and he beat Bobby in five minutes and then I jumped in the ring I beat the hell out of him

and I beat and then he took he made a comeback, he beat me up, he took my hat, he threw it to the audience and then after the match I went outside and I said they said Vince wants you in the back he wants you to do an interview right away, right away. And I got in the back and he goes, okay, let's talk about this.

He goes, where's your hat? I says, I was the lawsuit or something. He goes, no, you didn't. Terry Taylor threw it to the audience. I said, Vince, all due respect, you cannot make me a stooge. I said, I will not say bad things about somebody. Yes, he did throw it to the audience, but I am not going to come out and I'm not going to stooge him out. Because that's the way I grew up.

I grew up in Brooklyn where stooging is the worst crime you can commit. So I wrestle, I wrestle. And then after I beat up Terry Taylor in Trump Plaza in WrestleMania 5, it renewed the program with Terry Taylor for another nine months. Then Brooklyn Brawlers started fading out, back into losing to people, losing to people, losing to people, losing to people. Then the magic phone rings. The phone ranger was Howard Finkel.

He said, Steve, Vince told me to give you a call. We want you to wrestle a new guy who has never been in the ring and never wrestle ever. Ever. And he's going to wrestle you, Corpus Christi, Texas. And it was in 1996. He goes, and that man's name is Dwayne Johnson. You're the Rock's first match. I'm the Rock's first match ever.

in front of 15,000 people. And then when I talk to Rock, he says, well, you had my dad's first match in WV2. And he actually did an episode on Young Rock Season 2, Episode 8, Young Rock, Cheap Plug, you know what I mean? But he did it, but I met Rock, and I was driving with Rock, and I said to Rock, I said, Rock, how many matches did you have?

He goes, Steve, this is my, first match. I said, your first match at WVF? Because it was F at the time. And he says, no, my first match ever in my life in front of an audience. And then we went to the dressing room.

We wrote down. We talked about the match. I told him, let's do this. Let's do that. First of all, they said, he said to me, we were walking with Michael Hayes down the hallway, and he goes, how's the Brooklyn Bull are going to beat me? And I turned to him and I says,

Vince did not bring you all the way here to lose. You are going over. And then Rock says, going over that is unheard of for a person's first match. And in front of 15,000 people. And I said to myself, I said, this is going to be fun as hell for me. This is going to be so fun and so easy,

it's ridiculous because he had a great look. A great look to me, people would say that's 90%. I say it's 10%. Because I've wrestled football players. I've wrestled bodybuilders. I've wrestled guys that look like they could win Mr. Olympia, but they got two left feet. Now, I knew Rock had agility because I've seen him work out in the ring.

So he walks into the ring in Corpus Christi. First of all, he goes to Bruce Pritchin. He says, give me some music. And then Bruce Pritchie gives him some really crappy music. and he goes, that's the last time I'll ever ask for music. He actually says it in commentary in the Young Rock, and he walks out and he, you know, he just gives it generic, like, hey, and the people are going, get out of here,

we don't want to see you, we don't want to see you, go back to Florida, and he's taking it to heart. He's taking it to heart. I loved it, not because they booed him, because I know psychology. The psychology is, the more they boo you, the more they're going to cheer you.

So what I did was, I went in the ring, and I took him to the ropes. I said, just listen to me, believe in me. Self-belief is the secret of success, and that is the bottom line. And he goes to me, Kanaka, which means friend in Samoan,

goes, I will believe in you. And then we didn't. I took him to the ropes, and I hit him once, and I go, I'm the man, I'm the man. I want to throw him in. He reversed. He threw me in. He gave me a backdrop. And then the people booed him again.

And he says, these people hate me. He's whispering to me. These people hate me. I says, watch the magic. And then I said to him, I says, watch what happens. Then he did a bunch of high spots where he jumped to the second rope. He did a flying press. And then he tried to show boat and he did a nip up. And then Vince got real. And then they go back

and they look at Vince and then Vince gets like that was kind of, you know, it was like, it was like showboating, but he was showing me as athleticism. He was showing the people, their athleticism. They were booing the hell out of them. Then I kicked him in his stomach. I said, watch. I kicked him in the stomach.

And then I beat the hell out of him to the point where people thought he could never win. Then I flipped him over, and I put him in a reverse chin lock, which means he's on his butt. I'm on my knees. I got him on. headlock. Then he takes his hand and he puts it straight out. He starts, puts his arm straight out,

then he starts shaking his hand. Then he starts raising it. Now this is the psychology of the business that no one realizes. He says to me, first of all, he looked up at me, he goes, what do we do now? And then he says, this is where my dad taught me. This is where my dad taught me that it's not about the wrestling. It's about what the people think. I said, if the people believe in you, they are going to let you know. And you could hear us say that in Young Rock. And then, as he's raising his hand, the people are going silent. They're going silent. And then all of a sudden, as his hand gets all the way up, or both standing up, I'm still, I still got his head. I said, now here's your comeback. Make it a good one. and then he gives me two elbows in his stomach.

He throws me around like a rag doll, beats the hell out of me. And then I stop him. I go to throw him. Many reverses to throw me in. I go for a backdrop. He gives me a sunset flip. One, two, three. 18, 15,000 people stand up out of their seats yelling,

we love Dwayne, we love Dwayne. Then they do a flashback to Stone Cold and Triple H in the back, who everybody always thought, oh, he's going to take my spot. He's going to take my spot. Let's take my spot. That was the creation of Dwayne Johnson. After that, he got a contract.

Then he became the rock. And then he got confidence. He had confidence. And I just talked him on the phone like a week ago. And I told him, I said, you believed in yourself. You believed in yourself. The guy is like, he's not opening doors. He's kicking doors open.

He's kicking doors open. Today's the first day of the start of his football company. That's right, yeah, the UFO. First day, and he just put a video out today, this man has got self-belief. He's got confident. He realizes that you don't get opportunity, you make opportunity,

and he sent me a giant pitcher that's about the size of a 46-inch TV set, and it's got him hip-tors of me in the first match we ever had, in the top of the pitcher, and he's got $7 in glass, and in gold on the bottom, it says, Steve, I had $7 to my name when I had this match. He goes, and I can never thank you enough. I mean, to me, it's hanging on my wall at home.

What a gift. I love it. I loved it. And, you know, even though he was worth millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars, that meant more than the money. That meant more than the money. He did an interview recently, and he was asked, who's your toughest opponent? that he just talked to him about that and he said Brooklyn Rawl and I asked him why he said

that he was what was I going to say he goes he goes was I was I going to say the undertaker was he goes and plus you were my first match so that would be the toughest match and that's what he told me and I was shocked too I was really shocked too that he said that you had a lot of people's first matches I had Brett Hart's first WV match I had Mark Henry's first match of his whole life I had Ricky Steamboats first WWF match. I had, there's so many. Is it a warrior? Warrior, I wrestled him about 47 days.

And one time during our tenure, they came to me and they said, we're going to ask Warrior. We are going to ask him to have you win today to test his attitude. And I know he would have said, fuck this. I don't want to do this. I don't care about this. that's the way he was, you know. He used to walk in the dress room and he'd go, I'm looking to shake your hand.

I was going to shake your hand. He was like that, but he liked me. And I took him in the room and I said, Jim, I don't know if I should do this or I shouldn't do this, but you're my friend and I care about you. They're going to ask you to do a job for me. What I want you to do, and this is your choice,

is to say anything for the business. I will do anything, and he did it. Wow, I beat the ultimate warrior that night. And then after that, he was the ultimate warrior. He became the ultimate warrior after they tested his attitude. And then after that, he wrestled, he wrestled, he wrestled. Then he beat Hulk Hogan. Then he was on top of the world.

Then he was on bed, outs with the company. And then he was on good terms with the company. Then they put him in the Hall of Fame. And then he's in a private dressing room. And I walk into the dressing room. He's the only one in there. He starts crying. he looks at me, he goes, I was just thinking about you.

He goes, that video that you put out, which I actually produced because I was in charge of the interview room. And he goes, you're the only one that talk good about me. He goes, and be prepared to stand up today because I'm going to tell the story about how you smartened me up to what they told you. And I said, Jim, don't do that. I presently work for the company. I'm going to be in the audience. He goes, well, that's bullshit. It's 30 years ago.

He goes, it's 30 years. years ago, why should it matter? I said, because I still work here and you don't work here anymore. He goes, well, I won't say that, but get rid of this stand up anyway. And he said, he said, where's Steve Lombardi, please stand up? And all he said was, it's on YouTube, it's everywhere, everyone could say it. He said, they says, Steve took a lot of my anguish, and he always kept a good attitude about it. And I want to thank him for that.

That's all he said. and then the next day he was on Roar and he said, The day the warrior's heart stops beating, he will never be forgotten, he will live forever. And I took a picture with him the next day, and the following day he passed. Yeah, wow, he passed, and I have that picture. He's very, I mean, he was very close to my heart.

I mean, the things he's done, my rental car was broken down on the highway. I was all alone. There wasn't even cell phones back then. And then a limousine pulls up. It's him, Ultimate Warrior. He goes, don't worry, I got a phone in the limo. He goes, you're with me for the rest of the week. He calls the rental car company,

tells them the mile marker it's at. They pick it up. He takes me. He drives me to the towns. I'm going with Ultimate Warrior. He let me dress in his private dressing room. That's why when I watch, I watch some of these shows that say,

oh, you had a bad attitude. had a bad attitude, I say bull. He had a great attitude. You just had to understand him and you had to talk to him and he had to like you. Nobody has anything bad to say about you. Not that I know of. I'm sure they say it behind my back. I think the only thing that people might say bad is you lost a lot of matches.

That was your character. Yeah, you know, the funny thing about it was I enhanced talent. I didn't lose. I chose to do that. I could have fought the other way. and chose to be a big star, and my longevity would have never been 32 years. But they realized my talent was,

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undertaking a new health care regimen, including EES system. I think there's a lot of fans that go, Brooklyn Brawler lost a lot. He must not have been a good wrestler. And it's just so funny that they don't see you for what you really are. They see it now because they used to say the word job, but I don't care. Because my comeback used to be everybody's a job and your job, your boss is your job-e. I mean, a job just means you have a job. Then they call it enhancement talent, then it's not starting to get it. Then they called it architect.

Then they called it ring general. They even called me a ring general in Rock's show. We said, Rock, he's a ring general. Listen to everything he says. And I said, I'm not a ring general. I'm the most humble guy that you know, because all I want to do was make everyone look great. And I did fail at times.

Like I wrestled bodybuilders that just came out of Olympia, who looked like they could do it, but they had two left feet, and they just couldn't do it. They moved like robots. They move like robots. And then, so the rock match passes,

and it was always a phone call to me. I don't know why. My life is like a phone call. The phone calls. I'm washing my car in the driveway. My wife goes, Vince is on the phone. He wants to talk to you.

I said, Vince. He goes, she goes, yeah, it's Vince McMahon. She's covering the speaker. I says, Vince, he goes, Steve, I need you to do something. I said, anything you want, Vince. I know that. I go, he goes, I need you to fly to Calgary. He goes, I need you to wrestle Brett Hart in the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in his hometown, which is the biggest match you could be in. I said, no problem. I had Brett's first match in Cincinnati Gardens when he came in. I love Brett.

I would do it for Brett any day a week. I said to him, I said to him, I'll do it. He goes, but the only thing is, I want you to do it as do, do, do, doy-do-do-do. And I said to him, Vince, I don't mind the wrestling. I have no worry or fear of wrestling Brett, because I wrestled him many times, and I'm comfortable with him, and I like him, and he likes me. I said, but the paint job, I mean, come on. Is this the first time you had ever been doing?

First time, never painted in my life. Where was the regular doink? The regular doink was suspended for some reasons that I don't even know, and so I can't comment on. It was Matt Bourne. So I said to Vince, I said, Vince, that's the only thing I worry about. He goes, ha, ha, ha, I knew you were going to say that. I have the plan right down here.

He goes, the plan is we're going to fly you from Detroit. We're going to fly you to Cleveland, where Matt Bourne's wife's going to give you the doink outfit in the baggage claim of Cleveland. Then you're going to get back on the plane. You're going to fly to Calgary. And you're going to meet Jill the makeup girl. Jill and makeup girl is going to teach you how to paint the doink face and give you a diagram and all the necessities you need to paint up as doink.

Then we're going to fly you to Calgary. And you're going to wrestle Brett in the main event. I did all this in two days. I said, Vince, you can count on me. He goes, ha, ha, ha, I know I can. I know I can count on you. and I did it. And the funny part about it was,

it's like going from on the Brooklyn Brawler, when I get my hands on you to for when I walked through that curtain, he was the hottest heel in WWF. People erupted. And it was Brett's hometown. So the pop was bigger than ever.

So we had that match. That was dark, unfortunately. But you could ask Brett. Brett will contest that entire story. And did any of the fans know that it was not one person? Because at that time, I wasn't doing all the characters. All I did was book and brawler and then Dointhe Clown. And then after that, they flew me all over the country to do Dointer Clown.

They flew me overseas to do Dointhe Clown. I had my best matches with Xbox because he was a great worker. I love Xbox to death. And he was making me look great. And I was using all baseball moves to do the. Abe Knuckleball's like the baseball punch to the slide between the legs

and then I pitched Harvey Whippleman who was a good friend of mine to be a manager to be outside as like a baseball manager to give me signs in sign language you know like they're doing

in baseball games a third base coach yeah like that that's the right pitch but it never came to light but dooint the clown to me was a creation it's not my creation

it was from that movie the warrior and I actually, do you remember that movie? No. It's called The Warriors, and they had gangs, and one of the gangs

were a gang of baseball players with faces painted like baseballs. It's the most underrated movie that was the most watched movie I've ever talked to anybody about, and I took that, I took that, that's a heart.

And the way, the way, the way I became, the way I became him, Abe Michael Bull-Swartz is very interesting, too. Damien Demento, you know who that is, right? Of course. He was a great artist. I walk into the dressing room and I said,

Damien, I got an idea. He says, on this napkin, just draw a face with a baseball face on it. It's a baseball. So I do the anonymous, the knock on the door. Who is it? Vince, Stephen Barney, may I talk to you? Come in. I go up and talk to him.

I show him the napkin. It takes his eyeglasses. He puts the tip of his nose. And he says, very interesting. I'll give it some thought. I said, thank you very much, Vince. Can I say one more thing? He goes, what's that?

I said, it's never been done before. He goes, really? That had him do it. Because if it's never been done before, he's going to do it. He's going to do it. So that was the way doing, then he had Shane produce all the vignettes, where I'd be in a baseball field and I'd be hitting all these, all these big big hits like you hit a bad clenching a ball this and that then you'd pan out and

it'd be a little league baseball team stuff like that but i was i took it to heart i learned all about baseball i never watched baseball i learned about american league national league i i knew everything you know what i mean i wanted to know the part and live the part so i did i did i did doint a clown i did i did i did brooklyn brawler i did g oh that's another thing another phone call we need a guy to manage Kamala, and we need to be in a safari outfit with a mask and a safari hat, and we're going to call him Kim Chi, and he's going to manage a huge Ugandan guy. He's 450 pounds, and you're going to talk Ugandan. Yeah.

He goes, so we're like, yo, uga chaga, chaga, uga chaga, uga chaga, uga chaga. But the truth about it is, which people don't know is James, his name was James. and I travel in him too, which I did not enjoy because he wanted me to drive him while he sat in the back and he wanted me to wear a mask while I drove. And, you know, today a mask is nothing. But back then, you'd be stopped and when... But anyway, the whole thing was he'd be like,

Ola Chaga, he'd always be in the main events. He's always being the main events. And I'd be Brooklyn Brawler in the first match, then I would change my clothes, and I'd be Kim Chi in the last match. And I'd be in the main events with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior and all this kind of stuff. So I get two days every day. And James would go,

Oga Changa, Oga, Yuga, then he woke up. I call him over to the side and he goes to me, Kim Chi, I don't forgot my spots. And I say, James, he hit you in the head, and you hit him, he takes a bump, you go for an elbow. And then he moves. He goes, I gotcha. Ouga, chuggah, get out, Ouga, Oga, Oga! You know, see, people don't understand. It's got nothing to do with winning or losing.

It's the psychology of what you do and how you do it, which makes you, that enhancement guy that I was, not a loser, a creator. Did the term jobber ever bother you? Not once. Not once. I didn't care. I didn't care.

Is there anyone that you didn't work, I mean, think of all the people you're talking about right now. Oh, my God. I've worked with, I've worked with, it's easier for me to say who I didn't work with. Yeah, is there anyone you didn't work with? I never worked, or I worked with Steve Watson backstage because we did vignettes. I worked with, I beat Hunter. Yes.

I beat the game. I beat the game at the game. You know what I mean? And it's so funny because even the way, the way it happened is Chris Jericho ran in the ring. He bulldogged him when he was about the pedigree, me. It was a handicapped match. It was Kiantai. I remember watching it live.

Yeah, it was Kiantai and me, and I was like a ring general. I was telling him, go around the ring. Let's attack him from different angles. Let's go in, go in there, and then we just beat the shit out of him. And then he pedigrees, both Kianti's, then he goes to pedigree, me, and then Jericho hits the ring, gives a bulldog to Triple H, and then I jump on him, and I cover him. It's on Smackdown. One, two, three, and all I hear is Michael Cole.

I can't believe I'm saying this. The Brooklyn Ball has just beat Triple H on Smackdown. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. And they're showing a big Titan Tron. Chris Jericho is actually on the Tron saying to a limo driver of Hunter. He's going, AAA's having a bad night. He just got beat by the Brooklyn Bull.

He told me I can have his limo tonight. And Hunter and Stephanie are in the ring looking at this. And then it becomes like a comedy almost. Because they're going crazy. He takes off. And then AAA's, of course, got to get his heat back. So he starts beating the shit of me, beating the shit out of me, beating the shit out of me, beating the shit out of me, beating the shit out of me, throws me outside. And then I got blood.

I was bleeding. And then I'll never forget he looks at me. He goes, good. He throws me in. And then he just pounds my head, pounds my head, pounds my head, pounds my head, pounds my head. And then it don't matter. I come back. He goes to me, yeah, but you need Jericho to win, I says.

the same way you need to sledge happen to win. You know what I mean? I didn't say it in a cocky way. I said it in a fun way. But the bottom line is in the books, I beat Triple H. Yeah. Who's the best person you've ever been in the ring with?

The best wrestler I ever been in the ring with is Sean Michaels. And that's on YouTube also. Sean Michaels, Madison Square Garden. It was for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which I was the main event. And the funny part about that is he made me look like I, like I was going to win. He was kicking out like two and a half, two and a half, two and a half. But the funny part about the whole thing was, this is how it came about.

Let me backtrack again. I won a battle royal. I was in a battle royal of Madison Square Garden. Ken Chamrock was scheduled to go over. Ken Shamrock heard his sternum in his chest. He couldn't wrestle. Everybody goes to DaVinci's room. I was with that group and they say, Ken Shamrock,

cannot win the battle royal. He cannot be in the battle rule. He cannot go over. We have to change the finish. Vince puts, he always puts glasses to the tip of his nose. He goes, looks at me. He puts, put Brooklyn brawler over. He's local.

Forgetting he advertised. The winner of the match wrestles the world heavyweight championship in the next garden show. I remembered. No one else remembered. And I said, yes, sir, anything you want. I walk in the rain. I win the battle roll.

I beat the shit out of everybody and do that. I come out. I remember I walked to Jack Lanzer and and I said, you know, they advertised this. You'll never get your match. You'll never get your match. He'll never do it. They'll never do it. And I says, again, the knock on the door, Vince, Vince, I didn't realize you advertised that the winner of this match has the World Heavyweight Championship match

and matches this Greg on the next show. and he goes, you just hesitate, you can count the five. He looks at me and he goes, you got your match. And I said, holy shit,

but Brett was the jam. So I told Brett, Brett was all for it. You know what I mean? He said, no problem. I don't care. Don't worry about it.

Yeah. It's all good. So that's two months away is the next garden show. I'm going to be in the main event. Yeah. But in between that was the Montreal screw job. So you know what the Montreal screw job?

So forget about the controversy. I don't care if it was real, fake, this, that, all. Everybody's explanation, Sean's now the champion. So I am saying to myself, I just lost my match because Sean's attitude back then was not what it is today. You know what I mean? Because he was arrogant.

He bucked the system. He was very outspoken. Now he's a different person. you found God, who I never do it was lost. But it's just a joke. No shot at Sean. But Sean will tell you the same thing. I'm not the same person today as I was yesterday.

I think we can all see that. But I'm sitting in a bar with Arnold Scholar. We're drinking. Sean's in a bar with Kevin Nash and a bunch of other wrestlers. And Scholar goes, Scholar's drunk. He goes, hey, Sean, you know you're wrestling in the next garden? He goes, who? He goes, just guys.

guy right here next to me, Brooklyn Brawler. I said, oh, here it goes. I'm ready to get cursed out. Sean goes, oh, my God, can you super kick? I'll leave fog. Can you do all this? We're going to tear the house down.

I said, holy shit, he's into it. I love it. You know what I mean? Yeah. I wrestled in front of 23,000 people in the main event in Madison Square Garden for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Google it.

It's out there. It's out there I did it For a person who's 16 years old He says I want to be a wrestler I'm the main event in WWF Madison Square Garden And I'm in the main event

And Undertaker walks in his dressing room And he looks at the paper And he sees my name over his And he goes What the fuck is this And I said I have nothing to do with it Mark I have nothing to do with it

It's just the way the chips fell You know what I mean? Yeah. But if you watch that match, I don't know, have you ever seen that match? No. You know, you could find this on YouTube. But he gave me a match where he kicked out on two and a half. Hunter came to the top, the, it was the first day of DX with China and Hunter were on the outside of the ring.

And Hunter jumps to the apron. I pop him, I nail him. I nailed, I nailed Sean. John's doing all the stuff I do. It's on the rope. I rock it. I rock and I rock it He jumps off

I close line him I do all kinds of stuff I go to I sunset flip him He grabs the ropes This and that The referee kicks his hands You know

Triple H's holding his hands He rubs him He falls one two and a half Three They thought that They thought that was gonna be the biggest Screw job ever Or a fluke I should say

Not screw job Fluke They thought Brooklyn Bull was gonna become The Champion And Sean wanted them to believe because he was unbelievable. The guy, he's the kind of guy you could take and throw him to the corner, say, do that thing you do.

You know what I mean? He doesn't, effortless. He's effortless. That segment you did backstage with Stone Cold was hilarious. Oh, the one where I said it, which one? I did two of them. I did one where the coffee. The one where you jump over the table.

Oh, three takes. Three takes. Why three takes? Three takes because, okay, I was drinking coffee and the whole, the whole. storyline was someone was trying to hit him with a car and I was he's seen me in a car that was on the highway next to them and I know who it was that was doing it he's trying to figure out who it is so he's questioning me to tell him who the person was who did it yeah this is when rikishi ended up hitting him with the car whatever the story was the rock the vignette was

where he comes up to me I'm drinking a cup of coffee and he's telling me uh you know I know knowing all this bullshit and he's telling me all this stuff and then he goes to stick his hand out to shake my hand and I flinch like he's going to hit me and I fall backwards flip backwards with the coffee in my hand well let's try that one more time you know and in those days I could do shit like that where I could flip over and I could do this and I'm not getting hurt yeah you know what I mean my biggest problem was coffee all over my shirt but we did it three times and it aired and there was another vignette where I asked him, I told him I wanted to be his partner because Vince actually went in the ring and you can find this too. Vince says, Steve Austin has no partner

tonight and he's facing, I think, and I'm not going to say names of town, sir. I can't remember if he was Undertaker or whatever, whoever it was, this guy and this guy. But we have found a suitable opponent for him. And that opponent is the Brooklyn Brawler. Vince McMahon is saying this. This is the jober. This is the jobber. Yeah, I was sure doing a job. I was doing every job they asked me to do it. I was doing it like convincingly, as you can believe.

I always said I believe I deserve an Oscar because like an actor, I'm playing different parts. And it's hard. It's not hard because I put my heart in each one. I went from Steve Lombardi. I went to a Brooklyn brawler. I went to a clown. I went to a baseball player.

I went to a manager. I mean, the things I've done, I even was a kangaroo. Did you know that? Find that. I was a kangaroo for the bushwhackers where I was in a kangaroo outfit, and I would hop to the ring as the bushwackers would come out, and nobody knew that was ever made. Your career sounds like you were just okay with saying yes.

I would say yes to anything they asked me to do. one time Vince walked into the ring and he says, I need somebody to get beat by, I don't even know right term used to it, a little person, dink, you know. A little person. You can't say this, you can't say that, you can't, little person.

Yeah. And everybody put the head down. I raised my hand. Yeah. He was wearing a Randy Savage mask when he beat me. So I said to myself, first of all, I don't care. Yeah.

Second of all, Randy Savage beat me. You know what I mean? I just don't, I don't care about winning and losing. Do you think about a Hall of Fame spot? Do you think that the Brooklyn Brawler could get inducted in the Hall of? I think the Brooklyn Brawler has more contributions, more accolades to be in the Hall of Fame. I believe that being in the Hall of Fame is their choice. I am not losing sleep of them, not being in the Hall of Fame.

but I believe that there's no way in life that one day I won't be in the Hall of Fame. I just hope it's not when I'm dead. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I don't, you know, to me, you know what I mean? I've done so much. And the one thing that no one could ever take away for me

is my memories. You know what I mean? My memories are second to none. You never won a championship, but was there ever talk of you winning a championship? Yes, Brett Hart said to Vince, and you could ask Brett this, he says, I will not drop the belt

to Sean Michaels. That's a Marshall screw job, but I will drop it to Steve Lombardi. And he said that. I quote him, and he would tell you right in an interview if you interviewed him, he would tell you that he said that. Wow.

But of course, Vince wouldn't do it. Yeah. And he goes to me, and if you did wrestle me in the garden, and he goes, I wasn't going to kick out. I said, you know what happened, Brad? I would have got fired. because if I didn't throw my body off of you, Vince would have said it was my fourth opinion

you. He goes, that's not fair. I said, life isn't fair. I feel like there could have been a storyline when so many people were winning the hardcore championship or then later on so many people were winning the 24-7 championship. You could have won, you could have won a few times there, I feel like. Could have, should have would have. Sure.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, I don't write the script. I just do what the script says. Yeah. That's what kills me because, like, movies, people play parts in movies. And why don't people say, well, why do you always get killed in the movie? Why is you always killing people in the movie? Why is this and that?

All I was doing is doing movies. That's what I was doing. You were doing your job. I was doing my job, and I was doing it. And they were asking me for the most absurd things to do. But yet, I was doing it anyway. Let's talk about your other match with the rock. Okay, Rock was already on the top of this game,

and Hunter and China were like, I don't know if there were GMs, I don't know, I can't remember the whole story. There was Hunter and Steph, right? Hunter and Steff, I'm sorry. Hunter and Steff. Hunter and Steph were in the ring, and Hunter and Steph, Rock was on top of the apron, and he said, or in Tron, I don't remember how it worked,

but he said, you know, Rock, you're not out of the top anymore. You're going to have to start from the beginning again. You have to start at the beginning again. So I got to wrestle rock in the garden again. But the problem is when I walked out in the garden, they cheer me. I can walk out right now in Berkeley Center Monday, which I tweeted out. I don't know if you've seen it or not.

I said, what would happen if the Brooklyn Brawler walked out in Berkeley Center on W.V.R. And that's all I said. It's like 200 likes in like 20 seconds. I'm like, I'm like, well, people would become unglued, unglued, you know, because I was there one time, the first show ever in the Barclay Center, and I won a six-man match. Did you know that? No. It was me, the Ms. Me, the Miz, and Del Rio against 3MB.

And I beat, he became world champion. Ginder Mahal. Genda Mahal, very good. Genda Mahal in a Boston crab, which was, they call it the Brooklyn Crabb or whatever they did. They put a spin on it. But the funny part about it was,

now this is something no one knows about. After I did this, they put a picture on the wall in the Berkeley Center of me, having Jindamahal on the wall right next to Madonna and all these different people. Wow.

And Vince hated it. He hated it. So Vince totally said, you should have took it down. You should have took it down. So then he's all of a sudden he's like, it's your fault the picture's up there. I said, how's it my fault?

I don't own the building. I don't own a picture. I don't own anything. He was working. You know, he's more of playing a stupid joke. But anyway, he took it down. He took it down. And the picture was, the boys would go loving it.

They were like freaking out. I remember the boys would take pictures of it, tweeting it out, and they were doing all this stuff. And then he said to me, well, I'm putting you in the ring with Ryback. You know, he want to punish me the following day. You know what I mean? Yeah. And Ryback comes up to me, he goes, you know what?

I'm going to give you a match like you're a main event. But he tells Vincent. You didn't tell Vincent. That was your last match, right? No. Your last match was against Ryback. No, my last match was against Luke the Bushwacker at Tommy Fierro's show in New York somewhere.

Oh, maybe I'm talking about your last WDF match. My last WDF match might have been that. I don't know. I don't even follow anything like that. But they had a production meeting. They always had a production meeting. So, no, as I did what we do with with Ryback, right back.

If that match, you could be YouTube too. and uh right back just sold for me and like i mean it was like he was giving me like a main event match you know in that time right back was holding three people up and dropping them down and they were building them and all that stuff which uh i actually like right back and i thought he looked apart and all that stuff whatever issues you might have had with the company and all that and it's health but uh i remember i'll never forget uh the road dog goes excuse me Gros dog goes

Hey Vince did you see Why back in Brooklyn Paul? He goes I don't give a shit about him And that's what he said I said oh my God I got heat with the boss now You know what I was believing this

So there's a production meeting And then I'm outside And this is like the day after This after Ryback There's the next day And then there's a production meeting And there's all the vice president It's the agents, the producers, whatever names.

They change them all the time. But then somebody comes out. I did with Johnny Laurianitis or somebody. But he comes out and he goes, Vince wants to see you in the meeting. I went, holy shit. This is weird. So Vince is at the head of the table,

and there's about 40 people sitting in chairs facing the head of the table. And he says to me, I want you to apologize to every, everybody in this room for that picture that was on the wall. I said to myself, this is weird. That's what I said to myself, my own mind. And I said, I turned to the people and I says,

I want to apologize for not being the type of person that would break the law, that would walk into a building that I do not own, and to not take a picture down that I don't own, and by doing the right thing, I look at Vince, and he goes, you call that an apology and I says do it again and I said

I want to apologize for not taking down a picture that I don't own in a building that I do not own and I did not put the picture up I had nothing to do with it

I don't even care about the picture he goes and I looked at him I said and Vince I apologize to you and fit upset you. And he couldn't hold it and he cracked up and he laughed. And he shook my hand and Hunter laughed and I said to Hunter, you asshole.

You know what I mean? How was your relationship with Vince? You were there for 30 plus years. Vince Well, he kept me for 32 years so it must have been pretty good. He used to say shit to me like, if I asked you to take a flag off the top of the building, you would come down with two flags.

He says, I mean, anything. Like when Hunter got hurt, he He ripped both of his quadriceps out. And he kept wrestling during that match. No, no, Hunter now. Yeah, no, Hunter. Hunter did that, yeah. Yeah, and he was in that match with Jericho had him

in the walls of Jericho, his quads torn. And Hunter requested me to go with him, to Birmingham, to see the famous surgeon they use in Birmingham. Dr. Andrews. Dr. Andrews. Very good to fly with him and to go with him. I sit in a hotel with him and you know what I mean

this is the guy that did not have a contribution to the company you know what I mean? Yeah and the funny part about it was I left early that day and then Vince Vince calls my cell phone and then

and then he says Where are you? I said well Vince I just head out to I was heading out to the next town he goes well don't leave early but anyway I don't care about that

He goes, I need you to come back because I need you to flywood hunter to Birmingham. I says, there's something happening? He goes, he tore his quadriceps. And I, and I won't with him. And I took him there and this and that. But, you know, the things, the things that I've done, you know, it's ridiculous. It sounds like a movie. What's the most memorable moment that you've been able to witness?

Not a match that you've been in, but you've been there for whatever, this massive moment, this massive match. Probably the WrestleMania where the face-off came between Hogan, Stone-Cole, and rocked together, looking at each other in the ring. I ran to the front of the first row, right in front of the first run. I took a picture of it. It was an epic picture. It was an epic picture. I don't know if you ever seen that picture. the three of them together

and I thought that was an epic moment I thought the epic moment was when when rock when rock would say would go out and they would say rock he sucks in the beginning so he has his like problems in the beginning with rock too

yeah rock he sucks he was taking it to heart you know like he didn't like that yeah you know he wouldn't show the people he didn't like it but so he comes back and he's thinking about it he's thinking about it then his next poem he walks out and he says

you know what when the rock always comes out here all I hear is you people say Rocky sucks Rocky sucks the only thing I just want to say I just want to say one thing is this

it doesn't matter what you think and when he said that we love you we love you we love you was like reverse psychology that's when he went

from Rocky Maya Villa to the rock right? Yeah yeah he didn't want to write by VA I mean it was always it was always I mean I remember what he had

was flex gavana i mean like weird shit you know what i mean yeah but talk about working with kirt angle i worked with kirt angle he he offered 10 000 to any any wrestle that would come out and wrestle him and uh and i was the chosen one to come out and challenge him and it was in a town of michigan it was a house show and uh i wrestled him and he great guy great attitude Nothing bad to say about him. I think he's a great person. He actually saved me because they were going to do something on me

where it's called the laminectomy. Did you ever hear that term? No. That's where they cut all the bones out of the back of your neck to ease the strain of a spine on your spine. My spine was being crushed

which was causing pain all the way down my arm. And I was interviewing because I was in charge of it. It was called the pre-taped room, which is the interview room. And he heard, Angle turned to me and he goes, I was telling him,

They're gonna do a laminectomy on me. He goes, don't do it. He says, I gotta, I tell you what to do. Go to Pittsburgh. See Dr. Joe, J-H-O, cheap plug for you, Dr. Joe. And then he will go into minimally invasive neurosurgery. And they go in with tiny tubes through my throat, move my trachior aside, cut out the bone spurs

that's pushing on the spine, put a band-aid, and I'm in a gym the next day. I mean at gym the next day. I mean, he saved me. Because the laminectomy is the type of thing, like if I patted you on the back and said, hey, good to see your quiz, you would pass out. Wow.

You know what I mean? But he saved me. He saved me. What do you think of this era of wrestling that we're in right now? I don't like it. I think that the 80s and the 90s was the magical moments. It was the magical moments. you know and today's day and age i think it's completely different like a battle world for example

they they'd go up to 20 different guys bring them in a room and they'd say you're one you're two you're three you're four you're five you're six like today it would be like uh well this this guy throws out the first guy and then the second guy looks at the third guy he goes for a clothes line the guy ducks and he does this he does that they choreograph it's too overproduced Too overproduced. Too overproduced. I feel like something's changed over the last, call it year or two. Maybe it's with Triple H in charge.

Wrestling feels like it's exciting again. Of course, the Rock, I think. The Rock turning heels. Rock is freaking the people out. You know what I mean? I don't know why he got that, why he did that? I know it's the rightest, I don't know, is the right of strike still going on? No, no, I don't do last year.

But the beauty of Rock is, you know, I don't know if he's hurting his movie career at all. You know what I mean? Because he's becoming a wrestler again. I don't know. This is the best performance he's done in a long time, maybe ever. Yeah, but they're pushing the envelope now. See how he's beating up Cody Rhodes and he's getting blood and all this stuff? It feels like the attitude era is coming back or something like that.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's old because of rock. It's all because of rock. He's certainly pushing this forward. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's saving the company, really. I mean, AEW is a big deal.

I mean, I give accolades the AEW, and I love Chris Jericho and a lot of people in the AEW. I've crashed past cross-pass words, but the 80s and 90s to me, my favorite. It was like in the 80s, like the late 80s, early 90s, being a Brooklyn brawler, even enhancing people, or even being the job or job. I was like a hero to Brooklyn. You know what I mean? I couldn't pay for anything. You know what I mean?

It was like being a huge celebrity. Because I was on TV more than the top guys. Because I was on TV every single week. The role you were in doesn't really exist now. No, they did away with it. If there is an enhancement talent, it's a local person. They live in this town. They don't get an entrance, and that's it.

You were like, you were able to put everyone over. Yeah. I had a character. Yeah. You know, like, now everybody looks like accountants. What does that mean? It means like everybody looks like, like in real life, you could really beat them up. You know what I mean?

Like, it's like, I don't want to knock wrestlers. I just want to say, when I came in, it was different. It was Hulk Hogan. It was, you know. Larger than life. Larger than life characters. And then the mold was broken by Brett Hart and Sean Michaels because, because the smaller guys actually prove themselves.

I think there's something very relatable to that, right? Someone who is 5'10 looks at someone like that and goes, oh, I don't have to be 6'6 to be a wrestler. That's right. That's right. And they proved it. Yeah. You know, at first, I'm sure Vince was reluctant about it.

And I know he was reluctant about it. But because he was always a big fan of the big man. And he changed his attitude. You know what I mean? And I don't know where it's going now. I, you know, all I know is, like, Harvey Wilkman, he just went to Memphis to do a documentary with Rock. That's when they called me up, they, you know,

they called me up with a goofy phone call on this shit. And because, you know, when Rock got evicted from his, when Rock got evicted from his house and all that stuff, and he was, you know, they showed the thing in the Young Rock where Vince goes, you're very talented. I enjoyed it, but you're not ready for the DVDF from sending you a man. Memphis goes, you know anybody in Memphis? He goes, yes, I have family.

Did you see that? Yeah. And then he sees Bruno. Yeah. And he hugs Bruno and he lives with Bruno for a little bit. Then Bruno buys him his first car. It was like a car for 40 bucks. They bought a little for a crack dealer.

Then, and Brock is 16 years old. He's not supposed to drive. And then they drive it away and they realize there's a crack can sleep in the back seat. Because they hear moaning and groaning. He tells that story on TV. And that's why Rock bought a brand new F-150 for Bruno. You know, and he said to Bruno, you know, he put Bruno in his series also,

but he put him in 14 episodes, not him, the actor. Yeah, yeah. Playing him in 14 episodes, and he says, and then the truck comes behind the take when Bruno was doing a take, and Bruno gets pissed off, like, holy shit, I thought that one was good, just and that. Rock gets out and looks at him and goes, you bought me my first car.

I'm buying you, Alaska. I think a lot of people don't remember all the time you spent behind the scenes as a producer. So obviously all the work you did in the ring, then you worked as a producer. You were with WWE for 32 years. 32 years. What was the reason that they gave you when they let you go after 32 years? That is, that's a subject that no one will ever know, but Hunter, Vince, me. And all I can say is it's not like people think.

Okay. It's not like people think, I'm not going to give the details of it, but I was told that a question like that would be asked. And the question is not one. It really, it really isn't because I was ready. I couldn't do it. Two to four planes a week for 32 years. That's a lot of traveling.

Even now, coming to conventions like this, like the Expo Center. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like Indianapolis was a 38-minute flight. you know, the planes and the walking in the airports and all that. It's great when you're 30s, 40s, 50s, you know. It would be 63, April 18th. You know what I mean?

I'm getting up there. Hey, happy early birthday. I'm getting up there. I'm getting up there. And you know what? Life is opening more doors now. I'm going to break more doors open now that you, when you see, you're going to be interviewing me for other things other than wrestling.

Let's do it. Because it's going to happen. It's going to happen. Did you see my tweet with you, Jackman? No. He tweeted out. He says, I got to meet the Brooklyn Baller backstage, and I remember seeing him in 1984, my father before I was an actor,

and I was 14 years old before I was an actor. You know, he actually put, and he asked me that he came up to me. This was in Cleveland, wasn't it? I don't remember the town, but he came up for raw, right? Yeah, he was a GM. He was a guest GM. And he says, you're the only person I recognize in this building. I said, how the hell is that?

I said, I'm supposed to come up to you. He goes, do you mind if I take a picture with you and tweet it out? I said, yeah, that's fine. And he did it. And then, of course, I got heat for it. I'm bothering just celebrities, even though they're coming up to me. Kevin Hart came up to me, and he asked me to take a picture with him. I got heat for that.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Unwarranted heat. Because there's certain people in the country, company that are no longer with the company that would make up stories. You know what I mean? But if a guy comes up to you, if an actor comes up to you and says, hey, you want to do what you? You want to do a selfie together? And you say yes. Is it your fault? No, of course not. Well, it was my fault. What do you think is the legacy? My legacy? That you've left behind.

The legacy I left behind was I had a storybook life that came true. I loved everything I did. if I could change my life in any way, I wouldn't change one thing. I would not change one thing. And the legacy is determined by every different person in a different way. And obviously, you have an opinion of my legacy. W.E. has an opinion of my legacy. But all I know is I have more contributions, and I have done more in the company than a lot of people.

And I'm not asking for anything. I'm just telling the truth. And that is a story of my WWB life. 32 years in WWE, if someone were to come up to you today at this convention and say, Steve, I want to do this for a living. I want to be a pro wrestler.

What's the advice that you give them? I would say, do you believe it in your heart and soul? If you believe it in your heart and soul and you made that goal, nothing could stop you. I says, because you will get a kind of, confidence inside that will be felt by every single person that sees you. I said, I don't care if you're a garbage man, the accountant, I don't care, I don't care what you do.

I don't care if you're a lawyer, a doctor, I don't care what you are. I said, if you don't have a goal, start with taking your boss's job and watch what happens. Watch what happens. I says, they'll feel your confidence. They're not going to not know how to label it. You're going to look in the mirror and you're going to see a person. that has confidence.

You're going to see your own reflection and it's going to look different to you. That's what I would say to them. And I have said to them, and I've already got eight people that have told me I've changed their life by giving them advice like that. And one person wanted to work for Louis Vuitton,

and he says, my goal in life, and I feel it with my heart and soul is to be the president of Louis Vuitton. And I says, you know what? If you feel that, I believe in you and you will do it. three weeks ago he said to me Brooklyn Brawler what you said to me that day I now work for Louis Vuitton

Wow it's stuff like that Yeah another guy got a we got a promotion The day after he applied what I said It works it's a secret success That's the reason your podcast is so successful Because you believe it's going to be successful And it was successful and it is successful And numbers don't lie

And that's why I wanted to be on your podcast. I've wanted to have you on the podcast for a long time. You know what? I wanted to do this, and I never in my life, I've ever wanted to be on somebody's podcast, but yours,

and I've denied other podcasts not to do them, to do yours. Wow. Thank you. And only because I see the way you conducted, I see the way, I see the way it's produced, and I'm giving you,

I'm giving you flowers now. You're putting me over right now. Yeah, thank you. So, let's do you. You're enhancing me right now. I'm enhancing you. My passion in life is to bring people, other people up. And you know what?

You deserve it. Thank you. You deserve it. This has been such a pleasure being able to sit here and hear these stories and sit under your learning tree. I talk about gratitude at the end of every single episode because it's such a big, important part of my life. What are three things in your life, Steve, that you're grateful for as we sit here right now?

I'm grateful for my past. I'm grateful for my wife, and I'm mostly grateful what's going to happen in my future. Because all I have to do is believe in it, and I already got something in my mind that I'm going to do. And it's going to happen because I've already talked to people that are very, very high up in what I want to do. And they have every successful person I've ever talked to. And I'm going back as far as Bert Reynolds. I know Jennifer Hudson, one of the Jacksons, Jermaine Jackson. I know him.

I know I know Tony Orlando. I know. And everyone says, Toby Keith, great example. May he rest of the piece. I actually posted a picture with him. I don't know if you've seen that one. But I said to him, what did the football players say when you told him you want to be a country singer? He said to me, they laughed at me.

They told me it's impossible. He'll never make it. Football players do not become seniors. I said, and what did you say to yourself? He says, I'm going to do it anyway, because I know I can do it. I said, thank you, thank you, thank you. You are preaching what I feel completely. He says, good for you.

He goes, you will be successful. And I feel I was successful. If I could change my career in any way, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say I want to be a world champion. I wouldn't say that because I know I wouldn't have another Steve Lombardi putting me over. You know what I mean? Because a lot of people that were enhancement, talent, or jobs, I don't care what word you use, they're greedy.

They take too much offense and they use their time to get themselves over. And that's, I don't know if I could say anymore. That's my feelings in life. I love it. My fear. And I love how motivational this is. You know, everybody tells me I'm motivational, but I'm just telling my feelings. That's all I'm telling.

You know what I mean? Motivation is just teaching others the secrets to success. And the secret of success is self-belief. And if you have self-belief, nothing can stop you because you own yourself. Opportunity doesn't come. You create it. You create the opportunity. and that is a great model to live by.

And what a perfect spot to end this. Steve, such an immense pleasure. Thank you so much for this. Thank you for having me here. It's been a pleasure. And I always watch your interviews, and I always will. And you're just a great podcaster. Appreciate you.

I said that right, podcaster. Yeah, podcaster, whatever I am. I'm just the guy who talks to amazing people. like you. No, you enhanced people like me. But you enhanced me in this one. You are the Brooklyn Brawler of the podcasters. Wow. That's what you are.

That's what you are. So many great stories there. I really do think the Brooklyn Brawler should be in the Hall of Fame. Without question, I mean, think of everything he did in the 80s, the 90s, the 90s, the 2000s, all the way up until he was let go in 2016, both in the ring,

making talent look like a million bucks and behind the scenes as an agent. And what a good dude. I love how you could literally say any name to him. And he had a great story about them. Snap a screenshot and let us know what you thought of this one. And tag us. We'd love to be able to share this out and share this with a friend. I know that you know somebody who loves the Brooklyn Brawler.

So tag us. He's at Broller Real on X. He's at Brawler Real Deal on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. I saw this quote on Instagram. I shared it on there, but I just feel like there's somebody that's listening to this right now

who this is really going to speak to you. Going from being worried about what might happen next to being excited about what might happen next is only a mindset shift away. Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Sonia DeVille with us

on Thursday. We'll see you then. 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 Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie.

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