Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Carlito on WWE return, Royal Rumble, where his apple gimmick came from, winning the US Title in his debut

Episode Date: August 19, 2021

Carlito (Carlos Colon Jr.) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet for an interview and Q&A in front of a live audience at the Independent Wrestling Expo in Fort Worth, TX. Carlito talks about growing up with his famous father, Carlos Colon Sr., how he got started in wrestling, getting signed to WWE and wrestling for Ohio Valley Wrestling, winning the US Title in his debut match against John Cena, why he thinks the apple spitting gimmick came from Razor Ramon, returning at the 2021 Royal Rumble and much more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm Chris Van Fleet. So good to have you with us for not just an in-person interview, but an in-person interview with a crowd. We did this about a week and a half ago at the Independent Wrestling Expo in Fort Worth, Texas. Huge thanks to them for bringing me in and for hosting this conversation with me and Carlito.

We talk about everything. We talk about his recent return to WWE and, of course, everything that led up to that and just everything in his career as a whole. And you'll probably notice, yeah, this interview sounds a little bit different than usual. We were plugged into the soundboard, so definitely has a different feel than our usual conversations. This is so everybody in attendance could hear this. It's also a Q&A at the end from some of the fans in attendance. So make sure to stick around to hear that. You can follow Carlito on Instagram and Twitter.

He's at Lito C-O-L-O-N-279. That's L-I-T-O-C-O-N-279, and I'm at Chris Van Vleet. Speaking of following, speaking of subscribing, if you don't already, could I ask you to hit subscribe or follow on whatever platform it is that you're listening on right now? That'd be so great. Let's dive right into this, try to keep those intros as short as we can. So please welcome with a crowd.

Carlito. Well, you certainly didn't come here to see me talk. So let's bring in our special guests for this episode for this live podcast of Insight with Chris Van Vle. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Carlito. We've got a little bit of a chant there, a little Carlito chant. I like that. That's nice about four people, but, you know. Still nice to hear you, Dave.

I love this shirt. I have the same one. Pay and respect to Chad. Yeah. Give it up for chat. Yeah, that's great. How have you been? So far, so good, no complaints.

It's been a heck of a year for you. Yeah, like, you know, considering everything, it hasn't been a bad year, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you started off the year in WWE. That's pretty good. Yeah, it was nice to go back to my old playground for a bit. How much, like, ramp, how much, like, time did you get before the Royal Rumble? How much, like, did they tell you before it was going to happen? Yeah, about the, that.

I'd say about a month out. Okay. Because you look like you were an incredible shape at the Rumble. Thank you. So what's that month look like leading up to the Rumble? I was just doing what I've been doing before. The problem was, you know, nobody's seen me anywhere. Yeah.

But, you know, I've been like that for years now. But, you know, like I said, everyone thinks when you're on TV, you died or something. I'll be in the airport or something. Oh, man, you're still alive. Well, yeah. Because, you know, I don't say it doesn't mean you just disappear somewhere. Well, I think with this hair you can't disappear, right? Well, that's true, yeah, as long as I can keep it.

Was there any ever a point in time when you're like, maybe I don't need to have hair that looks like this? Yeah, all the time, especially in the summer, especially when I go back to Puerto Rico in that heat. Or, you know, living here down in Houston, where I live, it's pretty hot too. Yeah. So a month of lead-up to the Royal Rumble,

did you think you'd just be working the Rumble match? Pretty much, yeah, that's what I thought. I'd come back, you know, for, you know, like they do, bring the surprise entrance and, you know, have a good time, and back to, I guess, being dead or whatever, I don't know. Back to being dead and people going, I can't believe that you're still alive, yeah. But then they went, you should actually come back and be part of Raw.

Yeah, well, they told me to think the night before, which is, thank God, you know, so it's allowed me to pack some more clothes. They said, do you mind doing Raw the next time? I was like, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, yeah. Did you think it would turn into something more than that? I had no, no hopes. My only goal was to just go out there and put on a good showing, you know what I mean,

go out there and the best shape that I'm. could be and you know just remind people that you know I'm still around is this the best shape you've ever been in um well depends I mean since when you tell you look like this for the past 10 years okay so this might be the best WWE shape you've ever been in probably those yeah I'm assuming well especially the way people say it because the way they say it is like uh it's not even what they say it's the tone oh man you look great what does that mean what I look like before you know no I'm just saying you look great today yeah just I'm just saying you look great today yeah Yeah.

When you left WWE, did you just have more time to actually put time into going to the gym? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I had a lot more free time. And, you know, I wanted to do something different, you know, dedicate myself with something else. And, of course, I had first master's guiding me. He always gave me good training information. Yeah, I just took that and ran with it. Here, let's switch mics here. Yeah, I'll say your mic is.

Well, I'll hold the mic because you're going to be talking more than me anyway. This one, yeah, this one works. All right. Yeah, we're good. This is good. Yeah, Chris Masters is just a giant of a human being. I don't know if everyone knows how close you guys are. I think they do.

Yeah? I remember the other day somebody said, oh, how's everything at NWA? How long you've been there? So I haven't been to NW. Is it Master's there? Yeah, well, I thought it's easier you're there. I said, no, man.

We're two different people, you know what I mean? So I, you definitely, you look slightly different from Chris Masters. Yeah, a lot different than Masters. But yeah. Yeah. What's your best Chris Masters, story? My best Chris Master's story? I mean, he traveled with him for years.

Yeah, I don't know if there's any he'd like me to tell. The only stories I have is when he comes to my house, he just empties out my fridge. To be expected, right? To be expected, yeah. Yeah. So if we take this all the way back, you grew up in a family where your father is a very well-known wrestler. As you're growing up, is it just expected that junior is going to be a wrestler too? I kind of think that now.

Yeah. Because people ask me, like, what would you do if you weren't a wrestler? I really don't know. I don't think I had a choice, but to become a wrestler. Because all my jobs have been wrestling-related. I started, you know, I started, you know, in the canteen there, like selling food and drinks. Then I was the beer hawker. I go around, you know, selling beer.

Then I became the cameraman. Then I was part of the ring crew, and then eventually I just graduated the wrestler. But the fact that you have done all of those jobs must give you such a greater appreciation for everything that goes on inside of here. Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, I mean, just, you know, just seeing it as a kid, what it takes, you know, learning, you're just learning how everything works, behind the scenes and, you know, how the boys are, you know,

and how the politics and all that work. It's just, yeah, you learn to appreciate and understand everything from a young age. So are you four years old and you want to be a pro wrestler? No, I was, even 14 years, I didn't think about being a wrestler.

Like I said, it just kind of happened. I don't even know about it even time to think about it. It just kind of just evolved into being a wrestler. Sounds like it was like osmosis. You were just around it enough? That it pretty much had sucked me in and here we are how many years later?

We don't want to count the years, but yeah, there's been a lot of years since. You don't even know how many years? I do, I just don't want to say it. Does anyone know out here? Yeah. So when did you make the decision to actually step in the ring? What's that?

When did you make the decision to actually step in the ring and start training? I didn't. They made that decision for me. Yeah, I was like the cameraman. And they said, hey, we need you for this with this angle. What do you mean? Well, we need you to wrestle, you know, all promoters are. We need you to wrestle one time.

All right. And then one turned into two, the two turned into two years, and then, you know. However many years after. However many years after. Yeah. It's in the 20s. Which is incredible. Yeah. I think that deserves a round of applause. I mean, my goodness. And you're still healthy, too. On the outside, yeah. As you sit here right now, though, 20 plus your career, is there anything on you that hurts? Everything, pretty much, yeah. But, you know, it's, like I said, it's what I signed up for. I knew it from the beginning. You know, like I said, from senior to young age, seeing all those guys walk around, you know, like they were 80 years old and, you know. And they're like 40 years old.

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I kind of, I said, well, I'm assuming that's how it's going to end, but, you know, that is what it is. What do you think that you've done in the latter part of your career that's kept you as healthy as you've been? I call it Shakespeare. I do a lot more Shakespeare now, which is understanding more about the, I guess, you know, the entertainment and not just the, just the, work. You know what I mean? Just because you're not doing a bunch of things doesn't mean you're not working. There's other ways to, like we call it, our business work. Yeah. So is it more of like taking less bumps, but doing... It's more of working harder in different ways without taking bumps,

you know what you put, you know, you put, you know, you might not do a bunch, but you put more work into this. And sometimes, you know, it's more exhausting doing, you know, the, what I call the Shakespeare aspect than actually taking bumps. I love that you call it the Shakespeare. Well, that's a Booker T term. He would... Is that something you learned from Booker Tee? That word, yeah. It's just calling Shakespeare. I got it from him, yeah. Huh.

So what point in your career did you go, all right, I need to start doing more of that to save my body? When you get older. And, you know, that's when every wrestler learns about that. But I feel like not every wrestler comes to terms with the fact that they're older. No, your body lets you know. You know what I mean? Your body lets you know.

Yeah, I think this business is one of those things where your body lets you know you're not young anymore. Yeah. How long into training until WWE started taking notice of what you were doing? What's that? How long into your career until WWE started to take notice

and went, you know, this is someone we should have our eye on someone we should sign? Oh, that was, I was about five years in. Working in Puerto Rico, I believe I think it was Bruce Pritchard that they sent him down to

there was another competing company with my dad, they sent him to scout those guys and according to the story is that he was watching TV before the show and my dad's show was on and he saw me

and then he went back and recommended me. And then about two months, later, I think they called my dad and asked me to go to, I think it was North Carolina, South Carolina for a dark match. And then from there, I worked, my first dark match was the Tommy Dreamer. Wow. Then I worked Jamie Noble. And then, yeah, after my first match, they kind of said, we want to sign you. And a couple months later, they sent me over to Louisville, to OVW. Wow. Is there like a piece of advice that your dad gave you early on?

In the wrestling business? In the wrestling business, that's all right? Yeah. That's kind of stuck with you? Yeah. He just, you know, just how to, what's called, you know, like just have common sense, keep your mouth shut. You know what I mean? And just, you know, oh, especially the main thing actually that stuck with me is in Puerto Rico we have what's called island time. Which means like, let's say you have a meeting. Is that three? It means around three o'clock start thinking about getting there.

And this is like big power meetings, you know, big like banks and businesses. It's the same thing. Yeah. They say when you go there, they mean, when they say three o'clock, they mean be there at three o'clock. So sure enough, yeah, I learned that. You have to be the, you guys mean the actual. And you're saying island time is three o'clock, oh, I'll get there. You know, it's three-ish.

Three-ish, three-ish, a time that begins with a three. Yeah. Yeah. Three-meas, you know, I mean. Start thinking about it. You know what I get into it. Yeah. So that was one day stuck with me.

It's a good thing I did because it's, you know, that's the way it works here. Yeah, so basically show up on time. Right. And that's, I mean, in WW, you have a call time. You need to be there on time. Or else you get fine, isn't that right? Right, or even showing up to, you know, for practice and stuff, when we know WW. If you were two minutes late, you know, you have to do extra drills or, you know, they chew you out.

So, yeah. So if that's advice from your dad, Shakespeare's the advice from Booker T. Right. What's just the wrestling advice that has stuck with you the most? That's stuck with me the most? Probably the Shakespeare stuff, I think. You know, just to learn how to protect your body. Protect your body without being lazy.

That's the main thing. people confuse, take care of your body of being lazy is two different things. When you were coming up in OVW and you were about to debut in WWE, this was going to be a completely different gimmick than what we ended up seeing on WVE. Wasn't this going to be something with Rico Constantine? Apparently, that's the story. I don't know. I hear that, but that was about my pay grade at that time. This was never pitched to you, though?

I don't think it was. I don't know. This was years ago, so maybe it was, but I don't remember. I just remember. The thing was that when I used to shave my head. So when I got to OBW, I showed up and everybody was bald. So I was like, all right, I'm going to do something different. So I just thought it'd grow my hair. And then I got lazy, and then it just turned into this.

And then, you know, you look at it. Oh, man, nobody has hair like this. I got something here. Yeah. And I just kind of rolled with it. This has now become your trademark. Pretty much. The hair and the apples, my gimmick pretty much.

Yeah, well, how'd the apples come around? The apple was, actually, it's funny because I used to get a lot of, say, oh, you're a Razor-Ramone rip-off. I'm like Razor-R-R-Mond. I don't know where people get that from. And then I was at the Hall of Fame for my dad, but right before him, they inducted Razoramon. And they're showing some of his vignettes.

I was, oh, my God, my vignettes are all rip-offs of his old vignettes. And then in one of those, he, I don't know what he was eating something. And he spat at some guy, whatever. Then, you know, fast-forward of mine, whereas I'm at a fruit stand, and I grab an apple, and I spit in the bend his face. Yeah.

And I guess Vids saw that after. He goes, oh, I love it. I want you to keep on doing it. I was like, all right, I'm the one spin the apple. Yeah, go for it, man. I think, I'll do as many times as you want. I think Razor, I think Razor had an apple, right? Yeah.

Was it an apple? It was an apple. Well, there you go. It was an exact way about that. There you go. It's like the same person wrote the vignettes for him that wrote them for you. Apparently, yeah. Wow.

But it wasn't just having an apple and spinning an apple. It had a catchphrase that went along with it. How long till that became a thing? Yeah, I think that was another bintz idea. Yeah, you always said, like, you're calm, you're laid back. like you're cool. Everything you do is cool. Like, all right. Yeah, he wants to like, cool.

All right, that's not much of catchphrase, but okay, I'll go with it. And sure enough, yeah. But it was, I spit in the face, people. I get that all the time. People say a catchphrase. I don't have a catchphrase. All right, I guess that's my catchphrase. Apparently, yeah.

That's my catchphrase now, yeah. Yeah. Is it not? I guess it is. No, everybody tells me it is. Yeah. It's always been that. Yeah, it is at the start of your entrance theme.

I know, it is. But I just thought of just my intro. I didn't think it was a catchphrase. But yeah, apparently that's my catchphrase. When that was at the start of your intro for your entrance theme, did you sit in like a recording studio and say that like 15, 20, 100 times? I said a whole bunch of different lines. They said, all right, just say this or come up with this or you, okay, now you say some lines

and then from there it kind of just took different things. There were different lines. There were different lines. There were different lines in Spanish and stuff within the song. It wasn't like you were sitting there going, I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cold. I spit in the face of people. people who don't want to call it. No, I think it was just one line. I just said it that way.

And then they added the spit to it. And I think it said, yeah, I think it said, okay, now grab the apple and just spit it. All right. Was there anyone that was like, I know this is your gimmick, man, but please don't spit in my face. No, man, I haven't had, I'm sure, you know, not to my face or behind whatever, but yeah, nobody's ever, you know, that's the cool thing about the wrestling business, man. They ask you do all kind of weird stuff and, you know, that's what it is. That's what we got to do. That's what we do. Yeah, no other business would be acceptable to be doing that. Right, exactly. No other business could say, hello. Okay, so this guy's going to spit on your face. But he's going to, what?

But no, I was like, yeah, okay, cool. And then just walk away. Was there ever something that was pitched to you that you went, I don't know if this is for me? Yeah, that happens all the time. But, you know, yeah, you just got to, you know, you got to, like that's what you got to speak up. That's why, you know, you see guys with bad gimmis because they didn't, you know,

they didn't say anything. But, you know, that same time it could be pretty intimidating. But at the same time you've got to think, man. Yeah. You know, if you can't do it, don't go with it because it's not going to turn out well. What would you say is the thing, like when you're at a convention like this, what's the thing that most fans would come up to you and ask you about? Believe it or not, I get a lot.

I go, how much do you charge to spread my face? I was like, why would you want that? Well, how much do you charge for something? I don't do it. No, I just, I think that could be a lawsuit anyway, so I don't even. Well, especially with COVID. Yeah, especially now with COVID, yeah. But I don't understand why he'd want anybody to do that.

You know what I mean? Do you ever sign apples? I sign apples, yeah, all the time. That doesn't seem like a great... I tell that, too. You know it's going to rot in like three days. Well, they're saying it anyway. All right.

But some people are smart. They'll bring me like a fake apple. And then that's better. That makes it much smarter. Yeah. Is there a certain storyline that people always want to ask you about? Yeah, well, the scene of stabbing, of course.

They always ask that. I think it ended up turning out that we didn't stab them. Something happened. I think somebody else did. I don't know. I forgot how it all ended. Yeah, I think that's, the main one is the Sina.

Yeah, you try to kill John Sina. Apparently, yeah, apparently I tried to kill him. But then I think it was Jesus that ended up trying to kill, I don't know, anyway, I ended up being innocent. The fact that you debuted against Sina won the U.S. title, I mean, that's also a pretty great, pretty great way to come in. Yeah, I don't think you can ask for a better debut than that. Yeah.

Did you know about that leading up to it? Did you know how you were going to come in? Yeah, I think I did, but maybe like a couple of days before. I don't think this is when they started the whole, you know, trying to keep stuff from everybody. Oh my gosh. There we go. Sometimes when I talk, you can hear it. There we go.

So they're trying to keep it from the dirt sheets is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. And no, not even dirty. Just keep it from the boys, too. Oh, really? This was like the first, what do you call it? I told the story the other day about the first cashing of the money in the bag with Edge. I remember, it was me and seen at the end.

And I'll get you with a roll-up. I said, wait a minute, that's not the way to end the, you know, we've done all this thing. No, it's going to be cool. So, nah, I think we should do something else, man. Why don't you? No, no, let's do that. And, you know, I was like, all right, that's what you guys want to do.

Sure enough, the roll-up happens. One, two, three, edges music, and I'm just looking at, oh, okay. It'll make sense now, yeah. I see, now it makes sense, yeah. Now, the roll-up is actually the perfect kind of finish for what's going to happen next. Is there not like, is there not a, so obviously there's a tremendous amount of upside to debuting winning the U.S. title. I mean, that's an incredible debut that no one will forget.

Is there also not a lot of downside because it's tough to continue to build from such a huge debut? Yeah, not only that is, you know, people started looking at you like, oh, who's this guy? You know what I mean? Who's this guy that they're giving this big push to? Right. But I was, yeah, I was always confident I could handle myself, so I didn't worry about it too much. And also I didn't, you know, my head didn't get too big because I also knew, you know, okay, it's probably what everybody's thinking. And people maybe didn't say it to you backstage, but did you feel that?

Oh, yeah, I mean, I grew up in this, you know what I mean? Yeah. I could tell, you know, I can tell, you know, I know, I can tell what's going on. Well, not only do you win the U.S. title in your debut match, then you get paired with Tristratus, you get paired with Tori Wilson. Yeah, I actually, yeah, I didn't like any of that because Carlito was never, that's what I think, everything started going downhill because Carlito was always the guy that talked about having all these girls, but never got the girl, you know what I mean?

And then when he gets the girl, I'm like, ah, okay, that's not, that's not him, you know what I mean? He's the guy that brags about being all these girls, and then, you know, these girls, you talk to them and they you know is the worst thing imaginable you don't mean they can't stand them but I don't they turn it to someone ladies man for some reason so you're saying that wasn't true to the true your character no I was just the opposite probably it wasn't a ladies man

but did you not enjoy like your screen time with Tori or Trish um no they're me yeah they're great friends and stuff but yeah at the same time I'm thinking like this is not you know this is not the best thing for my character yeah but is there anything you can do at that point? No, because, you know, you're young and stuff, so yeah, I should have spoken out more, but, you know, at that point, I was just starting, you know, you just, like I said,

you just keep your mouth shut and do what they tell you. When you look back at your entire career, entire career, what's the standout for you? The standout? Yeah. I think the standout was just probably behind the scenes, just like, you know, they knew me to be the guy that would, you know, I guess didn't take any. any nonsense, you know what I mean, I stood up for himself as kind of what, you know,

it also gets labeled to the troublemaker or whatever, but I always just thought, you know, I just spoke up and, you know, spoke my mind. Did you actually get in trouble for that? All the time. Towards the end, yeah, all the time. You laugh about it now? Well, yeah, what are you going to do now?

You know what I mean? I guess so. Yeah. Did you just stop caring? Is that what it is? Pretty much, yeah. Is there a specific one? No, it's just, you know, towards the last couple of years, you know,

I was out of control the last couple of years. Would you say you're more in control now? Yeah, now I'm totally Zen, totally in control now, totally, you know, got nothing with positive vibes. But like, oh, you know, I get those times, like, who did you spit on or whatever? Who do you hate?

You know, they try to get you tucked dirt. I'm like, I got no beef with anybody, no heat with anybody and just I wish everyone the best. Is this like a conscious thing that you did in the last five or ten years? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

yoga, whatever it happens to be, to make you more Zen? Yeah, just find a way to get rid of the anger and, you know, and then, you know, learn that life's a lot more and about, you know, certain worrying about silly things. You know what I mean? It just kind of enjoy it. It's also the idea of, like, you can only control what you can control. Right, exactly.

And there's no point in freaking out about something that you have zero control over. Right. That's, yeah, that's the main thing I do now is I don't waste, I think about it's called wasted energy. I don't waste my time on stuff I can't control. Does the first like 20 minutes, 30 minutes of your day look like you have a morning routine with this type of stuff? No, you mean like meditate stuff? I don't know.

I don't do any of that either. I just don't. You've just become Zen. I've just become Zen. Yeah. I'm an all-day Zen guy. Is it from reading certain books? No, just like a conscious decision you made.

Just be positive and be, you know, let let things go. When did this happen? This is amazing. This was a couple of years back. But like I said, like five or six years, I think, something like that. Did something happen that you went, okay, it's time for me to... Yeah, I just got tired of being angry all the time. It was exhausting.

You know what? What am I so angry about? I don't know. How can a guy that's this laid back, just cool, be also angry? I don't know. That's a good question. I didn't even think about it. I just forgot about all that too.

I just thought, you know what? Just be positive, man. Yeah. Good things out there. Is there anything you learned from your time in WWE, specifically from Fitzs McMahon? Yeah, he's, you know, he is a genius, you know what I mean? He has a lot of great ideas. I think, you know, wrestling owes him a lot.

And, yeah, you just learn how to be, you know, just learn how the business side works. You know what I like about him and Stephanie is the same way is, you know, they're just great business people that, you know, they're likable, whatever. And they'll, you know, be friendly and stuff. At the same time, if it's not good for business, they'll cut things off and won't hesitate for a second. Which is the way you got to be. which is also very difficult because I think it's hard to look at things from just a business standpoint when it feels very personal sometimes. Yeah, but sometimes you got to, you know, separate the personal from the business. Yeah.

What have you been up to? Like, you know, you're saying people running to airports and think that, you know, you're dead because they haven't seen you on WWA. What are you up to these days? Yeah, I'm just been doing, you know, doing these shows, doing these conventions and stuff. working on my NBA 2K that's the biggest pop of the yeah the biggest pop yeah they know they understand who's your team

oh man I'm a bandwagoner like I said yeah when when Puerto Rico comes with a team I'll be loyal you know what I mean but for it in 2K I do like Luca I do like Luca I do like Luke a lot in 2K who do you play with it right now

I think I put with the Nets oh okay okay yeah And the crazy thing is I hated hard since last year. But all of a sudden like he's down the nets now, so now I was like, I have no shame. I don't care.

So NBA 2K Pro, pretty much is what you're saying. I'm working on it. They find a way to pay me for that, and I'm working on it. I think that's a possibility. It might be, but I think it's like these little 12-year-olds, right, that can just kill everybody. They have nothing but time. They have another with time, yeah, exactly.

What's game number two for you? Game number two? Like if 2K is the first, the number one, game. That's pretty much it. Yeah. Okay, that's it. I haven't played that one. Is basketball, the sport you watch the most, too? Basketball, football,

and then baseball on the playoffs. Yeah. And then hockey, I tried. I just can't. Oh, that hurts me. I'm a Canadian. Yeah. Well, I'm a half Canadian, but that's what I tried to. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe in person, because like baseball is great in person. It goes by fast.

Baseball is a great like hangout. Like, you know, me and you go, we have a beer. We eat a hot dog. $20 beer, but... $50 a hot dog. But the beers at the games hits you a lot harder. Yeah.

There's something about that. I think it's the sun on you, maybe. And that, I don't know, that draft beer, I don't know. Yeah, who is your football team? Football team is the Chiefs, too. Oh, this is a mixed reaction here. I think you were supposed to say the Cowboys.

Oh, no, I don't like the Cowboys. Let's see how this gets a, what the reaction is here. I'm a Browns fan. You got one over there. Okay. I'm a heel for everybody else, though. Oh.

No. I mean, I should at least get some sympathy for the Browns fans. One Seahawks fan. One Seahawks fan. One and a half. Baseball team? Baseball. Actually, the Houston's, what do you call?

The Astros are the only, the only Houston team I like. Yeah, okay. There you go. The Astros. Yeah. And hockey? Hockey?

The Rangers, I don't know. Sure. Yeah, the Rangers. The Toronto Maple Leafs? They're my team. Okay, thank you. I said, yeah, I got to go for my mom's team, so I'll choose the Maple Leafs. Do you feel like you have any ties to Canada?

Um, yeah, I tell me a guy called, I'm a K-Fabe Canadian. It's like, you know. Yeah, yeah. Are you? You know, I mean, yeah, I have family there. I have visited family there. I've gone there from time to time. Where are they?

What city? Oakville? Yes. Okay. I grew up like 40 minutes from there. Okay, yeah. Pretty much, yeah, that's where a lot of my family's there. A lot of is Ottawa.

Let me see worlds. Okay. So, yeah, I got, you know, I got ties there. And, you know, I've spent Christmases and stuff there. So you, K-Fabe Canadian. You're Canadian. It's convenient. Right, exactly.

Right. Yeah. Like when I go over it, I'll do the cheap pop and tell them I'm half Canadian like you guys. Yeah, I guess that's it. So, working some indie shows, playing a lot of 2K, basically it. Yeah, no. Training. Training more than, I mean, look at the size of your arms.

Training. That's about it. I mean, looking better than ever. Oh, thank you. It's true. I don't like your tone now. Oh, all right. You're looking really good?

Yeah. We're going to open this up for Q&A. Does anybody in the audience have some questions here? We'll start right over here. Oh, I preface for an app. I get that all the time. Yeah. Do you like the green ones?

I don't care. They all work the same. It's a good question. They all spit fine. Okay. Does one look better on camera? No. It doesn't matter how you chew them.

I'll repeat the questions back so everybody can hear it here. Yes. Have you ever worked for New Japan? If you haven't, would you consider working for New Japan? And who would you want to work? Have you ever worked for New Japan? If you have it, who would you like to work there? I've never worked for New Japan, actually.

I'd love to work for New Japan. And, you know, like I said, I get asked all the time, like, what's your dream match? Or, I mean, I don't know, it's my job. Whoever's in front of me, that's where I want to work. You know what I mean? Or whoever's the biggest payday, that's what I want to wrestle. What about a dream match of someone who maybe isn't with us anymore?

Oh, probably a matcho man. It was like, I don't think I never even met him. Yeah. But it's only like one probably guy that I never met. Okay. What's your favorite match that you've ever worked? My favorite match? I just figured that.

I get that last whole time. It was, I think it was the WrestleMania with my brother and I against Ms. and Morrison. Just because, you know, that's every kid's dream is, you know, be you and your brother in WrestleMania. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then winning tag teams. That's pretty good.

Yeah. That's hard to be. All right. More questions? Yes, sir. Growing up, who is your idol? Who is your biggest influence? Yeah, I get that.

I get that asked a lot. I didn't have a certain, I guess, of course you take stuff from different people, but I always wanted to be the first me. I never wanted to be the next anybody. The least of all my dad. I wanted to be totally different from what my dad was. And, yeah, you know, you see guys from different places, especially in Puerto Rico where, you know, it was a melting place.

You see guys from Japan, guys from Mexico, ties with states. So I just kind of took a little bit of what I like from different places. people and I just wanted to make my own. Yeah. And you have. I believe 20 plus years. For better for worse. Yeah.

Yes, sir. Oh, that's good. If you were to feud with anyone in WWE and it was a champion, who would it be? Yeah. It'd be nice to go back. Definitely probably Bobby Lastic. I'd rope him easy. You know what I mean?

He'd walk him. I'll see him. He's not that big. He's not that strong. All right. Colorado versus. Yeah. Actually, this probably stretches a little bit.

Yes, here we go. Come over here. This makes more or more sense to be repeating the question. What was your reaction when you found out you were, when you were first in the storyline with John Cena? What was your first reaction when they told you were going to be out in the ring with John Cena? Yeah, I was nervous for a little bit, of course. But also, you know, I like it when,

you know, what do you call it? You got no choice. You got to go out there and perform. So it kind of, when you realize it's like that, it kind of takes the pressure off of you. Because, like, you know,

number one, I said, I'm not going back to Puerto Rico. And number two is like, all right, this is what I got to do. I'm not, I'm not going to fail in front of a live audience. So it kind of just, you can't just lose those nerves

and just do what you do. John must have also been hyper aware of how big that moment was for you. Yeah, he was totally cool. He was like, yeah, He's actually too nice, which is funny because I thought he rib me. I thought he was just, you know, he was just, you know, he's just one of the nicest guys.

So nice, yeah. You'll meet. And the first thing we do is right overlocked up, he kicks me in the stomach. And I, you know, I couldn't breathe. I was like, oh, okay, wait a minute. This must be like the, you know, welcome to the big leagues rookie type of thing. But no, it's just the way he was at first. Yeah, when he first started, he just kill you.

Wow. But, yeah, but since then, he's gotten so much better. But those first couple of matches go, you. You know, he's a big boy, too. He's big, yeah. When he hits you, he hits you. Got any other questions here? All the way in the back.

Why don't you come over here? Yeah. And then we can say it into the mic here. He's hustling over here. This is great. The fact, if you have a question, it could probably make things easier. If you have a question,

why don't we line up here and we'll get right to it? Favorite city to wrestle in. Favorite city to wrestle in? I guess you could have yelled that from the back. of the room, but thank you. Favorite city? I don't know. That's a good question.

It's been, you know. Hometown? Yeah, that's probably one of the best places to wrestle. It's just because those, yeah, they're crazy and they're pretty wild. WW doesn't get to travel to Puerto Rico either. No, not often. Once a year, maybe. So when it's there, it must be like.

They're going back now in, I think, October. Oh, that's exciting. They go back, which they have first time in, I don't know how many years. You should probably be there. I should, but. I don't know. I don't. Just saying,

I don't put these things. Yeah. Do we have any other questions for running in the honor? If you ask a question, you can ask another one. You know, hold on, hold on. You didn't ask your question in the mic, so here we go. I know you said that, like, you didn't know what you wanted to do other than Russell. Do you have any dreams or anything that you have set aside for when you retire?

Like, spending time with kids going on certain vacations. Like, what do you dream about when you retire? Yeah, I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Yeah, I don't think like that. And I mean, you know, because tomorrow's not promised, so I don't, right now I'm focused on wrestling. And from there, we'll see day to day. Day to day, right then my body, when my body tells me, okay, that's not happening anymore, then I'll figure out what else to do.

How much, how many more years do you think your body's telling you you have? That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. Sometimes it tells me I got 10 more. Sometimes I tell me I got 10 more minutes, so I don't. I don't know. I'm hoping for a couple more years.

Yeah. Thank you so much for this. I'm so glad it was so great to be able to sit down with you in person. Ladies and gentlemen, Carlito. Well, there we go. That is the first interview in front of a crowd in 2021. That's now the fifth one that we've done in total. We did three last year at the Independent Wrestling Expo.

That was with Jake the Snake Roberts, Jazz, and Gangrel. The first one we ever did was at the all-es-all-end-end-es-a-all-all-a-old. out side party that was hosted by pro wrestling teas in Chicago. That was 2019. That was with Colt Cabana. But the plan is to do more, to do many more of these. So if you're not already following me on Instagram or Twitter, I'm at Chris Van Fleet. I'll give you all of the updates on there, as well as a sneak peek at some of the interviews

that we have coming up and just other things that are going on in my life. Like the fact that I was finally back home in Canada to see my parents for the first time since December of 2019. It'd been 20 months since I'd seen my parents because of all the restrictions. So it was so nice to see them. Speaking of Instagram,

speaking of Twitter, you can find Carlito. He's at Lito, Cologne, 279, on Twitter and Instagram, and share this episode with somebody that you know will like to snap a screenshot, tag me, tag Carlito, so we can share it out to everybody.

And I didn't mean to do that. This quote is actually from Share, like, share the singer, it's such a great quote. I didn't mean to like, this was not a planned segue to say, oh, share it out. Here's a quote from share. But I will leave you with this as I giggle to myself about that. Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great. Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.

Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. 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?

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Thank you.