Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Chelsea Green On Being US Champion, Michael Cole Hating Her, Wrestling Against Penta, Matt Cardona

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Chelsea Green (@ImChelseaGreen) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE and the Women's United States Champion. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Chicago, IL to discuss winning the titl...e and the original plan for the victory, coming back to WWE after her 2021 release, if a Matt Cardona WWE return could still happen, Michael Cole's commentary during her dumpster match with Michin, her match with Penta in Lucha Underground and a possible rematch and more!Quote I'm thinking about: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya AngelouPlease support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux  SEAT GEEK: Get 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!  STASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off your next order at https://magicspoon.com/cvv   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv  FABRIC: Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at https://meetfabric.com/CVV   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv  HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? 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

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Here we go. Welcome back to another one here on Inside. It's me. It's me. It's CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for being here on this episode.
Starting point is 00:00:32 And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast in the world. Hit a DDT on that follow button wherever you're listening. And if it happens to be Spotify, could I ask you to hit a leg drop on that rating? It would help so much. But it has to be a leg drop. You can't just do this with your thumbs. You have to go in, go to the show's main page,
Starting point is 00:00:54 hit the three little dots, dot, dot, dot, and then you'll see rate show, and then boom, leg drop right there on those stars. Thank you in advance for that. Chelsea Green is just so freaking entertaining. So good to have her back on the show because a lot has changed since she was last with us, last February. She's been just crushing it. And congrats to her on being the inaugural
Starting point is 00:01:18 WWE Women's United States Champion. I love what she's doing with this run. And she's like creating executive orders on like official letterhead. Like she's a politician. It's hilarious. She's the epitome of this phrase you hear a lot in wrestling, maximize your minutes. I think that's a dusty roads quote. But she makes the most of any opportunities. that she has, whether it's a match or a promo or a backstage segment or a social media post. Like she makes the absolute most of it. And that's why she is just killing it with what she's doing right now. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you enjoyed this episode. Tag us online. She's at Chelsea Green on Instagram. She's at I'm Chelsea
Starting point is 00:02:08 Green on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And let's do it. Please. Welcome, Chelsea Green. Oh my goodness, happy birthday. Thank you. We're recording this on your birthday. Crazy. You're working on your birthday. Well, I'm always working on my birthday.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Ever since I got into wrestling, I quickly realized after like year two, oh, my birthday is mania season. I'm forever screwed. Or maybe one day, this is like kind of one of my dreams would be to have a mania match on my birthday. Oh, that'd be great. And have everyone sing. Yes.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Because I'm a narcissist. Like the crowd sing for you? Yeah. Like I really wished that tonight when I went to Smackdown, I had a match and they could sing for me. That feels like a very Chelsea green thing to do. Absolutely. Like Chelsea in and out of the ring. Like if you went out there and you started it or maybe Piper started it?
Starting point is 00:03:04 Oh, I could start it. I've been singing lately. Yeah? I'm terrible. Give us a little. No, one thing about me, I'm such a bad singer that like my family's never heard me sing karaoke. Like, well, I don't, I can't sing. You don't have a go-to karaoke song?
Starting point is 00:03:19 Well, I do, but I shouldn't. What is it? It's usually Abba. Anything by Abba. Okay. My mom and I are big Abba fan. So when we have some wine, we could sing Abba, but usually, like, I will be, like, lip-syncing. So you're saying if, like, a catchy song comes on, you're not, like, singing it.
Starting point is 00:03:36 Alone. In the shower. In my car. Anywhere where someone can't hear me. Yeah. But I feel like this could be another great. layer to your character. So I agree and they did tell me this is this is why this whole singing thing is very on topic right now. Because in London, we were just touring through Europe. In London, they
Starting point is 00:03:58 told me I got a text from one of the headwriters saying, you're going to sing the national anthem in London. Would you be willing to do that? Like would that be okay? I was like, of course. Are you kidding me? Like I can't sing but that's even better. Who wants to see a pretty girl be good at singing? Like in WWE, never. But the great thing about this is I would imagine your character would think you're great at singing. That. Yes. That.
Starting point is 00:04:23 So, like, now it's a thing. Now, like, I am singing in public because, like, you should know I'm absolutely terrible, but I'm still willing to do it. But we didn't grow up as Canadians. We didn't grow up singing the Star-Spangled Banner all the time. Except that I had an American best friend from third to, like, fifth or sixth grade. So I learned it. Okay.
Starting point is 00:04:45 So it is, it's deeply ingrained in me. I will say that. I feel like the only time we would really hear it is you go to a hockey game. Yeah. They're playing an American team. Go to the Blue Jays game. They're playing an American team. But like being from the West Coast, like that didn't even really happen that much,
Starting point is 00:04:58 especially on the island. Yeah. We never, like, never heard it. But everyone was very, it's now, it's now my party trick in America. Like everyone's very surprised that I know every word of the Star-Svangled banner. But if we flip it, most Americans know two words of OK, Oh, Canada. Oh, Canada.
Starting point is 00:05:14 Yeah, that's it. That's it. And it's like, it makes me laugh when they say, like, oh, well, I guess I could, oh, Canada. And then I'm like, and they're like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Yeah. You know, one skill that I think would come back, but that I've somewhat lost is in Canada, we also sing it in French.
Starting point is 00:05:36 Yes. At school, you know, we sing, oh, Canada in English and then in French. And that's one thing, like, that I'm sure. If I kind of, if it sparked my brain again, I could sing it. But I tried the other day and I was like, oh, no, so I need to see the words. Protetia ro de lafoyer, something. Oh, well, that's good. Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:05:57 That's more than I remember. No, you would remember the whole thing. Say, no. No, I remember the flower line, but. The flower line? Yeah, there's like a flower line that sounds like fleur or something. but, you know, I probably... It's in my head.
Starting point is 00:06:16 Yeah, I know. Just the sounds of it are in my head. Right. I don't know the word, the actual, like, meaning of it. Yeah, it's not good. How's life in America treating you? You know, amazing, because I'm building a new house. I saw that.
Starting point is 00:06:29 It looks incredible. It is incredible. My wife and I are very jealous. And you should be. I'm jealous of myself. Like, my, I cannot believe that I am able to do this. Like, build my dream home with Matt. It's crazy.
Starting point is 00:06:43 From wrestling. From wrestling. From nothing but wrestling. Like, seriously, that's so crazy. If you had to told me 10 years ago when I got into this business that I would have three cats, three dogs, a hot husband, and be building my dream house. I mean, like, that's it. Yeah. I can retire.
Starting point is 00:07:00 I'm not going to because I have to pay the mortgage. But. Has it hit you that like all of this is because it started with a hope that turned into a dream that followed by a lot of heart. work leads you to where you are right now? Yes and no. Like I often, when I'm looking out the window and I'm like looking at my pool and my palm trees, I'm like, damn, like, how did I get here? You know, like, I hoped and dreamed that I was going to do something that mattered. But like, that's so everyone wants to do something that matters in one way or another. I just did not ever imagine myself being a professional wrestler. Was it the idea that you just wanted to do something bigger
Starting point is 00:07:41 than yourself? Yes. Yes. I just, I wanted people to know my name. And I didn't, at the time, I didn't know that that was going to be show business. I thought it was going to be more like training, personal training, training, things like that. But now I'm like, man, this is exactly what I was meant to do. Like, come on. And then put another layer on top of this. People do know your name because you get to wrestle under your actual name. Which also I'm blessed. Like, and I think about that often. Let me tell you, I think about that so often because when I got into wrestling, I so badly wanted to change my name. I wanted like an alter ego. I thought that was the whole point of wrestling. You have an alter ego and you turn it on when you get to the ring. And then I realized that like some of the best wrestlers are just themselves turned up. And then I couldn't imagine being anyone else but Chelsea Green. And I really, really despised the name Laurel Van Ness. Like to my core, I could never fully. Like when people call me Laurel, I was like, oh, God.
Starting point is 00:08:41 And that's why I never related to that name. I related to all the characters I played. But the name I was like, no, please, just call me Chelsea. Like, I couldn't change my Instagram to Laurel. I just couldn't do it. And all my girlfriends were doing it. Allie was doing it. Sienna was doing it.
Starting point is 00:08:55 Rosemary still does it. But, like, I just wanted to be Chelsea Green. And I wanted people to know who Chelsea was. Chelsea Green is such a good name. It sounds like a fake name. That's funny because, I mean, yeah, people tell me that all the time, but it's just, you know, it's just me. Well, it really should be Chelsea Cardona, but I've never changed my name. If you hated Laurel Van Ness so much,
Starting point is 00:09:19 where'd that come from? It actually, and like, I will give Madison Rain all credit for that name in terms of, we put a lot of thought into what we were going to name me. We knew I was going to be some sort of, like, rich girl that was brady and snobby, a very typical girly heel. snotty braddy daddy's girl so we kept coming up with different names that were very rich sounding I really liked the name Whitney I thought if I could call myself like Whitney I'm Whitney I thought that was so it's giving Brat's dolls or Barbie
Starting point is 00:09:55 and so I really liked Whitney I tried for it to be Whitney I can't remember why that never happened then we had a couple of other names and then we were really stuck on a last name and we kept going back to it had to be like two names, like really rich names are like, I don't know, like Vanderbilt. Like Chris Van Fleet. That's right. Yeah, yeah, super rich. It's giving rich boy.
Starting point is 00:10:19 It's actually Christopher. Well, that is giving frat rich boy. Christopher Vland. Christopher Venderville. That's exactly how I was saying. That one. So we were actually going to be Laurel, once we settled on Laurel because there was a action star at the time named Laurel.
Starting point is 00:10:38 It's also a very famous street in Hollywood or like that leads from the valley into Hollywood. Which also love that. Laurel. Laurel Canyon. Yeah. It was, it came from the action star Laurel. I don't know who that is.
Starting point is 00:10:52 Um, but then we were going to go Vanderbilt and we didn't, couldn't get it approved. It was too like convoluted with everything going, you know, everything Vanderbilt. So, um, last minute, I walked out. I looked back on the Tron and I'm like, Laurel Van Neville. and it was one word. And then I realized, no, they had got it wrong.
Starting point is 00:11:11 The Tron people had got it wrong and it was supposed to be Van Ness. So that's the, I don't know why I just spoke about that for so long, but I didn't like it. It's a great story. It's a great story. And like, every little bit of me has been defined by, like, a character. You know, my indie run was, at the beginning was Jada. That was my very first name. And then Laurel Van Ness and Reclusa and the Hot Mess.
Starting point is 00:11:37 I like that. It's boring if it just all meshes together. And then bringing it right back around, Chelsea Green, it's just a good wrestling name. It is. It's, it is. It's just me. Prize picks is the best place to get real money sports action.
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Starting point is 00:14:21 That's timeline, t-I-M-E-L-I-N-E dot com slash Insight 3-3. We haven't even mentioned it. It's just off-camera here. You are the women's United States champion. Look at this. Can you believe that? Can you believe that? Honestly, no. No, I can't. And like, so I also, every time I'm going for an interview or an appearance, I forget this. And someone has to ask me to go get it. You had to ask me to go get it. But just know that yesterday at my appearances, someone had to go ask me to get it. It happens often because I just, I can't believe it. May I see it? Yes, you can. Wow. It's so beautiful. Thank you. It really is.
Starting point is 00:15:06 Right. It's a great design. such a great design. It's just like, it's such a beautiful belt. And, you know, I didn't necessarily dream of being a WWE champion because I didn't think it was even in the cards. Like, I just got into it and was doing what I loved to do and just flying by the seat of my pants. But now that I have it, I'm so proud of it. How crazy is that for you to say that you got into this not even thinking you could be a champion? I know. Like, I knew I was going to be at W.W.E. But I didn't, I didn't even think about that. I just, I don't know. I think, like,
Starting point is 00:15:43 I definitely downplay myself as a wrestler, but I'm okay with that. I'd rather downplay myself and then other people tell me that I'm better than I think I am or that I'm funnier than I think I am or, or like, no, you should be a champion. And then it feels good. Let me rewind to what you just said, you knew you were going to be in WWA. Yeah. Why were you so confident? Because I'm delusional, Chris. One thing about me, when I decide I want to do something, I do it. And like, as the infamous, amazing Chris Jenner once said, do you just keep asking until someone says yes. There's no such thing as no. There really isn't. I actually was just talking about this and someone on the internet said, you know, but like not all of us have the money or like the privilege to be able to, and it's like,
Starting point is 00:16:31 No, no, no, no, no. I worked so hard to get here. I had numerous jobs while I was training on the Indies. I had numerous jobs while I was, you know, like spending all my money to fly to America to wrestle. Like, I understand that we all have like some hard things that we have to get over in order to achieve our dreams. But we can do it. Unless your dream is to be a millionaire, that's a little bit harder, okay? But like, if you've got a dream job or a dream life you want to live, of like, you can do it. You just, it just takes possibly 11 years to get there. That's okay. I also believe in the idea that if somebody else is doing the thing that you want to do, that just proves that it's possible. Yes. That it can be done.
Starting point is 00:17:14 Anything, anything can be done. You just have to keep trying. And everyone gets about a million knows. And if you were an actor or an actress, you know that. You get a million nose and all that matters is the one yes. The problem is, the difference is a lot of people will, give up after 17 nose or after 43 nose or after 143 knows or after 143 knows. A lot of people would have given up after the three tryouts that I had. And tryouts with WWE are awful.
Starting point is 00:17:42 They're like the hardest things I've ever done, but I knew I was going to get to WWE. What's so hard about them? They're three days of cardio. And that's a lot. That is a lot. They're a little bit different now. I think that they put the entertainment side. of wrestling, like they split it 50-50, athletic ability and entertainment. But when I first had my tryout in 2000 and January 2015, it was three days of cardio. Moose was at my tryout, and moose damn near drop dead. We had to ice his body and feed him bananas. And I'm not joking, because when you cramp, you have to have bananas to get your potassium levels up. We'd do literally give him bananas and ice his body. And he's a big dude. Well, I couldn't even imagine
Starting point is 00:18:34 being a big dude and having to do that much cardio. That's a whole other. Like, and he's like a freak of nature. He's incredible. Yeah. People forget that he played in the NFL. He's very athletic. Yeah, like the percentage of people who play in the NFL is very small. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's a different unique form of torture. But guess what? If you get through that, hey, if you get through that and you eat your bananas, you're good. You're good. the idea here of just like let's make it as hard as possible, do you have the ability to push through even though, even when it gets hard? I think that was, that was the intention at that time. That was, you know, early on the performance center was new and all that. So I think it was basically
Starting point is 00:19:17 like, are you cut out for this? Because that's what the Indies were like, too. Are you cut out for this? Like, we're going to beat the shit out of you and we're going to find out if you are going to come back the next day. How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? How bad do you? want it. And like, so I went through that on the Indies. So then I'm like, you can't. You know what I mean? I will drop dead before I quit this tryout. But that's not, not everybody. So was there were a moment you get signed? Then you're in WWE. Then the world falls apart in 2020. You get released in 2021. Where you like, it's over. That was, that was my opportunity. Or did you go, I know I'll be back. Yeah, no. I honestly was like, um, so I was in my,
Starting point is 00:19:57 kitchen with Santana Garrett and I got a call from Johnny Ace who was in the office at the time and he was very sweet and you know told me you know we wish you the best blah blah blah and I immediately got out a pen and paper and I was like what do I want to do where do I want to go what are the things that I didn't do the first time around that then in hindsight when I got to WWE I was like damn I wish I had that on my resume I wish I could say that I had done that. It was NWA, Ring of Honor, and then I think a couple of countries maybe, but mostly NWA and Ring of Honor were two companies that I was like, if I had just had that on my resume, I could have been one of the only girls to say I did it all. Because I worked for TNA, I worked for Lucha Underground. I had worked all in, which was A.E.W. I then NWA and Ring of Honor. Like, what else?
Starting point is 00:20:54 I mean, maybe now you could say New Japan because they kind of, they have the girls, but you couldn't say that at the time. So if I just could do that, then I've done everything. So I set out on my goal to do those, and I think I did those even before my 90 days was up. I called the office and asked to be released in my contract early, stopped getting paid early so I could do those shows. Wow. And then I did that, and I'm like, oh, boy, like, okay, so now I've done it.
Starting point is 00:21:24 now how do I make an impact and get back to WWE? So the whole thing was I'm going to get back to WWE at some point in time. It's just a matter of when. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Amazing. I mean, I was always going to, like that was my dream. I'm not going anywhere else.
Starting point is 00:21:39 You know what I mean? Like, what would be the point? If that's my dream, I'm not settling for second best. But I would bet that your husband feels the same way. 100%. And he's not back in WWE yet. We're waiting. You don't even
Starting point is 00:21:53 It's a friendship, race. It does say Cardona. Yeah, that's, it's time for my... I have a watch on. Okay. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it's going to happen.
Starting point is 00:22:06 I hope. I really hope. Nobody has done more on the Indies than him. No, there's like... Honestly, I could go on a whole podcast rant about all the things he's done and why he deserves to be back. Like, there's nobody who has recreated themselves like him. Like, Cody did a great job of recreating himself.
Starting point is 00:22:25 But at the end of the day, like, Cody is Cody. Matt was a baby face for almost 20 years in WWE. His career was just all him being a baby face. Nobody believed he could be a heel. And then he went out and became the biggest heel on the Indies ever. Yeah. Well, I actually think the biggest star the Indies has ever seen, period. He keeps saying he's winning Indy Star the Year.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Like, he's won a how many times? Two, three? I don't know. Right. And he's like, which is great, and I'm grateful for it, but the former WWE guy shouldn't be winning indie star of the year. He's like something's not right here if that keeps happening. Yeah, I know, but he's just thriving. He's just doing, he continues to recreate himself and he continues to do things that people didn't even know they could do. Like even just him crossing over into the GCW world and doing the death match king stuff. When I tell you, all his friends told him not to do that. All of them. Every friend, they even told me, don't let him do that. And I'm like, no, I trust him.
Starting point is 00:23:31 I trust him if he wants to do this, like, don't get me wrong. I did not want to watch. It was very painful to watch to him cut himself open with a pizza cutter. It was not the highlight of my year that year. But, like, I knew that if he believed in himself enough to put his body at risk and, you know, face Nick Gage the death match, the real death match king, you know what I mean? Like, he was going to change people's perception of himself. And he did.
Starting point is 00:24:00 Yeah. I am shocked that Matt Cardona hasn't purchased a replica of that United States championship. He has. Two of them. One for himself and one for me. Yeah, he has. How has he not come out wearing it yet? So what happened is he found out, I believe, leave like when I was winning it, we kind of found out maybe right before and he went and tried to
Starting point is 00:24:25 get one sent to him before they were even released. They were only going to be dropped that night when I won the title in Long Island. So we contacted Fanatics. We tried to get one early because he had a GCW show at 8 p.m. on the West Coast. So if I won, you know, around 8 to 9, if he had that title, he could come out with it. And I would. would have won with the time change. But it never, it never got to our house in time. Oh. Yeah. So then he was like, the buzz has kind of, it's kind of worn off. Like, you want to do it right when it happened. And he really didn't have a show for like, then it was Christmas. So you didn't really have a show for a couple weeks. So it wasn't, you know, one thing about us, we're going to do
Starting point is 00:25:09 things right when it happened. We're going to try to be like topical or else you don't really trend the same way. Well, at this point in time, you are not only the inaugural. Women's, WWE United States champion. You are the longest reigning. You are, I mean... The most dangerous. The most dangerous. The youngest.
Starting point is 00:25:26 The youngest. The oldest. The tallest. The tallest. The tallest, the shortest. Anything, any, you know, anything you want to put in there, feel free. Feel free. I just added the most dangerous.
Starting point is 00:25:38 I love that one. You can, I mean, you're all of the things. I am the most dangerous. Mick Foley agrees with that. You're the most Canadian? I'm the most American. And you're not even American. You know, yeah, I love it.
Starting point is 00:25:52 I love that for me. Like when you think about like the European championship, do you know who the inaugural European champion was? British Bulldog. Makes perfect sense, right? I love that. Right? I love that, yeah. But when we think of the inaugural women's United States champion, it's a Canadian. I love that.
Starting point is 00:26:09 And you know, I was supposed to win it at Survivor Series. In Canada. Not only in Canada, on the West Coast. And do you know how many tickets I bought for that show? But you had to buy them? Oh, well, that's a whole other conversation. But I keep in mind, when I say bought, like I had like 30 friends and family there. Like I had every bridesmaid and I had like 12 bridesmaid.
Starting point is 00:26:32 I had like every bridesmaid there, all of their partners. I had their babies there. I had all of my family, my mom's friends, everyone. Everyone was there. At what point did the plans change? I don't know when the plans changed. when I found out was probably a week before. So up until that point, you're like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to win it, and it's going to be in my home country, and it's going to be my home province.
Starting point is 00:26:58 Or I shouldn't even say I'm going to win it, but the finals. Okay. Do you know what I mean? Like, things always change. Like, I could say something stupid on social media and not win it. Do you know what I mean? Like, or like Meachin, like, they could have given it to Meachan and had me chase it because that's always fun too. So I just knew it was, I knew the finals were going to be there and I was going to be in the finals.
Starting point is 00:27:21 And everyone was there and everyone loved, loved the show, but I was not on it. I was watching from a box with Michael Bublae and my sister. Hey! Kind of iconic. Wow. Not as iconic as winning it in my hometown with all my friends and family there. Are you friends with Michael Bubling? I am.
Starting point is 00:27:40 Wow. The boob. I love a boob. I love all the boobs. Just know that. I love. I love his sister. I love his wife. I mean, they're like, they're such a good family. He seems so charming. He's so charming and I'm sure people don't believe it, but he truly is that way in real life.
Starting point is 00:27:59 Well, if you're not going to win the United States championship in your home province, at least you're watching her with Michael Boubley. I know. It's kind of cool. Yeah. Did he sing to you? No, but I feel our friendship is going down that path. He might. Maybe you get invited to a Boubley Christmas party. Don't. Don't. That would be amazing. Could you imagine? No, that I couldn't. Although he's not going to be singing at his own Christmas party. He's like, hey, this is my party. I'm taking the day off.
Starting point is 00:28:25 You're right. So I'm going to need something else. A Christmas sing along with Michael Bublay is what I need to be invited to. I mean, he goes on tour with the Christmas songs, right? He really is. It's so crazy. What is life? What is life? Like, Nickelback commented on my TikTok the other day. I saw that. And then you screenshot.
Starting point is 00:28:46 it. And what your caption should have been was, look at this photograph. So I debated it. I debated it. But when Chad Kruger came to the show in Vancouver in January of 2024, he came with my sister and my sister's boyfriend at the time. And so I got to bring him down and introduce, you know, show him off. Hello. This is my Canadian friend. And that was really amazing. And then everyone captioned their photos. look at this photograph. And it's like, now, now I feel I can't do it. You're friends with Chad Crower, too? So cool.
Starting point is 00:29:23 Oh, my gosh. No, life is really pretty amazing over on this side. You're also making it seem like the stereotypes are true that, like, Canada is so small that, like, you know everybody. No, it's not. It's like 40 million people. Chris? No, you're right. I know Michael Boubley and Nickelback.
Starting point is 00:29:41 Okay. That's, like, the only people I needed to know in Canada. Are there any other famous people? Shania would be nice, but my sister. My sister has met her, but I have not. Which I'm very sad about. Justin Bieber? Never met him would love to.
Starting point is 00:29:55 The weekend would love to. Avril Levine. Avril Levine, have I met? Avrilavine. No, because I would remember that because I love Avril. And I used to dress as her for Halloween. Okay. But look, we're close because Alexa is married to Ryan Cabrera.
Starting point is 00:30:12 Ryan Cabrera used to date Averill. Chad. Chad as well. Chad was married down. Yes. Hold on. I've got a lot of connections here. Canada's tiny.
Starting point is 00:30:24 This is very exciting. They're naked ladies? Never met them. Okay. Yeah. But that'd be awesome. We can go down the whole list. I know.
Starting point is 00:30:30 You want me to keep going because... This is what Canadians do. So this is actually... This is what Matt's family does at Christmas. We have a lot of fun with this. We start drinking and then we love to shout out names of Canadian celebrities just for fun. Of course. And like we're all of a sudden someone will be like, Jim Kerry. And everyone's like, oh, that's a good one. Alex Trebek. No, I didn't know that.
Starting point is 00:30:50 It's so good. It's so good. And so it kind of keeps going. And now it's a very strange Canadians that we're naming because it's been years of this. I do this with my wife all the time. Because she's from New Jersey. I'll be like, hey, Ryan Reynolds, you know, he's Canadian. Oh, wow. I didn't know. Ryan Gosling. Ryan Gosling. I mean, there's, yeah, don't, we could, we could do this. This could be the 14 hours of us just being like, did you know, Pamela Anderson? From my island. Wow.
Starting point is 00:31:18 Lives on my island. Lives on my island. You take a ferry. It's a ferry, right? Yeah, you take a ferry. I've been to your island a few times. Such a pretty island. It is a beautiful island.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Thank you. Vancouver Island. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what we're talking about. It's not actually my, but it's fine. It could be Chelsea Island. It could be. For now it's Victoria.
Starting point is 00:31:37 Vancouver Island. That's my sister's middle name, Victoria. So it is our island. Very fitting. But I love the fact. that a Canadian holds the U.S. championship. So good. And now you're in your second year now.
Starting point is 00:31:49 In my second year? I can't even. I know. It's so crazy. And everyone's like, oh, did you ever, you know, imagine yourself being here like, no,
Starting point is 00:31:59 because I never thought that WWU would put that much faith in me that I could be the inaugural. You can't erase the inaugural champion from history. Do you know what I mean? Like, that's there forever. Everyone is going to remember the day that they unveiled this title and blank won it.
Starting point is 00:32:16 And it took way too long to get the women's United States Championship and the women's intercontinental title. Yeah. It took too long, but we're here. And we're happy it took this long because if it was two years earlier, I wouldn't have won it. There were two things your name kept getting attached to. It was like money in the bank. Chelsea would be great if she won money in the bank.
Starting point is 00:32:34 And then it was United States Championship. So when you didn't win money in the bank, it was like, well, everything's line enough for you to win that title. And that was, that was how I felt, too, like I was just hoping and praying it was going to be money in the bank. But when it was Tiffy, I was like, that makes sense. And also, I feel as if she's such an amazing champion. Like, she's so young. She has so much time ahead of her. She's going to be a champion over and over and over again and possibly go on to be, you know, in the Hall of Fame. So I think this is a perfect start to her story. Give her something and let's see how she rolls with it. Let's see, you know, how people latch on to that. It was great.
Starting point is 00:33:14 And then it left this open for me. That's perfect. If we're talking about famous Canadians, Trish Stratus is back in WWE. Trishy. Trishy's amazing. That feels like it could be a dream match for you. Yeah, but it's like, when is it going to happen? How many times does she have to come back and not wrestle me? What the hell? Not be my, like, where, Trishy, I could have been. your tag partner in Toronto. Hello, I was there. She didn't choose me. But that's fine.
Starting point is 00:33:46 I still love her. That one needs to happen at some point in time. I really have always pushed for a Trish versus Chelses versus Natty match. Yes. Canada versus Canada versus Canada. Exactly. Yeah. I think that could be kind of amazing.
Starting point is 00:34:01 It needs to be in Canada, of course. And look at the rate that Trish is aging, I think it's been about 10 minutes in the last 25 years. Don't get me started on the aging thing. Oh, holly. Trish doesn't age. She doesn't age. It's incredible. She aged 10 minutes of the last 25 years. Honestly, it's magic.
Starting point is 00:34:17 So she's going to wrestle like for another 10 or 20 years. She'll be 100 and I'll be looking 1,000 years old and she'll still be doing a satisfaction. It's just unbelievable. I know. I really, I would like to say that that's all Canadians, but it's just Trish. It's just Trish. You're aging quite gracefully.
Starting point is 00:34:37 Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. Excellent. That little hair flip there. Yeah. That's good. Walk me through when you found out you were going to win.
Starting point is 00:34:48 So the funny thing about WWE is they never really want to tell you something because card subject to change is real. That's what they always say, card subject to change because anything can happen. Outside of the ring, inside on social media, public perception, anything. can change. And I can't tell you how many times I have shown up to work thinking I was going to do one thing and we have gone completely the other way. Like it's happening right now. My phone is going off change of plans. We're always rewriting the show. And it goes all the way up until we're live. And even then things changes. We're live. So they kind of started telling me, people kept acting like I knew I was going to win and talking to me like, like I knew I was winning, so they're just talking to me like, okay, and then we're going to do this and this, and I'm like, okay, so I think I'm, I think I'm winning, but I don't want to ask anyone because that's embarrassing.
Starting point is 00:35:50 Hey, by the way, am I, so am I winning? Like, what if I'm not? What if I'm totally misinterpreting all this? So they did this to me for, like, I would say a month of, like, talking to me like I was winning without actually knowing. Meechin also kind of told me like, hey, by the way, like, it looks like you're winning, so let's plan this match with that mind. We kind of spoke about that a week before. And I was like, okay, but I want to build the match. Not like that. I want to build the match so that anyone could win at the finish. And then whoever wins, we just sneak one out on the other one, you know? And so I think we did a good job of that.
Starting point is 00:36:29 But as we were walking to the ring to go through things, I was being filmed. So that's a big telltale sign. You're being filmed for something, WWE. Something. So they had me walk to the ring, and then they had this very, very, very awkward moment between me and Shane Helms, where he basically told me that I'm winning. and the most like, we were just all downplaying it big time, and it was very awkward, and I hope that that footage comes out, because AAA just sitting there watching us have the conversation,
Starting point is 00:37:07 but he's not telling me. But, like, obviously he decided it, and I'm like, this is so weird that, like, he's watching me react, so I'm trying to be excited, but I've also kind of known and hoped that this was going to happen, and then I'm also like, but if I react too big, is that kind of, like, icky? Like, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. winning. Like, do you know what I mean? It's a lot of emotions that were going through me and I'm not a very emotional person too. So that doesn't help the reaction. So it's very awkward. So I hope that that moment airs somewhere. I hope you guys all get to see that. It's also very meta because you're on camera as Chelsea Green you. Oh, that. But you're not Chelsea Green the character, but you're still on
Starting point is 00:37:48 camera in a WWE production. So it's like how much do you turn it on? Well, and everyone says to me, whenever I say, do you want this in character or not, they always say, well, you are your character. And I'm like, I am so not my character. Like, I know I'm over the top and so exaggerated. But like, I'm uber narcissist, like, uber, uber into myself as Chelsea the wrestler and like has no doubts I'm going to be champion. You know, but like I'm way, I have way more humility in my real life because I've not been champion and I've been trying to get to WWE for forever and I've been fired a million times and I, you know, didn't make it off tough enough. Like there's so many things that go into my story as the as the real human Chelsea Green that makes me believe I don't
Starting point is 00:38:35 deserve this title or I won't be winning it. But then Chelsea the wrestler is like, of course I'm winning it. Like I'm Chelsea. So I'm like, oh my God, how? What am I? It's so awkward. I think the biggest difference between you sitting in front of me right now is Chelsea the human and Chelsea the wrestler is self-awareness. Yes, yes. Yes. The wrestler has no self-awareness. She can sing.
Starting point is 00:38:57 She is Usher. But she can't sing. There's a lot of things that Chelsea the wrestler can do that I cannot. You know? Yeah. And even just like, I don't, Chelsea, the wrestler loves attention and loves being, like, holding a microphone and all that. Like, in real life, like, I don't want a birthday party or, like, anyone to sing to me. and like I don't need a cake.
Starting point is 00:39:24 I don't need any of that. Like I just want to sit at home with my zoo. So I just, the whole thing is it was really, it was really cringy. But I, you know what? That's my moment. I love that. What are the names of all your animals? Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:39:39 Well, it starts with Kylo. Kylo's our oldest cat. And then we got Kylo a friend, Draco. Draco's our bangle. And then we got the two of them, a friend Waffles and that fucked up the whole dynamic. Waffles. Waffles. They're all rescues.
Starting point is 00:39:51 They're so beautiful. All rescues. Waffles effed up everything. They hate waffles. That's fine. So then we got Waffles a friend. We got Waffles Dude, which is our dog. That's our first Brunodoodle. And then we were like, okay, well, dude needs a friend, a dog friend. What a name for a dog. Yep. So we got dude. We got him Walt. Walt's our second Brunadoodle. And then we said we're never getting a dog or cat ever again until, you know, like we don't have that many. So we had five. And then we found our last little. doodle. She's neurologically challenged and she's blind and she, yes, she went through a dog attack at eight weeks old and was in a coma, nearly died. She came out of it and she didn't know how to walk, nothing. And we adopted her and we have rehabbed her back to health, as healthy as an attack puppy could be. That is so sweet. She's the cutest. She is so cute. So who's taking care of all of these animals? Well, right now Matt, well, Matt is holding down the fort right now, but we have the most amazing pet sitters. And that's taken a long time,
Starting point is 00:40:57 especially because, you know, like, Paisley is, it's like taking care of a baby. Like, she doesn't eat on her own. She's not like a normal dog. She is a child. And we, Matt and I have really learned to be parents. So we've got, we got a good team around us. That seems like a lot to put on a pet sitter. It is. And six animals. You know what, though? Cats aren't, they don't care. You're right. Cats literally. literally just hang. They don't care. As long as you feed them and like if they ask for a pet, you give it to them. But the dogs are two big dogs. They're amazing. They're so well-behaved. Paisley, that's a lot to put on a dog sitter. Yeah. A handicapped blind puppy. Puppy.
Starting point is 00:41:40 Puppy. It's a lot. A puppy is a lot anyway. So we've had to find some really amazing dog sitters. Shout out to Jean and Nicole. They're honestly angels. When, when's your house going to be finished. This summer. Oh my gosh. You know. Hopefully, hopefully, um, August. And you've got enough room for all of these animals? Oh my gosh. We've got two acres. Oh, my gosh. We've got so much room for them. And all I wanted was grass for Paisley. She loves grass because I think she can feel it on her little tiny paws. So, yeah, I'm just, I'm so, oh my God, I'm so blessed and happy. And I got to design it all. I've been doing everything. so pumped for WrestleMania this weekend.
Starting point is 00:42:23 And then after that, the John Steiner retirement tour rolls on, maybe with him as a champion. We'll have to see. And that's why I want to give a huge shout out to today's sponsor, Seekkeek. With over 28 million downloads, Seatgeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than
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Starting point is 00:43:12 That's 10% off any tickets with the promo code. CVV. Just make sure you click the link in the show notes to download the app and you'll have the code automatically applied to your account so you can use it later. A big thank you to Seekkeek for sponsoring this episode. As a Canadian, one of the things that reminded me I'm living in a warm place is palm trees. I live in Florida now. I live in California.
Starting point is 00:43:38 It's like, it's palm trees in my yard. Like we filled our yard with palm trees just as a nice reminder of like, it's warm here. Yeah, we live in Florida. Are you doing the same thing? Oh, absolutely. Matt wouldn't have it any other way. He's the same. Like coming from New York and being, you know, he, when he left, he was like, I'm never shoveling snow ever again.
Starting point is 00:43:57 I feel the same way. And, right? I totally get that. Like, living in Calgary, I was the same way. I never want to plug my car in. Yeah. People don't realize that's a thing. That's so niche.
Starting point is 00:44:06 But, like, I never want to plug my car in. I never want to have to defrost or, like, kick the tires to get the snow off. Yeah. I never want to spend all that time brushing my car to then open. the car door and have all that snow just fall on it into your seat. I feel that. My biggest pep. Feel that.
Starting point is 00:44:28 Yeah. So we're going to have palm trees. We were just in the mountains. We were in Big Bear a few days ago. So nice. And I was like, oh, we don't have a snowbrush. Oh, yeah. Because we had driven from 75 degrees where we live, an hour and a half away, it's 30 degrees.
Starting point is 00:44:41 It's below freezing. And there's like a few feet of snow. And it snowed that night. I'm like, hope this Airbnb has a brush, like a broom. And I'm just going to broom the car off. And I opened up the driver's door and I went, oh, no, it happened. There it goes. You had forgot.
Starting point is 00:44:55 I never want to do that ever again. I totally feel that. And when I moved to Calgary, I was, oh, hi. I thought you weren't coming. Wow. Wait, or I thought he was coming later. He is coming later. It's Kevin Owens, ladies and gentlemen.
Starting point is 00:45:14 I did hear a crack open and then I was like, who was that? Hi, Kevin Owens. Oh. Oh. Oh, he's just going to hang here. Okay. Okay, so when I first... You can grab a seat right here. Hello, it's great to meet you. Oh, my God, you never met?
Starting point is 00:45:28 No. Another Canadian. Another Canadian. Oh, we love that for you. Wow. Okay, so when I first moved to Calgary for University of Calgary, I really did not know what I was getting myself into. I had done no research.
Starting point is 00:45:40 I got accepted to the school, and my girlfriend and I were like, party time. We're going. The drinking age is 18. We're going to Calgary. And we packed up my little Jedda, and we moved to Calgary. and man did I learn quick. Like, whoa, the amount of things I learned about living in a snowy climate in that first couple of months was just like, oh my gosh. I remember one time running out of windshield wiper fluid and, you know, when you're driving home and things are starting to snow and it's mucky, the roads are so dirty.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Like, you have to have windchill wiper fluid. I put gatorade. I put gatorade on my windshield. And it froze. Of course it froze my It froze blue I love that You know
Starting point is 00:46:22 That's just the things you do at 18 and 19 I don't know And for people who don't know What we're talking about There's a plug that comes out Of your engine block To warm up your engine block I just want to make it clear
Starting point is 00:46:33 When I was 16 I knew that Gatorade Does not do what windshield wash They look similar They did give the same Color I hope Kevin Owens Pops in to just correct
Starting point is 00:46:48 All the things you're saying He will. He will. This is for the youth of America. For the youth of America. Okay, so anyway, next question. You're like, I will never live somewhere cold ever again. Yeah, no, no, no.
Starting point is 00:47:01 Yeah, Florida. Florida, California. You know, I need the tropical breeze on my skin. We're going to move out of California at some point. Now that we have two kids. Yeah. I think we're going to move somewhere. And it's like where?
Starting point is 00:47:15 Where? And that is the huge question. I lived in Florida for five. years, so maybe Florida. Florida's hot. Tennessee is high on our list. Tennessee is the new hot spot. Everyone's moving there. Might be Tennessee. Might be Texas. Franklin, Tennessee. Wow. We went to several open houses there. That's a lot of people are living in Franklin. A lot of wrestlers live in and around the Nashville area. It's just so beautiful there. And you've got the different climates. Like, I think that's a problem with Florida is you love, you love the sun and the
Starting point is 00:47:47 palm trees until it is August. Yes. And until the hurricane warnings come. Yeah, I forgot about those too. That, that. Yeah. All right. Enough to talk about weather. We can talk about that forever. What's been the inspiration behind the ring gear you've been wearing, especially as of late as the U.S. champion? So again, when I found out that, you know, there was going to be this path to the United States Championship, Matt and I sat down and were like, okay, if I was the winner of this inaugural title, I can't have the title make me, I have to make the title. What can I do? Like, I knew I wanted to take some inspiration from like King Booker and stuff like that. We kind of went through all these different iterations. And it all came so quickly.
Starting point is 00:48:38 I truly hadn't come up with a game plan because you're not going to really come up with a game plan for this hopeful thing. So I kind of had like floated a bunch of ideas by and then all of a sudden, oh my gosh, here I am. It's Long Island. I want it. Now what? Now what? And I had to make a decision very fast because creative asked me, what do you want to do for your celebration? That was my entry into this is what this title is going to be. This is what Chelsea's going to bring to the table as the first ever United States women's champion. It had to be something special. special. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to be the president. I'm going to be so delusional, but topical. Like, this is what's happening right now in America. Let's be the president.
Starting point is 00:49:26 Let's not call it a celebration. Let's call it an inauguration. And I need a stamp. I need a presidential seal. So I designed the presidential seal. And from there, it just snowballed. And what I like to do with these characters is I don't flesh out the entire character. I like a good backstory, but like I just know this is kind of what I want it to look like somewhat. And then every week, someone gives me a new idea, just like the hot mess. Like with the bride, every week someone gave me a new idea and I was able to incorporate that into the character. And then with that, you have your, the future laid out. So you've got your backstory already and then you start to go from there and build the blocks to the future of this, this championship or this character. But you're not repeating any gear at all.
Starting point is 00:50:16 Riz. Oh, I would never. No, I know. It's so ridiculous. But I'll tell you what. When I got into wrestling, that was one thing that I was like, I want to have a style that people can dress as me. But it's always going to, it's always going to change week by week. But I always have a one sleeve. Like, that's the style. I always have one sleeve. I always have low-rise shorts. And I've got the thigh high boots and the gauntlets in one way or another. So how far ahead are you planning this out with a seamstress? Oh, I have like six different women that make my gear, women and men. Oh, my, that's amazing.
Starting point is 00:50:48 Yeah, and I get three sets of gear from each of them. So right now I've got about, I would say I have probably 13 sets of American gears sitting in my closet. So you're 13 weeks ahead right now? But it doesn't feel like that. That's amazing. But guess what? If they want me for Raw Smackdown and NXT in one week, bam, that's three sets gone. And you never know.
Starting point is 00:51:10 Like last month I was on NXT twice. So there's, you know, I know it's so, it's so dramatic, but it's just something that coming up in wrestling, I just decided for myself. And I've stuck with it. And I'm happy. I love coming out with new gears. I love having the fans design it for me and being able to give them credit for the gears that they designed.
Starting point is 00:51:32 I love it. It's so much fun. And you're signing executive orders. Of course. No more wedgies. Chris, no more wedgies. I got wedgied once on a national television live, and I will never ever again be wedgied. How embarrassing.
Starting point is 00:51:48 And it hurts. It kind of hurt. I texted Naomi later, like, girl, you wedgied the shit out of me. My God. Yeah, that was fun. You know, one thing about, like, believing in the character that you play is that you can go so far off the deep end and, like, people just think it's entertaining. I mean, I, I contacted my lawyers to write me certain things that I've posted to.
Starting point is 00:52:19 Just to make sure it was the right jargon? Yeah, like, yeah, yes. I think it's funny. It is funny. Right? Like, I think it's funny. If it entertains me, I hope it entertains someone. But I think that that's the thing about your character is that everything your character
Starting point is 00:52:33 is doing feels like something that your character should do. Yeah. Right. But like everyone else gives me these ideas. I'm not just sitting at home brainstorming. I wish I was that smart and creative. But people give me so many, so many good ideas. There was one time when I was hoping and praying to win the tag titles, I believe,
Starting point is 00:52:56 or hoping and praying to get another shot at the women's championship. I can't remember what it was. And Liv Morgan was like, you should do a petition. And then bam, I went around the locker room. I filmed it for, and I did a couple episodes of a petition on social media. MVP's boy was in it at one point. And I just made them sign this or not sign it. And you get funny content out of things like that.
Starting point is 00:53:25 Well, it's funny that stuff that happens on social media now is part of the same universe. It's part of the same world. It is. And I think that's where everything changed. Everything counts now. Everything counts now. And I truly, I don't know how far you think that's gone back. I think it's really only been the past two years where I've truly seen that something you do on social media can equate to something that happens the next week on TV. And that's big. Once I started seeing that, you know, an idea that I had come up with or that someone had helped me come up with on social media ended up on WWTV. I was like, oh, this matters. You know, when I started calling Piper my Secret Hervest and that went, on TV, like this matters because now people are dressing as secret harvest members. People are calling them.
Starting point is 00:54:11 Like, now that's a thing. Slagin A&P is a thing and we just did that for fun. Yeah, and it's not just social media. It's everywhere. So like, if we take it back to the rock going on Pat McAfee before he turned heel, you started planting seeds on whatever you want to call it TV show podcast, whatever it is, that wasn't part of the WWE world. Oh, but it was.
Starting point is 00:54:35 Exactly. These things matter now, you know? And I do, I struggle with the blurred lines of in character Chelsea and out of character Chelsea. I'll always struggle with that because, you know, I've never been someone who goes on a podcast or does media as fully as the wrestler Chelsea. And it annoys some people and I totally understand that because there are people that wholeheartedly jump in and they will never come out of character. Grayson Waller. You know what I mean? Like you'll never see him not being Grayson Waller. And I respect that. But, you know, I'm, I tow the, I tow the line and hopefully in the long run, that'll pay off for me. Did you have a conversation with Christian before you started using the Unpretier? No, are you kidding me? Christian didn't know who I was. It was literally my first match that I was winning, and I couldn't believe I was winning it at ECCW. I believe it was in a tournament and it was against a girl named K. Cairney or Kate Carnage.
Starting point is 00:55:36 I'm so sorry I'm getting that wrong because I love her. But I remember going to a show at ECCW. Yeah. And they told me I was winning and I thought, holy shit. I don't. In Vancouver for a year. There you go. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:55:46 At the Russian, the Russian Hall. It was at the Russian Hall. Like Abbotsford or something. Cittsalano. Yes. Yep. And they told me I was winning and I thought, oh my God. What am I going to do?
Starting point is 00:55:56 So I went quickly to the bathroom downstairs at the Russian Hall. And I googled like top 10 finishing moves. And I, every one of them. I was like, oh my God, I can't do that. I can't do that. Because I couldn't, like, pick people up. I didn't know how to do that stuff. I was so new. I was three months in, four months in. I started in January. This was May of 2014. And I went, oh, my God, next, next, next. And then I saw that. And I was like, hook, hook. Okay, I can figure this out. I'll just figure it out. So then I went to the ring. I told her my finishing move is the unprettier. And she was like, okay, what's that? I'm like,
Starting point is 00:56:30 perfect, perfect. There you go. Let's just give it a try. We'll see. We'll see. And then I did it. And when I came to the back, some of the boys were like, that was so cool. You jumped with the unprettier. I've never seen that. But I didn't know. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to jump. I had only watched it twice, once in the bathroom, and once with Kate. And that was it. And then I never, I never, like now, someone said, not that long ago, like, have you ever thought about changing your finishing? Absolutely not. The unprettier is it for me. The I'm prettier. The unprettier. The unprettier. you want to call it. What do you call it? I know I always change it. And, and commentary hates that.
Starting point is 00:57:09 I always ask Michael Cole, what do you call it, Michael? Because I have called it the unpretty her, the I'm prettier, like everything. But yeah, no, it's mine Christian. I love that you don't even know the name of, or what you're calling, your finisher. No, that's how, I live a very aloof life. One thing about me, Chris, is I am just living day by day and whatever people say, okay, whatever. What is Michael Cole's problem with you? He's jealous. He wish he could be in the ring and have the presence that I do. Well, Michael Cole is undefeated at WrestleMania. And he's told me that numerous times. I wish I could wrestle him. God, I wish I could wrestle him.
Starting point is 00:57:50 I wish he would come out. If he came out in that singlet again. The orange singlet? I, if we ever do intergender in WWE, like, look, a real match would be Rhea versus somebody. Like, that's like, that I would tune into. But, like, if you want a little comedy moment, me versus Adam Pierce or me versus Michael Cole, look it. Book it. He says such mean things about you. I know.
Starting point is 00:58:16 He's jealous. It's fine. It's totally fine because Corey Graves is there to stand up for me. Wade is there to stand up for me. Sometimes Pat McAfee. Sometimes Pat McAfee will stand up for me. He's pledged his allegiance a couple times. Michael Cole really wanted you to lose that dumpster match.
Starting point is 00:58:33 No. The, I also never know, I never know what's being said about me. Like, I don't go back and watch my matches. I cannot watch myself. I give myself the ick, so I can't do it. But when people sent me the clips of, like what Michael Cole was saying, I was like, my God, you are a legend. I sent him a card, a pop-up card, thanking him for doing commentary on the match where I won the United States Championship.
Starting point is 00:59:02 And the card was so obnoxious. It opens and it's a pop-up American flag. And I said, you're the greatest. I love to hate you. Love to hate you. Speaking of intergender matches, now that Pentas and WWE, people love to talk about that match that you had in Lucho underground with him. Yeah, I did not realize that that would... I mean, it got like some traction when it first aired, but not the way it has now.
Starting point is 00:59:34 Oh, my goodness. It's crazy to see how much, like, steam it is picked up in the past couple years. And then obviously when, you know, he signed with WWB, we ran into each other in the hall in Toronto. And he was like, you and me rematch. I'm like, I don't think so, pal. I think we're good. We did our one match and everyone loves it. Let's not.
Starting point is 01:00:03 But I do remember having the match and coming back. And everyone at Lucha Underground was so kind to me. So kind. Because I just, I mean, I came in there. I was hired like at the end of the season. I came in. I killed Sexy Staroff. And then I teamed up with Marty.
Starting point is 01:00:20 and I, me and Penta had this crazy match. That's what dreams are made of. Like, I didn't even have to put the work in. They worked all season to make this unbelievable show. And I just came in and had this match with one of their top stars. Like, I would have hated me, but they were so kind and so sweet to me. And they all gave me these big hugs. And I'll never forget John Morrison being like, Chelsea, I've never seen you wrestle like ever.
Starting point is 01:00:49 Like, I've already texted Matt and told him how incredible that was. And I was like, oh, okay, wow, thank you. That's very nice. And I thought he was being dramatic. And then, of course, like, I never watched myself. So I see clips, but, like, I never watch the match. So I see, now I've basically watched it because, my God, people this year have been showing me every single move I did.
Starting point is 01:01:13 I'm like, damn. Well, I think it's because if you only watch WWE, you would never expect that. Yeah. Like, if we were to tune in to. to Raw or Smackdown now, you would never expect to see Chelsea Green versus Penta. Right. So when you see a clip of that in this alternate universe, which is really what Lucha Underground was. Totally.
Starting point is 01:01:29 Like it didn't really exist in the wrestling realm. It was its own... It was like, oh, it was like cinematic. Yes. And gritty. And it was like a niche audience. Yes. And a niche crowd.
Starting point is 01:01:42 So when WWE fans see that, they go, oh, my gosh, what? She doesn't just lose? I do lose, but I do 10 movies. before I lose. Yeah, I know. You don't just lose anymore. Well, I kind of do, but you know what? I think that makes my character even more fun and delusional. And that's okay.
Starting point is 01:02:00 Who cares? I'm a champion. I can be a losing champion. Yeah. Not technically, I guess. I mean, not win the title's on the line. No, no, yeah, exactly when it matters. But yeah, I mean, that I think it's really cool that an intergender match is going to be like,
Starting point is 01:02:19 a moment that when people say my name, they remember. Yeah. When we think about people who have been on Tough Enough, are you now maybe top three? I don't think so. All tough enough contestants? Do you think so? That's crazy.
Starting point is 01:02:34 Well, I think that you can't argue the Ms. is number one. Yes. Even though he didn't win. But I'm trying to be the female Ms. I don't know if you've heard. Cody hates when I say that. Why? He's so jealous.
Starting point is 01:02:44 I didn't say the female Cody. I don't want to be the female, Cody. I want to be the female Miss. What do you mean by that? I mean, look at the life he's built for himself. He's got two beautiful kids. He lives in a beautiful house in beautiful California with his beautiful wife. He comes to WWE and he does all these appearances and he holds himself with such grace and he can lose but people still find him entertaining.
Starting point is 01:03:14 And when you need to put a celebrity in the ring and have that. someone, you know, lead him through a match and lose, there he is. Yeah. There he is. And I love that for him. And nobody ever, like, looks at him and is like, oh, he is such a cool winner and this and that. Like, I don't, that's not the trajectory of my career.
Starting point is 01:03:36 That is the trajectory of, like, Bianca and I think Ria and Charlotte Flair. Like, they're, you know what I mean? Like, they're very strong, very powerful. They're going to do the flips. They're going to win. They're going to headline WrestleMania. But, like, I don't necessarily need that if it comes, it comes. But if I just have a great life where I make a lot of money and put a lot of smiles on people's faces,
Starting point is 01:04:01 and I end up doing all these other amazing things along the way that I'm fine with that. I'm totally fine with that. Yeah, you're about creating moments. Yeah, but I think I didn't even know that. You guys have told me that. Everyone else has told me that. But, like, I'm just doing things in the moment. I don't really realize it's a moment until after it's a moment.
Starting point is 01:04:22 And then I love that. But, like, I think it's just, I don't really, like, put too much, like, I don't want to say care because I care. But I don't, I don't stress. I don't really put too much stress into something. So if something doesn't go my way, it's like, whatever. It's fine because I didn't really have a plan anyway. What do you feel like you've been able to do during this run in WWE that you couldn't
Starting point is 01:04:44 do in your first run? Be carefree. Oh, my gosh. in my first run. Chris, I was so stressed. I was so dramatic about everything. I wasn't that kind. I was definitely like just giving off a whole other energy that was like, no, I deserve to be here. I was so entitled. And it's like, Greg. Kevin Owens is shaking his head in a yes manner. It was like, I deserve to be here because I wrestle on the Indies and I was the top girl in the Indies and I was it all in and now I need to be here and I should be on TV and I should be winning and I should be in that top storyline versus Shana Basler or whatever. And like then I got
Starting point is 01:05:26 fired and I was like, who am I to say that? Who am I? Everyone has their own story. Everyone has their own way that they deserve to be here and to be on TV and you know like whether it was you know Tiffany being a gymnast and working her ass off and getting scouted, like, she doesn't deserve that moment less because she wasn't on the Indies. It took me a long time to realize that. So it's an appreciation you have now. It's almost like you had to have it taken away from you. Yeah. To appreciate what you had. Yes. A hundred percent. And you don't realize what you got until it's gone? And then also it's like, what's the worst that can happen? I was fired and I survived. Right? Like, I survived. Well, I thrived. actually I was fired and I thrived.
Starting point is 01:06:13 I did all the things I wanted to do. The Indies were so good to me the second time around. I, you know, I, like, I was making decent money and I was selling merch and I was creatively fulfilled and I was wrestling all these, like, really cool people that I didn't get to wrestle the first time, you know, being able to do, like, NWA and Ring of Honor and stuff like that. So then I came back and I'm like, good. I'm good. If I just live out my next couple years doing the dream of WWE, like, I'm good. And look at you now.
Starting point is 01:06:46 And look at me now. Look at me now. It's so crazy. It's so good to see you. I always love seeing a fellow Canadian just absolutely crushing it. Happy birthday as well. Thank you. Thank you for doing this on your birthday.
Starting point is 01:07:02 Thanks. And I asked you this last time. Maybe your answers have changed, but I'll ask you the question that I ask everybody at the end. This gratitude's such a huge part of my life. What are three things in your life, Chelsea, that you're grateful for today? Oh my gosh. I could actually give you like 10. Okay, so three things.
Starting point is 01:07:20 I mean, definitely the support of my husband. I feel like especially right now, I'm back in WWE and he wants to be here so bad. This could have looked different. The story could have been told a very different way he could have. have been very jealous or, you know, like all those things that come naturally when someone is getting something you're not, and he is not that way. He's so supportive. And he's at home taking care of our fur babies. So definitely my husband. The second thing I'm grateful for is, my gosh, I'm so grateful for the fans that have been like really, really right or die for me in the past year because
Starting point is 01:08:01 I have had times where they've canceled me. And that was really scary. So I'm very thankful that they like me right now and they're dressing up as me and, you know, that could next time we talk, they might not. And that's okay too. But I'm thankful that they like me right now. It's good for my mental health. And then the third thing is just like having this job long enough to take care of my family and my friends and build a house, my dream house. How good is that? It's pretty great. All from wrestling. All from wrestling. 11 years of it, but, you know, We're here. We're here.
Starting point is 01:08:38 We're doing it. Well, congrats again. Thank you so much. All right. I hope you enjoyed this one with Chelsea Green. I just love her approach to wrestling and making the most of any an opportunity that she has. And her success is so well earned. Like, amazing that she is the first ever women's United States champion.
Starting point is 01:09:05 And they'll never be able to take that away from her. But just what a great conversation. So good to have her back in the show. Snap a screenshot. and let us know that you are with us on this one and tag us. She's at Chelsea Green on Instagram. She's at I'm Chelsea Green on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet.
Starting point is 01:09:22 And I will wrap this up with a quote from Maya Angelou. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We'll be back tomorrow with a very special Ask See TVV number 79, a full rundown of the WrestleMania card with all of my predictions.
Starting point is 01:09:49 You don't want to miss it. So we'll see you right back here tomorrow for that. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.
Starting point is 01:10:08 It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and must. on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket banjo, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

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