Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Chris Masters Saved His Mom From A Burning House, NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title Shot vs. Tyrus

Episode Date: March 23, 2023

Chris Masters (@chrismasters310) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and also in NWA and IMPACT Wrestling where he works under the name Chris Adonis. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how his upcoming match for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship was manifested in our last interview, what his thoughts are on Tyrus, the difference between Chris Masters and Chris Adonis, the story of how he saved his mom from a burning house, breaking Stevie's Richards's nose in his WWE debut match, what working with Shawn Michaels was like and more! For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blit! Oh, it is so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Vleet. So good to see you here. And look, we've had lots of guests come back on the show before. But we've never had a guest come back on quite this quickly.

But we've also never made history before. Okay? We've never called something during an interview. and then two months later manifested it into reality. You see, when Chris Masters, aka Chris Adonis, was on the show in January, we talked about how he deserved a shot

at Tyrus's NWA World's Heavyweight Championship. Then, me and Chris Adonis, aka Chris Masters, and Tyrus and the NWA, sent a few tweets back and forth, and we said, hey, Chris should be next in line for that title. Well, guess who got a title?

shot. Yeah, your boy, Chris Adonis. It's going down at NWA 312 on April 7th in Chicago. And I feel like it's because it all started right here on Insights. So you can go check out that last episode with Chris Masters from January and take a screenshot of that one. Take a screenshot of this one. Tag us and let us know that you are with us as history was being made. tag him. He's at Chris Adonis on Twitter. He's at Chris Masters 310 on Instagram, and you can tag me. It's just at Chris Vanfleet. So I just really can't believe this is happening. So he part two is well deserved here. Plus he has some stories that we just, quite frankly, didn't get around to the first time around. Hey, I see you, John Jordan 9361. Thank you for this review on Apple Podcast. It says fantastic. Absolutely fantastic podcast. I've, learned so much. Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate all the reviews that have been coming in on Apple Podcasts, all the ratings that we've been seeing on Spotify. You guys are awesome. And thank you.

I always say this, but thank you for being on this journey with us. Now, let's journey into the studio in Hollywood, California for part two with Chris Adonis, aka Chris Masters, right here on Insight. And like never rains in L.A. And here we are. Look at this big, like, water spot on my shirt here. And you're the one who wanted to schedule the interview today. I'm sure we got bright, clear skies the rest of the week. And you were like, we must do it on this rainy Tuesday. I didn't look at the weather and go, oh, man, when should we do this indoor interview?

Well, you know why that is? Because you're Canadian. You're from Toronto. You guys deal with much worse. In Los Angeles, we shut the town down. Okay, when it's raining, nobody, and anybody who is out drives terrible. So, thank God. The worst.

And this town doesn't drain. There's like there's just water everywhere. Yeah, it's the worst. I pretty much, where I live now is pretty much flooded. Every time it rains, the next morning it's flooded. And my feet are literally, I'm ankle deep in water getting to my car. So like I have a whole process where I'm going to the gym. I set my sneakers by the door.

I go out in my flip-flops that I can get wet and submerge of water. And then I back the car up and then I change into my nice sneakers. Jeez. So we've never had a guest come back on the show. this quickly. You were just with us like two months ago, but we've also never had a guest where we talk about something happening

and then two months later it's actually happening. We made this happen. We manifested you getting a shot at the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship and now it's happening. It's going to be you versus Tyrus. Yeah, you know, Chris, I mean, quite frankly,

we spoke it into an existence. A lot of people are wondering, what the heck is Chris Adonis, Chris Masters, doing back here, but yes, we did speak it into existence. From my perspective, I feel like I've been one of the best wrestlers in the game for the last year, and it's just taking everybody else this long to kind of catch up. So, like, I've seen this all in my head, and it doesn't surprise me, but it is nice to have hard work pay off. And you know, based on our last interview, that I've put everything into professional wrestling and being the best professional wrestler and to see it pay dividends

in the form of a world title match with Tyrus on pay-per-view is pretty cool. I feel like I have a small part in this, too, because it started with NWA tweeted, like, who should get a shot at Tyrus's championship? And I said, well, come on. I'd love to see Tyrus versus Chris Adonis. They posted like, we'd like to see that, too. And then Tyrus responded here. You responded, and it all kind of came together.

I kind of thought that these were just tweets, but this is a, actually happening and nobody in the NWA deserves it more than you. Well, thank you. But, Chris, this is all you're doing, quite frankly. But I mean, I appreciate the support. I've got quite a few people behind me at this point in my journey, and I do appreciate that. And yeah, like this, like I told you in the last interview, this NWA championship for me is a form of a kind of redemption of all the stuff that I've either messed up in the past or all the blown opportunity This is everything I've worked my ass off for over the last couple of years. There's a lot of people that don't like Tyrus.

And there's a lot of people that don't like Tyrus as the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. Where do you stand on that? Well, here's the thing. As he calls them the trolls, what I will give him this is what the, as he would call him, the trolls don't understand is Tyrus does love professional wrestling. He does have a love for it. But what he doesn't understand is the trolls, it's not, they're not woke. It's not a right or left thing. It's a professional wrestling thing.

And quite frankly, the wrestling fans are resentful of a guy who comes in to or back into professional wrestling as kind of, say, a side hustle or, you know, let's put it this way. If he lost the NWA title, he'd be just fine because he'd be out there hosting Great Gutfield. He'd be doing his thing on Fox News. and, you know, the wrestling audience, what it comes down to is they want the best wrestler in that position, and they want the best wrestler holding the most prestigious title in professional wrestling. And quite frankly, they don't think that Tyrus fits the bill. So you declared yourself as the number one contender you said like, I declare.

You did. Well, I saw it on the office. You know, Steve Carell did it. So, you know, what the heck? Might as well just come out of here and declare it. But although I will, in my defense, yes, I did declare it, but I had defeated Trevor Murdoch who was a former champion. I won a team's match we had where I represented team rock and roll and my body of work speaks for itself. But go ahead.

See, that's what I was going to lead into, is like what makes you feel like you're the number one contender? Well, I mean, I felt like I was the best wrestler in NWA for a long time now. And every time I've gone out there, I feel like I've had to go out there. and prove myself. And, you know, I see a guy like Tyrus who now, you know, sits in his ivory tower back in New York at Fox News, holding the NWA title hostage. And when I see that, all I see is a guy, you know, using the NWA title as a prop for his own personal vanity.

And I'm not cool with that. And when I come into Chicago, April the 7th, for the NWA 312 pay-per-view, I'm I am going to representing all those trolls, representing all the wrestling fans, representing all the marks, representing all the smart marks. And how ironic is it that formerly Chris Masters, the guy who was never an internet darling,

will come into Chicago, a wrestling town, if there ever was one, and will represent the wrestling audience against big bad tyrants. Does this feel like a culmination of, you know, 20 years so far in wrestling? and now you're getting a shot at one of the most prestigious titles in all of wrestling. It does. Like, because I haven't had an opportunity like this in close to 20 years.

I broke into the business and went straight to the top, and it trailed off. And I lost my way. I lost my focus, but I regain that focus now. And it does feel like a 20-year picture. I mean, I talked about the last couple of years specifically because, as I told you, I came out of the pandemic, a different guy. But I have kind of, you know, this is my chance to get back on top. It's my chance once again in the main event.

And I haven't had that opportunity in 20 years. So all the work that I put into this, yeah, like it's a big deal. I'm excited about it. And like, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to put it all on the line. Win or lose. At the end of the night, I will shine. And the people in Chicago and all over watching the pay-per-view will be speaking. Speaking of Chris Adonis.

Well, Tyrus has the championship right now, but like, think of all the people that have held that very prestigious title. I do every day. I do every day, Harley Race, Nature Boy, Rick Flair, just to name a couple. But those are two of the most influential guys in my professional wrestling career. Nature Boy, Rick Flair, obviously, being one of the goats in Harley Race, being a guy who kind of took me in right outside of WWE. I don't actually get to talk about that very much. But the first time I got released, Harley Race really took me under his wing for a good six to 12 months. I met his then-wife BJ, and they really taught me the game from the independent aspect,

and they let me stay at their house. And it was just, it was an incredible experience. So when you bring up the NWA title, those are the first two that come to mind of many. We had a lot of things come out of that last conversation. We talked about, like, man, it would be so cool to see Hurt Lock versus Master Lock, It makes sense. Bobby Lashley was the first person to break the master lock. We put that video up, that little clip, and Bobby Lashley reacted to it pretty quickly. Yes, he did.

And I just noticed today that, what is it, Wyatt is out for WrestleMania. So Bobby is looking for a opponent. And I told Bobby under his Instagram post that I left that date open for him. So maybe one day we will get this Hurtlock back. Estelock matchup. Believe me, I'm pushing for it, but, you know, a couple loose ends. I got to tie up there. Well, think about it. It's in L.A. It's just down the street, really, from here. I could take an Uber there. You could take an Uber there. I could drive you there. I'll drop you off at the stadium. We'll sneak in. But, like, it feels like it could make a lot of sense. This is your city.

Oh, well, I mean, it would be really cool. But it's one of those things where, oh, my gosh, it's just so, it feels so far-fetched that it could actually happen. But like if it did, I mean, just imagine the surprise it would be. Like, let's just say he didn't have opponent and they didn't know. Although, you know, I have a feeling they could fill that spot, obviously. They have a big talent roster. But, you know, it would definitely be a very interesting surprise to out of nowhere have it hurt lock, master lock matchup. But it would kind of hurt to not be able to, you know, properly build it either if we weren't able to do that because, you know, the build for that thing would be freaking great, you know, Full Nelson versus full Nelson and, you know, I have so many ideas just because, just based on the fact that

he is still as big as he is and I'm a much different wrestling. I mean, the matchup would just be completely different. It's just so interesting to me because we're sitting here. There's three of us in this room, you and I included. It feels like we're very much recording in a vacuum and then we put the full interview out, you know, on YouTube and on the podcast, all those clips out. I think there was something like two or three, maybe four million viewers on all of that stuff. Thanks, everybody. Amazing. Everybody on TikTok, Instagram.

I got to get more active on TikTok. I know. I'll tag you. Please do. Yeah. The functionality is a problem for me. I mean, I always found Instagram much easier for me personally, but I've got to get on it. It's just amazing that like that many people can see this.

What was the kind of feedback that you got after the last interview? A lot of people just talking about how I look different and, you know, I look different. And a lot of props, a lot of people, it was mainly positive. It was 90% positive every once in a while you got something negative or somebody bashing you, but that's just the internet, right? Sure. When you're in our positions, like you have to develop thick skin for that or you're never going to read your comments or you're never going to post anything.

But it was mainly positive. I mean, when I went into the interview with you, just to be frank with everybody, I wanted to show everybody who I am today, which, again, is a completely different guy. And I wanted that to shine through in the interview. And I think it did. I think people, it was like a reintroduction to Chris Masters or Chris Adonis. Yeah, and like, I think that there's a lot of people who are aware of who Chris Masters is. How different is Chris Adonis? He's just so much, it's just night and day.

Like Chris Masters started out focused, but I mean, just completely lost his way and, you know, didn't prioritize what he needed to and didn't focus solely on professional wrestling, his ultimate love, which is, It's always been. And now Chris Adonis is a guy who is a polished performer, a great in-ring worker, a guy that understands psychology, one of the best sellers in the business, not to completely break the third wall. But, I mean, honestly, these are the things I stand by when it comes to me. So, like, he's different physically. He's different mentally.

He's different spiritually. He's different emotionally. One of the biggest things I can't believe we didn't hit on in the first interview. Oh, I know where you're going. It's this amazing story of saving your mom from a burning house and tearing a tree out by its roots. Take us back to the beginning of this story and set it up for us. Well, hold, before we go there, how annoyed were you after the interview when somebody commented and brought up that you didn't ask me about that? What was your...

Look, you know, these interviews usually go about an hour, right? And we had an amazing conversation for about an hour that, you know, time just flew by. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it ended. And I think, I think we were, like, standing over by the door there. And I went, ah. Oh, you, oh, so you thought, okay, that's funny because I thought that that comment had actually smarted you up to it.

But I was the same way. I was like, oh, shoot, that would have been great. But, you know, anyways, not to prolong this anymore. But, okay. So the story of my mom and the burning. What, like nine years ago? I don't even think it was that long ago. I think we're talking 2016.

Oh, I don't know. I'm bad with this. It's 2015. Don't worry. We have all the world's information in our fingertips. It's all a blur. I'll look it up here. Okay, so this is how it starts.

I'm at Gold's Gym. I'm going to tell this as fast as I can, but I don't want to limit... We've done all day. Well, we do have all day, but I don't want to limit the details, at least for your show, because that's what it's kind of all about here. 2013. Oh, my. March 19th, 2013.

That's almost 10 years to the day. Time flies, man. Wow. Time flies, kids. Okay. where, okay, so I'm at Gold's Gym, which we both worked out at, just not too long ago. And what happened? Shoot, I received a phone call from my mom's neighbor saying that something was going on at her apartment.

She didn't know what, but something funny was up. So then I go to call my mom, and anytime I call my mom, I get a voicemail without fail. Like, you know, it'll ring, but then it'll go to a voicemail. This particular time, it just kept ringing, which doesn't sound like much, but for, me was a big red flag. Like, why is the answer machine not? It always goes off. So I immediately hopped in my truck and I went from Venice to West L.A. It's only about 10 minutes. Thank God I was in town, by the way. And I get there and it's an odd scene. I get there and my uncle who was staying with my mom at the time is locked out. That's all I see is him at the door. So I get out of the

truck and I don't know what's going on. I'm like, what is going on? And I get to the door and, you know, I'm trying, I don't even know what my uncle told me, but I start trying to make communication through the door and somebody starts speaking to me. It's a voice I don't recognize. And they are just speaking, like, I'm asking about my mom. Yeah. And this person is, like, talking crazy. They're like, she's my mom too now.

Whoa. And, you know, we're going to go. I don't even know he said something like we're going to go to heaven together. Like, it was, yeah, it was absolutely. Wow. But here's the thing. So I realized with Finn, it didn't take long for me to realize, oh, this guy's tripping on something.

Like, he's either tripping on meth or crack. Like, this is not what comes out of a straight, even a crazy person's mouth. It just sounded too bizarre. So I had found out also, too, another twist of this whole thing, that the cops were actually there and had left. So, like, I don't know where the confusion was. Like, they obviously didn't know she was locked in the house, but somehow they come by and not read the situation and left.

So, okay. So I'm in, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. And I'm looking at the door. And I'm thinking about kicking it. down obviously because there's a madman in the house with my mom and the house isn't on fire yet no no no no fire no i don't even know that that's barricaded you're just trying to get in yeah and he's not letting me in and so like you know your first instinct is like fuck this guy's you know i'm sure it doesn't matter and i'm gonna kick the door down yeah thank god i did it i had the the smarts to know that like

what if i don't get this door down what if i can't get in and then i escalate the situation so I took a breath. I walked out to the street so he couldn't hear me and I called the police and I told them, hey, you know, I heard you guys were here.

I need you to come back. I don't know what happened, but my mom is barricaded with a madman and I'm about to kick the door down and I need some help. She doesn't know this guy at all? Well, it turns out,

no, I don't know who it is initially but it turns out he's actually staying with one of the other neighbors. Oh, okay. But like this is a guy who's on the outs and he's just, he's a mess, I guess, apparently.

I don't know. I wasn't around there at the time except for right this instance. But so where were you? So I tell the cops and then they come back. The cops are back now and they form a perimeter and they put me on the perimeter. Right. And like, you know, this whole time, man, this whole thing sucks. Like your mom is, oh, and here's an important detail left out. As I'm communicating with her or him through the door, I hear my mom yell something about fire. She's like speaking in code. And I can tell that she's saying that he's basically that he's threatening her to start a fire in there. So I already knew that. much. And that's why I also didn't kick the door down because she had said that and it made me think he's going to start a fire and I can't get the door down. Then I'm screwed. What do I do? Okay. So anyways, now the cops come. They form a perimeter. I'm on that perimeter and they start trying to communicate. Obviously, same thing. And then they start trying to get the door down. And again, this just kind of solidifies my position. They couldn't get the door down. They couldn't get the battering ram. Like a cop bigger than me with boots on because I had like athletic shoes too.

he couldn't get the door down. It kicked it three times. Then they get the battering ram. And it takes about three to four tries to get the door down. This is because the door, first of all, is very sturdy, but it's also barricaded by a ton of shit. Like just he took whatever he couldn't put in front of the door and barricaded it. But hold on in a second now.

So while all this is happening, this is where it gets intense. Okay. They force me on the perimeter, right? So I'm watching this all happen. And as they're trying to get this door down in the corner window, I see a fire emanate. Oh. And so right at that moment is where everything starts for me.

I'm like, oh, hell no. I spring into action because I'm just like, I'm not staying. Like I'm because while all this is happening too, once they get the door down, like actually I'm going a little forward. Like, okay. So I see the fire. I come over there and I grab the hose. And I think one of the cops breaks the window and I stick the freaking hose to there.

I don't even know what that was good. That was probably the stupidest thing I did out of the whole exchange. But like, you see a fire and you're just trying to like, you know, it's also, it's the house. It's possessions. You're trying to like, what can I do to preserve that? Sure. In addition to more importantly save her life. Okay.

So now as this is happening, I stick the hose in there for whatever reason and I come around the corner. They've got in the door down with the battering ram, but like smoke comes burrowing out. So the fire had already been starting for like the little bit of time elapsed between these two. You know what I mean? As far as story. But, and I see all the cops that like they basically, they take steps back. And, you know, this is my mom. So I'm completely irrational.

I'm like thinking in my head, what are they doing? Like she and then, you know, like, why are they backing off? And again, we're talking about smoke burrowing. So they can't. They have no choice. But it's my mom. So I'm completely irrational. And that's when I realized this is the moment.

Once the smoke came burrowing out, I realized she might die. And it's not even going to be from the fire. She's going to die from the smoke. And it felt, and that was the moment that it all, it was real the whole time. but that was the moment where the adrenaline shot through the roof. And I just knew I have to save her right now. And so what I did is I knew exactly where her room was. She had two windows, and one of the windows was blocked by a tree.

So I told the cop, break these windows, break these windows. She's in this room because, again, they can't enter because the smoke. And she breaks one, no sign of her. Now the other window is blocked by a tree. So I freaking grabbed the tree and I bear hug it. And I basically rip it to the ground. Like I come, go down with it. She breaks that window.

Nothing, nothing. All of a sudden, my mom pops up. Like, they're almost like, I don't know. It was just like, I don't even know what it's prepared to. But it was like, for me, it was like, oh, my God, thank God. And I got up. I scooped her out. I brought her about 50 feet from the scene.

I made sure she was okay. And then the last bit to this story was the next thing I know. I'm checking on her and I see them wrestling him out in front of the, the apartment and I rush over there and I give like, you know, what I can only describe and what most people identify kind of as like almost an RKO punt to his head when when there was an opening. So and that was, I mean, that's pretty much the story. You know what I mean?

Wow. And like I've, and that's as detailed as I think I can get with it. I've had to tell that story a lot of times, but it's been a while. So and this is also also the perfect platform for it. So yeah, that, that's what happened, man. And this guy, you know, you ended up going to jail for four years. I think he's out now, and I'm pretty sure.

I'm assuming he was on meth or something. Like, I don't know. He was really, the behavior was just so odd. I like that the exclamation point on the story is you have all this aggression, all this anger, and you punt him in the head. Oh, well, I mean, it was there. Like, it was literally the only thing that was open and the cops weren't even mad about it. It was when I tried to kick him again that they were like, yo, get the fuck out of here.

Like, all right, that's enough. You got your one in. Yeah, like, well, seriously, because the next one, didn't play so well, and I actually kind of half-taught one of the cops too. So, like, you know, like, get the hell out of here. You got your leg in. How did this story end up, like, making its way to the news? Like, how did they find out about it?

Wow. You know what? That's a really good question. I have no idea, honestly. It's not like, I don't think that was anything I did. I just know that. Because, yeah, it was maybe two days later that I was on good. I remember seeing it.

I think it was, yeah. I was on Good Morning America. Yeah, Good Morning America. TMZ had it. Jay Leno made a little joke about it saying something about it. It was finally steroids in the, it was for a good thing. Yeah, it was, it was pretty funny.

But, like, honestly, I don't know how it got the attention it did. Like, I didn't, I don't feel like I kind of went out of my way to publicize it. I mean, I'm sure I said something on Twitter that night or whatever, but I'm not thinking that, like, oh, you know, this is going to catch. Well, I'm sure there was a police report. And usually when there's something newsworthy, that gets, like, sent out. and maybe they put two and two together of like, oh, Chris Mordesky, that's, oh, that's Chris Masters. Maybe, maybe, I don't know.

All I know is, man, the story is kind of like an adrenaline rush. It's already got me like, you know, I'm like sweating a little bit. Please don't punt me in the face. But, you know, like the standout moment once again, though, like, because people talk about, like, the adrenaline rush that you'd have to save your mom. Like, again, once that smoke came burrowing out and the cops kind of had the back off, that was that moment right there, man. And, like, I just hope for everybody else to say that you don't have to have that moment.

But, like, I don't feel like anything I did was special, man. Like, if it was anybody's mom and you love your mom, like, you're going to have that same. I don't know if you'll be able to pull the tree out, but you're going to at least try. I think the most impressive part about the story is there's cops everywhere. And who saves the day? You. Yeah, but it's nothing against them either, man. Like, I think they did their job.

It's just who's going to do more than your son? You know what I mean? Like, that's what I, that's, I'm glad you. you brought that up because that's also what I realized in that moment, not because they couldn't advance because of the smoke, although, like, again, I'm irrational. I'm like, get in there. Who cares about smoke? Yeah.

But, like, I don't even know what the poor was. I don't know. I just think the point of it. They could have been like, hey, stand back, sir, we've got this. Oh, yeah, but I would have never accepted it. Again, like, you know, like, anybody would have done the same thing for their mom. I just don't know if they would have been able to rip the tree out of the ground. How is Mama Master's doing now?

Well, shoot, unfortunately, and I think I told you this, yeah, she had to have a hospital stay for a few days, but she's actually back at home now doing better. Oh, great. Yeah, she's like, she's hardcore. She's a badass. You know what I mean? Like, I think she's going to, she might outlast me. Power up for springtime with Factor. America's number one ready to eat meal kit.

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box. That code is Insight 50 at factormeals.com slash Insight 50 for 50% off your first box. What do you think is like one of the main qualities from your mom that you're so glad that you have? I just think, you know, my mom has a lot of resilience. She's had to battle. She has had to battle a lot. Like she has not had the perfect life. Not that anybody has.

We've all had our challenges and stuff. But my mom particularly has had horrible challenges. Like, you know, her mom died of cancer at the age of 12. And like, you know, that's pretty messed up, man. And then to kind of be, you know, have your dad, you know, her dad not sure where the kind of love that her mom did. And, you know, and so I think I just look at my mom's life as a whole and I see where she is now and I just feel like, wow, like, what a resilient woman. And wow, like, she's had, like, she had to deal with so much negative stuff throughout her life that, like, I just hope that I'm

able to give her a better life, like any son would want to. You know what I mean? Like, give her the roof over her head that she wants, the food, she care, all of that. Yeah. Right before, or right after our last interview, you turned 40. We were talking about like, man, 40's just around the corner. So happy birthday. How's 40 treating you? Oh, my God, this is 40. You know, I feel like 40's pretty good for me, but I don't want to sound cocky about

it either. But, I mean, honestly, because of perspective, which we talked about last time, but also just my physical health, like, I'm taking care of myself better than I did in my 30s and 20s. Like, you know, I don't drink or anything like that. And, like, I didn't even make it at point. to not drink alcohol. It was just, you know, I would go out and I'd have a sip or whatever,

and it just doesn't make me feel right. You know what I mean? I just feel like I'm bringing on 40 in the most graceful possible way ever. And honestly, I feel like I'm at my best. And again, we talked about this last time. I know a lot of people always want to say like, oh, but what happened to you lost all your gains from the WWE days? But it's like, you know, like I clarified in last interview, I was never trying to

to be the 280 pounds stagger for tackles, you know, one-dimensional big guy wrestler. I wanted to be an athlete. And that's the performer I am today. You know what I mean? A guy that could cover the ring, a guy that could move around, a guy that could sell and take good bumps and all that stuff. You know what I mean? Forty's just around the corner for me, too. Happy early birthday, man. Thank you. How do you feel about it? I feel really good about it. And, you know, I've told you this off-camera, but my goal is to be in the best shape of my life when I turn 40 on May and I'm well on my way now. And I think that the really interesting thing is for so many people in their 30s and I guess

in their 40s as well, it's just like downhill. It's like, well, you know, this year's not going to be as good as last year. Oh, I gained five pounds in the last year, probably five more next year. And it just kind of keeps adding on. But for me, I'm all about like focused on this goal. I always say vague goals, get vague results. But I'm so focused on like, I want to be in my best shape at 40. then subsequently my best shape at 50 and then so on and so on.

I like that you said that because I used to always have the mindset in my early 30s and stuff that like, oh, I'm never going to be better at 40 because I'm 40 and I know I've aged another 10 years. But now when you get to 40 and also like, again, when you look at some of the guys, like some of my peers, some of the guys, you know what I mean, that you've even interviewed, like there is a formula for being your best at your 40s, but it depends on you doing the right stuff. you know, and not doing the wrong stuff and taking care of yourself and eating right and training, you know what I mean, whether it be, you know, the weights or cardiovascular conditioning, all of that stuff. So like, you know, I look a lot of my peers for inspiration on that.

You know what I mean? Like we've talked about, you know, Bobby Lashley, Carlito, all those guys. Yeah. But I don't know, I also just realized that I was wrong. You know what I mean? Because I look at myself now and, you know, if you looked at the 32-year-old me looked at the 40-year-old, me, he'd be like, oh, shoot, you're actually, I think you might be better than, you did something to improve, at least from my standpoint. So, um, I look even outside of wrestling, like, look at the shape that Tom Brady is in at 45. Look at the shape that Tim McGrath's in in his 50s. Brad Pitt, I believe, is 58. George Clooney's a few years older than him. Like, they look amazing. They're

getting better with age every year. Oh yeah and you know we're in L.A. So to clarify, we're not just talking about people who are doing the plastic surgery and all that stuff because I'm pretty anti, at least there's way too much of that going on. But like, yeah, like, no, there's a formula. There's a formula for this. And like all the guys you just said, like, you know what I mean? And it's just, it literally is just about figuring out, you know, again, like, I feel like the, like, not that again, it was a point, but I, that I wanted to make. But like, to not drink, will provide me longevity as far as my youth. You know what I mean?

I can only imagine that if I was drinking every day, you know, these lines would be a little deeper. These face would be sagging a little. I mean, even when I look at myself, there are some pictures that I look at myself in my 20s and when I was big in stuff, but I was also abusing opiates and muscle relaxers. And my face looks older than it does at 40.

So, I mean, that's some of the stuff I refer to. I'll see old stuff of myself and I'm like, oh yeah, your body looks great. You know, you're big in your vascular, but man, your face is just like, you know, but you're also on the road so much at that point. Sure. But like that kind of stuff, like what you ingests in your body, whether it be alcohol, pills, any of that stuff.

I mean, it has a toll, you know what I mean? And it will show through. You are what you eat. Yeah, so much of this for me has been getting rid of processed foods like that. And the big buzzword right now is seed oils, but you dig into that just a little bit, and you're like, oh my gosh, like, of course we have so much inflammation when there's safflower oil and sunflower oil. I don't want to go way down, way off topic here.

Well, you're not in Canada anymore. I know you guys' food expectations is much higher out there. I had to hear from my ex-law. Hey, but you guys are also serving like 10% of the American population. True. Not to get into the whole America-Canada thing, but yeah, I hear you on the diet. We talked about your debut last time, and you were telling me the story about, about how like you had major food poisoning.

One of the really big things, one of the standout moments of your WWE debut is you're in the ring with Stevie Richards and you clock him right in the face and you break his nose. What did that conversation look like backstage? Oh, there was no conversation. Like Stevie was enraged and rightfully so, man.

Like he had already gone his clock cleaned, I think, by hiding right? Maybe not too long before that, but I mean, this particular case was awful. And I still look back in it, and there's no good excuse. Like, I can't. It was the Polish hammer right to the face, right? Yeah, like, when it comes to me in the Polish hammer, it's just no, Bueno, just don't do it. You know what I mean?

Like, because I even tried to bring it back in Poland against Nick Aldis. And I'm ashamed to say it, but I actually caught Nick. Not as bad as Stevie. But, like, so, like, basically the Polish hammer is done. I've retired my Polish hammer, but the Stevie instance was, it was awful, man. It was just think about it. Like, I always look back at that. It's my debut.

Yeah. It's my debut on Raw. And this is a guy, not just the guy who got an opportunity, this is a lifelong fan, who understands the relevance, understands the magnitude, how big it is. And, like, you have food poisoning. The worst, like, I never even had food poisoning, honestly. I didn't know what was going on. And it was just awful. I never had that kind of food poisoning since.

And then you culminate it with breaking a guy's nose and orbital bone. Like, and I didn't know this at the time, but I knew it was bad. You know, like, it just, you know, I remember some people trying to say, oh, it'll make your debut look good. You know, you're guys bleeding in the master lot. But I'm like, you know, all it does is make everybody afraid to work you, really. You know, like the worst thing in the professional wrestling business, even beyond a bad worker is a big clumsy guy who is dangerous.

and like that's the that is the absolute worst reputation you do not want that because nobody wants to wrestle that guy you know what I mean? You rather wrestle the guy who's a shitty worker than wrestle the big clumsy guy

you know what I mean? Because that's a long day at the office you don't know there's going to be stuff misplaced and somebody might get hurt so anyways I was really I didn't want that reputation because I already knew that

so like I just knew that once I heard Stevie and yeah like Stevie I don't know if I'm pretty sure he yelled at me but you know with time I mean, he knew that I didn't have malicious intentions. There's no way I would do that to somebody on purpose ever, especially like I respected all of those guys upon entry. They might not have known it or seen it because they looked at me like this dumb shit, you know, 19 year old who's 270 pounds about to get a push. But like I respected everybody.

I was a boy amongst men in a locker room at that point. You know what I mean? All men that I looked up to. So it was like, you know, the whole thing sucked. But are you walking to the back going, oh my God, oh my God. Oh my God. I'm going to get fired. I didn't think that.

I just knew, gosh, I just knew when I saw him and so enraged, I just knew. But like, you got to understand, too, I'm sick as a dog. So, I mean, like, I can't even tell you what I was thinking. I can't remember, I can't remember anything post-match. The only thing I remember post-match was when I got to the back, I remember seeing Stevie kind of storming and walking, and he was enraged, and he was yelling something. And again, Stevie, at every right.

So I'm at his number. You should call him after this. make everything else you don't want to hear it because every time i've seen him since and we're talking out 20 years i always apologize still and so i'm sure even he at this point is uh sick of hearing that and by the way if we're talking about i see you this much if you see his instagram i want to wish him uh you know a speedy recovery i know he's going through a lot and and taking us on his journey but um i think he's going to be all right yeah wishing him a speedy recovery he's he you're right he's dealing with a lot here and i appreciate he's a good dude man he's such a good

dude and I love that he's allowing us to kind of see the whole progress of what's happening and the recovery that is making so yeah wishing you a speedy recovery stevie what's one thing in the ring that hurt but look like it didn't hurt like was there a moment or a move or some sort of a uh a segment that was just should have been a normal move and ended up hurting a lot Well, that's a tough question. But what I will kind of defer to, and I hope we didn't talk about this already in the last one, is HBK slaps. Did we talk about this? No.

Oh, yeah. Well, for those of you who don't know, and I can say this, everybody knows I'm a huge HBK mark. But HBK has the deadliest slaps in the business because he knocked me, loopie, he knocked Randy Orden Lupy. He knocked Muhammad Asan Lupi with his slap. I mean, all three of us saw stars, I think, in the exact. And, like, it's not to say everybody knows a slap hurts, but you don't, you wouldn't expect HPK to knock you out with a slap, essentially. Yeah.

So, like, I don't know. That's the first thing that kind of popped in the mind because, again, like, again, you expect a slap to hurt, but you don't expect to see, be seeing stars. Because I remember when he slapped me, it was to start our, well, it was to start our angle, too. So he's like, what do you say? I know what you want. Let's do this. And then he walks up and he slabs me.

and like literally I'm like seeing you know stars I don't like I'm going on instincts and like the next thing was we're trade off trade off trade off you know I shoot him reverse he hits me with the gimmick the flying you know for him and I powder out and man I was just going on instincts I mean luckily I don't even know how you get through those moments but you do because I've heard other you know I've heard I think I heard taker or somebody talking about this recently and like you know you get knocked out and sometimes you're just still going to but you're just going on. Kurt Engel tells a great story about that. With Brock, right? You know, with the pedigree through the announce table. Oh, yeah. The announce table broke. Yeah.

And he doesn't remember anything after that. And then he had to come back. Yeah, and he did all. Yeah, like, it's really a trippy thing. But like, yeah, I remember I took the flipper and I powdered. And when I watch it back, it's so funny because I just, I completely like oversold the flipper too. You know what I mean?

Like, I remember I took the bump. I rolled the outside. I'm like flopping around the fucking the, uh, the apron outside and stuff. I'm like, what are you doing, man? You're like, looks like you're trying to do an impersonation of like HBK's oversells of Hulk Hogan from the night before. You know what I mean?

Or something like that. Like, you know, who knows? Maybe I was. I wasn't even conscious of it. Is HBK the best you've ever been in the ring with? By far the, for me, he was, even to this day, still by far the easiest working experience I've ever had. And not to say I wasn't like nervous work.

working him or anything, but like, there's something about, first of all, when you have, first all, it goes about saying he's the best in ring guy ever. He's over, which is also a very important thing to, like, have the crowd invested in him. Right. But when it's your favorite wrestler, there's something like you already know, like you know what I mean? Like, the only thing I remember early on is I was trying, like, I was super excited. I was trying to get him to do some of the, like some of the things he did back in his first run. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa, boy, kid. We got to create the illusion of movement, and which, you know, so he rained me in, and I kind of understood like, oh, okay. So this is why he does it,

and this is how he works things. But, like, yeah, it was the easiest experience in my life and one of the greatest learning lessons, because after I gained his trust, after like one or two matches, which, by the way, it just kind of happened. It was during Raw on a break, and I remember I was taking him into, dude, I tell you this story in the last? I don't think so. I remember I took Sean and we're in commercial, and I'm going to rent. his back into the post. I got him like a body slam. And I can hear, I'm running full force.

And like, this is only a second time in the ringtale. And I can hear the fear in his voice. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And like, really last second, I put my hand in between his back in the post. So he didn't get any of it. If anything, my hand took all of it. And I always feel like that was one of the moments where he, at least he trusted, okay, the kid won't kill me.

And then we worked a live event and it was our first live event. And the match was okay. Like, it felt okay. But I just remember after he had this confidence, he's like, whoa, kid, if that's the worst you got for me, then we're going to be all right. And then from that point on, he just let me call all the matches, which, you know, when you're a 20-year-old, I mean, you're a 20-year-old kid calling the matches against your favorite all-time wrestler growing up. It was just like, everything was phrasing the question. I couldn't help it. You know what I mean?

It's just like, duck one, baseball slide, I don't know, chop, chop, you know, so anyways, but like, it was amazing. Oh, well, to bring this back full circle here, I appreciate that I'm playing a very small role in you getting a shot at the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship. And it's like, what, a month away right now? Yeah, April 7th, NWA 312. That's going to be in Chicago. Shytown, big wrestling town, I'm sure, you know, Chicago, honestly, I'm sure you probably know this, but Chicago is one of the prime wrestling cities in all of the country.

And I, going back all the way to WrestleMania, what was it? 22 where me and Carly to open the show, man. Just a electric crowd. And I know that we're going to have a lot of hardcore, like passionate wrestling fans there. I'm sure, you know, Billy Corgan probably is going to draw a lot of that. You know, it's Billy's hometown too as well.

Yeah, Billy lives there, yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, this is going to be a big deal. And obviously, it's a big deal for me. And, yeah, I think I appreciate your part in this, man. I feel like I should be there. So I will see you there. Yeah, I think you might have to come down. Okay.

Well, there it is. Thank you for making this happen again. And, hey, I'm so excited about this match with you and Tyrus. Yeah, me too. I'll come back in another two months. How about that? Just do this every two months. Sounds great. Appreciate you, man. All right, man. All right. Well, there we go. NWA 312 goes down Friday, April 7th in Chicago, and we'll see who walks out as the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. Love to hanging out with Chris. What a great guy to have him on every day. I'd have him on every few months. I mean, if you guys are okay with that, we could do it. We live pretty close to each other, so what do you think? And I mean, you've heard me say it before, but I will say it again,

because it bears repeating. I've never met a Chris that I don't like. So thank you for being with us on this one. This show does not exist without you. So I appreciate you. Please snap a screenshot. Let us know that you were listening. Let us know what you think about this. Let us know who you think's going to win at NWA 312 Friday, April 7th in Chicago. Tag him. He's a at Chris Adonis on Twitter. He's at Chris Masters 310 on Instagram. Tag me. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, or if you happen to be on TikTok, Chris, Chris Dot Van Vleet on TikTok. I love this quote from Paulo Coelho, and I'll leave you with this. Ask yourself if what you're doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for

some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.