Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Chuck Palumbo on Billy and Chuck wedding, biker gimmick, Natural Born Thrillers, WCW

Episode Date: May 19, 2021

Chuck Palumbo is a retired professional wrestler, mechanic, and TV Host. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in San Diego, CA to talk about his YouTube channel "Chuck of All Trades", his passion for motorcycles, being trained at the WCW Power Plant, wrestling with the faction "The Natural Born Thrillers", going to WWE after WCW was bought by Vince McMahon, being part of Billy and Chuck with Billy Gunn, his biker gimmick being compared to The Undertaker and more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, Phil.

You're talking like I was 50. Taylor, Rokes, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Well, it's nice to see you, my friend. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm Chris Van Fleet, and thank you so much for being with us here on my birthday. Super grateful that I can share my birthday with you and share it with Chuck Palumbo.

Who has a ton going on in his life after wrestling? I'll let him tell you more about it, but he builds motorcycles. He hosted a TV show and Discovery Channel. He's in a band, and he's fixing up an old house from 1924. Oh, man, you can find it all on his YouTube channel. called Chuck of All Trades. And by the way, if you've been listening to the show for a while, I've mentioned my birthday, May 19th,

on pretty much every episode for the last six months or so. The original goal was 1,000 reviews before the end of 2020, and they just keep pouring in. It was amazing. They just kept pouring in. So we moved it up to 1,000 reviews before my birthday last year. And then it became 2,000 reviews before my birthday this year. We set that goal like six months of it.

ago. And we are, we're so freaking close because I think we had like, I don't, 12-ish hundred reviews when we set the school six months ago. So a huge thank you to everyone who's listening on Apple Podcasts or has had the ability to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes because nothing against any other platform. Android's are fine. But Spotify, Stitcher, Google, whatever, they don't allow these public reviews. And these reviews, along with you, you following or subscribing are one of the main reasons why Insight is one of the top podcasts in the world in the wrestling categories. So thank you so much wherever you happen to be listening. I appreciate you. This review is from John Scharzer, who says the best to do it.

CBV is the best interviewer in the game. He gives people like myself countless amounts of motivation and something to strive for. He's also extremely humble and has actually done an interview with myself for a site that I write for. Keep killing it and getting better at what you do, my friend. Well, thank you, my friend. I appreciate that. And I'm just really thankful to everybody who's been on this ride with us. I mean, 200 plus episodes in,

and there's no sign of slowing down here, people. My guest today is a former WCW and WWE superstar. Please welcome Chuck Palumbo. Chuck, it is such a pleasure to be sitting down with you. Thank you so much. Oh, you're welcome. Likewise. Like I was telling you before we started recording, I'm a fan of what you do. I've watched a few of the videos with you and Billy and some other guys.

And I think you do a fantastic job. So thank you. That is very kind. Thank you so much. What I find so interesting about you is so many wrestlers have a tough time finding their identity once they leave wrestling. And I feel like you have an infinite amount of identities now. Yeah, absolutely. It's been a great ride.

Yeah, I mean, you're building custom motorcycles, you're rebuilding houses, you're a musician with a band called Three Spoke Wheel. You're doing it all, really. Yeah. You know, life's short, right? So, you know, I'm a curious guy. I'm very interested. And you only on this earth for a short period of time. So I want to know what you do.

I want to know what the musician does, you know, the lawyer, the carpenter. I want to know about these things, the real estate agent. So, yeah. Let's get this out of the way real, real. early here in the interview. You have a YouTube channel. It's called Chuck of All Trades. So if you're watching this right now, go subscribe to Chuck Palumbo's YouTube channel, Chuck of All Trades, and see all of the stuff that you're doing here. What's the project you're working on right now? So right now it's a home that was built in 1924. It's a restoration

of a home from 1924. So basically ripping this thing down to the studs and then rebuilding it with some modern touches. But yet preserving that 1924. 24 style. So yeah, been a lot of fun, a lot of work. But yeah, you can check it all out on the Chuck of All Trade Show. It's simple. It's raw. It's, but it's us and we're doing it ourselves. If we inspire a few people, then fantastic. Here's what I find really interesting about you. You had a degree in criminal justice. So what was the path that you were originally on? So I originally thought I was going to work in law enforcement. that was it um i went to college i went from the navy um in the navy i got a scholarship to play basketball

i went to central missouri state um was playing basketball in college and i and i sort out on television for the power plan that's how wrestling started so yeah my uh i had no plan but i was always interested it's like to this day i was always interested in trying different things and i was naive at times when you're young, you're naive. So you're willing to take chances. And a lot of times you have to be naive to take these chances to get these opportunities. So it was just some luck and some curiosity and some work. You are very tall. And I don't know if everybody realized you're six seven, right? I'm actually six five. They boosted me up. That's still very tall for us normal-sized humans. So, you know, when you're that tall, and I don't know if everybody

realizes you that tall because you were in a time, especially in WCW, where everybody was, you know, gigantic. When you're that big, do you play basketball simply because you're tall? Are you good at basketball? Simply because you're tall? Or are you tall, which makes you good at basketball? Being tall helped. My thing was rebounding. I like to bang on the boards. I was a very physical player. You know, if I could grab 10 or 10, 12, 14 rebounds a night, that was happy. I wasn't worried about scoring. You know, I was a, you know, in high school, obviously, you score large numbers, but in college, if I'm scoring 14 points a game, I'm lucky, but my stuff's all in the paint. You know, 6'5 may be tall, but, you know, when you're playing an NCAA basketball,

I was a small forward. I mean, those centers were 610, 611. So, you know, I, but I was 200, 50 pounds playing basketball so I was able to you know I was able to get in there and dig and grab rebounds and and d up on guys so that's what I enjoyed yeah you don't really have the build for a basketball player you certainly have the build more for like a pro wrestler yeah it was it was I should have continued you know I played basketball football baseball um I should have probably continued with football but I enjoyed basketball it was an error you know I grew up with Larry Bird uh and I grew up in Providence Rhode Island a suburb of Providence So Larry Burr, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, those were the teams.

So I loved basketball, you know, but I wasn't built for it. No, you're right. So when you see this ad on TV for the WCW power plant, what starts to go through your head? Opportunity. So I know nothing about wrestling. I'd never wash it. I didn't know how much was a work, how much was not a work. I didn't know anything about the business.

I knew what Hulk Hogan was. We all did, right? House or name. But that's about the extent of that. I think it was one I say it was during final exam week. And I'm flipping through the channels and I see wrestling. I'd never seen it. It was probably Monday Nitro.

I'd never seen wrestling. But I saw two guys in the ring. I don't remember who they were, but I remember being very athletic and very physical. And I thought it was kind of interesting. So I tuned in for a moment, maybe the rest of the match. And that's when the ad came on TV for the power plant. And I called the number.

They said, you want to be a, the TV commercial said, you want it. It was when I was old cheesy commercials. You want to be a wrestler with a question mark. Join the WCW power plant where the big boys train. I'm sure somewhere on YouTube is something that ads probably out there. Yeah. Had a phone number. I called, I wrote it down.

I called the phone number. Does someone actually answer when you call the number? So yes, I called the number. They didn't answer that night, but I want to say I called the number the next day. I want to say I did call it that night, but no one. answered. Called the next day, Jody Hamilton. I didn't know at the time, but Jody Hamilton,

the original assassin Nick Patrick's dad and the school. He answers the phone and tells me, oh, so you want to be a wrestler kid, you know? At a southern draw going on. I said, yeah, I didn't know anything about wrestling. So he says, you're an athlete. And I said, yeah, I said, I play basketball in college. And he says, well, get yourself 300 bucks together and come

down and we'll try you out. I said, okay, he goes, we'll send you the forms. Back then there's no email on anything like that. Send me the forms in the mail. I get the forms. Fill out the waiver. I had to get a physical for my doctor, signs off on it. And the next thing you know, I saved up some, I borrowed some money,

saved up some money to fly to Atlanta. Going through that initially, you've probably heard about those tryouts from back then. Go through the tryout, make it through the tryout. I finished the tryout. They bring me in their office. Jody Hamilton again, sitting at his desk, sweating over a big bowl of food profusely.

As he's eating, I'm telling you, I'm going, oh, my God, where am I, man? And he looks at me, he says, he tells me to take my shirt off. And I'm thinking, okay, this is a little strange, but all right. He says, all right, he goes, you look good, kid. He goes, what do you want to do? And I'm going, what do I want to do? I said, what are we doing? No plan, right?

So at that point, at that point I'm going, oh, gosh, I just spent all the money I had to get down there. I go through the tryout, and I don't know what I'm doing or where it's going. So he said, well, if you want to do this, come back with $3,000 and we'll train you. In the back of my head, the ad on television, which I forgot to mention earlier, said, train for six months, and there's a possibility you may get a six-figure contract. 26 years old or whatever I was at the time, naive. Say, here, a six-figure contract. I never seen that type of money in my life.

I'm an athlete. If I can make six figures as an athlete, I'm going to go for. Yeah. No matter what kind of sport it is. You're going to pay me to go do whatever. I'm going to go do it. Yeah. So that's what I'm thinking about the whole time.

So I go back home, sell everything I have. I have a one-year-old daughter at the time. Her mom, we drive across country. Literally, with an old K-5 Chevy Blazer, you-hall attached in our clothes and belongings and garbage bags. drove across country and next thing you know

we're in Atlanta and I'm going to the power plant nine to five five days a week so you totally bet on yourself you saw I bet on myself

you saw the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow being the six figure contract and said I'm going to get that absolutely that's all it was that's all it was and so I started training

you know when you're naive like I said you'll step out of the box and, you know, and try these things. At the time, you don't realize the adversity you're going to face, right? If I had known I was going to face that type of adversity, at that time, I probably would have not made that decision. Think about it. No guarantees of money, no benefits, got a baby, no place to live,

start off by living in a hotel, a daily rate hotel in the ghetto. So I'm not to have myself in the back. I was telling you these are the challenges, but at the time, we didn't think of it that way. We were just thinking, oh, wow, this is great. We're going to go down and become wrestlers, you know? And then, you know, to make a long story short, seven or eight months later, I had myself a training contract, which at the time, I think, was $1,000 a week, $800 to $1,000 a week.

I'm going from making nothing ever. The most I ever made was the money I made in the Navy, which was like at the time I want to say you got like a thousand fifty dollars a month when you had a roof over your head and stuff like that so to make it that in a week

yeah that was from going for nothing it was a big deal so once I got that behind me now I could actually go and train and be able to feed ourselves blah blah blah now it's like all right

I can make this happen now yeah so who was at the power plant with you at that time fantastic group of individuals Mike Sanders Above average Mike Sanders I tell you what

that was very true because that guy had microphone skills yeah very underutilized could have done a lot more maybe too good

maybe too good on the mic at the time um Kiwi Alan Funk Mark Jindrack Johnny Stamboli um

Elyskipper Rick Cornell Remember him? Then Jerry two The Wall Jerry two One of my closest friends Who passed away came by after Later on

Shorna O'Hare came in Fantastic I'm talking about the original old power plant The old warehouse Great group of guys Fantastic time to be in the business When you get a great group of guys Who are all

generally working hard together to get to the next level or to accomplish something and they're all going through the same struggles and facing the same adversities. It's a great bond you have. So great, great group of individuals. You know, one of my very first things that I ever saw in WCW was the natural porn thrillers. And like, when you think back about the size of all of you guys in that faction, that has never been done before ever in wrestling. You know, it's funny, because WCW a lot of things. times you hear about we were there at a time where the company was coming to a close right

where the company was coming to a downfall but if you think about we were ahead of our time we had guys six five 270 pounds who were moving like cruiser weights at the time now yes it was did it conflict with the work style at the time absolutely because it was a slow down style kid work time where they wanted you to work and it was all about psychology which we didn't learn the psychology too much later, but the athleticism and the work ethic was there. So it was just a fantastic time, but we were ahead of our time. If you look at the guys that are working now, that's the style, right? Yeah.

We were kind of doing it then. Yeah. And they weren't, the established guys weren't, the old-timers weren't really digging that, right? And I get it. I get it. But I believe we were ahead of our time. But I appreciate that you watch that and liked that. That was an incredible time to be in the business.

But then again, think about young guys in their 20s who started. We didn't have developmental deals and the performance center, all the great things that they have now, which is great for those guys. We didn't have social. Social media. I mean, can you imagine if we had social media then? Oh, my gosh.

Well, it could have been a great thing and also a terrible thing. Who knows? Yeah, exactly. Maybe it was a good thing we did. There was so much talent in the national. ultra-born thrillers, and I'm really curious who you think was the most underutilized of those guys. Oh, gosh. That's a very tough question.

I believe everybody was. Alan Funk, great talent all the way around, underutilized. Mike Sanders, yeah, smart guy, very witty. His Mike skills were there. still in a great work or two yeah those are some of the minds shono here impressive looking athletic

he was still learning as far as the psychology side we were all still learning that's the thing we all learned on TV as far as psychology goes yeah we learned the moves in how to put a match together but the psychology yeah we learned on TV

so we all still had a while to go in that department. But yeah, some of those names I just mentioned where, you know, but all those guys, you know, I don't want to just credit any of them because every single one of them run to utilize.

When you're backstage at WCW during that time is the Monday Net Wars, are the workers actually paying attention to the ratings every week? To the best of my knowledge and from what I, me personally, no. Not as much. This business is all about self-promotion, right?

It's all about staying in the fight, being a part of what's going on on TV that night. So a lot of times guys are wrapped up and staying afloat and staying alive because it's a weekly thing. They take you off TV for a couple weeks. Things change. So it is a weekly fight, and I'm sure it still is today. Backstage the week prior, right after that show ends, there's a dynamic that you have to now. navigate through and to stay afloat and to stay relative and to stay current and to stay hot to stay in the storyline.

That's a battle that no one sees. That's a tiring battle that guys have to do with guys and girls on a regular basis. So I think that may consume them more or less for the most part. Now, yeah, some of the senior guys who've been around a long time who got that navigation system down, yeah, they may have space in their brain to start thinking about. the Kevin Nash's and the Scott Steiner's and the Stings and the macho man Randy Savage's, those guys, I'm sure, are thinking about that part of it. At that time, we're not looking at as dollars and cents.

We're young kids happy to be on TV. Yeah. And just trying to figure out how to stay on TV. Right. We're not thinking dollars and cents. We would have did it for free, which brings up an interesting point, one of the few businesses in the world where you have guys that are so long, loyal to the industry, who would be willing to take pay cuts on a regular basis, willing to

take on a larger workload with these pay cuts, sacrifice their personal lives, their physical health to stay in the industry. Vince is a very lucky man to have that type of attitude working for him, unlike any business, correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, because if that happened in any other performing business, if this was theater, if this was film, if this was the circus, they'd go, you want me to work more? Well, you're going to pay me more. That's just how this works. Yeah. That doesn't work in wrestling like that. Right. Yeah. All those other ones I listed are unionized, which is the big difference. There you go. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Is there something interfering with your happiness or is preventing you from achieving your goals? BetterHelp

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Everyone's going to be looking at you right now going, this is Chuck Palumbo with short hair. What happened to the long hair? And when did you decide to cut your hair? Oh, gosh. Not long after I finished the discovery shows. Okay. Yeah.

It's a lot of work. That long hair is a lot of work. But, you know, we go back to the start of this conversation about identity. That was tied into your identity for decades. it was and it's been a nice change it's been easy it's been a nice change and it's nice because now with the internet all that stuff you can look back and see matches and see all that stuff so it was a different different time for me but i like the i like the change you've been out of wrestling now for close to 10 years yeah but you know since your real name is chuck polombo you must get

recognized all the time still um not as much when i had the long here It was all the time. And I, you know, I wasn't a, you know, I wasn't a John Cena. I wasn't one of those guys. I wasn't at that level. But when you're big and you have long hair, that kind of people might look once and then go, oh, wait a minute, that's, you know. Yeah.

And then again, this is Southern California. It's not a huge wrestling, in reference to the fans. It's just not, they're not as into it as they would be in Midwest, the South, or the East Coast. I think Southern California has the fans are a little, you know, it's a little more diluted. I'm also in Southern California. What city are you in? I'm in San Diego. Oh, I'm in Studio City. I could have just down there.

We could have done this in your garage. Yeah, so you know, the fans a little different, right? Plus, out here, you see different people all the time, right? You buy this guy from this show or someone from this show. you see different, you know. Yeah, I mean, this is a place where A-LIS actors, you know, live all the time. Yeah. Right.

And let's get one thing straight. We're not A-List actors. You're a Discovery Channel star, though. Oh, no, that was a lot of fun. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. So when WCW goes under and you know that it's going to be taken over by WWE, are you freaking out like, oh, my God, I might not have a job now? That's good question.

Yeah. We were looking for answers. Shane McMahon walks in the locker room. Now you know it's real, right? Now it's the last show. Now you know it's real. It's happening. But now the questions arise.

Am I going to have a job? Number one. Is this? Is this? Because at the time, this is like a, it's like a, when you're a young guy doing all this with all your buddies, it's like a dream.

So is this ride going to end? Yeah. And then, okay, we may go over there. Are we going to survive? Typically, Vince doesn't continue to create a character, continue to accessorize a character that's already been created by another company. He doesn't do that. Typically, he'll break that guy down and rebuild him the way he wants him.

So there's that question. How is that going to work? Now we have double the roster, but the same amount of TV time, where are we going to fit in? Right. So now the competition, right, talent-wise. Yeah. So we've won a lot of questions. when we get there,

it was challenging because the talent was almost taking this Monday night war thing or this competition. They were taking it personal. Not all of them. At the beginning, they weren't welcoming. Not all of them, but a lot of them were not welcoming, which I don't think they saw the big picture of the business side.

If the guys had to befriended us, vice versa, and we bonded, we all would have made more money and had more say and been a voice. But we kind of, we were like water and oil at times. And just for business, from a talent standpoint, that does not help you. And then ultimately it reflected in the product, because at the time, and you probably remember this, the product kind of went downhill. We went into a slump.

Yes, now I do get it. The economy was changing also, and it was an effect. the economy, but the business was also in a slum. So, yeah, it was a challenging part. But at the same time, it was a fantastic time to be in the business. I think that'll never happen again. No. McMahon's group coming into WCW and on their show.

Yeah. And literally it was the most real thing that had happened in the industry in a long time. That being said, being the most real thing that had happened in the industry, it could have been capitalized on. So I think that part was a failure. I couldn't have done it. I don't, that's not my, my wheelhouse. But it was a time that was so interesting could have been so much more from a TV entertainment

standpoint. Yeah. That's just my two cents on it. I mean, the fact that there was no more competition, I feel like, you're right, WWE went into this like slump because like, oh, we, whatever we do, people are going to watch. Yeah. You could, 100% correct. Yeah.

Obviously, I think a lot of people will know your work best for the short time, really, relatively speaking, with Billy and Chuck. Yeah. How was this originally pitched to you? On a whim, like all things at that time. By Vince? I think I actually got, Vince came up to me a few minutes later, but I think, I mean, the first person who might have told me was either Sergeant Slaughter or Paul Levake, Triple H. One of those two guys, or they might have told me at the same time. I don't remember.

And then Vince shortly after. And basically they said, hey, you're going to be this flamboyant group. You're going to bleach your hair blonde. Vince used the term platinum blonde. You're going to wear robes. And we were like, all right, we didn't know much about it. Little did we know cable television network ratings week was coming down the road. The ceremony or the wedding, you could say.

and they wanted to peek out on that. So, you know, I believe, we did it. We were number one rated that night, so it worked. But the characters, we were two guys having fun. We had more fun with that. And I felt the audience could see that. And when the audience sees that you were genuinely having fun, they read that.

And I think they enjoy it. Because the matter of someone's heterosexual, that doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it was like, we're like two bros. And how many, I mean, how many guys would have wanted to be in that? I don't know. I know a lot of guys, man, that would have been so much fun to do, you know, straight guys. It would have been fun.

It's doesn't matter, you know. And again, it's a character. So we never took it personally what we were doing. We never took it personally. And it was cutting edge. If you think about that, right? That storyline at the time was cutting edge, right? Now, same-sex marriage, does a lot of talk about, a lot of gender topic conversations going out there, which is fantastic.

But at the time, I spoke about too much. So it was cutting edge and it paid well. So it was fun. Billy Gunn told me it was really tough on his kids because they thought that that was real. I'm glad you brought that up because my daughter was super young at the time. I don't think she believed it was real, but I believe she was like, Dad, you know, like, what are you guys doing?

You know what I mean? Because she's young. She doesn't understand. Yeah. Some of the guys in the business were like, what are you guys? Why are you doing that? You know, tell them you don't want to do it.

And I'm like, we do what? Yeah. We're playing a role. If you guys don't believe that your actors to some extent, then you're lying into themselves, right? We're actors playing a role. Unfortunately, a lot of guys end up trying to live or believing in their gimmick. And we've seen that, right, how that works out.

So don't take it personal, have fun with it. And we did. But I thought we did it to get through the best of our ability. The fact that there was actually a plan for this is actually surprising because there's a lot of times where it's like, all right, this is your character. We'll figure it out week to week. The fact that the end goal here was that ceremony is kind of, uncommon.

Kind of uncommon. And we didn't know that that was the end goal in the beginning. Okay. We didn't personally. I think, you know, Vince is an intelligent man. I think he knew, maybe. Or maybe he didn't know where off the bat, but it soon turned into that goal.

So I may be off a little bit. That first night, they may not have been an ultimate goal, but soon after there was. How do you find your footing when, when you guys break up, when that, when you're not a tag team? anymore. That's a good question.

Because that's a very that's a very dynamic character. It's a very dramatic character. It's a strong character. That was we went into the FBI thing, which I thought was maybe a good thing to do because it was kind of something totally different.

And it was fun. And it was also something that I was familiar with just because I grew up in New England. and there's the Italian-American, you know, innuendos and all that stuff. We had a lot of fun with it. So I thought that was a good way to transition. I mean, again, they asked me, hey, what do you want to do?

And I said, well, it would be nice to do something that kind of I can relate to where I grew up. And, you know, obviously at an entertainment level. And they decided to put that together. And then from there, I mean, you really took a piece out of your real life with the biker gimmick. Yeah. But I know there was a lot of people, though, that when that looks a lot like what The Undertaker did with the American Badass. Right. It was not, unfortunately, I've heard that it was called like a knockoff of the badass and all this stuff.

It was not supposed to be anything like that. Basically, I had been building motorcycles my whole life. I had a magazine that had like a feature of mine in it. And I wanted to show Vince and say, hey, can we do something like this? And he said, you built this? How come we're not doing this? I'm not sure how come we're not. So that's how that all happened.

And it was funny because I was just speaking to a gentleman before speaking to you. And he brought up a good point. Pop culture at that time. The Discovery shows, Orange County Choppers, the Jesse Jameses, all those shows are just starting to take off. There was a relationship there with the motorcycles. So for me, that's what it was. It wasn't about doing this badass character.

It was what was going on outside of wrestling. I was trying to mend that, the motorcycles and all that cool stuff, which is super hot now, right? I mean, look, how successful was Orange County Chopper's? Super successful, yeah. And how successful is the automotive side of television now, all these shows? Man, look, everywhere. And you know this better than anybody. People who love cars and people who love motorcycles, they're super passionate about them.

It's Americana, right? So that's where I was going with that. And then at the same time, I signed a two-year contract. 06 to 08. I knew that was probably my last run. It let something spectacular happen. So I was planning for the future. That makes any sense.

Now, it was like strategically planning no, but I said, if I can get this stuff out here now on TV, start to get my shop developed, maybe, you know, it'll give me a little of exposure, which it did because you can have, best bike builder here. But you got this guy who's a good bike builder, but he's a professional wrestler.

Makes for a good story. So I was able to get, I was able to get some exposure that way. So it worked that I, like I said, was it completely strategic? No, but I saw something there.

Do you have people, do you have customers that come in because they want bikes built by you simply because they're a fan? So, um, I don't, have my doors open to the public, right?

Everything's word of mouth through people I know or through past customers. And they just reach out to me simply as Instagram or an email. But some of them, absolutely yes. Not all of them. Some of them, yes, which is okay. But at the same time, I really worked hard to develop my craft. So I take a lot of pride in that. And I think that's where I've gotten to now.

Yeah. But in the beginning, yes. in the beginning yes and i i think people just want to because a lot of the people in the automotive and car world they're not into wrestling but they're like that's interesting yeah they find it interesting so it's just uh it helps as we wind things down here i know there's going to be a lot of people who love cars that are watching this right now what's chuck plumbo's favorite car who i got a few but um i have a 65 quarter of Rovet Stingray.

Okay. Which, that's probably my favorite car. But I do have a, I have a 70 Camaro Z28 rally sport, Z28, 70. So those,

I like old trucks, too. I love old trucks, but what's your daily driver? General Motors guy. I'm sorry? What's your daily driver? Oh, so I got a,

so it's funny because my daily drivers are the opposite. Like, I have like a new cord because it gets good gas. mileage and I can forget about it. And then I have a, you know, a diesel Chevy that I use for, you know, towing and all that stuff. Then on the weekends, you know, like on Sundays or Saturdays or, you know,

whatever, I'll take it on a car or a motorcycle or something like that. You got a lot of vehicles. I do. It's a problem. But, you know, hey, it's safe. It's fun. I end every interview talking about gratitude. And first of all, thank you so much.

It's been so great diving into this conversation with you. Absolutely. You're welcome. I'd just like to say that when people are genuinely interested in what you're doing and they'll do something like this, an interview or watch me on YouTube or anything like that. That's a big deal. So I appreciate it. Oh, no.

I appreciate you. And again, everyone can subscribe to your YouTube channel, Chuck of All Trades. By the way, you need to change your profile photo on there so people know it's actually you. Okay, I will do that. I got my little puppy on there now. That's right, but your puppy, unless your puppy's name is Chuck, it doesn't make any sense. That's why they pay you the big bucks, man.

I got to figure that out. Well, you know, then people can look at it and go, ah, is Chuck Palombo. I recognize him. I'm going to do that today. Okay. I end every interview talking about gratitude, and I want to know what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Yeah. Number one, my daughter, my health.

And I think And this is not My daughter's number one, obviously My health is important, but I'm a very fortunate To have Great people around me So I'm one of the Few guys I have

How many people can say they have one best friend? Not many, right? One I have a group of guys that I grew up with On the East Coast from grade school Who were still friends to this day, close friends. I have a group I befriended a group of guys out here when I came out here for the Navy who I'm close with. So I have a lot of times family's not blood, right? I have a fantastic group of people around me who I care about me.

They care about me. So I'm very lucky. I love it. And speaking of health, you look like you could still jump in the ring right now. You look like you're in tremendous. Well, thank you. But I don't know about that. I don't know.

You look great. I want to look half as good as you when I'm your age. Oh man, thank you. I appreciate that very much. I'm going to be, I might as well say, I have to come to my, I have to come to, you know, to terms of this. I'll be 50 next month. So I'm like, oh, man, 50. When did this all happen?

You look great. Nobody would believe that you're 49 right now. Thank you. Chuck, thank you again. Oh, you're welcome, man. Chris, good, too. It's great to speak with it. Like I said, I'll continue to watch your stuff, man.

Keep it up. And I'll come down, down south, a little. further south in California, and we'll do this in person next time. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Okay, you're welcome. Have a good day, man. Ah, what a guy.

Thank you to Chuck Palumbo for the great conversation, and thank you to you for sharing part of your day with us. Again, subscribe to Chuck's channel on YouTube, Chuck of all trades. And while you're on there, drop a subscribe for my new channel, CVV clips where I've been posting clips from some of my favorite interviews on there. As Mother Teresa famously said, the good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow, but do good anyway.

Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one. Three episodes this week. We'll see on the next one this Friday 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, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast.

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