Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Danhausen: Out Of Character Interview! AEW, Influences, Curses, Conan O'Brien

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets are on sale now for INSIGHT LIVE in Toronto, Las Vegas & Indianapolis with VIP Meet & Greet! Danhausen (@DanhausenAD) is a professional wrestler currently signed to AEW. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his rise in popularity on the independent scene, his debut on AEW Dynamite, cursing William Regal and what happens when someone is cursed, being out of action with a torn pec, not being on TV in 2024, breaking character for interviews, how he comes up with nicknames for wrestlers and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on." - Robert Frost Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight33 to get 33% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last ORGAIN: For 30% off your order, head to https://Orgain.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT SQUARESPACE: Head to https://www.squarespace.com/INSIGHT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code INSIGHT 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 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.com 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: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Here we go. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. It is I, the three numbers on the back of your credit card. CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for filling your ears with us on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Give that follow button.

the finger poke a doom. Oh yes. Do it on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening right now. By the way, we now officially have a second show added in Toronto. This one's happening on Sunday, March 2nd, the day after Elimination Chamber. Can't wait to be back home in Toronto with you guys for this one. Tickets for that show and for all of the other shows, including the one during WrestleMania Week in Vegas and the one before Elimination Chamber on February 28.

It's all available at CVVTix.com. CVVTX.com. Oh, yeah, by the way, the guests have been announced for this second show in Toronto, none other than the Hertz Syndicate. All three members, we've got MVP, Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. It's announced the VIP tickets are also available for that.

In this one, by the way, this is new. This includes a meet and greet with them. The other ones are meeting and greet with me. I mean, who wants that, right? But a meet and greet with them and me. So all of us together, March 2nd in Toronto, CvvvTiX.com. Danhausen is one of the most unique characters in all of wrestling. And today, we get a look at the man behind that character.

It's a very rare interview where he has no makeup on. He's not doing the voice. And by that, I mean, we used extremely expensive CGI and editing effects to make Danhausen look like a human for this one. but it's amazing hearing the inspiration for what he does and where it came from, among other things. It's Conan O'Brien and The Simpsons. I love it.

He's such an interesting guy. There's so much to dive into with this one and just how his mind works when it comes to not just wrestling, but just entertainment as a whole. Snap a screenshot, tag us, let us know you're listening. He's at Danhausen AD. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. Enjoy this conversation with the one and only, Danhausen.

We have blown the budget for the entire year for this extremely expensive CGI. Well, I appreciate you. You didn't just use AI. CGI to have you in your human maker. Yeah, yeah. So good to see you again. You too. It's been, what, four years?

But a long time. Four years via Zoom, I believe. Yeah, that's right. Maybe during the pandemic era. Just not the same. Or before. I don't know. I was definitely during.

Yeah. It's not the same. Yeah. Not the same. No, no, in studio. But this, but the CGI has gotten even better. Look, look. Full body CGI.

Look how good you look. It's amazing. Thank you. Do you, do you get recognized out of makeup? If it's a wrestling event. Okay. If it's a wrestling event, yes. I've been actually recognized one set of GNC because it was literally, this is going to

sound like a lie. I walked in. The guy said hello and I went, hello. And then he went, Danhausen? And I went, what? And he goes, I recognize the, recognize the voice. And it was like, I was so caught off guard. And he was just like, uh, how?

Do you think your real voice sounds that much like Dan Housen? I don't. I think it's, you know, there's hints of it there, especially now. It's kind of like the, um, Simpsons effect sort of where like Dan Castellana sounded much different in the earlier episodes where he was doing the voice. Yeah. And now I feel like he probably just sounds more like himself doing the voice. So it's probably morphed a little bit into just being me.

Uh, but, He's like, oh, no, no, I study voice acting. And it was like, he knew, like, instantly. It was crazy. I didn't have a full sentence with him or anything. It was just, hello. And then he just, he had to have been a wrestling fan, obviously. So, like, there was already, I guess that.

But, yeah, it was just weird. Just in Michigan. If you wear something like this, you might get recognized for your tattoos. Maybe. But yeah, I think I was just dressed like, no, I probably had a hoodie on. I think it was winter. So I probably had a coat on, actually. And did you just immediately snap into Danhausen voice?

No, no, it gives me anxiety. I don't like to make other people uncomfortable as much as that character, like, I do it. So whenever I have to do like a public thing, I try to be very mindful of everybody because I don't want them to have a bad time and make them feel weird that we're doing something. You know what do you mean?

I don't know. Everybody loves Danhausen. But that's true. Yeah. He's definitely not polarizing. Love that Danhaus. No, but like you doing the voice for someone who's a fan, they'd probably be like, this is amazing.

Well, I also, I feel very weird doing the voice when I'm not in the thing. If I'm not in the makeup, and I do the voice. I've done it because I've had to do some voiceover stuff. Like just, we're like for, you know,

AEW video game or whatever. Like, it's still a little weird. I actually think I probably had makeup on during that because it was just whatever. Like, it was getting ready for the day anyway. But I've done some of the voice stuff without it.

And I'm just like, it feels wrong. Mm. I just, I don't like it. Is it, it's almost like putting on a mask and then you can become that character.

Yeah, well, like, I don't know if we had touched on this in the first time we talked, but, uh, a very bad,

stage fright, like for anything like speaking in public, when you'd have to write papers in school and go to the front of the class and be shaking. So like, it is kind of like wearing a mask for me and it's helped me just be able to do public things much better, public speaking and everything. I know you love The Simpsons. So when you're told or asked to do the voice, does it feel like the Bart Simpson? Like, do the line, Bart. I didn't do it. Yes. Sometimes, yes. Especially if it's, I'll get it sometimes. We're like, if I'm doing a meet and greet, I don't, let's, it's little kids, I don't really do the voice, like, because I'm talking to adults. And it's also usually for a comic con where I'm there for a long time.

I can't do the voice for eight hours straight. I won't have a voice for TV or like, you know, videos or whatever. So like, sometimes people just walk up and do it, do the voice. And I'm just like, no. Also, that's not like a polite way to ask that. You should just then curse them. Usually they'll be like, well, can I at least get cursed? And I'll do that, you know.

They've been cursed, though. Like, I can do the voice. It's just like a. don't just come up to me and say, do the line bar, like, it's just, it's weird.

I didn't do it. Makes me feel really weird immediately. Does it strain your voice? A little bit, yes. So if I'm doing like cameos, uh, for a long time,

like Christmas time or Halloween, like I usually have a lot, like of extra ones, uh, I feel like I'm going to throw up. What? At a certain point, like it starts to make me nauseous almost.

I think I'm projecting for, like I should probably take classes, which I think you've sent me things before. which I probably forgot to read, but I remembered right now. But there's probably techniques to not feel that way. But yeah, I think it's because I'm projecting from like the back of my throat. Instead of your diaphragm. Probably.

That's a whole thing, right? Yeah. And it just eventually makes me feel nauseous and I'll start. I could start to lose my voice. Just have a chat with Justin Roberts. Yeah. The way that he works his voice and somehow never loses it. Yeah.

He clearly knows what he's doing. Yeah. So I don't know. is why I also save the voice for just TV things and video things, because like if I do my videos or whatever for Patreon or YouTube or whatever, like it's generally treated like a full work day where it's like, I don't know, we're going to be filming for like eight hours. So that's a day where I need to do the voice for realistically not eight hours, but multiple hours.

So do you love that Danhausen? I do. I have to at this point. I thought true. Yeah. I don't know. No, no, no. I enjoy doing it still.

Yeah. I feel like it could very easily not be fun or be turned into something that's like a chore. And sometimes it is. And then I just have to remember like old jobs that I had like where I go, I just have to put on makeup and make someone smile. Like that that's so much nicer. And like I don't want to say nicer because like I used to be a nursing assistant. So like you're 12 hour shifts. They were very hard usually. They were long. I'd work multiple. Usually I've done like 12 days in a row of that stuff. And I try. to remember those where I go, it's this much, much, much more lax and easier. And I don't have to clean up puke or like bodily fluids.

So I'm like, this is, this is good. That was rewarding, but this is also rewarding. I remember going to Ronan Pro Wrestling in South Florida. Yeah. And you were, you were Donovan Dan House. Yes. Which was a completely different character. I was guy.

Guy with beard and tattoos. Guy with beard and tattoos. Yeah, but that was like the first, what, few years probably of me starting. So it was just, hey, go get reps in and wrestle people. And, you know, without that, I don't think I would have gotten to where I was, obviously. Like, I feel like there's people who kind of got their character, like almost immediately. Like, MJF, I think didn't take very long to get who he was. And then he just added to it because it's him.

He's just, he's a jerk. So he's the worst. He's the worst. So he just adds to being the worst constantly. Yeah. He just gets horrible and worse and worse and worse. Like I would see him, what was it, C4 wrestling in Ottawa. And instead of selling merch, he would just sit at the merch table and yell at people.

That's it. That's what he would do. That's classic MJF. That's also what he does at Comic-Con. But now he's got a little bit longer lines. I think he mixes it up and takes some of the money. But for you to go from that, call it generic indie wrestler to this, which popped off like crazy, there's a there's a big jump from that like it didn't i don't i didn't see any of this danhausen when i watched

you in the ring back then no no no that was very much serious trying to be uh ass kicker man and i'm not like i like it's just not who i am i'm goofy i like like we talked about i like watching the simpsons i like cartoons comic books horror movies but like you know like be horror movies too where it's kind of goofy and tongue and cheek and like that's more of who i am So, like, being able to slowly trickle into that version of me was much more comfortable in suiting. But you don't just trickle into putting makeup on. No. That's a big line you cross.

Yes. So that came from my dad because Halloween was very big in our house. He would do my makeup every single year. I'd be a zombie with glass out of my head. But he'd send me to school like this. Like, what, I don't know, first and second grade, probably third grade. Like, you'd do full makeup on me, send me to school. And they'd be like, oh, that's, um, that's, you'd send me to school.

it's a little extreme, don't you think? And he'd be like, I'm a zombie. I don't know. My dad did my makeup. That's awesome. But he worked in haunted houses, like, as was growing up. So he's super artistic. He'd paint comic book stores and things like that.

He'd paint the Hulk and spawn and everything on the walls. He'd make my costumes like homemade. We did a cane one year where he took a Jason mask and he painted it, it melted it, and used, like, hot glue and stuff. Because I don't think they were selling cane masks at the time. So he took a sweatsuit and plethora. and made me the red and black cane suit. So there's a photo of that somewhere.

I don't know. What? My guy will find it. Yeah. It's been posted somewhere on Twitter and probably Instagram and everything. But there's that. There's the zombie. This is Dracula.

Like that slowly just has always been in the back of my head. So that's always been there of wanting to do that. Wow. Like the horror character or including the horror stuff into it, but not knowing how because it's usually not great. There's like a few examples where it is. But generally, it's always kind of like you're either the tough guy or you're the horror character or like, you know, whatever. Like, so yeah, that eventually got there.

But what made you go, what I'm doing on the Indies isn't working? I'm going to do a massive right turn here. Try something else. That was without naming names. I was doing like weekly indies and making no money. I was working, I think, at Starbucks at the time. So I was doing 5 a.m. shifts. So I was waking up at like four or whatever, getting to work, 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.

driving three or three and a half hours every week to the independent place or whatever and wrestling. And it was fine. I was getting reps and stuff, but I was getting beat up. I wasn't making any money at the time. Like, I didn't have the character. I still wasn't. I was selling a couple T-shirts here and there. But I remember it was just like months and months and months of that after years and years and years of like the Ronans and all that.

And like, fest wrestling and. traveling around to Texas and everywhere. St. Louis. So during this one, just one of the shows I had gotten, was it the kitchen sink where they kick you in the stomach, you flip over? But I think it for real got kicked in the ribs, flipped over, and I landed on my knees,

and then I was going to get kicked in the chest. And, like, it's fully open. And I got kicked straight in the throat, like as hard as humanly possible. And I just rolled out of the ring, and I was like, this fucking sucks. Sorry, I don't know if we're allowed to swear. I know our truth said hell on here.

You said a lot of things. Sorry, I keep moving too. So that was one of the, it was just like building, but that was like the catalyst of I went, fuck this. I don't want to do this anymore. This sucks. Because I was also like,

I thought I'd crush my larynx because it was like, it was bad. I was like, I should maybe go to the hospital. I don't know. I just grabbed my stuff and I went in my car and I just sat there for a second. And I was like, I'm going to drive home. I'm not coming back here. I have to figure something out

because I want to quit wrestling right now. Wow. And then I was like, well, I think it was sub grabs in Tennessee was like, hey, come do whatever you want. Like Kevin Koo helped run it

from violences forever. And it was Jesse. His name's righteous Jesse. I don't know his last name. I can't remember. He has a VHS store in Nashville now, though. But they were just like, yeah, do it's a Halloween show,

do whatever you want. So I did the They Live makeup which I just watched some guy do a tutorial on YouTube and I just copied it, which I learned again from my dad, which is watching him do makeup all the time. I was like, I can draw kind of like I'm not great,

but like I can look at something and I can kind of recreate it for it. Not easily, but I can do that fairly well. So that's what I did with makeup. And then I just did that. And I was like, well, this I can't make money off of

because it's John Carpenter's. Like they live makeup. But it's a fun Halloween makeup. So I did that. And then I went back to doing normal Danhausen a little bit here and there. And I was like, it doesn't feel the same. Like, this kind of sucks still. Like, does it feel right?

And then I think it was Jimmy Jacobs at an AIW seminar, was just like, why don't you just do your makeup more? Or like, all the time. He's like, I watched you do it. You seemed very comfortable. And then I watched you not do it again for a few shows after that, like just clips or whatever. And it's like, you don't look like you're in your own skin. And I was like, okay. And then I started doing it more and more and more and more and more and started getting more comfortable with it.

But that was the horror serious version. So that had to develop more. But that lasted for a little while. I can tell that you've been wearing the makeup recently because it's in your ears. Yeah, it's in my ears. It's always in my ears. It's always in my eyes. I had it on last night at a show.

What's the key? It's just makeup wipes? Yeah. And then shower. And then I always still in my ears. In here. It's in here. It's probably inside of my skull at this point.

It doesn't seem to get off on your opponents as much as like Stings makeup. No. So I think he uses a relic, which is like normal painting. You use latex? No. So I use wolf makeup, which is like a theater-based water-based makeup. Oh. I think it's just like a higher quality so it doesn't come off.

But if it's like sauna hot in the arena or wherever we're at in the hall or the gym or wherever I'm at that week, like if it's sauna hot, it'll underneath get like. sweaty and then the moment someone like puts me in a headlock it's just off but only in that section though like it's not draining down my face yeah uh yeah so like when sting would wrestle people like it'd be all over there he'd peel off yeah a little bit and then it would get on people yes you'd see it like if it was in a headlock you'd see it on someone's arm or something like that mine does that kind of but like at the beginning of a match if it's like in here where it's nice it won't do that like you might get like a tiny tiny bit but like it comes off of the mat easily it comes off of clothes and gear easily. So I think people will see it and go, oh, you're going to ruin my gear.

And I go, no, I'm not. That's why I use what I use. It's so it doesn't ruin anything. I am a professional. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So the thing, the great thing about being Danhausen is you don't have to take the crazy bumps you were taking early on. Like that style of wrestling really, like, allows you to have a little bit more longevity. Yes. And then you can kind of pick and choose your moments of like, oh, well, maybe for this match because it's a pay-per-view match or it's a bigger match. I can take those bumps. We can build a little bit more of something. Because, yeah, for the most part, like, if it's, you know, an independent show, like,

I don't need to be bumping on the floor, like, bumping on the apron or anything like that or, you know, doing anything crazy, even though, like, for GCW, we wrestled, I wrestled Cardona. And it was just, like, one of those things where it's like, you can see me kicking glass, like, leftover glass out of the ring because, like, I don't want to get slammed on glass. This sucks. But, like, it comes to the table.

territory of some shows. Conan O'Brien, possessed by a demon, might be the best description of any inspiration for wrestling character. Which was awesome that I got to tell him that. That's insane. Which, yeah, that, uh, which that leads into the, like, we touched on a little bit, but the serious horror character, you could see, I, oh, I could see that it was kind of getting a little bit more successful and I was selling more merch and whatever.

And then it was kind of like, hit a standstill. And I was like, okay, so this isn't it. but this is the right direction. And it was kind of like a, I think of it as like convention based too. Like if there's a horror convention, horror fans are only going to go to it. If it's an everything convention,

there's something for everybody, like a comic book or just whatever general media convention. Like, so the horror is kind of too niche, I think, of just being only a horror character. And I think that's why Bray Wyatt worked better when he was the fiend and, you know, just Bray Wyatt.

Yeah. Like, because he had both, best of both worlds. He had Peewey's Playhouse. and he had horror movies. So it's like, that's where you can get everybody. Because they go, oh, even if I don't like this, I love this part of it. Sure.

So I like this character. And then you just generally probably wind up liking both. So that was like mixing in Conan O'Brien and Pee Wee Herman and Alvira in movies like Evil Dead 2, an Army of Darkness, like Samaramy stuff. Just like the B movie, weird horror, Texas Chainsaw Masker 2, American Werewolf in London. like has humor in it, even though it's such a horror movie. But like mixing all of that and like the Simpsons and Mr. Burns and Krusty the clown, like a lot of Krusty the clown in what I do.

My face is on everything. Yeah. Yeah, but mixing that stuff and then a nice way to describe it is just Conan O'Brien possessed by a demon. Is that a nice thing? I think so. Yeah, I think he's a genius. Who wants to be possessed by a demon?

I mean, if that demon makes money. Man, you're very rich, right? Yeah, very rich, very evil. And very nice? Yeah, and very nice sometimes. The interesting thing about Danhausen is when you look at the character, you can tell he's not, like, going to kill you. Like, there's something that's kind of...

He might think he's going to, though. But there's something that's, there's a... He's very nice. Yeah. And very evil. But if you were to just look at it. Yeah. If you were to just look at the face pain, you'd go,

that guys, he seems kind of nice. That's only smiling. That's it. Because, uh, it's quite a smile. Well, so that came from the everybody's wrestling promo photos was always just them with their yelling face or, well, like their tongue out or something. So I was like, oh, you're supposed to smile in photos to look nice. So that's where that's where that came from. It's just that.

And being told I smiled too much when I was wrestling. So then I turned it into a money making thing. It's brilliant. I tried to turn everything that was told not to do into something that makes me money, basically. When did the momentum really start to build? When did the popularity still really start to be there? I would say, so I was wrestling, scheduled to wrestle Effie. And that was when he was first also getting some notoriety.

Because we also done Florida Indies together just when we first started. Like at Fest Wrestling, we wrestled, I think, every single show for some reason, which was 2015 or something around there, 2015, 2016. But we had Black Label Pro, and we were supposed to have like an eight-minute match or something. And they're like, sorry, guys, people went long. You have, I think it was four minutes. And we're like, okay. And that's where I did the teeth for the first time.

Because I was like, well, if I could do this weird stuff that I kind of want to experiment with, like, Fee's the guy to do that with. So that's what I was like, I used them like thumb tacks for that match. And I just poured them out. I think we did a superplex as the finish on the teeth. Yeah, we just, I took that four minutes. or five minutes or whatever it was. And we got a little bit of buzz off of that because people look, oh,

teeth, that's weird. And then I just rolled with it and kept putting out stuff and more and more and more. Like, it's all like, I try to tell this to people, like, who are coming up and who have had some,

like some success. Like, you have to just continue with that momentum no matter what. Like, just roll with it. Like, keep it going up as much as humanly possible because you don't know when it's going to end.

And I think you also need to remember that, especially when you're on the Indies, the crowd, it saw you in Illinois is not, is not the same crowd that's seeing you in California or Florida or wherever. You kind of have to pretend it's the first time anybody's seeing you every single time. Yeah. Unless, like, if it's somewhere like freelance wrestling,

generally I know that their crowd knows who I am at this point. Like, I've done their shows so many times. That's a different story. But yeah, like last night in Atwater, California, like that's four hours from Los Angeles. They don't all know who I am. Yeah. So, like, this is a show where you have to go,

oh, well, this is me and kind of give them the, not the greatest hits, but the greatest hits. Like, this is why I always look back at, like, the John Cena getting the five moves of Doom thing. And it's like, yeah, that's genius. That's what everyone should be doing because each time you have to pretend, like, you have to do your things so people know what your things are. So then eventually it does catch on everywhere.

And that's just how it works. It got to a point 2019, 2020 into 2021, where you were everywhere. And it was like you couldn't ignore how over you were and how popular you were. And so that mania year, I was supposed to have, because it was my first mania weekend that I was doing where I was like, oh, cool, I'm finally at mania weekend. What city was that? What was it supposed to be? It was 2020. Oh, it was 36 when it was supposed to be in Tampa.

Yes. And I was supposed to do 12 matches, I think, in three days or something like that. So I was going to be bouncing. I was going to probably have an hour break in between. each, but I had different matches everywhere. Like, I think it was supposed to, oh, man, I was supposed to put on the show with Warhorse, which is called WrestleMania,

which we booked as, like, a gimmick show, but also, like, we wanted to have good matches. So I think we were going to have Jake something versus Airwolf, who is Dante Martin, or Darius, or Dante, no, Airwolf. Which one was Airwolf? There was Lucha Angel and there was Airwolf. I don't know which ones they were.

They had masks on. But it was going to wrestle, like, something we're going to call him werewolf and I was like you're just stupid things like that we was going to a war horse was going to team with the ascension and I was going to team with Effie and gangrel and we're going to come out to the brood music

we're just going to have fun with it and just do things like that I can't remember what the other matches were but there was just like a bunch of just stuff like that on the show and I think I was supposed to wrestle Gigi G. G.G. Dallin on a show like I think I was going to wrestle on a death match show, but not do a death match. Like, I don't know. It was just, I was going to be everywhere.

I was going to be at Fest wrestling, teaming with like Jake something and doing some type of six man. So, yeah, there was just all of that stuff. And then it just got taken away. Yeah. Which, you know, it is what it is. Yeah. And the world shut down and we had to figure that out.

Yeah. But I still think that you had this momentum that it was like it was too big to ignore. If you knew anything about wrestling, Danhausen was everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it was just constantly putting my name out there. And it says the George Costanza where he leaves the pillow, I think, or the, he leaves something in that. The hat.

The hat. And he says, Costanza. And I was like, oh, I should just add Housen to everything. And this is also my friend, friends Nick and David, who helped me film everything, who have been best friends with for like 10 years since I worked at a movie theater. I think he added Housen to a gangrel promo. He was just like, oh, you should say, son of a bitch, housing. And I was like, yeah, I should. And then he did it.

And then that caught on. And they started just doing that more and more and more and more. Would I be Chris Housen? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But you get the people who don't know how to do it exactly. And it's like, Chris Van Housen-Velais. I'm like, no, no, no, this is too much.

This is just, you get it only do it sometimes and give it to people's names. And sometimes they don't, I don't know. You just got to feel it out. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action with over 10, million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 1,000 times your cash. Run your game all season long on prize picks. And prize picks puts their members first, so all withdrawals are fast, safe, and secure. When your picks hit,

you can get your money in as quick as 15 minutes. Sign up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. Prize Picks is the best way to win real money this season. Which players are going off? Which ones aren't going off? Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season long on prize picks.

Download the app today and use the code Insight to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That code is Insight when you download the app. Prize picks, run your game. You had so much popularity that AEW couldn't ignore you. And there was so much, I feel like the fans were clamoring for this for a long time. When you finally came out and you finally debuted, it was huge. Yeah, that was, I still had the broken leg, too. Yeah.

So that wasn't fun getting under the ring with the broken leg because it had broke three months before. Halloween. Did you get signed with the broken leg? Yes. So I was signed with the broken leg. I'd been talking to them a little bit. Like, I would say within the last week or two before that. And then I showed up because I think I message Brody.

And I was like, hey, you're kind of close. I'm just sitting at home with a broken leg. Am I able to come just say hello to people? And he goes, I'll ask. And I think that was just, yeah, that's fine. And then you go through the motion. You sign up just so they know who you are and everything. And, yeah.

I was there. I think that was the day where I think Cody was, he had asked me, he goes, hey, are you doing something tonight? And I was like, I'm not dressed as Danhausen at this point.

And I'm just, I probably in one of my boots or something. And I was like, I mean, I always have my stuff just in case. I was like, but I got a broken leg and I don't work here. So I,

and I was like, I don't know. He goes, all right, well, let me know. We'll get you something. If you're not.

And I was like, oh, wow. So I think Cody was going to do something with the Sammy Guevara match, which I think wound up being his last match for the TNT title. It's a crazy ladder match, right?

Yes, so I think they were going to pull me out on a ladder. If the thing with Orange and Adam Cole didn't happen, he was just going to figure out a way to get me in his match to get me on. And I was like, oh, well, that's awesome. But we wound up doing the Adam Cole, Orange Cassidy spot, which was similar, but same thing. And all that I could really do was,

I was like, I could curse him. I can't really do anything. I can't run. Like, I can kind of hobble around. But what was great about it is the crowd instantly knew who you were. Which I was so relieved. Because, you don't know. Like, yes, I'm popular on the Indies, but like, and we had done, I'd done Ring of Honor.

But, like, you don't know what translates to where. And this is before AEW owned Ring of Honor. Yes. Yeah, yeah. This was. Ring of Honor had just shut down probably like three or four months before because I think Ring of Honor shut down

oh wait, maybe they shut down in December. I think they did Final Battle and then I think that might have been it. That might have been their last show. And then you debuted an AW. Like a month later. Yeah. Because I had done commentary on Final Battle

with a broken leg and it sucked because I had to get up some stairs to get to the thing. I think it commented at a PCO match because I was teaming with him at the time. But then again, broken leg. But yeah, so they just debuted there and it kind of just snowballed from there.

But then there were so many great moments like, you curse William Regal? And this is all there. The crowd chants, holy shit. Yeah. I wish I had been able to do more with him on screen because he was also a guy took a lot of my facial expressions from.

I don't know if people ever which I don't know why they don't, but he's one of the best comedic wrestlers, like wherever he was. Like, all of that stuff with Tijiri was, he's just making faces constantly. It's just the match of the big show that I see the clip all the time now

where he hits him with the brass knuckles and the big show falls back and then falls on him. It's just things like that. Like, the guys like him. He plays a great straight man. Yes, he plays a great straight man, but he's also plays a great comedic heel.

Yeah, yeah. Same thing with like Christian. Like I remember I was in the gym and Christian walked in and it was like, I usually don't like want to bother people. But I was like, hey, I was like, can I ask you something? And it was like, you don't usually, I don't think get asked about this specifically. But like you were a great comedic heel who also could just win matches. And I was like, I think that's like the key is like you have to be taken seriously when it's time to be taken seriously. But like he was tag team champions while he was putting giant sunglasses.

and hats and kazooz. And doing five second poses. And doing five second poses, but also he was like a legitimate tag team champion at the time. That's true. Like him and Edge. So like, yeah,

Kurt Angles in that same category. Stone Cold Steve Austin is kind of in that same category. Put a tiny cowboy hat on. He's swimming in milk. Like he, I don't think like, like, like yeah,

Stone Cold Steve Austin is like the badass wrestler. But also like he is swimming in milk in beer. Yeah. And doing comedy things all of the time. and it's amazing. Same thing with The Rock. Like, Yeah,

when Stone Cold would sing. Yes. It was so funny. Yes. And I just like, I don't think people think of like how well rounded all of those like John Sina. It's the rock.

It's Stone Cold. It's Triple H. It's Sean Michaels. Like they're all very comedic wrestlers also. Yeah. And I think that's where like a lot of the, where it's like, oh,

you know, comedy wrestling is bad. And like, if you took out the comedy from all of those, like a lot of their major moments, wouldn't be around, that you probably are fond. Like Stone Cold stunning Santa Claus is one of, I remember that from childhood.

Like, that's one of my first memories of Stone Cold. Yeah. A lot of the DX stuff. Yes, it's all comedy-based. Like that spot where Triple Age comes off the middle rope. Yeah. And he won't fall for whatever it is a minute or something. Yep.

That's hilarious. Yeah. And it's like, this is all comedy-based. Like, this is probably what more people connected with on a personal level is these guys being real human beings doing stuff like this versus like you can't actually relate to hitting someone with a sledgehammer

you know what I mean? Like no one's going around hitting people's sledgehammers. Ramming in people's heads. That's probably not where they actually connected with a guy like Triple H. They probably connected with them from doing goofy things where you're like, oh, it's funny. I do that at home.

I connected with him because I wanted to spit water everywhere. Yeah, well, yeah. Just looked so cool. The flash bulbs are going off. Yeah. He came out to motorhead. It was cool. All of his motorhead themes are so cool.

Yes. The King of Kings is awesome. Evolution. Yes. Yep. I really like the one two. Is this so on? Yeah.

Oh, it's my time. Yeah. But like all of that stuff is, like I said, I feel like that's connecting, like you connected with Stone Cold or people connected with Stone Cold because he's beating up his boss. Yeah. Well, that's the reason he got over. Yeah.

But then there's all the comedy stuff, the hitting him in the head with a bed pan. hilarious. Yeah. What are the things people connect with you the most? I think just being authentically weird, uh, because like I throw in these little bits of, you know,

Conan and the Simpsons, but I make it my own thing in Peewee and like, obviously there's some stuff where I just do it. But like, uh, I think they go, oh, I like that as a kid.

Oh, this guy's doing all that weird stuff that I liked as a kid or it's very similar. So like, I'm connected to that now. Or the horror movie stuff. Like you get the horror fans because they go, oh, his makeup looks like it's inspired by the exorcist. Oh, well, it is.

So then they go, oh, well, now I like you. There's even just stuff where they'll make connections that aren't necessarily there, but that's fine because they're connecting to something with me and that makes them happy. But if you didn't tell me that you were inspired by Conan O'Brien, I never would have made that connection. Ah, well, I got the hair. Like, my hair is usually, if it's longer, I try to do a very shitty Conan O'Brien, like, pompadour. And it's because, oh, he's a nice TV host looking guy.

That's what my guy is. Like, um, so he was your guy in the era of letter men in, yeah. So I used to like specifically, I remember, you got a stamp later for him. Yes.

And I remember, I want to say specifically on like summer breaks, I would be up later. So his show would just be on. He came on at 1235. Yeah. And I would just be late watching that. And I just remember what the year 2000 bits.

Like those were mostly what I remember. Yeah. Constantly from that time. And it's just weird humor. It's like kind of adult humor, but also not. And I know, but it is.

So it falls under that Simpsons category or like the space ghost category or a viral. Like it's not for children, but also children can enjoy it sort of because it's so goofy. Yeah. But it's got that weird mix of adult humor in it too. It's like the Batman the animated series comic like cartoon. Like I can enjoy that as an adult as much as I did as a kid. Yeah. Because it's a nice mix.

You have so many like moments that could be just throw away moments that end up like really turning into something. For example, the ass boys. This is another David Davis, my assistant on camera. Another thing he's like, oh, yeah, because I think I was calling Billy Gunn, Billy ass or something. Right. That's Bill Ass. And he's like, yeah, he's Bill Ass. And they're like, because he had Mr. Ass on his trunks. And I was like, so in my head, my character would think, oh, that's his last name is ass. So these have to be cold and an awesome. an ass.

So they're his ass. And I think David goes, yeah, they're his little ass boys. And then I just like, oh, that's great. So, because we were on the,

the cruise, the Jericho cruise together. And I'd ask them, I go, hey, would you care if I call you Billy ass? Because I didn't really know

Billy at the time and I didn't know, like, Colton and Austin that well. Like, I knew them a little bit. But on the cruise, I was not signed.

So, like, they were just guys that I was working with on the cruise. And I was like, oh, this could be funny. Can I call you this?

because I don't want to offend anybody, especially like Billy. Billy's a legend. Like I don't want to just call him Bill ass and be like, what are you doing? But they're all very cool with it. And like, I remember Billy saying,

well, I don't know how to do funny stuff. And I'm like, he's one of the funniest guys like on TV when he's allowed, like, doing that. So,

he's a funny guy in general. Yes. Yeah, he's also just sighted. He's incredible looking. The best looking guys on the roster. So jacked. Yes.

He's huge. But yeah, no, the ass boys thing. So I just, I believe I had found this out after. I guess Peter Avalon had called them ass boys on a dark at some point. But I hadn't seen it. But then I just rolled with it and made it a thing more. So like, I think technically he said it first. Yes.

And then I just kept saying it and kept calling that and doing side YouTube videos with them. Like, I think I looked the other day and it's like one of my top three YouTube videos. It got them so. over. Yeah, but they put in the work. Like, sure. They embraced the ass. They were signing autographs like,

not ass boys, which I thought was so funny. Austin or Colton, I don't know which one. I think that's still one of their Twitter handles is not ass boy. But yeah, like they obviously, they took it and ran with it and they,

they're awesome. So like, they were able to do something with that and then turn it into something out. So now they're with the Bullet Club gold. So like, which they get to be entertaining in, which I think is one of their biggest strengths is that they're very, they're super entertaining.

Juice Robinson, Jay White, they're all super entertaining. What exactly happens when Dan Housen curses someone? Hopefully it works. I never know. Like, is their life just turned to shambles? They're superstitious enough. I think so, maybe. Hopefully they're superstitious enough to where something happens to work for them.

Have you cursed MJF? Because you're not on screen. You should. I stole his scarf off screen. That was at a Comic-Con. Curse him. I may have at New York Comic-Con done something with Curr-I don't think I've cursed him, though. I agree.

It probably needs to be done. He deserves it. He does deserve it. Yeah. But does something, do they feel it immediately? It's an individual experience every single time. William Regal seem to feel it. He seemed to get electrocuted or something.

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. And then I got yelled at by Brian Daniels. and to uncurs him. So that's why he was uncursed. How did the torn peck happen? That was the 310 to Yuma.

I don't know what their moves called. I've got all this backwards. It's the ass boys finishing move, which is the pop-up flatliner. And when I come down, I landed a little bit more like this instead of this. So like the way that I came down, it's also

Colton lifts me and then it's like a reverse rock bottom for people who don't maybe know and Austin is a thick boy his chest is thick so I don't know if it's a combination of me coming down half in a push-up position but also rickishing off of Austin

while ricoishing off of this side of Colton so I think it just landed weird because obviously a bunch of people have taken this move and they're fine But yeah, I'd come down and it just, I think I watched it. And it went like this and then this part snapped off. And I didn't know. I didn't know I tore my peck because I thought when you tear your peck at like Codys.

Yeah. And I didn't as far as I knew. I had gone to the back and we thought it was just a shoulder thing because they like tested my strength and all that. And they're like, yeah, it doesn't seem like you did anything serious to it because you're able to do a bunch of like presses and pushing. and it was fine. And I was like, oh, yeah, I think I just jammed my shoulder.

And then the next morning I woke up and I think this whole piece was missing. But I noticed probably because it was swollen at the time or something like from immediately happening. Luckily, that was the finish of the match. But it rolled up into your chest? Just this. This little piece right here. It's like a wing.

Yeah, yeah. It was just missing. So like instead of having this connecting my pack, it just went up and around. Buddy Matthews actually, he went, you're missing. you peck in his buddy matthews uh you got a sweet scar now yeah i guess so look uh some of them look gross this one looks okay oh it's uh pretty cool yeah maybe you get to you know extend the tattoo and cover it i could they were also very nice and didn't cut into anything uh that's true yeah they did that with my i don't have tattoos on my leg but they seem to try to go around people's tattoos

yeah they did they kind of like yeah they cut right around your shoulder tattoo yeah no that doctor was great i actually went to my leg guy, because the leg guy, someone just landed on my leg and broke it. Like, this was just a weird pressing motion. Like I said, and I didn't feel the snap. Like, I've always heard that if you tear a muscle, you kind of feel a snap. And I just did it. It just hurt.

And it was like, oh. And then I rolled over and I got pinned. And then I think I crawled out of the ring, which I probably shouldn't have done. But also that made me think nothing was actually like super wrong. I thought I just jammed my shoulder. Yeah. Yeah. So that's how that happened.

Did your momentum? Most devastating maneuver. Did your momentum start to kind of slow down because of the injury? No, not necessarily. I don't think because I try to just make everything something. So, like, I just kept doing videos from home. I kept doing comic book conventions. I think I still had a couple of, like, independent show appearances that I just did still.

I think I probably just did some type of, like, general manager thing or managing something. Yeah, I just try to stay relevant and on. still and still doing stuff. So that way I'm still in the public eye because I always think of it's out of sight, out of mind. So no, I don't think I super lost it because also I think people just rallied around me again and wanted to support like anything I was doing.

They're like, yeah, yeah, we'll just watch all of his stuff then. It just wasn't explained when you weren't on AEW for all of 2024. I feel like there should have been some sort of. So that wasn't this. I know. Oh, okay.

After that. Yeah, yeah. But it feels like there should have been some sort of explanation as to like, all right, you're doing something else or, I don't know, just weren't there. Yeah, that was, uh, I did the Halloween three segments that I was like, I want to do something fun for Halloween. Like I didn't come back from this probably, I think it was fine in October,

but it was still kind of like, give it another month. Uh, so I was like, well, we could air these Halloween three style, like, annoying, like commercials until I come back. And I was like, cool. And then it kind of just didn't happen. Well, fans were starting to wonder if you were even still with it. Well, no, for a long time I was there. I just wasn't doing anything, which like if you don't have anything for me, that's fine.

But I feel like we need to find something for me. So you'd still be backstage? For some of that, yes, not for all of 2024. At some point, you can just stay home. And I'm like, okay, cool, that's great because I appreciate that because I'm not just getting brought out to like whatever. And then they were letting me do the indies and doing the conventions. And it just helps me again, stay sharp, which is in turn for them.

And also still, I always looked at that. as I'm still representing the company then. 8.0.A. Like, because I'm on these shows. So that's better than me just not being seen on the show. Like, I'm still at a convention, like, with Sting or whatever, taking pictures with Sting and posting pictures of Sting.

Like, yeah. Doing that. And, like, all I can say was when people were like, oh, why, where are you at when you coming back? And I go, I don't know, you should ask, like, ask. Because, you know, the more people are vocal, maybe the more there's the chance of, like, I got something.

Well, it must have worked. Yeah. You came back at Hammerstein Ballroom. Yeah. And there was a big reaction. It seemed like there's a big reaction. So now it's kind of seeing where that's going to go, what's going to happen. Figuring out still.

But I would like to be, you know, presented on TV because I think the character is for TV. Absolutely. Like, I think the top seller list for the last four years or whatever, like of, you know, sales on TV or not on TV, like it's always top three or top four. I think it's always top three. You were top three this year. Top three this year for sure.

And it was Sting Will Osprey and you. Yes. Pretty impressive for a guy who didn't have a TV match all year. Last year I think was CM Punk, MGF, me. Pepsi Phil? I believe so. And then I think the year before that was maybe I was number one. I don't remember.

But regardless, I feel like that should translate into television time just based off of... Very marketable. Marketability, like, I've had this, like... I don't know, we definitely didn't get into this the last time, but where I know there's certain aspect of... or a certain section of fans where they go, well, we like the constant PWG style matches

where that's what they like. So they don't necessarily like the Danhausen thing. And I'm like, that's fine. Wrestling is a variety show for everybody. It is for children. it's for teenagers, it is for adults, it is for older people. And like, I find a lot of like, I would say middle age people, kids, and older people like me.

So there's still that some section of like those people, like it's obviously everybody. There's a mix of everybody. Like those are like the three, like my age group and then older people who like stuff like Legion of Doom and like the characters like from the 80s, they love me. Like whenever I see legends at the convention, it's always. always my favorite because it's like, you see someone like Jimmy Hart and he goes, I love you, baby. It's people like him.

Like, it's always cool to see it or demolition. Like, those guys get it. So that's always like a nice reminder of like what it's a godfather. I always see him every single time. He's super cool with me. Oh, yeah. Like that guy loves life. He loves it.

It's the best. He's great. Charles just this huge personality. Yeah, I was going to call him Papa Shango. I was like more people might know as godfather, but Papa Shango, Godfather. Well, depends what day you go to the convention, right? This is true. Yeah.

He got them on both days. Godfather one day, Papa Shanga the next. Amazing. It's just, it's one of those things where I go, I understand I'm not for everybody, but also like, I'm a benefit to a show because I have a lot of people who do not like wrestling like me. And they buy merchandise. And they will buy tickets to come to the shows to see me still.

And then in turn, my whole idea with the Danhausen character was always, oh, well, if you like the weird thing I'm doing, that'll get you to watch the wrestling show, and then you'll watch a Will Osprey. Or, you know, something like that, and you'll go, oh, I didn't know this was on here. You know, something super athletic where they go, oh, wow, I didn't realize that this was going to be on the show or like a Powerhouse Hobbs, you go, holy shit. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah.

And that's what we can all be doing because, like, obviously a Powerhouse Hobbs is not me, is not a Will Osprey. Like we all bring something different to that table. Wrestling is a buffet. Yes. And I'm not going to eat everything at the buffet, but that's fine. Me neither. And I'll take the things from the buffet that I like the most.

Yes. But the other things are still options there for everyone else. Exactly. And that's all that that is. So like it's just one of those things where you obviously you just have to kind of take it. And you're just like, okay, yes, this group of people does not like me. They don't think I should be on this show with people. That's fine.

Because they're objectively wrong. everybody has a spot on the show and everybody plays a part on the show. How do you deal with that criticism? I try to know. I, I'm like everybody and I see some of it here and there, but like I try to purposely, like, I don't, uh, what is it called? Oh, we see your vanity searching. No, no, no, no. The four you tab shows me that plenty.

Where it goes, oh, your name is in this. This person thinks you suck. You want to see this. And I go, great. Thank you. But yeah, yeah, no, no, no. I don't do the vanity searching thing. like, you just happen to see it, especially like on a day where I come back.

And then it's, you got a bunch of people who are excited. Like, for every hundred people that are excited, you'll get the one person who goes, I wish he never came back. And you go, well, that's the one I'm going to remember. Which is unfortunate, but I think it's just human nature. That's just the way we are. Yeah. Which, that's what sticks with you.

And then it's just one of those things kind of like when I said, waking up and having to put makeup on like eight in the morning, I go, this sucks. And I go, well, I'm not waking up at five to go do a 12-hour shift. That's going to be really rough. Yeah, you're not digging ditches. No. So, like, it is what it is. It comes with the job.

It's fine. It just kind of makes me appreciate the fans that do, like, love me even more. Yeah. Which I think is how you have to just deal with that. When we did our last interview, it was so great because we were able to dive into, like, who you are and how you created the character and all of that. There was a handful of people that were like, well, why do you break K-Fame? Why is he out of character? And it's like, what are you going to do?

Like, we live in a world. I do it probably more than most people. Stay in character. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then every once in a while, I think it's important to do something like this to remind people, oh, no, no, this is a real person. Just every once in a while. Like, I don't do it constantly.

I don't do it weekly. Like, we did the one four years ago. Yeah. And you did one with Conan. I did the Conan. Yeah, someone was like, why didn't you do the makeup? I was like, because I'm not blowing that by showing up in makeup and not telling them, because that's how that would have had to go.

Oh, really? Well, because they did a screening process before. Yeah. Which I didn't know. That's what it was. Where I met with one of the producers and they didn't tell me what it was for. And then they had told me like the day before, like, you're going to be on Zoom with Conan. And I was like, oh, well, I could show up in character, but like also that risks getting kicked off.

And then I'm going, we didn't agree to this. This is weird. Like, so I was just like, no, no, no, no. I will just be me. And then hopefully I'll get another opportunity with him at some point to do a skit or something. with Conan. I think it gives a greater appreciation for what you do when you're in the ring. Hopefully. Absolutely. Because I've interviewed Adam Sandler a bunch of times. I interviewed Adam Sandler. I didn't interview Happy Gilmore, no. Or the character from Big Daddy or whatever, his guy from

Uncut Jems, which is a masterpiece. Yeah, I just saw that for the first time this year. Oh, man. Or last year. You're on the edge of your seat the whole time. You're like, I was kind of on here. Yeah, it was that. It was a good time. It's just funny how wrestling, sometimes operates in that world. Yeah. And then a lot of times doesn't operate in that world. And the rules don't always apply.

Well, no. But yeah, like, which I noticed, we're not in the Undertaker's gym to do this interview. He's very disappointed. Man, his gym's incredible. Yeah, like Undertakers doing interviews,

I don't know, out of character. Like, he was the guy who, like, stuck to it for the longest time. And it's just like, it's a different time. Like, what do you want from us? Like, it's, It's the same thing with like, I'd learn this from Ethan Page. He was like, do not stay in character during selling merch.

He goes, it is, it just doesn't work. Don't do that. Like, the only person I've seen it worked for was MGAF, who was just yelling at people. But that's just. It's a very like. To he is. Yes, that and like, it is a very rare thing that him just being in yelling at people constantly, just worked out for him.

Like, if I was just being an annoying guy, an annoying weird guy throughout the entire thing, people are not going to come up to me. They go, I don't want to deal with that. Because a lot of people also, I think, have anxiety. They don't want to be on there. They want to talk to a person. That's how I want to be an adult talking to an adult.

But this is the thing you don't know. When you have a merch line, you don't know what you're getting with every single person. So you've kind of got to take the wheel and you drive the ship. Yes. And you're going to go. And everyone is very different. But everyone's generally very respectful and nice and polite.

Like you get every once in a while there's some people, but it's rare. I thought it was a beautiful marriage of characters when you took what you do as Danhausen and Hook and put them together. Yeah. Whose idea was that? So the first day I showed up, I think I was like, Hook. Nice to meet you. I'm Danhausen. He said, I think he had told me he was a fan of mine, which was like, oh, cool.

And then I was like, we have to get a photo. And then we took a photo together that first day that I was there. And it got like a crazy amount of likes, like for, at least for me, like at the time. Like you think you got like 20 or 30,000 likes like right away like back then. And I think someone saw that and kind of went, ooh, maybe this could work. And I also think it humanized hook a little bit. Yeah. Because he's just, again, kind of just an ass beater.

He's Taz's son. He's an ass beater. Yeah. And I think it gave a little bit of humanizing to him, which I think helps people connect with them. It's like, I will always, I love Hook. I would always team with Hook. Like, that would be great. Like, I always say, like, just put me with Hook again.

Put me back with Hook. No one's not that coming. I feel like. No, no. And it was seemed, loved. And then it was just kind of, we were done with it. And I was like, we should just do more of it. Yeah.

Because people liked it. And it wasn't like, I don't think it was done yet. So, like, I would love. the team have hookhousing come back i get asked constantly hey when's hookhousing coming back hey are you going to team with hook ever again like and just online people too like there's still people with like hookhousing stuff and like it just worked for whatever reason how do you come up with these names like chris judas pepsi phil uh it's just little bits of like chris jericho has the judas song so he's chris judas pepsy phil he's got the the uh the pepsy logo tattooed on him so i think some people uh call

him Phil. And I do at the time, he did not, it was like, I think it was a thing of like, people like, oh, you don't call him Phil. Don't call her like whatever. Like, if you don't know him, don't call him Phil. And I thought it was funny. So like, as an annoying idiot, like, I'd call him Pepsi Phil. Trying to think of who else there was. Obviously the ass boys. Yeah. Billy ass. That one's self-explanatory. That's his last name. What other names was there? Now I'm blind. thinking. But R.J. Say, oh, rock the Dwayne Johnson. Rock the Dwayne Johnson. Which I swear, I don't know, it's in my head, it's some type of, was it the Berenstein Bears or the, what is the effect? The, uh, oh, the Mandela effect. Mandela effect. I swear someone on the news accidentally called him that.

And it's, I was at work and I just happened and I went, huh? And I was like, did they just call him rock the Dwayne Johnson, like on accident, on air? And I can't confirm if that actually happened or not, because it was just one of those things that was there and gone. And it was like, well, I'm going to call him that. Do you think the Rock saw any of your stuff? He saw the, what was it? One of the Zoha energy drink videos I did. Because I remember I posted it.

It was I took a drink of it and then we cut away and then I had the sweater on. And I freaked out and then I reached to my pocket. I only had $7 and I screamed about being poor. I think I yelled, oh no. You drank the original Zoa and you turned into original rock. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's what it was.

And then I looked at my phone. I was like, why do I have this many things? And then I clicked. And I was like, oh, the rock saw this. Or like he retweeted it? He retweeted it with a quote. And it was, I can't remember exactly what it was. But it was ha, ha, ha, ha.

Because I think I said, oh, I need to get the PT cruiser or something along those lines. Because it was a shitty car that I think is a sports car. And I was like, oh, so, well, that happened, I guess. That's cool. Again, it's another person that I would have loved to, you know, been able to do. do something with, like, I think that would be funny. Just those characters who can, like, bounce back and forth with whoever in whatever situation,

whether it be someone like the Rock or Conan O'Brien or Alvira. Like, that type of stuff is what interests me and I think also connects to the mainstream media to then bring more eyes on wrestling. And it exists outside of wrestling as well. Like, you can do so many things. What are the goals that you have outside of wrestling? Everything. We're in Hollywood right now.

I know, I know. So we had done the pitches for the cartoon with Ron Funches. Me and Ron had come up with a cartoon idea for the Danhausen character with his character as well. And that was a way to kind of explore like the powers of Danhausen that doesn't actually have on TV but like thinks he has. So like, oh, he could really curse people in the show. He can really do everything the Undertaker does that he can't do in real life. I don't know. The Undertaker can shoot electricity from his hands. But Danhausen can't.

Yeah. No, not the Undertaker can't do. It's just that things that Danhausen thinks he can do all the stuff. The Undertaker can do none of them. So, yeah, we had pitched that. We had had some pitch meetings, which was cool and interesting because that was a new world to me. Unfortunately, didn't get picked up, but neither did Seinfeld right away. So I still have hope that a couple years from now we'll just get a call and go, hey,

hey, we want that cartoon. But yeah, I was going to explore, like, Danhausen is as a demon in hell. And then he gets brought to earth to experience human world and try to convert more people to come to hell. But, like, in turn, he's very nice. So we just start kind of infiltrating, like, because I do all those YouTube videos where I do like normal human stuff, but as Danhaus. And that was going to kind of be integrated into the show in making human connections and then going, oh, wait, these people aren't that bad type thing. is that so I'd still like to get a Danhausen cartoon I think that would work because I think the character works again for children

maybe not necessarily the hell stuff but also Rockwell's modern life existed that had heck in it yeah so it could work it could totally work but yeah I still like that stuff I'd still love to do something with Conan because he does that traveling show I'd love to do just more like Alvira is on a goal I think it might be retired as Vyra though. I don't know if she does it anymore at all. Yeah, it would be cool to have like a children's book or something. Just more crossover things. Comic books, more comic books. I did the DC cover for the Batman variant, which was awesome for New York Comic Con. I've done some image comic stuff. I've done heavy metal. I would like to do Godzilla, things like that. That would be cool. All of that crossover stuff. Like, yes, let me do it. Let me go on these like the Boulet brothers. They do the drag show where they have guest judges. It's like, let me do.

My wife is a legitimate, like, burlesque dancer. She's like number one in the world. Lulu La Duchess, you look her up. But she's won multiple awards and crowns and things like that. It's like, no, let me, I can be involved in that world, especially in the horror version. Or like, what is it? The Food Network does all of those baking shows and you judge stuff. Let Danhausen be on a Halloween episode.

Well, I want to do a treehouse of horror. Like that type of stuff, like just on personal levels, like I would love John Carpenter to do a Danhausen theme song. Just so it can say, like, I would love that to be like music by John Carpenter on my Titan Tron. Like that would be awesome. You just things like that. Like working with just people I look up to like would be awesome. Men, if you've lost your hair, it doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try him's hair loss solutions and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands of thousands of

subscribers who have found their hair again. Hymns provides you with convenient and quality access to a range of hair loss treatments that work, all from the comfort of your couch. Hems makes treating hair loss simple with doctor-trusted options and clinically proven ingredients like fanastriide and monocidal that can regrow hair in as little as three to six months. Choose from personalized chewable, oral, spray, and serum treatments to find out what works best for you. The process is simple and 100% online so there's no uncomfortable doctor visits. Answer a few questions and a medical provider will determine if treatment is right for you.

If prescribed, your treatment is sent directly to you for free. HIMS has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers and they can help you get your confidence back to with visibly thicker and fuller hair. Start your free online visit today at Hems.com slash insight. That's HIMS.com slash insight for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Hymns.com slash insight. Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxide and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.

Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. What made you think to trademark your face makeup? Because I think you're the first wrestler. I was the first. You did it before Stint. Yes, which was cool. But it helped him go, oh, I can do that.

I don't know if he swears. Probably. He's the nicest guy on earth. Yeah, so we had trademarked my makeup. I think I'd seen something that looked very similar to mine that came after. And I went, maybe I should try to get this. Another wrestler? No, no, no, no.

It was like, there was a Magic the Gathering card that I saw. And I was like, it's probably nothing. Probably nothing. But it looks very much. Like, I was getting tagged by like just fans on Twitter. And I was like, maybe I should try to get my makeup trademarked. Who knows? You went through gimmick attorney.

Yes. Mike's the best. Mike's the best. So I got him to do that. And I think it was like kind of a pain in the ass, but then he got it done. I feel like he can. And then it was probably easier for Sting because we're able to get mine. He knew how to do it and probably how to word things.

And he was able to go, hey, we can just get yours done now. So, because I think mine also was probably technically easier because Sting's probably also had the crow thing going with it where that could have been an argument. Oh, sure. So it was probably an easier way to navigate through that, I would guess. You told me off camera you've checked off like five or six things from the wrestling bucket list. Yeah. What are those things? We've probably already talked about some of them, but I wanted to know specifically what they are. So I did Little Caesar's Arena. That was cool. This year I did Japan. Sorry, I keep saying this year. It's last year. We're like a week into the year. Yeah. You have to

forgive me. Little Cesar Arena in Detroit. Detroit, but it was Joe Lewis Arena originally. But that was like, that's where I saw my first wrestler. It was Kobe. And that was where I first saw my first WWF show,

which is like a house show before Mania 97, I think. So like literally everybody was on that show. It was like Kane, Undertaker, Stone Cold, Steve Austin, DX, the Rock. Like, oh my gosh. That was that show. I think LOD was on it. Mankind was probably on it. It was legitimately everybody from the attitude era.

And then the next show would have been, in Joe Lewis and it was Kurt Angles debut. I want to say Xbox versus Kane. Like when he debuted against Taz? Yes. Oh, wow. Yeah, I think it was his first match. And then it was the one where Stone Cold got hit by Rikishi by the car. He did it for the Rock. He did it for the Rock. I did it for the Rock. Yeah. But so that was cool to do my childhood arena. Yeah. That was where I teamed with FTR and we fought. I think Max Castor and the

ass boys. So that was cool because all of my friends who came to my 30 people, independent wrestling shows in abandoned targets in Detroit. Now got to come to Detroit to see me at Joe Lewis Arena and I could see all of them. Obviously I was able to get a bunch of them in the front row like my mom, my dad, my sister, everybody. And then my best friends. So that was really, really cool. And I got to come out and do the post show. Tony let me come out and like talk to everybody, which was awesome.

And I kind of think of what else we've done. Oh, I did Ireland, which was cool. England, Wales, Hawaii, Alaska last year. Wow. So, like, it's cool doing everywhere, but, like, those were some bucket lists, like, hard to get places, sort of. I would love to go back to Japan, getting an action figure. Sorry, I'm trailing off and just doing whatever.

Oh, this is great. Action figure, obviously, I think we've probably talked about, I collect action figures like ego. It's actually his fault. Who has a bigger collection? Me for sure. Oh. Yeah, he did.

I remember I texted him a photo of, like, five Spider-Man. figures and I went, you did this. This was like five years ago or six years ago at this point. And then he just was like, ha, ha, ha. And now it's just, I have all of them. And I was like, I was going to keep it. I was like, I'll keep it to Spider-Man. And then that doesn't work. Because then you go,

well, I got to get this and then this and then this. And now I have life-sive statues in my house of aliens. I've got the xenomorph. It's like eight, nine feet tall. I love that when we get the money to be able to buy our childhood items we want to buy. That's what I do. Like with the comic books and everything, I just buy stuff that I wanted as a kid, but like my parents maybe couldn't afford or like I couldn't afford just didn't need at the time.

I don't need them now, but I started dabbling into wrestling cards. Yeah. So I have a few of those. I've spent far too much money on those. It's the in the comics, like I get the slabbed ones because I'm bad at taking care of stuff. So like that's a way for me to not destroy it and just set it somewhere and then ruin a super expensive comic book or whatever. I bought a graded Back to the Future VHS.

Yeah. See? Well, actually, I have number two and three. Because number one, if you buy the 1986 original VHS, it's thousands of dollars. Yeah, yeah.

And like some comics are like that or like these life's high statues might be. I remember I surprised my wife with the xenomorph. When we were getting the house redone. Like you surprised you're like, this is for you. No, no, no, no. I was just in my office.

Hey. And she was showing a. someone, our house, like, before it was fully done, but she just went in the room and she's like, it's the biggest thing on earth. So, yeah, there's just, you know, stuff like that. I've got life-sized predator heads. I don't have a statue yet, but I'm looking.

I want the life-size Simpsons from the movies. I would like to put them downstairs because I'm building a theater. There's a place actually not far from where I live. Oh, I know. It's on eBay all of the time. I'm assuming it's the same place. It's like an hour away. Yeah.

You've got time before your flight. I have no time to get this. back, though. I'd have to drive it. Yeah, it's expensive. Yes. There was a time... You know the place I'm talking about? I do. I'm pretty sure I do. It's like Hollywood collectibles or something like that. It's like a movie warehouse. Yes. I look at all their stuff all the time. I almost bought a dinosaur from them. There was a life-sized T-Rex head from Jurassic Park at Comic-Con last year. What? How much is this? It was like $20,000. Oh, what? It's cool, though. You ever walk through the, now we're really going off on a tangent here? That's fine.

You ever walk through the Las Vegas airport and they've got the big Megalodon. And Jaws? No, I don't think so. I don't think I've seen it. As you're heading towards like baggage claim, there's a life-sized Megadon, uh, Jaws and some billion dollars.

Yeah, no. It's a lot of money. That is a lot of money. Yeah. I've tried to cool it on the collections. You were very rich. I am, but I still also would like to be,

remain very rich. And not just blow all of my money on things. But I do buy things that kind of appreciate and value. So what's the dream match for you that hasn't happened yet? Oh. So like, I'm trying to think immediate. I think me with, I think a six man with me and the outrunners would be fun. I think those guys, I could do something fun with those guys.

I would still really, really like for the ass boys to fully embrace the ass and team with me. I would love to do something with timeless Tony Storm. I know she's retired. But who knows? I think that would have been a fun because I used to do the 1920s Danhausen, like black and white version. for old wrestling. And I was like, that could easily just either, whether it's me teaming with someone else to fight her and someone else

or me teaming with her to fight someone. Yeah, I really, really wish I could have team with Darby and Sting. It almost happened. I think there was like a hint of it and then it just didn't. How close for you to making that happen? I think that could have potentially been an option against Max Caster and the gun club. And then it was, we did FTR, which was great. but I think also Sting

I think is harder to get to just wrestle on a show like I think they were saving him more for like pay-per-view stuff but like Sting was always like I would love to do something I'm like oh cool and he just you just say it and it was like that's great like did you sting so like

that's incredible so yeah I'm trying to think of who else Brody King I don't want to get beat up by him but I think if they were to do what they would do those what randomized tag team tournaments I think that would be fun

You can do very violent, very evil just for like a few weeks. House of Black could always be fun with Danhausen, because we have the very evil Danhausen, which I created to be a cactus jack. Like, that's the cactus jack to the dude love mankind in my mind. Yeah, when you came out as that, it was like, oh, this is dark. It's also a way to do a more serious match, if need be, which you could do with me anyway.

Like I always make, like, there's the Takamichinoku versus Triple H match. Like, there's that. They just put out the Jiriri. Triple H match from Japan, I believe, on the vault or whatever it is. But, like, that stuff can work. Like, it just needs to be built to. But, yeah, I created that to be a cactus jack.

So, like, you can have those moments, if need be. Like, I could theoretically team with, like, house of black in a serious match. Like, but I could also team with House of Black in a not serious version where it's me being shitty evil. And they are real evil. So, like, that could. work.

Yeah, Brody King is one of my best friends, like in wrestling, like an out of wrestling. So, like, I would love to do something with him, whether it be unfortunately getting beaten up by him or, but, you know, theoretically teaming with him would be great. There's a lot of matches out there you still haven't had yet. There are so many. I'm trying to think of who else. Sorry, I'm going off on a, there are so many good people. Like, PAC is awesome.

Claudio's awesome. Like, me getting swung as Danhausen, I think would be hilarious. Just screaming. Yeah, there's just, there's so much. And then, like, the Bullet Club gold would be, I was going to say gold, but I didn't mean to say it that way. Just because it has the ass boys, Juice Robinson is such a character. And then Jay White plays a great straight guy, but also, again, he's one of those guys who does comedy very well. Yeah.

But he knows when to do it. Yeah. Since people have been staring at these tattoos for the last hour, let's talk about some of these. What do we got it? There's an alien. Alien, Hellraiser? No, what? No, no.

No, no. It's just an alien. Okay, so you got an alien? I got to show this to Lance Henriksen. Oh, wow. From aliens. He plays Bishop. He was very nice.

I drove him around in a little cart. I got the forbidden donut from the Simpsons. Forbidden donut. I've got Dr. Doom. I've got itchy and scratchy. Oh, man. Classic. There's Nosphratu.

There's a creature. I don't think of what else. Weird thing. Yeah. I love The Simpsons as much as you love the Simpsons. Yeah. That was my go-to show. And like, you know, when you're flipping channels before the guide, you're flipping channels,

what else am I going to watch? 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Simpson's is on. Absolutely. I don't know what time it would have been here. Or you were in Canada. Yeah, I grew up in Toronto. So probably the same thing.

It was. Five to six. I would wait because I'd get home from school like 3.45. Yeah. Watch some throw away TV until 5 o'clock. And then the Simpsons. Every single time. I quote the Simpsons all the time.

I do it without realizing it. And then if someone says, do a quote from the Simpsons, I go, Cromulant usually comes to my head immediately. Oh, a cromulent word. It makes this all. Yeah, yeah. I always, we would do all you can eat wings when I was growing up and Pickering Ontario at Shagwells, which I don't think exists anymore. And we would always come back to, do these sound like the actions of a man who's had all he could eat?

There's so many good ones. That's how I became friends with my friend David and Nick was just, um, Simpsons. quotes. He found out of like The Simpsons and then we just, I think, text them back and forth at work. And then eventually just turned into like a full. So good. Full thing. Full, full friendship. I'm also a communication studies major.

So there's that quote in The Simpsons. It's like, I know, I know. It's a joke degree. Well, kind of. Ah, you're communicating me with right now. You seem pretty successful at it. Good to be able to catch up with you, man. Yeah.

And I'm going to wrap this up with a question. I didn't ask it. I wasn't doing it at that point in time. gratitude is such a big part of my life. Yeah. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Ooh, my wife for, like, being okay with me being gone. Not all of the time.

I'm generally home four-ish days a week, which is kind of a lot. But sometimes I'm gone for, she'd be like, I don't know, if you need to go do something that's very important, like, please, go do it. That's great. she was like very fortunate to where I'm successful enough at this now to where I can just be like, hey, like if you don't want to take a show, like a burlesque show, like you're just taking it to make extra money or whatever. Like, you don't have to.

Like, you can just do the ones that are cool to you. Or like if you want to go like do Sweden, she did like, she's done Europe and stuff for that. Like, so she's like she's able to have the freedom to just do whatever she wants now, which is what I think is great. especially creatively, because she shows, she makes costumes and everything also. So, like, she has time to do all of that

if she wants to. If she wants to do all these shows still, she can. But if she wants to just do cool-ass festivals or, like, specific shows, great. You can do that. If you want to go to Sweden and do some shows or England or wherever,

awesome. So I'm grateful for her for just kind of, like, propelling me up. And I don't want to say allowing me to do that because it's not like a, oh, you're allowed to do it. do that. It's just like a pushing me forward. Yeah. So that.

Like being like your cheerleader. Yes. Yeah. Uh, supporting. Yeah. Um, my best friends. Uh, they've, they help me film everything, my shitty films. Uh, but that's, that's the charm of it. Uh, but they've been with me, like I said, since I worked in a movie theater in 2008, I think. So like, I, I like to, uh, keep those with me who've been supporting me. like I like to bring them up with me as much as I possibly can. Like I can't get them on TV probably. But like I can do all my other extra stuff

with them still and make them on screen characters for my YouTube show still and all of that, which I know like my fans who like really, really watch my stuff. Like they love that. So like I like to bring everyone up with me who's been supporting me and just friends with me. Like I've been friends with like Ethan Page forever.

So like I'm always, it's a matter if he's in another company. Like I'm always going to be friends of them. Like you know what I mean? Like that. I think that separates a lot of people, like, because I know some people will just be like, I can't really, you know, talk to you anymore. It's like, why?

I don't feel like we're in that era of wrestling anymore. Hopefully it's less. But like, I don't like that. I think it's just be friends with who you're friends with. And like stick with them and like have their back. They'll have your back. It's great. So I'm grateful for all of my friends and all of them who have been helped me,

like, come up and everything. And then obviously my family. Like, again, like, this is. on no particular order, I guess, because that I feel bad that I put someone here and here and here and here. Obviously, like, I would not have this character without, like, my mom and my dad,

like, just, you know, encouraging me to read comic books or my dad showing me horror movies or, like, dressing me up for Halloween, or my mom used to paint, like, all of that stuff, like, watching cartoons with them, like, showing me Disney movies, which led to whatever,

like, voices and things like that. So, yeah, it's just, It's probably very generic three answers, but also, what are you going to do? That's the answers. Before we wrap it up, you do the thing? The voice? Do the thing? The curse?

I didn't do it. I mean, what if we took off the, no, we can't take off the CGI is too expensive? Very nice, very evil. There it is. That one? So cool. Now I'm weird. Now I'm all weird on this.

Oh, thanks, man. Thank you. All right. Thank you to Danhausen for joining. us in the studio and for the extremely expensive CGI that made him look and sound like a human during the interview. Check out his YouTube channel and subscribe. It's called Love That Danhausen while you're on YouTube. Check to see if you're subscribed to both of my channels. The main one, which is Chris Van Fleet. That's where the full interviews are. Then the CVV clips channel,

where the clips in the most memorable moments from these interviews are, that one's about to hit 900,000 subscribers. We are on the road to 1 million subscribers. I set up. a goal two years ago that I wanted to try to hit a million subscribers. No, I didn't want to try to hit it. That's not how you set goals. I set a goal to hit a million subscribers by my birthday of this year, May 19. And with your help, we're going to get there. So check to see if you're subscribed and look, subscribe to all of us. Danhausen, the Chris Van Vlee channel and CVVE clips and also snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening to this episode. Tag us. He's at Danhausen, AD. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and I will wrap this up with a very poignant quote from Robert Frost.

In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We're back tomorrow with Ask CVV number 68. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback, Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all.

Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom.

Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.