Insight with Chris Van Vliet - D'Lo Brown Says He's The Forrest Gump Of Pro Wrestling... And He's Absolutely Right

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

D'Lo Brown (@dlobrown75) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and IMPACT Wrestling. He also works as the Head of Talent Relations for IMPACT Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios at Wynn Las Vegas to talk about his legendary career in WWE as part of the Attitude Era, being a member of the Nation of Domination with The Rock, Kama Mustafa (The Godfather) and Faarooq, why he considers himself the "Forrest Gump" of wrestling, his trademark headshake, working for IMPACT Wrestling, what he looks for when they sign new talent, how "the forbidden door" has changed wrestling and much more! For more information on IMPACT Wrestling visit: http://impactwrestling.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz! Oh, it is so good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vlee. Thank you so much for being with us, and for being with us inside the incredible Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas.

DeLo Brown lives in Vegas, so it makes perfect sense to have him join us here. And I always love talking to Delo. And during our interview, he referred to himself as the forest gum of wrestling. And when you really think about it, I mean, it's true. Think about all the great storylines and factions that he's either been a part of himself or he's been related to in some sort of way. Now he's the head of talent relations for Impact Wrestling.

So he is the guy when it comes to finding new talent for Impact Wrestling. So a ton to talk to him about. Give him a follow in social media. he's at DeLo Brown 75. If you're not following me already, I'm at Chris Vanfleet. And if it's your first time here, please take a second to click subscribe or follow wherever you're listening right now. Our fan of the week is Jay Griff Cleveland 216. Big shout out to 216.

That was my home for five years. Cleveland, Ohio. I love the CLE. He says, your positivity is contagious. First of all, I just want to say how much I love your podcast. I listen every day and surf through interviews like crazy while I'm at work. You really know how to keep it real and professional while being such a cool acting guy. Your interview with Enzo really showed how real you are and even made me realize how smart of a guy that Enzo is.

You really bring out the best in people. Keep up the amazing work. Well, thank you, Jay Griff. Cleveland 216. Shout out to the 216. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review and I read one on every single episode. So if you have an iPhone, if you have Apple Podcasts, go in there, click the five stars, leave a few words, and I will shout you out and promote whatever it is that you write in the review. I'll shout you out and promote you for free, of course. And Spotify has ratings as well. So if you're listening on Spotify, go in there and leave the five stars. It'd be so awesome if you could.

All right, let's do this. Let's dive into this. He's the real deal. He is, Delo Brown. You made some time for us. so thank you so much. Oh, bro, of course we make time for you, man. Invite me down to this plus studio my second time here.

Of course, I could look at this place, right? Man, I wish I had this place. I'd never leave it. I put a bed right over there. That's where my bed's going to go. This would be my TV. This is a TV. That's incredible.

Let's throw Liverpool up on this thing. I don't want to leave. But you're off to New Orleans tomorrow. Yes, sir. You're a busy man. You know, with all my impact stuff, I travel a ton. and between being on camera and working in talent relations, and it just, it's all-consuming, but I love it.

I wouldn't have it any other way. What is your official title that impact wrestling? Head of talent relations. Do you have a business card that says that? No, bro, that's too much, I don't put that. Business card. Digital, it's right here. Does anyone have a business card in wrestling?

I don't know if anybody does. It's just an exchange of phone number. That's basically. That's your business card. If you have my number, you have my business card. But if that's your job, then comment, is also your job too. Yes. I mean, no color commentating.

How many hats do you wear? Enough to keep me employed. On a, okay, on a show day, what is like, wake up, get to the venue, then what's it look like for you? Wake up, get to the building, sit down, go through production meeting, go through an agent's meeting, then break off and get with talent about their match. Then when I have a free time, break up my computer, and see if there's some payroll issues I need to deal with or something anything out there that needs to be addressed go back to talent um go over

notes that if i'm going to do some announcing oh and then by the way it's it's uh showtime and let's get out there and throw the suit on and go go scream at top my lung for two hours you and tom hannahuffin yep tom hennif and i mean what a great guy i love that dude um came in and injected we talked about this off air injected a sense of comfort and no disrespect anybody else but there's something about his voice that's it's very comforting and and draws you in and he's so knowledgeable at wrestling just an all-round pro like i was so impressed with him the first time he sat down next to me and for people who don't know him by his real name it's tom phillips yes from wwee who's now the lead play-by-play commentator alongside you in impact wrestling and i think that comfort factor

you're talking about is people know that voice yeah so when they hear that voice they immediately go oh, I'm used to hearing that associated with wrestling. Yeah, I agree. It doesn't take them out of the product as much, perhaps. No, it draws them deeper in, and that's a beautiful thing. And then you throw in, he's talking about compelling storylines. And while that's happening in the ring, there's incredible wrestling action going on. It's a complete package to me.

That is a big pickup for Impact Wrestling. It's a huge pickup. I was so happy when I heard he was coming on board. Yeah, how'd you guys make this happen? I can't, I can't disclose that. Show's over. Show, done. Done.

I can't. I plead the fifth. Are you the guy who is out seeking new talent now? I'm always out there looking. My email, I get, no exaggeration. I get 100 emails a day from talent all around the country. Wow. Some good, some bad, some who don't ever need to apply for a wrestling job.

But I get them and I look at them and it's all consuming. I was up till literally 430 last night watching wrestling videos. Really? Of people who... Of people who are trying to be that next person. Okay. So if I want to get Deilo Brown's attention, if I want to get signed impact wrestling,

what do I need to do? Show me something that I've not seen before. Entertain me in a way where I can say, yeah, that translates to the masses. Something I can sell to those decision makers above me. Give me something I can't walk away from. That's a tall order. It is, especially in the world that we're in right now,

because it's very hard to one up the people who have already won up the people who've come before them. But you have to because, let's just pick an example, pick anybody on TV, you know, Josh Alexander, okay?

We don't need another one of him. So now you've got to come up with something creatively different that draws my attention as much as he does. Moose, we only need one moose, we don't need two of them. So now you've got to come up. is the person who's trying to get a job or trying to hone your craft, what makes you different,

what makes you stand out, what makes you special, and then have to highlight that to show you've got two minutes, three minutes to show us why you're special enough to go, all right, this deserves a second look. This is a third look. You know, maybe we need to bring this guy in for a deeper evaluation guy, girl, whatever the, you know, who they ever they are. They wore in a, a, a, you know, in a person, um, talking to or maybe a dark match. Show me something different. So is the idea to make some buzz for yourself on the indies? It's not about making buzz.

It's just being good at what you do with the overall product, your presentation, your in ring work, you're talking, the way your body looks, the way you're dressed, you know, there's no way I can put a guy, I mean, okay, only one guy has made money in, in a wife beater in shorts, okay, Billy Kidman. Only one guy did it. But yet there are a hundred guys out there still rest. in that look. Yeah.

If only one did it, then I don't want to go that way, because odds are another one's not going to come along. A lot of guys making a living with a shaved head and a goatee, though. You know what, though, but, bro, I'm not in the ring anymore. I got a hell of an office look. Yeah, you do. Yeah, the glasses and everything. The glasses change everything.

It does. Look, everything I feel like has shifted in professional wrestling over the last handful of years. Yeah. And especially over the last years. or so with this forbidden door. And that really opened up with Impact Wrestling. It didn't open up with Impact Wrestling.

Impact Wrestling is the backbone of the forbidden door. It is. You think about who's working with whom, and Impact Wrestling has always connected to somebody, whether it be New Japan, AEW, AAA, WW, WWE, Ring of Honor, you name it. We are connected to them in some way or shape or form. So we are the framework of the forbidden door.

Yeah, the Don Callas and Kenny Omega stuff at first kind of when people got, made people go, oh, yeah, if this is possible, what else might be possible? And that started the dream match booking scenarios. And then all of a sudden you start seeing them play out where, oh, my God, they're the good brother standing next to the young bucks. Yeah. Wait a minute. There's Christian. He's back in Impact Rescue. He's the Impact World's Champion.

I mean, like, yeah, I mean, just those two. opening this door, kicking it down, so to speak, has really revitalized wrestling over the last 18 to 24 months. And then I think that a lot of people with the Royal Rumble and Mickey James went, what? WWE's in on this too? Yeah. And, you know, the second, the impact knockouts championship belt walked out to the ring around Mickey's waist, that's an acknowledgement from that company that someone else exists.

Yeah. That was a huge get. And awesome for us and awesome for Mickey. I don't know how much you can speak to it, but how did that all come together? Just a lot of work. And I'll leave it at that just a lot of work. Do you think that it hurts Mickey in any way

that she's not in the Final Four in the Royal Rumble as the Impact Champion? No, I think just Mickey being there. Mickey could have done a bushwhackers and walked out and gone right to the top and walk right back and would have got great buzz just from being there. And if you noticed no other woman other than Charlotte walked out with a championship belt.

So that says a lot even more. So being in the Rumble, how long she was in the Rumble, look, she got to eliminate one or two. I think that's awesome. And once again, it's great for her. And it's great for Impact Wrestling. And it's great for the business. Do you think that door could now go both ways? Yeah, you never know.

This wrestling, never say never. Yeah. That's the beautiful thing about wrestling. You could never say never. I mean, and we were joking about this off camera. Really anyone at this point could show up anywhere. Yeah, I mean, and, you know, I said it earlier. It has an air of NFL free agency.

Yeah. You know, it's kind of got that vibe where once that window hits and you know that window's open, like anybody can go to one or 32 teams. So where are they going and what's going to happen? And what storyline is going to come from that? So it's been this way in wrestling for the last nine or 10 months where it seems like every two weeks, someone's 90 days are coming up or someone's leaving a company. Hell, we had just a huge departure just two days ago. So, I mean, this business right now is so fluid that it keeps everyone's mind on it.

And it keeps the fans' interest. And to me, the winner of this is the fans. At the end of the day, the fans are winning because they're seeing these, once again, fantasy bookings, these jumping ships moving from company to company. This is an awesome time. And the fact that fans know the 90 days and then they can go, ooh, this paperview is right around this. Right. You can look and go, oh, man. Yeah.

Bound for glory is one day after the 90 day. Wait a minute. Slammaversy was the perfect example of that. Yes, yes. Slamovirsi, when the Good Brothers came in. and Cordona and Myers and Eric Young. And it was like, my God. Yeah.

You know, it was like, and it was just literally, then it was the, it was Saturday before it midnight. Yeah. Boom. Yeah. And there we are Sunday live on TV. So it's, it's such an exciting time. The big departure that you're referencing from a few days ago is Cody Rose.

Yeah. And this is, what's your take on everything going on there? I don't know. I mean, I don't want to go too deep because I don't like, speaking by other companies, but it's just going to be interesting to see how it plays out. It's a, it's a big move for someone that high up on the corporate structure to move companies. So let's just see what happens. I mean, maybe he's not moving companies.

Maybe this is all just a giant storyline. Who knows? Yeah. That's the interesting thing about wrestling right now. You got you, everybody, everybody's guessing. And if you have the fans guessing, then wrestling wins and the fans, You mentioned him briefly, but Matt Cardona has been doing such a great job at that. I give you one question.

Has anybody had a better last 12 months than Matt Cordona? I don't think so. I don't know if anybody's ever had a more successful independent wrestling run in the last year. I mean, it is just what he has done is just mind-blowing. And no disrespect to Cardona, but he's portrayed as a third-tier guy when he left. and to rebrand, to revamp, and to make himself the pretty much legitimately the top independent player out there. Yeah. Is mind-numbing and amazing for him.

I'm so happy for him. I mean, I can't tell him sometimes I've told him, like, bro, I can't believe the run you're on. And he's, you know, I've gotten from him, I can't believe. I was like, don't think about it because the minute you think about it, it might end. Just let it roll. Let it keep rolling. And he's been doing a lot of this when there were all of these restrictions with the pandemic. Yes.

And he was still finding a way to get booked and get over and to fill the arenas. Yeah, I mean, he made the most out of this pandemic time. I mean, you know, he goes and becomes GCW heavyweight champion. Your phone is ringing right now. Which free agent could it be? I can't. That's why my phone's down here. I feel like Adam Schefter right now.

Yeah, seriously. So the win the GHC title and then culminate off, you know, he wins the impact digital media title. And then, you know, a week and a half ago, he wins the NWA world's title. I mean, one of the most sacred titles in our business and now is around the waist of Matt Cordona, a guy 18 months ago who was sitting at home or sitting in catering. And now he's got, I mean, it's hard. even putting words. Yeah. How good of a year he's had.

And it's because he's got himself over. Yeah. He's made himself interesting. Well, I mean, he is out there. I mean, and in his song, this is always ready. And he's proven he's always going to be ready for whatever challenge is going to be, no matter if it's impact or NWA or GCW or, hell, it could be the Poughkeepsie armory. He's going to me, he always going to be ready for that challenge.

Well, and I think that people saw him because of 14 years in WWE. They saw him as like this Jersey Shore guy. Yeah. They saw him as the Brosky. Yeah. And then he kind of played into that for a little bit when he got released. Now he's a completely different character. He's free.

Like he has, he's found a way to free himself from that, from that character of the Brosky. Now he'll still say Brozky every now, but he's, he's freed himself of that, that mystique. And he's created a whole new aura about himself. And that's, that's a testament to him and his hard work and his, his want to, his want to be better. So, I mean, hats off to him. And this kind of goes back to what you were saying earlier. Like, do something that you haven't seen before. And show me.

And he took, he unwrapped himself and showed the world he was something different. Yeah. And what he was different is like, just, I want more of that. Yeah. So. What was that moment for you? What was that moment for Deilo Brown? Wow.

I think the first time was the head shake was, was the first time the head shake happened, I knew I was just, I knew I had found something that was a little different than anybody else on the roster. And when you're, when you're in such a talent laden locker room, you've got to find something that stands out. If not, just, just another guy wearing spandex and baby oil. I mean, hell, you're at the top of the, you know, you're in the biggest company, but you, you want to elevate up the card. Yeah, and if it wasn't for the head shake and, you know, because even in a nation, I had a certain amount of, um, you know, a protection for me in a nation, but I was still just the fourth guy,

the fifth guy, depending on the numbers. And I really didn't stand out other than, you know, take a bump deal. I'd take whatever big bump I could, but that didn't really play out. And finally when the head shake happened, that's when things started, there was a focus put on me.

But there was, like, you had some memorable moves, too. Yeah, but sky high, the frog splash. And those were the starting pieces of, you know, getting attention. But at the end of the day, it's just a move. Like, I think only one guy has really gotten over from a move, and that's, you know, the Canadian Destroyer in Pedy Williams.

Other than that, every one does the same 12 moves of doom. You know, I love Petey. And the first time I saw the Canadian Destroyer, I went, what? Oh, my God, how? I remember rewinded a hundred times going, how is that possible? I remember playing it like frame by frame and going, I still don't get it. Yeah, I'm going, how is that possible?

I think it's unfortunate that there's a lot of wrestling fans out there that don't know why it's called the Canadian Destroyer. Yeah. I forget his name. He was one of the greats in Canada, who was the Canadian Destroyer. And Brett Hart. No, not Brett Hart, no.

One of the Greats in Canada. One of the Greats Canada. He was a great from the Windsor, Ontario, Toronto area. And he was a Canadian Destroyer. And Petey named it after him out of respect. Oh, wow. And now, like, a big bad bunny does it now. Yeah, now it's a transition move and you do on your waits from the, you know,

hotel room down to the lobby. There's a lot of that. Yeah. But when you look at what you were doing with the nation, everyone you were surrounded by. All hallfamers, all top talent, all guys that I was fortunate enough and blessed enough to be around. And first and foremost is Ron Simmons. I mean, to have that man as your mentor, your life coach, your pseudo father, it doesn't get any better than that.

And mind you, the whole time, I idolized this man growing up. Wow. So to have the, you know, the opportunity to go from watching him, hell, I was in the arena when he won the WCW World title from Big Van Vader in Baltimore, Maryland. You were there. I was there as a fan. Wow. So to go from that to five years later,

standing in another ring in the same building, standing next to the man, surreal. Had you already started wrestling at that point when you saw it? It was right on the cusp. This was 93-ish, and I started in 94. So, yeah. And what he did, I mean, he broke so many barriers with that. Absolutely.

He showed, he showed. people of color that you could be good at this. Yeah. And he became that shining light and he opened the door. And, you know, myself, there's a bunch of others who go, I did this. I got into this because if Ron could do it, then there's a path already laid for me to be able to do it. Yeah. And man, you know, they say never meet your heroes.

I'm so glad I met mine. What about Rock? When Rock joined, did you go, oh, yeah, he's something special. You know, not at first, and no, and even Rock will tell you, no, because at first he had come off a, the failed Rocky Maya via gimmick. He was coming off an injury. With the pineapple hair, with the pineapple hair and the frilly, you know. Yeah. And he even he would tell you he was trying to find his, he was trying to repackage himself. And he was, he wanted to get rid of that mystique of that failed baby face. Um, and he, you know, he got, he was afforded to protection of being in the nation where you were allowed to make mistakes and had, great minds around you that can help cultivate you and then the one thing i did learn about rocky was he was willing to do the work he was willing to outwork anyone and what i mean by that was there are times we would be in the car and he would just you could see him thinking we'd listen to the radio and he'd go oh what was that and he'd be a catchphrase of a song and two days later you're

here in a promo um we would watch movies and he would he would take from pop culture um and he would the things that would work, he would keep in there, the things that didn't, he would get rid of. And you saw that, and because of that hard work, you want, okay, this brother's working. Yeah. This brother's, he's putting a time in. And, you know, looking, feeling every incarnation of how he would try different promo styles, finally get the one that work. You can see the evolution of it.

If you go back and watch Raw, you can see the evolution of his promo styles until finally about, it took about six months for him to really hone in on it on. And when he did, that's when he walked out on the stage in that black vest and he called himself the Rock for the first time against Steve Austin. And, well, y'all know the rest of the history. I asked the Rock what his most memorable promo was of all time. I mean, that's so difficult because the Rock's had so many promo. Right.

And he said his most memorable promo was the one in the nation where he said, you know, the Rock's a lot of things, but sucks isn't one of them. Because that was the turning point of him turning into the Rock. And I think that was one the first time. you referred to himself in the third person, referred to himself specifically as the rock. And so that was the birth of it. And that was the growth of it.

And I will tell you, one of the greatest seats they ever have. I had the best seat in the house to watch the brightest superstar in the history of this business light up and take off. Yeah. And for that, I'm thankful and blessed. I think we look back now on that segment

with DX making fun of the nation, a domination in a really different way. Yeah. Was there any trepidation at that time when that segment was being pitched? No. And, you know, there have been a lot of stories out there. I can tell you that none of us had any big concern about it. In retrospect, we could have done that segment without the blackface.

And, you know, I wish we had of. And it would have been the same. It would have been just as good. Yeah. Obviously, I wish we'd have changed that. We didn't. You know, looking back on it, 22 eyes, not a fan of it. But in 1997, 98 eyes, it was a way of getting these two factions to war because we knew that both of our factions were, I use the term over enough or connected with the fans enough that we could, you know, go out there and draw money and, and,

fill some houses with it, and put up some ratings on TV. And then we look at the individual matchups that we could have, you know, and that's what piqued our curiosity. I think people look past the obvious elephant in the room. I think that even if it was just a few years later when WWE became a public company, that segment would have not even been, like, brought up. You couldn't pitch that idea three years later. Yeah.

Yeah, you couldn't even, people, you'd get laughed out of a building. You pitched that idea three years later. That's what you said about, the segment would have been the exact same without blackface. It's so true. It is so absolutely true. If there was never any blackface, you would have never known a difference and it would have been just as entertaining. I mean, that whole segment was DX entertaining everybody.

And they could have done that easily just, you know, without the blackface. Yeah. And like, I don't, you definitely could not do that now at all. But you brought up off camera and it's so interesting, like Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Yeah. Which in the context of the film makes a lot of sense. Yeah, because he's an actor playing a role.

And the actor in the role he's playing is of an actor who's playing another role. I'm a dude playing a dude. Who's playing a dude. Yeah. And it's very, it's convoluted. And that was 2008. Yeah. nominated for an Oscar the next year, which, look, that was an incredible performance.

It was a great, I remember that when he finally, you know, you saw his blue eyes for the first time, it was like, holy hell. Yeah. Holy hell. It's really him under there. Yeah. But, I mean, obviously that character couldn't have existed without blackface. Yeah. Well, I mean, I guess the idea there was his, he had dyed his pigment of his skin.

He died a pigment of his skin and done something to his hair. So he was, he wasn't blackface. He was actually dark skin. Yeah. I don't know. It's, you know what? I'm glad I don't have to worry about pitching that creatively to anybody.

Yeah, and I'm sure people bring that nation thing up to you all the time. Oh, yeah, I get it all the time. I get people looking at it with 222 eyes going, were you mad, were you angry? Well, today I am, but in 98, 97, 98, I'm not, I wasn't. I was, like I said, we're just trying to create a good segment. Is it also because of the speed of which, you know, television wrestling works like you're creating those segments writing the show each week and then

you're probably not getting the script till what day before day of you you if you were lucky back then you know some guys would get it two or three days ahead of time some guys would get it day of some guys would get it you know as they're walking to the ring yeah so um it it's it was a different time um thankfully we don't live in that time anymore and i'm glad we're here today yeah um but you know uh once again, I wish we can go back in retro book it and do it a different way. When I tweeted out that I was going to have you in the studio here, people were pumped. Of course, everybody wants to ask you about the head shaking. I am genuinely curious if you have any residual effects from shaking your head.

None whatsoever. None whatsoever. You don't have to like see a chiropractor every few days? I just, it was something that came natural. I don't. Can you still shake it like that? Well, that's not quite it. Well, I got the headphones on my...

You can take him off from. No, man. You got to pay for that. Two dollars. Come on, buddy. HBO, help brother out. I'm genuinely, like, surprised that you're not like, yeah, man, my neck here. No, no residual effects at all.

I only pulled my neck one time doing it. We had done a show, I forget, somewhere near New York City, and we were flying to Germany the next day. So we did our show and then hopped on a, you know, a flight to Germany. and I remember sitting on the plane all night long, and then we landed and went right to the arena to go do a show. And I remember walking in, boom, and I was like, oh, that hurt. That hurt, because I slept in my neck all night long.

So I was like, that hurt. And that's the only time I've ever had an issue with it. The thing that I love about the head shake, and I had Godfather in here recently, and the thing I love about that, like there was something about the attitude era where you were over before you even stepped foot into the ring. You were over from your entrance.

or you were over from your gear. I don't know if that still exists in the same way now. No, I don't think so. I mean, times are different, but there's an air of connectivity, and fans got invested in certain characters. I mean, we all know how we felt when we heard the glass crack. Sure.

Or the gong. Or the, if you smell. Adam Schaefter's texting me right now. Who's this? Let me see now. Hold on. Oh, my gosh. I don't know.

Okay. Okay. But, you know, there's certain... We saw that luck. You know, certain music's that connect you to people. Yeah. And I think music's important. I think music's the staple of your entrance.

You're looking at the wheel deal now. Yeah. iconic. You know, that record scratch of mind. People loved it. And the minute you walked out, they let you know how they felt, whether they liked you or not, you knew instantly, you know, 18 to 20,000 people were going to let you know how they felt about you. Jim Johnson. Jim Johnson is the master.

Genius, genius, genius, genius. The master at that hit, that first hit of a song. The glass shattering, the gong, the record scratch. We can go on and on and on. There's so many of them. His concept was, you should know who's coming to the ring within two seconds of here in the beginning of their music. So what was your reaction the first time you heard your theme song?

I flipped out. He and I, what was originally, that song, that track was for Mark Henry, myself. There was an original version. It was a tag team version. And so I remember sitting in the studio and, you know, that's me laughing on you to, ha ha ha ha ha. It's because like he would get sound bites from you. He would get little things from you. And then it's like watching, I would assume it's like watching Picasso work. Okay. Because he would, he would just sit in there and go, laugh for me. Hit a butt. Just go woo for me. hit a button.

And then he'd be like, all right, hold on a second. And he'd sit there, sit there and go, what do you think about this? And he would give you a rough copy, a rough idea.

And if you gave me, okay, be like, okay, I've got some, I've got some artists down in New York. Let's see if I can get a, a run of this and get a working copy of this.

And like, I'll be back with you in about a week. And then a week later, that's unreal. He came back with, you know, dangerous door. And I was like,

wow. Oh, I was like, I can't believe that's my. music. Are there still things from WWE that you get residuals for still now? Yeah, to the day I die. Which is why video games?

Video games. No more anything like DVD, stuff like at video games is mostly a thing. Those playing cards, action figures, that kind of stuff. Music like plays on Spotify or something? No, no. I assume that's all Jim Justin. You lucky bastard you. Oh yeah, he was telling, I had him on the show. Lucky bastard. So it's a little bit of mailbox money, they call it in the entertainment industry. Mailbox money that recorder comes in, you go, oh, okay, cool. What do you think is the biggest difference from the era of wrestling we're in right now versus the 90s when you were coming up?

Wow. I mean, if you compare, I would say this, the free agent era. compared to the attitude era where it was the Wild West. You can get away at a lot of stuff. Whereas today it's, it's the art of the free agent. It's the 90-day generation. It's,

it's, the fans know everything. And the fans are, they know 90-day clauses before people in offices do. I mean, they've already, when they hear X's got released, they've already calculated the 90-de-down and go, he can be available for these 10 shows. Yeah. So that to me is, it feels like today feels a little more like go back before attitude and go to the territory era

because it feels like there's a bunch of a bunch of territories out there now as opposed to one or two giant companies and i feel like this is with great respect for impact wrestling i've been a fan forever impact wrestling is back on the rise yes what do you think you can attribute that to just um consistency in storytelling finding unutilized talent like, I'll give an example, Deanna Parazo, and giving her the opportunity to go out there and show. Finding talent and them working above. Look at how Moses changed himself from his Ring of Honor Day as until now.

He's a completely different individual, completely different wrestling talent. That want to, in our locker room is the difference between us and any other company. and I'm not ashamed to say that. I mean, our locker room wants to be the best. Our knockouts division believes and knows that the best women's division in all of wrestling, and they believe it in their core. It's not just some talking point.

They believe it. There's no question. And to me, I mean, without a doubt. So that's the thing that separates impact wrestling and gives us, I think, our edge is creative storylines, consistent wrestling in the ring and just compelling talent. Yeah, I just feel like, unfortunately, you guys had to clean up somebody else's mess.

Yeah, well, you know, it's a story of life, isn't it? I guess. When you date somebody, you're actually paying for the sins of the person that you, the person you're with and their ex. So you pay for that for a little bit. So it's what you do. And you guys are now being able to reap the rewards of being able to perform in front of an audience.

Yes. And I think that people are going, oh man like this is some really high quality wrestling i i have said this and i say this with no disrespect but if you're sleeping on impact wrestling that's a you problem not a me problem i think there's been a lot of people that may be lapsed on impact wrestling i i will tell you if you give impact three shows three weeks three weeks you you'll be back for the fourth and you'll stay with us um i i think our tv is is done uh in in a way where it draws you you in. It doesn't insult the intelligence of the viewer and it pays homage to what wrestling is

supposed to be. Is there a plan to start touring with the show again? Like that's always the million dollar question. Yeah. And I look, I know it takes a lot of resources and the biggest resource being money to do that. It's the only, that's the only resource you need. Well, you'd also got to drive the trucks around and well that all, but it all starts with money. You got to pay you guys to drive those truck. But there was a point where Impact Wrestling was live. Yes. Every week on TV. Yeah. And you can

only hope that that's our ultimate end goal. You can only hope that that's where as we grow, that's where our success will take us. As of right now, I'm just happy putting out a quality product that you can see

on YouTube television if you're YouTube. Oh, please put it out there for everybody. Access on TV. Where and when? Put it all out there. Thursday night, 8 p.m. Access Television. Come check us out. You can get us on YouTube. You can get us on YouTube. You can get all our programming. I think it's $3.9 a month. You can get the entire Impact Wrestling Library.

So we're out there. The old catchphrase is, if you have the internet, you can watch Impact Wrestling. You guys have a substantial amount of subscribers on YouTube, too. I mean, a lot of people can look at up here. A lot of people consume our content through YouTube. Yeah, think 4.3 million subscribers on YouTube. Yeah. Woo! Yeah, no.

So, I mean, we're putting out content. And, you know, that number speaks to the volume of fans who are entertained about what we're doing. If they weren't entertained, they wouldn't be there. Are we going to see you back in the ring, Evan? Hell no. Hell no. No, no, bro. I've had my moment in the sun.

I'm good. For sure. Because we all know how wrestling was ironies. Once again, never say never. But, look, I've had my moment of sun. I get so much more joy now out of working with a talent and then sitting back and watching them go out there and perform and be the best version of them. To me, that's just as exciting as being in there myself, but I don't know how to get hurt.

How long do you think it's going to be until we see the nation in the WWB Hall of Fame? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I mean. Or is it the rock goes in first and then the nation goes in? I mean, it would be a great honor if it happens. I don't know if it will. Really? I have no clue.

I don't. Or does DLO go in first? No, I don't, I mean, I don't think I've done enough in the business to warrant a Hall of Fame induction. I mean, just my opinion. Now, when you say in the business, does it, is that just WWE? I mean, that's, that's their Hall of Fame. Yeah. But I think there's also, like, what have you done?

You had an amazing career and impact after that. Oh, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, spent more time in Impact Wrestling than I ever did in WW. I spent twice as long in Impact Wrestling. Wow. Yeah, people don't think about that. I knew it was longer. I didn't know it was twice as long.

How many years versus how many years? Let's see. I came to impact the originally in 2003, spent two years here, came back again from 08 to 13. So there's seven years. And I was in WW5. Oh, no, that double. Yeah. And then add on this run here.

another it's cut right at double so we're talking at 12 years compared to six years yeah and i you were part of a faction that had a lot of people talking uh yeah i mean aces and eight i'm i'm i'm very fortunate i've been i've been in someone said it's me they're like you're always in a group that's over and i'm like i'm just lucky to be around yeah it's like you and x-pac are always in a group that's over um i don't know what it is i don't i never ask why if you ask why you'll know the answer you get may end it. But, you know, I've enjoyed my time in the nation, Ace and Ate's, the gangsters, I mean, ROD in Japan. If you don't know, we were Bullet Club before Bullet Club. Google it. And so I got, I got, I'm very fortunate where I've been in my career. Someone called me

the other day, they called me the Forest Gumpur wrestling. Because no matter what, I'm always around somebody. Like, you could, every one of the dark side of the rings, you could go as, Elo for a comic because he knew that person. That's so true. Yeah. When I heard it, I was like, don't in, that's not an insult. That's pretty much compliment. Seriously.

Yeah. You probably have, I could name literally any wrestler. I've been in the ring with them or I, yeah. And you've got a story about them. I've got a story about him. The Undertaker. Oh, hell. Best Domino player ever seen besides him and him, him Godfather.

Best Dominoes. Beat him in the finals of Domino tournament. Man. Wow. I'm not going to name a bunch of people, but I, certainly could yeah no i when i heard it i was insulted then then when i think about being called the forest gumper wrestling is not not a bad spot that should be a t-shirt i feel like hey if someone copyrights or someone puts it out there i break a brother off royalties i think you better recognize

you better recognize hmm there yeah there it is what do you think's on the horizon for impact as we look forward to the rest of 2022 um i think just once again more compelling storylines and a way of keeping a buzz and keeping the industry talking about this small little engine that could that keeps on going. This episode may come out after this weekend, but we'll talk as if it hadn't. There's a lot of 90s days up, so I feel like people could pop up. And here's the beauty wrestling. Surprises are part of it.

Yeah. I hate spoilers. I'm one of those who I want to be watching TV and go, holy hell. Yeah. Like I don't want to read so-and-so signs with impact and then going,

okay, well, now when, it's not the anticipation and not the surprise of when they're going to, if they're going to debut or who was debuting, but when they're going to debut.

And it's a different kind of feeling. So I like it. There's so much unknown out there right now. I like it. There's so much transition from place to place and talent going moving around. I like it because it's,

it's causing an excitement buzz about the industry again, and I love it. Who do you think's been the biggest surprise in Impact Wrestling? Biggest surprise debut in your time there. The Good Brothers was a good one because no one thought that, you know, that was a high-end, high-end tag team and everyone assumed they would go somewhere else. Seeing Eric Young walk back out there, seeing Christian come out and challenge for the, you know, and become walk back out as the Impact World Champion, you know, you know,

know, seeing, I mean, godly, seeing Frank Kizarian come back to the door. I mean, to say, to honestly to put the highlight on one is to undersell the rest of them. That's true. Because we've done a really good job at surprising people and

keeping it under wraps. So, I mean, hell, even Kenny King coming out and joining the, on or no more band, those sons of guns, was a big, was a big debut. So, I mean, I just, I like what we're doing. Can I still call it TNA?

Or is that? No, that's... People still do. I know. It's brand confusion. But it's impact wrestling. TNA is part of our past and we don't run from it or hide from it. In 2011, it was very confusing when they were like, we're called TNAA, but it's actually

Impact Wrestling. And our show's called TNA Impact Wrestling. And I was like, yeah, it was brand confusion. Yeah, there was not a concise view on the marketing of the company. It's impact all caps. Yeah, impact all caps. Even when I send my text, I'll be like, yeah, I'm ready to talk. Capitals.

Impact. Yes. Even when I send my text, I send it all in Capitals. You were such a delight to hang out with. Oh, bro. Thank you, man. You can say the same about you. I just appreciate you coming by.

You're a good-looking dude, man. Come on. Two good-looking dudes right here. That's what this is. Man. I end every conversation with the same question. Because I'm all about gratitude. I wake up every morning.

And I say out loud three things that I'm, I'm grateful for. And I end every day the same way. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for? I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for the opportunities that were given to me. And I'm grateful somehow I found this crazy world of professional wrestling. It's give me a life. Everything else I'm grateful for, it's given me a life to take care of all that. So I am grateful for every aspect of wrestling from the companies I've worked with to the fans, to the guys I've been in the ring with. I'm grateful that every morning I wake up and I go,

I'm happy to go to work. I love that. Dilo, thank you so much. My man. What a guy. Big thank you to Dilo for joining us inside the amazing Blue Wire Studios at the Win Las Vegas. Thank you to you, as always, for being in there with us

because without you, none of this exists. So I would ask you if you're listening for the first time, please take a second to click, subscribe or follow on whatever app you're listening on right now. And if you've been here since the beginning, and this is episode 321, thank you. Thank you so much times 320. You're the best. I know there's a lot of podcasts out there, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you spending your time with us. Take a screenshot. Let us know that you're on this journey with us and tag us as well. Dilo's at Dilo Brown 75. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and we'll leave you with the words of

Lewis Carroll who said in the end we only regret the chances we didn't take. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand.

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