Insight with Chris Van Vliet - D'Lo Brown's head shaking origins, Droz, DX mocking The Nation, AEW - Interview from May 2019

Episode Date: December 26, 2020

D'Lo Brown joins Chris Van Vliet for this conversation in Dania Beach, FL. This interview was originally posted to YouTube on May 21, 2020, but this is the first time it has been made available on the podcast! We are taking a few days off for the holidays, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at this interview  with one of the most recognizable faces from the Attitude Era. D'Lo tells the hilarious story about how he started doing his trademark headshake, his feeling after paralyzing Droz, where Aces and Eights rank in the greatest wrestling factions of all time, whether he was offended by the blackface when DX mocked The Nation of Domination, and more.   Support the show by subscribing and supporting our sponsors!  INDEED- Try it today with a $75 credit to boost your job post by going to http://indeed.com/BlueWire BETONLINE- Get a FREE welcome bonus by using the promo code BLUEWIRE at http://betonline.ag Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, everyone. It's Lindsay Rhodes and I've got a new podcast. The NFL Road Show. Fun and kind of nerdy conversation about the NFL every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I've got some amazing guests that are joining me. I'll be breaking the huddle with the top stories, previewing games. games. We'll get you set for the weekend fantasy with our Fantasy Friday episodes. And we'll answer some of your questions as well. So subscribe to the NFL Road Show on Apple Podcasts,

Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Chrysmania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bens, Well, here we go. Welcome to the Chris Van Vlead Show, my friends. This episode is brought to you by Bet Online, and indeed so grateful to have them partner with us on this episode

and so many other episodes, and so grateful to have you along with us on this ride. And I think you better recognize that DeLo Brown is on the show. See what I did there? If you're a fan of Impact Wrestling, you've seen a little bit of D.L.E. Dilo on there. He works behind the scenes as a producer and what a mind for the young talent there to learn from. And as you might assume in the title, this was a conversation that we had last

May, but it was never posted to the podcast, mostly because the podcast didn't exist at that time. So this is the first time that you're able to hear it here. It was only on YouTube before. And I know that you're going to love this because Dilo is fantastic. Take a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening with us. You can tag me. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And on Twitter, Dilo is at Dilo Brown 75. And while you're doing things on your phone, check right now to make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast. So you don't miss out on all the awesomeness that we have planned for 2021. And I've been throwing that out there a few times over the last few episodes. But there's a lot of awesomeness planned for 2021. So thank you for being like early to the show because we're about to ramp things up. So you're an OG. Thank you for being an OG, but we're about to ramp things up.

And a lot of the awesomeness that we have had so far has been created by you. So thank you for the reviews because you've really helped to get the show noticed and really get the show out there. Because it's really the biggest thing that helps the show grow is having these reviews on Apple Podcast. So if you listen on Apple Podcasts, just please take like a, I'd say it's 27 seconds because it probably is, but take a minute out of your day to rate and review the show. It'd be so, so helpful. This review comes from the UK.

Yeah, all the way across the pond. This is from fashionable Muslim, who says, best in the business. Chris is quite simply a fantastic interviewer and one of the best working today, in my opinion. He always adapts well to the personality of the interviewee and has engaging, easy to listen to conversations with just about everyone,

be it a wrestler, actor, or anyone who's anyone. Easy five stars. Well, thank you so much. for that. And we're actually going to be bringing some more actors on the show in the new year, along with some other people who can just make our lives better in general. Wrestling is great. We are all wrestling fans, but I want to talk to everybody. I want to reverse engineer what makes great people great. And that's what this show is all about. And you want to talk about great people. Well, that's who DeLo Brown is. And I will say that when we did this interview, I went to an indie show

where DeLo was going to be performing. And I was just like, fingers crossed, I hope that he has time to do an interview. The show was run by Gangrel. It was for his wrestling school, Gangrel's wrestling asylum. And it's always so tough doing an interview with somebody the day of an indie show

because so many different moving parts and so many different things that are going on. But Deelos said, yeah, I'm ready right now. Let's do it. I'm like, okay, let's do this thing. We found like a random staircase outside in Dania Beach, Florida, where we did this interview.

And he's such a legendary character from the attitude era. And he tells the hilarious story of how he got his trademark headshake. I'm doing it right now. I know you can't see it, but I'm doing it. He also talked about what he thought of DX making fun of the nation of domination. Talks about the incident he had withdraws and so much more. So here we go. Please welcome.

D. Lo Brown. It's a very like attitude era background here. What do you think? It's very attitude era. I'm waiting for somebody to come down to. steps with a steel chair or a garbage, you know, a can and hit me over top of the head. So I keep looking on my shoulder. Right.

Well, we're actually at a casino right now. So this is like the grungiest looking thing at a casino here. I like it. Well, somebody inside the casinos are, never mind. I didn't say that alone. Wow. They just smell like that, too. Yeah.

I'll leave that alone. I'll leave it alone. How many bookings like this are you taking? This one's obviously gangrelles, you know, wrestling asylum. How many like this are you taking? I don't take as much I used to. I might take maybe one a month or so. but most time I do a lot of autograph sessions or clinics.

I don't like to get in the rain that much anymore because I'm old. So what are you doing when you're not wrestling? I have a school in Las Vegas. It's in conjunction with a few stars of wrestling called the Snake Pit. And I do a lot of training. And then I have a security company out in Vegas. So that's kind of like what gets me through the day. So you have a lot of like A-less clients that you're doing security for it?

I'm not allowed to speak on that. That means yes. That's exactly what that means. Next question. Since you're in Vegas, Is there a chance that you'll be maybe in the audience at double or nothing? The funny thing is, weirdly enough, the entire wrestling world is going to Vegas, and I'm leaving Vegas to go to Indiana to do a signing.

So I will be probably the one wrestler who won't be in Las Vegas for double or nothing. Yeah, they'll all be flying in and you'll be like... I'll be passing them on the way. They'll be going west. I'll be going east. It's crazy. When people see you at these types of signings, what's the biggest question that people ask you? What's the Rock like?

That's like one of the biggest questions I get all the time. Or, you know, hey, how was attitude error? What was it like to be in the nation? So, those are... Look, I've interviewed The Rock nine times. He's counting. Yeah, of course I'm... It's The Rock. Of course I'm counting.

Yeah. What do you say when people ask you how the Rock is? I say that he's a cool-ass dude that I got to know before he was famous. Famouser. More famous. And he's one of those guys who will... give back to his family and his community. So that's the kind of guy I know.

How about the head shaking? People ask you about that? I get that all the time, but there's a secret to that. Okay. Remember the movie Friday? Yeah? Remember when Debo knocked a brother out for his bike and Chris Sto going on? You got knocked the...

Yeah. Headshake. That's where it came from? That's where it came from. A combination of there was a... The side-to-side came from that. And then there was back in the day. It was a defensive back for the 49ers.

It was Merton Hanks. Google him. If he intercepted a ball and he was going for the touchdown, he would do a strut like this as he was going in the end zone. So I put those two together and there's my strut and my head shake.

Now, when you started doing that, what was Vince's reaction? Ironically, and I tell the story, so Rocky and I were, we watched them, we Friday. It was a random Sunday. We just threw it into DVD player because we had portable DVD players

back in the day. It was really expensive. So we put a DVD player, watch Friday. So the next night, Rocky's wrestling Ken Chairman. He's wrestling on Ron. Rocky tosses Ken Shamrock to the floor. And I remember running up to Ken Shamrock going, you got knocked up.

So then immediately I said to myself, oh, I just swore a national TV event is going to find me. So the rest of the match is kind of like, oh, damn it, damn it. How much money is this going to cost me? So there are two looks Vince gives you when you come back through the curtain. Either he pulls his glasses up, push him down, gives you this, or he does this and it's followed by this. You don't want that one. No. You remember being someone to the principal's office or had dad mad at you?

Sure. That's that feeling that goes to your body. So I get back to the curtain. And I'm like, oh, my God, let me get fine. Let me get fine. So I peek back through. Benz looks at Rock. He goes, yeah.

It looks at me. He goes, hello. Damn it. So I immediately started thinking, okay, how I'm going to, I'm going to tell my fiance how I lost money. This is what I'm thinking in the two foot two. And I sit down next to me, goes, that the thing you did with your head. head.

Keep doing it. And I went, okay, cool. He didn't find me. And I ran away. But that's the first, the first time it was on TV and it was the first time,

his first thought on it was, there was something about it. He liked it, caught his attention. Catch Vince's attention, you're doing something right. There's some entrances, though,

where you're like shaking so much, I feel like your head's going to fall off. And it became a parody of itself because now I had to overdo it from, I had my pay-per-view head shake, I had my raw head shake. You know, I had my house.

show headshakes. So you just had to put it out there. And depending on how excited I was or how the match was or the meaning of the match, you can tell my excitement level, by the way, I strut it and shook the damn head. When DX did the parody of the nation, did you guys have any idea they were going to do that? We had a lot of input because they asked us mannerisms, ideas, stuff like that. And, you know, people, some people found that segment offensive. I get it. I find it like that segment did more for me than anything because I was doing the head shake and people didn't notice it. And then Road Dog went out there and did a better dealo than I did a delo. So then two segments later, when I came out to wrestle, people want, oh, damn, he really does that with his head.

And that's when awareness came to me as a performer. And like my run started right after that. So to me, it was, I couldn't be happier with it. Get it. If you're offended, I get it. Well, I just don't think that that segment, they wouldn't be able to get away with it now in 2019. on, man. What could you get a... Take any raw show from 98, 99, and put it in 2019. Your network would get cut off the air. Yeah.

The fact that there was blackface, though, did you have a problem with that at the time? I didn't at time. I get it. I understand it. I understand the heat behind it and I understand the history of it. I wasn't looking at it as blackface. I was looking at as entertainment. And as you grow, perspective change and thoughts and things change.

So today, I wouldn't... I would not have okayed that today. At the time, I'm just looking to entertain and be part of something. The fact that you were so close with The Rock in the Nation days, do you guys still keep in touch now? We talk from time of time. So it's not like, look, we're not buddies on my call. I'm going, hey, Rock, I need to be in a movie. But every now and then we'll talk to me.

Maybe you should. You know what? Maybe I should. I never want to cash in on stuff like that. But, you know, we'll talk from time and time. How much do you speak with draws after the accident? Funny, I was just talking to draws not too long ago. We text back and forth.

And I was just in Philadelphia, an autograph signing, and he rolled up. So, you know, Droz and I have no heat. I don't know what people think that. Dros and I have no heat. We talk and we're still friends to this day. Yeah, it's not like it was your fault. It's, you know, it's an accident. It's not like I went in the locker and said, hey, tonight I'm going to drop you on your head.

Yeah. And lots of people do, unfortunately, get dropped on their head, and they're fine. Yes. It was a freak accident. We sat and watched it together, and neither of us can pinpoint. What happened? What went wrong? And why did it end like that?

No one, neither was can do it. So, I mean, it's just one of those things that happened. It's an unfortunate thing that I happen be in the ring with him. And on that day, it happened. And it's just a bad situation that, you know, we wish we could have avoided. It's something we had done a thousand times before. Just freak night. I watched another interview where you said you hadn't watched it back.

So did you watch it back recently? We watched it back. I didn't watch it for the longest time. Yeah, okay. And then, because I couldn't bring myself to watch it. Sure. It was a bad situation. But once again, as you get older, perspective change.

Now I want to look just to improve to see, make sure that. Because as a teacher, I want to make sure I teach someone not to make that mistake. And I've looked back at it and I dissect it and I can't. I can't see what went wrong other than something went wrong. I saw that you or I know that it really affected you. Yeah. And you were, you know, thinking of quitting wrestling. And it was actually J.R. that turned things around.

Yeah. What did he say to you to kind of bring you back around? To paraphrase that he said, don't let two careers end in one mistake. And then he said, just go forward and wrestle. Go forward and wrestle for two careers, but don't let two careers end. And after sitting there thinking about that, I obviously went forward with it. It was a tough thing to do, but I moved forward. And from that day forward, I've never done the running power bomb ever again, ever.

It should have been banned off my list of moves to do. And I just continued my career. I think it's safe to say a lot of things have changed in 2020, including how we work. Businesses across the globe now are challenged to be their most efficient, which means every hire is critical. Indeed is here to help. Indeed is the number one job site in the world with more visits than any other job site. Indeed helps you find quality candidates quickly so you can focus on hiring the person you need to keep your business going. Unlike other job sites, Indeed gives you full control and payment flexibility over your hiring.

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bluewire at betonline.ag. That's blue wire, all one word at betonline.ag. Betonline.com. Bet Online, your online sportsbook experts. With the young wrestlers that you're mentoring and you're training with, what's the one piece of advice that you try to leave them with? Safety. Your opponent's giving you their body. They're working with you, not against you. And we all want to go home, provide for our family.

So we should leave the ring in the same condition we entered it. And that's like the biggest thing is taking care of yourself and take care of your opponent. Are you still working as a CPA? No, I haven't done that in a long time. Do you still file your own taxes? No, no, because it's just, it's too, there's too many states, there's too many laws, there's too much to worry about, and it's easy to go, hey, brother, just do this for me. Well, we mentioned AEW earlier. Obviously, you were a big part of the attitude era.

This is maybe reviving some sort of competition here in the wrestling world. What's your take on what AEW can bring to the table? And I put AEW, same thing with MLW, same thing with Impact, same thing with Ring of Honor. I think now we're starting, it feels like we're about to enter a renaissance of professional wrestling. And with companies giving opportunities, giving options, giving places to work, different viewing aspects, it's going to put more eyes back on the business we all love. So to me, that's not a bad thing with more eyes on it, more opportunity, more guys getting work. more guys and girls fighting and creating a living in this business. That can't be bad, and people benefit from it are the fans.

So to me, it's a win, win, win for everybody. You are retired before. You're obviously unretired now. I'm still retired-ish. Like every wrestler, right? It's wrestling, dude. There's only been one wrestler ever as retired. That was Mark Morrow.

He lost him a little retirement master's able, and they wrestled again. I love you, Mark. But you're the only guy who ever really retired. So what brought you out of retirement? It's easy to show in like the dojo how to do things for your students. It's a lot easier to show them in real life how to do it and then take it back to the school and go, okay, here's what wrestling is. Here's what I know.

I can tell you something all day long. Sometimes people don't want to listen to words. They want to see it. And so that's what kind of has me out there just playing around. And then I come out and help my friends in situations like this where, you know, gangrel's, you know, asylum is doing a show, so why not come out and help me boy? A lot of people are talking about what AEW is going to mean against the ratings of

WWE, but you worked for a long time in TNA, you worked behind the scenes for them. What does AEW mean for TNA in their ratings? I see it as the same boat. I think it's competition. It's going to make everybody raise their game. You work harder when there's someone working against you. That's just the nature of life. So I think along across the board is going to create competition,

which will create better content, better work rate, better viewership. Once again, the fans win because they get the benefit of all this competition. So I think it's going to help across the board. You were a part of ACEs and ATS. Where do you think that that ranks in the all-time factions? That was kind of fun. I think given if it was given more longevity, would move up the ranks.

Right now, because of it's short run, although it was like a meteoric rise and crash, like a shooting star, I think if it was given another year or two, it could be up there because people tend to, like, seem to enjoy it. And I had a lot of fun with it. I mean, people look at, you know, Nation, obviously, look at DX.

Is it up in those rankings? No, it's nowhere near Nation DX. That's like, to me, that's the pantheon of group. You know, there's a horseman. There's DX. There's, there's, what's that one, probably dangerous group, dangerous alliance, you know, and then there's the nations in there. And then you kind of go like down to another level.

And then another level down, and there's kind of a CIN-Ats. Because, you know, the heart foundation, you got that whole, you know what I'm saying? So there are, there are levels to this. And it takes a lot of the top and jump into that upper echelon. What was the real reason for the dive? I just, I think story got inconsistent and then guys moved on or people saw into work rate or whatever. A hundred different, hundred different reasons. One thing I don't think is just give enough time to percolate.

And that's a big thing in the wrestling world. You need that time. Yeah, you need that time. It's like, it's like baking. You can't bake a cake in five minutes. It takes you 45. Yeah. But if you pull it after 20, it's still going to be a cake, but it's not as good.

Yeah. Are you watching a lot of wrestling these days? I tend to watch a lot of the product. I like consuming product because you can't speak on something that you're not paying attention to because then you're just, you're ignorant of what's going on if you're speaking blindly and not knowing what's going on. So I tend to watch. I'll watch W.

I'll watch W. I watch Impact. I'll watch Ring of Honor. Every night, I've recently got an MLW because Jacob Fautoo's on there, a good friend of mine. So I've got to see him work. And I'm looking forward to watch an AEW. Is there something in the wrestling world right now that's maybe missing that could take things up another level? Dude, if I could figure that out, I'd be working for one of the major companies going,

this is what we need to do to make a billion. I don't know. I just think it has started with eyes on the product, and we kind of figure it out from there. And I think that's about what's going to happen in the next four to six months with AEW now getting back on a major network. That's what's going to happen over the next four to six months is eyes on the last. product and then from there you can kind of dial it in what's going to work and what's not well i know you used to live down here in florida you obviously love the warm weather we have here but you have very warm weather in nevada too different dry heat yeah dry i hate that dry heat uh if w vwee said hey come

to orlando come be a coach at the pc what would you say to that i would entertain that because i love teaching um and then i love teaching in warm weather that's good on my body then it's a good tax-free state not a tax-free state? It is, but it's dry heat. But it's a tax-free state. Yeah, but it's dry. You've got mountains.

Ocean is better. Yeah, I've really missed mountains, though. Ocean is better. Well, this can be out for debate in the comments section. You can tell us. Down below, down below. There you go. Oceans or mountains?

Yeah. Just give us a little feedback. Yeah. Just one word. Oceans or mountains. There is. That's it. I guarantee you oceans are better.

You're probably right. But still, I like mountains. Look, you can get seafood out of the ocean. What do you get at the mountain? A goat. You get a goat. Delo Browns. All right, John, I appreciate it.

Thank you. What an important question to end with there. Mountains or ocean. Hmm. It will be the eternal debate. I really enjoyed my time with Dilo. I really wish it could have been longer. But, you know, he had to go back in to wrestle on the show that we were there for.

So let's have him back on again soon. because that man can tell a story. He's great. Take a screenshot, share with a friend who you know would love to hear these classic stories.

On social media, I'm at Chris Van Vleet and Delo is at DeLo Brown 75 and make sure that you're subscribed wherever you're listening to this right now. And as we head into the new year,

keep these words from Mark Twain in mind. 20 years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do rather than the things that you did. there you go be great be grateful we'll see on the next one with the one and only booker tea the hammer alley podcast an 80s flashback mockumentary back in the 80s there were a thousand

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