Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Don Callis on AEW/Impact relationship, Kenny Omega, comparisons to Paul Heyman

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

Don Callis chats with Chris Van Vliet from Jacksonville, FL. He talks about the relationship that AEW and Impact Wrestling currently have, what he and Kenny Omega have in store, the comparisons between him and Paul Heyman, his thoughts on Tony Khan, what other surprises we might see, his time as Cyrus The Virus in ECW and much more! Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here: http://bwhustle.com/join If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and the podcast go to https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you. man with the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van

All right, welcome to the Chris Van Fleet Show, and thank you for joining us on another audio adventure. If it's your first time here, I am obsessed with finding out what makes successful people so successful. And on each episode, we have in-depth conversations and reverse-engineer

the habits and techniques of the world's top athletes, celebrities, entrepreneurs, you name it. If they are the best at what they do, I want to get their insight and help you apply it to your own life. And you want to talk about insight. We get all kinds of insight in this conversation with Don Callis. I mean, here's a guy who started in the wrestling business in 1989. So 32 years ago. And he's worked as a wrestler, a manager, a commentator, He's also currently the co-executive vice president of Impact Wrestling along with Scott DeMore. He's seen it all from WWF to ECW to New Japan to Impact Wrestling. Of course, he now has this thing going on with Kenny Omega in AEW.

And he has a lot to say about that. He also has a lot to say just about the state of the wrestling business as a whole right now. So take a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening. Tag me. I'm at Chris Van Vleet, wherever you. You can tag me, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. And Don is at the Don Callas on Twitter and at Don.

Dot Callis on Instagram. And over the next week or two, you're going to be seeing those changes here on the podcast that I've been talking about since last year. Like the last few months I've been talking about this. We're going to have a new name that's more reflective of what this show is all about. Sure, it's called the Chris Van Vleet Show, but that doesn't make any sense because this show is not about me. This show is all about my guests.

And I want a name that's reflective of what the show is actually about. So you'll be seeing a new name, a new logo, some new music. But that's it. Everything else remains the same. We're going to have these deep, insightful conversations with thought-provoking questions where you can see a new side of these people that you've never seen before. So keep an eye out for that. If you're not subscribed yet, subscribe now so you don't miss out what we're working on here.

and if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts, that would be so great. We're heading towards that goal of 2,000 reviews by my birthday, May 19th, and we're going to crush that goal. But we can't do without your help. We can't do it without reviews like this one from Halden 365 Flicks across the pond in the UK. Name a better interviewer. I'll wait. That's what this review is titled.

The level of respect this man has gained from the people who matter within the industry is truly remarkable. Vague goals, vague results. CVV inspired me to start a podcast, and now I'm dabbling in the YouTube as well. I only want to improve, and CVV, you're living proof that you can always improve. Well, thank you for that, Holden, 365 Flicks. And thank you for helping us to get to this goal of 2,000 reviews before my birthday. Like you said, vague goals get vague results, right? And congratulations on your podcast and your YouTube channel. You're doing it, man. And I'm have to think that vague goals get vague results applies to Don Callis with how very specific he's been with both the direction of impact wrestling and also this storyline that he's in right now

with Kenny Omega. So without further ado, because I mean, who likes further addues? Who likes, who's like, you know what? We know what we need right now? We need more ados. No. Please welcome Don Callis. There he is. Don Callis, ladies and gentlemen. And, you know, a lot of eyeballs. on you as we head into Hard to Kill. You've been definitely stirring things up in the wrestling industry. Yeah, I think, you know, Kenny and I have a lot of plans and kind of, you know, what people are seeing, I guess, from a national television perspective is just kind of the fruition of those things.

And we take great pride in the fact that when people think that they've kind of seen the apex of it, you know, we try to do something different, take it to the next level. I think that fans have this idea in this world of wrestling now where they think they know what's going on. And you've kind of turned that on its head. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't set out with any of these things, you know, to try to fool anybody or to say, oh, how can I make a good, be part of a good story?

I don't care of those stories. I have no interest in the wrestling business in terms of what traditionally I guess people like, oh, I love wrestling or I like to do it this way. It's like I don't care about matches, I don't care about ratings, I care about history, frankly. And I think Kenny and I have changed history a couple of times now

and we're not done and there's more to come. So people have to, they don't have to actually. They can choose to tune in and check it out. So far they have been, and that's been good. When you first showed up on AEW and you were doing guest commentary, I think that was a big surprise to a lot of people. What did you think the reaction would be seeing the intermingling of impact wrestling and AEW?

I guess I think Kenny and I have been unique in the business in the sense that we don't tend to look at the business through the lens of corporate structure or the traditional old, carny rules of pro wrestling. So to me, impact AEW, it's just people. And, you know, Kenny Omega is a god among insects. It's comparing Kenny Omega to anyone else

in the wrestling business is frankly ridiculous. So we're just different. And whether we were playing this out in pro wrestling or in some other industrial platform, I think it wouldn't really matter, frankly. We'd still be successful in what we're trying to do. Well, you

and Kenny have known each other for a long, long time. I mean, you met him when he was 10 years old. So take me back to the first time that you met him. Well, Kenny's uncle was a guy named the Golden Sheek and he was a wrestler in Winnipeg,

Manitoba. He was my trainer. And after he had trained me, he was my manager. And he introduced me to his nephew, who was a cute little 10-year-old kid. And the nephew kind of have attached himself to us and followed us around and wanted to be a wrestler.

And the sheik had looked after me very much in a way that is not typical in the wrestling business. So I tried to, you know, mentor Kenny in various areas of his life, including his pro wrestling career. And I've been there for him and he's been there for me ever since. After the sheep died in 2007, really what we had was each other. So when you first got into the business, what were the goals that you have? ad in wrestling.

If you were to look at a couple of promos I did in WWF in 97, I was, I think the first person maybe, one of the first people anyway, to come out as I was total unknown

and I came out in one of my first promos I did. In Fonda Live Raw was called, not calling on a wrestler, I called out Vince McMahon. I said that I wanted to run the World Wrestling Federation. I wanted to run the wrestling business and people thought, oh, that's an interesting kind of bullet point or whatever. But it was true. I never had an interest in being a pro wrestling manager or being a color commentator. I wanted to be the person pulling

the strings. I was 29 years old when I said that. And I don't think the time was right. Vince McMahon was clearly not a guy who was going to allow other people into the tent. They had offered offered me jobs to move to Stanford on three different occasions, which I turned down. But that's always been the goal. It's, you know, you don't want to be the person acting in the movie. You probably want to be the studio that, or the person that finances the studio that finances the movie. Yeah, it's a deep cut on that one. What were these jobs in Stanford that you were offered?

Being a part of creative. I was as I recall I was one of the first people ever to I wrote six weeks of television for Kogan to try to get him to a different level

and I wrote it out in a week-by-week format that would be fairly common now in 1997 it was pretty unheard of for a wrestler to write out as creative in the way of a kind of a formatting that we do now today when we write episodic TV

so that was new and different and they were like, oh, maybe you should be on creative. And I did not want to be boxed into, you know, working in a cubicle for anyone in any office, anywhere, doing anything. So I just kind of pushed back and said, that's not why I signed here. I signed her to be a wrestler. And ultimately that didn't work out.

But we're all a product of our time in the business. So all of those things, I think, grow us as people. Well, this might be a little bit of foreshadowing you saying that you wanted to be the one pulling the strings behind the scenes. because fast forward 20 years, and you are the guy pulling the strings at impact wrestling. Yeah, I mean, I don't like to limit it

just to impact wrestling. I think the invisible hand has had a role in shaping. I mean, what Kenny Omega and I have done is what everyone's been talking about for weeks now. And now, last night on Dynamite, we did it again, put the club back together. no one thought that could happen. So the invisible hand hasn't stopped.

The invisible hand doesn't do this for accolades or for ratings. I do it so that we can change the business and shock people. And so I don't like to limit myself just in terms of the scale of impact wrestling. It's a great company. But I see the whole industry as the sandbox of Kenny Omega and Doc Callis. I've talked before that we've taken. some criticism for saying we're gods among insects, but if you, I'm trying to make a point, which is that we just think on a completely different higher level. Most people think of week to

week, show to show, oh, well, what are we going to do to pop a rating or, you know, who got over on the show? Kenny and I don't care about those things. So I think that we really are thinking on a different plane. And that's, the cool thing is, is when you're doing that, then no one can compete with you. Have you always thought this way? Not just about the wrestling business, but business in general. Have you always tried to think outside the box? I think that I learned a long time ago that one should not define oneself by one's job, because first of all, that's a pretty shallow pool. It's pretty trite. Jobs come and go through no fault of your own. And if you say, I'm the best accountant in Baltimore, Maryland, or wherever.

Well, what happens if there's not a need for accountants anymore? Now where's your value? So I don't define myself as a pro wrestler or commentator or an executive. I have to be happy within myself with who I am. And that way, I can always look inside myself and say, I'm okay with this, even if I'm no longer a commentator, I'm no longer an executive. I've no longer a postman, a barista, whatever it is.

But most people do define themselves by their place on the card or how much money they make. Money, you know, there's a lot of reading. There's a great book called The Blue Book of Happiness. It talks about money impacts people's happiness up to the magic number is about $70,000 a year because through research they've looked and said, that's how much you need to be able to pay your bills and live.

Beyond that, it doesn't exponentially increase your happiness, actually. But we're all wired for that. We're all wired to say, I got a promotion at work. I'm a better person. I've had lots of promotions. It didn't make me happier in some cases. It made me miserable. So that's just how Kenny and I look at it.

We don't look at ourselves as part of the wrestling business. I guess that makes us unique. Sounds like Kenny might be calling you right now. Now. Kenny and I don't need to call. We know what he better are thinking. Don, who would you say has been the most influential person in your career? I would say probably there's been three, I would say, Kenny's uncle the Golden Sheik, for sure. Bad News, Alan, who kind of took on my training after the Sheik moved on. And then Paul Heyman and ECW, you know.

And it's, I've been happy for Paul that he's had the success that he's had because he's a very talented, hardworking guy, did a lot for me. There's been people that have been now comparing us. And I think it's an unfair comparison for Paul because, you know, Paul is a tremendous wrestling performer, a character on a television show. And he does a wonderful job at that. I'm not a character. I am the essence of who I am. And what I do is done at a much higher level than what characters like Paul with all due respect to him do.

As I say, I hate to keep going back to it. But it is, if you have the wrestling business here, think of it like a child's ant farm that they have. The plastic box. And the ants are all moving around, and they're tunneling, and they're reproducing, and they're protecting the queen, and they're building their nest. And the adult is looking down at this science experiment, and the ants are completely oblivious to the day-to-day machinations of the adult. Kenny and I are that adult looking down on the insects of the science experiment. The people in the business are completely oblivious to everything that we do.

do and everything that we think and everything that we will do. But it doesn't mean that we can't with one fell swoop, press down on that science experiment and change it. So that's the difference between me and Paul, among other things. So are we just scratching the surface of what you and Kenny have planned in the wrestling business? I think if one thing that we've tried to show people is don't limit your thinking. I love when people talk about dream matches is such a pathetic.

dreaming small, oh, I'd love to see this match. I mean, think bigger. And I think that Kenny and I are anywhere close to being finished with what we're doing, not anywhere close to being finished. You know, you mentioned Paul Heyman, you mentioned ECW. That's where I first became aware of you, playing Cyrus the Virus. Where did the, I mean, obviously the influence was being a TNN executive there. That was the idea there. But where did the idea, for the day-to-day the week-to-week come from for that character? So there's an interesting backstory to that. I came up with the idea of doing something different

that leveraged a real-life difficult situation with the network. At the same time, I had made friends with a couple of the executives there. And I had pitched a few ideas. There used to be a show called Dallas, that was a very famous show in the 80s. Right. And they used, TNN used to run the reruns. And I had successfully pitched a Dallas with Callas,

monthly marathon of Dallas, a 24-hour loop where myself and one of the stars of Dallas would talk about the show because I was a subject matter expert because I always looked at Dallas as a wrestling show, the way that they wrote it, heels, baby faces. So it was germane to what we were thinking in the 90s. And so I pitched this idea, which got me even closer to the network legitimately.

And that caused some problems internally for me because I think that Paul and others did not have a great relationship with the network, but I did on a legitimate basis outside of storyline. And so it caused some issues, but ultimately I think that, you know, the portrayal of that character was, you know, was, I think Paul had a lot to do with it in terms of saying,

hey, I think once he saw, hey, there's something here to this office thing, I think Paul then looked and said, okay, how can we really turn the volume up on this character to get maximum heat because we know that the fans don't like the network. So it was a joint kind of a collaboration where Paul and I worked together creatively in a non-formal setting. You pushed the envelope a lot with that character. And I'm curious to know if the network ever pushed back and said, Don, that's a bit much. I think I don't know who pitched them stuff, but I know that we made fun of Roller Jam and Rock and Bowl, like some of the shows that they had. But they seem to like it because they sent the guy from Rock and Bowl to our show to do something.

So I think that they thought at the time, I think they had a very fun-loving attitude towards like, oh, well, like, yeah, we have a show where people dance while they bowl, which is wacky. So let's do wacky. There have been comparisons between ECW and AEW, and now you've been in both. Are those comparisons fair? You can't really compare errors. You know, you really can't. I mean, I think that certainly there was FMW before ECW, but I think that, you know, ECW pushed a lot of limits with what they did at the time.

And, I mean, those limits don't exist anymore, of course, because the business has just changed so exponentially. So I don't think you can compare the two at all. I just want to pause for a second because I know we have a lot of podcasters who listen to the show and a lot of aspiring podcasters as well. And I want to tell you about Blue Wire Hustle, which is a brand new program where you can host your very own podcast here at Blue Wire. Hustle was created to give everyone the opportunity to take your podcast to that next level. Or if you've always dreamed about hosting a podcast but you didn't know where to start, hustle is the perfect place for you.

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Did you ever have a moment in ECW where you looked at a storyline or a match or maybe something that was very violent and, you know, kind of took a step back and went, I can't believe we're doing this? Um, you know, my thing was that, uh, like I wasn't, I wasn't going to allow anyone to hit me with a chair or do anything to me because it's, uh, I, I grew up learning how to wrestle in the traditional way. So a lot of that stuff, you know, the chairs and the big dives and stuff was, I looked at it and went, well, I guess if there's people that enjoy doing it, go ahead and do it. But my big high spot was a standing knee drop. So, you know, that was. I think in this era of wrestling, It's very hard to please the fans. You guys are doing stuff that's definitely turning a lot of heads, but do you think there's ever a way to make fans happy? I think we get that backwards. I think one has to make oneself happy. And then I can't, it's a fantasy to think that bookers or anyone else

can control how other people react to what we put out there. Chris, I mean, I can't make you react anyway. I can't make you angry or make you sad or make you happy. Whatever I say, I say, and then you take that, you choose to react, however you react. So I think part of the problem with, you know, people say, well, why are shows not written better? Why is there no good booking anymore? Whatever people's parlance is. It's for the very reason.

You know, wrestlers, bookers, bookers, promoters try to please the fans, the customers. you can't make someone feel anything. Put it out there and however they react, they react. And if it doesn't work out, you know, didn't work out for them. It doesn't mean that you've failed. Well, it's working out for you right now. And what do you think the end of that Omega Moxley match

would have looked like had you not interfered? Well, it was, I mean, it's a hypothetical. It's saying, it's like saying, you know, what if you and I were conducting this interview on top of a fair? Ferris wheel. Well, that'd be interesting. It'd be fine. You know, we'd probably enjoy ourselves.

The finish of that match, the ending, was never in doubt. And why I say that is that, you know, this plan in some form or fashion has been not years, decades. You know, Kenny and I have talked about taking over the wrestling business since he was a little boy. and the plan for him to at the appropriate moment, fulfill his destiny and becoming AWW world champion is something that's been in the works for well over a year on a detailed basis. I could have told you,

I should have probably done a video because no one would believe me now, but I had visualized moment to moment exactly everything that ended up happening at winter is coming. And there was no, there was nothing left to chance. It was always going to be that way. And so now people have what they wanted.

They wanted Kenny Omega, the old best belt machine, they wanted to have Kenny Omega be at the forefront of AEW. And now they've got it, but people don't like it because they can't control it. Oh, where's the old Kenny Omega? Well, you were just complaining about the old Kenny Omega. You know, when I came into Impact with Scott DeMore, everyone was, oh, these guys are great, the golden executives, they're such good guys. Now all of a sudden, I changed the wrestling business for a second time, and it's like,

oh, Don Callis has manipulated Kenny Omega. You know, Kenny Omega is my family, you know. People outside that family dynamic don't understand what that is. And I think the people in our society are very quick to judge the way other people deal with their business. Is there a chance that Kenny Omega could hold both the AEW Championship and the Impact Wrestling Championship? You know, look, he's got the AAA Mega Championship right now.

This is true. I think Kenny Omega, I don't think I know, Kenny Omega's best wrestler in the world. Second place is not close. So I think Kenny and I, it's, if we're interested in something, you know, we go ahead and go after it and we take it and we do it. And that could be any belt. But sometimes I think, you know, people think about belts. What is a belt?

It's gold and silver, metal, diamonds, leather, whatever, doesn't mean anything. What means something is the person that holds it. So Kenny Omega and I will get down to the granular level of things like belts and money once we get done changing the way people think. I know that the Tokyo Dome was... I don't care about how people spend their money. I care about how they think. I know the Tokyo Dome was really instrumental in making all of this happen.

Can you take me back to how that all came together and what it meant in the world of wrestling? People thought that I got back into the business to be a color commentator with New Japan. They thought that was a great story. Oh, look, he's been under the business for a long time. New Japan was the hot promotion. back then, as you recall.

Everyone talked about it. I had never watched the product. For all I knew, Antonio Onoki was still the champion. I mean, I had not paid any attention. Didn't know any of the names, didn't know any of the talent. Within two months, you know, many people thought I was the top color commentator in wrestling. And people thought I was very happy about that. I really didn't care.

I didn't get back in the business to be a commentator on a wrestling show. It was, okay, this is a company that's growing excellent. exponentially, internationally, I need to look after Kenny's interest and it fits the overall plan. So what we had with New Japan was the correct platform. What we needed was a plan to execute. And so I called my best friend in the wrestling business of 30 years, Chris Jericho, and asked him if he would break every rule he had about never working anywhere other than for Vince McMahon. I asked him if he would break that rule to wrestle someone who was my family. So yes, I pitted my best friend against a fan, remember if you want to call it that.

But in thinking way outside the box and then being able to convince Chris of that and to be able to work to facilitate that match, what we had was the correct platform, which was with the Tokyo, though. And then we got to show people things can change and look what just happened. And New Japan Pro Wrestling made millions of dollars off that match. match and you know you you will never hear a thank you or an acknowledgement of what i did for them people say you must be upset and i say i'm not upset at all because i didn't do it for them i did it for kenny and i helped chris as well and for everyone in the wrestling business who got raises

because of aaW because of chris jericho going to aaW without the joke you don't Chris Jericho doesn't late WWE. Chris Jericho probably retires when it becomes a bigger rock star than he already is. So the reality is that I think the thank you is actually owed to Kenny and I by the universe that follows pro wrestling, not by a particular that made money. That's small thinking. Don, you mentioned leaving the industry, but can you really ever leave the wrestling industry? I'll tell you, I didn't watch one wrestling match for three.

13 years. Not one. No. Why would I want to? It's it's and then people said, well, how could you be so effective getting back into business having not watched it? Because you go back to the science experiment

it's a kite dancing and a hurricane. It's an ant on the ground. It's not hard for me to understand. I don't need to have a PhD in astrophysics to understand how pro wrestling works to understand how to pull the strings and manipulate things.

Vince McMahon and others haven't had that problem either. It's not a complicated business we're in, but what the business is is a platform. So even though I never followed it, I always still had a hand, whether it was Omega, whether it was my connection with Chris, whether it was helping Kenny to put together his tremendous documentary that apparently people at the U.S. are blocked for people being able to see it. I blend Tony Kahn for that, actually, because I don't understand why. Because Tony doesn't like what happened that winter is coming should not mean that he bites off his nose despite his face and doesn't properly acknowledge what Kenny and I have

done. And Tony is a very smart individual. Tony has been a blessing for the people in the wrestling business. Kenny and I don't care about the people, so it's good that Tony does. It's good. It's a strong role. Yeah, how does Tony Kahn fall into everything that you have going on? Well, I mean, Tony is someone who I think was surprised by what happened.

And I think that's... I mean, you screwed him. Well, did I screw him or did I open his eyes? You know, I think that there's a lot of people when you're as smart and successful as Tony Kahn that are sycophantic yes men who like to tell you what you want to hear. Oh, that's great. Oh, that's great. You can do no wrong. And the wrestling media has done that for Tony as well.

And I understand it because, again, he's been a blessing for all of the people in the industry. He's been a blessing. But, you know, what I did was I didn't act like a yes man. I didn't tell Tony. You can't tell someone like Tony Kahn with an IQ over 160. You can't tell Tony Kahn. You're doing this wrong. You better be careful.

You better do this because he's only known success. So Tony had to have a failure in order to actually learn and evolve. And here's the other thing. People say failure. I don't consider it a failure. Tony Kahn understood that night and understands now, this is a whole different business. And you can only trust yourself because I suspect there are a lot of people around Tony,

Khan, that told him that he was bulletproof that nothing like this could ever happen to him. What happened? I suspect Tony won't let it happen again. and he's welcome for that lesson. And the other gift I think that Tony got was he got the best wrestler in the world as his world champion. So at the end of the day, be clear, Kenny Omega and I pull the strings. We control everything. But Kenny is still walking around with the AW World Championship.

We're on Tony's show every week. Kenny is an artist. Kenny is the world's greatest wrestler. And so Tony has reaped a lot of benefits from this to be clear. And that's why I don't see it as adversarial. I'm sure there's a lot of things about something that Tony Kahn could teach Don Callis. I'd love to sit down and have that chat over a cup of tea. It's not personal at all.

Really isn't. I don't know if you'll be sharing that cup of tea with Tony Kahn anytime soon. Your offer is open. We could do it on top of the Ferris wheel if you want. We should. I'll bring some popcorn. I agree. Right. Don, as we head in hard to kill, what can we expect?

Well, I think that, you know, you've seen the gang back together with Gallows and Anderson and Kenny Omega. I mean, this is pretty unprecedented stuff. You've got the Impact World Tag Team champions of Good Brothers and Kenny Omega, the AEW World Champion against Rich Swan, the Impact World Champion and the Motor City Machine Guns, great tag team, legendary tag team. And, you know, I think how often do we see? two world champions from two separate companies in the ring at the same time. That is literally unheard of right now in the industry. So I think it's anything can happen literally. As we've seen, listen, like I've proven it week after week after week.

People go, that's it. They're not going to do any more. And then we do it. So I think Hard to Kill is going to be legendary and paradigm shifting for all of those reasons. It's been said a lot that we are living in the best time right now to be a wrestling fan. In your opinion, is 2021 the best time to be a wrestling fan? Well, I don't, God is it's, I don't try to be difficult here. It's a difficult question because I don't even know what it is to be a wrestling fan.

I'm not a fan of wrestling. So, I don't know. I mean, is there ever really a good time to be a fan of anything? A fan means you're a fanatic. So if you're living and dying by, you know, putting your hopes in, you know, the John Moxley's of the world or the Cody Rhodes or the Darby Allen's or the Rich Swans, I mean, the Tommy Dreamers, that's a wagging your hitching your happiness too that you have no control over. So I don't know. Is it a good time to be a wrestling fan? I'm glad I'm not one.

That's all I'll say. I think that's a great way to end things. He's not a wrestling fan. I'm a fan of you, though, and the Ferris wheel. I can't wait to go on that Ferris wheel. Let's do that. Socially distanced Ferris wheel. Oh, there's that, yes.

Don, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. It's been very enjoyable. No, this has been enlightening. Thank you. Okay. All right. There we go.

Don Callis has a lot to say. And as you may have noticed, it's hard to tell where Don Callas, the character ends and where Don Callis, the person, begins. The lines are very blurred here. I like it. I like it. And I like that over the last month, we've had some huge surprises that we could have never predicted. Kenny Omega is showing up on Impact Wrestling. The Good Brothers showing up on Dynamite.

And I think Don was right when he said, this is just the beginning. And this is just the beginning for the podcast as well. So please take a moment today. to subscribe wherever you listen. And seriously, if you could leave a review, that would be so, so helpful as the show continues to grow, and it's going to get so, so much bigger

over the next few weeks. You'll see. You'll see the new name in the next few weeks here. As former U.S. Defense Secretary Colin Powell once said, a dream does not become a reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work. Sweat, determination, and hard work. I like that.

Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We'll see on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. But get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast.

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