Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Enzo Amore on getting fired, AEW, Big Cass update, Simon Gotch, Triple H, Survivor Series in the crowd

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

Enzo Amore (nZo) sits down with Chris Van Vliet for an extended interview at State of Fitness Boxing in North Bergen, New Jersey. He talks about wanting to return to wrestling, being fired by WWE, an update on Big Cass' health, appearing in the crowd at Survivor Series, doing a run in at the New Japan Show at Madison Square Garden and more! My audio equipment provided by Samson Technologies: http://bit.ly/CVVSamson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. Woo! This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleach Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Brunswick. Yeah, come on in. Stay a while. Welcome to the Chris Van Bleach Show.

This episode is brought to you by Untucket. And I'm going to say this right off the top because I know there were a lot of people who weren't very excited when I tweeted out that I was going to be interviewing Enzo Amore. I had quite a few people saying, hey, Chris, I listen to every single one of your interviews, but I'm going to be skipping this one. Thanks anyway. And I know, I get it. You know what we got over here? You know what sounds like we got over here? a cup of heinous.

But in all seriousness, you will see in this interview that Enzo the character is very different from Enzo the human being. He's all about hard work, creativity, and especially giving back to the community. So I just ask of you that you go into this with an open mind. And I promise you, when this thing is over, you're going to be pleasantly surprised. And I've been pleasantly surprised by all the kind things you guys have been saying about this podcast. and in general, just about these interviews on Twitter and on Instagram.

Thank you so much. And in person as well. I was at a big event in New York this weekend. It was awesome. Meeting you guys in person. It's also awesome hearing which interviews are your favorite interviews. That Chris Jericho one in the back of the car, that comes up a lot. But then people will be like, oh, Ryback was my favorite one.

Marco Stunt was my favorite interview. Jungle Boy, The Rock. Any list of them. Actually, I wonder which one's your favorite interview. Let me know. tweet tweet at me i'm also glad to hear that you guys like the mini episode that we dropped last week we're going to uh get to keep those going they're not going to be like a regular every week thing they're going to kind of come up as we get some ideas if you have ideas let me know

but every thursday we are going to have the interviews dropping on the podcast so keep the uh the nice feedback coming in keep those reviews coming if you happen to be listening on apple podcast because that's the platform where you can uh review the show it's literally going to take you like seven seconds to click the five stars. So please. Please. I don't have a Patreon. I'm not asking for your money. I'm asking for a couple little thumb clicks from you. That's it. You can leave a review. Six-pack lien left a review. That's his username. He says CVV pods are awesome. I listen to the podcast every time CVV uploads. Well, that's really nice. Oh, thank you. I listen to it every time I hit the sauna after I kill my workout. Love the podcast. Have it

missed an episode. I don't care if CVV reads this on an episode. I just want to help out and give this a five-star review. Keep it coming, Chris. You're killing it. And AEW. Man, thank you very much, six-pack lien. Also, how about this episode being rolled down on a Thursday? Yeah, like I said, that's the plan moving forward. So make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss any episodes starting now. Thank you to Samson for the mics and the audio equipment and the mixing boards and everything that makes that sound so good and so professional. You can head to samsonTech.com to see their full lineup. Of course, the show is brought to you by Greenroads,

and there's a lot of CBD companies out there. You've heard a lot of different companies, but if you're looking for the best quality products, which is, I would assume what you'd want if you were ingesting something into your body, Green Roads has the best quality products. They're a pharmacist founded companies, so they're not screwing around here.

They've got the lab results to back up all of their products. But most importantly, people are like, well, what does CBD feel like? What does it do? And I would say it feels like it actually doesn't feel like a lot. It's kind of like when you take an aspirin. If I were to say, hey, what's it, what's it feel like to take an aspirin? Well, what it feels like is the headache you had or the knee pain you had or whatever, it happens to just kind of fade away a little bit. And that's the same deal with CBD. I take the Green Road CBD oil, a couple drops, bloop, under my tongue. The relaxed gummies, the same type of thing. I think that they, Those are the easiest ones to take. And it's just kind of like your brain's going a mile a minute. You're thinking about all kinds of different things going on in your day and your week and your month. And it kind of takes your brain from a 16 lane highway down to like a much more manageable four lane highway. And it happens gradually over the course of a little bit of time. But you know, an hour later you're like, wow, I'm able to actually focus on something here.

I'm able to actually collect my thoughts. And also, you know, if you do have a little bit of pain from. maybe a tough workout or from a recurring injury or something like that, it helps out with that too. Use my code Chris 15. You'll get 15% off your order at greenroadsworld.com. If you have like joint pain, their topicles are great for that. You can use their muscle and joint relief cream to really help out with that. So once again, Chris 15, Chris 1-5, you get 15% off your order at greenroadsworld.com. So like I said off the top, Enzo the character. is very different from Enzo, the human being.

And I'm very aware of the reputation that he has. Enzo is very aware of the reputation that he has. But I wanted to sit down with him in person and see what he was really like, what he was like away from the WWE cameras, because that's really all people know him from. So he invited me to do this interview at State of Fitness Boxing Club in North Bergen, New Jersey. That's where he works out. He welcomed me into his world with open arms.

He couldn't have been more hospitable. We covered so much in this interview from him being fired from WWE to those allegations against him in Phoenix, showing up at Survivor's Series in the crowd and getting kicked out and what happened after that, then showing up at the crowd at Madison Square Garden at the New Japan Show. He gives us an update on Big Cass, a lot of stuff here. And as you probably saw from the runtime, yeah, this is by far the longest interview in the history of my interviews. And I've been in broadcasting now for 15 years, and this is the longest interview. We can certainly do longer ones, but like the hour, the 45 minutes to an hour, that's like the sweet spot, I think, for me.

So here you go. This is a good one. It's the one and only. And so. And I guess the first thing I have to ask you is, how are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Yeah, yeah, I see what you did there.

For the people that don't know me, you can follow me at Real One. and my name is Enzo, formerly known as Enzo Omorey. There's no one watching this that doesn't know who you are. I can't make assumptions. And the number one thing that I have to say here is if you're a young pro wrestler that's in this world, don't assume that everybody knows you. Every time you walk into an arena, don't assume you're over. Don't pretend that you're over.

Go out there like it's the first time they're ever going to see you. And you know how I did that the same way Paul Heyman did. Introduce yourself. Yeah, yeah. Who came up with that bit? Who? My name is Enzo Mori. Yeah, you know, that whole thing.

I did. So, oh, damn, you know what? I should have brought my book here. I'm kind of, I'm kind of upset. I might want to send Robbie up the road because we have a field day with that. You want to get my book? It's sitting right in my living room. Well, you like write down your promos?

I have every promo that I've ever done on TV, every promo that I've ever written and things that the world's never heard written down. Yeah. Wow. I'm a writer, and that's my forte in the business of pro wrestling. So the introduction bit that I've told the story so many times I just hate to retell it But to make you know The you know nuts and bolts of this thing and get the short and thick

Basically The first time that we ever went out there on TV I said my name is Enzo Amory I'm a certified G and a bona fide stunt I didn't say and you can't teach that at that moment right, but we had to do a segment that night after I Debutt John Cena just happened to be in the crowd that day. I was told I was going to be fired. So I was going out there to do, I guess, a job, you know, because I'm not a job or I have a contract with the WWE. I'm an employee, but at the same time, I'm about to go out there and lose and then get fired. So I'm like, damn, man, I got to go tell all my friends back home, like, you know, that one wrestling match you had. Yeah, yeah, got beat up in

spandex by a big jacked up guy and Mason Ryan. And it was just a bad look for me. And when I came through the curtain, I thought it was all over. I was like, dude, that was terrible. terrible. They're going to tell me I did bad. This little kid named Rob Naler, he's not a little kid, he's a man. And he worked for the WWM production, comes running up to me. And it's like, dude, John Sina wants to meet you. I'm like, dude, I just debuted on TV for the first time. And I'm like thinking I'm going to get fired and I'm doing terrible.

And I'm like, oh, my God, what? So I go meet John Sina directly after I debut in NXT. And it was just by coincidence that he was there that day, the day I debuted. Dusty Rhodes gave me the microphone and put me out there and gave me my first opportunity. And then John Sina gave me my second opportunity that very night. When in the dark segment, when the show was over, John Sina was meant to come out because we keep the crowd there. At that time, we couldn't keep NXT fans in the house. We needed John Sina to be in the dark segment so that people would stick around for four hours of tapings.

Right. Well, John Sina came up to me and he said, hey, listen, I've been here for four hours of tapings. and you're the only thing that has caught my attention today. Good job. And I walked away and I was like, what the fuck just happened? Wow. And then Cass came up to me. He was like, what do he say?

What do he say? What he's saying? And I was like, next thing I know, John Cena comes up to us again. And now it's me and Cass then next to each other. He's like, do you want to come out with me when I go to the ring in the dark seg? He was going out there against Damien Sanda, who's the intellectual savior of the masses. Yeah. So in a moment's time, literally, we have about five minutes to get.

get our clothes on and get to the ring because John Seen is already in the ring with Damien Sandow. Wow. Cass is freaking out. I'm freaking out. But what happened that day changed my life forever. I saw an opportunity dude and it was like M&M. It was like lose yourself. It was like, these weeks, oh, the palms are sweaty.

And I was like, oh, no one's taking food off my mom's plate. And I'm like going like right before I go through the curtain, I'm freaking out in my mind about everything that I've written over the past seven months I've been hired in the WWE as I debut seven months into the biz eight months into the biz and I had just gotten the name Enzo Omore like three weeks before that so I didn't think for one second that when I went to TV that day that was going to be on TV what exactly did you do with Sina so we got into the ring with Sina and he was with the intellectual savior of the masses Damien Sandi was supposed to be smart so that's why I said to him I said well I'm a certified gene a bona

I'd study. You can't teach that. And this guy's seven foot tall, and you can't teach that. And you think you're so smart? Well, I got a question for you. How many dimples are there on a golf ball? And he looked and was like, what the fuck? And John Cena was like, what is going on?

And I was like, there's exactly 136 dimples on a golf ball. And they're exactly zero dimples on my hind end. You want to know why? Because I'm hard body. And you know what you are? Your S-A-W-F-T shoot! John Sina and the whole crowd were like, what the fuck? So John Sina said out loud, what did you call him?

And I went, shooft. And then John Sina went, shooft. And the whole crowd goes, shuff. The next TV tapings. Now, mind you, we've had about four weekends of live events, wrestling matches in NXT in the state of Florida. And every one of those matches for the next four weeks leading up to the next TV taping, I don't have any matches. I get booked in a security t-shirt, yellow shirt that says security, and I'm taking the jackets from wrestlers who are wrestling.

And they did that to fuck with me. You know what I mean? I didn't realize it at the time. But also, you know, that night that I got out of the ring with John Cena, everybody's coming up to be like, dude, you could be on Monday Night, Raw tomorrow. Like, bro, you can be. So for the next four or five years in NXT, I kid you not, I was either told you're going to be fired or you could be called up to Raw tomorrow.

Oh my God. And I had no idea if I was going to Raw or if I was getting fired the whole time I was there in NXT. And everybody would tell you that. You know, when I was in NXT, it wasn't so easy for me as in so. What a terrible way to live, though. It was, I think that a lot of guys that were there would tell you that it was a terrible way to live.

But at the same time, it makes you who you are. It's a double-edged sword. It's a dirty one. It's the business. It is what it is. you know, what are you without the WWE or nothing? Because they're the ones who give you the opportunity, and they can easily take that opportunity away.

But look at everything you've been doing since we saw you in WWA. Yeah, no, I'm so blessed to have gotten out of that situation the way I did and for people to read into it, understand, and know that, you know, I'm a good guy, and these false accusations that were made against me were just that. So it was a blessing to know that the world had my, my back. And I found that out. Probably it was the best day of my life.

And it was a day that I made a decision not to necessarily jump back into pro wrestling because I thought that the love that was shown to me, I just, I had to come home. So that's where we are right now. Yeah. We're in New Jersey. New York City is where you just came from New York City. You could see it from right here. I'm at State of Fitness Boxing Club in Northburg in New Jersey,

and if you're interested to know what I've been up to for the past two years of my life and what it all boiled down to, it's the community. And coming back home to this community that supported me so much, you know, when this police report came out that vindicated me of any wrongdoing, 4,500 people showed up to Times Square to meet me when I broke a five-month social media silence. And I did that by zooming in on the bleachers, of Times Square and I said I'll be out there at 8 p.m. next week the day that the police report came out. When I did that, I was worried that four or five people would show up. I was worried

that maybe somebody wanted to hurt me. I didn't know what to expect. Man, whoa. You were there, Robbie. One of my business partners is in the room with us, Robbie Max. Shout out Robbie Max. Basically, I'm upstairs in the studio. I come down and I could have never anticipated that I would fill up the entire time square. That's crazy.

And I didn't do that. Pro Wrestling did that. The fans of pro wrestling who are avid fans who love this business who saw a guy who, quite frankly, I got screwed. I'm not going to sit here in mince words. I haven't come out and apologize for this. And I'm still not.

but putting yourself in a situation where you can jeopardize what you've worked so hard for is the only thing that I ever did wrong was you know you go out and you drink and you party and you know what I got to say it was at a red hot chili peppers concert I'm a huge red hot chili peppers man

man I'm gonna go backstage at red hot chili peppers concert and hopefully meet a girl that night you know what I mean? That's the way it goes but you gotta know who you are you got to target on your back you're a celebrity and anything can happen And so that was a lesson learned for me in life.

And I did step away from going out and, you know, because I'm the type of guy, bro, as Enzo Amore, who the boys in the locker room will tell you, I would go out to the bar if we were in, you know, Nantucket or Nashville. And I never had to buy a drink. You know, if you're in Nashville and there's a wrestling show that night and you're Enzo and you go to the bar, you're going to see wrestling fans and they're just going to be handing you drinks and I was one to take them. And that's why fans enjoyed hanging out with me, I think, because when I was on the microphone in the ring, I was just, I was in the kitchen with my boys.

I would just felt comfortable. And when I was out in public with people, I was so approachable that when you're walking to an airport and you see six foot eight Braun Stromen walk by 300 pounds and you're a little kid, you're like, oh, my God. You know, and you're a grown man with an action figure and you're like, maybe I'm not going up to Brock. Well, when Enzo comes walking to the airport, kids come running up to be doing my job. dance people come up to me and say hello but you're a people person but i sign every single thing pushed in my face and i take every single picture that is ever asked of me to take and there's been days and times in my life where i was in a mall and i was stuck in the same spot for 25 minutes wow you know what i'm saying sure because i just don't have it in me and i heard a recent story about

mike tyson being the same way which was hilarious to me but i hear uh i was watching a stand-up bit and the stand-up comedians like mike tyson was on my flight and it took us in a extra hour to get off the ground because everyone who walked on that flight was like, holy shit, it's Mike Tyson and the stewardess would be like, keep moving. He'd be like, no, shut the fuck. I need a minute here to talk to Mike Tyson. It's like, I'm not Mike Tyson and I don't get recognized like that. But the people that do recognize me, I stop, dude, and I get to know them and I talk to them.

And that's why I enjoyed now being back in the public eye of pro wrestling. I have been making my rounds ever since, you know, Big Cass had as well publicized you know, depression, anxiety, addiction to alcohol, that he's been inspiring so many other people to go seek help. Sure. To better themselves, to make them the best version of themselves. And through that process of me and big cast starting to, you know, do autograph signings at wrestling shows and hearing the conversations that he's had with people.

Right. Being right there for it. And then he goes away. And he goes to get himself better. And I'm still doing these meet and greets that me and him were on. and the people are coming up to me and they're telling me about their issues and they're telling me about this, that, and the third.

And I think that that's where I'm at mentally right now with the opportunity to inspire is I just want to let people know that that's what I've been up to. So I don't want to say like, oh, I walked away from wrestling and I hated wrestling and hated wrestling, you're crazy.

I love my fans. I have the best fans in the entire world. They showed up 4,500 deep in Times Square. I can never repay them. So if you stop me on the street, I'm going to stop and I'm going to talk to you. Thank you. But now, as you sit here in my gym, I have my business partners, Desmond Boyle, who's a decorated fireman, you know, who's been sober for 30 years, helping addicts and people who deal with those types of things. And then beyond that, we work with the community here.

So I'm in North Bergen. This is home of Cinderella Man. Now, if you know the movie Cinderella Man with James J. Braddock, this is home to James J. Brattuck. Yeah. This is home to James J. Brat. during the Depression, an immigrant of this country, an Irish immigrant. And me, my grandmother was sold as a slave. She was Irish.

So my grandmother was sold as a slave, yeah, to a Canadian family. And then- And I'm Canadian. I'm so sorry. No, they were great people, apparently. Apparently these Canadians weren't buying her to enslave her. They were buying her to save her because there was nothing to eat in Ireland. Canadians are great, yeah.

Yeah. So she came to, uh, she came to Canada and then she came to America. And now we are in Hudson County, Bergen County, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River of New York City. And my entire family, the Lions family, is riddled throughout this entire area. I have 17 cousins who had 17 cousins.

And my grandmother who just passed away recently was a matriarch because she had 32 grandchildren. Oh, my God. All in North Jersey. So you mentioned you're back into wrestling. Are you looking to start working matches again? Well, I do have a match lined up. And I am running my own show.

I wouldn't say I'm running it because I have people that are doing it with me. It's at the comedy store. At the comedy store. So before we get into that real quick in the pro wrestling, I just want to say that where we are right now is state of fitness boxing club. And the doors are open here. For people who want to come train, meet me. I'm in here every day.

We'll take you guys on a tour after the interview. Yes, absolutely. And so we'll take you around, show you everything around here. But this is the boxing club that you're an owner of. Yeah, well, I'm a partner in it. I'm a partner in the other side of it. So where we are right now, we're creating a music studio. And the reason why we're doing it isn't just for our own passions and our own people.

And we have other motives. And that is to help children that are growing up in our community out here. who have learning disabilities is what some people like to call them. I don't think this is a disability. I think it's a blessing. ADHD, ADD are things that I struggled with as a child. And I didn't sit well in a classroom learning about calculus. I didn't sit well in a classroom learning about things that I was less interested in.

And or didn't make sense to me. Now, a lot of children that are out here in this community don't have the opportunities that maybe other people do. because we are in a city. All right. Hudson County as well as New York City is considered a hub for creative economy. Now, creative economy is something that the U.S. government doesn't necessarily provide financial aid or grants for, but the U.N., United Nations, does. And because we fall under that bracket of creative economy, we're working with the U.N. here at State of Fitness to create an environment, whereas kids who are troubled with learning in school potentially,

who feel bullied or feel segregated because they're sitting in a classroom where they're teaching calculus to the masses and there's three to five kids sitting there that can't concentrate, they can't do this. So maybe they gravitate better towards sports, music, or the creative arts. And for me as a kid growing up, my number one thing that I want to do now as a 32-year-old man is inspired. When I look a kid in the face,

it's not like their teacher who's looking them in the face or something. It's a guy with tattooed hands who, you know, has a perfect, Purple title on his shoulder and says, hey, kid, you know what I wanted to do when I was a little kid? I wanted to be in the WWE and I wanted to be a champion. And you know what I did? I did those things. And I'm no different than you. Okay?

You can do it too. Why is it so important for you to want to give back? Because they gave me everything. I think that it's people, man. It's just people in general. I'm a people person. I want to talk to people. I want to meet them.

That was my greatest pleasure in the world is asking the genuine question. How you doing? You know, it's just a pleasure. You know, Robbie was just with me, what, two, three days ago? Out on the corner of the street. A kid came up to us. He saw me. Listen, you are in North Jersey and there's a reason why I'm here.

Okay? I came home because the love is real. I was in L.A. for two years. I love it there. I do. It takes a lot to get me out of the palm trees. I was in Florida for six years, two years in California. 4,500 people in Times Square,

a grandmother who was dying of congestive heart failure, I found myself here. Your grandmother? My grandmother. So I have a music video out there. You can search it under Real One Enzo. Grace, it's called Grace. And I had the opportunity of a lifetime

to make a music video with my grandmother and write a song for her before she died. That, to me, is my greatest achievement in life. Hands down, everything I did in wrestling was cool. But the amount of people, See, the video organically got like 300 something thousand views, which isn't a lot, but it's a lot. For me, this is huge because those people that are listening to it, they're listening to it again and again, and they're sending me messages explaining to me, hey, I just lost somebody. You know, my grandmother's sick.

My mother's sick. And this song really touches home with me. And to me, those messages about writing a song that inspires people because the song, to me, Grace, is a song of triumph. I tell the story. You know, I open it off. I lost my job. I lost my place.

Lost my mind. I've been lost in space. Flew around the world. I don't lost the whole day. Stuck in the middle seat between the rock and a hard place. We didn't lost time. Baby, I'd have been away. But you got to miss birthdays if you want to be great.

And I want it in the worst way. I know that you pray. And I'm talking to my grandma. And at the end of the song, I say, I got these beads from Rome. They were blessed by the Pope. Thank you for your prayers. And thank you for your passion.

Now let's pray. My grandma. is the strongest Catholic woman. Now you could think what you want about Catholicism. You could think what you want about God or religion. That's not the point. She had faith. It doesn't matter what you believe in if you have faith.

And I never lost that. And throughout this struggle coming out of this situation where I had everything that I worked for in my entire life taken away from me by potentially, you know, I go out and I put a drink in my hand and I meet people that I don't know. Lesson learned. but at the same time, you know, if I didn't get fired by the WWE,

I wouldn't have the last five months of my grandmother's life with her. I wouldn't have been sitting on her couch. I wouldn't have made that music video. I wouldn't have inspired all those people. So God has a plan for me. I trust in that. And I've had faith.

When my grandmother passed away, I really wanted to step back and reevaluate. You know, my grandmother didn't like me wrestling. And I told her... I can imagine most grandmothers might not like that. I did it. She hated it, but you know what?

She came to the Barclays Center and saw the first ever NXT show, and I was the first song that hit that day. And when I got thrown out of the ring by Big Cass in that opening match in NXT, I remember getting flown out of the ring and my grandmother's sitting right there. And if you look, I'm pointing at her. Like, yeah, I'm flying through the air and I'm pointing to my grandma. And that was it. That was bucket list, man.

Check. Like, for me, it was things like that that I just never, ever imagined what happened to me. or for me like I didn't think I would be a champion in wrestling I didn't think I would have this success I didn't think I would do these things I didn't think they would ever put me in the spot I was like dude I'll be Santino forever like bro like no problem this is so much fun the fans are having fun but you know the business is the way it is and you know it changes and people change things change storylines change and you know the run that I had at the end there I was a heel I was a bad guy and to me I was like yo I'm the best in the biz at this, dude, like being a bad guy is fun. People mix that with real life. And the one thing that I can't reiterate enough is when you're in it, in it, in pro wrestling, that line of blurring what's fake and what's real, you know? Oh.

That's what we're doing because half of wrestling is talking about it. You have to be self-aware enough to know that there's a lot of people out there who don't like you because of the character that you played. Yeah. And they think that you're a dick or you're a douchebag or whatever. What do you think about that? They never met me. They don't know me.

They don't know me from a hole in the wall. It's funny because I released a promo that I had cut about Ring of Honor in New Japan directly after I did the Madison Square Garden thing with Big Cass. And that wasn't taken kindly by anyone. And I thought to myself, this is funny because, People don't realize that Enzo, up until the Phoenix music video that I released, where I was creating music, I never cursed on camera ever. I never was seen in a picture with a beer in my hand. You know, it kind of took it seriously to try to find the words that would work in place of other words.

Sure. And I think that that talent cannot be taken lightly. Because if you look back at the WWE and or WWF, the attitude era and what so many people, graciously thank you, equate what me and Cass were doing. They say, oh, this is reminding us of the attitude era.

Well, the attitude era, they stuck up middle fingers, and they cursed, and they said, bitch, and they said ass, and they showed ass.

All right. I found ways to write words. For instance, I'd get handed scripts by the WWE once in a while that said the word ass, and I always replaced it. Never used it.

I would say, took us a whoop of your took us you want my hind end I'll whoop your hind then you know what I mean find words that were funny

because if you look that in wrestling is what I call and the people that taught me now mind you I was blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime

to learn from the greatest system ever put in place in the history of our business yeah people that might not know your story is you went right into you began your training at the performance center

yeah I got lucky I had an opportunity of a lifetime. I was the guy at DeFranco's gym in New Jersey, DeFranco, meaning Joe DeFranco, the guy who trains Triple H. Wow. Currently. Oh, wow.

Yeah. But when I got Joe DeFranco's symbol tattooed on my leg at 17 for a free lifetime membership because my family couldn't afford me to train and I wanted to go, you know, play football, Joe didn't think I'd get the tattoo either. I walked in one day. Hey, Joe, got the tattoo free training for life.

You still have it? Still got it. Oh, my God. So now, Joe DeFranco, fast forward, I got that tattoo at 17. I'm 23. He gets a phone call. I'm directly out of college. I kid you not, I got out of college.

A week later, I walked into a Hooters in New Jersey for a beer, asked for an application, and got hired as a manager two days later. So I am managing a Hooters at this point, right? Right. And I know it's not, you know, the be all end all. So I'm just kind of figuring out a way. Not a bad place to be, though. Yeah, but everybody at DeFranco's gym knows that I want to be a pro wrestler.

Got the hair for it now. There it is. Right. Well, I want to be a pro wrestler, and Joe DeFranco gets a phone call from Triple H. He doesn't know who Paul Levec is. And when he asks me if I've ever heard of Paul Levec, my jaw hits the ground. P.S. a year later, I compile all the footage of me working out of the gym. I don't ask Joe for a damn thing for a year.

But Joe sees me working my ass off in the gym, getting done. bigger training for no reason because I'm at Hooters, you know. So then I quit my job at Hooters with no plan. And I get back to DJing. My father is a DJ. Shout out Tony. Premier Entertainment in North Jersey for all your DJing needs. Another shout out there.

Yeah, baby. So ultimately what ended up happening was, you know, I don't remember. What was my train of thought? DJ. That was a DJ. So you've taken a year and you haven't asked Joe for anything at all. I haven't taken anything. You've quit Hooters.

So I'm DJing on the weekends. All right. I DJ Joe DeFranco's wedding. Who's a guest there? Stephanie McMahon in Triple H. Oh, wow. This is where I meet them for the first time. As the DJ on the dance floor with a microphone in my hand,

emceeing the evening. Sure. You know? Now I show these people that I could do this a little bit, you know? Yeah, yeah. Then I get this opportunity to go out there and get a tryout based on my athleticism and no wrestling at all. Now, when you watch Enzo wrestle,

You do not see an athlete. That is by design. I promise you, it's by design. It's John Cena school. I very much wrestled like John Cena. You know, like, you can't see me. Right. We all know what's coming next.

Sure. But it works. Yeah. It works. Who's the best wrestler in the world right now? Currently? John Cena. Oh.

Why? I don't know if the biggest draw on pro wrestling, the Rock and John Cena. Sure. So those two guys. And then beyond them, Rock Lester. Who do you think is the best worker, the best in-ring? You're asking the wrong guy. Because my judgment of work is based on crowd reaction and that's it.

I don't base anything about the moves, what you did, the psychology of your match. I base it on crowd reaction. And if you ask me what the greatest match of all time is, what would you get? Yes, I would say. Rock Hogan. Yes. My favorite match. I was there.

It was my favorite match of all time. Exactly why you love it. Because you were there and you felt that energy and that energy cannot be reciprocated. Man, I can't. I love the week just connected on that. Yeah, baby. Oh, what a match. So, I mean, let's get back to it.

So you have this match coming up. That's actually next weekend. So yes. At the comedy store. You know, I get that opportunity. Dusty Rhodes sees me out in FCW. I get a tryout. I get signed.

John Sina, we went through that story, excuse me, that day in NXT. From there, the rails are off. I have no idea what happened. I mean, I went out there, I said soft with John Sina. The next TV tapings of NXT, I am not booked. I told you I did the live events and a yellow T-shirt. And the whole crowd for four hours of tapings is going,

sure, sure, sure, sure. Me and Kaz are sitting backstage. Like, what should we do? Should we ask them if they'll let us out there? Sure enough, we get the dark segment again with Ryback. his gimmick is feed me more. So we just rattle off everything on the buffet menu at Golden Corral and we just say how you're doing in between it.

Shredded lettuce. They don't. Shred of beef. How you don't? Shredded chicken. He's doing. Tacos. They don't.

Chocolate fondue. He doing. Dripping different strawberries. How you doing? So everybody in the crowd just starts saying how you doing with me and cast that night. Dude, the first time we were out there, we said soft. And you can't teach that.

The second time we went out there, we did how you doing. After that, we owe everything. in the world to the Orlando fans. The same fan base that got those guys on NXT right now, their own TV show. They're better than the ECW crowd of Philadelphia back of the day. I'm sorry. All right.

I love. There might be some people that would argue with you on that one. Orlando NXT crowd from 2014 to present. Probably the greatest run of a crowd ever. The thing is in Philly you've got this like it's this blue collar, it's cold. You know, a lot of, you know, immigrants, you know, children there, like the blue collar. In Orlando, you've got a lot of tourists. You've got a lot of people that are, like, moving there just because they like sunshine.

I saw the same folks every week, and that's another thing that I'll say to wrestlers trying to build their brand right now. The guys who you see on TV right now and the main events sometimes that are getting booed on TV, they have nobody to blame but themselves. And that goes for every wrestler in the world. If you're either getting booed or cheered, the onus is up. on you to do that. Okay? So if you ain't getting over, stop looking at the storyline, stop asking the producers, stop worrying about the other wrestler you're in the ring with and asking questions.

Look at yourself in the mirror and ask why it's not working. Okay? People are ridiculous at times. Do you think that you're firing, you could have handled the situation differently, maybe not got fired? Do you think the situation could have been handled a little bit differently? That's why. I mean, I was bitterly angry.

at the WWE to a point where I showed up to their Survivor Series pay-per-view and gave them the middle finger. That was almost exactly one year ago. Exactly one year ago, almost. Yeah. So basically, my philosophy for showing up to Survivor Series A

was I'm booking myself back into the business and it ain't here. You actually went out and you bought a ticket, as I understand. A ticket, $2,500 ticket. $2,500 ticket broke zero laws, broke zero loss. So I think a lot of people are familiar

with what actually happened what they saw on camera. What happened after that? What happens after security takes you out? It's the funniest thing in the world to me because I bought a $2,500 ticket, right? But you have to understand I'm booking myself into pro wrestling again.

Okay? Which you saw me do at Madison Square Garden the same way I did at Survivor Series. This time I went over the barricade. Right? Right. So I paid that off. But for one,

It was my philosophy of made the bridges that you burn light the way. I ain't scared. I ain't scared of you. I ain't scared to be a part of your world. I ain't scared to step away from your world to be the best version of myself. Sure. And I'm going to go out and get mine. You know?

But at the same time, I never said anything bad about that company. I still haven't. If you look at any shoot interview or anything that I've ever done, I might tell you real stories. but I don't give away details that are, you know, talking badly about any one individual. I've never really talked badly about anyone on record. If Enzo Amore or Enzo did that on camera and you got worked up, you know, okay, that's pro wrestling. But then there's someone like Simon Gotts who has nothing but bad things to say about you.

Simon Botch nearly killed me. Yeah, that was a scary moment. Here's the way I feel about it. I'm really enjoying this chat with Enzo. Hope you are as well. Quick time out here to thank our sponsor of this episode, Untuck It. And you ever see an untucked button-down shirt? I mean, they look bad, right?

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again. You get nothing from me, kid. You get nothing. Learn how to work. All right. Then the other one, Joey Geneva. You're never going to hear me say his name either. You know, and I have my reasons.

You know, then there's another guy out there who have an enemy also. You know, the thing is I'm a nice guy. Are there another guy as well as Simon and Joey? Um, stop saying their names in this interview. Okay, sorry. All right. You're not getting any more famous from saying, you know. Yeah.

Give me a freaking break. The most views that anything those people have ever done in their lives is based off saying my name or, or my name being mentioned. So you're welcome. Beyond it, there's a guy, Tomatanga, who took food off my plate. So if I ever saw him out in public Same thing with Joey Geneva I'm going to walk up to it my hands up

The difference I think is I don't think Tom is going to walk away and I don't give a damn Because if you're going to book him on the same thing as me You ain't getting me Yeah Because that's his doing If you're going to blackball me Tomatanga the gatekeeper of New Japan

You know Through a hissy fit Got upset that he got worked Just like everybody else did that day you know, that's what we love about pro wrestling. Now, if you're not in on it and you get upset about it, okay, and you have the nerve to throw shade at my name who did nothing to you besides take spotlight from you. All right. That's all I did.

If you have a problem with getting over, that ain't my problem. Yeah. That ain't my problem. So if we take it back to Survivor Series, you get walked out. That's the last we've seen in the video. What happens? Do you get charged? Do you have to pay a fine?

You banned from the building. Shout out to all the guys that are blackballing me from meet and greets. And pro wrestling, you know, it's funny. There's literally, I'm not going to say who, what promotions. I'm not going to say what promotions. But yes, I am stepping back into pro wrestling. Okay. So I've initiated that on my own terms from Survivor Series to Madison Square Garden.

And now, so that's been the ultimate blessing is doing these things without signing contracts. and exclusivity, still being able to do what I want in my community here in North Jersey, help these kids create my music, have a studio, a boxing gym.

You know what I'm in there every day? You know what I'm saying? Everybody's a tough guy until they come into the boxing gym on Wednesday nights where we spar every Wednesday. You know, like, if you're a tough guy,

okay, if you're not, no problem. Like, this is wrestling. What if you did a schedule like AEW? You could still work in the community. You'd only be gone one or two days a week. Would that be a feeling of you? I will say that, you know, like I've had conversations with a lot of people who are affiliated with different promotions.

And I've talked to a lot of people about doing some things. And if I do something, it's going to be in a big way. Ultimately, that Survivor Series deal, though, you want to get down to that. I get buy a ticket, show up to the show. I get pulled into the back by Lisa. Now, Vince McMahon is brilliant. So you get pulled into the back. After that.

Well, you saw it. I got pulled into the back area. I think people assume you got pulled into an area where you're getting like kicked out. Like, no, what happened was Lisa. See, Vince is smart. He has a female security guard because what man's going to hit a woman. You know what I mean? But I didn't do anything wrong outside of standing on a chair.

So I get it. And I was dying laughing because I knew there was nothing they could do about it. I'm dying on the inside. Like I just won. There's nothing you could do. There's nothing you can do about it And Monday night when you watch all those trends And you got to go through them

As the writing staff and everybody And the producers There I sit at number one So you get to the back and does Vince approach you? Right when I get to the back Lisa looks at me and I know Lisa And Lisa knows me And I just looked at her

And I had the most real moment With a woman I've had in a long time I looked at Lisa And she was holding my shirt And I was stretching And I was like Lisa You know I'm a good guy She was like

Ha And she like Let go on my shirt, bro And the police were coming And I don't know why But Lisa had told me I needed to go see Vince And I was like

Lisa I don't work here No I don't I'm out And then as the police came I ran out a side door And there was a fan standing there And was like

Holy shit Enzo Moray I was like hey bro What's up Took a picture with him Tag me in it If you're But uh

Yeah, to me it was it was just When I was fired There was four or five other people Under an investigation in the company That were wrestlers that were Dealing with legal issues Okay, I had not gotten a phone call by police They had never contacted me one time

So you didn't think that anything went wrong in Phoenix Oh hell no, I know nothing went wrong in Phoenix But what are you kidding me bro Like what do you? Yeah, I was not I'm not inferring that something did, but you didn't leave there going, this is going to turn into something. If I did, I would have taken a video of it, literally a boom, boom flick. You know, like, yeah, I would, I would have showed the world like, yeah, she's enjoying this.

You know what I mean? But what the fuck could you do, bro? If you're me, if you're me, besides move on, live your life. And, you know, if people want to talk shit, go ahead. I don't know you. You don't know me. Do I go out there as a single man and live that Rick Flair lifestyle when I had that title around my waist? Fuck, yeah.

You know what I mean? Dude, I was Rick Flair in it. I was going out, different city every night. Sure. Different woman. Yeah. Living life. Having a great time.

I wasn't trying to hurt nobody, you know? But then again, people do get mad about that. And I understand why. It's like Jerry Rice having the conversation with Dion Sanders, the week leading up to the Super Bowl. Okay? Jerry Rice pulls over Dionne Sanders And it's apparently the blockerrers only Now all the players are gone

Now it's Jerry and a few captains and Dion And he says why are you going out on a Wednesday night Super Bowl's on fucking Sunday You know what I mean? Deon's like It's Wednesday It's Wednesday night And I'm the best in the world And we got to the Super Bowl

And if you think I'm not going to be the best on Sunday You're out of your fucking mind Now that's Dionne saying that In retrospect, does Dion want to change that? I don't know, but I've heard Dion tell the story. Yeah. And I've heard Jerry tell the story. Michael Irvin said he was at the Pro Bowl of the year Jerry Rice had a worse year than him.

Jerry Rice came up to him and said, hey, I'm already working. And this is the day after the season ended. I'm already working to make sure that I have a better year than you next year. That's Jerry Rice coming up to Michael Irvin. Right. Now that's how serious a guy like Jerry Rice takes his craft. to be the best in the world at it. Just because Dion Sanders doesn't necessarily go about his business the same way,

you know, I understand where the animosity lies. And that's why I could understand why if Enzo Amore, the character was eating pizza literally seconds before his music hits and looks at the wrestler that's doing pushups and sit-ups and not getting over and not getting booked. And I go, listen to this pop. And the crowd goes fucking nuts. And I come out and they're happy to see me.

Wrestling is pro wrestling. It's not the NFL. Right. Yeah, it's a different thing. It's not. And people, they want to see the Rick Flares of the world in that world. You don't, when Dana White talks about the UFC, Nate Diaz, Nick Diaz, what do you expect from a fighter? Yeah.

What do you expect from that type of person? And the behavior, you know, so I understood that we were in the WWE. And when I was a baby face for five years plus, you know, I had a job to do as far as maintaining that. As a heel, you know, I went out to nightclubs with the title in L.A. And party with Drake and partied with the weekend. And you know what I mean? And for me, bro, like people think that because, you know, like wearing the Gucci stuff and whatever on TV, bro, I had like a stylist. I had a friend who had millions of dollars who would just let me borrow his clothes for TV.

You know what I mean? I wasn't about that life. Yeah. I started wearing Jordans because, yeah, I liked a few pairs of Jordans, but I just saw an opportunity to make some money in pro wrestling to get my own sneaker made and shit like that. Sure. So when you talk about getting back into pro wrestling, I'm assuming it's just you getting back into pro wrestling, it's not Cass. Yeah, absolutely. As it stands right now.

Yeah. Have you spoken to him? How's he doing? I spoke to him yesterday. He's doing everything he possibly can to be the best version of himself. Will we ever see him in tights again? Honestly, I can't tell you. I have no idea.

I just know one thing that the best friend that I had is not the same guy that's been walking around for the past couple years. The things that he's dealing with mentally, I can't relate to. Just because I can't relate, I've had to learn that it doesn't mean I can't understand because it's real. Mental health is real. And I saw it firsthand. It's real. And this guy is going through something that I would consider a disease, a disease.

And other people are going through that. If he could come out of this thing and inspire people in ways like Tyson Fury has, that's a new purpose for him. And that to me is like the new purpose I've found outside of being on the road 300 days in a year in the WWE. You don't have time to think too hard about your future and what it is that you're doing when you're so consumed in the now. Sure. And I remember being in the business, being there, and they would have seminars for us to talk about life after wrestling and career. What do you want to do?

And they'll pay for you to go to college if you want and blah, blah, blah. when you're in the business and you're trying to do those things, good luck. Good luck. You can have all the seminars you want about what we do when we get fired and or out on our ass and or stop wrestling. All the seminars about careers you want. But if you're not planning that career while you are there, you're fucked. Okay? You're fucked.

But if you plan your career while you're there, you're frowned. upon. You're going into business for yourself. And you're going to be in a bunch of heat. But heat ain't even real. The only thing that matters in pro wrestling are the fans. The fans have the power to put a guy out there at 5 foot 10, a buck 85 who never had a wrestling match before because they're just in the crowd going, Sue up, how you doing?

And I'm sitting backstage in NXT going, dude, what the fuck? Are you guys going to put me out there? You know what I mean? Like, yeah. So if the fans can get me out there, make sure you understand one thing. It wasn't the WWE. It wasn't my peers. It wasn't a role.

It wasn't the fans that kept me out there. So when that gets taken away from you, how long would you say it took you to get back up on your feet? Well, for one, you get fired by a company, right, who knows you're going through this hell. And they know me. My thing is, is if I work for you for six years and you put the microphone in my hand every night, you trust me. Sure. You trust me. Now, maybe you're fed up with the articles and maybe some of the guys are jealous or maybe some of the guys just genuinely don't like me.

Or maybe people are having a hard time writing promos for me because every promo you write, I crumple uptake and I rewrite my own. You know what I'm saying? But if you're a writer in the WWE, you're not the guy. You're in a tough position because you have bosses, Vince. and people that are telling you what to do, what to say. And then you've got wrestlers that don't want to do that. So that's a tough spot to be in if you're a writer. So I don't fault writers for doing their job.

They have a job, and their only job is to keep their job. So they're not going to side with talent, okay? But if you're the talent and you're a writer and this shit looks terrible, I crumple it up and I go, bro, you're not the guy who has to go out there and say it, unless you want to. But then again, you've never taken a bump. Do you know how to bump? If you fall on your ass out there, you're going to be.

But then again, writers, they're the lifeblood of the business right now. They're creating and generating the storylines that are good, bad, or indifferent. Well, in WW, I mean, it's not really that way in AEW. I wouldn't know. I don't watch enough, but I have watched a few things. And there's a few buddies in mine that wrestle there that I definitely try to stay on top of. You know, when you asked me earlier when we first saw each other, you said, have you watched any wrestling? I said, I watched Brock Lesnar and Finn Baller at WrestleMania.

I watched Kenny Omega and Neville, which is what I didn't tell you. I watched Cody and Darby Allen. I watch Cody and Gold Dust. And I saw... These are all a great match. And I saw every single one of those matches I named were awesome. So, yeah.

I mean, am I on top of the biz? No. Like, do I know what's going on? You've got one, you know, a foot in the biz. I got more than one foot in. Okay. I got some plans. I got some things going on.

I don't want to allude too much. But shout out. Shout out to pro wrestling teas. I just partnered with pro wrestling teas and we'll be launching a new line of merchandise right in time for the holiday season. So if you want to support an independent artist, an independent brand like you wrestling fans have for so long,

independent guys, you know, I remember watching the young bucks getting shirts and hot topic. Yeah. And getting bobbleheads made and me saying to myself, damn, bro, good for them. Like whatever. I don't have to agree with the way they wrestle. I don't have to watch their matches and say these are killer because I base mine on fan reactions and getting over.

So these guys, whatever they're doing is working. Absolutely. So I'm not going to sit here. They're so over. Yeah. And they might not wrestle the same type of match, Enzo and Cass wrestled, or maybe the Uso's or whatever. The bottom line is whatever they're doing worked. And independent fans sold out that Chicago show that that was their doing.

That was independent wrestlers putting on an independent show in Chicago. And now it is spiraled into an entire promotion. That sparked everything. And so you've got a lot going on pro wrestling teas. You've got the music. You've got more than one. At real one. All right.

At real one. New album came out in September. You've got more than one foot in the business. Born in NJ. Look it up. And you've got, I know you like to talk. So you've got a podcast that you're working on. Yeah.

So for sure, that is one of the things that we need to get to here. You've got all of these things going on. So I've been working on things, but I just haven't been out in the open about it. If you follow me on Instagram, you see me in the gym every day, but you don't see the renovations that we're doing on the other side to create a studio. We'll show this too. I wanted to put my feet in the ground in New Jersey because this is where my family is. This is where the love is real. So you're going to be staying in Jersey for a while.

Oh, well, I'll buy coastal. So I go back out to L.A. in January. Okay. So I'll be back and forth, you know, between L.A. and New Jersey again. I took a complete year off from L.A., but I knew this winter was coming again. It's already here. I'm by coastal again, so I'm back to space out there. And that, in essence, is one of the reasons why I'm going back out to L.A.

is because of the wrestling tidbit. I'm partnering with the store horse. working with these guys. Really, it's their show, but we could take this thing on the road wherever we want, put their name on the marquee because I'm a wrestler on the show. I don't want to be, hey, this is Enzo, nothing at all like that.

This is for them. These are four guys, five guys that are huge wrestling fans. And I was blessed to have known them at the time I did because I learned so much from them. Stand-up comedians have a very similar life that pro-wrestlers do. They get in rental cars. They go to gig to gig. They hope on a payout.

Sometimes it ain't as good as it. So that's like the independent wrestling scene. And talking to Tony Hinchcliff, who's a really good buddy of mine, he's a world famous roast comedian. Now, he and Jeff Ross were like mentors to me. Now, I watched them roast people every Wednesday when I came home from L.A. at the comedy store in L.A. And then I would be a judge on the panel. And I would judge the roast contest from a, um,

people who came to open mics on Wednesday nights in the belly room at the comedy store. Right. Those guys at the comedy store, they've interviewed John Moxley on their podcast, The Store Horseman, Chris Burns, Tony Hinchcliff, Josh Martin, Johnny Scortis, Matt Eggger. These guys, they call themselves the Store Horseman because they got so much heat from Joe Rogan and all the other comics in the Comedy Store for loving pro wrestling. Right, yeah. And Joe thinks it's so, you know, Fugasey and blah, blah, blah.

So in essence, they had a dream to run a wrestling show at the comedy store. And Mitsy Shore, I don't think would have ever let it happen, but now Pauly Shore runs the comedy store, rest in peace, Mitsy, the OG godmother of the comedy world. So I was blessed to infiltrate the world of comedy without being a comedian. But I guess being a comedian on TV because Jeff Ross would call. come to, you know, he came to Brooklyn to watch SummerSlam. He never watched wrestling before in his life, Jeff Ross.

And I brought him to the Staples Center when me and big casts were crying and he loved it. And then he saw Stephanie McMahon after he said, that was unbelievable. And I'm like, bro, like, you know, I'm not the guy to bring somebody backstage and introduce them to Stephanie. And he like, Caesar stops her. And it's like, oh, and this guy, Anzo stole the show. Unbelievable. I'm sitting there like, oh, my God, bro.

Like, I didn't mean for this to happen. And she's like, oh, he's great. I'm like, oh, my gosh, she wants to kill me. So Jeff Ross did a roast on, you know, the WWE with those people. He was introduced to wrestling. And then I get brought to the Dave Chappelle Radio City Music Hall comedy show. I meet Jerry Seinfeld, you know, Bill Bellamy. I meet, you know, Arsenio Hall, Chris Tucker.

And I'm just sitting there like, mind blown by the, you know, now I know Dave Chappelle and I've smoked joints with him in L.A. and I'm like, bro, this is, like, if you watch the movie half-baked and then James Chappelle hands you a joint, you're a kid, you're like, I'm a grown man, like, holy shit, bro. This is nuts. And the most iconic picture of my life was taken at the comedy store. It was the last weekend before I got fired.

I brought Post Malone, who's a buddy of mine, to meet Dave Chappelle and John Mayer just happened to be there to do a set with Dave Chappelle. So there's a picture, which was the last picture I ever posted on Instagram before I was fired that sat there with like tens of thousands of comments. It was John Mayer, Dave Chappelle, me and Post Malone. Wow. And I was like, I need to get that blown up. I don't have any pictures of any wrestling or anything I've done. Not even here, not at my house.

And Robbie will tell you, I don't have, Robbie, come say hello to the camera real quick because they just keep hearing me say Robbie. This is great, though. Robbie. Robbie. Yeah. Introduce Robbie. Robbie. Rob.

He's got a brand called Destination Happiness. Show him your shirt, bro. Give him the plug, man. Hey, listen. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself thoroughly. This is the purpose. It's beyond the hoopla of it all.

It's beyond the monetization of things. Find your happiness. I don't care what it is. You have it inside of you. Trust in yourself. And I just want to bring it to life through merchandise. Yes, and that's what we're doing. So through Pro Wrestling T's through Sounds of Fight podcast, what we're about to do.

Shout out to Noriega and Spiff TV. More than likely going to fall under the. their umbrella, Norie and drink champs. We're going to go the opposite route of drinking, and we're going to inspire kids and people, talk wrestling, talk life, and be ourselves. No filters. You're a creative guy, and it's obvious that you have all these different creative outlets, the wrestling, the comedy, the music, and now the podcast.

But what do they all parlay into? Writing. See, I'm a writer. The book that we talked about at the start. I'm also shooting. a pilot for a TV show. Yeah. That's next week.

Wrestling. Uh-oh. And I will tell you nothing else. Uh-oh. I will tell you nothing else. So I'll be out in L.A. shooting a pilot next week. And then I have the wrestling show at the comedy store

from these brilliant comics that I would learn from. If you ever watched me roast the cruiser weights, that wasn't a coincidence. I had every joke for those roasts about every person on that roster. If you were on the 205, I had at least 20 jokes written about you. Every single person. Wow.

Yeah. Is that show sold out? Because people will be watching this before the show happens. So the comedy store, November 23rd, 2 p.m. Belton, I do believe, for the roast comedy and then the wrestling. We have Ray Phoenix, Pentagon Jr., Enzo, Brian Pilman Jr., Joey Ryan. David Arquette. David Arquette.

There's a handful of names that are. that are out there in the world. Matt Seidel, I heard he might have gotten dinged up, so I hope he's still all right. That's a heck of a card. So are there tickets still available? Yeah, tickets are... You know what, that's the thing.

I don't want to say that tickets are available, because I can't guarantee you. But there's a link in my bio at Real One on Instagram. If you're in L.A. in the area and you want to come to the show, it's going to be spectacular. It is the first ever wrestling show in the comedy store. And I will be in the first match. Nice.

Because I need to be able to say that. I need to be able to say, I'm in the first ever wrestling match the comedy story. I'm into firsts, you know what I mean? The first ever wrestling show ran at Madison Square Garden 60 years by a non-McMan. I'm there. Well, you made yourself be there. Well, hey, let's say this. If WWF could show up in tanks to WCW's pay-per-view,

I mean, not pay-per-view, Monday Night Trail. Sure. And then air it on their program. Yeah. I'm one man, but I'm a brand, make no mistake about it, with a million followers and an opportunity to, you know, make money outside of the confines of a corporation, I'm my own brand.

So if I show up and evade your shit, sorry. This is pro wrestling. I should have asked you this at the start, but how do you introduce yourself to people? Is it Enzo? Is it real one? Is it like that?

I tell them, you call me champ. You call me whatever you want. Like someone walks into the gym here and they say, hey, my name's Chris. What do you say? I'm Enzo. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I definitely introduce myself to people in life as Eric. Okay. Strangely enough, nobody's, everybody knows.

Like when you get an Uber, they're like, hey, it's an Uber for Eric? No, not even, bro. I'm at so in the Uber, bro.

No. Eric is for, you know, my mom, my friend. And for little kids that, uh, come into the gym and,

and are worried about self-defense. I got into something that I did not stop. I did not finish what we were saying. I said, Robbie and I were just outside. a few days ago. Now we're in North Jersey and this is Bergen Line Avenue. Now Bergen Line is a busy street.

If Enzo walks up and down the street, you're going to hear the horn honk and you're going to hear how you're doing. So I was standing on the side of the road and a guy pulls over his car and he comes out with his son. He said, you know, I wanted to let you know. You met my son a few weeks ago and I just wanted to say thank you. You were very good to him and you gave him something or, you know.

And I was like, yeah, man, no problem, blah, blah. And he gets talking to me and he says, you know, we take him to state of fitness at the boxing club because he has bullying issues in school and kids are picking on him and he had to switch schools and I just looked at the kid and I said hey you know what I was in special needs when I was a kid

I was a special ed kids picked on me and I had to switch schools too and you know what when I was your age I wanted to be a pro wrestler in the WWE and I did it the only thing that is stopping you from doing everything you want to do is you don't listen

to what those kids say to you when somebody says something mean or something bad to you hate is nothing but love disguised by jealousy and that's an insecurity within them they see something in you that they're jealous about or they want to be like you or whatever it is that's frustrating them at home or their instability on the inside that's not your fault that's not you believe in yourself and if someone says something mean to you you know what the number one thing to say is I love you and walk away they're not going to know how to handle it. And it's going to be

weird for you as a kid. But kids are mean, man. Kids are vicious. And it's mostly kids that are 14, 15, 16, 17 year old kids that write obnoxious comments on

Instagram and this, that, and the third. It's a cold world. I just want to promote happiness in real life, you know, inspire people to go out

and be the best versions of themselves. But beyond it, take yourself into the realm of possibility and stop taking yourself out of the realm of possibility.

Like, the possibilities are endless. So go be that thing that you want to be. Yeah. You know, if I could do it. Yeah. Anyone could do it. I know that. What do you want to be now?

Inspiring. You know, I think that the most important thing for me right now is to not let other people dictate what I do next. I get a lot of pressure from family. Nobody loved watching me wrestle more than my mom and dad. nobody maybe my sister or my brother-in-law

I've gotten phone calls from promotions I've entertained phone calls from promotions you've said on other interviews that you have blocked

Vince and Triple H from calling you uh yeah I did actually I unblocked Mark Carrano uh and we spoke recently um about Big Cass

but it had nothing to do with me or the biz I just let them know that when you guys fired that man, he wasn't in a good way and you knew it. Now help him. And aren't they? Isn't that what WWE does? I'm not going to get into the details of his situation

and or what's going on there. I just know that a lot of wrestlers, you know, one wrestler that I love to watch and I love to listen to his interviews is Roddy Piper. and Roddy, you know, was once in an interview when you're 65 and he laughed. He's like, I won't even make it to see 61. You know, that's a real statistic about pro wrestlers.

Yeah. So when you're 32 years old and you're mean, you've been knocked out cold by a guy who botched the spot, that's the dangers of putting your life in another man's hands. Another person's hands you want to. The number one thing in the pro wrestling business is to keep each other safe. and it's dangerous and I've been knocked out cold

and my mother was sitting at home crying not knowing if I was going to be alive. She didn't know that for 20 minutes. It's scary seeing that clip. So I initially started making music and setting myself up for a life outside of pro wrestling right after I got knocked out.

Right after I got knocked out, I called up Spiff TV who's a great buddy of mine, Carlos Suarez. He works for Mayback music and Sony and makes music with Chris Brown and shoots music videos for Drake and manages the artist Nwell reggaeton, Latino artist.

I called him and he got me right in the studio. We started working on the music. In 2018 in November when I released music, that was music that I made years ago. So the music that I'm making now sounds very different than that album that I put out. And the rock and roll that I've been working on with rock bands and stuff.

I don't want to be pinned and be like, oh, he makes rock. Oh, he makes rap. Oh, he makes this. Oh, he makes that. It's like, I can make music like Grace a song for my grandmother without any cursing for eight-year-old kids. You could play that in front of a five-year-old, okay? Or you can play Phoenix where I'm giving the middle finger and I'm talking crazy.

There's a heel on a baby face in me just like everybody else. Right. You know what I'm saying? So the pro wrestling world, I didn't see myself getting back into until, Big Cass, the rekindling of a relationship and a friendship and seeing him get back on his feet against John Moxley for N.E.W.

Michael Lombardi, thank you. That match meant a lot to Big Cass. He had never, he was roommates with Dean Ambrose, John Moxley, and he never wrestled him. And when I moved into the WWE, they were roommates. So I know him. So to see those two guys wrestle, that was the first time that I ever got involved

in a wrestling promotion outside of the WWE. I went to that show and I saw two guys in the ring calling shit on the fly not discussing it in the back we were hanging out in the back and we were talking about life when they got to the ring they just worked

and they didn't have a producer telling them what to do and they didn't have anybody on the headset no pressure and I thought to myself in that moment wow I've never done this I've worked for the WWE for six years

and I've never worked outside of them so I met Brian Pilman Jr. and I was enticed to get to the ring with the young upstart. He had a good haircut. I was a little jealous, and I thought to myself, this is going to look good on camera. Brian's a fantastic guy. He's a friend of mine.

I'm a big fan of his dad's. It's hard not to be. Yeah. So an opportunity at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center arose, which was the exact location of my last wrestling match, 205 live tour. And I said, this is serendipity. like I can wrestle in the same place I had my last match in

and I wore the same Jordans. And I got in there and I wrestled Brian Pilman, but I wanted to make a point. I had a match with him. Not much talked about. We went out there and I didn't say a word. I didn't cut a promo. I had no microphone, no entrance music.

And I had a little wet hair. I look like a raven. So I, I, I, I, I, I, I, put a whole bunch you know different moves out there for the world to see me doing wrestling ain't moves

but I'll entertain the fans by doing some different stuff if I get back in the ring and open up the possibilities of what it is that I can do now as opposed to wrestling as Enzoa Moray because one thing I will say if you're an Enzo Amore fan

is that guy is dead. The only place you'll ever see Enzo Amore is on WWETV. but you're not done with wrestling. I'm still Enzo. But Enzo's a little bit of a hard ass, and he ain't going to run around backwards, and he ain't going to stand there

and let you punch him in the face or pin him one, two, three. I'm not taking orders from Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon was the guy with the pencil telling me when I won and lost and telling me how to wrestle and which way you want me to act. Do you want me to be butt-naked in the hallway

with Lana in front of her husband? Okay, no problem. You want me to get beat up? All right, cool. You want me to tap out to Rusef? You know, after I do this thing in 10 seconds? No problem. I'm not, I mean, bro, I'm beyond that at this point in my life.

You know, going out there song and dance. That just, that worked. And I could have done it for the rest of my life and probably would have had I had not been fired. Right. Yeah. That character, you've seen it in pro wrestling so many times. If I reintegrate myself, I got to reinvent myself. And I've already reintegrated myself.

And if you guys couldn't see that, heal in Survivor Series of Madison Square Garden. You know, that was how I wanted to come back out. Was a big F you to all the fans that think that they know me. So it's not. And give them something to talk about because they love to talk. Let them talk. If you think that I'm really this person and you want to have a field day with it, go ahead. But I can write, you know, a monologue for someone else.

You understand? If you wanted me to write a monologue for a television show, I've written three scripts and treatments, you know? Wow. So I went to school for writing and I didn't take it, you know, it wasn't lacklust. It's a serious thing I do. Yeah. So if I'm going to write a monologue, as I mentioned earlier, it was taken badly. When I came out of Ring of Honor in New Japan situation, I shit on everybody.

I cut a promo that got terrible negative response from fans being like, oh, fuck him, who the hell does he think he is? Blah, blah, blah. I'm the guy who got booked at Madison Square Garden, and you're the guy who's mad about it. So you know what I'm saying? I wasn't like, I just, I saw an opportunity to stir the pot unlike anybody else was doing in pro wrestling. Because people love what's real. And if you just watch like the Instagram sagas of like Takashi 6-9 and like Trippy Red and stuff, like, bro, they were viral trending number one of the world all the time. Yeah.

But they were working with each other. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So it's like it's all of work is what you're saying. It's all a work, man. It's all a work, bro. Like don't let it fool you. If you come to one of my meet and you meet me, you'll see that it takes 20 minutes to just get by me.

because I got to talk to you. Well, this is officially the longest interview we've ever done. It's easy, baby. Yeah. I'm going to talk. You know what I mean? Well, I appreciate your time. Yeah, but we're not done here because I brought you into my world today.

And I wanted you to hop on that ferry to cross, you know, the river and see the world. I'm going to take you to get the best fresh months you ever had in your life. Mozarella. Fresh months. Fresh months. For the boys. Well, we'll do a little, you know, everyone watching this knows we do the wrap up video. So we're going to kind of do this from different locations.

Yes, I'm going to take him about my hood, Hudson County, North Jersey. Beyond that, as far as the wrestling goes, the comedy store I'm doing, keep your eyes peeled for me. I'm not saying how, when or what. I think when it happens, we're going to see it. Yeah, I think you will. And I think it'll be big. It'll be fun. And, you know, if anybody takes me seriously, try to take me serious in person.

I bet I can make you laugh, you know? I got so many jokes. I got so many. You know, but I hope that little children that want to be a pro wrestler, go and do it. I hope that when the world shuts you out as a human, when something that you've worked so hard for gets taken away from you and a situation looks to define you, that you take that opportunity because that's what it is.

It's an opportunity. And if you treat it as something else, that's what it'll be. You'll fall into a mental rut of incapacity. You'll just not be able to do the things or be the person or the best version of yourself. If you're worried about what other people are thinking, there's more people on the internet than there are people on the internet. There's fake accounts. There's children that say mean things. There's adults who apparently still think wrestling's real.

You know, and there's people who get really upset. and say really terrible things and send death threats to my family and, you know, say mean, mean stuff that hurt my mom and hurt my sister. I could let all the negativity get to me or I can let it go right by my wayside. And I can continue to dictate and manipulate the responses that I want to generate. I can continue to work on my craft and music, put out new music, put out the, old music that nobody's ever heard yet, which I've been doing. That's old music you're hearing. The number one thing that I want to do here is what I've saved to finish this thing.

And this is going to be a theme of my podcast that I have coming out. The status quo, we're going to spell it differently because I spell things wrong. You know what I mean? That's what I do. And it's okay if you're a kid that doesn't know how to spell. You can make a ton of money spelling things wrong. Okay. It's QA-A-O.

status quo quitting ain't an option all right change your status quo quitting ain't an option the second you quit you're really quitting on yourselves I didn't quit on the WWE I didn't quit on my fans

I didn't quit on pro wrestling I stepped away to make sure I am the best version of myself and to help a tag team partner who is slowly becoming the best version of himself once again so if you could find inspiration

in the battles of depression, anxiety, and alcoholism, and conquer that fear and face it head on and look yourself in the mirror and love yourself, that is what I want to promote. If you are a kid that wants to do something and maybe your teacher, your parents or someone else around you says you can't do that thing, trust me. You can do it. I did it. I did it. Not only did I do it. I did it when everyone told me I couldn't. No one. thought for one second when I walked in the door that day and the WWE at FCW when I took my first bump when I ran those ropes and did a lockup that they would be laying down for my ass one two three five years later as the number one merchandise seller in the entire company that took

belief self-belief confidence that's the shit they say you can't teach they can they can teach You want to know how you get confidence? I'll tell you how. When Enzo ran out backwards a million miles an hour, that wasn't a coincidence why I was so confident. As you will see later when we go through my book, you'll see that I have written more promos than any pro wrestler in the history of our business.

I'm not a coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences. You put the work in, and good things come. I look at it in retrospect. This isn't me talking to you when I'm in it and having success and people saying these things with me.

I had to write 10,000 pages of shit to get that one sentence. My name is Enzo Omore. I'm a certified Gita Bada and a son. You can't teach that. Bada boomer, how you doing? You all repeated that, but you didn't repeat all the other shit I wrote.

Okay? So that's not a coincidence. You put the work in and then you'll be confident. Okay? If you know you worked harder than the other guy you're standing across from when you're holding a microphone and you're me, you have no fear in the world. You have no fear. I'm just ready for this.

I'm ready for a moment. When I debuted on TV, it was lose yourself. It was M&M. That same feeling I had that day I had when NXT John Cena brought me out. But I was prepared for those moments with the word soft. I was prepared with the how you're doing in the buffet thing. preparation is sitting on your couch on Monday Night Raw watching Ryback on TV knowing that you're not going to work with him or have,

why would I ever work with Ryback? But if I do work with Ryback, preparation. What am I going to do? Feed me more, feed me more. I can go on for days about this feed me more thing. How you doing? Buffet line, bang, there it is. I have it.

I meet the guy. I got 10 minutes to prepare for a seg with him. I'm already ready for it. Already ready for it. So I just want, to inspire other pro wrestlers to not put their eggs in one basket of pro wrestling moves. Not to say that that doesn't work for people or that you can't make a million dollars doing pro wrestling moves.

But the reason why Enzo doesn't watch wrestling is because of a man named Roddy Piper. I heard Roddy Piper say he doesn't watch wrestling and he doesn't watch himself wrestle. How else could he be different? Dusty Rhodes told me in person the first day that I ever met him. You could be good, you could be bad, or you can be different. And you are different. Now, I'm going to stay with the girl that I'm dancing with. I'm not going to drop her and go to another.

No, this is the girl that got me to the dance. You know what I mean? I'm going to keep dancing with her. Sure. So if I'm different, why am I going to watch everybody else wrestle so I could be like them? Yeah. I don't watch wrestling because I've had a thousand wrestling matches.

and I've seen thousands of wrestling matches. If I don't know what I'm doing out there at this point, I shouldn't be out there. Right. So, you know, if you're looking to be a wrestler in 2019, just make sure you're different than everybody else, and I think you'll have immense success. There's a great spot to end it on.

So thank you. Quitting a good option. What's your quo? There it is. So there you go. The longest interview in the history of the CVV show, although I'm sure that'll be topped, you know, eventually, maybe soon. Big thanks to Enzo.

Thank you for your time, Enzo. Thank you for the warm welcome in Jersey. And yeah, we talked about it in the interview. He did, in fact, take me out for some fresh mats. Fresh mozzarella. And so good. So freaking good. If you like this interview, please take a screenshot.

Tag me, tag Enzo. He's at Real One. Let us know what you thought. And I hope that your opinion of him has shifted, even just a little bit from what you thought that he was like. I mean, I love the fact that he's giving back to his community in every way that he can. And it's like he pretty much has an open door. If you want to go check him out at State of Fitness, you basically just said, hey, come by Wednesday nights. And you can see him and see all the other guys there.

And now, usually on the show with a quote, but Enzo had so many great motivational quotes in there that I feel like I should be quoting him. But I will say that I love his passion. I love his drive. And all of that made me think of this quote from T. Harv Ecker that says, how you do anything is how you do everything. Think about that. How you do anything is how you do everything. So ends of the first of many interviews that I did.

First of three interviews I did when I was in New York last weekend for the big events. So you can keep an eye out for my next two. Santino Morella. Santino Morella. He didn't speak like that at all during the interview. And also, Flip Gordon. Hmm, where's Flip Gordon going to end up? I don't watch for the interview to drop.

So I will see you next Thursday. 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. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.