Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Eric Bugenhagen (fka Rick Boogs): Life After WWE, WrestleMania Injury, Shinsuke Nakamura, Playing Guitar

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

Eric Bugenhagen (@eric_bugenhagen) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE as Rick Boogs. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about what his plans are after being released from WWE in September 2023, his YouTube channel focused on fitness and weightlifting, what his PRs in the gym are for squats, deadlifts and bench press, being brought up to the main roster with his guitar gimmick, performing Shinsuke Nakamura's theme song, the knee injury he suffered at WrestleMania 38, his new brand "Thick As Frick" and much more! Check out Thick As Frick here: http://thickasfrick.com Eric's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ericbugenhagenOfficial Quote I'm thinking about: "Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare." - Dale Carnegie Sponsors: FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT ZBIOTICS: Get 15% off with the code CVV and have a better morning after you drink at http://zbiotics.com/cvv MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! Oh, baby, welcome back to another one on Insight. I'm CBV. Chris Van Fleet, thanks for being with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight, one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. Can I ask for a favor as we start this new year?

If you're one of the thousands of people who, according to the analytics, just listen to the show, but don't actually. follow the show at some point today. Could you just hit a Superplex, hit a tornado DDT on that follow button? Because aside from listening to the show, which you're obviously doing right now, and I'm super grateful for that, aside from listening, following the show is the most helpful thing that you could do. Plus, you won't miss out on any of the big episodes that we have coming up.

And we've got a big guest next week. Actually, we've got two big guests next week. If you follow me on social media, you know who at least one of them is. And in terms of just physicality and also personality, today's guest is massive. You know Eric Bouganagan as former WWE superstar Rick Bougs. And from the second he walked into the house. I feel like my energy level went up five notches. And I was already like a solid nine and a ten.

So then I was like a 14 out of ten. The man just oozes charisma. And I don't know if it's because everybody else that he worked with in WWE was also pretty huge. But man, look at the photo that I posted with him. He's so big that he makes me like look like a child next to him. He was released from WWE back in September. and we talk about what's next for him,

which includes a fantastic YouTube channel that he's been working on for a while. Go check that out. It's under his real name, Eric Bouganhagen. He also just started Thick as Frick, which he talks about in the interview, but go to Thick as Frick.com for all the details and to grab that awesome t-shirt.

Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening to this and tag us when you share it out online. He's at Eric Bouganhagen official on Instagram, Eric underscore Boogginhagen on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and buckle up,

get ready, and enjoy this conversation with Eric Bouganaganagan. Look at this attire we've got here. Yeah, that's pretty good. We started actually rolling right now. We are actually doing, actually bring that a little closer to you. First thing in the morning,

this is I got my grizzled morning voice. Oh, I like him. The grizzled morning voice. Look at the size of this man, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Yeah. So I came dressed out.

I brought a polo and I just didn't feel right. So. In seconds before we hit record, you're like, wait a second. This isn't me. What do you guys think? This isn't me. That's what I said. What do you weigh these?

I made the cameraman take a screenshot. Yeah, Harry took a screenshot of the, I had, let me see that real fast. Okay, we got to get the arms out of here. What do you weigh? Oh, dude. So right now, about 280. I was pushing almost 300 there for about. You are, uh, you were a hundred pounds more than.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I got a funny story. Well, I don't know. Bring it. Oh, okay. So anyways, I don't know if I'm even a lot of talk about this. Like, I was told I can't talk about anything creatively, but this isn't really creative, I guess. So anyways, I was doing a dark match and they like, wait in a 200.

And what I don't even know what they said. Well, first of all, my action figure says 233 pounds of the back, which is a huge slap to my face. Like, disgustingly slapped to my face. Like, I weighed 233 when I was. 15 years younger. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like when I was first trying to bulk,

but on bulbous tissue, I would, you know, 233. Uh, so I, you know, this has been a long journey.

You know what I'm talking about? So I was, been 260, 270, 280, 280, 290. So anyways,

they announced me for this dark match then. They're like, you know, what are you at? Two hundred and sixty pounds. And I'm coming up. I'm just like, you know what I mean?

Like, and I can't even focus on the crowd, the match. I'm just thinking about 260 pounds. Like this is a right? So I go back there. I'm like, hey, what are we doing with the, what are we doing with this? You guys are like, listen, I've put on so much freaking mass, okay?

And this isn't just blubber. You know, this is pure dense bulk, you know? So like, oh, well, I mean, has anyone seen it? Like, oh, okay. So I went to the back. I weighed myself in front of four different people. And I made sure it was all up the totem pole. Okay?

And then sure enough, I get this freaking dark match next week. And it's like, hey, what are we on an announcement as? I was like, what did you weigh in it? I was 291.7 or whatever when I weighed myself. Like, 260. Like 260. What are we doing, dude?

What? So then another thing, too. And I won't say any name. Because I don't listen, I'm not put it. I'll praise WWI. I praise my time there. It was great.

Very thankful for everything. But of certain things like this is like, what are we doing? Like there was something where I was, this was with my really brief tenure with Elias, which was could have been. just magical. Yes.

We have just, we just clicked. Two axemen. We just click. Not only two axemen, but two guys that just love, just a bulgin, bicep pump.

You know what I'm saying? We would just pump up in the back together. It's like, oh, when you want to get your pump? You know, oh, let me take some,

you know, 10 grams of citternally mallet real fast. Let me suck down this cup of coffee, try to, you know, shed the bloat real fast. You know what I mean? It had all system, right?

Yeah. But it just didn't, you know, it wasn't meant to be it. But anyways, like, for this one shot we had to do where I'm in the the like I'm just like his I don't even know what I am at this point I as manager am I just his like student I guess I don't know but anyways we had to shoot me like far away from the ring because I was just too freaking horse like like they didn't they didn't want me to take the attention away from the match or whatever you're very much like an old school like 80s like that was that's always been my goal dude just to be huge well yes obviously that's everyone's goal I think it's everyone's goal I think it's And if it's not, then it should be.

Okay, it's like you, you're talking about, like, how you don't suck down pre-workouts and stuff. Not saying you should do pre-workout, but if you're not like a guru on supplements at your age, I don't know what you're doing. I'm addicted to pre-work out. Yeah, but what about the pump agents? Look, I don't know the science all behind it. Well, you better start studying. I enjoy lifting weights. How old do you think I am?

This is always a tough time. I don't know. I mean, you look great. Thank you. You could be anywhere from 30s to, 50s. Today's day. Today's day and age, I'm right in the middle of medicine right now. Listen, I tell people all the time that, you know, people are scared of turning 30, but 30 is like the new 15. The 40 is the new 20. So that's,

I just turned 40. So, and I've been lifting weight since I was 15. You could pass as a college kid. That is very kind. You as well. Well, I don't know. I don't know. I just like the All-American. Let me tell you something. Let me say something real fast right here. So obviously, you know, I think I got some, uh, entertainment value or whatever. So I have like a manager in LA and I have an agent here. I got to get an agent in LA now apparently too,

but that's the name of the game. So anyways, I've been given a couple like casting roles and every time it's like, well, not every time. I'm just getting started. You know what I mean? I just,

I don't know when this is airing, but. Well, happy birthday, by the way. Thank you. So this will air after your birthday, but your birthday's tomorrow. Yeah.

And as we sit here right now, it's like, yeah, this is probably in a week or two. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, so basically, I mean, what? I'm one week out in the free world. So I've had a couple like auditions or whatever. And it's so like, you know, it's like, Harry's a, well, not Harry. I'm just, bro, you're just stuck in my mind right now. I can't get you out of my mind. But anyways, like, it's like, 40-year-old, dude. I'm like, okay, what is, how come I'm not getting any rules for the young 20-year-old?

I'm starting to see a trend here. You know what I'm saying? You remember you with a grizzled vet? I guess. That's what I'm saying. Are all the rules like just extremely. swalled. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so much. Yeah. I mean, that's, I guess that's just going to be, you know, that's not, that's just what I'm at. Not a bad place to be in. Yeah. Not a bad place to be in.

Yeah. Extremely swall, grizzled, you know, yet, you know, mild mannered. Mild Manner. I don't know. How much coffee do you drink in a day? Because you just have endless amounts of energy. Well, listen, the coffee is just the catalyst. That's not where the energy comes from. The energy comes from just, you know, body dysmorphia, anxiety, you know what I'm saying? Body is mental illness. Thinking you're not big enough? Yeah. I got to keep moving.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. No, I usually sucked out a pot today. That's what I, yeah. When I was doing the Mr. coffee, I was doing a pot today. And then I tried doing two pots of the Mr. coffee at a day at one point.

And that's what I was like, we got an issue here. So now what I do is, listen, I got a couple different systems. I mean, these people are not going to be entertained. Well, if people like coffee, you're going to enjoy this. But so I went to the extremes.

I'm an extreme person. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to go all in or all out. You know what I'm saying? So for the coffee, it's like, well, if I can't have a pot a day, I don't even want to make any of it. So I was like, well, if I can't, I don't have a pot a day or I don't have any, what do I do? Me in the middle. So I'm going to drink the instant coffee, which life, oh, instance terrible. But if you're having a scoop of instance, it's terrible.

Bro, I had 20 scoops one time. What is going on? That might have been a bit much. That was panic attack, screaming headache. Boy, oh boy, what's the energy? Incredible. Make this year's New Year's resolutions a breeze with Green Chef. Build healthy habits the easy way in 2024 with nutritious recipes from the number one meal kit for clean eating.

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slash InsightPod. The promo code is Insight Pod. Green Chef, the number one meal kit for eating well. When did you lift your first weight? 11. 11. Yeah, yeah.

And there's that whole thing especially when we were younger, of like, oh, if you left weights, your growth is going to be stunted. Yeah, I mean,

I was at that crossroads for sure, but I just, I just hit that. I didn't care. My brother wop my ass all the time. It's clearly not the case. What? Oh,

the stunted growth. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the funny thing is two people, I mean, I think you keep getting taller too until you're like,

science is not, doesn't have it all figured out. What do you mean? Well, I mean, like, obviously, you know, people like,

okay, like I'm 18, I'm probably fully done. on growing. But a lot of people still keep growing until they're like 24 or something. And the only reason I say this is because like my stats, like when I first went to college, it was like 6-1, 190 pounds or something like that. You know what I mean?

But I mean, I don't know who, who measures themselves like at whole, when you're an adult and stuff. But anytime I'm at those gas stations, dude, like I'm 6'3, you know what I'm saying? You're walking past the like, oh, I always check. Yeah, because you check, listen, you'll check your weight all the time. I always check my weight. Who is taking like a, like what adult has like the crayon on the wall? Because I think most people assume like I'm still at that notch right there.

Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know. You'll either get shorter or maybe it'll get taller. And listen, I think it's because posture, right, your compression of your spine and all that. Yeah. I was a real slunched pencil neck as a kid. Slunched. My dad even once.

My dad's the nicest guy in the world. world, but he even yelled at me once for being so, like, hunched over. He's like, pull your, I don't, I can't remember what he said, but it clearly traumatized me. But again, he's the nicest guy in the world. So you're always like, no, I mean, I don't know, but I was just this, you know, just timid pencil neck, but that was, I guess. And this is when I was like 10. So clearly that must have struck a cord to me, too, between that and getting my

ass with my brother all the time. I was like, I just got to start lifting weights. And then where did amateur wrestling come into this? The year after. So my brother started wrestling when he was a freshman. So I was in sixth grade. So he's going through puberty. I'm just a child.

He's getting the testosterone flowing through his veins. He's putting me in cradles and chicken wings. I have no idea how to defend myself. It's very traumatizing. And I was just going to parlor through. I just, you know, a little kid rage. The aches of a, you know, I hate him. You know what I mean?

Eventually, it's just my dad had this like Joe Wheater's home weight set, you know, at the Universal or whatever, like the. the pack death and the, you know, like the crampy leg brass. Yeah, exactly, where it's like uneven, the plastic weights stuck. And so I just went crazy on that. There's something about having an older brother. I don't have one, but a friend of mine is like, you know, has an older brother. And you're always like playing up a little bit.

Survival of the fittest. Yeah, seriously. And then their friends want to torment you too. My friend has kids that are like close in age. They're like a year and a half apart. Yeah. So he's like, I don't want to go see them play. at two different times on two different days.

Some put them together. Exactly. And now that kid is forced to play up. And he's probably going to be like, just an extreme alpha male. He's already there and he's like four. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's a four-year-old playing with six-year-olds.

Listen, you're going to adapt to your, you know, your surroundings. Yeah. Like if you got these freaking pubescent teenagers pushing you to the extremes, you're going to rise to the occasion. I love that you have the fanny pack. Well, it's not, just listen.

people are like oh i used to wear that and stuff it's like well i don't know why people stop wearing it because it's not about freaking style it really isn't you know what i mean it's about function yeah dude like you're gonna see what's in here yeah but this is i'm not working out right now so it's not like fully loaded but i always will have like snacks okay cliff farm so yeah i'll always have that but of course you got your keys you got your wall and you got your phone you get snacks and they're like you have a toddler yeah yeah if you want to gain weight you got to eat you know what I'm saying are you usually constantly balking well I have body dyslophobia so it's either one way or the other it's like I'm not big enough or it's like damn I'm getting too

fat you know what I'm saying so then I'll try to cut down for like a week and I'm like damn I'm getting too small and I'll bulk back up yeah yeah so it's it's uh it's mental illness well I said it at the start but I'll say it again you are a very large man very large man Well, the problem with me is I'm cursed. I look smaller on camera than I do in real life. And I've had a lot of people tell me this. Not like you're cursed, but like, oh, my God, you're a lot bigger than I thought you'd do.

I don't know. You look pretty big on camera. Yeah, but then you see me in person and I'll just work for us. This is true. You mean, I didn't know if you'd fit through the front door here. You're a large man. I'm basically cutting right now, too. You know why?

Because I didn't want to be bloated and look bad on camera for you. I appreciate that. So I just, you know, I didn't. I, you know, normally I suck down like five bagels like before bed. You know what I'm talking about? It's like 2,500. No, it's like five bagels. So it's 1,300 calories.

But, you know, you put a little nut butter on there and maybe put, it makes with fish sandwiches. You know, I get about 2,500 calories total. But I was like, I'm going to be, you know, holds water. That's a snack? 2,500 calories is a snack? Well, you snack throughout the day. Okay.

Hold on. Well, there's no meals. There's no, it's one meal. What's the total calorie consumption in a day? It's always at the minimum of 4,000. Shoot for 5,000. That's what I'm trying to bulk. 4,000 is just like maintenance.

You're on another level. And that's just getting for a while now, you know? All right. So what is all this leading to? Like, you're in the free world now. First of all, how are you, how are you feeling? Oh, I'm happy. I'm great.

Yeah, I'm better than ever right now. I'm at, I mean, where do we want to start? You know, I'm talking about? We want to talk about like, let's talk about this. So basically, I started a YouTube channel. It's like, I'm just going to leave the interview now. Let's do it. He asked me, he's like, what do you want to talk about?

I said, I don't know. Wait till the camera's roll. No, this is just, let's just chit chat. And then that's what we do. Magic happens. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody else is like, all right, tell what topics.

Do you want to talk about and yada yada? It's like, come on. This is too much work. I think I want to pull out already. Where do we start? Robotic, calculated discussion. We never do that. No. Yeah. So anyways, I don't even know where this will lead to. But anyways, I kind of

to start this YouTube channel. And listen, I think you said that you don't follow me. I said I followed you on one channel on the main channel. You had two channels. It's like my wife. I'll always condemn her for not liking my video. I'll go through her YouTube real fast. And I'll be like, you didn't thumbs up my video. Or she'll like watch it. And then she'll like, she'll like, all right, I thumbs up and she'll turn it off. I'll make you just killed my watch time. you just destroyed my analytics. Now you're a, you're a viewer that turned it off after three seconds.

You're preaching to the choir here. I can't believe how many people will watch a video through. Clearly they've liked the video. Yeah. But they haven't liked the video. Oh yeah. They watched the whole thing through, but they didn't like it.

Yeah, and I'm like, what are you doing to me? Why? Yeah, you're hurting my analytics. In today's day and age of this brutal algorithm, everything, every second matters. So you start the YouTube channel. Yeah.

So anyways, it's kind of become like this underground, lifting cult figure. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, which is cool. And that kind of built my own brand.

You know, Eric Bouganagan was an entity already. You know what I'm talking about? So Rick Bouges like, it's cool. But I've always had Eric Bouganoggin. You know what I'm talking about? So like I was kind of as I was in this crossword.

I was in development for four years. You know what I mean? And clearly it was just going nowhere. Like four years of development, you know? luckily i had like old spice which really brought forth my attention to the higher ups but regardless so i was i was just kind of it was always like well should i just should i just kind of cash out on who i really am instead of pursuing this endeavor yeah i'm saying but it's it all worked out really like i'm again very thankful for every opportunity to have gotten

because it's all better than just putting all your eggs in one basket you know you can never have enough baskets you know what yeah so yeah yeah but yeah Basically, now that, like, this is over, like, now I can really invest in all of that. So is all the investing now going into lifting and the YouTube? Well, I'm lifting per se. Not even YouTube per se. What did I just say about baskets? That's one basket.

You know what I'm saying? You got the agent in L.A. basket, the agent in Orlando basket. Yeah, but that's just that's just one other basket. A lot of, you know what I'm talking about? What are all the baskets then? So a lot of baskets. YouTube.

Yeah, YouTube's just, that's always just going to be for fun because that's too volatile. You know what I'm saying? Like at one point on YouTube, without trying, this was years ago. I mean, I don't know if people care or not, but just to give you a sense of how volatile it is. I made $10,000 in one month.

And that was like, oh, shit, it's pretty damn good, right? And then they changed the landscape. And then you're like trying. Like, I mean, if I pump out enough videos, they'll be all these stupid shorts now. And it's like $3,000 a month. So it's like, this is not.

You can't make a living. But the same amount of work. You can't make a living. of this i mean not to say it won't go full circle and then do even better but you can't that basket is not uh trustworthy yeah you know what i'm saying you might think there's a lot of eggs in there and you come back and those suckers are drained you know what i mean so no that's just going to be for fun and then uh also something else i'll say to you for fun too is this cameos which i'm just blowing up on camo dude a cameo from you just must be full of you know it's funny camios dude like

so i saw i don't know how everyone's cameos are but like i watched this one like vince neal cameo because it was like so bad that is like people were talking about it and say hey what's up Vince Neil shout out the devil girls girls girls woo happy birthday like that like that was it like damn I don't ever want to be like that what's a cameo from you look like oh bro 15 minute lecture it's too much what's the first like three seconds of it look like I mean it depends what they want I'm sure it's full energy though well a lot of people are getting them for their pencil neck boyfriends or friends and stuff like that yeah of course I mean it's energy but it depends on the scenario.

And I mean, if someone's depressed, I'm not going to call it on a pencil lock straight off the gates. We might get to that point, but it's not going to be straight out the gate. Is wrestling still one of the baskets? Not right now. No, no, no, no. Because, I mean, that was seven years, seven years?

2017, I started that. So, I don't know. I'm no mathematician. I don't know. You do the math about that. I think that's six years. Yeah, but we're pretty much 2024, bro. That's true.

So I'm still under contract. Do you not want to wrestle somewhere else? No, it's not so much that, bro. Listen here, dude. When I first decided I was going to do wrestling, pursue it, I have to be all in on something. You know what I'm talking about? So like I was doing strength and conditioning stuff, personal training. And I was like, you know what?

If I'm going to commit to this other endeavor, I just got to, so I just quit my job, a wife and a daughter. I just got unemployed for the sake of, you know, getting hungry. Wow. that I really wanted to make it happen. You know what I mean? Which was my wife was not happy about. She's like, why did you have to quit? Why can't you just?

Were you signed to WWE at the point? No, no, no. What? Yeah. Did you have an audition with them at this point? Try out? I was trying to get one. Yeah.

And you quit your job? Yeah. Because I had to really, you know what I mean? Bring that like that hunger. I mean, clearly I need that for you. Yeah, for sure. But that's like a one in a thousand. one in a million type of thing.

Well, here's the deal. I believe in myself. Clearly. Yeah. So it's, and I think that that's the only way to truly live your life. You know what I mean? If you're people like,

oh, maybe, maybe this will happen. You can't be a maybe. You know what I mean? What's the timeline between quitting your job and signing the WWE contract? Uh, nine months. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. That is some belief in yourself. Yeah. Well, I just wanted to make it happen. What'd you do in that time to make sure? to make sure that they recognized you, make sure. Well, it's, it wasn't so much like, oh, I'm going to do this to get them to recognize me.

It was more of just like, all right, well, I'm kind of putting my family through desperate times right now. I mean, you want to talk. When I go to this tryout, I have to really bring it. That's more of what you really did put all your eggs in one basket. Yeah. At that point in time. Yeah, that point. Because, well, I guess.

I'm really contradicted myself now. Now I probably won't succeed because I have too many baskets. Perhaps you learn from that. Now you want more baskets. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't even know what we're talking about here. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, pursuing wrestling. No, I have to, I have to be out in the real world, dude. Creative freedom right now. You know what I mean? I can do whatever I want. So right now I'm a co-owner of Psycho Pharma supplement company just because I'm in that lifting. You know what I mean? First of all, it all started with just getting free supplements.

And I'm like, I love this guy, the owner, at the time who was just like a guitar virtuoso. So then I like flew out to LA. We met up and just kicked it off really well. And then that was like four years ago. And then once, uh, W.O. is over. I was like, you know what?

I think I'm on a, I think I want to go in on this with you. And, uh, so that's just one thing. And then obviously the YouTube, like the personality, the online personality is another thing. And then, um, I'm also, I guess I don't know when this airs, but I'm just going to, I'm launching my own like brand, basically. thick as frick so thick as frick.com what's the launch date on that well i basically had a way for it's basically what i'm what i'm doing because

people wanted merchandise for me for years now yeah i was like i just don't know w conflict of interest maybe i don't know so i always held off on that but um yeah i mean i just got my first like batch of thick as frick horsecock shirts So that's incredible. Yeah, so we're going to go from there, build on that. And then I consider myself somewhat of a, you know, scientists with lifting. So I have a lot of ideas.

I'll probably just end up instead of like, oh, this would be cool and cool. I'll just make stuff myself. Yeah. And then obviously, you know, I think I'm just meant for commercials and stuff too.

Were you brought like being a host or something like. I mean, yeah. You have that magnetic personality on camera. Yeah, dude, and it wasn't always like that, but I've just learned throughout the years. I'm like, I'm pretty freaking good on talking to people. Like, just on camera, you know what I mean? I mean off camera too. Well, yeah.

So, like, I got to just want to monetize this, you know? This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge, and I have been loving their infrared sauna blanket. And if you're wanting to burn some more calories to help with weight, or if you're wanting to detour Toxify after indulging in one too many holiday treats, check out the infrared sauna blanket from Bon Charge. It works by raising your heart rate to that of physical exercise, so you're burning calories while you relax. You can burn up to 600 calories in just one session. And all that sweating helps to flush out heavy metals and other toxins. The thing I love about the sauna blanket is it's so easy to set up.

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See what I did there? It's a soda blanket. deal is hot. Go to bondcharge.com slash CVV to save over $170 this holiday season on that infrared sauna blanket. It sounds like you had all these other things lined up. Like, were you getting ready for a WWE release to happen at some point? Well, dude, I mean, you want to talk about my last, my second run in the main roster, I guess. No, I mean, I kind of saw the writing on the wall, but it wasn't like, all right, well, let me get ready for it. This is just basically thank God for my YouTube community and stuff because I always knew I always had that

you know what I mean like I have an awesome community everyone in meet in real life's awesome you know what I mean I've had to do a ton of meet and greets and stuff and it's just great and everyone's awesome and you meet people like the airports and stuff and other people complain about that you're what are you complain about even if they're like selling stuff online which people complain about oh they're just selling on eBay it's like he gives a shit like they're still waiting hours for you at an airport and like they still see value in your name yeah so no more wrestling you don't think you're wrestling 24 not for now no wow we'll see what happens but it's never rule it i never say never but i mean i got a lot i'm busier now than it was in w w yeah it's amazing like i

told him i said an alarm i said listen brother 1055 rolls around i got to go i'm going to get a call no offense but and i'm okay with that I'm okay with that. So let's keep it short and concise to the point. I know I give you zero bullet points, but we have to keep this straight to the point. What's the moment in WWE you'd say you're most proud of? Debuting on Smackdown.

Yeah. Because I just from humble beginnings, you know what I'm saying? Not really. I mean, indeed, I got one opportunity in NXT. And I think I absolutely hit a freaking grand slam with it. You know what I'm talking about? I was set up to get squashed by Drew Gulac and ended up making some magic out of it and making a name for myself from supposedly just getting squashed. I was, oh, sick.

Like, this is the turnaround of things. This is the change of things. And it's just like literally went nowhere. I was like, oh, okay. I guess this is a lesson of, you know, one of those hard lessons in pro wrestling. You know, you either somebody's guy or you're not, which, you know what I mean? And then I got to be that guy for a bit. which is crazy.

Once I did Old Spice, I was like, oh, I don't think this is creative. And I don't understand. But anyways, like, I was told like,

oh, you can't talk about anything creatively or whatever, which I don't even understand. But this is my life. I think I can talk about my life. And it's not creative. So,

I don't know. But anyways, like, so that, do they needed someone to do this old Spice ad that, like,

looked like a wrestler and was entertaining and had personality and had no TV equity. And like, oh, Rick Boogs, that's the, guy. Old Spice, like the

the people like running the ad or whatever just loved it and they wanted to do it again, but stuff happened and it never happened again, unfortunately. But it was supposed to happen again, like a big whole series, which I don't know if they, yeah. But Old Spice is like, it kind of puts you on the map for like, that gave you some airtime, gave you some face. Got me seen, yeah.

Well, it got me seen. The second I was seeing, they're like, who was this guy? Where did the guitar become a, part of it. So you've been playing your guitar your whole life. Yeah. And you know what's funny about that is I pitched that like right away like in uh development. And I'm like, oh, the writer at the time told me. And I said, okay, that makes sense. I'll just be a schmocking player guitar.

So if you pitch this idea, they shut it down, how does it become a thing then? I mean, I know a lot of like details of things. I don't, I find it strange that I don't know, but now I'm like, it war in my head. I know, can I talk about what I can I talk about.

But regardless, they basically, they looked at my Instagram and like, all right, this guy, like, loves lifting weights. And he, like, plays his guitar. Like, can we make with him? Like, all right. Oh, well, I don't know. Like, Shin needs something to do or something like that.

Let's put him with him or something. I think at the time they were putting, like, new people with like established people. Yeah. Which seemed to work really well. But the way that you played his entrance thing. It's like, I, look, I played guitar. I played guitar since I was 16. I wouldn't be able to do that.

Well, I got like, like, like, one day. So that's why at first was a little shaky. And I was like, okay, I think I can make this better over time. I just got to practice. Like, I'm not really, I love like, you know, rock and, metal and I think guitar is cool, but I don't really play a ton, which is funny now. That's shocking. You look at my house and I have like 40 guitars now. He must play a lot. Like I was just with Darren, like my like partner of Psycho Pharma and he's like, what do you practice?

Like you must practice like a hour a day or like so he practiced like six hours a day or something. I was like, dude, you practice six hours a half right. I practice six hours a year. Wow. You know what I mean? Like I don't. But anyway, so it was like, oh, hey, like shit and you're going to play his centuries. Oh, my God. I'm like, okay. Like, let me try to figure this. It was like so stressful. But like just getting that opportunity for like once. But it wasn't crazy. It wasn't just playing guitar. It was like you had this whole rock star.

Oh, it was more. It was more than the guitar was whatever. But you going out there and saying your name like your rock star. Well, dude, I honestly believe I can make anything work. You know what I mean? Clearly. Even with like this whole like a thing whatever we were going to do with Elias. Like I'm just looking at it. I'm like, so what's my gimmick? Like I'm an idiot.

You know what I mean? It's like every promo was like, okay, like, Elias is going to explain to you like about the draft and it's like, you just, you don't get it. I don't get the draft. Like, okay.

Elias, it doesn't, it's not making sense. So somebody goes to smack down and somebody goes to run. It's just too much for me to handle. Look, in fairness, the draft does not make a lot of sense.

Well, yeah. But in this case, you know, it's supposed to be so simple. Just listen to me. What person gets here? What person goes there?

It's what's there to understand? I don't get it. So, but anyways, I was like, I mean, this is funny. Like,

we can make this work. And I think we were making it work. And then I don't know what happened. With everything you're saying right now, I'm picturing you walking into a casting director and then being like, where's this guy been our whole lives? You're, you're going to be a casting director's like greatest dream board person they could ever find.

Well, thank you. Yeah. That's the goal. I mean, that's, that's what's going to happen. Yeah, yeah. I hope so. Well, it's funny. So I got a lot of, and I don't know, this is all weird, man.

I don't know what kind of details. Like, we live in a weird day and age where you say one thing. And it's like, you shouldn't have said that. I feel like that was happening. That was happening to you like the last few months. Like you made a few comments on YouTube. Oh, well, that's funny too. These would get pulled.

Well, thank you for bringing that up because I totally forgot about that. And that's funny because, yeah, exactly like at the time, and I knew I can't talk about it. I didn't want to talk about anything, but I made like a comment on my like YouTube channel. Like, oh, you know, I'll talk about now's not the time to talk about it, but I will. And then like these are like, you know, my community is like super positive and saying all this stuff. So I'm just responded to a couple, which I guess probably looking back I shouldn't have. But there's like no bitterness ultimately because again, I'm happy. I'm happy to be done.

But I'm also really proud of what was what I have done. And because I had to make a reel for like my agent. So I went back and obviously I used like the old spice, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Toyota stuff, the Netflix movie I did in like 2019, which I was honored to be a part of that. Big Billy Beavers, you know, honored to be a part of that.

But then I'm going back and like, well, I should probably use some sort of like my like wrestling and stuff, whatever. So I'm just going back through the clips. And I was like, this was awesome looking back. It was. Yeah, this is awesome.

And the crowd was really into it. Yeah, they were. They loved saying your name with you. Rick. And I will speak from a serious experience too. Like so obviously, you know, Twitter be damned because every. Oh, he sucks. Oh, who's got no charisma, no personality?

What's this gimmick even? But like, me, everyone I meet in real life or like whatever, like, I was like a lot of kids favorite wrestlers. You know what I mean? Which is the way it should be because it's a kids show. Yeah. I feel like adults that, which there's nothing wrong with people being super invested in with it. But at the end of the day, this is like a PG show. I can't see if it was a rated R show or something like that.

But yeah, you know what I mean? But like, this is a kid's show. And at the end of the day, a lot of people go into these shows are just going because they're like, oh, this would be cool to bring my kids to this show. You know what I mean? Yeah. What did you mean by the comment that Vince's removal like definitely hurt your career? What was it?

I can say with 100% certainty. The removal of Vince killed my career. Well, I mean, I guess if you just. look at it objectively, like look at my NXT run and then look at, you know, when I was seen by Vince and look at that run. And then when management or the whole regime changed again, look at that run. So a lot of people say, oh, but he was injured. But, uh, I don't think that. I mean, I think I could say. It's like, what should I say? I was supposed to be brought back early. Like, well, when I wasn't even cleared. Just to be on camera. Yeah, yeah. Like,

a month or two after rehab. And I was really planning on it. I was pumped. Oh man, like I can't really bend my knee yet. But yeah, let's get back out there. Yeah.

Yeah. And that was just cabash. Really? Yeah. So, I mean, we don't have to name names here, but you're,

you basically said like somebody had a grudge against you. I mean, maybe grudge wasn't the right word. Well, I mean, at the end of day, look, like in development,

you know, like I was told like, oh, yeah, you got like awesome personality and, you know, people like you. You know what I mean? The crowd's really with you.

But we just got to, you know, you got to like just keep getting better in the ring. And I was, that's, so basically with that regime, that's all I've ever heard. And it's like, dude, this is scripted television. Like we can make this whatever. It doesn't why. It's frustrating, but at the same time, it's, I get where everyone's, I mean, I get where both sides are coming from. Yeah.

WrestleMania 38. Did that go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows? like you're out there, you're treading in this entrance in front of. Yeah. I was supposed to be like this documentary too. Oh, yeah, it was being filmed all day. It's your first WrestleMania. And we're going to ask you like after the match.

And then I just like blow my tendon. And by the way, people say like, oh, I tore my quad because I see that all the time. And it's like they're still walking and stuff. I was like, what did you tear, bro? What did you tear your? Because my tendon was like ripped off the bone on both sides and ripped all the way through. So that was a serious injury. You didn't tear your quad?

Uh, no, but that's like the tendon. But when people say I tore my quad, I'm just kind of questioning like what exactly they tore of their quad because it's like I tore my like quad tendon. You know what I'm saying? Some people say like, oh, I tore my like, I tore my lap. And it's like, oh, it just hurts to move. You know what I'm saying? It's like, well, micro tear.

Like, you know what I'm saying? Like lifting weights you tore it? Because like, this is a pretty serious tear. And like even when I was cleared, I still wasn't, I'm still not 100%. Did you know instantly that? my god yeah i was trying to like push my kneecap down because it was like up you know what i mean so i thought it was like a dislocated i don't know i'm not a freaking you know botanist scientist you know what i said the second you get the the weight on your shoulders your knee just gave out uh no i was when i was

shifting my weight back so i was basically in this and this is another thing too like um i did this like we walked through the spot like five times like early in the morning basically. So like, all right, what are we, what should we do? And okay, we'll do this. And it's like, all right, let me see how that feels. And one time, the weight was kind of pitched me forward. So it's like, all right, well, I don't want that to happen. So I'm going to split my stance.

You know what I mean? Like a staggered stance. I'm going to have one leg in front of the other. That way I'll have balance. You know what I'm saying? If it goes forward, I can be more balanced. And if it goes back, whatever. And because my stance was like that.

So once all that weight was like really loaded on me all unevenly and wonky, once I took a step back, like the way my knee was planted, it was just like all quad basically to absorb that on one leg. Yeah. Well, and I don't really know it. Maybe it was just a combination of warming up too. And maybe it was a combination of like walking through it in the morning and like being not warmed up because we just walked through it.

And like at one time I was like, oh, I felt kind of funky. So I don't know if that kind of led to a tiny little tear or something in the tendon. and then going up there because you know how these matches are like maybe people don't but they change on the fly you know what I'm talking about so I think I was well I know but

again I'm always at war of what I should and shouldn't say but I was supposed to kind of start in the match you know what I mean and they're just like when the match starts it's like oh you know it's like the first match and time's cut it's okay so you know I guess I won't start and then once I got in there I don't know I guess it wasn't warmed up you know

I was the first match for WrestleMania, too. So it's not like I had too much time to war up. It's just a crazy day. And then once everything had, and I shifted the weight back. And it was my muscle, I guess, was firing so hard. It just ripped the tendon off the bone. Yeah, I'm both like, craziest terror ever. How much did it hurt?

Well, at the time, it was adrenaline. So, I mean, it hurt. Yeah. But, like, it was more of just like, holy shit. I got to put a, I was supposed to gorilla press this guy. So I'm thinking I can push my kneecap back into play. So then. People thought it was a spot.

They didn't know. I know. And now you're part of the torn quad club. You know who else is in that club, right? Yeah. Triple H, Kevin Ash, Vince McMahon. I know.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the grades. And Rick Boogs.

Yeah. I tore mine a lot cooler, though, than everyone else tore theirs. At least, yeah. At least, you're, yeah.

Well, Triple H's was kind of cool. Was it? Yeah. He was at least going to, like, hit Jericho from behind. Yeah, but that's cool.

He didn't have two dudes. up on his shoulders. You know what I mean? So that's the thing to be like, oh, he's so weak. It's like, brother, I'm weak, dude. It's like those tears, I don't know, they're just crazy how they happen or I don't know, but maybe it was like,

we had Smackdown that night and then we had the Hall of Fame, you know what I mean? And then it was like wake up early because it's WrestleMania, so cold times like super early. And it was walk through stuff and do like interviews and then based before you knew it was the match. So I don't know if it was also like just lack of recovery

and not warming up and all that. Because I mean, dude, I've done some crazy lifting shit. I've never gotten hurt. So to get hurt on that, it's like, wow. Well, let's talk about that. What are your PRs? Oh, you want to talk about it?

So, dude. So I'm a, like I said, I've kind of built an end being like a weird lifter, like on YouTube. So like I've done like behind the back deadlift was kind of the one of the first things I started doing it because nobody was doing it. I had 880 pounds on that. Yeah. And I did a deadlift between the legs because no one was doing that at 800 pounds on that. What's just like your standard deadlift? Oh, like mid-suff.

700s right now. So the other we got it's 675 for three, but that was for like a role that I was like so like, hey, they want to see you deadlift. So I like wasn't planning on it. That was an audition. Wasn't program. That was an audition. Yeah, I think they just wanted to see like form. But I was like, well, I'm not going to give you bullshit. I'm not going to have bullshit. I'm like I'm going to give you some serious way. So I'm like, so they only had bumpers there. So I could just fit. It was like, it was like seven plates. I can only fit on each side. Because it was like, you know, it was just seven plates. So I wrapped that out. I was like, if they. What about your squat? I think 6.55 was the most of it. But that's not, I could probably do more now. The problem is just like, now it's going to be the mental fight. You know what I'm saying? Especially with something to do with your legs.

Oh, yeah, yeah. The squatting, the deadlifting stuff, like, it's easier to like, let's go freaking crazy on that because it's all like hip hinge for the most part. But the squat with a deep knee bend, it's a little scarier. You know what about? So I've been doing, I've been doing, because I like to squat, like, as low as possible ass to grass, like hamstrings to calves. But that's also kind of scary because that's stretching your tendon up the most.

I've kind of shied away from that. And I'm like, well, I was trying to get as strong and strengthen our tendon as much as possible before I start going freaking crazy with that squat. So I was doing like box squat and stuff like that. I was 635 for 10, like a parallel box squat. So like my strength is. Dude, these numbers are no joke. No, I mean, I'm also at a crossroads where it's like, there's another thing too.

It's like, should I pursue powerlifting or strong men? or even freaking like physique or something like that. What's your bench press? Five times my best. Yeah. It could be better. Have you worked out with Mike O'Hern?

No, I haven't. I've messaged him and I feel very disrespected by him that he hasn't replied to me. Oh, okay. I want to put that on here

because I know you interviewed him. He just texted me before we started this interview. Yeah. So I'm going to make this happen. I say, Hey, Mike, I was because I go to L.A.

now a lot. Like, Psycho Farm is out in L.A., so I'm going to be there like every couple months. And that's mentioned, like that's Hollywood. and stuff too so i'll be out there as well dude if you go to gold's gym any weekday morning between six and eight a m you're going to see my cohort yeah but here's a guarantee i don't i'll never show up and be like hey you want it's like there's like this like so larry wheels like this

big youtube guy too yeah so i messaged him when he was in town for the olympia just because like he was going to do some i don't know meat and greet at a supplement shop that was like five minutes for my house so like hey man like we should just call we should lift together or something you at me yeah like just didn't have to collab just like coming my funny you know just uh cat hair infested garage and it's just like lift weights of course he was cutting for some physique competition or so i don't blame him for being you know sucked down and dieted and all that but anyways it's worth the shot but i was like i mean i could always like he's like five minutes from my house but it's like i'm not going to meet and greet i'm not going to meet michael or what am i'm not a fan boy dude

you're you're on the squat rack you look over oh my gosh it's It's the handsomeness of Mike O'Hern, my goodness. And if you walked over with the size and shape that you're in, he'd be like, oh, hey, you said you were a wrestler. He's friends with so many wrestlers. You'd be right in. I'm going to make this happen. Well, that's cool.

We can make it happen, but I'll never, I don't kiss ass. That's part of my problem in WWD too. I don't kiss ass. If you went. I'm not a politician. I'm not an ass kisser. If you went all in on wrestling the way that you did, and it led you to six years,

six and a half years, almost seven years in WWJ. I don't. Or doing that year, decking. What are you going to go all in on now that you're a free man? Right. Just told you about all my pots. But that's the thing.

You're going all in on all of the things? Yeah. Okay. Because they're all kind of related, I feel like. Like YouTube and stuff, like that's lifting. That's personality. You know what I mean? Like that's the end of the day, like a lot of people are strong.

A lot of people lift a lot of way. Nobody gives a damn because they don't connect with them, you know, personality. Yeah. So I have a, and even with, you know, YouTube be damned with its freaking algorithm, I have, you know, very, very awesome following. That's, you know, your, your audience shows up. Like, you, like, you have a video just making up numbers here.

That's 20,000 views. You'll have like 2,000 likes. Oh, do I've heard. You'll have like, that's why 300 comments. That's why I'm starting to think this frick in the first place. So you have a Shopify store? Yeah. Yeah.

I, listen, dude. I guess I'm getting old technology. I can't keep up with it. So I just got like, I got some kids helping me out with it. They're just, I don't know. I'm an idiot.

No, no, I think it's actually better because now you can put what you're good at. You can put all your effort into what you're good at. Yeah. You know, if you're a two out of 10 at making a Shopify store, why would you waste your time trying to build a Shopify store?

Yeah, yeah. Hire someone out who's an expert at that. Yeah. No, I mean, so that's the thing, too,

like I said, I got my following, my organic like Eric Bouganagan following, nothing to do with wrestling. That's what I was, you know, again, I'll always be thankful and proud of my WV stuff and always look at it with the, you know, shiny little light and smile on my face because it's awesome that I did it. It was something that was just like, yeah, I think I can give this a shot and I think it can do well at this. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I wanted to, you know, try to bring back like old school feel. And I feel like I did that, but that's just people don't like that.

today's day and age, I guess. You're straight out of the 80s. Which a lot of people like and a lot of people don't. Like even right now, I got some cameo requests. I still got to do. It's like, oh, man, you're my dad's favorite wrestler. He's 60 and so sad that you're gone or whatever. So I got to get you out of here on time.

Wait, are you running out of time? Oh, dude, look at that. Look at that right on time. You set an alarm. I mean, I feel like that's too short, man. But at the start, you were like, let's make it quick into the point. I know, but I told you. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important part of my life.

I wake up every day. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. My wife and I do it before we go to bed. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? Well, my wife and daughter, that's one, right? Because they keep me sane. It's funny because I'm always, I don't have enough time in the day. I don't want to do more stuff.

But then like when they're gone, I'm like, shit. My life is just in shambles. I don't know what to do with myself. I feel you. I'm a fellow girl dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So definitely that. Like that keeps, that's like the yin and yang to myself.

You know what I mean? And just honestly, my community that has been, that just got built. By the way, plug this because it's going to be on YouTube. I'm going to tag your channel down below. I'm subscribed on both of my channels. I'm hoping the ones has done, you'll subscribe to me as well. I did. Oh, maybe.

Oh, okay. Of course I'll subscribe. Yeah. Yeah. So like my channel. So basically I have had to rename it because YouTube was stupid. Oh, now you can create an official handle and someone took my name basically. No way. Yeah. So anyways, my channel's Eric Bouganagan. But now I had a name of Eric Bouganagan official because like the name they gave me because my name was taken was like, Eric Bougainhagen 2, 487. I'm like, God, it seems so like amateur, just random numbers.

So it's Eric Bouganagan official. I mean, just type in Eric Bougainhagen. You'll find me. I'm going to start like live streaming work. out every now I've been doing that and it's awesome but apparently like because I work off for like three hours like the watch time is like because people can't watch for three hours so like murdered my channel on the algorithm so I decided I had to start up a separate channel to do that okay so that's just Eric Bouganagan live um if you want like a the best cameo you've ever gotten in your life Eric Bouganagan on camea uh so what's the third thing you're grateful for oh dude you told me to plug my stuff well sorry

plugging away. I'm sorry. I mean, I also just, I don't know. I got so much stuff. Thickest Frick.com. If people, if two weeks from now, when people are watching this, if they go to Thickest Frick.com, is there going to be something there? It'll be up. Okay, great, great. Hopefully it'll be sold out, but it'll be up.

Hell yeah. Psychopharmus supplements now, now that I'm a co-owner of that. Right? Yeah. I mean, if you like pre-workout, it's the best pre-workout. It's not full of all like the harsh. stimulants that make you feel like crap and that aren't like compliant you know what I'm talking about the gray area crap it's just a lot of the good stuff right um what else I mean okay I think that's my all my plugs there's more about we don't let's get you a gold play button on YouTube you're a 300 and did I've been at 300 10,000 for like two years now that's I'm supposed to be at a million by now then they changed their algorithm because they want to be like tick to tick to

Your talk ruined everything. You're going to, with all the collaborations, you're going to be able to do this year. Well, I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for people like you. Appreciate you. I'm just, dude, I mean, third thing. I mean, family, community. I mean, what else is there, you know?

Health. Hell, yeah. I got great cholesterol. Dude, I, so for WWE, you have to get your cholesterol, like, you know, physical, like every year or something like that. Then they have like a heart specialist coming in. They do like ultrasound, EKG and stuff. And he's like, oh, man, like, you're in like the top 2% of cholesterol. And he's like, I would really like to see if your LDLs can get under 70.

And it's like, dude, I just got my blood work done. My LDLs are like 64 now. So I guess now I'm in like the 1% of the world. Look at you. I got the best cholesterol in the world basically. It's my diet. Look, I don't know why we didn't point this out earlier. Yeah, I only were.

Shack attacks. So it's not even just pumps. Look at the pumps. I've tried a lot of other pumps. I only like shack attacks. Can you pump it up and then deflate it for us? I always love the noise that it makes. I think it's all like, I don't know.

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's big. Oh, yeah. Thick as frick. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You won't forget that. That's why I pick the name. It's,

I mean, it rhymes. You know how hard it is to get a dot com? Oh, this one was easy. They're almost all taken. Nobody can think of thick as frick. Thick as frick. All right. They're poked.

Here it comes. There's swollen. Here it comes. Yeah. I got to get you out of here on time. It's been a pleasure, though. Dude, no, this has been the most high energy, incredible interview. I think I've done it a long time.

Well, I'm a little disappointed, though, because my plan originally, well, we had to go so early. Dude, I wanted to get swollen for you because it's like, I wanted to go to that gym. I got a gym membership out here. I got actually, the moment. It's kind of embarrassing. I got five gym memberships. I have five gym memberships. And I had two home gyms.

One was in my master bedroom that I told my wife. You have two home gyms? Well, I had the master bedroom gym just wasn't working out. we had to move that all of the garage. But yeah, I had two home gym. Was it because walking to the garage was just too far. So like,

well, it's because the Florida summers are just, you know, just, oh, sure. It's just sweltering. Yeah. And I just wanted to work out.

Then I want to, hey, I don't want to work on the garage. I want to work on the master bedroom. You know what I mean? But then I get those gym memberships too. So I was like, all right,

I'll work on in Kissimmee. And then if that's how you pronounce it, Kissimmee or whatever. You look plenty swole. No. Especially compared to an average sized human like myself. Well, thank you. Again, you know, I have mental illness and I'll never believe it.

You know, people, oh, shucks. Thanks, man. I'll look at yourself in the mirror. I'll never be big enough. Not big enough. As soon as we wrap up here, we're going to take a photo. And when I post that photo, people are going to be like, oh, dude. Either A, Chris is tiny or, man, he's massive.

What are you, like 190 pounds? Yeah, like, right, right, look at you. Yeah. Brother, I wrestled. I know. I wrestled in high school, too. Did you? Yeah, 149 in senior year.

I wrestled 135, then 140, and then 145. You're telling me there was a time that I could have wrestled against you? It was a pencil like, string beam. I would have been destroyed. Not long. In ninth grade, when I joined the wrestling team, I was 98 pounds. And there was not enough dudes on our team. So I would have to practice against women.

Yeah. Or sometimes I would cut down to whatever that was. I lived in Canada, so 95 pounds, I think. Yeah. I was 5-1 and 95 pounds in ninth grade. 5-1. Oh, my God. See, like, you kept growing. You're probably still growing. You hang upside down. You hang upside down and stretch the spine out. No, man, those discs get compressed. Like, that's why when people get older, they get shorter because they're just,

gravity's just pulling them together. I do DDP. Y. DDP yoga is fantastic. Yeah. I don't do yoga. I probably should. But listen, there's not enough time in the day, dude. I'll be in the gym for three hours. The last thing I have time is a stretch. I know all the benefits of stretch and I should do it. I don't. Speaking of time, I got to get you out of here.

Dude, thank you so much. I just can't stop. Once we start, I can't stop. You know, it's such a good time. I feel like we could talk for four hours. You should come back later and we'll just do part two. Well, yeah, yeah. I mean, you live in L.A. I'm always out there. We'll have you in the studio.

Yeah. That'd be great. Well, yeah. I like it. I hate the Skype, the Skype or whatever interviews and stuff. I won't do it. Especially because I don't have like, everything I have as low quality as possible. I don't have a microphone.

I don't have, you know what I mean? In one point I tried, this is good. This is good enough. Yeah, it was 14, 14 X or something. I said, give me the best, give me the best camera you guys got. This is a variety of it. I said, listen, I pretty much make a living off of shooting videos. I'm not going to buy a fancy camera.

I need a best one. Oh, yeah, this is the best. I'm shooting stuff and I upload it to YouTube. Like, this looks like shit. It can't compare to that stuff. Why don't you buy one of these if you're a YouTuber? I don't know. I'll send you the link for the, these are Sony,

I know. I don't know. These are fantastic. Hey, like, I would love to, like, edit your videos. You need a video editor and stuff. I don't know, man. I just, my heart says I got to keep a low quality. I got to keep it true to what I do. I think you go back to like, what are you good at?

You're good at bringing the energy and lifting weights. What are you, what are you mediocre at? Editing videos. Mediocre, dude. Have you seen my videos? I'm pretty damn good at the videos. You are. Not talking cinematic, like lights and all that.

I don't do that. But you want me to edit you a montage? I can do that. What do you edit? Better than anyone. Oh, I'm movie on the phone. Yeah. On the phone.

All right, man. All right. It's a pleasure, dude. Thank you for having me. Oh, look at the power here. It's a good handshake. Well, listen, dude, for all these years in wrestling where they tell you you have to be as gentle as possible.

Otherwise, it's kind of like messed my brain on. I thought I'll shake hands up. I thought when you go in for the handshake and amateur wrestling, you want to look them in the eye and be like. No, I'm not talking about pro wrestling. This is where you have to be as gentle as possible. Otherwise people don't want to work with it. Like high school wrestling, I was.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And if they gave you a weak handshake, you're like, oh, I'm going to win. Yeah. It's a fish. Yeah. A dead fish. No, you know, it's funny then.

And I know I got to go. I'm going to be late now, but I can't stop. Is that this whole handshake thing? Like a development. Like, yeah, it's like, oh, stiff. Oh, man. Like, you know what I mean? Like, no, there's going to work.

So then I go up to, like, the main roster. And it's like, when you see Vince, you got to shake his hand, you got to look him right in the eye. Otherwise, he's fired you. It's like, holy shit. Over these four years of the gentle dead fish handshakes. What's Vince's handshake like? Oh, he's squeezy and looking in the eye. It's a good handshake.

Yeah. Yeah, well, it's like a power thing as well, which I can respect. Of course. Yeah, the top chook is the biggest rooster in the coop. You know what I'm saying? So, like, that's the top chook, right? It's usually like, just like substantially bigger than the rest of the chickens. Right.

So it's the packing order. So it's like at the end of the day, he's trying to establish he's the top truck. So when he sees like a top truck like myself, you know what I mean? It's like a battle of like, okay, who's going to submit here first? He's a fellow bodybuilder. Oh, dude. We kicked it off so well, man. So the first time I met him, I'm going to be late.

It's cool. I don't care. I can't stop. The first time I met him. So it was in Stanford. It was like the WW2 or whatever. And everyone's like trying to be like respect. Dude, I'm just, that's what I'm saying.

I'm not an ass kisser. I don't even care. There's just might be to my detriment. But at the same time, I think it's why people like me as well. So everyone's like, oh, Vince, oh, nice to meet you, sir. Yeah. And I see him like, Vince. Like, where's the gym, dude?

What the hell? Give me a tour. He's like, oh, how much weight do you think you can pitch arc or whatever? I'm like, dude, I don't know. I max the thing out. You know what I mean? I've done 11 plates as many of these can fit. Yeah.

I'm like, you know, you can get like those thin plates, though, you know, the kilo plates. He put those eyes, how much way do you think you can get on there to that? I'm like, I don't know, I'm not a mathematician, but I don't know, a couple thousand. It's just like, meanwhile, all the other people are just like, okay, like awkward, all we're just male bonding about pit shark spots. And then another time at TV, like, oh, my God, like, booze needs to talk to you. I don't know what he was. Like, they're like freaking me out. He really wants to talk to you.

Like you thinks that, you know, you're yes, man, you're not listening to him. you're not doing what you want you to do. Oh, shit, like, okay. So I go in there and I'm like, oh,

what's up and answer whatever. He can't even remember what it was like. I'm like, yeah, man. Like, hey, by the way,

I was at a gym today and I just did like 585 or five in squat or whatever. Oh, how, how do you squat? I'm like, oh, dude,

I go as low as possible. He's like, we're just talking about squats. He was like the greatest conversation ever. I'm like, everyone's like intimidated by him or, but I mean, it's just like,

I don't know. I've always said great. We just talk about lifting. That's our relationship. Yeah, you found something to connect us on. It seems to just be about squats. It's always about squats. There's videos of Vince squatting and you're like, damn, that guy's still so strong.

Yeah, he's a top truck. Did you ever get to work out with him? No, I asked him a million times. So when are we going to work? Dude, I'll freaking, you know, rip or cut some suit pants off, make them shorts and do it at 3 a.m. with you if you want, that's what I've already does. I love that. It's amazing.

I've tried, dude. I've messaged him and stuff. I think only to my detriment, probably. What the hell is this guy's messaging me for? I never read this number, but I like, somebody's like, try like this email like chairman or something like that. Oh, okay. So I send this like flexing video and shit.

I'm like, this probably, this probably backfire. And here we are. Yeah, here we are. Yeah, exactly. Okay, I think that's it, right? For real? That's got to be it.

Yeah. You got to speed out of here and your Mustang. 15 minutes late. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's a horse. That's why I had to get the car. Let's do it again.

And then, yeah, exactly. And I started saying, I'm like, how that hurt? So I asked like, Bruce, I'm like, hey, what's the deal with the handshakes now? Is it just like a power thing? Like, how come we're all shaking so hard and never letting go? He's like, no. I'm like, okay. Well, I'm just trying to learn the dynamic of this company.

Because I was always thought one thing and all of a sudden and now the handshakes are just like a minute long, really dragged up. Like, it's so weird, man. man. It's like, I was this guy weak. This was fantastic. Yeah, we got to do it again.

Thank you so much. Next time you're in L.A. Yeah, February. Okay. See you then. Meeting with pretty big companies. And Michael Hearn.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. Set it up, brother. Done. I'll do his reverse bench press BS. I mean, whatever he does, it works.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, major kudos to him. Benching 405 for how how many reps that was when I was there. Oh, it's a warm up.

I'm like, yeah. He's incredible. Yeah. All right, that's it. He's been in the game for a long time, but he's, yeah. He hasn't been on the booggin' hogging, you know what I'm saying? Spit knowledge and his nagging. Oh, man, that guy has a lot of energy, right?

I said it a few times during this conversation, but he just has old school WWE superstar, just like written all over him. Eric rushed out of there after this interview was done to meet up with his manager. so things are definitely in the works for him this year. So very excited to see what's next for him. Huge thank you to him for coming by the Airbnb that we rented in Orlando to do. We did five of these interviews. This is number three of the five that we did there.

So two more on the way. You already saw Sammy Gavara. You already saw McKenzie Mitchell. Of course, this one here. And then two more on the way, Lexus King, who you might remember from AEW is Brian Pilman Jr. And then an amazing interview with the WWE Hall of Famer herself, Tori Wilson. So keep an eye out for those.

Snap a screenshot and share this episode, share a screenshot of this episode out online and tag us so we can both share it. He's at Eric Bouganhagen official on Instagram. Eric underscore Bouganagan on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Also check out his YouTube channel, which is just his real name. And check out ThickessFreck.com for that fantastic shirt. that he has on there. I'll leave you with this quote from Dale Carnegie, which seems so fitting as we

head into this new year and we're kicking this off here, take a chance. All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. It's an Ask CVV episode tomorrow, so there's still time. Send me a question using the hashtag Ask CVV, and it may be featured on tomorrow's episode. We will see then. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock,

but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then?

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