Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Erick Rowan on Brodie Lee in AEW, The Wyatt Family, WWE release, original plans for his cage

Episode Date: August 25, 2020

Erick Redbeard (Erick Rowan) sits down with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Minneapolis, MN. He talks about his release from WWE, being part of the Wyatt Family, why he started wearing a sheep's mask, his thoughts on Brodie Lee since signing with AEW, The Bludgeon Brothers, his WrestleMania match with The Rock, whether he has any interest in signing with AEW, the original plans for his cage in WWE, his favorite bands and more!   Please support the show by supporting our sponsors: DIRECTV NFL SUNDAY TICKET- Use the promo code BLUEWIRE to get 15% off your subscription this season at http://NFLSundayTicket.tv BETONLINE- Head to http://betonline.ag and use the promo code BLUEWIRE for your free welcome bonus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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TV, an unmatched dual threat. It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. Woo! This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show.

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Ville! Let's do this thing. Welcome back to another audio adventure on the Chris Van Fleet Show. This episode is brought to you by DirecTV's NFL Sunday ticket. and bet on line.

And thank you. Like seriously, thank you for being here. There are a lot of podcasts out there, both wrestling and otherwise. And thank you for choosing to spend your hour with us. This is awesome. Take a screenshot.

Let us know that you're listening. I am at Chris Van Vleet. My guest today is at Eric Redbeard. And there is so much to sink your teeth into with this interview with the man formerly known as Eric Roe. He now goes by Eric Redbeard, although his real name is Joseph Rood. That's rude with two U's by the way, R UUD. Although before we get to the interview, I feel like it would be rude of me

not to shout one of you guys out for leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. And I can't thank you enough for helping me to grow the show. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for sharing the show. And I know it takes time to leave the review. I know it takes time. I know it It takes time to leave the stars and write everything out. But thank you to everyone who's done it. Almost 1,200 people have left reviews. So thank you so much for that. This one comes from the 902.

That's a username. I should probably look up where that area code is. Everyone in the 902 is like, what do you mean you don't know where that is? 902 area code. I'm Googling it night now as we speak. Nova Scotia. That's my country. Okay.

Well, the 902 left this review that said, Chris feels like a friend. Not much to say that hasn't been said already. Chris's personality is so warm and comforting that his interviews feel like I'm listening to two of my best friends having a chat. He brings out the best on each of his guests, and you can tell that his guests genuinely enjoy talking to him. Every now and then, Chris begins winding down only for his guest to express desires to keep going. And I feel the same way. That's a true testament to how comfortable Chris makes his guests and listeners feel. Well, thank you, the 902.

And I'm guessing the 902 isn't actually your area code because it says that you left this review from the United States. Shout out to whatever the 902 is. And thank you for leaving that review. Thank you for the kind words. And I've always tried my best since I started my broadcasting career to just try to make any interview that I've ever done. Just sound like two people having a conversation rather than, you know, the, traditional question answer question answer and i just feel like sometimes calling it an interview makes it feel so formal and i mean that's the last thing that anyone wants especially with this

the informal format of a podcast so i appreciate the kind words the 902 wherever you may be from the 902 uh but i promise you this is an interview that you will want to listen to i just called it an interview. Oh, man. It's a conversation. This is one that you want to listen to. Eric Redbeard is what he goes by right now. And he says the name's kind of inspired by his release from WWE. He talks about being released during the COVID cuts in April and how the last thing that he heard before he got released was Paul Heyman telling him, no, no, you're in the clear. You're good. We also get into a fascinating conversation about what the original plans for that cage that he had were. And I got to tell you, the original plan definitely better than this giant mechanical spider.

But then the two ideas that Eric Rowan pitched to Paul Heyman, which was supposed to get pitched to Vince, who knows if it actually did, he doesn't know. These other two ideas were great and actually had like a lot of depth to them. And I've just blown away and you'll hear it in this conversation by how much thought Eric Rowan, Eric Redbeard, Joseph Rood, whatever you want to call him, puts into his character and puts into the backstory of everything that he's doing. He has a brilliant mind, not just for the wrestling business, but just in general. We also talk about the movie that he filmed, where he really got to sink his teeth and dig deep into this character.

And he tells me what he thinks about Brody Lee, making his AEW debut. And I guess now he's the TNT champions. So we get into all of that. Ladies and gentlemen, Eric Redbeard. Well, it's a pleasure to be speaking with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. No problem. Pleasure is mine.

I don't know if everybody knows your real name is Joseph Rood. And I feel like maybe growing up, maybe, you know, as a wrestling fan for you growing up, did you feel like, you know, you were immediately attached to Rick Rude because of the last name? No, I never really got a lot of kids at school comparing me to two. But, yeah, I had a joke saying that you got my mom. mother pregnant in Norway. It was a mark or something like when I was coming up on the Indies. But no, I never used the rude name. I mean, you could. It's, I spelled differently, but that'd be a great wrestling name. Yeah. So you're going by Eric Redbeard now. It seems obvious,

obviously looking at you, why that, you know, is the name. But what kind of thought went into this being the name? You know, it's pretty easy. All my handles were already Eric Redbeard anyway. But I guess the most obvious part is when I got let go, I'm like, okay, I've basically been banished, exiled from this big company, this big land. And, you know, another guy who was banished from a land and had to make a name for himself was Eric the Red. So I'm like, all right, I've got a red beard. I already had the name Eric, the monocor people know me by it. What the hell? So it's an easy transition for me.

you feel like you've been banished? Is that what, you know, letting go feels like? I mean, I mean, going from being used every week, having no inkling that I was going to be let go, told the last day I was used that I was in good standing with the company to just a complete blindside and just a bye, bye, see you later. No, thanks for your service. Just goodbye. Have fun during the COVID. That was kind of the initial blind side and bitterness of it all. Yeah, you feel banished and cast aside. Was there any, like, lead up to this? Like you said, I remember you in another interview saying you talked to Paul Heyman and said, am I going to be okay? And it was actually Hayman that said, you're going to be fine.

Yeah, I mean, I thought I was doing well. I started to get a character I really felt like was most me and how I was feeling disrespected with the whole Daniel Bryan Roman Raines storyline. things were looking bright for me, I thought. And then the draft happened, and I was informed out of the cage, and I basically wouldn't talk no more, which was a giant step back, but you do your job because you do it the best of your ability, and you hope they have some sort of plan for it,

because why else would they be used to me so much? So as many ideas as I pitched during the whole cage storyline, you know, fell on death years, whatnot. not you always feel a disheartened when you're like, okay, well, it's going to be this thing. It's going to be the spider, which is obviously fake. I still pitched stuff the following week to maybe make that spider work. Maybe that wasn't exactly what it was,

but I have a twist on it. So this is what it was. You're working Drew. Got to get him ready for Broxie. You can't get any offense in. Just never something you want to hear when you have a match with somebody of the caliber of a Drew, you know, McIntyre. you have a great match, you know, big house fight.

And, you know, you got like a four-minute segment to get the business done. You know, the cage gets killed. And, you know, when I'm informed of you're not going to get any offense on the guy and we're killing this gimmick, you know, which I didn't, if it was going to be the spider, and that's what it was, I'm happy it was dead. But I was upset that my ideas weren't, you know, thought through enough. to say, okay, we'll use those because this spider thing obviously wasn't going to go anywhere anyway because they killed it. So I went to Haman and I said, hey, am I okay? I couldn't make this

work. I feel bad. I couldn't make it work because I'm proud of what I do in the room and at work because it is, you know, it's in art what we do. You're given whatever on a piece of paper and you have to make it work. The best to your ability as a performer. It's no different than acting. You want to act out of a scene. It could be the correct. be the script you've ever written in your life. But you try to make it work to the best of your ability because that's your job. Yeah. And when I couldn't make it work to the best, you know, that I thought I could make it work,

maybe it's because a mix of, you know, my creative ideas being tossed aside and this and that. But yeah, directly to my face, he says, don't worry, we're killing the Gidge. Better things are coming. you were in good standing with the company. Wow. And now that I look back, now that I look back of it, I was like, was he, is he chastising me?

Did he know something I didn't know? Huh. Sounds like he was working you. Yeah, but why? Why tell me something like that? And then this whole thing hit. I wasn't used at all during that whole time until, so it's just kind of sitting at home.

So, you know, if I'm about to sit at home, I might as well, you know, be let go and not be making money, you know, because I'm not doing a job. Sure. When you were first, when you were first pitched this cage idea, what was the original plan supposed to be? What was the original payoff supposed to be? Original payoff. Well, first it was me saying, what and why? And I was very miserable backstage. I think the first day I found out, I had it out. I did like three things backstage. that day and I was like what the hell are we doing what what am I talking to

here so I kind of explained you know my concerns about going from where I was to this cage the downsides of it and the way they said it they tried to make it seem like it was a good thing like oh well you're gonna work said baby face because said baby face is going to kill what's ever in that cage accidentally it's gonna drive you on a rampage where I can go back to that crazy kind of psychotic unstable character, which I wanted to be. Yeah. And then that baby face churned heel, and they kept extending the cage gimmick, oh, you know,

just a long period of time. And that's when I started pitching different things to be in the cage because it was drawing so much interest. But at a certain point, you have to, you have to show them what's in this cage and it has to deliver. Yeah. And so I pitched on something I thought would have to deliver. delivered and I was told, no, it's going to be this. Yeah. It's just what it was.

But when you're first given this idea and they say you're going to carry this cage around, I imagine one of the first questions you ask is, okay, well, what's in the cage? So initially, what was the idea? Initially, it was supposed to be a rat. A rat? Yes, like a sewer rat. Okay. And then when, you know, there was a time when a wrestler had his head put in there and all this blood was on his face. Was it still a rat at that point in time? No, that it was, we don't know what it is. But I think they knew it was a spider all along because they were having this

mechanical spider being built this whole time, but not telling the guy that was carrying the cage. So, yeah, it was just one of those snakes. And, you know, you like to think they would have had a better plan for it. But, you know, it just happens on the, the full. who had to carry it around. Well, there was a lot of buildup to it. I mean, people were very interested to see what was going to be inside of it.

Yeah, until everybody felt like it was going to be disappointed no matter what. I feel like you might have been disappointed when they showed you this spider and you went, oh, that's the, that's it. I was highly disappointed and kept trying to change their mind up until the day. I was basically said, nope, we're this is, but we have the no way, hoes. segment, this is happening right now. And I didn't even know for sure it was happening until I started filming it. And that was when the show had already started. Wow. I want to talk too much about the cage because there's so much other stuff in your career. But what were some of the other

ideas that you had for this that would have been a better ending to it? See, people always say it's better to say things in hindsight. But I actually pitched these things when I was there. So it's kind of funny. That actually one idea that I had kept getting extended and extended because originally

I liked the whole rat idea. I like the idea of this baby face accidentally killing something that I held dear to me. Yeah, sure.

I love that story that that would tell and would be able to show a different dimension if they gave you the time to show it and convey that emotion on television

which they barely ever gave me anyway. but specifically I wrote a big pitch out to Heyman to show Vince and it was with I would have the cage built just slightly bigger and for one appearance on tibia I wanted to bring in the lady who played Ma Petit for American Horror Story. She's a sag she's a sag actress from India, one of the smallest women in the world. Yeah.

So she's got acting experience. and entertainment experience, and it would have been the shock and awe of me having a relationship with this little woman, kind of like a blossoming friendship that you could see, and you could have a scene because she's a tremendous actress when I've seen in that show. Yeah.

And just the unveiling of me taking her out the cage, and my whole pitch was, I'm not locking her in the cage because I'm some weird creeper, that wants to kidnap a woman. I'm locked her in a cage because I know how horrible the outside world is, and I wanted to lock her away to keep her safe from the atrocities that is out there. Because the Eric Rome character, his whole life, was treated so badly by everybody around. I mean, you had Brody Harper slapping me every week.

You had Bray as the cult leader. You had Stroman just taking the black mask and trying to be, you know, imitate me and try to be the better version of me, which as a character was very interesting, and we should have been able to tell all these stories, but we never had the time. It was just always stuff in the background. So this was all stuff I wanted to pitch with her.

And then since she's not a wrestler and not a regular on the television program, we could have brought her in for one day, and we always filmed so much stuff throughout the day. We could have filmed two or three weeks of television, if it had her just for one day. So I was pitching, we could show the relationship buzzum for, you know, a couple weeks. And then something horrible happens to her and she dies, which sends me on a rampage and you see a different side of me. Whether it be, I churned face or heel.

I thought there was enough interests where it would create a fun story for people to get invested in and want to know what happens next week. Because they were starting to do it with the cage, but they let it go so long that this was the only thing I could think of or close to. that moment that would have done it justice. And I'm really upset that it didn't, you know, go through and why a spider was a better idea. But I tried to make the spider work too. And I, you talk about different pitches. The week they showed the spider, I went back and I said, okay, this is not going to

work. It was clearly fake. I said, I wrote another pitch. This is, this went into Haman again. because he's the creative with Vince, and I pitched, okay, well, if that didn't work, I'm a big fan of horror movies and serial killers and stuff like that, not what they do, but I'm just a fan of the true crime genre and watching horror movies and the different character development of those people.

And one of the things I thought about was like the movie It. I was like, Penny Wise is basically the reincarnation of, your worst fears. So what if a character, it wouldn't be weird for a character to, like the Eric Rowan character, of just stalk somebody, not in the creepy sense, but in a sense to be able to find what that person's worst fear is. So the Congo line is deathly afraid of spiders. Maybe I'm afraid of blood. So whenever I put it in, I caught myself because I'm afraid of my own blood and I had to overcome my own fear. So I had the whole pitch where that would be the character. and we would have to look into everybody's own worst fears.

So I would basically be beating up the baby face, sat-not, and that baby-face would have to overcome his worst fear to beat me. I thought that would be another very interesting thing. And you could do it with everybody because everybody has fears. As big and bad as a wrestler is, like he's going to have a fear because he's a person and everyone has a fear. Both of these ideas are infinitely better than a mechanical spider. But, you know, the spider prevailed and was killed.

They thought it was better to kill the spider than to use that idea and try to salvage whatever they had. I thought that would have been an ultimate swerve to the fans, too. Yeah. Because the fans always like to think they know whatever they see in front of them. Sure. But they did. I thought this would have showed a great dimension and a good swerve and a good.

It would also be a good recovery from like, oh, it was just the spider. but the next week it's, you know, something else that another wrestler's afraid of. That's brilliant. But I guess, you know, the problem is, the problem is this, the spider got killed and so did your momentum in this too. Yeah, but, you know, it's not for lack of trying. Sure. But since then, you know, you've taken a lot of this creativity that you have, and I know you've been

doing some acting as well. Spend a good chunk of time on a movie set right after getting really. released. Can you tell us a bit about this film? I mean, I don't know really how much I can't tell you. It's a movie called Ghost of the Ozarks. It was filmed in Arkansas. It was one of the first productions back after the COVID. So it was very strict sets where you wear a mask besides when you're shooting. You have tests almost weekly.

All extras were tested before they're allowed on set. It was a really safe environment. but also for me it was a great creative outlet for me and a challenge. I'm very proud of the work I did in the movie because it's a different side of me that anybody's ever seen. It's not the big cycle killer wrestler. It's the guy with multiple layers and dimensions, and I'm very excited to see how the performance turns out

with the rest of the talented crew that they had. Are you in the Screen Actors Guild now? That actually got me into Screen Actors Guild. Oh, well, congratulations. So hopefully more opportunities come. I've been doing quite a bit of auditioning right now. That's great. Well, I'm an actor as well.

I do some auditions. I can't imagine that you and I would ever be at the same auditions together. I feel like the roles you might be out for would be vastly different than the ones I would be out for. it's it's fun though just doing the you know the auditioning part of it i know during during covid you get a script and it's like you got to film yourself during these self-tapes and it's it's a little intimidating at first but you know i've done a few of them now and i'm having a lot more fun with them you must you must look at an audition though now and go oh that's all i need to learn

like i would learn pages and pages when i was at w w e no now i look at a little different where I look at a backstory of whatever character is given. I'm looked at motivation for what this scene's about. So it's a little different that way where I'm giving a little bit more context and I have my imagination to go a certain way with it and then hopefully either a director likes it or he doesn't like it. So that's like the fun part for me. It's more creativity and more willingness.

That's what surprised me most about being on set is there's a lot more willingness to go with your ideas and your gut. And it creates a confidence in you as a performer that, you know, I think is lacking in a lot of people in wrestling today because they second guess so many things because they're told a certain thing. And I think that's really sad. Yeah. And but it's just the way it is.

Hey, it's Chris. Poppin in for just a second. I'm so excited about this. Sundays are coming back in the NFL. And with NFL Sunday Ticket.tv, you can stream every live at-market NFL game every Sunday afternoon on your favorite devices plus Red Zone and DirecTV fantasy zone channels. You'll never miss your favorite teams and favorite players. So no matter where you live, NFL Sunday Ticket.tv is your key to the most glorious Sundays ever. Just use the promo code Blue Wire at checkout and you'll get 15% off your subscription.

So visit NFL Sundayticket. Dot TV. That promo code is Blue Wire. If we take it back to when you first got signed to WWE, you were in developmental, you're Eric Rowan. Who was that Eric Rowan before the Wyatt family came along? Oh, that Eric Rowan was just a naive kid. No, I was, I tried a Viking character because I came from the Indian. under my grandfather's name was Thorough Marius Rood.

So I was Thorough Marius, the Scandinavian Powerhouse, the typical foreign here heel. But when I was out there, I kind of just stuck with like a Viking type character. I drank I drank me out of my drinking cord, and I would try to spit it in the ring to, you know. But, yeah, I was told I was popping the boys too much when we would do promos. So I was told that that would never work the Viking gimmick.

Isn't popping the boys supposed to be a good thing? Well, you think it would in hindsight. But, you know, I wouldn't change anything into what everything did become. And I always say the Eric Rowan character was probably the most evolved character up there. I mean, if you think about it, I'm a guy in the background, I'm a genius, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a psychopath with many different masks, I've become like a kind of of a version of leather face meets Michael Myers. Then I go off and I, you know, so basically I was in a cult.

I quit the cults. I'm still a psychopath, but I'm a genius. And then I quit being a genius and I find my old friends again. And we joined the cults. And then I say, oh, no, I don't want to be in the cult. So let's grab hammers and me and my buddy, we left the cult, but we just want to beat up everybody because we were mindlessly following somebody for so long. And then me and him are torn apart.

And then I find Daniel and I become an eco-friendly warrior. And then I say, well, wait a second. This guy keeps talking in front of me. He's just like bray. So why am I following this knucklehead? I need to make a name for myself. So then I beat up him and Roman and then I get back with my old buddy, but then he leaves me.

And then I go off on my own and find a cage because it's the only friend I could have. So that's like the wide story they gave me. That was your whole WWU career in a nutshell right there. It's like the crazy soap opera journey that you have to tie in all the pieces and try to make it all work together for motivation on whatever character you have. Yeah. Because you're still the same character. It's not like Rocky Mavia is different than the rock.

There's two different people. It's not the same guy. Yeah. But you've got this. through line with the character. Yeah. So it's, I always thought about that sort of stuff. I just wasn't able to express it or show it.

I don't think that a lot of wrestlers think about it in that way. Like you've actually, like you've dug deep into this well beyond just the promos you had to cut or couldn't cut and the matches that you had. Oh, yeah. How difficult was it for you to wrestle or see through that mask? Oh, so the original mask was like little tiny dot eye holes. Yeah.

Which is why I switched to the latex plastic mask. And then I was a background guy because, you know, he, Bray was the leader. And then Brody was number two who always showed all the facials and the promos. And then there was me who was always in the mask. So I was like, I couldn't see out the first one, but let's make the first one look cooler. So that's when I got with Tom Savini and Jason Baker. We created the second version of the Wyatt mask. And then I started up until like the Bludgeon Brothers and the big horns and stuff like that.

Even Luke's, you know, masks that he wore with the Bludgeon's was made by those guys. But like it all started because I couldn't see. And then it became, well, how can we make this look like a different one? And how can we make this look like part of you but it tell a story? That's when I started doing different paint jobs. I think I had to clown one for a little bit. Like I always like I had the gas mask one, which I thought was like the precursor to COVID. You know, the protection mask.

Yeah. But yeah, I always thought about being in the background and what would make me stick out more. Were you able to see through that mask enough to appreciate how incredible the entrance was when you were with the Wyatt family? Oh, yeah, especially when I had the second version made where I could see everything. It had like the mesh over the eye. I could be under that mask laughing with my ass off and no one would be able to tell. Well, the first time, or do you remember the first time when you really started seeing that reaction with the, you know, quote-unquote fireflies in the audience when you guys would have your entrance? Oh, yeah, it was incredible.

do you remember like probably started as a few you know flashlights at first and then after a few weeks it was pretty much everybody in the arena oh yeah yeah and uh i remember specifically we were we weren't even supposed to do anything that mania but uh it was me bray and bra and bra and we were told that we were going to do that thing with uh the rock and sina and you know from not doing anything to be able to get that entrance and see 100,000, you know, flickering lights, that was, that was a really cool moment because that's probably the most lights you're going to see in an indoor arena. Well, you're also skipping over the part that you had a WrestleMania match with the Rock. Oh, yeah. I mean, if you blink your eye, it probably

passed, but yeah, better doing nothing that day, I tell you that. And you can still say, you know, you had a WrestleMania match with the Rock. Yeah, I could. I think that was the Rock's, I think that's the Rock's last match. Yeah, I'm sorry. When was this added to WrestleMania? When was your entrance in that segment added in? Literally the week of WrestleMania. And was it always like you're going to have, like, Eric, you're going to have this match with the Rock?

I think I found out like three days before. Wow. Yeah. Were you like, could we make it like eight seconds, not just six? Like, let me get a punch. From the start, it was going to be, you know, the quickest match possible with The Rock. Yes, yes. And I don't know if he had some sort of deal where he couldn't do a lot of physicality or, you know, I get that, you know, big, I was he the highest paid actor in the world

right now. So, yeah, I get that. Now that you're in acting, that can be you next. Oh, no, I don't want to, I don't want to get paid that much. It's too much, too much, too much responsibility with lots of money. It did, I mean, imagine you talk to Dwayne backstage. as you were preparing for this, did he impart any sort of wisdom or insight that you were like, ah, I never thought about it in this, this way. He was cool about the moment. I'm a little, I'm a little bit taller than Dwayne. So having that moment, that face-to-face moment was pretty cool. I'm glad that it wasn't just like, let's go. So that was really, really cool, just to have that moment, have that stare off. I think there was a picture of it, like,

You know, I'm like, all right, that's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, you had the WrestleMania stare down with the rock. It really doesn't get much better than that. No, that's cool. Now, you always wish you could have a story, but hey, it's not going to, that's not going to selfish. What was the call like when you got the call up and the Wyatt family was beginning and, you know, you guys were about to form this faction?

So when it kind of all got thrown together, Bray and Luke were always kind of in it together. They had filmed vignettes. I still was doing a Viking thing. I was told that I wasn't going to work during that time. And then it wasn't until like, I think the week of like at NXC taping, I was told, okay, well, you're going to be the second son. We had done some promos back, you know, with them. I didn't know what I was wearing. I mean, I wore pajamas.

rocked around like him like a, you know, like a pig mask. And we just tried different things. And then I think I get to the TV tapings. I was going to work all over gray and some squash match, but be introduced since the second son of the Wyat's. And I was like, I don't got anything to wear. I'm going to wear. Like I got like Viking, you know, Viking symbol on the back of my black trunks.

So I got a pair of maroon trunks with like, like another Viking symbol. I was like, you can't wear that. Can't wear jeans because Brody's wearing jeans at the time. I'm like, well, what are I going to wear? I happened to have a pair of old coveralls from a Norwegian reality show I did that were still just in the trunk of my car. And I'm like, well, if I cut the sleeves off of this, it was really tight.

They didn't fit me too well, but I was like, would this work? And it was like a green jumpsuit. And that's how that worked. It just happened to be in the trunk of my car. Wow. And then... If that wasn't in the trunk of your car, what were you going to wear? Probably a pair of pajamas.

And then fast forward to when we called up onto the roster, hence, we always knew Bray was getting called up to the roster. We didn't know we were. We were told by Bill DeMont. Me and Brody were told we weren't getting called up. So then they're filming these vignettes. And then we're like, oh, they're going to need you for the vignette. So like, are we getting called up?

And then Bray's like, yeah, you guys are getting called up. And then like Bill's like, no, you guys aren't getting called up. It's like, well, what the hell? But this is another thing where I get to the vignette. And I just happened to have all these masks in my backseat still from all these promos. We were trying like months ago, like months, like four or five months ago. And one of them was just a party city sheet mask. and I think we're filming with Chris Chambers

and I pull it out of my drunk and I say, you know, what do you think about this? Can we use this in this vignette? Because Dusty, who was also there, he was the guy doing all the promos for NXT FCW. And I remember I tried some of these masks with him

and he's like, no, no, no, no, baby. We want to see your face. You know, it's ugly. It's money. You know? And so I was like, all right, all right. I get it.

And then when I was there, it's just like, I really like that sheet mask stuff. I'm like, hey, what about this? And they're like, okay, yeah. And then that's how that happened. So it's just a matter of me having stuff in my trunk. So it's just like everything got thrown together, blind look. And now you can't think about it.

You didn't clean your car out. Yeah, you can't think about the Wyatts without, you know, that Hawaiian shirt, Fedora and the lamb mask. So like, we all kind of just got put together. I imagine you've been keeping tabs on what Brody's been doing since he was let go. What do you think of his work in AEW? He's happy. He gets to boss people around.

What's not happy about that? You know, is that something that, is that a place you think you could end up? It's wrestling. You never say never. Me and him have always been joined at the hip. I know he had very, very high singles aspirations where he wants to be the world. champion and all that. To me,

I just want to wrestle and have fun doing it and be creative, whether it's a character backstage and doing that. I have fun doing just that stuff. I have fun in the ring. Like, I have fun doing the tag stuff.

Like, I don't care either way. I just love performing. He wants to be the best in the world at what he does. Like, he's very meticulous. with how he is in the ring. And I want to give him a chance. I don't want to step on any toes.

I don't want to be there. You know, oh, here I am again. Like, let him do what he wants to do. And I'm sure we're going to come around and, you know, do something in the future together. But for right now, let him do his own thing. Let me do my own thing. And let's meet back, you know, in your whatever.

You could be a great opponent for him. Be a great storyline. Yeah, that's one, another thing. I thought we could have had a good feud. I think the only time we got to fight was just kind of thrown together last minute, semi-main. I think we had like eight-minute, like marathon, at like a backlash in between like a championship match and a championship match.

Yeah. That's not, that wasn't fair. But, you know, yeah, we could have a great feud too in the future. But, yeah, a great guy. It's been a while since we've seen you back in the ring. is like do you have goals or aspirations for where you'd like to end up? I mean, with COVID right now, my last match was in front of a full life crowd. I don't really feel the need to rush it.

Maybe because I've got my mind occupied doing other things as well. So like my foot's not necessarily on that gas, you know, revving trying to get going like some of these other guys are, you know, I saw impact a lot of guys. I'm very happy for it. Or over there right now, I'm doing some stuff. But, like, it's just a matter of, like,

do I really want to go in front of a crowd of nobody? Like, and it's the same thing. You're going to have bosses. And I don't, I'm so weird about how stuff works in WW. I have to be talked into something. And if it's going to be good for my benefit, as well as the benefit of the company. Like, well, AEW is starting to bring fans back in.

Reduced amount of fans, but I think their next taping is going to have 10% capacity. So there's the option there, the fans in the crowd, and there, you know, there'd be a reaction. Yeah, but obviously, I love wrestling. I started getting back into ring here, been in a few times in the last few weeks, just getting that ring rust off. because it's still fun to get in the ring. You know, my heart's not completely blackened to wrestling. But I don't know if everyone realizes you spent almost 10 years in WWE.

And I think, you know, I think a lot of people might think it's shorter because they only sell you on TV for, I guess, a little bit less amount of time, but that's 10 years of your life. Yeah, and what a lot of people don't understand is during that 10 years, we were working probably three to four days a week that you didn't see on television. So we put our bodies through quite a bit. So this breaks been kind of amazing for my body. I tell you, when I filmed that movie, we did a couple of action scenes.

I'm like, that's it. The body feels great. So as you sit here right now, is there anything that's still painting you, anything that's still hurting you? I mean, my pride. Your pride. But no, man. Luckily, during this COVID, I was able to build a gym in my garage,

which a lot of people ended up doing. Now that the gyms are opening, please, please sell your, you know, used equipment for cheap. I will purchase it. You can buy it. your equipment. But no, I've been able to, you know, getting better shape, I'd say, than I was. But no legion injuries or anything I can think of. My wife doesn't hear me complain as much about, you know, rolling out of bed. That's a good thing. Yeah, the wife not complaining as much.

Are you not complaining of the wife as much? That's good, yeah. When you first got teamed up with Bray, Did you instantly see the genius that he had and the creativity that he had? I saw them know who his character was. He was very good at describing who he was as a character. And that's hard to do to have the writers know who you are. and his writers always seemed to know who he was. He changed around his promos and get him going to make him his, but for the most part, they knew who he was.

He was very good at articulating that. That was very interesting. From a character standpoint, it's incredible what he's been able to do. Yeah, he's like reinvented himself. Yeah. Lately, I don't know what's going on with The Feend. I think after the whole Goldberg situation,

situation, it kind of changed things for the fans. But he's good at changing around what he has got to do. So he'll be fun. I should have asked you this earlier, but what is this shirt you're wearing? This one's an Ael Storm shirt. Yeah, your beard was in the way a little bit. Okay. You were a massive metal fan. I mean, I like all genres, but yes, metal is, metal is up there. So, okay, if you're a fan of all genres, what's something on you? You're a thing on your playlist that we would look at and go Eric Rohn Eric Redbeard listens to that

I mean I could go I could go I got Ian Noah it's good that sounds kind of like Bob Dylan under that same label he got Coulter Wall it's a country country singer

really young kids got a very deep brabado outlaw country type music kind of like a mix of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson. So it's just a little bit of different genres. I got the folk music. I listen to a little Glenn Hassard.

He was in the swell season. These are some deep cuts here. So my wife laughs. I took her to a Terry Reed concert. He's another folk-folkish singer, but he was very popular in the 70s. He always talks about how he was going to be in Led Zeppelin, but churned it down. And that was the true story.

He introduced, I think, Robert Plant and the other. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. I'm trying, I'm dry. My Led Zeppelin facts are out. The lead singer of Led Zeppelin was not Robert Plant. People in the comments are going to be very angry. Now, I feel, I feel like I failed.

in my musical knowledge. I'm blaming this on wrestling. Yeah. You know what? I will look this up and we'll be like, oh, of course, yes.

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page. Yes, he introduced those too. There you go. Wow. Jamie Page. I know bottom was the drummer.

Was the drummer for you. Yeah. I can't picture you going to like, you know, you're a giant, you're a giant man. and you're almost seven feet tall with a giant red beard. I can't picture you being at like a folk country concert.

I enjoy all music, man. But I do miss going to shows. I do miss that. Me too. I just can't imagine in real life. Like, you can't exactly blend in when you look like that and you're as big as you are in real life. Like, you stand out everywhere you go, right?

For the most part. Yeah. And what do people instantly think your profession is? Sometimes it's a football player. Sometimes it's basketball player. Sometimes I think I'm a tattoo artist. Like, yeah, sometimes I think I'm in a band. Yeah, maybe they think you're a biker.

Yeah. My favorite is, yeah, you look like a wrestler. Ah, well, that's a nice compliment, right? Yeah, yeah. I usually say, no, I can't. No, no, I'm in a band, actually. Yeah, that must be it. So what have you been doing with your time?

You've had obviously a lot more free time since April. What have you been doing with your free time? Spending a lot of time with the family with the kids. Yeah, it's weird. It's like the most time I've had off outside of an injury in the last 10 years. So it's a lot of spare time on my hands. And it just gets me thinking about, about, what's next and gets me excited, you know,

because whenever you're out from something you love for so long, you get that itch and you get that itch to perform. Luckily, I was giving an outlet for a few months here to do something that got, that I didn't think anything would ever get me as excited as wrestle it got me or as, you know, fulfilled after, like, and I think that's what was exciting to me. It's like, after you film a good scene,

it was like being in the ring again. And it was like having that high of a crowd when you finished filming like a scene that you're proud of. Like it got me excited because I'm like, okay, I don't just need to wrestle. I can do other things. And it just gets you excited for the future. And, you know, with the whole COVID, everything, everything slowed down. So I'm just very excited for the future. And like I said, I'm a no rush for wrestling.

I'm not on no sprint. I want to do it right and I want things to take time and come together. I like that. I like that you want to make sure it's the right decision for you and for your character. Are we going to see like an evolved version

of what we were seeing, kind of like that guy that was beating everyone up and being a total badass? Is that where you think you're headed with the character? As long as he gets a, as long as he can tell a story and I don't want to be the character it's just mean all the time

I want to have layers to me and I want to be able to show those layers I think that's exciting for me to actually have a storyline which is something I was barely given a chance to do was have a storyline you know I was always just thrown gimmicks and that's not a storyline

yeah that's not the thing you can I want something you can sink your teeth into because when I sink my teeth into something, I think it's when I perform my best. Well, we're all looking forward to you sinking your teeth into whatever it happens to be, whenever that happens to be. Thank you so much for your time today. This has been great. Yeah, no problem. It's been blessed. I look forward to seeing you back in the ring. And I hope that when that does happen, I hope you get more mic time because the little bits that we were able to see were fantastic. And I just think that you need more of that.

So do I. Thank you so much, Joseph. Yeah, no problem. Well, there we go. What a chat. I hope you were able to see, like I did, that there is so much more to this character than what we were able to see on TV.

I love the way that he was breaking down his through line of the character and how it all kind of weaved into one big story throughout his WWE career. And those two ideas that he had for the cage. were so much better than whatever that was that we saw with the mechanical spider and then getting crushed by Drew McIntyre the next week. It's just a shame that no one would hear him out. But I'm excited to see where he takes his abilities, where he takes these ideas and this

creativity and where he goes next with it. And we talked a little bit about it during this interview. But I think, I mean, AEW seems like a great fit, especially now that Brody Lee is the TNT champion. Why wouldn't we want to see a match between Brody Lee? and Eric Redbeard. Mmm. It could happen.

I guess it's just a matter of time to see if this does happen. Please hit subscribe if you haven't yet. Take a screenshot, tag me so I can repost this, reshare this, retweet this, re-gram this, whatever we want to call it. And thank you for being with us on this one.

This quote from Bruce Lee really spoke to me. I'm sure it'll speak to you too. Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. add what is uniquely your own. Seems like a pretty perfect quote for a guy who is doing things that are uniquely his own with Eric Redbeard. And before we go, did somebody say playoffs? Yeah, the NBA and NHL are playing for the gold and our partners at Bet Online have got you covered.

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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 moose. on social media about things that you don't even understand.

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