Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ethan Page: Main Roster Debut, Intercontinental Champ Goals, Chelsea Green, The Rock Promo

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Ethan Page (@official_ego) is a professional wrestler and a member of the WWE Raw roster. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in London, England to discuss being a tag team champion with Cody Rhodes in Alpha-1 Wrestling, MJF hitting on his sister, winning the North American Championship in NXT, getting a custom Canadian Title and hating the Lance Storm comparisons, why his pairing with Chelsea Green worked so well, his NXT segment with The Rock, why he hated his old theme song that fans loved, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast 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

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flea! And here we are again.

Yes, we are. What a professional you are. Me? Yeah. Just watching you do your thing, I'm just... I'm impressed. Well, I'm impressed with you. Thanks.

I think the thing that people don't realize is that I travel with all of these cameras. Yeah. I set them all up most of the time. Sometimes there's other people sending them up with me. Yeah. But this all goes back to me being a videographer slash news reporter, Checks TV in Peterborough, Ontario. Yes. I just think the humble beginnings just keeps the humility in you forever. It's like, yeah, I don't know. I'll grab a light when we're doing a pre-tape and bring it into the room.

Yeah. What are you touching that for? It's like, what do you mean? I need to get this done. Yeah. I think me like in my very first job learning how to shoot and edit and produce and right and also on top of that be on TV reporting. Yes. It makes you appreciate all of the different elements of it. Yeah. So I'm going to jump. 10 steps ahead because I want to get this in an interview because I've been saying it to everyone for the last like maybe 10 years. But I think that every wrestler before they're allowed to wrestle, I might have even said this on your show before I'm getting old. Every wrestler before they're allowed to wrestle must run three wrestling shows. Have to, mandatory before someone gives them a pair of boots because they'll actually understand what goes into running the events. But there's the honeymoon phase, obviously.

so the first show is great, you're excited. Oh, this is going to be amazing. By the time you get to running your third show, you're not going to want to do this anymore. And you're like, okay, I get it. The venue's a nightmare to deal with. The talent all wants to get with their way and do what they want. And there's just so much that goes into putting on the events,

they would actually respect what this actually is. So I liken to the same thing. And not everyone realizes that you have a promotion. Yeah, great segue. Yeah. But here's the thing. there's a lot of wrestlers. I should say there's few wrestlers

that have a promotion and also wrestle on that promotion. I feel like most of the indie shows I've been to, it's just some guy, hey, go talk to Bob. Like, Bob's the promoter, right? And Bob looks like he's never worked a match at his life. I've worked for Bob. I'm sure you've worked for Bob.

Couple Bob's. But when you're the promoter and you're also talent, that's got to be tough. Because you're trying to put together your match, also being pulled in a thousand different direction. For sure, the one person that can answer. all the questions.

Well, preoccupied. Right. Yeah. Maybe he's in the ring. Yeah. Or maybe he lives in Florida now and not in Hamilton, Ontario. Sure.

But like, I could just imagine you're trying to put together a match and someone's like, Ethan, I got a question about my finish. Oh, for sure. I mean, well, that's why I never really put myself in like very prominent positions. Well, if you look at through the history, you would probably disagree with. with that statement. But it was always like, okay, the focus will be on these other people. And then I'll make sure that I'm there pulling my weight for sure.

But it was never dependent on me to be the main event or anything like that. I was watching the recent Dark Side of the Ring about Jeff Jared and TNA. And there's a moment in there where Sinister Minister goes, if I won $50 million in the lottery, I would never start a wrestling promotion. And I feel like you could probably agree with that. I have no reason to have a wrestling promotion now. There's no like financial benefit if that makes any sense. Like it essentially is my little sandbox that I can play in.

And I've always creatively loved that side of wrestling. And then there's the part that I feel like if I let it die, the purpose that it was created for, it hasn't been served for just me. Like I didn't start the promotion so that I could get ahead and then just kind of like close it down. It was because there was nothing in my hometown that I was proud of. Like I was wrestling at a bar that they charged $2 to get in. And the ropes were never tight.

And the ring was like two inches off the ground or what, two feet off the ground. Sorry, one of those like really low rings. It was so sad. I would never want to invite my family. So I just like started my own promotion. And then so many people have kind of like grown in that promotion, gone on to do bigger and better things and have credited alpha one wrestling, which I'm very proud of. So now that I'm not there and I don't need it doesn't mean it shouldn't stay open. But it's definitely not a good financial

decision on my part whatsoever. So it runs, whether you're there or not. I'm never there. Oh. Yeah, I'm never there. I've had to like, like hand it off to a couple people until I found the right team to do it. And right now, they are incredible. It's the best it's ever been. And I physically am never there, which pains me to say that. But I had to like kind of step away for it to grow. Yeah. Yeah. What an incredible full circle moment where you went back to the promotion that you started,

Alpha One Wrestling, with the WWE NXT North American Championship. Yeah, custom, which I'm sure we can get into that. Oh, I can't wait. Like to one be given permission while working for WWE to go to my hometown. And it was my, like, that's the company that gave me all the opportunities because I had to give them to myself. Like, nobody was like, oh, here you go, Ethan Page. Here's some silver platter for you. There's nothing.

So to go back and like give back to the fans that supported me, my family that was like selling tickets at the door for me and like dealing with all that and concessions and merchandise. And it was just, you're right. A full circle is the perfect way to describe it. And I'll remember that for the rest of my life as one of my career highlights in front of 350 people. Did you ask for permission? 100%. Was it presented to you?

100%. No, no. So when we changed the championship to the Canadian design, I really, really, really wanted to go as like hard in the paint on the greatest North American as I could. And we had no shows coming up in Canada. I think TNA actually had some shows coming up in Canada within the window because I had pitched. I was like, oh, I'll go to TNA to defend the championship in Canada on shows. I'm like, I'll do it on an indie because my original pitch was to wrestle, you know, for one, obviously, so that I could get a championship defense in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

to be the greatest North American. So the idea started there and then from that just through conversation, they're like, wait, what? You have an indie company? I'm like, uh, maybe. I might have like something to do with it. But if you're not going to be mad. Yes. Yeah.

Correct. Yeah. But the first question out of Sean's mouth was, what do you draw? And I'm like, oh, oh, okay, perfect. Sorry. So I was like, okay, so I'm not in trouble. What can we kind of get away with here? And he was like, look, you could definitely go, cut a promo, make an appearance.

And the tradeoff too, I was like, I have the local news. I can chat with the local news to one, obviously promote my appearance the next day, but CHCHH? I can't remember what it was. It's the big one in Hamilton. It is. Oh, you know what? It was CHCHH. So we end up, shout out CHCH. So we end up doing that, but I'm promoting Netflix because we're all across Canada at the time

with NXT. So double out like they get something good out of it. I get something good out of it. Something great actually. So it was a dream come true. You were tag team champions in Alpha One with Cody Rhodes. Yeah, who's the Booker there? Wait, who is the Booker? He was when he was there. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, that was that. Honestly, that was crazy, too. And weirdly enough, I feel like the timing of this is great. Yesterday was Father's Day. So happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. There's a video of my father pinning Cody at an event. And I feel like it was father's day or like my dad's birthday or something and Cody did what Cody always does

created this great moment and there's like a video of my dad pinning him in the middle of the ring and like all of us holding up the tag belts it was very cool oh that's great but i was like oh it's father's day i just remember that but yeah so how'd you book it that you guys would be tag team champions he did what do you mean yeah could you imagine suggesting that to a guy which by the way the whole, like, the whole, our relationship started off very interesting because if we both worked and evolved, we had to fight each other. It was a whole thing. And then my promotion in Canada seemed to be one of the stops that he wanted to make and regularly. And my building only holds a certain amount of people. So if you're good at math, you can figure out very quick that we probably can't afford Cody Rhodes. But he made sure that we could afford Cody Rhodes, which I will, like, the company will be indebted to him forever because that was until now that was the hottest time the company has ever had. And the exposure that he gave us was like astronomical. And just for me as a performer in itself, like he did a lot.

But he always made sure that we could afford him. But the biggest issue that I have with Cody was the European standoff. with his merch money because it was always like, okay, if you're going to do this and you're going to be a good brother and you're going to come out here, take all this cash from this mean greet. And it was just me and him. There's wrestlers that had to witness this weird standoff where we're fighting with each other about who's going to take the money. It's like he thought to not take a cent to have no clue. I don't know what your deal is, what the purpose was or why you felt that I have to now owe you some form of debt, but don't come to claim it. Okay? Because even back then,

I tried to turn this down. And now we are where we are. And I don't want you to come around, what, we almost 10 years now? Yeah, close to it. Ten years later to collect a debt that I know I don't owe. Sounds like the standoff of nice guys. Like it sounds like, you know, the check comes. It's like, oh, I'll get it. No, I'll get it. I'll get it. Yes, but over thousands of dollars. In a time that I really needed the money very badly, but the principle of it, I was like, absolutely not. But it's the both of our characters. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you were watching Backlash, you might have seen a face that you recognize sitting behind Michael Cole and Wade Barrett. Not only did I have those awesome seats, I also got an impromptu interview with the Miz and Kit Wilson. Check it out on my Instagram. Shout out to Seat Geek for the great tickets. and shout out to Seekkeek for sponsoring this episode. With over 35 million downloads, Seekkeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events listed on Seekek,

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And of course, I've got a good. code for you, use the code CVV for 10% off your next set of tickets from Seekek. That's 10% off any tickets with a promo code CVV. Make sure to click the link in the description to download the app and that code will automatically be applied to your account so you can use it later. Big shout out to Seatkeek for sponsoring this episode. Jim Rome takes on sports. I will always have a complicated relationship with this game, but people evolve. So do sports. Do not make me regret this. Do not make me devolve back to that guy that so many clones wish that I still was. And do not embarrass the entire country. Now, I can go back. I can get there fast. Lose tonight.

And you got a real problem. Do not blow it. The Jim Rome Show podcast. You've been warned. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. There's a story of MJF meeting Cody Rhodes for the first time. And it happened at your promotion, Alpha One. Yes. And apparently this all because MJF was allegedly hitting on your sister. What's your version of the story? So my version of the stuff, first of all, that is a true story. From my perspective, that is a true story.

He did come to me and tell me that MJF was talking about my sister. And my family is a very touchy thing for me. me. It's like my hard fast rule is you could do whatever you want, say whatever you want, get away with whatever you want. Don't mention my family. Don't talk about my family. Don't mess with my family. So all of a sudden, at the time, MJF's like the young wrestler, up-and-coming wrestler. Like he literally just met Cody that day. So this is kind of like the start of him getting going. So I hear this guy's talking about. What is this guy talking about? My sister. So I do. I confronted him and we were friends at the time. And I just couldn't.

believe it and he was very defensive, which I understand why he would be. And yeah, he did. He confronted Coded about him. Is your sister younger than you? Yes. So that adds to like, yeah, you're the big brother. Big brother. And no kidding. Like she does the merch at the show. Like my family, I don't know if they even wanted to do any of this, but they were always very helpful. So I'm like, man, I got these people working their butts off so that they can put on this show for you to come out here and do your schick and then you're over here flirting with my sister or even worse just talking about it amongst the boys that's even worse to me like this she's not a prop for a joke yeah yeah so i didn't i didn't really like that very much um i never really asked my sister if that's

true or not i guess i should have started there before anything else but everything that he says I lived and it happened. And yes, it is true story. I don't think we've ever talked about the fact that we both have Macedonian heritage. Like my mom is Macedonian. Yeah, I don't think we have. Yeah. And when you told me off the air before we started this that you were, I was kind of pissed off.

What do you mean? How did you not bring that up ever? Yeah, I have a Baba and Detto. Like my mom was born in Greece. Yeah. She moved to Canada when she was four years old. So we have like very similar stories. in that way. Is it your mom's side or your dad's side? So my dad's side. My dad's from Macedonia. My mom's

from Serbia. But my dad came to Canada, mom to America. They met, decided to live in Canada and the rest of history. But yeah, dude, what? You were Macedonian? Yeah. Like, and we went to the Macedonian weddings growing up, Macedonian funerals. I speak like six words of Macedonian. You? I can hold a conversation, but mostly like, I shouldn't say that actually. I can understand. I can understand almost everything someone says to me and I'll be able to let you know maybe a couple like very poorly what I'm thinking yeah shupraish oh nisto Sega so they'll be nishto I'll see I'm already out I just told you I'm doing nothing with you by the way do bro yeah yeah that's about it oh damn I've got

like because my my Baba spoke zero words of English okay my dad oh it's like 50% like like He understands everything and can speak like maybe 50%. He's still with us. He's 94 years old. Hell, yeah. But, like, I would have to learn these small phrases like, man, I really want some milk. Suckum leco? Yeah.

Like, oh, yes, that worked. Okay, I'm going to get some milk. Yeah, yeah. That's great. That's great. Oh, dude, fantastic. I grew up the same way. But I didn't even speak English until my parents had to send me to school.

What? So, yeah. I was born in Canada. But we lived with my grandparents at first. So everyone that kind of talked to me didn't speak English either. But I would just speak back to them in Yugoslavian or Macedonian. Wow. Yeah.

So then once I was like four or five years old, they're like, oh, crap, we're going to send this kid to school with all these English speakers. He doesn't even speak English. Wow. I felt like every time I went to my any relatives house, there was just all of a sudden a new and or uncle I'd never met before. Yeah. And my parents would be like, oh, of course. You don't, you don't remember Uncle Jimmy? And I'm like, I've never met Uncle Jimmy.

Okay, so I got a question for you. I'm going to take over your interview. When you got married and you had your wedding, did they come calling? Like, well, you got to invite so and so and so and so and so and so and so. Because they came to my wedding. And then you got the, this is my favorite one. You got the book where they wrote down the gifts given in 19, whatever, 80th, whatever. It's like, well, these people sent us this.

You have to invite them to your way. I'm like, that has nothing to do with me. I'm glad you think that's funny. Is that happening to you too? No, that's not from England. So you're the oldest sibling, right? Yes, so I'm like the test dummy for every generational annoyance. My sister's older than me.

So she got all that. Oh, so she dealt with it so you didn't have to. Yes. Well, you better thank her, dude. Because the amount of like, like she had, they, They picked a wedding DJ specifically because he had like two Macedonian songs on his playlist. And they were like, well, we got to choose him because we got to do the Macedonian dance and we got to do the thing where you break the bread. You know the thing I'm talking about.

I do know. So like there were so many things that my sister was just like, all right, I guess. You guys do the pig dance? Did it all. Oh, dude, it's the best. And then my wife and I got married to the courthouse in front of two of our friends. Damn. It's the best.

Honestly, my wife and I go back and four. Well, I go back and forth. She was like, yeah, that was a little crazier than we needed it to be. I don't know. I grew up going to those crazy weddings. So for me, it was like, weirdly enough, as the man in the relationship, I was the one more excited for the wedding just because culturally, like what it represented to my life. Yeah.

And it was your moment now. Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was awesome. We wanted to specifically when we got married, we didn't want to do the thing where it's like, Oh, if you invite this person, then you have to invite that person. If that person's coming, then this person has to come.

We were like, hey, let's just go to the courthouse next Saturday. Yeah, let's avoid the family politics and just celebrate our love. Yeah, hell yeah. That was what we did. It was the best and it cost $89. I'm not going to tell you or anyone watching what my wedding costs. But let me tell you, I have not spoken to about 96% of the people that have attended my wedding. How many people attended your wedding?

I might be overshooting, but like 200 something. Okay. It's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I would have to double check. It might be more, might be less, but I think around there. Yeah, we have both from Canada, both, you know, so many things.

Yeah, I know. So many things are we're both related to Alexander the Great who conquered half the world. Okay. He's in our bloodline, both of us. Yeah. Which Macedonia claims. Sure. All right.

Yeah. This is the first time in a while. that I've interviewed you without a championship. Oh, we were doing so good. I actually thought you might have one. Dude, I thought so, uh, I thought that we'd be sitting here, intercontinental champion, um, continuing the streak. Yeah.

Holding gold while talking to Chris Van Ville. Yeah. No. Sadly not. Because the last interview we did was the live show in Hollywood, California. Yeah, what a great time. That was so much fun. You were North American champion.

Correct. The time before that, you were NXT champion. years before that, you were TNA tag team champion. Longest reigning. That's right. TNA tag team champion of all time. Yeah, and North American for NXT as well. Man, just a record.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. How did you pitch the idea of the Canadian version of the North American championship? It had nothing to do with me. It was presented to me. It's a great idea. Fantastic idea.

And there was like a. legitimate reveal to me, like before the event. I remember we were in Houston, Texas, because I remember it was one of like a top five career day for me. It was like an eight minute get to stand in the middle of the ring with a microphone. The flags are in there, the podium I get to reveal the belt. It was awesome. It was perfect town for it too. Just what a dream scenario that was. But before the show, I knew that they were customizing this belt because they had told me, but I had not seen anything. So I actually got like a, whoa, like just personally just for me. Oh, that's cool.

So I got to like actually see it. And I'm like, this is insane. After the experience, it like really clicked in like, wait a second, I have a custom championship in the WWE specifically for me. Yeah. And I don't think anyone's ever going to get that belt again. It's literally hanging in my house. Don't take it, WW, please. And I have no clue how it got there.

I left it. After I lost the championship, I left it at the performance center. But somehow it's hanging up in my house. Did you have any conversation with Lance Storm after your belt came out? I did not. No. Because there were a lot of comparisons to what he did in WCW. Wow.

Yeah. What does? How does that offend you? He got stickers. I got a legitimate custom championship in the WWE. that guy slapped on magnets. How is that? Landstorm is a legend.

Not to me. Oh, wow. Brother, put some stickers on some championships. I made the WWE bend the knee. That's a lot different. How many titles did he have? I don't know. I stopped counting after.

Well, yeah, one sticker too many. Oh, wow. Well, first of all, I only need one championship that I would hold for a record amount of time. and a record amount of title defenses more than anyone that's ever held the championship. So, yes, he might have held many championships, but still have guys like Ultimo and Dragon, that guy sucks too. This is to me, it's like, look, you can have as many props as you'd like to boost your ego.

It's great. One championship is enough for me. And it's what you make the championship. And I'll say while I was North American champion, it was the most. prestigious championship in all of WWE. You don't believe me. That was not a convincing.

I've heard you break this down. Oh, no, no, you heard me break down how it's more than the NXT championship. I think it's bigger at the time. It was more important than any championship in the company.

I was fighting more than anyone else, having more championship matches than anyone else. I was, I was busting my home. The really interesting thing about a Canadian gimmick. Yeah. Is your booed everywhere. But when you go to Canada, you are an absolute hero.

I wish. They booed me there, too. Although, when I went to Canada with NXT, I did wear American colored gear. Ah, yeah. But you're right. They do. They do love their Canadians.

They're very proud and very supportive. Even of their jerk, Oliah, Ethan Page. Could you ever be anything but a heel? I don't know. I will always just be myself. People can choose to cheer or boo or whatever. I don't think much would change if I did one or the other.

Well, because the interesting thing about a heel is it's kind of like a villain in a movie where they feel justified in their actions. Like you don't think you're being a heel. You're just being you. You're just saying the things. That's what I mean. Right.

You're saying the things you would say. So like being a baby face might be disingenuous. But I think, there's nothing disingenuous about me, ever. It's been really fun watching you at these meet and greets. Thank you. Which one's been your favorite experience? Honestly, so I've been dying to get the footage of this,

but at the last WrestleMania in Vegas, they had this cool experience where they trap you in this room. It starts off terrible, but they trap you in this room, and they make you look like you're standing in a glass box on the floor of WW World. It's this, like, huge glowing case, and it looks like a video screen. So everyone assumes that what's airing is, like, pre-recorded. But while they're just walking around, you're interacting with people. So, like, some guys walking by and I go, hey, you in the Stone Cold T-shirt, I can smell your breath from back here.

And he's like, wait, what? And he turns around all of a sudden now he's having a conversation with Ethan Page on this giant like billboard. And I thought that was like such an incredible like experience for fans, but also me. I just did mic work for like 60 minutes at one point. Wow. Just nonstop. Just back and forth and creating a crowd. And then oh, I see some guy standing off to the side.

So I'll pull him in. And someone wants to now cut a promo. So they're grabbing the microphone and just going back and forth. And it was one of the most fun experience. I have ever, ever, ever had and with fans. And the best part about it all, nobody had to touch me. Nobody had to be near me. I didn't have to smell you.

I didn't. There was, there was, there was, there was, it was fantastic. It was fantastic. Didn't catch anything. I didn't get sick. Oh, it was great. It was great. And I would have stayed there all day.

They had to kick me out. There's this one meet and greet where the fan goes to put his arm around you and you're like, you're like, you just touch my ass. No, no, he did though. But this is, this is what I'm talking about. I'm as genuine as possible. But when people do things and it's like, listen, I understand it was an accident, maybe. But I'm for sure going to call you out on it because it happened.

And I want you to know that I know it happened. The best part about it is he went to fist bump you and you go, we've done enough to. But we have. We for sure have touched me enough. What else do you want? Now you're going to ask permission for one more. No, you already took what you get. It was so fun.

at the live show when you were my guest in Hollywood, because you were just doing mic work the whole time. Like, sure, we had a bit of a conversation. A bit. I'll hope I give you more today. Someone would say something from the crowd, and you would just, there was one where you're like, it is a very small room, sir.

Oh, I do. I know exactly who said that. But that's what I meet. It's like, I just live very much in the moment and will bring things up that I know no one wants to be brought up. Because there's like this underlying agreement in society that like when things happen, you just don't talk about it. It's a, uh, happens a lot in families as well, which is the thing that I dislike.

So when I see it in real life, I'm just like, oh, no, we're shining a light on that. We're shining a light on that. We're definitely talking about that because it happened. And no one can say it didn't happen. So no one can ever be mad at me. Were you always this comfortable in the mic? Like, were you the kid in high school that loved doing presentations? Oh, yeah, 100%.

Yeah. I mean, I, anything to get in front of the mic. of an audience. And then once I realized, like, wrestling was the thing that I enjoyed doing in front of people, like me and my backyard wrestling buddies for the talent show at our school, put on like a triple threat, hardcore match on a mattress on the high school stage. We did the same thing. You did? Oh, dude. In our high school talent show. Yes. And I'll never forget, I climbed up on something to give a swan tom bomb. Dude, what? We had a ladder.

Oh, no. I took off my, I had like a tank top on with like a, like a, I don't know, a vestor. Great gear. Like a blazer over it. And I took the blazer off to do the swan ton. I wasn't thinking anything of it. And a whole bunch of people like, like girls were screaming. And I was like, wait a second.

Is that for me? For me? And that was like my confidence went from a one to like a nine out of ten for the rest of my time in high school. Hell yeah. It's incredible. So wait, that helped you? Big time. Oh, listen, me doing a wrestling match in front of people at my high school did not help me.

No? What? On a mattress? One of these guys drag a mattress out onto the stage? People were like singing, dancing, doing stand-up comedy. And here we come. We're slapping each other in like shorts and tank tops. People are being like, what the hell is going on?

And we told our drama teacher. It was like, look, we're doing a fight scene because that's what we're. We were acting, right? We were the main event. We were the final act of our talent show. And this was like maybe May. So then we got to ride that way for the rest of the school year. And we were like the coolest people in school.

Good for you. And yours was not received the same way. No, absolutely not. I'm also a few years older than you. So when we did this talent show in the year 2000, it was probably received very differently. Yeah, wrestling was not as. popular as it was for you. Yeah.

We were, we were in the height of the attitude era. Yeah. That's a good time. It was very cool. Yeah. I did a lot of, I got elected to be the vice president of my student council. Because of your swan ton? No, I did a, this is so dumb.

I like entered to like someone's entrance theme and then the, the APA music hit while I was in the middle of my speech and like, what? Oh, it was. And what happened? My two friends dressed as the APA. carried someone away. And then I was like, I'm not going to stand up here and give a boring speech. Nobody here wants anything boring.

I cut this like promo. What? Yeah. Is it place popping? Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. Okay, all right. And I won vice president by a lot.

And the only reason I ran for vice president is because that was the guy that got to do the morning announcements. And I was like, I can turn that into my own little radio show. Yeah. So you've always wanted to kind of host or do something. Same as you. Oh, yeah, for sure. Get a mic in front of your hand and you have the ability to control people's reaction.

Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's the best. And you do it all the time now. What do your promos look like when you're writing them out? Man, I don't know. So just having general points, if that makes sense. Sure.

I know what I'm going to talk about. And anything that, I guess, is needed, I'll make sure that that's like locked in. So you probably know how to get into it and how you're going to wrap it up? Wrap it up for sure, but the rest, no. It's like very much like, I don't know, just I know what I have to do. So I'll just go out and do it. How are you aging in reverse?

I feel like when we see photos of you from five years ago, you look a lot older than you do now. Yes. Cesar Bononi and just for men. So your trainer slash nutritionist, your hair dye. No, honestly, I think it's, I don't know, I'm just a lot happier. Life's good. Got a great wife, got great kids, love being at home. So there's like no stress in my life other than work.

And I just couldn't care less about anything to do with work because I know I'm great at my job. So it's just like, it'll be fine. So yeah, I bet stress is the biggest, like, thing for me. So once I started getting rid of that and then eating healthy as a big part of it and training constantly. How much pizza now? Not as much as you. I would say, well, that was your gimmick. I love it.

I love pizza. Yeah. That's one quote of yours that I'll never forget. I've never been more offended. Yeah. It was either me or someone was like, hey, how do you stay in such great? shape. And I think you even rubbed your abs and said pizza. You're the heel, not me. Wow. Yeah. I can't be a heel. I beg to differ. I, but I think pizza is a much better answer than like,

well, I, you know, dialing in my macros and this many steps a day and, you know, this split at the gym. Oh, is that the best answer when I was asking you how? And you said pizza. I was like, okay, cool. You know what? I'll just go F myself, I guess. I will. I will say this though with, again, I'm serious about this. If you're eating six meals a day, seven days a week, that's 42 meals in a week. Yes. They don't all have to be perfect. No, I agree with that.

So if three of them are imperfect, if three of them are, call them, quote, cheat meals. Yeah. Then I think you're doing okay because 39 of your meals were dialed in. Yeah. So it's not like I'm eating pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, although I could. I love pizza. Oh, okay.

But now you wouldn't, I'd be enormous if I did that. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's the idea of like, you don't have to be, for me, absolutely dialed in like weighing your turkey breast and weighing your rice.

Sure. I have done that. Yeah. There's a time for that. Sure. Yeah. But that's not. There's a time for pizza too.

Definitely a time for pizza pancakes. Like I cannot drive by a. Cracker barrel without wanting to get their pancakes. They're just too good. They are very good. They're too good. My kids, their favorite breakfast is pancakes. And for some reason, they've convinced themselves that I make them better than my wife,

which is not the case whatsoever. I actually sneak weight protein in their pancakes. I have no clue why they think they're good at all. I just think they like that I do the pancakes. But anyways, so every day that I make them these, I'm just like, man, I want to make one for myself so bad. but the second you start you can't stop at least for me what's your go-to cheat meal oh i don't know it changes all the time because i'll have like um some kind of crazy craving for one specific thing and then i'll have to wait whatever time to get there but my like real like go-to i have like a

crazy match coming up or whatever the first thing i'll be begging my wife to make these chocolate chip cookies that she makes and they are are incredible, incredible. For lack of a better word, you've had the best glow up, I think, out of anybody in wrestling. Thank you. Like when you do the side-by-side comparison, it's almost unrecognizable. Well, visually, but I also think, like, career-wise and, like, perception-wise, I'm very happy with what I've been able to, like, I guess, turn things around in the last five years.

For my opinion, others might have thought things were going to. great and no complaints but there was a way that I really I perceived myself in a different light and I'm happy that I could get closer to what I envisioned what changed that perception I don't know I just think you know what it was maybe I was juggling too many things and didn't get to fully commit to just wrestling and I was very happy that once coming to WWE Not that I was forced at all. Like I have the free, I still upload on YouTube and I have a lot of freedoms. Clearly, I got to go to Alpha One.

But it was just like really dialing in on just professional wrestling and trying to become the best wrestler humanly possible. Also, since debuting in WWE, like, you've had an amazing run. Thank you. Like, you won the NXT championship after how many days? I think 60. Yeah. Great. I don't even, I think it was less, wasn't it?

You might be right. 40 days. Possibly. You know what? I don't even know. I don't even know. You had a segment with the rock in NXT? Yeah.

Was there a chat before or after that segment with him? Honestly, both. That whole experience was fantastic. And I would say the best part was getting to be able to like tell him. Like, hey, like when I started all this, the number one goal was seeing like, what I created on screen with what I admired. And he was the absolute pinnacle of what I admire from professional wrestling. So he's like, to me, the best.

So to get to see like what I cultivated in wrestling on screen with my number one wrestler, I mean, there's nothing else that I need to do unless he wants to have a match with me. But you know what I mean? Like, you're calling him out? Sure. Why not? I'll get you some clicks, Chris. Come on, Rock.

put your little underwear on let's do it everybody wants to see your hamstrings anyways uh that there was like unreal experience this fly is piercing big fly off wow what do you feed these things here that's a very large fly well anyways back to the final boss uh one thing that sorry so i got to tell him that it was very very good experience i'm very happy that i could actually share that with him and just be like, hey, like, I'm very proud of this. I wanted to say thanks. Like, it was very great. But there was an interaction we had when we were going through everything. And I had, like, the situation is very interesting. So I ended up putting my hand up like I was in school because they were debating on, like, how to handle something. So I was like, uh, may I make a

suggestion? And they're like, yeah, sure, go ahead. So I say what I say. And they go, yeah, that's good. We'll just do that. So end up after the interview, Rock's like, hey, don't ever second guess yourself ever again. He's like, if you think it and if you feel it, say it. Worst is, we say no. Yeah. And I was like, oh, okay. So I've definitely taken that with me going forward through the rest of my career in WWW. And it's definitely helped me. It's striking how present the rock is. Yeah. Like he's being pulled in all of these different directions. But when he's, He's talking to you. He's talking to you.

100%. And it's such a rare quality from anyone, especially an A-lister like him. Yeah. It's a really, I've seen it every time I've done an interview with him. Like he's right here and he's in the moment. Oh, yeah. It's a really great quality for him to have. It was a great experience.

And on top of it for NXT, a lot of the stuff is pre-recorded. So, like, as far as like promos and stuff, just because the amount of stuff we have to do in a day is insane. That one was live by his request. And that's not a thing that I was, not that I wasn't comfortable with it. It's just that's not the nature of the beast with NXT. So it was like, oh, this is new.

This is exciting. And it adds so much more, I guess, weight to the situation because it's like, yeah, we only got one take. It's live. Yeah. Yeah. On July 16th, the Hawk lands on Netflix. From the mind of Will Ferrell

Oh, mama, I'm back. Come in a new original series. Get ready, get ready. That's it. Did I stutter? When an iconic pro golfer. Lonnie? Monty.

Hockey! Takes one last swing at greatness. You were a big shot golfer. I still am a big shot golfer. No one. Dad, I'm the Hawk now. We'll stand in his way. That's how it's done.

The Hawk, only on Netflix, July 16th. Scrolling with Haley. I am Haley Karina. I scroll. with the homies here in the live chat because there's a lot to scroll through on X, on Instagram, on TikTok. Cutting through the clutter, one hot take at a time.

Love seeing you all in the chat before the show. I tried to jump in just a few minutes before to say hello. I love the chat interaction. Thank you for helping. But I do it to get all of the videos and all of the content that you won't find anywhere else. Scrolling with Haley. Just search that up and I will be there.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Do you have a favorite rock match? Oh man I'm probably One of the Austin Mania matches Any of the three Yeah

I think they're all great The I quit match is also like I iconic but the older I get With mankind The more I'm like Oh man maybe I shouldn't be watching this Yeah It's a brutal match

Yeah Brutal match Yeah You've had some brutal moments in NXT. You took out Javon Evans' teeth with a chair. Yeah. Talked me through that.

Oh, man. What do you mean talk to you through it? In what sense? Well, you line up the chair and you just go for it. Hey, sometimes you just got to do what you're told, you know? Yeah. I will say this. That whole experience

gave me something that I like desperately needed in NXT, which was like a very hard edge. And it gave the character something that it desperately needed for the next, I guess, whatever time that I had in NXT. And that whole moment, it was pivotal for Ethan Page. Yeah. The chair has like become your weapon because you used it with Ricky Saints.

Like that was bad. Yeah, so it could have been worse. And I don't know, I know you do these great clips, and this might be a little zoom in freeze frame moment for you, but he almost lost his eye. What? Yeah. And after, so he ends up injuring his trachea across the way the chair was, the way the chair fell, give him a twisted grin. And I'm trying to pull his throat down in between the legs of the chair. So as I'm yanking him down, if you see the footage and you watch the leg closest to the camera, it literally grazes his cheek.

And you see his cheek after there's a mark. It's like purple. Maybe like an inch to a half an inch, he would have lost his eye. Like, oh my God. Like lost his eye. I don't know why I'm smiling, but. Yeah. Also that night, I became North American champion. And Mattel enjoyed that so much that they commemorated the moment by giving myself and Ricky Saints a two-pack with the North American championship from that match. Available now, go grab it. Ringside Collectibles. But yeah, he almost lost his eye. Wow. Yeah. I loved your facial expressions when you get trapped into this box with Obafemi. just the

I mean it's just classic heel reaction more embarrassing moments um my favorite of that is the swimming

trying to get out of the box yes yeah yeah but so ironically one of the most painful moments of my wrestling career happened when he pulled me back into the box why is that

I mean if you go watch it back my head is genuinely bouncing like a basketball off of the walls. But then at the end, he ends up like palming my face into the glass before the door buzzes to open. I just remember my head hitting.

It just being like, oh my God, this guy is a maniac. Get me out of here. So yeah, Obafemi, great guy. That guy's strong. Yeah. Yes, he is. Do you know how to train with him? Is this a bad thing?

Yeah. What do you think? Of course it's a bad thing. What? Yes, he's a giant. He's huge. Everyone, first of all, you brought up, oh, yeah, we've been talking for so many years. That means I've been wrestling for, dude, so many years.

Now, imagine going to the performance center, right? And you said, oh, I'm aging in reverse. My body is not. So I might be tricking you guys visually, but physically, I'm not tricking anybody. So I'm in there, 35 years old with young 20 year old, just freak athletes. Obafemi's one of them. But then there's nine more waiting to close line my head off right after. Anyways, yeah, I don't know why I told you that.

Do you feel like you approach wrestling different now in your 30s versus when you're in your 20s? Yeah, 100%. In one way. There was like a moment where I was, oh, this is going to come to. to an end soon. Not soon, relax, but like, oh, like I see the, the end of this more than I did when I started when I felt like, you know, young and invincible and whatever, but now it's like, okay, if I don't age in reverse, then this could end a lot quicker or if I don't give this everything that I have. And that North American championship, like that whole title reign to me was

like it was giving myself something to be proud of once like I hang my boots up because to me it was the perfect storm it was a great opportunity Sean Michaels gave me so many big matches and big moments and just like so many blank canvases and so many times in a row to actually build up like something to me that was special so it sounds like winning the North American championship meant more to you than the NXT championship. Oh, yeah, 100%. Why is that? I think because throughout my career, it was never really like, oh, these are great matches.

It was always like, oh, this guy's entertaining, it's fun to watch. I enjoy this. Whereas with the North American Championship, the actual wrestling was a topic of discussion when people were talking about what was happening. instead of like, you know, story or character or like emotion and stuff like that, which is, that's my main focus. So to get to add like another tool to my tool belt or like another like notch on the resume, it's like to me I was very, very proud of that.

Did you ever think like did it come to a point in your career where you didn't think WWE was ever going to happen? Oh, yeah. Dude, I have this clip and I've texted to a couple people where, because I've filmed. everything in my life pretty much. Especially when I started, when I was with Evolve, my wife convinced me to like get a GoPro and start blogging. But I had no clue what I was doing. So I just have like random footage from back and Evolve then all through TNA, all through Japan, England, all through AEW. I like pretty much filmed as much of it as I could for YouTube. And there was, the time I was

leaving TNA and I decided not to stay in that window I had gotten an email while in Nashville recording the show for impact and the email was from WWE telling me that they're never going to hire me wow yeah so I had my camera and I'm vlogging so I read the email and I'm like oh man what am I going to do I just told like impact that I'm not staying AEW was like a pop possible option, but nothing was concrete. And then I get this email being like, yeah, yeah, we're not hiring you. Just, just stop. Pretty much like, this is the end of the road. It's not going to happen. Just kind of let it go. So I filmed myself right after reading the email and then, like, had a conversation with myself, documenting it a pretty much being like, are you going to be okay with this?

Or are you going to like shove it up their ass? But in that moment, it must have been heartbreaking. It was awful. To watch it back. is like pretty rough but I got it so I can't wait to sell it to wb for whatever documentary they make i think there's also an element about this that doesn't get discussed enough but like it's tough to break in when you're not living in america like oh it's impossible i just wanted to highlight it because that's another like obstacle you have to overcome yeah it's it was the biggest one getting papers and finally getting a visa and then a good enough visa that you can upgrade the visa and then finally get the green card.

Yeah, dude. I did all of those same things. I know. In a, you know, different profession. Yeah, we have very parallel paths. Interesting. Yeah, it is very interesting. People have said that we could look like we could be brothers.

I wonder why. We have shared the same genetics. You didn't even tell me. We've been friends forever. I'm just the older, more handsome one, I guess. Oh, whatever. All that pizza. Pizza.

How were you in Chelsea Green able to make such magic together? You know, You could ask me that about pretty much anyone I've ever worked with. I don't think there's a wrestler alive that I haven't been able to make magic with, but I will say Chelsea has the exact same intangible quality. So when you put us together, it's like truly magical. And probably one of the most fun times I've had in my career. As far as like laughing at work, yes.

It looked like you guys were just going for it all this help. Oh, yes, of course. I mean, I'm always going for it. But with her, it was like, I don't know, you ever get with one of the friends that's like a good influence but also a bad influence? Oh, yes. Yes, that's. We all have a friend like that. Yes.

But that was us for each other when it came to like entertainment. I feel like something was different when you were in AAA. Like maybe, I don't know, maybe you wrestled a little looser or a little differently, but how did you perceive wrestling in AAA? I loved it. I had such a great time. I miss it. I think the crowds there are incredible. And it is, to me, the most pro wrestling, pro wrestling that's happening right now.

You took a chair shot in AAA to, as Booker T called it, to the rump. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my career to be knotted up in the middle of the ring with my ass in the air for a man who hides his identity to kick me right in the butt cheeks. Did you hear the call from Booker Tee? I heard a lot that day about that moment. I'll never let anyone tie me up like that again. Let me tell you, Chris, never again, that Wagner. Take me through the day when you get the call that you're going to go up to the main roster.

I went, dude, honestly, I wish I could. I was in Vegas for WrestleMania weekend, and I had a bunch of appearances. And there was like, I guess, half-ass rumors, like, oh, you might have something. There might be something. But it was all, nothing was concrete. And I had Sean Michael's panel for his documentary, check it out on Peacock. So they had me out there for that. So that was, I think, on Saturday in the morning, and I still didn't know what was happening.

My hotel, though, ended Saturday night. So my flight was that day. So I finished the interview. And after that, they were like, hey, you're staying. Something's going on Monday. But still nothing. I had no clue. And I had already been to Smackdown before and done backstages at Raw.

So for me, I was like, oh, okay, they just have me doing something or sitting in the crowd and waving or whatever. And then Sunday, oh no, because I, yes, so they said something was going to happen. I said, oh, crap. So I called my family and was like, just by luck, my mom was on vacation in Florida at their spot. And I was like, do you mind driving down two hours to my place to watch the kids so I can fly my wife? Like, I think I'm doing something on Monday Night Raw. And she's like, yeah, sure.

So last minute, get my wife a flight flyer to Vegas. And then we end up going out for some crazy dinner. And as soon as I got back from eating 10,000 calories, they were like, oh, yeah, you have a match tomorrow. I was like, no. But I literally found out either like the morning of or like very late the night before. What are your goals now that you're on the main roster? Oh, man. I mean, I do want the Intercontinental Championship.

Why is that one so special to you? To me, it's like, one, it's the championship that always peaked my interest as a wrestling fan. It always had the matches that I really wanted to never miss. And it had the talent that I never wanted to miss. And I always felt like when I was watching the Intercontinental Title picture, I was choosing the future. If that makes sense.

Like, like, as a viewer, I'm like, oh, no, this guy, he's going to be the guy or what. Like so many things can come from and grow from the intercontinental championship. Yeah. When we were growing up, it was the working man title. Yeah. And it was also like the stamp of approval. Think of all of the main event guys. I've been calling it the token of excellence.

Because I truly think that it is. Because if you think about in the 90s and early 2000s, if you won the IC title, chances were within a few years, you were going to be world champion. Correct. Yeah. So I would like to follow in the same, I guess, footsteps. of my favorites. So win the Intercontinental Championship,

go on then to become WWE champion. Of course. Or world champion. Either one. I love that. Yeah, to me, I want to be the top of the top,

the main event, the guy closing out the show. Yeah. You are doing the best work of your career right now. Thank you. But it feels like it, it was like you got there slowly.

Like I feel like... Everything for me, We is slow, brother. Everything. I think I'm 20 years into wrestling, and I'm, like, starting over again. Wow. Yeah. When you got signed by WWE, you started in NXT.

No promises, too. No problem. What do you mean? Like, absolutely no promises. It was just like, hey, this is the situation. I'm 99% sure that I got hired because Noam Dard tore his hamstring. And they had a match, I guess, him and Trick, had something going. on on television and they had a match that was coming up and it was just timing and I ended up

being a free agent and it just that's how it happened but you could have been like wait I'm I'm in my 30s I've wrestled on TV and AEW I've wrestled on TV and TNA why can't I go to Monday night raw right away you could have said that yeah so I have like a much different perspective on wrestling after being in WWE for two years, especially only, like, I've been on Monday Night Raw for maybe three months, maybe three months. And the difference of audience

and the humbling factor of understanding, like, oh, nobody really knows me yet. So I'm happy that I got to do NXT. Like, I'm very grateful because I got to actually educate a completely different audience. on who I am, my skill set. And then,

NXT has its audience and Raw and Smackdown have their completely different audience. It's much bigger. And I've realized like, okay, it's going to take time now, maybe a couple of years of repetition, going, doing all the live events, wrestling in front of all of these crowds and all these countries to build that equity, to be able to have those fans. Because I'm out there with Rusev.

And there's people still yelling Rusive Day. So like the impact. And that was like 10 years ago. Exactly. The impact that I guess you have on the fans, that's, it takes a while. Sure. And it's a complete, like it's a much larger scope. So I'm very happy, like very happy that I didn't just rush to raw or rush to Smackdown.

People are very upset that you changed your entrance theme. I mean, good. Screw them. Dude, it sucked. Everyone just wants to take everything and make it their own. Like, guys, this is professional wrestling? This is not some sing-song, like happy time. Like, the way wrestling is now, music starts and everyone thinks that they have the right to, like, play along.

Like, it's for them or something. But every wrestler has, like, some catchy tune. Everyone sings. So I come out and everyone was going to ego right away. And then they turned it into, I'm sorry for swearing, but asshole, which you're killing my entrance, especially on CW. network where NXT's airing the whole time

where people are supposed to be talking about me, the commentators, legendary Booker T, nobody's hearing what he's saying because the crowd

is doing what they want. Because it's censored? Yeah, it's literally they're just cutting the audio. That's why your song changed. Like I've had full entrances where you can't hear anything.

You just kind of see me smiling and walking and pointing. And then once I get in the ring, the chant stops and just boo. And then you hear the tail end of whatever the commentator is saying. I'm like, well, I want to know what he said about me. And we're going to see that all come together this Saturday night. Literally. It's like,

what? Yeah. There's probably some lower third trying to sell tickets. You can't hear anything. Yeah, so there's that. And then also like, it's your fault. It's your fault for being too good of a heel. Mm. You know, maybe or maybe the fans. They wouldn't be chanting a hole if you were a good guy. I guess. All right. You know what? I'll pat myself on the back for that one. But yeah, I wanted to take that away. It was, to me, it was like too involved.

Don't involve yourself in my stuff. And I don't want to be like everybody else. So you took the catchiness out of your entrance theme. Yeah. Took it from the people. Well, yeah. I think everybody's lame right now. like all wrestlers right now are corny and lame and i don't want to be corny and lame and i don't want

to cater to like this pop pro wrestling garbage that's happening right now are there specific people you think that are the corniest yeah uh and if they think i'm talking about them i am and that's just your insecurity showing and i love it and for me i don't need people to sing along i don't need people to chant. I just want to have a nice, catchy tune, and I can walk to the ring too. So I didn't change it too much because I do like the song. It's a great song. And I went through seven iterations. We talked about this before with A-Train to be able to make that song what it was. And then once people took that from me, I was like, okay, well, we'll change it again. Number eight. You call him A-Train? No, only in interviews. Sorry, Coach Bloom.

when you started doing twisted grin yes did you get a blessing from mad hardy to do that yeah um technically it started a while back even before i was in w w peter there was this situation where he like owned my contract and then there were going back and forth so i had started using the twist of fate as a way of like pissing him off and like taunting him so it was always in my back pocket as a move that I knew I could do. And there were situations coming up where I needed moves. And I try my best to differentiate myself from everyone on the show as best as I can. Obviously, there's like so many wrestlers and only so many, I guess, moves or whatever. But I'm of the thought process. Like, if you're going to go see Kiss the band play music, I don't think you want to hear

the opening act play their music terribly until Kiss comes out. So, if I'm on a show with Stone Cold Steve Austin, I'm not doing anything that he would do because people bought tickets to see Stone Cold. This is the booker in you. This is full circle what we were talking about earlier. Well, I think everyone should have this thought, but again, wrestlers suck.

So that's kind of how I've attacked everything is to just like, okay, well, I'll bring my own songs. And no one was doing Twist of Fate. and it's a song that I knew. And I thought, I can start singing this here. And I made sure to get the blessing clearly, because we're different companies, and I don't ever want to disrespect a legend like that.

So fully gave me a blessing just to use the move however I wanted. And then I had thought, okay, I am definitely not going to be in NXT forever, but I'm also not going to be this young and this strong forever. So I don't really know how many six three to six seven, 240 to 280 pound guys I can get up

for the ego's edge for the rest of my life. So that was when I made the full decision to just completely switch to the twisted grin. With everything you have going on right now, how do you balance the professional life and the personal life? Because as we're sitting here right now, we're on the other side of the world.

Yeah. We're in London. Both missing Father's Day. That's right. We both missed Father's Day. We celebrated Father's Day last weekend. Oh, nice. I do it when I go home.

Oh, that's great. Yeah. But you've probably been on a pretty long stretch right now where you haven't seen the wife or kids. Yeah. How do I manage that? Yeah. I don't know.

I just kind of take it as it comes, I guess. And the older my kids get, the harder it gets. And then harder it gets for my wife, too, just because she sees how hard it is for them. but like when I first met my wife, she was the traveler. Like she worked in Honduras. So she was gone a lot. And I think I just banked up all that time to throw it in her face to be able to say, well, you did this to me.

Honestly, it's tough for me. It's getting very tough for me. The older I get and the less I like being around people that aren't my friends or family, the more I'm just like, oh, I just want to go home and be with the people that make me uncomfortable and calm. But you're home, how many days a week? On a good week? Oh, on a good week, like three to five days.

Okay. And on a bad week? None. Maybe one. Yeah. Like there's like, and I love it because this is what I'm literally here to do. And like from my wife's mouth, we did not move to Florida to just hang out. And it's true.

Like we did not uproot and sell our home in Michigan to, live in Orlando. And you had just bought a house in Michigan. Our dream home. Not to make this any worse. I'm so sorry. That's for my wife. Yeah, it was like a paradise for us. Yeah. But so we ended up selling that and moving to Orlando, but we didn't do that. Yeah. To just lay around a pool. It's for work. So I have to work. And you've also, I'm sure you're aware of this. You've got a short window of time. You know, you can't wrestle for I'm hyper aware of that. Maybe too,

maybe too hyper aware. So it's the idea of like, let's go hard while I still can mentally and physically, while my body still allows me to. Let's, let's hit this as hard as we can. Yeah. And I also have always thought once you stop doing something,

so the matches that I have like physically and some of the moves that guys end up pulling on me, in someone my age probably shouldn't but that's just always how I've wrestled just that's like the I guess indie wrestler in me forever but I also feel like the second I stop I'll never be able to go back so like I'll never be able to be like well it's WrestleMania haven't done this one in three years but let's give it a go I just feel like if I have to just continuously wrestle this exact same way until it's over yeah Still it's done.

Have you seen Otis yet since you've been here? Yeah. Man. What a great question. You texted me about this earlier. So I ran into him last night. We got from the bus from the live event. And he gives me his like bear hug squeeze, which almost murders me.

And then he goes, hey, babe. Saw that CVV squeeze his ass. And I'm like, why are you telling you? telling me this. He's a maniac. Is that a true story? I was sitting at dinner with my back to the door because the view here is beautiful. I'm like, oh, I want to look out at the wharf. It's beautiful. Back to the door is kind of brave. But everybody else was doing it because like you're taking in the beautiful view. Okay. And he grabs me from behind. Christopher. And I'm like, oh my God, it's Otis. So I give him a hug. We start chatting. He's the best. Yeah. He's the best. And then when we go to say goodbye,

he goes, it wraps his arms around me. It gives me a bear hug, but like cinches it in. Oh, yeah. And I swear I heard my ribs crack. No, you did. He doesn't know his own strength. He's so strong. Yes.

Because to him it was just a little grab. Yeah. But like he was crushing all my organs. Yeah. He don't know that, though. He's so strong. Yeah. What's that of mice and men?

Yes. Yeah. Or the guy in Green Mile. You know. Yeah. Brothers petting that rabbit a little too hard. He's so strong. It's scary how strong he is.

Yeah, I'm very grateful I haven't had to wrestle him. Well, I've told him that. They made us play some game for going to Italy called Mora. It's like some hand game. He ends up beating me. And in the end, I tell him, I go, look, man, I'm very glad this is the only time we've had to have any kind of competition. I don't ever want to see you across the ring, ever.

Well, when you have a match with him, people are going to play this clip back. I'm not, no, I'm going to, I will negotiate to not wrestle him before I ask for more money. I just don't want to wrestle him. Hey, keep me here as long as you want. Don't ever put me in the ring with Otis. I'll tap out when he gives me a hug backstage. Oh, it's crazy. Do you know he's, I think Yugoslavian as well?

Yes, that's right. Yeah, another Balkan brother. Wow. We have so much in common. I know. Look at us. Yeah, look at us. Always great to see you.

Hey, great to see you too. I imagine the next time I'll see you, you'll have the Intercontinental Championship. Or a championship. Who knows? Let's make it happen. Yeah, this has been a good run. I'm glad I get to check in with you every year at seeing. I think this is our sixth interview.

Like, every time I've talked to you, you've had like a new milestone in your career. Yeah. The first time you were TNA tag team champion. and in the midst of the run that was the historic run. The next time I talked to you, you had just signed with AEW. Okay. Then the next time I talked to you, you would just sign with WWE and you had the NXT championship. Okay.

Oh, no, wait. No, no, no, yeah, because we had the one in Vegas. It was one other when you were with AEW and Dan Lambert in Vegas. Yes, yes, yes. So there's another, you know, part of your career. Then you would just sign with WWE with the NXT championship. Then it was the live show. you were the NXT North American champion.

And now you've just signed to the main roster. Monday Night Raw. Wow. Pretty crazy. Pretty amazing. And I feel so grateful because I've known you for 15 years that I, like, I saw where you were at when I ran into you like AIW. Oh, yes.

But I also saw where you were at too. So like I've, that's true. The growth across the board is amazing. That's why I'm happy. Like we get to check in. We get to celebrate each other. Yeah, it's great. are going. Yeah, you'll always get my time and you'll always get my best for sure.

I appreciate you. I remember seeing you at an AIW show. I had known you for maybe two years at this point. And you were behind, you were selling merch and you were like, hey, what are you going to introduce me to the Rock? That sounds like me. I was like, hey, Ethan Page. What's up? And look at you now. Now your buddies with the Rock. Yeah. Still challenge him to matches, though. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So since I mentioned gratitude.

Yes. Maybe your answers are different this time. Oh. What are three things you're grateful for today? Today. You know what? I'm grateful for people's generosity. Like Alex bringing energy drinks and just.

Thank you, Alex. Honestly, just like on these tours specifically, how well everyone has treated us making I mean, it's a rough gig, especially the last tour we did to jump from like flight to flight to flight to flight to country to country. It was also from, it was European tour back to the U.S. Back over here. Little pit stop in Baltimore. Yeah.

Yeah. And then right back out here. Yeah. The people that have been handling everything and helping us through all of this and like literally across the board, it would be awful without them. So I'm very grateful for people's generosity. I'm very grateful. I'll always say my family for sure because they're, they keep everything together mentally for me.

So if they weren't there, I don't know if I'd be here. And I am grateful for my youth because I'm aging in reverse. So says Chris Van Blee. It's true. And if he says it on the show, it's fact. It is. Yes. Like people will quote it.

Oh, I know. Yeah. Yeah. We'll put up the photo of like you. What would be your worst? What could we compare your work? Oh, honestly, there is a photo of pandemic TNA. I was 270 pounds.

I don't think I've ever looked that bad. I'll send you the picture. Never mind. You don't have to find it. I will, yes, don't worry. I have that. Pop it up right here. Sure.

Perfect. Everybody enjoy this. Yeah. You can do it too. But look at you now. Yeah, heck yeah. Look at me now. Yeah, look at you.

Dude, I do look great. I don't even know what I look like. I just know it's fantastic. That's where we're going to end it. Sure. Thanks again, man. Thank you. Scrolling with Haley.

I'm Haley Karinea. I scroll with the homies here in the live chat because there's a lot to scroll through on X, on Instagram, on TikTok. Cutting through the clutter, one hot take at a time. I love seeing you all in the chat before the show. I tried to jump in just a few minutes before to say hello. I love the chat interaction. Thank you for helping. But I do it to get all of the videos and all of the content that you won't find anywhere else.

Scrolling with Haley. Just search that up and I will be there. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.