Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Fandango On His WWE Release After 15 Years, NWA, Debuting At WrestleMania, Beating Chris Jericho

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

Curtis Hussey (@dirtydangocurty) is a professional wrestler best known for his time as Fandango in WWE. He talks to Chris Van Vliet to talk about how he went from sitting in catering every week to bec...oming Fandango, including his debut match against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania and his catchy entrance music. He also talks about what it is like playing a comedic role in WWE, how Drew McIntyre helped him get a foot in the door in NWA, what’s next for him and more! Grab your Holiday Season Deal by going to nordvpn.com/cvv or use code CVV to get up to 73% off your NordVPN Plan + a bonus gift. Act fast because this offer is for a limited time only! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 All systems are good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blin. Greetings and salutations, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris VanV. Thank you so much for being with us on this one. And there is a lot to dive into in this conversation. Kurt Hussie, better known in WWE as Fandango.
Starting point is 00:00:26 Sorry, excuse me. Fondongo. He was also known as Johnny. Curtis in WWE. He's now known as Dirty Dango. We recently saw him in NWA, but he hasn't done any interviews since being released from
Starting point is 00:00:41 WWE back in June after 15 years there. So there's a lot of meat on the bone here, as they might say. Also, the guy knows how to tell a great story. Give him a follow on social media if you don't already. Dirty Dango Curti is what he goes by on there. Chris Van Vleet is what I go by
Starting point is 00:01:02 on there. And if this is your first time here, it would mean so much to me if you could click subscribe wherever you're listening to this right now. Our fan of the week is Demo God, God spelled G-A-W-D. He says, one of the best interviewers around. His interviews are second to none. Keep up the Good Work CVV. Much appreciated, my friend, and much appreciated to all of you for listening whether or not you've left a review. But I read one on every episode, so if you'd like a shout out, like Demo God here, just leave a few words. Also, if you have left a review and for some reason didn't get a shout out or you'd like another shout out, just go back in, click on write a review again, leave a few words, leave a new emoji, just change something up, resubmit it,
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Starting point is 00:03:41 because this is a limited time offer only. NordVPN.com slash CVVV. Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's do it. Kurt Hussie, better known as Dirty Dango. What if I just left the meeting and then kept blowing you off for another three months? That's how we're going to start this interview right now. I'm the 21-year-old girl you met at the bar that kind of just keeps stringing you along for months until I break up with my boyfriend and then I go on a day with you. Yes. I think this is our fifth. Did we reschedule five times?
Starting point is 00:04:25 you know yeah you got a lot it's okay i'm a loose cannon you know we're here it's happening breeze isn't around anymore and breeze kind of is the one that organized things it keeps keeps things flowing you know and uh so breeze isn't around and it's just going off the rail so i like the christmas tree behind you that is gigantic the nine-footer oh man nice nice nine-footer which means These are 12 foot ceilings, I'm guessing. Good calm. Good up. That was just simple math, I feel like.
Starting point is 00:05:02 Yeah, yeah. And I know that because this wall right here I built on the deck up here, this is a third floor, and you build your wall on the deck, and then you lift it up, you know, like Amish style. And we did it in the spring when the wind was coming in off the ocean. And this wall actually fell on my back. My buddy picked it up off my back. And then I think I wrestled for the NXC tag team championships for like,
Starting point is 00:05:28 I'm on that. Yeah. How long have you been building this place? 10 years. No. This feels like it. About a year and a half, but a year and a half.
Starting point is 00:05:42 And is it done now? Yeah, it's about 90% done. And this is a thing. It's kind of like a director or directs a film. Like it's never completely done until you just kind of go, I'm going to give, whatever.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Yeah, I come up here and I look around. I just like, it's like when you buy a new car and then you see 100 other cars that you like more now. You know, like you're like, fuck, I should have painted that. Yeah, this is like a scientific thing. It's the reticular activating system. You're never thinking about a red Tesla and then you buy one. And now all you're seeing are red Tesla.
Starting point is 00:06:13 So, yeah. Yeah, it's to me, remodeling units is kind of like creating art. And it's really weird because you live in it. And a lot of people decorate and build their units for what other people are liking. So it's like gold handles are in right now. That's what people are doing. Like, who doesn't care? I'm living here.
Starting point is 00:06:40 This is my house. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like people tend to cater to other people too much, you know? So this place came out really nice. I like that your Brody tattoo is on full-disclose. display here yeah that's that's a great piece of work right there I asked my buddy uh Sammy the silver fox he's my tattoo guy I go uh just give me a little give me a little brodie tattoo they just huge ass fucking tattoo that's like well it's cool yeah it's fine when did you get it
Starting point is 00:07:17 six months ago when um when brodie pass last December, I'm like, man, I'm going to get some ink, you know. And then what I do is I usually, I'll wait six months. If I still want to get it, then I'll get it. So I waited six months. I still wanted to get it. So I did it. But I'm eventually going to get my whole arm done.
Starting point is 00:07:39 It's just, I'm just so busy right now. I have a chance. What are you busy with these days? I'm just, dude, I'm doing a bunch of indie shots right now. And finishing this house and doing another unit across town. So I kind of maintain these buildings that I've accumulated over the last few years. And then every time someone moves out of one, you get to go and fix it up, paint it, get it ready to rent again.
Starting point is 00:08:11 So it's kind of this business I've been set up for myself for life after WW. So of all the dumb things I've done, I guess that's a lot. one big thing I did was invest. Did Breeze get you into this or did you get Breeze into it? I got Breeze into it. He, um, we started tagging in like 2015 or 16 and that's when I first started kind of investing down in Tampa. And, uh, you know, we, we did a lot of like commercials together.
Starting point is 00:08:42 Like, we did a couple Snickers commercials and Dominoes and we were doing, so we're on set a lot and trailers just kind of, you know, When you film things, you sit around for 15 hours and you film for about 30 minutes. So, yeah, I'm going to bullshit about that. And yeah, we ended up buying a couple rentals down in, I think, Orlando or something like that. And he's doing quite well with that. And he's got his school, obviously. So he's a smart guy, man.
Starting point is 00:09:10 Breeze is real smart. And you're not? Come on. Well, I surround myself around people that are smarter than me. So, but no, he's, he's doing good, man. And it's just hard right now. I want to invest more, but it's just the market's just insane right now all across the United States.
Starting point is 00:09:31 I'm right there with you. Like, I'm so ready to invest. And I keep looking at these places. And I've said this before, but it's heartbreaking because there's a place that, I don't know, $500,000. And you see that they bought it for like 300 grand nine months ago. Yeah. And you're like, I just wish.
Starting point is 00:09:48 I could be that guy. Well, you're in L.A. I mean, it's... Well, $500,000 in L.A. buys you literally nothing. You get your tool shed, you know. I don't even think it gets you. You need at least a million to enter the market. You can worse, bro, is Toronto.
Starting point is 00:10:02 I mean, I think per... I think price per square foot up in Toronto is very comparable to New York City. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal. He's got to have some money. I know Santino was kind of near the city and he... Yeah, he's in Mississauga, I think, which is just... west of the city. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:20 It's just ridiculous up there, man. Man. Yeah. I am glad that we were, like, we delayed this interview because now we've got NWA to talk about, which is a surprise. It was like, ah, there he is. Kurt is on NWA. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:34 I was at Drew McIntyre's wedding a few years ago. Drew and I were really close, and Billy was there from Smashing Pumpkins. And when I got released, It's weird. When you get released, you kind of figure out who your real friends are. And a lot of people you think you'll hear from, you don't. And a lot of people that you didn't expect to kind of reach out to you do, which is kind of surprising.
Starting point is 00:10:59 But understandably, man. Like, it's weird. When someone gets released that you're not really close with, it's like, you don't want, because you know they're getting a thousand text messages, but you don't. It's like a weird kind of situation. but Drew reached out to me and he goes, hey man, if you ever, you know, you're willing to go try to get in with Billy, here's his contact.
Starting point is 00:11:24 So I gave him a calling and said, yeah, we're doing some tapings in December. And I just flew back today. We just did three or four days down Atlanta, long, long days filming. But it was like a family reunion down there. It's all my old buddies and Mike Knox and a bunch of guys from Deep South Wrestling. Sam Adonis was there. It was like a reunion. And just that cliche analogy of, man, you got to be nice to everybody on your way up.
Starting point is 00:11:55 Not saying the NWA is on the way down. But it's true, man. We're like this weird niche community. We're all connected in some ways. If you're a prick to somebody or like screw someone over, there's a good chance you'll run into them again. You know, but if you're cool and you've got a lot of good friends and you're nice to people, which I think I did. It's just,
Starting point is 00:12:19 it was cool, man. Just like to see all my friends and shit and super laid back atmosphere. It was fun. How did you decide you were going to be dirty dango? Vince didn't own it. You could have just been dango, right? Yeah, but I'm just so goddamn dirty, Chris, you know?
Starting point is 00:12:41 How dirty are we talking? Man, I am. we were doing this season this NXT season four and and no one they didn't really micromanage it and overthink our promos
Starting point is 00:12:59 and it was really loose and it was kind of this weird in between I think they probably signed some sort of overseas TV deal so they had to continue content to provide to to whatever England or wherever South Africa
Starting point is 00:13:13 wherever the syndicated TV was was getting bought from. So they would film these NXT redemption shows. I don't know if you ever heard that. It was kind of like after the competition show and like before Hunter started his NXT it was like this weird limbo NXT. But it was like myself, Derek Bateman, who's you see three.
Starting point is 00:13:35 Percy Watson, T.J. Wilson was on there. Just a bunch of people that weren't really performers and divas that weren't really in a main storyline on Smackdown to Rock. excuse me so they pretty much just wrote a bunch of stories and matches and you know you come up with your own character and it's really loose so I was kind of doing this kind of weird creepy gimmick then you know creepy Johnny Curtis so uh my dog's gonna cry this whole interview and then once we stop the interview what's your dog's name his name's sirgil hey sturgel so yeah so now that i'm back on the um on the indies it's you know you character so it's kind of cool that uh i can kind of go back and play that character that i kind of started to do in 2011 i think it was
Starting point is 00:14:30 when you're in wwe for 15 years and you survive so many cuts do you kind of resolve like hey you know what maybe i'll just be here forever i started to think like that you know when i when the covid cuts came like we're definitely we're fucking we're out of here. Then we never got fired. I'm like, well, maybe, maybe I'll just keep working here and I'll be the next Brooklyn brawler, you know, and how we're fired when I'm 60. But then, um, when con came in, is that his name con? And they started cleaning house.
Starting point is 00:15:06 And I think Breeze and I were still on some sort of main roster pay scale. So I kind, I think we both kind of knew it was coming. you know and it sucks you know but uh because you're not getting paid as much as you were obviously but it's it for me it was exciting because i can go off and do some different stuff you know it's just you can't work at that same place forever man and if you think you are you know i i started investing almost day one when i got on the main roster so any any young talent out there right now that's watching this is like you need to prepare for your exit almost when you start, you know. It's just any, any athlete should do that I feel.
Starting point is 00:15:52 If you think it's never going to end, that it's going to be a really, it's going to be really rough, you know, if you don't invest your money. Yeah. You know what I think, you know, you were able to do it for 15 years in WWA. And there's so many people that do it for like six months or a year and then that's it. And then they got to try to figure life out after that. yeah the 15 years though
Starting point is 00:16:15 seven of them were in developmental so three or four of those you're making 500 bucks a week um so six or seven years of um you know
Starting point is 00:16:25 you're not on national television so you're still in the system you're still getting paid but it's not like Randy or you know what I'm saying where Randy's on TV or you know what I'm saying I'm not trying to like no exactly what you're saying yeah so
Starting point is 00:16:41 it's good in terms of equity into a company where maybe down the road if they ever wanted to bring me in as a coach or something like that you know the system but in terms of monetary it's I wasn't making WWE money for 15 years you know what I'm saying yeah started making pretty decent money in 2013 when we started a Fandango thing did you have a moment before you found Fandango Fandongo where I was like man I don't know what's going to happen with with the Johnny Curtis character. Yeah. And that was right before, like we briefly just talked about,
Starting point is 00:17:19 right before we started NXT Redemption. They were gonna bring me up, I think just as a baby face. And I think I had a little bit of an attitude backstage. And Vince came up with those crying over still milk, prologues with Johnny Curtis, and then just kind of, didn't do anything with my debut.
Starting point is 00:17:44 So yeah, I was kind of limbo there just kind of anticipating probably getting released in the near future. This was around like 2011. And then they're just like, there was a writer who was writing for the NXT show, Redemption named Tom. And he's like, hey, I remember we were in England and they were doing an episode in Manchester to film. He's like, hey, we want you to be on the show.
Starting point is 00:18:08 We got this idea with Maxine. I don't know if you ever heard of her. She was one of the talents. You're going to be some love interest with her. We're going to do this, this, and this. I'm like, cool. It's a lot better than going to TV every week and just kind of hang out and catering. At least mentally, you're stimulating yourself and trying to think of something, you know.
Starting point is 00:18:28 And so, yeah, I guess up to that point, I was, you know, just kind of showing up every week and kind of waiting for the acts of fall. So you never know. You're one week away from getting a really good run. Not that that was a great run, but you're also just another week away from getting release, unless you're in a made spot. It's a weird business, man. We're like, guys that are like, man, I'm going to ask for my release. You know, there's a couple guys on TV right now that I see are like, I'm out of here.
Starting point is 00:19:02 You know, and then like you turn on Raw or Smackdown in a week and they're like winning the icy title or something. You just never take yourself out of the game, you know? Once you're out of the game and you, then you don't get that shot, you know. So then how did you come to the realization that you needed a new character or were you told, like, you've got to come up with something else? You know, in wrestling, Dr. Tom Pritcher used to always say you always start up as like a baby face and you're kind of excited to be in the business and you're, let's go. And then as the business and the wear and tear of the business gets to you, it kind of turns out. you into a surly person. I think that's what it was doing to me.
Starting point is 00:19:45 And it's like you almost not stop trying, but you become a little cynical. And then you end up turning heel. You know, like all the newer talents kind of start off as a good looking, up-and-coming baby face. And then you turn into like a kind of like a grizzled heel. And I think that's what I was doing. And I wasn't trying so hard to make people like me.
Starting point is 00:20:09 You know, and it's a lot easier. for me to be a heel it's a lot easier to make people hate me that i feel them to like me you know i'm saying yeah so yeah and then how did fandango come out of all this this is a good story you like good stories good stories good stories you like's good stories uh i was tagging champions with a guy named tyler rex which you probably know yep good friend of mine and uh gabriel i believe now. Gabe and I were Florida
Starting point is 00:20:45 Tactics champions. He came up, was doing some stuff at ECW. Hunter put Gabe and Kurt Hawkins together. And he had an idea
Starting point is 00:20:57 for him where each week on Smackdown they would come out, dressed up as strippers, firefighters, Bree Zango, essentially, you know.
Starting point is 00:21:08 Gabe didn't want to do it. asked for his release. We all supported him. He went home to his family, did his thing. Kurt said, Hawkins went to whoever was in charge of writing Smackdown, said, hey, what about Johnny Curtis? He's just kind of hanging out in the back,
Starting point is 00:21:25 you know, doing the art matches and eating catering and walking around selling. And they're like, yeah, that's a good idea. And then they came up to me next week, and they go, we want you to do the gimmick. don't tell Hawkins. I'm like, so I went and told Hawkins.
Starting point is 00:21:45 Like, sorry, bro. They asked me, they want me to go to dance school and be a stripper. And he's like, dude, you know what? He wasn't into it. It wasn't his first choice. I don't think it was anybody's first choice. Anybody's first choice to be a stripper character.
Starting point is 00:22:02 But he was cool that they started sending me to a stripper school, dance school in Tampa. And this is around the time they started filming at full sale. So I was tagging with Michael McGillicuddy, who is Joe Heading, a good friend of mine. And I would come out kind of like, you know, pole dancing on the ringposts and kind of grind and, you know, real weird. And we're actually doing live events too.
Starting point is 00:22:33 I was like a stripper and he was just like a, like, what the hell is this guy about? And you're still named Johnny Curtis at this point? Simply Joe Curtis was a gimmick. And this was like November 2012. And then just one week we're at full still, and Hunter comes up to me and goes, hey, we're not going to do the stripper thing. I'm like, oh, right, cool.
Starting point is 00:22:57 I'm going to be in the fucking shields, you know, or something really cool. He's like, go to ballroom. Now we're going to have you go to ballroom dancing school. I'm like, oh, great. even better. This is an ongoing theme that actually happens throughout my dancing career. But, yeah, so I was actually moved out to Houston,
Starting point is 00:23:22 and I started going into ballroom dancing school out there, which was super hard, bro. Like, it takes, it's like, it's like go to wrestling, professional wrestling school and get really good at it in a month or two. These guys and girls that were professional dancers out of their role are like, it's fucking it's like trying to learn a whole alphabet you know and and like a couple days
Starting point is 00:23:45 you know like learning a whole new language and all they can teach you is like one letter you know and that's just enough to fake it you know and it's so difficult it takes years and years and years to get good at like bar and dancing that I was getting kind of frustrated but I'm like listen just
Starting point is 00:24:02 let's just let's just make me good enough where I can fake it you know And so, yeah, I was training for like three or four months doing that. And then Vince flew me up to Manhattan. And then we started filming Vignettes there. And then I don't know if you want to jump into the whole Fangango story. Sure, yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:30 So I remember he rented out the Highland Ballroom. And we filmed for a couple days there. and then he didn't like the way that I said Fandango into the character or the camera, excuse me. So he cut all those vignettes. They never even like aired. I think maybe one of them aired.
Starting point is 00:24:51 And then one day I'm just working out in Atlanta, which I just came back from at the, I think Georgia Tech Strengthen Unitioning School. And I think Mark Carano was just like, tenness calls from Corona. I'm like, what the fuck, you know? He's like, Vince has been waiting up in, in production for you for like a half an hour.
Starting point is 00:25:16 So apparently he was going to produce all the vignettes, and no one told me. So I'm just working out. And then Vince is waiting for me for like an hour. And they had this whole, like, room set up with, like, a screen and all this stuff. And I'm like, oh, shit. So I ran over. and that we Vince produced the uh the vignettes and he turned you know he turned the whole thing where
Starting point is 00:25:44 I didn't say the name correctly in the original vignettes and then he turned that into an angle where I debuted on TV and no one can pronounce my name correctly right isn't that cool you know that's pretty brilliant yeah yeah so you want to find out well you get up in my face and say it And, you know, he wasn't on site in New York. So how would I know, you know, like. So when I debuted, that's how we did it. You know, he's like, I want you to correct everyone. Yeah, that's a great story.
Starting point is 00:26:18 How much do you think your music really helped to get you over? A lot, man. Man, I was just with Pope. You know, Pope, Burke. Elijah Burke he was in ECW. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. He's like, man, your song, it reminded me that I dream a genie song.
Starting point is 00:26:39 I'm like, holy shit, I didn't think of that. We'll never be able to hear that now. Every time I think, that's all I can think of now. But I think Jim Johnson, who I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly, it's Jim Johnson writer who. Yeah, the goat. We can just call him that.
Starting point is 00:26:57 Yeah, I call him Jim Johnson. Johnson, sometimes, Jen Johnson. But obviously, he came up with everybody, Bader, you know. Stone Cold, The Rock Undertaker, of course. He, it's that catchy beat that, you know what I'm saying? And then when it hits, you already know, you know, like who the character is coming through. But yeah, I mean, obviously that song, when, to me, entrances are so important. you know that's that's it's it's to give me a full end like if i have a match and they cut my entrance i'd rather
Starting point is 00:27:36 have two minutes from the match cut than the entrance do you know what i'm saying absolutely that's where you make all your money because the camera's just on you you're not sharing the camera with someone else in the ring a ballet and a ref it's just on you and get your shit in you know what i'm saying so that entrance that music that initial music the glass breaking whatever it is you know that's so important and uh it's just crazy to me that jim's not there anymore but you know so yeah i had him on the show recently oh you did yeah and it's first of all first of all crazy that he's not with w wwee anymore even crazier that he's not in the hall of fame right yeah yeah because when did he start the early 90s it must have been it was there like 25 years yeah yeah it's that's so weird to me
Starting point is 00:28:25 man, guys like that and like Chimel and, you know, even brawler. It's just weird. Like they're there forever and they're like a staple to the company. And then, you know, they're just, they're just not there anymore, you know. I don't know. I guess that's just. Was it the raw after WrestleMania crowd that like really helped to put you over when they're singing it?
Starting point is 00:28:50 They're dancing along to it. Yeah, that was great, man. It's just the timing of everything was like it was a perfect storm. So we did the raw after and then went right to Europe like four or five days later. So then we did TV rate in London. So it worked out perfect. Just the timing of everything, you know. What about like I think when Fandango debuts at WrestleMania and Chris Jericho puts you over,
Starting point is 00:29:18 that's a huge win for your character. And I think there were a lot of people at that time that were questioning, like why would Chris Cherokee? Jericho do this, like it didn't seem like it made sense to him. What was your reaction when I told you that you were going to go over on Chris Jericho, WrestleMania? I was kind of pissed because I knew he'd be pissed. I could care less.
Starting point is 00:29:40 Like, I didn't give a shit. I knew that he was in a tough spot because I think that he was supposed to work Ryback. You know, I think that was the initial plan. But I wasn't pissed. I mean, I was just like, you know, oh, four. fuck you know he's probably gonna not be happy about this but um i didn't sit around a table in stanford and hatch up this graham street like scheme with vince how to like you know you know you know saying if there was a list of like a hundred characters the evil ballroom dancer
Starting point is 00:30:11 were probably at the bottom of it but when you when you're given an opportunity to be a ballroom dancer or a cheerleader or a clown or whatever i mean it's straight from the old man um I could have said no thanks and then maybe just hung out backstage for another year or two and probably got released. So it's like this is probably my one shot and fucking
Starting point is 00:30:31 I'm gonna have to make you know, try to at least make this as best as I can. And it's tough when you're debuting against the guy probably thought he was working someone else and Chris probably like just thinking to say,
Starting point is 00:30:47 you know, like fuck, how do I make an evil bar? You know, like, how do you, how do we make this work? And we have like four or five weeks to do it. And to his credit, man, he could have fucking sandbagged me. You know, he could have, he could have boo-boo faced it and just got his, you know, just got his payday and they moved on to the next thing. But he wanted to make it, you know, make chicken salad or chicken shit, I guess.
Starting point is 00:31:14 Yeah. And, you know, not saying Fanango was chicken shit character, you know. But like it was a tough, it was a tough, it was a tough angle to try to make work in a short period of time. Because obviously it had the machine behind me. You know, they had the pyro, everything like that. So I'm not trying to like bury the character. But it was just, it was hard to sell a WrestleMania program to a guy that's never wrestled on TV before in about four or five weeks. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:45 I shared that interview link with you last night before this interview with The Rocks. So that was an interview from 2013. And I asked The Rock, just, you know, blanket statement, like, who do you have your eye on as an up-and-coming wrestler? And he named Roman Raines, 2013. It's his cousin. Makes sense. And then he named you. And he said that you had committed so much to the character.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Yeah. What did that mean to you when somehow, I'm sure, you found out about that? He came up to me at TV and he goes, hey, what's your name? I'm like, Kurt, Kurt, sir, how you doing? Nice. He's like, no, your name. Kurt, how you doing, man? He's like, dumbass, the fucking gimmick.
Starting point is 00:32:30 Oh, it's fine, no, go. How you doing? Yeah, I fucked the whole thing up. But it was cool to hear him say that, man. And it's tough, dude. When you're in the land of Midcard with all your other buddies and stuff, and then you start to get a little attention, um,
Starting point is 00:32:48 no, no one really has. with you not saying i had heat but um when you're not doing shit on tv no one ever really cares but then you start getting shoutouts by the rock and you're and you're and you're getting russomani matches that's when you kind of people have stuck to whisper you know people get a little bit weird backstage you know and um uh it was cool to hear and say that man obviously and and uh i'm a huge fan of duane you know but it's also like you fully committed to that character and that was kind of what the rock's saying or what dwayne's saying is like
Starting point is 00:33:19 Like, you fully committed to that character, and that's the only way it works. We see the same thing with Tyler Breeze and his character. Like, you went all the way in on this. You got it because, and that's, like we talked about earlier, when we doing seminars now, is like, people go to see a magic show, bro, and they know it's not real, but they want to believe it's real. And if I go out there and, like, I'm given 92% of the ballroom dancer gimmick, I'm just kind of like whatever, you know, like you're kind of letting them behind the curtain a little bit.
Starting point is 00:33:55 And that's what I tell guys and girls and seminars is like, you can have a great match. And everything can be going great. But if you just throw like one little fluff punch, some guy in the front row is going to be like, oh, fuck, you know. Everything you do, man, you cannot, you cannot let them behind the curtain. And when you're playing such, when you're playing such a off-the-wall character like that, you've got to just completely saying it. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:34:22 Because if you just, if you let him behind it just a little bit or if you show trepidation in the character, you know what I'm saying? And it looks like you're a little insecure with it. Then it's just shit. Do you know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:34:37 Well, the reality is you guys are out there dancing around in your underwear anyway. Yeah. It's like you've got to own that. I remember I did the dancing in a dark batch. I can't remember. I think like Naomi may be dancing with me or someone like that.
Starting point is 00:34:57 And I'm like, and Connor's like, dude, you can go to dance school. Vince hasn't seen you dance. He's going to watch your dark match. Pretty much if you do good, like you're going to make a lot. Like, you're going to have a run. If you don't, sorry. You know, so I'm like, well, fuck. So, you know, you go out.
Starting point is 00:35:19 I think I worked Sammy Callahan, actually, and like Providence. I'm like, well, this is it. Either I fucking just completely dive into it, or I'm going to go hang out and cater for the next year and probably go work to ECW, A, Super 8 or something, you know, after, you know, back to the Indies.
Starting point is 00:35:39 So I just went out and completely just gave it 100% and just faked it as best I could, you know, in terms of being in advance. Vincent, kids got balls. I like it. So. When did the character start to, like, vis-al-out? Like, because you had such a good run and so much momentum.
Starting point is 00:36:05 You know, they were going to put the icy title on me, man. And I got a, I got a concussed working with, uh, Kali, great Kali. And, uh, I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them I was concussed. I think it was like a week or two before. And, uh, I worked Kali like a couple weeks out of the page. pay-per-view and then we were the week before the pay-per-view, I think, or something like that. And then if you get concussed and you go out and get hit again, it's a lot easier to get
Starting point is 00:36:35 concussed. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you don't give your, if you don't get the swelling enough time to go down, it's really easy to get concussed again. So I was concussed and I kept performing. And I didn't tell anybody. I think I was wrestling Zach Ryder at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. I took like a shoulder tackle and I was completely out. Somehow got through the rest of the match, got to the back, and I thought I'd just wrestled Kali because your brain kind of goes back to where you originally got fucked up.
Starting point is 00:37:07 So then I'm like, then I just kind of said it. You know, I'm like, oh, I thought I just weren't Kali. That's where I got knocked. Like I stooge myself off and I'd even, you know, to the company's protocol, I was completely wrong. You know, like, you should definitely tell them when you're hurt because they don't want any of their athletes to get seriously injured. But me being, you know, I grew up in the wrestling business. Like, if someone's going to put the IAC title on you, you don't take yourself out of the gate.
Starting point is 00:37:36 You know, like I didn't want to stature myself off. It was just a really tough spot. So they took me off TV for like a couple weeks, three or four weeks. And then I think Curtis Axel won the IC title. and I think that kind of derailed me a little bit. I was partying a lot, bro, at that time, too. Like, you know, I kind of let up. So my whole thing was I was in developmental for so long.
Starting point is 00:38:02 I finally got to, like, in my mind, I got to the finish line and I made it, you know? You don't just make it. You got to keep grinding after you get there even harder. And I take full accountability for that. You know, I kind of got there. I thought I was in. I was like Vince's little cat. you know and you know I just I let up and that's on me you know so but I also you know
Starting point is 00:38:28 I've as I understand it Vince has pets for you know a week or two or three and then when he gets tired of playing with his toy it's on to whatever's next Drew McIntyre you know um dude he loved he loved Drew you probably still does down but um Drew was young you know and maybe not quite ready for where he's at now, you know. But I feel like if you've got that ability like Drew does, man, it's cliche to say, but the cream rises the crop on top, you know, but he's just too good not to be there, you know what I'm saying? And he just had to go out and grow up a little bit.
Starting point is 00:39:12 But yeah, I mean, it's tough, man. like you got to think vince has so many different talents coming up and like probably so much stuff going through his brain where like you know what I'm saying it's like someone driving a cool car into your parking lot all the time you know and like fuck I'm going to drive this you know like yeah this is pretty cool like I've never driven the new you know Tesla before let's try this man I really like this is really cool until the new Tesla truck comes and then a Ferrari rolls in and then a Lamborghini rolls in And then, you know, but, yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:51 So that's just the business, man. You know, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't expect, like, there's only a few guys and girls are going to be in that elite top spot for their whole run. You know, there's only, there's only a few Randy's. And I must say don't inspire, like, don't try to be that guy or girl. But there's just some people that are going to have the run of Fandango or a midcard guy. I'm going to try to make it excused, you know, but I don't know, Vince necessarily thought the Fandango character was going to be a long-term heavyweight champion, you know? I think he thought that he had a nemesis for Chris, who was a ball, you know, did ballroom dancing,
Starting point is 00:40:32 dancing with the stars, and I don't think he had maybe had a super long-term plan for that, you know, and that's on me. So, like, you play a character, you get as much out of it as you can, and then instead of just going on tour and partying, partying and collecting a check, you start to think of what's next. You know, Edge wasn't going to be a vampire forever. He kept evolving and progressing.
Starting point is 00:40:59 Same with Hunter, you know. That's your business. You need to take care of, you know, take care. For me, I just thought I was in and I let up and I just relied on the writers to come up for shit for me. But going back to what I was going to tell you earlier, is like, they did repackaged me a couple of times.
Starting point is 00:41:16 and then Vince is like, I got this great new idea for you. I don't want to dance anymore. Salsa dance now. I don't know, of course it was Rosa. Fuck yeah. It's like I kept getting repackaged, you know, Layla or like,
Starting point is 00:41:42 but every time I'm still a fucking dancer, bro. And I'm just like, I guess I'm just, I'm just so goddamn good at dancing, I know. I guess so. Just so everybody knows. Does Dirty dango do any dancing? I'm like Axel Rose out there. I'm like serpentine, man.
Starting point is 00:41:58 Like, it's just real. It's like, it's like a male stripper who has worked the territories of stripping. And now he's at the twilight of his career. And he just mails it in, you know? Like, yeah. He's like that male stripper that shows up to the bachelor party and they're like, fuck, he does not look like. That's me.
Starting point is 00:42:22 and I have a candy I have a candy cigarette out too that perfect like man dango doesn't look is do you feel like you're in the twilight of your career of the twilight of your wrestling career
Starting point is 00:42:36 dude I thought um a year or two ago like when they're making cuts everything you start to really think of like when all your friends are getting fired like yeah that was the major COVID cut
Starting point is 00:42:51 COVID. Those are all my friends. You know, like 30 years. My close friends, I started with, it starts to become more reality. You start to really think about what am I going to do next? I'm like, I'll probably never wrestle again. You know, I didn't think I was going to because I started 99. So I've been doing it so long. I'd probably just go full time into construction, you know, and just do primarily rentals. But it's weird. I feel like there's two different directions you go and get released.
Starting point is 00:43:21 There's like, you kind of just like, you're kind of fed up with the business and it kind of like, WGB kind of like really wears you down or you just get motivated and excited to do some shit that you hadn't been able to do for a while. And like Matt Cardone is a perfect example. I just spent the weekend with a man and just, it's really cool to see someone create a brand for themselves. And, you know, he did it even when he was in WWG. But the dude hustles, man. And he's an inspiration for someone like me that if you still want to go out and just, create, you know, art and create characters and just feel to do promos and just come up with your own shit, be creative. There's just, there's so many different platforms and places to do it right now
Starting point is 00:44:04 on the Indies. It's really cool to see. So honestly, I thought I would retire, but I've been, I've been busier in wrestling more in the last three, four months than I, I did an NXT for the, you know, the two years prior to that, which is cool. I guess it's kind of, reminding me why I got into the business, you know? Like, yeah. You know, it's cool, man. It's been really cool. I guess it's not just work anymore for me.
Starting point is 00:44:31 It's, it's, it's what I, it's what I, it's what I, why I get into it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, so the passion has come back is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not trying to talk shit about WWE, but it's just that grind, bro. Yeah. That schedule, um,
Starting point is 00:44:47 it's tough when you're making two or three million dollars a year. but it's even harder on the guys like he's slaters this this dude's showing up to tv and grind in every week and you know you're going to roll into tv and lose probably you know like it's just that's your job you're the guy that shows up every week and you know every now and then you'll get a little get a little pushkey but it's it's tough man you know when that that grind and then your your equity on tv is still kind of shitty and you know you're just going to do like super for stars are made of then every week. It gets to you, man. It really does. How do you even balance? That is such a grime and you're on the road so much. And I think one of the biggest things that's
Starting point is 00:45:32 not talked about is it's not just on the road going to the hotel in the venue. It's on the road booking your own hotels, booking your own rental cars, all that stuff. How do you balance having a real life? How do you even have a relationship during all that? I didn't. I was I was drinking. and partying a lot and that's how I didn't balance it correctly and then you know I got sober three years ago and I you know I didn't have that like stable home to go home to so like I feel like the guys like Heath who met Seth way before he got on that schedule Brody who is with his you know with his wife like I feel like it's like a lot of my buddies girls were with him right before they got famous.
Starting point is 00:46:22 You know what I'm saying? And they had that stability and they stick with their guy or girl throughout their run. But, bro, it was nearly impossible for me. Like, think about it. I'm in Tampa two days a week on the road five. It's like, what kind of girl I want?
Starting point is 00:46:41 You know, like, I don't want to be in a serious relationship. And that's why most of the guys and girls date someone that's on the road with them. They're like actors. You're only around other actors. You know what I'm saying? Like, who else do you see? when you're on set for six months.
Starting point is 00:46:53 You don't see. And you're on set for 16 hours a day. You know what I'm saying? Like the people you're around, you create reports with them. I mean, it's hard to, you know,
Starting point is 00:47:02 go back to Tampa and meet some girl that works at Applebee's or whatever. Like, I'll see you twice a month, you know? You can see me on Monday night, but. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:47:14 I mean, and it takes a certain type of person. You got to be really secure. with yourself too. You get to think. So like you start dating someone. Most people's perception is like this guy's a rock star. He's on the road. He must have a hundred girls waiting for him. But they don't realize it's like you wrestle. You get in a car. You drive three hours. You're dead tired. You go right to sleep. You get up. You work out. It's not like it's not like the attitude error whether, you know, there's a hundred hot chicks waiting for you at the hotel or, you know, it's not guns at roses.
Starting point is 00:47:52 DX is getting flashed in the crowd. It's just a different, yeah. I mean, it's not like it used to be, but, you know, so. So now that you've kind of like reinvigorated the love, the passion for wrestling, how much longer do you want to do it? Dude, I want to have like seven retirement tours, bro. I guess I was thinking around 40. I'm 38.
Starting point is 00:48:23 I'm also 38. Yeah, man, you look way better than I do for 38, bro. I just have better lighting. Is that what it is? I just have better lighting and skincare. I'm sure you use some sort of skin care. You weren't a motherfucking ballroom dancer for seven years. That's true.
Starting point is 00:48:39 I also wasn't trying to get by on three or four hours sleep for 10 years or whatever it was. Yeah. I don't know, bro. I thought I was going to retire when I left WV, you know? Who knows? Maybe I started doing something really cool six months from now. Maybe I don't, you know, who knows? But I'm having fun now.
Starting point is 00:49:06 I'm having fun seeing a lot of my old friends. And I feel like 42, 45 is a lot of younger than it was in the 90s. the 80s. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. When I look at AJ, I'm like, to me, he's like a 30-year-old guy. You know what I'm saying? Christopher Daniels is still wrestling. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:32 Jericho's still wrestling. Yeah. I just feel like people, I don't know if it's just like the evolution of nutrition or whatever it is, but like just people don't look as old as they used to, you know. Maybe it's because we don't smoke cigarettes with, you know, but. You're like, shut up and have a lucky stripe, pussy. My grandfather recently passed away at 97. And the last time I saw him, he was still in pretty good health.
Starting point is 00:50:01 I said, Grandpa, do you know what the life expectancy was the year you were born? And he goes, I don't know. Pulled out my phone, Googled it. 63. Yeah. Was the life expectancy of my grandfather in however many, 100 years ago, when he was born. And now our life expectancy is close to 80, which is crazy. yeah i think every year it's gone up like a few months so yeah um maybe that's even wrestling man
Starting point is 00:50:26 remember like watching wrestling in the in the in the 80s or early 90s like these like he's like like he's fucking grown-ass men like they're so like like like you know like everyone looks like like it just a man yeah you know you know it's a barrel chest yeah these are men you know I'm not saying we look like kids now but I just I don't know what it was maybe he was just eating bologna and cheese sandwiches and shit and just doing bench breast but like the idea of like rick flare has always looked old i feel like arn arn looks arn harley race like about he's like evened out you know like he looks like where he's you know like he finally looks his age is what you're saying yeah like vengeance button or whatever but his son though is like
Starting point is 00:51:13 doing the exact same thing like his son looks so much older than he really is yeah yeah it's It's just weird, man. Maybe, I don't know. It must be something to do with our diets. They didn't eat avocados in the 90s and shit. They're just eating fish filets and stuff. They're like just got 10 grams of protein in it. So, well, and you know, fitness wasn't a thing in the 70s, 80s, 90s. Like, you joined a club to have a membership to basically hang out with your friends. Now, like, you have classes. You can go to yoga class or Pilates or the gym. It's so much more worked into our life now. It's just a huge staple on our society because we're so observed now.
Starting point is 00:51:52 Think about it. Like I remember being like 18 or 17 or 18 in the early 2000s and you like, you know, like you have a couple buddies that go to the gym and it's like a weird niche kind of thing that you do. But now everybody with Instagram and Twitter, it's like everyone's so observed. You know what I'm saying? And like I feel like everybody's kind of in shape. You know what I'm saying? Well, certainly where I live here in Los Angeles, that's a thing.
Starting point is 00:52:21 Like, you're doing some sort of active stuff. And you were living in Florida. It's also a really big thing there, too. Yeah. But I also remember, like, since we're the same age, I remember being so inspired by the attitude era, joining the gym when I was 16, like right at the end of that school year. And then I came back that September, and you get those, like, beginner gains.
Starting point is 00:52:43 Yeah. And you're like, oh, I like these looks I'm getting here. fault sense, then you plateau out. Yeah, all of a sudden none of your shirts have sleeves anymore. I mean, this is still the case for you, I guess. Yeah. Oh, geez.
Starting point is 00:52:58 Flexing on us. I'm a bodybuilder from the waist up, bro. We don't want to do it from the waist up. That's why you're wrestling pants, right? Bro. When I first started, they're like, I'm doing a leg job off the top. And I do the exact same moves now
Starting point is 00:53:12 that I did when I first started. And Biff, my buddy Biff only he's like, bro, I was watching one of your matches from 1999. You did the exact same shit that you do now. You had it figured out. But have you interviewed him yet? No. He's a trip.
Starting point is 00:53:35 You got to get him on your shit. But the guy, when I first started, the guys are like, dude, don't do a leg drop off the top. You're going to, you're going to, they're like, good. you're gonna because i'm you know from boss that they're like dude i'm fucking telling you right now kid if you keep the leg drop up you won't build a walk when you're my age like yeah whatever bro like 25 years or whatever 22 years later
Starting point is 00:54:00 i'm like fuck i wish i listened to that big biker guy at that fucking elks lodge he was right man it's so true i've heard this from a few people like austin with the stunner ryeback with the shell shaw like landing on your ass. Yeah, Hogan, bro. Hogan, of course, with the leg drop, like just landing on your ass is not good for your anatomy. Yeah, and those guys are all, so Ryan's 300, you know, two, whatever, 280.
Starting point is 00:54:26 Austin was probably 250, 260. Hogan was probably 275. I'm 215, 215, 220. So the impact I'm taking is a lot less than, you know, like those big fuckers, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but all those guys are not doing it off the top road. Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Starting point is 00:54:43 So you're doing a lot from a lot higher. Yeah. So that's, like does your back hurt now because of it? It's not your, it's not my back is on a leg drop, bro. If you ever watch like Bobby Eaton,
Starting point is 00:54:57 the key is to lean forward. So it's actually your ribs that, like your ribs. If you lean back, that's, that's when you hurt yourself. You want to lean forward and then bend your leg. It's the guys that kind of land a little bit.
Starting point is 00:55:12 If you ever watch Brian Christopher, sometimes he would lean back a little bit when he hit it is but if you watch bobby he'd always land like perfect like a 90 degree you never want to do this that's when you get the back problem so for me it was always even like i did a couple this weekend on tapings but your ribs are just kind of like just you know yeah they're just like like a slinky and like they start floating over time if you keep doing it it just it's like it's that you know, I try to say it for the last thing I do in the match because it's like, if you ever get the wind knocked out of you, you know, that's that thing you get.
Starting point is 00:55:53 So, yeah. As we wrap this up here, and thank you again for making this happen. Yeah, sorry, sorry for blowing you off, bro. You did not. You didn't blow me off. We just rescheduled it. Yeah. Was wrestling always the goal for you when you were growing up?
Starting point is 00:56:11 I grew up in a real, like a real tough. trailer park man and i think i was just trying to find something to lean on you know like i skateboarded and that kind of kept me out of trouble and a lot of kids two or three kids that i started professional wrestling with were from the trailer park that i grew up and i'm not going to go into a super long story here but i was by far the skinniest the most unathletic timid um the worst out of the the whole class of like 15 young kids that were training up here and made and um i just kind of i just thought it was my ticket like kind of something that i can do to get the fuck out of this place you know this this this really it's not like i lived in like you know like the ghetto in new york
Starting point is 00:57:02 but it was it's just kind of um kind of a rough place and i just you know i tell these kids on the seminar it's not necessarily who's the best it's just who kind of kicks like sticks with it the longest. So a lot of these kids end up getting married or got to be drugs. I just kind of stuck with it. You just kind of figure out a way to get on bigger and better shows
Starting point is 00:57:23 and surround yourself around better people. So, fuck man. Morgan Freeman didn't get his break. He was like 50, right? Or something like that. And then like Samuel Jackson didn't get his break really till Pulp Fiction. Unfortunately in professional wrestling,
Starting point is 00:57:38 you know, unless you're, I guess Page wasn't that old, but DDP was like in his late 30s, but it's just, any young guy or girl out there, man, it's just, if you're not the best, just fucking stick with it, you know? Just don't take no for an answer, you know? It's the idea that if you do stick with it, you'll just consistently get better. Like, it's that book Atomic Habits by James Clear is an amazing book.
Starting point is 00:58:05 And he's talking about if you get 1% better every single day, that's compounding on itself over the week, over the month, and over the year. Yeah, yeah. And it's just, I'll take that drive over just pure talent. Because I know a lot of guys with just pure talent, but they have no drive, you know? And they just kind of just rely on that talent. And then they just kind of fizzle away.
Starting point is 00:58:28 But it says those kids that have something to prove. You kind of have to almost have a chip on your shoulder. You know what I'm saying? I feel like that's the way it is with a lot of sports too. You got something to prove. Tom Brady wouldn't be fucking throwing a football around. right now if you didn't have something to prove. I think that was my kind of case too,
Starting point is 00:58:45 is I had something to prove because I was in developmental and looked over for so many years. And then I kind of proved it. And then I kind of just let up. You know, I stopped chasing it. And I just kind of enjoyed the ride. And then just kind of passed me by. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:59:02 In retrospect, you can kind of reflect on that. And that's the biggest thing I see is a lot of guys that get released or get fired, guys and girls. it's so easy to point the finger at like management or WWE like I fucked up or you know like they fucked up but you know know they'll show them but sometimes it's it's hard to look at yourself in the mirror just be honest with yourself um it's like you know what my body wasn't that great I was doing I was doing a lot of drugs and drinking um and not me I'm just saying in general
Starting point is 00:59:34 but like maybe my promos weren't that good maybe I didn't have a good character maybe I had a bad attitude backstage. So if you can just be honest with yourself, whether it's wrestling, business, that's how you grow, bro. And if you just lie to yourself and say it's someone else's fault all the time, then you're always going to kind of stay at the same level, you know? And I kind of wish I could go back and talk to 30-year-old me at the age of 38 now if you can't, you know, you know what I'm saying? Well, yeah, look, hindsight's 2020.
Starting point is 01:00:07 But in that, you also wouldn't be the 38-year-old version of yourself now if you did go back. Like, everything in your life happens for a reason and brings you to where you're at now. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I got a good run, bro. I mean, you know, we didn't even really talk about going back to NXT. I know you want to wrap this up, but like... We can talk as long as you want.
Starting point is 01:00:30 I just want to be respectful. No, I don't give a shit, bro. I just bought a PS5. I'm about to be weird on this bitch over here. I don't even know how to fucking use this thing, but Adam Cole before we parted ways in NXT. He's like,
Starting point is 01:00:42 man, you got to get one of these PS5s. I'm like, yeah, I'll get one when they drop down to like 300 bucks. And they're not going to drop down to 300 bucks anytime. So I just bought one. But I've been looking at this thing's been staring me in the eyes over here.
Starting point is 01:00:58 Did you feel like going back to NXT was like a bit of a rebirth for you? Yeah, man. And so the most emotional thing for my whole career was winning those tax drafts in Breeze. So, like, that was, I think all, like, I said this in an interview with here. I think all we really want, like, is, like, respect from our peers and Vince. I feel like we, that's all, like, a lot of guys just want Vince to tell, you know, tell them good job. You know, like, I feel like we just, we want to be respected by people that we respected.
Starting point is 01:01:32 And it's weird when you grow up a diehard wrestling fan and you see Hunter, like, people that you really like growing up, you're kind of intimidated by them. And some guys or girls that didn't really watch wrestling, when they're backstage, they're almost more comfortable because they're not trepidious or timid, you know, because they're just like, oh, this is my boss, Paul. You know, like, they're not, you know, but I'm like,
Starting point is 01:01:56 fuck, I went to Killer Quality School because I liked this guy. So you're kind of, you know, like, but, to go back to NXT and for them to put the tag straps on it. It meant a lot to me. I know I meant a lot to breeze because it kind of showed a different side of us where we weren't just comedy act.
Starting point is 01:02:14 We could actually go out and work. And, you know, the last couple of years on SmackDown, all we did was skits and stuff, which is cool to show that in your body of work, you can show that you can have a personality and talk a little bit. But it's like, it's hard
Starting point is 01:02:30 to shake that stigma of when you're playing Kramer and you're doing it pretty good. Then you see Kramer in a different role. He's still fucking Kramer, you know? It's hard, man. It really is. I'm not saying we were on the caliber of Kramer, but you know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 01:02:48 Like, you get typecast. Exactly. Like Santino did his job so well, but if they just brought him back, like they took him off TV and then brought him back because like a badass, it's still like,
Starting point is 01:03:00 it's hard. know. We started as the badass. Yeah. And then somehow a guy from Canada is doing an Italian accent. And he was just, you're right, he was so good at it. So good at it.
Starting point is 01:03:14 And it's weird. It's like maybe Boris or Santini just be like, hey, sorry, you can you turn about, bro, you can do 10 more years of comedy and get a good paycheck, or we'll give you three more years as a world champion. It's like,
Starting point is 01:03:32 what do you, you know, like, I don't know, what do you want to do? You know, I was talking here in Stevens this weekend at NWA. I'm like, how the fuck is Santino not involved in the wrestling? How is Santino not involved in professional wrestling in some capacity or not? You know what I'm saying? Well, he has his school, right? I don't think he, I don't know if he does that.
Starting point is 01:03:57 I mean, I think he should be getting paid to perform somewhere. Oh, yeah. I think he's that fucking good, man. We're, he's money, man. Did your TV just randomly turn on because we were talking about it? I think the PS5 is so smart that if I don't give it attention, it turns it so long. I think it heard you talking about it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:04:18 It's a huge. Well, Santino's daughter, I think, is going to make a big splash. Yeah, bro. Dude, he used to bring her around like, you know, probably 10 years ago. She was just a little girl. Yeah. And now she's a grown, I'm like, holy shit, we're getting old, man. They grew up to be a beautiful woman.
Starting point is 01:04:37 And, yeah, she's definitely an athletic girl. I think she's going to do really well for herself. It's cool to see. I'm excited to see what's next for you. Like, it was so cool seeing Dirty dango in NWA. Yeah. Check it out, man. I'm not really sure how they, the, we filmed so much.
Starting point is 01:04:58 I'm not sure, like, when it's going to air. but like over the few days i just kind of like was coming up with different mannerisms and just different like we cut a lot of promos there's a lot of content there and uh there's some good promos in there the cool thing about nboha is this is if you don't have a good promo like every one of those guys and girls like you go out and you just go to a live mic and you got to fucking go and like every one of those guys and girls can deliver i'm like holy shit you know which is cool to see because a lot of independence not saying they're independent or even independence a bad word but um you know it's not really promo or character driven it's it's more
Starting point is 01:05:39 like athletic um more high spots and stuff you know but nWA is more character storyline promo driven which is more of an old school show which is perfect for a guy like me who's got a you know a bum ass from doing leg drops so but it's cool you know you're like oh shit because you know you fly into a town to do a show you you most most of the time just wrestling and then flying home but yeah nWA you're like you got to get ready to deliver a good promo because you know they got tired g rillo there Aaron Stevens which you know um Damien sandow dude that guy we did we did some like a promo or two together and just I was like fuck this is this is good like every one of those you know
Starting point is 01:06:28 Nick, all the, like, Tom, Latimer, all the girl, like, everybody cuts a really good promo. I'm just sitting in the back. I'm like, shit. You got to bring the promo. Yeah, the bar is raised. Dude, Pope, Burke, like, he got a great promo. I'm like, you know, Murdoch, Trevor, he's like the champ. He's not like the champ.
Starting point is 01:06:56 He is the champ. And I didn't want to bad there. But he cuts a great problem. Mike Knox is there. He was killing it. He's my old roommate. It's a cool show. There's a lot of freedom there.
Starting point is 01:07:14 And it's really fun, which is important to me. Because if I'm going to leave my house and leave my crew guys who do my work, you know, for construction up here and go be away from my girl for three or four days, I want it to be fun, man. You know what I'm saying? I don't want it just to be a check. And, you know, I had fun the last few days. And that's important to me.
Starting point is 01:07:36 Yeah. I've had fun this last hours. Yeah. This has been great. Yeah. I will end this with the same question I end every interview with because I'm a big gratitude person. You see it behind me here.
Starting point is 01:07:49 Be great. Be grateful. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? My sobriety, my girlfriend. and God for sure. Love it. Yeah, definitely. Well, I don't want to take you away from your PS5 anymore, but...
Starting point is 01:08:05 What about Sturgle? Sturgel? Thank you for being quiet for some of our interview. You see him? Hey, buddy. All right, brother. Hey, sorry for blowing you off. Please stop apologizing.
Starting point is 01:08:19 Thank you for making this happen. Thank you so much for being with us on this episode. And thanks to Kurt for joining us. And I encourage you to watch this on my YouTube channel, not only to see his amazing Brody Lee tattoo or to meet his dog, but you've got to see that incredible nine-foot Christmas tree behind him. Also, thank you to NordVPN for sponsoring this episode. Go to NordvPN.com slash CVV to save up to 73%.
Starting point is 01:08:49 And share this episode with a friend. Take a screenshot. Let us know that you were listening and tag us both. So we can retweet it or we can share it in our Instagram. stories. Kurt is at Dirty Dango Curti. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and I'll leave you with this quote that I tweeted earlier
Starting point is 01:09:07 in the week but I just love this. Fear doesn't prevent death. Fear prevents life. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight.
Starting point is 01:09:22 Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

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