Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Greg Hamilton on ring announcing, Shane's "Best in the World" intro, Shinsuke Nakamura, cooking

Episode Date: June 11, 2020

WWE Smackdown Live ring announcer Greg Hamilton sits down with Chris Van Vliet in his loft in downtown Cincinnati. He talks about working as a cruise director and Universal Orlando host before getting an audition for WWE, his first wrestling memories, his love for cooking and his YouTube channel called Greg Hamilton's WWEats, his trademark introductions for Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles, the true story behind his "Best in the World" intro for Shane McMahon, memorizing the weights and hometowns of all of the superstars, working at the Performance Center during empty arena shows and much more! Thanks to Bet Online for supporting this episode! Use the code BLUEWIRE for a new welcome bonus on your first deposit at http://BetOnline.ag Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, fam.

You're talking like I'm 50. Taylor, Rokes, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozon with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcast. Hey there. My name is Ricky Smith, and I'm the founder of Random. acts of kindness everywhere. A nonprofit that simply does exactly what it says.

Promote kindness everywhere. We know the world is crazy right now. If you are searching for a podcast that has a deeper conversation about race, my co-host, Angel Gray and I will be discussing everything going on right now on our podcast, Random Exitop Podcasts on Blue Wire Podcast Network. To find out more, go to rake now.org. Enjoy the show. It's Chrysomania, brother.

That's a great question. Look at you, man. What's the powerful question? This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van! Here we go! And welcome back to another audio adventure on the Chris Van Fleet Show.

This episode is brought to you by Bet Online. And a huge thank you to you for being here right now. And just for being with us a lot of you since day one of the podcast. We officially turn one year old in two weeks on June 24th. And I'd say as a whole, it's, it's been a pretty solid first year. It's, uh, it's been good, but we are just getting started both with the podcast and the YouTube channel. And I mean, we're on episode, what is this? This is episode 95 of the podcast.

Shows like Talk as Jericho, for example. I mean, he's on episode 676. So that means we've got lots and. Lots of room to grow, almost 600 more episodes to grow. And this conversation with Greg Hamilton is one that means so much to me. First of all, Greg lives in Cincinnati, which is where I live right now. And because of that, because of the fact that we live in the same city, this is the first in-person interview that I've done in almost three months because of everything has been going on in the world with the pandemic and the quarantine. and as much as I've enjoyed the accessibility of being able to do these remote interviews,

I got to tell you, I got to tell you, it was so nice to be able to sit down face to face with someone and have an in-person chat like this one in Greg's beautiful downtown loft. I know these interviews in person are one of the things that I love about the podcast. I know that it's something that you definitely love about the podcast. I see that on Twitter and I see that in the Apple podcast reviews all the time. I just think you get a different level of comfort and conversation just flows so much better. So I'm glad that you guys enjoy these as much as I do. And speaking of reviews, speaking of these Apple podcast reviews,

even though we hit the goal of a thousand reviews last week, man, we're going to keep reading one on every single show because you're the most important part of the show. So thank you for being here. Whether you leave a review or not, just thank you for being part of this. As we're just getting started. First year in, just getting started here. So thanks to Isaiah Asbury 88, Isaiah Asbury 88 for this review here. And the title, I love this title.

Couldn't be happier to see such an accomplishment early on like a thousand five star reviews. Great job, Chris. From the awesome guests to the interview style, allowing every guest to come on and tell their stories without a filter. Chris brings out stories from his guests in a way that reminds me of old school Howard Stern segments. Congrats on a thousand and keep up the amazing work. Well, thank you for that, Isaiah.

Howard Stern is the goat of all interviewing. He's like the godfather of radio. So I don't think that comparison's very fair, but I appreciate that. That's super kind of you to say. So please keep those reviews coming in. Keep those screenshots of you listening to the show coming in. Tag me for this episode. Also tag Greg.

He's at Greg Hamilton, WWE. I've been trying to get him to be more active on social media. So hopefully you tagging him in these pictures are going to make him see that, oh, man, I should be more active on there. Hopefully it lights this fire underneath him. So Greg and I, by the way, have very similar backgrounds in local. News, also working as a host and working as a ring announcer. I've been working as a ring announcer for several different independent companies currently right now. I work for Blueprint Pro Wrestling in Deerfield Beach, Florida. So to be able to hear Greg's story is amazing because I don't think a lot

of people really know where Greg came from. This is, I mean, this is really the first long-form interview that he's done. So he talks to me about his first wrestling memories, how he was working at Universal Orlando before he got the audition with WWE. He was the host of American Idol Live, also at Disney's Hollywood Studios. He was like the Ryan Seacrest when you went there. He tells the story. You'll hear it. It's a great story.

Speaking of Universal Orlando, that's where he met fellow ring announcer Mike Rome. And they've been friends since like 2010. He told me why he went with the name Greg Hamilton, because his real name's actually Greg Hudson. We get into his famous introductions for Shinske, Nagaba, and A.J. Styles, as I say those, you know, you know those announcements when I say them. And also, of course, the real story, the true story about what happened when he came up with the best in the world intro for Shane McMahon. It's actually road dog that helped him kind of come up with that. In fact, he did a little best in the world intro for me that you can see. see on my Instagram or Twitter. Oh, so good. So good. He also tells some great stories about the goat himself, Howard Finkel, and we get into Greg's love for cooking. And oh, man, he is an incredible chef. So I know you're going to love this one. Please give it up for Greg Hamilton.

Look at this beautiful fireside chat we have going on here. It is, yeah. Oh, it's nice to be able to talk to a person in person. How long has it been for you since you've actually sat down like this and had an interview? Since March. Yeah, so right before, you know, the pandemic happened. Wow. And it just, it just so happens that you and I live in the same city. True. We're in Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah. I feel like this is an exclusive right now. Your first in-person interview, thank you for having me, man, seriously. Come on. Thank you for inviting me into your home. And anyone who might have watched your

WWEats video on the WWU YouTube channel, they might recognize this spot here. Yeah, this is, this is the hub. This is, you know, the lab. you will, the Hamilton Hideaway where we do all the cooking, and this is sort of the backdrop for it. And it's funny because, you know, I love to cook and I put these videos up, but I actually get more comments or as many comments about my loft than I do the food. As soon as I saw your video, I said, hold on a second, you've lived there? Yeah. It looks like we're in like some industrial like kitchen or some beautiful like downtown steakhouse or

something like that. Just my loft, man. It's where I lay my weary head at night. that's it. It's all this is. For like one night a week, right? Yeah, exactly. Although that's different now. You're not on the road nearly as much. It's very different. And I think what's the craziest thing about that is that we love to travel. And it's in your blood after a while. And it used to be where when I'm home for two, three, four days at a time, I would like get cabin fever. And I'd like, oh my gosh, I need to just drive somewhere or go do something. And now that

is completely flipped on its head. Right. Now we're in Orlando for, a few days and we're home for, you know, a week or so. And it's been different, but I've actually really learned to embrace it and enjoy it. Well, you went from a point being of like, okay, where are we traveling to this week? And where are we going to be next week to like, now you know every single week. Yeah. You're in Orlando. In Orlando. And it's funny. You mentioned that because that does happen where you'll just open up your app and say, let's, you just follow the ticket on the app and you go to that plane and that city. You don't even know what city. See, city it is half the time. So it's very different. Yeah. So. So,

What was your routine when you went to a new city, wherever that was? It was laying in the city, I imagine get a rental car. How did it work for you? So if we had shows, let's say Thursday was a live event, Friday, TV, Saturday, Sunday, live events. I usually fly out the day before. So I'd fly out on Wednesday afternoon, depending on what city it is. Maybe there's a nice restaurant I want to go to there or something. Always comes back to the food.

It does. So, yeah, fly in Wednesday, get the rental car, go to the hotel, check into the hotel. the next day, see the town, hit the gym, go to the arena, do the show, then drive to the next city for Smackdown on Friday. And same thing Saturday, Sunday, just get in the car and go and drive all night until two of the morning. I like that you skim past to, like, get a rental car, get a hotel. Like that takes a big chunk of time. I know that takes a big chunk of time. Thank you for saying that.

Of course. Because it really does. A lot of people think that it's just all glamorous. It's like, no, sometimes it takes a while at the rental car place and checking into the hotel. And not to mention if you're connecting in flights, it's a day. That's a full day. Of course. Flight connections.

But again, you get used to it and you learn to enjoy it. And there are little things at different airports that you realize you really enjoy. And you get used to it. What are the cities in America that you like traveling to the most? Love going to San Francisco. It's just beautiful out there. Let's see. What else in the United States?

You've probably been to every state, right? Except Alaska. So far. The one that has alluded me, and I'm thinking with some time off here in the summer, I might just use my points and go just to say my 50th state. Oh, man. Although, do you want to be able to say I've announced in all 50 states? Not until you just said that. Now I do.

Man. Wow, that's a great call. I guess you could go out there with a microphone and you could announce for any. I'll record it. Yeah, I'll record a cameo out there so that I can say I eventually did it. You could announce the whales as you know. Here he is. Swimming into the bay. The blue way.

Weighing in it two tons. Yeah, I might have to. It's gotten a little ridiculous here. That's all right. But yeah, San Francisco, the Pacific Northwest, I really like. Seattle. Vancouver's really cool. Sleeper City, Portland, Maine. Oh, wow.

Absolutely love Portland, Maine. Why Portland, Maine? It's beautiful. Again, we're going to get back to the food. Listen, no, it's a small town, so to speak. I think, I don't know, I'd be guessing maybe. you know, 60,000, 100,000 people. But the restaurants there are unbelievable.

And it's widely recognized. Like James Beard Foundation has recognized a lot of restaurants there. I just, it's a sleeper city, man. I'm telling you. You go in the spring, the summer, in the fall. They do harvest on the harbor, which is a big food festival right there in the harbor in Portland. So Portland, Maine, Sleeper Town.

Have you always been a food person, a foodie? Kind of, yeah. Like your whole life, even as a kid? Yeah, I guess so. My dad growing up worked for a food distribution company. company. And so every, you know, big holiday, we would have just a spread of prime rib and shrimp cocktail. And he makes his own cocktail sauce. And I just loved it. And I would help out in the kitchen. And here's a true story, too. This is so embarrassing. When I was a teenager, I thought

I wanted to be a chef when I grew up. And I'll never forget, I was at my dad's house in the kitchen. Again, let me remind you a teenager, 14, 15, 16 years old. And I said, dad, you know, I think I might want to go to culinary school and be a chef. And he, this is, this is, this is why I think I didn't do it. And think of this as a mentality of a 15, 16. You already turns to me and says, well, you realize if you do that, you're going to be working every single weekend because that's when everybody goes out. As a teenager, your weekends are your life. Yeah.

So I'm like, well, not being a chef then. So what did you want to be if you weren't going to be a chef? I've always wanted to be a host. Well, you're doing it. Even in high school, like I hosted like the pep assemblies that we had and everything. That's just all I ever wanted to do. Me too. Our path is actually very similar in the.

that way. Like, I got started in local news. You were started, well, not first in local news. Actually, your story is incredible. It started as you being a cruise director. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that. Yeah, I know. I think, well, I think the thing is, obviously, you're reaching a much bigger audience now than you ever were with anything you did before. Right. Right. Right. But before that, you had so many other jobs. Actually, you know, so cruise directors, where it began? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So at, at 21, I was here in Ohio and I just decided I wanted to travel. I always had the travel bug.

I got that from my mom for sure. And I said, you know what? I think it would be cool to work on a cruise ship. So I just started sending out resumes to different cruise companies. I never, never even seen a cruise ship at that point in my life. You'd never been on a cruise. Never been on a cruise.

Never seen one. It sounded cool. I was 21. So started submitting resumes to different companies. Got a call back from Carnival. Did a couple phone interviews and then went down there for an interview. and then started as a social host at 21, just doing like bingoes, activities, karaoke. And by the time I was 24, just three years later, I'd been promoted a cruise director

where I was in charge of the entire entertainment department hosting all the major shows, running everything in entertainment, really on board the ship. And for anybody who's ever been on a cruise, you know that your cruise director is usually not 24 years old. Right. Well, and I'll explain that too. Yes, I was passionate about it. But at that time, Carnival was building so many ships that they had to start just promoting people. I was, again, luckily, just right place, right time. And, you know, certain hotel directors or whatever saw the work that I did and liked me and said, hey, give this guy a shot. And it just worked out, man.

So what cruise ships were you on? Because I'm sure there's going to be people watching this, listening to this going, no way. I went on that cruise. Yeah. I mean, I was on, oh, my gosh, years and years ago, though, like these are all for Carnival, the holiday. the sensation, the fascination, the pride, the triumph. I was a cruise director on the destiny. I was a cruise director on all over the place.

I mean, different home ports. Yeah. So I've been out of ships out of Miami, out of Los Angeles. I did two contracts on a ship out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. So yeah, two like, you know, six-month contracts there. So if someone came to you at that time and said, all right, Greg, we're going to go on a seven-day cruise with the family. Where should we go? Seven days, I'd go Southern Caribbean, man.

Okay. Southern Caribbean, you know, like Aruba. I think they hit Curacao, maybe Martinique, is a really cool island. A lot of people don't know about. So, yeah, Southern Caribbean, if you got seven days. So you being a cruise director and working on the cruise ships, when you eventually, many, many years later, ended up signing with WWE, you're like, oh, I heard this travel schedule. It was difficult.

Well, I used to work six, six and a half days a week or whatever you did on the cruise ship. It was that often, right? Yeah. I mean, on a ship, yeah, you work anywhere from four to six months at a time. on board. Do you don't have any time off? No. Oh, then never mind.

No, no. But here's the thing, though. Once you're on board, you're on board that ship for four to six months, right? So, you know, it's not like WWE where we're like constantly on airplanes and rental cars and hotels and things like that. You know, you're set on board for those six months. But you're working every single day, literally. Wow. So let's follow this journey.

So you're on the cruise ship. You're working for Carnival. Then what happens from there? So I'm not making any of this up. I want you to know. I promise you this is all true. So then I met a producer from CBS. On the cruise ship.

On the cruise ship. They were there filming a tour package, like a video package for their morning show, just about cruising and vacations. And the executive producer just came to one of my shows in the lounge. And then afterwards, he said, hey, man, have you ever done television before? I was like, no. He goes, you should, me. He should try it.

He goes, I'll tell you what, if you're ever in St. Antonio, just come be a guest morning show host on our show. Be a guest host one day. And I said, okay, sure. So a month later, my contract ended on that ship. So I had a month or two off. Called him up, said, hey, Luis, if you're serious, I'll come to San Antonio for, he goes, yeah, come on up, man. So I went, I guest host of the morning show for a day called Great Day, S.A. On Ken's 5, CBS, San Antonio.

It went really well. Wow. And then he called me a month after that and said, hey, man. So our normal male personality, Glenn, is leaving. Do you want to come audition to be the male host of the show? Wow. And I did. And I got it.

And to this day, Luis Munoz is his name. He remains a very, very close friend, one of my best friends and more importantly, like my mentor when it comes to TV. So you picked up your life, moved it from Ohio, I guess, was still home at the time? Yeah, home base. Because you were traveling all around. But home base picked up, moved to San Antonio for this job. Yeah.

I love it. Why not? Well, I've done a very similar thing. Yeah, you've been all over the place, right? And that's why I can completely relate to this. Yeah. So you go from the cruise ship life of being on the road, being on the water, for four to six months at a time to now you've got a home base in Texas.

Yeah. And how long are you on this on the station in San Antonio? I was there for almost two years because the goal from there was then to get signed with an agency in Los Angeles and then sort of try to make that jump, which I did. You and I had the same. agent at one point we talked about that. That's just crazy. Without ever knowing that, without ever knowing, you know, you. Yeah, that just came up in our conversation once. Like, oh, yeah, who were you signed with? I was, oh, really? Yeah. With this agent? Yeah, me too. It was so, it was nuts. Now, here we are in a loft in Cincinnati. So then you picked up and moved to L.A. moved to L.A., signed with

an agency there. L.A., it's a tough place. 26-ish at this point? Yeah, at that point, 26, 27. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And then you're in L. In L.A. just. gigging it? Yeah, gigging it, man, doing what I can, hosted a couple things out there, nothing big or major.

Did an awesome pilot called Celebrity Eats. Arch Shutabala, shout out to you, my bud. Had a lot of fun, but nothing ever concrete. Right.

And then that's when I did get an opportunity and I moved to Orlando. Right. Which was the American Idol experience. And you were like the Ryan Seacrest if you were within the park. Yes. Yes.

So Reader's Digest version, the American Idol experience, it was awesome if you look it up. We were directly affiliated with free mental media and with the show with American Idol. People would come audition for our producers and then hopefully make a preliminary show. If they win their preliminary show, go to the finale show. Whenever the finale show gets a dream ticket to go to the front of the line at any American Idol audition in the country. Wow. And this is all within Hollywood studios, right? Yes. Within, you know, the Disney, Disney worlds. Yes, absolutely. And you got to realize this is at a time where, you know, American Idol is at its peak. So people right before the summer

auditions of Idol would come flocking to our show to try to win a dream ticket. And over the years, we had so many people make the top five, the top 10 that started on our show. So it was really cool and gratifying to host these shows and see these winners in your mind think, man, I could see them making the show. And then that next season you look and there they are in the top 10, you're like, we had a hand in picking that person. It was really cool. It was a really neat chapter, Matt. Did you have the, this is the American Idol. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what I did.

Yeah, I mean, and I would like fake people out at the end and everything when I was reading the results. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, I did the whole secret. Seacrest is the best at that, but when you're watching it, also, you know, the worst at that because it's like, we'll tell you who the finalist is after the break. Yeah, he does that. So yeah, I would do stuff like that. I would, you know, just little jokes in that or let's say you were one of the finalists or something. like Chris, open the envelope, you are not going to be disappointed because you're in the final two.

Like stuff like that. Yeah, man. That's like some Mori Povich stuff there. Yeah, yeah, right. You are the father. Yes. Yes. So I did that, man.

And that led to you meeting Mike Rome? So yeah. So that's the thing, Mike Rome and I have known each other since like 2010, man. We've been friends for a long time. And he and I just really hit it. off there, became really good buds. But wasn't he working the universal side of things? He did both. Oh, I didn't know that was possible.

Yeah, he did both. He worked at Universal. He did a ton of stuff at Universal. And then also I did some stuff at Hollywood Studios. He was a part of American Idol as well. Wow. So, yeah, he and I go way back, man. Wow. Yeah. And now look at you guys. I know. It's great. And what's so fun is we know, obviously, a lot of the same people in Orlando. And so just to see both of us make this journey into WWE is just, it's really cool. Because a lot of people don't realize we've been friends for so long. So for us, for he and I, it's really cool and special knowing where we were before this.

So was the plan to do American Idol for as long as you could do? Like that was probably a pretty fun gig. It was great, man. But it was also probably seasonal, right? No, it was year round. It was year round. That's amazing. It was year round, but it was really busy at different times.

Sure. So how long were you doing it for? Oh, my gosh. I did that almost five years. Wow. Yeah. Every day? No, I would do about five days a week.

Wow. But it was great. I mean, the shows, you know, 20 minutes long. It's we do, you know, multiple shows a day and then just had a green room in the back hanging out. It was great. And the people that I worked with were awesome. I work with some really fun, cool people. I feel like if you got the job in San Antonio because someone saw you on the cruise ship,

saw how talented and passionate you were, that's totally possible to happen when you're working in Disney World in front of tourists from all of the world. people from all over the country. Yeah. Did you get approached with like, Greg, you're very good. Kind of. Yeah.

Because I did do some stuff with Good Day Orlando on Fox down there too. I did some like entertainment reporting stuff with them. Yeah. But that that's oddly enough, not how I got into WWE. How'd you get into WWW? This is another story similar to the cruise ship story, to be honest with you. So Ida was coming to an end. The show was starting to decline.

It was going to, it was going on its last season. believe then on Fox at the time. So at that point, I'm like calling my former agent that you and I shared, not to be named. And I'm like, I'm going to get out of here. We're going to do something here. This is the ship is sinking. And it was sinking fast. So right after the show ended, a friend of mine who was an audio tech, Ronaldo, shout out to Ronaldo. Shoutouts. I like it. A lot of people help me out along the way, man. I didn't get here by myself. You can't do it on your own. Yeah. So Ronaldo was playing a pickup basketball game.

He's an audio tech at Idol, playing a pickup basketball game with a guy over at Full Sail. The guy at Full Sail, they was playing a pickup basketball game with happened to be a producer for WWE. And he said, hey, man, we're going to be starting this live hosting stuff. We're looking for more of like hosts, not just announcers. Do you know anybody? We're going to start this program pretty soon. He goes, oh, yeah, my buddy Greg, that's what he does. He goes, well, have him send me his stuff.

So his name was Johnny Greco. Sent Johnny Greco, my demo reel. He liked it. He sent me back some stuff that he wanted me to put on camera, like different announcements, which I would cringe to watch those now. Do you remember where they were? One was like a hell on a cell promo. So it wasn't an announcement necessarily more like an on cam, like hell in a cell.

It's where you think it happened. It's hell and it's in a cell. All this. And I'm just trying my best, right? I'm just doing my damnedest. Were you watching wrestling at the time? No. I wasn't even watching at that time.

So I submitted it and apparently he liked it because he brought me and two other guys into the WWE Performance Center for a live audition. It was. It was. It had just opened, I want to say, within a couple of years before that. He brought me and two other people in for a live audition over two days. And it was nerve-wracking. So the one, first day was a full, full day. Second day was a half day of auditioning.

And then we went to watch NXT. Nice. So we went to watch a little bit of NXT. And I was just spent. I was exhausted after this two days because I really wanted this gig. Ida was over. You know how hard it is to get a job in this industry, man. And here I've got this one shot.

After this, who knows where the next chance are going to come from? It's funny that you say that because when you have a job, it's so much easier to just kind of jump from Lillipad to Lillipad, jump from job to job. Yes. When that job is taken away from you, then you're like all of a sudden going, what do I do now? When am I going to work again?

Is it going to be a week from now, a month from now? Six months from now. Yes. You feel dead in the water, man. And that's where I was. And so I go into the audition. Like I said, it was stressful. I'm driving back home and I'm almost home.

And I got, Johnny Greco calls me. He goes, hey, man, is there any chance you could run back to full sale real quick? And I'm like, sure. And to this day, he says to me, he goes, I didn't know what you were going to do. So I drive back and they're like, congratulations, you're hired. Just like that? On the spot. Wow.

I wasn't. expecting that. And Johnny, he told me this later. He goes, man, he goes, I didn't think you were going to take the gig. We were nervous when you were coming back because your response on the phone was, didn't sound good. I'm like, no, I was just exhausted. I was just really, you know, a long two days. And so that's it, man. They hired me right then and there. And I started in January of 2015. Is that true? 16, 15? I don't know. You tell me. I think it was 2015. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. You've been there over five years. Oh my gosh. January of 2015.

That's when I started. When you went to that NXT show, first of all, who was the ring announcer when you were there? I believe it was Jojo at the time. Okay. She was doing an XT. And, you know, you probably hadn't been to a live wrestling show in a little while. Did the energy of it just like just hits you and go, oh my God. Like, I know what it's like when you're a host.

You want to be in the middle of that. Yeah. I loved it. I was captivated right away in the moment. And it was even, it was when, if you guys remember this, it was when was it a takeover? Because Kevin Owens came out

to congratulate Sammy Zane and then power bombed him into the apron. It was that show. Oh, wow. And I'm like, this is awesome. And then I, you know, because people around me are helping me with the storylines.

And I was hooked, man. I was so hooked. So you get the job on the spot. Then when do you start? That was in early December. And I ended up starting like it was January. So just a month later, I had started. And when did like, when was the first time, like when you started?

Was that you being in front of crowds doing it? Yeah. So they started me off doing the Florida shows because what we did was we created something that hadn't been done before. If you go to the Florida shows now, the coconut loops, you know, there's a, there's a host that comes out and interacts with the crowd before the show and does giveaways. And I started that. I created that.

They wanted me to come up with this concept with more fan interaction. And we started it on the local level, NXT, Florida. So I started that. And what's funny too is I went from, you know, doing television to American Idol. And even I didn't, oh, by the way, I did a GAC, great American country. I filled in on the GAC Daily Countdown in Nashville. Occasionally I would fly back and forth from Orlando. So I'd done all this stuff, this TV, this national TV stuff, this local TV stuff, this live stage stuff.

And then I'm in an armory in Jacksonville. And I'm like, what have I done with my life choices right now? Yeah. Because not coming from that world, I didn't know. much about it. Yeah. But then eventually you get on TV. Well, not only that, I ended up, I still keep in contact with a lot of the fans from NXT Florida. That's great. I loved it, man. It's a lot of the same fans at every show. Yeah. And I became so close to those people that I ended up loving it. And I kind of, when they said, hey, we're going to send you up to the main

roster. I kind of missed them. Yeah. But it was a great opportunity. But, you know, even though you weren't watching wrestling at the time, you watched wrestling growing up. Like, you were a wrestling fan growing up. Absolutely. It's like it came full circle here for you. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. It really did. I would, at my dad's house, when I was at my dad's, I would like on Saturday mornings run downstairs to try to beat my stepbrother to the television so I could turn on wrestling. And 1993 was at King of the Ring at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. Yeah. So yeah, as a kid, man, I was all in. So you're right. It's this full circle thing now that is just really cool. So you get hired. At what point do they go, you can't use this name. You're going to have. to come up with another name. Because Greg Hamilton's not your name. No, no, it's not. It's Greg Hudson with a T, H-U-T. I won't forget this either because, as you know, you're Chris Van Vleet.

That's your brand, bro. Like, that's your brand. It's not a great name. Like, people are like, Chris Van Vleier, Chris Van Vleet. Yeah, I get that all the time. I didn't think about that. Thank you for pronouncing it correctly. Van Vleet, but that's your brand, right?

It is now, I guess. Yeah, so I was trying to build something towards my own brand as Greg Hudson. Sure. So Johnny Greco calls me. He goes, hey, by the way, we need you to come up and like, you know, a list of maybe 10 names that you would want to use. And like, what, what's wrong with Greg Hudson? He goes, no, no, no, no, no. You know, it's proprietary stuff.

You need to have a new last name. And I was like, I was kind of upset at first. I'm like, but I'm trying to build this brand. And what do you have built this brand? Yeah, it started to. And then I felt like I was like starting from from zero after that. Definitely. So once I, you know, calmed down and figured out what he was talking about, it was

really, really easy for me. Greg Hamilton was a no-brainer. My hometown is Hamilton, Ohio. Right. And it just, it just sounded great. It just sounded perfect. And I wanted to give sort of a nod to Hamilton, Ohio, where I grew up and just, it was a wonderful place. Still is. Well, your initials got to stay the same too. Yes. That's true. So did you have nine other possibilities on that list? I think I did. I don't even remember what they were. Is it always going to be Greg something? Yes. Yes. It was definitely going to be Greg. Greg something. You didn't have to pick a different first name. No. No, stuck with Greg.

What are some of the other ones on there? I know the WWB likes first name, first name. Like, you know what? Like Mike Rome or I'm trying to think of some other great examples where you have your last name is also a first name. Oh, okay. So Hamilton could be a first name. Absolutely. Could be. Could be. Yeah. Not. I think so. So do you remember what else was on that list? Oh, man. I can't remember, but I remember. I mean, someone were just off the wall. Some of them were just like super weird, boogie last names that, uh, some were bougie. Some were just strange, uh, I don't like Greg Valmont or something like that. Like, you know what I? Yeah. Something like that.

I, um, but I, but Hamilton was the first one on the list and the one I really, really wanted. And then you, you, you, you, like, patiently waited for them to be like, okay, you got it. And that's it. Oh, no way. That's it. They were, they ran it through legal to check different things. And then also, uh, by some of upper management to see what they, thought of the names that I picked. Yeah. And I'm like crossing my fingers. I'm like, man,

Hamilton is what I want. I really want to happen. It means something to me. And then yeah, they're like, I just got an email saying, hey, we're going with Greg Hamilton.

It's funny, though, because that was a very famous baseball player, or famous Canadian baseball player. That's what I keep. So sometimes I've seen on Google that. So it's so funny. When you Google your name,

it's the weirdest thing because in the little Google info bar on the right there, yeah, it's a picture of you, but it says Canadian baseball player, 54 years old. I'm glad you brought that up because I have seen that before. I've seen a baseball player with the name Greg Hamilton, but now, okay, it makes total sense now.

Yeah. So you don't have a Wikipedia, right? I don't think so. I haven't done one. Well, this needs to happen now, everybody, especially since you know all the information from this interview. Yeah, true. Yeah.

Just cite this. Type it out. Type it out. Yeah. So his Wikipedia is obviously tied into your name, obviously, having the branding with WWE and they've merged this together. He's a Canadian baseball player turned ring it out, sir, for WW. Yeah, and somehow he's gotten younger.

It's amazing. So Benjamin Button. So I think that means you're the more famous Greg Hamilton, but because he has the Wikipedia page, the info is like mingled in here together. That's, okay. We need to get you. My own Wikipedia. Yeah, that needs to happen.

All right. I don't know how that works, but I'll do it. But someone watching this is going to make you on that's what's going to happen. Please do. Yeah. And it can get tied into your YouTube channel, WWEats, which again, this is the set for. I'm going to leave a link below so people can subscribe. That would be great.

Yeah. So the link will be down below. Greg Hamilton's WWEats. Yes. And if you haven't seen this, the food that he makes on there, the food that you make on there is. Thanks, man. It's a passion and a lot of editing. But it's mostly the fact that you know what you're doing.

Yeah, yeah. When I go in the kitchen and like the toast comes out of the toaster and it like looks nice and brown, I'm like, oh, yeah. Like good job, CVV. You're actually making like restaurant quality meals. I try to. I got more of that bug as far as once I started to learn technique as well. So it was one thing growing up with my dad, you know, and him working for a food distribution company. but also a friend of mine Joseph Feldman was or is a chef.

I met him when I lived in L.A. And he taught me some technique. And this is what happens. When you start to cook something and you realize, okay, I want to learn how to make this dish. Once you surprise yourself with a dish, you're hooked. Like the first time I made like a lamb ragu over like Tagliatelli with like a red wine reduction. Once I made my first lamb ragu. Of course.

Yeah. And I tasted it. I can't believe that that's when you know. And then you're like, was it the, I can do this? Yes. Using, utilizing these chef techniques. Because it's pretty daunting. Of course it is.

Like if you're watching a chef in a kitchen, you see what they're doing back there. Like, I don't stand a chance. Yeah. So once you break it down and a chef teaches you a little technique or you take a cooking class and then you realize you're able to create the dishes that you watch them make in their kitchen, you get the bug and I've had it ever since. But I think that a lot of people find it a daunting task because so much can go wrong. Oh, yeah, for sure.

It can be going so well until the last ingredient or two or you keep it in the oven for too long or whatever happens to be. And all your hard work, all your preparation is now out the window. Yeah, that's happened to me many a time. Pork belly was tough for me. Pork belly is very difficult to make because it doesn't have a lot of flavor on its own. You want to impart flavor in it, but you also want to get that skin crispy, but keep the meat tender. You don't want to dry that, dry out the meat. So pork belly is quite the process.

That one took me a long time. But I went through everything you're talking about when I try to make it. I love how much you love food. And it's so obvious when you watch your YouTube channel. Thank you, man. You're not just like some dude cooking some stuff. You're like, this goes with this because of this. And you want to put this on first because of.

Yeah, yeah. Congrats. Thank you, man. Everybody have their passions and that one's mine. But I feel like there's also like there's a relation here between the cook in the kitchen and learning from that and what you do in the ring as a ring announcer because a little bit of this goes a long way sometimes or maybe I'll pull back a little bit on this. That's that's really good. I like what you did there. I just came up with that right now.

But it's true. But you're not wrong though. I just, I never thought of it that way. If you, with that said, if you look back to your first set of announcing, your first few months of announcing in 2015, what's changed and how much has it changed? stuff. Wow. For one, I think I have a lot more confidence now than I did then for sure. And a lot of what you're talking about too is learning to pepper in certain things and this goes a long way, but then you don't need to extend this phrasing that long, but this when you want to. So the big change for me had been confidence for sure. Learning how to keep projecting without shouting is another one.

And then also I think what's become very important to me is trying to give each superstar their own unique announcement. Because but doing so by imparting their character, if that makes sense. So when I announce certain people, I announce them a certain way. It's because I feel like that tone goes with their character. Does that make sense? Of course it does. Okay. Yeah.

Like when you epically say The Undertaker, it feels like it fits. with that entrance. Yeah, you have to, yeah, there's a certain level you got to get to with Undertaker. Yeah. With that. But I try to do that with a lot of the superstars and give them their own vibe. My chat with Greg will continue in just a second, but I want to thank our sponsor for this episode, betonline.ag. And there's no shortage of action going on at our exclusive partner, bet online. NASCAR is back and BetOnline has hundreds of other games, events, and sports that you can get in on. You can still bet on simulated and a NFL, NBA, and UFC events 24-7, or you can participate in a $10,000 Madden Brackett Challenge.

It's a March Madness-style NFL simulation tournament that you can enter for free. And live right now on BetOnline's YouTube channel, you'll find an exclusive interview with X Chicago Bulls, Ron Harper, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, and Craig Hodges to discuss the Michael Jordan documentary on what they're calling the final dance. visit betonline.ag and use the promo code blue wire to receive your new welcome bonus and check out all the action. Betonline, it's your online wagering solution. I think you're most well known for the Shinske intro. Yes. How did that evolve into what it became? I will, this is the truth, pure luck.

Absolutely pure luck. Take over Dallas. go back to NXT Takeover to Dallas. First time I ever met the guy, first time ever announced him. And his music hits, the crowd goes crazy. It's the first time they're hearing his music.

He's coming out doing all this and doing the octopause and everything. And it's just looking at the screen, looking at his tron and his name, like that's just how it came out. So if you hadn't practiced it. Not once, not a single time. I just needed to make sure I knew how to pronounce it.

Wow. So I didn't say Shinsukee. So I got that part, but I waited until I got in the ring. And then when his music hit and he comes out, like it was just organic. And then now even I prolong it even further. What I mean by that is in that video on Takeover Dallas, I did.

I think, Sienke, Nakamura. Now I put a lot more energy and power into it. But that inflection is the same. And for some reason, man, there's a video on YouTube of me just saying that for like a minute and a half straight. Yeah. It's crazy.

I actually watched it before I came over here. Because you announce it differently, rightfully so, when he's walking down the ramp versus, when he's won a match. Yes. And they've actually mixed the both in during this video. They have, yeah. But, but, yeah.

So the entrance is, is one inflection, and then there's more just powerful, forceful name for the winner. Now, after you announced him for the first time and you saw him backstage after the show, did he go, I really liked what you did there. I've never heard my name said like that. Um, not that particular show. You just kind of kept doing it. Yeah, I just kept doing it because I got a lot of good feedback after Takeover to Dallas. I didn't even realize I did it. I got back and I watch it. I'm like, well, I guess I kind of did do that.

It's one of 20 or 30 names you said that night. For sure. Yeah. But the fact that people picked up on it and liked it, I'm like, well, I'm going to run with this. Yeah. I just kept doing it. And then what's funny, so he and I, you probably know, are really good friends now. Yeah.

Would you say he's your best friend in WWE? I mean, yeah, probably he's up there, yeah, for sure. He and I have a great time traveling together when we were on the road and everything. But I think when I eventually, when I knew that he liked it, just kind of a quiet person for the most part until you get to know him. I think one time in like the hallway I just passed him and he goes she's skin so when he did that I'm like oh I just got a stamp of approval okay cool that's awesome have you ever had a superstar go maybe try this with my name instead oh man not off the top okay that's good that's a good that's what a compliment well that's true but but I also I'm also very cognizant of going up and asking people like if somebody I'm announcing somebody for the first time I'm like hey I was thinking about announcing you this way what do you think of that or just trying it and checking in with them afterwards. Yeah.

But I haven't had anybody just come up and just straight bury me like, hey, man. That wouldn't be buried. No, I know. The first time I ever announced Johnny Gargano, I announced him in Cleveland, Ohio. Hey, hometown boy. Right. Prime wrestling. This was way before he was even on WWB's radar. This was 2011.

And I was practicing, and he actually goes to me, he goes, maybe up at the end, Gargano, because I was going, Gargano. He's like, maybe, maybe a little more. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, okay. It's those little subtle things, though, with announcing, isn't it? Isn't that crazy? It's like these little subtle changes that make a major difference.

And I'm by no means a professional ring announcer, but I've done it for a bunch of indie federations. But for him to have that like, you should, you know, try this. I was like, yes, and that will make it that much better, not just for me, not just for you, but for everybody. And I'm open to that. Like if somebody has suggestions like that of one of the superstars comes up to me, I would welcome that. Yeah. Trust me. When did the one fall become a thing?

because you became very well known for saying. Yeah, that one, I forgot about that. Yeah. So it's a big thing in Europe, in the UK in particular. It's a pretty big thing. And so I think I just picked up on it from there. We did, you know, an XT UK. And I did it during NXT UK takeover.

And it popped huge because those guys, they love doing it in the UK. And I think the U.S. picked up on it watching Takeover London. So then I come back to the States. and I just start pausing here to see if people pick up on it. Slowly but surely, people started to pick up on it. And then to the point that everybody knew and then everybody would do it whenever I was announcing.

Oh, but now everybody does it no matter who's announced. No matter what city, country, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's just a thing you do now. It is. It is. I mean, live events, I especially still do it and people still respond. We have to pick up the pace a little bit for TV now,

so I don't do it for TV anymore to keep the pacing quicker. Yeah. But it's really cool and I love it. I like it because it like makes me feel connected to the fans a little bit too. Well, I mean, you get immediate instant feedback from that. Yeah. Do you prefer doing the announcements as they're walking down the ramp or the championship style in the ring intros? Ooh, that's a good question.

I've never asked me that before. There's pros and cons to both. I put it that one. Not cons, actually. I like them, but how about this? I like them both for different reasons. I love doing the. announcements as they're coming in their entrance because you can really tie into the emotion of

their music. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you can, and there's certain, certain theme songs too where you plug in their announcement just perfectly and it lands just perfectly right before a big drop of a beat or something like that. Right. Bobby Rood, for example, Robert Rood, he is glorious, you know, you say, you know, weighing it at whatever turn to 50 pounds, the glorious Robert Rood, Dern, and the guitar hits. Yeah, yeah. So if you time it just right. You know, and slide it in there. This is like nerdy announcer stuff right now. Sorry. This is what makes you great though. So little things like

that. I love that. Finding spots during the music, put that in, tied to the emotion of their song. Championship intros on the other hand are great because it's laser focused and especially I can't wait until we get back here with a bunch of people in the arena,

but that energy. And then when they know how you announce certain people and they say it with you. Like, you know, the phenomenal A, J, Stiles. Hearing an entire arena do that with you, man, it's unreal. So there's pros to both. But also, when you're doing the championship intro, you've got the crowd in the palm of your hands.

Yes. Absolutely. That does feel good. Yeah. That does. Even if maybe it has to be quicker than, you know, it might have been before. You've got the crowd on the palm of your hand. You got them right there, man.

Yeah. All eyes are on that moment. Yes. So don't mess up when that moment comes. This might sound like a strange question, but there's a reason for it. Do you have any sort of singing background? I don't. But people ask me that all the time. They're like, man, you have such control of your voice when you're announcing.

You must be a phenomenal singer. I'm like, no. You probably are. Like, karaoke. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Incredible.

Incredible. Incredible. Incredible. No, I'm like, I'm embarrassed to sing. This would actually be a great spot for karaoke. We could set up a little stage over in the corner by the bourbon. Yeah. Yeah.

You could do that. And I say that particularly because of your best in the world announcement. It's very sing-songy. And I say that in the most complimentary way. Thank you. That, again, is a great story on its own. That was not the original plan for that whole best in the world thing. What do you mean?

There was never this plan of, hey, we're going to have you just hold this note as long as possible. It was just announced him as best in the world. That was the original plan. Then MetLife Stadium, WrestleMania, we're at rehearsals. And we're rehearsing the intro. and Shane goes up the corner, best in the world, Shane McMahon. Well, Road Dog and Jeff Cherrett were helping with that segment and they were right behind me. And Road Dog goes, hey, man, he goes, let me just hear you. Just let one rip. Let me see what you can do, man.

Come on, brother. Give me everything you got. I said, are you sure? He said, yeah. So we rehearsed again and I just held this note. And I don't, I mean, it was like time stopped. And I just kept going. And this empty Metlight. stayed in because it's empty because it's rehearsal. Yeah. And I just, just echoing.

And I just let it rip, man. And that thing must, I don't know how, probably the longest one I've ever done in that rehearsal. And I was done and the Shane McMahon and he, he was conducting,

just having fun. Yeah. It wasn't planned. Yeah. And so we did it. And I stopped, turn around and Roto goes, damn,

can you do that again tonight? Thus best in the world was born. Wow. So this was your thing. and then Mike started doing it when Shane would go to Raw. Yeah. So did Mike go, how should I do this? You know, it's weird.

I'll say this, man, I'm glad it was Rome, you know, and this is, I don't know who else would be a ring announcer there, but I'm just saying I'm glad it was Rome because I know Rome has the voice pulled off. Yeah. Now, he is a train singer. But imagine somebody who was just a ring announcer not necessarily able to do that. And they were on Raw, and he's calling for it. And they couldn't do it.

That would be awful. Yeah. So thank God. It's Rome over there. Yeah. Because it's difficult. And there have been times where I was 0.002, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 seconds away. It's very specific.

Yes. From just from going out, from losing it. And then he finally stopped you. Yeah. What do you do to warm up your voice? I know, like Lillian Garcia told me, oh, you got to sing from your diaphragm, you got to speak from your diaphragm. Yeah.

Project. Great. So then I started, it's going to sound so stupid. No. So I started watching videos on YouTube, like, how am I going to speak from my diaphragm? Because sometimes we'll do hour, hour and a half long podcasts. And like for the rest of the day, my voice is just so like hoarse. And I'm like, how do I do this so I don't ruin my voice. So I got to watch these videos and I'm learning how to breathe into my diaphragm.

Yeah. But I still don't know how to speak from my diaphragm. It's one of those things that you have to turn into a habit. Like now I just naturally speak from here and I barely even use my voice itself. Like unless I'm trying to add inflection, then I'll go up here and I'll take the energy here. For the most part, all my energy when I speak comes from right here. How do I do this? It becomes habit.

So you just have to keep practicing. So for a while, just intentionally speak from here. And then after a while, it'll just be natural for it. Don't you feel like when you speak from your, when you speak from your diaphragm? It gets a lot lower. Your voice gets a lot lower. Yeah. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. Definitely. I feel like, I don't know. But it saves your voice box, man. Yeah. Because even like, you know how long WrestleMania's are, right? Yeah.

Those are tough. Have you had moments where that night, your voice is cutting out, you know, middle of the show? Yes. Yeah. And there's one in particular

where I really wasn't feeling well at all. Yeah, that factors into it for sure. So there was a time, one time I was, I was sick and I was having issues with my, my throat, but also my chest.

I couldn't get air. It was like I had like, felt like fluid in my lungs or something like, you know, mucus. And Shane's on the show. And so here comes the money hits. He's coming down, gets in the ring, and I stand up. And I know for a fact, I can't get this out. Oh, no.

I start sweating. My palms, I feel like I'm about to pass out because he's going to call for it. And I know for a fact, there's no way I can do it. I know it. And I'm sweating. I'm sweating. And then I'm looking at him up there. I'm looking at him.

He gets up. He forgot. to call for it. Wow. On that particular day. So you just announced him straight out? Didn't announce him at all. Oh. He just started talking and cutting his promo. Why you got lucky. Luckyest day of my life. Because Chris, I'm telling you right now, 100% fact I could not do it that day. 100%. You could have done it. Brother. You're a professional. Brother. It would have, I would have cut out and it would have, it probably would have like been a good heel moment for him because if I tried it and my voice was so shot, I couldn't do it. But it would have been. really embarrassing. I was sweating. But Mike Rome has that one time where his voice kind of cracked

because he was super sick. Yeah. Yeah. And it's the one thing that people remember from them. People give him all kinds of grief about it. And I'm like, this is not easy. They don't remember the hundreds of times where it sounded perfect. Right. They remember the one time. Yeah. And that's the thing too. That's another reason I was worried about not being able to do it. But like, bro, he nails it every time. And he was legit sick that night. He texts me earlier in the day. He goes, bro, I don't know if I can do this tonight. Yeah. He was legit sick. And God, man, I don't know how he pulled off. Yeah, there was a little crack there, but he still pulled off the announcement. Yeah. So, that's hard. I'm just, I'm blown away by what you guys do without notes.

Like the fact that you know everybody's weight in hometown and nickname and if they're new, now immediately you know their info. Like, how, how do you do this? I, it becomes second nature. But not at first. No, it's tough at first. And I think this is, again, I'm going to get into, to super announcer nerd mode, if that's okay. Please, that's what you're here for. When you first start announcing people, like a new roster or new talent, you're focused on getting the information right. Yes.

You're focused on, you know, driving the car straight. Once you know that stuff secondhand, then you can start playing with the announcements. Right. Then you can start adding little tweaks, little things that make it unique. Yeah. But for the first while, you're just trying to memorize this information. That's all it is. In the same way that when you see a new actor and a scene.

You can just see their wheels turning that they're just trying to get through this line. They're just trying to, okay, you've said that. Now, I will say this. So you're basically just like, am I saying their name in their hometown and the name correctly? Exactly. You're not even thinking about the power, the inflection, the something special to put your own spin on it at all. It's please let me get this information right. So that's where the confidence comes in.

Once you, you know, once you feel confident in the names you're saying, then you can start to put some personality. Yes, yes. One of the most difficult times I've ever had with that was the actually the best in the world tournament in Saudi. Remember that the big tournament that we had? So before that show during rehearsal, they had me listing each superstar's accolades. So introducing first from St. Louis Missouri, weighing it at 250 pounds. He was a 14-time world champion, a two-time champion, this champion, this champion, this. kind of champion. Two-time Royal Rumble winner, Randy Orton.

And you do that for everybody. Had to do it for everybody. At first, I'm like, okay, well, you know, I'll be ringside. I'll just do it from ringside. I'll just do it from ringside. And like, no, they want you in the ring for that. Oh. I'm like, so you want me to memorize in the next hour and a half all of these stats for eight individual superstars. And they sound the same, right? Because maybe two people are two-time Royal Rumble winners or Grand Slam champions, whatever you want to call it. But that was one of the

difficult things I've ever had to do because you're in the ring. How'd you do it? I used my phone before we opened doors and stuff. And in my phone, I opened the voice memos. And for each superstar, I read it off, but I did it sort of sing-songy. And I just memorized a song for each superstar. Wow. So when I got in the ring, I knew what the Dolph Ziegler song was.

That's unbelievable. And I had less than two hours to do it. Wow. I was really, really scared. This is why you're so good at your job. I was really lucky that night, man. No, no. Super, super lucky.

I was so nervous. With that said, if you had a moment that you look back on, you go, oh, I can't believe I said this, did this, like a real botcher mess up. Oh, man. Because I can't think of any. I can't either. I haven't completely blown anything up. Good. I would definitely remember that.

Yeah. Knock on wood. Okay, there we go. But that's my biggest fear, to be honest with you. It really is. Like, that's one of my biggest fears. Because when you're ring announcing, sure,

oh, yeah, he just says, weights, hometowns, and everything. But you get one shot at it. And it's live and you can't redo it. And you can't backtrack. It's not, you know, it's not like if you're, you know, I don't know,

doing something. Oh, actually, what I meant to say was this instead. No, no, no. Which they can do on commentary. Sure. Sure. That's a whole other skill in itself. Of course.

But yeah, I get one shot at it, man, every single time. Yeah. So when you got this job, who did you start to look at for help? Who did you start to look at to be a mentor for you? Or maybe just looked at like, you know, the great ring announces that have come before you. You know, I didn't really do that. I mean, I sought out advice from, you know, Lillian and Jojo and Brandy. and I would ask them for advice, but I also didn't want to sound like them.

Yeah. But I also think it helped that, you know, a female announcement and projection is different than a male. So it was, it was kind of worked out for me to develop my own style because I didn't, I didn't know who to mimic. I'd never ring it out to anything in my life ever before this job. Yeah. So I just kind of made up my own style, man. Like, that's kind of what happened. And it works. So far, I'm still here.

It works great for you. But so back back to you knowing all the names and hometowns and everything. So if I just list off a superstar, you'll be able to tell me. Probably. AJ Styles. Gainesville, Georgia, 217, the phenomenal AJ Styles. Dolf Zickler. Residing in Hollywood, Florida, also 217 pounds, Dolph Ziegler.

Otis. 330 pounds. Mr. Money in the Bank, Otis. What about some of the females? We can do those? Oh, sure. Carmela. Stat and I.

Carmelin. Carmelah. This is amazing. No, I mean, why? Triple H. Greenwich, Connecticut, 275 pounds, the game. Triple H. The Undertaker. Death Valley, the Undertaker. No wait. Charlotte. From the Queen City. Charlotte Flare. That's another one of, another one that I made up along the way. From the Queen City. I'm having too much fun with us I could go down the whole roster here

What about a tag team? Give me any tag team A tag team? Yeah Well, I like, I love it 650 pounds Otis and Tucker heavy machinery

650 man. It's a lot of weight You kidding me? It's why they're heavy machinery. Yeah. 479 pounds Jimmy and J. The Uso's

Orlando, Florida, Naomi. We just get on the roster if you want. How do you announce Vince? Please welcome. the chairman of WWE, Mr. McMahon. This is very exciting. Have you, how about Steph? Have you announced that?

I have, it depends. It's either just Stephanie McMahon or or chief brand officer, depending on what the announcement, depending on what she's coming out to do. Oh, okay. Yeah. Have you ever thought of how you would announce your own name? No. Yeah.

I would never get, I mean, no, I don't know. Really? I don't know how I would. Now you're thinking. I am. Like the wheels are turning up here. I don't know. I'll have to think about that.

You're going to have to end that one. Yeah. I like this. Yeah. I like this a lot. Not you. You got to get the Chris Van Fleet. I don't know.

You'll have to do it for me. I will. I think because there's something special there. There's something where we can really. Yeah. Yeah. This is going to be good. Do you sit there on like an airplane and think about the names you're about to say, play with them?

Yes. Yes. Yes. I do. Yeah, when there are different, when there are superstars that I want to sort of announce in a unique way, I do think about that stuff. I really do. I'll sit in my car when I'm driving and I'll say it six, seven, eight ways. I try to figure out what works.

Like while Schenke's music's like playing in your car, like blaring your car, you're like Schensky. Yeah. Well, yeah, so, okay, it's funny. You mentioned that because after that first takeover, Dallas, when I got all this feedback, I'm like, oh, I'm going to run with this. And yeah, I would sit there and practice. how to do that inflection, how to hold it longer. What should I do with Nakamura? And then I started stretching out the...

Nakamura! And people love that. So, yeah, I do. Again, more announcer nerd stuff. I do. No, I want as much announcer nerd stuff as possible. Yeah, well, I think about that. Because, listen, man, there's a couple things.

First and foremost, for the superstars themselves, I want them to feel like I've put in time to give them something unique. It's important to me. Their characters are what make them unique. So I want to be a part of that through their announcement. The other thing, too, is it's not lost on me how lucky I am to do what I do. And I'm sure you're the same.

I was that kid that would run downstairs and watch wrestling. And I heard, I remember what Mean Gene sounded like. I remember what Howard Finkel sound. To this day, I'm an adult. And I can still see in my mind's eye watching that on television. And so my God, someday, if there's kids at home that watch years down the road, like, what an opportunity to have possibly kids when they're adults say, man, when I was a kid, I remember listening to Greg Hamilton's announcements. That's for sure going to be. That's a, that, like, I'm honored by that, man.

Like, I'm humbled by that. So I take it seriously because of that because I was that kid. In the same way that you looked up to Howard Finkel. Yeah. There's plenty of people that look up to what you do. Well, time will tell, but I just, I would love to create somewhat of a unique sound for myself so that kids today that are adults tomorrow do look back and say, man, I remember listening to Greg Hamilton and now. It's like, what an honor that is, man. I'm just a kid from Hamilton, Ohio. And to have that be said about me someday, I want to do the best that I can. Yeah, you posted a photo of you with Howard Finkel, you know, when he passed away. What a tremendous loss, not just for the wrestling business, but just as a person. Yeah. Can you share with us any moments that you had with Howard?

Yeah. Yeah. First of all, just, and I would, you know, I would say, I know we say a lot of things when people pass, but even alive, I'll tell you, even if he were alive, just one of the most genuinely sweet human beings I've ever met in my life. Never heard a negative word from anyone about him. But what was really cool was he was so down to earth. And the guy had stories for days. So each year we would do sort of this, what we call like an announcer summit, where all of the hosts and announcers come down to Orlando with the Performance Center. Cool. And we just get together and share best practices and things like that and run through exercises. Well, they sent Howard down to talk to us for one of them. He was unbelievable.

He knew everything about everybody. He knew even our new people. Like, oh, I've heard that you're doing the Nxti and I saw a video of you doing. Wow. Yeah. And then he would just share. story after story of his own. So he's just a student of the game.

Student of the game and just completely humble, completely humble guy. Wow. And he would just tell his stories and he was so polite about it. We're sitting there like this, like a sponge and he's like, you know, I've got one more story, if I may. If I may. We're like, Howard. Tell us stories all night long. It's we don't, please do.

Are you kidding me? Wow. And the same thing when I worked with that picture was at a special Olympics during, I think, WrestleMania week. And just on the van ride back, man, just listening to him tell stories about, you know, oh, yeah, the Hulkster one time. We were just waxing poetic about, you know, hanging out with the Hulkster and this and that. It's just a great guy, man. I know it might be hard for you to pinpoint one specific moment. So I'm going to ask it in this way. Do you have a photograph that maybe encapsulates a moment from your WWRE career that you look at and go,

wow, that was something special. Yeah, yeah, I think a photo for my first WrestleMania that... Which one was that? Orlando, who were actually announced. Somebody took a picture from like the hard cam side and it's me just standing in the ring looking, you know, like this. But in this giant arena in Orlando, me standing by myself in the ring and somebody caught this...

A camping world stadium. Yeah. I was there. All right. I might be in that photo. You could be. But it was a real, it was a candid moment. And when I watch, when I look at that photo, I should say, I can see myself, I remember that

moment taking it in and somebody captured that moment. Wow. And also Waleigh standing up behind me with a beer, which is cool. He's the one guy standing up. He's like walking to his seat. Everybody else sitting there, he's walking. He's got Wale right there. So that was cool.

Has that been your favorite, WrestleMania to announce? No. I mean, I think it has to be MetLife, that best in the world moment, man, because that did something for my career that people finally knew who I was. I wasn't, you know, maybe that that's, because for a while there was just, we want Jojo chance whenever I got in the ring. No. So, oh my God, yeah.

What? Long time. Of course. Of course. Because we want Jojo chance. And I get it, man. I get it. No offense to you, but she is more attractive.

Of course. So you're a handsome man, though. I think, but that best in the world moment at that WrestleMania was when I really felt like I I came into my own. It was breaking out of the cocoon, so to speak. Yeah. And then, you know, then we saw what happened afterwards. We just ran with it.

But I think it's also because there was a long stretch of time when we just heard you or we just heard any of the other ring announcers. In this instance, we got to not only hear you, but see you and see you in your element doing you with that. Yeah. Well, and become part of a storyline almost because he, you know, he dragged me around by the time. And dog walked me for the next, you know, six months, which I was fine with. But yeah, that was a turning point for me in my career. Did you have a conversation with Shane, maybe a weekend, a month in and go, this has been great. Yeah, oh, I thanked him, but he was just as equally grateful to me. And I'm like, bro, of course.

Are you kidding me? And then I think it was after that WrestleMania. I think I even still have it. I went back to my hotel, showered and stuff, and then realized the next day, I had a voicemail on my phone from Shane McMahon. saying thank you, man, awesome job. Wow. Like Shane, like Shane McMahon called my phone. I was mad I didn't pick up, but then I have this voicemail from Shane McMahon on my phone. Unbelievable, man. The thing I love about this story and the storyline is Shane will be the best in the world for the rest of his career.

Right? Potentially, yeah. I mean, Triple H has been the game for 20 plus years. It's true. This could be part of his legacy. Have you ever announced The Rock? No. So is he like top of the bucket list?

As far as people I haven't announced yet, absolutely. You will. You will one day. I hope so. I think so. And I will say that the first episode of Fox on SmackDown, he came out. And I was like, had the mic. I was ready to go.

I was ready to go. I was ready to go. Miami, Florida. What do you wait? Well, he was just cutting a promo. But still just to introduce him. And then they were like, oh, no, no, no announcement. Because the place was going crazy already.

They didn't need the announcement. But I was like sitting there like this, ready to announce the Rock. So he's at the top of the list. Who else is on the list of people? That I haven't announced. I mean, the Rock's up there. And I only say that because I have announced taker. So no disrespect or anything like that.

People I have not announced. Yeah. So are anyone else on that list? Have you announced Hogan? Yeah. That was awesome. As your inner child, when you get to announce Hall Kogan at a real show, like I should have been paying them that day.

That's what should have happened. Yeah, the Rock. I mean, I've announced Rick Flair. Yeah. So it's not that I'm trying to think of, I guess I feel so lucky to have announced Hogan, Taker, Flair. So I'm trying to think of people that I haven't. I mean, so far, it's just rock that I can come up with.

That's pretty amazing. Yeah. And I guess actually with the video game, you've probably announced. Oh, then I've announced everybody. Yeah. When you record for the video game, do you just go into a studio for a day and just say all the names in the list. Oh. No.

This was probably a four to six month process. What? Yeah. Well, because I hadn't, this is my first time of the video game, so they don't have any audio of me from before that this is the first ever recording, right? So I have to announce every single title, every single human being for the ring,

every single city, every single possible wait. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Because there are so many titles in that video game. There are so many, there are so many promotions in the, that video game. I had to do every single one from scratch because I hadn't done it before.

Wow. So I would fly out to San Francisco once or twice a month to 2K games and we would record two days each time and it took about four to six months. Wow. I remember when you posted a video I think of the most recent video game with your announcement. I was like, oh, yeah, that sounds cool. I mean, that must be so cool for you to be in a video game. Yeah, it's bucket list. It's absolute bucket list. Hopefully I get to keep doing them. But even if I don't, this was this was bucket list of course you get to keep doing it i'll give you a little inside though i'll give you like a little little secret okay um so it is when you you you've done voiceover before you go in you get you you're in a booth put the earphones on yeah you're that's a producer on the other side

of the glass yes and i've got a monitor there of the names that i'd say and everything but um i really wanted to capture that passion as just like we do on television so i had them pump crowd noise into my ear. Oh, I love this. Yeah. So in my ears, constant crowd noise going nuts. That's great. So the entire time I had to do that.

Oh, I like that. Just, just, otherwise it could sound kind of flat. Yeah, yeah. And even, you know, we were doing shows from the performance center with no fans. It's hard to keep that energy. There's a, there is a visceral energy with people in fans in the building that cannot be replicated.

Yeah. So that was a huge help to have. have that in my ear during the video game. That was really cool. If there's someone watching this that wants to follow in the path that you're on being in the WWE, what kind of advice do you have for them? Well, first and foremost, be adaptable, be willing, ready and willing to do anything. Actually, first, let's talk skill set. I would take improv classes first and foremost, because you never know what's going to happen, what they're going to need you to fill time. Improft class is number one absolutely. Learn to project, learn to use your diaphragm, otherwise you're going to burn your

throat out. But then as you're going along, if you're saying, hey, I want to become a host or I want to become an announcer, there's no, this is one industry, man. You can attest to this. There's no substitute for stage time and practice. Yes. There's nothing in a book you can read that is going to give you the experience that being on stage does. You just, so log those hours, volunteer to host things at your local community, at your church, at your school, find events around. downtown that you can host because you need to log those hours. And then from there, if and when you do get your foot in the door, be ready and willing to do anything. When I first started at the Performance Center, when I first got hired, like I said, I was doing the NXT Florida shows.

I was also helping carry stuff in from the car when they would come back from Costco with water, with toilet paper, with paper towels. I'll get it. I'll get it around to the car, to the van, bring everything in. I would sweep around the ring when they were in between practice sessions out there. I would sit in skull sessions just to learn from the coaches and learn the business and learn the industry. So learn every facet. And that's just not just this business, anything. Even if, you know, for somebody, again, you could attest this being on camera, it's important to know what your producers do.

Oh my God. It's important to know what the editors do. It's important. And you'll gain a lot more respect from people when they see that you're taking an interest and not just your job. Like, hey, my job just read the teleprompter. I don't care what you do. But I think that unfortunately people think that television hosts just come in, read the script, and then leave. Right.

And in my first job in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, Bobby Roots hometown, by the way. Oh, all right. I was on Checks TV there. I was everything. You're the one-man band. So I shot my stories. I edited my stories. I wrote my stories.

I produced my stories. And then I got to be on camera for 10 seconds, you know, to front my story. Yeah. Yeah. There's so much that goes into it. So that's my advice. to just have that respect for all facets of the business, be it this or something else that you're in

and learn everything that you can. This has been great. I've really enjoyed this. Thanks, man. I've never done a long, form interview like this. You're my first ever long interview. Well, thank you for trusting me with this. Of course.

Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful loft here. And, you know, while I still have you here, Ray Mysterio, what's his info? San Diego, California, 180 pounds. All right, Baron Corbyn? Well, he's no law. It was Kansas City 285. now it's just 285 pounds, King Corbyn.

How about Oscar? Aska, Osaka, Japan, the raw women's champion. Now, Oscar. You guys in the comments are going to be like, well, how come you didn't do this one? How come you didn't do that one? Of course they will. Well, there's, I mean, there's so many.

Yeah, they're, yeah. Maybe to wrap things up, can you give us a, can you give us a Shinske? Okay. The artist, known as Shinkekema, Nakamura. I'm like worried my neighbors are going to be like, what's this guy doing over there? He's doing his job. Thank you so much.

Anytime. Thank you. Appreciate it. How great is Greg Hamilton. Maybe we should change his name to Great Hamilton. What a guy. What a conversation. Thank you for hanging out with us in his beautiful downtown loft together.

And thank you for listening to the entire episode all the way until the end. Please take a screenshot. Tag me at Chris Van Vleet. Tag Greg. He's at Greg Hamilton, WWE. Like I said, at the start of the show, I'm hoping these tags are going to make him want to post more on social media because he does such cool stuff.

And he cooks such amazing stuff. It's that new Trager grill on his balcony of his loft. I want him to share it all. So hopefully you guys taking a screenshot and tagging him will encourage him to post some more stuff on there. Yeah. Yeah, Greg. I'm talking to you, buddy. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Also, make sure you check out his. YouTube channel that we talked about. Gray Hamilton's WW eats. It's that easy to find. And I love how he's really come into his own with some of his trademark introductions. I mean, how can you say Shinske or AJ without saying it like Greg? Also, let's get him that Wikipedia page. It's ridiculous that his information, even though he has the same name Greg Hamilton as the baseball player, it's ridiculous that his info is being merged together like that. So I'm sure somebody listening to this right now knows how to create a Wikipedia page or code a Wikipedia page.

So I'm counting on you. I'll be looking for this in the next month or so. I know it takes like a month or so to get a Wikipedia page approved. So I'll be looking for this in the next month. Then I'm going to look into like the history. I know there's an edit history on Wikipedia. I'm going to find out exactly who created his page. And then I'm going to shout you out.

And we'll just give you a big thank you for making this happen. I love Greg's story of hardware. work and perseverance. I mean, he picks up his entire life and moves to San Antonio, boom, like that. That's the kind of stuff. That's the kind of attitude that makes you successful. Thomas Edison famously said, if we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

Next week in the show, we've got a fascinating chat with Spike Dudley. And I'm also looking to take a page out of Chris Jericho. book. I'm going to start doing some celebrity interviews peppered in here just just every once in a while. Like maybe every month or so. So wrestling interviews still every single week, but maybe a celebrity interview in addition like once a month. How would you feel about that? Is that okay with you? I mean, I've done a lot of celebrity interviews over my career, but how cool would it be to have like an hour long interview with some of your favorite celebrities? Let me know. All right, have a great week. We will see you next week with Spike Dudley.

The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987.

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