Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Griff Garrison On AEW, Varsity Blonds, Brian Pillman Jr. And Looking Like A Young Chris Jericho

Episode Date: May 19, 2022

Griff Garrison (@griffgarrison) is a professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Squared Circle 2 Expo in Indianapolis, IN to talk about how he got discovered by AEW, what led to him forming the Varsity Blonds tag team with Brian Pillman Jr., people thinking he looks like a young Chris Jericho, playing football in high school, how a football injury led him to start wrestling, what he learned from talking to AJ Styles and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com 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.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blaine! Oh, welcome back again to another audio adventure here on Insight. It's your friendly neighborhood, CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and today's actually my birthday. Yeah. May 19th, Kane's favorite day. And thank you so much for all the very kind messages that you've sent on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. And I say it all the time, but, you know,

You guys are the best. You sure do know how to make a guy feel special. Without you, none of this exists. So I'm just so incredibly grateful for you and so grateful that I get to do all of this. And if you've been listening to Insight for a while, first of all, thank you. But you know that we've had his tag team partner and my good friend Brian Pilman Jr. on the show a few times. But this is the first time that I had the chance to meet and chat with the other half of the varsity blondes, Griff Garrison. We did this interview in person at the Squared Circle Expo 2 in Indianapolis last month, and he's a great guy. You're going to have such a good time hearing his story, hearing his path of how he got to where he's at now with AEW. Give him a follow if you're not already following him

on social media. He's at Griff Garrison on Instagram, at Griff Garrison, the number one on Twitter. And he can find me if you happen to be looking for me. It's just my name. Chris Van Fleet. Our fan of the week, Nelly Fresh, 1994, thank you so much for this review. I think this is like your second one. So thank you for freshening this up. Kind of plays him with your name, Nelly Fresh. Thank you for freshening it up, adding a few words, changing it up.

It puts it right to the top of the reviews on Apple Podcast. So thank you. And for anybody who has left a review a month ago, a year ago, whatever, you can do the same thing. And I'll read it out here on the show. So this review says, love this podcast. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I absolutely love this podcast. My girlfriend's not really a big wrestling fan,

but she recently watched your videos and she loves it. I told her I listen to you every day when I'm at work and when I'm at the gym and when I'm driving around. Chris is such a great listener and excellent interviewer that deserves his flowers. Never give up on your dreams and never give up on this podcast because it is the best one out there. Well, I'm not so sure about that,

but thank you very much for the kind words. I read a review from Apple Podcasts on every single episode to say, thank you. Thank you for being on this journey with me. And Spotify now has ratings. So if you listen on Spotify, please go leave a rating on there.

All right, enough of this intro. Let's get to what you came here for. Please enjoy this lovely conversation with Griff Garrison. I think for anybody watching this video right now, they think I'm sitting down with a young Chris Jericho. Yeah, right? Probably literally. No, like I was like we were just talking about like whenever Jericho posted a throwback picture, I, fans like just always like, is that Chris Jericho or Agrived Garrison?

It's the hair. It's literally like, but it's kind of scary because like he posted one. The first one that I ever saw him post on his Instagram, I was like, yeah. Like it took me by surprise for a second. I was like, is that me? I was like, no. Have you told this to Jericho? I have not.

I have not. I have not. I should. I need to because I literally thought I was like, I didn't post that. Who is that? Is that me? I was like, I had like 20,000 likes. I was like, I don't have that many phones.

I don't know, but yeah, that was insane. Like, and I get tagged. Like, every time we post one now, it's just active care. I also don't think people appreciate how tall you are, how big you are. Yeah, no, because every time. Six-three? I'm about six, three and a half, six four, probably, yeah. Every time people meet me, like, even here at the meet and greets and stuff, like,

they're like, oh, like, you're so much taller and, like, you just look bigger, like, in person than on TV. And I was like, well, it's just because Brian, I think is shorter, but he's like stockier. Well, then I think people say the same thing to Brian, where they're like, oh, I didn't realize how tall you were because he's next to you. Yeah. So then he looks so much smaller compared to you.

Right on the TV, yeah. He's like tall-ish, not as tall as you, but also like, so wide now. He's got broad shoulders. How did his shoulders get so wide? I don't know, man. I guess he's just doing lateral raises in the gym all the time. I feel, maybe it's not even in the gym, just all day.

Just all day, just walking around, trying to fly away, I guess. Oh, but then like, but you're also on board with this. You walked into this room with a bowl full of tuna. Yeah. So I'm really. Just it. Just tuna. Just tuna.

No, just tuna. Like I had, I brought, uh, whenever I go on the road, I go to Walmart and I just bring, like, buy like packs on packs of tuna. And like, I put two bags of tuna in that container and it's like probably 40 grams of protein per pack. So that's just eight grams. It's just raw protein. Are you not eating like any sort of carbs? I mean, I'm starting to bowl.

I've been cutting for the last three or so months. But I'm going to start bulking on Monday. So your meals are literally just a bowl of tuna? Well, I'm on the road, yeah, because like normal meals. Like I'll wake up and have like eggs with blueberries or something. Like I'll eat a protein bar before I go work out. I'll do my creatine and stuff. Come back like maybe a shake after I work out with Greek yogurt.

And then I eat like chicken, green beans, you know, salmon, ground beef, ground turkey, sort of that sort of thing with asparagus and stuff like that. All that boring food. all that boring, nasty, gross food. I mean, it gets the job done because, I mean, I'm the strongest. I feel the healthiest I've ever been in my life, so I love it. Do you have a fitness goal? Like, do you want to, like you said you're cutting right now?

Do you want to look a certain way, or is it a number on the scale? Well, I used to, that's the thing. I used to care about the number on the scale, but now I don't really care about that as much. I just care about looking big on TV and just being shrunk. Like, literally I told my trainer, like, when I first started, like, he's a wrestler, too. And I was like, he was, he's doing my workout plan and meal plan. And I was like, You want to shout him out?

Yeah, Michael Judas. What's his Instagram name? The priest of punishment on Instagram. Yeah, he's, he's very, very good. He does a lot of NWA stuff. And he has like a degree in like exercise and nutrition science and everything. So he writes my workouts and my meal plan and he asked me what my goal was. And I was like, do you remember John Sina in 2015?

That's what I want to look like. That is so. That was my. Incredibly specific. I remember telling it like two years ago is when I started all this. And I was like, do you remember what he looked like in 2014-15? That's what I'm looking like. Wow, because a lot of people go, do you remember Triple H after he came back from the quad tear?

Yes. That. That, yeah. Freaking insanely just jacked. Yeah. I interviewed Johnny Gargano recently. He was like, when Triple H came back from the injury, I wanted to like, not, he didn't want to look like that. But he's like, I wanted people to go, oh, I forgot how Jack that guy was.

Right. Yeah. Yeah, no, he's insane. Like, I, I, uh, a couple years ago, like, I was, I was, like, I've always been kind of a bigger-ish guy, but like a couple years ago, I, uh, broke my foot and I had to have surgery because they found a tumor in my foot. And yeah, it was the craziest thing. It was Easter of like 2017 or 2018 or something. It was like a year or two after I got out of high school. And so I do a backflip on the beach.

Yeah. And I do it another one. Boom. My foot just breaks. And then I got to go to the doctor. They found out as a tumor. all this, everything. They removed it and all that, and I came back.

And it's like, whenever I came back to shows, like all, like, all like the other wrestlers, they were like, damn, like, you got like big. And I was my goal, man. Yeah, and I actually went to a tanning bed. I'm like right now because I'm pale. But yeah, no, I started working. Like, after that, I was like, all right, I got to, you know,

I started working out harder. If I'm, I'm sorry, just started tanning. Whatever you want. Started tanning all that. So, yeah. But I get that. A tumor in your foot, let's back it up to that. That sounds terrifying.

It was. No, because, like, I was always told for the longest time, like ever since, I want to say, like, right after my senior year football season, so like the spring or something of my senior year, I started having like this, this, like, pain in my foot and this nagging pain in my foot, it would not go away. And I didn't know what it was. Like we saw doctors and everything.

And they were like, yeah, you just got like this thing. It's called planter fasciitis. Like I heard planar fasciitis where, like, my whole life or for that little span. And, like, I would get this, like, lacrosse ball, frozen water ball, just rub it on my foot. I would wear insoles in my shoes. I did everything for it. And then finally, when that happened, it just, like, the doctor was like, yeah, you've been growing a tumor in your foot for, like, a couple years.

Wow. Yeah. It's crazy that it took you breaking your foot. No, because, like, it's crazy because, like, she said, like, if I wouldn't have broken it, it would have kept, like, it was eroding my heel bone. So I basically didn't have a heel bone. It was just all tumor. And she said it would have kept going up into my leg and into my knee.

And so if I would have done it a year or two later, I would have probably had to legit. amputate my leg oh my gosh yeah like it was it was insane that's one of those stories about like the worst thing happening ends up being the best thing for it dude um like at the time i was so upset about it like because like i she was like yeah you're probably gonna miss like eight 10 months of wrestling and it ended up being six which isn't terrible for that you know because i was on crunch crunches for three yeah but yeah like literally i thank god almost every day for like i'm like thank you for allowing me to break my foot so i didn't have to cut my leg Thank you so much.

But you've been, I mean, you're talking about doing backflips on the beach. You've been a natural athlete your whole life. What was your first sport? First sport was actually baseball. At what age? I probably started playing tee ball at probably. Well, my dad had me in the yard at probably a year and a half, two years old, hitting off the tea and stuff like that. So they, and we always, I was born in Atlanta.

And so we always went to the Braves games. We always, we had season tickets. We went all the time. We met guys like Chipper, Chipper Jones and everything. He was the man. But yeah, they always thought I was going to be the next, you know, Atlanta brave. And then football came along and I fell in love with that. I played football throughout high school.

I even stopped playing baseball and basketball, probably my first or second year, into high school just to focus on that. And I went to all these camps. And I went to, like, these Nike combines and stuff. And I actually poured, like, my whole hamstring at this combine. And so, like, that was the summer before my senior year. So, like, I couldn't go to any of these camps or anything. like going into my senior year.

And so I think that's why, like, I ended up playing at, like, a D3 football school called Guilford College because I couldn't go to these camps. They, like, pulled all the scholarships from me. And after football season, senior year, I was like, I might just walk on somewhere. But then that's when the foot pain, the nagging started, you know. And so I was just like, let's just go to somewhere local.

Let's, like, just get a degree and just play football and figure it out. And that's when wrestling came. I was telling you wrestling came about. I just start, like, it was. It was right after, it was the summer before I started college, though, me and my buddy, Marcus Cross, he's done a couple of darks. He's the guy with the tall, blonde hair. I moved in his, in his neighborhood, probably middle school. And we started wrestling on the trampoline. And we did that all day, every day, even in the high school. Like, I'd come home from football practice, and I'd be like, all right, let's go, let's go watch.

So let's see what, you know, what's going on. And then we go outside and do the moves. And this was probably, this was 2015, 2016, and that's back. Like, I didn't know there was any, other wrestling in the world in 2015, 16 other than WWV. I was like, we're going to have to send a video to Vince McMahon of us wrestling on the trampoline and hope he gives us a tryout. Like, I don't know what's good. Like, and then we went inside and we were just like, we were just very like hopeful because we had, I don't know, we just got done.

It was like 3 a.m. It was on a weekend. You know, we go in and we type in like wrestling schools near Greensboro and North Carolina just to be just to see and all these schools popped up. And we were just like, what's going on? It's 3 a.m. and we're there the next day. We go there the next day. We get there at like literally noon, and we're there all day.

The next day. We emailed the guy at 3 a.m. His name was LeBron Cozo, and he's a wrestler. And he trains at Firestar Pro Wrestling in Greensboro, North Carolina. And we were there the next day. And, I mean, we just could not get enough of it, man. We were there probably every training session he had. We texted him.

We were like, hey, if we pay you like $10 extra dollars, can we come into a private session? We were there six days of a week for probably eight hours a day. Your story is so interesting because had you not had these injuries, you would have followed the football path. I think so. I think so because, like, I was getting like... What position did you play? I played receiver.

I played quarterback all the way up until high school. I got to ninth grade and they were like, hey, we're going to move you to receiver because there was a kid. His name was Joe Butts. Who was a better quarterback? Much better than me. Oh, my God. I'm telling you, this kid was probably 5, 10,

but if he was three or four inches taller, he could have played anywhere he wanted to. Wow. He was just said he broke every record of past, every passing record at North Davidson where I went to high school. and yeah but I think he ended up playing baseball at a small division one school but he was he was the man and yeah I played receiver all throughout high school because uh he moved me just because he was a better quarterback so like you may have gone to a d1 school and then you know who

knows maybe you wouldn't have even found wrestling no I like I was getting recruited by like coastal Carolina like wake force was looking at me was like those type of school you're wearing a duke shirt shirt yeah I went to their camp they invited me to a game um yeah so it was like those those types of schools were looking at me and I knew it was like those those types of schools were looking at me and I I was like, if I can just get my foot in the door of one of these schools, I'm like, it's like, I'm going to work my A-W-S off to try to get to the league. But yeah, like that whole situation happened. The foot thing happened.

I was kind of hopeless. I was like, well, dang, I'm not going to really go to a big school, but at least I can still play the sport I love. Yeah. And then that's when I got to college. That's when I found this wrestling thing. And that's when I just fell out of love for football. And I just gravitated towards wrestling. And now we're here doing an interview in Indianapolis and Indiana.

When you were going to wrestling school, what were you doing? for work. I was still in school. I worked on, I worked at like the library at my school. So I mean, it wasn't really like a job job, but I was like, I got to do something, you know, like I can't just and like, we had to pay for wrestling school. I didn't pay for wrestling school. But I mean, yeah, at the time, like he, the guy LeBron, he only had a few students. And it was literally me, him and one other kid almost every time. So I mean, thankfully back then it wasn't that expensive. But now, I mean, he's born up, man, like Firestar, he's in a room. He's got like two or three rings. He's got like like 100 plus students, and he's doing really well for himself.

What would you say was the first break for you in wrestling? Let's see. I think the first break was, we went to a, me and the Marcus guy, we went to a Ring of Honor Dojo camp, like the one they have in Philadelphia. Yeah. I think it's Philadelphia. And we got to like do drills, wrestle matches, do promos and stuff in front of guys. Like, you know, Chris Daniels, I think, was there.

that's coming full circle for you. Yeah, for real. Chris Day. Punishment Martinez at the time, who's Damien, Damian priest, I believe. And he's like, took like guys on the roster and everything. And they liked us. And then that was in December and that next February,

we went and did like Future of Honor. And then we wrestled against each other. And then they put us together as a team. And then we kind of did the Ring of Honor stuff. We wrestled like Dalton Castle and Joe Hendry. Wrestled the boys, Dalton Castle's boys. We even wrestled the briskos for the tag titles.

So, I mean, I think that, Like going to the camp and being able to do the whole Ring of Honor thing was like our first, our first big break. Yeah. And then how did you get on A.W's radar? Well, that, it was 2020. And we were wrestling, me and Marcus were wrestling. I can't remember the other kid's name, but Baron Black.

And I want to say the name was like Prince Kai. And it was like a future of honor thing. And it was in January and of 2020 before like everybody was freaking out about the whole pandemic. Right. And I think mid-match Marcus, like, partially tore his ACL, but I don't think he really knew it. He just kind of was like, oh, I just think it's like just a bruise or whatever. And then the next month we went to Baltimore and we wrestled the soldiers of savagery. And we ended up beating them, but I think he completely tore his ACL then.

And they were going to offer us to a contract. And then that happened. Then COVID hit. And then I was just talking about it in the panel with the AEW panel. I had a bachelor's degree at the time in education. in history. And so I was literally online looking and implying for teaching job. I get the call for my agent. He's like, hey, you're going out of Jacksonville to do extra work. I was like, I can't let this opportunity slip. I got a like I literally, I cut off. I talked to like,

I'm a very social butterfly. And as soon as I got that, uh, that text, I put my computer down or I got that call. I put my computer down. I didn't, I didn't talk to anybody except for like my family, like my parents for, it was like two weeks before I went. Like I was just training, eating, and watching wrestling, and that's it. That's all I did. I stayed in my room or the weight room, and I was just like, I can't let this opportunity go to waste.

And so I went down there, I wrestled like, I think Jimmy Havoc and Lance Archer, and then the next week they brought me back. That's certainly more than extra work, by the way. Yeah, for real. No, it was. There's a lot of people that get called down for extra work, put on a suit and then just sit around all that.

Right. No, sure. No, I was blessed because that was down when we went, and we did live, we came down on Tuesday, did a live dynamite on Wednesday, and then we did Thursday and taped it for the next week, so we didn't have to go down there every week. And then they just kept bringing me back.

I remember the next time I went down there two weeks later, I did a dark match, and it was actually against MJF. And we came to the back, and Tony was like, that match was like, that was so good. That was so good. He loved it. And we did it again the next night. So they taped it for Dynamite for the next week.

So instead of being on dark, I got to be on dynamite, like my second trip down there. So that was really cool. Wow. Yeah. And against, you know, Max, like, you know, against him. So that was really cool. for him and Tony to appreciate my selling and everything that I did in that match was really cool to.

And then you just kept getting called back, I feel like. Yeah, I just kept getting called. They were like, hey, like, you just come, you can come back and come back. And then me and Brian got put together. Yeah, how did you guys get put together? I don't see. I don't know. I think Tony just kind of threw us together.

But at one time I saw him at the Charlotte Airport. And I was just talking to him, chatting him up. I had met him one other time, I think the loop before. and he was like, yeah, I bet we're there. I bet they're going to, like, throw us together or whatever. Bet, but Betbel do a tag team match or whatever. And then we get there and, like, our names are on the board against each other. And I guess Tony just liked us.

He kept booking us as a tag team. And then we eventually formed the blondes. And then Julia came about. We got Julia. We got matching gear, the uniforms, the jackets, the everything. And then we got, like, signed the salary last July. So, congrats on that. Yeah, man, thank you.

It was, it was crazy. Like, my life, I feel like it's just been one crazy. crazy roller goes right. And I guess you do have a lot of similarities with Brian in terms of like, well, the hair is the obvious one, right? Varsity Blonds, but the football, too. Oh, yeah.

Because, because, like, I think the varsity blondes kind of came about because, like, he's like, he's like, you know, like the lacrosse guy and I was,

like, the football guy. And I was doing a gimmick before where it was like the Ivy League athlete MVP thing. So I think that kind of just meshed well together for the both of us. And his dad's, like, you know, obviously the legend that he was, but also like his dad playing football.

It all kind of ties in here. Oh, yeah. When do you think we'll start planting some seeds of doubt in the tag team of the varsity blondes? I just feel like every great tag team ends up breaking up. Yeah. I'm not wishing that's upon you. No, but I feel like there's already,

if you've been watching the product, I think there's already been a little seed planted here and there, you know, with Julia. I don't know what she's doing. She's still got pink eye. She's still got the eye patch on or something. I don't know what's going on there, but... Big guy.

But it's definitely caused some tension between the group, but I would love to, you know, maybe go full heel one day. I think that would be sweet. Turn on Brian. Turn on Brian. You know, me and Brian turn on something. Somebody. I don't know.

You could be a heel tag team. A heel tag team. I think that naturally fits us, too, because when I first started and I was doing the Ivy League thing, I was a heel, and I feel like that's more me. Everyone I feel like prefers being the heel. It's so much harder to get people to cheer for you than it is to boo. Well, it's also that one chance in your life that you can just be an absolute dick.

Oh, yeah. No, I got a funny story. I started wrestling at the Firestar Place, and they were running shows, and it was in like a little garage or whatever at the time. And it's my mom, she came, and it was her first time coming. She didn't know what to expect. Like, I didn't even really know what to expect. It was like my second or third show ever.

And she said, she got there, she sat beside this old lady. And I was the match right before intermission. And I come out there and this lady, she's cussing me up and down because I'm being a heel. I'm interacting with her. And she's like, you mother effing this, that, you big, whatever. And cussing, like, just cussing up the storm. And then my match gets done, the lady turns to my mom. And she's like, well, you're new here.

Like, I've never seen you here before. Like, who are you with? And my mom said, she turned to the lady and she said, I was with that mother effing. I mean, yeah. And she said, this lady was just like, oh, God. But that's a pretty funny heel story. So what do you feel like your goals are in AEW right now? Definitely, I want to, I mean, as of right now, I think me and Brian have a lot more to accomplish

because I think we can, I think we need to be able to build more chemistry. And I think we are because we hang out, you know, outside of wrestling too. So definitely maybe another match at the tag titles as of right now. I mean, I honestly have singles aspirations too. I would love to be TNT champ. I would love to take the title from my fellow vlog crew member, Sammy. I mean, he's a champ, or Scorpio.

Yeah. But Sammy wins tonight, so they have to air that yet. Yeah. This will air in several weeks. Oh, okay. Yeah, cool. So Sammy's the champ right now,

so I'd love to take it from him too. He didn't have the bell with him when I saw him, though. Yeah, because I think they're airing it tonight, so I didn't think he, I don't think he wanted that. Yeah. Okay. Don't worry.

Okay. We're okay. Everything's all good. But I feel like his vlog is so over. Oh, it's so. Like so over. And I was like, I remember I first interviewed him in 2019. Actually, before Dynamite ever debuted.

And his vlog was like doing solid numbers. There was a lot of him on the Indies. Yeah. And then when he started doing the AEW stuff, it's kind of like a peek behind the scenes of like the life that you guys live. Yeah. No, we literally just get together and we're just, we don't even like rehearse anything, practice anything. We just literally set up a camera. We hit record and we just start talking about nonsense.

Like it's just like literally like we don't like we just like I said we just don't practice anything. It's we just have fun and just it's just a good way to, you know, hang out with them and just build a closer bond with them. You've probably gotten over so much from the vlog. Right. No, I think what got me over to begin with was the bit I did on his vlog and the bit I did on BTE my first time there. We did a bit where Marco was confused and thought that I was jungle. boy and everybody who obviously heard you know heard about that and then we did the brodie lee bit where it was who the fuck is griff garrison and all that so i i couldn't thank brodie and you know sammy enough

for allowing me to be involved and be included on those bits and everything because i might not be here right now so i think that originally got me over and you know like kind of it's and it's amazing right because if we were to have the same conversation in the wrestling world that existed 10 years ago yeah the idea of getting over on vlogs that then translates like look how over the bits that the bucks do on BT. Oh, I know. Or a hanging page does on there or whatever, right? It's amazing that something that lives here on YouTube can get you guys over so much. Oh, dude. It's so different. Like my family talks about it all the time. They're like in our day and age, like, you know, they're like in our day and age like that would have never happened.

But it's just like, I'm only saying 10 years ago. Yeah, like 10 years ago. Five years ago even. Yeah, for real. But like I'm, I'm just blessed, you know, to be able to just be. friends with them and just, you know, letting them let me be in their vlog and everything. Because, I mean, yeah, without it, I don't know. Yeah. Well, them kind of, like, welcoming you into their world. Like, that's a big thing for them, too, I feel like. Yeah.

No, no, it is, it is for sure. Just, like, I was, like, because I was, like, one of those scared extras, like, my first time there at A. At A.W., I was just kind of standing there and didn't really know what to do. Just had my gear on at, like, 2 p.m. I was, like, taking pictures. and I was like, all right, I'm just going to stay right here. And then they came and got me, and I was like, and then literally ever since then we've just,

we've clicked like all of us like me, Fuego, Thai, Sammy. Yeah. Alan, Aaron. Tell me something about Brian Pilman Jr. That people might not know. Hmm. Oh, man. So one thing about him, he's, he's very, he, he, he, I mean, people probably know this,

but he loves the business, like more than I think a lot of people give him credit for. just because he's always trying to like re-innovate us and just trying to like always trying to come up with new things and spots for us to do and just I just think people don't give him enough credit for loving the bit like I think people come to him and it's just like yeah he's just kind of doing it because his dad did it no like he he belongs here like he like he loves this more than anybody that I know yeah he like lives and breathes this like today his greeting to me was like a punch no yeah he'll be like wrestling punch we'll go we'll go we'll go we'll go we'll go to the gym and like I'll be warming up and like starting my lifts and stuff and then before he does anything he'll just be practicing super kicks in the mirror and like slapping it. It's the funniest thing like I'll be walking on the treadmill and I'll just hear it and I'm like oh my god like I know exactly what that sounds. I've worked out with him many times when I lived in Cincinnati we worked out a lot at crunch fitness and you're right in between sets like you're lifting the weights and he's there like super kicking the mirror and like hosing in the mirror and you're like

man it's what a guy what and he draws so much attention because he has the mullet yeah no exactly if we stand out everywhere we go it's because like we're two you know because above average guys that yeah you look you look like wrestlers look like yeah you know what I'm saying like we're both biggerish guys with nice hair and it's just like one of those guys that's super kicking in the mirror it's just like yeah people are probably gonna you know pay attention to that yeah that's every time i worked out with him, I was like, yeah, like, everybody's looking at what we're doing here. Yeah, he's definitely a character. He is for sure. All right, tell us something about you that they might not know. I, in addition to wrestling, am a really good dancer. I can dance. And I feel like a little,

some people know that if they follow me on TikTok, but not a lot. So if you want to follow me on TikTok at Griff Garrison, and you can see me shake my butt. So what kind of dancing were talking about? Oh, man, like, have you ever seen Magic, Mike? Yes, seen them all. Yep, that kind of dancing. I mean, maybe not on anybody, not on anybody, but just like, you know, like on the air. Whoa. I think if you get down. The thing, though, is if you talk about this, you know, too much, this might become part of your character.

Honestly, I'd be okay with that. You might become like Fondongo or something like that. No, my God, I loved him when he first debut did. Yeah? I was such a big fan. Like, I remember watching his debut match against Jericho at WrestleMania. Yes. I loved, I loved his whole everything.

But that would be cool. I mean, because I could pull that off. I mean, because I think his thing was more of like a ballroom thing. It was. Might would be more of a stripper kind of thing. Might be a little more. You'd be coming out to Genuine. Yeah.

Pony by Genuine. Yeah. Be sweet. Do you think that like, do you think this is a character you would actually want to do? I could, I mean, yeah, I could for sure see myself doing that. Like, I don't know if, I don't know if that character would be heal or face, but like, I could definitely see that. Yeah. It could be both, really.

It could be both. It really could. Yeah. Depends how you play it. Yeah. Who worried the wrestlers that you loved growing up? I mean, obviously, I was the average kid that loved Johnson, you know, because I didn't know. I was like eight years old. I was like, I want to be like that guy. He's that guy, you know. My first ever match that I remember watching on TV was his debut against Kurt Engel.

That was my first ever match that I remember. And I was like, oh, he's stuck with me. Like, I remember watching him. I was like, yep, that's who I want to be. Have you ever met him? I have not. I would love to, though. I would love to me. If I could meet anybody, it would be him and Duane Johnson. Yeah, those are two pretty great ones. I saw your interview with DJ. Yeah. I'm not at the level where I can call him DJ.

Well, I'm sorry, Dwayne, but. Yeah, I just call him. Actually, one of the first times I sat down with him, I'm like, what should I call you? And he's like, oh, my friends call me DJ, but you can call me rock. I'm like, okay, good. I was going to call you rock anyway. Yeah. Whether you liked it or not.

Yeah. He's so big, dude. He's a big dude. Like in person, he just, he's kind of like, actually, it was a. perfect comparison and he was close to you today. Like the way that you see Billy Gunn, where he just, you know, he's a big dude. Rock's like 6'4. And then like,

he's a big dude. Right. So I would say he's similar in size to like what you would see with Billy Gunn. Where you see him and you go, oh, that guy works out. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like that guy, if you didn't know who the rock was somehow, like if you'd been living under a rock for your life.

Or if you'd been in a coma for the last like 30 years or something, you just woke up now, you'd be like, oh, that guy played. a sport. Yeah. That's how big he is. What's been the best piece of advice that someone's been, someone's given you throughout your career? They always just go slow. If you think you're going slow, go slower. Because people always in wrestling, they just look like they're moving too fast. And I'm, I'm one of those people. I feel like, I feel like I could slow down more and just make everything count, you know? Yeah. Because that's a big thing. You don't want to just

get to going too fast and trip over yourself and then botch everything and end up on botchomania or whatever you want to do that. What are these bracelets you have on here? Oh, by the way. You have so many of them on. Oh, wow. We got two on this hand.

Yeah, we can break them down. Six bracelets total. Okay. Where do we want to start? Let's see. We can start here. Okay.

So this black one, it says, work hard, dream big, and I got that from my father, actually. And I want to say, right as I was going into high school. And ever since then, I've just worn that. I've worn that one.

And I've never really been into bracelets, but people just kind of keep handing them to me. And I'm like, I don't, I feel naked without them now. It's weird. And then this red one, it says Chaos Project, Luther and Serpentico. I love them, man. They've grown to be some of my, like, really good friends in AW and stuff. And then this girl has made these two for me.

It said this first one right here says Griff. And then the second one here says Rams Nation because I'm a big L.A. fan guy. Like, I love the Rams, the Lakers, the Dodgers. How does that even happen? Well, I mean, I didn't really have it. Like, my family growing up, like, I was. born in Atlanta and they, you know, they were like Braves, Falcons fans. That's cool, whatever. Like I cheered for them. I was, I mean, but I wasn't like a hardcore dedicated fan. And then

I went to L.A. a couple times and I was like, you know, I really like this place. And this place has got a lot of like history. And like, I just started. I was like, all right, I'm going to be a Lakers fan. And I was before like, that was still went back when Kobe was, you know, there and we played for the Lakers. And I was a Dodgers fan when they weren't the best team in the league. And I was still, I was a Rams fan too when they were in St. Louis. So I was like, now they're the champs. Now they're the champs. But that girl, I think her name is Michaela.

That's amazing. I'm always interested when somebody picks a team that's not from, like, close to where they're from. That's so interesting. You pick all the teams from LA. I was just like, yeah, screw up. I live in L.A. now, and I'm not even a fan of any of the teams. Sorry, everyone.

No, but that's funny. And then these two, this light blue one is I can do all these two Christ, strength is me. That's Philippians 413. That's one of my favorite verses. I got that from my church, I believe. And then this other one right here, my dad gave me as well. It says, no, Jesus and make him known.

And I'm just, I'm a real religious person. And I, you know, thank God for everything that he's, he's given me. And so I just wear these on my wrist as a reminder. And no one's ever really asked me about these bracelets. But like, I always wear it. Like, whenever I get one about like Jesus or anything, I always put it on my left hand because, I don't know, just kind of separate it. Is there anything specific that you learned from AJ where you were like, oh, wow. Not, I mean, not, he, like, not necessarily, but he just kept talking about, like, wrestling and, like, how he wrestled in Japan and stuff like that.

And he was like, and he was like, how do you call someone, like, call a match with someone that doesn't speak English? And he was, like, wrestling is its own language. And I was like, you're so right. Like, don't ever stop talking. But, yeah, he's the man. And I was like, I love him, dude. I can watch him all the time. Like, literally everything he does, I feel like I do.

The first time in TNA, when I saw him do the back flip into the reverse DDT, which he doesn't. doesn't do in WWE. I don't think he's done it a lot. He's done it a few times. I know he's done it to Xavier Woods. He did like a springboard into it until Xavier Woods. I love that move. Oh my God.

And then when he debuted, I was actually there when he debuted in Orlando. Right. And then he wrestled the next night on Raw. And I was like, this is it the AJ I signed up for it? I want the, whatever you can call that move. Yeah. No, I know exactly what move you're talking about. I see.

I bought all the DVDs when he was in TNA. AJ from 05 to like 09, I think is my favorite wrestler of all time. Oh, yeah. No, I love going back and watching. And that is no disrespect at all towards what he's doing right now or what he's done since then, but I'm saying that was the style of wrestling that I loved more than a great thing. No, I remember the match he had with like Samoa Joe and Chris Daniels

at Triple Threat. God, I can watch that all day. Me too. God, that's so good. That's the greatest match in TNA history. Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah. That's the match also that put TNA I think on the map for a lot of people. I think so. I think that people caught wind of that and went, oh my God.

That's what they do there? Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Well, dude, thank you so much. I know that you literally, one more question for you. I know you just kind of text saying you have to wrestle in a few minutes. Yeah, we got to go get changed. I end every conversation talking about gratitude.

So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for God. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for wrestling. I love it. Yep. Thanks so much. Thank you so much, Chris.

I appreciate it. Appreciate you. There we go. Big thank you to Griff Garrison for making the time to do this between the Squared Circle Expo Convention, and then he had a match later on that night. So we squeezed it in right in there between those two things.

Please share this episode with a friend. Take a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of it. Let us know what stood out for you the most. And tag us so we can share it as well. He's at Griff Garrison on Instagram, at Griff Garrison 1 on Twitter, and I'm at Chris Van Vleet.

And I'll leave you with a quote. It's been attributed to many different people, but it's one that I love so much. Things don't happen to us. They happen for us. Be great and be grateful. We will see you on the next one tomorrow for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast,

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

They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.