Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Hornswoggle on R Truth, being Vince's son & anonymous Raw General Manager, 24/7 Title

Episode Date: July 21, 2019

Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl) talks with Chris Van Vliet at Gangrel's Wrestling Asylum's "Let It Ride" show in Dania Beach, FL. He talks about how R Truth keeps mistaking Drake Maverick for him, why he was revealed as the Raw General Manager, being Vince McMahon's illegitimate son, how long he was stuck under the ring, his new book called "Life's Short and so am I" and much more! Audio equipment provided by Samson Technologies: bit.ly/CVVSamson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. Woo! This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleach Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris! The!

Here we go for another episode. episode of the Chris Van Vleach show. Thank you for downloading this. And thank you for being my co-host. You know, I don't technically have a co-host. So that makes you the co-host. The podcast officially turns one month old this week. This has been great. I'm glad you guys like it as much as I am. And this interview with Hornswoggle is no different. He has a new book coming out September 10th called Life is Short. And so am I. What a great title. It's available for pre-order now. We talk about his life being a father of a nine-year-old son. Yeah, Hornswoggle's a dad. We talk about his father, Vince McMahon.

Remember when he was, you know, Vince McMahon's illegitimate son for a couple weeks, and then they just forgot him about that storyline. We talk about him being the anonymous raw general manager. How long he's been stuck under a ring until they finally did use him in a show. And here's the thing. Dylan Postle, Hornswagel, is only 33 years old. So he has so much more ahead of him from here. Thank you guys for continuing to leave these five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts.

I mean, seriously, these help out more than anything else. So if you're listening on an Apple device and you haven't left a review yet, please take 27 seconds today and leave that review. It'd be awesome. It's my way of saying thank you. I'm reading one per episode on the show here. It's my way of saying thank you for leaving them. and also a reminder to say, hey, want to be part of the show? Well, just leave a five-star review.

It's that simple. Like Todd B-12. He says, informative and entertaining, one of the best podcasts going today. Chris has a love and passion for what he does, and it shows in his work. He never makes it about himself, but still makes himself stand out from the other interviewers. Keep up the great work, Chris. Well, Todd, thank you so much for that. And that's a comment I get a lot.

A lot of people are like, oh, thank you for letting the person talk. And I'm blown away when I hear that comment because it's like, well, even though the show is called the Chris Van Fleet Show and the only reason I call it that is because that's my name and that's the name of my YouTube channel. But nobody is clicking on my videos. Nobody's downloading any of these episodes because they want to hear me talk. You're here to hear my guest. And so I ask questions and I legitimately want to know the answer. So I sit back and I take it in just like you do. I'm a fan, a huge wrestling fan, just like you are.

So I just want to hear their answers. So thank you to Todd for pointing that out. Thank you to everyone else who's pointed that out and listen and has listened to me. And thank you. I just, I really appreciate you saying that. It's comments like that that you guys make and spread the word to your friends when you say, hey, you should listen to Chris. He lets his interview guests talk.

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But Greenroads is a pharmacist found a company dedicated to improving the last. lives of people who take it. I take it. Their CBD oil is super easy to take. I've got a ton of stuff going on in my life and it just kind of helps with the anxiety and the stresses of everyday life. Use my code, Chris 15, to get 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. The CVV also, CVV show also brought into your ear holes right now by Samson Technologies who's provided us with this mic and these cables, the mixer, and everything else that make us sound so good. And you can check. out all of their stuff if you're looking to get into podcasting or you know someone who is looking to get into podcasting check that out at samsontech.com. So Hornswongle and I talk about a lot here.

And we talk about whether he's going to be part of the Raw Reunion because as you know, our truth has been mentioning him a lot lately, mistaking him for Drake Maverick, which has been great. And I said, well, how perfect would it be if you showed up at Raw Reunion and won the 24-7 championship? And look, I'm sitting here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where you're where I live. Tampa's like a, and this is where the show was last night, well, basically, Dania Beach is a couple minutes from where I live here. That's where Gangrel's Wrestling Asylum show was last night where we recorded this interview. It's like a three and a half hour drive from here to Tampa where Raw is going to be tomorrow. So it would make perfect sense

for this to happen. He says it's not going to happen. I guess we'll find out Monday night, won't we? This was a fun one. Please enjoy it. It's my chat with Dylan Postal, a.k.a. Hornswoggle. All right, here we go. We've been talking about making this happen for a long time. Yes. We have a friend in common in Steve Guy. Shout out to Steve Guy. And I'm glad we're finally making this happen here in South Florida.

So this is this is the real Dylan here. Okay. I didn't realize Fort Lauderdale was South Florida until Jim just said it. South Florida first time. I thought we were like, I didn't, I don't know where Fort Lauderdale.

So you thought like Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers. I thought it was up north, like the Keys. Is the Keys up north or is the Keys south? I mean, no, the Keys are like as far south in America as you can go. Yeah, like the furthest south point in America is lower than Miami. Yes. Yeah, like to drive from Miami to Key West would be like a four-hour drive. No.

Yeah. It's like a one-lane highway, too. I graduated high school. I did. There you go. Ashkosh West High School. That's the actual name of your high school? Ashkosh West.

We have Ashkosh North and Lureds Academy as well. And Fox Valley Christian. Four big ones. I see when you're booked on these shows, you're officially booked as Swagel. Yeah. Because they took the horn from me. But your Instagram name, your Twitter name, still Hornswagel. Stop mentioning that.

I don't want to lose that. Sorry, everyone. No. I mentioned it, actually, I mentioned it a lot, and it's, I don't know. I'm assuming they just don't care, hopefully. I don't know. Yeah, I still am WW Horstow. Because I'm, stop, man.

I've known as that. Of course you are. I made my name as that. I like when Dolph Ziegler was promoting that you were at the comedy show with him, he's like, joined by Hornswoggle. He's such a dick. He's such a dick. The whole comedy show thing came up because I, called him out on it. I said, you're in my

home, like, my second hometown essentially. You're there. Thanks for the invite. And he puts, you opening? And I go, sure. Yeah. Yes, that's fine. He's such, and then like, every tweet was like, he gave me a new name, like the vivacious horn swan, I said, what's up with the names? But he's a dick, but he's my best friend. That's a dick. Ziegler, I've interviewed him so many times.

I love Ziegler. Actually, he's going to be on with us in a couple days here. And he's funny. Yeah. Like he, I hate putting him over because he's a dick to me. But he was really funny. And it was doing those two comedy shows. It was so awesome.

Just because I've never done it in my hometown. My parents were there the first night and I didn't know. No way. I didn't know they were coming. Wow. I'm walking up to the stage and I see my parents. parents and I go, oh,

I have to tell three coming jokes. And one about me being hammered. Oh, wow. Hi, mom. Yeah, it literally was like, yep, parents are right there. I'm sure they're real proud. But it was, uh,

I told Dolph after, I go, yeah, my parents surprised me. And then they came, met him again. You didn't know? And they go, no, he didn't know. Oh, no. It was crazy. So you're putting Ziegler over as being really funny,

but you're also. Really funny. Oh, thank you. It's, uh, I enjoy it, man. I, my body likes it a lot more than wrestling. I bet it does. But it's, it's something that I really enjoy and I'm trying to get better. I, uh, that second night was this, my 10th show.

And they're just quick, quick sets, but it's, it's fun. I really enjoy it. Do you think taking bumps for someone with your stature is worse on your body, uh, or is it easier on your body? You're not falling as far. With my medical history, it's a lot scarier. I have a metal rod fused in my back. And I was told no trampolines and no contact sports.

So do you not bump anymore? No, I was told that at four years old. Oh, okay. Yeah. And I somehow said, fuck you. Like that mindset. Because I'm going to be a professional wrestler. I'm going to be, yeah, I'm going to fall for a living and say, I don't care.

It's just, I don't know. Like, I think there is more risk, especially with my history, but I don't know. My dad worries about it a lot. I don't. I'm sure any parent worries about your kid in the wrestling ring. What was it at three, four years old where you realize, your parents realized something was wrong here with your medical history? My dwarfism, midgetism, as I call it, I can say it. You can say, it's okay.

What is the correct term? Dwarf, but you can, I'll give you the, the problem. pass. Okay. Because little person seems very demeanor. I hate that. I hate dwarf. Dwarf is weird to me. It's just a It's like people like weird about the moist word which is stupid

to me. But the word dwarf gives me that feeling. Yeah, I could see that. And little person, like I always say the word midget makes me money because midget wrestling on a poster, you know what it is. Of course. Little person wrestling, what is that? Right. Yeah.

What is little, okay, just small people, five footers, normies, like small normies? Like small normies? But it's, it's just, like midget wrestling people know what it is. Yeah. So back to my midgetism. Sorry, yes. But what caused that I wanted to be in your back? I had curvature with econraplasia, which is the kind of dwarfism I have. It's the most common type.

It, the curvature of the spine, and to straighten it out, they tried surgery, and the first doctor never did back surgery on a little person. Paralyzed me, and... No way. Yeah. So then I had to be helicoptered or plane ride, I don't remember. He's like four years old. Four or five. Yeah, whatever.

It's young. To Minneapolis, and they fused. They took out a rib. and fuse that and I'm at a rod in my back. Oh, and somehow you still wrestle. Yeah. That's amazing. I bite asses, Chris.

You bite asses. But no, that's what I do now because my body is rough. But it's, I love it. I don't know what else I would do besides work at Target. And Target at this. Like, I worked at Target and I loved it. But I would hate my life. I still worked there.

You could work at Walmart? Chris. I really want to like you. I want to like you. There's people watching this that work at Walmart. I'm sorry. Yeah. Oh, okay.

When you first step... Upgrade. When you first step foot into a wrestling school, did they go, no. We're not, this is... No, because they saw dollar signs with a midget being on their shows. Because I don't, believe it or not, there's not a lot of midgets in Wisconsin that wrestle, Chris. Not a lot. Okay.

Um, but, uh, uh, I said I don't want to be trained as a midger wrestler. I don't want to bite asses and pull down rest pants and that's what I do now. But, um, I wanted to be, I wanted to be trained as a regular wrestler. I wanted to take bumps as a regular wrestler. Yeah. And that's what I wanted to do because I didn't watch, I didn't grow up watching Skylolo and Little Beaver. And that I watched Jeff Hardy and Ray Mysterio and all them. That's what I like.

Yeah. I didn't. I just didn't want to be. be the easy out. Yeah. Were those the people you looked up to? Jeff Hardy. Because of my size.

Oh, I did it. Yes. I always said I wanted to be Xbox and Jeff Hardy. Okay. Because I really liked Xbox, especially when he's one, two, three kid. Yeah.

And I liked Ray Mysterio only in WWE because I never watched WCW. I would only watch the first hour WCW, which is when the Cruiser Wights were on, but then I would turn over. At 9 o'clock, well, I guess in your time zone it would have been 8 o'clock, right?

Seven. What? start at 7. Oh, I'm saying when Raw would come on at 8 o'clock. Yes. Yeah, you're in central time. Nitro starts at 7. Yes, Nitro with the cruiser wait hour.

Yes, okay, it don't make sense now. But it's, yeah, then I would immediately turn over, and I didn't care about WCW. I didn't get it. I got the games for 64 just because it was wrestling games, and my parents were like, hey, you must really like this because it's wrestling. Oh, wow. Holy cow. It's okay.

These mics won't pick up a lot of that, but, wow. Wow. It's like someone's coming in here. No one is. It's before the show. Even though you say, I didn't want to be a midget wrestler, you can say that to a promoter and they can go, hey, that's really nice, Dylan, you're going to wrestle this.

And they did. And I still said I'm not going to wrestle as one. I'm going to do 619s through the bottom and middle and do frog splashes and do this stuff that I shouldn't be doing. And I'll just bite the ass. No, and I told me. guys, I'm not going to do it because I don't want to be that. I didn't get trained to be a midget wrestler.

I'm trained to be a professional wrestler. I want to put things in perspective. How tall are you actually? 4-4-4-4. 4-4. And what is the cut-off for dwarfism? So a dwarf is technically under, I believe it's under five foot with medical deficiencies. Okay.

My arms and legs are bowed. my head is a little taller but my torso is the same size as a normie a midget i've always heard is a fully grown non medically deficient person under five foot tall okay four eleven you're a midget wow okay yeah so when you got into wwee yeah um you know it turned into the ass but we can't use the m word there Vince hates the M word Oh, what word does he prefer? The M word. Well, I talk about it in my book, Life's Short and So Am I.

We were getting there. But. Great title, by the way. I love it. Yeah. And this is the same. We will get to that in a second. It's the same author.

We just interviewed Al Snow sitting in these exact seats right here. In this building? In this, in this. In this. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah, right here. The first night.

the first or second week I was at TVs They had to sneak me back Out after my segment They had to sneak me back And Kevin Dunn goes Vince We gotta get the midget out of the ring

Vince We gotta get that midget out God damn it Kevin he's got a name Oh Wow Yeah and he always told the commentary team That could never call me A midget.

I can never refer to me as a midget. Because it's crass. And maybe it's because he knew that one day... What? That he would be... You would be his son. I hate you. I hate you.

That's right. That is right. That's exactly why. You knew all along, though. It wasn't because Ken got suspended and talked about Chris Ben-law. Yeah. It was... Yeah, I've talked to Ken about that on here.

Yeah. Like, that storyline would have taken... deny it. No, no, he was very open about it. Did he admit it? Oh, yeah. Because he's tried to deny, like, he's very 50-50 with something. Okay, with that.

He'll either deny a fully, nope, wasn't supposed to mean me ever, just a lot of rumors, you know, internet stuff. Or, yeah. Yeah, he was like, oh, yeah, it was supposed to be me. And here's the thing, that storyline would have gone completely different and it had, you know. You imagine. He would have been the guy. Yeah. Instead, it was me.

And, but that was also a great storyline for you. It was. And it, I found out that day at 4 p.m. No way. 4 p.m. Bruce Pritchard comes up to me. Give me your cell phone. Absolutely not.

Give me your cell phone. You're going to want to. Okay. It's in his pocket. You're Vince's son. We need to sneak you under the ring. No one can know. Where is your gear bag in the locker room?

Wow. He goes, sneak under the ring now. without anyone noticing. I'm bringing you your gear bag. So you were under the ring for like five or six hours? I was used to that. That's crazy. But no, like that, yeah, because it was the last segment.

Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. It was crazy. And then I said, all right, can I make one call? I was, sure. I'm going to be right here. Who is it?

I said, my dad, just want him to be here. And so I said, hey, dad, can you please bring grandpa? to the show tonight. Tickets will be there. He goes, okay, and he didn't, like, my dad knew if I really, like, I would always want him at shows, but he knew if I really asked him to be there,

it had to be something. Yeah, yeah. And he was there. He, right front row. It's awesome. It's really cool. Him and my grandpa. Unfortunately, that storyline kind of ended right there, though.

Are you already? Yeah, no, I found out it was because it was supposed to be originally Finley versus Vince at Mania. Oh, wow. Yeah, which is really nuts. Yeah. But I heard Vince just wasn't feeling it.

Huh. Yeah. I can feel like it was revealed that you were the sun. Vince looked, you know, upset about it, and it was kind of like, that was, that was really it. It lasted two months and got that JBL thing in there, and that was it. Yeah. It was, yeah, and it just, fine by me. I got main event of Ross segments out of it.

Yeah, you did. I got the reveal and then the, like, 15th or 20th anniversary, I think. The ending shot is me pouring beer on Vince with the beer bash with Austin. Yeah, yeah. It's awesome. Yeah. That's crazy to me. It might have been underage at a time.

But just the closing shot of Raw is me pouring beer on Vince, him coming up to me after. What's that all about? And I'm like, shit. I'm in trouble. That was great. Oh, awesome. Wow. But so the payoff there was you were Vince's son,

but then like with the anonymous raw general manager. Oh. So we knew that Ken Kennedy was supposed to be Vince's son. Who was supposed to be the raw general manager? No idea. Does anyone know? No, I'm sure someone does. But that was day, uh, that was revealed on a Monday.

I was told that Saturday night, Saturday night. Saturday before, hey. Learn a New Jersey accent. Sure. Really? Yeah. Because you're going to be this heel general manager from Jersey. Big Nick from Jersey.

Yeah. That's where it was going to go. I feel like with both of those storylines, like, you became like the butt of the joke there. I always laughed because it was like, okay, we don't have it out. Just give it to Hornswog. Right. That family guy bit. It just, like, it just falls on me.

How does that make you feel? Awesome. puts me on TV. It does. It does. So it's fine. No, it's fine with me. I don't care.

I wish the GM thing would have turned out like we planned, but I can't do a New Jersey accent. And so... You obviously tried to do one. I did in rehearsal. Uh-huh. In front of the whole roster was out there, including Hawkins and Kofi in the stands, laughing at my pain. And then they cut the mics because it was going so bad, and now they're booing.

because they want to hear this even more. These are my best friends. But it's everything's meant to be, man. I was there for two weeks under 10 years. When I was told it was going to be a six-month thing. Yeah. I either did something really right or stayed under the radar really well. Or stayed under the ring, you know.

He's a comedian, folks. No, this is the comedian. So, like, I've heard stories where you said, like Kevin Dunn forgot you under the ring. Yeah. How long were you under there? There's times I've been under the ring for like probably five to six hours. Oh my God.

What are you doing under there? Oversees house shows like in Mexico where we have to do it. I have to go under before the crowd gets in. And then we're the main event. I'll change under there. I'll have my PSP on the road. I would play that underneath the ring. I would take a nap.

And I knew The crazy part is I could picture the match Even if it wasn't our match It was like Benoit versus MVP I don't know if I could say that But I could picture the match going on above me By the sound of the bumps

And the crowd reaction I knew what was happening above me It was nuts It was crazy to me But It was awesome That stuff never bothered me Because I could

I could literally sleep under there and I would wake up at the intro for the show. Would someone give you a cue when it was your time to come out? House shows, live events, as we call it in the business. I would have a queue, but at TVs I would have a monitor under there. Oh, so you could watch a whole show. It was awesome. I have a whole monitor, watch a whole show,

how they had a nice pad under the ring. House shows, it was like, here's the bucket of water bottles and gatorades. What if you had to, like, go to the bathroom? knock on what I never had to. Literally, in all my years there, I never had to, and it blows my mind. That's mind over matter. That's what that... Or good catering.

I had one or the other. No. Because I have a real bad IBS. Just luck. Just luck. What was the cue at house shows? They would throw a water bottle under. Oh, okay.

That's discreet. Or, uh, fit would lift up the apron. Okay. Yeah, well, that would make sense. Yeah. But it was, the water bottle actually was because no one's watching. It was the ring announcer was just sitting there here and he just quick toss it. Right.

And usually it was like a lot of times there was Tony Chimel. And man, him and I, he's like one of my wrestling dads. I gave him so much hell under the ring. I would be under there and it would sneak me under sometime before the show. Like a video package would be on and they'd put me in the dark and I would just sneak under. And then he'd be in the ring. And every time he'd put the mic down to get out, to get out, I would start out, pull the mic cord and pull it under the ring. Or I would go out, if it's dark, I'd go out and grab the ring bell.

Or boogeyman would come out and I would take the worms and lift up the apron a little bit and just throw the worms at him. I would just make his life hell. But it was how he passed time on the road. I feel like people might not know that you have a son. You post about all the time on Instagram. People might not know this. He's a normie. He's one of you.

One of your people. I made a normal kid. Doesn't have messed up arms and legs. Scientifically speaking, what are the odds of your kid being? For a boy, it's very, very likely. And I was worried. Likely that he'd be a dwarf. Wow.

Yeah, I was really worried. His mom got an ultrasound when she was six months pregnant, I believe. and I wanted a boy and she wanted a girl. I found out it wasn't a dwarf and I was really excited. I found it was a boy. She's laying there and I'm going, yes, I told you. And she's bawling. Asshole father of the year, moment number one before he was even born.

But no, it's, he's the best. Legitimately the coolest part of my life. I love him. He's like... And how old is he? Nine going on 19. He passed my height at seven. Oh, my God.

I'm screwed. A 98th percentile for height his whole life. He's going to be seven foot. Yeah. I know it. It's just going to be stupid. Does he want to be a wrestler? We had a ring day yesterday for an hour.

His newest thing is he wants to do a moon salt. Oh, my God. Nine. So what does... Not off the ropes, a standing one. What does the father in you say to that? Go. Wow!

Get the crash pad. and go, we'll send this video to Nana. And she was not happy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's, uh, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. If it happens, it happens. Like, I'm not going to force him into it, but it would be really cool. Yeah.

It would be, I don't know if any midget wrestlers that have a kid wrestling. So that would be awesome for me. Yeah. So not only second generation, but first ever. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's cool, man. He, uh, he just wants to do. it. And he, he, my company back home, he's putting up the ring with the guys at times.

Wow. Doing the turnbuckles. He's selling. Well, that's just cheap labor. Exactly. Yeah. He's selling merch. He's just doing everything. He wants to be a part of the business. Whenever I have local shows, like other than my company, he travels with me to all of them. We had a show last night in Milwaukee. Can I go? I said, well, I'm going to get home late and then I have to fly out. So you had to go to your mom's like late tonight. I'd like to go with you. Perfect. Wow. It's awesome.

Yeah. Is it just a coincidence that you're here in Florida. Raw reunion is on Monday in Florida. It's like a three-hour drive from here. Is that why you asked if I was here all week? Yeah. It is. Yeah.

I wasn't trying to like, I was just like, you must be here all week. You would assume. No. Haven't got the call. Okay. You said you're flying back to Wisconsin tomorrow. Fly back tomorrow. I'm not flying back to Florida on Monday.

Not yet. I'm not flying back to Florida. Not yet. This truth thing is really making me relevant, though. I was just going to say. mentioning me 97,000 times a week. Wait, I'm not interviewing Drake Maverick right now. No, I'm much fatter.

My leg weighs as much as him. But I love it, man. Yeah, it's cool. This is why it would make perfect sense for you to be at Raw Reunion to win the 24-7 championship. I'm going to be at home. I'm going to be at home. your new 24-7 champion right here but it's uh

it would make perfect sense though with how much your name's been coming up on robbery but it's let them do their thing okay I never wait by the phone but when it happens at rumble this year it was incredible greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi awesome I guess when they when they need to sell out stadiums they call the little guy you know

but were you under the ring the whole time at the rumble like is there a no Is there another method to get you to the ring? There is. It's okay. There's an announcement going on here. It's okay. It doesn't, the mics won't pick it up that much.

Security is setting up in five minutes. You will not get in without your ticket. Doors are in 45 minutes. Okay. Back to the interview. Yeah, so the usual thing at television was darken the lights, put a video on the screen, and all the stage hands would be around me and I'd be in the middle

in all black and they would go we'd go side ramp and they would be look like they'd fixing they're fixing the ring. Yeah, okay. And I would just slide under. Oh. House shows we had a ring box which we would just

sometimes, that was at the end. Like we finally decided, hey, I can fit in one of these hampers. Let's just do that instead of four security guards running me to the ring. But it was actually at this year's Royal Rumble

because it was in the baseball stadium it was nuts match before ended they had me on a golf cart and get me around the crowd this is the ring I'm here now they had to shut the lights off

and I had to literally all the stage hands run from it would have been with the bullpen I don't know baseball I think it's called a bullp the pitchers do anything right not then

the ones that are playing, the ones that are practicing. That's right. It's a bullpen. I had to run from the bullpen to the ring with these stage hands around me. It was so far. Yeah, that's... And I couldn't believe it. But it worked out.

No one saw me, which was crazy. No, no one expected that. No. And that's that cool thing is I don't think anyone expected it either. You know, if you are, I mean, when you are on Raw Reunion on Monday. Do you have to dye your hair? First off. Saudi I did.

They didn't have. I just did. I didn't want to. Two people suggested it to me, and I was very mad at them, and then they spread the word, and other people suggested it to me, and I was really mad, because I was growing my hair out, and I had to cut my hair, and I had to re-bleach it. Yeah, start all over.

Yeah. And I had to go to Disney the next week with my bleached blonde hair. Oh, great. Yeah, looking like a fat Cody Rhodes. But this one, this is for a Rumble, I wore a hat all the time. all day. They didn't notice. Thankfully.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I saw you, I saw you briefly at Double or Nothing weekend at Starcast. Vegas. In Vegas, yeah. And a meme had come out that weekend. Oh, my God. That you looked like A.J. Stiles.

So that one, like, blew up too. Oh, yeah. Like, blew up, blew up. Yeah. And so much so that at AIW the next week, I wrested Pat Buck as A.J. Stiles. That's so good. I somehow did a paylight kick. And I was like, even for my fat ass these days, I can do a paylay kick.

I'm still got it. Like, yeah. Yeah, the only time. You still got it. Yeah, the only time I'll ever think that. But it's, uh, that was like how crazy that blew up was awesome. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

People were like, oh, no, he's really mad about that. No. It's making me relevant. Like truth, and keep mentioning my name. Don't you think you'll always be relevant, though? I don't know, man I don't like to think that way Because

I mean I was there for 10 years Yeah but It's a lot of things going on every week now Yeah There's 70 hours of wrestling every week Pretty like between everything There's a lot of stuff I

I'm not talked about Besides the truth thing I don't know I don't like to think about it But I I still must be here and there if I'm on indie shows every week. Yeah, how long do you plan on

working indie shows? I said 35. It was literally a number when I got released. It was literally a number I... You're 33 now? 33. Yeah. So two more years?

It'll be more than that. Of course it will. Yeah, I'm dumb. That's not dumb? No, it is. There's something, though, about, like, being in this world, like, you know, you feel the love. Can't leave.

Yeah. Can't literally, you can't leave. And I, uh... I told my buddies that I run the company with back home. The minute I turn into the hammer, burn my gear. Burn my gear. Do you feel like you're headed down that path at all?

Not yet. Here in some weeks I do. Some matches I do, and sometimes it's like a... But I don't ever want to be that. I'm not worth the promoters bringing me in. Yeah. and it's that I don't want to do that to my reputation

I think the real case could be made that you could be put in the WWE Hall of Fame I don't like to think that way well I said it you don't have to say it you don't have to think it I appreciate that why didn't you get to go in with DX I was a mascot Chris okay something I was told every week

but I still got the merchant checks which helped do you still get them still get the Royalty brother oh wow oh my god it's not no it's it's Like, that's something, that's crazy to me is I, uh, um, my, just having like, alone, a figure alone. One action figure would have been awesome. I had a ton.

And then I had one right before my last one was, I had all my tattoos and then my son's name and handprints on its back. Wow. Nothing will ever beat that. Yeah. Yeah. He can bring it to show and tell, like kindergarten, because he doesn't have show and tell in third grade anymore. But he can, like, just see it.

And that's my handprints when I was born with my name on my dad's action figure. Yeah. It's cool to me. What made you want to write a book and tell your story? Selfish reasons. More money? No. The DX merch wasn't enough?

Those green hats aren't paying the bills anymore. Actually, they are. You can buy them at a merch stand for just $20. I'm not going to ask you a specific figure for the DX money, but like is it, is it enough money you could get by on it? Yeah. Wow. Not still, not still, but yeah. Wow. My car.

Wow. It was very good. It probably still is, right? No. When that shirt, when those shirts came out with me on it, with DX. It's only the shirts with you on it. Yeah. Okay. So it's not all DX merch across the board.

No, no, no, no. Because Billy Gunn said that he gets... He's still across the board. He's still across the board. Yeah. I'm a mascot, brother. I'm not a member, just a mascot. Okay, back to the book and you make a lot of money on it.

No, I didn't care about the money. I was literally... I did... W.W.E. I was in Muppets Most Wanted and Lempricon Origins, which you can get at the bottom of the Walmart bin next to Air Bud. And I was like, screw it.

I want to do a book, too. just to say I did. And also I have this pretty cool, crazy, insane story, fun story that I just wanted to tell. Yeah. Like, I just wanted to tell how I didn't get bullied, and I should have been. I didn't get, I didn't have had this opportunity from Ashkosh, Wisconsin, not a wrestling hub, mind you. But I somehow made it. And it just, it's a cool story.

and I'm really excited for all the work that we've put into it to it for it to come out. It's like, it's real to me now. It's really, really real. And when does it come out? September 10th, officially on Amazon and bookstores, I believe. We're doing an early release, just a local early release on August 3rd for my company in two weeks. And then throwing them all back to the company. And September 10th.

the number one pre-ordered book on Amazon. Wow, congratulations. I saw that when it first came out. That's amazing. Within the first week, it was the number one pre-ordered book, which is nuts. Yeah.

Like, again, just crazy things happen. Well, you talk about how you, you know, you weren't bullied and you should have been. There's a bunch of people that are going to be watching this right now who are, quote-unquote, normies that maybe don't have the obstacles that you had in your life, and they're still struggling with things. What do you say to people like that?

Uh, it's so easy, man. It's so easy for me to say. Um, but I, I, I would do the BSTARS with WWE and I, I wasn't on him right away. And I, Stephanie McMan was in charge of those. And I said, Stephanie, I would really like to be a part of this. She goes, why aren't you? I said, you tell me. I said, I really want to be a part of these.

I think I have a message. She goes, of course you do. I know you do. She put me on everyone from there on out. Wow. And it was cool because. Because bullies want a reaction. If you don't give a bully that reaction, I would just laugh it off.

Yeah, I can fit into that locker. So what? You're going to class and I'm sitting in a locker. Sweet. Now who's winning. Just like easy stuff. I would kick myself in the head, but with a can make money at parties. I would crush cans on my head with my foot and make money at parties.

Yeah. Can't really get bullied when you're doing that. Yeah. And it's just, but it's stuff. if you don't give the bully the reaction they're just a dick they're not a bully they're just a dick well most bullies are dick

yeah but they're not getting the reaction from everyone now they're being like looked at like just being a dick but you have this great confidence about you yeah because I laugh at myself yeah maybe that's the secret to life yeah I truly think it is if I if my son stubs his toe

I hear it go I go what happening is stub my toe again and he's like laughing inside because I taught him like first thing I do is I'll Are you okay? Yeah?

And then I'll just laugh. Come on. And I'm teaching him that it's okay to mess up. You fall on your ass on the ice. Laugh. When he did it as a kid, as a real young kid he would fall. They'd tell you the minute you react to a kid getting hurt,

he's going to know he got hurt and he's going to cry. If you just kind of just ignore it or check to make sure he's okay. That's so true. Yeah. Most kids will fall, then look around. Yes.

And then react. If you either look away or just look at them, give one of those, they will not cry because they want the, oh, my God. And I think that scares them too because it's this crazy reaction that they've never had in their life. Yeah. Because they've never fallen. Yeah. It's this crazy reaction. It almost makes them nuts.

Yeah. But that's just me, man. Laugh at yourself. Laugh at yourself, because if you don't, no one else will. So September 10th is when the book comes out? Yeah, man. Okay. September 10th.

I appreciate you taking the time to do this. It's exciting. Yeah, this is awesome. I'm excited for everything. I'm excited like life, life. Life is going to be really fun. It's going to be fun like this. It was such, man, we put some hard work

to this book in the last three years. And you're with a great publisher, too. I am. Yeah. I'm very, very excited. They published Al Snow's book. They published... That's ECW Press.

Yeah, that's the wrestling... Basically, yes. The wrestling book company. If you've read a book... The funny thing is, I always thought it was ECW. Like... Like Paul's Company. Yeah, like, Haman's company.

Heyman's still doing books? This is really... Something's weird about this. It's like, did WWE? Like, just keep the ECW? be present this is really weird but now it's their own thing right which uh yeah it's awesome i'm glad to be on board and i i think they're very excited as well i hope they are to put this out there um because it's going to be a book literally like no other it's uh wrestling and midget stuff

and dad stuff and muppett stuff how is your father vince McMahon mentioned in the book a couple times. How is your relationship with your father, Vince McMahon? Finley's my dad. It was revealed on Raw. I know. Yeah. No one ever says that anymore, by the way.

It's always, you're Vince's kid. What about the whole... Because that was just like a Finley, oh, I was covering for Vince. Yeah. Was he really covering for Vince? Yeah, he was. I don't get those McMahon bucks anymore. But that was, that was...

I always think, like... Like, I did so many cool things. Yes. That. Yeah. And the DX Piro stuff. You were the Cruiserweight champion. And that's always, like, really low on my list.

That should be way higher, though. Way high. Yeah. Because I shouldn't have ever wrestled to begin with. I shouldn't have ever been to WWE. And then I was a champion. I was, like, the last champion before the stupid purple belt. So they didn't give me that title either.

I was really excited. I was like, can I just have the belt? Yeah, they just kind of went, oh, yeah, there's no championship anymore. Yeah, and I just wanted the actual one, and they always said, we never know if we're bringing it back. Dropped your cards. That's okay. We're just talking about it.

Yeah, no, and I just wanted the actual title. They gave me a replica. Oh, that's cool. That I had a buy-on shop. Seriously? No. I got the name plate. They gave me the name plate, which says...

Hold on. So when you go to... Yep. When you go to a wrestler's house and they have the championship hanging out. They all got them, I'm sure, from the company. But not you. I got mine on the W.W. Shop. Nice. They gave me the nameplate, though. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, the cool thing about it is, it says, it says Hornswoggle McMahon,

which is only used for two weeks. Wow, that's badass. Yeah. They were cleaning out the drawers when they go, here, I go, that's cool. This is really cool. Yeah. So it's on, it's in my office on the shop replica title. Well, we look forward to the book coming out in September. We look, look forward to you appearing on raw reunion. It's not happening. Winning the 24-7 championship off of our truth, yeah.

Or maybe it's from, yes, isn't going to happen. You keep, you're going to get your hopes up and his hopes up. And whoever else is, this. Scott Steiner isn't even here yet, by the way. He's not. Gangrel's here. What's his show? It's his job.

I hope he's here. Scott Steiner was supposed to ride with me here. And I think, yeah. And I think he once again just randomly got his own rental car without telling everyone. But we're like four minutes from the airport He always does this When I brought him in He got his own rental car

And I had my guy waiting for him at the airport This is my life I love my life Life short and so am I This is Chris Van Vleet I'm Dylan Postal Do you have an out Like an out saying?

That was pretty good I usually just say thank you Thanks There you go What a guy Just two guys hanging out talking about wrestling. Thank you to Dylan for doing that.

Speaking of hanging out, you got to check out the YouTube version of this interview, or at least the first like 30 seconds, because I often, as you know, go to people's homes, go to wrestlers' homes to do these interviews. So the start of this YouTube video is me sitting under a ring with Dylan

trying to do this interview. It turns out that Dylan doesn't actually live under the ring, even though Hornswoggle does. It was his idea to do this. What a guy. It was so great. His book, Life is Short and So Amai, is available September 10th, available now for pre-order. Thank you to Greenroads for sponsoring the CVV show since day one.

You can use the code Chris 15 to get 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. Also, thank you to Samson Tech for making us sound, oh, so good with these microphones. Man, this is straight into your, this is straight into your eardrums. That's, man, yeah, if you're wearing headphones, wow, that was real deep, like Barry White-like. into your ears. WWE's coming to Miami on Tuesday. That's my backyard here. So they're coming here for SmackDown.

I reached out to them and said, who's available? Who's doing press that day? Who's doing interviews? And they said, we are making someone available for you. And it is, you guessed it. Yep, I'm doing another interview with Dolph Ziegler. That's who they're making available. It should be fun.

So keep an eye out for that one a little bit later on this one. week. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about.

You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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