Insight with Chris Van Vliet - How Vic Joseph Became a WWE Commentator, Shawn Michaels' Influence, NXT, The Power Of Betting On Yourself

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Vic Travagliante aka Vic Joseph (@vicjosephwwe) is a broadcaster, play-by-play commentator and the voice of NXT. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about their friendship that started in Cleveland, how both of them worked at CBS Radio together, how Vic got his dream job as a WWE commentator, the power of betting on yourself instead of staying comfortable, filling Mauro Ranallo's shoes in NXT, meeting his wife McKenzie Mitchell in WWE, his love of the Cleveland Browns, his friendship with Johnny Gargano, how Shawn Michaels got him into wrestling and much more! Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV at http://thecoldplunge.com Quote I'm thinking about: Don’t wait your turn. Bet on yourself and have the confidence to stand up and say, ‘my time is now. - Robert F. Smith 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 Bleed! Okay, welcome back to another one here on Insight with Chris Van Fleet. That's me. I am CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and I am officially a girl dad. Oh, yeah. Our baby girl was born on Monday, so that's May 29th. That's her birthday.

I mean, it was her literal birthday. And we're going to post some photos and some videos in the next few days. days, but we're just, we're just enjoying this. And man, so excited about this. Mom and baby, both happy and healthy. And, man, that's, that's all we can ask for. So it's just such a great feeling. And thank you so much for all the messages you've been sending on all the various different platforms and the emails you've been sending for the congratulations on this. Man, we just, we're loving this right now. And this is an interview here that I've been sitting on for a long time, super excited for you to hear this because I've known Vic Joseph for 12, 13 years since we were both

working together in Cleveland. Although I know him by his real name, Vic Travelyanti. He's from Cleveland. I moved to Cleveland in 2010 for a job at the CBS station there. And we met an independent wrestling show for AIW. He was also doing some stuff with PWA, Pro Wrestling, Ohio, which was run by our good buddy, Joe D'Ambrowski. And I just love how pro wrestling connects people. And we instantly became friends. And then a few years later, I started working in the same radio family, like in the same building as him. I was at a music station, WDOK, Cleveland's new 102, better music, and a lot of it for your workday. He was right across the hall, like five steps away. He was at 92-3, the fan, which is a sports station. So that, like,

just further cemented our friendship, which, of course, started in wrestling, like I said. So I hope you enjoy this conversation, which, you know, was really more of just a catch-up. And also like a, hey, I haven't seen you in person since you got hired for your dream job in WW. And, you know, since you were the voice of Roth for a few months. And now you're the voice of NXT. Just amazing seeing all the stuff he's doing. And he's just such a true testament to that idea that hard work and perseverance pays off.

So please share this with somebody who you know is going to love this episode. someone who's maybe trying to follow that same path themselves and be a WWE commentator or announcer. Tag us when you take a screenshot and post it on social media. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. He is at Vic Joseph WWE. And I just, I hope you enjoy this because he talks a lot about chasing your passion and betting on yourself. So if there's something in your life that maybe you've been too scared or too nervous to chase after, I really hope that this inspires you.

So please enjoy this conversation with my friend, Vic Joseph. Yeah, I'm on your Instagram right here, noticing that you don't follow me. Do you follow me? Look at this. I did. So here I do now. Okay. I'm not going to follow you back.

Wow. I have a policy. We'll get to that in a second. I followed you for years, actually. And then when I noticed you didn't follow me back, I was like, you don't even post on here. No, no. But we go.

We go way back, way back before your last name was Joseph. That was cute, very true. We go back to, we worked at the same radio station in Cleveland. I worked across the hall at the music station. You worked on the other side of the hall. Was that mix? It was Cleveland's new 102, better music, and a lot of it for your workday. What a, what a radio voice he's got, huh?

That wasn't even really it. Wasn't that that that it? But that was it. But could you give me your, could you give me the intro for the fan? I couldn't tell you what it. I don't even know what the phone number is. What do you... Really?

92.3. The fan. What was the phone number? Because you always say, call in 216, 578,000, 002. There it is. That's what it was. Look at that. Just like riding a bike.

Yeah. How long? I haven't seen you in 10 years. 2014, I left Cleveland to move to Miami. Right. December 2014. And then I was in Miami for almost five years. And I've been in L.A. for about three.

I remember the day you left. Wonderful dinner, downtown Cleveland. Yeah. The Cleveland Pimp. I don't know if I can say that. Super pimp. That's his name. Was there.

And I was like, what kind of montage of people is this? It was so, I loved living in Cleveland. And I still have, they have such a big hole in my heart from like, I loved Cleveland so much. I'm still a big Browns fan. It's very cool to hear that because my wife, and I'm sure we're going to get into all this as we go through. I've always told her, babe, Cleveland is an up and coming city. And going back to Instagram, she happened to see a video, top cities to visit for food. in Cleveland is in it based off Michael Simon.

Wow. And what he's done over probably the last decade or so. Yeah, I guess like especially downtown like Fourth Street, there were so many great restaurants there. That East Nights blowing up. Then there's the arena district. Then there's Tremont. Yeah.

I live in the warehouse district. Warehouse district. Which was great because I could walk to all the sports teams. People are sleeping in Cleveland. I couldn't agree more. So why do you only follow 43 people on Instagram? I have a very strict policy courtesy of the rock. Have you ever noticed the rock follows nobody?

Not anymore. But for a while he fell at zero. For a while, he only followed one person. And who was that? And who was that? And I thought it was the coolest thing like, oh man, it's the rock. He didn't follow anybody. It makes it look so much more impactful.

The problem is, is what, 46,000 people follow me on Instagram because I don't post anything. So it's like 46,000 and I have following 43 people and probably 35 of those are family. Well, I don't know. Carmela. Okay. Graves. Yeah. Mike Mansourri.

Justin Roberts. Justin Roberts. Mike Rome. Rome. John Hennigan. Renee. Oh, John's family. There you go.

Carl Anderson. Carl's family. Taya. Edge. Johnny's family. Johnny's obviously family. Yeah. Okay.

I get it. You follow WWE. Well, yeah. Obviously. I think you kind of have. I kind of have to do that. I don't think I follow Nxte, though, which is probably bad to say. Maybe you got to follow them now.

So if I get them to 44, you'd be 45. I'd still be under that 50 threshold. Well, you know, I'll keep my fingers crossed. My wife hates it, by the way. She thinks she should follow more people. Why do you only follow 40 people? That's the stupidest philosophy. She also has a weird philosophy when I talk about, like, I go on a haircut strike.

Why would you go on a haircut strike? You won't get your haircut? Yeah, I'll go like six months. I'll just get my neck trimmed, and I'll just get. Because I'm just too lazy. You're on TV every week. And now I get a little trim here and there and go out there and sit down and do the show. Your hair does look different from how it used to be.

It used to be swooped to the right. Now it swooped to the left. And I remember noticing when you got signed to WWE and I was so excited for you and we'll dive into that. But I noticed I'm like, your hair looks different. Well, because you knew me when I just comb it straight down and the cluminess of Cleveland weather in the winter with a hat on. So, yeah, we had to come a long way. And that's also credit to my wife.

I didn't pick out any of the things I'm wearing right now. She did a great job. I'd be wearing CLE clothing. And I'd be wearing Cleveland Brown sweatshirts. Bring this shoe up. Oh my gosh. Where's the camera? Can I get this?

What a shoe. Look at that's a shoe. You're like doing some yoga poses here. That's amazing. I haven't done yoga ever in my life. The only gym I know is my brother and I do one set up a day when I wake up and go back to bed. Only gym I know is my brother. I've never heard that.

But seriously, congratulations. Congratulations on everything. I'm so glad to be able to say it to your face. You've been a lifelong wrestling fan. Lifelong. I knew you as a radio host in Cleveland and also as a play-by-play commentator for indie wrestling in Cleveland

in the surrounding area. I knew you wanted this. I knew you were chasing after this, but then when it happened, I was like, yes, I'm so excited for you. Dude, it's really weird to look back because when we were in the car driving over here, we talked about it's been nine years

since I've seen you. and when I was at CBS, CBS approached me with a contract renewal. CBS Radio. CBS Radio. And the Cleveland Browns Network. They said, hey, we want to re-up you for another two years. And I thought to myself, if I'm going to get to the WWE, I'm going to give myself 12 months to do it. Truthfully, balls to the wall.

I don't know if I can say that without getting edited. I'm going to give it everything I've got. Tommy Dreamer at House of Hardcore at the time. Yeah. I do the Rhino. With Rhino, I do the loops, the indie loops. I stole this stuff in Cleveland that we talked about. Yeah.

And I really said, I'm going to give myself, I told myself, I'm going to give it 12 months. And if it doesn't happen, well, we'll see where we go. And I got a phone call. I was at a Guns and Roses show in Chicago at Soldier Field. And the day before I left for the show, Tom Phillips called me and said Michael Cole would like to know if you'd like to come in for an audition. That happened in September. And then I got signed in December.

They let me finish out that Brown season, which I believe they went 0 and 16. And then I started in January. But I've never told anybody that before I came to the WWE, I walked away from CBS Sports and I walked away from the Cleveland Browns. Wow. The place I had been that I had covered four in. NBA finals, a city championship, which is near and dear to me still to this day to have done that, a world series, the drafting of Johnny Mansell, the releasing of Johnny Mansell, the self-destruction of the Cleveland Browns, so to speak during that part. But that was, and it's weird to say now looking back, it was betting on myself knowing how much I loved the WWE, wrestling, sports entertainment, whatever you want to categorize that. that this is what I want to do, this is what I love,

this is what I am passionate about. And I don't think if I would have taken that year to say, I'm going to do this, that Tom Phillips would have never called me, that I never would have gotten a face-to-face with Michael Cole, that I never would have gotten signed,

that I wouldn't be sitting here with you today, getting ready for WrestleMania here in Los Angeles. And I think that so many people just get complacent or they just get comfortable, They go, well, I don't really want to re-sign this deal, but, man, you know, it's a pretty great job. And also, that was a dream job, too. Yeah. To be back in my home market, to live in my hometown, to cover my hometown teams, to cover a championship, which we thought was never going to happen.

And it was always wait for next year. Yeah. I'm a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan. I have a whole shed dedicated. McKenzie gave me the shed that I can make into my man cave. It's like a he shed instead of a she shed. Yeah, it's a he shed. Exactly. And so that in itself was, man, this is great. I'm in the locker room every day. I'm friends with the players. I'm getting to go to every game. I'm getting the inside scoop. I'm getting behind the scenes. I got media credentials. But I'm going to walk away from that. And so it was a really interesting time. But if I didn't do that, then I never would have gotten here.

And I think it's important to point out that sometimes dreams change. And they evolve. they turn into something else, but the fact that you, I always say vague goals give vague results. The fact that you had a specific goal of not just I want to be a play-by-play commentator for wrestling, I want to work for WWE. It doesn't get any more specific than that. It wasn't any other company. It wasn't just to do it. It wasn't, oh, I want to call this guy's match.

I want to be in this environment. It was, this is the company I want to go to. This is the company I grew up watching. If it wasn't for this person and this person, am I the person I am today? My goal in life is to call the main event at WrestleMania. What a specific goal. Throwing it out there.

Because we talk about talent that's in the ring, there's only one main event each night of WrestleMania. There's only so many main events that have happened at WrestleMania. There's been countless matches. Sure. There's only been one main event or two main events in our case now. I want to call a WrestleMania. main event. I've called matches at

WrestleMania. I've called championship matches at WrestleMania, but I've never called the main event. And that to me is still what drives me to let me be different than what you're hearing. Let me continue to work twice as hard. Let me give me Beth Phoenix or Wade Barrett and then Booker T or Nigel McGinnis or Percy.

Whoever it is, I'm going to make it work with their help because everyone I've ever worked with has actually elevated me, which has been a beautiful thing in itself. But I want to call the main event of WrestleMania. And that is what drives me every Tuesday or when I was doing raw

or doing mixed match challenge or 205 live or level up or now even with NXT. It's to get to that specific moment. What was the match that got you into wrestling or the performer that got you into wrestling? There's two specific moments.

First off, the short answer is Sean Michaels. Okay. Which we can have a whole podcast. But my father took me to a event, the Ridgefield Coliseum. And we walked in, Richfield Coliseum no longer exists.

It was knocked down, which that's where the Cavs played at the time. What's it called now? Rocket Mortgage Fields House. It's not the gun. It's not the Quicken Loans Arena anymore. So the Coliseum, Richfield Coliseum,

wasn't even in Cleveland. So the Cavs actually played it in Richfield, Ohio. Oh, wow. They didn't even play in Cleveland. And the first Survivor Series was in the Richfield Coliseum. Three of the first four Survivor Series actually were held in Richfield Coliseum.

I'll digress though. But I walked into this building and we kept getting closer and closer and closer and we had front row seats. And I'm talking, Sean worked Mr. Perfect. Brett versus Mr. Hughes. Macho man Randy Savage was on the car. And I remember, this is so cool. And so it always stayed with me. The person is Sean Michaels.

I remember when Sean, now we all know that it was part of a story, Sean collapsed in the ring, came back when the Royal Rumble, went to WrestleMania 12. When that happened, I couldn't go to school Monday. I was that heartbroken crying. You were so distraught. My mom was I can't send a crying kid to school. Are you kidding me?

And I think anybody that's in the business now from Johnny Gargano to anybody that's starting in NXT, they were influenced somehow by Sean Lai. And so I can sit here with you, and I've said this to him privately, this first time I've said it publicly. Sean Michaels has been the greatest influence on my life because without him, prior to meeting my wife, without him, I would have never found something that I was passionate about, that I loved, that I wanted to dedicate a career towards. If you take it even further, that ties into Mr. McMahon, Vincent McMahon himself, that if he didn't create, the WWE. Again, you and I aren't talking. No. So-Fi stadium isn't going to be filled with two nights. Wrestling fans from all over the globe aren't going to be here. You don't watch Mondays or Tuesdays or Fridays without that vision that he had.

But to pinpoint it, it was Sean. It was just the hair, the way he carried himself. I remember when Marty Genetti went to hit him with the mirror and he hit Sensational Sherry. And then I remember his training with Jose Lethario and then DX. I mean, DX was when I was an adolescent almost teen at the time, you know, that, well, I'm going to go against the establishment and suck it. And it was like, oh, this is so cool. Him and Hunter and now to fast forward in time. And those are the two guys that are shaping my career. Yeah. More so legitimately hands on.

It's definitely the dream scenario. You always hear the advice of like, oh, just chase your passion. Just do what you're passionate about. And I think there's a lot of people that don't know what they're passionate about. And they're like, there's things they like, but they don't know what their passion is. So as a father who's raising two young kids, they're going to start looking for their passion. What do you say to them? That's a great question because it took me in probably about a year ago to finally realize,

man, I really have been passionate about this industry. My kids need to have the same sort of passion. My son loves playing with garbage trucks, right? at the time. He wants to be a garbage man. Go be the best damn garbage man you can be. If that's what you love to do, go for it. My daughter sings in the doorknobs,

and, you know, we'll put on, like, McKenzie's jewelry and walk around and dance. And you want to perform, be a performer. But I think something that maybe more so today, I look at my siblings, what are you passionate about?

Are you just waking up to live day to day? Are you, if you love the movies, try to work on a movie set. Maybe write a movie. Maybe become a runner, a grip, whatever you want to do. If you love makeup, become a makeup artist. If you love clothes, become a designer. What drives you every day?

What are you passionate about? Because if you find a job that you're passionate about, you will never work a day in your life. I don't think I work on Tuesdays. I go sit with Booker T, two-time W.B. Hall. By the way, how cool is that? I'll sit with Booker T and call an XT. while Sean Michaels, the greatest professional influence in my life,

is the guy sitting in gorilla talking to me in my ear. Man. My wife is the backstage interviewer, so I get to go to work with my wife, and then we drive 10 minutes home. That's pretty good. What do you do the other days of the week? It's a complaint about Disney Universal.

We got the pool, the manshed. What did you call it? The he shed. The he shed. The he shed. The he shed. The he shed. I water plants a lot.

Like, that's why I don't do Instagram. Let's tie it all the way back in the beginning. There's nothing really that I don't think interesting about me. To be honest, my wife's the one who's interesting, and I like to wake up, I go water the plants. When my plants died, I told her I just lost my purpose in life. We had to replant the flowers. I'm so sorry about the plants. This actually might be the reason why you're such a great commentator is because...

Because I'm boring. I'm tying it back here. This is going to be a lovely compliment because you're not trying to put the spotlight on you. and a great commentator is trying to make everybody on screen shine, and you're so good at doing that. I appreciate that. And again, that's something, too, that there's a weird thing that always goes through my mind of Jim Ross wasn't the star, right? Michael Cole isn't the star.

But when we talk about Seth Rallin's greatest WrestleMania moment, what's the thing that comes to mind? Heist of the century, Michael Cole. You know, the irresistible force, meaning the immovable object. Paul Cogan and Andre were the stars. But when you play it back, you always hear Gorilla Monsoon. God Almighty, he's broken in half. There's, you know, mankind's the one who's getting thrown off the cell. Undertaker standing up.

Those are the two stars. But what's that clip that is going to make the commentator, you know, have immortality and that moment? So I keep myself in that mindset that I'm not the star. I'm the person who, if I can get people to talk about you and you do, your job in the ring and I do my job here when your clip plays, I'm going to be right there with you. What's the match you're most proud of that you've called?

In the WWE or in the of all. How about everything? And then you can, if it's not WWE, then give us your WWE match. That's a great question. I actually get the most compliments. And if you go back and listen to it,

it's Ray Mysterio and it's Brock Lesnar, Survivor Series 2019. Great. match. And Dominic is in his father's corner, which now we're at where we're at here in Los Angeles. It's kind of ironic to go back and look at it. But if you listen to the match, I forget where I'm at and kind of black out and I become a fan. And my voice breaks where Dominic hits the frog splash, Ray hits the frog splash, this is going to be it.

And Brock kicks out. And you hear me go, oh, my God. Because it was like, I thought they had it. But I lose myself because I'm still a fan. every time I sit in that seat behind the desk. That's the one I get the most compliments about. That's the one I'm really proud of thus far. And this weekend, I think I have an opportunity with Johnny Gargano and Grayson Waller

because of my personal feelings towards Johnny. And then the main event of Braun Breaker and Carmelo Hayes, because as they said, they've been the two guys since that rebranding or that revolution, evolution, whatever buzzword you want to use of NXT was put in. So I may have a moment this weekend, but it also comes back to all these, to me, are steps of a ladder to get me to that WrestleMania. It's tough with NXT because I feel like you've got big shoes to fill. Like Morrow was so much the voice for NXT for so long. And so many of those iconic moments you talk about had his voice imprinted on them.

It's, they're big shoes to film, but it's also exciting that you're now the guy. If you think about it for Raw, I had to fill the shoes of Michael Cole. And for NXT, I had to fill the shoes of Maro Rinello. And for Maro, I think what's been cool is we do two different styles. Totally. And I may be speaking out of turn, and for those that are listening, and this will probably leave the comments, I didn't try to be Maro. I didn't try to give you a Mamma Mia. I didn't try to do his style.

I'm my own authentic way of doing things. And so me being me, I think drew the attention away that, oh, man, there's a new announcer and people respected the fact of, oh, this guy's actually, he's not halfway bad. He's not halfway decent. He's pretty good. And so early on, though, you'd get your tweets and you'd see your mentions and you'd go into your Instagram and you'd see we miss Morrow. And what I've taken pride in is, well, there are still those that love Morrow and Morrow's

great. He's in Creed 3. Wow, yes. He's in Creed 3. Yeah. And so he's done great things. I can take anything away from what that guy did. He is absolutely amazing. But no one's ever criticized me for not being

Marlowe. Oh, he's Vic Joseph, and he doesn't need to be Marlon. It's interesting because I remember watching Floyd Mayweather versus Connor McGregor. And it wasn't until like the fourth round that I was like, oh, that's Mara Ronello. Yeah. Because he called boxing completely differently from how he calls

wrestling. He even calls it different in the movie, which is wild too. Because he calls boxing very much down the middle of like you just telling you what he sees. And wrestling, he was giving you all these references was just so different. He was allowed to be a fan too. I don't want to say over the top, but he was allowed to be very excited. I go over the top sometimes. Michael Cole goes over the top sometimes because that's what it is. Another name

from the past, Todd Grisham. Also in Creed 3. I haven't seen Creed 3. Oh, I won't spoil it for you. I just saw it. McKenzie and I went and saw it this past weekend. How did you get the last name, Joseph? Joseph is, I don't think I've ever told anybody. And pronounce your real last name.

Trevelyanti is the actual last name. The Trevelyanti. Very hard to sign. I don't think I've ever told anybody how I got Joseph. Joseph is my brother's name and my great uncle. So when I got signed and they, you know, they give you a... They go, Travelian. What kind of names?

Yeah, you really want to use that? Well, I said Johnny Jablonsky. I really wanted Johnny Jolonski. He was always my created Madden football player. Johnny Jablonski was the Polis' King of St. Louis' son. I had a backstory to me. But it was so ridiculous that they weren't going to do it. So that was like Vic Joseph.

Oh, that's who you are. You're Vic Joseph. Oh, I've heard that you usually give him a list of like, you know. I didn't have as much to do with that as we can't use your real name. Yeah. Obviously, there's reasons for that. Well, what about Vic Joseph? it's my brother's name, it's my great-uncle's name, it's a family name.

People think Joseph's my middle name. Even on Wikipedia says Vic Joseph Trevilianti. What's your middle name? I can't give you that. Okay. Some things are left to, you know, that's from the next one. That's for part two, you know, down the line. Nine years from now.

Yeah, nine years when I come back to L.A. and say, hey, man, what are you doing? Do you want to go to grab some thing? Nine years from now. Oh, that's a long. Nine years from now, my son will be graduating high school. your daughter will be as old at your daughter or son. It'll be a daughter. Daughter will be as old as my son is now.

She's unborn right now. She'll be, yeah, she'll be almost nine. She'll be almost nine. You have changed a lot of diapers. Your blood pressure will go up. You'll have gray hair. That's what you have to look forward to.

You don't have any gray hair? If you ask my wife, she looks close enough. She got grays. W.W.E gave you your wife. Did they did? That's another thing I'm grateful for. This is great. It's weird too because

she was an impact. She came to WWE. Very hardworking. She does digital stuff still. She does NXT. She does live events. And that's one of those weird things too of, what are you passionate about?

Not to keep beating that over the head, but if I wasn't passionate about the WWE, I wouldn't have found my wife. Who, while I say Sean Michaels is the greatest influence professionally, she has been the greatest influence of making me want to be better, whether it's dressed better, do my hair better, do my Instagram better, try to eat better. I still eat smiley face potatoes and chicken thinners all the time. She smashed two boxes of clown dikes this past week, by the way.

Big ice cream. It was a bogo. Big ice cream fan. I mean, I'm a fan of a big deal, but good deal. One was the Heath and one was the dark chocolate. Nothing better than dinner, popcorn, clown dyke bar, spruce. You might need to meet Jim that's not your brother. No, no, no, no.

Only Jim I need to know is my brother. But she's trying to get me into the gym. That's a shoot legit thing. You need to start working out. She's in great shape. She's in a phenomenal shape. She goes to the gym twice a week, sometimes three times a week. Come on, you want to go to the gym?

Oh, God, the dog's out and water the plants. Come on. Comes back to the plants. Look, see, I like these plants. That one over there, the left is not going to be on camera, obviously. But that one over there, that's a snake plant. Oh, that is a snake plant. You've got one behind your head there.

I don't know what that one is It looks similar to the one behind my head here Yeah but that's a snake plant which I really like those And those grow well in Florida I have a real snake plant in my house My wife of course bought it They're nice Do you put a ice cube in it?

We do that with an orchid Yes the orchid See I got problems man I'm really into like I don't like cutting the grass I don't like weed whacking but I love watering the plants For some reason it's my like way to wake up With a cup of coffee water the front I got the Birds of Paradise down there.

Of course. Love the Birds of Paradise. A lot of those here too. Got to fertilize when I get home. Like, I have a to-do list already in my head for when I get back. Fertilize and mulch. That's what it's about now. What an exciting life you love.

It's pretty bad, isn't it? You haven't really missed much in the last decade. I don't know. I've missed a lot. Come on. Yeah. Really? Yeah.

I feel like in the last year, I bought a house, got married. Well, I've missed stuff on your internet. Yeah, you for sure. You got me. married. Yep. You started working at WWE.

We're both still Browns fans. Are you still a Browns fan? Yeah. I will always be a Browns fan. That,

what do you think the record's going to be? I think if they don't make the playoffs, it's, it's, it's, it's, tear it down.

But you have to, you have to, 10 wins is what you're going to need to get to get to playoffs. 10 and 7? 10 and 7. Isn't that weird to say

now? It's so weird. 17 games. I love it. It gives me an extra game of football, but it doesn't really

because you lost It's a preseason game, so it's still the same amount of weeks. And that's the thing. Yeah, it's the same amount of weeks. You're right. You're watching the Cavs? Not really. It's not that I'm not a Cavs fan.

I'm just not a huge basketball fan. Every game, man. You watch every Cavs game? If I can, I watch every Cavs game, every Browns game. This summer I'll do as much guardians as I can because the He shed. The He shed. The He shed is set up for my Cleveland Sports. You can just call it a man cave.

That might make more sense. It is set up for Cleveland Sports. That is still something that, and I still talk to people from Cleveland, you know, but I still followed the sports. Actually, I just took the kids and we met Donovan Mitchell, went on the court and, you know, they got to run around and stuff. So that's the other part of it, too, man. And I think you'll get there in a few years once your child arrives. The cool stuff that you're going to take her to do, that they won't appreciate or realize in the moment, but then we'll realize it later on. So you'll be appreciating it now in real time.

like meeting Donovan Mitchell or taking them on the field for a Browns game or taking them to a show. A Roman Raines gave my son a cupcake one time. And I said, what are you doing? And he goes, I love to see a kid on a sugar rush. It's not mine. Oh, wow. You know, so, and it's just cool that he gets to interact with these individuals. But again, he won't remember that.

He may, but he won't. And there's things that you're going to do with your daughter out here, whether it's a movie premiere. By the way, by the way, hold on a second. I'm getting to sit here with you, and I'm looking right in the camera right now, sitting here with Chris Van Fleet, someone who has talked to The Rock, someone who has sat on red carpets. I feel honored. That's very kind of I can't believe. Are you going to post my stuff along with like next to the Rock and The Undertaker? That's the most recent stuff that's been on your page. You're never going to see it because you don't go on Instagram. How did I know that was on your page then? Oh, this is true. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

And this has been a lifelong dream, passion goal of mine as well. Have you met Tom Cruise? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Wait till you see this photo. I am so jealous. If I can tell you that my favorite actor is Tom Cruise.

Okay. That when we went to Top Gun Maverick, we actually had to go to dinner there. A place in Orlando invited us to dinner for when they're opening or something for McKenzie because people want to see her more than me. And we're sitting there and I go, like an hour passes, two hours passed. And I'm like, baby, it's like a half hour to get to the movies. We got to go.

I've been waiting my whole life for this. She's like, can we get our dessert? Like, do we get there? I go to my seat. I said, can you go get me my popcorn and the cup? And I go, souvenir please. She came back with like $40 worth, like the bucket. Wow.

And she gets in my lap and she just looked at me. And my knees went up and I hugged the popcorn tin. And I started eating out of it like this. for like the opening, you know, montage. And it's such, and I still use that popcorn bucket today. But Tom Cruise. So not only did I meet Tom Cruise. Oh, wow.

Is this mission? That was Mission 6 in Paris in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. It's one of my favorite photos. Yeah, of course. Can they see this? Yeah. There it is. Can I zoom in on it?

Sure. I don't know how. That's me. I got to go back. It's like being a weatherman. The other way. Yeah, you got to go the other way. The rain's coming this way.

There is Tommy C. Look at that. See, this is what I'm. jealous about. That was really cool. It's too, like, you're way more in shape than I am, or I would have you send me this so I can crop my head on your body. You're also significantly taller than I am. That is very true. How tall is he? He's probably five, seven. Oh, that's fine. But if you notice here, we're eye to eye. So I'll let you figure that one out. Well, hey, that is what it is at this point. That is so cool, though. It's been really cool, man. And like, and it all,

It started in Toronto. That's where I'm from. Then I was in Vancouver hosting a show. Cleveland really opened everything up to me. I had so many opportunities in Cleveland to cover the Cannes Film Festival to fly out here to L.A. to do junkets all the time. I reported from the red carpet of the world premiere of Transformers in Russia. Like, I did so many cool things.

We met the Rousseau's. Yeah. Anthony and Joe. It's so weird, too, because you think about, I remember going to work one time. And they filmed, it wasn't fast. Was it fast? The Russo brothers? No, I'm thinking where they had the cars falling out of the garage across the street from the studio.

Oh, that was Avengers. Avengers. And then, yeah, for Captain America. Because then the car would go down and it was getting shot up and we're like, what the heck is going? And all the extras were sitting in the little like. That was when they filmed Captain America. Forguard thing. That's what I'm talking about Cleveland, man.

Like those movies. I love Cleveland. Open the world for you. Open the world for me. I always thought it was really cool working with you in Cleveland because you, you throw a good rock bottom. Can we talk about that? Are we allowed to talk about that?

Of course. The first time that I met you was at an indie wrestling show, and I'm going to be very honest right now, I got to hold one of your Emmys, one of your four, mind you. And I just stuck my hand in the camera, as you were saying, you were going to be at Resolution. Do you remember this? Of course. And I thought it was the coolest thing because I was like, oh, my God, we got cosmopolitan, man of, cosmopolitan man of it.

the year, Bachelor of the Year, whatever, you know what? Like, are you blushing right now? No, it's, no, it's great. You are. Keep going. Look at the, look at the thing. It's just, uh, the sun. So it's like, this is so cool. And then you get in the ring and you hit Nikki Valentino. Yes.

With a picture perfect rock bottom. I was so proud of that too, because this was the culmination of a whole storyline that had lasted a year. I costed Nikki Valentino a match the year before. against, was it Johnny? Oh, it was Johnny, Johnny and Jimmy Jacobs had a match. I'm Vic. Valentino, Nicky.

Nick. Nicky. was on the outside, and he was trying to steal the chair that I was sitting on. I wouldn't give it to him. I ended up getting hit in the head. We had a whole year buildup to this match.

And it ended up being, my representative was Josh Prohibition. And then I ended up getting in the ring at the end. I'll never forget, as we were setting this match up, He goes, well, why don't you, like, give me a Fed move? And I was like, okay. He goes, you want to give me a stunner? I'm like, I bet I could give you a pretty good rock bottom.

Because I was a backyard wrestler. And everyone, everyone's done a rock bottom on a trampoline. Oh, sure, or in a pool. Of course. 100 times. So we did it once in like, as we were, like, warming up. He's like, that was pretty good. I'm like, okay, that's it.

And as you know, in wrestling, you've got one shot. That's it. And that's it. That's the only rock bottom I've ever done in a pro wrestling ring since. Have you seen the screenshot of it? Yes. It is picture perfect. You have him up and your face is out there. And I mean, it is down. I'm on my tippy toe on my left foot. The leg is kicked out. It's such a small world and I'm sorry if I'm just rambling here. Josh Prohibition actually was my brother's history teacher. Wow. Two brothers, I think, history teacher. And then he was doing independent

wrestling at the time. So I had that connection, who you connected with. to Johnny Gargana, who we both connected with, to being at the same independent in Cleveland, Ohio, to working at the same, for the same company, CBS Radio, in Cleveland, Ohio, to then sitting here today. Wow. I never really connected that many dots to how many actual people. Cleveland has such a special place in my heart.

And we were talking about sports earlier. Cleveland really made me appreciate sports so much more. I grew up in Toronto, of course, I was a big Blue Jays fan. Maple Leafs? Of course the Maple Leafs, although they're terrible. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since there was five other teams in the league in 1967. I was a Raptors fan, but they weren't around when I was a kid.

They didn't come until I was like 10 or 12, 12, I guess. But then I got to Cleveland. And the thing I love about Cleveland more than anything, it's not a question of if you're watching the game on Sunday. It's where you're watching the game on Sunday. that unfortunately does not exist here in Los Angeles. It's more of like what game? You know, the Chargers are playing or the Rams are playing. Oh, I didn't even know the season starts.

Oh, there's so many different people from around the world and around the states that are here in Cleveland, it's like, no, if you're in Cleveland, you are rooting for a team. And I had friends come to visit all the time from Canada, and I would always be like, all right, well, if you're in town, we're either going to go to, it was the Indians at the time. So a baseball game, a basketball game, a football game, an arena football game, a hockey game.

Oh, the monsters. Yes. I dropped the puck at the monsters game a few times. I didn't even know about that. It was so much fun. You and Dolph Ziegler, always dropping the puck at the monsters games. Yeah, that was so much fun. It's really cool to, you know, hear that because my wife obviously is from Dexter, Missouri,

which the nearest airport is three hours. Wow. The nearest mall is 90 minutes, you know, to do anything. And we're doing what? We're going to the Browns game. Like, what times? start one. Okay, so we're going to leave it

12, 12, 15. No, you're going to leave it like 9 a.m. You're going to go to tailgate. Yeah, we got to get down to the Muni Lodder, go see Pumpkin Head, or go down to East 6th and Barley. And she's slowly

becoming more, like she has a Webster Slaughter jersey, which was mine as a kid. She has a talky, talkie jersey who they just re-signed. She has a couple of sweatshirts as well. So she's into it. So as much as I say, like the clothes I'm wearing now or the shoes. I get to dress her on football Sundays.

I lay out socks. I lay out the jersey she's going to wear. I mean, I have home shoes and I have away shoes. That's where I'm at with the fandom. Not so much with her yet, but that's when I get to dress her. She doesn't do calves yet. She doesn't do guardians yet. But I want to go back to hockey for a second.

Yeah, sure. Because I'd love to pick your brain about the sport of hockey. David, our son, is playing hockey. I don't know what a blue line is. I know what a goalie is. I know what a puck is. I know what a stick is. Yeah.

I don't know what position he's playing. Blue lines for off sides. I don't know what he's accomplishing by sending the puck up the side thing. Like, I know nothing about it. But I will tell you what I travel with on my bag is a hockey dad, hockey puck clip that he gave me. And she has hockey mom. I love that. But I know I've never been to a hockey game.

I've never, maybe one hockey game. But I don't know anything about the sport. It's very hard to go there and sit. So what are the easiest ways to teach me the sport of hockey, like hockey for a dummy? The most important thing you need to know is the little black thing. The puck. It's called the puck. Yeah.

And it needs to go in the net. And then that's a basket. That's a home run. Three points? That's where I'm at. Like, he's teaching me the game. It's funny that we sit here and talk about you're from Toronto and Cleveland. and what we experienced in Cleveland

and the kids, I appreciate the fact that he is showing me something that I never knew of and nearly 40 years of life. He's teaching me hockey, which goes back to when you become a father, there's going to be all sorts of things, man. You're in for a wild ride.

I can't even imagine raising a kid in California. Are you planning on going back to Cleveland? Do you have dreams of moving back to Cleveland? I don't think so. My mom always tries to get me to move back. to Canada. Oh, that's probably a better fit. And I'm like, I love Canada and obviously all my friends and family are there, but I'm not probably going to move back to Canada. I love Cleveland and I love how far your money goes in Cleveland. That's, does the dollar in Cleveland go farther than

the dollar in L.A.? It's not even funny. Do you have aspirations to go back to Cleveland? I go visit a lot. Yeah. You know, during the seasons of the Browns. and then the calves, I go back to some games. My parents still live there. But I think if we were to move from Orlando, it probably be Nashville. That's funny, because we've talked about Nashville. That we would go.

Just, you know, we don't have any plans to move there, but we've talked about if we were to ever leave here, Nashville is certainly a destination. Like, I love the idea of having land. Like, I love the idea of having your house, but also having an acre or two or more. That does not exist in California. No, I haven't been out here much.

where I've been here for more than one day, but even us driving in, I even asked you, I go, what is that van? And you went, welcome to L.A. You know, so Nashville also is a nice little center point for us.

Yeah, true. For three hour, three, four hours from her family and six from Cleveland. So that's, it's also weird, too, what you think is important in life as you get older. You know, I always tell my sister,

who I still think is 16, but apparently she's 21, 22, that the friends you have, now aren't going to be the friends in a few years. And the things you care about now aren't going to be the things you care about in a few years. And it comes back to what do you love? What are you passionate about? And it brings me back to wrestling, sitting here with you because we're in Los Angeles.

SoFi Stadium is what I'm here for this weekend. Crypto. It's hard for me not to call it the Staples Center. I'm so sorry for anyone listening with the crypto.com arena. That's right. for stand in the liver and for WrestleMania. And, you know, my wife isn't here, which it bums me out. And I talk about her a lot because I wish she was here with me.

But this weekend and just culminating everything we've talked about, this is the first time I've called one of Johnny's matches, WrestleMania weekend. Oh, that's awesome. All the other takeovers is what they were before their premium live events. I was quote unquote raw 205 live. I wasn't doing NXT. So it draws back to what we talked about

when you were rock-bottoming Nikki Valentino and Johnny Gargano was in the main event and I was doing commentary or backstage interviews that all these years later, two kids essentially from Cleveland had a dream. Yeah. And that dream was to get to the WWE. And I didn't know Johnny when I was five.

I didn't know Johnny when I was eight. I didn't know Johnny until my early 20s. But we had this dream and we've gone step. by step with each other. And now to be here at WrestleMania weekend. It's not WrestleMania, and we still have a bigger goal. Yeah.

Of what he wants to be on WrestleMania, and we've talked about what I want to do. But it's so cool to think that, what is it, Jacobs Pavilion? Yeah. Jacob's Pavilion in front of a few thousand people was at the time was so massive to us. Yeah. Like, this is it. This is the starting point to now walking into the crypto, dot com arena and staple

a stable center, the formerly known a stable center. And so far, which is going to have about 75,000 in it, it's what dreams are made of. Yeah. And to do it with him and have this match this weekend and it's him closing the chapter on

NXT is really cool to think about because that chapter includes you. That chapter includes Nicky Valentino. It includes resolution, Primer PWO, whatever was called, and all those miles and Deshawn Michaels and everything you talked about. Yeah.

And you're part of that story. Yeah. Well, thank you for including my tiny little minuscule. I was shocked, by the way, when I get a text, Chris Van Vleet. I just wanted to see you. Hey, man. I was like, oh, dude, I would have sworn I saw you four years ago. Yeah.

And you're like, dude, it's been almost a decade. Yeah. And I'm so glad we're making this happen. And as we're kind of winding this down and we're talking about wrestling, What makes a good wrestling play-by-play commentator? Something you hit on earlier not being the star, you know, knowing that you aren't the focal point. Also having great teammates, you know, I want to give a huge shout out to Booker T. Booker is Booker.

Booker and I do not talk about much. We hang out for hours before the show. When we go out there on Tuesdays, what you hear is just live off the cuff off the top of our heads. When I was coming back to NXT, when we talk about Morrow, Wade Barrett came in. And having done Mix Match Challenge, 205 Live, Monday Night Raw, NXT, UK, and all these different shows to finally have a little bit more of a permanent home, my confidence was hit a little bit, in all honesty.

And Wade Barrett specifically helped me. He gave me my confidence back. and I'd be wrong not to include Beth Phoenix in there. And so you have to have confidence. And those two brought it back to me. Booker kind of lets me be me because I let him be him. And it kind of goes, okay, I do know what I'm doing. And when Sean Michaels is sitting back there and goes,

nice job, kid, great job. It's kind of like, okay, I do know. I don't want to say self-gratification, but you kind of have like, okay, I do know what I'm doing. So you have to have that confidence. but also to me it's telling stories. Roman Raines has had a beautiful story with the bloodline. That has included Sammy Zane and Kevin Owens.

And then you throw in Cody Rhodes. Do you remember in, um, it might have been different in Canada. You remember in, in grade school you had like the thought bubble and you put one thought and then you draw the line. Of course. And what was that called?

There was a fancy word for whatever it is. No. Flowchart, no. Something, but you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, of course. Whoever's listening to this. If this goes up on social media, please let us know what it. They're going to go, these guys are idiots.

It's clearly called the... The bleh. But I think of... Thought bubble? Thought bubble. Thought bubble. It's just called thought bubble. That might not be it.

I was going to say octopus, but I don't think that makes sense. I have all the world's information here. You got to take out the Google machine. Let's see. But if you can take one thought and put it in the middle and take all these little lines out and all these other different thoughts and then have 15, 16 different things that are tying back. Yeah.

To one, when you have the ability to do that and tell all those stories in six minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes, that is what is cool. I know a lot of people want to hear the moves and the moves are cool. Yeah. And but you can call those moves by telling a story as well. So it took me a while to really learn the art of storytelling, which is no different than you on a red carpet, breaking down Tom Cruise of why was this so important? important. How was the stunts? You know, why was it your mission, no pun intended, to get this movie out there? What was the culmination of Maverick? You know, and there's all sorts of stories for that. There's a journey from Top Gun to Top Gun Maverick and for all these missions. So,

I think everything's a story. What's your favorite Tom Cruise film? Oh, Top Gun. Top Gun Maverick? Top Gun the original. I actually think Maverick's better than the original. I don't want to give about spoilers. But if McKenzie wasn't sitting with me, I would have cried. When he goes up with Rooster, and I'm getting emotional now, I think about it. And it goes, he goes, sorry, Goose. And it goes, done. I almost lost it.

The scene with ice is, yeah, it's just, that's powerful act. Very powerful. Especially because Tom Cruise carried that scene. This is such a strange pick. It's a sleeper pick, but vanilla sky. Ooh, I will throw my honorable mention out there because I've watched it just as much. Rock of Ages.

Wow. That is a deep cut. Rock of Ages because it's Tom Cruise, it's 80s music. And he's giving it. He is. Isn't Kevin Nash in that film? Kevin Nash is in that film? But you think like Julian Huff's in that film.

Baldwin's in that film. There's also so many mainstream, Mary J. Belige's in that film. There's so many, you know, big-named celebrities that are in there that I go Top Gun, I would go Rock of Ages, and then I'd go Maverick. But I used to own all his DVDs.

Wow. When DVDs was a thing. That's how old. I love his stretch when he was really trying for an Oscar. So we're going like Jerry McGuire, Magnolia, Vanilla Sky. Oh, gosh. The one where he has the gray hair with Jamie Fox. Collateral damage.

Collateral. Or collateral, I'm sorry. I loved that stretch of Tom Cruise. Loved that. Do you go back and watch his old stuff? Like all the right moves? Born on the 4th of July? That's like, yeah, of course I've seen them.

But Tom Cruise to me is that, like, I didn't really start watching Tom Cruise films until I was in my teens, like maybe 12, 13, 14. Man, I wore the tape out of Top Gun where it broke. Like, you had to rewind it so much that it got so thin that my mom would have to go buy me another Top Gun movie because I would just watch down a loop over and over and over like Days of Thunder. Days of Thunder, Top Gun, Risky Business. They're all great films. I didn't really watch a lot of movies as a kid that weren't like Aladdin, you know,

Lion King. I mean, I did that too, but. Blank Check. Oh, Blank Check was a good one. What a film. Blank Check actually, it was like Richie Rich. You know, that was another good one too. I watched, that was Ace Ventura for me.

I watched Ace Ventura like crazy. Ace Ventura was another one that I watched. Ace Ventura. A detective. But would you let your daughter when she's five watch Ace Ventura? No. You won't share those movies? I rewatched it now and I went,

this movie would not be made. I watched me, myself, and Irene the other day. It just happened to me on TV. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you can't say that. There's a lot. And I love that that movie exists. I love Ace Ventura, but they would not be, it wouldn't be made now.

No, but I, I love the whole Tom Cruise, like even the movies he's got coming out. Even when he plays small bit parts. Me too. Like Tropic Thunder. So good. Who thought Tom Cruise was going to come out and start doing, you know, the dancing and the moving around.

round and Diet Coke and no one thought that he was going to do that. And it is, it is, I'm just going to go on record. It is a damn shame he hasn't won more awards. I was, I was actually sad that Top Gun Maverick didn't win more this year. The other films were great. It won sound. That was it. That's all won.

At the Oscars. The fact that we sit here right now and Tom Cruise is not an Oscar winner is, is pretty really bad. It should have been Magnolia. He should have won an Oscar for Magnolia. Born on the 4th of July, he could have won something. for if you want to go back that far. He could have, but I think the Oscars are so much about legacy,

and he was such a young actor at that time that they go, hey, great performance, kid. See you next year. Let's see what else you can do. I would like to petition that an Oscar needs to be renamed after Tom Cruise at some point. He hasn't even won one yet, though. But that's my, if he doesn't win one, something's got to be named. He's too good of an act.

He'll win an honorary one day. He's got to win one. But I think he'll win one. I hope you post this clip because one of the coolest things ever was I tweeted that I was going to see Top Gun Maverick and Top Gun Maverick liked the tweet. I actually took a, like, a photo of it that I had. Like, that's like the top. You know, if you follow Tom Cruise on Twitter, he'll probably follow you by. I follow him for a little bit. I tweeted him a few times. I got no love. Oh. I had unfollow. I mean, he follows like 400,000 people or something. I wasn't cool enough.

Maybe now that I have a blue check, but everyone has a blue check market at this point. I have a question to you, though, about the movies. Okay. Realistically. We sat there and watched the Oscars this year. This is going to go way off topic. I'm probably blowing people right now that have probably tuned out of the podcast. No, never. Does it upset you when you watch the Oscars and you go this movie won

and then you go look it up and it only gross $20 million and all these other ones were mega blockbusters? How does that sit with you as someone who has done more red carpets and covered more movies than me? It's difficult because the people that are voting on the

Oscars are seeing everything. And they've got a very distinct taste of what makes something a quote-unquote Oscar film. So I vote in the Critics Choice Awards. So I'm very fortunate to be able to see films before they come out. Yeah. And I go to the Critics Choice Awards every year. That's like the Heisman Trophy. It's pretty cool. So like I see 150 movies a year or something like that, like a silly amount. I get sent the DVDs at the screeners in the mail all the time. I would say that you can't just make a movie an Oscar contender just because it was a popular film. But they've got it wrong a lot of times. And like, you could Google all the ones where it's like, this should have won instead of that. But one of the biggest ones in recent memory that stands out

is when the social network didn't win best picture. But the king's speech did. No one is talking about the king's speech here now a decade later. And it should be a movie that is a movie of that time. Like, the social network, when that came out, was a movie that was describing the era that we were living in. And it was like, it was so pertinent to a movie. was happening. Sure, the King's Speech had beautiful performances. Was it a little long? Yes, of course it was. But I just think that they get it wrong frequently. That is interesting, because we sat back and we're really looking at the movies this year. Did you not like everything everywhere all at once? I didn't even know it was a movie. That movie is brilliant.

That movie might be the closest to a quote unquote mainstream movie that's one in a while. We tried to watch one of them the other day, but we had to up. our subscription on something. But no, so we don't get out watch a lot of movies, though, is the thing. Unless it's, we watch a lot of bluey when the kids are around, and we watch a lot of Disney Plus. But when we go

to the movie theater, we just once saw Creed 3. Like, again, we don't go often. Yeah. But we've at least heard of some of these movies. Like, sometimes you, you're going, what's tar? Yeah. You hear the artist. But then when you watch the Grammys, you're like, wait a minute, who won?

Who's this? And, I've always thought it was, I thought you'd have a little bit more of a look at it than I would because you have more to do with the industry. So hearing it from your perspective makes a lot more sense. To bring this all full circle of everything we've talked about in this conversation, everything everywhere all at once is ties into that whole idea of passion and chasing dreams. And when this thing happens, it means that this thing happens. It's a movie all about like multiple universes and all these different things that are occurring at the same time. and you decided to go this way with your career. Well, that other version of you in the multiverse

kept going this way. And then that split off to another version in the multiverse. And that split off to another version. And there's thousands of different versions of you that are existing based on all the choices that you've ever made in your life. It is a wild thing that people can sit there and make a movie about that and think about it,

write it all out. And that's another thing that goes back to passion because somebody had to have the passion to put forward the project. Yeah. So I end every conversation talking about gratitude. You've mentioned it a few times

during this conversation, which I love. I wake up every day. I say out loud, everything I'm grateful for, three things I'm grateful for. And now I end every interview with that. So what are three things in your life

that you're grateful for right now? One, my wife, she has made me a better person even when you knew me 15 years ago, you know, the strides I've made personally, professionally, because of her wanting to be better for her, be better for our family.

So she's obviously number one. She probably could be one, two, and three, but I'll leave her at one. Two is David and Brooklyn, my son and daughter. Because without them, those like learning things as a parent where you're like, don't do that. And then you think, oh, man, I used to do that. Like, you don't want to be overbearing, but it also adds a layer to you as a human because you want them to learn, but you want to protect.

them, but you know you can't protect them, but you try your best to guide them. Right. And so right now I'm trying to guide them more so, David, of passion and what do you love to do? But they're doing things such as hockey, like we talked about, that I never would have thought in a million years he would have ever gotten into hockey. I would have thought football, basketball, baseball, not hockey. I mean, especially since. Yeah. It's such a Canadian sport. It is not a Cleveland thing, you know. So the ability. that they are still showing me something new but through their eyes is really cool and touching.

And the third thing, and I want to take it away from family, is I'm grateful for the opportunity every Tuesday to come into your home wherever you watch WDWB programming. Because as a fan, a lot of people don't know this too, I have been to every WrestleMania

since a WrestleMania 23, whether it was as a fan with the company or calling a match. Wow. And I remember sitting in the seats and standing outside of the arena and seeing the bus drive by and thinking I'm going to be on that bus one day. But if it wasn't for those that tweet me, right or good or bad, follow me, say hi to me or watch the product and buy a piece of merchandise, I wouldn't have the life that I have. I wouldn't have the career that I have. I wouldn't have my wife if it wasn't for the fans of the WWE, which, by the way, I am still a major fan of the WW even though I'm here.

So I'd say those are the three things that I'm grateful for is my wife, my kids, and the opportunity to come into your house every Tuesday. And I just want to acknowledge you. You've had a clear goal of what you wanted to attain, and you worked your ass off to be where you're at right now. and as a friend, I'm so proud of you. Thank you. And I hope that you're also proud of the steps that you've taken and what you're doing now.

Let's not make it another 10 years to do this. No. You know what? Let's say it right now on the air. Let's go to a Browns game together this year. I'll meet you in Cleveland. Well, I'll have to, well, wait a minute. Now, hold on a second.

Are you going to have to put a button in that? Because what if your daughter's born, you're not going to leave your kids? My daughter's going to be born in May. So maybe June, July, August. Maybe you go to a November game? So you got like five, six months. You can get away. Yeah.

So they'll be home. And you know what? I can bring the kids. You, McKenzie can come meet you for the first time. Really bummed. She's not here. Maybe I can bring her to the baby. And you know what?

I'll call Dan Murphy the PR at the Browns. He's still there. I'm sure I get us a great hookup with a row of seats. Amazing. Thank you for having me. Thank you. So good to see you. I'm still shocked you sending that text.

And by the way, I owe you a followback. You do. And a post. Wow. My gift. Okay. So good to have Vic on the show and to hear his story. there and I mean just to catch up on everything in the various different topics we were talking about

there. Plants and Tom Cruise and the Oscars, all that stuff. He is crushing it right now as the voice of NXT, but I have a feeling. Just between you and me, I have a feeling he's going to be the voice of Raw at some point soon. I don't know what my definition of Soon is, but I think that at some point, he's just so talented. And his work, I know, is not going unnoticed both by fans and by everybody behind the scenes. So let us know that you were listening to this episode. Snap a screenshot, tag us. He's at Vic Joseph, W.E. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And if you're not following the show already, please take a second to click follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this. And I thought that this quote from Robert F. Smith was just so fitting.

for so many of the themes of what we were talking about during this conversation. Don't wait your turn. Bet on yourself and have the confidence to stand up and say, my time is now. Be great. Be grateful. Have an amazing weekend. We will with our little girl here.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. 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.

You've been warned.