Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ivar's Return From A Career-Threatening Injury, Getting Paralyzed In A Match, War Raiders Are Back!

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Ivar (@Ivar_WWE) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his recent return to WWE from injury, getting temporarily paralyzed in a match, returning as The War Raiders instead of the Viking Raiders, how he made it to WWE, the comedy segments with The Street Profits, being a part of an independent show with John Cena and Vince McMahon and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "A real loser is somebody that is so afraid of not winning, they don't even try." Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? 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

Chris the Greetings and salutations, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's me, the three numbers in the back of your credit card, CVV, Chris Vanley. Thanks for being with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Climb up onto something, not too high, but climb up onto something. Lay your phone down and hit a moonsault on that.

follow button so you don't miss out on anything that we have coming up. And if you're feeling really generous, hit a moonsault on that subscribe button on both of my YouTube channels. The main one where you see the video of these interviews and then the CVV clips channel where we have the most interesting clips from all of these interviews. That one, the clips channel, is fast approaching a million subscribers. I would hope that you're already one of them. But if not, get that moonsault out. Smash it down on that subscribe button. There is still a an extremely limited amount of tickets that are available for the first ever in sight live. It's happening the day before the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis.

As we predicted last week, Smackdown is officially happening that night. And to answer the question, I've had this a few times. Yes, there is plenty of time to go to both. In fact, I encourage you to go to both. You can go to my show. It starts at 5 p.m. And then literally across the street. That's where Smackdown's happening at the Gainesbridge Fieldhouse.

so plenty of time to do both. And my goodness, what a Friday night in Indianapolis. That is going to be. Ivar is back on the show. Ivar is back in the ring. Viking Raiders are no more. War Raiders are officially back. So much has happened since Ivar was last on the show in April.

He suffered a very serious, very scary injury in the ring in May, one that came really close to ending his career. He talks about all of that and also just the realization of how quickly all of this could be taken away. But it's great that he's healed up and he's back in the ring. And just great to catch up with him. I love that he was able to come into the studio for this. And it just, it seems to me like war raiders are on the verge of becoming the tag team champions again here very soon. Also, he tells an amazing story about Vince McMahon.

making an appearance at an indie show way back in the day that he was working. That John Cena was announced to be part of this as a special guest referee. Vince McMahon surprised everybody. Like, nobody knew he was going to be there. And surprised everybody. It's an amazing story. I can't wait for your reaction to this story. Send us a screenshot that you've listened to this episode and tag us.

He's at Ivar underscore WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. and here we go. Please welcome, Ivar. Good to see you again. Good to see you too. And welcome into the studio. Yeah, thank you.

It's really, it's something. Pretty good, right? Yeah, it's not a weird-looking stage. That was fun, though. It was fun, it was fun, but it was a weird-looking stage, very intimate setting. Yeah. How are you feeling? I feel good.

How are you feeling after the neck injury? I mean, so someone just asked me this recently, and I said, not as good as I want to feel, but better than I should feel. Okay. So good enough to be working. Yes, definitely. I feel good. I feel good.

Did you get to a point with it where you weren't sure if you were going to be able to return? Yeah. So, uh, um, so it started in Brooklyn before, uh, wrestling and me and Rickshay had a match. and I took a European uppercut. And I felt like a, I was like, whoa, did like a system check. I'm like, oh, okay, I'm okay.

I'm all right. And then after that, I was doing main event, raw, NXT, NXT, coconut shows. I was doing some Smackdown dark stuff. I was just on everything. And then it got to that match with Oba, Oba Femi, the North American Championship in the NXT. and we got to the second half that match

and I just lost all strength in my right arm and I couldn't pick him up so I just started calling audibles in the ring where I wasn't going to pick him up we made a for the match and that was that and the whole time we were checking on medical to see how I was doing

and then after that match I was like okay that's kind of that's no good and then I went to like discovery cove that week with my wife just to be like I need to I need to break like a reset. Usually when we do vacation things, it's go, go, go. I'm like, I need something where I can just relax

and just see how I'm doing. You did like an animal trek thing where you interact with a parrot. I held my arm up for the parrot to come over and I couldn't hold my arm up. So that was immediately MRI. I told a Bue and I can get MRI right away. And then

we got the results back. And that was it. I read the results. I'm like, okay, this is this is probably the end of your career. to the point where they handed me mental health pit, mental health pitwork to kind of get that rolling. Because I already had the double fusion. So if we're talking about another level fusion,

because the MRI showed I had another herniated disc in my neck, the level above. So I had two levels. C5, six, seven, they're all fused together. This was C4-5, so the one directly above. Right. Another fusion would probably be ended in my career. So yeah, we're there, we're preparing me for the worst for when I went to see my insurgent. And my surgeon had read the result in the MRI and pretty much felt the same way that this was, this was it.

But when I saw for five days, I think this is, this is it. It's over with. I flew close to the sun and the wings melted and that's it. Like Icarus. Yeah, exactly. But when I saw him in Birmingham. him five days later and he actually had the disc for the MRI and he he read the results for the MRI himself. He's like, okay, we can work with this.

Really? Yeah. So with my original injury, I did the suicide dive and my head got pushed back into my disc exploded into my spinal cord, which caused the temporary paralysis and then pretty much emergency. Fusion surgery after that. But this one, the herniation happened. Instead of shooting in towards the cervical cord, it went out away from it. So he was pretty sure we could probably, because my symptoms were too bad, we could probably rehab it without having to do surgery. And if we did have to do surgery, he knew a different surgeon who would go in through the back and just shave the herniation down arthroscopically, which wouldn't require fusion.

So he said on multiple occasions that I dodged a very big bullet. So it goes from your career is over on paper as you're being handed this to five days later. I think we can work with this. Yeah. It was quite an emotional week. Yeah, I bet. It's almost like you got another opportunity here. It isn't almost.

I do have an opportunity. And it's the theme of my career, right? It keeps happening where things happen. And it's, oh, it's a career injury. And it's like, oh, wait a minute. Maybe not. And I'm just, I'm lucky. I'm on my, not my ninth life.

I'm, I've, I'm well past that. I'm on my, my 12th life, pretty much. Is this just sheer luck? Or is it that you've got enough muscle mass on you that you somehow avoided the injury? No, it's luck. It's luck. I mean, we're talking 23 years of, uh, of wrestling. It's a lot of wear and tear in the body.

So, uh, and especially. So with the original neck injury, that was really a freak accident and something down a thousand times. And, you know, the thing happened. And that had to deal with then. When was that? That was 20-20. So that was COVID. And when you say temporary paralysis in the ring during the Thunderdome era, or talking seconds, are we talking minutes?

So seconds for feeling. Like you couldn't feel anything. Yeah, so I dive out of the ring. Someone's hand gets me in the face. It pushes my head back. And you watch it and you can't even tell that's what happened. And then the disc exploded right into my spinal cord. And I fall and I hit the mat.

So when I fall, a lot of people thought that I hurt my legs on the dive because when the hand hits me, I lose everything. Body, I have no control over anything. So my legs just hit the ground. There's no nothing. Boom. But then I managed to roll over, but I couldn't feel anything. So I knew this is COVID. This is no one's ringside.

No fans are ringside. No medical's ringside. No nothing. And I knew they were going to the finish in the ring. And I needed to tell somebody I was hurt. I knew the ref wasn't to come out and check on me because they were going to the finish in the ring. So I went to put my hands at the X.

It's the signal that I'm hurt. I need medical out here. Yeah. And I didn't feel my arms at all. So I go back and watch the footage and my arms move. I do a little X, but I couldn't feel that. Couldn't feel it all. Couldn't feel my legs, nothing.

And then as the medical came out and stuff, I started getting crazy burning sensation in my legs. And then I started getting crazy burning sensation in my arms and stuff. So the feeling started to come back. But it was just, I was riddled with nerve pain. And then it was off to the ambulance. I did manage to ask talent relations for a raise on. my way. Didn't happen.

But I thought it was a good opportunity. While we're here. But yeah, but then that was crazy. That whole thing was crazy because there's COVID. So no one could get in the ambulance with me. Went to the hospital. No one could come in to see me.

Oh, man. There's a whole bunch of people who came to the hospital. They couldn't get in. Tag partner, obviously, the ref who have known for so long, Ruff Bennett. Jason Jordan came. He was the producer, like, just trying to check me. But they couldn't even get into the,

the hospital. Not even the waiting room. They couldn't even because of the COVID. We're in the middle of COVID. So it was kind of a crazy whole, I mean, obviously it's crazy experience, but it made it double like amplified because of the

situation that we were all in. So the one that happened this year before WrestleMania, that's a broken neck too? No. Well, it's hernia. So it's not a broken neck. I think it's the easiest way to describe it is a broken neck for someone who doesn't know. Yeah.

But, you know, your anatomy and stuff. But you have your neck and you have discs in between the vertebra. Yeah, they're like shock absorbers pretty much. The way my surgeons grabbed it, like jelly donuts that are in between these vertebrae, and those can get squished or pop. And the jelly comes out. Jelly comes out, exactly.

And for me, in that scenario, the first injury, the jelly went out into my spinal cord, which is why I was so messed up. And my surgeon loves when I go to see him, he always, he brings me out to the hallway, pulls up my, my old MRI, and then he's like, this is what your neck used to look like.

This is what looks like now. And then he'll call people over. And they're like, oh, because it's, it's pretty amazing that I've been able to return from such a horrific injury. Yeah.

There's, I mean, there's nobody on the roster now who has a double fusion neck surgery. I've heard so many wrestlers say, if you have the option to get fused, don't. Why did it make sense in your situation?

I didn't have a choice. there was no option because the disc had exploded into my spinal cord. So I had pressure pushing on my spinal cord, which is what gave me all the nerve pain. That's why I had temporary paralysis. As the swelling kind of eased up a little bit, I was able to get the feeling back as things kind of went back in. But because they were so damaged, they were going to permanently push on my spinal cord. So that would have been the end of my career, number one. would have been horrific for my quality of life.

Yeah. Because I wouldn't be able to do anything. It was hard enough to get an approval to get a flight from Orlando to Birmingham to get the surgery with that surgeon. That specific surgeon. I don't think the people in Orlando wanted to do it. So I was lucky and got the flight. But yeah, I didn't really have much of a choice.

So where's your quality of life out right now? So I'm pretty good. Now, to be like, to be fair, I do have permanent nerve damage. and nerve pain in my hands. And that will never go away. That's something I live with. But as far as like everything else, like I got all my, most of my mobility back to my neck.

It's a little stiff now because I have another herniation. But I still have very good range of motion. I credit that to yoga pretty much. And then all my strength is returned to my arm. So I, and I have no problems there. So it's really just the nerve pain right now from the original injury that I have that's permanent. But I have good days and bad days. Some days I can't feel it.

It goes down my arm a little bit. And some days I can't feel at all. It kind of all depends. But quality life, I feel pretty good. We've got another chance now. Like to go from you thought your career was over to being able to wrestle again, to be back as the war Raiders again. It's almost like a rebirth here.

Yeah, it is. When I had this opportunity to the singles run and it was going well. I had a conversation with Triple H where he said, hey, how about we started like pulling back off of the heavy Viking stuff slowly, just so slowly peeling some of those layers off. So we can tell more stories with you. I'm like,

oh, that's great. So as we started to do that, I got hurt again. And then Eric and I were ready to come back. And I think we were actually scheduled to return in Calgary. a Calgary Raw. And I know the one Brad Hart was at. Yes.

Yeah. At the last second, uh, they pulled our travel said that we're going to hold off for now. Like, oh man. Here we go. Um,

and they're like, no, we're, nothing bad. We just want to hold off. We want to have better creator for you. And then the next week, we got a phone call.

Hey, how do you guys feel like coming back as the war raters? And we're like, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that sounds good. That sounds really good.

And it's like, it's full on war raiders. It's like you've got, you've got the shirt on. So you've got, you got merch, you got, yeah, pulls the beard to the side. Yeah, I got a show. Yeah. And it's the old entrance theme. Like, it's like you guys are back.

It's not like we are. Yeah. We are. And it's awesome. It feels really good. I can't remember the last time I could really go out there and be myself. Not that I disliked the Viking stuff. And I think it's still a big part of who we are.

We still have a lot of the Viking culture stuff on our best. on our gear. I mean, we're still war raiders. Raider is a Viking. So that's still a part of us. But it's nice to be like, this is like our, this is our culture,

and we respect our culture, and we draw from inspiration from the Vikings of the past, but we're not shoved it down your throat. It's just who we are. And here we are. Was there talk of you guys getting your original names back? Yeah, I think there was some discussion.

You were Hanson when you came out. Yeah, yeah. I think at this point, we spent five years in the main roster is Eric and Ivar and that's especially with the Ivar singles run that's that's how we're known I think that would have it would have felt like in a race of everything we've done and I don't think we want to erase everything that we've done on the main roster we've done some great things including singles run including our our raw tag title run that we had all the stuff that we did with the the street profits whether people liked it or not like it's still it's our history and uh I love every second of it. I don't think we want to erase that from the fans. Not only are War Raiders back. You guys had vignettes promoting your return.

Like, vignettes were such a big thing when we were younger. And now they're starting to creep their way back in. And I like that when they started to tease that you guys were back, it started to create this excitement so that when you did return, it was like, boom, here it is. Yeah. we've been fortunate to do a fair many vignettes over the course of the years that we've been here. But this one felt so special because of the things that both Eric and I have been through because he also had a medication surgery.

So to both be able to come back from these injuries and be back together and be presented in the way that we feel like we can have an emotional connection with the audience finally and tell them who we are and the stories that we're. we've been through of our lives. I think that is, uh, it's, it's very special. No fur, no face paint. This is who we are. We're coming for what's ours. So, who are you guys? Well, what, what a question. What a question. There are a lot of people that may only be familiar with the Viking Raiders. Yeah, who, who are we? Um, you know, ultimately it comes down to it. We're a couple of badass dudes. That's,

That's like, that's the elevator pitch, that's the elevator pitch. We're a couple of big, badass dudes with beards. But, I mean, we have a, we're real people. And we have a very long history in the wrestling business. And I've been around for a long time. And I've had a lot of fights. We're battle tested, battle worn. And I think we both have stared, worked.

mortality in the face. Me with that neck injury where I was temporarily paralyzed, him with that motorcycle accident where he should have died back in 2014. And then we were staring at the face of the mortality of our wrestling careers. Whereas what we're doing, it's not

infinite. It will end. And that's been shoved in our face. And to know that now and how deep we are into our careers, Every time we go to the ring, it could be our last. At least that's what we believe. And it could be true. So when we go to the ring, we go to the ring and we give it our all.

And we're not here to do backstage vignettes and do ha ha, ha, funny stuff. We're here to kick ass and take names and become the tag team champions and cement our legacy in history. No man wants to lose his hair, but for men, it's actually pretty common. And now with Hymns, the solution is simple. Try Hymns' hair loss solutions, and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands of subscribers who got their flowback. HIMS provides access to a range of hair loss treatments that work,

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There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. The way that you work in the ring is amazing because you're really redefining what it means to be a big man. And when someone meets you and shakes their hand, they're like, man, this is a much bigger guy than like, you look big on TV. But when you stand next to a regular-sized human, you're huge. where does this idea come from for you of like being a big man looking like a big man but not working like one i think so when i came up it was uh i started in 2001 uh and i mean just think

think of the evolution of the wrestling business over the course of the last 25 years absolutely such a crazy evolution uh but when i came up it was very much uh you stayed in your lane you Big guy is a big guy, small guy, small guy, and so on and so forth. And that's how we trained. I would go to the ring. My warmups, when I get in the ring, used to be like hit the ropes four times and do a forward roll, a back bump or into the corner, do Rick Flair to the apron, do a springboard into the ring and then do like a digiery hands ring back elbow back to my feet. That doesn't warm up just because I was goofing off. Yeah.

I was just good like, yeah, I'm big and heavy and whatever, but I can do this stuff, so I'm goofing off. I never did any of that stuff on shows. Never, never did any dives, never did any. Suicide dives, never did any. Moon salts, like, I know I could do them, but I just never did them on shows because I was a big dude and it was weird. I didn't want to be the guy like, hey, you mind taking this moonsol? I know I'm 300 pounds, but whatever. But I don't know.

As, as wrestling evolved and I'm just watching like. These are things that I can do. Why am I not doing? I can do them. I can do them safely. It's cool. It's pretty awesome. And it's pretty spectacular to see somebody in my size do that stuff.

So I wanted to kind of break that mold and be different than everyone else in standout. What's the move you do that you think makes people say, wow, the most? So I think it's the moon salt. But sometimes it's the tigiri. times it's the forward roll to the floor. I mean, it kind of depends on the situation, but I've learned a lot, like, when I climb up for them, climbing,

climbing the ropes, build so much anticipation. Yeah. And they just don't want to see what's going to happen. Oh my God, he's so big and he's climbing. So I tend to like that stuff the best, because I can feel the anticipation.

I do the hands, and back elbow. It's exciting. And it's shocking. Yeah. But that anticipation wasn't there before. So I feel like, for, I know, for me, it's better when I do the climb and that people are anticipating.

When you talk about the fragility of where your career is at at this stage of the game, it's so interesting because nobody thinks about this when they get into it, right? When they're 20 years old or 18 years old or whatever and they're starting to train, nobody thinks about the end. When does it start to creep in for you? When do you start to think about like, this has a lot less years in front, right? Yeah. I never thought about it once until the original neck injury.

It never crossed my mind. And that was the moment where I was like, oh, wow, at any moment this could be over with. And it was questionable then if it was over, you know? We weren't sure if I was able to come back from that. But I did. So, like, that was when it first crept into my mind. And I did an interview, Mainea Weekend, where I had said just that. Like, I don't know what my last match is going to be.

So when I go to the ring, I treat it as if it's my last match, because I don't know. And then ironically, when I said that, I currently had another herniated disc and didn't know it yet. So, I don't know. It didn't creep into my head until I was 20 years in the wrestling. It's pretty wild. You had some early opportunities with WWA. Oh, yeah. Doing like a lot of extra work.

Yeah. Like mid-2000s-ish, right? Yeah. Did any of those ever lead to something that could have been a bigger opportunity? So, I mean, there were a lot of what-ifs, I guess. But I did actually work from 2003, 2010. Where were some spots we would see you? First one, Goldberg, Spears, Rosie, through the guardrail.

It might have been the first through the guardrail spot that was ever done. And they had us all planted in the crowd just in case the bearer came down on somebody or if people wanted to charge, we'd be there to hold them back. That was my first one. I got in Haydnreich's face on Smackdown once. He's reading a poem in the ring, and remember the crowd,

I got yelled at him. He came out, and the crowd got my face and attacked me. It was a druid before a cop a few times. A druid for Undertaker? Oh, yeah. Survivor series. I remember what year when he wrestled the Big Show.

So we had to bring a casket out, then he got destroyed. I had Big Show destroyed it. Then we had to bring a second casket out onto the, onto the ramp, top of the ramp. And Big Show got put in that. Then we had to carry Big Show off in the casket. It was a heavy casket. Yeah, pretty, pretty wild.

That's probably an oversized gasket too. Oh, yeah. Well, I double T. Yoko Zoon style. And then I did like Velocity, where I wrestled Doug Basham. It's a fun episode you ever find it like me and Doug Basham and Tomaso and Jamie

Noble. That was like the first I'd done a dark match before that but that was the first time like we talked to like Johnny Ace afterwards because Tomaso was kind of on the radar from doing the Undertaker

the lawyer thing for Muhammad Hassan at that point in time so I talked to him saying to me at that point in time you remind me of a fat RVD just keep getting in better shape. Okay, thank you. And I was, in the time, I was like 260.

Like I wasn't, I wasn't like I am now. And that other opportunity is kind of like that. I had wrestle on Smackdown against Turkai. I remember coming back through the guerrilla and Vince stood up and he shook my hand and said, thank you. That was great. You did a great job, whatever. And I left and like, I got a job.

I didn't have a job. It didn't, didn't, no one mentioned anything in me after that. But I thought I did for like 10 minutes. There were a lot of, a lot of, we so, it's crazy. We were retrained, chaotic wrestling. Coach Mike Hollow always had a line to WWE. And we'd always have whoever was in charge of hiring people come in for training camp. So for a long time, it was Dr. Tom Pritchard, that it was Tommy Dreamer, then it was

Mike Bucci, Nova. We even had John Ace come a couple times to the school. We had a tryout at our school. That's where Kofi got signed out of that. All the producers came to our school and stuff. So we always had a connection with the VVV. What Mike Halle was trying to do from the moment I met him and that Keata Training Center was built,

they wanted to be developmental to developmental. So their pitch to the office was always, you know, pay for some guys to train here instead of paying them however much to have moved to OVW or wherever it was at the time and be under a full, full development contract. I have them come here first for cheaper. Yeah. See if they work, you know, the color within lines, if they have potential instead of doing the full investment. Sounds like what's going on right now with WWEID. Yes. As soon as I heard it announced, and then you look at all the schools that were announced,

and I think the only school that's not either a current, the movie superstar runs it or a legend. Yeah, Hall of Fame. It's the one in New Hampshire, which is Mike Carlos. Wow. He's the only one. And he was the head trainer for Killer Kualski for many years, too. Yeah, so I think it's pretty amazing that he's finally,

after all these years, gotten that opportunity. Yeah. To I wish that that program, it's like we tried for many years to get that program to work, and it didn't, it didn't work. And now it finally does. I wish we had it back in the day, so I'd have to go through as many years as I did grinding. So I'm really happy for all the guys for getting these WIDID deals. I think it's going to be a really good opportunity for them and a good foundation for the Indies going forward.

But anyway, back to your original question. we had Tommy Dreamer in for camps. I remember Tommy Dreamer telling me, you're just too good. Okay. Yeah, what are you supposed to say to that? Okay, what do I do? And I just, I think years later,

I kind of figured out that it sounds kind of egotistical when I said, but I think you're trying to tell me that I was too smooth in the ring for how I look. And if I do things too smooth, then it kind of looks effortless, it kind of loses the magic of it. So it's, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, too polished. Too polished. I was just too smooth and it didn't fit. Like when you watched me, it didn't fit. Because I kind of got this feedback from Vince at one point two on the main roster. It's like, oh, okay, I started to understand now. So you want me to be worse is what you're saying? Yes, but I mean, that's what it sounds like on the surface, but that's not what it means.

What is this? Be clunky? No, no, more rugged, more, more impactful, more vicious, more new vicious Viking rich. You know what I mean? Like, just more gritty. Not worse. Not worse. But I think, like, on the surface, you hear that, like, I don't me to be worse.

I'm too good. Too good. Don't we decide? What was that mean? No, it just, that grittiness, the grittiness of. Is it that you're working like a cruiser weight? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, it is. So it's me, and it's me trying to find the balance of what it should look like. And it's an ongoing, it's an ongoing thing. So if you're so close for so long, every time the WWE is in your area,

you're getting called, you're an extra, you're part of a segment. Did you get to a point where you're like, this isn't going to happen? Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, big time. It was 2011. I hurt my shoulder. I went in for shoulder surgery. It was supposed to be like a little cleanup job. And when they opened me up, the surgeons decided to look where I was complaining my pain was in my shoulder and discovered that my labrum was over 60% blown out. Completely blown out. So that's all he did.

He was supposed to shave down bones, spur, do a couple of things, didn't do any of that stuff. He just did the labor room. So everything else is still wrong in that shoulder. Of course. Nice. But then I was just deep depression. like I'm just, this isn't going to happen. I've failed so many times.

It's just not going to happen. But I love wrestling and I want to, uh, leave my mark on this somehow and not just for having, you know, small roles and people's success, their young success. Like we talked last time like Kofi and Sasha Banks and Samaso and so on and so forth. Um,

I wanted to leave some sort of legacy. So I'm like, all right. I got to go to Ring of Honor. That's the only other place at that point. time the only other place I can go is, was Ring of Honor. So I, I juice fasted. I don't know if we

discussed that last time I was on. So when I had hurt my shoulder, I was like, 350 or something like that. Yeah, 350. And I juice fasted the while I was I, juice fast and did DDPY

for months from my rehab. And I lost 90 pounds. Wow. And I was in the, grew the beard, it's how to grow the beard out and just evolve who I was as a wrestler and just give my all at Ring of Honor. I did a tryout camp there in 2013. And I think I was wearing a single at the time.

But my stomach didn't look too flattering in the single. Even though I'd lost all the weight, they were just kind of loose skin or whatever. And Delirious, who was the Booker at the time, he got the idea to have me wear something to cover up my midsection. And that was kind of the genesis of the war belt that I wear, which took me on this path into the Viking culture going forward. So out of that camp 2014, top prosper tournament comes around. and names were going to announce for it. Like, there's eight people,

seven names were announced. I'm like, I guess it's just, this isn't going to happen. And then I get an email. Hey, we want you for the tournament. So I was like,

they didn't contact me for the tournament until they already announced the other seven. I was like, oh, wow. Last second. So then I hopped in that tournament. You know, Eric and I wrestled in the finals.

I won. I'm very serious about always mentioning that. But then we became a tag team. And that was where I found out that Eric loves Vikings. So we really were able to bond and mesh up in that regard. And I think at that point, we were a team for a minute. He had the motorcycle accident. I got the singles push.

Then he came back and we were team again. I think when he came back and we became the team again, we both kind of looked at the landscape and we had similar experiences with WV similar failures where it looks like you know we're good enough

but they're just not taking our body type or whatnot in 6-2-240 thing that was going on in that time frame like it was very hard to get in so we're looking at the landscape of wrestling and we're like what if we just go all in on being a tag team

there aren't too many teams out there like teams that are always teams that are just these well-oiled machines on the Indies or even you know in WWV they're just these units that are teams and and they're solidified as that and that's how they they succeed like that that could be our our ticket to um start him in ring of honor to start and I don't know maybe something like like Japan after that so war machine was successful and Ring of Honor, and then it caught the eye of Noah. And we did a little bit with Noah, and New Japan was helping Noah at the time. So then New Japan ended up having us come in and get over there.

And so we were loving life with New Japan Ring of Honor because that was like, all right, we made it, we did it. And then we got the call from the movie. So we had to, we both had to pretty much give up on the goal. and just, I shouldn't say give up because obviously it was always in our hearts. Like that's where we want to be. Yeah. But we had to put it on the back burner and say, let's become successful somewhere else,

as successful as we can get. The other thing happens, great. But let's just be the best that we can be and go from there. And also do it together. And do it together. Yeah. Because up to that point, you were a singles guy and trying to figure, that out, it's interesting that the tag team's what made it click for you. Yeah. And so many people

are on a tag team on the Indies and are like, ah, I've always wanted to be a singles guy. Like, let me do my thing. The tag team's what allowed you to really grow and become the perform you are now. Yeah. I want to pull up this photo here. Oh, God. I want you to tell me, who's this guy? Oh, that's handsome Johnny. Yeah. He's handsome. Yeah. So what I'm doing here. is what I had my robe on and I would pull down and I would do the pop in the peck. Yeah. I love to do this to the fans because it'd be up in my face yelling.

And I would just do that look. Pop in the peck until I sat down and were quiet. Yeah. That's old school hands from Johnny, man. How long have you been growing this beard? It was when I had surgery. So December 1st, 2011 when I started the beard. A razor has not touched your face since 2011?

Well, a razor. So I haven't trimmed it with the exception of going in for neck surgery. That was the only time. To get the insertion. They had to go somewhere in here. It's probably covered up. I can't see it now. I think it went in here.

I think it went in here. Look how long this is. If it wasn't braided or together and I don't even know what you'd call this. This is a fake braid. Everyone thinks it's braided, but it's not just last. I can see, like, looking up close here, you've just kind of like cobbled them together. Yeah. This would touch your belt probably?

Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. It's pretty wild, yeah. Do you ever let it out? Yeah. I mean, when I wrestle. I mean.

And that immediately comes back. Yeah. Got to. Because it's, it's wild. It needs to be tamed. It's, I've been in roller coaches with it.

When it's not tied down, it usually splits in half and goes around my face. Yeah. It has been in my face, too, but it usually splits around. Yeah. One of the best things about you guys returning on Raw was Wade Barrett's commentary. Raw is war.

And it's like, not only are we seeing the war raiders? I fed him that. Oh, I love it. And not only we've seen you guys, not only is it on the Tron behind you, but he's reinforcing it? Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah, it feels good. And it feels like the crowd certainly get behind it too, certainly hear the war chance, which is great.

Every great tag team, though, at some point breaks up and turns on each other. Could you ever see this happening with you and Eric? So, no, I've answered this a few times before. I mean, New Day's having their turmoil now, but for a decade on W.B. Television, New Day's been together and it's never happened. Yet. Yet. So I feel like we're in the same boat.

like we're not going to maybe we can do singles things on the side maybe we don't have a story in the tag division and something opens up for me for the intercontinental title or maybe something opens up for Eric for the speed championship just one one below whatever I'm doing um but like I think we can do things we're both great singles wrestlers uh I don't think anyone realized that until I had this this this recent singles run and he's just as good and it's just the opportunity is there it's great but i don't see us breaking up i don't see it splitting up i think we're always going to be there to support each other what's the match that really put you on the radar recently as a singles wrestler the the one that did it uh it was it was cofi it was the first match with cofi it was the first night that uh ray was out because of his injury and they just gave us that match and they're like a two-sig match right Yeah, and that's why it's because we were supposed to have a two or three falls match. It ended up being the singles match instead of the tag team two out of three falls match,

and they just didn't change our times. So the whole day I'm kind of waiting for the shoot a drop, like, oh, they're going to cut at least four minutes off of this. They must, right, or making a one-second match. I'm waiting. Yeah, yeah. No one's saying anything. So, yeah. And that sometimes, I mean, it sucks that it was at Eric's expense,

but if he didn't get hurt, then we wouldn't have had that opportunity. And sometimes the best things that happen to people are out of situations like that, just unexpected situations that you are prepared for. Necessity or what is it to, I'm going to totally bastardize. You already did? I did. I did. Salt downhill for me.

Invention is the, oh my gosh, you know what I'm saying. I know what I was saying, but I'm going to let you say it. Come on. No, I'm going to let you say it. It would have been so easy for them to go, well, your tag team partner is out. You're also out. Whenever he's ready, you guys can come back together. That's what I thought.

And that's what I told Kofi. Necessity is a mother of invention. There you go. That's what I told Kofi that night. That's what I told Pete. Pete Williams was our producer. I told him the same thing. So we were all just like,

all right, well, let's just go out and have the best match you possibly can have. And that's what we did. And that got me call over to the desk and asked,

hey, you want to stick around and do some single stuff while your partner's out? Yes, sir. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. You mentioned it earlier,

but the fun stuff you guys did, the kind of comedic stuff you guys did in the heart of the lockdowns, some people loved it. And some people went, why are these guys trying to be, you know, something that they're not? How did you feel about that stuff? So, like, it was a, this whole scary time, right? I feel like half the roster just got fired.

You know what I mean? And it was in the lockdown and there's a lot of uncertainty in the whole world. And it was a scary time. And, I mean, we're told we were doing it. it. And at first, I don't know, the first hour or two after, like, we were, we were told, we were like, oh, this is, this is not good. This is like, this is, this is going to be the precursor to you're out of here. This is a lot of times when they take serious characters, or historically, when you've seen serious characters, and then they, they take a really sharp turn into

the comedy stuff. Then they're doing that for a short period time, and then they're gone. We're like, all right, well, this is, this is the hand we're dealt. So let's do the absolute best that we can with it and make sure that they can't, they can't get rid of us because we're so good at what we do. And that's, and that's kind of, kind of what we did. I felt like originally that whole feud, it wasn't for us. It was for the street profits. Because that's, that's their thing, or at least the time, that was their thing.

They're the comedic, funny tag team. So it just felt like everything was for them, which was fine, totally fine. That's just, it is what it is. So it was our job to do the best that we could in that role. And I think we did. I'm actually, I'm, I, something to say, I can watch it back, right? I see memories of it and stuff. Or just randomly running the fans.

It's funny because I've heard a lot of people online talk trash about that stuff. Never one to my face. Who's going to say it to you guys? Who's going to say to my face, though. But I was proud of the fun stuff, the fun stuff that we did. There was some fun stuff like the ninjas, Kirat Tazawa's ninjas. That was our idea.

So, because it was just so ridiculous, right? Everything was so ridiculous. I summoned a turkey leg with my with my hand like Thor like there's some some ridiculous like all bets were off it was COVID all bets were off we're having a good time what um so like and then one thing that was Vince was really adamant on was that through the whole feud we stayed friends these characters stayed friends the whole feud and I don't think I realized it any of us realized it until about halfway through like we What that kind of meant for what we were going through, like, as a nation or as a culture at that point in time where we could put on television these groups of people from different cultures, different backgrounds, different races.

And we're on TV and we're having a friendly competition and we're friends and we're learning about each other in these situations where we're doing. They're throwing axes or we're playing basketball or bowling or whatever the situation was. But through the whole thing, we stayed friends. And it was kind of a trying time for, I mean, the world at that point in time. And I thought what we were doing and didn't pop in any of our heads until about halfway through it. Like, this is actually a very, this is comedy, but it feels very meaningful and something positive to be on television during this time period in the world. So I felt really good about that. I think we all did.

And I mean, back to the ninjas. We're building that cinematic match. And me, me, maybe Dawkins were talking. And Vince was so adamant unless being friends, but we're having this crazy match. We're doing ridiculous things. So we said, well, if we're friends, we should at some point, we should all come together.

and fight a villain. Because if this was a movie, that's like what, if two guys were, two good guys were feuding, and then like there'd be a bad or bad guy who comes in and you take out. So we said ninjas. And then, and thinking that they would say absolutely not, but we got a double, double two thumbs up. Yeah, ninja, we fought ninjas. And we were the Viking prophets. Yeah.

It's so ridiculous. It's fun to go back and watch it now. I think kind of the best and worst thing about the lockdown era is that people aren't going to watch it. Yeah. Because like some of that stuff, it's just, you know, wrestling needs an audience in the same way that a comedian on stage needs an audience. Yes. For something to bounce off of. So I think it's kind of like the best and the worst.

And like you guys made the best of a terrible situation. Absolutely. I loved the decathlon. and I especially love the way you run hurdles. That was one of my favorite parts of the decathlon, I was running through the hurdles. Just smash it right through them.

And I'm thinking I won. Well, you know, we're in such a different era in wrestling now where even if you're signed to a company, you have the ability now, it seems to be able to pop up in other places. And you had this great story of John Cena's only independent run

when he was signed as a WWE superstar. What's your tie to that? So, I saw a video that you had with John, and he mentioned going to his school before his career took off. He was on the main roster, but he thought he was getting fired,

he was coming to his school. He was coming to chaotic wrestling at that point in time. So we'd see him there. And his dad, his dad actually managed, was a manager, Johnny Fabulous on our shows, and the commentary for years,

for years. And so I texted you about that. But then, you know, John made his name for himself. And then at some point in the late 2000s, I want to say 2008, he wanted to do a benefit show. One of his brothers was a police officer. It was in like an accident. He wanted to do a fundraiser for their police department. So he talked to his dad and they contacted chaotic wrestling.

and they said they're going to put on a show, a benefit show, and Vince gave the blessing for John to come in, and also Eugene, who was under contract at the time. So we had this big show, right by West Newberry at a high school, very close to West Newbury,

Massachusetts. And I think I wrestled, I wrestled Eugene on it, which actually the promoter gave me the option. He said, do you want to wrestle in the main event with John Cena as a referee,

or do you want to wrestle Eugene? I'm like, I think I want to wrestle Eugene because I was just such a wrestler at the time. I wanted to have that experience wrestling. And Nick Dinnmore, Nick Ninsmore is known as such a great technical wrestler. Amazing.

So I'm like, yeah, I want to wrestle. And then he, now I look back on it. I know it was weird. He was like, are you sure you want to wrestle? Eugene. Like, yeah, yeah, I want to wrestle Eugene. Okay. So I wrestle Eugene and then the main

event was big Rick Fuller from W.SW fame against Brian Malonis, who's a really good friend of me, Tomaso, Kofi. He was in Ring of Honor for a bit, big, almost 400 pound bonster. They were the main event with John Cena, who was currently the WB champion as the referee. and I remember, I got to rewind a second, I'll get back to it because this is a really good story, too. Johnny Fabulous was Rick Fuller's manager. So John Cena, Sr. John Cena, Senior, Johnny Fabulous. And earlier in the show, he cut a promo.

And this is around 2,500 people at a high school. He goes, now usually, I'm a heel. That's a bad guy. but tonight I'm a baby face that's a good guy and we're watching the monitor in the back I'm sitting next to Eugene

and Sen is like standing up in front of us watching the monitor and when that happens he just turns back to me and Eugene goes my pops is killed in the business and walks off it's such a good a good memory

but main event Rick Fuller Brian Malonis for the Cadet Wrestling Heavyweight Championship with John Sina as the referee, who was the current movie champion. And Sina had Eugene put together the whole back end of the match to do whatever they were going to do, layer it with false finishes and belt shots and whatever. So again, now I'm watching it with Eugene again.

All of us around the monitor, but I just wrestled Eugene, so we're sitting next to each other. And then they start to go into this finish that Eugene called. and then all of a sudden there's a big commotion. They're like, what's going on? And then in the ring appears a figure in a suit. And we're like, what? Vince McMahon. So, and Eugene was totally confused.

Densmore had no idea what was going on because that's not what he called. Cina had him call a whole back end of a match without any Vince McMahon. But Vince got in the ring and he grabs. I think he's face to face with Malonis. I love hearing Malonis tell the story. And it's a picture of Malonis. So he, Moulos is like,

what the? And Vince is like, are he the bait face with the hill? He's like, uh, the pain face of the heel, I'm the heel. And he grabs his hand and he raises his hand.

That picture is a picture somewhere of that with, with Malones. Like, what is going on? And whatever, whatever happened. And, Vince takes the worst attitude adjustment ever, just as bad as that last sonner he took.

So bad. And he rolls under the ring, goes over the guardrail, out to a limo, and takes off. That's it. And nobody knew he was there? The only people who knew were John and the promoter, Jamie. Yeah. Man. Yeah.

And they weren't even sure he was actually going to show up. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure this is the only independent show that Vince has ever been a part of. Wow. Pretty wild. He did that for John. That's amazing. Pretty crazy. Vince's only independent appearance.

Yeah. And you're there. I was there. And I made the decision not to be in the match. But yeah, I was, I was there. Crazy. It was crazy. Man.

It was only 2,500 people, but the audience lost their minds. I remember seeing stuff about it online. I think I remember seeing a headline on some wrestling website. I'm like, there's no way. that's real. Yeah, if it was, Vincent on an independent show, if it was,

that's clickbait. 10 years later, it would have been everywhere. Yeah. But we're still, this is 2007, 2008, so maybe.

Just before, the real boom of social media. I don't think Twitter was a thing yet. So, yeah, Facebook was in its infancy. Yeah, yeah.

So another five, maybe just five years. It would have been everywhere, yeah, everywhere. But there's going to be people hearing this story that are like,

what do you mean? Yeah. There's no way that happened. And there's barely any footage, too, because so cell phone footage wasn't really a thing yet either. So there's a little bit of cell phone footage you can find of it on YouTube at some point. Unlike flip phones. Yes. Yeah.

So it was really grainy and stuff. Otherwise, I think Keatak had to sign some agreement that they wouldn't release the footage for the whole show. Wow. But WWE did have cameras there. So they have the footage and they own the footage. How crazy is that? It should have been in the Mr. McMahon docu series. Yes, I should have.

Even if it was just for 30 seconds. Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. What a, what a surreal moment that is. Yeah. Crazy. So with War Raiders back now, is the next step here,

finding your way into getting those WWE tag team championships? I don't know when that's going to air, but we're currently the number one contenders to the tag team championships. So, yeah, that's where we're headed. That's our goal. and we don't want to take too long. This is, we ever know what's going to end. So we're going ahead first in that direction.

Is the legacy for War Raiders just being the best damn tag team you can be? Yeah, but on top of that, too, it's two guys that never, never were supposed to make it. And we've had every obstacle thrown in front of us that you possibly could. Near-death experiences, near paralyzation. Um, just, uh, all these crazy things that have been thrown in their way. And, uh, we're able to create this tag team. I think with a very unique dynamic that's never existed before where I said it to you before where he's a small guy, but he's a strong guy.

I'm the big guy. I'm the high flyer. It's a unique dynamic that never existed. But, uh, but yeah, just, just what you said. We're held a tag team. Did you have a point when, there were all kinds of releases happening during the lockdowns where you were like, I just feel like we're going to be somehow next.

Every single one. Yeah, Sarah, Bahá'u, Sarah, she was part of the first one. So you can imagine how Eric felt during that time period. Sure. Is he probably expecting like, well, I'm going to get a call here now? We, every single one, we expected it. So we were always discussing navigating what our life would be. without this, which is inevitable.

Everyone gets fired or everyone's career in the WBA at some point comes to an end, and there has to be an after. And what would that after look for us? So that was a discussion that we had many, many, many times from that time period. Because there was a concern. I mean, with Sarah, she got fired, and then they brought her back in the next two weeks to potentially put her in the feud with the street profits and Bianca.

That's a whole other store for another time. But that was a whole thing. It didn't happen. But she was fired and she got brought down there anyway. So she got like extra pay to be there and then every end of the views in her. It was a crazy time. But yeah, we had that discussion many times, many times. of what things could look like.

But at the same time, we've always been, so this is our conversation. We can think of a thousand and one reasons why they would keep us, but it only takes one to get rid of us. And it's not just us. That goes for everybody on the roster. So the goal is always to make ourselves as valuable as we can be. And it doesn't just go for the WWA.

I think that that goes for everywhere we've ever worked. It's to make ourselves as valuable as we possibly can be. There's a quote from Arnold. I asked Arnold Schwarzenegger in an interview, what's the best advice you've ever heard? He's like, it's from my father. Be useful. Just two words.

Be useful. And that really stuck with me. It's exactly what you're saying. Yes. And also the idea of just be so good that they can't ignore you. Yeah. Which is also a theme of what you guys do. Yeah.

It's all of that. Because it all matters. It's when you're not useful, or when you're not living up to your potential, then it's very easy to say, you know what, we don't really need that right now. Yeah. Or we can't really use that right now.

But if you are being useful, being very useful, and living up to your potential in and out of the ring, then why would they get rid of you? Do you feel like you work differently after the injuries that you've had? Do you go in there with any sort of concern? So that's a tough one to answer. But our medical staff is much more concerned than I am. And I'm very thankful for that.

Medical pays a lot of attention to me. And they make sure that I'm safe on a regular basis. And they discuss with me about things that maybe I shouldn't do when they see them doing something stupid or what could potentially be stupid. So I'm very thankful to have them there. because I think if they weren't there, I'd be a lot less filtered in the ring. But, I mean, for the most part, I feel like I know how to manage my risks in the ring. That was a big reason why I was able to return after the double fusion is because what we do is considered simulated combat. So I can do the best that I can to make sure that I'm in position to keep myself safe.

and I think over the years I've had so many other injuries never mind the neck where I've had to rethink about how I work in the ring that it's quite I don't say easy but it's natural to

know how to edit things and to make it seem like I'm not editing things or I'm still giving the crowd what they want to see without doing the suicide dive that's really the only move I've cut from everything because that's what cause the initial neck injury.

Yeah. And then I'm just, I play my, I think in my head and I play my scenarios and I think about pros and cons of every situation. So I guess I do put more thought into what I do to keep myself safe, but I don't feel like I have to over edit what I do if that makes sense. If you thought a lot about what life looked like after wrestling, what does that look like for you? The joke is a wheelchair.

But it's not really a joke. So for me, so I spent, so I mean, right now, it's not official, but every week I'm at the performance center and I kind of run a big guys class. Oh, wow. And that's, that's very beneficial and rewarding to me, especially after all the training that I've done for other people in the past. And then I'm able to do with this new generation, which has been a lot of fun to see guys like Hank and Tank and Obafem.

me and Tyson, Tyreek and out the mud, just all these guys that were all signed kind of for the NIL stuff and didn't know anything about wrestling and to see them train to the PC and be able to see them once a week and watch their matches with them

and go over stuff with them and help them with ideas and just explain wrestling and see how far they've come. That is so beneficial to me. I love that. So I love teaching. And I love teaching. love the idea of producing.

So I think if this is over, I think I'd really like to produce or be some sort of a hybrid where I could produce on the main roster and also train at the performance center and kind of help the transition for guys who are coming from the performance center to the main roster. That's in the perfect world. I think that's what I would want. There's no guarantees that I'd ever still be with WB, but I want to be in wrestling somehow. Yeah.

And whatever that would look like. Who's the ultimate big man for you? The ultimate big man. Oh, man. So I think I'm a Bam Bam guy. Yeah. I, yeah, for a big man. But it's like Bam Bam, Vader, big boss man.

Those guys are just so. Boss man is so underrated. Because Bossman never had a, he, for like the attitude era, he was like, this kind of a background, hardcore championship title stuff. Like that was kind of,

of his thing. But if you watch his earlier stuff and see the way that he moves, wow. Yeah. Explosive. He never really got booked like a big man in the way that like, no, Kane, Undertaker, Big Show. Never. Never. But he was in an era when it's earthquake and typhoon. Right. And earthquake, oh my God, if you watch some of his early stuff too, because he could move too. Yeah. Come from that sum up background and stuff. There's a lot of really good big man, but I think the ultimate for me would be, would be Bam Bam. But see, that also too would be like a soft part of my heart because he was the big man

when I started watching wrestling in the early 90s. Like, I was watching him like he is awesome. Him and Luna Vashan and all the stuff they did. Like, so that might be part of it. It's just that nostalgia. Well, the thing about Bam Bam is he would do things that you wouldn't expect from a guy his size. Yeah.

And you'd be like, what, how is he able to do that? Yeah. Sounds along like the guy sitting in front of me right now. It does. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Bam Bam's the main.

And I, you are as well. Like, and I think that every time you get in there, it's like, wait a second. How he does cartwheels? Let's he do. He can do a moon salt. What is going on here? Yeah. It's, uh, I know, it's, it's, I know, it's, it's, I mentioned earlier, it's, it's constantly

redefining what it is to be a big man. And I feel like, I've been able to do. that. I was able to open a door, I feel like. Because when I got to NXT, I was that guy. I was the athletic big man. And they're like, oh, well, how about Keith Lee? Oh. Yeah. How about Bronson Reed? Like, and now we're getting these athletic big men floating around. Yeah. And it's pretty, pretty cool. But I feel like I was kind of the guy who kind of opened that door, or at least Jimmy did it a little bit. So it was crack. then guys could bust through. I'm just so glad you're back in the ring.

Me, me too. It's like another lease on life and it's crazy. You're like, it's not nine live. It's like 12. Yeah. Yeah.

Very fortunate, very lucky. Because it's been, and it's been real crazy. And to be able to be back with Eric. And I just, I love the appreciation that you have for it now, because you realize how quickly it could go away.

Yeah. is just to have to face that to know what like you asked if I knew I've ever thought of it ending my whole career and it wasn't until that neck injury the first neck injury where it was really it was seared into my brain that that this ends and I was fortunate enough I could have been in the wheelchair the rest of my life after that and it wasn't so it's it's really really puts things in perspective to stare that in the face and be like, okay. So now I have this time. Yeah.

However much that is, I don't know how long it is. But what I do with it is really, really important. Yeah. So good to see you. Great to see you back in the ring. Great to see war raiders back in WW. Oh, yeah. And I'll ask you the question I asked you when we did this last one a handful of months ago.

Because gratitude's so important to me. What are three things Ivar that you're grateful for? The third one, we started with it. And I thought before we got on air is I'm here in L.A. with you and I got to go to pepper lunch. I didn't even know about pepper lunch. Yeah, pepper lunch is the place. So that's the place we went to. It's a restaurant.

It's a restaurant. And we would go to it in Tokyo. That's all over Japan, but Tokyo mainly. And it was our go-to place to eat steak. And they only got a few locations in America. They're opening some more. It's one in Vegas. It's a bunch here, like three here in L.A.

Sounds like they're going to do something in Houston, maybe Florida. So I'm very excited to be out here, the West Coast, with you, able to eat pepper lunch. Pepper lunch. And I think you're the first person to go three, two, one with the gratitude stuff. Oh, well, yeah. I'm numbering them. Okay. So we're starting at three and we're going to the best one.

Yeah, I guess. So now I really, yeah, I really screw that up. I know. I got to think about how I labeled the next two. So I think two would be to be back. Be grateful to be back in the ring. Be back on WVB television, be back with my tag partner who went through similar injury,

to be back doing what we love and to get this, I don't know if it's one last opportunity or, or I mean, this one last opportunity you could last the next 10 years. I don't know. It really could. Yeah. But I just,

This is, this feels like the last, this is our, this is our run. Could be the next five years, could be the next week. I don't know. So we're going to, we're going to give it our all. But I'm very grateful to be given this opportunity because there was a period where we didn't think it was an option. And then the number one thing I'm grateful for. And I think, I meant to something similar the last time we were together. But I'm grateful.

for all the people who support me. My wife, my family, my friends, the fans, you. I'm grateful for everyone. I said the speech when I got hired, and I did my farewell speech, a chaotic wrestling, and I said, I thought about that moment for years and years and years, to come out here and do a farewell speech before I go there.

And I always thought I'd come out here and I'd say, I proved everyone who didn't believe in me wrong. I proved them wrong. And when I got out there, it completely changed because I realized that I wasn't proving them wrong. I was proving everyone who believed in me right. And that is what I'm grateful for, be able to go out and prove the people who have shown me love and support. And I'm sacrificed for me to prove them right. and that is what I'm most grateful for.

That's beautiful. Yeah. Great to see you. Good to see you. Congrats on being back. Yes. Maybe by the time this airs, you're a champion. Good.

Who knows? That could be. But great to see you, Manning. And go enjoy pepper lunch. Yeah. Round two. Hell yeah. All right.

Thank you to Ivar for being with us. And thank you for listening and listening all the way until the end. I'm sure you've already hit that moon salt on that follow of them. But if not. now's the chance. Now's the time to hit that moonsault. Ivar is such an underrated wrestler, and I love being able to dive deep into who he is, what he's about, and just his whole story with this one. And that Vince McMahon story, man, that's incredible. Snap a screenshot, let us know you're listening. Tag us. He's at Ivar underscore WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and I saw this quote

on Instagram this week, and I love it so much. it's not attributed to anybody it was just like one of those quote graphics. A real loser is somebody that is so afraid of not winning that they don't even try. Be great.

Be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Ask CVV number 62 tomorrow. If you've got a question for that one, send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV on social media. Leave a comment on Spotify or shoot me an email.

CVV at Chris Vanfleet.com. We'll see you back here tomorrow for that one. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley.

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