Insight with Chris Van Vliet - JD McDonagh On His CRAZY Injury, Judgement Day, Finn Balor, RKO Off The Cage, Tag Team Titles

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

JD McDonagh (@jd_mcdonagh) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet to discuss the scray bump he took on Raw, how he was able to finish the match and the injuries he sustained, his recovery and when he hopes to return to the ring, how he went from wrestling in Ireland to signing with WWE, joining The Judgment Day, becoming Tag Team Champion with his mentor Finn Balor, taking an RKO from the top of the cage at Survivor Series WarGames 2023 and more!  Quote I'm thinking about: “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” — Eckhart Tolle  Please support our sponsors! PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux STASH: Go to get.stash.com/INSIGHT to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!  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 FABRIC: Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at https://meetfabric.com/CVV   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv  HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   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: Get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.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

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Greetings and salutations, my friends, welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's me, the three numbers on the back of your credit card, CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us on this one, and thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on planet Earth.

Hit a fisherman suplex on that follow button wherever you're listening. and leave a rating or a comment if it happens to be Spotify where you're listening right now. J.D. McDonough is a warrior. You saw that crazy injury he had on the January 27th episode of Raw where he did a moonsault to the outside and his head whiplashed against the side of the announce table. He ended up breaking a rib and puncturing a lung in that match and somehow still finish the match. Incredible.

We talk about his recovery and when he hopes to be back in the ring again. we also dive into his path that led to WWE, which started with him getting trained by Finn Baller in Ireland and many, many years of independent wrestling where he thought, you know what, WWE's never going to happen. And then finally, it did. And he joined Judgment Day. And he's been doing amazing things in Judgment Day. And I don't think enough people give J.D. the credit that he deserves for how good he is at putting other people over. We talk about some of the memorable moments like the RKO from the top of the cage at War Games 2023. That was his idea.

And we dive into the whole story with that. And I got to be honest, JD's head isn't that big, at least not in person. I don't understand all the jokes. I really don't. Don't worry, we talk about that too. Snap a screenshot.

Let us know that you're listening and tag us so we can share it out. He's at JD underscore McDona on social media. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And then let's do it. it. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome J.D. McDana. Thank you for wearing the best pants ever. Listen, thank you for introducing it into my life and getting me so much merch. Viori. Yeah. The Sunday performance joggers. I don't travel on an airplane without them.

I'm head to tone it. Oh, that's Viori too. I swear to go. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, they're the best. Like, I wear those things. I have like five pairs of those pants. I do ads for them and people are like, do you actually wear them? I'm like, no, this is a product you can be. believing. Yeah. And if you, I'm like, if you ever see me in an airport, yeah, I'm wearing Viori. Yeah. So, Fiori.com slash CVV. It wasn't even supposed to turn into an ad read, but, seriously, if you go to Viori.com slash CVV, you'll save 20% on those and you'll be like, oh my gosh, they're like wearing butter. Yeah. They're the best. Colin, you're a friend, right? Yeah. He's a sweet guy. Yeah. Shout out to Colin.

Share out of Colin. You don't travel with anything else. Rarely now. Rarely. They've taken over a a large portion of my wardrobe. Just the best. All the freebies you set me. How are you even, like, walking right now? Time heals all, you know. I wasn't like this the first week or two after, but I'm feeling a lot better now. Yeah, how are you feeling? Pretty good. Pretty good.

My lungs good. My ribs are good. I'm just kind of waiting for the bones to knit back together before they clear me. What bones? I punctured my lung with my seventh rib. Yeah. It looks so bad. It didn't feel great.

It's one of the scariest spots I think I've ever seen. Yeah, it was a freak accident on my part, I guess. So what went wrong? I guess it was in the planning stage, really. Well, I needed to be on that side of the ring for something that was going to come up later on. So I said, I'll just do it on the Announce table side. I've done it on that side before, but whatever it would happen on this one, I just was maybe a foot too far forward or a foot too far back and it was wiped out. I think when you initially see it, you immediately think, like, the whiplash was bad.

People immediately think it's a head injury or it's a neck injury. Punctured lung, I don't think is what people expected. No, in that moment, I was just thinking, when's the next breath going to come? You know, I knew that I didn't hit my head that hard because I knew I'd missed a spot in the match. And I knew what was coming up next. So you were, okay. So, yeah. Yeah.

So I wasn't. I knew I wasn't unconscious or anything of that. And then, I don't know. It was just, it was, like I was telling you, like an out-of-body experience listening to Michael Cole with the concern in his voice. You know, I've heard him all through the years being like, we've got to get a medic down here. And then all of a sudden you're lying at his feet and he's saying it about you, you know. But he was saying it was such urgency. Yeah.

Like it wasn't just a line. Yeah. But it wasn't just a line. Like you could tell he was like, no, seriously, like, someone needs to come check on JD McDonough. Yeah. Yeah. but I just kind of everything goes really like

slow in moments of that way you just have to like I wasn't thinking like I gotta get through this match it was just okay what's next can I do that let's do it you know so I like wiggle my fingers and toes and I was like okay I can do that I got a breath back I can probably stand up so I stood up and got back in there did you realize how bad it was at that time

I thought it was like maybe cracked ribs I could feel like my ribs on this side was like where I was crispies under my skin. I was like, okay, they're definitely messed up. And I couldn't get a full lung full air, but I just thought that was because I was winded from hitting the table. And then the adrenaline kicked in, and I was, okay, I can do this.

I can, you know, get back in there and do my part in the match. I didn't want to leave the guys, especially because it was one of the first few weeks that we were on Netflix. Everyone's excited about it. You know, you got a huge audience watching you. It's for the tie team titles, Raiders first defense. You know, I didn't want to, if I can stand up and keep participating, then I'm going to, you know? And I assume just knowing who you are, you didn't want to not finish that match.

Like, you absolutely wanted to go in and finish it. I'm not blown smoke. The thought of stopping didn't even enter my mind. And the referee came down and he asked me what city we were in and what date it was. And I told him that I'm okay. And I told him where we were and what we were doing. I said tell Dom that I'm okay and I just need a minute. And he passed the message on.

And then the ref actually was, he got a lot of heat for it online, Sean Bennett. But as far as him doing his job, he can only do or relay the message of what I'm telling him. And I told him I was good to go, you know. And one of the DW docs came out in the ad break. She checked me over. And I knew if she touched my ribs,

she wouldn't let me back in there. so and she thankfully asked me about my head and my neck rather than my ribs and uh there was a spot coming up in the match where i was needed so i was like i got to go dom looked like he had genuine concern on his face yeah he was pale for a little bit yeah and i think michael cole even said it on that interview on logan paul's podcast michael call thought you were dead it was that it was a big impact yeah for sure when you climbed up got back in the ring to finish the match what's going through your head. Just what's the next thing?

Okay, it's a big back body drop. Not ideal, but, you know, the one thing that I did change in the match, and Dom is going to kill me for telling this story. The finishing stretch that we talked about, I said it would be cool if we could do 619, you tag me in,

I'll do a 450, I'll bounce off and I'll tag you in, you hit the frog splash. That'll be like a super finisher. Yeah. And we're super late in the match now, so I have no energy left whatsoever, no air left. And I tried to say to him, I can't do the 450. But he didn't hear me, you're taking off of the 619?

Please, God, just let him go up for the frog splash. He hits the 619. He runs across to me. No, no. He tagged me in. So the one modification I made was I knew I'd really hurt myself. I did the 450, and I've done that moonsal. Probably 10,000 times.

I knew I could kind of protect myself a little. And Ivers, a big guy, too. a big landing pad. So I thought this is going to be the last big move that I do. I'll make it a good one and get out of here. So you'll just land on your cracked ribs. Think about that. The impact that you would have on a moonsault,

that you'd think that was a safer call. It wasn't like a measured decision that I made. It was all adrenaline in the heat of the moment. The amount of respect that you've received from people online, I'm sure it's been from your colleagues as well. like the amount of grit that you had to finish that match, it's, it's incredible. I think there's a good few people in our locker room that would do the same thing if it came down to it. You know, I don't, I'm not that I don't think it was special, but I think that every pro wrestler

should be willing to do that for the audience. You know, if you can stand up and keep going, stand up and keep going because people have put their hands in their pockets, paid their hard money to come to see, see, see, perform. So I take that very seriously. That's going to be the moment that people remember from your career, at least for now. And it's amazing that it could have gone one of two different ways. Yeah. I mean, if I had been a foot forward, that could have been like the back of my neck hitting the table that hard or my head. So I broken ribs sucks, punctured lung sucks, but it could have been way, way worse. It's a career defining moment. And I'll see. Well, I, well, I think. Well, I think,

think about it. Like, think about this. It's a career-defining moment where like, that's the last, at least up to this point that people have seen of you. Yet somehow you finish the match, incredible. And you're, you're hoping to come back, right? Oh, yeah, I'll be back. Okay, I love that. I've been, I've been, I've been hurt before. I've been down before. But this could have been, this could have gone the complete opposite direction. That could have been the last time that we saw you in a ring. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think about that? No, I don't because I understand the risks that we take, being a wrestler. And I've been doing this for 22 years now, 23 years in September.

So I know, like, I have seen people wiping out and losing their careers. I know that's something that you gamble with every time you go through the curtain. But if you were thinking about it often, I think you'd psych yourself out. Where are you out with your recovery now? I'm back to being in the gym. I was doing skipping and like really low impact cardio for a couple weeks. and now I've kind of progressed into doing Pilates and, you know, other like non-impactful. So I haven't taken a bump yet, right?

That'll be the next step. I'll get back in a ring, hit the ropes. See if that hurts. Take a bump. See if that hurts. But you were able to fill your lungs up with air? Yeah. Yeah, I got the full capacity back.

Okay. Yeah, this one reinflated and stuck. Thank God. I just, I can't wrap my head around, like, what we saw. Mm. And then for you to be here, what, a month later, just like, Walking around like nothing happened. I'm a medical marvel.

Do you have a timeline of when you'd like to be back in the ring? I'd love to be back yesterday. I'm so bored sitting at home watching the guys traveling around. I'm so jealous. They're going to Europe this week. They're doing Madison Square Garden on Monday and then jetting off to Europe. Yeah, so if I could be back, I'd be back right now. Hopefully, I'm going to put it like a time for one and say, like, within a month,

I hope to be back. Wow. That's what I'm working towards. So whether that happens or not, whether the W.V. Ducks align with that. We'll see. Well, look, judgment days falling apart without you. They need me.

It's desperate times. Like, what's going on? I don't know. The drama, the politics, you know? I was the, it looks like I was the glue holding everyone together. You posted this meme of like, you're coming back with the pizzas and everything's like, it's a disaster. What happened? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, what happened? I don't know. People start talking about getting new members in. Yeah, you won't hear with me. It took me like six months to get into the Judgment Day. And you just want to throw the doors open? You guys can't have any new members, right?

I don't think we need them. When I got back and we're back to full strength, let's see where the land lays. Let's hope that things are in a better place for the Judgment Day at that point in time. Well, we got gold back on the clubhouse wall now. That's right. You know, it's not all doom and gloom. Yeah. You know how this business is.

It's peaks and valleys and you just got to ride the waves. How did you even get pitched to be part of Judgment Day? I was just told when I came up to the main roster, we're going to have you brush off Judgment Day. And that'll be the way that we introduce you, and we'll see what way the fans take it. There was the link there between me and Finn that we could work with. But I don't think there was like,

we're bringing JD up from NXT, and we got this spot in Judgment Day for him. I think it just kind of, that was the in for me. And I had good chemistry with most of the group. all of the group really to be honest and yeah it just seemed like a good fit and I ended up getting inducted by a priest but getting to slide into something like that a group that's so over yeah I mean that takes you up a notch too I couldn't have asked for a better intro to the men roster and all of a sudden I'm working with Sammy zay and Kevin Allen's jay so every week I got Cody in like

dark match in state line Nevada two weeks on the main roster like it was awesome yeah pretty amazing you and fin go way back like how how far back do you guys go all the way uh i met finn when i was 12 and he was 21 so he opened the first wrestling school in ireland and before that there was no there was no wrestling on an independent level there and he opened a wrestling school up in my town about 10 minutes down the road from where i live um but even our families like his granny's back garden backs under my granny's back garden in Bray, we're that close to each other. So, yeah, I've known him, like, my entire adult life.

Did you, like, before you met him, was he just a legend in Ireland? No, because he hadn't done anything. He was just a dude. You know, he still is just a dude, but, you know what I mean? He was, like, a 21-year-old kid that had rented out a school hall, and he was going over to the UK and doing, like, six-week training camps with NW. UK. And then he'd come back to Ireland and it was 30 of us in a wrestling gym and he'd tell us what he had learned. So he was only ever a couple weeks ahead of us in training. So were you in wrestling

school the same time Becky Lynch was? Yeah. Yeah, I came to the same school. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was actually the one that was paired up with her a lot because I was the smallest and she was a girl. So we had comparable levels of strength. But I was the youngest in the school by like seven or eight years. Was Seamus in Ireland just someone that all of you guys looked up to? Yeah. He was the first guy that kind of, certainly for someone that's my age, my generation, the first guy that broke out of Ireland and broke the States, you know. But that wasn't really a huge help to me because he also was 6'44 and looked like a Celtic warrior. You know, the guy that kind of made me stop and go, oh, this is a possibility was Finn.

He was walking that path ahead of me. You know, he did Japan. He came to America and he was just another guy from Bray that came through. same school that I did from the same maths that I trained on. So I just never had the doubt that he could be done. You know, I just, I saw him do it. So I'm going to do the same things that he did and see where it gets me. And look how many Irish wrestlers there are in WWE now. It's awesome. Like, it's amazing. It's Seamus, Finn, you, Becky Lynch, Lyra. Lyra. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, she's killing it. She's the IC champion of the world. Yeah. I love that girl. She's awesome.

what's the theme seems like there's such a European influx right now of talent at WWE what's different about the style of wrestling that you guys do um I think I think we focus more on like the actual mechanics of wrestling and manipulating body parts and we all know how to like what it's like to be in a real fight and to move somebody around and it's less like I did had never cut a promo my first like 10, 12 years wrestling. I was just a guy on the card, you know, like just in one-off individual singles matches.

I didn't need to learn how to tell a story until I was doing OTT in my like 13th, 14th year wrestling. And I didn't need to. It was just about having a wrestling match, you know, an exhibition. That's just the style of wrestling. Certainly in Ireland and probably across the UK and Europe, as well. There was less showmanship. There's something about that, I don't know, like, because think

about it, the name that I just listed there, and then you've got Gunther and you've got Ludwig. Yeah, Ily Draganoff. Ilia Draganoff. There's so many great talented wrestlers from that part of the world that I feel like didn't have an opportunity when we go back 10, 20, 30 years ago.

And now it's happening. Yeah, well, there's like a clear ridge now you can follow. Yeah, especially when I loved when NXT. I was up for run. I thought that was an unbelievable opportunity for all the independent wrestlers in the UK. Like that's a step and stone to get you to the promised land, you know, and myself, Pete Dunn, Tyler Bight, Walter, Gunter, Ely.

You know, we all came through that and learned WWE style there and then we're ready made for bigger things when we got here. So when you're a kid growing up in Ireland and you're watching WWE, who are your guys at that time. The very first favorite wrestler was Jeff Hardy. I loved him. Always loved Triple H, even though he's a bad guy. And then I can remember being...

Do you remember SummerSlam in 2002 when Sean Michaels came back? Yes. That was the first time I'd ever seen. Tombertslam, 2002 was also Brock versus Rock. Yeah, yeah. It was a great card. And Angle and Ray opened it up one of the best open matches of all time. Yes.

That was great. But I was 12 years old. watching it. And in the buildup two, obviously Sean had come back and he was betrayed by Hunter. And that was the first time I'd seen him. And I went back to see more of his stuff. You know, he got my interest. And it was through that that I found like that golden era of wrestling with like Brett and Sean and Mr. Perfect, a daddy boy, all those like technicians. And I was like, this is the style of wrestling that I like. This is what I want to learn how to do. So, yeah, Sean was a huge one for me back in the day.

Brett as well. Still, to this day, I think, like, a perfect pro wrestler has ever existed. It's probably Brett. What was it like the first time you met Sean? I can remember he was talking to me, and I was marking out my head and me and like, listen to what he's saying. I was like, it's John Michael. It's just so cool.

It was great. He has been someone that was super, like, supportive and encouraging you. He always said very complimentary things about me. Whenever he was asked. And that kind of does a lot to boost your confidence. You know, when one of the greatest of all time has time for you and things that you've got something. What made you think this was even possible? Because if you look at it before, there wasn't really a path for a guy your size from your part of the world.

I didn't know it was possible. I just knew that all I can do is just not stop until I can't do it anymore. So I didn't, like, I wasn't really thinking, is this possible? I was just thinking I'm going to, that's the way I do everything. I don't have any kind of like long-term plans or anything because it freaks me out. I find like compartmentalize everything. So on Monday, tell me who I'm going to the ring with and what I'm doing. And I'm going to make this as good as I can.

And let's see what happens next Monday, you know? And that's all you can do. If you think too far in the future, you know, you get married to an idea that never comes or I think what works for me anyway is taking it match by match by month. and just letting the cards fall where they do. Yeah, you can get in your own head when you create these scenarios in your head that like, well, I have to do this thing, then that hopefully turns into this thing.

I like the idea that you're talking about where you dive in. You don't check the depth of the water. Don't check the temperature of the water. You're just diving in. You're like, once I get in there, I'll figure out how to swim. Yeah.

I think that's the mark of a true pro wrestler. Okay, it might not be the best stuff that you've been given, but what can you make out of this? Can you make this in anything? retaining segment. You make this promo as good as it can be. Can you turn this match with this opponent into a great match? Yeah. I think that the best things in life are on the other side of something that's difficult. Definitely. Like, I don't think that it, like that path is not an easy

path. It's like it's one that has difficulties along the way and it's the perseverance to get through that that you're rewarded on the other side. Yeah. Yeah. I like what we were saying. earlier, you got to put the work in up front to get the rewards later, you know? And it's like your actions compound over time into a great result. But like in the moment, you're not thinking about the great result. You're just putting in the 1% today. Yes. Yeah, 1% better, 1% better and then see where that takes you. Yeah, I heard a great quote that I'll never forget. It's don't complain about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't put in. I love. And I think about the flip.

side of that of like if you are putting in the work day after day, week after week, month after month, it's eventually going to compound in itself and turn into something. Yes. Something will happen. I believe that anyway. I think that it is just a matter of time. You know, I could have walked away from wrestling after trying my hardest for 18 years and never made it, but I cracked in my 19, you know?

Prize picks is the best place to get real money sports action. With over 10 million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 1,000 times your cash. Run your game all season long on prize picks. Prize picks puts their members first, so all withdrawals are fast, safe, and secure. And when your picks hit, you get your money in as quick as 15 minutes. Sign up today and get $50 instantly when you play $5.

You don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. Prize Picks is the best way to win real money this basketball season. Which players are going off? Which ones aren't? Make your picks in less than 60 seconds and turn your sports opinions into real money all season long on prize picks. Download the app today and use the code Insight to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That's Code Insight to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup.

Prize picks. Run your game. This episode is brought to you in part by Stash. Saving and investing can feel impossible. But with Stash, it's not just a reality. It's easy. Stash isn't just an investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with dependable financial strategies to help you reach your goals faster.

They'll provide you with personalized, advice on what to invest in based on your goals, or if you want to just sit back and watch your money go to work, you can opt into the reward-winning, expert-managed portfolio that picks stocks for you. Stashes helped millions of Americans reach their financial goals and starts at just $3 per month. Don't let your savings sit around. Make it work harder for you. Go to get.com slash insight to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. That's get.stash.com slash insight. Paid non-client endorsement, not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments LLC and SEC

registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk. Offer is subject to terms and conditions. Did you think that there was, like, WWE wasn't going to happen for you? Definitely. Yeah. I just wanted to, WB was always the dream and goal, but I wanted to finance me. my life through wrestling. I didn't want to ever get a real job. I wanted to, whatever form that took, you know, I got a side track there in my brain. What was I saying? Oh, you're saying you didn't want to ever have a real job. Yeah. So like 18 years in, you finally get your break. I finally get my break. And it all came through just sticking to the plan, you know, just keep on going, keep on, kind of have the best match on the card,

see where it takes you I don't think too far ahead how did it eventually come around for you um so nxte uk opened up in late 2016

and we had the UK tournament in January 2017 and in my WW debut I split my head Danny Birch's head open

in the finish I gave him a super kick and he fell and hit his head off the canvas bused himself open and I was pulling him out we were just about to go to the finish. I pulled him out by the ankle.

And the ref saw the pool of blood and I saw the pool of blood. And the ref goes, stay down. Or pin him this is the finish. You got to go home. I said, okay, stay down. And I pinned him as hard as I could. And the ref goes one, two. And he kicked out.

And the ref count of three. And the place just boom. It was just the worst possible debut that you've ever seen. And I came backstage. I was, oh, my God, I'm never going to wrestle here again. I waited all my life for this. But, yeah, it is always, like, worse in your own head. Danny was super cool about it.

Everybody else was super cool about it. I moved on. And then from there, like, how do you get to the spot that you're in? I just moved through the ranks of everywhere I've been. You know, I came in NXT UK with that start and I was like, okay, I got to prove myself now that I'm not, you know, this heavy-handed, humsy guy. I got to put together a body of work here that people will take notice of. And then I kind of worked my way up through the ranks in NXT, UK, until I was doing main events with Ilya, Draganoff in for the UK title. And then the opportunity to go over to America.

I won the cruise away title a week after NXT take over Blackpool. I had a really good one with Tyler Bate. And I remember off the back of that loss, that was what they designed. decided that that was the match that they decided, you know, we can do something with this guy. They brought me over to Houston for Worlds Collide, and I won the Cruiserweight title. And that was January 2020. And my career was about to take off. And then COVID happened.

And I was sidelined for about nine months. But what a time coming out of that? Like, what a time to be with WWE. Because there was a long stretch, and I think this is no surprise to anybody. But there was a long stretch when, you know, wrestling was not great. you know, and there was a lot of storylines that were maybe not that well executed. You're coming into it in an era where like they're firing on all cylinders. Yeah, it's unbelievable.

I say it all the time to my friends that it took me a long time to get here, but I couldn't have got here at a better time. Seriously? Yeah, I'm a lucky guy. I think it's, I still have to, like the honeymoon period hasn't ended for me with it. I often look out into the crowd and, wow, I wasn't, you know, it wasn't, ago that I was wrestling in front of like 300 people. I'm thinking that was a great night, you know?

And it was a great night. Yeah. But yeah, to be here, to grow up through the attitude era and see wrestling at its absolute peak. And then the, I don't want to disrespect anybody either, any of the rosters came before. But the lull in the business in general and then to make it to the main roster as the business is on a swell again. It's just been unbelievably lucky timing. And then it comes full circle, the guy who you train with, the guy who you look up to. Yeah.

You win the tag team championships with Finn Valor. Life is just stranger than fiction sometimes. And what's interesting about that is you weren't tagging with Finn that much at that time. No, he was tagging with Damien and I was tagging with Dom. Right. So how did it become a thing where you and Finn win the titles? Because Damien won the world title. So he was a singles guy now.

and me and Finn wanted to team up. So we said, you know, we could probably do a good job as a tag team if you want to try us out. And they liked us. And that guy, I feel like that guy doesn't age. I know. He's got the secret sauce. It's what is it? I know.

That guy has like 16 abs. I know. And I'm the one that has to go out on TV with him every week. It's tough. And the thing is you look great. Not next to him. That's the thing. Like, you're jacked.

And then you put next to Finn Bear. or you're like, oh, it's that guy even work out? Yeah, it's not fair. That's my cross to bear. Well, it's a tough one. But what did that mean to win the championship with him? Well, I said to earlier, WVE was like the goal, but if you had to put a gun to my head when I was 14 years old

and said, what's your ultimate fantasy dream in wrestling? I would have said win the tag titles with Finn. Wow. Honestly. So I looked up to him a lot because he's obviously the age difference. 10 years older than me. And he's lit the way for me in a lot of ways, you know, showing me that it is possible.

And I felt kind of for a long time I was chasing him, trying to catch up to him, you know, he did Japan. So I did Japan a few years later. He made it to America. I took me a little while, but I made it to America. And then for it all to kind of culminate with being his partner and lifting the tag team titles together, it was super hard for me.

I feel like if I talk about it for too long, I'll get emotional, you know. It was so, so fulfilling and such like a full circle moment. For me and him, training me, you know, he felt the same way about it. So if you're following a lot of the things that he's done in his career, he's a former world champion. Do you think about wanting to be a former world champion or being a world champion? I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about or didn't picture it. I think everybody that laces up their boots, probably, somewhere in them wants to be the world champion, you know, whether that happens or not is a different

story. I am going to keep doing what I've always done and just try and make the best out of what I've got in front of me and see where it takes me. I'd love to be world champion, obviously. But I also know that my role in professional wrestling, I am at my strongest helping other people to look as good as possible. You know, I know that's my forte. And my dream is to finance my life through wrestling. And thank God, I'm doing it right now. You've never had a real job? I had a, I had a job in telesales for about six months. What were you selling? Internet in California, actually. I was, working on California time in Ireland. I was working 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. call on businesses selling internet. You definitely sound like you're from California. The Irish accent actually got me a lot of

business. Yeah. I could schmooze them on the phone, you know. Do you feel like your accent's changed it all since moving to the US? I've had to slow down. Like if I was at home now speaking to my mom across the table, you wouldn't be able to understand a word that we say. I purposely slow myself down a little bit and try and Americanize it. Like soften your accent? A little bit. When you first moved here, were there ever times when you went to order something or talk to someone? Oh, that happens all the time still. Yeah. Pardon me? Yeah. Yeah. I felt like at, like, there'd be all sorts of, like, social popas where in Ireland, you kind of, like, have a bit of crack off each other. You can, like, poke fun or whatever, and it's really, like,

back and forth. Yeah. And over here, I would try and do that. And then whoever was talking, would be like, sorry, come again? The moment's passed. You know, it's not funny now. If I repeat it, it's just going to sound mean, you know? If there, has ever been a time you try to order something, and they're like, come again? I don't. Yeah, I just point at the. Yeah. What are you saying, sir? What is that? Burger. Hamburger. I feel like when I moved here from Canada, I had to, like, change the way I said, like, maybe three or four words.

Like, I say house. Well, the Celsius, the Fahrenheit thing is the biggest switch, right? Oh, my goodness. Yes. Still haven't nailed that. That and miles and kilometers. Yeah. You know that America is one of the only countries in the world.

There's, like, three countries that still do Fahrenheit. Go on. Do you know the other two? They're like, I'll have to look at it. It's like, I'll just look them up so I don't get them wrong. But like they're small. Yeah. Like they're small countries and then it's America.

And like the rest of the world's like, hey guys, like freezing is zero. Boilings 100. This way is easier. Honestly, if you just listen. I'm going to look it up now. Dude, dude. Because we have all the world's information in our pocket. Fair in height.

There we go. That's the first hurdle. How to spell it. Okay. There's more than three. but there are not many. Okay, it's the United States, Cayman Islands,

Liberia, the Federated states of Micronesia, Marshall Islands. The usual suspects. Of course. Yeah, so the United States was just like, nah,

we're good. Yeah, no thanks. Well, there's like, however many million people here would be like a big undertaking to get that many people

to change now, right? You got to just go right now. Yeah. It's like this is like a badge of honor now. We will measure things in Fahrenheit. Although, like, when it is hot, like, I get it. When it's hot, you can be like, hey, man, it's 104. That sounds really hot.

But when someone's like, dude, it's freezing, it's like 26. I'm like, yeah, that doesn't sound cold. Because if you do the conversion on that, in like 26, I don't know what it is exactly, but like minus five. You're like, ooh, minus? Ooh, that sounds real cold. What are the other adjustments to living in America? Yeah.

Definitely getting sunshine every day. We had a stretch in Ireland there not long ago. Everyone's complaining about we had 10 days where not a single ray of sunshine was captured at Dublin airport. Man. And people were, yeah, my mom was telling me like, Jordan, I have to come over. It's just miserable here. So, yeah, that's been a pleasant adjustment to move into Florida. Yeah, the weather's pretty great there.

Yeah. Almost year round. When you talk about your job in the business being making other people look good, you are so good at these massive back body drops. Thank you. There's a backbody drop that you took from Drew McIntyre where, I don't know how high you were in the year, 10, 12 feet. Yeah.

But you were high. I'm in a competition right now with AJ Styles to see who can take the best backdrop. Who's winning? It's definitely him. He's got a beautiful one himself. But that one with Drew, he messaged me about it. I got up there. I said to Drew, just put me in the lights.

See how you can throw me. But like you're up there. Like, does it feel like you're falling for like an eternity? No, I was up there long enough that I went, oh, cool. Like I knew it was going to be a good one, you know? I like to like sprang out like a cat, you know, when I'm in the air. So I had a lot of time to spot the ground and turn it into a back one. Who might be able to give you a better one?

I want a Bronz-Strauman to do it. Oh. Yeah. I like that. And I, a Beal from a, from a big man. Yes.

I can't even, do you remember Sangha? He was one of the Indian wrestlers that was coming through. Yeah. In my first, like, day at the performance center,

I was in Fifth Inley's class, and he was one of the big guys in there. And I got down with him, and I love big man, small man wrestling. I love flying around for them and so. So I lit him up in the corner or whatever. I said,

Beal me, brother. and he threw me honest to God, I nearly left the ring, 20 foot diagonally across. It was one of the greatest forms I've ever taken and there was no cameras rolling. But yeah, he gave me the best BEL I ever had. You got to recreate that now.

Yeah, I just need to get it in there with the right guy. The RKO you took at Survivory Series, 2023? Yeah. That must have been terrifying. Yeah, that was my idea. Yeah, I remember I wanted to originally, my first idea was I was going to moonsault off the cage.

Oh my gosh. And they said, no, you can't do that. Charlotte's going to do that. I said, okay. Well, then in that case, I have a slightly more dangerous suggestion. What? And I said, super or chaos. And they said, can do it safely.

I'd have to, like, eyeball it. I'd have to get up there onto the cage and see the height and see. But I reckon I could. when we were coming through when I was like 12, 13, you know, you're just a kid like learning how to bump and hit him hit a crash mat or whatever.

We used to have a game where we would try and jump from like ascending heights and put our hands behind our back and just take the flat crash mat. So like you'd start like standing. You might go to the bottom rope, the second row, the top rope. We'd be like push each other

and like daring each other. They'd go higher and higher. And at the end of it, I was jumping off like a ladder in the ring onto the crash mat on the floor and hook up my hands behind my back. So honestly, it felt like that was one of the, it was like a weird

when I was up there on the cage just about to do it and Randy's walking over, he's eyeing me up and stuff. I thought about all those bumps that I took, you know, I was okay, just do it like that. Just put your hands, and your back and leave your head out there

for something for him to grab. And yeah, thank God it came off, great. Did Randy know he could totally do it? Yeah, he, we got a crash right out the night before. I hate blown up the secret of wrestling, but we got a crash man out and he stood at the end of it and I got up on the cage and just jumped off and he eyeballed and he goes, I got you. I bet you do. All right. Let's do it tomorrow when the lights are on. What a guy. How high does it feel when you're up there? It was terrifying. The anticipation to jump was worse

than the jump. You know, it was. Because you were waiting for a while. Yeah, yeah, I was up there with Sammy and Seth hanging on to me, holding on to the hair, and Randy was clearly the other way in the opposite ring, you know, and I was just like, let me go, let this moment be over, because you could,

you could feel the, like the expectation rise in the whole city. There's like 15,000 people there, and every single eye was on me, and then all of a sudden they saw Randy walking over, and they put two and two together, and you could feel like the pop building, like about to come.

And then I jumped and you could hear, bang, and just the loudest bang you've ever heard and the biggest roar I've ever heard. And I was just lying there my heart, like from my fingertips, like all the way up was just like, not like, it wasn't numb. It was just on fire. Wow. Yeah. That's got to be a top five RKO, I think.

I hope so. I hope I gave that gift to Randy. I think one, two, depending on what day, depending on who you are, what your preferences are, it's either the Evan-born Shooting Star Press RKO. I love that one. Me too. That's my number one. That's my number one too.

Yeah. And then I think for a lot of people, their number one is the stomp into the Archao with Seth Rollins' WrestleMania 31. Yeah. That's one, too. You're definitely in the top. I'll take top three. I'll take bronze.

Yeah. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Yeah. I had no shame in that. They're two great, like, all-time archaeo moments. So if I can get within twitching distance of that, that's pretty cool. Well, all three of those have the same thing in common, which is like real recipe for disaster.

Yeah, you've got to be willing to break a few hours. a small window to make this happen. Large window for error. Yeah. But that's the beauty of pro wrestling, isn't it? When it all comes off right, there's nothing better. You know, I think the fans know as well, like, oh, that could have gone the other way. Yes.

And like, those are the ones where it's like, man, they pulled this off. Yeah. Like Seth sat right there and told me like, we didn't think we could pull that off. And he's like, we kind of forgot that it was like so hot. It's still so sunny in an outdoor stadium, wrestling. 31 in California. Air is dry. You're blown up.

Right. Sweaty. And he's running out of him and he's like, well, I guess he'll do it. Something's going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. We'll try. They nailed it.

They nailed it. They nailed. And you did too. I don't know how you're going to top that. I'll figure out of way. But how does it feel that your greatest moments? And you even said it. It was a gift.

How does it feel that your greatest moments are making other people look so good? I don't see it. The moment is the product of what we're doing. You know what I mean? It's, I'm, I'm, when I figured out that pro wrestling isn't about like, who does the coolest move or who looks the strongest, it's about the match. When I unlock that part of my brain, that was, that was it for me. I started on my, like, rise to the main roster then, you know. What was the realization? I met Terry Taylor in, in the performance center in NXT. And he took a liking to me and I knew he was, you know, an old.

where they just wanted to share his information and he had so much information to to pass on that I just sat with him all the time and just past him of questions. How does this work? Like, he told me that wrestling moves are a vehicle that we use to get an emotional reaction from the fans. That's all they are. They can be interchange with other moves. It doesn't really matter. The thing that matters is the emotional reaction that you get from the fans. That's what connects you to people. That's what gets you over. So for me, if I can take, I, I am an unselfish wrestler, I would say. I will work for the matching for my opponent as hard as I'll work for myself. And because of that, I get my rewards. So I was barely on the main roster a couple months and we were leading into the fast lane

pay-per-view. And they wanted a big like smackdown go home, schmaws before it. And I turned around and I'm in the ring with taking the finisher of Jay Uso, L.A. Knight, John Sina, Cody Rhodes. You know, I was the guy that they picked for this great fucking moment where these guys all stack their finishers. Well, who's going to make that look the best? JD, he's like JD in there and I'm taking an FU from John Cena. You know, if you're too hung up on like how you look or if you're the strongest or how does this make me look, I think you're doing yourself and the fans of the service. You know, I'm working for the best part.

Like, I want when the three happens in my match, I want it to be the loudest possible noise and the most satisfaction that the fans can have. What's the dance? What do you mean? It is a dance, yeah. It's like it's a dance where it's like, you're both in there together,

working towards the same favorable outcome of the fans and joins. Yeah. And if the bad guy dies at the end, bad guy dies at the end, you know? Right. Yeah. That's it. That's the beauty of pro wrestling.

That's when pro wrestling is done at its, like, pinnacle, I think, in my opinion, anyway. You were in John Cena's only match in 2024. That's awesome. Did you know that? I didn't. I didn't. It makes sense, though, yeah. Six-man tag.

Yeah. John Cena and awesome truth against the judgment day. Pretty cool. Yeah, I remember that. I think John Cena wrestled one match in 2024, and you were there for it. Yeah. He was super cool about that as well. I remember he wanted to do something different.

different for that match. And he wanted us to jump Miz and Truth right at the start and just grind them for the entire match all through the ad break. No hope of redemption. I mean, because it was three on two and they didn't have a tag partner. And John said, like, you might lose the fans. Like, you're going to have to bring them really, really down. But we want them down there for when my music hits because that will be the maximum, you know, response that we can get. So just have the courage to to grind the fans down for like eight, nine, ten minutes, you know. And we did. And it worked. And they threw their babies in the air when Sena's music hit. They threw their babies there. And then the 15 knuckle shuffle.

The 15 knuckle shuffle. The crowd was so hot for that moment. Like, all three of those guys doing John Cena's move. Yeah. I've taken the five knuckle shuffle probably 30 times from our truth. And he gets a similar reaction to Sina. They're not the same. It's close. But the crowd loves being able to, you can't see me. Yeah. Yeah.

It was something special, though, seeing it like times three. Yes. It was a great moment to be part of. Again, you get your moments when you're willing to do business. Men, if you've lost your hair, it doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try Hymns hair loss solutions and you'll be joining hundreds of thousands of subscribers who found their hair again. Hymns provides you with convenient and quality access to a range of hair loss treatments that work.

all from the comfort of your couch. Choose from personalized chewable, oral spray and serum treatments to find what works best for you. Process is simple and 100% online so there's no uncomfortable doctor visits. Answer a few questions and a medical provider will determine

if treatment is right for you. It prescribed, your treatment is sent directly to you for free. No insurance is needed and one low price covers everything from treatments, ongoing care. Hymns has hundreds of thousands of trusted subscribers and they can help you get your confidence back to with visibly thicker and fuller hair. Start your free online visit today at Hems.com slash insight.

That's HIMS.com slash insight, HIMS.com slash insight for your personalized hair treatment options. Hems.com slash insight. Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxide and fanasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine for prescription as appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for,

full details and important safety information. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant,

and they want to be on that World Cup roster. 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 Hencoe, follow and listen on your favorite platform. I got to say, your head isn't as big as everyone tries to say that it is. Thank you very much. It's very nice to you to say that.

Why is this the subject of, uh, some of jokes? I don't know, I like my big Irish head. You know, I don't think it's that big. Be either. Me either. Uh, I don't know. I guess, I guess it's 2025 and people still think body shame is okay. You know, what do you want me to do? It's my skull, you know? Michael Cole said you had a cling on like head. I know. I got a bison from Pat McCaffey. I'm crawling around the ring, trying to put on a great match for you guys would have punctured along and I'm getting bison head. Gunther said the one over here with the big head. Yeah. I could say a few things about Gunther, but.

Cody even said you had a big head. Yeah. He tried to get me a Funko pop collab, which I wasn't mad about. You know, if I'm going to make a bit of money off this, like, let's talk. When did this become a thing, though? When I left Ireland? honestly. I'd never heard a bad word against it until I left Ireland and then I was in the UK wrestling and I don't know if you've seen any UK soccer matches but the fans are so creative with their chance and that's just like a UK thing. So I was getting like, he's got the whole world in his head, he's got the whole world in his head. They had loads of chance for me and then I kind Yeah, just played into it. That's all you can do.

I had a headbutt for a finisher for a little while, you know. I'm always diving off the top rope head first. Do you think you have a big head? In certain lights, I guess. Not when I'm in Ireland. I don't think it looks that big. I think it looks that big. I think it looks pretty good.

No. Maybe it's the slimming black shirt. I don't know. Perhaps. I feel like as we look at the monitor here. I don't know. I think we need to get some kind of like measuring devices. out and I can carry it around.

That could be your gimmick. You think I have a big head? Let's measure yours. First person, Michael Cole. I'm right up to. Yeah, I bet that maybe, I don't know, maybe in perspective, it's slightly larger. I don't think so, though.

Thank you. I'm just saying. I'm glad that on a platform this big, we can discuss it. Let's put an end to this. Yeah. Body shaman's not cool, everybody. It's 2025.

Okay, let's move on. There it is. That's it. The fact that you can lean into it and be okay with that, because you could have early on been like, hey guys. Yeah. That's not nice. But it's going to happen anyway, you know, people talk to shit. And it's all you have control over is how you react to it and how much brain space you let it take up. I've laughed at some pretty mean jokes in the past about other people, you know, so when it's your turn to get a little bit of fun poked at you, it is what it is. And I guess the thing in wrestling is if you can get something over, whatever it is.

It's all heat, baby. Yeah. Yeah. So you're okay with that. Of course, yeah. Yeah. All right. Fans can say what they want, make their signs.

Pay your money to come see me get my head kicked out. What's the best sign you've seen? The first time I saw Dom eats corn the long way was the first time I'd seen that sign. That's the play on the Goldberg. Yeah, yeah. Classic Goldberg side. Yeah. I hadn't seen it.

And I ran over there. Dom. I was like, you gotta see this. Yeah, I know, I know. Yeah. Have there been any specific JD signs you've seen? I've seen a few like gigantic cutouts of my head. It's just a regular size cutout, but it's gigantic in the crowd. Yeah, there's a few of those going around more than I'm happy about. He's heed. Yeah, it's heat. Why did you have to change your name? They're not too happy with you having your birth name as your wrestling name. Jordan Devlin's a pretty cool name. Yeah, yeah.

Rolls off the tongue. It's a great wrestling name and the fact that that's your actual name. That's what I thought. Yeah. I kept it as close to home as possible. McDonough is my mother's maiden name. And then JD is Jordan Devlin. So like that was, the list was short for you.

Like, hey, are you guys off your name? Yeah, if you're going to make me change my name. I'm going to stay true to myself. I'm going to be as close to the authentic me as possible. But you didn't have to change your name originally, right? Like you were still. I was Jordan Devlin for a little while. Yeah.

For a few years. Yeah. Yeah. How does the conversation come about where it's like, all right, we know you've done this stuff as Jordan Devlin, but it's time to have a new name. Yeah, I think when I was moving from the UK over to the States, they thought, okay, this is the right time to rebrand them. Rebranded and trade market, I guess.

I guess. Yeah. They must have high hopes for me to get. Well, I was going to make a lot of money. It's working out. You're selling all that judgment day merch? That's true. That must be nice.

Well, it's like, you know, 25%. It's actually less than that now. They got more members. This is why you can't have more members. No new members. Yeah. You've got to split the, split the residuals. Yeah.

Has our truth got you to break character? He's come close. He's going to, when we're, especially on the live events, you know, and I know that I'm not, like, I'll try and keep it together as much as I can on camera. I'm better than priest that a priest was cracking up every, every single week. Yeah, he's got priest to break. Mm-hmm. Truth's got pretty much everyone to break. Yeah, I saw a clip of him getting Lesnar to break

On the plane here Yeah, he must be one of the only guys to do that But he hasn't got you No, I'm rock solid Well, it's over now Yeah, he's gonna see this Yes, and he's gonna make me a target Yeah

He is one of the funniest guys That was it We went straight from Judgment Day At war games against the top four baby faces So we looked super strong Super menacing Super dangerous

And then we went into The Orchrut stuff And I love that I love being able to have that range, you know, where you can go from being like slimy, scummy little heels to making people laugh and all the stuff for the dom and live and well, they won't they and us catching them. And I, it was a really great 2024 for that kind of stuff for showing off my comedy side too. Well, it gives a lot of layers to what you guys do.

Because if you're just heels that do devious things, it's like, yeah, all right. but when you're heels that we can't help but laugh at and laugh with. Yeah. It's like, well, yeah, I'm booing them because I don't like them. But at the same time, they're pretty fun. Yeah. That's kind of like how I felt about Kernangle when I was grown up. You know, undeniably good.

He's a doofus. But he's great and he's so dangerous. But he makes me laugh really hard. He's one of the people, and I told him this to his face. I said, if we're making a Mount Rushmore of comedy wrestlers, you've got to be on there. Yeah, for the little cowboy hat alone. It's for that. It's for milk a man.

it's for all of the things that he's like the uh the man who plays with boys promo yeah yeah and i i think that people forget how funny card angle was because he's one of the very best to ever lay some up oh it total killer yes yeah and maybe that's what makes him you know so good is that like yeah absolute killer yeah doesn't take him to help too seriously yes and that's that's probably why he's so good but if you're making a mount rush more of comedy wrestlers he's got to be on it. Yeah. I'm going to stick Ronnie on there too, though. Our truth? Yeah. Oh, of course. No, undeniably. And Santino, I think,'s got to be on there too. Yeah. And that's three of the four. Well, I had the same conversation with truth. And he's like, people forget, though. Stone Cold was funny.

He was. People forget, though. The rock is funny. And it's like, it's so true that, like, all the best have, like, layers. Like, he's like, Triple H has had funny. Sean Michaels is funny. And it's true, like, that when you get to that level, like, and you're able to show like, I can be serious and I can be funny and I can be a great wrestler. Like, that's what makes you so good. Well, that's pro wrestling in a nutshell. It's a circus. You know, you got to have, you got to appeal to a mass audience.

You got to have, you know, if you don't like the acrobats, you might like the lions. If you don't like the lions, you might like the gymnasts, you know. So you got to be able to have that range and be able to be more than a one-dimensional character. You've got to give people something to sink their teeth in. What allowed you to open up and lean into that comedy side for you? Because you hadn't done it before. No, I hadn't, but I still, I always liked taking weird funny bumps, like through the ropes or, you know, going inside out when I got kicked in the ass and making people laugh that way in ring. You know, I knew there was always a place for that in a serious match.

You can still pop the audience a little bit in that way. So it was just the opportunity to do it in WWP with a cast of characters that were funny, you know, and being put into comedic situations. And the thing that I'll say about the Judgment Day, every member in all iterations is every single person wants to make any time that we're on camera important, you know, and maximize it. So even if it's me and Carlito and Dom goofing around in the background of a promo and the business is happening. up front. We'll try and get something for the fans that are really care and really like analyze the promos, you know. We'll try and fit in like a little Easter eggs in the background or funny little, you know, side stories. Well, that's the idea of like, even if you only have 30 seconds on camera this week, that you make the most of it. It's the, yeah. How lucky are we that we have 30 seconds

on DVD TV? It's the dusty roads quote of maximize your ends, like make the most of the opportunity you have. Yeah. And judgment day is a perfect example of that. And you're right. There's sometimes just little things going on the back or like you'll make a funny face or like Carlito will like raise an eyebrow and you're like this is like this is great yeah well there was a there was one promo that we did that made everybody laugh where uh live was trying to it was trying to woo dom yeah and she was helping him stretch for their tag match and we all popped her heads around the corner like a totem pole and apparently that popped everybody that's all well and then like the carlito yeah yeah yeah yeah

It looks pretty hard to me. It looks pretty hard to me. I don't think that's PG. No. Yeah. That was a foreselling what Netflix is to bring, I think. Hmm. This stuff with Dom and Liv and all the Easter eggs in the background and like building up towards like, is,

is Tom actually going to leave Ria Ripley? All of that culminating at Summer Slam last year was such a huge moment for Judgment Day. Yeah. Yeah. It was the whole, like, the dissolution of the group in that form, right? Yeah. Because Finn turned on priests and... Yes.

But it feels like it was like this groundswell of like, especially with the Liv and Dom and Ria stuff. Is this going to happen? They're teasing it, but there's no way he could do this. Yeah. And then it happened and it went, oh. And what a moment it created. Yeah.

Dom went from being healed to more heel. Yeah. That's so true. He's the only heel to turn heel. Yeah. Yeah, incredible statistic to have. Yeah, what a moment. What's been the real, like, pinch me moment for you of, like,

I can't believe I get to do this. I can't believe I'm here and this is happening. I had one outside of WWV last year when me and Finn got to go home to over-the-top wrestling, and we brought this high titles home to Dublin. And we wrestled in the national stadium where I'd wrestled on the Indies in front of 2,200 people. and that's not comparatively a very big crowd. That's a huge indie crowd. A huge indie crowd, of course.

But we got a balcony full of Devlins and a balcony full of Devets. And we were up there with the world tag team titles. And we came back to where we both started out. Wow. This is just insane. The fact that that's even possible now for you to go back to where you started and bring the WWE championship, that really speaks. It's unheard of that.

Yeah, it speaks to the era that we're in right now with, WWA. Yeah, long may at last. Yeah. That must have been so cool to be able to go home, like,

to have accomplished what you accomplish, and then to come right back to where you start. In our primes with the titles. Yeah. It was beyond belief. And then also think about

how encouraging that is for the young wrestlers going, if they can do it. Well, that's exactly my point. Like, I fully believe

that I am only here because I believe that I could get here because of what Finn was doing ahead of me. And if we can come back and show them, like, look, you're on these mats, like these mats, it can be done. Like, we're in front of your face.

We're like you. You know, if we could unlock that in their brains, who knows, you know, they could be the next superstar of 2030, 2030-5, you know. You said that since you got injured, you've just been at home bored. Yeah. What have you been doing? Very little. Very little.

I've been, uh, I just bought a house. So I've been doing lots of DIY and painting and gardening. I was actually, I got in a little bit of trouble with the Dubby Docks. It wasn't the first week, but it was early in the second week. One of the producers called me up just to check in. I'm fine, you know, I'm just out in the garden and planting a blueberry bush. All good, you know, I'm just bored. And like 20 minutes later, I had a call from the WB Dock being like,

I've heard a rumor that you're doing manual labor. Tell me you're lying. I was like, I'll go back inside. So kind of under penalty of death, I've been resting up and trying to do very little. So is literally just sitting around resting, recovering? Yeah, I'm able to do some light cardio, like skipping and going on a bicycle, like low-impact stuff. This last week I've gone to the gym and done some lightweights and just saying like how my rib support this, you know, I've put it over my head. And I can?

Yeah, it can. Sounds like you're close to coming back then. I feel like I am. The first bump will tell. Oh, yeah. That'll be my first. So will that be, I'm assuming you get cleared when you go to the PC, you take a bump and, like, get checked out after? Get the ropes, take a couple bumps.

Yeah. I hate in the ropes. See, my lung still inflated. Yeah. How do they inflate a punctured lung? How do they repair that? Do you want to know? I'd like to.

So they take a tube. It's about the diameter of your little finger and they poke a hole in between your ribs and they stab it into your chest cavity. because the lung had come away from the chest cavity and collapsed, and they need to suck all the blood and air that's leaking from your lung in your chest cavity out so that your lung can expand and stick back to the wall of your chest. Oh, man. So I was on this suction pump pulling all the blood and air out for a day. And I was obviously like shallow breaths, like half lungfuls.

and then they changed it to a different machine with like a lower form of suction. So there's less suction helping my, my lungs stay inflated. They were seeing it would stay up, did that for another day. And then they took me off the machine, took the tubes out, and my lung stayed inflated and stayed stuck to my chest cavity. So they let me go home. And this is in a hospital? Yeah, I was blessed, by the way.

We were in Atlanta, Georgia, the next state up from Florida. Like, if I had been in Colorado, I'd still be driving home because I couldn't fly. Oh wow. Yeah, my lung with a pop. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so my wife, WDV couldn't have been better, by the way. They flew my wife up. They extended my hotel for a week.

They got us a car and a driver to drive us back to Tampa. They were awesome about it. But yeah, it was a bad week after the bump. It could have been so much worse. Yes. I always remember to add that in at the end. It could have been so much worse. Like I'm sitting here smiling and talking to you and I walked in.

my own two legs and I'm going to be back in a couple weeks hopefully. It's amazing. And I think that it has, it's, you're going to be, you're going to be seen by the audience in a new light now, I think. Like, I think that they always, I always saw you as a great wrestler, goes out there and has great matches, but now it's like, that guy's tough. That guy is legit tough. Well, I, like I said, I, I hope that any wrestler worth their salt would at least try

to do the same thing, you know. I'm not encouraging anyone to keep going if they're hurt, but like I said to you, about giving people their money's worth, you know, I feel like there is a, it's like a badge of honor for wrestlers. Like everyone, my age saw Triple H finishing the match with a torn quad, you know, that burned itself into my brain at a young age. I still don't know how he did it. And took the walls of Jericho.

Yeah, what a psycho. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, you know, which it would have been like at a 13 out of 10 pain. Yeah, yeah. But I think there is little moments like that. come along in a long career, little like flashes of, you know, things happening that you weren't expected and how do you react to it and those kind of things can change the trajectory of a career. How much pain were you in when that happened? It sucked. It was real bad. And it was

the impact itself, it took all the air out of me, obviously, and I was lying there and it was like white, hot pain. But the worst part was feeling like my ribs, rattling around, like later on in the match when I was running or throwing a kick or throwing a punch or taking on one of the other moves, it was just a long, drawn out, like, stabbing sensation, you know? And then even after that, like, I was home maybe four or five days, and I was walking through the kitchen and my wife said something funny and cracked me up, and brought me to my knees. You know, I collapsed on the kitchen floor from this laugh that it winded me. When you got to the back after that, how'd you feel?

I uh so we got back behind the not even to the curtain I was I had my arms over Dom and Carlito coming up the the aisle way and that was really hurting me but I couldn't take my hands off them or I had fallen down so and I didn't want to fall down in gorilla because there was loads of people waiting to go out to the next match and you don't want to sell for anybody in the office so I just lay down on the other side of the curtain thinking that I was out of the out of the eye line of people but I have a few of the fans caught a photo of my feet sticking out into the entrance way. They said, Chady's just collapsed backstage. Oh, man. Yeah. But I just had to lie down and catch my breath. It wasn't a full collapse. It wasn't so bad, guys.

I did a moonsault. Did you see that? You're a crazy man. Things you do in the heat of the moment, I guess. It's... Adrenaline's a hell of a drug. Absolutely. I'm glad you're okay.

Yeah. I'm glad we could finally have this conversation, too. I know. I can't believe we've never met before. I know. I was always kind of like in the periphery of each other. I've been in the gym at the same time as you. In Chicago, it was actually right before you got RKO'd off the cage.

I was in the gym. I was, I think, finishing up and you were starting or vice versa. Yeah. But I didn't want to, I don't want to bug you in the gym. But I'm glad we were able to connect on this. Yes, absolutely. While you have a little bit of spare time. Because you're about to hit the road once you get cleared.

Yeah. And it was great to get some air miles behind me again for 2025, you know. I'm glad you were able to fly up. again. Yeah, I feel more like myself now, doing business and talking about wrestling and kind of easing my way back into it now. Well, you are, you are an absolute savage. Thank you for finishing that match. Thank you. And I can't wait to see what's next for you and the judgment day. And hopefully you guys can stay together. I don't know. Time will tell. Yeah, we'll see. Time will tell all. Grateful for this conversation and gratitude is such a big thing for me. So, J.D., I'll ask you

the question I ask everyone at the end of every episode. What are three things you're grateful for right now? I'm grateful that I stuck it out chasing my dream as long as I did and that it paid off. I'm grateful for my parents for encouraging me to always follow my dreams and be a leader and don't follow people, do your own thing. And I am grateful to my wife for coming to America with me to help me chase my dream. I couldn't do it without her. You're doing it, man. Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure. No. Thank you. Thank you. So great to have J.D. with us in the studio.

Thank you for being with us. And thank you for listening all the way until the end. I'm wishing him a speedy recovery. And I hope that we can see him back in the ring again soon. And after hearing him say he's in a competition with AJ Styles to see who can take a bigger back body drop, I feel like I'm watching both of their matches a little bit differently, right? To see who can take that bigger bump. And like some of them, like especially the one we were talking about with Drew McIntyre that JD took.

He like almost went into the rafters. It's crazy. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening and tag us online. He's at JD underscore McDone. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And Eckert Toley has this great quote. Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have.

Make the now the primary focus of your life. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you tomorrow for Ask CVV number 74. If you've got a question, leave a comment on Spotify, send it in on social media using that hashtag AskCTVV or shoot me an email. CVV at Chris VanVleet.com. We will see you back here tomorrow 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 it man, jump, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.