Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Joey Janela Is Making More Money Since Leaving AEW

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

Joey Janela (@thebadboyjoeyjanela) is a professional wrestler. He joins Chris Van Vliet at the Blue Wire Studios in Las Vegas to talk about his contract not being renewed with AEW, recently lighting his foot on fire for a flaming superkick in GCW, the original plans for him and Sonny Kiss in AEW, his regrets about drunkenly trying to fight Enzo at a Blink 182 concert, breaking Eddie Kingston’s orbital bone with a kick to the face, the hate he gets from fans on social media and more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blin! I hope you had a great weekend. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. It's your friendly neighborhood, CBV, Chris Van Vleet with you, and this is a really interesting one today, because I think a lot of people have formed very strong opinions about Joey Janella either one way or another.

And I hope that this conversation allows you to see him in a different light. Take a screenshot, posted on social media. Let us know you're listening. Let us know what stands out for you the most. And tag us so we can share it. He's at The Bad Boy Joey Janella on Instagram. He's at Janella Baby on Twitter. And you can find me at Chris Van Fleet.

And if you haven't yet, please make sure to follow the show wherever you're listening right now. Lately, lately I've been listening on an app called Podopolo that's spelled P-O-D-O-P-O-L-B. because I love how you can interact with people on there that are listening to the same types of shows that you listen to. So if you're looking for a new app, might I suggest Podopolo? I think you'll really like it.

Big shout out to S. Turner 209 for being our fan of the week. They say, great show. There was like three R's there, great show. I've been listening for a few years now. One of my favorite interviewers, Chris keeps it real and makes listening

while driving refreshing. always interesting, regardless if it's about wrestling or just having his one-on-ones with us. Keep up the amazing work. Well, thank you for that. And yeah, it's been a while since we've done a one-on-one. I think it's time to do another one of those. If you have any ideas for what our next one-on-one idea should be, our next one-on-one topic should be, shoot me a message again at Chris Van Fleet.

And please keep these reviews coming in on Apple Podcast. They help so, so much. And if you're listening on Spotify, those ratings also super helpful. All right, please welcome inside the beautiful Blue Wire Studios at the Win Las Vegas, the bad boy, Joey Janella. We are making this happen. Thank you so much for joining us. You made it happen.

I'm here. You're here. How's your foot, by the way? Amputated. You call me the next Kerry von Erick. I saw you walking in with both your feet. Like, that was a crazy. This is a fake.

This is a fake. CGI. Those are great shoes. Yeah, these are cool. What are those rattlesnakes? Those are rattlesnakes. Your wardrobe is always so on point. This is like my dress down clothes right now.

I got my gold's gym. Gold's gym shirt. I got these 80s. Yep. Oh. I think they're a reprinted in the 80s. Got my ECW fanny pack to hold my car. You got a talking to the mic so we can hear all this.

Yeah. You got all my stuff. You could probably. hear me yeah the ECW fanny pack the throwback oakley well if you weren't wearing the oakles i feel like people don't recognize you that's your trademark yeah so i if i walk around with my pit vipers or any glasses that resemble like these or anything people will be like oh that's joey janella of course even on a weekend like this if i don't have these take them off for a second who's this guy who is it no no one knows no now people know oh it's joey janella plus people for

some reason have the think that Joey Janella is 300 pounds for some reason. Oh, the internet is closer to you now. Okay, there we go. There we go. Since you walked away from it. So, yeah, the internet has given them the illusion that Joey Janella has some fat 300 pound slob. Even when I was a little chubby boy, I wasn't 300 pounds. I was the same weight I am now.

I'm just now. I'm buffed and I'm the new stuff, baby. What were you at your heaviest? Very heavy. hundred pounds. How much? 200 pounds. What do you weigh now?

Oh, you wait 200 pounds. You look great, by the way. That's it. You got the bicep vein. The muscles. That's it. Put those away. You got a license for those?

That's it. I just decided 2022, bad boy summer part two. I want to get buffed. I want to get my teeth fixed, which we're in the process right now. Thank you, Dr. Britt Baker. She's doing my teeth. These are just temps.

June 9th. The real teeth go in. Wait, Britt Baker's actually doing your teeth? Yeah. Do we get a little zoom in? here? If you want. These are attempts, though.

These are basically like glute in, what do they call those? Oh, like dentures, basically? Yeah, these are like glued in dentures, but they look good for the timing until I get the new rack up there. It's expensive, but it's worth it. And you're going to Pittsburgh for this? No, no, they're in Orlando. Yeah, yeah, I go right down the street.

But new teeth, new physique, bad boy summer part two, going to the beach, going to get my nipples suck. while I'm drinking a Twisted tea Because I'm so sick of white claws I'm absolutely sick of hard seltzer So now we're at Twisted T's four locals Jack Daniels

Dear anything I can get my hands on besides hard seltzer now But it's gonna be a lot of nips sucking this summer And you know It's just because You know These are succulent nips And I wanted to I wanted to enjoy

myself or loco by the way is quite a throwback yeah it wasn't i didn't 10 years the old the old formula was like 10 years ago oh yeah that was a formula that makes you walk in walk down the street and seaside heights and punch a cop out is that what you did no i didn't i never punched a cop oh i never never okay never did oh he's winking oh okay you can't see what the glasses on i've never ever punch a cop and ran away oh boy you're like there's a real story here they've i've done got my ass beat by cops, but... Man, you were the one. We did our first interview like three-ish years ago.

You at that time were making White Claw is like really cool. Yeah, because at the time, that was like something new, something fresh. It's like, wow, they're only 90 calories. But why was I fatter and more out of shape on White Claw that I am drinking coronas? sugary twisted teas and sugary pineapple vodka drinks. And my favorite, of course, the margarita, especially a mescal margarita, a little smoky taste. A little smokiness.

A little smokiness. Maybe put some jalapeno or habanero tequila in there. I'm all about a spicy mark. That's what I'm, that's what I'm, that's what I'm about. How do you feel about the rocks tequila, Taramana? I think it's pretty good. I think all the, all the, the, the new tequila is are pretty, pretty, pretty, solid.

George 21's good too. Oh, yeah. I can't know. Casamigos. Yeah. Casamigos is very smooth. Yeah. So is the rocks.

Like, you could sip the rocks to kill. Well, he sits it all the time on his little. Well, of course. That's how he sells so many, you know,

bottle of it. Of course, he's not mixing with anything. And you have that physique, you can't even. Yeah. When you have a physique like this, come on.

I'm the next rock. That's what they're saying. That's what all the girls are saying. That's exactly what they're saying. That's how I'm getting the teeth done because I'm breaking the acting right now. I'm going to be the next rock. I'm going to make a couple of shitty movies.

I'm going to make a couple shitty movies until I find my flow. And I become that Hollywood hump. You got to move into closer to the mic here. I become that Hollywood hump. That's maybe too close. What the difference here? Not like Ryan Nemeth. Like a whole new breed of hump.

You don't need to hold the mic. It's okay. We'll just sit here. But just, you know, sit maybe like, Joe Rogan always says like a fist away from it. So just come in, come into the table a little bit more. See, there it is. Good.

That's real good. But back to the foot. So this video went viral of you giving a flaming super kick. Yes. You let your foot on fire, which in itself was already crazy enough that you gave a flaming super kick. But it was the fact that your foot wouldn't go out. It just kept burning.

So this is the situation. So the night before me, Drew Parker, who's probably one of the top death match wrestlers right now. He's from England. He moved to Japan to wrestle some of the best death match wrestlers in the world. That's where the best, most story-driven death matches are. That's where Jun Casai is. That's where Decatur is. Freedom's a big Japan. They run the death match scene over in Japan. So he went over there and now. He lives there. So we've been bringing them in sporadically for GCW probably once a year. So this match was supposed to happen in January on New Year's Eve. And he didn't want to come over because the COVID restrictions came back. So he sat out.

So we delayed the match to Los Angeles. And he's one of my favorite dudes. So the night before I said, you know what? You're doing a lot of death matches on this door. Let's take it easy. Okay. All right? Let's not do a death match.

Let's do a Joey Janella hybrid plunder match, which a lot of my matches are there, basically. I kind of have that New Japan main. event flow, but with doors and bullshit, with outlaw, mud show bullshit. So within, we're at the Rainbow Room in L.A., West Hollywood, the famous Rainbow Room. Yep. Start taking a shot of whiskey, one, one shot of whiskey. What? Two shot of whiskey.

What? Three shot of whiskey. What? Then I go, Drew, I got an idea. Uh-oh. Let's do 15 minutes of a regular wrestling match, and then all of a sudden, it's like an night Chamaelan twist. It all sudden turns into a fucking death match.

I see dead people. And he was like, all right, let's do it. And then I woke up the next day. I go, fuck. Why did I agree to this? Because right now, my point, at this point in my career, I kind of want to stay away from the death matches.

I don't want to scar my face up. I got glass still from the last one I did in my arm. That's what that scorer is? This is glass trying to come out. I tried to pull the last one out with tweezers, but they're like pimples. Eventually you'll come through and then you'll have to slice it open with the exacto and pull it out. Is that what the big scar is there?

That big scar kind of looks like at the ultimate warrior. This scar right here is from, that's how the glass got in there. I didn't know it was in there. From a light tube? From a plate of glass. So we agree we're going to do glass, but the day of the show,

they couldn't find glass. I said, I was a belief. All right, but we got barbed wire. We got dumb tacks We got gussets Gussets are Square metal

Spiky things Things that hold bridges together They're pretty dangerous Okay I said all right So all right I'll do it Let's do it And then

Like I came up with this idea I said What if I light my foot on fire I give you a super kick I'm just like playing with ideas You go that sounds cool I said

Can we get lighter fluid So I talked to this guy Rob shit he's like an LA guy his name is Rob shit that's his wrestling name I said you have a motorcycle you have your vehicle here can you go find me lighter fluid

I'm thinking about lighting my foot on fire within 10 minutes he comes back with some lighter fluid all right I guess this is gonna happen so I go to Brett I go Brett I'm gonna light my foot on fire and give Drew a super kick he thought I was just bullshit he didn't think I was actually gonna go through with these like whatever yeah

so you get out there and fire spots are usually, they go either to the left or the right. It's usually rarely perfect. They either don't work and the fire goes out and you look like a complete idiot. Or the fire is blazing and you nearly die. I didn't want to make it the latter. I didn't want to make it a shitty fire spot.

So when I took the letter for it, I've absolutely used probably three quarters of that bottle on my foot. And when we were ready to go, I took that lighter and I lit that foot up and that was blazing. I didn't really feel it at the time. It wasn't bad. I hit it.

Perfectly executed Superkick with the fire. Couldn't have gone any better. But then I'm waiting for the water. And the only people that really knew were me, Drew, the ref and more. and one of the the young guys from LA

who is helping out with building stuff for the night and Rob shit so you didn't think to have a fire extinguisher on hand I don't I didn't want a fire extinguisher usually a fire extinguisher it's kind of pointless

usually you put water on the fire and it goes out that's what people don't get the last thing I want is some fucking guy coming spraying a fire extinguisher at me Yeah. And me breaking out a rash and my eyes swelling up for fucking four days. Okay.

That's what happens. The chemicals in a fire extinguisher are terrible for you. They're not supposed to spray heat. This is not this is not 2000 WWF fire extinguisher. This is a real fire extinguisher. I don't want that sprayed at me. So usually a bucket of water will do it. That's what they had, a bucket of water.

Wow, they were using a little bottle of water. So, yeah, it wasn't like this $10 bottle of Fiji water. I bought this fucking casino. But it was a Poland spring. I don't even think it was probably a 500 millilator. Probably even shittier brand, probably store brand fucking bottle of water. Kirkland brand. Yeah.

So they start splashing my foot and I'm trying to get the shoe off because I tied the shoe so tight on that I didn't want there to be a chance that I super keep them. And my flaming shoe flew off to the crowd and lit someone on fire because that was a famous situation in ECW. That's what people were saying. They're like, DCW would never be dumb enough to do this. No, they were dumber. They almost looked the whole building on fire, and they were lighting fans on fire when Cactus Jack. The video doesn't exist.

The evidence was supposedly erased. I know somebody has that video somewhere, probably in Stanford, in some vault. That Cactus Jack hit Terry Funk in the back with a flaming chair, and the towel flew off onto Terry Funk and Dreamer. caught fire. And then they ran into the crowd and then the towel flew into the crowd. Oh, man. And then there was supposed to be some kind of crucifixion angle afterwards. So they went with still while this flaming rag and Terry Funk is running around on fire, they turn out the lights for this crucifixion angle. So then the fans are freaking out because there's no lights in ECW in now. And there's a stampede and people are getting trampled and there's fire everywhere. And yeah,

that was a disaster. So yes, ECW did dumber. shit than I did on that night in LA. But I had it tight. And so it was hard to get it off. I get it off. And then I was like, the shoe's on fire. Okay. And then I look and my sock is on fire now.

And I go, what the fuck? How did that happen? How is my? So then I start, I start, they're pouring water on it. And then I start grabbing it. I start grabbing my foot trying to put it out with my hands. Dreadulins running through me. I don't feel the flames.

I guess it's just a lighter fluid, the way it burns. And eventually Rob's shit to the rescue came out and threw his leather jacket off by flipping it out. But did you get any burns? No burns. It didn't even burn through the sock.

Do they, and when you do a spot like that, you upload the video, there's always a wide array of comments. Yes. Do you look at the very negative comments on those? I love it. I love being polarized.

growing up I always were attracted to the polarizing celebrities that the headlines on the national choir like who just like the people that there's always like there's a whole like large array like I can't even think we were younger like Robert Downey Jr was not the Robert Downey Jr. Yes yes so like guys like Robert Downey Jr. guys like Tommy Lee people that were always yeah. some of the rock stars. Marilyn Manson. That's a great example. That was like when I was a kid, that's who fucked out my life. It was ECW, ECW and Marilyn Manson probably. I was like, wow, I want to be like Marilyn Manson.

This guy's in the headlines every week for doing something fucking controversial. That is number one. Marilyn Manson is like, I know he's pretty much canceled at the moment. But at that time, I was like obsessed with Marilyn Manson in the way he always was in the headlines for doing something controversial. And there was, there was, and I don't believe in apologizing. I believe that's when his career kind of, that word spiraled after he apologized because the whole Columbide situation, they said that he was a contributor to why that situation happened. And I felt like he apologized, but of course, they're just going to, it wasn't him. But that's what at that time, America's never seen someone like Marilyn Manson.

So they're just, this guy's a Satanist. This guy is doing this. This guy is, is cross-dressing. He's doing this. He's doing that. Like, he was always in the headlines. And I always like, we're attracted to those people. So I love the hate.

People think I'm thin skin. I'm certainly not thin skin. I've been dealing with this harassment on social media for years And most people would ignore it Most people would just go on with their day And not care what someone says But when I Rattle that Hornets nest

It just gives me that much more attention And I can go something could happen You can light my foot on fire And then I say something to somebody And then it snowball fact And then I'm trending on social media because not only did I do something

very ill of eyes, very stupid, but I'm also acting like an asshole at the same time. So it's just, uh... You blur the lines a lot. A lot. I've been blurring the lines a lot lately because I'm no longer with

AEW so I can kind of get away with a little bit more being an independent guy and not having to worry about Turner whatever. It's called out. Warner Media, Warner Media.

Hitting up Tony Kodd saying, this is one of your wrestlers. What the fuck is wrong with him? Why did you hire this guy? Which I learned a lot when this tweet came out. What the fuck? Did that happen to you? This happened to me a few times there.

Did you feel like there was a point over the last three years where you couldn't be yourself completely because you were under contract? I could never really be myself completely being under contract. Did Joey Janella before? for A.E.W. Is quite similar to the Joey Janelle now after A.A.W. I'm just a lot smarter and more mature than I was then. But to the outside, people, I'm just as immature and idiotic as I was before signing a deal.

But you certainly weren't as extreme in AED. No, no, no. I was definitely, I watered myself down a lot. Are you okay with that? I made money Sure I made money You got paid every two weeks For three years

Every two weeks for three years I made money And now with the doubt I seen Jerry Lynn last night at the bar I was thinking him so much Isn't that guy awesome Awesome He aged order by top batches there

So I said I've learned so much from you So People took offense to this Fans were like You're an idiot for saying this And it doesn't make sense But Being in a bit

AEW was a developmental phase for the rest of my career. What I learned being in that three-year company, what I learned being in a TV company, especially half of it was during a pandemic wrestling in front of no fans, what I'd learn was, you know, you can't buy that shit. You know, I learned so much from a lot of the guys there, uh, whether it, be, you know, you learn so much because I never really, people think I'm untrained. That's not the case. A lot of people would be pissed off to find out that the way I train in professional wrestling

was the same way a lot of their favorites did in the 70s and 80s. I learned on the road. I learned in camps. I've learned going to different wrestling schools traveling to the United States. but from what I learned, it's just like TV experience and all that. Yeah. I understand where you were coming from when you said. You didn't mean that it was like developmental.

No, no, no. But people take my words and they create fake headlines. Yeah. You're basically saying, and I don't want to misquote you, but you're saying like that prepared you to be a better wrestler wherever you go from here on now. Absolutely. And help a lot of new guys to better wrestlers. Now someone can come to you and go,

hey man, I really want to get noticed by AEW. What should I do? I want to be a better wrestler for when I am on TV. How can I do that? They can ask me that or they can ask me advice on their match and watch your match. And a lot of guys, if now I get opportunity. If a guy is coming up,

I can just go to any indie promoter right now and say, I want to wrestle that guy. Or I want to wrestle the, I hear this guy in your state is the top guy now. I want to elevate him. Yeah. And I've done that. I've done that for a lot of guys in the last,

basically the whole time I've elevated a lot of guys. And, you know, just, I, like, that's what I did for Nick Wade. I said, I wanted to wrestle that guy. I want to, I don't want to do it in GCW. I want to go to Seattle. I want to go to his home state. I want to wrestle him in Defi. Guys like Ninja Mac and Dante Leon.

I seen those guys. I just seen clips of those guys on the wrestling. with unicorns Instagram and I said These guys are wild I wonder if they know how to actually wrestle

So then I said Can you send me the whole match? Oh wow And I said the whole match I started taking my own clips Out and setting them to Brett They were booked Oh perfect

Just like it's always GCW now is Top Indy where Guys are going to come in And a lot of eyes around the company A lot of guys from AEW A lot of guys from WW

Are watching GCW So they're picking guys out from there now. Yeah. Despite our wild outlaw reputation, which sometimes gets us in trouble. We do have talent rolling through nonstop. And it's kind of like we are the main gear in the machine now to crank them out. You've definitely really shifted Matt Cardona's career.

Yeah. Even guys coming back. And that's such an interesting thing because Matt Cardona was making some noise in the Indies. and then he went in, did that death match in GCW, and it was like, oh, man. That was all, that was all basically Brett and John Carlo came up with that whole angle. And, man, that was fantastic. And he really went through with that death match.

And he really bled all over the fucking place. And he needed to get to that. And now he's on, he was on the cover of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, I think, recently. Yeah. It's not 1980. seven pro wrestling little straight, but still,

it'd be on the cover. That's kind of, that's kind of a cool thing, especially the way his career has gone up and down and up and down and up and down. And I believe one day he's so over right now that he will have a chance

that he's going to sign to a major company and then he's going to be a top guy. There's no reason he shouldn't be. And he doesn't, the thing is he doesn't need to sign with a major company with everything he's doing right now. He's at impact right now. He's at an NBA,

he's NBA champion. And he, right, he did some stuff with, AEW, like since being released, he's done a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Was there a point in AEW where you were like, I don't think I'm going to get resigned

here? There was. So this is the thing. People think that, so this is the situation. And people are going to take this and say, I'm just creating false narratives and craziness. So the plan was to bring me back to TV. And that's why they put me with So Tony was like

Listen Your act with Pedelope It was stellar We have to find a way To Kind of not replicate that

But we need An athletic female That we can pair you with So we can Kind of do a similar act And Bring you back to TV So

I said okay I'll start looking on the Indies for gymnasts or former cheerleaders and stuff that can do some pretty amazing stuff. So we looked at a few girls and we were on the fence about it because when the lights are on, it's going to be, you got to hit those big moves. But Nellope was always able to do that. She was really, really like teaming with me and doing the stuff with me on the Indies CCW and beyond. wrestling was really like all right she didn't know what the hell was going on like she was trained by jugal act she she she learned the basics pretty solid but i'm like listen you're gonna have to do this and you're gonna have to hit it in one shot where you're gonna have to do something this

fucking crazy and she was just like all right let's go and that's that was basically our act so tony wanted something similar to that so then i seen the girl kela i seen clips of her doing Phoenix flashes and moonsaults and stuff and found out that she was a former Olympic gymnast and a pro bodybuilder. I was like, wow, this is something different. This is great. I was always a fan of early China with Degeneration X.

I said she could be China, but with crazy like aerial moves. Aerial moves and just craziness. So we pitched to Tony. Tony's like, yeah, let's bring her up. So where do you want to do it? Let's do a universal. I said, no.

I said, let's do it in the United Center. I said, I said, I said, let's, let's have her come out to United Center or do something. Well, we debuted her there. And, you know, I think she, she just started training, like, within a couple months. So she got brought right in. I seated. She was training for two months, brought her right into the United Center, one of the biggest shows at AEW history at that point. Yeah.

So she did something she power bombed Robert Anthony, but he kind of leaped into it. So he kind of looked and she's not a wrestler. So she's in the mind of grab. He just hopped in just to make it look as good as possible. So that clip. Kind of went to all the botch twitters,

AW botches, the botch kings. I don't know what these fucking things are. So kind of like, fuck, okay. Tony said I didn't like it. Okay.

I got an idea. Let's do the match with Sonny. we did the heel turn on Sunny I said we're gonna do a let's do a Jersey versus Jersey match Prudential for dark so and then have her do something crazy afterwards so

so we have this match we have 12 minutes on the board we're about to go out okay now you guys have six minutes Tony's like no no to five five five minutes that's something that usually happens at TV fuck we're supposed to have this big match

in our home state sold out Prudential Center we absolutely ace that match It was nonstop action Not a lot of selling Not a lot of psychology But man that crowd was hot One of the hottest crowds

I remember Encounter one of my matches At AEW was it was awesome We had them And then we had her do the moon salt Double stop with the chair On Sunny afterwards And the crowd just

Lost it Yeah I said okay we have something Yeah Tony's like yes now we have something Everyone's like yeah we have something Big show is like Big show is like this is a great act This is something you guys got something

Let's keep on working Giving her advice Everyone everyone is really digging it And some of the girls of course They're like who is this girl She's not she's been training for too much She walks in off the streets And and suddenly

Getting on Something that we've worked so hard for For all these years Yeah But she she becomes really cool with the locker room And Tony says we have something so so the plan is Tony said okay now let's we're going to do another sunny kiss match but he's so all over the place so he's not really focused too much on

the dark shit so he says all right write this whole storyline create this whole storyline which I did from the turn on sunny so I basically wrote everything pitched to Cody and QT and and and they they would feed it to Tony and Tony's like okay let's go so then we so he said okay we just got to get this sunny street fight match out of the way to blow off and then we can bring you back to tv and figure something out okay so i said okay let's go yeah said finally back on tv let's go i'm in great shape right now um i got in the best shape i was like ready to go tv so we do the street fight and uh tony says you up just because we're bringing you back there we're going to give you something and uh i said okay cool so i beat sunny in that

match and a great match another great match with sunny kiss so then yeah so then we're just rolling with the punches i don't know what happened after that but then um that the thing with eddie kingston i super kicked them a little bit too hard and uh broke his eye socket which is unfortunate shit happens um do you think that that had Did that play into you being released? Or not renewed? There was never, there was no release.

It was just a non-renewal. And there was chances are that I was going to be renewed, whether it be with Ring of Honor or I hear from, but then I just ran my mouth in an interview saying, I haven't heard from anyone. Yeah. What is going on? I guess I'm not getting renewed.

So then. Then did you hear from someone? No, no. And I heard that totally was. He's hot about it. It made him look bad, but made their talent relations look bad. But at the same time, it made them, you know, improve their communications with talent. Within that two-week period, and I did that, the communications were a lot better.

Did you hear very quickly after that interview came out with Denise? I didn't hear from anyone. Oh. So you heard through the grapevine that people were upset. I heard people were upset, but I also heard talent was hitting me up from the company saying, you're 100% correct. I said, you spoke up, and you're correct. And that was cool for you to take that risk.

So you were like to make an analogy here, you're in that situation where you've had a bunch of dates with someone. And then you're texting them and they're not responding. You're like, I guess this is over that. Yeah, yeah. So I said, all right. So I said, so Denise wanted an interview. I said, I said, you know what? I said, let's just do it.

You know, I was just like, I've had it. You know, I've stressed out. Just frustrated. No pun intended. I'm just frustrated. You guys get that. But it's just, it's just a situation, but create a lot of good out of it. And there's no, I haven't talked to Tony since, which is kind of.

It's kind of a little That's something that kind of irked me Because we were so cool And we always After the AEW shows When the AEW first started I would go out with him Because he knew I'd be the one to stay up with him

Until 7 the morning drinking shots of tequila So So Yeah I assume he's still irked by it But there's no hard feelings At either side I hear I mean you said a lot of

Really really really nice things about your time. Yeah, yeah, but people take it out of context and they think I'm some kind of asshole. I'm just real. I'm just not going to, I'm not going to tell fabrications or I'm not going to hold back on my experiences. I just think, you know, I want to get something out. I'm very emotional person, you know, I'm going to get it out.

I'm going to get it out there. So there's no bridge is burned between me and AEW. I'm friends with all the talent there. I'm in contact with all the talent there. And a lot of talent there, you know, Tony has a hard, hard job. He wears a lot of hats. He wears a lot of hats.

Not only is he doing the football thing in England, he's doing the football thing in the United States. He's always on phone calls in those situations or writing something with that. Then he has to book a wrestling show. But the thing is, Two of them. Three of them.

Three wrestling shows. But the thing is, he's not booking a traditional wrestling show. Now he has a large roster, huge roster. He signed some of the greatest free agents in the world. And you have three hours of TV a week. And when you're not booking a traditional wrestling show and you want to book a TV show, TV show like a mini paper view every week. Yep. A lot of your talent is not going to get time every week.

And they're going to have to either sit out and wait for something to come up and sit out in the rotation and, you know, just go to work, you know, be happy that you're, or, you know, they can, you know, try to pitch something or go a creative route or they can just sit out and wait for stuff to come. Some of the guys there right now, they, you know, they just feel like they, you know, they should be given more, which I believe a lot of guys are. and it's very hard to book it and a wrestling show when you're booking it like a paper view. You're never going to make everybody happy. That's within the company and for the fans as well.

That's a really, really tough line to walk because you want to make everybody happy, I would assume. You're not going out there to piss people off. No, no, no. Tony tries to make everyone happy. He's a very,

that work environment is fantastic. It's a fantastic work environment. You know, of course, with all professional wrestling, especially when it's on a majora, well, there's going to be a huge amount of politics. There's a lot of scrutiny, too. That's everything. But when you're trying to book, when you have 25-minute matches every week on your show,

it's hard to fit everyone in. You're not going to make everyone happy. He tries to make everyone happy. So, Cody is going to be the guy when he went to WWE. If you're, you heard on the internet at MJF, he wants more money and whatnot. I don't know that situation. I'm not in communication. I just know as much as the internet knows.

I also don't know if that's MJF, the character? Or MJF the person. I know so much. He blurs the line so much. I know that more than anybody. I love working with him so much. But he blurs the line so much that who knows if he's working, who knows it, he's not. But there's people in that company that don't know this situation because he's never going to break K-fabe to them either.

Because he doesn't want it to leak out to the sheets. Yeah. So who knows? People are looking at him like, listen, I haven't. Well, he's right. I haven't really gotten too much TV time. I want to go see what the option is at WWE. and they see Cody and they see Cody come in and they say oh well he's getting pushed to the

fucking moon even though he's Cody Rhodes he's been to the dance already shit they're looking for they're looking for stars right now and I got this falling right now and I want to go over there and see if I can make more money I'm going to be the guy for the lower card mid card guys to say listen I want to wrestle more I don't want to do one match a month at Universal Studios I was against some Florida Gibroni for four minutes, and that's my ring time for the month. I want to explore my options and do international tours. And see, right now, I got it down that I am making more money than my AEW contract right now.

People say I'm bullshitting. They don't believe me, but I was making six figures there. But now I'm selling my merchandise. I'm stepping up by creative, like, what could I sell now? Pins, posters, t-shirts, and I'm walking out with tons of merch money, and I'm doing that. Well, weren't you already doing Indies on top of AEW? Yeah, but there's, we weren't able to sell our own merch,

do meet and greets with, within that thing, because it's SBA8. You're allowed to take bookings, and you're not allowed to take Friday bookings. Sure. Due to Rampage being on, and he doesn't, Tony doesn't want talent promoting their indie show

when they can be promoting the, the one that signs the paycheck. So I was just doing scattered Saturday shows. So now I'm doing two to three shows a weekend. And, you know, I'm not asking for crazy prices. A lot of these guys get off TV or a lot of the guys on TV with the opportunity to do independent dates. They're asking for $6 to $10,000. I'm asking for basically a hot dog in a handshake.

I'm asking for a hot dog and a handshake. Are you happy now? basically for someone coming off TV and To light your foot on fire The light my foot on fire But it's not a hot dog in a hand check I'm getting paid a good amount It adds up when you're doing three shows a week

And you're one of the highest paid people People on that indie show Yeah yeah and you're making and you're selling your merch Yeah and your main event And then that's it It's like that's like if you As long as you work hard And you want to work hard

A lot of people You know I recommend if you have family If you have children and you want to if you want to take this route, the one I, I recommend you don't because it's, it's brutal because you have to really kill yourself and you have to, you have to endure long weekends. And I'm gone four or five days a week. And, and, but it works, it works for you. That works for me because I don't have family.

I don't have pets. And I, this is, this is the life I want to live, this gypsy, corny, indie wrestling life. And the thing is, I'm not mailing it in any show. So I'm just brutalizing myself every weekend. So who knows how long it can last. But right now, I'm in the best shape I've been in my career, I'm loving professional wrestling again. He's talking to Jerry Lynn last night, and he said, he said the only two times he hated professional wrestling. I didn't hate professional wrestling when I was at AEW.

I was so fortunate to be there and meet some of the people I met there and learn some of the stuff I learned. But he said, the only times was WCW and WWF. His runs there, he was miserable. But then as soon as he left that company and started doing the Indies and doing it, this and ECW. He loved it because it's fun. Less pressure. Party with the boys.

You don't have to worry about coming to an indie show next day if you want to have a few 18 Jack and Cokes the night before and you shop hung over. A few already. No one's really going to bat an eye at you. If you do that, I learn very much the hard way. If you do that TV, you show at 1 o'clock and you're there for nine hours and you're hungover. People are going to know. People are going to know. So it's like I learned very quickly in that situation where I do

day before I wrestle, no more, no more drinking. But now it's a little bit more freegoing. I'm not going to sleep a lot on the weekends. I'll probably get to sleep eight hours. But I just feel free. I feel free. I feel, I'm having fun. I love seeing some of the new guys come up that are getting their first taste of success on the and selling their merch and going out there on the GCW show and just killing it. People were like, wow, that guy is awesome. That guy's going to be something. They're getting their first taste of success, and I just love the gears of the pro-wressing machine,

and I like being a part of it. And never say never. I could be back at AW. I live in Orlando right now. I could get offered some kind of situation at the PC. 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 Klinemberg.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim, 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 Henco. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

You think you'd be in annex. would be interested in you? Probably not. I've gotten feelers before. They know I'm local, but I thought I was restricted and watered down at AEW, my own eye,

because I'm always trying to walk on egg shells there. Yeah. But at XT is a whole different ballgame. They have the password to your Twitter. So if you write something, if you write something they don't like, there's someone at the PR, are deleting that.

You're in an office getting yelled at and reamed out. And I'm just like me, I'm just me. I'm just like whatever, dude. Like I don't give a fuck. Like I don't, I don't care.

I mean, this is me. This is most of the time, I think 95% of the time when I'm on social media, I'm working. I'm basically what a Memphis wrestler is or was in the 80s,

but in the current era. Yeah. Always working. Carney. Fuck. always blurring the lines and all the Memphis guys were great at that if Memphis guys have social media

in the 80s they all would have been canceled I have said it anyone ECW if the ECW guys had social media in 90s they would have been canceled arrested blackball from the fucking business but I know how to blur the lines without completely crossing the line and completely fucking myself

because people are very sensitive these days and there's a lot of people that don't like you A lot of people that don't like me. And they're looking for a reason to cancel you. Yeah. I told somebody to, someone said something they're like, I like my indie wrestling one way without Joey Janella. I said, run into traffic in which they took very seriously.

Start getting retweeted, retweeted. Joey Janela is telling people to self-harm. No, I said run into traffic. MJF says run into traffic. so on, oh my God, MJ, yeah, that guy is the greatest heel of all time, hey? He's the greatest heel in this generation of scene. Joey Janella tells him when they're running traffic. Joey Janella is the biggest piece of shit wrestler in the world.

He doesn't deserve it. He's, he can't wrestle, he's untrained, he's a fucking asshole. We want him out of the business. So lucky enough that my social media, my past is kind of clear. So I don't have to worry about that. So I kind of tear, you know, but they're looking. They're looking to cancel me.

There was a, I think there was a space on Twitter last night. There was 200 people in it. It said, fuck Joey Janella. And they were trying to think of ways to get me blackballed from the business because I told someone to run into traffic.

It's just ridiculous because I'm playing a character. I'm pretty much a pretty nice guy. If you meet me in person, you know, there's people that said, listen, I hated your fucking guts. I listen to Jim Cornett. I hate you. I hate you.

I don't think you should be in the business. But I came to the show tonight with my friends, and I watch you wrestle, and I watched the way you connected with that in the audience. And you're talking to me right now, and you're a pretty nice guy. I have a lot more respect for you. Yeah, there's a lot of people who don't realize.

Well, they don't realize where the line's been blurred. No, no. With your career in AEW, what's the one moment where you point at and go? Man, I'm so proud of that match or that moment. my whole first run there I believe if you wanted to give me a push you could have in that

at the end of that run like after the Moxley match so there was the Moxley match which I ace great main event just just a wonderful time in my life like shit like I just

I felt like I was in like a CGI movie like wrestling Mox in his return match and I felt like I was in like some CGI rocky crap It was just so bizarre in the same arena that the NWO formed. And I'm a huge mark, so I'm marked out for that. I'm like, wow, I'm main eventing a pay-review right now.

Yeah. And then we did the, but then I was like, you know, I was like, shit, I made it. The works, like, I made it. Let's party, baby. Yeah. Now, let's party, dude. And then the week later, I'm at PNC Arts Center and I'm pissed drunk, blackout drunk. and it's me and John Carlo

and I keep on saying I'm gonna fuck with Enzo because we've seen him on the it was Little Wayne and Blakeway 2 I'm gonna fuck with him well we could have find him and then I see some guy with a beard dressed in something that looked like a potato sack

walking in front of me I go oh shit it's Enzo so then I start like punching him in the arm and then he didn't take too kindly to that because I spat it about him on the internet and then whole situation happened and they got it on video and I looked like the biggest fucking idiot ever and then everyone was like Tony this is the guy that you just put in the main event with moxie this fucking degenerate fucking idiot and that's where a lot of my I think a lot of the guys like

the Christopher Daniels and the Frank Gazarians of the world those guys that didn't know me right there that was like like yeah let's write that guy off fuck that guy he's he's an asshole he makes us look bad we're an upstart company you know, we're trying to make this the greatest wrestling company in the world. And you got guys that pissed drunk at, at, Blink 182 concerts causing issues. Yeah. That video went everywhere.

Everywhere. And I look like the biggest fucking idiot of all time. And, you know, I apologize. Me and Anzo talked out. Do you wish you didn't do it? Absolutely. There's one thing I didn't wish I did in my life. And it was that.

And it was blackout drunk. And I didn't want to. fight the guy. I didn't want to get a fist fight. That's a if you get a fist fight at a concert by New Jersey, that's a 15,000 fucking dollar fine. Or you go to jail. And you're going to jail. And you're paying 15. And then it's all the courts and stuff. Yeah. So I was like shit. My boy, John Carlo, uh, he's the guy done all my videos, did all I'm J.F studios. He was in the

WWE as a producer there for, uh, social media. Now he's producer at AEW. Yeah. So he was with me and he's childhood friends with that. So he thought it was all funny. But But as soon as we were about to go, he was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then he's like, they got you. They were filming you. You're fuck. I said, fuck him. I said, I want to fight him.

Let's go to Belmar. And that challenging fights there. I was blackout. I woke up the next day and the video is all over there. Did you, do you remember it? Or is it one of those? I don't remember it. It's one of those where you wake up and you go, oh, I did something bad.

No, I did. I did do that. What was it? I have a lot of those, but it's a lot worse. When you think you're like, shit, something happened. and then you go on your internet and your Twitter has over a thousand notifications

and it's all videos of you being a drunk idiot and uh that was a moment where I'm like shit like like I need to fucking grow up but not really but because I but it's just like I I I I

me and Enzo we don't see eye to eye still because but the whole casting I'm cool with cast now he's fucking what about awesome What about a GCW match with Enzo? We've tried. We've tried to do stuff with him and never say never. I don't think the ship has sailed.

That by rate of that show, if B&Nzo went one-on-one would be fucking crazy. But I don't know if he would go with my flow of things. A lot of guys come into GCW, like the Xbox of the world, they want to come. All these guys want to come back. You know, Scotty Tuhati. They hear they're like, there's this kid, Joey Janella, he's pretty easy. He does some pretty crazy shit. And he has a lot of attention on him on social media.

So if you have a match with them and he does the way he wants, it's going to bring attention. And you might get a lot of bookings out of it. Yeah. And that's been my career trajectory. Since even like 2017 wrestling to Marty Genetti's, Scott. Yeah. It's like glaciers. That was like my thing before 80.

you. And now we're bringing it back. Like, I've wrestled in the last six months. I wrestled. I had a great match with fucking Dr. Wagner Jr. in Texas. I wrestled Scotty too hoti. I've wrestled X-Poc. I've wrestled Cardona.

I've wrestled fucking Suzuki, who's just fucking killer. I had won the fucking great match of Zzuki. I've wrestled. I can't even. I'm trying to think who else I've, I've wrestled the Hardy Boys. Teamed with Gangrel.

This is like, and we're only in May. We're not even through, summer hasn't even started yet. So I'm having a fucking blast. And I love wrestling these fucking guys. And I love seeing these guys like afterwards saying like, fuck, that was fun. We had the crowd, you know,

like I felt like fucking great. And you look like you're having the best time. And I hope that people through this interview are seeing a different side of you because I definitely feel like, there's going to be a lot of people that don't watch this interview and just comment on this video.

They're going to pull shit from this interview. like Joey Janellis says Tony Conover jams his shows with pay-per-view quality matches. But there's a lot of book. There's also going to be a thousand people that comment and go, I'm not watching this. Like, you know, next. It's like, well, maybe if you did watch this or listen to this, you'd see a different side of this guy. Most, like, people think I'm so disrespectful towards these, the vets in wrestling, which is completely the opposite. I love the vets.

And the vets, a lot of the guys that work with me, like the Ricky Morton's, the world. They know I'm always working. And they like that shit because that's how they came up. This guy's fucking great. He's always working and he works hard and he wants to make us look good. He wants to, you know, he wants to elevate us and, you know, help us and make us feel fucking young in that ring. And I'll butt my ass off for anything. The visible, visible fucking man. People think I'm a shitty wrestler. The term is he can wrestle broom. I can wrestle the invisible fucking man. That's thin air, dude.

That's thin fucking air. I can wrestle the invisible man and I can do it for 30 minutes and I've done it on three continents. Yeah. Wow. And fuck. I wrestle Barry Harowitz a couple weeks ago. That's another one. Barry Harowitz in his return match.

And that guy has one leg that doesn't bend because he needs a de-replacement surgery. Maybe we could start a go-fund me for the fucking guy. But I carried him to some 30-minute match. And he's never done a hardcore match in his fucking career. and I carried them to this match, and it was fucking awesome. And I recommend anyone that hasn't seen it go on YouTube, watch me and Barry Harwitz from a few weeks ago. And you'll be like, holy shit, somehow you got through that match

and somehow you got the crowd in that match. But that's it. I'm just having a fucking blast right now. All right, I want to wrap this up with the question that I ask all of my guests at the end. And this will definitely make people see a different side of you. I start an end of my day with gratitude. So I end every conversation asking my guests, What are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now?

I'm grateful for the places I've gotten to see on my travels. I'm grateful for, you know, that for the wrestling business. And I'm grateful my mom got to see me on such a high level. She got to see me on paper views. She got to see me in the Prudential Center and Wrestler. So I'm grateful that she got to see me evolve from the piece of shit child I was. the troubled child I was to being something with that

without a college degree and I'm just grateful for I'm grateful for booze, drugs and whores, baby there we go that's definitely a first we haven't heard that one and fucking Tony Khan you better push Sadi fucking kiss

most improved wrestler that's great right now in the world and and Meltzer should if you gave Sonny a chance that run on TV, it would show right now how improved Sunny is, how Sunny just fucking everything looks fucking great now. And push Sunny Kiss, not in June because it's Pride Month.

Push Sunny Kiss from June to fucking June because that's the bottom line because the bad boy fucking said so. Push sunny kiss, God damn it. Joey Janella, ladies and gentlemen. Push. sunny kiss. Thank you.

Thank you. There we go. Big thank you to Joey Janella for joining us inside the Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas. We've got quite a few more interviews coming up from Double or Nothing Week,

including The Gun Club. Don't calm the ass boys. Learn that the hard way. Also, my buddy, Ethan Page was in there with us. So if you're not following Joey on social media, you can find him at the bad boy Joey Janella on Instagram

at Janella, on Twitter. You can find me at Chris Van Vleet. Or if you're on TikTok, if you're a TikToker, I'm on there at chris dot Van Fleet. Take a screenshot. Tag us, let us know what you thought of this episode. And I'll leave you with the words of Muhammad Ali. I love this quote. If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you. Be great, be grateful, and we will see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do.

With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here.

The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned. and