Insight with Chris Van Vliet - John Silver on Brodie Lee, The Dark Order, Being The Elite, working as an extra for WWE

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

AEW star John Silver joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Long Island, NY. He talks about signing with AEW, being part of The Dark Order, working as enhancement talent for WWE, his favorite memories of the late Brodie Lee (Jon Huber), his tag team partner Alex Reynolds, getting trained by Mikey Whipwreck, being able to show his personality on Being The Elite, his odd jobs before becoming a full-time wrestler and much more!  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.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to https://chrisvanvliet.com  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram:instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter:twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook:facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube:youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drusky. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, Phil.

You're talking like I was 50. Taylor, Roach, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. Here we go. How are you? Welcome to Insight. I'm Chris Van Vleet, and if this happens to be your first time here,

it's nice to have you with us. I'm an Emmy Award-winning TV host, and I'm fascinated with finding out how people are wired to achieve greatness. It doesn't happen by accident. On each episode, we have in-depth conversations and reverse engineer the habits and techniques of the world's top athletes, actors, wrestlers, entrepreneurs, you name it. If they're the best of what they do,

I want to get their insight so we could apply it to our own life. And I think one of the biggest takeaways from this conversation with John Silver is that John Silver is his real name. Yeah. Just like the pirate and the restaurant. Long John Silver's. But seriously, it's been so great watching him grow and succeed in AEW. He's crushing it in the dark order.

And I love seeing him showcase his real personality on being the elite. The future is so, so bright for him. him. Snap a screenshot, share this with a friend, share it on social media. Make sure to tag us so we can say hello and we can retweet this and share this on Instagram. John Silver is at Silver Number One, and I'm at Chris Van Vleet. Easy to remember, right? And while we're doing stuff on your phone, make sure to subscribe and if you happen to be listening on your iPhone, could I ask you to leave a review on Apple Podcast? I really can't express how helpful this is. So please, just a few words.

Just a few emojis. That's really it. Whatever tickles your fancy. Whatever floats your boat. This one's from Lucas Archer, 1992 in the UK. He says, Insight is the perfect name. I started listening to CVV on YouTube and followed over to the podcast. I listened to a lot of podcasts, and Insight is one of my favorites.

Chris does an amazing job. And I think because of the level of professionalism presented to the guests, We get the most genuine and enjoyable insights into their lives possible. Great work, Chris. Hope this helps you reach that target. Well, it didn't. It's totally helping me reach that target. Genuine.

Genuine? Genuine. I was like trying to figure out. It does help, though. So thank you so much, Lucas. I appreciate you. And thank you for the kind words as we chip away at that goal of 2,000 reviews. And thank you for listening all the way on the other side of the planet.

in the UK. We're at 1736 right now for reviews, 1,736, closing in on that goal of 2000. So thank you to you, Lucas, and thank you to everyone else who listens, you know, on whatever platform you're listening on, Spotify, Stitcher, IHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, whatever it is. Thank you. Thank you for being on this audio journey with me. My guest today is one of the members of the Dark Order. Ladies and gentlemen, John Silver. Well, you might be one of the most requested guests that I've had on my show. People are very hungry, very hungry for John Silver.

Oh, that's good. I like that. We are making this thing happen. Are you hungry today? Yeah, actually, I got a leftover skirt steak in the fridge right now. So after this, I will be eating that. So is this the secret? to getting gigantic arms like yours?

Steaks, lots of meat. I mean, they don't call me the meat man for nothing, so lots of meat. It's not just food that you're hungry for, though, is it? No. I mean, you can be hungry for anything, really. I mean, it doesn't have to be strictly for food, but I do like to eat. But it could be anything. Let's say in a typical day, how many meals are you eating?

So I usually do like four or five meals and then two. protein shakes. All right. So do the protein shakes also count as meals? So could we say like you're eating six meals a day? So yeah, I guess so. So about like six meals a day. So this is it. Just eat lots and I'll get gigantic arms like yours. Lots of eating and lifting heavy. Is there like a, is there a certain technique I need in the gym? I did biceps today, but my arms are like half the size of yours. So what do I need to be doing? Oh, I just try. It's like, I just, it's hard to explain because I switch it up all the time. It's not the same stuff. But I try to just destroy everything.

So it's like if I'm doing biceps, I'm doing drop sets. I'm doing heavy. I'm doing super sets. I'm going until like they feel like they're going to fall off. Do you not get it where the next day or later that day you're in the shower and like you're trying to put shampoo on and you're like, oh, man. I feel like it doesn't happen anymore. I think my body's like somewhat used to getting beat up all the time. Like I still get there, but like it's nowhere.

I remember when I first started working out like heavy and hard. I remember at one point I did legs and I was working. I worked at Models, which is like a sporting goods store. And someone was asking me for shoes in there at the bottom. And I just slowly, slowly like reaching and reaching and reaching. And they're like, what's wrong with you? My guy legs, I can't bend my legs right now. But now I don't, I'll get sore.

I did legs today. I'll be a little sore tomorrow, but I won't be that. So you're saying you're just in a constant state of pain all the time and you've gotten used to it. Yeah, I think that's what it is. I'm just in pain. So my body's just like, oh, yeah, you're used to this. I like that you touched on the fact that you worked at Models before. Like you were working like when you got hired by AEW.

You still had like a, you know, quote unquote real job, if you will. Yeah, yeah. When I got hired, I was working at a gym called Lifetime as a trainer. but my girlfriend makes fun because I've had a million jobs and it's just because it's just wherever that will let me still wrestle so I mean since I was like 18

I've like worked in multiple pizza places kickboxing instructor Orange Theory multiple different gyms I've been so like Models I've been so many different like jobs that anything that let me like I can make money, but also get off ready to wrestle and stuff like that. I saw on a shot of brandy that you were also a bartender at one point.

Bartender, yeah. Yeah, that a good one, though. I worked at a, I did like one of those pending classes, and they teach you to make these fancy drinks that no one orders. Right. And it really teaches you like the more practical stuff that you're probably going to have to know. So I worked at a dive bar.

I just handed people beers mostly. And then like every once in a while, you get that guy that asked for that like, kind of complicated drink. So I just think, yeah, I'll get it for one second. I started looking it up on like Google. I'm like, oh, okay, I can do that. You know? What do you think is the most ridiculous drink that you had to make?

I don't think anything stands out too much. I mean, like, just like it was for the most part that bar was so hole in the wall that it was beers, Jack and Coke, J-Mo Ginger. And then we had like, so this bar had weird shots. that it was like known for doing. I don't know if it was, it wasn't as popular when I was working there, but I remember going there when I was younger.

And it would just be like, one was like a cotton candy type shot, but it's like, it's not even alcohol. It's like on bullshit. The other one is, I don't know, I guess it could be slightly offensive to say, but it was called the, because this is what it looked like,

it was called the bloody abortion shot, which might be offensive to say, but it was like red, had bailies in it. And people would ask for that. I'm like, oh, it's really not alcohol. Like, you're drinking nothing, but people like that. So that's probably the weirdest one I had to make it.

Well, those are the kind of shots, though, when people take them, they're like, oh, man, we're going to get so messed up. And it tastes great. Yeah, if it tastes great, you're not going to eat drunk. So when you started working some dates for AEW, you were still working at the gym. You were still working that job. Yeah, at Lifetime, at Lifetime Fitness. So I got lucky because Alex also worked at Lifetime,

but he worked at a different location. So I got hired because my boss used to wrestle. So he, like, loved the rest. Like, that's the only reason I got the job. I had like, like, that lifetime, you need to have like a bunch of different certifications. You have to go, like, do this, that. I just had the one NASM certification.

So, like, if I went there, I didn't know him. I wouldn't have got hired. But he, yeah, so he hired me. He got the deal. He's like, oh, you're going to have the day off. Just, you know, when, if you're going to have what Tuesdays and Wednesdays off and some of Thursdays off, just try to come in on your other days that you would be here. So I'd have to go in on like Fridays or Saturdays.

But I would just bullshit so much. I was a bare minimum because I knew that's not what I wanted to do. But I still was like rather there or I was wrestling or that's all I did. So at what point did you realize, all right. like wrestling is going to be the full-time job. Like this AEW thing, it's happening. I think once they put us in the, when they actually put us in the dark order,

because every time he went down to AEW, they always had, like Matt Jackson always came up to us and had like an idea, but he always says stuff like very nonchalant. So I didn't think that's everything to happen. Because like the first time he went down, we lost to Santana and Ortiz in like a minute and a half. And we were like, at first we're pumped because we got hit up and they're like,

hey, we want to book you guys for AEW. And it wasn't like we asked or anything. It wasn't like we hit people up. Like they came to us and said, we want to book you guys. So we're like, awesome. We're in. This is our big break. We're going to do it. We're going to have a TV match. And then when we get there, the board says local talent. And that's what that was us. And I was like, oh, shit, we're no, like, they, we could have been anyone, really. Uh, so after that we didn't really think we're going to come back or think we're going to do anything. But Matt Jackson came up to us like, hey, I got this idea. Like maybe you guys just like come back like every, every week.

And we just always announce it was like the local talent everywhere we go. And you just always lose. I'm like, whatever, I'll do it. I'll do whatever. If ever it gets a foot in the door, that's all I want. And then they, so the next time they, it was like two weeks off. So we thought, oh, we're never getting called back. And then hit us up for West, I think West Virginia.

Charleston, West Virginia. I was there. Oh, sweet. Yeah, so they hit us up. And we had the match with Trent and Chuck. And they flew us out. They put us in the hotel. They did all that because the first show was Philly.

So you just drove there and drove home. They flew us out. It's like, okay, that's a good sign, right? It's a good sign. And then, you know, it was basically just another match to, for them. And then Matt Jackson's like, hey, maybe like we'll put you in the dark order or something. I don't know. I'm like, okay, school.

Like, is it going to happen or not? Because then, like, I think it was another week or two, we were off. And then eventually it started to progress and was actually going to happen where we started filming vignettes and all that stuff. So I think once we actually got in the dark quarter, we're like, okay, we're in the dark quarter now. Yeah. You have to be here, you know, so that's what we kind of knew.

this is going to be something, this is going to be our job. I remember being in the production meeting and they were like, all right, so it's going to be these guys against the beaver boys. And I was like, what? The beaver boys? And everyone kind of in the meeting was like, yeah, sure, the beaver boys. But I don't think they actually announced that on TV though, did they? No, they never announced the Beaver Boys.

Once we started getting bucked, we kind of knew they didn't really ask us anyway, but we knew we wanted to get away from the name. That was kind of like, we did it on the 8th. Indies and it was like a joke on the show I like called Tim and Eric. Oh, great show. Yeah, they did a little skit. They loaded a few times, but the Beaver Boys. And I'm just like, that's a funny name.

Like, let's just be the Beaver Boys. And I was like, yeah, shit. So. What is behind you right now? There's some incredibly impressive artwork. What is going on here? That's from Dodge Ball. You ever seen Dodge Ball?

Oh, this is Ben's, Stiller. Yeah. Wow. From purchase right there. That's, I mean, that's money well spent, I'd say. Not bad. I actually, actually enjoy it. So he got into phenomenal shape for that movie. Yeah, he looked great. He's been in like really good shape and then he'll kind of like go back to regular and then he'll get jacked up again. But yeah, he was, he looked good. Yeah. I remember watching that and being like, man, if Ben Stiller can get into that kind of shape, anyone can get into that kind of shape. Yeah, he definitely worked out pretty well. That movie is great. The whole movie is fantastic, though. I love that movie. So if you had all these other types of jobs along the way

with the intention that you were going to be a wrestler, was wrestling plan A and there was zero plan B for you? Pretty much. I think I would always like, was trying to think of stuff that I could actually enjoy that I wasn't going to hate my, like, just hate my life doing, just in case wrestling didn't work out. But, like, one thing I kind of told myself when I was, like, young, I'm like, I gave myself till 30, but I probably went a little past that. But I'm like, if I don't make it by 30, maybe I'll just move to, like, Hawaii or, like, somewhere nice and just work on the resort and just that will just, I just do that. You know, like, because I'm like, I don't need, I don't, I'm not like a big, I need a fancy car, I need a lot of money. I just kind of like to enjoy myself and enjoy

my life. So I'm like, maybe I just do that. Like, why not? But I'm, I mean, I never came to that. So we're good. Well, you had a lot of steps along the way where it looked like, you know, you were, you were making these milestones along the way in that process, in that progress of becoming a pro wrestler. Like, you made a ton of appearances on WWE. Did you ever think that any of those appearances would lead to you being in WWE? Uh, no, because, um, just the way they kind of like, they do stuff. Like, if you're an extra that, that, that I kind of realize that means nothing, unless you're, you have to be an extra and they, you come in and you're, you know, six, six and jacked up. Like, they'd be like, oh, we could do something with this guy. But if you're not, they're, they don't care.

Like, how many people have got signed because they got squashed and they like that? Colin, Colin, Colin, but, you know, like. Yeah. James Ellsworth. Yeah, there's very few. I knew it wasn't very likely. And I think back in the day, sorry, my thumb's in the way. Back in the day, they used to have you do, like, matches during the day. And they'd kind of see if they kind of liked you then.

I've done extra work a bunch of times, and I've had one match during the day. Oh, who was that match with? It was against Alex, actually. Oh, okay. So we had a good match. It was very, you know, quick, five-minute match. But it was like, I'm looking around. I'm like, I don't know if anyone here is in position to hire anyone.

So it's like, I don't know if this is for nothing, but, you know, I mean, people said they liked it. But I don't know. So, yeah, I didn't, after any of those things, I'm like, I didn't think anything we'd ever come out of it. Well, you have a, you have a tough enough audition that's online. I watched it recently. it's pretty good. Did they encourage you? Did they go, hey, you know, we've seen you

backstage, we've seen you at a few events, you know, maybe audition for tough enough. No, they never said anything. They never responded to that tough enough thing. But they put it on their YouTube channel. Yeah, just put it on their YouTube. They knew it was good and entertaining, but I don't know what they're looking for for the show.

I thought, like, I try to think about outside the box because I knew everyone in the whole world was going to be like, oh, it's my dream to be a wrestler. And I've always watched it. I'm like, no, I'm going to do some dumb stuff and be entertaining. Like, it's all you can do. So, but they never hit me up. They just put it on their YouTube.

I'm like, awesome. It's on their YouTube. And then no one ever contacted me. So not even to ask you if they could put it on YouTube. Yeah. So you sign that away when you sent it to them, I'm sure. Like I'm mad or anything. But it was like, just put it up.

They didn't even hit me up. They didn't even ask. say anything. Yeah, it's kind of a tease. A second interview, like nothing. It's kind of a tease for them to go, we acknowledge this. It's good enough of all the auditions to put it on our YouTube channel. Yeah, we're not even going to reach out to you.

Yeah, so I don't know what they're looking for, but it wasn't, it wasn't me, I guess. So was there a certain part of you when you went to AEW saw your name on the board as local talent that you went? Oh, man. Here we go again. Yeah. So I think, like, for a while, me and Alex were like, damn, we need to, like, make stuff happen now. Like, we kind of put AEW on our, like, number one.

Like, we wanted to get there more than WV or anywhere else. But, you know, we, so we went to AEW. We were pumped. And then once we sold up with town, we're like, oh, back to being depressed again. You know, this is where we're back to, you know, as if. Nothing happened in a sense. And we're used to, like, if you go to WB, you extra work, it's almost like they don't even care.

Like, you're not going to get looked at at all. So luckily, A&W is different than that. And you can see that even with like now, a lot of people that have been extras recently have gotten signed. So it's, but it was at first when we first saw that, it was pretty depressing. Like, it could have been anyone, but we just happened to be here. So, but, I mean, it worked out.

but once we saw that, we were very, pretty upset. Well, it doesn't matter now. It doesn't matter now because it all works out. But was there somebody that you felt you needed to win over, whether it was in the ring with what you did or backstage? Is there someone you felt you had to win over to try to come back more than once? Well, we knew the bucks and we've wrestled the bucks before. So we knew, like, they, we didn't, I mean, not that we didn't need to impress them,

but, like, they knew who we are. They knew we could wrestle and stuff like that. We wanted to make sure Tony saw everything and Cody. So, you know, after the show, we like try to stay around and try to find them and just make sure we said again, like, thank you for the opportunity and all that stuff. But it was mostly just hoping that those like those two would at least see it and hopefully enjoy it. And when you were like, when you became part of the dark order, you're like, yes, like I'm going to be part of a faction. We're going to be here all the time. But at the same time, like, I got to wear a mask.

Yeah, so they, it was like weird. Like, I feel like there was no, there was like a conversation, but it wasn't really a conversation on the mass situation because they gave us the mass. And then we thought like we were just kind of come to the ring with the mass on. And then like as like an entrance type thing and then take it off when we wrestle. They're like, no, we'll do the opposite way.

You'd come to the ring, because they already know what your face looks like, come to the ring without the mess on. And then you put them on when you wrestle. I'm like, oh, I don't want to wrestle with a mask again. Like, I've wrestled in Chikara with a mask, and it's not fun. So I was okay. I mean, I'm obviously happy just to be there and stuff like that,

but I'm like, oh, I got to put the mask on. It's tight. Sometimes it moves around. You can't see as good as you normally could. But I didn't mind it. But it was just like, they gave us the masks, and they were a pretty crappy mess. Then we were like, we'd have to take her own ones, obviously.

So we had to have our conversation, I think, with Christopher Daniels, are like, hey, should I buy a mask? Because they, no one knew, like, is it going to be a quick thing? Is it going to be, have it for a few shows? So he's like, yeah, just get the mask and we'll see what happens. And then it ended up being like a few months that we had to wear. But yeah, we, I knew I'm like, I need to get something that is good on the beard because the first match just did this. And I'm like, I can't wrestle like that. let me show the beard a little bit.

But yeah, I knew how to get at least a custom mask. So where do the conversation start to open up where it was like, we don't need to wear masks when we wrestle? That's when like BT and stuff like that happened. Once we started, like the people started really like us on BT and, you know, and enjoy what we're doing. Tony watches it so he

like knew that was happening and I was going to ask to mention like hey can we like not wear the masks like I don't think anymore but eventually Tony's like hey don't wear the mask

what do you get to show your face you got all this character here why you wear a mask I'm like I don't want to wear the mask but I'm lucky he said something eventually but like I thought it's funny

he like said it as if I was like yeah I want to wear this mask all the time You were like, thank God I don't have to wear this mask anymore. And I remember Stu, because Stu's crazy. He's like, oh, we have to think of an idea to make sense that you take off the mask. I'm like, no, Tony's all I had to take it off. It's done. I'm never wearing it again.

That's it. BTEs like completely changed your career, I feel like. 100%. Yeah. So how did you, like that's a very coveted spot. And maybe, you know, some people make a cameo on BT. you be now you're a guy you're on bt e frequently so how did that how did that come into fruition um so i think i don't know if it was uno's idea or if it was uh matt jackson's idea for us but he

think he mentioned it to uno like hey maybe you guys do like recruitment bits or something like that for bt or i forgot who's sorted up but um then uno's like oh i think maybe that'll be good for johnny and alex so we try to film the first thing we filmed was a reason why we're trying to recruit people. And the first idea was just going to be me and Alex, which we did those recruitment videos also, where it was just me and Alex recruiting people. But we had to think of a way for it to start there.

So we had us in the room, Brody comes in, papers, throws the papers at Uno. And then, like, we've just that bit and saw, like, so many comments about, you know, that whole bit. And you can see me and Alex, like, holding in our laughter. So once we did that, we're like, okay, we need to, we need to film stuff. Like, we just need to keep on filming. Like, we'll do the recruitment bits too, but, like, now, like, we need Brody, we need the whole group. We need, like, other stuff as well, because it was just too good. Like, we were laughing in it. People were commenting how much they

like that, just the papers itself. So we're like, let's just keep it rolling. Let's just keep on doing it. It's amazing when you watch how BT is filmed, because, you know, it's just it's just a few guys with a few cameras. You don't really think anything of it because it's just, you know, a handful of people while you're doing it. Unlike when you're on dynamite and you've got this entire crew and a production truck and everything, it's amazing the reach that something like being the elite has

when it's really just a few guys and some cameras. Yeah, it's so weird because it's just 100% our ideas. There's 100% stuff that we say. Like, it's just us being us. It's not, no one's telling us to do anything. It's just whatever we want to do. So it's, I mean, it's cool that the people are liking it because that means they're just liking us as people. It's not even, there's not like much of a character I'm playing.

It's just me joke, like us joking around, really. And it's well, like crazy how much that affects dynamite. Like, and like, like, if you do stuff on BTE, people in the crowd are going to start champion at dynamite shows. Or, you know, even like right now we have like a few. people in the crowd. We don't have like 500. I forgot how many people we let in. But, you know, people chanting Johnny Hungy, people chanting like, like anything that I say and do. It's like so weird how that translates onto a TV product from us messing around on YouTube, you know? Well, you're so over right now and the dark order is so over right now because of being the elite.

Yeah, that's, we thought we were going to get, me and Alex, at least thought we're going to get fired. because when the pandemic hit, we couldn't do New York was locked down, so we couldn't go to any shows. And then Stu and Unor from Canada, they couldn't do any shows. And then we had Brody do his debut. And then after that,

we weren't there, so they added five and ten. And we were just like, oh, that's it. Those are replacements. Because they both also, I think they both go to, Cody's school, the nightmare factory. So like, oh, okay, that's, you know, their guys. We're going to replace. So we came back.

We eventually came back. We were kind of in bad spirits, me and Alex. And then we're just decided to do the like the BT stuff. And then that just completely changed everything. Man. I feel like all these stories that you're telling us, like, it's this constant state of anxiety of like, this might happen, but it's probably won't happen.

Yeah. Yeah, that's been my life. Now it's been fine. I've been feeling great now. But like before AEW, then even still when we got into AEW, and then now I feel good and I feel comfortable for once, which is nice, I guess. Hey, you deserve it. You deserve to feel that way.

Thank you. Take me back to the first time that you met Alex. I was 14 years old. I started training when I was 14. Alex, I think, was 18. I think he's four years old than me. And he started training. So he started training about a week or two before I did at NYUC and Long Island.

So I went down, I started training. And Mikey Whiprek was a trainer. He's very basics. So you got to do all the basics, right? So we took about three months or two to three months. or two to three months before we were even allowed in the ring. It was all chain wrestling on the outside. And then every once in a while,

I'd be like, oh, get in the ring, do some rolls. That was about it. But so then, you know, all the people, there was like eight new people around the same time. So we all were stayed together, you know. I think out of all those eight meeting out, so the only people that kept on wrestling. Like everyone quit, you know,

throughout the, like a month. This guy's out in a week. This guy, you know, so we're the only ones to stay together. And then we realized that Alex lives pretty close to where I live. And I'm 14, so I couldn't drive. So I would always ask for, like, a ride home and have my mom drive me to practice. And then training. And then Alex would drive me home.

So, you know, multiple car rides. It's about 15, 20 minutes from the training place in my house. So we just always ride home. And then eventually, like, once people started to like us a little bit in training, like Trent was there. and some of the other guys a lot of times you go to Taco Bell after training and get food and then we go home so just us

you know that's how you all became like friends really I feel like I didn't even know you could wrestle at 14 I thought you had to be 18 to start training I don't think it was legal or at least I think it's legal the train I don't think it was legal for me to be on shows but I was I started on shows

when I was 16 but yeah I called up now I had And they're like, they knew, like I told him, I was a wrestler in high school, playing soccer. They're like, oh, if you're athletic and your mom and your parents or whatever is cool with it. You know, we could sign you up, just come down and check it out first. And we'll see where it goes on there. So they were cool with it.

I think they're like normal rule of 16 to start training. But they're like, oh, you're in shape. You can do this. Yeah, you already have a full beard, I'm sure, at 14. Sure. Then I wish I'd not. Then I had, I could always grow facial hair, but I never even tried this back then. 14.

I think I was clean shaven. That's 14. By the last time you were clean shaven, right? I think slowly went on. I did little stuff on my facial hair. 18, I definitely had a beard, but it was a short beard. I think I did a little, like the little just the chin goate thing. Oh, like the Fred Durst.

Yeah, kind of like that, but not just the chin. And I think he did like a little bit like here too. And then like I just did just this. But yeah, I think I just slowly. Yeah, I think that's what I did. I definitely had that at one point in my life. So I know a lot of podcasters listen to the show. So if you have a podcast or you've always thought about starting a podcast,

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Just go to betterhelp.com slash insight. That's BetterHelphelp.com slash insight. At what point in your life did you decide wrestling's it? I want to be a pro wrestler when I grow up. It's like weird because like so many people have like this. story of, oh, when I saw this match, I knew I had to be a wrestling. I just didn't, there was, I never had that.

I just was like, I'd watch it as a kid. I was like, yeah, I'm going to be a wrestler, obviously. Like, what else am I going to do? Like, I just, there was no like, I think right now I'm going to be a wrestler. It just like, yeah, I watched wrestling. So I love, you know, I love watching every week. I'm going to be a wrestler, of course.

So there, so it's, there really was like no moment. I just always knew that's kind of what I liked. and that's what I wanted to do. I mean, back then you don't really think it's definitely going to happen because I started watching four or five, six years old around there. So you're not like, yeah, it's definitely going to happen. But that's what you dreamed of doing since I started watching. Were you also in the backyard wrestling?

Yeah, but like not like the crazy stuff that everyone was doing. Like back then it was like crazy hardcore jump off houses. like I eventually had a trampoline so I'd do stuff on there. Of course. Yeah. So then I met a few people that also did some backguard wrestling, but we made like one music video and that was it. And then like we were supposed to have one show and I canceled.

I was like trying to get there. Like, oh, we canceled it. Sorry. Like, oh, damn. But I tried to find that video, but I couldn't find it. Back then I was scared to do like anything. I was scared to do backflips. so scared to do, even on a trampoline, it was like, I was probably 14 or 15.

So, uh, I thought that's probably like 14. It was probably right before, like, as I started training. But, um, so I would do like just the easy stuff. But, uh, I did, yeah, I did back get wrestling. My brother, I would kill him stuff because he would be like my, my, like, all my moves would be on him. He was a lot smaller than me. So I would just throw him around and stuff like that.

So I feel bad. Actually, I pounced him. I did a pound. Because that's a Mottie Brown. Monty Brown, yeah. I pounced him. We had a net up. He went right through the net somehow.

The whole thing collapsed and just landed because we had our backyard as concrete. Landed right on the concrete. And he just crying. I felt really bad. But I beat him up a lot. But I mean, it helped me, I guess. I don't know. I feel like if we look at your career, there's been a few markers where things have really, you know,

taking it to the next level. You know, we mentioned a few. The A.W. debut, BTE, the Dark Order, but I feel like when Brody came in as the exalted one in the Dark Order, that's when the Dark Order started to be taken a lot more seriously than it was before. But it wasn't always going to be Brody as the Exalted. There were a lot of other rumors. Like, it was possibly maybe Marty Skirl, maybe Matt Hardy.

Did you know it was going to be Brody? Um, so they told us originally, like, oh, there's going to be an exalted one. And it's going to be the leader of you guys. Like, cool. Uh, I think the first one was Matt Hardy, I believe. Um, you know, like, everyone kind of thought. Yeah. It's like he could do the, you know, the freaking gimmick he was doing.

What the hell is it called? The broken mat. Sorry. Uh, broken mat with you guys. Oh, that'd be really cool. And there's like, we have ideas. even like getting like thousands of people in mass like you know doing something at the compound or something. I'm like oh, that sounds amazing. This is really cool. That was the first name we were told.

I'm not sure if that was like definitely the first thing that was definitely going to happen. I don't think it was ever going to be Marty. I know people always think that it was going to be Marty at one point. At least like the first time we talked to the bucks, they're like, they mentioned Matt Hardy. Then it was like, I don't think scroll. It could be scroll, but I don't think that would fit well. So at least from the first of my knowledge, it wasn't never going to be him. And then like, oh, it could also maybe be Brody. So we kind of knew it seemed like they were more into Matt Hardy at that point, but they

also didn't mention it could be Brody. But it was, those three names were mentioned. And it was definitely Matt or Brody. I was down for either, obviously. I thought either could be super cool and different. But I like the way, I think with Brody, it made the most sense. just the way the character went and what we were

like Matt would have been he was a face really so he would have to make the broken Matt gimmick heal again but I think it was too likable at that point so it had been a weird dynamic but Brody came in as this like douchebag, cult leader boss

and it was just I thought it worked really well I thought that the tribute show for Brody was just so beautifully done and I'm curious how difficult was it for you to wrestle on that show? Yeah, I'm a pretty emotional guy, so that was difficult, but I thought I was going to be worse, because I, like I said, I'm very emotional.

So it was difficult, the whole day was difficult, like being around people that it was good too, but it was also like, I can't stop thinking about this, you know, The match itself, like, I went out there. So if you look at the first match, the first match was on the card was the Colts match. And if you look, I wasn't there during the entrance. It's like coming late because I just was, I went to the back. I went to our room and I was just kind of like, like I was just not in a good mood.

And I totally forgot Colt was up and I forgot you had to do the entrance. So I heard the music and I'm like, screw it. I freaking started running there. and I come in the last second. So, like, you see, you don't see me come out with them, and then once cold eventually does the pose, like, I'm, I'm there. But, yeah, I went to the back, and I wasn't in good spirits then. But then, uh, the match itself was, I got there and I'm like, okay, I have the match on my mind.

Like, so it's like taking me, I know it's, in a sense, kind of taking me away from, you know, Brody, but it's, so I had something to think about, you know, but it was like right after, once I hit the line and kind of, they all hit me at once. So that was a very difficult, but, you know, it was just a, it just all hit, it all hit me at once. Yeah. When you think of Brody Lee, what, what is it that comes to mind for you? He was the man. I mean, like, he was just such a happy, good guy. There was no, like, negativity.

There was no, he was always, like, laughing. He always had this really big smile, especially with this freaking big beard he'd always have on. But he was just a good guy. I mean, I told the story on my, my social media, but he bought the ring jacket I have. He bought that for me just because he thought it would help me look more like a star if I had that ring jacket.

And then he also, I mean, matching gear that I wore at the Brody show. It was just supposed to be for a BTE sketch. And then I asked him, he's like, I want to buy you this stuff. It's going to be cool. I'm like, man, that's amazing. That's so nice of you. Like, whatever.

And then I'm like, what's the BTE sketch? He's like, I don't know. We'll think of something, though. So he didn't even have a real idea in mind. He just thought, ah, it would be funny. It would maybe silver dust is like me one day. Oh, wow. And it wasn't like some cheap gear,

deep jacket, like all together was, over a thousand dollars that he spent on me that he didn't have to i never asked for it um just because he thought that would all be good for me and good for bTE and the skits we do and uh so he's he's just like super nice always positive not like i don't think anyone has a bad thing i'd ever say about him he was just really not like such a good guy like a genuine guy um and he was i mean so funny too like as you can see on BTE. So freaking funny.

And he would, so he would do this and it was like almost annoy me at some points because he'd try to film BTE and we're trying to get through these sketches. And he'd purposely try his absolute hardest to make me laugh. I'm like, if I laugh, then we gotta

do it again. So he would like, you see so many sketches of him getting right into my face and screaming shit at me and just trying to make me laugh. And it always worked. So that's why we had to do the, like, We'd always start pretending we're crying because we're just laughing. Or he would just really say, are you crying?

It was just because we're always laughing because it was so funny. It's clear that he saw something in you. Like he wouldn't go out of his way to do all of that to buy you the gear if you were just, you know, just another wrestler. Yeah, he was, he was thrilled because, you know, he came in, big debut, had a title match going well, you know, had the T&T title. And then Tony, he got really excited. Tony told him that we wanted to do,

that he wanted to do like a, like a Stevie and Raven gimmick with us. So I'd be like his, his Stevie to his Raven. And he was so excited for that. So I think he's like, oh, we need to make this good. And I was pumped. Like, hell yeah.

We get to do some funny stuff on, or fun stuff on Dynamite. Like we did the one thing where he's having a promo in the ring. And I think he's celebrating the TNT title win. And I described. the mic and I'm like, you're the man, Brody, you the man. And he punches me in the face. Like, so we started a little bit.

We never really got to do what we wanted to do. But he was, he was thrilled for that. And he was just really happy at that point. It's so hard to boo the dark order now with all of that said. Like, you guys have, in effect, become baby faces. Yeah, 100%. We knew it was going to happen eventually, but we kind of thought it would just be probably like me and maybe Alex.

But now it's, it has to be all of us. And it's, it has been like, we didn't have to do anything too crazy. Just, we had to, we had to just be baby faces at that point. You know, we've heard Alex's side of how things went when he got knocked loopy in the ring. What was your reaction to seeing that and seeing your best friend there like, you know, pretty out of it? Well, I didn't know until I think Billy Gunn was on the side. I think he realized because I didn't see it happen.

I was on the floor. And then Alex is in the corner. So I go up to Alex and he was fine talking to me. So I go up to Alex because we had to do. This is during the match. During the match. So we had to do something coming up in the match. So I go up to Alex.

He's laying in the corner. And I'm like, Alex, I'm like, are you? Billy, Billie guns like check on Alex. So I checked. I went, Alex, you good? He's like, yeah, I'm good. But he's just laying there. I'm like, all right, well, this is our.

This is our thing right here. This is our spot. So then he starts to get up and I'm like, oh, no, he isn't good. But the way he was talking to me was fine. It wasn't like, you know, slurring or anything weird. And I didn't see anything that happened. So I'm just down the ground and then I look up, Alex is laying. Alex, you're good?

Yeah, I'm good. Okay, cool. Well, this is what we got. We got to go up. We got to do our spot now. So once he got moving, I, so it's like, It's so hard to, like, I could have grabbed him and pushed him down and then did everything by myself, but at that point, he's up and he's there. It would have, so I'm like, and it was like so quick that he got up and I was going to try to tell Nick, hey, he's messed up, but it was at that point, he's already, we're already doing everything.

So, I think I said it to Nick as that's going on, but I don't know if he heard me or not, but he realized too pretty quick. that Alex was a little messed up there. But he wasn't ever knocked out. And I think that there was a real misconception there. He wasn't like knocked unconscious. Yeah. So people like there's different ways that you can get knocked or knocked out or knocked for a loop or whatever.

Like some people are, you can get knocked completely out. You're unconscious playing there. You're nothing's going on. Right. Then there's things like you see in especially the UFC fights. Someone gets knocked and they're still moving. They're still up.

but their body is just not cooperating with them. Like these legs all on, you know, on like skates, you know. Then there's also, which happened in me before, not in AEW somewhere else. But I've got knocked out where actually my brain wasn't there, but my body still did everything it was supposed to do. So that's a different way to get knocked out too. And a lot of people like you see like probably heard stories of like finishing matches and not knowing what happened.

Yeah. Yeah. I think Kurt Angles famously did that when he got pedigreed through the table and the table broke too early. Finish the match. It doesn't remember any of it. Yeah. So that could happen to. So it's weird. And Alex was just so, Alex had the one where his body was just wasn't cooperating with his mind. Wow. I don't know which one's better or which one's worse. But that's why it's tough because I asked him if he's okay and says yes. And then he wasn't. Wow. Who would you say have been your mentors or currently are your mentors in wrestling?

I mean, obviously I got to go with Mikey Whiprick because he trained us. Yeah. And you're like his last like real students that I'm at NBC. So eventually he, I think, moved to Pennsylvania and he wasn't there as much. So got to go with Mikey. I mean, I've had so many people that were like I started wrestling just helped me out a lot. like Trent was big he was my first

like we call it a mini match like just a match like practice match backstage who was the first one I had and he wanted to wrestle me and he made me do like cool stuff and then people like oh you shouldn't be doing that cool stuff

you did this first match ever and Trent just like yeah I want him to do it that's what I wanted him to do um Trent people like even like Dan Barry um

you can say Alex, Tony Nice. There's a lot of people, especially from my KMYWC, that I can kind of name from there as well. But I think those are the main ones, like people that just always trying to help, like taking me on the road with them, stuff like that. I mean, you get like other ones too, like, I guess I could even maybe even say Eddie Kingston.

just from wrestling him a bunch and Chakar road trips and a lot of Chakar guys too because when I was doing that I was like 20 and 21 years old I think I started at 20 so like I was wrestling people like Jigsaw

and you know Kingston and a lot of like their big names at that point which is pretty cool and that kind of helped my career a lot so even a lot there's just being around those guys all the time having matches with them just really helped I think you know my development, you know? Yeah.

This may sound like a ridiculous question, but is John Silver your real name? Yeah, real name. Okay. All right. So did your parents realize they were naming you after a pirate? Well, it's actually my dad's name,

awesome. So... Okay, so you're John Silver, Jr.? Not really. I think, like, a junior is if you have the same exact name. So we have different middle names. I don't think my dad has a middle name.

I actually... I think he does have a middle. Yeah, we just have different middle. So I was never just named John Silver Jr. Like, I mean, some of his, like his friends, like, oh, it's junior, but it's not part of my name. Okay, so you're, but you're, okay, say, your dad was named after a pirate and then you're now named after a pirate.

Yeah, I guess so. When you saw Long John Silver's, the restaurant the first time, where you're like, ah, a place is named after me. I don't remember the first time I saw up, I was like, oh, I wish I liked the food. I wish I'm not a guy. I don't like seafood at all. I mean, I like some sushi and stuff like that,

but I wish I like seafood. So I can go there and be like, hey, this is, you know, it's my name, John Silver, you know? But I've never been there before. But, yeah, I don't know. So at what age do you realize my name is famous outside of me? I'm probably young because, you know, once you hear there is a pirate

named John Silver which is it wasn't a real pirate it was based on a book so it was like a you know a famous book and then people just know Long John Silver and then you see Long John Silver's the restaurant so I knew it was like okay this is like it's a famous name pretty young age definitely

because you know you go to kindergarten class and your teacher's like oh like Long John Silver and like sure yeah okay It's like the pirate. Like, cool. Yeah, I guess that's it.

Did it ever make you second guess your wrestling name? No, I just, there was no other name in my head I had. It was always, I must be John Silver. It could be John Gold. No. I remember I used to play soccer one time when I was young. And there was, back then we used to have our names on the back of our shirt. And one of the kids on other team name was gold.

So I try to kick his ass, I guess, a little bit. bit. We played soccer rough when I was, when I was young. So it was like, we're throwing checks, we're throwing like kicks. Like, it was rough. So I'm like, I don't like this kid. I mean, it's just, you could have been Johnny Silver, I guess.

You know, there wouldn't have been as, I guess you're kind of Johnny Silver now, right? Yeah, it depends on what people call me. Yeah. I mean, so many people call me Johnny. So, like, growing up, people call me just Silver. So I'm like, I guess my name or else name is John Silver, but people call me Johnny. Whatever they call me, they call me.

Does anyone call you Jonathan? No, because that's not my name. It's really just John? It's John, yeah. Oh, that is very rare for that. Yeah, no, no John, Jonathan. Just a, just a little John. So what's next for John Silver?

What are some goals that you want to cross off your list? I mean, I got a bunch. I mean, I just always want to keep the ball rolling forward. You never want to, like, stop. So, I just, I mean, right now I really, cannot wait until the crowds come back at the full force crowds. I feel like it's going to be a whole different world. But a lot of stuff, I mean, obviously, I just always want to be relevant where I'm always on TV.

You never want to fall off TV for a few weeks or like a few months, some people, you know. So that's the main thing. There's at least always being relevant on TV. But of course, you want to win the belts, you know. Obviously, people always tweet me. He's like, oh, I can't wait for John Silver to win the team. and T title, like, hopefully one day or the tag titles or the other world title. You know, why not?

You know? Yeah. But always, always, you always want to keep on improving. And even when you get there, then it's like, okay, like, I don't like to ever stop. I don't feel like like, like we're talking about being comfortable. Like I said it's being comfortable where I'm not constant anxiety now, but it's always not comfortable as well. And that's a good thing.

And then you keep on moving forward. Yeah, the T&T title, I would be. be great. Even just like more pay-per-view matches, I was thrilled when I had my first paper paper-view match with Orange Cassidy. That was a big thing. Actually, I got real emotional. Like I said, it was an emotional, like, guy, but my music hit, I'm walking out. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, not right now. So I'm like, I got a little tear. No way. Yeah, I got a little teary-eyed. I think my mom was there too that day, so that's pretty cool. But the belts, I can't wait for action figure too.

hopefully this year I want an action figure I'm sure it's coming I hope so you walk a really interesting line because you're a single star but also part of a tag team it's actually great that you can kind of dabble in both

yeah I mean it's obviously it's still a tag team but you know Tony's been kind of putting me with some single stuff or yeah I'm just kind of doing what

I like to wrestle singles I like to wrestle the tag So I'm kind of happy with either. As long as I'm wrestling, I'm happy. As long as I'm out there, I'm happy. And as long as I'm progressing, I'm happy. So, yeah, it's a little weird. Like, hey, you have a singles match on pay-per-view.

I was like, okay, that's really cool, but different. Because by that point, I was only doing tags, I think, at that point. So it was just something completely different. Yeah. I saw on Instagram yesterday that you did a killer, Robert DeM. Nero. Oh, yeah. I sure do. Have you always had this? Yeah, I just randomly try to do his face. And like sometimes I actually look it back at it. Sometimes it's not good because I just laugh too much. No, this was good. Give it to us. This is very good. You, you, you talking to me, huh? You're talking

to me. So good. So that brings me too. I'll see, I might as well promote this too. I've started a new YouTube page. I haven't posted it. I'm well, I don't know when this airs, but tomorrow is when I post. This is films on Monday. I don't know when you're posting this, but every week I'm trying to drop a new video of wrestlers recreating movie scenes. Okay, so where can people subscribe to this? Because everybody's going to want to subscribe to this.

So it's under my YouTube channel name is, I think it's just the Meat Man. I made it like a while ago. We're Meat Man, but the videos are going to be under the silver screen. and then the first anchorman. So the first one will be Anchorman. It's going to be me is Ron Burgundy. We got 10 is brick.

Cal is Evil Uno. And I can't remember the last guy's name. You got with the long hair and Anchorman. But that's going to be Alex. Obviously, the hair guy is going to be Alex. Ryan Fantana? Yes, Brian Fantana. There it is.

But that's the first thing we do. Also, I have the sandlot already filmed. Oh, my gosh. A lot of good stuff coming. So it's going to be pretty funny. Well, good. I will find the link and we will put the link down below so that everybody watching this can subscribe to it. Perfect.

This has been such a delight, John Silver. Oh, thank you. It was fun, too. Oh, thank you. I'm a big gratitude person. I gratitude drives my life and I end every interview by asking you, what are three things that you're grateful for in your life right now? Oh, my God. I mean, obviously where I'm at, just in life in general, that's like a, I know that's pretty broad, but like, I've worked my whole life to get to where I am right now.

And so I'm, you can say I guess I'll put that as my career, my wrestling career. I'm so glad, like, so happy for that. So happy for, I have somebody like, I'd say my fans too. There's so many people that, like, are, I got a lot of messages. I have my DMs open. I don't really respond to a lot of them because I get a lot of them. And then I'd feel bad if I don't respond to some.

So I do see them eventually. But there's some stories that people are like so genuinely like, like moves. I don't think, I don't know what the right word is like so happy if I do, like to see me wrestle or to see me like on BT or just see me post dumb stuff on the internet. So it's like crazy how I affect people's lives in such a positive way. Like they're sharing in your joy with you.

Yeah. So it's, I mean, for me, it's weird, but like good weird, like not in a weird, like bad weird. So I do love to see that too. So I got to see, obviously, my friends. And I've had my whole life, like I said, like I mentioned my mom driving me to, you know, wrestling training my whole life. So I think my support system was always good. Like my parents, like obviously they always were like,

maybe you should get another job. Maybe you should try looking to this, doing that. But they were always very supportive. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't have, I would have had to drop out and not how to do, you know, I would have had to do something else. So parents and even like my brother and my sister and my friends,

my friends would make fun to me sometimes every once in a while, but they were always very supportive of everything I'd do. So, I mean, that's, if they weren't a part of this, I wouldn't be where I am. I love it. Well, like I said up the top, people were very excited to have you on the show. So I'm so glad we were able to make this happen. So I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Oh, thanks for having me on. Well, there you have it, my friends. John Silver and the future in AEW is so, so bright for him. And I love that he's showcasing, you know, who he's really all about in being the elite. I think that we're going to start to see a little bit more of that in dynamite and AEW Dark and the paper views as the months continue here. Hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. Make sure to subscribe wherever you're listening and take a screenshot. Share this with someone who you know will be inspired by this story of never giving up.

Man, those side jobs that he had, those part-time jobs as he was making it in the world of wrestling, I love hearing stuff like that. Tag us on social media. He's at Silver Number One. And I'm at Chris Van Fleet. We'll leave you with this. It's from Wayne Dyer, who said, change the way you look at things,

and the things you look at start to change. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Woo! 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. Ticket banj of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef?

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