Insight with Chris Van Vliet - LA Knight On What's Next, AJ Styles Incident, Brock Lesnar, US Championship, Slim Jim, Max Dupri

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

LA Knight (@RealLAKnight) is a WWE professional wrestler and former United States Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Stamford, CT to discuss winning the United States Championship, brawling with AJ Styles at the WrestleMania 40 media day, what if he joined WWE 10 years ago, how he became the Slim Jim guy, how much longer he intends to wrestle, possible retirement, eliminating Brock Lesnar from the Royal Rumble, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flee! Well, great to see you. Here I am. Here you are. Here you are. Look at the size of this man. Oh, here. You can't put it over like that.

I'm just, uh... Yeah, I do look pretty big on that screen, so I'm going to look at this now. Look at this. We can't have this here because I'm going to stare at the whole damn time. Reference myself and be like, oh, do I look weird? Oh, you look great. Look at that angle. Yeah.

It's a good angle. Look at that. Um, yeah, it's not bad. I'm actually down seven pounds. So, yeah, I'm on a little mini-cut right now. How could you possibly get more cut? Well, you know what? I mean, it's not like anybody can't see it.

Everything I'm happy with and not happy with. But some of that's also postural. I got very lucky. I always grew up as kind of a skinny kid, so I had naturally occurring abs. So I never had to work on them. Naturally occurring abs. Yes.

Yeah, they were just there. And so natural phenomenon. And so for years and years, I worked on everything. And I was like, I don't even need to do my abs. So now the weakest core ever. And I bad posture where I kind of have an anterior pelvic tilt. This is fascinating everybody, I'm sure. And what ends up happening is then I almost look like I have my belly and my butt

sticking out a little bit, kind of like a Donald Duck posture. So are you working on that? I am. I am. Because it's actually been giving me issues with like once or twice a year, my back will kind of like it'll pinch. And for like a week, I'll be walking around all funny. So I'm trying to just get out of that where I don't have to do that all the time.

Fix the imbalances, fix the strength in the core and the glutes and all that stuff. So here we are. How much stretching are you doing now? Mobility work? A decent amount, but a lot of it is making sure I'm actually getting strong in the stretch position. So you find those weak positions and get strong in them and get flexible at the same time. Because I did none of this stuff. And then right around 40, I'm like, I probably should be.

What crazy thing is, when I was 30, I was probably worse off than I am now. But part of that was because, well, first of all, bad form. But especially when I went into the performance center for the first time, it was like, we were doing squats one day and then deadlift. And maybe we'd have a rest day, and then it was squats and it was deadlift. And my back was a wreck. And a lot of that, again, just my body doesn't do well with squats unless I do a, a lot of warm up. And we had very condensed time in the gym.

It was like literally an hour to get everything done. And then you get a little break and then you're off into the gym. And so it was like, you got to get it and start moving and start doing the stuff. And so by the time I got into doing the squats, my low back was a wreck. But yeah, what are we doing here? What are we talking about today? If I can be Cody Rhodes. Whatever you want to talk about.

Yeah, whatever you want to talk about. It's funny. I ran into you right. Wait. Does he say what do you want to? talk about. What does he, what does he say again? Yeah. Look at that. I don't even pay attention. I don't even know my own show. Did I say it right? What do you want to talk about? What do you want to talk about? Well, yeah, he usually, what are we talking about?

What are we talking about? He says the name of the city. Yeah. Like Los Angeles. Stay for Connecticut. What do you want to talk about? Well, mine's, what are we talking about? Isn't it? Even though I already have let me talk to you. Yeah. That would be the name of your show. And then, uh, what, Trick has one now, too, something to talk. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. A lot of people talking. You put the three of us in the ring together. We'll be in a whole. The Talking Brothers. It will never end.

This is the new tag team. Trioes. Yeah. The new WWE Trio's championship. It's coming soon. I've been doing this really silly thing where I make synonyms of people's names. So I've been doing this with, let me talk to you. And I've been doing, allow me to speak with you.

Uh-huh. Yes? Certainly. Instead of yeah. Or just, uh-huh. Yeah. Los Angeles evening, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, boy.

Don't do this. I'm going to have to leave. I think our time's up, everybody. Good night, ladies and gentlemen. I've ran into you before WrestleMania, going back to the fitness stuff. And I was like, are you dialing it in for WrestleMania? And you're like, I'm always

pretty dialed in. I'm like, yeah. Yeah, you are. I stay, I try to stay in a mostly building and maintaining mass. And every now and then I have to twist my own arm to kind of tighten it up just a touch, just because sometimes I'll see something. I'll be like, I don't like that.

And I'm like, I got to, I got to fix that little thing. And, you know, it's the mental aspects of this game that really always mess with you. That's like, which is kind of why I avoided you for a long time. We've talked a bunch of times. And I feel like every time it's had some sort of gravity and meaning. And even today, I was like, what am I doing here? What are you talking about?

What have I done? When you text to me, you're like, I don't feel like I've done that much since our last conversation. That was December of 2023. Yeah, what have I done since then? The whole conversation was, I'd like to. win a title in 2024. Yeah. What did you do?

I did. However, my, yeah, my issue with that is it's not just winning the title. And maybe I did forget that. But it's not just winning the title. It's what I do with it. When did you really start to feel like we've got some momentum here? In what way? So the reactions are getting louder and louder.

When your music hits, you're getting the pops are getting louder and louder. When did it start to get to? an inflection point that you noticed. Well, I mean, we talked about that before. I mean, March in 2023, it was the first time I noticed, but noticing it continue to pick up and continuing to progress

would have been just all through that spring and summer. But the crazy thing is, you know, I think there was a lot of, there were a lot of people leaning on the idea that that was going to be a fad. There were a lot of people leaning on the idea that that was going to be a flavor of the month, that that was going to be a passing thing.

And here we are 2026. I walk in the ring last night. Now, you could argue, yeah, maybe the reactions aren't quite as big as they were at that time. I'm going to tell you why that is in a second. But if you notice last night, I still circle around. I get the thing and I stand there and they still chant the name. Now, you could say that's a program. You could say that's passion.

You could say it's whatever it is. Bottom line is it's still there. However, the reason it's not as big as it was is because right now I'm just kind of a a man without a country, so to speak. I'm not really doing, I don't have a set trajectory at this moment. If you look at last year, last summer, when I started all of a sudden, me and Seth were going on it for the title, and it's me and the vision,

there it was renewed again. So it's a matter of just making sure that I've got direction, I've got somewhere to go, and I've got somewhere that people care about, something that people can, you know, sink their teeth into, that then takes it up from an eight up to a 10 and beyond. And so I think that's really just the key to the whole thing. And it's kind of crazy that it's kept on this long

when I don't think a lot of people are counting on that being the case. Hey there, I'm Paula Pan. I help people make the smartest money decisions possible. If you don't control your money, it controls you. Yeah, you're not in control of your finances. You have to look outside of yourself to live the life that you want. You're not in control. You're like, what is it that you actually want?

Money should follow the dreams and goals because sometimes we make the dream and goal, and you've overworked yourself and you've exceeded what you've needed for the actual thing you want. Sometimes we forget, like, what's the actual thing you want? Afford anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Square up. You know what's going on, man?

It's Andre Verto. Two-time world champion. You know, I fought. I loved it. I really wanted to do that sit down from a fighter's perspective. My G. What's going on? Caleb Klaz.

What's going on? Now you got a chance to really draw in your audience to let them see who you are. I've had to have a lot of internal talks to say, do I even want to carry on? But spiders, we know what time it is. I think the time is now. Square up. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's go.

Do you feel like you kind of wield this into existence? Like, if you're saying, like, maybe this was something that would last a week or two or three or a few months, it just kept going. It just kept persisting. Yeah, I mean, not a notoriously great planner. So there was no grand plan where it was. was like, oh, it's going to be this and this and this. But there also wasn't a thing where it's like, oh, this is going to fall off.

But the funny thing is, people always be like, when I'm talking to guys in the back and when I'm like, oh, yeah, we'll hit your music. There'll be a big pop. And I'm like, don't be so sure. You never know. Today could be the day. And I joke about it, but at the same time, like, it could happen.

And if it happens, cool, that's the business. We roll on with it. And at that point, if the reaction goes down to here, all right, well, then I'm going to bring the reaction back up, even if I've got to take in a different direction. I'm going to make you say something, whether it's negative or positive. Right now it's positive,

and I have a good feeling it's going to remain positive. But at some point, if it doesn't, we'll have a talk. Where would you want this to head? What direction would you want this to head in for the fans to sink their teeth into? I don't have, like I said, I'm not a notoriously great planner. I don't have an exact trajectory,

I think I just look at it and I go, is it not a crime from an outsider perspective, even from an insider perspective, with the, I guess a couple different perspectives to look at this from, but from an outsider perspective, you look at, here's this force that came in, and I took this thing by storm. And people make comparisons and they say, oh, it's, you know, well, Steve Austin got real hot and Daniel Bryan got real hot. And you could even say, Obfemmi or whatever. You look at these things, but all these guys, by the time they had gotten hot

and started getting the big pops, they had had big victories, big pushes, they had titles. You look at it, like, even Austin, Austin didn't really start getting the megapops, so he's already champion. Like, it started building up, and he was the, you know,

intercontinental champion. He was tag team champion, all that stuff. But it wasn't like the crazy megapops you got in like 98-99. Daniel Bryant, same thing. He'd already been multiple time, you know, or continental champion, tag teams. What was I doing?

I was middle bottom of the card getting beat every week, but I had 30 seconds, 60 seconds to talk. And when you look it from, I'm able to take that and then become, what, number one merch seller, I'm able to be, you know, all of a sudden now I'm the favorite for money in the bank. All of a sudden now I'm the guy that the people are demanding, not because I was pushed in that direction,

not because I was, you know, not because the machine got behind me. At some point, the machine had to get behind me. You can't deny that at some point. We're going to talk about undeniable. That was me. But at the same time, there's still some resistance. Do you feel like this is like a new lease,

a second lease on your WWE career? Because there was a point when it was taken away from you. There was a point when you weren't a competitor. Do you feel like, did you feel like it wasn't going to come back? When you were Max Dupree and you were just a manager? Did you feel like it wasn't going to come back? Well, so the bill of goods that was sold to me there was that I was going to be kind of a Roddy Piper in the sense of when Roddy first came in, he was like a manager, a mouthpiece that then sometimes wrestled and then eventually just became full-time wrestling. And that was kind of how it was painted to me.

And there were some other details in there that made me think like, okay, this could be okay. And then it started going in directions where I was like, this is going to be awful. this is going to be pigeonholed, we're stuck, we're never going to get above a certain trajectory. And thank God, I mean, truth be told, I don't know how many people know the story, but I was written off TV after the second model. We did, we did, I did the first one where I introduced the models,

and then I brought them back the next week. And I got a little hot coming in that. I was hot every day coming in. because I was just, I was not comfortable doing what I was doing. I felt like it was, I felt like they were killing my career, if I'm being honest. And in that moment, I'm just, I'm in, I'm coming in such a bad mood, which isn't terribly unusual for me. But I'm coming in there in this mood in one of the days, can I swear on this thing?

You can say whatever you want? Fucking bitch, yeah, shit. Cock sucker? Oh, sorry. Yeah, anyway. I'd watch. I probably won't swear the rest of the time, but I just need to make sure. Got them all out. Yeah. What was I going to say?

So I come in that first day and, not the first, I'm sorry. The first day I do the model thing. I don't know how many people I've told this story to. I've told it to a lot, but I don't know how many have actually told it to on here. So I come in and this was Vince's baby. he was so big on this maximum male models thing, like to the point where, like, they were saying, he never comes down for rehearsals anymore.

But now it was like, we were in there doing the thing, and I'm out there trying to do this, you know, this presentation of these models. And we'd done the backstages with me and Adam, and Vince told me before, you got, you gotta talk soft. I don't want to say or do any of the things that you used to do, none of that, whatever.

If I'm honest, though, he wasn't familiar with any of it. He didn't know L.A. Knight. I think he was told a little bit, But when I came up to do my dark match, another thing that people put over was when I had a dark match with Roderick Strong. And apparently he got on the headset and was like, hey, who is this guy? And they were like, that's a big deal. He never gets on the headset during the matches and asked about that. Something about what I was doing called his eye.

Oh, that's L.A. Knight. And I see, how old is he? He's 39. And it's like, oh, and it's like, oh, what? If you like what I'm doing or you like what I live? Like, what's the problem? And so somebody, I guess, had vouched for him. He's a good talk.

He's like, all right, well, maybe we can bring him up as a manager. I'm like, all right. So that's how we get into this whole thing. So now, anyway, go back to that first day. I'm all over the place right now. That first day of introducing the models and we're doing the little rehearsal thing talk through. And he comes down and he's like, I need you to talk softer.

And I'm like, okay, well, I'm thinking like, you had me talking soft in the backstage, but like now I'm doing a presentation. I need to be a little bigger, right, to present to the people. but it's his show, sure. And he goes, he goes, just read me a line from there. As softly as you can't. He's like, I don't think you can be effeminate, but try and be effeminate without being effeminate.

I'm like, what? So then, so I go to start reading a line. I'm looking for a line, but as I'm doing that, he keeps talking to me. And I'm looking for a line because he wants me to read a line. And then he stops and he goes, what are you doing? I need you to pay attention. It's important you pay attention.

Always pay attention. I'm like, I'm thinking to myself, you asked me to read a fucking line. I'm looking for the goddamn line. I'm like, I'm paying attention. What's up? And he tells me whatever he tells me. We go and we do the rehearsal, fine, whatever.

We go and we do the thing that live that night. I come back. He goes, he goes, it was okay, but you need to still be softer. I said, cool, no problem. Come in next week. I see Adam Pierce, first person I see. And one of the other writers who I was working with at the time. And Adam goes, does anybody get with you to?

day and I'm like, well, no, what about? And he's like, well, Vince said, Vince said that he didn't feel like you were listening last week and he needs you to be softer. And he said, if you can't be softer, and if you're not going to listen, he's going to find another Max DuPri. And I went, well, you tell him,

I find another fucking Max Dupree. And I went over to a writer. And I was like, how fucking quiet does you want me again? I'm already in a fucking whisper. And I just lost my shit there. And in hindsight, I probably should have just gone to Vince because everybody always says it. Like, he either would fire me or he'd fucking

love it. I don't know. It's a, it's a 50-50. But I just avoided it the rest of the day. And I'm in, I'm in the ring to do our, uh, our rehearsal. And I'm just sharking. I'm, I'm just pacing back and forth. You can see it in my face. Anyway, we do the thing that day. Uh, I got lost. You should see these scripts. Like, first of all, I'm not used to working with scripts. Like, for the most part, it's like, I got an idea where I'm going. I talk. I talk. But this was a completely different person, completely different entity, everything. So I needed every, every bit of that. And it was, words I had to look up. And this is like a page and a half of shit that I got to remember. So I'm sitting here like, and one of the words was events.

I'd never heard of this word before. So I had to look it up just so I knew the context of what I was saying. Yeah. And I got stuck on it for a second. But the only people who knew I got stuck on it was me and Vince. Because when I got to, because I kind of like, you know, I stalled, but I kind of did it in a creative way where it was like, what the fuck am I? What am I saying? I get to the back and he goes, he goes, what happened out there? And I'm I'm like, I stalled. I couldn't remember the word. And I was just waiting and I was trying to stall.

But then I got it. I was like, I'm sorry. He was like, well, don't be sorry. Just be better. And I'm like, and he shakes two models hands and then turns back on me. And I was like, this motherfucker right here. And I just, I left. I went back to the locker room.

I packed my shit up and I got the fuck out of the building because if I didn't, I knew I was going to blow up on somebody. I don't, I don't, and it was not good. So I just got out of there. I sat in the garage. at the hotel I was at, and I just sat there and just stewed and just until I cooled down, and then I went in. And so he called my bluff, because what was it, it was either the next week or the week after that all of a sudden, in comes Maxine Dupree.

Well, guess who got told that he didn't have to travel that week was me? And so it's like, once I found out that the models were still going and now she was coming in, I was like, oh, I'm gone. I'm done. It's over. That was Wednesday that I find out. not traveling to Smackdown. Thursday, Wall Street Journal, whatever the fuck happens there.

And then by Friday morning, it's like, oh, Vince McMahon is retiring, steps down, Triple H is the head of creative. And I'm like, there's a chance. I'm like,

I might still have a job, but I'm going to turn my phone off regardless because they like fire people on Fridays. So I turned my phone off and I just let it sit there. And I was like, I'm going to hit Triple H up, but I'm not going to do it today

because the second that announcement went out, I'm sure everybody. was knocking his door down. So I was like, I'm going to let that sit for a minute. So the next day on Saturday, I just texted him. I said, hey, man, I don't know what's going on. I don't know if I have a job. I don't know.

He might have already, you know, throw me off the cliff, and now everybody else is just carrying out the orders. And AAA's credit was just like, you got five minutes of FaceTime. I said, fuck, yeah, I do. And right there, we talked at least, you know, it was very broad strokes. Hey, yeah, we want to keep you, want to do this, whatever.

And I was like, cool. And then from there, it was me. maybe a few weeks later that he was just like, what do you think about going back to L.A. night? And I was like, fucking, please, yesterday. And yeah, so we started making that move. And at that point, I remember the first time that I had the match as L.A. Knight and came out there,

and I think we were in New Orleans, me and Mansour, Mansua. And I caught Triple H in the hall, and I was just like, hey, I really want to thank you for this. I don't know where this is going to go. I don't know what this is going to be, but thank you. I'm going to, you know, do whatever I can with this. But yeah, at that point, I was just thinking,

I thought that was going to kill my career. And I was at the point of pretty much, there's no way I wasn't fired at that point when I got ridden off TV. There's no way. And so it was just a matter of just lucky things happening and falling into place, people falling out of place.

And then it just worked out to where it was like, oh, shit, I got a chance here. And at that point, it was like, I knew that I was being fed to Bray Wyatt, but what a great position to be in. Like, and I know people would be like, oh, you know, a lot of people don't come out for the better in the Bray Wyatt thing.

I sure shit did, because at that point it was like, we had a whole month-plus buildup to his and I's match where it was like just promo, promo, promo, great. I haven't had a chance to do shit on this TV show. Let me get out here and do me talking like me

instead of talking like whatever this thing was, this Max DePree thing. So I was able to take advantage of that And whether it was 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds, whatever it was We're going to make it a good one What a turn of events. Like to go from the brain? Let me tell you, I don't mean to cut you off there.

One other piece of incredible luck Had the match with Mansour After just breaking apart from them I come out there, I'm getting some mild cheers And but like at that, I'm working as the baby face I was told to cut a promo after the match and the writer was like, hey, it was a battle with me and the writers, by the way, too,

because it was like, you want to do a run through? I was like, no, no, no, I'm just, when I talk, I talk. Like, let me just, let me just, like, I don't want to be authentic as it can be. I don't want to rehearse it 500 times. Let me just do it. I know what I'm going to say, I'm going to go. Anyway, he's like, he's like, so,

so you're going to have the match, you're going to beat him. And then when you go out there, you're going to cut a heel promo and turn back heel. And I'm like, great, wonderful. That's perfect. Go out there, I do the match. I cut that heel promo. I'm like, what are you all cheering for?

You don't do this. You don't have to help me with this. And I get to the back and Hunter's like, he's like, what did you do that for? I'm like, what are you talking about? He's like, why did you just turn heel? And then they're out there cheering for you, whatever. I'm like, that's what I was told to do. He's like, who told you to do that?

I was like, oh, I don't want to bury anybody. He's like, you're not bury anybody. I need to know. I was like, he told me to go heal. And he brought him over. He's like, why did you tell him to do that? But thank God he did. I don't know that I would work straight away coming in his straight off baby face.

Not only that, but I don't think it would have worked then. They wouldn't have been able to put me in with Bray Wyatt at that point. I don't think I was a baby face either. So, I mean, I guess they could have and they could have made him a heel, but he was going to be too, like being away for so long coming back. There was no chance he wasn't going to be the baby face. So it's just that little piece of luck, everything was working just right there at the end of 2022 to set me up for 2023.

And so like, I always want to give that writer a hug every day because it's like, he probably feels like, oh, what a big mess up. But I'm like, that's the best thing you could have done. Because me coming in as a baby face and just being a good guy from day one would have been flat as piss. How was it working with Bray Wyatt

leading up to that match that you guys had. It was good because it was a challenge. It was very different. And it was like, it's weird to work with the supernatural type stuff because with my character especially, I don't want to sell it too much because it feels so silly.

But at the same time, I don't want to shit on what he's doing. So it's like you've got to find that balance. It's a nice little challenge to like walk that line to be like, ah, I'm not afraid of this shit, but then he does some shit. And you're going to be like, oh, wait, okay, wait.

All right, that kind of gets me. You just got to find the right way to walk that line. line. And he was just like, he was cool off the bat. He got me. I got him. And it was just a matter of just, again, finding the way to walk that line and make those styles work. I was part of that press day in Philly, WrestleMania 40, where you attacked AJ Stiles. Right? So we're all in that room doing these interviews. And then over in the corner, what's going on there? Oh, L.A. Knight and AJ Stiles are fighting each other. Yeah. So to set this up for people that

don't know. You guys were going to be set up next to each other doing interviews. Why? Why? So did you just- That was the original thing that I said. I walked in the room and I was like, why would they set us next to each other? Are we crazy right now? We've been in like a crazy feud where I literally went to his house and got arrested like we've done crazy. And now at the press junket, they're going to just put us five feet away. Right there. Okay, well, let's see what happens. But you were saying. So did you just walk into the room and go, let's just make this a thing? I walked into the room and I was like, you know,

I'm shooting him looks and he might have like said some stuff. He's doing his interview. I'm in the middle. Was I talking? Who was I? I wasn't talking to you. No. I was talking to somebody else.

So whoever I was talking to, while I was doing that, AJ's over here behind me. And, you know, I'd given looks and he referenced him and I'd looked over there and stuff. But at some point, AJ tossed his stool in my direction. And at that point,

all I'm thinking is, again, the depth of the story we had told up to now. And I'm like, there's no way I wouldn't react. If he throws his stool at me, what am I going to do? I'm going to fight him. And so I go over and just start fighting him. And I'm thinking, surely, surely, security's going to come and break this up real quick. And it just went on and on.

And we're down there like, like, like work shooting. and like he's knocking me right because we got to make it look good now because we're like in the people and everybody's filming it yes yeah and so i'm almost like i'm talking i'm like where the fuck is security what is taking so long and finally like i got because we're both blowing up at this point um but yeah i mean it was just literally going off the cuff just like how do i not serve the story that we've told this whole time even to where he's serving it now just by throwing the stool obviously i'm i'm sure he wasn't intending to get to where it got to. But in my head, I'm like, I've gone to his house to fight him.

He throws a stool at me from five feet away. What am I going to do? Just shrug it off? No. So I went over there thinking, security's going to take care of it. They didn't. I mean, they did finally. But, yeah, it took a minute.

And so he slammed the shit out of me. He ended up with the bloody nose. So after that, we both got a phone call, though. Like, hey, what are you guys doing? You can't do that. And it was like, hey, I'm just, I'm trying to keep it alive. I'm trying to keep this thing going. Yeah.

That was the thing is like, I felt like, and I think he felt the same way. We weren't getting like marquee attention for this match or anything going into it. So it was like, how can we up this and try and get more attention on this? And I mean, that wasn't pre thought. But I'm saying like even with the things with like, oh, what if I go to his house and like we're getting, I get arrested, all that kind of stuff. So yeah, it was just trying to try to ram. that thing up as much as possible.

And that was just a happy accident that I think, because then they ended up using it and putting it on TV anyway. So. WrestleMania 40 was your first WrestleMania. Yeah. How did that feel? Because it's not just your first WrestleMania.

It's your first WrestleMania. It's a singles match. It's against one of the greatest of all time, depending on who you're asking, AJ Styles, and you get a win. You said it. All right. Good night, everybody.

No, it's great. You know, and really good, considering the year before. because the year before we were in L.A., and I was told to talk about Russ Maney in L.A. because we're going to come up with something for you. And I was like, awesome.

So I got tickets for my family to fly out there and everything. I didn't know what I was going to do. They still hadn't told me what it was going to be, but they were like, we're going to put something together for you. And a Wednesday before, they're like, oh, I got scrapped. And I'm like, huh? Do you know what it was supposed to be?

No, I have no idea still to this day. For all I know, they were ribbing me the whole time. I don't think they were. But it sounded like there was something in the works. I don't think they told me because they were, still kind of figuring out what was going to be what. So yeah, what? Two days, well, the day before I was going to travel,

but two days before everybody else is going to get out there, I get told that I've got nothing. So at that point, it was like, well, I'm not going to WrestleMania. I mean, I went to Smackdown and I was in town for WrestleMania, but at that point, it was like, all right, fam, you want to go to Dodgers game? You want to go to San Monica? At that point, it was just taking people around L.A., since I'd lived out there for so long, it was like, I'm just, we'll do the tour.

We'll see everything. So now to finally actually be like, hey, come to Philly, I'm actually going to do it this time. Trust me, come on out. And for it to go down the way it was, it was cool. My family gets a kick out of that. I get a kick out of that stuff. And yeah, I guess I'm three manias deep at this point. And mania used to be like a really stressful week for me because it was like every year that passed by, it was like, the window's closing.

Windows closing. And because it was, I felt like I should have been there 10 years before I got there, more than that. And so with that being the case, it's just like, it would be such a stressful weekend. Because to me, that was almost like my calendar to year. That was like the beginning of a new calendar year of just like, you missed another one. Missed another one. Missed another one. So now it's finally like, all right, I'm going there.

I mean, it's going to happen. Rest May, 3839 in L.A. Can't be any better than that for L.A. night. Oh, what's that? Okay. All right. See you next year. So, yeah, it's that carrot that's always dangling forever in front of you that you want to reach. But now, yeah, we're three deep now at this point.

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I am one of Moody on July 10th. Maui, you will board my boat and restore the heart of Tefiti. And here we go. The journey begins. See her light up the night and the ocean chose you. you. Let's go save the world. I got your back, chosen one. Disney's Moana.

Boat's Nick. His name is Hay Hey. His name is Yum Yum when he goes in my tum-tum. In theaters July 10th. What do you think your career looks like if you signed with WWE 10 years ago and get L.A. night? Who knows? I might not be here at all. Sure.

I don't know because it's tough to tell just because of so many of the circumstances were different. Again, I think about the Vince stuff. And like, that was, and I only got a little bit of it. And I was over it pretty quickly. So, but it was also due to the circumstances and the view on me because of that number, that 39 number. What a, what a scary number. So I don't know, 10 years ago or 15 years ago, the circumstances could have been completely different because of, you know, that not being a factor.

Who knows? But at the same time, I got a little. look at it like this because there's so many guys who've been doing this for so long. And like, I've been doing it for a long time, but not on this WWE schedule. This WWE schedule, I mean, beats you up right now. We're on, we're in the best time for a WWE schedule, except for me in the next couple weeks. I'll get to that in a second.

But like, for the most part, like, it's not like it was even seven, eight, nine years ago or even just a few years ago when we had the house shows every single weekend. So in that regard, it's great. I've gotten here the perfect time where it's like I've had a 20 year career where I, I haven't beaten my body up too much. I've never had any major surgeries or injuries. Iron mat, baby. And now it's like I'm able to make an amazing living.

So why are the next few weeks, what were you going to get into about that being crazy? So, so, I only had, we've got Raw coming up in Italy and in France in the next two weeks. That's all I was on. And there's tour dates in between. All of a sudden, there was an injury. So now I got added to next week. Okay, fine. Then all of a sudden there was an injury and I got added to Thursday. So now I'm going to leave here tonight, go home. And I'm going to repack and then I'm leaving again tomorrow night to go to Liverpool to go immediately. So I'm going to be gone for the next three weeks straight. So that's going to be great.

But what a great problem to have. It is. It is. It's just, you know, I miss my puppies and I miss my home. Sure, but there's a 36-year-old version of you that would be dying. That's the part that I wrestle with. Yeah, because it's like, you know, if I was in my, you know, early 30s late 20s, I would be like, this is the greatest thing ever. And there's still part of me that way. The problem is now I have those attachments where it's like I can't help but torture myself with a thought that my dogs are only around possibly for, you know, 10 to 15 years.

And that murders me. Sure. And so I'm just like any time apart from them, I hate. And I just want to be home snuggling puppies. Um, but, but what I was trying to say earlier was there's so many guys who, the bodies are beaten up from being on this WWE schedule for so long. So in a weird way, I lucked out by not being in 10 or 15 years ago because my body's not beaten up from it.

So I'm only really starting to get kind of more of that exposure now. And I'm getting a great paycheck in the meantime. And I get to go snug at my puppies when I'm home. So, and at some point I'll disappear off at the sunset. You'll never see me again. I'm going to open a dog rescue. and audios, everybody. It must have been so frustrating

when people just kept bringing up that number, your age, right? We're about the same age. Yeah. I don't... I get it, though. Because I think a lot of guys who are my age and even a guy...

I know a lot of guys who are younger than me. They're in rough, rough shape. I've taken care of myself very well. I think I worked in a very safe manner to where, again, it hasn't led me to have... I'd broken my nose once. I've had a few concussions and stuff, but I've never had anything ever, never, ever.

I'm super reliable. I've never been on the shelf for any kind of real legitimate injury. Knock it again, because I want to keep it that way. And my hope is to get out at some point eventually and not have any of those things on me. You know, I've got neck and back pain and everybody has, but. But I just don't know why I was made such a point about you when there's so many people on the roster whose age began with a four. I think it's just the idea that I was starting brand new.

and so a lot of the guys who were there who were already in their late 30s or 40s had been established and this, that, whatever. And I think it was just looking at oh, this is going to be this long, slow, we don't have the, we don't want to invest. You know, I mean, I get,

I 100% get it. If all you're looking at is a picture and a number, 100% get it. But you got to figure out what's under that. But if I'm honest, I understand the guy's too busy to look at what's under the hood. It's just, hey, this is what I see. I don't want to invest in that.

I understand it. At the same time, I know me. And if we look at the way things worked out, God damn, it worked out pretty well for everybody, didn't it? I mean, shit, it didn't take five years for me to get off the ground. It took, what, a whole, I mean, if we're really looking at it real, what, L.A. night didn't pop up until, at least on Smackdown, until October or November, I think it was.

And then by, I mean, July, we were full hilt. that was around the time that it was money in the bank, and shit was taken off at that point in time. How did you realize you had something with the cadence of how you say, E, L.A., Drake, which then turned into L.A. Knight. That was complete. Let's tell a story. We love stories.

So I was, when I went to TNA in 2015, they were like, how do you feel about the name Eli Drake? And I was like, comes with a steady paycheck? I'm good with it. And what was your name at this point? I was just using my real name. I was just Sean Ricker at that point in time. Sean Ricker.

Yeah, no, it wasn't even a thing. So, so none of that existed. So here I am. Chris Van Fleet. Yeah. Do you ever think of being Tofer Van Fleet? Was that everyone? Ooh.

It doesn't have the same. Who wants to be a Tofer? Sorry, Tofer Grace. It's a weird name. It's strange. Why would you take the back half of your name? Like, it'd be like, although I've got a friend.

and whose name is Alex. And I'm thinking, if you were going to break that one, you could be Al or you could be Lex. You'd want to be Lex? But then, like, if your name's William, do you want to be... Yum? Yum?

Yeah. Why not? Yeah, I put the Yum and William. Yeah, come on. If your name is Jonathan, you want to be Nathan? You'd just be... You know what? There's none of this is important.

What were we talking about? Eli Drake with a steady... Eli Drake. Oh, yeah. I was in a little thing called The Rising. And that rising was Drew McIntyre, or Drew Galloway at the time. Micah, who's also Tongaloa. I always get all the Tonga's mixed up and me.

And so when they first brought me in, you know, we all cut a promo real quick, kind of an introduction. Hey, it's us. Hi. And from then, you almost never heard from me. I almost never talked for the next. Like, I was clearly the third guy in the group. They had high hopes. I remember standing there and no hate to either Tommy Dreamer or to Tonga.

But we had the gut check together in February 2015. And we finished the match. Everything's good. We come to the back and, like, Tommy Dreamer basically goes to me. And he's like, oh, you're pretty good. And he goes to the other guy. He's like, but you, you're going to be da-da-da-da-da. And you're going to be this.

And like, you remind me of the rock. And I'm like, I'm like, shit, okay. And so when we finally get through the next month to do the tapings, and they put us in the group together, it was clear they were going with that, where it was like, it was Drew, and it was clearly Micah, and then it was me as like a distant third

who we could do with or without. And time goes on, things are happening, and then eventually they decided to break me off from the group at some point. I remember there were plenty of times where it was like, they would have us have these multi-man matches, and I was just not involved.

Until finally they were like, oh, we're going to turn you heel. We're going to be turned heel against Drew. I'm like, great, wonderful. So now finally, when I turn heel against Drew, I finally get to cut my own promo by myself. And at that point in time, I literally just, I don't like when people come out and they just say that,

my name is blah, blah, blah. Paul Heyman can get away with it because it's his, it's like his thing. But like, I like to try and find a creative way to get my name in there without just being like, my name is blah, blah, blah. It's too generic. But anyway, at this point in time, that's exactly what I did because my thought was,

you haven't heard from me in months. You probably don't even know my name. So I go, my name, and I have a crutch on my shoulder at the time, is Eli Drake. And I'm putting the extra emphasis on it because I want you to remember it because you probably haven't heard it even though I've been here for five months. And at that point, when I did it the first time, I was like, I'll just say it that way every time I say my name, the rest of the promo. and I just did that.

And I figured it might be something I just forget about and throw away from that point in time. And then it might have been Pope or somebody else came up to me and said something like, you should do that all the time. And I was like, hmm, all right.

And then since I started doing it with the crutch there, I was like, I'll just start doing the point. And then in my matches, I would just throw it out as like a thing. And it just stayed and it stayed. And then at that point, it was like, when I first signed NXT in 2021,

they were like, we want to bring in as Eli Drake. I'm like, great, perfect. And then like three days before, they're like, up, never mind. Hunter wants to change it. He wants to start completely fresh and new. And then that's when between all of us, we came up with, L.A. was from me. Knight was from them. And there we had L.A. night.

And at that point, I was like, well, I can, that's there still. Was it important for you to have three syllables? Not necessarily, but I also know that in this business, you want a simple name. I won't stay on this too long, but they pitched L.A. Donovan at one point. And I was like, that, blah, that's awful. No, that's so awful and terrible. And I feel like it pigeonholes and it's shit. I'm forever a douche.

I can't, I can't do that. But it's like you want a simple name. Like, what do you do with L.A. Donovan? So, yeah, so, no, finally we settled on LA night. And even if it didn't work out like that and I didn't have this, I didn't have that five years ago. So it didn't matter. I could have done anything.

But here's something I already been doing that was already working. It was working in TNA. It was working in NWA. What a chance is it's going to work here? I guess it's going to. And it did. So at that point, it was like, okay, let's run with this. The character is exactly the same.

It's the exact same shit. Because it's really just me amped up. You've been at one of my parties. What a party. It's, yeah, and it's, it's me in party mode, but also, like, argument mode. So if you put the two together, that's really just what's happening. I've always wanted to know the story behind your hand symbol. What is that?

It's a secret, and I'll tell it in a few years. It's a very easy to decode secret that's right in front of everybody's eyes, but at the same time. Maybe it's easy because you know. know what it is. Yes, but like, yeah, yes. Kind of. When did you start doing it? Someday I'll tell. So I was just, okay, so I used to come out and do this when I'd hit the, the buckle. But then I saw, I was always thinking like someday I'm going to be in WWB. So I was always working that way. And I didn't want to do anything that seemed like something somebody else was doing. So then

AJ started doing this. And I was like, it's too close. You can't do it. And I was like, well, what can I do? And I was like, I can't just do this. That's Austin, whatever. And I was like, well, huh, what else can I do? And I started thinking like different hand signs and stuff. And I'm like, looking at sign language and I'm like, no, that sucks. And then at some point, I found something where I was like, oh, I think I kind of like that. And I started kind of doing it a little bit. And I was like, I'm going to stick with that. And I started doing it. And then I started noticing people out there doing it. And I was like, yeah, I think we're good. I think we're good with this. Eventually, I'll tell the story. But it says something there. But it's, but it's,

says something that links me to my past. When did you start seeing people dressed up as LA night? Royal Rumble. That's a thing now. Royal Rumble with Bray Wyatt. I remember big long entrance. And there was a dude literally like, he was like on the guardrail making sure I saw him. He was like up on the thing.

He needed to make sure I saw his ass. And I saw him and I was like, oh shit, that's cool. And you know what's funny about that? No, you know what? I don't want to tell my secrets yet. I got to wait until I retire. I can't tell secrets. There's certain secrets of, like, ways that I do things that I try to do,

that I notice people aren't doing. But I don't want to tell them now because then I'm afraid people will start doing them. Sure. Do you think about how much longer you want to do this? All the time. I'm looking at the clock all the time. The funny thing is, like, physically, I could do this for a long time.

Like, I'm really good physically. Mentally, I'm just like, I'm going to snuggle puppies. When I talk about a bump card, I don't feel like yours is even close to being maxed out. No, no, but I also don't want to do it forever and beat my body up. I've, what, I'm 23 years deep now at this point. Would you like to wrestle into your 50s? No, fuck, no. No.

Are you nuts? No. Would I like to be able to come in and maybe like, do, you know, an occasional appearance or do some, yeah, sure, maybe, but like, I don't think I've been built up to the point where I can do like an undertaker type thing or an Austin thing or something like that. So, like, I don't think that's in my future either. So it's pretty much going to be at some point when I decide to call it, I'm going to disappear in the sunset and you'll just never see me again. You keep joking about that. I'm not even joking. I'm being

dead ass serious. If they decide at some point and they get crazy, You don't have to go, we're going to put in my Hall of Fame. Sure, I'll come back and I'll do that. But I got a feeling that probably ain't going to happen either. But maybe that's my own, like, you know, feeling of just like never being, no matter where I've gone, I've always felt underappreciated in the wrestling business. If Adam Pierce or Nick Aldous decided to move on from the GM role,

you could be a great GM one day. What's it pay? We'll think about it. You had a great moment with John Cena at Payback, 2023. What were you thinking in that moment? Did you realize it was a moment when it was happening? That was... He was like special guest referee in this match.

I get payback and fast lane mixed up. And then at the ramp, he puts you over. But it's interesting. He takes his shirt off so he's not the referee anymore. And he's putting you over. Yeah. Did you realize what that moment was when it was happening? Yeah.

At the same time, I didn't want to... I didn't want to be like, I was still not really like a, like I was a baby face, but I wasn't baby. Like I was the fan favorite, but like I was still the shithead heel from just a couple weeks or months or whatever ago. So in that regard, it was like,

and just considering everything that happened in the match, I try not to just ignore what happened five minutes ago. And there was something, I don't remember exactly the details, but there was something where like, you know, he wasn't there for a pin or something like that to where it was like, I had enough of a reason

to be like, hey, you almost cost me this thing, whatever. So it was like, I didn't want to go straight into that and just go, oh, yes, great, thank you. Ah, hi. So in that regard, I remember I did get to the back and I got a little bit of a, a little bit of a chat where somebody was like, you know, he can't do that. That's John Cena. Like, he's a big deal. And I'm like, I understand that, but I got to be me. Like, in the regard of like, I'm not, I haven't just suddenly flipped a 180.

Like I have to, even if I'm going to gradually get to being more of a baby face, it can't just be the sudden, you know, zero to hero. So for me, it was kind of like, okay, he's going to put me over, but at the same time, I'm going to, I'm going to jawjack him a little bit. Hey, you know, you almost cost me that shit, you know, whatever. And then it's just like, I look at the hand, look at the hand, whatever. And it's like, okay, cool, yeah, we can do this. But there's got to be some tension there.

And I can't just go with it. And so then it just was so much, it's funny. And it bothers me so much with wrestling, how much people think that things are so planned out. And certain things are, but so much of it is not. And that was not planned. I didn't, I don't, at least not to my recollection, but go on to the next one at, uh, Fastlane. And I know we had this conversation. See this one talking about.

We're just rehash your old conversations. I got a lot of stuff here. Look, we're still on 2023 at this point. Why? Because I haven't done anything in the last two years. Uh, so anyway, uh, we're going to be here for five hours. Um, Now, here's how you can tell.

I'm looking at myself right there. Look at how I'm sitting. You know why I'm sitting like that? Why you're sitting like that? Although I have no injuries, I am in like regular discomfort in my low back and my neck, but I think that's pretty common for the wrestling business. But, man, the truth is fall down for a living. Yeah, I mean, stupid.

And sometimes, you know, bad form with my posture doesn't help things either, which I'm working on. But anyway, back to what I was saying, Fastlane, he goes to raise my hand. But at that point, I'm like, okay, it's been a month. We now work together. I can be a little more, you know, sympathico toward him. And so at that point, it's like he's going to raise my hand. No, no, no, no.

That's when I back up and I pull my hand out. And I'm like, no. And now it's just like, oh, well, what's this? What's going to happen here? A little bit of tension. It's great a little tension. And then it's, I take his hand up. So I feel like at that point,

it's the right way to pay respect. I understand what he's doing. And in a way you could look at it as you should let him put you over because of where you're gone, whatever, all that. But at the same time, it's like, he did that last month. Let me give it to him. It doesn't hurt me in any way.

And it just, it's a brief, it's the tiniest little extra moment that I think makes a little more special than just let them straight go to it. We talked about SummerSlam in 2024. And he called me a son of a bitch. He called you a son of a bitch? Just because, like, you know, in his mind, it was just he's going to raise my hands straight away and I pulled him out and he's like, you son of it. We talked about SummerSlam in 2024.

Yeah. I'd love to know the conversation you had with Logan Paul about his big spot there. the springboard moonsault to the outside, which... Good luck. Which I think to that point had only been done to a group of people. Yeah. Not to one person. There wasn't much of conversation.

It was literally just, you sure you can do this? Okay. I was like, just try not to over-rotate. He'll rotate a little bit. I think he was trying to land on his feet, and I was like, just try and flatten out. I'll get you. And that's, you...

A lot of people caught it out, but you can see me roll over. And I'm like, you're good? because I thought he busted his leg after that. He got high. Yeah, yeah. And, yeah. And I was just like, but I saw him come down and I was like, oh, no, his leg, we are five. But we were fine.

The buildup to this match with Roman Raines. Yeah. Did that feel like it had this gravitas in the buildup and then leading into that match? I think we did a lot of things right there. I don't personally. personal opinion. Okay, well, let me put it this way. I felt like he was the wrong time. However, at the same time, the payoff for that one single match, oh boy. You had an incredible moment where you're in the ring looking at Roman Raines. There's that beautiful shot where he's

perfectly in the reflection of your sunglasses. And they have memed the shit of that. Yes. And put everybody's ass in that. and everything else. At what point did you realize that this was a thing? I think I saw it like the next night. Somebody got that photo. I was like,

that's cool. And that's where I was like, all right, well, I can never change these classes now. These are perfect. I think at one point last night I was even trying to like figure out the angle

to get Jimmy in him. I don't think I got it. But I was like, okay. Well, that's not so much on you as a camera guy. But I was trying to just set it up for them. Yeah.

Because that was, I didn't set that up. It was just the camera was in the right spot, caught it, boom. But yeah, last night I was like, how can I, maybe I can just feed it to him. But at some point, I was like, I forget it, just do what you're doing. I love how you broke Jimmy Uso recently. Jay Uso.

Well, Jimmy almost went too. You broke Jay Uso recently when you called him the Ufa Lofa. You know, and I messed up in that too, because I should have looked at him and been like, they're like, look at me when I'm talking to you. he'd had to leave the scene he did. He tried to come back and then he lost it again. He had to actually leave at that point if I'd have done that.

But yeah. Did you just kind of have that one up your sleeve? Yeah, yeah. I mean, we knew generally we were going to talk about at that point. But like I just, I don't like to talk too much before we go out and do the thing. I want to get general broad strokes here. I'm going to talk about that, the, the, because I want the interaction and the reaction to be as authentic as possible. So, like, I don't like to, like, you know,

sometimes the writers want to talk about stuff. And it's like, I will, but I'm going to give you broad strokes. I'm not going to give you full energy, none of that stuff. Like, I'm just kind of kind of, oh, yeah, I'll talk about this and then when it comes time, now we're live. Now I'm rolling. Red lights on, let's go. And so at that point, yeah, a little oophilafa ceremony came up.

And there we went off to the races. What do you do to put your own spin on a promo? So writer hands you a promo. How do you make it an L.A.I. So they've just given up on writing for me now. I mean, not fully, but like in the sense that like they don't put like necessarily the words on the sheet anymore. It's like, it's like L.A. Knight talks about blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And if there's like a specific thing that they want me to get over, like last night, it was like we were debating, do I have to say king and queen of the ring or can I just say king of the ring?

And it was, oh, no, you got to say fully king and queen of the ring. Fine. Okay, cool. That I understand. That sets, comedy stuff, got to get that. But as far as like, well, all right, well, you're going to say this and this and this, that's going to suck. Which has kind of been, there's certain face-to-face. The face-to-face promos are probably my least favorite. And the reason for that is because you have to go over so much more. And you can't go as much off the cuff, except for, there was one I did with Paul Heyman last summer, I think it was. And I was calling out Seth Rounds instead Paul came out.

And when he and I went out there, we had a general sense of what we were going to talk about, but it wasn't like we didn't necessarily have to go, I'll say this, and then you'll say this. But a lot of the guys work that way, need that. And I respect that and I go along with it. But at the same time, it's like, shit, I don't want to sit there and be remembering. I want to listen and I want to react. And then that's going to make it so much better. So like, if it's just me out there, oh, yeah, we're good.

Because then it's like, I'm going to start with this. I'm going to end with this. I'll fill in the rest. What's my time? Gotcha. Okay, no problem. And at that point, it's just, okay, what, how can I say this thing in a creative way?

But I'm not, but half the time it's not even me thinking about, you know, I've got to say this line. Sometimes I might have something in my back pocket. But for the most part, I think it's more important the tone and the way I say it than it is actually necessarily even what I'm saying. I still have a succinct message.

But the way you deliver it, I think is really the sauce. Growing up macho man was the slim gym guy. That's right. We're about the same age, so like that's a core memory from growing up. You're now the slim gym guy. I remember that one still. He rips the chip bag.

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Like, ridiculous, watching them go back and forth and they were reading like motivational quotes or whatever it was. God damn. They were Charles Manson quotes. Oh, that's what it was. Yeah. Very motivational. Yes. And then they were Andy Rooney quotes.

Yeah. So good. Those guys are unbelievable. But, yeah, Slim Jim was always, yeah, macho man back. I mean, still, he's still incorporated in the. commercials today. And they have the little busts of him with the slim jims coming out at the stores. I'm like,

where's mine? When am I going to have one of my head and my glasses with some girl's ass in it or whatever? You know. But how did you become the slim gym guy? If I'm honest, I don't have a, I don't have a single clue. This was back in 2023 in the summer around like July or August. And they were like, hey, so Slim Jim's interested and da-da-da-da. They want to do this thing.

where it's going to be four commercials over the next year, plus a handful of appearances, yada, yada, yada. And they're going to do, like, sponsored batches at the pay-per-views or at premium live events. And I think that was when they did the Slim Jim Battle Royal. And since I threw everybody else over the top rope, I then became Mr. Slim Jim. You won it.

Yeah. Detroit. That's how I became Slim Jim guy. I'm sorry, I forgot. That's it. You won the Battle of Royal. I won the Battle Royal, and now forever and always, I will be Slim Jim L.A. Night. Because of the Slim Jim commercials, people found out that you are a drummer.

Like, you're drumming in that one Slim Jim spot. Yeah. Well, so the Slim Jim spot they did a good job with. I don't know if you saw the separate social media posts that was done where it was like, I don't even remember what I said. And you're playing with Slim Jims. Yes. So they did up some sticks with like Slim Jim rappers.

Yeah. However, they got the most garbage drum sets together and just mashed them together. One of the pedals on the bass didn't work. The drums were out of tune. So like they had to lay over different sound. But if you actually heard the social post that I was ashamed to put up the social post that I put up. Because it's me hitting these drums. They sound like trash.

It looks cool. Like if you listen to the sound off, it's like, oh, okay, yeah, it's pretty good. Yeah, he knows what he's doing? Yeah. And I kind of, I'm like, I'm above novice, but like, I'm not an expert. Like, they wanted a drum solo, and I was like, I can play your rhythm and I can play a couple breaks, but I don't know how to do a damn drum solo. But there was a story of you joining a band on stage in Indianapolis and playing, I believe, Hotel California.

Yes. Yeah, we were Tin Roof, I think, and the guys just happened to be fans. I'd had a drink or two, I think. And I was just like, I mean, I wonder if they let me play. And I was starting to walk up there and I was like, ah, I'm not going to bother them. Because guys, understandably so, especially like musicians. You don't get paid a lot of money unless you're like big deal. You don't want people just touching your stuff and messing it up.

So I was like, they're not going to want me to touch your stuff. But then I got word that they were a fan and the guy was like, no, no, come here. And I'm like, what do you think the odds are? He'd let me play the drums. He's like, come on. I'm like, great. Wonderful. Let's do it.

What you probably missed right after that was, well, Damien Priest ended up singing Metallica shortly after. Right, and her Sandman. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was pretty good. So we had a good night out there. Maybe you'll just randomly show up again. Or maybe we'll start our own band. Ooh.

Hey, how about that? Yeah. I feel like you need big, fraud, man, though. You can't be the drummer. I don't know about that voice. You know, what's funny is the hair and makeup girls always joke that I'm a good singer, but I don't think it's true. We've heard you sing.

When? the shoes of a promo champion you do a little singing oh yeah but that's trash you mean uh shoes shoes of a champion promo yeah mixed your words right it's fine shoes of a champion promo jeez okay um what did i say shoes of a promo shoes of a champion um anyway shoes of a champion promo yeah you do a little christmas saying yeah my god that was terrible and i was shoot like a little tipsy in that one too they gave me that big bottle of champagne they were like yeah just go out there and make it seem like you're drunk, whatever. And I was like, I can't go out there with an empty bottle.

I was like, I don't want to waste this. So I just drank the stem because I'm thinking like, but it was like a cartoonishly giant bottle. It was huge. So just drinking that stem, I didn't think it was going to do much to me. But I'm not a big drinker anyway. I probably hadn't eaten much that day on a taping day.

Got me a little bit. It's now a legendary promo. Yeah. Well, that was a legit, like I legit mess that up. And then I realized it. And I was like, ah. And then I just rolled with it. This jacket?

Yeah. Shoes of a champion. Yeah. So good. But it made it that much better. Yeah. I was actually there that day. Well, I mean, I think without that, that wouldn't have been a memory.

Like, that promo was in nothing up until then. But then that made it. I remember being there that day. Oh, you were there? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think I was watching it in the control room. And everyone was laughing in the control room.

Like, oh, they're on to something here. Yeah. Oh, man. What a master. It was fun. That was so much fun. That was some of the most fun time I ever had, because Billy was so cool about the fact,

I mean, obviously we were on YouTube, so there weren't really like time constraints. We didn't have to have, you know, hit commercial times or anything like that. So it's a completely different beast. But he was like told us straight up from the very first meeting, the whole group, he was like, I want you to do anything that you want,

as long as you don't go into business for yourself and create stories that you're not in. But in the confines of your story, whatever you're doing, you can say and do anything you want. Just don't like, you know, don't like overtly, you know, swear and all that kind of stuff and whatnot. But other than that, explore the space.

Yeah, it was so fun. It's cool, yeah. A fun fact about you that people might not know is that not only were you a tag team partner of Scott Steiner. But you won the team champion. You've won the tag team championship with Scott Steiner and TNA. And then we broke up and then I beat him. How about that? Yeah, I beat big pop-a-pop.

So, yeah. How did you guys get put together for this? I don't have a single clue. I don't remember. I think at some point, I don't know, it was completely a random happenstance. I don't have an answer for you. I'm sorry. I failed.

I failed as an interviewee. It's just a, it's a funny thing when you look at your resume, you're like, tag team with Scott Steiner. Yeah. Okay. I have that belt up in my office and I have two little pictures, and they're both with me and Scott with the bounce up. That's amazing.

When you were doing the... See, look, I've done so little in the last two years. Now we're talking about 2018. Look at this. We're going backwards at this point. You know what you did this year? What I did? You threw Brock Lesnar out of the Royal Rumble.

I did. And I, man, I'll tell that story someday, but it feels too new and fresh to me. But I'll just say, things went differently than they were supposed to. I think we can look at the footage and see. Yeah. But more than anybody can tell. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because, like, he clearly says to you and Cody, like, throw me out. But you're saying there's more to the story than that. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds like we're going to have quite the retirement interview one day. Look, when... I'll come find you on the beach with all your animals. I'm still like...

Obviously, I'm telling a lot of, you know, inside shit, which usually, like, I'm still old school to the point where, like, I don't like doing that, but at the same time, I feel like, if enough times pass, it's kind of like, it's okay. But if it's within, like, a year, I'm like, that's, I don't want to, I don't want to break that fourth wall yet. It's like there's a certain amount of time. There's like a limit, like a statutory kind of limit where it's like, okay, enough times passed. We can let it go.

Now I can talk about it. I want to ask you about this match you had. Yeah. Dick Rick. Oh, boy. And John Moxley took on the big show in a handicap match. Yeah. And strangely enough, that was in Columbus, Ohio, where it was just last night.

Different arena, though, because we were at OSU last night. Why was your name Dick Rick? You know what's funny. So, in high school. me and my friends, we were in cross-country and drumline, and sometimes we'd just have instrumental hip-hop beats, and we were just trying to freestyle. We were terrible, if I'm honest.

But at some point, we decided to actually, like, record a song on a cassette, but it was awful, terrible. And it was really just stupid, you know, sophomoric, you know, high school, teenage shit. And at some point, it was, like, coming up with, like, just a name while I was, you know, rapping the song. And at first it was Slickrary. There's already a rapper named Slick Rick. And for reasons that don't need to be talked about,

my friend was like, oh, what about Dick Rick? And I was like, it's cool. Yeah, let's go with that. So that just came out of that. And so when I first started wrestling, my first name was number two. And that came from because there was another guy named Sean. So one of these guys who wrestled at the,

the school was training there, always gave everybody weird nicknames. He named a girl Gluefoot one time. I don't even know what that was about. See, he always had weird names for people. But I guess at the time, it was like 2003. So like one of the recent awesome powers had been out or whatever. And so because I was the second Sean, he was like, oh, your timing's impeccable number two. And so I just became number two.

So then when this guy finally, the other Sean debuted, they didn't have a name for him. So they made him number one. and then the other guy, they ended up cursing him, the guy who gave the name, they made him number three. So now it's like, well, there's a one and a three. And by the time I was like three months or six months into the business or into training, they decided to throw me into the group as number two, but they were able to protect me in a way where it was like,

I was picking up everything kind of quickly. I had a look so they could plug me in, but it was just like, all right, we need to protect him, they can at least put him in six-man matches and tag team matches and stuff like that. Anyway, eventually I broke off. from the group because I was like kind of a sore thumb. I was kind of like the, it just, I was the one that didn't fit. And so they made me a baby face.

And at that point, then I became deuce. And so not the same deuce that was in Deuce and Domino. This was before him. I was the original. And at some point, there was a whole big stupid angle where the baby face team in this big war games match we did ended up losing and got fired. The whole team got fired. And so all of a sudden,

You know, three or four months later, Deuce's twin brother comes in. And it was like, well, we need a name. And I was like, Dick Rick, I don't know, because that was my old stupid rap name. And so now this, oddly enough, oddly enough, Dick Rick was a male model. Wow. It's full circle. Weird. Thank you for making this happen.

Appreciate you. Did we even talk about anything? We talked about so many things. I don't think we talked about anything. Did we do anything of meaning, anything of worthwhile? Is anybody listening? Bye. Hold on.

I need to ask you what you're grateful for. What are three things? Nothing. Dick Rick, that you're grateful for. I'm an ungrateful fuck. I am really taking advantage of the sweary thing, aren't I? That's great. Say whatever you want.

What are you grateful for? What am I grateful for? Yeah. I'm grateful to be here right now. Okay. This is like, this is all amazing. We are shooting this interview inside WWE headquarters. We are.

Does that give you any kind of pause where you're like, oh, I got a mind my piece and gears. It might toss me out of here. I think it's more of just like, I get to do this. Is your first time here? Yeah. It's my first time here.

You go to work out in the gym? Do you think they'd let me? Oh, yeah, pretty yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I'd be way better than I tell you. Upstairs, it's right over there. Okay. In my head, it's always upstairs.

I'm grateful for the health of my family. Okay. I got two kids. My daughter turns three on Friday. I knew you when you didn't have any. I know. Suddenly you're just... Not crazy?

Yeah. Now, we're thinking... Are you still in L.A.? For now. Okay. We're moving to Nashville next month. Oh, wow. Why Nashville?

Space. We want space. Yeah, yeah. And we want... What part of L.A. you're in? I'm in Orange County, actually. Orange County. Okay.

And my studio's in Hollywood. But I'm in Orange County. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So the studio I record out of is in Hollywood. Yeah. Yeah. I love going out there.

I always take a couple extra days whenever we have a show out there. I feel like... I feel like... And this is just between me and you as friends. I feel like L.A. was so good to me. Yeah. And like I got out of L.A. Everything I could possibly get out of it.

I probably have to, but I have a habit of overstaying my welcome. I advanced my career. I met my wife. We bought a house. We had two beautiful children. Like I feel like I'm walking away from the table. Like in, you know, I know one to hold them. Yeah.

Not many people get to do that. I get it. And also my third thing, I'm just grateful for opportunity. I'm grateful for whatever life throws I check. There you are. All right, what are you ungrateful for? People who walk in airports and are unaware of their space. People have bad spatial awareness.

Spial awareness. When they just, they walk and they just stop and they don't even look around to see there's anybody behind. I'm ungrateful for spatial awareness. Yeah. Makes me nuts. I'd say that's the... Makes me great. I'm ungrateful for ungrateful people.

Okay. Because I'd rather focus on the things... Ungrateful squared. I'd rather feel... I'd rather focus on the things I have in my life. Is anybody listening still? Of course. But we keep getting wrapped up here.

Yeah. You must have a flight. He's trying to get me out of. He's sick of my shit. Yeah. What do we do? Oh, yeah, I do have to go to the airport, don't it? Yeah.

So three things. List him off, boom. Can I tell you what? I'm grateful for? Sure. Be a nice thing. I am grateful for, I'm grateful for your persistence. Keep bringing me in here.

I keep avoiding you. And not because of you. I like you. I want to be right. It's just, you know, like I said, There's so much to talk about. Maybe something. Stop selling yourself short.

There will be more stuff to talk about it, simple. Okay. See you then. And, uh, all right, is that it? No, no, two more things. Two more things. Um, grateful for my puppies, of course.

Uh, I love my dogs. And I'm grateful for the life that. It's Herman and, Herman and Recy, little Reesey, little Reesey Peecee. Sweetest,

she'll bark at you like crazy because she's scared to death. But when you get into her inner circle, sweetest little girl you ever met. Super snuggler. Um, Herman's like, here and there he's a snuggler, but he's just a big goofy ball love,

and he'll give you hugs and jump old. You met Herman. You know Herman. He was a... Herman's in my Halloween photo. Yes. I was dressed up as... The Lion King.

No, not the Lion King. Tiger King. Lion is a totally different thing. And he was dressed up as my... Your Lion, yeah. Yeah, he has a little lion made on it. And I am, for all my frustrations, the wrestling business.

And it's funny because people always say, like, oh, the wrestling business doesn't owe me anything. Bitch, the wrestling business owe me a lot. And finally, it's starting to pay up. So I am grateful for the life that it has now allowed me to lead. Because for a long time, I was broke. And for a long time chasing this, I was just like, my God, how am I going to be able to retire someday?

And now I'm at a point where I can comfortably retire. Maybe it'll be soon. Maybe it won't. We'll see. Clock's ticking. But with that being the case, I don't know. I'm probably not going anywhere. But we'll see.

But I'm very grateful for that. I don't have to worry about any of that and I don't have to think about that and I'm not silly with my money I'm not a big, I'll spend on occasion there's times where like, you know, I'll take my friends, hey, let's come out to Vegas and I, you know, make sure I take care of their flights

and the place and all that stuff. But for the most part, like, I'm a frugal guy. Was this probably a frugal loom tank top or something like that? I got, what, probably $20 shorts off of Amazon or something. I got some, what's some Converse All-Stars on here? Like, I, I see people I work with going to,

a, what's that, uh, uh, uh, uh, Louis Vuitton and stuff. What are we doing? What are we wasting our money on, boys? So anyway, yeah, I'm very, I'm, I'm, I'm grateful for all those things. I'm grateful for the way of life that I, that I'm able to, uh, to be able to take care of myself and not worry about. Love it. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Thank you.