Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Lance Storm Is Such A Brilliant Wrestling Mind!

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Lance Storm (@lancestorm) is a professional wrestler known for his time in ECW, WCW and WWE and currently works as a producer for TNA Wrestling. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas to talks about the rebranding of IMPACT Wrestling back to TNA Wrestling, what exactly a producer does, how he came up with The Canadian Maple Leaf as his finisher, his thoughts on the current era of wrestling, the story behind his dancing gimmick in WWE, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin bringing out a pillow during Lance's promo, how he got put into a tag team with Val Venis, his thoughts on match ratings and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison Sponsors: BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15% BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Oh, yes. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's your friendly neighborhood, CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Look, I know there's a lot of podcasts out there, so thank you for being here. And thank you for making Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. I'm sure you're already following the show, but if you haven't, please take a second right now. That's just the one thing I ask.

Could you take a moment to hit that follow button wherever you're listening to this, whether it's Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever it happens to be? And if you're feeling extra generous, please leave a rating or review. This stuff helps so, so much, not just for my show, but for any podcasts that you listen to. Please support your fellow creators. I know Lance Storm was just on the show for our first interview back in September. It was such a good one. I definitely recommend you go check that out.

It's episode number 509. But that was over Zoom. And I think you'll agree that Zoom interviews are just never the same as being able to sit down with someone in person. And that's what we got this time around. Lance works as a producer for TNAs. So when I was in Vegas, he was also in Vegas for Hard to Kill, which is where I recorded those episodes with Moose and Rhino. And I could talk to Lance Storm for hours. Actually, we spent, I don't know, an hour or two before this.

We went to Denny's together. It's right across the street from the hotel. We were staying at the Palms, the Palms Hotel and Casino, which is where hard to kill was. Right across the street was Denny's, they have the best cinnamon roll pancakes. I didn't know they had these. I hadn't been to Denny's in a while. And Lance was like, I'm really craving those cinnamon roll pancakes. I'm like, say less.

Say less, sir. I am in. but he has such a brilliant mind. The way that he thinks about wrestling is unlike anybody else I've ever talked to, which is why he was such a great trainer when he had his Storm Wrestling Academy for so long. It's why he was such a great wrestler, period.

And it's why he's such a great producer now in TNA. And that's why this is such a great conversation here. So please snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening and tag us in that post with that screenshot. He's at Lance Storm. on Twitter. He's at Storm Wrestling Academy on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and here we go. Enjoy this conversation with Lance Storm. You've escaped the cold. Yes. That thing you posted on Instagram

where you could only see this much of your face at risk of getting frostbite, I guess. Yeah. It was minus 42 with the wind chill. Oh, my gosh. And I had to show up. the driveway because there was snow. So, yeah, that's when I blowed the ninja hood and the took and everything. Do you and Brett commiserate about like, hey, we still live in Calgary? Pretty cold here. Yeah, no kidding. I don't know why we always stay, but we do.

My sister lives there. And right before I saw your post, she had sent me something. And she's like, it's minus 50 with the windshield. I'm like, that's crazy. But also in Calgary, it could be like about freezing, just like that. Oh, yeah, like four days ago, it was. was above freezing. And again, the conversion for the Americans

who don't understand Celsius. Once you hit minus 40, it's the same. So, like, minus 50 Celsius would be, like, closer to minus 60 Fahrenheit. So that blows people's minds, by the way. There's a crossover. There's a point where Fahrenheit somehow becomes colder than Celsius.

Well, it's because the degrees of temperature are different sizes, so they have to cross at some point. The thing that gets me, Americans can't understand. There's only three countries, I think, that use Fahrenheit, and America is one of them. Yeah. And the other thing that gets me is like Celsius, you know, zero is freezing.

A hundred is boiling. Like, makes perfect sense, right? Yeah. And I feel like in Fahrenheit, they're like, what should we make freezing? I don't know. 30. How does 32 sound? Perfect.

What should we make boiling? 212? Done. It doesn't make any sense. Perfect. I just got a whole bunch of people that hate me now. It's the fault of this. If they convert Kelvin, at least that makes sense, too.

I don't, you've gone way over my head here with that. That's where absolute zero comes from. Because you get to zero degrees Kelvin, all physical motion stops. So like everything is dead because the molecule stopped moving because it's so cold. You're as wise as you are handsome. Yeah, I was a, I was a, actually I'd like to think I'm smarter than that. When we did our interview, however many months ago that was, I said, said if we're ever in the same place at the same time, we've got to do it in person.

And here we are. Here we are in Vegas. I almost didn't make it. Really? Well, just the flight delays. And I wasn't sure I was going to get out of Calgary. You were so much more jacked in person than I think people would realize. Like, you're still in ring shape, I feel like.

Uh, no. Really? No, I'm not in ring shape. No. What do you mean? Yeah. I feel like you could still go. I could still go, but I'm not putting on tights and tanking my shirt off in the ring anymore.

I'm 54 coming up on 55, but the cosmetic ring shape I am not in. I think I could physically do the other part. Sure. But I have high standards I hold myself to. When was the last time you took a bump? I would imagine probably at the tapings in Chicago and October. Most tape, I wouldn't say most tapings, but I would say every taping or two I take a bump for some reason or another to demonstrate something or just because I'm in the ring and I take a bump. most people are like, I'm trying to avoid taking bumps at all costs.

You're like, yeah, if I'm in here, I might as well. I'm healthy, so I've never, never been afraid of bumping. No, I mean, seriously. I had Jericho in the show last month, and I was telling him how you and I were talking about how, you know, there's the opportunity to have his first and last match against each other. And he's like, actually, I was talking to Lance about renting out the building where we had our first match and doing it, move for move. Is this a possibility? Is this actually going to happen? Well, you're omitting the next sentence where he said he doesn't want to put an expiry down on his career and actually pick an end point.

But it's funny because the building is still there. I actually went to a wrestling show there a few years ago. But I remember Jericho, he was at a concert in Edmonton. And on the drive back, he pulled into Pinocca and went to the building and took a photo at front. And he sent me the photo and then I was going up to Edmonton a few months later or whatever. I'm like, I'm going to stop in two. And I stopped it with a buddy of mine. And I had the photo that Jericho sent me. And I tried to stand where I would stand if I was beside him and like stood with my arm out like this. And I'm like, someone's going to Photoshop these two together. And so I sent him the photo of me standing in the same spot. And then I had a bunch of people on the observer message board

do some Photoshop's for me to get us put together. I could have looked this up on Cage Match, but who won that? Who won your first match? It was a time limit draw. Oh, my goodness. Terrible booking. So, I mean, potentially, Jericho's last match could be a time limit draw. If we, because he mentioned about doing the exact same.

Yeah. And it's funny, we could because we didn't do anything then that we couldn't do now. Okay. But because I thought, oh, that would be really cool. It might even been my suggestion as a joke, but anyone that came would be so disappointed. Is it not a good match? Well, it's fine, but we don't do any of the signature stuff that they would want to see. Sure.

Like, there'd be no code breaker. There'd be no Lion Tamer. There'd be no half crab. There'd be no super kick. It's like there'd be no Judas L. Like nothing. And none of it existed. No.

Yeah. You call it the half crab? That's all I've ever called it. It's the Canadian Maple League. Lance, come on. Nope. Now, the only, I was in WWE, there was a point where they want to, to call it something.

And I think it was called on like one show, probably like one Sunday night heat match. But they're like, what do we call it? Because at the time, I'm not Canadian. And I come up with the idea calling it the straight shooter. That's great. Because obviously it's not the sharp shooter. And I'm, if anything else, I'm a straight shooter. And the fact that you just keep the one like technically straight side to side.

I'm like, called the straight shooter. And they liked it. Yeah. And I think it got called that once. So it actually did get called that. I believe there's one Sunday night heat match where they referred to it as the straight shooter. So then how did it become the Canadian Maple Leaf? Never really did.

Like WCW called it that when I was. Yeah, that's what I know it does. I never liked the name, didn't want to call it that. Like, I've never liked gimmick names. I remember when I started in ECW would have been probably after, like, would have been after the first match or two. and Joey Stiles pulls me aside and he's like, you know,

you have any special names for, you know, the moves and stuff you do? I'm like, no. He's like, well,

what do you call that spin kick off the top rope? I'm like, call it a spin kick off the top rope. He said, what about that thing where you do? You'd roll back into the half crap. I'm like,

call it a rolling half crap. He's like, okay, and he just walked away. Why don't you like gimmick names? I, I just think it's all dumb. Like,

I used, I joked with, because I was used to laugh at Edge, because he had the education and the educator and the it was a brief period of time where he was trying to get over a sort of reverse

sharpshooter. You start with a sharpshooter, but then you spin him to your belly but you stay facing him. And he was like trying to come up. And I joke was like, just called the edgillicious. He's like,

no, like yes. But his spear was just called the spear. Because it's a spear. It could have been the, oh, geez, trying to think of the spot here. To me, unless you're the one

that's actually invented the damn thing, than maybe, but it's like having sweet chin music in the last cause it's a super kick. Like everyone knows what it is. He tunes up the band. It is not a super kick.

It is the sweet chin music. It's a super kick. Yours is like the super duper kick. Mine is just a very friendly super kick. It's just because you're a really friendly guy. Yeah, I was just never comfortable.

kicking people in the head because I never wanted to hurt anybody. And that's something else too. Like when I broke in, especially with the veterans that I worked with pretty quickly, it's like you were expected to be feather light with everything. It was all about safety and working. And I think there was a degree of pride in that the faker we can be and still have them think it's real,

the better we are. Because we're really fooling them. Like if we really just punch you, each other and they think we're punching these others. Like, well, where's the art in that? Sure.

So it was like, you know, you wouldn't want to dimple the skin touching someone. So I'm like, well, I can't kick people in the head. I might actually hit them. So I had to get really good at it

before I was willing to. And then the story you told on the last episode about kicking brick walls, I feel like there's a bunch of green wrestlers that are doing this now. They're like, if that's how Lance got his super kick to look that good, I guess that's what I'm doing from now on.

I hope so. I mean, it clearly works for you. It certainly did, and it's just getting used to extending the toe if you need a little extra inch and pulling the toe back if you need less. That's, wow, I never even thought about that. Never hit him with the heel, always with the ball of the foot by the toes, and you just adjust accordingly. Yeah. So you are ducked out head to toe here in now vintage impact wrestling gear because not impact wrestling anymore. Well, I believe, I could be wrong.

And I don't know when this is going to air, but we're a day out from the big TNA relaunch at Hard to Kill. I think the television show is still called Impact. I think it's TNA wrestling is the company. And I think it'll be TNA Hard to Kill. But I believe Thursday nights, Access TV, Fight Network in Canada, I think it's TNA impact wrestling. And its impact is like raw or Smackdown. Yeah. So maybe this isn't vintage gear then.

It's me. There'd be a little TNA logo on. there though. Yeah, I think they need to give me new stuff. That's my job tomorrow. Where's on my free merch? For people who don't know, what is your job with TNI? Producer coach is sort of what I would consider it. It used to be an agent job, but they like to call it producer now. So, yeah, I take what creative does and translate that to talent and then help coordinate all that on headset. Like walk us through what a run of show would look like Because I think people hear producer, they go,

Oh, okay, so Lance is the guy that's behind this match. But what does that actually mean on the day of? Well, it means more or less depending on the match. This is something that I always, again, I probably only DM Dave Meltzer, you know, a couple times a year with a quit saying that agents put their matches together. That's not what they do. And he just apparently ignores me and keeps saying, well, this guy put that match together.

I'm like, it's not what producers do, at least not all of them. I usually also text Brian with a, quit saying that. But again, obviously there's a production meeting. I think everybody knows there's a production meeting. And creatives got the run of the show and they run down the show. And each producer is assigned anywhere between one and four matches, depending on whether someone misses a flight or not. I think four is the most I've had. And that's when we take two weeks of TV and one night,

you got to do more. But it's your assigned a match. So they'll go over the match and you take notes of all the things that the creative wants out of it. And if again, if there's specifics on, hey, we want some kind of plausible deniability of cheating that we can do. I'm like,

okay, so then you're responsible for coming up with an idea. And you pitch it creative. If they like it, then, okay, this is the finish we'll do. and then you go to talent and go, hey, you've got this many minutes.

This is sort of what we're looking for. And you give them the information that they need, if there's commercial breaks, if there's anything else. And then depending on who the talent is, they'll go put a match together and they'll come back with you and you go over what they've got. And if it fits all the criteria,

go great, make notes with, hey, this would be a good time to have a camera here. This might be good here. Hey, there's a dive over here. Hey,

there's going to be a blind tag here. Someone's getting tripped here. All of the things. that you want to make sure the cameras catch. You as the producer has to make notes and know that, okay, once they kick out of the sweet chin music, I don't know why we kick out of it, if it's Sean, but that after that they'll be going into a spot where,

uh, sensational Sherry will jump back a few years, is going to trip Sean's opponent. It's like, okay, when the sweet chin music happens, you got to let the director know. It's like, hey, right side, there's going to be a trip. We need to see Sherry in a minute. so that he can tell the cameraman, hey, make sure you're looking at Sherry here. So he'll frame Sherry.

The other guy's watching the accent, and the director's got to make sure to cut to see what you need. And you're telling them this as the match is going on? Yeah. Oh, wow. So you're like, okay, now after this, keep an eye out for this next thing. Yeah, it'll be, there's a trip coming. And again, whether it be left side, right side, but you tell them what side so that they can let them know. Same thing with dives to make sure that there's a camera there.

And you're going, ah, they said they were doing it on the left side. They're doing it on the right side. That happens occasionally. This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge. And if you're wanting to burn more calories to help with weight, check out the infrared sauna blanket from Bond Charge. I'd been looking into getting an actual sauna, but the price, I really scared me away.

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Go to mudwater.com slash CVV. That's M-U-D-W-T-R-com.com. slash CVV to get $20 off your subscription and your free frother. That's mudwater.com slash CVV. Does the talent come up to you and say, here's what we're thinking, this, this, this, this, this, what do you think? Often? Okay.

That's where, again, it depends on who talent it is. Sure. And that's where, too, if it's more complicated, like, again, we've got a women's ultimate X at hard to kill. Yeah. Those women don't have a lot of experience at Ultimate X. I think it's only the second one that women have ever done. Yeah.

And I think there's only one or two women in it that were in the other one. So I would imagine those women will want to maybe pick Chris Saban's brain and go, you've done an Ultimate X a couple of times. You've got some ideas. You have, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And similarly with, you know, a lot of tag matches and stuff, especially with the women. Because that's one thing that the women have, they get a bad rap sometimes where if, you know, a tag match, and this isn't just in any advice, it's with everywhere.

But it's like up until recently, women never did tag matches. Like if you went to the Trish Stratis era of women's wrestling, it's like, she did a bunch of single matches. There was no rock and roll express of women. There's no midnight express of women. Yeah, there were like the six-pack matches like the men. But like, yeah, no, yeah. You know what I mean? So it's like they've had so much less experience

of doing tag matches. So if I'm assigned a women's tag match, I'll be more involved. And again, a lot of times they'll go, hey, we got all these ideas and I'll be like, yeah, awesome,

great. Or I'll be like, okay, but what if and we change things and pitch ideas. So sometimes I might put zero percent of the match together. Sometimes it might be 10, sometimes it might be 50. Sometimes,

you know, it just depends on what we need. And sometimes if it's really complex, then it's going to have to be predominantly me because there's too many pieces that the creative wants. And it's like, okay, I got to make sure we dot all these eyes and dot all these T's across all these T's. So then I do more of it. What's something that when you see it happening in the ring, not just impact, but when you're watching wrestling in general, you're going, why are they doing it like that?

The biggest, I think my biggest pet peeve, and I blame Vince, is what I consider just terrible shitty covers on pins. That it was a couple of years, actually probably, probably five or eight years ago, but Vince became obsessed with, you got to hook the leg, you got to hook the leg. And so everyone in WB started doing this. And then I think everyone just copies because that's what they watch. but I would say nine out of ten pins today the person goes towards the guy's hips and grabs the leg and then rolls his back onto the guy's stomach

and the guy making the pin is staring at the ceiling with no weight above the dudes or females sternum and it's like this pin is terrible you're not holding the shoulders down it's a terrible visual now there's a lot fewer of them in impact in TNA because I have been harping on the talent since day one. And it's like you can still hook the leg, but go to the shoulders. And you can just tell that everyone's thinking leg because a person's laying there in front

of them and they go towards the hips first. It's like, no, pin the shoulders. You can reach back and get the leg. And then the other thing that I harp on people is when you're covering the shoulders, chest to chest with your head up we can see your face. Have you ever heard the expression?

Oh yeah, he always looks at the lights. He's a loser. Everybody making those pins looking at the lights. I'm like, save that for the guy losing. And the one that I usually go

and I do a quick Google search and it's a part of why she got over. But look at the way Ria Ripley pins people. You know she won. Yeah. And you know that she's the boss. She's in charge.

She won this match. It's almost like an undertaker pin. You know, we're like, well, she, and again, what's her? I always blank on her name because I think of her old TNA name first, but Selena Vagam. She was the one who got ragdolled and pinned, stacked up so many times early on. Yeah, yeah. But it's like, you know, there was the old Road Warrior pin where Hawk could do like the hands together close pushup on the guy's chest with his tongue sticking out.

And it's like, that's a great camera shot. Yeah. Dude gets over. How many times you see Hogan counting with his face with his face up? It's like you want to send the message, especially for a baby face, but for anyone trying to get over, it's like he's the winner. And if that brings you joy as a fan, it's like associate that feeling. Yeah. With his face.

Yeah. Not the top of his head as he's looking at the rafters. I used to joke to all my students in class. I'm like, if you're looking at the scene, the only person that can see is Sting and he ain't up there. Is wrestling just not enjoyable for you to watch anymore? I still enjoy some. And it's funny.

And it's the same thing if I'm, you know, critiquing a match for someone. I just watch it. And if there isn't anything that doesn't make sense or contradicts or something that just goes against my grain of thought, I'll just enjoy it. But when there is something, thing that it's just like, then I really stop enjoying it.

And everybody in wrestling has their specific pet peeves. I just feel like when you're in it that much. I can imagine like a movie director. It's probably difficult for them to watch films because they're going, but they're probably also going, oh, how did they get that shot or how did they do this? Yeah. There must still be an element of awe. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Because that's, again, as part of my job, too, I generally, you know, television show and stuff, watch it back and we'll send talent feedback. And there are times where I'm just like, popped huge for this, you know what I mean? And it's just because they got into whatever they did in a way that I didn't see coming. And it's like, it worked really well. And it's like, that was awesome. And then they'll be the, you know, better covers. Do you send random messages to your previous students and just go, hey, I caught this thing?

You're crushing it. If I happen to be seeing something of theirs that jumps out at me, I will. But it's just, I actually talk about Ria Ripley. It's funny. Because one of the guest training gigs I did at the PC one time, Ria was one of the people that I worked with for a fair bit. So I think we kept in touch a little bit and a few times. And then when she was, did she win the Royal Rumble?

and then lost to Charlotte the first. There was the first time that she was, I think I was talking to her when she was going in, oh, that's right. I was back in WWE, and she was going into mania against Charlotte. And I was talking to her like a week or two out. And I'm like, to me, you should win this.

Yeah, sure. And I don't tell what she says, because I don't want to risk her getting heat, but I'm like, to me, you should win this. And she's like, I don't know, I'm just going to do what I'm told. And I'm like, and then she didn't.

And again, by then I was fired and gone. or whatever. So the second time round, again, we don't keep in touch much, but occasionally I'll DM her. And this, was it last year that she had Charlotte again? Yes. Yeah. And one. But yeah, well, they announced the bad. I just sent her a DM. I'm like, if you don't lose, if you don't win this year, I'll have to quit the business. I was like, you got to win this time. She's awesome. I think Brian Filman Jr. was like, oh, yeah, like every once in a while, I'll hear from Lance. And I'm like, that, that's so cool. The idea to me that someone would travel to Canada to train with you when you had the school,

I love that idea. Like the idea, like, I think so many people are like, I'm only going to train to be a wrestler. If it's convenient, if I can drive there, if I can still work my other job, the idea that people were moving from the States or from Australia or from Europe to train with you and then have gone on to do great things, I think is amazing. I was surprised because it was just such a different time when I broke in that, you know, It was just wherever and it was like, and I think there was enough veterans in each territory that you could learn. But I realized when I started school in 2005, there was like, it's really hard now for people who break in because when you first start, you're on the dump show with dumpy workers.

So it's like there's no one to really learn from it. It's hard to get to that small show with decent workers. And it's like you tend to more often than not work with people in your same experience level. and it's hard. Yeah, yeah. So I think getting a good education from someone who can give you a degree of psychology and help because, again, when I went to the heart camp, which Chris and I did in 90, like, we were taught how to execute the moves and holds and how to bump, but it's like,

that was it. Like, there was no psychology. Like, the word heat was never mentioned. The word comeback was never mentioned. The extent of the psychology were given was, well, if you and I have a match and I'm going over, I'll give you. say 60% of the match, so you get over two. I was like, that was it.

Because I remember like a year later when I taught the heart camp, which is also wild. And again, I knew it was absurd. But I knew I would also do as good or better job than the guy that taught us because I had learned about heat and comeback. And you know, your basic match form is like, I can at least give them more than I was given. So how long into it do you feel like you really started to figure out psychology?

as soon as I started working with the Stam Feed Vets. Okay. Which thankfully was only a half a dozen, you know, eight or maybe eight matches in where, and I actually just recently told the story for a doc that I was interviewed for, but for his veterans who worked with, it was Chris and I against Johnny Smith and Gama Singh. And up until that,

it's like, I'm out there calling the matches on the fly as a guy that has no idea what the hell he's doing. And then Gamm and Johnny come over. was like, yeah, guys, just listen. We'll be fine. And they will in a way. We're like, okay. And we went out there and they told us everything,

what to do while we did it and talked us through it. And that sounds terrifying, though. Well, at first it was. But think about where, again, when we started, like, you didn't choreograph. You were often in separate locker rooms. He didn't even talk to the guy. So as a guy with one match, two match under the belt,

going out there was someone you don't know. and you have to think of all of the stuff to call as it's happening, that was terrifying. Like, I'm like, you know, beating the guy up. It was like, duck my clothesline and, you know, give me a cross body. And when it kicks out, it's like, watch the clothesline. I close line him. And then it's like, I'll beat him up with it.

It's like, okay, I got to give it back to him. And it's like, I'd send him into the corner, go, put your foot up. And it's like, I'm half in panic mode, just trying to make sure the match keeps going. Yeah. So when it's just like, yeah, just listen. Okay. and I tie up with him. He's like, yeah, push me.

And I start pushing him. He goes back to the corner and he spins me. And he's like, yeah, block my punch. Give me a punch. I'm like, okay. And I do that. I'm like, wow. And then the match, when it was over, I went to Chris.

I'm like, we need to learn what they're doing because it was 10 times easier and twice as good. Wow. And that's when I started working with Jerry Morrow more after that where I learned how to call a match and structure a match and learned everything. What about people that now that like choreographed the entire match, like start to finish? What do you think of that? It's a double-edged sword in that part of me doesn't like it. Part of me realizes this is what you got to do now. That it's just the situation where the speed of what we do now or they do now more than me because I'm not the one physically doing it.

But what's done now is so much faster and so much more complicated that like, I'm not going to call like a speedball Mike Bailey spot just on the fly. I'd have to sit in a chin lock for five minutes to explain it to him. Like it's just too fast and too many things that you can't, you know, that's a lot more than just, you know, get tackled, drop down, block my hip toss, I'll close line you. Yeah. So you have to go so much faster.

So you have to sit down and put that together. Now, what the really good guys that do that do is you insert place, where you can speed it up or slow it down accordingly. Yeah. So that if the crowd's more into it, okay, we'll let it breathe here. If they're not, we'll move past it. And you adjust and you sort of have to have an idea on what this crowd's going to like, put something together that you think they will, and then adjust accordingly for time and crowd reaction.

But I actually had a long talk with Mike Bailey about this. Oh, it was when he was putting the Osprey match together. Oh, it was such a great match. Oh, it really was. But I was, you know, I was talking to him about, you know, it's just so funny that, you know, this would not be done. And he brings up and he said, well, how much, you know, did you, the man, he brought the single match with Edge at SummerSlam? You know, it's like, there was a lot of stuff in that. It's like, how much was that was actually called on the fly?

And I'm like, oh, yeah, you're right. It's just that with that match. I worked with Edge for several weeks on the house shows before it. So we did eight simpler, similar versions of it over the course of a few weekends. So it's like, yeah, 80% of it was stuff we'd done before. Yeah. And could call real quick and easy. It's not like we went in the summer's time and just, yeah, I'll talk to you out there,

Adam. And we just went out there and called it because it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good. Yeah. And it's just working into the environment that you have to. and it really changed. I don't know if we covered this last time. I remember talking with somebody. But like to me,

the moment that it changed was the Monday Night Wars when matches started being five minutes long. Yeah. That was a Russo thing. He didn't want matches to extend into commercials. Well, I think it was more a Russo thing

in that he overwrote the show. And when it came time for, you know, he'd write a promo, he'd write all this stuff. Yeah. And then there was only three minutes left for the match because like in WCW, it was so many times where it's like one of the guys in the match would be standing in Gorilla still waiting for his music and they're sending the go home cue to the guy in the

ring to take it home. Oh, man. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are. They're wanting to really take their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster.

There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Russo was explaining to me that, like, the reason he didn't want matches to go into commercial break is because if we're supposed to believe this is real,

we're telling you for the next three minutes, nobody's going to win this match and just enjoy these commercials. And when we come back, they'll still be doing their thing. And I'm like, actually like, that makes a lot of sense. No, it doesn't. Sure, it does. If you watched wrestling before, you know, the 2000s, you know, they would do the, I'm sorry, this has gone along.

We have to take a commercial break. Cameras will be rolling. If a finish happens during the break, we'll show it when you get back. It's a television show. We've got to honor our commercial breaks. So you're saying with the short matches, that's when everybody was just getting all their stuff in. Well, there was the point of where, All the, there was squash matches on television, which obviously you don't even need to choreographs.

Just shit of the guy. Sure. And you would take your time and do longer, slower-paced match on the road that you could call. And then when you started doing competitive matches on television, you'd have match. But it got to the point where, because you're going to have to, you know, because matches are getting better. It's like, okay, we're going to plan our finish. You know, here's a comeback. Here's your near falls you're finished.

It's like, well, that's three minutes. Well, once you put your three-minute finish together and you realize you only, you only, at five. It's like, well, we should probably get a high spot in there. It's like, yeah. And then we'll do this cutoff. And it's like, well, that's five minutes. Yeah. And you've realized you planned the whole freaking match. Yeah. So it's like, if it's only five minutes, like I can remember five minutes. You also just plan it because, and when it's going that fast. Yeah. Because the Monday Night Wars, they were so terrified that if you grabbed a hold or sold for a minute, they'd switch to their channel, see what's going on,

that they just wanted you to go fast. And then once that speed, expectation was there and guys were learning. And I think that's where the, you know, the Kurt Angle generation of guys that were trained well on live television. Like Kurt wasn't experienced enough to go out and do a 12-minute match on the fly. Because he was still learning. So it was like, okay, Kurt, we'll do this.

We'll do this with this. He's like, okay. And he'd go out there and he's a machine and incredible. but it's like and then it just became the well we plan five we can plan 10 we can plan 12 and then they're planning like 45 in the matches yeah yeah if that was like the trademark of that era what do you think what's the thing right now what's the thing what's the trademark thing of this era that we're in now I think it's and I don't like that it's such a heavy thing I always it's one of my pet peeves but it's like I think it's strictly match quality It's a lot of gifts, too. Well, yeah, it's a lot of like, that's a lot of my Bailey Osprey. Those are two perfect examples, like giffable moments.

And I think, and this is what I don't like, because I don't think it bodes well for learning. I think there's too many people on the indie scene or trying to get noticed whatever else, that it's like that's all they're worried about. Yeah. We have to come up with this really cool, innovative, creative spot, so it'll be giffable. And it's like, well, that's great. And Mike Bailey can have some really cool gifts, but it's like, Mike Bailey's really fucking good. So good.

You know what I mean? He's a great wrestler that really knows what he's doing. Yeah. So he has all the other parts and he does some really cool shit that's giffable. Yeah. But if you don't learn the being really good part first, yeah. I think you end up getting more injuries, more danger and less actual true art form. Yeah.

Match quality does seem to be. be like very much increased. I don't know. I don't know where that changed. But I feel like we're spoiled. I always, well, we are spoiled and there's a lot of it. But I do think that there is an over emphasis on great match, great, right? I always yell at Dave for this.

And I blame Dave for this. And again, not in a harsh way. We get along great. But it's like, I yell at Brian for it all the time. But it's the, they'll be. know, pick a match, you know what I mean, actually, whatever, you know, big, you know, even just Bailey and, and, um, Osprey. Yeah. It's like, oh, this is really great match.

You know, it wasn't as good as. That's just like, yeah, like, piss off. But people do that all the time. Like, oh, I love this movie. Iron Claw is a perfect example. Iron Claw was great. Was it as good as the wrestler, though? Well, the two different.

Yeah. Two completely different things. But, but just the, you know what I mean? It's like they'll be. Um, actually, um, you know, whatever, you know, like Omega and O'Connor, whatever. They'll have this match that Dave will say is like 10,000 stars and he'll be like, I know, I don't think it was as good as that match they had two years ago. Yeah.

I remember saying to Brian just recently, I'm like, imagine if you thought that way about kissing your wife. You know what I mean? You have this great romantic dinner with your, with your wife and go beyond kissing whatever else. You know, honey, that was really good. But I don't think that was good as, you know, that time three years ago. That's fantastic. It's like, can you not just live in the moment, enjoy your life? I don't think wrestling fans can do that.

You know what I mean? And I just think it's horrible for the talent too, because they have to feel it too. It's like, you know, every match Will Osprey has. It's like, if it's not seven stars, it's like, oh, that wasn't, you know, it was good, but it wasn't one of, you know, that's another one. It wasn't a match of the year. I'm like, Jesus Christ. Is that something that needs to be said? I don't even...

The crazy thing about Will is, I don't even think he realizes how good he is. Like, of course, he sees all the five-star ratings and here's all the accolades that he gets and all the praise he gets. I don't think he realizes how great he is, though. I don't know. I don't know him well. I met him. Actually, the night he worked...

Mike was the first time. I met him. Oh, well, you'll see him again on Sunday. Yes. Yeah. But, like, that's the part of... the current wrestling product that I don't like, the constant comparing and grading. And that's one of the things. It's like, it's art.

It's not math. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like. Yeah, it's subjective. And very much so. Very much so. Like, I happened to like Josh and Osprey better than Mike and Osprey.

I think they're both great. Josh is fantastic. But, and I think it's probably just that I'm a little bit more matte based ground wrestler. So I have a fondness for Josh. It's also because he's Canadian. Mike's Canadian. That's true, yeah. But it's just that slightly different flavor.

But it's like both were great. But it's like I'm just so glad that my career was back in a time where no one would admit they read, Red Dave. Because I never once. ever thought. Oh, I wonder what the star rating would be. And it's just, I was always taught you go out and hook the crowd. And if you have them, you have them. What's the time of your career that you're most proud of?

Because, I mean, you work ECW, WCW, WWE, pretty amazing that you did all of that in such a short period of time. I like, well, then like my time in Japan, my time in Europe. Like, I mean, you've done it all. Like, like there was, there was, I wrote my website way back. I wrote two articles. One, because it came off a debate,

and it was, one was titled Marks of Distinction, and one was distinctions for Marx. And it was the, you know, working Terry Funk was more a distinction for Marx. I got to work with Terry Funk. And I remember there was the one

that I thought was a really big thing. I was in Japan, working for Tenru. and we had a six-man tag match. And I was the Geising, five Japanese guys and me. I believe I was the least experienced of the six. And Tenru walked into the room and said, today Lance make match.

Everyone else, listen to Lance and walked out. And I'm like, I guess I'm booking this match today. And it was just the respect that Tenru had, I guess, for my ability that it's like, no, Lance is running the show tonight. he listened to him, he's running this match. Wow. And it was like, that was sort of a big step to me to the veteran side of things of,

no, I'm putting this stuff together and I'm from a psychology brain standpoint. Yeah. Ahead of the game and that would have been probably my first agenting. That's pretty amazing, though, because most people, I don't think, realize when they become a veteran. And like, in that exact moment, you're like, well, sink or swim. You're a veteran now. Yeah. So that was a cool moment.

What's this moment, if people didn't watch it live, you dancing. What's the story behind that? Well, it's weird in that I don't believe it was ever supposed to be a dance gaming. There was the first they decided, again, I was going to be the boring guy and we're going to do the thing with Steve. Which Sony, it's funny too, because wrestling fans are smart, but they're also dumb. like the amount of people that would be, oh, I can't believe Steve did that to you.

I'm like, Steve didn't like stand up at a caterer and go, God damn it, I hate this match and brought a pillow. It's like, this was creative. Yeah. But that afternoon when we did that,

it's like Steve pulls me, so I was like, God damn kid, they're going to strap the rocket to you. And, you know, if you ever need help on promos and stuff, you know,

just let me know. I'm like, cool. And I'm like, okay, while this boring thing sounds fucking terrible, they're not going to waste Steve Austin on just some stupid shit.

Yeah. So anyway, so they're doing the boring thing and then decide they'll use gold dust to make me more exciting. And then there was the match. I remember it was me and Rico. And the whole point is that there's a spot in the match where Jackie Gata hops up on the apron to distract or do whatever. I grab her, kiss her. She takes the big bump and then we go into the finish and I win. And I'm to celebrate. And this is sort of my official baby face turn. And Brian Gowertz tells me, it's like, we just want you to do like an end zone dance, like an icky shuffle, spike the ball, be excited and show charisma. Yeah. I'm like, okay. I think it was Jack Lanzah was the agent. I get down to rings and he's like, huh, says here you're supposed to dance. Is that like an Arthur Murray thing?

And if these 90% of people listening to this watching this, don't know who Arthur Murray is, it was Arthur Murray's school of ballroom dance from like the 60s, maybe the 40s. And I'm like, Jack, it's not a dancing gimmick. He's supposed to be like an end zone celebration. Says here you're supposed to dance. Oh, no. Like, fuck. So I'm like, yeah, I just hang on.

I just got to go and I'm like trying to find Brian. I'm like, Brian, Brian. I'm like, is this a dancing gimmick or am I just supposed to do like an end? It's like, no, it's just an end zone celebration. Be excited and I'm like, okay, but Jack's telling me I got to dance. Like, no, no, no. it's an end. And then he had to go doing, you know, probably something for the rock more important than fucking me. And I go back and Jack's still in the dancing things. I'm just like, I'm just going to try to

find a line that Jack thinks I'm dancing enough that he won't give me a hard time and I don't look like an idiot. And then I'm like, okay, when I win, what am I going to do? So I'm like going to find Hurricane, right? I'm like, Hurricane, help me out here. You had like, you had three count. You kind of dance. I just need something. So it was like Hurricane and one other, she was a PA. I don't remember a name. It drives me nuts. But so they're trying to come up with something and that's where the cabbage patch and the I'm just like,

oh, this is terrible. He's like, oh, whatever. So I win the match and do that. And I come back to curtain and Jack's like, you didn't dance very long.

And I like, I swear to you, I get to the house shows next weekend. And like on the production sheet, it's like Lance must dance for at minimum, like a minimum of like 45 seconds. Oh, no. Oh, my God, are you kidding me?

And then I'm like having to try to do this stupid thing for a longer period of time. And then I don't know if it's the next week or not, but it's like I show up the next week and they've got the new Titan Tron. Yeah, yeah, everyone's seen it or heard it. If you haven't, go find it or don't. But it's like, I'm backstage and I get the, oh, Vince is out on the stage. He wants to see you. Okay. I go out on stage.

It's like, oh, I got this new Titan Tron for you. He's like, why don't you see it? Okay, so I'm standing beside Vince. And they play that thing. And Vince starts grove and you can tell he's just into it. I'm still beside him going, oh, fuck, I'm dead. Because Vince is just loving it. So he plays like, what are you having, pal?

And I'm like, that was really something. And he's like, all right, he says, sorry. He's like, all right, go up there. We're going to hit it again. He's like, show me your dance moves. I want to see your entrance. I didn't even know I was having a new entrance. And now it's like, he wants me to go out there and do this in the empty building with just like talent around ringside.

And I'm like, I was just like about to do a pre tape when they called me out here. I like I've got another thing I got to do. He's like, all right, but then get back here. I want to see it. And I ran and hit. I'm like, the, like I didn't know. And it's like, I'm a dance gimmick now. Wow.

And that's where I'm like, okay, I got to do this entrance. What the hell am I doing? And it was just like. How did I get here? I can't even connect the dots since you're saying this. And it was just like, okay, and now I'm dancing. And then eventually it, again, because I was no longer boring, which at least creative was good, there was then the,

and this is where the angle could have been salvaged. We did a highlight reel. This is leading into Survivor series, Steve is the sheriff, feuding with Bischoff, who is, I don't know if he's a GM or whatever, but Steve's the sheriff. And Jericho's feuding with Steve, and they're going into the Survivor's series.

It's Bishaw's team versus Steve's team. And Jericho brings out me testing Christian for the highlight reel. And whatever crap Steve did the test to humiliate him or something, a test saw mad at him. I think that was when he was calling Christian probably the creepy little bastard or something. So, you know, Jay was hot at him. And then Jericho got to me and was like, and look at you.

You're out here doing this, you know, you're just a song and dance now, blah, blah, blah. And I go, actually, I'm having fun for the first time. I'm kind of glad he did it. And I defend Steve. Jericho and Test and Christian tackney beat me up. Rob Van Dam comes out, chases them off. Steve makes the match.

Me and Rob against Jericho and Christian. And I pin Jericho and get a huge baby face reaction. Yeah. And I'm told at that point that going into Survivor's series, I'm going to be the last pick for Steve that it's going to get down to I stood up for Steve. Steve stand out for me and Steve puts me in the Survivor's series match

and this is going to be actually like I'm going to be a fairly pop baby face. Yeah. I'm like, okay, great. Yeah. And I don't remember if it was I don't know if it was Rob or whether it was Orton but Sean was doing a program with one of those two. I think it was Orton. I could do it. And in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, they decide that Survivor Series got good buzz, good matches, whatever the hell of the matches where I don't know. They decide they're going to hold off on the single between Sean and Rob or Orton.

And they want to get them on the card. And they hadn't announced the fifth man yet. Sean got the spot. And my angle just went down the toilet, never paid off, never came full circle. and I was doing the cabbage patch with Valvenus before no time. Because shortly that's when they gave me the big penis. I think fans mistakenly think that Steve Austin bringing out the pillow buries you. Like, oh, man, Lance is so boring.

I'll never forget that. It started bad. And thankfully, they did adjust it because it hurt Lance Cade for a long time too. And actually started hurting everybody because Jerry Lawler would be like, oh, you grab a hold, that's boring. And it's like, crowds started chanting boring. Anytime on a house show, someone grabbed a hold. Yeah.

And it was a, oh shit, what have we done here? But again, Vince pulled me into the office with it. Well, it's, you know, we're trying to get more crowd interaction. He's like, everybody chants, you suck at Kurt. No one thinks he actually sucks. It's just something for them to say, we want to see this as that. Yeah. Okay.

And after that first one with the pillow with Steve, like I went to Vince and it's like, can we not make it more that make it a shut up and wrestle gimmick where it's like, dude, get off the goddamn microphone. and you're boring as shit, just go out and wrestle us what you're good at. Sure. And it started working on house shows because I go to the ring and grab a microphone

and start explaining how I'm not boring. I even started reading the definition of boring from the dictionary to explain how it's not, doesn't apply to me at all, which is boring as shit. And then the opponent's music would hit. I'd do the head turn like I did in WCW. The place would pop like crazy.

And then we'd go on and have a match. And it was like it was working. Yeah. As soon as I told Vince it was working, they changed it. And I was just like, But then again, part of me thinks they were trying to see if I would say no to something. Really?

I could be off base. Sure. Like, Dean Malink would come for a question. He's like, just to give you their heads up, it's like, someone said, wouldn't this be funny if Lance did this? And I'm like, and it'd be like, I'm dancing. And then Dean came to me, he's like, yeah, just so you know, he says someone said something. And Vince thought would be really funny if it turns out you were a human tripod and had a large hose. And I'm like, where's that going to go?

How do you even end up with Valvinus, chief morally, I guess? But that was Vince laughed when some writer said something about having me, you know, hung like a horse. But I said, and he come out and he's like, yeah, we're going to, Dean. He's like, you know, we decided with Val Venus and we do, you know, the porn thing and everything else. And I'm like, they put Valvina back in the porn guy because he was Chief Morley for a while. I said, they just put Val back in this gimmick. Yeah. They've done nothing with him for six months.

And now there's going to be two of us doing it. Dean's like, yep, great. The good thing is most people don't remember this. Well, it was booked so poorly that most people don't even realize that my gimmick wasn't supposed to have a large penis. I barely remembered that. I mean, that's if you're going to have a gimmick. Another good Vince story. It's pretty good.

Probably because he laughed. He didn't, but it was like, when they first pitched it to me, are you kidding me? I went and found Vince. I'm like, Vince. He's like, what? I said, I thought we just had a meeting a little while ago. You said the wrestling's supposed to be reality basis. He says, it is.

I said, well, I've been wearing spandex on television for 10 years now. How are we going to convince people now? I've got a large penis. It's like, ha, ha, ha, good one, pal. Walked away and still had the game. I'm just like, but I'm like, I don't know if it was Vince or creative, but it's like I said to him, it's like, where does this go? Like, I can't whip it out and hit somebody with it.

It's like, other than saying I have one, where does it go? I mean, you saw where it went. Nowhere. Well, you guys won the championships, tag team champions. No, that was the first. Oh. And we didn't actually win them. Regal and I had them and they just said they're ours now.

Well, that's not how people remember it. Isn't that funny how it works? Yeah. Although, because I always, I always joke and argue. And I'm joking. I'm not always 100% sure Bubba's joking, bully Ray. But because he used to get into arguments with Booker about who was the greatest tag team of all and who they beat and everything else.

And it's like, I don't know if they were joking, whether they're both serious or whether one of them was serious and ribbing the other. Because again, as an older guy, the, you know, we beat somebody. I'm like, um,

did you really? But, um, you know, Bubba with his, you were the 18 time world tag champ or whatever else. So when Regal and I did the one day drop back to the bellies and got him back and I'm like,

I'm Bubba, I'm up to three. And then when Regal got hurt, I was waiting because Val was going to replace him with the mania mat. I'm like, okay, are they just going to say he's filling in form or what, but they did a skit or a backstage pre tape where Val script William Regal and I have the titles and awarded the titles to me and Val and I'm Bubba, that's four. I'm like, that counts. Yeah, they're not real wins, right? No.

I think, did we cover this in the last one? I just, yeah, I think that's funny. Congratulations. Okay. think actually a lot about how you're like, I don't, I'm not proud for people. I'm happy for them. I think about that all the time now. When I see someone, it's like, oh, I'm really proud of you for that. It's like, huh, you reframe my entire thinking on that. Yeah, and I don't know what, again, it's, it's how my brain works, but I've always just been so reluctant to take more credit than I

deserve. And like, if you were to say, oh, I'm really proud of you that you won this title. I'm I'm like, you had nothing to do with it. Why do you get to be proud? Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm going to work real hard. What the hell did you do? Yeah.

So I always sort of want to not do that with others and take more credit than deserved. So that's, uh, not only did we learn last time that we went to the same university at a different time. Right after we were done, you're like, I think we stayed in the same residence. I think we were in the same dorm. We did. Yeah, we were. And then you like sent me a picture. I'm like, yes, that was the one.

Willison Hall. Yeah. That's the one. Yep. I was on the opposite wing, though. I was in, uh, and you were on the second floor. I was in a two way, yeah, two way north. You were on the third.

So you were on the other wing. Mm-hmm. What are the odds, though? I had a really weird experience. I just thought of it, uh, when you're talking about it, when I first moved into residence because my, it was two guys to a room. Yeah. And I was so lucky.

My dude lived in, I don't remember the town now, but it was very close. So he went home a weekend. Oh, okay. Which saved my sanity. because I got the place to myself on weekends. And one of the first weekends, he went home, I got late at night a threatening, you know, I'm going to come down there.

I'm going to kill you something or other way else. And it's like, I'm like, I'm right here, your motherfucker, get your fucking ass down here. It's like, I opened my door and was like screaming into the phone with like, and it was like a big intimidating phone call or whatever. And it's like, what? Yeah, it was really weird. I remember because we had the,

what the hell do we call him? the the more lounge. No, the senior student. Oh, like, we called them a Don. Yeah. I don't know what the RA might be. Yeah, but I went and, you know, told him about it the next day. I'm like, just so you know and.

Wow. It happens. But it's like, yeah, I got a phone call from somebody that said they were going to come down and. And he's like, I'm like, so the year that I got, the year that I started, they, Lurier would guarantee you got residence if you were in first year. They over-accepted. So they had to make triple rooms that year. Oh, my God.

So I had two roommates. So we had a bunk bed. Oh, my God. And then on the other side, a top bunk and then a desk underneath. I was really fortunate in hindsight. So it was me and my best friend from high school and then a random third person. My best friend from high school, Mark, ended up still with his high school, girlfriend. He went home every weekend. So then I became best friends with the random third guy who's now my

best friend still in this day, Steve. But can you imagine that? No, because his rooms were small. Oh, so small. I don't think I would have survived if he didn't go home. And it's weird in that when I moved to Calgary to get into wrestling, there was the Okotocs in where they got us a monthly rate you could stay at. And we got there and it was two to a room. And when Jericho showed up, I think I told the story that was going to quit and then Jericho was there. And he unfur, fortunately could afford and got a room to himself. So I ended up with this dude, Edvin Beryl. We called him the toxic barrel.

Gigantic. What a name. Heavy guy. But he lived in Drumheller and he went home on weekends because we only trained Monday through Friday. It was like those two days of sanity because I need my solitude. I just could not handle living with someone in that small quarters. When it's as cold as it is in Calgary right now,

Do you ever think about, maybe I could have lived in Florida. I don't know if I would have picked Florida because I lived there for a year in ECW and didn't actually like it. But, well, there's also 40. Yeah, there's a million other places. But it's, you have to live where your wife or your significant other wants to be. Because when we move to Florida for that year with ECW because plane tickets were so expensive for Paul. my wife realized that okay we moved to Florida yeah she knows me I know her we had our daughter with us and then I went on the road and she was left in a city where she had no friends and no family yeah

and was like I do not like this yeah it's realized that if you're going to be away and on the road your family needs to be where they want to be not where it's convenient for you because yeah like the jet lag, the customs, the longer flights, as well as the weather. Yeah, I'd have been out of there. I don't know where I would have lived, but I would have been out of there if I was single. Are you an actual Calgary? My sister's in Airdry. Okay.

So 20 minutes from Calgary? 10 minutes from North Calgary, 35 minutes for me. Generous. But yeah, like it's pretty close now. I miss Switzerland. If she's in Erdry, she's closer to the Calgary Airport than I am. She is, it's very close to the airport. Yeah.

Swiss chalet is one of the big things I miss about Canada. Although the one in Calgary is not there anymore. There was, yeah, I was never a Swiss chalet guy. Oh my gosh. This interview is over now. And I will end it actually with the same question I asked you last time. I'm sure your answers will change. What are three things you're grateful for right now?

Biggest thing, my kids. Um, they both, uh, have moved out. My, my oldest has been gone for a while now. How old are they? 27 and 23. You're not supposed to answer that with a question mark at the end. Well, I got to do the math in my head and check. I do that with me because I have to go, because I have a bad habit.

My birthday is in April. For some reason, once we roll over into the next. next year. It's like I'm already 55, but I'm not. I'm 54. Sure. But I will catch myself. People ask my age. I'll be like, I'll be telling him 55 and realize it's like, I'm not actually yet. For some reason, my brain clicks over at January 1st. It's like it's the next year. It's like you've aged already. But seeing them make that step and in a weird way be, they have their shit together so much more than I did at that age. Like I did high school and lived at home and I went and did university and lived in residence And then an apartment for a year and a half or apartment for a half residence for a year

And then I moved back home got into wrestling and was like you know stayed in a shitty hotel for a while and it's like I didn't have I didn't have a credit card until I was married wow I didn't own a car until I was married It's like I was you know I had a duffel bag full of shit living in a motel room as a professional wrestler trying to get my shit together and having you when you see your kids and you know the the oldest owns her own car and owns her own condo and i'm like i so didn't have my shit together when i was a single person and there's so much more together than i ever was yeah yeah that again it gets into that weird thing where i should probably say i'm very proud of them but it also like even in that because obviously we're

with your own kids, you raised them, you were involved. There should be a degree of pride there. But even with that, because I was on the road and my wife did so much more than I did, I don't want to take credit for it because it was so much more my wife than me. Yeah. But my kids are really great human beings. So for that, I'm quite grateful more than anything else. Maybe the same answer as before, but after, after 2023, I'm very grateful for my health

because I had a few questionable times there in 2023 where I wasn't sure I had my health. Thankfully, all were pretty much false alarms, but so I'm grateful for my health. And I'm very grateful for my job with TNA, to be perfectly honest. I don't know if I've ever had a locker room crew team that ever felt like a 100% group effort in my career

as I have with the crew an impact. From Scott who, again, there's people above Scott and Anthem, but Scott's the be all and end all as far as TNA goes, to our announced team, to our guys in the truck, you know, Josh and David and talent and the producers and stuff. It's like I, while there is a ladder, it feels like we're all in the same room and we're all pulling towards the same goal. And I don't think I've ever in wrestling had a team as good and on the same page that really at the end of the day feels like a everyone on the roster bumps fists and goes great fucking job today. Yeah, that's great.

A pleasure to sit down with you. I'm so glad we got to do this in person. Yes, it's better than staring at a screen. I'm not a fan of the Zoom interviews at all. No, especially because my setup, the camera's never where it's supposed to be, so it's like I always feel like I'm shooting the top of my bald-ass head. You had a great fake gym behind you in our last one. That was good.

There you go. But, no, thank you so much. Thank you for making the time. We had a wonderful breakfast for dinner at Denny's before this, which was great. Just thank you for being who you are. There you go. Thank you. Oh, okay.

I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Lance Storm as much as I did. I feel like we should have him on every few months. He just thinks about wrestling in such a different way. I love it so much. Please take a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of this episode. Tag us so we can share it out on social media as well. He's at Lance Storm on Twitter.

He's at Storm Wrestling Academy on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and I'll leave you with this quote from Thomas Edison. One of our greatest weaknesses lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed. is always to try just one more time. Be great, be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. I didn't even plan this,

but we've got another Canadian on the show on Thursday. We will see you on the next one with Chelsea Green. What a great conversation. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

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