Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Lio Rush interview before WWE release, working with Bobby Lashley, NXT, Velveteen Dream

Episode Date: April 15, 2020

This interview with Lio Rush was obviously recorded before the news the he and several other WWE talent had been released. It's such a tough time in the world right now and my heart goes out to them. I feel that it's important to watch this interview because it shows a completely different side of Lio than we ever saw on TV. He's talented in so many ways and I can't wait to see what's next for him! During this interview he talks about getting signed by WWE, being in a tag team on the indies with Patrick Clark (Velveteen Dream), working as Bobby Lashley's manager, working for CZW, his music, being a husband and a father and much more!  I'm so pumped to have Bespoke Post as a sponsor for this episode. Use the code BLUEWIRE athttp://boxofawesome.com to get 20% of your first box.   Also thanks to Bet Online! Use the code BLUEWIRE at BetOnline.ag to get a Welcome Bonus on your first deposit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That's a great question. Look at you, man. We're the powerful questions. Woo! This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen. Chris!

Welcome back to the Chris Van Fleet Show, and thank you for joining us on another audio adventure. However you're listening to this, wherever you're listening to this, This audio adventure is brought to you by Bet Online and Bespoke Post. Blue Wire is the discount code for both of those awesome companies. And this interview was scheduled to be released today, but, man, who would have guessed that the news would come out that Leo Rush and several other WWE superstars and WWB employees would be released?

Man, my heart goes out to them. It's such a tough time in the world right now for everybody. I mean, I'm sure you're affected by this in your own way. And I think while we want everyone to be safe and healthy, I also think that we're so ready for life to start getting back to normal sooner rather than later. And hopefully everyone who's had their job or their livelihood affected by this will be back to doing what they love. And the thing I love about this conversation with Leo Rush is we get to see a completely different side of Leo.

than we just saw on WWE television. I mean, he's well-spoken, he's intelligent, he's self-aware, and he's super talented. Not just in the ring, not just on the mic, but as a musician as well. And that's a huge passion of his. And it's great hearing his insights about going from being a wrestler to out of nowhere being asked to be Bobby Lashley's manager.

He also talks about his time in NXT and the fact that he was just recently called back to be in NXT. He also talks about those controversial comments that he's made. And his take on this is very interesting. And I'm super excited to see where he goes from here. Because he's so talented. He's the 25-year-old piece of gold. And he's great on the mic, whether he's singing or whether he's cutting a promo.

So please, enjoy this. Give it up for the man of the hour. It's Leo Rush. I've been doing in-person interviews like my whole career. Yeah. And now we're forced to do them like this. Yeah, the whole world is crazy right now. Everybody happening to adapt.

Seriously. Yeah, yeah. All right. So, okay, we're good to go. Well, I'm joined by the man of the hour. Here he is. I guess you're now the 25-year-old piece of gold, right? Yeah, I'm getting old.

Yeah, getting old, really, yeah. Thank you so much for a fun of your day to make this house. happen. Definitely. I'm pretty excited for it. I'm pretty excited. Me too. What a beautiful background. I got to take like some notes out of your book here. That's great. Yeah, man. I've had this for years, actually. This is a, this is a banner that I had when I was on the independent circuit and I would always just have it like right up behind me, like in my merchandise table. So that's the gimmick table banner. Yeah, exactly. Very nice. So, well, how's everything going with you?

everything's good it's um it's it's been a weird adjustment uh i'm always doing something i'm always working i'm always busy doing like uh my own like projects outside of wrestling and it's kind of weird like not being able to hustle as much as i want to and like go out and do stuff so just trying to just trying to adjust yeah i mean you're someone who's like go go go all the time whether it's wrestling or music. And now you're kind of, you've been forced to stop. So in that, in the last two weeks, I mean, what have you really learned when you've had to, you know, kind of pump the brakes and just sit back and take this all in? For one thing, it's showing me, you know, what I care about the most. It's definitely teaching me patience. I'm sure it's teaching a lot of people's patience right now.

And I don't know, I've never been like a huge, like, meditation kind of person, but I feel like recently I've been doing that a lot. Like, I've been pretty openly spoken about, like, being an advocate for mental health awareness. And I'm somebody who's suffered and currently still suffers from, like, PTSD and depression and stuff like that. So I've been just trying to like work on myself to, you know, grow and heal, like, emotionally and mentally, like during this time. Do you have a, you know, a goal or a plan for when things do go back to normal? You know, you're going to hit the ground running. I know you are.

But what are you going to do? What's the plan for that? Right. Well, I have a plan that I try to make. And I go through this like year in and year out. But I feel like this is the perfect time to do it, but I'm seriously trying to get in the best shape of my life. So I got like a little home gym going on. I've been running every morning taking my protein shakes.

So I'm just trying to get in the best shape of my life. So when that time does come, when, you know, the world is getting close back to normal and shows start running again, I'll be good to go. It's ironic that you want to get in the best shape of your life when we can't go to gyms now. Yeah. Yeah. It's rough. It's rough trying to find different ways to work out because after a while, like, in-home workouts kind of kind of get a little repetitive and boring. So I'm trying to switch it up and be, you know, creative.

I've always said there's something about putting on your shoes, getting into your car, driving to the gym and then going, okay, I put in all. all that effort, this has to be a great workout. When you're literally just getting off your couch, walking five feet from weights, it's like, you know, I don't feel as motivated now. Yeah, man, it sucks. Like, I definitely have, I've had those times. Like, even today where I'm just in my, like, other bedroom with the gym set up. And I'm like, man, I'm a little tired.

let me just literally walk out of the room and take a shower or something where like if you're at the gym like you said like you put in all that work of like putting on the clothes and driving like 20 minutes or so and you're like I might as well make this worth you know all of that effort so it's it's difficult well imagine you spend some time this weekend watching rustlemania and you know it's obviously a different wrestlingania than we're just seeing what were your takeaways from it I thought it was very interesting, and I think it was interesting for different reasons, just to like entertain myself. It's different being a fan, which I still am, and on the other side, being somebody that's a part of the business. I feel like it was interesting to me to see the guys and girls that were kind of like homegrown.

own WWE talent that have been used to, you know, the production and the lights and the cameras and the crowd and stuff like that, like constantly wrestling in front of thousands and thousands of people on a weekly basis. I felt like there was a difference between those people and there was a difference between people who came from the Indies that were used to, you know, working in front of 50 people or less. Like, for instance, like, I'm one of those guys. Like, I remember going to CZW Dojo Wars and there are only, there are only, like, three people there. And if, if there was 50 people there, then the building was full to capacity. So it was, it was interesting. Like,

I, me personally, the best match, like, in ring was, I thoroughly enjoyed Sizarro and in Gulac. That was really cool to me to see, you know, and even though, like, Cesar has been there for so long, you know, he was somebody who was on the Indies and wrestled, you know, all of those guys. So it was cool to see, it was cool to see that. But in terms of overall, I definitely think,

Taker versus AJ Styles, just because, man, like, American Badass Taker, you can't, you can never go wrong with anything that he does. And the way the WWE thought outside the box, you know, with both the Boneyard match and the Firefly Funhouse match, those would not have existed if we were, you know, doing this in front of 80,000 people in a stadium. Those matches would have gone on as a normal match. For sure, for sure. Yeah. And it's so crazy. Like, even the Firefly Funhouse match was, it wasn't even a match. It was just like a, it was like a, I don't know how long it was, but maybe like a 15 or 20 minute like vignette. Yeah, it was incredible. Like it was, I don't know how they did that, but I'm glad that they pulled that off.

Is there a part of you that wishes that you would have been part of this WrestleMania, even though, you know, is a very different mania than what we're used to seeing? Yes and no. I feel like there's a part of me that felt kind of bad as a performer, watching, you know, guys like my friends and people that I care about that it was there, for one, it was either their first WrestleMania or two, they had a big WrestleMania moment. And I felt for them that it wasn't in front of, you know, thousands and thousands of people that came across, you know, the entire world to watch that.

So I don't know. I feel like I, it's okay to sit out for this one. I think I made it kind of public about a week before, you know, it was announced that WrestleMania was still going to happen and everything, but there was a part of me that just didn't feel entirely comfortable with, you know, risking that and going out there and possibly, you know, being exposed to the virus, just because, you know, I got a wife. I got two boys. My parents are getting older.

My mom is currently sick right now. So I just didn't want to risk not even for me. And I know it sucks because I had so many fans that possibly be a part of, you know, what was to come. But I just had to kind of take a step back and think about, you know, my family for me. Well, the last time we didn't see you on TV for a while, you came out with some great music. So, you know, is that something that you're working on now? Are you writing new stuff while you're not able to wrestle? I'm sorry, you broke up on me a little bit.

I know, I did. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about the connection. So the last time that we didn't see you on TV for a while, you came out with some great music. So if you're not wrestling now, are you working on new music? music now. Oh, for sure. I feel like I've always been working on my music.

Even when I said, like you said, when I was off of TV for, you know, I don't even know how long it was, like six, seven months. I was just working on music, music, music. And then even when I came back to NXT, I always, you know, went in the studio and worked on my music. And I feel like I just continually worked on it because I feel like it was therapy for me when I was when I was gone and even when I came back, it was still something to help me, you know, get through everyday life and deal with the frustrations of the business.

But yeah, man, even now, I'm working on my music and I feel like at any point in time, I always have like an album done, which I'm actually working on right now. So hopefully soon that'll be out. So as soon as the quarantine's lifted, this is what you're going to hit the ground running with. Yeah, yeah, for sure. This is exciting. Oh, that's great.

Is there any hope for you that one of your songs could be your entrance theme? Man, I've been asked that, and I never really gave an answer only just because, like I said, like it was something that was kind of like therapy for me and something that I felt like completely self. separated my wrestling life and like personal life. And I feel like that's just something that I don't want to mix just because I want to be in control of my own therapy.

You know what I'm saying? Like I don't want it to be a part of my business. And then, you know, I got people telling me how I should write music or what I should put out and stuff like that. Like I just want to be able to be in my own head and write what I want to write and put out what I want to put out. That's a good way to look at it. And then it's, you know, this music now becomes very separate from your day job of being a wrestler. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Would you say that your time with Bobby Lashley was, you know, probably some of the most memorable stuff that you've had?

Oh, best times that I've had in WWW by far, by far. It was just it, just the way that it came about, it was so unexpected. Bobby didn't know it was going to happen. I didn't know it was going to happen. And I, like, randomly got a call one day saying that, you know, we need you at raw for whatever reason. And I get there and, you know, I'm talking events. I'm talking to Paul Heyman and they kind of laid it on the table. Like, so this is what we have and, like, run with it.

And I'm, like, just sitting there, like, wait, so I'm on Raw now. Like, it was pretty crazy because at the time I was doing 205 and I was bound to. and back and forth from Raw to 205. So I was like traveling with the Rawloop. I was traveling with the Smackdown people. And I was just all over the place. And it was just fun, man. And since it was so unexpected,

we had to constantly think on our toes, whether that was, you know, creating content for social media or pitching ideas like the day of. Like, we just never knew what was going to happen. And it was pretty exciting. I guess from the outside looking in, it just seems so crazy,

because you were a wrestler and now out of nowhere you're being approached to be a manager slash hype man. Like that must have totally caught you off guard. For sure, man. It definitely caught me off guard because first I was like, why me? Like, why who, you know, came together in a meeting and said, we want Leo Rush to manage Bobby Lashley. That still kind of like boggues my mind. And another reason was because, you know, I was never considered as like a promo guy.

Like even when I was on the independent scene, when I got to NXT, I wasn't cutting any promos. I guess, you know, I was cutting some promos for the short amount of time that I was on 205 live. But I thought it was just, it was so cool and so unexpected. I never thought in a million years that I would, you know, be in the WVE as a manager. Like, that was the last thing on my mind. So, that's the thing. You're very much a promo guy now. You're very much considered a promo guy.

Great at it. I think sometimes I consider more of a promo guy than I am a wrestler now, which is so weird. Like, so many people know me as just the person on Raw. Like, a lot of people that saw me on Raw didn't even know that I wrestled. So it was it's pretty crazy. So when this is a, you know, when this pitch to you, who do you start to channel, you know, from the great promos or the great managers of all time? Who do you start to think back about? I got, I never really wanted to look into managers within the company that's been a part of the WWE just because I feel like I try so hard, like so hard to be.

innovative and creative and I just didn't want to be compared to anybody like I like that that that hurts me when I when I get compared to somebody else because just because I want to be my own person so I feel like I looked more so outside of wrestling I like looked at actors and I looked at you know just people outside of outside of wrestling one person that I that I was definitely looking at for, you know, personality-wise was Kevin Hart. I was watching a lot of Kevin Hart stuff. I was, like, studying his, like, mannerisms and the way, you know, the pitch and his voice would change and the speed in which, like, he would, like, talk.

And I really, I really dug it. And then some other, like, some other stuff. Like, I remember I watched James Franco in a movie. I think he was playing, like, a, like, a. like a beach character, like a beach bum. He had like braids and like goats. Yeah, yeah. Spring breakers.

Yeah. Yeah. So I was like just taking little things from like different actors and just trying to make it my own. And in spring breakers, he just says the whole time, Sprang break, yeah. Yeah, man. The other thing you have in common with Kevin Hart is his characters are constantly being made fun of for their size, which is something that got worked in, you know,

for you and your character. Yeah. How does that make you feel? At first, man, I'm not going to lie when I first got into this. I was so nervous about my size just because even though like Ray Mysterio was shorter than me, he weighs about like legit, like 170, 180 pounds maybe. And I'm like a buck 50. And I just, it really, it really bothered me.

And I, after a while, I just started embracing, you know, who I was in my size. I started, you know, telling myself that, you know, this is, this is different. This has never been seen in the WWE. I think the only time it has been seen as somebody that's my size was Spike Dudley. So it's, it's pretty cool to, you know, really. realize who I am and what I can use to separate myself from everybody else. And I feel like it definitely played a huge part in me being recognized because, you know, I don't pick anybody up.

And I try to, I try to not do like springboards or anything like that. So I was known for like my speed, which was pretty cool because my name was like Leo Rush. So it was pretty cool. Well, despite your size, you talk like you're the sides of Bobby Lashley. Yeah, man. I definitely got to get that in because a lot of people like testing me. So I got to raise my voice a little bit. I feel like it was such a missed opportunity for you to be the best man at Bobby Lashley and Lana's wedding.

Yeah, man. I thought, I would have hoped that, you know, somebody would have came to that, you know, idea. and hit me up and said, hey, let's be one more time for, but yeah, that would have been pretty, pretty cool. I think very unexpected and a nice little twist if I were to pop up as the best man. Yeah. So if you were looking outside of wrestling, you know, to really kind of inspire the promos you were doing.

Growing up, who were the wrestlers that you looked up to that make you the wrestler that you are now? I grew up in the watching wrestling in the ruthless aggression era which seems like oh my gosh like I'm so young that that's like the first piece of like wrestling that I grew up watching but I used to love watching of course Ray Mysterio Eddie Guerrero I always enjoy like Eddie Guerrero and JBL's matches. Batista, Sina, or N. Lesnar, I mean, Benjamin, like, the list goes on and on. Just all of those, like, guys that, you know, made the Ruthus aggression era, what it was. Of course, like Jeff Hardy, like right before, I think the split between Matt and Jeff. So a lot of, a lot of cool guys. And one that a lot of people don't mention, but I really enjoyed to Jerry, to Jerry and Gregory Hems. Those, those. Those were really two, you know, kind of people that not a lot of people like bring up, but I just thought their stuff was always like cool and innovative. I love that you refer to him as Gregory Helms. He's the hurricane to everybody else. I know, yeah, exactly.

Wow. So when you get paired with Bobby Lashley, do you instantly start traveling with him or do you, you know, just kind of meet up at the arena and do your thing from there? At first, we would just meet up at the arena. just because, like, you know, I didn't know Bobby. Bobby barely knew me. You know, he saw a couple of promos that I did on, like, Instagram and Twitter and stuff like that. So we knew that, and of course, I was a fan of his, like, growing up.

So we knew that we had, like, a mutual respect for one another. But we kind of just waited to see how this, like, played out before we got too close. personally and just like in a business sense because we just didn't know what was going on. We had no idea what was happening. But after a while, like once things started to catch on and once we knew that this was going to be like a thing that was going to stick for a while, we started, you know, we started traveling together and it was fun, man. It was really cool.

I'll never forget, they didn't want us traveling together. at first, like I think I was only supposed to be on Raw with him. And I think he started doing some live shows. And then I believe, I forgot what the name of the pay-per-view was, but I remember that there was a paper view in Australia. And it was him and Sina versus somebody, I forgot. But I remember that they didn't want me to go to Australia. you. And when I didn't go and he came out and he had to match, they were a little disappointed

that they didn't bring me along with him because it just didn't get like the same reaction. So I think from that point on, we were like, okay, we're in this together the whole way through. What do you think is the biggest thing that you learned from working so closely with a veteran like Bobby? Oh, man, so much. It's so hard to just pinpoint one. thing. But I guess from a business standpoint,

always making the most out of what's given to you. I feel like there was so much there was so much pitch to me and Bobby that we didn't necessarily agree with, but we got, we went out there and we

absolutely made the most out of it. I remember, I was, I would never forget the day where we were talked about him starting to do the pose. The famous pose of him bending over and showing everybody his eyes. And we're just like looking at each other like, what is going on? Like, I, and, you know, Vince, he was, he was, he was, he was abing in about, you know, sticking to that. Like we couldn't do anything else. So we went out there and we just made it work, man.

And now everybody, every time we went somewhere, like fans would just scream at us like, big man, show us the favorite pose. And it just caught on. Like, so we made everything, we made everything work. As ridiculous as that pose might sound, it got so over. Yeah, yeah. That's crazy that you'd be walking around

and people would be asking for that. Yeah, it's so, it's so insane, man. Wrestling fans are so funny to me, just because they just latch on to the most, like, random things and they make it a thing. And that was one thing that we just didn't think would become anything. And it became, like, one of the best things

about that character. What's the big thing for you? What's the random thing that people have on to for you that they'll randomly bring up or randomly yell at you? Um, one thing that I didn't think people would catch on to was the piece of gold thing. The whole piece of gold like moniker. I never thought that people would like really like that. I felt like, uh, I started saying that when I was on the Indies, when I was like 21 years old and it was cool because like 21 kids.

was like 21 carrot gold. Yeah. And I was like, I'm the 21-year-old piece of gold. And then when I got to the WWE, I was like 22 and people, like, no matter what age I turned, like people would just throw that age in front of a piece of gold. And I just thought that was so cool. The segment you did with, well, you did many segments with the lies, but the segment you did where he said, whose kid is this?

That seems to be the comment in that YouTube video that, like, everyone just keeps repeating. Yeah, yeah. That was, man. And I tried so hard not to laugh myself because, you know, I came out there debuting and I'm supposed to be this, like, baby face. And everybody's laughing at me. And I, oh, man, that was just such a clever, clever thing to say. And I just didn't know what to say after that. It was pretty, it's pretty funny.

Who is it that you haven't worked with yet in WWE that you're still hoping that you can work with? Oh, man. I guess this doesn't count because I've teamed with him. Because I was going to say Keith Lee, but I recently teamed with him during a episode of NXT at the Barclay Center. So Keith Lee would have been my first choice just because we had an amazing indie little feud at PWG. But if I were to pick anybody, man, I would have to say, Ragnystereo. Right. Just because he's such a, such a huge idol and role model to me. And, you know, I think our styles would, would really just be such a cool, unique, and different

thing that nobody's seen before. Well, you have such a history as well with Velveteen Dream, you know, on the Indies. I think it'd be so great to see a long program with you guys. Yeah, man, a long program would be cool. I remember, like, my first match in the WWE was, was against Belvertine and it was really short. But I definitely think at some point they have to. They just have to, you know, like me and me and Belbertine are practically like brothers, you know. Like we trained at the same school, started wrestling

at the exact same day, graduated wrestling school, the exact same day, became a tag team, did our tough enough videos together. He made it to tough enough. Yeah, man, I definitely would enjoy that. I think that would be really cool and something that the fans would enjoy. And it'll be a nice little back story for people as well. Did you get a call back from your tough enough audition?

I did not. I did not. And look at you now. I know. It's so crazy because at the time, even when I was on the independent circuit, when I was first starting out, I was a videographer, and I filmed Patrick's Tough Enough video, and I remember one day just seeing it on Raw. And I was like, whoa, that's crazy. But I didn't, I wasn't, like, jealous or anything.

I thought I was more so, like, wow, I recorded that. And it's on Raw right now. So that was pretty cool to see. All right. let's take a quick pause to thank our sponsor for this episode, Bet Online. And with currently no NBA, NHL, or MLB, you might be thinking, well, there's nothing to bet on. Well, that's where you'd be wrong, because our exclusive partner, Bet Online still has hundreds of events, games, and props for you to wage you. From their online casino to poker and Blackjack, they are bringing Las Vegas right to you.

And if you're missing the NFL, no problem. Bet Online has live daily Madden NFL 20 simulations that you can bet on. You can also still bet on Survivor, Big Brother, American Idol, stock prices. You can even bet on the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. And it's all open 24 hours a day and it's all online. Use the promo code Blue Wire, all one word, to join today and receive your new welcome bonus. Bet online. It's your online wagering solution. So as you're going up, you know, obviously Patrick got his chance on toughen up, didn't win it, but he ended up getting signed, you know, after that.

What did your path look like? Oh, that was a very long path for me. And it's so weird because my trainer at the time, he always said that me and Patrick, like he knew from day one that me and Patrick would have different paths. but we would end up in the same place. And Patrick, you know, got that call, made it the tough enough, eventually, you know, got signed. And I kind of knew it too. I knew that I would have to work a little bit more for it. And right after he left and moved on to Florida and stuff like that, you know, I wasn't attacked.

We weren't attacked him anymore, obviously. And I had to, you know, reach out to bookers and promoters and, you know, get my name out there and myself and it was it was rough man just because I always dreamed and thought that I would you know climb this this ladder of you know being successful with somebody like a brother and when that kind of got ripped away from me it was it was it was a little rough but I'm glad that it happened the way that it did because you know I think my name wouldn't be the household name that it is. And I feel like whether it's good or bad,

like people know the name Leo Rush in some capacity. And I think that's just from all of the hard work that I put in from having all of these tours all across the country and all across the world and being involved, being a pretty big part of like the new CZW stage and, being in a ball and ring of honor and you know it's pretty cool just the way that it all turned out knowing that it would it would turn out like that so what was it that finally got you on

wwee's radar was it your time been involved um i i think so i think so i feel like um when i was in ring of honor i had i had a lot of opportunities but for whatever reason i just wasn't breaking that ceiling. Like I was, I was, I was stuck. I was stuck in one spot. And I remember my contract was coming up and I just didn't, I just felt like I wasn't going anywhere, especially with, you know, the level of talent that was there at the time and the way that things were going. I just knew that I was going to be in a standstill for years. And I just didn't want to, not that I was going to waste time, but I just didn't want to give up that time to wait on an opportunity. So I just didn't sign back with Ring of Honor, and I went back on the Indies for a little

while, and I remember that's when I got my first, like, European tour for like three months straight, and then I got a call from, like, Gabe, and he wanted to start using me and evolve, and I got, you know, a couple of matches under my belt there. And I feel like that is what really, you know, put my presence in a lot of people's eyes. That, instead of. That, instead of the CZW, surprisingly, man. I feel like my run in CZW, a lot of people always DME, like,

till this day, saying, like, man, we really want to see that Black Heart character in the WWE. And I thought that was just so cool to me because that was something that I didn't plan out at all. Like, there was no, like, real meaning or thought behind, well, not meaning, but there was no, like, thought planned out

thought for that character, something that happened organically and for people to know me as that person on the on the independence that's pretty cool one of the big spots people always want to talk about with you is that spot with joey janella off the ladder you know sell a power bomb through a table off a ladder was that the plan the whole time it was not the plan it was not the plan man oh my gosh Man, I remember my phone just blowing up the night that that happened because it was live streamed and everybody was watching. I think that was the big, you know, that was my last match in CZW and that people knew that.

So everybody was tuning in. And yeah, I remember the original spot was supposed to be a, it was supposed to be a power driver. not that this sounds any better, but it was supposed to be a pile driver off of the second rope through the table. And he was just going to follow it up with the same package deal that he did to me. But the table, the legs were completely broken.

And I remember trying to move the table and I'm like, oh, man, I don't want to stack this table up and you got like these hardcore CDW fans saying, you fucked up, you fucked up. Like, I just don't want that. Yeah.

In this big match. So I'm like, man, we need to just leave this table where it is before it just crumbles and then we look stupid trying to set it back up. Or we can just see where we can use this table.

And I remember just looking at the ladder and I'm like, we got to do something off this ladder. And I just climbed. Remember Joey just like following me. And yeah, he hooked for the power bomb. And he said, he said like stand up like after it. So it happened and I stood up.

I fired up and he still just hit me with the same package that we were originally supposed to do. But the original power bomb off of that big ladder was not supposed to happen. But, you know, getting right up from a move that was that devastating, I think, blew a lot of those minds. It was, I think you had to be there live because the reaction live, people, people lost their minds. Oh, yeah. Like, there was no, like, backlash.

There was no, like, killed the business. Like, people were just so invested in the way that the match was going and the buildup to that exact spot. So when it happened, people just lost their minds. A lot of people that kind of gave me backlash and gave Joey backlash for that are the people who just saw that clip. And people are like, what in the world? But as long as we know that that's not something that we intentionally tried to do was quote unquote killed the business. And we're both safe. And it both kind of like elevated our names a little bit.

So, hey, that's professional restaurant for you. But unfortunately, we live in a world now where people will watch a 30-second clip of a 10 or 15- or 20-minute match and then base their entire opinion on both of the individuals in that match based on that short clip. Exactly, exactly. And now we're having matches where people are having like Firefly Funhouse matches and Bone Yard matches. So that's pretty cool. That just everything is changing. Everything's changing. And I think the best thing about wrestling was people realizing what wrestling is.

I think that's just the beauty of it. That's the art of it. And people being invested in the craft is pretty cool. You know, you joke at the start of this interview, the 25, being the 25-year-old piece of gold is now old, which is completely not. Do you look ahead now five or 10 years, you know, of where you'd like to be? when you get into your 30s? Yeah, I do. I feel like, oh man, and I don't know.

This is weird because I don't think I've ever said this, you know, publicly, but I feel like I don't see myself wrestling for that much longer. I don't know why. I feel like, I feel like, you know, there's that, There's multiple reasons for this, just because I've been such a high caliber athlete my entire life. Ever since I was five years old, just nonstop sports and camps and training facilities and stuff like that from baseball to football, amateur wrestling. And as young as I might seem to everybody else, I feel like all of those years are finally starting to catch up with me.

My body feels like I got hit by a Mac truck. And I don't know. I think the odor that I'm getting, the more that I'm starting to realize what my other dreams and goals and passions are. And, you know, music was something that recently came about. And I always wanted to do music, but it was just kind of like nervous to pursue it. So, yeah, I don't know.

I guess that's just something that I'm going to have to see as time goes on. But, you know, five years from now, yeah, I definitely want to have a bigger name in wrestling. I want to be, you know, at the top of the food chain. I want to be in the same conversation as guys like Seth Rollins, Roman Raines. I want to, you know, make history in the company. You know, that's something that I always dreamed about doing was being a part of the WWE, but not only being a part of the WWE, but I wanted to make history within the company. When I saw Randy Orton become like the youngest world heavyweight champion ever,

I remember, you know, just dreaming of one day having some kind of, you know, history planted within the company like that. You know, Leo Rush was the first this or Leo Rush was the first that. know, that's what I want. I like that you're always so willing to speak your mind. I appreciate you sharing that, you know, if it's something you haven't shared before. But is this just who you are innately as a person? You just speak your mind. And as you know, it's, you know, it's gotten you in trouble sometimes.

Yeah, I feel like in the past, I've gotten myself in even more trouble or I've struggled from not speaking my mind. So I feel like. you know, like, there's no, there's no point, you know, like, I feel like, you should, you just shouldn't have people guessing. You shouldn't have any type of like speculation on how you, how you're feeling about certain things. Like, I don't like leading people on. I don't like, I don't like putting up with something that I don't really, totally agree with. I think that's just, like, the, the way that I was raised, the things that I've gone through in my life,

uh, that kind of made me who I am and, and has led me to be so outspoken. Um, but I feel like regardless of whether people agree with it or people don't agree with it, whether it's bad or, or good, I feel like it always comes from a good place.

Um, I never say or do anything that I didn't think was best for me and best for the situation that I was in. Do you think about, you know, when you go out there in the ring or when you're making music or when you're speaking publicly about any of this stuff? Do you think about this is the type of role model I want to be for my sons? Oh, for sure. For sure. I think about that every day, you know, not even just when I step in the ring, but just like everyday life, you know, everything that I do, I feel like it just has a purpose.

Everything that I say has a purpose. And it's to, you know, not only motivate my kids, but. just motivate, you know, you know, everybody, you know, male, female, adult, child, that's a fan of me. I want them to see the real me. I want them to know that I'm real. I want them to see that I'm not afraid to speak my mind when I'm passionate about something. And I feel like a lot of people should be that way, you know. I, at the end of the day, I just want, I just want people to see that I'm an authentic and real person.

You know, I don't want to, I never want to be categorized as fake or phony or anything like that. So do, you know, now that we have some time to think about stuff during the quarantine, have you thought about what your next tattoo is going to be? Yeah, yeah. So I haven't, I haven't shared it with, with anybody. Oh, we're sharing you now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't been posting pictures or anything, but I've been working on a leg sleeve.

So, yeah, part of the reason why I'm wearing tights right now. So, yeah, I'm working on my legs right now. I actually might get another one tomorrow. My wife actually does tattoos, so. Oh, well, that's convenient. Yeah, yeah. Do you have a tattoo that's nearest to your heart or something, you know, something that means the most to you?

Yeah, I feel like I have a bunch. You know, all of my tattoos have pretty special meanings to them. But I feel like the one that always gets me a little emotional every time I look at it is there's a poem on my stomach that not a lot of people even know what it says. But, yeah, there's a poem on my stomach that my mom wrote in 1997. It was when my brother passed away. and I never knew that I had a brother until my very first day of high school. And I don't know why she brought it up, but she did. And she told me that I had a brother, a younger brother who passed away.

And that kind of hit me like really hard just because I have four sisters. I have four sisters. And I always wanted a brother. And I always wanted to, you know, like I said, like with, the kind of like the same reason why, you know, I was a little devastated when Patrick kind of got moved up to, to WWE. I feel like that was something that I wanted. I wanted to accomplish certain things with, you know, somebody as close to me as like a brother. And knowing that that was a possibility and he passed on, yeah, yeah, that kind of, that kind of hits me hard.

little bit. This is the one that covers like your entire like stomach right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was your first ever tattoo. That was my first tattoo. I was 14 years old. That's a big piece. Yeah, yeah. Wow. I want to ask you the significance of, uh, of your latest album, 1111. What's the significance of that time or those numbers for you? Um, well, the numbers, uh, I feel like, there's more of like a and I don't at times I don't like talking about you know religion and stuff like that because some people are like ify or about that but you know just the the significance to 11 11 to me was was just I think there's like a biblical meaning to it of being aware and just being like just aware of like your surroundings

around you being aware of what's going on in the world and as the the kids kind of say like being awoke or whatever. So that's kind of what that means to me, just being aware of what's going on in the world and adapting to it and stuff like that. But the entire project was kind of like my, not my life story, but just some things that I've gone through in my life that I thought that I should share with people,

you know, at that. time I was going through like a really rough patch like this is when I was off of television for those six, seven months and I feel like I had a perception of me that was kind of heartbreaking. Like I took my character so seriously to the point where people shoot hated me. Like I would get I would get so many like death threats through like email and and on Instagram and Twitter and stuff like that. And, you know, people just really hating my guts. Like, like, for real, hating just hating me.

And, you know, I just don't even have that in my heart to be like a malicious person or a bad person or do anything that I feel like is, you know, out of character and unnecessary. So, you know, I just thought I take it upon myself to kind of share some pivotal things that I've gone through in my life or current. going through that would, you know, open myself up to people to show people who I really am. Because at times, you know, I can ramble and my point can kind of be lost in what I'm saying. But that's just because, you know, again, like I'm passionate about, you know, what I'm talking about. But I feel like my point can get across better with my music. When you were first getting that reaction, people hating you, at first, where you were like it's working. I'm doing a great job. Yeah. Yeah, oh, for sure. I mean, I was so happy with

with the way that things were going. Like, and again, man, I think that's like a curse. I think that's like my weakness is that anything that I do, I'm like a hundred percent in. And, and I do it to the best of my ability. So when somebody tells me to be a heel, be hated, that, you know, that's what I'm going to do. And after a while, I started seeing and hearing people really starting to not like me, just as a person in general. And I kind of tried to pull back on it a little bit. I tried to, you know, put out more like positive messages or make more like positive posts

that just weren't all about wrestling and my character. I tried to show people the real me and my family and stuff like that. Just show people that I'm still like a person at the end of the day, regardless of, you know, the character that I'm playing. I feel like you're so self-aware. Have you always been this way? I think so. I think I just didn't really act on it as much before.

Like I was always such like a quiet and shy person. and I was always like, I'm that one guy that goes into like a party and just kind of stands in the corner. I don't, I feel like that's very hard to go with you. No, at first it was, but now it's not. Like, I feel like, yeah, this is something that like recently, you know, I've just been more like outspoken with it. And, you know, yeah, I don't know. But I'm glad that you picked up. I'm happy that you picked up on it because.

You know, that's how I want to show people that, you know, I might be young, but I'm not, I'm not stupid or naive. And I feel like I said that in a promo one time on Raw that I might be young, but I'm not naive. And I feel like I'm pretty aware of everything that's, that's around me. Well, if you say you want to put 100% of yourself into everything, there's got to be a balance here because how can you put 100% of yourself into wrestling and also put 100% of yourself into being a father and, and, and, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. That's also something that I struggle with on a daily basis. You know, even before I got on this call, you know, I felt like I kind of was having a little, like, episode where, you know, I just, I was kind of starting to break down a little bit. Of course, because of not just things happening, you know, in my life from wrestling and amusing, stuff like that. but the virus is not helping the situation at all.

But yeah, man, I feel like it's just something that I struggle with every day. I try to put my all into everything that I'm doing. And at the end of it all, I feel like I just end up breaking myself down and just wearing myself out just because, like you said, like I'm doing so much and everything that I do, I want it. I want my full undivided attention. And it's pretty hard. I'm trying to find like a balance right now. I mean, there's a famous phrase that's if you chase two rabbits, you'll catch none. And something I think about in my life, because my hand is in a lot of different things as well. And I think if I'm trying to run after this thing and this thing, I'm going to not catch

anything. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, man. Yeah, it's so hard, man. I try. I try to just focus on one thing. I try so hard, but it's just, it's just something that it's not even just in my blood, but I just feel like everything that I've gone through in my life as a teenager and having to just hustle, constantly and just find away any means necessary. Just grabbing something that's in reach. And if it's in reach, I'm gonna grab it and I'm gonna utilize it. I feel like music was in reach.

I feel like wrestling's in reach. You know, I have no choice but my family to be in reach like they're right here. So like everything is just so crazy. It's crazy to think about how much stuff that I do. I don't even know how I do as much as I do sometimes, but I at least try. I mean, there's going to be a lot of people watching this right now that look up to you and are inspired by you, you know, dealing with anxiety themselves. What's some, you know, advice that you

have for somebody who might be dealing with those types of issues? And I think I'm going to say this just because this is something that I'm actively doing. But just taking it one day at a time. I feel. I feel like there's been times where I've tried to solve my problems within minutes or a day, and it's just not going to happen. I feel like you just got to take it one day at a time, you know, be around people that you love and care about, tell the people who might not know who you are or that know who you are, let them know that you're passionate about, you know, the things that you do. And just, I don't know, it's so, it's so hard to just pinpoint one thing. And I feel like this is what, this is something that I've also struggled with because during amateur wrestling in high school, I always had such a unique way about doing things or going

about things that people wanted to learn from me. and I just felt like I could never teach anybody just because I always did things that worked best for me and I didn't really know how to give somebody advice because I didn't know their capabilities. I didn't know what they were going through and stuff like that. So I feel like the advice for having like anxiety and depression can kind of be different for everybody as far as advice goes,

but I can just say what I'm currently doing myself. You know, like I said, I'm just taking things one day at a time. I'm trying to put my focus on something that I love so that my mind doesn't wander too much. And yeah, like I said, like just stay connected with the people that love and care about you. I can relate to the amateur wrestling. And it's very interesting because while it is a team sport, it's really not. It's such an individual thing. You're the only one out there on the mat.

And really all that matters at the end of the day is how you perform in your matches. And that is so vastly different for most other sports. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, I was an amateur wrestler in high school. And it's so funny that, sure, you can train with your teammates all you want. But when you get out there on the mat, it's you and it's only you. Yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, exactly.

I feel like we've learned so much about you here. I really appreciate your time today. Definitely. I appreciate you doing this, man. I'm glad that you gave me this platform that you have to, you know, address some things to open up about some certain things and to say things that people have never heard before publicly. So, yeah, I appreciate it. Well, I think that people are seeing a different side of you other than that manager of Bobby Lashley is who we all hate. Yeah, exactly, man, exactly. So Leo, I look forward to doing this interview in person with you one day as well. That's how I usually do my interviews, but I appreciate your time today. And I hope that you and your family are well and stay healthy with everything going on.

Definitely, man. Thank you so much. You too. You too, stay safe out there, man. I appreciate you. Thanks, Leo. All right, man. Take care.

Well, there we go. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this chat with Leo Rush. I really enjoyed this one. Thank you for listening all the way until the end as well. And a huge thank you to Leo for making. the time to do this. Please take a screenshot right now, tag me, tag Leo, and let us know what you thought of this. Let us know what stood out the most for you, because I feel like we saw a completely different side of Leo than we've ever seen before. I mean, he's smart and he's

self-aware, and he's so talented. He's super talented when he has a mic in his hand, too, and I don't just mean that as a promo guy, because, yeah, Leo Rush is a promo guy now, but I also mean that as a musician. and if you haven't checked out his music yet, please take some time today to either check it out on YouTube or listen to some of his music. He's great. And I think that that's actually the thing

that we're going to be talking about Leo Rush for in many years to come. Leo Rush, the musician. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him, but my heart goes out to Leo and my heart goes out to all the WWB superstars that were affected by this and all the WWE employees

that were affected by this. But as Maya Angelou said, no matter what happens or how bad it seems today, life goes on and it'll get better tomorrow. It's a tough time that we're living through right now. It's unprecedented what's going on right now. But we'll get through this and it'll get better tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to listen to this.

I appreciate you. Enjoy your day, enjoy your week. We'll talk to you soon. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket banjov, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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