Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Matt Cardona Makes More Money Since Leaving WWE, Learning From Cody Rhodes, Chelsea Green's Return

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

Matt Cardona (@themattcardona) is a professional wrestler who has worked for WWE, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling, GCW and several other promotions. He was known as Zack Ryder in WWE where he spent 14 years of his career. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how he reinvented himself after being released from WWE in 2020, his hectic travel schedule as an independent wrestler, why he says Zack Ryder is dead, how his deathmatch with Nick Gage in GCW completely changed his career, how Brandi and Cody Rhodes introduced him to his wife Chelsea Green, his WrestleMania 32 moment when he won the Intercontinental Championship, being pushed off the stage in a wheelchair by Kane, wanting to be signed to a big company before his career ends and much more! Check out Matt Cardona's website here: https://mattcardona.com/ Quote I'm thinking about: "Do what is right, not what is easy nor what is popular.” —Roy T. Bennett Sponsors: MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% ZBIOTICS: Get 15% off with the code CVV and have a better morning after you drink at http://zbiotics.com/cvv FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT 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

All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blele. Oh, hey, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet, and I know there's a lot of wrestling podcasts out there. And more and more are popping up every day.

So thank you for being with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight, one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. If you're one of the many people who listen to the show and you, haven't hit Follow yet. Could I ask for just one thing? Could you look right now to see if you're following the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, wherever you're listening to this? Just see. Maybe you thought you were, but oh my goodness, it turns out that you aren't.

So if that's you, please just hit follow. It helps the show so, so much. And we have some big plans for 2024 where not only do we have some massive guests line up, but we're also looking at taking the show on the road. So the bigger the show gets with your support, the more things we can do with it. And speaking of doing things, there is not an independent wrestler on the planet who has been busier than Matt Cardona over the last few years.

In fact, there may not be a wrestler period that's been busier than him. When he got released from WWE in 2020, he completely reinvented himself from the Zach Ryder that he was, for 14 years. And now he's just dominating the Indies. He's popped up as well on Impact Wrestling, AEW.

And when Matt says that WWE was his developmental, he's not saying that as a bad thing. What he's saying is that that's where he learned how to be a star. And I mean, it's not hard to take notice now of everything that he's doing. But what's next for him? That's a lot of what we talk about here.

I mean, his wife, Chelsea Green, is back in WWE. And he's kind of wondering why he isn't. It's a good question, right? They brought back a lot of release talent, but they didn't bring back him. Or at least they haven't brought him back yet. So 2024 is going to be very, very interesting, I think, for Matt Cardona of the Royal Rumble.

Just around the corner, hey, that could be a thing. That could be a thing. If you enjoy this episode, please snap a screenshot and share, it on social media, tag us so that we can share it out as well. He's at the Matt Cardona. I'm at Chris Vanley. Make sure you share this with a friend as well. I'm sure they will love this episode and I know you will too. So here we go. Enjoy my conversation with Matt Cardona. Look, I don't think anybody hustles more than you do. I try my best.

Look at the day that we've had today. What time did you wake up in Florida? 505. 505 in Orlando. That's right. You flew here. So that's two weeks. 205 LA time. Okay. I picked you up from the airport. Yes. We had some breakfast. I need a healthy breakfast.

We had a very great spot. You want to plug this spot? That was so good, right? Do we want to plug it? Yeah, we can if you want. I don't forget what it was called. Metro Cafe. It was good.

Metro Cafe and El Segundo. Yeah. And then with traffic, it took us forever to get here. So thank you for your patience. Then you got a show tonight. GCW, not the Staple Center, but the Ukrainian Cultural Center. It's not even the Staple Center anymore. It'll always be the Staples Center to me.

It's crypto.com. And then you fly out tomorrow. Flight tonight, red eye. Dude. Red eye, baby. So you're in L.A. for 14 hours. Something like that. And this is every weekend.

I mean, typically not a flight to L.A. and a red eye out. But, yeah, every weekend, I'm wrestling traveling. I think you might be in the air today more than you're on the ground. It's going to be close. Five and a half hours-hour-ish, yeah. It's going to be close. And you've been grinding like this for like three years. Pretty much.

So I get fired from WWB in 2020. The next year is weird with the pandemic, stuff like that. So I don't think I really get started on the Indies until 2021. So, yeah, it's about three years. Your dog must be so excited when you're finally home. You're never coming back. You're very excited every time I come home. I don't think there's anybody else that's hustling the way that you're hustling on the Indies.

I'd like to think that. I also think I'm the best at promoting myself. There's certainly other people out there wrestling every weekend. I don't think they realize how beneficial it is to post about it, to let people know. So, like, are you talking about upcoming bookings? Upcoming or, for instance, tonight, GCW. I'll post about it all next week, clips of what happened, pictures, and then repeat. Renslaz repeat.

Yeah, that's right. But I saw you last weekend in Milwaukee. That particular weekend, I was in New York, Friday. Okay. Wisconsin, Saturday, New York Sunday. Because this isn't a WWB loop where the travel department is mapping it out. It's wherever the booking takes me.

So what's your, when you get on an airplane, what's your whole thing? Shoes off. Okay. Shoes off. You're that guy. Headphones in. Okay. Timer on the podcast.

I listen to a podcast. I do 15 minutes and usually I'm asleep by that 15 minutes. Oh, thank you for listening to Insight with Chris Van Fleet to put you to sleep. It's mostly like a. This is going to say we're like a Disney theme park podcast. I feel like their voices are very soothing. You're such a nerd. That's amazing.

So it's sleep on the plate. So I'm guessing it's a window seat. Window seat? Yeah, 100%. So you're dealing with all of these different independent companies that are booking you. You must be getting all kinds of different things. Are they trying to fly you on Spirit? That's my rule.

I will fly any airline except for Spirit or Frontier. I won't do it. I won't do it. So, yeah, it's not dealt to every. I think 2024, I'm going to be a real thing. travel snob. It's the only Delta. And you'll be diamond medallion.

I'm already diamond, but yeah. That's the top one, right? That's the top, yeah. Oh, then it's all downhill from here. Well, let's just keep going to Delta, maybe. Yeah. And you were saying to me last weekend, it blew my mind. You're like, I rent my own car in every city I go to.

Yeah, because typically, let's say you were booking me for your insight wrestling federation. Yeah, the number one wrestling federation of the country. You know, you'd fly me in, you'd have one of your little minions come pick me up from the airport. They'd take me to breakfast. They'd probably take me to a gym. I'd have to be with them all day. I don't want to do that.

You know, I don't want to talk to this guy or girl all day. I also don't want to be rude to be in my phone and not talk to them. I'd rather eat the rental car cost, go to the gym, go to a vintage toy store, you know, or go back to a hotel and sleep. I'd just like to be in control of everything. So you feel like you're buying some of your time back? Is that what it is? I'm on the road so much.

This is my life. So I need to be comfortable. I need to be comfortable with my own skin. I don't want to be talking to a stranger. Yeah. I think that here we are three plus years later. People are looking at what you've done. They're going, man, Matt was so smart to do this.

Will I get fired? I think the after the getting fired part. But so smart to like rebrand yourself the way that you did. Had to do it. I don't imagine that this came easily. Listen, this wasn't this master plan. Like, ooh, how can I reinvent myself? I knew I had to.

And like I said, when I got fired, it was the pandemic. There was really nothing going on. Had the cup of coffee in AEW. That didn't work out. But then like, okay, so I'm Matt Cardona, but who is Matt Cardona? Even I didn't know that. And even when I was in WWE towards the end, I dropped the headband, drop the glasses, drop the woo-woo, but I don't think people really recognize that,

you know, because I wasn't really featured that much on TV, which is fine. Yeah. But now everything was in my control. But you can't just turn heel on the Indies. You know, I'm saying you can't just be a different character one day. It's not going to work. So it was that death match with Nick Gage that really was the catalyst, the snowball that I needed that changed not just my career, but changed my life. Whose idea was it to even do that?

So John Carlo, my friend John Carlo, who was working for GCW at the time, worked for, worked for WW, now works for AW. Awesome dude. He pitched to me. It's absolutely fucking not. I have not wrestling. Nick Gaines is just on dark side of the ring. Yeah. Right?

He almost killed David Arquette in the ring. Criminal. He almost died himself as well. Drug addict. I'm not wrestling this guy. And then I took this step back. I said, wait a minute. People are going to watch this.

People are going to talk about this. They're going to want to see Zach Rattel get carved up by Nick Gage. And I said, let's do it. And it was only a three-shot deal, three shows. Go in, attack Nick Gage, have the match, and then the one show after. But I think we changed independent wrestling. I say we, because without GCW, you know,

GCW needed to be GCW. I needed to be me. Nick Gage needed to be Nick Gage. We just needed all those ingredients. You know what I'm saying? And like that night, you know, if you really look at it, it's an independent show in Atlantic City, New Jersey. But it trended, number one, over the UFC pay-per-view that night

and the Olympics, which is nuts. And we captured, you know, lightning in a bottle. You hear the expression all the time. We had it. And I just ran with it. And people legitimately hated you in GCW. I see like they still kind of do. Yeah, but that's what I needed because it, you know, it bled into other Indies where I'd go out 25% other fans.

Oh, fuck you. Then 50%, then 70, now 100%. You know, like, we talked about this earlier. There are definitely some WWE fans who come up to me now, like, what do you do these days? Like, they got just retired. But if you're in the indie scene, if you're a fan of independent wrestling, you know, like, Zach Ryder's fucking dead, you know? Yeah.

Well, it's interesting that, like, if someone has only watched WWE and they are not aware of what you've done since, they might think you're not wrestling anymore. Listen, it happens all the time. You know, I'm at these conventions, you know, I'm counting all this cash. I'm so happy. I'm like, I'm killing it.

Then someone goes, oh, what do you've been doing? And I'm thinking, well, look at my goddamn table. You know, like, I'm in Death Match King, Indie guys. NDAW world champion, but I understand because when I was a fan, I didn't watch independent wrestling. I was a WWF kid. I didn't watch. I mean, it was different time, different era.

Indie wrestling wasn't what it was. Yeah, I totally understand it. I get it. It still's like, come on motherfucker. Like, you don't follow me on social media. Winter is here, and for me that means struggling to find the exact dry temperature when I sleep. Too hot, too cold.

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The Royal Rumble is just around the corner and as of this moment, the odds on favorites to win the men's Royal Rumble are Cody Rhodes and CM Punk. But who do you think is going to win? Put your money where your mouth is at my bookie. Yes, you can bet on WWPLEs at mybooky.orgie. And of course you can bet on everything else there. The NFL, boxing, UFC. You can even bet on politics or your favorite TV shows there. When you sign up, use My Code CVV, number one, so they know that I'm the one who sent you there to bet on WWPLEs. Number two, and more importantly, you'll get a sweet cash bonus when you sign up with my code CVV and make your first deposit. That's at my bookie. The link is down there in the show notes.

Bet anything, anytime, anywhere, only my bookie. How many Zach Ryder autographs do you sign for every Mac Cardona autographs? There are a few. One out of ten. Really? Yeah. And it'll be someone bringing like a Zach Ryder, Funko Pop, or an action figure. Yeah.

Like, if you go to my gimmick table, like, I'm not living in the past year. I'll give you that one Zach Ryder 8 by 10, but it's all the stuff I'm doing now. It's all my current stuff. Did you realize when you got Let Go from WWE that you had to move forward, you had to leave Zach Ryder behind to move forward? I say this all the time. This isn't my honky tonk man run.

I wasn't going to just tour the Indies with the headband, the glasses. Woo, woo, woo. Oh, no, this is like my reinvention. This is my Hollywood Hogan run, if anything. You know what I'm saying? With the dark being aired and all. It's all natural, by the way.

But yeah, I knew I needed to change. I knew like Zach, listen, so, so grateful for WWE, for Zach Ryder. That was my dream. I lived it. Highs of highs, low, sub lows. I'm forever grateful for that time. It set me up for who I am today,

but it's over. You know, Zach Ryder is dead. And if I ever want to go back to WWE, if it was up to me, it'd be as Matt Cardona. You didn't really have a choice because you were let go. But when did you realize along your indie run that, yeah, I'm able to make a business out of this? Well, that first year was a little tough because there were no indies,

but we had the major wrestling figure podcast, cheap plug for the podcast. And that was keeping us afloat financially. And I realized, like, there's so much money to be made on merchandise, whether it be T-shirts, 8x10s, action figures. So when I created all that stuff for the major wrestling favorite podcasts, like, well, I'll just do that for my indie run. You know, I'll make Mac Cardona foam fingers,

Mac Cardona, you know, T-shirts. Well, now we have Indy God replica hats. Death Match King, replica, I mean, I got everything. If you think of it, if you could put it on something, you can slap the logo on it, I have it.

But are you worried that you have to like, now I've got to pay it for the inventory up front. You got to invest in yourself. And there are things that are absolute flops. Like, for instance, okay, I'll give you two sides. The death match with Nick Gage, okay?

I had this bloody. I knew I was going to, I thought I was going to get a couple drops of blood on me. So I wore like white, bro. The white turned maroon. The shirt was maroon. I'm like, I got to sell this somehow. Now I'm a diehard collector, diehard fan.

I said, wouldn't it be cool if it was like that WrestleMania plaque with an autograph and a piece of the canvas? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I contacted that company, the actual company, and I made the plaque that has the picture of me bloody. They cut up the t-shirt. I made $20,000, over $20,000 on that, on a t-shirt, essentially.

But then on the flip side, right, I thought, oh, the Death Match King Crown. Let me make like Burger King style crowns. Yeah. Sounds like $10. bucks. I can't give them away. Nobody wants them. So, you know, like, but I'm taking the chance. You know, I'm taking risk and some are calculators, some are not, but I'm trying. Most people aren't willing to do that. You got to invest in yourself, whether it be with merch, you invest in

yourself. You're a perfect example. Thank you. It's very kind. I got to put you over in your own show. I appreciate it. And I think there's a lot of people that wouldn't pay to fly to do an interview. Like, I flew myself to Milwaukee last weekend. There were a lot of people that wouldn't fly to rent a studio like this. I'll just send them the Zoom. Sure. Sure. But there's a quote that I always come back to, and it's if you're willing to do things that other people aren't willing to do, you're going to get

results that other people aren't going to get. Well, that's why I'm the Indy God and nobody else is. Exactly. I'm surprised Disney hasn't reached out to be like, Hey, let's put the brakes. That's parody. Parity. Come on. But the GCP, let's edit that out. The GCW thing

completely changed the entire course of your career in your life. It definitely did. I mean, listen, I'm not going to say how much I made in WWE in my highest year, but I make more of the independence. Now, it's crumbs make crumb cake. It's from the wrestling bookings, the merch, the podcast, the figure line that I have. So it all adds up. But yeah, like the money is out there, the opportunity is out there. You just got to chase it. Is it a hustle? Yes. Is it a grind? Yes. Is it hard work? Yes. Some days, does it fucking suck? Yes. but I am my own boss and I'm this run my career it's not over until I quit and I'm not going to

fucking quit and you keep out doing yourself yeah every year so here we are on the cusp of 2024 right are you not looking at it going oh my god 2022 is better than I could have imagined then 2023 top that yeah what do I do now of course I'm thinking that of course I'm looking at the mirror what am I going to do to top the previous years I'm always ready it's not just a gimmick, you know, I'm going to figure it out. I know I will. Do I have this master plan? Absolutely not. I don't, I don't have this master plan, but I am going to outwork anybody out there. I know that for sure. How far out are you booked right now? I got a couple of books. I think the last booking I have for the year is like July 1st. What July? It's December. World Series Wrestling Australia,

baby. Oh my God. Yeah. So if I'm an indie promoter and I want to book Matt Cardona, Walk me through this. Book Matt Cardona at gmail.com. Okay. You'll email me. I'll say, What dates, pal? Because sometimes, like,

I just want to book you. Okay, well, what are the dates? Everyone wants to book me. Be specific. How humble. Everyone wants to book me. But if I have the date available, I'll give you my price.

If you take it, I'll work for you. If you try to negotiate? No, I don't negotiate. I don't have to. Are there other, like, okay, this is my rate. And I would like to not fly Spirit.

And I guess my rules I won't do Spirit. I won't do. Which I think is very fair. I think so, too. Especially if you're bringing, you have three bags. Yeah. So first of all, this is only a one day. True.

If it was another day, another bag with my whole mall that I bring. Oh, you know how much spirits charging per bag? Exactly. Exactly. So I think I'm pretty easy to deal with. You know, I don't request certain hotels. I don't request certain airlines, which I think I should for 2024, but I don't yet. I think you should.

I think it's very easy. you know when I'm there, you know when you book Matt Cardona, not only will I promote the show going in, I'm going to bust my ass at the show. Yeah. And I'm going to promote the show afterwards selfishly for me. Yeah. Content for me. I think it's both good and bad. You're raising the bar for the other indie wrestlers in a good way and a bad way. I think so. And listen, this is not this is not the run to pass the torch, right? There's not what it's about. I'm lighting a new torch for myself. But if I can help people along the way, so be it. If I can change independent wrestling. If I can get fucking water bottles backstage for the locker room, I'll be that guy.

That's a real thing. Yes. And there are people, you know, who are too afraid to speak up about certain things. Like, listen, I understand paying your dues. You got to split a room with somebody. Okay. I don't think you need to split a bed with somebody. Now, I don't, I don't do that. But I want to change certain things for the people who can't necessarily speak up. And if it's getting water, water bottles backstage, then I'll be that guy. So what's the end goal with doing this? I don't feel like you can top what you've done so far in the Indies. You can certainly keep the momentum going.

I certainly don't want to end my career in a high school gym, in a bar. You know, I want to end it in an arena, whether it be WWAE, AEW, something else starts up. That is the goal. But also the goal is not. what can I do to get back to WWE or what can I do to get it? I don't think about it like that. You know, I'm the most successful I've ever been right now. I don't care how you define

success. We talked about this before. Accolades, like, my PWA ranking. You know what I'm saying? Was higher as back in the road than ever was his Accurray. I won more titles. What number were you? I was 13 last year, which is nuts. 13! Which is nuts. One more titles.

You know, this is the BS stuff that people want to count. Yeah. I got it. I'm also making more money and the most important part. I'm the happiest I've ever been. That's the most important. Creatively fulfilled I've ever been. Yeah.

But I'd be lying if I said, oh, if my phone rang is a 203, which is Stanford Connecticut, of course I would pick it up, you know? Of course. I mean, your wife is there. And I think when Chelsea got re-signed, a lot of people went, well, that's not far behind. Yeah. It's got to be, if it's not this week, it's got to be sometime around now.

That feels like a phone call. It's going to happen at some point. I mean, I'll be honest, when all those people got to, rehired. I was thinking, not me. The guy who has been doing everything. What was the prerequisite to get and resign? Not doing anything. You know what I'm saying? Besides like Chelsea and like the good brothers and a handful of others, some most people didn't do anything. But that's fine. Everyone has a different path, different story. Do I have a chip on my shoulder about that? I wouldn't say a chip on my shoulder. It sounds like it. A little crumb. A little crumb on his shoulder. Listen, this isn't about proving people wrong. It's about

proving myself right, my fans, right? If I can convert some doubters and get some new fans along the way, so be it. You know, but I can't have this goal of being the absolute best with, like, negativity driving it, if that makes sense. It's almost like being as successful as you've been as Matt Cardona has been a detriment to who you were as Zach Ryder. Because as you know, there's a lot of WWE fans that only watch WWA, as we just talked about. So when the name Matt Cardona comes up on the screen as a surprise.

entry in the Royal Rumble. There's going to be a lot of people with great respect to you that are going to go, Matt Cardona. And then when you come out, oh, I remember him. Sure. So it's almost like you have succeeded your way out of that gimmick. Yeah. At the same time, this is all hypothetical, whether it be the Royal Rumble or a raw Smackdown,

if that O radio music hit, I would puke. You know, I would puke. I would puke. I legit vomit. You know, so like, like I said, so grateful for that time. It set me up for my career, my life. Listen, without Zach Ryder, there'd be no indie god.

Okay? I'm not blind to that fact. Yeah. Okay? So I took the WWE character and I, instead of using it to get like cheers, I usually to get booze. I was then now forever. You know, I turned the GCW world title into the GCW Universal Championship.

I call the GCW fans the GCW universe. They fucking hate it. You know, so like I'm using all this stuff from WWE. I love WWE. That was my goal. When I was a kid, I don't want to be a pro wrestler. I wanted to be a WWE superstar. Yeah.

Do you not like the song? The Zach Ryder song? Oh, radio. Listen, I love it, but it's over. The time has passed. Are you using the Downstate song now? I have my downstate. They did my own song.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that song's pretty great. It's great. So Downstate, they redid the O radio towards the end of my WWE career, which I liked. Yeah.

And then once I got let go, they said, hey, if you ever need music, I'm going to, well, yeah, I need music now. Always ready. Yeah, when the lights go down. That's right. Available now. Spotify, Apple Music, a lot of stuff. I was listening to her on the way in. It's fantastic.

Downstate was like, you know, if you ever need a song for your podcast, I'm like, actually. Yeah. What should I? You need something. They're great. And what's so great about them, they've done so many different wrestling songs. They don't all sound the same. Yeah.

It sounds like a different band performance. It really does. It really does. Because you think of Ms.'s song, Ziegler's song, Cody's song. Alex. That song, Slaps. That song, Slaps. That's on the show.

I had him on three, four years, four years ago. He's a man. He lived in L.A. for a while. He was doing a bunch of stuff in the acting world. Yes. I had him on here. I don't know where he is now. I'm not sure either. I should have him back on.

You should. Tell me all of your connections and we'll have him on the show. That'd be great. But his song, slaps. Tell me to. my face? Say it to my face. Say it to my face. He did, Donse did Chelsea's song when she was released, her indie song, her impact song. Myself and Brian Myers, the major players did that. Yeah. I've used them when I did Hammerstein Ballroom for GCW. I had them redo like Enter Sandman,

but with my lyrics. Oh, yeah. So they're just so talented. So good. I was so surprised when you put out this YouTube video the other day and you were like, here's how to make money. Is it any wrestling? You basically gave out all my secrets. All of your secrets. And what's funny is a lot of people are probably not going to do them. They're probably not. And maybe I shouldn't have put that out. But like I do genuinely want to help people.

This isn't what the runs about. But like when I get to these shows, let's say the show starts at eight, doors are at seven. Like you have an hour to meet and greet these fans. Yes, you're selling merch. You're making money, making additional income. But you should be making a connection. And there's guys and girls in the back just like going over. their moves. And yes, the match is, I'm not saying to have a bad match.

Yeah. Maybe get there a little earlier to go over the match and then go sell some merch. You know what I'm saying? Like, there is money to be made. My goal, every show is to make more money in the meet and greet that I do for wrestling. Doesn't always happen, but that is the goal. Great goal. I think there's a lot of indie wrestlers that don't want to stand at the table and just stand at the table. And I get it. You don't want to be lonely version. I get it. I get it. But you've got to make that connect without the connection. The connection is what has. has made me successful my entire career. Yeah.

I think what's interesting, I love that you keep calling it a run because it's a run when you kind of zoom out. Yeah. But when you zoom in and it's New York, Milwaukee, New York, L.A., like it's not really a run because everything you're doing is so disconnected. Yes, yes.

How do you tell, how do you have a through line when you're at the ABC company one day, the XYZ company the next day? I think I just, I'm always myself. and I always can blend it all together. And with the social media, you know, I can make it all blend together. I've stepped the lander. I start getting her booked other places where it's not just GCW.

She's coming to ASW, West Virginia with me. You know what I'm saying? She's showing up other places with me. So I try to make everything at least connected in that way. How much caffeine is running through your system? Well, is this a plug for you. I mean, you can certainly have some. F3 energy, everybody.

It's fantastic. But like, you must have got what? four hours of sleep last night? I sleep a lot on the plane, but yeah. Okay, and then you'll do it again tonight. It is what it is. I'm not complaining about it. And I'm just curious how it works,

because it's not like you can go out there and half acid. No, and I don't. And so typically I'll leave Friday morning, do the show wherever, sleep a couple hours, fly Saturday morning to the next show. So then next morning, fly Sunday to next show, then fly Monday home. I actually think the indie schedule is harder than what my WWE schedule.

was because yeah maybe that's four days but you only have two early morning flights you know what i'm saying so every night you're driving two hours three hours maybe four hours you can sleep in all day you know what i'm saying yeah you can you can plan your meals better yeah because i could plan your workouts better who's home more you or chelsea i mean currently she is but that could change very soon too people were so mad when you wore her w w w w w wmonds team championship i'm well i'm one half one half of the WWE women's tag team champions. I mean, when she won that title, I'll never forget, I ordered the title that night because I was going to Japan that weekend,

ordered it like overnight delivery, pay the extra shipping because I wanted to bring it out to Japan. Did you use a coupon code? Did I, I don't think so. He should have. I should have. If you have one, give it to me. People thought that was her actual title. I know.

That was unbelievable. Like, guys, come on. Come on. And I love that you played into it. You're like, yeah, sure. Why not? It's a replica. If you think it's her title, then sure, it's her title.

Maybe I should have asked her first. You didn't ask her? She knew what I was doing. It wasn't a shock to her, but I should have said, hey, are you okay if I do this? I just did it. You didn't ask her? Yeah. You should have maybe not asked.

You could have told her. Hey, I'm going to do this thing. I told her. I didn't ask her. Okay. You know what I'm saying? I just see what you mean. Yeah, yeah.

I should have asked her. So you told her after you did it? I told her that I was doing it. Uh-huh. Yeah. I should have asked her before I ordered it on WWE Shop. shop. People were so upset.

It got people talking. I sure did. It's all about. I'm chasing that next buzz. That's what this whole indie run is that's how I have to stay relevant. I'm not on AW. I'm not on WWE. I don't have this TV show worldwide.

I have to promote myself. So I have to create buzz. I have to, you know, if I have buzz and I have momentum, keep it alive until the next thing that's going to get me buzz and momentum. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup.

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Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You said something to me when we were having breakfast. It was just so interesting. You said, I'm always on. Like, I always have to be thinking about this. That's got to be difficult, especially when you're in a relationship, your wife,

is also in the same business. So Chelsea and I, we had this conversation a couple weeks ago. She said, when you were in WWE, you were able to turn it off. And that's true. And we might have talked about this

in the last interview. When I was in WWE, towards the end, after the YouTube run, when I got, I think I invented the negative tweet, you know, with like, rider versus catering all that BS.

I said, this isn't working. Being negative and bitter, it's not, it's not changing my position. It's certainly not happier. So what can I do to fix that? What can I control?

Focus on those things. I decided your gear. No one can say you can't look like a superstar. It can't look like it's a WrestleMania entrance, even on raw, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Your physique.

No one can say you can't work out. Oh, you're too good of shape, you know? And my attitude. No one can say you can't be happy. You can't, you know, be positive.

So once I, focus on those things. And of course, I was pitching ideas all day long, but then, you know, that's it. Like, what else can I possibly do? But now on the Indies, I control literally everything. Everything. So my brain never stops. And it's not just, it's not just the wrestling. It's my podcast. It's my toy line. So, man, it's my brain is never off. It feels like there's a lot of parallels of what you're doing now to what Cody did 2016 to 19. It's like you reinvent yourself, you do your own thing, you create a buzz. That seemed to have an end goal there.

Right. I'm so curious where this ends up leading you. Well, you and me both, pal. So, like, you know, I definitely stole things from the Drew McIntyre run. Oh, yeah. I stole things from the Cody Rhodes run. But then I did my own thing. Hopefully the next guy steals from all three of us.

You know what I'm saying? Sure. What's the end goal? I don't know. Do you have the next guy? Like, there's been so much. many released since you got released. Has there been a lot of people hitting you up?

Like, does Dolph Ziegler go? A couple of people have asked me. How do I make some money doing this story? Yeah, well, I mean, I think Ziegler's going to be fine. Yeah. But yeah, I think there's a lot of people. I'm like, I'm anxious to see these people come because I just want some competition. I love it.

I literally, I say on Twitter to all these, these guys and girls, somebody, please step up. This is too easy. You know, I was the, we talk about accolades, right? The PWA, independent rest of the year list. year. Spoiler, I won't again this year. Okay, I don't know where this episode comes out. That's two years in a row. An ex-W-E guy should not be the PWA independent rest of the year twice. Yeah. Step up. And if that pisses someone off who's listened to this, good. Please. Please. That's all. I just want competition. And I'm not saying I'm the best wrestler.

I'm not. Yeah. But who gives a shit about that? You're certainly the best promoter. Nobody creates more buzz than me. Yeah. Nobody has a a longer merch line than me consistently. Nobody also elevates other wrestlers like I do. Yeah, it's true. And I'm just begging for some competition. What was something you borrowed from Drew and something you borrowed from Cody? I just knew that you had to get that buzz.

It's all about that buzz because if you're not on TV, how are you going to get people to talk about you? Yeah. You know, luckily now with social, if there wasn't social media, there'd be no indie god. You know what I'm saying? Because, like, how would you promote yourself? Yeah. So it's all about perception and promoting yourself.

If it wasn't for Cody, it wouldn't be no Matt Cardona and Chelsea Green. So how, maybe Cody and Brandy? Okay, Cody and Brandy made this out. So how did Cody and Brandy make this happen? So this is early 2017. I just moved to Orlando. I'm out with a knee injury. And they were doing, Cody and Brandy were doing impact at the time, which was filming

at Universal Studios. We met up for dinner at the cowfish at the city walk. And Brandy was mentioning some girl backstage who was single, complaining about being single said it was Chelsea. I had no idea if she was. I'm like, I date a wrestling chick. You know what I'm saying? Then I don't know what happened. Maybe I slitted to her DMs or something like that.

Maybe. I don't know. Now we're married with the rest is history. So yeah, I got to thank Cody and Brandy for that 100%. Is there anything that Chelsea does that is inherently Canadian? And I say this as a fellow Canadian. Do you ever catch it in her accent?

I definitely catch her in her accent. Does she still have an accent? A little bit, yeah. I have worked so hard to eliminate my accent. So if you catch me saying sorry, let me know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe that's what she said. She says, sorry. Sorry?

Yeah. I'll do that tomorrow. A couple things like that are going to be so mad. I feel like she's worked pretty hard at getting rid of that. Yeah, I don't even know if she necessarily always had one, but I didn't, uh, when we first met also, I didn't realize, I knew she was from Canada. I didn't realize the time she lived in Canada, you know, so because she was always in the States for like Indies and TNA.

And then I'm like, once I got a little too deep, like, wait a minute. You live in Canada? I'm about doing this long distance thing. So kind of like out of like necessity, I said, hey, you want to move it? I'm not dealing with this long distance stuff. Yeah, look at you guys now. Look at us now. Hey, it's so good.

It's working out. But I would, was there any sort of like, I don't know, what were the feelings when she got called back? And you didn't. I was so happy for her because it wasn't even a discussion. Like, was it kind of messing up my whole stick on the Indies? Absolutely. You know, because she was my valet. She was always there involved in the matches, my road buddy, everything.

But I knew she had to go back because she never had a cup of coffee at W. She'd even have, she put the little pot in the currague and didn't press brew. You know what I'm saying? She never had a taste. Yeah. She had to go back. She had to experience it. And look at her now.

You know, she's on every week, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, tag team champion, going to get figures. Like, I'm so glad. I'm so proud of it. She looks like a star. She is a star. Yeah. And, you know, she had a couple of bad breaks, literally with her wrist twice. You know, her first NXT match breaks, first Smackdown match breaks,

ends up getting fired. But she's a hustler, too. I don't think you'll remember this, but I ran into you at the Talent Hotel at WrestleMania 32, Dallas. I was hanging out with Dolph Ziegler and he was like, oh, do you know Brozky? Yeah. Which is funny to me that everyone calls you Brosky. Some people still do, yeah. And I was like, you're in the latter match tomorrow, right?

And the way that we talked about it, it's like, you were just like, yeah, I guess. some doing that thing. Yeah. Did you not know? I knew. Oh, you did know? I knew, yeah. You knew you were going to win

the intercontinental championship? So if you want the whole backstory. Let's give it to me. So at that time, I was also going to NXT on my off days to try to get this hype gross thing, you know, me and Mojo.

Yeah. But then I was still going to Raw, Smackdown, you know, and before Raw on Smackdown, they were filming, whatever it was, main event, superstars, whatever.

And this goes back to the always ready and the three things I could control. Forget who I was wrestling. But the next day at Sam Acton, I heard that Vince, Vince McMahon was in his, you know, his dressing room, his office, whatever, before Raw, eating a steak or whatever. I just looked up and I was on main event. I said, why aren't we doing something with this guy? Wow. And then a couple weeks later, I heard I was on this internal list to be in the ladder match.

Like, what? Me? Like, I'm not even on TV. Like, I'm not doing anything. And then, of course, the next week I heard, I'm off the list. But it was cool to be considered, right? Yeah. And so Pock, Neville was going to be the last guy.

In that latter match, he, like, breaks his ankle or something on a Monday. And Tuesday, I found everyone I could, Road Dog specifically, who was, you know, high up on the riding team of the time, and I just spilled my guts to him on why I deserve to be in that match over anybody. And one thing that I said, which was not a plan line, it just came out, was that I'd never heard my music play at WrestleMania. And he later told me, like, that line is what made him go to bat for me. Because I'd been, you know, some run-ins with Edge and Undertaker,

every gimmick battle royal under the sun, the team Johnny versus Team Teddy, but I never heard my music play. So the fact that I was in that ladder match to walk out, that was the win. That was a win right there, but the cherry on top was actually winning the title. Yeah, how do you go from being in the match,

not being in the match, to being back in the match, to then winning the match? How did you leap frog over? I don't know exactly what happened, but I wasn't going to question it. Like, that's insane. Well, I think they wanted a surprise.

shock value to start the show. And luckily, I was that guy, that underdog, you know. And I will credit, whether it be the W.O. Universe or my fans around the world, they've never turned their back on me. You know, I don't think anyone in this business has been counted out more times and come back more times than me. Did you know your dad was going to jump in the room? I did not know either.

I didn't tell him I was winning. What they do is for like a WrestleMania, they'll have all like the friends and family in a certain area, but they'll bring you down for that match. Yeah. So I won, and I think Ziegler, like, come on. And he just hopped the rail. And I remember looking down the ladder, like, what are you doing, Dad? What are you doing?

And then it was WrestleMania in Dallas. So, of course, he's wearing the, the WrestleMania cowboy hat. And he tries to put it on my head. I'm like, get this fucking thing off me, you know? But looking back, this is another story. Looking back when I got fired from WWV, it was that day, everyone was getting fired. I knew it was coming. And when I got the call, actually, I got a text to call them.

So I knew I was making the call on the fucking thing. I have this, I don't have many wrestling things in my house besides my toy room, right? But other than that, it looks like a normal house. But I have this painting from Rob Schenberg of me and my dad hugging at WrestleMania. And as Jesus out, I looked at that photo with a smile and like, it's going to be fine. You know, I got fired. Wow. The other big moment that I always think about is you in the wheelchair.

Oh boy. It looked so painful. It took like a front bump on your face. It was painful for my career. It was painful for my wallet, my self-esteem, but physically it wasn't painful. But you can't practice a spot like that. You cannot practice it. So they did put a little bit of padding under that carpet, but that's about it.

Like the room for error was very, very high. Kane pushes you right off. Cain, Big Glad, thank you very much. He took care of me the best he could. But no physical injury is just a lot of emotional. Injuries and financial injuries. What do you mean? Well, I mean, that was the end of that.

that YouTube run, you know, that that run that started from nothing because even then I knew I needed to, I didn't like my spot in the card and I had to do something about it. Yeah, I pitched every idea under the sun. It wasn't working. So be it. I'm going to do something about it. So I had a flip camera and I'm like, I'm going to start this YouTube show thing. I didn't have a master plan.

The goal wasn't to be a YouTube sensation. The goal was to get notice. And I've said this a bunch of times, I want to get noticed or get fired. I didn't want to get fired, but I knew I needed buzz. So if I got fired for trying to get over, I'd use that buzz to, like, go to TNA or something like that. You know? And then what happened with that YouTube show?

I mean, it speaks for itself how crazy it became. Starting the year as an absolute nobody, ending it, winning the U.S. title, teaming with John Cina. Like, I thought, if you asked me then, I thought, oh, I'll be in the world title picture next year. How many times before 2020 did you think, oh, man, here it comes. I'm getting let go. A few times, but then there was this, the time period, we're like, no one got fired.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And even before 2020, so maybe it's 2019. I don't want to say everybody, but the majority of the people in locker room got offered a new deal with a, for a five-year deal with a substantial raise. Oh, that's when they didn't want everyone going to do their company. You said it not be. And I didn't take the deal because I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay or go. and it

weighed on me every single day. Like, what am I going to do? Am I going to say? Am I going to go? And ultimately, the decision was made for me, thank God. Yeah,

I didn't know what I wanted to do. I knew I didn't want to just be a guy on the roster. Even now, like I don't want to go to WW or AEW just be a guy on the roster. Been there, done that. And if someone is doing that or wants to do that,

fine. I'm not saying that's right or wrong. It's just not right for me. Is that what happened in AEW? When I was there? I don't know what happened. I mean, I have three shirts and two matches. No, I came in.

I helped Cody. We had a tag match against the Dark Order. Did like a pay-per-view, like 10-man tag, and I thought I'd be brought back the next week, and I wasn't. Yeah. So I don't know exactly what happened. I mean, if anyone knows, let me know. But I know, like, the first week, I had the number one shirt.

You know, I think the matches were fine. I literally didn't do enough for it to be positive or negative. Yeah. Blessing in disguise because if I went there and I didn't do GCW, I wouldn't be sitting here with you now. I mean, that's the whole thing about your career. Your career is so much about taking chances and asking. Like a lot of what you've done, even with like edgeheads.

It's just about like, hey, could this be a thing that we do? So that's another Brian and I idea. So we were the major brothers doing nothing really on TV. We're on SmackDown, but we were still having to go to OVW. And so smackdown's a Tuesday And all the writers were coming down to OVW on Wednesday And me and Brian, we went up to, Kurt Hawkins, we went up to Michael Hayes.

I said, what are we going to show you tomorrow at OVW? Like, you know what we do. And he said, show me something different. Okay. So, like, we had this idea. Entourage was a big show then. And Brian and I, we love that show. We're like, what if, like, Edge is Vinny Chase

and we're his entourage, right? And we had all his stuff, right? So, like, the way it would work in OVW is you've come out, you'd have a match, but beforehand, you could, like, do an entrance and cut a promo for the writers. So, like, we hit Edge's music. We came out, dressed his Edge, and we had, like, fake phone call with Edge, like, ordering his coffee, or, like, getting his coffee order. It's good. And then they loved it. And he said, that's great, but you got to Pitch it to Edge. And Edge was out with an injury. We didn't really know him that well. I think Brian, like,

somehow got his email and pitched him this idea we had where we would, like, hide under the ring, dressed as him. And that's what we ended up doing, where it was Batista, versus Undertaker versus Edge where like I come out, dresses Edge and, you know, Batista takes me out, thinking it's Edge. And then Hawkins comes out his Edge and Under, uh,

is Undertaker Batista, whatever. I don't know which one did what, but you think Edge has been taken out twice, but Edge is fine and cracks them with chairs and wins. And the rest of history. I just love it's the idea of like, can we just try this thing. Yeah.

And there's so many people that aren't willing to take a chance. Right. And that's what you've done your entire career. Well, I mean, that one, thank God. Edge took the chance on us. Because if it wasn't for that, If Edge didn't need us, you know, he didn't need Hawkins and the Rider. He didn't need the Edgeheads, but he was smart enough to realize it would be something different for his career.

And it helped us out tremendously. And I think we would have gotten fired then if we didn't become Edgeheads. Did you end up getting pretty close to Edge through that? Absolutely. I mean, we had the life lesson of a lifetime, really, because we were ringside. This guy is a world champion, wrestling guys like Rick Flair, Betteista, Sean Michael's, Undertaker. and we have a front row seat. We're literally closer

in the front row, you know, listening, not only to them planning the match and them calling the match, adjusting things on the fly. I mean, what a life lesson. Yeah, and I feel like you're, you're in a spot now

where I'm sure in every indie locker room, new guys are coming up to you, new girls are coming up to and going, how can I do what you do? Right. What do you say to them? I mean, it doesn't happen as much as you're thinking. Really?

But, you know, I try to express, like, how important social media and self-promotion is. Yes, I'm not saying the matches aren't important. They are. But without the connection, who cares? You just do it moves. So I try to tell them how important that social media is. I mean, you know this, but anybody.

I mean, social media, it's a double-edged sword. It's free. It's free advertisement, but it's free for everybody. So there's so much competition. So how are you going to stand out? That I can't answer. You've got to figure that out for yourself. Yeah.

But I let these guys and girls know, like, why aren't you post? I don't know anything about algorithm. I just post, post, post, post, post, post, post. Because I know people, they're just swiping through their phone. And hopefully I'm going to pop up. I take a big wad of spaghetti

and I throw it at the wall. Like this clip right here that my editor Troy is making, you don't know which ones are going to work. You don't know. You can hope. You can think. And it's,

it's crazy that, you know, you have more than a million followers. Oh, this only got a thousand likes, 2,000 likes. That's a thousand humans that looked at that. Click the like button. Yeah.

And it's another thing. I don't post things for likes, you know? You're just posting it to post? Whether it's something I think, like people want to see or if something I just want to get out there, you know, like, I'll post whatever I want. Yeah. I don't care what the likes are. Yeah. I don't really look at them.

Of course, I'll look at the comment on gauge, but I was like, oh, this one only got, you know, sometimes I, Chelsea will post something. I'm like, well, why did you delete that? Oh, it didn't get enough likes. Who cares? This water went down the wrong way. We're lying down. Seriously. There we go.

That was the right way. What's the thing in WWE? What's the spot or the move that you took that hurt a ton but didn't look like it hurt a lot? That's a, man, that's a great question. I can't really think of an answer. You know what? It did hurt. Knocked the wind out of me when Kane, another thing with Kane, he chokeslammed me through the stage.

and I went all the way to the floor and just like knocked the wind out of me, you know? Because it's still a big drop. Of course. Of course, there's a little padding underneath, but still, whoo-f,

it rocked, because you have to use enough force to go through the metal stage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He definitely rocked me for sure. But Cain, he always took care of me.

I mean, look at all the things he did to me. He chokeslam me off a loading dock. You know, he pushed me up the stage in a wheelchair, choke slam me through the stage, but he always, he always took care.

And what did Cain have against you? Come on. And I was, see, I was so naive at the time that I'm like, oh my God, I'm in this angle with Kane and John Cena. I'm like, well, maybe I'm going to wrestle Kane at WrestleMania and get my revenge. You know what I'm saying? So I was so naive where I wasn't even thinking, like in retrospect, I should have went up to Vince McMahon, knocked on the door, said, what are we doing here?

You know, I busted my ass to get here. I'm selling all this merch. Why are we just literally like killing it, flushing it down? I never understood that, but I blame myself now. I'm never going to be one of those guys. Oh, they held me down or they buried me. F that. I want to take accountability.

I blame myself for not asking why is this happening. I blame myself for not trying to get it changed until it was too late. And luckily, I was able to come back, you know, with the WrestleMania a couple years later. And then after that, I was forgotten about and it came back again when the taggedy bills of a WrestleMania. Like, I just won't quit. That is just one thing I'm very proud of.

Like, I am not a quitter. And like, if someone writes me off, good. But I'm not right myself off. How do you feel when people describe your time in WWE underrated. Accurate? Yeah. Looking back, there's always things.

I like to blame myself. I don't want to like blame other people because I never want to, you know, all these old timers who blame so and so for this and that. Yeah. I never want to be that guy. Even that YouTube run, I look back and like, well, maybe what if I was like a little bigger, you know? Maybe if it wasn't as goofy.

You know, like I'd rather just take responsibility than pass it off on somebody else. Was Vince pretty approachable if you wanted to bounce ideas? off of him. He was to me, and that's something I didn't learn until later on. Because I grew up as Vince McMahon. Sure. I was intimidated. I was scared. In WWI, I grew up as a man and a wrestler. So towards the end, maybe it was too little too late. I went to Viserman about things. And he was definitely receptive. Did every idea pitch to him go through? No. But some did. But he listens to every idea? That's amazing. Like for instance, one time, it's right before WrestleMania 35. Hawkins and I were in

we're going to be in the Andre Battle Royal. And I wanted to pitch, this is when he still had the losing streak. And we had just gotten back together as a team. And I wanted to pitch, what if we were the last two guys in the Andrev Battle Royal? And I, like, sacrifice myself. Like, is I closed land me or something. You know, and like he gets a big win in his hometown or Jersey. They call it New York, but it's New Jersey.

So weird that the Jets and Giants play in a different state. But all right. So we went in to pitch that. Also, at that time for some reason, you would have to like, pitch your outfit and Vince had to approve it and Brian or Hawkins he pitched like some sort of Jets theme outfit

and according to Mark Carano was in charge Vince said no so like we had to go to Vince to like beg to get this Jets gear approved and we also pitched this WrestleMania battle royal idea turns out they had something with SNL for the you know for the battle roy

right yeah but all of a sudden we went in he said no he said yes to the gear no to the battle royal whatever a couple days later we got a phone call, hey, it's going to be you guys in revival for the tag team tiles of WrestleMania. Like, what? Like, I have to believe it's because we went in there and talked to him, brought up the street, brought up how we're going to be in our hometown. Like, that doesn't

just happen. We were doing nothing with the tag team chance at the time. Yeah. I think they were feuding with Gable and Bobby Rood. And I think it's because of that conversation that it just sparks something in his brain. It's, this again goes back to, you just got to ask, what the heck happened to me here? Is that emotional? Yeah. Wow. I don't think it was that. Okay. I don't know what happened. I'm dying here. It goes back again to you just got to ask. Yes.

And that's what you did. Yeah. And I wish I would have learned that earlier on, especially with that YouTube run. Like, what are we doing? Yeah. You know,

because I know for a fact, like I was definitely in like the top five of the merch, you know, like the popularity, it speaks for itself. I was getting chanted over the rock and Mass Square Garden. That's crazy.

It was working, right? But then it just stopped. I blame myself for not asking why. So we're going to see you at the Royal Rumble. No. Maybe. I don't know.

Yeah, who knows? Who knows? Listen, I'm always ready, right? And I really believe that if number whatever and my music hit, whether it be Macon or Zach Rutter, I do believe the place would go nuts. I honestly believe that. I think so. With everything you've done over the last, it'll be four years almost. Yeah.

So we'll see. Always ready, right? But currently, just a gimmick. Currently, I'm booked on the Jericho cruise. So they got to decide quick. So I'm going to end this conversation with the same question I ask everybody. By the way, thank you for making this happen. Well, thank you.

Great to be able to hang out with you. Breakfast. Yeah, well, why not? Now you're off to GCW. That's right. Steph DeLander's going to sit in that exact seat. It works out perfectly. Gratitude is such a big part of my life.

Yeah. I wake up every day. I say out loud, three things I'm grateful for. Five. Five. I got to beat out. Damn. Okay, give me five things you're grateful for then. I only do three.

So I'm grateful for Chelsea for sure, my best friend, my wife, everything like that. I'm not going to get so sentimental about that. You're not going to get choked up. Grateful for my pets, my dogs, my two dogs, dog, dude and Waltz, Kylo, Draco, and Waffles, my cats. Grateful for my family who've always supported the dream, whether it be my brothers, who did the backyard, wrestled with me and my parents who, you know, come to all my shows still. Like, my dad helped me win a match in GCW, a couple. days ago. Your dad is jacked. Still jacked. I'm grateful for the major wrestling figure podcast and all

of our, we call them major marks, you know, during that, that, that, that weird time where there was no wrestling going on in the world, they kept us afloat financially. And that has, that has spawned now. We do, you know, it started as a 45 minute podcast about toys. Now it's, you know, three hours. And we have multiple shows. We have a YouTube channel. We have merchandise. We have our own toy line, uh, major bendy's big rubber guys. So I'm grateful for all that. And of course, I'm grateful for my career. You know, I'm 20 years in. Right now, I'm here sitting with you.

I'm about to go wrestle. I wish it was a stable center, not the Ukrainian cultural center. It's the crypto.com arena. But I'm grateful for my career. You know, my whole life, this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do since I was 18. This has been my only real job. Yeah. You know, like he's wrestling, pro wrestling and pro wrestling related things like talking about toys or making toys.

Yeah. You know, so I have a lot to be grateful for, but that's just five that popped in my head right there. I love that you lead with gratitude as well. You have to. You know, I'm not a naturally positive person. You know, I'm a naturally like glass half empty person, but I have to convince myself and almost trick myself to be positive. I think that that little exercise. I want everybody to do.

That's why I end every conversation with us. I wish that everybody were to go, oh, man, there are some great things in my life every single day, even though some bad stuff happened. I also think it's important. I do the five and I do five goals. I'm not going to share the goals. Five goals every day? Every day. Oh, wow.

Now, it could be more. That's just how I wake up. You know, because I have more than five goals. But like literally, before I get out of bed, five things are grateful for, five goals. It could be bigger small. It could be, I'm going to make sure I actually do my DDPY today. You know what I'm saying? I mean, if you know, or be as flexible as Dallas is.

Right. It's 67. I'll tell you what. I'll give you one of those goals. Okay. number one every morning WBChair Wow

that's what drives me every single day that's the number one will I get there we'll see but I'm gonna fucking try I'm not gonna fucking stop

until I'm dead what a spot to end yeah Matt thank you so much thank you very much and uh yeah after the energy thank you oh I am so curious

what 2024 is gonna bring for Matt Cardona like he said how do you outdo 2021. Somehow he does it in 2022. How do you outdo 2022? Somehow he does that this year. How is he going to outdo

this year? Look, he's going to find a way. He's going to find a way to do it in 2024. Will he be in WWE with his wife Chelsea Green? Will we see him at the Royal Rumble? Will we see him back in AEW? Is he going to be

back in Impact Wrestling? I guess it's TNA now. I guess it will be TNA in the new year. It would be very interesting, but I think the huge thing to take away from this is all about reinvention. And I'm not just talking about reinvention in terms of wrestling, but reinvention as a person. You're not the thing that you were. You don't have to be tied to the identity that you had three years ago or 14 years ago

or whatever it happens to be. And I think that he is a shining example of that through wrestling about just what's possible in general. he's also a marketing genius. And the fact that he comes out with these t-shirts just like that, just out on a whim, like you said something interesting in a promo or an interview, boom, it's a shirt now.

I think that I can certainly take a little bit from that. I've actually been working on some new pro wrestling t-shirts. So if you go to pro wrestling teas.com, you will see some new designs from me. I actually haven't announced this yet. So if someone purchases a shirt, I will know it's because you heard it here on the show. But I hadn't put out a new shirt in three years,

and I've been asked about it a bunch. So there's a few really cool new designs there, one with the word grateful that I love so much. I think it might be the best shirt I've ever made. So go check it out. Pro Wrestling Tees.com slash Chris Van Fleet. If you enjoyed this episode, please snap a screenshot, share it out, and tag us.

He's at the Matt Cardona. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I'll leave you with this quote. from Roy T. Bennett. Seems kind of fitting. I mean, all these quotes seem fitting. That's the whole point of these quotes, but this one seems very fitting

for what we talked about here. Do what is right, not what is easy, nor what is popular. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight.

And we got Caleb Raxton on the show. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid-fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.