Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Maven Hates His Theme Song, Drinking With Undertaker Before Eliminating Him, Taking Steroids, Tough Enough

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Maven Huffman (@mavenhuffman) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE and for winning Season 1 of Tough Enough. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet for an in-person interview in New York City to talk about the success of his new YouTube channel and getting 100k subscribers in less than 2 months, why he hates his theme song, wrestling Tazz in his debut match, taking shots of Jack Daniels before eliminating The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble in 2002, the vicious chair shot from The Undertaker, his picture-perfect dropkick, why he felt he needed to take steroids in WWE, what his current job is on Wall Street and much more! Sponsors: BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15% MYBOOKIE: Get a 50% welcome bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag MUDWTR: To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv and use the code CVV15 BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com MANSCAPED - Get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code CVV at manscaped.com  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 Quote I'm thinking about: I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. - Mark Twain For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you found value in this episode, I would genuinely appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your thoughts with us by leaving a brief review on Apple Podcast/iTunes. Your feedback means a lot and plays a significant role in helping us reach a wider audience. Additionally, it can be instrumental in persuading some of our more elusive guests to join us. 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 good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleleet. So good to see you here. And welcome back to another one on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet, and so good to have my friend and everybody's favorite, Tough Enough winner,

Maven, back on the show. Or should I say, the hottest YouTuber on the planet, Maven, is here back on the show. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, Maven started his YouTube channel like two months ago, less than two months ago actually, and he already has 100,000 subscribers. So he has that silver play button. To put things in perspective, it took me seven and a half years to get my first 100,000 subscribers on my main

channel. His videos now are getting like half a million views. A few of them have over a million views, like just absolutely crushing him. And it's because he's taken this completely different approach to creating content. He's doing something that nobody else in the wrestling space is doing. These are eight to 20 minute videos focused on one topic with, you know, amazing editing, super interesting ideas just in general, but most importantly, amazing thumbnails. Check out his videos. Give him a subscribe and just be part of this journey now because at this rate, he's going to be at a million subscribers in the next year or two. So it's just so crazy. But he's such a great guy. And honestly, all of this success couldn't have happened to a nicer

guy. He's just the best. So go subscribe to his channel. If you haven't yet subscribed to my YouTube channels, the main one, just my name at Chris Van Fleet, the other one's CVV clips. So you can hear the most memorable and funny moments from interviews like this one. And follow the podcast wherever you're listening right now. And if, I mean, this is asking a lot, but if you enjoy this show, please also share it with a friend. Take a screenshot, tag us. He's at Maven Huffman on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And you may remember the interview we did like two years ago. And we covered a ton there. We built on a lot of that here. And it was just so good to be able to sit down with him in person. I rented a podcast studio in New York.

city to do this. Yeah, I was on the East Coast last week with my wife, Rachel. I was part of the premier streaming network wrestling showcase. It was so cool to be able to host their kickoff show. You might have seen some of the photos on my social media. We were also visiting Rachel's family in New Jersey. If you're familiar with the area, she grew up in Sussex County. So it was just so great being back there. And I also recorded something with Maven that you will be seeing on his channel. I know you're going to be subscribed to his channel, so just keep an eye out for that. Okay, let's get into this. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Maven.

You know, I think there's only one way that we can start this. And what would that be? Do-da-da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ha-ha. I can't see that. Do you know all of them? Not all of them, but I do know that. much. Chris, literally, I'm not kidding. I used to be standing back in guerrilla position and, you know, pour water over my head, getting hype, jumping back and forth, like all wrestlers do.

Sure. And I would hear that music, and I'm not kidding. I would go, because it turned your hype like off. Completely killed it. Completely killed. And it's, it's a great song. I do admit it. To this day, Cardona will still screenshot it and say he's working out to it. It just, like I said, in the last time we talked, it wasn't, well, that. heard as an eight-year-old kid. People are so disappointed. They hate it. When they hear that you don't like your music, they're like, come on.

It gets so mad. How many, so how many of the lyrics do you know? Just, I can feel my fantasy. I'm so consumed in it. Yeah. What I see takes over me and bind beyond repair. And then? Yeah.

It's about the most singing you're going to get out of me. It's, it is really good. Sure. After I interviewed you last time, I listened to it on repeat for a long time. I'm sorry. It's a great song. I love that it comes back to it, but it's a great song. It's a great song, and I feel bad because I don't want the band to think that I just liked them.

It just wasn't what I grew up. I get it. But then again, I always thought of being a wrestler, and Maven wasn't the name I was going out to. Maven's a pretty great name. It worked in that. You are a Maven. You know what Maven means? It was when I was a school teacher, it was lesson number one.

Every year that I would send my kids home with. I'd be like, my name's Maven. Tell me what it means tomorrow. And then they would all come in. Mr. Hoffman, it means expert. It means expert. So you are amazing. I don't know about that.

But it sucked growing up with it. And here's why. No one ever could get it right. Marvin, Melvin, Mavis. I was literally playing sports one time. And the announcer called me Megan Huffman. And I was like, usually when they get it wrong, it's a guy's name. Megan, yeah.

But it did work for, it worked for wrestling. So I saw you, the first interview we did was two years ago. It was. Almost exactly. Was it almost? In July of 2021. Yeah. So my everlasting shame.

Why? Just, I mean, I was sweating like a pig in that hot gymnasium. There was a cut. If you go back and watch that interview, there's a cut because you were basically like, can we stop? I got a towel. Yeah, I got a towel. It was very sweaty. We were, we were in Pennsylvania. We were in Hamburg. Yes, Hamburg, Pennsylvania. In a, I mean, what only could be described as a rent-for-hire barn. I think it was. Yeah, and with no A.C. Legends of Hamburg. Legends of Hamburg, with no AC. And it was a hot day. And I did not think, like, because I thought, of course, when I agreed to do the interview with you, I was like, yeah, I'll do it, of course. But I thought it was going to be. not in a meat lock,

not in a sweatshop, you know. But I'm glad we did. I'm glad we started this relationship off. What I'm experiencing now, you are part of that driving force, because I don't know if you remember that day, but, you know, that day you started putting something in my head.

I remember it well because I was like, well, when this comes out, I'll tag you on Instagram. You're like, bro, I'm not on Instagram. And I'm like, what do you mean you're not on Instagram? Instagram. You're like, I'm not on Instagram, man. And then, like my Maven. Please do it again. I'm not on Instagram. I don't know, man. I just, I just do what I do, you know.

That's not very good at all. It's fantastic. It's fantastic. And I put up a story on my Instagram. And I was next to you and I'm like, Maven is debated about joining Instagram. Should he do it? Yes or no. And everyone was like, yes, of course. And then you were like, well, I've got to be honest with you. I actually have the name at Maven Huffman. And I'm like, well, dude, you got to do something with it. Then I saw you a few months later at some other event. And you're like, I did it, man. I joined.

I did it. I joined. And when I did join, you were one of the first ones to, I mean, give me, you know, just support. But you sent out videos and everything, encouraging all your followers to jump on board. And there's still a lot of people that are watching this going, I didn't know Maven was on Instagram. So now you're going to get even more followers.

Fantastic. But the bigger thing is you are a full. Fledged YouTube now. I don't know about full friends. No, it is on your growth on YouTube has been insane and congratulations. Thank you. You're not even two months into this and you're about to get the silver play button, which is 100,000 subscribers. You know, you know there's a prize, right? I know there's a silver play button. I know there's a plaque that comes with it. It took me, it took me seven and a half years to get 100,000 subscribers. Yeah. You're going to do it in two months. No one's more shocked than I am. Literally. You've met. You've met.

the guy who runs it with me. Zach. When he came to me with the idea, I tried to talk him out of it. I was like, listen, I was like, there's bigger names out there. And he explained to me. And he was right about one thing. He said, wrestlers use YouTube wrong.

And it's an underutilized platform. And he, it's basically, here's the simple process that we do. Most wrestlers make wrestling videos and put them to YouTube and then wonder why they don't do well. Obviously, if you're Steve Austin, your podcast is going to do great numbers. But for the most part, there's so many podcasts and stuff out there, he told me we're going to make YouTube videos that deal with wrestling. And at that moment, that was our first Zoom, the light went off. Yeah, so you're doing the reverse. Most people are making wrestling videos on YouTube.

You're making YouTube videos that happen to be about wrestling. Absolutely. And the one thing that you guys are so good at, you and Zach, who's the brains behind this. He's the everything. I'm the mouthpiece. You're the beauty. That's what you are. And I'm fine with that.

You guys make Evergreen videos. And that is a huge thing on YouTube. If you're making a video that you could watch in five years and it's still relevant, you're not doing Survivor Series picks. You're not doing Royal Rumble predictions or like a Royal Rumble, you know, like recap. You're telling stories, which is, number one, the most important thing that any creator can do is tell stories. Absolutely.

You're telling stories that are going to be relevant pretty much forever. That's what the goal is. I told him, A, I didn't want to bury anybody. There's so many, if you want to see a site

or a video where somebody just buries other people, there's plenty of that stuff out there. That wasn't my goal. And B, I wanted to put out content that dealt with my time, my experiences,

my life. I can't speak to other people's experiences. I can only say how it affected me. And that's what we're trying to do. And I try to put that disclaimer in most every video that, listen, this is how it was for me. It might have been different for somebody else. And they're probably doing it different now. But this is what it was for me. I love how you start every video by saying, I got to live my dream. Yeah. But it makes you so. Hold up. People give us heat for that. But here's what they don't realize. What? Yeah. No, people are like, yeah, in case you don't realize, Maven was a wrestler and this

and that. But there's going to be someone out there who don't know who I am. Our goal is to, you know, turn, you know, non- Wrestling fans into fans of what we're doing and then maybe they do watch the product. And I think you've also got to approach every YouTube video, every TikTok video, Instagram video, every podcast, assuming that the audience has no idea who you are. No clue. And you've done such a good job at that. Yeah. And we're each and every week, every video, we put videos out on Friday around noon. And I've tagged it below. If you want to go subscribe. As we sit here right now, I think you have 92,000 subscribers.

Is it that? By the time this comes out, you're going to have 100,000 plus, which is crazy. Yeah, I don't know. I get literally nervous about checking it during the day. Send some of your people my way. I would love to because here's the great, and here's the best, the beauty about this. And I tried to say it in interviews and everything. It's not like there's a bag of money that I'm trying to get all of it.

my success can only help your success, which can only help Stevie Richard's success, which can only help Matt Cardona's success, and vice versa. If your video does well, who knows, the recommend video under it might be mine. Yeah. So let's get as many people using this platform, using this, you know, model, if you will, as possible. I love that. I say it all the time, but I love this quote so much. Clapping for others does not take away from your own success. At all. And brother, I am clapping so loud for you. Thank you so much. And a rising tide does indeed lift all boats.

It absolutely does. But I literally, I owe you a lot of this. Because you put the light in the back of my head. I mean, I realize, you know, what my career was. It wasn't stellar by any stretch of the imagination. And I also realized my age. And I really wasn't, you know, considering because I tell people all the time, you know, when social media came out probably 10 years later than I,

than I wish it would have. If everything that's out now would have been out in the early 2000s, I'd have millions of followers. You would. Because I would have been on there with my phone up. I would have shared every aspect of my life on the road. But it's just not how that came out. So I'm glad that we can start now. I thank you for that. What I think that YouTube is really showing everybody is you're just such a great host. You're so likable, but you're also such a great marketer, too. Like the way that you guys have structured the videos, the way that you tell the stories, It's a skill you had tapped into before.

You had done some hosting before, but it's like, I feel like you were put on this earth to do it. Yeah, it's literally God, that's what God bless me with doing. I can talk. I can run my mouth. I can literally probably tell you

for 20 minutes about making a ham sandwich if you let me. That'd be a fantastic podcast. It's what I'm, it's just like what I'm good at, you know. And I'm glad that I can utilize it for, you know, for hopefully something down the line

that makes us a pretty, decent little chunk of change. And I love the fact that we're encouraging other wrestlers to do what we're doing. Because like I said, our success can only help others. What's your day job for people who don't know? Yeah, well, because people ask about the suit. I actually, we're in Midtown right now. We're in the 50s. I work downtown. I work Wall Street. Yeah, I work on Wall Street. I walk by all the iconic buildings that you see, I walk, it's a 10-minute walk I have from the train every day. I work for a capital firm down there. We provide capital to needy businesses. And I'm, I'm, yeah, it's funny. I've been told like, you're just the mascot for them, which is probably a

little bit accurate. But I help us get, I help us get capital so we can then in turn help others that can't get bank funding. When you do these videos on Instagram and your way, it's always a three-piece suit, always. Always. I feel to know where I got that from. People always, they, it's one of the things. Like, people think, you know, I'm trying to be like the rock or I've, even heard Cody Rhodes now. No. You know they show Power? Yeah.

The ghost used to wear those three-piece suits on power, and I was just like, oh, he looks sharp. It's three-piece with a chain here. Yeah, that's an actual, that's a true, that's a real pocket watch. Oh, my goodness. And it's actually, it's probably horrible television, but it's got my mom's, a picture of my mom in there. So it means something to me.

It's not just a piece of jewelry. The Rolex is just a piece of jewelry. That's a biscuit I got during my, during my, During my time. Did Vincent Mann gift that to you? You did not. But, you know, when you're wrestling, yeah, there's a thing. Rolexes are biscuits.

And it's one of the things. What do you mean biscuit? That's just what they're called, backstate biscuits. You got a biscuit. Yeah. I got to get myself a biscuit. This biscuit doesn't even tell the time. I love it.

It's not worth. That's amazing. It's not worked for a long time. I'm going to tell you a secret. Mine doesn't work either. And you want to know why? I took it to a watch dealer to fix it. Yeah.

And he was like, I can't fix it. because only a Rolex person can fix the Rolex. So then I took it to him, and he informed me that it was going to be several thousand to fix it. And I was like, no way. So it literally is just an expensive piece of jewelry. It is. It's just an expensive.

Yeah. Not many people stare at it like you. It realized. I just looked at it like it's not new. It's not the right time. It's both hands are facing straight up. Yeah. It doesn't.

Yeah. Has it worked in a lot. When you go to a watch shop, they have it. It's always a 10 and 2. It used to tell time 20 years ago. 20 years ago. I probably got, that was probably one of the first pieces of, you know, when you're a kid, you spend money on stupid things. And, yeah, probably not what I would spend money on nowadays.

What was the biggest feedback that you got after the episode that we did two years ago? Definitely about the, two-fold, about the music. People could not believe. Yeah. They just, and they still, they can't, they can't fathom that it's, that it's not my brand of music. But, and two, the Undertaker spot. Of course. And I think I take her every chance I get for just the career he gazed me.

But by far, those two things. And we'll get into that. But I think one of the other big comments was that you just haven't aged. Like, you look the same. Maybe this is as a result of like, you have the same haircut. That's hell. Whenever, because Zach was actually telling me, he was like, yeah, he's like, I'd maybe like to do a video with you when you grow your hair out for a month or two.

And I'm like, absolutely not. There's my line. Chris. It looks like you have hair. Okay. I have the George Costanza bald spot, the horseshoe pattern, and the sides are completely gray. Totally.

100% gray. So if I grew it out for a month, A, I would look like, man, man, man's destitute. He's living under a bridge somewhere. And B, I would look every bit my age, if not then something. So the bald head and the shade face does help. But you walking down the street wearing the glasses, I had to double take.

Is that Dwayne Johnson? Get out of here. Put him on for a second. You got them? Are they, they're right there? There should be in that bag, yeah. The front pocket? Okay, let's see here.

I mean, he's slightly larger than you. I mean, but you're still in great shape. Well, are they not? Maybe check in there. Maybe I don't know. Maybe they don't. Are they in your suit? We've uncovered a whole new problem here.

we've uncovered a whole new problem. Maven has lost. They're nice glasses. They're actually really. Oh, few. These are nice. These are real, too. These are real, too.

These are real as well. Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. I was going to do the, oh, shoot. That's okay. Let's bring it down. I was going to do the entire interview in these. Oh, what? Oh, no.

So I broke it. But there we go. There we go. I was going to do the entire interview in these, but I thought that seemed a tad bit to pretentious. I may, just a bit,

maybe. But look at this. Yeah. This looks great. So this is what you saw walking down this street. Yeah, look at this guy. I have absolutely no idea why people think I'm, I have an ego.

You want to hear what's funny, though. Like these, from the time I leave my house to stay up here all day and they don't move. You do do a lot of videos with those on top of your head. They're on my head because they don't move. Yeah. Like literally, you can take them off.

Like literally, we just needed a demonstration. They literally, you're throwing them or what are you doing? They'll be all right. They're still tough. I appreciate that of all the videos you've made, you still haven't even touched the big topics that people want to hear about from you. I figured that information's out there already. What am I going to tell people about my experience with the Rumble that they don't already know?

What new information can I give them? I don't even know if it's new information. It's just that that video existing on your channel will do really well. You know that. Eventually, I guess one day we will. Eventually, one day we're going to get. into tough enough. We're going to get into stuff like that.

The stuff that people would expect. The obvious ones. That people would expect to come out. Yeah. But I'm wanting to dive into stuff. Like one of the videos we have coming up, and by the time this video comes out, it'll already be out. Like, one of our next videos on steroids.

Wow. I predict it's going to be extremely popular. Well, you've been pretty open about it. Why not? You've been, well, I mean, with all your videos, actually, we just should your career in general. You've been really open about everything. Chris, I mean, if if somebody likes me, outstanding. If they hate me, that's fine. But they're going to be able to say, Maven's at least honest, and he's not hiding anything. And I mean, what am I

going to, I mean, if you look at a picture of me in 2002 and then a picture of me 18 months later, there's a drastic change. And it's pretty obvious of what that change was. So why not just be open and frank about it? It's not something I was the least bit upset about. I'm not ashamed of. I was in a career that that's what it took to be at the next level. Did you feel like you had to do steroids? Had to in the form of forced by someone?

No. Had to in the form of I wanted to be on TV. Absolutely. Yeah. And you've got a very unique job where you're out there in your underwear. Yeah. Every week after week. That's the easiest way to put a burger down.

I promise you that. Sure. And I broke my leg early in my career. And while I was off, while I was healing up, I was like, I'm not going to take anything in the doctor that I was working with. And he was like, just stay off everything. So then my leg, once it healed up, I was a little bit out of shape when I went back. And I got backstage and guys were, you know, wrestling locker room is pretty tough on the psyche. And guys were ribbing me and everything.

And you best believe I got home. And yeah, I was pounding. I was pounding stuff immediately. I think that fans think it's like, you know, someone is sitting there in the locker room with like a bag full of stuff going, what exactly do you want here? Want some D-Balls, Deca, Winstrel? It's because people seem the wrestler.

And maybe in, you know, smaller indie shows, I don't know, that that was the case. I never saw steroids. I mean, I know what Jose Konseko talks about in his book, Jus. He was shooting guys up in the locker room. not the case in a wrestling locker room. Anything anyone did, they did in the privacy of their own home.

And I'm sure, and you certainly don't have to name names here, I'm sure that when people found out that you were on it, that was a topic of conversation that you could share. Oh, what's your cycle look like right now? Yeah, absolutely. And other guys would help me. I remember, and again, yeah, like my channel, I'm not going to out anybody. But I remember talking to a very well-known superstar. And because he, you know, encouraged me to get on some, you know, he's like, hey, this stuff works.

and come at an anabar and i got got on it and i went told him about it and he laughed at my dosage i was like i was like yeah i'm taking 30 milligrams he's like what he's like i'm taking 180 i was like oh god but it it worked i opened my dosage and it's just something that i have no problem i'm 46 chris i mean what am i trying to hide who i'm trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes i don't have an agenda i'm not trying to get hired by anybody it's just if anything else I just want to be honest. People, unfortunately, though, think it's a magic pill. That, like, if you take steroids, you're just automatically going to look like Ronnie Coleman.

It's the reverse, actually. If you take them, it forces you to work harder. Sure. Yeah, because whenever I would be off stuff, it was more difficult to go to the gym. Sure. I would be there, and I'd be like, man, really, what am I accomplishing? You also feel like when you are on the cycle, you're like, I've got to use it. Like, I'm not only paying money for it, but, like, it's literally in me right now.

And as weird as this sounds, a few, like, and everybody's body reacts differently. My body always reacted pretty well to the cycles I took. I had a doctor do my blood work, and he was like, yo, you'll probably do well with this, this and this. And so I could actually feel it. Like, I could feel myself getting harder as I was doing it. And when you feel that and then you see the results, man, it's like I want more of that and I don't ever want to let that go.

So it's kind of an addictive, not a physical addiction, like where you're going to be withdrawing from it. But it's a mental and emotional addiction. I could see why you would never want to stop. Ever. And there's a lot of guys that don't. I was one of them. I was one of them. I probably stayed on for seven years straight.

So even after WWA? Oh, yeah. Wow. Is it just because when you look in the mirror, you're used to seeing a certain image looking back again? Yeah. And when that image, when you start tailing off of that image a little bit, it's tough, man. plays mind games on you. And it plays tricks on you. I bet. But, but look at the way you looked, right? And there were so many guys in that era that, I mean, the area you were in especially,

that was right before testing. Yeah. I mean, those guys were gigantic. Massive. Massive. And when I got into the WWE, I weighed 205 pounds. At my largest, I was 245. Wow. But I needed that physical transformation to be in the ring with guys who routinely weighed 315. Because if someone's in there weighing 315, take cane, for instance, or take her. If there's a 100 pound difference, then it just doesn't look. It just doesn't, it's not a good aesthetic look. But if there's a 50 pound difference weight-wise, all of a sudden then the, I don't want to say it looks more real, but it looks like that could be a fight that actually could be happening. And then, you know, it looks like you could maybe win, you know, against someone that size.

Exactly. Yeah, I was in there with monsters. You were. Yeah. That was the era of monsters. I remember seeing Dave Batista for the first time ever and thinking I had never seen a human being that looked like him. Like, he just was, like, I remember taking a double take and quick, funny Dave's story. So when they brought Dave up finally from OVW, I would, I'd been on the road, me and Divon were riding together.

And they were bringing him up to do the gimmick with Reverend Devon when he was the deacon. Yeah. And we were out of like an applebee's or something. We're eating, just us three. And as we're leaving, you know, Devons, you know, pretty well known. And people are wanting his autograph from tough enough. They're wanting my autograph. And then there's poor Dave who looks like a maniac, you know, just the biggest human being ever.

And we get in the car. We're walking to the car. And he's like, man, I really hope somebody someday somebody wants my autograph. And I'm just like, you're going to be just fine, buddy. Like, don't you worry. that you're going to be okay. I've never seen someone's traps grow out of their ears before. And have you ever noticed he's got long arms?

I used to ask him, I'd be like, you can tell your shoes standing up, Trisha. He just has these big long monkey arms that are just enormous. But, I mean, as you know, the nicest guy on earth, literally the nicest human being. He's also such a shining example of hard work pays off. He is. Yeah. And I think that people think that he got as successful as he did in Hollywood simply because he was successful in WWA.

Absolutely not. And they missed the part of the story where he went broke again after leaving WWE and then worked his way back up in Hollywood. And now he is what he is. I've heard that if it wasn't for Guardians, that that's what kind of pulled him out. And tell me if you agree for my money. Because I look at, I view all wrestlers that turn into actors, I'm a fan of. Sure.

I think he's the best character actor. He certainly has the best reach. And here's what is amazing. Here's what is amazing about that. In 2004, 2005, Stacey Keebler started dating an actor named Jeff Stoltz. If you're familiar with Jeff, he was on wedding crashers. He was the guy, he was the groom at the main wedding. And Jeff was at a show backstage.

And Dave came up to Jeff, and I was standing right there and asked him for acting. tips. Wow. And because I used to go stay with Jeff in L.A., like I was there when Stacey was on Dancing with the Stars. I stayed with Jeff. And me and Jeff used to laugh about that because he asked, Dave asked him for acting tips and then now look at him. Look at what he's going. And you know who Stacey, the other actors, Stacey dated after that was, right? Oh, Clooney. Yeah. Absolutely. I remember seeing them, I covered the red carpet for the Oscars. I remember seeing Stacey Keebler walk down with George Clooney. And I'm like, like, both of my worlds are colliding right here. That's just surreal to me. Because, I mean, I'd say arguably, in the last

20, 30 years, there hasn't been a bigger actor than Clinton. He's certainly one of them. Yeah. Right? Like, it's him. It's Leo. Pitt. Brad Pitt. Yeah. I mean, now it's the rock. Yeah. Like, yeah. It's crazy. And a wrestler dated one of the most famous actors in the world. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yeah, but I think you're right. Like, Dave has the best range of all the wrestlers turned actors. When I saw Knock at the Cabin. That was the movie I was going to say. That first, that opening scene with him and that little girl.

Yeah. That's a scene that I don't think I can picture another wrestler delivering it the way he did. Because he's so big and menacing, but there for a moment, that went out of your mind. And he was that guy trying to earn her trust. That's a skill. That is a skill. Have you thought about getting into acting? Come on now.

Do my voice again. Do my voice again? Do my voice again. There you go. What roles am I going to get? They've already shot hustle and flow. That was my opportunity. You could put a cowboy hat on.

You've lived in the city for how long? I've been here since 2013. When people just talk to you on the phone. They can't believe it. And then they meet you in person. Are they like, no, I'm looking for Maven, actually. Yeah. And it's funny because people will meet me and they'll come in for interviews or whatever,

and they'll hear me talk. And they, because it depends on where I'm at. When I'm in Florida, people thought I was Cuban. When I'm here, people think I'm Dominican. So they expect me to talk from the Bronx or Brooklyn or something. And when they hear me talk. You are an actor. And when they hear this and they realize I sound like I'm literally from Alabama or Mississippi.

It's Virginia, right? If I go back to Virginia for more than a weekend, it's even stronger. Yeah. If I played some voicemails of my family, you would die laughing. It's way stronger than this. When you got into WWE, were they ever like, hey. They loved it. Really?

They loved it. Because it made me, it was unique to me. Sure. Absolutely. They didn't want me to change it at all. Yeah. Thank God. Because I don't think I could.

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And you are going to love this sauna blanket. When you look back at your run, it's amazing the momentum that they gave you early on. Yeah. Like it's pretty incredible that you go from winning tough enough to like right away being in, major storylines. Yeah. And the one thing I'm most proud of with the tough enough thing, and like, for my money, John Morrison is my favorite tough enough contestant ever.

Really? I love, I just think he's the best. I think he's the most entertaining. I think we can, I think we can definitely make an argument that the Ms. is the most successful, tough enough contestant. But not winner. True. But what I, so I can't obviously be most proud of that. I wasn't the most successful. And I'm fine with that. Here's what I am proud of, though. I'm proud that I was season one. If I flopped, if I failed, if I went out and embarrassed the WWE, embarrassed MTV at the time,

there might not have been a tough enough, too. And that's what I hang my hat on. The fact that we did something right, I did something right, that led to there being subsequent seasons afterwards. And then it was like, what was the first major storyline that you were? Brad. Major. So I wrestled Taz three times, and then they sent me to developmental. When I came back, my first major story, five, was with Tori Wilson and Tajiri.

And, like, I mean, I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, my gosh, like, Tori's the hottest woman on earth. Like, really? Really? You're going to put me with her? I get to kiss her. Yeah, I get to kiss Tori Wilson. And Billy, you know, Billy busted my chops about it. They were married at the time, right?

They were. Absolutely. And that was the first major, I would say, storyline. And then following that was the hardcore run with Taker. So hold on, back to Tory for a second. Absolutely. I'll talk to me. How much time do you got, buddy?

We'll talk for seven hours about her. So someone pitches you the idea. They're telling you, okay, you're going to work with. Tori. And then your reaction is, get out of here. Are you serious? Why? Why me?

And then I think, obviously, nerves came up. And here's why. Like, I mean, I'm a guy at the end of the day. Tori's hot. I probably had a little crush on her. I mean, even though she was married to Billy, I didn't want her to completely think I was just a dish shit. I didn't want her to think anything. So, I mean, I wanted to be on my best behavior. But I also wanted to make a good showing. Sure. She's got, she's got a mouth back in the women's locker room. I didn't want her bearing me to all the other girls. I didn't even think about that. I want her bearing me to all the other girls. Man, I do love working with Maven.

He's a great kisser. My gosh, Maven is, I wish I could have used my tongue. How great would that have been? But you're just doing the little, just a little, you know. It was. Yeah. I cringe when I go back and I look at stuff like that because I just, you know how they say youth is wasted on the young. If I could go back and do my career now, knowing what I know now, just how I carry myself now, I would have carried myself completely different.

You know, I was worried about. messing up so much back then that I didn't let my full personality come out and I just would have done things different. But look, hindsight's 2020. It always is. And there's no, there's nobody that has a a delorion that goes 88 miles an hour. So you learn from your mistakes and you move forward. You're talking to the right person. That's my favorite movie of all time. Yeah, mine too. It's the one movie that when it comes on, I can pick up from anywhere and I'm watching. Same. Oh, rank them for me real quick. Oh, one. Um, yeah. Probably in order once in three.

Yeah, same. Okay, good. I didn't want you to be one of those crazy people that was like, actually, three is really good. And there's going to be a whole bunch of people that are going to say that. The only thing that's better about three is the little kid in the end who somehow it got past continuity who's like grabbing his garage. I do like the three is Doc's story.

Yeah. Doc's a great character. He earned it. For sure. He earned it. Two is two, I think, was more special and magical before 2015. when we were still looking ahead going, yeah, that actually could be possible.

And here we are now eight years later, going, well, they got some stuff right. Got a lot of stuff right, actually. They did. They did. I still waiting for the flying cars, though. But there's just something that I still remember seeing one for the first time.

Same. And just, I mean, there's a few movies that occasionally come out that change your life. That's one of them. Yeah. That literally has just been like, wow, anything's possible.

Do you have a moment, back to the few, moment where if you could go back during your WWE run, you would change something or you'd go, let's do this differently. It would probably be, wow, that's a great question. Yeah, I do. It would probably be when they moved me, well, when they did the draft and they split and they moved me from Smackdown to Raw. That's when I think, feel like my training wheels were off. And like I just said, I wish I would have just stopped playing wrestler and let more of my personality come out because I really didn't. I was just, I was always terrified.

I was scared to just, not to mess up, everybody messes up. But I was just terrified to turn the volume up too much. If I could go back and when I debuted back out on Raw after my broken leg, I should have came out literally and had them be like pulling me back. Being like, you're just like I was cutting promos. with the words they gave me. And I wish I would have did what, like, Rocky does, what, like, you know, other great talkers do, taking bullet points and they just put them in my words.

Since you bring up John Morrison, I think one of the best things that he did in his career is he made a transition, and it must have been intentional. He went from being tough enough winner, John Hennigan, to being another character. And I feel like that's the one thing that was missing from your WWE run. I was the tough enough guy through,

my entire run. Yeah. And you know what? Like we said, hindsight 2020, but I look back and when I left the WW in 2005, and I started doing Indies and, you know,

I think the first run on Indies I did was, you know, kind of TNA house shows with UWF. And I started working guys like Billy and I started working Rhino. And literally, we would do these shows and they would be like, go out there,

cut a promo. And I could cut heel promos. And I'd be out there talking for, 10 minutes. I remember we did a match one time and we cut a promo. We get out. Billy comes out and he's like, man, we ain't got to do nothing. And it was because I was just being me. I think my promo was after the surreal life. After my episode of surreal life. So my character, my gimmick was, you know, I was Hollywood now talking like this. And I remember we did a show. It was like two hours from my house. And I started the promo off with I just flew in from Hollywood. Literally, I drove up from my house. And I said something like that. Yeah, when I got off the point, my, my, my, private jet, Brad Pitt. He gave me a call and he gave me two bits of advice. That was soap and water. And looking at each and every one of you, I know why he did it. And by the time

Billy came out, they were booing me so bad. Billy Kidman? Billy Gunn, okay. And these were people that I'd literally, I lived two hours from them. And they hated my guns. Wow. One guy literally charged the barricade one night. It was around Christmas and I told him, I was like, there's two things I want this Christmas. I was out on the thing. And it was, and we were doing it. And we were doing a show with the Sadler's, Elliot Sadler. I was like, you know, my gift number one, Elliot, I want you in that ring tonight, which he was going to arrest me. And I was like, in the second thing, I want this fat jelly roll to stop it.

And he charged the state police had to hold him back. Our truth was tagging with Elliot Sadler, jump out of the ring and got in front of me to protect me from this guy getting to me. Like, we broke character because this guy was so mad and so hot at me. if I could go back, that's the personality. Because if I would have done that, I think then the tough enough guy would have been. I'm a great jerk. Like, I'm a phenomenal heel.

I really am. And it's because it's just not who I am in daily life. And I just love being able to be something completely different. Well, you can get your hometown crowd turn on you. You're doing something right. Hating me. I told him I flew in on a jet. My car was sitting out in the bar.

I just feel like there was. But you're right. Hold up. I'm sorry. You're right. They did that with John. And they did it really well. And he, like, if you think of him, you don't even think of it tough enough. Not at all anymore. Same with Ms. at all. So. But, but your name is synonymous. Synonymous. Yeah. And that's what people ask me about. And listen. I mean, does that upset me? No, because I'm still here. I still, I still, occasionally, like, I'll be sitting on the train going home from work or whatever driving. And it's still just, it's just crazy to me. I mean that I was a wrestler for a while. I'm sure you still get recognized all the time.

Not all the time. Now that you're a famous YouTuber, you will. Shockingly, I'm getting recognized a lot for the videos. I'm not surprised. I was going, you know, I was coming into World Trade Center last week. And I didn't active, I didn't reload my, my pass. And I was like, oh, I'm going to miss my train. So I go up to the guard and I was going to be like, listen, buddy, like, I'll pay, I'll give you money next week.

And he stopped me, swear to God. And he said, you maven? And I'm like, yes, I am. He's like, man, I love your videos. And he scanned me through because of my video. And that's like the fact that I'm getting noticed more for that now than, well, I guess that's because of the wrestling. But it's just shocking. This is, I mean, you're only a few months in right now.

This is going to change your life. If it hasn't already. It's in the process of it yet. I still have yet to get a check from it or anything. I'm looking forward to when they start rolling in. That's the 21st of this month. believe, right? It's coming up. It's coming up. Yeah. But more than anything, I think it's just, it's, it's giving me re-igniting my passion. Reigniting my passion for, because I lost it for the long time. When I saw you two years ago, I was content with, and doing occasional shows to make some gas money, make some grocery money. But now I'm like, I just did an hour live on the way here. And I really, I still love answering questions.

I still love that people care enough to know what I'm doing or to know it's humbling. It's still extremely humbling. And there still is a passion. And again, I give you part of that credit. Because you were very kind. You put a thought in my head that up until then hadn't seriously been put there.

I mean, at the end of the day, you have great content with incredible thumbnails, 100% my ideas. I edit the thumbnails myself. What a humble man. We need to talk about the fact that you still have a chance to win the 2002 Royal Rumble because you were never eliminated. I wasn't.

I think they took care of that a few weeks later when I wrestled Jericho. I know they did, but the fact that it wasn't really addressed that night, it's funny because after you eliminate Undertaker, he comes back, he throws you through the middle rope. Jim Ross makes a point to say he got thrown through the middle rope. As if like you were going to somehow find your way back into the ring to then go over the top. And I think it was just one of the big things that at the time, everyone was just, I don't want to say in all of, but just happy that the drop kick spot went as well as it did. Because think of it this way. What if I flopped the drop kick?

What if I miss him? What if I don't hit him hard enough to knock him over? Then what? It's just me and him. It's not like we're going to start a wrestling match. I mean, where's that going to go? And he still has to be eliminated for the next person to come in. So there was a lot riding on that spot.

And I didn't practice the drop kick at all throughout the day. And I was getting color that night. I had an allergic to aspirin, so I had taken a couple shots of Jack backstage with tape. So I was a little buzz by the time we did it. Whose idea was that? Yes. Yeah, he told me. He was like, yeah, he's like, kid, I'm going to be getting you some color.

And he's like, won't you take some aspirin, thin your blood out so it comes out? And I told him, I'm like, I'm allergic. And he's like, I got you. And he had some, like, airplane. He had some airplane bottles of Jack. And I'm like, luckily for me, I, like Jack Daniels is like how most people drink beer for taste. Yeah. That's me of your Jack.

So, like, were you like a two out of ten drunk during the Royal Rumble? Not a slightly buzzed. Yeah, probably two out of ten. Yeah, I was feeling good. That's amazing. I'm definitely feeling good. You know what it was more than anything, more than missing the drop kick? You know what I was scared of?

I was scared of tripping on my way down because you can't live that down. I mean, Titus O'Neill. Yeah, under the rain. Yeah, it disappears. Cannot live that down. Or I saw what you did with Michael Earn falling off the stage. Yeah, off the stage. But that's what I was most scared of.

There's a lot of fans that still to this day think it was an accident. Think that you drop kicking Undertaker was an accident. Yeah. Like he wasn't supposed to go out. Then outstanding. Yeah. We did our job. Yeah.

We did our job. Like I told you last time, I mean, that was his idea, him and Shane. And it's not happening without his okay. And, yeah, that night. And it was so cool because, you know, after tough enough, I had so much heat. You know, we've talked about it. And I knew it was coming. But that night, when I was, you know,

And I got back to the hotel afterwards, Eki, Umaga, was one of the first people to call me and just be like, yo, Brada, you did so good, my man, we're so happy. Because they were all watching. And the fact that the guys from HWA, the guys that I trained with every day, you know, the easy money, Johnny the Bull, Kaz Ayashi, Jimmy Yang, the fact that they all were telling me how good I did, at that point, it was like I was one of them. Yeah. And that's what I always wanted to, I felt like I was fighting at the,

the beginning of my career. I was one of the boys, but I wasn't one of the boys. And it wasn't until then that I became one of the boys down in developmental. And it probably wasn't until I came back and went to Raw that I was one of the boys in the WWA main locker room. It seems like nobody has a bad word to say about The Undertaker. My God, there's nothing to say, nothing bad to say. That's just.

But you let me tell you why, my opinion. Here's why. Because he'll do business. Look what he did with me. The only way you can create stars, the only way you can actually put yourself over is by putting other people over. He knows that. He is willing to do that. Rock's the same way.

Rock will do business. And I think that's why Taker is just so beloved in that locker room. At what point did you realize that you had like a picture perfect drop kick? First day. First day, we have tough enough? Well, first day when we were trapped, because Al would have different moves that we would try once we were a few weeks in. And I remember Dropkick Day. And I had never tried one.

I mean, I always knew I could jump. You know, I mean, I used to be able to dunk pretty easy. So I knew jumping wasn't going to be the problem. But we went in and we went to practice and I did like two. And now I was like, there's your move because I was just getting such elevation. And I could, I mean, at the time, I could jump and literally get close to a person to a guy and then spring off of them, you know, six feet in the air. And he's like, that's your move. Yeah, I watch old videos of it.

And I'm like, man, it's so good. Yeah, people, it's funny because I'll do shows now and people still want me to throw it. Of course. It's just, yeah, it's more of a naval kick now. I can't get quite as high anymore. But I do understand. I do understand why. The match with Chris Jericho, I thought, was actually, like, it made you look really good.

Yeah, but Chris. Yeah. Can you believe he's still working? No, I can't. 30 plus years in. I can believe he's working still. I can't believe he's working at the level he's working. Yeah.

Because he's still a good, right? And he's still out there bumping good. That's the one thing. Like I wrestle Cardona about a year ago or so. And I remember getting done with the match and being happy that I didn't blow an Achilles. Or are you a Jets fan? I'm a football fan. I'm a Washington fan, but I'm a football fan. And more than anything, I was just excited to watch Aaron Rogers. Yeah, we all were. I was so excited. And with great respect to Jets fans, I'm a Browns fan. That was the most Jets thing that could be. possibly happen. Ever. They're cursed in the quarterback position. It is the most jet thing that could have happened. But like my heart goes out to just everybody that was in that state. Brian Myers yesterday was literally texting me. He was in his Wayne Krabet jersey. He was excited to go. He was at the game last night. And I'm just thinking like, wow. When they cut to crowd shots and it's just grown men going. Well, did you notice? Did you notice at one point, they kick the, the jets kick a field goal that's good and no one gears.

And yet they still won the game. They won the game. That nobody's talking about nobody. Yeah. Anyway, back to the main point here about not getting injured. One thing I do know is the older you get, your tendons, your ligaments, they just don't perform like they used to, the elasticity, you know, lessons. And so I know it's just easier to get, you know, just mechanical injuries like that. So people always ask me will you work? I would work if a company was paying me. Meaning, if I got injured,

the checks are still going to come, and they're going to pay for me to get fixed, whatever. Right now, if I got blown an ACL, I still have to get into this damn city. And I have to take two trains in and two trains home. So, no, I'm not working. I did Cardone in a favor. The fact that Jericho's out there,

and I remember watching it back, and I just remember, I was like, ah, I don't bump like I used to. Like the crispness is gone. And he's still, he's man. It's to stay crisp. And he's still good. God bless him.

He will credit a lot of that to DDPY. Like the flexibility, you know, Diamond Dolls pages. Absolutely. He's changed a lot of people's lives. I will, uh, I don't, I use bits and pieces of his. He gave me his DVD back in 2007. And, um, and I was just, I was, yeah. Well, maybe now's the time.

Who wants to do yoga? I do a lot of work out. I do a lot of stretching now. Well, here's, here's my story. I, you know, would work at that. the time, I still wanted to be jacked. And the older you get me, you know, it's like I'm not that guy anymore. And about 2017, I had a weekend that around my house, it's known as the weekend from hell.

My back hurts so bad. The only position I could get in was on my knees, hunched straight over, and that would give me some relief for maybe two minutes. I think that whole weekend I slept for like 20 minutes. and the only thing that gave me relief was I started, I looked up and I started doing DDP yoga. Wow. And I started doing exercises that would target the sciatica and everything. Because, I mean, I have three herniated bulging discs right now.

Wow. Since then, I stretch every night. I don't work out. I just stretch every night. And I will stretch for the rest of my life. And it's the one thing I wish I would have picked up years ago. Mm-hmm. 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 Klinemberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures,

but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco. Listen on your favorite platform. I think the other thing with Jericho is he's the king of reinvention. Absolutely. You think of every gimmick that he's had from Lionheart to Y2J, suit and tie guy, the list, the Ocho, the pain maker. They all work.

They all work. But he's also the consummate professional, too. He's also one of the guys that backstage would just be willing to do business. And it's weird because people don't realize, Jericho's a tough guy, for real. Jericho's one of those guys that people would underestimate backstage at their peril. And, yeah, he could handle himself. Wow.

Like, for real. But he doesn't come across that way. It's not the biggest guy. He's not the most toughest-looking guy. But, yeah, there was guys that found out they shouldn't have tried him. That video you did with Cardona, where Ms. is in the background, and you guys kind of look at each other. and then he goes, that guy didn't win tough enough. That was brilliant.

Chef's Kiss. One take. I got to, and it just so happened because we were doing the GCW event where I am literally an ordained minister. I got ordained for that spot. And I was going to do their wedding ceremony. And it just so happened. It just so correlated that the WBE was running in the building next door.

And when I got there, Matt and Ms. were outside just talking. I went out to talk to Matt. and we came up with that on the spot. And obviously, you know, I love seeing the comments. Is that Miz? Yeah. Well, we're so used to seeing the Miz dressed like this. Yeah, absolutely. Like seeing the Miz and like workout gear was like, wait a second.

Yeah, because you're not used to seeing it. Yeah. But, and I know you know him well, is he not the nicest guy? He's great. He's the nicest. You want to talk about somebody who has worked so hard for everything that they have. Yep. He's 20 years in the WWE now.

That's amazing. And I feel like people are still not valuing everything that he does when he's on the screen. Well, and sometimes I think people get jealous when someone transitions, when their appeal transitions. And Ms. is, he's mainstream just as much as being, I mean, shoot, I saw him on, what was that show, the family feud. Yeah. Or saw him on the weakest link, you know, and he can transition from not just being a wrestler, but just being an entertainer. as well. Yeah.

That might rub some people the wrong way, but good on them. But I feel like he also never says no to whatever opportunity at WWE throws in front of him. And I mean that as... He's a team player. And I mean that from the matches that he's put in to the storylines he's put in, to the press that he's asked to do. Hey, Ms. we need you to walk this red carpet tomorrow. We need you to do this commercial. Done.

Yeah, he says yes to everything. Everything. And that's also helped in his longevity. Who would you say is your closest wrestling friend now? Devon. Oh. By far. Yeah.

Devon, yeah, because Devon's been my closest friend throughout the years. And then right now, probably either Cardone or Brian Myers. I mean, those are the guys I talk to the most and do the most stuff with still to this day. And, yeah, Bull James, Bull Dempsey is another one who, because we do some work together in a local smaller promotion. So I talk to him quite a bit, too. If it hasn't happened yet, your DMs are about to get filled with fellow wrestlers going, could you help me grow my YouTube channel? Hey, I would love to.

Absolutely. Has it happened yet? A little bit. But I want to make sure, like, listen, I don't, I don't want us to be a flash in a pan. Like, I want to make sure, and we've talked about, we would like to have a good 30 to 50 videos out on the channel. And, you know, obviously with more content. to come before we open it up to bringing other people in. Eventually, that's our goal.

We'd like to bring other people into what we do. Because, like I said, everyone has a different story. Like it's start new channels? Yeah. Oh, wow. Absolutely. Start new channels, but using our model. That's so smart.

Because think about it. There's, like, everyone has a different story to tell. And, you know, I mean, like, if I'm using them as an example, Ray Mysterio came and wanted to do it, like, think of the stories Ray could tell that are completely different than the ones I could know. It's really smart, and it's similar to what Conrad Thompson has done with podcasting, where it's like it's kind of a nostalgia factory. Absolutely.

You know, you're kind of playing into nostalgia more than you're playing into wrestling. Absolutely. And Conrad does this so well with, you know, with Bruce Pritchard and 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff and all the shows that he has on the network. It sounds like if you guys start to build that out. We would like to. You'll have a similar thing. Listen, and that's, I mean, obviously, that's pine in the sky stuff.

Sure. And, you know, keeping our fingers crossed hoping that we can get there. But if we keep up with the success that we're having, it's definitely the avenue we want to take. Because I, like I said, man, wrestling has given me a life that I couldn't even dream, dreamed of 30, 40 years ago. And the guys that I was able to be in the ring with and be backstage with, yo, I want to, I want them to train. to transition because people take on information completely different now. And it's never going back. Appointment viewing television, it's a thing in the past. We're never going back to them. And people are now, they're going to consume information on their phone. It's never,

we're never going away from it. So let's adapt or die. And I want to help people adapt. And mostly what I want to do, I want to help people get out of trying to do podcast. Everybody does, So everybody wants to do a podcast and they wonder why they're not successful. Well, the market's oversaturated with them. And you're not going to find out too much more information. And you have to give too much of your time up. Who has an hour to listen to every podcast? So bite-sized little chunks of information.

Yeah, it's a small ask, 12 minutes to watch a video. Eight to 20 minutes. It's great. Yeah. And it's the Mr. Beast model. Yeah, that literally when we had our first Zoom call, When we had a first, and this is, this is only a thing I could say, but we had our first Zoom call.

He said, he was like, yeah, there's a guy, Mr. Beast. I want to do something like him. And I was like, who? Like, literally, that's only something like that's great. I mean, obviously, I've watched that. I know who he is now. But, you know what? I'm glad I didn't know who he was because here's what happened.

I did my homework. I did my research. And I remember one morning, I went up, I wanted to put a Mr. Beast video on to watch. and about an hour and a half later, I'd watched probably 15 videos. And then I was like, okay, now I see why that's the barometer that we want to shoot for it.

Because there's just something. And something small, like, here's what, I'll give you a little bit of the secret sauce. Here's what wrestlers fail to do. They fail to give someone a hook to stay to the end of their video. Do that in the beginning.

Every video. You know, hey, I'm going to be telling, And today we're going to discuss this. And then you don't even have to say it at the end, but you can say, but you know, you'll find out who my favorite one, one is later on. But just give a hook, give her people a reason that they want to tune in for the entire video. And I'll give another piece of secret sauce. I'll dab a little bit more secret sauce on there is the title needs to be a promise of what the video is going to deliver on.

Absolutely. And, you know, I think long gone are the days of Clickbait. People can see right through that. that, but the title needs to deliver on what's actually in the video. Yeah, because if it doesn't, you'll get called out on. Absolutely. Yeah, you will definitely get called out on it. So I need to go back to The Undertaker and the Royal Rumble spot.

How much did that chair shot hurt? It wasn't a butterfly kiss. I can tell you that. Listen, at that point, I was so just elated. My night was over at that point, hitting the drop kick. at that point everything else was just graved. And the chair shot, I knew it was going to, I was just going to have to just, and you see it in slow-moes. You see me like clench up to take it.

But I was so, like the entire day I was consumed with just the, my life revolved around hitting that one, um, hitting that one drop kick. And you know what? The following pay-per-view, I was on the next paper view, uh, WrestleMania. Yeah. I was wrestling gold dust. He's holding a gold trash can. I miss. So if I would have missed that drop kick, I don't think I have a career.

But the chair shot, it stung more than it hurt. But honestly, I was on top of the world, just knowing. Because after I did the chair shot, I think Taker goes and he throws the camera guy down. And they stayed on that shot. Normally they'll change shots. They stayed on that on purpose. He had to get the gig out to give me color. And he came over and he told me, great job, kid.

and at that point I just knew my night was all I had to do was sell and then get thrown through a popcorn machine but it was that was that the first time you ever gig yeah uh nah they made me gig in in OVW they made me gig in OVW just to get it and I'm glad they did sure just to get a taste of it and that was because that's when I found out

because I they told me take aspirin I'm like I'm allergic they're like I'll be fine and you know I did hit the gig punch and like it just trickled like I didn't bleed hardly any So I remember taking that to not wanting to make that same mistake again. What about the other chair shot moment with The Undertaker where he does it to your throat? Didn't hurt it all.

We practiced that beforehand. If you notice, I'm grabbing the chair and he puts it up under, he takes it and he takes my head and he puts the chair up under me. But I'm holding the chair on the sides. So as we go, I mean, it's just, it's like just, you know how everything in wrestling view. When he rares me back and then pushes me down on it, I'm controlling it. All he's doing is just guiding me. And then to throw another chair. And they, I forget who was down at ringside earlier that day when we were going over it, though.

But they told me, they were like, rather than they were like, just tossed the chair because it'll look like it just killed you. And it did. That's one thing. It did look good. That it looked so good. Yeah, it did. Now here we are like revealing the magician's secrets. Which is fine.

Yeah, which is fine. I don't think we're trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes now. I feel like I could talk to you all day. Likewise. I feel like we had so much catching up to do. Well, that will be a three. I'd love to have you on like, you know, once every few months. I'm fine with that.

Yeah. We're actually going to record something on your channel. We are. We're going to record something. We should tease it because this will probably come out before that. It will. Well, it definitely will. And we're going to, we're going to reverse the rolls a little bit.

I have a little surprise for you. I'm going to go ahead and tease it. now. Okay. And I can't wait to see what you're one of the, because I got 10 questions to ask Chris Van Vleek. Oh boy. Yeah. And we even have props. That's the one thing I've realized that this YouTube thing that works great is having props. But I want to know, are you going to be willing to take a chop? Don't answer me now. Don't answer me now. We'll find out together later. All the comments on the chop video that I did are all like, well, you should take one from Gunther. It's like, are you trying to get me killed okay i took one from big show and you know he chops down and his hands the size of

a frying pan no lie my his handprint was from here i was in the gym showing everybody did i ever tell my hardcore title story real quick please so i win the hardcore title against taker and rock rocks of systems yeah and i go home and like i'm just i'm a kid i'm stupid i go out to the bar my local bar in my hometown and I drive my truck out there and, um, parking like up on like the curb thinking I'm just, man. I walk in with the title and everything.

There's everybody. It's a little college town. So everybody's up coming talking to me and stuff. And, you know, an hour goes by. So I go and I put the hardcore title back in the trunk. I have a flight the next day. So I go back in and I'm hanging out with buddies in the bar and stuff.

And then when I go back out later on that night, yeah, my car had been towed. And it was too. And it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't have a 6 a.m. flight to go to the next town. And because it was Thursday night. And, you know, that's the happening night in my town. And I'm just, it's 2 a.m. I have four hours to negotiate getting my car, which has the hardcore title in it.

And I don't even know what lot they took it to. Long story short, I found it. Got the guy on the phone who owned the lot, told him, you come help me get this car out now, whatever the impound fee is plus 500 bucks for you. Wow. Because, I mean, what am I going to do? Yeah. Am I going to fly to the next start of house shows?

Where's the hardcore title, maybe? Did you ever call WWE and tell them? Like, I was going to figure that out. If I had to jump the fence, break into my own car, at least grab the title and go out, I would have resorted to that. Easily. That's so good. Easily.

So I end every conversation with the same question because gratitude is such an important part of my life. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for when I start my day and I end every interview with that. So maybe what are three things you're grateful for right now? New opportunity. I like that. Definitely new opportunity. Old friends, friends that have been there through thick and thin and always stuck with me. And finally, and it's the one thing that I hope, I hope everyone has and that's hope. Because even at your lowest, man, it's always good to have something to just grasp onto.

And, I mean, I'm living proof at 46. You can reinvent yourself. And I found a new hope in life. Yeah, there's something that can be said for having hope. And you're really just going to start. We will see. You are. We will see.

Part two. There we go. We're going to see you, man. I can't wait. Likewise, brother. Our brother. Thank you. Thank you.

There we go. What a guy. And, I mean, we, we're going. talked so much about his YouTube channel here. If you haven't subscribed yet, go check it out. Go watch some of his videos and you will understand why he really is the hottest wrestling YouTuber on the planet right now. Also, how about the fact that he was taking shots of Jack Daniels with The Undertaker before he eliminated him at the Rumble? It's crazy. He's just such a great storyteller. I love having him on. I feel like I could have Maven on like every few weeks. And

we just never get bored of it. So good. Please share this episode with a friend, take a screenshot and tag us so we can share this out on social media. He's at Maven Huffman on Instagram, and he's just on Instagram. He's not on Twitter. I know there's a lot of people that got followed by Maven Huffman on Twitter. That is not a real account. I'm sorry to break it to you. He's just on Instagram. And I'm everywhere, though. It's just at Chris Van Fleet. And I came across this quote. You know, I love sharing the quotes. Big quote guy here. It's an unknown quote, but it's so good.

It is fruitless to wish you had started years ago. In the future, you will wish you had started today. Be great, be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some poor insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

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

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.