Insight with Chris Van Vliet - René Duprée on His WWE Debut At 19 Years Old, La Résistance, The Ruthless Aggression Era

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

René Duprée (@RealReneDupree) is a professional wrestler known for his time in WWE as part of the tag team La Résistance with Sylvain Grenier. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about signing with WWE at 18 years old and making his debut at 19, becoming the youngest WWE tag team champion ever, how he was able to get so muscular at such a young age, his legendary father Emil Duprée, his new podcast called "Cafe De René" and much more! Save 20% on your first purchase at True Classic Tees with the code CVV20: https://trueclassictees.com/discount/CVV20 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. For more information about CVV and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com 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 going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! Here we go! Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Hope you had an amazing holiday and that you were able to spend it with some of your loved ones. And thank you so much for being with us on this one. A really interesting conversation with René Dupree,

who made a name for himself during the Ruthless Aggressionary and WWE with Lowell. Resistence. He debuted in WWE at just 19 years old. A very, very jacked 19 year old, might I add. We talk a lot about that here. And he has a new podcast called Cafe de Renee, where he speaks his mind about pretty much everything. And you'll see in this interview that he doesn't hold back really at all. Cafe de Renee is available wherever you're listening to this right now. You can also check out their YouTube channel, Cafe de Rame, which of course, means coffee with Renee. You can give the show a follow at Cafe de Renee on social media. You can give me a follow at Chris Van Fleet or at chris dot Van Fleet if you're on TikTok. And it's been so amazing seeing how many reviews we've been getting on Apple Podcasts. So thank you. It is one of the most important things to help the show grows. So I can't say thank you enough. We're almost at 2,200 reviews on there. Amazing. Our first fan of the week is Kate Millar who says, great, one of the first podcasts I ever listened to,

and it's always so good. Kate, thank you so much for the review. I read one out on every single episode. Apple Podcasts is the place where the reviews can be submitted, and then they are publicly shown. So if you happen to have an iPhone or you happen to listen on Apple Podcast, please, just leave a few words on there. Or if you've already left a review, go back in, add a few words, take away a few words, add an emoji, take out an emoji, whatever you want to do. It freshenes it up and then resubmit it and it will go right to the top there.

So, guys, if you haven't learned from this, I'm very thankful. I'm very grateful, so I just can't say thank you enough for being on this journey with me. Let's get right into this. Ladies and gentlemen, madame de Mieieuze, Renée Depree. Renee, you were the first guest that I've ever had on the show

that's in the Atlantic time zone. This was very confusing for me to book this. It's la vie. Yeah. Ple bien. So you're living in New Brunswick now? Yeah. So for Americans who might be watching this, that's like Maine and then a little bit further north?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we border Maine. Okay. So you border Maine. You also border Quebec, though. Yeah. How long has it been now? Was that?

How long has it been now since you've been back in Canada? Well, I moved back here in 2007. Then I traveled around. I lived in Japan for about three years. Right. And I tour all over Europe. But I always try to come back home, right? Yeah. Well, I hear you. There's nothing like Canada. I love Canada, too. Yeah, it's always good to talk to a fellow Canadian.

I'm sorry that my French is very, very limited to high school French, which is not helpful in a conversation at all. I rarely even speak French anymore. Only with my dad. Really? Yeah. Like, they teach you in high school to, like, conjugate verbs, which, you know, it serves no purpose in real life, I feel like. There's a lot of stuff I learned in school that serves no purpose, man. I'm so curious to dive into your whole story here, but before we get into all of that,

congrats on your new podcast. Thanks. Well, I got a lot of downtime. and then this guy from the UK was like he interviewed me for his podcast that thing he's wrestling got to give it a cheap plug yeah James yeah James and then he said well

would you be interested in doing one and I was like I got nothing but time my hands since I can't travel anywhere right right so yeah it's actually pretty fun it keeps me updated what's going on in wrestling because otherwise I'd have no clue because I don't watch it on TV anymore right I find that to be such an interesting thing.

So many guys after they have left the business or left WWE don't watch wrestling that much anymore. What do you think it is about that? I think you get sick of it. You get burnout when you're there. Oh, no, seriously. Yeah. You get so burnt out because when you're in that system, it's like 24-7, right? Yeah.

I mean, you're technically an independent contractor, but really you're on call 24-7. So is this the idea that you've seen how the sausage is made? and maybe now you don't like eating sausage so much anymore. Well, like now I follow the Japanese stuff because that's where I've been based for Christ going on 15 years now, right? Yeah. So, like, now I'm with a company called Pro Wrestling Noah, and they're about to start a feud with New Japan Pro Wrestling,

inter-promotional feud. And if it wasn't for these freaking lockdowns, I'd be there right now, a part of it. When you look at the New Japan Free Japan. roster who were you like oh man i need to have a match with this person well i wrestled pretty much three quarters of the roster already because i was in all japan for wrestling i was there with sonata bushi uh minoro suzuki kajima so i wrestled all those guys before but like the guys i haven't wrestled would be okata kanahashi uh knighto uh i like to get have you worked osprey Oh, no, no.

I know exactly what I would do with him, though. I mean, I'm not going to divulge my secrets here on this, but I know what, you know, like, I compare him to like a Paul London. You remember Paul London? Yeah, of course. Yeah, so I could have so much fun with those guys. Let's just put it that way.

Yeah, I love it. You know, if hardcore wrestling fans are watching us or listening to us right now, they'll recognize the name of your podcast, Cafe de Renee, which was a very, very short-lived talk show in WWA. I think we had like one in-ring, one in-ring session and then like some backstage stuff. No, that was just created by one of the writers. And then I didn't even name it. It's my co-host who decided to call it that.

I was like, okay, go ahead. I mean, it makes sense, right? Yeah, I'll probably rename it here eventually. it's coffee with Renee right yeah yeah see my high school French is kicking in here it was worth something why didn't it last longer in WWE I don't know maybe they didn't like it you know I mean you're working for Vince McMahon the guy changes his mind like he changes his underwear right so you know we I mean obviously you're not in it now but would you say that's gotten better or

worse as Vince has gotten older. You watched a product? I probably watch it about as much as you're watching it. Okay. Listen, if I'm not a fan of something, I can't fake it. I can't pretend, but it's great. You know what I mean? I get asked

all the time, would you go back? Well, number one, would they have me back? Which is probably no, because I've been outspoken, right? but number two, it's like, dude, I can't even watch the show. Yeah. So, like, I know the process that goes into it.

It's not what I grew up. You know, it's not what I was brought into. Yeah. More Hollywood now. Yeah, well, it's a television show, and I think people always forget. It's a television show. Yeah.

At what point in your career did you start to be okay with being outspoken about this stuff? Honestly. Yeah. My friend started dying. Wow. That's when I lost it.

Because when I literally, when I left, I was, you know, being professional and like, it's a great company. I just, you know, I want to do something else. But then when it actually happened when my friend Lance K passed away to age 29 of an overdose. You know, I just, snap.

But I'm glad that that has kind of decreased as far as guys dying young. It's kind of gotten better. At one point, man, it was like every other month, you'd have a guy just dropped dead, you know. Especially the years that I was there, I was there from 2002 to 2007. Yeah. Those are like the worst years, right? Yeah, when you look at that time, I mean, just off the top of my head, I can already think of like eight to ten people who passed away far too soon.

What do you think it is or it was? Drugs. Opium. Are we talking like hard drugs? Are we talking steroids? We're talking opiates. Yeah. Right now, unless you're living under Iraq,

the North America has a serious, serious opioid addiction. Yeah. It's out of control. Yeah. Then you put yourself in a position where your job is being, at that time, being bashed over the head with chairs, and they still go through tables, which they overdo it to death, it means nothing anymore.

and you know and you had no time off and at that time you were scared to lose your spot i can remember a fellow canadian andrew martin remember him test yeah yeah when he broke his neck they fired so what kind of message does that send to the rest of your locker you could even show that you're in pain because then they might think oh we can't push this guy because you know he might he might fall off the radar he might might get injured and then there goes our you know it's all about money right tv time is money right yeah so that's when guys would and here's the thing that people don't realize or maybe they do all it takes is seven to 10 days of consistent usage of an opioid and you're you're hooked

your body begins physically dependent on so if you got a torn knee and you take the stuff and you're still working every night you take that stuff for 30, 40, 60 days. When you try to get off of it, you can't. Yeah. You're hooked. Is this something that you struggled with? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because the first time I got introduced to it was my first month in the United States. Because I got sent to developmental, right? Yeah. Which was in Cincinnati. OVW, right? No, no, this was HWA, Heartland. Oh, okay.

Yeah. So we had a practice match, and I did a dive in the corner. and I hit the steel ring post and I broke all four of my front teeth. Gone. We're actually like chipped in half and it was brutal, right?

Well, you have a great dentist because this is tremendous work here. Well, I had him replaced three times. Three times. So then I went to the dentist and he gave me a bottle of biking. So that, and if you look like, I follow like intervention.

You ever watch that TV show? Of course. Yeah, a lot of people, other stories, that's how they get started, is through their doctors prescribing an opioid. Yeah, and for a lot of people, when they can't get opioids anymore, they end up turning to heroin. The heroin. Yeah. It's cheaper. How did you kick it?

I asked for help. Yeah. And they provided it for me, you know? So I got help, and then about two weeks after I left, the establishment, Chris Benoit killed his family. So again, a fellow Canadian, right? So like the writing was on the wall. Maybe I just need to take a little vacation, get away from this place.

I went to Japan and I've been there ever since. What was your initial reason for asking for your release? That was it. It was Chris Benoit? Yeah. Well, again, like, I went to the rehabilitation center for four months. Yeah. Yeah.

And when I got out, I felt great. But then, I mean, it was the biggest catastrophe in wrestling history. I mean, it was worldwide news. Yeah, sure. So I said, okay, people, places and things. If you're in a toxic environment or an environment that doesn't, you know, suit you, you got to change it. Yeah. When you asked for your release, did you have a plan for what was going to be next for you?

Well, I didn't have a clue. You just wanted out. But I knew I was going to do something in wrestling because I have very strong will and determination, right? And about a day after I asked for my release, I was already booked in Japan. Wow. But here's the thing, and this happens with a lot of Canadians who get released from WWE or ask for their release from WWE, you're under an 01 visa working for them. Now you can't work anywhere else in the U.S., which, I mean, that's scary because it's an uphill battle to figure out how to legally.

work in the U.S. again. Oh, yeah. You don't have to. I haven't. I've had a good living. You're saying you don't need to legally work in the U.S.? I don't need to work in the U.S. period. That's true. Yeah. No. No, whether it's a will is away. Yeah, you've been able to have an entire career in Japan, definitely in Canada, Europe. Yeah. Sure. Wow. Yeah. Which I think is actually a testament to a lot of people in Canada who are going, if only I can break in, if only I can get a visa. Well, that's it. I got the exposure. I was very lucky. And now with the internet, you can all like Cafe to Renee, cheap plug. It's a way to promote yourself, right? Yeah, absolutely. Don't forget, the United States is what, less than 5% of the world's population? It's a fact. Yeah.

Right? You're on world, I was on worldwide television for four or five years. Yeah. And now with the internet, you know, I got a name for myself. It might not be the biggest name,

but still. Yeah. Yeah. At what point when you were working for WWE, does the excitement start to die down? You start to peel back that curtain and you go, oh, this isn't exactly what I thought it might be.

Oh, it's like anything else. It becomes groundhog there, right? Hmm. Then it's to the point where the only thing you care about is your check to see how big your check is every week. Yeah. And that's like, I don't think that's a reason to do anything.

I'm sure money, yeah, money is great. Don't get me wrong. But when that's the only thing you care about and you don't really care about the job, maybe it's time to do something else, right? But man, it must have been so exciting for you because, you know, you get signed at 18, you debut at 19, you win a championship at 19. It's like you're marking, like checking all these things off the, list and then at what point does it start to go like just plateau well it's 15 16 years ago right

i guess 80 dying um 80 dying was hard and then uh you see guys like test for example he breaks his neck he gets fired and then he did come back but he wasn't i'm just going to leave it at he wasn't the same guy when he came back and you see this and I'm seeing that at a young age you see this and then you seem like all your heroes

Mr. Perfect big boss man Road Warrior Hawk all these guys are dropping dead left and right left and right and you think well this

okay that's great okay I won this belt I won this belt okay I was number right okay but what's it going to be worth if I'm at 38 or 40

I'm dead or crippled I got in I made my mark. Did I make enough money retire? No. Did I make enough money to invest? Yes.

Is that what I did? Yes. And I'm proud to say that the investment I made when I was 19 in 2003, I've paid it off completely. So now I have perfect credit, seven figures worth of collateral, and a steady six-figure income. Yeah. Yeah. So in my mind, I won the game. Is that six figures from indie wrestling right now?

No, no, no, no, from real estate. Oh, from real estate? Ah. I am right on the cusp right now of starting to invest in investment properties. And Renee, it's heartbreaking because you'll look at some of these properties and maybe they're selling, I'm just going to make up numbers. Or maybe they're selling for $500,000. And you see that someone bought it two years ago for $300 or $350.

And I'm reminded of the quote, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. And the second best time is today. And I'm like, well, I guess there's no better time to get in it than now. No, no, the initial investment, the initial investment I made was a little over half a million. Okay. How it's worth almost triple that. So that's great. It's amazing.

Yeah. Wow. We are the exact same age. And I remember, yeah, we're the same age. I remember watching you debut. And we're the same age. We're both from Canada. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm 19.

and I don't look like that. So at what point in your teenage years did you start getting as insanely jacked as you were? I started lifting weights at 11. Okay. Now there's a difference, though. I started lifting weights at like 13 or 14. There's a difference, though, between lifting weights, me,

and looking like how you look, you. Well, I knew what I wanted to do, and I actually got apart because my father is very frugal, so he wouldn't buy the food that's necessary that you want to body bill. Because I would eat seven, eight meals a day. Okay. I got a part-time job pumping gas at a gas station.

In a Canadian winter, so you know how brutal that is. Yeah. Just to buy the chicken breast. Plus it's genetics, too. My dad looked like a young Steve Reeves. My mom looked like a fitness model. I would spend three, four hours a day in the gym. I would skip school to go lift weights.

Yeah. So was your inspiration, I had no life. Was your inspiration bodybuilders or was your inspiration pro wrestlers? British bulldogs, road warriors, macho man, the ultimate warrior. But then I, you know, I was kind of a smart kid because you know how Vince tried to start his own bodybuilding federation, right? Yeah. So you know, okay, this guy likes bodybuilding.

So that's what I did. I trained. I got, well, I started wrestling when I was 14 for my dad. And then at 16, or no, I had 17, I trained for bodybuilding contest. I won the New Brunswick, the provincials. And a week later was the nationals in Halifax, Nova Scotia. And I won those. So my resume, because I didn't get hired strictly because of who my dad was or my name.

I sent in a resume. I had, you know, national bodybuilding contests, winner, you know, world qualifier, all that shit. it because I was no I was said on that was my goal to make it to the WWF I made it what I think is great about that

is you've like reverse engineered the process here and I think there's so many people who are 12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16, whatever that want to be pro wrestlers and man I hate saying this but you look at so many indies and there's a lot of guys that are trying to make it who

like never work out and I don't understand if the biggest stars on TV is TV or the guys that look a certain way, why wouldn't you want to be in the gym as well? Yeah. Well, what a lot of them should do and they don't is train their neck muscles, their trapezius muscles, because all that bumping we do, if you got a pencil neck and you're taking all those bumps, it's easier.

Once you break your neck, that's it. You ain't going nowhere. You think the big manager feds are going to hire you? Yeah. When they give you that medical exam, oh, you broke your neck? Okay, next. Yeah. You know?

Look at it like any other sport. All the hockey players I've known and guys play sports, they all had to follow a diet in a regime and the training regime. Wrestling is no different. Yeah. The only difference is in wrestling, it's on you. When you're playing for an NHL team or an NFL team, it's like built into your day.

You guys have to go to the gym. You have to work out for strength and conditioning. I think they do that in the Florida program now. In the performance center, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think they're doing it like that. But then once you're on the road, it's like it's on you. Well, yeah.

Get to the gym. You have to rent your own cars, get your own hotel room. I mean, a part of that is kind of cool because you have your independence and stuff. Yeah. But some people like it more like in Europe. When we traveled Europe with WWE, you have your own team bus. And you all stay at the high class hotels and stuff. And there was always gyms appointed to us and got your meals paid.

That was pretty sweet. That was a good time. 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 Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, 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 Hencoe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Do you have any, like, residual injuries or residual effects from injuries now? Like when you get out of bed, does anything... Huh?

I got, like, one brain cell left, yeah. Is that why we're smoking, whatever we're smoking here right now? TBDs, this is not THE, folks, although I am Canadian, and it is completely legal. Oh, CDDs, yeah. I highly recommend it. Memory loss, because I've had a lot of concussions. My teeth knocked out three times. My nose was broken four times.

I got dents in my head. But as far as body-wise, I mean, my shoulder's pretty screwed up. This one here from Goldberg. She's a dick. Other than that. That's a dislocated collarbone, right? Yeah, yeah. With the, we had a backstage.

With the flag, yeah, yeah. Hit me four times. Like, son, bitch. That's the thing. Like, you don't want to show them that you're weak, right? Just go for it. I show them how tough you are. And you kept working through a dislocated collarbone?

It's called a cortisone. Oh, my God. Oh. Did you end up having words with Bill after that and say, like, hey, man, like, my shoulder's all messed up now. No. I'm running. He knew that I think he has one speed go and he's so OCD that I think he was actually apologetic, but at the same time as like he couldn't control it because he's too concentrated on his character. Yeah. Yeah.

I had Spike Dudley on the show last year, and we talked about that spot that La Resistence did where he took that bump to the outside with a table, which when you watch it back looks incredibly pain. And Spike shrugged it off like, oh, yeah, no, it's fine. Just like any other bump. It's like any other. That's what he told me after it happened. And I was so apologetic, man. I called him that night in his hotel room to see if he was okay, you know. But that wasn't our idea.

Like, we didn't, there's an unwritten rule when you first get to WWF, especially at 19. You don't say a word. You just shut up and do as you're told. But, see, like bumps like that, they're two. there's too much room for error. Yeah. Too dangerous. You have another human being.

I don't care how big spikes a small guy, but still try to, in a slide of TV, one take, and, you know, it's too much room for error. I was just blown away when he was like, oh, yeah, that bump was no different than any other bump.

There's one tough little bastard to tell you. Whose idea was it for that bump? Bubba. Oh. Anything involving the Dudley Boys, it was all Bubba. You did an episode of your podcast recently where you were basically like, yeah, F. Bully Ray. Nobody likes Bubba.

I'm not the only one. I'm just the one with the balls to say it publicly. I guarantee there's nobody who's like, yeah, I'm going to work with Bobby Ray tonight. No, that don't happen. Are you saying as a person or as a worker, nobody likes him? Either. Really? He's always been very kind to me.

I've got nothing bad to say about him. Yeah, we'll try working professionally with it. Yeah. So there was, like, he lived up to his name is basically what you're saying. He was, in fact, a bully to you guys. That was back then, man. Try that shit with me now. I won't fly.

I'm a growing man now. Was there one specific thing? Like, if we go back on YouTube and watch a clip, was there one specific match or moment where you would go, oh man that was bad i don't think so like from a professional

standpoint there'd be times where he'd yell shit out in the ring like dude what the fuck you're doing like that's why i don't rank him i don't i do not rank him that high as a quality wrestler i just don't you know i just don't i mean they had the little act to rank the dudley boys up there no wow i was right now i mean their little schick that they did was entertaining, it was different, okay, but as far as all-time great wrestlers now.

Now, is this just Bubba, or did you have issues with Devon? No, Devon's actually a better wrestler than Bubba. When it comes to actual wrestling, yeah, Devon is way better than Bubba. Okay, so if that's on one end of the spectrum of people you did not like working with, who's on the other end of the spectrum of people who you couldn't wait to get in the ring with? Paul London every night time I got to work

with the rock that was pretty sweet that was exciting Steve Austin yeah and then well I like working with you know I like the money

but Paul London as far as just because we're both young guys and it's not like you had like a veteran trying to tell you you do this that we could put our thoughts together and work together, you know. Yeah. It's great. What was it about the rock or Austin?

Like, I think that, you know, you get into a position like that because you're great all around. But what was it specifically when you're in the ring with someone like that? Just the energy. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, those were the two that once the music hit, you would literally feel away from the people. I kind of is it comparable to like saying you go to a metallic concert right and they open the show and they hit the first the first riff of intersandman yeah you know what I mean or you're you're Eddie Vedder and you're in the Madison Square Guard and the whole crowd is singing can't find a better man you know what I mean that's the kind of feeling you get you know for me every time I hit the French tickler my little dance I used to do

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That's when I knew I'd have the people. Yeah. Whose idea was it for you to lean into your French roots and to become part of your character? Well, it was the whole, when the Afghanistan war started. This is when they renamed French fries, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Americans.

Remember that? French fries became Freedom fries. Freedom fries. Oh, yeah, the Americans. Because the French didn't want to go to war. Yeah. You know, they're like, listen, man, we don't know the whole story and really it doesn't concern us. Yeah.

Why are we going to go over there and die for? And then, you know. And then I like to talk about this because remember a few years ago, I think it was in Marseille, there was like the ISIS or one of those terrorist groups drove like a tank or something. And I think it was in Marseille, France and killed a bunch of people. Right? What did the French army do? the day they go and pray for help and ask everybody for help

no no within 24 hours they found out where those motherfuckers were they got in their fighter jets and they bombed the ever-living shit out of them you see the mentality the difference yeah they're independent they worry about their stuff they don't get involved in anybody else's business and really

my mentality is the same way I like to be independent I like to concentrate in my stuff I don't really worry about anything else or being so confused I remember being so confused as a Canadian because I'm like, wait a second. Renee and Silvan are Canadian. Right. They're French Canadian.

Just because they speak French, they now have to represent France. Imagine how I felt. Well, that's the thing. It doesn't make any sense. Well, I mean, why did they make sense, Tino Morella from Italy? He's really from Mississauga, right? He's from Mississauga, yeah. He just does a great Italian accent.

Yeah, Valvinais is from Toronto, all of a sudden he's from Las Vegas. and he's a porn star. No, because the mentality in the United States and the Vincent Man is that if you're, unless you're from America, you're not, if you're Canadian, you can't be a baby face.

That's his mentality, right? Like when Benoit won the title, go back and watch, if you actually can now, now resigning from Atlanta, Georgia. But that was everybody. Right after 9-11, nobody was Canadian.

Everybody was residing in whatever their American residency was. Yeah. Yeah. Like Jericho, when he wanted, I think it was now resigning from Tampa, Florida. That's right. The only market would be the Toronto Woods. Because Toronto's a huge market, right? Yeah.

Like Edge. Yeah. Because Toronto is a huge market. So this is pitched to you that you're now going to represent France. And are you thinking, well, of course, it doesn't make sense, but it's my chance to go work I in the main roster. That's it. Yeah. Shut up and do as you're told, man.

Did you have to really work on your French accent? Well, I had a stronger accent back then. Because when I first got to nice, I was fresh out of high school, so I was always talking French. Like I told you, now I barely speak French at all. Maybe we're my father, that's about it. No. Yeah. Because my mom was Anglophone, right?

I don't know. It was just so weird to see that. But you're right. There was also the un-Americans that happened around that same time. Obviously, in the 90s, you had Brett Hart. Heart and the Heart Foundation, and they were bad guys simply because they were from Canada. But if you look at Vince's track record, he always goes back to the same old formula. You know, USA versus the foreigners, right?

Yeah, this happened with Kozlov. It happened with Brucev. I mean, we can go down the list. Yeah, yeah. Wasn't there like a, you, didn't they have a group? It was like the Roussev and then... The United Nations, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

See, it always goes back to... Yeah. And then whoever the American good guy is, it's always the same form. But when you break in doing that, how hard is it then to break out of that being your thing? Yeah. It took me years.

Yeah. Took me years. That's the thing, like, once you're on his television, that's worldwide. people are always going to remember you for that. Yeah. So when you try to break away from that,

or if he owns your name, you know, there's nothing worse than the artist formerly known as on a poster. Nothing looks more like rinky dinky than that. You know what I mean? Yes. But they're in their rights. They can sue you or they can send a cease and desist to tell you not to use it, right? So for somebody who hasn't seen one of your matches,

since WWE. Who are you now? What's your character now? Who am I? No, I just go by René III and I'm all over the world, man. The latest stuff I've done was in Japan for pro wrestling NOAA. Yeah. And then I'm independent, so I do stuff for a fellow Canadian Hannibal

for Great North Wrestling. He does shows all over Ontario. I usually travel through Europe and stuff like that, but again, with this pandemic, it's hard, right? So I really don't want to go to the United States right now because I just heard there was like 5,000 cases in Massachusetts yesterday. That sounds very possible. Right. And now there's a new variant.

There's a new variant. And then they just shut the Japanese borders again. Yeah. All foreigners. So it's like, oh, it's never ending. What's the kid? The Rene on YouTube, everybody. please sign up and yeah

go with my YouTube pet what's the character now there is no character I have my own character I'm a character itself I wrestle I'm with that yeah I want to ask you about the tattoo on your left shoulder I recognize the Canadian Maple Leaf but what's next to it

Japan oh want to hear a story I'd love to So I was in all Japan pro wrestling, right? Yeah. And I was there for three weeks. And then the seniors on the tour introduced me to sponsors.

Now a sponsor in Japan is like a fan who has a lot of money, and he takes you out. So they took us out to the hard rock, went to the strip clubs, he did karaoke. Let's just say I had a really good time. So then I flew back to Canada after the three-week tour, and I'm with my buddies. I'm drinking. I'm like, you know what, guys? Let's go for a tattoo. And we show up to this, like, shady, like, tattoo shop and like, yeah, man.

Japan. And then the next morning I wake up, I'm like, shit. But it's okay. I got next to my heart because once I finished, uh, I was done with WWF, I hated wrestling. I was so sick of wrestling. I went over there. I fell in love with the country, fell in love with the culture.

Plus, I'm Canadians, so that's why that's there. If you fall out of love with wrestling, how could you keep doing it? Well, you just got to go to a different territory. Yeah. The only place, in my opinion, the only place that pro wrestling still exists is in Japan.

And you'll find it on independent like the AEW stuff I have yet to watch their whole show. I think I might review it on my YouTube channel, Cafe to Renee. Which of course translates to me in coffee with Renee, yes. Yeah, which is, yes, got coffee with me. Yes. Are you going to review an AEW show coming up soon? Is that the plan?

Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, I do different topics. Like this week, we did a fan vote on Twitter, and people wanted to talk to, I wanted me to talk about Chris Benoit. So I did a 45-minute thing on him. And then I'm going to bring up different subjects that I find interesting, like drug usage is in wrestling

because I can relate to it, right? And describe in detail some of the stuff that goes on. You know, kind of like the dark side of the ring. You know, the subjects that most people don't want to talk about or scared to talk about. Yeah. I want to talk about that shit. I think people are interested in that kind of stuff.

I feel like you are now walking this thin line when you're talking about subjects like this. For an outsider looking in, they might go, well, Renee's just jaded, or Renee doesn't like the WWE. Oh. No, I just tell the truth. Hmm.

No. No, I can't, I have to, if it wasn't for their exposure on their television, you wouldn't be talking to me right now, would you for sure yeah i wouldn't have been able to do all the other stuff that i've done in wrestling to travel independently on my own thanks to that exposure that was christ 17 years ago 18 years ago crazy right um but the same time it's like i'm my bitter towards that place well i was resigned in 2011 a lot of people don't realize that but i felt like i was lied to

I couldn't get in to the United States at that time because I didn't have my proper paperwork. And I was told one thing. And then when I went and got that stuff fixed, tried to contact them again, there was no answer. So I was like, you know, that was almost 10 years ago. If you could go back and change anything about, it doesn't even necessarily need to be WWE,

but you could go back and change anything about that time. Would you change anything? That's a good question. I wish I would have been a little bit older until I, before I got on the road. Yeah. That lifestyle for anyone under the age of 21, it's too much.

Yeah, you weren't even able to drink. Oh. Yeah, because it's 21 in the United States. Yeah, and it's 18 in Quebec and 19 for most of the rest of Canada. Yeah, but the United States, it's 21. Yeah, it's 21 in the U.S. So what happens? You know, all the boys are going out.

You can't go out? Well, I didn't want to drink anyway. I was trying to be, the one time that I did decide to drink in my room alone, we were in the UK, and I was 19, so I think that's legal, right? Yeah. But I ended up almost missing the flight the next day and got a whole bunch of Pete. So that was the first and only time I did that, I didn't do it again. What was it that got you? it vodka? It was wine and two European women. That'll get you every time. Every time.

But I think part of the allure of you was the fact that you were so young and so jacked at the time and seemingly so experienced for someone who was only 19 years old. Yeah. Oh, they had big plans, no doubt. They had big plans. And the thing is, if you were a little bit older, maybe your story wouldn't have been as impressive. Yeah, that's true, too. That's the funny thing, right? I mean, you can never go back and change anything. In hindsight, it's always 20-20.

But if you were 25 and had all of the accolades that you had, maybe it wouldn't have been as great. Right. No, it's true. It's true. I mean, I was the youngest until an eight-year-old beat my record. What was his name again? Exactly. What was his name again?

I don't know. No, now everybody watching this is going to go, oh, what do you mean? Nicholas. I was at that WrestleMania. Really? Nicholas. Nicholas. Nicholas.

Yes, I was at that WrestleMania and I was looking at my friends going, I can't believe this. I think you need a rematch or you need to have a match with Nicholas. Right? Yeah, he's got to be, what, 11 now? Well, yeah, I think he's hit puberty by now, so. Sounds like a fair match to me. Sounds like it needs to happen. It needs to happen.

Let's book it. Do you think about life after wrestling? You can't keep doing this for the next 20 years. Do you think about what you're going to do next? Well, I got the real estate, right? Yeah. So. Is that investing or are you also, like, are you working as an agent, too?

Well, my family owns about 19 buildings and I own about two. so it's yeah it's a comfortable income yeah that's pretty great income yeah yeah no I learned that from my dad my father said it doesn't matter how much money you make it's how much you save and invest like I told you before

it's like did I make enough to retire hell no but did I make enough to buy a house yeah did I buy a house no I bought a real estate yeah I bought another one then I bought another one yeah I'm still going to wrestle Do you think real estate is the best investment that you could possibly make? I think it is.

I mean, people say it's like cryptocurrency, not in this same age, but I don't know. Stock market, I don't know. I'm not too knowledgeable about that shit. I think the stock market's a good long-term investment. Crypto, boy, you could either become rich or completely broke from that, depending on what you buy. It's risky, right? Right. Yeah.

But real estate's always going to trend up. People are always going to need a place to live. That's it. And they're making more people and they're not making any more land. That's true. Yeah. Yeah, like the little town that I grew up in, like, since I graduated high school in the last 20 years, it's like tripled in size. So that's why like the value of the land is just skyrocketed, right?

Yeah. Have you always been this outspoken, your entire career or your entire life? Maybe it's all the concussions. all the chair shots to the head no I used to not talk at all right then I went to the rehabilitation center and they forced you to talk and then I think

you know caught on that it's important to communicate plus I don't leave the house very often so this is a chance for me to actually talk a little bit this in the podcast yeah right no it's a great release it's a great release the podcast, yeah.

What do you do when you're not wrestling or podcasting or working out? Staring at the walls. Sounds exciting. No, I read a lot of books. Okay, me too. Yeah. My father is 85 years of age now, and he lost his license because he's going blind, and he's got dementia.

So I have to take care of him because I don't know how long, you know, he's going to be here for. So in one way the pandemic is kind of a good thing, you know, kind of a blessing of that aspect. Because if it was normal, I'd be traveling, I'd still be traveling all over the place, right? What are you reading right now? Are you familiar with heroin diaries? No. Eighty-sixth heroin diaries.

Oh, okay, yeah. Oh, very nice. Very nice. What would you say is the book you would recommend to, anybody like what's the book that you would gift the most to people well i'm into horror horror and i'm into like real like biogicelys and stuff you know yeah i mean when i was 12 i read stephen king's it i had mono that summer i had nothing to do so i read the whole that's a big book too yeah it's like over a thousand pages right yeah it's thick yeah it took me three months but

I read the fucking thing. I'm a big fan of Maltly Cruz, so their biographies are really good. And here's the thing, right? I read Slash's biography, which is really good. But I tried to read, like, Chris Jericho's biography right after I read Maltly Cruz's biography. I was like, this is fucking lame. I just threw it away. Sorry, Chris.

You just don't compare, dude. I like the real shit. Have you read Matthew McConaughey's book, Green Lights? No. Highly recommended. Really? So good.

Good stories? Great stories. And also like just great life lessons in there too. Yeah. He's been journaling since the 80s. And basically everything that's happened in his life is something that he like manifested years ago. Yeah.

It's a great read Green Lights is what it's called. Right. So I'll read your book. book, Heroin Diaries, and you can read Green Lights and let me know what you think. All right, all right, all right. There it is. Who is the person in your life? Maybe it's a fellow wrestler.

Maybe it's a family member. It was a person in your life that inspired you the most as you were coming up in the industry. Good question. There's so many. I kind of just named just one. I mean, I was like the ultimate fan, right? Like, you know, I was a little kid. I vacationed a macho man Randy Savage's house, you know.

I had Harley Race staying on our house and he would take me in his Cadillac to go get ice cream every day. You know, you know, I have the dynamite kid in his ring jacket at my parents' house in the attic, you know. So I've been around wrestling my whole life. Yeah. But I was really hooked on the Japanese wrestlers. Like, there was a legendary famous god Masahirochono. You know, he's like the godfather of Japanese wrestling. And, like, to this day, we're still buddies.

Like, around in Japan, I started his house and stuff. Like, I seen him as a little kid do all those cool Japanese, like, martial artists, which was different than when I was used to watching it, like, the maritime Canadian wrestlers. So that got me hooked. I'm guessing your dad was a big influence as well. Oh, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have the knowledge about the weight room

and the dieting and how important and all that stuff was. Yeah. Because we had a gym in our house. So that's why I started so young, right? Is there one piece of advice, maybe from him or from somebody else that has always stuck with you? It's not how much money you make in wrestling, it's how much money you save.

And once this business is like, it comes to an end. And once it comes to an end, it's one of the worst feelings in the world when you can't do it anymore. Because it's such an addiction, right? I compare it to, like, why do you think, excuse me, Lemmy, you play it until he basically dropped dead.

Why do ACDC? Why do the Rolling Stones? Why do they still play? Italica. They have enough money. Yeah. Because they love it. It's the rush. Well, that's the greatest drug, right? Adrenaline. There's nothing like it.

There's nothing like it. Which is why so many people, when the band breaks up or when they get released from the NFL or WWE, they turn to another adrenaline rush. They self-destruct, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How do you avoid? Yeah, how can you avoid that?

I don't know. You've got to find something else, but when this is your whole life, you know, it's hard. And it's hard, like, for example, like, when I had that little thing in the ring with the rock, afterwards, how hard that was to come down, it was, it was, it was, I was like stuffing cheeseburgers and ice cream trying to get the endorphins in my brain up, oh, yeah, you know, or you try to find yourself a lady of the night. Oh, yeah.

Also, think of how difficult it would be to sleep that night. Oh, you don't. Yeah. You can't. And then you got to wake up early next morning because you're off to the next town. Yeah. Well, no, that's the thing. Like, you have a five or six o'clock.

Usually they book the cheapest, earliest flights, WWF. So you got to be at the airport at 5 a.m. You get out of the building at 11, 12. So sometimes, like, why even bother getting a hotel room? Just go find a nightclub or a strip club or a diner. Just find a lady at a little. the night. That's it. Lady of the night. God bless them.

Which city was the best city for ladies of the night? Chicago. Really? Chicago. I was fully expecting Las Vegas. Oh, well, see, I never had to pay for it. Gotcha. Yeah.

I'm French. Just blow out the, we, we, oui, oui. Bonjour. Come on sa'va. I love that shit. But, like, as far as entertainer, yeah, Chicago was the for me. Man.

Oh, yeah. Chicago. Oh, yeah. That would have taken me about 30 guesses to get. Oh, no, no. It's a wrestling city. Chicago is really, really good for me.

Well, that's it. You're not just getting picked up because you're an entertainer and your friends. You know, they're interesting because you're Renee Dupree and they just sell you on TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Also, you know, if we went to a club tonight or a bar tonight, you would definitely stand out. Yeah, I guess. Oh, I can say in four or five different occasions, I would walk into a bar and girls would throw themselves on top.

It happened to four or five different times. I'm not trying to brag. I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you like a legit story. One time I was just because they're going, oh, my God, that's Renee Dupree or, oh, my God, that guy's a wrestler? twice because of who I was one time just because the way I looked the one time was in Liverpool I was at you know Brian Danielson of course I was with Brian Danielson and Gangrel love both of those guys oh great guys so we're in Liverpool England we're working for an independent promoter right

and I walk in and as soon as I climb up the stairs and as soon as I get up there this cute little English blonde girl just jumps in my arms and starts making it out with it. You can talk to those two guys. They will back up the story. That's a pretty cool feeling. Yeah, that's a pretty good night right there. That's a good night, yeah. And it's not because I would,

she didn't know that I was Randy Brey the rest of them. She just saw the way I looked. The other two times in my hometown is because of who I was. And one time it was in Louisville, Kentucky with, I'm not going to mention names, but she's a French-Canadian wrestler. Okay. Fill with lines, bro.

It's funny because kind of like the addiction you were talking about earlier, with athletes or with rock stars, that starts to fade away as, you know, the older that you get. Yeah. And I remember asking my friend, who was a notorious womanizer, and he got married at like 36,

and I went, dude, like, you used to be the guy who would, like, just line up girls and have your pick. What happened? And I'll never forget it. He said, I'd stopped getting the looks that I used to get when I was 25, 28, and I went,

oh, that's it. And that's a hard pill to swallow, too. Yeah. And then instead of showing your looks, you got to show them your bank. yeah well then they're sleeping with you for all the wrong reasons right said a vi man se la vie yeah brene this has been such an interesting conversation i had no idea where this would go

we've covered so many different things you've said 45 minutes we're up to 53 so we're gonna we're gonna wrap this up here i'm so sorry i've been enjoying your stories so much Oh, well, Cafe to Renee, drops every Monday. We're going to have different subjects. And then if you want to go in the comments and you want to subject, my webmaster guy, he reads them all. So just let us know what you want me to talk about. I don't care. Yeah, Cafe Dupree on YouTube and wherever you're listening to us on a podcast platform.

Yeah. I end every interview with the same question because I'm all about gratitude. I start and end every day, saying out loud, three things. I'm grateful for. So for you, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for my mom and dad. They're still alive and they support me. I'm grateful for my wife who stood by me for thick and thin. And I'm grateful for the internet I can try to stay relevant with my own YouTube channel. And I'm grateful for the internet too.

We live in two different countries. We are four time zones away, and here we are chatting in real time. Isn't it awesome? And we're both Canadian and we're both the same age. That's true. Yeah, except you're well, well manicured, and I just don't care. Ah, you look great. Look at this wonderful ponytail that you have.

Yeah, buddy. Oh, my dry split ends. Look at that. See? She. Renee, thank you so much. Thank you, my friend. And congrats on the podcast.

Well, we're only at like 350 subs. Hopefully after this show, we can get up to 3,000. We can definitely double your subscribers with this interview. Well, I appreciate it very much. It's not a promise, but it's

everyone's going to come through here. All right. Perfect. Good. There you have, my friends. Merci Bocou for being with us on this episode. Big thank you to Renee for joining us as well. You can check out Cafe de Renee wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to give it a follow if you haven't already. Also make sure to follow insight on the podcast platform if you're choosing so you don't miss out on any of the big stuff that we have in store for 2022. Oh man, I can't wait. I mean, most of the interviews we did

in 2020 and 2021 were obviously done remotely because of these circumstances. starting to do a lot more in person, starting to do a lot more from the beautiful Blue Wire Studios at the Wind Las Vegas. So I'm hoping as we head into 2022, the majority will be done in person. But make sure to click subscribe

or click follow so you don't miss out on whatever we have coming up. I'll leave you with the words of J.P. Morgan as we wrap this up. The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you're not going to stay where you are. be great be grateful we'll see you on the next one for some more insight

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