Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Ricardo Rodriguez On Alberto Del Rio, Beating Roman Reigns, Being Bret Hart's Final Opponent

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets for the first ever INSIGHT LIVE the day before the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2025 in Indianapolis are on sale now! Ricardo Rodriguez (@RRWWE) is a professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE as Alberto Del Rio's personal ring announcer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Three Legacies Wrestling School in Lancaster, PA to talk about how he got signed by WWE and being paired with Alberto Del Rio, having a victory over Roman Reigns, being ringside for Dolph Ziggler's Money in the Bank cash-in, his Royal Rumble entry, why he decided to leave WWE, his battles with addiction, getting clean and more. Quote I'm thinking about: “Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.” - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Sponsors: VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Oh, yes. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's your friendly neighborhood, CBV, Chris Van Fleet. There's a lot of wrestling podcasts out there. So thank you for being with us on this one right now. And thank you, as always, for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on planet earth.

Grab your phone and hit a bionic elbow on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. If you're driving, maybe wait until you're stopped. But at some point today, hit that bionic elbow on that follow button. And if it is Spotify, oh, man, a rating would be so helpful. We just hit 6,000 ratings for the show. And we're well on our way to that silly goal that I said of 7,500 ratings before the end of the year. I know that we'll get there. But if you're listening on Spotify and you haven't yet hit that follow button,

if you haven't yet rated the show, it'd be so helpful. Also, Spotify RAPT is coming up soon. It's always so fun to see what your top podcasts are for the year, your top songs, your top artists. If by some chance, insight is on your list of your top podcast when Spotify Rapt comes out, please tag me. I would be happy to share that on Instagram or Twitter or wherever. Also, we've been talking about doing a live show for a while now,

like a live show with an audience. And now it's finally happening. The very first Insight Live is going down the day before the Royal Rumble, Friday, January 31st in Indianapolis. Tickets are on sale now at CVVTicks.com. There's also a very limited number of VIP tickets that are still available. That includes a special Live Ask CVV with just me answering your questions. It's not going to be recorded or put out anywhere. It's just me.

answering your questions, then we've got a meet and greet after included in that VIP ticket there. So again, it's CVV-T-I-X.com to grab those. Ricardo Rodriguez has one heck of a story. You'll remember him from his time in WWE when he was Alberto Del Rio's personal ring announcer, and for how long he would hold on the Alberto. You get the point. would be much longer than that, but you don't need to hear me do that. He had some hilarious moments, like when he dressed up as Seamus or when he dressed up as

the big show. And he had that match with Santino where he wrestled in a tuxedo. Ricardo opens up about the struggles that he had with addiction after he left WWE and his journey to getting sober and staying sober. It's an amazing and inspiring story that I can't wait for you to hear. He now runs a wrestling school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where we recorded this interview. He also has a wrestling promotion there called Three Legacies Wrestling. I was honored to be part of one of their shows recently.

They do monthly shows. So if you're in PA, you got to check him out. Or if you're looking to become a wrestler, you need to check out Ricardo's school. Threelegacies Wrestling.com. That's three spelled out. Legacies Wrestling.com. Also, snap a screenshot. Tag us so we can share out your tweet or your tweet or you.

your Instagram post about this. He's at RR. W.W.E. on Twitter. He's at J. underscore Rodriguez 818 on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and enjoy this. Please welcome Ricardo Rodriguez. Well, first of all, thank you for inviting me here. Thank you. And welcome to the Three Lexis Wrestling Academy. It's good to see you again. It's been, well, actually, we saw each other not too long ago. Yeah, almost a year. Yeah. It's been a year. But the last time, that, like, we, I did an interview with you. Yeah. Doesn't it in 12?

Yeah. 12. You were walking that mustache? Oh, no. It was for a good cause. It was. It was for November. People don't seem to realize that I was doing that not because I thought it looked good because

it, yeah. I thought you were going for like that 70s, you know. That's funny. I got made fun of so much for that terrible mustache back then. Mustaches are cool now. Yeah, yeah. Maybe I need to bring it back. I think you should.

So we're in PA right now. now. And you've opened up this wrestling school here. You have a promotion here, three legacies wrestling, two-year anniversary as well. Yeah, and actually that's why you're also a part of why you're here. A good friend of ours, Jared has brought you in. And I'm very proud to be able to have something that we've been building for the last two years. And then to have you as a part of it, man, I'm beyond happy about that. I'm proud of that. Man, I'm honored that you invited me out. So, thank you for that. Congrats on everything you've built here as well. It's been a process. Just like

And I'm sure you know the process of building something is it can't be strenuous and it could be very stressful. But when you finally see something grow that you put in so much love and effort and pain and suffrage into and then you see a blossom that you've nurtured it, it's pretty rewarding. Did you always want to have a wrestling school? No, no, not at all. This is something I just kind of developed over the last several couple of years, maybe honestly. I've been grateful that I've had the privilege of running schools and at least running classes. And even in my time with WWE, I was put in a position to kind of help guide others through the help, obviously, of my mentors that were there with me. And as time went on, I just started taking that a little bit more seriously.

And I got put in a position where I was given trust to be able to help others. and now that I have this opportunity to build my own thing, to build my own legacy, I'm very grateful for it. It's called three legacies. What are the three legacies? So there's a whole bunch of stuff that goes into it. It's all kind of mix into one. So before WWE, I used to wrestle under the name of chimera.

A chimera is a couple of different things, but ultimately it is a Greek monster, and it is three animals in one. So it's a goat, a serpent, and a lion. So there's that three. That was a masked wrestler, right? I was, yeah, I was in Lucha Ler. So I started on Lucha Lever at first before I switched over to the American side.

Also, the idea of the past, present, and future to me is something that's been pretty cool because you take the old style wrestling and you mix it in with the now and then you eventually are going to progress into whatever the future may be. And then just also the idea of the body, mind, and soul is key. So that's also what goes into the idea of three legacies wrestling. It's so interesting when you talk about having this other character before WWA. Because everybody just knows you as Ricardo is. Like this comedy character. Yeah. But before that, you were a serious wrestler.

Yeah. And it's night and day if you ever go back. And at the time, I mean, I started in Mexican Luchilever. That's how I started. And I was very grateful for my trainer, Latico Blanco, who just would beat the living dog, a lot of us. but in a good, constructive way. And I learned so much from that.

And then when I switched over to the American side, it was a struggle at first, but then once I kind of started getting my groove, and I had awesome trainers that were helping me switch to from Mexican style to the American style. These guys named Los Luchas, Phoenix Star and Zokre from PWG. So they were a big part of that, too. And when I started kind of modeling what I wanted to be

in the American side, I used to watch like Super Dragon, Samoa Joe, low-key, Grimuda, how they were more just aggressive and they didn't really talk. And it was more so just the mannerisms. So in my head, at least, I would tell myself, you're this badass. They usually go and kick everybody in the head. And then you'll incorporate a couple of little lucha things here and there. But that's what I used to try and do and emulate.

And then I became Ricardo. Yeah, all of that is the exact opposite of your character. Because I did not talk. and then I got hired to talk. So that was a whole 180 because prior to that, I maybe had cut maybe one promo. No way. Ever in the four years I was doing independent wrestling,

maybe one or two promos tops. And I got hired to talk. So the irony of all that kind of came about. Were you hired with the idea that you were going to be paired with Alberto del Rio? Yeah, sort of. So I ended up, this is a backstory to how things kind of happened. I had worked for this guy, this promoter in Southern California named Jesse Hernandez,

who owns Empire Wrestling Federation. And Jesse used to be a referee for WWF, WWF, I think. But he had been around for a while. And he became one of the main promoters in Southern California. So I got to wrestle for him once. And right after the match, he comes up to him and he goes, hey, WWV is coming to town in a couple of, I think, at this point, I was like two months or so.

He's like, would you be interested in doing a tryout? And mind you, this is the first time I've met him, so he didn't owe me anything. And I was like,

yeah, of course. So I jumped in on that. I did the tryout. And at the time, I didn't know too much about what was going on on the WWE television because my full-time job

as a graphic designer was a full-on production type thing. So it was an all-day, 12-hour, 16-hour shifts, right? So I wasn't watching wrestling, really. And then when I was getting out of work,

I would go straight to training. So then when I go and I did an actual tryout at the Staples Center, I don't know what it's called now. Crypto.com Arena. Yeah. So I did the trial at the Staple Center. It was the Monday after SummerSlam 2010, I think August 10th, I think is when we did the tryout. Dude, your tryouts in the Staple Center? Yeah, the tryout.

That's amazing. And we got there, and we got there super early. We did like a three-hour tryout. So we finished that, and then they come up to me afterwards. the talent scout guy at the time was named Tai Belli. So Tai Bailey comes up to me and he's like, hey, he just kind of asked me a couple questions. He's like, are you under contract anywhere? I was like, no.

He's like, are you married? I was like, no. He's like, do you have kids? I was like, not that I know of. He's like, if giving the opportunity, would you be willing to relocate to Florida? And I was like, yeah, sure, of course. And at that point, I had been promised to moon by so many promoters. And I didn't know any better.

So I was like, whatever. Right. I was just kind of, we'll see, we'll just kind of play it by ear and see what happens. So then we got a catering, and I was only scheduled for that tryout. I wasn't scheduled for, like, Smackdown or anything. I was just scheduled for the tryout. But I stuck around. Because obviously they welcome me to stay in case they need extras or whatever. So they went up to this other gentleman that had done the trial with me.

And we did like this thing where we did matches and we did tournaments, tournament style. And at the end of it, it was myself and this other guy. And they had gone up to him first. And they're like, hey, we're looking for this renouncing thing. And they had asked them. And for whatever reason, he said he couldn't make it the next day. So then Jesse goes up to the individuals that were in charge. And he's like, well, he speaks Spanish.

So then they approached me. And they're like, hey, do you have a tuxedo? I was like, no. But, I mean, I was like, yes. I told him, yes, of course. So, and I didn't. They asked if I've ever done reenouncing before. And I told him yes, which I never have.

But I love that. The answer is always yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. So then they're like, all right, come tomorrow to Smackdown in Bakersfield. And we're going to, they didn't tell me what for it. They're just like, just, you know, come tomorrow. I was like, cool, awesome.

So then I go and I go. The whole time were you thinking a tuxedo in ring announcer? Yeah. But I just had a wrestling tryout. Right. So then I go to the Goodwill that was like a cross street from where I used to live. And I got a cheap little suit. And there was a bridal store across street from that on Van Nuis and Victory in the Valley.

and there was a bridal source so I bought a bunch of bow ties and coincidentally too because I wasn't scheduled for that raw and at the time, that smackdom, excuse me and Miro was actually on that trial with me and we were training together at Knox Pro

so he, I told him and he's like, well just take the room that I had purchased for like the night whatever, the hotel. Just take it. I was like, cool, so he let me stay he offered it. But I Baker's only like an hour and a half, two hours from the valley. Yeah.

But so we were in the trial together. So then I go to Bakersfield. I do the first little walkthrough and they tell me what I'm doing. And I get introduced to Alberto. And at the time, I didn't really know who he was. He seemed familiar. And so we go over the rundown of what we're doing. So then they tell me, hey, you're going to be announcing this guy.

And we do the, the, the, the, the, the first rehearsal. And Vince waddles down the ramp as I see him. And I was like, oh, so he does like the little walk. And I was like, dude, that thing's real. He walks like that in real life? He's done. I mean, when I saw him, at least in my mind, he was doing that, that power walk that he does.

Yeah. And then he comes up to me. And because I had already done one rehearsal. And he's like, no, not like that. Be more animated. Be more Hispanic. Whatever that means, right? So he's just be more Hispanic.

I was like, all right, cool. So then I started thinking of the AAA announcers, how they're so. so, you know, loud and this. And so I took that approach and he's like, yeah, that. So then I do it. And obviously the first time around, it wasn't as big and as driving as once I got used to it. But they liked it.

I did the first night. And then that week, they were doing a double taping of Smackdown because the guys were going overseas, the Smackdown guys were going over to Europe, to the European tour. And I believe that's when they got stuck because of the volcano. There was a locator in Iceland, and I think on the way back they got stuck, I think. It was that week. So I did, I did Bakersfield on Tuesday, and then we did a double taping. So on Wednesday, we were in Fresno. So then I go up, I do the deal. Alberto wrestled this wrestler by the name of Alex Kozlov, who was in New Japan and Sima Lel and Rio Honor.

So he wrestled him. And then after that, Mark Carrano and Johnny Ace, they pulled him to the office, and they asked us a basic question. They're like, hey, are you on a contract? And I was like, no. So they asked Alex the same. And I think at the time, he was wrestling for AAA, but per appearance type deal. So then they're like, would you guys want to sign, basically? We're going to offer you, especially for me, because they talked to us separately. But they both, they offered us both contracts.

So that's kind of how I started. But at the time, I didn't really know who Alberta was. And I had a friend who was a super, super, super, super, super, like Mark fan. So I was like, hey, who's this guy? Because I knew he would know. Yeah. Because obviously dirt sheets and all that stuff, he will look into who it was. So he's like, oh, that's Doscaras Jr. I was like, no way. So obviously I grew up watching Lucha Libre. So I became an instant fan of just the idea that that's, you know, the nephew of Min Mascar, the son of Doscas, you know, the nephew of a psychedelic or cousin, I believe.

So I was like, cool, this is like Mexican royalty. So I fanned out for a little while. And so my, so I got signed. And then I was basically an extra for about three months. I did my physical. I did the background check, all that stuff. And then they flew me out to TV right off the bat. And then eventually got that call that they're like, hey, you got, you pass basically. We're going to send you to Florida.

And it just kind of went from there. To go from your tryout to the next day you're on Smackdown? On Smackdown, yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it was insane. And then just nervous, right? Because again, I go back to the same thing of, of, I had never cut promos and I got hired to talk. So that's the whole irony of how this whole thing.

And also the fact that, A, I had lied about my qualifications to get to that spot, but I had to be able to back up my BS. And thankfully, I don't know if they saw through it, but it worked. Is there a part of you, though, that's going, man, I want to be a wrestler, I've been training to be a wrestler. and now they've got me in this gimmick where I'm a ring announcer for somebody. I want to wrestle. That was definitely a struggle. The idea of, hey, now I'm a ring announcer. I'm not a wrestling anymore because that's all I knew at the time, right?

I spent so many years going up and down the coast on the West Coast and the U.S. in Europe and Mexico wrestling. And now I can't. And obviously, I'm still trying to earn my, you know, my stripes within the locker room. So I can't just go into the ring and I have to just kind of wait, right? So that's where the ego kind of came in. And I was like, man, this sucks. I hated.

I want to wrestle. But as time went on, they started putting me in positions where I think the first time that I got attacked was by Ray. So all had to do with cell for Ray. So he hits me from the back. I get into position. And then 6-1-9. So that was like the first time. And I remember when we got to the back and they're like, man, you sold that really well.

Because nobody knew. Nobody knew. because the only people that were there for the actual tryout was Seidel, Matt Seidel, Tyson Kid, and Jamie Noble. Those were the only actual wrestlers that were there for the trial. So those were the only people that knew that I actually even knew how to wrestle,

or at least what I call wrestling. So, yeah, so that was tough at first just to kind of let go of the ego that I'm no longer that wrestler guy anymore, that I'm a re-enancer now, and I have to be goofy. Because I was always serious, and at least my persona was serious.

So as a wise man once said, I had to shut my mouth and learn my role. So once I kind of took that in and realized, hey, this is my position and this is what my job is, things got so much easier. Do you remember when you moved to Florida and you started working for FCW? Do you remember that first match you had? So let me backtrack a little, right?

So when I first got to Florida, a lot of people did not like me because I had skipped the developmental system. And I went straight to the TV and I went straight to the road. So I was already working television. Nobody knew who I was. And I had no backstory as far as developmental. So I come in and I'm just kind of like walking in and I'm trying to induce myself. And there's a lot of people that were not too fond of me because I had skipped developmental.

And I went straight to TV. But eventually just like anything else, I'm the new kid in school and I have to kind of earn my way. And again, I get, you know, like earned everybody's respect. So I started getting involved with the training and I started doing all that stuff. I started seeing that, hey, I'm able to do certain things. And then eventually, I think it was in December of 2010, I think December, when I finally got my first match in FCW. And it was a 10-man tag.

I don't remember exactly who was all in it, but I do believe Husky Harris, Bray Wyatt, and Roman Raines were in it. That's pretty incredible. Yeah. And I think we won that match, I think. I don't remember. But somebody had tweeted to me the other day that. I had a victory over Roman.

I was like, no, I didn't. And they mentioned that. So I don't know. I don't remember what the result of that was. I think you got a victory over Roman Reigns. So, hey, tribal chief. I'm kidding. Where did you start to tap into the comedic elements of that character?

I don't know, man. I think the more, because I think a lot of it, too, had to do with, the more I got comfortable with my position, and then the more I realized that what his, what Alberto's role was, and then that I was just kind of like the side, the decoration to the bigger picture. Yeah. And I remember at the time I was a big fan of like Mallrats, clerks. So I would watch like Jane Simon Smith to me was just awesome because he was just in the back.

And all he had to do was facial expressions. So I would watch a lot of that. And I would watch a lot of like silent movies just to kind of see, obviously, because they're telling you a story, but just this. And obviously I'm not talking. and the very little that I am talking, it's more so just to hype up my guy. And then otherwise, it's him talking. I'm in the back and then I just have to try.

My heart is not to be bigger, at least in my mind, be bigger than who I'm presenting. But yeah, I think Kevin Smith had a lot to do with it when I started watching a lot of what he did. And I was like, I think I could do things here and there.

What I thought was so brilliant about you was you could tell that you trained to be a wrestler when you'd take bump and bumps in the ring, but you wrestled like someone who did, know how to wrestle. So it's almost like you had to forget how to wrestle. So I think my first match as Ricardo was an NXT. It was the original NXT when they were still on the road. And my first match was against Connor, Brian, who now goes as Connor. The essential. Yeah, essentially. So, and there's a whole like full circle moment. And

anytime that I see him, we always go back to that. But we can get to that later. But yeah, so it was at NXC, this is back when I think Alberto and Brodus were the pros and Connor was the rookie. And at the time, Alberta was doing a lot of main events stuff on SmackDown. So he couldn't keep doing both. So we had a chat with the writers

and then they put Brodus and myself as the pros to Connor because Alberta was busy. That was all like legit. He couldn't keep doing both. So then that match happened. And I remember who the producer, sure was, but he's like, just pretend or just go out there and suck.

You're not a wrestler. Just remember you're not a wrestler. So just make it as awkward as possible. So then we did this spot where I'm supposed to give him like a frog, a splash, a running splash. And I had to make it look as dinky and terrible as possible. And that kind of happened. And then as time went on because of that, though, because people were praising it, I just

kind of got more comfortable with the role and then just kind of said, you know, screw it. I mean, this is my position. So let me run with it. make the most of it because if I keep fighting it, then it's going to come back in a negative way towards me. So just embrace it. It's similar to Santino. Right.

Yeah. Because when you look at Sancio and his- legit, he's a shoot fighter, man. You look at him in his WWE debut. And I think he just posted something recently on Instagram where he was in a judo company. Yeah, yeah, he's legit. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. And then you see him wrestling as Santino Morella with the cobra and it's like, that guy, you're telling me, that guy's a serious wrestling. Very similar to what you do. Yeah, and some, I think also too, and all of this is retrospect. Because at the time, I don't think, especially for me, I didn't see it that way. I saw it as I want to wrestle, I want to wrestle, I want to wrestle. But then now when I look back at it, I was like, man, I had it pretty good.

I didn't have to, like, destroy my body as much. And I was still on main event positions. Granted, I wasn't on, I was in the marquee name, but I was still a part of big, big, big spots. And I didn't, I didn't understand the idea. gratitude back then either. So, so I was just like, man, I want to be that guy. I want to be that that guy with like the marquee and the paper views. And I want to be that guy. And then like I said, it wasn't until I realized, well, my position and I understood my role. And I was like, man, I can just have fun with this and I can travel and I can make money. And then I can make people laugh. I can make

people react and have emotions. And I'm grateful for that now. And I did not have that gratitude at all when you were in WWE? To a degree. Yeah, sure. Of course, I was grateful for for certain positions and certain people that we were working with. But I think deep down, I mean, I still had that like, I want to be that guy. I want to be the star. Was it not until you got released that you were like, hmm, now I realize what I had? No, I, well, yes and no. So I think it had a lot to do with stuff.

I think we, we, when we started, when Alberta and I started, we were put in main event from the get-go. Our first few was with Ray. After Ray, I think it was like Edge and Kane. Christian, Randy, punk, Sina, right? So right from the get-go. We were just, you know, boom, boom, boom, boom, let's go. And so we got used to that, too.

We got comfortable. And I think after a while, just like anything else, you get used to it and you just kind of take it for granted after a bit. And, yeah, and it just kind of went from downhill. I also didn't understand the idea and the concept of it's all a cycle. So after a certain while, somebody else has to come up. Yeah, yeah. And so they have to bring somebody down a little bit.

it. And I didn't, we, especially we didn't get that at the time. You were right there for Alberto's biggest moments of this career. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think also, too, the fact that we were legit always together, I think that helped the dynamic. Yeah, we traveled together. We traveled together. We room together. I remember there was one time where he was talking, we were driving somewhere and then he had, he was talking to his wife on on his phone. And then he passes it on. And then because he had something else.

He was talking to somebody else. And then he's like, her name was Angela. She passed away. But like Angela goes, so she's telling me, she's getting me to fill in what's going on. What are we up to? What's next? Because I knew more about what we're doing and she did. So it became like a marriage, you know, away from home.

But yeah, but that dynamic helped a lot too. So. And I think that that was very visible on TV, I think. Oh, it definitely was. You guys looked inseparable on TV, clearly because you were behind the scenes too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you were there when he won the championship. Yeah, it was at the stable center.

What was it called again? It's called the stable center. It was a stable center. People hate when I point out that it's called the crypto.com arena. It's Kobe's house. Yeah, yeah. It was at the stable center, SummerSlam. and punk had just beaten

where did he beat Sina? I think so. I think Sina and then Alberta cashed in. Yeah, yeah, because that's also when Kevin Nash came out, Jack Knife, Powerbomb,

Nash, and then Alberta comes out, gives them the kick to the head, and then here we go. What was really cool about that and A, for me, it was in Los Angeles and in front of the Mexican-Latino Rasa. So that to me was so powerful

that we were, able to get to that point. Because, and again, these are things that I learned after the fact that for that time frame that we were on top, like, we were representatives of the Latino community and how beautiful that was. And because even now, every now and then, like, I'll do something with Alberto. We'll go do them and appears or something. And then we'll meet people that basically tells us that, that for that time frame, like,

we were representatives of the Latino community and how special was to them to see one of them. you know, being in that position. So, yeah, between that, when he won the Roy Rumble in Boston, you know, that was a beautiful moment, too. And he eliminated Santino. And we were there, and I remember for that one, I forget who the ref was. He's like, just go crazy on the mic.

So I started doing all the Alberto thing. And then after a little bit, I got winded, and the ref just keeps going. He's like, go, just keep on, keep on, keep going. And I just keep yelling. So I did that. That was annoying as hell. Oh, super annoying. So why?

What do you mean? Yeah, it was annoying. It was I annoyed myself. Well, that's the point of your character. Yeah, but I annoyed myself. Like, people were so legitimately annoyed by your character. Yeah. Which means you were doing a fantastic job at your character.

Right. Yeah, and it was fun. And I got to take a lot of elements that I would see other people. Like, what would annoy me? So I remember my sister, I used to, whenever we were younger and we were getting to, like, fights, she would make this face that would just annoy the bejiz out of me. She would do this whole, like, thing, right?

And I hated it. So that's where I got, I figured that idea. I was like, if that annoys me, it's going to annoy somebody else. Yeah. So those facial expressions, right? Like, that's where I started looking at. Alberto, right, when he would do the hand gesture. Yeah.

So that comes from, uh, Deo Armando Maladona, was a soccer player from Argentina. And he, whenever he was score against his opposition, he would run over to where the fans were. He would basically just run and do this as a big, right? Wow. So that's where that kind of came from. Yeah. So we take elements of like what inspires us and what makes us feel a certain way. Then if we get that reaction out of that X, whatever that situation is,

and somebody else is bound to do it as well too. How did you find the perfect balance of like the way that you announced him? So it didn't start off that way. The Alberto didn't start off that way. It just kind of grew into that. So another Argentinian. So there was a soccer commentator. named Andres Cantor.

Andres Cantor was the one that made popular the goal, right? Yeah. So after a while, and then I started elongating the Alberto, and people started doing it. So then I took that inspiration from Andres and I would tweet him too. And I would try, I tried so hard to get something going and nothing ever happened. But yeah, and then also too, www.com or the Twitter, you should time it. And once I got wind that they were timing it, that's when I was like, all right, bet. let me see how long I can go.

And I think it was for like a pay-per-view or WrestleMania where it was like 40-some seconds. What? It was like 40. It was like 39 or some 40. Let's just say 40. But it was because the Twitter thing started kicking off and I would hear people doing it too.

And even now, too, like I can go places and then I can hear it. Somebody will say Alberto, right? So they don't even know me as Ricardo. They just know me as Alberto. So they'll do the thing. It's like in the episode of The Simpsons where they're looking at who was it?

Was it a millhouse or Bart? like, do the thing. Oh, yeah, yeah. I didn't do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was basically that. But then it wasn't just Alberto. It was also,

Delaware. Right, yeah. So, yeah, and it was cool, but it was like, I would meet folks and they would do that that would try and roll the R. And then we could just have a whole conversation about how to roll the R.

Didn't always work, but it became a thing. I remember I would be places and I would have, like, my headphones on. And then I could hear somebody playing Alberta's music behind me just to see. if it was me. And then obviously once I turned around and I really they realized that's actually him.

They were like, hey, you're this guy. What a theme song. Yeah, yeah. It's such a good theme song. It was, man. It was. It was. It was. It was catchy. And that's still what I use when I come out on independent scenes. I mean, why not? Yep. How would they arrange what kind of cars you guys would have in each city? Oh, I have no idea. That's, that's, that was enough to me. I know there was like twice, I think, that they actually used Alberta's car. And that was when we were Miami because at the time, he used to live in Fort Lauderdale. So he had, I think, it was like a 65 Mustang, whatever it was, that I think they used it twice.

Because obviously he would write it. And when we were done, he would go home. So, and that was another thing, too. After our first WrestleMania check, we went out, we bought ourselves of Mustangs. Pretty nice check. No, well, I got lucky with mine. I actually bought mine from Johnny Ace.

Because he was selling. Yeah, so the story with Alain was he had bought it for his wife, but his wife didn't really care for it. So he had overheard the conversation that we were looking for Mustangs because I remember one day we were, I'll get back to that. So Johnny had heard that conversation and he's like, well, I have one. I'm selling it. Would you be interested? And I was like, how much? And he told me, I was like, yes, yes.

With that, yes, absolutely. What year? Mine was 65. His was, Alberto was 66 or 64. And, yeah. So then he had fixed it. Johnny had fixed it. But his wife didn't care for it.

So he was like, well, I mean, if anybody wants it, I jumped on it. But how that story came out, we were driving somewhere to like a show. It was one of those like long strips where there was like nothing. And we saw this like car cemetery. And it was all a bunch of like old cars. And when that conversation came up of how that was always like a dream car, I always wanted to mock one. Originally, I wanted to mock one.

and then I think he had said something about like a Shelby. And so that's where the conversation happened. You still have your Mustang? No, I got rid of it. Oh, man. Yeah, I got rid of it. I sold it to Alberta, actually. No way?

Yeah, I sold it to Alberta. Oh. Yeah, that was a dark time. But yeah, so eventually once we got our first lesson minute, that's what, that's what I did. Man. And I remember at the time, my girlfriend at the time, when I told her, I was a, hey, I bought this car. It should be here, like, because obviously it was in Stanford. And I was in Florida.

So it should be here in about two weeks or so. And she goes like, oh, I've never driven a Mustang. And in my house, like, you're not going to. Yeah, you're not going to. That's mine. If you've watched any of these interviews on my YouTube channel, you know that I know a thing or two about a good plain t-shirt. It's kind of become my uniform at this point,

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dot com slash insight for 10% off timeline.com slash insight. How loud was the roar when Ziegler cashed in on LRO? To me, that's still, that's still top, top one. That's incredible. Just because I know originally there was a plan to do it the night of WrestleMania. Wow. That was originally planned. And then they ended up switching it to the next day.

And in retrospect, I'm glad they did. just because I think it was a little unexpected. It was. And what was great about it, too, was when they were going over the match, um, uh, they, they have like that, that,

that false, uh, finish where they, I think Dolf hit the, the Fabasur and they go one two kick out, whatever. And then Alberto counters it. He does in Zeguri.

And then I think he finally hits the, uh, the arm, um, the arm bar. And I, and then, because Dolf has been screwed so many times.

Yeah. And you can just hear everybody bite on it. And that was so, beautiful so that when he even did the leg thing and he finally hit the zigzag and then the three happened to the eruption of that arena was so incredible and it was something that I think everybody in unison was very happy for Dolph he knew it was going to happen Dolph tells the story of like they wanted him I guess originally just like win it really quick he's like no no we got to like make it look and these are his words we got to make it look like Dolph is going to get

dulfed again. Right, right, yeah. Because he's been passed up so many other times, right? But it was just brilliant, like the storytelling in that three-minute match. Well, also, too, because it was also lead up because prior to that, it was Alberta versus Jack Swagger. And Swire had been working on his ankle, right? So that's where that idea, and I want to say...

Cole even says the leg, the bad leg! Yeah, yeah, yeah. So at that time, I was very grateful to that... And any of those guys, hopefully, can vouch for it, was that they would come to me quite a bit to ask for transitions because that was like my thing I used to be such a spot monkey on the Indies so I can remember matches

I was very in my head at least I was very creative with how to come up with certain things so that idea kind of came up of just yanking the ankle so then when we did I was like oh that's awesome but yeah but ultimately that's what it was

so we figured he he had just gotten an attack by by Swagger which obviously with the ankle lock so what's the weak point is the ankle So let's go after that. But yeah, that eruption meant to me still number one, cash in. You've had so many cool moments, so many fun moments. Like, you coming out as the big show, and then all you can say is,

is, uh, that, so I did a couple of, uh, of cosplays. He was one of them. What did you have stuffed in your singlet? I think it was a pillow. I think it was a pillow. It was a pillow. And then we had, I think, I don't remember who's boot. they were.

We did the skull cat thingy. What'd you have in your hand? It was a oversized, like, I don't even know what sport that was, but it was a baseball mid, but it was something different. But that thing was massive. And so Big Show had seen when they were doing it. The one that did not see when they were dressing me up with Seamus when I dressed up at Seamus.

So they had gone up to him and they had asked him for the, oh, I did. I went up to him and asked him for his boots because I was like, hey, they want to do something with your boots for like a designer or a picture or something. Can I borrow your spare? So we didn't tell them. Oh, man. So they hid me in the room. They hit me in the room.

And then so they dressed me up. And then right before we got to Gorilla, because all Shamis knew was that we were doing a promo. That's all he knew. So then we're at Gorilla. And obviously, we're about to go out. And then I just, I remember I stood next to Seamus. And he just looks at me. And then he does that double tick.

And then he just lights out like a big, you motherfucker. Because your hair looked so ridiculous. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So then, yeah, so that happened. And then it was the same thing when I dressed up as Zev Coulter. They didn't tell, they didn't tell swagger. They didn't tell, yeah, they didn't tell swagger. Because I think a big part of it was trying to get their genuine reaction. So anytime, like, for instance, with the cash in, obviously, we don't tell anybody except for the people involved. Yeah. It's all about the genuine reaction. And then obviously the whole, you don't want it to get leaked. but just getting that real genuine reaction of what they're going to be like when something happens. What was the Justin Bieber thing?

So I did an intergender match tag match. It was myself and Beth Phoenix versus Leila and Santino, which, by the way, Beth and I are so undefeated as tag team. Just putting out there. So Beth. And I don't even remember what the setup or why. I had happened, but somebody had the idea of taking, ripping my tuxedo off and then, I remember what it was,

but somebody had already mentioned the Twilight or something. And that's when Twilight was like super big. And then I just said something about like, hey, wouldn't it be funny if da-da-da-da-da. So then they went out and they found a couple of shirts, but the Twilight one didn't fit at all. And then the only one that semi-fit was that Justin Bieber one, which is like super, super tight. So we did that.

And then that kind of happen and that thing still to this day follows me. So every now and then, somebody will tweet me a picture of that. If I still follow Justin Beaver, if I heard his latest song, they'll tag me with something that they tweeted Justin and they'll tag me in it.

So I still get that every now and then. I thought it was so cool the reception you got when you entered the Royal Rumble in 2012. So Alberto's music hits. Everyone assumes it's Alberto. then you come out in this beat-up Dodson doing the whole thing, right? And then you get into the ring and the crowd's chanting Ricardo, Ricardo.

So how that one came about was it was actually in December, Alberto had gotten hurt. He took a weird bump and he had like a torn ligament in his legament. And it was actually here at the Wolfs Fargo in Philly. So that happened. So obviously he was out for a little bit. and we were still down in FCW, and I remember after FCW, we had gone to the Cheesecake Factory, a bunch of us,

and Paterson had just happened to be there too. So Pat was sitting at the bar, so out of respect, I'd go up to him, and I'd just say hello, whatever. And then he asked me about Alberto. He's like, oh, no, he's doing fine, he's healing up, whatever, and we started chatting. And then just for sheds and giggles,

I was like, hey, wouldn't it be funny? If during the Rumble, I come out, right? We play his music, and we come out, and then we laugh about it, and then we just leave it. shortly thereafter we did something like i think in dallas and we got stuck in dallas at the airport because of a storm so now i'm sitting next to melancho and then we're just you know again it's just talking we're talking about cruiser weights and whatever and he had mentioned back then that he

he had pitched the idea of a cruiserweight tournament back then um and then until he asked me about about roberto and then again i just just brought it up i was like hey wouldn't be funny uh if during the rumble you know whatever yeah yeah we just laugh about it and just leave it so the day of st louis happens at the Rumble in 2012. I get to the arena and I'm, I was typically usually one of the first folks over by the ring because I wanted to get in and just roll around. And then Michael Hayes comes up to me and he's like,

hey, did you see your car? And I thought that he was talking about my rental car that somebody had done something to it. I was like, no, what? He's like, your car. Did you not see what happened? Or did you not see in the back? He's like, no, what happened?

So he's like, come here. So we get to the back behind the, the, the tintron, whatever, the stage. And then he's like, your car. and it was the car, but it was covered. It had the cover, and he lifts it. And I'm looking at it, and I'm looking at him, and it just didn't click in my head. He's like, did nobody tell you?

I was like, no. He's like, you're in the rumble. I was like, huh? So then that's kind of how I found out. So then he's like, yeah, this is your car or whatever. And so then I talked to, his name was Ellis, and he was like the stunt coordinator guy. And so he saw me the car. And then I realized it's a stick shift.

And then I was like, dude, I'm from L.A., man. Like, I'm from a city. like we don't we don't have stick shifts and then the last time that I drove one I was probably like 17 18 so I was like hey is it possible if I can just take it to the parking lot and then just kind of get a refresher he's like no you'll be fine I was like dude this is live pay-per-views man I'm doing the rumble I don't want to step on the wrong thing and then either stall or even worse just haul ass into the the people he's like you'll be fine and dude I tried convincing them to make them either a because I had something, says something about like, can I get like stage hands to like legit push it?

So we can play an audio where I stall. And then you just see the stage hands push the car out. He's like, no, you'll be fine. I was like, dude. So I went on YouTube and I just looked up a video of How to Dry Stick. That's so funny. And then that's just kind of went from there. Man.

But yeah, dude, the whole time, the whole time I was just like sweating buckets. But then you get in the ring. And what a reception. Oh, man. And then also, too, just who was in there? Mick Foley and he's such a angel man he's such a kind soul him

Cody Rhodes the first person I attacked when I got in the ring was Cody Rhodes in the corner so I started pumping Cody so I'm just saying he's a champ right now and I took down Cody I'm just saying but there must have been a moment where you're like

they appreciate this is surreal yeah it was surreal it's not often when a at least for me in my head, a comedy role or a comedy personality kind of gets that appreciation. Because obviously this whole time

I was just on the side and obviously I'm there to help out of Alberta. That's my role. To have that spotlight for even those a minute and a half or whatever that was, that was kind of cool. To share the ring with Justin Gabriel Cody at the time, Santino and McFaulay was really cool.

And I got to eliminate Justin Gabriel. So PJ. Sorry, man. So I have one elimination in the Rumble. You're the answer to a trivia question, and a lot of people won't know this. You wrestled in Brett Hart's final match. Yeah.

And you are the last person to tap out to a sharpshooter. Yeah, on TV. Yeah. It's insane. We were in, I don't know, Ontario. I think we were in Ontario that day. We're at the gym, Albert and I,

and then we get a text from, road dog. I mean, he tells Alberta like the rundown. He's like, hey, tonight's going to be you and Ricardo against John Cena and Brett Hart. And we're like, ha. So we're waiting for the LOL, right? And then they never came. So we're like, okay.

So then I got the text. And I was like, wait, what? All right. This is going to happen. So obviously, Ricardo's not a wrestler. So I had my wrestling gear, but Ricardo's not a wrestler. So that at that gym that we were at, they had, they were selling like women's tights and stuff. which I've liked them a little bit more

because they're more colorful and then, you know, they have more designs than men's and obviously there's not any men's tights. So I bought a couple of the female workout tights and I took it to the production office or to Road Dogg and then he's like, yeah, that one. But yeah, so then we go over like the match

and then it's still not clicking in my head that what's about to happen. And then we get in the ring and I'm like, dude, this is cool. This is awesome. I'm working with, I mean, I've worked with John, but I was always grateful for the opportunity. But just the fact that, hey, we're in Canada,

Brett Hart's about to put me in a sharpshooter. This is cool. This is super cool. So that's one of those images that I still, like I think I have that printed in the office too. Does he walk you through it before? No, no, no, no. No, we just did it.

Wow. Yeah, we just did it. I mean, obviously, I've been wrestling long. Sure. I knew how to take it. But still, it was just one of those surreal moments that were like, I remember I'm on my back and I'm looking up, but I'm like,

dude, this is cool. This is cool. Yeah. Tapped out to the sharpshooter. And also, too, another cool moment with another submission was Jericho actually put me in the line tamer. It wasn't the Boston Crabb.

It was a line tamer. With the knee. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was cool. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,

I was marking out like a little bitch. That match you had with Santino was hilarious. You wrestled in a tuxedo. Yeah. That was, I think I was here in Pennsylvania, the first one. And that was cool because they just kind of let us do our thing.

And we just had a lot of fun with it. It was all comedy. And, yeah, Santino's a genius, man. Like, his whole thing. And how that started was Santino on w.b.com had his own little show, his old podcast. I think it was like the Santino Exchange or something. And I think the guy that he originally had for that day didn't, couldn't, he got busy or something. So he asked me.

So we did an interview thing and it was all just on the fly. and then I guess wherever was one of the writers liked it and then we started doing skits for w.com and then that's how the whole storyline happened. So it was just one of those that we did something for his, his YouTube thing or w.com and it just went from there. It was just so funny. Like you don't see a ton of comedy on comedy matches.

Like our truth is obviously genius and a legend, right? Yeah. But to have two comedy acts together at the same time, it was magic. That was a lot of fun. He's a genius, too. I mean, Santino's awesome. He's so quick with it. I'm sure you've talked to him.

Yeah, he's great. He's super quick on everything. Yeah, he's the best. So where does everything go from all of these amazing moments that we're talking about to, is there like, is there a falling out there? Do things start falling off and you realize maybe I'm going to get released here? So I never got released. I asked for it.

So it wasn't like I was a part of like that big thing or whatever. At the time I had already been separated from Alberta. I was doing the Spanish commentary, but I wasn't feeling it. At least I wasn't happy at the time. I was going through a lot of depression. I wasn't happy. I wasn't making what I had been making prior. And I had a lot of discussions with the office, with Corona, and we just couldn't get anywhere.

And they got to, honestly, one day where I just, I didn't get on the flight. I woke up the next day on a Monday. and I called Karana. I was like, hey, dude, I'm still at home. I'm not coming in. Wow. What's the reaction of that? He's like, are you right?

I was like, yeah. I've tried talking to you a few times, man, and it's just not going anywhere. And at the time I was 29, I was like, I think I'm so young enough where I can kind of do stuff. And I just want to say thank you, but I think I'm done. He's like, all right, well, you know what, stay home. Let me talk to Vince and Hunter and let me call you back. I was like, cool, no big deal. And he called me, he called me like on a Wednesday.

It was like five o'clockish on a Wednesday. And he's like, hey, I just talked to Paul and Vince, and we're going to grant you the release. You know, you always welcome to come back, whatever, blah, blah. I was like, all right, no, you know, thank you. And then a lot of bitterness kind of went into the next couple minutes because as soon as I hung up with the phone, I started getting all these alerts on Twitter.

that I had been released. And in my head I was like, these motherfuckers, then I didn't even wait like a day or anything. As soon as I got off the phone, they had posted that I was, I was, let go.

I was like, dude, like, you couldn't have waited. I mean, I'm sure they have a reasoning. Or they have somebody, like, on standby that as soon as that happens, hey, let's, you know, get the first leg up there. Yeah.

But I was just so angry and bitter. And then for four months and years, really, I had this, like, disdainful wrestling. and just the company and just because I there obviously there's a lot of stuff that led into it but I was just I wasn't happy was there a part of you that went maybe I made the wrong decision maybe I shouldn't have asked for my release yes and no uh I think at the time I felt like it was going to happen and then the last thing that I wanted to was to talk to them in person because I've seen what

they've done to people sometimes when when they're on their way out they try to put them in a weird situation. On TV, yeah, on TV. Yeah. And I don't want that. Like they ridicule you. Right.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, I mean, I've heard reasons for that, but I didn't, at the time, I didn't, I don't want to do that. Yeah. I was already a comedy role as it is. So I'm like, how far are they going to take me to ridicule me? When did you start being okay with wrestling again? Um, almost immediately.

I got contacted by Carlos Colon and WWC. And then he had asked, asked me if I wanted. want to go wrestle for him. So even though I still had this little bitterness to wrestling, whatever, I was like, well, I mean, life still has to go on. I so, you know, I need to make money. So I went, I did that, and it was a good experience, it was fun. But I still have that hatred towards the company.

I obviously, there was a lot of alcohol that was involved with a lot of my social media postings after I left WWE and stuff that I'm not necessarily a, you know, ashamed of what I said. I'm more ashamed of how I said it. And I wish I would have approached it differently. Because a lot of those feelings were valid. I just didn't know how to manage them. And obviously, a lot of them were alcohol-induced.

So, and that became a big problem as I went along. And then I just went on a downhill slope from there. When did you realize alcohol was a problem? When did I know it was a problem? And when I actually decided to do something about it, are way different timelines. Very different. And when I knew early on it was, but once you're addicted to something, man, it's hard to let go of that.

And I tried, I tried so many different ways to get out of that little cusp of that, that hold, that addiction gets on you. It was every day. It was every day. Yeah, it was every day. And the only time I did it was when I was sobering up so that I can kind of get better and enough for me to be able to get up and go get more. Obviously, the alcohol led to the drugs, the drugs, the women, all that stuff, the partying, that whole lifestyle. became a thing because obviously once I left WV, I had all the time in the world. I didn't have to show up anywhere.

I gained a lot of weight. I was just always angry and bitter. I was so good at self-victimizing. This is happening to me because of all of you. None of this is my fault. It's all your fault. I was so good at that because that's what an addict does. And there was a lot of people that were trying to help me that I didn't realize that they were.

and at the time, I think I saw them as they're just trying to get in the way of my good time. So F them. And I kept pushing people away. And in retrospect, a lot of people left me. A lot of people that I thought were close friends, they left. And I was so angry at the time of why they're leaving me, they're deserting me. But when I look back at it, I don't blame them. I was terrible.

I was constantly drugged up. I was drunk. I was miserable. I was a slob and I didn't care about anybody. I didn't care about me. And it was just a cycle. It became a cycle where obviously because of the WWE schedule that we had, it was always go, go, go. And then we get out of Raw at, let's say, 11 o'clock.

By the time you get out of the arena and then the city, maybe midnight, you get to the next town, three, four o'clock in the morning. You go to sleep for a couple of hours. You wake up, you go to the breakfast, you go to the gym, and you go straight to you. the arena. So, you know, I was just, I was used to, like, just running and functioning on very little sleep. And I don't know how to manage it. So obviously, when I left WWE, I still had that same cycle, but I had nothing in between. So I used to supplement that, that adrenaline of being in front of a camera, because obviously that's not there anymore. So what happens when the red light goes off? And I have no way of pushing, of getting that high is, was alcohol.

And so the insomnia kicked in a lot too. The insomnia led to me drinking wine because at the time wine would make me sleepy because as the irony was, I did not want to do pills because I didn't want to get addicted to pills. That turned out very well for me. And so the wine and then I had one glass and then two glasses and then the whole bottle and then two bottles and three bottles. And I was like, man, it's getting expensive. So let me just get a box wine.

So I could chug a whole box wine by myself. But then it was a lot of sugar. So I was like, all right. So let me stress over to alcohol. It's through hard liquor. So I went to vodka because vodka is healthier, right? So, and I was, it just became a thing. And then from there, did it go to drugs?

No, I mean, that was always in there. But then, and actually the drugs stopped when I started getting more heavy into the alcohol because I could just do it all at home. The drugs was only when I was out, when I was out and about. If I went to like a club or a party or whatever and I was out. and I knew that somebody had it. I was like, let's go. Like two can't hit,

two can't Sam. Follow your nose? Yeah, follow your nose. But yeah, but once it got to that point of it was just liquor. That's all I needed. Because it was easier, obviously. I would like scrape up as much loose change as I could because I want to stop using my card. And I knew that as soon as that 7 o'clock in the morning hit,

I can go to a little store and I can buy those little like, little cheap pop-off BS vodka and that will set me off of the day. But then the liquor started becoming a little bit too much. So I was like, all right, so what's my next fix? So then I became in the four locals because for three bucks, right? Mentally in my head. Yeah. That was an easy, easy quick buzz.

But then it became a thing just like anything else. Your body gets used to it. So one became two, two became three, three became four. I could down like seven a day. Wow. And it became an issue. Again, the weight gain and also just the not caring. And then in a dozen 17, I had a quick little mild baby stroke-ish.

And the way that the doctor described, because I had so much going on in my heart. So what happened was after that, they had put me on this medication to kind of regulate my heartbeat. But that just got me even more depressed because they brought me so down that the, the, So societal thoughts started kicking in. And I tried. I tried. Obviously, I failed because I'm still here. But I'm grateful that I did.

We're all glad this. And there was a point, man. I wrote a letter. I was dating this girl who she used to own a gun and she left it at the house one day because she couldn't have it at her place. I was home alone and I was like, you know what? Screw it. And I remember holding in my hand.

I wrote a letter and that letter still exists somewhere. I never got rid of it. So I rode my whole, there was a whole lot of fucky's in there. But I was, I was still angry. Oh, I was still angry. Yeah, I was so angry. But there was a whole lot of fuckies in there, that letter. But I remember holding that gun in my hand and something clicked.

And I was like, nah, I'm done. And I don't want to do this. I still went on this little bender for a couple more years. And then, like, my girlfriend, another girlfriend I was dating at the time, she would constantly go down to Florida just to see me to make sure I was okay. because she will call me and I wouldn't answer her because, again, I was so far gone. That blessed her for sticking around for as long as she did. Ultimately, she left, and I don't blame her.

I get it. And same with my mom. My mom would end up flying from L.A. to Florida to make sure I was still alive. I had so many of those wellness calls from the police that people had called in just to make sure I was still alive. Because once I got into my little bender, like I would turn off my phone or I would just lose it somewhere. And I wasn't... And you'd be alone? I'd be alone.

I would lock myself in my room. I would go buy enough boost to last me a week or so that I don't have to leave anywhere. The only time I got out of there was to go pee or to go to the bathroom. I wouldn't even eat, but it was because I was consuming my calories and liquor. And it was terrible. It was terrible. And I did my first stint at a detox. Like in 2000, I think like 2000 is when I did my first one, 2001.

I think it was 2000 when I first went to detox. I did like the five-day cleanse thing. 2020? Yeah, 2020, yeah, 2020. It was when I first went in L.A. and Tarzana. So I went to Tarzana, whatever, is on Ventura Boulevard. So I did that. I did five days there.

And then they put me on Vivitrol. So I was on Vivitral, which helps so you don't get the cravings. So it helps numb the sensors in your brain so you don't get cravings as much. And it helped. It worked for a little while. From there, I ended up going to Egypt. I got an offer to go to Egypt. So I spent time over there for almost a year.

And I did well for a while because it's a very conservative country. So like liquor's not as widely promoted as it is here in the States where you can see advertisements all over the place, right? You go to here in this case, the sheets, and there's like the fireballs right next to the cash register. So over there is a little bit more hard to get, but like a good addict, right? You have to find it somewhere. And I come back to the U.S. and I go right back to my BS. I spent time in San Antonio. I went down to Mexico City.

and just, again, I was just on it. I kept waking up in alleyways. I kept waking up in my car on the side of the road because I had taken the alcohol and I was just drinking on the way home. I would wake up super early to go to like the 7-Eleven, get enough booze at 7 o'clock in the morning once they started selling it and then walk back.

And then sometimes I wouldn't even make it back home because I had gotten super plastered on the way home that I would pass out in an alleyway. I woke up in like hospital. the little detox centers at hospitals. I woke up in a few of them quite a bit. And every single time, they were always take your phone, right? And this one time, it was the last time, obviously,

that I woke up in a detox center in San Antonio is the only time I ever had my phone. And I had one of those moments. I was like, dude, I can't do this anymore. Like, I have burnt every bridge. Is this the police bringing you to the detox center? I have no idea who brought me. I have no.

I would just wake up. and I'm in the hospital. Wow. How I got there? I don't know. I remember once I woke up in Barcelona in the hospital, and I had like the IVs, and I had all myself with me,

and I just took him off, and I walked out in Barcelona. And I don't know how I managed to get back to where my hotel was, because I don't remember where I was, but I somehow managed to find like a landmark. I was like, oh, I know that. But yeah, so I woke up in San Antonio, and I had my phone,

and I put out a tweet. I was like, hey, I need help. I screwed up. And this gentleman by the name of Christopher Driesbach had just happened to see my tweet, and he's never on Twitter. So then he sends me a DM, and he's like, hey, if you're really serious about getting help, let's talk, let's figure something out. And WWE has this really cool wellness program part where if you've been with them and you encounter a similar situation that they can help you out, they'll figure something out. So then I got in contact with WWE, and this is where. a good friend of mine, Drew McIntire, comes in.

I sent Drew a message and I was like, hey, can you find out the information of the wellness? Who's ever in charge something? So when he dug around and he got me the info, I contacted WWE because of that. And it just, yeah, it became a thing. And that's how we got connected. I had talked to WWE. And I had told him who had contacted me up here in Lancaster. And he's like, oh, and we've done stuff with him before.

Go ahead and set it up and we can figure out the details later. So, yeah, so Drew was a big part of making that connection. The moment that changed everything for you was just you were fed up. Yeah. You didn't want to keep doing this. Well, because I knew I had a problem. I knew I had a problem. I knew.

It sounds like you knew you had a problem for years. Yeah, for years. I knew I had a problem. But just like I said, just like a good addict, I mean, you're so trapped by. by that feeling because ultimately what it is is that we have this void inside of us and I'm trying to fill it with something and that quick little high or that quick little rush of the alcohol was the closest I felt to feeling good for that temporary moment I felt happy. It's fun until it's not and then that passes really quick but you're already so far in

that hey you know like we're we're there and then that's it. But then ultimately it was back in March, March 23rd. I got picked up here in Harrisburg, PA. I got taken to the Recovery Center. I got checked in. And yeah, that's how that started. And two and a half years later, here we are. Congratulations.

So clean and sober. Yeah. And that's why you're still here in Pennsylvania. That's why I'm still here. And you've built a life for yourself here. Yeah. It's been, I mean, it does have a happy ending, honestly. And then it's right here.

Yeah, it's this. It's all this. Yes. And then just the fact that I'm able to give back to the business, right? If it wasn't for a lot of folks that were very open about their addiction and how they got better. And then I've been very open about this too. Like Xbox hit me up a while ago early on too. If I was okay, same with Mick.

I saw Mick at a convention. He's like, hey, you're right. I was like, yeah, man, I'm good. He's like, I'm just worried about you. He's making sure you're okay. I was like, yeah, no, thank you. But then I would see, you know, the daily post of, like, Road Dog, where he would do, like, his version of the Serenny prayer.

I would see, like, Mike Bennett posts certain things, right, about his recovery. So if it wasn't for them recovering out loud, I wouldn't have known that was even a possibility. Yeah. Because ultimately, when it comes to, like, the whole aspect of mental health and talking about your feelings, we're fucking men. We don't share our feelings, right?

We're goddamn men. We don't do any of that. And then obviously, a lot of us, especially in the Latino community, we grew up as like, you're not a fucking pussy. Get up. Get up. Are you hurt? No, we can get up.

Right? So we have that mentality of unless you're like dying on the side of the road, get up. Yeah. You got to keep going. So, and there was no, there's no sense of, of, of, of, of, of, of, verbalizing how you feel. It's like you're a man. Nobody cares. Get up. Keep going. And to a degree, I still hold onto a little bit. But I'm more open to the idea of, hey, man, I'm not feeling good right now. Let me just, let me take a breather. And, you know, I can kind of regulate myself.

So just that sense of regulating your emotions instead of letting them overpower you, because then the moment you let your emotions get the better of you, you've lost. You feel like you're still battling it every day? Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah. This never goes away. But I've just gotten better at managing it. It's a daily battle. I've gotten better at how to control it and how to manage it. The concept of being mindful and grateful is a key element. Also, learning how to take a pause when something upsets me.

Instead of instantly reacting to whatever just piss me off, taking that pause. That's powerful right there. You just take that pause and weigh out the pros and cons of what you're about to do. Yes. Because if I go back to the same route that I used to do of the instinct, fuck me, fuck you.

Right? That's not, that's where that's going to take me. And that's not going to be anywhere good. So that sense of taking a pause, slow down. I'm not, I'm not not answering you because I don't care or whatever it. It's like, I'm just, hold on, let me just process this before I gave you a more accurate answer. fellas, do you want your grooming routine to be a one-and-done deal?

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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 Henko, follow and listen on your favorite platform. Have you heard of the book, The Four Agreements? No. One of them is, it's four agreements that if you can make them with yourself, you know, life will be a lot better. One of them is never take anything personally. Right, yeah.

And that reminds me of what you're saying there. Like it's so easy in the moment to just be reactionary. You know, take it personally. You're doing that thing because of me. And it's like some random person at the airport or something. They don't know who you are. Yeah, they don't know. Yeah.

But that pause, man, that's so powerful. It is. And it's helped me so much. And that's another one too, just not taking everything personal. Yeah. Because while it's eating you up to them, they're not even aware of it. Yeah. So you're upset at this, but to them, it's, I think it was like in Thanos or whatever, or it was like, oh, it's just another Tuesday or whatever it was. Yeah. Yeah. So that kind of a thing. Unless you actually go and talk to them, they don't even know it's a thing. The four agreements are never take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Right. Always do your best. And I always, I always forget the control. Control of control.

Yeah. Such a good phrase that I live by as well. It's going to come to me here. And ultimately too, man, like when we think about it, how like there's, there's only one thing that I can be impeccable with your word is the other one. Yeah. And if you can do that for yourself. And taking that pause, we'll come with that. You say something. You're going to do that thing. Yep.

Yeah. And then that goes into, we can go into like the whole business aspect of all this and how creating checkpoints along the way instead of having one main goal. Yeah. You have to create checkpoints along the way. So then you have to celebrate those achievements. Love that. So that's a whole other animal. But, but yeah.

And ultimately, too, is like the only thing that I can ever. control is how I react. I can't control you. I can't control what happens outside. If it's cold, then, all right, it's cold. It sucks. But I'll just put it on a hoodie. I'll put it this way. So this is where the idea of mindfulness to me really kicked in. We were going back to our house from the rehab center, right? Because we were, we had to go from where we were all staying to the actual, like, where we did like the therapy and all that stuff, right? It was all like a big van. So they would feel like to us. We would call it the druggy buggy. So then we're coming down this hill and then the drive,

I'm by the window and the driver slams on the brake. And then everybody's like, ah, what the fuck? And this and this right, so they're yelling. And I remember I had my headphones on. And then I'm looking out the window. And then there is this,

there's this tree and there's this bird on it. And there's this ray of light that's hitting the bird. And it looks so beautiful, right? So even though for what I'm getting with that was the perception of our reality and then just being mindful of our surroundings because even though we all experience the same thing, that car in front of us, you know,

paused in front of us. So the driver, you know, got mad, everybody else got mad. And then, well, I'm not mad because I'm watching this over here.

But we all experience the same thing. Yes. So my idea of concept of, of mindfulness. Yeah. Is see everything else that's around you because oftentimes when we just look at one thing, then we forget about everything else.

And then you think of, for instance, like the horse blinders. Yeah. You know, you become, narrow-minded and that's all you see. You miss out on so much that's around you. And that's been super helpful. I think I realized in the last few years,

no one cares of you complain. No. Like there's, there is no benefit to complain. It might make you feel a little bit good in that moment, but nobody cares. Yeah. Nobody cares to hear you complain about whatever it is. I was on a flight recently and it was delayed and the guy that was sitting across the aisle, kept doing, oh, my God. Yeah. Buddy, that changes nothing. Yeah.

Maybe you're going to miss your appointment or whatever it's going to be, but complaining and making these weird noises isn't going to do a damn thing. There was a, there's a point where, because I still do therapy. My therapist, and the more, he said a lot more aggressively, but sometimes that's what I need, right? And you need that, that little like, all right, dude, what are you going to do about it? Yeah. I remember what's complaining about something. He's like, what's that going to do for you?

So you bitching complaining, what's that going to do for you? Yeah. Do something about it. If you're unhappy with something, instead of bitching complaining, do something about it. Yeah. You know, fix the situation. And ultimately, that's how you react. And then you being upset about this situation is only going to put like a little

a cloudy rain or a rainy cloud over your head. And instead of it's like, all right, so that happened. You can't control that. But you can just look up and see that, hey, there's this thing going on. and, but you bitching and moaning, that's not going to help anything. Have you seen that meme

where it's two people riding on a train? Yes. And one's looking that way. Yes. Yep. One person's looking at like a rock wall. The other person's looking at the beautiful sun. Yeah.

It's that. It's the exact same train ride. And we're all experiencing the same thing and then just different, different perceptions, like a different, you know, universe.

Yeah. I could talk about this stuff all that. Oh, same. I love your perception on things. And congratulations on your sobriety. Thank you. And it doesn't happen overnight, though. It's all a process.

And that's another thing, the whole trust in the process. What I know now is something that I did not know or did I was not aware of six months ago that I was not aware of two years ago. And that person that was three years ago is nowhere and it's not anything where I am now. But I'm grateful that I went through all that, though. I have to be grateful for those experiences because of all that that I experienced, I'm able to appreciate what I have now. because I lost all of it. I lost all of it. And I'm very, very grateful that I was able to build it back up.

But I'm also humble enough that I know that like that, I can lose it. Because the moment we leave this, if for whatever reason I go outside and I have an anxiety attack and I'm like, screw this, I'm going to go get drunk, then it's all gone. Right. So I can't promise that in five minutes from now it'll be sober, but I can promise you right now. And as long as I just keep applying that every couple minutes or every day, every day, whatever, so the whole one day at a time thing. Yeah. Yeah. Dustin Rhodes said in the interview that we had, Keep stepping.

Yeah. And whether that's minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, whatever, just keep stepping. Yeah. And ultimately, too, I think a lot of times with a lot of folks, it's just a lack of purpose. And I think that's where... Is this your purpose now? Oh, yeah. Three legacies.

This is my purpose. The fact that I'm able to help others live their dream, that I'm able to provide a platform to help others. And then another thing that we do too is we go to different rehab centers and we talk to individuals. We do this thing with my partner where it's called Night of Recovery. So we'll get people that have gone through this whole process of the addiction and then the getting better and then coming on the other side and how we were able to turn our life around and with intent of offering some bit of hope. And if we can reach at least one person that that can potentially save their life and we're happy. and also a matter of educating the family members of those who have somebody who's going through that.

Because I remember how alone I felt, even though I was surrounded by people, how alone I felt. And then when people gave up on me. And that's a shitty feeling. A lot of people gave up on me. And again, I don't blame them. But I feel like a lot of it was because they didn't know what to do with me or how to handle my situation. And they just didn't want any part of it. Again, I don't blame them.

But just also to offer the idea that there is help available, that it is possible to get better, that it is possible to overcome those demons and become a functioned member of society once again. So that is possible. And then if there is anything that I can guarantee is that this idea that people never change, I call bullshit on that because if you want to see somebody change, look at somebody in long-term recovery. Because that person that is now is not what that person was back then. It's a whole night and day. And there's a whole lot of wide examples of that being true. Yeah. I'll link up through Legacies Wrestling down below. So if people are watching on YouTube, they can go click and subscribe to you guys.

Please, please, yeah. And if you're listening to the podcast, I'll have them in the show notes. I'm honored to be part of the show. I'm happy, man. It'll be a whole lot of fun. Two years of building this up, man. It's been a whole process and it's been wild, but we're here. Yeah, I can tell the excitement when you talk about it.

Yeah. And I love that. This is my baby, you know? And it's, and like you said, it's also your purpose. Yeah. And I love that that's the thing that drives you now. Yeah. And I feel like all.

of us in our life, whatever it is, we need something to continue to be pushing towards. It does. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah. I've, you know, my little girl has changed my life. We got a little boy on the way as well. That, that's, I also enjoy having these conversations. But that's, that's the purpose for me. It's, it's cool that we all have something, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's an important thing. Thank you for inviting me into your life. No, no, thank you. Thank you for having me here. Of course. This is awesome. You've mentioned gratitude, a hundred times in this interview and I love it because that's like the focal point of my life

is living with gratitude. It's the last question I ask in every interview. So what are three things that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? I'm grateful for everything that I was able to to overcome. It was an experience that at the time I hated, but I'm grateful that I went through all that

to have what I have now and to be appreciative of what we have. I'm grateful for the circle that I have. It's a small circle, but it's a very powerful one that keep me in line and they keep me motivated. And ultimately, I think the biggest thing that I'm grateful for is that I'm no longer the reason why my mom cries. And then that's a powerful one.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate you. Well, such a great guy. It's such a great conversation there. A huge thank you to Ricardo for inviting us into his three legacies wrestling school for this one. check him out three legacies wrestling.com if you're looking to go to one of their shows in the

lancaster area or if you're looking to train to be a pro wrestler three legacies wrestling.com and snap a screenshot and tag us online he's at r r wwe on twitter he's at j underscore Rodriguez 818 on instagram I'm at chris fan fleet it's funny I was saying lancaster the whole time I was there landca because that's how it's spelled Lancaster. And they're like, oh, you mean Lancaster? Lancaster. Yeah, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There you go. I don't leave you with a quote from the curious case

of Benjamin Button. I always love when we can throw in a movie quote every once in a while, especially a movie quote that just makes you think about life differently. Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss. Fitting for this episode here, I think. Be great and be grateful. my friends. We'll see you back on the next one for some more insight. It's tomorrow. Ask CVV number 58.

If you've got a question, send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV or leave a comment on Spotify. And we'll see you back here tomorrow for that one. 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. 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 them? 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.