Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Rohit Raju on being the X Division Champ, Jordynne Grace, hilarious Macho Man Impression

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

One of the fastest rising stars in Impact Wrestling, Rohit Raju sits down with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Saginaw, Michigan. He talks about what it meant winning the X Division Championship, his favorite wrestlers growing up, his job working at a gaming store before being a full-time wrestler, what his goals are for 2021, his uncanny impressions of Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, the backlash he received for his match with Jordynne Grace and much more! Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here:http://bwhustle.com/join 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 Chris and the podcast go to:https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drewski. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no?

Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, fam. You're talking like I'm 50. Taylor, Rokes, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

It's Chrysalamania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you. man, with the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris! Happy New Year and welcome to the Chris Van Fleet Show.

Thanks for being with us on this one. If it's your first time here, I am obsessed with finding the common traits of what makes successful people so successful. On each episode, we have in-depth conversations and reverse engineer the habits and techniques of the world's top athletes, celebrities, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, you name it. If they are the best at what they do, I want to get their insight and help you apply it to your own life. And today we've got a fascinating conversation with a guy who's really made his mark in Impact Wrestling over the last year. He's a former X Division champion and

one of the best promos in Impact Wrestling. And I feel like at the rate that he's going, we're going to see him in that world title picture before 2021 is over. Speaking of pictures, take a screenshot, tag us, share it so we can say hello and we know that you're listening. I'm sure Rohit Raju would love to see that. Tag me, I'm at Chris Van Vleet, and on Instagram he is at Raju Zane 80. On Twitter, he is at Hakim Zane. We'll find out why he is at Hakim Zain in just a minute here.

If you're not subscribed to the show, I've seen the numbers. I know how many people are listening that aren't subscribed, but I would be forever in your debt if you could subscribe to the show right now. And if you happen to be listening on Apple Podcasts, well, that would just be the icing on the cake. If you could leave a review on there. And who doesn't love cake? Huh?

This review is from Big D. Shizzy. Best part of my nights at work is what he titled this. Dear Chris, I really enjoy listening to your interviews while I'm working, even though I'm not allowed to have earbuds in at all. Don't tell anyone. Don't worry, I won't. Anyway, thanks for the great content and keep up the awesome work. Remember to always rule ass.

Well, thank you for that. And I will do my best to always rule ass. And I'll keep reading one review out on every single show until we get to that goal of 2,000 reviews before my birthday. May 19th is my birthday. Although I'm thinking we're going to hit this goal, I don't know, March, April, because, I mean, we are just trucking along here. So thank you to everyone who's loved to review.

And just thank you for listening to the show, because the show is going to get bigger and so much better in 2021. And a big thank you to Rohit Raju for a great chat and the amazing macho man impression that he bestowed upon us. Oh, you'll see. So give it up, my friends. for Roheet Raju. Roheet Raju in the house.

How you doing, man? I'm good, man. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to have you on the show. You are one of the fastest rising stars in Impact Wrestling. So it's a pleasure to be chatting with you. Feels good. You must feel good.

You've been on a tear. 2020 has been good to you. It has. As far as wrestling, yes. As far as the rest of everything, you know, we're all kind of deal. dealing with it, but yes. In terms of what you've been doing in impact wrestling, it's, it's been a pretty good year so

far. Yeah. It's probably my, one of the, my favorite thing I've done in professional wrestling, being able to, you know, a lot of people say, wow, he's really improved. I don't, where I take that, you know, I thank people for saying that, but I don't think I've improved. I think now I finally had the ball and I'm getting a chance to run with it, but people are just seeing me at a bigger level.

so they're seeing what I can do because I feel like I've always been doing that in some form or fashion on some platform and professional wrestling. Now, it's just a bigger stage. And the confidence has definitely gone up there, but people are just now starting to see it. So if they want to say most improved, cool, I'll take it. But I feel like I've always been able to pull this off. You're like the 12-year overnight success. Exactly. There you go. Yeah, I mean, and now you've been given that chance. Now you've been given that bigger platform. But did you always feel like you had this in you, all of those years working in the Indies? Definitely.

I've always been fascinated with character work in professional wrestling. So I've always walked around my house, cutting promos, trying to stand out. And there was a huge point in time where I wanted to do all the cool stuff in the ring. And, you know, I really modeled myself after like, low key. And then I started to see, like, well, what stands out? What stands out to me more than anything? what do I remember? I remember guys like macho man. That, you know, after all these years, I still remember his promos. I still remember Austin 316. I still remember things like that.

And we're still talking about Rick Flair. We're still talking about those guys. So to me, it's like, well, that's where money is. And that's where the memories are. Because everybody, well, not everybody, but a lot of people can go out there and tear it up, which is awesome. Because I love to watch a great professional wrestling match. But for me, I am, more, I like to watch a bigger story. So that's what I modeled myself after. So I was just like a lion in a cage bumping my head against the door.

So as soon as impact opened the door, I took off running. So I feel like, yeah, I've always been able to do this. Now I just had the chance to do it. Did you feel like you had one match or one promo or maybe just one time in your life when you were like, all right, you know what?

It's going to be all about the character work for me now. I don't know when it hit. I do feel like I really start to cause a buzz and I knew that the power was in the promo. I always felt like my promo ability stood out above a lot of other people and character work, but I feel like at AAB, when I did this, we had a mask on and I was cutting these promos and my voice was disguised and all these fans were saying, oh, it's Killer Cross,

oh, it's Austin Aries. They were naming all these top names or these top indie names. top unsigned guys. Excuse me. So I was like, there's money there, obvious. If they're incorporating these promos with these people, then I'm doing something right. And then I remember, I was like, they're going to be really disappointed when I take off the mask because I'm just, I'm a nobody, you know, even though I've been wrestling for years,

I have not been able to catch fire for whatever reason. And I remember they were disappointed when I took off the mask. but then the promo I cut afterwards, I sucked them in. And they were, you know, there was people saying, oh, I wasn't excited when you took off the mask. But that promo you cut, you had a hook, line, and sinker. So I was like, well, the power in the promo. And that's when I knew, I think, like, hey, I can do something with this.

This is my bread and butter. I just need impact to let me do that. And they are now. And I think people realize, man, this guy is, they either hate my guts, which I, you know, I wear that as a badge of honor, or they see me for what I am, and that is one of the best characters on impact. The power of professional wrestling.

Power the promo, man. Power the promo. I love that. So what does writing a promo look like for you? Do you have notes on your iPhone? Do you just have ideas in your head? Ideas in my head, man. I walk around my house, I drive,

and I literally, it's almost like a freestyle rapper. So, you know, I'll say something about Chris Bay, or I'll say something about Eddie Edwards, like if I ever get a chance to work with these people, and then it's bullet points. So when it comes time to go, and that's one thing I love about impact, they say, hey, at first they're like,

we want you to get this across, this across, this across. And now it's like, hey, just go say what you want to say. Just go get heat. And now I go out there and I have a few bullet points and things and maybe lines I want to say. But I just get caught up in the moment and I just go. And I don't really write it. down anymore. I do have ideas up here and I go over stuff over and over and over again.

But that way, when I'm cutting the promo, well, I feel like I'm going to pull this out of here. I'm going to pull this out of here. I'm going to pull this out of here. I'm going to pull this from there. But I'm going to say this about this person instead of that person. And then it just comes out naturally. And it comes out of me just talking. Instead of me trying to remember things or have it on a phone, it's just, it's natural. It's organic. And that way I think it's, it comes across as more entertaining and also more believable. You name some of the big personalities that you liked growing up, but who were some of the great promos that you liked growing up?

Dusty Rhodes, Rick Flair, Steve Austin, The Rock, Arne Anderson, of course, Muncho Man, yeah, Bobby Heenan, Rick Rood. These are guys that I still watch. These are guys that I still study. How do they talk? John Sina, if you watch John Sina talk, you know, I would never forget. I was watching him cut a promo one time and half the crowd was booing, the majority of the crowd was booing him.

By that time he was done with his promo, he had that crowd, less people were booing him because of just his promo, the way he cut it. I was like, that is, that's awesome, you know what I mean?

That's money. I would watch, I liked Austin Ares when he was doing his run and impact, the way he would carry himself, you know what I mean? Like just, it's this real jerk, but his promos were just,

they were so believable. Rich Swan, if you watch Swan, he's very, he's like that very baby face. I like that. I enjoy that a lot. But those other guys, to me, they're the top. And even years now, back in the 80s, 90s, people weren't really talking about Rick Flair. But now you have rap songs about Rick Flair. You have ESPN specials about Rick Flair.

It's because it's the promo. It was his character. Everyone's talking about holding these gators down and stuff like that. I might this shoot my shoes cost more than your house. Born with the golden spoon in my mouth. You know what I mean? You got athletes reciting those. You got people saying, if you smell, stuff like that.

And to me, that is where the money is and that is where the memory is. That's that lasting impression. And I feel like I've done that. Maybe not in that grandiose fashion, but I've done that to establish myself as a main impact player. And that's been my goal all along is to be somebody in this company. You mentioned them, but I know you're a huge model. Man fan. Maybe you can give us a little taste of your favorite macho man promo. Green always rises to the top. Yeah, I just like to go along and I think and thinking,

I just like to go off the top of my head. Yeah, what about what about when I looked in Hulk Hogan's eyes? Yeah, I saw Lust in his eyes. Yeah, for Elizabeth. Yeah. I just, I just like to go off of whatever macho man. That's my favorite. He's like the best to me. When when anyone does a macho man, And all you need to do is, yeah, and then you could say literally anything in between that. Yeah, exactly. And then I like it. He's just, you like, it gets real quiet. Oh, yeah.

And then I was like, oh, it explodes. To me, it's just the cadence and his mannerisms. You ever watch him? He's always really intense and he's always like this. And, you know, he's just ready to, he's like a coil, a spring, and he's pushed down. He's pushed down. And sooner or later, you're going to let your hand go. And boom, he's going to explode.

I love that. Just those things, the little things to me, the way a guy cuts a promo, the rock would always do this. He's always doing stuff with his hands, you know what I mean? He's always always talking like that. And I swear it was always wild and just taking off the shades. And just to me, that just brings everything full circle. If you can do it in the ring, but then you can do it on the microphone, you're the total package. And that's something I aspire to be.

I feel like between you and Doc Gallows, I mean, you could just talk like Macho Man the whole time. Doc Gallos, his impressions are, foof, we sat in the lobby one night and he was just doing impressions, just telling us stories. And we're just dying, dying laughing because he's just so spot on and he's so quick. He's so quick with everything. So it's always fun to hang out with him and just listen to him talk and tell stories. It's a blast. It's not just Macho Man, though. And you have a bunch of other impressions in you, don't you?

Well, damn, son, I like to think about the 316 all the time. That's like one of my favorite. Steve Austin's like, it's just his birthday. And people ever watch my matches, I always hit the Austin elbows in there because I kind of, you know, I try to bring the, wear the, the, a gaudy shirts like 98, 99 rock. And then it hit the $500 shirts. Yeah, exactly. I mean, back then they were cool.

Now they're just obnoxious. So I'm like, oh, I'm so wearing these obnoxious shirts that I get like from India. and stuff like that. And it's great. It's so great. I'll never forget the first time I wore it. Delo goes, that is, he goes, that shirt is so loud I can hear it roar.

I was like, that's what I want. That's what I want right there. So every time I'm on TV with a new shirt, someone's like, damn, look at Rohinge shirt. And that's, you know, that's what I get that inspiration from. I'm not trying to copy him. I'm more trying to emulate and bring it to the forefront with my own spin on it. So, you know, I don't want to walk around looking like a cosplayer,

Dwayne Johnson, 1999. I want to be me with my style, but I want people to say that. It reminds me of that and bring that kind of swag. Anyone who does a macho man also does a Hulk Hogan. We know something,

but me and the Hulkomaniacs we're talking mean, Jean. Yeah, it's on the way. And I look in his eyes, and he shook my hand, and I felt the power. I felt the madness. I go on my eyes.

So good. I couldn't believe it. When he turned his back, I mean, there was no jealousy much. There was no jealousy at all. Man, where do Roheed go? I'm just talking to the holster now. You know something, brother. You know something, me, Gene?

Or he's just flexing in the background. Yeah. Let's take it back to who Roheed was as a kid. So you grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. What kind of kid were you growing up? Same person I am now. I'm a damn fool. I was always playing with G-I-Joe guys and Transformers

and watching Saturday morning cartoons and, you know, watching professional wrestling and Kung Fu Flicks and Star Wars all the time. I was enrapped, just enthralled with all of that, and I still am. And honestly, I was always climbing trees, riding bikes, playing with fake guns, getting dirty, cutting promos.

I had this giant gray teddy bear that I would wrestle, and I had this recorder that my mom would use for school and I would record myself wrestling, adding, cutting promos, I'd cut my shirts. She would cut my shirts like Hulk Hogan, you know what I mean? These G.I. Joe guys would come with face paint. And so I would try and, you know, paint my face like Sting or the Ultimate Warrior or the Road Warriors or something like that.

I was just a kid, man, just a wild kid, always wanted to have fun, always wanting to be outside. It was funny because I would, you know, when Nintendo and stuff and Super Nintendo with Sega, I would play those, but I still wanted to be outside. I still had to be doing something and exerting energy. I played sports when I was a kid. Basketball was my main thing. I was always into martial arts.

I took 10 years of Wingchung Kung Fu. Then I started to get into jiu-tizu. Then mixed martial arts got popular and I started to cage fight. And then I always wanted to be a professional officer, but I was working full time. So I could at the time. And then finally I found a place where to work around my schedule and boom, there it was. But that's me, man. And from a kid to now, it's not really much difference.

I just have to do adulting more than anything. It goes up to me, I'd still be running around with face paint on, clothes lining people or clothes lining, you know, stuffed animals. Not getting clothesline people for real. That's right. Yeah. How did you make the decision that you were able to figure this out with your job and you were able to go to wrestling school?

Ah, man. We used to backyard a bunch of us. And one of the guys found a... dude in about it was like an hour away from us and I was like all right well I've never heard of the guy so I knew a couple of wrestlers from around the area I knew Monty Brown from around the area so I'd ask mine he was like hey you're hearing this guy is he legit money was like yeah he can teach you the basics you should check him out so I went and checked him out and I was like I'll try it and see and I would go like once or twice a week for six months and it worked because I would go all my days

off from work and I was working like 40 45 hours a week and I just started a wrestling and I picked up on it really quick the training. And next thing you know, I'm like, well, I'll try it and see what happens. I started wrestling locally. And next thing I know, I would travel to Indiana. And then I would travel to Ohio and I started to get good. And there came a point in time where, like I said, I was doing mixed martial arts and nothing was really happening for professional wrestling.

So I went to a Ring of Honor camp. I'll say, if I, we'll see what happens, what they say. and if I, you know, don't have what it takes, I'll just stick to martial arts. And I remember they pulled me aside, Kevin Kelly and Delirious for running it. And they're like, hey, you're really good. We want you to work on this, this and this. I said, okay. And then I worked on that.

Next time I went to the camp, I got booked. And I was used with Ring of Honor for a long time. I should say a long time, but like I was used a lot. And I remember my name kept getting tossed around the top prospect tournament. I was on the first Future of Honor, pay-per-view. So I thought something was going to happen and nothing did. And I never forget Scott DeMorre. He's like, you're never going to be able to make this work.

Because I remember during the gut check thing, he was like, you work all the time. There's no way you're going to be able to make this schedule work. I was like, if I got signed to Impact, you better believe that's going to be my main red butter. And I remember I ended up going to, I won the gut check and I went to Ottawa. And I wasn't signed yet. And I was supposed to be at work. And I just was there. I was like, I'm taking this chance.

And next thing I know, I got signed. And when I told my, I got signed in January and I told my company in January, hey, I got signed. I want to wait until April because I was supposed to get a bonus. And I was going to step down, but they fired me in February. They came in and they were like, well, let's see. They had like a checklist. And they kept trying to find things to fire me for.

And they got something that stuck. And I'll never forget, I was down in the tapings in April in Orlando of 2018. And I was on the phone fighting unemployment. I was doing a court case trying to fight my unemployment against this company because they were fighting it while I was on the phone. And Scott's like, he comes up to me, where are you? We were looking for you. I was like, oh, I had to take this. It was a court thing.

He's like, what? And I told him what it was. He was, oh, okay. And yeah, so it was nuts for a while. 2018 was rough. But worked out in the end. What were you doing for work, if you don't mind me asking? Full-time manager at a video game store.

I won't put him on blast, but I'm sure people can figure out who it was. That sounds like a pretty cool job. It was a cool job. I was there for 14 years. It was still retail. It was still a corporate structure. I love the people I worked with. I love the fact that I got to work with video games.

I loved going to the conferences. I'll never forget the first time the T&A game came out. I was just starting to train wrestling. Christy Hemie was there. AJ Stiles were there and Samoa Joe was there. And I challenged AJ Stiles to the T&A game. And I picked Will Kee and he picked himself. And I didn't know he was a good gamer and he whooped my tail.

He destroyed me in it. And I remember I went around and I asked Samoa Joe and I asked AJ, what do I got to do to stand out? And AJ was like, you just got to be different. You got to find what makes you different from everybody else. So it was cool. And I got, I did the, a future of honor in Kalamazoo at Ring of Honor. And he was backstage. And I told him that story.

Of course, he didn't remember it. But to me, it was cool because I was finally, I was backstage with him at a show. And I remember his back was hurting. And I think this was right before he left in Japan or something like that. but I just thought it was so cool that it came full circle for me because I remember asking him for advice. Now I'm on a show with him. And it was a big show, you know what I mean?

So it was really cool being a part of that. But no, I loved it. I'll never forget. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but we were in Vegas, and the Batman Arkham City was announced. And they had like, the companies always have like a big deal. They would treat us like a big show. And they had all, like this huge thing.

and all of a sudden the Batmobile drove up and out jumped Mark Hamill. And I'll never forget the pop he got. I was like, I'll call it a Road Warrior pop. Everyone, because there's like 5,000 managers in one thing. It was like 5,000 people in this auditorium. And we popped huge. And I thought it was the coolest thing.

And I think that was coolest thing because I'm a huge Star Wars friend, like I said. So I just finished the Mandalorian season finale. And I popped huge at 3 in the morning when, spoiler alert, when Luke Skywalker showed up and cleaned house. And I was like, oh, my God, oh, Jesus. So I'm losing my shit, you know, watching that. So, no, it was cool, man. It was a cool experience.

I liked it. They did be dirty, but I did enjoy working with the people there, and I enjoyed the product a lot. So that was cool. So 14 years working there. What is your go-to video game? That's tough, man. I just finished Ghost of Shushima,

which was like an open-world samurai game, which I absolutely loved. Red Dead Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2 are two of my favorites. Final Fantasy, the original one, not seven, for PlayStation. So I just played the PlayStation 4 version. It was fun. It was cool. It still doesn't be the original.

But my go-to game would have to be an open world style game. So it's something like Skyrim, Witcher 3, Red Dead, or Ghost of Shushima. I'm waiting on cyberpunk to fix its glitches. So I might be waiting on a while. But that's what I want to pick up. but I'm going to wait. So to see what happens. Ironically, everyone was just waiting for cyberpunk to be released.

And now they're waiting for it to be good. Oh, my God. Like, how do you do that? It's like selling a car with a flat tire and making you fix the flat tire. I'll get you the spare later on. Like, no, man, I paid all this money. I want it now. Uh, mm-mm.

Not happening. Was it your work in Ring of Honor that really puts you on the map for impact wrestling to want to bring you in? No. honestly for the longest time I was trying to get on the BCW shows I knew of Scott and Scott you know he doesn't you know Scott K Fabia just got to Morrill K Fabia and I remember Bravo and Tyson Duke's and a lot of guys are like hey check out this kid Hakeem Zane he's really good and Scott watched me he's like ah you know whatever I'm not really impressed and then I remember I had a match with Jake Sump that in a show at XICW in Detroit Scott was there And we tore it up and Jake's like my Goku to Vegeta. And I remember he, then he started to invite me out to BCW shows.

And this was before he was back with Impact. This was way before that. Then we started to go up to Can Am because we wanted some, you know, some more training. So we started going up there to make our work a little bit more crisp. And I started doing the BCW shows next year. You know, Scott got back with Impact. And he was like the talent, he was head of talent or something.

And he was like, hey, have an opportunity for you. team with Idris Abraham since I knew him. It's a big opportunity, nothing promised, but it gives you a chance to show your skills on a larger level. And Jeff Jarrett was in charge at the time, and I went out there, and they were looking for more Indian talent. So I was like, cool. So I had my shot, and I did real well.

And I was like, man, I'm going to get signed because Jarrett liked me a lot. And then nothing happened. And I didn't get the go around again until the gut check. So I don't think, you know, Scott wasn't, he wasn't going to pull any favors for me. You know, he's the type of guy where you have to, you got to work for it. Now, I like that. And I felt like I worked for it. And I continued to work for it.

So, yeah, it wasn't my Ring of Honor. I don't think he'd paid attention to my Ring of Honor stuff. Funny, though, when I, when I, my first, his first singles match in Ring of Honor was me, Moose. Yeah, his first singles match. I was, I worked with him, which is pretty funny. So how did you go from being, Huck? Zane to using your real name?

And I know now you're still using both. Well, actually, Hakim is my middle name. Roheat is, we came up that with Impact because when I first debuted, I was Hakim Zain at Impact. And then we were like, they said, hey, we want to do this Indian faction. We know you're part Indian. So we want to do something with you. But Hakim, we don't feel like that's very Indian enough. So let's, you know, get more traditional.

I was like, okay, you know, at first I was like, ah, I don't want to be. I was scared because I was like, I'm just going to be a stereotypical guy. I don't want that. And I remember Scott was like, hey, man, you got to make it your own. We're giving you the opportunity to make it your own. So make it your own. And I was like, all right, that's really cool.

I appreciated that. I thought that was awesome. But at the time, I was using Hakeem on the Indies a lot. And Roheat wasn't really going anywhere in impact. I was bottom of the barrel guy. And so having Rohit Raju on your show wasn't really doing anything for anybody. Because if you saw me on TV, you're just thinking, oh, he's just some job guy. You know, there's nothing to him.

But if you saw Hakim, it was totally different. You know where Rohit is getting slapped by gamma, he's more comical, slapstick, kind of. Hakeem is more bitter, angry, jealous. He has a giant chip on his shoulder. He has something to prove. And then promotion started giving me the microphone. Alpha One was giving me the microphone. Lori Pro is giving me the microphone A-A-A-W.

And that's when people were like, well, how come I don't see this on TV? I was like, well, it's not my call. It's not, hey, give me the microphone. Scott, give me the microphone, guys. You know what I mean? It's not my call to do that. I can pitch ideas, but if they don't go with it, they don't go with it. So no one even knew I could talk that well at impact.

Scott knew just because he knew me from before, but nobody else really did. And then I never forget when I started cutting promos, they were like, oh, dude, you can talk like yeah that's not i just wanted yeah just give me that that's my bread and butter where you got other guys are going to be doing like the cool canadian destroyers and poison ronnas and stuff that's awesome just give me the mic let me do the character work because that's what i enjoy doing uh so yeah that was the difference that's why i was using hakeem for the longest time because i needed to show the world that i could do something different and that i could actually be a main player because at the time Roheed wasn't anywhere near that and I wasn't getting the chance to

show that. So I had to do something different outside. I didn't want to be a bottom of the barrel guy on the Indies as well. I wanted to be a main player. And there was a lot of indie promotions that were actually giving me that opportunity. Well, and obviously that character worked paid off when you were given the chance to win the X Division Championship. That is, I'm not going to lie, it is my proudest moment. That is the most fun I've ever had. I just had so much fun being that old school heel. Like, I would people just hate my guts. Like they literally, I hate this guy.

He always chees. He's such a coward. I'm like, cool. Then if I'm getting this reaction from people and they literally hate me and they're cussing me out every Tuesday on Twitter, I'm doing something right. I'm getting good heat. And it made me feel really good because that's what I want. Like I said, I wear that as a badge of honor.

So cool, hate me. I'll be the unlikable guy for the rest of my life. I don't have to be the cool heel. I don't want to be the cool heel. I want to be the annoying guy, the guy that doesn't shut up, the guy that gets on your nerves, the guy that you tune in only to see who's going to beat him up.

That's what I want. And I kept figuring out ways to win and people were getting so upset. And then I had such a good run as champion. Man, that's like the icing on the cake. It's such a great feel. And even it's a better feel. feel that they let me do it and they let me show them what I could do and I feel like I have

and hopefully I've established myself as a main guy there consistently at impact because that's all I want. I don't want to go back down to being just, you know, what I was. I want to stay in that upper echelon, that mix of guys that can get it done. You got so much heat when Jordan beat you. But then Jordan Gray's but then didn't win the Exhibition Championship. Oh, man, that was awesome. Man, that one, that felt so good. And it was so small. It was only like five minutes and people were,

there was even like journalists that were, you know, they were so mad and I can't believe they did that. Like, you guys are supposed to be in the know and you're not really in the know with some of the stuff you're reporting. So it made me feel great. And I'll take that any day of the week. That's like old school Bobby Heenan stuff right there.

So I'll take it. I just want to pause for a second because I know we have a lot of podcasters who listen to the show and a lot of aspiring podcasters as well. And I want to tell you about Blue Wire Hustle, which is a brand new program where you can host your very own podcast here at Blue Wire. Hustle was created to give everyone the opportunity to take your podcast to that next level. Or if you've always dreamed about hosting a podcast but you didn't know where to start, hustle is the perfect place for you. As part of the program, you'll receive personal cover art. You'll do Q&As with Blue Wire's top podcasts. There's all kinds of stuff.

And you'll also get your show pushed down to Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, and every other listening platform. The best part about this, you can get all this for just $15 a month, which is the same rate that any other hosting site would charge you just for the initial setup. So whether you're starting from scratch or you have an existing show that you really want to grow, hustle is an. open door to leveling up your podcasting experience. But acceptance into the program is pretty limited. So get your application in today. To apply, just go to BWHustle.com slash join. You can also check out the description box of this episode to find out more info. But again, that's BWHustle.com slash join. Are your eyes set now on the World Championship? To be honest, no, my eyes are set in getting back the Exhibition Championship?

ship belt and having one more good run with that. But to be honest, I do want to work with Rich Swan and that heavyweight title. I think Swan is a big fan of the character work. And I know he had said that about me. Someone asked me, who's some of the guys who want to work with that he mentioned my name? And he said, his character works amazing. I want to go back and forth with him. And there's a lot of times myself and Swan, who does a great Brett Hart impression, will go back and forth as Steve Austin and Brett Hart just talk trash to each other. Yeah, it's so much fun. So, yeah, it's great.

I definitely want to be in that world title picture. I want to improve a little bit more and get, my confidence level is huge right now, especially with my stuff with TJ. It's on a whole different level. And I want to cement myself there, get another run, and then go up to that next level and be able to shift gears at a world championship level, which I think I'm very close to that.

I mean, the names who have held the Impact Wrestling Ex-Ovision Championship, I mean, it's an incredible list. So if we were to do some fantasy booking right now, if you could have a one-on-one X-Division championship match with any of the former X-Division champions, who would it be against? Oh, man, that's tough. I might have to say Kurt Engler or AJ Stiles.

That I think those guys... We'll make it a three-way match. Yeah, there's just legendary. You know what I mean? That's really hard, too. I would love to go back and forth with like Jay Lethal on the mic. You know, he's so talented. Man, that's tough.

That's a very tough call. I guess I can honestly close my eyes and just point at the board and see who pops out because there's so many great individuals. There's so many legends. And to be a part of that and have a pretty good run, it's an honor to me. And, but, you know, it's not over yet. We got hard to kill coming up January 16th. So who knows what's going to happen?

Because I really want that ex-avision title back around my waist and continue my greatness as the greatest ex-division champion in this lifetime. I really do feel like if you closed your eyes and pointed at a board that had all the extra vision champions on it, there's no way you could be disappointed. You know, I would be disappointed if it was manic. So, you know, there you go. Unless, unless it was me going after. trying to take it from him. But if I was champion and he got yet another rematch, I would, oh, man, I would, honestly, this hair,

it would just fall out by itself. Well, do you miss the Mohawk? I do in a sense, but I like the bald-headed look. It's easier to take care of. I can do it myself. The Mohawk I did myself as well, but trying to line it up, especially from the back.

That is impossible. So it would be crooked a lot of times and messed up. But I used to like playing with it. And my hair's so curly, though, because if I stuck it up, it was like up to here. But as soon as water hit it, it just curled. So it was always just curly. So I kind of miss the mohawk, but I think the bald head makes me look way more serious, way more of a killer.

And I like that look. And I can wear hats in the wintertime without having to worry about my hair. So there you go. Yeah, well, living in Michigan, I guess you need to wear a lot of beanies in the winter. That's gross. I hate it. Were you shoveling snow today? There's probably a lot of snow up there right now, right?

It's snow on right now, but it's slushy, so it's raining and snow. So that means it's going to get slick and the driving is going to be terrible. And then, yeah, I'm over it. Definitely, I'm over it. When you say you want to work on a few things to make sure that you're ready for that next level, what are the things you really think you need to work on? When I work with Eddie Edwards, for example, and the way, and if you watch an even rich swan, there is a way they work,

that they know when they change the gears, how to change the gears, and there's just a certain type of flow to the match. And it's the small things to me as far as, it's next level stuff, in my opinion. And I always talk to Eddie and ask him things. And I love being in the ring with a guy like him because you learn so much.

TJP, for instance, I have learned so much with this program and my confidence level has just elevated so much because it's a different feel. Like, TJ, when we put a match together, and this is how I put my matches together now. It's like, what's the story you're trying to tell? We can incorporate all the movesets and sequences later, but what's the story we want to tell? So my matches with him recently have been some of my favorite matches because there's a story. behind it. And then when you see reviews on it, people are like, man, that's a really good match. They told a good story. And that's what I want. I want to tell the stories. And then what would Roheed do? I remember talking to Eric Young about that because Eric Young, I was trying to get the

because he went from kind of similar getting slapped by Scott being a comedy character who was just enhancement at the time. And now he's, you know, a world-class, you know, maniac. He's a killer. and you take him very serious. And I asked him, how does the gears change? And he was telling me, he was like, embrace your character now. Don't try and change it because you have something that nobody else does in the Exhibition. You have a largely life character. You stand out because of who you are and the dirty things you do.

And then I remember thinking about that, he's like, what makes Roe He, you know you can get the job done, but you would rather not get your hands dirty. You would rather get a cheap, easy way and get in and get out. And I thought to myself, yeah, I've worked tired all these years and they got me nothing. But as soon as I started working smart, then I started to get victories. So what do I have to do in the ring? So then I try to figure out ways to make that make sense in the ring, pick my parts. Like when we had the three-way dance between myself, Chris Bay and T.J., I was trying to manipulate everybody else, almost like emperor.

Emperor Palpatine. I was trying to manipulate everybody else and let them do everything. And then when my moments were right, that's when I started to pick my moments. Same thing at Baum for Glory. So as where as they do a tower spot, let me have the pickings in the tower spot. Let me try to make the cover. Let me try to ruin the tower spot and take advantage of it for myself. And that's the type of stuff. Like what would that character do? That character's not going to go out there and I'm sure to do catches, catch can maybe at first. And then he's going to revert to cheating because he's getting frustrated. So that's what I look, I look into now because my match is with T.J. And that's such a big thing. So it's stuff like that, those little things. Yeah.

Like you can have a good match and you can do really cool stuff. And a lot of people, especially now, there's that kind of bandwagon where people think, oh, that you're a great wrestler, if you can do all these things. To me, and I'll disagree in that sense, why that stuff, I do enjoy it. To me, it's the little things knowing when to turn the gears up, how to switch the gears, know what kind of story you're telling and knowing how to put it all together. That's that next level stuff. And that's the stuff I want to work on

and be able to absorb and do off the top of my head. That's when I know I'll be able at that championship, that world championship caliber. And I think I'm very close. I'm on the cusp of it right now. It's so easy to hate your character. You're such a good heel. Good.

I never want to be a baby phase. I never want to be a baby phase. I think I'm just me. I don't want to say me as a person, but as a wrestler, I'm just unlikable. I mean, there's just something about me that's unlikable. And so I want to get that shirt that's unlikable Roheep or something like that. Or it just says unlikable.

I just think it is because you have these guys that are wrestled, because there's just some wrestlers, like even as a baby face, you're just unlikable. You know what I mean? You'd rather see him as a heel and you just don't like them. I think my character was like that. And I think I can have a good baby face run, but heal all day.

I just think I know how to get on other people's skin. Like you said, it's just, it's so easy to hate my character. And I have the most fun doing it. But you're ramping all this stuff up. You're getting better and better every single week, every single Tuesday, every single match. When the crowds do come back, this is going to be amazing for you. Dude, that is one thing I do miss. And I could just imagine, especially screaming equality before I double-stomp Jordan Grace.

Like I saw some of the comments And there were people like, I saw him at this one show And he was like that when he wrestled so and so I think he's really like that And I'm just laughing. I'm like, cool. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to correct you. Like that's what I want. I don't put a lot of personal stuff on Twitter and Instagram.

I try to be a jerk because I want you to be absorbed the character. You know what I mean? That's what I love about professional wrestling. And I hate it when people will be like, Oh, Rohit is such a great guy. blah, blah. I'm like, man, we tell her, we'll be tweeting that. You know, I'm glad you think that, but don't tweet that. I want people to think they, Rohit, he's a slime ball because Roheet is a slime ball.

He's a P-O-S. He, you know, he's a, I'm so glad. Like you said, it's so easy to hate my character because that's exactly what I want. I had Chris Sabin on, and we were explaining to people that this thing that he does is actually it's the Mitten State. So where are you from in on the Mitzman? I couldn't even tell you. It's somewhere like, I don't know.

Somewhere in there. It's close to where they point because he's from, I know they say Detroit, but I think he's like from Montrose or so I don't know. He's from somewhere that's by Detroit. Maybe I could be wrong. But if you look at Michigan, you have the machine guns. You have Rhino. You have Kevin Nash.

You have Saboo. You have RVD. You have the Steiner brothers. You have myself. You have Jake Something. You have Monty Brown. you have all this talent and there's more talent in Michigan

right now that doesn't get enough love. I remember Dilo was like oh I'm looking for some guys who do you, I'm like dude this guy right here, my tag partner on the end, he's caram. He's jacked out of his mind, he's young and he's hungry. Then we have my other buddy, Xavier Walker.

He's like eight feet tall and he doesn't want to be a catch-as-catch can wrestler. He wants to be a superstar. He wants to be a TV star. He has the type of wrestling he wants. It's like, these guys are hungry and they're moldable. Bring them on, let them see what they can do, and then mold them because they will be your future. So there's a lot of love.

I always see guys like, and the Ohio guys are great, you know what I mean? But Sammy is up here. So if Sammy says, hey, this guy's good, people are going to flock to those people. Whereas we keep trying to tell people, man, don't sleep on Michigan. We got talent up here. And there's a whole bunch of people that can go. Danhausen, he's a Michigan guy. You know what I mean?

He flipped the script. Look at him now. One of those over wrestlers right now. And I love it. I love to see that. He has shirts at Hot Topic. Like, what? All from character work.

I absolutely love it. Michigan, dude. I mean, he won't tell you that. I don't know where he's like from parts unknown or whatever. Oh, sorry. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But sorry, Dan Housen.

Don't curse me or whatever you do with your weirdness. I won't cuss, I promise. But yeah, he's like so over right now. It's great. I love it. Do you have a vision for 2021? Like if we were to fast forward, 12 months, what do you want to have accomplished in 2021?

Definitely Exhibition Championship around my waist and then be in the world title picture by the end of 2021. Whether it's around my waist or not, I want to be in a main event. I want my ability, my promos, everything to be top notch to where they're like, okay, you're ready, boom, next level. That's where I want to be. And it's, it's, I don't really want to go back to being. in a group or a team or anything like that.

And it's just because I want, I'm having so much fun focusing as an individual. And I want to do that. I want to stay as an individual. Unless the, you know, circumstances and storyline, it comes together where it works out. But I'm having so much fun just being on my own and being able to shine. And I hope to evolve my character. Whereas right now I'm like sneaky, Weasley, I would like it to where if something happens to where I am very intense, very cruel, very.

sinister, very mean and driven. Like the Exhibition title, he thinks that's his identity. So, okay, maybe he goes for it, doesn't get it. Maybe he gets it and loses it again down the road. And then it's like sadistic. He's sadistic. He's this, he's that.

And he's doing anything he can to get it back. Because you have to, I can't be that guy forever. You know what I mean? Whereas sooner or later, the flashy shirts and the silliness is going to wear off. And I don't want to stay that when I know I can up the level. of intensity and anger and just evilness, so to speak. So I would like to dab, dab that as well, dab into that. So we'll see.

By 2021, I want to keep moving up. I don't want to go back down. I like it. Because if you're not moving forward and you're not moving backwards, I mean, you're staying the same place. You're saying the same place. You're moving backwards. Exactly.

Yeah. As we wrap things up here, I like to end every interview by asking you, what are three things that you're grateful for in your life right now? family and friends, my health, and I guess just being alive, being able to wake up every single day, breathe, walk on my own two feet, and being able to live the life that I strive to live. That is the little things, like in the summertime, even though I hate snow, being able to walk outside and the sun is shining, it's quiet. You know, you can hear nature and stuff like that and you have that nice breeze.

That's, I can't ask for much more than that. Yeah, I love it. And, you know, you're not going to like me for saying this, but you're a good guy. Oh, why? Don't tell everybody. All right. Ross, cut it.

Ross, cut it. Rohee Raju, I really appreciate this. And I can't wait to see what's next for you in 2021. Thanks, dude. It's great talking to you, man. It's always good seeing you. I hope to hopefully I'll see you soon once all this insanity is over and done with. Yeah, I look forward to seeing you in person again.

Yes, man. Yeah. Well, there you have it, my friends. Thank you for checking out this chat with Rohit Raju. And I love how focused he is on improving and taking his skills to that next level this year. We should all be doing that. And it shouldn't take New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, whatever you want to call it, to want to improve and want to be a better version of yourself.

Every single day, you should be. be trying to be better than you were yesterday. And you know that I always say vague goals, get vague results. So I encourage you, as we are starting this new year, you know, it's a clean slate now. I encourage you to set some specific goals for yourself. I want to lose some weight is an extremely vague goal. So be specific about it. Be accountable to it. Say, I am going to lose 20 pounds by July 1st. I'm going to lose X amount of pounds by this specific. date, then you're accountable to it. In fact, tweet it out. You know, be completely accountable to it. Let other people, like, hold you to it and go,

hey, man, maybe you shouldn't be eating those donuts if you were planning to lose this way. As Robert Hershevec from Shark Tank says, a goal without a timeline is just a dream. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We'll see on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job. to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're

complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen

on your favorite platform. You've been warned.