Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Rusev On His WWE Return, RUSEV DAY, John Cena, Roman Reigns, US Title, Lana, League Of Nations

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Rusev (@ToBeMiro) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his journey from Bulgaria to WWE, how he was paired with Lana, wrestling John Cena at WrestleMania 31, and making his entrance in a tank, the success of Rusev Day, being in the League of Nations and taking a Stunner from Steve Austin, the Bobby Lashley and Lana romance storyline, his Good Ol' Fashioned Donnybrook match with Sheamus in Paris, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT  FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF  PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://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

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flees! I love this shirt. Thank you. Oh, that is classic. John Rambo. It's my favorite shirt. I wear it everywhere. I hope British Columbia, too.

Yeah, he has the whole deal. That's right. They drew first blood, man. They drew first blood. But now I'm coming back for Rambo, too. At the end, I'm killing more. Is that your favorite movie from that era? Like 80s movie?

There's so many. So many. That's my favorite. 80s and 90s a bit. movies. Yeah. Nothing was complicated. Everything was easy to digest, easy to understand.

They're a good guy and a bad guy. And you go, they don't have fun, man. So, like, if you're thinking 80s movies, is it pure action for you? Like, are those your favorites? Even the comedies. Like, they were so, like, the slopstick, the over-the-top comedy

where you just go, wah-ha-ha, like laugh with your belly out. Yeah. It's not like, hmm, I've got to think about this joke for a second. Yeah. You know, it was just different time. Back to the future for me is the ultimate.

Oh, yeah. Nobody cursed. anybody anything, just good storytelling, great comment in between professor acting like over the top. It was just the best. That movie to me is about as close as you can get to being a perfect movie. Oh, okay. What is the perfect movie for you then? I think it's that.

Okay. Because I think it has charm, it's witty, it's funny, it makes you think. There's a girl, there's love. Right. And there's also the idea of like, if this thing doesn't happen, then that thing can't happen, right? Like if Marty's parents don't meet, Marty's not born. Yeah. The whole part of it.

Yeah, man, it's all good. What's the perfect movie for you? Terminator 2. Right? That movie, man. Their movie is just the best. And I kept asking people, what is the best sequel of all time? Because this is a sequel, it's not easy to do a sequel to one.

What is it? I mean, we have Star Wars, which is amazing. But then Terminator 2, man, just the Terminator 2 is just such an amazing. And it was so ahead of its time. And it holds it up. Yes. You can be like, oh, look at the Star Wars. T-G-I look, no, everything looks fantastic.

Yeah, the only other great sequel, I think, that is part of this conversation is the Dark Night. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, I would agree with that. Like Batman begins, it was good. Yeah. The Dark Night is legendary. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yes, yes.

But when you go back down that road, there's other good sequels, but just Terminator 2 kills it from me. So good. Just the good guy was such a good guy, the bad guy, you know, such a like, and then the girl and the kid and the back. It was just. Oh, so good. If you guys haven't seen it, please. What a re-watchable movie. Yes, Robocop, too.

An unbelievable movie. Like, it's just, once again, another movie was made, what, 84, 87, something like that, and it holds up to this day. Yeah. Oh, man, great movie. We could talk movies all day. Yes. CJ Bob before Christmas is at 209 from this, I'm not going to say the name.

But it's a great, like, a stat. Because it kind of collects some of these things. I have a lot of Terminators, and now I have the Ed. 209 coming in. I'm very excited. Oh, man. Yes. You look like a million bucks. Well, thank you, man.

Thank you. Thank you. I put my best outfit with you. But it's crazy that if we were to look at a photo of you when you debuted in WWE and we look at you now, I think to a new wrestling fan, it'd be difficult to explain that's the same person. Yeah, I got this the other day from Roman, I think. We were with Saudi Arabia.

He said, hey, you know, talking to my kid the other day. And he was like, oh, is that Rousseff? So he had to explain, you know, that's me. and we fought all over the world before, and now I'm back, just looked different. But yeah, man, it's a bit of a change. It was the long hair. You were quite a bit bigger, right?

You've leaned out so much. How much lighter are you now? So I'm 260 now. I used to be 300, maybe. Okay. Yeah. Well, you look great. Thank you.

Thank you. Does it help you move in the ring? No. I always move good. Because I've always been a big kid. It's not like ever since I was born, you know, close to 15 pounds. What?

Yeah. Yeah. So I always been big and I've always played sports like a normal guy, like basketball. I played a lot of basketball rowing after that and shot put in soccer and all that. So I always was, for me, it didn't matter my size. I had to keep up with these guys. It doesn't matter what they cost me. But this helped me overall. 15 pounds is like two babies in one. Yeah. My mom giving birth for three days. Oh my goodness. Three days in the hospital. I bless your mom. On Christmas, I popped up. So you were the Christmas present. Let me ask you this, because my son was born on December 17th. Okay.

What's it like when your birthday is on Christmas? You're sharing it with, you know, Jesus. Yes. Well, when I was a kid, you know, we didn't have money, so presents were not always there. But now that I'm a grown-up and I can afford a couple of things, you know, I go to town. But when, like, when do we celebrate your birthday if we're also having Christmas? Well, so when we're with my family, with my wife and her family,

first at the house, we do a little gift exchange for the birthday, and then we go to their house and we do kind of Christmas. But we still do a cake for me and all that. So, you know, I'm not a big going out and partying, well, let's get drunk on my birthday. That's beyond me. It's past my, it was in the past. When you talk about growing up and you didn't have much, like, what are we talking?

Oh, man. If you do some kind of a research of Bulgaria in 1996, You see the hyperinflation, people line up, there was no bread, there was no food, there was nothing. You just had to wait and you might end up going home with nothing. So, yeah, when we had nothing, it was nothing. Our electricity was always on and off, on and off. It was just, yeah, it was just bad. What was your escape from that?

My escape was, I like sports. I always played sports, so that was a good escape. You know, video games also was a kind of escape. But yeah, I don't know that. Just nothing, just a few friends, and that was it. And then when did you find pro wrestling? Oh, man, I saw, first time I saw, I was six years old. Six years old, because democracy would just,

because we used to be a communist country, then we switched to democracy. And I remember people like this guy who went to the United States of America, to me was like, wow, the coolest thing ever. And he brought these tapes, Hokomania. And that's why I saw it for the first time. I think it was not, I think it was, slaughter, you know, having Hogan in the clutch, and then they were burning the shirt and all that was like, whoa.

And then Hogan said, you know, say your prayers, environment and say, and you can do it, brother. And he was so patriotic and so encouraging to do better, to do good. And I would just, I just love it. Did you at that point be like, I want to do this for a living? I want to do this one day? Well, you kind of always look to it to like, oh, man, this is the best, but you can think. Like, so I told my mom, hey, I want to do this. So she signed me up for wrestling.

And I went over there and I see this amateur wrestling. There's no ring. There's nothing. I was like, this is not the same thing I asked for. They beat me up for a month or two and I left. It was just, I did not. I wanted ropes. I wanted to bounce back and forward.

I wanted to do the stuff. But then, you know, I started, I keep watching and keep watching. Then the attitude error came in. Then cable TV came because even back then when I was saying about the HokkaMania tape, you couldn't see much, much tape anywhere because people had some tapes and it just keep for themselves, they don't want to share, they don't want to show anything. So it was very difficult to see what. But then later on when the cable TV came in the attitude era,

so I started following more and more and they had more kind of on eyes, like, every week. What age did you learn English? So I was always been interested. Always been interested in America. Always been interested in movies and investing, obviously, and English. So I signed up in third grade, I signed up for English. which not everybody did, but I just loved it. I just loved everything about America.

I was getting myself ready to go. So you knew some way, one way or another, you were going to move to America? Oh, 100%. Wow. 100%. America has always been my destination. So the American dream for you, very real.

I mean, same for me. Look at us. We're two, I'm from Canadian. Canadian. I don't even know. I'm Canadian. I'm from Canada. Please come into the section below. Oh, boy.

I'm Canadian. You're Bulgarian. and here we are living in America. But that's what America is, right? It's for people who are looking for the opportunity to come in and do better for themselves. That's how I always took it as. And it's not easy to come to America either. Even back then, it was even harder.

But once you get here, man, there's nothing like there's nothing to rely on. It's just you. There's nothing. Nobody helps. If you work, you have money. If you don't pay your rent, you get kicked out. If you don't have enough money to eat, you're hungry. So you are by yourself, you and God. Then you go to work.

What age were you when you moved here? 20 years old. Chasing the dream to be a pro wrestler. Yeah, yeah. So I had to go to college for a little bit so I can do this work and travel thing over the summer. So as soon as I was able to do that, land it here in Richmond, Virginia. Okay. Yes.

Why Richmond? So when you sign up for these programs, they give you a job. And my first job offering was to paint houses. and I've never painted anything in my life. Maybe Easter or some eggs, that's about it. But they say, hey, if you deny it, you may not have another shot. I was like, I just want to get there. So I came in, paying houses, got fired a month later.

I kicked out on the street because it was a community house for the workers. And after they're firing me, they kicked me out. So I was literally on the street, a month in with $100 in my pocket. What'd you do? Well, there was a couple of guys that I met through work, and they were really cool guys, and they accepted me in their apartment, and we lived in two-bedroom apartment,

I think it was six of us, sleeping on the floor and whatever you've got to do. Were you already training to be a wrestler at that point? No, no, there was the first month. It took me, then I started working cleaning stores, Dollar Generals. We were traveling around half of the country, and with these chemicals,

we were cleaning Dollar Generals. I worked in Wendy's for a week. It was the weirdest place I've worked at. Wendy's? Yes, Wendy's. Especially when the burger and it's territory to draw a W. And I'm like, well, sir, manager, if you turn it out of way, it says McDonald's and for McDonald's.

Oh, like they were looking at like I reinvented the hot water. But then it was even embarrassed to go get my check back. Because I was there for a week. I didn't call because I was so embarrassed. I didn't want to go back to work, but I didn't want to call, hey, I'm not coming back to work. So that was weird. And then my friends say, hey, I'm moving to California.

I'm going to drive cross-country with this 1988-oastomobile. I said, count me in, brother. All the dreams are in California. And I left, I jumped in the car with him and we drove for three days, I think, to San Pedro, California. California dream is a real thing. It's a real thing. Like, think of how many people we're sitting in Hollywood right now. Yeah.

Think of how many people came out here with just a hope, just a dream. For some people who worked out, for others it didn't. It's true. It's not easy. You know, sometimes having just the desire, it's not enough. Sometimes you need more. And that's why I always thank God for that. Because if without him, there's no way I would have been able to make any of these things.

So you found a wrestling school in California? So, yeah, I moved to California. I moved to this guy who I've never met my friend's friend. He let me sleep in his house on the couch. So I stayed there for a little bit. Started working everything from construction to a strip club, to the taxi driving, to pizza delivery, to food deliveries, you name and I worked. You're a bouncer to strip club.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. You can't tell. Well, I mean, you could have been on stage. No, no, there was nothing, not for me for sure. I'm too shy for that. I'd rather be naked in the ring. But yes, I worked everything.

And finally, it was very random. I saw a pay-per-view for WW. It was 2008. And they had a show in San Diego, and I lived in L.A. It was very random. I was like, oh, man, you want to go? I've hit my friends. And so we went.

we watched the show. That's where Randy broke his collarbone and all that. That's the thing that I remember the most. And on the way out, on my car, there was a flyer, pro wrestling school. I was like, no way. They have schools.

I had no idea. I looked it up. It was in San Diego. Like, who cares? I don't make the drive. But then going in deeper and searching that website, I found a school here in the valley with Rick Drazen. I called him right away.

I came home on Monday, called him, emailed him on Monday night. And Thursday was my first class. Wow. Yeah. So you trained with him, and then not long after that, you also trained with Gangrel. Yeah, so I started with Rick Drazen. It's a backyard ring, 14 by 14. It was, you know, it is what it is.

He got me going. But after six months, I felt like, you know, I've kind of hit my capacity here. I've learned what I can. And then Reno, Underwey, which is, you know, one of the Anawai families. Him and Rakishu were opening school with Gangrel. And I was the first one there. I signed up, and I moved schools, one from three. the other.

Weren't you sleeping in your car while you were training there? I was sleeping between jobs. So if we had like a more, because at the beginning there was a morning class and an afternoon class. And I didn't want to skip anything. So I would work all night with a taxi. And then instead of going home, I would go and take like a nap three or four hours before practice in front of the arena.

Then go practice. They go back, work. And then come back for training again, then go back to work. But I loved it, man. I loved that. I was just so fascinated by the craft. Like I was so, so fascinated, how do you do these?

It was like magic to me. Like, whoa, how, why did he move in the corner? Do you just move because you wanted to? Or like, everything was so fascinating. On top of the physicality and I just love competing as well. So it was just everything. And it was so entertaining. Nobody had to be, you know, it's not like MMA

where you go out there and killing each other on purpose. This was, hey man, this is professional wrestling. You know, it's way different. So I fell in love with it right away. Sounds like you were hungry. I was hungry to learn. Yes, I am hungry to learn. Always am.

And especially with something that I love and I'm interested in, there's nothing can stop me. Three classes, I'll go to three classes. On top of that, you know, you still have to work, you have to cook, you have to go to the gym. So everything I was doing was just that. How long did it take you before you started to get noticed by WWA? So I remember getting pulled in the office in the school one day,

And they say, hey, man, you know, at this point I've been training not even two years probably. They say, hey, you may have an opportunity to go with a TNA because at the time they were kind of high or WW. And I said, bullshit. Like, no freaking way. These guys are giants, man. They're tightness.

Like, what am I a 24-year-old Bulgarian going to go through that? I just didn't think it was possibility. And then I just kept training, kept training, kept training. And then the Rakeshi pulled me aside and I said, hey, we're going to have this. Because I trusted him. Because a lot of people like to go out there and do their own thing. I trusted Rakesha. I trusted his training.

Trusted Gengrel and he's training. And I know that when I'm ready, they're going to set me up for success. And they set up a trial for me. It was 2010 SummerSlam in L.A. And I went out there with a torn ACL, which was just something else. I had to go through a bathroom, wrap my knee with a duct tape because he was giving up. And I wrapped that motherfucker. He could say whatever you want.

I rub that thing up. And hiding away from everybody and go ahead of tryout. Got it almost in a fight with one of the other guys. What? What do you mean? Well, because I said it was Jamie Noble. It was T.J. It was like, who else was there?

Like, you and you get in. And then we go in and we work. And this guy, boom, clothes like me riding my mouth in my nose. I was like, all right. Whatever. Kick out. Then work again and again. Boom.

right in my mouth again. I'm like, lay down. Like, all right, cover me, brother. It covered me to kick out with my elbow in his face. Whang! Because I get tired. I get it. We all want a job. But you can't be just like killing me over here because I'm trying to succeed as well. And they stopped us. Then we kept going

a little bit. And after that, Johnny Ace came and he offered, he said, hey, do we have any problem relocated into Florida? I said, no, sorry, I don't. And yeah, that's why they offered me a contract. And I had to wait another year to fix my paperwork. Because, you know, I was still a little issue with the paperwork situation.

So there was another cold bath that I had to take. You know, there are these people. They're saying, hey, we're going to sign you. You're a dream. You're not about to come true. But then you have to go back and work. You know, the taxi and everything else was like, so hard. It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done.

done is to be like, hey, it's right here, but no, you can't get there yet. But anyways, everything got arranged in 2011 in March, I believe. I went to Florida, the Tampa to FCW. Were you worried at any point? Like, you've got this basically agreement that this thing's going to happen. But you've got to get the paperwork to come through. Are you worried at any point? Maybe it won't. No, I couldn't be worried. I just had to stay focused. Because once you start worry, you start getting distracted and negative thoughts come in. I didn't want any of that. I just put my hand down, keep working hard, keep doing whatever I can. Because at the end of the day, when you have a huge desire, when you have a dream, and it's not like an EO intent, it's not like,

oh, I want to make money to screw with all these guys. Or you know, it's not like a bad intent. And you pray to God, man, he's always going to be there with you. He's always going to help you. I love this mindset that you have, but it's backed by hard work. It's backed by, like, putting in the work and making sure that you do the things you need to do. Where did that mindset come from? Well, my mom was a two-time world champion or second world champion in rowing, so her competitiveness has always been there. My dad is also a rower, so, you know, we always had this sports mentality. And on top of that, just seeing what my parents went through,

with all these shitted times in Bulgaria, nobody had anything to eat or anything. You know, they never give up. They never asked for a handout. They just went out there and worked. They had to make things possible. And maybe that's what it is. And knowing that once again,

knowing there's no plan B, it's not like, hey, mom, I have no money. Can you send me some? It's not a that. You just got to put your head down and work hard. And things will happen. Once again, once you have a pure heart, I believe that anything is possible.

Is your family still in Bulgaria? Everybody is. Wow. You're the only one here. I'm the only one here. Why, they must be so proud of you. Yeah, well, they are. They always tell me how proud they are.

It's hard, though, being so far away. And now it's been 21 years away. I've been longer in American than Bulgaria at this point, which is, I think last summer it hit the 2020 mark. I was like, wow. It's kind of a weird thing. Yeah. Most of my life, I'm being American compared to Bulgaria.

The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim, and they want to be on that World Cup roster.

There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Hencoe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You were booked so. strong once you figured out who Rusev was. How did you develop that character?

Trial and tribulation. So I was in developmental. Eventually, after a few months, they found that my knee was broken at my ACL. So I had to get the surgery. So six months I was out. But Dream always liked me. American Dream always kind of believed in me. I've never done promos before, like ever.

In Knox Pro, when I used to train with Rikishi, they never taught us any promo. So now we have, you know, back in FCW in the, we have Monday and Tuesday practice and then Wednesday was always promo class, but I've never done a promo in my life. It was kind of my first time I went out there, did a promo and dreamed like me, like my, like the way I talked, like that I was big, I was able to move. So he gave me opportunity. Unfortunately, you know, my knee gave out and we had to go and replace that by ACL. I came back, you know, starting climbing a little bit, two months. late I broke my neck, which was very, I don't even know how I broke my neck.

I thought my shoulder was hurt. And I went and get my shoulder checked. And I said, yeah, your shoulder is bad, but your neck is broken. That's what causes the problem. It was something leaking, blocking some pathway, couldn't move my arm. And so I had to repair the neck after that, which is another big setback. And I thought after that, you know, I was trying to be realistic. Be like, probably going to fire me.

You know, it makes sense. I've been, I've provided nothing for this company. And besides, they had to pay all these surgeries. Probably going to fire me. But I was okay. I was going to go to Japan or something. I was not going to give up for sure. But they didn't fire me.

They called me the office. They said, they are going to fire me if I don't show them anything. I think they gave me a month, month or two, to say, hey, we're going to give you this time and show us what you got. If now, we're going to have to let you go. That's it. No problem at all. I love, not all tomatoes, but I love fighting for something when there's a,

not just a purpose, but what are you? Like a goal, right? Yeah. And they stuck me in a beginner's class. And I was like, extra motive. Like, what? You're going to put me in a beginner's class? Watch me.

So I was just fucking going. Like, it doesn't matter. I always do everything extra. It doesn't matter what it is. So I was showing it, boom, boom, boom. After the first month, you know, instead of fire me, they gave me a word for the most improved or for whatever it was. But once again, I had nothing before that because I wanted to try something else.

and I went back and watched Kickboxer, the movie. I watched Bloodsport. Then all the bad guys that I grew up watching and loving. So I was like, I'm going to take something from this guy, something from this guy. That's why I started changing my stance, my gear, my attitude. I went barefoot, you know, start showing a different thing, and they loved it. They absolutely loved it. They started buying it more and more.

And then eventually we moved, we started moving to Orlando to the new system after Triple H took over. And it was a completely different thing. That probably saved me a lot because there was such a structure. It was a program. It was you follow it. You go, this coach, this coach, this coach. Everybody had a different level.

It's not just like, figure it out. And I thrived in that system. I loved it. And it was very random. It was not like I was ever prepared for anything. It's not like anybody was like, oh, Roussef is going to be the next thing. You just one day I had a random match. Dol Ziegler came to NXT.

And some people say that, oh, I stood up and said, let's have Rousseff against him. Other person said, oh, I stood up and said, you know, eventually they have all these people. But it doesn't matter, whatever it is. They volunteered me for their Ziegler match. And I haven't even been on NXT TV at all. Nothing.

I was just doing nothing. Then I had this match, and Dolf was the nicest man. He was like, because they wanted him to squash me up pretty bad. He's like, no. He's like, this is not going to do anything for you or me. And we had a match and let me showcase my moves. And thank God, like Triple H was there. He noticed that.

He's like, who's that kid? And from then on, fast-tracked. Yeah, man, once he saw me, once he saw my big traps, I guess, my wild moves. And then they started figure it out. Then Lana was there at this point because she just started. So they figured out she can speak Russian. I'm a foreigner in that part of the world. And then they paired us together.

We started doing promos. I showed CJ Rocky 4. She's never seen. She's not big in 80s and 90s movies as much as we are. Showed her Rocky 4. We said, this is what we're doing. We're going to take this inspiration.

And they loved it. And from then, it was not a matter of if, but when. Very, like, I feel like the influences from Rocky 4 makes sense now that you mention it. Right? Like, she looked just like the character. Yeah? Yeah.

And it's all being on purpose. Nothing was accidental. It's not like somebody told, hey, try that. No, this is the look. We're not going to cut your hair, but let's do the bun, let's do the slick hair. And yeah, I was the stone cold, not the stone cold, but this, you know, stone face, no emotion, drago

that was going and just beating everybody up. You're one of the few wrestlers who wrestles barefoot. Is that tough? It was tough. Well, it was tougher when Jack Swagger plays a prank when you hide your flip-flops. In the wintertime before a match. It was like, oh, man, not again.

Not again. And then three days later, he's like, oh, put him over there, you didn't see him? And anyways. What was the inspiration for being baref? Umaga. Umaga, man. He was one of my biggest inspirations.

I drew a lot of inspirations from him and just watching him and his timing, his movement, his aggression. And I saw him barefoot. When I was changing characters, you know, I was just trying to be different. I'm like, oh, if Umaga did it, I can do that too. And I did it for a few years. It really, really worked until right by getting a bad.

backdrop, unexpected backdrop over the ropes that I've never taken before. And I landed on my feet, but just, just gave up. I was 300 pounds. There was no support. There was no nothing. My ankle gave out. And from then on, I had to change the boots. So that was the last time you wrestled barefoot.

That was the last time. Yeah. Except my wife at home. This guy. This guy. You know, we got to remind the CJs here. Roussef Day was so hot. When did you start to realize that Roussef Day was getting

over? I don't know. It was never meant to be over. It was not supposed to be anything, right? It was just supposed to be a celebration and here's the key from the mayor of Plovdiv, my hometown. And it just worked for some reason. I was a heel, but then I started to relax a little bit, not that, uh, heel. I just started to relax, be more of my personality. And I guess people start buying that. And Aidan, of course, Aiden is such an essential part of this with the song. with introductions, with everything. Without him, probably wouldn't even be the same. But just the combo work, man.

It was just me having fun and doing the backstage with New Day. And then the first shirt, oh, my God, they did one shirt of Happy Rousseau Day, which is the first one. And I remember putting it out in a backstage phone with the huge reaction from the crowd. Like, what? It's just a shirt.

It's not that big of a deal. But then just start picking up steam, man. People love their love, Chen. Rousse of Day and celebrating Rousse of Day. And I got that sweet treatment that, well, I have a beach towel. Oh, I have sunglasses now that says Roussef Day. I have all these articulates, all these things or articles or whatever you call them that says Roussef Day.

I was like, what is happening here? I couldn't believe it. And then, yeah, we're just getting over little by little. And yeah, it was a good time. Even to this day, hey, happy Russo Day. Every day is Russo Day. Every day's Russo. This interview is happening on Russo Day.

Was there ever talk of making you a full-on baby face? Because that was so over. Was there ever? Well, it was. I don't know if there was. I don't know if there was any direction for it necessarily. I remember I've been off TV. And I've never been off TV.

I remember being off TV for a couple weeks. And I was like, what is going on? Why are we off TV? And before the shows, these people were chanting Russov Day. And it's not like, oh, like, let me get my shit. And I just, I thought it was good for the show. If these people were channing something, we should give them what they want. And that's why I started fighting for it.

You know, hey, let's do something. Let's do something. And then it was getting a little more traction. But, you know, I became a United States champion, I think, didn't I? Yes, I did become a United States champion again. So it did get something. It just, you know. It just felt like it could have been so much more.

A lot of things could be more. You know, I went out there, I talked to the boss, and I laid my cards in the front of him. It just, I did anything I can, I did. Sure. But what comes after, it is not up to me. Yeah. Well, it was so much fun. And you're right, even to this day, but 10 years later. Yesterday, in Canada, the chain Russev Day.

Like I was beating this Joaquin Wild, I'd beat him up at the chain of Rusif Day in Philly. Like, the other day, a beat up guy, they still chaining Russev Day. I'm like, guys, you're going to get me in trouble here. You can put the sound of the world. Do you want people chanting Rusef Day? Hey, they can change whatever.

Ah, okay. I don't tell people what to. You got to feel it, man. It's not, I like things. And that's what the Rousse of Day thing was good because it was organic. Yeah. Nobody tell them, hey, chend Roussef Day or we're starting this new thing with Rousseff Day.

No, just people took that. I never even thought of anything. People took that Russov Day and started chaining it. And that's what started becoming a thing. It's not because I did something different. It's just organizing. It's organic. People wanted it. People did it. And people got it. Like, when WrestleMania in New Orleans, like on the streets, everybody was chanting Roussef Day.

Like, people were sending me videos and pictures and da-da-da-da. It was great, man. It was a great time to be a part of that. Because it brings the community together. You know what I mean? Like, hey, let's just chant. If it's not me, if it's the yes or the no, or whatever it is, but it brings everybody together. Look, it makes sense. If your match is happening on Roussev Day, maybe they should be chanting Roussev Day. That's right. And since every day's Roussef, does. It makes sense. I remember January, everything, Roussefay, Rousseaday, Rousad Day.

That's also one of my favorite things was the calendar. How is this version of you now back in W.E different from your first run in WWA? I'm way better. I'm just way more seasoned. Because like I said, when I first got signed, I wrestled only for two years. I did, I wrestled Sina, you know, at WrestleMania 31. That was 2015. At this point, in the business, I was like seven years in the business.

So it's not like I had all these skills. It's not like I was the best by any means. They just needed a good bad guy for Sina. So, yeah, now with all these years later, all these battles later, I feel way more, way better in the ring, more secure in the ring, knowing what to do, how to control the people, how to control the situations, how to control everything in their ring. There's nothing that can surprise me.

was like, yes, sir, yes, sir, thank you, sir. I appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much. But now I have my own ideas. I have my own vision of matches, the psychology, and everything else. So, yeah, everything is different. What brought you back to WWE in 2025? I wanted to wrestle, man.

I wanted to mix it up with the best. And I know that the roster is stacked, clearly. Their roster is really stacked. I don't remember the last time it was this stacked. But I just want to mix it with everybody. I wanted to wrestle more and more. and all these European tours and everything. I love all that.

I love the grind. I love... Because when we first started, we was five days on the road. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. You go home Wednesday. You're out on the roads again on Friday. And that's just how life was.

As hard as it was, that's how you get better. It just by putting the work. Because every day you work different towns, you travel. And now kids... And the kids, now the people can only hear about that. I'd be like, oh, really, that's what it was. But it was so cool, man. like wrestling, you know, getting being up, getting the rental car,

driving three hours to the next down, getting the hotel, waking up, working out, doing the same thing. You just like make you feel like a real professional wrestling. You missed the grind. I miss the grind. Yeah. I miss that. I really, really do.

When you got let go from WWE, did you think your path would bring you back to WWA at some point? Only if I wanted to. Well, look, so I got fired. It sucks, right? Nobody wants to get fired, especially the pandemic. That was just something else. But I jumped right away, you know, I started doing the Twitch thing, which was, you know, because I had the three months no compete.

And I jump on Twitch and I had fun on Twitch. I was making money. I was playing video games. I was having fun. I was gaining my audience little by little. And that was fun. And then AW came through and I started wrestling there. The same thing.

I just wanted a short contract just to fill them out how it was. Everything was great. Signed a bigger contract. And yeah. It was, and then did I ever think I was going to come back to WWW? If I wanted to, like, I really meant that. If I wanted to, if I didn't want to, I didn't have to come back. But I love, I love WWW.

I love what they've made for me. And I love how they've taught me since I was a young kid. And I just loved the organization. How did the conversation start for you to come back to WWA? We're going to breach contracts. Okay. Trade secrets here. Well, it's good to see you back and like this version of you is back.

That match you had at Clash in Paris, the good old-fashioned Donnybrook match with Seamus. Yes. Like, for lack of a better word, what a banger. What a banger. Thank you. Thank you. It was great, man. It was such a great opportunity because, you know, working with Chamis is always fantastic.

It just brings the best and the worst out of you. Meaning the worst is like, well, fuck this guy. You want to hit me this hard, but watch me. But I love that. I love, because also we're best friends, right? So it's easier to forgive after you kick somebody's ass or not. And nobody had egos. We just both worked for the match.

We just wanted to have a great match. And we had a lot of challenges, the day of for this match, which we overcame. What was challenging? Well, behind the scenes things. It was challenging. But thank you to Chris, you know, Chris Abyss. He fought for us. He wanted it to happen.

And we did. And we did the best. We took advantage of it. We did the best, I think we could. We went a little bit over time. But it was such a great time. Being on the barrels, man. People think, oh, resting is this, resting in death.

But once you get up on those barrels on somebody's back, you'll see, like, huh, is this my family? Like, am I seeing what's happening right now? Should I pray? Like, everything happens. Everything goes through your head real fast. It didn't look very stable up there. It was not stable at all.

And he's, what, 24, 250? I'm 260. It was not safe. So you got 500 plus pounds. Yeah. And it's not like you rehearse that. You just go out there. Sure. How can you?

Thankfully, we didn't have to. You just go out there and hopefully everything would be okay. And I pray, I remember when he, when he hook up. me with a thing, I just pray to God. I'm like, Jesus, please protect us. Down we go. The great thing about that match is, when you look at this on paper, right? It's Rusev, it's Seamus.

It's, for lack of a better word, it's a street fight. It's like, we're all invested in this because you know it's going to be good. And like there's something about, something like styles make matchups, right? Something about putting you guys together where you know it's just going to be that much more of a hard-hitting match. I appreciate it. I think that's what they put us together. I think that was the whole point of to go out there and bring it,

which I'm totally okay with that, you know, I don't mind. And I'm glad we deliver it. That's the, because it's a big expectation as well. You know, there's only five matches on the card, sold out maybe 50,000 people in France. You know, we got John, you know, following us. Then the main event. So it was a really tough spot, but I accepted that. I like that pressure of performing.

And you guys both live in Nashville. So there's like this extra... He moved out. He's now somewhere else. He's in Jersey, right? Jersey in Nashville. Who is back in for? He has a house in Nashville.

You've got a house in Nashville. Yes. You've got a wrestling school in Nashville now. Not yet. Okay, well, congratulations on starting this. Thank you, thank you. If somebody's in the Nashville area, how can they sign up? Catch Pro Wrestling, they can...

If they go to the Instagram, there's a little thing. They can click a link and they can fill out their information, and somebody's going to call them back. to get their details and what they want to do, kind of where they're at. And also we're doing kids. We're training kids. So I'm very-

Like how young? Aiden up. Oh my gosh. Most wrestling schools won't take you until you're 18. Well, we're not most wrestling schools. Because, you know, man, like kids love wrestling. And they watch it now. And the business is so open that there's so much we can teach this kid.

And not just to be a professional wrestler. And some will be, right? Some will be world champion. Some won't be. But just to grow confident. you know, to be able to express yourself, to have a character, to have a homework to prepare like a promo or, you know, it's no different than what school will do.

And on top of it. And then now when I was in Bulgaria, I started watching, I went to some jihitsu schools and judo stuff. And these kids are tough, man. We're thinking these kids are like, but they're tough. They throw each other. They go hard. They train hard.

And we can do that in a professional wrestling matter. I'm not sure we're going to take like huge bumps, but it's very tailored to kids. The really interesting thing about pro wrestling is if you're playing baseball, football, hockey, basketball, whatever your sport is growing up, you've been playing it since you were four or five years old. You probably find out 12, 14-ish

if you've got a shot to maybe do this professionally. And then do you get a scholarship? Do you go from there to get drafted, whatever the story may be? Wrestling is like the complete inverse. You don't start training so you're like 18. Right. So if you've been playing any of these other sports,

your career is basically done unless you're like the top 1%. And your career is basically done at 18 unless you're going to play in college. Wrestling, you're just getting started. Then you spend your 20s trying to get better, trying to get noticed. Hopefully you get signed. If you don't, you continue that chase into your 30s, maybe even in your 40s. And you're chasing after this ghost of like, can I get signed?

Will I get signed? There's always going to be another independent booking. It's really interesting that you. you're saying you're going to get kids in there to just like learn the basics, figure out a promo, learn the business a little bit. That's a really interesting perspective. It is. And, you know, we had some people backstage like Pete Dunn and a couple of other guys who started at 10 or 12 or like early, early.

And look at them now, man. They're fantastic wrestlers. And once again, not everybody's going to be top of the top. You know, some people, some kids will be there for a week, two, month, whatever that is. But it's going to be up to them. Whether you like it, you'll keep coming back. If you don't, then it's totally okay. Yeah.

But now you get to, you're your dad, get to watch it on Monday night, and now Wednesday you get to go to practice. I think that's such a motivation for the kid, not just, and for the parent as well, because they can do it both together. I can be a tag team if they want. And there are a lot of wrestlers in Nashville. You've got a lot of your buddies that could stop by the school and get to train if they want. We have gangrene who's going to be the other trainer as well.

Is he moving to Nashville? Yes. Because he's South Florida forever. He is, yes. He's a Florida guy, but he's been screwed so many times by all these people who promise him things. And he helped me so much. He held this other Bulgarian kid who came from Bulgaria to wrestle metal.

He trained him as well. So it was time for me and him to do something that he'll be able to finally be like, hey, this is it. When they always say that if you want to train, you want to train from the best, right? Who better to learn from than someone who's in there right now and someone who's been there in Gangrel. Incredible. He's great, man.

His training is great. It's very old school training, and maybe some people don't want to hear that, but he's real. He's going to keep it real. He's going to teach you real. He's not going to be like, hey, let's do a little bit of this,

a little bit of that. No, he's really big on basics. And that's what people are a lot of lack a lot of the times because they all thinking, oh, I can just jump around, fly around, and somebody's going to notice me. But it's not about that. It's about the basics, about being aggressive.

It's about, you know, being that believable person. And, you know, Dave always say, if somebody fucks up a spot, you beat them up. That's the only way to cover it up. So that's what, you know, this is something that always took up in my head. It's like, somebody messes up.

I just got to go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wow, wow. You know, just like Dave, except with all the fangs. So do you want to spell this for people who are interested in checking this out? Yes, K-E-C-H-R-R wrestling. Okay. That's on Instagram. And yeah, from there, it's very easy to find the link. Just follow it up and somebody will call you. Well, congrats on this.

When does it officially open? So the ring is ordered. The building is being, I already got the building. So officially it should be probably mid-March, should be the grand opening. Okay. That's pretty soon. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

But I'm really, really stoked, really excited for it. I love that. Because we're going to have, you know, even for experience guys who will wrestle on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We're going to have drop-ins, hey, what are you lacking? What do you want to learn? Like, what do you think you need? We're going to have these guys. Then we're going to have intermediate guys.

We're going to have beginner guys. We're going to have the kids' classes. Everybody's going to be separate so you can get the most out of the time. You had this moment recently where you scared the absolute poop out of this little kid in the front row. Yes. Yes. Did you realize it in the moment? Like, did you see the reaction on his face when it happened?

I did see he panicked. But it was his fault, man. At the end of the day, you can't blame me for that. I think I met him earlier backstage. And maybe that's what made him so uncomfortable. That's what I kept thinking. But then you can't just be so comfortable to touch the animals, you know? You can't reach in the cage.

And if your dad didn't teach you that, your mom didn't teach you that I would. And I always said, just don't touch me, kid. And he's like, it was the most shocking face I've ever seen. Like before they used to replay when the Undertaker lost, remember the guy like, Yes, yes. Like, this is probably the next thing goes to it. The look on his face is just so perfect.

The genuine aired. Oh, man, you don't get that off. He thought you were going to jump over the barricade or something. It would have been too much. It would have been too much. Then I had to fight the dad. What a moment. I'll take it.

I'll take it out of nothing. You also had this promo with Kathy Kelly, that got turned into a meme. Yes. It's no one's going to stop me, and then you're just yelling. And then nobody stopped me. No one stopped you.

I love yon. Especially in front of the people, who I can fire them. Yeah, in front of people, they fired them up, and they're getting all into it, like, yeah,

like, I can do this all day. And then Kathy's putting me in, like, these interesting faces. But, you know, it was a good time. It was a good time. The people got fired up. Yeah, then it turned into this meme where you literally did not stop yelling for like a minute.

And I never will. How do you get fired up before a match? Ah, man. You just got to think it's real. You got to take it as real. You can't take it as, you can't just take it as, ah, it's performance. You really got to get yourself in there. You got you get yourself in the zone.

I like hitting the wall a few times to get my punches, like, you know, distance, right? And yeah, just mentally, a good prayer also will do it. But mostly just you can take it as, let's just be safe out there. This is also cool, but you got to be, you got to be in the moment. But prayer and punching a wall feel like they're on different ends of the spectrum. Yeah, you have to bring it all. You have to go from here to here and then go from there.

You start with a prayer first, then, you know, the warm up first, then the prayer, then you go in guerrilla, you start getting a little bit more, then you start punching the world, okay, I got my distance. People like, whoa, it's a work, brother. I say, yeah, this is my work. WrestleMania 31. You've got this match with John Cena, U.S. title on the line. What an entrance.

How'd they come up with this idea for you to come out on the tent? Manifestation, brother. Really? Manifestation. Nothing else. And I couldn't even believe that because CJ sometimes reminded me. Like, no, we literally took a paper and we just kind of, oh, what if it's this? What if it's this?

What if it's this? You know, we're not going to go to. It's my first few months. I'm not going to go, yes, what about if you do this? That's not what I do. But then all of a sudden, a few days before the show, they called us in the stadium. Oh, there's a tank. Whoa, there's the guns.

Whoa, there's the Russians. So, like, what? Like, it was just something literally like, I couldn't ask for it or dream for anything more. And it was all because, like I said, just we're thinking about it, manifesting it. And then somehow he's getting to Vince's head for him to put it up there. So you manifested it, but you never, you never pitched this to anybody? Never. I'm telling you, man, God works with everything.

And I'm not saying that's the right way to do it. It's just that works for me, works for me. And, you know, me praying, CJ is praying her whole family there. You know, everybody's very religious and everybody's praying for it. And it came through. Yeah, what an iconic entrance. I love it. The only thing that he had regrets was,

not mentioning what model the tank was. Do you remember? No. Oh, no, I don't. But it was a great time. And, you know, my family being there in the front row, being able to watch. Well, the feud with John Cena was just, it was perfect. Like, I feel like Rusev is like this,

just prototypical John Sinai heel. Like, good versus evil. Yes. Right? Yes. And I love that, man. He taught me so much. Because, you know, people seen this probably wrestle like 10, 15 times on TV,

but we wrestle probably 1,500 times on live events. We travel all over the world just to wrestle. And even the European tours, we used to do red, then blue, then raw, then Smackdown, then maybe Smackdown and again, raw. Like, we would just jump everywhere to do this match. And just learning from him, just listening, paying attention, what he does, why he does it, keeping my ears open, my mouth shut. And I've learned so much, man.

If it wasn't for him, but even him, of course, but even leading up to that with Mark Henry, with the big show, with all these veterans that I get to work with, big show will say, hey, I'll see you in the ring. Like, that's it. Like, you're just going to see me in the ring. Like, you're seven feet two with 500 pounds. But okay, I was so nervous.

But all these veterans prepared me for that moment. And I'm very thankful for every single one of them. What do you think is the biggest thing you learned from John Cena? Just timing. Timeing. take my time. There's no such thing as a TV match and a live event match. Like, there's no such thing as a bad crowd. If they're not reacting, it's because you're not giving them what they want to see.

Him listening, okay, he's a high pitch, he's a low pitch, who's out there tonight? What's the vibe? Like, he's always there watching and learning the crowd as much as everything else. Just, yeah, not everything has to be like, just it's got to make sense and it's got to take your time. and listen to the crowd. I think that's the most important thing. Just listen to the crowd.

They'll tell you what to do. How hard is that to listen to the crowd when you've got a thousand other things to think about? It's hard. It's not easy. It's a skill you've got to develop, right? Yes, yes. It doesn't come often.

It doesn't come that easy. It just takes by repetitions. Just repetition. That's why these live events are so great. Because you don't have the, okay, three minutes to commercial, one minute to commercial, 30 seconds, you just get to relax and do the best you can and prepare. And that's what I did with him so much.

Five days a week, man. We were just killing it everywhere we go. And you got the big win over John Cena. Was that? It was a fast lane, I think? I think it was fast lane. Yeah. Yeah.

It was after the Rumble where the Rock came in Scrumby. It was 2015, my second Rumble. You were the last person eliminated from that Rumble. Last person. 2015, it was the last time Roman Raines won. Yes. Yeah. He came in, Scroo.

threw me over, threw me over the top. And then backstage, I went to complain to the interview, and he came show up, and there's the shoving, and the pushing started. And here we are. Yeah. What a cool moment in the Royal Rumble. It's down to Roman and you as the final two in 2015.

Yeah. It was cool because I was gaining speed, right? Like, I debuted in the Rumble before that. I was entrance number five. And I didn't eliminate anybody, but, you know, showcase my ability, took five people to throw me. over. Then a few months later, I made my debut on Raw. But yeah, we just started building from

there because they had a plan. They had a plan, a year plan in advance. They're going to have Russe versus Sina WrestleMania next year. And we just followed their plan. And we went through this guy, this guy, this guy. And eventually got me to, you know, even the Jack Swagger stuff was so great with SummerSlam, with we the people versus, you know, the Vladimir Putin, mother Russia, representatives. everything we just played role until we get to that moment with Tina. Yeah, big win. Big win. It was great.

And, you know, he passed out in the accolade. I think I kicked him in the nuts as well on top of everything. You know, he had to be John Sinema. Or you got to keep him down somehow. You had so many great matches with Roman Raines. And I think Helena Sells probably my favorite match. Was that your favorite, too? Yeah.

By that time, by the time I get to Roman, that's what 2020. I think, I felt a lot more confident in my abilities. And also, I'm not working with where he's a Hall of Fame and all that now. But back then, you know, we were in FCW together. We kind of were coming up together. So I felt a lot more confident to be able to speak up instead of just listen and be like, yes, sir, no, sir. And I was able to be more deliberate with my things. And I think that's why it worked.

We had a good chemistry. Once again, that's another match that we've done around the world. from India to Argentina to here to the everywhere. And the hell and the cell was also not, it's not that often you see the U.S. title being defended in the hell and cell. But that's not because of me. That's because Roman is Roman. And I'm very thankful for that.

And we had a great match, man. Great match. I remember we wanted to break the cage, but we couldn't do that. That was only thing. But it was so good. The match was good. It was aggressive. We did some great things.

The crowd, Reactive Fantastic. We got on right we wanted at the end. They were training for him. So it was a great piece of business. Yeah, like, Roman at that time was, like, good. And I think we were starting to see glimpses of great. Yeah. But, man, over the last five-ish years, he's on another level.

Yeah, yeah. He deserves it, man. He's great. He's got a great look. He's got a great work. He got a great presence. So, and, you know, he deserves it all. I thought the work you did with the U.S. title was, like,

you made it feel important. Yeah. Especially with the opponents you had at that time, right? Like, you're holding the, the U.S. title and you're working with John Sina. You're working with Roman Reins. You're working with all these other people. What did it mean for you to be a U.S. champ?

It was my title. I felt it really like my title. I felt like, you know, not everybody can be world champion. But when I have this, I can make it as big as I can. And that will always be my goal to whatever I do to make it as big as I can. It doesn't matter if it's the U.S. title, if it's an old title, if it's, I'm finding for my wife's honor, whatever there is. You've got to make the best out of it.

And yeah, where I think I won this three times, the United States. And every time it felt, one, so my birthday, once from Calisto. And everything has, I wanted it for first time from Seamus on the app, on the app, the app, the W.W.E. app, there was just the network. Yeah. It was during time to catch on. There was when I wanted from Seamus. Then I lost it to Sina, obviously.

The second time, Calliast. still had it. And I was getting in shape. I was like working hard. I was getting trimmed. And I went to Vince like, oh, pump. And he was like, oh, you look great. The next thing you know, I was United States champion. He will reward you, man. When he see you put in the work, he will reward you. Then boom, he got me in the United States same second time. Then whatever happened, I don't know who I lost it to. But then on my birthday again, like I get to win it. So I really have a special relationship with this title. And I really feel like, like people think, oh, it's whatever title. but that's something that not everybody can have,

and you have to be prideful about that, whatever it is. So you've got to make the most out of it. And I really wanted to build it as a world title. Would you want to be U.S. champ again now? Oh, I will take, I will be U.S. champ, or in a colonial champ or the big champ, I can do it all, man. You feel like there was any point in your career where you were close to that world title,

or there was an angle that had things gone slightly different, you would have been world champ? I can't think. I can't think like that. I don't know, because I think I've only had two matches for the world title in my career. Once was against AJ, I was doing the Rusive Day stuff.

We had one match with him, and the other one was when I came back, I think before the whole Bobby story started, I came back and I had a match with Seth, which was just like a role. And that was it. I've never had any other. Team of Nations.

Had they come up with this idea? So it's Seamus, Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett, and you. Yeah, yeah. I think they needed somebody for Roman, to be honest. I think that's how they came up with it. To be honest, if you want to be frank,

it was not like, oh, we have this great idea for these four guys. I think they needed somebody to run on a bigger baby face. And that's why they put us together. Which was fun, man. We got a WrestleMania match. Yeah. I got to eat the stuner from Steve Austin, which was another dream country.

You sold that stunner fantastic. I'm studying. I was studying. Look, there's a lot of ways you can sell a stunner. Yes. How did you decide to go with that one? Oh, Scott Hall, clearly the best stunner ever. Like...

Even Austin will tell you that. Between Scott Hall and Vince McMahon, those are the two greatest stunners ever. Oh, Vince might be the worst stunter sell. Well, it's the worst. If you wanted to look at it, it's the worst. But if you want to see it, like, God damn, that was entertaining. Although the very last one, Vince took... WrestleMania 38?

Falls over before he even takes it? Bro, I love it. And then it's so cold. See? But you remember that? Because it was so bad. Even Austin said it was the worst stunner ever. But the worst is still memorable.

Like people right now, I was in their own for 30 seconds. People were shitting on that. But yeah, but you're talking about it. That's true. Who else you're talking about? Nobody was there for 10 minutes. Nobody gives us shit.

But they're talking about things. they remember. Yeah, but you took a great stunner from Stone Cold. Thank you, thank you. I was really happy with it. And when I was talking about before, oh, I was like, I want to take the stunner. And when it hit me, I knew exactly.

I was going to go as high as I can if I can flip, but I'm not going to flip. I don't want to break my neck, but boom, right on the outside because I didn't want to hang around. Man, it was such a great moment. That was so cool. Such a great moment.

I wish, there's nothing I wish. There was just great moment. You've had a lot of, a great moment. He broke his shoulder also, by the way, because he came in, he hit me so hard, he threw his shoulder. Yeah, he, because, you know, first he beat me up in the corner, he said the first punch he threw, he ripped his shoulder. Oh, man. Yeah. So poor guy. Wrestling weddings never go well. And you've been part of a few of them. For the bad guys. Yeah, that's right. You've been part of a few of these. How many of them have been part of?

Yeah, you tell me. How many? Let's see. Three or four? I don't know. So we had the Lana in Roman. We did that. She ate the cake.

That was fantastic piece of work. Then, I think we had the Lana in Bobby Lashley. That was number two. And you were hiding in the cake. I was hiding. See, this time it did go well for me. Very bad for Bobby. Very bad for Bobby.

Poor Lana with her little makeup. It was something else. Then I did one in AW, and he did two on Total Divas. So there you go, five weddings. A lot of weddings. Yeah, man. Celebration time. What's wrong with that?

But everything was great. All of them were different. All of them were cool. I think the one with Lana was so good because we were just there to, because we really was getting married. So we're trying to play off of that. And then Roman came in. He hit me.

I hit her. Boom. facing the cake. Big thing. And actually after that, we had to fly up for a honeymoon, I think. So we're all like,

we're both having all kinds of shit on us. They had to wash and throw away shoes and all that. So that was fun, man. All the weddings are fun. Because people love weddings too. Yes. They know something's going to go down.

They're just waiting for when. Right. It's like, where is this going to turn? Yes. The storyline with Bobby and Lana and you, how is this originally pitched to you? Oh, a WrestleMania match. As I was pitched to me, I said, great, I can deal with it.

So that's like the end goal, wrestling, a movie match, just back it out from here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just, we never got there. Yeah, why didn't you end up getting there? I didn't get fired before that. Well, the pandemic. Right. Yeah.

Yeah, but it was a good story, man. Like, I understood the story. It was not like, it's my favorite story, but I understood it. And when they told me what the final goal was, I said, all right, that sounds good to me. You know, we have a direction, we have a dip, we have a comeback, we have a good story to finish it. So the story at its core is you're standing up for the honor of your wife. Is that it? No, that was with Roman, when I was defending my wife's honor. At that point, I think, what was it?

How did we start this whole thing? How do we start? like you're in a tough spot there. You know, this is your wife. Right. And she's making out with another guy. Right. It's acting, though.

Like, it's nothing else. Like, all these Hollywood people, all these, and it's not she's the only one. How many other WW female superstars have made up with so many people? And it's just part of the business. You can't, if you start, like, selling it, if you start like, oh, then, yeah, of course it's going to go bad for you. But as long as you take it's just the work.

Yeah. It's nothing else. to work. Is there a storyline or a match you wish more people would ask you about or one that you're really proud of? Because there's the obvious ones, right? You work with John Cena. You work with Roman Reigns. You win the U.S. Championship. But is there one that you're like, man, I want I'm really proud of the work I did? Me and Fuego and AEW. If I can tell about AEW. Sure. It was a great match because we had two minutes or three minutes and they wanted me to squash them. And I said, what is that going to do for anything?

Like, we already know people walking down the aisle, everybody knows who's going to win. But we got him good, man. Because those two minutes, we got him into such a great spot to think that he was able to win. I think that's one of the great things that I've done, even though it was just two minutes. What else?

You know a feud? I want to see and I think I speak on behalf of all fans when I say this. You versus Gunther. Oh, yeah. Think about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, man, he's good. He's really, really good.

And he's been professional wrestling for, what, 20 years or something? So it's not like he's new to the business. He knows what he's doing. He's aggressive. He's mean. He's big. He's athletic as well. Yeah, he's going to be a great match.

We just got to decide who's going to be who. He's going to be the good guy and the bad guy. Do you prefer being a good guy or bad guy? I love being a bad guy. I think that's my favorite thing. I studied bad guy. throughout my life. Do you have an ultimate, like, movie villain that you love?

Well, yeah, like a Tongpo, clearly Tang Poe from kickboxer. Chang Li from Bloodsport is another guy that I always draw from. Even Robocop, where you see the bad guy, Robocop, freaking Clarence Botaker. He's another great heel. There's so many great heels. Yeah, but match with Gunther would be fantastic. Well, let's put it out into the world.

Yeah, we gotta manifest that. That would be very good. Them chops, I'm ready. He's going to hurt his skin because my chest is really big and really hard. Like I used flexed it together there. See how his eyes are getting together. I see that. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Gunter.

Are you still manifesting all the time? Do I manifest? Yeah, sometimes I do. Sometimes, you know, I fall back into like what's happening. But yeah, you have to manifest. I stay positive. That's what I'd say. I'd stay positive.

Where does that come from? Because what is there to be negative? It just everything falls apart. Once you start being grumpy and negative, everything else falls apart. Complaining doesn't help anything. No, it's not going to change your situation. You can just run all these scenarios in your head,

but that's not going to help anything. Yeah. You've got to stay positive. And this comes back to, remember John Cena saying control the controllable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Like, you don't have control over what other people say.

or what other people do, all you can control is how you react to those things, how you react to what other people say and what other people do. And it's true. Yeah, yeah. But there's nothing to complain. Like, this is, you know, I came with nothing to America.

I've been able to provide for my family for the past, since 2011. How many is that? 15 years, I'd be able to provide for my family. I bought my mom and my dad a house. My brother lives good. I have 30 houses that I bought. So I've done pretty well.

30 houses? Well, I have a lot of rentals, yeah. Wow. Yeah, you have to invest. You have to invest. And it's all thanks to wrestling, Matt. So there's nothing for me to be sour about wrestling. Yeah, am I the world champion?

Am I going to be? Maybe I will be, I'm not now, but it doesn't mean it's not going to happen in the future. So there's nothing for me to be negative about. I have so much to be thankful for professional wrestling in WWW. How much do you think about life after wrestling? Oh, yeah. Well, I have thought about it, of course,

and I wanted to be a mayor of my hometown in Florida, that's been... So you'll move back to Bulgaria? Yeah, I don't mind that. I don't mind. And you'll be the mayor. And I'll be the mayor. I was trying to...

Not I tried, I just missed signing up because I do wanted to go back to school, but I missed the enrollment date. So next year I'm definitely signing up. I'm going to school for public administration in Bulgaria school, because I want to learn there. system. And yeah, just go from there. Like, do you think about how much longer you want to wrestle?

I said 45 and then reevaluate the body, see how it feels. But so far, I feel great. I haven't feel that good in a long time because it's not like you have matches every day, so the body's way more protected. I take care of my body a lot more. I do a lot of stretching, massages. I eat a lot better. I train a lot smarter. So I just take care of my body, and I know that the body's going to take care of me. And you don't look like you've lost a step in there. Like, you look great. Thank you. I try to do that in the Rumble with showing my drop kicks. But yeah, man, there's not. I am not. I still train this hard, if not even harder than before, but just smarter. Shorter periods, harder workouts, go recover, eat the right things. It's not like before, eat, whatever, now eat.

I cook at home. My wife cooks at home. So we're doing the best just to take care of my body. Well, like I said, you look great. Like, you look like a completely different version of yourself in the best possible way. Thank you. You look like a movie star. Oh, boy. Maybe it's a little bit of that.

You know, we did some of that. I did a couple of movies, but it was not my favorite thing. It's not like wrestling. Wrestling, I cannot wait, you know, for the match. And me to sit around and think about, okay, what can I do with this fucking guy? I just grab him by the throat,

and throw him into the crowd. You know, can picture all that. But in the movies, it's not the same. You got to sit around, wait forever, and then maybe they use you for three minutes. Maybe they don't. It's not the same.

I love wrestling. I love the physical aspect. Like, I did a movie with Kevin James called Guns Up. And we had, like, two or three fight scenes that we had to, like, throw each other in, like, cabinets and kitchens. And I love that. I love the physicality part of it. But me sitting around, remembering, like, a page of just words.

it's not, it doesn't work for me every time. Well, you can tell your passions in wrestling. Yeah. It's very clear. I always wanted to do that, man. It was just six-year-old childhood dream. You're doing it. I am doing it.

There's a lot more to do, but I am doing it. Thanks for coming in here. That's it? We've talked for like an hour and ten minutes. Really? You want to talk for more? Wow, they go so fast. Isn't it crazy?

I don't know. Wow, that is so fast. We need to promote anything. We can plug your wrestling school again? I'm just kidding. I love my wife. Let me plug that. And if you haven't seen it, we're going to have babies this year.

Is she pregnant? Well, we're doing the IVF there. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, we're doing that. And then poor lady, man, you know, she's got to shoot herself with a whole bunch of stuff, like, all the time.

Yeah, for people they don't know. IVF is not easy. And she's like, look, look. I'm like, I don't want to see that. Like, shoot yourself in the corner, brother. Like, don't show me. Well, you guys are on this journey. right now. I can't wait to congratulate you when you get pregnant and then you have a baby or

multiple babies. I told her one of my kid is going to be named Hawk. The other one is going to be bear. Hawk and Bear. Those are going to be interesting names if you have girls. Well, Hawk is the girl. Bear is the boy. And I've talked, you know, she's talked me down to maybe the middle names will be that. I don't think you'll be allowed for the first name. So I'm fighting another battle. Well, becoming a father is absolutely life-changing. We've got two kids. Oh, man. How is that?

It's the best. The other day, I was talking to one of the Uso's. And he was saying, how he's kid, you know, he's going to be like a doctor. He's, like, great in biology. He's a good kid, and he's doing all this. It makes me so proud of listening to this. Because, you know, you're gone, man. You're on the road all the time.

And there's so many the what-ifs and, oh, I'm. not there to control it, but to see, like, these people who are gone, their kids become such a great story, like, just feels so good. Yeah. It feels so good. I heard a great quote that I will never, I will never forget it. It's the best part about being a parent is watching your kids grow up. And the worst part about being a parent is watching your kids grow up.

Because, like, it happens so fast. Yeah. Like, my daughter's two and a half now. my son is 13 months, it's just flying by. Like, I'll see photos of them like on my background on my phone. I'm like, man, that was like last year. That looks like a completely different kid. So it's going to change your life in the best possible way.

Sure. I'm excited. I'm ready for it. There's not enough video games to play anymore. You will certainly not have time to play video games. I can promise you that. And that's okay. You'll be a little busy.

I love that. I love being busy. I love doing things. And especially, I mean, I love kids too, so I can't wait for this. Next chapter to happen. Yeah. And then it's not, you know, some people say, oh, you know, it's, you're getting older and but that's, that's, that's, it's just crap in my opinion.

Look, you'll find time to play video games, but the first handful of months, it's going to be. I'm totally okay with that. Oh, I can't wait for you guys. Oh, about the kids. The future is our kids. Yeah. I'll wrap this up, asking you the question, ask everybody at the end. And again, thank you.

for coming in here. Every time. Congratulations on everything. Congratulations on the future parenthood for you and CJ. Thank you, thank you. Gratitude's such a huge thing for me. What are three things in your life right now, Mero, that you're grateful for? All the hard questions at the end.

I am grateful for God, of course. You know, let's say this number one, because he always takes care. I've got so many, had so many situations in my life that there's nothing else. they could have gotten through besides him. So I know He's real. I know Jesus is real. I know He's protecting me. He's guiding me all the time.

I'm very grateful for that. Even though, you know, I'm not a perfect student of his. He's still there for me every time. I am grateful, you know, for my wife, of course. You know, it's not easy for her to dealing, not just with me, but just in general. I'm not, you know, I'm happy, go. But sometimes, you know, I go down,

and she's got there and deal with it. So I'm very grateful for her. Man, my family. I don't know if I can put the same thing with my family, but they're the best. They never asked for anything. They're always dead just to support me. You know, leaving them when I was 20 years old.

I'm sure it wasn't easy for them either, but I'm grateful for that. They never stopped me or they never doubted me. They never said, are you crazy? You're going to do this and this. No, they're always very supportive for that. I'm grateful for the fans, man. As much as I don't know if it sounds cheesy,

but I am grateful for them because they're just the best. Like, like I said, you may not be on TV, they may not be always, but they're always going to show support. And, you know, there's the haters, of course, but with the good, there's a bad. But I love the professional wrestling fans, the community. I love the boys. I'm very appreciative of the boys.

I'm appreciative of John Cohn. That's what I mean. I appreciate it from... He's fantastic. John Cohen is the best. Like the nicest guy. He's the nice guy. Hopefully I won't get him in trouble.

John Cohn, you're the best, man. Thank you so much. For Hunter to, you know, calling me and giving me this opportunity again to come back home. I think that's also great. You're one of Triple H's last matches ever. I think you're like his 12th last match. I love that. It was such a...

I think Kevin always got hurt or he had to go home. So Hunter said, hey, I'll step in. And he came in, and I think once or twice, we had one or two matches. I'm not exactly sure. I think in Portugal and somewhere else. But, man, like growing up watching that guy, now I get to wrestle him. And what I experienced that was. And then got to wrestle Undertaker as well.

And, you know, in Saudi Arabia, which is another guy that I just grew up watching. And now you get to wrestle The Undertaker. Like, my gosh. Like, there was such a dream come true, especially, like, it kind of got me. You know, I kind of deviated by the whole thing, but, you know, he's doing his entrance and done, done 10 minutes later. He's in the ring. And of course, I get out to give him the respect, of course. And I go out and I screw around, see the people waiting for him.

And all of a sudden I turn around, he's right here. What an experience that was, man. I would be always so grateful for that. Got to meet Hogan and teaming up with him. I think that's another childhood hero of mine. It's just unbelievable to be able to be able. to meet and, you know, and pose with him. I can go and on and on.

There'll be 333 times, but I'm so grateful for the wrestling business in general. Because it's good for the people, you know, just to see how the good wins at the end or the good in the back, how they fight each other and they become this thing. I just love wrestling. Yeah. I love that. And what a perfect spot to end this on. Thank you again.

Thank you, man. Thank you for having me. Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

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