Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Sami Callihan on Tessa Blanchard, Eddie Edwards bat segment, his new gimmick, his time in WWE

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

Sami Callihan chats with Chris Van Vliet at the Impact Wrestling tapings in Las Vegas. He talks about winning the Impact Wrestling World Championship, losing it to Tessa Blanchard, his new gimmick and the inspiration behind it, his admiration for Chris Jericho, what really happened during the infamous baseball bat segment with Eddie Edwards, why things didn't work out for him in WWE, being part of Lucha Underground and more!Thanks to Bet Online! Use the code BLUEWIRE at BetOnline.ag to get a 100% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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This is the Chris Van Vliet Show. Chris Van Bleach show. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris! Welcome back to the CVV show. Or if it's your first time here, welcome. I think you're going to like it here. The people are very nice.

Thanks for being with us. Hope you're doing well. Hope you and your family are safe and healthy. This episode is brought to you by Bet Online, and it's been a while since we've had a chat with Sammy Callahan. Two and a half, almost three years, to be exact. The last time was, August of 2017. Obviously, a lot has changed for him since then. Lots changed for me since August of

2017. A lot's probably changed for you since then as well. But with Sammy here, we cover everything in this interview. So sit back, relax, enjoy this one. Or if you're running right now or working out, do not relax, but just enjoy this because I know I did. I also enjoyed seeing the show on the Apple top 200 this week. Wow. that always blows my mind. So thank you. I mean, we're not talking the top 200 wrestling shows. This is the top 200 sports shows, period, like all sports. So I appreciate you guys listening and sharing the show. And most importantly, leaving these reviews on Apple Podcasts. It's the most helpful thing you could do. So please take seven seconds out of your day right now, which is for most people, not a very busy day.

So this is where reviews should really be spiking. So if you haven't left a review yet, Yeah, I'm talking to you. Yeah, yeah, you. You haven't left a review yet. I know you haven't. I can see who leaves these reviews. So please, take a second and do that. When we get back to normal, you don't have to leave reviews if you're going to work all the time.

If you're working right now, I don't expect a review from you. But if you're sitting around watching Tiger King on Netflix, just grab your phone. Tiger King's been great too, isn't it? So good. Just grab your phone, leave a review. Like this one here from JSW. 1979, 1985. The title is CVV Renaissance Man.

CVV is akin to Ryan Sechrest for professional wrestling, super accessible and easy to talk to host. I believe his guests respect his love of the sport, and he gets very honest and genuine interviews from these men and women. Keep up the great work. I love his show, and I recommend it to everyone. I appreciate that, and those are very kind words, because Ryan Seacrest is the goat of hosting.

He's the absolute best. So let me start off by saying that this interview with Sammy Callahan was my last in-person interview for a while. We recorded this in February long before the term social distancing even existed. We were able to sit in the same room in Los Angeles and shake hands. Imagine doing that now? Yeah. And we chatted about everything, really. And we had to sit on this interview for a while because he has a new gimmick right now.

and a new character that hadn't yet debuted on TV. It has debuted now. It's a great character, too. He's so good. So we had to wait for that character to debut, but we talked about it here, which was so cool. He was like, we can talk about it because we've taped to these shows that just have an air jet.

So just sit on this until they've aired. So that's where we're at now. But we talk about his run as the Impact Wrestling Champion. We talk about him losing that title to Tessa Blanchard. The infamous segment with Eddie Edwards and the bassist. baseball bat and everything that happened from that. We talk about his girlfriend, Jessica Havoc. His time in NXT and how the gimmick he's doing now is actually the right version of doing

that gimmick that he had in NXT. Those are his words, not mine. So please, enjoy it. Give it out, my friends, for Sammy Callahan. And we're in. Look how well-dressed you are. I don't know what to do with my hands. I think you need to hold the microphone as, uh...

You're like the only interviewer that has custom microphones. I feel like that's why your channel has so many subscribers. Because I have a microphone. It's the production value. He's like, yo, this dude has the little flags for the microphones. So when people are watching my channel, they go, who's, who's interviews? Oh, it's Chris Van Vleet. People mess up your name a lot.

All that time. You got to talk into the microphone. I didn't know it was an actual microphone. Of course it's an actual microphone. I thought it was a prop. Yes, my name gets messed up. all the time. I'd feel like people try to say it like filet,

but like, yeah, I get that. Or like, I'm from Canada. They're like, oh, so your last name's French. I had no clue you're from Canada. We could not do this interview. Well, there you go. See you later. Canada's like a really shitty apartment

over a really, really good party. How dare you? Wow. You can't say anything fun happens in Canada. Hockey's pretty good. Hockey's good in the United States, too. They invented basketball in Canada. What is the best of the United States?

Beer. Canadian beer. I'm a big proponent of the United States. I like America too. I'm not a Trump supporter at all, but I do love America. Like, people will bitch and complain about our country more than ever. But at the end of the day, no one wants to leave. No.

And there's a reason for that. I've lived here for 10 years now, and I have zero complaints. I enjoy living here. And I... Everything's open 24 hours a day pretty much. When I travel the world and you go to another country, you go to Germany, England, Scotland, everything closes at 7 p.m. And you're like, well, I'm not eating tonight.

That's so true. That. And also when you come to America and you get like the lunch size portion of something and it's like seven plates. Oh, yeah. Like, oh my God. Like, am I feeding a small family? And then you feel like a big fat ass when you go to the UK. You're like, oh, yeah, let me get the medium.

And then the medium is like our children's size. America. Yeah. Oh, fat people. I didn't say that. Hey, he's making fun of America. I just said America. You like my new little hat?

I just caught a glimpse of it in the camera. So I always wear the Bent Bill redneck ball cap. But you know what? I feel like going to train to conductor hats for now on. So do phase of my life. It might be a new thing forever. You've dressed very well here. I feel very underdressed.

Sometimes you've got to dress up, and I feel like today was the day. You've got a collar. You've got a vest. Oh, it's a Burlington Coat Factory. I'm a big fan of Burlington Coat. It's really sad that I have money and I still will not spend money on clothing. But I feel you, though. Like there's something about going to a...

a Burlington Coat Factory, a T.J. Max. Got to find the deals. Marshalls. And you're like, my God, this shirt was only $14. Yeah, I own four pairs of pants. That's it. That's all you really do. Is that including wrestling pants?

No, that does not include wrestling pants. I have more wrestling pants than I have actual pants. Well, I would kind of expect that, I think. Obviously. Yeah. I have two belts. I feel like I should. Oh, sorry.

Like, I guess in the wrestling world, we think of belts as being like. Yeah, I lost that shit. I don't have that right now. So, I mean, like, good old. fashion leather belts to hold my britches up. Britches, is that a word in Canada? That's something my dad said all the time. You pull your britches up.

Yeah, I guess so. I guess that's an old person thing, I guess. Well, I said, I guess I'm an old person. Thanks a lot. That's the train conductor hat. You jerk. Yeah, so... Awkward.

And we'll approach another awkward subject here of you not being the champion anymore. That shit happens. No, it's especially especially with impact wrestling. I am a guy that, obviously, I don't need the impact championship. I made the impact championship, more than impact championship made me. I think my track record speaks for itself at this point.

Two-time match of the year, two-time moment of the year. Anything I do of impact wrestling is going to be the main event, whether I have the championship or not. You've really found a home in impact wrestling. I did. The first company to actually pull all the shackles off and go, do you? Because obviously, there's something weird about you. That's correct.

Is this, you know, Sammy in real life, too, weird? 100%. I have an oddball. I got really excited the other day because I bought a new couch and it reclines and there's recliners in it. Sounds great. Amazing. I don't know to leave my house ever again.

But you've been in Ring of Honor. You've been in NXT. Why is it that impact wrestling? New Japan. New Japan. Underground. MLW. Yes, I know.

On the planet. Right. Why is it? I mean, I'll put myself over this. reviews about me. Of course it is. Everywhere. Hell, right now we're in Samstown Casino. I'm going to take credit for that and say that's pretty much my casino too at this point. I mean, you have... It's named

after me, Sam's Town. Why is it that Impact Wrestling has been this great fit for you? I think it's one of the things like I wanted to see Impact Wrestling do better because I was such a big fan of Impact Wrestling of TNA when I was younger and coming up in the wrestling business. I was like, yo, like, I want to wrestle for TNA back in the days, AJ Style, Samoa, Joe, all these guys. Yeah. And when Impact was at its worst, I really could have went back to

NXT probably. I could have tried to continue to go to New Japan more after a tour New Japan, but I came to Impact Wrestling because there's something I want on my resume that no other company can give me. I wanted to be one of the people to help save Impact Wrestling because that's something no one can ever take away from you, and that looks better than a World Championship on your resume

at the end of the day. Right, so I mean, what are you doing as Sammy Callahan to help kind of revitalize Impact Wrestling? I think it's one of those things I'm not afraid to offend people. I'm not afraid to upset people. I'm going to the only quote unquote heels in the business that I don't give a shit if someone gets all offended and upset. Like in today's world of cancer culture, you have to be careful what you do as a pro

wrestler on television and you got to be careful what you do as a pro wrestler in real life. Yeah. And I'm one of the rare people that I walk that fine line. I give everyone a reason or something to hate. And we were talking about this earlier. I'm a guy there's no middle ground to me. You either love me or you absolutely hate me. Yeah. Well, and with, you walking that fine line, you've done some controversial things, both in the ring and outside of the ring. I'm a five foot eight white kid at the end of the day from Ohio. I had to do something to make myself stand out because just looking at me, you might be like, oh, that dude's not that intimidating. But then when you go behind the layers, behind the layers, behind the layers, behind the layers,

there's so much more to the character of Sammy Callahan than there is a lot of other characters of professional wrestling. You are pretty, I think you are very intimidating though. Like an onion. Peel off the layers. Yeah. You are very intimidating, though, because, like, sure, you might only be five foot eight, but, like, you have this, like, crazy intensity about you. Because I've been in real fights in real life. That's one of the things I think today's generation, not of them have actually had their ass kicked and know what that feels like,

knows what it's like to be in that sense of peril and actually be in that situation. I've been in that situation. I've had my ass kick way too many times when I was younger. And that's why I think it's something that doesn't really scare me at this point. Were you like a shit disturber? I was not a shit-disturber. I just ended up in the wrong place the wrong time.

You know, I've never been in the back of a cop car. Okay. Ever. I've never been arrested. I've never been in the back of the cop car. I have a pretty squeaky clean record. But just lots of fights. Lots of fights.

Where I came up in Ohio, like it was just a bunch of redneck dumbasses trying to fight each other or anything. And I just wander into the wrong thing. You're looking at my cow. You're looking at him. That's not an Ohio accent. You don't know where I'm from in Ohio. It just turned in our house. Oh, no, aha.

Are you from, like, the Dayton-ish area? No, I live in Dayton. Now, I am from the Bell Fountain area, which is Logan County, Ohio, which we have three little towns in Logan County. And one area is very white trash trailer park. One area is very farm country. One area is the city. And through a span of 18 years as an adolescent, I had spent time in each of the different districts. I lived in one district, and I was a rich kid.

Then my parents went bankrupt when my mom got real sick. And we moved in the trailer park district. And then we worked their way back up from that. Then we moved to another district. Like we lived in every district at some point in my life. And at what point was it like was wrestling your escape from this? Always. It's just day one.

I was like people say, oh, wrestling was my second or third choice. Wrestling was my only choice. My entire, I dropped out of film school to like continue to be a pro wrestler. Everything I ever did from sports to show choir to drama to anything I ever did as an adolescent was because I thought it would help me as a professional wrestler. Show choir. Dude, I was in a badass show choir. You don't even want to know.

Hold on. I'll get you pictures. You were a singer? I was a tenor. We are learning so much. I'm afraid. Because there's something about a dude that can sing tenor that will beat your asses. Can you sing a little for us?

I ain't singing for you. I don't think I could sing anymore. My vocal cords, people ask me, oh, like, he must smoke a lot. I do not smoke at all. My parents died of lung cancer, so I'm not going to smoke cigarettes. No, my vocal cords are messed up from screaming years after years after years of pro wrestling. There's times where I get done from a weaking of wrestling where I don't have my voice for four days. Oh, I believe that.

Because I'm a big screamer. Yeah. Very loud. I remember one of the first indie shows I ever saw you wrestle at, you would just be like, wrestling! I do shit to pop myself all the time. It was so great. And it pops me. It probably popped you.

It works. That's the thing. It popped the crowd big time. My entire wrestling career, a lot of it's been built off things that I think's extremely funny and trying to do them in a weird way that other people don't think they're funny. They don't know the true meaning behind something I did. Like there was a whole era of Impact Wrestling with OVE last year where I think there was like 10 or 15 promos where me and Jake Chris dropped dangling and every promo instead of saying dick instead of saying penis,

we dropped dangling because we thought it was the funniest thing ever. Have you ever tried something that you thought? thought was funny and then just completely fell flat. Oh, 100%. Like pro wrestling is really like being a stand-up comedian. Sometimes you'll try material that you're like, this is going to get them. And then it's just crickets and you feel like a dumb ass.

You just stand there. And that's when you yell wrestling really well. But then you're like, that thing's catching on? Oh, dude, like the thumbs up, thumbs down thing, I couldn't believe how much that picked on. That just started as a joke at first. And that build up and now it's like 90% of my character. Right.

And you're kind of working, you know, on a bit of a new character now. Like we didn't see you for a while. Yeah. And now you're back. Yeah, 100%. Like I, not to kiss his ass or anything, but if you really look at my career, a lot of my career, like the blueprint of it is off a guy like Chris Jericho. Jericho truly is one of the best of all times. But one of the reasons he has such staying powers because every couple of years he reinvents himself and makes himself special or does something controversial to get himself buzz.

If you look at Chris Jericho from 1997, he's a way different Chris Jericho than he is now. And he wasn't afraid to disappear off television for six months just to reinvent his character and come back and get that pop. He's always done that from the time where he was the best in the world at what he did, to the time where he was pretty much the Ayatollah of Rock and Roll as a rock star to now being rock and roll dad. There's different echelons of what he's done. And I think he is a great exoskeleton of what you should want to become as a pro wrestling. or especially if you're a lifer. And he told me that he modeled that after David Bowie, who was constantly reinventing himself.

I didn't think of it like that, but that's 100% like David Bowie is not the same David Bowie that was in the labyrinth as he trained. Even now, like him and his nice, like, posh suits, like, he should be a secret agent in a 007 movie. Yeah, Jericho said that he modeled his career after David Bowie. You're now, you know, saying that Jericho's the model that everyone should be kind of looking at.

100% I know he works for a different company, but like it's one of those things that he is a, at this point, he's a living legend in professional wrestling. Oh, for sure. Doesn't matter what. And he's still at the top of his game, which is the craziest. The older he gets, he somehow gets better, which is usually the complete opposite. So you're coming off being the champion. You drop the championship to Tessa, and then you basically disappear. Was impact okay with this idea? Not at first. It was something, I think I was originally only supposed to be gone for two shows. And then I was just supposed to come back, attack so. and do the same shit that I've been doing for years. I was like, no. Like, honestly, like, I begged them when we were down to Mexico.

I was like, yo, I have this idea of something that I've been wanting to do for years. I think it could really be something special. But if we're going to do it, I have to be off TV for like six to eight weeks. And they're like, how are we going to take one of our top guys? How can we justify to the office

and justify to investors and everyone else taking one of their top guys off television when he's not injured for excess of eight television shows? Right. And it was something I had to meticulously like beg and write down. I had a lot of the right people behind me on it

that we were able to talk people into like what this character was exactly going to be. And I think it's only going to blow up more than it has already. And I feel like this is kind of, kind of like the character you did in NXT. Yeah, but done the correct way. And that's not shitting on WWE at this point. That's just they did not understand it at all.

And I think it was a little bit before it's time. We really didn't even get to pull the trigger on the hacker, a cyberpunk character, really at all. It was something that me and Dusty Rhodes had like really written out and came up with ideas of. And it was something that I'd came up with from being a big video game nerd and like actually watching the movie

Hackers, which I think what year did that come out? Like 92, 93? Man, that's an old film. I still remember to this day my dad who was born in the late 40s. So like my dad was a complete different generation than I was. I remember watching that movie with him as a child and I

will remember this memory forever. So I was thinking of ideas for NXT. This one of the first thing. I was like, I want to be a different style, like, creepy dude. I don't want to just be like the Bray White or the Undertaker style. I want to be something that's completely new age. I was like, what scared my dad? And then I remember him saying, like, as a joke one day, he's like, oh, everyone thinks

Freddie and Jason's scary. You know what scary. That movie Hackers. That movie Hackers are scary. Like, they could just wipe your whole bank account out. You'd be done. And I still run into this day. Like, that always clicked in my brain.

And then seeing the now, especially more than ever, I think this is the perfect time to do it, seeing how big black mirror is on Netflix. Oh, yeah. Mr. Robot is like, this is something that can completely transcend an entire generation of wrestling. So if this was an idea that you had years ago when you were in NXT, I actually had this idea right before I went to NXC and I wanted to do it and evolve. Okay. I remember Gabe was like, oh, this character's dope.

You should wait and save it for when you go to NXC. And I went to NXC and I pulled it out. And I remember someone in the office going, why would a hack or wrestle? And I was like, well, why would the Undertaker? to wrestle. He strikes dude with lightning bolts. I don't think that's really the hill to die on, but it just didn't click. I didn't click. But now, like, being able to have the freedom that I have impact wrestling, having my body of work speak for itself, you don't just come into a company instantly get trust. You don't instantly get to do whatever you want. But I build

up my body of work. I build up my trust with this company that they're going to let me think a little bit out of the box. Well, I think you're so much more creative than anyone could ever give you credit for. People don't know what I do. Yeah. And I kind of like it that way. I like people to think, I don't like people to know a lot about my private life. I don't like them to know what I do behind the scenes for different people. Like I run my own company, the wrestling revolver. Yeah, I don't think you'll even realize that.

Some people do. But like that blows up every year, especially around WrestleMania weekend pancakes and pile drivers. But guys that I've had hand in directly helping are some of their favorites. The rascals, Ace Austin, Ace Romero. The list goes on and on, non, non. Like, because of a revolver, there's been like eight people signed with Impact Wrestling. or just things I've done for different wrestlers that you've even seen on WWE television right now.

One of my first projects as a young wrestler was Shane Strickland, who's now Isaiah Swarves Scott, absolutely killing it. But I'm not the guy to always go out and go, I did this or I did that or I did this or I did that. I don't like to take credit for dumb shit because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. We're all be buried in a box, and what you did isn't going to be shit.

But I think that you're one of those guys that if you kind of give your approval to someone, other people go, oh, Sammy likes him? But it's also detrimental to people, I think, at this point. Because now people want to be, oh, this show is just going to be Sammy and friends. Like, Sammy and friend. But I've never been one to politic for myself, a politic for other people. But you can't hate on all of our guys because all of our guys,

no matter what show they're on around the country, are the top guys on the show. How has becoming a promoter changed the way that you wrestle? I don't think it's really changed the way that I wrestle. but I'm one of the rare promoters. I don't use my promotion to get myself booked other places. I don't use my promotion to further my own career. I use it to build other people and I do it because there's a different kind of gratification out of running a wrestling show or writing an angle or coming up with something that you think is going to work and seeing someone else go out and kill it and do it to a T. Yeah.

And see the crowd react the way you imagine, the way you rid it. If you look at my record in the wrestling revolver, I think I'm two and 22 because I wanted the entire show. dick of my company be like oh sammy always loses because usually if a promoter is running or has the book they're like I'm gonna be the champion right you're coming in and you're gonna wrestle me and I'm gonna beat you because I'm the promoter

I'll be the first champion and then we'll figure it out from there no I refuse to allow myself to win a championship of the wrestling revolver hell I hate winning matches of wrestling revolver the two matches I've won was all because just storyline purposes if I didn't win it would ruin the entire storyline and it was always in like a multi-man match I think

I think I've won one singles match ever because I beat Matthew Palmer because I, as a joke, I told Palmer, I ain't put you over in Dayton. And he's like, he's like, I think I should. I was like, I ain't put you over in Dayton, bro. And it became a whole joke for weeks that then when we went out there, we didn't even have a finish. And then we were fighting to put the other person over. Like, no, you win. I was like, no, you would. In the ring? In the ring.

See, and that's what makes wrestling fun. Yeah. Yeah. But especially in like, society. many old terms like, oh, K-Fabe's dead. Oh, K-Fave's dead because people like Jim Cornett want to go out and bitch and complain about the wrestling business to everyone to say what's wrong with something instead of enjoying it. That's why the wrestling business, K-Fabe is dead. But now there's a different form of K-Fabe because now I think it's easier

to work fans because people legit think what you say on Twitter is real life. They don't think that, oh, this is a character saying this. If you look at my Twitter, 95% of the time, I ain't going to say shit about any sort of politics or religion or, or, talk about me and my girl. Like a lot of people don't even know me and Jessica have, I've been dating for like eight years because we don't put that out. We're not like, oh, I love you on social media. You know why?

Because our social media is to build our brand. It has nothing to do with real life. Social media isn't real life. And too many people don't realize that. They might see what I say on Twitter. Like, for instance, when the entire Eddie Edward situation happened and I put out something like, we're obviously like, you're going to work the hell out of this and make some money.

And I put something out about like, oh, yeah, I broke Eddie Edwards. Edward's face, but my bank account looks the same at the end of the day. And people like Chris Hero, who I thought was, one of my friends at the time buried me and said, how dare you bring money into this? And all this, I'm like, how are all these people idiots? They're like, I'll break this like I ever broke it. People still think that I hurt Kevin Sullivan, which at the end of the day, what people don't realize is I am a master graphic designer, not put myself over.

I Photoshopped that entire picture. Wow. He had a little nick on his head because he gigged in the match after getting him. hit with a chair and he had a little egg and then he's like oh take this picture and posted online and i was like and then i photoshopped it and i did the same thing when you're a child and you'd like try to make girls boobs bigger like by putting the inflate thing or like make people's eyes bigger by hitting the inflate i did that to his head and then post a picture of him half dead and said this old man stepped to me i'm gonna be like he's and then like he worked into it too because he's old

school he went on uh social media and stuff and went on interviews and like buried me and said oh yeah when we got to the back like my guys and the ovee guys got in a fight and the cops were caught at this building and like he worked it to everyone to the point that rick flare called him and was like yo we need to bury this dude and kevin's like rick it's a work wow it's a work so like and kevin said many and many and many like old timers had hit him up and like this kid's dangerous he heard edwards he hurt you and like like people don't realize i went my entire career without hurting anybody. And then you hurt one person and your public enemy number one because everyone wanted me to apologize to them. Like the fans thought they deserved an apology. Like, oh, you got to apologize

to us. Like, you didn't keep your opponent safe. That's wrong. And that's exactly what's wrong with business. Why am I going to apologize to the fans? You're damned if you do. You're damned if you won't. Like, we need wrestlers to quit breaking K-fabe and work their character. Why do that? I go on TMZ, but that just makes me public enemy number one. And I'm just a piece of shit. What exactly was supposed to happen with this Eddie Edwards spot? It was a situation we planned it before the show. We had a special chair that we're going to do it with and then what people don't realize is

someone in production when they're cleaning up the ring took the chair away. So you had a plastic chair that you used. No, we had a metal chair. So you were supposed to use a metal chair. Yes, because the metal chair will go over the body. But you end up using the plastic chair. He was just careless and used a shitty plastic chair. No, it's because we're fucking the red lights on and we're like, we got to do this right now. We have timing.

And then it was just a missed time. Like, you panic? Fucking, we don't have the right. thing we go to do it we're both moving we're both going too fast shit happens and we me and edward's both uh i don't like people to really know about what has been said personally but one thing that is is a common comparison that both of us will always think is that was the best thing to ever happen to both of our careers because eddie edwards was a guy like not shooting on dean malinko he's one of the best of all time but dean malinko as a technical wrestler had to go out there every night be dean Malenko.

Yeah. Like, that gets hard after a while. They get tired after a while. It's like, everyone expects you to go out and be the best technical wrestler in the world. And, like,

Eddie had kind of fallen into that. It's like, oh, Eddie's one of the best technical wrestling in the world. He just had the same matches and do the same stuff over and over. And him getting his orbital bone broke, allowed him to go a completely different path of what he was planned on doing. And now we have the Eddie Edwards of now, which questionally,

I think's one of the best Eddie Edwards of, like, all time in his whole career. Like, because it's different and it's real. And it gave him. with different realness about him, that completely changed his career for the better. Yeah, he's actually said that in a weird way, that incident could have helped his career more than anything else.

100%. Because he would have, like you said, just kept being the same guy. Exactly. Wouldn't have had a need to change. He might have got, but even as him in his head, like doing the same thing for years upon years upon years, that might make you forget, you love the wrestling business. That might make you think, like, oh, this is getting boring. Like this is the same old shit day after day and not saying anything he did his shit

He's awesome like people Eddie Edwards truly is the undertaker of the impact wrestling locker room like he's the guy he's the dad He's the guy everyone looks up to like if Eddie has a problem everyone else gonna have a problem and Eddie's the one of the only guys that he'll like never push his own agendas He's always there for other people but like if you mess up like if you truly mess up he's gonna be someone to say something because you know hey doesn't say shit a lot but if he says something there's a damn good reason for you. So you were supposed to hit the bat onto the, like the seated part of the chair? Yes. And that was going to be the end of the spot. Yes.

But then I saw the plastic chair. I was like, if I hit the seat of the plastic chair, this bat's going to go through it. So I was like, in my mind, I was like, okay, I'm going to hit the top of the chair and trying to get to like flip out of the way because I was supposed to injure his ribs. So like, as I went down, he moved. I moved a little bit. And I just, if you, people think I just directly hit his face. They don't realize I clip the top and it ricocheted off.

but like you know what like I I like to feel like I was one of the last guys brought up into the kind of old school like way of like training and thinking instantaneously I was like we need to make money off this and Eddie's the same way one thing about me and Eddie as much as we are different we're very similar with like our outlooks on wrestling and I truly was able to make the entire wrestling world hate me

I'd people that I thought was my real friends like turn around and just hate me and I realize well this motherfucker wasn't my brand at all. Not realizing that it's K-Faig. Yeah. Or realizing what I say online is 100% legit. Like, why would you say that? You're like setting a bad example for people.

Like, come on. Like, it's pro wrestling. Yeah. It's pro wrestling. One day our society is getting so canceled culture that one day it's going to be, you can't say, I hate you to someone in the wrestling match. I hate you. And they're, nope, can't say that. Have you ever

seen a demolition man? Yeah. Wesley Snipes. And Sylvester Sloan, that's what we're becoming. We are. They're going to have tickets that come out. It's like, oh, this person's an idiot. Beep, oh, how dare you offend somebody? Minus eight credits.

Go back and watch that movie. It's terrifying. That, and have you ever seen Idiocracy? Yes, yeah. Were we coming that, too? Wow. Look at our president right now. He's a reality television star.

Do you think, though, that maybe the pendulum has just swung really far this way, and then maybe it will start to correct itself? I keep thinking that. I'm like, oh, this can't go forever because like, everyone's just like, oh, like, I hate this term, do better. Like, people want to be so hypercritical of a situation or of a person without knowing the facts of anything. And so when you just be like, oh, this, like, it's even to the point of like now wrestling fans, like, oh, I thought the heat in this match was really lazy. And it was cheap heat, do better. Like, who are you to be the one that to say that to us?

like we risk our lives for you people and we do this because we love it just like you guys we're all wrestling fans at one point and now we're doing it and the wrestling fans right now are making it so hard to like want to continue to wrestle that that's why so many wrestlers just deleting social media at this point like the entire achsh situation obviously there there's something going on in his head that didn't need more people just piling it on piling it on right people don't realize they want to say, oh, you guys should have tougher skin. But then they were just regular human beings. And when every day you just see it piled on you, piled on, you piled on you, piled on you,

one day that's going to make you crack and going to make you feel something that you shouldn't be feeling. How could it possibly change or be corrected? I think people need a, one of my biggest things that I wrote, because like I don't like being very confrontational in real life because I don't want to get my blood pressure up. I don't want to get mad. I like to be chill and just hang out. very amped up person, as you can tell. But one of the things is, like, I, if you truly think about this, okay, so let's say we're arguing about something.

Sure. Even though I know you're absolutely wrong, in your mind, you think you're right. And everyone's arguments, they think they are right. So you can't just be like, oh, this person's a shitty person because he doesn't think the same way as me. When his mind, he is right. Everyone has their own opinions. And when we're supposed to, it's supposed to be, and especially in the United States, freedom of speech, it's a free country. I think right now is the worst time for free speech ever.

Because let's say this person is a Republican, this person is a Democrat. If this person says something about the Democratic Party, all their pieces of shit, they should die. Like, let's get the pitch forks or vice versa. Or it could be anything. I could say, I like the color red. Somebody like, oh, you don't like the color blue? How dare you not like the color blue? Yeah.

You are crucified for your opinions now. Everyone's looking at things through their own lens. Yes. And through the only, the experience that they've had throughout their life. And it's what's so interesting. And that makes people judgmental now. It can't. You can't like, you can't.

In today's society, if you were Republican, I'm a Democrat. And you wore a magna hat and I'm so on public with you. I'm a piece of shit for being around this. But they don't know why this person's wearing this hat or anything else. Yeah. Like, you can't have your own opinions now about anything. Yeah. Like, why can't we all just get along and work towards common good, but still have our own

opinion. It's like, oh, you like Trump. That's cool, man. Like, that's on you. Like, that's, that's your, I don't think that should be like starting fights and stuff or, or anything else. You see people getting attacked in the streets for wearing MAGA hats. You see people get attacked in the streets on the other hand for like having a different, like everyone should be able to have their own opinion. And like, even if it's not correct in their mind, it is correct. And we need to realize that, that like, we need to be nicer to people, I feel. Uh, because now like, we're in such as things like, oh, you shouldn't say bully people. We shouldn't say this.

But right now people's bullying people more than ever before, especially online. Yeah. Like there's people that's committed suicide because people's like, saw something about them online and they just like, oh, this is a terrible person. You should die, you should die, you should die. After the Eddie Edwards situation, like, this is supposed to be professional wrestling. It's supposed to be fun. You know how many people I've had hit me up is like, Sammy Callahan, we hope you get hurt for real.

You hope you fucking break your leg in the ring and you can't ever wrestle again. Like, that's what people have become. I'm like, wow, do people still talk about the Eddie Edwards thing to you? All the time. Really? Yes. That was like two years ago. Yeah.

Still gets brought up. Just the fact that like, are they going, man, I can't believe that happened or is like, you know, I hate you for that. It's either one and two things. Legitimately, any time there's an accident in wrestling now, it's like, so on post that clip, it's not as bad as Sammy Callahan. Or they're like, people's all mad that this person did this. Like, oh, how dear they? He's like, oh, no one was this mad when Sammy did it.

Or it's like. or it's the opposite. It's like someone gets kicked in the face and breaks their face. And it's like, oh, accidents happen. And then people post a clip was like, oh, you guys weren't saying that when Sammy Callahan did it. Like, it divides people. Or it's people still run up like, I win the world championship. And people's like, you're still a piece of shit.

You were ready, Edwards. What was the reaction for you after you won the championship? I thought it was. See, I am a weird person, like we said. I don't have any in between. I'm either people love me or hate. me, but the people that love me, love me. I've been lucky enough, I have a huge cult following.

Oh, yeah. Because I'm one of the rare guys. Like, I connect different races and ethnicities because I feel like I'm a person, like, I'm not supposed to be a guy on top. I am not your average professional wrestler. I'm not Brian Cage. I'm not, oh, he's the chosen one. I've had to scratch and call for everything I've ever had.

And I think people see that at the end of the day. People realize, like, oh, dude, this is, this is the, I. Sammy's like the king of the oddballs, the oddities, the weird people, the people that was told, no, the people that told you'll never be good enough, you're never big enough. Like, I took that and I shoved it up society's ass,

and I become one of the top professional wrestlers on the planet. And so people see something in you that they see in themselves. Absolutely. And I think that's why when I connect with someone, I truly connect with somebody. Let's take a quick timeout from this chat with Sammy Callahan.

This very fascinating chat with Sammy Callahan. to thank our sponsor, Bet Online, and with currently no MBA, NHL, or MLB, you might be thinking there's nothing to bet on. Well, you would be wrong, my friend. Our exclusive partner still has hundreds of sports, events, and games to wager on. Or let them bring Vegas to you with their online casino and blackjack. And this interview happened in Vegas. So we're bringing Vegas to you with this interview and with Bet Online. It's all open 24 hours a day and all online.

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It's your online wagering experts. So when you beat Cage and won the championship, what was the general consensus? It was, I thought it would be way more negative than it was, but it was extremely positive. Like, even in the arena that night, like, the fans had completely turned. Like, everyone was like, it was a great match. Everyone wanted me to win. And then when I won, it was like, even, like, because there was moments where they thought Brian was going to retain and they were getting mad. And then, like, the matches continue to go on and on and on and on and on.

And it ended up, like, being a huge reaction, one of the biggest reaction. of the year at an impact show and then online I think I had like at one point like me winning the bell had like 1500 retweets just for the picture of like sammy callahan wins the bell and for the majority it was like positive but there's still going to be those trolls online that wants to bring everyone down but that's anything in life now like i saw someone trashing scott pilgrim versus the world the other day which i love that movie a lot of other people do but the person was like if anyone watches this or child this is idiot like why can't people like scott pilgrim it's a great movie well not everybody's going to like everything.

And I guess that that's what it boils down to, unfortunately. Yeah, but that doesn't mean you need to hate on someone for liking something. That's the problem. You like the color red, I like the color blue. Fuck you. That's how it is. And unfortunately, that's how it is in wrestling. And so many people right now use the coach of mental health issues.

Everyone has mental health issues. I'm starting to realize that. You get trapped in your own brain and you think like, I'm the only one that feels like this. Why do I feel like this? Does other people feel like this? And then like, and people are too afraid to like talk to people and let it out and be like,

yo, I feel the same way. Like you'd be feeling terrible right now and in your own mind by having this conversation like, I'm having a real bad depression. But Sammy's sitting over here. He's tough. But like in my mind, I have a mental issue that someone else does.

I think we need to get out and like support people better with that. It's like and talk to us like, dude, I'm feeling the same thing. Sure. We all feel the same thing. And I think that's one of the biggest problems with things. And I feel like this is going to be like,

like a time that we look back on in 20, 30, 40, 50 years and go, you know, around the 20s, it's so weird to call the 20s, but around this time, people started being more vocal about it. People started going, oh, you're dealing with something? No way. I'm dealing with the same type of thing. Or we'll go the complete opposite in 20 years. Like I said, we'll end up like demolition man where everyone's, you can't say anything. We're completely censored because everyone's offended by everything.

Like, sure, we all should have thicker skin at the end of the day. Like, not everything can be offensive. People find something offensive about everything. So I want to watch a Disney cartoon and be offended about something. But like we can't just be offended about everything. Because it's just because you're offended, you're offended personally, doesn't mean that what offended you should offend you. Yeah.

Like people take things out of context. They take everything. Like you've got to realize that at the end of the day. Just because something's offensive doesn't mean it's truly offensive. And you need to realize your head is like, am I just being offended? for the sake of being offended at this point. I feel like people were sitting on both sides of the aisle for this with your match with Tessa. Yeah.

I think a lot of people were excited to see her win and then a lot of people were going, she doesn't deserve to be a champion. Yeah. Did you receive any backlash for that match? I had, hell, Booker T. put, oh, that kid ruined his career. He lost to a woman. Like, it's 20, it's 2020. Like, in the world of professional wrestling, I feel like we should be like Game of Thrones

and less like, oh, like, for anyone to say, in professional wrestling. I hate that term, especially the Cornette fans. This isn't wrestling. Why isn't it? Undertaker struck a man of a lightning bolt. Kane shot a man of a fireball.

A giant fucking turkey hatched out of an egg on Thanksgiving and wrestled. Like, pro wrestling is supposed to be fun. Yeah, May Young gave birth to a hand. Exactly. And I'm not saying these things were great, but at the same point, like, there's so many people saying,

I hate the term, this isn't wrestling. You know why? Because everything's wrestling. wrestling truly is for everyone and just because you don't like a certain style doesn't mean it's wrong just because you hate a certain style doesn't mean it's wrong

you can like any style you can like any style see I like my pro wrestling is I don't like just anyone's style I like my wrestling as a wrestling buffet I like a little bit of hardcore a little bit of comedy a little bit of

catch-as catch scan British style I like a little bit of hard hitting I like a little bit I don't want one entire show of like all technical matches or all super indie high flying matches or all freaking like m m m style matches i'm the type of guys like i want to open i want the show to

open i think you see it as how i book wrestling revolver my opening match is always like eight to ten minute sprint like go out and kill it right off the bat like i don't care like just kill it and like no dead time just action because people came to see wrestling right let's give them wrestling sets the tone and then my second match i'll bring it down a little bit i have a comedy match or like a little bit of like maybe not my top guys on the card just to like let them chill for a minute and just be have fun like it's like okay this met i just got burned out kind of from this first match let's have fun then my third match will be like a storyline match that gets people like okay like this is a storyline and then usually the fourth match right for intermission will be like a

hardcore match so it likes people like all this crazy shit just happened we got to go to intermission and clean it up then we clean up we come back with something that's usually like one of our top storyline matches to get people to come back and sit down and like it's a slower build so like everyone get their thing and then towards the end once everyone will sit down it starts killing it And then the last three matches are just your three biggest, like, let's knock it out of the park and finish it off. Right. Do you feel like your title run should have been longer? I don't know.

Because my title run would have been longer, because everything happens for a reason. Like, sure, I would have to have a longer title run. But who's to say I'm not going to win it back? Like, who's to say I'm not like, it's one small piece of me. Like, I've won championships all over the world. Like, sure, this is a big gratification that I've won it. But if, let's say this, like everything happens for a reason. if I wouldn't have lost the belt, would I have had the chance to do this new character?

True. You wouldn't have been able to do it when you did it. Yeah. Or I may never, like, had the balls to pull the trigger on it. Yeah. I'd be like, oh, well, what I'm doing is obviously working. Yeah, that's true, too. But I get bored of the same thing.

Like, I think one of the biggest misconceptions of me is that I'm very spontaneous and I'm very out there and, like, you never know what I'm going to do. No, I am a very thought out person. Everything from, like, me spitting in a match is thought out. Because, like, a lot of people might hate that, but that's what I want people to hate me. Like, and there's a certain reason I do that because, like, I think the most gross people ever would spit on people. Which is funny, because I have a huge germaphobe in real life. And after every match, I come to the back, like, what do I do? What I do? Oh, it's so fucking nasty.

Were you, was the original plan for you to win the championship off of Brian Cage? or was it for Tessa to win it off cage And like then you go I honestly don't know Like in wrestling Everything changes always Like people don't realize Especially on television

Like things get rewrote up Like so all we have this idea And then things will change up until right before you go through the current Especially on like Raw or like something that's live every Monday night Like there's a There's times where they'll be there And it's like okay we have this show

And then it's like you're wrestling this person And then four minutes later Some people are you're wrestling this person And five minutes later it's like The show Joe just started. They're like, you're wrestling the big show now. It's like, big show's not even here. And then he walks in the door. Like, that's how much wrestling can change. But I kind of like, I like that pressure. Like, some people aren't good with it. And they're like, oh, I need to be told what are we doing? Like, this is bullshit. Why is anyone? Like, we're, one of the stars. No one tells. I like to be on the edge of my seat because that's, then I can pay to a different picture. It's like, oh, shit. Like, my 15 minute match got cut to two. How can we do this? Let's do this. Let's do this. Do you not think that you have a better match when you've been able to plan it out with someone? I think it's situational.

Okay. I've had some of my best matches in my career. Like, for instance, when I was younger, there was this wrestler named Devin Moore that I just met at the time. I didn't even really know him. I just moved to Philadelphia. And we were going to a show up in New York in Queens. And it was always supposed to be like two and a half hour drive. We got sucking traffic forever.

We're the opening match on the show. The show starts at 8 o'clock. We got that at her 7.50. And the guy says, you guys are still opening. And I was like, oh, shit. And then we went out and we fucking had a barn burner. Like, there's situations like, I believe anyone in the wrestling business shouldn't just learn one style of like, oh, I got to call everything in the back.

Or, oh, I got to tell this story. I believe professional wrestling. You should know every kind of style. And I pride myself on being one of the most versatile wrestlers on the planet because I can wrestle Japanese Dragon Gate guys and have those crazy, like, super fast, like, no-stop match. Then I can wrestle someone like Nick Gage and have a death match and tell a different story. And then I could wrestle Jerry the King Lawler in Memphis and have that style a match. And then I could wrestle Pentagon and Phoenix and have that style a match.

Like I like to be able to have different styles of match wherever I go because it keeps me for getting bored. Like even if you look at my career, when I first debuted in wrestling, like I have no inkling of doing one video death matches. Like I was like, I'm a wrestler. I'm a wrestler. I'm a cruiserweight wrestler. I'm cool with that. And then I was like, oh, I. I want to get over this new, this CZW era.

So I was like, I'll do a couple death matches. People thought I was more of a death. I only did in my life maybe 10 death matches. Yeah, people think you're a death match guy. I guess because you're a time in CZW. Yeah, but I only did like 10 death matches. But the ones I did was really crazy. And the only reason I did death matches is because I'm like, okay, I am a tiny white kid that I just look like a kid.

Like I have to do something to have this aura and make people afraid of me or make myself special. So I did death matches for a small amount of time to show people like, oh, this dude's fucking crazy. like he'll do anything and then from there that transcribed as i went back to like i got like the dope ass taz singlet made and then my goal is like okay now i'm going to switch people like now they think i'm a death match wrestler i'm going to make everyone believe i'm like one of the best wrestlers on the planet and then i had all those matches with finley and i did all that and then everyone's like oh he's one of the best tech wrestlers on the planet strong style yeah and then like when i got back from w v i was like i'm gonna like go out and show people that i'm one of the best wrestlers again

and i fucking killed it and then after that i got bored of that i was I was like, I'm going to go fucking make people think I'm a wild man. That's why I started wearing a fucking cat mask and being a space cat. Like, I wanted people to think that, oh, he left WWE, and he's obviously on drugs, and he's lost his mind. Like, so then I could turn that into something else. Like, everything happens for a reason. Well, I think when you call yourself the death machine, people maybe can misconstrue that and go, oh, he likes death matches then. I don't even like death metal.

Well, why are you the death machine? It just sounds good, because I am the death machine. The machine of death. The death. Oh, machino. The machine of death. I am the machine. I don't know.

If everything happens for a reason, and I truly believe that, too, we talked in our last interview, which was, what, three. I think my nipple was almost out just now. Nip slip? Yeah. Should I show one, too?

I'm losing. I'm waiting. This shirt's way too big. If everything happens for reason, our last interview that we did, what's going on here? You said that you became a bitch in WW.

Yeah, and at this point, like, I'm so sick of talking about this. Like, I've said the same thing so many times. Like, in WWE, I went in and tried to be, I was, I was like, oh, they don't sign guys like me very often. I need to do everything they tell me to do. And I did everything to a T. I was a model citizen there. To the point when I quit, they were like, you did everything right. And I was like, well, did everything right.

Then why the fuck am I not doing shit? Yeah, I had to leave because I, dude, just going into work every day was like, you're looking over your shoulder like it's that kind of feeling like everything you overthink everything it's like Bill DeMont's like hey man how you doing and you're like what do you mean by that what do you mean and like you then you just start

like oh this person is trying to get me this and you become so paranoid and you become such a whack of a person that it's just like dude I had to leave and it was the best thing I ever did so when you you've asked for your release and they granted it to you yes that doesn't happen very often anymore well I left on very good terms

like I told them why I wanted to leave and I remember Cania Seaman trying to get me to stay. He's like, yo man, like, we don't hire guys like you very often. And I was like, and I remember that was the last thing. Because they had almost talked me to stay in because I was supposed to be insanity. I was supposed to be Eric Young ended up taking my spot insanity because I was supposed to be me, madman, there was this big French dude name, Marcus Louis. And I was like, it just kept getting push back, push back, push back.

And I was like, I'm so done with this. And they tried to get me to stay. And when Kanye had said, I was going to, I'm not going to leave. And then they tried to get me to be, they're like, okay, well, we don't want you working anywhere for 30 days. We want to make sure you're okay with money. So, like, we'll pay you for 30 days. I was like, I don't want your money. They're like, what?

I was like, yeah, I'm showing up a show in two days. I'm showing up because I think one of the biggest problems was so people leave, they take that 30 day or 90 day to collect a paycheck and they just sit at home and they lose all their buzz. Yes. So I was very smart is it leaked online that I quit WWE on a Wednesday. and then that Friday I showed up unannounced at AAW in Chicago and then that Saturday

I showed up at 2CW in fucking New York. This is smart. And the money I would have made that week in WWE I made like three times that from just doing two indie shows and coming back and that was like that made, if I would have waited, I would not be where I am. That's a

really interesting, that's a really interesting way to look at it because I think a lot of guys go... You had to roll the dice. It's like I'm already quitting WWE. Like I need to roll the dice even if I'm quitting, like, I'm going full-bore. Yeah, you're betting on yourself. Yeah. As we sit here in a casino.

How interesting is that? Yeah, fucking casino last night. Oh, yeah, what happened? Dude, I was up like $5,600 between Blackjack and Texas hold him. And I was like, you know what? I'm doing good. I'm going to bed. I'm going to go to bed.

And then fucking peer pressure. My friend's like, oh, you can't go to bed right now. Like, have a drink with me. I was like, I don't want to drink. He's like, you're a bitch. Like, I bet you won't put all your money down on red right now. And I was just like, I don't like being embarrassed. Oh, no.

So you took all your winnings. Yeah. And put it on red. Hit black. As the famous CZW group blackout said, you always bet on black. Yeah. Sorry about that. There's always tonight, though.

Yeah. No? No. No. Rob Van Dam's having a big party tonight. Yes. So I'm looking at that. He's launching his CBD line.

Oh. He's like launching a national CBD line. That's pretty cool. So everyone should check that out. Like, yeah, yeah. Rob Van Dam is. I'm a big proponent of CBD. I think it is, it's kind of a miracle for some people.

Like, I have really bad anxiety problems that don't, people don't realize. And I refuse to take antidepressants because in my mind, I'm like, they're going to make me suicidal or they're going to make me something. Because I remember my dad at one point got put on antidepressants when I was younger. And like two days into it, he's like, oh, I feel really bad. Like, I'm that bad thought, so he quit taking it. Same thing with my brother. My brother gets back from the military serving over in Afghanistan and Iraq. And he comes back and has PTSD.

I'm like, oh, we want to put you on this. And he said the first day, he, like, had bad thoughts. So, like, I'm a big part of. Like, I don't like taking pills. I'm not a pill guy at all. Right. Because I see how easy it is to get addicted to pills. And I don't want to be that person.

Like, because that's, I grew up around that. Like, I'm not saying my family, but, like, just where I grew up in Ohio, there's an epidemic of pills. Like, just everywhere. I'm like. And I see how. easy it is to get to addicted to that. What do you think is the biggest misconception about Sammy Callahan?

That I'm just a real life piece of shit. I don't have any feelings that I'm just out for myself and I'm selfish. There's a lot more to me than meets the eye. I'm a robot in the sky. Or a transformer. Because, you know, like you said,

people either love you or they despise you. Which I think is a testament to how good your work is in the ring. It feels good. Yeah. Yeah. I don't like people to know my personal life. Like people don't, and that's one of the biggest problems I think of society right now, too.

Hell, we put exactly what we eat, what we do. Like, we're giving the government and I'm not this big government conspiracy person, but we're giving the government in the entire world. Like, we're letting them keep complete track of us. Like, everything we're doing from, well, dude, it makes me so mad. Like, I will legit be like, oh, we should maybe go get McDonald's. And I open my Twitter and, like, McDonald's comes up. Like, oh yeah, they're listening to us.

Like 100%. You said that you don't like to put your personal life out there, but you mentioned earlier that you and Jessica have. I could have been dating for eight years. Where'd you guys meet? We actually met through, we had like knew each other for years through other people. And then we just randomly ran into each other to show and just instantly clicked. Like, absolute best friend. Video game nerd.

Like me and her, like, we're not the type of people. Oh, let's go out tonight. Like, we're like, yo, let's get a case of beer and play Resident Evil for four hours. Right. She's my best friend, man. She's the only thing that keeps me saying. But, like, we don't talk about our relationship. We don't put it out there that often because we both have our own careers.

And we don't want, like, just the type of person. She'll never take anything if I ever try to do it for her. She's like, no, like, I don't need you. I already had a career before we were together. Like, just because you're in this spot doesn't mean I need your help. Like, and she's very, like, like, like that. Like, she wants everything to be because of her, not because of somebody else. Well, she's incredibly talented.

She's awesome, right. Yeah. Yeah. And you, you've had matches with her. Yeah. We're actually getting ready to wrestle here in a couple weeks from my company, The Wrestling Revolver.

Check it out. Cheap plug at P.W. Revolver on social media website, pro wrestling revolver. com. You can watch all our shows on the High Spot Network. Wow, I didn't realize we were going to get a promo out of this.

Wow. Da-da-da-da. I'm loving it. That's McDonald's. It's going to be on our phones now. If I, I swear. All of a sudden, this just turns into a McDonald's.

Run. We talked about some of the other controversial moments, but one of the ones I think I was always just kind of unsure about is this one where you get kicked out of a show and then the security's kicking you out for real. You thought it was part of the show. That was real, but then became, it's funny because that's security guard. I mean, or actually really good friends now. So it was at AAW.

I was having a street fight with Jimmy Jacobs. So this was all the first all-in weekend in Chicago. And we had this match and we were brawling through the crowd. And we were like fighting on these chairs. And for some reason, the building got on the mic. And then goes, hey, guys, quit being assholes and using our chairs. Even though we hadn't broke a chair yet. We had it.

We were just standing on them. But they thought we were breaking them. Okay. And then that obviously makes me and Jimmy mad as hell because like, why would this fucking building? Because then all the crowd does the entire match goes, chairs chairs chairs chairs so we do all that shit so then uh we we brought these chairs in the ring because we needed them for the finish we were like putting we're gonna break the chairs we're just using it to hold up board and they came in like we're getting and they pull the chairs out of the

ring so then they like the crowd gets mad at that it was like oh chairs chairs chairs so we just finished the match and then I roll to the outside and there's like these security guards on the outside of the ring and I thought they're like like wrestling security just like wrestling security Like always. And I'm always pushing down security guards and stuff. It's like, I just lost. I'm like, I'll get out of my way. Like, I'm mad.

And I push this guy. He turns around. He grabs me. And that instantly makes me mad. I'm like, what are you doing? Yeah. And he's like, he's like, you need to get out of here right now. And I was like, I ain't getting out of shit.

I'm the champion. And like me and him getting a tussle. And he keeps trying to like grab me. I'm like, don't touch me, dude. Don't touch me. And then freaking all of a sudden, he goes and shows me his gun. Oh my God. like and I always thought I'd be a person but I saw a gun like in real life about to shoot me I'm

gonna run but obviously that's not how my brain thinks I look at him I go are you gonna fucking shoot me in front of all these people you're gonna shoot me you're gonna shoot me really and then like jessa Dave and Jake come out I was like dude you need to get to the fucking back you're gonna get shot by this security guard and then like we got into this big knockdown drag out argument in the back I was like dude the fact that you have a gun in a wrestling show is fucking stupid. And then, like, he's actually, like, an off-duty cop, which made it that much worse. I was like, damn it, I think the wrong person to push tonight.

And then you said you guys are friends now. Yeah, we became friends. Wow. I got him a drink that night. And then every time we show, he's like, you're getting crazy tonight. You're getting crazy. I'm super excited to see, you know. I'm going to write a book one day.

I have a lot of crazy stories. Oh, yeah. We've barely scratched the surface. Oh, I know. I like scratch-offs. You scratch-off guy? Yeah. Brise me, my parents.

I actually got a scratch off for Christmas. It was very excited. Scratch for scratch. Scratch scratch. Scratch, scratch. Scratch, scratch. I won. How much?

$2. Woo. Little things like that promoters just going above and beyond for wrestlers makes them want to be there. It creates that family atmosphere. There's a company that's ran by Randy up in Maine called Limitless. I don't know if you ever heard of it. I've heard of it. But like his whole thing is every time that he pays you, he puts a scratch off ticket.

in your envelope. And then like, it's just like an extra like, oh, thank you. And so he's like, oh, scratch off ticket. And I've seen people won like $1,000 on scratch off. So it's like, damn, like, because you bought me the scratchoff. That's not a bad indie payday. Yeah, that's a good promoter. Yeah.

You should start doing that at Rustler Revolver. I've debated it. I really have. I've thought about that a lot now. Because it's only going to, I mean, scratch off tickets for, what, a dollar, two dollars? Yeah, it depends. Right. Get crazy.

Get the $20 ones. That is crazy. Yeah. You could start paying your guys in just scratchoffs. It's like, okay, you get your fee or you get $150 over a scratch-offs. Ooh, everyone's going to take the fee. Yeah, 100%.

Yeah. Oh, so you gave me... See, I might risk that. I'm going to give me the fucking scratch-off. Give me like half the fee and then like half scratch-offs. Because this could turn into $5,000 or something. So I'm sorry, dude, I know this is your show,

but we got to cut this. Yeah. I got to go to... That's right. I was on my way to wrapping this up. So we're just scratching the surface of your character here. But I'm super excited to see...

You don't leave me hanging, bro. Sorry. Okay. Gosh, you made me so mad. I'm excited to see, you know, what you continue to do with this in this year and continue on because you just keep reinventing yourself. I'm excited to see what you're going to do this year. In the future?

Well, thank you. It's only February. You got flags. I have Mike Flats. The fact that you know what these are called really impresses me. Yeah, I'm about to launch my own YouTube channel and stuff. Well, people can look out for that. It's called Gimmick Soup.

gimmick soup everyone. It might be launched by the time people see this. We've been filming and writing for it for the last like six months. Oh, nice. Yeah, we're going again. Well, congratulations on that.

Thank you. And we'll wrap things up. You look right. The Chris Palaiso. So nice to be able to do that interview in person. I'm hopeful we can get back to that sooner rather than later. But until then, keep doing what you're doing

to remain healthy. Thanks for hanging out with me and Sammy on this one. Please take a screenshot. Tag both of us. on Twitter or Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. He's at Official Callahan. And I love that Chris Jericho is his inspiration because, as you know, Jericho is the master of reinvention. And with the work that Sammy's been doing lately, if you haven't seen his new gimmick on Impact Wrestling, it's great. It's so detailed. There's so much meat to this. And he's just getting started.

So I think there's a lot more to come for this one. I just love Sammy as a person. How raw and real he is. So since this is the last interview we are able to do in person until, who knows when, until then we'll be doing virtual interviews, like the one that we did with Mike Rome, which I loved. So I'm open to any and all suggestions. Let me know who I should converse with next. Well, who we should converse with? Because these conversations, sure, it might be me and someone else sitting in a room doing the interview, but it's really us. It's just, It's us all hanging out here, wherever we happen to be in the world and however we happen to be listening. And with most of us in quarantine right now, I urge you to make the most of your time, really.

Do whatever you can with this time to get ahead from where you were when it began. As Jim Rohn put it, Jim Rhone says, days are expensive. When you spend a day, you have one less day to spend. so make sure you spend each day wisely. And that's not to say Tiger King is not a good show. You can watch it. I'm just saying you can spend your day wisely. Thanks for checking this out.

Thanks for hanging out with me and Sammy. We'll see you soon. 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 should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.