Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Sammy Guevara's Craziest AEW Moments, Eddie Kingston Feud, Cody Rhodes, Tay Melo

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

Sammy Guevara (@sammyguevara) is a professional wrestler signed to AEW. He joins Chris Van Vliet in Orlando, FL to talk about being in AEW since the beginning, having the first ever singles match in AEW history against Kip Sabian, being part of the Stadium Stampede match, getting hit by a golf cart driven by Matt Hardy, his wedding to fellow AEW wrestler Tay Melo, welcoming their daughter Luna into the world, being thrown off the cage by Eddie Kingston, the false reports about him online, his matches with Darby Allin, turning on Chris Jericho, winning the TNT Championship 3 times and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes because if you are making mistakes, then you are trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself and changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.” - Neil Gaiman Sponsors: FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT ZBIOTICS: Get 15% off with the code CVV and have a better morning after you drink at http://zbiotics.com/cvv MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleed! Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vlead. Thanks for being with us. And thank you for making Insight, one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. I appreciate you.

Hope you're doing great. I always love this week between Christmas and New Year's. You're full of holiday food. You're full of holiday treats. you get to spend some time with some loved ones. Maybe you get a day or two off, maybe more. And it's just like a chance to reset, re-adjust. And this isn't my quote, but I love sharing it.

It doesn't matter what you eat between Christmas and New Year's. It matters what you eat between New Year's and Christmas, right? If you're listening to the show and you're not following the show, and that's unfortunately most of the people who listen, could you just take a second right now and hit that follow button? Even if you've never followed a podcast ever on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or you didn't even know that was a thing because it helps the show so, so much. And it's also just such an easy and effortless thing to do. Like, why wouldn't you click follow? I mean, the show is going to keep getting bigger, right? But with your help, I feel like we can pour some gasoline on that fire. And, We've got some big plans for 2024. And if you follow me on social media, you know that I was in Orlando last week.

We rented an Airbnb and we did five interviews. Tuesday's episode with McKenzie Mitchell was one of them. This one here today was Sammy Guevara, one of them as well. And it's pretty crazy to think that the last interview I did with Sammy Guevara was in the summer of 2019 before Dynamite had even started on TV. So a lot has happened since then. He's a new dad now, welcoming a baby girl Luna with his wife, Ty Mellon. He's also a three-time TNT champion.

And he has some of the most memorable high spots in AEW history. Like being thrown off the cage by Eddie Kingston, being hit by the golf cart by Matt Hardy. That scary moment off the scissor lift with Matt Hardy as well, with the concussion. He actually tells me what the full plan was for that match. The cutter off the ladder to Cody and one. but ended up being Cody Rhodes last AEW match. There's a lot. There's a lot to talk about here.

Also, the Chris Jericho stuff, the longtime friendship that he turned on him. WrestleMania 19, Chris Jericho, HBK style. So there's a lot to get in here. I think you're going to love this. Snap a screenshot and share it on social media and tag us so we can share it as well. It's just our names.

He's at Sammy Guevara. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. Enjoy this conversation with Sammy Guevara. Yeah, we've stepped the game up a little bit here, right? 100%. You got sponsorships. F3 energy.

Yeah. Got multiple cameras. I mean, you can look at each one right now. So there's, look at that one. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, there. Yeah.

We got a guy back there. Here's the best. I'm impressed, man. Congratulations. Dude, congrats to you on everything. You know, personally, professionally. The last interview we did, AEW hadn't even had a match at that point. Yeah.

It was the summer of 2019. Crazy. Recording it on my iPhone in a hotel, I randomly was in Houston to see the Astros play with my dad. And I was like, wait a second. Sammy Guevara lives in Houston. And not no more. I don't live there no more. You live here in Orlando now.

You live here. Orlando, yeah. Look at you. And you're a dad. We're dads. Look at us. And husbands. Right.

Dude, congratulations. Thank you. Congrats to you too. Thank you. I saw when you posted like the, what is it, skin on skin. The rock told me to do that. Oh, that's cool. So I was like, well, if the rock says to do it.

Got to do it. You did it too, right? It's a thing. No, so I wanted to do it. But whenever she gave birth, they had to, like, stitch her up because she had a tear. And then they almost had to send her to the OR. And then she was, like, having a reaction from the epidural. Oh, yeah.

And then so it was like a scary moment. So she's holding the kid, but then all of a sudden she starts, like, shaking, like, crazy. her skin turns like a different color, like really pale. So it was like for, and then like she started throwing up. So they handed the baby to me, but I still had my shirt on. And it's like not a time to be like, oh, let me take my shirt off. And yeah, yeah, it was scary for a minute. But, uh, oh, man, the whole, we don't need to get into the details of it.

But that whole, the whole thing around pregnancy is wild. Yeah. And I have so much love and respect for my wife, Rachel, for everything that she went through during the pregnancy, but that day, she was in labor for 42 hours. Wow, okay, because we were there for 20, like 25 hours. Crazy. Crazy. Yeah.

Oh, just absolutely crazy. The lead up to it, too, is like everything at the hospital that she had to go through and then the whole pregnancy, it's like, I would always joke like, oh, we're going to have like seven kids or whatever. But, man, after that first one, it's whatever she wants to do, you know? I remember in the hospital, my wife's like, how to, people want to do this like more than once. Yeah. Do they just forget?

Yeah, that's what Ty was saying. She's like, I'm never doing this again. And then a few months later, like, you know, our daughter's almost seven months old now. She's like, I think we could do it again. I'm like, I'm totally on board 1,000 percent, but like, you need to remember. Well, that's, it's like, it's like a couple days ago. She was like, yeah, I could see me doing this again. Like, she was holding our daughter. And then it's like, you just said. Yeah, but look, she's so cute. How old's Luna? Almost one month.

Oh, it's brand new. Yeah, yeah. Oh. Right out of the shop, you know? You're close to like, you know, it's soon when you start getting like smiles. Yeah, I've seen some smiles and stuff. And that's like, that's a game changer. Dude.

Because before then, you know, you're just caring for this thing that's crying and sleeping and eating and crying and sleeping and eating. Yeah, yeah. And you see a little smile and you're like, oh. And then like for her to sleep, she really like loves being like contact. Oh. So she'll just fall asleep on my. chest and it's just this is the best oh man it doesn't dad life great it's pretty cool for sure and now it's like it's got me thinking differently just in wrestling because you know i'm used to doing all the

i'm crazy stuff but i'm like yeah i guess i i can't be that crazy anymore so we're going to dial it back a little bit i don't know if we're going to dial it back but i think we'll be more selective with okay how when we do the crazy thing maybe not as often yeah yeah because when you look at your resume i mean especially in AEW but before as well. Yeah. Yeah, you're a little crazy. There was stuff at, like, Lucha Underground, doing a big moonsault, 14 feet in the air,

just to Jake Hager, who, you know, bless his heart, tried to catch me, but there's only so much you can do. People forget you were in Lucha Underground. Yeah, I was there for, you know, like a couple episodes. But most of the final season, right? Yeah, people forget that. I mean, there is so much randomness

throughout the journey to get to AEW. Some people think it was like an overnight thing, but it was like literally it took eight, nine years. When you look at the roster from any season of Luch Underground, it's stacked with people who are stars all over the world right now. It's amazing. It's pretty cool. You know, it's unfortunate it didn't keep going, but there was definitely something different. And yeah, you know, I'm mad that didn't get those trios titles. Well, maybe it'll come back one day.

Maybe. Maybe. Who knows? Maybe Sam Evilicious will team up again. Evile's Sunny Kiss and me. Yeah. That was the match, yeah. Congratulations on getting married.

Thank you, yeah. So much has happened. Dude, yeah. And quick, you know? Yeah, it did. It happened all very quickly. You've been married now for, what, a little over a year? Yeah, year, a couple months.

Look at you. What's the best part about being married? Honestly, it's very similar to how it was before. but now I have to remember to carry this ring on. That's a fancy ring. Thank you. Thank you. I've got the silicone one from...

So that's what I need to get. From Amazon? Because I wrestle in this one. Oh, dude. Like, there's... I wrestled Darby one time and he took it off and that's act like he was going to throw it in the crowd. And I'm like, this is my actual ring. So please don't do that.

I got a pack of five of these for $12 on Amazon. I'll send you the link. Yeah, please. They come in multiple colors. So the only problem with, like, doing this is because... People told me, like, if I break my finger and it swells up, they're going to have to cut the ring off, you know? Or your finger off. Oh, God.

Let's not go that far. That happened to Jimmy Fallon. He broke this. It's a thing like where the ring can get snagged on like a surface. And then your finger ends up breaking. And then, like you said, cut the ring up. They'd be a nightmare. Maybe you wear this all of the time except when you're wrestling.

But honestly, it's a good way to never lose it if I just never take it off. Yeah. You shower with it on? Uh-huh. Oh, okay. So you literally never take it off. I never take it off. It's a nice ring.

Sometimes I, like, if I know I'm going to do some crazy stuff in a match, I might be like, okay, just in case, let me just put this in the bag. But most of the time, if you look at my matches, they're going to have to update my action figure. Jeremy, I need a hand with a ring on. When you talk about doing crazy stuff, what's the first thing that pops into your mind? Um, when I, when, when, it's a long list of, oh, like, of my highlights and stuff. What's the first one that immediately pops in there? Oh, it's got to be probably the cutter off the ladder off the ladder, spring up. You know, it's funny, it's like the day before at the airport, I was talking to Allen Angels.

And that's when I thought of doing that. I was talking, I was like, do you think this would be cool or do you think this is not cool enough? Like, I wanted to do something like really, like, that's never been seen. And then he was like, yeah, I think it would be cool. I'm like, or should I try to do a twist with it? And I'm like, nah, I guess I'll just do it like this. I was so scared the ladder was going to kick back from me though. Yeah.

But I remember in midair, I'm going. I jump off the ladder and in midair, I'm like, oh, wow, it worked. Oh, wow. Oh, ow. And then, you know, we landed. But like in midair, I'm thinking like, oh, wow, I got a good jump. It didn't kick back or anything. Like, yeah.

What did Cody say when you told him about the idea? Oh, he was down for everything. He wanted to do, like, so much craziness. This was his last AEW match. I didn't know at that time. Maybe he knew. But, like, he was wanting to go balls to the wall. Like, the ending, he wanted to do, like, a superplex to the outside through a ladder and all this.

I'm like, I was like, man, we got to get up and still climb this ladder. And, yeah, we ended up doing the swan ton with the ladder that didn't break. That was crazy. Yeah, it looked like it broke my bag. He really did. Justin Roberts got that great slow-mo video. Yeah. And look, the video, what we saw on TV,

what looked great, that's slow-mo video, that Justin Robert shot? No, thankfully for him, like, pretty much anything cool that happens, he's always right there getting slow-mo videos. And I always ask him, like, am I stupid? I mean, he had a book called Best Seat in the House. Literally, yeah.

Literally, the best seat in the house. Yeah. He gets to see it all. Yeah, no, I think him, because, like, even the 630 to sting and I think the 630 to Darby he got in slow motion. I was like, hell yeah.

It's sting like, sure, yeah, that sounds great, let's do it. So, story about that one, he was supposed to move. Oh, man. Yeah. But for whatever reason, either the 630 was too fast

or timing, whatever, I landed on it. And I remember going through the table and I feel his body on my back and I'm thinking, oh, I just killed Sting. Oh, no. Like, you know? And, like, I land, I kind of roll off, I look at him.

And then he pops up, like, a minute later, you know, and, like, finishes the match because he's such a pro. But I remember for a minute, I was like, oh, no. What did he tell you? Like, he took complete total blame of it. He was like, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't move, whatever. And, you know, I was like, dude, I'm just happy you're okay. He's like, sorry, no soldier move.

And I'm like, bro. You're good. You know, like, I'm just happy you're alive. That, the room for error, the margin for error on a 630, I feel like is so minimal. So, Ty and I, because we always pray before matches and stuff, and we think that maybe Sting didn't move on purpose or the big guy upstairs didn't want him to move because maybe something bad was going to happen to me if he did move. Maybe the table was going to bend over or whatever.

So, because we're like, dude, Sting can move. he goes, you know? So why did he not move? Maybe something bad was going to happen if he did move. Wow. Yeah, that changes everything. That's what we're thinking because it's like, it just didn't make sense why it happened that way, but maybe it was for the best. This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge, and I have been loving their infrared sauna blanket. And if this holiday season, you're wanting to burn some more calories to help with weight, or if you're wanting to detoxify after, indulging in one too many holiday treats, check out the infrared sauna blanket from Bond Charge. It works by raising your heart rate to that of physical exercise, so you're burning calories while you relax. You can burn up to 600 calories in just one session. And all that sweating

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Use the code CVV to claim your free three-piece towel set and an additional 20% off. Again, that's try miracle.com slash CVV. CBV to treat yourself a friend or a loved one this holiday season. So it's been almost five years, almost to the day, we're getting close to you being an A.W. When you look back on these five years, what are the things that really stand out for you? Aside from A.W, you met your wife through A&O. Yeah.

What are the big things to stand out for you? I mean, just in wrestling, it changed the wrestling landscape, you know. It changed my life. I have a house. I've, you know, paid off my car. Dude, wrestling bought you a house. Yeah, it's like, it's been a hell of a year. But like, literally, I tell Tony this and Matt, Nick, Cody, Chris, you know, all those

guys who like help start all this. It's like, you literally change my life for the better. And you change so many people's lives for the better. And I don't think they get a lot of credit for that. Like, there's hundreds of people that are, you know, lives are doing better because of AEW. And I'm living a dream, you know, I have an action figure. I'm in a video game. I've won titles on TV. It's like stuff that I dreamed about as a kid. And, you know, I met my wife in AEW. If this place doesn't exist, do we meet? You know, I don't know. But it's crazy how it all

worked out. And I'm just very thankful for the life that I have. You're one of the people that when people think of the TNT title. You're like the person. Yeah. Three-time champ. Three-time, one-time interim, you know? And counting, I mean, it's going to be, it's not just going to be three. Booker T's two is a five-time WCW champion. Maybe I'll be a five-time TNC-T champion. It was the six-time WCW champion.

Was he? Well, he won the one in WWE. Six-time World Champ. Six times. I don't know. He's got so many belts. Everyone remembers this. Yeah, yeah.

I guess it was really technically, had one more in there. He does that. He's your guy, right? He is my guy. I talked to him not too long ago. We had a signing together, which I didn't know he was going to be there.

Oh, that's a nice surprise. It was a trip, so it was like, man, I trained at this guy's school, and here we are, table by table, just making money, selling our autographs and pictures. And it's like, I was talking to him, though, and he was asking me, like, what's your goal, you know? And I told him, I was like, I want, you know, I want to be the world champ. And he's like, you know, my goal was always just to be the best. And if you strive to be the best, everything else is just going to come with. with it. And it really got me thinking like, when I really look at it, that's what I've been trying to do is just be the best. Like, if you go back and watch like some of my old vlogs,

like I wrestled at PWG against Gunther and the last recita show for the PWG world title. And I didn't win. And in the vlog, I say like, you know, I didn't win, but I never needed a belt to be Sammy Gavara. You know, I'm just trying to be the best ever. And that's, that's, really what I've tried to do the whole entire time. So like, you know, the goal, because you need some goals just to keep striving to keep going forward. And so like the world title is it. But in reality, I just want to be the best, the best ever. You know, not all these other names that people list on their top 10 or whatever. I just want to be number, number me. Is the idea to have the best match of the night every night too? 100%. You know, and I used to get a lot of heat for that on

the independence because, you know, I'm going out there trying to kill it every time because, one, I never knew if I was going to be able to do this like next week or the week after because life is just so fast, anything can happen. And so in A.W. or whatever, any opportunity that got, it's like, I'm going to give 100% of this. So then, you know, if something happened tomorrow, I know that I gave it everything that I am. And yeah, I would get a lot of heat for that because it's like you're doing too much blah blah blah but all that eventually got me here but yeah i guess the idea behind is like if you're always giving so much in every match how could the audience possibly want more yeah right like how could you when the pay-per-view comes around they feel like

they've already seen it all you know so that's like the part of just getting creative and that that was like when i was the t-n t-t champ it was like i was trying to have like crazy matches every single time and it was like getting a struggle towards the end because it was like, all right, what else can I do? What else can I do? And then it was almost a relief when I lost the title because it was like, okay, I did it. I gave everything I could in every match and now I'm

done. But then I won the title one more time. Yeah. People love talking about the idea of long-term storytelling. I feel like what you had with Jericho was such a long story that doesn't get talked about since the first episode of Dynamite.

And then going through, the inner circle, the sex guys, then turning on him. That it was such a long story that had so many different layers to it. And that's not part of the conversation of long-term storytelling. It should be. No, yeah. And I feel like maybe because it's Jericho and it's me and the internet likes to pick us as the guys to hate or whatever.

And I'll say this about Chris, you know, like I feel like he gets a target on his back just because he's doing it at such a high level for such a long time. It's 33 years into it. Yeah. And it's like it's sometimes easy to look at a guy and be like, he's the reason my favorites are not doing this or whatever. But in reality, it's like this guy doesn't need to do this anymore. He does it because he likes it or loves it.

And, you know, the fact that he's still doing it 33 years like you're saying is a testament to him because the motivation to keep going and doing this, it's hard. You know, I'm 13 years in this. now. And sometimes I struggle with motivation every now and then it's like, oh man, to think of like all the things I got to do to get to where I want to go to. It's like, oh, man, it's a lot of work.

Look, you've got motivation that little girl. 100%. Now the motivation has changed. Hasn't it crazy how it changes everything? Yeah. Oh, man. And so, you know, I respect him a lot just because, you know, he tries to help everyone he can. He's helped me a bunch,

you know. And it's funny that whenever I turned on him, I'm wearing gear that resembles his, uh, his WrestleMania 19 gear versus Sean Michaels. And he's kind of wearing, in a way, Sean Michaels-ish, like the color scheme, but we never really talked about it. It wasn't a thing like, hey, you wear this, I wear this, and like, because I didn't even know the turn was going to happen that day. I, and truthfully, I didn't even want the turn to happen. I never wanted to turn on Chris. I was telling tone. and everybody. I'm like, let's just go our separate ways. Let's just never, let's just never turn on each other. But it ended up happening and it went in a really cool way. That was really cool.

If you're going to do it, you got to do it right. And I feel like that was a cool way to do it. That was a nice little Easter egg. And people immediately, you know, saw the tie in there. How did you guys line that up so perfectly? Like when you see the side-by-side image of your turn and then the WrestleMania 19 turn, they're perfect. I mean, that's, that. That's, that's, I don't know the words, but that's, that's like Chris, you know, he's, it's him selling down, like, all that. Like, all I had to do is kick him in the dick, you know?

My job's easy. But did you backstage go, all right, if this is going to happen, if this turn's going to happen, let's make it this thing? It was like, because we're trying to think, like, what should we do? Should I fucking super kick him? Should I do this, this? And it's like,

what's a more dickish move just to kick him in the dick? So it wasn't like even like we're trying to pay a homage to that right away. It was like, let's just do that. Because I think it was like kick him in the dick, then hit him with my move. And then it's like, no, let's just do this. And then it's like, okay, well, hey, this is actually a callback to this. Let's try to like really, you know. Yeah.

I think another thing people forget about you is you had the very first singles match in AW history. That's right. Yeah. You and Kip Sabian, double or nothing 2019. And look, there's been so many amazing things that have happened in AEW over the last five years. But the fact that you guys had that first singles match is something people will be talking about forever. What an honor to be able to do that. Yeah, I remember like when the, because I remember it was like a couple weeks before double nothing.

The match was still not announced. And I remember I was texting Cody. And I was like, hey, am I on this show? Am I in the Battle Royale? He's like, you're going to be on. Don't worry. And then all of a sudden they announced. it's like the match graphic, me versus Kip, and I was like, whoa, we're in a singles match.

Like, I thought I was just going to get thrown in the battle Royale, which I would have been more than happy with, you know, just to be on a historic show like that, but to be having the first singles match in this brand new company, it was a lot of pressure. It's like, ooh, I got to, I got to do good and I got to, like, set the bar for the rest of the show. Well, he really set the tone, not just for the rest of the show, but, like, for what was AEW going to be? Yeah. Like there was talk because at that point it was May, there had been talk since January when this was announced. What's this going to be about? What's it going to look like?

What's it going to feel like? And you guys in that match set the tone for not just that night, but really for everything that came after that. That's what I was really proud of. It's like two guys that are not very known, you know? And just going out there on a major stage to get kind of show like this is the future. You know, it's not just going to be guys. with established names, it's going to be guys you maybe never heard of that also can go. And it's going to be a pretty badass mix of both, you know?

How did Jericho approach you about the inner circle? So, I don't think he ever actually approached me. Like, Nick Jackson told me at a fight for the fallen. And he was like, you know, like, you're going to be in a singles match with Cody. and then I think you're going to be joining Chris? I was like, sure, Nick, sure. But then I think it was that day that I found out, oh, this is really happening.

Okay, I'm joining Chris Jericho in this new group. And that, I mean, that went on for a while. Yeah. Your circle was, I mean, really the first real faction in AW and to have you in there and I have Hager in there and Jericho kind of leading the way. Santana Ortiz. like them coming out and taking the masks off.

That was badass. I love those guys. Yeah. If I could change one thing in AEW, I would have made them, I would have made them tag team champions, you know? You know,

I know they're not teaming anymore. I don't like each other so much anymore. You know, but, you know, one day, maybe they'll get back together. That's what I would, because dude, they're just so badass together, you know? Yeah. And especially them in the inner circle,

to be able to team with those guys, it's like they're such cool guys in the back too and badass in the ring a lot of respect for those guys there's a lot of parallels to what you do and what the hardies did and for you to have the program that you had with matt hardy oh yeah i must have just been crazy dude big hardy boys mark you know growing up me and my brother would be jeff and matt and we'd be on our trampolines emulating or imitating their uh their moves and so to be able to wrestle matt multiple times it was like wow, this is cool. Then he runs you over in a golf cart.

Yeah, yeah, that didn't feel too good. Dude, you took that bump at full speed. Like I said, give 100% every time, you know, leave nothing undone. And people forget, Chris kind of hit the golf cart right before that. He kind of just like maybe touched it a little bit. And I remember telling him like, I'm going to make this look crazy. Like, all right, you're going to hit me with the golf car? Like, you're going to hit me with a golf car.

you know. But you can't practice that. No, absolutely not. When the red lights on, that's when we're going, you know? So how did you time it to jump at the windshield as it's coming at you? I just, it was almost like a deer in headlights. I'm running, and then it's coming, and it's like, oh, there's not like too much time to think because it's like, it's coming at you too. It turned out pretty well.

I almost had the Yomcha post from Dragon Ball Zee, where I'm just lying there dead. All the memes that came out of that, because like, You look behind you and you see it, and then you start running. Yeah. And then it hits you. Yeah. That was great. People were like, why didn't you just run left or right?

And I'm like, oh, I didn't think of that. Yeah, maybe next time. Next time. Yeah, next time. Well, I did get hit again by a golf course, so I'm really not learning my lesson. The time next time after that. Yes, exactly. Yeah, you'll figure it out after that.

Third time's a charm. But that move with you and Matt Hardy on the scissure lift? Fesh. Yeah. That was scary. That was scary for everybody. Yeah. The tables were, I think, too close.

That's what it was. You know, if they were a little bit further. Or we went too high on the scissor lift. Man, it was just such an unfortunate thing because we had so much cool stuff for that match. Like, so much cool stuff. And I was actually going to get thrown off Daly's Place to end the thing. Like, we're going to climb to the roof of Daly's Place and then...

What are you talking about? I was going to get thrown off. On to what? Something. So are we talking 50 feet in the air, 100 feet in the air? It's probably like 30 feet. Yeah. Yeah, I mean.

It's like a Shane McMahon spot. Literally, yeah. You know, that would have been really cool just because I love falling off high things. Who says that, by the way? I just love falling off high stuff. Man, it's like the closest thing you are to fly in until gravity hits you. It's also the closest thing to dying. That's true.

Yeah, that's true. I don't know, man. That's, I'm glad you're doing it and not me. Yeah. But, man, that, that match, you know, unfortunately, it's remembered as, like, one of the worst moments in AW, but I think it was a lot of learning from all aspects of what to do in a situation like that. You know, and I'm just happy Matt was okay, you know?

I remember I was in the back, like, crying, man, because I was, like, so upset. He's, like, a hero of mine. And, like, stuff keeps happening because, The chair thing just happened like a couple weeks before that. Yeah. And I followed him to the hospital and I stayed with him until like five in the morning to make sure he was good, you know? Wow.

Accidents happened though. No, yeah. It just, you know, it was unfortunate. It was like one after another and it's like, dude, what the fuck? Like, am I destined to like fuck this guy up, you know? Like, why? Why? Why is this happening?

Yeah. Why am I hurting my childhood hero? Yeah, dude. It was unfortunate. But I will say respect to Matt because he could have said, you know what? It is just not working out with this kid. don't want to work with him anymore. But he still worked with me.

We did the elite deletia match at his compound. And, you know, that's respect to him to finish the story the right way instead of just, you know, cleaning his hands with it. He was like, no, we got to finish it the right way. When you think back to the stadium stampede, what's the feeling in your gut? Man, that was such like a crazy time of wrestling because the pandemic and everything.

And then it's like, okay, we're going to wrestle in this big, empty stadium. An NFL stadium. Yeah. And then, you know, we're all talking about ideas and stuff. And then it's like, it almost became a bit of like how much bad stuff can happen to me in the match. I'm getting chased by a golf guy. I'm getting chased by a horse. I'm getting hit by sprinklers.

I get thrown off of this thing through this platform by Kenny. It's like, because I remember there was one idea for the horse to chase Hager. and I knew the golf cart was chasing me later. And I was like, nah, guys, I think this should be the bit, like, just bad thing after bad thing. Like, I don't ever catch a break. It was probably one of the most fun matches, even though it took forever to film.

And then as we're filming it, too, we find out it's probably going to be the last match of Double or Nothing, so it's, like, the main event. So that was, like, really cool, too. And then, you know, I was mad. I wasn't a part of this year's, you know? I got to be a part of the first two. I missed the third one, but maybe we'll get on the fourth one. There's not a lot from like the pandemic era that's like super rewatchable because it's just weird, right?

It's different. Yeah. You know, it's like it's an empty arena, especially early on. Mm-hmm. That, though, was like one of the great high spots. Yeah. Of this weird time in the world when we're all dealing with this strange thing that we don't know much about. And it's like this was such a great escape that didn't feel like.

like that was the time we were living in. Yeah. No, I mean, honestly, that whole Jacksonville era, the pandemic era, was probably some of the most fun I ever had in wrestling, despite like they're not being much of a crowd. So like there's good and bad because, you know, everything's happening in the world. And then like there's not really fans around the ring

or sometimes we have wrestlers around the ring. AEW was very innovative, though. Like their first show was like, let's just put the camera on the entrance way. Yep. All that's important is the ring. in the entrance way, let's shine a light on that. Then it was like, well, can we have some sort of noise here? Let's put some wrestlers around the ring.

They can make a little bit of noise. Then AEW is the first to have some fans in the building. It's like, it was great how it was like, okay, this is the new goal post. Let's see if we can hit that. That's what they did. And then you saw like WW changed their hard camp set up to go to the entrance thing. Very quickly. Yeah.

Yeah. So like they really like innovative like how you just said like that whole thing. And that whole thing was like learning as you go. Like what can we do? All right. We're allowed to do this. Okay, can we do this? And then, okay, we can do this.

And it's like trying to push it, push it like until we eventually got back to normal. You want to talk about pushing it. I feel like you and Darby Allen are having a competition for like, I don't know, who can do the craziest stuff or maybe who can possibly get injured the most? I don't know. Yeah. I mean, we actually, we had a joke of like who's going to have the most returns because there was like a year where he kept coming back and leaving,

coming back and leaving, then I kept coming back and leaving. Yeah, I mean, he might got me beat now, you know. I feel like I was doing good, doing some crazy stuff, and he was doing some crazy stuff. But, you know, I got a baby now. He's not just doing the crazy stuff in wrestling, though. Yeah, he's climbing Mount Everest.

And he's doing the nitrous surgery stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah. I know I was so jealous of that. He invited me to do the one of the last ones that he did where he back flipped the tricycle. Oh, man. But Ty was still pregnant at that time. And I was like, I can't leave my pregnant wife to go and backflip a tricycle, you know?

I'll feel bad. Because like if that goes well, it looks great. Yeah. If it doesn't go well, it's pretty bad. Yeah. And I was still hurt too. So I was like, man, and I'm going to get in trouble because they're going to be like, why are you not even cleared? Why are you back flipping stuff?

Yeah. So I had to pass on it. But maybe next year. You know, the kid will be a little bit bigger. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, she'll be a little bigger. How are you feeling now? Oh, I'm clear.

I'm good. Yeah. That was crazy, you know. I do the cutter so much. And then the stupidest things, oh, this cutter that I do all the time, just time just bonked my head on the canvas and then it's all the future.

What it looked like? It looked like this, dude. I knew we were going to be here. Wow, here we are. Yeah, here we are. I think that it's funny how sometimes the things that hurt the most in wrestling or the things that don't look like

that hurt the most. Yeah. Was that one of them? Yeah, I think so. And if you go back, though, you can tell, like, oh, okay, maybe he's not good. But, like, I didn't know at that time, you know? I actually thought I was, they had a matchbook for me that Wednesday. I thought I was good. And then it was until, like, a couple days later, I was like really feeling it. And then Ty contacted the doctor. Were you feeling dizzy? No, just like the lights were bothering me. And that's throwing up? No, no, thankfully. It wasn't like that. But I had a headache and stuff. And it was like, the lights were bothering me. me bright lights, like my future. Bright. But yeah, then, then, you know, they obviously took me off and let me chill and sent me to

some people to see. But yeah, that was like probably the craziest, the longest I've been out of wrestling so far. It's been since October 1st. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking.

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One of my favorite highlights of yours is pretty early in the AEW time where you're doing a springboard. And Matt Jackson pretty much kicks your head into the crowd. Yeah, yeah. Man, that one, and the story of that, I went to Australia the next day. So my ankle completely rolled to the side. If you watch in slow motion, I pretty much land on my own ankle and almost break it. And my legs swelled up and I flew to Australia the next day.

Yeah, which I probably wasn't supposed to. The timing on that for both of you guys is amazing. But that's what I'm talking about. like I anything they give me I'm going to try to give it 110 percent like that was a battle royale that I wasn't even in and I had one spot which was to do the springboard and get super kicked and I told Matt I was like I'm going to make this look like the crazy super kick I'm just letting you know and then he's like okay like whatever you know like calm down I'm like no it's going to be it's going to be cool and then yeah I tried to freaking turn myself inside out and uh yeah I think

I think it was pretty good one. Well, we're going to run down some here. It didn't feel good. Let me tell you, dude. I felt it on my chin. I was like, ooh, that connected. And then I felt my freaking ankle just completely popped. And I was like, oh, I just broke my leg.

I just broke my leg. And then they're having to carry me to the back. And actually, when I'm laying on the ground, one of the referees come and grabs me. And they're like, come on, get up. It's time because it's a commercial time to get everyone out of there. Like the match is over. And I'm like, yeah.

I think I'm hurt. And they're like, what? I'm like, yeah, I think I broke my leg. Like, I'm just so calm saying it that like the ref was like, wait, what? Like, come on, get up. I'm like, I think I'm fucked up. Yeah. I wasn't like in a lot of pain.

It was just like, yeah, I just knew I couldn't really walk on. Yeah. Let's go through some of your most crazy highlights. You ready? Let's go. How about Eddie Kingston throwing you off the cage of blood and guts? Yeah. That was a crazy one.

well because the first blending guts Chris got thrown off the cage and I remember I wanted to be thrown off the cage because like I said it like falling off high things um but it didn't make sense in the first one it made sense for Chris to be thrown off of it so the second one when I got told I was in it I texted Chris was like I'm being thrown off of it like you know this is I'm taking this one and he's like all right um and it almost didn't happen because uh the day before we went there and the doctors were like, yeah, no, this is too high. And the tables, like, they had to build a thing. So it's like, it was a little less high. I didn't want anything built there. I was like, just throw me through the tables. Like, you know, let's just put a crash bed underneath if you want. But like, it's going to be fine. It's not that high. Up there, though, it seems way higher. Let me tell you, because I guess your head is just like a different height than your feet, but yeah, right beforehand, dude, it's like my mind's going everywhere right now, but no. So right before we go off of it, or right before like when we're talking

about the thing, I wanted to jump off of it. I didn't want no one to throw me off of it because I can control myself. I can't control what Eddie Kingston's going to do. He pushes me with too much momentum, especially because the box is only like this big. You go too much, you're going over, you go too little. So that was really nervous there because that's, that's, you know, 100% on Eddie. If he pushes me too much, I'm screwed. If he pushes me too little, okay. But luckily, it all worked out, you know. When you're just walking up there, like, and you're looking down, and you're seeing the ring all the way down there, how scary is that? Honestly, it's not scary at all for me. Yeah. I had Tygo up there, though. I was like, come check out where I'm going to jump off of,

you know, and she was not a fan of the height. Well, you know, most people wouldn't. big. Yeah. No, I mean, I just always want to do something cool. I remember when I was a fan watching cage matches, like, I always would see, like, steel cage matches, and I see Jeff Hardy jumping off of them, whatever, and it's like, that was what would excite me as a kid. So I'm wanting to do something that if I'm a new fan watching, it's like, oh, this is crazy, this is badass. What is this AEW? I want to check it out. And that's, you're one of those people. I don't know how you can, how can you outdo these spots? That's the problem.

It's like, you know, I'm getting to a point where it's like, okay, I'm thinking of all these different things I can do. And I don't know. But that, if you notice, I haven't done too much crazy stuff the past like six months. Well, you've been injured. That's true. So if I just take myself out every now and then.

You can just keep having more returns. Yes. Yeah. And I can beat Darby in the returns. Have you wrestled Osprey yet? I had a four-way match with him. like back in 2018 or 2017 at like a WrestleMania weekend,

but never as singles, never singles. That's going to be great. I think so. At some point in time, I feel like that's going to end up happening. Yeah. You know,

I just wanted to be done right, you know, because all the crazy stuff is good and I can have all the crazy matches, but like I want people to be invested, not just, that's what will take the matches that much more. You can have a great match,

but if you have a great story behind it, It makes everything so much bigger. And that's what I'd want. If him and I ever got into it, it can't be just a thrown-together match. You know, I refuse. When you say your goal is to be the best, is it to have the best match?

Is it to be the most memorable character? What is it? Honestly, just the best to me, like if I feel like I did my best, like I did the best Sam McVarar, I could, because everything's, like, subjective to whoever's observing it,

you know? Like some people like Apple, some people like, oranges. And I learned along the way in AW, it's like, you're not going to please everybody. Everybody's got something to say. So I'm just trying to make myself proud and, you know, the people who love me proud, you know. How do you deal with the haters? I get annoyed sometimes, you know, especially last year. I feel like this year it's calmed down a little bit. But, man, last year, I feel like they really hated me. Why? I don't know, man. People have their own perceptions of whatever.

they want to blame me for whatever. I think there's a lot of people that think they know who you are, think they know what you're about, and they just project whatever that is onto you. Yeah. Like, people think, you know, whatever, you know. Well, they read a report and they go, that must be true. They don't know what actually happened. Yeah, and that's the thing, like, you know, and I try not to, like, defend myself, like,

especially in line, because there's never going to be a winner with it. And sometimes when I do end up defending myself, there's never a winner. It's like, oh, why do I even do this? Because, like, then they're going to have something to say with this. So it's like there's no winning with it. And it just is what it is, you know. Like, I try to give my best in the ring and, you know, just try to show people, especially with the vlogs and everything.

It's like, you know, I'm just a kid from the backyard who wanted to be a professional wrestler. And now I'm doing them. I'm living my dream. and, you know, anybody out there can do it too if as long as you believe in yourself and you work hard. You know, I always say, do it. Do what they say you can't

to become what you know you are. And, you know, I always knew I could do this and be a star. And, you know, I got told every which way that it would never happen and that it was one in a million and I always thought, why couldn't I be that one? And so, you know, when people want to go

and think of whatever with me, it's like, and make up a story of who I am, I'm really like, I want to tell people like, you know, that's not me. But at the same time, it's not up to me to go and convince them anymore, you know, people are going to make up whatever they want to say about me. I heard a really interesting quote. It was like, everybody cheers for you when you're on the way up because they want you to do great, but they don't want you to do better than them.

Yep. Because when you get to be successful, you become a reminder of all the things that the other people gave up on. And that's the thing. like before I got the TNT title, you know, everybody loved me. And I knew once I got the title, it was going to change. And then I got the title again. I got the title again.

It was like too much success in a way that people were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we wanted you to win, but not that much, you know? Oh, and you're like, you got the girl, you're married now. Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, we don't like this. Having a public relationship probably was, you know, added another later. 100%. Right. Yeah.

And it is, I mean, what you just said is a perfect thing. though, you know, they want to see you win, but they don't want to see you do better than them. And that's how I felt it was. And I said it was going to happen. And then it did. And it was just like, you know, I don't know what you guys want. You guys want to see me win, right? But then once I start winning, it's all of a sudden like, whoa, why are you winning?

You wanted me to win. You said you wanted me to win. Now I'm doing it. Why am I back? And like, that's the thing. Like, I never really change anything. I did. Like, I remember there was like reports, I was a lot of stuff and all this other stuff. And it's like, no, I'm still the same

person. And like there was certain things like I know, I almost never went in the locker room before, especially in Jacksonville area. I would, me and Darby were very similar, where we just kind of find a corner and just changed in a corner. Like I remember I would hang out with the camera guys. But then I remember that became like a big deal. Like all of a sudden I became champion. He was like, why is he in the locker room? I was like, I was never in the locker room, you know? Um, so there was like a lot of misconceptions and I can understand from a certain point, like if you're not really paying attention to someone and then it's like, oh, now he's got the title and now you're paying attention. It's like, now you kind of notice things. Yeah. You know,

and like I feel like that's what I learned a lot through probably the past couple of years is like just squashing things before they become bigger. You know, I feel like me and Eddie Kingston, uh, you know, had a little thing and it could have been squashed earlier, you know, and, uh, And I take blame on that too because, you know, I could have just gone and found out what the deal was. But sometimes when you feel like you're a target, you almost like want to shut everyone else out. Like, okay, everyone wants to hate me. Screw it. Hey, you know, but it's like, hold on now.

Like, that's not who you are. And so that's pretty much what I learned is just like, you know, going up to people, finding out what's going on. Hey, I'm hearing this. Like, what's going on here? I think you've got to. I mean, not only is that the mature thing to do. and clearly you've matured a lot if that's the way you're approaching things now.

But these are people you're seeing. We can't week out. These are people you're going to be spending the next however many years with. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing too. And like last year, man, I really felt like I was a target

from everywhere, like, from people in the back to other wrestlers to podcasters to everything. It's like I felt like I was a target on every way. And maybe that's just how I felt. Maybe that wasn't even really what it is

because, you know, something, I forgot, I heard this thing. It's like when you walk into a room full of strangers and you just assume they all hate you, like sometimes it's not that, it's just in your head, you know? So, you know, it's just learning to really be aware of that

and trying to navigate the best situations that I can and deal with things the best that I can. What do you think is the biggest difference between you now versus the 2019 version of you debuting in AEW? Man, I mean, the biggest difference, I still feel like I'm the same in a way, but I feel like how I deal with things is different. You know, I feel like because I was younger.

And so it's like I'm dealing with things from a, I feel like a less mature way. And then having different things happen in my life and then having to deal with them differently, you know, like finding out the best way to deal with things is learning. Like, you know, I'm young, you know, like this is my first time being me. And so it's like in living all these different experiences and having to learn and grow.

And that's what I've tried to do is just grow and go. You know, grow from the things that I've done or whatever and go. Go on and be a better version of myself. Is there like a piece of advice from Booker that sticks with you? Yeah, anytime I get too nervous, it's just like, hey man, if the worst thing that's going to happen to is you mess up, life's going to be okay. kind of don't take things too seriously. Yeah, because there's some matches where I get way too nervous, you know? He said something to me, maybe this will resonate with you.

99% 100. Like if you're not 100% about something, if you're only 99% about it, you're not all in on it. It's 99% or 100. And if it's 99% it might as well be 1%. If it's 100%, like do it. Yeah. I feel like very much with the style of wrestling that you have, that's exactly what you do. Yeah, I mean, especially like if you're unsure about like doing something really crazy, you know, most likely you shouldn't do it.

But that's the challenging thing too is when you're trying to do something really crazy and you know it's dangerous, trying to like really think about it like, can I do this or am I just nervous because I know that like it is dangerous but I can do it? Like is it dangerous because like it's going to be bad and I know like I shouldn't do it or is it just dangerous because it's something new? And anytime something new is like it's, you know, fearful. People fear the new. Yeah, fear the unknown. Exactly. But if it goes right, like that's the cutter off the ladder. You know, I was nervous because I'm like, dude, this is going to be on Bacha mania.

You know, if I just eat shit on it. But luckily it worked out and it's been such an iconic moment. Ladders, though, you can't mess with ladders. Like you said, they can kick out. A bad thing can happen. But that's also been the thing I've learned is like, trying to understand like that the anxiety that I might feel or the fear of it is not real. Like I can feel this, but this cannot stop me from doing things.

Like you can overcome anything that you feel like. I've been so nervous for matches that I wanted to leave the building and just quit. But I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. And I overcame that anxiety and that fear. And it's become great moments in my life that I'm very happy that I did that. And if I didn't do that, I would feel almost ashamed of like a failure because I gave up on myself. But I challenged myself to do the unknown. And it worked out a lot of times.

And not every time it's going to. You know, sometimes you're going to fail. You're going to get knocked down. You have to get back up, you know? And that's what life's all about. Yeah. Learning, growing, going. Yeah.

It's winter learn, right? It's not winner lose. Yes. How nervous were you to sing Jericho's theme? bro bro he texted me and was like I need you to learn the lyrics and like he was he was dead serious he wanted me to learn the lyrics and I really tried I was studying it and then the moment happened and then there was like oh we're going to give you a microphone okay we're not going to give you a microphone okay then I'm singing and then they give me a microphone so it kind of messed me up and then like I just blink on the words and then it's live TV and it's going so I'm just like uh-da da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Like, I'm just making stuff up, you know? But I think that that made it even better.

I think so, too. And I remember I felt bad. I apologized. I was like, dude, I messed up your song. I'm sorry. He's like, it was better this way. He's trying so hard to not laugh. Yeah, yeah.

As he's walking out with you. Mm-hmm. You can see he's like, like making this face. He's probably thinking like, dude, I gave him one job this whole week. Learn the lyrics. And this is the best you got. And you probably knew most of the lyrics, you know. I don't know about that.

Really? I knew the, what if I become? Yeah, everybody knows that. The chorus one, but the other ones. Could you sing it right now? Like, do you know? I think I know a lot more now. I don't even think, I become, I become, I become.

Yeah, I've heard it a million times. Well, you've heard it 10 million times then. Yeah, and he, you know, he gave me a lot of credit too before because when I was, when I would come out with him, I'd just be behind him. And then, like, I'd never really listen to the song before until I started coming out with him. And I remember listening to it. And I was like, wow, this is a thing's pretty good. And I'm jamming behind him and stuff.

And then I'm, like, singing and stuff. And he was like, yeah, kind of like made it more of a thing, is you're just acting like a goof, like singing my song behind me. And so, yeah. Was it planned out that you were going to play it at your wedding? Or did it just kind of happen? So because Ty and I, like, even before we were together, like, we did like a karaoke thing at a signing where we just sung the song and like went whatever, got a lot of views online, viral stuff. And so it was like, okay, that we got to sing this. That was like one of our first times ever hanging out.

And we're just friends at that point. And it's like, well, now we're married. You know, we might as well like play it here too. you guys singing with the smiles in your face of your wedding. It's like, it's an incredible wedding video. It was really cool, you know, and then we even went in the, because we're on the Jericho cruises past year. And yeah, he was singing Judas and we just went in the crowds, started jamming like crazy. It was like, isn't crazy. We were singing this here. Then we're doing it at the wedding. Now we're on the boat. Is Luna going on the Jericho cruise? Man, I think she's too small right now.

Yeah, maybe the next one. Yeah. I think we looked up, they have to be at least like, three months or... Oh, really? Yeah, or six months, I could be wrong. You could be like, I know the guy who the cruise is named after. Well, he might be able to pull some connections, but yeah. It's a tough age with how much they're at. They have to eat and figuring out the sleep.

You're not getting a lot of it. No. Well, thankfully, like Ty's mom is here and she's been helping a lot. Oh, that's a lot at night. You know, she leaves at the end of the month, so then I'm going to cry. Yeah. Cry because she's leaving. you know, not because she helps and like so much.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember there was one night, we were taking turns when the baby's sleeping in your room, right? So in the bassinet. And we were taking turns. And there was one night where like our daughter, Logan just wouldn't stop for like an hour. And you're looking at this beautiful little girl.

Yeah, screaming head off. Yeah, they don't know how to do much, but they know how to scream. Oh, yeah, they know how to scream, sleep, and eat. That's it. Yeah. screaming at me and I'm looking at this baby and it's 3.30 in the morning or whatever. And I'm like, I love you so much, but I need to sleep.

Dude, I was talking to Luna. She's screaming. Tye's pumping the bottle. And I'm like, hey, we hear you. She's pumping the bottle right now. You're being inconsiderate. I'm like, honey, I love you so much. But there's nothing we can do.

She wouldn't take a bottle. Wow. Maybe like the last month or so. So, you know, there's one food source and it ain't me. Yeah, yeah. So there's literally nothing I can do except holder. Yeah, so like in the beginning, we weren't doing the bottles. And it was just tie getting up and like, yo, you got to pump the bottles because this is going to be rough on you, you know.

I'm a sound sleeper too. So I'd be like, just wake me up and I'll go feeder. Like if you give me the bottles and stuff, you know. We have a freezer full of milk that they're drinking from a bottle. So it just sits there. Actually, we donated some recently, which was, that was pretty great to be able to do that. But like, did you, did you drink it? You have to, right?

Dude, I haven't tried yet, but I'm going to. I think you have to. Yeah, you have to, you know, it was, I was just like, try a little bit here. You didn't open the thing, just. I don't know. Give that a try if you want. I'm going to try it for sure. I haven't tried it yet, though.

It doesn't have much of a flavor. I think we're going way down a rabbit hole here. Yeah, it doesn't have much of a flavor. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. This is very strange. People are going to do, what is wrong with that guy?

It's all very beautiful, though. I'm going to put it in my cereal. Oh. Wow. That's the part you're going to clip. That's the clip right there. All of it is so beautiful. And I love Rachel so much more.

Yeah. Watching her go through all of this and us going through it together. And like our baby crawled for the first time. Oh, that's awesome. And you're going to get so many first between now and where we're at six months. But there's so many little moments. Oh, man. It's crazy how fast they get big.

It's so crazy. She's almost a month and I know it's not that much time, but I can tell like she's gotten bigger in just that little amount of time. Is the background of your phone her? Oh, yeah. This is how you know. It's how you know you're a dad. Close, close, close, close.

You have a lot of notifications. Look at your, man, is your phone on popular mode? I don't know. You can kind of see. Oh, man. Actually, I don't, so I've got this thing right now. There we got, I got it. I fixed it.

Got all the notifications off. Hey, let me clear mine. I've got this thing now, so there's, there she is in the bath. Look at that. Just a couple dads here. Look at us. Just being dads. I've got this thing with the iPhone now where you can tap it.

And it goes. Whoa. You got to show me how to do that. It goes through your featured photos. So it's between Rachel, Logan, and the dog. That's cool. Oh, dad. There's my dad.

to Rachel Logan, I'll show you how to do it. It takes your featured photos. Yeah. Just every time you tap it. That's cool. Because, like, my background, when you open it is from the wedding. Oh, that's beautiful. What a great photo.

I got my two girls there. Yeah, well, if you change it over, you'll be like, oh, that's a nice little memory I'm reminded of. Yeah. I don't even remember that photo. That's cool. Like, there was this, I don't know, it's gone now, but there was like a landscape photo.

I'm like, I don't even remember, I don't know where that is or where that was. I do like that feature in the phone where it just pops, up memories and all those kind of things. You just forget stuff and then it's like, oh, a year ago, this happened. There's something about the lock screen being the same all the time that kind of numbs you to it. Yeah. So I was changing it pretty frequently before and now that this, I realize this is a feature. I'm like, oh, wow, that activates a new part of my brain.

I'm like, oh, I want to go down that path. I remember that cool. Yeah, yeah, you definitely have to show me how to do that. I will. That's cool. Man, what a year you've had? It's been a wild. It's been a wild one, man.

I mean, I don't know the exact time frame, but what is it for you for being engaged, buying a house, getting married, getting pregnant, having a kid? Dude, 2022 is probably like one of the best years of my life, you know? I mean, this year, now we have the baby, but 2022 got engaged, got married, and we got the house. And then 23, pregnant, baby, you know? So it's been a cool, almost two years. And that's just personally, you know, professionally over the last two years, there's been a lot. Yeah, yeah. It's been a wild ride, man. You know, you go from being super loved to super hated to loved again to hate it again. Like, it's crazy. Where are you at now? Do people love you or hate you? I don't know. I mean, I think they hated me because I turned on Chris. But then I got hurt. So maybe, maybe now I can come back and be a good guy again. They're going to love you after this interview and this jacket. This is Ray Mysterio. This is Ray Mysterio. My childhood hero, Ray Mysterio. Got to wrestle him a couple times. Yeah, no big deal. He's super cool.

yeah um so i'm at a Denver show one time he's like what's up sammy and i was like oh he remembers my name what yeah who haven't you worked with yet in the in a w in a w other than osprey which we already talked about right right i mean there's like guys who come in like rvd i would love to wrestle you know just because he was also a guy like jeff hardy and rvd were my guys jeff hardy that's the guy got to wrestle yeah that's a guy that's That'd be number one. Think about if you were to go in a time machine to when you were wrestling in your backyard. Oh, man.

And you were to tell that version of yourself, one day, you're going to meet a faction with Chris Jared. And, oh, by the way, you're going to turn on him. Yeah, yeah. And you're also going to do a program with Matt Hardy. Yeah. What do you think he would say? I think he'd believe you. Yeah.

Maybe he'd be mad that it didn't happen sooner. Really? Yeah, he'd be like, what? They took us that long? we're going to do it faster and then he would almost challenge me. Dude, your 20s have been pretty great. I think so. You know, it's crazy how wrestling has changed too with social media and everything.

It's like guys are getting signed younger and younger. And it's pretty cool, man. It's pretty wild that we're in an era now of like the gifts, like giffable moments. Like people aren't even watching full matches. Yeah. They're going, oh, I saw that clip or that gift from that match. Well, that's like what blew up that Alex Zane guy, you know? Yeah.

And that 630 to the outside, just blew them up. Yeah. And that's like, thanks to social media and all that, you know. The vlogs help me, like, connect with people in a way and show a different light to who I am. And so, you know, it's definitely, it's cool to see guys use the tools that we all have that are accessible on our phones, you know? It's like. Is the vlog coming back?

It will come back eventually. I don't know if it'll be as frequent because I do feel like YouTube has changed. I don't know how you feel about it. I mean, I started a whole new channel because it changed so much. Yeah, the clips one is blown up. Don't worry. We've got about 12 clips already. All right.

There we go. But the clips channel like eclips the main one. Like my main one started in 2011. I started the clips channel really like twoish years ago. And it's growing at a crazy rate. Yeah. You're right. YouTube's changed a lot.

And I just kind of went, oh, if that's what you're looking for, I'll give you as much of that as I can do. See, that's what I'm thinking like maybe I'll do that. Because, like, I think vlogs got so, like, saturated. Like, there was BT, there was Isaac Cassis, Uno's, Mines, mine. Ethan Page.

Ethan Pages, yes. Which his, is, is a great, you know, the toy hunts and all that. It's not doing them anymore. I know. I was like, what? He basically said, and I'm sure you can relate to this. It just got too taxing to, like, I made an agreement with the audience that I was going to put out one a week every week.

And he's like, you could tell sometimes that I clearly was just putting it out because I needed to put it out. Man, and like, especially, now it's more like lifestyle stuff, like just me. Because, like, everyone's left, like Fuego's not in AW, Allen's and it's ENA. And so it's not as easy to, like,

get the guys that were in it before in it. So, like, but before when I had to other people in it, it was very exhausting at the shows. Hey, I got to worry about my segment or my match, but also I got to grab, like, five people to film a bit with or whatever, and it's really, like, stressful. And were you still editing?

it yourself. Oh, I still edit it all. Well, maybe you should outsource that. So I do sometimes Kip Sabian's brother, producer bin, would have producer been? He edits a lot of mine stuff, but I also do like to edit. Like,

I really like to edit. I like to edit. I don't love to edit. And that shifted for me. Like, when I got Troy's the guy who makes all my vertical videos, I think it's the best in the game. And then Joe does all of my CVV clip stuff. when I was able to tell them what I was looking for

and then they took that over. They're 10 to 10 editors. They're 11 out of 10 editors. I'm like a 4 out of 10 editors. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. Like, producer Ben, he can do all these, like,

effects and stuff that I have no idea how to do. So he can make the videos way cooler. But sometimes I feel like, like a vlog, it's almost like your baby or what you film. It's like,

so it's like I want to almost be hands on with it. But sometimes I can't. I'm like, dude, I'll pay you. like, please take care of this. Like, I feel like I think it's Jake Paul just like films it and then whatever his editor comes up with. Yeah, yeah. That's the video.

And I don't know, maybe you've got to take that approach. What do I know? No, I mean, definitely. I think I think you're right, especially now that I have a baby. I think it's going to be a little bit more difficult. You thought you were busy before. Right, yeah. Everything changes now. Yeah. Dude, it's so good to catch up with you.

Yeah, it's been a while, man. It's been a long time. Crazy to think that you had the panda had last time I did the interview. I should have brought it. Should have put it right there. Just for old time. We just got this random vase in this Airbnb here.

Yes. Wow, matches the curtains. This is a very nice setup. It's better in the hotel we're in before. Better than the hotel with my iPhone on a $10 stand of some sort. Yeah. I figured if we can get an Airbnb and we can just bring people here, we've done five interviews. You're number five.

Yeah. Well, hey, you're in Orlando. It's like the hot spot. All of you guys live here. Yeah. It's crazy I live here because I never thought I'd live. here. I was like, I'm never moving to Orlando. All the rest of the year. You're very much a, like, Texas, like, I love Texas. And that's how people feel about Texas. I still, I still say,

you know, from Houston, Texas. And I'll always rep Houston. And the reason for that is because if there's any kids from Houston that watch me and then they are, you know, not in the best spot in life, they can see me and say like, hey, this guy made it. So why can't I? And that's why I I'll always rep Houston. Congrats on all your success, man. Congrats on all your success. Thank you. Personally, professionally for you.

And we weren't doing this before, so it's going to be great. I end every interview talking about gratitude. Oh, yes. So what are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? I am grateful for Ty, my wife. I'm grateful for our baby. And I am grateful for our life, you know? Three great things.

Yeah. Hell yeah, man. What are the three things you're grateful for? Oh my gosh. Turn the tables on me. Grateful for my wife. She's just such a great partner and great mother to our little girl. Grateful for Logan, our daughter.

Yeah. And grateful for health. There we go. So grateful for health. Without that, none of this is possible. Isn't crazy? When you get sick, all of a sudden you start appreciating like how much you took for granted when you're normal.

Yeah. And also just grateful for opportunities. Yeah. Like. And you're grateful for me. grateful for you making this happen. Yeah. So we finally made it happen.

We finally caught up. Yeah. So thanks, bro. No, thank you, dude. Appreciate you, man. Let's do it again in another five years. Oh, see in 2028. There it is, my friend, congrats to Sammy and Ty on their baby girl Luna.

Congrats to Sammy on everything he's accomplished in his four and a half years in AEW. And I know there's a lot of people who feel a certain way about Sammy, but I hope that this conversation made you see him in a different light. And it's hard not to appreciate the things he's done in AEW. Snap a screenshot, share it on social media, tag us so we can share it out as well. He's at Sammy Guevara. It's just his name. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, also just my name. Although if you're on TikTok, Chris dot Van Fleet on TikTok, somebody took, you know, the name without the dot on there. But either way, take a screenshot and tag us. And since this is our last episode for the year. My goodness, I just want to say thank you for an amazing 2023 that exceeded

any expectations, any goals that I had for this year. We crushed them all. It's absolutely crazy. I couldn't have done this without you. So thank you. Thank you for being on this ride with me, whether this is the first and only episode that you've ever listened to or whether you've been here for all 548 episodes of the show. Amazing. We're just getting started, my friends. Here's a quote from Neil Gaiman, which I think is just so fitting as we head into the new year. I hope that in this new year to come, you make mistakes because if you're making mistakes,

then you're trying new things. You're learning, you're living, you're pushing yourself, and you're changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before. and more importantly, you're doing something. Be great and be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. And happy new year to you. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

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