Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Stephen Amell On Heels, Arrow, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, All In, His SummerSlam Match

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Stephen Amell (@stephenamell) is an actor best known for his roles in "Arrow" and "Heels." He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, Ca to talk about "Heels" coming to Netflix on September 15th, how he was cast for the role of Jack Spade in the show, CM Punk and AJ Lee starring in the show and being potentially responsible for Punk's return to wrestling, whether or not he thinks there will be a third season, his match at SummerSlam 2015 teaming with Neville to defeat Wade Barrett and Stardust, if he thinks there is more to tell with the Cody Rhodes story, his match against Christopher Daniels at the first-ever All In show in 2018 and more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Your life is right now! It's not later! It's not in that time of retirement. It's not when the lover gets here. It's not when you've moved into the new house. It's not when you get the better job. Your life is right now. It will always be right now. You might as well decide to start enjoying your life right now, because it's not ever going to get better than right now-until it gets better right now!" - Abraham Hicks Complete this survey for your chance to win $500: https://bluewirepods.com/survey Sponsors: FACTOR MEALS: Get 50% off your first box and 20% off your next month at http://factormeals.com/Insight50 BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com 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 short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  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

Well, here we go, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for joining us on this one. And thank you for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. What a lineup of guests we've had over the last handful of shows here.

Dave Batista, Drew McIntyre, Damien Priest, Jesse Ventura. The list goes on and on and on. So I appreciate you for being here. it's because you listen to the show and because you follow the show that we keep climbing up those charts. If you're one of the thousands of people who just listen but don't follow, please smash that subscribe button with a big old swan ton bomb so we can keep getting these massive guests. And what a big one we have today. Man, Stephen Amel is here. And as a wrestling

fan, I know you've heard of heels. I'm sure you've watched heels, but if you didn't have the chance to see it on stars or it wasn't available where you live. It's coming to Netflix beginning this Sunday, September 15th. There's two seasons. It's a super quick binge and you just like immerse yourself into this world and it's just so authentic. It feels like the place where these characters live is an actual indie wrestling company. And the actual wrestling that you see in here is also so fantastic. Now, Stephen's not just some actor who plays a wrestler in the show. He had a match at SummerSlam in 2015. I was him teaming up with Neville to take on King Barrett and Stardust.

He's been friends with Cody Rhodes for years. He accompanied him to the ring in AEW. He also had a match in Ring of Honor, where he teamed up with Cody, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks. It was five on four against Christopher Daniels, Frankie Cazarian, Flip Gordon, and Scorpio Sky. So we get deep into the weeds of his wrestling. fandom. He's a fellow

Torontonian. So he went to WrestleMania 6 and WrestleMania 18 and we really nerd out together about being in the Skydome for WrestleMania 18. And yes, of course we talk about Arrow, how he got into acting and so much other stuff.

It's a fantastic conversation. So snap a screenshot and let us know that you're listening. Tag us on Instagram. He's at Stephen Amel. I'm at Chris Van Fleet and let's do it. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome, Stephen Amel. Just two guys from Canada hanging out here.

That's it. Just two Canadians. Are you from actual Toronto? Actual Toronto. Because I tell people I'm from Toronto. Yeah. But I'm from Pickering. Okay.

So, you know what I mean? When I say Toronto, I mean like Young and St. Clair. Oh, okay. You hear that all the time. Yes. Pickering, it'll be something like, where are you from? I'm from Toronto. Oh, really?

Where? You're Bradford. You're not from Toronto. But, you know, I love when you meet a fellow Canadian, and they say Toronto. Toronto. Because people here say Toronto. Yes.

There's no second T. There's no second T. We just, Toronto, just roll right through it. That when I was shooting the first season of heels with the accent,

it's sort of like Toronto where people, when they say Atlanta, it's spelled like AT-L-A-N-N-A, right? Atlanta, right? And you really have to dig into it.

And I remember our dialect coach came up to me and was like, you said Atlanta. And I went, Atlanta. And then I watched the cut and they used the take where I said it wrong. And I was like, no, no, no, no, you guys, you cannot do this. Like, if there's one word that I cannot mispronounce, it's Atlanta.

Yeah. This is exciting, man. Heels on Netflix. Heels on Netflix, September 15th. It is a, if you are a wrestling fan, Netflix is the place for you right now. It really is. We got heels, which is. 16 episodes.

I counted as one season, right? The way that they want to put it out. The way that I actually think about it is, do you remember in the Andre the Giant documentary when they were saying that like, for the purposes of WrestleMania 3, Hulk and Andre had never wrestled, right? But in actuality, they had wrestled each other all over the, all over the country, like hundreds of times. Yeah.

God bless our original network, but as far as I'm concerned, Heels debuts on September 15th. Okay, so why are you saying that season one and season two or just one season? Well, I mean, there's just, I mean, there is literally no time cut between episode eight and episode nine, which would have been 101 to 201. Yeah. You know, it ends with, you know, the big match at the state fair and the surprise ending. And the second, the next episode picks up basically with Alexander Ludwig, who plays my brother just walking out of the ring. It's direct cut. Yeah. It feels like when you were cast for this, wrestling fans all around the world went, yeah, of course. Of course Stephen Amel is going to be a wrestling show. Because the lineage there and all your history in wrestling with WW and Ring of Honor and AEW is like, yeah, he's one of us.

So it's my understanding that they tried to put the show together in 2017 and they couldn't, maybe even earlier than that. And they couldn't cast it. They couldn't find the brothers. And then the project came back around in 2019, and it was an offer went out to someone that wasn't me. And from my understanding, when the network said who they put up the offer to, the feedback that they kept getting was, did Stephen Amel pass? So eventually it came around. But it was really funny, man, because I was finishing up Arrow. And I think we had like maybe five or six episodes to go. And I was very, very specific with my manager. I was like, A, I'm taking a break from television.

B, I'm not entering into another six-year contract right away. And C, I really don't want to do anything particularly physical. Wow. And then my manager calls me up and he's like, listen, an offer is coming on this one. it's going to be an excellent offer. Here's the script. And I want you to hop on the phone with Michael Malley, who was our showrunner on heels. And are you allowed to swear in this podcast?

Sure, of course. I sit down and I read the script in about four pages in. I go, oh, motherfucker. This is obviously a yes. It was a yes right away. Five pages into the script. I was like, I obviously have to do this. And yeah, rest is history.

Did you feel like at that point, like you were ready to get back in the ring? Well, it's been a while since you had taken a bomb. Yeah, it had been a while. So I did all in on September 1st, 2018. People forget that, too. Yeah. Was you versus Christopher Daniels? We can, I mean, we can talk about that all day.

Good. But yeah, I mean, I was, towards the end of Arrow, I got, I wouldn't say out of shape, but I just, I stopped being able to work these 14, hour days and then get back into the gym. So actually wasn't in particularly good shape. And then we were about to go to camera in April of 2020. We know how that went. And yeah, I had to get back into shape because we then eventually went to camera in September.

But I think by like month three of the pandemic, I was like 170 pounds. Shredded? No. Oh, no. No. No. No. No. I think what do people do for the first little bit of the pandemic? They basically just sat around. Yeah. Drink. We all do. Yeah. So, I mean, and just rewatch the last dance over and over again. That's Tiger King. I never saw Tiger King. Oh, no. It's on Netflix. Yeah, no, we didn't like Tiger King because it wasn't for Tiger King. The original Code 8 would have been number one everywhere in the world. But instead, you know, fell by the wayside with Tiger King. So, no, but I... He also will be number of. one. Sure. But I know, but I got myself, I got myself back into shape and then, and then, of course, on the first day of shooting wrestling stuff, the first thing that I did was a coast to coast. And so we shot it. And now retrospectively, I easily could have put a mat down onto the ground or just the way that they shot it where, you know, I could land on my feet, but then we could do one where I land on a mat. So I did it, but I didn't.

clear as much of the ring as I wanted to. I didn't go as far as I wanted to. So I did it again and I jumped too far. And I landed sitting straight up and down and knew something was wrong immediately. So it was a compression fracture of my T10 and my L1. First day of wrestling training. I broke my back. What?

Everyone was like, okay. Well, I guess this show's done with. But it actually, I was, I think I was back in the ring in like, certainly back training within like a couple of weeks because I was very, very lucky that it was really just straight up and down in terms of a compression fracture. So the pain was mostly all of the other muscles around it that then guarded and clenched up. But I actually had some lingering back issues, back and neck issues from eight years of fake fighting on arrow. And the ironic thing about hurting my back like this was that I had to go through this physical therapy

and all the little nagging problems that I had, they all went away. Really? When you have the experience that you have in the ring, do you get in there filming a wrestling TV show and you go, I can do it? Because there's a lot of ways you can cut around things. Oh, yeah.

Under no circumstances should I ever have attempted that. We could have cut around it in a variety of different ways. I do not have luck with the coast to coast. You know, the only one that I've ever done where I haven't hurt myself was the first take, which ironically, we definitely ended up using.

But when I did the coast-to-coast it all in, I didn't realize it at the time, but I figured, okay, I don't want to smack the back of my head. So at the last minute, I'm going to bail out and try to just land on my left butt.

And we finished the match, and I'm back in there in the locker room, and I can't figure out, it feels like someone has put a tennis ball underneath my left hip. hip and I actually got a text from the big show. And he goes, that coast to coast look pretty stiff, man. It's like, I think maybe it might have been.

Anyway, I fractured my hip. Oh, my God. And I had to go right back to filming Arrow on like the Tuesday after this long weekend. And I definitely didn't ask permission to go to a wrestling match. So I had to sit everyone down and go, I am not to be treated any differently. I am fine. My hip hurts. I can't make it worse.

I can just slow down the healing process. But that also turned out to be the episode that had the most amount of stunts in the history of the show. And the first thing that I had to do on my first day back was go into this dead sprint and then slide under a door. And as I'm sprinting, I can just hear tearing in my hip. It was horrendous. This was a real match at all in, too. This wasn't a quote unquote celebrity match. This is 12 to 15 minutes with an absolute legend.

Yeah. So first of all, Christopher Daniels just couldn't have been a nicer guy. It was so helpful with me in the ring. I agreed to do it, but the only way that I would agree to do it is if I lost clean. Because I don't think people never do that in the quote unquote celebrity matches. So I was like, listen, I want to quit myself really well. I want to, you know, tell an actual story. But like I want to get like one of those one, two.

oh, but then I want to lose, straight up. And CD was like, absolutely not. No way. Absolutely no way. And I said, Chris, I'm not doing it unless you go over clean. And we can, you know, shake hands at the end. And, you know, then I get to have my moment. I felt like also, too, that's the way that you, like, get respect in the industry, you know.

Like, you go in there, you change with the boys. And it's like, yeah, I'm going to lose clean. Yeah. But no, he took care of me in that match because there's so much adrenaline. So what inevitably happens is you forget to breathe. Straight up. You will go through some sort of sequence in the ring and you'll forget to breathe, which leads to you blowing up.

I think three minutes into that match, I grabbed him. I'm like, we need to go home. And he went, shut the fuck up. Don't even move. I'll take care of you. And he did. Yeah, he was great. I found a clip of an old interview that I did with you.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles out of the shadows. And all I want to do is talk to you about SummerSlam and your match with Cody. And then we did talk about the movie, but you told me that that match was absolutely positively terrifying. We're talking about SummerSlam 2015. Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, I wouldn't recommend to anybody to have their first match at a premium live event in fucking Brooklyn. they're like, hey, listen, this crowd is not, this crowd is not going to be the easiest. And the one thing that you can't mentally prepare for,

first of all, I came out, I was so nervous that I forgot to get in the ring if you go back and watch the match. Like Cody was like, you forgot to get in the ring because he was going to powder out and, you know, do all the, do all that stuff. But, yeah, that whole sequence, you know, first of all, you know, I went and I trained with,

with Cody. How long did you train for? You know, I went on a loop with them. They were on Vancouver Island, so I went to that show, and then they were in Vancouver the next day. And then we, Cody and I had a dinner that night with Brandy and my wife, Cass, and then I went down to Everett with them again, and that's when we did the run-in where he face-washes me, and then I come into the ring.

And, you know, just even that was I was the, you know, guest host or thing at Raw. Yeah. So I had to sit in the crowd for the entire show. And this didn't happen until hour three. And, you know, we had practiced this. And the agent that we had was the road dog. Awesome guy. And I was like, yeah, okay, Cody's going to fishwash me.

and then I want to jump up onto the apron and then sort of like springboard, not springboard, but just like whip myself over the ropes into the ring. And Road Dog was like, no, you can't. You got to slide under the bottom rope. And I'm like, I don't want to slide under the bottom rope. I want this to be dynamic.

Like I want to jump up onto the apron. Yeah. And he goes, okay, but just so you know, if you miss and you stumble, there will be no match. at SummerSlan because you will have lost the fans forever, right? They want to hate you. They don't want to like you, okay?

You're just some actor that's taking away a spot. So it's like, you're welcome to jump, but if you miss. And so about an hour and a half into the show, I realized, oh, my God, we've practiced this a bunch, but I was practicing it in shorts, and now I'm wearing dress pants. Like, am I going to be able to do this? So, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, someone saw me walking around the back of that arena, like jumping in my dress pants to make sure that they weren't going to rip.

And then, you know, once I got into the match, it was good, but we decided that we were going to start the match off with Cody springboarding into the ring and then me springboarding as well. And sort of, you know, he's like, oh my God, holy smokes. And I was terrified of messing up the springboard. Like I practiced it a hundred times, but I even said to him right before the match, I go, do we have to start with the springboard?

And he was very, very accommodating and really just kind of like let me do what I want. But he goes, yeah, we've got to do the springboard. You jumping over the barricade, then jumping over the top rope when you made your debut there and got in the ring, made fans go, oh, yeah. Oh, he's the real deal.

Well, I think one of my favorite parts is you hear one of the announcers go, look at a move like that. But the whole thing there was I was supposed to form tackle Cody. I haven't formed tackled anyone since my last year in high school playing rugby. And then he goes, and then I just need you to get on top. And he goes, it's, you know, don't hit him with your knuckles because you might break a knuckle. Just use your forearms.

He goes, but try to get one through. This is what Road Dog says. He goes, you get one through, it's good for us. Because I think that up to that point, fans were so accustomed to celebrities coming in. And it's just not looking great. Sure. Right? They weren't part of that world. Yeah.

You came in and people went, oh. Yeah, I think that there were a couple of things like I'm athletic. I'm athletic. I don't, I'm not athletic in the way that like a lot of these guys are in terms of like the way that I know my way around the ring. But there are certain things that look cool and impressive that, you know, play to your strengths then, right? Play to your strengths.

And that's 100% right. Yeah. 100%. So I think that you really raise the bar for celebrity matches. Like, You walked so people like Pat McAfee and Brad Bunny and Logan Paul could run. But I mean, listen, I am just, I am in awe of what Logan does. That guy's out of this world.

It's like he was put on this planet to do that in the run. Yeah, I mean, listen, I did my run in when I was in my mid 30s. So like maybe if, I mean, he's, he's what, like 28? But he's been doing it now for a minute. So let's say he started when he was, he started at 25, 38. Yeah. So two years ago, two and a half years ago? Yeah.

Yeah. But yeah, mid-20s. Yeah. Yeah. So, it's like, I'm 43, man. But you are on the celebrity wrestler Mount Rushmore without question. I do. I appreciate that a great deal.

Cody thinks that I'm, I'm, Cody thinks on one good WWE match away from, from maybe eventually getting the Snoop Dog treatment. Okay. Well, when's it happening? It depends on how. how much I want to stay in my marriage. No, I actually, I did, I did say that, like, look, if Heels does come out and there is some, there is some potential with, you know, the crossover and the synchronicity with, with Raw being on Netflix

and, you know, suits is on Peacock. Like, the crossover elements are there for me in the WWE. But I feel like I would have to, I'd have to get my wife to sign off because she has, She's had to take me to the hospital twice after matches. I mean, once for, you know, when I hurt myself with heels. And we definitely had to go get my hip x-rayed after all in. So maybe one more, maybe one more. Because I did go through the entire second season of heels.

And we did a bunch of, we did a bunch of stuff. And I came out fine. Came out fine. So I would need to protect myself a little bit. Well, do you think there's more of a story to tell with heels? Is season three a possibility? I think the season three is a possibility. People are going to have to,

people are going to have to watch it on Netflix. It's going to have to line up schedule-wise for me because I now have another job that's in first position. But listen, without trying to spoil it, we didn't want to send my character out quite literally on his back. There was always the idea that we would tell more of a story. And I think there's more to be told, you know. I think that, you know, in the way that there's no real season one, season two, because eight and nine really line up, I think that if we did come back, you might see like a little bit of a time jump.

That's sort of what my, what the showrunner has pitched. So does this give the show new life? Like when it got canceled on stars, were you just devastated? I don't know if I was devastated, but I was just like, I, I know that this show is good. Like, I was just, I was really pissed off that, you know, for whatever reason, you know, timing-wise, distance between seasons, like, we might have just been on the wrong network. And that's not a, that is not meant to be a knock at Stars and Lionsgate because, you know, Jeff Hirsch especially was who's, you know, run Stars was a real champion for this show. And, you know, they stuck their neck out to get us back to work during a pandemic. We were one of the first shows to go back.

But it just, we just never, we never found an audience. But, like, I know people that I have met. And they always want to talk about heels. And anyone that's in the business has seemed to, like, really love it. Are people talking to you more about heels now or Arrow? Still Arrow. But Arrow was around for a lot longer. It was around for a very, very long.

time. I mean, I think that, you know, it's a weird thing when you're on a show for that long because people think that people think that it'll never be more popular than that it is right when it comes out, like right in that first season, right? When you get that, that I might, you know, I'm on a poster everywhere all over L.A. and New York and we're on ESPN with commercials and all that stuff. But that's really not the case. When you're on for eight years, you basically become like family to a lot of people. You know, they grow up watching your show or it's something that they did with a parent. Or it's, you know, it's just like it creates these like really, really cool stories.

And you meet kids that are named Oliver and little baby girls that are named Thea and like all that stuff. So Arrow will always be, you know, for now, the thing that people really talk to me about. But people do talk a lot about heels. And what's cool about heels is you don't have to be a wrestling fan to love the show. Yeah, and that's one of the things that I really want to communicate. I mean, you know, is it going to be helpful if you're if you're a fan of like, you know, indie wrestling and like, you know, stories of, you know, that evoke memories of like dusty roads and, you know, all the guys riding the writing around the territories back in the day.

Yeah, that helps. But the wrestling is the, the wrestling is the icing, okay? the storyline, the family dynamics, you know, the idea of people wanting to make something of themselves and graduate out of a small town, those are the principles of the show. Who do you think Jack is like in the current modern era of wrestling? Well, I mean, I guess it would be,

I guess it would maybe be Hunter. Maybe it would be Hunter, maybe Cody. Yeah, I mean, I think if you look back at what Cody was doing at all in. Yeah, yeah. And then with AEW, yeah, there's a lot of similarities there. So if we take this back,

when did you first fall in love with wrestling? I first fell in love with wrestling. Gosh, we're looking at 1987 or something like that. I was six years old. And someone got me the VHS tape of WrestleMania 3. And then, of course, I went back and I watched WrestleMania 1.

I watched WrestleMania 2. But wrestling became my obsession. I will never forget getting in trouble in third grade. Some kid accused me of throwing a booger on him. And I don't think I did. Maybe I pretended. I don't think I did. But my punishment was I had my wrestling magazines taken away from me for two weeks.

Oh, wow. And I wasn't allowed to watch wrestling on Saturday morning. That's devastating. That was devastating. I was a huge Hulk Hogan guy. And then I think my first pay-per-view that I saw was actually WrestleMania 4 and WrestleMania 5. I watched on closed circuit TV at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Wow. Yeah. And then, of course, I went to a couple of shows at Maple Leaf Gardens as well. But then, I mean, WrestleMania 6. Did you go? To WrestleMania 6. Did I? Yes, I did.

I went to WrestleMania 6. It was my buddy John aired's 10th or 11th birthday party. And like these guys, we were in a box in the Skydome. And I'd say at the party, it's like people were kind of half watching. But like, it was more of a birthday party with WrestleMania happening in the background. Not me. I was sitting up in the front row. My dad was there.

And I mean, I remember all of the things from that night. The Jake the Snake, a million dollar man match was incredible. I remember, you know, dusty coming out and then bringing out Elizabeth. And the skydome was shaking. And I remember Andre turning face and, you know, beating up Bobby Hinen and Haku. And then, of course, you know, the main event was just like, it wasn't the best for me because I, uh, I, uh, I, Right. Hard.

And I'm, like, crying in front of all these different, like, 10-11-year-old boys. And my dad's like, hey, bud, just get it together, would you? I'm like, I'm sorry, but it's all close. I didn't think that him losing was conceivable. Yeah. He had never lost, like, in my life, with the exception of the fake Earl Hebner or whatever it was. He'd never lost. Yeah.

You know, like, I remember even, I think after that, he took some time away to film, but like, you know, earthquake dropped a bunch of whatever his finisher was called and, like, Hulk was hurt and I was like legitimately sad and devastated. And then I remember, like, I remember watching a award show and he's supposed to be like on the shelf. And he was there and he was wearing like a tuxedo with no sleeves on. and he was flexing, and I was confused because he was supposed to be hurt. And it was the first time where I started to actually figure out, like, oh, my God, this is not real. It's actually scripted.

You know how excited fans are when you tell a story like that? Because they're like, he's one of us. Yeah. One of us. Yes, sir. Oh, man. Yeah. But then, you know, I had my times where I fell off a little bit.

I think sort of around, like, I went back and rewatched WrestleMania 10. Goof. That was a bit of a, that was a bit of a rough stretch. But then, early 90s were, that, that was a tough moment.

But then, you know, when Stone Cold came around, um, and rock and all that stuff, the attitude era, um, I was way in.

But then again, sort of in that, like, I don't know that I've ever sat down and watched WrestleMania 24. Like I was out for, I was out for, for a little bit there.

You know, that whole Sina, Batista, Orton era, I just fell off. So what got you back in? Got me back in? What got me back in was Cody. You know. Yeah, how'd that friendship start? Yeah, so he, I just noticed that he was following me on Twitter, right?

Because Stardust was supposed to be the super villain. Yeah. Right? So I was filming Turtles in New York in 2015. And he invited me to a raw at the Nassau Coliseum. And so we get there and he's like just about to put on his face paint and stuff like that. And then he comes up and he goes, hey, I just got it approved from Vince that I can hiss at you. And I went, what does that even mean, Cody? He's like, I got to approve. Like I can I can hiss at you. And I went, okay, what do I do? He goes, you stand. up and look tough and I will cower away.

And I'm like, okay. And then we put it on, you know, we put some of the photos and stuff like that in the video, on social media. And this was back in the day when, I don't know if you remember when you would have a Facebook page and if you had, you know,

three, four million fans on it, you actually, when you posted something, you reached all of them. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. Before they took the, algorithm and they made it super weird.

So when we're putting those photos up, the numbers that they were doing and the interactions, I think just became impossible for WWE to ignore. And, you know, Cody fought really hard for our match. And I think that there were a lot of naysayers. I think that Hunter was a big, like was a big naysayer, like didn't like the idea from what I understand, but then came up and sought me out after the match. And we took, like, we took a photo with, you know, he's doing the two sweet. And he was just like, he was like respect, man. Wow. Yeah. I feel like maybe there's still more of a story to tell with Cody here. I hope so. Yeah.

I, I really hope so. First of all, I could not be prouder of that guy. To do what he did, you know, to walk away. Like, I don't want to, I don't want to speak for him too much, but I really do think that after our match at SummerSlam, because I remember it was like Neville pinned King Barrett. And then they did the camera thing where as Cody's walking out of the ring, they got the camera on him and they got the camera on me, which is the sign, the universal sign in wrestling, we're not done.

Yeah. We have unfinished business. And so the plan was, as best I can recall, was there was a pay-per-view after SummerSlam, and then the October pay-per-view was going to be in L.A. at crypto, Staples, whatever. Yeah. And Cody never supposed to have a cage match. And just like we were getting ready to send a ring up to Vancouver for me to do a bunch more training. because I basically faked my way through the,

through the SummerSlam match. Like it was very, very, like, I could still probably take you through the beats of it right now. So the plan was to actually, you know, go more the length like I went with Christopher Daniels, like 12, 15 minutes. And again, the plan was to lose, clean. And then all of a sudden, Cody just calls me up.

And he goes, look, man, I don't, I don't know what's, going on, but our match just got shelves and no one will give me an explanation why. And I am devastated and I'm deeply embarrassed. I was like, look, man, it's okay. Like, that's okay. But I really think that was like one of the contributing factors to him leaving. Because it wasn't long after that that he left. No, I mean, he left, you know, I went to mania the next year.

My first mania since 18 because I went the other time. It was in Toronto. Me too. Did you? Barack Hogan. Oh, my God. We can talk about that in a second. But, yeah, he was at Mania that year.

He was in the latter match to start it off. And then I think that he left shortly thereafter. And, you know, I think, you know, then he came out to L.A. I was in Vancouver and he actually stayed in my place for a while. I think there's a chance that you know that list that he made? Yeah, yeah. I think he might have made that in my house. I think so, potentially.

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of mitochondere when you go there. So that's timeline.com slash insight for 10% off. Timeline.com slash insight. I almost didn't go to WrestleMania 18. And I had tickets when they went on sale like the November previous year. I was online, like refreshing ticket master. And it was me and two of my best friends who I backyard wrestled with. Okay.

We bought the best tickets we could afford. 16th row on the floor for 135 Canadian. Okay. I think I spent more money and got worse seats than you. That's crazy. I think I got them on the secondary market. Like you got them when they went on sale. I went on sale.

I went with my buddy Matt Fullerton that I went to high school with. And, you know, that was a very like kind of underwhelming show. I remember thinking the entire time, like, when is the crowd getting into this? Like, when are we going to have our WrestleMania moment? And then Rogan. Rogan. Roak Rock. Hulk rock was just the greatest match of all time.

The place was electric. When he kicks out of the rock bottom and he starts to Hulk up, the camera's shaking. You see people jumping up and down. I was totally in. When he dropped the leg, like there was no possible way that the rock was going to kick out. There was no way in hell. talks about the stare down because it's epic. Right? Like they're both looking and they do the turn to each side.

Amazing. You don't touch, right? You know, it was, it was, I'd say that when the match started, it was like 55% Hulk and 45% rock. And then he, and then he tears his shirt and it went to like 60, 40. And then they did the stare down. But the thing that turned everyone was, like, they. did the lockup and then he shoved Rock off and he posed. Yes.

And it went 80-20. And then they did it again. And it was like 95-5. People were on the ride. And there's a moment where Hogan is shocked by the reaction because he's been a heel for years at this point. And he looks around like, oh, that's for me. I'm getting goosebumps talking about it.

Oh, man. JR even says like a lot of fans cheering for the Rock, quite frankly, a lot of fans cheering for Hollywood Hulk Hogan. You could call it nostalgia. I don't know what it is. But then, of course, I mean, that's why Rock is one of the greatest of all time. Because he just turned heel. Yep.

Just like that. They pushed it up on the fly. Just like that. I almost didn't go because I was a freshman in college. I went to Wilford-Lorea University. Okay. $135 when you're 18 years old is a lot of money. And we, just for fun, ask the scalper outside, how much would you give us for these?

I was like, oh, floor seats. $500 a piece. We're like, oh, man. Oh, right. And we had a moment where we're like, man, $500 each we can go to a bar and watch this thing with our fake IDs. Yeah. Because I was only 18.

And then my one buddy's like, you know what? It's WrestleMania. We should go. And people forget, this was right after the invasion angle. And things were a little funky, right? There were a lot of WCW people that were coming in that we didn't really know. Yeah. And the only match that really stood out there on paper was Rock Hogan.

Yeah. A lot of the other men, people forget that one on third last. Yeah, it's an all-time travesty that it did not go on last. Man, everyone agrees. I felt Trish Stratis is my girl. I love Trish. And she was the match on afterwards. And it was like four minutes.

Yeah, and people were leaving. I mean, Hunter Jericho at the end, I'd say that Skydome was 80% full. by the end of it. People were drained. It was all over. There's a lot of epic moments that Russell Many 18 is famous for, like Scott Hall taking the stunner. That's amazing.

Like Arne Anderson out of nowhere. Out of nowhere. I mean, that, that, I think, second to Hogan Rock, Flair Undertaker was a great match. Great match. Great, great match. Yes. So I'm with you. And for nostalgic reasons,

that's still my favorite WrestleMania. But I went into it with the bar set extremely low. Yeah, I mean, I feel like have I been to a better card

top to bottom? Did you go to 40? Because this last 2 a year was. Yeah, this is a real sore subject. I've missed a couple of wrestlomanias that I'm really, really, really upset about.

Like 38 when Cody came back, I was at a wedding in Montreal. all. And it's a Jewish wedding. So it was on Sunday. And on the Saturday, they were doing a welcome party for out of towners. And we did it, they did it like a keg. It was great. Julie, I had a wonderful time at your wedding. Love the keg. But I said to my wife, because Cody had texted me like three weeks before mania, one word, Saturday. And I was like, I want to go. I want to go. How do you respond to that, by the way? And I mean, I was just like, I'm going to. going to see if I can make it is the response that I sent him back.

And I mean, like, he sent me a photo on the day of, of him in the bus with his daughter and, like, you know, no one knows he's there. Yeah, yeah. And we, so we go to this welcome party. And then that Saturday night of mania ends up being, you know, Cody's match. I want to say that, oh, gosh, there was a fantastic women's match as well. Who's the EST of the WWV? Why my...

Sasha Banks. No, no, no, not Sasha. Oh, ponytail. Yeah, Bianca Bellar. I'm sorry. She had an amazing match. And then the night closes with Owens Austin, which was one of the greatest, that was a spectacle. What a fun match.

And Cody's match with Seth was so great. And, you know, I got home. I got back to the hotel room that night. My wife's like, I'm going to crash. because we don't want to have our kids with us. And I'm like, I'm going to watch Ristlingia. And she wakes up the next morning. She's like, how was it?

And I go, yeah, we're not talking right now. I was so mad. And then, of course, we went to camera on the pilot of Suits L.A. in Vancouver the day after WrestleMania. This year. This year. So I absolutely positive, like, Cody, didn't tell me that he was going to win, but I was like, he's going to win. And one of the reasons

that he's not going to win is because I'm not going to be there. And I just know that I'm going to be hating my life. So I actually, I recorded a video on Instagram like a couple of hours before Mania being like, he's going to win. Okay. I actually, frankly, I had the, I had the match kind of pegged in terms of like how it was going to play out. It was like, they're going to go for like 20, 25 minutes, and then we're going to get the USOs. And I don't, I didn't, I didn't catch the, like, Seth coming out, you know, as a shield member.

And I definitely had the glass breaking as opposed to the Undertaker. Right. I think a lot of people did. I think a lot of people did. But, man, that was still, that reaction to the Undertaker was amazing. But, I mean, with due respects to the Undertaker. And I, you know, I've seen him on, on this show because this show is like 90% of my

algorithm on YouTube for doing something. then. But man, oh, the glass breaking would have been just unreal. My buddy, Zacho and I, we went to WrestleMania 32 in 2016, and they sat as front row right behind the announced table. And when, you know, Sean Michaels comes out and McFoly comes out, it's like, who's the third person going to be? Michelle Beatle was actually behind me. And she's like, who's the third person going to be? And I'm like, are you serious? The glass is about to break. And when the glass breaks, it was the loudest reaction I've ever heard, just the last like immediate pop.

Yeah. But the camera immediately cuts to my buddy, Zacho and I, full-throated like this. And then, and then sure enough, the following year, we went to Mania in, gosh, it was in, Tampa, was it? It was in Orlando. Yeah, 33. And, um. Camping World Stadium.

Yeah. What a dump. You had a dump. My seats were right behind a pillar. Oh, my God. The entire time. The juxtaposition of the bowels of Jerry World versus the bowels of that stadium. And it was, it was, because I was backstage with some of the guys.

It was disgusting. That ramp did look incredible. The ramp did look good. The ramp did look good. But I'm with you. If they didn't start The Undertaker halfway down it, we might still be at that WrestleMania. Seriously.

But, you know, we, um, some of my buddy Zach, and I are like, okay, okay, so we need to find the time to go get a beer. And we decided to go get a beer as they were introing all of the teams for the fatal four-way ladder match. Oh, no.

And so we're standing in line and all of a sudden you just hear this rumble and you hear this music. And I'm like, that's the fucking Hardy Boys music. And of course, when we went back and watched the broadcast, they once again, when that music hits,

cut to exactly where we were sitting except we weren't there. And, oh man, I had to own that one. I had to apologize for that one. John Cena took a shot at you, or I guess more fair peacemaker took a shot at Arrow. Yeah.

That was a little unnecessary. I didn't fucking appreciate that at all. It was crude. And by the way, I don't know if they... Okay. I'm just going to come right out and say this. This, like, there's just, there was such, between the movies and between peacemaker a little bit, like, our show was kind of treated like shit, right? Like, I get it.

We're on the C.W. I get it. It's TV. But I also get the fact that, you know, when people think about the most recent iteration of D.C., okay, they don't think about the Snyder cut. They think about the Aeroverse. and we got crapped on for years and years and years. And this just seemed excessive. Like, I'm not actually mad, but, like, just remember hearing that?

And I just, fuck those guys. Seriously, like, I'm up here. I'm working just as hard as anyone else. Do you know how hard it is to play a superhero with no superpowers for 23 episodes a year? It's really, really, really hard. And, like, I'm not. looking for a prize, but like maybe don't shit on our show. We might have to cut this out of the podcast.

Well, you hit back at John Cena. You said, hey, I did. Too busy showing Sina what professional wrestling should actually look like on TV. I thought that was a nice touch. I mean, I've met John a handful of times. There couldn't be like a nicer, more genuine person. you know, if I should be mad at anyone, it should be James Gunn for writing that in the first place. But, you know, he could not be a nicer guy.

He's a such good guy. So I don't, I don't, I don't, it's not a personal vendetta against him. Maybe there's a spot for John Sina versus you in the retirement tour. I mean, that's sure. Why not? Why not? I'm scared of that guy, though. He's huge.

He is very large. He's large. Yeah. And it's, it's so kind. He's so kind. Very, very, very, very kind. Listen, listen, all of the. those guys.

The only guy that I didn't ever really get along with was Roman. Not for any particular reason, but like, you know, I'm on the loop with these guys and everyone was very inclusionary and he just kind of keeps to himself. And I think, so I don't think that it had anything to do with, I know that it didn't have anything to do with me personally. But he was the only guy that I never really, you know, got on with. everyone else. Like, those guys are just like,

salt to the earth, welcome you into the dressing room. What can we do to help? Like, you know, Kofi's in the ring, you know, showing me how to take a bump. And he's like,

oh my God, it's been a couple weeks. And you're like, ah, these guys are showing out for me. It's really cool. Where is your slammy on display in your house? It's in,

uh, it's, it's in my bar area. We've spot out in Palm Springs. Um, it's, it's seen, it's seen better days.

one of the hands broke off. Oh, no. Yeah, it actually looks right now, looks very, very inappropriate. The way that he's having to hold up the wrestler like this. But, yeah, yeah, no, so I just saw it yesterday. That's like a good spot for it. Yeah, yeah, 100%. It's right next to the DWL championship.

Hell yeah. Which doesn't look as good in person as it does on TV. Well, it's just, it's like, it's rubbery. Okay. So on television, it looks like, like an actual belt, but person. Not so much. You're one of the few people that have made an appearance in WW, A-A-W, and Ring of Honor.

Yes. And if you're tied into all of these worlds, in fact, at some point, you could show up really anywhere. Anywhere. Yeah, yeah, I could. Ring of Honor, man, that was a blast. And just to, like, just to kind of like retrospectively think about, like, you know, wrestling with box and Cody are you still in the bullet club of course technically

okay here we go too sweet man I got my own merch but I mean you know so I will never forget in that match as well that that the first thing that they wanted to have me do was just come in and

and hit an RKO never done it before but let's you know let's let's let's give her a go and I did it I did not land well I came out of the ring and I'm standing in between Matt and Nick and I turn to them and I go, I have a serious question for you. They go, what's up?

And I go, is there steam coming off of my head right now? And they go, no, why? Does it feel like there is? And I go, oh, yeah, my neck is jacked up. It was horrendous. Man. And then so I have that regret from that match. And then.

Do you have a regret from? Every match? Yeah, for sure. But the bigger one is that we had set up a great spot with me and Kenny, where we hit the Heart Foundation's final move. I left a guy out against the clothesline. And we were supposed to go back down. And then we were supposed to wait.

And I was supposed to wait for Kenny's call. And we were both supposed to kip up at the same time. And then, like, celebrating the ring, you know, the way that he does. And I was so excited that I kipped up immediately. Didn't wait for him. Didn't wait for him. I think that that is the thing that is the hardest thing to do in the ring.

The hardest thing to do in the ring is to slow down. You know, right before my first match, Hunter came up to me and he went, listen, when you get out there, slow everything down. And then when you are positive that you're going too slow, slow it down. And then when you think that there is no chance in the world, that you can go any slower, slow it down. I'm like, okay. And then I think back to like kipping up

when I should have waited for Kenny or, you know, when I went through the table and a match against Christopher Daniels, like, I could have taken 20 seconds to climb those ropes and really let the crowd stand up and let everything build. I did the whole thing in like two seconds.

Didn't even have time for the announcer. He just went, Stephen Mell, what are you? doing? Although that didn't hurt at all. Not at all. Not at all. So that's not one of the regrets. That's not one of the regrets. No, I have zero regrets from that. Yeah. I love that we have heels to thank for getting CM Punk back in the ring. Yeah, man. Yeah. So, yeah, Phil wasn't originally in that part. We had shot a bunch of stuff with a different actor and a different actress. playing, you know,

Ricky Raby's and I think Vicky Rabes, maybe. But then with everything that went down with the pandemic, they had to bow out. And so, yeah, so we got, so we got Phil in. And he was great. Just great.

Like, just, like, great guy to work with, good actor. And, yeah, I stand by my match that I had with him. It was a lot of fun. And if that's, listen, If that's 5% of the reason That we got him back in

Back in the business Then I'm good with that Be ever interviewed him Very briefly like 10 years ago Okay super like super super nice guy He's definitely on the list of people I want to have on the show Does not take any shit from anyone period That's another one that I regret not being at

I got the yeah I got the I got the text from him like because I said like, look, if you ever come back, I got to be there. And I got the text from him like two weeks before he came back. And it just said United Center. I was like, and I couldn't get to it. I had a commitment in Kansas City that weekend. I mean, that pop was so loud that you couldn't actually hear anything.

That building is really special. Yeah. Like with the wood ceiling, the ceiling's a little bit lower. I've never been to the United Center. I was in there and I was just like early on there were CM Punk Chans as as there would be in Chicago. And I was like, it's just, it seems loud in here. Because I don't know what it seats, maybe 12, 14,000. It's more.

It's more like 16, 18. No, I think when they have, when they have Bulls games there, it's almost like 20,000. It's one of the bigger. It felt really loud. We have all the world's information here. So let's say. Seating capacity. It is, uh, oh, yeah, 20,000.

There you go. Yeah, 20,000 for basketball. Up to 23,000 for concerts. It just felt like. a lot. That was a lot. That was way off. That was a,

that was a cool moment. It was very loud. And then A.J. Lee as well. Because of heels. Yeah. A.J. Lee was in the ring. No, she's great. No, she's,

El Dorado. Now, she's, she's, she's just terrific. They were a lot of fun to, they were a lot of fun to work with. You know, one of the reasons why I,

why I do eventually want a third season, if it is all possible, it's just because, I mean, filming in 2020 and 2020, respectively with all of the COVID policies and stuff like that. It was just, it was a slog. And so you don't get to have the same camaraderie. I mean, I'd run into crew members in Atlanta and they'd be like, hey, Stephen.

And I'd be like, I don't know who you are. I'm so sorry because I never, ever, ever saw them without masks on. You weren't allowed to eat together. They weren't allowed to be on set unless they didn't have a mask, unless they had a mask on. like, it was a wild times to think back on. Well, if the numbers are good on Netflix, I think so. Maybe some things can get into motion here.

I mean, listen, it's, I don't know how the, I don't know how the deal would work, but let's try to, you know, I think that if a, if a certain number of people watch it, the whole thing kind of becomes, you know, like undeniable. Yeah.

Yeah, and I need like, I need like three, four weeks to get back into Jack Spade shape. That's it. Yeah. Okay. So, well, I stay in shape, but man, oh man, The whole idea on heels was to be, like, thick and strong.

Did you look at the shape that Zach Ephron got into for the Iron Claw? And you just went, well, that's just ridiculous. I think that that was kind of ridiculous. No, no. You know, he looked good. He looked painfully in shape. Yeah. Like the way a bodybuilder looks when they step on stage.

Yeah. That's not what. It was impressive. Yeah. It was very impressive. Yeah. I actually haven't seen Iron Claw. I have difficulty watching certain movies that I think.

that maybe I would have liked to have been in. Did you get an offer for that? No, no, I wasn't available. A couple of movies that I, you know, could have probably auditioned for and, you know, maybe could have, maybe could have cracked, but, you know, Arrow was a really prohibitive shoot because we would go from the beginning of July until basically the end of April. Wow.

And so, like, I remember getting, you know, I remember getting the Top Gun Maverick audition and getting really pissed at my agents because I was like, I don't know that you guys are paying attention. What role would that have been? I don't know what role it would have been. You know, one of the, you know, young, young shots.

Like Miles Teller role or? I think it might have been, it could have been more of the Glenn Powell. I mean, obviously, he was fantastic in that. Yeah. It could have been somebody. Yeah. Because I feel like they actually kind of wrote that part for him.

So I think it was a work in progress. But I remember saying to my agents, I'm like, in what world do you guys think that I'm going to be able to do this? Like, there will probably be a boot camp to learn how to actually, like, behave in an F-18 that's longer than the hiatus. Like, how could you possibly think that I'd be available for this? And I actually got kind of, I got a little bit upset. I mean, even for like something like turtles. Like I wouldn't audition for turtles because I'm like, I don't want to get my hopes up for this. I am not going to be available.

There's no way that this fits into precisely into my hiatus. You haven't seen Top Gun Maverick is what you're saying. No, I have seen it. No, no, I have. I have. I had to. And when I watched it, I was so mad. I was just like, I get it.

Look, look, I'm happy for everyone that was in that movie. Yeah. Right. God bless them. It was amazing. But like Top Gun was my favorite movie growing up. So just to just to kind of have that tantalizing possibility of being in it, knowing that I was never going to be able to do it.

But yeah, I still had to go see it. But it must be difficult when you're given something to read for. And you're like, oh, you get your hopes up of like, I could be in this. And you're auditioning with a dozen other people or more. Versus sometimes when you're being offered something like, you're our guy. You're our number one pick for this. Yeah, that was really cool on.

That was really cool on stars to get that as an offer. That being said, I did audition for suits L.A. Aaron Corsh and Dave Bartis, who Aaron's the creator of the original, and Dave's kind of his partner, like, nuts and bolts guy. They, nothing gets offered. They read everybody. Now, they might offer like a guest star rule or something like that or like a cameo

because we'll probably have a lot of people on the show with it being set in LA play themselves. Yeah. But yeah, I auditioned for that. And oh man, I think they read everybody. Like so, you know, you just got to,

if you're right for it, you're right for it. Was that your first audition in a while? It was my first in-person audition maybe since Turtles in 2015. I mean, there are no in-person audition. auditions anymore. It's all, it's self-tapes, right? It's all self-tapes or it's Zooms. Yeah. I had a Zoom earlier in the week with, you know, producers and stuff like that, but man, there is something to be said for, for getting in the room and, you know, stuff like I went in,

so I'm reading for Ted Black and, you know, I find out after the fact that that 15 seconds into my audition, Aaron was like, we got our guy. You don't know that at the time because it took like I auditioned on a Friday and then I got the offer on a Tuesday, but the offer had some contingencies in it, which I think was just a negotiating technique because they eventually took them away. But then they spent the next, I spent the next 10 days waiting to see if the contingency was going to get taken away. Meanwhile, I'm getting texts and calls from people that I've worked with in the business being like, hey, we just had a great discussion with NBC. And I'm like, oh, oh my God, are they vetting me? And they were. They were. And that is

terrifying. Just terrifying. Like, I've been, you know, I've been a public figure now for like the better part of a decade. And I've had my good moments. My bad moments too. So it's like, you know, it's nerve-wracking. Yeah. You don't want to be vetted, do you? Of course. Nobody does. Of course not. Did you go into it full suit? Like you were, you were the character when you went in? No. I, no, I didn't at all, actually. I had been, I had been solo that week with, with my two kids. My daughter's just about to be 11, and my son was one and a bit at the time.

And as you're about to find out, two kids is a lot harder than one. And, yeah, I actually remember I had to drive from one end of town to the other. and I had just gotten some weird news. And I had like, as close to a breakdown as I've ever had just emotionally, I was just shot from the week. And I walked into the audition just like throwing caution to the wind. Like, who gives a shit? My eyes are probably a little bloodshot. Like, I'm, I've had a tough week.

And I'm just going to bring an energy and like a looseness into the audition. but the thing that makes an in-person audition great is, you know, we get to the end of the first scene. And the director goes, Victoria Mahoney, she was fantastic. She goes, that was great. Aaron goes, I've got no notes. Now, being in the room, if you're on a Zoom, can't really do this. But I said, okay, well, just give me a note anyway, just so that I can show you that I can be, I can be directed.

Yeah. And he goes, oh, okay, I like that. And that's the difference when you're in a room versus when you're on a Zoom. There's something about the personal nature of being in there with someone and working on a scene that I just, I think that, you know, occasionally you might nail it, hiring someone virtually. But more often than not, you might be leaving a little bit of meat on the bone. Don't you also feel like with self-tapes, you've got the option to do 15 different versions? watch them back. Ah, that kind of sucked.

I'm going to change this. When you're in the room, that's it. One shot. So my whole thing, when I used to audition all the time, the trick that I use and feel free to use this, fellow actors, is I just go in there and I play an enthusiastic version of myself. Assuming, of course, that it's not like a serial killer with a stutter. But if it's just like, if they don't really give much of a character description,

then what I like to do is I just like to go in there be an enthusiastic version of myself so that's going to give off a sort of a naturalistic vibe and then they go okay hey that that was that was great

and then as opposed to you trying to figure out what they want from the character they tell you they go hey that that was great try this so you get to show them in the room that you can be directed and I think that that

has that's done very well for me. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup.

Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henco.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform. How does a kid from Toronto end up moving to the U.S. and doing this for a living in L.A. Because as a fellow Canadian, working in the U.S. felt like the furthest dream away. Yeah. When you're just getting started, you're like, how am I ever going to do this? Yeah. And am I going to work on the CBC for the rest of my life? Right.

Because, I mean, you come here and they won't hire you if you don't have an 01 visa. An 01 visa for the uninitiated is a person with an extraordinary. An alien of extraordinary ability. It's an alien of extraordinary ability. And I think that what you have to do is, and I'm a citizen now so I can tell this story without getting into too much trouble, is I. I had a buddy of mine. He was producing a movie. It was listed on IMDB.

I had him write me a deal memo. Wow. I was not in his movie. But I think what you need for that is you need to like take all of your press clippings and like put them all together. And I had worked in Canada a little bit. And then you just kind of include that deal memo in there. Yeah.

Like here's an offer of employment. Yeah. Yeah. And it worked. But then, you know, I had to get my permanent residence. And then I just became a citizen in August of 22. I got sworn in at Dodger Stadium. Congrats.

Thank you. People don't realize that getting the approval for the 01. Yes. Then getting the approval for the green card. Yes. Like, I remember getting the envelope in the mail and being like, I don't know what this is going to say. Yeah.

And like opening it in my mail room of my apartment. Yeah. I'm like, okay, okay, okay. Oh, you got it. Approved. Yeah. All right. I get to stay in America.

I mean, but that's a real thing. You're like, am I going to have to leave? Yes. It's a real thing. A real thing. And, I mean, I was so lucky. I labored over, you know, my, my kit for my permanent resident card. I'd labored over it.

I remember begging people to, like, sign letters. Exactly. Like, people I hadn't talked to in a decade and being like, Hey, man. How you been? I'll write the letter if you just sign your name. Yeah. Yeah.

And it's so stressful. And of course, like, I remember I went to the office that was in Montreal. You had to go to Montreal. The only appointment time was at seven. And you realized that like, oh, it's everyone's appointment. Is it seven? So I like, I had to get there at like 5.30. It was like minus 31 degrees Celsius in Montreal.

It was horrendous. and I got in there and guys sits down, looks at my stuff for like three minutes and goes, we're good. Wow. And you're like, you know how much time I put it?

So much time. I'm like, you sure you want to take a little bit of a closer examination of the packet here, my friend? But I'll take it. Yeah, 100%. Yeah.

Congrats. Congrats on all of your success. Thanks, man. You are, you're such an inspiration for any Canadian who's watching this. Oh, thank you. And going, can I do it?

If someone, like Stephen Amel or any other Canadian actors able to do it. Yeah. I can do it. You got to remember that acting is a job and you have a resume. It's just like if you're a doctor or a lawyer. And I think the difference is that, you know, the more education that you get, you know, there's a real straight line to, there can be a real straight line to the top.

And there can be a real tight tether between your position and the amount of money that you make, right? it's not that way in the arts, right? Like, you might be an amazing actor that does, you know, off-Broadway stuff and is, you know, scraping by. And you might be mediocre, but land a show on broadcast television. You never really know, but you do have to remember that you do have a resume for a reason. So it's like there are no small jobs when you're starting. Go be an extra.

Okay. Work up to, you know, a principal role. work up to a speaking role, get a guest star, get a recurring guest star, become a series regular. Like there is a path, right? And it's just, it's one thing at a time. And it can be intimidating. And it's, you just need the industry to engage in some way, shape, or form.

I may be completely off base about this, but I feel like everybody is going to get their break at some point. But is that six months in? Is it 16 years in? Is it 27 years in? I mean, you never know, man. Like, I've become pretty good friends with Giancarlo Esposito, right? Like Gus Fring on breaking bad.

Yeah. He's in the Mandalorian. He's in the new, I mean, he's in everything. Yeah. He's in the boys. He's in the boys, yeah. And, I mean, I see this guy a lot of times at conventions. First of all, couldn't just, might be the nicest human being that I've ever met in my entire life.

Just, just has time for everyone, gives you a big hug when you see him. masks me about my family. Like, this guy couldn't be nicer, but I don't think that he got his break until he was like, probably like mid-50s or thereabouts with Breaking Bad. And what you see from that guy is you see from that guy, a guy that struggled to eventually, eventually get that break. And, you know, it's one of the things that I'm really trying to focus. focus in on with suits LA is, you know, Arrow was this amazing experience. I don't know how often I stopped to smell the roses, so to speak, to kind of appreciate the position that I was in.

And I'm not saying that I wasn't grateful for the job. I was. But, you know, I kind of look at this as like another chance. I made the decision to end the show. We probably could have gone a little bit longer, but it was just, it just felt like I was ready for the next thing. So I think that, you know, being in this business,

you continually have to bet on yourself. Getting just one series is huge. Yeah. You got that. Then you got another one. Yeah. And now you're on the cusp of a third one. Yeah.

So, and listen, the, and the fact that, you know, I haven't worked in Los Angeles. since I was shooting private practice and New Girl in late 2011, early 2012. It's the last time that I worked in... They don't film a lot here.

They don't film a lot here. So when we found out that... I mean, we shot the pilot of Vancouver. You know, why I had to miss Russellmania 40. Shot the pilot of Vancouver. And it got picked up on a Friday. I was out in Nova Scotia shooting a movie called Little Lorraine,

which should, you know, hit the festival circuit, maybe early next year, I think, is the plan. And then the creator called me and he's like, I've got like substantial news. And I did the math in my head. And I was like, okay, what could this possibly be? And I figured that they were just, that they might order like two seasons.

Like we might get a 28 episode order. And just shoot season one and season two back to back. That's where I landed. I thought that that was like a reasonable thing. And he goes, we're going to shoot in L.A. And I go, don't fuck with me. Seriously. Are you serious?

Because, you know, again, one of the reasons why Arrow ended when it did was because we just didn't, I just, I was just over the commute from Vancouver back to Los Angeles. You get to sleep in your own bed. You get to sleep in your bed. And, you know, I can understand people saying, well, just move your family up to Vancouver. And it's like, well, okay. But, you know, Los Angeles is where we just. decided to live. That's where we want her daughter to go to school. That's where we want her to, she's, you know, huge into competitive swimming at the moment. And, you know, Los Angeles was going

to be our plan. So going back to Soutes, L.A. I was absolutely positively, 100% going to make it work. But we were having to make decisions like, should I just bring my son up there and, and, you know, we'll have a full-time travel. Like, it was just, we were having to, like, consider potentially, like, breaking up our family. So, you know, when I told. told my wife that we were shooting in LA. It's just like, everything feels different. Like, everything. Like, you know, we just went away for the weekend out, out to the desert.

But the exciting part is that, like, I just got to come back to L.A. And, like, you know, we had this book. It's something to, like, look forward to. And, you know, I've been meeting friends of mine for dinner that I haven't seen in, like, a decade. So it's just really nice. I love that. Congrats on everything.

Thank you for making the time to do this as well. Heels on Netflix, September 15th. I will be there. I love it. Heels on Netflix, September 15th, and suits L.A. at some point in early 2025.

Maybe we reconnect for another one at that point. Love it. Gratitude is such a big part of my life. It's the question I end with for every single one of these episodes. Stephen, what's three things you're grateful for as we sit here right now? I'm grateful for

I'm grateful for healthy kids. I'm grateful for an absolutely unbelievable partner in my wife, who is like my best friend and can, you know, that I have the ability to just share everything with. You know, like I swear to God, I manifested this woman. I was at a movie. Toronto with my sister on Christmas Day night. And I'd just gone through a terrible breakup. She was like, do you ever think you'll get back on the horse? And I said, I'm looking for a beautiful,

smart girl from Texas who loves football. And she grew up just outside of Houston. She loves football. And she's incredibly intelligent and very easy on the eyes. And then the third thing, I think, is just, you know, I've had wonderful, I've had wonderful people to, work with and to lean on in this business, which, you know, can be a little bit cutthroat, but, you know, be it Greg Berlanti, who did all of the, did all the Aeroverse shows, or, you know, Michael Malley, who was a show runner on heels, has, both those people have taught me so much. And then I get the same vibe from Aaron Korsch that I did from both Greg and and Mike. And, you know, that's just, I'm just, I, I'm incredibly fortunate. I try to always remember it.

Thanks again, man. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. All right. Big thank you to Stephen Amel for joining us inside the West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood. I feel like we got to have him on again for part two real soon because we could talk wrestling all day. We are just scratching the surface here of wrestling talk and really nerding out together. Check out heels on Netflix beginning this Sunday, September 15th. Such a quick watch too. And I feel I'm not going to give too much away here, but the way that season two ends makes me feel like season three has to happen.

There's just a lot of stuff that needs to play out. That's all I'm going to say about it, because I know there's a lot of people listening that haven't seen it yet. But there's the way that it, you'll see. You'll see exactly what I mean. And when that happens, send me a tweet. or send me a message on Instagram and let me know. I'm at Chris Fainfleet. He's at Stephen Amel on Instagram. And I saw this quote from Abraham Hicks. It's a little bit long, but my goodness is this powerful.

Your life is right now. It's not later. It's not in that time of retirement. It's not when the lover gets here. It's not when you've moved into the new house. It's not when you get the better job. Your life is right now. It will always be right now. You might as well decide to start enjoying your life right now because it's never going to get better than right now until it gets better right now. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. We're back tomorrow. Ask CVV number 48.

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