Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Stevie Richards on Right to Censor, Blue World Order, ECW, Hardcore Championship

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

Stevie Richards is a professional wrestler, podcaster, and entrepreneur. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his legendary career, starting his fitness company "Stevie Richards Fitness", his time in ECW, being part of The Right to Censor, why WWE's version of ECW didn't work, being inspired to lose weight after Ivory called him "fat", his time in Impact Wrestling, the Blue World Order, whether he would want to return to WWE and much more! If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome back to Insight. So good to have you with us on another audio adventure. I'm Chris Van Fleet and I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate you being here for this episode. And for every episode. Thank you for making Insight one of the top podcasts in the online. world. And today's episode is a special one because my guest today, Stevie Richards, does not do very many interviews. So I feel so honored that we were able to share this conversation where we talk about everything in his life, in his career, and in his business, Stevie Richards Fitness, which you can find

out more about at stevie Richards Fitness.com. You can find him on Twitter. He's at BWO Stevie. BWO, of course, stands for the Blue World Order. On Instagram, he is at Stevie Richards. You can follow me at Chris Van Fleet. Over on Instagram, by the way, I'm giving away a free big gold belt from Fandu belts. Oh, it's badass. And if you're into that kind of thing,

look for my post there with the big gold belt for details on how you can enter. And you can be the champ yourself with this big gold belt. The John Marquez left this review on Apple Podcasts with the title, to be the man. To be the man. You got to, well, you got to be CVV. I've been a fan of the show for about a year now.

If you're a first time listener, Chris and his guest will pull you in. I love this podcast, entertaining to the max. I love how Chris ends every episode with three things to be grateful for. And I can say that I'm grateful for Chris, his guests, and this podcast. Keep up the great work, brother. Well, thank you, John. I'm grateful for you. That's very kind of you to list off those three grateful things there.

The reason I do that gratitude exercise at the end of every episode is, well, number one, I start and end every day, saying out loud three things that I'm grateful for because it really sets the tone for your day and then your night and your sleep and everything like that. But more importantly, I get people to list off the things they're grateful for. So hopefully you listening to this go, oh, man, I'm really grateful for the things in my life. I'm grateful for my health or my family or my job or whatever it happens to be. So thank you for noticing that, John. Thank you for taking the time to make a review. Only about a week left until we don't read any more reviews on the show. At least that's what I'm saying right now.

But the goal is 2,000 reviews before my birthday. May 19th is my birthday. May 19th is next week. So this may be one of the last reviews, but there's still time to get these reviews in so I can read one out on the next few episodes here. All right, let's get to it. I had such a blast talking to my guest today. ladies and gentlemen, Stevie Richards.

Stevie, it is an honor to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thank you, Chris. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, even though we didn't really sync up. I watch a lot of your interviews. I just saw the Chris Masters one where he recounted the Polish Hammer incident. And also, I took your advice about the whole thing.

Oh, my gosh. Wow, with the Ridge wallet. Oh, my God. Oh, man, I carried around. I was literally old Italian. South Philly Italian father with the rubber band around the big wallet. Now I minimalized that. This thing is life-changing, isn't it?

It is. I must admit, I have the knockoff Amazon brand, but I'm thinking about upgrading to the official bridge one. Just that style of putting that wallet in your front pocket is so much better. And we'll get into the Chris Masters stuff in just a little bit. But I got to say, man, you look incredible. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

So do you, man. I'm looking at your camera, your microphone, you're all professionally. You got the silver plaque behind you. Congratulations. It's good stuff. Thank you. This was mostly a product of COVID and going, you know, we would normally be doing this interview in person.

Normally, I would fly there. We would do this interview in person. But all of this is a product of COVID. And, you know, we can't really be in the same space as someone right now. Well, let's put a pin in it. And then when we can do it, we will make a promise to everybody out there. We'll do this 101 in the gym working out together. How's that?

Oh, my gosh, done. We will do that for sure. Yeah, your fitness is next level right now. Actually, you know what? The funny thing is my fitness is very basic and beginner and back to foundational stuff. And that's kind of what I promoted Stevie Richards fitness is really just, I mean, you can do it at any level. But I'm knowing now being almost 50 years old that I really do need to address a lot of foundational problems, a lot of flaws.

Your actual workouts are actually shorter than the prehab and the rehab and the. rehab stuff. So it's pretty interesting. It might seem next level, but it's just basic physical therapy from almost 30 years of wrestling. I mean, maybe just the results are next level, because you're almost 50 years old. You turn 50 this year, which is incredible because you don't look even 40 years old. It's just a ponytail. That's all it is. You still have hair. I think that's the big thing. Don't jinx me. That's the old Italian. That's why my dad with the thick wallet, I figured that was a secret, old Italian father. Do your workouts have to have, to be different now that you are closer to 50?

I would say so. I mean, I'm sure you feel aches and pains from traveling and just everyday stressors and stuff. I would say that sometimes like right now I'm revisiting foundational strength like Wendler 531, which is your four basic lifts. But there's an alternative reason for that because I want to release a power band program for SRF by the end of the year. So it's kind of, I've been testing this quote in the lab to try to make sure that. that it all transfers over to a resistance band type workout.

But you definitely have to do a lot of stuff to alleviate joint pain, prevent more joint damage. Yoga is involved for sure, stretching, even I have an infrared sauna. There's all sorts of little, you can go as far as you want with the biohacking, or you can keep it as simple as don't eat, don't eat sugar, don't drink soda, don't eat fast food. How much has DDPI worked into this? I haven't done that honestly since I was,

with the company until October 2016. And then I explored other versions of yoga, more Finiasa flow, power yoga, which was what DDP yoga is based on. And I tell everybody out there who's asking for workouts, all you got to do is search through YouTube. That's why I'm the worst, the world's worst self-promoter rather than trying to sell you my programs. I say, you can just search on YouTube and just find what you need.

But, of course, having a structured program like mine and Dallas has helped you to not have to, you know, guess what you're doing is right for that day. I remember distinctly, like, early on in your run in WWE, you went from being like a guy who was in okay shape to like being a jacked and tan guy. Like, in my opinion, it felt like overnight. Like, what was the shift that happened there? Well, the number one, it was the end of the right to censor, which I was actually in the worst shape of my life, 262, 44 inch waist.

I remember stepping on the scale in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next to the Bull Buchanan, and you know how big that guy is. I weighed more than him. And that was kind of the, and I've read walked by. And people might say, how could you say this? But this was the point where I stopped making excuses and I started being sick and tired of being sick and tired. And she goes, my God, you're getting fat. And you might think in a way that's sort of mean, especially in a society we live in today. But that was like the best thing that ever happened to me because it snapped me out of it.

Like that's all it took. Then from that point on, J.R. had told me that honestly, and I give him credit for it, that my job was on the line. And they all, in all likelihood, they were probably going to fire me anyway. But I should probably try to get in shape to try to, you know, because I'm out of shape. My work rate's not what it used to be. And he was right on both counts. and that started the process, even though it seemed like overnight, the chronic short run happened where I had the jet black hair that I want to heartland wrestling association,

Les Thatcher's developmental territory and worked in OVW summit. And all it was was cardio twice a day. I cut my calories. I cut my carbs, cut out all fast foods, and just dropped down to in the end, in the beginning at the end when I came back on TV. I did a heat match myself and Just Incredible versus Big Show. People probably could see it on YouTube. I was around 193, 194. Oh my God. That was a six month money. Yeah, but you're talking about it wasn't so much

wow, you made such a transformation. It was like you came from such a point of being so out of shape and so you know, excuse ridden and sort of lazy and it took all these kicks in the ass to kind of get you going. And now it's like two pounds, one pound, five, it freaks me out because I don't want to have any latitude to even turning 50. There's no excuse or latitude that I give myself to be any kind of range of out of shape. So what do you weigh right now? Too much. You know, it's funny as I'm making a lot of adjustments.

And as you get to be, I think even people with environmental, like how old are you, Chris? I'm 37. I'm about to be 38 next month. Well, I'll make sure to put that in my calendar. So I can wish I was on May 19th. May 19th. Oh, that's when Ceno Aval came out with Kane. Kane's favorite day, yeah.

Yes, exactly. At least my CT hasn't kicked in yet. I remember that stuff. So on that note, like 37, you're living out there in L.A., you're traveling, you're doing this show. I think environmental stressors and even stress of work and money and all that stuff on top of it, the way you have to adjust for those things, you get younger and younger. You used to be like, hey, when you turn 40, you really have to look at everything.

When you turn 50, you have to look at all these things. I find out every week or a month I have to reassess, whether it be diet, workouts, both, sleep. It can become pretty trying. But really, at the same time, it's fascinating. It never gets boring because you're kind of like a human lab experiment every day, trying to kind of gauging things. it can't be easy to eat properly and eat clean when you're on the road with WWE.

Well, I was a shakes and bar guy, mostly because it was cheaper. Sure. That's why. And also, like a lot of times, I would be so nervous before shows, I couldn't eat. But the catering is so good. What's that? The catering's so good. Well, don't think I didn't bring it back to the room and gorge myself after the show, get a free meal off then.

But, but yeah, catering was good. I did eat catering sometimes. But I would have to, I'm sure you talk to talent off and on camera that at a certain point a day because of your nerves or because of whatever, you're so afraid of being bloated. You're afraid of just not feeling, you feel sluggish or you feel tired. You just want to be ready to go. Do you think you would have been in better shape had you not wrestled with a shirt on during right to censor?

You know, it's an interesting question because there is a psychological thing to that. But my personal life led to making a lot of different excuses and just things at home. And I was allowing myself. And I was being told by people who cared about me around me. No, it's okay. It's just an extra tan. Which was the worst thing. It was an enabling thing.

But that was on me. Putting the shirt on, yeah, I joke around saying putting that shirt and tile and put 60 pounds on me. It is kind of a thing where you don't have the accountability because you might not say it out loud. you might not think it, but you're like, well, I'm covered up so I can always, you know, start my diet tomorrow next week. Sure. Let's take this back. So you grew up in Philadelphia, right?

Yes. I know I screwed up your mojo because usually it's like. No, no, not. There is no flow here. This is just a conversation like we bumped into each other, you know, on the street or something like that. So who were you when you were growing up in Philly? Who was I?

Yeah. Oh, I'm a lot of what I am now, but a lot. less uncomfortable back then. I was always a kid that never felt like he fit in. I'm always, I was always a nerdy kid, a kid who really just was very, I was comfortable myself. I was never comfortable in large groups of people, so don't tell me how I picked wrestling. I, and also, I, I always wanted to do something that meant something that inspired people. I had no clue what it was. And as a young kid and not knowing how to express that, being shy, being bull, being bullied just like anybody else really to whatever level it is. And it just, it turned out what,

like I said before about ivory saying I'm fat, it turned out to be the biggest blessing because if I had fit in then and if I had fit in throughout my life leading up to my wrestling career, I wouldn't have had the freedom to do it because I would have felt comfortable and content where I was at. Because I said, well, doing this and traveling and sleeping my car and and go in to just try out and trying to see if I can work for free on this indie show. I would have never had that motivation because I always said, well, it's nice and comfortable here. I said, how bad can it be? It can't be any worse than I feel right now any more rejected or alone.

So I'm making it sound a lot worse than it. As I was raised in a regular family, went to high school, I did have friends, I did have hobbies. But deep down, I always found something about wrestling where I could escape. real life and become somebody else. That was probably the foundation for that. Who were some of the wrestlers that when you were younger you looked up to? Pretty much all of them, because I had an idea. It was weird because as a kid or a fan or a Mark or you want to call it,

I always had that respect of, I guess because I knew I wanted to do it. I didn't know if I ever could, but I have respected all of them, much like you look at like professional athletes. Like, I've never been born in these guys, even though I always wanted to do an NFL podcast. I never wanted to criticize a third string quarterback because that dude still made it to the NFL. Like what right do I have? So everybody was,

but obviously on the top is Flair and Hogan because that was the ultimate dream match from my generation. You know, ProRuss and Illustrated used to sell their magazines every month with those two on the crack split cover of what happens if they ever meet. And strangely enough, and this is going to seem like a homer or front runner, but I was a fan of Sean Michaels when he was with the Midnight Rockers in AWA,

maybe because we had a little bit of a, like my face has kind of lined up a little bit, but he was always so much more athletic, even in the tag team that wasn't really pushed in AWA. I always looked in him. I said, man, there's something about that guy. And he seemed athletic, and I always wanted to have that coordination, athleticism. I obviously have the Rick Flares, the Dusties, the Savages to go along with the Hogan's. And four horsemen who also,

Barry Windham was somebody who I saw that just, man, that guy moved so well. The Road Warriors, the Rock and Roll Express. I'm mentioning all these names too because it's weird throughout life, like the Rock and Roll Express especially. Those are two guys that I need. And once in a while, I'll get a text from Ricky Morton to say, hey, man, I just want to check in, see how you're feeling.

I'm like, holy God, that's Ricky Morton. That's freaking Morton texting me. Love that guy. It seems like the best coincidence that you're coming up in the wrestling industry. You happen to be in Philadelphia, and there happens to be this great organization called ECW that's starting up. Well, I'll go back a little bit further than that because TWA was tri-state wrestling. That was ECW before ECW. That's why I initially went to wrestling school.

There was a guy Joel Goodhart, who used to do a radio show, and that's how I learned about the school. and they were going to have a rookies match. And I was like, well, that's cool. Myself and Derek Domino were going to be in a rookies match at the, wasn't the Civic Center. There was another building near the Civic Center where TWA would run their shows. And the company went out of business. They announced it on the radio show.

I had only about a month or so into wrestling school and my heart was broken. Now, mind you, I actually, before that, I got a job. I quit my current job. got a job at a car lot being a lot man, a block from the wrestling school at Frankfurt and Tyson and Philly, just so I could sneak in before I went to wrestling school and then in between sessions to take bumps and try to figure out if I even knew what the hell I was doing. But that was TWA. And then, of course, ECW, February 24th, 1992 was when I'll go back in that actually debuted November 10th,

1991 as the boy in the hood versus cry baby waldo your name was the boy in the hood they put a mask on me because i wasn't ready to do anything and they they didn't have a name for me so johnny hot body and tony stets and said he's the boy in the hood and that's what they called me that match is somewhere it's got to be somewhere you need to find this maybe you and i should do a watch along on that match jeez that'd be incredible that's when i come to Atlanta that's what we'll do yeah i'll be Cringing, laughing, and crying a little bit all at the same time. So then how did ECW come to be for you? We technically had the sports bar.

It was Eastern Championship Wrestling, February 24th, like I said, 1992. The first match was myself against Jimmy Genetti, which I think they ribbed me because they put us in a time limit draw, like a 15, 20, and I had no idea what I was doing. So Genetti just beat me up for 20 minutes straight. and then this guy came in, Jeff, I forget his name, hit me in the head as a shoot with a Halliburton briefcase, which was probably my first concussion in the business. And that was it.

But I realized that my body wasn't good, my work wasn't there. And they were talking about getting TV. And I was like, I'm terrible. I don't want anybody to see me like this on TV. So it was kind of weird. I had no clue about anything. It wasn't smartened up, but I was smart enough to know that I wasn't good. And if anybody saw me on TV, it would be.

embarrassing. You were smart enough to know what you didn't know from the sounds of it. Yes, I was smart enough to know I was stupid. That's pretty much what it was. And you were thrown to the wolves and it was the sink or swim. Yeah. I knew how to sell and bump. And that's kind carried me through 30 years. So it was a good, it was a good like test run of all that. So that that was good. Your middle name is Stephen, but who decided that your wrestling name would be Stevie Richards? Well, with Steve Richards at first, And I think at the time, Jimmy Genetti was one of the coaches, J.T. Smith was another one. Larry Winters was another one. They had told me think of a name of something. And I said, well, you know, I'd like to think of a name that's real because no one will ever turn around and say, well, who would make up a name like Stevie Richards? Like they, you know, back then, though, people, it was a real thing that the business was still somewhat protected. So it would be a big deal for somebody. to be able to find you if they found out your name. That's a whole different era that people

don't understand. I'm sure you do that, hey, it was a big deal for somebody to actually find out your real name and where you live and all that stuff. Sure. Yeah. It was a real task. So I tried to do, you know, kind of a double, double, as we say in the business where my name's Steve Richards and okay, cool. No one ever turned around and said, but what's your real name? You know? When I found out that Hulk Hogan's real name was Terry, my heart was broken. Yeah, me too. I've I experienced that a lot. Kind of like who's trying to think of real names that are so... Michael Hickenbottom?

Yeah, that's a little bit. That's okay. But my role is Michael, so I can't really... Hick and Bottoms. It's such a strange last name. It is. I never asked him what ethnicity that is. I'm trying to think of like the worst, like the...

There's one guy I'm thinking of as the best, like, toughest wrestling name. And I can't think of it. But then his name makes him sound like he's a... Catholic preacher or something. I hope this comes to you at some point. I think the CTEHicked in now. I'm sorry. What do you think is the biggest thing that you learned from working with Paul

Heyman? Just about everything. And it's a combination. Paul, Tommy, Raven, every single person I worked in ECW that Paul was nice enough, you know, to have the veterans that brought in and kind of taught a guy like me.

But Paul, Paul had patience. And Paul had the talent. This is why I don't understand why the promos on WWE aren't better. And I know he's not involved. Paul could do me better than me. I don't know if you ever been around Paul. Paul could do everybody's gimmick for them.

Wow. So Paul could cut the promo he needed in my voice. And then he would have the patience because I was a nervous kid. And I never, I wasn't sure if what I was doing was even good. And he would just give me a second and talk to me. He would produce me. He would ask me quite.

Much like when I went to WWE, Vince Russo for the short time, we worked together. He sat down and he kind of talked to me to get to know me and he could produce me that way. And Paul had a great talent for that. Was your voice always raspy like this? No, no, no. I got a vocal cord implant. Oh my gosh. Here's a little Easter icon for everybody.

Listen to some of my prolos from ECW, the earlier, the Raven stuff, where I first came out with the half shirt. and that was pre-neck surgery, pre-vocal cord implants, and I had a much, it probably got me heat that to have that voice. So you have someone else's vocal cords? No, no. It wasn't a transplant. It was an implant.

It's a plastic box. Oh, yeah, yeah, I definitely see the scars there. This is the neck. And this here is the vocal implant for anybody watching. What was the cause of that? Well, what happened was the initial thing was the Terry, funk guardrail thing the people had seen May 10th, 1997.

I'm trying to remember dates. This is like rain man. I'm incredible. I could turn in to him by the end of the show. Who knows? I wish I knew that I'd count cards. I would have a better camera. But the guardrail thing

really kind of messed me up for a while. And I had some neck injuries. And went to WCW. Those things continued. Came back to ECW. And it hit a point in December when it was just like it was just bad. There was a lot of numbness, a lot of pins and needles, a lot of stingers, well, on regular bumps.

So I had neck surgery on an ACF on C566, 67 on December 22, 90th, 1997. And I woke up and I was like, man, it must be just because they intubated me with the tube that my, my voice is not really there. Yeah. So about a week later, they found out that they paralyzed one of my vocal cords. So about three months later, they put the first one in in March of 98. Then I had the second one put in when I was training with Shane McMahon for Saturday night's main event. He was training for a match against Sean Michaels.

And it's just over years and years of wear and tear. And then the thing with Shane, Shane's the real deal. So it's a pretty rough thing to train with Shane. Not that he tries to hurt you, but he's a ball. So that's when I had the second implant put in from there. And that was the ECW return thing where they showed the night. It's funny, just a side note, the way WWE had worked at the time, they cut down the number of surgeries I had and they cut down the things in my life

that I had talked about to Joey in the interview because the number of surgeries were too much for somebody at my level. Wow. I had 19 throat and vocal cord surgery. I was going up to the Mass General up in Massachusetts every single week because they had to open the airway with many surgeries up until the bigger one where they put the implant in. So it was almost every week multiple surgeries on my throwing vocal cord. So I named off the 19 and I remember Dusty says to me and it's not not on Dusty. He goes, he goes, listen, they're not going to they're not going to go for that.

There was another thing about my brother dying of cancer and stuff because Joey's talking to me and asking me where I've been and what's been going on. And he goes, you got to knock that number down. So that number you see in the ECW promo is different, is much lower. They gave me the number. He told me how many surgeries I had was I had to laugh about. It's so funny. Were you able to still speak during these 19 surgeries? I was able to speak then, but it was very.

very, very raspy. And the first time after the next surgery, I wasn't able to really speak for about three months up until the March surgery. I was trying to do, and that's why I started doing this. That's why we talked about microphones before. Yeah, yeah. I started recording. I got about eight of them. This is the best one, the sure SM7B. Well, I sound terrible in all of them, so I don't know. That's because you don't have real vocal cords anymore. That's true. I got to blame the doctor for that. that seriously. When you retired in 1997, was that a legitimate retirement? Were you not playing to wrestle ever again? It was, it was sort of legitimate. And now let me, let me give you a little bit of context with that whole, that whole period. At a young age, and this is where I give

credit to the kids that are on TV today, WW Impact and AEW, to have that kind of responsibility, that kind of TV time, to have the stress that they have in their life. I probably had like, a little bit less than that, maybe on par. And the injury kind of made me make all these mistakes, one after the other, leaving ECW with hardly any notice, going to WCW out of nowhere, going back to the gimmick that I had initially, almost taking steps back and not having the awareness to know that that's what was happening. And that's not that I'm Raven or Bischoff or anybody.

That's my, I was offered a job and that was the spot I was told on. Then going back to ECW, I felt like I still, I needed to make up the time that I, or whatever past sins that I had made in the ECW got injured almost instantly or the injury had gotten to a point. And then I was done with the wrestling business after that for a short time. I went back to school for networking, for computers, for tech, for all that stuff. And then dabbled in the independence scene, which turned into like four days. days a week at that time. Like when NWA and other local indies in the tri-state area, it was crazy. It was like almost wrestling more then that I did with WWE.

And I said, I'm not going to do it. I'm perfectly fine where I'm at. I'm going to get college degrees. I'm going to do all this stuff. And then, of course, I'm going to pull you back in. We're not done with you yet. Who was it that pulled you back in? I was talking to Terry Taylor and Vince Russo quite a bit.

And Terry Taylor gave me my job in WSW. And oddly enough, he gave me my job in WWE. They were worried about my neck, but I was getting in better shape and they were watching you wrestle four nights a week. And then he said, and then I literally, I'm not even kidding you, I worked at community college in Philadelphia. In my head, I had a legitimate boss that was a mentor to me. I remember his name Jack DeMock.

He was a great guy. And he said, we're probably going to offer you a full-time job. You get free tuition. You get benefits, things I've never heard of of such a young age. And nobody had graduated from college in my family yet. So there was a little bit of prestige I was looking for there too. So I literally said, I can wrestle in the Indies, but this is my life right now. And I can pursue a academic career and do all these other things.

And I'm not even kidding you, Chris. Literally 10 seconds later, the call came. And that changed everything. It did. It did. whether it be for the better or worse, my wife was texting me. I'm sorry, I don't like to keep her waiting. No, that's okay.

Yeah, please, we call on her. She said, have a good interview. Oh, that's not, well, tell her we are having a good interview. He's very supportive. What's your wife's name? Christy. Christy. Christy, yeah, she actually had a podcast we were working on, too.

I'll tell you so low. See, this is rivet. This is riveting stuff. This is a rivet. Chris says hello. There you go. So it's just a weird thing that, like, when that happened, I talked to my mentor, my boss, Jack, and I said, I do have, this is like the worst timing of anything. If this was at the end of my career and I had this opportunity, which I thought it was the end, but I said, I have to see this through.

Yeah. I go, I might be there six months and me gone. I don't know what the deal is up there. It's a scary place, WWE. and he said, do what you have to do, live out your dream. He goes, I'll always be available. And we talked for probably a couple years after that point, especially when I got started with my YouTube channel,

was a tech channel. Yeah. And I used to send them the videos at first and get feedback when I started that in 2007. But that was the beginning. You know, I got signed my deal in June 1999. We started in August. And then Meini and I had him, I debuted on Heat, saving Meany from Al Snow.

And then we worked a program where we were trying to murder his dog with jumper cables. So I went from academia to trying to kill animals on pay-per-view. It took me a while to figure out what the right to censor was all about and what it was making fun of.

I didn't realize it was making fun of the PTC at the time, which was trying to censor everything that was going on on Raw at the time. Who pitched you this idea for right to censor? Believe it or not, this is funny. I went from obscurity of working jacked and metal and once in a while on raw, imitating doing the parody. So maybe that gave them the idea.

Vince came up and pitched to me himself. And I mind you, outside of the time that I walked up to Vince on my first day, shook his hand and thanked him for the opportunity, and he said, let's have some fun. And didn't even ask me my name or anything and just walked away. That's the next time that Vince had talked to me. So you have to imagine it's like. Wow. And the interesting thing about the right to censor was I don't think it was supposed to be for the long term. And I don't think it was supposed to turn him to what it did. It was obviously supposed to be a political statement against the parent television counsel and Bozell. It was supposed to really be something of a middle finger and F you to that. But also at the same time, it gave me the opportunity to really look at myself and have people look at me and it's completely different.

different like that I can I can talk and I can talk in this vein not just the silly comedy and the writer Jamie Morris who actually has a YouTube channel Jacob Israel he was like basically right on the pulse of doing that and knowing that not only a political thing could last a month or two but it kind of dies out yeah but a cult a cult like thing that gather some steam. And he goes, we have to turn and kind of twisted it into more cult-like phrases and look into my eyes. I'm doing this for your own good. All these different things that create like a Stockholm syndrome within those groups and stuff. It's kind of fascinating. He brought a whole new layer to me thinking about promos, a whole new psychology to it. So Jamie,

Jamie, I have to thank him for that too. Was that the worst entrance music of all time? Let me ask you a question. Yes, short answer is yes. And I would get migraines sometimes. I'd be like, please, just to have us run out without the music. Let me ask you a question. Do you think if the right to censor was on TV today, maybe even strictly on the nostalgia, do you think it would get shared? Now, I don't think it would be cheered because I think it would be, you guys would be booked as heels.

I don't think with the PG product they would put out the right to censor at all. Not in WWE, not currently. Well, the reason why they did it and they really ran with it was because the talent was beating themselves up way too much. So I think there was a protection factor. And also to peel the product intensity back, the violence, excuse me, the violence, that meant when you did see it, you appreciated it. Or when it was done to me, you really appreciate it. Yeah. So they were smart to continue to run with that and maybe give guys a little bit more of a reason.

set to not feel like they have to keep going further and further and further. Well, it definitely got you and everybody in Wright to censor over as like mega heels. Like I actually, I had a friend. I would go over to his house to watch Raw. And when you guys came out, he would mute the TV because your entrance theme was so annoying. Oh, my goodness. Oh, that's that.

That's, that's a compliment. I don't, I don't think of offense that at all. That is a compliment. He didn't switch the channel. So that makes me, you know, I would mute it until you guys got in the ring. Be like, oh, geez, that annoying beeping is finally over. The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. soccer podcast.

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Follow and listen on your favorite platform. I can even mute my promo as long as you're still tuning in for that quarter hour. Let me ask you the question in this context. If the right to censor music hit at the Royal Rumble, would it get? See, that's a different. Oh, mega pop. Of course, huge pop. Mega pop.

Then I would say the Rumbles canceled. That would be number one. Rumbles canceled. Go home. Huge pop for Stevie Richard, Steve Inred. Richard's coming out to the right to censor music. And then I imagine on your way down to the ring for the Royal Rumble, you would do something heelish and the crowd would then turn on you.

Absolutely. The LED panels would just come and try to fall on me. It was today. If there's people there, it'd be different. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Is there something interfering with your happiness or is preventing you from achieving your goals? BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional

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So the special offer for anybody listening to Insight right now is 10% off your first month. Just go to Better Help. dot com slash insight that's better help help.com slash insight how long did you think the right to censor gimmick was going to last? Interesting question because there's a lot of things I think that I've done that had had more legs and I look at this in the vein of getting baby faces over I don't look at as a run of getting myself over the heels are strictly there to really in the end get baby faces over we could have gotten a lot more baby faces over. It felt a lot longer than the year because we were out there so much on everything.

And it was really only about a year, maybe a year in a couple months. I think it could have had a really good two-year run where we could have figured out how to get Godfather back from the good father, how to get Val back to a porn story. If we could do it politically, obviously with ads and stuff, you know, the advertisers. But that's what I mean. How could we get these characters? Even if nothing was done with me and I was still a heel, I got everything I needed off the rub from everybody else.

Yeah. But how could we've, I think we could have got another year just to springboard everybody into a different position. Are you hopeful that you could have a Royal Rumble return at some point? No, not really. I mean, people ask me that all the time. People even ask me if I'm retired and I guess I am because I don't actively wrestle and I always think about, like, if I was in a Royal Rumble,

I would politic so very hard to get out of there in the quickest, like to beat Santino's record and the Bushwhackers. Because even in that vein, like I would have to be TV ready. That's another thing to, no matter what, if somebody called me tomorrow, and I was just doing a podcast with my buddy Bin Hamim for the locker room, I said, if somebody called me now and said, be on TV Monday, I would say, no, not because of my pride

of, no, you don't, you know what I mean? You got to do something. No, I'd be like, I have to get in a certain type of condition. Yeah. I have to look a certain way, so I'd have to tan. And I would also have to get into a ring and roll around because the last thing I want to do is embarrass myself and embarrass the product. Yeah.

Going out there. So even if it's a Royal Rumble thing, I'd really like to have a month's notice. So, you know, I can get in shape. Even if it's just get thrown over the top rope, at least the novelty of a guy who looks 50 or however many years. old, they're like, he's still taking care of himself and it's good to see. Yeah. Every wrestling story is a tragedy.

Yeah. I mean, look, again, look how great you look for being 40. I saw Chris Masters. I don't know if you want to, I was going to wear, I was going to wear a sleeveless shirt, and I saw his interview and I said, I thought about wearing a hoodie after that. Well, now that you bring Chris Masters up again, let's talk about that. Can I segueing unintentionally? I like that.

Very nice. Yeah, he, I don't know if everybody knows this, but in his debut match, he, he, broke your nose. I know it. You looked pretty pissed off. Well, I'm going to tell if I listened or I watched what Chris had said and I had no idea he had food poisoning and I wish the God he would have told me because I would have for everything of everybody hyping him up that day.

And I'll put the heat on people like Arne Anderson or other people that might have been ribbing him. But at the same time, this kid was so like he told you, this is the guy who snuck into the hour had pond. He's working around his idols and it's debut after these vignettes. And he gets to wrestle on raw live. Yeah. If you didn't have food poisoning, your stomach will be turning no matter what.

So I wish I knew that because I would have calmed them down because quite frankly, people were going up to him and saying, man, it's your only chance. It's the only chance you have to make good. Man, you better not fuck it up and better not do that. So I wish I could have countered that. I wasn't really aware. So when we went out there and it has. happen with the with the polish hammer first of all i mean that's probably even counting jbl that's about the hardest i've ever been hit because it's forearms right to the the whole face so i

had the broken orbital bone my nose which is still a little bit over was literally over my eye like it was that much pushed over and my all my teeth here needed to have like root canals and a couple veneers and crowns, stuff like that. So a lot of stuff can happen. Now, what happened was that when I, I mean, thank God, too, like, it's really weird how you're mentally, like he said, he had to be ready for that match no matter what. He couldn't take the day off.

So my instincts somehow knew, because I wasn't with it, dude. I was out. I could have just stayed there, but I got up and fed for the full Nelson, for the master. I didn't know where I was. And even the pickup thing, I could have blew my knees out or twist my ankle. But my body or reflex are just knowing that's what I had to do. I'm amazed that a lot of wrestlers that can finish matches, not talking about,

I'm talking about it much more like Triple H blows his quad and tells Jericho to put him in the walls of Jericho. Dude, that's whatever you say about that, dude, that's beyond professional. That's almost like you're a little crazy. that one and Kurt Angle getting concussed when the table, the announced table broke too early and he finished the match and has no recollection of finishing the match. Yeah. Resllers are a strange breed,

but here's how we put humor on stuff too. How's this? So I am visibly upset. I'm not upset with Chris like anything's going to happen or I'm not like, what are you going to do at this point? I mean, obviously all I can think about too is I feel bad for this kid because I hope they just don't take them off TV because it's a big debut.

But I'm stomping and kind of like blood is pouring out. I mean, gushing out of my mouth, out of my nose, out of one of my eyes. It was ugly. I walk like really mad blood all over me in front of the monitors here. The chairs are here. And I'm like this. And I turn and I go, excuse me. Has anybody seen Chris?

And like Molly Holly just went like that. And I said, thank you. And I stomped off. and I went up to Chris and I saw him and he was like if he wasn't crying or he wasn't crying before I got there he was on the verge and I walked up and I go I only have one question for you how are your hands and that was it yeah I asked him if he was okay oh my god so that was just trying to bring some kind and also they were watched the office was watching me yeah and testing me and testing him and I go you didn't mean to do it And he goes, I'm so sorry. And I go, I forgive you. It's okay. I go, you know, I just don't.

And I said, don't let these people over here see you sell like this. I go, we're having a conversation like, man, apologize, shake my hand. I accept your apology, shook his hand. He hugged me. And then, of course, like he told you to this day, every time. We even took a joke picture and an outdoor thing with me leaning into it. And what can you do, man? I mean, and Chris is one of the good guys in the business.

He's one of the really good guys in the business. one thing that hurt me a little bit for him was I know he was talking about when he came back and he was leaner and there was a lot of people talking and speculating and I remember they ribbed them on TV with Hunter and Sean saying he was like oh maybe I'll write a book and he was like oh what's how to lose 40 pounds in six weeks or something and yeah I was like that's really dude that's not a good thing to say to a dude just came back and he's a good guy I don't I don't you know he's one of the few that like I wish I could talk to from time to time to see how he's doing and really do care about a person outside the ring like Chris. He's such a good guy. You guys met before you interviewed him. Well, I traveled with him. So when we're off here, I'll connect you guys.

And then you can make good or do whatever you need to do. I do hate him because he looks better. Well, we all hate him. He's the masterpiece. So it was straight to the hospital for you after that apology, I'm guessing? No, I actually drove. I couldn't fly because of the altitude. And the blood clotting stuff.

So I drove 357 miles from Penn State to Connecticut where I lived. And dude, when I dropped, I mean, we go through the Pocono Mountains and everything. When I dropped that Hertz rental off, it looked like someone got murdered. It was brown leather on a like an S-U. Oh, my God. But all I could do was this. And the steer and I look and it looked. And I reached over with the GPS when they used to have G.

PPS is on top of the dash. Dude, you got handprints, bloody handprints, blood on the seat. I mean, it's just like, I was like that when I rented it. Yeah, I'm guessing you didn't get your damage deposit back. Oh, they didn't do anything surprisingly. But if I scratched, if I just touched the rear trunk with my bag loading it,

I could charge $100. So, yeah, that's the way it works. I don't miss traveling. Then you went to the hospital after that? I wanted a gym. I worked out when I got home because it was like 5 a.m. and I was like, I can't sleep. So I'm going to go to the gym.

So now, you know, there's a, there's two cups on the, on the elliptical. There's one cup from my thing and another cup from one my nose. And I, yeah, it was really interesting time. If you're a gym goer in Connecticut or Philadelphia during those times, you're probably like, I've remembered this maniac. Who is he? But I, it's the only, it's a weird thing. thing, like I said, wrestlers are crazy.

It was the only thing that I could do to feel in control at that particular point. And of course, I went to the doctor and got checked into the hospital and all that stuff after that. Jeez. That is a hell of a story. That might be one of the best stories we've ever heard on this show. I'm not, I'm telling, hopefully I'm telling this from a self-deprecating viewpoint. Oh, for sure you are.

Okay. But all of us are going, you are insane. I am. But you remember what I said, though? Never miss a workout. I don't want to go back to being 262 with a 44 inch waist. There's no excuse. And that's, I've changed now. I mean, I've no two a day, stuff like that, no overdoing it. I'm really trying to be a little bit more efficient and effective rather than working out just for the sake of doing. You know, we talked about right to censor, but I'm curious if more people know you from that or know you from the Blue World Order.

You know what's funny? They say write the censor. Now, most people won't recognize me because I have long hair and now I have a beard. But a lot of people recently, for some reason, Dr. Stevie, and I know we'll get to that, but Dr. Stevie. And then there's some people that started to discover Stevie Night Heat from watching the network. So it's kind of cool that these little things that I may become like underground kind of niche stuff. People are like, oh, I didn't know this existed and they're kind of more into it than other stuff.

But it's crazy to look at your career because you've wrestled everywhere, ECW, WCW, WWE, TNA, Ring of Honor. You've literally been everywhere. I've been, I'll tell you, and I can't even tell you how these things happened. Just showing, I mean, just showing up the ECW, obviously back then every single night, bag in hand, begging to get choke, slam, 10 times by 911 or whatever, whatever I could do to be there. Because showing up is probably half of the deal right there. I don't know if that's the way it works now. But I hope it does to some extent where if you're just there and you're willing to help

and you're willing to be seen, somebody in wrestling is always going to screw up. Somebody in wrestling is always going to no show. And that's when I would most time step in and get opportunity with places like TNA. I just told Terry Taylor after I got released. I go, you know what, I should be, I'd like to be Dr. Stevie. I love to be a business therapist. I love to erase the name Stevie Richards because all I've been doing is putting people over. That name means nothing.

Let me do a new character. And then he pitched it to Russo. Rousseau pitched it to Jared, I guess. And they brought me in. But a lot of different stuff was just me doing stuff because I wanted to work. Not because I was trying to like, because I was so smart. I was navigating these political water, shark-infested waters. I just want to do something cool and have fun.

And then if I'm working with Gold Duster, Spike Dudley on heat, we feel like we have an angle. How snow and coach would be involved in all these different things could happen from that. And who cares if, like, nobody ever watches it. We're feeling like our bumps. We're feeling like our matches, the physicality, which is the bottom match to the top match hurts just the same for most people. So that's what it was to give kind of like those things a little bit more meaning at the time. Gangrel said something to me when I interviewed him recently and he said that during the attitude era, everyone had a storyline. And it's so true.

When you think about what you were doing, you had a storyline no matter where you were on the car, no matter you were on heat or metal or jack, you had something that was progressing your story along. It's funny because, you know, Gangrel is a great guy and a hell of a worker and such a physical worker and I think he could be on TV today. That's another thing. You see the ring of fire with the music. Everybody instantly recognizes it. It's really one of those characters like him and Gold Dust that stand the test of time. But yeah, I mean, think about it. You could plug a Gangrel in to work the Rock one week on Raw. Then Gangrel could work Xbox, which they had a great program. Then you could have, you know, Steve Blackman working Billy Gunn and Steve Blackman working Austin

or everybody seemed to be just in different spots, not hierarchy. It was really, I mean, it was a great time to watch and a great time for the boys to feel like their work was being like progressed. It kind of feels like AEW does that a little bit. Like they'll have guys from all different parts of the card wrestling each other, which maybe is a callback to that era. I hope so. I heard this week, especially as we're recording this because I watch it from time to time.

I heard this week was probably the best episode that they feel like they're getting their legs underneath them from a storyline standpoint. I don't know. I'll have to watch it, but that's what I heard with the guys I podcast with. Well, I mean, which is great because AEW's done more shows without a crowd than they ever did with crowds with full arenas. So if they're getting their footing now, whenever we can have full crowds again, I think, you know, things really take off from there. Yeah, I hope so. They're lucky to be in Florida and they're lucky to have the infrastructure that with the Jacksonville Jaguarine, and everything and use that, use that as much as you can. Why do you think, I mean, you're an ECW original. Why do you think that WWE's version of ECW didn't work out?

That can be said for a lot of things that Vince McMahon didn't create. I think it's pretty obvious. I mean, he protects his brand, which is he can't blame anybody for that. But I feel like I've heard, like, just right in front of me, like, you know, he was a star in that other place. and that was almost the kiss of death. I was lucky because I was never, I was kind of up there,

but I was never known to the casuals or to maybe his eyes as a top guy from there, which I think almost was a benefit to be sort of unknown. But yeah, I don't know what happened with that. The WWE version of VCW had a different look. I loved coming through the crowd on the entrance thing instead of a ramp.

Obviously it was a vehicle. I think the whole thing was a vehicle for punk. and if that was the result that they wanted out of that, they made their money back on the investment. And what I heard from Joey Stiles one time, I think it was Joey or somebody within the office, that ECW was the most profitable brand of all three because of the investment in it and then the return.

You didn't have to put as much money into ECW, plus the rise and fall DVD was the top one or even the top five for how many years. So that was the cash cow right there. The problem was it wasn't ECW. So to even call it ECW just, I mean, I was a huge ECW fan. To call it ECW didn't feel right because it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't.

But I'll back up. I don't know if you ever interviewed Tommy. Tommy drummer. I've interviewed Tommy a few times. Has Tommy told you the story that like I remember one night stand before when they announced it was relaunching, he was in touch with Shane McMahon. And this was around the time I believe that we were doing training too in Stanford because Dreamer was in on those training sessions, taking half to beating as well

as maybe from Shane. But Dreamer told me, and Rob had talked about it too, Rob Van Dam, that it was supposed to be like all ECW, even the agents, I think Jerry Lim was supposed to. I mean, it was all supposed to be kind of encapsulated in his own brand. And it did start out where we were doing house shows. I think the first one was Racine, Wisconsin. I wrestled Al Snow. And it was very much an ECD.

style crowd. And I think that's what we were talking about. Maybe even one building where it looked like the ECW arena for TV. You know how things happened. It gets in different people's hands and then it was out of control. And I think Tommy was very, very hurt by that because he was in the office, but they weren't letting him have the vision that him and Paul wanted to have. Well, Tommy told me, and I'm sure, I think this is very public knowledge, that Vince McMahon was

helping Paul Heyman, like, ensure that ECW was going to stay in business for a while. Yes. I mean, we didn't know it at the time because we were pumped up to think they were the enemy. Although deep down, I made visits to Stanford while I was with the company and I was friends with Vince Rousseau. I would talk to Vince Rousseau all the time. So it's, yeah, I mean, but to Paul's credit and to his defense in some ways, that's what was needed to motivate us.

if we were working, what would people do if within the locker room if WWE was funding us and he'd been telling us they're the enemy all along. And that we needed to make our own names. Maybe half of the guys would have went up there and been turned into a joke gimmick and undone all the stuff that Paul had produced. They kind of did it anyway. Yeah. Those guys were going up there. So sad to see like what happened. Mike Awesome was dominant.

it in ECW and then he goes to WCW and WWE and it's like oh that's not even the same guy yeah and he's not around anymore so that's I mean it's sad he was a nice enough guy whenever I met him he's right not with for his size

much like Visserer also rest in peace to him yeah just as gentle as can be and nice and two cool guys at least to me they were yeah I feel like you could have with the momentum you had an ECW. They really could have utilized you in a mid, mid card, like, or even

higher tier in WWE. And I feel like, and you said it many times, you're just kind of there to put people over. Yeah. And I wasn't even given the opportunity to do that. It was actually a joke when like Joey, Joey wasn't making a mean joke, but he was like, you know, it was like months down the line. I was there for the first two or three weeks. And then you didn't see me. And I wasn't heard. It was like Joey's like Stevie Richards has so much, a little bit of trouble getting out of the gate here in the new ECW. It's like, well, I'm not getting blocked. But yeah, I was just a guy.

I was actually, I was in a good spot, I think, because I was attached to punk so many times. Yeah. We had some matches that I feel like really in a way carried that brand. And if I was on the losing end of all those, and like I said, if it was a vehicle to get punk over to the next level, I'm fine with having a part with that. Now, if you make me into nothing,

and I'm just a guy that always loses in the really good competitive matches with punk, I believe it only lessens him over time. Yeah. Why is he having so much trouble beating this guy that everybody beats? Yeah. Do you wear being the 21-time hardcore champion

as a badge of honor? No, because I was a 22-time. Don't let Raven fool you. Propaganda. I'm not going to get into this fight again. This guy, this is like the longest running angle ever. Hey, you know, Raven text me like a few months ago because I said something on a podcast where I said he was really, he was telling the magazine guys or the web,

whoever the guys were before that book came out. He was like, he was, we were all keeping track. It was fun. Yeah. He, Stasiak, Raven, crash, uh, spike. We're just keeping track and it turned into like a friendly rib back and forth in the locker. But I were looking at it. I was like, wow, I'm up there.

And then Raven was like, no, no, I had it more to you. And then it was just like, whatever I had, he had one more. So he took one away and called himself to, first he called himself the 23 time. Then somehow you became, they said, no, you wanted 22. Oh, that means Stevie won at 21. So I was just like, but that's, that's part of what I miss, even though Scotty will probably text me when he sees this and be like, oh, God, not again. And I'm like, but that's the fun of, at least I'll know he's okay and I'll get a text from him. What did you think about them bringing in the 24-7 championship?

Oh, that was a, I mean, that was when the people were in the crowd too, and Mick Foley came out with it. And they thought it was going to be the hardcore title, right? Yeah. And 24-7. And it was a, it was disappointment. I mean, it got a lot of cross-promotion with Grunk, with Bad Bunny and other things. But the hardcore title was more about that. Now, the thing that I didn't like about the 24-7,

and it is a safety concern, is everybody's getting school void. Yeah. It just exposes it. I mean, if you can add some element of getting hit with some kind of plunder, and I know they can't really do that with the concussions. Yeah. But you can hit somebody in the back with a cookie sheet, and they can take a back bump and you can cover them.

Yeah, and that would also be a much cooler sports center clip. if Gronk's getting hit in the back with a cookie sheet. Well, he didn't want to fall off the balcony, so I don't know if you would take the cookie sheet. Vince showed him out of fall off the balcony. That was so crazy. My favorite Vince McMahon gesture of all time, and whether he's falling off the balcony,

whether he's supposedly, allegedly, belt squatting a thousand pounds, I'll debate that until the end of time. Or the Roddy Piper phone call at the beginning of the 8,000, A&E documentary, which was, I won't go into the kind of the, you know, the verbal thing. But at the end, I love when he goes, that's a Vince McMahon. See? God damn it, you can do it.

But if watch Vince, anytime he shows off, it's like that old, like, look, I just did it. You know what I mean? Or there it is. Well, what did you learn from all your time working with Vince? I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself after the fact. And to be hypercritical, which I think everybody should look at themselves in a very critical way in order to get better, I made a lot of mistakes as far as not from a personal level, more from a business level of maybe I could have taken even more serious. I could have maybe just quietly done stuff instead of, in my way, sometimes standing up for my own

business, was talking to Vince, which my timing usually was at the worst possible time, which I had no idea. You don't know until you're actually up there talking to them. So it's a crapshoot. But a lot of different things. Now, from the other side, I always made myself available. So when you didn't see me on TV, I was an OVW. when you didn't see me on TV, I was still working house shows.

When you didn't even see me on TV and didn't see me on house shows, I was calling Johnny Ace. Where do you need me? What do you need me to do? I moved to Connecticut to make myself more available for the company. So maybe I could have did more there. Now, now, you might look at that. Man, you did a ton. I never look at it that way. I always look at like I could have done so many things maybe a little bit differently,

maybe gone a little further, maybe. maybe stuck with a little bit more. Maybe here's an interesting thing. Maybe I asked for my release from the company years earlier, rather than living in the bubble and getting my guarantee and just being comfortable. Maybe if I left four years earlier, instead of staying almost 10, or maybe if I cut that in half, went to TNA when they were starting up, made my name in TNA then, and then had the opportunity to go back to WWW under a different look from Vince.

That's what's happening a lot, I think, in most companies. And to their credit, they're getting a check, you're working. It's very scary to have your own business and brand. Trust me, 13 years after being released from WWE, I'm still waking up every day like, okay, okay, what's next? What do I do? Even though I have this stuff set up. Yeah.

I'm sure you do the same thing as your own business, man. I do. I do. I do. I always worry about it. Yeah. Yeah, maybe tell people a little bit about what it is that you are doing now with Stevie Richards Fitness.

Sure. Sure. And I'll tell you an interesting little fact of how funny things work out. Yeah. Apparently have Stevie Richards Fitness. It's a resistance band training program. There's a 12 and 16 week programs. Like I said, I like to really cater to beginners and people resetting or rehabbing injuries,

things that I had to deal with in my career in life. There's also full follow-long workout videos that you can buy. but I initially got into the YouTube game back in 2007. I had a YouTube channel. I also had a podcast that was mainly technology. And it just got no traction. Okay? And I enjoyed doing it.

And I did it under my real name because I didn't want the crutch of wrestling. I wanted to see if I was going to be good enough on my own. So over time, it did kind of gain a little traction. But what happened is after I got released, I went to TNA. I tried getting into fitness, personal training, creating fitness content, doing all that kind of stuff. I even had an in-person kind of personal training business at my friend's gym. I got new clients. And this is coming off WWTV currently being on TNA and nobody, and I wasn't really like TV shape.

Yeah. And nobody wanted to work out. Nobody wanted to train me. No one wanted to pay me. I tried that for a couple of years. It didn't work out. then I created these programs in 2016, the first one being the 12 week. It sold one copy in one year.

And I make the joke, but I don't think I'm joking. It was probably somebody that knew me and just felt sorry for me. And there was nothing wrong with the program. This is what I was doing when I couldn't get to the gym when I was injured and couldn't lift weights. Even at the flight delays, if I wanted to get a workout, and I knew I had to land, put my gear in the car and go right to the ring for the first match. Yeah. I still got my workout in using the resistance band.

So this is like 20 years in the making since I, since I was in WWE. So I had to retool it. I had to do different things. Then I went into a realm, which is what we all do, like we all want to be all things to all people. You have a YouTube channel where you interview people about their wrestling careers in our lives. if you turned around and just started putting up cooking videos

that didn't have the wrestler in it, that you weren't, like we're going to work out together and have fun and talk and do stuff like that. But if I was trying to be a powerlifting guy, I was trying to be a bodybuilding guy, I was trying to be the advanced guy, the intermediate guy, and then this beginner guy. You had to find your niche is what you're saying.

Yes. And then my wife just turned around to me and said, what's wrong with being the resistance band guy? And at first you're like, well, I'm so much more than that. Now, I do my Vince McMahon walk. But really what it comes down to is you need to be defined by people need to know what you are. It is kind of a label. It is kind of stereotyped.

It is kind of staying in your lane. Once I did that and I started focusing and I started really testing things like I told you about the power band program. It started to work because now people are like, oh, okay, I get it. I'm just starting out because, God, I mean, that can't be a Luke Hawks. I can't be a C.T. Fletcher. I can't be a Mark Bell, but it can be me. Yeah. And that really is me. And then it started to build up and I'm not on TV and I'm not wrestling full time for anybody on TV or even part time. And it started to gain traction. So the site's been up since then. The interesting thing is Chris, that a natural progression was

the band program and then my wife gave me permission to turn our entire apartment. into a home gym. This is pre-pandemic, like two or three years before that. And I got an affiliate model with Force USA, with Diamondback Fitness, with other fitness companies. And I test home gym equipment. So the people that do the band programs eventually say, I want to start lifting weights, but I don't want to go to the gym because I'm still not confident enough. So it was weird how it all worked out because I had no idea that these things would even line up. Whatever you believe in. I believe in God. I believe in what I believe. If you believe in serendipity or in the universe, it's just weird how these things come together, not when you want

them to when they're supposed to. And then this all takes off, I'm sure, with COVID and everybody working out from home. Yeah, it's been, I didn't want it to be successful because of this. Well, it's successful also in spite of this. Exactly. I'm really inspired. by people that actually have taken the initiative to know that, man, if I buy this, it's expensive, but it's like the buy once, cry once thing. And they know I'm not going back to the gym. And whoever makes the decisions is not going to decide whether I work out or, excuse me, stay in shape or what I do because it is right there. It's in my garage. It's in my basement. It's in a spare bedroom. And that's the coolest thing when they said, it's because I watch your video. And it's like,

you are you you you are honest about it because not everything is great I'm not going to be like you know a shield for something but you get to a point I'm sure you know like you with the original wallet you still got that sponsorship I'm trying to plug it yeah the code is it is a rich dot com slash CVV there you go but you don't have to you don't have to the best feeling in the world is when you don't have to lie to people and you convert sales at the same time. Yeah. I told you before when I started before I was wrestling and I was young, I wasn't trying to be a phony or be somebody that I wasn't, but I wasn't comfortable with who I wasn't. I didn't know if people would ever accept me for me just being the goof that I am.

Yeah. But these things that I have and the things that I talk about, and even before I get on with you, it's just a little side note. I have the same social anxiety of meeting new people and talking to new people and I was nervous about being on here with you. I watched your stuff and I didn't logically have a reason, but you're somebody new that I'm meeting and I'm hoping that we can get along and we can talk and that you like it and that you like what's what this is going to be when you upload. I love this. This has been an amazing conversation and I think the big takeaway from everything you just said there is you've been authentically you, your whole career in the wrestling ring and now with what you're doing in fitness.

Sometimes to a detriment. Maybe, but that's also why you've been so successful. I am, success has measured different ways. I've been such an immensely blessed person to have success and people around me that support me whether I'm successful or not. And there's no such, it sounds so cliche to say there's no such thing as failures. But all the failures that I had are in the same category space that I'm having success. And I just didn't find what you said.

I didn't find my niche. I didn't find where I could be comfortable and people could be comfortable with me. And it takes time. Yeah. By the way, I'm going to link up to your YouTube channel down below so people can subscribe to you if they're watching this right now. So everybody who's watching this can go over and subscribe to Stevie's channel. I'm going to buy that Ridge wallet now so we can support each other. What is your definition of success?

I would say, I mean, financial is one thing, but there's a lot of people that have a lot of money that are miserable. I would say more fulfillment. Like when you wake up in the beginning of the day, you have an idea what you want to do. Yeah. And then if you can progress even just this much. Yeah. Like this thing is a super positive thing, talking to you and spending time and hopefully people getting the know me a little bit better. It's a pretty awesome thing.

So if nothing good happens for the rest of the day, I'm okay. But I got up and worked out. So that's a mini success right there. Then I served others. I was there to help my wife even get something ready before she went to work. I feed my cats. I do things. I see somebody having trouble at Walmart today because they're a little short trying to reach the top shelf.

And I ask them, and I have the ability to help. It sounds so deeply cliche or anything. But just at that moment, I was able to kind of give that little person a little bit of help at a point of frustration. Yeah. And just walk away and they say thank you. So you're welcome and we're off. It's celebrating these little wins in every day.

And I think that if you win the morning, you'll win the day. And if you win enough days in the week, you win the week. And then if you win the weeks, you win the months. And then it just keeps going on from there. Here's the trend. And I do it all the time. I'm MFF and myself all the time. It's okay to have bad days.

It's got to be okay to have bad days because you only, to be able to recognize what the good ones are. But was it a bad day or was it a bad five minutes, 20 minutes, bad hour? And I think that that's the big thing that too many people will focus on the tiny little piece of their day and not realize they have 23 and a half more hours to figure stuff out.

You should start a motivational channel. That could be a collaboration that will do here. Me, we'll make this happen. I've really enjoyed this. Thank you so much. Same here. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.

It's the only thing I regret is that you and I, to some capacity, you didn't hook up together sooner to kind of just be asked and talk and get to know each other. No, it was meant to be at this exact moment on this exact day. Vince Russo was the one

who connected us together. So a big thank you to him. And you know, Stevie, I end every interview talking about gratitude. So I'm curious, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? I said it before.

I'm grateful. Well, I'm grateful for my health because I did everything in my power in my wrestling career to not have my health. So I'm very grateful to that. I'm grateful for the people that I love and care, that love and care about me. Talking about my wife, my friends, people that I'm close to, even people that, you know,

come across and put me in a more positive, you know, frame of mind per day. You being one of those people right now. Oh, thank you. And, you know, on a belief, I'm grateful for my faith. I'm grateful to still have my faith today when it's tough in this society. It can be whatever faith you want it to be. I always preface with that or no faith at all, but it's a very powerful thing to have. And as things become tougher and tougher in life and society in this world, having that makes you act completely differently than if you lose it all.

Does that make sense? Makes total sense. What a great way to end this. My goodness. Thank God. I wasn't sure there for a second. I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. Thank you so much.

Thank you, man. I appreciate it. There's so much that we learn from that interview. A big thank you to Stevie for his time. Big thank you to you for your time as well. There's so many podcasts in the world you could be listening to. So thank you for spending the last hour with us. You can learn more about Stevie Richards Fitness at stevie richards fitness. At stevie richards fitness.com.

And snap a screenshot. Let us know what stood out for you the most during this episode. Tag Stevie on Twitter. He's at BWO Stevie. And he's at Stevie Richards on Instagram. I am at Chris Van Vleet. And there's a sign that is hung in my parents' house since I was a kid. And that sign is still there now.

My parents, Dirk and Helen Van Vleet, who are the greatest parents anyone could ever ask for, have been married for 47 years. And they still live in the same house since before I was born. And this sign hangs there. And it's really motivated me. I don't know if this, I don't know if I realized the effect that this quote had on my life as a kid, but now in hindsight, when I look back, I'm like, oh, yeah, for sure. The quote

is from John A shed that says, a ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. And when I think about this, over the course of my career, I moved from my hometown Pickering, Ontario, Canada, to Vancouver, to Toronto, to Cleveland, to Miami, to Fort Lauderdale, to Cincinnati, and now I live in Los Angeles, because a ship in harbor is safe. but that's not what ships are built for. So however that applies to your life, take that with you this week. Also, a happy belated Mother's Day

to any of the mothers that are listening out there. And happy belated Mother's, well, I FaceTime my mom on Mother's Day, but happy belated Mother's Day to Helen Van Fleet as well. She's the best. You're the best for listening to. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. Thanks for listening to this little tangent I went off on here.

I thought it was interesting. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock?

I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley.

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