Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Talking Cowboy Sh*t With "Hangman" Adam Page

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

"Hangman" Adam Page (@theadampage) is a professional wrestler for All Elite Wrestling where he is the current AEW World Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the Squared Circle Expo 2 in Indianapolis to talk about the championship match he had with Adam Cole the night before, how similar he is to his character, the biggest thing that has changed since he became a father, why he prefers to keep his private life off of the internet, the matches in AEW that he is most proud of, his job as a teacher, how Being The Elite changed his career, his time in Ring of Honor, working with Jon Moxley, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://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 CVV CLIPS: youtube.com/CVVCLIPS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blitz! Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us as we sit down with the AEW champ himself, Hangman Adam Page. I mean, we've done interviews with all of the AEW champions before. Chris Jericho, John Moxley, Kenny Omega,

but never while they were the champion, never with the actual title belt in their possession. And it was on his lap the entire time here. It was such a treat. Talking to Hangman Adam Page at the Squared Circle Expo 2 in Indianapolis. And the thing I love about Hangman is what you see is what you get. What a guy. Snap a screenshot.

Let us know what you think of this interview. And I'm sure you know a friend or a family member who's a fan of Hangman. So share this with them. Share it on social media. Tag us so we know you're listening. He is at the Adam Page on Twitter. He's at Hangman Adam Page on Instagram. And I am at Chris Van Fleet on all of the platforms,

except for TikTok where I am Chris dot Van Fleet. If it's your first time here and you like what you hear here, do you like what you hear here? You know what I'm saying. If you like what you hear, here. So you make sense. It'd be amazing if you would consider subscribing wherever you're listening to this right now. Big shout out to our fan of the week,

Logan Cummins, who says, Insight with Chris Fanfleet is a gift. A long-time listener. I love Chris's conversational interview style and the insights, pun intended, that I take away from his guests. Every episode is a must listen. Well, thank you so much, sir. Logan, you're awesome. I was actually a guest on Logan's podcast recently called Fast Friends. That interview will be coming out soon, so make sure to subscribe to Fast Friends so you don't miss out on that conversation. We talk about things in that conversation

that I never thought that I would ever talk about. So go check that out. It'll be coming out very soon. And I read one review on every single episode. It's my way to say, thank you for being on this audio adventure with me. So if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, please leave a few words,

leave a few emojis. We'll shout you out on the show and hey, if you're a Spotify listener, they've got ratings. So go in there, click the stars on there, and, well, I'll give you a big high five the next time I see you. Okay, let's dive into this. It's so good. Please welcome the AEW world champion, hangman, Adam Page. That's been so long since we've done an interview.

I think 72 years. Maybe 73, perhaps. Maybe, yeah. You look great for your age, though. account same to you man oh thank you so much holding up really well yeah what are you now 104 that's uh 64 wow yeah yeah well's oldest man i feel it at least i bet you do you know is that mostly with the wrestling the lack of sleep or the baby i think all those three together yeah yeah it's aging me quick i'm watching my hair line so like uh people were coming up today with like one guy came up with a photo

we had taken together on like the first jericho cruise and he wanted me to sign it and i just i wanted to cry because my hair hairline was like way down here i couldn't believe it you don't realize you're getting older until you see like a picture that was just a couple years ago and you look so little like oh my god yeah so it's catching up i think the blue stitches in your face there really is it a nice touch i look we can't see it in the video that much you know there it is a few people today thought i had just drawn on my face with the marker and were like trying to tell me like hey hang man like i'm so sorry but like you get a little something on your face i'm like yeah i know it's yeah did you watch the match last night it's blue stitches the doctor told me they would blend in uh they don't

um how would they blend into a blonde beard i believe him i don't know he's a doctor what the hell i know you know how many stitches is this i don't know i lost count after seven or eight oh my yeah i mean it might be like it might be eight as we're sitting here right now people might not know that last night was your Texas death match. It was, yeah, Texas death last night. A hell of a match. Thank you. God bless you.

Other than your chin, what hurts on you from that? My knees, I picked Cole up for the dead eye off the apron through that table. And it didn't occur to me until, like, that very moment. Like, when I jumped, I thought, oh, shit, I don't have a knee pads. This is going to hurt so bad. So that, yeah, just weird little cuts and stuff. that burns when you take a shower or whatever. Nice.

Yeah. This chin split wide open. You ever done a backflip and a guy like kicked you in the face in midair? I can't say that that's been something that's happened to me. I asked people today and this never happened to anyone else either. Yeah. Crazy. But yeah, split my chin open.

And you've got the championship still. Still have the championship. Yeah. So if I continue to hold on this for a while, my face, maybe nothing left. What's it like going through the airport with that? Uh, it's, it's a pain in the ass. I mean, it's obviously wonderful to have, but to take it through TSA as a pain in the ass. You can't, you can't put it in your check bag, right?

Because you can't let it leave your site. So it's in your backpack and it's, you know, 60 pounds or whatever. And then 60 pounds. You know, and you go to TSA and, you know, they're all like, you know, take off your belt. Your shoes got it to come off, you know, electronics out of your bag. But they don't like, they don't list world championships. If they stay in the bag or they come out of the bag. So, like, it's all on you.

You kind of have to figure out. So I always have to take it out in separate bin. Like I'm watching the guy, like, who's seeing the little x-ray or whatever. And he, like, you see him there. He's just kind of bored of his mind. And he's kind of like, he's doing this number. And he's like, like, peeking around at you. And you're like, yeah, I'm like hoping he doesn't make a scene.

And then the questions come. Don't that. A question's come. You know, they're, oh, oh, what are you the champion of? You just got to be like, the world. You know what I mean? Yeah. Can you not read it?

Right, of course. Yeah. It says right there. My name's even on it. Right, yeah. So, yeah. Anyway, it's, it's quite a, quite a, quite a trip to get it through TAS. I was looking at it earlier when we were talking.

There's, like, a lot of blood on this belt. There is. Is it yours? Um, I don't know. I have no idea. Is it previous champions blood? No, I would hope not. It's probably been cleaned since.

So it's probably just dirty from yesterday. So I would probably guess my blood, uh, because there's only one who touched it yesterday. Um, so, so probably mine. But it was a good excuse to not. have people like pick it up and down off the table. You wrestle a little ghost yesterday, right? Oh, right. Yeah.

Yeah, pretty weird. You punch him and use hand goes right through. Yeah. How does that even work? I don't know, but it has twice now. So it's actually been four years since we last talk. Close to 70. Four actual years.

Yeah, four actual years. Estimates were off. Just a little bit. Three and a half maybe. I don't know. Yeah, something like that. Close to 72. Ring of honor anyway.

But so much has happened since then. Yeah. Like for me from the outside looking in, It's so easy to go, look at everything that's happened. How does it feel for you? It's just crazy, man. There was a pandemic. There's like a war in Ukraine.

There's just so much shit has happened since then. It's hard to take it all in, honestly, you know. And you also, you know, you're with a different company now. You're the champion of the world. Oh, yeah, like wrestling. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's been weird. There's a whole new wrestling company.

If I would have told myself now, like, four years ago, what would be happening? I wouldn't have remotely believed it. Yeah, wild, wild few years. I don't know if anyone would have believed it. Probably not. No, it sounds like bullshit on its face. It seriously does.

Right, yeah, at least from four years ago's perspective. When you first, like, when you wrestled your first few matches with AEW, what did you think that, like, obviously this was the goal, having the championship, but what did you think was going to be your first year, your second year, your third year with AEW? I don't know. I never looked at it that way. I always just knew my personal, professional goal was to win this championship. And that was it.

And I mean, it was just week to week, like, what the hell have I got to do, how to figure this out and get there? And the amount of time it took whether it was, you know, that first all out or whether it was what ended up being three years later or whatever. I didn't know how long that would take. We got there. But you're here now. And the journey, though, has been interesting. Like, I feel like your character has shifted a lot, too. A bit. I mean, it's been a long time. I've had time to grow and change and, you know, yeah, I guess such as human nature.

Such is life? Such as life. Perhaps. How much of you is Adam Page? Like, all of it, yeah. No, but like how much of like you, who you are is the character? All of it. Really? Very much so, yeah. It's very weird. It's difficult to do and reckon with yourself. But it's also cathartic to just be like, oh, well, yeah, this is shitty, but this is me. In what way? You know, I don't know.

I mean, just everything over the past few years, I've never been a perfect person, but to, you know, acknowledge it and I reckon with it and just put it out there. It's cathartic to get through that. But there's got to be something that you keep close to the vest. you're like, you know, that's not going to be part of the public persona. Oh, yeah, probably, yeah, probably quite a few things. Like, how different if we were to hang out at your house? How much different would you be, like, with your family? I wouldn't say any different, but I, that's one that I don't really talk about my family a lot.

You know, I feel like just, and people, other wrestlers do whatever. And that's totally on that. But I've always felt like there at least needs to be something in my life that's not public. you know what I mean? Yeah. Because otherwise, when your whole life's public, I feel like you start to lose being you, and you start to become like, who am I to the whole world, you know?

So I've always tried to at least keep my personal life fairly private. And that's an interesting point, because if you're the same person with your family that you are with everybody else, then they're not getting anything different. Right, yeah. And then you are, you know, I feel like you have to, you know, it's work and you have to have work-life balance. It's an easy way to start to lose that, I think.

Yeah. How much is becoming a dad changed you? Probably a lot. I'm sleeping a lot less. Somehow, even less. Now is actually not so bad. I'm getting a little sleep now. Sleep's going pretty good.

Is the baby getting sleep? That's why, right? That's why I'm sleeping, yes. Yeah, it's just like your goals, I guess, shift a little, your attitude towards, I don't know, just life in general shifts a bit slowly, you know? Yeah. Did you always know that you wanted to do this? Do this interview? I mean, I thought when you asked me today, I thought, well, I hadn't really considered it, but I, yeah.

If I have to. Well, I just said, it never occurred to me that this would happen. But yeah, when you asked, yeah, I thought, yeah, sure, I'll do it. Yeah. That's very kind of you, too. Of course. Appreciate that. But like when you were growing up, was wrestling the job you always wanted?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I went through some other things. You were telling me how to set up the video camera, which was nice. So I went through that. So in third grade, I wanted when I grew up to be the guy who makes the Pokemon games. I thought like, yeah, I'll make Pokemon games when I'm grown up. I also, then I got into wrestling. I also at one point wanted to be a magician.

I also wanted to be a clown in the circus. Let's see, what else? I wanted to be a filmmaker. I also, I never really wanted to be a teacher. But I got a job doing it. So I ended up kind of liking it. So I guess you could count that as well. And obviously, wrestling, yeah.

Of all those jobs you listed, wrestlers seems like the most obscure. Like magician. Yeah, maybe, yeah. Right? Yeah, I guess more obscure than clown in the circus. Circus is not really that big anymore. That would have been a terrible career moves now that I think about it.

Yeah. You can still get to do like a lot of the fun stuff. I mean, I'm basically, yeah, I'm a circus clown, right? Practically. I mean, wrestling is a lot like a traveling circus. It is very much. It is a traveling circus. Yeah.

Just the trapeze act is a little different. It seems like you guys might get hurt just a little bit more. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. There's not going to be a 40 or 50 footfall. I hope I'm not shot out of a cannon, but it's not a bad idea. I could be a good spot. I mean, you do ride, you ride a horse to the ring on occasion.

That's very circus-like. Yeah, it is. There's a ring. Only one, not three. There have been two. Oh, that's true. Wow. Yeah.

Very similar. Yeah, I guess in many ways my dreams have come true. How much was that horse freaking out? Oh, it. All out, I guess. Yeah, yeah. No, not at all. That was a performing horse.

So that horse... What was the horse's name? I think Stony. Stony. Yes, I told, I told everyone his name was Hunter Horse Hemsley. That wasn't true. His name was Stoney. He was a performing horse.

He was from, I want to say, somewhere in Wisconsin, kind of close to Chicago. Is Wisconsin close to Chicago? Yeah, very. Okay, good. Hoo! Okay. Yeah, he was from Wisconsin.

He was in Chicago. fire in Chicago PD. He was in the Dark Night Batman movie. It's a famous horse. It's a bomb-proof horse. So, like, a bomb-proof horse is, you know, trained to perform in, like, rodeos and live performances with, you know, hundreds and thousands of people

and fireworks and stuff like that. Like, they, that's what they do. And that's what he did. So he was cool as a cucumber, man. Actually, I think he was probably cooler when we actually, you know, did the live show than, like, trying to rehearse going out there, you know. He was like, I'm not performing unless people are here. Right, yeah.

He wasn't on, you know? That's right. He didn't hear action. Right, of course. He's used to working with Christopher Nolan in the Dark Night movie. Of course, yeah. And here I am some asshole sitting on his back trying to ride him to a wrestling match. That's right.

And a one ring circus. Right. Unbelievable. Only one. Yeah. If we go back here, what do you think was the first real step where you went, okay, wrestling can be something I do for a living? Kind of working with Ring of Honor.

I mean, you know, when I, first, like very first started out of Ring of Honor, I wasn't, I was not making a living at it. Um, and that took a while. So, I mean, even that, like, I was teaching during the week, uh, wrestling on the weekends. And, but like that money started to add up like, oh, wow, I can put a little bit savings here that, you know, whatever, like, oh my God. Um, and I, I think once, uh, I knew that I was going to join Bullet Club, uh, and I was going to start touring, uh, with New Japan. I kind of knew then, like, I think, even before that decision had been made,

I was on just like a per appearance deal, I think. So like even like I wasn't making enough for a living. But I knew at that point like, well, I know my deal will be up at the end of the year. I know if I'm going to be in Bullet Club, I'm going to be going, you know, over to Japan and stuff. Like I will probably get a guarantee of some sort, like a salary. Like it will be a living.

So then I kind of figured, and this was like April, May of that year. So I figured like, okay, well, I will wrap up the school year. I'll tell them, tell them I'm done, you know. And we'll see. We'll see when January comes around if I'm right, but I'm pretty sure I'll give a salary I can live on. And thank God, I'd have been screwed. The kids must have thought you were so cool.

Oh, no, they didn't. They thought it was lame, man. What do you, if my teacher was a pro wrestler, you'd be the coolest teacher ever. No, they were, it was fun. Like, I would intro, like, I would intro, the first day of class, you know, we'd syllabus and all that stuff. And I would intro the class and blah, blah, blah. And then I would have like a slide in my little presentation. Like, okay, and I'm Mr. Woltz.

I'm also a professional wrestler. Here's like a clip of me, like getting hit in the head of the chair. Here's me doing a wrestling move. Like, this is, you know, whatever. And I would put all that out there and then I'd answer a bunch of questions. Obviously not about the class about that. And then like once I did all that, then it was like, oh, all right. Well, he seems normal.

He's our teacher. And then like it was over. That was it. What's the question you got asked every single year after that presentation? Oh, man, I don't know. They were always really weird questions. It's hard to like... Oh, give us a weird question.

I don't know, man. Like, you know, oh, you know, like, oh, do you know the Undertaker or whatever? Like, stuff like, you know, stuff from people who don't, like, kids who don't watch wrestling. The same questions you get when the TSA pulls this out. Yeah, right. Oh, is that stuff hurt, you know, or whatever. Like, I'm coming in class with, like, black eye. like this all screwed up looking.

They're like, oh, what happened to you? Like, you know what happened to me. Shut up. What about like parent teacher conferences? Would, you know, would any of the moms or dads be like, oh, you're the guy? No, not really, no. But so my classes were, like, they weren't English math or stuff. Mine were like the extra, extra classes.

So by the time, like, parents showed up for stuff, they didn't come to my thing. Because if the parents were involved enough with the child's education, they probably had an A in my class. Like they were doing well. So they didn't need to come see me. And then those who weren't, like, if you weren't doing well in my class, your parents probably weren't coming, you know?

Like, those poor kids, like, they just had nobody like to push them, I guess. And if you were failing my class, like, you'd have to be trying to fail my class. This idea, though, of betting on yourself and going, I think this thing's coming. I feel like the pieces are in, place here. That's a big move to leave like the guaranteed deal that you had. Yeah, I mean,

I guess so. But I mean, it's just, I mean, it's life, right? You just look at, look at the circumstances around you and try to figure out like, well, you know, I think this is going to happen or I think this is going to happen for better or worse. Yeah. And I mean, it, thankfully, it's worked out so well for me. I mean, I know it always won't. I'm sure one of these days I'll make a gamble and I'll be wrong. I don't know. Which will be fine. I feel like you're making a lot. making a lot of the right place. I mean, in many ways, I probably made some really bad gambling decisions. I went to, to college for communication. I said to communication. Hey, me too. With an emphasis in film. And I realized one semester in that, oh, shit, I don't want to make

movies. So that was probably a bad gamble. But I mean, you know, you'd make something of it. But then you've continued your, like you got your Bachelor of Arts, right? Right. Yeah, yeah. Well, I managed to do it. So I managed to get my bachelor's in two years. But had it been like the full four years, I would have quit. And I don't know where I'd be, yeah. Everyone who wants to make films, I feel like is inspired by one or two big directors. Right. So who was it for you?

No one, yeah, because I realized I didn't want to make movies. But you were inspired enough to go to school for it. So when I was in high school, I had a friend and we had a video camera and we're like, oh, man, you know, it would be cool. Because we did backyard wrestling stuff together. Like, oh, we should like make a movie. That would be cool, you know, whatever. And we could put all our favorite music in it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like, it'll be some fun thing to do on the weekends or whatever. So that's what we did. And I didn't realize, like, I don't actually want to make a movie. I just want to, like, dick around my friends. That's really what I wanted to do. I didn't, like, want to actually make a movie. And that didn't hit me until, like, the first semester of college. I thought, like, oh, they're teaching me to be, like, to move to L.A.

And, like, make coffee and try to work my way up to be a film director. I don't want to do that at all. Yeah. Yeah. That is the very interesting thing about the film business. If you want to be a director, it's kind of like your journey here with wrestling. Yeah, very much. Yeah.

It's like, okay, you got to pay your dues for a really long time. Right, right. What was your backyard wrestling name? So I had several. Okay. Were any of them Hangman Adam Page? So it was, it wasn't Hangman yet. So there's only me and my one other friend Adam, who's name I've now adopted.

And then we had a rotating cast of. of, you know, classmates of friends who would, like, for one show, join in, but they weren't recurring characters. It was largely just me and my friend Adam. So to make a show, you had to have more than one. We'd have, you know, maybe three matches. So it was me versus him. And it was me and him in two different masks. And then me and him in two different, different masks. And that was the show. So you'd like rustling a trampoline for an hour in these hot ass masks. I was kid kryptonite. I was a hurricane inspired, really poorly. done superhero.

It was very bad at being a superhero. That was one of my characters. Another one, my name was Blade, much like The Blade. I was nowhere near as jacked, nowhere near as cool. As Ryan Reynolds? No, I'm like, the Blade Trinity, like Wesley Snipes? No, no, Blade of Butcher and the

Oh, okay. I was going to movies here. No, no, no, I'm going to the Blade. I was Blade, but I wore a ski mask that I had sewed yarn into like long hair. That was a character, I guess. And then I was just me. So those were three. I might have had another that I don't quite remember, yeah.

Was you just your normal name? Yeah, just me. I mean, you know, my name, yeah. I mean, this was just like my parents and like my uncle and, you know, like, oh, the friend from down the road who like come to watch this. And a trampoline. And a trampoline, yeah. Yeah.

Well, my parents, when I was, I don't know, maybe the fifth or sixth grade, they for Christmas for me one year we had a trampoline or I guess we had busted the first trampoline all the shit so they bought a new trampoline and they built like a wooden wrestling ring frame around it

wooden posts ropes that eventually took the springs from the old trampoline hooked them up to those ropes so the ropes had like spring like you could do stuff on them it was wild yeah very wild man

you couldn't bump on the wood though way way too way too much did you have any really bad injuries uh in backyard wrestling no no that's thanks surprising right can you imagine where we'd be i wouldn't be here had i like broke my leg i was a backyard wrestler and oh wow really what's your what's your what's your name come on chris sharp christ sharp damn it's not bad it's not bad right how old were you then 16 16 and 17 we were in high school we actually drew like crowds of like 60 70 80 people oh wow really yeah okay

my arch nemesis was danny courageous okay and he actually ended up being becoming an independent wrestler in the Toronto area. His real name is Will White, but then his wrestling gimmick was Bill Black. So like the complete opposite. Damn, that's clever. This was pretty good. So he wore white when he was Will White.

And then when he, like, when you made him angry, like Ken Shamrock style, he ripped it off and had black tights underage. Oh, so he had like tear off gear and everything. Wow. Yeah. And he became Bill Black. So Chris Sharp was very inspired by Triple H.

Okay. Like I taped my left wrist and then I taped my right wrist. and my right hand, like Triple H. Okay. I was sharp talking, sharp walking, sharp dressing. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. And then I trained to be a pro wrestler when I was 20, and I was like, you know what, I'll leave this to the actual professionals. Yeah, that's, I think when people first get in the ring and start training, like, that's the easiest part to realize, like, never mind. I did it for like three months in the summer of college. Okay. And then I was like, well, now that I've moved back to college when school started back up,

it's now an hour away. It's called the squared circle in Toronto. It's now an hour away, and I've got all these classes during the week, and, like, I feel like I can't do both. It's impossible, right? People can clearly do it. But I was like, I want to make sure I go all the way in. Well, you had your stuff together. Some other people are clearly out of their minds.

I mean, when you took your first bump in an actual ring, were you like, okay. Yeah, I didn't believe how much it hurt. You know, like, obviously, I knew it hurt. But, like, you would see guys, like, bump, and then they'd get up. And I thought like, oh my God. And I mean, of course I was like 14, you know, so it hurt way worse. You know, I'm just skin and bones too, you know, so that doesn't help. Running the ropes, I think, is the most surprising thing when you do that for the first time.

Because you're doing all these drills in wrestling school. And then you get home and you have a huge welt on your back. Yeah, yeah. I think running the ropes for me was maybe like the easiest or most like natural thing. Because they had this ring in the backyard, not that the, this was a real ring, but you would run the rope. So there was spring. You'd catch your back on, like, so I was kind of not that I really knew what it was

doing, but like I kind of was used to that. That was a natural one. There's also, though, the downside of like, you think you know how to do it because you've been a backyard wrestler. That's true. And then you go into a ring and they're like, what are you doing? Unlearning, very difficult. Like, I learned very quickly when I went to wrestling school that everything's done on the

left side. And like, when I'm in the backyard, we're giving suplexes on the right side. Oh, yeah. It's just wild west. Who cares? Yeah. no idea what you're doing what was the what was the first moment after you know you got paid and you were able to do this for a living what was the first moment where you went i might actually be like

pretty good at this shit i don't know um like i'm still waiting for that moment yeah yeah like any day now really i'll i'll think i have this figured out like i feel like you got really over with everything with being the elite like and everything there yeah yeah i think like for me that That was maybe one of the biggest, or if not the biggest thing to happen to me, positively in my career was not even wrestling. It was getting to do being the elite because I talked earlier about wanting to go to school,

not because I wanted to make movies because I wanted to dick around my friends and make super videos. And that's what that was. You got to do it. And we did a story on BT where I was kidnapped by WWE. And we started doing the Where's Hangman bit, and we filmed a bunch of bits.

of like just random people at PWG show or whatever. You're going, Where's Hangman or whatever? And I remember Hunter at Ring of Honor, like asking, I think the bucks about like, hey, what's this all, like, what's all this Where's Hangman stuff? Like, do people think he's, like, he didn't really know exactly what was going on? And they, like, filled him in and they were like, we have to use this on the show, like, the pay-per-view we're going to do because he's supposed to be missing. And I couldn't just be at the pay-per-view if I'm supposed to be missing.

Yeah. So he did the whole bit where I like came out my hands duct tape together and stuff by WWE. And like to, and it got a huge reaction. And we had like, I had gone to like Office Max or whatever the hell and had a bunch of like missing posters, you know, printed up and had like the little tabs at the bottom where you pull for like a, you know, how to report me if you saw me or whatever and posted them all over the arena. And people were like grabbing them and trying to get them signed and all this kind of stuff. but that was like one of the first things I did that like I was just having so much fun doing that and I thought like man this is it like this is this is what I want to do and like it was BT it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger where it wasn't just like I mean you know even before I was

on it but it wasn't just like a YouTube show it felt like a movement you know it felt like we would do these indie shows or ring of honor shows or whatever and they were more interested in what we were doing on BT than than anything above and beyond. And that's when I kind of felt like, like we're on to something. And I don't mean to like take credit for that. Obviously, this is,

was Matt and Nick's show. Yeah, it's their baby. But, you know, I was a part of it. And it felt like, man, really on to something. And there's no way this is not going to continue to get bigger. I don't know how much bigger. I wouldn't have imagined this bigger. But something special is happening.

Yeah. And I'm going to do a little bit more than make a living at this, I think. And it was so amazing to see that storylines that you had on BTE were like carrying over. Right. And like fans were chanting things from BTE that like were never talked about on the wrestling shows. And I think that's where it was like so cool to see that. Yeah. And I think like, you know, it felt like you were, you were on the inside of something.

Like you watched the 10 or 15 minute YouTube show. Like it was something you knew that we took time out of our, you know, wrestling actual schedule. what we're supposed to be doing to make this stuff. And it was like we had a connection, you know what I mean? And people were having fun trying to give that back to us. And it was weird, yeah, because like for a while there, it felt like for better or worse, whether they wanted it to be or not, or whether we wanted it to be or not. It felt like Ring of Honor was really about BTE.

It did. Yeah. Yeah. And that was a real turning point for me, at least mentally and figuring out, like, how long this would last for me. And then the ultimate nod was that it's all elite wrestling because it was being the elite. Right, right, yeah. Like, that's pretty cool. Yeah, and it's really weird to think that, you know, all this, all this,

thousands of people every week, it ultimately just comes from stupid YouTube show. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty great. Yeah. So with all of that said, What does this championship sitting in your lap mean when you finally won that? I guess, you know, mentioning all of that and holding this championship,

it puts it into a little different perspective to me than I'd really ever considered. Yeah, I'm proud of this. Fuck, I'm proud of this. Yeah, I'm very proud of this. Yeah, you should be. Damn. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like you probably never want to lose this thing. No, never. Yeah. Never. I hope you don't. I hope not either. It seems inevitable. I'm so sorry.

I don't say that. What the hell? No. One day maybe. But to see the whole progression of everything that you've done to now be the world champion, that's really cool. Yeah. It's sometimes too, like you reach the mountaintop and you kind of like, you look around and you're not sure like, well, now what? You know, but just talking about how we got here reinvigorates me, you know, and there's nothing,

there's nothing more important than this in wrestling. And I feel like reinvigorates me to want to hold on to this, I think even more than, even more than before. I think there were a lot of Hangman fans who were upset that you didn't win this earlier, because it felt like you were lined up to win this maybe in your one or year two of a w yeah well um they stuck with me i thank them for that uh i might not i didn't stick with me for a while uh and they did so what a ringtone someone's calling me wow wow you guys hear my ringtone that what is that it's my ringtone man you've ever seen it's horsing around you ever seen horseing around you've ever seen

It's a TV show from the 90s. Oh, my gosh. There was a horse and he adopted some children. Do you need to answer this? Probably not. What if this is like Tony Khan calling you? What if it's the police? What if we're not supposed to be in this room?

What if it's your wife? Uh-oh, whoops, open the baby camera. Oh, it's one of those spam calls. Oh, okay. Maybe that's a code for something. I don't know. No, I mean, it's one of the, you know what I mean? Yeah.

You get spam calls? want a cruise. Yeah, you know, all this bullshit. Or they're like, the IRS needs to talk to you. I get so much shit. Your car's warranty. We're calling you from the dealer warranty. Yeah. You know, whatever. They don't even bother to have a real person. They just have a recording. Oh, it pisses me off. How does that trick anybody? I don't know, but clearly it does, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it, right? That's a good point. But damn, it pisses me off. Like that ringtone does not piss me off, though. You like that? That was really good. I kind of feel like I want to call you just to hear that. It's a good ringtone.

The United States Soccer Federation present the U.S. Soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clemenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Times ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their 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 flat. Who's been the person in your career that's been, like the person who's been your mentor? Hmm. Damn. I don't know.

I don't know that I've ever really had much of a mentor. I guess for a while I would have said the young bucks, you know, when I was in the elite and traveling with them to Japan for the first time and stuff like that. You know, I looked up to them. I respected them. And, I mean, I wouldn't, I never really felt like they were mentors as much. much as peers. Yeah. But in a lot of ways, I learned from them, you know.

So them in some ways, Kenny, again, you know, in some ways. But I've never really felt like I had much of a wrestling mentor. Do you feel like there's been like a piece of advice that someone's given you where you've been like, now that I see it? No. No. I think like in a field like wrestling, advice like that is bullshit. I think you listen to it and you take take it yeah but at the end of the day like you you figure it out you do you and that that is success like if you're just listening what somebody else tells

you like the fuck you know I feel like you just do this yourself you know and that's something to be proud of that's actually a great piece of advice in itself I guess but don't like take it too seriously I'm sure there's lots of people in the line here at the convention that want to like young wrestlers or people that want to do what you're doing. What do you tell them? I tell them, have a plan B because statistically you will not make a living at this. A lot of people would, I think a lot of people would say like if you have a plan B, you know, that means you can't give all to plan A. So you're going to fail at plan A anyway. That's not true. I was a high school teacher and I did this. And I'm the effing world champion. And at one time,

I was a high school teacher to make it through this. I had a plan B and I don't need it anymore. Have a plan B because life is much more important than, you know, what career you want to follow or what, you know, oh, you want people to say about your accomplishments you want to have. Life is much more important than that. And you will need to make money to survive. So always have a plan B that's like what I,

I feel like people don't press that upon people enough. In telling you to chase your dreams, you absolutely should. but to also know, like, you have to reckon with the fact that you probably, statistically, will not make much money at this, if any. You have to know that, and you have to be okay with that. And your story is like a perfect example of that. Like, you were kind of, you were a teacher that wrestled. Then you were a wrestler who kind of taught.

Yeah. And then you got to the point where you're like, now I can just be a wrestler because you laid everything out before that. Right, right. Yeah. And a lot of it's luck and timing and stuff like that. Well, and a lot of it's hard work. But if you don't, if you don't reckon with that, like, reality, you're setting yourself up for heartbreak one way or the other, you know.

Who is the person for you growing up that, like, who was your guy? Oh, like wrestler guy? Oh, I loved the Hardee's when I was younger. That's really great when I started getting to wrestling. I love the Hardys. They were from North Carolina, not too far from, you know, where I was from. Their dad was tobacco farmer, like my dad. They talked about, like, having a ring belt in the backyard and doing all this and that and, like, talked about,

Yeah. Pull in the back of, and, you know, like, like, it was everything. I remember just getting their, like, those autobiographies or biographies or whatever at the time were real, real big. I remember getting all those wrestling books, and, like, that was the one I thought, like, damn, I loved that book because it, so much of it, I could, I, like, really relate to. So they were my absolute favorites at first. Beyond that, I don't know. I don't think any, like, I guess how much I liked them at the time, like, no one else compares. Because I think beyond that, like, I started getting so deep into wrestling.

I started to, you know, I guess think less about, like, who I could just actually sit back and enjoy. And I sort of think about it, like, you know, picking this and, you know, you know how people, niticky people can be. I started to be like, I guess. There's a lot of comparisons between you and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Oh, wow. I mean, I'm sure you've heard them. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you think that there's any merit there?

I don't know. I mean, whatever you see, you know. I don't know. You have dark trunks and you drink, and he has dark trunks and drinks. Never my goal. I mean, I could understand how, I can understand how you'd see that. Yeah, but never was like my intention or my goal or anything like that. Stone goal is awesome.

Yeah, that's a great compliment. Of course, yeah. I'll take it as a compliment. But I think people tell me stuff like that about, you know, this guy or that guy or whatever. Oh, thank you a lot. Like, I hope people don't think, like, that's my intention. Like, I want to be the next whatever. Yeah.

Not the case remotely. Never has been. What do you think is the AEW match that you are most proud of? That's hard to say. Maybe 60 minutes with Brian, just for the fact that I wrestled for 60 minutes because I thought

that I might die. Yeah, I thought I, like, 60 minutes is a long time to do anything. Wrestling. I thought I could actually perish. I survived it. So I'm proud of that, but I guess for a very different reason. I guess the one I'm probably the most proud of is the match with Kenny against the Young Bucks.

Yeah, proudest of that. You've had so many great matches. Thank you. I imagine the one where you win this is pretty great match too. That's up there as well, yeah. Those are probably the three. Even this match last night. A lot of people are talking about it.

Proud of that, yeah. Yeah. Well, like, maybe that's another thing. Like if you're not leaving the ring proud of what you've done, maybe you haven't done a great job. Well, that's true. That's true. Yeah. I've been pretty proud of a lot of them.

Yeah. I don't know. I try not to get too hung up on, you know, how I view things that have already happened. Forward thinking. Yeah. Well, what is in the future for you do you think? Oh. Oh, maybe I'm not so forward thinking.

I don't know. I'm going to hold on to this for the rest of my life. That's my plan. That's it. Prove me wrong. I appreciate you making the time. to do this. I don't mind at all. Thank you. And I end every conversation with the same question because I love gratitude. I wake up every day and I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for.

And I say it before I go to bed too. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for? Oh, my family. Yeah. Wrestling. All of it, just all of this incredibly grateful for it. You know, a lot of times it feels like family and wrestling is all I do it for. So lastly, I will, say I'm grateful for that time that surge came back for a little while because when I was younger, I loved surge. I thought it was the best thing ever and then it was gone forever. And I always thought like, oh my God, I will never know that sweet nectar again. And then they brought it back and I had it and it was all right. And I was able to let that go. So I'm very thankful for that time surge came back. There's going to be so many people that have no idea what you're talking about.

That's fine. And I love it. Google search. What's your dream? drink of choice, by the way. Free. Free, yeah. Anything? I'm not picky. Yeah, that's kind of how I am. I'll do any of them, man.

Give it to me neat. Give me a girly one. I don't care. How do you feel about white claws? Oh, they're not bad. I mean, it's always about the occasion, you know, if it's a hot summer day and you're outside, you know, whatever. Nothing wrong with the white claw.

Yeah, they're good. I love white claw. I'll drink anything as well. I'm with you. If it's free, that sounds great. Free is the best. But then I also get myself into situations where, like, there's an open bar, and I'm like, well, now it's all free. Ooh.

So now I feel like I need to have a lot of these because they're free. Yeah. Yeah. I like a sour mix, you know, like a whiskey sour. Yeah. Something like that. I like sour candy and stuff, too. So I guess that's probably why.

Yeah. Those are good. Yeah. I don't know. That's, I wouldn't say it's a drink of choice at all, but. If you were to sit down at the bar and I were to say, all right, this round's on me. What do you want? Right now, I'd say like a water.

I've been dieting so hard. You wouldn't, like, here you are, sir. You would never know and look at me, but I've been dieting so hard. I have my little meal prep and I packed, let's see, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, say Saturday. So I packed four, four and a half days of meal prep food for this trip. Gosh. The remnants of which are left waiting to give me South Manila in my hotel room.

Are you traveling with ice packs? No, no, I, no. I just raw dog the meals. I put them right into the cooler, no ice. Straight out of the fridge, into the cooler, ride to the airport, airport sitting, flight, connection, whatever. The hotel, it's usually like seven or eight hours. What if your hotel doesn't have a fridge?

I don't think I've ever had a hotel that didn't have a fridge. At least that you could put food in. Okay. It might sometimes they don't have the fridge in the room, like a mini fridge. Yeah. But they're like, oh, and they know you've got food and they're like, yeah, it's okay. I put it in like the break room or whatever. Oh, yeah.

Okay. But there's always a fridge. microwaves some sometimes yeah well grateful for you thank you for this time oh shit yeah yeah on your list yeah yeah man here we go thank you very much thank you wow that's a blessing you're a blessing

well there we go that was a long day for hangman by the way he had that Texas death match with Adam Cole the night before then he flew to Indianapolis landed it like two in the morning signed autographs all day at the square Circle Expo and then he made time for this chat with us. So super, super grateful for him for making

the time for this. I hope you like this one. Please share the link for this episode with someone who you know would love it and snap a screenshot. Tag us. He is at The Adam Page on Twitter. He's at Hangman Adam Page on Instagram. And I'm at Chris Van Favley, tag us so we can share it out and we know that you're listening to this episode. And take a second to subscribe on the app that you're listening on right now so you don't miss out on any more great conversations that we have coming up. I'll leave you with the words of Roy T. Bennett. What a great quote this is. Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you choose wisely. Be great. Be grateful. We'll 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. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.