Insight with Chris Van Vliet - The REAL Reason Josh Alexander Wears Headgear, Winning The Impact World Championship, Ethan Page

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Josh Alexander (@walking_weapon) is a professional wrestler and the current Impact Wrestling World Champion. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about his unlikely path to becoming a wrestler, getting discovered in Canada, making a name for himself in Ring Of Honor, becoming friends and eventually tag team partners with Ethan Page, how much interest there was from AEW when he let his Impact Wrestling contract expire, beating Christian Cage to become the shortest reigning Impact World Champion of all time and now being on the verge of being the longest reigning Champion, involving his family in storylines, why Scott D'Amore is good for wrestling and much more! For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! And here we go. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight, episode 421. I'm StevieV, Chris Van Fleet, and we've got someone on the show who honestly should have been on the show a long, long time ago. I've known Josh Alexander for over 10 years, and it's just been so amazing seeing his career explode. over the last few years in Impact Wrestling. He is the longest reigning impact tag team champion

with Ethan Page as part of the North. Now he's encroaching on being the longest reigning impact world champion. He's less than a month away as we record this. And yeah, sure, and we talk about it here. He's the shortest reigning champion at like three minutes, but that is beside the point because I really feel like he's going to beat Bobby Roode's record and become the longest reigning champion. If you're not following him, he's at Walking underscore Weapon.

If you're not following me, I'm at Chris Van Vleet. If you're not following the show, what are you waiting for? Like, seriously, we've put out, I think, 120 episodes this year. So please, if you're listening to this and you haven't followed this show, if you're not subscribed to the show wherever you're listening to this, take a second and click subscriber follow on whatever app it is that you're listening on right now. If it happens to be Apple Podcasts, please leave a few words. leave a review like this one from G-Flow 7, who said,

Love it. Really enjoyed the Cold Plunge episode recently. Hmm, so did I. Chris asks great questions and has great guests. Well, thank you, G-Flow 7. I'll keep reading out one review on the show. We stopped it for a little while, and I was like, let's just not right. This is my way to say thanks, because without you, there's no show. So thanks for being on this ride with me,

and I'll keep reading one out on every single episode. Okay, let's start. do this. Ladies and gentlemen, Josh Alexander. It is always good to talk to a fellow Canadian. So, Josh, thank you for coming on for the very first time. Yeah, man, the first time. I think I've known you. I met you at least probably a decade ago now, so it's good to be on. I know. It's been far too long. I spent a whole bunch of time with you and Ethan Page right before the world shut down. And no better time to talk to than now, though. We've made it happen. Is the title behind you the actual world title?

No, no, no, no. That one's my replica made for my, like, my presentation at my office and everything like that. But no, the world title is upstairs, actually. I was just like wondering, like, when these interviews are done, you just take it off the wall and, like, throw it in your suitcase and get to work? No, no. My son, Jet doesn't let that belt go very far from him when it is at home. Oh, it's obvious who the true champion is then.

Yeah, it's obvious who's going to be devastating. when and if I lose it. You just can't lose it. Yeah, well, there you go. There's the caveat right there. The pressure is on you now. You can't ever lose this thing. Where in Canada are you?

I'm in a little town called Guelph, which, I mean, as a Canadian, you probably know where that is, but that's why I usually just tell people I'm from Toronto and live in Toronto because it's all one. You're like an hour, probably an hour west of Toronto. Just outside the greater Toronto area, I guess. but it's all kind of like growing into one big city now. But yeah, just outside and go. We both went to university in Canada.

It's always so funny. You know, everyone in the U.S. calls college. Everything's college, right? Whether you go to university or college, it's all college. When I go back home to Canada, I'm like, oh, yeah, there's a big differentiation between, like, university and college. So where did you go to university? I went to university at Brock, and that was in St. Catharines,

which was pretty close Niagara Falls. And I mean, I hate to bring it up, but we all know what the phrase is for Brock, right? If you can walk and talk, you can go to Brock. Yes, I've heard it a ton of times. I actually just wrestle a show there on Friday night the first time I've been back there since I dropped out in 2006 to pursue my wrestling career. So it was pretty cool. I almost went to Brock. So I ended up going to Laurier, but I applied to go to York, Lurier, Brock, and Windsor.

Windsor, I was like, man, that's just, it's so far. It would have been like a four and a half hour drive. York, I was like, I don't know if I want to go to school in the city. So I went and I toured Brock and you tour it like in the middle of like February or something. And I remember walking from one part of campus to the other and it was like minus 15. And I'm like, yeah, I'm not going here. It's just too far. Yeah.

When I pulled up actually for that show, I parked in the same parking lot where I'd have to park to go to my residence. And all I was getting was flashbacks of freezing walking this kilometer or up almost like a half a mile or whatever for the other people listening to get to my residence and just freezing my ass off. Wow. The reason I wanted to go to Brock, not just because I could walk and also talk, was because they had a wrestling team and not a lot of Canadian universities had a wrestling team. Actually, it's like top three annually for the wrestling squad. I remember going to the gym, just the local school gym and like the monsters of human beings that were absolutely just

tossing around weights, deadlifting. Like I'm an 18 year old kid. I, I, I'm an 18 year old kid. I couldn't do a push-up when I started wrestling at this time. What? This is, that's the reason I started going to the gym was because I found a wrestling school while I was at university, right? But I'm looking around and I'm seeing these like grown monsters, much like, you know, the current angles or like the Scott Steiner-esque, you know, picture whatever they would be in college.

These guys are deadlifting like 500 plus pounds, just getting ready for their wrestling stuff. And it was like, I ended up talking to them and stuff, but like I guess Brock and there's a school in like Victoria or Vancouver that's. well known for amateur wrestling, right? So if it wasn't for pro wrestling, you probably never would have left it away. Is that what you're saying? I definitely wouldn't have had the ambition to change my life,

my image, I don't think. But yeah. What were you studying in college? Sorry, university. Yes, I went for the sports management program because I actually wanted to be a police officer. My guidance counselor at high school was just like, oh, you're grades in science and math.

they're way too good to be a cop. And I was just like, okay. And she suggested that I just applied university. So I applied everywhere much like yourself and got it pretty much everywhere as well. And I just picked sports management because when I toured Brock, you know, it was far enough away from home that I wanted to get far away. I wanted to be like six hours away from my house. So, you know, but it all worked out because I discovered pro wrestling because of it.

So how long into your school career, your university career, did you go? All right. I'm going to go for this other thing. Well, I went with my friends. It was like our, we all went away to university. We all got together in Toronto and went to like a Smackdown show in September as like a way to like celebrate us going off and being in university like one last row together. And at that Smackdown show, I was handed a leaflet for an independent wrestling show. And this, this was 2005. The first time I ever had high speed internet like Facebook was I had I got one of those Facebook profiles with. my student ID number. This is back. Like, I make myself feel really old talking about this stuff

because some people are listening to this, like, just being like completely like oblivious to the fact that this was a thing. But, you know, it was the infancy of the internet, really. And I, I googled pro wrestling through this independent show because I never knew it existed outside of TV. And I discovered there was a school in Hamilton, which was like an hour drive away. And, you know, I went immediately. I think I started November 5th, 2005. And I drove, and I dropped out of school probably October of 2006. And that was that Johnny Devine? No, no, no, no, no.

This was just a, this was called Living Legends Wrestling Academy. It was really just a wrestling ring with a bunch of like kind of students that were wrestling on shows. It was just a way to get in the ring for a bunch of people. And, you know, that's where I started everything out. Wow. The thing I love about stories like this is I think that people only hear like the final, like, you know, chapter of someone's life and they don't hear everything that goes into it along the way.

Like there are no sure things in life, and there are most certainly no sure things in the world of professional wrestling. Yeah, and as I did that show this last past Friday evening at that school where I dropped out, it was run by the program, the sports management program as like a final project for one of the students who is a wrestler now, kind of doing the same thing I did, but not dropping out. And I had like a hundred different people there all chanting SPMA dropout. sports management dropout to me the entire time I was wrestling. So after the match, I beat the guy obviously because I can't own champion and stuff. But I grabbed the microphone. I cut this promo about how, listen, guys, I was in your shoes on the first day of school. My professor told me

99.9% of us aren't going to work for Nike, aren't going to be big sports agents. We're going to be serving hot dogs at minor league baseball games the rest of our lives. And, you know, we better be happy with that because that's the breaks of this job. And, you know, it was a enough to turn me off pursuing sports management. But really, I had such a passion for wrestling once I started. I said this in the promo too. I was just like, I needed to give myself no other options. I needed to take all these other things off the table to make sure that I put everything into this wrestling thing that was really going to make a go at. Yeah, this is that whole concept of like, if you're going to take the island, you've got to burn the boats. And that's a really scary thing

to give yourself no other option but to either succeed or fail. And that's it. It's all on And that's even harder when you're living in a country like Canada and you know that the biggest opportunities exist in the U.S. Yeah. And honestly, there was no forethought to any of that for a young 18 year old Josh Alexander. It was just for the first time of my life, I found this thing I was doing that fulfilled me and made me happy that I was really passionate about that made me want to be a better human being, like a better person and work on myself to better myself at this career and stuff like

that was the first time I really felt motivated enough. So I just, with both feet, I jumped right in. Do you have conversations now with aspiring pro wrestlers, kind of like the one that you heard of like, hey, 99.9% of you, you're going to try and you're not going to make it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I had a conversation with what I wrestled actually. It was like, listen, don't drop out. You're very talented. You have all the potential in the world. Don't drop out. Don't do it. I did. I don't suggest it for anybody. But thankfully, thankfully, it worked out for me. But it's not like it worked out for you like overnight. Like this was, I mean, you were one of the names, still are one of the names in Canada,

but you were one of the names in Canada that people always had their eye on. And then I felt like it was ring of honor and then impact where people went, yes, finally they're seeing what Josh Alexander can do. Yeah, I had a ton of, I don't know if you want to call them speed bumps or, you know, things along the way where I thought things were going to happen. Like the ball started rolling and then all of a sudden it just like, it came to, a firm stop several different times. And somebody I talk to about this a lot is Cody Deiner now, as I've gotten to know more,

you know, with Impact Wrestling and stuff. And we just talk about how, like, persistence is one of the most valuable assets to have as a professional wrestler because, like, we've both, between the two of us, knowing tens of thousands of very talented wrestlers who probably could have made a go at it, made a career out of it, but they quit for whatever reason because they hit some stumbling point along the way and they were just like, not worth it, you know? Cody Deiner is he's one of the very first wrestlers that I met and I was going to Laurier. He was down the street at Waterloo.

He lived on the same floor as one of my friends in residence and he was like, I'm going to be a pro wrestler. I'm like, no way. I'm also going to be a pro wrestler. He's like, yeah, yeah, but like I'm training right now. And he was doing stuff in Niagara Falls, I believe. And he's like, yeah, I'm actually going to a show this weekend and like cramming into a car and doing this. And like everything he was saying was adding up to like he. so desperately wanted to be a pro wrestler

was going to do everything to make it happen. And I was on the other hand with like a beer in my hand going, yeah, yeah, I'll probably do this one day too. And it was like this juxtaposition of someone who was going to do it no matter what and me going, yeah, maybe one day. And that's a difference maker really, right? Like I know hundreds, if not thousands of people that had a beer in their hand are like, I'm going to give this a go.

And they get in the ring and they try it, you know, if they actually have the ball. to actually get in the ring and make that happen. But, you know, really, if you're going to be successful at this, you just got to be, you know, one direction the entire time and one mindset, as hard as that is to maintain sometimes. I knew him. I might have known him before you.

He was wrestling as Cody Steele. He had these bright red latex pants and this bright yellow blonde hair. And, you know, so thankful that he found the gimmick that he did fine because, I mean, that guy's incredible. Yeah. When I started wrestling, actually, in 2005, he had just, just dawned the mullet for the first time and become Cody Deener, which is like the first persona that fans will know him as that really got him some international, you know, fame.

In terms of your career was putting on the headgear kind of what like solidified like, people already knew you were great in the ring, but I feel like that's a visual of going, yeah, this guy like he takes it seriously. I mean, it all happened by accident, of course. I'm very thankful that it did happen. I think I've had a lot of conversations about. the headgear recently because, you know, the evolution of the character and the look and all this stuff. And you think about, do I need to wear the headgear anymore? Should I take it off?

You know, is it holding me back from elevating myself to a further platform or becoming a bigger star in wrestling or something like that? But for sure, I was just a talented Canadian wrestler that was booked consistently with no gimmick whatsoever, who was just a very reliable wrestler. And when I found that headgear, because I injured my ear, it really gave me, like something for the fans remember me by because you gotta think like 70% of fans that leave a show that are you know die hard wrestling fans aren't going to remember my name when they leave like a kid might turn to his dad and be like man i really like that that crazy guy with the face paint or you know what i mean like now they can leave shows and be like that guy with the headphones or the headgear if they you know know what it is you know he was a badass and it's just a thing for people to notify and remember me by and it built into my little bit that I'm now known for, probably for the rest of my career. Yeah, there's something in wrestling that when fans can latch onto something, and if it's something as simple as a, you know, a yes chant or a what chant,

or, you know, the fondongo dance. So like something that fans can latch on to and go, I remember that person because of blank. And for you, like, you were so memorable because of what you did in the ring. But then I think attaching a visual to that made people go, now it clicks. Yeah, it definitely felt like a. taking off point for my career because shortly after that, that's when all the Ring of Honor stuff started, then the PDBG stuff and everything else.

But you were actually wearing the headgear like because of an injury, right? Was it like legitimately cauliflower year? Yeah, I actually injured myself at AIW in Cleveland for the Jailant tournament. The first one I was ever in. I think it was 2013. I'm really off with years, especially since the pandemic. But it would have been around that ballpark time where we first met. And yeah, I took a kick in the ear from ACH and my ear just blew up off my head.

I filmed a promo that night, draining it with a syringe myself. And the next day, I got hit again in it and it blew up and it actually like exploded off my head. So like my ear split in half and it was like dangling down. So I had to go get it surgically like pinned to the side of my head. And like the doctors are they don't care about pro wrestling. They look at me and like, well, whatever, you do whatever. Do what you have to do to have it heal. And there was like, you can't touch this for six months or three months or whatever they said.

And I was just like, I got a book in two weeks in Ottawa. Like, I got to make it. So I went on eBay and ordered headgear and put it on for that show. And I felt like such a goofball. I remember I went out and I wrestled Mike Bailey and a guy named Hacker Scotty O'Shea for C4 wrestling in Ottawa. And walking out, I'm getting like Princess Leia chance. I'm getting nice headphone chance. I'm getting chirped like crazy.

Still stuff that I hear to this day every so. often for people that don't know me, but, you know, I felt like such a goof. And I came to the back, and by the end of the match, they were just standing and applauding the match because it was an awesome match, right? And I came to the back, and I remember Ethan Page pulled me aside. He was just like, you're keeping that head here, man. You look like a badass with that. I'm like, really? I feel like I look like a complete goof. But he was like, no, it's, it's badass. You're keeping that. And I'm just like, okay, cool. And I haven't taken enough since. I feel like this is one of life's happy accidents where it's like, you try something. You're not even sold.

on it and I mean, now it's part of who you are. Yeah, yeah. And like, it's not even that I wanted to try, you know, it's just at a necessity. And I'm so thankful that it did happen because otherwise, you know, I definitely wouldn't have tried wearing headgear if I didn't injure my ear and need it. People draw comparisons to, I mean, Rick Steiner is probably the most famous with the headgear. Kurt Angle briefly, I mean, you have comparisons to Kurt Angle for many other reasons, but he briefly when he was wearing the wig right after he shaved his head. Yeah, that then that's the thing that I read it on social media all the time is like fans are like, man, I love Josh Alexander,

but I can't get over that headgear. It just reminds me of angle with the wig and it's just so goofy. I just can't see past it and stuff like that. And I read it and I go, if that's really a thing that you can't see past, like I can't, I can't please everybody, you know what I'm saying? So it's definitely the thing that I'm going to remember by forever because I think, you know, other than Rick Steiner, I'm the only one that's pulled it off since, and I think a lot of people have tried. What does it sound like when you put it on? It is definitely harder to hear, like, anyone talking directly to you, because obviously cuts off some of that stuff. But, you know, I hear audiences. I hear everything, and I've kind of

trained myself over the years, luckily wearing it for nearly 10 years now to be able to just maintain and get by with it. So there have been so many comparisons between what you do in the ring and what Kurt Angle has done in the ring. And I mean, that must be pretty humbling to hear. It's insanely humbling. I mean, to me, you're talking about one of the greatest fall time. You know, it's a subjective list that, you know, everybody can have their favorites.

But to me, I think it's undeniable that Kurt Engel is, if not, the best ever get in the ring for how fast, you know, he just took to it and stuff like that. As a personal fan of his forever to get those comparisons from not just fans, but from people that worked with Kurt. especially since I've started an impact, like people that have worked with Kurt closely during the years of the impact

that have come up to me and drawn these comparisons. Like it's insanely humbling. Wow. And now you're holding the same championship that he made famous. Yeah, yeah. I'm walking in those footsteps that, you know, he blazed the path and, you know,

hopefully I can go a little bit further than him and, you know, continue my career on and do some other cool things. I like that you wore the singlet, you know, the Canadian version of the singlet that he wore in TNA. That was so cool to say. Yeah, I was like, I was racking my brain about Slammiversary, 20 year anniversary,

and like I'm such a huge TNA fan. Like, that's what really got me back into wrestling after I kind of fell out of the early 2000s when WCW died. And I was like, how do I like, like put my little mark on Slamoviracy and like tip my cap in the 20 years? And I was just like, man, that Kurt Engels thing. And I wanted to recreate that for a while. And I put my own little things in there in the knee pad for AJ Styles,

the knee pad for Samoa Joe, who were my three guys that really, like, that I follow closely through TNA and impact. It was just so, like, you use the word humbling, but, like, there's no better word than to be, like, in the back after that match, you know, as well as it went with Eric Young and stuff like that and just sit back and be like, man, this 18-year-old kid in 2005 that was at Brock University, just, you know, couldn't do a push-up that just wanted to touch the ropes of the wrestling school, didn't even want to become a wrestler, didn't think he could ever become a wrestler has come this far because like I'm just so obsessed with it. And I mean,

it's just a, it's a great story. Like hearing this whole story of like dreaming something into existence, I feel like should give so many people the permission to go after whatever it is in their life that they want to go after. Yeah. And like I said that in the promo on Friday night too. And I kind of said it with like tongue and cheek like as like a little like a shot in the ribs at everybody that was booing me. But I was just like so many people. people out there, like I'm lucky because I somehow was foolish enough or, you know, I was courageous enough to just chase this thing that made me happy. And I know so many people that just wanted to do this or wanted to do this or wanted to do this, but they made every excuse

along the way of why they couldn't rather than, you know, just going for it. I think there's an admirable quality to just doing what makes you happy and going for it, at least trying. So I'm happy There's so many people that want to do great things, whatever it happens to be in whatever avenue of life they want to chase after. They don't even take the first step towards doing it. Like how many people want to be a pro wrestler and haven't even picked up their phone to Google where the closest pro wrestling school is? And like that blows my mind.

And going back to the guy in Waterloo that was holding a beer saying, I'm going to be a wrestler one day, I did end up going to wrestling school. I went to the squared circle in Toronto, but kind of, you know, I had a fork in the road where I was like, do I focus on wrestling school or do I focus on school school? And it doesn't hurt too much when I get out of bed now in the morning. I feel good about that. I don't know what it feels like for you. I mean, knocking on all the wood I have around me right now, I feel great right now. I feel better right now than I did 10 years ago. But that's because, you know, I have the luxury of having all this time off during the week where I can spend time on my body and finally fix the

things because I'm not burning the candle at both ends, wrestling these matches on weekends, and then driving home to get to work at 5 a.m. doing construction anymore. So I'm very thankful for that. But yes, you may have made the right decision for longevity and quality of life. But, you know, as long as you're happy doing what you're doing, like you've been very successful with this stuff. So I don't think you made the wrong choice whatsoever.

I don't know, it's the right, I get to dip my toe into the wrestling world every once and a while. You know, I took a bump one time in an impact wrestling ring, you know, when no one was around and I'm like, yeah, that's good enough for me. I think I'm fine. When you were, that's that? Sorry, no. As somebody who was at a wrestling school and been around wrestling for, you know,

in the better part of two decades, I've known so many people have been like, I want to do this so bad, I'm so passionate about it. And they get in, they take their first bump, they go, yeah, not for me. And it's just like,

the switch flips immediately. It's amazing. The first time you hit the ropes and it takes the wind out of you, and you're like, and then the next day when you have a giant welt across your right lat, you're like, I don't know. I don't know if this is for me. And that's why I say maybe I was just too foolish to recognize all these things.

When you were coming up in Canada, how much was crossing the border, both a pro and a con, right? You get pro of going into the states and making the name for yourself and getting that recognition on a bigger scale. The con of trying to cross the border and convince border officials that, you know, you're not working there. probably the most stressful thing in the world I've ever done is just driving up to the border and to talk to border guards because I started wrestling after 9-11 and that's when all the border things change. Before you could cross, like, I hear stories from Scott DeMore and Eric Young and anybody who was wrestling before 9-11 and they're like, hey, just go up with a birth certificate. Like, it might not even be yours as long as they just go, oh, sure, and they like keep going.

that is so insane to me because by the time I was crossing the border, it's its passport, it's interrogation, like they want to know everything and they have ultimate power. Whether they believe you or not, you know, they could totally believe you and just not like the way you look that day and have a bad feeling to be like, turn around, get out of here. So like, A, it's very stressful because you have these opportunities and these bookings that you're talking about where you're going to get notoriety and be seen because the American wrestling independent scene, there's just way more notoriety and eyes on it than in Canada. Regardless of talent, I think Canada has some of the most talented independent wrestlers and some of the

best shows in the world from what I've seen traveling around. But I don't know why that is, especially with the influx of the internet and streaming and stuff. I don't know why Canadian promotions have a cut on. But you have all these opportunities that you might be crossing into America for, and you don't even know for sure if you're going to make it. So that's a stress, not just for the wrestler, but for the promoter booking these talents they want to give opportunities for it. That's why, like, as Canadians, we have to be so thankful for, like, promoters, like the AIW promoters and the AAW promoters and all these promoters that really wanted to give Canadians a chance to showcase themselves. Because without them, like myself, Ethan Page,

we might never have gotten where we've got. But driving up insanely stressful, we didn't do it the best in the beginning. You know, the advice was always be like, oh, just say you're going training. That's why you have your stuff on you and whatever, because you have no name value. If they Google you, they're not going to see anything. So we did that for a while and, you know, eventually it doesn't work out because you get enough name value to where they Google you. They'll see that, you know, Ethan Page and Josh Alexander are wrestling at Ring of Honor against homicide and Eddie Kingston in Baltimore. And we are just standing there going, uh, yeah, that's us. And that's when we get turned around and flagged for the first time. And, you know,

your heart sinks because you think your career is completely over. And we continue to cross after that for years and just telling the truth, which is basically that we're not going to make enough money to take away income from an American. We're going to spend it all in America pretty much before we get back on gas and food. So, you know, it's just a crapshoot of which border guard you get and who sympathizes with you or not, because some of them think that you're crossing for these independent shows and it's the biggest thing in the world, and you're going to make a million dollars. But yeah, it's so stressful.

Now you've got a visa, so everything's good. The first time I crossed the visa, like I'm so, I'm also nervous because I was told I was going to be banned the next time I crossed. So I stayed in Canada for like two plus years. Wow. I was just remiss the fact that I would be a very good

Canadian professional independent wrestler. I'd do this on weekends, so it would make me happy. And that was going to be the rest of my life. And then when Impact came along and signed me and told me they were going to get me a visa, like my jaw was on the floor for seven days, no doubt being like, yeah, right, I'll see when this visa comes in. And then very first go, my visa gets approved and I have to cross. And the first time you cross and you just hand them

this piece of paper with your passport and they go, yeah, see you later. And you're saying, like, I had to stop myself really, really? Oh, okay. And like, it's been amazing for the past four years to just not have that stress dealing with it when you cross. I had the same thing. I had the same thing. I moved to the U.S. in 2010, and I had this job in Cleveland. We were working on the V's, and I went down to figure out, all right, what part of the city am I going to live in? Where am I going to, I going to find an apartment? So I went down to look for an apartment, and the guy at the border goes, they're kind of putting the cart before the horse here, aren't you? Like, you're looking for an apartment here. You don't even have the legal ability to live here, work here. And I went,

well, yeah, but like, it's a few weeks away. He's like, oh, you're lucky I'm going to let you through. I'm like, wow. And I'll never forget, I got the visa and now I have a green card. The first time I travel with my green card, the guy goes, welcome home. And I was like, oh, it's so much better than getting taken to that little side office and getting yelled at. Yeah. And honestly, I spent every weekend in that office for two plus years before they told me not to cross anymore. And the one in Buffalo or the one in New York? Sarni, Saudi, Detroit, Niagara Falls. I got to know many border guards.

There's a guy named Cliff in Niagara Falls, who's a big wrestling fan, that just wanted to ask me about Hacksaw, Jim Duggan, every time I cross and would let me in painlessly. So, you know, I would always hope for Cliff. But, yeah, as Canadian independent professional wrestlers, I sympathize with all of them, anybody who's going to attempt it.

Any of my students that I've trained over the past few years who have asked me about it, I've told them. Unfortunately, the juice is not worth a sweet. because if you get banned, you're just at, like, I talked about stumbling points along the way. That is a roadblock, you know, and being in Canada, like, thankful for, like, Scott DeMore and Impact Wrestling for having some eyes on the Canadian talent.

But other than that, man, you're just on a separate universe. How much do you think Scott DeMore being Canadian, like knowing everything about, like, crossing the board and everything, helps out when he's trying to bring in Canadian talent? immensely. Scott DeMore is not a lawyer, but he could probably be some sort of immigration lawyer. I've seen him advise on visas over the past few years to the point where I think he knows more than lawyers I hired the past trying to get my own visas. So, you know what I mean? It's just, I think he's been through it for his own career and then trying to help others so much that he knows all the all the right things to say, you know, and to put on these visas and stuff like that. So yeah, I think it's just a great asset for Canadian wrestling to have Scott DeMore because I also think it's a benefit for him because he knows there's so many talented people up here that might not have eyes on them that he can just kind of pluck it and be like, yeah, I found this guy, I found this guy, I found this girl, you know what I mean? And like, look at how good they are. 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 Klinberg.

And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really take their claimant, and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Speaking of Canadian wrestling, I feel like on paper, you and Ethan Page have nothing in common other than the fact that you're both from Canada. What do you think makes the North work? so well. I think that the fact that we don't have many things in common whatsoever outside of the

passion for pro wrestling is one of them. The one thing that we do have in common is we are very creative with pro wrestling and you know we we like to hang our hats in the fact that we we think up different ways to do things. So we were always challenging each other to do that as the north. And it was just we complimented each other so well. And we were such good friends outside. of the ring that it was just this we could talk without talking i would know what he was thinking and what he was doing because i've been around him for you know a decade plus at the point when we started tagging up in impact wrestling and stuff like that that it just made it that much easier and like chemistry as tag team partners is not easy to find it doesn't come along often uh any of the ones that have

real chemistry they're the ones that are super successful and we were just very fortunate i feel like there's something also when you get two Canadians together uh especially in the u.s where it's like Like, well, it's like that scene from stepbrothers. Do we just become best friends? Yep. Like you have to stick with each other because I don't know. It feels like home. Yeah, yeah.

No, and I would not have, honestly, probably wouldn't have wrestled in America on the independence, but it wasn't for him saying you're getting in the car and you're going to EIW with me. Wow. And that was it. Like, I didn't have a choice. The matter. It's like, okay, I guess I'll be there Sunday morning at 5 a.m. to leave, you know?

Wow. So he's now made the move to the U.S. Have you ever thought about living down here? I have thought about it, but, you know, I have two children that are in school currently and the thought of moving them from schools and doing all that stuff just to move to America where, you know, the immigration of like buying a house and doing all that stuff and getting a bank account, a social security member, and then chasing a green car and then, you know, waiting for my wife to be able to work and doing all this stuff just sounds like an absolute nightmare.

So I'm probably going to try to avoid it as long as I can, but I do have a craving to live somewhere with warm weather one day. I mean, I live in California now. It's pretty good. It's probably, is there snow on the ground where you are right now? Not right now, but it's been off and on for the past like four weeks already. And yeah, I'm really, I'm over traveling through a foot of snow. Every time I fly in a Buffalo and every time I drive to Buffalo, I don't know. how this works, but Canada, no snow. As soon as I cross the board in a buffalo, there's six

feet of snow. Like, I can't even find a parking spot because they even plowed it at the airport. But yeah, it's, it's just, I'm over it already. I think the older you get, every time I travel to like San Diego or something, I'm just like, why doesn't everybody want to live here? You know what I mean? I mean, I don't want to rub it in too much, but you don't have to shovel sunshine. Yeah, I'll put it on my bucket list for the future, for sure. Well, I mean, you're in a good spot right now where your family's there and life is good. You've got roots there. Ethan made it. It was a big gamble for him to move to, I can't believe you picked Michigan of all places. I mean, he has family of Michigan. So that's good. But it's also like the weather is not

much better there. I mean, it's not a culture shock to you or in the family then. You know, you still get snow at Christmas time. You know, you've got to think of the benefits. The pro is not the cons. When Ethan made the move to A.A.W. I thought, I wonder if Josh Alexander is also going to go over there. How close were you to go to AEW? It was definitely on the table and it was definitely a thought and all this other stuff. But I wouldn't say I was too close because with all the stuff that had been happening in impact, I really felt like, and like also happening at AEW with me watching every week.

I still watch everything to this day. but I just like for me as a pro wrestler my fulfillment of what I do is to go out there and wrestle and show what I can do. I think my benefit is bell to bell. That is where like I will gain notoriety. That is where I will show my worth in the pro wrestling scene. And at the time watching AEW, it didn't look like a lot of people were getting opportunities to do that stuff outside of like the top 20 people that were on the roster. You'd see people shuffle in and out and shuffle in and out. They would get their runs for a few weeks and they'd go back to shorter matches on EW Dark.

And it was just, impact has been so good to me. They were the first company that gave me an opportunity and got me that visa and did this stuff. And like, it's all been roses since I got there, man. Like, I won the tag belts three months after I signed and got there. And I had the longest-raigning tag team champion chip run, you know.

And then as soon as Ethan left, everything's like going through your mind. And I was stressing out being like, man, I hope I don't sit on the bench and just have to watch the shows until they figure what they're going to do with me. and immediately I got an opportunity in the Ex-Division, and that happened and it was awesome and all this other stuff. It was just opportunity after opportunity.

I think all you can ask for as a wrestler is for an opportunity to show what you can do. Give me the ball, and if I drop it, that's fine. But, you know, they've given me the ball a ton of times, and I don't think I've dropped it yet. So I'm just going to ride this out and see how it goes. It definitely felt like there was unfinished business, too, with the World Heavyweight Championship. It felt like I was so happy when you won. And I mean, how many actual seconds did you have the championship for? It was like 14 seconds or something like that.

Oh, there's longer than that. Come on. I'm the shortest reigning heavyweight champion or world champion of all tag. But the longest reigning tag team champions. Yeah. And if in, you know, three to four weeks, I don't lose this world championship. I will be also the longest reigning world champion of all time.

So I just like that was brilliant booking. It was very smart to like have him cash in and take you out and like, you know, ultimate heel move. You're in the in the ring with your family celebrating and then out of nowhere spears you and it's one, two, three and it's all over. Brilliant, brilliant. And then I love that you had the chance to actually like get the championship again and have an actual run.

Yeah. And like that whole thing from like fans were outraged, you know, because of you know what i mean which rightfully so that's why you booked it this way but like from october until april when i face moose again i never got my rematch clause or anything like that and it was all this weird like you know pro wrestling explanation of why that wasn't happening but it was this chase of me trying to get back to that and going through all these you know hoops and wrestling monsters like jona and everything else but fans got to know me better than you know when i went into that match with christian and they knew me as the guy that had this really good X-Division run.

It was a really good wrestler, but they didn't know me outside the ring. They didn't know my character, you know, all this other stuff. And they really got to know me up at the point where, you know, at Rebellion, once I won the World Championship, everybody knew exactly what it was. When they pitch you the idea of the first win, did they, how do they pitch it to you? Do they tell you at first, all right, don't get too excited. You're going to win, but then immediately lose. How do they pitch this to you?

It was pretty much exactly like that. It was, hey, we're thinking you and Christian at Bound for Glory in the main event. I was just like, this is probably like summertime, like August or July when they said this. And I went, oh, damn, okay. You know, that sounds really cool and like a big opportunity. And they go, but, you know, Moose is going to cash in, you know, take it right off immediately. And I went, okay, cool, whatever. It doesn't matter to me.

And like, it's, I don't write the show. You know what I mean? I trust you guys. And, you know, the whole time leading up to that for that next three months, you're just like, hopefully they change their mind, man. That'd be cool if they changed their mind. You know, that's in the back of your head. But then, you know, it all happened.

Now it happened. And I think everything, you know, I'm not in everything happens for a reason, guy. But, like, you definitely look at the pieces of things that have happened along the course of my career to put me in the place I'm sitting right now. And I think everything has kind of happened the way it should have, you know, to maximize everything that's happening in my life now. Since you were a TNA guy growing up, Who were some of the people you really looked up to or some of the matches that really imprinted on you?

Well, I remember me and my friend, we got off our ship at subway and got back to my house just in time to turn on the very first paper view. Wow. Yeah. It was like 1499 every, what was it, Thursday? Yeah, I might have, my dad might have had a gimmick satellite dish where, you know, if you come to my house, we're going to get this for cheaper or free. But, yeah, so I turned it on, and I remember the flying elices against Jerry Lynn, AJ styles, and Loki, like it was yesterday. And we were so blown away.

I remember, like, you know, being blown away by, like, AJ. I knew who Jerry Lynn was already. I didn't know any of the flying officers, nor, you know, did, like, they make an impression on me that night. But it was really low key because I was just like walking this guy, watching this guy make his entrance. And I'm just like, he's so small. and he looks like, you know, he's got this weird presentation to walk to him,

but the second he started wrestling, I was like, that guy is a badass. Like he completely took everything, all this trained, you know, whatever it is in my mind that a pro wrestler has to be this and look this way and carry himself this way to be a badass that I've been trained with watching WWF my entire career in WCW. Loki threw that out the window within the first like five seconds of seeing him in the ring. And I was just completely hooked. And that's why, you know, I watched TNA from there on. And like, AJ Stiles clearly, I remember Kurt Engel when he showed up, I think it was the greatest debut and like set up of all time with that headbutt and just a shot of Samojo rising up behind him.

Like, I'm just like fan-boing about it, thinking about it. And yet where he was like, it's real. It's damn real. I'm like, I can't believe this. Like, he was the first major WWE star to sign with TNA and I was like, I can't believe they got Kurt Engel. Yeah, I watched that

pay-per-view live and it closed the paper view with that vignette. I remember saying the same thing, like, look around and all my friends being like, oh, we're off to the races now, you know what I mean? Yeah. But, yeah, the first Ultimate X matches, all that stuff, man. Like, I can name 100 matches off the top of my head. Clearly,

the unbreakable three-way is the one that sticks out in everyone's mind as a pro wrestler and a wrestling fan as being like one of the craziest matches you've ever seen. That's the AJ and Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels? Yes, the first one for the Exhibition title. Somehow the only five-star match, according to Dave Meltzer,

in the history of TNA wrestling. I think we just need him to watch a little bit more impact wrestling. I mean, apparently he didn't see your match with TjP. He didn't, actually. I talked to him in an elevator not too long ago. So he actually did start watching a little bit. I think you watched me and Eddie from Balfouria Masha, Jordan Grace. That's just, that feels disrespectful to me.

That's what that feels like. I mean, you can read it that way, but like when I talk to him, like, he's, he's very familiar and he's a big fan and all this other stuff, but he's just like, hey, man, I got to consume like 12 hours of wrestling a week just to get through like the big two companies. Like, it's tough of fine time. Sorry that that's your job. I mean, I can sympathize with it, man. I can't watch everything and I try to.

It's just there's so much. wrestling to consume now for fans, which is great. But it also, you know, it makes it harder to watch everything like you used to. That Iron Man match with TjP was, that was something special. It certainly was. And I credit TjP and I will credit him until the day I die. None of this stuff happens, this world title run. I don't think, I think that matches one of the things that really made management think that, like, I could carry the ball if they gave me the world championship and stuff like that. That's really what started this massive ascension to, you know, what I have now is the figurehead of the company or whatever they want to say in every promo they talk about

before. But if you were impressed with that one, it airs Thursday night. So I don't know when you're going to put this up. But this week, I have. This is Thursday right now as we put this out. Awesome. So this evening on Impact Wrestling, I am wrestling, Mike Bailey. Spoiler alert. And we go almost to 60 minutes. So it was, hopefully that makes an impression on fans out there because I know both of us, you know, we're going to feel that one for the rest of our careers trying to make people, you know, give impacts on the variety and give us some notoriety for our work. Well, now we can give Dave Meltzer a heads up that he needs to watch this match. Everyone should tweet him right now and let him know.

Hey, man, sure. You know, those stars, you know, wrestlers and stuff talk about them like they don't matter and stuff like that. But I've seen those stars get wrestlers, a lot of bookings and a lot of notoriety around the world and help them, you know, really build their brands. So Dave Meltzer does carry some weight. So I'd be honored for him to watch the match and rate it, regardless of what star rating it gets. When you plan an Iron Man match, how do you get the pacing right on it?

Oh, that's a tough question because I don't know if I'm the expert on the pacing or anything like that. For me, I think an Iron Man match is the toughest match to do in all of pro wrestling. You can talk about TLC matches, Cage matches, Inferno matches. I don't care what it is. They're all monumentally easier than an Iron Man match because there's no match out there other than an Iron Man where you have to go for a certain period of time. And to go in and try to plan 60 minutes is impossible. I don't care who you are.

I've certainly tried, never succeeded because myself and TJP put, you know, we had all this stuff put together, this, this, this, whatever. And, you know, it felt like we did everything we talked about. And I looked up and I said, how much we have left? there was like, well, 34 minutes to go. And I went, all right. You know, I guess we're going to find out if we're pro wrestlers now. And it's just like, it's the ultimate challenge to a pro wrestler to see if you are at

that level where you can continue to match and, you know, suspend the disbelief and do all that stuff. And the pacing of it, I know that me and TjP had the same opinion where you just, you know, you got to keep going. You can't slow down because you don't want to people to like ever turn the channel off or take a bathroom break or anything. You had to hold their attention the entire time. And that's a very tough task for 60 minutes. But, you know, one of the things that I've done throughout my career is really try to be in the best shape possible. So I never get tired. I always have that motor to keep going because

I was such a big fan of, you know, guys that at Kurt Engel who are known for that. And that benefits me greatly in these long matches because I can keep the pace up. We've talked about so many amazing Canadian wrestlers during this. And this is going to be a tough question. But if you had to come up with your Canadian Mount Rushmore. Pro wrestlers. Who's on it? Okay. I've been asked a few times, and I'm going to try to make sure it doesn't change

because... I've been asked, two and I end up naming like 10 people. Yeah, and it's really tough to just keep it to four. For me, personally, Brett Owen right away, and then the next batch is kind of tough, but I usually go Christian and Sammy Zane. Wow. Okay. I mean, there's so many people you could.

choose from. Wow. Yeah, like I like it's not it I'm not trying to like put down edge or anything like that but like I was such a Christian guy especially when he came back because of the TNA stuff and when he came back from TNA and that huge run and that I just remember those matches of Randy Orton being some of the greatest matches I ever saw and Sammy Zane uh I don't think I'd be the wrestler I was today if I didn't get to wrestle him a handful of times and stuff like that and I know how good he is because I've been fortunate enough to be in the ring with them and to see what he's doing now. and how entertaining is and how amazing he is. He stole the show at WrestleMania this year

with somebody that wasn't a wrestler. And none of it's surprising to me. And I just think that I hope he gets his just due has been one of the greatest small time when it's all said. He's doing some of the most entertaining work right now in all of pro wrestling. It's incredible seeing him pull off what he pulls off every week. Yeah.

And that, like, I don't know if it's out. I mean, people try not to talk about it, but that guy wore a mask for the first like 15 years of his career. And he was so entertaining wearing a mask. the generic one, you know what I mean? Yeah. There's so many people you could put on that Canadian list. Like, I don't know if a lot of Canadian wrestlers would be where they're at now if it

wasn't for guys like Chris Jericho, too. Yeah. And like this is like, that's the weird one for me because like I would say Chris Jericho, but then I also, to me, Chris Jericho feels American. Like I just, you know, I know he was born in New York and all this stuff. He grew up in Winnipeg and stuff like that. He just, even as a kid growing up, he felt American to me. He never really came out hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Yeah. You know, I didn't get that rush as a fan when, like, Brett Hart would come out and it'd be like, hailing from Calgary, Alberta, which is so far away from where I grew up and live, but I was just like, he's Canadian. He's like me. You know what I mean? Like, it's just that weird, like, I don't know, national pride or whatever, but. Yeah, there's something about like Brett and the Hart Foundation waving the flag.

And then there was, you know, what Scott D' Moore did in TNA. and then you know, you and Ethan with the north, there's something about that, which it's interesting because in Canada, you're so over, so over. Then you go to the U.S., and it's just an excuse for people to hate you. Yeah, that national pride thing, man.

It's cheap, easy heat. And like, when I became a baby face, like, people were just like, are you going to take the maple leaf off your gear? And I was just like, no. Like, why would, if they hate me because I'm just from a line on a map, like a little bit north of them,

And then like, there's nothing I can do about that. What do you think is the one like biggest misunderstood thing about Canadians? The one biggest misunderstood thing. Because I think that there's, look, there's a lot of stereotypes, right? That we all play hockey, that we all like drink maple syrup or, you know, we say Oot in a boat. I get, I get called out for that all the time because I do it all the time. But. For it?

I get called Oot for San Sori. And yeah. Well, sorry. We'll get to that tomorrow. Yeah, it slips out there, bud, every once in a while. But the hockey thing is probably the main thing. Like, a million times of an asshole. So, yeah, you grew up playing hockey.

I'm like, no, I did. I was a real. You must speak French, right? I was fluent in French until I was 18 years old, actually. So that one's an easy one. But I've had, like, people I've met from Florida be like, so you guys live in like igloos up there? And I look at them.

And I've laughed because they're like adults. And then they're like, no, I'm serious. Like, no, I've never met anybody that lives in New Clue. But, all right. When did you come up with the moniker of the walking weapon? That first drive to AIW in Cleveland, where I crossed the border. We had gotten across the border. Ethan Page had done maybe one booking for the J-Lit before that.

And he had just debuted this all-ego character that he came up with. And I was just like, I need a moniker two in the car. And we're eating like $25 of Taco Bell each while we're talking about this, which is a taco Bell, especially in America. Yeah. And he was just like, well, I don't know if you need something. Like I need something I can put on a t-shirt. I need something people can like recognize before.

He's just like, I don't know, man. When I look at you, because he's like the creative one, obviously, out of the two of us for this stuff, marketing and whatever else. But he just goes, I look at you, man. I just like, you're just like highly trained. You're highly skilled. You can do everything. You're such a badass.

You don't feel pain. He's like, you're like a walking weapon. And he just kind of said it and passing. I was like, and he was like, yep, that's it. We got it. And like, we got home at like 5 a.m. And I think by like 10 a.m. He had sent me a t-shirt design that he did while he was at work.

You know what I mean? So then it was that. And I just, I went with it. And, you know, it's got on. It's never left me. I don't think it ever will. I tried to follow you on Instagram, but your account is private.

Why is Walking underscore weapon private Instagram account? I am such a stubborn adult man that I just, I hate and love social media. And I don't know why because I just accept anybody that really wants to add me as a friend. But there's something about just being private somewhere on social media that I enjoy. What if that was just the Josh Alexander pro wrestler

a forward-facing account. And then you did something else that was private. Yeah, I mean, I've thought about doing that too, but it's just I'd have to go through now probably 11 years of photos and take my family photos out of there and put them to my private account, something like that. It just seems so time-consuming that I'll just leave it private. There's an interesting thing that happens in wrestling

where the lines kind of get blurred sometimes where some people, you know, their social media is just what you see in the ring. It's just their character. there's some where it's like some sort of a blend between the two. And you're basically saying like, this is Josh the human being and you'll see a little bit of both on there. Yeah. And I think for a lot of things like my gimmick and character is much of that too,

especially with what I've been doing in impact wrestling with my family being involved, my wife who's been in the business for two decades. And my son's, you know, massive wrestling fans now, fans of both of us, you know, stuff like that. It was a way for fans to get to know me as a character, which is, you know, I'm a father. I'm a guy that goes out there and fights. I'm trying to win matches to put food on the table and roof over my kid's head, just like anybody else going, punching their ticket at work.

You got a future world champion in your house, you think? I mean, if you ask him, he's already a world champion. That's true. It's his belt. Yeah, see, I got him a replica made of the world championship when I wanted and gave it to my rebellion. but yeah, he's not wavered in his obsession with wrestling. He was eight months old, and we used to have just the network on

in the background of the house all day long because it's way better than blippy or whatever, you know, kids show that would annoy me. And he would just sit there and just in awe watching old wrestling on TV all day. And now, you know, it's gotten the point where he knows every single impact wrestler, probably in the history.

So he'll walk up to people and be like, huh, you know, that's Chris Harris. I'll be like, how did you? You know what I mean? Or like, we were actually in the BCW dojo, Border City Wrestling, Scott Tamor's school. I took him there to get in the ring. And Scott has old posters from Japan from like the 90s.

And he goes, hey, look, it's Suzuki. And I go, what? And like, I walk up and it's like Suzuki with like this huge quaff of hair. He looks so like, just like a gorgeous model. And I'm just like, how did you tell, that Siddizuki from six feet away. Like I wouldn't have even noticed that. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah, I think you've definitely got a pro wrestler in your hands. Yeah, and as long as it makes them happy, go nuts, man. Do you ever think about what life's going to look like after wrestling for you? Yeah, I've actually had some discussions about that with my wife and stuff. And I think now at the point I've gotten to, I'm going to be a part of the wrestling business until probably the day I die. I will either be a trainer or an agent in the future.

future because a lot of the stuff, like the juice I get at a pro wrestling is putting together matches and going out there and, you know, seeing the ideas you have pay off and really get reactions from the fans. And, you know, if I can't physically do this, at least as a producer and agent, I can work with other people and maybe offer some insight and stuff like that and maybe get a little bit of exhilaration and juice back out of it without physically being the one, you know, doing this stuff. So that's something I'm actually looking forward to. Not that, you know, I'm counting the days to when it happens, but I know inevitably that'll happen,

and I'll be happy to it. Well, maybe one day, if you ever lose the championship. Yeah, you know, I could take this all the way, you know. Maybe be the champion until you're 50. No, 50, 50's young in pro wrestling these days.

That's true. I got to keep going. Yeah. You see guys like Chris Jericho, PCO, like those guys, they haven't slowed down it feels like. Yeah. And I think like it's just like we're way more conscious than people were, you know, in the 80s and 90s about personal help and, you know, well-being and like longevity and

stuff like that. I make the joke all the time because people will come up to me thinking about wrestling from the 90s and be like, are you guys all drinking and doing drugs and stuff? I'm just like, no, we're all straight-edge veg vegans now. Like I don't know what to tell you. We're all boring. Which, which fits me because I've never been a party guy my entire life. So, you know, I fit in much better with this day and age than I would have back in the 90s. Man, I'm so glad we had the chance to like finally do this and do this right. We've had so many conversations off camera in so many different cities, but I'm glad that we were able to do this now.

And like I said at the start of the conversation, like what better time to do this than when you're the champion? Yeah. I mean, I thought it might have happened sooner, you know, but you know, I'm happy that we finally got to do it. It didn't really even feel like an interview. It was cool to just come on and have a conversation, man. Yeah, this is great.

So look, I end every conversation talking about gratitude because it's such an important thing for me. I wake up every day. I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. What are three things that you're grateful for, Josh? Ooh, I am grateful for my wife. I actually just put up a video yesterday because I was going through all the pictures of my phone

while I was waiting up my connection. And, you know, none of this happens without her. none of this pro wrestling thing. I probably wouldn't have come back from my neck injury if I wouldn't have her pushing me along. You know what I mean? And just tell me to do the things that I might have been too tired to do after work.

And she takes care of the kids when I'm traveling and never complains and stuff like that. So I'm very grateful for my wife. I'm grateful for my health. I will always say that, you know, after breaking my neck and having two neck surgeries, I am super grateful that I can, you know, just walk around and do things,

let alone lift weights and wrestle you know what I mean? I have no way too many people that, you know, don't have the luxury being able to walk around on their two feet anymore. So that and, uh, oh, this is tough, man. I really need to get in the process of doing this every morning like you, yeah. It takes like 20 seconds. I mean, what do you, what did you say this morning? This morning. So my fiancee slash family, that's all one, health as well. And big one for me is just like opportunity. Like we live in a time.

time where you and I are in different countries right now in different time zones and we're talking like we're sitting next to each other. That's a pretty special thing that we're able to do things like that right now. And I'm eternally grateful for those kind of opportunities. Well, I don't want to steal yours, but like I'm a big guy for opportunity. I've mentioned it so many times in our conversation. Yeah, yeah. I'm very grateful for every opportunity I have been given to get to the point where I'm at, you know, any ones that I might get in the future. Yeah, I like that. Opportunities like grateful. for the opportunities that have happened in the past. I'm grateful for the ones that are going to come. Amazing.

Awesome. Josh, thank you so much. Congrats on everything, too. Yeah, thank you, man. This is awesome. You know, hopefully we can do it again sometime. Yeah, you're awesome. And, you know, maybe if I continue my training, maybe you'll be losing the championship to me one day.

I mean, you have a shot whenever you want. You know, I have had scooter races with other journalists and stuff like that. and people who have interviewed me and, you know, but to do a wrestling match against one, I think that would be something truly special. Well, I know that if anyone could make me look good in the ring, it'd be you. Oh, that's a lot of pressure. Maybe it's not a lot of pressure.

I don't want to say that. You can make anyone look good. Come on. Josh, thank you so much, Ben. Thanks, Chris. Hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. Big thank you to Josh for joining us. Big thank you, of course, to you for joining us as well.

and he mentioned his match with Speedball Mike Bailey. Well, well, guess who I just did an interview with? Christian Bale. Well, yeah, I did an interview with Christian Bale, but yes, Speedball Mike Bailey. So keep an eye out for that episode. It'll be up in like 10 to 14 days from now. How does that sound?

Please take a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of this episode. Share it with a friend and tag us so we can share it out as well. Josh is at Walking underscore weapon. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and I've always loved this quote from James Cameron, and since the new Avatar movie is coming out soon, I figured now would be the perfect time to share it. If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success.

Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one, the very first episode of Ask CVV. It's tomorrow. right here on Insight. Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on that next one. 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.