Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Tyler Breeze on NXT, the main roster, Fandango, the amazing story of how he got signed

Episode Date: February 18, 2020

Tyler Breeze sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Flatbacks Wrestling School in Apopka, FL. Tyler tells the amazing story of how he got signed at a WWE tryout, working his way to NXT, getting called up to the main roster, how he came up with the Tyler Breeze character after several failed characters, why he opened a wrestling school with Shawn Spears, being in a tag team with Fandango as "Breezango" and much more! A huge thank you to our sponsor Bet Online! Use the code BLUEWIRE at BetOnline.ag to get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light. These days, everything is go, go, go. It's nonstop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family. Expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered,

cold filtered, and cold package. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Trisley or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado.

It's Chrysmomania. That's a great question. Look at you, man. What's a powerful question. Woo! This is the Chris Van Bleach Show. Chris Van Bleach Show. Ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome back to the CDV show, and thank you for being with us on another audio adventure. This episode is brought to you by Bet Online, and Tyler Breeze is someone I've been wanting to sit down with for a long time. Not just because he's a fellow Canadian and because he's all kinds of awesome, but his work ethic is sick, and I'm blown away by the opportunities that he's created for himself over the course of his career, both in wrestling and outside of wrestling. And we dig into a lot of that during this chat. Please take a screenshot. Tag me at Chris Van Fleet.

Tag Tyler at M. Gorgeous. That's with 3Ms. M. Gorgeous. Let us know that you're listening to this one. And I can't thank you enough for listening to the show. Wherever you're listening, whatever podcast platform you're listening on right now. And thank you for continuing to support the show by show.

sharing it with your friends, whether that's by tweeting it out, posting it on Instagram, Facebook, or just texting it to your friends, or just saying, hey, you know what? You know which wrestling podcast you should be listening to? The Chris Van Vleet Show. You could even call it the Chris Van Vlyat show, and I would still be very thankful for you spreading the word. And thank you for leaving the reviews on Apple Podcast. That's the biggest way that the show really gets shared and it just helps the show out so,

so much. Like this one from D.W. Mock 79. Let's see if I can read that as one word. Du Mock 79. He says, excellent show. That's the title. I recently discovered this pod and I listen to several. It takes a lot to break through the clutter of all the options for wrestling pods out there.

And this show does it in a unique way with excellent in-depth interviews with a wide array of personalities. Chris has a way of getting entertaining conversations. out of everyone. Even if it's someone that you aren't that into, you'll come out with a new respect for that person and their story. Well, thank you so much for those very nice words. And thank you for the astute observations. And thank you for listening to every episode, even if you aren't that big of a fan of the person who I'm interviewing. But how could you not be a fan of Tyler Brees? Oh, man, by the way, yes, I will keep reading one review on every single episode until we reach that goal of a thousand reviews in 2020.

We're getting close. So just keep those reviews coming. We'll see how close we can get to 1,000 or see how quickly we can hit that. So Tyler Breeze is one of those guys who spent, one of the few wrestlers, I should say, who spent the bulk of his career in WWE. He's been signed at WWE since 2010, beginning in their developmental system, under several different names, which we talk about here. He then went to NXT, then the main roster, then NXT.

and most recently you've been seeing him on 205 live. And the story he tells about how he even got signed by WWE in the first place is incredible. And then the story of how he became the Tyler Breeze that we know and love today, Prince Pretty, if you will, and how that's completely changed his career. It's an incredible story. Now on top of what you see on the WWE programming, he also runs a wrestling school called Flatbacks in Central Florida, Apopka, Florida, to be exact, with Sean Spears. And my separate interview, by the way, with Sean Spears will be posted this Thursday on both the podcast and the YouTube channel.

And you can see my full video of the training session that I did this Friday on my YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe to see that. Yes, I used to train as a pro wrestler. It's been a long time. So I got back in the ring to see if I could still take some bumps. If I could still run the ropes. If I could still lock it up And if you follow me on Instagram

There was a little surprise at the end of the training session And that little surprise came in the form of receiving 20 chops Woo! To the chest And if you follow me on Instagram You know what that looks like on my chest Red and pink and purple and blue All kinds of different colors.

The video of how it happened though is very entertaining And if you don't check it out this Friday I'm sure you'll be checking out or at least checking it out or hearing about it. Sometime very soon. You won't want to miss it. But for now, oh, man, what a chat this is. Give it up, my friends, for Tyler Breeze.

And that's it. We have begun now. Nice. That's how it goes. Thank you for inviting me to Flatbacks. Of course. You got a good intro, by the way. Oh, yeah.

And here we go. And here we go. And the reason I do that is because if I was like, and ladies and gentlemen, Thank you so much for joining. Like I was like a ring announcer. Yeah, it just feels too far. I get it.

I get it. Make it real. Yeah. Make it like an actual conversation. That's right. You have a great wrestling school here. So, yeah, it's kind of come together over the past like six months. You know, as you can see, the office where we just kind of put all of our stuff on the wall.

And then the actual, you know, ring and where everything gets done. Well, a lot of wrestling schools don't even have an office. They don't. Yeah. We have two. We have one that's empty. We don't even know what to do. that most of the time I just put my dogs in there.

And if you look around here, it's like, have these guys done anything? Because it's also Sean Spears. Well, that, so you got to think, too, which I explained this to Ronnie as we were coming in here. That's Sean Spears, by the way. Yes. So when I came to Lances at SWA, Storm Wrestling, I walked in in the very first, like, a little office spot. It had like a picture of him with sting in a half crab. And I just went like, whoa, like, I'm here learning from that guy.

And so I was like, dude, that first, like that the room's got to be like, whoa, like, oh my God, hey, there's some NXT stuff. Hey, there's like, you know, a bunch of like professional looking things. Hey, there's some action figures. Like, you know what I mean? Like, this is like one of those things where you kind of have to brag a little bit about yourself. So it's kind of cool. I was like, yeah, let's plaster this place. Well, this is like a resume.

Yes. Splattered all over the walls here. If you're, if you're wondering if we're, you know, okay at doing this, just look on the walls. Well, and that's the thing. I think that some people want to get trained and unfortunately they go to schools. where, you know, the people haven't been there. No, and that's, we tell a lot of people that, because a lot of people are impatient.

And so we have, like, a very, like, unless you're, so 18 is the minimum age, just because you have to kind of mature to realize, you know, wrestling is dangerous. As fun as it is, wrestling can be very dangerous. It hurts. So people who are, you know, 14, 15, 16, they're like, hey, I want to come wrestle.

And we're like, look, man, we're not going to do that yet. Because first off, wrestling is really hard on your body, but also you need to, like I said, you have to realize that, you know, if I'm relying on you and you're relying on, on me, we have to be at a certain spot in our life to do that. And people are like, wow, there's this other school down the street that I could go to. And I was like, yeah, but I promise you like, you know, Joe Savage or whoever's going to

train you is probably not good. So then you come here and we have to undo a lot of, you know, we get those emails all the time of, oh, I've already been trained and I've been working and everything else. Well, I promise you come in here and within five minutes, I'll say, yeah, we need to teach you like the whole thing and undo all these bad habits just because that's how it is. So you trained with Lance Storm. Yes. It doesn't really get any better than that.

No, he gave me, you know, obviously the best start that anyone could ask for. I was fresh, you know, straight from scratch there. So he kind of started me off better than anybody could. And you guys are doing a similar-ish program, and I mean that. And, like, you come here and it's five days a week. Like, this is your job. Yeah. So the structure is very much the same.

Where his structure was a little bit longer. So he did three-month courses. We do eight weeks just because, obviously, there is two of us here, so we can do a little bit faster and everything else. but the way he does it, the start to finish approach is very, very good as opposed to and actually this is kind of cool too where I trained with Lance

and I did the start to finish approach where by the time you leave here you got everything you need to start working and go towards your goal. Ronnie did it very differently where he did a drop-in school and so you could drop in and you have no clue

where you're starting at or where you're finishing at and you can find yourself training for six months to a year and still not fully cover everything because that's just how it goes depending on what day you go there and that's how a lot of the schools work

A lot of them are like, okay, we're Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Sunday. And you're right. You could be so much further behind, even though you've had six months of training. Yes. We've had people who came here and they're like, oh, I've trained before and everything else. And by the time we get to like, I don't know, week six or seven and we're doing some backdrops or something, right? And they're going, oh, man, like the first time I learned these, like the guy was just like, hey, I'm going to send you off the ropes and I'm going to throw you in the air. And I was like, yeah, like, that's dangerous.

That's not, that shouldn't be how it's done. But unfortunately it is. And that's why, you know, if you're going to pursue this as a career, please do your research. And please be safe because you only have one body and you're, you know, you've got to be healthy and you've got to be safe on this stuff. And that's our main thing. It's just like, you have to do this safely if you want a 20 year career. How do you balance this with being on the road with WWE? So it actually works out pretty good because between the both of us, we have like, the perfect schedule.

So we're both here normally for like Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays will actually take off because I have NXT and he has AEW obviously. And then Thursday, Friday, we're both here. Now that I've started doing some 205 stuff, I'm usually gone for Friday, but luckily he's here and he covers it. So we're good. And, you know, if we kind of have days in there where we can make some stuff up if we need to. But for the most part, everybody like picks it up and we've hit our groove on like certain things. And just we've had a couple classes.

So it's, you know, oh, this actually works better here. And we adjust some things here and there. But it actually works like perfect. Yeah. So when did you guys start? start deciding like, you know what, you should open a wrestling school. Well, so, actually, back in May, I was kind of going through a rough time, and I just, I wasn't enjoying what I was doing.

Like, I think I was still, I was up on the, on Raw or Smackdown or whatever, and Dango was hurt, so he'd been hurt, I think, at that point for, probably over a year. I like to call him Dango. Dango. I can't bring myself to call him Fandango. It's Fondongo. I can't do it. I'll never do it.

So Dango, as I always call him, he was hurt. So he was out for, I think, over a year. And I was, like, super disheartened. Because what we were doing, like, you know, and this kind of goes back, like, even more where, like, we were doing the fashion files, right? And everything was kind of catching. And, like, we were hitting a groove and, like, we were in this thing. And it just never got to that point where, like, they fully pulled the trigger on it. And I was like, oh, man, like, we missed the boat on this thing.

And this was, like, the most that we've ever done, like, to get somewhere was here. And the stuff we did with Uso's and all this other stuff was just awesome. Yeah. And it just never got to the point where we fully got. you know that that that that time and so then dango ended up getting hurt and I just went like okay like what am I doing for the next year kind of thing because his shoulder was his shoulder was destroyed and um so I just said okay like uh you know I'll kind of go forward and do whatever they want me to do six months goes by and another six months go by and I just started getting really really

down and I was like I'm not enjoying this like I'm not enjoying wrestling like I was talking to my friends and I was like I don't think I want to wrestle anymore like I don't I just I don't think I want to and I had a conversation where I basically said, like, hey, if you guys don't need me, like, I'm good to go. Like, I just don't need to be here. And it kind of got turned into like, okay, well, we, you know, we don't really want to see a go, so, like, let's make this work. And that was when I kind of made the transition down to NXT.

And it kind of, like, started to reinvigorate me a little bit. And I ended up going to a couple schools around Orlando just to kind of, like, you know, try to get the juices flowing again because I was just really disheartened. And I started to realize that wrestling's not the problem. Like, wrestling's awesome. It's just when you're in a certain spot, like when you get yourself into a certain mindset, it's hard to kick out of that. And I just was in that mindset and I was just getting negative and bitter. And I finally realized that wrestling's not the problem.

And I talked to Ronnie and I said, look, man, like I wanted to train people forever. I love training people. Like there's been a bunch of people, like even going through NXT, I used to work with like Charlotte and Becky and Bailey and Sasha. And like everybody along the way, you know, like Alexa Bliss and just everybody. and just kind of like work with them on little things. And I loved seeing them get it. And then like they do it in the ring and I'd be like at the curtain like, like, yes, that's what I'm talking about.

Yeah. And I just went like eventually I'm going to train people. And I just kind of went like whenever the time's right, because on the road, obviously it's very, very hard to kind of make it all work. I can't do it myself because, you know, it's a lot of work as I'm still working with WWE. And so I just went like, you know what? Between my schedule and your schedule, we can make this work. And I think now is the time to do it.

And I feel like I need it. Like I feel like to get me back to where I need to be, I need to teach people. And so he just kind of went, okay. Like, you know, and like I said, he was trained very differently to where I just said, just trust me on this. We can make this work. And like I said, we kind of, this fell in place where we found the building. And then all of a sudden we ordered everything we needed.

And then all of a sudden, we made a website. And then all of a sudden, applications came in and we were like, this is happening. And we were fully prepared. I was like, the first six months, we might not have anybody want to train with us because they don't know. But like right away, we have like four or five people. And I was like, this is awesome. cool so we started training people and like he got into it and I got into it and all of a

sudden I went this could be really good and like now um like I said I think within six months because we started June June or July and now it's January and we got our first class and it's full and so I was like man we got like a full class yeah March is already filling up May's already filling up like this whole year is filling up so I was like this is working good and like I said just watching people kind of get it like once they like once it clicks you're like you're gonna be really good and like I'm just waiting for it you know And like, Ronnie was had been released at that time, right? So he was, he was an indie guy.

Yes. And that's, and so I was talking to him too. I said around like, because, you know, we're based in Orlando. And I said, around Orlando, there's some schools. But nobody between me and him, nobody has, first off, the credentials that we do. Sure. And also right now, relevant, like in the wrestling world, we've got the whole thing covered. You know what I mean?

Like, he's over here. I'm over here. Yeah. And we've got everything covered. So I said, this is like, and if you don't, you know, if you don't, you know, if don't believe us, like, watch every Wednesday. You'll see both of us, you know what I mean? So, like, this is the time to pull the trigger on this thing.

And, you know, like I said, we did, and it's awesome. And I guess this is your 10th year under WWB contract? Yes, August. It was like June, somewhere between June and August of 2010 is when I signed. Wow. So this summer, it was 10 years. Yeah. Wow.

Crazy, man. Flies by. I guess so. I was actually, so Lance is, he's on the road now as an agent. And I ran into him. And, like, we just started laughing, and I just went, man, what a weird, like, what a weird crazy world? So also about, like, opening the school, right? Yeah.

We opened the school, and he shuts the school down. Like, what are the odds of that, like, just in terms of, like, you know, a full circle type of thing? And I just went, whoa. I said, why are you shutting your school down? And he said, I've been training for 15 years. And I went, whoa, I've been wrestling for 13 years. Like, oh, my God. You don't even notice it.

And so it just goes by so quick and, like. Yeah, you posted that photo on Instagram of you in LAND. Yeah. I was like, oh, that's great. It's very, very, like, it's almost unsettling in a way to where I went, whoa, how have I been wrestling for 13 years? And how have I been in WWE for 10 years? Not everyone will, you know, necessarily know this,

but Lance is now working as a producer. Yeah, yeah. And if you guys don't know, like, if people don't know about Lance, like, obviously he knows how to train people, but he also gets it. He gets it. He knows exactly how to make this translate to an audience, which is the whole point of what we do.

And so now that he's finally a part of doing all that stuff, it's huge. Wow. So what did you guys talk about? You probably hadn't seen each other in a long time. I think I saw him at maybe like a live event in Calgary or something like four or five years ago. And aside from that, I think he came to like the performance center or something a couple times as just like a guest trainer. But he was just, yeah, he was busy with his school, right? So I finally saw him.

And actually the first thing, of course the first thing he does is I go, I go, hey, I see him in catering. And I go, hey, and he's wearing, he's got under armor pants, like underarmor track pants. and then like a, like, WWB polo. And I just looked at him, I said, is that dress code? And he just goes, ah, come here, you're skinny bastard. And, you know, we just kind of hugged and whatever and, like, just sat there and talked a little. You're wearing Under Armour right now. I am.

I am. I am. Well, it's very comfortable. I really like these sleeveless hoodies. This seems like something Tyler Breeze might wear. Well, especially when I'm training. Yeah, I got to show off the guns. Well, I don't say it, but it's trained.

Yeah, well, you know. So, you know, if you've been in WWE for 10 years and training for 13, or, wrestling for 13. Yeah. That's pretty crazy that WWE had their eye on you that early in your career. Well, so it's more of a, I guess, it was more on me, which is kind of the whole wrestling thing in general. You can't expect, I mean, which, you know, obviously you've been around wrestling a lot.

You can't expect people to just, you know, reach out and be like, hey, we need you. Because guess what? They don't really need any of us. But you have to be proactive in this stuff. So when I finished training with Lance, I kind of started like wrestling around, nothing that anyone would have ever heard of. So like with three years, I think it was three or four years. Yeah, probably three.

That I was on the independence that you want to call it. Just in Canada? Just in Canada. So I think I went to California for like a month, and that was like it. But so I was kind of like traveling around. I was doing these like Indian Reserve shows where basically like the Indian Reserve would pay however much. I don't know what it was, like a couple thousand dollars or whatever. And this guy would bring in six people in a ring and we would have three singles matches and a six-man tag. And that was our show.

So we'd set up the ring and it was like a horrible ring. We'd set up the ring. We'd do our show. We'd tear it down and we would drive across Canada. And he booked it so bad too. We were all based in Calgary. We would drive to like Winnipeg and do a show in Winnipeg. Then we drive to somewhere in Ontario, do a show in Ontario.

Back to Alberta to do a show. That's a long drive by the way. Yes. And it was literally like Alberta to Ontario to Winnipeg. All of it like could not be booked worse. But we do like three or four shows in a row and then we'd end up, you know, driving back. And that was almost the extent of my independent career. Like I did those shows and then I did.

a couple shows, like maybe two shows a month for like PWA, which was a promotion in, they ran Edmonton and Calgary. And there was a PZW was another one that popped up, which was in Lethbridge. So if I was lucky, I had three shows a month. But I kind of did that for a couple of years. And I went, this is all kind of the same stuff. You know what I mean? So like, what should I do here?

And so I asked Lance, I said, like, what do you think? Like, should I go to a tryout and just kind of see where I'm at? And he goes, yeah, why not? So he ended up talking to Norman Smiley, who was down at FCW at the time. and he said, yeah, send him down. We'll have a look. Wow. So I went down, I did like a three-day camp or something where I paid my own way.

I paid my own way there. I paid for the camp. I think the camp was, you know, like $1,500 or something. Wow. And it was like, I think the first one was like 60 people. And you went there and they kind of put you through a boot camp and I just gauge where I was. The good part was that as soon as we started. Like I'd look around and obviously I'm not the biggest guy or whatever.

And I look around and there's like these some monstrous guys and everything else. And I just went like, oh my God. There's no way I'm getting hired here. And within five minutes, I went, I'm better than all these guys. These guys can't move. These guys can't do this. These guys aren't trained properly.

And, like, you rule out over half of them. The very first one. So I made sure that I talked to, like, Steve Kern and Dr. Tom and all the people who were there because that's, you know, half of wrestling is the connections. It's who you know. And I ended up talking to him. And they said, yeah, you know, you're doing really good and everything else. I said, cool. Jinder Mahal ended up getting signed out of that one.

Oh, wow. So he was at the first one. Yes. Yeah. So he ended up getting signed at that one. Huh. I think, like, maybe six. weeks went by and they had another one and I just said like hey Lance like is it too soon like should

I go again and he goes he goes let me let me double check so he asked Norman again and he said what do you think like should he come down he said yes please send him down so I went down this time and same thing I the first day this was 80 people and I looked around and I went oh my god like there's no way so I end up doing the trial uh same thing within five 10 minutes I went yeah they're gone They're gone. They're gone. They're gone. I remember specifically, there was actually a lot of people in that one.

There was like, who do I specifically remember? Robbie E. Joey Ryan, Michael Elgin, who was Tony Neese. Wow. There was a bunch of people. So tons and tons of people at this one. I ended up talking to Steve Kern, Dr. Tom, all the same guys. And they just said, like, hey, just so you know, like, yeah, you're in like our top five right now.

And I said, okay, cool. This was like, I just touching base. Everything's cool. Edge. And this is also why I hold edge, like, super high. he ended up coming to the tryout. He came down and I was like, oh my God, like, you know, I've never met anybody. Like, you know, I've never met like he's currently, I think he was on TV at that point, like 2010.

Oh, for sure. And so we had some guests come in and everything else. And he comes in and I go like, oh, man, this is cool. And so I know that him and Lance are friends. So I go up to him and I said, hey man, you know, how's it going, whatever? I train with Lance. And he said, oh, Lance told me about your stuff. And I said, did you see my match?

And he goes, he was, no, but I went back and I watched it. And he goes, he was really good. He gave me all this critique and feedback, and I went, you know what, man, like, he didn't have to do any of this. He didn't have to talk to me. I don't know him. I've never met him. But he went out of his way to go back, rewind the tape, watch my match, give me critique, give me feedback on this. And I went, that's like, that's Canadian, man.

That's Canadian. Yeah. But he also saw something in you. Yes. And so I ended up talking to him, and I went, I went awesome, man, this is awesome. So they ended up doing, at the end of the tryout, they would give away one contract. And so I watched last time as Ginger Mahal got it. I'm sitting there and they're standing up front.

Everybody's standing there. And they go, all right, you know, hey, we're giving one contract away. They kind of do the speech. And I'm sitting there going like, all right, next time I'll do, you know, this was good. And next time I do whatever. And they said, you know, we're going to give the contract to Matt Clement. And I'm sitting there and I went, oh, God. I said, did they say Matt Clement?

And they're looking at me. And I went, oh, my God. I just got hired. So I stand up and I go to the front and like, I don't even, it's just like a blur, obviously. It's like, you know, everybody's standing there. I think it was like Billy Kidman, Norman, Dusty, like everybody's standing there. And I go up and shake out their hands and we take a picture and everything else. And I just went, whoa, like, this is happening.

And so I called my mom and stuff. I was like, yeah, they hired me. Like, I think it went pretty good. They hired me. Yeah. But I ended up talking to Steve Kern. Funny story about it. I ended up talking to Steve Kern about it, who I said, I said, not complaining, but I said, why do you guys hire me?

Like, I'm just curious. And he said, honestly, he goes, it came down to you and Tony Neese. And I went, oh, my God. Tony Neese is like, it looked identical to how he does now. Super jazz. super agile like can do anything awesome guy and uh i just said all right like so why did you hire me then and they just said look man we like we didn't talk to him at all like we didn't talk to him at all this entire time like he just kind of blended in and i went whoa so because i went out of my way to not only talk

to like edge who was in he was in the meeting but talk to edge talk to steve talk to doc talk to kibman talk to norman because they knew who i was and then they saw this and they saw that it came back again and improved everything else that was what got me hired and there's such a lesson to be learned here. Like it doesn't just have to be wrestling, but whatever you want to do in life. Yeah. Do whatever you can to stand out. Of course.

And not just, you know, you have to be talented, obviously, to do what we do. Sure. But you have to make those connections with people, which is kind of funny because that's exactly what we do in the ring. You have to make a connection with people if you want to do this and make money and be successful at it. So did you then pick up and move to Florida right away? So I had to get my visa, obviously, because I was in a 10.

So I think. An 01 visa? P1. P1. Oh, a P1. Oh, I don't even know what that is. P1. P1 is right below an 01.

Okay. I was an 01 visa holder. That's why I say that. So, O1's really hard to get. So it was P1. Well, they're all hard to get. They're all very. So I want to say, I got a double check on that, but I want to say the trial was like in May. And I think it was, it wasn't until like August that I actually made it down. No. August I got hired. And I didn't make it down until a day before. I remember this because of a funny story I'll tell you. So I came down a day before Thanksgiving whenever. Canadian or American Thanksgiving? U.S. Thanksgiving.

Which is what? November. Fourth Thursday in November. So I came down on the day. day before Thanksgiving. And I remember this specifically because of Hunico, who was Sincara. Yeah. Him and Epico, they're, if you don't know them, they're the biggest jokesters of all time.

But they're sitting there and Doc brings me up and he goes, hey guys, you know, here's Matt, he's joining us, whatever. And of course, they just go, oh, are you? He's from Canada or whatever. And they say, are you going to go home for the holidays? Clearly I'm not because it's tomorrow. and they just go, and they're snickering to themselves,

and I go, of course, I'm like nervous. I'm just like, no, no, I'm going to stay down here. And like, they don't care. They're just messing with me. Which, you know, I end up being friends with both of them. But I remember it specifically because, of course, they had to mess with you on my first day. I was like, damn.

So you've been living in Florida ever since? I've been Florida ever since, yeah. I was in Tampa as long as FCW was there. Right. Once it made the transition to NXT, I moved to Orlando and then been here since. Wow. You mentioned earlier that, you know, you were kind of in a rut with your career. And there was a point where you were,

basically asking if you could be sent down to NXT. What was the reaction when you were publicly putting that out there? I mean, it wasn't like a, it wasn't a, the thing is, is like the public or social media or whatever, like to make this big hurrah out of everything. It's not like that. Like, and that's, it's not only like in my professional life, but in my personal life, like, I was going through a lot of things. Like, I wasn't in a very good place in May. And that's just kind of when it all came to a head and I kind of dropped a bomb on everything where I just kind of said like I got to change my life because I am not happy you know I mean and and nobody can change it but you kind of thing so I said all right I got to change my job I got to change my life I got to

change everything that's going on sure and I just kind of said look like I and it didn't even start as like a hey send me back to Nxte I'm not happy whatever it wasn't that at all it was just like look I'm I haven't been doing anything I'm not enjoying what I'm doing dango at that point dango had no sign of coming back anytime soon and I just said like if you don't need me like I can go and kind of do something else. And either one, prove that you do need me or that you want me, or, you know, I'll go find something else to do because I'm just not enjoying what I'm doing. And I was specifically told, like, we'd rather put you in the NXT than let you go.

And I said, okay, cool. That's great. I said, that's great. Like, that's, because I don't want to leave. I don't want, like, you know, it's obviously, WB, I've been here for 10 years. I love it. I love it. Yeah.

So it's like the only job you've ever known, really. Yes. Well, I've done a bunch of jobs. But, yeah, the whole point is it's not, you know, like, Because it has been, there's been a pattern or whatever of people being like, you know, I want to do whatever and they cause this big uproar. It's not that at all. I just had to be, I had to get myself to a good place. I had to become happy again because I just wasn't.

Quick time out from this chat to tell you about our sponsor, Bet Online. Bet Online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all things. Sports. March Madness, Astors, and Major League Opening Day are just around the corner in Bet Online. line has you covered for all the latest news, scores, and odds. It is the best way to place your bets online, and it's free to sign up. The best part is when you sign up, you'll receive a 50% welcome bonus. The Wilder Fury rematch goes down on Saturday night.

We can't think a better way to wager on the fight that by doing it with actual free money. It's that welcome bonus. So head on over to betonline.8. Use the promo code Bluewire to receive your 50%. welcome on your first spot. I signed up. It's super easy to do it. And if you're into betting,

this is a fantastic way to support the show. It would be so awesome. Again, the promo code is Blue Wire, all one word when you sign up at thatonline.com. That Online is your sports book. But you were still being flown in for the shows and just not being booked on them? Or like main event or superstars or whatever it was. And I was booked. I'd work dark matches or main event.

And it was okay. It just felt like someone else could do what I was doing. And I had done it for too long. Especially when you were so over in NXT. Well, and it's weird because it's not like, so it's not like an ego thing. It's not like a, you know, oh, well, on main event nobody appreciates me or on SmackDown Raw or whatever. But NXT, I'm this superstar, whatever. It doesn't matter.

I say it all the time. In the end, we sign on to a company. And that company can do whatever they want with us. They can either use us or not use us. I'm the same performer either way. So if you want to utilize me in NXT, cool. If you want to utilize me on main event, awesome. If you want to utilize me as a dark match or raw or spactor or whatever, awesome.

I'm cool either way because that's what I'm signed up for. And I can't really bitch about that. That's what I'm doing. Sure. Whose decision was it to cut your hair? That was mine. Okay. That was mine.

Do you have to get this cleared with people? Kind of. Because all these action figures. Yeah. Well, I had, so I had long hair. Yeah. I had long hair before WWE, and then I had long hair for like 10 years, I think, up until whenever I cut it.

And I just kind of, it was one of those things, too. Like, like I said, I wasn't in a good place, man. Like, I just look at myself and be like, what am I doing? Like, I'm out of shape. I don't feel good. I don't look good. Like, I just feel like I need to change and I need to see someone different in the mirror.

And it was just like, you know what? Yeah, let's do it. Like, boom, get rid of it and just switch everything out. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then how was, like, you obviously went to work the next time? Yeah. Were they like, what did you do?

No, not, no. Oh. It was, it's not like, it's very weird because before it used to be like, you know, very touchy. I'm like, well, you know, we got to clear this through a bunch of stuff and whatever. It's not really like that anymore. Like, it's a lot more relaxed and laid back and whatever. And so I just, I think I, I want to say I asked. I think I did ask.

I was like, hey, I'm going to cut my hair. That doesn't sound like asking. Yeah. Well, and I think because it was also at that time when I was like, you know, I think I said, something where I had had a conversation with a couple people and it wasn't the best conversation. Like it was like I was very bitter and negative and everything else. And then it kind of came right after that of like, I'm going to cut my hair. And it was just like, I think it was almost like a, are you okay? Is everything okay? And I said, I'm perfectly fine. I just want to cut my hair.

And they just said, okay. And I just did it. Showed up and was like, all right. You mentioned that you've worked many jobs. What's the most embarrassing when you've had? I don't know if any of them are embarrassing, but I've done a lot of things that you would never expect me to do. Okay. So in my progression, I'll give you my very first. So like when I was a kid kid, I've always worked. I've always like, I've always been, I guess motivated to like do something. Right. So when I was a kid, it was started as like my dad used to do like mud races.

So like he had like a souped up kind of like car and stuff. Okay. And they'd race in the mud. Yeah. So we used to go there all the time. Which town is this then? All over the place. Oh.

So we go to like Nanaimo or wherever. Like you know what I mean? It was all over the place. You'd show up. You'd do your thing for the weekend and head back. So my dad, he always race. stuff and whatever. So we used to do this and I used to go and collect like beer cans and beer bottles and whatever, right? Load them up into a garbage bag and just fill up the truck as we go. I'd show up

back and like go to the store and like it'd be like, hey, you just made like a hundred bucks because you collected all this stuff. So I was like, cool. So I went from that to like, I think once I got a little older, I looked at my sister and so I was like, oh, she babysits all the time. I could babysit. So then I babysat for a little bit, but like obviously I didn't overly enjoy that because I didn't Tyler Breeze being your babysitter. Well, and you got to think when you're like, you know, I think I was like, I don't know, 13, 14 at that time. I'm not cool with kids. You know, like, I'm not good with babies.

But you like money. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm like, they're paying well, but like, I mean, I'm not good with babies. I'm not there yet as a man. So I went from like collected cans to being like a babysitter. I think right after that I got a job at the grocery store. I got a job at a grocery store as being like, you know, produce and whatever. And then where did I go?

I went from there. This is where I started jumping all over the place because I was like 15 or 16. So then I went from there to like a health food store. Then right before my prom, I ended up, I was playing baseball, and I tore everything in my ankle. So I couldn't walk. So I was supposed to start a new job building RVs. Wow. And I tried to do it for a week, and I couldn't do it.

I was standing with like this like air bubble cast and I was like, I can't like do anything. Basically the nicest way of them like firing me. So I lasted for like a week or two. I ended up going and being a night audit at a hotel where I could just sit there. I went to blockbusters were still around at the time. I went there, got a bunch of movies. I'd have a portable DVD player, and I'd just watch movies and do some auditing stuff, and then I just had to stay awake for the night.

I did that up until, because I was heading to wrestling school at that point, I had to make sure I was all good. By the time I graduated, went to Calgary to join wrestling school. I got a job immediately at a gas station, which, in minus 40 in Calgary, pumping people's gas, horrible. Horrible. That's while you were in wrestling school? Yes. I would do that.

in the daytime because wrestling school I think was like in the morning so it'd be like three hours in the morning and then I'd go right to work and I'd work so I did that I worked at a gas station from there my buddy got me a job at a health food store so I went to a health food store then my buddy got me a job renovating houses so I was with a guy and he basically would buy a house and we'd go in and we'd do everything so like I learned how to do electrical plumbing everything whatever wow then from there I was already I think I finished wrestling school I started wrestling around from there I got a job where did I go from here? I want to see what was first. So I knew someone from back at the gas station who just got a job because of her dad. I ended up joining CP Rail as a train conductor. What? Yes.

So I was a train conductor. With what kind of experience? None. They were just kind of doing a hiring spree. At that time, Calgary was like hiring everything. So I joined on to be a train conductor, which I started like, you know, you build the trains and you do the...

This sounds terribly unsafe. Crazy. It's insane. So keep in mind, it's also like middle of winter. If the emergency brake goes out on a train that has 80 cars, you have to walk that by yourself because the engineer ain't getting out. It's an engineer and a conductor and that's it. So I'm out there in the middle of like snow, everything else with a flashlight and I'm hoping that there's no bears, there's no cougars, no nothing. And I'm just like, oh my God, what am I doing? What am I doing? Sounds like a horror movie. But meanwhile, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, making more money than I've ever made. I'm like, this is awesome. They end up laying me off. As they lay me off, as they lay me off. I end up getting a job at my ex-girlfriend, my ex-girlfriend, or my ex-father-in-law, I guess, he worked at a homeless shelter. So I ended up getting a job as the security at a homeless shelter. So, which crazy, by the way, watching people overdose and, like, kicking people out and then, like, calling the cops and, like, trying to basically become a good, like, you know, hey, man, yeah, just stay cool. Everything's cool.

And, like, cops are on the way because you ain't supposed to be. You know what I mean? Like, crazy stuff like that. I end up getting called back to CP Rail. and then I did my tryout and then I did my second tryout and on that second tryout if I did not get hired

I was basically like look man I'm gonna be broke with maxed out credit cards because I maxed out all my credit cards flying myself to Florida for two tryouts to get hired and everything else and I went you know

I'm gonna be working at CPR after this like and so at CPRail too obviously I was a conductor the tanning salon I was going to the guy who owned it worked at CPR he goes hey man

you work at CPR I said yeah he goes you want to be a manager and I said I'm like 20. Can I be a manager? And he goes, yeah. At the tanning salon? No, at the CP Rail.

Oh my God. So I go, how is that possible? And he goes, I can put no word for you. I said, okay. So I applied for the job. I got the job. All of a sudden, I'm a manager at a railroad telling these 40 and 50 year old men how did, like, what to do?

I'm managing the crews. I'm up in this tower and I'm going like, what is happening here? Like I'm wrestling over here. I'm managing a railroad over here. Wow. All over the place. And then from there, I ended up getting hired by WWVE. C.P. Rail actually wouldn't let me go.

I went on a leave of absence for like two or three years because they were like, oh, you don't have to quit. You don't have to leave. Like just. Oh, because it's a union, right? Yeah. Yeah. So they're giving, like, all of a sudden I'd get like random bonuses and stuff like because

I was still employed by it. This is amazing. I was like, it's crazy. So like I didn't officially want to quit there, but eventually I had to because I was like, I'm in WWE for like two or three years at this point. Sounds like when you're done with wrestling. You can just go slide back into your railroad job. I could, but I never will.

Never will. I'm in Florida for life, man. Yeah, I was back home recently and I'm like, it's cold here. Yeah. I get enough on the road of like, you know, hey, one day over here, one day in New York, one day over here. Garbage. I don't like my shoes being wet. I don't want to be slushing around, you know what I mean? You weren't Tyler Breeze when you first went to FCW. I was not. My first name was Mike McGrath. Okay. Yeah. Like Sugar Ray? Yeah, exactly like Sugar Ray. I was like, well, I can't be Mark McGrath, but I could be Mike McGrath.

So I was Mike McGrath for like two weeks. And then some incident happened where all of a sudden Dr. Tom came out of the thing and he just went, hey, you're Mike Dalton now. I said, okay, which I got, Dalton was another name I pitched because of Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. And then so I was Mike Dalton right up until I turned to Tyler Breeze. And then did you develop Tyler Bruce? Yes. That was like a full necessity had to happen. Or else you were going to like. Well, I mean, that's, oh my God, that's how much time do we got here? That's a whole conversation. Basically, short version, I'd been in FCW for a couple of years Almost gotten fired several times

And then it was kind of on my last straw Like hey come up with something or we don't need you This is just like Ronnie's story Kind of yeah Wow And then luckily I had Creed Woods Who was like look man if you're going out

Let's give him everything you got So we came up with like four characters We made videos for him We pitched them all and one of them happened to be Tyler Reeves Wow yeah this is very similar to Ronnie's story Where he was like I'm on my way out He came up with the perfect 10 and it saved his career.

So Tyler Breeze saved your career. That one time, yes. The other times were ridiculous. What do you think is the most ridiculous line in your entrance theme? So funny story about that. They sent me, so we were at NXT and they sent me, somebody told me like, hey, we need you to come in to do some voiceover stuff tomorrow. I said, okay.

They end up sending me an email and it's a full song, like full lyrics. And I just went, like, am I singing this? And they said, yeah, you're singing this. And I went, I can't sing. Like, I can't do this. I thought it was going to be like a couple like, I'm coming to get you or whatever. You know what I mean? Sure.

Yeah. So they ended up sending me this full thing. And it was not like, it was not what I wanted at all. Like, I was like, oh my God, this is going to be so bad. And like, basically, I can't remember the specifics of it. But it was a lot of like, touch my body and this and this and this. And I just went, I don't know if that's like the Tyler Bree's character at all. So I had to kind of navigate it where I was.

I was like, this band just sent me their lyrics and we're like, we're really excited about them. And I couldn't just be like, look, man, this sucks. So I was like, hey, do you mind if I like, you know, put a couple of my signature things in? And they said, yeah, sure, go ahead. That'd be awesome. So I wrote a bunch of like, exact same thing as they did, but I basically just rearranged and like wrote some of my stuff in there. So anything that's like, you know, beauty shot and whatever, whatever, that's kind of all my creation on there. Right.

So which, and then, of course, I'm sick. So I go in the next day and I'm singing these lyrics and they sound horrible. and I'm sick and I'm like, this is just ridiculous. But I guess in terms of like what's the most ridiculous, the whole thing is ridiculous, really. Like, do you ever listen to the lyrics? I was on the way over here. Oh, it's so, it's so funny because, you know, everybody,

you know what I'm going to go with? The one that no matter what, if I go to a signing or if I'm in the, somewhere where there's a lot of wrestling fans, there's always one guy who goes, look everyone, it's Tyler. And I'm like, yep, there he is. You're in a very select few, though, that have sang their own entrance theme. Yes. Very few.

Yeah. You're up there with Sean Michaels. I mean, Chris Jericho is currently singing his theme. It's different because he's in a band. A little different. And everyone else is going to, like, in the comment section, going to be like, you forgot about this one. You forgot this person. This one.

This one. That's honestly the only ones I can think of. The fact that we can only think of a few. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I like it.

I guess so. But it's very modeled after Zoolander, I would feel. The very first, so I know that Woods is, I know he has it. And he's slowly been releasing all the, like, old stuff we made. He's going to put out the very first Tyler Breeze pitch that I made. Oh, wow. And I promise you, it's Zoolander to a T. Well, I hope he puts it out soon after we put this out.

I guarantee he will. Good. Let him know. It's actually, it's, I loved it. So the funny part was we made these videos, right? And this one, we made it. And as we're doing it, I was like, I was like, I've tried to be a wrestler so hard.

Like, I've tried to just be like this wrestler. And I went, let's go the complete opposite. Like, I want to be a total idiot who knows nothing about wrestling. And I had added the Zulander to it. And we made it. And as we're doing it, we're both laughing our heads off. Like, as soon as he stops recording, we're laughing our heads off. And I went, oh, my God.

Like, and we both look at each other and we go, this one's too, this one's like, we're enjoying it too much. There's no way this ever happens. And that was the only one they liked. When did you start to feel that the audience was, on this ride with you um i think when i got comfortable so like i kind of did it for a while before we did it on tv and i was like i don't like i don't know how to really be with this because like i want to wrestle but i'm i'm trying so hard to like just because i know this stuff doesn't mean have to do it yeah so i did everything but wrestle and then i was like okay like cool so like my

first couple times it was like i barely did anything and then after that it was like okay well you got to add some stuff in there so like we started kind of doing it and i want to say almost instantly. I did it maybe two or three times and then I started doing this stuff with CJ Parker

and like it was kind yeah and it was kind of like funny and then they I was like people are kind of digging

like this idiot you know what I mean and so all of a sudden I kind of like it was very odd everything just kind of clicked and I went yeah there's gonna be

something to this I think and then you just kept getting more and more ridiculous with it yes yes I got more more comfortable with it

to where and this is kind of the perfect contrast of like Mike Dalton for example I think I did one promo as Mike Dalton Don't ever put a microphone in front of Mike Dahl's face

Because it's, yeah, I'm giving 110% I'm so nervous right now. Meanwhile, I got to a point now where like I could do the interview with you Or I could go to a red carpet and interview people Or I could do whatever And if you put a microphone in front of my face, I'm almost more comfortable than I am wrestling now.

Wow. And so it's just like, cool, man. And that was just becoming Tyler Breeze? It's just you stop thinking about it. You stop. Somebody told me, they said, you have to stop caring so much. And I said, I don't know what that means because like I've wanted to do this since I was six

years old. Like, how do you not care about it? And once you finally get to that point, you go, oh my God, this is so much easier. Like, just stop, just relax a little bit. Relax. Let some stuff go and just chill and have fun. Once you have fun, you go, man, you can do anything here. Like, we're invincible in there. I can do anything. Yeah. It's awesome. What was the match in NXT when you were like, oh, they're starting to take this seriously too? Probably the Sammy Zane one, the takeover one. Yeah. As soon as I did that, that was like, okay, cool. I just hung for like 15 minutes or whatever. Yeah.

I'm not just like a gimmick. Like there's like there's substance here. And I think I even got pulled aside and told that. And I was like, okay. Cool. Yeah. Well, it is a great gimmick. But the fact that you can actually work.

Yeah. It makes a difference when you have both sides to us. Yeah. So when you were growing up, who were the wrestlers you idolized? I was always like, you know, I was almost the perfect fan where like obviously Canada, I was like, Brett Hart, Brett Hart, Brett Hart. So I hated Stone Cold Steve Austin. But then as Stone Coldplay Steve Austin.

But then as Stoneco Steve Austin became awesome, then I loved Stonecle Steve Austin. So if you wanted to be a wrestler when you were six, what was the backup plan? So I had this argument, which it wasn't so much an argument, but it was it. Other than CP Rail, I guess. I was very, oh my God. I was very adamant that I did not have a backup plan because my parents would go like, oh, you should take some business classes or whatever. And I said, like, I don't even want to finish my current schooling because, like, I want to be a wrestler and I want to go to wrestling school and that's it. And I know that if I put any sort of effort.

it into a backup plan, then I'm just going to go, eh, I could just do this backup plan. Like, no, I don't want a backup plan because there's no other alternative. I'm going to wrestling school, and then I'm going to make it to WWE, and then we're a wrestler, and that's what I'm going to do. And, like, you have no idea, like, teachers tried to, like, discourage me and, like, hey, look, like, NHL, for example, 1,000 people try out, 100 people get to this tryout, 50 people of this try out, two people make it. And I was like, okay, so I should just, like, give up.

And I was like, no, guess what? Other people have made it. Yeah, you can be one of those two people. Less talented people with less drive or not as smart as me or whatever have done this and been perfectly fine. And that goes with anything. Less driven, less talented, less hard work and whatever. People have done things just strictly because they want to. So I'm like, you know what?

It's possible to fail at something that I don't want to do. Why don't I give everything I have to what I want to do? And then if I need a backup plan, I'll get there if I need to. But until then, I have no backup plan. That's such great life advice there. Because if you do have a backup plan, even if you're putting, 1% of effort into your backup plan? Yep.

You're not giving 100% now. Put all your energy into what you want to do, make it happen. So what was the moment when you said you were at a low point? What changed it? Was it you going back to NXT or did something personally change for you? There was a lot of stuff. There was just in general I was not a happy person. I had a very, very bad mindset on things where you just kind of either get entitled

or you're just not in a good place. Like I had to, I don't know. I mean, at that point, I mean, not to, you know, get depressing and whatever, but my marriage was kind of falling apart

and work wasn't going well. And, like, I just, I, at that point, I started thinking about, like, my family's all back in Canada.

I only see my family maybe once a year, if that. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm missing. I've missed 10 years of, like,

I have two nephews that I've barely met. You know what I mean? And, like, my parents and, like, my sister and, like, everything. It's just,

there's so much culmination of things that I was like, I need to make a gigantic life change and it has to start right now. Otherwise, like, what am I doing? You know, I'm wasting time. And look at where you are at now. Yes, yes. A successful business owner?

Yes. A successful professional wrestler. Yep. I imagine, though, that you have a lot of people that walk through these doors. Actually, everyone that walks through these doors is probably going, you know what, Matt, I'm going to give 100%. I'm all in. At what point do you think people start to question if they're all in on this?

Probably on like day one or two Because the thing is And we even had a guy We had a guy who he just He'd always want to be a wrestler I think he was like 35 But he was like he's like I just want to try it

I just want to see what it's like And as we're teaching the basic Of basic of basics He just went Whoa this is a lot harder than I thought Like this is a lot harder than like I see on TV Like I figured I'd kind of like pick it up a little bit

It's like no man What's the very basics? Front rules? So rolls and bumps Stuff like that But what we were teaching was like A little bit of chain wrestling So like exchange some arms stuff

Do some hammerlock stuff. Basically, the whole thing was just footwork. And, like, they don't realize that getting your footwork properly to where you don't have to think about it takes a lot of reps and a lot of stuff. Like, it's a lot of thinking of like, hey, when you put a headlock on, put your feet right. And it was like over and over and over and over and fix your feet, fix your feet, fix your feet, fix your feet. You know what I mean? And it's like, people just don't realize it until you try it.

And then all of a sudden it's like, okay. And then if you last through that stuff, then all of a sudden, now you're getting knocked down and having to get up over and over and over. And you get the nice welt on your back from running the ropes and everything. And even just like having to get up and do it again and come in the next day and do it again and do it again and do it again. Like it tests you the entire time. So how did the move happen for you to now be on 205? That was kind of another scenario where Dango got hurt.

And I just kind of went like, I think maybe I didn't, he got hurt and then I wasn't really used for like three or four weeks. And I went, hey, if you guys want me on two or four weeks. You guys want me on 205? I'll do 2 of 5. And they immediately was like, how about this Friday? And I said, yep, I'm in. Look at you being a company guy. Got to do it.

Yeah. I'm here. Like, why not? You know what I mean? But I love the fact that this all boils down to you love wrestling. I love wrestling. Yeah. Love wrestling.

The whole point of, you know, training people to do it properly. And like I said, it's so fulfilling to watch somebody try to get something. We had a, we had a trainee. She's actually here today. Her name's Taylor. And she had one bad day where she just couldn't get something. And like, over and over and over. and over and over and over and I could see her and she was just beating herself up in her head.

And I looked at Ronnie and I went, I went, she's going to go home and she's going to come back and she's going to nail it and she's never going to do this ever again. And she comes back the next day. First try, does it. And I said, you ate yourself up like alive yesterday in you. And she was, yeah. And I said, I can see it. Like I can see it in you. And once she gets it, then I'm like, she's going to be good.

It's very fulfilling, very fulfilling watching that happen. As we wrap things up here, what's the one match that when, if someone hasn't watched any of your stuff, that you're super. super proud of and you say you gotta watch me in this match someone actually just tweeted me this they'd never watched wrestling before and they said oh i should probably start like trying to figure out what wrestling is i guess or nx t so much i'm told him about nx t yeah the very first match they watched which is exactly what i would say to do was the fatal four way that i had uh with with me uh neville zane tj um that was like the culmination of four dudes who put this thing together and it came off exactly how we wanted it at exactly the right time and the crowd was so into it. It was literally probably the closest thing to a perfect match I've ever had that if you watch that and you don't become a fan of one of the guys in there or everybody or wrestling in general because it's so contagious when everybody's jumping to their feet and all these little things along the way, then you're not going to like wrestling.

If you don't get into that match, you're not going to like it. How can people find out more about flatbacks? So we're on social. I never know. Ronnie's in charge of our social. It's like flatbacks training or something. on Instagram. You'll see.

But we have a website, Flatbacks wrestling school.com. And you're in Apopka, Florida. Yes. Which is just outside Orlando. Right. But yeah, Flatback's wrestling school, we got all the info on there,

which it also has our social stuff on there. I can't believe I don't know it. But he made it all weird. It's like Flatbacks T on Twitter or something, and that I think it's Flatbacks Training. Training on Instagram, I believe. Because I just tagged you guys in something. Yes.

And if not, you can always see it. It's attached to like mine is gorgeous with 3Ms and all that other stuff. Yeah, we got a lot on that. there. And I, you know, I met all your students in here and there's some accents. You've had some people like fly in. Currently we have somebody from England and somebody from Italy. So we're going international. Wow. International. And it's six week classes. Eight weeks. Sorry, eight weeks. Four times a year.

Okay. Wait, no, no. We have five classes total. Five classes total. Well, good thing you're doing the talking here. Yeah. Yeah. So we got five classes total for the year. I think we do like eight weeks, take a week off. Eight weeks, take a week off somewhere in there. But we do five classes for the year. All that info is on the website. And I'll link it below. So I'll put it in the pin comments so you guys can find out.

I know that 100% that it's Flatbacks Wrestling School.com. There's going to be a bunch of people that are watching this that are sitting on the fence going, man, I've always wanted to train. Yeah. But I don't know where to go. Exactly. And we just had somebody say this too where a lot of people go like, ah, if only I lived in Florida, I'd come train with you. Guess what? It's going away to university.

Yes. Like go away for eight weeks. Like I said, we got someone here from Italy, someone here from England. You come here for eight weeks, and you're telling me that you don't have eight weeks in you to start what you want to do for a career, then you're not going to make it anyway. And after those eight weeks, do you think that your students could work matches? 100%. They're about to start working matches now. Wow.

And we're halfway through. Wow. Yeah. I'm going to take a bump today. Yeah, it's been a while. I actually went to wrestling school in Toronto. That's what Ronnie was saying, yeah. Yeah, but that was a long time ago.

Then I decided in my summer that I would go back to my communications degree at Wilford-Lorea University. Nice. Where I graduated. Oof-Ford Lurie University. Yeah. He's on what, the five, ten? Five. He's on the five.

What? The highway? No. Oh, Wilford Laureate. Yes, he's on the five-dollar bill in Canada. I knew he's on the five. He's Canada's first French-speaking prime minister. I didn't know that, but I knew he's on five.

Yes, and when you go to Canada or our Canadian friends who are watching and listening right now, he's on the blue money. Yeah, he is. Yeah. Yeah, I decided I would continue my communications degree and stop the wrestling training. And now I just hold the microphone. Well, you're good. Yeah. But you've turned it into.

an empire here. That's very generous. I would call it empire. That's very generous. Thank you. And thank you for this conversation. And I'm so happy to see where you're at with everything, especially hearing that you turn things around mentally.

And that's a big lesson to be learned for anybody that's watching and listening to this right now. Well, if you're sitting there waiting for somebody to do it for you, I promise you it's not going to happen. You've got to be different. Thank you so much. All right. Well, there you go. Tyler Breeze, my friend.

And what a story of perseverance. and creating opportunities for yourself. Take a screenshot, tag me, tag Tyler Breeze. Mm, gorgeous. That's what he's at. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. He said his name at the end there. I'm sure you were paying attention.

Thank you for listening all the way to the end, by the way. And you know what? It just gets me so jacked up thinking about this interview and thinking about the fact that if opportunity doesn't knock on your door, you have to go out and knock on its door because it's never going to come knocking on your door. And if that door doesn't exist, go out and build a damn door, which is what Tyler Breeze did, creating these opportunities for himself. I'm reading a book right now called Atomic Habits.

The author, his name is James Clear. He says that if you get just 1% better every day. And 1% is so incredibly marginal, right? So micro, it's so small. But if you get just 1% better every single day, at the end of the year, you'll be 37 times better than you were at the start of the year. And that can be applied in anything in your life. So that's what we're going to leave you on now.

So keep an eye out for my interview with Tyler Breeze's business partner and co-owner of Flatbacks Wrestling School, Sean Spears. That's going to be dropping both on here on the podcast and on my YouTube channel. Thursday morning, 8 a.m. Eastern time. And you won't want to miss Friday morning, the live premiere, 8 o'clock Eastern. on my YouTube channel, my session at Flatbacks Wrestling School. Oh, man. We'll see you then. Jim Rome takes on sports.

Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. the spitfire of sports smack.

Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.