Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Tyler Breeze on WWE release, UpUpDownDown, Fandango, His Match with Jushin Liger

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Matt Clemente (Tyler Breeze) is professional wrestler, pro wrestling trainer and Twitch streamer. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Winter Park, FL to talk about being released from WWE after 11 years there, what he plans to do next, his tag team with Fandango, how much UpUpDownDown has changed his career, the wrestling school he owns with Shawn Spears called "Flatbacks Wrestling School", his NXT match with Jushin "Thunder" Liger and much more! For more information about Flatbacks Wrestling School visit: https://www.flatbackswrestlingschool.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.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. Well, here we go. Welcome back to your favorite podcast. Welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm Chris Van Vleek. So grateful to have you with us, whether it's your first episode or if you're with us for every single episode. And that's a lot.

I mean, we've been doing three episodes a week for the last few months here. So many amazing conversations, including this one today. Matt Clement, aka Tyler Breeze, has. been a pro wrestler for 14 years. 11 of those he spent with WWW. Which is crazy. And he was recently released, which means he's now free to do

whatever it is that he wants to do. Which may not necessarily include a ton of wrestling. There's a lot of other stuff going on, which he'll get into, and he says that he's busier now than ever. If you don't already, you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram. It's at

Mmm. Gorgeous. Yeah, that's Mmm. with three ms. I actually asked him why is it three ms? Why is why is your name Matt? Mm. Gorgeous. And you can follow me at Chris Van Fleet. Hopefully you're following the podcast already. But if not, please take a second to follow or subscribe on whatever platform it is that you're listening on right now. Speaking of subscribing, there's a pretty good chance you subscribe to my YouTube channel. I have a second YouTube channel now called CVV clips. It's just short little stippets.

little bites of our conversation. So you can check that out. It's CVV clips. We just hit 20,000 subscribers on there. So pretty pumped about that. Hopefully we can close in on 100,000 soon enough here. Skirt 24 left this review on Apple podcast that says, The Goat.

Chris is just one of the best at what he does. He asks interesting questions to his guests, and it just seems like he's one of the nicest people. I listen to the podcast while I'm at work, while I'm lifting weights, or on the road. Chris, keep up the great work, my guy. Well, thank you, my guy. I appreciate the kind words.

And we'll keep reading one review out on every single episode. So if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or you have a phone that has Apple Podcasts, please take a second and just leave a few words on there. It's so incredibly helpful. All right, let's do this thing. You ready for it? I'm ready.

Let's do it. Please welcome the one, the only, Prince Pretty, Tyler Breeze. Oh man, so good to see you. Yeah, yeah. Just two good old Canadians hanging out. Do you do that thing that I do, and I know every other Canadian does, where when you see another Canadian being successful, you're like, ah, that person is also

from the country in which I grew up in. Sometimes, sometimes. Sometimes I'm like, it gives you the extra like, there you go. Yeah, like when, you know, Celine Dion or Ryan Reynolds. Justin Bieber, Seth Rogen do something. I'm like, well, you know. I mean, yes, especially about Reynolds. Especially Ryan Reynolds.

Oh, especially Ryan Reynolds. I can't believe the last interview we did was last year. I know it feels like 17 years ago at this point, but... That was it really? That was 2020. Oh, my God. When you guys obliterated my chest, caved it in. That's right.

Yeah. Has anyone given you a hard time about that? So everybody, I mean, you know how it is. everybody has their opinion on stuff. And they're like, I saw a couple of people who were like, oh, my God, they're running a wrestling school and they just abused this guy. And the good part is that we know you. And you went like, hey, guys, just so you know, I asked them to do this.

And like most people, you know, some people would, some people wouldn't. But like, it's not like we're just like these bullies, you know what I mean? Like this is what happens. And you were like, hey, please do this. And we said, you don't have to do this. And you're like, I want to do this. And we're like, okay, man. And then we just did it.

But, like, of course, people have their, you know, 2020, 2021 and very, it's very opinionated with a lot of things. So some people liked it. Some people didn't. In the end, I mean, I'm pretty sure you got like a million views from it or something, right? Yeah. And you know how many people have commented on that video of like, I didn't even know that Spears and Breeze had a wrestling school? Now I want to go to their wrestling school. See?

And obviously not to get just chopped for no reason, but to learn from us, which is cool. Well, yeah, to go to literally one of the best wrestling schools in the entire country. Yeah. And it does. Honestly, it does sound ridiculous, but there is a reason why we do chop day. Like, it's not just for no reason. It's everything we do has like a purpose and a reason. It's not like we're just doing stuff because we can. Yeah. And again, I've said this so many times. But for the record, it was my idea. Spears originally said, you know, after you take some bumps, after you lock up, after you run the ropes. because I went to rest of school many years ago. He said, why don't we give you a chop?

And I went, a chop? Come on, man. Like, let's line up everybody and I'll have them. You know, everyone will chop me. And you went, sure? Yeah, we can do this. I mean, we just did our chop day. But if you want to get in on it, cool.

Yeah. So I want to thank you for that opportunity. It was truly an honor. It was awesome. I mean, we had a blast. We had a blast. I know the students had a blast. Everybody loved it.

Look at this room you're in. This is like the epitific. me of a man cave here. This is so, so you can't fully take it. And you kind of get the overall feel. But I remember, Harps, Harper. He walked in here and he literally looked around and he went, man, I don't know whether to feel sorry for you or to be jealous.

And I just started laughing. And he was like, this doesn't happen when you have kids. And I said, yeah, no, you got to take advantage of it, you know. How many arcade games do you have in there? So that actually is like, it's pretty cool. like a, it's like a, it's just a TV with like an emulator, but there's like 16,000 games in there. So if you want to sit there and just game out, it's pretty cool. So I've always wanted to own one of those, but I've always wondered, is that just something that sits there and looks really cool

or do people actually play it? So I do play it. And actually, me and me and Spears played it. It just depends on, you know, what you got to do with your day. If you have time, yeah, you can sit there and play. But otherwise, it is pretty cool. Just sitting there next to a little bar. So, I mean, if you have a gathering of people over there, what's the first thing? What do people like, what are they drawn to? Depends. So, like, most of the time, most of the time the guys will look at like, so you can't really see it, but it's like my kind of like movie memorabilia. So I have like, like, John Wick, like signed posters and stuff like that. Oh, wow. I got like Guns and Roses

signed stuff. I got like underworld stuff. I got Resident Evil stuff. I got Mike Tyson boxing gloves. I've got Mike Tyson punchout sign stuff. So guys usually like that stuff. And then the girls usually look at like all the pictures of my animals on the wall. Because I have like on this wide like over here, these are like painted portraits of my two dogs and my cat. And then these are like actual pictures of my dogs and cat. And then on my fridge, I have like mugs of my dogs and cat.

So it's like they, it depends what you go to. But there's something for everybody here. With the movie memorabilia, is this stuff that you have like, have you met these people or did you go? That thing is so cool. I am willing to pay for this. So this is one of those things where like, when I moved in here, this is technically my dining room of my house. Oh, it looks like it looks like it too.

Yeah. And I was like honestly like am I really going to have like a dining room with like a dining room with like a dining room table and it's just here? Or am I going to make this my streaming area and like make it like everything? So then I was like, okay, what kind of stuff do I like. So I end up making like a list. And I was like all right. Well, like John Wick, Resident Evil, underworld, like all this cool stuff. And then I just started like looking and you can.

buy anything online, by the way. So, like, if you actually look, there's everything for, like, I had to hold off really, really, really bad on, um, uh, the actual movie worn helmet of Val Kilmer, uh, from Top Gun. And I almost bought it. And I was like, can you imagine? I'm just like walking around as Ice Man all day. Like, that's awesome. Why did you hold off? Ah, because it was like $4,000. I was like, I don't know. That sounds like a bargain. I know. Now you're making me go back and get it. But it was also at the time I was ordering everything under the sun. So I filled up the walls. I'm good.

I'm slowly, you know, putting stuff in there. But that was definitely on the list. I think that needs to be back on the list. That's right. That's... You can buy anything online. It's crazy. I mean, that is the unbelievable thing.

Now, when I was telling people that we were going to do this interview, it seems like you have more fame now from everything you've done with up, up, down, down, than your entire wrestling career. I mean, it kind of goes that way. you know what I mean? Where that was actually like me and Creed's goal when we started doing stuff. Like when he started up up, up, down, down. Like I had no clue really like how to stream or how to do YouTube stuff or how to do any of that stuff.

He knew how to do it. And if he didn't know, he figured it out. And we slowly kind of did what we did. But as we kind of went like year after year, we know the deal. Like obviously you're not going to wrestle until you're like 40, 45, 50. Like eventually you're either going to, you say, you know, I've had enough of this or your body's going to say I've had enough of this. So we were like, you know what?

We have to really like build our value outside the ring because in reality, like, we are expendable when we get to a certain point. And even when we don't get to a certain point, like you could get released at any time. That's just how this industry is. So building your value outside of the ring was always a massive goal for us. So luckily, up, down, down has done wonders for that for people to actually see. and Creed's awesome like that where he actually, you know, he'll take guys who you might just know from, you know, their matches and maybe they don't get to talk a lot.

You don't know what kind of a person they are and how they actually, you know, have really good personality. So he will put them in a spot where you get to see that personality. And now of a sudden you go, whoa, I want to see more of that guy. He's really, really cool. And like he seems like a good guy and whatever. And maybe the only place you get to see that is on up, up, down. So now not only is he building his own stock,

but he's helping everyone around him. which it's what's that saying like the uh when the tides high all rising tides lift all votes yeah yeah you know what i mean like he that he lives by that where it's it's not only just for him but it's for as many people as he can help he will and now the fact that he actually has a platform to do that which like you said like it's done wonders for me man if i did not do everything with up up down then that i did uh i wouldn't be able to stream on twitch and and do everything outside with any sort of value i would just be another random guy trying to get my foot in the door. But he's, like I said, he was very adamant on we have to build our value outside of the ring. And like you said, it's almost to that point now

where, which one are we going with? I mean, you used to have your own YouTube channel. Has this now inspired you to go, huh, I could have millions of subscribers too. Well, so we did. So we actually, we were streaming, we were streaming on Twitch for like two years at the Suites Live with the Z. And then we had to shut it down for a little bit. And now, you know, we're fired back up. So it's me and Spears. And we stream every week. July, actually, we just got back into it.

And we pumped out a ton of streaming hours and fired up a YouTube channel and fired up TikTok and Instagram and Twitter and all that stuff. So everything is kind of on high gear. And it's hustling. It's going crazy. So super successful July, already going good in August. And we're just kind of going to keep rolling with that. So, I mean, if July was great, August is going great.

What is the plan now as we close out 2021 with the streaming? Streaming is going full speed ahead. So we're continuing that. Like you said, like there is value there that I would be wasting it if I didn't do anything with that. So the fact that we fired everything up and everybody immediately clamored back to it just shows us that,

you know, there's people there that want to take in the content that we're giving them. So I'm perfectly okay with streaming. And like I said, I think we stream twice on. Mondays, twice on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday is kind of a, you know, if it happens, it happens, but if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world. And so far, people have been really, really receptive to it. And we're growing, like, even on

YouTube, like, we're kind of, everything messes together, but YouTube within like a week, we went past like 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 people. So it's slowly growing, but also like really fast. So, I don't know, it's cool. And it's fun. It's fun for me and it's fun for Spears. And like, we just hop on and everybody in our chat is so, like, they're so receptive to everything. And they just, even as we're gaming or even if we're busy, people have come in and they go, oh, that's cool. I didn't know you guys had a, had a Twitch channel. And then the chat makes them feel so welcome. They go, this is awesome. Like, I'm just going to hang out here with my friends and watch you guys and ask questions and do whatever. Everybody has a blast, which is really,

really cool to us. Yeah. I imagine a lot of this starts off as a hobby. You're like, this is fun. I want to hang out with my friends. When does WWE start to step in and go, oh, wait a second. I don't know if you guys should be doing something like this on this level. So it was a little different. You know, obviously everybody kind of threw their hands up in the air for when they kind of stopped everything. It's kind of one of those things. And it's a saying that lasts for a very long time. And it's been around for a long time.

The boys will always mess it up for the boys. So like I said, I was streaming on Twitch for two years. And nobody even like really noticed or paid attention or anything because I was doing it properly. You know what I mean? Like in the end, when you are under a. certain banner. And this is just, you know, this is media training, um, where if something happens and like, let's say I'm live and I'm live somewhere, streaming somewhere. And I just, you know, represent myself horribly. Um, when you sign on to a big company, the headline doesn't read now,

you know, Matt Clement does this. It now says WW superstar or AEW superstar or whoever did this. So now you have to be mature enough to realize you represent a bigger. and you have to, you know, conduct yourself accordingly, which I did. So nobody really noticed in two years. I was just doing my thing. But then people kind of notice and they go, oh, we can do this. Oh, we can do that. Oh, you're doing this. So I should do this. And they jump on and they don't do things according to how they should, whether it's using intellectual property or whether it's giving away things they shouldn't be giving away. They just violate, you know, certain things. And eventually, the guy who's in charge of everything will say, you know what? Everything is stopped. You've ruined it.

I can't go case by case and go, you're okay, but you're not okay, you're okay, but you're not okay, that's okay, but that's not okay, they just go, you guys stop. Yeah. And in honesty, like, from a business standpoint, if you ran a business and you had all this stuff,

like, would you really just let everything go or would you blanket it and go, guys, you're wrecking it? Like, I can't deal with this right now. You guys all have to stop. One of the lines in wrestling are so blurred. Like, you are the character. Matt Clement is Tyler Breeze, Whereas in the world of movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not The Terminator.

You know, Tom Cruise is not Ethan from Mission Impossible. It's just so strange how the lines are so blurred here. Well, I think that's all like, you know, technicalities and paperwork and contracts and stuff like that. Where in the end, on paper, it's who owns what? You know what I mean? So, like, I can't as a, you know, if I work for a company and they own a character, mine. I can't take that character and go make money or do something elsewhere. I just can't. Like, they own it. And I know they own it because I have a contract that says, oh, you own this.

They own this. And I go, cool, I'm cool with that. And I sign it. You know what I mean? If you not cool with it, then don't do it. But they still, in the end, they own that character. You know what I mean? Well, unknowingly, one of the smartest things you might have done is made your Twitter handle and your Instagram handle, mm, gorgeous. Yeah. And not like Tyler Breeze, or something like that. I mean, I kind of, I mean, I especially knew it back then that like eventually, because no matter what, everybody will get fired at some point. Or you retire or quit or whatever you want.

But you're not going to be with a certain company forever. So you kind of have to prepare for that. If you put all your eggs in a basket of a company and then you leave that company, they might want those eggs back. You know what I mean? So you can kind of like set yourself up a certain way if you build a brand outside of there as well. I always wondered, how did you decide how many Ms to put in M gorgeous?

So I remember what I was making it. I was like, I didn't even like have the character yet. And I was like, I should probably have a Twitter and Instagram. So I went, mm, gorgeous. Like, oh, that's kind of cool. But like M gorgeous is you'll be like, oh, is that like his first name? Matt Gorgeous. Yeah.

But like two M's is kind of like, okay, M gorgeous, like whatever. But like three is like, oh, I get it. You know what I mean? So like three kind of. did the job. And this was before you had even created Tyler Breeze? I kind of was like in the middle of it. But I was just like, you know what?

I should prepare in case they go with this. So like here's my Instagram. Here's my Twitter. Just because like I didn't want to have to chase the eight ball where like if, if, you know, they even have a hint of whatever, someone already snags that stuff. And you're like, oh, come on, man. Now I got like Tyler Bree's three or something. Well, now you've got every opportunity to do whatever you want, be whoever you want.

Are you still going to be gorgeous? I mean, it depends. It depends what I'm doing. You know what I mean? So, uh, there's just a lot going on that in reality, like, I'm not, uh, I'm not really marketing myself as like Matt Clement anywhere, because in the end, that's me and that's, you know, special and that's, you know, I get to chill out of my house. That's me. Uh, but when I'm, you know, marketing stuff, uh, I'm still the same person that, you know, they watch on either the suites or, uh, up, down, down, or whatever. You know what I mean? So name-wise, I don't know, I haven't really put too much thought into it yet. There's a million, you know, different monikers that we can use, you know, Prince of Pretty.

You know, you know, you know, you know who I am. You know what I mean? So now it's just a matter of, you know, if I have to put it on a banner or something, we'll figure it out. So you're saying Mike Dalton is coming back. Oh, God. Luckily, that's intellectual property, so I can't even use it. Which I wouldn't anymore. Oh, no, that's gone to. This interview's over. Those are just, I don't even, when they get brought up, I like cringe.

They were necessary, but my God, really bad. But I love what we talked about in our last interview. And if people haven't checked this out, I definitely encourage them to go give it a listen because your story is so fascinating. Before you came up with Tyler Breeze, it sounds like you were on like the thinest of thin ice, like basically figure something out or we got nothing for you. I was like, I was like the cockroach that wouldn't go away, man. Like it was, there was several times that like, you know, hey, you're going to get fired.

Oh, something happened. Oh, you're going to get fired. Something happened. Oh, hey, you're getting a fired. Something happened. Oh, like I always just like barely clung on, whether it was from, you know, taking a random bump in the ring to, you know, somebody seeing me that hadn't seen me or whatever. There was always some random thing that would give me a little bit more life until I finally

found the Tyler Bree's stuff. And then even then, I had a little bit of like, hey, you're probably not going to get fired. And then eventually that got to the same point where it's like, you're probably going to get fired. You know what I mean? But that's just how it goes. That's just I kind of talked about before. Like the lifespan of what we do isn't like, it's not long. Like, even if you look at like Stone Cold Steve Austin, for example, he wrestled for a long time. But in reality, his run in WWW was what, like five years? Same with the rock. very short. You are lucky to get that like, you know, five, six year run. Even if, like, I've wrestled for 14 years, luckily 11 of it was in WWE. So that's huge. That's massive.

Not many people can say they lasted 10 years or five or whatever. Like, it is a very fast overturning thing. It's just kind of how it is. But you have the self-awareness to realize that wrestling doesn't last forever. And not everybody does. There's a lot of people that go, I've always loved wrestling. I've always wanted to be a wrestler. Wrestling is all I know. And then they get let go or, you know, have a bad injury. And they go, oh, crap, now what? Yeah. So it's just, I've always been like that where, like, I was taught very, I was taught

very well by Lance Storm. And he preached right away of like, look, be smart with your money. Like, yes, it's exciting when you start making good money, but it does not last forever. So be smart with it. And I went, okay. So, like, what exactly does that mean? Like just see it? It means don't buy the top gun helmet.

Well, that's that. Let's not go that far. But like, you know, when I, honestly, when I thought of it, I was like, does that just mean save your money? Because like when it sits there, whatever. I was never a big like, I was just never big into school. Like I just, it didn't interest me and all I wanted to do was go to wrestling school. So I kind of just like blasted through it.

When I got out and once I kind of tried to figure out what Lance meant by Be Smart with your money, man, I wish they taught that in school. Like, I wish they taught that in school. taught how taxes work. And I wish how they taught how real estate works and stock market and all this stuff where like your money when you save it, it's not just safe in your bank account making, you know, 0.02% interest. Like you have once you get money that what's it whatever that those it's so funny like as you get older, you realize the sayings that are around forever are around forever for a reason. Yeah. Like it takes money to make money. It really does. Like once you get a little bit of

capital, you can easily make money. It's insane. You just. have to know how. So I would kind of like branch out and go, all right, uh, I heard real estate's big. So let's look at this. And then all of a sudden you talk to a couple people who do it, which Fandango, he's a real estate master. So he kind of taught me some stuff. And I went, oh, I tried it, did it. Cool. What else can I do? Oh, now you have rental places. Now you do this. Now you do this. And I'm going, oh, so I still have the money. I'm just moving it over into like other places as like little piggy banks just waiting for me when I want to take it all out. But now I'm using other people's money to pay for my stuff instead of my own money. And then,

and which a lot of people freak out because they like seeing their bank account buildup. And then when they see it like kind of go away, if you buy a, you know, down payment on a house, there's $30,000 that goes. And you're like, oh, God, what just happened? And then you realize, no, it's still there. And now someone's actually paying. And now they're paying you money to use that house. Like that was so interesting to me finding that out. And I went, okay. So now I have WWE and I have rental stuff. So that's two forms of income. And I started kind of like researching this stuff and going like millionaires. How do millionaires have money? Because like, do they just have jobs that pay like millions of dollars? Because that's hard to get.

And it was like no, millionaires have like seven to ten streams of income. And I went, how do you have seven to ten like jobs? How is that possible? It's not the case. You have to find stuff. So like all of a sudden that I was researching stocks. I was literally sitting in there and bed at like four in the morning reading stocks and we're like, okay, cool. All right, cool. Trying it, trying it, trying doing this. And I went, oh, okay, well, there's three. All right. And then just slowly finding these interests to build everything outside of the ring for when that day came that my phone rang. And they said, hey, we don't need you anymore.

And I went, cool. Because if I didn't have any of this stuff and that phone rang, I would have freaked to the hell out. I would have gone, oh, God. I thought this was going to last forever. Where am I going to get my next paycheck? Oh, God. But luckily, I kind of prepared and I got ready for this.

And when it happened, it was literally like the shortest conversation of all time. Hey, man, what's up? Bad news. Unfortunately, I have to let you go. Okay, cool. Do you have any questions? No, not really. When are you up? September 20 something. Okay, cool. Thanks, man. Bye. Like, cool. And now what do I do? What do I do? I immediately started streaming again. I immediately fired up my pros and teas. I immediately fired up everything and just like you go into hustle mode and I'm okay with it all. You know what I mean? Whereas like I said, and like you said, there's a lot of people that just put all their eggs in the wrestling basket and you're one injury away or you're one phone call away from putting your, income from X amount of dollars to zero. And having zero income freaks the hell out of me. Is it because you were so close to being released so many other times like the stories you just

told that this time around you just kind of went, yeah, all right, finally happened. I'm okay with that. No, I mean, it was, but it was also like, I mean, one, like, you know, I've been in WWE for 11 years. So that's very, very lucky to do that. And I also was very smart with my money to where now the income part wasn't so much like a big worry to me. Now it was just kind of like a, I understand where they're coming from to let me go. Like it's, it's just business. That's it. You can't take it personally. You're being like, what did I do wrong or blah, blah? You can't. Sometimes you just make too much money or sometimes they go, hey, we don't need you right now. It doesn't mean you're gone forever. Like how many times do we see people get released and they'll come back. You know what I mean?

Like it's just once you're in the system, you're in the system. It's just how it goes. but yeah I think like I always had a goal for myself when I got hired and I've said it a bunch like I was preparing to get fired the day I got hired like as soon as I got hired I went cool let's start preparing like how do we got to set ourselves up here for the future because there's a lot of life to live after wrestling and I immediately just kind of like started to make a plan got ready and just slowly kind of like I guess was just ready for I remember looking at contracts so I got my first contract and I went like, okay, like once you, you have like a developmental contract, I think it was like three years or five years or something. But then when I signed my main roster

contract, I went, okay, I got three years, realistically, perfect world. If I last three years, I got three years. I don't want to have to sign another. I want to be able to like, if I'd like to, I'll sign it. But if I really don't want to, I want the freedom to not have to sign that. And then by the time three years came up, I went, oh man, I don't have to, but I could. I mean, things are going okay. So I just signed the next one and I went, cool. And then like by the time the next one rolled around, very different scenario where I went, look, man, like, you don't need me. I'm going to leave kind of thing, which is kind of what I was, I was, you know, I've always kind of preached. Like if you are not happy in your life, then you got to change it. You have to.

And at that moment of time, I was not happy. And what I was told was literally like, sorry, all we can give you is more money. And I said, I've been really smart with my money. I don't need more money. Like I'm telling you, I go to the airport and I turn around and I don't go to work because I'm not happy in my, which I'm not happy at work, which was more of a reflection of I wasn't happy in my life. So everything kind of follows. And I just kind of went, look like, I don't need this. And that was when I had the conversation to go back to NXT and everything else. But I was really ready to leave right then. And because I kind of accomplished my goal of, like I said, having that freedom to not sign that contract. And that's my main thing that I always preach is like, when

you sign that contract, you know exactly what you're signing up for. If you're not okay with it, please do not sign. Please do not sign. Go somewhere else. Do not sign that contract because now once you're in it, now like it's kind of on you. Like you know what this is. It is not a surprise anymore, especially now, like maybe 10 years ago when I got signed or whatever, but now everything about the contracts are so widely known. Like everybody just either, you know, as soon as they get fired, they tell everything or whatever. But you know so much about what's in the contract. What is probably entails in your years that you're going to work for this company. If you don't want to do it, please do not sign. If it's not going to make you happy, don't sign it. What's so impressive

with what you've done is you've been able to make so much money, regardless of what your name was or where you worked, you know, with real estate and stocks and just great investments. I think a lot of people go, all right, I need to take the character and the name that I've built in this company and then make money off of that. And you basically went, I'll just buy some properties. I'll just buy some properties, have rental properties, invest, look up stocks, look at you now. Well, so this is the funny thing. And like, it's funny talking about it because it sounds like I'm like this like multi-millionaire. I'm not. I live comfortably, but I have like my future set up. You know what I mean? Whereas like you said, like a lot of people just put every single egg they have in that wrestling

basket and they just assume that wrestling is going to take care of them for the rest of their life. Don't do that. Where on the other side of it, this is my favorite part. Because if you mention like anything about money or like, oh, like, you're happy with your career. You're not even winning championships or you're not getting pushed or you're not in a storyline, but you're perfectly fine to sit and catering and collect your money and blah, blah, blah, blah. One, just because I was in a company and I understood how the system worked and I wasn't sitting there banging my head against the wall going, why aren't they giving me titles? Why aren't they using me? Doesn't mean that you're complacent. It doesn't mean that you're content. It doesn't mean that you don't work hard.

It just means that, like I said, I could go in every single day and I could pitch an idea. The company that the company that hired me, it is 100% their call if they do any of my ideas or not. When I say that we get hired to sit on the bench, doesn't mean that you're not hardworking. It doesn't mean that you're not trying to do more or that you want to do more. It just means that you're sitting there and everything goes in cycles. Nobody can stay on top forever. That's just how it goes. And if they do, like someone's on top and they go, well, why isn't it?

this person on top? And then when that person goes to the top, then they go, well, why isn't this person on top? Not everybody can be on top. It doesn't mean that you're content. It doesn't mean that you don't care. There's a very big difference between like bitching and complaining about things and then being disappointed in things. Like I could, I could very much say like, man, I wish this would have happened or I wish this would have happened. I could be disappointed with that. But I can't sit here and go, man, I wasn't given everything I was owed. Like, in reality, I wasn't owed anything, man. I was very lucky out of thousands of people in the world who want to work for a big company.

I got to work there for a long time. And in reality, which this is the funny part too, a lot of people will go, oh, man, but your career sucked. And I'll be like, okay, did it? Like, go back and watch my match, my fatal four-way match at NXT. I will hold it up against any match that's ever happened. the match at the time is one of my favorite things. Great opponents, great crowd, fun time. I'm the only guy in WWI history who ever got to wrestle Liger.

Like, they don't just hand that to you if you suck. You know what I mean? Like there's certain things. If I look back in my career, my career has been awesome. And a lot of people wish that they could have a career like me. Where at the same time, a lot of people have had really, really good careers. So you can't look and go, man, this guy never won a title. Man, this guy never did.

Oh, they didn't know how to book this. cool. Like it is what it is, but at the same time, I'm very, very happy with everything that I've accomplished. And now at 33 years old, if I really wanted to, I could say I'm retired. I could go, yeah, this is about as retired as I'm going to be. I'm going to run the school. I'm going to teach people. I have no surgeries. I'm very, very healthy. Like, that is a good accomplishment for me. And in the end, overall, more than anything, wrestling is always just wrestling. It is off to the side. but you have to be happy in life. And I'm very happy in my life.

I love my life. I think it's great. No matter what people want to say, I'm very happy. I think, Matt, unfortunately, a lot of people compare this to sports. And I think they'll go, like they'll look at the lineup and they'll go,

Mike Trout's not in the lineup? Did they not think Mike Trout is talented? I can't believe this. Or they'll say, is this guy really the goat if he didn't win X amount of Super Bowls or X amount of World Series? And I think that people try to take that same argument.

and apply it to wrestling and go, well, how could Tyler Breeze be the, you know, be a great wrestler, have a great career if he didn't win the NXT championship? It's like, well, you're definitely talented enough to win. It just weren't written into the storyline to do that. Yes. And that's, and I remember a specific conversation I had where, like, in reality, and this is, this is where it's always a funny take to, because I say, you know what, honestly, to be a happy individual in a big wrestling company, you have to detach a little bit. If they come to you and they go, hey, you're going to be the world champion. And I go, I have to say, cool. Or if they say, hey, you're going to get massacred tonight in five seconds. And I've said, cool. I have to be okay either way. Doesn't mean I'm lazy,

doesn't mean I'm complacent. Doesn't mean I don't want more. It just means that you have to be able to do that for your own standard. And I remember having a conversation because I've never really been one on this or hey, I should have done this or hey, whatever. There was one time that I, I think I was coming back to work, Velveteen Dream at Takeover. And I remember I went to Hunter and I went, like, I don't really do this, but I feel like this is kind of a big deal. Like nobody's really come back to NXT yet. And Velveteen's kind of like doing really good. It's a North American title.

I said, which didn't exist when I was back here. I said, I feel like the matchup for us has like a good little build and everything else. I said, what do you think of getting like two matches out of it? Like, what if we come back and nobody really expects me to win? What if I actually won the title from him at takeover? And then at the next takeover, we work again. And I can drop it back to them or whatever we're going to go. but like I feel like I think people would get into it.

And Hunter kind of gave me a big speech of like, look, man, like not everybody has to win a title kind of thing. He's like, he's like, you know, Ted DiBiase, like all these guys. He started listing off all these guys that never really won the big titles or anything else. Jake to stick Roberts, the Bushwhackers. Yeah. And he's like, they just didn't really need the title to get to the next level. Like they were superstars.

And he said like, I, it just won't really like elevate. you anywhere else to win a title or whatever. And I don't know if he thought I was just trying to like, you know, win a title. So I said I won a title. I was actually just thinking like, man, I kind of would like to get two matches out of this. And I said, I said, if you have a better idea to kind of like prolong it or whatever, away we go, which I think, you know, obviously they had different ideas for certain things. But I just kind of went like maybe.

And he kind of gave me that whole speech of like, yeah, man, some like some people need the titles to get elevated. Some people don't. He goes, you know, and I know exactly what you're saying. It's all good. Cool. So you're saying you're really happy with how everything went. Like I love how you're like, I could retire right now and be super happy with everything. There was in reality, like I said, I'm not really like a big like, you know, oh, and don't

get me wrong because it's not like I'm sitting here on my high horse being like I never got bitter and I never got mad. I 100% got bitter and mad to where I was sitting at ringside, yelling at people, you know, coming back through guerrilla, yelling at people and just like really, really bitter and angry. And that I think just happens to everybody until you kind of get a reality check of like, huh, my worst day, on my worst day when I come to my work, I can make $500 and I can eat free food. That's my worst possible day. With some of your best friends. Yes.

And when I look at like my friends and my family who, you know, they work their ass off. And I've worked with jobs before where I worked my ass off. And you barely make a fraction of that. Then you kind of get a reality check and you go, you know what? But grow up, man. Are you really going to sit here and get mad about something when you're getting paid good money to sit here and eat free food? And it's just not your time yet. And that's kind of the good reality check that you have to bring back down.

Otherwise, you're going to fly off the handle and you're going to be difficult to deal with. You're not only going to be angry at work, but you're going to take it home with you. And you're going to be really, really mad at home, which in the end is not worth it. So like I said, I think there's only one time, really, that I went like, man, we should have won that. or there should have been something. I think it was like a Battle Royal or something on Smackdown. And the winners would get like a tag team title shot. And it was when me and Dango were like really hitting with fashion files.

And they put over somebody else, maybe the hype rose or something. And I just remember thinking like, man, I feel like tonight should have been our night. Like I feel like it should have been. And that's really like the only time I've ever thought that. Because in the end, like I said, they, I think people kind of followed me and got behind me because I never got like, in reality, in reality, if you look at my entire career, I never really got like a full, like, push. You were on your way in NXT. I was always used and I was always with their guys, but I was never really, like, given it.

And Dolph actually gave me the perfect thing when I started working him. He just kind of went, look, man, he goes, it's very, very clear who the guy is. He goes, and if it's not you, then chances are it'll never be you. but he goes, they'll never hand you the ball. He goes, they'll hand it to someone else. But then you'll always work with those guys. And even when you steal the ball from those guys, they still won't give it to you. He goes, but you're always going to be used.

You're always going to be with these guys because they know they can rely on you. And that's why you get this underground following, which Dolph did, which I did with certain people did, where like the people know what they're watching. They know that like they really want something to happen. And it just won't happen. And it kind of builds like this like real. like cult following for you, that translates into almost everything you do, which I actually love being in that category. I think that was like really, really cool that people get behind you

because the machine never did. You know what I mean? If you were ever to get advice from somebody that would understand this, it's Dolf Sigler. Right? And that's, and like I said, like, one, Dolfs fantastic. Like, I'll, I'll work him every day of the week. I love that guy. he is he's also one that doesn't you know which don't get me wrong he uh because i used to make fun of him when he told me all this stuff because he he was good like just kind of guide me onto main roster stuff and he said there was a time when he'd come come to the back and he'd grab a case of water and he'd throw it down and go what is going on like why am i not being used why am i not doing this and he would freak out and then you kind of like like i said you detach a little bit and he's put his effort

into his comedy shows and this other stuff and trying to get movie rolls and whatever but every time he's in the ring, he still kills it. Like he's attached enough that every time an opportunity comes, he kills it. He told me there were times when he would come through the curtain and like yell, like try to top that match. Yes. Yes. And that's it just, I think it just happens.

Like you get bitter, you get angry. But eventually if you, if you do it right, you realize that you detach a little bit and not only are you happier. But then things just kind of go your way and you go, oh. Okay. Why was I so mad all the time? And then you see other people getting mad, you go, it's okay, man.

Don't worry. Like, it'll be fine. Do you, I mean, is there a comparison that could be made here to like a movie? Like, let's say you got hired to be like a henchman

on the Sopranos or something. And, you know, you're filling your role and you build up a little bit of a cult following. Yeah. It would be the equivalent of going to the writers

of the director and going, I need more scenes with Tony Sopran. I should be the guy. Yes. And that's the funny part is the next episode. You'd probably be killed off.

but like that's it's that's such a great comparison um because in the end like that sounds ridiculous right like if you if they write you a movie and you go oh my character should blah blah blah cool but like that's not what this artist wrote for you you know what I mean like they wrote you for a certain thing so it's it's very often people forget that people forget that wrestling is a television show yes and they and a lot of people don't even realize that there was a very large script Every single Monday for Raw, every single Friday for SmackDown, every single Wednesday for NXT, a very large script that is basically saying this happens and then this happens right after that. Yes. So it's very funny too. So like, and I feel like there's an audience, like this is maybe it's just a growing thing. Maybe this is like now a thing. But I feel like wrestling especially and just because I know about it. But they want to know everything that's going to happen before it happens. And then they get mad about it. So like, I watch TV shows and sometimes the TV shows don't go exactly how I want them to,

but I can't like freak out about it. That's just what happens when you watch a movie or a TV show. Monday Night Raw. It's three hours long. So can you imagine day after day, week after week, I tune in every Monday and I watch, let's say it's a bad movie. And I watch this bad movie and I hate it. hate every second of it. And then I watch another bad movie on top of it. So I watch three hours

of bad movies. And I just, I live tweet about it and I say how terrible it is and they should have done this and this sucks and this sucks and this sucks. And then I do it again the next week. And then I do it again the next week. And I do it again the next week. And I'm going, do you just love like being miserable or like there's a lot of other between Netflix, Prime Video, who like you can watch anything you want. If you don't enjoy what you're watching, then what are you doing? Like that sounds horrible. to me. I only want to watch stuff that I'm entertained by. If I'm not entertained by it, I'm not watching it. But there is people that, like, they, they either secretly love it and they just want to, you know, talk bad about it, or they actually hate it and they just want to beat themselves

up every week. I don't get it. Well, a lot of people also want to focus on the things they didn't like on the show rather than focusing on the handful of things that maybe they did like or maybe you were okay. That's 100% true, too. That's 100% true. So with all of this said, are you, still interested in pursuing a career in wrestling? So it depends. I mean, there's a lot obviously happening right now, which it's a very exciting time for wrestling. Super exciting time.

Which is cool. And obviously, it's what we talk about with our students at flatbacks and stuff like that. Of like, guys, like, it is not, it is really not as far away as you think. Like, we have students that we're training now who they've been working at AEW Darks. They've been at NXTs. They've been, you know, a part of all this stuff that we're going, like, guys, it's right there. all you got to do is just it's right there. So right now is such a good time in wrestling.

Where at the same time, like an AEW, for example, there's a lot of people who are debuting over there or they're, you know, everybody's kind of moving around all over the place. So I don't know if like if I even wanted to go there, if it would make a massive impact. Like I don't think it would be like, oh my God, this happened. Because now it's kind of the norm. Like a lot of people are just going over there.

And there might be some big names. going there. You know what I mean? Like nobody knows what's happening, but I just don't feel like right now is the time for me to even go towards there. And at the same time, I've wrestled for 14 years straight. I'm okay with taking a little bit of a break. My body actually likes it.

And I get enough wrestling like at the school to kind of keep myself good. But like going out and wrestling in the Indies, I'm not currently taking any wrestling bookings because like going out there and getting injured, it just doesn't really appeal to me. If there was a match that was. fun than I think I might do it. But really for the most part, like, I kind of scratched the wrestling itch. And if it comes back, maybe. But right now, I have enough other stuff on the go that I'm going to do some signings and some appearances and some seminars and stuff like that, just because I can,

because I, you know, obviously with WDB for a long time, that now I can do that kind of thing. But in terms of like jumping back into a ring and wrestling right away, I don't really have an interest for it right now. I kind of like all the other outside stuff I'm doing and exploring that and giving my body a little bit of a break and just kind of like watching as a spectator and going, oh, this is really cool. And you were still in the ring every single week at flatbacks. Yeah, exactly. What is what would you say is the one thing that takes some of your students, like a student who might be good? What takes them from being good to being exceptional, to being great? So we say it all the time.

We'll throw a bunch of stuff at you. And then it's just like over time, you'll see it start to like click. And it'll click at different times with other people. The main thing that honestly after like three years of teaching people, patience. Everybody needs patience. Everybody is so impatient, which I was too. It's just natural. But when you learn to be patient, all of a sudden, everything becomes really, really clear.

Selling. Everybody when they finally clear. in of like how to sell and how to give into it. Like we say it all the time. Wrestling is like a magic show, right? So I don't want to see like, you know, the magician kind of out there, which actually is kind of funny because I went to a Chris Angel show in Vegas. And he kind of did this where he just kind of came out and he went like, yeah, actually,

hey, guys, you messed up the music. Let's switch it on the next one. No way. Yeah. And then he just kind of like went through his routine, which the best part is all these tricks were still really cool. So I was, and I'm just a huge magic guy. So I'm like, oh, this is the best.

But you could tell he's done this show a thousand times and he don't really care about it. But so when we're in there, like, I don't want to see the, you know, the, the magic trick being set up. I don't want to see behind the scenes. I just want to watch the show and go, wow, that was cool. And so, like, you have to put effort into what we do. And it's really funny actually explaining to people because, like, I'll start off right off the bat and I'll go, guys, I'll let you know a secret. Wrestling is kind of ridiculous. Like you it's ridiculous.

It just is. And if you give into the ridiculousness, you're going to be really good at it. But if you don't, then you're not going to be that good at it. Because like obviously there's a showmanship part to this. And not only the athletic stuff, if being safe and then being able to do everything required, but if you can give in to what the ridiculousness is, then you will get very, very good at it. And you'll be entertaining, which is the whole point of what we do is to be entertaining. If you are boring, I'm out, man.

I don't want to watch boring. Do you find that when your students first come in, they don't sell big enough? They don't realize it needs to be a little bit bigger? Everybody's very closed off. So I always liken it. I have like a little analogy where I go, all right, do you ever watch like a kid,

like a child? When they do stuff, they literally just make noises and go, ah, whatever. Like, you can't embarrass a kid. You just can't do. And then as they grow up, all of a sudden, everything embarrasses them. And they're like, oh, God, mom, like, drop me off over here.

Like, I don't want to be seen with you. Oh, God, what are you doing? Leave me alone, whatever. Everything embarrasses them. Yeah. That's how they start. They start off as teenagers who get embarrassed by everything. Like, you hear your own voice and you go like, ah, oh, I sound stupid, don't I?

Yeah. Don't worry about it. You have to go back to being a kid and just give into it. You have to make noises. You have to make faces. You have to have body language. Like, when I say it's ridiculous, I mean, the amount of effort that has to go into all of the stuff that we do is crazy. And when you get past that embarrassing point where you're like,

oh, God, like, I have to do this and I have to do this and I have to just give in and just have just have fun with it. And all of a sudden it becomes really, really easy. And also another important part about selling is it makes your opponent look great, which then in turn makes your match great. So we always say this too. The beauty of wrestling is that it's honest. It'll never lie to you. Like if I go out there and I tell everybody, hey, guys, wrestling sucks. Then I'll go, okay, I believe you. And they'll watch me and my match will suck and they'll go, cool. Or if I go out there and I give it everything I have, I'm essentially saying, hey, guys, this is really good. And they'll go, oh, yeah, that is really good.

And it's up to you to tell the audience what they want. They're sitting there waiting to be entertained. And you either tell them that it's real or it's fake or it's bad or it's good. It's up to you to tell them what they're watching. And then they go, oh, man, that's cool. Yeah. Right. But in the end, like I said, wrestling doesn't lie.

If you've practiced, if you work on your stuff, it will show. if you don't, it will also show. So like, if you put in a bunch of effort, you will get out of what you put in. And like I said, if you give in to what it is, it'll be very entertaining. And it's so funny watching people like, they'll do something that they just go, whatever, I'm just going to do it. And they'll do it. And we're laughing our heads off and we go, that's what we want.

And they go, what? Really? And I go, yes. Like, yes, you might not be a, you know, army drill sergeant moving forward in your career. but now you just gave into a full character that is not you. Leave you, leave Matt Clement sitting in this chair because when I step in the ring, I am something totally different. And if you can jump into a character and jump into another character

and jump into another character, I got all the time of day for you and I can put you on my show doing anything. What's the physical thing that is the hardest for people to do correctly at wrestling school? It depends. It's always something a little different for everybody. So like we've had people. who are very, very athletic and they can do everything. But the emotion part of it, they can't do it.

So even like when I'm telling them, hey, I know you're a superb athlete, I know you could probably wrestle and do like drills for like an hour straight and never be tired. At this point in the match, let me see that you're tired. And they go, what? Like, what do you mean? And just like act like you're tired right now. And then they go, what? Like, okay.

And it's like you're trying to watch them wrap their head around that where athletically they're so gifted, but emotionally and whatever, they're just very, they're more like a, like a sport mentality where it's like, nope, don't show that you're tired. Don't show everything. Nope, I want to see all that. Yeah. And they go, oh. And then we've got other people who are very, very, very like, they can do any character

in the world. And they're very, very emotional and they're very loud and they can make all the noises, do everything to be able to do. But athletically, their footwork is all over the place and their hands are all over the place. And they go way too fast. We're going like, slow down, slow down. Just slow down. And they go, oh, I thought I was going slow or like, I thought I was being loud.

And like, we get that one a lot where someone will make a noise and they'll be going, ah. And I go, do you think that's as loud as you can be? And I go, I don't, maybe. I go, if I had a million dollars sitting there and all I needed you to do was be loud, could you do it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Stand right in the middle of the ring and yell as loud as you can.

Really? Yes. Then they do it. And then we go, that. Now I know that you're capable of being loud. I want you to be that loud every time. Yeah. And they'll go do something.

They go, ah. I go, is that as loud as you could be? I don't know. I'm like, in your head, are you screaming? And they're like, yeah, like, I'm yelling my head off. You are not. So it is funny. It is funny watching how people click differently.

You mentioned it early and I want to dive deep into your match with Jushen Liger because it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool being a fan of both of you guys seeing you work together in the ring. So it was, I mean, obviously, like I said, that's kind of one of those things that I get to have that nobody gets to have. Like he wrestled one match at WWE. It was with me. And honestly, he was like so cool.

I started laughing at this the other day because I think, I saw some random headline somewhere. Tyler Breeves puts a match together with Yushin Lager. It sounds ridiculous, but like I said exactly what we said. And people went, oh, no, that's not true. I guess, man. Like, I was going to wrestle them. I know, like I'm not trying to pat

myself on the back here. He was just very cool. And he literally went, please, like, whatever you'd like to do. And I went, cool. Like, I have a couple ideas. And then we put it together. And he was, the crazy part to me, and I always laughed at this part, the best things was when I said, okay, I said, hey, maybe like, maybe I tackle you and then like, I'm going to go lay up on top, like what I do. And he goes, okay. And I said, and then maybe you do something. You get me. and then you go laptop. And he goes, me a laptop? And I said, yeah.

And he goes, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I said, what do you mean? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I said, this is awesome. And he goes, he goes, yeah, cool. Like, you're letting me do your stuff. And I said, of course, like, why wouldn't I? Yeah.

Then we did something else. And I was like, and then maybe you grab like the selfie stick. And he goes, me grab the selfie stick. And I said, yeah. And he goes, oh, thank you, thank you. Thank you. And I said, oh my God, what is happening? This is like, this is insane because like, obviously he's a legend.

He's in his own category. Of course. And he's sitting here thanking me for letting him, you know, do whatever he wants to do. And that's why he's at the top. Yes. Yes. No ego whatsoever. Because he has a tremendous amount of gratitude.

Yes. No ego whatsoever. He was just the coolest guy. It just a pleasure. Like, I mean, obviously just so easy. So, so easy. Who decided that it would be you that would have the match with him? So I'm not sure on that.

So the only thing that I've ever known was that, like, I was working all the takeovers and then I was kind of getting down to like, I was like, I don't know who I'm going to work. Like I worked Finn. I was supposed to work Kenta, but he was out. I worked Apollo. I worked Sammy and Neville. Like I've kind of worked all the people that we have.

Like I don't know who's next. And then Finn, of all people actually came up and was like, hey man, he's like, do you know how you're working next takeover? I said, no, I don't. And he goes, Liger. And I just laughed and I went, no, I'm not. Like he doesn't even work for the company. And he goes, no.

No, no, no, like, he trained me. And they asked me to reach out to him to, like, see if he'd be open to it. And I went, wait, are you joking or are you not joking? And he goes, no, no, like I'm serious. And I went, whoa, okay. And he goes, I said, so is he doing it? And he goes, yeah, as far as I know. And I went, oh, so I'm actually wrestling wire?

Okay, that's cool. So then, like, nobody else said anything. Finn was the only one who told me. And then, like, a week went by and two weeks went by. And then I think I had maybe like a match. It was just like a, maybe an enhancement match or something. and they're like, hey, at the end of this, we're going to flash like your opponent up on the screen. I went, okay.

And they said, uh, uh, I honestly, I can't remember if they even told me who it was. I think they wanted my reaction to be genuine or something. So they might not even told me. They just said, Regal's going to come out. He's going to announce your opponent. They're going to put it up on the screen. So okay, cool. So did my match, staring at the screen.

Regal cuts his promo. All of a sudden they flash Liger up there. And like, I'd be curious to go back and watch because I had to be smiling. Like, I had to be like, okay, that's cool. Because like, that was the first, like, I asked. actually went like, okay, this is a real thing. Yeah. And then everything kind of leading to that, I think I had one other match where like I beat up a guy and put a mask on him or something. And then I didn't meet Liger until literally in catering in the, the Barclays Center, sitting across from a guy that not, like he's not normally there.

And I went, is that him? I don't know if that's him. And so I went, hey, I said, are we working tonight? And he goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he goes, please put the match together. He's like, I don't know the style. And I went, okay. I said like I would have never known that this was him and like at the same time like this is insane like whatever it was so I think uh bloom 10th sight Albert um Matt bloom ended up being our agent and he was like hey just tell me what you got so I told him everything. I think we tweaked a couple things. We ran it by Liger. Liger just wanted to go over like a tilt a whirl. He just told me he's like oh just do a cartwheel just do like a cartwheel in front of me. I said okay we did it one time and you went perfect and I said anything else he goes no I'm good if you are I said I'm good uh And then we went out there, did the match. And like, I remember I started laughing, but also felt so terrible. We go out, we're doing the match. And I think I super kicked him in the face or something.

And I throw him in the corner and I start kicking him. And the very first kick I gave him, kicked him square in the balls. And I am, and like, it's so funny because it's mask, right? You can't see anything. So I just hear like, oh! And I just went, oh, no. And I'm literally kicking him going, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And I like, every time I have them, I'm like, I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. And we get to the back. And I just went like, oh my God, like the first thing I do to him, I kick him square in the nuts. And so I come to the back and he walks through the curtain. And I go, hey, I said, thank you. I'm so sorry, whatever. And Regal's standing there too. And Regal just goes, thank you so much. Like you took care of them. Like you took care of them. They're really like good. They're really like good. And he went, you took care of them. Everything's safe. Blah, blah, blah. And Liger goes, hey, thank you so much. And he looks right at Regal. He goes, very good, very good. And I just went, man, this is like. Like this is cool. Like one, he doesn't have to say or do anything. Like, yeah. That's very, very cool that I even got to wrestle him.

But now he like put me over to everybody. And then like me and Regal were very cool since. Liger, the same thing. He put me over to whoever. And like it was always just a very good like, it was like a big honor that like I got to do it instead of other people and everything else.

And like, I don't know. That's like a special thing that nobody can take away from you. Yeah. And I remember actually the funniest part of it all was, uh, I was walking. in Dallas, I want to say, Austin or Dallas. And I was walking down the hallway and across the

hall, down the hall was Stone Cold Steve Austin. And I was sitting there with like my hood on and I'm kind of going like, I'm just going to walk by because like we're kind of like in this hallway. I don't want to like run over and be like, hey, man, how are you? I've never met him, blah, blah. And I'm walking. And all of a sudden like, he's in front of me. And I go like, oh, hey. And he goes, hey, man. And I go, hey man. Like, do you know who I am kind of thing? And he goes, dude. He goes, he goes, I love all the stuff that you're doing, man. And he goes, he goes, I think you gimmicks great. I think everything's cool.

What was it like working Liger? And I go, and I go, oh my God, I said it was great. It was fantastic. And he goes, he goes, I know he's like, you know, obviously he was an older guy. So like some of your stuff didn't look as good as it could. And he goes, but he was probably still awesome working him, right? And I said, it was fantastic. I said he was so cool.

And he just went, yeah, you know, that's, I've always liked him and everything else. He goes, I love everything you're doing, blah, blah. And we kind of had a little conversation. He walked away. And I just went, this is like, like Stone Coltsy Austin just went out of his way to ask me about a match that I had

against a guy who's a legend and then just like put everything over I just went like what more do you want out of life? Like I grew up watching this and like this is just one of those unreal situations that kind of really brings you back down

to earth and goes I should never be a jerk to anybody I should have like I should be the happiest man alive which I mean I am you know that is such a great story crazy right? Oh my I mean yes

again, of all the people that he could have wrestled. Yes. Oh, insanity. This has been so great. I'm so glad we were able to catch up. I'm sorry that we couldn't do this in person. No, I mean, anytime you want, really. I mean, where are you?

You're over in California, right? I'm in California now, yeah. Well, there you go. There you go. So, I mean, if I'm over there, then we'll catch up and we'll do another one. Or if you're over here, we'll catch up and do another. But luckily, the good thing is that we can always connect on here, and away we go. I mean, this is the best part about it.

I'm going to link to your YouTube channel down below. So everybody that's watching this can subscribe to your channel. There you go. Where else should people connect with you? I mean, the biggest thing probably right now, obviously if you're going to Flatback's wrestling school, if you want to learn how to do this. Do you guys have openings?

So we do, yeah, we're accepting right now. So we have a session in class right now for August. We have October is overflowing. So October's full. January is close to being full. March is close to being full. But every time that a class starts, another one kind of pops up. So the next one I imagine will probably be like a May of 2022.

So just keep your eye open if that's what you, you know, if that's what interests you or. There's going to be a lot of people that come, man, I want to be a pro wrestler. I know how good flatbacks is. It'd be amazing to train with two guys who are doing it right now, Sean Spears, Tyler Breeze. The only problem is I live in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, wherever. Florida's just so far away. Yeah. And you'll get that.

You know what I mean? Whereas if we always say no matter what you're going to be, no matter what you're right. If you say it's too far away, it's too hard from Italy. We've had kids from Australia. Oh, be back. I'm back. You're back. Yeah.

So we've had kids from Israel, Australia, Italy, England, Canada, United States, everywhere. So if you feel like you want to do it, eight weeks isn't really that long. You know what I mean? So we have student housing. Like there's there's all sorts of stuff that you can come. You do your thing and away you go. It's no different than going away to college.

It's no different than, you know, doing what you really want to do. If you are, you know, really motivated to do it, then do it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. And we say all the time, too, like, it's not like you're, you can come and do the eight weeks. And then it's not like you're like locked into being a wrestler forever. If you want to always, if you always, if you always, always wanted to try it. You want to see what it was about. Come and do it. If you want to see if you actually could make it as a career, do it. Spears has a really good analogy that you all the time

of like, don't wait until you're like 60 or 70 and go, man, for only I would have tried. Like, you got to figure that out. You have to try those things in your life because all the other stuff will always be there, you know, whether it's a random job or whether it's, you know, whatever it is. But if you've always wanted to try wrestling, give it a try. And obviously, you know, if you don't want to come to Flabbacks, go to another wrestling school. But Look who's teaching you. We only have two trainers, and it's me and Spears. And we are the ones in the ring with you, hands on, teaching you how to do stuff.

So you know you're going to be trained properly and safely, which is our main thing. So everybody can pop up wrestling school. Doesn't mean you should go there. If you don't want to go to ours, please look into where you're going and give it a try. If you want to do wrestling, give it a try. Well, and for the women who want to be wrestlers, Cassie is there all the time as well. So yes, you guys are the main trainers, but somebody who's all. currently doing this is also there. Yes. And we have, you know, people, you never know who's

going to stop it. Like even the other day, like we have Cass, we have Jess, who are always there. We have Ziley who stops in. Like, we have all these people who are currently doing it. So you're, we say it all the time, like to the people that are there, you're in the right place. Yeah. You're in the right place. Well, it's that phrase that if you want to do something, you'll find a way. And if you don't, you'll find an excuse. You're right either way. Yeah, I mean. So yeah. I'm I end every interview talking about gratitude. So tell me, Matt, what are three things in your life right now that you're grateful for? Oh, right off the bat, I would say my dogs and my cat, because they're just the best.

Like, when you come home and they are just the most excited things in the world to see you, what a feeling. You know what I mean? Or like you wake up in the morning, they're excited. You go into bed. They just want to cuddle up next day. you. I love them. I love them. How can you not like animals? Two would definitely be all of my friends and family and my girlfriend. Like everybody is just, you got to surround yourself with good people. And I've done a really, really good job of surrounding myself with some of the best people

that we all respect each other. We all have a blast. We all encourage each other. Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. Awesome. Let's figure it out. How are you going to do that? And we all help and make it happen. And that's just everybody, everybody that I surround myself with from top to bottom. So everybody is just very, very cool, just a good team for life and figuring things out. If you have someone in your life who's just bad, if you're just negative or toxic for you you or makes you feel bad, then just it's okay to move on and get them out of your life. You know what I mean? Like surround yourself with good people. That's how you get better. And honestly, I might have to toss out the school flatbacks.

It came around at a right time when I was actually very kind of bitter and done. I was kind of done with wrestling. I just didn't even want to wrestle at all. And then it kind of showed me that wrestling is awesome. It is not the problem ever. You can't blame things or make excuses. Like it was my stuff that was messing with my happiness. my life and I was blaming it on wrestling because that was easy at the time and I could just go,

oh, well, it's because of this. But instead, it kind of like reopened my eyes to, to seeing the people who are excited to get into it and go, oh, this is so cool. I've always wanted to try wrestling and there, you see them learning and you see them getting it. And like, I think even cast it the other day, she was like, oh, she's like, I love like the beginning time of wrestling, like watching the people like in the ring for the first time and try things and just like, you see them just, there's so much hope and their eyes just light up of like, oh, this is cool. a wrestling. And we're like, yeah, wrestling's awesome, dude. Like, it's really cool. So it did. The school was fantastic for, for not only me and Cass and Ronnie, but just a bunch of

people. Like, it's just, what a time. What a good thing that I'm so happy and so grateful that we get to do. Yeah, what a business you've built there too. Oh, great. Great. Yeah. I mean, Flatbacks is awesome. You're awesome. I've loved this conversation. Thanks for catching up with us. Of course, man. It's always easy to kind of jump on here with you. I think I was telling you before we even came on here. There's a lot of people out there who want to do interviews and podcasts and stuff like that. Not a lot of them are professional. And I think like you are very, very professional and very good at what you do. So it makes doing stuff like this so easy. And that's why I kind of go, whatever you want. Whatever you need to do, whatever you want, I'm here. Yeah, I often say the best thing about podcasting, best thing about content creation is anybody can do.

can do it. And the worst thing about it is anybody can do it. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So I appreciate you. Those are very kind words. I appreciate you, you know, trusting us with your last hour or so of your time. Yeah, of course. Thanks, man. Cool, man. Thank you. I feel like that hour just flew by. Big thank you to Matt, Tyler, Prince Pretty, whatever you want to call him. And this is the first full interview that he's done since being released. And I really appreciate him trusting us with this one. And thank you for trusting us with this last hour of your time. Super appreciate you being on this ride with us. Take a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening. Share this with a friend. Share this on social media and tag us both. Tyler, Matt, whatever you want to call him,

is at M. Gorgeous. And I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And he hinted at it during this interview. So I'll leave you with this quote from Henry Ford. Whether you think you can or you think you can, or you think you You're right. Be great, be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. 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. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Ticket Manjo, 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.