Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Why Ken Shamrock returned to wrestling at age 55, Brock Lesnar, his WWE run, Kurt Angle, UFC

Episode Date: September 13, 2019

Ken Shamrock sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Sam's Town Casino in Las Vegas. He talks about why he returned to wrestling at age 55, never getting a main event push in WWE, the vicious chair shot he took from The Rock, wanting to have a match with Brock Lesnar or Kurt Angle, a proposed incest storyline with his on-screen sister Ryan Shamrock and more! Audioed equipment provided by Samson Technologies: bit.ly/CVVSamson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's Chrysomania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you. man with the powerful questions this is the Chris Van Vleet show Chris Van Vleet show Ladies and gentlemen Chris

All right man I'm pumped for this one Thank you for being with us on another audio adventure with the Chris Van Vleet show You saw the title You know who my guest is and you clicked on it and I can tell you with great confidence

that this is the world's most dangerous interview Ken Shamrock is in the the house. Kent Shamrock is back in wrestling. Oh, there's so much good stuff here as we go over his career from when he started until now. And yeah, now he is back in an impact wrestling ring. If you're listening to this and you haven't subscribed yet, please grab your phone. Maybe you're holding it. Maybe it's in your pocket, but just grab it. Go in there. Click subscribe. You'd be doing me a massive favor. And if you have an extra life four seconds, please, while you're in there,

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When you think of the career of Ken Shamrock, of course, we first saw him in UFC in 1993, UFC 1, which is crazy. You want to talk about an OG. He had those epic battles with Hoyce Gracie later in his career with Tito Ortiz. But in terms of pro wrestling, he came into the WWF right on the cusp of the attitude error. 1997. I mean, Brett Hart was still around at that time. Shamrock had massive potential.

It seems like he was on the verge of getting a huge push. that just kind of stopped. And then out of nowhere, he just went back into MMA. So we get down to the bottom of what actually happened there. We also talk about the other big moment that everyone seems to talk about with Ken Shamrock. Yeah, he's known for that vicious, vicious chair shot to the face from the rock. Man. Oh, yeah.

That's a great story. He's been away from pro wrestling now for 15 years. But at age 55, he's back at Impact Wrestling, where he was the first. ever TNA champion. Also, I know you're listening to this interview, but you've got to check it out on YouTube. Just to see the intro at least. Ken Shamrock put me in the ankle lock. I can't believe I'm saying that out loud. Ken Shamrock put me in the ankle lock. And everyone's like, oh man, great selling, Chris. And I'm like, yeah, selling. Yeah, that was those screams were acting screams. Here you go. It's the world's most dangerous interview.

with the world's most dangerous man, Ken Shamrock. All right, well, it's an honor to be sitting in an impact ring with you right now. Thank you for making this happen. Dude, I feel so comfortable in the ring. I feel like I want to slam somebody. Well, maybe not me, or maybe at least not until later. We'll at least get the interview done first. It's been 15 years, and now you're back in impact.

Take me along this path. You know, why did it take 15 years to come back? I tell you, especially after I kind of slowed down with the MMA world, I took a year off because I felt my body was sore, I had all these injuries I was trying to recover from, and so I said, you know, and I'm going to enjoy life. So I took a year.

I didn't say I was going to take a year. I just stopped, right? I stopped training, I stopped everything. I just wanted to just enjoy life, enjoy family. So it was about a year. And then I just decided one day, I was like, man, you know what, I'm tired of just being Mr. Mom, you know, hanging around at the house and, you know, cooking dinner and doing barbecues and, you know, just that home life thing. And it was great for a while. But then I started feeling healthy again.

I just started feeling like, wow, I don't know, I just feel good again. And so I said, you know, I'm going to go back to the gym. Just, you know, go there during the day because I'm not doing anything. And I'll go hit the gym and kill some time that way. And so I started working out. You know, probably, I would say, three, three months in, I started feeling good again. Sure. I look in the mirror.

I'll go, wow, man. You look great. You know, and I was like, okay, you know, I'll start looking for some gigs in pro wrestling. You know, that's something I think I want to go after. It's something I hadn't really had finished what I wanted, what I had actually started to do, which was capture the WWF title, which, you know, I mean, I may not be able to do that, but, boy, I can sure make an impact in, no pun intended, in pro wrestling. Sure.

I decided to, you know, start reaching out to different organizations and start checking out to see whether or not there was an opportunity from the wrestle again. And then BCW over in Australia picked me up and I did a show. One show. And we weren't planning on doing any more than that. I went over, I did one show. And I remember after I did that one show, I was like, wow, I feel a lot better than I've felt in a long time. And I said, you know what? I might want to do this again.

So I remember talking to Matthew, is the guy that owns B.CW. I said, hey, you know, since things went so well this time, I said, I'd like to be able to maybe come back, do a few more shows just to see whether or not I want to get back into pro wrestling again. And he said, really? And I said, yeah, I said, me and you'll work something out.

And, you know, I'll come over here maybe four or five match deal. And then that way I can kind of kind of see where I'm at. And he says, yeah, I would love to help you out, you know. And he did. He helped me out, be able to get me. the ring and be able to have those four or five matches. And once I was into about the third match, the third time over there, I think people started to see around the world that I was back because I got a call from Germany.

They wanted to bring me down there. So I went down to a match down there. And so now I'm sitting here in the impact ring because of the opportunity I got at BCW and was able to show the talents that I had. I'm sitting here in Impact Wrestling, ready to do a program for them. So that thought I had one day to go start working out, taking that year off, really got me to this point. And you look like you're in incredible shape, the best shape we've seen you in in years. Yeah, and that all had to do with taking that year off, because I had never taken any time off.

From the time I started my professional career back in 1990, 89, 90, I'd never really taken any time off up until, you know, the, what was at 2017, yeah, 2017, where I basically had taken a year off. So I think that was a really important part of me being able to be where I'm at today. It was just let my body heal up and feel comfortable again. So is this, you know, right now we're obviously in Las Vegas here, Samstown Casino. You're doing two dates here. Is this the only two dates you're doing with impact or are you continuing on for a little while? Well, you know, right now I think the one thing in front of me is, you know, obviously Moose,

being able to take care of business with that. then I think after we do that, we'll take a look and see whether or not there's more for us to do here in impact. I like what I see so far. The way I've been treated has been awesome. So, yeah, I'm definitely interested in maybe looking at something a little bit deeper. But like I said, we have to see where everything kind of lands after these first two shows. Well, I think the interest is there for Ken Shamrock because you were away from pro wrestling for so long. If you had been working indie dates ever since you left WWE, they'd go, yeah, we've seen it.

We don't need you now. It's true. I think that, you know, and maybe this is a message for a lot of guys that are into pro wrestling is that it's okay to take time off. It's okay to let your body heal up and rest. Take a year off. Be away from it. But in the same sense, not only you're taking time off to let your body heal up,

but you're also taking time off for the fans to kind of maybe miss you. Sure. So when you do come back. it's like, oh, you get a welcome back because we haven't seen him in the ring for a while. And so you get more of a warm embrace as opposed to trying to force the issue to keep wrestling. Yeah. And what an exciting time for you to make your return. 2019 has been an amazing time to be a pro wrestling fan, an amazing time I'm sure to be a pro wrestler

with everything that's going on with AEW, kind of raising the bar for WW. Impact has one of its best rosters, perhaps ever. A great time for you to be back. I don't know, maybe I'm blessed, man, but it seems like my timing has been just perfect for a lot of things. Started out when over in Japan where, you know, Pankris first started. I was the first king of Pancras. Yeah. UFC first started.

I was the first Superfight champion. The first guy to cross over into the WWF where WWF was in WWE today was struggling to compete with WC. they brought in the attitude air off of my back to try to change that direction of WCW, killing them on those wars. And then here, you know, it just seems like my timing, I have been blessed on timing. Yeah, I mean, you've talked a lot in other interviews how you've reached out to WWE and got no response, and you think you have some unfinished business there. What's your relationship like with them now?

I mean, I don't know if, I don't know if it is a relationship. You know, I mean, I know I was there, and I know that I was able to be a part of something special. But I just don't know if there was ever a relationship, you know, because even after I left, it almost felt like I was this, this, the black sheep where, like, once I left, it was, it was never mentioned again, you know. And no credit given, no highlights or anything ever shown, nobody speaks of it, you know, it's almost like it was, I don't know, it's just weird, it's just gone. Which is strange because you paved the way for guys like Brock Lesnar. Kurt Engel. Kurt Engel. Rhonda Rousey now.

Right. Yeah. So I feel like they'd be remiss to not recognize what you've done. Yeah, but they don't, you know. I mean, it's a shame. Even when they did this, this raw reunion and this, this, these other reunions that they were doing, it's, you know, it's like, why wouldn't I have been there? Yeah.

I mean, I don't understand that. So I don't know. I pissed off and, you know, or what kind of bridges were blown up. But I thought I did everything on a very professional level. Is there, do you have any idea who it is you might have bad blood with or some heat with? I don't, man. I mean, I know that, you know, there's, there were a lot of business decisions that were made that probably didn't make some people happy, but it was business.

It was nothing personal. Sure. I mean, Jim Ross talked about in his podcast recently how you'd missed some dates in some towns. and then that you were going to be a megastar, but some things kind of fell apart, and it never happened for you. Yeah, it was weird because, like, it's not like the first time that wrestlers miss dates.

I mean, Sean Michaels did. Brad Hart did. You mean, you go on, and some of the things that happened and guys just miss flights, some of it due to weather or cancellation or just being late. It happens, right? Sure.

So, and it wasn't like I missed 20 in a row. I mean, maybe it's two or three. Yeah, and J.R. talked about two. Yeah. Yeah, at most in a two and a half year period. So, you know, I'm not, there's no way that that, that's the reason. So I don't, I don't, I can only speculate. I think there's, you know, several different reasons why that could have happened.

But, but, but they're just speculations because no one's really ever said, hey, you know, this is what we thought. This is what we did. So I have no clue. Do you agree with J.R.? that you had the makings of being a megastar? Was there ever talking, ever talk of you winning a Royal Rumble or something to line you up for a title shot?

Well, I did win a King of the Ring, you know? That's right. I need the rock there, and I thought that that was the direction we were going to go. And, yeah, I really thought that, you know, the rock, Brett Hart, Stone Cold, myself, I really thought that was a direction that we were going to be able to have kind of that four-way,

you know, title connection where it would just keep shifting hands. And then there'll be alignments here and there. And so I really thought that's the way it was going. And then I kind of got left out of that four. I was the fourth one. And so the three did go ahead. And I just kind of got left out. Do you feel like there were other plans that could have happened had you not left to go to MMA?

I'd go back to MMA? Well, you know, the, the, the, the feeling and the things that were happening me during that time. And the reason why I went back was because I wasn't going that direction. You know, I know that they wanted to do a, a storyline where Ryan, who played my sister,

wanted me to be in love with her. And I said, well, where's that, it's not anywhere where we're going. The world's most dangerous man. I mean, that incest angle. You know, I'm like, I just don't feel right.

And so in my mind, with everything that was going on around that, with the Brad Hart thing and all the other things that were happening around that, it just felt to me like they were trying to ruin the world's most dangerous man. They were trying to kill my character, which I've heard they've done in the past with different people because that was their character they created. And before they left, they wanted to make sure they weren't on the up. They were on the down.

Sure. So I took a stand against that to not. let that happen. You were one of the rare guys during that era who got to keep their own name. Like, when you first came in, was there any discussion of giving you another name? No. I mean, I think Vince had it in his head that the world's most dangerous man coming from this background. That's what he was going to build Stone Cold and Brett Hart and his organization on the attitude era. Yeah. Because there's a lot of guys that come in and they go, all right, Ken Shamrock, we understand who you were from UFC, but we could make you something else.

Or in a sense where I think you could also argue that by just bringing me in and having me work with guys like Stone Cold or Brett Hart or the rock or other guys being the character I was coming from that background would also make those other wrestlers that as well. That's true. Did they want to do this angle with Ryan because you guys were dating in real life of the time and they saw a spark there? I mean, like I don't know the thought press on that, but I had three kids at home that were five, eight, and ten. And them going to school, they don't know the real or not real on that. And I had to make a decision for my family that I was not going to do that because my kids would have been hammered at school for that. You mentioned The Rock a few times. He said some really nice things about you on Twitter recently.

Yeah. Yeah. You had like, it was almost like a year-long program with him that you guys did. We did. I tell you, what Rock came out of the nation, and I felt that the nation was really holding him back. And once he broke off of that, and he started cutting promos with the mic. Right. And me and him started doing work together.

I literally saw myself and his character just rise up. And we had had matches that rivaled all the top stars in the W. at the time. It's funny because I interviewed Rock recently and I said you know you've got so many great promos what's your favorite promo of all time and it's actually kind of something you're keying in on here. He said it was one of his favorites was the crowd was Channie Rocky sucks and he said the rocks a lot of things but sucks ain't one of them and that led right into the type of program that you guys had. Yes it was awesome because I was I was neither a baby face or a heel yeah and the rock really hadn't established himself

as either one, really. I mean, he kind of flipped back and forth. And I just didn't care. It didn't matter whether the fans loved me or didn't love me. I love them. But when I got in the ring, I was going to do what I was going to do. And so it just worked out that way that I was kind of at that moment, I was the fan favorite. But just as we started working together, it was almost like they, it was like they,

they didn't know who to cheer for because they loved the rock and they loved me. And it just seemed like as we were starting to put those programs going to and grow together, that's where we really became superstars. And no matter how many great matches you have with The Rock, you know that everybody's memory comes down to that one moment where the Rock bashed you in the face with the chair. Walk me through that entire moment. How did that all go down?

We were in the back, and we were going through some spots, and then we're going to do the chair shot. I didn't like chair shots. I just felt like, man, And just, the back was fine, but then they were hitting the top of the head or the back of the head. And I was like, I looked at the rock and I said, hey, man, we do that chair shot, man. Just hit me in the face.

Oh, my God. And he looked at me at me. He goes, I'm not hitting you in the face. I go, dude, hit me in the face. I'll take care of the rest. He goes, man, I'm not hitting you in the face, man. And I was like, dude, I'm serious. He looked at me and he said, man, you're ribbing me.

I said, no, I'm serious. Hit me in the face. And if you don't swing it, I won't sell it. A little pause from the world's most dangerous interview. To thank our sponsors, Indochino, every guy looks better. They feel more confident than you put on a suit. This is a fact of life.

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See it? Yeah. Visit mybooky. coma.g today to sign up. You play, you win, you get paid. He looked at me, he goes, whoa, I'll swing it. And I said, okay, so we get in there. And he looked at me, oh, you sure?

And I said, dude, trust me. He goes, all right. So we get in there, we get to that spot, and he looks at me, and I remember he said looking up to him and going, you better swing it. That's what you were saying in that moment? Yeah, I was like, you better swing it. Oh, man. And he looked at me, he goes, oh, I will.

Were there, you know, did you have any sort of injury after that? No, it was a lot easier for me to take that to the forehead because it didn't hit me directly in the face. So when he swung it, all I did was just tip my chin down and it took it right in the forehead. And if you know anything about how your body is, your forehead is the thickest bone in your head. So instead of taking it at the top of the head or anywhere else, that was the place I knew when I took it that I wouldn't get a concussion. And so when he swung it, because I didn't want to take something that I would embarrass myself. Somebody eases up on it. And I knew by hitting me in the forehead, I knew he could swing it and I would be okay.

And so when he hit me with the chair, whack! And I literally, as I go to go back, I was like, dude, I was. I mean, I hardly even felt it. I mean, I don't know why. I'm not lying. God is my witness. He swung that and he hit me with it. And I literally went, well, that was a lot better than I thought as I was rolling backwards.

And I hit the ground. I was like, thank God I'm alive. Usually you get hit with like the seat part. That felt, I felt like you got hit with like the top part of the chair. It was both because I think when he hit me, the actual seat caved in. And then the top part slid down onto my head. Well, that's exactly what we saw in AEW, a double or not. When Cody took that chair shot, same thing happened, but we obviously saw that it didn't go as well for him.

Yeah, and I think a lot of times, too, it's the way you're taking it, the timing on it, it's got to be perfect because it can turn out wrong. But like I said, I would rather see it coming than not coming. So what do you think of when you see a chair shot like that in 2019, the one that Sean Spears did to Cody Rhodes? And then we look back at, you know, in your heyday, those were happening almost every week on Raw. I love it. You know, I like to see those things happen. And a lot of people get angry when people copy other people. And I'm like, dude, this is the world we live in.

People do things and they do it better. It's like when Kurt Angle jumped in the ankle lock. Yeah. I mean, everybody's like, dude, don't you mad? I was like, why would I be mad? The guy took my move. I mean, he's actually still using my move. That's flattery.

You know, I mean, like the guy is taking something that I brought in first and he's using it. Why would I be mad about that? Did he ask permission to use it? No, you just used it. But it didn't matter to me because, I mean, I think to myself, how many moves in the pro wrestling we did somebody do first and somebody else is using it? All of them. Yeah, I guess.

But that was your trademark move. I know the first time I saw Kurt Engel doing it, I'm like, that's Ken Chermock's move. But it doesn't matter. I think what bothers you more than anything is when they actually put up all these different submission holds, the best submission holds. And they use Kurt Angles picture in the angle up, and he doesn't do it right. You know, when I tell people, I said, well, yeah, when someone does your move, and they usually, because like even in fighting, when you train somebody, your ceiling should be their floor, they should get better. Well, in Kurt Angles' case, he does not do it better.

It won't work for real. So I need to learn. I need to teach him how to do that right. So that when he puts it on, I could be a little more proud of that. You should have an ankle lock match with him. Oh, yeah, there it is. Yeah, I'll let him put it in the way he does it. I'd let him get me in it.

I mean, he's worked in impact for many, many years. Now that your impact, this is something that could maybe happen. Dude, that's a dream match for me. It really is. A dream match for everybody. Yeah, I respect Kurt. I mean, if you know Kurt's history, man, that guy was a stud. I mean, he really was a stud.

Mentally, physically. I mean, he was just one of those kind of guys that I could get behind. So having a match with him would be an honor. What about a match with Brock? Oh, another guy, man. I mean, you think about what he was able to do. You know, I know he's kind of followed him my footsteps a little bit, only because I did it first, right?

Sure. But he's a beast, man. And he's a guy that I would enjoy wrestling also because you look at him, man, and you're just like, dude, this dude is a megastar. So for me to share the ring with him would be absolute honor. I think that, you know, it's important to point out that you've had an incredibly successful career in MMA, an incredibly successful career in wrestling. But you're also an entrepreneur now.

You've got your hand in so many different. eyes. Tell me a little bit about some of the stuff that you're doing. Yeah, you know, I mean, like I said, when I got out of wrestling and got out of fighting, the one thing I wanted to make sure was that I needed to use all of my body, like my physical aspects and my mental aspects. And so as I was fighting and as I was wrestling, I was also learning outside of what it is to put on shows or to produce things and how different storylines work. And so I always studied everything. going on around me. Sure.

Because I knew there would be an opportunity for me after I had to kind of done everything I needed to do and be able to step aside and go, okay, I'm going to use the celebrity status and the things that I created over the years and be able to use that as a leverage to go out and start using different types of businesses outside the ring. So I got involved with different things in the stock market, you know, I got involved with things with business and leveraging my name to be able to help other startup businesses. because they'll spend anywhere from 50,000 or 100, you know, normal businesses, $50,000 to $100,000 in marketing, right?

So I can go to those different businesses and go, hey, let me do your marketing for you all. You do all radio spots, TV spots, or go around, do different commercials and stuff like that, and I'll cut your costs in half. All I want is equity. You don't have to pay anything up from, but what we make off of this company, I get a percentage.

So I become a business owner. That's a big gamble, though, because if that business isn't profitable, You've just put your time and effort into nothing. See, well, that's the, and there's the key right there, is this you have to make sure that the ones that you're looking at and you vet them. You've got to make sure they have a solid foundation with the people that are working there. And so you have a better opportunity of being successful. But nevertheless, it still costs you nothing to try that. So I've gotten involved in three different types of businesses making money with each one of those things just by leveraging my name for the marketing aspects of it and getting equity ownership in return.

And also right now we're getting involved with actually the promoting part of it. You know, I did a lot inside the ring, still doing stuff inside the ring. But now I'm actually testing my skills outside the ring, whereas I'm going into the promoting, where I'm doing a valor. I'm wearing the shirt for it right now. That's right. There it is. Valor BK. Barrenuckle fighting.

We see an opportunity there. We, again, doing our homework, studying, being able to look at the different things, trending outside in the social media. areas got to see these fights, street fights happening, and all of a sudden they were getting a million or so views with these guys fighting in the backyard. So we started looking at going, okay, well, that looks like that's interesting there. And then

we started seeing these other barrenuckle organizations coming up, and their numbers were getting better than some of the MMA fights. So we realized at that time going, okay, well, now's the time to go back and do something I fell in love with back in the beginning when I started doing the Bulls board fighting myself.

Right. And then it kind of went away, and that was what I really loved the most was that purity and that that mono-a-mono, God-given talent when you step in the ring, Barrono, you against the other guy. And so I was just like, you know what? I want to bring that back. And so I started doing Valor Baranacle, September 21st at Four Bears Casino in Newtown, North Dakota. We're doing our very first event. And up to this point, we haven't even done a show yet, but with all the experience that I have learned through row wrestling and my fighting, being able to understand how you move forward in that by creating opportunity for people to wage awareness for your event and ticket sales. I use the knowledge that I have now to be able to go out there and make all those advertisements.

Right now, we haven't done an event, and we're trending one right now in the bare anduckle space. We haven't even done a fight yet because of the knowledge and the ability that I have of knowing how all this stuff works and how you're supposed to be. get to that point to raise awareness that you're doing a show. So you got to help me out here. Is this in a ring or is this in a cage? Well, it's very unique. It's neither. Okay.

So we are going to be doing it. It's going to be a, and I think we're going to wait until the day of the event so people can actually see it, but it's a pet. And it has no ropes, and it has no fences. So on that day, people will get to see what these guys are fighting in. it'll be an experience that you have never experienced before in watching a fight with no visual impediment. Now, if you're part of this from the outside kind of organizing this,

once you get there on September 21st, aren't you going to go, I want to be in there? Of course. I mean, the itch is always going to be there. But the reality of it is I also know where I'm at. And you said Gracie's the only person you would fight? Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Make up for the low-blow fight?

You're right. Yeah, I don't know. how they didn't, I don't know how that would even happen. It's funny because when you watch it back, the ref is in the way as it's happening, but you can clearly see on your face what's happened. Yeah. Yeah, I tried to fight it, you know, but. But your balls are in your stomach.

When you start losing your breath and yeah, you're trying to clothe them back down again. It's hard to keep continuing. Do you think he would fight you one more time? No, he won't. Because he knows you'd win? Yes, that's why he need me. There's no question. There's no way that was an accident.

He did that on purpose. It was his way. out of that fight. Wow. Well, yeah. Someone who's as a precision striker like he is, like you are, he knows where he's striking. Yeah, and he knew, he knew he was in trouble. And that's, there's, and every

fighter will tell you the same thing because they understand when someone does something like that in a clinch, and they're that professional. They know something like that was done intentionally because the guy knows he's going to lose. Who was your toughest opponent in MMA and in

pro wrestling? Well, By MMA, you can't, it's really difficult to say that because they all come from, like, Gracie, I mean, he's just a different kind of guy. He's not strong. He's not dangerous, but he can beat you. Sure. He's very good at that. But you don't fear him, right? Yeah.

A guys like Mark Coleman or Dan Severn or guys that were big, beasts, and wrestling, I mean, they can hurt you, right? So guys like that, you know, you kind of like, they're just a little bit different thought. But you can't really put on which one is harder because they're all different. What about Tito Ortiz? Yeah, he's another one. He comes in there and he's kind of a wrestler. He does elbows and he's very, very aggressive on the ground. Sure.

But it's like for me it was just a different style. I was never, I never thought in a fighter in that sense of being afraid of anyone, right? But it was more of a challenge of different styles of what I had to look for or watch out for. What about in pro wrestling? Who was at your level? Because you had an insane amount of intensity. I would say not at my level as far as in. intensity, but I would have to say as far as charisma,

athletic ability, the whole nine yards. I would have to say between, I know the Rock, for sure, no question. And then, yeah, I would say the Rock. Like I said, I got to wrestle the top stars, so they were all, like, kind of different, too. But I think Rock was more of that guy that really matched well with me. We were able to do a lot of stuff together, very athletic, very strong. and I was athletic, very strong, charismatic, charismatic. So it was a great match.

Would you say that the bigger reason you left WWE or WWF at the time to go back to MMA? Was it the dates? You were working three, four, five days a week versus two, three fights a year. Was that the main reason? Or did you have unfinished business? Yeah, I think that the reason why when I left the WWF was because it was just a lot of time on the road. and I just didn't feel like the time I was putting in to the WWF that we were going in the direction that I thought we were going to go.

So with your character specifically? Yeah, yeah, the things that they were asking me to do as opposed to what we were doing, you know, the first year in, and I thought we were rising where we were supposed to be going. I thought I did what I needed to do. Everything was good. And then all of a sudden it was just, there was just a stop in the direction.

we were going and then all of a sudden we were going in direction i didn't understand so on top of me being gone all the time missing kids uh you know dances and and games and wrestling matches and birthdays um that gets depressing but so to add to it then all of a sudden i was not being pushed anymore at least to my knowledge you've overcome so much in your life like from you know being bounced around different houses growing up to breaking your neck in high school, what's pushed you through this to make you not only get past it, but then be incredibly successful? I think he's not dwelling on it.

I mean, for me, after it happened, I remember my father said to me in the hospital as I was laying, he was my father. Then he was a group home owner. When I laid there and I was, you know, in this bed where they clamped you together and they flipped me to go to the bath. They flipped me over to watch TV at a mirror under the bed where they flipped me over so I could watch TV when I was on my stomach. And I remember just when he said to me, he goes, you know, because they told me I could never play

contact sports again, you know, and that's a broken neck, you had a halo. Yes. Yeah. So I was, I hadn't really sunk in until I was told that. And then I thought to myself, what I do wrong? Because everything that drove me and everything that got me to that point was because I was good at something. I was relevant all of a sudden.

I wasn't just punk kid that was in juvenile hall and I was going to be dead someday. And no one really cared. To me being a good athlete, teachers wanted to help me get good grades and coaches caring about me because I was good at something. And now I was relevant. And now all of a sudden that was just being taken away in one instance. I literally took three years, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior to where all of a sudden my world felt good. And then I broke my neck. Then all of a sudden, it was gone.

It was it. And I just, then I was being told that you can't do those things that made you relevant. And I was so depressed. I remember my father said to me, he goes, he can lay there and pout. You can get up and do something about it. He said because no one's going to do anything. Nobody can do, I can't do it for you.

Your friends are not going to do it for you. You're the only one that can change the outcome of what's going to happen from this point on. And I remember thinking of myself, like, that's right. But I took it different than what he meant. I took it more like, this doctor can't tell me I can't do that. He doesn't know me. He doesn't know what I'm willing to do to get to where I want to go.

He has no idea how hard I will work to get something, my dedication. So I remember getting up. I'm not getting up that at that moment. But I remember after hearing that and my thought process completely changed, was like, okay, yeah, that's right. So I remember after I got out of the hospital, man, I started training and working out. You know, a year and a half later, after being told that,

I was playing linebacker at chest. to college playing football because I was able to train I put on 20 pounds I put muscle on around the injured area and I was playing football I mean I had to get a release from the doctor I had to get a release from the college sure saying that it would be no you know this letter of no nobody's responsible I'm doing this on my own yeah because you could die yeah so um and I went and did it man and I was an all-American so yeah so it just to me it was like I just don't my mind doesn't doesn't think about the things I can't do. My mind only thinks about the things I can do.

Are there things now at 55? You're getting back into the ring for the first time many, many years. Do you look at this now and go, there's things I can't do now? No, no, I look at things that I can do. Okay. And I do them. Yeah. Right.

So if somebody says, hey, you know, I want you to do a backflip off the top rope. I was like, what? I don't do that. That's not what I do. Yeah. Right. But, hey, if you want me to do a suicide dive over the top rope, I can do that.

Wow. Yeah, I mean, I just did it over in BCW. So, yeah, I mean, I just did a match with Severn over in BCW. I did a 40-minute Broadway. We had a good match, a work shoot match. And we went through that. It wasn't after we were done. I wasn't tired.

So I don't think, like I said, to me, there's nothing I can't accomplish if it's something that I enjoy doing. So if this goes really well here in impact, how much longer can you wrestle for? I don't see that's the thing I don't think about I think about now I think about today I think about what I'm going to do tonight yeah so I focus on now and I focus on things that I can control that's it that rings true

I interviewed John Cena recently he said control the controllable yeah that sounds like the same thing you're saying here instead of looking ahead can I still wrestle on a year or five or ten who cares yeah I mean but what I do care about is now yeah that's something that I think everyone can take with them.

If there's somebody watching this that is looking to break into pro wrestling, what kind of advice do you have for them? I would say get an education, make sure you have a good job, and then practice your wrestling on the side. Because I say this in the fight world, too, is that nothing's guaranteed. You could be the greatest athlete in the world, but injuries happen.

You can be in there practicing and getting. getting ready to start your career and blow your knee out and blow it out enough to where you can't, you're not the same. Or you could be really great at wrestling and you never get the opportunity. I mean, those things happen. So I always say, you know what, man, don't put all your eggs in one basket. I know it's a cliche, but it's so true. Make sure you have options.

I got to say it's such an honor to be able to sit here with you and kind of just sit here at the learning tree and just, you know, learn from you. And I'm so excited to see you back in the ring. and congrats on everything you're doing inside and outside of the wrestling world. I appreciate that, man, and I'm excited for, you know, obviously tonight. I want to get to be able to, you know,

because I think Moose has just been running all over the place. So I think tonight's tonight. And running his mouth a lot. Oh, yeah. You know, he seems to be really good at that. But we'll see what happens, you know. Like I said, I'm excited for tonight. We'll see what happens.

Hopefully he'll come in with some humbleness, but I doubt it. So I'll have to humble him, I think. But anyway, either way, whatever happens, it's going to be fun. Don't forget, Valabay, September 21st, North Dakota, Newtown. It will be a show. There you go, my friends. I flew all the way to Las Vegas.

It's a five-hour flight. To make that interview happen, I think it was well worth it. Also, who doesn't want to go to Las Vegas? I really, really enjoyed that chat with Ken. I can't wait to see what he does in the ring. I mean, have you seen the shape he's in now? it's insane. I hope to be in like a third of that kind of shape when I'm 55. His match with Moose should be great. Looking forward to that. And that story about the

chair shot from the rock is insane. If you enjoyed this, please subscribe, take a screenshot, tag me in it, tag Ken in it. I know that Ken goes in his Twitter and looks at his Twitter quite a lot. So if you tag him, there's a pretty good chance that he'll like your tweet. And that's pretty cool. Thank you to our sponsors, Green Roads. They're awesome and they're a pharmacist founded company that makes CBD. You can use my code, Chris 15, to get 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. My bookie. Thank you to MyBooky, and you can use the promo code blue wire. They will double your first deposit at my bookie.orgie.com, and it's football time. You should be betting on these games. You can use the promo code Bluewire to get any premium suit

at Indochino.com for just 369. You'll also get free shipping. These suits. our money. And once you get a custom suit, you will never get a non-custom suit again, an off-the-rack suit. That's what they're called. Also, Samson Technologies always has us sounding so good. SamsonTech.com is where you can check that one out. I've got a couple more interviews in the can still. A sunny kiss interview from All Out in Chicago, also a Killer Cross interview, also from Chicago. So keep an eye out for those ones. If you're subscribed, you'll know you don't need to keep an eye out. You'll just like feel the buzz and go, oh, with the buzz from the notification. Oh, there it is. I saw this great quote from the rock that I wanted to share

with you. And the rock, I mean, look at how successful he's been, right? It's incredible. He says, success and anything, success in anything will always come down to this. Focus and effort. And we control both. Have a great day. We will see you. Soon. Woo! 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. Take advantage of it.

Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.