Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Why Moose Chose TNA Over WWE or AEW

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

Moose (@themoosenation) is a professional wrestler and the current TNA World Champion. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas to talk about the return of TNA Wrestling, beating Alex Shelley for the TNA World Championship at Hard To Kill, why he choose to sign the longest contract in TNA history instead of going to WWE or AEW, his friendship with Scott D'Amore, how he came up with the flipping Spear as his finisher, what he learned from his 7-year career in the NFL, wanting to open up the Forbidden Door and have a match with Roman Reigns, who he puts on his TNA Mount Rushmore and much more. Quote I'm thinking about: “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” - Helen Keller Sponsors: BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get $20 off when you subscribe at http://mudwtr.com/cvv You’ll also get a free frother and a sample of their delicious coconut creamer. MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Oh man, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV Chris Fanfleet, and that right there is a debut of our new theme music performed by none other than downstate. Yes, the same band who does theme songs for Cody Rhodes, The Miz, Dolph Ziegler, Chelsea Green, Matt Cardona, Alex Riley, and so many others, they do the theme for Insight too. Oh, man. And you can go check out the interview that I did with Zach Call, the lead. singer of Downstate. If you go in the way back machine here, it's episode number 474 from May of last year. A huge thank you to Downstate for not just recording this. They came up with this whole thing. We went back and forth. The creative process was, these guys are just so good. The creative process was just so easy. So if you're looking for a theme song as a wrestler, if you're looking for a theme song as a YouTuber or a podcaster, reach out to Downstate and see what they can do for you. And of course, thank you for being here and for making insight one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. You know who follows the show? Downstate follows the show. So could you do me

just one small favor? Could you be like Downstate? And if you've ever enjoyed any interviews we've ever had on the show, could you just hit that follow button on the platform that you're listening on right now. It helps the show grow so, so much. And would you look at that? We have the TNA world champion on the show. Moose is with us, and we did this interview in Vegas the morning after he beat Alex Shelley for the TNA World Championship

at Hard to Kill. And after he beat him, of course, that celebration was interrupted by Nick Nemeth making his TNA debut. You, of course, know Nick as Dolph Ziegler from WWE. Think about this.

Moose has been the guy in TNA for the last few years, and he's been the guy. guy for a reason. He brings it every single time that you see him, whether that's in the ring or it's on the mic. And if you haven't watched Hard to Kill, first of all, that whole show top to bottom was fantastic. But the storytelling in this main event with Moose and Alex Shelley was just amazing. Go check that out. And you might remember, Moose's contract from in TNA, I guess it was called Impact at the time, but Moose's contract was coming to an end last year. And he had

interest from both WW and interest from AEW. And he decided to stay in TNA and he signed the longest contract in TNA history. So we talk about everything that went into that decision. And also, moose is shredded now, by the way. Like if you look at the moose that debuted eight years ago and you look at the moose now, like night and day, it looked like two completely different people. Please snap a screenshot, share this out on social media and tag us so that we can share it as well. He's at the Moose Nation on Twitter. He's at Moose Nation 69 on Instagram. Why are you giggling?

And I'm at Chris Van Fleet. Let's do this. Please welcome the TNA world champion Moose. Well, there it is. Hey, look at that thing. Man. Is it okay? I'm already touching it.

It's okay. It's okay. Man, you're a much nicer man when you're not in the ring. Oh, yeah. I'm not, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm calm most right now. Dude, they did such a great job. Great job. Like, before they did the revealing, I, um, I actually thought that it would make sense if they

just brought back the old TNA title, right? Right. But then I saw this and I was like, you know what? This is much prettier. Well, it's a new era of TNA, too, right? So why not have a new championship? Yeah. They did a great job.

Whoever crafted this did an excellent job. So you, I mean, you held the other TNA World Heavyweight Championship when, when you self-proclaimed. We just self-proclaimed. We all know the reasons behind that. But it's actually, it feels great actually holding the real thing and being an actual TNA world champion. Yeah, how does it feel that TNA's back? Great.

It's something that within the boys that we've always talked about and we've always said to each other, like, what if we're T&A came back and we wasn't impact wrestling anymore? We're just TNA. And nobody I didn't know personally, they never told me anything. I'm the last person that finds out about anything that's going on. And I remember the night, I think Josh was in the main event. And everybody was like, make sure you watch the monitors after the match. In my head, I was like, what's going on is like, is seeing Punk coming in because he was a free agent. That's right.

Yeah, yeah. I was seeing a punk coming in, no way. like, well, I'm going to watch a monitor, and then it matches over, and the reveal happens, and there was a reaction video, and you can see me jump up, get on the chair, and start chanting, TNA, TNA, TNA, TNA, like with the rest of the boys, I think that was probably the most epic part of the year last year for us. There's something about the nostalgia that's tied to those three letters. Yeah.

Like, everybody remembers when TNA first started 20 plus years. years ago and all the incredible matches then. I think that that idea is what people are so tied to with this brand. And the fact that TNA is back, man, look, it's an exciting time in wrestling in general, but the fact that TNA is back is incredible. Dude, even the shows we did after the announcement of TNA was coming back, you could feel the energy just changed within the fans. Like, as soon as the show starts, the crowd is chanting TNA, TNA, TNA, and TNA.

And you know, you've been in a few wrestling shows. And you know, in a three-hour show, by the end of the main event, the fans are tired and they're, like, going out. And it's kind of, you got to try to pick them back up, like, especially if you're in the main event. But in the shows we did after the announcement, they never died. They were always alive. They were chatting TNA, TNA, TNA, TNA, TNA, TNA, the whole night. So I already knew. I was like, man, Hartha Kill, it's going to be a huge night.

And I get the main event that. I get to be in the main event of the first ever relaunch of TNA. Like, awesome. Hard to Kill was so good. Every match in that card start to finish was amazing. Your match was the storytelling in that was so good. You winning the championship. Appreciate it.

And then after that. Afterwards, yeah. I don't think anybody was expecting what happened afterwards. Obviously, I wasn't expecting it either. but just rethinking the whole moment. I thought, because obviously they set it up like in weeks prior that, oh, there's going to be a huge signing and this person is showing up at Hard to Kill.

And they said like, you won't believe who's there. And you won't believe who's there. Okay, so this has got to be massive. I think the way they set it up, they announced Dana Brooks in a women's championship match. And everybody thought, oh, man, Dana Brooks, that's awesome. That's a new.

signing at TN8. I mean, Scott DeMoy was talking about. So nobody thought anything was going to happen. And then I win the title and I'm celebrating. And then Nick comes out from nowhere and kicks my ass. He kicked your face. Yeah, he's going to get his back. But, yeah, and, I mean, it just shows how great they're starting off.

And it's only going to get better. I promise you that it's only going to get better. I don't think anybody had it on their bingo card that Nick Nemeth would be wearing a TN8. t-shirt with the crowd chanting TNA with him in, you know, in the TNA crowd. Right. And we said prior before we even started this interview, a holy shit chat just from us being in the ring facing off with each other. It was like, yeah.

And that's like whenever that match happens, if it happens, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, you got to give him that match, you know? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, he has to earn it. Yeah. And then he has to get us. face kicked in back for doing whatever what he did to me a few weeks ago yeah when was the last holy shit chant that you had oh man it's do you even remember i don't remember it's when you're in it can you even hear the the chance do you do pay attention to that or are you just so focused on the

moment i'm so focused on the moment and what's going on and um what i'm going to do next and what's going on that sometimes I just have to tune out the crowd. But I mean, there's sometimes I listen to the crowd because obviously the crowd dictates what I'm going to do or what my opponent's going to do and what we need to do. But there's sometimes that, okay, we have to tune them out for a second because I have to catch my breath, first of all, to go 10 more minutes. So to answer that question, the last, holy shit, honestly, I, maybe when I wrestled He put me through a ladder.

I'm sure that was a holy shit moment, but I couldn't tell you over the top of my head. But I would never forget that moment with me and Nick face-to-face. And that, I mean, that's just the beginning of it, too. Like, I'm sure you guys are going to have a great match or several great matches. And I'm sure he's going to have great matches with other talents of guys on our roster. Like, yeah. And people, there's a crazy thing about it.

Like, you go on Twitter and you see all these idiots that. Never watched a product and only say bad things. But then you watch the product, and as soon as you watch it, you're hook. Yeah. Because you're like, oh, my God, I didn't know TNA was this fucking good. Yeah. Like, and we are like, we, I think, in my personal opinion, are the best wrestling company from top to bottom. People need to stop sleeping on TNA.

Right. Like the in ring stuff is so good. Literally, every match last. Last night, knocked it out of the park. Like, I watched the whole pay-per-view and I- How did you watch the pay-per-view? The show ended up to like nine or ten. My greatest gift is probably my greatest curse.

It's one of those things that, like, when I decide I'm going to do something, I'm going to give it, I'm going to tune out everything and focus on that one specific thing, 100 and 10%. And when I decided I was going to be a wrestler, this is my job. This is like what I do. So I watch a lot of wrestling. I watch a lot of old wrestling. I watch a lot of my favorite wrestlers growing up.

And I take little things from every little person and create who Moose is, you know. So the show ended last night and then you went and watched the show? Watch the whole show. Yeah. I mean, I have that athlete mindset. It's like when I play, I mean, people forget, I played football for half my life. So it's one of those things that after practice, what do you do? Watch film on practice.

After a game, what do you do? Watch film on the games because you're trying to see how you can get better for the next practice and for the next game. And I take that same approach for wrestling. After wrestling, I go back to the film room and I watch it. Oh, what should I have done better? Did I react to the crowd a certain way? Should I have done this better? Should I have sold this better?

what should have my face shoes on this moment right here. So I take it very, very, very serious. I think people don't put two and two together there. Like obviously in sports, you're watching tape and trying to get better. I think people assume when you're watching wrestling, you're watching it like it's fun, like you're watching it for entertainment. And that's not me, though. At this stage of my career, I look at wrestling just like I did with professional football

and just football in general. I love it. is my job and I want to perfect it. And the only way to perfect it is to constantly practice and watch yourself and honestly grade yourself. Like this sometimes I might have some performance and I might go to the back and people be like, oh, that was a great match. But then I'll watch it.

And I'm like, oh, at best, that's a C plus. So how would you grade your match with Alex Shelley from Hard to Kill? Honestly, I think my match for Alex Shelley was top five best matches. I've had. Good. Okay. I was going to say, if you were like,

oh, it was a C plus. It'd be like, hell no. No, no, it was top five, one of the best matches I've had.

I have tons of respect for Alex. I think he's one of the greatest minds in pro wrestling. He's a great, excellent wrestling. And then you put him and save him together.

And I think they're by far the best tag team in the world. But, like, just being in that moment with him and just, I even, learn things as I'm in the ring with him, things that he does, subtle things that he does

that nobody notices. Like, he's always, like, if you watch Alex Shelley match, he's always playing with the fans and, like, trying to get him going. And he, it's like, and I'm watching it. I'm like, that's something I need to start doing. Yeah. Even as a heel? Even as a hill. Like, I mean, obviously, I don't do it. I don't need their energy, but I could do it in a different way in a hillish way. Yeah. And that's something he's always doing. He's always playing with him.

He's always, he's never not doing something. And that's a great asset, accent in pro wrestling. He's never not doing something. He's always out of selling. And when he doesn't move, he's like, give me your energy. Give me your energy. Get into the match. Get into the match.

And as a fan, you see a guy working his ass off doing that. That makes you want to. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, and he's, So he's little things like that is like, that's one thing I got from him five minutes into the match. It's like, oh, man, like, he's tons of respect for him. So we've got a lot in common.

Obviously, we both love wrestling and evidently we love great conversations about wrestling. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you're like me, you also like to save a dollar or two or maybe 10. And that's been the case since I signed out for rockin money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions. It also monitors your spending and helps to lower your bills. Rocket Money has over 5 million users, myself included, and they've helped save it to members an average of $720 a year with over $500 million in canceled subscriptions. So yeah, they'll go in and they'll find those subscriptions that you completely forgot

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Dude, especially someone who is the size that you are, you sell so well. And you make it so believable. Um, so it's two things with that. Um, when I first got into wrestling 10, 11 years ago, I was in a company called a Ring of Honor. And I met a guy called Chris Hero. And one thing Chris Hero told me that always stuck with me, he told me exact words, he was like, you're not going to be determined on how good you're all about the things you do.

Offensively. We're going to determine how good you are. all about how you sell. And that always stuck to me. And another thing, part two, one of my favorite wrestlers to this day is Brock Lesnar. And the reason why he's my favorite wrestler is for the pride of the wrong reasons. Because, yes, he's a monster. He's a beast.

He kills people. But that's not why I like him. He's, in my opinion, the best seller in pro wrestling. I've literally watched a match with him versus Rick Flair and 60 old Rick Flair. And in that match, I literally thought the 60 old man was going to beat this beast. And all due to this beast selling. And just watching that, I knew, okay, whenever I get to this spot, I have to do a good enough job as he's doing a better job than him to be successful and be good at this.

and that's every time I go in a match, if a guy tells me, oh, I'm working a body part, I know the whole night I'm going to sew. My goal is for them in the headpiece to ask the ref to ask him, is he really okay or is he selling? That's my goal to get him to ask me that. Yeah, I think what's so good about it is you make it seem like the other guy could win at any point in time.

Right. And the way that you sell big moves, You're like, I mean, you're six, six. And you're flopping around like you're, you know, five foot six or something like that. Appreciate it. It's amazing. Thanks. Thanks, thanks.

It's a lot of work, man. Like I said, when I told myself, I was going to leave that life of football and get into professional wrestling, I put 110% into it. And get in shape, losing weight, being more agile, putting in. countless time in a film room watching some of my favorite wrestlers and some of my friends are like some of the best wrestlers in the world so that just them being my friends um i i i learn from like edwards one of my one of my best friends um i look at him as a brother and um i've learned so much from eddie um i did one of my longest tours in japan i was probably like five weeks, four or five weeks was with Eddie.

And just in that short period of time, I learned so much about Japanese wrestling and how they do things different there. And then you have Brian Myers that, it's funny that I name him. He's a good friend of mine, but we just became close in the last maybe year. And just in this last year, a lot of people don't give credit to Brian on his knowledge for wrestling, like things that he does as a hill that is so. freaking good. And I get to learn from him every day because for a while we were a tag team. Then you got guys that ever companies like ricochet, probably one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Real good friend of mine. And I get to learn from him. The guy that if Scott Nemour, a mentor, Big Brother role for me, actually brought me into wrestling, probably one of the greatest minds in wrestling. And I get to learn from him. I just think because of who I put myself around, that's probably one of the reasons why I'm in this position I am today. Like just being around great human beings, Apollo, I forgot to mention him such a great, restless. In my opinion, I think he's being underutilized right now up where he's at,

but he's a great wrestler, great friend of mine. I get to learn from him. It's like, just without those guys, all those names, I mentioned, and probably something I'm missing. I wouldn't be in a position I am. When you talk about getting into shape, you didn't just get into shape. When you look at your before and you look at your after, and especially when you look at your shape you were in at hard to kill and your entrance,

like you're shredded. Everyone's talking about, oh, man, Randy's in great shape. AJ Stiles is in great shape. Moose is in insane shape. Thank you. That just goes to my. First of all, I couldn't be in that shape without a guy we both work with. Yeah.

A.J. Sims, probably the best. At cement factory. At cement factory at Instagram. The greatest coach that you can have, actually great individual. Yeah. What a great dude. We love you, AJ. Yeah.

He's just a great human being. But then it goes to my mindset. Like when I said, I'm going to do something, I'm going to put 110 percent. effort into it. So when I told myself that, and this, I mean, this is not the first time I've like trimmed down to get into how I look like now. I first met AJ in Don't COVID. And I was a little big, chubby, probably 2.75, 290. And I told myself, you know what, I'm going to get in the best shape of my life because I've never done it. And I think that's one thing that I haven't done that and because of that i haven't been able to break that barrier of like the top

wrestlers in the industry you know what i'm saying because i don't look like a top guy like i don't look like a randy or in how he looks or like a brock lester i'm just uh that guy that's athletic you know i don't know about that i mean that's how my mindset was so i told myself you know what I'm going to treat this like I'll treat everything else in life. I'm going to put 110% to get in the best shape of my life. And luckily I met AJ and he rolled out of plan, stuck to it. And I went from $2.95 to the leanness he got me was three years ago was maybe $250. Yeah.

But as we both know, being that lean is not, you can't live like that year. No. That is impossible. So I gained a little weight and then I gained probably about 20 pounds. And when they told me I was going to be in the main event of the relaunch of T&A, I was like, you know what? I have to go mental and get back in better shape and beat how I looked like three years ago. And AJ put down the plan, same plan that you have.

And I put 110% into it. And I looked crazy yesterday. They got so many compliments from friends and colleagues and people that work in other companies about how I look. And we age are you still getting hit up by a bunch of wrestlers trying to get him to help them. So it's a great thing. When you look at his resume of everybody that he's worked with. And I'm going to miss a whole bunch of names, but it's like Johnny Gargano and Tomaso Champa, Elias, you, Apollo, Drake Maverick, PC3, me, although I'm not a wrestler. No, but you look great.

Thank you. I got in the best shape of my life when I turned forward. And like I've lost 25 pounds on that process. But it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. But the funny thing is people think we look like this and all we do is eat cereal. It's like I talk to my friends. I'm like, because after a bit of heavy leg day, sometimes I would eat like a box and a half.

A box and a half amount of cereal. and people just instantly think that I eat a box and a half of cereal every single day. So you look like this and you eat a box and a half of cereal. I have to sign up with this guy. But like, no, you still have to put it into work. You still have to do your faster cardio. You still have to do your post work out cardio. You still have to eat your six-ounce chicken and 100 grams of rice,

depending on what the day is. You still have to put into work. But yeah, every day you're going to have some kind of treat that's going to make you want to do it the next day is like, it's not like, I've had a lot of coaches. I've had a lot of coaches. And the reason why AJ's the best, because he sets it up that it's actually doable. And it's not just you eating chicken and rice every single day, every single meal. And like, no, it's like, for me, when my plan, and it's probably similar to yours, I get cereal every day after workout. But the fact that we're even talking about, like you have your own plan,

I have my own plan. Everybody has their own specific plan. I have. Everybody has their own specific plan. I think that that is something that needs to be talked about more. Right. I think people think it's this cut and pace like, here's the plan. No, no, everybody's, everybody is different. Like, we can get every guy Asian's worked with, all our plans are completely different. Completely different.

I didn't eat any chicken. And I did. Oh, yeah, okay, so, yeah. I was on it for 13 weeks. I didn't eat a single piece of chicken. Right. And that's going to blow people's minds because everybody thinks it's chicken and rice. Yeah.

I was a lot of lean ground turkey. Right. I had a lot of lean beef. Right. And I had bison. Those were my, and eggs, of course. Those were my proteins. Right.

What are yours? See, mine changes. Sometimes it'll be, oh, 991 ground turkey. Yeah. Sometimes he'll be like, okay, now you can get to 973 ground turkey. Sometimes we want chicken. Sometimes it would be like halibut. Like, it changes.

I didn't get any halibut. I got some shrimp. Yeah, same thing, shrimp. Sometimes it changes. But no salmon. For this cut, it was mostly chicken and 991 ground turkey. Yeah, so like super lean. Yeah, super lean.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. So Ethan Page, you've seen the shape that he's got in there recently. He's working with, um, Cesar. Cesar Bonaar, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he goes, what's this deal where you guys get to eat cereal? I don't eat cereal. Yeah.

I don't know. But I mean, like I, like I said, I've worked with different coaches and some coaches don't like the cereal method. Some coaches do. And, um, I just love that my coach, one that actually matters, likes a serial thing, so. Yeah, I mean, and it worked.

It worked, and it works. Like, it's proven, it works, so. And you look like, I mean, you look like the champ. You are the champ. You look like a guy who should be holding that championship. Thank you. At your very heaviest in the NFL, to your leanest now, what's the difference in weight?

Oh, man, my very heaviest, I was probably 318, 319. Well, you're an offensive lineman, right? Yeah, offensive linemen. And the leanest, AJ, got me was probably 247. Wow. Yeah. That's a lot. It was way like I felt super depleted. Like I felt like just walking up and down the stairs was was hard for me. Yeah. And we talked about it and I was like, you know what? I want to stay around 255-ish, maybe two to 60-ish like this cut. Like I don't want to go below that. And we did a good job. And for the next pay-per-view, we even things.

about bulking up to maybe 260s, 2605 to see how I look. Man. That heavy in, so, yeah. So you re-signed the longest contract in TNA history. Yes. Last year, you had some options to go elsewhere.

Yes. You had interest from AEW. You had interest from WW. What made you decide to stay in TNA? There's a few things. Number one, I'm a very loyal person. And my relationship with Scott D'Amour, I honestly, I wouldn't be in the position I am today if I never met Scott 10 years ago, 10 plus years ago. So it's hard for me to ever say no to him when we're discussing, you know what I'm saying numbers and what my future would be.

because like I feel like in this business first of all I played in the NFL for seven plus years I've made a ton of money doing that so money was never some pressure to me

and you were good with your money I was good with my money fortunately I was good with my money because I'm sure a lot of your teammates were not I mean you hear you hear bad stories luckily for me fortunately for me I did good. I saved a good bit.

So money has never been, you know, I'm saying, something that rained heavy over my head, like, oh, I need money. I need so, but I'll stick to Scott for right now for the first reason. My relationship with Scott

playing in the NFL for so long and knowing that that business could be so cutthroat. And you get, they can really, let you go in any second. But my relationship with Scott is, it's more than just a boss talent relationship.

It's almost like big brother, little brother. So he's had to be my coach, be my friend, and be my boss. So now I had to think about that. Like, if I go to AEW, I don't have a relationship with Tony. So he's literally just my boss. If I go to WWE, I don't have a relationship. relationship with Hunter is really just my boss. So some of the things that some of the situations I could potentially be in is just a boss talent

conversation where here in TNA is a friend, first friend friend, friend conversation, a big brother, little brother conversation, then there's a boss talent conversation. So I had to throw that in, you know what I'm saying? to that was a big decision maker for me. Number two, because I've made money playing over seven years in the NFL, money wasn't a huge burden for me where I needed money. So going to AEW or going to WWE wasn't, the money wasn't attractive, you know what I'm saying?

Because I've made that. Like, you know what I'm saying? And for me, the guys who know me would tell you, I everybody loves me because that's my goal to make everybody love me but some people like hate dealing with me because my greatest gift is also my greatest curse I take wrestling so seriously that if I'm going to go somewhere I know how good I am as a wrestler um I know that in my humble opinion I'm one of a kind I know what I could do in ring. I know how I look physically. I know that I could talk on the mic. So if I'm not in a

spot that I deserve, I should be. Money isn't, money is not attractive to me to get me to be happy with where I'm at. I want to play. I don't want this much money to be on the bench. I want to be on the field. So I had to think about that. And at that point, I don't know if I was confident, confident enough to make that jump and be the starter. I don't know. That's wrestling is one of those things that it doesn't matter on how talented you are. It matters on how somebody perceives you. So your control is out of your hands. So you knew the position you had in TNA. Yeah. But AEW or WWE, you didn't know how you'd be used there. I know how good I am.

Sure. I know if I go to any of those companies, I should be up there with whoever their superstars and top guys are. Yeah. But like I say, the difference between wrestling and pro sports is it doesn't matter about how talented you are. It matters about whoever's writing the script, how they perceive you. So I could be the best athlete, best look, best on the mic, or and the guy writing the stories thinks the next guy's better and I get to stay at home. You teased working with Roman Raines.

Was that just like, let's have some fun on Twitter or is that something you actually wanted to do? No, honestly, like I said, wrestling is some, I respect Roman. I think he's our generations, Hulk Hogan or John Cena, whatever you want to call it. So to me, it was just, it was an opportunity with, there was the whole, what was it? Forbidden door. And who knew? I mean, Mickey Jane was working with us as the knockout's champion and she went into the Rumble. So it was a way to me to see, hey, let me throw flip a coin and let's see what happens with this, you know.

Roman Rames was their top guy. I respect him. I think he's a great, talented, one of the best wrestlers. Like I said, our generation's Hulk Hogan. and I know who I am as a pro wrestler and I mean, that's a matchup that I think a lot of people would want to see and so I still think it's a match

a matchup a lot of people want to see and who knows with the way wrestling is going, right? So, but yeah, those are my big two reasons for staying with TNA is that's pretty much it. Does this mean you've signed this long contract? Does that mean you think you'll retire in TNA? I can't answer that question because I don't know.

I can't tell the future. I can't tell you literally if I'm going to wake up tomorrow, you know. So I can't speak for that. But I will say this. I'm not one of those guys that you see that wants to wrestle to he's 60 or 50 years old. That's never been my goal. I want to be able to leave wrestling young and still be able to run around and play with my kid and be active and do fun things. So I can't tell you that I'm going to retire in TNA, but I do know for a fact that I'm not one of those guys that's going to wrestle until he's 50 years old.

And I turn 40 this year. Yeah, you turn 40 this year. Yeah, so I can't answer that question. It all depends on how I feel physically. If I still have confidence in my abilities to still perform the way I perform now. And if I feel like there's any dip in that down the road, then I'll hang it up. How do you feel about turning 40 this year? I just turned 40 last year and I thought it'd be this big thing and life just kind of rolled on.

Honestly, age is nothing but another to me. because right now I feel better than I was when I was in my 20s. Better than when you were in the NFL? I feel 10 times better than when I was in the NFL. I feel better. I think I'm faster than I was. I know I'm faster than I was. I'm more athletic than I was.

Do you think you could beat your combine times now? Yes, in every single thing. Really? All of them. In bench press. What are your combine numbers? I ran a 40 at 294 and a 499. or a 498 or 499.

Pretty great for a line. I think at two right now, 55-ish, if I think about trained to run a 40, I probably could run like a 4-7. Like, I honestly can run it. At almost 40 years old. Who are at T-O? Amazing.

Bench press, I did it 21 times. I know I could probably do 30 now. Wow. So I think I could beat my combine. times in every single facet right now. Wow. At the age 39. That's amazing.

Yeah. Wow. So I feel better. But like, going back to the retirement thing, I can't answer that question. I'm going to retire in TMA. I mean, sure, I would love to retire in TNA because I love TNA. TNA. TNA has been my home for the last seven, eight years, you know.

And another thing, I forgot to mention this on why I, probably one of the biggest reasons why I decided to eventually stay with TNA. Right now when you hear the worst TNA, probably three wrestlers you think about. I know one for sure you think about A.J. Stiles. Sure. I think a lot of people think about that era, right? Yeah.

And a lot of people immediately go to that unbreakable 2005 match. Right. You know, Daniels and Samojo and AJ. Yeah. I think that that for a lot of people is TNA. So for me, when you hear the worst TNA, me personally i think of i think of a j styles i think of abyss and i think of the guy who found a tn a jr jrb and my goal is when my time is done with tn a when you hear those words tn a the first

name you think about is moose what's the match you've had that you're the most proud of in tn a Hmm, there's been a bunch. Obviously, my match for Shelly is up there. My match with Josh, the one when he finally beat me for the world championship. Just that whole story. I like how hard it was for you to say that. Big man. Just that whole storyline was magical.

And working with Josh, he's another friend of mine that I forgot to mention earlier. He's a great, great, great wrestling. And he does it so well. And he's probably, I mean, there's a reason why they call him the standard barrier TNA, right? Because, I mean, his knowledge of wrestling is just unmatched. But yeah, working with him, very memorable moments and match and feud. Obviously, all my matches with Eddie, memorable to me because he's one of my best friends. Man, there's a lot.

There's a lot. There's a ton. There's a lot. When you talk about your friends, I think another really interesting one is Natty and T.J. Yeah. And there's been these videos of you working out in their dungeon and training in their dungeon. Yeah. And I think it's just so cool that you see these people from all these different companies working together,

all these veterans that are working together and iron sharpening iron in there. And that idea of the dungeon, I think, is just such a, it's such a smart thing. Right. And so I became, like, in a short period of time, really close with those two. And you know what's so crazy to me? I didn't realize, like, I always knew TJ was a fantastic wrestler. But I didn't really watch, like, girls wrestling that much.

Like, but I didn't realize how great of a wrestler Natty is until I started training with her. Oh, gosh. But when we have these debates about your top three or your top five, to me she's number one. Wow. To me, she's them. Because I've seen her in training. We sometimes have practice matches. And I've seen her call a practice match with a girl from NXT or a young girl who's only been wrestling for maybe two years.

And this is a match that you could probably see at a pay-per-view or a raw or a Smackdown. Wow. And she's like literally carrying this young girl through this. In my mind, I'm like, there's no other girl that I know of that could do that. Yeah. To me, she's number one. And I didn't realize how good she was until I saw a train with her. And just those two human beings, they're great, great friends of mine.

I wished I could see how great T.J. would be now if he did that accident. never happened with him. But he's still a great mind for wrestling. I still sometimes hit him up and ask him his ideas. What do you think about this? Do you think this works? Why would you? I just like his brain.

I just like learning from those guys. And it's awesome to have them as your friends. Who were some of the famous roommates that you've met with? There's been a lot. Oh, it's been a lot. Huh. You've had them on your show, swerve. Strickland.

We live together. Jordan Grace, our current knockout champion. Her husband, good friend of my, Jonathan Gresham, EC3, Rickashay, Tessa Blanchard, DJC, now known as Joaquin. Fucking Wilde. That's a lot. That's a lot.

You've probably seen some stuff. Yeah, I've seen it all. Trust me, I've seen it all. But they're all great people. Like, I can't say one bad thing about any of them. They're all great people. Who sleeps in the latest? Hmm.

And this isn't a bad thing. Maybe they just stay up late. Honestly, we're all similar. We're all like real old, go to sleep early. Real old. Yeah. Except for last night. I will tell you this. I think who goes to sleep the earliest is probably,

EC3. That guy's so regimented. Yeah, yeah. He's he, he, he's, he's not having a real person. He's, uh, he's Terminator. It's like, it's a machine in there. It's like, he's not even a real human being. That's what my beliefs is. Like, he's a walking machine. Yeah. I feel like you're a machine when it comes to your spear. Like, I, the way that you do your spear is unlike anybody else. So funny story about the spare. And it's so annoying because sometimes, like, I'll go when I, the few times I will go on Twitter and I'll see some idiots like, oh, you stole Bobby Lashney's move. And it was like, first of all, Bobby, great friend of mine, great individual, so happy for success. but if you look at the footage of when I started doing the spear,

the flip and spear, I started that in Ring of Honor in, what, 2014? 14. And Bobby Wood was just doing a regular spear. So, yeah. So, but I didn't make the spare up. Everything is stolen in wrestling from somebody. Sure.

So I remember training and training and wrestling in 2012. and Curtis Hughes had an indie show that he just did. And we was watching some of the matches in his indie show. And there was some guy in that I can't even tell you what his name is. He did a spear and he actually flipped in it. And I was like, oh, my God, that is so cool. Like, I don't even know what I've seen. Yeah, yeah.

He rewinded that. He rewinded and I saw it again. I was like, I think I want that to be my finish. It makes sense. I'm a football player, right? Yeah. Now, and I flip when I spear somebody, and I did it, it was so easy. It didn't hurt my opponent.

And I was like, well, this is my finisher. Was there a point in impact when you and Bobby were doing it at the same time? No. So when I signed with Impact, they told me, Bobby's been here. He's the guy. He's the world champion. You're the new guy. Yeah.

We want you to not do the spear anymore. And I totally get it. I respect it. Like I said, I have tons of respect for Bobby. I've learned so much from Bobby. Probably one of the nicest guy you would meet. Like, behind all that muscle and grittiness is a nice human being. And I can say personally, he's a great guy.

And I respect him to death. So when they told me, when Biggs told me, A, our champion, top guy, he's doing the spirit. Can you think of something else? I was like, oh, easy. One of my favorite wrestlers at the time was O'Cada. and he does the rainmaker. So I did my own variation of his move,

which I still do sometimes. There was a point in TNA when you were wrestling with no knee pads. Oh, yeah. And every time I see someone wrestling with no knee pads, I'm like, are you crazy? Yeah. So the story behind that is actually really, really funny.

So I was doing an indie show, which TNA, another great thing about TNA, that allow you to do indie shows to get out there to work on, stuff that like you could try it in a match to make extra money um so i was doing an indie show and it was for a buddy of mine i'm a good a good friend of mine um shan jacobi in san diego and he was having a birthday party for his 10 year old son his 10 year old son is a great um is a huge wrestling fan so he calls me he was like moose keep me a favor i'm having a bunch of triple

Lay guys come and I want to pay you whatever your rate is to wrestle in a match against Phoenix in Pentagon. I forgot who I even tagged with, but you'll be wrestling those guys. It will be in my huge house, my backyard. So in my mind, I'm thinking, oh, okay, I'm wrestling in backyard of my good friend's house. Yeah. I don't really have to do anything because there's like a festival show

I look at it. So I was like, you know what? I'm just going to pack tights and boots. So I get to the house, I put it on. And I'm like, oh man, this actually doesn't look bad. Like, this actually, this looks really, really, really good. And it's literally, I tucked my trunks into my boots and put in my suitcase.

So easy to travel. So easy to travel. I was like, oh my God, why haven't I done this for years? So I did it and the match was so easy. But I didn't realize like the reason why I worked because I didn't really have to do anything in the match. It was a festival show. I didn't even have to take a bump.

It was like just ha-ha, you know what I'm saying? Making kids laugh or whatever. Yeah. So I tried it with TNA and very short into my run of wearing no knee pads. I do a drop kick. I'm wrestling bully. I think that's what it is, who I'm wrestling.

And I do a drop kick, and I land straight on both my knees. And I thought I broke my kneecap. I thought I broke my kneecap. And I was like, oh, my God. And that pain stayed with me for like two weeks. And it was a quick decision. And like, yep, going back to knee pads, going back to packing my heavy bags. How many?

How many matches was it with no knee pads? Probably a good month. Okay. A month and a half run, so maybe five matches. So pretty quick. The drop kick with bully is what caused it to go back to wearing knee pads. Yeah. So you learn the hard way.

I learned the hard way. It's so funny that when I did it, all of my friends, all the boys was like, that's the dumbest fucking thing you could ever do. Like I give you a month or two, you're going to go back to wearing knee pads. I'm like, no, you don't know what you're talking about. Like, Greg the Hamel Valentine did it. Like, I'm naming all these wrestlers that did it. Like, they did it and they lasted for a very long time.

Rick Flair practically does it because knee pads would always fall down. Rick Flair really didn't really do anything athletic. As great as he is, like he was more of a standards, chop, chop, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I do drop kicks. I do run up, land on my stomach. I do crazy stuff. So for a guy doing the stuff that I'm doing wearing knee pads,

it was probably the dumbest idea ever. Definitely the dumbest thing I've ever done in wrestling for that month and a half. It's my head of no knee pads. Yeah. Your chops are so loud. Oh. Like, I think that people talk about big shows chops, obviously. They talk about Gunther's chops.

Yours are right up there. Oh, it takes. a lot of the price. And the funny thing about chops, I hate doing them. Really? People don't realize, not only does it hurt your opponent,

it hurts you because my hand at the end of the night is red and it's like shaken by the end of the night. And people don't realize that. People hear the chop bones like, oh my God, did you feel that guy's chest? You see his handprint?

No, look at my hand. My hand is like, it's almost like a boxing from boxing. What did they usually do after the fight? They put their hand in the bucket of ice because their knuckles are like, tore up. That's how my hand feel. But there's this exchange at Hard to Kill where

Shelley chops you. It's loud. You chop him. It's like a gunshot. And then he chops you. It's loud. You chop him. It's even louder this time. But the thing about I learned throwing a proper chop from one of my good friends again. I feel like this interview is me

putting over my good friends. That's funny. I mean, that's who you are. Yeah. Jay Leto, he taught me how to do a chop because I remember I wrestled Jay Leto. We was in Ireland, maybe, somewhere in Europe. And we had a match. And it chopped me and it made the loudest noise I've ever heard. But I didn't feel a thing. And I was like, what the hell? And then he did it again. It made, it was like a gunshot, but I didn't feel a thing. And after the match, I was like, yo, bro, you have to show me how you chop because it was really loud, but I didn't feel it. And he told me how to cup your hand to make the sound and it doesn't kill your opponents. You also look like you're doing it with not just your hand, like maybe some of your forearm, too?

I don't know. I adore it the Japanese way, but it's usually my hand hitting you. My forearm doesn't really. There's some guys like Eddie King's. and he does it the actual true Japanese way, what he lays his form in you with his hand. Me, I kind of deceptively show you like I'm doing the Japanese way, but it's really just my poems.

It's very loud. It's a lot of practice doing it. And then the guy your wrestler has to be sweaty enough to get that loud. If you have the proper cup and the guy sweating properly, it's going to sound like a gunshot. What if they're too baby oiled up? Does that matter? No.

Okay. No, no, no. It's the right amount of cup and the right amount of sweat. When you look back at... But I remember we was in Europe after they announced TNA, and it was me and Brian versus the machine heads. And everybody in the boys, you probably don't know this, but everybody in the back knows what happened. Because I gave Sabin a chop. that probably almost ended this career.

Legit almost ended his career. What happened? So it happens once in a while. Like, it's probably happened to everybody. But it happened this night. It happened to happen. It was me doing it to saving. So sometimes if you chop and the guy is either really sweaty or you don't cut

hard enough, you hit and you slide up. So I chopped them and it slid up and it hit him right in the throat. And Saban literally didn't sell it. Chop, just got out the ring and walked to the back. And the whole time me, we're like, what's going on? Yeah. And Brian Myers, we had the spot. Brian Myers was upside down.

And he just stayed there for like four minutes, waiting for Saber to come back so we could finish the spot. Because I was like, oh, my God, did I just kill him? And afterwards, Brian Myers hit this. He tweeted, he was like, well, I witnessed no street. Chop Sabin and almost end his career. And everybody popped for it. Yeah.

But that happens once, probably once a year for me where I would chop in the slides up and kills your throat. Yeah. And that's happened to me. Like, people have chopped me that way and caught me. So it's something that happens. And it's an accident. It's never.

That's one of those things that look like it doesn't hurt. Like if you're just watching it on TV, you'd never know. Yeah. But that's one of those things. It's just like, oh, geez. I probably heard a lot. I would tell you this, learning, wrestling, I've been wrestling for 10 plus years now.

And I can now tell you, officially, that overhand chop hurts way more than a knife edge drop. Really? I don't know why. I don't know, I don't understand the physics behind it. But I can tell you from experience that overhand chop hurts. Who does a great overhand chop? Oh, I don't know who does a great one to me,

the best one so far. because the only one I've ever gotten, it was from Shelly. After the first one, because he was going three for one, and he gave me the first three, and in my mind, I was like, fuck, I have six more of these. Oh, shit. Yeah, so, yeah. So right now, Sevent has the best overhand chop in wrestling history.

And I'm never going to take another one to find out who's number two. I think Penta has a pretty great overhand shop. I would never know because I'm never taking another one of those. The really cool thing about the TNA roster right now is you've got some veterans who have been there and who have done it and who are some of the very best in the business. You've also got some great young talent in their 20s. So it's like TNA is in such a great spot right now. And TNA is also going to be in such a great spot for years to come. For years ago, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I honestly love our roster. I love the human beings on our roster. There's nobody on our roster that you'll ever be like he's an asso or he's a bad person or I don't want to be around that person or he's a shithead. And you hear that in other companies. You hear rumors obviously not in impact. Not in TN, I'm sorry. And I think that's because Scott D'Amour and management do a proper, fantastic job. looking into the guys they're bringing in and how is it going to work morale-wise with the other guys they have already in the roster.

And we say this all the time and you hear a lot of companies say this and I think it's bullshit. But when I say it, I think it actually is very true that we are a tight family in TNA. We always want to see the next person succeed because we know if they succeed, the whole company succeeds and more eyes on us and everybody makes money. and you never want to see somebody fail. You always want to see your colleague or your family or your brother, your best friend, or the guy that you're going to war with inside the ring, do great because if he does great, that means you did great, and that means the company did great.

If you look back at your TNA debut eight years ago, 2016, what do you think about that version of yourself? Oh, a kid. a kid green as grass um uh i i i didn't know what wrestling was then i thought i did but knowing what i know now compared to when i came in then i was a kid it might be difficult but who's on your tna mount rushmore oh that's easy okay that's very easy um a j styles jeff jirt abyss and Kurt Angle.

Wow. Yeah. I just wonder if you're going to put yourself on there. No, no, not yet. But ask me that question of five years. All right, we'll do this again in five years. Five years. Figured out then.

It's amazing when you think of those four people and how different all of their styles are, but how great the work was that they put in. And really, they shaped a lot of what TNA was during that time. Yeah, I mean, some of, a lot of people totally forget about Abyss. when they talk about the Mount Rushmore of TNA. But if you think about all the crazy concepts

of matches that TNA has, Abyss was the guy who made some of those matches up, but he was in him. Like which ones? Like obviously Monsters Ball. Mosser's Ball. Yeah. Abyss.

Uh-huh. Lead through lockdown. It was Abyss versus somebody. Yeah. The match I had with Ravens Clockwork, Front House, whatever it was. Abyss was in there with Raven. Some of this crazy matches that you've thought about that was created was the sole purpose for Abyss to show what he was good at.

And then if you talk about AJ Styles, obviously you have to put him in the Mount Rushmore because, like I said, that's the first name that comes up in Bruce Heads. Yeah. When you hear about when you say those three letters T&A, Jeff Jarrett, you have to. put him because without Jeff Jared, they wouldn't be a TNA. Literally, they wouldn't. So he has to be

a Mount Rushmore. He's a founder of the company. And then I think Kurt Angle, the reason why he has to go in that Mount Rushmore,

because Kurt Angle did for TNA what John Cena did for WWE. And I think that people don't give enough credit to how big it was when Kurt Engel debuted

in TNA in 2006. When he debuted 2006, that was a serious, like, are you serious? No, he's here? He's here? Yeah. The roster didn't even know. Right.

Yeah. And he pretty much carried the roster. And a lot of people don't know this. His run in TNA was longer than his run in WRE. And Kurt Angle said that the last interview that we did. And I think a lot of people don't know that. Yeah. He was in TNA longer than he was in WVE.

And he had some of his best matches. Some of his best matches in TNA, not WW.E. So like, yeah, he did so much for the kind of And I think without him, TNA wouldn't have been in that era of having one million views a week. And like, he was the sole purpose for that. What do you think of the landscape of pro wrestling where we're at right now with so many great options? Oh, pro wrestling is great right now. It actually reminds me of how I viewed pro wrestling growing up as a kid where you had WWF, you had WCW.

you had ECW coming up, and it was those big three. And it was like, oh, my God, this day is WWE or this day is WCW. This day is with ECW. Now there's even more. Yeah. There's literally, there's wrestling show on every single day of the week. Yeah. Crazy, right?

Except for Sundays, and sometimes there's pay-per-views on Sunday. Yeah. So sometimes you get on a raw Monday, NXC Tuesday, AW Wednesday, Impact Thursday, back to WW Friday, I think. AW Saturday. A pay-per-view Sunday is like

every day of the week, crazy. Yeah. And we have even talked about New Japan when they have the big shows or AAA, when they have their shows, CMLL, like NWA, like, Ring of Honor, like, wherever they're at. You know what I'm saying? It's like,

I think right now this is the best generation or the best time in wrestling history because there's so many different companies and there's so many ways for guys who decide to do this for a living to make money to make a living and um i'm just happy for where wrestling is right now yeah it's it's a great time to be a wrestling fan but subsequently a great time to be a wrestler too you've got so many options like if it doesn't work out for you you don't fit in this company a whole bunch of other spots you can make a living right and that wasn't the case for a long time. It was either you were with WWE or you tried to make it on the Indies.

Right. Now you've got an opportunity to sign a contract in a lot of places. Right. A lot of places, yeah. Actually make good money doing this. I'm so excited for what's, you know, the future is to come for you. But you've been on an amazing run right now. Oh, thanks, man. Thanks. I just surround myself with a lot of great, great people, great individuals and guys who I know can make me be a better man in life and in this profession. And I think that's all that comes down to. So as long as I keep those same company and keep my same work ethic, I think

2024 would be great for me. Mr. TNA, went from Mr. Impact to Mr. TNA. I actually, you know what? I actually threw away over the monikers. No monikers. No more monikers. Just straight up moose? Just straight up moose. You know how hard it must be for a ring. and I also to say a one syllable name. I think it should be easy. Moose, moose. I think it was time to give up the monikas because I feel like now everybody wants to be called something.

I feel like if I pull up your Instagram right now, it still says Mr. Impact Wrestling, doesn't it? No, it says Moose. Really? Yeah. I've got all the world's information here in my pocket. Yeah, it says Moose, there's moose. It says Mr. Impact Wrestling.

Really? I thought I changed that thing. I got all your phone's over here. Yeah, I thought I changed it. Yeah, look. Oh, that's my Instagram. Yeah. My Twitter. Yeah, my Twitter.

Go on Twitter. What does I say on Twitter? Okay, we're going to go on Twitter. I probably forgot to change it. I'm going to change it from change it now, obviously. But Twitter, I definitely changed it. I hate how difficult it is Twitter to find people's username. If I don't, if your name is like the something or it's something and I just type

in moose or whatever? What is your... I think it's the Moose Nation. Yeah, that's right. See? And so if I type in Moose Nation, which is your name on Instagram, it doesn't come up unless I type

The Moose. The Moose Nation. Okay, you don't have a bio there. Yeah, it just says moose. Yeah, I totally forgot to do it for Instagram. Well, but I, also with this,

with Instagram, I kind of make it more me as a human being. Quinn Ojanaka, and I do put a lot of work stuff on there, but my Twitter is strictly just moose as a character. Well, when we get off this interview, I guess you're changing that. Yeah, I'm changing. For Mr.

Yeah, I have to because we're not impacted anymore. That's right. Yeah. Dude, congrats on everything. Thank you. You're on a hell of a rum right now. I think that, you know, this speaks for itself right here. I end every conversation talking about gratitude.

It's such a big part of my life. I wake up every day. I say out loud, three things I'm grateful for. It's a practice I do before I go to bed as well. In fact, my wife texted me last night when I was still at the show. She's like, I'm heading to bed. Here's the three things I'm grateful for. I'm like, oh, man.

So what are three things you're grateful for? I'm grateful for all the individuals in this path that I'm on that I've met. They've helped me get me to this part. Obviously, my wife being one of them, she's so supportive. And without her, I probably wouldn't be in a position that I'm in. Like, I look at her as even more than white. I feel like our, and people say this,

our relationship has gradually changed from spouse to, like, she's actually my best friend, you know. And without her, I wouldn't be in this position I'm in. She's so supportive. She just gets me, you know what I'm saying? And it's hard to find somebody to just understand you, you know what I'm saying? So I'm very grateful for in this path of life of meeting some of the great human beings that I've met, I'm always grateful to take a never breath.

Because you never know, I mean, in 2023, we lost a lot of people. Yeah. So you never know when your last breath is. Every time I wake up, I'm grateful that God gave me a never breath of life. And I'm grateful I get to do something I truly love for work. Yeah. Grateful for you, man. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Congrats on this. So glad we were able to catch up in person. Yeah. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. I'm trying to remember the last time we did an interview.

It was probably like a five-minute thing at, I forgot what show it was. We did something over Zoom, like maybe the heart of the pandemic. Yeah. But then the very first interview, I'll even pull it up here. I drove to like Orlando is when I was living in Miami and let's see if you even remember this one this is from a long time ago

so we did an interview two years ago and we also did an interview oh geez I got to go way back here I thought we did an interview like it was at some show it was outside of a hotel yes I do remember it was in California

wasn't it no it was in Orlando I do remember that yes Look at that hat you got on. That's when I first got the TNA. Yeah. Yeah, that was early. I do remember that.

Yes. That's, yeah. It says five years ago, but I feel like it's. No, that's way longer. It was, uh, I'll give you the exact date here. April 24th, 2018. Oh, wow. Man.

I remember that, yeah. That was the first ever one we did. Yeah. And that the last one I remember, I don't, I don't know where was, was it a wrestle con or something? It was something. No, it was we did it over Zoom. Was it Zoom? Yeah.

It was with all the world's information here. This is great. As these ads are playing on my YouTube channel and making all this money. It was October 2021. Oh, wow. Yeah. Was it after I, was that the champion then? No, I wasn't a champion.

I don't think so. No. I won it a little bit after. I wanted it at Bown for Glory in 2021. I believe so. That was right. I think it, I think that was right before Bound for glory. Yeah, right before.

Yes. Right before I won. That's right. Yeah. Dude, thank you. Thank you for having me. And congrats. I'm going to touch this one more time.

No, go ahead. Go ahead. That's pretty great. Yeah. All right, man. Thank you so much. Thanks, man. Okay.

There we go. Moose. Ladies and gentlemen, and I got to say that TNA World Championship looks even better in person. That design is just a thing. A beauty. How long?

Do you think it'll be? before we see a match between Nick Nemeth and Moose for that TNA World Championship. Man, I've been such a TNA fan for years. I talked about during this interview. If you've ever listened to any of my Ask CVV episodes, I love TNA. I got into it like pretty early on. I remember downloading clips of it pretty early on, but like that 0405, 0607, like that whole range of time and the matches they had there, amazing.

And I feel like we're on the cusp of TNA being able to do that type of stuff again. Like wrestling in general is hot right now. But the idea that like it's it's not just WW. It's not just AEW. It's not just New Japan. It's not just TNA. It's as a whole. I love it, man.

Rise and tides. Lift in all ships. Take a screen shot. Let us know you'll listen to this. Tag us and we can share it out as well. He's at the Moose Nation on Twitter. He's at Moose Nation. on Instagram. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. I will leave you with this quote from Helen Keller.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one. We got an animal theme going with these two episodes. Moose today, rhino tomorrow. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley?

How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this.

Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.