Insight with Chris Van Vliet - X-Pac Got SUED For a WWE Promo, Who Hated Taking The Bronco Buster, Being Part Of DX & nWo

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

Sean Waltman (@realxpac) is a professional wrestler and a 2-time WWE Hall Of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Hollywood, CA to talk about how healthy he looks and feels these days, the potential to return to WWE at the Royal Rumble, the amazing entrance themes he had, how the Red Hot Chili Peppers almost did his theme song, the story behind Uncle Kracker doing his "X-Factor" theme, how he came up with the Bronco Buster, beating Razor Ramon on Raw, does he think he could get inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame on his own?, the promo that he got sued for in WWE, getting kids in trouble with "Suck It", his memories of invading WCW on a tank with DX, wrestling Shane McMahon, never winning the Intercontinental Championship and much more! Sponsors: BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15% MYBOOKIE: Get a 50% welcome bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag MUDWTR: To get 15% off go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv and use the code CVV15 BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com MANSCAPED - Get 20% off and free worldwide shipping with the code CVV at manscaped.com  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 Quote I'm thinking about: I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. - Mark Twain For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you found value in this episode, I would genuinely appreciate it if you could take a moment to share your thoughts with us by leaving a brief review on Apple Podcast/iTunes. Your feedback means a lot and plays a significant role in helping us reach a wider audience. Additionally, it can be instrumental in persuading some of our more elusive guests to join us. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van. Oh my goodness. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Hope you're doing well. Hope it's been a great week so far. Got a lot of messages from you guys saying, you heard me.

I'm busted open last week. That was so much fun. It was so much fun. We were in the serious XM studios in Manhattan. I was hanging out with Dave LaGreca, who was there sitting right beside me. and Bully Ray, who is joining us through the power of the internets. It was just so cool hanging out and chat with them. And my hat's off to everything that they've built with Busted Open.

I mean, before we dive into this episode, think about the fact that there is wrestling talk on the radio, like wrestling talk six days a week on Sirius. So, man, what they've built there. So, so cool. And it was awesome to be able to share an episode. hour with them. You can go check that one out. It was last Tuesday. So you can go check that one out if you want to go give it a listen. It's here. It's available wherever you're listening to podcasts.

Speaking about things that happened before in the past, this is the second interview that I've done with Sean Waltman, aka Xbox. The last one, about two and a half years ago, like June 22nd, 2021. If you want to go check that out, it is in the archives of the Insight show. It is in the Insight archives. But there's so much that we didn't chat about in that first conversation that we covered here. I mean, think about the career that he's had, two-time Hall of Famer, right, inducted with both the NWO and DX. I think you can make a really strong argument that he could be a three-time Hall of Famer. Like, there are certainly people. who have done less as individuals that have been inducted.

But when you look at Xbox career, I mean, come on, it is a legendary career. It is a Hall of Fame career. So we talk about that. We talk about DX and NWO and how both of them are just bangers of entrance themes. Which one does he like more? I know you already have an answer in your head, but just wait to see what he says. Also, how good was the X-Factor theme song? Because that's one that you either loved or you hate.

You're dealing with the X Factor. I personally liked it. And so did Xbox. But he tells a whole story here about like how WWE was like, we have red hot chili peppers ready to do a song for you. And he's like, no, I want Uncle Cracker. Isn't that crazy? Red hot chili peppers could have done an entrance theme.

Please do me a favor. Follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this right now. That would make me a very, very happy man. And if you enjoy these conversations, please share them with a friend. The show has been growing so much over the last three or four months. May was the biggest month ever we've had on the podcast. And then June was bigger than May. And then July was bigger than June.

And then August was bigger than July. And now September is on track to just absolutely crush August. And it's all because of you. So let's keep this thing going. If you enjoy listening, send this to a friend. and let's keep growing the show. As we sit here right now, we have 10.

Yes, 10 in-person interviews booked and ready to be recorded. I'm flying to Las Vegas tomorrow to do two of them there. Yeah, sure, I'll tell you. Yeah, Samantha Irvin. I already put that out on Twitter and RVD. So can't wait for those ones. Then I'm flying to Tampa right after that to do some massive interviews. A few of these interviews.

are with some of the biggest stars in the history of pro wrestling. You probably know who I'm talking about, but I just don't want to say who it is until we've hit record. Take a screenshot. Please share this out on social media and tag us so we can share it out as well. Xbox is at Real Xbox on Instagram. He's at The Real Xbox on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and let's do this.

please welcome Sean Walton. A friend, it is so good to see you. You're here. Yeah. Yeah. The last time you were in my apartment in Studio City with the kitchen behind us, that we're in a studio here. Yeah, I mean, but that was great too, though.

That was a great conversation. I loved that conversation. And I said it to you then, I'll say it to you now. You look great. Thank you. You're looking. And you hear this all the time. You're looking very healthy.

I feel healthy, yeah. And life is great. Yeah. Yeah, man. I think since we had that conversation, like I had a match and I got torn my bicep. That was with Janella, right? Yeah. Joey Janella.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The thing is, is I had that next match planned. And instead of just getting my arm fixed, like any normal, that sane person would have, my doctor was telling me, you got to get this done right away. Sorry, I just kind of took over this thing, right? No, this is great, please.

Oh, my God. The funniest thing about wrestling retirements is they're never, you know, finalized. Yeah, yeah, no. I mean, because remember last time I was telling you, like, I don't have any plans, but I'm not ever saying, like, no, I'm done. Is that how you feel now? Yeah. So we could see another Xbox match? Oh, yeah, most definitely.

I love it. I love it. Yeah, I've been training, feeling good. I'm not saying, like, you know. another run or anything like that. But like if I needed to be in a match, like a six man or something like that, I could kill it.

You could throw a Bronco Buster? I could do all the stuff I used to do. You know what everybody's hearing right now? What everybody is hearing is Xbox says he could be in the Royal Rumble. Oh, my God. That's what everybody's hearing. They're going, you know, January's just around the corner. Sean could be in the Royal Rumble.

I could do that. Oh, that doesn't, yeah, right. Could you imagine? Yeah, I could imagine it. Oh, I'm guessing it would have to be the DX theme, right? I'm a... A lot of people tell me they like the Xbox theme. It's pretty good.

I never did. Really? I always like the DX. I always like, break it down, dude. You know, like... But my all-time favorite is to run DMC. Oh, that's so good. So great.

The King of Rock Who? Yeah, that's amazing. What about the X Factor? What do you think of that theme song? I was the one. Oh, my God. You know, and I've already admitted this a bunch of times, but that was my idea. Not necessarily that song, but Shane McMahon comes up to me, and they're trying.

They're trying with me. And he goes, hey, we're thinking about having red hot chili peppers do your new theme music. And I go, no, I want Uncle Cracker. that theme is so it's so polarizing right people either love it and think it's incredible or they do not like it at all there is no in between on that theme i don't know what at that point when it came to me i don't know what song i could have had that people wouldn't the shit on red hot chili peppers would be pretty good yeah yeah what a miss would have missed was that actually like was red hot Chili Peppers actually like in line to do this?

When they say something like that, I mean, and especially at that point, where WW was, we were pretty hot. Yes. And you had a lot of like mainstream musicians doing theme songs at that time. Wow. Yeah, man. I was the one that picked Uncle Crack because, you know, we knew, knew him. And yeah.

That's just kind of how I was at the time. I was, yeah. Do you love that theme song? I thought it was good, actually. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to go, oh, yeah, I can see why people. No, I don't understand what the fucking word they hate. But look at the theme songs that you have had.

You've been so fortunate to be able to come out to DX, NWO, Xbox theme, X Factor. So many great themes. So I get that in the pantheon here when people are ranking. The one, two, three kid theme is pretty good. That's a great theme. So so many bangers here. Last summer, it was Ron Funch's son Malcolm's favorite song. Or it was on his top three list or something like that.

I don't blame it. That's a great song. So I think when you're ranking all of the songs that you've ever come out to, yeah, maybe the Uncle Cracker one's not as high. I mean, I guess. Which song? Do you like DX or NWO's theme better? DX.

Come on, man. Yeah. I mean, the NWO theme's iconic too. It is. But like, come on. I mean, it just doesn't, it doesn't. I will say this. I was going to say it doesn't slap, like,

but like I hate when people take terms and overuse them. Like, that's on slap. If it wasn't for Hogan playing the guitar on the belt. Yeah. I mean, the NWO theme is still great, but if it wasn't for Hogan playing the guitar on the belt, I don't know if it would be over as much. That's just such an iconic moment, right?

Yeah. But yes, so many great songs, possibly Xbox comes back at the Royal Rumble's. No, you're saying there's another match at any point in time. Oh, yeah, for sure. It could happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You're staying in shape. I mean, you look good. You're working out. I am. I'm working out. This is great. Yeah. I just got finished hiking before you can't.

What an L.A. thing for us to be talking about. I was hiking in Millard Falls Canyon with my dog in my life. That's beautiful. Buster, right? I just met your dog on our way here. What kind of dog is here? He's a lab pit mix. Look like such a sweet boy.

He is. He's such a lover. All he wants to do is love and please. But he's just, he was a sheltered dog for a year. A year. Yeah. And so we've worked really hard on training him.

We were fostering him. Okay. Yeah, because we have a cat. Like, we just got it. So our cat, you know, come first. So, yeah, we put a lot, like, money and a lot of time and training them to get him. Like, he's a perfect dog now.

I swear. Man, nobody loves animals more than you. I love it. I know. I know. And I didn't have that. I always liked animals. I've had dogs and stuff.

And, like, if I never had the connection, I have. like now it's just way different what do you think that is honestly man like i think it has something to do with like you know like all in the shit that i like went through put myself through whatever just those years of just really like really rough stuff you know and just i just think that in general overall i'm more empathetic you know with people animals everything coming out the other side of that, you know? Yeah, what kind of, like, gratitude do you think that, like, everything you've been through? And now here you are on the other side, you know, looking like a million bucks.

I feel like that gives you, like, a real sense of gratitude for, like, look what I have now. Yeah. Yeah. And just, I'm able to, like, I'm able to put myself in other people's, like, you know, when I see somebody like that's on the street, like, I've actually been there. you know like I've been homeless in L.A. My own doing being on drugs and you know like crazy stuff that I was going on in my life at the time.

But you know, not that I couldn't have called somebody like but you know I just wasn't in that state of mind where I was going to make a call. You know, so you're on the street. You know, like somebody's knocking on your car window. You know, where you're trying to sleep and like, can I get your autograph? Oh my gosh.

Like that's pretty heavy, dude. Wow. You know, like when you think about it. Yeah. Yeah. When you do these appearances and, you know, people say to you all the time and you look great, you look like you could go right now. How proud does that make you feel, you know, knowing that it's you.

It's you're the reason that you're feeling as good as you're feeling now. What do you mean? You know, like you were the one to put one foot in front of the other. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. decisions change your life turn it around yeah but i had um you know some i had a lot of people that

care about me um you know people get tired of like you know helping but like there were other people that cared too like so i didn't run out of people that cared you know like a lot of people got tired of trying to help me yeah and they should have you know you don't want to keep wasting your time on somebody if they're not ready you know yeah yeah but But, you know, eventually, like, you know, I was at a place, man. Like, right when I, right before I came out here, you know, with Maria Menunos and husband Kevin Undergaro, who, they were those people, you know, that cared and, like, were willing to, you know, like, just help me, you know. Yeah. I don't know if people.

Champion me. I don't know if people know that, like, That's not just a friendship that they see on TV for like a quick shot, ringside at SmackDown or whatever. Because I did see you at SmackDown. You were with Maria. These are like, you know, some of your best friends. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's great.

Family type. Yeah. Oh, wow. I saw you at Raw 30 and you did this really fun interview with Byron Saxton. And you said something during that where you said that your match with Razor was your favorite match of all time. One, two, three kid and Razor. Is that, that's your favorite? or is it your favorite moment of raw?

It's beyond, then there's no close second moment that was as important as that moment was in my career. And my, like, you know, really in my life, too. Like, I mean, that was so huge. Like, it was life changing.

Yeah. You know, not in this career. Like, my trajectory of my life changed because of that moment. And it was, it was huge you know it had so much impact

it was just it was a unique way of of introducing somebody besides just the hey like let's do six weeks of vignettes and like some you know

squash matches where it comes out you know beats a guy at what point did they tell you that you were going to win that match I don't know probably it seemed like about

a month or a few weeks out you're sitting on that news for weeks that's amazing yeah wow no no no no no no no it was longer than that because oh no no no no it was a couple of weeks still it was after i beat after i got the big win i went to japan for a couple of weeks and did a super junior tournament you know to finish up my obligations in terms of an actual match is that your favorite match that No, no, because it wasn't a great match. He just beat the shit out of me, man, and then, like, slipped on a banana peel, and I, you know, with the moon salt, right?

So the greatest moment, favorite moment. Yeah. Because the match, at least for me, my favorite Xbox match is you and Brett Hart. I think it's one, two, three, kid. It's my great, you know. That's your favorite? Yes.

That's the one for me. That match is just, you get a standing ovation at the end of that match from the- Mach. Yeah, macho man, Jim Ross. I mean, they made that, man. They put the cherry on top of that thing. And also Brett, you know, like,

as soon as, you know, the match is over, he's raising your hand. Yeah, that was a special match to watch. Yeah, I followed Brett, you know, and, you know, he led me through that thing. But he was so giving out there and not just as far as the things he let me do to him, but in the things that he let me call.

So much of that were my ideas. He just put them where they needed to be, you know. And what are you like 22 years old when that's happened? Something like that, yeah. Yeah, I just came up a hell of a match with Owen at King of the Ring. That's right. It was a short match, but I had a match with Jeff Jarrett and then Owen and Owen beat me. Owen became King of the Ring.

Now, you know, when you look at that trajectory, it feels like maybe a few more matches, a few more big wins, maybe you're in the title picture here. Did that ever feel like it was going to be the case? No. Not that, not as one, two, three, kid, no. So do you feel like you had to go to WCW?

Absolutely. That's so interesting. Yeah. Venn's had this, you know, when somebody thinks of you in a certain light, it's really hard to change the color of that light. I think, you know. I get it. It's like the idea of like when,

when the intern comes in, then they become, you know, some sort of an associate or something. You'll never think of them as like anything more than the intern. Yeah. Yep. So I had to go. Yeah.

And I had to, you know, and I did, I was successful in WCW. Yeah. You know, I accomplished the things I needed to down there. Yeah, yeah. You know,

and I was fortunate enough to be a part of NWO. Yeah. And so I got to bring that back with me. Yeah. And so like, Vince looked at me differently. I mean, they,

at one point not too long after I returned, I'm in the, I'm working with Rock for the title at the UK. What the hell was the name of that pay-per-view? I can't remember the name of the pay-per-view, but on a pay-per-view, you know? Yeah.

So, I mean, that position that you got put in when you returned to WWE, And you cut that promo on Raw. I mean, that was definitely, you know, the heat of the Monday Night era at that point in time. But there was, there seemed like there was some real, like, truth behind a lot of what you were saying. Yeah. And I also feel like Vince was a rough.

I mean, it was real, you know, it was authentic. And, you know, I was able to, I was able to deliver a couple of memorable, you know, zingers. But, like, I mean, it wasn't the smooth. list of promos. But it just felt like you were angry. It was real. You know, that guy worked. But I imagine after that, Vince McMahon was probably like, yes.

Because he told me as I'm like, you know, he sees me standing there getting ready going. He goes, hey, they're expecting something big from you. Like, give it to him. Not like you should say this. You know, like here's a script. You should say. No.

There was no script? No, none of that. None of that. No. He didn't have the first clue with the, excuse my what I was going to say. And then you ended up, you got sued for that,

that promo? It was in there. They deposed you. It was part, part, yeah, it probably would have been a good idea if they would have asked me

what I was going to say, right? I mean, because part of it was why they sued, but some of it was, like, one of the things from my promo that was part of the lawsuit

when I got deposed, because I got deposed for that, which is a classic, hilarious. The deposition was classic. You would have loved it if you were there. A deposition for a wrestling promo. Well, it was overall the whole thing.

Right. Us invading, you know, going into CNN Tower. Do you remember? I don't know if you remember us invading that. Of course, yeah. And, yeah, no, the, what was I saying? The deposition and everything you said in that promo, like you feel like they should have known.

Oh, yeah, no. The part where I said, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall would be right here with me if they weren't being held hostage by WCW and so I'm sitting in the deposition and the WCW

or the Turner or whatever lawyer and I have my lawyer that was also Jesse Bancher's lawyer, David Bradley Olson, who's there with me and and you know he goes so why did you say

Kevin Nash and Scott Hall would be right there with you they weren't being held hostage by WCW. I said, well, I was talking to Cal the night before and he told me it would be a good idea if I said that. And he's just like, Jesus Christ. And it's just amazing to me

that they'd be going through a wrestling promo like, okay, and then you said this and this. The final thing you said here, sir, is suck it. They asked me that. What do you mean suck it? Like, what does that have to do with anything? I'm like, what do you think it means?

That's hilarious. I didn't know there was a, I didn't know there was a lawsuit for the whole thing with DX and the tank and. Yeah. Yeah, and they were like talking about us coming, you know, into CNN Tower and like, and then I said, but, like,

Dick Cheat him, like one of the vice presidents of Turner Broadcasting came down and gave us all access, Pat. Did you know about that story? not know that. Dick Cheatham, yeah, he was great. I think Conrad interviewed him recently. Yeah.

But he was a big wig at Turner. And we're about ready to get kicked out of the CNN Tower by security. And all of a sudden we hear, DX, I love those guys. And it's Dick Cheetah. And he goes, give him all access passes. Yeah. Did he not know what you guys were up to? He knew what we were doing.

he didn't care but I mean it's so balsy right to do what you guys did and to I don't to just try to pull that off and here we are 25 years later and it's still a thing that people it was a rush

you know it was a rush doing that we knew we were doing something that you know I mean uncharted waters kind of did you think at any point you might get arrested for it yeah we did Oh, that was, yeah, okay.

But did you go into it going? We didn't get like handcuffed and taken to... Like to get booked or anything. I mean, we had to go to the station, but they let us stay in our van. Wow. Yeah, yeah, because when we went to the... To their offices, not the CNN Tower, but their WCW offices. Vince had already paid off the local police and they were with us.

But then, like, they called the police. And so then, like, I don't know if it was the sheriff versus the police department or how that worked out. But we ended up having to go down and technically get booked, yeah. Was there any plan of, like, okay, we're going to say, like, when the whole thing, like, you're looking at this before you even started it, we're going to say this, we're going to do this. Or it was just like, let's go and see what we can come up with. We had, like, really, like, especially going into the Norfolk scope. amazing how little we had planned. Yeah, because I was like, when we got there,

I'm going, we should go to the tunnel first. And, you know, we ended up going, you know. Yeah. So we didn't have a plan that's still. We didn't have any contingency, like, what was going to happen if this happened or what if we get confronted or, you know, none of that. There's lots more to get to in this conversation,

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I now can't live without it, and I know that you're going to love mudwater too. This episode is brought to you by Bond Charge, and if you follow me on social media, you know that cold plunging is something I do every single day. And now I've been stacking that with sauna. Yeah, if you want to burn more calories to help with weight loss, or if you're looking to detoxify after maybe having a few too many drinks,

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That's bond charge. B-O-N-C-H-A-R-G-E.com slash CVV. That coupon code is CVV. You'll save 15%. percent off, and you are going to love this sauna blanket. Since you were such a big part of the Monday Night Wars at that time, is there anything that's happening right now in current wrestling that feels like, you know, any sort of AW versus WWE, does it feel like it's combative in any sort of way? I mean, I think it could be. I think there might come, you know, a time when that happens. I mean, because, you know, when the Monday Night Wars erupted, there was a time when nobody would have thought that about WCW, that they would have ever been able to, you know, overtake, you know, WWV and kick their ass for a while.

Yeah. No one would have ever thought that. Yeah. So, you know, I could see it happening. I think the one thing that would be a wonderful thing for everyone. I think what's already happening in wrestling right now is a wonderful thing. Absolutely. A lot more jobs for our friends.

Yeah. You know, a lot more for fans, a lot more stuff for us to watch too. I think people also forget that AEW started four years ago. And I think that they're trying to fast track this and be like, well, why isn't this something else? Why isn't this competitive? It's four years in. You know, let's see what happens. Yep.

But, you know, you were part of some of the biggest moments. moments at that time. Like even if it wasn't a match that you were part of, like Mick Foley went in the championship. That's right. I was just thinking of that. You're there. Yep. And that's a moment that, I mean, that was really kind of the cusp of like, all right,

WCW may have pushed this too far. And now WWF at the time is now going to take the lead in the ratings as a result of this thing. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I mean, I think once we started winning, I think, They still won a couple here and there, but I mean, we we pretty much started just winning almost all the time. Oh, yeah, and that it was just over. Kind of.

Do you remember where the vibe was like when you found out that Mick was going to beat the Rock and win the championship? You know, there was no... I don't remember, like, they're being like, oh, like, you know, this big thing about it. It was just like, this is what's going to happen tonight. and we went out and did it. Yeah.

I mean, we were all really in the moment back then, man. Like, that was incredible and it was intense and, like, you know, hard to explain, man, just like, just even thinking about it. But so we didn't, until, like, the moment actually happened and, like, you know, all the different things fall into place. How comes Austin, you know, The crowd's going crazy. You know, we're all carrying them, carrying Mick on the shoulders.

Like, you know, all that happens. And then you look back at it. It was so, like, kind of epic, right? And it's also like, you know, in that moment, I'm sure that was great. But then it's the fact that on Nitro, they say, oh, this is what's going to go happen over on Raw. That made the moment that much bigger by everyone going over and going, Mick Foley's going to win the championship. Yeah, it was unfortunate.

But at the same time, also. very fortunate for WWF because a whole bunch of people were able to go over and go, hopefully is going to win the championship? Let's go check this out. And that ends up popping the rating. So you guys already have this great moment. And then as a result of that, the rating goes through the roof because of that. So, so, like you see that picture.

I can see it. I'm not even looking at a picture of it right now. And I can just see that picture of us holding Nick up. I did it, Adrian. That was pretty cool, though, that one of your career highlights, one of your favorite moments is something that you are a part of but not a match. Sure. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I was really grateful to be a part of, like, something bigger than me.

Like, I never really was, I just wanted to be a part of the show, you know, when I first got into wrestling. That was my dream. Man, I just want to be the guy in the first match, even. Yeah. You know, I just want to be a part of this. Yeah. And then obviously, once you attain that, you got to keep making more goals, right? You've heard this a lot, I'm sure, but you really changed the perception that people had of a smaller wrestler.

And I feel like everybody now who's under six foot that is wrestling owes a debt of gratitude to what you did in the 90s and early 2000s. You know, that's funny that you say under six foot because I was always six foot one in my car. I'm under that now. I lost like an inch and a half. But isn't that crazy that a six-foot-one guy was considered small? Yeah. And, well, I mean, I'm just slightly built, you know? So that was a big part of it, too, you know?

Because there were guys that had gotten a push before that were like, you know, five foot in change or whatever, but they were just, you know, like Ivan Putzky. I don't know if you remember who that guy was. Of course, yeah, yeah. You know, guys like that or. or whatever. But yeah, and I think that I was able to learn how to,

like, I adjusted my style to where I was good at working with big guys. In what way? I just knew how to do it and knew how to keep everything as believable in the context of what we're doing. Like, you know, you never saw me shoot like a 300. pound guy into the ropes.

Because, I mean, that's just silly. Yeah. You know, I always had ways of getting movement without having to do shit like that. And just, you know, fighting that, you know, that's that underdog, you know, fighting from underneath, you know. I was really comfortable fighting from underneath.

Like, a lot of guys want to shine, shine, shine. Yeah. Dude, shut me down right away. He got me. Right away, I don't give me shit. Let me shine a little bit in the beginning. I'm fine. But I feel like there's a lot of guys.

now that may be smaller guys, they don't want to work that way. They want to get the shine like you're talking about that. That's please. All right. I'm going to drink some water too. A big canteen of water. But yeah, a lot of guys don't want to work small, if you will. I don't get it.

I don't get it. I mean, I just, I mean, everyone, you know, teach their own. That's, that worked for me. and it's worked for others too, you know. And I think it made it work really well when you get paired with a monster like cane. Yeah, yeah. And the magic that you guys made together.

Yeah. And I think what made that work so well is you guys were such different personalities, right? Whose idea was it to put you guys together? I don't know, but I'm really grateful to whoever it was. I don't know if Vince Russo was still there or not. I think he might have been. I don't know.

But I'll say this. You know, we had just broken DX. Paul had just turned on me at WrestleMania, you know, and cost me the match with Shane. Like that was a thing where originally I was supposed to beat Shane. And, you know, when Paul told me he was turning heel, in my mind as like you know

your heel turns not gonna mean shit if you don't like turn on me so um we did that yeah and then I got rewarded with a hell of a run

as the tag champs with Kane I mean we we had a really good run together you guys were so it was so good and it was also the first time that we'd really seen any sort of personality at a cane and then actually you know as you know that led to him finally being able to speak and then becoming... I remember.

Were you there? I was. His first words being suckered. It's so great. But the match with, I really like that match with Shane. And I think that there's this interesting thing that happens with Shane McMahon is people don't consider him a real wrestler. But then when you look at his matches, like the match with you, the King of the Ring match with

Kurt Engel, the match with Steve Blackman, I think people just remember. the spots and they don't remember how damn good he is in the ring. Yeah. And my match with Shane, that was his first I'm not, it wasn't his first actual like match. But it was his first match.

Like big, you know. Yeah, it's Russellmania. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, a lot of those ideas that are a lot of the a lot of the things you saw out there and that match were his ideas. Because I told Vince, I'm like, hey, like,

okay, Vince asked me to work with him. And I had these conditions. I've told this before, but, you know, I was like, I get to go over. And he has to listen, you know, listen to me. So, Shane came in with this whole list of ideas. And at first I was kind of standoffish about it.

I brought it to Vince. I'm like, Vince, look. And then Shane comes to me, okay, whatever. And then I actually just sat down after he said that and read it. Yeah. And we ended up doing like three-fourths of it. Like, we're all great ideas. Yeah.

Yeah. I just feel like he doesn't get the respect that he deserves. Well, I mean, you know, you know, and people are, you know, and I told him before our match, I'm like, dude, if I don't light you up, man, you know, people are going to look at me and they're not, you know, he's like, oh, bring it. Wow. Oh, yeah, he wanted, he wanted to. And I did, too. Yeah. Like, when I was, I made him beat, I made him hit me hard. Like, you know, we had the weight belt. Yeah, yeah. And I made him, like, just teed off on me with it because when I got it, you know.

He was great. He was great to work. He is great. You go down all of the matches he's had. They're all insanely entertaining. It's not like any other, like, pro wrestler you'll work with. It's different, though. He's got a different kind of energy and the movement out there.

That's just a little bit different. Everything comes off great. Yeah. You know, but he's intense. I feel like he doesn't get, like people don't talk about him enough being a great wrestler, but I also feel like with you, you're like underappreciated, I feel like. I feel like it's just in hindsight that we go, man, Sean was so good at this, this, this, this. And I don't feel like as it was happening, people were appreciating as much.

Well, we didn't know, right? Like, I mean, the average person didn't have that kind of knowledge to see, like, they didn't know what they were looking at. I guess. I mean, as far as being able to dissect something and go, oh, this thing was great, but it was great because of this. Yeah. Right?

Like, I mean, now we know. I said this to you last time, but there is no reason that you don't have a third Hall of Fame ring. There's plenty of reason. There's so many people, Chris, that deserve to be able to stand up there and get that kind of moment in their life. And I've had two of them. You have. And I'm scared to stand up there and have to deliver a speech. I mean, it's going to happen at some point.

I'm not going to say I hope not. No. Are you saying that there's more deserving people that should be up there instead of you? Yeah. Oh, I don't know. You look at your career. Tons of people that should be.

Did you see how shocked Bruce Pritchard was when he found out? He's like, oh, I thought that Xbox had won the Intercontinental Championship. Never. Can't believe he didn't. Never. And now that we're saying that here, I think a lot of people are going to go, no, he did. Oh, no, he didn't win.

No. No. You should have, though. But you know what I always tell everybody? And this is the God's honest truth. I made more money than the I see champ. Swear to God. Is that because of DX?

That and just, I was always in higher matches higher up on the card on house shows. And we were still making a lot of money on the house shows. Whatever it is. Live events. Whatever it is about you, you are great at picking great friends. You've got some great friends. Yes. Yeah.

I'm really fortunate, you know. Who, who, you know, I think everyone knows, you know, it's Scott Hall. It's Kevin Nash. It's Triple H. Who was the first person to bring you into that, that friendship? Scott. Yeah, Scott. Yep.

And it was, he had already seen me in, in, GWF. Sorry, I got to take a drink. Please, no, you can put it here if you'd like. That might be better. But we drink. I didn't know if you wanted to give Waterloo a plug or not. So funny, this has nothing to do with that specific drink,

but my college, Wilford-Lorea University, is in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. So whenever I see these cans, I go, ah, a little taste of my college town. So, no, Scott. Sorry. No. Scott already knew who I was from GWF.

And he was a fan of, you know, some of the stuff I was doing, you know, obviously I was still really green. Yeah. Scott was smart. It was so brilliant. Like, he could see, like, the diamond and the rough, right? Mm-hmm. And so once we had that, you know, moment together where, you know, where I beat him, that bond, you know, you get a certain bond with somebody when you do something special with them, you know. Yeah.

and you know out there for other people and he also you know because of the connection with Kurt Hattig in Minnesota and just like we hit it off too just you know besides that just a really giving you know person

you know yeah always and he got this from Kurt Hedding Kurt said the same thing to me and it was like it's it's your duty to pass it on to the younger generation and to help, you know, to help them because somebody helped, you know. And so, yeah, that's what Scott was doing. Do you feel like there came a point for you in your career where then you were passing it on to the younger generation?

Is that maybe in TNA? Well, I mean, as best as I could. Yeah. You know, I mean, when you're, I was a master during those years, but still, like you do, you do the best you can, you know. I try to do it I try to do it in more recent years. What do you think is your lot? I have people, I'm not going to blow there,

but there's like guys. Well, look. Women in WWE that, like I... I'm doing a match with Joey Janelle is pretty great, too. They're doing really well right now. Oh, that's great. I mean, having a match with Joey Janelle is pretty good too, you know?

Joey's a brilliant kid, actually, right? I love that guy. Yeah. He's really smart. and he's a hard worker. And, yeah. I had the 20-minute match with him.

It's amazing. Yeah. After, like, oh, my God. I didn't want to have that match. What do you mean? Dude. That's a long match to have in, like, one of your first matches back

in, you know, in several years. Basically your first matchback. And were you working through injuries at that point, too? Yeah, I already had a bicep tear. Yeah. Was your knee already fixed at that point? Yep.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. But you wrestle, I mean, that's crazy that you wrestled on a bum knee for a decade or whatever was. Four, 13 years? 14 years. With a torn ACL? ACL and meniscus, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so I wanted to do that match because, you know, that was a big, that was a big thing. They were, they were building up. Yeah. And, you know, I probably shouldn't have done it, but I wanted to. And they wanted me to go over in the match, and I put him over instead, and Brett was, the promoter was pretty pissed. Yeah, he was pretty bad.

I didn't realize no one told him. Oh, no way. And I can understand not knowing, hey, like, you know, thinking I'm going to go over and get this moment. Like, at this point, I got a torn bicep, and I'm just like, well, What am I, you know, what I mean? Why did he beat this guy? Like, the way I feel right now, I don't ever want to see the fucking wrestling ring again, you know?

Basically a one-arm man at that point, you know? So, anyways, we had a 20-minute match. Yeah, it was fantastic. It was okay. I don't think anyone was expecting you to ever be in GCW. That was such a pleasant surprise. Well, I have, I was, you know, I have this contract with WWV, and so it was basically the one that made the most sense if I was going.

going to do a match and it not being, you know, WW. Yeah. So, and so I felt like doing something. And I, you know, I like those guys. Yeah. Oh, they're doing big things. Yeah. Tell me the origin of the Bronco Buster.

It came from, do you remember Hakushi? Wow. Going way back. Yeah. He would do that, but, like, he would just do the part where he landed on you. And that was it. Not the all, not the extra stuff. And so, like, you know, he wasn't.

using it anymore like i just decided to do it one day because i remember him doing it to me and he was gone um it wasn't something i think people really remembered him for it's certainly something i don't think it was one of his signature moves so people certainly remember you for it how did you think to add the extra stuff i was we were like you know we were doing all this and you know anything that we can do just to be you know you know you know you know You don't have to name names here. And so, like, yeah, I was just doing just to try to be dominant and just be a piece of shit, you know. You don't have to name names, but he, you know, was there someone that didn't want to take the Bronco Buster?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, first of all, at WCW, after like the first, like a couple of weeks, Eric said you can't do that anymore. and it was like, I don't know, standards in practice said it was lewd and the sybius or something like that. Oh, wow, they thought like the FTC was going to. Yeah, so I remember doing it on Ray Mysterio, but doing it on his back instead.

And so, like, everything wasn't in his face. But I remember we were going to do it on Rick Steiner once and then have him, like, put his foot up. and hit me in the balls on the second one. Yeah. And he wouldn't go down for the first one, so we said, oh, okay. And Mick Foley didn't want to take it.

And then, like, later, like, he talks about it in his book, actually. And then later, when it became a thing where, like, it got this huge pop, everyone wanted to take it. Because we're all addicted to the pop, right? It's kind of like Rikishi's stink face. That, too. I always wanted it.

I wanted to, whatever, how we get the easiest pot? Come on. Yeah, Rakeshi's like, there's the people that didn't want to take it, but they still took it, you know. I don't remember ever not wanting to take it. I think with the stink face, when Vince McMahon took it, I think everyone's like, well, that way. Plus it was just fine, dude. Like, okay, you have this image and like this where your mind goes, but both him and, uh, Yoko. Yeah.

To clean it, like, it was like a bouquet of roses. Seriously. Like, it was, I mean, you might not be able to breathe for a minute. Yeah. But, like, it's definitely not an unpleasant, like, smell. At least it smells okay. Yeah, it's great. Do you know how many kids you probably got suspended from school because of suck it?

Yeah. it's the single, like, as far as things that people tell me when they meet me, it's probably the number one thing. Wow. Yeah. The crazy thing. And you try to make, like, you try to, like, because you're just meeting this person. Yeah. You don't want to, you don't want to respond to it, react to it like you've heard it 10,000 times.

So, like, because, you know, you want them to have a great experience with me. Sure. What do you say? Do you say, oh, I'm sorry? No, I said, I'm glad I could, you know, contribute to the, you know, corruption of the youth of society. Because Suckett caught on so fast that I actually remember, I think it was my friend's school. They had like an announcement or they had a letter that got sent home that was like specifically saying, I would love a copy of that.

that you couldn't do crotch chops. Yeah, I would love a copy of that. Did you see Derek Lewis, the UFC fighter, was doing that? What a legacy you created. I mean, I helped create it. I mean, yeah, you guys and China were all part of that. Yeah, you guys all created this incredible legacy. I'll take it, okay.

If I find... I did some other things too, but, you know, Yeah, I'll take that. I mean, that's one of the, I think, big things people come to. What are, what's one of the things you wish more people would ask you about, talk to you about? Wow, that's a really good question that I've never thought about. I've never thought about.

Because like, you know, just off the top of my head here, we'll talk, you know, it's, it's your, it's one, two, three kid beating razor, right? It's the great matches with Owen with Brett. It's going to WCW. It's coming back to raw. It's DX. It's NWO. it's Kane, it's Tori.

You know, I feel like, you know, these are all your greatest hits. A lot of, you know, my early stuff and the stuff from Mexico. Like, I had a great time. Mexico was great. I was still, you know, not where I needed to be. So, like, I wasn't able to, you know, take full advantage of all opportunities down there. But still it was great. and you learned a ton

I did and I was able to pass on some different way of doing things to some of the guys down there that really

really really you know students in a game down there there was a guy named Zorro that I worked with

a lot he was really really good and the way I would do things was a lot easier than some of the ways they would do things. Yeah, I was very efficient. I always cut out all the wasted movements. You think of your career, there's so many amazing things.

What do you think, you know, as we sit here now, 20 years, 20 plus years removed from DX, what do you think was the cost of being Sean Waltman in the 90s, early 2000s, and running the way that you did, as you sit here right now? I don't know, but it's the, it was a, it was a lot. And it wasn't just my cost. Like there were like people, you know, my kids. Like, even through all the good and the bad stuff, right? So it came at great cost, Chris.

I have to think it was worth it. Yeah. Because of where I'm at now in life. And now you're a grandfather. I was just going to say that. Congratulations. Yeah, he's a year old. He's like over a year old now, yeah.

Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, I love it. Congratulations. Yeah, it's incredible. I'm a young. father myself. I know. Yeah. I just found, I, I remember, like, I remember knowing this, like a couple, it's a couple months. Yeah, I saw you at WrestleMania. Yeah. Yeah, she would have been, she wasn't born yet. Yeah, she was born May 29th. So, yeah, I saw you at WrestleMania,

and my wife was very pregnant, obviously. But yeah, it's, it's changed my life. And as I'm sure, being a grandfather has changed your life. Um, the big change was, like, when I first heard the news. Wow. That was the most, like, everything else came natural. Yeah, yeah. But, like, hey, you're going to be a grandfather, finally. Yeah.

You know? Because really, I'm not that young to be a grandfather. And if my son would have had his son, the same age I had him, I'd have been a 40-year-old grandson. grandfather yeah wow yeah uh that was 19 one by seven wow that's a that is young to be look i'm a a 40 year old father and i'm still figuring this stuff out i can't imagine being half this age man i always love chatting with you i always love catching up with you you always have so many amazing great stories we've talked a lot about gratitude during this conversation and that's why

i wrap up every conversation it's the last question i ask what are three things sean is We sit here right now that you're grateful for. If I have to pick three, I have an incredible marriage. It's amazing. Not that I didn't have, you know, in my other marriage, like mother and my children, not that there weren't good moments and, you know, good stretches of time, but the relationship was always very unhealthy, you know, because neither one of us, you know, were equipped to be in a healthy relationship.

So, uh, and my other relationships, a lot of people might know how it weren't the healthiest, right? Like, I mean, so, uh,

I was never, like, never until a couple years ago, um, ready to truly be in a relationship, but I finally got when I got married. That's amazing. Yeah.

That's great. Okay. It's number one. Yeah. Um, obviously, I'm a grandfather. Yeah.

And I have, have a great relationship with my kids. And that's something like that was one of my goals at one time, not that long ago. I was still trying to have, you know, trying to repair that. So. Yeah. And my health. Yeah.

My health. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's where we started this conversation. I guess that's where we'll end it too. You look great. Thanks. Look great.

Thanks. I feel great. And I feel. And I feel like. And I've just, you know, don't mean to cut you up, but like, there's, it's my, there's my health. And like, just overall, like, people, I'm pretty sure most people don't think of, like, the train wreck version of me. I think a lot of people know, like, I got my life back now. Yeah.

You know, and there's not going to be a, there's not going to be an episode of Dark Side of the Ring on. me, you know. I think people are very happy when they see this, Sean, whether it's on WWE or it's in an interview like this, I think people look at you and go, that makes me happy, see where you're at now. Yeah. Yeah. So always good to see you, my friend. You too. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you for wanting to talk to me. I do it. I want to have you on all the time. Yeah. Well, we'll have you on in the Vegas studio next time. All right. Next time you're there. Thanks, ma'am. My brother. Thank you. All right, my friends, hope you enjoyed that chat with Sean Walpman.

Call him Xbox. Call him Sean. Call him the one, two, three kid, whatever you want to call him. The man is a legend. And I always love catching up with him. It's been too long. Two and a half years since he's been on the show. It's been too long.

But I will say I love sitting down and doing these in person. I say it all the time, but nothing beats being able to sit down. Look someone in the face. Look someone in the eye. You're not looking them in the face. Look them in the eye. Shake their hand. Give them a hug.

and be able to share a conversation like this one. So if you enjoyed this, please share this link with a friend and take a screenshot and tag us so we can share this out on the Twitters and the Instagrams. He's at Real Xbox on Instagram, the Real Xbox on Twitter. I'm just at Chris Van Fleet, and I'll leave you with this from Mark Twain. And I have to say, I love how many people have sent me messages and said, I love the quotes that you end every episode with. I put a lot into these quotes, by the way. Like, I'm always constantly on the lookout for great quotes. So if you see some, please send them to me

and we can share them on the show. But I love great quotes. I'm very motivated by the idea of like taking someone else's words and applying them to your own life. That's, I mean, that's really the whole idea behind these conversations just in general. But Mark Twain said this. Maybe this will help you. I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened. Be great. Be grateful on the next episode of Insight. We're sitting down with Maven, a great in-person interview that we did in New York City. And man, you already know this, but he is crushing it on YouTube. So be great, be grateful.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video.

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