Ivar's Return From A Career-Threatening Injury, Getting Paralyzed In A Match, War Raiders Are Back!
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December 19, 2024
TLDR: WWE wrestler Ivar discusses his return to WWE after injury, being temporarily paralyzed in a match, working with The Street Profits, independent show with John Cena and Vince McMahon, and more.

In this episode of "Insight," professional wrestler Ivar, known for his work in WWE, discusses his remarkable journey back to wrestling after a severe neck injury that almost ended his career. Joined by Chris Van Vliet, Ivar shares insights about the transformations in his character, wrestling style, and the emotional rollercoaster that accompanied his recovery and return.
Key Moments in Ivar's Career
The Injury Incident
- Ivar details the terrifying moment he experienced temporary paralysis in the ring during a match against Oba Femi for the North American Championship.
- Following a European uppercut, he lost strength in his right arm, prompting a series of assessments leading to an MRI that revealed more serious underlying issues.
- The diagnosis required immediate action, including consideration for fusion surgery due to a herniated disc compressing his spinal cord, which could have signaled the end of his wrestling career.
Unexpected Recovery
- Remarkably, after an outlook that suggested he might need another fusion surgery, Ivar received news from his surgeon that they could rehabilitate the injury without further invasive measures. This "dodging a bullet" experience led Ivar to appreciate his second chance profoundly.
The Transformation of the Viking Raiders
Evolving Character Identity
- With a fresh opportunity, Ivar discusses the return of the War Raiders as a new chapter. He feels liberated to express the true essence of his character, combining elements of a Viking persona and a combat warrior without being constrained by previous gimmicks.
- The duo, now presenting themselves more authentically as themselves, aims to capture the tag team championships while continuing to respect their Viking roots. The transition away from the Viking Raiders symbolizes a reinvigoration in their careers.
The Road to Tag Team Gold
- Ivar and his tag team partner, Eric, are set on reclaiming their status within the WWE tag team division. They are currently positioned as the number one contenders for the titles, reflecting their fierce determination to succeed on their terms.
The Business of Wrestling: Inside Stories
The Vince McMahon Encounter
- Ivar shares a captivating story about an independent show he was part of which featured John Cena as a special guest referee. Unexpectedly, Vince McMahon made an appearance, catching the audience and wrestlers alike off guard.
- Ivar reflects on the surreal atmosphere and the lasting impact of that experience during his formative years.
Adapting to the Business Environment
- Throughout the conversation, Ivar discusses the adversity faced in wrestling, especially during the pandemic-induced firings that occurred within WWE. He provides a candid insight into navigating career uncertainty and emphasizing the importance of adding value in a shifting landscape.
The Importance of Gratitude
Reflecting on Support
- As Ivar prepares for the next phase of his career, he expresses immense gratitude for the support from family, fans, and friends during his recovery. He emphasizes that his journey is not just about proving skeptics wrong but rather about honoring those who believed in him from the start.
- With an eye on the future, he highlights the significance of each moment spent in the ring and the relationships forged throughout his wrestling journey.
Conclusion
Through Ivar's compelling story of resilience, he embodies the spirit of determination and positivity that resonates within the wrestling community. His recounting of overcoming severe obstacles and emerging back into the spotlight as the War Raiders not only showcases his personal triumph but also serves as an empowering message to all athletes about the importance of perseverance, adaptability, and gratitude in pursuing their passions.
For fans of wrestling and aspirants, Ivar's tale reminds us to face challenges head-on and remain true to oneself, no matter the obstacles encountered. Stay tuned for more insights from the wrestling world!
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Curse! Burn! Believe!
Greetings and salutations my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. It's me, the three numbers on the back of your credit card, CVV. Chris Fayettely, thanks for being with us on this one, and thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet.
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Ivar is back on the show. Ivar is back in the ring. Viking Raiders are no more. War Raiders are officially back. So much has happened since Ivar was last on the show in April. He suffered a very serious, very scary injury in the ring in May, one that came really close to ending his career. He talks about all of that and also just the realization of how quickly
All of this could be taken away, but it's great that he's healed up and he's back in the ring and just great to catch up with him. I love that he was able to come into the studio for this and it just, it seems to me like war Raiders are on the verge of becoming the tag team champions again here very soon. Also, he tells an amazing story.
about Vince McMahon making an appearance at an indie show way back in the day that he was working, that John Cena was announced to be part of this as a special guest referee. Vince McMahon surprised everybody. Like nobody knew he was going to be there and surprised everybody.
It's an amazing story. I can't wait for your reaction to this story. Send us a screenshot that you've listened to this episode in Tag Us. He's at Ivar Underscore WWE. I'm at Chris Van Vliet, and here we go. Please welcome Ivar. Good to see you again. Good to see you too. And welcome into the studio. Thank you. It's really.
it's something. Pretty good, right? Yeah, it's on a weird looking stage. That was fun, though. It was fun. It was fun, but it was a weird looking stage. Very intimate setting. Yeah. How are you feeling? I feel good. How are you feeling after the neck injury? I mean, so some just asked me this recently, and I said, not as good as I want to feel, but better than I should feel. Okay. So good enough to be working. Yes, definitely.
cleared. I feel good. I feel good. Did you get to a point with it where you weren't sure if you were going to be able to return? Yeah. So, um, so it started in Brooklyn before wrestling and me and Rick Shannon match. And, um, I took a European uppercut and I felt like a, I was like, whoa.
did like a system check. I'm like, oh, okay. I'm okay. I'm all right. Then after that, I was doing main event, raw NXT, NXT coconut shows. I was doing some smackdown, dark stuffs. I was just on everything. And then it got to that match with Oba, Oba Femi from the North American Championship in the NXT. And we got to the second half of that match and I just, I lost all strength in my right arm. And I couldn't pick him up, so I just started.
call audibles in the ring, where I wasn't going to pick them up. We made it to the match and that was that. And the whole time we were checking on medical to see how I was doing. And then after that match, it's like, okay, that's kind of, that's no good. And then I went to like a discovery cove that week with my wife just to be like, I need to, I need to break like a reset. Usually when we do vacation things, it's go, go, go. I'm like, no, I need something where I can just relax and just see how I'm doing.
Animal Trek thing where you interact with a parrot and I held my arm up for the parrot to come over and I couldn't hold my arm up. Oh, so that was immediately MRI told to be right away and then we got the results back and That was it read the results. Okay, this is
This is probably the new career to the point where they handed me mental health, mental health paperwork to kind of get that rolling. Cause I already had the devil fusion. So if we're talking about another level fusion, cause the MRI showed, I had another herniated disc in my neck, a level above. So I had two levels, C5, six, seven are all fused together. This was C four, five. So the one directly above, right? Another fusion would probably be,
So yeah, we're preparing me for the worst for when I went to see my insurgent. And my surgeon had read the result in MRI and pretty much felt the same way that this was it. But when I saw for five days, I think this is it. It's over with. I flew close to the sun and the wings melted and that's it. Like Icarus. Exactly. But when I saw him,
uh, in Birmingham, uh, five days later and he actually had the disc for the MRI and he, he read the results for the MRI himself. He's like, okay, we can work with this. Really? Yeah. So with my original injury, uh, I did the suicide dive and my head got pushed back into my disc, exploded into my spinal cord, which caused, uh, the temporary paralysis, uh, and then pretty much emergency fusion surgery after that. This one, the herniation happened.
Instead of shooting in towards the cervical cord, it went out away from it. So he was pretty sure we could probably, because my symptoms were too bad, we could probably rehab it without having to do surgery. And if we did have to do surgery, he knew a different surgeon who'd go in through the back and just shave the herniation down. Arthoscopically, which wouldn't require fusion. So he said,
on multiple occasions that I dodged a very big bullet. So it goes from your career is over on paper as you're being handed this. Yeah. To five days later, I think we can work with this. Yeah, it was quite emotional week. Yeah, I bet. It's almost like you got another opportunity here. I didn't almost, I do have an opportunity. And it's the theme of my career, right? It keeps happening where things happen. And it's, oh, it's a career to injury. And it's like, oh, wait a minute.
maybe not. And I'm just, I'm lucky. I'm on my, not my ninth life. I've, I've, I'm well past that. I'm on my, my, my 12th life. Pretty much. Is this just sheer luck? Or is it that you've got enough muscle mass on you that you somehow avoided the injury? No, it's luck. It's luck. I mean, we're talking 23 years of, of wrestling. It's a lot of wear and tear in the body. So, uh, and especially up so,
with the original neck injury, that was really a freak accident, something done a thousand times. And the thing happened, and that had to deal with then, but one was, that was 2020, so that was COVID. And when you say temporary paralysis in the ring, during the Thunderdome era, or talking seconds, are we talking minutes? So seconds for feeling, like you couldn't feel anything. Yeah, so I dive out of the ring,
Uh, someone's hand gets me in the, in the face, it pushes my head back and you watch it and you can't even tell that's what happens. And then, you know, this exploded right in my spinal cord and I fall and I hit the mat. So when I fall, a lot of people thought that I hurt my, my legs on the dive because when the hand hits me, I lose everything body, no control over anything. Um, so like my legs just hit the ground. There's no nothing. Boom. Um,
But then I managed to roll over, but I couldn't feel anything. So I knew this is COVID. This is no one's ringside, no fans are ringside, no medical's ringside, no nothing. And I knew they were going to the finish in the ring and I needed to tell somebody I was hurt. I knew the ref wasn't to come out and check on me because they were going to the finish in the ring. So I went to put my hands at the X. It's the signal that I'm hurt. I need medical out here. And I didn't feel my arms at all.
So I go back and watch the footage and my arms move, and I deal with all the legs, but I couldn't feel that. Couldn't feel it all, couldn't feel my legs, nothing. And then as the medical came out and stuff, I started getting crazy burning sensation in my legs. And then I started getting crazy burning sensation in my arms and stuff. So the feelings started to come back, but it was just, it was right a little nerve pain. And then it was off to the ambulance. I did manage to ask,
Italian relations for a raise on my way. Didn't happen. But I thought it was a good opportunity. Why weren't here? But yeah, but then that was crazy. The whole thing was crazy because it was COVID. So I had no one to get in the ambulance with me. It was the hospital. No one would come in to see me. Oh, man. There's a whole bunch of people who came to the hospital that couldn't get in. Tag partner, obviously, the ref who I've known for so long, ref Bennett.
Jason Jordan came, he was the producer, like, just trying to check me, but I couldn't even get into the hospital. Not even the waiting room, I couldn't even get into the COVID COVID, we're in the middle of COVID. So it was kind of a crazy, obviously it was a crazy experience, but it made it double like amplified because of the situation that we were all in. So the one that happened this year before WrestleMania, that's a broken neck too.
No, well, it's hernia disc. So it's not a broken neck. I think it's the easiest way to describe it is a broken neck for someone who doesn't know. Yeah. But, you know, your anatomy and stuff, but you have your neck and you have discs in between the vertebrae. Yeah, they're like shock absorbers pretty much. The way my surgeon describes it like jelly donuts that are in between these vertebrae and those cans squished or popped or jelly comes out. Jelly comes out exactly.
And for me, and that's a scenario, the first injury that Jelly went out into my spinal cord, which is why I was so messed up. And my surgeon loves when I go to see him. He always brings me out to the hallway, pulls up my old MRI, and then he's like, this is what you're not used to look like. This is what it looks like now. And then he'll call people over and be like, oh no. Because it's pretty amazing that I've been able to return from such a horrific injury.
Yeah. There's, I mean, there's nobody on the roster now who has a double fusion neck surgery. I've heard so many wrestlers say if you have the option to get fused, don't. Why did it make sense in your situation? I didn't have a choice. There was no option for me because the disc had exploded into my spinal cord. So I had pressure pushing on my spinal cord.
which is what gave me all the nerve pads. Well, I had temporary paralysis as the swelling kind of eased up a little bit. I was able to get the feeling back as things kind of went back in, but it was because they were so damaged, they were going to permanently push on my spinal cord. So that would have been in my career, number one, but it would have been hurt for my quality of life.
because I wouldn't be able to do anything. It was hard enough to get an approval to get a flight from Orlando to Birmingham to get the surgery with that surgeon, the best surgeon. I don't think the people in Orlando wanted to do it. So I was lucky and got the flight, but yeah, I didn't really have much of a choice. So where's your quality of life out right now? So I'm pretty good. Now, to be fair, I do have permanent nerve damage and nerve pain in my hands. And that will never go away.
That's something I live with. But as far as like everything else, like I got all my most of my mobility back to my neck. It's a little stiff now because I have another herniation, but I still have very good range of motion. I credit that to yoga pretty much. And then all my strength is returned to my arm. So I have no problems there. So it's really just the nerve pain right now from the original injury that I have that's permanent.
But I have good days and bad days. Some days I can really feel it goes down my arm a little bit. And some days I can't feel it all. Kind of all depends. But quality life, I feel, I feel pretty good. We've got another chance now, like to go from, you thought your career was over to being able to wrestle again, to be back as the war Raiders again. It's almost like a rebirth here. Yeah, it is. When I had this opportunity to do the singles run and it was going well, I had a conversation with Triple H where he said, Hey, how about we started like,
pulling back off of the heavy Viking stuff slowly, just so slowly peeling some of those layers off so we can tell more stories with you. I'm like, oh, that's great. So as we started to do that, I got hurt again. And then Eric and I were ready to come back. And I think we were actually scheduled to return in Calgary at a Calgary Rob.
And you know, the one bread heart was a yes. Yeah. At the last second, they pulled our travel. So that we're going to hold off from like, oh, man, here we go. And they're like, no, we're nothing bad. We're just going to hold off and want to have better creative for you.
And then the next week we got a phone call. Hey, how do you guys feel like coming back as the war raiders? You're like, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. That sounds really good. And it's like, it's full on war raiders. It's like you've got, you've got the shirt on. So you've got, you got merch, you got apples, the beard to the side. Yeah, I get a show. And it's the old entrance theme. Like it's like you guys are back.
It's not like we are. Yeah, we are. And it's awesome. It feels really good. I can't remember the last time I could really go out there and be myself. Not that I disliked the Viking stuff. And I think it's still a big part of who we are. We still have a lot of the Viking culture stuff on our vests, on our gear. We're still war raiders.
that the Raider is a Viking. So that's still part of us. But it's nice to be like, this is like our, this is our culture, and we respect our culture, and we draw from inspiration from the Vikings of the past, but we're not shoved in that throat. It's just who we are, and here we are. Was there talk of you guys getting your original names back? Yeah, I think there was some discussion. You were handsome when you came out. Yeah, yeah. I think at this point, we spent five years in the main rosters.
Eric and Ivar, and that's especially with the Ivar singles run. That's the tower known. I think that would have, it would have felt like an erase of everything we've done. And I don't think we want to erase everything that we've done on the main rocks. We've done some great things, including singles run, including our raw tag title run that we had, all the stuff that we did with the street profits, whether people liked it or not. Like it's still, it's our history. And I loved every second of it. And I don't think we want to erase that.
not only are war raiders back, you guys had vignettes promoting your return. Like vignettes were such a big thing when we were younger. And now they're starting to creep their way back in. And I like that when they started to tease that you guys were back, it started to create this excitement so that when you did return, it was like, boom, here it is. Yeah. We've been fortunate to do a fair many vignettes over the course of the years.
But this one felt so special because of the things that both Eric and I have been through, because he also had an infusion surgery. So to both be able to come back from these injuries and be back together and be presented in a way that we feel like we can have an emotional connection with the audience finally and tell them who we are and the stories that we've been through of our lives. I think that is, it's very special.
No fur, no face paint. This is who we are. We're coming for what's ours. So who are you guys? Well, what a question. What a question. There are a lot of people that may only be familiar with Viking Raiders. Who are we? Ultimately comes down to a couple of badass dudes.
That's like, that's the elevator pitch. That's the elevator pitch. We're a couple of big bad ass dudes with beards. But I mean, we have a, we're real people and we have a very long history in the wrestling business. And I've been around for a long time and I've had a lot of fights. We're battle tested, battle worn. And I think we both have,
stared mortality in the face, me with that neck injury where I was temporarily paralyzed, him with that more relaxed than that where he should have died back in 2014. And then we were staring in the face of the mortality of our wrestling careers, whereas what we're doing, it's not, it's not infinite. It will end. And that's been shoved in our face.
And to know that now and how deep we are into our careers, every time we go to the ring, it could be our last. At least that's how what we believe. And it could be true. So when we go to the ring, we go to the ring and we give it our all. And we're not here to do backstage vignettes and do a ha ha funny stuff. We're here to kick ass and take names and become tag team champions and cement our legacy and history.
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The way that you work in the ring is amazing because you're really redefining what it means to be a big man. And when someone meets you and shakes their hand, they're like, man, this is a much bigger guy than like you look big on TV. But when you stand next to a regular sized human, you're huge. Where does this idea come from for you of like being a big man, looking like a big man, but not working like one? I think so. When I came up, it was, I started 2001.
And I mean, just think of the evolution of the wrestling business over the course of the last 25 years. Absolutely. Such a crazy evolution. But when I came up, it was very much, you stayed in your lane. You're a big guy, a small guy is a small guy. And so on and so forth. And that's how we trained. I would go to the ring. My warmups,
When I get in the ring, it used to be like hit the ropes four times and do a forward roll, a back bump, run to the corner, do a Ric Flair, to the apron, do a springboard, into the ring, and then do like a Dejiri handspring back elbow, back to my feet. That was warm up just because I was goofing off. Yeah, I'm big and heavy and whatever, but I can do this stuff, so I'm goofing off. I never did any of that stuff on shows, never, never did any dives, never did any suicide dives, never did any.
Moon, moon salts, like I know I could do them, but I never did them on shows because I was a big dude and it was weird. And I didn't want to be the guy like, Hey, you mind taking this moon salt? I know I'm 300 pounds, but whatever. But I don't know, as, as wrestling evolved, and I'm just watching like these things that I can do. Why, why, why am I not doing? I can do them. I can do them safely. It's cool.
It's pretty awesome and it's pretty spectacular to see somebody my size do that stuff. So I wanted to kind of break that mold and be different than everyone else in standout. What's the move you do that you think makes people say, wow, the most? So I think it's the, it's the moon soul, but.
Sometimes it's the jerry. Sometimes it's the forward roll to the floor. I mean, kind of depends on the situation, but I've learned a lot like when I climb up for them, climbing, climbing the ropes, build so much anticipation. Yeah. And they just always want to see what's going to happen. Oh my God, he's so big in these climbing. So I tend to like that stuff the best because I can feel the anticipation. I do the handspring back elbow. It's exciting.
And it's shocking, but that anticipation wasn't there before. So I feel like for me, it's better when I do the climb and that people are anticipating. When you talk about the fragility of where your career is at at the stage of the game, it's so interesting because nobody thinks about when this one they get into it, right? When they're 20 years old or 18 years old or whatever, and they're starting to train, nobody thinks about the end.
When does it start to creep in for you? When do you start to think about like, uh, this has a lot less years in front, right? Yeah. I never thought about it once until the original neck injury. It never crossed my mind. And that was the moment where I was like, Oh wow.
at any moment this could be over with. And it was questionable then if it was over. We weren't sure if I was able to come back from that, but I did. So that was when it first crept into my mind. And I did an interview, mainly weekend, where I had said just that. I don't know where my last match is going
So when I go to the ring, I treat it as if it's my last match, because I don't know. And then ironically, when I said that, I currently had another herniative disc and didn't know it yet.
So, I don't know, it didn't creep into my head until I was 20 years in the wrestling. It's pretty wild. You had some early opportunities with WWE. Oh, yeah. Doing like a lot of extra work, like mid 2000s-ish, right? Yeah. Did any of those ever lead to something that could have been a bigger opportunity? So, I mean, there were a lot of
What ifs, I guess, but I did actually work from 2003, 2010. Where were some spots we would see you? First one, Goldberg Spears, Rosie, through the guardrail and might have been the first through the guardrail spot that was ever.
And they had us all planted in the crowd, just in case the bear came down on somebody or if people wanted to charge, we'd be able to hold them back. That was my first one. I got in the hide and write space on Smackdown once. He was reading a poem in the ring, and I remember the crowd I got yelled at him. He came out and the crowd got my face and attacked me. It was a druid before.
a cop a few times. I drew it for Undertaker. Oh, yeah. Survivor Series. I don't remember what year when he wrestled the big show. So they just, so we had to bring a casket out, then he got destroyed. Big show destroyed it. And then during a second casket out onto the, onto the ramp top of the ramp.
And being sure I got put in that, then we had to carry big show off in the casket. That's a heavy casket. Pretty, pretty, pretty wild. That's probably an oversized casket too. Oh yeah. Double white, double deep in the yoga zone. And then I did like velocity where I rest a little duck bathroom. It's a fun episode to ever find it. Like me and Doug Basham and Tomasso and Jamie Noble.
And that was like the first, I had done a dark match before that, but that was the first time like we talked to like Johnny Ace afterwards, because Tamasa was kind of on the radar from doing the undertaker, the lawyer thing for mom and son at that point in time. So we talked, I remember him saying to me at that point in time.
You remind me of the fat RVD. Just keep getting in better shape. OK, thank you. And I was in the time I was like 260. Like I wasn't I wasn't like I am now.
And I had other opportunities kind of like that. I had to wrestle and smack down against Turkai. I remember coming back through the gorilla and Vince stood up and he shook my hand and said, thank you. That was great. You had a great job, whatever. I left and like, I got a job. I didn't have a job. Didn't even mention anything to me after that. But I thought I did for like 10 minutes. Yeah, there were a lot of a lot of we so it's crazy. We.
where we trained catacrystalline. Coach Mike Hollow always had a line to do. And we'd always have whoever was in charge of hiring people come in for training camp. So for a long time, it was Dr. Tom Prichard that it was Tommy Dreamer, then it was Mike Bouchy, Nova. We even had John Ace come a couple of times to the school. We had a tryout at our school. That's where Kofi got signed out of that.
where all the producers came to our school and stuff. So we always, always had a connection with David Vuey. What my college was trying to do from the moment I met him and that cat trainer was built, they wanted to be developmental to developmental. So their pitch to the office was always
You know, pay for some guys to train here instead of paying them however much to have moved to OVW or wherever it was at the time and be under a full, full development project. Come here first for cheaper. Yeah.
see if they work, you know, the color within lines, if they have potential, instead of having doing the full investment. Sounds like what's going on right now with WWE ID. Yes. As soon as I heard it announced, and then you look at all the schools that were announced, and I need the only school that's not either a current WWE superstar runs it or a legend. Yeah, Hall of Fame, yeah. It's the one in New Hampshire, which is my college. Wow. He's the only one.
He was the head trainer for Killer Kowalski for many years too.
Yeah. So I think it's pretty amazing that he's finally, after all these years, gotten that opportunity to, I wish that that program is like, we tried for many years to get that program to work and it didn't work. And then it finally does. I wish we had it back in the day. So I'd had to go through as many years as I did grinding. So I'm really happy for all the guys who are getting these ID deals. I think it's going to be a really good opportunity for them and a good foundation for the Indies going forward.
But anyway, back to your original question. We had Tommy Dreamer in for camps. I remember Tommy Dreamer telling me, you're just too good. Okay. Yeah, what are you supposed to say to that? Okay. What do I do? I think years later, I kind of figured out that and sounds kind of egotistical when I said, but I think you're trying to tell me that I was too smooth in the ring for how I look.
And if I do think too smooth, then it kind of looks effortless. It kind of loses the magic of it. So it's, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Too polished. Too polished. Too polished. I was just too smooth and it didn't fit. Like when you watched me, it didn't fit because I kind of got this feedback from Vince at 1.2 on the main roster. Let's go.
Okay, I started to understand now. So you want me to be worse is what you're saying? Yes, but I mean, that's what it sounds like on the surface, but it's not that's not what it means. What is it? Be clunkier? No, more more rugged, more more impactful, more vicious, more.
new vicious Viking riddance. You know what I mean? Like just more gritty, not worse, not worse. But I think like on the surface, you hear that like, I don't mean be it worse. I'm too good. I'm too good. What was that? No, it just that grittiness, the grittiness of. Is it that you're like working like a cruiserweight? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it is. So it's me, and it's me trying to find the balance of what it should look like. And it's an ongoing thing.
So if you're so close for so long, every time the WWE is in your area, you're going to call your next chair, you're part of a segment. Did you get to a point where you're like, this isn't going to happen? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Big time. It was 2011. I hurt my shoulder and I went in for shoulder surgery. It was supposed to be like a little cleanup job. And when they opened me up, the surgeons decided to look where I was complaining. My pain was in my shoulder.
I discovered that my labrum was over 60% blown out. Completely blown out. So that's all he did. He's supposed to shade down Bonesburg, do a couple of other things, didn't do any of that stuff. He just did the labrum. So everything else is still wrong in that shoulder. Of course. But then I was just deep depression. This isn't going to happen. I failed so many times. It's just not going to happen. But I love wrestling.
And I want to leave my mark on this somehow and not just for having small roles and people's success, their young success. Like we talked last time, like Kofi and Sasha Banks and Samaso and so on and so forth. I wanted to leave some sort of a legacy. So I'm like, all right, I got to go to Ring of Honor. That's the only other place at that point in time is the only other place I can go is Ring of Honor.
juice fasted. I don't know if we discussed that last time. So when I had hurt my shoulder, I was like, 350 or something like that. Yeah, through 350. And I juice fast. Well, it's just fast and did DDP why? For months from I rehab. And I lost 90 pounds. Wow. And I was in the grid of the beard. I had to grow the beard out.
and just evolve who I was as a wrestler and just give my all that ring of honor. I did a tryout camp there in 2013, and I was wearing a singlet at the time, but my stomach didn't look too flattering in the singlet. Even though I'd lost all the weight, they're just kind of loose skin or whatever. And Delirious, who's the booker at the time, he got the idea to have me wear something to cover up
midsection. And that was kind of the genesis of the war belt that I wear, which took me on this path into the Viking culture going forward. So out of that camp, 2014 top prosper tournament comes around. And names are going to announce for it. There's eight people, seven names are announced.
I'm like, I guess this isn't gonna happen. And then I get an email. Hey, we want you for the tournament. So I was like, they didn't contact me for the tournament until they already announced the other seven. I was like, oh, wow. Last second. So then I hopped in that tournament. You know, Eric and I wrestled in the finals. I won very serious, but I was mentioning that. But then we became a tag team. And that was where I found out that
Uh, Eric, uh, loves Vikings. So we really were able to bond and mesh up in that regard. Uh, and I think, uh, at that point, we were team for a minute. He had the motorcycle accident. I got the singles push, uh, then he came back and we were team again. I think when he came back and we became the team again, we both kind of looked at the landscape.
And we had similar experiences with the movie, similar failures where it looks like, you know, we're good enough, but they're just not taking our body type or, or whatnot. And six to two 40 thing that was going on in that timeframe, like it was very hard to get in. So we're looking for the landscape wrestling and we're like, what if we just go all in on being attacked?
There aren't too many teams out there, like teams that are always teams that are just these well-oiled machines on the indies or even, you know, in the movie, they're just these units that are teams and they're solidified as that. And that's how they succeed. Like that could be our ticket to start of a ring of honor to start. And I don't know, maybe something like like Japan after that. So war machine.
was successful in Ring of Honor, and then it caught the eye of Noah, and we did a little bit with Noah, and New Japan was helping Noah at the time. So then, New Japan ended up having us come in and get over there. And so we were loving life with New Japan Ring of Honor, because that was like, all right, we made it, we did it. And then we got the call from the movie. So we had the,
We both had to pretty much give up on the goal and just, I shouldn't say give up because obviously it was always in our hearts, like that's where we want to be. But we had to put it on the back burner and say, let's become successful somewhere else as successful as we can get. The other thing happens great, but let's just be the best that we can be and go
and also do it together. Do it together. Yeah. Because up to that point, you were a singles guy and trying to figure that out. It's interesting that the tag team's what made it click for you. Yeah. And so many people are on a tag team on the indies. They're like, I've always wanted to be a singles guy. Like, let me do my thing. The tag teams would allow you to really grow and become the performer now. Yeah. I want to pull up this photo here. Oh, God. I want you to tell me,
Who's this guy? Oh, that's handsome Johnny. Yeah. He's handsome. Yeah. So what I'm doing here is we had my robot and I would pull down and I would do the pop in the pack. Yeah. I love to do this to the fans. Could it be up in my face? Yellen. And I would just do that. Look, pop, pop in the pack until I sat down and required.
So that's all it's going to answer John. Amen. How long have you been growing this beard? It was when I had surgery. So 20 December 1st, 2011, when I started the beard. A razor has not touched your face since 2011. Well, a razor, yeah. So I haven't trimmed it with the exception of going in for next surgery. That was the only time to get the insertion. They had to go somewhere in here. It's probably covered up. I can't see it now. Yeah. I think it went in here. Yeah. Look how long this is.
Like if it wasn't braided or not, or together and I don't even know what you'd call this. Oh, this is a fake braid. Everyone thinks it's braided, but it's not just like this. I can see like looking close here. You've just kind of like cobbled them together. Yeah. This would touch your belt probably. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. It's pretty wild. Do you ever let it out? Yeah. I mean, when I wrestle.
I mean, that immediately comes back. Yeah, because it's wild. It needs to be tamed. It's been a rollercoaster with it when it's not tied down. It usually splits in half and goes around my face. Yeah, it has been in my face too, but it usually splits around.
Yeah. One of the best things about you guys returning on raw was Wade Barrett's commentary. Raw is war. And it's like, not only are we seeing the war Raiders. I fed him that. Oh, I love it. Yeah. And not only we've seen you guys know, not only is it on the Tron behind you, but he's reinforcing it. Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah. It feels good. And it feels like the crowd certainly behind it too. Certainly hear the war chants, which is great.
Every great tag team, though, at some point breaks up and turns on each other. Could you ever see this happening with you and Eric? So no, I've answered this a few times before. I mean, New Day's having their turmoil now, but for a decade on WWE television, New Day's been together and it's never happened yet. So I feel like we're in the same boat. We're not going to
Maybe we can do singles things on the side. Maybe we don't have a story in the tag division and something opens up for, you know, me, for the intercontinental title or, um, except no, but I'm for Eric, um, the speed championship, just one, one below whatever I'm doing. Um,
Like, I think we can do things. We're both great singles wrestlers. Uh, I don't think anyone realized that until I had this, this recent singles run and he's just as good. And it's just the opportunity is there. It's great. But I don't see us breaking up. I don't see us splitting up. I think we're always going to be there to support each other. What's the match that really put you on the radar recently as a singles wrestler? The, the, the one that did it.
It was it was Kofi. It was the first match with Kofi. It was the first night that Ray was out because of his injury and they just gave us that match and like a two-seg match, right? Yeah. And that's why it's because we were supposed to have a two out of three falls match. It ended up being the singles match instead of the tag team two out of three falls match and they just didn't change our times.
So the whole day I'm kind of waiting for the shoot and drop like, oh, they're going to cut at least four minutes off of this. They must, right? Or make it a one segment match. I'm just waiting. No one's saying anything. So yeah. And that sometimes it sucks that it was at Eric's expense. But if he didn't get hurt, then we wouldn't have had that opportunity. And sometimes
the best things that happen if people are out of situations like that, just unexpected situations that you are prepared for. Necessity or what is it? I'm going to totally bastardize. I already did. I did. It's all downhill from here. Invention is the... Oh my gosh. You know what I'm saying. I know what you're saying, but I'm going to let you say it. Please, come on. I'm going to let you say it.
It would have been so easy for them to go, well, your tag team partners out, you're all so out. Whenever he's ready, you guys can come back together. That's what I thought. And that's when I told Kofi and we had a necessity as a mother of invention.
That's what I told Kofi that night. And that's what I told Pete. Pete was our, Pete Williams was our producer told him the same thing. So we were all just like, all right, we'll just go out and have the best match we possibly can have. And that's what we did. And that got me called over to the desk and asked, hey, you want to stick around do some single stuff while your partner's out? Yes, sir. Absolutely. Yeah. You mentioned it earlier, but the fun stuff you guys did, the kind of comedic stuff you guys did in the heart of the lockdowns,
Some people loved it and some people went, why are these guys trying to be something that they're not? How did you feel about that stuff? It was a whole scary time, right? Half the roster just got fired. You know what I mean? It was a lockdown and there's a lot of uncertainty in the whole world. It was a scary time.
I mean, we're told we were doing it. And at first, I don't know, the first hour or two after we were told, we were like, oh.
This is, this is not good. This is like, this is, this is going to be the precursor to you're out of here. This is a lot of times when they take serious characters or historically when you've seen serious characters and then they, they take a really sharp turn into the comedy stuff, then they're doing that for a short period of time and they're gone. We're like, all right, well, this is, this is the hand we're dealt. So let's do the absolute best that we can with it and make sure that they can't, they can't get rid of us because we're so good at what we do.
And that's kind of what we did. I felt like originally that whole feud, it wasn't for us, it was for the street profits. Because that's their thing, or at least the time, that was their thing. They're the comedic, funny tag team. So it just felt like everything was for them, which was fine, totally fine.
That's just it is what it is. So it was our job to do the best that we could in that role. And I think we did. I'm actually, I can watch it back. I see memories of it and stuff or just randomly running the fans. It's funny because I've heard a lot of people online talk trash about that stuff. Never one to my face. Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who's good? Who
Um, but I was, I was proud of the fun, the fun stuff. Can we accept that we did? There was some fun stuff like the ninjas. Here at Tazawa's ninjas. That was, that was, that was, that was our idea. So, oh, um, cause it was just so ridiculous, right? Everything, everything was so ridiculous. I summoned a turkey leg with my, with my hand, like Thor, like, uh, there's some, some ridiculous, like,
All bets are off. It was COVID. All bets are off. We're just having a good time. So like, and then one thing that was, Vince was really adamant on was that through the whole feud, we stayed friends. These characters stayed friends for the whole feud. And I don't think I realized it. Any of us realized it until about halfway through, like what, what that kind of meant.
for what we were going through as a nation or as a culture at that point in time where we could put on television these groups of people from different cultures, different backgrounds, different races. And we're on TV and we're having a friendly competition
and we're friends and we're learning about each other in these situations where we're doing their their taxes or we're playing basketball or bowling or whatever the situation was but through the whole thing
we stayed friends. And it was kind of a trying time for, I mean, the world at that point in time. And I thought what we were doing and didn't, didn't pop in any of our heads until about halfway through it. Like, this, this is actually, this is very, this is comedy, but it feels very meaningful and something positive to be on television during this time period in the world. So I felt really good about that. I think we all did.
And I mean, back to the ninjas, like we're building that cinematic match. And me, maybe Dawkins were talking and like, Vince was so adamant on us being friends, but we're having this crazy match. We're doing ridiculous things. So we said like, well, well, for friends, we should at some point, we should all come together and fight a villain.
Cause if this was a movie, that's like what if two guys were, two, two good guys were feuding and then like all, there'd be a bad guy who comes in and you can take out. So we said ninjas and then, and thinking that they would say absolutely not, but we got a double, double two thumbs up.
Yeah, we fought ninjas. And we were the Viking prophets. Yeah. It's so ridiculous. It's fun to go back and watch it now. I think kind of the best and worst thing about the lockdown era is that people aren't going to watch it. Because some of that stuff, wrestling needs an audience in the same way that a comedian on stage needs an audience for something to bounce off of.
So I think it's kind of like the best and the worst and like you guys made the best of a terrible situation. Absolutely. I loved the decathlon and I especially love the way you run hurdles. That was one of my favorite parts of the decathlon was running through the hurdles. Just smash it right through. And thinking I won.
We're in such a different era in wrestling now, where even if you're signed to a company, you have the ability, now it seems to be able to pop up in other places. And you had this great story of John Cena's only independent run where he was signed as a WWE superstar. What's your tie to that?
I saw a video that you had with John and he mentioned going to a school before his career took off. He's on the main roster, but he'd think he thought he was getting fired and he was coming to a school. He was coming to catagressing at that point in time. So we'd see him there. And his dad, his dad actually managed with a manager, Johnny Fabulous, on our shows and the commentary for years, for years. And so I texted you about that. But then John made his name for himself.
And then at some point in the late 2000s, I want to say 2008, he wanted to do a benefit show. One of his brothers was a police officer. It wasn't like an accident. He wanted to do like a fundraiser for their police department. So he talked to his dad and they contacted the Catholic wrestling and the side of their going to put on a show.
I benefit show and Vince gave the blessing for John to come in and also Eugene, who was under contract at the time. So we had this big show right by West Newbury at a high school, very close to West Newbury, Massachusetts. And I think I wrested Eugene on it, which actually the promoter gave me the option.
He said, do you want to wrestle in the main event with John Cena as a referee or do you want to wrestle Eugene? And I'm like, I think I want to wrestle Eugene because I was just such a wrestler at the time. I wanted to have that experience wrestling. And Nick Dinsmore is known as such a great technical wrestler. Amazing. So I'm like, yeah, I want to wrestle. And then now I look back on it. I know it was weird. He was like, are you sure you want to wrestle Eugene? Like, yeah, yeah, I want to wrestle Eugene.
Okay, so I wrestled Eugene and then the main event was Big Rick Fuller from WWE fame against Brian Malonus, who's a really good friend of me, Tommaso Kofi. He was in ring of honor for a bit, big, almost 400 pound monster. They were the main event with John Cena, who was currently the WWE champion as the referee.
I remember, I gotta rewind a second, I'll get back to it, cause this is a really good story too. Johnny Fabulous was Rick Fuller's manager. So John Cena Sr. John Cena Sr. Johnny Fabulous. And earlier in the show, he cut a promo. And this is run of 2,500 people at a high school. And he goes, now usually I'm a heel. That's a bad guy. But tonight,
I'm a baby face. That's a good guy. And we're watching the monitor in the back. I was sitting next to Eugene and seen his legs standing up in front of us, watching the monitor. And when that happens, he just turns back to me and Eugene goes, my pops is killing the business and walks off. It's such a good memory.
Main event, Rick Fuller, Brian Malone, as for the counter wrestling heavyweight championship with John Cena as the referee, who was the current WWE champion. And Cena had Eugene put together the whole back end of the match to do whatever they were going to do, layer it with false finishes and belt shots and whatever.
So again, I'm watching it with Eugene again. All of us were on the monitor, but I just wrestled Eugene, so we're sitting next to each other. And then they start to go into this finish that Eugene called. And then all of a sudden there's a big commotion. They're like, what's going on? And then in the ring appears a figure in a suit. And we're like, what? Vince McMahon.
So, and Eugene was totally confused. Densmore had no idea what was going on, because that's not what he called. Cena had him call a whole back end of a match without any Vince McMahon, but Vince got in the ring. He grabs, I think he's face-to-face with Malonus. I love hearing Malonus tell the story. And it's a picture of Malonus. So he, he, Morris, Morris is like, what the, and Vince is like,
I'm the heel, I'm the heel. And he grabs his hand, he raises his hand. That picture, there's a picture somewhere that was, like, what is going on? And whatever happened, and Vince takes the worst attitude adjustment ever, just as bad as that last summer, he took so bad. And he rolls under the ring, goes over the guardrail, out to a lemo, takes off. That's it. And nobody knew he was there. The only people who knew were John and the promoter, Jamie.
Man. Yeah. And they weren't even sure if he was actually going to show up. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure this is the only independent show that Vince has ever been a part of. Wow. Pretty wild. He would do that for John. That's amazing. Pretty crazy. Vince is only independent appearance. Yeah. And you're there. I was there. And I made the decision not to be in the...
But yeah, I was there. Crazy. It was crazy. It was only 2,500 people, but the audience lost their minds. I remember seeing stuff about it online. I think I remember seeing a headline on some wrestling website.
There's no way that's real. Yeah, if it was, if it was an independent show, if it was clickbait, 10 years later, it would have been everywhere. Yeah. But we're still, this is 2007, 2008, maybe. It's just before the real boom of social media. Yeah. I don't think Twitter was a thing yet. So.
Yeah, Facebook was in its infancy. Yeah, yeah. So another five, maybe just five years, it would have been everywhere, everywhere. But there's going to be people hearing this story that are like, what do you mean? Yeah, there's no, well, in a way that. And there's barely any footage too, because so cell phone footage wasn't really a thing yet either. So there's a little bit of cell phone footage and you find it on YouTube at some point.
I'm like flip phones. Yes. Yeah. It was really grainy and stuff. Otherwise, I think Kyada had to sign some agreement that they wouldn't release the footage for the whole show. Wow. But WWE did have cameras there, so they have the footage and they own the footage.
How crazy is that? It should have been in the Mr. McMahon docuser. Yes, it should have. Even if it was just for 30 seconds. Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. What a surreal moment that is. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. So with War Raiders back now. Yeah. Is the next step here finding your way into getting those WWE Tag Team Championships? I don't know when this is going to air, but we're currently the number one contender for the Tag Team Championships.
Yeah, that's where we're headed. That's our goal. And we don't want to take too long because we never knew it was going to end. So we're going head first in that direction. Is the legacy for war Raiders just being the best damn tag team you can be? Yeah, but on top of that too, it's two guys that never, never were supposed to make it. And we've had every obstacle thrown in front of us that you possibly could.
near-death experiences, near parallelization, just all these crazy things that have been thrown in our way. And we're able to create this tag team, I think, with a very unique dynamic that's never existed before, where I said it to you before, where he's a small guy, but he's a strong guy.
I'm the big guy on the high flyer. It's a unique dynamic that never existed. But yeah, just what you said. We're a help attack team. Did you have a point when there were all kinds of releases happening during the lockdowns, where you were like, I just feel like we're going to be somehow next every single one. Yeah, Sarah, Bahala, Sarah, she was part of the first one.
So you can imagine how Eric felt during that time period. Is he probably expecting like, well, I'm going to get a call here now. We, every single one, we expected it. So we were always discussing navigating what our life would be without this, which is inevitable. Everyone gets fired or everyone's career in the WV at some point comes to an end. And there has to be an after.
And what would that after look for us? Yeah. So that was a discussion that we had many, many, many times from that time period. Because there was a concern, I mean, with Sarah, she got fired and then they brought her back in the next two weeks to potentially put her in the feud with the street profits and Bianca. That's a whole other store for another time.
But that was the whole thing, it didn't happen, but she was fired and she got brought down there. Anyway, so she got like extra pay to be there and then every end of the views and there. It was a crazy time, but yeah, we had that discussion many times, many times of what things could look like. But at the same time, we've always been, this is our conversation, we can think of 1,001 reasons why they would keep us, but it only takes one.
to get rid of us. And it's not just us that goes for everybody on the roster. So the goal is always to make ourselves as valuable as we can be. And it doesn't just go for the way that that goes for everywhere we've ever worked. It's to make ourselves as valuable as we possibly can be. There's a quote from Arnold. I asked Arnold Schwarzenegger in an interview, what's the best advice you've ever heard? And he's like, it's from my father, be useful. Just two words, be useful.
And that really stuck with me. It's exactly what you're saying. Yes. And also the idea of just be so good that they can't ignore you. Yeah. Which is also a theme of what you guys do. Yeah. It's all of that. Because it all matters. It's when you're not useful or when you're not living up to your potential, then it's very easy to say, you know what? We don't really need that right now. Yeah. Or we can't really use that right now.
But if you are being useful, being very useful and living up to your potential in and out of the ring, then why? Why would they agree to you? Do you feel like you work differently after the injuries that you've had? Like do you go in there with any sort of concern? So that's a tough one to answer, but our medical staff,
is much more concerned than I am. And I'm very thankful for that. Medical pays a lot of attention to me, and they make sure that I'm safe on a regular basis. And they discuss with me about things that maybe I shouldn't do when they see I'm doing something stupid or what could potentially be stupid. So I'm very thankful to have them there, because I think if they weren't there, I'd be a lot less filtered in the ring.
But I mean, for the most part, I feel like I know how to manage my risks in the ring. That was a big reason why I was able to return after the double fusion is because what we do is considered simulated combat. So I can do the best that I can to make sure that I am in position to keep myself safe.
And I think over the years, I've had so many other rangers, never mind the neck, where I've had to rethink about how I work in the ring, that it's quite, I don't wanna say easy, but it's natural to not edit things. And to make it seem like I'm not editing things, or I'm still giving the crowd what they wanna see without doing the suicide dive. That's really the only move I've cut from.
everything because that's what caused the initial neck injury. Yeah. And then I'm just, I play my, I think in my head and I played my scenarios and I think about pros and cons of every situation. So I guess I do put more thought into what I do to keep myself safe, but I don't feel like I have to over edit what I do, if that makes sense. If you thought a lot about what life looked like after wrestling, what does that look like for you?
The joke is a wheelchair. It's not really a joke. So for me, I spent, I mean, right now, it's not official, but every weekend at the Performance Center, and I kind of run a big guy's class.
And that's, that's very beneficial and rewarding to me, especially after all the training that I've done for other people in the past. And then I'm able to do with this new generation, which has been a lot of fun to see guys like Hank and Tank and Obafemi and.
uh, Tyson Tyreek and, uh, out the mud, just all these guys that were all signs kind of for the, uh, NIL stuff and didn't know anything about wrestling and to see them, uh, train to the PC and be able to see them once a week and watch their matches with them and, and go over stuff with them and help them with ideas and just explain.
You know wrestling and see how far they've come like that is so beneficial to me. I love that so I love teaching and I love the idea of
producing. So I think if this is over, I think I'd really like to produce or be some sort of a hybrid where I could produce on the main roster and also train at the performance center and kind of help the transition for guys who are coming from the performance center to the main roster. That's, that's in the perfect world. I think that's what I would want. There's no, there's no guarantees that I'd ever still be with WWE, but there's, I want to be even wrestling somehow. Yeah. And whatever that would look like. Who's the ultimate big man for you?
the ultimate big man. Oh, man. So I think I'm a band band guy. I, yeah, for a big man, but it's like band band Vader big boss man. Those guys are just so boss man is so underrated because boss man never had a
Uh, he, he, for like the added to era, he was like, uh, this kind of a backer at hardcore championship title stuff. Like that was kind of his thing. But if you watch his earlier stuff and see the way that he moves.
Wow. Yeah. Explosive. He never really got booked like a big man in the way that like- No. Kane Undertaker, big show. Never. Never. But he was in an era when it's earthquake and typhoon and- Right. And the earthquake. Oh my God. If you watch some of his early stuff too, because he could move too. Yeah. Come from that summa background and stuff. There's a lot of really good big man, but I think the ultimate for me would be
Bam, bam, but see that also too would be like a sauce part of my heart because he was the big man when I started watching wrestling. In the early nineties, like I'm just watching him like he is awesome him and Luna Bishan and also if they did like, so that might be part of it. It's just that nostalgia.
Well, the thing about Bam Bam is he would do things that you wouldn't expect from a guy his size. Yeah. And you'd be like, how is he able to do that? Yeah. Sounds a lot like a guy sitting in front of me right now. It does. It does. Yeah. Bam Bam's the man. And I, you are as well, like, and I think that every time you get in there, it's like, wait a second. How does cartwheels? Let's see, dude, he can do a moonsault. What is going on here? Yeah.
And I think you mentioned earlier, it's constantly redefining what it is to be a big man. And I feel like I've been able to do that. I was able to open a door, I feel like. Because when I got to NXT, I was that guy. I was the athletic big man. And they're like, oh, well, how about Keith Lee? Oh, yeah. How about Bronson Reed?
Like, and now we're getting these athletic big men floating around. Yeah. And it's pretty, pretty cool. But I feel like I was kind of the guy who kind of opened that door or at least Jimmy did a little bit. So it was cracked and guys could bust through. I'm just so glad you're back in the ring. Yeah. Me, me too. It's like another lease on life. It's crazy. You're like, it's not nine live. It's like 12. Yeah. Yeah. Very fortunate, very lucky because it's been
been real crazy and to be able to be back with Eric. And I just, I love the appreciation that you have for it now, because you realize how quickly it could go away. Yeah. Yeah. It's just to, to have to face that, to know what like you asked if I knew, I've ever thought of it ending. And it wasn't until that neck injury, the first neck injury.
where it was really, it was seared into my brain that at this ends. And I was fortunate enough, I could have been in the wheelchair in the rest of my life after that, and it wasn't. So it's really, really puts things in perspective to stare that in the face and be like, okay. So now I have this time, however much that is, I don't know how long it is, but what I do with it is really, really important.
So good to see you. Great to see you back in the ring. Great to see war Raiders back in WWE. And I'll ask you the question I asked you when we did this last one a handful of months ago. Because gratitude's so important to me. What are three things I've already you're grateful for? The third one, we started with it. And I thought before we got on air is I'm here in LA with you and I got to go to pepper lunch.
I don't even know about the lunch. Yeah, pepper lunch is the place. So that's the place we went to. It's a restaurant. It's a restaurant, and we would go to it in Tokyo. That's all over Japan, but Tokyo mainly. And it was our go-to place to eat steak.
and they only got a few locations in America. They're opening some more. It's one in Vegas. It's a bunch here, like three here in LA. Sounds like they're gonna do something in Houston, maybe Florida. So I'm very excited to be out here, the West Coast, with you able to eat pepper lunch. Pepper lunch. I think you're the first person to go three, two, one with the gratitude stuff. Oh, well, yeah, I'm numbering them. Okay, so we're starting at three and we're going to the best one.
Yeah, I guess. So now I really got to really screw that up. Oh, no, I got to think about how I labeled the next two. God. So I think two would be to be back. I'm grateful to be back in the ring.
be back on television, be back with my tag partner, who went through similar injury, to be back doing what we love and to get this, I don't know if it's one last opportunity or, I mean, this one last opportunity could last the next 10 years, I don't know.
Really really good. Yeah, but I just this is this feels like the last this is our this is our run Could be the next five years could be the next week. I don't know So we're gonna we're gonna give it all but I'm very grateful to be given this opportunity because there was a period where we didn't think it was an option and then the number one thing I'm grateful for and I think I Met as a similar the last time we were together, but I'm grateful
uh, for all the people who support me, my wife, my family, my friends, uh, the fans, you, I'm grateful for everyone. Uh, I said the speech when I got hired and I did my farewell speech, I chaotic wrestling. And I said, uh, I thought about that moment for years and years and years to come out here and do a farewell speech before I go there. And I always thought I'd come out here and I'd say,
I proved everyone who didn't believe in me wrong. I proved them wrong. And when I got out there, they completely changed because I realized that I wasn't proving them wrong. I was proving everyone who believed in me right. And that is what I'm grateful for, to be able to go out and prove the people who show me love and support. And I'm sacrificed for me to prove them right.
And that is what I'm most grateful for. That's beautiful. Yeah. Great to see you. Good to see you. Congrats on being back. Yes. Maybe by the time this airs, you're a champion. Good. Who knows? That could be. Well, great to see you, Manning. And go enjoy pepper lunch. Yeah. Round two. Hell yeah.
Alright, thank you to Ivar for being with us, and thank you for listening and listening all the way until the end. I'm sure you've already hit that moon salt on that follow-up, but if not, now's the chance. Now's the time to hit that moon salt. Ivar is such an underrated wrestler, and I love being able to dive deep into who he is, what he's about, and just his whole story with this one. And that Vince McMahon story, man, that's incredible.
Snap a screenshot, let us know you're listening tag us. He's at Ivar underscore wwe. I'm at Chris fan fleet. And I saw this quote on Instagram this week and I love it so much. It's not attributed to anybody was just like one of those quote graphics. A real loser is somebody that is so afraid of not winning that they don't even try.
be great, be grateful. My friends, we will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got ask CVV number 62 tomorrow. If you've got a question for that one, send it in using that hashtag ask CVV on social media. Leave a comment on Spotify or shoot me any mail CVV at Chris fan fleet.com. We'll see you back here tomorrow for that one.
Drinking and driving is a decision that could change your whole world. Things will never be the same if you ever get a DUI. Because legal fees and time in court are just the beginning. Getting into a crash is another way that your world can be turned upside down.
Your vehicle may not be the only thing that gets damaged in that crash. You can face a life-altering injury or even death, but you're not the only one that can face those consequences. Your decision to drink and drive can permanently impact not just your world, but someone else's world as well. Whether you injure them or leave their loved ones grieving.
The next time you're out drinking, call a ride share, a taxi, a sober friend, or a designated sober driver. The only decision that will change your world for the better is the decision to call for a sober ride. Drive sober or get pulled over. Paid for by NHTSA.
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