Adam Cole: So, I never like to say stuff like this, because I always have high hopes. And you always have that goal of wanting to have even more epic or memorable moments throughout your career. But one of my favorite things that I feel like pro wrestling captures so well is genuine surprises. And that, to me, was the most awesome genuine surprise that I’ve ever been involved in. So it was, to this day, the most special moment of my career. Because I know there was a lot of speculation about what I was going to do, where I was going to go. But then, obviously, Bryan Danielson was at the forefront of like, oh, wait is Bryan Danielson really going to show up at AEW to the point where a lot of people were really expecting him to show. So, to kind of swerve everybody, they had me come out first. It was such a cool moment. For me, I wouldn’t have changed anything about that night. Really anything about that weekend. But I like the fact that I flew into a different city the night before. And then I got picked up and driven to the show while the show was going on. And I was hidden in a trailer all day to the point where a ton of the locker room didn’t even know I was there. It was really, really special. To me. It was awesome to be there to be involved into that really big moment with Bryan.

Shawn: One thing I like about AEW – and I talked to Tony Khan about this – he says that when they bring in big stars like you, like CM Punk, they like to mix you guys up immediately with the homegrown stars – young guys like Jungle Boy, Darby Allen, I know Orange has been around for a while, but people like MJF. Jungle Boy. Darby Allen, MJF – they’re under 25. So, mixing you guys up immediately with them seems to be a good way to build for the future. What do you see when you come in and you’re able to work on a level playing field with young guys as opposed to like, say the WWE, where they bring in the young guys, and they job them out for a year or two before they do anything?

Adam Cole:  So that was one of the really appealing things to me about AEW when I was kind of deciding what I wanted to do with my career going forward. Especially because I remember being a young guy and working in working for companies like Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and all these really cool places where I got to work with some really awesome veterans who helped me a ton and taught me a lot. And again, same thing; we’d want to go out and have a match that was 20, 30, 40 minutes sometimes. And that was so important to my growth and development to where by the time I was, you know 28 or 29, I feel like I was so much further ahead because I got the chance to work with guys with that experience and with that knowledge So getting to come in and working with guys again, like you said, under 25 years old, which is so insane to say, guys like Jungleboy. Can’t wait to work with guys like MJF and Darby Allen and Sammy Guevara and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, these guys are hungry. They’re motivated. They’re a huge part of AEW’s success, because I think, not only have a lot of these fans attached themselves to them, but they also recognize these guys are not even close to being in the prime of their career. So yeah, some of my favorite moments in matches have been working with the younger guys within AEW – specifically working with Jungleboy was really cool because he’s going to be an absolute monster two or three years from now.

Shawn: The first time I ever saw you was in Ring of Honor and if I remember right, you and Kyle O’Reilly were a tag team at the time. You guys kind of went your separate ways, did the TV title, both won world titles, both with the WWE and now you’re both in AEW as the veterans. What’s that journey for you guys from right there when Ring of Honor was first going national on TV on HDNet. You guys were a tag team trying to get over. And now you guys are the veterans back together at AEW. What’s that journey been like over the past – what it’s been, 12 years now?

Adam Cole: Yeah, it’s really surreal to think about. Because Kyle O’Reilly is even more important to my career than I think is publicly discussed a lot of times. I had been wrestling for one year, at the time. So it was 2009, debuted in 2008, and in 2009, I had a Dragon Gate USA pre-show match in the infamous ECW Arena in Philadelphia to do this dark match before this pay-per-view went on. And it was me – this unknown Adam Cole kid – and Kyle O’Reilly, also an unknown, independent wrestler, and the two of us wrestled each other. And it was like the first match that I ever had to gain any sort of internet buzz. It”s the first match I ever had where a crowd was fully invested for that entire, long, six minutes of a match that we had. But it was vital to us, and we was put on YouTube. It helped us, You know, get eyes on us from an upstart promotion called Evolve. It helped us get started and get recognized somewhat by Ring of Honor. So literally, when I say I’ve been attached at the hip to Kyle O’Reilly for my entire career, that’s not like a cute thing to say – it literally has happened. Whether it’s been us as a team, us as opponents, whether it’s in Japan, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Ring of Honor, or NXT, we’ve always been in the same promotion and in some capacity working with each other. So even for that three months that I was in AEW and Kyle wasn’t there, that was the longest period of time since 2009, I’ve not been in the same company as Kyle, which is crazy to think about. When I do think about our journey together, whether it be Ring of Honor where both of us were so incredibly nervous, I’m so thankful that we had each other to share that pressure, share that excitement, share that nervousness with. I think Kyle helped me a ton as far as my in-ring work and my mechanics and things like that. And I like to think I helped Kyle a lot when it came to promos, and camera work, and stuff like that. So we really, really accentuated and made each other better. And then we shared that exact same pressure when we debuted in NXT together, it was the exact same thing. So it’s been really, really cool to kind of watch him grow up. Because as I watched him grow up in the wrestling industry, it almost feels like I’m looking in a mirror in a lot of ways because our journey has been so so similar. So it’s been great. It’s, it’s awesome.

Shawn: You know, you mentioned looking at the younger stars as one of the reasons that brought you to AEW, but I would also think that your Twitch streaming was another thing since Tony Khan encourages you guys to have your presence outside of the company. How important was it for you to be able to create your place on Twitch, where you have a huge following? I watched the first Twitch stream after you debuted in AEW, and you were just awestruck by how large you’re following became over the next few days, people liking, subscribing, donating. It seemed to mean a lot to you.

Adam Cole: It did. It did, and the Twitch stream does mean a lot to me. You know it was it’s so interesting. So I’ve been very passionate about the gaming world, and when I say the gaming world I mean I’m so fascinated by game development and video games storytelling and artistic direction and things like that. I’ve always been very fascinated by it. And for me, it’s something I really enjoy to pass the time. So Twitch streaming was something I kind of picked up, out of the blue actually, when the pandemic started. I had been talking about wanting to do it for over a year. But you know, because of how busy my schedule was, I’m like, I’m not going to be able to teach myself how to do this, I have no idea where to start. And then obviously, when we were all, you know, locked in our homes, and waiting this thing out, I was like, I have no excuse anymore. I gotta teach myself how to do it. So when I started Twitch streaming, it initially, again, was something I was like, Oh, this will be cool, I’ll get to be a little bit more involved in the gaming world. And hopefully, I’ll meet some people within it. And this just sounds like a really, really fun time. Little did I know that it would become such a passion project for me. Like there are so many members of the community on Twitch, who I know, it’s such a positive influence for so many people. It feels really good. For example, if someone gets a job promotion, and they come into the Twitch stream, and they’re like, Guys, I got this awesome job promotion. And we all celebrate that, we’re all, you know, telling them congratulations, and how awesome that is. And that really does mean a lot to a lot of people. So it became something that I was just not willing to give up. It was something that I love too much and enjoy too much. And I know that there is a world that exists where you are able to put your heart and soul into pro wrestling. And then you’re also able to put your heart and soul into something else. And in my case, it’s Twitch streaming. So yeah, it’s been incredible. It’s been very humbling. It’s awesome to see how many people have, you know, not only come back, but then completely invested into what I’m doing on Twitch. And like I said, it’s similar to wrestling, I’m very excited to see where the Twitch channel goes, you know, a year or two years from now. So I love it. I love it to death. And to answer your question, it was very, very important in my decision-making as far as what I was going to do,

Shawn: You know, professional wrestlers’ careers – unless you’re Terry Funk – is kind of limited to a certain amount of time, and then it’s time to move on. You mentioned that you want to be a Twitch streamer into your 60s, I think you said once. My wife, she saw you on TV, and she’s like, wow, you know, he’s a real arrogant jerk. I’m like, come here, and I sat in front of the computer, and I turn on the Twitch stream. And she’s like, that’s not the same person. Tell me a little bit about how you’re able to go into the wrestling ring and be so completely different. On Twitch, I assume that is the real you. But yet you’re able to go out there and put a character in that ring that is a great heel. You’re a Shawn Michaels-level heel from the 90s.

Adam Cole: Just, thank you.

Shawn: I mean, you’re someone who the fans love, but you can make them boo you hardcore. How are you able to turn that on as soon as you walk out that that curtain?

Adam Cole: So that’s always something I’ve been fascinated with. And I’ve tried to answer this question as best as I possibly can. I look through my life as a whole, and I think it starts back as early as I remember. My father loved James Bond movies. I mean, we watched all of them over and over and over again. And I remember as a kid, just being so fascinated with the James Bond villains. I remember thinking like, how much presence they had. And I, of course, I’m a kid, so I didn’t understand. But I remember just being captivated by them when they would speak. So I think in some ways, that was something that attracted me. And then when I fell in love with pro wrestling, somewhere along the way, I really dove into loving pro wrestling promos, and thinking like, oh, man, you know, when CM Punk said this, when Mick Foley said this, it makes me feel the exact same way as it does when I see a really cool entrance or when I see a really cool false finish in a wrestling match. Like, it gets me so fired up because I think it’s so cool creatively. So I knew very early on that I wanted things like promos and my character to be just as important, if not more important, than the mechanical wrestling stuff. Of course, I’m going to focus a ton on that as well. But I knew I wanted to put just as much energy into that aspect as well. So for me at the end of the day, I you know, I knew I wanted to play a character which is kind of wrapped up from all these different guys that I really liked. And I want to be the person who I would look at as a kid or I would look at as a young wrestling fan and go, Oh, man, this guy is such a slimeball. Oh, this guy’s such a scumbag. Oh, he’s so arrogant. And at the end of the day, I just I’m able to, I’ve been very lucky in being able to turn that switch on and off fairly easily. Like, I’m not someone when I’m backstage, who needs to like, you know, be by myself for 20 minutes and start, you know, talking as this character, or becoming that character. I’m able to walk through the curtain and just become Adam Cole, for that little bit. So I don’t know, I guess I’m lucky in a lot of ways. And then also at the same time, it’s just, those are the characters I really, really looked up to.

Shawn: When I was putting these questions together, I was gonna ask you what it was like to be working in the same company as Britt Baker. But since that time, she’s walked out to the ring, and she’s joined you by your side. What’s it like being in the ring working angles with Britt after all this time?

Adam Cole: It is so so cool, man. It’s funny, there was a like, three-month period where I stopped working for Ring of Honor. And I worked some independent shows leading up to my debut at NXT. Me and Britt got to do a couple of mixed tag matches then. And we would be on the same shows together. And then obviously, I went to NXT. And just working with her that little bit, obviously was really, really fun. But the coolest thing to me, aside from the fact of getting to just work in the same company as her is getting to see, front row and center, her development. Because I remember teaming with her back then, she was like a year and a half, two years into wrestling. And she was very talented then, such a hard worker, you know, I knew she was going to be really special. But to see Dr. Britt Baker DMD now versus the person that I teamed with years ago is so awesome. It’s so cool to be able to share a ring with her because pro wrestling means the world to me. And I know pro wrestling means the world to Britt, to be able to stand inside of a ring in an arena full of people and to look over at her and think, oh man, we’ve talked about wanting to do this forever. And now it’s happening. It is beyond surreal. And then as a whole, it’s incredible, just working in the same company as her for the sake of – you know, before she would have a match or she would cut a promo. And she would come to the back and she would find a corner of the arena. And she would FaceTime me and we would talk, and FaceTime is a wonderful tool. But to be able to be there behind the curtain when she comes back and give her a hug and talk about what she did and how great it was or stuff that we want to work on together. It’s awesome. It’s amazing. So it doesn’t get any better than getting to work alongside your partner. When that thing that you’re working on happens to be your passion for us.

Shawn: You know, I watched her in AEW since she started there, and I wasn’t sold on her in the beginning when she was a babyface. But once she found her character, she exploded. And when CM Punk came out and told MJP that ‘Britt Baker’s replaced you on the four pillars.’ You know, obviously, they’re both there. I mean, it’s really five pillars because she is the face of women’s wrestling in AEW. I’m amazed at her progression just from the time she debuted in AEW.

Adam Cole: It’s just it’s been amazing, man. So, the best thing to me is her journey in a lot of ways – it was seen by a lot more people – but both of our journeys were so similar. I was booked as a babyface very early on, and it never gelled with me. It was like never something that I caught onto, never something I understood. And then, all of a sudden, when I started being able to cut heel promos and wrestle as a heel, then you know, my name started getting out there more and I started getting traction and popularity on the independents. So, it’s so crazy to me that Britt’s journey has been the exact same. You know, she was a babyface, she was fine mechanically. She’s learning on national television. And then all of a sudden Britt gets to really show her creativity and what she can bring to the table. And now, like you said, one of if not the top women’s wrestler in the entire world. So it’s been really, really cool to watch that journey. because we both have a very similar one.

Shawn: Well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. Last but not least, what do you see for yourself over the next few years in AEW?

Adam Cole: Very excited at the prospect and the idea of all the different things that I can do here in AEW. I think, since I debuted, five or six months ago at this point, I’ve been very busy. And I’ve been doing a lot of different stuff, whether it be working with the younger guys, or working alongside the Young Bucks, reuniting with Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, teaming up with Britt Baker for the first time, there are so many different things that have been happening for me. And that just makes me so excited at the future. I’ve said before with the roster that AEW has, I minimum have five years of stuff to do without it feeling boring, and with all of it feeling fresh. The roster is just stacked with the idea of working with a guy like Bryan Danielson again, working with CM Punk for the first time, working with Kenny Omega, working with the Young Bucks, Bobby Fish, and Kyle, working more with Britt, working more with the young guys like Darby and Sammy or MJF. The possibilities are literally endless. And that, to me is the most exciting thing about AEW. The company has grown tremendously in a little over two years. Two years from now, I think the worlds not going to be ready for what AEW is going to bring to the table.

The post AEW Interview: Adam Cole appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

The format is similar to Miz and Mrs on USA Network, where the show takes fans into the life of two professional wrestling stars. In this case, it is Cody Rhodes, the son of the legendary American Dream Dusty Rhodes, and his wife, Brandi Rhodes.

Not only do we go into their home and see their lives as Brandi prepares to give birth to their first child, but the show also takes fans behind the curtain with AEW events.

That is what makes this show different from others, as Cody and Brandi are onscreen talents, but they are also executives in the company.

Cody Rhodes is an executive vice president of AEW in charge of talent relations, and Brandi Rhodes is the Chief Brand Officer.

Monsters & Critics sat down to talk to Cody and Brandi Rhodes about their new TNT reality show, Rhodes to the Top.

From the start, the power couple said this differs from other wrestling reality shows because they take fans behind the curtain to the inner workings of AEW as Cody and Brandi work with talents to put on the shows.

When asked what makes Rhodes to the Top different from other wrestling-related reality shows, Cody firstly gave a lot of credit to Total Divas for bringing new fans to wrestling, something he said the show doesn’t get enough credit for.

He then went on to explain the differences with Rhodes to the Top.

“We were producers on this show,” Cody explained. “Something that was incredibly important to us is that it is not a staged reality show. It’s going to be a reality show.

“I don’t know how many times I told our showrunner – and he obliged – was put a mic on me and turn the camera on. We don’t need to have any scenarios. This current lifestyle is wild enough.”

The show has Cody and Brandi not only navigating their roles in AEW, but they are also preparing for Brandi to give birth to a baby girl. This was a big part of the premiere as well, with Brandi in pain and going to the doctor twice a week during the later stages of her pregnancy because she was a woman over 35.

At the same time, the show did something no other wrestling reality show has done to this extent.

It showed Cody talking to wrestlers behind the scenes about their promos, their storylines, their hopes and fears, and in one case, working with a wrestler who had just suffered an injury.

“The unprecedented access behind the scenes, which for a hardcore wrestling fan, it might scare them a little bit, but we have fully pulled the curtain back,” Cody said. “For those who stay tuned after Dynamite, you will definitely learn something.”

Brandi then revealed the biggest difference.

“The biggest difference is that we’ve never had key executive members of the team. Key decision-makers pull the curtain back,” Brandi said. “We’ve had talent pull the curtain back, which has been super fun and cool. But this has been a big, big step higher in an industry that has never done this before.”

The post Interview: Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes (Rhodes to the Top) appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

Shawn Lealos: Hello Mike. So, how you doing today?

Mike Bennett: I’m great, man. Just real super busy this week sometimes it’s like real quiet and other times, shit just starts getting crazy. And it’s been crazy lately.

Shawn Lealos: Right? It’s gonna be a big weekend too, with the fans back and everything.

Mike Bennett: Right?

Shawn Lealos: What’s the feeling in the locker room right now when it comes to you guys working in front of fans for the first time in a year and a half?

Mike Bennett: You know, honestly, I think it’s like how everyone’s feeling, like, just super excited, ready to go. It’s been really cool with Ring of Honor the way they’ve handled the pandemic. And I think everyone really, truly appreciated the extra precautions they took to keep everyone safe. But I think we’re all kind of at the point where the silence in the arena is killing us. And we’re ready to start getting back to normal.

Shawn Lealos: How different is it to work with no fans in there? I assume you guys thrive and build on the cheers and the boos of the crowd. And if you don’t have any of that, I figure it makes it a lot harder for you guys to perform.

Mike Bennett: Yeah, you know, so it’s funny you bring that up because I’ve been thinking about that lately. And to me, the biggest difference is like, the bumps hurt a lot more because you don’t have the adrenaline of the crowd. There’s still a good amount of adrenaline just by being out there and knowing you’re putting on a product and stuff like that. But for me, I’ve kind of looked at it as a challenge where when you’re at a match in front of people, you’re putting the match together and wrestling in a way to elicit a crowd reaction. And that’s kind of your main goal is to take the crowd on this journey with you. So, then the people watching at home can kind of follow along with the live crowd. When there’s nobody there, you’re almost going to approach your match entirely differently. You do things differently because you’re not trying to elicit that live audience reaction. You’re trying to just tell the story directly to the people at home. I think that’s one of the biggest reasons why the pure division has been able to get off its feet so well; it’s because we’ve been able to try different things and see what works and see what doesn’t, because you don’t have that crowd reaction that holds you accountable to whether a match is boring or good or bad. And I think it’s helped us kind of dictate, especially the pure division, I think it’s kind of helped us dictate what direction fans can expect those matches to go in.

Shawn Lealos:  You’re the second person who mentioned to me how it hurts worse without the fans.

Mike Bennett: Yeah, I think there’s something, you know, when the fans are there, there’s more nerves and you’re more distracted. I think it’s just one of those things where when you take a bump, whether it’s off the top rope or outside the ring or whatever, and it hurts, but then you hear that reaction. It’s almost like this natural high, where you’re just like, okay, I’m good, I can keep going because those fans are kind of powering you through. It’s a very strange phenomenon. If you think about it, where it’s like, you can feel it when there’s no fans but can’t feel it when there is. But it’s definitely a real thing.

Shawn Lealos: You’re fighting for the pure title next. How different is it wrestling in these pure matches, compared to what you’ve been doing your entire career, which is a little more of the, I don’t want to say sports entertainment because obviously, that’s not really a good word for a lot of fans, but you know what I’m saying?

Mike Bennett: Yeah, and I don’t care if people say it, I’ve been very open about my change in how I want to wrestle, how I like wrestling, and the way I want to be perceived. And it’s very fair to say I was always considered the sports entertainer guy. It’s just the truth. When I first got to Ring of Honor, that was always my moniker – oh, he’s the guy that’s going to WWE because he’s a sports entertainer guy. I’m not oblivious to that. That’s how I wrestled because that’s how I wanted to be perceived. But I feel like, with the pure division, that’s more focused now on the sport of pro wrestling. It’s not as over the top. I don’t want to say it’s not as dramatic, but it’s not as hokey. It’s not as cartoony. There are rules to it. Like we have rules in professional wrestling, and the pure division is like, no, we follow these rules. Because at the end of the day, this is a sport you’re trying to win. It’s a competition, you have to abide by them, in these set of rules that we’ve laid out. And I think that’s the biggest difference is the pure division. I like to consider it more realistic. If you look at it, especially some of the stuff Jonathan Gresham has been doing, he’s been bringing so much realism to the sport where he’s won a match with something different every single time, it’s a submission hold or a move, or just this constant, the working of the body parts, or just how every match seems to be some sort of a chess match. And he’s putting all the chess pieces in the right places. But to me, to answer your question, long story short, the difference to me is pure division is just more focused on the actual competition of pro wrestling and less on the razzle-dazzle sports entertainment aspect of it.

Shawn Lealos: Is it still fun for you? I mean, is it more of a way of learning something new, of changing your game a little bit?

Mike Bennett: Yeah. And it’s like, and you’ve been covering wrestling for a long time. So, it’s one of those things where you know, like, the best guys in this industry are the ones who can constantly reinvent themselves. And the hardest part about reinventing yourself is doing something you don’t normally do and jumping inside the uncomfortable. And it’s funny because I put out a tweet maybe like a couple of months ago, I was watching Bryan Danielson versus Nigel McGuinness in a unification match over in England for the pure title and the world title, and I just was putting over how much I liked this match, and I actually had a wrestling writer reach out to me and he goes, Is it strange that this is a match I didn’t think you would like? And I wrote back to him, I was like, no, that’s not strange, because the old me probably would not have liked it. But because of the way I’m trying to reinvent myself and the way my journey has taken me to where I always thought I wanted to be a WWE wrestler. But then I got there, and I was like, no, this isn’t the kind of wrestler I want to be. And then re-falling in love with NOAH, re-falling in love with old school Ring of Honor, New Japan, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and being like, this is a style I’ve never really tried. And I really do enjoy it. And I’ve really started to take a liking to it. And so, for me, it’s a challenge. And it’s also one of those things when you’ve been doing this for 20 years, you want to try stuff different, you want to make yourself excited and be like oh, I want to do something different. And that’s why I want to do the pure stuff because of that reason of people being like, oh we don’t see Mike Bennett doing that stuff, I want to be like, well then that’s exactly what I want to try to do.

Shawn Lealos: When I first started recapping wrestling shows, the first one I ever did was Ring of Honor when it first went nationwide. You were wrestling there at the time you were, I think, you were on that first show. How has Ring of Honor changed from when you were there then, to coming back to it within the last year? How is it different than it used to be?

Mike Bennett: So, I always feel like I mean clearly the cool thing about Ring of Honor is they’re constantly evolving. I always look at Ring of Honor as, if you want to know what’s going to be cool in wrestling in the years to come, follow Ring of Honor. And I feel like they’ve always done that before Sinclair took over after Sinclair took over, I feel like there’s just an environment that’s been cultivated, where it’s like, we’re always going to be at the forefront. And that hasn’t changed. That was there when I was there in 2010. And that’s there now in 2021. The people are different, the cast is different. But that’s what I always say. I call Ring of Honor, like the Law & Order of professional wrestling. The cast keeps leaving and changing, but the quality of the content continues to stay the same. And as much as Ring of Honor has changed where there’s more eyes on the product, more exposure, all this stuff, it’s still really the same. It’s still at its core, at least in the locker room, everyone views it as that kind of grimy and gritty company that sets the precedent for what’s going to be popular in wrestling to come.

Shawn Lealos: Right? One of the big guys that you first hooked up with when you came back was Matt Taven. You guys have a long history there together. I talked to Matt after his rise to the top when he won the World Title. You went to WWE, and we saw how they treated you and how that was nowhere near what you deserved when you got there. Do you feel it’s your time to reach where Matt reached and has he talked to you about his journey to where he finally hit the top?

Mike Bennett: So, the cool thing about me and Taven is we never really look at it as like, it’s my time, it’s your time. To us, we always look at it as like, to me, Matt is my brother, he’s family. So his career, any success, I get excited about. And he’s the same way with me when I have success, he gets excited about that, too. So it’s one of those things where again, I call me and Taven, we’re like the Avengers, we always come together when we need to, to form the Kingdom and do the stuff we need to together. But at the same token, we’re always going to go out, and we’re going to do our separate things because we have our individual goals and stuff we want to accomplish on our own. And I think that’s why we work so well together. Because we’re never like, oh, no, we got to do the team stuff and if you venture off into the pure division, then we hate each other. We’re just not like that. And like for me, if there was a time where Taven was to be like, hey, I’m gonna go win the World Title. Sweet, okay, I’ll be on the back burner, and I’ll be rooting, and he’ll be there rooting for me for the pure title on July 11. And so, I just think it’s a really cool dynamic. And so, I don’t really view it as like, oh, this is my time, that was his time. This is our time, we’re gonna go do our thing and just kind of see where it takes us. And I’m sure wherever it takes us, tag team gold will be in the picture at some point too. And then hopefully individual goals as well.

Shawn Lealos: How good is it to be back with him again after those years apart?

Mike Bennett: It’s the best. I mean, not even just from a storyline wrestling standpoint, but just from being like, oh, I get to work with my best friend again. Like, it’s just, you know, he’s my best friend in the whole world. So when you get to literally work with him on a daily basis, it’s awesome.

Shawn Lealos: Was that a big reason that you chose Ring of Honor over your other options? Or was that just a bonus to choose in Ring of Honor,

Mike Bennett: A little bit of both. I kind of always knew that Ring of Honor was where I was going to go as soon as the releases happened. I always, all through my WWE run, all through my Impact run, me and Tavan had been talking, we’d always been joking about when I’m going to come back when we’re going to reform the Kingdom. You know, but it’s like the Kingdom’s my baby, Taven’s my friend, Ring of Honor is my home. So you kind of throw all those things together. And you’re like, it’s kind of like this hodgepodge of reasons why Ring of Honor was just the perfect fit.

Shawn Lealos: Are there wrestlers in Ring of Honor right now that you see where when you win the pure title, that you’d like to wrestle in that style, defending your title against? Dream matches that you have looking at these different wrestlers that you might have never worked with before.

Mike Bennett: Yeah, so the one guy that I want to get in there with singles is Tracy Williams because we had a tag match with me and Taven vs. Rhett and Tracy for the tag titles about a month or a month and a half ago. And there were just moments where me and Tracy got in there. And again, like I said, you’ve been covering wrestling a long time. So, I’m sure you’ve heard guys talk about this, where you get in the ring with somebody. And instantly, you know, you just have really good chemistry with them. And that was how it was with Tracy. That was the first time we’d ever got in the ring, the first time we’d ever touched. And it was just one of those things where I was like, oh, this could be fun. If we took everything else out of the equation and just were able to go like pure rules, 30 minutes like this, this could be a lot of fun. And so, I mean, I get to wrestle the one guy I wanted to wrestle this whole time on July 11, which is Gresham, but hopefully, if and when I do beat him, the next guy in line can be Tracy Williams.

Shawn Lealos: One thing I like to ask wrestlers, especially those in Ring of Honor, now that fans are coming back, what can they expect? Compared to other wrestling shows they might have been to, what makes Ring of Honor different for the fans in attendance?

Mike Bennett: Wrestling. 100% wrestling, and not that there’s not other wrestling companies out there. I think what AEW is doing is fantastic. They’re unbelievable. I think what Impact is doing is awesome, and New Japan. But, at the core, Ring of Honor has always been about wrestling. And even if you take the pure title, I believe the pure title was brought to Ring of Honor because it’s like we’re sick of hokiness. We’re sick of cartoons. We’re sick of stupid storylines. This is just wrestling, this is the sport, we’re going to sit down like it’s UFC or we’re going to sit down like it’s the NFL. And we’re going to talk about what does this match mean to you? What does this specific match mean? And what would winning mean to you? Not like, oh, we just went and burnt someone’s house down, so what does that mean to you? And we’ll solve it in the wrestling ring. No, you’re competing, you’re a professional wrestler, who’s an athlete, and he wants to win World Championships because that elevates him to the next level. And it’s like, what does this mean to you as a person and as a fighter and as a professional. I think when fans come to Ring of Honor shows, you can be like, I’m going to a sporting event, I’m going to a very, very, very lively, entertaining sporting event, as opposed to like, I’m going to the circus, you know, and that’s not a bad thing. I love the circus. I’m just saying, if it’s like saying to someone, oh, you can go see a basketball game or you can go see the circus down the street, they’re going to get two different things. And so, to me, it’s like, okay, no, we’ll be the basketball game down the street where we’re focused on competition and sport.

Shawn Lealos: Excellent. I’m really looking forward to the show this weekend. You know, AEW had fans back when they hit the road this last Wednesday, and seeing the arena with fans, and WrestleMania too. Seeing the fans made such a difference in how everything felt. The chants, the boos, the cheers, you know, interrupting the promos.

Mike Bennett: AEW this past week was like, so I watched WrestleMania, but AEW specifically this past week, watching that crowd, I was like, okay, that’s what it’s like to have fans back. And I was like, yeah, that was the first time I went, okay, this is gonna be fun.

Shawn Lealos: The MJF-Chris Jericho promo when the fans were just interrupting MJF the entire time. That’s wrestling, you know, with the lights went out, and then they came on. And Tommy End was in the ring. And it’s the fans were like, “Oh my god,” you know, that’s wrestling.

Mike Bennett: That’s what I was talking about too, where it’s like, you dictate your shows differently based on a crowd reaction. You know, it’s like, you might put things in different places because you know how a crowd – like with MJF and Jericho, it might take a promo in a completely different direction than you expected, where if it’s like, just nobody in the crowd, you can just dictate this like it’s a normal TV show.

Shawn Lealos: So could you imagine the fans with the lights went out and they came on? And you were in the ring saving Taven?

Mike Bennett: I’ve been thinking about that for a long time. I try not to think about, oh god. But you know, I’m back and I still get to, like, I’m just thankful that the one match I wanted to have since I returned, I get to do it in front of fans. So, I’m still lucky.

Shawn Lealos: I’m excited for you this week. I’m excited for the entire Ring of Honor because it’s been a long time coming in.

Mike Bennett: Oh yeah. It’s gonna be fun.

Shawn Lealos: Alright, well, thanks a lot for talking to me. And I’m going to be watching the pay-per-view this weekend.

Mike Bennett: Absolutely, man, thank you. I always end all my interviews like this because it means a lot. It’s always humbling people give a shit what I have to say and want to talk to me. So thank you. That means a lot to me. I appreciate it.

The post Exclusive Ring of Honor Interview: Mike Bennett appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

MJF: All right, please tell me you don’t have a French accent like the last one because I could barely understand a word the last interviewer was saying.

Shawn: Well, mine is almost as bad. I’m from Oklahoma. So, it’s an Oklahoma accent.

MJF: Thank God, I’ll be able to make out the entire interview. Thank you for setting this up. So, what are you thinking? What do you want to do today? What’s the goal?

Shawn: I guess we’d like to talk about Blood & Guts, talk about The Pinnacle, and talk about how things have been going with you lately in AEW now that you’ve got your own faction to lead.

MJF: Talking about myself really hard. I’m a super humble guy. But if you’re gonna pull my leg about it, I’ll try my best.

Shawn: So, you’ve got you’ve got Blood & Guts coming up. This was supposed to have taken place last year with The Elite and The Inner Circle, where The Elite was the establishment in AEW and The Inner Circle is trying to break in. Now it’s reversed. The Inner Circle has dominated for the last couple of years, and you guys are the ones trying to break in. How does that make this match different than the original plans?

MJF: Well, the difference is that all the players in this are much more interesting. You got MJF in it, and that’s all you really need. But outside of that, what I would say is me and Chris Jericho, we’ve been connected to the hip eye to eye, whether as Friend or Foe now for eight months. That is a long time. This thing has been brewing for a very, very long time. And that’s something I’m proud of because I’m a very calculated man. And it took a lot of took a lot of time and effort for me to infest and become a cancer and rot The Inner Circle from within. That’s something that most people wouldn’t be proud of. But I am I’m proud of the fact that I use the fact that my grandfather passed away in order to become friends with Santana and Ortiz, I’m proud of the fact that I put on a performance of a lifetime at dinner debonair to earn Chris Jericho’s trust, and become the only wrestler in the history of this great sport to ever be in the New York Times as best performer. I’m proud of it all. And to top it all off, that’s why it made it so sweet. When they thought they had their ace in the hole. They had me cornered in the ring, and they all looked at each other and they said we’re gonna beat this guy’s butt now. And then the lights go out, they turn back on. Nope, newsflash, nobody outsmarts MJF. That’s what’s different about this. What’s different about this is every single player is a key player. You got to witness last night that Shawn Spears has been a star for 19 years. He’s just never gotten the proper spotlight. You already know FTR – Cash Money and Dax the Axe – are the best tag team in the world. You already know that Wardlow is the best insurance policy money can buy. And you already know that Tully Blanchard’s been inside Blood & Guts. He knows this game inside and out. And he’s been writing some seriously great plays for us leading into May 5. And, God I don’t need to talk about myself we already know about all my accomplishments. And then on the other side, you have an incredible group within its own and I will give them their credit.

Santana and Ortiz incredible tag team Jake Hager incredible big man. Sammy Guevara, very stupid. I mean, we already know that he’s wildly dumb. He gave up the advantage out of sheer stupidity. We all kind of saw that coming. He’s from Texas, but you know, he’s good at flipping and shit. And then you got Chris Jericho, the greatest of all time, the GOAT. And the overarching thing here is it’s a tale as old as time. It’s student versus teacher. He’s the lion at the top of the hill. And I am the young cub, and I want his spot. And I’m going to take it. So there’s a whole lot more going on here as opposed to you know, the feud that was going on – God, I don’t even know how long ago. That was like a year ago. It’s much different. It’s much deeper. It’s much more intense. And there’s a lot more at stake here.

Shawn: You know, I was talking to Tony Khan after your match with Jungle Boy…

MJF: That’s my best friend. Did you know that?

Shawn: Tony Khan? Yes, Yes, I did.

MJF: Yeah, my boy TK, but go on. I’m sure he put me over. Everybody does.

Shawn: Yeah, I was I was talking with that matchup with Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing. I compared it to the Ric Flair-Ricky Steamboat matches and Tony compared it to the Randy Savage-Ricky Steamboat matches where you were the perfect heel and Jungle Boy was the perfect babyface trying to fight from behind. That is pretty high compliment when Tony threw out Randy Savage’s name. You seem to be someone who doesn’t play a villain. You seem to be someone who lives that role. Where does that come from when it comes to your knowledge of the history of wrestling and how you created your wrestling persona, which I assume is also a part of your actual real persona in real life anyway,

MJF: You know, I wish I could call it a persona but this is me 24-seven bud, and the thing is, I remember growing up, I would watch you know, the Rey Mysterio’s or the Hulk Hogan’s, or the Shawn Michaels. I mean, the list goes on and on of these incredible quote-unquote, heroes of professional wrestling. And I just remember thinking to myself, Oh, my God, these guys are disingenuous. There’s no way they care that much about these people. It’s BS, and to top it off, they all had to play by the rules, which made it even harder to win the match, which made it even harder to get the winner’s purse. I mean, what are we doing here? So then what I did was I watched old-school wrestling, I watched Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert, I watched Tully Blanchard, which is why it’s so incredible that he’s now in my corner. I watched Ted DiBiase. I watched Ric Flair, I watched Arn Anderson. Look, I can go on and on. And I mean, I really can go on and on, because I’m a student of the game. And what I realized was, these guys were cutting corners, and everybody hated him for it. And I couldn’t comprehend why because they were winning. I don’t know about you, but I love a winner. And I can’t think of anybody who’s a bigger winner than me. I’m undefeated. So that’s why I’m me. That’s why I’m the way I am. Genetically. I’ve always been this way. I’m always going to be this way. It’s never gonna change. And I’m fine with it. I’m fine with the fact that people have threatened to kill me on Twitter and Instagram, DMs, I’m fine with the fact that somebody dressed up as a pilot and snuck into one of the arenas when we were still traveling on the road to try to abduct me, I’m fine with the fact that when I was in Mexico, people threw a car battery at me. And luckily, it missed. And I’m fine with the fact that somebody threw piss at me. I’m fine with it all because that happened to guys like Roddy Piper. That happened to guys like the Tully Blanchard’s the Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert’s, the Arn Anderson’s, the Ric Flair’s. That’s why I’m fine with it. Because what I’m doing right now, people will be talking about forever, I’m gonna go down as the greatest quote-unquote, heel as much as I hate that word, because it’s BS, in the history of professional wrestling.

Shawn: You know, I completely agree with the comparisons to Tully Blanchard too, because when you think of the heels in the 90s, you see bad guys the fans cheer for because they’re cool. They’re cheering for, you know, the Kevin Nash’s and Scott Hall’s because they’re cool. But no one cheered for Tully Blanchard. People wanted to see him get killed in that I Quit match with Magnum T.A.,

MJF: Bingo.

Shawn: When you’re working with Tully Blanchard, someone who was a master of making people hate him as a heel, what has he brought to you, now that you’re working closely with him hand in hand?

MJF: I got the devil on my shoulder, baby. And I’m damn proud of it. Here’s the deal. What people don’t seem to understand is this man’s wrestling IQ and acumen is so far above – head and shoulders above – anybody else in the industry right now. What you have noticed if you’ve seen me inside of a ring at this point, or even in interviews at this point, there’s no more time for Haha. Tully sat me down. He explained to me said Max, I get why you’re arrogant. I was just as arrogant as you when I was your age. Why wouldn’t you be? You’re incredible. But when that bell rings, you need to be a killer. You cannot think about what the fans think of you. You don’t have to worry about them looking at you. Of course, they’re looking at you. You’re the star, the only thing you need to worry about is punishing your opponent. So I think if there’s one thing that Tully’s taught me is there’s no more Mr. Nice Guy, and I’m sure that shocks me when they hear it but a part of me a part of me was being a little bit nice when I was in the ring previous to me sitting down with Tully Blanchard. Now, now, I do not care one ounce for an inkling about my opponents’ health or well-being. I do not care about showboating. The only thing I care about is doing whatever it takes to get the W and every single person in The Pinnacle feels the exact same way. I can assure you they do. And that’s why on May 5, these guys are screwed. Sammy Guevara. He loves to do like weird dance moves to pop the crowd. Santana and Ortiz, they make these weird faces. Jake Hager I don’t even know if he knows where he is half the time, the guys a complete dunce. And then Chris Jericho. Like I said yesterday, man, the dude’s exhausted. He’s had a very long reign, we’re talking 30 years, how couldn’t he be exhausted? It’s time for somebody new. It’s time for something fresh. It’s time for me to take that spot to take his crown, if you will. And I’m very much looking forward to it. And none of that would be possible without the great Tully Blanchard.

Shawn: When you guys finish Blood & Guts next week, and you guys take care of The Inner Circle, there’s a pay-per-view coming up just a few weeks after that. What do you see? I mean, I’m sure you’re not looking past The Inner Circle, but you surely have a goal coming up of where you want to see MJF going once you get this monkey off your shoulder

MJF: Once the monkey is good and dead. And trust me, I am looking forward to that. I think it’s time for a Pinnacles conquest of gold. And when I say that, I mean I’m talking about FTR retaining the belts they should have never lost in the first place. The Bucks cheated. Everybody knows that. I’m talking about Shawn Spears proving to the world that for these past 19 years, he’s been overlooked for literally no reason and becoming a TNT Champion or an FTW champion even, and I’m looking forward to me becoming the AEW World Champion, and when I am done having a Bruno Sammartino-esque long reign, I am completely fine with giving that title to Wardog. Completely fine with it.

Shawn: So, can you see The Pinnacle lining up against The Elite here in the near future?

MJF: If they’re in our way, if anyone’s in our way, they’re in trouble.

Shawn: They are holding the belts right now.

MJF: Yeah, they are. And if, by the time I’m done killing this disgusting grotesque line of monkeys, if they still have those championship titles, they’re in for a world of trouble. Just like anybody else who would hold that title. I don’t care if Kenny Omega is holding the title. I don’t care if Jon Moxley is holding the title. I don’t care if the ghost of Aubrey Hepburn is holding it. I don’t care. none of it matters. We’re gonna take the championships. We’re gonna take all of them because we’re The Pinnacle. And we’re gonna prove it.

Shawn: I assume here probably within the next half year or so, you’re going to be getting back on the road again. How important is it for someone like you to play off the heat of a packed house crowd who just hates you compared to working with the crowd at a distance right now? How excited are you to get back on the road to have those fans just booing you throughout your matches?

MJF: Dude, you’re like the fifth person who asked me this. What people don’t realize is everybody has been calling this thing a pandemic. I’ve been calling it a vacation. I don’t have to look at these disgusting grotesque monsters in the crowd anymore. I’m in my safe space at Daly’s Place. I’m elated. I’m happy. Once we get going on the road. I’m going to be miserable again, cuz I’m gonna have to look at all these disgusting pores. You think I want to look at all these disgusting pores. No, but whatever. It is what it is, we got a vaccine now everybody’s taking it, you know, and I’m stuck. Now, I got to deal with these people. And it is what it is. I’m not happy about it.

Shawn: So you’re 25. You’ve got 25 years ahead of you. AEW is bringing in a lot of veterans are bringing in Sting, they’re bringing in Christian. How does someone who’s 25 years old and has gotten your spot feel when you see these veterans coming in and threatening to take your spot.

MJF: I know you can’t see it, but I’m making a masturbatory gesture right now cuz I could give less of a shit. Here’s the deal, Shawn. I’m not worried about these guys, because at the inception of AEW, I walked down a ramp when the quote-unquote best there is best there was best there ever will be was holding a microphone and holding up our brand spanking new AEW world title. And I merked him on the microphone. I merked Hangman Page on the microphone. And then I beat Hangman Page for the Dynamite Diamond Dozen ring. And then I beat Cody Rhodes and then I beat Chris Jericho and I would have beaten Dictator Jon if he didn’t cheat and use an illegal maneuver. I am the most must see man in professional wrestling right now. And that’s a fact man. And I don’t care if Sting comes in, or Christian comes in. It all is meaningless. Okay, great for them. They get to come out there. They get their little cute pop, they get to feel like young again. They get to feel like me, they’re gonna feel vibrant. But here’s the thing, they’re not me. And I think Sting knows it. And Christian knows it. And any other person that is leaving that other promotion knows that to come into mine, you’re not taking my spot. You can gladly take second, and you can settle for second. Second is good, Okay. There’s been a lot of people who’ve made a lot of money off of being in second place in the history of professional sports, but just understand, I don’t care who you are. You’re not taking my spot, man. Absolutely not. And the spot I’m about to take is under the umbrella of somebody who has been called the greatest of all time and on May 5 when I defeat him and his cohorts. I mean, come on. It’s gonna be absolutely undisputable that I’m the guy. Done.

Shawn: Excellent. Well, thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us. I’m really looking forward to seeing Blood & Guts. I wanted to see this for a year and I’m more excited with you, with FTR, with all you guys in it too because this is fresh.

MJF: I know what you’re trying to say we’re a much sexier and much more attractive looking group than The Elite. And it makes for much better TV for the female demo. I get it. Shawn, I appreciate you for this interview. Please do yourself a favor and seek out a dentist. It’s brutal. I’ll talk to you later.

Shawn: Thanks.

MJF: Thank you guys. That was a lot of fun.

The post AEW Interview: MJF appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

Brodie Lee: Hi, how are you?

Shawn S. Lealos: I’m doing good. How are you doing today?

Brodie Lee: Very good.

Shawn Lealos: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. I guess I’d like to start off by asking you, how has your experience so far in AEW been compared to the last few years when it comes, to pretty much all the aspects of your career – from wrestling to the character and everything? How has it been so far since you’ve arrived in AEW?

Brodie Lee: I’ve had many people tell me that they can tell how differently I feel just by watching me through a television screen. And just what I’m emoting, I guess, from a pure energy level and happiness level. The term night and day comes to mind. Everything in AEW has been fairly wonderful so far, minus a few setbacks and losses that I’ve taken on but other than that, everything’s been really great.

Shawn Lealos: You never really had a chance to talk when you were in WWE. How different is it for you in building your character now that you can actually talk, cut promos, say what you have to say, and not have people holding you back? How different is it for you to build your character that way?

Brodie Lee: At first it was very nerve-wracking and lots of anxiety. Just because I was given exactly what I asked for, and that was to be put into a spotlight at the forefront of a national promotion. And I was instantly given that, and then the pressure was there. And the pressure to deliver was there. So yeah, at first, it was a bit scary.

But then the confidence rose, and I remember what being a professional wrestler was like, and that was a very key aspect to making good content for TV again. In WWE, I think I spoke – and I’ll probably be proven wrong if people look back  – but I don’t think I was on a live microphone in ring for more than a minute at a time, maybe less.

So to be given all the opportunities I’m given. Now it was like I said, at first, a bit anxious, but once I realized, that, just remember to be a professional wrestler, remember to be Brodie Lee, remember to be who I am, and do what I do. What I knew I could do – that it became easy. And it became fun again, and I think that shows through the promos.

Shawn Lealos: You know, for most of your career, whether it’s the Wyatt Family, whether it’s before that with Age of the Fall, you’ve always been part of a faction, but now you’re a leader with Mr. Brodie Lee. What kind of influences have you brought in, when it comes to becoming this new leader of a group?

Brodie Lee: Well, I think taking bits and pieces of every group I’ve been in, and even groups, I haven’t been in to look at what that person at the forefront did, that I liked. And maybe it worked. And to also look at what those people did, in groups that I was in, in groups that I wasn’t in again, to see what they did that didn’t work. And that maybe me being in the group, I didn’t like that they did that thing. So I tried to avoid certain things and to try to be a leader that, you know.

I guess, the term leader is tough, but a guy in the front that uses his pieces, to the best of their abilities, and to help everyone get over as a whole and individually. And I think you kind of see that happening now, especially with John Silver, Anna Jay. And all these guys, they’re starting to get over and understand what their characters are on their own. And so that is probably the most satisfying part of being a leader.

Shawn Lealos: You’re a veteran, you’ve been in the big leagues. With all these wrestlers in The Dark Order, are you getting a chance to work with them behind the scenes, helping to guide them? I mean, you know what it takes to get to the top or to try to get to the top. Are you able to work with these youngsters? You know, 22, 23, 24, 25-year-old wrestlers and and helping them learn what they need to do to succeed?

Brodie Lee: Yeah, somebody termed me a leader in a text message the other day, and I was appalled that someone thought of me that way. Because I don’t think, I always turn it back to ice hockey, I guess. And there’s leaders that are very vocal and seek people out to give them advice and stuff like that. And I’m more of a person that’s going to sit back and lead by example, to do what we do. And, you know, the big thing is, we’ve been given this opportunity with AEW, that nobody has seen before in 20 years. So this is an opportunity in an industry that was run by one company. So now these people have this opportunity almost handed to them. And I think it’s, it’s very easy to overlook the magnitude of this opportunity.

So I kind of tried to be that leader that understands what we have, and what we’re in the middle of. Its history. And so but again, if I’m 22-year-old Brodie Lee, he wouldn’t understand that. So I get that I’m not you know, I don’t look past that either. But I’m more of a quiet leader who just leads by example. And when asked for advice, I’m more than happy to give it to them. A person that’s not The Dark Order that has actually been very vocal, and speaking to me is Will Hobbs, and I’m a huge fan of his. I hope that in his rise to the top, he remains humble and hungry the way he is right now because he has all the tools to succeed.

Shawn Lealos: You came in and you were gonna have a huge debut, you know, in your hometown, and then all of a sudden, you know, this entire 2020 happens. How different is it for you in the ring telling stories, when there’s no fans there to play their part?

Brodie Lee: Yeah, I can’t help but chuckle at your question, just because looking back now, it’s so crazy to even think that it exists – that looking forward to a debut in Rochester in front of a sold-out crowd. Almost serendipitous in its form of my comeback, and reemerging in Rochester, in my hometown. And it was going to be too good to be true, which it turned out to be too good to be true.

Fast forward to Jacksonville and Tony Khan called me and he said, look, if you don’t want to do your debut, then you don’t have to. And I’ve said this many times, but I was pent up and locked up for too long. And I was ready to, like I said before in this interview, be a professional wrestler, so I was ready to go at any point. I don’t think I was mentally prepared for the quietness and almost non-energy level that an empty arena holds for a wrestling match. Everything hurts a bit more now.

But after a couple of weeks, once they added the people around the ring, and now the people in the upper bowl too that are coming in. That energy is back. It has its own life form now, almost to say like going back in front of a crowd is going to be strange in its own sense. I think I might have too much energy now. I get fired up now. In these matches now that I’m having in front of nobody in front of 500 people. So when it’s 10,000 people or 20,000 people, I get goosebumps thinking about it.

Shawn Lealos: You know, you mentioned things hurt more now. I think it was either Matt or Nick Jackson who said the same thing to me when I talked to them a while back. Is that the adrenaline from the crowd? It makes you not notice the bumps when you’re taking them? Is that what you mean when you say it hurts worse?

Brodie Lee: I think so. This way, when I fall down, I can hear it. I can feel it. There’s nothing I guess, distracting me or taking me out of that moment. And I wonder if other professional sports, if that is the thing too. When a hockey player gets crashed into the boards, and there’s no huge reaction or a football player gets crushed. There’s no huge reaction. Does it take away? I don’t know, or does it hurt more?

But like I said, I think it just took some adjustment. And now my energy levels at least are on par with crowd levels. But yeah, everything hurts a bit more with the things that used to hurt, and maybe this could be my age also, the things that used to hurt a day or two later now hurt an hour or two later.

Shawn Lealos: With Florida, you know that they lifted their restrictions. And I’m not sure how close you guys are to getting more fans in there. Have you heard anything about that? And if so, are you ready to have the fans back in the audience watching?

Brodie Lee: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know exactly where we stand with upping the numbers. I believe we’re at 50% capacity as of right now. And even that you can hear a murmur even at the quietest times that doesn’t exist when there’s nobody there — even that is awesome. I think as long as they can do it safely and following CDC guidelines, I’m excited for as big as we can go, but that’s up to them. That’s above my paygrade

Shawn Lealos: Not to bring back bad memories but you just lost the TNT championship back to Cody. So what’s next for Mr. Brodie Lee and The Dark Order now?

Brodie Lee: I talked a lot to two of my guys about the way we – everybody – is going to have a loss. There’s losses that happen in life, and that’s what a lot of life is, but it’s how you handle it how you move forward. That said, I don’t exactly know. I’ve now lost two title matches in AEW. When I lost the World Championship match to Moxley, that was crushing. But now having TNT title taken away from me in the fashion that it was – I left pieces of my soul in an AEW ring last week on TV, so mentally, physically, recovering, going to the drawing board. I don’t know. As of now, I’m in a bit of a tailspin, honestly.

Shawn Lealos: Well, I’ve enjoyed your run so far. I mean, I’ve been a fan since I first discovered you in Ring of Honor. So it’s been a long time, and I just I’ve enjoyed watching you finally get what you’ve been working for this entire time. And I wish you nothing but the best in AEW because it’s really fun watching you wrestle again.

Brodie Lee: I really appreciate that. I wish my Ring of Honor run was a bit better at the time.

Shawn Lealos: Yeah, I was a pretty big Ring of Honor fan back then. So everything was was pretty cool for me at the time.

Brodie Lee: Yeah, I honestly like how my career trajectory happened. Every big promotion, I got to like I came in with a lot of fanfare had a good few months. And then for some reason, I never got past that. Ring of Honor. Dragon Gate USA, WWE, I would always get to that level and then not progress. So AEW is the first time that it’s happened. And so it’s new to me. And it’s I say this all the time in interviews, but I literally think people can tell that I’m excited and happy to be in front of a camera again and like through the TV, like I’m emoting that to people because it’s all real.

Shawn Lealos: And it’s got to be nice to have a little bit more control now than you probably ever had before.

Brodie Lee: It’s unreal, like when they say, hey, you have two minutes to do a promo. And it’s like, Okay, well what do you want? And they go, What do you want? Then? It’s like holy shit. And then from there it goes, you know, we’re following the stories and nobody is going crazy and doing their own thing and because people are looking at an end goal of like I talked about making history, so it’s awesome.

The post AEW: Brodie Lee Interview appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

Shawn S. Lealos: I guess I wanted to start off a little bit talking about after you left WWE, you chose to go to AEW, which was brand new had not even started a show yet. What made you decided to choose a new company that was just getting started over the other options at the time?

Shawn Spears: I think the biggest thing for me was being a part of something groundbreaking. You know, in my over 18 years experience, there hasn’t been many firsts, left and for me, especially this was going to be one of those firsts. So, that was a very, very big selling point for me. And I was able to see and kind of feel the excitement that was building around this with no insider information. I had no exact scoop of what was going to take place and how things were going to kind of unfold

But I can see the excitement building in the audience. And that was kind of like one of the biggest selling points. So there was a few things that accumulated into the making that decision to go to AEW.

Lealos: It reminds me a lot of the 90s when ECW started – to have the fans chanting ECW over chanting wrestler’s names – and then when TNA first started with a weekly PPV, it was the same thing. People wanted an alternative; they wanted something different. What do you think is the biggest goal with AEW on giving the fans something that they haven’t seen before, because you mentioned starting something new.

Spears: You mentioned the word that’s been mentioned throughout its birth, which is an alternative. I think the audience has been ready for something since the 90s, since the 80s, and we’re following a beautiful long tradition of professional wrestling.

And we’re modifying things. And we’re upgrading things. And we’re showing the world new talent. And we’re showing the world new ideas. And we’re just kind of throwing everything that we can out there for the audience to consume and decide whether they like it or not. And that’s the beautiful thing about professional wrestling is that it’s subjective.

You know, you have the God-given right to like what you see or not. That’s the beautiful option. And that’s the beautiful thing that we like, in order to kind of test ourselves to our audience is that today in the world of professional wrestling, so we want to stay current, we want to give them the best possible product that we can. And, you know, we’re gonna kill ourselves doing our best to do that.

Lealos: You also mentioned starting something new, and when you went there, you made a drastic change. I mean, it seemed like, for a long time, you had fans behind you, but it seemed like, through creative you were just kind of spinning your wheels. You weren’t making any momentum in WWE.

So you sign with AEW and you immediately made a huge change. By turning heel, the chair shot to Cody when you first showed up. Walk me through turning babyface Tye Dillinger into heel Shawn Spears, when you went to AEW

Spears: I think it was important – it was a chance to refresh. It was kind of a chance to stand back for a minute and hit the reset button. And you know what I was doing for, you know, X amount of years was working, it was great. But I felt like it was an opportunity to kind of have a clean slate. And in the conversations that I had, with, you know, different people in AEW, I realized that a lot of this was on me, Hey, what do you want to do? How do you want to do this? What is the presentation that you want to convey to the world? That was neat to me. That was, “Oh wow. Okay, so I have options? What about this, this, this, and this?”

And, you know, through collaborations and different ideas and input, you know, we were able to kind of hit the ground running hot. And again, that’s one of the very big selling points for me and it was like, “you’ve been doing this for a while you know what you’re doing.”

Here’s a chance to kind of kick it into high gear if you want. But you got to put in the work, you have to, you know, you got to hit the ground running here as well, we’re with you, but you know, what do you have to offer? So it was a good challenge for me. And at this stage of my career, I enjoy being challenged. I think it forces me to step up my game without thinking about it.

Those kinds of things. You know, like I said, that’s what you look for over 18 years. You want to stay current, you want to stay relevant, you want to keep pushing and you want to see what your capabilities are and I get to do that here.

Lealos: You know, you mentioned how long you’ve been wrestling, but you’re still young, especially when you look at a lot of wrestlers out there on the top right now. Who have you looked at when it comes to this heel turn? Whether it’s your contemporaries or people from before when it comes to your mannerisms, your promos?

Spears:  Oh, man, like, you mentioned being young. 18 years goes by fast but yeah, but I do feel really good. Like, I’ll be 40 next year. Yeah, but I feel really good. And for that reason, as we kind of touched on it when you talk about guys being on top, I haven’t been in the main event spot. So I haven’t really done, you know, 20-minute 30-minute matches every night for 567 years. So my body feels great. Health-wise, I can do this for I don’t know how long – I feel great. So thank you for reminding me about how my body feels.

In terms of mannerisms, I grew up watching guys like Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude. You know, you’re talking about the 80s and 90s. Some of those guys are just top-notch entertaining heels and I thought they were incredible talents. And, you know, some stuff nowadays can be considered over the top. But at the end of the day, we’re entertainment like I love entertaining an audience. So I get the opportunity to be over the top if I want to draw from those guys, specifically.

Rick Martel is another big, big inspiration of mine nowadays. I kind of lean more towards Tully [Blacnhard]’s teachings. He’s been very instrumental on how to go about doing things in the ring, how to present yourself outside of the ring. You know, Randy Orton is another guy that I worked with, and I admired the way he’s kind of carried himself and changed different small mannerisms, but that made a huge difference in his work.

Those are probably the main guys I draw from nowadays – probably mainly being Tully. As you know, he’s in my ear 24-seven. So, when you have a guy like that on your side, you can’t really do wrong.

Lealos: You know, when I was started watching wrestling when I was a teenager, I was a Four Horsemen guy. It was Crockett promotions. So yeah, Tully seemed to be the guy that I could never see as a babyface. He was just, oh my God, he was a perfect heel. He had a manager with JJ Dillon, but he was still someone who could cut promos and talk. What have you gotten from Tully since you started working with him? What kind of advice has he given you when it comes to getting yourself over and making the fans want to see you get your butt kicked every week.

Spears: A lot of that is patience. Patience is one thing. Timing is another thing. I guess they kind of go hand in hand a little bit and making the most out of opportunities; making the most of your minutes, so to speak. So when you are out there, it’s an opportunity for the audience to either engage with you – to believe in you or not believe in you. And all those things we’re very cautious of when we go out and present our pairing to the world.

There’s been some good advice behind the scenes that he’s given me that I’m not going to share with you only because I don’t want other talents to know it. Because I’m still using it to this day, but maybe a little more, you know, down the road, I can kind of share that wisdom with you. But he’s been very instrumental in trying to build this new Shawn Spears persona and how it’s being presented in AEW, how it’s being presented to the world. If you look at what I do and how I work in the ring, it’s methodical. It’s a little old school, it kind of pulls from Tully.

If I was out there, flipping all over the place and doing 450s and springboards and all that kind of stuff, which is incredibly athletic, which a lot of our talent can do very, very well, it wouldn’t fit, it wouldn’t make sense. So the style that I have is kind of pulled from a lot of those old-school guys. So there’s little mannerisms. I’m glad you picked up on it. That is really kind of hone in on the work and kind of look into how I go about doing things. A lot of that is Tully-based.

Lealos: You know, you mentioned making the minutes coun. We’re in a really weird period in the world right now. And you guys are trying to have to make these empty arena shows work. And you know, I watch everything, I watch all wrestling, and I’ve noticed AEW is honestly putting on a more entertaining show that just seems to fly by every week. What is it that you guys are doing that you think is making your show work so well, without the fans there to give their part?

Spears: Yeah, you mentioned earlier that, you know, we’re doing your best to have to put on a good show, we obviously want to put on an empty arena show because we still want to be able to perform in some capacity to our audience watching from home. I think once this kind of all passes, I think we as professional wrestlers are going to have brand new respect, a brand new appreciation for our live audience. And in turn, I believe they’re going to enjoy themselves in a live atmosphere, even more so than they have before.

But that dynamic of professional wrestling, it goes hand in hand. There’s nothing like a live show. You’ve been studying and watching it and like you said, You watch everything. So I assume you’ve been to many live shows. And I think you can agree when the show is off the hook. There’s nothing like live. It’s incredible. Yeah.

Having said that, now in the situation that the world is in. I personally love being out there. As an audience member, I have such a good time. If you’ve seen any of the stuff that I’ve done with MJF and Tully gambling at ringside, and holding up signs and doing all that kind of stuff, like, as a performer that is just as important for me as being in the ring, as having a microphone in my hand standing in the center of the ring. All that goes hand in hand because it’s performing.

And again, it gives the audience a little bit of something different. Like, why are these guys? Why are these wrestlers sitting in the audience? And why are they heckling at this guy and that guy? I think it just brings a different little, you know, addition to the overall show, you know, and then all of a sudden, you know, you’re watching a wrestling match and it cuts to a trailer and there’s Jericho and Spears and a few other guys yelling at a TV screen watching from behind the scenes. It’s just, it’s unexpected, and it gives our audience something that they might not have seen in 20, 30, 40 years that, you know, we pulled the curtain.

That’s just a little bit to bring them in. And that’s all we want to do is bring our audience in. So I personally am going to steal every little bit of camera time that I can. So if I have to sit in the audience to do that, you damn right, I’m going to go – it’s a blast. And, you know, Hell, I might even be doing it tomorrow night on Dynamite.

Lealos: I noticed that you, MJF, Britt Baker, you guys have taken every opportunity in the audience. I mean, I see the camera flipping to you guys all the time. You’re out there cheering on whoever Cody’s fighting, you know, telling them to go and everything and it just, it seems to add something that we would have never gotten if it wasn’t for the empty audience shows because it gives you more screen time than you would have gotten if it was the audience that we were expecting to see in the front rows.

Spears: And that was a Tony Kahn idea. The night before I went out there in the audience for the very first time, he called the night before. We talked about it. He said go out there and have some fun. I go, I’m in, sounds fantastic. So I was a Tony Khan idea and it’s been a staple in our shows ever since. But as a talent, and if any young talents are listening to this right now, that’s a huge opportunity. That’s camera time. And if you’re on Dynamite on TNT, that’s live camera time. You can get a character over more so in the audience than you might be able to in a ring.

So I see that as an opportunity. And clearly, like you said, If myself and MJF and Britt Baker are your standouts, the camera keeps coming to us. There’s a reason for that. So I am well aware of that, I’m sure Britt is and I know MJF is, so you know, those are opportunities in themselves for young talent.

Lealos: What do you see the future with this pandemic with people I guess, you know, they’re saying people might be scared to go back into the live settings and everything. What do you see the future looking like for professional wrestling thanks to what’s happening right now in the world?

Spears: I think it’s going to get back to what it was, I really believe that once things pass and when things get back to normal, maybe the rest of it might even kick in better. And that goes back to what I mentioned before about us having a brand new appreciation for having an audience there for us because when they’re not there, you know, you feel the bumps a little bit more, you feel yourself getting a little more tired, because the adrenaline, even though it’s still pumping, it’s not pumping, you know, probably as much as it would be if there was a live audience in attendance.

But on the flip side of that, I think, you know, if you piled in a car and you go to an AEW show with all your buddies there, and I mean, you had a beer or two and you get to yell at whoever you want, you get the chair for wherever you want, you get to chant, like those moments are, you know, friend-making moments, they’re, you know, they’re what you’re talking about the next day at the watercooler. They’re family moments where you guys can talk about it for weeks, months, and years afterward. I think people are going to get back to that.

Obviously, first and foremost, for AEW – safety, safety is key. So we want our audience and anybody who ever plans on attending an AEW show to feel more than comfortable and safe when attending. So, I believe that once things kick back in, it’s going to be slow. It’s going to be slow in terms of when everybody gets comfortable, and everybody kind of eases back into things, which is completely understandable and completely logical, in my opinion, personally. But yeah, I think we’re going to get right back to where we kind of left off, it just might take some time. But professional wrestling is not going anywhere anytime soon. And, you know, I said this before all this kind of kicked in. This is a hell of a time for the industry. It’s a wonderful time for the industry. And it’s a time that I’m not going to see again in my entering career, so I’m just enjoying this process.

I’m enjoying having the opportunity to perform. And I cannot wait to see our audience again.

Lealos: One last thing I wanted to ask you, I noticed yesterday you took to Twitter and you were giving Cody a hard time you know you were making fun of Star Wars fans, you were making fun of May the Fourth be with you and all that. How, how fun is it to get onto social media? And I mean MJF, he’s like the master, but How fun is it to just get onto social media and just have fun and mess with fans and play around in that because that never existed 20 years ago, How How fun is that for you as a performer to get on there and just interact in those situations.

Spears: Social media kind of changed the game for everything across the board. Especially in you know, the sporting world because you know, things can be spoilers and all that kind of stuff, but it’s kind of like that for television shows and everything across the board In terms of being able to connect with an audience, it is second to none. For certain guys that might not get the microphone time or the television time, like it’s still a way to engage with an audience is still a way to, you know, kind of build a platform as to who you are in this industry, build a persona or get your persona out there more.

I personally have a great time kicking out on social media, I do give certain people a hard time. And when you say MJF is the master – come on Shawn. He’s cut and dry. What you see is what you get. You know, when you look at that guy, he’s a little pompous. He’s over the top. He’s young. He’s a kid. He’s got time. All right. When I give people a hard time and kick around it, half the time when I get, you know, rebuttals, or when people say a lot of negative things or what can be taken as negative things, you know, they’re just fans of professional wrestling.

If you do check out their profiles, it’s like, Oh, I love AEW and I’m a huge gamer, and you know, they just want to engage, and especially during this time, I am more than happy to do so. So, as much as it can be, you know, spoilers are leaked out ahead of time. And you’re kind of like, I wish I hadn’t read that. On the flip side of it, there’s no better way to engage with an audience than there is on social media. So that’s why we at AEW are just all over that all the time. You know, just reminding everybody of the wonderful product that we get.

Lealos: Excellent. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. I’m really I’m enjoying your new character. I think it’s a huge refresh after watching you for so many years, you know, in WWE, like once every couple of months. I mean, with this heel persona, it just seems like you’re – I don’t want to say happier, but it just seems like you’re more. I’m seeing that in your performance and I’m really enjoying it.

Spears: I appreciate that. I signed a three-plus-year deal that you ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait, we’re just getting on the ground running. Don’t you worry. Patience. Patience.

The post AEW: Shawn Spears Exclusive Interview appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

This paranormal show is very different from shows like Ghost Adventures. Instead of heading in with equipment, trying to see or hear paranormal entities, The Dead Files is set up as more of a true-crime series — but with spirits.

Amy Allan is a physical medium who heads into a home to see and speak to the spirits there.

However, up to a month before Amy shows up, Steve DiSchiavi arrives in town and researches the location. As a former NYPD homicide detective and a private investigator, Steve interviews, researches, and talks to experts to find out what could have caused the problems to begin with.

Then, in the end, the two come together to discuss their findings and compare notes. Together, they help the people discover the root and cause of their paranormal activity and advise them on what they should do to help.

Shawn Lealos: Before you started The Dead Files, you were a detective for 21 years; you were a marine. Did you believe in the paranormal at that time?

Steve DiSchiavi: Well to answer your question, I mean, I never been what I would call a total skeptic. I consider myself an open-minded skeptic. I’ve always thought there was something going on. I never ever in my life up until today, never experienced anything. I never disregarded it. I never didn’t believe there was something paranormal.

Even when you grow up Catholic, it is always that you know – you die, you go to heaven, if bad, you go to purgatory, if not you went to hell, and then that’s the way I was raised.

But as far as believing 110% jumping in, and then believing everything everybody says – absolutely not. So, I consider myself more of a skeptic of human beings than I am of the paranormal.

Shawn: You went from being a private investigator, working for the fraud department at Merrill Lynch, into doing this. What made you decide you wanted to start working in this paranormal investigation area?

Steve: Well, it took a lot of convincing at first, to be honest with you. When Jim Casey, along with the production company who owns the show, reached out to me, we had done some other projects involving just private investigation, nothing to do with the paranormal.

So, he reached out to me with this. I was like because there’s no way in hell I’m gonna do a paranormal show — that’s just not me.

Then when we discussed how it would work, and then when we did the sizzle, it got interesting to me because I didn’t have to be part of the whole paranormal end of it. I could do like a pragmatic investigation that involved basically witness stuff and facts. So, I thought that was pretty cool.

To this day, you know, 13 seasons later, that’s the way it is, you know. I do my thing, she does hers. And it works. You know, I don’t get involved in her stuff. She doesn’t get involved in mine. But when you put the two together, it comes out for a good case.

Shawn: You know, it’s interesting because for people who are new to the paranormal mystery shows, you look at Ghost Adventures, and they have all the equipment, trying to hear things and see things. Your show is angled more of like a true crime show, you know a mystery show like a true crime documentary. That makes you very unique

Steve: It’s funny. I tell people it’s a docudrama; I don’t tell them it’s a paranormal show. It’s almost like a documentary with all the history stuff. And you know, people ask, why don’t we use the equipment things that you mentioned?

I’m like, if you have somebody who can actually see and talk to dead people, why do you need the equipment, right?

Shawn: My wife’s kind of an addict to the true crime shows. And she loves The Dead Files, where I don’t think she would appreciate some of the other paranormal shows. So, it’s bringing in people who normally wouldn’t watch paranormal shows because it’s very different.

Steve: Yeah. I find a lot of couples are able to watch it. You know, and I don’t want to sound sexist or anything, but a lot more females are interested in the paranormal than men. It’s just the way it is, right? And I find a lot of men that don’t believe in the paranormal whatsoever will sit and watch the show with their wives or girlfriends.

They’re interested in the history part of it. So, you know, it’s not just for one type of a person. You’re gonna love it if you love the paranormal, you’re gonna love it if you like the history. It makes the audience a lot broader in that sense.

Shawn: Jim Casey said that Amy goes in blind, she knows nothing about the case. She doesn’t even know what city she’s going to. That way nothing can influence her. Tell me a little bit about your process compared to that. How do you go into each episode’s case?

Steve: Well, my stuff starts way before we even get to the property, you know, pulling deeds and chain of title, and stuff like that. So, my process starts way before. Then, reaching out to historians to help out on the location and genealogists that help us.

Anytime that I come across a client and research before we even get there, I’ll try to reach out to a local cop to see if he knows anything about it and if he could pull any records. My end of it starts way before we even hit the location. There’s a lot involved.

Then, when you get there, you don’t know where it’s going to take you, as far as what the witnesses are going to tell you. So, you gotta figure out that sometimes out of nowhere, the witness will tell me, “well, you know I heard that a woman hung herself in the basement.” Yet, I didn’t find anything about that.

Then I gotta start looking even closer into something like that. closer and something like that. So, there’s always a monkey wrench thrown in somewhere, but to answer your question, my process starts at least 30 days before we even hit a location.

Shawn: So, on this Coming episode, you guys are going to help a couple who own a bar, a family bar that came down from his father. It’s not a house, it’s more a place where there’s a lot of people who could get hurt in these situations. How do you deal with trying to convince them that it’s time to leave if they resist?

Steve: Well, you know what, I’m so used to people not helping themselves. You know, help me help you. That’s the thing. I’m trying to help you, but you’re not listening. Listen, I was 25 years working in the streets, trying to help somebody. They don’t want to listen, and there’s only so much you can do. They take your advice, great, but I’ve learned not to take it personal.

And that’s just from being a cop for so many years. If I took it personal, I’d come home and, you know, sob every night. It’s just that I care for these people, and to see them not really understanding that. Listen, you know, your family is more important than a building, your family is more important than a business, a family and people are more important than a house.

I just got home yesterday from an investigation in Iowa. And the guy with me, he’s like, I don’t care what the story is. I’m not leaving my house. Right. Are you listening to yourself? You know, they’ll probably cut it out of the episode, but I had to get in his face. I’m like, you got two kids, and your wife is being terrorized. Are you telling me your house is more important and your family? And he kind of looked at me, oh, no, I’m not saying that. Well, you are saying it, you just told me that.

Sometimes I kind of look at these people and I’m like, I get it. Listen, when it comes to finances, I totally get it. But if you say to me, I don’t know if I can afford to do it, I’ll do what I have to do – that I get.  But when you’re like, but I love my house too much. I’m not leaving it. You’re more concerned about you and your house than your family?

So, when you call people on the carpet like that, they kind of take a look at themselves. But, I’m right in the guy’s face, saying, you know, you sound like a real dick. You might want to rethink about what you’re saying.

Shawn: This week. It’s a big thing. It’s the Native American curse from the Seminoles that was massacred in that town on that land. I mean, that also talks about the history. You’re talking about the history of that land. I believe you said it was the worst Native American massacre.

Steve: The Native Americans – really, both sides. It’s amazing. You know, I was never much into school when I was in school. But you know, what I know about learning history today, I mean, history is fascinating. And it’s amazing the stuff that people went through, that we really all should just take a second and think about what people went through and how good we got it today.

Shawn And, you know, this case makes it a lot bigger than just someone died here, can we cleanse it? There’s nothing that can be done. Everything’s just going to be temporary. And they soldiered on and that’s kind of scary when you think you know there are customers who are going to come in there, there’s employees, this is gonna be a dangerous place for a long time.

Steve: With them, this was such a sweet couple. They basically told everybody that comes in there that there is s**t going on here. You know, be aware of it. I guess if you’re one of those people who are afraid of it, don’t come in. Basically, they lay it on the line for the customers, and everybody knows them in town. Everybody knows what stuff’s going on. So, it’s one of those things like you know, you’ve given them disclaimer, good for you at least.

Shawn: What, you’ve been doing this for quite a while now. What case scared you the most when it came to the actual supernatural elements involved?

Steve: I’ve never actually been scared or afraid of anything that people told me about. I’ve never had an experience ever in my life. So, nothing’s gonna scare me. What scares me more is what the people are going through, and not being able to help. That bothers me more than you know not – scares me is not a good word. I am scared for them.

For me, it’s, Christ, we’re coming up on almost 200 episodes. So, you know, it’s hard to pinpoint one particular, but you know, when you look at like crime victims, like I always say, it’s hard to not empathize with people, even though you don’t understand what they’re going through. So, my fear factor is more for them, than for myself.

Shawn: You look at the premiere episode of the season and you have the couple with the two little girls that they adopted – their grandchildren they adopted. That would seem to be frightening because you have children, barely older than toddlers, who could be in danger.

Steve: It’s almost like child abuse in a sense, but nobody, nobody living doing the abuse – it’s the paranormal. So that’s the fearful part that. You know, if a guy walked into my house with a gun or a knife, I can handle it, right? I’ll take care of that. How do you handle something you can’t see?

That would scare me. That would frustrate me to no end. I feel for these people, especially when you’re trying to do the right thing by adopting kids. They took the kettle to the frying pan.

Shawn: I would assume in the beginning you were skeptical, possibly of Amy’s ability to talk to the dead and see the dead. When was it you started to believe this?

Steve: No. Actually, after we did the first sizzle together, we did it with a bunch of other mediums. I was sold on Amy right at that sizzle. And I called the producer, I said, listen, I’m interested in doing the show and there were five other female medians at this sizzle. And the only one that had any kind of chops and had any – for me to say, you know, this just seems legit and she’s really, really good. I told them, I’ll do it but only if she’s in it. If she’s not in it, I’m not gonna bother because the other ones didn’t show me anything

Shawn: So, you were involved first. And then she came on after that?

Steve: No, actually, they were trying to get a show involving a female medium, but they wanted to find a way to bring some facts into it. So, Jim had worked with me prior, trying to get me on a TV show as far as a private investigator goes, and nothing to do the paranormal.

And he called me and then he pitched this thing to me, and I kind of turned him down at first. And then he convinced me to come meet Amy and the rest of the girls, and you know, we’ll do a pilot and see what happens. And that was it. You know, I didn’t think it was gonna go anywhere, I didn’t think it was gonna go past the first season to be honest.

She’s the real deal.

Shawn: When you’re investigating a murder case, I assume it should be pretty easy to get experts and people to talk to you about it. Do you find it more difficult when it comes to a show like The Dead Files to get people to take you seriously when you call them and want to talk to them?

Steve: Early on, we had a tough time, especially trying to get law enforcement to talk to me about an old murder was really tough. But now that we’ve been on, and we can say just watch a couple of shows on YouTube or whatever, once they see how we work and how the concept is, then most of the time, they’re more than willing to help out and talk about stuff on TV.

Oh, yeah, we had a tough time. It really was tough.

But, you know, our credibility – the show has a lot of credibility, it’s not one of those – like, I’m not gonna mention any names, but it’s not one of those shows where people walk around and bump and scare each other and that’s it. Our show is a lot more, I’d say more professional, is the best word I can use. You know, it’s more professional in its approach.

I think that appeals to law enforcement to get more involved. My background makes it a little bit easier as well.

Shawn: You’ve talked to a lot of people – you mentioned 200 episodes, so hundreds of people. What kind of advice would you give people if they started to feel that there was something wrong in their home? How they should try to deal with this?

Steve: That’s a tough question, for me. That’s more of an Amy question.

The only reason being is, because of the paranormal, I have zero advice to give people. I could tell people listen, do some research on your house, go down to the municipal building, get your block and lot number, do a chain of title, find out who owned the home prior, do some newspaper research and see who might have died in the house.

As far as the paranormal goes, if they were going to bring somebody in – and this is only quoting Amy – make sure that they’re reputable, right. A lot of people come to these homes and are just there to get their jollies off. They’re not gonna have no interest in helping anybody. They are more interested in, “look what happened to me or look what I saw or what I heard?”

They’re not genuine and want to help people. So that’s where you got to be careful. I tell people if your gonna employ a paranormal group to do investigation in your home, be very careful and be very diligent on how you pick people. It’s very important.

The investigation we just did, they brought in a team a few years back, and right after they left, everything went crazy in the house. They just made it worse.

Shawn: Well, thank you for your time. I’m enjoying the new season and like I said, I got my wife hooked on it and she’s loving it now.

Steve: I appreciate you even wanting to interview me and your support of the show, and thank your wife for me as well.

The post The Dead Files Interview: Steve DiSchiavi appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

Over a year before AEW Dynamite took the air, these wrestlers tested the waters with a PPV called All In and it was such a major success that AEW formed just months later. After a series of PPV events, AEW Dynamite premiered on TNT and has become a huge success for the network.

With veterans like the Young Bucks, Cody, Omega, Chris Jericho, and more onboard, it has become must-see television and has created its own Wednesday Night Wars with WWE’s NXT brand.

Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson, the brothers who team up as the Young Bucks, took the time to talk to Shawn S. Lealos about what makes AEW Dynamite different from the competition, what has surprised them most about developing their own company, and what fans can expect from AEW in the future.

Shawn S. Lealos: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. I’d like to start off talking to you about the success of Wednesday night wrestling. Last Wednesday night’s live ratings showed 1.7 million people watching wrestling live, between AEW and NXT. What is it you guys are offering on Wednesday nights that people aren’t seeing on Mondays and Fridays?

Matt Jackson: Right off, like right out of the gate for me, I don’t even watch Mondays. That’s a harder question for me to answer, but I can tell you what we are bringing that maybe, from what I’ve seen on Twitter, or people told me that the other show isn’t doing.Sign up for our Wrestling newsletter! 

We have great wrestling matches and, you know, you can watch four to five, even sometimes six matches on the show, and these matches are all going the distance. We’re always going to have a clear victor in these matches there’s no BS finishes. It’s great pro wrestling with a payoff conclusion.

And I think it’s crazy because that’s what wrestling really is like, right? You know, historically back in the day, that’s what wrestling always was. And somehow it kind of became this really super soapy thing with these two finishes in every match. And really, it seems crazy, but it’s like we advertise something and then we go ahead and give the people what we advertise. It sounds nuts, right? But, so far, it’s working.

But I think that, right out of the gate, that’s one thing we’re doing. And if I can speak for Nick and I — tag team wrestling. You know, I don’t know the last time tag team wrestling has been so prominent on the scene. When was the last time it was the main event on a television show? I don’t know. You know, we did this tournament that was really successful. A lot of people liked it, and it established a lot of teams and it just feels like tag team wrestling is back.

I can’t really tell you how the tag wrestling’s been on Mondays and Fridays, but I can tell you that on our show, it’s definitely something that’s featured.

Nick Jackson: We’re trying to provide a whole division of those types of tag teams. We don’t necessarily want single stars joined together for just no reason. We want that dynamic to be back and to create just great tag team wrestling.

Shawn: When AEW started, a lot of people wondered if The Elite were gonna just put themselves over like the nWo or the Kliq. When you look at your first month plus the first pay per view, it seems it’s the other way around. You guys are putting over so many great young talents, whether it’s Private Party or MGF cutting probably the most amazing promo I’ve heard in a long time this last Wednesday night. What is it that you guys are doing as the big dogs to help put the younger talent over that no one’s seen before?

Nick Jackson: I feel like most of the audience that we have, have seen the Young Bucks wrestle and has seen Cody, has seen Kenny, and the acts like that. So, it’s important for us to help out the lesser acts that haven’t been on television at all or the mainstream audience hasn’t seen. Like you mentioned, Matt and I wrestling Private Party. I felt like, and I think the whole company agreed with us, after that match, we got backstage and we felt like we made those guys into stars overnight.

It’s funny because we have this argument with Tony all the time. And Tony was right about it. He goes, “if I didn’t have final say on who wins and who loses, you guys would be 0-10 by now.” It’s true because, in a very selfish business, Matt and I have never really been selfish. We’ve always looked out for other talents and other wrestlers because we almost get more out of helping others than helping ourselves at this point.

Even before we were in AEW, I just feel like if you could make someone as big as you are, then it only makes the company better.

Shawn: You guys have people like Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson, Jerry Lynn, DDP backstage, or at least on call. How much are they doing, helping the younger talents when it comes to a major TV show and to promo work, telling a story inside of the ring? What kind of hand do they have in the company?

Matt Jackson: So much. We have a really young roster, you know, and there really aren’t that many, you know, veteran wrestlers in the back. I mean, it’s funny now, someone pointed this out to us the other day, I think it was Jericho. He’s talking to Nick and I and said, “you guys realize you’re like the older wrestlers now right? You guys are the veterans,” and we’re like God, when did this happen?

You know, like, it’s so weird you know? We find ourselves being the ones giving the advice and helping out, and at the same time, you know, in wrestling you never stop learning. Like, the other day Dean Malenko ran a seminar before the show, and we all just sat under his learning tree and listened. Some of the stuff I’d heard for the first time and some of the stuff I’ve been hearing my entire career, you know.

It’s fun to sit there with younger guys. One of the Private Party kids is 22 or 23. These guys are so young and they’re hearing it for the first time but it’s nice to sit there all as one, we’re all equals, and we all learn together. And I think it’s never bad to ask any question for any of these guys. Like, we’ve also had Tommy Dreamer help out in the back and that guy is a wealth of knowledge. As far as live television goes, I don’t know if anybody’s as experienced as Chris Jericho.

So, Nick and I have had learned a lot about what it means to hit your times and when to do a certain spot, and commercial breaks, and how to entertain a live house during those three-minute breaks. Two minutes and 50 seconds could drag on forever but Chris Jericho is the master at selling those times and keeping everybody engaged and how to come back from break and have the people on their feet so it looks like it’s just been an exciting three minutes. So much of that these guys are the masters of because they’ve been working live television for decades.

You know, we’ve had a long career. Kenny, myself and Nick, we’ve been doing this close to 16 years now. But, you know, we have very minimal live television experience. So, it’s really been fun, actually, for me to have this new challenge. For a while. It’s like, we’re doing the same thing for so many years on the independents or in Japan, and we kind of mastered it, it felt like for a while. And now it’s this new huge thing that we’re working on, and I can’t wait to say that I mastered this.

Shawn: I was watching Wednesday night. MJF, I’m pretty sure he’s 23. Chris Jericho has been wrestling longer than MJF has been alive and the two of them face-to-face cut a huge great promo in that ring. How do promos work in AEW? I know you guys don’t script them, but do you just send them out there with Cliff Notes and saying, you know, this is your chance?

Nick Jackson: Pretty much just like you said. We give them pointers of what direction their character’s going with and what type of feud they are going forward with and pretty much say, “Hey, go hit a home run.”

Man, that was a money segment, I’ll tell you this — it’s hard to, like, know how long your promos going. That one in particular, the MJF and Jericho one, they went over the time that we gave them by like a few minutes. So, we actually had to cut some of Pac and Hangman’s match at the last minute. But that was such a money segment that no one told them to rush it because they were doing such a good job.

Shawn: I noticed there’s been some changes since the first episode in the pacing of the shows. You guys mentioned before that you pay attention to fans and what they’re saying online, their criticism, their praise, and so forth. That’s kind of hard to do, because, for every fan that loves Chris Jericho, there’s a fan that doesn’t want them in the company. It’s hard to make everyone happy. How do you measure that out when you’re listening to the fans online and making your decisions on changes to make when it comes to your show?

Nick Jackson: I was just gonna say right off the bat, we saw the criticism that The Librarian Peter Avalon had and we knew that it was going to be hated online, at least. But, we knew if they just allowed us to keep going with the story that they would get natural heat from the audience. And he debuted like four to six months ago and now he gets heat every time he comes out.

So, some of the things the fans just have to be patient with and some things we’ll see, and we’ll know right away what to change.

Matt Jackson:  I was just gonna say that we love surveying and kind of looking at things and just try to see what people like and try to gauge it. At the same time, some of the stuff you do have to take with a grain of salt. I don’t know if there’s any other industry in the world with this many trolls that there are. I know that every show probably gets them, but man wrestling gets a lot of these people.

So, like, for example, sometimes someone will be completely hated online, but then it doesn’t translate when you’re out there with the live audience. Like, that might be the most over person on the show. So, it’s like, you really have to pick and choose what actually you want to take. Because sometimes some of the stuff is just not even worth reading. But sometimes you get really healthy criticism and you want to take things a different direction because of it.

But for us, it’s like, we kind of are still trying to find our footing with this. Like, we don’t want to have a set format, we want to always kind of trick the fans into thinking one way and giving them a different way. And we really want the show to be unpredictable, like we don’t want to fall into the same routine and formula.

That’s one thing I think wrestling, classically, does. You get into this routine and you kind of copy and paste and we don’t want to do that. That’s why our shows, sometimes it’s really heavy on the wrestling. And then sometimes it’s really heavy on the stories. I don’t think we really know exactly what we want to do every week. We just know that we want a mixture of both. And we want it to be different than the week before.

Shawn: What are some surprises that you guys have had since you started the show. Maybe things you didn’t expect that you’re like, wow, or things that you didn’t expect. You’re like, oh, we can’t do this.

Nick Jackson: I would say characters getting over right away. Like, we had no clue how popular Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt, and Jungle Boy would get. It seemed like they were on two shows and already were one of the top acts in the company. It was insane. So that’s definitely something that surprised us.

There’s things like that that are so cool to see that catches on so quickly. Another one is the Inner Circle — like how hated they became so quickly. It just shows you that the TV is working because they get booed out of the building every week. It’s crazy.

Shawn: I guess the last question I want to ask — I’m going to be trying to drive down to Texas for the TV show in the DFW area next month. I’ve noticed online — and maybe fans who don’t watch Being the Elite and the other shows don’t see — the after shows where you guys are in the ring. Maybe you guys and Kenny are in the ring, throwing out t-shirts, the fans getting involved. What will fans who come to the shows see that they might not expect if they just watch it on TV?

Matt Jackson: I mean, you just nailed it right there. Like I don’t think anybody does post-show stuff like us. We really wanted our shows to seem like a party and be very interactive. So, if you come to our show, you know, stay till the end. That is the other thing — the end of the show isn’t necessarily the end of the show. We also film our show Dark that airs on YouTube on Tuesday nights, you’re going to get at least two to three extra matches.

And we’re not just throwing out like, I don’t want to use the word “extra” because like, these are badass matches. Like, last week, Nick and I wrestled on Dark before the show was filmed and we wrestled the Strong Hearts and we had a killer match. Like these matches could be on Dynamite, basically, like this isn’t just extra content. We really want to make that show cool and must-see. So, you’re going to get at least two to three extra really competitive awesome matches.

Then stick around until the very end because there’s always some type of extra content being filmed, whether for Being the Elite or just for the house where we come out and give out free merchandise. We do something for every single city and it’s exclusive to that town because, usually, we’re calling it on the fly. And we’re kind of just going out there and having fun.

I know that a lot of fans have told me that that’s their favorite part. And then in most of the towns now we’re setting up meet-and-greets as well. So, if you’re interested in meeting wrestlers, getting a photo op, and getting an autograph, that’s one thing that we’re starting to implement on all of our shows.

AEW Dynamite airs on Wednesday nights at 8/7c on TNT.

The post Exclusive AEW interview with the Young Bucks appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

Brandi is much more than just the wife of a professional wrestler.

Before she debuted in WWE as a talent in 2011, Brandi graduated from the University of Michigan and then moved on to the University of Miami, where she graduated with a Master’s degree in broadcast journalism.

Brandi worked as both a model and as a journalist when WWE invited her to try out and she began training at Florida Championship Wrestling, which later became NXT.

In 2019, All Elite Wrestling began operations and Brandi took her experience in the industry to start to build AEW into something different and special.

Brandi Rhodes took the time to talk to Shawn S. Lealos about her work with making AEW more accessible to special needs kids and adults who have been unable to enjoy professional wrestling events in the past, as well as her intense work to make AEW a more inclusive wrestling promotion inside the ring as well.

Shawn S. Lealos: One of the topics I wanted to really focus on was the sensory inclusive experience at the AEW events that you guys are doing with KultureCity. Could you tell me a little bit about how you originally partnered up with him and how you guys found each other?

Brandi Rhodes: It was actually a pretty easy link up with the KultureCity crew. Julian Maha, who’s their founder, is a very big wrestling fan. So when he got wind of this new organization and kind of what our core values are with inclusivity and diversity, he thought ‘what a great thing this would be if we could partner together and actually be fully inclusive.’

A lot of times when you think about being inclusive, you don’t think about those in those invisible illnesses that a lot of people have like autism, PTSD, people who had strokes and have trouble with lights.

So, he made the first reach out. It was fantastic and gave me his whole pitch. And I was sold on it from the very beginning. So he really didn’t have to pitch too hard. But it’s definitely something that’s been a need in wrestling for a long time. So I’m glad we’re able to bring it to our audience, finally

Shawn: It means a lot to me because my son is on the spectrum. And I took him to a WWE house show and it was like a roller coaster for him. He’d be cheering, and then he’d be in tears. He was overloaded and had a lot of trouble. I thought I’d never be able to take him back to another wrestling show again. Now I hear you guys are doing this. And it kind of excites me because he loves wrestling. When you guys come to the area, what can I expect? What does this provide for him?

Rhodes: Well, it really depends on which show you’re going to and in which arena. Right now we’re working with KultureCity to see how we can make every single arena inclusive and have some sort of room available to people, ideally.

In a lot of the arenas that they’re set up with, they have what is called sensory rooms. They purchased these rooms, they’re set up, they’re noise canceled. They’re already set up with all the items that they need in there for people to be able to go in there for a bit of a retreat to get away from all the action and kind of just have that moment to decompress and then go back out.

But the reality of it is there aren’t that many of those in arenas already. So what KultureCity is working to do right now, and we’re helping them as much as we can, is get into as many arenas as possible.

However, a lot of times these places need to see it in action first before they’re willing to sign up, and, you know, put their name behind it. So what we’re offering a lot of times are travel sensory rooms. KultureCity has a mobile unit that makes it to as many events as they can. And as you can imagine, there’s a lot of demand for concerts and sporting events and different things, so that that mobile unit keeps itself moving pretty quickly.

We were lucky to have it in Jacksonville for our Fight for the Fallen event. But aside from that, we’re looking to kind of put pop-ups in different arenas where they provide a room for us. And then we decorate it how a sensory room would be decorated normally, and it kind of serves in that way.

The other option is a lot of arenas have what they just call sensory bags that you can check out from the gift services area of any arena. And those bags provide you with the noise-canceling headphones, the fidget tools, the cards that allow people who are non-verbal to express how they’re feeling.

Those are more readily available in a lot of arenas, but still not in every arena. So we’re trying to, you know, get the word out, spread the word. And through our event, we’re hoping that doing a lot of these pop-ups will encourage a lot of these arenas to fully sign on and want to do a sensory room.

So you can expect any number of things from any of these. I always tell people now that are looking forward to events, and wanting to go to the events in their area, call your arena. Ask them, hey, do you have anything in place for sensory inclusivity, and if you don’t, the more people that are talking about it these days, the better, because that’s really opening their eyes to these situations and how many people really need this.

That’s just helping us with KultureCity in these pitches. So the more you talk about it, the more you let your local arenas know that this is a need, the easier it is for everyone to get this working.

Shawn: The biggest thing about AEW is the inclusivity. Whether it’s wrestlers like Nyla Rose or Sonny Kiss — traditionally different people are shown as caricatures and gimmicks. AEW seems to just say, this is who this person is. How important was that for you guys to say these people are not gimmicks — this is just who they are.

Rhodes: I think that’s been a lot of our core in acquiring talent is that if we acquired a talent because we liked them, why on earth would we want to change who they are once we get them? Talents are allowed to be authentically who they are.

So, in the case of someone like Sonny Kiss — Sonny is Sonny a thousand percent. There’s no influence from any of our creative team for Sonny to act any sort of way or do any certain moves. That’s just authentically who he is and what he wants to do.

And we like that. So we wouldn’t want to change that. And I think it makes our talent feel very much at home. It also allows them to feel like they can be creative and try different things and do different things for themselves.

And a lot of times if you’re the creator, you’re going to feel it the most, and the fans are going to notice that passion.

Shawn: There is a history of racism and prejudice built into the history of wrestling. Do you see that changing with the work you guys are doing now? Do you see fans are changing and becoming more open and less closed-minded?

Rhodes: I mean, I would hope so. It certainly would be nice to say, hey, I had a hand in helping somebody change their opinions, and they’re changing their minds. But, at the end of the day, I think it’s just that the wrestling fanbase has just become very diverse. And they’re showing up a lot more.

Some folks may have been reluctant to go to events maybe five or 10 years ago, and now they’re feeling like they can go to these events because the wrestling fanbase is not the typical target that you would think. It’s very diverse.

There are a lot more women watching wrestling these days. There are kids watching. There are people in their 50s. Ther are teenagers. There’s a multiracial audience.

So, I think that people are just starting to show up more and enjoy themselves publicly more in watching wrestling.

Shawn: Speaking of women watching more, talk about the women’s division with Riho as champion and the women of AEW stepping up to the challenge.

Rhodes: Well, the great thing about the women’s division is a lot of our talent is pretty new to the scene. So that allows the audience to be there on the ground level with them and kind of watch them grow up on the screen, so to say,

So, they really kind of have it to their advantage that there’s not an already pre-attached expectation to them. So people like Riho and Nyla going out there having that fantastic match, it really shocked people because they didn’t know what to expect from them. And it was just a really heartfelt fantastic showing.

In the interim, yeah, of course, we’re always keeping our eyes open for new talent and there may be some new talent coming to TV, you know, that you may not have seen. But it’s really important for us to focus on the people that we do have that we’ve had from the very beginning.

Like I said, the audience isn’t as familiar with some of our female wrestlers as they are with some of the male wrestlers. So this is really their time to shine. They’re time to get in front of that crowd and tell them who they are, show them what they’re about and start to cultivate their fan bases.

Shawn: Finally, when I come to an event with my family, what can we expect at an AEW show compared to shows up in the past with WWE and promotions like that?

Rhodes: Man, it’s just nonstop action all night. Everything pretty much happens inside that arena. So there aren’t these long pauses where we go to the back and you’re not sure what’s happening.

When Tony Schiovanni does an interview, he does it right there in the ring. It’s right there in the center. You can hear everything, you can see all the action, and it’s really kind of just a really fast-paced SportsCenter event. I think a lot of people are going to start being happy to be a part of it because the energy in the arena is so infectious, people are on their feet the entire time.

They’re thrilled from the very first match to the very last match. And you’ll notice a lot of people stick around because they want to see that very last match — they don’t want to beat the traffic.

So it’s just a really fun kind of family event. So I really do hope that you get a chance to, you know, come with your wife and your son, and just experience it all for yourself.

AEW Dynamite airs every Wednesday night at 8/7c on TNT. For tickets to an event that is coming close to you, visit AEWTIX.COM.

The post AEW Exclusive Interview: Brandi Rhodes talks inclusivity in professional wrestling appeared first on Renegade Cinema.

However, he now calls Ring of Honor his home and is part of the faction Lifeblood — a group that wants to bring honor back to ROH.

He competes this weekend at Death Before Dishonor and is advertised for a three-way match for the ROH TV title with champion Shane Taylor set to defend his belt against Tracy Williams and Flip Gordon.

While that match is in question, Tracy Williams spoke with Shawn S. Lealos about the pay-per-view, the mission of Lifeblood, and his thoughts on the current professional wrestling boom.

Shawn S. Lealos: Before you came to Ring of Honor, you wrestled in a few different places like Chikara and Evolve. What made you choose to go to Ring of Honor rather than follow some of your friends like Drew Gulek to WWE?

Tracy Williams: Ring of Honor, in my eyes, is the company guys that really want to succeed at professional wrestling go to and that’s my strong point. It’s what I love to do and what I thrive at — trying to be the best professional wrestler that I can be. When I came into wrestling 11 years ago, it was the place where guys like Bryan Danielson went to really have no limitations and do the best professional wrestling possible.

That was what I wanted. I wanted that place to continue to exist and continue to have that reputation. And I figured it seemed like the most logical place to aspire to go. Now, it’s on me to prove that Ring of Honor is still what it can be. I am the next generation of the sort of guy that does great professional wrestling that Ring of Honor has always been known for.

Shawn: When Ring of Honor was first starting, they had the Pure title, the shaking of hands before every match. It was about wrestling over everything else. That seems to be what Lifeblood is about — to bring it back to the days when it was all about wrestling? How do you guys plan to fulfill that goal?

Williams: Well, that is definitely the goal. It’s a process that takes different shapes, and there’s going to be lots of bumps in the road and different twists and turns. But that is the idea.

You know, it’s no secret that around the time I came into Ring of Honor, a lot of the other guys left Ring of Honor. The guys in Lifeblood came there, and the company was going through a lot of big changes. And when a company goes through big changes, they have to sort of refine their identity and determine what that is. Show people this is why you come to see our show, and not somebody else’s show.

So, the idea behind Lifeblood was to say wrestling is the identity, what goes on in the ring, you know, it’s going to be the best that you’re going to see. And that’s the long and short of it, the focus. And I think you know, with so many different opportunities for so many wrestlers, and so many different shows to see, it’s a good thing. You know, fans have options. And the more options, the better.

But the thing is, you know, each place has to have its own identity. So, what I’m trying to do, and other guys in Lifeblood, what I’m trying to do is show if you want to see great international wrestling, this is the place to come. It’s a long process. And it’s a work in progress. But that’s what I’m hoping to do.

Shawn: I interviewed Christopher Daniels awhile back, and he said the one thing that Ring of Honor prides itself in is the wrestlers go out on every single show and put give 100% every time and don’t take any show lightly. How true is that is with the new breed of wrestlers in Ring of Honor? Are you guys still going to tear the house down No matter if there are 100 people there or thousands of people watching?

Williams: Yeah, absolutely. That’s still the case. And I mean, especially with guys like myself and a couple of other guys, where you know, we’re coming into these guaranteed contracts coming out of a career on the independents where you never really know what you’re going to get crowd wise, or venue wise, or viewership wise. We come out for the love of doing it. Eventually, you know, obviously, the goal is to get in front of as many people as you can, but I’m used to going balls out in front of double-digit crowds.

That just happens, and it doesn’t affect what you do in the ring at all because we all love it so much, everybody there. So, signing onto Ring of Honor with an exclusive contract like this, it doesn’t matter which events, no matter what the crowd size is? A pay-per-view, a live event, if it’s streaming, these are my chances to show what I do in professional wrestling. And that’s pretty much it.

So yeah, the guys like me and everybody else in Ring of Honor with contracts or are trying to get one is going to take every opportunity that they can to get out there, whether it’s in front of double digits, whether it’s in front of thousands, to do the absolute best that they can. So yeah, that sentiment still holds true, if anything now more than ever.

Shawn: Looking at Death Before Dishonor, the match you’re in is a three-way for the TV title. It’s impressive because you have Flip Gordon, a guy who can do the most amazing moves. You have you, who is one of the top technical wrestlers out there. Then you have Shane Taylor, who’s just a beast. How fun is it to go into a match where you have three different styles and then work to put on a cohesive match where all those styles blend together.

Williams: I think the more different you are from your opponent, the more dynamic the match. I love that and even you know within Lifeblood, we try to bring all the different styles that we can. What makes the show interesting, for the most part, is mixing those styles up.

And yeah, I mean, that Triple Threat certainly sounds interesting, but apparently, I don’t even know if that’s the match now because I’m seeing that Shane Taylor apparently negotiated a buyout for his contract or something and so I don’t know what fight I’m heading into going into at Death Before Dishonor. I know that’s still in the advertising, and I hope that match still takes place, but I don’t know what’s going on with the TV title right now. But you know, I guess we’ll see.

Shawn: It’d be interesting if it were just you and Flip Gordon because you guys have that history now with Flip betraying you guys and moving on to Villain Enterprise. Talk a little bit about that story about Flip. He was a babyface for so long. You know, just one of the biggest fan favorites there, and now all of a sudden, he’s doing his own thing.

Williams: Yeah, what I gather from it is that what Gordon is angry that the last three or four times we’ve been in the same ring together, he was carried off injured. You know, the second he turned on us in Lifeblood, he did a 450 off the top of the table onto the floor and ripped his arm off. So, I guess he’s blaming me for that.

When we had a singles match way back when I first started my contract with Ring of Honor, he threw a dropkick at me and like exploded his knee. So, I guess he’s blaming me for that. Since then, you know, he’s come back off the shelf a couple of times and just tried to make my life a living hell, and he’s kind of succeeded at that a little bit. So, I’m looking to return the favor any chance I can get.

And I guess you know, he’s angry that he can’t wrestle and just keeps exploding his own limbs when he’s trying to attack me. And it’s like, yeah, I’ll teach him how to wrestle whenever he wants. All he has to do is getting in the ring with me.

Shawn: If you do get the TV title match, there’s also Bandido and Mark Haskins wrestling for the World Tag Team Titles. Lifeblood could walk out with three belts on you guys. How would that elevate Lifeblood into the top of Ring of Honor if you guys all walked out of there with titles around your waist?

Williams: Yeah, I mean, that’s a very real possibility. And I think you know, what better way to show everybody like this the direction, that’s what Ring of Honor is. It’s about wrestling. It’s about incredible wrestling in the ring. And you know, if we can do that, walk out with those titles and show everybody, okay, we’re going to start over here. This is what it’s all about. Keep your eyes on us and watch what happens. Trust us. We will lead the way. And everything is going to be A-OK. I mean, hopefully, that’s the way things turn out.

Shawn: Right now, it seems like there’s a boom period in wrestling. You have friends everywhere. You have Chucky T over in AEW. You have Drew on 205 Live? Cesaro on the main roster in WWE. You’re there in Ring of Honor. The fans are all taking sides. Behind the scenes with the wrestlers, are you guys cheering each other on? And are the companies wanting each other to succeed right now and it’s just a fan-thing when it comes to wanting this one to succeed and this one to die? All these wrestling companies coming up is a good thing for the business.

Williams: Absolutely, I do see it as a good thing. And you’re absolutely spot on that everybody that’s actually in the companies, all the actual wrestlers that make up these rosters and make these companies what they are, are all supporting each other. And we’re all friends, we all came up in wrestling. We all just, you know, took different paths. And it’s not a war in the sense that you want another person to fail ever, you know, we all want wrestling to succeed and be as big as it can be.

Like, you know, the rising tide raises all ships or whatever the old phrase is. Very true in this sense. And yeah, I mean, there’s this whole thing of a fan taking sides and treating it like it’s some war that they’re a part of. Its just people bored on the internet. I don’t know why you wouldn’t just want the thing that you love to be as big as it can be and create as many opportunities for as many people as possible.

I would really like to see that dynamic sort of shift between the fans and the companies. There’s no reason that it needs to be that sort of negativity that just kind of plagues the internet in general. Like everybody needs to take a breath and go outside and enjoy life a little bit more. Go walk your dog, as I’m doing right now in beautiful Riverside Park. Continue to love wrestling. There’s so much more to life than wanting a wrestling company to fail because you decided arbitrarily to pick the one with the t-shirt you like the best. It’s just silly. We all do this because we love it and we all watch it because we love it. It’s all love.

Shawn: Outside of your match on Death Before Dishonor, which match are you most excited, looking forward to seeing?

Williams: I think the Lifeblood versus the Briscoes is going to be a hundred percent the kind of match that makes Ring of Honor is made of.  The Briscoes, love them or hate them, they’re incredible in the ring and have never slowed down for a second. They’ve been doing it for so long. And they just completely embody style-wise, what makes Ring of Honor so special. Talk about giving it your all and no matter who your in front of or what the match is or anything, those guys do it.

And it’s inspiring to see people like that, who have been on the roster for so long, that continues to just go balls to the wall every single time. And to see that go up against these, like new guys like Haskins and Bandido are just coming into Ring of Honor within the last year, who has something and everything to prove, you know, not only to the fans that to themselves to the company, to all the eyes that are on them, to the world.

So that sort of dynamic between like, you know, new blood and these old, you know, vicious dogs, there’s going to be incredible, so I had to pick one that tag team title match is something I’m really looking forward to.

Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor airs on PPV and Ring of Honor Honor Club on Friday, September 27 at 9/8c.

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