By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Karrion Kross
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On Snoop Dogg and WrestleMania: “[I found out] The day before at Smackdown [Snoop Dogg would be commentating my match]. I had a list of insane weapons that I wish got approved for that match. It was Philly, I was in love with ECW, [Paul] Heyman got inducted into the Hall of Fame. I had all kinds of crazy stuff. One of the weapons on the list was Al Snow’s Head. I would have loved to have hit Snoop Dogg right in the head with Head. That would have been my move. I would have done a flying tope out of the ring with Head flying at Snoop Dogg over the table to hit him. That would have been great.”
On rumored heat with Bobby Lashley: “I hate that I’m saying this. But zero [heat], it was a work. He knows I feel this way about him. It’s not the first time I’m saying it. And unless you would have asked me about this, I would have never said it. I love that dude to death. After the match, I wanted to tell him afterwards so he didn’t think I was trying to butter him up before we went out. I told him after the match was done, expressed how much I love him, how much I’ve looked up to him, what an honor it was to work with him. I remember when WWE brought ECW back. People can say whatever they want about it. I thought his section of being ECW Champion was awesome. I loved it.
“I was a bit of an ECW snob growing up. I didn’t care. He’s awesome. He looks like the f—ing Hulk, and he’s diving out of the ring and doing crazy stuff. He’s putting people through tables and stuff. And then, for me personally, fast forward now I’m working Mania with him. I told him all that at the end of the match. On the way to that Mania match, Bobby and I were constantly trying to find ways to intensify the conflict. Respectfully, we just felt like there were certain things on the way there that felt redundant. And it’s not me being salty about anything, it’s just him and I wanted to make this as intense and as crazy as possible. He had an idea to try to blur the lines on the way there to make it feel as real as possible.
“There was even one time Bob was like, ‘You know what we should do? All these guys, they like to talk and they like to run to the dirt sheets and stuff. Dude, we should fight at the beginning of the show. We should get in a fight because all these guys are going to go and call the dirt sheets and tell them that we actually had a fight and it’s going to stir people up into what we’re doing on TV.’ I was like, ‘Bob, what? Hold on a sec. First of all, what happens if nobody breaks up the fight?’ And he was like, ‘Damn, I didn’t think about that.’ I go, ‘Yeah, and also, what happens if we get fired? Because what are we going to do?’ Hunter’s going to pull us aside and be like, ‘What’s wrong with you guys?’ [We say] ‘Oh, it’s just a work.’ And he’s like, ‘You guys are bleeding, what are you doing?’ Then just the whole logical process of having to explain that it was a work and hoping that the office would have been okay with it, that we did that, and then it spilling. I was like let’s hold off on this idea. I said, ‘I love crazy stuff like this, but please, let’s hold off on that idea.'”
On if there are any plans to return to NXT: “Sometimes I do, but the truth of the matter with that is, in my opinion, NXT is a program where they’re attempting to build new stars. They want to create stars for the future. Somebody could encourage me to selfishly say yes and try to pander to an audience listening and make them feel like that’s something that they want. I know what it’s like being someone coming up trying to get at something you’re after, and it sucks when somebody comes in who’s already had their shot, who’s already been there, who was already basically given everything you could possibly want, undefeated with a championship, and you got the whole thing.
“It’s like they’re coming back in here, now that spot is unavailable for someone who really needs it to move into. I’m so grateful and so proud of my work at NXT, but for the sake of everybody else down there, I don’t think I should be down there doing it. If I were to come back for a match that people would want to see like a one off, some sort of program that would be fun to watch, that’s different. But to go back down there and chainsaw through everybody, that’s not going to help them. It would help me and people would love it. I’d make sure they love it. There’d be a body count. There’d be bodies everywhere. There’d be people flying down the stairs. But for the functionality of the program, there’s new people coming up, and the business needs those people. They’re learning and they’ve got all the best minds down there.”
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