By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Samoa Joe
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
If he has thought about when his career will end: “Yeah, I do a lot. It’s probably coming sooner than later, which is fine. I think a lot of people from my generation, from what I’ve seen, if they have the ability, we’ve done our best to kind of save up and we definitely don’t want to outstay our welcome. Because we may have been privy to a few people who may have done that in their careers. So I definitely don’t want to be that guy in mind.”
Whether he has a date in mind: “No, I think it’s just really based on when my contract runs out. I think exploring those options as they go. I hate just saying retirement, because how many pro wrestling retirements never stick? All of them. So yeah, I will do this for a little longer and then yeah I think the end is probably sooner than any new deal being signed.”
If he thought he would do the muscle buster again after what happened with Tyson Kidd: “No, and to this day that probably remains the largest regret in my career that that happened. [Chris: There’s nothing you could have done about it]. But that doesn’t change things for Tyson. Doesn’t change things for a guy who is probably one of the most passionate people in the world of professional wrestling. For a guy who has an amazing mind for it. WWE is fortunate to have him. Because even though he’s not in a physical role within the company, the finishes, his ability to put together matches and be a producer and agent are unparalleled.”
Whether he thought anything was wrong: “No, not at all. No, didn’t feel any different. It’s just when I turned around and went for the pin and got back up. The only thing that even hinted that there’s something wrong is when Cesaro [Claudio Castagnoli] looked back up at me. I know when Cesaro is concerned and then I was like, oh my God, I hope everything is okay. Then we got in the back and he went to hospital and everything got checked out. But I mean, the whole circumstances regarding that and everything, it just makes me sick to this day that that guy is not out there being the Tyson Kidd that I know that he is. He’s an amazing human being. He has a great understanding of a larger picture and when you talk about guys who are great finish men, guys who can produce, he’s going to be heralded as one of the dudes there if he isn’t already.”
On concerns about using the move again: “Well, I didn’t want to. It was kind of like when I got back into things in NXT. In NXT I used it. When I got to the main roster I didn’t. But it was mainly I tried to avoid doing it a bunch or making it a thing. If he’s having a bad day, he looks over and he sees that, I didn’t want to replay the car crash in front of somebody. So I did my best to distance myself from it as much as possible. But that’s why, just because this guy’s my co-worker, this guy I respect and I care about. I’m not trying to make him have a shitty day over it.”
On WrestleMania 37 being delayed due to rain: “Oh, incredibly [chaotic]. I mean we were laughing the whole time, but the biggest thing which people don’t know, which was really the terrifying thing that was scaring us all, was right above the ring, especially where me and Michael Cole were standing. There was plastic over the thing and there was a big, huge water bubble coming through, right over our head, right over commentary table, right over the first three rows. You could see this big water balloon kind of filling up at the top of the thing and it’s like the whole time we’re doing it there. We had the rain coats on but it wasn’t the rain. It was like if that thing went off, we were going to get waterfalled, it wasn’t even funny. So it was like alright, here we are already and stuff like that. It was just a lot of you are stalling for time, and a lot of there not being dead air, just kind of filling it with whatever until we can get the show started. So yeah, it was an adventure.”
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