By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Gary Vaynerchuk
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
Who was your guy growing up? “Macho Man, I very much like the underdog. Macho Man was huge for me. The way they entered him into the WWF was all the managers wanted him, right? Then he said, ‘My manager is Elizabeth,’ and she comes out. I was getting to the age where I’m like, oh, that’s a pretty girl. I grew up a four sport fan, Rangers, Knicks, Yankees, Jets, and I didn’t win my first championship into 94. I was 18, senior high school, when the Rangers won the cup. The reason I was okay with that was Macho Man winning the tournament for the heavyweight title was the biggest thing of my childhood. That was my first championship, so I was huge Macho Man over everyone, even when he was a bad guy. When he beat Tito Santana for the title, that was massive for me. I was like all proud in school, that was my guy. So it was weird. It was a bad guy when he first came, but there was just his charisma. The way they brought him into the WWF, that was an incredible era of how Mr. Perfect, or Razor Ramon, and obviously before that, Macho Man, and everybody, Billy Jack Haynes. I remember Bad News Brown. What Vince had in that era of introducing someone for weeks before they got into the ring, by the time Macho Man wrestled, the first match I ever saw him wrestle, I was already hook, line, and sinker.”
You put out a video titled “Why Bret Hart is a better businessman than you.” Why is Bret Hart a better businessman than someone? “If I recall that article, and that moment, the excellence of execution. Execution to me, is everything. So many of you right now that are watching, you’re really creative, you have ideas, and you see other people like, oh, I had that idea. That’s nice, but you’ve got to actually do it. Everybody watching here, regardless. I know Bret’s popularity, or like people’s point of view on Bret these days is kind of like a little more mixed, but I’m a huge fan. My sister was a huge fan of Bret Hart. She thought he was super cute in those days. We watched a lot of wrestling. He was unbelievable in the ring. We all know that. There’s no one, no matter if you like Bret or the sh*t he talks about these days, everyone knows exactly what kind of wrestler he was, and I think that’s business too. For what you do for a living, you know wrestling, a lot of people know wrestling. You have the gift of gab, a lot of people have gift of gab. Being disciplined, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. The team set up. It’s all f*cking execution. So I wanted to write that article because I’m always looking for ways to integrate wrestling if I can, and I do think people underestimate that execution is the punchline. All the best ideas in the world have never been executed because the human that came up with it was unable to execute it.”
Who is on your wrestling Mount Rushmore? “I think the Mount Rushmore of wrestling is Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and I gotta give one to the Attitude Era. Believe it or not, I’m gonna go with The Undertaker. I know Rock and Austin and Bret Hart and Michaels… But I think I don’t think people understand. Andre the Giant carried wrestling through the 70s. Remember it was regional, and when he would go. I just think he’s just all-time. I’m devastated when I watch a lot of clips where people do their Mount Rushmore. Andre should be in every one, and Hogan changed everything.”
Who do you think is an underrated wrestler? “‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage. I’ll tell you why, because as a wrestler, I will say right now that if you do not think that Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat vs. ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, WrestleMania III is not a top 2,3,4, match of all time, I have bad news for you, and this is just with love, you do not know what the f*ck wrestling is about. I really believe it. I think he [‘Macho Man’] is more charismatic than Bret Hart. I think Big Boss Man was underrated. There were some heels that came along who really mattered. I was a big fan of Bad News Brown. Abdullah The Butcher, I think he deserves more credit for what he represented. Rick Rude, his physique was way ahead of its time, and the way he heeled with the [opponent’s] faces on his tights.”
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