By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Eric Bugenhagen (f/k/a Rick Boogs)
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On previously stating that the removal of Vince McMahon from WWE killed his career: “Well, I mean, if you look at it objectively, look at my NXT run and then look at when I was seen by Vince and look at that run. Then, when management and the whole regime changed again, look at that run. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, he was injured.’ I was supposed to be brought back early when I wasn’t cleared, like a month or two after rehab. I was really pumped. ‘I can’t bend my knee but, yeah, let’s get back out there,’ and it was kiboshed.”
On whether some holds a grudge against him: “Grudge isn’t the right word. In development, I was told, ‘You have an awesome personality, and people like you, and the crowd is with you. Just keep getting better in the ring.’ Basically, with that regime, that’s all I ever heard. But at the same time, I get where both sides are coming from.”
On being released by WWE: “If you want to talk about my second run on the main roster, I guess I saw the writing on the wall. But it wasn’t like let me get ready for it. It was just basically thank God for my YouTube community because I always had that. I have an awesome community. Everyone I meet in real life is awesome. I have done a ton of meet and greets and it’s great, it’s awesome.”
Getting injured at WrestleMania 38: “There was supposed to be this documentary too. It’s like, “Oh yeah, it’s being filmed all day. Oh it’s your first WrestleMania?” Then I just blew my tendon once I got in there. I guess I wasn’t warmed up. We were the first match at WrestleMania too so it’s not like I had much time to warm up. It was a crazy day. My muscle was firing so hard, it just ripped the tendon off the bone.”
On not wanting to wrestle again: “No. When I first decided I was going to do wrestling, I had to be all in on something. So like, I was doing strength and conditioning stuff, personal training. I was like, if I’m gonna commit to this other endeavor, I just quit my job. I have a wife and a daughter. I just got unemployed for the sake of you know, getting hungry that I really wanted to make it happen, which my wife was not happy about. She was like, ‘Why did you have to quit?'”
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