Latest / What Do You Call It? Podcast! / ANGEL METRO talks Deathmatch wrestling, Jimmy Valiant, Markus Crane, Foley/Taker, CZW & more

Transcript

ANGEL METRO talks Deathmatch wrestling, Jimmy Valiant, Markus Crane, Foley/Taker, CZW & more · What Do You Call It? Podcast!

• 0:06
  Hello and welcome to a very special episode of What Do You
• 0:10
  Call It Podcast. I'm your host GB.
• 0:15
  Today's guest is the mistress of fear, the great Equalizer
• 0:19
  herself. Please welcome Angel Mitchell,
• 0:22
  Angel Hayden, stay all good. Hello, Doing good a little bit
• 0:26
  under the weather, but I'm happy to be here.
• 0:28
  Thanks for having me. Awesome, awesome.
• 0:30
  I do hope you feel better after this interview, but thank you
• 0:33
  for coming on. And you know why she got cold.
• 0:36
  So what I'm going to do is rewind the clocks and discover
• 0:39
  how you got your love for wrestling and then we'll take
• 0:41
  from there and then see how you got to where you are now with
• 0:44
  such a strong fan base. So do you remember what sparked
• 0:48
  your love for professional wrestling to begin with?
• 0:52
  Sure. So I was a bit a a late night
• 0:57
  kid and I would flip through the channels.
• 1:00
  I would watch late night like X-Files, Star Trek, all of the
• 1:04
  kind of sci-fi fantasy horror stuff that would be on later at
• 1:06
  night. And I was doing that one night
• 1:09
  and I saw this scene and it had a giant metal and I was small,
• 1:15
  very small. And I had a giant metal cage and
• 1:18
  these two seemingly monsters fighting one another.
• 1:23
  And I'm watching this live. And it wasn't a movie.
• 1:26
  It was literally live. It was happening.
• 1:28
  And I was like, I what is it? I couldn't comprehend what it
• 1:31
  was. And one of the guys throws the
• 1:34
  other guy off of the cage. And it ended up being the 1998
• 1:38
  Hell in a Cell with Undertaker and Mankind.
• 1:41
  That was my real introduction to wrestling.
• 1:45
  And I fell in love immediately with it because of that.
• 1:49
  Yeah, I was a big form and already like, I love horror
• 1:53
  movie spooky stuff. Obviously you can kind of tell.
• 1:57
  And being able to see that, it just changed my whole
• 1:59
  perspective, you know, as a little kid of what wrestling
• 2:03
  could be. And yeah, fell in love with it
• 2:06
  then. Wicked introduction, then Mick
• 2:09
  Foley versus Undertaker King of the Ring 98 got you interested
• 2:13
  and made you a fan. When did you know that you
• 2:16
  wanted to become a professional wrestler?
• 2:19
  Sure. So I watched wrestling during
• 2:22
  the Attitude Era. I was the only person that I
• 2:26
  knew that liked wrestling in my whole neighborhood area.
• 2:30
  And so eventually I fell out of it for a while.
• 2:34
  But then in late 2019, early 2020, I was actually a musician
• 2:39
  before I was a wrestler. And while I was on tour, I was
• 2:43
  in Chicago and I met someone and he was a wrestler.
• 2:47
  So we ended up actually dating for a while and his name was
• 2:51
  Marcus Crane. He sustained a pretty serious
• 2:56
  injury during one of his matches that put him out for a while and
• 3:01
  he was recovering from that. And we were getting him back and
• 3:05
  ready to go to get back into wrestling.
• 3:08
  And unfortunately, he had an underlying health condition that
• 3:12
  none of us knew about, and he passed away.
• 3:15
  I do remember, unfortunately, you know, I've seen it on the
• 3:18
  Internet and I had seen a Fuse match before.
• 3:20
  So I do want to say sorry for your loss, you know.
• 3:22
  Thank you. And it devastated me.
• 3:28
  I mean, it was so out of the blue.
• 3:29
  And, you know, he's my best friend and we had been through
• 3:34
  so much and we were just like at the hip, you know, as the last
• 3:37
  person he talked to, you know, right before he he passed in his
• 3:41
  sleep, Thank God. But I was the last person he
• 3:45
  talked to. You know, he had an alarm set to
• 3:48
  call me after, you know, once he woke up from his nap, which
• 3:51
  unfortunately never happened. So I was devastated.
• 3:55
  And I didn't quite know what to do.
• 3:57
  But it just seemed so unfair in life.
• 3:59
  Like he was the healthiest he had ever been.
• 4:02
  You know, he was gearing up. He was in such great shape to
• 4:05
  get back in the ring. And he had so many things that
• 4:07
  he wanted to do. And, you know, he used to say
• 4:11
  that we were A tag team and so I needed, I had to have some kind
• 4:18
  of purpose for all of this. So I just kind of, I don't know
• 4:22
  what it was. I just had a moment where I was
• 4:24
  like, I, I think I'm going to, I think I'm going to do this.
• 4:27
  I think I'm going to start training to wrestle.
• 4:31
  Like I don't know if I can, but I'm going to believe that I can.
• 4:34
  And he had some things that he wanted to do that I think I can
• 4:37
  knock off of his list. And yeah, I don't know, for
• 4:42
  whatever reason, I was just really drawn to doing it out of,
• 4:46
  you know, And he and I had talked about it before we played
• 4:48
  around here and there, but I never had any serious training.
• 4:52
  But, yeah, so about maybe a month or so, six weeks after he
• 5:00
  passed, I just threw myself into wrestling and just completely
• 5:03
  focused on that. And I started training at Jimmy
• 5:07
  Valiant School and yeah, I took my first bump and, you know, you
• 5:14
  never know what's going to happen.
• 5:16
  You can be such a big fan and then some people will take their
• 5:18
  first bump and then that's it. They're like, OK, I'm done.
• 5:22
  It's like, no, not for me, but continued it.
• 5:26
  Yeah, and I loved it. I really, really loved it.
• 5:30
  I I think I loved it more even than I thought I was going to.
• 5:35
  Like, I, I knew I would enjoy it and it would be fun.
• 5:37
  But considering how much hard work it is, and especially when
• 5:41
  you get into the extreme stuff that I do too, like the
• 5:44
  deathmatch, like how difficult it is, like I just really love,
• 5:48
  love it all. So yeah, that was kind of
• 5:51
  wrestling was kind of my saving grace.
• 5:53
  You know, I would have times it just made me feel like I I lost
• 5:58
  my smile when he passed away. I couldn't smile.
• 6:00
  I didn't have any joy. Like it just took everything
• 6:03
  from me and wrestling started helping me smile again.
• 6:08
  And there were times when I'd feel something would remind me
• 6:12
  of him or I just feel that connection to him that I hadn't
• 6:16
  felt since he passed. And you know, I'd have to take 5
• 6:19
  minutes and go behind the building by myself and just kind
• 6:22
  of grieve, you know, and cry and let it out.
• 6:24
  But it was very cathartic for me.
• 6:26
  And I, I feel like in a way, the physical conditioning, having to
• 6:30
  be in touch with my body physically as I'm learning all
• 6:34
  this new stuff and how to bump properly and how to do, you
• 6:37
  know, hold properly and all of this.
• 6:39
  I think that physical connection and that physical pain to a
• 6:42
  certain extent help me reconnect with my emotions as well and
• 6:46
  help me kind of just ground and balance myself and help me get
• 6:52
  through it. So, yeah, kind of a long, heavy
• 6:55
  story. But that is how I got into
• 6:58
  wrestling. That's how I decided to become a
• 7:00
  wrestler. I don't think many people will
• 7:03
  be able to say they've have the same story as you do in terms of
• 7:07
  your journey into professional resident.
• 7:09
  And it's so inspiring what you've shared on this podcast,
• 7:13
  you know, about your dear friend and I'm sure he's proud of what
• 7:17
  you've achieved so far and so far been the the key, you know,
• 7:20
  words because there's so much to achieve.
• 7:22
  But I do want to talk about some of your main achievements so far
• 7:25
  in your career. But before I do that, Jimmy
• 7:28
  Valiant, who you've just touched on briefly, WLB Hall of Famer,
• 7:31
  wrestling legend. Actually, I think it was last
• 7:33
  week, wasn't it, that he officially retired, you know,
• 7:36
  8384 years old. What a career he's had.
• 7:42
  Tell me, what's the biggest lesson that you took from Jimmy?
• 7:45
  And does any of that still show in your matches today?
• 7:54
  I think, well, just because of his general nature, there's a
• 7:59
  lot of humility and respect and just a certain demeanour and how
• 8:07
  you carry yourself that he has that I definitely spread to me,
• 8:14
  I think the most important thing.
• 8:15
  And sometimes I I always stick to it because I know it's the
• 8:21
  right thing and I know that there are opportunities and
• 8:24
  things maybe that I had to pass by on because of it, that other
• 8:30
  wrestlers might be kicking themselves.
• 8:32
  But for me, it's how I stay in integrity.
• 8:35
  And that is his little motto of a man has two things in his
• 8:40
  life. He has his word and his
• 8:43
  reputation. And if he doesn't keep his word,
• 8:45
  that becomes his reputation. Yeah, and that was really
• 8:49
  impactful to me because it said a lot.
• 8:51
  You know, he comes from the era where a handshake is a contract,
• 8:56
  you know, the territory days long before it was a multi, you
• 9:01
  know, billion dollar, you know, corporation and business.
• 9:04
  He comes from a different era and you know, there was a lot of
• 9:08
  integrity in that and it was a a brotherhood and all of that.
• 9:12
  So I already had a lot of respect and reverence for
• 9:17
  wrestling, but he just really reinforced that in me.
• 9:22
  And just knowing that no matter what, no matter how difficult
• 9:26
  things are, you can still be kind, you can still be
• 9:31
  compassionate, you can still help those, you know, where you
• 9:34
  see that they need help, that you're able to.
• 9:36
  And he's always been my biggest cheerleader.
• 9:40
  You know, I've caught a lot of Flack, as every wrestler does.
• 9:44
  When you join the business. It's not an easy thing to do and
• 9:46
  you certainly do have to prove yourself.
• 9:50
  But being who I am and doing what I do, I definitely cut a
• 9:54
  lot of Flack. You know, there's not a lot of,
• 9:57
  I want to say there's not a lot of support, but you, you catch a
• 10:00
  lot of criticism when you're a female doing ultraviolent
• 10:06
  wrestling as well, you know, deathmatch, hardcore, things
• 10:09
  like that. A lot of people look down on it,
• 10:14
  and he's always been my biggest cheerleader since day one.
• 10:19
  No matter what I wanted to do, he's always, always, always,
• 10:23
  always supported me. And that meant everything, you
• 10:27
  know, because sometimes I'd have to remember that when it felt
• 10:30
  like no one else in the world did.
• 10:33
  So having that was really special.
• 10:36
  I'm. Glad that the pretty working man
• 10:39
  was very supportive to you. Just any clips I've seen of him
• 10:43
  sort of, you know, on YouTube and just seems like a nice guy,
• 10:45
  you know, and just some of his old school stuff as well, you
• 10:48
  know, holds up really well today.
• 10:50
  And the fact that you can still talk to him today, not just as a
• 10:54
  student, but sort of as a wrestler and as a peer.
• 10:57
  Before I touch on the deathmatch wrestling, because I don't
• 11:00
  really get the opportunity to talk about it and I'm quite
• 11:02
  excited to do so, I'd like to ask wrestlers about their in
• 11:05
  ring debut. So if you do recall your first
• 11:09
  ever in ring match in front of a live crowd, if you can share the
• 11:14
  story of your first ever professional match, that'd be
• 11:17
  great to. Hear so I did do matches early
• 11:22
  on in my training and throughout mostly with my trainers, things
• 11:27
  like that. But so I consider my first like,
• 11:29
  professional match, like me being booked by promotion
• 11:32
  outside of my school, like travelling like out.
• 11:36
  It was a company called Short Star Wrestling SSW.
• 11:40
  And my first that was in New Jersey.
• 11:43
  And my first opponent was Riley Crowe, who is one of my best
• 11:47
  friends now and also one of my tag partners.
• 11:52
  Yeah. And it was a totally different
• 11:53
  experience. And I got really lucky actually
• 11:57
  having her as my first opponent in that kind of situation
• 12:01
  because she respected my opinion as far as like, you know, a lot
• 12:09
  of the times when you're very green, you know, and even just
• 12:12
  being a younger, you know, whoever's the younger out of the
• 12:15
  two, you can, the vet kind of just tells you what you what he
• 12:19
  wants to do, what you know, what happens, you just kind of follow
• 12:22
  the follow it. And with her, obviously she had
• 12:27
  way more experience, but she also wanted to hear like, my
• 12:30
  input and creativity. And I really appreciated that.
• 12:36
  I really appreciated being treated like a human being.
• 12:39
  And I saw that I was getting very, very, very early on a very
• 12:44
  big push. And I felt that she hadn't been
• 12:50
  appreciated in the way that I wish that she would be,
• 12:55
  considering what she's given to wrestling.
• 12:57
  And so we had our first match and I think it was great.
• 13:01
  You know, it was as far as first matches go, it was fun.
• 13:05
  We both had fun. And I told her that night I was
• 13:10
  like, you know, I think one day I'm going to make us A tag team.
• 13:13
  Like I'm going to make it happen.
• 13:15
  Like you and I were going to tag team one day because I'm one of
• 13:18
  those people. It's tricky in entertainment,
• 13:21
  not just wrestling, in any entertainment field, you've got
• 13:26
  people who are out for themselves.
• 13:28
  But I'm one of those people where if I can see you being
• 13:31
  authentic and you've assisted me for the love of the game, just
• 13:36
  'cause, you know, you didn't have to, you didn't get anything
• 13:38
  out of it other than helping me. Then I'm one of those where it's
• 13:42
  like, come on, like let's go together, you know?
• 13:45
  And so that's what I wanted to do with her.
• 13:49
  I just felt a connection with her and that she was a good
• 13:52
  person. And I think wrestling needs more
• 13:55
  good people doing things. So yeah, it was a great, it was
• 13:59
  a great fun match. You know, I was, I trained maybe
• 14:03
  10 months before that match. And, you know, I'm it's old
• 14:08
  school, it's in the South, it's wrestling, you know, it's a lot
• 14:11
  of that. I've expanded my horizons a
• 14:14
  little bit since then as far as my skill set.
• 14:18
  But, you know, it was just old school stuff.
• 14:20
  And but it was cool, it was fun. The kids loved it and we just
• 14:24
  had a blast. That's awesome, very encouraging
• 14:26
  to hear that as well. And then, you know, someone you
• 14:28
  can't wrestle in the debut match and then go on to become a
• 14:31
  friend and a dancing part as well.
• 14:33
  So it's a happy ending to that. So death matches, so people see
• 14:38
  the violence, but not always the preparation.
• 14:42
  So what I want to ask you, someone that's participated in
• 14:44
  many death matches, is what actually goes into getting ready
• 14:48
  for a death match, like mentally and physically warming up.
• 14:52
  You know, how do you prepare yourself for these kind of
• 14:54
  matches? I think the best thing that you
• 14:58
  can do is train just regular wrestling.
• 15:03
  You need to be and I actually experienced this because shortly
• 15:10
  after that first match, maybe two months later, I had a spot
• 15:14
  in a death match where I was a guest guest referee.
• 15:17
  And I was there was a spot where I was jumped and then I took a,
• 15:24
  a brain hemorrhage onto like a bundle of light tubes.
• 15:27
  And so that was like my first deathmatch experience, right,
• 15:30
  Light tubes. And I had a friend, a wrestler,
• 15:35
  his name's Kit Osborne. He asked me afterwards how it
• 15:37
  went because he wanted to know. You never know till you, you
• 15:41
  know, do it for the first time. And I told him I was like, I
• 15:43
  think I like this a little too much.
• 15:47
  Need to slow down and focus on my training a little bit longer
• 15:50
  because I could see how I could get just like dive in with both
• 15:54
  feet. So I waited a little bit more
• 15:58
  and I kind of baby steps. I took baby steps.
• 16:00
  But honestly, it's really just getting that mental preparation
• 16:04
  from your regular wrestling that is important.
• 16:09
  Everyone has a different way to prepare for death matches.
• 16:17
  There's certain moments where I don't know that I can cuss on
• 16:20
  here, so I'll, I'll no. You can swear it's fine.
• 16:22
  It's it's all good. There, there are certain points
• 16:26
  in wrestling where you just have to say fuck it and commit.
• 16:29
  And if you don't know how to do that yet in your regular
• 16:32
  wrestling training, it's very dangerous in deathmatch because
• 16:37
  obviously we're working in very dangerous situations.
• 16:39
  Wrestling's already dangerous, but you add the elements, glass,
• 16:43
  barbed wire boards, you know, tacks, whatever, whatever, what
• 16:46
  have you and you, you got to commit, you got to go for it.
• 16:50
  So it's important to know how to do that.
• 16:52
  I will say mentally, honestly, I, I don't know if maybe I had
• 17:00
  the same experience as other people do because because my
• 17:04
  ex-boyfriend, my former partner that passed away, he was a death
• 17:08
  match wrestler. He's a very good wrestler.
• 17:10
  He was very good at technical wrestling, but he's a death
• 17:12
  match wrestler and I loved it. I mean, again, that was the
• 17:15
  first exposure I ever had to wrestling was Undertaker and
• 17:18
  Mankind. You very much could qualify
• 17:20
  that. Sure, there's no glass, but you
• 17:22
  don't need glass for a death match.
• 17:23
  You very much qualify that as a death match and at the very
• 17:28
  least a hardcore match. So I was already adapted to it.
• 17:31
  It was already something that I really liked and appreciated.
• 17:35
  I don't know if I was as afraid as most people should be or
• 17:39
  would be. I couldn't tell you that.
• 17:41
  I'd be shitting myself to start giving you my honest answer.
• 17:46
  I'd be shit myself. I was nervous and I'm always
• 17:50
  nervous before a match, you know, Death Match, any match.
• 17:55
  But that's more so of me just wanting to do a good job and me
• 17:58
  wanting to entertain the crowd. Those are my two biggest
• 18:01
  anxieties with Death Match. I mean, you just know how to use
• 18:09
  your weapons. If you don't ask, if you don't,
• 18:13
  still don't use them. That's it, You know, And I don't
• 18:18
  like to rest on my laurels. So if I come into situations
• 18:23
  where there's a certain scenario, certain stipulation or
• 18:26
  this person's sick or whatever happens, you know, it's up to me
• 18:31
  as a wrestler to start to get creative and figure out how to
• 18:37
  make it work. You know, so many people, I
• 18:39
  think rely on the stereotypical conditions for deathmatch
• 18:47
  wrestling. You know, they use lots of light
• 18:49
  tubes and this and that, whatever, and it's, it's all
• 18:54
  right if that's what you want to do.
• 18:55
  I'll never judge anyone for their own wrestling career.
• 18:57
  That's not my business. But for me, I think that did
• 19:03
  they have to match wrestling. The weapons are supposed to
• 19:05
  enhance the match. They're supposed to enhance the
• 19:09
  story. It's not supposed to make the
• 19:13
  story, if that makes sense. And yeah, so I mean, that's I
• 19:21
  just, I asked vets, you know, I would ask vets how they did
• 19:24
  things. I would just be annoying.
• 19:26
  I just asked questions and asked them to show me because, you
• 19:29
  know, deathmatch wrestling specifically, it's not something
• 19:34
  that you can go to like like a college course you can take.
• 19:37
  And even in wrestling schools, like regular wrestling schools,
• 19:42
  they may teach you how to take a chair shot or give one properly.
• 19:46
  You know, you may learn certain things, but you can't learn the
• 19:50
  entirety of deathmatch. It's something that's passed
• 19:52
  down like a tradition and so it's important for us or at
• 19:58
  least to me, it's important to be able to ask the crazy,
• 20:02
  stupid, whatever random questions.
• 20:04
  You know, that's how I learn because through their experience
• 20:08
  so and it's very long winded for answering.
• 20:11
  How do I prepare? For no, no, but it's interesting
• 20:13
  though, the way that you sort of break it down for me as well,
• 20:15
  like it's there is an art to it. And I know there might be some
• 20:18
  people disagree with that's fine.
• 20:20
  You know, wrestling should be different flavours of things.
• 20:22
  You know, I like a bit of that, like bit of this, but they're
• 20:24
  such a huge audience for Death Match wrestling and I think some
• 20:28
  people understand that and register like how popular that
• 20:31
  it actually is and the fact that, you know, you get to
• 20:33
  participate in it and then have that connection with the fans.
• 20:36
  And it shouldn't always be about the weapons, but obviously you
• 20:38
  do want to have the good spots, but also that connection with
• 20:42
  the fans as well. It's just important.
• 20:44
  Yeah, I think there's a lot of misconception about hardcore
• 20:48
  deathmatch wrestling. And of course, there are a lot
• 20:50
  of online trolls and naysayers who like to just talk to talk
• 20:54
  because they're miserable and, you know, putting that energy
• 20:58
  out in the world makes them feel better.
• 21:01
  The thing is, is when you trace that match wrestling back, you
• 21:05
  know, you have Ric Flair, you have Jerry Lawler.
• 21:07
  These are the ones that started establishing, you know, getting
• 21:10
  color and incorporating weapons. You know, the IT it started with
• 21:16
  our, you know, figureheads of wrestling and of course, Terry
• 21:20
  Funk. Absolutely.
• 21:22
  Terry Funk was a ball by most wrestling fans.
• 21:24
  There's no one in the world that can deny Terry Funk.
• 21:27
  He was a death match. You know, again, Mick Foley,
• 21:32
  he's a death match wrestler. You know, Anita in Japan
• 21:36
  obviously like amazing wrestlers.
• 21:40
  And and then you see things like, I mean, that was a lot of
• 21:43
  the flak eyed catches. People would tell me it's
• 21:46
  they're like, you're so pretty, you have a look, you like this,
• 21:48
  you don't have to do that stuff. You don't have to do it.
• 21:50
  And I'm like, what are you saying?
• 21:52
  I don't have to do it? See, this is the different mind
• 21:54
  state is those people and those naysayers think that they're the
• 21:59
  death match is something you have to do for the shock value
• 22:02
  in order to get over or whatever.
• 22:05
  And for me personally, I feel in order to pull off a good death
• 22:09
  match, it's actually harder than a regular wrestling match
• 22:12
  because you have all the wrestling and then you're
• 22:16
  throwing weapons and all of that on top of it and still trying to
• 22:19
  maintain psychology that makes sense to make the crowd happy,
• 22:23
  right? So you're really having to think
• 22:25
  on your feet here. And there's a lot of
• 22:27
  unpredictability. Like, oh shit, that, you know,
• 22:29
  bundle of tubes. This happened to me last week
• 22:31
  and that bundle of tubes didn't break.
• 22:32
  And it was supposed to, you know, glass is very
• 22:35
  unpredictable. You never know what's going to
• 22:36
  happen. There are injuries that can
• 22:37
  happen in there. And you know, it's, it's very
• 22:40
  difficult. I think it's much more difficult
• 22:42
  than regular wrestling. And so they're seeing it as like
• 22:45
  this hacking slash, like, you know, trying to get over for the
• 22:48
  sake of getting over. For me, I see it as very much a
• 22:51
  privilege and something to respect.
• 22:52
  And that's why I waited in my training a little bit longer to
• 22:56
  start doing because I was asked obviously off the bat, but I
• 23:01
  waited because I wanted to be able to do it in integrity and
• 23:06
  do, you know, do a good job. Obviously I'm new.
• 23:09
  Obviously, you know, you have to learn as you go.
• 23:11
  But I, yeah, I didn't want to be a part of that narrative.
• 23:15
  And so I just worked really hard.
• 23:17
  And for me, deathmatch wrestling is, I think people connect with
• 23:25
  it because it's real. And for me, wrestling is real in
• 23:32
  general, you know, and I feel that you, you know, this whole
• 23:36
  kayfabe is dead and blah, blah, blah.
• 23:38
  You don't have to get someone to believe.
• 23:41
  You just have to get that little bit of doubt where they're like,
• 23:44
  wait, did that really? Is that really?
• 23:47
  And you've got them? And with death match wrestling,
• 23:49
  I mean, you know that we take so much injury.
• 23:53
  I was just watching the Hulk Hogan documentary and just from
• 23:56
  his repeated leg drops the amount of injury he did.
• 23:59
  To look. Like he had poliosis.
• 24:02
  It was awful. So now you know so but they, the
• 24:06
  fans can't see it. It's all inside of our bodies,
• 24:08
  right? They can't see that how much
• 24:10
  damage we're taking those little car accidents, every bump with
• 24:14
  death match, it's undeniable. You know, you feel that suplex
• 24:17
  on the floor vibrate through your feet.
• 24:19
  You see the blood coming down their face.
• 24:21
  You see the glass and thumbtacks shatter and embedded in their
• 24:24
  skin. It's undeniable that this is
• 24:27
  real and I think that's why it draws certain crowds so strongly
• 24:33
  to it. And of course, you know,
• 24:35
  aesthetic as well. You have the people that love,
• 24:38
  you know, horror and post apocalyptic and warriors and
• 24:41
  things like that. And I really do, if you really
• 24:44
  look back on history and genuinely study it, we, you
• 24:46
  know, we really are the modern day gladiators.
• 24:49
  You know, it's very expensive to kill a gladiator that wasn't
• 24:53
  the, you know, you have the movies and things like that.
• 24:55
  But if you actually go back and study, that wasn't the
• 24:58
  intention. The intention was very much what
• 25:00
  we do in wrestling, which was to battle, entertain and both come
• 25:04
  out alive. You know, like Kasai says, we're
• 25:07
  not in there fighting to die. We're in there fighting to live,
• 25:10
  to both come out. And yeah, so I very much
• 25:13
  consider that and especially death match wrestling because of
• 25:16
  how dangerous it is, the weapons and all of that.
• 25:18
  I consider that the modern day, you know, gladiators.
• 25:23
  It's a good analogy. I found it quite interesting to
• 25:25
  be fair, and the hope someone that that has gone to his
• 25:27
  interview that may have had a negative thought towards death
• 25:30
  match wrestling has sort of listened to what you've said and
• 25:34
  can. OK, I might reconsider how I
• 25:35
  feel and view it going forward. So I think that's a really good
• 25:39
  take what you said and I actually agree with what you
• 25:41
  said as well. So just one last question before
• 25:44
  I let you enjoy the rest of your day and hope you do get back as
• 25:47
  well as as you said in the beginning that nothing I'm
• 25:49
  saying is actually my introduction to you.
• 25:52
  It was. I came across all your matches
• 25:53
  on YouTube for CCW against Mickey Knuckles.
• 25:57
  So I've got to ask, can you describe your experience facing
• 26:01
  her and the match itself? I thought was very violent but
• 26:05
  very fun fans at the end. This is awesome.
• 26:07
  Really into it for the 27th anniversary show.
• 26:10
  Just quick highlights of the match.
• 26:12
  If you can go into detail, that'd be great.
• 26:14
  Sure. Well, it was obviously a
• 26:17
  meaningful match to me, sparking a woman in ultraviolence.
• 26:21
  You know who's at the top? More so than Mickey Knuckles.
• 26:23
  She's been around for all of it. She she, she crawled, she
• 26:27
  climbed, she scratched, she scraped through so that women
• 26:31
  after her, like me, you know, could come in as well.
• 26:34
  I mean, she, she set the tone. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't
• 26:36
  be here. She's been there personally
• 26:39
  throughout my entire career. For some reason, you know, she
• 26:41
  was always kind of peppered in to big moments in my career.
• 26:44
  So it was a match that's been long coming.
• 26:47
  I think that was the 4th time we were booked and we actually got
• 26:50
  to wrestle this time for whatever reason, you know,
• 26:52
  things would get in the way or whatever.
• 26:54
  Yeah, it was a big honor because of the CZW name, because it was
• 27:02
  the anniversary, because Danny Havoc of all people was being
• 27:06
  inducted into the Hall of Fame. That meant everything.
• 27:10
  That meant everything to me. I mean it.
• 27:13
  It brings tears to my eyes. Like being able to wrestle on
• 27:17
  that show. It just meant everything.
• 27:19
  And to do it with her, I mean, obviously she's iconic and she
• 27:22
  beat the hell out of me and it's like we had fun and it was so
• 27:25
  great to be on the other side of the ring hearing CZ dub, you
• 27:31
  know, CZ dub Chance, like it was just amazing.
• 27:35
  You watch these things, right? You see it all and you know, you
• 27:38
  see the tapes or if you were at the shows back in the day.
• 27:41
  And then to be on the other side of the ring, it's just, it was,
• 27:46
  it made me very happy. It worked well together.
• 27:49
  I thought it's a good match. I quite enjoyed it.
• 27:52
  Thought it was really good. And yeah, we both got to embrace
• 27:56
  each other at the end to show that, yeah, it was more than a
• 27:59
  match and it's friendship as well.
• 28:00
  So thank you for letting me know that was a good match because I
• 28:03
  watched that a few weeks ago and I was like, oh, wicked.
• 28:04
  And then, you know, arrange his interview.
• 28:06
  And I'm happy that I did. Yeah, I'll actually be in
• 28:17
  Michigan. I'm doing a Rhinos promotion.
• 28:21
  So we're having like a it's the Wrestle Fest and I'll be
• 28:25
  wrestling Priscilla Kelly there and that's in Michigan this
• 28:30
  weekend, May 2nd. And then CZW actually, I think
• 28:37
  we're going to Beyond Wrestling, I think maybe the two weeks out
• 28:43
  from there, the week, OK, so before that, sorry, it's a busy,
• 28:48
  we have Priscilla this weekend. Next weekend is actually Shane
• 28:52
  Mercer's promotion, XCF in at the arena and and after that is
• 29:01
  CZW. And then at the end of the
• 29:03
  month, I have Horror Slam and I'm actually very excited for
• 29:05
  that. I don't know if you're familiar
• 29:06
  with Horror Slam. They're based out of Michigan.
• 29:10
  It's it's a fun match. If you like death match, it's
• 29:13
  me, MMM three, who's phenomenal hybrid wrestler and Lil Sicko,
• 29:18
  who is just like such a fun, like walking version of like the
• 29:22
  twisted metal game. It's going to be a blast triple
• 29:27
  threat. Like I'm really excited for
• 29:28
  that. I'm looking forward to it.
• 29:30
  Wicked. Sorry, just can you say his name
• 29:32
  very quickly? Shane Mercer has appeared in the
• 29:34
  show in the early days of the podcast.
• 29:35
  I did watch your match with him as well.
• 29:37
  Yeah. How scary was it being thrown by
• 29:40
  him? I know he's like, like he's so
• 29:41
  strong, but just quickly. Yeah, being thrown by him in the
• 29:45
  match. What was it like?
• 29:48
  Yeah, so that was actually a horse slam being thrown, body
• 29:50
  pressed by him. We've tagged before, never gone
• 29:53
  against each other. A long time coming.
• 29:56
  It was very scary. But also, I couldn't stop
• 29:58
  thinking about Dirty Dancing because that's just how my the
• 30:00
  movie Dirty Dancing would be like, daughter.
• 30:03
  So it's just like my brain just checked out at that point.
• 30:06
  It's like, this is what's happening.
• 30:07
  Like you're done. So just think about Dirty
• 30:10
  Dancing, I guess. Yeah.
• 30:12
  So in truth, that's what it that's what was going through my
• 30:15
  head. Fantastic.
• 30:17
  My missus love that. By the way, she loves that film.
• 30:20
  So that reference, I hope that makes you smile.
• 30:22
  It made me fucking smile because I just, it's a great film.
• 30:25
  I don't give a shit what anyone says.
• 30:26
  Diet, dancing. Fantastic film.
• 30:28
  Angel, thank you very much for coming to the podcast.
• 30:30
  It's been an absolute blast. Hope you feel better after this
• 30:32
  interview and have a good weekend.
• 30:35
  Where can they find you on social media by the way, before
• 30:37
  I close this? Video All channels, all social
• 30:41
  media channels, Angel Metro. I've kept it very simple.
• 30:43
  I'm on Twitter a lot talking, but you can find me everywhere.
• 30:47
  All the channels that make it easy.
• 30:49
  Awesome. Give Angel a follow.
• 30:51
  Give me a follow on my social media handle.
• 30:52
  Be in the description below. Like this video?
• 30:55
  Subscribe to the channel and keep following me on all social
• 30:58
  media platforms. Take care everyone.
• 31:00
  Peace.