There’s simply no arguing that Ravenous Randy Myers is one of the most beloved professional wrestlers in the world today. That fact is exponentially true in Seattle, Washington, and in DEFY Wrestling specifically, where the Weirdo Hero is in the midst of a 116-day reign as the promotion’s world champion.

In a recent interview, Myers described to me his love of wrestling for DEFY, as well as how meaningful it was to win the DEFY World Championship.

His love of DEFY Wrestling:

“When I got involved with DEFY, it was at a point where I was taking my first-ever break from professional wrestling. I’ve been doing wrestling for the last twenty years, so I’ve been going, like, every weekend, (a) couple shows for quite a while. And then, it was a time where I developed some mental health issues that I’d kind of needed to focus on, so I’d taken a step away from wrestling. But, then, there was a big show at DEFY down in Seattle, and they had Davey Boy Smith versus…who was he wrestling that night? It was a stacked card, and I needed to go down and I needed to witness this live. So, I went down. I had heard good things, I went down, had some friends down there, and I was blown away when I saw the product. The fans were incredible, the actual in-ring was awesome, and just the vibe was phenomenal. So, I just went down there as a fan and was blown away.

“

“Then, Matt Farmer, who’s one of the promoters of it, we’ve known each other for quite a while. We toured a couple years, probably ten years ago, eight years ago now. So, we knew each other, and then we kind of got to talking. He sent me a message asking me if I wanted to be on their next show. Like I said, I was taking some time away, but I was so blown away and this kind of rejuvenated me and it got my heart pumping again. It got those juices flowing. So I was like “of course, I’d love to take part in your show.’ I thought I was going to maybe only go down for one, but then the crowd was so loving and embraced me so much that I was like ‘well, I can’t leave. They pulled me back in. It’s like the mafia, right? You try and get out but they pull you back in, but happily.

”

Succeeding names like Artemis Spencer, Shane Strickland, and Schaff as DEFY Champion:

“It’s incredible. Representing DEFY as a whole, being in that lineage of champions that (were) just named, it means so much to me. I can’t even really put it into words. I (feel) like DEFY’s what I always wanted from wrestling. I always wanted something that was an inclusive product where you could feel safe as a fan no matter who you were, no matter what kind of place you were coming from in life. Whether you’re a freak, a geek, a misfit, a weirdo, felt that you were strange, or felt that you needed to change, or any of those things. (If) you ever felt that you were different, this is the place for you. It’s so embracing and so loving.”

“To represent a company that is what I’ve been looking for for twenty years in wrestling means the absolute world to me, and means every drip of sweat I’ve had, means all the blood, means all the tears that I’ve cried, all the times I said I was going to quit, all the workloads I didn’t want to do but did anyways, all the gross cans of tuna I shoved down my throat, they were all worth it.”

Why he enters to “At Last”:

“I was working out at the gym. I like powerful, strong women to encourage me while I’m working out. That energy is what fires me up. I was scrolling through, and that song came on, and I just started moving differently. I just started feeling like I blossomed as soon as I heard it.

”

“I’m so tired of rap songs. I’m from the prairie. I’m a Canadian prairie boy. Everyone’s coming out to these hardcore rap songs and I’m like ‘I don’t know how you relate to any of this music.’ I don’t know if that’s your life, and If it does, that’s cool, I want you to come out to something that relates to you, but these either metal or hard songs never quite fit me. I was always kind of trying to find something that worked, and then this, Etta James just felt like it was so different, and what I want to give is something different, so it just worked so well.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used. 

Long before becoming one of the most well-decorated wrestlers in the world, Taya Valkyrie was a trainee at the Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary, Alberta. Not only did La Wera Loca kickstart her career in the province, but as part of her training, appeared on the World of Hurt TV series hosted by both Lance Storm and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.

Valkyrie recently joined me to discuss her experience breaking into the business in Alberta, wrestling for the PWA, and her feelings on World of Hurt.

Her memories of working in Alberta

Spencer Love: “We were talking before this, you were genuinely on the first-ever professional wrestling show that I ever went to. (It was) just such a highlight for me (and) something that obviously has been a huge impact on my life, but obviously, you’re the guest! I want to pick your brain: What  was your experience like when you were working here in Alberta?”

Taya Valkyrie: “I mean, it’s so crazy to think back on it, (because) it feels like a million lifetimes ago, just because so many things have happened and changed. I’ve just grown up so much over the last almost 10 years in this business. Oh my god, almost ten years! I mean, back then I was just like a wide-eyed, you know, excited, new wrestler. (I was) so green! So green. I mean, I watch some of those old matches. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, what is happening?’ But, I mean, everyone starts somewhere, and Alberta as a whole, I mean I went to the (University of Calgary) when I first graduated high school. I’m born and raised in Victoria, BC, so I spent a lot of time in Calgary and in Edmonton, Alberta as a whole. It’s always – I always think about Alberta with a smile on my face, and it definitely was where Taya Valkyrie was born basically. So, it’s a good feeling to think about. I’m excited to get back there at some point when things kind of start calming down.”

World of Hurt

SL: “One other part I did want to touch on as far as Alberta goes, because going through and doing my research there’s always some stuff that I find that I hadn’t found out before, take me through your experience with World of Hurt?”

TV: “Oh my gosh, you’re really going for it! I was on – for people that don’t know, World of Hurt (was on) for two seasons. When I first did World of Hurt, I think it worked kind of like a, I mean, a wrestling school scenario, quote-unquote ‘reality show,’ and season one was taught by Lance Storm, my actual wrestling coach, and then Season Two was actually with Rowdy Roddy Piper. Season One, I literally had been wrestling probably for about three months when I was on that show.

My first-ever match as a professional wrestler was for TV, aka World of Hurt.

When everybody looks at that stuff, you’ll be like, ‘holy crap, that was Taya’s first match,’ and I remember we had to do to on that first day and I was petrified, and I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like, I’ve been a performer and an athlete my whole life, so I’m very much a perfectionist. And I just was – I mean, I had confidence, but I mean, obviously, I was worried that I was not that good at the time.”

SL: “Not quite where you are now.”

TV: “Now, looking back I’m just like, ‘wow, yeah, that was not good,’ but, I mean, it was a huge part of like, how I started, and I love it! And, like, Lance was such a huge part of like my entire career, obviously, having been my first coach and that’s where I met a lot of people that are still, you know, in my life when it comes to professional wrestling and PWA was where I started in Calgary and Edmonton. So, World of Hurt was a lot of fun.”

TV: “The second season, when we did it was Rowdy Roddy Piper, was incredible and crazy and fun as well, and I learned so much from him and getting to have learned from him. I feel like I always say that that month when we were shooting that, he really helped connect me to my character for promos and things like that. I would say that’s probably the most important thing I took away from getting to work with him for a month straight. So, yeah, it was just – it makes me laugh to think about the whole situation. I think it was on like, some channel called the Cave Network or something. I don’t even know if that’s a thing! Like, I don’t even, is that still a thing?”

SL: “I couldn’t even find it on YouTube. It’s on some weird, like, Vista or something like that.

”

TV: “Yeah, I think there’s some weird clips on YouTube of it, but it’s quite – if you are a Taya Valkyrie fan, you should watch it just to have a good laugh.”

SL: “Well, for what it’s worth, you weren’t the one that I think a lot of people were laughing at more, but we’ll let people tune in to the show to find out more on that end!”

TV: “YEAH! Okay, I know who you’re talking about!”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used. 

From January 6, 2019 to January 18, 2020, Taya Valkyrie held the Impact Knockouts Championship for a record-setting 377 days. Not only was the reign the longest in Knockouts Championship history, but the single longest title reign in Impact Wrestling history, period.

Valkyrie recently joined me to discuss a variety of topics, including her record-setting run as Impact Knockouts Champion.

Being the longest-reigning champion in Impact/TNA history

SL: “We’ll leave that one for the uncensored podcast. It’s so cool to me because you obviously say your first match was on World of Hurt. (You) starting out in Alberta. It’s one of the things that I love most about independent wrestling is you really get to see people at the start of their careers and then obviously, getting the opportunity to speak to not only the longest-reigning Impact Knockouts Champion but the longest-reigning champion in Impact and TNA history. How much pride you take in the fact that that one of the premier wrestling organizations in the world not only had the faith in you to put a title on you, but literally be the person who held the championship the longest?

”

TV: “I mean, it’s crazy. I remember when everything was starting to happen, (it’s) like ‘you’re like only a few days away from breaking this record’, and I just kept going in, and I was just like – I watched TNA and I looked up to so many people, and that generation of Knockouts in early TNA, like was so inspirational to me in becoming a wrestler. I remember just being like ‘these girls get a lot of time,’ and they (got) to show so much more than the girls were getting in WWE at the time. I mean, obviously, things have changed and evolved, and women as a whole are just getting a lot more respect and opportunities than we ever have, and it’s because of women like that, the women that started at all in TNA.

I am so blessed to even be working for this company that I looked up, you know, wanted to be part of for so many years, and also to be put in a category with some of the top women and men in professional wrestling as the longest-reigning champion in Impact Wrestling history. So, I take that with – I am very proud of that, and I hope that everybody from those older generations is proud of me and hoping that I represent him as well as I can.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used. 

Prior to reinventing himself as the French-Canadian Frankenstein, PCO performed under a number of different names and gimmicks. One of those was Pierre, one-half of the Quebecers, under which he won three WWF Tag Team Championships. Under the same name, PCO was one of the participants in the ill-fated Brawl for All, which was recently the subject of an episode of the critically-acclaimed Dark Side of the Ring series,.

PCO recently joined me discuss his participation in the Brawl for All and the Dark Side of the Ring documentaries.

On the Dark Side of the Ring documentary series:

SL: “The reason I bring those guys up specifically is because synchronicity really seems to be a theme throughout your career, and you have those two guys and then you have the Brawl for All all featured in one year on Dark side of the Ring – but we don’t see any of you! Number one, how have you enjoyed the series if you’ve had a chance to watch it and B) what was your experience like in the Brawl for All since they didn’t ask you!”

PCO: “I think they showed – I watched it. I watched the show and had a lot of guys calling me like Marty Scurll said, ‘oh, you didn’t know I didn’t know that you were part of Brawl for All,’ and Marty texted me on that, and a bunch of other guys and I did a few interviews as well. Yeah, my first fight was against the guy that was supposed to win the whole thing. (It) was against Dr. Death Steve Williams, and Steve Williams, I think he was a little bit worried facing me.

Like, he was trying to – he’s very intimidating, he (was) trying to intimidate a lot, he was trying to intimidate a lot of youngsters and young guys. At that time, I was like, probably 29-30 though. Hawk of the Road Warriors came up to me before the fight, and he said ‘Steve’s not gonna hurt you, just like when he hits you, when he tags you, just go down.

Just pick up your five grand, man, just don’t give him a fight. He’s gonna, he’s gonna kill you.’ I told Mike, Mike Extreme, I told them I said ‘Hawk, just go back to Steve and just tell them that I’m gonna give him the fight of his life,’ you know, ‘I don’t care about it, like Jesus.’ Basically, I said different words on that but I don’t know if we’re allowed to curse.”

SL: “You’re more than welcome to cuss on here, we got the explicit rating on iTunes for that!”

PCO: “Word-for-word I told him, I said ‘tell Steve to go fuck themselves, go fuck himself with the five g’s and the easy win I’m gonna kick, I’m gonna kick his butt and I’m gonna beat the shit out of him. Just tell him that.”

PCO: “It was short notice, you know. I got worked out so bad on this, you know. Like, I had been sent at one point to Power Pro Wrestling which was like the OVW or the NXT at the time. Kurt Angle, everybody, like – when they didn’t have something for you or if they were-“

SL: “Like, developmental, quote-unquote?

PCO: “Yeah, it was. Yeah. (If they) didn’t have anything on the creative side and they wanted you to work on another character or something, they would send you there, or they would bring guys up, like Kurt Angle got brought up from there. I was there with both guys of Three Minute Warning, Rosey and Jamal, you know, and Fatu was there, that was before he did one of his gimmicks. The kids, the Usos, they used to come. They were 10 years old or 9 years old. They used to come all the time. There was a bunch of guys, the Samoan guys, you know, holding the territory.”

PCO: “So, then I had a break. I was at home and it was during summertime and I got a phone call from Bruce Prichard. He said ‘hey, Carl. Vince (has) got a great idea for you. I was like ‘What? He’s got a great idea for me? What is it?’”

PCO: “I (bit) on it. I’m like ‘yeah, what is it? I’m so excited!’ ‘Yeah, yeah,’ he says. ‘It’s gonna be a tournament and it’s gonna be 16 guys, and it’s gonna be a shoot. You’ve got to fight for real. Five points you know, if you touch with your glove, and five points for a takedown and you get five grand every match, but then the Quarter Final you make 25, semi-final 50, if you won the whole thing, you make 200 Grand 250 grand. And I’m like ‘that’s not a bad idea!”

SL: “If you make it far, it’s not a bad idea!”

PCO: “That’s a hell of a push! I truly believe that maybe if I was lucky enough, I could have, like, a lucky punch or something, because they called me on a two-week or a week-and-a-half (weeks) notice, you know? Oh, really? Short. Yeah. Yeah, I didn’t have – I didn’t have time to train for that.

SL: “Just like for reference, would any of the other guys have known earlier? Like a Doctor Death: did he know months in advance or how was that sort of planned out?”

PCO: “You would have to make some research on it, but the rumours, maybe if I knew that probably other guys know that, or guys like Bruce Prichard or Vince Russo might know that. I think they gave him enough time to train and to get ready for this because they wanted him to win this thing and to go against – that’s what Jim said, I’m not sure if that was the plan for him to go against Steve Austin – but they wanted to build Doctor Death with this, I think, even if it was created on something that Bradshaw was bragging about with Vince Russo and then decided to go with it. I think Williams is really just the guy that they thought would win it by what he had achieved, being a four-time All-American in wrestling and having played for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL a little bit and college football and being a tough guy and having like a reputation of being one of the toughest shooters in the wrestling business.”

SL: “(He) just had the resume.”

PCO: “Yeah, beating up guys. You know, I’d seen him like, bullying new guys, young kids and things like that. And, he was strong. I saw him – like he did like he was doing like, easy – I saw him press Phineas Godwinn probably 300 pounds over his head in a wrestling match. In the gym, he was super strong, too, like behind the neck, easy. 350 pounds easy. He would do like 10 reps of that. So he was a strong guy. Yeah.”

SL: “It wasn’t an undeserved reputation.”

PCO: “Yeah, well, I don’t know if he – you know, probably some guy saw him in the ring giving a lot of beatings to job guys and things like that, or guys that are popping out in the business, or guys with a reputation that (were maybe) trying to go against them or whatever. I don’t know, because I’m not from that, from Steve’s era, really. He’s older than me, and he did a lot of his things for UWF, which I did watch a little bit but no, I wasn’t a part of them. I was a kid still. So, anyway, I took the fight on short notice, and I thought to myself, I said to myself, ‘if I, you know, by any kind of luck in any kind of good vein, I want to win this thing. It’s going to be – I want to force myself into a bush.

Well, it didn’t turn out to be like that, but I did fairly good. I didn’t get knocked down. The scariest thing when you do something like that you don’t want to end up on your ass. You don’t want to end up doing the bacon dance, you know?”

SL: “I’ve never heard that before! That’s hilarious.”

PCO: “You want to keep your pride you know, you want to show that you can go to fight and have a good fight.”

SL: “Hundred percent. Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t think anybody got that major push out of the brawl for all nonetheless yourself.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.