Few professional wrestlers in recent memory have encapsulated fans quite like Mance Warner. Ol’ Mancer has earned a reputation as not only one of pro wrestling’s most badass brawlers, but also one of it’s most charismatic stars. His ability to captivate people both in the ring and on the microphone has earned him comparisons to some of the biggest names in professional wrestling.

Warner recently joined me to discuss a wide variety of topics, including the importance of authenticity in pro wrestling, why he feels he’s been successful thus far, and dealing with comparisons to the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The importance of authenticity in pro wrestling:

“Now, I can’t speak for nobody else. My thing has always been I ain’t going to bulls**t nobody. I ain’t going to lie to nobody. If I get hurt, I’m going to tell people ‘hey, I’m hurt.’ I ain’t going to bulls**t nobody. But, for me, once you lie to the fans, to the people that are spending their money to come see this, you’ve already lost them.

At the end of the day, you wouldn’t want to get lied to, I wouldn’t want to get lied to, so why would you want to lie to the fans out there that are spending their money that they’ve gotta work for every day to put a little bread in our pocket? I ain’t going to want to break bread with somebody if they’re lying to me, so I try to always be honest, I try to always call it right down the middle and let people know what’s going on.”

Comparisons to major names in professional wrestling:

“The way Ol’ Mancer looks at is is, we all get into pro wrestling, even maybe you’re just a fan. Maybe you want to become a writer (in) pro wrestling. Maybe you want to be a camera guy. Maybe you want to be a talent. Whatever it may be, we all get into it for a certain reason, right?

We can all remember at some point when we were kids the things we loved about pro wrestling. For me, it was Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Macho Man, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Jake the Snake, all these guys that you could sit there and listen to them, and you forget you’re even watching wrestling. You’re just listening to someone tell a story about how he is gonna beat someone’s ass or whatever it may be.

“You can’t ever forget that once you’re into pro wrestling, because that’s the stuff – I didn’t get into pro wrestling to do cool moves. I got into pro wrestling because I like fighting people anywhere I go, and I like telling stories. So, if I can sit down and talk to you and pay attention without even doing anything, right there, here we go baby. It’s that thing of it’s not relying on, because I think the way you worded it was relying on something the past, you’ve got to remember how it all got to this point. So, while other guys are trying to do the craziest thing over here, I’m gonna be over here dancing in the circle doing everything. It’s just kind of take your own spin on it, and then beat the hell out of people and tell some stories in between.”

What he feels has allowed him to succeed thus far:

“I think anyone that gets into something new, right, they always have doubts. They always question things. I never did that, though. Once I got into pro wrestling, I knew ‘this is the thing that I’m going to do, and if I don’t make it at this, I’m f**ked, I’m s**t out of luck.’ For me, it’s going ‘okay, this is the thing you’ve always wanted to do, here we go, this is how you get into it, this is where you need to go.

’ And then, just keep going. Keep going to companies, keep getting your name out there, keep busting your ass. Do what other people don’t want to do. People don’t want to do promos, I’m doing promos every week. I’m always doing promos. People don’t want to tweet stuff out all the time, I’m always tweeting out s**t.”

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

Few professional wrestlers are able to balance their professional wrestling and social media use like Chelsea Green. Not only is the Victoria native active in promoting any upcoming wrestling endeavours, but she consistently engages her fans with new content and behind-the-scenes looks into life as a professional wrestler.

Green recently joined me to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, her use of social media, and maintaining relationships in professional wrestling.

Keeping busy during the COVID-19 pandemic:

“Oh, my god, isn’t it insane? I was saying this before to all my Canadian friends: I know I can’t complain because I’m in Florida, I’ve got a pool, but still, it’s so crazy!”

Walking the line between her character on NXT and her personal life on social media:

“I really struggle with that, actually. I kind of get people telling me all sorts of different things when it comes to social media. When I was with Impact, a lot of people were kind of annoyed that I would post as myself, but then also post as the Hot Mess. But, that’s what I love about my job and about social media is I can choose. So, I really didn’t give a s**t that people thought that was annoying or it broke kayfabe, because at that point it’s 2018 and people know that I am dating who I’m dating and that I live where I live and they know who my good friends are. So, they know that when I leave the Impact Zone or when I leave NXT, I am not the Hot Mess. But, of course, yeah, my co-workers kind of were a little bit annoyed, a couple of them, but I think they quickly realized, like, ‘look, she’s playing a character, it’s who she is.’”

“We really haven’t had many people like that in the generation of social media that have to figure this out, because everyone in wrestling is kind of an extended version of themselves, and the Hot Mess really wasn’t. It was a true character. I have to say, it was difficult, and I struggle with it every day. I struggle with how much do I give away versus what I want to keep private and stuff like that.

All in all, I just like my fans to know exactly who I am, and that’s every side of me, whether it’s my family, my relationships, my friends, and I don’t give a s**t if a friend is in a different company. I’m sorry, but I’m going to post with Britt Baker and Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes. I don’t care. They’re my friends. I get a little bit of flack for it, but I think everyone is pretty understanding nowadays.”

Maintaining relationships when working for different companies:

“It’s funny, I actually have a harder time keeping in touch with my normal civilian friends. My wrestling friends know – like, Britt and Santana (Garrett) and Deonna (Purrazzo), those are my best wrestling friends, and they know if we’re super busy, we might not talk for two weeks. We might see each other every day, but then we might go two weeks and we haven’t even spoken to each other, but we’re all kind of just as busy. It’s harder for my girlfriends in Canada who are normal human beings to understand how busy I am, or to understand that I truly might go 48 hours without looking at my phone if I’m taping a RAW or an NXT or something. That’s kind of the more difficult side of things, and especially having a bunch of friends all over the place.

All my girlfriends from Impact, we’re now all in different companies. Allie is in AEW, Rosemary’s in Impact, Sienna is with NWA. We don’t care. We just do us. We’re friends, and we really don’t care what companies we’re at.

We just happen to be at different companies right now, but who knows what will happen in two years?”

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

“Ravenous” Randy Myers has long been regarded as one of Canada’s top professional wrestlers. Throughout his 20-year career, the reigning DEFY World Champion has earned rave reviews for both his in-ring work and incredible character work, with his skill even earning him an opportunity with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2009.

Recently, the Weirdo Hero joined ume to discuss his opportunity with WWE and how it fell through within a few months.

On his WWE opportunity:

“I’d gone down in 2009 for a tryout. They were doing these tryouts where if you paid I think it was $1,000 and flew yourself down to Florida, they would have a look at you. I think it was 72 people in that camp.

It was funny, because actually, Hannibal was in that camp, too. So, he was my first Matrats match, my first Stampede Wrestling match, and then I had a match with him in front of WWE talent agents, so, weird.”

“So, I went down to Florida in 2009 expecting nothing. It was the first time WWE had ever seen me. I just wanted to kind of know what they were looking for in a wrestler and kind of learn how to train their style. To find out where I was lacking, basically. They had us doing promos every day, and Dusty Rhodes was there encouraging us or having us do promos for him. One day, we all cut our promos, and he went up and he pulled me out of the crowd to cut a second promo. It was on the fl. We all had time to pre-rehearse our promos, and at that time they were very ‘rhymey’, so they were very line-for-line-for-line, this word needed to rhyme with this word, so they were very orchestrated. But, then I went up and I cut a promo from the heart. He seemed to enjoy it and kind of put it over in front of the rest of the class. I was kind of – I still am – blown away by that fact, because it’s freakin’ Dusty Rhodes!”

“The promo was basically about how there (were) a lot of people who want to be professional wrestlers for the fame or for the sex or the riches or whatever, but I wanted to be a role model, and how I had seen a kid singing Rey Mysterio’s theme song, even though nobody knows the lyrics to Rey Mysterio’s theme song except for this kid at the top of his lungs at a wrestling show, and how one day, that’s what I would hope to be, is to have my song sung like that. So, Dusty said he really like the promo.”

“Then, time went by, class ended, nothing came of it. I was waiting for my performance review, which was supposed to come in three weeks. I waited three weeks, I waited four weeks, I waited five weeks, I waited six. Nothing came. I’m like ‘okay?’ I got a phone call, and they offered me a job. They wanted me to come down on a developmental contract. Again, I didn’t expect anything from this, so I was blown away. I finished up my Alberta bookings, made a big stink about how I was going to WWE, how your hometown hero is going to WWE.”

“I ended up being pretty stressed out by it. Like I said, I’ve always dealt with mental health issues. At that point, I was not dealing with them. I was hiding them behind drugs, I was hiding them behind marijuana and just kind of escaping. Then, when I was very nervous, I had impostor syndrome, like ‘how the heck am I going to be what they want me to be? There’s no way I’m going to go down there and deliver. I’m going to f**k this up, I’m going to blow it all.’ My anxiety was lying its head off to me, and convincing me of things that weren’t necessarily true. You don’t know until you see it, right? My anxiety was trying to be a fortune teller, and I don’t know if I believe in fortune-tellers at the best of time, let alone my anxiety.”

“Like I said, I was still smoking pot. I told my dad. My father was estranged from me when I was young. So, I’d gone to him and told him, like, ‘Dad! I’m going to WWE! My dreams are coming true!’ And he wasn’t that interested. I think part of me was wanting him telling me ‘you did it, son! You did it! I’m finally proud of you!’ When that didn’t come, I think that added to my anxiety or depression and all these things. Like I said, I didn’t stop smoking pot. I was addicted. Then, when the time came around for the drug test, when they gave me the call, I quit then. It was like 10 days before, but it still popped in my system. They called me and told me that it was all over.”

“That was probably a two-month run between them trying to work on getting me VISA’s, and flying me down for the drug test, and putting me up in a beautiful place, and renting me a nice car and all of these things, and then me getting the call that it wasn’t going to end up going through. I was crushed.”

Rebounding from not signing with WWE:

“I think the way that I stumbled into wrestling, or come to wrestling, was almost like a parachute for me at that point. Wrestling had become, like I said, therapy. So, when I needed therapy from having my heart broken in high school, I went to wrestling.

Now, I had my heart broken by myself. I don’t blame anyone but myself, I went to wrestling again. It took a while, and it was hard to kind of man up – I don’t like that word. Let’s not use that. Let’s bootstrap it up! Let’s pick up them bootstraps, and go out in front of that audience. I had to make that decision: Is there too much shame in coming back? So, I came back, and the fans were really appreciative and awesome to me. If I hadn’t gone back to wrestling, I don’t know where I’d be now. It would have made me go back to that bad place. Wrestling has helped me so much over the years, and is so cathartic that if I didn’t have wrestling, I don’t know whether it would have saved me from wrestling.

”

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

Mick Foley has no doubt influenced countless professional wrestlers throughout his time on Planet Earth. Some of the top talents in the world today count Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy as one of their biggest inspirations in pro wrestling, including current ECCW/DEFY standout Ravenous Randy Myers.

Myers recently joined me to discuss his relationship with Foley and the impact that the Hall of Famer has had on his career.

His attraction to over-the-top professional wrestlers:

“Definitely. For me, Mick Foley (has) always been my number one. He always will be my number one. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to interact with him, and he’s just everything you’d ever want him to be and more. He was the one that was the final – I always think there’s one performance or one wrestler or one time that you’re like ‘this is it.’ You go from a fan, a superfan, (to) I just need to (wrestle). I need to.’ There was that promo he did with JR where he was kind of blurring the lines between Mick Foley and Mankind and he was telling some real-life stories, and kind of showed the man behind the mask, as cheesy as that sounds. That was the moment that hooked me. He was playing this monster character, this sort of over-the-top horror movie villain, or not villain, but horror movie monster. Then, to see that there’s like a person behind that, or that this monster could also be this sweet, caring, sensitive human was so eye-opening for me. I’m a big horror movie fan, and I love the dualities of characters. That, to me, was the ultimate duality where I could be seen by society as a monster, but really I’m this sweet, soft, sensitive – it’s almost like the Quasimodo story, to a certain degree.

”

His relationship with Mick Foley:

“I was fortunate enough to work with (Mick) in my last match, or one of my last matches, for the PWA in Edmonton. I was supposed to go off to the WWE, I had an opportunity with them in 2009 which fell through due to a failed drug test, but we can talk about that later. Mick Foley was there and he’d, and like I said, always been my idol, and Kurt Sorochan had brought him in. It was actually the first time Mick had ever done one of those speaking engagements, so I’d met him the night before at that and we’d all gone out for dinner. At the time, I was dating Lindsay Hart, who’s a niece of the Hart family. She got talking to Mick, and Mick and Owen had a special relationship. So they started hitting it off, and I was so shy. I was sitting at the edge of the table – normally, I’m pretty loud, but at this point, I was just like ‘there he is, and I don’t want to make the wrong move.

’ Lindsay encouraged me to come and talk to him, and he was so kind to me.

”

“The next day, when we worked together (and) when he saw me as Randy, he was very kind and had very nice words to say. When we worked together in that match that night, he was a special guest enforcer, we both got to lock in Mr. Socko on my opponent and his manager. He put me over online afterwards, which I wasn’t expecting. Everything I wanted him to be, he’s been in my life. He’s been an inspiration as a fan, he’s given me advice from a mentor role, I’ve gone on the road with him during his comedy shows and even done some comedy on the stage with him, so even from the theatre and comedic aspect of my life, he’s been there for me. You can hear the crack in my voice because he means the world to me.”

“People say don’t meet your heroes. I just say make sure your hero is Mick Foley and he’ll never let you down.”

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