PCO on becoming ROH World Champ at age 51, The Kliq, losing his eye, The Quebecers, Walter

if I were to come back and wrestle without that plan or without a goal or without in the wind where I wanted to go I think it would just be a guy resting in his fifties but I had a plan well there we go and the Ring of Honor champion in the house literally in my house yeah appreciate you coming here and thank you for making this happen oh I'm so delighted to be on your show it's I wanted to be on it then now I was gonna be something done I guess well I'm glad that we were both available to make this happen and the fact that you brought the title with you - that means a lot to me it means a lot to me - I bet it does I bet it does what are what an incredible story that you have and and I think that 2019 was such an amazing year for you how do you even top that in 2020 ah the only way to top that it's just to really get going like what I always envision that PCO Monster Mania hmm just getting crowd really excited getting house packed getting good ratings goodbye rates on paper views and and just just evolve you know just grow just grow the whole piece here with Monster Mania thing I mean you just turned 52 years old yeah did you ever think you'd be holding a championship ever again that was part of the plan at at least you know but I that that's the thing you know every time I set up a goal and I have a vision about a goal and I I know deep down inside that that's what I want and I will no matter what get there sometimes you do get discouraged on the way there and sometimes you wonder how this is going to happen yeah you know that's a question I asked myself all the time I know it's going to happen but the roads that the way it goes it's so crazy so many as 'red so many ways that I never expected that it would happen that way you know like I was always a big fan of you know you got a grind you gotta work hard for what you want and I was a big fan of those movies yeah and I kind of create created my own life like the movies that I grew up watching you're the hero of your own story I know I'm the main character of my of my life though not everybody is there's a lot of people that are living for other people I don't know I always look my my life as a movie and I'm the main character of my movie even though sometimes I go watch a hockey game inside the main characters going watch a hockey game is just a spectator during the time that he's the main character of his life sure so always look like myself that way and and it's it's funny to to finally be where I want it to be you know like where I envisioned to be when I was 14 years old when I had a young kid that had that dream in his art burning desire that was there and kept there being there forever right during all kinds of obstacles and setbacks and yeah adversity sometimes it would take me a year or two to get back from a tough blow but I always came back well you've wrestled everywhere you've wrestled for every major promotion and now you've really found a home in Ring of Honor I feel like you know Ring of Honor PC Oro HP CEO like you're a staple there now yeah I really feel good in there I feel like it's like a home for me it's it's very family orientated when I say family orientated I said we we are treated as a family it's it's a cliche in wrestling are were big family and things like that but I think of Honor I gotta say when I got there the first night I was there and I was hearing things like that but I saw things from my own eyes that that proved to me that they really are a family I saw people leaving for other companies I saw people leaving for whatever reason and we gathered all together we wish them best of luck in their other endeavors if somebody gets injured you you see that really family camaraderie yeah between sometimes you have like a wall or you have like a distance between executives and office people and talent yeah I don't feel that Ring of Honor I feel like we all part of the boat we all are the same the same family together it's not too different you know when you came in was was the title even part of the discussion no never negotiated for the title not even once during the whole year never never never I mean would mention it sometimes on my Monday night be CEO in this row my social media yeah I would mention it that and I'd been a goal since I was 14 but I never sat down with an executive bring him on her and say hey listen I'm gonna sign what you get such amount of time with a title Ron or disorder I went like I'm gonna was it really Joey Jean on spring break that put PCO on the map he was a big it was a big influencer for sure yeah I feel like everyone points to that match with Walter and goes I feel like we were sleeping on this guy that was the big thing but one thing you have to rewind a little bit Ethan page the way it started I did like something on YouTube I was doing like commentary after a pay-per-view or you know predictions or posts you know post analyzing yeah a preview and then like I got a call from someone who wanted to use me as a wrestler and then I said well so I went and I really took that very seriously and had a killer match there and then someone from Indiana come Michael Blanton who runs an Indiana black table pro wrestling in Indiana I call me up missus I got a date for you either 2018 January 13 or April 21st and I knew I wanted to be a Wrestlemania for April so I had to choose January 13 but I knew I was not gonna be as prepared as I I was hoping to be prepared for the 13th because I had just worked a few matches before prior to that yeah but I gambled on myself on that one my flight didn't want to leave like because it was a big snowstorm and Macchio Wow we were grounded for five six hours showed up show 15 minutes before bail time when I was wrestling Ethan page and we had a killer match and Joey was standing he was in the audience he was wrestling on that show but watching me perform in the audience and on the way back to the hotel Joey asked me if I wanted to be part of the spring break and I feel like when people saw the match on the card Walter versus PCO they're going to a Walter huge Indy named PCO the guy from the Quebecers like what kind of matches that yeah but then you blew everyone away that was everyone talks about that was the match of WrestleMania weekend yeah it took it took a long time during the match you know I what I was introduced it was cold as hell I heard a little like chant because I had just cut a deck of cards you know with destro I did like three promo videos for Walter so they kind of got over so I had a little champ cut the deck cut the deck but that was it like it was like super cold and until like halfway in the match we started trading like chops like from corner to corner and back and forth and I start hit like big moves like moonsault on the outside that spring like assault San Tong and I got powerbomb through a table tons of things that we did in Walter and then as soon as it started like the trade cuz my chest was like yes I've taken some chops reason and it's still bruised and my chest is like so battered like so so all kinds of collars I wouldn't feel him in the thing I got was so pumped for that match I was so pumped up like I didn't even care so at what point did you really catch on so that match was great you won the crowd over did you start getting bookings immediately after yeah right after i popped up like crazy i became literally became the poster boy for all the indie companies in the state's canada as well but yeah i did most of my booking I took in there in the States like probably every single company was the main event and it's incredible because at the time you were 50 right yeah and I feel like there's a lot of wrestlers that turn 50 and they're like that's it like one more match or you know I'm I'm done fifties like the new 40 or maybe thirty because well you're the champion of Ring of Honor there's another champion right now in his 50s and AW Billy Gunn's still tearing it up in his 50s I feel like you still have so much more in the tank yeah I feel like that too and I think that what fuels me it's it's my goals like if you if I were to come back and wrestle without that plan or without a goal or without in the wind where I wanted to go I think it would just be a guy resting in his fifties but I had a plan I knew where I was going and I was willing to pay the price and make the sacrifices I love it I always say that goals give vague results and you had a very specific go oh yeah I really wanted to become a wheelchair world champion for a major organization that was the that was a main goal originally when I was that I was that all in but I couldn't do all in because I was booked Chikara a long time ago like three months prior to that so I guess we never really had any discussion about that but at all yeah I got booked like what destro we did like a demonstration a demo strength demo when all sorts of PC on destro things and it got really over yeah and fly back in the afternoon to make the show in Philly and get there on time make that tournament the kings a trio tournament was there ever a discussion after doing all in that maybe you'd be part of aw yeah it was a few discussions I think it could have been part of a w to me myself with them you know like I've never seen like anything like that maybe once one time for summer I got hired by WWE maybe it was cool but it wasn't as cool as the the way they did they showed me how they you really wanted to sign PCO I was invited that the office showed me the dojo will show me Sinclair met with Zhukov and Reagan delirious hunter we discussed the deal and everything like that once I should you know hands in my mind like there was no it was hard to to go back on a commitment I'm the type of guy if I commit myself to a goal yeah or tell you I'm gonna - you're sure wake up at 2 in the morning I believe I respect my words well I was I was talking to Ring of Honor about like I'll fly to Montreal I'll fly to Montreal and do the interview with PCO and they're like no we'll fly him to you and I'm like great sure let's I mean I'm glad that we were able to make this happen that's a if you're a man of your word and obviously wearing of Auditors now building around you like you're one of the top stars yeah well there's a few I think my goal is to like like I said you know to really grow help get the beat the company get known like more in Canada more in the United States my you know performing in the ring at a high level but also perform performing outside during as a as the marketer or one of the marketer and marketing ROH is a top wrestling company that's that's what I'm doing right now I'm most every TV shows that I can get on I was invited by the Montreal Canadiens I was invited by their farm clubs the Rockettes for the hundred games so it was sold out at 12,000 people there how I was invited but their Boston Bruins farm farm team I do do all of them you know I and I and I make so many good contacts I mean I meet so many great people along the journey on the road it's been fantastic well I think what's so amazing about the story is in 2011 you were retired yeah so first of all what was the decision going into the retirement and then what was the decision going into coming out of retirement well I think 2005 to 2008 I was a TV TV commentator and French for DNA and I was making great money I was on TV every week and I had it easy kind of and after three years I had a good chemistry with my partner also who was a live ring announcer for Vince McMahon at one point oh wow when they were doing shows in Canada Mr Bond a very good ring announcer very good commentator and everything is very talented a lot of radio shows and things like that so I told him one day I said mark I said I'm gonna quit the job he said what here's the best partner I've ever had and you're quitting over like basically no reason I said yeah I'm quitting over a reason when I was 14 I wanted to become a world champion I didn't want to come and take on the world champions yeah so I'm having fun it's a great job but I'm too young for this and you you quit to do what yeah well well the producer of the show brought me in the office are you you're serious you want to quit this job I said yeah so I'll tell you what I'm gonna hire someone for three months I was going to England on the indie scenes and I wanted to meet Vince McMahon over seas showing that I'm not just a guy from Montreal showing up at the Montreal Bell Center hey I want a job back you know I'm busy on the roads I'm doing the Indies I'm there in Birmingham I'm there in London and there every show that they were in England I showed out hmm and I'd like a few tryouts and and that was that was the reason and when he asked me for yeah I wanted to have it three months you know break so I could try it and if it doesn't work you have your job back and said Robert if I do that's because I don't believe in myself if I do believe in myself I'm gonna say I or someone else yeah that's what I said and that's what I did and everything that I've done in England and everything that I've tried I failed all over the place after I had a good master without creative they don't have anything for you or no we now really we don't have anything for you and then eventually I I did like I was in touch with John Laurinaitis a few more times over the phone and I was doing some show Lewiston and a New Jersey area and he said come to the office we'll talk and that was in 2009 I think or 2008 and it's just choose the week in July and we'll get you a raw and the Smackdown and we'll give you a good worker good giant very good chance to shine and to show what you can do yeah so I had had shoot an angle for me and Shawn Michaels for a Wrestlemania so I'm going out for my match I got I got gorilla position you had like so Michael and snake-man July right is everybody like a lot of agents baths better since everybody's there and imagine go that way I'd uh and I had to fight the whole day you know - III came into like a kind of a cute asian MMA kind of gimmick you know and Vince was really competing against you have said that time sat on the ice very sharp the exact blonde Mohawk I came out that crowd was really up for it had a hell of a look but on that look they made me shave my head before I go well Vince he said to John Laurinaitis I think that looks like that Erica looks like a job guy so we sold Johnson I'm gonna make you give it make a favor for you I'm gonna make you shave your head so I was kind of a off-guard you know just before going for my match you know it's a slap in the face because you're all pumping now there's yeah right well there must must be something they don't like in my look so he came back from the match and then Johnson what did you think of the match and I said I think it was just very so so as I had like two good moves that really popped out the crowd but I know I don't think it was said don't even bother do doing like Smackdown tomorrow oh wow take that car if you don't want to sleep or just anyways just take the car just drive it back to Montreal we were at Moylan Sun Arena and Connecticut and I drove back home to Montreal and that was the end of your tryout yeah oh I've got so many other stories between me and Vince I think very cool stories that insane stories I mean I one time I think it was in in 2003 a hell of a match the old Bell Center is chanting my name creative they called me like two weeks after he had nothing for me 2005 is supposed to wrestle a guy but the guy wanted to have like a 12-minute match they wanted me to go over in a five-minute night so I ended up like yeah basically nothing and then between I guess my tryout the one that went wrong and 2011 I showed up at the Bell Center and then I was talking to John a few times during the night and he was going crazy all over the place and that much time for me yeah so I decided to wait for Vince so because that was three times world acting J yeah of course and you know he would call me on my phone sometimes you know when I was like my peak and everything was doing well so I'm waiting and waiting and waiting at the end there's no more wrestlers only myself I've been there since 11:00 in the morning so it's about 1 a.m. in the morning I go to the dress Vince dressing room yeah two big huge body guard is so huge like six six seven six six 350 each man so I gets in the room he gets back out I know you're in the dressing room yeah so I wait I wait I wait Vince coming out of the dress I go a Vince the bodyguards II jump meet he got me by that's roads and everything they're ready to keep no guys how are you my friend hahaha what can I do for you and then I kind of I was kind of choked up a little bit like and you want to speak with you you just you know yeah I went through so much and then I was totally taken off my guard you know so I said no I'd like to come back and work for you dr. John about that okay that's what I've been trying to do all right and my mind yeah I said yeah that's good so basically I had like you know a lot of setbacks and failure like that big ones so to to be able to at 50 years old to get that call from from Joey Jen Ella and they didn't have the money to pay my trans and I decided to drive there so it was 40 hours to get there in Louisiana yeah hours to get back in Montreal cuz I I was never organized at the time with GPS and things like that I wasn't doing much road so I trying to say okay Florida's 25 left so Louisiana's gonna be i-95 to the right you know so it's about the same time I wasn't at the same time and I probably got lost a few times different roads and things like that it took me 40 44 25 minute match so I had to had to be convinced that that match was going to lead me somewhere else order otherwise I wouldn't have done it did you get paid for the match yeah okay so you got paid for the match you drive yourself 20 hours there 20 hours back 40 40 40 each one yeah come on yeah no sleep because if I was gonna sleep for eight hours I was gonna you know getting there only then the morning of the show and it would have been a bad day for me so I wanted to have a night now if you don't mind me asking what did you get paid for this show because I want to put this out there that you were willing to do all of this work for probably not a lot of money in the Indies yeah that's probably yeah around $300 okay so you drove 40 hours each way for $300 which likely didn't cover your gas or your hotel all because you knew that maybe possibly I was sure so it's not a maybe okay it was well what is gonna turn my career this is the imagine what made you so sure well what it was when I was talking to Joey in a car after the match with Eton he was telling me how big Walter was on the Indy scenes and then when I got back home January February March I was like three months you know to check out on Walter so I knew he was right on and I just knew that was gonna be it had to be that at that moment because I had been waiting for a moment like that all my career is it had to be this one I've done that so many times before but that time I was very very convinced very sure of myself that if everything happened that way the way that I connected with Joey the way that my match went with heatin the way that I got kind of scouted by like label Pro that had had to be it had to be it and right so let's take it back a little bit 2011 you were pretty much done with wrestler for those reasons you know I said oh man so many so many E's I slap in the face and and the last time that I drove from Connecticut back to Montreal that didn't even I didn't even have the chance to do the second show I'm driving my car back home and I'm telling myself I'm kind of pissed too you know I'm not in a good mood for sure but I'm telling myself something Goods gonna come out of that I don't know when and I don't know why oh it's gonna happen and I don't know when but I knew something good had to come out of that if I didn't quit so what did you do for work from 2011 and so you got back out of the indc yeah I worked in bars yeah I mean probably this probably were I was their weakness on my first one you know I always was the lady guy and I think that kind of fulfilled fulfill a a need like it was a place for me where you know it was constantly you know talking to beautiful girls and things like that right is a certain standard you know but yeah and you know it gives me some freedoms because that were working like four or four days a week so you talked about how you had a great relationship with Vince and you were able to you know speak with him have these auditions these tryouts over many years did this incident with the clique leave a bad taste in their mouth or or blackballed you or anything like that no because the match did that I should the angle that I was shooting for Sean I say it was supposed to end up that package in England I was supposed to give it to John Laurinaitis but John and I just couldn't show up that day so I had nobody to go and and then my package for the scenario today this was in 2009 yeah I was over in England okay and so many things happen because I had my daughter also in between like a girlfriend but yeah so I gave them my package I gave it to Shawn Michaels basically and he he promised me that he was going to give it to Vince and he gave it right but that match wasn't like you good it was not a good fit for me I mean when I went to the tryout and nobody liked the gimmick that I had nobody I remember I was talking to Ricky Steamboat during the day it was the agent of the match II he did not see anything good through it at all to any years I was coming for I was going against the tide that's one lesson that I've learned also go with the tide don't go against the tide I mean be relentless be focused don't quit but when something gets in your way and that form where it's obvious that you can't change anything yeah go with it yeah just just don't don't be you know stubborn today that's what I did and that I learned so if we if we dive into the situation with Kevin Nash in this this thing with the clique how much did that affect your career at the time so it's you know you were supposed to it was supposed to be a count-out right was the original story is like we usually for TV shows or all shows and a month before the Montreal show which was our show for a title against Kevin he came up to me and very arrogant and he said it's gonna be a big knife big boob jackknife 1 2 3 Montreal that was fuming of course ya know it's not gonna happen like that so when the show arrived and the show comes in one trio and then Tony never comes to me because it's your own town sort of it's a long story there's so many stories and stories it's the he had started the year before with with Shawn Michaels where I didn't want to put him over but I ended up being put in putting him over and the match right and and just the fact that I said no I don't think it's a good idea but I said oh no finally I will do it it's alright I think that I'd like just put enough to get a bad taste of myself and then I was undefeated for eight months of Jean Pierre Lafitte and and Kevin and Shawn were good friends so I think the fact that it came back to Montreal where I had that little altercation with Shawn just came back to haunt me they really put a lot of grease on there to make me bite on and I know if I'm gonna do a job tonight I'm just taking my bag you won't have a main event there's no main event tonight Wow why did it matter so much it's just a house saw that that wasn't for that was the principle that wasn't for the show for their show I didn't care it was just the fact that he called it to me a month before the show right if I would have showed up in Montreal and they would have said okay yeah the fact that the rib it's the rib that I didn't like right a rib that I that I really went crazy for and the first the first little thing that happened what Shawn I had still Jacques in my you know jock wanted to go to WCW I wanted to stay with WWE and and then when he knew that I was addressing Shawn he was saying god you're gonna make you lose it and then I got worked up what Shawn I wasn't sure because that was only like 25 years old so I was like why should I listen to someone who's got experience or I shall listen to Vince's a Boston tells everybody what they want to hear right so I was kind of confused and so it created a little altercation with Shawn that came back to haunt me a year later but it wasn't about to win the jobs it was like maybe 5,000 people there right I don't think that was the big factor a big factor was the fact that months prior did that he came to me and he said in Montreal and you ended up walking out of the match right no okay double count-out and then where did things go from there for you the end of the match was really stiff because all its sold out at the Curt and everybody's expecting a fight so and the next night we're in Quebec City and stuff and then eventually like I decided to go to WCW and then by the time I got put by WCW Kevin Nash and Scott all and made their route there Yeah right so it was like kind of so that's why it was a hard time from 1996 95 96 from that night on with Kevin all the way was there any heat with him then oh no and I remember his friends that were telling him don't go to Montreal it's a big trap shut there they're gonna beat you up and we had so much I learned so much of other business from Kevin he was like a different guy and like today's I would say he's a good friend of mine Wow I remember you talking in another interview where obviously you know you were you were upset about that situation and you had written down all the things you didn't like yeah about them yeah everybody that I hated everybody that I you know things that I didn't like about people in the wrestling business and around my life circle and I was reading that I was writing that down and then as I was reading every single thing it hit me like a ton the brick like everything that I wrote down about other people's no it was probably everything that I was myself wow that's really yeah mumbling hmm yeah yeah of realizing that the things that you don't like about other people was it Mary yeah the things you don't like about yourself yeah so what changed from that point I changed my side saying change my inside change change try to change the way I was dealing with people trying to be a better person success would come only by kind of killing my ego and sort of speak you know and just be generous be be myself work on that you know the basic qualities of you and me you know it's not hard you know not to get get anger it's bad all the time to be mad all the time for its really deep down profound change that I made about myself it's it's a long long journey I've been working on myself since that year you know mm and it's been a process and I feel like you know each and every year and I'm learning more things and more ting it's it's a never-ending process you never get there but you always every day get the best version of yourself and try to be the best version of yourself and working out but I started with the you know setting up I had set up goals for my for my life but I started to set up goals for every day set up goals for every week you know be let's say if I was stuck in traffic let a car go by in front of me a door for someone little things that was just thinking about myself before I can move out of the way it's me it's me it's me close the door in front of someone you don't dare cut the line yeah late for an interview or something go on that shoulder cut right in front of everybody you know I wasn't things like that you know yeah and I was like without knowing that you know like I was I was always brought up good but when I reached the beauty beauty that framed success the money my account changed my bank account changed overnight you know I think my first check WWE like $15,000 for three days of work you know it's a crowd so you're going from being broke to that amount of money yeah plus the royalty checks and everything and then eventually you just start thinking you're better than everybody you know mom would say I'll go away to that restaurant today I don't I'm better than them yeah so I had to reach out to a point where you know everything that happened to me happened for a reason that was the - Gator of that and at first I was putting the blame on Kevin's putting the blame on Shawn or putting the blame on Vince putting the blame on everybody else and when I switched that away and then I became very humble and well you realized the common denominator and all of that yeah it was you yeah and I had to grow my qualities and reduce my my bad sides or it sounds like you just became kinder yeah kinder more wisdom I would say yeah but I was always a big reader you know I always read trying to find out what do I need to make it read read read listen listen listen well what books have really inspired your life yeah The Alchemist from bollock willow it's classic its last thing but it's my life too because every single thing that I did and that I'd led to this championship every single experience the bar the TV commentator or the wrong with Vince the the the the the hard time to make it to Vince first yeah no one that what it mean you know even if it's art its art eventually it's gonna pay off yeah I knew that and it's like the alchemists every jobs that he's doing and a way to achieving his goal to go to the pyramids always bring and that's an arrow to set you know I had to kid and that's that's when I was there in 2010 for wrestling at the pyramids I went to wrestle in Egypt Wow and actually I met Caprice Coleman there and we were resting on resorts there and it was like four or five hours away from the airport when I decided that at the end of the tour there was no matter what I was going to the pyramid and I went to a site where Barack Obama was doing his speech when he went there to Cairo and when you look at all the nine pyramids on that site it's it's breath-taking you know you you just it's so beautiful you just like you cannot not be in the moment you're you're one with the pyramids you know you're you're part of the pyramids you're part of that and that experience itself was a big another big starting movement for me to say well how can my favorite book that's about you know reaching like the best of yourself and it happens there I'm here yeah all right pretty crazy yeah what what are the chance that you're gonna fly at 14 hours straight to Egypt for wrestling tour without learning and experience there was something about myself hmm so that that's the book that's impacted your life the most that's one of one of them but there's there's many are you still like you're constantly reading now oh ma now instead of reading I use my my earphones and now listen to a lot of YouTube you have a youtube channel yeah yeah yeah yeah I use a lot of audiobooks though what I read to I like to read the airplane sometimes reading also is different than listening so but I do both yeah I read a lot by the way will link up to your YouTube channel down below in the pin comments so people can subscribe to your channel you're putting a lot of your insane workouts on there yeah yeah yeah that's that's that's one of my babies they're like all those videos and me Industrialists rank videos the theatrical videos lighting yourself on fire yeah all kinds of stuff all kinds of stuff I mean yeah you got a you know people got a check on that on that channel because that it's screwing no so like I'm just putting a video I'm not putting a lot of you know I'm putting descriptions but I'm not putting a lot of words you know likes interesting or like search terms yes sir he keywords hashtags well you should yeah I could I could give you some help here but at least I I'm regular like you you got a video every Monday every Monday night you got a video and sometimes you got extra videos during the week good okay so that's that's constant it's been we're approaching or the hunter amber Andhra the video that's great which is gonna be a special one the special edition 400 with so many people knowing you early on in your career as a tag team wrestler did you always envision yourself as a single star I had to to become a world champion that's true so in my mind it was I really really like the way that Brett yeah but mine mines been different but it like you said 2019 ROH tag darararara waist world six-man tag the Crockett Cup the NWA tag the World Championship title so it's it's kind of the same journey sort of but that was all in WWE I mean yeah I wanted to be a tag first and then and then entered on mandoline and a world champ and when they approached you that you were gonna be part of villain enterprises what was your reaction to that I was really happy [Music] the word that I was looking for was that synchronicity you know it's been just since 2017 my whole life's been synchronized yeah it's like you're in alignment now yeah I mean I met Marty into the year that I was in England for the whole time trying to get in touch with WWE yeah I met Marty and they call this their Wow this young boy starting up yeah I was good to them you know and I guess from from what Nick told me you know Marty really appreciate the fact that I had been good to them compared to other like veterans we're like more harder or Jerry was always cool and open about it because I knew Marty coming Linda yeah and I said wow I thought that year was down the drain that year was just saving my butt there that's so funny that's so funny how it came back yeah it came back around like I never imagined and and then the other thing is Walter when I got to a wrestle Walter he said Carl you don't remember me but we wrestled together before now away said yeah I just broke in that was 18 that 16 carat and Germany 16 carat tournament so we work together in a three against three Wow and that kind of created that little chemistry that little spark that we needed to get our match that to get a kick-ass match yeah so yeah it kind of works back ways when in alignment I like your word that you use I'm in alignment and so things from the past are helping me out now like marty is calling me up and then I met also a neck on the road and started and add Tour 2018 with Brodie King so I was a good friend we had a good chemistry we had a good fuse we had good matches against each other so for me me Marty Brodie King what can I ask well you know it's so cliche to say it but everything happens for a reason and it's funny how you might not know what that reason is in the moment yet or even a year or two later yeah but it's amazing these connections that you made a decade ago it's crazy are now coming back around and help you now yeah that also just goes to show also sounds cliche but be kind everybody yeah because you never know like Marty's now booking ringing oh yeah how much has that changed you know for you the only thing that changed a little bit what Marty was like defect that for a while we didn't know what he was gonna do and I didn't feel like I should ask him I didn't think it was appropriate and I think nobody was asking me because I was talking to flip sometime in society it's kind of said I don't know if you're resigning and I don't know Smarties resigning we don't know when that thing yes it was like a tough time so I felt forever for a little while I didn't know like I wasn't gonna end up by myself interrogations like and I I was just focusing as much as I could on what I could control and not trying to think about what I cannot control and that's why I think that's one of the philosophy that I decided to embrace also when I decided to change myself you know was like going against the tide trying to worry about things that I didn't have any control over yeah making all the efforts and putting other focus on everything that I can control and then trying to let life just happen you know and I think one of the most interesting parts about all of this is English isn't your first language so that's another obstacle that you had to overcome it was yeah but I had a young age but I think also it helps me find my character now at my age I think at one point I 25 26 27 not being the first thing what you're trying to what style am I gonna have if I have a life ring interview or if I have to be charismatic or I have to you know do something because I've done like so many interviews over the last two years that I found my way like I just need to be myself do you still the guy that I am do you still have to search for English words yeah I imagine yourself my own vocabulary if I if my mind I want to say a word and it doesn't come I'll use no no synonyms yeah yeah but but you're not like or if I don't know the word I'll just make it like I did it's anonymous anonymous is a word do you do you still think in French no but you okay so you process the words in English oh yeah everything okay cuz I know some people process it in their native language then okay this is what I mean no I remember you know another person from your area George say Pierre he's I think he's different than mine his his English was terrible at first at first at first his English was terrible and he's really worked on it he's gotten better and he made tons of money for us of course he did did you ever take any professional classes to learn English you learn everything on the road so you taught yourself English yep I learned from being around the people Wow I remember my first letters that was worth writing for Stampede Wrestling my friend like on the high school he was really good like almost bilingual so I would have him to write my letters to to art or Broussard and I would send them with a decent English because he was helping me out or if I was calling Stewie you would be in front of me and it was we were both listening and ha telling me to say it wasn't like before I was entering it was like a time you know to meet an ad to answer Wow I don't think it helped me out at all but you somehow figured it out you learned yeah yeah well there was a lot of you know mistakes and error and learning from them and I had had the hard way though learning on the road that was tough because sometimes if you find someone who speaks French and you start speaking French with em well the rest of the group thing that you're talking about them so we have to speak in English between each other but we both don't speak very good English so it made it like sometimes I remember we were over in England and I was there in 91 for Brian Dixon and for four or five hours me and my partner were both the french-canadian and we're talking French in the back and I think France Finland they've Taylor on the front and then the front I mean they were red hot when we got out of the car all right and I learned from other wrestlers and then we would never did that again but we didn't know better we were 20 years old arriving father were in England yeah our first no second pro athlete well we met in the Maritimes where I got fired after 30 days and then then I I decided to go to England and then we really made the main event there were like we're working Robbie Brookside and Doc Dean every night Dave Taylor and Stephen Rio and all the top guys from England we're working with them on main event all night every night were the top tag-team their 91-92 and then I went for auto bands Auto like Julie booked me like wanted to stop guys with Peter Williams a ticketing almost won a tournament in Hanover and Bremen I finished four down over finished fifth like twenty one twenty two guys on the tournament they pushed me hard and that led me to go to Puerto Rico for Carlos and then that was a main eventer there I was working I was a Gonzales and Carlos himself butcher sometimes and then that's where I met in 93 and then as soon as I went for a tryout and as soon as we Deeb you then the WWE it was like the we got the straps like I think it was like started in June and September 13 of the you know the day yeah because it was like really an important date yeah well September 13 the tag straps and the world title December 13th there you go lucky number that'd be a monster now if if this is everything you know leading up to this point well I mean we talked about of the start of the interview what what's the plan for 2020 you're so gold driven so what's the goal yeah it's uh okay I said sounds cliche I'm trying to find I was trying to find every word possible like have toyed maybe fever maybe you know different words for something that may be inclusive with the big craziness that's going around with what's happening with PCO and the only thing I could come up what was the PCO Monster Mania monster because it's going to be so big and monster because it's monstrous yeah and and also like growing up being 14 Hulk Hogan was the man and I always said to myself I wanted to beat the next hawk Hogan so it's like paying tribute to someone that I I really admire a lot for for what he did and the way did it and everything that they've accomplished him and Vince together because I think they were working a lot together back then and I think as of now Ring of Honor is not a global you know like 30 riders and right it's still like family many people involved in the process so I think it's truly to pop Ring of Honor big time I mean we have all the ingredients to Pappas and that's the goal and now's the time to do it I always said they know I wanted to be the next again I wanted to pop a territory like Joe leduc did and Tennessee will get in and WWE and the 80s and so that's what drives me well now's the time to do it yeah wrestling's red hot right now yeah it was there ever a point cuz your stories about like perseverance and not giving up on yourself was there ever a point where you went I don't think this is gonna be possible anymore 2011 was the year when I had that radio interview and a guy was asking me what's up with your carrier pretty much your I think that's that's what the retirement comes from yeah well uh official retirement I never made a press conference I never had a retirement match I never wanted to say I was gonna retire because I knew accomplish what I wanted to accomplish yeah but you know what by saying that to that radio announcer it made me let go a little bit hmm and made me let all the efforts and all the things that I had put in maybe sometimes when you want something that much that much Dan Martinus instead of pulling it your portion it what with wanted it too much too much too much too much yeah maybe I was not doing the right things at the right times Mamie and he did the breaks notes just to refocus and and just it's so weird you know like when I was doing those commentary for the YouTube channels like just prior to that I wasn't doing much you know I was doing guys with comedy you know I was a little bit like you're doing I was having them and I was asking question about you know the you Morris yeah this guy was I'm in my life for although he came out twice or three times he set me up with my my Twitter not even my Twitter might year II started in youth YouTube account with wrestling on it and started that old thing and no you gotta go wrestling and it's just something that someone that I knew from where I go to get my things print out and photocopy and things like that just to another person just someone that happened to be in my life for just one reason put me right back in the wrestling yeah you know I didn't know I was gonna make it back there and well now that you're doing this you're doing it obviously at the top level what's the plan here like do how much longer do you think you can do this well like I said said that to many other shows and hosts before it's not about the time it's about the achievement once I'll be achieved once I would be achieving what I've started you know a great run you know like a solid run like it would good crowds goodbye rates good gates you know something like pretty spectacular and that's something ordinary something unbelievable something that you cannot even think about once that will be reached then it'll be time to step up to the next thing are you he's never given up you really aren't human yeah well are you afraid that your body might give out on you no because I mean not the way I train or digital but the way that you wrestle though like there's not too many people that are first of all doing moon sauce period mana not a lot of people doing moon South's at 52 years old and then do a lot of crazy bumps yes I think every I think I got a show during the imagine I'm not human I think that's part of the deal you know that's part of how can you do this and it's double psychology on the match you know you got the people watching you cheering for you for either the story that that's behind it the passioned hard work perseverance the courage everything that you need to get there and and through the story of the match it's the same emotions and also I want the people to worry about myself hmm like they see something happy oh no is he dead oh he's okay so it's it has another emotion to the match you know there's not too many wrestlers that can create that I have the chance that they cannot create something like that where you know creating a reaction about they're worried about the guy itself and on top of the story of the match so it makes well you mentioned destro and I feel like for a lot of people he came out of nowhere like I think a lot of people hadn't seen him till you guys were paired together how did you get connected with them did a few movies it's got a face for movies you know it's got that look and he's got so good their strength as strongest ends in the world they the Arnold Classic and all what year it was I challenge every like mark and we like all the strong men that you know Bill Kazmaier was there was the the announcer for this tromelin contest any challenge everybody put $10,000 on the table said like all those guys over 300 pounds they were all like you know super strong but nobody could bend a penny and a half nobody can bend six inches nails nobody can they're like hundred decks of cards under 10 minutes things like that so he's got a strongest sense in the world so he decided to when he saw me he said that I was Frankenstein the way I was walking it was a big he grew up on monster and to me being a monster it kind of recreated as his childhood a little bit and so he had he says I've got my monster now and then he's teaching me the sweets of drinks so I can have the strongest hands and progressing to so when I jokes a more yeah do anything with my hands that's that's especially my hands you know that's that's where I want to I want to have a solid grip but your character admits a double meaning because your your career has also been resurrected and the character exactly so it was incredible when I came out with that idea he said you are Frankenstein you have to be Frankenstein you know that's that's gonna be the biggest thing in the world and I said to him I always thought I walked funny you know I got a funny walk that gay guy walking like that you know like not on purpose it's just the way I walked I said you know I've been a lot of people have been making joke about the way I walked and I walk like Frankenstein so I said I don't think he's pretty but I'm gonna go with it anyway it works for you yeah I don't care be no me at this point so was destro in wrestling it was a big fan of wrestling but yeah it was a big big big big fan he did a little bit of commentary for wrestling he was involved a little bit with the same channel where I was working the same TV station I want to see him maybe 15 years ago I wanted him to be with me and I wanted to shootin and go to Vince with him as my manager yeah and he turned me down this tool said no I'm not interested this guy's not about money Heder is like either likes it or he doesn't I mean he's like he's like the only reason I'm doing is because I'm doing it for you when he said I love Monster I loves ya wrestling I love feats of strength and we're training together and that makes my well you played so many different characters obviously this one is I think at the top of the heap but what he thinks the worst gimmick that you've had I really think it was the Quebecers for me because it was like a character where it wasn't at myself at all like yeah we never really won like clean like it was always like some sort of a Quebec rules won won the title by disqualification we we always got beat up we I was running on my knees I was like going to Jacques sways holding up like to me it's totally not me and also I think to be successful in in wrestling it's gotta be an extension of yourself it's got to be a part of yourself that it's in there in that ring that people our feeling that your you and your character are one you're not playing a role you're not you know I was going I was good playing that role but I knew that wasn't a role for me I could know I could do fairly good you know but and the pirate that's an idea that I shot to Vince where I wanted to really emphasize the fact that we'll use a negative losing my eye at the age of 12 and and turn it into a positive where with one eye II can still you know do great things and I wanted to do a lot of things you know with people that have light and he caps and tried to be inspiring you know as the wrestler for them but turned that into the Lafitte where the great great Jean Lafitte was my great great grandfather was Jean Lafitte the famous pirate in Louisiana and then I was not from Quebec anymore I was from Louisiana and and it was to me was a too much cartoonish that's not what I had envisioned for that character I really wanted to be a it's funny to say that because I'm not human but the fact that I'm not human is because I've been made out with different body parts from all different pro-wrestlers and I've been resurrected and you know I mean that's what makes me not human it's like the tolerance to the pain but when I talk the feeling and everything that's human that's still human and I'm saying that because the pirate that's something that I wanted to translate to the crowd I wanted to translate my my the quality that I had the you know the the the the courage that I had like I remember my family being at the hospital every day for one month I was laying on my back and I was a kid that was 12 years old and I was no one who was bringing their morale up don't worry your mom's gonna be fine don't worry dad don't worry my mom you know it's okay it's it's good now I'll be good with one you know so I wanted to those emotions to to be shown in that character of the pirate and I wanted to show which then they said the blindness was more the the u.s. people the Americans that didn't appreciate what my great great father and done in the past for the country and one side ways and that's another character that didn't really like because I think that I would have guessed it was your impact or your TNA care yeah yeah but it was such a short span of time yeah I guess you didn't get a chance to really get to know that care yeah no not really I didn't didn't have time to put that much thought into it I don't know that everybody realizes that like you're blind on the right eye yeah I think that maybe people think that because of this character that that's just a contact you're wearing oh I know it's it was really a big drama and my family I got shot by a want to you know the pickup sticks the play you know when you have different callers well we ran out of pillows and we're a bunch of kids at 12 shooting ourselves in the legs and then once we didn't have any more pellet to put in a pellet gun we put those sticks and then went through this I was hiding behind the counter in the kitchen and my friend we're shooting our legs you know below the DNI's to make sure nothing would happen yeah I think I was seeking death for for one but anyways that was on my knees and I went through the skin and then then I do it to rounded edge so I pulled it back out so don't ever do that if something happened to your eye you put a cop over it you leave it there you don't touch it you go to the hospital that can make the surgery and remove it very gently without you making the damage because when I pulled it I pull all my like that what yeah because it's a rounded edge it went through the skin and by reflex I went boom I pulled it out it was bleeding all over the place and then I put a night they took a small towel I wet it and then I tell my friend I think I'm blind I think I'm lying I'm looking in the mirror no I can see I can see no I'm blind I'm like oh I can see and I'm doing crazy call my mom there was no cell and yep so my mom was working my uncle come and got me and I fell unconscious on the way to the hospital oh my god I woke up I had like been four hours and this surgery this is not to make light of this but you know that you know the movie the Christmas story know a Christmas story the kid wants a BB gun for Christmas and they keep saying you'll shoot your eye out kid it's gonna happen I mean wow but the fact that you overcame that as well yeah the only angel was very very grounded very humble very I grew up you know reading quite a lot of books a lot of good people [Music] basically it was like just hitting WWE the fame you know that really you know people some people never go down and they never get out of it like Michael Jackson died he was like super miserable right yeah yeah and he uses the same thing and I think for an instance like one thing that I wanted to also prove when I came back and I make my comeback is when I saw the movie the wrestler I was so pissed off y-yea with Mickey Rourke I was mad it's only showing the bad side of the wrestling world you don't see nothing good about it you don't see a nice father taking care of his children you don't see a nice family growing up happy you don't see you know someone who has money someone who has like good things that business had brought to them you know that comfort you the only thing you see is this pain and misery right and I wanted to come back and I wanted to make it come back and I wanted to reach my goal and that movie was another incident for me to go well they'll have to do another movie but this one will be positive about the wrestling business mm-hmm I want a movie to be well we were shooting my life in the real time like they're not here today but usually I chose and since 2017 there's a crew following me pretty much everywhere Wow so before I won the title after I won a time yeah yeah where I sign a contract after I sign a contract and everything in between and the good matches and the so that's gonna be a nice document area a two-hour documentary movie Wow the bigger the story comes to be here the movie will be the bigger the book will be and there's different parts of your story that I think relate to different people from all walks of life and whether you're a wrestler or you are a broadcaster like myself or whatever you happen to do I feel like people can take from your story and apply it to their own life yeah that's one of the goal too and I think I was really inspired by a lot of guys that like the impact theory you know Tom Miller yeah like really like what he does learned a lot there there's a lot of things that I already know but just listening to it you know it always makes me go back in my values and and what I believe in yeah reinforces all my values and now my my criteria that I think that are important in life and I think ahead myath also yeah one of them yeah and Edie mallet has a great show his podcast I listen to it all the time there's no reason that you can't be a guest on Ted Tom Billy show or ed my let's show that would be like thing that's that's that's been a goal for the last year to be to be on those shows so hopefully that's gonna turned out to be something that's gonna happen well hopefully someone listening to this right now yeah it would be a really great force connected yeah with a door Tom and can make this happen yeah and also in the same line of those two guys I was a big fan of all problem-free and I think she really knows how to get out you know what's its essentials in life so yes the achievements yes the job yes the wrestling or you're an actor or you're you know whatever feel of life sure art of yeah there's always like a line you know that is that that makes you be successful or not I think and I I think she she knows how to hit the nail on those points you know I'd really like to be able to get to know her and share a little bit of my story with her and then because she's a lady that well I think we'd all like to get to know Oprah yeah yeah she's they she had some very interesting guests so I've actually interviewed Oprah once you interviewed so many big names and I've been very fortunate and Oprah was just so kind and I think that was the biggest thing and she was so kind and so present in the moment and it's funny that you know I've interviewed you know you name it I've interviewed every Hollywood celebrity the bigger the star the nicer the person and I think that that's such an interesting thing because most people would think it's the reverse most people would think the Tom Cruise is the Sandra Bullock's the Brad Pitt's of the world and the washing right and I've interviewed all these people you there they've always been the absolute kindest and most present and I think that there's a lesson to be learned from those types of people yeah yeah so we're sure I hope to have the chance that you had and to be able to meet with them and sit down with them and be able to been asking to be able to ask a few questions well I think the word that describes you really well is is kind you were such a kind man and the path that you've been on is a path that you've created for yourself yeah I would yeah yeah yeah it's touching it's been a lot of work and it's very very this just a piece of gold but it's rewarding sure and from the people but also for my own self you know and that's why I feel I have the I have to know to get out there and territory you know I could never never been popped before and what not myself with all the great talents that we got you know Marty Skrill the villain enterprises what you know I don't want to go what names because when you all get one everybody hates you so but I can say we got a super talented dressing room and you just have to look at what WWE's got right now and what a EWS got and well over fifty percent of those guys are coming from ROH yeah it's true and now that our oasis its spending the money is investing mm-hmm and it's putting more efforts into becoming like a you know a major company it feels like now we're back to where we were like so many years ago where you had AWA NWA WWE WUF whatever so we got the three major ones and because all the other ones are brands of WWE so it's it's all WWE a ring of honor already wrestling and that's now that's booming the Horowitz and to make it like number one well I want to thank you for this super enlightening conversation and also I want to acknowledge you for never giving up on yourself and you know always chasing after those goals and being I'm a super goal driven person myself you set those goals and you're not happy until you've accomplished them and I think that that's something that's you know made you the Ring of Honor champion just made you a champion in life yeah yeah you I think we can almost end up on this you you don't become what you want you almost become what you are in a way that you know so sometimes we want to be something but we're not totally ready for it yeah sure and I think sometimes you become a champion at a young age like Mike Tyson because from that experience there is gonna be some lessons to be learned yeah later on so that's why there's a different yeah there's an order and there's a time for different reasons for different things but I'm so grateful that I had I can't appreciate every moment I can assure you that I won't go back on the you know fall back on those traps you know I'll make the best out of it and the best and a positive way out of it mm-hmm thank you so much thanks a lot really appreciate it I appreciate you all right thank you guys for checking out this chat with PCO who's now doubling as my cameraman as we drive to the airport you're heading home to took it back yeah going back to Montreal Canada am mlc merci beaucoup that's a fact Lizzie that was a pleasure oh thank you I speak high school French so I can conjugate the verb etre and that's about it it would be crazy if I just say she's sweet to a la Li people be like what I am you are he is she is oh I really appreciate your time doing this interview I appreciate this great camera angle you're giving us right now I like because I really like every point that we hit on the conversation and I think it's very different from a lot of other podcasts or YouTube channels that I did I think I came out with different stuff and I think it's gonna be very interesting for your subscribers to watch yeah I think I think people saw a different side of you like I know you're not human but people saw a human side of you yeah well like I said you know what's not human it's the body parts and everything else that was brought by Dee destro to recreate myself and resurrect me but inside there's you know there's emotions and insight did not human guy there's a human yeah well I think that's you're a lot better wrestler than you are cameraman but once again we'll pin PCOS YouTube channel down below in the pin comments you can subscribe to him and I know you guys are already subscribed to me right I don't even have to ask right VCO subscribed I did I just did that too long ago he's subscribed in French yeah that bunny that's that bunny so phone step on there bunny boom stamp up that said it's Libya so thank you again and thank you guys and we'll see you soon yes thank you

Channel: Chris Van Vliet

Views: 78,567

Rating: 4.9392986 out of 5

Keywords: pco interview, pco vs walter, pco wins roh championship, pco vs kevin nash, pco returns to wrestling, chris van vliet interview, chris van vliet podcast, chris van vliet wrestling, pco entrance theme, pco vs rush, pco wwe, ring of honor, ring of honor interview, shoot interview, pco shoot interview, pco wrestler, Pierre Carl Ouellet, Pierre Carl Ouellet interview, pco wrestling, pco wins world title, pco joey janela, pco workout, pco and destro, aew, wwe

Id: pYUKPnj2AZY

Length: 85min 28sec (5128 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 11 2020