'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
One thing that really stands out to me about your career... You were in The Brood, you had all the tag team championships, the ladder matches, your singles run... But it's the "Captain Charisma" name! Where did that come from?
I was trying to think of a ridiculous name when I was off with an injury for a few months and, you know, who isn't a fan of Shawn Michaels? He called himself the Heartbreak Kid and just that this kind of catchy little nickname so I was like, "What can I give myself that could be kind of annoying name that I would think is cool but people generally don't think is cool?"
I came up with that, I threw it out and a couple of people were like, "That's terrible, you shouldn't use it." As soon as I heard that, I was like, "Yeah, I'm using it."
Back to Cagefighter. My favorite thing about the movie is how it plays off of the question everyone asks of how a wrestler would do in the world of MMA. We've seen many different instances of that story play out in real life. What excites you most about the movie?
I think the story is very relevant to what we've seen over the last few years with wrestlers crossing over into MMA. You know, with Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar doing it, with CM Punk doing it, with Jake Hager doing it recently. And we see it on the other side too, we see MMA stars coming over to wrestling.
I've always said that MMA and wrestling, to me, are the same tree but different branches. At the end of the day, it's entertainment. For me, what I liked about it was, without giving away too much, the wrestler is not the butt of the joke or being made to look like a fool and I appreciated that.
As a wrestler, you're always protecting what you do and you care about what you do so, to me, the fact that the wrestler was taken seriously was pretty appealing for me.
So, the movie isn't being released in the traditional way and obviously, the world is a very different place to what we're used to right now. What would you view as being "success" for Cagefighter?
Yeah, I just think that as long as people are entertained by it. At the end of the day, as I said, the world needs entertainment right now and I think Fite TV is the perfect vehicle for this because there's not a lot of live events going on right now, so this can kind of give MMA fans and wrestling fans a little bit of a fix and a little bit of escape, and I think it holds true.
Obviously when you have other names like Chuck Liddell and Luke Rockhold attached to it as well... Chuck's a legend and Luke is a former World Champion in UFC and in Strikeforce. To me, those guys wouldn't want to be a part of it either if they didn't believe in the way that it was done and portrayed.
I left this for last so, if I deeply upset you by asking, at least I got the full interview in first. It's the question everyone asks so I'm putting it to the man himself.
Why isn't Christian in the Hall of Fame?
If I had a dime for every time somebody asked me that then, you know, I'd be pretty well off. I mean, it's not up to me. I appreciate the fact that the people want me to be in there that badly. I don't think about it. It really doesn't bother me. For me, it's like, it's not going away this year, this isn't going to be the last year of it. It's going to be there next year, the year after, the year after and the year after that. It's not something I lose sleep over or even think about but I appreciate that the people want to see me in there. That's nice.
Thank you to Christian for chatting with me and FITE TV for setting up the interview!
Cagefighter: Worlds Collide will be available for streaming purchase on Saturday, May 16 outside of the US exclusively via FITE TV at this link.
