Matt Taven

is now open. Simply head on over to Agnition Casino at Ignitioncasino dot eu and go to the scheduled tournament poker lobby and you can find the tournament under the regular tab tournaments are listed in chronological order, So go to a July eleventh at three oh five pm Eastern time and the Underdog Free Roll Invitational will be listed. You can click register and enter in the exclusive password

Underdog twenty one. Any player who knocks a host out of the tournament will receive an extra bonus as there are bounties on all of the Underdog hosts. Once again, that's the Underdog Free Roll Invitational July eleventh at Ignition Casino dot Eu. Enter one hundred percent for free with the code Underdog twenty one. All right, get it going right here, right now. This its Eyes up Here, and you're listening to an all new Eyes of Mers exclusively on our Patreon channel on video and on the Creative

Control Network later in the week in audio form. But if you didn't invite now, my name is Chad, and every single week I'm joined here by the Queen of extreme Fancy. We have red letters now here at the bottom. I don't know. I noticed that I changed the thoughts a little bit in the color because I'm still fancy, but fancy. Welcome to another week of Eyes up Here. Well, thank you, thanks for having me today. Chat You're welcome. I'm great to have you. You know, it's always a

beautiful day here in Virginia. But what's going on in your neck of the woods? I have BedHead today, rolled out and came downstairs. Now I took a shower, but the hair's a little damp, but I'm still suffering. Lost another pound. Oh jeez, these these spacers are actually making me fly over the cuckoo's nest. I'm going insane. They are so painful, and I can't even tell you how painful it is to chew. I'm going on two weeks and I can't eat. I can't eat, and I'm miserable

and I'm just drastically losing weight and it's crazy. But I think you tweeted a picture the other day of like what you were making soup that was It's like, I couldn't imagine have even like if I had a dental problem or so, I couldn't imagine just having all liquid yea and no hard, solid crunch. Oh my gosh. So is even when you talk, like, do you feel the the apes when you speak? I do. It's it's a It's it's that dull pain that never goes away. Do you ever have a pain that just is constant?

My mouth has been this way for like two weeks now. It feels like you have food stuff between your teeth, Like when you eat a steak, you get a piece of meat stuff. You have to get floss, you know. No, it's there's eight pieces of meat stuff between my teeth. And then when I bite down, it feels like I'm biting a rubber and my teeth are actually bouncing off each other. I can't get a good bite. So when I'm trying to chew, I can't choose my food. I've been trying to chew with my front teeth and I

look like a rabbit. I'm like, you know what I mean exactly, And I'm just I tried to eat, like the one day I tried to eat a chip file at sandwich and that was a disaster. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. So I've been eating soups to for lunch. Hubs is gonna make me a protein shake. I'm gonna drink that and probably have some soup for dinner, and that's it. That's all I eat. How about mashed potatoes. I could probably eat mashed potatoes, but the kids don't

eat mashed potatoes. Husbands or the diet he won't eat mashed potatoes. My mom will eat like this much. So if I make them, it's like I just have to make it for me. And you know, eggs, maybe I didn't even try it. Yeah, they would have to. I guess they would have to be like scrambled or some fried egg If you're feeling ever so inclined, you know, to have walk on a wild side, get those two

pounds back with three pounds. Yeah, Well, eggs aren't that many calories, So I don't you know, I'm just hoping that on Monday when I go, he's gonna say, Okay, we're gonna take them all out. Now, the question I had because I've never had braces before, are the bottom ones in for a reason because I'm not getting braces on the bottom for four to six months? So are they going to bands or something? Or did we just do this for shifts and giggles, like I think, I

think that. I think the latter. Well, I then guess what my dentsis is going to get into earful because I have been miserable. Don't brush your teeth, get back at him. Don't brush your teeth that morning? Oh my god, Well, you know what they had said, don't floss. I thought they meant like where the bands were, right. I attempted to floss and it was like a bloodbath. I couldn't because they shifted so much. Now I noticed my bottom teeth have moved and I couldn't get the floss between

the teeth without the bands. So I'm pushing and I'm bleeding, and I said, oh, this is just a disaster. I need to I feel so bad for you. I can't. I can't wait to hear how it goes after Well, maybe Wednesday. I'll check in with you. I'll give you, I'll give you a few days. But you know, like we said, your dude is sit in the chair next Friday. So I'm curious to see what the you know, the revamped smile is going to. I can't my next Friday,

I know. And then they're like, well, my girlfriend. I was talking to her yesterday and she's like, well, you know, when you get these taken out and put the braces on, that's a whole different level of pain. I said, damn, but I think I can eat because they'll be on the top and not you know, nothing will be you know, preventing me from eating and chewing. So I just want to eat. I'm a cranky bitch who wants a sandwich. Well, well I believe it. I believe Yeah. So well let's see.

So that's Monday, we're recording Friday. Of course that's Monday. So by next Friday will be five days in. I mean, this could be a new, whole new You might not be happy next Friday. You still might be in a little bit of pain. I'm not happy now, but look at me I have a smile on my face that I'm kid. I know how to turn it on when I need to. Maybe we should have some dental based

content next week. Yeah. Although, hey, my little one lost her first tooth the other night and I had to leave the room because I can't be around the Oh that's right. We talked about this last time. I would a yank. That's sucker right out. You hear the pop when it comes out. Oh man, I look, I came downstairs and then she came and it's like the other one's already like half grown behind it. Now, how did it fall out? Did Liz have to pullis she had

to pull? It was hanging on by a thread. It was it actually was nasty to get that the dangle than it was after it came out. But yeah, I know she was a trooper. It was Uh, it was good. Tooth Fairy came, took care of business. Oh tooth fairy. It has been leaving lots of money tooth fairy has tooth fairy. Tooth Fairy introduced her to Abraham Lincoln. It was pretty Uh, you know, that's the first one, first one, ser you know, first one special. That's a high. That's

a high dollar tooth there. I just want to point out for I was just going to give you a tip for a few let's hear it, because it's difficult to get the tooth from under the pillow it. Indeed, so what I told my kids, because I'm brilliant, that they have to put it in a baggie because the tooth fairy doesn't want to mix up teeth. So when they put it in a baggie, it's easy to grab the baggy and slide it from under the pillow, and that gives the parent the opportunity to pretty brilliant. I'm

not going to nice now. You would think the tooth fairy could be equipped with like DNA technology, so if there was to be some sort of mix up of teeth, all they have to do is test the tooth to see who it belost it. Well, we don't discuss that with the children. We just tell the children they need to put it in a little baggie and then we make the baggies brilliant the pillow and then you just pull it brilliant rather than tussle them while they're trying

to sleep. Because in the beginning, it was like she put the tooth in the middle of the pillow, so my hand it's like trying to slide and get that tooth out there. It's difficult. And then I was like, there's to be an easier way, so put it in a zip block and then just pull it out. You're good to go. Mental note for for the next time. I just want to point out before we have our

guests pop on. He's not on yet, but when he comes on, I don't want to take up all the time Later, I'm contemplating dropping think while he drinks Part one and two as one full episode on creative Control so that people see what they missed from like like like a like a bonus for them just to see what they missed because I have to reveal to you was it hilarious? I kept well. I kept drinking after we were done, and I had to count two shows to record after we were done. Were you bombed? Oh?

I would By the last one. I was so out of it commercation, so I did. I actually had Hughesy came on and did my New Generation show. He was drinking, so I was drinking still, and then I had the Baseball one afterwards with a good buddy of mine who I've gotten to know over the last year or so, and I was trying so hard to focus. Oh my goodness, that was It was unbelievable. But our guest is joyous. Hey, we'll talk about that later on, but it was very funny.

Here we go, we want to introduce some latiris. This is a current r OH superstar, Matt Tavan. Everyone. Hello, I did. I feel like I came in right in the midst of a good story and I was ready to hear the rest of it. And I feel like I ruined everything in a nutshell. Last week we did a Patreon we have a Patreon group here, and we did a Drink While You Think, and so we were drinking for an hour and playing a game and chat. I'm sorry there was more drinking than thinking. Oh yeah.

Chad proceeded to drink while he had two more podcasts to film, and he was bombed because he just kept consuming alcohol. So he was just telling me how drunk he was by the third and I had to be serious by the third one too, and it was so hard. So I tried so hard to focus and there were probably the best podcast as you ever did, because you loosened up. I'm looking at it right here, I'm looking at it. Sorry, on the left hand side. I have the I went thirty five minutes in eight seconds, drunk,

stone faced, but drunk. Remember zero of it. I don't remember a thing about what I talked about. I really don't, but I was so I had like Wikipedia Baseball reference. I had all these screens up to keep me like looking. I was so guy. I have no idea. I can't listen to it back because it's going to be embarrassing. That is terrible. You should be ashamed of yoursel I'm sure. Matt.

First of all, I feel bad because we were Matt and I were in Disney World at the same park on the same day, wow, and we never crossed paths. I heard this. I only heard this as I was exiting that you were there, and I was like, wait a second, I let's go back in the park to run into she Mary Kate. I believe you were with

a good friend of both of ours. She had sent us a text, and I believe you guys were where we had just left from and we just got the kids snacks and we were exhausted and sweaty, and she's like, oh, come back to the other side of the park. No, yeah, no, I don't know how you handle. I can barely manage Disney World by myself with kids and stuff. I don't know how you guys best let me tell you if you ever, I don't know if you want children or not. But when you got I'm sorry, that's okay to each

the room. But when you go with your children and you see things through their eyes, it is the most rewarding feeling ever and it makes me so happy, and I'm just I don't know, I love it. On the other hand, I did go to Disney as a child with my father and my and my grandfather, I believe, and me and my cousin like went off to do something and my dad was like, come back to this very spot as soon as you're done. And of course

we didn't do that because we were kids. If we're gone for about two and a half hours, and I'm pretty sure I caused my dad like to have a heart attack that day. So, you know, the wonder of children at Disney. In Disney, that's scary because there's a million people there and if you hear mom, like when I hear mom at Disney, Yeah, even if my kids are next to me, I'm like, who said that? There's eighty seven million children there? Like, is it my kid?

Is it someone else's kids? You don't know? Yeah, Well back up, after being missing for about two and a half hours with those giant turkey legs if they sell at Disney, thinking like, no big deal, my dad leg in your hand? Oh yeah, I'm like, I'm literally like in fifth grade. It's just after being gone for two hours with a giant turkey leg, my dad, I can see from far away sweating pacing. I'm like, oh, oh, we messed up right now? And were you? Oh? I

thought we were leaving. I thought we were never going to come back. But you know, by the time we got to the gate, I think my grandfather talked to me out of being so bad. So what what normally happens with all bad kids is that you're you're you're forced to go to Epcot, you know what I mean. I think that's what you're bad at Disney, You're forced to go to Epcot. As an adult, I love Epcot, but as like, please nothing but Epcott. I'd rather go back to the hotel. But but back then, Epcot sucked.

Now for kids. But I remember like back then it was like, oh, you want to learn go to Epcot, Yeah exactly, And I didn't want to a good Epcot trip after that. Yeah, you have a point. See, I never went as a child. I never went to Disney as a child. We went to Wildwood, New Jersey every year for two weeks. That was our big vacation. I went as an adult for the first time when I was in a c W. Yeah, and fell in love with it. And then, you know, ever since I got mad,

we just started going every single year. We go for two weeks and that's our big, big deal. But I felt so bad. I was like, man, if we weren't here already for like six hours and the kids were just melting, they were just sitting there with their popsicles and melting, And I said, I totally would have ran to say hello. So I apologize for that. No, no worries at all. I don't know how you juggle kids in Disney, so pulling that off, I love it. Are

you a big mark for Disney? Now as an adult, I enjoy it so much more now you know, I'm a theme park guy in general, Like as a kid, you know, a big trip for us was always to go to a different theme park. I would go to the Six Flags in New Jersey a bunch. They had finally brought a six Flags up to New England, Busch Gardens of West Virginia. But I have to say, like, now, you know, as far as the Florida theme parks go, nothing touches Busch Gardens at Tampa. Are you a big

bowler coster? Yeah, that's exactly why. Like you know, the coasters in that at that Busch Gardens, no one can touch it. Like the experience obviously at Disney and Universal is awesome. And like I went down Hollywood, are horror nights at Universal so good? I'm so scared it's worth it. It is awesome. I would need to depend. I would crap my pants, there's my life, well, you know, pack of diaper and head on down there for October because I think it's definitely worth it, even for you know,

destroying a pair of pants or two. But I would love to do it and blog it or go live on Twitch, or do it for the site. Because I am the biggest bab I hate Halloween. I'm not gonna lie, like I know I hate it yet dresses up to the complete, like highest extent with you know, makeup. I do it for the people. I absolutely hate it. It's not my deal, but I think it would be funny if I did something like that, because my dream is to live in Florida. Like that's what we're working on.

We want to relocate eventually, do it. And so I want to I want to like leave wrestling and be a blogger, you know, it's it's the way to go. I mean, more people are streaming and debuting stuff like twitch than than anything else these days. It seems like I think people would would fall if you're that terrified of Halloween. I think I will tune in for you walking around Horror Nights down at Universal because they do

such a good job of it. It's uh, it's it's not terrifying, I don't think, but it's for someone that I think would be, you know, a little jumpy during Halloween. I would be pretty entertained watching you walk through some of those houses. It's not a little it's absolutely horrifying. I can't I went in one harnted house my whole life and we got kicked out. So it's not we

almost got kicked out. Of a haunted house in Vegas one time as the Ring of Honor group and just as a quick story, you know, they they had all these people jump up and like grab you and whatnot, and they had a little person in a costume and come out of this tiny door and everyone thought it

was just like a mechanical thing. So one of the guys like fake superkicked it, like slapped his n didn't come close to it, but I guess on their cameras it looked like someone just super kicked this little person as we were walking through. So all sense security came through and I had to be the dad of the group and be like, oh no, we're wrestlers. He didn't come anywhere close, please God. He took a lot of

money when we went through. I went through with like Tommy, Dreamer and Sign guy Dudley and his girlfriend and it was the four of us and the guy from Scream with the white map, you know, that white pant had a knife and he went like this to me and he stabbed my arm like it's one of the that goes in. Yeah. Yeah, he kind of got me, and I remember Dreamer threatened him and while he was getting

threatened Jason, is he the one with the mask? He whispered, in my ear, your friend's not that bright izzy, and I turned around. I started calling a promo on him, and they were just like, you have to leave through this stuff, like this whole group out of here. I mean, I don't know. I feel like, you know, maybe we're

we're not as compatible as I thought. I have a giant screen poster in my my theater room as I uh literally, that face is the I love horror movies, you know it's I love I Okay, I loved horror movies until I became a mother. Now because the kid's eyes, no, I envisioned bad things happening to my kids, like and it's I think. And I thought I was crazy, but I asked other mothers and they agreed with me. So it's it's a mother thing. I can't watch horror anymore.

I was a big Trauma Mark too, Like I loved Lloyd Kaufman and Trauma and I had like forty of the movie sold the mall. I was like, I can't watch it. No, it makes me very nervous. I guess that's a little more understandable. See, I only have to worry about myself. So I'm like, I got you all our movies, well before we go into your career, because I want to talk about roh. I want to know the story because I just know this much. What is the third boob story? And you know what I'm talking about.

You know what's funny is that I just moved to a new place. So I was trying to actually when I knew I was going to do this, trying to find that photo so bad it must be still at my parents' house in New Hampshire. But like, well, so I grew up in the Northeast. I grew up in Hampshire. I lived in Boston after that, and you know we're out of New Hampshire. Jerry, New Hampshire, so literally next to the Ice and in Salem where you guys used to come for ECW because my dad's from My dad

was from Manchester. Oh yeah, yeah, fifteen minutes up the road. Okay, so I'm a New Hampshire guy and you know my dad, I would talk him into driving me and my friends to go see ECW, whether it was at you know, at a beer at Wonderland or in Salem at the Ice Center. And my dad's not a wrestling guy or fan. He never understood why I loved wrestling so much. But he would drop us off at ECW as like a twelve, thirteen, fourteen year old kid, and he had no idea what

he was dropping us off at. So by the way, he just thought it was wrestling, and he was in a wrestling fan. So he was like, Oh, I'll pick you guys up after the show or whatever, and I'll never forget. Like one time in particular, Steve Carino had threw his hair back and he was bleeding and he just got blood all me and so like, my dad picks me up. I'm like thirteen or fourteen. My dad picks me up, I'm covered in sweat and blood and I smell like someone's beer. That's where are what is

this that I'm dropping you guys off at? So you know, my dad was already kind of weird now by ACW. But then my mom put I put this picture up that I happened to get at that show, and it's literally me and you and you. All you could do was like there was a table and they weren't letting like me get right next to you, so you had

to like lean forward into the picture. So it's my head as like a thirteen year old and you're cleavage, So it just looks like like the size of my head is the same as as as your boobs there. So it's just like, you know, three boobs in a row. And I had that like right up on top of my you know, like my desk at or my dresser at home. My mom was like, what are you guys

doing where? Probably said, what a pig girl. I'm like, I was like coming home covered in blood pictures of me and you you know, a lot of cleavage in the picture. I was like, this is the greatest thing ever. You guys don't understand. ECW is the best and so uh, it's most memories from those shows have nothing to do with the matches themselves. It always has to do with like, you know, things like that or like Tommy, I had a WCW sucks sign one time because I thought it

was so cool. It was like a thirteen year old and Tommy Dreamer like found me afterwards. It was like I saw you walking around with your WCW sucks sign and like, give me something else to sign. I'm not going to sign that, And like it was just so cool. I saw Ball's mahone again a fight with a fan, you know, this classic ECW stuff that. Yeah, Like I can barely remember the matches themselves, but it was the experience of always being something always went down at like

Wonderland too and Revere that's where mass transit happened. Yet where the dog braces were. Yes, yeah, yeah, so I wasn't there for mass transit and uh but like after that, everyone knew that that you know, was that had happened. So everyone was so rowdy at those shows. I just remember being a kid like trying to survive as and not be trampled as Like guys would fight in the crowd and I'd be getting pushed and I'd be like,

this is the greatest day of my life. I love it, And did you want to get into the business at that point. I've wanted to be a wrestler since I was six years old, Like, I saw wrestling on TV. My great uncle, I guess my grandfather's brother was like a huge wrestling fan, and he got me into it as a kid staying over our house one weekend just he was watching it and I like sat down and was hooked. Ever since my parents had no They did

not get it at all. And I broke every piece of furniture they ever owned and made it even more, you know, doing all this wrestling every pillow I can find and stuff, and they never like they were always like, Okay, yeah, you want to be a wrestler, go to college. So once I was done with college and stuff, and I had like a I actually started working for the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution right after college, working in the office, and it just wasn't for me.

Like I was at this cubicle every day, and even though it was cool, like the experience with the team, I'll never forget. Like I called my dad and was like, you know what, I think I'm going to try to be a wrestler. And I thought he was going to talk me out of it and be like, go back inside, don't go back to your job. Stop stop calling me with this nonsense. And he was like, you're only young once, you know do if you want to go for it. And I was like, I'm walking inside right now to quit.

And this is all in my mind that because I had the same epiphany. I was working in an insurance company in a cubicle and I called my dad and I said, I can't do this anymore. Now. If you think I'm lying, go back and listen to any interview I've ever done. And I knew I was going to probably start wrestling school that summer, and my Dad's like, go quit, come down the shore for a while, get your head clear, and then start what you want to

do soon. It must be that new England blood and it must Dad, It must be because like I, honestly, you know, I had started kind of I knew someone that, like a friend of mine who I used to backyard wrestle with, had started wrestling on the indies, and so like I knew like someone that was doing it, and I was kind of checking out what he was doing, kind of figuring out if I could train here or there. And I remember like coming up with this game plan.

But in the back of my mind, I was like, my parents are gonna say you're an idiot, and then I'm gonna look at all the bills I have to pay and be like, what are you doing? And I couldn't believe that they were like, yeah, go for it. And my mom, who who's the sweetest, and but her biggest concern is always me getting hurt. You know, was always very like, uh do you want to do that? Why don't you try to be an actor or something? But now she's like my biggest band. Like everybody play something.

That's like the first like I see is like my mom. I'm like, oh yeah, you huh? Who ended up training you? When you decided this is what you're going to do? Well? Very e CW. This is a ECW all the way around. Spike Dudley trained me. So I got into like the New England indie scene and Spike Head was was training at Top Road Promotions, a place called the Lock Up Academy. He had had started running in Fall River, and I

kind of didn't know what I was doing. I was just you know, bouncing around trying to get advice and have anyone train me. And someone came to me and was like, listen, if you really want to do this, Spike Dudley has a school and so I was living in Boston at the time, and then I just started driving you know, the hour down the Fall River every every other day to train with Spike and you know,

it worked out in the end. I think I think you're doing pretty good for yourself, jeez is great and another and like, I didn't know what I was getting into. You know, I didn't know anything about necessarily Spike as a human. I just knew what I saw on TV. So I'm like, man, I'm going to Spike Dudley School. What is this going to be like? Is it's going to be like easy? I know nothing At the time, I'm like, am I going to be you know, doing

e c W hardcore type tring training? And Spike just blew my mind with the amount of knowledge that he he had about every like technical wrestling, that grappling, high flying. He knew everything. He was just so smart that he knew that this was his path to make money in

the business, and you know, really went for it. But I always I always bring up there's a match between Spike and Rob Van dam that's like on a house show at ECW that I like found one time going through the VHS's at the Old School, and we're like, Spike looks more like Rob van Damn than Rob van dam does. He's doing all this high flying, so he's like blowing my mind. I'm like, Spike, where why didn't you do this all the time, He's like, because I wasn't going to make money being the small guy doing

the same stuff rby D was doing. They I was going to make money, get it beat up. And I was like, yep, yeah, I know nothing about wrestling. Please. Yeah. His deal was just getting thrown in the audience and then the fans ate that up. It didn't matter if it happened once or a million times. They just that spot was like iconic and they loved it. So he was great. He was great to me, and still, you know, to this day, when if I go back up to Rhode Island or Massachusetts, you know, I'll try to find

a way to see him here and there. But it seems like he's doing good. He's got a family now and yeah like that. So you know, thank you, Spike, thanks for having I love that. So so you start training, when do you get your first big break? And how

do you transfer over to ro Oh? So like it's weird because I feel like a lot of things happened very quickly for me, and and it was I think more because New England had there were so many places, so many schools, so many shows, so many companies in New England, and then also in New York and New Jersey.

That whole Northeast from Philadelphia to Boston is just a hotbed of wrestling, and you know, it's like almost like being born, like raised in a pressure cooker where it's like you got to kind of find your way out of here. And there's so much pressure in this in this little area that diamonds are going to just start shooting out of it. And there's so many good guys that came from that area, Mike Bennett, so Warbard Hanson

or Ibar whatever he is now. And it's like all those guys, we're all at like the same age at the same time, in the same place, and we're all kind of we're like, I don't care how far it is, We're getting in the car together. We're going everywhere. And it just happened very very quickly. And there's a place up in the Northeast called Northeast Wrestling. It they get you know, they do baseball stadiums. They have great, huge

shows up there. And I was just going to do Ring Crew one time and some guy ended up dropping out of the show last minute. I had my gear. Next thing I watch the most important thing. Always bring your gear bag with you. Of course, of course, so next thing I know, I'm in the ring with Big Daddy V getting like squashed. I'm like, I have no

I'm so green. I have no business being in the ring with anyone at this point, And like, those pitches will be iconic for me forever, because it was like the first time that it was like something big that

I did. And after that, I just started kind of rolling with Northeast Wrestling and really kind of my friendships with other people from Tomaso and Mike Bennett, and as they were they had been in the business a little bit longer, so as they were kind of going to other places, I would just really tag along and be like, hey, I know, if you need anyone here, I am And I would do that at a Ring of Honor, and it was just one of those things where same situation.

After a certain amount of time, if you're that kid that's always around helping out and it's just there and has their gear, there's going to be a time where they need to fill a position. And the same thing happened with Ring of Honor, and I always kind of told myself, you know, these opportunities don't come every day, so like, if you have the chance to do it and get in front of people, yet you have to

come ready to impress. So I did a bunch of darks for for Ring of Honor for a while, really almost for like a year and a half, two years, and then finally, you know, one day Jim Cornett came up to me and was like, like, Matt Tavian, I always thought you were a puppy with big pause. It's time for you to grow into those big paus. I think we want to sign you to a contract. I was like, I don't know what any of that what you just said, besides you to a contract, I'm all

for it. So I don't know what that means, but let's go. So what is this new Jim Cornett, Oh, this is twenty twelve. So like I signed, uh, you know, January one, twenty thirteen with Ring of Honor, And it was like it was crazy. There was so much of us that signed at the same as that time. Me Adam Page, Silas Young, We're still at Ring of Honor. Ah, we all signed on the same day, Q T. Marshall, and it was just kind of like a new class had come in and we were like and I look

back at it now. I just was at Jay Lethos school last night and he's got all these old DVDs a ring of Honor, and I'm pulling them out and reading them, and I'm like, man, this is like year one for me. And I have no business being on this show with any of these, all these you know, it's like Kevin Owens and Claudio and and you know, Chris Heiro. It's like all these guys that are so good. I was like, I had no business being on that

show at that time. But I'm glad I was able to stick it out and stick around for so long. See the thing with you and and I'm this the first time we're actually meeting, but you're you're humble, which is so nice to see. It's it's refreshing because a lot of these in your own gimmick by the way

you're yourself. But it's very attractive to see because there's a lot of guys who come in and they think that they're the ship right away and they should be, you know, on top right away, and they don't want to pay dues and and you know, or they come they come from a you know, they were on TV as an actor or they did this or they did that, and they think they're entitled and right away they should be in the main event spot. So you you sound

like you came in the correct way. You had your maith shut listened, you had your gear bag, you're ready. So it's nice to hear. I'm sure there'd be plenty of people that say I had my mouth open, because you know, I'm sure I ruffled a plenty of others along the way. But I agree, I think that that's

one of the most important things. And luckily as things started evolving in the New England wrestling scene, you know, there was opening for kind of like a new school to pop up with a promotion up there called the XIBA. So me and Mike Bennett started helping train at the school, and that was one of the biggest things that we would tell people, like, you're not entitled to anything in wrestling, like you know, and not to name drop, but I can remember Sean Michaels saying to like a group of

us one time, like wrestling will make zero sense. It makes no sense, So stop trying to make sense of it because you'll drive yourself crazy. All you have to do is continue to try to do what you're doing and hopefully something breaks. And you know, I can't tell you how many guys come in, especially guys that and it's I understand it. Guys that come from at backgrounds or come from MMA or some shoot fighting. They'll come in thinking like I can beat everyone's ass here. Why

am I not the champion exactly? Like it doesn't work like that. There's so much more than just the competition that comes in the ring that you know, it's nice to kind of pass those lessons down. And I have to really credit like guys like Mike Bennett who were always super humble and that they were, you know, bringing me along to places, and I was kind of seeing how humble they were and how people would respond to it.

And it's like, Okay, I know nothing about wrestling, but I know that if you're you know, you know, Tony tough Nuts over here saying that you should be champ and like you're too good to set up the chairs, you're not going to get very far, right. Yeah, So this is funny. So I used to go to all those rh shows, you know, back in your early days when you were just you know, like you said in the dark matches and you could see, you know, as

you worked your way up the card. But what was interesting about that is exactly what you're saying is you kind of saw r weights would always fill the gaps with whoever left, they would be that next guy up. Anybody who was in those early matches, they were there for a reason. And to see where you are now. It's fascinating because I was there at the beginning at those shows and you see those guys that you just mentioned as everybody kind of moved up, You see the

guys who started the bottom move up with them. So they So how much did you really like kind of take stock in the spots that you were given at that point scene, how everybody in ROAH kind of progressed on as they went along. I mean, you're one hundred percent right. It still to this day you can see all the guys that are up, you know on ROH started down here underneath do in dark matches and stuff

like that. And I personally was was picking up on the same thing that you're talking about, was Okay, they're putting you in these spots for a reason because they want to see if you can go, if you can move up the ladder here, and there's one match in particular that really I kind of owe my whole career

on its. Mike Mondo was down and he was there at Ring of Honor at the time, and he kind of felt like he was a little bit stagnant that he needed to do something, and they put us in a match where I really was just to get Mike Mondo over and Mike was like, listen, both of us need to really kind of do something today to get

on everyone's radar. And again, I'm still like, you know, like four years in, like show me whatever you think about, and he kind of came up with something that had like we're in Baltimore and I'll never forget, like I've never had anyone chant my name or anything like that, and there's people are chanted Tavin. I'm like, oh my god. We had a six minute match that literally when I walked out, I was grabbed by the Ring of Honor guys and said like, okay, we're going to do something

here and X y Z down the line. And it was really just because Mike Mondo saw something in me and said like I can do something with this that not only is going to get myself over, but we'll get him over as well. And I couldn't be any more gracious towards him for that night because there's who knows what would happen to me if if that match

never happens. But without a doubt, the reason why I've been in Ring of Honor for the last eight years is because that one match underneath uh going with with Mike Mondo, and I think I was there for that, to be honest with you, it triggered so no, it triggered something. And I just again, I remember you would see him on the cart in those early spots and

you saw obviously he had something. And anybody that they put that emphasis on you had to put stock in as a fan because they had their eye on them. So whether they were telling you or not, and they were no selling you. You know, behind the scenes, you could just see from the product itself who was going to be the next minted guys of r O WAH. That was always something that I love to watch about it,

you know when the R WAH really was. I mean it's still, you know, the great presence they have, but back then it was like, if it's a r H guy, you got to keep your eye on them, that's for sure. And it's funny because I have to have those same conversations with like younger guys today that are just getting into the Ring of honor. They're like, oh my god, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm like, there's a reason why you're in this spot, you know what I mean.

They see something in you in the future. They're just it's a slow builds, you know what I mean. It's and and I I think I'm you know, I don't want to say I'm humble, but I think I come off as humble because I went up that slow build and I could. I felt like that was the way to go as a wrestling fan in general. You know, I've been a wrestling fan, like I said, since I was six five, six years old. The people that worked

their way up. You know, I grew up a six year old in love with Brett Hard thinking he's the coolest guy ever. And to see him go from like the tag titles he hits to contact the title to when finally he was wrestled for the world title, it felt like, that's my guy. Here's the beginning. I made this happen so like I kind of always felt the same thing as like as as a wrestler that I

want to be in my career. I always wanted to be that guy that worked his way up, and you know, luckily I was able to do that and Ring of Honor. There was some speed bumps along the way, some setbacks, but always got kind of back in the in the into the position I wanted to and and you know, I really always had in mind from that first day that eventually I wanted to be the Ring of Honor

World Champion. Hey there, this is the Queen of Extreme train Scene and I want to introduce you to our newest sponsor, care of So recently I went over to take care of dot Com and I took their online quiz. Now I'm not an expert at vitamins. I don't know what I'm supposed to take. This quiz tells you everything you need to know about the supplements that you're supposed to be taking. They tell you exactly what you need and it only took one about five minutes of my time,

and it was free. The quiz was fun, The quiz was easy, and it was like getting a personal endorsement from a health provider. I didn't know what to team and now I do. All of care of products are formulated with good for uklean ingredients and they are backed by signing. Care Of is super transparent about the research and chourcing behind each one of their products. All of the recommendations coming daily, individual wrapped happens that are perfect

for getting back into or starting a routine. You'll get quick, reliable results thanks to care of online quigs. It'll ask you about questions about your diet, your lifestyle, your health concerns, and that helps address your specific wellness goals. And it's like getting a one on one consultation with the nutritionist without leaving your house. You can get a personally tailored approach to your unique health needs and you can retake

the quiz at any time. If your goals might change, you can follow care of expert recommendations or adjust your packet at any time. What you get is totally up to you. For fifty percent off of your first care Of order, go to take care of dot Com and enter the code Crancing fifty. That's take care of dot Com and enter code Prancing fifty. And all of us here at eyes up here would like to welcome care of to our family. I think everybody who gets into

wrestling has that dream world chair. Yeah right, I've had so many homemade belts or you know, WoT the little plastic belts and stuff like that that I was like here, here, I am in Madison Square guarded, I'm the champion, and for like one day for that to finally come true.

It's still you know, I talk about it a lot in interviews, but it doesn't feel real to me at the same time, you know what I mean, like it happened and all that stuff, But at the same time, it feels like almost like I watched a movie that I happened to the end, you know. It's it's I almost remember it more through the eyes of other people than I do. Right, Yeah, totally understand. I look back,

because you know, I've been kind of semi retired. I do little things here and there, but I look back and I say, I don't know how to hell I did ninety percent of the stuff that I did, and it's like it's like a dream to me. It's like that really happened, because like at this stage, I'm a fifty years old I would never in a million years do anything like that at this stage in my life. But back then, you know you're invincible. You're in your

twenties and thirties and you're above the law. No one can touch you, and you know it's it's surreally fifty, I'll be fifty in February. You don't have to tell anyone that you look on your husband because like you, I have fifty. Wow, that caught me off guard. Well, thank you. Well, now, remember when we did the boot shot, I was probably like twenty five. Yeah, I know, and that just makes me think, like the years a going by on my end too. So I'm trying to be like, no,

none of us. We're still young. We're very cen to't worry about it. You're fine. I asked this question to a lot of people. I already know the answer, but I want to hear you say it. Do you prefer heel or babyface? Heel? Of course? I mean, it's just so much fun, and like I've always kind of I don't know, I always have this weird relationship with the Ring of Honor fans. I'm very much mayby faced with the female fans, but like, come again, the male fans

of a hated me no matter what. So like to be able to like tell them exactly how I felt for a long time. Oh that was good stuff. So why are we not healing the women? Mat what? What is? Why are we being a baby face to the ladies. Well, you know what, I would try to be a heal to everyone. It just seems like they loved it, so I you know what I mean, Like, I didn't know how to to make them hate me. And at this point, no matter what I said, it would get a female

cheer and a male hard male booth. So you mean to tell me, if you pick a lady out of the front row and you call her every name of the book, and you tell her she's so ugly and this, that and the other thing, you're going to get cheered. I might actually get cheered for that from the from the male guys. Guys. If I went and buried one girl, the other girls in the crowd would be like up, that's right, because I don't know. Girls aren't loyal to

one another. Let's be honest, David, that's true. We can't roll over with the women. If I buried one chick in particular, that's hilarious. Well, you know, and for merch, I'm sure the ladies like to show off the merchandise as well. I mean, I you know, I have a lot of purple merchandise, which it's a lot better on women than it does men. It seems. Well. I I

am so excited for you. What's coming up for you in r oh now what are Yeah, we're finally back back at it, you know, we we've sincly are broadcasting. I feel that it's such a good job during the pandemic, just making sure they you know, dotted, all their eyes crossed, all their t's, made sure that everyone a Ring of Honor not only was financially okay because they they didn't miss a beat, which is kind of crazy. That okay, And like and and this is something that you know,

a lot of people don't know. And I try to get out there just because I feel like Ring Wander doesn't get the credit for it. But there was stuff right before the pandemic hit, like a women's tournament in April and these shows in March, the Past First Present show in March where they were bringing in a lot of people that weren't aren't weren't under Ring of Honor contracts, that were just coming in for one shots and stuff, All that stuff had to be canceled because of the pandemic.

But Sinclair and Ring of Honor paid every single person that was booked for any single one of those shows, not even if you weren't under contract anything, if you had been contacted by Ring of Honor and they had told you they were going to book you, they made good on their word for every single person. That is a rarity in this and and you know, I've been in the wrestling business long enough at this point is to know how rare that is. And it's just it's

crazy to see it. To see it done from from Sinclair were like no questions asked, almost like it was just not even a nope. Everyone's getting taken care of. And uh now we're we're you know, we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We're finally having fans back in the building July eleventh on pay per view in Bolt. More so for me personally, it's it's been this weird time where the fans are everything you know for wrestlers, and it's it's really it's been so different.

As much as I've loved the products that Ring Honor has been putting out, without the fans. It's just not the same, you know what I mean. You hit that Matt and you don't hear a response, and it's like, oh, oh, do I even want to get up at this point, especially as a heel, You're drawing your energy from the crowd,

you know. So that was the other thing. So during the pandemic, I've had two surgeries, came back from injury, reunited with my tag partner who I haven't wrestled with in five years, turned Babyface now the first time, and for all of this, I'll be in front of a crowd for the first time. So it's like, my god, there's been you know, there's been some I don't want to say missed opportunities because like they were, they were still came off really well. But I just could only

imagine what my return would have been. That would have been like in front of a crowd, what me and Mike Bennett reuniting after all this time would have been crowd. And so like now it kind of feels like we're gonna get in front of that crowd. I want to show you everything that we've been doing this this last couple of months. So I'm just so excited to kind

of be back to normal life. And it seems like July July eleventh, you know that all starts, and then we'll be back in the ECW Arena for two nights in August as well, h twentieth and twenty first. And you know that Philly crowd if you've missed the if you've missed fans, that Philly crowd will really give you a shot of life in the arm one way or the other. You know, the usual, the biggest fans of

that team. And so I'm sure I'll get a lot of booze, but at the same time, it will be like just hearing anything at this point exactly exactly, Well, it sounds like you have a lot on your plate, and I'm very very excited for you again everybody. June eleventh, r oh, pay per view, I'm sorry, July eleventh, Yeah, today's what the twenty four July eleven? What are you? What are you streaming on for this pay per view? What's we're on regular pay per view on all your

cable providers. You know, the smartest thing to do is to sign up for Honor Club. It's only ten bucks a month. You get the pay reviews, you get the TV, you get all the house shows and stuff like that. So can they got r o H dot com and the Honor Club. Yep, r o H Wrestling dot com. You can find the Honor Club and that way you don't you don't miss the shit. And it's a little tough for us because we don't have normal house shows. Every single thing goes up on the Honor Club, so

you can't take a night off. But at the same time, it keeps us going one hundred and tent percent. All right, well that's exciting. July eleventh, all right, we're gonna we're gonna tune into that. And where can people find you if they want to know more about Matt Tavan? So if you can spell Tavan, which it seems very easy, but I've had people screw this up so much over the years. It's not Tavin, it's Tavin. That's Tavern, not Tavern,

not t Aven. I don't know. People screw it up anyway, right the first time, Ron's a raven and maven and you know all that good, right, So if you can spell Tavan a V and I'm on all social media platforms Matt Tavan on Facebook, on Twitter, be Matt Tavan on Instagram because some Melvin tried to take Matt taban from me and then hold it hostage. I said, screw that up. Be Matt Tavan, buddy. So I hope you're good with that handle. You know, Matt Taven up for

wrestling tease. Like I said, if you can spell Tavan, you can. You can find me all right doing simple Google search, and he's a pop up. Well, hopefully we are. We'll be back in Disney the end of January February, so maybe I'll please we could go on a safe ride together. I don't do those big roller coaches scary ones. Yeah, no, we'll go. Maybe we'll go Winnie the Poo or something that'll be. But it was a delight to finally sit down and chat with you. I wish you nothing but success.

And if you ever could find the old picture, we'll take a new one and we can do a side by side and it'll be hilarious and we'll show your mother and she'll love it. My mom would be She'll be like, something's just never changed with you. Huh. But I literally have to I told myself I have to find this picture just to recreate it. So I'm going to hold you to that. I'm going to find it. We're going to redo this. My husband is the coolest man on the planet. He's just like he doesn't care

so well. I mean, you're literally like there's a table between us, so there's plenty of social distance between us, so we can It's more of like I'm leaning like a little kid and you're leaning forward, and it's just magic happened. I love it. I can't wait to do it perfect well, Honey's pleasure, Thank good luck with everything. Can't wait to see you on the July eleventh. And we'll keep in touch for sure. Yes, thank you guys so much for having me. Hopefully we'll talk soon and

hopefully i'll see him Disney sounds good. Special look to you you met, take care. I love that. And there he goes, here's where the missed opportunity was. That's where he should have said, and that's the night I wanted to become a pro wrestler. The blood, the picture, the whole perfect recipe to become a wrestler. Yeah, I can't remember if he said where the signing was, but it was probably at a mall. We probably had sunglasses on and indoors because we were obnoxious like that back then,

which made no sense. We've been seeing a lot of those pictures popping up too. I love that. I know, it's so funny. I saw another one recently. Somebody put one up and I was just like, there's another one. Where where are they? I was in a video store there he just tapes behind me. That was awesome personally, I love that one the most. Okay, very good. But yeah, he seems like a hell of a nice guy. So yeah, hopefully you know, bigger and better things for him, and

it sounds like he's doing a great job. You want a road trip to Baltimore in July? Oh, I don't know. Maybe you never know. I'll take the picture. You guys create, create the picture. Yeah, if I wish there was something else to do down there for me and you, it would be cool. That would be cool, A little short notice, all kind of only what it was, I know, not even you never know a couple of weeks away, look underneath the something here. You never know in this business,

never know, you never know. Good for him, good for him, very cool, very cool. All right, you want to talk about Patreon, Sure, absolutely do with my brand new read lettering here. It's really punching me in the face, just out there. It's really cool. It's so simple. Yeah, it was so easy. I pulled up a quiz and it's my favorite. It's from BuzzFeed. They're the best. You know, BuzzFeed There always were always at the end of it,

we're like, who who thought of this? So stupid? I can sum up your whole personality in five words with only fifteen random Now I happen to think that I have a great personality. I'm gonna put myself over and I'm very personable. So let's see if BuzzFeed agrees with me. The questions are a little you know, they can be they could be weird, and these like easy questions and like odd ones like I don't know how to answer that, So okay, if it gets you get your thinking, okay,

this one I go either way. Literally, I typed wrestling memes into Google and seventeen million things came up, and we're going to scroll through the memes and read them. And I was laughing by like, yeah, yeah, I'll put up. I was laughing like five in because they're so stupid. But some of them are so damn funny. I was

like this, this could be perfect. But it's a wrestling meme, so you might even pop up in one for all I will I don't know, exciting and then for the rest and I watch along went back to the fan Camwell had to continue what we did from the previous week because I liked it so much. How about this? Okay, Chris Candido with Shane Douglas and Francine versus Lance Storm

from Wilkespare, Pennsylvania eight seven ninety eight. Don't remember it's see that's interesting because the building is so unique looking. I would love to see if it toggles your memory just based off of how the building looks. It's a very weird shape building. I think let me say the name of it was, and I thought I had it. I think it's some it's like the you know, the National Guard Armory or the Wilkes Spare, Pennsylvania Armory, something

like that. But the building is so uniquely designed. I wonder if it's going to toggle anything for you. I'm wondering if if Shane is Shane injured, it can't work. Okay, so that's going to be the reason why. Okay, we'll look at it. And we'll see because it's not ringing

a bell. The only thing that thinks about it is when you guys cut the promo at the beginning, you can't hear a word because the acoustics of the building with the microphone and the PA it just sounds like shangleing and you're just in there and he's saying this stuff. We don't know what the heck he's talking about, and you're just like, yeah, well we can fast forward about if you blink or that. That's when I can look around the room and see, well, we get the whole,

we get the whole entrance. That's why I like it. Oh okay, perfect, So looking forward to another thing I don't remember, so fun And that's it. That's the way I like it. So if you want to follow me, it's at Chad E and B on Instagram and Twitter. My website is ibexclusives dot com. I've got a lot

of signings going on on ibexclusives dot com. And I also just introduced a quick little ad for the Creative Control Network where through the month of July and this pertains to create a control since we have our audio on there, I'm offering twenty percent off anything in the store, private signing, merchandise, trading cards, whatever's on the site. Just for CCN listeners, twenty percent off through the month of July.

Is there code they need? CCN twenty? There you go, because you know you have to tell them the code and I forgot CCN twenty. That's why I'm ladies, you're the bomb. That's why news with your sale that you have going on, are we still selling the perfectly rated T shirts? And that was also included in the sale. If you would like to get your hands on the perfectly rated T shirt, head over to ibexclusive dot com.

Do you know I was actually asked to do a perfectly rated podcast where you give them list of people who may be deemed under or over. I won't say the words connected anymore, and I kind of like debunk why they are? They are not interesting? Are we doing it? I don't know, Maybe a one off. I don't. I can't. I can't commit to anything else right now. I've got too much's going on. You have like eighty seven podcast you need to like you can't go a day without

hearing my dumb voice. There was actually the other night I did our our Buddy rad Rob who was on our Patreon. I did a show for him. We watched the Let's Go Mets music video of the mid nineteen eighties. The Mets did a like a We're the greatest team in the world video, like this super Bowl shuffle exactly. It's one of my favorite things in my childhood. After I was done talking, my wife was talking to my mom and my mom goes, I could hear you from downstairs.

I was so loud. I go, you know what I go. I'm tired of hearing my own voice at this point, so I'll keep it down next time. Were you drunk is the question? I was not. I was drinking, but I was not drunk. Not I can't, I can't listen. We've since talked and he I guess he didn't catch on, but I was. I was fearing my my relationship with

this one athlete ended. Okay, but that's fun. Okay, So twenty percent off your everything in your store, everything in the store, all right, Well, good luck with that across the board. For me on social media, you can find me at ECWDVA, Francine Twitch. I've been taking a couple weeks off. I've been slacking the mouth has been bad, but I'm coming back. So if you want to come, follow or subscribe, or give me bits or just show me love www dot Twitch, dot tv, Forward, slash, ECWDVA

Francine and people. Please, if you are going to book a cameo, please use my link on Twitter. Do not use the site itself. They take fifty five percent from talent. I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you this or not, but it really encourage them. Tell them it really affects talent. I mean, if you use talents link, they take twenty five percent. If you book through the site, they take fifty five. That's an extra thirty percent in a talent's pocket. It's unbelievable. That's like Apple takes the

extra thirty percent. So you know you're supporting your favorite wrestlers. Just click the link that they provide. It's not rocket science. All you have to do is click the link in the tweet and we'll take care of you. Do it for me, do it for us. Yeah, and that's all I got. So hopefully everybody's staying safe and healthy. And with that, that is a breath. Hey, it's your old buddy the chadser from Eyes Up here with Francine, the tampt Empire and the brand with a special announcement about

my company, ID Exclusives. IV Exclusives is a collector based sports memorabilia company giving buyers the opportunity to get personal items signed through our exclusive private autograph signing that with over twenty years experience in the sports memorabilia industry. With IB Exclusives, it's a whole new fault creative control listeners. You can now get twenty percent off any purchase throughout

the month of July by using the promo code CCN twenty. Again, head over to ibexclusives dot com, make a purchase, enter the promo code CCN twenty and take twenty percent off anything in the IV Shop, any of the private signings and including our brand new sports card page. It's all

available to you at ibexclusives dot com. And don't forget while you're on ibexclusives dot com, check out the entire list of upcoming signings, join our mailing list, and as always, as I'd like to say, we will catch you on the flipside