Mosaic Minds Podcast

From Plumbing to Podcasting | Chris Gonzales on Wrestling & Sports | Ep. 67

Mosaic Minds Media Season 2 Episode 17

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This week, Mosaic Minds Podcast welcomes Chris Gonzales — host of Gonzo Sports Room, Gonzo’s Wrestling Room, and Face or Heel Pro Wrestling Talk.

Chris shares how his career shifted from plumbing to podcasting, his journey through Indiana’s independent wrestling promotions, and his passion for sports like the Colts, Reds, and Pacers. He also opens up about building a family-run podcast with his dad, favorite interviews, and future goals like calling pro games or hosting live podcast events.

Tune in for a conversation that blends wrestling, sports, and the hustle of podcasting in the Midwest.

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Welcome back to Mosaic Minds podcast. This week we are keeping it local in Indianapolis. And tonight's guest is someone who turned a personal setback into a brand new career. Chris Gonzalez went from working as a plumber to building not just one but multiple podcasts. Gonzo's Sports Room, Gonzo's Wrestling Room, and Faceer Heel Pro Wrestling Talk. What started as two cousins talking sports has grown into live commentary coverage of independent wrestling promotions across Indiana and interviews with some of the biggest personalities on the indie circuit. In this conversation, Chris is going to share how his love of wrestling became a family venture with his dad and what he's learned from the 5 years behind the mic. Also, why the local sports scene here in Indiana, from the Colts to the Pacers to the Fever, is such an important part of the story. We also dig into building community through podcasting, the future of live events, and what it's like watching Indianapolis step onto the national stage as a true sports city. Let's jump into the conversation with Chris Gonzalez.[Music] Curiosites[Music] everywhere. Most day it blinds. We're here to explore.[Applause] With every exchange, we crave even more diverse perspectives. In the realm of ideas, it is going to be a good day. It is going to be positive. The sun's rising today. You know, we're going to have a great day regardless of weather, attitude, or anything else. Is it just kind of like wrest is it wrestling in other sports or you know what what are your your podcasts? Um what are they about? Well, the way it started uh we started doing sports um I was actually a plumber. I had some u health issues. Uh couldn't do plumbing no more. And as I was just kind of sitting around the house not doing a whole lot, me and uh me and my cousin decided to do a podcast. We I followed sports my whole life, always watching. So, we started doing and we called it Gonzo Sports Room cuz uh our last name was Gonzalez. It was just That's cool. Started that. Had it going pretty good and uh me and my dad are big pro wrestling fans. We went to an independent wrestling show here in town, uh DCCW, and was watching. Well, got to talking to the promoter and end up working out. next show we end up there and we live stream their show commentary and then it went from doing one show from them to doing within like three months I think we were doing six or seven different promotions was having us at their shows live streaming it doing commentary then we started having a lot of independent wrestlers on and interviewing them and uh so we changed it from we still do the sports stuff but then what we did was just X out the S and made it GWR Gonzo's wrestling room and then uh got I got lucky and got to add a couple real good guys and Marcus Fine and uh Warren Misery that jumped in with us and uh and then my dad as well cuz at first it was my cousin, one of my best friends. Well, my best friend passed away and then my cousin had some other stuff where he had he couldn't commit to it anymore. So my dad my dad jumped in with me and then like I said we picked up Marcus and Warren and now we do the GWR independent wrestling and then we started a Facer Hill Pro Wrestling Talk where we talk more like WWE, AEW, the weekly TV shows that we do every Thursday night as well. I've been fascinated with wrestling forever. So, this is uh I I'm guessing we're similar to, you know, similar age, but I was at the um I was at the Macho Man Ricky the Dragon Steamboat match where uh Savage hit him with the belt and his lair was crushed. It's a top 10 match of all time in most people's book. That was at the Fort Wayne Coliseum, believe it or not, in about 1986 or 87. I was eight or nine years old for that match. So, that kind of dates me. And then what was fascinating is is at those WWF events there was actually teeth in the ring after it was over and those that's not staged obviously that's you know somebody literally losing that but um what local promotions you know you said it's six just to kind of give that brand recognition out there and for yourself to kind of solidify your audience. What promotions do you work with maybe within a 50-mi radius of Indianapolis let's say we do uh DCCW Delaware County Championship Wrestling which is out of Muny Indiana. Uh that's where we got our start at. And then uh we do WCWOO uh right there at downtown Indianapolis, 1151 Kentucky Avenue. That's I consider that our second home. Uh they were the second promotion we started working with and we do uh I've got so many opportunities through Joey Owens. Got we get to do the Comic Con with them every year. We've done PopCon. I get to do a lot of that stuff with WCW. So them are the main two. Then we do Warrior Pro Wrestling out of Danville, Indiana. uh ran by Buck Saxon. And then we also do um NGW in Crawford'sville. Uh we've done um JICW in Martinsville. We've done Cincy Wrestling out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Summit Pro Wrestling uh in Greenfield, Indiana. FW Frontier Elite Wrestling out of Greenfield, Indiana. Might be I'm hoping I'm not leaving out anybody. No, man. That's good by memory. So, uh I got I got to step out of the ring a little bit. And what's your other uh what's your other peripherals in your sports? Like what what what are your teams? What do you like to talk about separate from wrestling a little bit? Uh sports. Um we do we talk a lot of football. I'm big Indianapolis Colts fan. Uh baseball as you can see. Big Cincinnati Reds guy. There you go. Uh soon as I'm done with this, the Reds game will actually be starting tonight. So I'll be watching that. We're actually in contention for the playoffs for a change. So don't get to see that very often. And then uh NBA I'm a big Indiana Pacers guy. Absolutely. Got to rep the 317 with the Pacers, the Yes, sir. Right. But, uh, growing up in Riverfront Stadium, I was a big, uh, like I was the Hal Morris, you know, Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble, Eric Davis, Chris Sabbo, uh, Billy Hatcher. That was kind of my era. Pete Rose was obviously the manager. That old Riverfront Stadium, man, was something else, man. You, those guys would bounce into that shitty ass wall that they had out there. And I'm not I'm not running the the team down. I'm saying that wall was rock hard. And if you remember, you'd hit a single and that ball would just bounce like 30 feet up. That that had to be terrible for their turf. I think I think at one time they said their stolen bases were down so low because of that, you know, pounding on the turf and the outfield and the and the infield and everything else. But I I probably grew up watching 25 games at Riverfront Stadium. Actually, I'd go to a Reds Cubs game. We'd skip the middle game of a four game set and go to Kings Island and uh we'd watch, you know, two games on one side, one on the other. Uh WCWO, great guys. We've had Reggie Edwards on. I I'm very familiar with Marcus. Uh Joey's a great guy. That's a great promotion. Uh they they do a lot of good things down there. Uh just just so the audience at large is aware, that's about what is that maybe two or three blocks from Lucas Oil where the Colts play. Yeah. Yeah. Right about three blocks. Yeah. You literally can see when we went you could literally see the you know almost like you could jump the fence and be at Lucas Oil. We actually when we went to Royal Rumble this year, we actually parked there at uh WCWO and and just walked over. There you go. Smart strategy. Save yourself like $60, you know, in parking. Yeah, absolutely. That's cool. So, who's who's one of the more um whether it be someone that's independent, local, or or someone a little bit a little bit bigger, who's one of your more um I guess favorite or more favorite episode guests that you've had on? Oh, of course, without, you know, without pissing everybody off, you know, we just talk about this the other night, me, Marcus, and my dad and Warren talking about some of our favorite interviews. Uh, one of them that's on top of my list is uh Logan Meyers. He actually just he actually just retired from wrestling, but he was on our show two or three times, and I think he had two or three of the best interviews that we've had. Another uh the ladies man, Mike King. Uh he also go that's his wrestling name. His real name is Jared Bird. He runs Gim G gimmick promotions and he's also a promoter for DCCW wrestling. You guys might have seen him at WCWo. He does a lot with Joey Owens. And then of course Joey Owens. Uh Joey's been one of the our more interesting guests. He's done a lot with our show. Uh if you've seen our show before in our opening, it there was actually uh a segment in there where he's came over during the show and took over our commentary table and said our podcast sucked and that it was the Joe it was the Joey Owens show and that that's actually in our our opening of our podcast. So Joey's always been one of my favorite. But uh pro wrestlers wise uh TJ Powers was we've had him on and Mike Noble on. We've had Powers and Noble on. Yep. Mike Noble was real good as well, but Powers just all the knowledge he's had because he's been in the business. Legend. Legend. 50 years now. It seems like it's been so long. But yeah, there's And then uh I don't know if you guys ever met Vinnie Vashetti. He wrestled something at WCW. He's been in business for about 30 years and he he was a real good interview as well. I think it's a small world, you know, when you when you talk to people and uh everybody's in it, you know, there there's no secret, you know, you earn some money in that, you know, both on your side and in the ring, but at the end of the day, you're doing it for the love of the sport, right? And uh when you when you get to talk about different sports, I think that's when it gets fun. I mean, it's it's awesome to geek out of a specific sport, but it's also to talk a little So, we got to talk a little Colts football, you know? We're we're trying to drill down to the local market, and we don't always get a chance to, to be honest with you. We're trying to be more uh local. That's why we got you on. So, I think it's great. But, uh, we got to talk about Danny Dimes over Richardson. So, I'm a little uh I'm a little unimpressed to be honest with you. I'm not I'm not really for it. Uh, what's what's your take on it? And then I'll kind of back it up with my take on it. My take is I don't think either guy is the long-term answer uh for the Colts. I really don't. So, I think D I think Daniel Jones or I've been calling him Indiana Jones now. Yeah. I think he's gives us the better chance to win now. I don't disagree. Yeah, but in the future, what does that look like? But I don't know. I don't think Richardson's a guy either. So, I don't know if it's the right move to bench Richardson. I almost think you should play Richardson to see what you have to see if he if he is going to develop. Uh, but I think I think it comes down to Shane Stiken and uh, Chris Ballard know their jobs are on the line and they feel like Daniel Jones gives them the better opportunity to win games and kind of save their jobs cuz with Jim passing away and that's what I was just about to ask like how do you feel like that you know him Jim Mercing away like how do you feel like that's going to affect the franchise? His daughters ain't no joke. I'll chime in on that one. I mean they want to win and they want to win now. Like they're not coming in to go four and 13. I'm going to tell you right now, heads are going to roll if we go 4 and 13. So, they must know something. I think it's the safer play. Let's be honest. I think Richardson has more upside, but I think it's the safer play. Now, let me ask you kind of off the beaten path on the Colts and then we'll go maybe little Pacers, then we'll transition back into wrestling, just so you know. Um, are we tanking to get Arch Manning? I I've heard that a lot, but the only problem with that is I don't think Arch Manning is gonna come out next year. That's Yeah, that's kind of Yeah, I think he'll play two years at uh Texas and and graduate like his uncles did. Yeah, because he doesn't need the money. I mean, I It's not a secret. I I read his NIL valuation was like $3 to $6 million. So, let's be honest, he's making more than a rookie anyway. And there's nothing to not like about snapping your fingers and having people come out and get autographs and hang out all over campus. Let's just keep it clean. sometimes. And sometimes being the number one pick puts you in a a lot worse situation than maybe if you're the six or seventh pick in the draft, you might end up on a a better team in a in a lot better situation than being the number one picks. And with his last name being Manning, he don't need money. And then like just said with the NIL, he's making more than the rookie. So I think the Mannings is going to be more about when he comes out, what teams are are around and trying to get him in the best situation than it will be try to be the number one pick. What do you feel like when you have a guest on? What do you feel like you bring to the table? Like you seem like you're easy to talk to. You're knowledgeable. You're in so many different circuits. You don't, don't get me wrong, you go to certain circuits and you said a first and second home, but it sounds like you got multiple homes within the wrestling circuits. What kind of gives you that sense of, well, I'm going to go here and spend time over here and and it's and it's all wrestling. I get that. But what what kind of makes it fun for you to go to different venues and different organizations? Uh the fun thing for me has been uh meeting the new meeting new people. It's crazy in the like three, four years we've been doing independent wrestling, how many uh new friends or guys I consider brothers now that that I've met. Like one of the pro wrestlers, Tony Blaze, me and him just went and watched the Cincinnati Reds and the Snoop Dog concert last Monday. Uh just to go hang Just to go hang out and have a good time. That's cool. It's been that and then just building the relationships. I think one thing about me, like you said, I'm I'm a pretty easygoing guy, so a lot of people talk to me and stuff. And I think just being able to build those relationships. But with the wrestling, the other thing that's been great about it is my dad's a big pro wrestling fan. He's been uh since I can remember, he's been watching pro wrestling. He watches it now with all the streaming, he watches it seven days a week. If he's home, that's what he's watch. He don't miss it. So getting to go to do all these shows and my dad getting to do commentary, which I know like been like a dream of his, and just getting to spend that time with him. and going all these promotions and knowing how much it means to him and how much fun he's having has been has been a great part of it for me. Man, if I ever got an opportunity and I'm almost asking, man, if you ever have a a one-off or like an event, love to do it, man. That's been a dream of mine. I uh almost got it fulfilled. I'll just leave it at that. But I still want to do some color commentary. I want to be kind of like a gorilla monsoon mean. I got a broadcasting background, so I don't need a lot of cues and stuff. I just think I would be a natural at it. That's just to throw it out at you if you ever got somebody that's sick or doesn't want to travel or something. Not saying all the time. I'm just saying as a fill in cuz my time's your time's important. My time's important. And uh kind of go from there. So, let's talk a little pacers. So, we got uh Tyrese Hallebertton's going to be out for the year. We all know that. Uh we've uh we've got a center that's coming in, big white boy. I think he'll do pretty good in the Midwest. Uh he's going to step his game up a little bit. Do you do you feel like the Pacers fall off a little bit with Hallebertton? Uh I I think they fall off a little bit. I don't know that they're championship caliber without him, but I will say that they're deep enough that to where I think uh you know I think 52 to 55 wins, maybe 52 and 30 somewhere in there still sounds about right. Agree or disagree on that take? No, I agree with you. I think we're uh we're not a champ won't be a championship team without him. Uh I still think we win the championship this year if he don't his Achilles don't pop in that game. Uh the start he got off to he was going to have a big game. Yeah, I agree. I think we'll be a I still think we'll be maybe a five top five top six seed. I don't think we'll be in the playin. I think we'll win like you said 52 55 games and we'll be probably right there four or five six seed and I I think we can win go on a decent playoff run. I think the big key is going to be the uh the development of Benedict Matan because I think he will step in that starting lineup. But the if he lives up to the potential I think he has, I think I think we'll still have a good a real good uh season this year. And then that's just gonna make us better for when Hallebertton comes back year after. How long have you had the podcast, Chris? Uh this is actually this September will be five years. Wow. Okay. You're an OG. Okay. So So with with that, uh how was how was something like um the the Pacers going as far as they did this year? like what what was that like for your podcast? Cuz I'm sure that was that was a big I mean what else is there going to be to talk about for like you know for that that little period of time? Oh it it was awesome. Plus it was and the time of year where a lot of times just to be honest if the the Pacers aren't real good so it's that time of season football's over there. So there's not as much sports wise to talk about. There's still all the pro wrestling stuff but not like sports-wise it's kind of a dead time other than the NBA. So for the Pacers to be making that run it was awesome. uh a guy that does some of the sports stuff with us named Big Glenn. He goes he uh was in the Miles Turner fan zone. So he was at every every playoff game or actually he goes to every home game during the season too, but he was at every home playoff game this year. So he would come on the show, he'd have little video clips and stuff that he took while he was there, but he'd come on the show and talk about his experience of the games and stuff. So that was cool to have somebody that was at all the games. But uh but yeah, it was great for for our podcast because like you said, it gave us something to talk about, but also gave a lot of fan interaction. There'd be a lot of guys in the comment section whether they thought the Pacers were going to win or the Pacers were going to get didn't belong, they were going to be swept by every series. Every series we were we were going to get swept and well, we almost swept everybody else. We only lost one game most of the series until the finals. Do you do a lot is it a lot of a lot of mobile stuff or is it Do you have a studio or where do you where do you normally um do do your podcast at? Uh uh well I have to get my studio set back up. I I have a studio set up at my house but I just actually moved. So, right, right now I don't have it all set up, but then uh sometimes my dad will come to where we're at, but if not, we we do it over video with the other guys cuz like Marcus Marcus fine lives probably like hour and a half, two hours from my from where we live. So, sometimes it's hard to get all of us together. So, a lot of times you me and my dad might be together, but then Marcus and Warren will be over video because they they both live about 2 hours from us. Let's talk sports scene and just the general 317. I mean, everybody knows, you know, well, I guess we know cuz we're local, but we know we got the 500, we got the Pacers, we got the Colts, we got the Fever that have built, you know, a $68 million practice facility that has all the local things that you need. You know, we've got a soccer team coming in that I'm hearing with the huge arena. Um, downtown's booming and bustling and and getting bigger. You know, there's there's additional projects in. Um, baseball, I tell everybody that's one of the nicest AAA stadiums I've ever seen. I mean, I've been to quite a few of them. Love going there. What's your general thoughts on uh downtown Indie? Let's let's just talk about the Super Bowl for a second, you know, being hosted. I know it's cold. I know people kind of complain that they couldn't go to the beach or they couldn't gamble, you know, in Vegas or whatever. What's your general thoughts on India as a host city for just say a big event, NBA All-Star game, WNBA All-Star game, etc.? I think India as a host city is one one of the better cities in our country. Uh the way downtown Indianapolis set up is great for hosting. Everything's in walking distance. I mean, if you're at a hotel, you can be at any of the stad a hotel downtown. You can be at any of the stadiums are within walking distance. Great restaurants downtown. And then, like you said, everything's booming right now. You got Caitlyn Clark, Tyrese Hallebertton, and then hopefully the Colts can get back going. But with what the Pacers and the Fever have been doing, and then you're right, the AAA ballpark, that's one of the nicest, it compares, it's nicer to some of the major league ballparks. I've went and watched uh Major League games at the uh where Field really is. It's a one of my favorite places to go watch uh it's actually my third favorite baseball park I've been to because I love Great American Ballpark. But my favorite of all I've been to so far is Camden Yards and Baltimore. But then I'd have V I'd have Victor Field right right there behind those two out of the ones that I've got to go to so far. But yeah, Indianapolis right now. have to say Wrigley. And I'm pretty sure that we're Yeah, I'm pretty sure that we're one of the Indianapolis is like one of if not the number one convention city is is what I've heard anyway. Um in the in the United States or very least in the Midwest, but I think it's one of the top in the in the in the whole country, you know, as far as top on sports as well, just cuz like I think you can always complain, you know, at the Super Bowl it was 15 degrees, but the way they did it, they had fire pits and it wasn't cold out. That's what was so awesome about the city. They were smart enough to block it off. I mean, a lot of these cities, you know, you're driving seven miles in between venues. I mean, let's be honest, I don't know where you would want to go. Maybe Massav is a mile up the road or a half mile, but let's be honest, it's it's got everything you need, you know, right down there. I didn't think there was a lot of Was there a lot of complaints? Well, not really, but the the celebrities, if you will, they want to they want to be in Miami. They want to be in LA, you know, stuff like that. So, and one like the worries about having an Indie again was like like he said like being cold the year they had it here. The weather was like you said was awesome. It was one of the best February we had. Yeah. But even if it is a little cold I mean they've had it in Minnesota before where it's been 20 below zero. So I mean it wouldn't be like the first time that you'd had somewhere it's cold. I think Indianapolis will get a Super Bowl back. I think 100% agree them signing that with WWE help getting Royal Rumble and then close to get Wrestlemania and stuff. I think that'll help also helps get some of them other bigger ones as well. We hit a grand slam in every event. How good Indianapolis handles those events. Yeah, we don't have big events and it's not good. Let's just let's just say it out loud. Like there's some cities where you're like, "Ah, that was kind of subpar, the the this and that, but we just don't have bad events. I mean, NBA All-Star game, heaven forbid, that's a huge event and we knocked it out of the park and and they want to return." So, who's uh who's a couple uh who's on your Mount Olympus of uh professional wrestling at any level? Um who who's a couple names that you kind of hang your hat on? Uh uh big big names like in TV that's uh my favorite of all time is Stone Cold Steve Austin. Um I'm a big I was a big Stone Cold Steve Austin fan. Actually, that's one of the reason my son's name is Austin was because of that. Nice. And then also I was a big uh Ric Flair uh fan as well. Uh independent wrestling. My my favorite one I favorite guy I've seen so far in the uh four or five years almost five years that we've been going to the wrestling shows is uh IK3. I don't know if you guys have got to meet IK3. I know you guys said you guys around the WCWO some. Do you know who he is? I'm not sure. No, I don't think it's actually it's actually Joey Owens's son. Okay. Okay. Nice. His name is Jonathan Owens. Big goes by IK3. Uh dude, dude's one of the best wrestlers I've seen period. Not just in independence, but he's the best one I've seen since we've been uh been around. And we've seen a lot of good guys like Dex Royal, the highlight reel, a bunch of guys. Those guys are athletic. Both of those guys are extremely athletic. Yep. But he's the one that stood out to me the most out of out of all the guys that we I've got to see so far. Have you done any kind of like like flirting with trying to figure out how to because we've talked about even with Reggie, we talked about it, but like trying to figure out how to to get um like how do you get credentials? You know what I mean? Like to to be able to to go backstage or to be able to, you know, be VIP at at a at a game or or whatever. I mean, have you ever looked into that since especially since you've been around for 5 years? Um I had credentials for the Indiana Fever uh was was post at one time and then uh COVID hit. Okay. And and then that kind of and then ever since then it's been a little harder to try to get get in some. Of course. Of course. Yeah. Night and day. So I did almost had but we did have approved to go to fever but then right before that game hit they said I had to have a sec a second shot before I could go. So then I then I was never able to get in. That's that's cool. So you you actually started before before co then that's because co that was like the that was like the time when you to have a podcast. You know what I mean? Like that was like when everybody started with podcast was was during and started listening to podcast was was during co. So you you got ahead of the ball. You started before then. Yep. That's cool. Yep. And then we didn't start doing the wrestling till till after CO, but we started the sport doing the sports stuff. Uh yeah, a little bit before CO and then we done it all the way through CO. Then once that kind of ended, uh that's when we got into the wrestling. That's cool. What do you What do you think's a project you haven't done up to this point or a new project that you'd like to do or maybe a uh you know, a big event that you haven't covered? Um couple one one thing I would like to do personally and and I'll then I'll give you something kind of for the podcast. Uh, I would love to do some uh commentary for sports. I would love to call like a a baseball game. I have got the opportunity to call some uh amateur wrestling. I was I I wrestled amateur wrestling since I was 5 years old. I coached high school wrestling. I was an assistant varsity coach for 12 years out of high school here in Muny. Uh and then once my son got up old enough, I kind of gave up that so I could watch him wrestle and stuff. Uh, but I I got the chance to do a playbyplay for wrestling and I loved it. So, I'd love to do a baseball game and uh maybe even would love to call a football game. That's just kind of a dream of mine to do playbyplay for sports. Um, but with with our podcast, one thing I would like to do is uh I I would like for us to we one thing we haven't done iso is host a live event and h have some guests on live, h have a live a live crowd. I I think I think that'd be something cool to do. And I think we could with some of the independent wrestlers that we've had on before, if we had some of them back on and with the fan base that they have and then what we've built up, I think I think we could have a pretty good t turn out and have a good time. I think that would be cool. We've talked about doing Yeah, we talked about doing like especially with the cuz wrestlers would be that would be the perfect um the perfect platform for that because you could have them all of a sudden boom someone an enemy, a nemesis pops up. Boom. what are you doing? You know what I mean? Like that'd be that would be perfect. Yeah, I think that could go Yeah, a collab would go a long ways cuz we know some of the same people. We know probably three or four people that we've mentioned that we've come in contact with. And I think I think you are right. You know, that upcoming, you know, battle royale or or whatever they got going on, Royal Rumble, doesn't matter. One-on-one match, tag team, but you know, they're they're going to fight him in six weeks and let's get them on the podcast and, you know, wrangle a little bit and talk a little trash. That's some of the best shows we've had is uh sometimes before uh the shows because we've always told these promotions like send us your flyers, we'll help promote the shows. And then we had some of the wrestlers that would come on like right before the show. Well, we've had one where Christian Cash was on and then uh the guy he was going to wrestle that weekend, all of a sudden he we we popped him in and they they both cut would cut promos on each other and and kind of build up for the show that was going to be in a couple days. And then and them were some of the best shows we've had was just them two guys going at each other doing promos. All you basically got to do is get it started and just kind of get out of the way and let let them do it. Yep. You're absolutely right. You let them, you know, form the rivalry or whatever. What What does your son uh what's your son think of of your podcast? Because I mean I know I know our our boys like my my my boys and Jason, they're just kind of like eh, you know, right? I mean, like I I think I think maybe deep down they think it's cool, but I guarantee they're not going around at school being like, "Check out my dad's podcast." You know what I mean? What your What's your son think about it? At first, he was kind of just like,"Ah." But now he actually uh he he'll get on he gets on every now and then and do and he'll do uh some of the wrestling. He's a big wrestling fan. Knows a lot. He's real knowledgeable on it, too. That's cool. So, he comes on sometimes on Thursday nights and he'll talk WWE and AEW and and all the wrestling with uh with me and my dad, which is his grandpa. So, that makes even even cooler. That's so cool right there. That's that's awesome to hear. Yeah, he did get Jason had uh he had his son on on to cuz we had um we had Rick Barry on the show and and I guess Rick Barry was a hero of Harrison's, right? So, like he he wanted to come on and ask him a question. And so he came he was on on one of ours and and I got to got to ask him a question about I think he asked him about Steph Curry, didn't he? Like Steph Curry and why did he shoot the underhand? He was the granny granny free throw shooter. He shot granny style. Yeah. I haven't got my son to do commentary with us at a live wrestling show. Yeah, that'd be the next thing I'd like to get him to do. Now he has through the pro wrestling though his one of his biggest guys is Kurt Angle because Kurt because of Kurt Angle's amateur wrestling background too well and uh he actually got to meet Kurt Angle at a show we was at Kurt Angle was at and my son got to go back meet him get his picture taken with him and stuff. So uh so that that was that's something that pretty cool that's happened through through the podcast and be with some of the connections when that was actually with DCCW and WCWO. Well, in real life, Kurt Angle got the gold medal in the Olympics with a broken neck. I mean, could you imagine wrestling and getting slammed around with a broken neck? I mean, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to leave the house, let alone get slammed on my neck. I mean, that's just Well, he's lucky he didn't die. I mean, you know. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot of people just thought that was a gimmick when he would say that and when he was in WWE, when he said, "I won the Olympics with a freaking broken neck." It's like, no, he really won the Olympics with a broken neck. Uh, I used to be so fascinated by those. Yeah, he broke it in the Olympic trials that year to make the Olympic team. He broke it in like the quarterfinals or the semi-finals. I think it was a quarterfinals match and won two more matches with a broken neck to qualify for the Olympics and then went on to Olympics and won it. I used to love watching the matches in the cage with the big blue, you know, the bright blue painted. It just looks so cheesy. It looks so fake, but they did such a good job. You know, you've always got the guy climbing and the guy's passed out and then right at the last second he grabs him by the foot and he pulls him down and you know, you got all this wrangling back and forth and stuff. Did you get with the with the with the passing of uh they should have brought back that blue cage? Yeah. Yeah. With with the passing of recent passing of um of Hulk Hogan, did you guys cover or talk a lot about any of any of that or um did you try because I know there can be some controversy there. Did you try to steer away from that? Uh, no. We talked about it a lot. Fine. One of the biggest Hulk Hogan fans that you're ever going to find. So, we we definitely covered a lot. I'm not gonna lie. I was a big Hulk Hogan fan as a kid. Oh, yeah. Anybody our age, I mean, you know, you grew up with Hulkon. I mean, that era, everybody was a Hulkmaniac. And pro wrestling wouldn't be where it is today without Hulk Hogan. It wouldn't be near as big. I mean, what whether what you think about him personally, you if you look just business-wise and what he done for the business, like he's one of the top guys ever. Uh, so I I felt like we needed to talk to him. I don't think you can really cover wrestling. Uh, and if a guy like Hogan, a legend like that, passes away. I think you're doing a disservice to your yourself and everybody by not talking about it cuz like like I said, he's right there Mount Rushmore guy and the business wouldn't be where it was without him. you you sometimes you got to take your p personal feelings out out of things what he done personally. Yeah. He he might not been the greatest guy, but and I wouldn't even say that cuz you know I I look at if all of us had a microphone uh around us as much as as people like that do. I guarantee that we're all human. I guarantee that we've said things that that would cancel us canceled. You know, nobody's perfect. Yeah. What's uh what's a couple avenues that uh our fans uh local fans, wrestling fans, and podcast fans, how how do we find you if we're looking for you online? Uh you can find us on uh Facebook, Instagram, uh X, uh YouTube, Twitch, all Gonzo Sports Room. Okay, very good. What are some of your Do you have any future plans for the for the podcast? Uh anything that that you want that you care to to reveal that you might it might be new segments or anything like that coming up? Uh I I know the only future thing we really have right now kind of big in the works would be uh bringing back our sports betting show. Uh we had a sports betting show uh we used to do daily me and dad. Uh but then when some other things happened, we kind of had to put that to the side a little bit. Uh but we're getting we're getting ready to relaunch that. Was it that's something I'm I'm excited about. Was that after it became legal in Indiana or was that before? We we started it uh when we started it was after it became legal in Indiana and we we done it up till just about probably it's been about six seven months since uh since we've done an episode. We had done it for about 3 years or 3 or 4 years or so but then my schedule changed a little bit and it just was was getting hard to do that that time slot. So we we decided to take a break and we and kind of figure out a a new time slot that worked for both of us and that that way it'd be a little easier to schedule-wise. I proposed a networking meeting at uh travel a little bit more for wrestling. It made it a little bit uh a little harder to do that every day when we sometimes we'd be tearing that down the equipment to go uh travel for a wrestling show. I propose a meeting at the um the winter circle downtown. You ever been there? Oh yeah. No, I haven't. I haven't been there yet. You got to go there. It's awesome. They got all the horse races, all the baseball games, basketball, football, but it's I think it's Harris Casino if I'm not mistaken. But what I love is the horse racing. I mean, they got horse races every 8 minutes they're supposed. And uh I always try to go in there and just bet, you know, 5 10 bucks a race. You know, go in there with $100 and see if you can do anything with it. And uh that's that's a really good venue right there in downtown India. It's about a block or two over over from the basketball stadium. So, it's right down close to the circle. We go to the casino there in Anderson uh Indiana Live. Indiana Live. Yeah. My dad loves going to the horse horse track. So, we go we we'll go we'll go there and they also have the sports book there. We we'll go there on Sunday sometimes and watch all the NFL games because they'll have every game there right there in front of you. You can't beat it and they got nice comfortable chairs. So, we'll go there and uh you can bet on horses the game. So, that's a good time. That would be fun. I don't see I don't know anything about horses though. So, I'd be I'd be the guy that would bet on the horse like hey wait a minute uh Rachel's hurt and be like oh that's that's my ex-wife. You know what I mean? Like that's the That's the one I'm betting on. You know, my dad's My dad's pretty good at it, but I'm exactly like that. I'm just looking at the D. He was kind of more of a guessing than anything. But dad's pretty good at it. But he's been he's been going out there for a while, so he's kind of got him a little system down and he knows how to read the book and all that stuff, what everything means. That's cool. Yeah, that's I mean definitely a talent behind that for sure. I mean, like I I know you can it's still gambling, but I know you can definitely have the odds a little bit more in your direction if you know what you're doing. I think overall this has been interesting. I think the cool thing about this was is uh not only knowing the commonality of the people, but being being prideful of our city, right? You know, the 317 downtown area is booming with the events, everything that's going on. There's a lot to do there. And uh quite frankly, just knowing some of the same people in the industry and uh talking a little sports, you know, it's been cool. I thought that this was going to be all wrestling and I thought it was actually kind of breath of fresh air to do more if if you know what I mean because you're you know you're knowledgeable across all those sports that that we like to talk and uh be part of. I'm thinking I'm thinking maybe like a future collab or something with maybe try to get like one or two other local video podcasts and you know like have have us all just talking about Indianapolis you know or something like that. I think that'd be cool. We could do something definitely do something like that. I'd be Yeah, like a common venue. I like that. a common venue and then we're on each other's podcast and before you know it you got three or four guests and nobody's traveling because it's a common, you know, a common area or whatever. That would be cool. Where are where are you at again? Where where you located? Uh I'm located in Muny, Indiana. Okay. Just north of Indianapolis. Okay. Well, what's been fun? Uh hopefully you had a good time. Uh good energy and uh just kind of talking and getting to know you a little bit and heard a lot about you. Heard a lot about you. I can see why you're successful. It it's awesome to see a guy that's done this for five years because we're about a year and a half in, I believe, if I'm not mistaken somewhere in that area. So, uh it's it's it's not easy. It's time consuming and it's uh it's fun. It's rewarding and to see it be successful, I can see why you get after it and you like it and and uh just uh continued success. And if we can ever help or collab, you know, we're here for you. Absolutely. I appreciate you guys having me on. I enjoyed it. And we'll definitely uh we definitely do something together. Like I said, we'll collab and maybe we can, like you said, workout. We can get all at once. Yeah. Where dreams interwine. Uncover the layers. Let the realness shine. Each tale a treasure, each question a guide. In this space of connection, let's take the ride. Moments of wonder, reflections collide. The warmth of discussion, our hearts open wide. Mosaic mind, we're here to exp

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