Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Dom Vitalli
Date: 04/08/2026
Your Host: James Walsh”I’m a firm believer in taking 24 hours to bask in the glory of any successes. But, after that, it is back to work and on to the next show! We were very happy with Anniversary 7 and getting jut about 2,000 people in there. But, we try to keep a level head about it. Now we’re here in the month of April and we’re already gearing up for this September and Anniversary 8, baby!””Apparently I know what I’m talking about! (laughs) Jimmy is an anomaly, man. He’s one of those guys who is too nice for wrestling. But, that is a good quality to have. He’s genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve met inside wrestling and outside of it. It is great to see the success, so far, of someone who is genuinely so kind That WWE tryout, we did a lot of training to get him prepared. He’s in Austin, Texas now so our in-ring time is a little limited. He’s been working with Dustin Rhodes at the Rhoades Wrestling Academy and at the Reality of Wrestling school in Houston, Booker T’s school. We met remotely several times a week leading in to that tryout preparing him mentally and emotionally. I talked to him during the time he was there at the tryout and he’ll tell you, he was never more prepared for anything in his life than he was for that tryout. It is a testament to his hard work and dedication. He knew what he wanted and he did everything possible to go and get it. Now, he did get a WWE ID contract. He did not get a regular WWE contract yet, I stress not yet, but he did get the sort of consolation prize that is the WWE ID contract, a great consolation prize! But, he’s got to be special because they brought him in to EVOLVE right away.””Well, that’s a loaded question. I’m not going to bullshit you, James. You know I don’t do that. There’s good and things about it. The good are that you get your foot in the door, you get to be at the WWE Performance Center and pick the brains of some of the best to ever do it – Far better than me! FAR better than me, brother! We tell our students, “Get your foot in the door here. But, lets get you some place bigger!” Also, a lot of it is up to the talent that has that contract in their hand. Without getting into the logistics of it, a lot of it just depends on the athlete. I think a lot behind the WWE ID contract is to sort of thin the herd. See who can handle the grind! Wrestling, even at the independent level, is a complete mind f***! And, in the WWE, it is a gang bang! (laughs) I like the fact that it tests the talent both physically and emotionally. But, at the same time, I don’t want the talent to only shoot for that. Like I said, it is a consolation prize. I want them to strive to make it to the main WWE roster or sign with AEW or make a living working overseas. Or, in 2026, man, you can make a full time living working strictly on the indies! If that is what you want to do, that’s awesome! I don’t want to discredit the WWE ID program. That is a privilege just to walk through those doors and be welcomed!””First of all, “skinny fat” is just a nice way of saying out of shape. I can say that because I used to call myself “skinny fat” back in my early, early days. No, I was just a skinny kid who didn’t hit the gym enough. I have found in my time that a lot of young wrestlers stop listening when you tell them what they’re doing wrong and they miss the part after that when you tell them how to do it right. You might or might not be surprised, James, how many inquiries we get at the school from people who have never been to the gym in their life, have never played a sport, and have never been active… Or, they think going to their apartment gym two or three times a week is going to get them in the kind of shape that they need to be in to compete with Olympic level athletes that you will find at the WWE Performance Center. A part of it is the fear of going to the gym as the guy who isn’t in shape and worrying what the others seeing you are thinking about you when in reality, they probably aren’t even aware that you’re f***ing there. That is a good module for actually performing because when you wrestle, you will have people looking at you and judging you on many things including your body, more than likely. I’ll give you the best example that I can. Alexander Hammerstone is a guy who got a lot of opportunities, more than anybody before from this area, based upon what he looked like. He was in amazing shape. He’s still in amazing shape now years later but back then, he was in better shape than anybody. Aesthetics, what you look like and your phsique will get you in the door. Your work will keep you in the room. That part is lost on some. “Well, I can wrestle as good as Bryan Danielson!” If you can do that, awesome! But, that alone will not get you to certain places. You have to look the part, you have to stand out, you have to be marketable. A huge piece of that is taking your physique seriously.””It is evolution! In order to make it to the land of the giants, you have to resemble the giants! He did that. And, in a lot of ways, bodies that were expected back then set the table for the business as it is today. If you look at the current WWE roster, who is on top right now, you’ll see that there are only one or two guys that you would look at and say they’re not “in shape.” That is an anamoly that a lot of young wrestlers overlook. I’m not knocking him whatsoever. But, they look at a guy like Kevin Owens and say, “See, he’s not in great shape. I can do this!” Yeah, but Kevin Owens is one in a million, man!””Great question, James! I give everybody a chance. As long as they exemplify the qualities that we value most here. A lot of times I can tell just by sitting down and talking to the talent that come and interview with me. I often say, “I appreciate your love for wrestling. But, I would be taking your money if I allowed you to tryout.” Sometimes it is a personality issue. Sometimes it is a physique issue. Our tryout isn’t a lot. We’re not suplexing or bodyslamming people around. It is just an intense cross-fit exercise. But, I would be doing nothing for them if I took money from people I knew couldn’t do it. I’ve seen people do that in the past. It is a shitty way to do business. And, it has done nothing good for anybody in the end.””Well, James, you’re an old school guy, right? (laughs) Well, back in our day, brother! (laughs) No, back then, they used to work 300 days a year. Now, maybe there’s 150 dates? So, maybe they are taking more risks because they don’t have the thought of, “f***, I’ve got to get ready to make these next 4 dates!” So, maybe they worked smarter. And, again, this is all just my opinion. But, also, when you’re young, you think you’re invincible! I’m guilty as charged of that one, dude! (laughs) I was like, “The old guys, they tell me I shouldn’t do flips and dives. They just say that because they can’t do it!” Well, now I sit here at 44 and I’ve not had a real match in almost 2 years. It is compound interest. You’re not going to feel it at 22, 23, 24, or 25. But, as the years tick on, those bumps will catch up to you. What is the old saying? Father Time does no jobs!””As you said, it was on a show that wasn’t really going to matter and a match nobody was really going to remember. I’m not going to bash AEW. I know a lot of coaches there and they do their darndest to get through to some. But, there is a sense of entitlement. “You’re not going to f***ing tell me what I should do. I’ll do what gets a reaction!” Well, yeah, it gets a reaction but it is a reaction that nobody is going to remember in 30 minutes. I learned pretty early in my career to work smarter… Not to be lazy! But, know when the time is right to take certain risks. I’ve taken a lot of risks in my time.””Probably what I’m doing now! (laughs) No, the worst injury that I suffered was when I did a middle rope moonsault and I dislocated my kneecap. That was a little gnarly. I’ve had nothing major, no major surgeries but procedures on my neck, my knees, my back, my shoulders… Nothing major or anything that took me out of action. And now I’m dealing with a labrum issue and I have no idea how it happened. They told me it is a compound injury from 20 years of wrestling.””I never wanted to do the retirement tour thing. I am not taking shots and I have the utmost respect for guys like the Navajo Warrior who did do that… And, of course for guys like AJ Styles and John Cena who certainly deserved it. All of them did. But, my mindset really changed when we started getting deeper in the Training Center and PCW really started taking off. I wanted PCW to be the place where we could showcase the next generation. Now, when we started, we didn’t have a full roster of training guys to showcase so I would put myself on the card. I had a little bit of recognition locally. So, we used that. But, it was always in the back of my mind, “I’ve got to pull myself off the card.” I felt like I was taking a spot from one of the young guys who could be featured where I was. Now, when we went into the match with Devin Reno at Anniversary 6, I wasn’t like, “All right, man. This is it.” I wasn’t even really supposed to be in that match. I was in that match due to an injury. Jimmy House was supposed to be in that match but he got injured. So, we looked at every option to fill his spot and decided I was the only one that made sense to have that match because of my relationship with Jimmy and with Devin. Well, when that match came up, I wasn’t like, “All right. Where are we going to go from here with me?” I was more like, “Ok, I’m going to do September… And I’m good!”””He’s right. It boggles my mind sometimes that some of the guys come in having played the video games and have very little or no understanding of the history of pro wrestling. I mean, I get that we’re both a little bit older now. But, when you talk to these guys and the earliest memory of wrestling is something that Jeff Hardy did, I’m like, “Give me a f***ing break, man!” (laughs) I mean no disrespect to Jeff Hardy and I’m not taking anything away from him. But, there’s just so much history! And, it is like pulling teeth to tell them, “Don’t watch anything from 2005 on.” There’s so much you can watch, so much information you can learn from! And, yes, the video games are awesome. But, chances are you can’t do what they are doing in the video game and I know you can’t do it as often!””ODB will be here but she isn’t just doing an autograph signing before the show, which she is, but she’s also going to be in action! She will be facing Zamaya! I’m looking forward to this match because we struggle to find people physical enough to go toe to toe with Zamaya and I think ODB is going to be a great match for her. ODB is one of the toughest, I was going to say women but she’s one of the toughest wrestlers ever to do this. So, that will be a good one. Also, Kevin Koa will be defending the PCW Heavyweight Title against Jimmy House in a rematch from Anniversary 7. Jimmy came up a little short. He didn’t prepare for some outside interference. We’ll see if he’s up to the challenge this time!””Freddy Cordova. Freddy is a guy who is a little small in stature but can do anything that you ask him to and do it at an extremely high level. Freddy impressed me because he would drive up frm Tucson, 2 hours away, for training. And, what made my heart sing is he’s a legitimate student of the game. He knows all of the old school guys and he’s studied it all. For my money, that plays a big part in why he’s so good at everything he does. Another guy is Tommy Two Scoops. He has an incredible connection with the PCW crowd but not just the PCW crowd, whever he goes. He knows how to be memorable! And, one more, nto that there’s not a lot of guys I could talk about because there is, but for the interest of time, Young Money. They are the most impressive tag team I’ve seen anywhere in a long, long time.”