The Latest Episodes of INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet
April 25, 2024

Will Sasso's Spot-On Impressions Of Jesse Ventura, Macho Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Stone Cold 😂

Will Sasso's Spot-On Impressions Of Jesse Ventura, Macho Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Stone Cold 😂

Will Sasso (@willsasso) is an actor, comedian, podcaster and huge wrestling fan. He joins Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to talk about the rising popularity of wrestling, his show "Loudermilk" on Netflix, his podcast "Dudesy" and being the current Episode Champion, having a match against Bret Hart in WCW, taking a Stone Cold Stunner from Steve Austin in WWE, getting chokeslammed by Kane, why he should be in the celebrity wing of WWE's Hall Of Fame, his guest appearance on Entourage when he got Jeremy Piven to break character and does incredible spot-on impressions of Jesse Ventura, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Quote I'm thinking about: "A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin

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On the recent beatdown angle between The Rock and Cody Rhodes:

"It was very worth it. I don't know what it is. is not well, I think there's a lot of things, super wrestling, dorks will say, okay, Triple H has run of creative, right? And that's a different situation, obviously. I don't know, because I look at WWE from afar. And I kind of go this is a this is a television show they know what the f*ck they're doing. They've got an amazing group of characters that they've built and the storytelling that they do and I kind of feel like yeah, right now they are, they are in the zone and the whole, let them cook thing. More than I have been in years and years going, I can't wait to see where that goes, instead of f*ck that kind of dropped off on this because it's sort of and again, I'm just speaking as a layman, as a fan. It seems like, in years past, it was sort of booked, like, wrestling is booked. It's like, Yeah, this is working, this isn't. So let's let this fall over by the wayside when you have a massive TV audience and fans all over the world. Some people are interested in that storyline that you think no one's interested in. And the more stories that drop off, I think that creates bad will with the audience. Whereas now, I think everything they do is very deliberate."

On his guest spot on WWE to promote The Three Stooges:

"That would have been the last time that I was hanging out doing the WWE thing. And we're the Three Stooges but oh, where's Curly? and he comes out as Hulk. But it was like I was pitching this thing, and really goofy and then they come out. And they were wonderful. They're like, sounds good. And I'm like, Oh, shi*t, hey, what if Kane comes in? Okay, cool. What? this is what it's like. Then the mild-mannered and extremely helpful Glenn Jacobs is like, you're sure whatever you want to do. And this is incredible. And he chokeslammed me and sh*t." 

On how the segment was put together:

"We went out there in the afternoon. I had this promo that I had as Hulk Hogan, where it's like, Curly comes out. And he's like, Look at me. I'm dressed as whatever. Then I was out there cutting a promo as Hulk Hogan. [I said] ‘Well, there's only one movie I want to see. I don't want to go see Hunger Games dude. I don't want to see The Cabin in the Woods, bro. I want to see The Three Stooges. And there's few wrestlers around going this is f*cking long. Then Paul Triple H Levesque is out there, of course. And let me go through the whole thing. And he said ok, We're going to do about 10% of that. Yeah, and I know. And then the idea was to have Kane and we just stood around in the ring talking about it. And then that was it. And I was like, okay, all right. I gotta tell you this so we go backstage. I have Shawn Hayes who plays Larry and Chris Diamantopoulos who plays Moe, with me, of course, and we're there and they're not wrestling fans per se. And I'm like, you know, it's going to be bedlam. We're going to head out to the ring. You're going to hear all sorts of sh*t coming from the audience. They're going to love to hate you. This is at the point where WWE had a lot of celebrity stuff and you gotta wait you know, Hugh Jackman is punching Dolph Ziggler. And as wrestling fans were like f*ck off, we don't want any of this sh*t." 

On possibly going into the WWE Hall of Fame:

"Is Pete Rose in yet? I think he took the chokeslam well. I think before we get anywhere near me, we got to do Andy Richter, Kevin Federline, Jeremy Piven, Ken Jeong need to get in before me, Snooki needs to go in. Because we're wrestling fans here, don't disrespect the hall. We have to we have to really, who else?"

On Logan Paul:

"It's interesting when you see someone with the mechanics you watch like, I don't know like I remember as a kid just going like holy fuck Bam Bam Bigelow is 350 pounds or whatever and moves like he weighs 100 pounds. And there are guys that just get [it], all the second and third generation wrestlers I feel like have that. You see a guy like you know the legendary Randy Orton obviously, who's just it's in his blood. Logan Paul has no business being that good." 

On Logan Paul in the Elimination Chamber:

"I was laughing at a clip I saw online of him after the Chamber match in Australia, where he's like outside, he just got eliminated by Randy Orton. So it's Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton is in the chamber still. And they're trying to get Logan out of there. And he's like, Ah, I'm in pain, I can't move but he's like kind of whining. He's doing the chicken sh*t heel thing and it's so entertaining. And it wasn't on the broadcast. It's like just these cameras over here and it ends up on social media. And then the opportunity presents itself. He gets the knucks on he hits Randy Orton with the knucks and he rolls out and the refs are playing. And he's like, I tricked you. I tricked you like na na na and the ref was with him was like no, I knew. No you didn't I tricked you know, I knew no you didn't. I tricked you. I'm gonna be a real dork now, when Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho were doing the we're best friends thing with the list. There was a moment when I was watching a match and Chris Jericho is like in the ring and he's dizzy from whatever the other guy and Kevin Owens is going don't fall down, don't fall down. And you can see Chris Jericho smiling because no one says that in wrestling but that's exactly what he's doing. He's about to fall down. But a guy who's as good a wrestler as there has ever been like a guy like Kevin Owens, who's [says] don't fall down. That's the sh*t that a guy like Logan Paul comes in goes I don't know what the rules are. So Yes, Chris I'm eager to get back into the WWE. And Logan Paul, if you're looking for a mouthpiece, why not have a big, tubby manager with pretty solid calves who can take a bump for you every now and then cuz you're gonna get injured." 

On Raw going to Netflix next year:

"If Loudermilk can come back on Netflix, and then Raw is on Netflix. Now we have a situation where with the Bret Hart thing, we did a crossover with Mad TV. With Stone Cold did a crossover with Mad TV both of those Superstars appeared on Mad TV and they sent my big ass to go get tossed around on their respective programmes Nitro and Raw. We are promoting the Three Stooges. Again, end up on Raw getting chokeslammed by Kane now. Not as iconic a character, Curly Hulk Hogan, Ben Burns. That's my name on Loudermilk. Know what? Oh, Ben Burns is coming out here folks. Huh? That's isn't that that fat guy from late night? He's got big calves and then I come out there."

On why The Rock takes the best Stunner:

"He pushes himself backwards. I probably talked about this last time I was on your programme, when we did the thing with Stone Cold and I take the stunner at the end. We went out there in the afternoon. And he's like, so bang, I hit the thing and you just crumble boom. And that's it. And I think he was thinking about all the bad Stunners that you see people take, they don't have their knees or their feet underneath them or even one knee and it just looks like sh*t."

On how he got into wrestling: 

"So for me, it was seeing Hulk Hogan for the first time, sort of being aware of him a little bit, and then going, like, not really watching. Also, back when I was kid. I was born in 1975. So in 83,84, I'm sort of aware of it. There's older kids who are watching it. I knew what Hulk Hogan kind of looked like and sh*t but it all came together watching Rocky III when he comes out as Thunder Lips. And then it becomes destination viewing. He's coming out to the Eye of the Tiger. He's hanging out with Mr. T, he's showing up with Cyndi Lauper and Roddy Piper. They're on mainstream TV. He's showing up on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show. And it was like this guy is larger than life. And I became a Hulkamaniac at that point. So for me growing up, it was always Hulk at the beginning. And then you start to appreciate all these other guys. And by the time the Attitude Era came around, I mean, we were spoiled. Rock and Stone Cold, Mick Foley, The Undertaker Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart coming out and doing what they do just on TV. We were spoiled and The Rock was incredible on the mic. Speaking of viral there's like a clip that was just going across Instagram. And all it is is the rock going and it makes you realise as a wrestling fan, how much we kind of want to be done with the PG era or whatever. Can't wait for Netflix. But he he was just like, there you know, he's got his sunglasses on. He's in the ring and Triple H is out of the ring. And I don't know what the situation was. But he says shut up b*tch!"

On wrestling signs coming back:

"Yeah, there's some good signs out there. I don't know how they are now, it's this massive merger, obviously and the formation of TKO. It's like, things are obviously and for so many reasons, run completely differently. As a TV nerd I'm just sort of very curious about the way that they're running things. And because as a wrestling fan, I want it to be successful, I want it to flourish. And because then we enjoy what we're seeing more than more than we would otherwise. And I do feel like with Triple H running creative, and again, and I'm talking out of my ass because I don't know, who's the bottom line and blah, blah, blah, but obviously, they've put him in control."

On The Rock returning:

"It's so good to see him doing his thing again. It's so good. It's like, again, you know, my poor wife. I'm trying to explain the significance of him in the $500 Versace shirt. I'm trying I'm like, you don’t understand. Because when Rock joined the Nation of Domination, Boo Rocky sucks. That's when The Rock had well these Versace shirts and you know, he would wear these it's very funny because now it's incredible. He's so entertaining."