Paul Walter Hauser Teases Future Match In AEW
On the latest episode of Pro Wrestling 4 Life, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with actor Paul Walter Hauser. Hauser is a big wrestling fan and has grown close to members of AEW and recalled how his relationship with AEW began.
"My background with AEW is just that, as a fan. I really signed on pretty hard early on. I just had a feeling that that amount of business acumen, and money and talent would just become explosive," Hauser said. "Did I know that we'd be seeing Daniel Bryan and Kenny Omega and CM Punk on the same pay-per-view in 2021? No, but did I know that they would be successful? Yes. I was friendly with Cody because when he left WWE, I shot his manager an email.
"Those wrestlers, when they leave a company, they put up a booking email. I just emailed him and said, 'Hey, here's a list of crap I've done. I work in Hollywood. Let me know if I can help you out. I was stoned one night going to a yoga night at Orange Theory Fitness in Hollywood, and it's the most fun you could have as a single guy. You get a little baked. You go to yoga with a bunch of beautiful women, and then you go out to a bar afterwards. It's the greatest thing ever.
"So I'm on my way to that thing, and I get a text that says, 'Hey, man, let me know when you want to meet up or something.' I go, 'Who's this?' And he says, 'It's Cody R.' I go, 'Cody R? Oh, right.' So I'm texting him, and I'm like, man, I'm stoned. I shouldn't be texting this dude right now. I barely know him. I'm going to say something dumb, but I ended up taking him to lunch at a burger place called Stout, and we just chatted for an hour or two."
Hauser is a star in the movie Queenpins along with Vince Vaughn and Kristen Bell. The movie had WWE references in it, but Walter Hauser explained how those references got changed to AEW references.
"Queenpins was the thing that I got this part in this movie, and I saw there were WWE references in the movie," Hauser stated. "They were just in there because they had another guy before me who dropped out, and then I signed on, but I read the script, and I go, 'Can we change this to AEW? I happen to know the owner. I could probably get you a decent deal with the licensing and the images.' They go, 'Yeah, let us know if we can do that. That'd be great.' If you watch the movie Queenpins, I believe it is the first film in Hollywood to feature AEW in the film."
With his connections to AEW and passion for the business, Hauser was pressed by Hausman about whether he has undergone any pro wrestling training.
"This guy on my shirt right here, Darian Bengston, he's a younger developmental talent who's been working in and out of Cody's Nightmare Factory and also just doing the independents, and running the circuit and getting paid a ham sandwich to do a sunset flip. He showed me some stuff," Walter Hauser revealed. "Anthony Ogogo of AEW fame, also in the boxing world, was very patient with me and wanted to show me stuff and then [Diamond] Dallas Page, and I don't want to forget anybody because the people who help you really got to be acknowledged, [Preston] Vance, number 10 from the Dark Order.
"The four of those gentlemen have all helped me in and out of the composite six – seven hours of training I've done. I had about two minutes of a memorized match laid out where I did the wrist manipulation. I took a bump and took a clothesline. I could give a vertical suplex. I really loved it dearly, and you learn to love the pain because you love the work. I've said it before and I'll say it again, definitively.
"I guaran-damn-tee you, unless God swipes me from the earth because that's his call anyway, I will be wrestling in a celebrity wrestling match someday, and it will not be forgettable because if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it, I'm not just going to do it. I'd rather not do it poorly. So it'll be a body transformation of some kind. There'll be a lot of diligence to actually learn the craft well enough to pull off a 10-minute match and not be gassed and vomit.
"And then I also just want to take an actual bump and feel a thumbtack spot through a table. Let's just do it. Not like GCW. I mean, I don't want Nick Gage to rip my throat in half. I have been turned down by so many women who have broken my heart. I've been turned down by so many things in Hollywood, and the world itself is only getting darker. If you tell me I'm going through thumbtacks on a flaming table, it's gonna hurt bad but also the glory I get out of that will far outweigh six months of pain, guaranteed."
Hauser continued and laid out a scenario for himself. Naming a few AEW stars that would be ideal for the story.
"I want to try to win an Emmy in the next 10 years or something," Hauser expressed. "I want to try to win a couple of acting awards, and show up like Owen [Hart] and just heel out. We get MJF and a couple guys, maybe Ryan Nemeth and his crew, The Wingmen to just beat the crap out of me.
"And then have me go away shamed and then come back six months later with a six pack and a kendo stick ready to do it all and ready to pay the price. I'd have to do it right after a pay day. I'd have to be the chubby sidekick in 'Fast and Furious 17', and then once I bank that money go, well, I'm going to go through a flaming table and some thumbtacks and just see what happens. I'll see you guys in a year."
A new episode of Sean Waltman's Pro Wrestling 4 Life drops every Wednesday morning on all major podcast platforms. It is also released in video form on FITE and YouTube.com/XPac Wednesdays at 3 pm EST!