Posted on 3/20/126 by Colin Vassallo
Former WWE Superstar Chris Masters sat down with Chris Van
Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, California
to discuss making his WWE debut at such a young age, having
one of the best physiques in pro wrestling history, never
winning a championship in WWE, being the first wrestler to
be put in the STFU by John Cena, his pec dance to Crazy
Train when Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne hosted Raw, fans calling
him “Sexy Jesus”, and more!
I don’t think it’s talked about enough that you were only 22
when you made your WWE debut, looking as jacked as you did.
I think because you had that much muscle, people assumed
[you were older]:
“I was 21. I know that because I was turning 22 when I
worked the Elimination Chamber. That’s how that always
stands out to me. So I definitely didn’t look my age. I
think most of the guys didn’t even treat me like I was my
age because of that. I was a kid. It was me, Muhammad Hassan
and Renee Dupree, just a few young guys amongst a locker
room of men that most of us kind of grew up watching. So
yeah, I just think most of them just kind of treated me like
I was a grown man, when really, I was a kid. If you think,
because when I do seminars, or even just indies, I’ll see
guys who were right around that age, and they still look
like kids. So I’m like well, that was me. I was that age
too. I just looked older. It doesn’t mean I was necessarily
more mature or had any kind of wisdom or anything like that
at point.”
Do you feel like you were ever close at any point in time in
WWE to winning a championship?
“There was a point. I mean, Carlito and me were supposed to
win them at that WrestleMania, but it literally got switched
like the day before. We were penciled in to win it. But then
Carlito, they wanted him to turn baby and The Spirit Squad,
they kind of wanted to get the belts on them somehow, to
give them some steam, so that was that. Then the
Intercontinental title. I was actually supposed to win that,
but it was the same point where they had given me
intervention for my prescription painkiller abuse at the
time. They even told me, I remember having the meeting with
Johnny [Ace], and because there was a four way match that
night, it was in Vegas for the Intercontinental title that I
was slated to win. But then they caught wind of the issues I
had, and I had an intervention, and basically told me you’re
going to rehab. I screwed that. So tag belts, I had no
control over that just happened. IC, I f’d up. There was a
point there, because you can even watch back to those old
Raws where Vince was playing with the idea of making me the
youngest champion. But, you know, he was feeling out a lot
of guys at that point. I’m pretty sure Cena gave me probably
the thumbs down at some point.”
Didn’t Cena give you the very first STFU?
“Yes, and it was a shoot STFU. I mean, again, I’m not saying
that Cena was purposely doing it to shoot on me. I used to
think sometimes with Cena, he got so fired up in the moment
that he wouldn’t even know his own strength type of thing.
So, yeah, he did it to me for a shoot. You’ll see my face
starts turning red, I start trying to get it a little bit
looser. I’m pretty sure that I heard later on that he was
working with Kurt, and Kurt had to tell him to loosen it up
a little bit. But Kurt with his neck issues and stuff. But
my Master Lock could be kind of brutal sometimes with guys,
because I didn’t really know how to work it either. So
sometimes when I look back at those videos and I look at me
putting on Kurt, I’m kind of like, oh man, I was probably
rougher with him than I needed to be. Because when you’re
that green, you don’t know how to shake spirit as much. You
do stuff a little more real than you have to. I can
remember, actually, there was a time with Shane Helms, we
were working at a live event, and I Master Locked him, I
guess, way too hard. So I released the Master Lock, they
ring the bell, the match is over, and he gets up, and I
think he tells me to f off, and just walks off. I’m not even
saying it to heel on him, I was too stiff, I didn’t know how
to work it, and it became a big drama with everybody,
because then it was like, you know, he no sold the hold, I’m
obviously doing it too rough, and I know that too. Because
with Shelton, one time, he was telling me, I was about to
pass out. I mean, if it’s too tight, some of the guys were
so broad here that it’d be so tight that it would be tough,
because you start twerking their neck from the start. [It’s
a legit hold] You’ll pass out, cuts off the blood flow, and
you’ll go out.”
Who is it the hardest to put the Master Lock on?
“Probably, Bobby [Lashley]. Just look at his build. I mean,
I say that just because I remember just holding that thing
for a long time on anybody can be kind of tough. I’m saying
not for 20 seconds, but like with Bobby, it was hard, you
know, because by the time I got it around his neck, it was
probably not even fully locked in, just because he was so
kind of broad up here.”