WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.459 Imagine stepping into, like, the biggest job 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:05.700 interview of your entire life. Okay, setting 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:07.299 the scene. I like it. Right. So you're ready 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:10.380 to showcase years of elite athletic training. 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:14.339 Just a physical skill set you have bled to perfect. 00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:16.480 Yeah, you're at your absolute teak. Exactly. 00:00:16.739 --> 00:00:18.859 And the executives, they just slide a guitar 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:20.539 across the desk and tell you, we're going to 00:00:20.539 --> 00:00:24.019 make you a country singer. Oh, man. I mean, it 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:26.339 sounds like some bizarre fever dream. It really 00:00:26.339 --> 00:00:30.339 does. Yeah. But that is the exact corporate reality 00:00:30.339 --> 00:00:32.719 we're dissecting today. Welcome to the deep dive, 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.299 by the way. Glad to be here. And, you know, when 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:37.240 you look at a traditional professional resume, 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:41.520 there's always this expectation of a clean, logical 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.119 progression. Right, like a ladder. Exactly. You 00:00:44.119 --> 00:00:45.679 start in the mailroom. You move up to middle 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:47.979 management. Eventually, you know, maybe you become 00:00:47.979 --> 00:00:50.479 the VP. You can point to the rungs on the ladder 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:52.780 and say, there it is. That makes perfect sense. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:56.219 But when you look at the career trajectory we're 00:00:56.219 --> 00:00:58.380 pulling from today's stack of source material, 00:00:58.979 --> 00:01:01.100 that ladder isn't just broken. It's like you're 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:03.780 building a resume in disappearing ink. That is 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:06.170 a great way to put it. So for this deep dive, 00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:09.109 we're examining a comprehensive Wikipedia article 00:01:09.109 --> 00:01:12.349 detailing the career of American professional 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:14.930 wrestler, Wildcat Chris Harris. And we're going 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:17.450 to extract a master class in career reinvention 00:01:17.450 --> 00:01:21.030 from this. Yeah, that and the counterintuitive 00:01:21.030 --> 00:01:23.689 power of. joining forces with your worst enemy, 00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:27.609 plus the incredibly harsh, sometimes brutal realities 00:01:27.609 --> 00:01:29.549 of corporate branding. We're basically tracing 00:01:29.549 --> 00:01:32.310 a narrative arc that shows a performer constantly 00:01:32.310 --> 00:01:35.469 navigating that brutal tension between what he 00:01:35.469 --> 00:01:38.370 wants to be and what the industry literally demands 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:41.469 him to be. It's rough. It is. It's a pure case 00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:44.030 study in surviving an ecosystem that actively 00:01:44.030 --> 00:01:45.909 punishes you for trying to climb the traditional 00:01:45.909 --> 00:01:47.930 way. OK, let's unpack this, because to really 00:01:47.930 --> 00:01:49.549 understand Chris Harris, we have to look at him 00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:52.980 not just as a six foot four 250 pound athlete 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:55.280 from Fort Wright, Kentucky. We have to look at 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.000 him as a proxy for anyone, including you, listening 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.799 right now, who is trying to build a personal 00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:05.439 brand in an industry that views you as, well, 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:07.900 entirely disposable. Which is a lot of industries 00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:10.800 these days. It's so true. So we start at the 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.240 foundational struggle, finding out who you are, 00:02:13.259 --> 00:02:16.240 and more importantly, what the market will actually 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.819 buy. Harris debuted way back in November 1994. 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.879 So he's working the absolute ground floor at 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:25.139 this point. He's taking matches in the Kentucky 00:02:25.139 --> 00:02:27.319 independent circuit for regional promotions, 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.740 like the Northern Wrestling Federation. And the 00:02:30.740 --> 00:02:32.580 pay is probably terrible. Oh, absolutely terrible. 00:02:32.780 --> 00:02:34.520 The crowds are small, but he's getting the reps 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:36.860 in. He's building the physical foundation of 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:39.199 his craft. Paying his dues. And he does this 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:42.479 for years. He even gets a tiny taste of the big 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:46.860 leagues in August 1996, making two appearances 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:49.580 on WWF Superstars. A huge deal for an indie. 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:53.189 Huge. But the real break comes in October 1999 00:02:53.189 --> 00:02:56.050 when he signs a developmental deal with World 00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:58.810 Championship Wrestling, WCW. The big leagues. 00:02:58.969 --> 00:03:01.150 Right. Now think about you in your own career. 00:03:01.629 --> 00:03:03.689 You finally get the job at the major firm. You're 00:03:03.689 --> 00:03:06.409 ready to show them what you can do. And management, 00:03:06.849 --> 00:03:08.789 specifically a guy named Terry Taylor, pitches 00:03:08.789 --> 00:03:11.409 that country singer gimmick. Wait, really? A 00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:15.710 country singer? Yes. How close was he to having 00:03:15.710 --> 00:03:18.770 a totally disastrous career trajectory right 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:21.289 out of the gate? I mean, that is a terrifying 00:03:21.289 --> 00:03:24.550 prospect. Because if management saddles you with 00:03:24.550 --> 00:03:27.409 a novelty act and the audience rejects it, the 00:03:27.409 --> 00:03:30.050 executives don't blame their bad idea. Of course 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:32.990 not. They blame you. They label you a failure 00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:36.620 and they fire you. Thankfully for Harris, higher 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:39.500 -ups rejected the pitch. Thank goodness. But 00:03:39.500 --> 00:03:42.020 it makes you think, how many times have you accepted 00:03:42.020 --> 00:03:44.840 a project at work that felt completely inauthentic 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:47.060 to your skills just because leadership told you 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:49.460 it would give you, like, visibility? Oh, totally. 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:51.460 You take the gig, but it destroys your soul a 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:53.580 little bit. Exactly. What's fascinating here 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:56.039 is how quickly the industry strips away your 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:58.960 autonomy. When management doesn't buy your original 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:01.199 pitch, they just start projecting their own desperate 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.759 ideas onto you. Yeah, you become a blank canvas. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:05.900 for their bad ideas. Right, because the country 00:04:05.900 --> 00:04:08.539 singer idea fell through. Harris was relegated 00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:11.719 to wrestling on WCW's B -shows, programs like 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:14.060 Worldwide and Saturday Night. He's fundamentally 00:04:14.060 --> 00:04:16.560 a background player. Yeah, he's even working 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:19.139 as an extra in a faux security detail called 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:22.459 R &B security. You just become a product at the 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:25.060 mercy of the executives. And then comes the absolute 00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:28.139 peak of losing your own identity. Oh, boy. Halloween 00:04:28.139 --> 00:04:32.310 Havoc, the year 2000. WCW actually has Chris 00:04:32.310 --> 00:04:35.269 Harris go out to the ring playing a fake version 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:38.089 of their biggest franchise star, Sting. Wow. 00:04:38.490 --> 00:04:40.569 Let's dissect the psychology of that for a second. 00:04:40.750 --> 00:04:42.879 Please do. It is one thing to be a background 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.060 player. It is another to be asked to mimic another 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:48.920 living person's mannerisms to wear their exact 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:52.019 face paint and clothes. It's wild. You're the 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.339 understudy who is only allowed on stage if you 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:56.959 completely erase yourself. The physical and mental 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:58.879 toll of that has to be immense. Because the crowd 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.620 isn't reacting to you. Exactly. The crowd is 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:03.899 cheering or booing the intellectual property 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:06.660 of Sting, not the athletic execution of Chris 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:08.980 Harris. So when you spend years wearing someone 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:12.610 else's mask in a company like WC - W. The only 00:05:12.610 --> 00:05:14.829 way to survive when that company eventually folds, 00:05:14.889 --> 00:05:17.550 which it did in 2001, is to completely reinvent 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:20.069 how you work. You have to pivot. You have to 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:22.750 find someone who covers your blind spots. And 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:25.670 that happens for Harris in June 2002. Right. 00:05:25.670 --> 00:05:28.110 He finds his way to a new startup promotion called 00:05:28.110 --> 00:05:31.930 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, TNA. Here's where 00:05:31.930 --> 00:05:35.050 it gets really interesting. Harris gets a tryout 00:05:35.050 --> 00:05:39.209 match in TNA. and it is against his longtime 00:05:39.209 --> 00:05:41.490 rival from the independent circuit, a guy named 00:05:41.490 --> 00:05:45.350 James Storm. A classic indie rivalry. Yeah. They're 00:05:45.350 --> 00:05:47.649 put together by a promoter named Burt Prentice. 00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:50.829 They both get short -term contracts. But instead 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:53.550 of keeping them as bitter rivals, the creative 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:56.970 force behind T &A, Bob Ryder, decides to put 00:05:56.970 --> 00:05:59.649 them together as a tag team. Which is a phenomenal 00:05:59.649 --> 00:06:02.709 pivot. It really is. Neither man had truly broken 00:06:02.709 --> 00:06:05.139 out as a solo star yet. They had all this history 00:06:05.139 --> 00:06:07.259 and chemistry from wrestling against each other. 00:06:07.819 --> 00:06:10.480 And Rider recognized a vital business strategy, 00:06:10.740 --> 00:06:13.220 the rivalry to partnership pipeline. I love that 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.639 concept. It is like an open source merger. How 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:17.439 do you mean? Well, imagine you have two tech 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.399 founders who spent years trying to bankrupt each 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:22.279 other, battling for the same tiny sliver of market 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:25.579 share. And then one day they realized their codes 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:29.459 actually integrate perfectly. Storm had the loud 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:32.660 brash charisma. Harris had the intense technical 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:35.220 powerhouse foundation. They patched each other's 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:39.360 bugs. Exactly. But how do you go from trying 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:43.699 to outshine a rival on the Indy circuit to having 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:46.120 to completely trust them with your physical safety 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.660 in your career? That's the thing. The mechanism 00:06:48.660 --> 00:06:51.420 of a tag team requires a total suspension of 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:54.060 ego. Think about the physical reality of it. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:56.620 Right. You are putting your bodily safety in 00:06:56.620 --> 00:06:58.360 the hands of a guy you were trying to outshine 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:01.100 just a week prior. If your partner misses a cue, 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:03.319 you could break your neck. It's literally life 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:05.379 or death sometimes. Yeah. They took all that 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:07.399 competitive tension and channeled it into a shared 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:09.660 physical language. And the results are immediate. 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:13.399 By September 2002, they survive a gauntlet for 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:16.279 the gold match to win their first NWA World Tag 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:18.220 Team Championship. And for the listener who might 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:20.220 not know, a gauntlet for the gold isn't your 00:07:20.220 --> 00:07:22.829 standard match. No, not at all. It's a chaotic 00:07:22.829 --> 00:07:26.769 timed entry battle royal where endurance and 00:07:26.769 --> 00:07:30.370 like 360 degrees situational awareness matter 00:07:30.370 --> 00:07:32.709 significantly more than raw strength. So the 00:07:32.709 --> 00:07:34.910 fact that a newly formed team survived that. 00:07:34.990 --> 00:07:38.329 specific mechanism shows how seamlessly they 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:41.629 integrated. Exactly. And Storm actually coined 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:44.009 the name for their joint venture, America's Most 00:07:44.009 --> 00:07:47.370 Wanted or AMW. Such a great name. And they didn't 00:07:47.370 --> 00:07:49.610 just win that championship once. They won it 00:07:49.610 --> 00:07:51.829 six times together. Six times. That's a dynasty. 00:07:52.069 --> 00:07:54.949 It is. They received massive industry validation 00:07:54.949 --> 00:07:57.230 to winning the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Tag 00:07:57.230 --> 00:08:00.290 Team of the Year in 2004 and the Wrestling Observer 00:08:00.290 --> 00:08:02.910 Newsletter Tag Team of the Year in 2005. They 00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:05.079 were so successful that Harris actually rejected 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:08.100 an offer from writer Vince Russo to join a major 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:10.500 villain faction called Sports Entertainment Extreme, 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:14.160 SEX. He turned down a massive solo push. Yeah, 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:15.800 he looked at a shortcut to the main event and 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:18.060 said, no, I am sticking with my partner and it 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:21.120 pays off. In 2004, AMW puts on the match of the 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:23.560 year against another legendary team, Triple X, 00:08:23.720 --> 00:08:25.959 inside a steel cage. You have this incredible 00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:28.319 high. They are at the absolute top of the mountain. 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:32.299 But in any entertainment sector, unchecked success. 00:08:32.549 --> 00:08:34.590 Kind of breeds corporate impatience, doesn't 00:08:34.590 --> 00:08:36.669 it? Oh, without a doubt. Management looks at 00:08:36.669 --> 00:08:38.529 a golden goose and wonders how they can carve 00:08:38.529 --> 00:08:40.870 it up to feed twice as many people. Which brings 00:08:40.870 --> 00:08:42.850 us to the inevitable pressure to break up the 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:48.509 band. It's December 2006. AMW is in a match against 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:51.629 a rival team. And, you know, in professional 00:08:51.629 --> 00:08:54.769 wrestling, corporate divorces are violent. Very 00:08:54.769 --> 00:08:57.690 violent. James Storm turns on Harris. He hits 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:00.049 him with a beer bottle, which temporarily blinds 00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:03.419 Harris in one eye. Now... Why do wrestling promotions 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:05.620 always insist on breaking up their most popular 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:08.399 merchandise -filling teams? This raises an important 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.720 question about the mathematics of sports entertainment. 00:09:11.019 --> 00:09:13.120 Right. The promotion is running a calculation. 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:16.320 A successful tag team sells a steady stream of 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.759 $20 t -shirts, but a violent blood -feud betrayal. 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:22.919 Oh, that sells pay -per -views. Exactly. That 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:25.820 sells $50 pay -per -views. The executives are 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:27.740 betting that the emotional investment the fans 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:29.820 have in the friendship will translate into a 00:09:29.820 --> 00:09:32.549 highly lucrative grudge match. It is a massive 00:09:32.549 --> 00:09:36.950 gamble, though. You are destroying a proven multi 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:39.549 -year revenue stream for a hypothetical spike 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:41.929 in quarterly earnings. It really is. And they 00:09:41.929 --> 00:09:45.190 use a mechanism called K -Fabe to sell it. K 00:09:45.190 --> 00:09:47.610 -Fabe is the industry practice of presenting 00:09:47.610 --> 00:09:52.049 staged storylines as absolute genuine reality 00:09:52.049 --> 00:09:54.470 to maintain the audience's emotional investment. 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:56.669 Which is why Harris actually disappears for a 00:09:56.669 --> 00:09:58.789 bit. Right, he sells the eye injury and then 00:09:58.789 --> 00:10:00.590 he comes back wearing an eye patch for revenge. 00:10:00.809 --> 00:10:02.929 The problem though is the execution of the feud 00:10:02.929 --> 00:10:05.769 itself. It was rough. The company burdens this 00:10:05.769 --> 00:10:08.429 deeply emotional betrayal with a terrible gimmick 00:10:08.429 --> 00:10:10.850 match. At the lockdown pay -per -view, they book 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:14.190 a six sides of steel blindfold match. Oh, no. 00:10:14.289 --> 00:10:16.950 Both men are blindfolded inside a cage. Which 00:10:16.950 --> 00:10:19.350 fundamentally breaks the visual language of wrestling. 00:10:19.850 --> 00:10:21.549 If the performers can't see each other to safely 00:10:21.549 --> 00:10:23.909 execute athletic maneuvers, the audience is just 00:10:23.909 --> 00:10:25.929 watching two guys stumble around for 15 minutes. 00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:28.309 It was universally panned. It was actually voted 00:10:28.309 --> 00:10:31.610 the worst work match of the year in 2007. Imagine 00:10:31.610 --> 00:10:34.860 being half the tag team of the year. And then 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:37.220 two years later, you were putting on the worst 00:10:37.220 --> 00:10:39.519 match of the year with that exact same person. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.080 It highlights the wild inconsistency of a solo 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:44.879 push. The company just didn't know how to package 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:47.179 Harris without his better half. But to Harris' 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:49.759 credit, they followed up at the sacrifice pay 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:52.299 -per -view with a Texas death match. His vision 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:55.679 is magically restored, they drop the blindfolds, 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.220 and they just rely on sheer brutality. And Harris 00:10:58.220 --> 00:11:00.460 defeats Storm in what was considered a deeply 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:03.179 redeeming bout. He bounces back, yeah. But a 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:05.419 redeeming match isn't always enough to save a 00:11:05.419 --> 00:11:08.279 job. He enters feuds with names like Christian 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.659 Cage and Dustin Rhodes playing Black Rain at 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:13.100 the time, but the momentum is just a mirage. 00:11:13.340 --> 00:11:16.059 The solo superstardom never fully materializes. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:20.210 No. In January 2008... TNA releases Chris Harris 00:11:20.210 --> 00:11:22.769 from his contract. So he is out on his own again. 00:11:23.250 --> 00:11:25.629 But the wilderness period is short. Within weeks, 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:27.970 he gets the call to the major leagues. The big 00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:31.169 one. Yeah, January 29, 2008, he signs a contract 00:11:31.169 --> 00:11:33.929 with World Wrestling Entertainment, the WWE. 00:11:34.309 --> 00:11:37.429 He signs in January, and in March, he wrestles 00:11:37.429 --> 00:11:40.830 what the industry calls a dark match. Now, a 00:11:40.830 --> 00:11:43.129 dark match is essentially the ultimate corporate 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:46.230 probationary period. It's an untelevised bout 00:11:46.230 --> 00:11:48.490 held in front of the live arena audience before 00:11:48.490 --> 00:11:51.169 the broadcast begins. Exactly. It's a high -stakes 00:11:51.169 --> 00:11:53.450 job interview where the executives watch to see 00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:56.029 if you can control a major league crowd. One 00:11:56.029 --> 00:11:58.450 wrong move. And they could pull the plug before 00:11:58.450 --> 00:12:01.409 you ever debut on TV. But he passes the test. 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:05.149 On July 8, 2008, he makes his official WWE television 00:12:05.149 --> 00:12:08.159 debut on their ECW brand. But this is where the 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:10.039 corporate machine really shows its teeth. You 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.000 would think, OK, they just signed a critically 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:15.000 acclaimed six -time tag team champion, a guy 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.639 known globally as Wildcat Chris Harris. Right. 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.100 You'd leverage that built -in fan base. But no. 00:12:20.379 --> 00:12:22.600 He walks out on national television, and the 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:25.899 announcers introduce him as Brayden Walker. A 00:12:25.899 --> 00:12:29.139 completely new, utterly generic name with zero 00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:31.860 backstory. So what does this all mean? It blows 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:35.340 my mind. It is identical to a tech giant acquiring 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:38.519 a beloved quirky competitor just to kill their 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:40.740 software and harvest the patents. That's exactly 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:43.600 what it is. Let's say a massive corporation buys 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.360 your favorite local coffee shop. The first thing 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:48.899 they do is paint over the sign, throw out the 00:12:48.899 --> 00:12:51.779 secret recipe and rename it coffee store number 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:55.039 four. It hurts just thinking about it. Why on 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:58.590 earth? Would WWE strip away the Wildcat persona 00:12:58.590 --> 00:13:01.649 that worked for a decade just to make him Braden 00:13:01.649 --> 00:13:05.120 Walker? It is the stark, unyielding reality of 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:08.000 corporate intellectual property law. In that 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.320 era, WWE's business philosophy was aggressively 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:13.899 focused on owning their characters from the ground 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:16.539 up. So they didn't want him using a name he made 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:19.179 famous elsewhere. Exactly. They did not want 00:13:19.179 --> 00:13:21.399 to promote the name Chris Harris because he had 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:24.039 built the equity of that name in a rival company. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.659 They couldn't trademark it exclusively. Unbelievable. 00:13:26.820 --> 00:13:29.159 They wanted to promote Braden Walker, a trademark 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:31.720 that they invented, owned, and could merchandise. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.960 without paying him any legacy royalties if he 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:37.399 eventually left. It is a completely sterile approach 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:39.980 to art. It really is. Yeah. The mechanism of 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:42.039 stripping a performer's history is designed to 00:13:42.039 --> 00:13:44.399 leave them with zero leverage at the navigating 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.700 table. But there's a fatal flaw in that strategy. 00:13:47.019 --> 00:13:49.759 Right. Oh, a massive one. When you strip away 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:52.519 the history, the edge, and the identity of the 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:54.679 performer, you are left with an empty shell. 00:13:54.889 --> 00:13:57.669 You are asking the audience to invest in a blank 00:13:57.669 --> 00:14:00.190 slate, and they simply have no reason to care. 00:14:00.429 --> 00:14:02.730 And the Brayden Walker experiment was an unmitigated 00:14:02.730 --> 00:14:05.750 disaster. He defeats a wrestler named Armando 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:08.269 Estrada, he gets a pinfall victory over a guy 00:14:08.269 --> 00:14:11.029 named James Curtis, and then... The corporate 00:14:11.029 --> 00:14:15.309 machine just stops. Yeah. On August 7th, 2008, 00:14:15.769 --> 00:14:17.690 less than a single month after his television 00:14:17.690 --> 00:14:21.190 debut, he is abruptly released from his WWE contract. 00:14:21.289 --> 00:14:24.250 It's heartbreaking. You spend over a decade clawing 00:14:24.250 --> 00:14:26.450 your way up the mountain. You endure the indie 00:14:26.450 --> 00:14:28.809 circuit, the bad gimmicks, the broken partnerships. 00:14:29.210 --> 00:14:31.389 Everything. You finally reach the summit. The 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:33.730 biggest company in the world signs you. And you 00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:36.230 discover that you simply do not fit their corporate 00:14:36.230 --> 00:14:38.950 mold. They slap a legally compliant label on 00:14:38.950 --> 00:14:40.769 you. And when the audience rejects that label, 00:14:40.990 --> 00:14:43.330 the executives don't blame the branding. They 00:14:43.330 --> 00:14:46.210 blame you. And you take the fall. Being violently 00:14:46.210 --> 00:14:47.870 rejected by the corporate machine doesn't mean 00:14:47.870 --> 00:14:50.500 your story is over, though. It just forces you 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.820 to figure out where your actual value lives. 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:55.019 Which is a tough lesson to learn. Very tough. 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:58.320 Which leads us to our final section. Nostalgia, 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:02.059 legacy, and the long tail of a career. For Harris, 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:04.259 reclaiming his legacy meant returning to the 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:07.679 roots he planted long before WWU tried to erase 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.679 them. By September 2008, he's back in the Northern 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:12.940 Wrestling Federation. That's the exact regional 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:15.399 promotion where he started in the mid -90s, challenging 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.519 for their heavyweight championship. And he works 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.960 for Full Impact Pro in 2009. Yeah. But the most 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.740 incredible part of this later career phase is 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:25.960 his relationship with his own strange history. 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:29.480 In June 2010, he makes a one -night return to 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.820 TNA. Okay. And the character he portrays is almost 00:15:32.820 --> 00:15:36.029 too poetic to believe. He returns playing a fake 00:15:36.029 --> 00:15:39.190 sting character. No way. Yes. A full decade after 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.549 he was forced to wear another man's mask in WCW, 00:15:41.629 --> 00:15:43.850 he is doing it again. It's a brilliant acknowledgement 00:15:43.850 --> 00:15:45.909 of the cyclical nature of the wrestling business. 00:15:46.049 --> 00:15:49.529 And then, in May 2011, he makes a more formal 00:15:49.529 --> 00:15:52.190 return to TNA as part of a villainous stable 00:15:52.190 --> 00:15:54.750 called Immortal. Oh, I remember this. He's brought 00:15:54.750 --> 00:15:56.889 in by Matt Hardy to be his tag team partner. 00:15:57.230 --> 00:15:59.389 Right. And who are they challenging for the tag 00:15:59.389 --> 00:16:01.669 team championship? A team called Beer Money, 00:16:01.929 --> 00:16:05.269 Inc., which consists of Robert Roode, And James 00:16:05.269 --> 00:16:07.830 Storm. The booking is incredibly layered there. 00:16:08.190 --> 00:16:11.009 He is teaming up against the very man who helped 00:16:11.009 --> 00:16:13.690 him find his identity. But the magic of the early 00:16:13.690 --> 00:16:17.129 2000s just isn't there. They lose at the sacrifice 00:16:17.129 --> 00:16:19.830 pay -per -view, and in a perfect narrative twist, 00:16:20.169 --> 00:16:22.730 it is James Storm who pins Chris Harris. Wow. 00:16:23.370 --> 00:16:26.549 After that, TNA quietly moves on, and Harris 00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:29.549 steps away. You would assume that is the definitive 00:16:29.549 --> 00:16:31.570 end of the book. It seems like a natural stopping 00:16:31.570 --> 00:16:34.559 point. But it isn't. If we jump forward a whole 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:38.240 decade to March 2021, Harris makes a surprise 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:40.519 return to the company, which is now operating 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.019 under the name Impact Wrestling. Okay, so he 00:16:43.019 --> 00:16:45.820 comes back again. Yeah, but he isn't there to 00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:48.220 fight James Storm. He appears at ringside to 00:16:48.220 --> 00:16:50.860 support James Blum in his 1000th match for the 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:53.159 company, actively helping him defeat the villain, 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:55.440 Eric Young. If we connect this to the bigger 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.120 picture, we see the true mechanics of a legacy 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:00.259 here. How so? Well, the corporate executives 00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:02.820 in 2008 thought Chris Harris only had value if 00:17:02.820 --> 00:17:04.480 they owned his name. Right, the whole Bryden 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:07.339 Walker thing. Exactly. But returning for Storm's 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:10.299 1000th match proves that career longevity isn't 00:17:10.299 --> 00:17:12.299 about the peak moments of corporate validation. 00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:15.019 It is fundamentally built on the shared history 00:17:15.019 --> 00:17:18.089 between a performer, their peers, and the audience. 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:20.809 I love that. Yeah. And it doesn't stop with a 00:17:20.809 --> 00:17:25.150 single cameo. In 2022, they do full -blown America's 00:17:25.150 --> 00:17:27.829 Most Wanted reunions. Oh, that's awesome. At 00:17:27.829 --> 00:17:29.970 the Slammiversary event, they come to ringside. 00:17:30.450 --> 00:17:34.369 Against all odds, in July 2022, Harrison Storm 00:17:34.369 --> 00:17:37.170 actually lace up the boots and team with the 00:17:37.170 --> 00:17:39.309 Good Brothers and Heath Slater to win a match. 00:17:39.430 --> 00:17:42.890 In 2022. Yes. They wrestled together as recently 00:17:42.890 --> 00:17:46.359 as September 2023. You have to marvel at the 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:48.859 sheer physical resilience required to be taking 00:17:48.859 --> 00:17:51.500 bumps, literally throwing your body at the wooden 00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:53.880 floorboards hidden under a thin wrestling mat 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:56.880 in your late 40s and early 50s. The fans in 2023 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.920 weren't cheering for Braden Walker, the corporate 00:17:58.920 --> 00:18:01.839 trademark. They weren't cheering for a guy wearing 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.240 Sting's face paint. They were cheering for the 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:08.019 authentic human being who bled to give them America's 00:18:08.019 --> 00:18:11.839 most wanted. So let's distill this down. As you 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:14.079 are navigating your own career, what can you 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.380 take away from the wild ride of Wildcat Chris 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:19.140 Harris? There's a lot to unpack there. First, 00:18:19.380 --> 00:18:21.640 finding your true professional identity might 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:24.319 require the counterintuitive step of merging 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:27.299 your talents with your fiercest rival. Sometimes 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:29.400 your biggest competitor is the only person who 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:31.380 knows how to cover your blind spots. Oh, absolutely. 00:18:31.859 --> 00:18:34.700 Second, you have to be deeply wary of the corporate 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:38.190 rebranding machine. An executive will erase years 00:18:38.190 --> 00:18:40.829 of your hard work in the blink of an eye just 00:18:40.829 --> 00:18:43.630 to secure an IP trademark. Just another coffee 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:46.490 store number four. Exactly. But ultimately, your 00:18:46.490 --> 00:18:48.569 legacy doesn't live in a corporate filing cabinet. 00:18:49.029 --> 00:18:51.329 It lives in the genuine, authentic connections 00:18:51.329 --> 00:18:53.529 you make with the people of the trenches alongside 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:55.849 you. I want to leave you with one final lingering 00:18:55.849 --> 00:18:57.690 thought to mull over, though. OK, let's hear 00:18:57.690 --> 00:19:00.650 it. We look at the Braden Walker era as a massive 00:19:00.650 --> 00:19:03.700 failure of corporate branding. But what if, by 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:07.059 some strange twist of fate, that generic persona 00:19:07.059 --> 00:19:10.079 had actually clicked with the WWE audience? Wow. 00:19:10.579 --> 00:19:13.000 What if Brayden Walker became a multi -million 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:16.380 dollar sensation? It forces you to wonder how 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:19.380 much of success in any career is actually based 00:19:19.380 --> 00:19:23.079 on your raw, undeniable talent, and how much 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.970 of it is simply having the right arbitrary label 00:19:25.970 --> 00:19:28.650 applied to you by the right executive at the 00:19:28.650 --> 00:19:31.630 exact right moment. That is a fascinating question. 00:19:31.789 --> 00:19:33.650 It really makes you look at the labels you wear 00:19:33.650 --> 00:19:36.150 in your own professional life. Yeah. Are you 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:38.950 a wildcat fighting for your authentic identity? 00:19:39.230 --> 00:19:41.569 Or are you just Braden Walker playing a part 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.009 so the company can own the trademark? Think back 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:46.029 to that burning upside down ladder we talked 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:48.390 about at the start. The disappearing ink. Yeah. 00:19:48.869 --> 00:19:50.569 Maybe the goal isn't just to climb the rungs 00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:52.750 they put in front of you. Maybe the goal is to 00:19:52.750 --> 00:19:54.799 survive the fire. without forgetting who you 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:56.839 actually are. Couldn't have said it better. Thanks 00:19:56.839 --> 00:19:58.400 for joining us on this deep dive. We'll catch 00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:58.920 you next time.