WIJ Throwback – An Interview With Danhausen

Editor’s note: Shortly before his arrival in All Elite Wrestling, I had the chance to interview Danhausen for Web Is Jericho. Last night, the “very nice, very evil” character debuted for WWE at Elimination Chamber, and in honor of his arrival I’ve re-posted our interview from 2022, in which I asked Danhausen (real name Donovan Danhausen) to do completely in character. For those unfamiliar, here’s a glimpse into WWE’s newest arrival – B.J. Lisko

With a slick, spooky look and a presentation that has been described as a “demon-possessed Conan O’Brien,” the “very nice, very evil” Danhausen has taken the independent wrestling scene by storm. Recently he starred for Ring Of Honor, and his quirky and funny character has quickly gotten him over with almost every new fan that sees him perform. 

Danhausen refers to himself in the third-person, pours teeth into his opponent’s mouths as an in-ring loophole, and his Love That Danhausen YouTube page has steadily grown in popularity as he has combined his love for wrestling, action figures, horror movies, soda, cereal and more into a highly entertaining channel. 

Danhausen was a guest of Chris Jericho’s Rock ’N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea and his adventures has seen him cross paths with everyone from Jericho to CM Punk to John Cena. Recently, the very evil Danhausen did a very nice interview in this Web Is Jericho exclusive. 

When did Danhausen know he wanted to be a professional wrestler? Danhausen saw this Kane fellow rip off a door as a child. So that was the first introduction. What else? Oh! … was watching CM Punk on commentary many, many years later. He stopped watching wrestling for a long time. Then this fellow made it interesting to watch a show he knew nothing about. Then I noticed he was a wrestler, too. So we can blame Kane’s visuals and CM Punk’s everything else. 

Was there anybody else that Danhausen looked up to or was inspired by besides those two? As a young child, not so much. Well, he liked Cold Steve, The Rock, everyone likes them. But as he came back (to watch wrestling), Daniel Bryan, of course. Sami Zayn was starting to pop up around as El Generico, and Kevin Steen. The likes of them. You know, all of the wonderful wrestlers that Danhausen watched on PWG highlights, and he saw that maybe there was people the same size as Danhausen in these wrestling matches. You know, 7-feet tall and such. 

Who trained Danhausen? It was Truth Martini and Jimmy Jacobs. I believe he used to write for WWE, and now he writes for Impact Wrestling. Those are the two that trained Danhausen. And then Danhausen has had training sessions with the likes of Eric Shelley and “Speedball” Mike Bailey.

What is it about Danhausen that appeals to the fanhausens? It is the perfect combination of being very nice and very evil. That, and he’s got the wonderful visual representation of … uh … visuals! 

Is Danhausen into horror movies? Oh yes, but of course. Danhausen loves ‘Alien,’ ‘Army of Darkness.’ He’s watched ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ ‘Dawn of the Dead,’ ‘Day of the Dead.’ One of his favorites is ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2’”  

Speaking of horror films, and specifically classic horror films, has anyone ever told Danhausen he sounds a little like Vincent Price? Oh no, but that’s quite the compliment. No one has said that. Sometimes someone says, ‘Skeletor.’ Danhausen does not sound like Skeletor! 

Where did Danhausen get the idea to pour teeth into other people’s mouths? Well, it is a legal way of cheating. He saw The Young Bucks, and they do thumb tacks in the mouth, and then they do a super kick. That can be constituted as cheating. But as Danhausen sees it, people already have teeth in their mouths, so if you pour teeth in their mouths, you cannot get disqualified. But it might make my victim feel sick and throw up. 

What was Danhausen’s experience like on the Jericho Cruise, and how did Chris Jericho come to discover Danhausen and ask him to be a part of it? The Jericho Cruise was quite wonderful. It was very tropical, very blue, right in the middle of the ocean. There was an owl, we called it Boat Owl. It became very famous. It was perched on Danhausen’s ledge one full day. Chris Judas found Danhausen I believe on the internet, like most people, and he became an instant fanhausen. We were on ‘Talk Is Jericho,’ then Jericho was on ‘Goodnighthausen with Danhausen.’ Then one day Danhausen got a text message from Chris Judas. It said, ‘Hello, I would like you to be on my cruise. You are very famous, very entertaining, very evil. You must be a part of it.’ Then Danhausen saved Chris Judas in the main event of his show from The Chaos Project. It was wonderful. 

Recently Danhausen got his own action figure. Can you tell me how that came about and where folks might be able to get it? Well, they cannot get it anymore, actually. It was preorder. So they’ll have to wait until it actually comes out, and then maybe some people will have some for sale. It was from Zombie Sailor figures. It is a Hasbro-style retro. One second … (Danhausen sneezes) Oh, sneezing! … Oh my god we sneezed! You can put that in the interview. Just put ‘Danhausen sneezes’ in the asterisks. Yes, but Zombie Sailor came to Danhausen and liked how Danhausen looked. They see that he is marketable and asked if he wanted an action figure. So he said, ‘Of course!’ Now Danhausen must get another action figure in the 6-inch scale. 

Danhausen often unboxes toys on his YouTube channel. How many figures are in Danhausen’s collection? Oh my. I don’t know if it’s a thousand yet at this point, but it is hundreds and hundreds. We have many variety. Superhero, horror, video games, television shows. 

What is Danhausen’s most prized action figure? Ooh, we have a Galactus coming. It will be here next year sometime. But it is like 3-feet tall or some more. 

What is the best advice Danhausen has ever received from another wrestler? Ooh, this was from Sami Zayn. It was, ‘Do every single show, no matter what.’ If it’s one you’re not super comfortable with, like Danhausen wrestled a bar wrestling show with no ring, for example. Danhausen did that show, and it was quite wonderful. He learned how to do the tequila dance there. So he listened to Sami Zayn, and took his advice to do every single show — a huge show, a small show, a show in the middle of nowhere — do them all.

Tell me something that Danhausen did recently that was very nice and also something that was very evil. Let’s see. Very nice. Ahh! Danhausen got Robert Gibson from the Rock ’n’ Roll Express back into the airport. That was very nice of Danhausen. And very evil. Let’s see. Most things Danhausen does is very evil. Evil was breaking his leg, I suppose. 

What is next for Danhausen? Is All-Elite Wrestling possibly on the horizon for Danhausen? I don’t know, you have to ask Tony Elite. Danhausen left him a message at one of his drive-thrus. I thought it was the headquarters, but they did not seem to be there. Danhausen needs to get back on television. So now, we wait, we see. We come back stronger, and we take over television. But, that being said. Hangman Page did call out Danhausen at C2E2, so we shall see. 

Does Danhausen have anything special planned for the YouTube channel in the coming year? We’ll have our guests. We’ll do the vloghausen. Danhausen posted Danhausen and CM Punk on there, so we’ll see what other surprises we can have on there. 

Check out Danhausen’s WWE debut below.