Eric Arndt, better known by his ring/stage names “nZo” or “Real1,” has pretty much always had the gift of gab. When he was a New Jersey kid, his father was a DJ spinning tracks and directing parties, bar mitzvahs, corporate events and weddings to put food on the table. nZo worked with him, and by the time he was 16, he was manning the mic and music for sweet 16 parties, quinceañeras and proms. While he later became a “certified G and a bonafide stud,” nZo first learned one of his most distinctive traits from his old man. Yet the Major League Wrestling star and rapper/rocker chooses his words carefully as he re-tells a story that’s part Make-A-Wish, part tragic, part touching and very inspirational.
In the summer of 2021, nZo got a call about a 19-year-old fan in Boston who was face to face with his own mortality. “I met a kid named TylerB_316,” nZo said. “Tyler is no longer with us. Tyler had a brain tumor. He was 19, and he was a huge pro wrestling fan.” Tyler Blanchette loved The Beatles, going fishing, and he and his brother spent 12 years running a cocoa stand, Big Papa’s Hot Cocoa, in front of their Hudson, New Jersey family home to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s. His dream to become a professional wrestler was tragically cut short, but he did get to interact with a couple of his heroes before passing on. “I got a phone call that he was seeing his final days, and he loved pro wrestling, and he wanted to meet me,” nZo said. “I got in my car from New Jersey with my girlfriend, and we flew up to the Boston Children’s Hospital where we met Tyler Blanchettte.” Tyler was in his hospital room with his mother, Melissa, and his family. “And it’s one of those weird, real moments that very few people get to experience from the outside looking in,” nZo explained. “Where they have to walk into a room and pretend to be up and be nZo Amore and make somebody smile when it’s just the most devastating moment in human kind.”
Tyler often wore one of nZo’s “Certified G” T-shirts, and when nZo arrived at the hospital, he was in bed donning threads from FOZZY. He later died in that FOZZY shirt, but not before nZo set up a special message for Tyler. “I had reached out to Chris Jericho and Chris sent him a video thanking him for being a FOZZY fan,” nZo said. “And he got to see that video before he passed away.” nZo, who is equally as invested in his passion for creating music as he is for the ring, took seeing Tyler in his FOZZY shirt as a sign. “When I was in that room, I couldn’t help but think to myself that this guy is looking death in the eyes, and this is the strongest person I ever met,” nZo said. “Here I am, and I see this FOZZY T-shirt, and I say to myself, ‘Man, if that’s not a sign from God as well that I need to keep sticking with my music and pushing this music to the moon and never taking no for an answer …’ Because here I am in a room, and one of my heroes that I got to get in a ring with, Chris Jericho, he got sh*t on at the start of his career. He got buried throughout his career. He got made fun of and nobody took his music serious. And he here is, he’s got a No 1. hit record in ‘Judas,’ and it’s out in the world, and he’s over 50 years old, and he’s got 19-year-olds wearing a T-shirt of his, not a wresting T-shirt, a FOZZY T-shirt. I thought, ‘That’s how you inspire people.’ ”
nZo’s presence in Blanchette’s final moments was inspiring, too. And so has been his unique path into professional wrestling. nZo had an interesting start in the business in that he skipped the independent scene and went straight to the WWE’s NXT brand. He fast gained popularity teaming with Big Cass (William Morrissey) and the pair joined WWE’s ‘Raw’ brand in 2016. After a successful and memorable run as a tag team, the pair feuded, and nZo would later become the “205 Live” Cruiserweight Champion. nZo was forced to exit WWE in 2018 after accusations of assault which were later dismissed by authorities, but one silver lining was that some 5,000 people showed up to support him amid the turmoil in New York City’s Times Square. He stepped away from wrestling to focus on his music (he goes by Real1 for his hip-hop career and also fronts a rock band, Real1 and The How You Doin’ Band), and recently he made his return to the squared circle thanks to AEW’s Brian Pillman Jr. and an independent wrestler who inspired him, David Firestein. He stars as the animated version of himself in the Mila Kunis-backed cartoon, “The Gimmicks,” and recently nZo chatted at length about his career, his current work with MLW, The Gimmicks, Firestein and whether or not he has his sights set on another major wrestling promotion in the future in this Web Is Jericho exclusive. Here’s nZo on …
What brought him back to wrestling
“When the pandemic hit, I had a great opportunity to see the indies for the first time. I had never done the indies ever. I got straight into pro wrestling through a YouTube video that went viral and got showed to Triple H, and I had a tryout. So the indies were an unknown world to me that I’d only heard about through the likes of my friends like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Neville (Pac) and Fergal Devitt (Finn Balor). These guys were so grizzled and savvy to the independent wrestling scene by the time they got to NXT. So, to me, I was so interesting to them because I never did it. I didn’t know who Dave Meltzer was, and I was just out there doing my thing and laughing and having a great time, not knowing about the dirt sheets or the internet or pro wrestling. I think it helped me in an essence that it allowed me to be who I was and not read into it. But when I got the opportunity to get back out here, it was people like the Fergal Devitt’s of the world and Jericho, obviously. Cass and I did the ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast a few years ago. Brian Pillman Jr. kind of brought be back into the fray along with Big Cass, who was wrestling Jon Moxley for the first time outside of WWE. By rekindling the flame with Big Cass as far as our friendship goes, that process led me to want to see him back on his feet in the ring, and I was there ringside to watch him wrestle Jon Moxley at Six Flags Great Adventure for NEW (Northeast Wrestling). That was the first ever indie show I had been on or seen. I watched Cass and one of his best friends, Jon Moxley, two guys that had been through the ringer and used to be former roommates, and here they are in front of thousands of people, and I had never seen it. I was like, ‘Holy sh*t, this is crazy.’ These guys do whatever they want. No producer. No time limit. And they had a great match. I was the manager for Cass, I definitely got Dirty Deeds on my head at some point, but that was the first indie shot I did.”
Meeting Brian Pillman Jr.
“When I met Brian Pillman, Jr., I did not even know that Brian Pillman had a son. I just saw this crazy blonde mullet, and I said to Cass, ‘Who is that? That kid is over with me! I don’t care who he is!’ I went up to him, and he had a mentor in this business that I have that’s mutual that couldn’t get any better in ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. ‘Stone Cold,’ I used to reach out to, and he was always so gracious to lend me his ear and his advice. Brian Pillman Jr. told me when he broke into the business, with his dad being (Austin’s) former tag team partner and being close to him, (Austin) had reached out to him and when Pillman Jr. asked him for advice, Austin said ‘Learn how to work the stick like nZo.’ That to me was the highest compliment I had ever been paid in my entire life! I was like, ‘Holy sh*t!’ So I went up to the promoter and I asked him when his next show was. And he said the Mid-Hudson Civic Center. That was the last place I wrestled in the WWE on the ‘205 Live’ tour. So it meant a lot to me to get out there with Brian Pillman Jr. and have a real wrestling match. I came out to no intro music, and I just walked straight to the ring. And it was just different, because I didn’t sing or dance, and I didn’t cut a promo. I just had a match with this kid, and it was just the two of us out there, and I really enjoyed it. He opened up my eyes.”
Working in Qatar and running the first wrestling show at The Comedy Store
“I went on to wrestle Brian Pillman Jr. one more time in Qatar for Ali (Marafi), which was QPW (Qatar Pro Wrestling), which was awesome. It was a giant show in a huge arena. Eric Bischoff and Kevin Nash opened the show and shouted me out, it was like a dream come true. That had never happened for me in the WWE, but here I am in Qatar and Kevin Nash is introducing me to the ring. It was just amazing. Then I ran the wrestling show with Tony Hinchcliffe and Chris Burns, two producers and comedians, at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. I put together the first ever wrestling show at the world famous Comedy Store in L.A. We had Darby Allin in the main event with the Lucha Bros. and Matt Sydal. They tore the house down. It was a great show, and I wrestled Brian Pillman Jr. in the first match on the card. I’m not stupid enough to put myself in the main event. We opened the show, and we had the very first match in the history of the Comedy Store. With the likes of Andy Kaufman and wrestling history there with Roddy Piper, it was really cool to do that.”
Working with Jerry “The King” Lawler
“I had another wrestling match on the indies, I had a casket match with Jerry ’The King” Lawler. To think I had this opportunity and Jerry trusted me, it was like AEW featuring nZo and Jerry Lawler. Cody Rhodes was on the show. Paul Wight was on the show, Sammy Guevara was on the show, Darby Allin was on the show. Big Cass, Jon Moxley. It’s like I’m out there and I’m making my rounds, and I’m seeing the cards and who is out there and doing what, and it’s just a lot of fun to be able to do something different and also to do these shows with MLW. It’s just creative liberties, really, and me just having fun. It’s never been about winning and losing with me.”
‘The Gimmicks’
“Mila Kunis started a cartoon company with (the show) ‘Stoner Cats,’ (which is) a collaborative effort with another company called Toonstar. It’s basically ‘Talk’n Shop,’ insert nZo. It’s been funny to say that. It stars Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Rocky Romero, and myself. This being an NFT driven commodity right now, it could see the bright lights of television soon. It’s like ‘South Park’ meets WWE. These opportunities outside pro wrestling with ‘The Gimmicks’ cartoon with Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher and Toonstar, it’s been hilarious.”
Potentially being pro wrestling’s last ‘Iron Man’
“It’s funny, I might end up being the last ‘Iron Man’ pro wrestler in this business. When they had the brand split in WWE, you had to either wrestle on the red loops or the blue loops on the road. You would do live events on the road Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Then you would fly home. But if you had to be at Smackdown, they would film that on Tuesday. If you were on ‘Raw,’ you didn’t go to ‘Smackdown.’ If you were on ‘Smackdown,’ you did live events, Saturday, Sunday, occasionally on Monday, or you had a day in between in whatever city you were stuck in. But, when you’re the Cruiserweight champ and you’re in ‘205 Live,’ they film ‘205 Live’ at the starting hour of ‘Smackdown.’ That was on Tuesdays. If you’re a cruiserweight, you don’t have to wrestle on the live events, because they only feature one cruiserweight match on the live events, and that’s the Cruiserweight title. So whoever was the Cruiserweight Champ in the WWE, you’re going to get booked in the Cruiserweight Championship match on ‘Raw’ events. So that means you go Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, then you go on to ‘Smackdown on Tuesday.’ When the pandemic hit, the brands were already split, the cruiserweight title was folded over, and they never did another wrestler on those cards, because those cards are probably never going to happen again where the WWE booked as many shows as they did in 2018. In 2018, I’ll have been the last guy to do 300 days a year getting booked in the WWE. So I would have one day off, and a lot of the times I had media and appearances, because that was just my booking.”
If he would ever return to WWE or join AEW?
“I think that a lot of it has to be a good opportunity and has to make sense. I’m just not in the mood to walk into a situation with bad people, or people who are angry, or people who are jealous, or people who have a perception about me without knowing me, or people judging me without knowing me. I’m in a very different position than I was three, four years ago. I make a good living, and I have fun, and I don’t need to be in any toxic environments. I think it all just boils down to what I’m doing with MLW right now. All the people have been so kind to me. Court Bauer has been so kind to me, and they’ve been accommodating. I’ve gotten to work with people that I personally request or want to work with. KC Navarro, who I most recently wrestled, here’s a young kid in New Jersey, and he comes to my boxing gym, and he just wants to learn from me. I get him in the boxing gym, and I get to wrestle him quite a bit. It was just the right opportunity to do good business, and it wasn’t about me. It was about this kid. Winning and losing doesn’t do anything for me, but if I lose to KC Navarro, it might do something for his career at MLW, and that meant something to me.”
The circumstances surrounding his WWE departure
“I often times don’t think people realize, I’ve been in this business for 10 years now. I broke in in 2012. So I got to see a lot, I got to hear a lot, and the world has definitely changed. But I feel like I was a poster boy for innocence in that entire movement, honestly. My accuser looked like a f*cking idiot in the end. 5,000 people showed up to meet me in Times Square. I have that footage on my Instagram, and it’s crazy. I took a five month social media silence after that sh*t hit the fan, and I had loyal fans who outed this person for me. They did all the work for me. They were emailing the police left and right stalking this person’s life. And really they came out when I archived my entire Instagram. I trended in the entire world. I thought, ‘Holy sh*t! I didn’t mean to do that!’ (Laughs) And I took a picture of Times Square, and I said ‘I’ll be out there next week.’ That was Memorial Day weekend, and it was a Monday night when ‘Raw’ was airing. I posted my music video when I wanted to let the world know that I was breaking into music. I had to have a plan in place. You gotta have a platform and an opportunity, and like with anything in pro wrestling, I knew I had to make a splash. So, I really was nervous, thinking maybe 5 people would show up to Times Square to meet me. Or maybe there would be 10 people or some crazy a*shole who wanted to kill me out there. I just didn’t know what to expect to be honest. But you know what, man? Good always prevails. When it’s real, you can’t fake it. And to a degree, it’s much like pro wrestling. It assimilates real life. And I had an opportunity to go out there and feel the love for the first time outside of WWE. 5,000 people in Times Square, and I thought to myself in that moment, ‘If I can’t find a way to monetize this thing or make money and be a star and persevere despite all things …’ I’m gonna be the guy who is the guinea pig, the first guy to get fired with a social media presence, with a million followers, to go out into the open world. Because now you see the landscape has completely changed. There’s Cody leaving, there’s AEW, there’s all these opportunities in all these different companies that weren’t there when I got fired. And, I didn’t look at wrestling like there was a place to go or a place to be a star. I just thought to myself, ‘I gotta find a way to let my voice be heard.’”
Getting advice on his music career from Chris Jericho
“Music was something I was shunned away from in the WWE, in the essence of ‘Do you want to be a musician? Or do you want to be a wrestler?’ Which was said to me at the start. And (it was) even advised when I talked to Jericho one day at a television taping in New Jersey. I had gotten knocked out two weeks prior to that with a concussion on TV. I didn’t know if I was ever gonna be able to wrestle again. And I went to Jericho, and I asked him about the music. He said to me, ‘Man, if you make music right now, (WWE) is going to own it. They’re gonna have their fingerprints all over it. You’re not gonna be able to do it on your own terms. Wait until your wrestling run is done or your contract is up, and then go make your music.’ And here I am. I’m fired. I’m out here sitting on the streets. But through that conversation with Jericho I was smart enough to go trademark and copyright ‘Real1.’ I worked on music and had it ready in the bank, and I got my little brother off and running with a RED camera. My brother, he took that opportunity, and now he works with Lyrical Lemondade Cole Bennett, and he shot Post Malone and Motley Crue and Justin Bieber’s most recent work. Opportunity is only opportunity if you provide it to other people around you. Maybe my music, I jump head first into, and it provides an opportunity for my brother to now be the biggest music video maker in all of Hollywood. What a success that was for my family, in essence, which is to me everything. It’s never been about me.”
How David Firestein inspired him for another run in wrestling
“I got back into pro wrestling through a kid name David Firestein. I went out wrestling with Brian Pillman Jr. three times, and that was it. But Brian Pillman was going to be on ’Talk’n Shop.’ In Atlanta. Through that process being out there, I saw Ricky Morton and Kerry Morton, his son, and they were gonna be wrestling Brian Pillman on Friday, and he had no tag partner. I put on a pair of shorts and borrowed someone’s knee pads. I had a pair of Jordans on me, and I got back in the ring. When I got out there, I met this kid named David Firestein. He was in the ring with three veterans and they were roughing him up. They were beating him up, but he was selling. He was in a tag match, and he wasn’t giving away that hot tag. He built up to that hot tag, and it was great. When the match was over, I was just there to watch Brian Pillman work. When I was there, this kid caught my attention. And I asked him, ‘Where’d you learn how to work? How long have you been working?’ He said, ’That was my first match.’ I said, ‘Holy sh*t! Where’d you learn how to sell?’ He said he went to Black and Brave Wrestling Academy, which is Seth Rollins’ school. I asked him, because we were in a trailer park in Grimsley, Tennessee — 127 Arena, I’ll never forget. When he told me Black and Brave, I said ‘Isn’t that expensive? Where’d you get the money for it?’ He said it was like God spoke over him for some reason. He said, ‘My mom and my grandma are drug addicts, and I left their house when I was 15. CM Punk is my hero, I’m straight edge. I love Jesus. Me and two of my friends are in a youth group. We pitch in and live in a trailer together. And I bar backed and bussed tables all summer, and I saved my money to go to wrestling school, and that was my first match.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, you’re an American hero, bro, I love you.’”
“So I went to the promoter, and I got his number. And then I called him up a week later and I said, ‘I’m gonna fly myself down there, and if you don’t mind, I’m gonna set up a table. I don’t need you to pay me, cause quite frankly, I don’t want to set my worth at this juncture. I just ask that you don’t advertise me, and let it spread by word of mouth when I get there.’ And sure enough, they spread the word by word of mouth. But David Firestein and I stayed in touch on Instagram, and I asked him, ‘How’s it going?’ ’The promoter told me I gotta get better ring gear and get in better shape.’ I was like, ‘Damn.’ Then another week later, I’m like, ‘How’s it going?’ He said, ‘I’m in the main event this week. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s crazy.’ I was like, ‘I know why. Cause I’m coming to town next week, but I didn’t tell him.’ But I went in the ring, and I cut a promo that day, and I had him backstage in his ring gear, and he didn’t know what was about to happen. But I had my boy filming him, and he went up to him and said, ‘Hey, this is how you take nZo’s finish.’ And he put his foot to his face and pulled his arm and told him never to beat him to his feet, and this is how you take the finish. That was the only advice I gave him. So I cut a promo for that little crowd and I said, ‘This kid’s name is David Firestein. The first time I saw him wrestle was out here. His parents are f*cking crackheads. He moved out of his home. He wants to a pro wrestler. He paid for his own f*cking way. He’s straight edge. I think he’s the f*cking man, and I wanna wrestle him, right now. So he comes out to the ring, and I called the match to him on the fly. After that I got the itch again in a new way.”
On his perception in the wrestling world
“Perception is reality in this business. I think there’s been a perception about me given to people by people that don’t know me or have never been in the ring with me. Because when you’re out there and you hear the people, and they’re coming, and it’s a different world out there, you tell me what you’re gonna f*ckin’ do. Because I know what the f*ck nZo is gonna do, and you guys ain’t ever been here before.”
