Danhausen Credits Alex Shelley For His Contract With ROH, Hopes To Cross Over Into A Mainstream Audience
Photo Credit: Basil Mahmud
The “Very Nice, Very Evil” Danhausen is one of the most genuinely unique characters in all of wrestling, and even non-wrestling fans are starting to learn his name. (He recently appeared on Conan O’Brien’s podcast.)
With the face paint on, Danhausen is a man of mystery. But he recently did a rare out-of-character interview with Chris Van Vliet, who shared the following highlights with WrestleZone.
First, Danhausen offered a glimpse of the process that created the unparalled character. He described how he has modeled it after other personalities, like Conan O’Brien. Of course, he also emphasized the incomparable nature of the gimmick.
“You just emulate the guys that you are watching, until you figure out what you actually want to do,” said Danhausen. “Some people have said [my character is] like if Conan O’Brien got possessed by a demon. That’s probably the closest you can get to it in terms of describing it. It kind of just is what it is. I don’t have a set thing of what Danhausen is.”
One of the most defining aspects of Danhausen’s character is his distinct voice. In the interview, the man beneath the face paint credited Conan O’Brien, “The Simpsons,” and Mark Hamill’s version of The Joker as some of his influences.
“So before I found this voice, I used to just have this deep voice. The current one came from me just liking voice acting. Conan O’Brien does voices as he is doing skits, so it came from that. I am also a huge fan of The Simpsons. Also Mark Hamill from Batman the animates series. I will practice them in the car and cut promos by myself. It helps a lot on the long drives to shows.”
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In another highlight, Danhausen explained how Alex Shelley helped him get signed by ROH because the IMPACT Wrestling star literally suggested that the company should do so.
“I rode with [Shelley] a couple of times and we really bonded on the car rides,” said Danhausen. “He saw what I was doing and he liked it. He thought that it was something that ROH needed. Ring of Honor had booked me a couple of times already, just based on me being weird and different. They allowed me to be full on Danhausen without changing anything.
“I have been thankful for that, if you change it, the character won’t work. So Alex said ‘you should sign this guy.’ ROH said yes and that was it.”
As strange as it might seem, Danhausen stated that his character is completely “based in reality”, as he limits his in-ring antics to realistic actions. For example, his infamous jar of teeth and disdain for cursing are well within the confines of the real world.
“I can’t shoot lightning from my fingers or do any supernatural stuff,” said Danhausen. “But the character thinks he can. Like the tequila spot, I get the fans to dance along and I get their energy. That’s a real thing, you can feed off of that. You get excited from it, so it makes sense.
“No swearing makes sense, because it will get you taken off the air. The teeth thing is a “legal” way to cheat. I can argue with the ref that I am just putting more teeth in. It’s not thumbtacks, it’s just gross.”
While Danhausen continues to reach new heights, both as a competitor in Ring of Honor and as a personality on other platforms. But he has high hopes for his ability to enjoy success as a crossover star, as he named his hope for a cartoon about the character that has nothing to do with wrestling.
“One goal is I would like to be on television more,” said Danhausen. “I would like to get some sort of cartoon that is not wrestling related. I think that the Danhausen character can translate over into a mainstream audience.
“The Conan O’Brien interview sort of proves that. There are legs for it outside of wrestling, but I don’t want to leave wrestling, but I want to draw more people to it.”
The full interview is available here: