Vic Joseph details the connection between professional wrestling and his late father

Generally, if you grow up in Cleveland, you are either a fan of the NFL’s Browns or MLB’s Indians (now the Guardians). This is the right of passage between father and son.

That sentiment was true in Vic Joseph’s home when he was growing up. He and his father, David, watched the Browns every Sunday during the football season and the Indians from April to September, sometimes making an October playoff appearance.

But there was something that brought young Vika and David together. Professional wrestling. Specifically, WWE. Joseph, who will headline the game Sunday night with Booker T WWE NXT Halloween Havoc (7 p.m. ET, Peacock), fondly recalls attending his first WWE show with his father when he was six or seven years old.

“It was a live event at Richfield Coliseum,” Joseph said Withdrawal. “So my dad said to me, ‘Oh, we’re going to an ISDA event,’ which stands for Italian Sons and Daughters of America.” This is the real thing. It just wasn’t made up. It’s like the early 90s, we walk in and I see all these people leaving.

“We pass through the veil, as you still do in the west. I see the ring and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. I’m thrilled and we were there in the front row. I had to pet the ‘Macho Man’. “Randy Savage is on the back. Mr. Perfect was on the card. Bret Hart was the champion. He actually worked with Mr. Hughes in the main event. Shawn Michaels was on the card. It was so cool.”

Although young Vic was instantly hooked on professional wrestling, it wasn’t his first job. He worked for the CBS Radio affiliate in Cleveland, where he covered the Browns. Joseph had an itch to scratch and wanted to do something he loved growing up with David. But he took a path that you don’t hear about on the ad side. He followed the path that wrestlers usually take.

MORE: No Longer Forgotten: Cora Jade Is Ready to Seal Her Place in WWE NXT at Halloween Havoc (Exclusive)

“I’ve been involved in affiliate baseball in Northwest Ohio for a few different teams,” Joseph explained. I said, “Here are my credentials. I just want to come and get the experience. Don’t pay me.”

“It was a snowball effect: you meet this person, you meet that person, jump in the car, go do it. I would jump in the car from Reno, drive to all these independents and sleep. You’re talking about someone who worked for CBS Sports Cleveland and I was sleeping in the car at the Pilot gas station on the highway just because we had to get to the next town on the independent channel. Then I met Tommy Dreamer and got into the House of Hardcore But every time I did something, it was to learn from Tommy, Rhyno, and those guys taught me what it takes to get to the WWE level.

After working on independent acts while filming, Joseph signed with WWE in 2017. At first he did everything. A jack of all trades, you might say.

“When I got here, I started working because I was already very passionate about it,” Joseph enthused. “Let me go do this. The first few years I was here I was a commentator for 205 Live, the Mix Match challenge for NXT. Not only did I do those shows, which meant flying to Europe four days a month, every month for two years for NXT UK, I also hosted live events for Raw, SmackDown and even NXT, so I wore all those different hats I loved do it because you learned about business.”

MORE: WWE’s 10 Highest Paid Wrestlers

The hard work paid off for Joseph as he was promoted to lead voice in September 2019 Raw. He did so for several months before stepping down in January 2020. Due to COVID, Jospeh was briefly sidelined before returning to become NXT’s lead announcer in August 2020.

Things couldn’t be better for father-of-two and husband Mackenzie Mitchell. He was in his dream job, working for one of his idols in Shawn Michaels and commentating alongside someone he grew close to in Booker T.

But tragedy struck in July 2023 when Joseph learned that David had brain and lung cancer. As Joseph said, “it just filled his whole body.” He knew David wasn’t going to be around much longer. Although he wanted to be sure that he would be there every step of the way for the person who raised him.

Joseph kept things under the radar and only told a select few in WWE. Some companies couldn’t care less other than to speak their minds and move on with their lives. That didn’t happen with WWE as they kept up with Joseph all the way.

MORE: 10 Longest WWE Championship Reigns

“They really moved church and state to make sure I was there,” Joseph said. “Honestly, it was Shawn (Michaels), Hunter (Paul Levesque), Michael Cole, Alicia Taylor and Johnny Russo. It was a small group of people who knew. I can’t tell you how many times Shawn Michaels has come up to me and said, “Are you sure you can go home?”

“I say, ‘I want to stay here.’ Hunter would say the same. Michael Cole lost his father but was still on Monday Night Raw. So Michael Cole actually walked in the shoes I walked in. did i always need them, that’s how i feel, how did you handle this situation? And if I had to go home on Saturday, I never missed a doctor’s appointment. They made sure I had a flight, no matter what I was supposed to be, because it was so important to Hunter, Sean, Nick Hahn and the company I was in when I was home (and) I was going to be with my dad.” .

David fought as long as he could. He died on October 10, 2023 at the age of 73. Despite the fact that the man who recruited him to fight had lost his battle with cancer, Vic knew only one thing.

“He died on Tuesday morning,” Joseph said. I was on the show when Cody was here, Undertaker, Cena and all of them. There was no way I was going to miss that show, that I was going to go home that day. The morning he died, my wife said, “Vic, you can call your sister.” I called her and told her what happened. And I looked at her (his wife) and I said, “I need you to text Sean and Cole and Alicia and tell them what happened.” Tell them I’m putting on a show. And tell them, don’t ask me not to do the show, because I’m going to do it.”

“I participated in the show. And when the show was over, Sean was there to congratulate me. I will never forget the big hug and how proud he was. And the next day Hunter called me. For those guys and Hunter specifically to take a time out of their day, take a time out and Cole, Coach (Matt) Bloom, when they found out that you have to take a time out of your day with everything that’s going on with a global company, to stop and say, “I need a check just goes to show you that some of the stories that you’re reading, I haven’t walked in those people’s shoes, but for me the family aspect of WWE meant so much to me in that time period.”

Vic looks back at David lovingly. He understood that David was his biggest fan. David made sure he watched everything not just because he loved WWE, but because he loved Vic, and that was their wrestling bond that could never be broken. Vic’s dream was to work for the WWE and David saw him achieve a goal that first started at the Richfield Coliseum screaming and cheering for his favorite WWE Superstars.

MORE: The 20 Greatest WWE Wrestlers of All Time

“He watched it every week,” admits Joseph. “He loved Drew McIntyre. He loved Omos. He was watching. Then he would tell you what he didn’t like and tell you what he didn’t get. He recorded Monday. He was taping NXT. He would fast forward the commercials and then call me and I wouldn’t answer the phone It turned into stuff with my younger siblings and then it turned into stuff with my son watching wrestling with my dad while he watched his dad.”

“Even when he was sick, he would sit back and turn on NXT. He was sitting in the hospital room watching the show.”

“He was watching those shows and saw me set up a match at WrestleMania and get the WrestleMania program. He was always proud of it. He kept my trading card in his wallet, which I always thought was really cool.”