Danhausen Discusses Pro Wrestling's "Character Based Wrestling" Boom, His Jar Of Teeth

Donovan Danhausen, now simply known as Danhausen, is a new type of wrestling character that is a stark contrast from what fans are used to. He talked about his character and others when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.

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"Now I'm getting put in the category of 'Styled Wrestling.' I'm surprised more people don't publicly hate me yet but I'm getting grouped with people like Joey Ryan and Orange Cassidy and I love it. It's just fun," said Danhausen.

"It's definitely unorthodox and weird-style wrestling or 'bendy' wrestling. Maybe character-based wrestling. Then you've got Warhorse who transcends that. He's got his own style but it's mixed with character-based. There are a bunch of different guys and girls who are doing it."

When Danhausen first arrived on the wrestling scene, he was a traditional character and nothing like he is today. He discussed why he felt a need to make a change.

"I wanted to have fun while wrestling. I wasn't having too much fun. There would be bright spots here and there but for the most part it was boring. If wrestling is boring and you're not making any money and getting hurt, that's not fun for anybody," stated Danhausen.

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"So I decided to switch that which I think anybody would. This is more authentically me than that was. Before I was a tough guy wrestler that would beat everybody up, but that's not me."

He added that his merch is selling better than before because he's proud of the character he's now portraying and fans gravitate towards that."

"People can be a part of it as well and be like, 'Hey, this guy seems to be enjoying these things and I wanna join in with that,'" said Danhausen.

He hasn't shied away from his love of oddities like the jar of teeth he carries with him. Danhausen talked more about the abnormal parts of his character.

"The teeth and the Pee-Wee dance were very organic and I didn't plan on using them consistently. But they stuck so now that's what it is," stated Danhausen. "I'm always looking for new, weird things to see if they stick. The teeth came from me posting a photo and it just worked. The Pee-Wee dance was meant to be a one-time use. I had a bar wrestling match against PB Smooth who is 6'7" and I didn't know what to do. So I was like, 'How about I use the bar and I'll do the Pee-Wee dance and he can beat me up?' That just stuck from there and it got a lot of views."

When asked where he got the teeth from, Danhausen was hesitant to reveal the exact location.

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"They're human teeth but it's secret. I can reveal it to you after. One of my favorite things when going from town to town is trying to find an oddity shop and Cleveland so far has had the best one," Danhausen said before noting that there are a lot of oddity shops he visits that are just filled with garbage but Cleveland's stands out from those.

Danhausen will have his own GCW special in April and he'll follow in the footsteps of numerous others like Joey Janela's Spring Break and Josh Barnett's Bloodsport. He talked any pressure in following those previous successful GCW shows.

"I feel the pressure of wanting to put on a good show. Obviously Josh Barnett's show is totally different than any other show. We wanna have a different vibe like Joey Janela's was a party. Ours is gonna be a weirdo party, I guess. I kinda want to have some sort of a concert vibe to it in a way and a weird horror movie theme. It's gonna be a wild mess that's fun," said Danhausen.

Danhausen and Warhorse present WrestleVania on Saturday April 4th at 11:59 pm as part of GCW's The Collective. Tickets and more information can be found at WarHausen.com. His full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of Wednesday's episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. During the interview, Danhausen also discusses being a "character based" wrestler, his jar of teeth, his recent ROH debut, interest in joining Villain Enterprises, plans for WrestleVania and more.

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You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.

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