Original subtitles

It makes a lot of sense.

It's for the troop.

There are

22 million veterans living in

America. And right now, a lot of them are struggling. They're battling post

-traumatic stress, or PTSD.

And sadly, almost 20 vets are taking their lives every day because of it. 20.

Clearly, we aren't serving our vets as well as they serve us.

So I'm heading down to Killeen, Texas, right outside of Fort Hood, to meet a

group of Iraq vets who suffer from PTSD.

They've found relief from their trauma through a unique form of therapy.

Professional wrestling.

So Jan has told me to meet him at the gym, gym ready. Apparently that means I

need gym clothes, so easy peasy. I'm an adult.

I called my costume designer and she got me some.

I gotta say, I have no idea what to expect.

I don't know anything about pro wrestling, except it's definitely fake.

Less fake than I thought it'd be.

Eddie, good to meet you. Sir, how much of these are moves that you guys

choreographed beforehand?

I mean, people say it's fake. Well, you can't fake.

falling off that onto the floor. You can't fake getting put onto thumbtacks.

can't fake getting your head busted open.

We're multidiscipline athletes.

We're doing this in a way where we tell a story where we're getting the good

versus evil thing across where people understand it. I love that.

I'm a storyteller. I do TV stuff.

Side question, how do you get arms like that?

Push -ups. I do all the push -ups. How many? We're talking 10 or 20?

I start counting when it starts to burn.

So 10?

Squat, come back up.

Squat, come back up.

There you go.

This is the stretching portion, but I'm already sweating.

I feel like I should come clean about some injuries I've had.

Okay. I broke my foot doing CrossFit.

Three months later, I was standing in a bar because I couldn't get a seat, and I

stood too long on my foot, and it cracked again. Oh, that's no foot

Just standing. I don't want you to treat me like a little baby, but I did break

my foot standing for two weeks. We're all equals. Fair enough. We're all

Thank you.

Jan, Eddie, and Bryson served a combined 15 years in Iraq.

Their crew goes by the name the Valhalla Club, and Jan founded it after meeting

Eddie and Bryson at a local wrestling match.

They talked about their years in the Army, their struggles with readjustment

PTSD, and how much wrestling had helped.

This is like second home to me. What is it about this?

I just escape reality.

I'm a little guy, but when I'm in here, I feel like I'm six foot, seven foot

tall.

Part of their therapy is escaping into the characters they play. So once we're

warmed up and I'd taken them through a little improv comedy exercise... Zip.

Zip.

Hmm?

It was time for them to get into character.

Literally.

Jan is the everyman, like a coal miner, a mechanic, or a voucher at a Berlin sex

club.

Eddie channels a juggalo with a Sephora rewards car.

And Bryson, 10 pounds of sexy in a 5 -pound bag, goes by the name Mr.

Studtacular.

For everything having to be bigger in Texas, you guys definitely picked the

smallest outfits I think I've ever seen.

You're welcome.

Mr. Studtacular.

Is that a family name?

No, that's just... It's all character. That's all gimmick. I wanted to be

something I know I'm not, instead of just the soldier that I was, diving from

rockets, crap like that.

You've almost had to rewrite your story, and in that, that becomes therapeutic.

Definitely. Yeah. We all have things that trigger us and stuff like that, but

still go out there and we try.

I don't have time to deal with all of the stuff that bothers me on a day -to

-day basis, the survivor's guilt, the anniversaries of my friends dying. The

whole transformation of the character is getting away from those demons.

The only other demon you have is yourself.

You're wrestling yourself up there. Yeah.

Happened to me once. My mom walked in on me in the bathroom when I was wrestling

myself.

Rule number one of wrestling yourself, lock the bathroom door.

We're going to start with break balls, okay?

Okay. Everything in pro wrestling is about how to fall. Most important thing

before any of this, though.

Exhale as you're falling. Yeah. Hit, otherwise you'll knock the wind out of

yourself. Okay.

It's so fast. I don't want to do it that fast. Is there a slow version? You can

take your time.

Control your body.

That was close.

That was close. You didn't exhale.

I'm not exhaling. That does not feel good.

One of the things with pro wrestlers is chops.

It's just open hand slap. It depends if you want to do, you know, backhand up or

forehand down. You just right down the opponent's chest.

Show them.

That does fucking hurt.

It does.

It's just a chop. I don't care what you call it. It hurt.

It's the thing where I call the police.

It's an assault.

Yeah, I thought this was all supposed to be fake.

So now we're going to a little something different.

You took a chop. So we'll let you hit Eddie with the kick. Yeah. You want me

do this? Yeah.

This is therapy for you. This is better than if the VA were to give you pills.

Yeah. That didn't kill my liver.

This is for the vets. Yeah. Even though I'm literally attacking a vet.

OK.

Who doesn't like to hurt people with sticks?

Me, specifically.

This is too dangerous, you guys.

How about a book club?

This is safer than war.

That is fair. I will give you that.

We're talking about PTSD and dealing with that with Valhalla Club.

Places like the VA, are they taking care of you guys?

They're so quick to put pills down your throat.

Medicine does work for some people. Some people, yeah.

There's some people that take medicine and they sit in their house and watch TV

all day.

Everybody's different.

This wouldn't work for a lot of people I know.

The biggest epidemic I've seen is it's taken way too long to get people in an

appointment. If it's a mental health thing, they need to be seen right away.

Medically speaking, there is no cure for PTSD.

And even though wrestling works for these vets, it isn't a recommended

for all vets.

But you can manage post -traumatic stress.

The VA provides vets with standard talk therapy and prescribes antidepressants

like Zoloft and Prozac.

And while those treatments do help some vets, the VA is still a government

agency. meaning red tape and D .C. infighting had left them understaffed

underfunded. A lot of vets end up waiting months to get an appointment,

be bogged down with bureaucratic paperwork once they're seen.

And vets won't hesitate to tell you how they feel about it. They tend to think

it's bullshit.

The remedies the V .A. offered and the process to get them just didn't work for

Jan, Eddie, or Bryson.

What about other veterans who come to watch your show?

What do they get out of watching your show? You get away from their lives and

their own struggles that they're tackling.

Isn't that what art is in its highest forms, an escape from reality?

Whether you're looking at a painting, whether you're watching a movie, whether

you're watching somebody perform, that's what it's about is that escape, isn't

it? I can't believe you said all that beautiful stuff with such stupid face

paint.

It's such a beautiful sentiment said with such a stupid face paint face.

I say that with love.

Practice is over. Now it's time to see the Valhalla Club in action.

And time for me to ice my foot.

Too much standing.

We're here in San Antonio.

I'm about to check out my first Valhalla wrestling match.

They're expecting about 100, 150 people.

They say many of which could be vets.

I'm excited to see the show. It makes me think back to some of the improv shows

I did to begin with. You do it because you want the stage time.

They do it because they're getting over PTSD.

Equally valid.

Gentlemen, what am I expecting tonight?

So tonight I'll be in a hill, see how many people I can offend, and see if I

get people to throw stuff at me.

The show is physically impressive, and at times it deals with serious subject

matter. Like when a character named Pizza Man throws pizza dough into his

opponent's face, which we all know really hurts.

Because pro wrestling is all about basic storytelling.

A good guy or the face versus a bad guy, a .k .a. the heel. Today, Eddie is

playing the heel. He gets the job done by humiliating veterans in front of the

crowd. And everyone boos. Where are all the veterans at? Air Force, sit down. We

don't count.

Now it's the good guy's turn to work the crowd. He does things like chant USA

and everyone cheers.

You're going to be surprised. The winner was the good guy chanting USA who's

going down on a veteran.

Welcome home, boys.

I've talked to veterans that come to the shows. They're like, man, I get

aggression by yelling at y 'all, by screaming at y 'all. I just get it out.

Wrestling's like a comfort zone.

Is wrestling your pill?

Oh, yeah. Wrestling, that's my medicine right there. The PTSD will go away as

long as I'm watching wrestling. Maybe one day I can get in there. Yeah. What

would be your character name? I don't know.

Handsome stranger or something like that. Handsome stranger.

Oh, there's a little bit of mystery there.

It's sexy, but there's a little bit of danger.

The desire for community also stems from Vets feeling isolated at home.

Jan experienced that firsthand when he came back from Iraq in 2006.

It took him several years to reconnect with his daughter, Aislinn.

Tragically, the same can't be said about his cooking skills.

Is this how you cook bacon in Texas? You kill it twice?

Who was on bacon duty?

She was.

What was it like coming home?

It was very difficult, and I was very standoffish and had anger issues

and stuff like that, and I was just overwhelmed, and I wasn't processing

as I should.

My dad, he just looked really out of it, and he seemed like, he just seemed kind

of spaced and everything, and he looked, like, devastated.

What don't civilians get about it?

the transition that vets have coming from overseas, coming back home.

There isn't, like, a single right answer.

I can try to tell somebody what it was like to have a car bomb go off not too

far from you. If you haven't been through a similar thing, it's really

fully grasp, like, why that changes somebody on a permanent level.

I have a few photographs. It took a lot when I was out there just because I

never wanted to forget.

This is, like, one of Saddam's palaces.

Wow. And that was kind of a surreal experience. And then this one, this is a

bomb. Some days you sit there and you're like, how am I still alive?

So I look at this often to look at myself and be like, okay, now I've got

take this Valhalla Clips to the next level. I've got to try to help somebody

else.

Wrestling is just one form of alternative therapy these guys are using

Eddie craves adrenaline. He's a seven -time jiu -jitsu world champ and

started doing stand -up because there's nothing like telling grisly war stories

to drunk tourists looking at their phones.

I'm a little bit nervous, but nervous and excited.

I'm used to getting up there in my underwears and beating the shit out of

somebody. It's a lot different than going up there and saying, hey, guys,

at me, I'm funny. The funny thing with stand -up is it's based on expectations

and converting those expectations.

He's a meathead who went off to war, right? Right. But I got to spend a

bit of time with you. You are a remarkably likable guy.

Like, the ability to see who you are and project that in a way that they can

digest, like, that's an exciting thing. I try to joke with them about me. Yeah.

Because I feel like if I can be self -deprecating, kidding that can get the

point across that i'm okay we got it we got it okay we're gonna wrap the thing

up all right eddie break a leg man thank you okay i know like right off the bat

half you're wondering like oh man we're gonna hear some second stupid army joke

when i tell an army joke it's usually about how i got blown up and shit myself

so that deployment was not as much fun for me as it was for some of the other

people so i appreciate it thank you guys very much for hearing me fail have a

good night eddie winner and everybody

So I'm coming down here to do a piece with you guys. Right. And we're a show.

We're on Comedy Central. Right. We have to find some humor in this. It is hard

trying to find humor in stories about PTSD.

How do you deal with something like that?

You put it in the fuck it box and you deal with it when you can.

That's it. For me, my PTSD came mostly from Survivor Guild.

All my friends died where I couldn't save them.

I was a combat medic, and my job was to save people and make sure that my

friends came home in one piece.

Your job isn't to save everybody.

Your job is to save the people you care about, right? Your job is to save the

people you can save.

Rationally, that makes sense.

However, PTSD is no respecter of rationality or whatever.

Think about all the bad shit that happened to you in your life as jumping

20 -foot pool when you can't swim, sinking all the way to the bottom and

standing there, counting to 25 and swimming back to the top.

Because why?

If you calm down and you relax, you will get back to the top and you will

continue on what you have to do.

Where are you in that pool?

Are you swimming up? I'm trying.

I'm trying.

Right now?

I'm wondering where the fucking other Jack and Coke is at.

Well, that's something we can pick.

Here's to brothers you and me.

Here's to brothers we'll never see.

Here's to brothers they'll never be. Here's to brothers.

Oh, this just gives you the warm fuzzies all the way down, doesn't it?

I like the Valhalla guys.

They aren't afraid to wear their emotions on their sleeves.

They're remarkably open about their everyday struggles.

Also, their anecdote game is strong.

Sniper tried to take your dick off. Yeah, kind of, yeah.

Yikes. In the ring, they fight each other. But in the battle against PTSD,

need to body slam the impediments that get in the way of them coping day to

They need the ultimate bad guy.

And I knew just where to find him.

Being in Texas for a few days has allowed me to pick up the subtleties of

professional wrestling.

They have beaten the shit out of him, and out of nowhere, he's up and over

behind me. Boom.

And this is therapy.

I decided to throw on my producer's hat and head to Marlin, Texas, to promote

Valhalla's show.

I knew in order to get butts in seats, we'd need a multi -platform synergistic

marketing scheme.

Free wrestling shows!

wrestling show tonight.

You'll love it. You'll love it. You'll love it. You'll love it.

Fine. Maybe some people aren't ready to hear it, but America needed to know

Valhalla Club's story.

Enter CBS News of Central Texas.

Joining us in the studio, Jordan Klepper. He's actually filming in

this weekend. You see a lot of people coming back from wars, and it feels like

their mental health issues aren't being taken care of. These guys were really

inspiring because they took it on to themselves to find a creative outlet.

So we're throwing a big, big old show.

Final question, are you ready to rumble? I'm ready to rumble. I'm pretty close

to being ready to rumble, yeah.

With the show only a few hours away, Bryson and I headed to the parking lot

a classic pre -wrestling show ritual.

What are we doing here?

We're going to build a table. Take the frame off this one, put this frame on

wood, and tonight someone's going to go through it.

What is it with you wrestlers and furniture?

Does Shay's Lounge take your girlfriend?

No, no, like I said, I'm married.

You suffered an injury.

Overseas, did you not? Almost.

We were doing missions in the city.

Somebody took a shot at us, aiming for, like, my femoral artery. So it's pretty

close to, you know, the spectacular family jewels.

Sniper tried to take your dick off. Yeah, kind of, yeah. Now I have two

Wait, I think you've connected two things that seem unrelated.

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I am looking to make it to the top of the wrestling scene. That's my main

But you don't want to be in a parking lot putting together a fake table five

years from now. Oh, no. Not even two weeks from now. I want to be at the next

level.

What about those vets out there?

You handle it.

Mic check. One, two.

Testing. One, two, three, four.

The energy here is a blast.

If you look over there, Eddie's trying to get the lighting just right.

Feels like a roided -up pageant, but I think the village to put on a roided -up

pageant.

You just get a sense that it's a call for community.

No matter who you are, community is important.

Welcome! Welcome!

Tonight, we make history together in Moreland, Texas!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Valhalla Club!

This clearly was the Valhalla Club's night.

They flew off the ropes and into the hearts of the crowd, lifting up the

of children and veterans alike. It was...

Part one.

But then, crisis struck.

Hold on a second!

Ladies and gentlemen, we're supposed to be receiving a gentleman from

Washington, D .C.

Yeah, Washington, D .C.

Meet Valhalla Club's arch nemesis. You love me. You love me.

The man who loves long wait lines, bad doctors, and not helping vet.

It's Mr.

Red Tape.

That's right. That's Mr.

Red Tape.

You vets. You have paperwork to do.

I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this paperwork and shove

down your throat. Okay, no, you're not going to do that. No, no. You know what?

I think you need a seat.

We'll get back to you in six to eight months. Am I right?

But I know what you really want.

He needs pills.

Take some pills.

If you don't like this... You can quit. I served six

years and did ten months in Iraq. I don't quit. Oh, you know what? Thank you

your service.

Thank you.

The bad guy has been vanquished.

Side note, I'm almost positive I'm dead.

In Norse mythology, the road to Valhalla goes through a plywood table,

a route I'm now intimately familiar with.

I thought for a minute I was going to have to fade you. Did you really? I

have done this.

And what if, like, four of them came in?

I would have been in.

All right, so that's the number. All right.

As I watch the Valhalla Club and the rest of the vets leave the show, it's

lost on me that the battles they fight don't end in the ring.

PTSD has no discrimination against who it affects.

If you're a veteran, go out there and find a positive outlet.

If you're not a veteran and you know somebody who is, go grab their hand, put

your arm around them, let them know you care about them. Just be positive.

Maybe that's how you talk to vets. You just talk to them.

And while the VA clearly has issues, they do provide good medical care for a

of vets, including a 24 -hour PTSD crisis hotline. And for anyone dealing

mental health issues, you can always call 1 -800 -273 -TALK.

And if you happen to know a great podiatrist, DM me.

I've seen the heat up in the sky.

And I've washed it all up and said goodbye.

And I call it trouble.

Trouble in my hands.