Mark Kerr: The Real-life 'Smashing Machine' On The Rock's Performance, Wrestling Kurt Angle, UFC Hall Of Fame

Insight with Chris Van Vliet

Chris Van Vliet

Business, Sports, Mental Health, Wrestling, Health & Fitness, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Get tickets for Insight LIVE in San Diego & Las Vegas! https://cvvtix.com Mark Kerr (@markkerrtsm) is a retired MMA fighter and former amateur wrestler. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss his life story being told in the new biopic "The Smashing Machine", how the movie came to be and how The Rock became involved in the project, his thoughts on the movie, fighting in UFC, how he got the nickname The Smashing Machine, the differences between the fighter and the person, battling addiction, wrestling Kurt Angle prior to the 1996 Olympics, and more!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Chris Van Bleach.
0:07.0	Welcome back to another one here on Inside. I'm CBV. Chris Dan Fleet. Welcome back to another one here on InSight.
0:23.1	I'm CBV.
0:24.4	Chris Van Fleet.
0:25.4	Thank you for hitting play on this episode.
0:27.2	And thank you for helping to make Insight
0:29.5	the number one wrestling podcast on the planet.
0:33.6	Hit a roundhouse kick on that follow button on Spotify or Apple
0:37.2	or wherever you happen to be listening
0:39.3	right now. The new movie The Smasher Machine starring Dwayne the Rock Johnson opens in theaters
0:45.3	on October 3rd. And today in the studio, we've got the real life smashy machine Mark Kerr.
0:51.7	He's a UFC Hall of Famer. He's a two-time UFC tournament champion. And it's
0:56.8	amazing that as we start to dive into his life here, it turns out his first love was pro wrestling.
1:02.9	And that led him to becoming an amateur wrestler and to try to get on the Olympic team. And you
1:08.0	know who he wrestled in the Olympic qualifier? A guy by the name
1:12.9	of Kurt Engle. He has some great stories about Kurt, and we cover that during this interview.
1:18.8	But I've seen the smashing machine twice now. It is by far the Rock's best performance by a mile.
1:26.1	He completely disappears into this role.
1:28.6	And it's so clear that no one else could have played Mark Kerr so perfectly.
1:33.7	And it's pretty incredible hearing Mark talk about seeing The Rock act out his life in this film.
1:40.7	A lot of highs, a lot of lows as well.
1:43.5	And this is just a fascinating conversation
	...

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