Wrestling fans will be very familiar with the name Ben Veal.
Along with being the host of the successful Wrestling Life podcast, which features interviews with some major names from wrestling’s past and present, Veal played a major part in bringing Marc Mero’s story to life in the autobiography Badd To Good. However, away from the exciting and unpredictable world of pro wrestling, Veal is part of another podcast that once again talks to inspiring guests and the obstacles they have overcome.
In early 2026, Veal released his second book, Good Journeys, which ties into his podcast of the same name. Co-hosted by Veal and Sarah Moon, the podcast sees guests from all walks of life tell their story, including those from the wacky world that is pro wrestling.
“Yeah, so before I was a wrestling podcaster, I was a podcaster with a show called Good Journeys, which still exists to this day. But basically, it’s a show which is all about inspiring people and what they’ve learned along the way. So over the course of four years and five seasons now, that’s been actors, athletes, activists, business people, everyday heroes, people that I’ve just found really fascinating, that have given their time up to be on my show. And this book, Good Journeys, is kind of the summation of those careers, really. So it’s 25 different people over 24 chapters, because one of them is a brother and sister, and it’s all about the lessons they’ve learned. That includes, you know, dealing with success and finding contentment in life, battle and disappointment, dealing with grief, all the kind of matters of the human experience.
So this book is, yeah, kind of chronicling all of these incredible people that I’ve met along the way, and trying to make sense of what success looks like in life, and lessons we can learn from different people’s experiences.”
Along with the guests opening up about their own personal challenges throughout their professional and personal lives, Veal also gives readers a very honest look at his own battles, which have included bereavement and the challenges of raising children while balancing his work and passion projects.
“There are various points during last year when I didn’t think this book would actually see the light of day. I sat on it, it was very different to writing Marc’s book, which was actually quite a straightforward process. This one took so much out of me, because this is part memoir. Obviously, I’m not famous, no one’s going to buy my memoirs, but it is the closest I’ll ever come to having a memoir, because I am the kind of central narrator, and the thread between all of these different people. So there is an element of me needed to be woven into there. But also a lot of the guests that I interviewed, there’s a direct link to loss. Sir Terry Waites wrote the foreward, which still blows my mind. I met Terry and got to know him, interviewed him, and subsequently built a friendship with him because of losing my dad. And there’s other people in the book who similar it’s linked to that. Yes, the death of one of my closest friends is in there, and he’s the final chapter; there’s some heavy stuff. What I’ve tried to do is make the book also make sure there’s plenty of moments of levity and light in there, because I do want this book to inspire people, and I do want to say that even if you do lose someone, well, there are things you can take away from that loss.
“I don’t want to present it as a heavy book, because it’s been designed to be lightweight. It’s been designed to be like 10-minute chapters. It’s designed to be accessible and for people to dip in and out of. But, yeah, I mean, it confronts the dark elements of life, because we all go through them, and all of us will experience the loss of loved ones, and all of us will experience significant worries, and there’s no hiding that. All of us will worry about imposter syndrome, feel we’re not good enough, struggle with success. So yeah, it was hard. I don’t know so much about putting the stuff out there in the world, because the hardest bit was putting it on paper. Where it goes from here is out of my control. I don’t know whether two people will read this or 2,000. I don’t know. So it’s kind of out there now. Also, at the time we’re recording this, I’ve done 150 podcast episodes now across my two channels, I’ve shared a lot of myself in those podcasts. I’m quite an open book when it comes to this, that is my interviewing style. I do talk quite openly about things I’ve gone through. So talking about anxiety, talking about depression, infertility, talking about grief, these are all things that have cropped up at points with my guests. I just haven’t put them down into one one place before. And this is, I guess, probably the best quick view someone would ever have of me, I think probably in book form. But again, it’s not really about me. It’s about the people and all the stuff I’m doing on social media. My other podcast has ‘Wrestling Life’ in big letters ‘With Ben Veal’ in tiny letters. Because people aren’t tuning into Wrestling Life to hear me talk. They’re dialling into Wrestling Life because they like the guests, and we like the conversations.”
Playing a major part in Marc Mero’s autobiography, Veal has become very close with the former Intercontinental Champion since, and may know more about Mero’s career inside the squared circle than the man himself. When it came to bringing Mero’s life story to print, Ben Veal found the former WWE star so easy to work with:
“I genuinely couldn’t have asked for an easier or better writing partner than Marc. He was so attentive. He made himself so available at all kinds of random hours to fit the time difference. He was so quick to review content and to add his thoughts into it, to make sure his voice was right. He just gave me so much and he was never not available. I was hounding him with questions all the time and there was never once when he was like, ‘Can you be quiet?’ He wanted this book to be as good as it could be. And he put a lot of time in with me to to doing it properly. The bits that we bonded over most were talking about his life outside of wrestling, because it was fascinating, obviously, to hear his insight of the wrestling parts. But actually, the bit excited me were telling the story that people hadn’t been told before. For me, that’s still the heart of the book.”
During a recent interview on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast, Mero was asked if he thought that he was worthy of a Hall of Fame induction. Mero responded that for his WWE career alone he had not done enough, but noted that his stint in WCW as Johnny B. Badd was entertaining. When asking Veal about this, he feels that Mero is one who definitely deserves his moment in the spotlight.
“I kind of argue it. I think through getting to know him and doing a book, Marc’s so much more self-deprecating than he should be. I used to play this back to him a lot, but actually Johnny B. Badd, he was a genuinely big star, probably at times, the only other babyface that’s bigger than him was Sting at various points, in terms of like, he was a really big star. He was an attraction. He was relied upon with that TV Title for years as the workhorse title. He was very marketable, so marketable that Vince McMahon gave him a guaranteed contract in the WWF. I mean, he’s very self-critical about that time, but he made the most of the creative he was given. He’s memorable. We all remember Wild Man Marc Mero. We all remember Marvellous Marc Mero, he delivered two very memorable characters even though he wasn’t on board with the creative. Also, without Marc Mero, there is no Sable. Obviously talking about people who should be in a Hall of Fame. I mean, that’s got to happen eventually. They’ve got to get past the issues there and just accept that without Sable, a lot of this woman’s revolution wouldn’t have happened. I’ve said to Marc countless times, purely as a fan, I think he should be in a WWE Hall of Fame. But I also think the Hall of Fame should take into account more about the people and their wider impact, and what Marc has done with an Intercontinental title belt that he held for like, 28 days. How many 1000s of kids have held that belt up as a sign of resilience and self belief and self love? Not even knowing what the Intercontinental title is, not even knowing that he was in WWF. He’s taken the persona of being a wrestler, and he’s made it something far more important. I think we saw that for a few years with the Warrior Award in the Hall of Fame, that I think the Hall of Fame should do more in terms of recognising the actual people and the impact they’ve made in the world.”
“It’s About Influence In And Outside Of The Ring”: Ben Veal On The Wrestling Life Hall Of Fame
In addition to Veal’s interviews on Wrestling Life and his videos on some of the biggest pro wrestling news stories, the author and podcaster has started to recognise names from pro wrestling’s past with his own Hall of Fame. Although the WWE Hall of Fame is the one that fans pay the most attention to and generally gets the most buzz each year, many believe it is not without fault. Along with many notable omissions and the somewhat infamous legacy wing, which denies the legend a proper induction, some have taken issue with various inductees, such as celebrities and politicians. With many names overlooked despite their contributions, Veal wants to give those the recognition they deserve.
With Hall of Fames being subjective, the criteria for who gets inducted is down to those at the top, for better or worse. For Veal, the Wrestling Life Hall of Fame inductees are chosen by him solely. Giving some insight into his thought process, Veal is looking at contributions outside the squared circle along with what they have accomplished inside the ropes:
“It’s a tough one because it is largely independent, and it’s largely my criteria. It’s a gut feel, really, over 35 years as a fan and being involved in this industry in different regards. It’s about influence and where I feel people have made a positive impact in the business, both in and outside of a ring. Al Snow, Angelina Love, a couple of inductees this year, people who have done a great deal with training the next generation of talent as well. It’s about innovation. For example, Marc Mero. I think Marc Mero innovated a whole style of wrestling which has informed a huge part of what we see today. I think Buff Bagwell was an incredible character, and he was also a mainstay of WCW for 10 years, when very few people can say that fact. So it’s about that kind of legacy that you leave behind, I think, within wrestling, which doesn’t have to translate into how many championships you won or how many WrestleManias you headlined.”
It’s also about people who have been a bit overlooked. So part of the Wrestling Life Hall of Fame is unsung heroes. Some of them have already been in the WWE Hall of Fame. But the large majority of people in the Wrestling Life Hall of Fame haven’t been inducted elsewhere. So it’s kind of recognition of their contribution to the business, and I could see it extending over years to come to people more behind the scenes as well people who are involved in the wrestling business. I’d like to extend it beyond talent. Obviously, Mike Chioda was one of the first inductees. So because referees never get inducted into WWE Hall of Fame, for some reason, with the exception of Timmy White, no one’s been inducted into the Hall of Fame. So recognising Mike was the start, but actually, wrestling is much bigger.
I would love to induct Jim Johnston. If I could ever find a way of finding Jim Johnston, who is very, very hard to track down these days, but I would be beyond honored to induct him into the Wrestling Life Hall of Fame, because that man is just a genius and responsible for pretty much every song we loved in the 90s. I don’t think wrestling has been the same since he’s gone. Every single wrestler had such a distinct entrance theme and such a different entrance theme because of that man, the combination of him and Jimmy Hart. I’d like to see it grow over the years, to include wrestling historians, to include people behind the scenes, to include more announcers. Because wrestling is a family, and it’s not just the talent in the ring. I also suspect as the years go on, the criteria will evolve and refine with the Hall of Fame. This is the second year of it. This is something that started last year as an idea, and it’s gained a bit of traction. I think it will gain prestige each year. There were years, if you remember, when the WWE Hall of Fame just stopped, it was like 10 years where it didn’t happen, and then they brought it back. I think they brought it back in 2005 when Hogan was inducted. So there was a really long period of time where there was no Hall of Fame, which is hard to think of now, because it’s literally part of the WrestleMania experience. But yeah, for a long time, there wasn’t a WWE Hall of Fame.”
Beating WWE to the honour, Veal recently named legendary tag team Demolition as inductees into the Wrestling Life Hall of Fame. With Ax and Smash set to be honoured over WrestleMania 42 weekend, Veal also giving Demolition recognition, which many believe to have been overlooked by WWE:
“I was surprised it didn’t happen in 2025. I thought as soon as they got their legends deal that they would go in. I was genuinely stunned, and I was all for Natural Disasters, don’t get me wrong, but I was stunned that Demolition didn’t go in last year. I remember seeing them sitting in the Hall of Fame, watching the Natural Disasters being inducted. So I remember speaking to Barry [Darsow] a few days later about it, and being like, ‘How was it? That’s surely going to be you next year.’ He was like, ‘Maybe.’ How do you not induct Demolition? Sid’s going in this year. How was Sid not in the Hall of Fame 15 years ago?
Me, selfishly, it’s wonderful because I’ve actually got to know them now as people. It’s just really special, and I’m glad they’re both getting to actually experience it like with someone like Sid. It’s just so sad when these people are inducted posthumously.”
With 2 books already published, Veal is set to release 2 more titles soon as he will be collaborating with former wrestlers Marc Copani [Muhammad Hassan] and Doug Williams to help tell their life stories. When asked who would be the dream story to tell, Veal responded that it would have to be arguably the biggest star of the 21st century:
“John Cena, to be honest, because again, it’s the journey. What I love about John Cena story is the fan who becomes the face.. I think that’s at some point. It’s inevitable there will be John Cena book, because there has to be. Because, I mean, he’s the biggest star in wrestling, but for me, I am unbelievably grateful that I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.”
Good Journeys is available now and can be purchased here.
