Danhausen sees his merchandise on stands next to Roman Reigns and CM Punk at WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas. He knows exactly what that means.
The former AEW and ROH mainstay sat down with Peter Rosenberg on the Cheap Heat podcast over WrestleMania weekend. The 11-minute conversation doubled as a stock check on his first seven weeks in WWE. The verdict from Danhausen himself: the character is working, the merch is moving, and the AEW years were quieter than social media suggested.
On the commercial side, he let the math speak for itself.
"I've been told it is doing very well. I would also assume if they put out one t-shirt and it did bad, I would not have 35 things for sale on the website. I would not have my own merch section at the Superstore and at WrestleMania."
He then walked Rosenberg through what he saw on the Allegiant Stadium concourse.
"I saw the merchandise stands tonight. Roman Reigns, Cody, Punk, Danhausen, Corey, WrestleMania. Can you believe that? Can you believe it?"
That placement lines up with what reporting has indicated for weeks. WWE has filed trademarks on "Girlhausen," "Kid-hausen," "Kidhausen," and "Ghoulhausen," all of which point to a long-term SKU pipeline rather than a one-off novelty push.
The AEW Match Count
The quietest admission of the interview came when Rosenberg asked how many matches Danhausen had during his AEW run. The answer, delivered without any visible resentment, was three or four.
"So I didn't miss that much," Rosenberg said.
"No. I mean, I saw you lots, but I was..." Danhausen trailed off.
"No, you didn't."
"No, you definitely did not. Not as much as we would have liked."
Danhausen expanded on the gap between online perception and television reality.
"Dan would do vlogs backstage on his own, and do videos with his enemies and his friend houses. Maybe it seemed like I was doing more than I was. But I was not there. I was doing the independent scene. That's what I was doing."
He added that he was running three indie dates a weekend during that stretch, plus convention appearances at shows like New York Comic-Con. The AEW deal covered him on paper. The work was happening everywhere else.
Debut Reception And The Chicago Boos
Danhausen's WWE debut at Elimination Chamber on February 28 in Chicago drew a mixed reaction. He arrived from a coffin inside the long-teased mystery crate, handed Michael Cole a jar of glass teeth, and vanished when the lights cut. Some fans cheered, some booed, and he has a theory about why.
"There are only boos when the lights went out. They wanted more Danhausen. They wanted Dan Hen to eviscerate, decimate, annihilate an opponent, or perhaps say, 'Hello, Chicago. Danhausen has arrived in the WWE.' And then disappear. The reason there was a smattering of boos at the end was simply because the crowd wanted more."
Whatever the correct read, Triple H publicly endorsed the segment after the show, saying fans are "in for a fun time." Two days later on Raw in Indianapolis, the response flipped.
"Instant applause in Indianapolis," Danhausen said. "Gave away some t-shirts. Had a good time. The most Danhausen grand entrance I could have given."
Undefeated, With Help From Pyro
On the April 10 episode of SmackDown in San Jose, Danhausen picked up his first WWE win, beating Kit Wilson after a curse and a well-timed pyro blast knocked Wilson off the top rope. Danhausen claims the curse did the work. He disclaims everything after that.
"We're already undefeated in WWE. I defeated Kit Wilson. Do your research. I defeated him on SmackDown. They cursed him. The curse was just so I would win. Anything that happened after that is not me."
Asked how often he wants to wrestle going forward, Danhausen pitched a rhythm that sounds a lot like his indie schedule compressed for television.
"Maybe not every week. Maybe every three weeks. I used to wrestle three times a weekend. So I'll wrestle as much as they want me to. Maybe curse, curse, wrestle. Curse, curse, wrestle. That would be good."
Family At WrestleMania
Danhausen brought his family to Las Vegas for the weekend. His wife, Canadian burlesque performer Lou Lou La Duchesse de Rière, led the Ghoulhausens dance troupe at Elimination Chamber and choreographed the routine. His nine-month-old son was backstage at WrestleMania.
"He got in last night. It was every couple hours we were awake," Danhausen said, confirming that baby duty does not pause for pay-per-views.
He is also already planning the action figure shelf. He said he has been stockpiling He-Man toys in what he calls the "car hole" and is actively lobbying Mattel for a crossover figure.
"I have to curse the Mattel people to make a Dan and He-Man crossover so I can add it to his collection and give it to him in three years for Christmas."
Rosenberg asked if the curse had been delivered. "Oh yeah. I did it yesterday," Danhausen said. Mattel, he reports, asked for a few months.
When Rosenberg moved to wrap, Danhausen delivered the exit line that fit the whole afternoon.
"I have to go do famous things."
