83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - 83 Weeks #260: Rick Steiner

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

On this edition of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff & Conrad Thompson talk about Rick Steiner. Special thanks to this week's sponsors! Mindbloom- Go to Mindbloom.com/83WEEKS, promo code 83WEEKS for $100 off your first six-session program today   Rocket Money- Get rid of useless subscriptions with Rocket Money now. Go to ROCKETMONEY.COM/83WEEKS. Seriously, it could save you HUNDREDS per year. Cancel your unnecessary subscriptions right now at ROCKETMONEY.COM/83WEEKS Henson Shaving- It’s time to say no to subscriptions and yes to a razor that’ll last you a lifetime. Visit HENSONSHAVING.com/83WEEKS to pick the razor for you and use code 83WEEKS and you’ll get two years' worth of blades free with your razor–just make sure to add them to your cart. SleepME- Head over to sleep. me/83WEEKS to learn more and save 25% off the purchase of any new Dock Pro, OOLER or Cube Sleep System. EmpireAAA- Sign up now and receive free onboarding, your first 14 days for free, and 24/7 support. Get ahead of the game and save 20% on your subscription by using the code 'wrestlebiz' at checkout. Launch your business plan faster and with less effort than ever before. Visit www.empiraa.com/eric today and start your journey to success! FOLLOW ALL OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA at https://83weekslinks.com/ Stop throwing your money on rent! Get into a house with NO MONEY DOWN and roughly the same monthly payment at SaveWithConrad.com Get early, ad-free access to more than a dozen of your favorite wrestling podcasts, starting at just $9 over on AdFreeShows.com. That's less than 15 cents an episode each month! You can also listen to them directly through Apple Podcasts or your other regular podcast apps! AdFreeShows.com also has thousands of hours worth of bonus content including popular series like Title Chase, Eric Fires Back, Conversations with Conrad, Mike Chioda's Mailbag and many more! Plus, live, interactive virtual chats with your favorite podcasts hosts and wrestling legends. All that and much more! Sign up today at AdFreeShows.com! If your business targets 25-54-year-old men, there's no better place to advertise than right here with us on 83 Weeks. You've heard us do ads for some of the same companies for years...why? Because it works! And with our super-targeted audience, there's very little waste. Go to AdvertiseWithEric.com now and find out more about advertising with 83 Weeks. Get all of your 83 Weeks merchandise at https://boxofgimmicks.com/collections/83-weeks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson, and you're listening to 83 weeks. Of course, we couldn't do it without the Hall of Famer, the creator of Nitro, the founder of the NWO, ladies and gentlemen. Eric Pischoff, Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? Blessed as always, brother, things are going great. Couldn't be happier, looking forward to the weekend, having the neighbors over. I don't usually do that kind of thing. In fact, this is the first time in 24 years that we've lived up here on this ridge that I've actually driven over to a neighbor's house here in Aaron.

So they come on over for hors d'oeuvres and a couple cocktails. So I'm having a little neighborhood get together here tomorrow evening for the first time in 24 years. Awesome. What, okay. How long have your neighbors been there? Have they been there as long as you? Nope. We've been up here the longest.

I guess my question is, why? now why are you why are you now they didn't just move in that's what i was getting to right no no well one of them two of them within the last year but i think um i don't know i just feel like i should you know in the area that we live in every once in every once in a while you know we get a really heavy blizzard or something and you know everybody's got to kind of come together to help each other out and dig each other out and you know got a couple elderly you know people that live down the road and we'll run into the store for them and pick up groceries and things like that so it's just nice to get everybody together when it's not you know some kind of disaster okay I get it I understand

what you're doing now you're laying the groundwork because it won't be long and you will be one of those elderly and you want these people to remember I was nice to you remember come help me out of a stitch. No, that's not going to work. That's not going to work. No, I just feel like I should. You know, I live in this little bubble and the only people I talk to are the people that I talk to in ad-free shows or or when we do a podcast or something. So, you know, I don't, I don't go, we don't go into town and hang out. We don't socialize much. So I think it's just nice. Otherwise, I'm going to turn into one of those hermits. So is that like the best and the worst thing about living where you

live there's nobody around that's the best thing and the word it is absolutely the best thing and there's no worst about it okay it's i wouldn't have it any other way it's funny because there's so many places man that i go and i'm you know like we go down to florida now that's a little different because it's our kids and our grandson but you know you kind of go wow you know i can just drive down to the publics and seven minutes and yeah all this stuff you know because there's a lot of things that aren't available here you got to kind of learn to do without um but after being there for four or five days i start getting a little claustrophobic and by the end of a week i'm going that shit so i need to live where i live well i'm excited that you do i mean it was so cool

to see it on the uh the n wo documentary they did on a and e i mean you it looks like you stepped right off of a postcard i mean it's unbelievable the most picturesque surroundings and i'm sure it was the type of place that Rick Steiner would enjoy. He's our subject today, and we're going to spend a little bit of time celebrating him, and we're doing it because our man's going to be celebrating a birthday this week. March 9th, he was born in 1961 in Bay City, Michigan. So this is going to be his 62nd birthday. He quickly gravitates towards freestyle wrestling in middle and high school and eventually earned some notoriety for his talents at the University of Michigan, I think we all know about.

Of course, his real name is Robert Rex Steiner. He's going to finish in the runner-up spot of the 1983 Big Ten Championships, qualifies for the NCAA tournament, and sets the fastest pin record in Wolverine history on November 19, 1983, pinning his opponent in just 14 seconds, and that record would hang around for 21 years

before it was broken in 2004. And to date, he holds the record for the second most falls in a single season 16 were recorded during the 83-84 season. And listen, I know that a lot of us fans listening to this show, we just always kind of thought, well, Scott Steiner's the bigger, more badass of the duo. But if you talk to people inside the wrestling business, they say, well, Rick Steiner might be more of a badass.

And boy, he has the collegiate accolades to show it. Does he know it? He does. And it's so interesting. and I'm sure we'll do a lot of this, or at least some of it as we proceed in this podcast. But the difference in personalities between Scott and Rick. And the reason, you know, everybody, you know, is rightfully so, by the way,

Scott Steiner is a legitimate badass, was in the business. And certainly had the amateur wrestling background to help support that. But people always, you know, when you talk about who's one of the baddest asses in a, you know, WCWCW locker room. You know, Scott Steiner's going to be at the top of that list pretty consistently. People sleep on Rick, because Rick was so quiet. He was, he was so amiable, he was just fun, you know, very rarely, I mean, even when Rick was upset, you couldn't really tell he was upset because he just, he handled things differently.

He was always just laughing and joking around and you always got that sense that he was just happy to be in the locker room. right and easy to deal with and then Scott was a complete contrast right Scott was volatile it's got to go off the handle you know you you tip Scott over in one direction a little too far and it's like boom and he was in Tim Scott was intimidating but Rick was the real badass and every once in a while if if both Scott and Rick were involved in a situation and Scott would start tipping over a little too far Rick handled it. Didn't have to do much or say much. He was the only guy that could really settle Scott down in a situation where Scott was getting a little volatile. Two different personalities.

By the way, before we go too far, shout out to Coach Rosie. Good luck tomorrow. The team coach, big game for you tomorrow afternoon. Genovia Smack, thank you for all you do here over at 83 weeks and for your help. and I hope Kaya had a great birthday. I sang Kaya happy birthday on social media. Keith Morrison is here, Travis Midway's here, Josh Eddy.

Thank you all for being here. Appreciate it. Absolutely. In case you're lost in the sauce here, we have a live studio audience whenever we do our shows. We've been promoting since the very beginning of ad-free shows.com that you get our shows early and ad-free. Well, it doesn't get any earlier than being part of a live taping,

being able to interact with us. It all happens over at ad-freeshows.com. And right now you can do the first week on us, do a free trial and enjoy more than a dozen of your favorite wrestling podcast for just $9 a month at ad-free shows.com. So let's talk about it. Rick Steiner makes his professional debut under the name Rick Steiner. I don't think a lot of our listeners maybe have put that together over the years, but their shoot last name, if you will. Their real legal birth name is Rex Diner. so why not just split it up and call it Rick Steiner that happens in 83 he's trained by your

old pal Brad Rangans and Eddie Sharkey and over the next five years he's going to wrestle everywhere the Montreal based international wrestling the AWA the UWF even new Japan and then he settles in with Jim Crockett promotions in 1988 and my research indicates that he was actually at the AWA about a year before you came in does that sound right timeline was yeah I've read that you know, previously, but I had, I had no, uh, I didn't see Rick at all. He must have been in and out pretty, pretty quickly. We know he had, uh, some fun times, uh, over with Bill Watts as well. And a lot of us saw some of those tapes from that era. But 1988 in Jim Crockett promotions is probably when he gets his biggest quote unquote national push. Of course,

he's on TBS. He's going to be, uh, become a bad guy, a heel member of the varsity club, alongside Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan. And he's, is going to go on to turn baby face and feud with rotunda over the n w a television title and during this time is when rick has given the nickname the dog face gremlin for his scrappy wrestling style and well used to use a bulldog off the top rope uh what'd you think of the the dog face gremlin nickname i kind of like it i mean it's you know all due respect to rick but fits him you know He wore that gimmick like a glove, man. I mean, he liked that with dog chain and all that.

He was a dog. He did, he's kind of like a pit bull. He was a human pit bull. Fit him perfectly. Scott Steiner joins him in Jim Crockett promotions in 1989. And it's not long before they're made into a tag team. And they become one of the most popular tag teams in the country and in the world. What's your memory?

your first memory of Rick or the Steiner brothers in general when you first joined WCW in 1991 I think it was Halloween Havoc and Chattanooga I'm sorry this was the chamber of wars yeah yes yes that bizarre pay-per-view it's crazy but I'm in Chattanooga I'm excited I'm still brand new to the company Like, I barely could remember anybody's names Because I was flying in and out You know, I was only there for a day or two, do TV, go home So it wasn't like I bonded with anybody

Still new So I go to Chattanooga, big pay-per-view That particular, I don't remember the name of the venue But it was part of the campus up there Or the University University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, UTC Yep, that was the venue And the dressing room was the wrestling workout room.

It's like a big room, huge ceilings, wrestling mats, floor to floor, everywhere. And we're in there, I'm in there dressing, and I hear a commotion. Now, I'm way off in the corner because I'm me, not a social animal. So I'm way back in the corner by myself. and I hear this hooting and holler and I look up and the Steiner brothers have a referee and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the referee but he'd been around for a minute

and he must have been screwing around with the Steiner's and thinking he was one of the boys or whatever but he stepped over the line I guess and as I'm sitting in the corner taking things out of my bag getting ready to throw on my ridiculous This tuxedo or whatever I was wearing on that show. I look over into this hoot and holler and I see them, Scott,

basically got his knee in somebody's back and he's duct-tapping this poor referee's feet together. Oh, no. Then they duct tape his mouth so he can't scream. His hands are duct tape. And one of the Steiner's, and I don't remember which one, takes the guy's pants off and sticks a pencil up his ass. Oh, my. And I'm thinking, no, no messing around with me.

I'm not going to get in on a rib. I'm not going to pretend I'm friends with anybody. I'm not stepping over any line that's going to result in me getting duct taped up like a mummy and having a pencil shoved up my ass by these two monsters. So that was my first, honestly, that was my first, really, it's the first time I noticed the Siner brothers. I don't have been here for a short period. I mean, I noticed them on TV and things, but there's no interaction, right?

I'm thinking, oh, my God, what did I get myself into? Now, at this point, Eric, you know, we've touched on this before, but we should remind everybody, you had had a lot of occupations, you had tried a lot of things. You had been a model, you'd been a bouncer, you'd been a meat salesman, you've been an entrepreneur, sold throwing stars you sold advertising i mean you would you would sort of run the gamut in your professional career just trying to find what was next for you right worked at a hospital i'm just yeah i used to joke i used to joke when i was younger i said i'm going to try to um get a job that starts with every letter of the alphabet which would have meant that i would have had to go

you know work at a zoo or something for a week or two just to technically you know get the z but yeah I've done a lot of stuff grateful for that too now as you were doing all these different occupations and trying your hand at all these different jobs is this the first time you saw pencil shoved up someone's ass at work yeah definitely it never happened in fact I've never seen anything close to that I was in shock I really was in shock I was like oh my god I careful around here listen this is clearly a different era a different time I think these days lawsuits will be all over the place. In those days, was this just, well, don't do whatever you did again.

I mean, what happens? What's the fallout from something like that? My goodness, the visual. I think that was a version of, you know, being, God, I don't even want to say this because it's such a bad thing. But, you know, you got to keep people in their lane. and whoever the referee was stepped out of his lane thought he was somebody he wasn't and paid the price for it

but that's kind of like keeping control of the locker room in a way right you're just kind of setting boundaries so this is old school policing the locker room shoving yeah i think i think i know it worked on me i thought i'm never going to i'm never going to take liberties messing around telling a joke about a wrestler or stepping out of my lane i'm just going to hold that microphone and you know keep to my business i listen over on tony shivani's podcast he had said that he recalled a similar event but with sharpies and i think scott's time i heard maybe it was a sharpie maybe it was well that was the next question was it a mechanical pencil or was it one

you had to go to the front of the classroom and sharpen i mean did they go a racer first i got a lot of questions about this but damn conrad i was like all the way across the room and the last thing i wanted was detail i just one of those things where you kind of want to look away but you know you can't it is oh but no i couldn't you know it could have been a sharpie it could have been a pencil but if it was a pencil whether or not was a mechanical or not are you thinking kidding me you think i'm looking at close i'm just trying to be funny i mean here's a deal i know that night people paid their hard earned dollars not many of them but they did to watch the chamber of horrors and we saw a man get quote unquote electrocuted well given the option to

between being fake electrocuted or having a lead pencil shoved up my ass give me the fake electrocution that was the real chamber of horrors and it was happening in the backstage area and this all this story just came out in the first few minutes of the program when I just said what was your you remember the first time you met the Steiner's what did you think of them and you're like oh yeah well we don't go down and shove things up as that's wow quite the first impression it worked brother it worked on me okay dokey um did you ever fall victim to any steiner ribs over the years let's just get that out of the way now absolutely not and maybe it was because of this incident because i was

exposed to the ramifications of being an idiot and getting involved in the rib culture um if if it wasn't something that i would have been inclined to do anyway it's just not my personality but had it been so or if i thought maybe i'll just kind of see how much fun this stuff really is. If there was any thought, consciously or otherwise, of me pulling a rib on anybody, that moment just completely evaporated that from my consciousness. It was never going to happen. And because I never got involved in it, you know, like I never cheered it on. I never sold it when it was somebody else on the receiving end of it. I never made it look like I thought that was fun, even though deep down inside it was kind of getting a kick out of it, I never showed

it. And by detaching myself from any of those shenanigans, as chady as they may have been, by disengaging from it and not reacting one way or the other, certainly not ribbing anybody. I was, I was, I was fortunate. I was never on the receiving end of anybody's rip. Well, let us never forget in wrestling, everybody wants to know who's got the pencil. And we know who had it in 81 or 91. And as JR often reminds us the most powerful tool in wrestling. the eraser uh rick is in the main event of uh the first pay for view that you're part of but it was actually before halloween having great american bash nineteen ninety one he's going to be taken on arn anderson and polly dangerously in the steel cage match that missy hyatt was supposed

to be a part of but isn't allowed to be this is of course the infamous paper review right after rick flair was fired and lex luger and very windham are going to face off in the main event for the now vacant wccd w c w world title which isn't actually the wcw title belt it's something dusty had in his garage it's uh quite a start for you in wc w here is it not one of the worst pay-per-views of all time and here's eric you know what's really weird conrad and and looking back now it's like wow what a what a mess everything was but to to appreciate my perspective then where i came from this was like big time. I didn't know, I didn't look at any of the warts or the pimples or the hang nails or the

bruises. I didn't look at any of that. I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm, from the moment I got dressed to the moment we went out and the lights went on, I was really impressed. I was impressed with it all. And I didn't even, I was so impressed with it and so new to it that I didn't see the flaws. I saw things that I went, wow i can't believe i'm watching that like you know the the electric chair match whatever that was called um i mean that was like pretty over the top for me but i thought well that's the big if this is what it takes to be the big time then damn i'm glad i'm a part of it it wasn't until long afterwards i look back at it go ooh that was a stinker again it was the timing it was a situation just seeing the production and and how big it is and how they make it all happen for the first

time i'm sure that was enough to have you in awe and let's not forget that's the day they had a scaffold match where p and news just laid down and steve austin called it the worst match of his career that i got to tell you conrad not to interrupt you i'm sorry but that that that scaffold match that was bizarre to me i mean i was really concerned for the people involved i mean i love good tv and i love when something happens that you don't expect to happen on live tv but man that was just a little too far from me i remember just a little too far from me i remember just being in awe. I know we're here to talk about, you know, Rick, but I would just, I was in awe and not in a good way. It was like, oh, my God, someone's going to die and it's

going to be on TV. It was crazy. And you couldn't do much up there. So it wasn't that much fun to watch. In this era, Rick's on a bit of a singles run because Scott was injured. And Rick even gets a win over Lex Lugar here in Huntsville, the Vaughn Brons Center when Lugar was champion. And Rick would lose to Lex of the clash of the champions from Savannah. it's his biggest WCW title match at the time you know we know that Rick is going to go on to be one of the most decorated tag team wrestlers of all time but it's his brother Scott who enjoys singles runs as the world champ do you think there's an alternate universe where Rick could have been the top guy he could have been the world champ could have sure

I'm not really sure that that was something that Rick was really all that interested in I never and I got to be pretty good friends with Rick well I'm sure we'll talk about this. Rick and I did some amazing stuff together way outside the ring, way outside the United States. And as long as I've known Rick and as close as we got, I never asked Rick if he ever had aspirations to be the guy. My impression was not. My impression was that he was happy to be able to make enough money to provide for his family to the level he did, which he was very successful financially very very successful for a long period of time not just he didn't have a short career it'll in a very long career and he made great money during that period of time and i think

he it's just a gut man just an instinct but i think he was just happy where he was at i don't think he had that drive for need he had the drive you don't get to where rick steiner got as an amateur especially in amateur wrestling that is in collegiate. So it's a grueling sport. I think it's one of the toughest sports in the world. And to reach the level that Rick did

certainly drive was not something that he was lacking. But I don't think it necessarily was, you know, being the guy in WCW. I don't know. I'm sure he would have been happy and he would have performed well. I don't think he was driven to it.

Well, we know that eventually Scott returns and the Steiner's go back to kicking ass in the tag team division they were my favorite tag team as a kid just absolutely loved them I loved uh all their tag team moves certainly I loved that they would often wear you know their belts backwards are upside down and this match boots and a lot of that was Rick Steiner I like the head gear I like to run around and barking I like the top rope bulldog I love the Frankensteiner and man did Scott Seiner have one of the most epic mullets of all time. What do you think separated the Steiner's from everyone else in the tag team world in the early 90s? I think it was their amateur wrestling background. And look,

a lot of guys had wrestled in high school and college, maybe not a lot, but it wasn't unusual. But again, it's like, you know, you could be a really, really good amateur wrestler, even at the collegiate level, but to reach the level that both Rick and Scott did or Kurt Angle, obviously, Brock Lesnar. When you get into that, that level, you are a very special human being and you have very unique abilities. And I think you have a level of confidence that kind of is so unique in a world where you need a lot of confidence because of the nature of what it is, what wrestling, professional wrestling is. And I think it was their confidence. and themselves and their abilities that really made them so much different than

everybody else about a year later it's December of 92 the Steiner's are on their way out of the WWF and our good friend Jim Ross talked about the Steiner's departure over on grilling JR and after Rick got injured the idea was floated to have Scott turn heel for a feud between the brothers upon Rick's return and J.R. said I remember the cowboy having issues communicating with Scott Steiner he perceived Scott as being very volatile and dangerous Bill told Rick that I'm not going to sign your brother back and that made their decision easy for me to say to leave WCW for WWE that much easier Rick was the foreman of the ranch but his little brother not renewing or

getting cut from the team however you want to look at it did not sit well with big brother have you heard that before but Bill Watts wasn't going to resign Scott Steiner and that's the reason they left no I didn't hear that but I understand why Bill Watts thought Scott Seiner was volatile and dangerous because Bill was a bully and Scott was somebody you didn't bully. Scott did not give a damn. He could care less. Obviously. You've seen that kind of manifest in other situations in WCW. But for, yeah, I bet you Bill thought he was very volatile and dangerous because he was as far as Bill Watts is concerned. I think Scott wanted to rip him apart and easily could have.

Well, I'll tell you this. Sounds like my man Scott back then could he use some mind bloom. You know, there's no quick fix for anxiety and depression. It's not finding a new therapist. It's not starting an exercise routine, not more or regular meditation or a better diet. Sometimes you need to unlock your brain, a new way of thinking about and seeing the world and maybe that thing is guided ketamine therapy from mind bloom there's a new tool to improve your mental health at home ketamine therapy mind bloom is the leader in at home

ketamine therapy having safely helped thousands of people overcome their anxiety and depression and unlike traditional talk therapy ketamine works quickly and doesn't have the unpleasant side effects and traditional antidepressants in a study of over 1200 mind bloom clients 89% reported improvements in their anxiety and depression after only two sessions. And Eric, I know you've done a lot of research on this and you've checked it out. You've tried it. What was your experience like with mind blooming? What say you?

My experience was excellent. And I'm always careful about this one because I don't want anybody to do anything because I did it. It didn't work for me because we're all different. We all have different situations. We all have different baggage, things that we're dealing with. There's no one-size-fits-all, which is exactly why I'm excited to support, mind-bloom, because I think people need to search alternatives before they jump on any one potential pharmaceutical solution. I'm not a big fan of the pharmaceutical industry, between the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry.

They spend more than $11 million or 11 times more than a National Institute of Health coming out with all this ridiculous research that encourages people to use more pharmaceuticals or to eat worse food or eat food that's even less healthy for you. On a side note, this has nothing to do with mind bloom, but to give you an example of why I don't trust the pharmaceutical industry or the food industry is that there is a new food pyramid out. It's called the Tufts, Tough, T-U-F-T-S food compass, where fruit loops and cocoa puffs are a higher nutritional option than a steak. And the government is being subject, much like the pharmaceutical industry. Oh, by the way, there's a new drug out called the Zimpic, which they're trying to push on people that is a drug that has a horrible side of effects potentially. And you have to be on it for life. And because of my, the lack of trust I have

in the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry, I always encourage people, if you're having issues, don't run to the doctor and just jump on whatever prescription they're willing to give you. There are alternatives. And do your research when it comes to dealing with issues like depression and anxiety, don't just go run to the doctor and get a fistful of whatever they're willing to prescribe to you because there are better solutions. And I think mind bloom is an opportunity for people who are considering perhaps finding a solution to help with some of these issues. Please do yourself a favor. Do your own research. Don't listen to me. Here's what I want you to listen to me when it comes to. I want you to listen to me when it comes to

me encouraging you to do your research and certainly look at mind bloom because it is a solid alternative it's a good alternative right now mind bloom is offering our listeners a hundred dollars off your first six session program when you sign up at mindbloom.com slash 83 weeks and use the promo code 83 weeks take the first step and break free from your anxiety and depression with mind bloom that's mindbloom.com slash 83 weeks and use the promo code 83 weeks So, Eric, we've talked about your interest in Japan that linked here on the show, but the majority of the conversation was about the 1995 talent exchange and after. What was your role in organizing this joint show with New Japan in May of 94? I think that was my first attempt to try to resurrect the relationship between New Japan and WCW.

you. Thankfully, I had Brad Riggins who trained Rick Steiner, but Brad was a long-time friend. I've known since high school. Brad was also the U.S. liaison between New Japan and the wrestlers from the United States that Japanese would bring over. New Japan would bring over. And because Brad Riggins had such a great relationship, and the office in New Japan trusted as they, well, they should have, he earned their trust. because they trusted Brad so much. Brad was largely responsible for me being able to salvage that relationship, especially in the very beginning when, you know, the people in New Japan, they didn't know me. I had no idea.

I was just another one of the knuckleheads coming through the turnstile to run this dysfunctional thing called WCW. And no history or track record. I had interviewed Masa Saido when I was in the AWA. Um, that was it. I doubt to remember that. But Brad was very, very instrumental in it. Sunny certainly helped a lot when it came to translation and things.

Um, and that was, that was my first opportunity to kind of bridge that gap. Uh, well, we know that, uh, the Steiner's are going to be working with new Japan. Uh, and they're going to do a co-produced new Japan and WCW show. Uh, the one in April of 95 was collision in Korea. where they're going to get a win over Hiroshi Hisei and Kansuki Sasaki, an unbelievable pairing. Anytime you see those four, it's going to be crazy. And that actually goes on right before the main event of Antonio Inoki and Rick Flair. And you said in our Collision in Korea episode that you largely defaulted to New Japan for the booking.

But I imagine that, well, the Steiner's were kind of going to do whatever they wanted to do. Am I wrong in saying that? I don't think so. Things were a little different in New Japan, and I think the relationship and the mutual respect between the Steiner's individually and as a team and New Japan was significant, and it was much different than it was in the United States with WCW, or WWE, for that matter.

No, I doubt that there were any issues. Keep in mind, whenever I worked with New Japan, for the most part, I had control over the booking here in the United States. There may have been an exception or two during that period of time, where if I was bringing in, I'm going to give you just an example. It's not a real example, but an example. If Muta, for example, was in a story or being built in order to be in a very, very important match in New Japan, two or three months, after I was using him in U.S. If there was a consideration as to how it may lose or not, I would talk to Brad about that.

Brad would work with New Japan in terms of fine-tuning, whatever we needed to do here in the States. So there were occasions like that, but they were very rare, and for the most part, when the Japanese came from New Japan came to the U.S., WCW laid out the booking and there were no there was no real issues with New Japan there was none of it we went into our relationship with a very clear and thorough understanding and we communicated very well during the course of that relationship so that those issues never really became a problem ever became topics of discussion yes but never a problem right and and part of it was and that I think the Steiner's felt that same way when they went went to Japan, they trusted New Japan to do what New Japan had to do. And there was never that feeling like Bill Watts. You know, you're never going to be punished. You're never getting worked. You

never, you know, there was never any messages being said. It was pretty straightforward. And I think when the Steiner's went to New Japan, they, I doubt they had any issues with their creative. I could be wrong. I've never heard of mention it. And my impression has always been strong that they never did have any of those kind of creative who's going to beat who issues. but the finish is going to be issues. Does you know they broke a guy's leg? No. Yeah.

I mean, it's some bad ass. Did he deserve it? Well, I don't know that anybody deserves their leg broken or a pencil. I disagree with that, but go ahead. Okay.

Well, let's, listen, we got a great look at that whole Korea show, uh, with the whole dark side of the ring and even, um, a sports illustrated article where Rick Steiner was quoted.

about the whole hawk and two cold scorpio fight he says quote we had to be on our best behavior don't do this don't do that we were always on guard that's why i couldn't believe it when those guys got in the fight like what the heck i kept waiting for some guys to come out of the ditch and shoot them on that bus on our collision in korea episode you said that you weren't on the bus but man this uh this had to be a circumstance i had everybody nervous this this fight and Everybody's sort of on eggshells anyway already, right? You know, everybody was definitely outside of their comfort zone. But I, you know, and again, maybe it's one of those things where I don't remember the good stuff and I kind of forget about the bad stuff.

But I don't remember, you know, people, I mean, other than Scott Norton, Scott was, you know, Scott was a basket case. But everybody else was kind of pretty much going with the flow. And I'm glad I wasn't on that bus. I might have lost it. just out of fear for what could happen in a situation like that because if people weren't on their toes they should have been and some of the guys weren't some of the guys just didn't really comprehend the unique and somewhat dangerous situation we were in some did you know rick flare certainly did i i certainly did i'm sure ricksteiner did but some of the guys their emotions

you know came first and they just forgot where they were they thought they were back in athens Georgia or Louisville or you know Mancato Minnesota you know it's like no dude things are different here you know you're in a different world altogether and I think some people appreciated it and some didn't let's uh let's talk about uh Rick sort of being known as the the level headed guy was he able to to just do that with Scott or was he able to aid in other talent relationships as well. I never saw Rick Sanner put his nose in anybody else's business, one way or the other. He stayed Switzerland as far as I could tell. And again, I wasn't, no, I didn't dress in a locker room. I didn't travel with the guys. I wasn't exposed to him as much as I would have been had I been a wrestling talent.

But my strong impression, having been around Rick Senter as long as I was around him and knowing him is this, you know, He didn't get involved in other people's stuff. Hey guys, it's the hardcore legend Mick Foley here, and I need to tell a quick time. A brief time out. Because I wanted to tell your listener what I have been telling about all the cool things happen about all the cool things happen over on ad-free shows.com.

An all-new edition of The Insiders is here as Conrad sits down with former W.W.E. Executive John Philipelli. who discusses his transition from the world of sports to pro wrestling and his ultimate transition out of the company. Every take was getting worse than the one before. I said, you've got to stop. You've got to stop this. You've got to calm down.

Stop. Calm down. Stop yelling at people. Take it easy. Tell them exactly what you want. We'll get through it. Which is, I have done a hundred times since that I would do 100 times more. Yes.

But that was Vince McMahon, and you don't do that to Vince McMahon, particularly in front or around. Other people, yeah. That was my mistake. If you want to call it a mistake, although I would do it, I've done it since, and I would do it again. Referee, Nick Patrick, is answering your questions every other Monday on our new mailbag series. We're Holland Nashville's there. You know, this was great work, but they were cool.

And a lot of people liked it, you know. They're still in merch, you know. And hoping had heat. He had actually the more heat than them. You know, they had heat, but a lot of people liked it. they were cool. I was right the only real character that they was calling into the other time that everybody hated. You know what? Yeah. Everybody wanted to see me get it. It worked. You know, they know. Yeah. And so it worked, you know.

Tony and Conrad have taken their shenanigans in front of a live studio audience as they sat down live with ad-free shows members. Hey, um, did you ever, uh, pet Jake Snake? No, never did. I had a chance to in Chicago, but it was way too big and out of my league. What's the right-sized snake for you? One that just coils up and leaves me alone. Yeah. Have you ever orange to Cassidy

before? Orange to Casti? Yeah. Would that be with one of those juicers, the juice machine, or just squeeze it until all the juice comes out of it? I don't know. Or his leg? You've got to be specific here with your dumb-ass question, here Cassio.

example, right now, right now, right now, at two days. And we go. Let's, um, let's touch on the whole wrestling in Japan angle. Rick would say, Sports Illustrated, wrestling in Japan is not high energy and people hollering and screaming in Japan you did a few moves and they clapped over in Korea shoot they didn't do anything they didn't clap they didn't do nothing I've never been through anything like that so it was a totally new experience all around they also talked about how wrestling sort of leads to a life that's maybe a blur because of the pace the things about those trips is you experience all that stuff and then you go home and you don't see the guys for two or three weeks it all sinks in and you get back and go oh yeah remember that trip and blah blah blah you're back on the road back in the united states everybody's having fun everything's back to normal was that kind of the

way you remember it it was surreal but then you decompress and then it's like business as usual it's just in the rear view mirror let's go i never looked at the experience in korea that way i've always, in fact, you know, last night when I knew we were going to be talking about this, and I thought, I anticipated the subject coming up. So I thought about that trip. And it's still to this day, I think if someone had asked me, if someone were to ask me, what is the most unique and exciting experience you've ever had? It would be that trip to North Korea. I mean, was it as much fun as some of the other stuff I've done? Absolutely not. You know, was it as much much fun as pulling my mask off, you know, and revealing myself, you know, with Stephanie

and all that. I mean, that was really fun. Working with Stone Cold Steve Austin in a pay-per-view, that was, you know, an experience I'll never forget. And one I'm very, very grateful for. But in terms of the most interesting and exciting thing I've ever done, I think it would have to be that trip. And I think about it often, how unique that was.

I mean, just think about it. I think about just this kid from Detroit that love growing up watching wrestling, that never aspired to be in the wrestling business, that just through a series of coincidences and some personal interest, I end up being offered jobs in professional wrestling. Right. And then become the president of company. And all that is exciting.

But to think that this kid from Detroit, when 1964 sat in a living room, and listen to the Cassius Clay Sunny Liston fight on the radio. And you fast forward through all of that. And here I am sitting on a plane next to Muhammad Ali. It was a childhood hero and still is a hero to me. Sitting next to Muhammad Ali, of all people, going to Pyongyang, North Korea, a place where very few Americans since the Korean War have ever stepped foot in.

I just that's fascinating to me how life can come together and how one thing always leads to another thing that you sometimes don't expect sometimes you do and you're working towards it but sometimes shit just pops up in your life and you have these amazing experiences that no one else you talk to anywhere is really ever going to be able to relate to in this case a small group of guys from WCW can to some degree but man what an experience I never took it for granted. I never thought, oh, it's just another one. It was a fun road trip. Not for me, brother. You know, running through the streets of Pyongyang, Rick Flair and I, you know, because after that incident, knowing that I, we just couldn't go out and run,

Rick Flair and I running the steps in the hotel we were in. That was magic, man. That was just magic. Crazy stuff, man. And it's important just to add context to this. When you're doing all that over there in Korea with the Steiner's, they don't even work for you. They're actually not with WCW. They're just working with New Japan, and they finally come back full-time to WCW in March of 1996 on an episode of Nitro losing to the road warriors. At the time, the newsletters would say, The Nasty Boy's non-appearance has advertised on the live Nitro event opened the door for the return of Rick and Scott Steiner, who faced the road warriors and even put them over.

The Steiner's deal to come in a worker program against the road warriors was put together in midweek and no, doubt for a high dollar figure as well it was explained on television that the nasty boys were taken to the hospital and it was left up in the air whether it was the road warriors or stiners who had done it to them which appeared to be a situation of burying them if need be or creating a program with one or two of the teams in the future if they're brought back bischoff didn't bury them on air so let's talk about this you know the steiner brothers in my opinion had their heyday in the early 90s. That's what I was,

maybe my peak fandom for them. But they come back here when you're maybe six months into Nitro. You're always looking for something big to compete with Monday Night Raw. And even if it's been a while since they were on WWF TV, no one can deny.

The Steiner's are big stars, even before they went to the WWF. But I'm curious about the whole nasty boys hokey pokey deal here where they're supposed to be here and they're not. Do you remember what the impasse here was about with the,

the nasty boys and did you deal with one talent more than the other like did you primarily talk to knobs or sags or what was that like i would say almost always knobs nobs was kind of like the de facto sports spokesperson for the team um which is really weird because jerry was easier for me to talk to jerry was kind of level headed you know jerry jerry's jr's of the nasty boys is a unique cat in that you know in the ring around the wrestling, you know, environment, you know, knobs is every ounce of a nasty boy, right? But if you get him away from that environment

and you talk to him, he could be your financial advisor. Wow. He could be, you know, somebody, he could be a general contractor that you're, you know, discussing, building a home. I mean, he's a very level-headed, very intelligent and not that emotional type of guy. And Brian was the opposite. Brian was always the emotional one,

and he was always kind of half wound up. And for whatever reason, by default, it was always Brian. As for what happened and why they weren't part of this event? I'm not sure. I certainly wouldn't take, you know, Meltzer's word for it. But I don't know what really happened. It could have been a travel issue, or there could have been another more significant issue.

It just it wouldn't have been that significant that it stands out of it. my mind. Do you remember how you got together with the signers? Were you calling them? Were they calling you? How does this still come together? I had developed, and I don't even know how or why, but I guess, you know, common interests,

you know, maybe because Brad and I were tight and because of that relationship, I just kind of developed a different relationship with Rick even before they left. So when Rick called me, it was like not a conversation. I was like, where do you want to meet? Let's talk this through and get it done. There was no debate. There was no, I didn't even have a conversation with myself. I think I do remember he called me, Rick called me on a, it was a Saturday morning,

and I remember that because I was hanging out with Garrett and probably watching Dukes of Hazard or some ridiculous stuff on TV. Garrett was really into the Dukes of Hazard back then. And I remember Rick called me and it was like immediate. Like, sure, dude, I think we met at a waffle house. or something like that. Maybe one of those breakfast places in the South. What was the other cracker barrel?

Oh, yeah. It would have been a cracker barrel, but I think it was a Waffle House. And we talked for about 20 minutes and Monday morning, got to work, but they deal together. It was easy. Well,

I'm glad they're back because, I mean, they're, in my opinion, one A or 1B, greatest WCW tag teams. I mean, I guess technically the Harlem Heat have them on.

tag title runs but man you want to talk about innovators i just i just love the steiner brothers i was pumped they were back can we can we can we talk about them just a minute yeah i don't want to gloss over the frankinsteiner yes that was such a visually dynamic incredible move especially for a guy as big as scott stiner this is like a you you wouldn't be surprised to see a 140-pounder pulling off something like that. No. Or even somebody, you know, anybody under 200 pounds, it's really super athletic. That wouldn't surprise you.

You'd be impressed by it. You'd be excited as a result of seeing it. It would help engage you in the match. But you wouldn't be, oh, my God, did you see that? But when you see a guy as big as Scott Steiner be able to execute the Frankensteiner, for the most part, flawlessly, I think almost every time, nobody else was getting anywhere near that kind of presentation. That was really, I think people shouldn't sleep on that.

And people that love the super high athleticism that we see today so often, need to go back and look at a 200, a legit, solid, dense, 250-pounder pulling off things like that. That was amazing to me. I mean, I think he deserves credit for. for inventing the move and i know that you know we've seen it become super popular and probably executed better down in mexico and they call it a hurricane rana or as rickflare calls it a have a corona i love that have a corona is really what he calls it it it's great anyway that's the first time i saw it was uh was scott steiner and for that matter if you go

back you can see him i think down in memphis certainly a territory show but it may have been in the memphis territory he did a move that he called the one and a half or maybe the announcer called a one and a half superfly it's the first ever shooting star press and this isn't a little guy doing this this isn't ray mysterio or psychosis or a light heavyweight i mean this is to your point a jacked heavyweight bodybuilder pulling all this stuff off and i'm just fascinated by the idea that even in 96 we bring them back here and they're sort of heritage wcw n wa performers but so are the road warriors and that's who they're going to be wrestling but we bring them back and in their quote unquote return

to WCW, not really a debut because they've been here before, but they lose to the road warriors? Was that just based on, hey, we think there's more merch opportunities with the road warriors. They're hard to do business with. We should placate them. Let's see the attitude the Steiner's have,

or they're willing to do business. It can lead to a larger story. I think a lot of people would assume, hey, the Steiner's are back and they're going to destroy somebody and then we'll build towards this. Instead, nasties are out and has a surprise. It's Steiner's versus Road Warriors.

It feels like in that era, that could have been a main event that you built towards. Yeah, and as you're speaking, I'm trying to think why. And my only thought is there may have been a New Japan reason for that. Because both the Steiner's and the Steiner's were very important. It's also something that people that I haven't talked about before. Steiner's were very there were a couple teams that were very important in New Japan for a couple talents um at the top of that list was the Steiner brothers right leaving or not right below them was a nasty boys don't ask me why I couldn't explain that to you

because the road warriors were over there too right and the road warriors were definitely over there um so I would guess I don't think I booked that I don't think I was involved in that decision other than being made aware of it or approving it to whatever extent I needed to. But I think that was probably something that New Japan had something to do with because of where they were going with the road warriors and where they were going with the Steiner brothers. And that was another thing that made it easy for me to bring the Steiner's back, even at more money, is because my deal with Japan allowed me to offset a lot of that. And some people don't realize, you know, the value of that relationship. And it was more than just a financial opportunity. But when you, you know, while I'm managing my WCW talent budget, which is other than,

talent budget had to be the single biggest item on that thing. One of the ways that I could, that allowed me to spend more money on talent and increase my talent budget was the fact that I could offset it. substantially, especially some of the higher-end guys, by booking them in Japan. And because both Road Warriors and Steiner Brothers, and as I said, Nasty Boys were examples of some teams that New Japan had a lot of value in, I probably would have deferred to New Japan on that finish. And I'm sure the Steinem Brothers didn't have an issue.

I would guess they didn't have an issue with it. I want to mention that even though we sort of think about the Road Warriors and the brothers as being more synonymous with new japan a cage match over at cagematch.net shows the steiner brothers had 70 some odd matches over in new japan but the freaking nasty said 51 that's pretty crazy when you think about it i don't masa masasaito who is kind of the head booker for u.s talent guy gene as they're referred to which is kind of a derogatory term by the way but since not too punitive people know that, I'll throw it out there. But, yeah, the Geigen that were booked from the United States,

were all booked through Brad Riggins and Masa Saido. And they were so close and they were so tight. And Masa loved the nasty boys. He just loved them. He loved being around him. You know, he got frustrated with him like I did. And like a lot of people that worked with him do it because oftentimes, especially Brian, would take things too far in the name of a good rib or fun,

kind of not know where to try. draw the line and sometimes that was a problem but for the most part they were lighthearted fun guys to be around and masadug it was probably one of the reasons they got books so often in japan uh the report is careful to to point out here that you don't bury the nasties so and we know of course um they're going to stick around and maybe have some tumultuous months but the steiner brothers coming back here just to remind everybody this is march of 96 and just two months before the wrestling world changes and along the way the signers are going to feud with the road warriors, the nasty boys and public enemy and then unsuccessfully challenged

Sting and Lex Lugar for the tag team titles on a June 3rd episode of Nitro and a few weeks later on the 24th Harlem Heat beat Sting in Lugar and the Steiner's in a triangle match for the tag straps and that sets up a feud through the summer of 96 where Harlem Heat and the Steiner's trade the title the titles back and forth July of course that year is when Hulk Hogan is revealed as the third man and boy everything changes but Rick Steiner I mean at this time he and his brother are definitely one of the the foremost representatives of the WCW side of this angle right absolutely absolutely they were such a you know they were like the hood ornament on WCW

they had been around for so long in such a no it was just an important part of our roster for a long time from the beginning. There's a fun photo a fun photo from your book controversy creates cash and it's a photo I believe from 1996. It's a group of folks including Sting and Miss Elizabeth and Dallas Page and Scott Steiner and Medusa and Rick Steiner and Ray Trailer and they're all standing outside of a convenience store with their backs to the camera pretending to stick their thumbs up their ass. Hold on. Hold on. Keep it. There you go. You've got it right. I've got that picture in the next room. I was going to hold it up to the camera, but yeah.

And you called it the, this was known as the Thumbs Up Our Ass Tour. What do you remember about this photo? Okay. So this is our first trip to Sturgis. And we're riding. We had our motorcycle ship from Atlanta up to Minneapolis and to the Mall of America.

And from the Mall of America, we're in Minneapolis. We're going to drive whatever it was 800 miles to, Sturgis and we had a big caravan you know I don't know how many bikes we had probably 15 or 20 guys riding bikes because it wasn't just the wrestlers that rode there were some some other people that rode along with us we had a motor home in case somebody broke down and we had to stop on the side of the road for a while we had a trailer a truck and a trailer in case somebody broke down and we had to haul it I mean it was a it was a caravan and I think

it was, oh, I'm so bad with names. I am so bad with names. I'll think of it. He was the Ellis Edwards. Ellis was kind of our road captain, right? And of course, none of us, you know, none of us on that trip had ever taken that long of a ride, especially as a part of a group. It's a different kind of a feeling, you know, it's, yeah, you got to stay organized, but it's so much fun. It is the, it is, it is, it's hard to explain unless you've done it. It's, it's especially if you're with a bunch of friends. And at some point, we'd stop every 150 miles because a motorcycle could only,

even the biggest tank on a motorcycle, you're lucky to get 100, 125 miles, right, out of a tank of gas. So we'd stop every 100 miles or so everybody could fill up. And you'd get up because it was hot. And you're out there on a highway. It's like 85, 90 degrees out. And the heat's coming off the pavement.

And that engine between your legs is just throwing heat. So, you know, you need to pull off and get, something to drink every now and in and whatever so we'd pull off we'd hang out sometimes we'd stop at a roadside saloon and have one or two and continue and at some point about halfway through the trip as we're getting closer to sturgis it may have been no it's further than that we're almost done with the trip somebody in that group of of brain surgeons decided to go oh we'll find our own way there and i think ellis gave somebody directions and Ellis may have giving them the wrong directions or some, I don't know what the cause of it was, but that group

that you just saw decided to peel off from the group and go explore on their own. And they got lost. And they couldn't find their way back. He had no idea where they were and decided to take a picture of themselves with their thumbs up their asses because they decided to go off on the road. Fun story. But I do. I have the picture. It's one of the next room. Well, I'll tell you this if you feel like you have your thumb up your ass when it comes to saving money let me recommend rocket money are you wasting money on subscriptions you know 80% of people have subscriptions they forget about and i was one of those folks maybe for you it's an unused amazon prime account or a hulu that never gets streamed true story my wife and i both signed up for hulu at the start of the

pandemic we just discovered it like 18 months ago thanks to rocket money there's this great app that we started using to track all of our expenses and because of it we no longer waste money on subscriptions we don't use formerly known as true bill now it's called rocket money and did you know how much subscriptions really cost you see most americans think they're spending like 80 bucks a month it's actually closer to two hundred dollars or more that was the case for me i'm saving cash and you should be too this app is so easy it shows you all of your subscriptions in one place and then it cancels for you whatever you don't still want rocket money can even find subscriptions you didn't know you were paying for you may even find out you've been double

charged for a subscription to cancel a subscription all you got to do is press cancel and bam rocket money takes care of the rest so get rid of useless subscriptions with rocket money now go to rocket money.com slash 83 weeks seriously y'all they could save you hundreds per year did me that's rocket money.com slash 83 weeks, cancel your unnecessary subscriptions right now at rocket money.com slash 83 weeks. So listen, Eric, there's a period between August and 96 and January of 97 where Rick is going to wrestle at either singles matches or with rotating tag team partners in both WCW and New Japan. He's going to pick up singles victories against guys like

Booker T, Lex Lugar, Chris Benoit, Bunkhouse Buck, the Barbarian, and even aren't Anderson. But his roster of tag team partners includes an interesting cast. Terry Taylor, Kajumuto, Lugar, and even Marcus Bagwell. And of course, this is when Scott is suffering from an injury. But I'm curious in this era, why wasn't their thought given to, hey, maybe let's try him with a singles push? I mean, he's getting wins, but it doesn't feel like it's really going anywhere because we're still sprinkling in tag matches. Did he like the idea of being a tag guy? Or was it just maybe we just didn't have an idea for him? I think it was both.

I think in my case, I just never creatively, I never thought of Rick as a singles guy. And part of that was just because maybe, I don't know, maybe lack of imagination on my part, we'll put that at the top of the list. But once we checked that one off, I think it was just because there was such, they were almost like an institution.

Right. And I never got, the impression that that was something Rick wanted to do. We never had a conversation that suggested that that was something Rick wanted to do. It's kind of what I said when I go back to the beginning of the show. Rick was very content to perform at a high level in the environment that he had been performing in. And I don't think he ever said anything or I ever got an indication that he wanted to do anything else. And for whatever reason, I didn't either feel the need or didn't have the imagination to think outside of the tag team box when it came to Rick.

We know that Scott's going to come back and join WCW and the tag team here. Clash of the Champions 34. It's January 21st, 1997. The Steiner's pick up a win over the amazing French Canadians and four days later beat the outsiders to win the WCW tag straps of the very first sold out. And the next item, Nitro, of course, you stripped the Steiner's of the tag titles and return them to the outsiders and of course this is a pretty legendary piece of business that we've just recently seen even on A&D but it feels like man we're just picking up where we left off

we're immediately back into a great story and near the top of the card as a tag team and that's when the now infamous car accident angle happens on Nitro we see six as camcorder recording I guess what we would call a road rage incident he's in the backseat of a car that's being driven by Kevin Nash, Scott Hall's riding shotgun, and he's encouraging Kevin Nash from the passenger seat to run the Steiner brothers off a highway. And it's a Steiner's car flipping over in a horrible crash. And, um, it's a fantastic shot. And we actually had our, our pal Neil Pruitt over on ad free shows.com talking about it.

It was a fantastic piece of business. Sean Waltman even, uh, commented to the news. york post just last month i just showed up to work that day and they said we were running the steiner brothers off the road and the article went on to name ellis edwards as the stuntman who was driving the steiner's car how does this idea come to be and what was the fallout because i imagine this was not well received by everyone um it came to be largely because of Ellis, you know, Ellison, Ellis came in on fire, you know, and Ellis, Ellis was just a dynamic little ball of fire. I mean, he was, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs,

but he was always like redlining. His energy level was so high, and he was full of ideas. and this was a point in time when we're looking for, you know, creatively, I think our creative media sounded like something, something like, okay, give me something I never expect to see in wrestling. Give me something big. Give me a moment. Give me something controversial. I mean, that was the tone.

That's what we were looking for. And when you have conversations with a guy like Ellis Edwards and all of his focus was on, you know, stunts and car stuff and motorcycle stuff, you know, he did a lot of it. You've worked for two decades, I think, in WWE doing a lot of the backstage craziness that you saw with cars and trucks and things blowing up. But Ellis was so passionate about all that stuff. And I think it probably came up in a conversation with Alice like, hey, boss, I've got an idea. What if we do this?

And then you get Kevin Sullivan and everybody involved and Neil Pruitt figured, okay, I love that idea. How do we actually do that? Right. And Ellis would have driven that conversation when it came to the actual stunt. Kevin Sullivan would have been the guy in charge of, okay, creatively, how do we do this? How does it tie into the show? How do we present it? That would have been Kevin Sullivan.

That was a phenomenal piece of business. And in terms of the fallout, because it was such a phenomenal piece of business, meaning it was so well done, it didn't look like a wrestling stunt. No. I mean, listen, if you were a videographer, if you were in the television, business if you were an editor you'd go oh okay got it but if you're like 99.999% of the people watching it home it looks legit you're going what the hell and because it was so real and so well done i got a fair amount very rarely at that time in 96 when i get a call from anybody about anything that i did on the show just never happened however however

Yeah, you're right. I got a phone call on that one. It was too much. It went over the line. And it went over the line because it was too believable. It's so funny. Wrestling is such a weird thing in our culture, right? It's so many of the things that you see in a movie or in a television show that are really important, you know, whether it's a car chase or something blown, whatever it is, you can get away with so much more in a,

scripted entertainment environment, television and movies, then you can in wrestling, even though wrestling, everybody knows, is scripted entertainment. It's really no different. But for whatever reason, even to this day, there are things that you can get away with in scripted television and prime time that you can't get near on a wrestling show. And this was an example of that same kind of dynamic back in 1996 what did the what did the signers what did rick specifically think of this creative we're going to do what now you're going to run us off the road i mean i know they know they're not actually flipping over in the car i get that but was this too far out for them or are they digging it was this fun i didn't i didn't i never got that impression

keep in mind this is 1996 this is like stuff's off the chain yes we're exploding And there wasn't too many people in that environment at that particular time that are going to throw a flag on the things that we were doing because the things that we were doing were all working. So I never, now, I wasn't there. I wasn't on the scene, the day of the shoot. I wasn't there. I wasn't on location.

So there may have been conversations that I'm not aware of, but in the conversations that I did have with everybody involved, never got any pushback. Were you pleased when you saw the footage? Oh, I was damn right. That was awesome. I was excited again when I saw it on A&E. It was so well done.

The newsletters at the time would say there were so many complaints about the Steiner's car crash angle that it won't air on television again and they were barely even acknowledging it on television this past weekend after making it, making a big deal of it the week before. Is this maybe the first instance of Turner saying, uh, uh, and wagging the finger a little bit? I mean, we know you're going to get more of that later in 98, but, in early 97 is this is this the first time probably yeah probably there may have been i may have

had conversations with harvey schiller about one or two other little things but uh this was the first one that came with any significant um threat attached not a threat that's a threat that's the but it was a serious conversation it wasn't a hey eric how about in the future maybe you don't do this you don't do that it was we are never going to do a stunt like that again and if one comes up that you want to do we're going to have a conversation about it before you shoot it well okay boss so eric we were we were talking about i guess we got to clean all this up uh we're talking about the car wreck and alice edwards yeah so uh how did you first meet alice what are some of your favorite or some of the things he did i think the last thing i said was that he helped him like

repel down sting repel down and shit like that all of the above you know ellis let's go back to how i first met ellis i think ellis was a stunt coordinator on thunder and paradise okay hulk hoggins show that's where i think Ellis entered the picture and he worked very closely with hulk on that i think i could be wrong about this right uh because it was a minute ago but i'm pretty sure alice was along you remember that infamous uh uh jet ski action accident where Hogan got, okay, right before some people. Yeah. And Brutus damn near died.

Brutus had a severe head injury as a result of a wreck. And I think it was Ellis Edwards who drugged Brutus out of the water. And in some respects, may have saved his life. Wow. I think in the way the story was told to me, if I remember correctly, and again, it was a while ago, but it was like Ellis saw what happened he was on his jet ski kind of blew over there and pretty much snatched Brutus out with one hand and I think at that point Hulk Kilgan had all the confidence in the world in Ellis Edwards when it came to stunts

in that type of situation so I think it was through Hulk that I met Ellis and it was shortly afterwards, you know, meeting Ellis and talking about all the kind of crazy backstage things we could do, um, then I went, damn, we need this guy on this team. Because there was nobody that could, nobody that could orchestrate anything like that. Nobody had that experience. And yes, Ellis was the guy who came up with the, the rigging and the design and the process by which sting would repel down from the ceiling and do it safely. That was all Ellis Edwards. And just and the car wreck, you know, the Steiner's and just about anything else you saw that involved two wheels or any kind of a mechanical stunt, that was Ellis Edward. He did a great job, and he went on to work with WWE for a long, I think I just saw him like two years ago.

I was at a W.W.E. event a year ago, this past December. And I went down to have breakfast the morning before the show, and there's Ellis Edwards sitting in the restaurant. So I think he's maybe not spent a year and a half since he's. he's left wwee but he had a long great career and i'll tell you what conrad okay let's pretend we're off air nobody knows this okay i think a little scene yeah yeah so i know you're into collectible stuff sure i know you know a lot of people who are into collectible stuff i'm just guessing when i say this alice has the coolest collection of all in a warehouse maybe multiple warehouses because i all that crazy stuff that was built and wrecked how many limousines that Vince McMahon was in that ended up getting wrecked by Stone Cold Steve Austin. What do you think all that stuff is?

Alice Kepit. Huh. Just a guess. Just a guess. Well, hypothetically, might need his number. This angle winds up saying the Steiner's are off the pay-per-view because of the car. rec so now the four corners match that was scheduled for the pay-per-view is now a triangle match the faces of fear public enemy and harlem heat man what could have been like the steiner bro that angle should have been much bigger we know the steiners are going to continue to feud with the nw o throughout 97 and then there's kind of a shocking deal that happens even though maybe it wasn't that big of a deal uh the n w has ted de v i see defect and they're going to debut him as their new manager in August of 97.

And, uh, yeah, he's here to help the Steiner brothers take down the outsiders. What do you think they thought about working with Ted DiBiase? I think they liked Ted and respected Ted. I think on a personal level, um,

everybody was cool. Probably happy to do it. I don't look, that was that was that was me trying to put a bandaid on a bad decision, you know, I brought Ted DiBiase in. I had an idea for Ted. It didn't work out for a variety of reasons.

And this was just like, okay, what do I do with him now? So it, there was not a lot of real thought behind it as to why it would really be beneficial for the Steiner brothers. It was just a move. It was a lateral move that I could make to keep everybody kind of occupied and reasonably happy. Well, that move happens in August of 97. and you're going to make another move in February of 98, you're going to split up the Steiner brothers. I guess they're going to have some storyline disagreements.

But one thing we can all agree on today is that Henson's shaving is the real deal. I've got to tell you in my real life, I've been bragging about my razor from Henson for so long that I've become like an unofficial spokesperson, not just here on the show, but in my real life. I've got one in my travel bag. I got one here at home. I got one at the office.

I convinced my barber. to get one. My dad's got one. Everybody I know is in love with their Henson razor. And the deal is, we all fell victim to one of those subscription scams or we were overspending down at the drugstore. That's why you've got to meet Henson Shaving. Check this out.

Henson Shaving is a family owned aerospace parts manufacturer. That's right. Aerospace parts. That's what they do. They made parts for the International Space Station. They made parts for the Mars Rover. And now they're bringing that precision engineering. to your doggone face.

Razor blades are like diving boards. The longer the board, the more the wobble. The more the wobble, the more knicks, cuts, and scrapes. You see, a bad shave isn't a blade problem. It's an extension problem. But by using these aerospace grade C and C machines, Henson makes metal razors that are just 0.0013 inches. That's less than the thickness of a human hair.

That means a secure and more stable and more vibration-free shave. And it gets better. The razor also has built-in channels to evacuate hair and cream, which makes clogging virtually impossible. You see, Henson shaving wants the best razor, not the best razor business. That means no plastic, no subscriptions, no proprietary blades, and no planned obsolescence. You see, the Henson razor works with a standard dual-edge blade. It gives you that old-school shave with the benefits of new school tech. And here's my favorite part of this.

Not only is it a better shave than what you've been doing, it's also only $3 to $5 a year to replace the blades. You heard me. Three to five dollars a year. It's time to say no to subscriptions and say yes to a razor that will last you a lifetime. Visit hinsonshaving.com slash 83 weeks to pick the razor for you and use the code 83 weeks. You'll get two years worth of blades for free with your razor. Just make sure to add them to your cart. That's 100 free blades when you head to H-E-N-S-O-N-S-H-A-V-N-G.com slash 83 weeks and use the code 83 weeks. You know what I love about this product what's that just looks so cool it does and you know it's old school it's like the most advanced rocket science literally technology combined with old school design and i love this and

i've got a box of blades that'll probably last because i only shave about once every three or four days unless i'm you know in public doing meetings and things it'll last you two or three years there Yeah, I'm never going to have to go to a drugstore and spend the ridiculous amount of money. They've been putting razors and razor blades behind lock and key in drugstores for as long as I can remember because they're so damn expensive. You know, it's like the most highest price thing in a drug store is the razor blades. And I love this product, man. It's the best of both worlds. High-end technology, old school design.

I love it. Not only is it better than what you've been doing. it's also cheaper i gotta tell you i was intimidated i was like man this is something like my handsome ass grandfather used to use can i handle this yes i can i feel more like a badass and it's cheaper i'm telling you it's the best shape i've ever had it's a fantastic product go out of your way to try it i'm not going to tell you how much it costs but it will tell you this i love the razor but i assumed it was a lot more expensive because it was that good and then when my dad said okay what's the code i went and typed it in for him 83 weeks i was shocked at how cheap it was because it's really really

a one-time purchase and after that it's three to five dollars a year so not only it's better but it's also cheaper how do you beat that hinson shaving dot com slash 83 weeks all right so let's talk about the big split here super brawl nineteen ninety eight we just recently touched on this but this is a big story we didn't get too far in the weeds so i want to do it now back on our scott steiner episode you talked about the economic and creative necessity of splitting up the tag team but let's talk us through how you navigate navigate this because it's not the first time they've been pitched this. Allegedly Vince wanted to push Scott Steiner and give him a WrestleMania title shot way back when that he didn't want

to leave his brother. And I guess there was even an opportunity for Rick Steiner to stick around WCW, but Bill Watts wasn't interested in Scott and Rick said no thanks. So these guys have always had each other's back. But now we're going to try the singles run that a lot of people would have felt was inevitable. But at this point, they'd been together. so long maybe they thought it won't ever happen do you first pitch the idea or do they pitch you how do you recall all that going down i pitched them and scott was excited and no i'm i may be conflating two separate meetings so i want to be careful here try to be accurate right and i try not to bullshit my way through this stuff like most people do but there were two conversations i had

with the signers about this time. One was their contract renewal, and then the other was splitting them up. And those two things were happening pretty close to the same time. I can't remember which one happened first, but I remember specifically the discussion about splitting them up, and the reaction I got from Scott was pretty positive. He was like a kid in a candy store because and again I think and again you'd have to ask them because there's no way I can get inside of their heads but I think the reason they were reluctant to do it before was probably the same reason in Hulk Hogan was reluctant to turn heel the year before he did because there was no plan it was like okay well I get it you're going to do that and that's going to make a lot of noise

but then what and I think with the Steiner's it was similar because I don't think they had the confidence in any of the people creatively and certainly the company wasn't going in any direction that would give them confidence previously about splitting whereas now and what is this 97 this is going to be 98 98 by 98 we own the wrestling world in in some respects yeah television they're 98 you're on top no doubt and I think that that sense of confidence and growth and opportunity that existed all the way around them probably had a lot to do with, hey, yeah, we've been doing this for a long time. It's work.

Let's try something else because there's so much working. It's not as risky to take a big chance when you're jumping on a train that's leaving the station and is going in the right direction as opposed to jumping on a train that nobody can get started and may roll backwards. It's probably it. how did you guys decide all right who's turning on who who's going to be the bad guy who's going to be the good guy was that just an automatic decision between the two of them did was it was there a debate i don't know there had been a debate there'd have been a collaboration

i i would imagine kevin sullivan had a lot to do with that because that would have been his his kind of thing with those guys i again would have been involved might have had an opinion and I would have shared, but that really would have been Kevin Sullivan's role at that point. I think we all kind of sense that Scott would be the heel. Okay. I mean, just naturally. Just, again, you look at those two personalities, right? Backstage, not when there's no cameras around.

If you just were first introduced to them, you'd feel real comfortable talking to Rick. Scott would kind of make you a little nervous. It's just the way he carried himself. So I think that it would have been such a natural thing to make Scott the heel that I doubt there was a whole lot of conversation. I think my guess is I'd like to talk to Sullivan about it, but my guess is it was kind of a natural flow. So there's even a tease within a week of this happening after the big turn

where Scott's going to join the NWO and turn on his brother, where Scott has taken over the headsets on Thunder and sending a message to his brother back home saying, I've chartered a jet, I'm flying straight home. after the show and I'm coming to your house and we're going to talk you've got until Monday to make your decision but I've got you a spot with the NWO and then we see the tease where it looks like Scott Steiner has has welcomed his brother into the NWO but Rick says nope it's a double cross he eventually gets beat down and there's a little bit of help from WCW but it's he's going to join in against his brother on team WCW to

take on the NWO in hindsight was there a better way to do this creative one brother turning on another without the NWO or at that point I mean it's the main storyline is that the storyline everybody wanted to be in regardless well I think the NWO story the NW versus WCW story as a whole that the the larger story was it was NWO was the catalyst behind all of this dissension in this split if you will. So I think it would have only made sense in that particular circumstance for the NWO to at least be the reason. But your question was, in hindsight, was there a better way? In hindsight, there's always a better way. You know, there's always a better idea out there. No matter how good

of an idea is, there's always a way to make it a better idea. But I think at that time, I think it was the right thing to do at that time utilizing the NWO is the catalyst well Rick's single's run is going to start out with a feud against several of the NWO guys and of course we're building up on the eventual revenge on Scott he's going to go through Vincent Kurt Henning Scott Norton and Kevin Nash but the major storyline involves Buff Bagwell Rick's going to wrestle Buff at a few house shows and then continue in the standard tag matches he's going to team with Lex Lugar to defeat Buff and Scott Steiner at Spring Stampede 98. I only get six minutes there.

And Rick and Lugar are then going to lose to Buff and Scott Norton on the April 22nd episode of Thunder after Rick is attacked with a chair. But that's not the big story. Right before Scott Steiner interferes to attack Rick with a chair, Rick comes off the second rope with a bulldog on Buff. Somehow, Buff's head gets loose. And rather than being driven to the mat,

he smashes his head into Rick's back as Rick is hitting the mat. and as a result, Buff had several damaged vertebrae and developed spinal shock. It's a pretty scary moment that every wrestling fan at the time remembers and we all remember thinking about Christopher Reed because this is not too long

after quote unquote Superman was paralyzed. And Rick Steiner is here involved in this. We've talked about the buff injury before. From Rick's perspective, how was Rick dealing with this? I don't know.

you know I wasn't I wasn't near Rick when I mean when it all went down all the focus all my focus at least was on Marcus that's I mean Rick obviously felt bad I remember seeing him he was because none of us knew all indications were in that moment when it first happened that that Marcus was paralyzed from the deck down none of us are doctors you know some people probably had more experience in spinal shock than others obviously but for the most part we all assumed the worst because that's what it looked like right before eyes. And, you know, I remember looking over at Rick, and you can only imagine the look on his face, fear, sadness, shock, guilt, felt responsible, I think probably to some degree. But didn't spend a lot of time with Rick or thinking about Rick, even though he was a good friend. My focus was on Marcus at that point. as an adult don't we all miss spring break nothing like taking a week off from all your responsibilities well here's the next best thing for adults a spring break from house payments save with conrad dot com can help you get rid of all your credit card debt just like that we're routinely helping

our listeners say five six seven even eight hundred bucks a month and you don't need perfect credit or money out of your pocket to do this but check this out no house payments for two months at save with conrad dot com i'm sure it had to be just an awful feeling for rick i mean a universally loved and and beloved guy in the locker room quote unquote one of the boys nobody ever wants to see somebody hurt especially if they think man could i've done something differently there but this is one of those deals where just accidents happen as far as i know i don't think there was ever any hard feelings between buff and rick steiner over this right no and i think the other reason why Rick probably felt as bad as he did is because they were pretty good

friends. Yeah. It went beyond just, you know, what happened in the ring and, you know, what Rick may have felt would have been his responsibility, even though it was just one of those things. But they were tight. This was not just a casual relationship. They were very, very close friends. Let's go to July 13th. It's an episode of Nitro, just one week after Goldberg has beating Hulk Hogan at the Georgia Dome and that's the first time on that same episode

at the Georgia Dome where we see Buff Bagwell Judy pushes him out Heroes welcome in Georgia even though he left as a bad guy we know the real life story and we're pulling for him

so a week later he's pushed to the ring by his doctor and he's going to do an interview with Mean Gene and the NWO at this point is split to two groups it's the black and white

versus the red and black and jean asked buff which side he's going to align with because remember now he was an NWO member but instead of answering he calls out rick steiner to confront him over the neck injury and that brings hollywood hogan out to come mocking bagwell's injury and pushing his wheelchair over and the crowd starts chanting hogan sucks hogan sucks so first you have the nw o versus wcw dominate creative and now you've got sort of warring factions within the nw o I could see how in the middle of this after he's calling out Rick Steiner,

but Hogan comes out. Maybe Rick feels like, damn, we had an opportunity here and now I feel like I'm lost in the shuffle. Do you remember Rick ever getting his, his feathers ruffled about creative? Or was that not really his deal? I'm sure he did,

but he never brought it to me. Okay. And if, you know, there were times when he'd have, when Rick would have questions only because he wanted to perhaps, improve what he was doing. By improve, I mean, add to, collaborate.

Hey, what if we do this to or instead or whatever? But when it came to not being happy with creative, I'm guessing Rick would have gone to Kevin Sullivan or whoever, you know, in 96, 97, 98, it would definitely be Kevin Sullivan. But he never came to me with it ever. Well, the following week, Maine Jean brings Rick Steiner out to talk about what happened the previous week buff is wheeled out once again this time by wcw trainer and buff's going to forgive rick and rick helps buff stand up from the wheelchair and just as he does scott stiner

attacks rick with a chair bagwell then stops scott from hitting rick again then he grabs the chair to attack rick buff is going to rip off his shirt to reveal an n wo shirt underneath so he has reformed his alliance with the black and white that's actually pretty good it's not bad not bad not not bad at all i like that as you're laying it out and i'm picturing it because i've forgotten about it but that's really kind of good so of course there's teases of singles matches between rick and scott at road wild and then fall brawl uh i assume the hope is to get us towards starcade but i want to bring up fall brawl because the match ends when it appears that buff bagwell has re-injured his neck yeah somehow it gets worse and the bill

build up for his eventual match with Scott. Rick appears on Nitro during this time for an interview with me and Gene standing in the ring and Rick starts cutting a promo on Scott and then a maniacal laugh interrupts. I can't believe this is real

but you've got Chuckie the doll from the child's play horror movie and television franchise appear on the big screen. And he's going to call Rick a quote genetic throwback who barks and chucky then cuts a promo on rick and promotes the release of the upcoming bride of chucky movie and the doll closes his promo by telling rick don't mess with scott what i really want to do is direct

and scots the lead in my next project so if you mess with scott you're messing with me my academy award oh i love this this is so awesome i love it we started a trend we saw chucky in the promotion of w wwee recently so many things that happened in on wcw first nitro was the

don't you dare take credit for chucky you shouldn't be proud of chucky what's wrong with you er i not i mean it was awesome it was the first time we integrated that character in a way and we merged these the cross promotional opportunities between feature films and a cult classic and wrestling is unbelievable we should have gotten awards for that said we got a check take the check it's cool do you remember how sizable the check was no i don't i think that one i don't think that one came through wcd i think that one actually came through turner ad sales it reminds me of that quote from Jurassic park when you're saying we found a way to merge you're excited about it the line from Jurassic Park is your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could they didn't stop to think if they should that's very fitting isn't it Chuckie in WCW like it was Halloween havoc too come on now you got to it was thematic right I could see how if I'm Rick Steiner if I

wasn't your hunting buddy i would think he were mad at him i don't i think i had fun or rick i think rick had fun with that i'm going to have to ask him now yeah you know i because i don't know you know rick and i had this weird i mean rick was so cool but he never he never bitched or complained or even quietly suggested things to me like that if he was upset so maybe he was and i was completely oblivious to it because I thought I was, you know, achieving something by cross promoting with a big movie studio. So I might have been all sucked into my own opportunities and roles and not even realize that he was upset about it. But I'm going to have to ask him. Well, here's the thing. In fairness, back in JCP, he used to draw a hand puppet on and

talk to himself. So, you know, all this time later, cutting promos on dolls. It's just another day at the office maybe hey mc folly had a sock i mean that's the thing like you know come on i'll never forget we were taping a podcast with mc foley on his great podcast that comes out on friday called foley's pod and he cheat plug shameless and he's he's sort of poking fun at how stupid it was to have hulk hogan coming out and play an air guitar and he's just lamenting for about five minutes about how stupid he looked and how silly it was and how he couldn't believe this was wrestling and then when he finished i said aren't you the guy he used to pull a side sock puppet out of your sweatpants and he was like yeah that's good point yep let's move on

yeah as in the eye of the whole beholder for sure this era would see buff bagwell do a lot of direct to DVD or VHS or TV or whatever it was day of the warrior type nonsense where they're just looking for jacked up dudes that look good in the loincloth was there ever any interest in Scott Steiner in that regard as far as you know because he had a hell of of a look i could have seen that look being a villain in a movie for sure don't ever recall anybody reaching out to me about scott i don't think scott was interested in that yeah i don't know that he had any desire interest at all in doing it and i think if someone would have come to me and said hey you think scott would like to do a movie i would have passed it on to scott sure

but i couldn't imagine him doing it that's a whole different world that takes patience and if you think the wrestling world is political. Nah, I don't see Scott. If he would have tried it, it would have lasted until lunch. Well, at Halloween Havoc and Scott Steiner teaming with the giant to defend the WCW tag team titles against Rick and Buff, but surprise, surprise, it's a swerve. Buff is going to turn on Rick.

Somehow Rick still wins and is able to become tag team champions by himself. And then immediately afterwards, he pins scott in a singles match after fighting off both buff and stevie ray so he's like over like we're over here defeating the heels overcoming the odds and then the next night on nitro he says he'll take Kenny chaos of high voltage as his new tag team partner really we had a good start to the plan remember how you've heard me especially on strictly business which by the way if Anybody listening to this hasn't listened to Strictly Business. I encourage you to, we should have a little bug here that says follow, you know?

Yeah, we will in post. All right. But follow 83 weeks, subscribe to 83 weeks, and you'll automatically be updated and notified when strictly business drops because we share a feed, right? Yep. Strictly business is off the chain good when it comes to the business of the wrestling business. We break things down in great detail. check that out i just had to throw that in there as long as we're shameless plug and shit i had to oh no listen i thought that was leading somewhere because i'm leading somewhere because i don't

want you to sleep on how bad the creative was here because we're not doing to recap we flip this dude over in a car and then we have him split from his brother because he doesn't want to join the nw we didn't have an idea for ted de biosi so we stick them with these guys who've never really had a house why didn't you have to put it that way why do you have to make it sound like it was something i was i was sitting back on him i know how to fuck with this diners and as if that wasn't enough we're going to have a doll cutting promos on him then we're going to let him beat up his brother and everybody else in the zip code but give him a tag team partner who we've known mostly only seen put other guys over i'm sure he was uh tossing a turn in at night

but not me and you because we got sleep me sleep me is the new home for chili sleep. Listen, I hate to play favorites. We got a lot of great sponsors on our program. This is one I can't live without. You remembered me bragging about chili sleep? Well, these are the same folks. Just sleep means the new name. They make the coldest sleep systems available. When we finish recording today, I'm packing up, hitting the road, taking a chili sleep with me. I can't sleep worth a durn without it. You see, chili sleep, I guess is sleep me now. My apologies. Creates the environment that meets the body's natural need for lower core temperatures. Whatever you call it, you're going to get deeper, more restorative sleep. Now, I want to explain these systems

are water-based, their temperature-controlled mattress pads that fit over your existing mattress to provide you the ideal sleep temperature. Now, occasionally I get a DM. Is this a waterbed? No, there's no water in your bed. It's using the amazing thermal properties of water to create really cold air that circulates through your bed. It's unbelievable. They keep your bed at the perfect temperature. When I say perfect, I mean it. My wife keeps her side of the bed at a different temperature than I do my side. She likes to sleep a little warmer. I like to sleep a little cooler. But right now they've launched something I'm so excited about. It's got AI. Eric, check this out. Sleep Me just launched the new Doc Pro sleep system with new HyperAI. You experience the

ultimate cooling power of the doc pro sleep system, but now you compare it with the new sleep me app and get real-time temperature adjustments based on your current sleep activity. I can't believe new hyper AI technology is a thing and it's now included with sleep me. It's the industry's first ever sleep tech that tracks and optimizes your sleep temperature you get in real time. So you're going to get the best sleep of your life with AI-driven technology. Head over right. now to sleep.me forward slash 83 weeks to learn more and save 25% off the purchase of any new dock pro cooler cooler or cube sleep system this offer is available exclusively for 83 weeks listeners and only for a limited time that's sleep s leepep dot me slash 83 weeks to take advantage of

our exclusive discounts and wake up feeling refreshed every day it's the real deal isn't that Eric? It is. And it's completely changed my wife's sleep pattern. She sleeps much more deeply now using Sleep Me, definitely, and especially in summertime. I told the story before. We don't have air conditioning, this monster of a house we have here in Wyoming, because you only need it about, I don't know, a total of 10 days a year, maybe two weeks out of the year, total. But man, when you do, you need it. And Sleep Me is saved. I won't say it's, I won't say it's saved. our marriage but it certainly made sleeping together much more fun let's put it that way hey now i love now come on sleep dot me forward slash 83 weeks so guys i know what you're thinking all right we put

rick with keny chaos from high voltage now they're going to have a hell of a tag team run and reinvent themselves nope chaos gets injured he's out if it wasn't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all so as he's looking for someone to turn to he knows he can trust this person person to be as great as tag team partner yet. Rick's next tag team partner is Judy Bagwell. Oh, God. I'm surprised Rick didn't shoot me when we were up hunting in Canada. This motherfucker.

Oh, you money? He could have, he could have left me up in the woods up in the Yukon where nobody would have found me but a frickin bear and I would have been nothing, it would have been nothing left to be, but a steaming pile of grizzly shit under a pine tree. well that might have been what booked this i mean all of rick signers great tag team partners judy bagwell is next this is long before there was a rick flair drip marijuana but you were clearly

finding some locally grown there in alana well uh rick's gonna face off against scott one more time at world war three but he's attacked and he's injured and he's gone until march first nineteen ninety nine he returns in a big way to team with goldberg to take on and beat scott steiner and buff bagwell and the reaction to rick is always good but when he's paired with goldberg here it's just tremendous needless to say you owed him one right and when i make good i really make good he he earned that one it does feel like after this though we don't have a ton of great plans for him at the may ninth 99 slam barree rick would beat Booker T to win the TV title,

a championship that he held like a decade earlier. And the dude's getting good reactions. He's going to defend it against the likes of DDP, even Sting, LaParka, Fit Finley, Buff Bagwell, Perry Saturn, and Vampiro. And then we're going to have him through all of this be a heel.

So him and Scott are both playing heels, but separately, not as a heel tandem. And then Rick would eventually drop the title to Chris Benoit shortly after you leave WCW. and we've talked about the fact that or how you went home or went on hiatus or got fired or whatever you want to call it but i know that you had a handful of quote unquote real friends and wrestling and you've talked about pretty openly and honestly that ddp was near the top of that list but rick stiner was too were you in touch with him during your absence from wcw or no no

no and that was intentional it was Probably me, you know, not partly me wanting to separate myself from it emotionally and just figure out how to move on with my life. You know, I was still pretty young at that time and had decisions to make and choices and opportunities. So it was just like, okay, I'm done, I'm done. And once I'm done with something, I'm really done with it. I don't linger, you know, not to go too heavy into this, but even in my personal relationships, you know, previously to marrying my beautiful. wife. I remember there was a situation where I was with this woman, and she was from the West Coast, and I wasn't. She came home one day and said, Eric, we're going to stay together.

We're going to have to move to the West Coast. I said, no problem. I get it. I get it. She took off. She was a flight attendant. She took off on a trip for about three days. It was in the middle of like January. I'm in Minnesota, and I'm steaming because I was given an ultimatum, and I hate ultimatums, always have. But she gave me that ultimatum, so while she was gone, I took everything in the house that was hers, and I put it out in the front yard, front of the house, in a pile, and then it snowed, like two feet of snow. She comes home one night from her trip. She comes in a house, almost everything's gone, or a lot of the stuff that was hers is gone. She thought, oh, he packed it all up. We're getting ready to move to L.A.

Hey, Eric, what did you do with all the stuff? I said, it's out there. She said, out where i said out there she looked outside it was dark except for a pile of snow i don't get it she's looking for a moving truck i said no go out underneath that snow she reached in there's like a toaster and a pair of underwear and hair curler i mean because once i'm done with something i'm really done with it and that's kind of how i felt about wcd at the time so i didn't and i also didn't want it's awkward i don't like putting good friends in awkward situations it's like even now i avoid not avoid but i i leave bruce along you know i never want somebody to because they're friends with me to feel awkward as a result of that and it's easier for me to achieve that just by pulling

myself out of that situation so i did and as a result you know i only talk to ddb because he lived down the street for me right you know had i don't talk to people on the phone very much i'm just not that guy well with rick gone somehow some way they uh or with you gone rather uh somehow some way rick reforms the varsity club with mike rotunda and kevin i don't know that that was the best idea for 1999 and when you return in 2000 rick had not been active um he does return in january of o one he's a baby face then a heel really it's all the mess at the end of wcw are you having any communication you know we'll call it 2000 2001 with rick are you still being very guarded or have you

resumed your friendship and y'all are hanging out and hunting and fishing in the whole deal again no i think we went hunting we took a really cool trip it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and i think i think it was in 2000 um i could be wrong, but 2000, 2001, we went up to the Yukon. We went as far north as we could possibly go without ending up in the Arctic Circle. That's how far north we were. And like we left, Rick met me, I think, in Denver, and then we went from Denver to Seattle. And then from Seattle, we ended up taking like three puddle jumpers to finally get us up to this remote honey camp where we were way the hell up there. And it was just the most.

awesome trip we were hunting elk and moose and we each got one of each um but it was it was because it was so remote we're up there hunting with some indigenous you know they don't call them native americans in canada they call them indigenous people but with with an indigenous group of people they weren't a family but there was a group of them up there you know no alcohol couldn't have alcohol up there and all we ate was moose meat we had moose for breakfast moves for lunch, and moves for dinner. And it was the most amazing trip, hunting trip I've ever been on. And Rick and I had hunted together before.

Rick would join me, my wife, Lori, our son, Garrett, Lori's uncles, Al and Gary. And we would all go to, outside of Craig, Colorado, outside of Denver. And we hunted out there for a couple of years. So we had spent a lot of time hunting together. Rick took Garrett on Garrett's first hunting trip for whitetail deer. And Garrett and Ray Trailer and Rick Steiner and I were all hunting together on that trip. So we had a lot of history of doing things together outside of wrestling. But that trip really took the cake.

That was an amazing trip. I'll never forget about to tell the story quick because I know you've got to go. But the weather up there was pretty decent where we were hunting. And we did some horseback riding. We had to ride horses to get to these hunt locations. And I remember, you know, the guide looks. looks at Rick, you know, Rick's probably 260 or whatever he was at the time. He looks at Rick and he looks over at these horses.

And these horses are not used to haul him 260 guys around, right? And he looks over and there's one like really big horse that could handle Rick. Because we're out for a long time. So Rick stands on a tree stump to get his leg up over this horse, finally gets seated in this horse and we take off. And while we're on our way, it's like a three hour horseback ride to get where we're going, it starts to rain. Now, Rixon is big, heavy wool coat

because it was pretty cold up there. But it starts to rain. And then it got real cold. And this soaking cold, heavy wool jacket, it was completely soaked with water because of the rain. Now it freezes.

We finally get back to camp. We had to ride through the dark. We had it all day. We finally get back to the dark. And Rixon is frozen hunting jacket up on this horse. And he had to get off, but he couldn't bend

anything everything was stiff and frozen it you had to be there to see it to see this 260-pound guy tried to crawl off a horse it was about on his last legs hell of a truck wcw's on their last legs unfortunately you're not successful in getting your hands on the deal unfortunately the w f doesn't pick up rick's contract he doesn't actually wrestle again until february 1st 2002 he's just going to sit on the sidelines and collect those paychecks he's going to compete almost exclusively in japan wrestling for new japan all japan and noah until 2005 we have a couple of shots in europe in porto rico but he's kind of quietly just ending it here had a conversation with rick years ago and i asked him about this period and he

said i just found myself on a bus in japan filled with a bunch of young japanese guys and i'm the only quote unquote American and I'm looking out the window and I'm thinking to myself I'm too old for this shit what am I doing and it was like a lethal weapon type moment and we know that you come back to wrestling in 2002 as a general manager for the WWE and not too long after that Scott Steiner's going to come in I think a lot of people thought well if Scott's in maybe Rick is going to be in It never really happens. Rick does spend a little bit of time with T&A.

And I think he was there before you arrived in 2010. Away from the ring, Rick got involved in the real estate business back in 2004. And eventually became a real estate broker over there in the North Metro Atlanta area. And I think a lot of people know that he served on the Cherokee County School District. He's got three sons, Hudson. maverick and bronson we all know bronson signed to the w w a couple of years ago quickly became the nx t champion under the name brawn breaker it's really uh cool to see that steiner legacy live on and i know that the company really likes alliterations and so they like brann breaker

but when your name is bronson rechstiner and you're named after charles bronzen it feels like you should just be bronzen steiner like what a badass name that was be, but maybe we'll see if it changes on the main roster. What do you think, Eric, what do you think Rick Steiner's legacy in wrestling will be? A high performing consummate professional. I mean, he was so good, innovative in many respects, respected by everybody. There was no one that I've ever met that's in the wrestling industry and worked with Rick. It didn't respect him.

and I that's that by the way it's a pretty major accomplishment there's not a lot of other talent at that level that you can point to and said say he was not only respected but light and respected by everybody

well said and when you're talking about professional you got to be talking about our friends at impera they help businesses plan for the future by turning ideas into actionable plans Impira provides visibility into the success of your plan, helping you understand what's working and what's not.

Maybe like Chucky Dolls. I don't know. Empira is user-friendly, fast to start, and helps you and your team quickly get to work on your business plan. Empira helps you overcome the hardest part of starting a business, turning ideas into plans, and breathing life into them. Think of Impera as your tag team partner, helping you stay focused on what matters in your business.

Impira simplifies the process of business planning, helping you focus on what's important. They eliminate the guesswork. They help you make informed decisions based on data, not just gut feelings. And with Impera, business planning becomes less overwhelming and more manageable. Empira has a structured approach to business planning, keeping you on track and organized. They help you stay focused on your long-term goals and objectives and keep you motivated and driven along the way. They also give you regular updates. and insights, keeping you informed and up to date on your progress.

They'll even help you prioritize your tasks and assure that you're working on the most important things first. Empira is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes, providing a roadmap to success. Impera enables collaboration between team members and fostering communication and teamwork. And with Empira, you'll have peace of mind knowing that your business plan is well structured, thought out, and most importantly, achievable. sign up now and receive free onboarding your first 14 days free and 24-7 support get ahead of the game save 20% on your subscription by using the code wrestle biz at checkout launch your business plan faster and with less effort than ever before when you visit em p i r a r a a dot c o m p i a Eric, that's E-M-P-I-R-A-A-com forward-slash Eric, start your journey today to success.

Can I jump in on this one real quick? Yes. John Alba and I, John, you know, my co-hosts on Strickley Business, we did the, we did a live onboarding together with Impera. Absolutely fantastic process. And this tool, and it really is a valuable tool, whether you're a sole proprietor, it's just you working out of your house, you're selling widgets and well. whatever, or you've got a small team, whatever business you're in, however big or small,

this tool, you know, we all know it's having a business plan, going through the process of developing a really good business plan. The real value in that is the process forces you to think through the little things, to think through the aspects of your proposed business that are not the most exciting things to think about, especially if you're an entrepreneur like you and I are, right? It's easy to focus on the big ideas and get excited about those things. But along with those big ideas comes all the small steps along the way that it takes to execute them. And you absolutely need a business plan, but the reason I like Imperus so much, and I'm so excited about this, is that it's a tool that

allows you to execute and stay focused on your business plan. It's not in lieu of a business plan. It's in support of a good business plan. And whether, again, it's just you, it's you and your wife, it's you and a buddy, or it's you and six or eight people that are working together in a small business. This is a tool that can make you way more efficient and focus on your business as opposed to having to be in your business. And by that, I mean, if you're You've got the vision, you've got the goals, you've got the desire, and you see that big picture. Being able to focus on that aspect of your business is where your strengths are, as opposed to focusing on all the little things it takes to execute.

But if you don't have a team behind you, this is a tool that allows you to do that efficiently and effectively and not miss a beat. Can't say enough great things about this product or the service. The guys are in Australia, but they'll work with you 24 hours a day, they'll get you onboarded, And they're a great group of people. By the way, absolutely huge wrestling fans and fans of 83 weeks, which is how they found us. I love that. Check it out. I think you're going to dig it.

Let's talk a little bit about Rick Snyder today, 2023. What's your relationship like with him now? Are you all in any sort of regular communication or contact? You know me. On the phone, no. But we see each other several times throughout the year. And last time I saw him was in Nashville with you. And, you know, just it's like we didn't miss a beat.

We both look a little different. Rick's off doing phenomenal things in the real estate industry and very active in this community. He's just a solid, solid human being. And I look forward to seeing him every time I do. Eric has a great question here for us. He says, why was there never a dog collar match between Rick and Scott Steiner during their 98 feud? It would have been an excellent looking decision. yeah it would have been kind of cool would have been thematic and consistent and tied into a backstory so

I agree with it why wasn't it I don't know it's hard to say why it didn't come up in conversation but nonetheless it's a great idea Brad Stanton says the Steiner's needed to break up to become single stars is there any tag team you hoped would never break up no I never felt that strongly about tag teams Adam Jefferson says, what separated Scott from Rick in terms of a successful solo run? I think desire. I think Scott had a different desire in the wrestling business than Rick did, kind of going back to what I said earlier. I think Scott just, I think Scott saw himself as being that top guy and worked towards that. I just don't think it was important enough to Rick for Rick to do the things that Rick needed to do to make that happen.

next week we're going to do something that needs to happen we're going to watch you get your head shaved bald again this time it's on impact it happened march 15th 2010 and our old pal mick foley will be the one doing the trimming we'll also discuss rob van dam coming into the company jeff hardy being with holk hogan sting turning heel somehow a j styles and rick flare are paired together the nasty boys and jimmy hart are going to take on team 3d plus the band and kevin nash Lots of fun T&A stuff to talk about next week. Of course, you get all of our shows early and ad free over at adfreeshows.com, including live studio audiences like we had here today. Why not try the first week on us? You can get a free trial right now at adfreeshows.com. And while you're there, you're going to check out something I'm pretty proud of. If you're an old school fan of the WWF, you've heard this name on Bruce's podcast, John

Philippelli. John Philipelli is the guy who fired Bruce Pritchard in 1991. And then when Bruce came back, John was out. So those two years of WWF stuff that we've never really gotten to talk about on Bruce's podcast, we talk about it all with John Philip Kelly.

It's exclusive to ad-free shows.com. He's the former executive producer, and he's got the dirt on everybody. And I mean everybody. We talk about the steroid trial. We talk about the ringboy scandal. We talk about everything good and bad and ugly. And yes, we talk about the McMan's and Kevin Dunn and Bruce Pritchard and he pulls no punches on our old pal Bruce.

I highly recommend it. It's at ad-freeshows.com right now. You're also going to hear some stories about The Undertaker you've never heard before. They're going to blow you away. Some behind the scenes of that NBC relationship and how David Sahati got into wrestling. It's all posted right now on the episode called The Insiders over at ad-freeshows.com. and we've got a ton of really fun watch-alongs, including Eric Bischoff watching StarK-97,

Kevin Nash watching his streak-ending win versus Goldberg, Earl Hebner watching that famous main event, the evil twin referee angle, all of that, including JR, watching the very first flare steamboat from 1989, all posted over at ad-free shows.com. I should mention, before we get out of here, if your business targets men that are 25 to 54 years old,

buddy, there's no better place to reach them than right here on 83 weeks. In fact, you've heard us do some of the same ads for the same companies year after year after year. Why is that? Well, because it really works. And with our super targeted audience, there's very little waste. Go to advertise with Eric.com now and find out about advertising with 83 weeks. If you haven't already, follow us on social media. It's at 83 weeks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The easiest way to support the show, though, just go hit the subscribe button. It's 83 weeks on YouTube.com. That's 83 weeks. on YouTube.com, and we've got a ton of fun merch up over at box of gimmicks.com.

Greatly appreciate all the support. Eric, I don't know what I expected today, but I'm glad we got to pay tribute to one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of all time, Mr. Rick Steiner. I do as well, and you motivated me to give Rick a call. So thanks for that. Hey, and this Thursday, it's his birthday. So go out of your way this Thursday on Rick Steiner's 62nd birthday. Let's watch some of those old great Steiner.

matches and maybe we'll leave the Judy Bagwell and Chucky stuff alone. Thanks, everybody. We'll see you next week right here on 83 weeks.