83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 273: Sting In TNA

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric and Conrad discuss the icon Sting’s time in TNA. From turning Sting heel, to his incredible Joker run the guys cover it all.  AN EVENING WITH KEVIN VON ERICH - Iconic wrestler Kevin Von Erich has just announced his first public tour.   The show titled “AN EVENING WITH KEVIN VON ERICH: Stories From the Top Rope” will feature Von Erich sharing insight into his career, personal triumphs and tragedies. Tickets will go on sale Friday, June 2nd at EmporiumPresents.com or Ticketmaster and will offer a very limited number of VIP tickets which include a meet & greet/photo op. The tour kicks off in Dallas on September 1st which will be hosted by sports reporter Dale Hansen and the following cities - September 2nd in San Antonio, September 3rd in Corpus Christi, September 5thin Houston, September 6th in Shreveport, September 8th in Oklahoma City, September 9th in Amarillo, and September 10th in Midland, all hosted by David Manning. Von Erich, now 65, will be the subject of a major motion picture, “Iron Claw”, which stars Zac Effron and is slated for release in late 2023.   BLUECHEW - Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code 83WEEKS at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s BlueChew.com, promo code 83WEEKS to receive your first month FREE FITE + - Fite+ is the ultimate digital platform for live sports and entertainment, and they are now offering a free 7-day trial at TryFite.com 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 On AdFreeShows.com, you get early, ad-free access to more than a dozen of your favorite wrestling podcasts, starting at just $9! And now, you can enjoy the first week...completely FREE! Sign up for a free trial - and get a taste of what Ad Free Shows is all about. Start your free trial 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

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For imprint, for certain Oh, yeah, we don't need perfect credit, uh-huh. Even with credit scores in the 500s, it only takes a cup of coffee to get started. Dig it? Oh, yeah, snap into it. Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson, and you're listening to 83 weeks. with Eric Bischoff.

Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? I am doing great. Just got home. We're kind of, we're doing this during the week, which is unusual. It is.

I just got home last night. I was in Springfield, Illinois. And I was in Illinois, not Illinois. Springfield, Illinois. And because of our buddy, Jeff Jarrett,

who was a part owner in that team. Yes, sir. I was invited to partake in the opening day ceremonies. And this time, when I threw out the first pit, I actually made it to the plate. Oh, you didn't bounce it?

Congratulations. It didn't bounce it. Now, it actually hit the plate. That was like it made it to the plate before it hit the ground. It was just progress. If you've seen any of my previous first pitches, I've come a long way. Well, yeah, we're looking for, you know, improvement. We're not looking for perfection.

So bravo for you. I, um, I'm really excited about our topic today. We're talking about Sting and T. and a there's so much to talk about with sting and t and a we saw the joker character and we really tried a lot of new things with sting and t and i'm excited to talk about that with you today but boy our social media has been going nuts for the last few days because on this program a couple weeks ago you stepped out and uh stepped up to the plate i threw out sort of a silly challenge that I was only sort of tongue in cheek my trying to make a

transition to a commercial about our friends a hinson shaving who still make the best razor I've ever used by the way and you were railing on seeing punk how this was a disaster and he's not going to be there and T and T and T put out a press release saying he's not going to be a part of collision and blah blah blah and I felt strongly that my man would show up at the double of nothing at the paper of you At the pay-per-view, I recall you saying. Or A.W's debut in Chicago. Now, at the time, you weren't even convinced they were going to debut collision in Chicago.

You were convinced maybe it was going to be somewhere else because there was a rumor that maybe it's going to be at Daly's Place in Jacksonville. We saw two weeks ago, the following Wednesday after that, it was announced that C and Punk, or not C&Punk, but Collision was going to be in Chicago. And then as we're recording this, this past Wednesday, to have to kind announced that see and punk is in fact going to be on that show and the internet is undefeated social media has had a lot of fun showing images of you without your hair i'm sure dave silver's got some of those ready for us to share because as i understand you lost your hair in wcb you lost your hair in wcd you lost your hair in t and a and now it feels like uh you might be getting a new trim i you know i don't i'm going to go back and listen because

i have a lot of very loyal listeners on the show as you do uh and followers and i've had a number of people reaching out to me on social media who have listened to the challenge that you threw out in my response to it well i'm i knew you would say that so sylva you've got it queued up go ahead oh are you kidding me where i lay out the challenge pretty plain here we go just let's make a bet if tony con if c m punk is on the paper view this weekend or he's on the june 17th collision will you shave your head on this program with a hinson razor while you're thinking about it let me just tell you if he does he'll get the best shave of his life you are perpetuating the myth that I

hate on it's not a fact Alex yeah it's not a fact I don't know what we'll do we'll go back to your bet I'll take you up oh as long as if I'm right you do the same I was trying to transition to a spot do you want to say I take stuff personally like this I'm committed to my my beliefs in the things that I say I stand behind them all right fuck it I'll shave all right now here's a deal either one of of us shaving our heads on camera live is not great video right it takes too much time but what i will do is if if i lose this bet i will shave my head with a hanson razor mrs b will take video of it and we'll post that or clips of it and you will do the same

and and yeah let's let's do it and i'll show up on this show with a shaved head if if you're right I'm wrong. You're going to look like Lex Luther and this motherfucker and I'm ready to wear a fucking hat. Man, it's not that big a deal. My hair grows fast. So what kind of hat do you want, Eric? I'll get you the hat.

At least I could do. You know, I would like to take a forensic look at that audio tape. That very well placed or if he shows up at the pay-per-view, pause, pause, pause, pause, collision, I need to know that that wasn't put in in post. The fact that you had this clip ready suggests to me that enough thought went into it that you probably arrived at the fact that this is a little murky, I may be in trouble here, I may have to shave my head.

So here, hey, can somebody do me a favor and just edit in or? Oh, buddy. I don't know. You've been watching too much succession. that did not happen we are not talking about living plus with logan roy but we are going to find a way listen we're having a lot of fun but i say if we're going to have to shave your head and i mean have to because you know you stand on your beliefs and all that other nonsense you said there uh i think we should do it a top guy weekend make it interactive it's right around

the corner and let me see if you're up for this what do you think about instead of me doing it which I admit would be fun because I would join great company. I think Rick Flair shaved your head. I think McFoli shaved your head. I mean, that's half our network. Why not me too? I get it.

However, what if we did it for charity? I think you could pick a charity. You go ask Mrs. B, you guys counsel. We figure out what it is. I already know a charity.

I've got it. So we figure out what it is. And then whoever the highest bidder is in the world, and I understand it's Top Guy Weekend. It's for our top guys. and we greatly appreciate our family over to ad-freeshows.com. However, in the interest of doing the best we can for this charity, anyone in the world can come in and shave your head for a great cause.

I think we could raise a lot of money. Because, man, think about all the people that that could include. What if Tony Kahn himself flew his on private jet in, the top guy weekend, and he wanted to be the one to take that main off? You're just, like, I was so. into it all the way up until that point. Well, here's the thing.

Look, I said, look, here's the deal. I made the bet. If punk shows up, there's a lot of time between now and the 13th. If he shows up, I will shave my head at Top Guy weekend. I got another idea, too. Maybe we should just make this.

If, if, if, if, there's a lot of time between now and the service. There he is. There is. but okay maybe uh maybe we let two or three of our top guys or gals who happen to be there you know pull the name out of the hat or something and they can each take turns shaving my head for charity i like that now i do like that i will say this it's unlikely that tony con's going to be coming because as you know that weekend he's got a friday night rampage show he's got a saturday

night collision show and he's why even bother showing up no one else will sorry i had to I was just there. It was low hanging fruit. I've been out plane for the last 18 hours. I'm just kind of burnt. So I thought it'd be funny. Maybe not. No, listen, I get it.

Listen, I thought it would be so funny that when they announced that the show was in Chicago, before they even announced that Punk was there, I was like, okay, he's definitely there. I won. Let me see how we could have fun with this. And I tried on the low key to book Brutus,

the freaking barber beefcake as a surprise. even a surprise to you and have him come out and cut your hair. And I thought, you know what? I don't know that Eric really likes Ed. That would have been fun for fans, but I don't think Eric would have been very happy with me. Thankfully, Brother Brutai is a book that day. So he's unavailable. So Tony Khan, if you're listening, that's amazing in and of itself. If you want to fly down here to Alabama from Toronto, Mr. Cohen, uh, for, it's for a great cause. And it would go viral seeing a little buzz cut on Eric. Eric, what is the charity that we'll be raising money for? St. Jude. Oh, I love that. Excellent. Excellent. Well, that's when we can get behind. And, of course,

we don't want to get behind and talking about the current stuff in wrestling. So I'm sure we'll be talking about that a little more next week. Um, as it is right now, we've got the big Saudi Arabia show in the rear view, the double or nothing show. Did you have a chance to catch either of those or see any of the fallout or reaction before we, I, I did not. I literally have been traveling and I, even if I would have been home, I probably wouldn't watch it. I might have, but I wasn't able to. Did you get a chance to catch the series finale of Succession? Not yet.

Oh, man. Yeah, we've got one more. It's waiting. I may get a chance to see it tonight. I've got one more ad-free shows thing to do after this is done and then I'll be done. So if I'm not sound to sleep, definitely I'll check it out. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until I get back. I can't wait, man.

It's going to be fun to get your take on that. And of course, Seth Rollins being the new champion over in WWE land. He is your new big gold, uh, provocateur, if you will. I mean, my goodness, like we've got three world titles over there now. I guess there's the Roman events. What's up with that? I mean, what I know you probably don't talk to Bruce about things like this, but if you got any, I mean, does it make any sense to you?

They need somebody to work live events and they don't want to take it off Roman. So why don't I create another belt? So they did, they did a tournament and it was a hell of a good match. And it looks like I guess Seth's first opponent is going to be Damian Priest, which given the job he did at WrestleMania and certainly at backlash, I'm excited for. But yeah, Seth Rollins, your new world heavyweight champion, three titles now over on the WWE side of things. And of course, as folks are listening to this, next weekend will be the debut collision. And we get to see a lot of photoshopps of you balled in between time. But the reason we're here today is to talk about the man called Sting.

And we've talked about Sting a lot on this program, but mostly it was about his time in WCW and not being tan and joining the Wolfpack. But now we're talking about Sting in T&A. One thing we haven't really discussed is what was your relationship with Sting after WCW closed? It was very good. You know, Sting and I became pretty good friends. And when I say that, you know, I'm defined friend. know, um, we would do things socially outside of wrestling, uh, Steve, saying and his wife came out here to Wyoming. He was actually looking at a really nice piece

of property just down the road for me and was really considering, um, we've been out here for a minute, I guess. Um, we got very close. Obviously, you know, the Sturgis stuff. We wrote a lot together and all that. And we kind of, I don't want to make it sound like we got into an argument or anything, but, you know, after WCW, you know, went down, I just kind of removed myself from the world of wrestling. And anybody that knows me really well, including my family, knows that I'm just not very good on the phone. It's really hard for me to have meaningful conversations, personal ones on the phone for more than a couple minutes. This kind of stuff I could do. I can talk to my computer all day long, but just holding that thing up to my ear and listening

to it. It's just, I don't really like to be on the phone anymore and I have to. So I kind of lost touch with Steve and not over an issue or anything like that. We just kind of went our separate ways and did our things until I saw probably, I actually saw Steve on a plane about six months before I went into TNA or even had a discussion about going into TNA. Steve and I just happened to be on the same flight going into Dallas. us and talked to him on the plane. You know, it was very cordial and we were both excited to see each other. And then, you know, let's stay in touch.

And of course, we didn't until I arrived in TNA. Were you surprised during that time, you know, after WCW went down, that Sting never made the jump to WWB? No. No. You know, and thinking about Sting, knowing that we were going to do the show, one of the things that I really recall about him personally. And this was throughout my working relationship with Steve. He's very guarded. He's, I don't want to see he's an introvert, but at least around

the locker room, the venue, he was very, very guarded. Didn't really talk that much about it, to be honest with you. But I wasn't surprised because Steve's thought, I think, I don't want to speak for him. But because Singh was so guarded, I don't want to say he didn't trust people, but I don't think he had a lot of confidence in how he would be used or utilized in WW. I just don't, I think there was always, because he, look, he had a couple of conversations over the years with WWE, but he never pulled the trigger. And I think it was just because he just couldn't get himself to trust the process, I guess, in WWE. He just didn't feel comfortable. So it didn't surprise me. With the conflict in Iran, global markets are on edge.

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sold separately. Sting, of course, was a part of TNA from 2003 until 2014. It's pretty crazy to think about. I mean, an 11-year run, I mean, that's almost the amount of time the dude was in, you know, Jim Crockett slash WCW. It's a really long time. I mean, if you think about it, you know, the professional lifespan of a professional wrestler, especially at Stig's level, 10 years is a career. Yes. You get a good 10 year run. You've had an outstanding career and made a lot of money in the process.

And he spent 11 years in TNA. That's crazy, right? It is crazy. And I'm curious from your perspective was the fact that he was in TNA, did that make it more appealing for you and Hulk in 09? just because you knew his game and his stature in the business and industry? I mean, it was certainly something that we look forward to. I mean, there's story there, right?

There's history there. There's backstory. And we knew that, you know, obviously we could figure out a way to make something work and the chemistry and all that between Sting and Hulk because they got along really, really well. There was a good professional chemistry and a good personal chemistry there as well. So we knew that that was there, but we didn't really think about it kind of on its own. In other words, I didn't pull Hulk aside. So, you know, I know you might not be sure

about this deal, but stings there. Think about that. That wasn't the case. But certainly we knew he was there and hell of a lot of story there and opportunity as a result. I know this is something that feels like I'm just skipping around, but you've said it before here on the program. So I just want to bring clarity and a reminder, you know, and all the time that, that you were involved in say, the business on the T&A side, was it your understanding that still? It's was paid by Spike during your time in TNA? Well, I wasn't involved in any of the business to want to make sure that that's clear. I never heard that.

I didn't really hear about Spike funding anybody in TNA until towards the end of my tenure there. Okay. You know, I got pretty close to the executives at Biocom, Kevin Kaye and Scott Fishman. Got pretty close to them and had got a lot deeper dive into the, the that side of teenage business the relationship with the network and that that's when I heard I didn't know I didn't know that spike was paying for Hulk spike was paying for me till like I said right before the time I left uh you have talked a little bit about staying through his career and just as he was growing as a performer as a human being uh as a businessman etc etc how would

you describe working with him in TNA was, were you guys excited to work with him? Was he open to ideas? Was there anything that you noticed that was different about him? Had he changed from his time in WCW to now? Yeah, he did. And I think I would characterize it as just being more relaxed. I don't think he, I think again, I'm, I don't only hesitate saying these things because I'm trying to get inside to somebody else's head and that's always dangerous. But, um, My impression, my general impression, was that Sting was at a point in his life. And I'm talking about overall, you know, his life was very, he was very comfortable in his life.

Things were going well. He had a great relationship. He had a good relationship with his kids. I think Steve had reached a point where he probably felt much less pressure than he had previously, certainly in WCW. he was just more relaxed and as a result much more open-minded you know would come forward with ideas and in suggestions and not that he never did before but it was just much more freely and open what did you see sting's role as when you're in t and a here is i mean he's never going to be quote unquote just one of the guys right he's always going to be this larger than life

superstar at least that's the way i always saw him uh you know there's a lot of great wrestlers on this t and a uh roster at the time but it does feel like he is he's at that legend status what did you see his role as at the time i mean i think i think jeff has talked about how from a licensing standpoint sting could have been a potential needle mover for some of those deals what say you and again i wasn't looking at at Sting in terms of the business side and what he could mean for licensing and merchandising and things like that. Again, keep in mind, Sting had been there for quite a while before I even showed up. Sting had been there for four or five years before I knocked on the door and said hello in TNA.

So I didn't really think much about that. From my perspective, and again, I was only thinking creatively. I wasn't involved in the other side of things. But for me, you're right, you know, Steve was very much one of the guys. on the team very supportive outgoing friendly would help in any way that he could um but he was still different than everybody else there was still it's like almost like a mystique he wasn't trying he wasn't performing it it wasn't that it wasn't the impression he wanted to give people but um i don't know i saw him as he's kind of the ace in the whole

You know, he's that character that you, if you can come up with a great story for him, the Joker character as an example, if you could come up with an idea like that, that's a fresh idea that you could, we could get Steve interested in. He was, it was very exciting to collaborate with. He had a lot of great ideas of his own, but I never really saw him as the face of the company, and partly because, you know, Steve wasn't working house shows. Not that TNA did a lot of house shows, but his house shows. dates were minimal, if any.

So he was never going to be that guy. That's what AJ Styles and, you know, Jeff and Jeff Hardy. I mean, there were other people that could carry that championship and make better use of it than someone like Sting who really didn't need the title. So Sting was in a way much like Hogan was in WCW, I think, for TNA. And probably until Hulk got there, he was probably the best known person on, on the roster just because of the amount of time he had spent on television at WCW. Besides, you know, Jeff Jarrett and maybe a couple others.

I think Sting definitely had the highest Q factor of anybody on the roster. As we discussed when we talked about the first live Monday impact, which was January 4th, 2010, Sting makes a brief appearance on that show and he's in the rafters. And then he's gone until the first weekly live impact show, which was March 8th, which we discussed a few weeks ago. And that's going to be the big heel turn on Abyss and Hogan. And then he's going to lose to Rob Van Dam in seconds on the very same show. And I've always struggled with why would we turn sting heel? Is it because it was just something new and something fresh and something we hadn't seen in a long,

long time? Partly, and I think part of it, no, again, I wasn't booking. So I can't give you all of the details, but I think from a, I guess just an observational point of view, I think Sting felt like, much like he did when he started when he started departing from the flat top crew cut platinum blonde guy with all the glitter and he started gradually letting his hair grow out and quit dying it and all that before the crow character ever became a thing. I think I think Sting was just getting a little tired of the same character, which I understand. You You know, you're a performer. It's fun to go out and give people what they expect and get the reaction when you do and all that.

But doing the same thing over and over and over again and the same character over and over and over again just gets to be a little mundane. And I think same probably reached a point where, okay, we've got all these new people coming in, new things going on. We're taking another run at this thing. Let's do something different. I'm guessing that's what it was as much as anything else. the story after this is Jeff Jarrett trying to get an answer as for why Sting would turn his back on impact and eventually in early April Jeff confronts him in the rafters and a camera is following along and we see Jeff shouting where are you at sting jerry found sting and attacked him knocks him down a couple of flights of stairs and yells I want an answer and I want it tonight and then Taz is asking why does sting have to answer for anything eventually sting makes a come back, they fight back on the final flight of stairs and then they fight all the way down the ramp and eventually Jarrett gets the advantage, knocks Sting into the ring and starts

shouting, I want an answer and the crowd is chanting why Sting, why? The lights go out and when they come back on, Sting has a baseball bat. He hits Jarrett with it several times. Jeff Hardy's music plays and makes the save and then Sting bails out and Rob Van Dam joins Hardy. I guess the big idea here is to build towards Gerrit and Sting is that just we think sounds like it yeah sounds like like it do you think Sting was it was reluctant to be a heel or excited to try something new I got the impression that he was excited you know it was look it was TNA right you're you're wrestling in front of the same 450 or 550 people that are there every single time you shoot a show so it's not like being in a venue with five six eight nine 10 20 30 thousand people

Right? So the energy is different. You know, the reaction is different. So I think, yeah, I got the impression. I'm thinking back on it now. He was, he was very engaged, you know, very collaborative. How you tell if somebody's really into a character or not or into a story or not is how much they invest themselves into it by adding to it or asking questions or contributing in any way. And Steve, Sting was very, very active in that process. was this what you considered the highest and best use of sting like i understand that you know at times that we can there's a sense of sameness and it can get stale but i just wonder you know sting as a heel i don't know that it ever really worked for me i mean i love

the bad guy characters it's just hard for me to i don't know it would be like rickie steing out it's not believable is it it's not it's not it's not it's not it's It's not really, you can't allow yourself to fully invest in that because something in the back of your mind is saying, this doesn't feel right. You know, it's not that he did a bad job. It's not even that the creative wasn't great. I think if there was anything, it was just he hadn't quite fully developed as that he law. It's just enough to the point where the audience could forget all those years when he was staying. at lockdown in the lethal lockdown match sting would head up team flair even though they would lose

to team hogan the story continues with him and jirot and in sacrifice they get their singles match and it's sting versus jeff jarratt but when jeff's music plays he doesn't walk out and the cameras backstage show that sting has attacked jeff charit with a baseball bat blooding him up in the process and the referees tell sting to take it to the ring and mike tennay says he's known sting for more than a decade, and he's shocked by his actions. He tries to pop Jarrett's shoulder out of its socket. Tenae says it's painful to watch Sting like this. Sting's going to drag Jarrett to the announced desk and rub his blood on the format sheet,

then ram him into the security railing at ringside. Then he throws him into the stairs, and then he finally drags him in the ring, hits the Scorpion Death Drop, and scores the pin. And Mike Tenaum commentary is going to say, Sting has lost his mind. Sting leans over, tells Jera, he wants to play. of the deception game he's not different than those guys and he's not paying the and he's paying the price tonight today said just when they expect answers from sting they get more questions and then everybody's going to come down to try to tend to uh to jeff jerrett and meanwhile

sting is just pacing back and forth in the ring as they put that's a cool shot if you're why if you're able to watch along with us on youtube that's a very cool shot of jaret down and covered in blood and referees and doctors and looks like jeremy borash perhaps and then in the background there's there's stings standing there looking over his right shoulder with his baseball bat's really cool shot it's just amazing you know what we're seeing here i mean a straight beat down and we're showing a character that's kind of unhinged what do you think the idea was what is what's the story we're trying to tell him where are you a fan of it um it was it was a fan of the idea because it gave us a new character instinct, which what does that give it?

It gives you more story potential, fresh story potential, different matchups. All of those things are important. Yeah, I mean, generally, yeah, I was excited about you. But in sitting here thinking about it now, you're asking these questions. Oh, gosh, I'm going to be really careful how I say this because I really don't want to hurt Jeff Jarrett's feelings because I don't mean this to sound like it's going to come out. But I think part of the problem, yeah, I want to call it a problem. I think part of the reality of the situation between Sting turning heel is turning

heel against Jeff Chirot. In order for Sting to be a real heel, he had to be taken out a real baby face. and nothing against Jeff's Jeff is an amazing performer and I understand psychology I've listened when Jeff was in TNA and I was in TNA one of the things that I always look forward to

was sitting down with Jeff in a production meeting and giving him the matches that we were going to be producing on that episode that required the most psychology because sometimes matches didn't require a lot of psychology But if this was a story, if a match was to evolve a story or move a story forward or whatever it may be and there was a complicated story in that match, I always wanted Jeff sitting in on that because Jeff can lay out a match better than a lot of people I've ever met and worked with.

With the conflict in Iran, global markets are on edge. Oil prices are surging. Volatility is spiking and the U.S. dollar is under pressure. isn't a distant headline. You're feeling it at the pump in your grocery budget, even on your utility bills. When uncertainty rises, many Americans turn to physical gold and silver, tangible assets that have protected wealth for centuries. And with gold recently topping $3,300 an ounce, experts believe the upside is just getting started. That's where preserve gold comes in. They make it simple to get started and offer real support every step of the way.

Right now, they're giving away a free wealth protection guide. Just text iHeart to 50505. Plus, you could get up to $15,000 in free gold or silver with a qualified purchase. Don't wait. Text iHeart to 50505 today and take the first step toward protecting your savings. Okay, so for the final trivia question, what is the largest mammal in the world? No phone's allowed. Sir in the orange, phone away, please.

Um, my kidda smart smoke alarm sent an alert through the ring app. Okay, sure. No, there's smoke in my house. Yeah, right. A smoke alarm texting you. That's a new one. See, the train monitoring agent is calling now. Hello?

The Kid a Smart Smoke alarm sends real-time mobile alerts in the ring app. And with a subscription, emergency help can be requested even when you're not home. Well, okay, back to trivia. Now, seriously, you and the green, why are you on your phone? Blender texting you about a smoothie recipe? Visit Kidda at k-d-de.com to learn more. A compatible ring subscription is required for 24-7 smoke and carbon monoxide monitoring sold separately. But I don't, and he was a phenomenal heel.

I just don't think anybody really bought Jeff as a baby face. to the same extent as they bought him as a heel. He's a great heel character. I just don't think his baby face character ever claked. And without a really powerful baby face, somebody that's really over, genuinely over as a baby face, it makes a heel turn less significant. I love that immediately,

Sting and you are going to get involved on television. In May, we're going to see you announce the top 10 rankings. and there's even going to be a podium that says T&A top 10. And you announce that Sting is number one. But you're going to tell Sting that he's going to face Rob Van Dammit slam aversary next month. But first, he'll face Jeff Hardy tonight because he's got to prove that he deserves to be the number one contender. And Sting is calling right now to make sure that he gets his shot. Sting is eventually going to knock down the podiums that are saying top 10 on him.

he's going to jab you in the leg with the bat abyss is going to run in and sting's going to jab him with the bat hardy's going to run in yank the bat away you're going to be limping along at ringside they do a little stare down hardy's going to slap sting sting's going to kick hardy between the legs rob vendam's music plays and with sting distracted hardy nails a twist of fate i guess we're trying to make sure you understand he's a bad guy he's attacking officials he's attacking the top baby faces, you got to do all you can to make sure that fans boo sting. Like, I don't know, to your point, you know, Jeff Jarrett has been a bad guy most of his career. Jeff Hardy almost never a bad guy, universally loved. If we're going to cement that Sting is a bad guy, he's got to

beat up on the widest of white meat baby faces, no? Absolutely. No question about it. And we, You know, there was a great roster of, I mean, he had AJ styles in there that easily could have been a great matchup, and I'm sure it was a couple times over. But, yeah, between AJ, Jeff Hardy, as you pointed out, there were some great baby faces there. Makes me wonder why they didn't start out with Jeff Hardy. and because I do think that Jeff Jarrett as his first opponent as a heel

I just don't think that was the best choice I think perhaps if it would of course even the problem you have with Jeff Hardy you can't get promos out of them short ones but not the kind of promos that you really need to carry something like Sting and Jeff Hardy for any length of time

let's do a sidebar here what do you think about top 10 rankings and wrestling like as a kid I loved it man I flipped to the back of Pro Wrestling Illustrated and see who was the top 10 in the NWA who was the top 10 in the WWF that was that was fun as an adult I know how important it is and say college basketball or college football like I love that I'm waiting for the rankings every week but for wrestling I don't know like I appreciate that AEW tried something with the whole you know we're keeping record now, and so there's win-loss records and all that. I don't know that it's really hit the way a lot of fans maybe thought it might. Where do you stand on rankings and wrestling? On one hand, I really like it because it gives you, it's a tool.

It gives you a framework. It gives you something if you need to, to talk about. It can be controversial. People can argue over it. You know, you can keep the audience engaged to whatever extent you're, you're willing to. So in that regard, I like it, just like it, you know, it's like the authority figures, right? Now, it's been done to death, honestly, for the last decade or two, it's been done to death, but it's a necessary evil. It's always existed.

It's not that, you know, the authority figure or even the heel authority figure necessarily is a new idea. They just used to be called different things, right? Right. And in AWA was Wally Carbo. You know, he was the final say, you know, even though Vern was running things. And booking it, but Wally Carbo was there when you needed him, when you needed that authority figure to come in and make a decision

or make a match, an important match, or anything else that requires a significant announcement. That authority figure is important. And I think the same thing could be said for something, like, and I love the idea when Tony announced that they were going to keep track and it's going to be scoring and keep tracks and wins and losses, my first thought was good luck with that. It can be done, but the minute you start going down that path, you limit your creative opportunities because all of a sudden things are not going to make sense. You're going to have

to stretch too far to make that idea, to be able to execute on that idea for to have any long-term credibility or integrity is a storytelling device. But I was curious if they would have been able to figure out a way. It can't be done, but I was really curious to see if they'd figure it out. And clearly, you know, they didn't. It was a short-lived experiment, I think. But I do like the idea of that. I like the idea of some kind of device, storytelling device that you can use to create conflict

or create competition. It can be used very effectively, I think. We should mention Sting would face Rob Van Dam for the World Heavyweight title at Slammaversary. But of course during the match, Jeff Jarrett returns and calls Sting the title. And after assaulting Jarrett from behind on the June 24th episode of Impact, T&A president Dixie Carter would suspend Sting for 30 days. Is this just trying to make the best use we can and have a storyline explanation for limited dates for Sting? do you think? Probably had something to do with it. Yeah. Did you notice a difference like ratings

wise or business wise when Sting was there or not there or was it not moving the needle? And it was just good for licensing? Do you think? You know, it's a great question. And I really, I'm shooting from the hip here. I'd have to go back and look at ratings. But my, my impression is that TNA's ratings were pretty stable regardless, you know, take the January 4th, had to head stuff, you know, put that off to the side, but if you just generally looked across the board, the T-D-A ratings were pretty, they were pretty solid. They were where they were. They weren't growing much, but it was the, the numbers really weren't as dependent upon which talents were on the show or not, if that makes sense. We should mention that Sting is going to come back,

to impact in August. He's going to join up with Kevin Nash against you and Hulk. Quote, Hogan then said to Nash that there's no more coming for paychecks, no more minimum effort for maximum money. He said the smoking mirror days are over. And Hogan talked about how Nash's whole career is all based on politics. Nash then laid out Bischoff.

Hogan starts firing away at Nash. Nash retaliates and is about to power bomb him when Jeff Jarrett makes the save. the save and sting comes out with orange face paint which today noted was the wolf pack colors sting hit jarritt with a bat shot to the gut and head and sting hit hogan with the chair to the head is this too much inside baseball smoking mirrors maximum pay for minimum effort is this too dirt sheet do you think yep yeah very much so very much so and that's that's and i don't mean this is a criticism, but that was Rousseau's go-to. Yeah.

Um, he leaned into that inside baseball dirt sheet, you know, online chatter as a storytelling device. And I have to, too, I did, but not to the extent in as consistently as, is, is I think Rousseau did. It feels like we're building towards Sting and Hogan again, which we obviously saw a lot of in WCW. Well, Sting, you know, you talked about when Hogan first came into WSW. W that Rick Flair was one of the few people that he really trusted.

Did he trust Sting? Is Sting one of those few people he trusts? Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Let's talk about Bound for Glory. We got Sting, Nash, and DeAngelo De Niro defeating Jarrett and Joe after Jared turned heel by leaving the ring and having Joe wrestle alone at the end of Bound for

Glorious revealed that Sting had been right about Hogan and Bischoff all along as they turned heel with jera and jeff hardy and abyss as they and in the process turned sting nash and an arrow back to being baby faces this has been discussed a lot amongst t and a fans on social media the whole they angle i i know you kind of probably liked that idea at first but i'm wondering in execution did you still like it or am i off base and you never liked it no i leaned to it. I liked it. But even just hearing you kind of go back and frame that, too many moving pieces and it happened too fast and without sufficient reason. There was no why. It was a mystery. And part of that we wanted, you know, the whole idea of they is a kind of a spinoff of who's

the third man. I've always, I believe after the NW and the success that we created with that, it was obvious to me that any time you can get the audience asking questions, then you've got them. And I don't think we provided enough food for thought to get people to really invest in that story because we just did too much too fast with too many people. Well, if you're looking to do too much too fast with too many people, can I recommend doing it with a real hard ding dong? Today's episode is brought to you by Blue Chew. It's going to help you do it with a lot of people really hard, really fast for a really long time. Remember the days when you were always ready to go? Well, now you can increase your performance and get that extra confidence in bed.

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That's bluechew.com. Our promo code is 83 weeks. So get your first month free. Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank Bluechew for sponsoring the podcast. Eric, are you going to have to negotiate with Mrs. B? When she goes to snuggle

up with you, I don't know, we'll call it late June. And you're just as bald as a baby's bottom on the top of your head. Like it feels like you might be needing to prove a point. Maybe you should bring some blue chew down here to Huntsville for Top Girl Weekend. I never leave home without it.

Oh, there you go. Blue Chew. As long as my wife's with me. As long as my wife's with me. Well said. Well said. Look, I, look, Bluetooth isn't something I need, right? No.

Something you want. It's just something that enhances everything. So Mrs. Bee will be thrilled whether I'm bald or not. Trust me. High degree of confidence when it comes to that. on the following episode of impact sting and nash are going to refuse to join hogan bischoff and their new group immortal after the promo they walk out of t and a but nash left the promotion for real and sting was taken off tv as his contract expired at the end of 2010

were you and hulk handling any negotiations or business deals at any point was this all spike and dixie no it was all i was all dixie i don't think any anybody knew that spike was financially involved until like I said towards the end of my tenure there and I certainly was not and neither was halt neither one of us were had any conversations with anybody about contracts he would sign another deal and return in February to become the new world champion as baby face by surprising and challenging Jeff Hardy so he's out at the end of December he's back in February bam he's a new world champ and as a baby face and of course that leads to the infamous match at victory road which we've

covered extensively in the archives but man this just feels kind of out of left field is he a good guy's he a bad guy all right he's a bad guy he's gone wait no he's not a bad guy but he's going okay now he's back and we're glad he's back he's a good guy and he's the champ but he's a good guy who just beat our top good guy this is a little confusing for me er it's more than a little confusing it's it's a clown car of creative is what that was well as we know the whole victory road debacle which we've covered in our archives over at 83 weeks on youtube dot com next up sting would continue to be champ before putting over mr anderson a slam aversory you know we've heard a lot about unselfish performers and then we've heard other guys say and then he rubbed his foo man

and chew and said that doesn't work for me brother would you categorize sting as being selfish, too unselfish, right in the middle, just right? What type of performer was he when it comes to helping other talent get over, would you say? In a general sense, very, very generous, very generous, probably borderline to a fault. But on the other hand, and this was not because he wasn't generous or because he wasn't a team player, but sometimes, now this was more in WCW than TNA, Sting was very cautious. He really liked to think things through.

He's one of those guys that you sit down and you can have a conversation with, get a little, get excited about it, you know, a storyline or an idea or an angle, whatever you want to call it. And before he'd fully commit, he'd go home and think about it for a day or two. You know, he could never get him to commit right off the. bat when it was something big or something you know long term he had to really think about it and analyze it was cautious um there were times i think in t and a where i saw glimpses of that but very very seldom he was almost too generous really you were involved in the finish costing him the match as the hogan sting program seems to be getting back on track did you ever

I mean, this era of Hogan is really the end. I mean, he's going to be wrapping it up here. And I think a lot of people, I mean, it's almost a forgotten little footnote that his last match was in T&A in a non-televised event across the pond. Is that weighing on Sting that, hey, this Hogan's not the same Hogan of 97? And this might be it. Is that a lot of pressure for Sting, do you think? to, I don't know, pick up the slack and also honor the biggest legend the sport ever had

at the same time? I don't think it was pressure, Conrad. I think it was, and this is classic Steve Borden and being generous. I think Sting was motivated, knowing that it could very well be any one of those outings could have been Hogan's last time in the ring. But I think everybody was aware of that. And I think of anything, it, it motivated Sting in a little different way. I mean, he wanted to absolutely put together the best match he could with Hogan

if he was indeed going to be the last person that Hogan wrestle. I don't think it was pressure though. I think it was more passion than pressure. Let's talk a little bit about what's next, because over the next few weeks, we see Sting displaying a more maniacal character. It feels like we started that. with him being unhinged the prior year. But that was 2010.

This is 2011. And it looks like we're going to be borrowing from the Dark Night movie, which had the Joker character portrayed by Heath Ledger a few years prior. I guess it was 2008. A new version of this Sting character. And here's a little recap from the June 16th, 2011 impact. Sting walks into Hogan's office and Hogan says he's going to follow Sting's contract by the letter of the law.

and he'll give him the rematch he wants against Mr. Anderson. Quote, I'm a man of my word, brother. Sting asked if the real Hulk Hogan is back. And Hogan said he is the real Hulk. He asked if it mattered to Hogan that once all the wrestlers worship the ground he worked on, he asked if the talk of praying and taking your vitamins was just for the money.

Is this the legacy you want to leave behind for Brooke and Nick? He asked. And Hogan blows up. That's enough. That's enough. Hogan asks, who do you think you are? And Sting says, I'm the Stinger. And he yells that he's not finished. He shoved everything off of Hogan's desk and says he wanted to leave. He starts calling him Terry and shoves him into the corner and said he could put the facade on his face for him.

And it got weird here and he goes into the Joker mode. Hogan leaned back into the camera view and revealed that Sting had drawn red face paint all over his face. this is different what do you think i loved all of this and i know it's weird but and we're looking at these still images and what you're not getting is the vibe if you don't hear that dialogue in the back and forth between sting and hogan in that scene it does just seem like weird like somebody was um acid right when they were writing this but if you see it in it's full form. You see that video. It was pretty cool. And Sting made it. We're seeing a really interesting transition of that Sting character, right? We saw Sting, flat top sequence. We saw

that in WCW for a long time. Then we saw that Crow character for a long time. We're still seeing that Crow character in a way. But this was another level, another dimension to that crow character. And it definitely was. And we borrowed or ripped off. I'm surprised we didn't get sued by somebody actually or teen aiding get sued but i really liked it i liked his performance he did a lot of really cool stuff in that joker character a lot of really cool stuff the next week you call him out you go down to the ring and call sting and ungrateful son of a bitch and call him down to the ring and he comes out and you say hey man you snuck in my office last week to have a one-on-one with hogan while i was out taking a leak and sting is going to mock cry whatever shall i

do going into like a Jim Carrey mode and he tosses over half a dozen insults around and you're going to warn him that hey eventually the real Hulk Hogan is going to surface and or he warns you and then you say no that actually just won't happen and on July 14th he's going to get a rematch against Mr. Anderson on Spike TV and he can change that by putting him in a match against the best tonight so he won't show up in any shape to win any belt from anybody and then he chokes and punches you in the corner spreads red makeup all over your face and puts you in the scorpion death lock you had spent a lot of time around sting you know from the early 90s all the way through the end of wcw this is a character unlike any other who was enjoying it

more you or him oh it would have to be him i i i enjoyed it vicariously through him because i knew what kind of a rush he was experiencing. And I could just see how much fun he was having. That's, man, when you can, when you have the privilege to work in the ring with somebody that's absolutely having a blast and nailing it, I don't care if you're a referee or a cameraman or, or you're outside the ring, ready to ring a bell, man. It's, it's fun. And I was just watching Sting have so much fun with that character.

Again, it was something new for him. it was a challenge you know sing always wanted for a long time sing wanted to be an actor he studied acting i helped i executed produce and helped fund um an independent film that he did um and he really studied acting seriously and i think that this gave sting an opportunity to pursue that that different dimension of that sting character crow character in a way that got him really really motivated and excited. I, talking about it, thinking about it now, it's like, well, why did we ever depart from that? Because that was an awesome character. It could go either way. That's a character that can, could be a heel very easily or be a baby face. It was such a cool character in that

regard. Let's, uh, let's talk about July 14th. We're going to get an episode of Impact Wrestling. Sting is now going to be dubbed the insane icon. And he's going to regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for Mr. Anderson after Fortune and Kurt Angle disguised as the clown minions would attack each member of a mortal preventing them from interfering in the match. So it actually goes down where they're going to have some bizarre mind games and one of them is going to involve you. You're going to be sitting behind your desk backstage and you're going to be talking to bully Ray, Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Mr. Anderson and Scott Steiner.

And you're going to tell them that the network has informed you that it's up to you to build this brand and brand the X Division based on the success of the Destination X pay-per-view and hire more X-Division wrestlers. Eventually, everybody's chiming in and you say, but wait, there's more. And Sting walks in with a big cage draped in a black cover. And Hogan's asking, what are you doing? And Singh says he's just making the rounds. and he straightens out a picture of Hogan on the wall

and then put the cage on your desk talk to me about I mean listen Hogan says Ben this is dangerous territory and Sting's going to prop his feet up on your desk Kieran's going to say he's crazy Sting says I've always had a great relationship with the network and well talk to me about this

what do you remember of this again because I've seen that clip that's a that's a popular clip it ends up in my timeline you know half a dozen or more times a year for whatever reason and every time I see it I smile because it was just fun to do that's the only it's the only thing I can the only way I can say it it was mostly improv you know you're working with a bird and that's always a pain in the ass because you don't know for sure how the bird's going to react but Um, the bird did his job or her job, not sure what it was. Birds come with pronouns, so I can't screw that up.

Um, yeah, it was just fun, man. That's all I can say. It was fun. I was seeing a dimension of, of that character that was so fresh and fun. The bird thing is this all just leaning into the 1997 thing you did on nitro with the big, I got a thing with birds, man. I got a thing with birds, man. And I just, you know, Alfred Hitchcock, the birds, one of the, I remember watching it as a kid and it freaked me out.

I just hate those bastards in the movie. It's just, wea, wea, wah, wah, wow, wow, wow. It just, man, it makes you want to joke them. Now, I don't know where the idea came up. It was probably a Russo idea, but I liked it. It was a good idea. And it was, you know, obviously playing off of the previous. bird experiences that we had was seeing in WCW.

But it was just a cool prop. It was interesting, different. Sting goes on to lose the title of Kurt Angle on August 7th, the hardcore justice after Angle, hit him with a chair, brought to the ring by Hulk Hogan. And Sting continues to torment the head members of Immortal with this strange new personality.

And on the August 14th episode of Impact, his longtime rival Rick Flair would make his return to TNA and challenge him to a match. I mean, this is as old as the day is long. And it always worked. You know, once in a time you went to pop a rating TBS and T and TNu. Hey man, just put Hogan in there with Sting and ta-da. Sting agrees to put his career on the line in the match in exchange for Flair promising to deliver him his long-awaited match with Hogan. Should he be able to defeat him,

of course? And the match with Flair takes place on impact. Sting gets the victory. And now we're continuing to build this Hogan story, and the idea is Hogan's agreeing to hand T&A back over to Dixie Carter, should Sting manage to defeat him? What do you think of the build for Bound for Glory here? It's October 16th, Sting and Hogan, and Sting's going to get the win. That brings Dixie Carter back to power. After the match, Hogan turns on a mortal, helps Sting overcome the odds in his battle, and this is really the last high profile match of Hulk Hogan's career and of all the people

it could be with it's with Sting what a vote of confidence that is no certainly is certainly is and just listening to the setup of that story you know again the whole control of the company was tired even then whatever year this was that we're talking about 2010 probably 11 It was a tired storytelling device at that time. But we went with it, we stuck with it, and, you know, sitting here and listening to it back today, it's just, you know, I regret that. I would have had influence over whether or not we did this because it involved Hogan. But I let it happen. I was involved.

I collaborated. I was just as guilty as anybody else for using an old device that really wasn't resonating. But it ended up with Stiggin Hogan. It is pretty cool. Iconic wrestler Kevin Von Erick just announced his first public tour. The show titled Stories from the Top Rope will feature Von Erick sharing insight into his career, personal triumphs, and tragedies. Stories from the Top Rope will go on sale June 2nd at EmporiumPresents.com and will offer a very limited number of VIP tickets, which include a meet-and-grreet and photo op.

Von Erick, now 65, will be the subject of a major motion picture Iron Claw, which stars Zach Efron in a slated for release later this year. See Kevin Von Erick live September 1st in Dallas, September 2nd in San Antonio, September 3rd in Corpus Christi, September 5th in Houston, September 6th in Shreveport, September 8th in Oklahoma City, September 9th in Amarillo, and September 10th in Midland. Tickets on sale at Emporium Presbyron Presents.com. With the conflict in Iran, global markets are on edge. Oil prices are surging, volatility is spiking, and the U.S. dollar is under pressure.

This isn't a distant headline. You're feeling it at the pump, in your grocery budget, even on your utility bills. When uncertainty rises, many Americans turn to physical gold and silver, tangible assets that have protected wealth for centuries. And with gold recently topping $3,300 an ounce, experts believe the upside is just getting started. That's where preserve gold comes in. They make it simple to get started and offer real support every step of the way. Right now, they're giving away a free wealth protection guide.

Just text iHeart to 50505. Plus, you could get up to $15,000 in free gold or silver with a qualified purchase. Don't wait. Text iHeart to 50505 today and take the first step toward protecting your savings. Okay, so, for the final trivia question, what is the largest mammal in the world? Reminder, no phones allowed. Sir in the orange, phone away, please? Um, my kid a smart smoke alarm sent an alert through the ring app.

Okay, sure. No, there's smoke in my house. Yeah, right. A smoke alarm texting you. That's a new one. See, the train monitoring agent is calling now. Hello? The Kidda Smart Smoke Alarm sends real-time mobile alerts in the ring app.

And with a subscription, emergency help can be requested even when you're not home. Well, okay. Back to trivia. Now, seriously, you and the green, why are you on your phone? Blender texting you about a smoothie recipe? Visit Kidda at KIDT. DE.com to learn more. A compatible ring subscription is required for 24-7 smoke and carbon monoxide monitoring sold

separately. It's really cool when you think of, and you've told us before, just how hurt Hogan was and how much pain he was in, that he wants to do it one last time and who better to do it with than sting. um melzer would say once the ring was cleared of all but bischoff sting and hogan they looked at each other and then turned to bischoff they lifted bischoff bischoff begged for mercy hogan wound up and punched him the crowd cheered they showed dixie cheering tearfully at ringside hogan said i'm back and teney said the real hulk hogan is back and hogan asked sting do you want to go

and instead sting played to the crowd and asked them to cheer for hogan dixie cried at ring side as today said sting said he wants Hulkomania back and a loud chant of hogan hogan breaks out sting and hogan shake hands raise each other's arms today and sting said they shouldn't believe they're up and they praise the referee jackson james who'd he ever beat uh for doing the right thing in the end and not succumbing to the pressure this has to be I'm not going to say this is a huge moment in your career

with all the success you had on Monday Nitro. However, the guy who was really the franchise for WCW, the company you enjoyed the most success for, Sting, the guy who really turned the industry upside down and became the lightning bolt

that everybody rode for the highest success in the 80s and the 90s, Hulk Hogan, and one of your best friends, and you're in there and oh it's we're not done the kid who was once in the wcw magazine commercials dressed up as sting your own son is the other guy in the ring this is as cool as it gets man it it's one of the things i'm i'm very very grateful for and for my time in t and a because to be able to have that opportunity and i know we've talked about it before with with garrett you know

once I knew I couldn't talk about of getting into the wrestling business to be able to be in a position where I could help him and get him an opportunity and then watch it all kind of happen not only in front of my eyes but in the ring with me it was awesome it was awesome very grateful for it's it's something to see man I um you know I'm sure from a business standpoint yeah there were there were higher water marks but from a personal standpoint this is about as a 10 of a 10 days you can get i mean afterwards are you guys all just going to the hotel bar and drinking a bunch of beer together and saying can you believe we're getting paid for this that's exactly what we did that's exactly what we did yeah that it was it was an amazing time and you know i remember there was

there was one other time when it really dawned on me and i don't remember which episode it was was, but there was a scene where I was going to confront Garrett on the ramp and he was going to struggle with whether or not he was going to keep taking my abuse or not. He was conflicted. And then he just did that old John Wayne fade away, turn around and punch me right between the eyes. And I remember before it, now my son, my son's a black about martial arts. He's much better than I was, actually. So I wasn't worried about him knocking me out or anything. And he had been trading in the ring. He'd been trading by that time for probably a year and a half for two years. Started out at Rikishi School in L.A. and then worked in Florida for a long time. So I knew

he had the skill set. But I was afraid that he would, because I was his dad, he'd hesitate a little too much. He'd pull the punch just a little too much. And I wanted it to look good. And I I remember standing backstage in a grill, and I said, no, Garrett, you've got to really hit me. I'm not that great at selling. I can still, it's just make sure you hit me right between, you know, up here in the forehead between my eyes, kind of stay away from the teeth, but just lay it in there. And after I had that conversation, I thought, what a weird, what a weird position. Now, son, I want you to hit me really freaking hard because I want to really go down because I'm not good at faking it.

You know, it's weird conversation, but it was fun. It's super fun to think about you as a dad getting to do this with your son. And, uh, it is sad that this joker gimmick comes to an end soon after this moment. Do you think there was more juice left in the tank for this Joker persona? Absolutely. I for the life of me, can't figure out. I'm sitting here racking my brain while I'm answering questions. but I'm thinking about why the hell did we let that go why do we let it die right be a reason

I don't know what it was but there had to be a reason because it was a much more interesting character than even crow stick right had more attention to it had more room to move you know because he had the the use of dialogue right in in stings interviews prior to the the joker character they were still good Sting's always been, you know, great on the mic, but they were kind of one dimensional for the most part. And this Joker character version of the Crow character, um, I think it was just way more interesting because it had more room to move. I absolutely love that sting character, the crow. And I think the Joker, you're right, had more potential upside, but that's not what we did.

Almost immediately, we have Sting being promoted by Dixie Carter being in charge of TV. And I understand this was popular in this era. Oh, we need to have an authority figure. Oh, let's make it our top guys. So it would be the Hulk Hogan's and the Eric Bischoff's and these established legends. And now it's Sting's turn. But man, it was just so fun what we had. I don't know.

It doesn't feel like Sting should be in charge of the television program. Not that he couldn't do it, but the character running it. I don't know. It just makes no sense, Conrad. How can you be the renegade and you're the boss? That doesn't make sense. It makes no sense whatsoever. You know, especially when you think about it because now you've got Dixie.

You've established Dixie Carter. We all know. She owns the company. Yes. Buck stops with her. And then you're going to give control over everything that we see and hear about to any performer. Why would she do that? It goes back to the why of it.

You know, if you don't have a believable, plausible why to start your story with, and you can stretch it. You can stretch why into, you know, you can take some creative liberty. You have to. But you have to start with that basic nugget of potentially true. It's got to be something that could actually happen. And there's got to be a motivation. There's got to be a why.

This had no why. Just jumped right into the story. Here's Sting. Here's TV. Half, three quarters of the audience and wouldn't even know what that means. Right. Right. What does it mean?

I've got, I'm in charge of TV. What does it really mean? No explanation. You know, no journey through the process. Never got to look at, you know,

Sting struggling, never made that part of the story. We just threw it out there as a shiny object. Do you think that's a function of trying to do so much programming? like you know you go ahead i'm sorry you and i have really talked glowingly on this program about how much we enjoy succession and that means there's like you know 10 or 13 episodes a year but here man there's 52 episodes and they're two hours and in some cases like a monday night raw they're three hours inevitably you wind up not always being able to put your best foot forward

and you just wind up throwing shit against the wall and seeing what sticks. On some level it becomes a function of we've got to feed the beast. So we've just got to keep creating content. And it feels like at times that's what we see wrestling companies do. Did it start to feel like here? Because you just made a great point about, hey, Sting's in charge of TV. Well, what does that really mean? And there's no real journey.

There's no real story. It's just, okay, well, Hogan had it. Now what if Sting had it? And that was it. And it's like, well, let's see what happens. Talk to me about that. I think it's a combination of too much content, but in TNA's case, that wasn't really the big deal, right? They only had two hours.

It's not like they were, it's not like WCW when we had three hours on a Monday night, two hours on a Thursday night, pay-per-view once a month, 200 house shows a year. It wasn't that in TNA. I think a lot more. had to do with the fact that there just wasn't really good storytelling going on in TNA. I don't think, you know, Rousseau wasn't the best storyteller. He thought very short term. He thought hot angles. He thought extreme type of storytelling devices, you know, Viagra on a poll kind of nonsense.

But in terms of structured long-term storytelling, that wasn't his forte. And I, other than the Aces and Ates, which I was pretty much mine. I really wasn't fully engaged in the rest of the storytelling that went on in TNA. I was involved in it. I had voice an opinion about it, but that was really, and this applies to the good stuff that happened during that period of time. If you think there was good stuff as well as some of the stuff, not so good. I certainly was there and I could express my opinion, but unless it involved Hulk directly or probably me,

all I do is give an opinion. Rousseau was really, for a good portion of that time, not 100% of the time, because Vince had his moments and had to go home and pouch or whatever he did. So there were periods of time when I was more involved creatively. But I just don't think there was a disciplined approach or commitment. That's what it was. There just wasn't a commitment to structured, long-term,

or even mid-term storytelling. It was really kind of week-to-week. Well, Sting's going to wrestle a few more times before getting into a feud with Bobby Rood for the T&A title. And eventually he inks another contract extension with T&A. He winds up being the first man inducted into the T&A Hall of Fame. Hard to agree with that between himself, Kurt Engel and Jeff Jarrett. I mean, no doubt he's a Hall of Famer. Do you think it was a big deal to Sting to be inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame?

I don't know. I think if it was, it was really because of his relationship with Dixie. I think Sting really, really liked Dixie and vice versa. There was a lot of respect there. And beyond just a superficial professional relationship, they were, they were very close. They were friends. and for that reason it probably meant something because it meant it meant a lot to Dixie and I think by default then it meant a lot to Sting as a result

Sting of course is going to be a major part of the Aces and 8th story I guess you really need his story or his star power rather to get this group over when they take him out I mean if you're trying to make a statement you go after the biggest name you can, right? Yeah, well, we had Hogan in our sites, creatively speaking. Sure. But to start that story out with Sting, it would be better. What was your relationship like with Sting when your time in T&A ended?

Still good. You know, still good. And as far as I know, it still is to this day. I'm pretty sure it is. I just ran into somebody that had recently read in this day and talked about that. Yeah, you know, regardless of what happened business-wise, especially between T&A and myself or even WCW and myself, it didn't affect our personal relationship at all.

I think, you know, now I don't know how Steve feels now. You know, he's experiencing, you know, kind of a rebirth, if you will, of his career. Tony Kahn has given seeing an amazing opportunity to go out there and tell his own story and write the final sentence of the last chapter and his professional wrestling performers book. And I think that's a wonderful thing. And I think Sting's enjoying every minute of it. You know,

if he's, Singh's going to be in the UK in front of 60 or 70,000 people or whatever it ends up being, that's going to be a real high point for Steve at this point in his life. But up until this point in his life, when he's having the opportunity to kind of relive, if you will, something that was very important to him, I think Sting would have told you that being a part of the launch of Nitro and being a part of the NWO story and all of that in the Crocatcher, I think he probably looked at his career, that being the highlight of his career, at least in some respects. I think Rick Flair putting Sting on the map was probably the first real high point in his career. But that period of time in WCW when we were rock and roll and we gave birth to this croak, you know, Sting character, I think that was probably one of the happiest times, professionally

speaking in his career. And I think he looked, and I was a part of that. I helped make that happen for him in a small way. Steve did it. He was the athlete, the performer. But everything that we did gave him an opportunity. to rise to a level much higher than anything I think he ever thought he was capable of reaching in WCW, not because of Steve, but because of WCW.

Were you surprised to see him finally join WWE in 2014? It had been a long time coming, man, 13 years later. I wasn't surprised. I was really happy for him. I lost my enthusiasm, not my enthusiasm, but I, I, I, I started to get a little bit concerned when it was going to be a match because I just didn't, I wasn't convinced that Steve should be doing a match because the injuries, his age, having been off for a long time,

there are a lot of odds that are stacking up against you, no matter who you are. I would have been a lot happier to see him get inducted into the Hall of Fame and get his just due and respect that he deserved. and kind of leave it at that regardless if he would have gone over or not going to that that to me that didn't matter nearly as much as is this is this how you want people to remember your last match and i i was disappointed in that but getting inducted into the whole fame no i wasn't surprised i was very happy for him for that part of it were you shocked to see him debut with a e w and my man's taking all kinds of crazy risk he's jumping off of mezzanine levels

on to folks like this is uh it's almost like sting and perhaps dust and roads they found the fountain of youth dude yeah i was surprised that sting wanted to work again in the ring i mean doing it a long time same with jeff charrett you know i admire the hell out of jeff jerrett i and certainly sting for the same reason man it it's one thing when you're in your 30s and 40s and even your 50s, early 50s, to get in there and do what Jeff and Sting and others are doing. I mean, it's physically tough, but it's just the process. It's a big commitment. And I was really surprised that Sting would take one more run at it.

I was happy for him. Clearly, he was doing something he wanted to do. And I applaud anybody that's able to pursue their passion and do so successfully. man, I was like, I can't believe he wants to get back in right then. You got the injury issue. And instead of just coming out and working around it, he's flying through the air with the greatest of ease. I'm just like, what the hell? What are you doing?

What's in a water down there, Texas, Steve? I'm going to move there. What do you think Sting's legacy in the business will be? I think he'll, he'll, I think Sting will go down is one of the. more diverse and still popular characters. You know, I mean, when I say that, you know, you look at Chris Jericho and he's reinvented himself so many different times and he's been very successful with it.

But if you look at the level of success that Stings had during certain aspects of his career, WCW, early WCW, after Rick Flair put him on the map and WCW put a rocket out of him, that was an amazing character, an amazing time. And Steve reached a super high level of performance. and then he transitioned late 90s he's a crow character and how he's doing what he's doing to be able to entertain millions and millions and millions of people over decades it's just one hell of an accomplishment and i think sting will go down is one of the more exciting energetic and interesting performers out there well i'll tell you what the uh the thing

that people knew sting for in the california area once upon a time was not being an in ring general was not being the flag bear for wcw against the rival nw o they knew him his real estate steve and my mission here at save with conrad dot com and buy with conrad dot com is to get you into a house of your own no more renting it's easier than you think my most recent review over at conrad reviews dot com is from a fellow name austin and brandford florida and he wrote Clint was super nice and easy to work with. Never knew you could buy a house with just text and emails. Man, we make it so easy to buy a house.

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We've got realtor connections all over the country to help you get a great deal. We heard from real estate, Steve. Let's hear from a new real estate friend right now. This is Granon with Keller Williams Infinity right here. in Sweet Home Chicago Land, and I'm thrilled to be partnering with Save with Conrad to bring you the absolute best home buying and selling experience right here in the city and suburbs of Chicago. Hey, everybody has an opinion about the housing market and where it's going, but always remember, context is king. Real estate is hyperlocal and finances are personal. So before you make any

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We want to get some folks out of their apartments, Eric, and into brand new houses, and it's cheaper than they think. Yeah, out of their apartments and into a house and maybe walk away from a lot of those credit card debts. And I mean, there's, there's ways that you can make this thing happen for yourself. And it's, you know, you drive around, you listen to the news, you read the newspaper. It's like doom and gloom. And oh, my God. gosh, you know, people aren't going to be able to afford this or afford that, but I encourage people to reach out to save with Conrad and take a good, hard look at what you really can do and what you can't to you. I think you might be surprised. Listen, Eric, you know, I appreciate you said that. There's lots of speculation on, but this might happen or that might happen in sort of doomsday prepping tarp advice in the financial sector online. But I just want to ask you this, Eric, if you don't mind me asking, because you just recently celebrated a birthday. How many years young are you now?

68. So in your 68 years walking God's green earth, how many times have you personally experienced this conversation or have you heard of a landlord approaching a renter? And they said something along the lines of, you know what, Mr. Renner? We've met about it. We've talked about it. We've prayed about it.

And we've decided we're going to lower your rent next year. Have you ever heard of that ever? rent always goes up guys that's the story rent always goes up so there's this discussion about should i buy now or should i wait until the rates here's the reality it's a less competitive market right now you can get a better deal than you ever could the last few years right now and interest rates are going to go up and down guess what that means your house payment can go down and that's up to you but your rent will never go down it will always go up because historically home values just go up and up and up find out how easy it is your new house payment could be less than your

current rent at save with conrad.com so listen let's do a few questions then we'll put a bow on this one yam bag jones wants to know well sting ever tan enough to win the t and a title as much as he did sorry i couldn't help myself uh yeah i sting's tan game was pretty solid by the time he got the t and a course he knew that hogan and i were coming in and i'm sure he started working on his to him based on previous experience. Yes, he learned. Tam free. You know how that works, right? Yes. Yes. So yeah, I think Sting's tan game was definitely on point in TNA. Uh, Mr. Lopez wants to know. What is it about the Crow Sting character in your opinion that's made the character relatable to the audience decade after

decade after decade? That is interesting because he's still kind of sporting the same version of this crow character. He debuted in 96. I mean, we're nearly 30 years deep in this thing now. I wish you would have said that. Wow. I don't know. Maybe it's just, it's the mystery of it, I think, to a degree. That character just has the ability, depending on how you use it and portray it, to be that secret, dark, brooding, scary guy that you know is going to explode at some point. You just don't know when and where.

And that's an interesting dynamic for a character. And I think part of it is just the legacy of it. You know, people, Sting Crow, WCW, 97, 98, whenever it really got caught fire, I think was one of the most exciting aspects of Sting's career. And people remember that. It's the same reason that people listen to the show and Bruce Pritchard's show and Arne Anderson's show because that nostalgia and people's relationship to those characters and even professional wrestling as a whole at that period. in time in their lives, it's still something that resonates and put smiles on people's faces. We got some questions from our ad free shows family. I want to give a shout out to everybody who showed up and showed out for us. We had a heck of a crowd tonight. Little Jimmy Sorensen,

shout out to you. I don't know you don't get to attend a lot of these. Mick Mack was here, Bryant was here, Josh was here, and Josh has terrible ideas about hair shavings. Jeremy Priest was here. shout out to him. Man, we can just go on and on. There's so many folks here. Greatly appreciate you guys all checking in. Of course, we always advertise. Man, you get the shows early in ad free over at ad free shows.com.

Does it get any earlier than being a part of our live studio audience? And as a matter of fact, there's bonus content each and every month. So much so that as soon as we finish this live taping, I mean, as soon as we finish this, you're going to be sitting down and hosting a super fun live chat over on adfree shows. com with buff bagwell yeah that's going to be a blast i'm looking for you know evan asked me uh the other day if i could do that tonight and i knew i was going to be getting in late but it's like you know no matter well i'll just fire up the coffee maker and pound a half a gallon of coffee and do that show because i'm really looking forward to and it's so much fun interacting

with with our our family over at every shows because we get a good turnout well thank you guys for checking out our show today i hope you'll subscribe to our youtube channel that's 83 weeks on YouTube.com. And of course, you get all these shows early and ad free over at ad free shows.com. By the way, it's easy to grow your business by advertising on this program. If you'd like to advertise on 83 weeks, it doesn't get any easier than just going right to our website. Advertise with Eric.com.

If you'd like to hear Eric and I have a little fun with your spot like we did with our bluechew spot today. And next week, man, we're going to have some fun talking about Great American Bash 2000. And what a stinker of a show. was oh good oh i can't wait i can't wait here we go again a human torch match eric hogan versus kidman rick versus david flare father versus son and so much more that's coming your way next week but before we get out of here i want to ask you a question that our our fellow micmac he's a member of our ad free shows family he asked in various ways why did you never make shutter speed two

and I had to go look up what in the hell is shutter speed and it turns out it was a movie that came out on television in the year 2000 an hour and 26 minutes Steve Borden aka Sting is going to play a character named Riley Davis and Daisy Fuentes is going to be playing Kenzie Pearson and yeah so it's like a Seattle police detectives narcotics and homicides and homicide division and Sting's right in the middle of it. I know that you like to make, you know, content for Hollywood and things like that. And Sting certainly at least dabbled in it here with Shutter Speed.

Did you see Shutter Speed? What did you think? And did you ever consider working with Sting on a Hollywood type project? I think I was the executive producer of Shutter Speed. What? I had no idea. I think so. I'll go back and look.

I think I got, I think I got executive producer credit for that one. Wait, you're not sure. no oh my god you're right you and jason hervey were the well the executive producers i i love that you have i'm not sure if i was executive producer on that or not you know i am 68 what the hell eric you just forgot yeah well that that's that's pretty impressive tell us about shutter speed um i think we we produced that i worked with peter goober and his company mandalay entertainment Madelaide is a very, very big movie studio, by the way. Peter was a former CEO chairman of Sony Pictures, USA.

So Peter has a long and very successful career in Hollywood, making movies and television. So it was an opportunity to do something for Steve because I wanted to help his career. I wanted sting to, you know, part of the, one of the reasons I was able to hold on to sing, perhaps, and maybe he wasn't quite as interested in jumping ship, was because I was able to, help put deals together that allowed Sting to be a part of a show like Shutter Speed. So I helped create those opportunities outside of the wrestling ring. So that's what I remember. I was very happy. It was a good thing for WCW too. It was important to me to prove to the network that our talent roster was diverse enough

and talented enough to do things outside of the ring for the network as well. And this was a perfect example of it. I can't wait to talk more about your time in Hollywood. I feel like there's so much left to learn there and discuss. But next week, boy, are we going to have fun? If you like podcasts or we make fun of bad wrestling, tune in next week.

Oh, you're such a dick. WCW in the year 2000 was accurately described by our great close personal friend, Tony Chivani, as a coffin on roller skates. And we're going to see how fast. we can get downhill next week right here on 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. Fight Plus is the ultimate digital platform for live sports and entertainment, and they're now offering a free seven-day trial at tryfight.com. Fight Plus is packed with a premium live event schedule over 1,000 hours of live action every

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Hey guys, need to call a quick timeout here Wanted to tell your listeners What I've been telling my listeners over at OU didn't know for a while now About all the cool things happening over at ads-free shows.com On a bonus episode of Arne, the Enforcer watches back Beach Blast 92 with the Ultimate Heel and Baby Face in Rick Rood and Ricky Seenboat. Draw me a baby face, something that everybody could get behind.

Kids, women, old folks, young folks, men, you know, all guys wanted to be him. Women, I'm sure, wanted to be with him. He was the all-around package. on volume 55 of the Ask Conrad series Conrad talks about some of his dream podcast partners including a couple of degenerates you know from inside the business and taking over and NXT and all that

I don't think you could get a better podcast partner than Triple H there just because he's done so much however if you're talking about wanting to learn more about the psychology of wrestling and what makes a match and how to develop talent and all that could you beat Sean Michaels That's just a small taste of what we got waiting for you

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