83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 283: When Eric Kissed Linda

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff and host Conrad Thompson discuss all the ins and out leading up to SummerSlam 2003, that''s including Eric's infamous kiss with the chairman's wife, Linda McMahon! The guys also cover, Kane's unmasking, Steve Austin not being able to wrestle anymore, Eric working for the company, and Kane setting JR on fire. All that plus, the latest financial news involving the WWE possible leadership restructuring. GAMETIME - Snag the tickets without the stress with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code WEEKS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. 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. FACTOR - Head to FACTORMEALS.com/83weeks50 and use code 83weeks50 to get 50% off.  MANSCAPED - Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code 83WEEKS at Manscaped.com.  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 STARRCAST VI - STARRCAST VI - Don't miss a moment of the fun and excitement planned for Starrcast VI! Starrcast VI is coming home to Chicago this Labor Day weekend September 1st through the 3rd. Grab your bracelets and bundles now at STARRCAST.com SAVE WITH CONRAD - Stop throwing your money on rent! Get into a house with NO MONEY DOWN and roughly the same monthly payment at SaveWithConrad.com ADVERTISE WITH ERIC - 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 FOLLOW ALL OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA at https://83weekslinks.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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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'm doing well. Man, I'm excited to be back with you. We have been looking forward to recording today's episode for a few days now. Man, there's so much going on in wrestling. Our topic today will be summer slam 2003 but before we get there i feel like we should at least touch on some high points of what's going on current day you know we've spent a little bit of time talking about the bloodline storyline have you seen the latest wrinkle that uh j uso now says he's out of the bloodline he's out of smackdown and he's out of wwe i saw a lot of people online saying man this is a great

story and i saw other people who were maybe negative about it thinking okay i'm excited about it again. What did you think of that little twist? I'm excited to see where it goes. It's a unique twist, one that we haven't seen. It's not part of the standard professional wrestling storytelling repertoire. So it's going to be very interesting. I was kind of disappointed in the main event at SummerSlam. I think that for me personally, it was the least entertaining or compelling part of summer slam i just fell flat to me for some reason you know i'm not quite sure what a tribal combat match was or is it really wasn't explained very well at least not to me and it ended up looking just like a kind of a i don't know no dq gimmick match yeah i don't know

just it left me flat and this is definitely an interesting twist so i'm i'm really excited to see where it goes lots of rumor and innuendo about what rickishi might be doing uh i think a um a graphic was tweeted over the weekend or this past week that showed that perhaps he was going to be doing an autograph signing and it was in the same town as the next paper view and on the same day or the morning of or some such so now people are wondering maybe it's going to be brother versus brother with their dad as the special guest referee, but this bloodline story seemingly has a lot of mileage left. I'm still not sold that Heyman was doing anything other than just being a character when

he says that this story is bottom of the third, but still lots of fun stuff with the bloodline story still to come, I'm sure, and as a result, the business has never been hotter, and I know you talk about that every week with strictly business with your pal John Alba here on the program in this same feed. You can catch it every week. But Somerslam was a real high watermark. You know, the ninth highest gate of all time for WWE,

the highest non-Ressomania of all time. And they had the most sponsorship revenue of all time. So $8.5 million at the gate and they nearly double it with $7 million in sponsorship largely from Rocket Mortgage and Slim Jim. Now it feels like, man, that's the thing even on the AEW side of things. Our pal Jeff Jarrett this Wednesday night is in a Texas chainsaw massacre match against Jeff Hardy.

Of course, it's a video game installation. And I think that's a great sign for the business. And I can't help but be encouraged that, you know, WWE setting new records everywhere they go ticket wise. I think NXT had his had their highest rating in years. What do you attribute so much of this momentum to WW, too? Great storytelling. You know,

there's nothing else for me at least there's nothing else to point to i think the bloodline storyline has re-energized the fan base it's it's made the product more interesting more compelling it's turning into must-see tv every week and it to me it always comes down to story it it really does well the story behind the scenes is that the w stock closed this past week at an all-time high i can't believe that's real They were over $114.14 bucks, an all-new high-closed price. And this is big business, obviously, for WW. If you take a look at their chart, man, it seems like it's just up, up, up, up.

What was it? It was like three years ago, Conrad, I think, I was sitting in your office in Huntsville and watching the WWE stock just crater. I think it got down to around $40, $41 a share at one point. and I was convinced, you know, that if it, if it fell below 38, I was going to have to do whatever I needed to do to buy some up. I don't think it ever got below 30, 38, 37, but I never did buy in. I wish I would have.

And you look at where it is now at 114 and change or where it was the other day at 114 and change is pretty amazing. It really is amazing. And it seems like the news just doesn't stop out of WWE land lately. Of course, they have recently. recently revealed when they did their earnings call that Vince still has some legal trouble headed his way. I think he's on a medical leave of absence right now. He had to have some sort of surgery. But this past week, the rumor started to persist that, hey, they're going

to have this deal closed, this new merger, if you will, with UFC to create this new company with Endeavor in September. That sort of caught me off guard, Eric. I think I have some friends in the mergers and acquisitions side of things. And they sort of indicated to me when this was first announced the day after WrestleMania that this was probably a deal that they'd be lucky to get done

by the end of the year. And I didn't really have an expectation of how long that would be. I didn't think it would be something that could be doing and say 90 days. But the idea that it might happen next month caught me off guard a little bit. Would you be surprised

if they actually pull this off next month? not really you know for i think we've talked about it or at least i talked about it on strictly business when the news first broke that uh we kind of expected it before the end of the year it it doesn't surprise me really it's two very big very sophisticated companies that are very very well buttoned up which makes that process go a little smoother a little faster so personally i'm not surprised at all well a lot of uh people are wondering what does this for Vince and our pal Brandon Thurston over at Russellnomics tweeted out this past week Vince McMahon will own about 16% of TKO that's the new parent company and the same

percentage of votes as expected the 10x voting per share for the McMahon bloodline which allowed Vince to control 81% of WWE and let him force his way back into WWE in January while owning about one third of the shares will be no more So now Vince does not have these super votes, I guess, and he's, I guess maybe for the first time since 1983, Vince McMahon's going to have a boss man. He's not going to be in total control. And with this new legal rumbling, that makes me ask the question, what do you think the future of WWE looks like? Like, who's really going to run WWE? And I think the other thing that caught a lot of people off guard this week is when they started to reveal. what the new board would look like and it looks like for the first time since 2015 Triple H is not going to be on that board

I caught some people off guard so what do you make of Vince no longer having 81% of the voting power if you will and at the same time Hunter's name for the first time since 2015 not being associated with the board that one doesn't surprise me much

I mean when you look at the composition of the board, the people that are on it. These are people that have extensive experience in managing, building, operating publicly held companies, large corporations. You know, Triple H is much experience as Paulovac has in the industry. He has very little experience managing a publicly held corporation. It doesn't surprise me at all. I'm still, I'm sure that Paul Vec has a very important role. I'm sure that he'll maintain that. I think he's doing a great job based on what I can see.

I'm not there. I don't know on a day-to-day basis what it's like working under Paul Vec. Bruce Pitcher could probably speak a lot more to that than I can for sure. I don't see Polovac going anywhere, but it doesn't surprise me that he's not on the board. What I'm really interested in in terms of the board's composition is who's that last person that's going to be named? There's one more person to be named to the board, at least the last time I looked yesterday. Curious to see who that's going to be. I hope it's going to be Stephanie McMan.

Stephanie has got, has a lot of experience and she's done a great job. Kind of on the, on the forward-facing end of WWE for several years. She's very smart. She's very sophisticated. She knows her way around a boardroom. She knows how to deal with media. I would not be surprised if it's, Well, everybody's going to be paying attention to that.

I mean, with the new all-time high of that stock price, they have a market cap right now of like $9.5 billion. And so the company is worth more now than Endeavor paid for it. They paid $9 billion. That's worth $9.5. That's pretty cool. I thought they paid more than $9. Either way, it's going to be interesting what happens in the coming years.

with WWE or even the coming months because Brandon Thurston noted with a tweet a few days ago and this is not really a surprise you and I talked about this as soon as it was announced but the Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel added that plans are underway to create some cost savings and some synergies and those are really buzzwords that mean layoffs And I don't know that that necessarily affects talent, but you got to assume there's probably some duplicity between the UFC and WWE when it comes to, you know, booking buildings or marketing or dealing with, you know, licensees or what have you.

How big of a shakeup do you think this will be for WWE? And do you think almost accidentally A&W might become the beneficiary of that? I mean, you got to think if there's long-time WW employees who've been there for a long, long time and have all that stability and they're vested and blah, blah, blah, they probably weren't going to be lured away to AEW anytime soon. But now if they're available and suddenly find themselves on the outs, well, I'm familiar with the wrestling business. That could really help AEW in the long term.

Could it not? Possibly, you know, when you, you not only have experience. talent on the operation side of WW. And there probably is some duplication, whether it be in marketing or any administrative capacity. You know, you've got two big companies with a lot of administrative talent. And there's, as you pointed out, there's going to be some duplication.

Yeah. And it's a matter of keeping the best and letting the rest go. And some of those people that let go, yes, they have a tremendous amount of experience, but the other thing they have is context in the industry. and potentially a big upside for AEW. Some experienced talent going to be going to be cut loose, I'm sure. I'm really excited to see what happens there.

I'm hoping that everybody gets to keep their jobs. I mean, that's not something anybody wants to celebrate. But there's going to be a lot of celebrating here in just a couple of weeks. Less than that now, we are in the home stretch for all in. And I'm sure you've seen that they just passed the SummerSlam 92 record and the WrestleMania 3 record. They're really close to, and by the time people are listening to this, they might be over 80,000 tickets.

What do you think of the way they've started to announce some of these matches for all in? It looks like we're going to have Adam Cole and MJF in the pre-show wrestling a tag match for the Ring of Honor tag team titles, and then they're going to wrestle again in the main event for the world title. That's an interesting idea, I suppose. I don't remember seeing anything like that. What do you think of that?

I think it's stupid. Okay. I don't get it. I, it, it, look, it, I don't know what else to say. I think it's stupid. I think it dilutes the interest in, in the main event. I don't understand why they're doing it, other than to showcase ring of honor, whatever. We'll see.

You know, wait, see, it's, it's unique. I'll say that. It's unique. unique it is it's going to be interesting to see you know what that looks like on the other side i'm pretty excited to see the show i mean it's such a big show and one of the things i think is interesting is the whole discourse about the show i'll never forget jim cornet on a shoot interview with uh sean oliver several years ago they were breaking down 1997 and they talked about the royal rumble how through 95 and 96 wcw was was really gaining momentum and the w wf was losing momentum

and they were not necessarily selling out huge arenas or domes and now all of a sudden they're going to run a dome you know after they haven't attempted a dome maybe ever at that point or certainly in a long time 10 years maybe it's been a long time and they were going to run it in san antonio sean michael's hometown him and sid on top for the world title and he said sometimes you have a card so big that you need a stadium and sometimes you have a stadium that needs a card and what I found interesting about that is they just you know they took the whole field of dreams if you build it they will come it worked out to be pretty successful not nearly what all in is going to be though and it feels like

the build for this pay-per-view fans even on social media have been really excited to see wrestling inside Wembley Stadium it's almost like Wembley became the star of this show. Like, it wasn't they announced Hulk Hogan and Andre the Jaya and then boom, 80,000 tickets were sold. They announced, hey, we're coming to Wembley and they sold 80,000 tickets.

And now they're announcing the matches. And I saw an interesting idea a few weeks ago from Bully Ray that said, what if you don't announce any matches? If there's no expectation at all, then anytime the music kits, people go bananas because they're excited to see it, I think that would work for In the House.

I don't know that just the build by itself would sell the pay-per-view, but as I say that, I have to admit, they sold 80,000 tickets without really announcing a match. What do you think of that strategy? And is it a little interesting that wrestling fandom has allowed people to get so excited that they just want to see wrestling there? It almost feels like a Super Bowl in that regard. Like, I know a lot of people who get excited about going to the Super Bowl, and they're not even fans of either team. It's just, I want to be here and experience the Super Bowl. Does this feel like the Super Bowl of wrestling in that regard where it's not necessarily

the two best guys and it's not Hogan Andres, what I'm saying. It's, we want to see it here. No, I think that's one of the most interesting aspects of All In and everything that's going on with regard to Wembley. If you remember, I think this event was announced prior to CM Punk officially, you know, making his return. Yes. And I was pretty vocal about the fact that I hope.

that they don't advertise CM Punk. I hope that AEW is able to, I hope, I should say, when I brought this up months ago, I was hoping that AEW would sell out or maximize their sales without having to depend on any one piece of talent. In other words, the brand AEW is the star of the show, not necessarily any featured performer on it. And I think it's fascinating.

Yes. It really, really is fascinating. fascinating to me on the business side of things that AEW could sell that many tickets without announcing a match. I think it's great, by the way. I think it's great for the AEW brand. Yes. I think it's going to resonate in a very, very positive way long after the event is over and when everybody's back in the U.S. And they're producing their weekly television shows, I think the success provided, it's a successful event.

And I'm assuming it will be pretty sure it will, is going to resonate very, very, very, well for the AEW brand as a whole because it's not CM Punk it's not MJF it's not Chris Jericho it's not staying it's not any one talent it's the brand if you will and all of the above that's drawing and I I hats off to AEW like I said fascinating is the only word I can come up with you know the one thing I you know I mentioned this the other day I'm strictly business the one thing I hope is that The creative side of AEW, who's ever running it, who's ever the head of it, Tony, if it's Tony,

recognize that the biggest star on this show is going to be the audience. That's the talent. That's the star that you really have to maximize. And by that, I mean, manage the emotion of that crowd. Keep that crowd on the edge of their seats and keep them engaged because the more engaged that audience is, the more emotion that's created within that ring and the more it manifests with a loud, engaged audience, the stronger the impression is going to be for the AEW brand.

So I'm really, really interested to see how they format this event and the kind of creative and the kind of execution that we see in the ring. Is it going to be a typical AEW show where there's a lot of blood and gimmicks and chairs and ladders and whatever, or is it going to be a more traditional presentation that's designed to really create drama in emotion beyond the blood and guts of it? So I'm hoping for the best. Like I said, the biggest star in that show is going to be the 80 plus thousand people that are there watching. That's what's going to leave people watching at home with the strongest impression is going to be the audience's reaction.

more so than the finish of a match or who advances in that type of thing when you were first launching nitro i know you did a study and and you got feedback about what fans really wanted and you created a sarsa formula you've talked about it here on the show before but it has been a little while since we've discussed it can you remind everybody what sarsa stands for yeah it's a story anticipation reality surprise in action kind of like the five elements that you know sitting and listening to focus groups and and by the way i was behind it you know one-way mirror i guess or two whatever it is i could see out but they couldn't see the focus group couldn't see that i was sitting there right taking notes and listening and the one common thread you know that i heard and it didn't matter because these focus groups the composition of these focus groups were very specific the research company that Turner used at the time did a great job of identifying lapsed fans, people who identified as fans of wrestling in the past kind of faded out of it, didn't really watch

it too much anymore, but used to watch it. And then there was a segment of that focus group that were active fans, generally would watch, if not every week, every other week, and we're for the most part, you know, fans, but not overly engaged. Then you had your hardcore fans that watched everything they could find on television. And then you had fans that just didn't watch anymore. And these focus groups were comprised of people who were WCW fans, WWE fans of both, only watched WWE, only watched WCW.

So there was just such a great mix of a fan base there. The one thing, and it really wasn't one thing, the Sarsa Formula really was a result. of listening to what these diverse fan bases appreciated or in some cases used to appreciate about professional wrestling back in the mid-90s. And that's where the Sarsa formula came across. It's always been about story and character. Anticipation is something that I just kind of realized that, you know, the more you look forward

to something, the more you generally can enjoy it once you get it, right? The reality was the reality component of the Sarsal formula was just something I believed in firmly. You've got to, which is another way of saying, you know, get the audience to suspend their disbelief. Yes. And it's the same for a movie or a television series or anything. If it's compelling enough, if it captures your imagination, you're engaged enough, you forget that you're watching scripted programming or a movie, for example. surprise is the one that I really really that was the one that was the most evident to me the common denominator amongst all those different fan bases and different ages of fans

the one thing they all said no matter what part of the country we're in is they love the surprise element you never know what's going to happen in professional wrestling that was the one key ingredient that I heard over and over and over again And it was one of the reasons why I brought Lex Lugar back. It was one of the reasons why I brought Lex Lugar into Nitro, the way I did was because of what I've learned in those focus groups. And then the action speaks for itself. It's a, you know, it's a scripted combat. So you've got to have the action to help support the story and the anticipation and the reality and the surprise.

If you don't have great action, you know, you're batting four out of five. So that, that was the Sarsia formula. It worked really well for me. I knew you were going to land on the big word surprise, and that's what I wanted to ask. You know, you're going to have 80,000 fans here. You've said pretty clearly, and I think this is honest, the star of that show is going to be the crowd. Just in the way that even the tickets were sold. I mean, we didn't announce all the matches and we sold almost all the tickets.

So my question is, do you think there's going to be some, I mean, if you were booking this, you'd have a couple of big surprises up your sleeve, right? And does that look like Goldberg? Does that look like Sasha Banks? Does it look like something else? I mean, it could, right? I think Goldberg would be a big surprise. It would be exciting.

I would get a kick out of seeing that. That would shock me. And if it is Bill Goldberg, I think everybody's done a great job keeping all that quiet. Yeah. So I think Goldberg would be huge. Sasha would be huge. I mean, let's be honest.

A lot of the talent that's in AEW currently, former WWE talent, it's a pretty significant draw. You know, the fans in the UK are going to be able to see some talent live that they haven't been able to see since they were in WWE. I think that is going to, that is a big part of the draw. I think, therefore, someone that was a huge star in WWE over the last couple of years, whether it be gold, Berg, probably more so Sasha Banks.

She was more of a regular part of the WWE, the bill was. But either one of them would be a huge surprise. I think Sasha would be great too. Well, I'll tell you what, it's going to be exciting to be in that building. And if you haven't yet got your tickets, don't stress. Game time is here to save the day. This has been a real game changer for me and a lot of my friends. I mean, let's be honest, we're all busier than ever.

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you'll get $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code weeks for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed so eric our topic today is summer slam we just had the highest grossing summer slam of all time as i understand it it was the most watched w w event ever on peacock except for this year's night one and night two of WrestleMania. But in 2003, everything looked a little different at SummerSlam, including you wrestling Shane McMahon. I can't believe that's a real thing.

When you were first told the idea is you and Shane at Vince McMahon, I mean, you and Shane at SummerSlam, what's your response? I mean, you never fancied yourself as an in-ring performer. You're a television character. And now you find yourself in the confines of a wrestling ring on. you know, the second biggest event of the year besides WrestleMania. What did you think of that? Me and Shane McMahon on pay-per-view. I was excited about it. I've always liked Shane. He's so

intense. He's physical. He's passionate. And he's talented. So I you know, I was a little concerned about, you know, what is it I'm going to be able to actually do in that ring because I never did learn how to wrestle and how to perform. I typically when I got into the ring, I was just there to get my ass kick and pay off a storyline. So I was a little concerned about what I was going to do. But I knew I was going to get an ass kicking. And I knew I was going to get it from Shane McMahon.

He's, I don't want to say stiff because that's an understatement. But I was excited about it. It was a great opportunity. I know there would be a lot of focus. I don't know there would be a lot of story backing it up. So I was pretty excited about it, to be honest. What was your relationship like with Shane?

I mean, we used to see Stephanie go on TV and talk about how, you know, uh, you guys tried to put my family out of business, all that stuff. What was your real life relationship with Shane? All I've ever heard is that man, he was cooler than the other side of a pillow. I, I got along with Shane from day one. You know, I remember the first conversation I had with Shane when I literally first, probably not the first night that I got into to WWE when I showed up and was announced as a general manager, but I think it was probably the following week. Shane was there

and it was, you know, probably three or four in the afternoon, which is kind of a quiet time, a little bit of a break in the action. And Shane was down at ringside and I went up and approached him and said, Shane, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be here and look forward to working with you. And we had a great conversation. And we got along from the moment we first started talking to each other. I didn't sense any of that. You know, there were some people like Stephanie, I think, probably still to this day, it's a little bit of a, I don't want to say resentment, but there was always the underlying

current of, this is the guy that tried to put my family out of business. Stephanie didn't necessarily go out of her way to try to hide that. And I appreciated that because it was honest. It was, she wasn't phony about anything. I never got that impression with Shane. I never sensed that Shane harbored any resentment or baggage from the past, so to speak, with regard to me. It's got along great.

We'd go out after the shows, occasionally not all the time. But occasionally we would go out and have a couple of cocktails and laugh and joke just like you would with anybody else. So I get along with Shane great from day one. A lot of respect for Shane. Well, here's how we get started. You're going to force Kane into a mask versus title match with Triple H.

It takes place on Raw from Madison Square Garden on June 23rd. Kane loses and unmasks. What do you think about Kane losing his mask? I mean, he's been wearing a mask since he was first introduced in 1997. We've only ever seen him that way. We've been told he wears the mask because he's been horribly disfigured. When he unmasks, if you're watching on YouTube, you see that haircut and boy that must have been brutal in real life i mean imagine just walking

through an airport or the walmart with your wife with that haircut uh that's what that's what hats are for oh my goodness what um what did you think of that creative we're going to unmaskane you know it's it's a it was a natural progression of the story it kind of made sense and it was a lot at stake there right creatively speaking If indeed the King character had been horribly disfigured and wore that mask to hide those injuries and keep it from the world and all of a sudden now he's being forced to reveal this horrific disfigurement. You know, it's kind of extreme for a story, but it was a good story. It was great stakes. I enjoyed it in the makeup and everything that they did to Kane to make it believable when he became unmasked.

I thought they did a great job. I thought Kane did a great job. What a classy dude, by the way, Kane. Glenn Jacobs, what a great guy. One of the smartest people, just in terms of his understanding of history, his knowledge of world events, he's a very, very well-read, very intelligent guy. Used to have some great conversations with Kane.

well the character cane is now going to lose his mask and go nuts on his partner rob van dam so we're seeing him spiral into a mental breakdown i suppose and over the next few weeks on raw we see cane just going crazy so to speak and you've got to deal with it all on your own because you're co-GM at the time steve austin he's off it all starts the next week on june 30th and buffalo and it's a memorable night for you for many reasons you tell Kane early on in the night who's got a towel over his head so we don't see his face that in the name of ratings Kane has to go out there and he refuses and you offer him a world title shot he still refuses then you give the shot to Rob Van Dam and tell Kane if he

doesn't go out in front of the crowd he's fired you're all over this show um when did you realize or or who on the writing team realized man we can count on Eric in these different segments to be a strong television character. Did you have an ally or an advocate and were they bouncing ideas off of you or saying what about this and could you say it like that? And what was the process here? Because you're all over these shows when you watch them back. You know, I never really got involved in the creative side of things.

I really showed up and usually it was Bruce Pritchard, who was the guy producing me in charge of my segments. I would show up and Bruce would say, here's what we think you're going to do, usually about noon or one o'clock, just to give me an idea of the direction of what I was going to be doing. And I knew between usually noon and five that it was going to change somewhat. It would be modifications to it. But my only contact really was Bruce. I never was a part of a creative meeting. Vince never brought me into the office and sat me down and ran things by me or needed it to anybody else other than Bruce.

and then it was just a matter of taking the information that I was given, the script I was giving and trying to figure out a way to make it work. In terms of, you know, being all over the show and being in different situations, you know, I had pretty much done that in WCW, you know. To me, it was just a day of work. It was just a normal course of things. I didn't really think about it too much. I didn't even realize how much or how little I was on any show, to be honest.

I just did the work. It's the only way I can say it. We mentioned Rob Van Dam. He's in this segment. This seems crazy. But Rob was just wrestling on TV this past week. And we also announced that he'll be at Starcast. Of course, everybody else will too here coming up at the end of the month.

Chicago, September 1st, 2nd and 3rd. We'll talk about Starcast a bit in a little while. But were you surprised to see Rob Van Dam wrestling in 2023 on TBS? I mean, that dude seems timeless. he was pulling off moves he did in the 90s and it didn't seem like he'd lost much of a step man it's really incredible to see he's he's a fast and by the way it's interesting all all three of us got all three of us were put in the uh wwee hall of fame at the same time the same year 2021 wow uh cane rob and myself that's i just realized that as i'm sitting here looking at some

of these images uh but with rob you know i was i was at an event and i don't remember where probably four or five, six months ago. It was an independent show. Rob was on it and we shared a locker room and Rob was stretching and he is in such phenomenal condition and he really, really takes care of himself physically, which is what has allowed him, I think,

to be able to continue not only performing but doing some of the crazy stuff that Rob is known for. He's done a great job of taking care of himself physically. I thought he was good. I thought he was going to retire, though. I thought I heard rumblings from Rob himself where he was really considering just kind of walking away from active, you know, wrestling. So to that extent, I was a little surprised that he showed up at AEW. But, you know, I'm very happy for him.

Anytime someone that's been in the industry as long as someone like Rob has or Steve Borden has, Chris Jericho, I get a special kick out of watching them still being able to go out there and perform. maybe not to the level that they did 10, 15, 20 years ago, but still at a very, very high level. It's quite an accomplishment. Does anybody really ever retire in wrestling? Doesn't seem like that, doesn't it? It's hard to get rid. It's hard to walk away from.

It's hard to, I've said it before in the show, man. Once you go out and you're surrounded by three, four, five, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80,000 people. and you're in the center of that ring and you're performing and your your your job is to create emotion it's like this really cool exchange of energy you know you're in there you're in the ring busts in your ass performing doing the best you can the audience is reacting to that hopefully and in rob's case they will for sure but that that exchange of energy not to sound too cosmic that that energy exchange is something you can't get that anywhere else and it's hard to

walk away from and that's probably one of the reasons why I enjoy seeing people like Rob who've been doing it for so long still be able to go out there and get that rush it's it's unlike anything else and by the way I also wanted to do a shout out I know this doesn't really fit into the conversation at this point hoping that we're going to see Randy Orton again I've started to really miss Randy Orton's performances. I think he's one of the coolest, smoothest, most talented people to step in a ring in the last 10 or 15 years. So I've shout out to Randy. I hope his back issues are under control and he gets back into the ring so that Randy can enjoy one more run,

whether it's a month or two months or six months or four or five years, whatever Randy wants to do. But I really, really would like to see Randy Orton in that ring. again i i miss his work we're all pulling for randy you know we've heard that uh he's coming back from uh less than awesome back circumstance and i hope he gets the finish to his career that he wants and we sure miss him and as hot as w e is right now i can't imagine you know him popping his head up man that's a whole new wrinkle to a lot of things so um let's cross our fingers on that sooner rather than later a lot of people in character were crossing their

fingers back then though man this show you're on a tear not only you say a cane if you don't go out there you're fired you're also threatening terry runnels with her job as an interviewer in fact you're restarting no a number of matches because you want a different finish so you know you're going to do it again we're going to restart it that's not what we want to do it again and then even the rob van dam triple h main event ends with you being choke slammed off the stage by Kane. This is quite the bump, a hell of a fall. You've done a lot of stuff like this before. Of course, maybe most famously, the McKevin Nash bump. You've talked about how you didn't feel a thing. He took care of you. What about this choke slam off the cage or off the stage here from

from Kane? Yeah, it's super easy because Glenn Jacobs is so incredibly strong. He is a powerful, powerful human being. So for me, it was just tuck your chin, keep your arms in. It was an easy ride. You know, Kane took good care of me. The only mistake I made,

this was really one of the only times I was ever injured taking a bump and it was self-inflicted because, again, without having a lot of experience, any experience, really, and learning how to take a bump because I didn't practice anything. I didn't want to rehearse it. You know, I was asked to rehearse it. I said,

I don't think so. If I can get away with not rehearsing it, I'd prefer that because I didn't want to get hurt in a rehearsal. And because of that, being the rookie that I was, as I'm going down from the choke slam, I remember to tuck my chin, you know, because that was the most important issue and to take it across my back.

But I was reaching for the ground on my way down. I was trying to anticipate when I was going to land. It was a reflex more than anything. And as a result, I broke my thumb in my right hand. That was the only time I was injured. And that was self-inflicted just due to my own lack of experience. But other than that, it was an easy ride. I didn't even know I broke my thumb until the next day.

I got up to get on a plane. I knew I thought maybe I sprained it or something, you know, I swelled up and I couldn't really move. And it was a little uncomfortable. But when I got home to Wyoming, it got worse and worse. And I finally went to the doctor. And I said, oh, yeah, you broke it. Here's a cast. enjoy well you're going to be off tv selling the injury and when i think about that again

this chokeslap happens on june 30th i say to myself self was eric always scripted to sell the injury or was this his idea because he wanted to be home on the fourth of july his christmas i mean that's your favorite holiday the calendar is a little curious do you remember wanting that week off just have a bunch of friends and family over and ham it up in wyoming no i think that was it just worked out that way i would have never asked for time off uh that's just not my deal i wouldn't have expected that courtesy hadn't been around that long i was certainly wasn't important enough in the big scheme of things so i would have never asked for the fourth of july off i think it just worked out that way you're going to come back on july 14th wearing a neck

brace you're going to be a guest on chris jericho's highlight real but the real highlight of is Cain lighting J.R's ass on fire during a sit down interview. It leads to you coming out and blaming Austin for this and that Lyndon McMahon would be here next week to fire Austin. What did you think of that? We're going to set J.R. on fire. To me, it was a little too far. Yeah. That, that just took it to a level that was just not believable.

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You see, that's uncommon in this world of ours, where when something's better, it doesn't cost more. We're all used to that. Like, sure, you can run down to the Waffle House and get some steak and eggs, but you expect to pay more for the steak at Ruth's Chris, right? Of course. Usually, when something's better, it costs more. With Henson's shaving, they figured out how to make the best shaver ever. Seriously, the best razors you've ever used. And it's cheaper.

That's why you've got to meet Hinson shaving. and what I respect most about these cats is this wasn't even the original plan. It's a family-owned business, and they're an aerospace parts manufacturer. What they've done besides make parts for the International Space Station and Mars Rover is realize that, hey man, we've got these aerospace grade C and C machines, and we can cut the thinest blades you've ever seen. How thin? How about thinner than a human hair?

It's 0.013 inches. And what that means for you is less wobble. less vibration less nicks less cuts less scrapes it is going to be the best shave you've ever have the razor also has built-in channels to evacuate hair and cream it makes clogging virtually impossible you see what they were trying to do is make the best razor not the best razor business the best razor business might mean that we sell you something that's plastic that eventually breaks the best razor business might mean we sign you up for a subscription and we just automatically bill you every month the best razor business might mean that we'll

business might mean we have to sell you something proprietary that won't work unless you buy it from us. The best razor business might mean, you know what? We don't make that razor anymore. Now we've got a new version. Your old one's obsolete. If you have an iPhone, you know what I'm talking about. Well, the Henson razor is classic. It's old school. If you're watching on YouTube, take a look at that razor. Don't even look at it there. Go to Hensonshaving.com slash 83 weeks. What you'll see is what looks like something your grandfather could have used. and it uses that old school dual edge blade, just like everyone in wrestling is very familiar with, except they never had a razor this thin. Seriously, thinner than a human hair, you won't

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with your razor. Just be 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-I-N-G.com slash 83 weeks and use our code 83 weeks. Eric, I got panicked and I came back from Waterloo. I thought I left my razor in Waterloo in the hotel. I did not. I wound up finding it. But I was so panicked. I ordered not one, but two more. So now I've got one for my travel bag. I've got one for the beach. I've got one for here. I'm hooked up. I've even got my barber. using this. She travels around and cuts different folks here all the time. She's using this Henson razor and it's easy to slide a new blade in every time because it's so doggard affordable.

Try it. You will love it. This is a product I'll use forever and ever amen. It's Hensonshaving.com slash 83 weeks. Add those hundred blades to your cart. Use our promo code 83 weeks. They're going to hook you up. You'll be glad you did. So let's talk about the show here on the 21st. So after we've set J.R.'s ass on fire, literally. The next week, we're in the Staples Center in L.A., and Dave Meltzer writes this. The much-hyped raw on July 21st from Staple Center in L.A. featured Austin's return. Bischoff came out in a suit, and he blamed Kane's reign of terror on Austin. Lyndon McMahon came out, and the less said about her acting, the better.

Kane is now under house arrest. JR won't press charges, but Kane can come to work and set people on fire. the logical flaws in the cane storyline have reached proportions unheard since the days of the invisible man and a monster built in a lab in transylvania i just got a japanese magazine with shots of the day cane unmasked which was only a few weeks ago he had a burned-up monster face now we're told the monster face was just his imagination well all well and good except for the fact of what he looked like when he unmasked and i know that melzer sometimes doesn't give us much creative license. He wants it to be perfect every time. And he likes the continuity. He tries to hold people accountable on his newsletter. I get that. But the, he should start with holding himself accountable. My God. The whole in the story of J.R's not going to press charges, but he can still come to work and set people on fire. Goodness gracious. That's a little silly, right? It is. And I think it's consistent with.

What I mentioned earlier, it's just that they took that so far creatively, the story with Kane, so far that there's just no way you could allow yourself to suspend your disbelief without feeling like a complete idiot. You know, that's a tough one to sell. I mean, look, if you, you can apply, you know, Dave's sense of logic to everything in professional, right? I mean, when you come right down to it, none of it makes any fucking sense. no no if you're going to if you're going to look at look at professional wrestling through that lens it's all phony as shit yes it but done well with well crafted story and characters just like any movie you know where there's so much in a movie that you go see that is absolutely not believable it could not be done you know but if it's done done

well and executed in a way that it could be true, then you can allow yourself to, to, to, to entertain by it. This is a story that just, I think, went too far. Even for wrestling, it just went too far. Well, the story here is Austin is back and he's upset that Kane set one of his best friends on fire. I think anyone would be. Meltzer would say, it pissed me off. I mean, you know, you got to, you got to, you got to, you got to, understand that that would piss anybody off such your best friend on play that doesn't get you hot what does no pun intended oh goodness gracious well Meltzer has a fun little tongue and cheek comment and he says hell I wanted to give Kane a beating for forcing me to have to listen

to coaching king botch up calling the rest of the show um he's having fun of course at the expense of coach but the announcer you know he's this beloved figure and they did this a lot with jr i mean at different times when they were trying to turn austin heel they had austin beat up jr and they had cinder blocks busted over his head and all kinds of silliness but once upon a time in wrestling that wasn't the case i remember back in the day there was a rule you don't touch lance russell in memphis and in georgia you didn't touch gordon solely like they wanted to have credibility for the announcers and i don't know i mean did you have a strong feeling about that is that just old is that pass a or hey it's fair game we're just telling stories and if if he's beloved there's a

natural story there if we beat him up or silly as it sounds set his ass on fire i had a strong feeling about it which is one of the reasons why i wanted kevin nash to power bomb me off stage in baltimore right 96 because i wanted to break that rule um i understand you know i understand why that unwritten rule i guess if it was unwritten existed because Because, you know, how do you beat up Gordon Soli? How do you beat up Tony Chivani? And then what does he do the following week? You know, how do you handle that going forward?

So I get that. But I think there are times when it's appropriate to pick out who the announcer is. And like I said, I couldn't wait to get power bombed off a stage because I wanted to break that paradigm of you can never touch an announcer. Well, guess what? When Kevin Nash did power bomb me off the stage, it became believable. Why? because you never saw it before. Oh, my gosh, you've never seen that before. It must be real.

It's a, it's a tool. I think with with JR, it might have gone too far. We've probably went to the well one too many times. You know, you mentioned the cinder block. I think I was the one that, put the cinder block on his head, stomped on it. Yeah. Broke it over his head.

I think it's something you could do once, you know, when you're involving an announcer, especially someone like J.R. who was so beloved, he was the king of announcers at that point. Minds of many people probably still is. And I just think they went to the well one too many times. I want to talk about this storyline here because we're putting Austin in a weird spot that I didn't really understand at the time.

And now looking back, I think I understand it even less. The rule is, of course, and Linda's reminding Austin, you can't touch Kane unless he provokes you. you unless you give up your right as GM, you go ahead and quit as GM, give Eric Bischow full control, then he can do what you want with Kane. So I guess Austin's being forced to decide, do you want to fight Kane or do you want to keep your job as co-GM? And Austin says, I need to think about it.

And it feels like to me, and I realize at this point, he's retired from in-ring competition, or, you know, that's what we're trying to do here is retire from in-ring competition and still keep him on the part. And there was an injury. Yes. I think a large part of that indecision or the creative at this very point in time with Steve, I don't think Steve knew if he could wrestle or if he wanted to wrestle again. So I think creatively they were just trying to figure out where this was going to possibly go

and whether or not Steve was going to be able and or willing. to get back in the ring. His last match, of course, the last big match was against the rock at WrestleMania that year. We know he's going to do some in-ring physical stuff here and there, but the Stone Cold character doesn't feel like

he would have had to think about that. Like if I can go avenge my best friend who you set on fire, or I can keep playing GM with Eric Bischoff, it feels like the Stone Cold of old started to stomp a mud hole in cane and that's that. But when he says, I need to think about it. And then Linda says, both of you take the night off and Austin goes peacefully.

Meltzer would write, they sure forgot how to protect their top characters. What do you think of that? Was that not doing the stone cold character a service to have him need to, quote, unquote, think about it? I understand the criticism and it certainly was a departure of the stone cold character. but again he couldn't get at that point in time he wasn't sure he could get physical the injury was a real injury the neck injury and and i remember when i worked with steve at no way out in montreal we ended up having i guess you could call it a match but

um i remember being backstage with steve and he i remember looking to see and he was talking to somebody i don't know who he was talking to but was engaged in a pretty serious conversation. And I looked down at Steve's leg and it was just, it was twitching. You know, there was nerve damage there. So I think the, the confusion or the dilution of Steve's character in this case was more about just not being sure what he could do and what he couldn't do. It certainly was a delusion, you know, putting a guy like Steve Austin, it was just, you know, he was the ass kicker of all ass kickers. putting in him in what is creatively an administrative role where he had limits on what he could

do that was awkward I'm sure for Steve because it was a complete departure from the character that everybody had come to know to that point well I mean it's not like they had to book it that's the thing I mean I understand what you're saying about the real life circumstance but if you don't think that he's going to be able to do that I don't know that I would have put his character in that circumstance and that's valid that's a valid observation. Let's talk about Rob Van Damme and Kane. It never gets started.

Kane has led to the ring and chains by police, which I thought was a cool look. But Meltzer would say it wound up making no sense because Kane would ditch Van Dam near the entrance by throwing him into the raw set. The agents and the refs come out. The police that were there that walked into the ring are nowhere to be found, which is funny.

And Linda comes back out. Kane starts stalking her. Johnny Ace tries to make the save, but you know, that's not going to happen. And the show ends with Kane giving Linda a tombstone pile driver on top of the stage. He's protecting her, but my goodness, Linda taking a tombstone. I mean, listen, he, I mean, as you see if you're watching on YouTube, he gave her the Undertaker Holcogen Survivor series pile driver. She's a foot away from the thing.

so he's taking care of her but still we didn't see linda get involved in physical stuff ever uh kudos to her for doing this i mean listen it's um maybe not super believable but i just give props for linda for being game for doing it right absolutely yeah absolutely i would you know if i ever get a opportunity to see linda again i'm going to ask her you know what was the most uncomfortable position she's ever been in, was it either, you know, making out with me in the dinner of her home, or was it getting, you know, tombstone by Kane? I think probably she preferred the tombstone. But the other thing that's really interesting about that is, at least when I was in WWE, Vince himself didn't want anybody taking the tombstone. He felt it

was far too dangerous. Yes. And the fact that he had Kane, Tombstone, Linda, says a lot about his confidence in Kane and knowing that he would protect Linda. But yeah, I can't wait to see Linda get an ask here, which was worse. Liplocking me are getting tombstoneed by Kane. Well, we know that when Kane set JR on fire, it's Austin to the rescue. But now that Linda's been tombstoneed,

Hmm, who could be to the rescue? One week later, Rawls in Colorado Springs, not at the Staples Center in L.A. And here in Colorado Springs, Vince McMahon opens the show and vows to get revenge on Kane for what he did to Linda.

And Vince said in the microphone on TV, I'm not a good husband, and everyone knows that. But that Kane will be brought to the building by police and meet Vince in the ring. I was going to let that one lay for a minute. Vince went to fight Kane.

He told the officers to take the shackles off. Vince is going to browbeat the monster Kane who's not doing a thing. And then Vince does a promo that everyone should learn from, according to Dave Meltzer. It was so good. Then, after such good work, he did an about face and said he wanted to manage Kane. Austin came out to say he was staying as GM and wanted him. to provoke him. Kane just stood there and wouldn't touch Austin, even though he dared him.

Finally, Shane McMahon returns and attacks Kane. Vince is trying to save Kane, but Shane decks Vince and chased Kane to the back, potatoing him with two chair shots, and Kane took a bump off the stage, and the same gimmick set up, Bishop took a few weeks back. And there was so little logic to any of this. Kane, after taking the bump, just sat up and laughed. They made the guy a monster So Shane McMahon could lay him out

So listen There's some criticism In The Observer And I've seen it And some shoot interviews here and there I've certainly seen a lot of it on social media The Shane McMahon was always presented As a superhero

I mean I don't take issue with that I like the Daredevil persona I remember in Dallas when they You know had him in a hell in a cell match everybody now thanks to Foley thinks we got to do something off the sale and we know Shane did but people were saying and I swear this is a real thing I heard in the in the crowd that night oh Shane's going to jump off the big jumbo screen what like there's no way to survive

that dude what are you talking about but still that is the reputation that Shane was was garnering and I deserve it by the way it's real life he's a nut he's an adrenaline junk We've heard that over and over. No doubt about it. He is fucking crazy. It still is. Talk to me about the way he was positioned here, though. Like, all right, Austin's not going to do it.

Vincent's going to do it. Here's Shane. Shane's going to knock the monster off the stage. I don't know. I can see how some of the boys might be upset with that. Like, wait, the kids doing it? But, I mean, at this point, he's one of the boys, right? Where do you draw the line?

I mean, I don't know what, you know, the locker room vibe was about Shane. My impression is that Shane had a ton of respect from everybody. I don't think anybody looked at Shane as, oh, my gosh, I can't believe Vince is forcing his son on us or on the audience. Shane earned every ounce of respect that he got. And he was crazy. He was a daredevil. He is an adrenaline junk.

Not was. He is an adrenaline junk. he loves physicality you know i don't know how many people know this but you know shame at least when i saw him last couple years ago talked to him he was still training in m m a he loves contact he loves physicality and i think he had for the most part the respect of just about everybody backstage that i could tell so i don't think there was that sense of oh my gosh i can't believe the bus his kid is getting this shot i don't think that's the case at all i'll tell you what's interesting to me is to think, you know, if we're going to position Shane as like a Superman

type character, you know, maybe he's, or maybe better said, he's like pie pie, right? He's, you wouldn't imagine that he could do it, but here he comes. Well, his magic spinach these days might have been factor. It's America's number one ready to eat meal kit. And maybe we're all busy right now, right? Schools getting back in the swing of things and the weather's still nice and football's right around the corner and we've got to run a lot of errands, especially if you've got kids who need to get to this practice or that thing or whatever, it's probably hard to make sure that everybody's eating well, eating healthy, and it's easy and affordable. Well, factor to the rescue man.

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It's August now. We're in Vancouver and the show is opening with Shane wanting a match with Kane. And Meltzer would say Shane has gone gray since the last time we saw. saw him. Their man, or Bischoff came out and said he also hated Cain, but that Vincent called and he's now ordering Kane versus Rob Van Dam at Somerslam. And he said that Shane has to leave the building. But Shane is refusing to leave. And here comes Stone Cold. And we've got a long segment here that ends with it being announced that it's going to be Bischoff versus Shane as the main event. This is 2003. It's hard to imagine if you,

If we went back to the summer of 99, we'll say, one year after you challenged his dad to a fight at Slambury, now you're going to be fighting his son. Boy, we wouldn't have, if I could have told you in 1998, five years prior to this. Hey, I know you're challenging events to a fight on paper review, but fast forward in five years, you're going to be fighting a son in the main event on Raw. Would anybody have believed that? No, especially. me but that's funny man that's you know wrestling does uh does strange things you know to people

and i would have never anticipated it it was uh it was a great time for me i didn't thoroughly enjoyed it the main event on monday night raw in august here in vancouver is bischoff and shane in a no dq match it goes all of three minutes and 21 seconds melzer said you just say three minutes oh i love you for that thank you for that callback uh the match was terrible for the first 30 seconds according to dave melzer until cane came out Shane's just beating the hell out of Kane it was funny in the way you laugh at how preposterous this booking is Shane was potatoing the poor monstrous giant and even split his lip open cane came back with a tombstone on the steps and threw him into the ring for

bischoff to pin him bischoff had a bloody nose although Shane never hit him once and they played it up like Bischoff pinning Shane was one of the biggest wins in the history of Raw. So listen, I wasn't in there. How did you get the bloody nose? Do you recall? I don't know if it was

that incident or another one. It kind of runs together for me. But I'm pretty sure despite what Dave said that Shane did make pretty significant contact. In fact, I have a scar that goes from the bottom of my nose all the way to the top of my lip,

right in the crease of my lip from Shane McMahon. He was fairly stiff, and he did make contact, despite what Dave's reporting would suggest. It's not like he didn't have a reputation for being, well, as you said, stiff might be too. too polite. But logically, let's just poke holes in this for a minute. A few weeks prior to this, Kane is chokeslamming you off the stage. Now he's helping you win a match by tomb stoming, tomb stoming Shane. This is hard to. Yeah, and I, you know, I can't defend it or

it's hard for me to even really discuss it in much detail because I wasn't included in any of the creative conversations. Like I said, Bruce would hand me a format, kind of give me an idea of what I was going to do. And my job was to go out and do it the best I could. I didn't really ask a lot of questions or debate things. I just performed as asked. So I don't know what the logic or the thinking was or the kind of the creative gymnastics that went on behind the scenes that led up to this moment. But I'm sure it was pretty interesting. I'd love to talk to Bruce about it. I want to mention, uh, as silly as this is, and we're poking fun at it.

This was the main event of Raw. Shane McMahon and Eric Bischoff. I don't know what you're thinking. Boy, they must have tuned out in droves. Incorrect, my friend. That match gained over a million new viewers. A million 61,000 new viewers, to be exact. It does a 5.14 rating.

six million four hundred and fifty thousand people watch you get a win over Shane McMahon I realize that was actually over six well it would be over six million homes so probably closer to eight or ten million people watched isn't that crazy to think about like I know television's changed but my goodness six million wow it's pretty crazy right No doubt. Well, it keeps going the next week in Moline. The show opens with you bragging about your win over Shane, and you're going to call Shane the wrestling version of Frank Sinatra Jr.

And you say if it wasn't for his last name, you'd be an even bigger loser. And here comes J.R. To a big pop. And he says he's not going to file charges against Kane because he's important to Raw. What? But he did say he would follow us.

That's a company man for that. That's a company man right there. Get your ass set on fire, barbecued like a freaking hot dog on the 4th of July, but you're just going to go about your business because that's some bitch is too important for the industry for me to do what I should do and put him in jail. Hell of a man, J.R. You're hell of a man.

But follow this. I appreciate what you said there, because that is logically what they were trying to explain. I'm not going to press charges against Kane. He's too important to this show. But I am going to follow law. against Bischoff for providing an unsafe work environment. Wait a minute.

Wouldn't that mean he's technically suing the company, though? The company is he provided the unsafe work. Either way. He says he's going to sue Bischoff both civilly and criminally. And then Bischoff tells coach to leave and make space for the greatest wrestling announcer of all time. Here comes Austin. He says he's got a plan.

He's got a contract. And J.R. is going to drop all charges, provided Bischoff signs for a match. Bischoff without reading the contract, goes ahead in signs. And he thinks he's going to be meeting Shane, but it's actually Cain. Damn it, these heels have got to start reading the contracts, Eric. Why does this keep happening? You just get caught up in the moment and the excitement and the enthusiasm.

You got the crowd reacting. It just didn't do my diligence. Just get caught up in the moment. Well, you do wind up wrestling Kane here. You're going to win by Countout, though. He gets you up for a choke slam forever. And then he eases you down and walks out of the ring. So he loses by Countout.

And Kane is saying he didn't want to do it because it would have made the fans happy. And later in the show, Austin said the contract read that Shane would face the winner at summer slam so yeah there's another little twist to this contract you didn't just avoid the choke slam from cane but because you won now the match is set your wrestling chain at summer slam that's a nice little twist i like that made the most sense of everything we were doing at the time didn't it no doubt about it kind of kind of led to a big moment i like it put put put put the heel general manager in a pickle, got him boxed in,

in a situation he knows he's going to get his ass kicked in. I kind of like the story. What did you think of being up in that choke slam and just being held there by Kane? That's got to be an interesting thing, huh? It is different, right? It's different. But again, Kane was so, the only person that I've ever made contact with that was stronger than Kane was Paul White.

And Paul White's just otherworldly in terms of strength. But Kane's not far behind. So it was easy. It was safe. And it was exciting. You know, you're up there. You can hear the crowd. The crowd wants to see him, you know, put me through the ring.

That energy, it's like the energy I talked about earlier on. You know, you had probably eight or 10,000 people in that venue that were just hoping he would splatter me like a bug. so it's it was pretty fun now it's time for our go home episode of monday night raw we're in grand rapids it's august 18th and melzer would say we had implied rape attempted murder a carjacking blatant false advertising involuntary servitude it's the worst raw in months a week before one of the biggest shows of the year. Shane McMahon is back and he's going to set Cane on fire and beat up Bischoff.

He even brings gasoline out. We saw gasoline a couple of years ago in AEW when Eddie Kingston and this blood bath walks to the back, comes back with a gas can. It's one of the coolest, most compelling visuals I remember in wrestling. But the idea that we're using gas in wrestling, even implied gas. I mean, once upon a time when Terry Funk put a bag over. Rick Flares had, people lost their shit in WCW using a gas can. And I understand the reason the bag was a thing.

You didn't want kids to do that. But when we see gasoline used here, is that too much of the same thing? Like we don't want kids to do that? Or is this a totally different thing? I think it probably falls into that category. I think it's probably something today that you'd have a hard time getting by most standards and practices for that very reason. I think advertisers would probably be a little concerned about it.

And it's so hard to really analyze things like this because, for example, in a scripted drama, no one would think twice about it, even though kids watch scripted dramas. It's not just all adults that watch movies and television. Kids watch it as well. Kids watch a lot of things that adults watch. But for some reason, wrestling is held to a different standard. Things you can, you know, you can use a fake gun, you know, on television. You know, you have a hard time getting by with that on a wrestling show.

There's a lot of things you can do in other forms of entertainment that are just not cool in wrestling. Certainly, a gas can is one of them. So it's sensitive, but it's also, I think in this case, Vince in particular was pushing the envelope. We're going to push the envelope with something I've wanted to talk to you about. We've talked about it a little bit on our live shows, but we're going to get the full story here. Remember, we saw Linda McMahon last being tombstoneed on the top of the ramp. So now we're going to get a skit where she's at what looks like her home office, and she's doing an interview with us here.

She's got her neck brace there, but it's on her desk. And the doorbell keeps ringing in the middle of this interview. She's apologizing, but she's not answering it. and then you let yourself in you say that you knew she'd be alone because Shane was at Monday Night Raw and Vince was on the road with Smackdown and you start hitting on her Meltzer says like the slime that he is he even called our attention that Linda is a big breasted beauty Meltzer says imagine scripting this now imagine scripting this scene involving your 53-year-old wife who can't act when the scene ended bischoff

forced herself himself on linda for a long kiss and then wanted to take her to the bedroom all the teenage boys watching the show were going this is great just like seeing grandma naked well it must appeal to someone maybe 60 year old guys no they tuned out of wrestling in 1999. Shane sees this and calls home. You think he'd call the police or the next door neighbor or dad or Rosie or at the very worst, Pete Gas, but instead he was furious, stole the car, and drove off. He left the gas can behind. Eric, what do you remember about being given this creative?

Is this something Vince personally delivers to you? Is Brian bringing this to you? who first tells you Eric we got an idea i think it was bruce oh god tell us about this time by this time bruce and i had developed a pretty good relationship and uh i'm pretty sure it was bruce is the one and i think he told me over the phone because i had to fly to connecticut to do it obviously it was in in vincent linda's home it wasn't a fake office it was linda's office in their home and i remember when bruce told me he didn't give me the details but he said you we need you and we need you to come to stanford we're going to

shoot a scene with you it's going to be at vince's house that's all i knew um going into this going into the scene and it wasn't until i got there you know this is right already had these two big dogs i think two of them made one but it was huge dogs and vince was cooking eggs in his kitchen and i showed up and it was it was surreal and it wasn't until i got there that i found out exactly what I was going to be doing. I thought, oh, well, this is different, but let's give a shot. It was awkward for sure. So tell us about the actual shoot itself, you know, what you recall. You know, it was really no different than any other shoot, you know, once Vince got done eating, cooking his brunch and we were ready to go. We just blocked the shot out, you know,

walked through it, made sure I knew where my marks were and what the timing of everything was. Obviously, the dialogue that goes with it. That was the easy part. It was just blocking it and this sheer awkwardness of, you know, grabbing any woman, you know, especially Vince's wife and going through there. It was probably the same thing with Stephanie when I ended up making out with Stephanie. You know, it was just very, very freaking awkward. Vince wasn't in the room.

I think he was watching on a monitor in another room outside the office. I think it was one take. We didn't have to do it over and over and over again. Fortunately, we nailed it in one take and that was the end of it. Vince thanked me. He was excited about it. He had a big grin on his face. He was happy with the scene.

As long as Vince was happy with it, I was happy with it. So once the awkwardness of thinking about doing it was over with it was just like any other scene really did you have a conversation with linda before you do it about no walking through it no should i do this should i do that we're just we walked through you know me grabbing her holding her you know Vince wanted it to look very forceful didn't want it to appear like it was a purely romantic scene it wanted to be he wanted me to force myself on linda because the reason for the scene was to piss off Shane and to it to take Shane's um hatred of me to to to another level what better way than to you know sexually accosts his mother

i mean i don't get anybody hot right people can relate to that i guess but again once we locked everything out i took vince's notes you want to make sure i going to put her hand her arm behind her back and forced her um that was it we blocked it we shot it i went home what uh what day did y'all shoot that i mean it's not shot on monday so when is that done no i think it was a saturday or sunday it i think it was a i think it was a sunday i flew in saturday got there saturday night went over to vince's house sunday i'm pretty sure it was sunday do you uh give a heads up to to mrs b like hey um i got tv in grand rapids on monday but before i get there I guess you don't.

You don't have to go to TV that week. So instead, I'll be home on Monday, but on Saturday, I got to go make out with Vince's wife. No, I didn't. I mean, because it's really no big, it was no big deal. It was just, it was unique and it was different, but it wasn't something I felt like I had to give my wife a heads up over. It's just television, folks. It's just television.

Well, what tickles me again is just the context. of five years prior to this, you're challenging Vince to a fight on paper view. You guys were in a dog fight trying to put each other out of business. You're actually holding meetings where you say, I'm going to drive a stake through the heart of Vince McMahon. Fast forward, WCW is folded. You're now working here. And the guy who was once your biggest rival and you were certainly the biggest pain in his

ass of all time, he booked you to come over to his house and make out with his wife. This is the weirdest business of all. all time is it not it it was unique but the takeaway is she was such a good kisser that's what i needed she was i mean i was impressed i was really impressed get a little excited when i left do you go open mouth close close mouth oh no it was it a little bit open a little bit open we had to make it look real i i i didn't want it to look funny so we had to really get into it. She was, she was awesome, by the way. I think she was a better kisser than Stephanie. That's what I was going to ask. Who was a better kisser, Lender?

Yeah. Look, Stephanie, you know, younger, obviously, you know, physically because she's younger, much more attractive, you know, at the time that I made out with Stephanie with her little witch hat on her boobs hanging out. That was pretty fun. But there's something about, you know, it's that milk thing, right? It's just, it was awesome. This is. And she really did. She really did get, you know, you could tell she hadn't had a lot of attention in a bit because she, at first, you know, she probably felt like I did. Oh, this is so awkward and this is the guy that tried to put us out of business and did it did all the things that I did. And now here I am in her office, in her home, physically costing her. But there was that moment when I could feel her resisting.

it was just stiff as a board and then she just kind of melted into my arms it was quite the experience was this the weirdest segment we've ever had the history of it yeah it's fucking strange I can't believe I'm even saying anything I'm like this is 20 years ago and I'm uncomfortable now I mean

this feels like as good a time of any to just ask were you manscaped and would you be now of course you would manscaped can help you out If you're ever in a circumstance where you might have to make out with your boss's wife, you want to impressor and Manscape can help you get there. Let's keep it classy, folks. Let's talk about the Beardhager Pro kit today. That's what really matters.

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Here's what I mean. I've bought one of these type trimmers before. I think we all have. And you wind up with a drawer full of these little plastic guards. And you're never sure. I mean, I don't use most of those. But you don't even need them now. You see with the Beardhager Pro Kit,

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And so does the comb. So get 20% off and free shipping with the code 83 weeks at Manscape.com. that's 20% off with free shipping at manscape.com. Use the code 83 weeks. Manscape Beardheader, one stroke, one guard, 20 links. Although I imagine Eric had more than one stroke when he got home. So listen, we're finally here. You often talk about on the program, stakes.

We need stakes. The stakes are awfully high here. You have broken in to his mama's home. enforced your self-honor. That's not something you can get away with in Alabama or Connecticut. Now we're going to watch this match. It's only 10 minutes or so. We want you to fire up your peacock.

Watch along with us. Go to SummerSlam season 16, episode one. That's SummerSlam season 16, episode one. And you want to go to 35 minutes and 49 seconds. That's 35 minutes and 49 seconds. And we're going to take a look here at Eric Bischoff versus Shane McMahon at SummerSlam. Eric, are you ready on your end?

I am ready, my friend. Let's watch it. Here we go. And three, two, one, play. Uh-oh. What a classless, smarming human being. So we can cut the audio here, but how did you go about picking out your gear for a match like this?

I mean, this karate ghee, this is. become like your signature for matches like this now and that was actually my gie i i had that and that's the black belt that i uh i was awarded back in 79 so it i had it in a closet it was all there how did you decide on uh all black is that just what really works for a heel like you well i typically liked wearing black i mean that's you know every time i was on camera in wcd was wearing a black leather jacket it's I don't want to say it was my gimmick because it didn't really have a gimmick necessarily. But this kind of standard procedure for me to wear something black as often as I could.

Let's listen. That's my hair. My fake hair, actually, my dyed hair. Let's listen to the promo here. There's a lot of things I don't understand about you, but why the hell are you running all over the country eating hamburger when you, We've got a hot, juicy, delicious filet mignon at home. Oh my gosh. I don't get it.

Now, it's not a question of what happened. It's a question of how many times it happened and it happened again and again and again and again. And again, I'll tell you what, Shane McMahon, I know now where you get all your energy. Let me tell you, it is bred into your D&A. All right. So here comes Shane. So what do you think of that promo? I mean, goodness gracious, we're as tongue in the cheek as we can get here.

That was creepy as fuck. Yes, it was, right? I don't know who wrote that, but damn, that was, that was creepy. this is an interesting way to set up a match here comes Shane McMahon in his signature this is in Phoenix wasn't it yeah I think this is in Phoenix what do you remember about putting this match together little nature is going to be our referee here who was our agent do you recall I do not I do not recall who that would have been there's a 16,113 fans in attendance here

four hundred and fifteen thousand people bought it on paper view boy shane's really laying it in here in phoenix at the uh america west arena as he know it he was this part wasn't so bad this he was he wasn't getting too stiff with me there and that one that that was a little oh those were a little snug just a little bit you know he's hitting me at the inside of his forearm not with his fist so that wasn't too bad but i look i knew i mean there was no i had I'd seen Shane work before. I had a little bit of physicality with Shane previous to this. I knew this was going to hurt.

I didn't know where and when it was going to hurt the most, but I knew it was going to hurt. And I wanted it to look good. I didn't have, still don't have the ability to have a match. But if I could make it look believable, and by making it look believable, meaning if I could get my ass kick and it was stiff enough, it would make the audience happen.

I knew it was coming that same show we had a Sunday night heat opener with Ray Mysterio and Shannon Moore once the pay-per-view started it was law resistance versus Dudley boys opening up then Undertaker versus A-Train and then you guys so you're following Undertaker and A-Train after this will be Eddie Guerrero Chris Benoit, Rhino and Tegri in a four-way then Kurt and Brock for the WB title then Kane and Van Dam for no holds barred and then the elimination chamber with triple h goldberg jericho sean michaels randy orton and kevin nash interestingly enough though Shane is the president of new media that's his official title and the summer slam website actually listed this as the main event which makes

me laugh that's crazy my goodness that's crazy now i think this is got all these things run together, but I think this is where Shane, this match is where Shane comes off. I don't want to give it away here. We'll be covering it in a second, but I think he comes off the top rope and, and drops an elbow on me. Is this, is this the event where that happens? I can't remember. My goodness, this has been a brawl so far in the ring and now out of the ring.

And Shane keeps stopping the count from Charles Robinson because he's just kicking your ass all over the ring, throwing you into the guardrails, throwing you in, of the, uh, ring itself and now on to the last. It comes. Here it comes. I remember when, uh, Shane, I think Shane pretty much agented this match. I'm sure he went over it with his dad and whatever, but Shane pretty much laid this out to me for the most part.

And I remember. And look who it is. There's coach turning heel. He's my buddy coach. He was a national. I know he's involved in golf, isn't he? Dude, you know, coach. He's got 15 different things he's working at all times.

He's a great guy. I miss coach. One thing you keep you count on, coach is going to be financially successful. Let's take a listen here. We just made this match. No disqualification. And as a matter of fact,

pitfalls count anywhere. So I'll tell you what, Coach, what did she introduce this piece of shit to those stairs? What? So how about that, man? Dropping the S-bomb, but I love that you can, since you're the GM, you have control, you can dictate the terms of the match to the referee live as it happens. It's no DQ and now falls count anywhere. So you're laid over Shane with a mic in your hand, having him count.

this is pretty fun and creative at the time it really is i mean look given what Shane has to work with here meeting me um i think it's i think it turned out a lot better than it should have to be honest with you so coach is now involved in the action and you're doing running commentary with the microphone while the match is happening the match you're in let's listen let's listen in for a minute here what's he thinking jay what's he thinking for me that's a world Say, hey, wait a minute, I got an idea. Since you're the greatest announcer in the history of sports entertainment, I'm telling the production truck now, shut J.R. and King's mic off.

What? Now, cut it off. Coach, call it like you see it. It would be my pleasure. J.R., I got this one, thanks. I got it. oh what a shot what a shot that's a flabber knocker knocker

oh again she's down change down change down my coach that's the best kick I've ever seen he wants more coach is so good at this man

Go ahead. Again. Oh, you're stomping him like a government mule. Shane, Shane, Shane. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, no, it's just a prick.

The worst. Oh, again, again. Eric Bischel, Eric Bischel. Eric Bishaw. He's got the three thing down pat. Do you want more? Okay. Get up.

So Shane hits you with a kick. A couple of elbows for coach. Kick to the stomach. Big DDT from Shane. Listen to that crowd pop with no commentary here. You really hear that crowd now. Pay attention, here it comes. What a great finish.

My goodness. This is so fun. I mean, it's 20 years old and I got goosebumps. Isn't that crazy? The impact music and the crowd have. And they were so ready to see Austin. Yes. Listen, I don't work for you.

I work for Eric Bishop. This is a case of mind over matter. I don't mind. And Stone Cold, you don't matter. And I don't appreciate you coming out. And I'm sure Eric Bishop doesn't appreciate you coming out here. And don't forget. you can't touch me unless i physically provoke you and i'm not touching you god that's heat right

there and there it is Shane pushes coach into Austin or into uh into uh yeah into Austin of course has been provoked the ass beating can commence Meltzer when recapping this match would say yes this was living proof they could book Austin in a match surrounded by pig manure and he'd still get the biggest pop of the show. Listen, this is, he's not wrong about that. It got half a star. Of course, it's not a traditional match, but this is heavy on story. This is really a glorified skit, but you've got two very hateable characters in

Eric Bischoff and coach and, you know, a guy who has a reason to be beloved. He's defending his mom's honor. And of course, the biggest star of him all stone cold Steve Austin. a nice way to get everybody involved. This is super fun, man. It's better than I remember. I'll tell you that. How about you?

Same here. Same here. In fact, I don't think I've seen clips of this match, especially the finish of it a couple of times, but I've never really watched the whole thing from beginning to end like this. So it was better and it got a good crowd reaction, but that's because of Austin, you know,

and the heat that coach got. I had a fair amount of heat. The story was pretty good to set up with me breaking into the house and making out with Shane's mother and all that that was as crazy and over the top as it is, it falls into that. I guess it could be true category if you allow your imagination to run a little while. But it was a good setup. And like, you know, like you said, but Austin at the end of this thing, you're going to get a

great reaction. And what a cool thing this is. Of course, Shane picks you up, grabs your hand and forces your hand to punch Stone Cold. therefore stone cold has now been provoked by you he hits a big stunner and it looks like it's going to be a finish but Shane says no no he pulls him up after two we're not doing whipping on him yet he's teasing pantomiming looking out to the table what's he got in mind starts pushing you out of the ring and uh of course he's going to set you up on the Spanish announced table here off comes the top this is um this is better than

I had any right being, you know, perfect use of Austin. If he can't wrestle and we can do some physicality, but we can't do a traditional match, why not use your biggest star to add some, add something extra to this presentation? This was fun. This was so much fun. Are you nervous? What are you thinking as you're laying on the table and he's climbing the top rope here?

I wasn't thinking. thing. I was just paying attention. And I remember, I do remember, like right about now, I'm looking up and Shane looks like he's 40 feet in the air to me. Boom. He came down and I hit the floor, so I split the back of my head open, actually. Oh, really? Yeah, I ended up getting like four or five stitches in the back of my head. And I didn't even know it until I got home. This was in Phoenix, right? And at the time, Worry and I lived in a little little town called Cave Creek, Arizona, which was just north of Scottsdale. So I drove myself to the venue. And I drove myself to the venue. and I drove myself back and I didn't take a shower at the building.

I was going to wait until I got home. And I got home and I got in a shower. I looked at the floor of the shower and there's blood everywhere. And I reached back and found the gas in the back of my head. But I didn't know it until I got home. Well, of course, that's it. We get the big elbow off the top. And because it's false count anywhere,

Charles Robinson counts the finish right there on the floor. Austin starts calling for beers. He's having a beer badge. Why not have Shane slide on in and do some beers with you? Really, really fun moment, fun match, fun story. I mean, who would have thought that this would be what you were doing? And I know I've said it a few times already, but just a handful of years prior to this, man. You're trying to put a stake through the heart of Vince McMahon.

And now you're having a really fun. I think if I would have pulled up to a Monday Night Raw or a Smackdown back at that period of time, I probably wouldn't have made it out of the parking lot into the building. It's crazy. Here we are. Here we are, having fun together, making money a couple of years later. It's the wonderful world of professional wrestling. You just never know what's going to happen in the future.

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Visit bluechew.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank Blue Chew for sponsoring today's podcast. Eric, we've got a lot of different questions on this. this topic. I don't think we'll get to them all, but I do want to ask you about the post show. Maybe he didn't stick around. But after the show, it's the 58th birthday of Vince McMahon. They do an in-ring celebration for the boss. A bunch of wrestlers, both heels and faces come out. Kurt Engel's not here. Goldberg's not here. Lesner's not here. Lesner's not here. They're trying to get Vince to sing. He's refusing unless the undertaker does a spinneroony. Undertaker got out of it

by saying he would do it if Booker T showed him how. Of course, Booker T's not even there. Triple H said that Big Show had been practicing, and he did a horrible one. Undertaker leaves the ring. Bubba Ray Dudley tries to bring him back. It all works out. Bubba starts selling like the Undertaker had punched him.

Austin keeps goading Vince into singing, but Vince, you're still selling his back from the angle slam onto the chairs. Look to be in a bad mood. Paterson breaks out my way, and Vince and Linda start making out in the middle of the ring. and Vince announces to the audience even though I'm 58 I'll outlive you all what a fun little in ring celebration peek behind the curtain we'd never see

anything like that these days but we did 20 years ago I assume you were already back home in Cave Creek taking a shower I was probably on my way yeah I didn't stick around um we got a lot of questions here one of them was from Bradstanton Shane is known for his risk-taking. Was there anything that you had been asked to do that made you uncomfortable and you turned down? Absolutely not. I would never do that. I would take,

I mean, if it was something I was really, really uncomfortable with, I would take that as a challenge and just try to figure out how to get through it the best I could. But I would never say no to anything like that. Rob says, what's the feeling like being out in the ring when you know the glass is about to shatter? You're doing your thing with coach.

And there's that anticipation. of the stone cold pop it's adrenaline it's electric it's even sitting back you know 20 years later and listening to it this morning as we record this it still gets to be excited it was it was amazing it was so much fun yeah it goes back to the it goes back kind of to that rush that i talked about there's no way there's no other way in life you can get the kind of rush that that moment gave me it's just it's just not possible he's blast uh dylan lehy says what was it like to be in the ring with austin during that time you've been in there with flare and hogan uh but where did being in there with austin rank for eric i think it was

working with steve austin was as far as being an in ring character or on camera character was the highlight of my career, I think, as a performer. It was just magic, you know, and part of it was a lot of it was because Steve. I mean, he was such a massive star at that point in time. That was a big part of it. But the other part of it was everything was improv with Steve. There was very, yeah, we knew where we were going. I had a pretty, we all had a pretty good idea of what we wanted out of the segment.

but anytime I worked with Steve it was an opportunity just to go out there and improv and have a blast and make the most of a scene and there's nobody better to do it with than Steve Austin you know Rick was phenomenal in so many other ways but Steve was magic Steve was just magic Zoll Lopez wants to know what if any differences would you say if you noticed about the feel and setup of the rings that were used in WCW, WWE and TNA.

just the size of the ring you know wcw is an 18 by 18 ring wwe used a 20 by 20 ring and i know that doesn't sound like a big deal or much difference but it really really is uh i think the wbwe ring was a little stiffer didn't have quite as much play in it as the wcw rings did at the time but i wasn't in the ring long enough or often enough for it to become any kind of an issue for me. I was just getting my ass kicked. It didn't matter if it happened out of the floor in the locker room in a parking lot or in the ring. You know, my job was pretty straightforward. Just take a beating. Go home. Well, next week, we're going to be back talking about your old

pal, Dennis Rodman. The Worm is coming to Starcast. And we'll be discussing his time in WCW and your experience with him. Speaking of who else is coming to Starcast, we just announced that CoWada will be there. this is his first ever autograph fan fest anything like this he's ever done he hasn't been to the states in over 35 years not only will this be maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the man shake his hand get your picture get your autograph but also hear his story he's going to be doing a panel discussion on stage live with eddie kingston edie kingston's hero in pro wrestling is koada coada was famous for wearing the black and yellow the same colors that we've seen netty wear on TV pretty consistently and it's all because that's his guy we will have a

translator there and you're going to hear from koata for the very first time you'll also see tony con on the starcast stage for the first time ever and so much more the announcements are rolling in the stage shows are set starcast.com is the place to get your bracelets not only will you have access to meet i mean tons and tons of hall of famers and legends and world champions but also get pictures and autographs and merch and things you can't see anywhere else but also hear stories you won't hear anywhere else. It's a little different from a lot of the other conventions that are out there because we do have these panel discussions.

We'll have not one but two stages going non-stop on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It all happens in Chicago on September 1st, second, and third. You don't want to miss it. It will be the talk of the business that weekend. And I want to remind you, we're just a few days removed from Wembley. So you're going to see a lot of the town. from AEW sharing their thoughts and discussing what it was like to be really at their WrestleMania 3, the biggest show in AEW history, and of course just hours away before

all out the follow-up pay-per-view that weekend. Pick up your bracelets right now. S-T-R-R-C-A-S-T.com. I also want to mention that if you can't make it to Chicago, we are accepting mail-ins this year. So if you thought you missed your chance to get an autograph from Dennis Rodman or perhaps get one from Kawata, you can make it happen. at S-T-A-R-R-C-A-S-T.com. Mail-ins for a handful of talents are available now. And if you just can't make it to Chicago, but you don't want to miss any of the discussions,

when you order at StarCastonPremere.com, you not only get to see the shows live, you get Starcast 1 through 5 and 2 months of Premier Plus, which will include their showcase program. It is an incredible value, an incredible amount of content for one low price at Starcaston Premiere.com.

Next week, man, It's all about Dennis Rodman. As always, you get all these shows early and ad free. You can even be a part of our live studio audience. We had a bunch of folks hanging out today. Appreciate all y'all stopping in. But there's tons of bonus content there, too. You see, you get a piece of bonus content from every show on our network.

But you also get stuff you can't see anywhere else, not just audio, but video, like the book with David Crockett, where we take a look at Jim Crockett Promot's Booking Sheets from 1985 and break it down in great detail. We've also got the insiders that I host. we just had Dan Bynum on. We just started a new program called False Finish. Our next guest, it's already in the can, will be Zach Gowan. I do a Q&A, at least a few times a month.

We call it Ask Conrad. We've got Monday mailbags where you get to ask questions and pick the brains of the third man in the ring. Both Nick Patrick on the WCW side of things and Mike Keota in the WWF. And of course, every Tuesday now, that's right. Tomorrow there's a brand new episode of Tuesdays with the Taskmaster, Kevin Sullivan. It's all exclusive content. you won't find anywhere else but ad-free shows.com. Check it out.

I think you'll be glad you did it. It starts at just $9 a month. That's like a couple of dimes an episode, guys. Check it out. By the way, if your business targets men 25 to 54 years old, no better place to advertise than right here with us here on 83 weeks. You've heard some of the same advertisers year after year. Why is that?

Well, because it really works. We've got a super targeted audience with very little waste. And if you're looking for dudes, we got them. Find out how affordable it is to advertise and advertise with, Eric.com. Love to have your social interaction as well. We're at 83 weeks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook if you've got a question. Lots of new swag and merch available for sale over at box of gimmicks.com. You see that mucker feather shirt and got some coosies and some yetti type things and hats and t-shirts and tank tops and stickers. Oh my. But maybe the best and

easiest and cheapest way to support the show is to check us out at 83 weeks on YouTube.com. That's 83 weeks on YouTube.com and before I get out of here, I want to remind you that in my real life, I'm helping people save money, and there's no better time to do that than right now at savewithconrad.com. We're going to get you a lower monthly payment. We mentioned it last week. We recently helped a family save $681 a month. To be clear, they didn't save that one time. They're going to save that this month, next month, a month after that. We can also get you the cash you need. Maybe if you're looking to turn your house into your dream house with no money out of pocket. You've probably got a lot of newfound equity. You can upgrade your kitchens and

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it goes up every single year now here's what happens when you own a home though you can always refinance so i encourage you to date the rate but marry the house you see if you wait until the rates are much lower prices will go sky high we all remember what happened a few years ago there was a bidding war across this country people were paying 50,000 100,000 more for their house. Well, let's be honest. If we all know that rates are eventually going to come down, do you think you'll wind up paying an extra $50,000 or $100,000 in interest? Of course not. Let me run the quick math on that. Let's say the payment winds up saving you $500 in the month when you in the future if you refinance. Well, if that's a year from now, that's roughly $6,000. So you can go

ahead and spend an extra $6,000 on interest over the next year, or wait until the rates crater and overpay by $50,000. In Alabama, that don't make no sense, y'all. Let's get you out of that apartment and get you into a house. You can still do that with no money down. And if you're using an FHA loan, it's just 3.5% down. But yes, there are no money down loan options out there. And if you're a veteran and you haven't taken advantage of the VA loan, you're missing out.

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And then you'll be ready to save some money. AnimalS number 65084, Equal Housing Lender. Check it out. You'll be glad you did. Save with Conrad.com. Eric, I didn't know what to expect when we sat down to And I know sometimes when we talk about old wrestling, it can be exhausting to you. But this show today, man, this was more fun than I imagined.

It's always fun to go back and watch things that I haven't seen in forever. So I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a good show. I enjoyed it too. Can't wait to see what's next for WWE and AEW. And I know we're going to talk about it next week. But most of all, we'll be talking about the worm, Dennis Rodman, right here on 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff.

Hey guys, Tony Shabani. You need to call the timeout real quick. Wanted to tell your listeners what I've been telling what happened when listeners for a while now about all the cool things happening over on ad-free shows.com. Conrad sits down with a pioneer of wrestling television production, director Dan Bynum, who discusses his journey through WCW, R-O-H, MLW, and where it all began for him, world-class. What really was the thing that cataple,

it was, one, working with Rick Flair, he came to the territory and wrestled with the Von Eric Boys and gave us so much gravitas and two, the greatest feud in the history of wrestling, the Freebird von Erick feud. So we were there at the hottest time with the hottest show and we took over the world. The Yetay, Ron Reese, sits down with ad-free shows members to talk about his infamous night at Halloween Havoc and how it was received by the boys in the back. Oh, no, I remember like Arne Anderson told me that that was

the drizzling shit and Dusty Rose is like, that was the worst thing I've ever seen. I'm just like, hey, thanks. That's just a small taste of what we've got waiting for you. With four levels to choose from, see for yourself. By ad-free shows is the best value in wrestling

today. Sign up now at ad-freeshows.com. Thank you.