83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 291: State Of The Business According To Bischoff

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric is back from across the pond and excited to catch up with host Conrad Thompson about everything happening in professional wrestling. The guys cover topics like Adam Copeland's arrival in AEW, Cody Rhodes capturing the WWE Tag Tiles with Jey Uso, the discussion of CM Punk and WWE going back into business with each other, Jade Cargill, LA Knight, Carlito, new ratings battle and so much more! GAMETIME - Take the guesswork out of buying tickets 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. NATIONAWIDE COINS - If you’ve been thinking about exploring gold, head to AtCostGold.com/83WEEKS and use promo code 83WEEKS at checkout for your first one ounce gold coin without any dealer markup! PRIZE PICKS - Go to PrizePicks.com/83WEEKS and use code 83WEEKS for a first deposit match up to $100! EMBRACE PET INSURANCE - Don't wait for the unexpected to happen— join the massive community of pet owners who trust Embrace Pet Insurance to protect their pet. Make sure you go to EmbracePetInsurance.com/83WEEKS or else they won’t know I sent you! 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 from Save WithConrad.com. Heads up homeowners, all of a sudden your house is worth more than ever these last few years. But what are we going to do with that newfound equity? No, I'm not suggesting you sell your house or go buy something else. But didn't we all make this decision when we bought a house where we said, hey, someday we'd like to, and one day it would be nice if, maybe it's the dream kitchen, maybe it's an in-ground pool. Maybe it's a man cave, but you've got this newfound equity, and I think we should use some of that equity to turn your house into your dream home with no money

out of pocket. But even better than that, we're routinely helping folks do this, and they wind up with a cheaper monthly payment. So if you've got the dream house you always wanted with no money out of pocket and your payments went down, how easy is that? Find out how easy it is to turn to your house into your dream home with no money out of pocket right now at savewithconrad.com. We can't wait to hear about your projects. Tell us what your dream is. We're going to help you make it happen at savewithconrad.com. NMLS number 65084 Equal Healthy Landers. Woo! Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson and you're listening to 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. Eric, what's going on, man? How are you?

I am just doing great. Happy to be home. I had an amazing trip, which I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about. The flights to the UK to London sucked, six hours late, mechanical issues. Flight coming home. It took me two days to get home. Mechanical issues, lack of crew. They forgot to hire a pilot or whatever the hell it was.

So, yeah, it took us a lot longer to get home than it was supposed to. We were supposed to be home Wednesday night. We didn't get home until Friday. But aside from the travel on either end, it was just awesome, just an awesome experience. Well, we're excited to your home. It feels like it's been forever since you and I sat down and clicked record. Of course, we put a couple in the can, so we were ready for your travel. But I guess first, we should just start at the beginning.

How was your trip abroad? I know you were over there hanging out with our great close personal friend, Kenny McIntosh, who you and I both think a lot of. And if you're in that area of the world and you have a chance to see something that inside the ropes is putting on, I highly recommend it. I'm sure you do too, Eric. Oh, man, it was this trip was the most fun I've ever had traveling, you know, for wrestling. You know, we've had some fun in Japan. I probably should say the most fun.

Some of the experiences I was able to enjoy with my family, I was able to bring my wife over, my kids over. Of course, Antonio Noki and Masa Say, you know, and everybody treated it so well. There were no better guests than, or no better host than a Japanese host. But the trip over was different, you know, with Kenny and his team because we kind of bonded and became a family. I mean, we got together every night after the shows, kind of like the old days, you know, with Nitro. When we do the show and then we were so excited after the show that it was like, well, we're not going home to go to bed. let's go find a pub and we did every night after we just had the best time i mean i i think i said it on social media you know i went over there to do a five city tour and i came home with a new

family that's exactly how we feel it's just it was so awesome can't say enough good things and the shows themselves well organized the venues are great the audiences were amazing i mean you know you've been over there there's they were so excited and such a i just can't say enough good things about it i I felt like I was at a two week vacation. I was actually out of two weeks. Well, Eric, I, uh, I know you believe in stakes when it comes to pro wrestling and you don't really love gimmick matches, but you like stakes. So stipulations matter. And before you left Wyoming a few weeks ago, he got on camera and said, this is my last European tour. But now you're just gushing about how much fun you had and maybe the secret sauce was

Mrs. B. You know, you had your tag team partner to enjoy the, the sites, and I think you saw some of the castles and whatnot. And it was a lot more than, quote, unquote, just doing live wrestling shows. So I guess the question is, you're going to walk that back? I can see you and Mrs. B doing that again, dude. I don't think so. And believe me, I started thinking about that after the first or second night. It was like, oh, man, why did I say that? But I don't think I'll do another tour. Oh, you know, five different cities, you know, all that. Maybe a one-off if that opportunity ever pops up.

But one of the other reasons why I started thinking about making it my last quote-unquote tour is because I wanted to go out on a high note. You know, sometimes it's, sometimes you ride that horse a little too long. Yeah. And it's not as much fun as it used to be. I don't think a tour could be any. more fun or have gone any better or have better fans and audiences than what we did. And I kind of want to go out on a high note.

And I don't think I could go out any higher note on a higher note. So if we get a chance to go over on a one-off for an event, absolutely, a heartbeat. But as far as a tour, and this was great experience. And I don't think I want to try to top it. Well, it's hard to beat inside the ropes. If you haven't already, check out ITR wrestling.com. Our pal, Kenny McIntosh puts together a magazine, a website, tours. He is an entrepreneurial force abroad.

And if you're in that area of the world, attend one of his events. You won't regret it. He's a heck of a dude with a heck of a crew. And I've had the good fortune of being a part of those. And we just had a blast. And I know you will too. So support Kenny McIntosh and all that he does with inside the road. But, you know, this is the first time Mrs. V has, like, been around wrestling outside of our,

you know, top guy weekend type things, probably in quite a while. What did she think? Was she shocked to see how well received you were after all these years, quote, unquote, out of the spotlight, you know, not a regular part of mainstream programming and over 20 years since Nitro and here you are, man, still quite a draw. And fans are so excited to see what Mrs. B think about. about being around the rasseling business again. She loved it.

You know, before we left, you know, and I told her, you know, before we left, I said, look, it's going to be busy. It's, you know, we're going to, a lot of travel in between and all that. Come to the first night. So at least you could experience it because she's never seen me in that environment do a show like that. And so just come to the first one. And then after that, you could kind of do your own thing and you don't have to be

up as late at night and all that kind of stuff. stuff, she didn't want to miss them. And, you know, the great thing about Kenny is each night was different. It wasn't like it was the same show every night and every city. So it made it more fun for me as, you know, the focus on me because I could have more fun with fresh material. And, you know, you know me, Conrad, I'd much rather improvise and not know and have a list of questions prepared. And that's not fun for me. And Kenny did a great job.

I said, Kenny, I don't want to know any of the questions in advance. Let's just make it real and authentic and organic. And she went to the first show and she wouldn't miss them. She went to every one of them. And we still had time, you know, even while we were there for the first five nights of the tour, you know, we got to go to the Jamison distillery, which was really amazing. Probably a trip that I would not have taken had it not been arranged for us as a courtesy. But I'm so grateful that we did.

It was really interesting. And after the tour was over, Lori and I were able to just do whatever we wanted to do. So we went to Edinburgh and went to the castle. Wow. Spent an afternoon there. Here's what's funny. Speaking about, you know, being recognized still. So we hire, we go to this guide service, you know, where you get your tickets and all that.

And you get a tour guide that walks the group through, right? So we met where you were supposed to be at about 20 minutes earlier, half hour early. And the guide came over and asked me a question. And I could see him. He was kind of looking at me a little different. Didn't think too much of it, but I noticed it. And then when he came over and he said, so, you know, he asked me some kind of a question. As soon as I started talking, he goes, excuse me, I don't want to be unprofile.

You know, because British are very light generally. I don't want to make a big deal out of this. And I don't want to be unprofessional. But what I think you are? I said, I think so. If you're a wrestling fan, I am. And then he, you know, he became a fan, huge NWO fan, and he was an actor, he studied history, knew all the history, and he was so much fun as a guide.

And we ended up taking pictures, and I posted a couple of them. And that picture you posted of Mrs. B and I was in front of a place called the Drovers Inn. There you go. And it won Best Pub in Scotland in 1705. It's been around that long. Wow. And just having the ability to go in and experience that. And, you know, you sit there and you think of all the, all the experiences and all the lives and all the history that took place in a pub like that.

And it's an inn, you know, there's rooms you could rent. Beautiful part of Scotland. But, yeah, I got recognized pretty much everywhere I went, you know, even away from the shows, which is unique. You know, that doesn't even happen to me here in the States. But over there, you know, if I'd go into a pub or. or, you know, into the hotel, inevitably, at least, you know, two or three people, you know, Eric Bischoff. And look, let's face it, I don't look anything like I looked when I was on TV, right?

So it's kind of amazing. What's even more amazing to me, and I think I sent you this text, is every night, I'd say, how many people here, you know, listen to 83 weeks. Seventy-five, Kenny was even shocked, actually. 75 or 80% of the people enthusiastically raise their hands. Wow. So the show is really popular over there.

And like I said, I'll talk for the next two hours about how much fun I had them. It was great. Mrs. B had a wonderful time. Her bucket list was to go to a castle. Really?

Yeah, she'd never been to a castle. And for decades now, we'd always thought, you know what we should do? We should go over to the UK or going to Scotland or Ireland or whatever. Hold on my dad. dog just opened my door.

Wow, he's got opposable thumbs? Yeah, well, it was half open. But so we took her to Edinburgh, or I took her to Edinburgh, and we saw that castle, which, you know, amazing history, obviously. But then we went to London, right before we left, we had a free day in London, and we went to the Tower of London, which is a giant castle with amazing history, and spent an afternoon there. So we were able to knock off two castles where.

there and it was just cool as shit. Man, I'm so glad to hear that you guys had such a great time. And, uh, listen, there's lots of, uh, I don't know, haters out there. But say what you want about Eric Bischoff. Throw that picture up there again, Silva. That dude can sell. Roll tide. Roll time.

Uh, hey, listen, as you were traipsing through, uh, Europa, a friend of ours, um, was unable to help me out. My daughter, Kansas, rarely asks me for a hookup on a concert or a thing like that because, and she knows I have connections in my local media world, but she called and said, Dad, I need your help. Can you get me tickets to Lana Del Rey? And I said, baby, I don't even know who that is, what time and where is that band playing and in what venue? And she goes, it's here at the new amphitheater, Orion, but I can't get tickets. And I said, Oh, I can make that happen. So I called up our friend Cassio Kid, and I said, hey, dude, Kansas asked for tickets,

I need your help. He goes, dude, she never asked for anything. What does she need? She needs tickets to Lana Del Rey. And he laughed out loud. And he said, dude, it sold out faster than any show in the history of Orion. I don't have any comps. I don't have any media access.

I can't get you. And I said, Kansas, I'm sorry, but dad failed. I normally pride myself I've been able to figure this out, but the show sold out. I can't, I can't get tickets. So about an hour later, she sends me a screen grab and she said, hey, I found these. Do you think these are legit? And what they were, Eric, were the definition of nosebleed.

Literally, there were the last row of the tippy top section. Her back would have been against concrete. It was that high. And I clicked the link. I took a look at it. They were $173 a ticket. And I said to myself, self, I know exactly what to do. I pulled up my game time app.

This is a real story. I'm not kidding. I got Kansas front row on the floor for 200 bucks. Are you kidding me? This is a real story. I'm not making any of this up. I will post pictures. Oh, that's awesome.

But it was floor 7, row A, I forget the seat numbers, but her and her friend had front row at a sold out, couldn't get a ticket. The nearest competitor, she's trying to keep it on a budget for dad and not ask for too much, $173 a ticket. That would have been the very last row. I got her absolute front row, thanks to game time, and you can too. You don't have to worry with game time. I bought my tickets at 5 o'clock in the evening.

The event was at 7. Oh, my gosh. I had them instantly. I clicked two buttons and transferred it to her. She had a great time. By the way, they took out all the risk. Now, I knew what a great value I was getting, but they've got a game time guarantee. They guarantee you the best price.

but I am living, breathing proof, you can trust it. If you find tickets in the same section in row for less money, game time will credit you 110%. But I want to repeat that. Last row, worst seat possible, 173. Front row center, 200 bucks. Okay, it's 27 more dollars, but a million times better experience. I couldn't have felt more pride of being a dad in that moment, Eric,

that this show sold out. Dad couldn't get it. Oh, wait, he got me front row seats. Well, the secret sauce was game time. They do flash deals and sponsored deals for tickets on everything, not just concerts, but football games and basketball games and baseball games and comedy and theater. And they even give you like a seat view before you buy so you eliminate all the risk.

You don't have to worry, is this a good seat? And by the way, they do it exactly like they say they do. They didn't send the tickets to my email. I didn't have to dig through. Gmail to find it. It popped up immediately on my phone. And with two clicks, I was able to immediately transfer them to my daughter. It's a home run. This is the real deal. I encourage you if you're a dad, if you're there to try to save the day, or maybe you just want to be the big daddy for your date, right? Take the guesswork out of buying tickets for GameTime, download the GameTime

app, create an account. Use our code weeks and you'll get $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem with the code Weeks, W-E-E-E-K-S for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Eric, front row? How could that have been any better? She must have been. Cazas must have been shocked.

She couldn't believe it. She's texted me a picture. First of all, all caps. OMG, how did you do this? I'm so freaking excited. And then I texted her later. and I said, do you having fun? All caps, the time of my life.

When she left the concert, I was inundated with tons of photos. She could not believe that she went from, I don't have tickets to I have front row. Game time is what did it. That's a real story, and I couldn't wait to share it with you, Eric. Unbelievable. That puts a giant smile on my face because I just know how that,

I know how that kind of a situation feels when you're able to come through at the last minute and not disappoint. In fact, go the other way. and just deliver something so meaningful. And that's what that was. What you just described was an experience that she'll remember for the rest of her life. She'll never forget that.

Or for you, or you for doing it for her. I strutted around this house, Megan was like, what's going on? Because I was just so happy and proud. And I said, you're not going to believe it. And I told her the whole story. Because every parent wants to have that proudness of, hey, I exceeded expectations with my kid. I came through. I was super dad.

It was an awesome feeling. Game time is what made it happen. Seriously, sincerely, go check it out, have it in your phone, be on the ready. It was a great time for me and my family. And I'll tell you what, there's been a lot of smiles going around lately in the wrestling business. And that's what I wanted to talk to you about today. We had Eddie Guerrero on our docket.

We are definitely going to talk about Eddie Guerrero. I've got like 27 pages worth of notes. We're going to do that next week here on the program. but boy the wrestling business it has changed since you and I sat down and clicked record well a lot of new developments I want to start with perhaps the biggest one Adam Copeland maybe it was the worst kept secret in wrestling at the end of their pay-per-view he made his debut for all elite wrestling and I have to admit I am super excited to see him be able to color outside the lines if you will there's so many

matches and opportunities and creative opportunities that really weren't ever afforded in WWE because no matter what sort of banner you wave in your house, WW, we can all acknowledge they both have a certain style and to see him with a different style outside of the normal environment I think could be really, really interesting. Of course, he's not calling himself Edge. WWE owns that IP. He's the rated our superstar. I guess they didn't have that trademark, but I bet Mike Dawkins helped him land it. And he's Adam Copeland. And I love the story of him trying to finish his career with his best friend, the person he started his career with and Christian. I think that's all really, really cool. But I am curious what you thought of the debut

and the way it was done. It was a surprise on a pay-per-view. And I know you're big on surprises, but there was so much chatter beforehand. I don't know how much of a surprise it is. But I'm still excited about the potential matchups and stories. What did you think of all that Adam Copeland debut in AW business? I think it was done really well. And I was happy and excited to see that, you know, Adam was introduced at a pay-per-view as a surprise. And of course, the chatter was there.

And I don't think anybody went, oh, my God, I never expected this. But the fact that he wasn't booked, you know, it wasn't advertised. It was added value. Yes. Which means he's going to get an. even bigger response than he would have gotten had he been advertised. It's just, it's a subtle difference in crowd reaction, but when you overdelivered like that, just like you did for Kansas, it has a different value and you get a different reaction.

And I was really happy to see that as opposed to the way things have typically been done. I think it definitely helps set up his appearance on television. I think if I don't think it could, I don't think it could have been done any better. Let's put it that one. I really, really like it. It was executed as far as bringing in a new talent. Couldn't be happier for Adam.

You know, we talked a little bit about it before, you know, weeks ago. When it was apparent that Adam wasn't going to resign with WWE, and it was a question of, well, is he going to go off and do movies or is he, you know, just going to retire, sit on his porch. What's he going to do? And, you know, I was like half, glass half full was, hey, now, it's an opportunity for, my response was it's an opportunity for him to end his career working with one of his closest friends with whom he started his career.

And that's a cool thing. That's a personal legacy issue, right? And to have that opportunity is rare. So I was excited for him if that would have been his choice. The half glass empty was, historically, WW talent coming to AEW, it's a huge promotion and everybody's hyping it up and it's going to change the world and things are going to be different and all that. And it's generally been a letdown.

And I was a little disappointed, we're not disappointed, but I was a little concerned on a friend-to-friend basis that perhaps it would be like every other W.W. to AEW transition. But let's see, man. Let's see. This could be a great opportunity for him with Christian there. There's some great story. I love the way they introduced him and brought him and Christian together. I think that sets up a pretty interesting backstory and storyline going forward. And both of these two individuals are way more than capable of delivering on good story. Oh yeah. I think I think it can be really exciting. Really looking forward to it. I don't even think it's arguable. I think this is my favorite version of Christian we've ever

seen. I was a big fan of Edge and Christian as the tag team. And I do think for whatever reason, as people talk about all time great tag teams, that does get glossed over, perhaps because they had so much single success on the other side of their tag team run. Or also too, because perhaps they didn't have just a regular quote-unquote tag team name. It was Edge and Christian. It was just two guys as opposed to we are the Midnight Express. We are the Harlem Heat, that sort of thing. But man, what a great tag team.

And I love the idea of those opportunities, you know, to have the Young Bucks versus Edge and Christian or FTR versus Edge and Christian and all the great tag teams that exist there in AEW. But that's not what we're starting with. We're starting with a singles matter. And I just think Christian is one of, if not the most interesting character on AEW television for the past several weeks and maybe months at this point.

But I wanted to ask what you thought of showing what they can do differently and they're willing to do differently than WWE. I say with so much emphasis the word differently because you have taught us, if nothing else on this program, that in business, you can be less than, better than, or different than. And man, when he comes out, he being Christian, pronouns, power. and says after Adam pours his heart out, go fuck yourself. I love that.

That was something you would never, ever see on WW programming. And of course, there was a dump button there. But Tony Kahn took to Twitter as I guess AEW tweeted, what do Christian say? And Tony Kahn tweeted,

go fuck yourself. We're leaning into the adult-oriented aspect of it, something that you maybe were envious of once upon a time with the attitude era in WWV. What did you think of the decision to just roll with it? Just say what you would really say in real life and we'll bleep it and do our best and live to fight another day. No, I look on a creative level

as a fan sitting there in the venue or watching it on television, loved it. Loved it. The business side of me is kind of shaking my head. But whatever, we'll see how that pans out. in a long run because it is it is starting to get into that treacherous zone where advertisers begin to feel uncomfortable particularly as you're you know targeting a younger demo but hey maybe it doesn't matter anymore I could be mistaken maybe advertisers especially on television because it's harder harder and harder to deliver for an advertiser maybe the maybe the

standards have changed and if so it won't have any effect but I think creatively awesome Just awesome. And I want to go back to Christian again, even in WWE, and I've never worked, you know, one-on-one with Christian. Obviously, I've been around him a lot when I was, WWE as a talent, and back in the early 2000s, never really got to know him too well on a personal level. But as a performer, I always thought he was so understated, but powerful as a character. And I think what we saw with Edge and Christian that night is a perfect example. Christian can deliver with his character in such a powerful, understated way that makes him unique from everybody else.

There's a layer, there's a different layer to Christian that is so unique from any other talent, either in WWE or an AEW, that makes him really interesting to me. And I think provides a great opportunity going forward because that's a, that's a character or a dimension of a character that you just don't get anywhere else. And it makes it interesting. The stories can become more interesting because there's a different layer there. He's just not out there cutting a wrestling promo. You know, he's, he's, he's an actor.

And I love it. I'm here for it. I'm here for it too. I cannot wait to see more of Christian and where that whole story goes with Adam Copeland. I do want to talk a little bit more about Christian because he made some headlines that I want to circle back to. But first, I want to ask what you thought of the rating that came out. Of course, they really tried to load up this past Wednesday with the first time we're going to hear from Adam Copeland. and that's where Christian drop that line,

go fuck yourself. And somehow, some way, maybe it's not somehow some way, maybe we'll talk about it in long form here. NXT managed to beat the AEW rating. Granted, it's on a different night, but the Tuesday NXT show where we tease that Paul Heyman would be here next week

and we tease that John Cena would be here next week. We'll talk about all that in a minute. But that program, which had Becky Lynch and a handful of others on it, would actually draw more viewers than Edge's first appearance in AEW. And what's curious about that to me, Eric, is very quickly, and I mean in a couple of days, that clip on YouTube of Adam Copeland talking in the ring with Tony Chivani and then Christian coming in, eclipsed 5 million views.

So you have something that has been promoted and advertised, you know, at least on the internet. People knew that we're going to hear from Adam Copeland. And then they flock to it once it's on YouTube, but they didn't necessarily flock to it on TV. And I just can't wrap my head around that. What do you make of that? I can. Okay. I'm absolutely convinced now over the last couple of weeks because we've seen the WW PLE going head to head against AEW and against dynamite, or excuse me, collision. We've seen that now. a couple of times. And when you have a WWE, BLE head-to-head or on the same night as collision,

collision gets trounced. What does that tell me? It tells me that there's a tremendous amount of duplication in the AEW audience. The AEW audience is, I would imagine, 80% comprised of people that also watch WWE. Convinced to that now. First time or two, you know, maybe not. But now it's a pattern. You can see it.

And I think because that segment of the WWE audience that was interested in an edge slash Adam Copeland now or the rated R superstar in AEW, they want to check it out because they're interested in their edge, but not necessarily interested in the AEW product. That being the larger WWE audience. I think there's a small segment of the AEW audience that is, exclusive AEW audience, but it's a very, very small percentage, if that makes sense. And if it wasn't for the couple of weeks now, the pattern that has established itself when collision is up against the WWE, I would not have probably assumed that, but I think it's a safe assumption now.

So I think to answer your question as briefly as I can, which is fucking nearly impossible for me, is yeah, everybody knew about it and a lot of fans that are fans of Ed. wanted to see what that looks like, but they weren't necessarily invested in the AEW product. It's just really interesting to me because I think WrestleMania actually pointed out that this is actually the first time that NXT has done more viewers than Dynamite since the end of the Wednesday Night War,

if you want to call it that, back in April of 2021. Previously, Dynamite had been beating NXT pretty handily. Now, a lot of people are starting to pay attention, to what's going on, and they're saying things like, oh, it's obvious WW cares about AEW and don't feed me that garbage. They don't care about AEW. Well, I think you just peel that layer of the onion back a little more and you say,

Eric, they're both vying for a new television deal. Like now that we know that that Smackdown is off of Fox and it's coming to USA, well, that means NXT and Raw need a new home. So when people wonder, why are they putting Becky Lynch down there and, Hey, why is John Cena there and why is Cody there and wait, what about the Undertaker Bell? We'll talk about this coming Tuesday or I guess as folks are listening to this tomorrow

night momentarily, but it makes all the sense in the world to load that Tuesday show up as much as you can, especially when you're going to be head to head. But even without that, you've got to put your best foot forward if you're hoping to ask for a bunch of cash in return, right, Eric? Man, I'm so glad you pointed that out because again, on social media and again, And when I was traveling overseas, I'm keeping track of as much as I can in terms of what's going on. And all you hear about is, and granted, you know, Twix isn't real, Twitter X Twix. Yeah.

By the way, when I was over, I was over doing a show, just to show you how many people listened to 83 weeks. I'm doing a show and some fan came up to me after the show, very nice guy. And said, here, I brought you this and he handed me a Twix candy bar. I love it. I love it. That was funny. But, you know, I'm listening to, you know, all the, you know, the dirt sheet, you know, the Dave Meltzer dirt sheet geniuses out there, you know, that are so, you know, tribal.

And it's like, oh, WWE's scared of, you know, AEW and Dinah, blah, but such a look, folks, as Conrad, you just pointed out, WWE has been and is in a period where they're negotiating. They're selling. They're looking for the best deal possible for their product. And for the last several weeks, we've seen Becky Lynch. We've seen them propping up the NXT show. We've seen those ratings come up now over the last, what, three, four weeks. Yeah.

They've been knocking on the door of 800 or more thousand viewers, been getting close. And by the way, let's not forget, I predicted to you in your home back, I think in May or Jr. You said it two years ago, and it finally happened. happened. No, it was this year, wasn't it? No, but I'm saying you went back as far as two years ago. Yeah. When they first switched, you were like, it won't be long. And I mean, it took a little longer, but still, it got there.

Yeah, it got there. But people need to pull their head out of their ass or Dave Meltzer's ass or the dirt sheet's ass. And really, just be honest and object. the objective. Look at the fact that they've been stacking NXT now for several weeks. The numbers have been coming up for several weeks,

and they're not doing it because they're afraid of AEW or the genius creative of Tony Kahn, which is non-existent. They're doing it because they're in a middle of a negotiation or they're entering into negotiations. Anyone want the most money they can get for that show? Well, gee, how do you do that? Well, let's put some of our A-lister's on our C-show.

Yes. Because as much as, you know, the hardcore, and I'm talking about the Internet wrestling fans, not the general wrestling fan with reference to EW. When you're honest about it, AEW and Dynamite is their A-Show. N-X-T is their C-show. It's a developmental property.

it's not apples to apples it's apples and cucumbers right now we're getting a little sample of a few and in this case coming up tomorrow night a few more you're getting a few a listers on what is your c show and everybody's going oh my god they're afraid of a e w throw the fuck up just pull your head out of the dirt sheets look at things objectively go back and look at what's been going on the last several weeks, allow yourself to recognize that there is actually the business to the wrestling business, and the VWE is doing exactly what they should do and have been doing a couple of weeks. And I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow night.

I don't necessarily want to get into too much of a prediction, other than I think it's going to be a fucking bloodbath. Well, let's talk about what's happening this past week. You said that, you know, NXT has been knocking on the door of 800. did 857 this past week. Meanwhile, AW did 800,000. And I know that the tribalists

who don't understand that, hey, everything that's good for wrestling is good for everyone else in wrestling. Really, when you're honest about it, 857 to 800, it's not that big a deal. Now, I understand it's a point of pride because you're in competition and you want to win.

I get all that. But I'm saying from an advertiser standpoint, You're really talking about the same potential buyer. It's not like, boy, we're at another echelon when we get an extra 57,000 buyers. That's not the way it works. So I just want to make sure that as far as everybody understands here, the business of this on tomorrow night really matters because it is a head-to-head and they're both competing for a new media deal.

But this past week, AEW quote-unquote, losing by 57,000 is not a big deal. deal. Eric has pointed out on this program for many, many years, as far as the way ratings are done, that could be a freaking rounding error. That's not a substantial piece of business. And from an advertising agency, a buyer's perspective, if you will, they're really looking at the same product. Let's remove wrestling. Let's remove the three letters. And let's just say, here's show A and it does 800,000. Here's show B, and it does 857. They're going to be priced almost identically. There will be a little bit of a difference, but negligible. So that's not really the point of pride. The real business of this is when they're head to head

and perhaps they're competing for the same revenue deals on a television rights deal from the networks. Because if they're thinking about, should I go with this show or this show, because if they're doing similar ratings, they are comparable. But if you put them head to head, now we get to see what's really comparable. And there is going to be a disadvantage for AEW because they're on a preempted night. There is an advantage for WWE. I want to talk about all that.

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That's nationwide coins.com slash 83 weeks. One last time for this exclusive offer, nationwide coins.com slash 83 weeks and use our code 83 weeks. And if you call, don't forget to mention our promo code 83 weeks, or they want to. know that we sent you. So Eric, let's talk about it. What do you think, man? In the scheme of things, 800,000, 857,000. That's not all that significant, but the stakes change tomorrow.

Do you agree? Yes and no. Okay. I think ultimately in the long run, it won't matter to either company. I think, and again, this is. just how my brain works. You know, people that are typically watching wrestling or watch it because they want to see the matches and the promos and the angles and the stories. I'm interested in wrestling because of the business of it. Yes. The business of the wrestling business. That's what I find

most fascinating. That's what I think about the most. And going back to my comments about duplication, which I think to me are abundantly clear that there is a tremendous amount of duplication between those who watch WWE and those who watch AEW. The fact of the matter is fewer people watch AEW for whatever reason but from an advertising

point of view, Conrad, you're an advertiser, your client. You're comfortable with the wrestling audience. You have a product that you feel is going to resonate with that audience and you have a choice. You can either buy an ad

and let's call it Monday Night Raw. Or, and perhaps, and, you can buy an ad over on Turner for A.W. Why would you buy an ad in AEW knowing you're going to reach the same demo with that ad in WW? So if you've got a budget and you want to reach the professional wrestling audience because you see the growth and the interest and the loyalty in that audience and you want your product position there. If I'm going to spend $100 over on WWE and I'm going to spend $80 over an AEW, why would I spend that $80 when if I spend $100 over here on a premium product that is much

better produced, it has a much larger audience and I'm going to reach a much larger audience, why would I spend any money over in AEW? I got one-stop shopping over here and I've got a bigger audience and I don't have to spend that 80 bucks. That's what I think is going to ultimately, because that's how media buyers, that's how advertisers are going to look at that. They're not tribal. They don't live on the internet. What they're going to look at is numbers.

And when that duplication continues to become more and more obvious, your buy, and the advertisers like in media buyers often talk about efficiency. That's what they're looking for. how to get the most efficient bang from their advertising buck, it's getting clearer and clearer that WWE is the place to spend your ad money. Yeah, they say fuck over in, you know, dynamite. And yeah, you get, you know, a lot more gimmick matches and you get people bleeding all over the place. And it looks like butcher shop sometimes when they're done, you know, with a match.

And even if that doesn't bother me, why am I going to spend my money over there when I can get a bigger audience and actually save money in a long run targeting that audience with them. The duplication, I think, is going to be ultimately the biggest thing that's going to become revealed as a part of this Tuesday night. Well, listen, we're just my opinion. We're going to get way in the weeds. I do want to come back and talk a little bit about tomorrow. I want to talk about what happened at Fastlane with Jade and Cody.

I definitely want to talk about Brian Alvarez and the post-match circumstance he had Christian. But before we do that, I want to get way deep in the weeds here on advertising with you because, frankly, I don't have anybody else to do a podcast with I can talk about this with. I think most of our listeners understand, or maybe they don't, but most of the ads that are bought on these programs are not what we would call a direct buy. Most of these ads go through an agency. And agencies create a commission based on what the total spend is. So on some level, the agency wants the buyer to spend as much money as they can. So it is a known property and a more established entity.

I mean, out in the real world, if we just run down to the local watering hole or we run through Walmart and we ask people, what do you think about when you first think of the word professional wrestling? Most people would say WWE. They're like the Kleenex or the Band-Aid of that. And if someone finds out, I mean,

I've been in those places before, AW's on TV, and they would say, oh, is this that WWE stuff? They're just sort of branded as that. So from an agency perspective, they are the known entity, makes it a little easier to sell to a potential advertiser, meaning, let's say it's Kleenex for the sake of the discussion.

If you're trying to sell Kleenex on a wrestling product, the WWB product is obviously an easier sell because it's more well branded to the 28 or 35-year-old lady who's probably buying it on the other end. She's not going to regularly consume either one of these programs, but this is the one she's at least heard of, therefore you have the familiarity. That makes the sales cycle a little easier.

But more than that, what you just said, Eric, is something where most people, if you were a direct buyer, because I could tell you, I would be more likely as a direct buyer to buy an AW program than I would be a WWE, simply because of the value. Because to your point, if I'm getting roughly the same audience, but I'm saving 20% and I'm not paying $100 and I'm paying $80, I'm in. Conversely, if I'm the ad agency, I make a commission based on the spend. So do I want that margin for myself or to give it away? So do I want to make a commission on $100 or a commission on $80?

It's all a percentage. So if we call it 15%, then I'm going to make $15 with WW. I'd make less than that if I sold AEW. So I do think the agency business is automatically based on familiarity and the price and the way the agency structures are set up. They're more likely to want to sell WWE. I think, if we're going to get in the nitty gritty here, the way AEW can win long term is through product integration. If you've been watching podcasts on YouTube, have you noticed over the past several months that every doggone host is drinking Celsius?

Guys, here's a spoiler, it's not because they love the taste or that they're all drinking it. They're all paid advertising. It's product placement, sort of what they made fun of in Wayne's world 30 years ago, where I would never sell out and he opens the Pizza Hut box and takes a delicious bite. Like that is the way to win if you're a challenger brand, an up-and-coming brand. But it seems like WWE even has a head start on that.

Now, I know there's been some fun integrations and they took a lot of heat for this when they did that Texas chainsaw Massacre Death Match several weeks ago with Jeff Jarrett, but it was a pile of cash and donated it all to charity. But if you look back at the numbers we saw at WrestleMania and the

subsequent pay-per-views this year, they have had so many product integrations on the ring, around the ring, the Mountain Dew match that Bray Wyatt had against LA night once upon a time. Those silly things really add up in a much more substantial way than a commercial ever could. But I think that would be a critical path I would pursue if I was AEW. If we know that we don't have the familiarity and maybe we don't have the, we can't command the price point as a result of that, I would try to do as much product integration as I could if I was AEW.

Here's what's interesting about product integration. And I have some experience in that. When Jason Hervey and I were producing for Bishop Hervey Entertainment, we're producing a substantial amount of non-scripted slash reality television back in the early 2000s, when product integration on television was still kind of an emerging thing. It didn't happen really in the 90s too often. it really became a new business opportunity on a consistent basis. 2003, 2004, because your non-script reality television producers

where there were so many different ways you could integrate product. You got a shot where your key talents go into the refurb. refrigerator looking for something to eat. Oh, there's a can of cores in there. Oh, there's some Heinz ketchup in there. And you place it, you know, accordingly and you made sure the camera got exactly the way you want it. And as an independent producer, you could go have that conversation with a product placement. I think Mark Burnett was one that really had a lot to do with really creating that as an industry. But there was a period of time when the networks we were dealing with, they weren't talking to their, there was no product placement part of their

agencies or if you're a studio. There was nobody in the studio that was in charge of trying to, you know, they knew what their programming was. They knew what they were producing. They knew what they were spending money on and investing on. But there was nobody within that studio environment that was saying, oh, hey, what if we put a, you know, bottled Heinz ketchup in a refrigerator in a shot? Let's go talk to the director or the people that are producing that show and see if we can make could happen. It didn't exist. But independent television producers like ourselves or, you know, ones that were much more substantial than us, we're doing that because they could. It was like the Wild Wild West. The studio wasn't in that business. They weren't even aware it was being

done for a long time. They weren't aware people like Eric Bishop and Jason Herbie were going and doing deals with companies and saying, hey, you know, on the side, you know, we can get your product in that shot, you don't have to go through the studio to do it. And your ad agency isn't offering you that opportunity. So there was this brief period of time, I'll say probably three or four years, when a lot of the people that I worked with, Tom Beers, for example, at original productions, he's probably other than Mark Burnett, one of the most prolific, non-scripted television producers, does documentaries, deadliest cats, the Jesse James show. I mean, he's done so much stuff. It's incredible.

he was making a fortune in product placement. But he was doing it himself. Studios weren't in that business. Advertising agencies weren't in that business. So he went direct to the products themselves. Once the studio started figuring out, whoa, wait a minute. You're telling me that Mark Burnett or Tom Beers or some of these other big producers are making millions of dollars by using a certain kind of vehicle or certain types of products in these shots.

I mean, we're not even getting a piece of that action. because that's the way that was. That was the Wild Wild West with regard to product placement. Nobody was really managing that business or building that business other than the producers of the show because they could wide open. That's not the case anymore. Right. As time has gone on and studios started smartening up

and advertising agencies started figuring out that they could make more money in addition to just selling ads. It could make additional revenue with unique product placement opportunities. the Wild Wild West aspect of it is over, which is a long-winded way of saying that perhaps AEW, I don't think they've got the horsepower to pull it off, quite frankly.

But I guess it's possible that someone in AEW could kind of take the reins of that opportunity and go out and try to create it. But I'm pretty certain there's language in their contract with Turner that doesn't give them that opportunity anymore. Now the studios want to make that money. So it's up to studio to go and sell product placement to show.

Here's where it becomes a little more complicated. When you're talking about a media buy, Conrad, you probably have more experience in this than I do because I didn't buy a lot of media. But when you're talking about a media buy, now the product you're placing, now the program you're placing your product in becomes way more important.

because otherwise you're buying numbers. You're buying audience and you're buying demos for the most. When it comes to product placement, your client is going to want to know more specifically what that show looks like. Where is the product? How are you going to place that product? What does the scene look like? Who is the talent associated in that scene?

It's a much more sophisticated business now than it was 10 years ago. And in 20 years ago, it was the Wild West. So I don't think the opportunity for AEW is quite as easy because of the nature of the product. Yes, it appeals to the, because they say fuck and they bleed all over the place and all that shit. Yeah, that's cool for the audience, that segment of the audience, but your product placement potential is mitigated as a result of it. So it's a little different. Whereas in WWE, it's not only a bigger audience, it's a safer audience, it's a safer product because of the nature of it.

It's complicated. But it, yes, on the surface, I agree with you. Yes, if there was somebody with the creative or not the creative, but the horsepower and the understanding of that world to go out and take the reins and lead it, potential is there. But number one, they're going to have to work with the network because the network controls what goes on in that show, the end of the day. And keep in mind, and network, you know, TBS, their ad sales department, I'm guessing, your TNT. They've got their advertisers they work with.

And let's just say, I know this is a bad example because it'll never come true. But let's just say Turner ad sales has got an opportunity to place Miller Lite or excuse me, to sell Miller Lite TV. ads within dynamite that's going to eliminate the opportunity for anybody in AEW to go knock it on Adolf Coors door that's not going to happen so your your opportunities become less as a result of the studio the network having more control of that it's it's tricky

it is tricky and I'm excited to see what these next deals look like. I think everybody understands that this is a critical time for both WW and AEW. They're both looking for a bump in those television rights. I do want to ask you about pay-per-view, but before I do, I want to show a clip of something that happened recently after an AEW pay-per-view. It's become in fashion, and AEW started this trend. They were doing press conferences after the paper views. And it's always interesting to see who's in character and who's out of character. Maybe we're going to see some character work here from Christian.

I want to show that clip because there was a clip that, man, it got everybody talking. I think Christian has been phenomenal in these settings. And for whatever reason, he had Brian Alvarez in his sights. So I think our crack producer, Dave Silva, has that queued up. I want to let you take a look at this exchange and then get your thoughts. Eric, here we go. Ryan from the Wrestling Observer.

When did you... Great, like talking to Marx. When did you first see Nick Wayne wrestle? And what were your thoughts? I saw that first. Never seen Nick. Never? Do you wrestle?

Thank you. Do you wrestle? No. Don't wrestle. I did back in the day. I'm sure you suck. while you're here asking. I wrestled his father.

But what? You can give a star rating tonight? Did you give me a really cool star rating? I did not give it. But what's the question again? I was wondering what you thought when you first saw Nick Wayne. But you said you never saw him. I've never seen him.

Well, thank you. I know he's a good boy, though. He is a good boy. He's a little bit lost. Found his weight. I will guide him. So there you go. Listen,

we love when we see a little bit of great character work. That was definitely some great character work. But it did feel as if there was a little bit of the way a lot of the talent really feel about the quote unquote star ratings. What is that the first time you've seen that? And if not, what did you think of it the first time you saw that? No, that's the first time I saw it.

I heard about it, but I didn't see it. I think my opinion, what Christian did there, 80% of his reaction was 100% real and he was not in character. What he did because he was a pro is he finished it off in character, just enough that it didn't feel like 100% of a personal attack. But you saw, in my opinion, what Christian thinks of that piece of shit, Brian Alvarez. Come on.

Look, you can say whatever you want. You can believe whatever you want. If you're listening to this, you could agree with me, you could disagree with me. I don't really give his shit, to be honest. But Alvarez and Meltzer are cancer to the wrestling business. I think a lot of the issues that Tony Kahn has had over the last year, particularly with regard to punk and some of the bullshit that went on backstage, is at least 50% because of the bullshit.

shit that guys like Meltzer and Alvarez put out there in the shit that they stir up as a result that ends up and I've said this for the almost six years we've been doing this show that stuff that they write about as much as it doesn't matter because 90% of the wrestling audience doesn't read and all that shit it ends up creating issues backstage and in some cases in management and this is going to sound bizarre but I am probably more supportive of Bill Brooks, C and Punk in terms of why things went south in AEW because I do think Meltzer and Alvarez are at minimal,

at least half responsible for that. And Tony gets the other half because he didn't manage it. These people They were bad for business When I was president of WCW Before I became president of WCW When I was a third-string announcer In WCW

They were cancer for the business For that same reason And we saw it manifest With regard to punk And the bullshit that was going on backstage They had a lot to do with it I do think they're cancer I think they're bad for business

I think that the people that support them Should really think twice about it if they truly love the business or want to support it because I think overall the two of them combined are just, they're horrible, horrible people. And I think that's why talent react to those two pieces of shit the way they do because they know what I know. They've seen it like I've seen it. Maybe not as much as I've seen it because most of the time talent isn't anywhere near

the business side of the wrestling business. But as talent, they know it. So I think that's why I believe. I think Christian gave you about 80% of how he really feels and he finished it off with a little bit of a character work at the tail end so it kind of fit. That's how I feel. I'm curious when you say that perhaps,

and I'm not arguing, I'm just asking for clarification, when you say that you think perhaps some of the issues that C&Punk experienced in AEW or at least, I don't think the phrase you used is, at least 50% on guys like Alvarez. and Polk, or Alvarez and Meltzer. I'm trying to get clarification on that. You believe that their reporting perhaps would, in a way,

so discord within the company? I think the flow of information between certain individuals and AEW that are in management to Dave Meltzer and the spin that was put on it. and then Dave would in turn report it. The reason it gets a reaction is because it's obvious to people backstage who are in the locker. It was obvious to punk. The way it was obvious to a lot of people, by the way,

because they're not very fucking good at it. Meltzer and Alvarez, they're pretty obvious. If you've watched them over the years and you read them, you can see what they're trying to achieve. Dave has an agenda. And part of it is business. you know, one of the reasons that Dave is an apologist so many times. He claims he's

not, but he is, almost on a weekly basis in terms of when AEW, you know, only delivered 800,000. Oh, it's because of DirecTV and the DVR issue, which is such bullshit. Hang on. What is, what's Dave's agenda? I'm not arguing. I'm trying to

understand. He said... Dave's agenda would be to create controversy. Dave's agenda. Look, Dave knows that if AEW goes away and the only thing he's got to cover and trying to make money off of is his position on WWE, that's going to cost him money. His business is better when there's the ability to create competition, to create the illusion

of competition, which is all AEW has been trying to do since day one is create this illusion of competition. There is no competition for market share. The competition doesn't exist for market share. You can't compare any metric that actually matters other than an emotion. one, which doesn't matter, that would suggest that there's actual competition in terms of distribution domestically, in terms of distribution worldwide, look at what's going on with the AEW Live event business.

It's cratering. It's not just kind of deteriorating. They're doing their television shows in 4,000-seat arenas and not being able to sell them out. That's not competition to a product that is selling out 10,000 and 12,000. seat arenas twice a week. You can get as emotionally invested in AEW as you want to. But if you just look at numbers and facts, there is no competition.

But Dave tries hard to create the illusion of it because he can stir up the tribalism that everybody's kind of complaining about because that's clicks. That's an opportunity to sell a dirt sheet bullshit. That's an opportunity to get more attention in social media by creating this illusion and creating some of the controversy

or at least contributing to it. That's, it's way, it's way more nefarious than I think people realize. Help me understand. Do you think that when these, I mean, said differently, you think he's trying to sell newspapers.

Yeah. I'm just wondering. By creating issues and throwing fuel on fires, that benefit him, absolutely. Well, let's back up to something else you said, because a minute ago you said that members of AEW management, it almost felt like you were implying the young bucks,

but I have it on really good authority that that is not the case. I mean, those guys have been, I'm not going to say on a gag order, but legally unable to talk about any of that stuff. And I know that since punk's gone, they've had fun on being the elite and things like that. But I don't think that was the case. Now, I'm not saying there's not other people who are in management.

I mean, there's one name I keep hearing over and over and over that nobody will say out loud, but that's more of a recent hire. I don't think that was the case. I mean, where I'm just, I'm fascinated by your idea that you think that this is somehow good for Dave's business. Because I don't think anybody sees this controversy and says, oh, I better go subscribe to the newsletter to get all the dirt in, in the modern era. But the more divisive chatter there is, the more interest that can be created in the personal backstage drama, because let's be fucking honest about it, the personal backstage drama far exceeds anything that happens inside of the ring in AEW. That's way more interesting to the average wrestling fan that subscribes to dirt sheets and lives on the internet and all that.

That's the crap that they want to live off of and be entertained by Twisted Way. I think Dave does a great job of throwing fuel on those fires. And I didn't say the Young Box. I'm not pointing a finger to them because I don't know that as a fact. But whether it's them or friends of them or supporters of them. Okay. I see. And it because that's the way that.

Do I think, you know, the Youngman pick up the phone and call they, who you wouldn't believe what happened today? No, I don't believe that. Do I think it filters from them or people like them? Maybe not from them. Just their supporters. I see. I see what you're saying.

And they're friends. But people within the office that have their agendas or they're close enough to the bucks, but they also can feed information. That's how it happens more often than not. And I think Dave is just, I don't know. I don't want to say anything. If I talk too much more about it, I'll get, I'll get hot. Well, that's not, it's bad.

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Use the code 83 weeks for a first deposit matchup up to $100. That's prizepicks.com slash 83 weeks and use the code 83 weeks for a first deposit a matchup up to $100. Eric, this is super fun, and I've had a lot of fun playing because I'll tell you, I think my enjoyment of the NFL is a little bigger than, say, who Taylor Swift is dating right now. Isn't that a fact? Yeah.

I agree with you, man. And it's interesting how the, you know, high specs and the ability to wager on games and all of a sudden, you're emotionally invested as well as financially invested in games that otherwise you wouldn't pay any attention to, which is better for the business. It's the opposite of Dave Beltzer, Brian Alvarez. It's good for business. It makes people more engaged and they have a different feel for things. So it's, it's a great thing.

Check it out. I think you're going to love it. We love prize picks and you will too. I want to circle back for a minute because I know you had a lot of experience with the quote unquote dirt sheets back in the day. And we have highlighted where a lot of the stuff they said was right. over the years, but they got it wrong as well. But this sort of back and forth, he said, she said, drama, I feel like it's kind of

unnecessary. And I think sometimes it comes down to intent. And I know this is where you and I disagree. I don't think Dave Meltzer ever intentionally report something that's not true. I mean, what would be his motivation to intentionally report something that's not true? Now, we've said before, perhaps someone gives him. information and he trusts that person and he believes their narrative or their perspective. But as we've talked about before, you know, Hulk Hogan saw things one way.

You saw things a different way and maybe Kevin Nash saw it a third way. I don't think I would go so far as to think that any of those folks were intentionally lying. That's just the way they remembered it from their perspective. But do you think there's ill intent? I just don't get that. I don't see what the motivation would be to. The motivation is a stir shit that he can make money off of and get people to listen to him, pay for his toilet paper dirt sheet, or follow him on social media.

That's his intent. Whether or not it's true, whether or not it's accurate, well, that would take fucking time and effort to figure that out. That would take actually getting a different side of the story and having an, because the difference between Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash or Eric Bischoff, who see one situation from three different angles is we were all three there, motherfucker. someone who's covering the business, they're not there.

This fucker doesn't even leave the house to go cover a show. He asks for his fans to give him reports. That's how sloppy and lazy he is. Right? If Dave gets backstage drama, and I get wanting to cover it, I'll listen to Sean Rossap.

He's credible to me. They may be covering the same. They may be covering the same thing, but there's one person I know that at least will try to get the other side of the story. Jason Powell, same thing. Dave Shear's same thing. Mike Johnson, same thing. Way Keller, same thing. I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't write about this shit.

I am suggesting that you should put in the fucking time and work to make sure, at least to the best of your ability, that this crap that you're writing about is somewhat accurate. That's what Dave doesn't do. That's why Dave got busted by David Bixen's ban last spring, which I'm so grateful for because I saved a screenshot and I use it every now and then. Oh, point of fact. No, I do. Dave Mills will go out and he'll just take information and put it up without even verifying who sent it to him.

The same way he does when he asked for people, if you're going to the show, tell us what you think so he can use that as a report because he's too fucking lazy and he's too inherently sloppy and unprofessional to actually go out and cover it himself do it man you're making a fortune selling this garbage to people by a fucking airplane ticket once and while if you're going to look for information to cover sugar go do it yourself because that's kind of like what journalists really do it's just no i think the intent is to position himself to get attention for himself and his product, irregardless of the damage

and the collateral damage that he creates along the way. That's why I have such a disdain for him, because I think he's horrible for the business. You ain't got to get hot about it. I'm not. I'm just getting warmed up. This is warm.

I've just always wanted to say you ain't got to get hot about it. Yeah. This is warm. Hot looks way different. Well, I'll tell you something else this form. They're keeping the Cody Rhodes storyline warm. We should talk about that as you and I are recording last night was Fast Lane and Cody Rhodes found himself in a tag team situation with Jay Uso taking on the judgment day and on the other side they're now the tag champs.

They have both the Raw and the Smackdown tag team titles. And a lot of people are curious, hey, what should we expect next? You and I have talked ad nauseum here on the program about how much we enjoyed the bloodline storyline and how much we have enjoyed Cody Rhodes return to WWV and I know everyone is really focused on Cody finishing the story well he's been the tag champ a few times before most recently with his brother Gold Dust now with Jay Uso how do you what do you think of the decision to to put him in this position and now he finds himself a accidental tag team champion with Jay Uso yeah that's interesting um I'm a little surprised

surprised only because, I guess, in my mind, and I'm not involved and I don't talk to people who are about this, talk to people who are, but I don't talk to them about this type of thing, creative. I would have expected, just assumed, I think, that Cody would be on a different kind of arc as an individual as we're leading into WrestleMania, I guess, at some point soon after the first of the year, we'll really be leading into it. But this may be a step in that journey. I mean, who knows what's at the end of the rainbow, right? Who knows what WrestleMania is going to look like? And more importantly, what the stories leading into it are ultimately going to look like.

And perhaps Jay Uso is going to be a component in that story. That obviously is, to some degree, true. But to take Cody off that kind of individual arc surprised me just a little bit. It felt like a left turn when one wasn't necessary, but it may be a left turn onto another highway to take us in a different direction leading into Russell Me. That's what I believe to be true. Well, I want to echo what you said. I have no insider information. Of course, we both have friends over on that side of the fence but uh kind of uncouth to ask about this sort of stuff so we just don't we just leave it alone uh but i got to say when i saw it happen i said to myself self they're making cody into sting i mean how many times did sting believe that he could

trust rick flair and then damn it he turned on it like it feels as if oh yeah the horsemen aren't together they're broken up this time you can really trust him and then what do you know they turned on him again I mean it happened with his father it happened with sting I got to assume that's where they're headed here with Cody that now he's going to have someone that he knew like and trusted and he turns on him and we get that match and then we level our way back up to the big boss if you will that maybe could make sense that that's that's what I'm feeling at this point yes well I am curious what you think about what they're doing with L.A. Knight, of course, L.A.

night has stirred up a little bit of controversy with your pal, Kevin Nash, and I think that's been good for business. Yeah. And, uh, John Sina is back. And so when John Sina was looking for a tag team partner, he found it in L.A. night. And, uh, those guys weren't technically the main event. They didn't technically go on last. Shinskay and Seth Rawlins tore the house down, but seeing LA Knight rub elbows against both the bloodline and John Sina, man, it feels like he's trying to capture some of that same momentum that Sammy had at the very beginning of this year. What do you think of the association of putting L.A. Knight together with John Sina? I love it. And I'm really interested in L.A. First of all, I think

he's a great performer, and full disclosure. I don't sit down and watch a lot of wrestling, and I haven't seen a lot of L.A. night's work. I have seen a lot of it. Social media, clips after the fact. I, I, I, I, I, I, I join, you know, he's got a following. I think it's called the yeah, following, whatever it is. I signed up, brother. I'm on social media.

I follow him. I dig what he's doing. I dig his character work. I think it's really, really intriguing. And what I find most intriguing about it, again, because of what matters to me as a quote unquote wrestling fan, is the business of it. And in this case, this guy's been around for a minute.

He didn't just break out. He just didn't come up through the performance center. He didn't come up off the indie. This guy's been at it for a long time. Yeah. and he found his character. And isn't it interesting what happens? Steve Austin did the same thing.

He went from being the ringmaster to Stone Cold Steve Austin because he found, and Steve, and I've had the conversation with him on his podcast. Actually, we dug into that pretty deeply. Steve found Stone Cold Steve Austin, what became Stone Cold Steve Austin. He found that part of his character while he was in ECW. Because they had the freedom to do it. He didn't have a gimmick at the time. So he just turned up the volume on the things that just felt right to him in the moment. And that became Stone Cold Steve Austin when the ringmaster shit the bed.

That was, you're going to be, hey, pal, you're going to be the ringmaster. He did a gimmick name, a ringmaster. Blopped. And that gave Steve the window and the opportunity to become Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is a character that he really discovered in ECD, and then went on to refine and build upon in WW. And I love that kind of, I love to watch that and study. And study is the wrong way to say it.

But I love, I just love following that. Because so often I think best characters are the ones that are able to find that aspect of themselves that they can build upon so those characters feel genuine and real. And to see a guy like LA Knight who's, what has he been around? for 20 years of the business. Yeah. He's been around for a while. How many times have you heard me say probably too often, I'm sure is the answer.

But other than Goldberg and Rock, how many guys that really make it to where L.A. night is now, how many of those, how many people really make it who haven't been in a business at least 10 years? Right. Very fucking few of them. And to see, to see him, L.A. that reached this level of success at this stage in his career because he just found that character that just fits like a glove.

I absolutely love it. And part of it is the reason I love it is because it should send a message to everybody in any wrestling company or even on the independent scene. If you can find that aspect of your character that you can build upon that makes you unique, the odds of you becoming successful are far greater than just going out there and doing crazy shit

and setting yourself on fire and doing things like everybody else does them. I just love it. It's good for business. And it's certainly been good for L.A. night. I don't even know him. I don't think I've ever met him. Maybe I have, I don't know.

But I'd like to meet him, shake his hand, because I think he's a great example of what can be in the wrestling business. Well, something else that has existed in the wrestling business for a little while, and maybe they're getting a second bite at the apple. Oftentimes, whenever we see something sort of brought back, it doesn't feel the same. Whenever I think of that, I think of the NWO and WWE, it wasn't the same as the NWO and WCW.

And DX, you know, the original version of DX was super fine, but when they brought it back about 10 years ago or maybe a little more at this point with just Sean and Hunter, it didn't feel the same. And I think we've maybe done something a little differently with the LWO. The LWO is getting a fresh paint of coat, as Bruce would say, in the WWE. Of course, front and centers, Ray Mysterio, the U.S. champ. And we had Carlito come join them last night at the pay-per-view. I'm curious, what do you think of this new version of the LWO and the way it's being presented?

I love it. I mean, the Latino world order started in WCW, and it got a little bit of attention. We spent a little bit of time on it. Didn't push it as hard as we could have, obviously. But to see it kind of manifest currently 20-some-odd years later in WWE, I can't help but to, you know, pat myself on the back a little bit for that. But seeing the fresh coat of paint,

fresh paint of coat or whatever it is, awesome, awesome. And it makes sense. It fits. It's very, very cool. You know, Carlito's a great guy, a great performer. Again, another story.

And the guy's been around for a minute. in WWE when I was there as a, as a talent. Yeah. 20 years ago. And to see him look as great as he looks and still be able to go out there, perform and now get an opportunity at the level he's getting that opportunity at, to see Ray Mysterio in a perfect role for Ray at this point in his career, this is a perfect role for Ray.

And everything else that's being built around it, aside from the fact a little bit proud, just a little bit. I think it's great, great character work and great story potential. Something else I want to point out about the Fast Lane pay-per-view is that it only had five matches. And it only

had five matches because they allowed a lot of the matches to have a lot of time. The main event went on last for the heavyweight championship. Seth Rollins and Shinskay in a last man standing went 28 minutes and 25 seconds. John Sina and L.A. Knight against

Jimmy Uso and Solo went 17 minutes and 20 seconds. So did the ladies three way with Eoskai, Aska, and Charlotte. It went 17 minutes and 20 seconds. Carlito and the LWO taken on Bobby Lashley and the street profits went 10 minutes. But what started the show for the Undisputed Tag Team Championship, Judgment Day, dropping those titles to Cody and Jay Uso, went 20 minutes and 40 seconds. this feels as if there's a bit of a shift I know that AEW has historically

been running really long pay-per-views once upon a time WWE did the same it feels like WWE is leaning into less is more we know they've chopped Russellmania up into two separate nights now still they're probably going to wind up being four-hour paper views each but nonetheless once upon a time it felt like if you had a pay-review you had to get

eight nine sometimes 10 matches just had five and the matches were given enough time to tell a story this is the same company that not too long ago man their Monday Night Raw program

might have only a handful of minutes of in ring action and the rest is all story does this feel like a bit of a paradigm shift to you to have a five match pay per view and give all the matches plenty of time it is a shift it could be an experiment

no let's can't keep doing the same thing the same way year after year, week after week after week, month after week, month after week, month after month, you got to try and mix things up to see what fits better and how the audience has evolved because the audience do evolve and their desires and expectations evolve over time. And perhaps we're going to see a scenario where you're going to get more and shorter matches on television, but take your top matches and give them time to tell a great story

or to further a great story there. You're getting bits and pieces of it on TV, but now you're going to get theater version, if you will, on pay-per-view. So, or PLE, whatever they're called, fucking kicking track. But I like it. It could be an experiment, or it could be this is how we're going to do things in the future. Find out. I think a lot of it, too, has to do with the talent that you're focusing on.

Not everybody's capable of going out there and having a really high-level 20-minute match that really tells, you know, you guys are physically capable of going out there and wrestling for 20 minutes, that is not the same thing as telling an amazing story for 20 minutes physically. So, I don't know. See, I like it. I like the idea of it. Um, audience fatigue is an issue. And I think sometimes ramming too much into longer three and four hour paper views, the audience just gets tired. By the time of it, you're just emotionally, even if it's great, you're kind of spent. And by the time you get to the good stuff, you've already burned up a lot of emotion and energy over the course of two and a half

or three hours. So this might be a way to make people feel like they're actually getting more for the money, even though they're getting less matches. Well, before the matches started at Fast Lane, we saw something that maybe surprised a lot of people. Jade Cargill appeared on WWTV. Of course, that news was first broken by either ESPN or Sports Illustrated, I forget, but they went with a mainstream source,

got a ton of traction. It is the most hyped and most trafficked AEW or WW debut. And as long as we can remember, and it's sort of reminiscent of the way they debuted Cody in that man, This is now the second big, quote, unquote, defection from AEW to WWE, and they leaned all the way into it. So she appeared on the pre-show, pulled up in a stretch suburban, and the cameras were there to capture her stepping out, looking like a million bucks, shaking hands with Triple H.

And then at the post-match press conference at Fast Lane, when he was asked about Jade, he said something like, Jade Cargill will appear on WWTV when she's ready to blow the roof off of every, everything we do. So I want to get your take on the strategy behind making sure that she makes a big splash on social media. Her signing is made to feel like a big deal. Certainly perception is reality and people perceive her as a star. Secondly, the decision to hold her off of TV a little bit until they think maybe she's a little more comfortable with their style of wrestling and their in-ring presentation,

whether they're comfortable or she's comfortable or whatever. And then lastly, this is a little thing, but it's a big thing to me. They didn't call her some other gimmick name. They're letting her call herself Jade Cargill. This is all sort of unique territory for WWE. What do you think about all that, Eric? Interesting. What is Jade's real name?

I think that's a real name. Well, then there you go. So there's no gimmick attorney, Mike Dawkins, trademark or copyright issues. But your point is typically WWE wants to own that name. Yes. They want to merchandise that name.

So they're basically doing a licensing deal with her as opposed to her showing up and being a talent and they own the license or they own the trademarks. I think that's very interesting. And it does definitely break paradigm. Yeah. That is not what WWE normally does over the decades. Fascinating to me.

I'm glad. First of all, let's go back. Introducing her on social media, getting her on TV, establishing the fact that she's landed. I'm going to go back to the audience duplication again. The reason I think it got so much attention is, you know,

some of the same people that watch her at AEW are obviously watching WW. A lot more of them than people think. Yeah, it's going to get more apparent in the future. But I think, you know, getting her out there and establishing her officially on camera as a character as quickly as possible, great idea, keeps her fresh in

everybody's mind. He's going to be anxious to see where she goes next, including me, by the way. But as I said, I think a couple weeks ago when it first was announced that she was going over there, I think I said something to the effect, I'll paraphrase myself, is I wouldn't expect to see her in the ring right away because the expectations and the level of performance in WWE and the expectations that come with it, how she works in the ring is decidedly different in WW and a mistake, big mistake that WWE theoretically could make because they won't make it, theoretically could make, would be to rush her out there and put her in a ring and put her to

match and put her in a story before she's really ready. She's not WWE ready yet. No, she may be ready two weeks from now. She may be ready two months from now. Time will tell, but I think it's a really smart idea and very disciplined to make sure that she's ready. And particularly with Paul, because I think that's one of the things that he

would be most Vince would too, but Paul really would want to make sure that she's going to over-deliver on her expectations in WWE and not put her in there so soon or too soon in a situation where

she could expose herself, or I say expose her stuff, you know what I mean, expose the fact that she's still relatively greed in the business. She hasn't been wrestling that long. It's only been a couple of years. And let's be honest, she hasn't been on TV a ton in AEW, and the expectations in AEW are far different than they are in WW. So she's not ready yet. You know who told me, you know, who made that really abundantly clear to me,

me and I had never really thought about it much was Chris Jericho. Yeah. He had a long conversation a while back with Chris and, and again, paraphrasing Chris here, not putting words in his mouth. It says something to the effect of, you know, when he left WCW, in his mind, he was main event ready at WWE. Once he got there, he went, whoa, this is different. I'm not quite where I need to be yet.

And that's probably where Jade is at. Now, let's just, how long is it going to take? See her, but I think they'll probably keep her. If it takes three months, they'll keep her alive, and they're good at that. There'll be some great packages. There'll be teases, if it takes her six months, it'll be okay. But when she's ready, she'll, she'll be ready and she'll overdelivered. More importantly, what do you think the message WWE is trying to send with the way they've positioned both Cody and now Jade to the rest of,

of the AEW talent roster. Isn't that, that's a great question, Ron Red. If we were sitting down in your, done with a couple of beverages, we could probably talk about this for a long time. But this,

the subtle message, whether it's intentional or not, is going to WWE is a step up. Going to AEW is a step down. It just is what it is. perception is reality you're saying to talent it is and what is that what is that message first of all who does that message land on most who's most affected by that message in AEW the talent or unhappy guys like MJF not everybody that's in AEW has the potential of ever seeing the

inside of a WW arena unless they buy a ticket to go watch oh that's rude that's true am I lying Well, I mean, I can't say everybody. If that, that is the phrase you said, okay, not everybody, but most. Hmm. Some. Okay. Some. MJF being one of them.

There are probably others. Sammy Provara, perhaps, Ricky Stark's, perhaps. There may be others. But of the 178 people on that roster, you're talking about a handful of people that really have the potential of going. Many of them have already been there and spent decades of their career there. So it's just, it is what it is. It may hurt to hear it for some people, but nonetheless, it's true.

That's the message that matters the most. So when a Ricky Starks or an MJF, their deals are coming up and they look at what happened to Cody, they look at what happened with Jay, assuming it goes well, and I'm pretty sure it will. That's when that message matters. The rest of it doesn't. To so many of the talent, it really won't matter because they're not going to be in that position.

But the people who are or will be or think they will be are going to hear that message loud and clear. One of those folks who we think is probably on that list, you mentioned his name a couple of times, Ricky Starks, he won the tag team. titles. Just last night with Big Bill, a guy who was very familiar with the inside of a WWE ring. And they beat a tag team that's a favorite of mine, FTR. FTR had their second tag team title reign and AEW ended. And I find it interesting that in real life, Ricky Starks and Cody Rhodes are big buds. Ricky Starks was one of those guys who answered

Cody's open challenge for the T&T championship years ago. At the time he had been with Billy Corgan's NWA, and that was his first time on national TV. He got on base, and last night left the arena there in Salt Lake with tag team gold, the same night that his, his pal Cody Rhodes became a tag team champion. And all of this is interesting because the news came out around the same time that our pals in FTR have trademarked the term CMFTR. this has the internet a buzz because there's lots of people who believe that

Seth Rollins who did a promo over the summer saying he did not want see him punk to come to WWE he hated the guy he did that in a interview with Nick Hausman some sort of pay-per-view presser type circumstance that got everybody talking I think around SummerSlam and then I think he used the term best in the world and people sort of went, hmm.

And then Michael Cole made some comments about puppet and manipulator, and people found an old Ring of Honor promo where he said that. And of course, Corey Graves invoked the usual suspects line. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. That's also a promo that Punk used, or a phrase that Punk used in a promo when he was leaving Ring of Honor to sign with WWE years ago. go. And Corey has tried to debunk that on social saying, you guys need to watch the movie Usual Suspects. But people are certainly wearing their tinfoil hats. And Punk has really leaned into that as he's doing MMA commentary. And he talks about how he's got another six weeks

free or another two months free or, of course, alluding to the fact that Survivor Series is going to be in Chicago. And now there's lots of chatter behind the scenes. Would you bring him in in Chicago and get the hometown heroes welcome like they did on the very first episode of collision or instead, or rampage rather, or instead would you wait and have the roof be blown off of wherever they're running the Royal Rumble this year and try to set up him and Seth Rollins. But over the weekend, Roman Raines even did an interview where they asked him about CM Punk and said he didn't like the guy. He made it hard for him years ago, but he would work with him if that's what the fans wanted to see

they could get past all that and now there's almost an understanding online that it's a foregone conclusion that punk winds up in WWE a lot of moving parts here punk is friends with FTR Ricky Starks I believe is friends with punk

I know Ricky Starks has friends with Cody what do you make of all this and what would you expect to see and if you were booking WWE, would you aim to bring CM Punk back in front of the hometown crowd in Chicago for Survivor Series? Would you hold him off for the Royal Rumble or would you just take a pass?

So much of that depends on Bill Brooks and where his head is at. I think, here's what I hope. And this is just in general. You know, Again, I don't know, Bill personally,

especially CM Punk. I don't know him. I've never had a syllable of conversation with him. I don't think he's got ever laid eyes on him in person. Don't know what he's like. Not impressed at all with the way he handled himself professionally, and I've been very vocal about that, and I think justifiably self.

All that being said, here's a guy who has created a tremendous amount of equity for himself. Yes. His time in WWE, the way he left, the fact that he kept himself pretty clean in terms of what he's done with his character, having left WW still had that equity, maintained that equity, maybe even built upon it with the mystique over time, shit the bed in AEW, but he still got great equity and there's potential there. And if I did know punk and we were friends or I was his manager or agent, I would advise him if you have an opportunity to end your career on a very positive note. And oh, by the way, pocket a couple million dollars in the process, several million dollars in the process, depending on how things go, maybe $10 million in the process over the course of a couple years. But more importantly, leave the industry with a great taste in your mouth and a great taste in the fan's mouth. Think hard about doing what you need to do to get that opportunity.

It's a long-winded way of saying, motherfucker, get the car, go down there, and convince the people that could make that happen for you that you're there and you're there for the right reasons. and you'd left all the baggage behind you. And I think if punk can do that, I think creatively because there's still that equity there. And there's a tremendous amount of backstory potential and some great talent to work if he can overcome some of the other issues,

which I think can be, I'm living proof. It can be done in WWE. If you can get past all that, and go out there and end your career financially on a very high note. But what will matter the most 20 years from now is the way Bill Brooks in retirement can look back at his career. Because why it may not matter as much now, it will matter 10 years from now or 20 years from the way you feel about how you spent the largest part of your professional career. And it's an opportunity to end it on a high note. Now, if I was Paul Avec, again, not knowing the relationship

or what happened in the past, none of that, just based a little bit of my own experience with WWE, not necessarily with Paul. But if you can get there and get comfortable and they can get, WWE can get comfortable with him, why not? Do I think, you know, CM Punk was position. I'm going to build a company around him.

WWE doesn't need CM Punk. They're doing really, really well without him. But I think, as you've heard me say so often, creating momentum is really hard. It is not easy. Maintaining it is even more difficult. Do I think that Siam Punk, the character, could contribute to the ability to maintain momentum?

I absolutely do. Do I think that it would be long-term, you know, world champion? No, not necessary. That ship has sailed. But that doesn't mean there can't be a great ending two, three, four, five years of a great career that can be very financially beneficial. And 20 years from now, something he'll be proud of. I do it.

I do it. I would do it if I was WWE as well. I mean, you talked about what a big splash they made with, with Cody Rhodes, and we saw what a big splash they made with, with Jade on social. But man,

CM Punk coming back to WWE, it almost felt like a, it would almost feel like a talent trade for sending edge to AW in exchange for Punk to WWE. I mean, I know it's not professional baseball or basketball, but that's sort of what that would feel like. If you were booking it, you go hometown Chicago Survivor Series or surprise Royal Rumble Pop.

You know me. Royal Rumble all day for me too. Absolutely. No question about it. They don't need a Chicago pop. Chicago is going to pop anyway, whether he shows up or not. No added value. None.

I do want to ask you what you think about Ricky Starks winning the tag belts. But before we do, I want to talk about something that's important to both you and I. you and I haven't talked about it but I know why you missed home the most wasn't being in your own bed wasn't being in your own easy chair wasn't being on your front porch it was your dog Nikki they're a member of our family and we take care of them thanks to our friends and embrace embrace is a pet insurance company that Eric and I can both stand behind you know here's the reality Nikki is a part of Eric's family just as much as his damn kids just don't let Mrs. B hear that, but that's the way he feels about Nikki. And that's the way we feel in our

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Head right now to Embracepetinsurance.com slash 83 weeks and sign up for pet insurance today. Make sure you go to Embracepetinsurance.com slash 83 weeks or else they won't know we sent you. That's Embracepet Insurance.com slash 83 weeks. weeks. Eric, I want to ask you about Ricky Starks. There's lots of rumor and innuendo that Ricky is tight with Cody and is interested in seeing what life could be like under a new banner. And then they put the tag straps on him.

It feels like after he's had a couple of incredible matches with Brian Danielson, I thought maybe he was going to be, I don't know, moving up the ranks in a single spot with maybe Big Bill as his quote-unquote heater. Think back to maybe the way they positioned Sean Michaels with diesel on the outside. Instead, maybe they're leaning into him being, for lack of a better word, the new Enzo. Because we know that Enzo and Cass were a hugely successful tag team. And Ricky Starks can talk his ass off and he's quite the in-ring performer as well. So putting them together, that was enough to unprown FTR as the tag champs.

What do you think of Ricky Starks and what would you expect to see next for him? I like what I've seen of him. I like, he's got a great look. He's great on the mic. He's got a tremendous amount of confidence and it comes across in a great way, and in an arrogant way, although that's part of his character. But I see a ton of potential from the outside looking in without ever having had a conversation with him or anything. I just feel through the television.

I feel a lot of potential to him. Making him a tag champ, eh. I don't know what that means anymore, particularly in AEW because it is AEW. Let's see where it goes. I mean, if they're going to build on it and make that tag belt actually means something, but look what they've done with FTR.

It's been off and on, off for a while, hot again, off again. who knows if there's a commitment to it and there's some discipline to it with him and big bill could be great because both of them have the talent to make it great let's see i don't know do i think he's got as i mentioned earlier he's one of those small handful of people that i think has definitely had and i wasn't i wasn't even aware that he and cody were friends not that that matters tremendous amount, but it doesn't hurt either. But I think he just has,

I think he's got that potential. I just feel that. See. Yeah, Brandy Rhodes actually mentioned that Ricky Star, that Thanksgiving is for family only, but Ricky Stark's is welcome. So that was just in this past week. So a lot of people curious to see what's next with that.

And a lot of folks want to know what's next with John Cena. We mentioned he was just teaming up with L.A. and a lot of people have started to sort of float out their fantasy. see WrestleMania card that perhaps Cody could wind up wrestling John Sina on night one and maybe Cody wrestles Roman on night two. There's all sorts of different variations of that. But then this report comes out. I guess it's an interview that that our man John did where he said, hey, the reality is I can't wrestle and work in Hollywood at the same time. I would be costing people in the movie business their jobs

if I got hurt. So the end of the SAG strike would take him away from WWE. I know that they're grateful to have him right now, but he's sort of being pretty plain about what his intentions are. Do you think that perhaps that that's just talk and he's going to be able to commit through WrestleMania? Or if you were running the show, if you, if this was WCW and you had a John Sina,

here's sort of essentially on loan from Hollywood. Would you include him in any sort of real permanent plans over the next quarter or no? I'd have a plan A and a plan B because from what I understand, I was talking to someone that would know the other day. It sounds like the sag after strike is going to work itself out or the sag strike, rider strike. So we'll see. We'll see.

You know, it just... So much would depend on, you know, does, is John got a movie waiting for him? No, there's a lot of movies that when, when writers went on strike and everything just got shut down, just full stop. Now, when that, if and when the strike is over, I believe it's going to be pretty quick. Does John already have obligations contractually in place? if he does that he's just day-to-day depending on the outcome of the strike or perhaps he doesn't have a movie waiting for him

immediately after the strike is over with and he's got the time and you can plan on a WrestleMania. He may not have another movie on his schedule until next September or next July or whatever. So I'd have a plan A and a plan B for sure. Well, it looks like there's going to be a lot of people who are making plan A's and plan B's for this Tuesday. Before we talk about the head-to-head action tomorrow night,

I want to see if you have seen or paid attention to Declan McMahon, who plays for the Indiana Hoosiers. He was actually in attendance. He is a football player for the University of Indiana or Indiana University, whatever it is. But he was front row for Fast Lane. And there you see him with a Sina style spinner belt with his school logo on it, sitting front row and man if you get a profile shot of that young man he looks just like his

grandfather my god it looks like Vince McMahon of 20 years old um it was really cool to see him acknowledged on WW programming if you were a betting man do you think we'll see him step between the rope sometime I'd give it a 50 50 yeah me too not a foregone well what is also not a foregone conclusion is uh what's happening this week we've got quite a show lined up for uh for a e w as i understand it it's been promoted as our best card ever calling it title tuesday uh and i think originally tony con tweeted out the the whole card and then said at the bottom my birthday because 10-10 tomorrow, October 10th, is TonyConn's 41st birthday.

And we've got the rated R superstar, Adam Copeland, taken on Luchosaurus. This will be his first match in AEW. For the women's world title, we've got Saraya taken on Sheeta. The international title, we've got Phoenix versus Moxley. My understanding is an audible was called the last time they wrestled. See what happens this time. I think this is the third time they've wrestled. for the TNT title, the number one contendership,

swerve, who we both think a lot of, taking on Brian Danielson. We've got Hangman Adam Page and singles action against Jay White and your pal Chris Jericho taking on Will Hobbs. They've loaded it up, man. They're calling it title Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on the other channel, they've announced that Cody Rhodes is going to be in the corner of Carmelow. Paul Heyman will be in the corner of Braun Breaker. It wouldn't surprise me to see Becky Lynch is there. Aska is going to be wrestling on the program. And at the end of the promo, after they announced that Cody Rhodes has a major announcement to make, he'll be there too, head-to-head with AEW, but this time on

NXT, the Undertaker Gong went off at the end of the commercial. They're pulling out all the stops. this is the first time they've been head to head in quite a while it feels like the WWE is trying to load the bases it is their home night it's a Tuesday night

where historically NXT fans know where every Tuesday meanwhile the Wednesday dynamite is preempted so they're moving to Tuesday so maybe they're at a slight disadvantage but boy what a card

what do you expect do you want to make a prediction Yeah, I predicted this on Strictly Business, and I'm going to revise my prediction. I gave it an, I gave AEW, my over-under was 600,000 viewers. Last week or Friday, I thought they'll probably do between 550 and 6. I'm going to revise that down because I've had more time to think over the weekend. can about the duplication factor that I babbled on so much about. I'll be surprised if they do more than $425,000.

So you're going to go $425 for AEW. What's your prediction for NXT? I'm going to do a million, million, million one. Yeah, I think a million, million one sounds good. I would go higher for AEW. They are at a disadvantage because they're on a different night. But if you're AEW, do you think you try to pull out a surprise? Is this where we would try to debut Mercedes, the former Sasha Banks?

Do we do anything like that? Or do we just run our program and not pay it too much to mind? The smartest thing that Tony Khan could have done two years ago when I first suggested that he just shut up and wrestle is not to focus at all on WWE. Quit trying to convince people that you're competitive because you're fucking not. And you're just making yourself look bad by trying to convince other people that you are. Just put on the best show you could put on. That's all.

And if you've got an opportunity for Monet, what's her, what's her gimmick name? Mercedes Monet. Mercedes Monet. That's a real opportunity. It would be a valuable opportunity. Don't do it on a night when you're going to get drawn and quartered. just don't because that reflects badly on her especially coming off the edge thing

now you bring in edge they did it right and I pointed out early on when you asked me about it I don't think it could have been done any better it just didn't have the effect that they wanted it to have and unfortunately that doesn't necessarily put edge in the best light right it's not his fault at all but if there's a Mercedes Monet an opportunity

don't don't try to pull a rabbit out of your hat because you're going to get you're going to get creamed anyway and you don't want that to be a reflection of your talent and you want to you want to if there's that surprise you have that ace in your in your pocket and play it when you have a chance to have a million viewers and you're not going to have that chance tomorrow night.

You could bring in fucking gong could play an AEW on Tuesday night and it's not going to matter. Just put on the best show you can put on and move on and quit comparing yourself to talking about, having your talent talking about, you know,

convincing people through your spin and your nonsense that somehow you're really competitive when you're really not. Just do your work plan your work and work your plan. And eventually, as you grow your business, it'll take care of itself. Let the audience decide that you're really competitive. Let the audience decide for themselves that they like you better.

Don't try to achieve that by spinning, making excuses and stunting because it won't work. well listen our old pal jeff he often says as an entrepreneur sometimes you have to be a delusional optimist and he calls himself a delusional optimist and i got to think if i'm tony kine i don't want to just roll over and play dead i do want to put my best foot forward i do want to you know take my best stab and putting out my my brightest and best out there to be competitive because there is an off chance that you could surprise folks with the number i don't know that necessarily I buy that they could win against a regular nxte show sure but boy it does feel like wb is stuck on the deck as much as

they could and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make another announcement tonight on raw to make that an even bigger stronger point it's going to be interesting to see what happens but I do think that there will be value and that tomorrow will be referenced when whoever the winner is which I think Vegas would call WWE the betting favorite at this point. I would think that they would make sure that point was made clear when they're shopping

for a new home for NXT. Hey, here's how strong our ratings have been. Here's how they started to uptick. And even in a head-to-head situation, here's what we did against other similar competition in the same genre. I mean, I think you would want to highlight that

to the victor go the spoils. So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I know you and John Alba are going to talk about it later this week on Strictly Business. You and I will break it down next week when we're here to talk about Eddie Guerrero. But in the meantime, Eric, I've got something I'm so proud to show with you. I am thrilled to announce that we have debuted a brand new series on ad-freeshows.com where when you sign up for ad-freeshows.com, you not only get the shows early in ad-free and a whole boatload of bonus content, but you also get to be a part of our live studio audience.

And I want to give a shout out to everybody who showed up for us on a Sunday morning. Good morning to Matt and Coach Rosie and Bobby was here and Coach Keith. And we can always count on the usual suspects coming to hang out and ride along with us. But one thing I wanted to point out is that this new program is the first time we've allowed fans to actually appear on camera during the live stream and ask questions. And who better to do it with than the debut episode of Lex Lugar? It was a program we're calling Lex Express. and I just want to briefly say

if you have a preconceived notion of who you think Lex Lugar is, you're probably wrong. He will exceed your expectations. He is the best of the best of a human being. I aspire to be the type of man that Lex Lugar is today. So whatever your preconceived notion of Lex may be, I encourage you, go out of your way,

try one episode of Lex Express. And Eric, I've got a clip that I want you to see where he's answering a question about that now infamous cage match with Bruiser Brody. This is from ad-freeshows.com Lex Express. Let's take a listen. Like, I was going to be the baby facing and contrary property. He never promised me the title or said I was going to be the champion. That wasn't part of that. So I wasn't shocked.

I didn't get it at SummerSlam, although it would have been helpful if I won't have lost it, obviously, but that big a buildup. And he always felt that if I was going to win the title, he'd rather do it, make a special. The garden was always a very special place for a bench, which I could get into. Most people know that. If he put the title on me, he wanted to do it at WrestleMania 10 at the garden. So really, Somersand was never really in the mix for me to win the title. In retrospect, looking back now, probably would have a good idea if they took it right back off of me,

it probably would have been good to come through for the fans with that big a buildup instead of the balloons coming out of the ceiling and not win. So we drew the comparison of how he felt about the decision to not put the title on Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania, because that was certainly the comparison that people made at the time, Lex at SummerSlam 93. We also talked about the real story behind Vince promising him the title, his jump from the WWF to WCW, what his regrets were and all of that, his relationship. ship with you, what was real and what wasn't real about the more humble contract.

It's all available now at ad-freeshows.com. That's our debut episode of Lex Express, and we've got other bonus series like Tuesdays with the Taskmaster, Hacksaw Hour with Jim Duggan, The Book with David Crockett, and so much more. It's all available at ad-freeshows.com. So if you haven't already, why aren't you? Check it out. Ad-freeshows.com.

I should also mention that it starts at just $9 a month. And there's a whole host of bonus content there that we didn't even mention like mailbag, Monday mailbags with Mike Keota, Nick Patrick, live watchalongs with all your favorite hosts, Q&A's. I also want to plug that if you're looking for men, 25 to 34 or 25 to 54, rather, there's no better place to find them than right here with us at advertise witheric.com. Find out how affordable it can be at advertise witheric.com. Lots of fun new swag and merch and more than you can shake a stick at over at 83 weeks

merch.com, stickers and hats and tank tops and hoodies and coosies and tumblers and everything you're looking for. I'll also love to see you check out our YouTube show. It's 83 weeks on YouTube.com. It's one thing to hear the show. It's another to see it. There's lots of visual aids here that really adds some life to what we're talking about. Love to have your questions for Eddie Guerrero. He will be our topic next week. You can ask it on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at 83 weeks. Eric, I am so glad you're back. I'm looking forward to next week talking about Eddie, but today's State of the Union, man. This was a fun show.

Thanks for the time. No, I was fun for me. I mean, I sat down expecting one thing and improvved and you know how much I love improving. And this is a lot of fun. And it's fun to get into the current stuff and connect it to some of the history of the past and find those parallels. So I really enjoyed this. And thanks to Dave Silva for making it all look so good. We appreciate you guys hanging out and supporting tweet the show at 83 weeks.

and we'll see you next week talking all things Eddie Guerrero and of course, head to head on Tuesday night, tomorrow night. You'll get your recap next week right here on 83 weeks. Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson. Here to tell you a little more about what ad-free

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