83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 316: Punk, Mania & Vince

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

On this episode of 83Weeks, Eric and Conrad are discussing all things WrestleMania XL and the epic card we will see this weekend. The guys also breakdown the CM Punk interview that caused a massive buzz. Plus the latest in the Vince McMahon lawsuit. All that plus so much more on this edition of 83Weeks with Eric Bischoff. #ericbischoff #83Weeks #cmpunk #wrestlemania #vincemcmahon SIGNOS - Signos removes the guesswork out of weight loss and provides the tools to develop healthier habits. Go to https://www.signos.com and get 20% off select plans by using code 83WEEKS. PRIZE PICKS - Go to https://www.prizepicks.com/83WEEKS and use code 83WEEKS for a first deposit match up to $100! BLUECHEW - Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code 83WEEKS at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com promo code 83WEEKS to receive your first month FREE FANATICS - When you - or someone you know - is shopping for the latest WWE gear, you can support 83 Weeks too simply by using our dedicated link! https://wwe-shop.sjv.io/c/5036600/1371040/16449 STARRCAST - Be part of the very first international STARRCAST in Australia! Get tickets and information at https://www.starrcast.com/ SAVE WITH CONRAD - Stop throwing your money on rent! Get into a house with NO MONEY DOWN and roughly the same monthly payment at https://nationsgo.com/conrad/ 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 https://www.podcastheat.com/advertise now and find out more about advertising with 83 Weeks. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCqQc7Pa1u4plPXq-d1pHqQ/join BECOME A 83 WEEK MEMBER NOW: https://www.youtube.com/@83weeks/membership 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 https://www.patreon.com/adfreeshows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get what you earned. Visit shoes.va.gov. Not all veterans are eligible for the type or amount of benefits mentioned here. Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson, and you're listening to 83 weeks with Eric, fish off. Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm so, I'm so good. I feel guilty.

Nah, I don't either. That's nonsense. I feel great, man. I just feel great. I am in a good mood, too. There is so much wrestling to consume this week. We normally record on a Sunday. You were at Squared Circle Expo, so we said,

hey, we'll get together on Monday. Then you had to go see a dentist about a thing or two. And we decided, you know what? Let's just record after the Go Home Monday Night Raw. So that's what we're doing right now. It is WrestleMania Week. We are just days away from the biggest WrestleMania of all time. And so much has happened since we last click record.

I got to tell you, it feels like, it feels more like the Monday Night War era, not necessarily based on there being two companies and going back and forth, but there's just something to talk about it. It feels like every day. Just the volume of just new stuff. Yes. Interesting stuff, exciting stuff, shocking stuff, you know, just the sheer volume of it, it's just nonstop.

It's crazy. It's, it really is. is fun, you know, and I love doing this show with you. And I love working with Alba. We're going to probably figure something out to do it again in the near future. But it's a lot more fun when you've got a lot more really cool stuff to talk about. So this is like taking a vacation hanging out on the beach to me. Man, and there's so much to talk about just from yesterday. I mean, damn, the last week, just from yesterday. There's so much more to talk about. But before we talk about yesterday, we should briefly talk about what happened with Monday Night Raw

eight days ago. As the show is going off the air, we saw a magnificent battle that you and I broke down between Cody Rhodes and the Rock. It was a little cheesy inside with some clearly gimmick stage trash cans and all that. But when it went outside, it felt like the volume turned up. I don't know why, but the rain added to it and there was blood and it was realistic and it was, it felt like it blurred the lines of reality. And then over the week, it felt, it felt a lot like that, uh, lawn dart moment. Yes. Right.

Yes. And in a night show, that was like the moment that it went from, wow, this is really cool to. Holy crap. This is really cool. You know what? It just went to that next level with that one scene. Yes. That one scene made a big difference.

And people still talk about it to this day. And I think to your point, you hit it right on the head, man. That's what that's. scene was it was that moment and even better on friday just hours before smackdown the rock posted i guess what eccw used to call a fan cam someone was running around recording sort of behind the scenes footage on a cell phone and you heard the cameraman who was clearly wearing a headset as you do in television say something like we're clear meaning we're off the air. And the rock doubled down, stayed completely in character. You think just because

we're off, the show stops, that the shit stops, and he just continued to beat him up. And when he posted it, I thought, boy, this, this is effective use of social media. Jeff Jarrett has talked about it for years that when wrestlers use social media effectively, it is the most powerful tool around. And I was blown away, absolutely loved it. Last night on Raw, we saw the WWE post, not one, but two reaction videos on their television show of children upset that their hero, Cody Rhodes, was being beat up. It made me feel like, and I know this is a stretch, but it's the way kids were upset when earthquakes squished Hulk Hogan on the brother love set. It's the same result for the kids. There's these kids who are worried about their hero, and I just thought, dude, this is wrestling the way it's supposed to be done.

I loved it. What did you think? I'm with you, 100%. And my takeaway, once I got done watching it, especially the final segment with Cody and Rock and everybody, bloodline getting whipped half the death. It's so interesting. I know this is going to sound like I've been eating mushrooms for breakfast,

but just step back and think about it, how far advanced wrestling has become over the, the last three decades from from every aspect of presentation visually it's nobody 30 years ago would ever have even fantasized about being able to put on a weekly show that looks like what we saw on Monday Night Raw you just wouldn't even imagine it because a lot of the technology wasn't even available and you look at the talent who from an athletic perspective in a skill perspective when it comes to physicality and what they're capable of doing in the ring, there's no comparison in my mind when it comes to today's athletes in the ring,

professional wrestlers and their skill sets and the skill sets of top wrestlers from the 60s and the 70s and the 80s. It's just, it's amazing. Now, once you get into the 90s, there's a few exceptions. But everything has advanced so far. But the one thing that always works is old school heat. Yeah, it does. It was such a throwback. And when I say throwback, I mean it with as much respect as I can muster.

But it's going back to the basics, the fundamentals of what makes professional wrestling such a powerful form of pop culture and purely American pop culture. It's amazing how powerful it is and it's because buying those beats, those moments, and you don't see them all the time, unfortunately, and maybe it wouldn't mean as much if you do it.

But you get those moments like we saw last night on Raw, or the one the previous week, and it sucks you in. We all know, look, I produced thousands of hours of this stuff. If anybody knows, I know how this stuff works. But when you find those moments, when you can create that magic, create, create that magic based on a creative approach to your storytelling that has all of the elements of a story, that's just an angle. When you hit that note, it is so sweet.

It was so fun for me to watch that show from that perspective, looking at what was working and maybe that didn't work quite as well. That show was so, it was fun to watch. That was kind of a, that was a breather. I used to call them breathers. That was a breather show. That was the one show going into WrestleMania with the, you let the audience breathe a little.

You've been, as we talked about, There's been so much to talk about because there's been so much happening between Raw and Smackdown, really, for the last two or three months. And here we are. And I think last night's show was a chance to, yes, they advanced some storylines, did a good job, not a great job, just did a good job of advancing storylines. Nobody got hurt. It can happen, you know, to take anybody out of action for WrestleMania. It was a good breather show. The audience got to relax until the main event.

The A story and the B story got serviced almost simultaneously in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the show and was threaded throughout the entire three hours really well, not too much, not too little. It was a good show. It wasn't a great show, but it was a good breather show. That's what the audience needed because you can't keep the audience at an 8 scale of 1 to 10 in terms of emotion. You can't keep them at eight for extended periods of time. It's no different than, you know, having a match in the ring or booking a card for a live event. You want to get, you know, you need a little bit of ups and downs and peaks and valleys so you can let the audience kind of gather the thoughts and their energy and get ready to do it all over again.

That's really what this show was to me. WWE is clicking on all cylinders, man. It's been, it's been fun to talk about and to break down. I wanted to at least try to cover some of this stuff that we're going to talk. about today. Could I talk about one more thing? Please do. Yeah, yeah. Ivar. Hmm.

The man can move. Yeah, he can. He is a big, big man. The fact that he can move and throw spin kicks is like mind boggling to me, to be honest, athletically. It's just amazing that he's able to do it. But his timing, he's got, he's got the, the timing of a 210-pounder. It's really quite impressive.

I just wanted to throw that in. Well, no, I love when you give somebody their flowers. I mean, it's rare when you go out of your way to do that, so it means a lot when you do. And shout out to Ivar. A lot of great talent in WWE and maybe a few less talent on the AW side of things. I'm going to talk about the AW releases today, and we're going to talk about

seeing punk's interview and we're going to talk about the Vince McMahon response to I need to I just said her name after I said I wasn't going to say her name that's on me I'll do better

I'm curious what exactly happened last week because I was out of pocket I wasn't in town I wasn't producing wrestling content like I normally do I wasn't living with my phone in my hand like I might normally.

And then all of a sudden I see that you decided to sunset strictly business with John Alba which has always been on this same RSS for 83 weeks. And of course you could catch it on her YouTube at 83 weeks.com. But you were moving away

from doing a second show every week. And as I understand it, in the middle of the night, Tony Kahn made a post about it and said something like, It was a wise choice to end this fraud of a business podcast before the new AEW meteorites deal. And you immediately announced the new YouTube show with just you in the driver's seat called Wise Choices. And when I caught up on all that, I said to myself, self, this man wrote the book called Controversy Creates Cash.

And when those lemons are thrown at him, he gets to squeezing. And you delivered off a glass of lemonade last week. What the hell happened while I was out of pocket, Eric? What's going on? Well, you know me. I mean, I like this kind of stuff. I know it seems weird, right? Like, why would a soon-to-be-69-year-old guy be sitting in Wyoming giving two shits about what anybody says about them on the internet, right?

Or on social media. But I actually have fun watching this stuff and seeing just how weird people are. or uninformed. Yeah. And they expose themselves to such a fantastic extent. They don't even know they're exposing themselves really with some of the commentary. But it's just easy to see it. And I like playing with them.

You know, as a performer, here's the one thing I miss about being in a wrestling business. If I could ask one question all the time, it's this one. What do you miss most about the wrestling business? And I have to be, because it's my nature, I'm really honest about it. Very, very little, with the exception of interacting with the crowd. Right. Whether it's doing something like this, because this is almost the same thing for me, but you don't get the same kind of energy feedback that you do when you're in front of, you know, thousands of people.

That's the one thing that I do miss. And I'm naturally competitive. I just am. So you mix all that stew together. I'm going to be very honest with everybody listening. Doing this as a YouTube show was not my idea. I'm going to give that credit to somebody else. Put that idea in my head and I went, oh, yeah, we're doing that.

That's awesome. And then the more I started thinking about that, the more fun all day long. I'm going, oh, man, I'm going, because I had a ton of stuff to do that day. So we had to wait until later in early evening. before we could sit down and do it live all day long I was excited about it but I was also nervous kind of and I almost called you to tell you this I was insecure I've never said that about myself before but I was insecure because I've gotten so comfortable having you or john Alba or any of the other guest hosts working with Cassio, always having that partner to playoff of.

Now, I rely on that. Yeah. Have a become reliance upon that. And then when I, about the middle of the afternoon, I went, wait a minute, I'm doing this show by myself. I've never done that. Right. And I just wasn't sure if I would be any good at it or if I'd have any fun doing it. I was nervous about that because I was insecure because I'd never done it.

And then, you know, the days blew by me. And the next thing I knew, I'm sitting down in front of that camera. I had no plan. You know me. I had no plan. He said, I'm just going to sit down and I hope that we get some good questions. And boy, did we. And I had so much fun doing that show.

Wise choices that we're going to do it every week. Now, the reason I'm going to backtrack just a little bit. that people should know this by now. But unfortunately, social media gets a hold of little things that are said and turns them into stories that aren't true. But I've been thinking about what to do with Strictly Business for a long time. But because it's on the same feed as the show, it makes selling advertising, not impossible, certainly, but a little more challenging.

Because Strictly Business, according to Alba, at least, who tracks some of the stuff, strictly business is one of the top four or five shows every week. And our sales staff, Dave Green and Taylor, they've done a great job. We're getting ads and things. But it just wasn't reaching my personal goal. And it wasn't anything about the money. I actually never took a dime for doing that show. I did it because I enjoyed doing it.

And I wanted to play with a different format just to see how it felt. But it was getting to the point where my schedule is starting to heat up, as you know, a lot. and it's going to continue to heat up throughout the summer because, well, it's the summer. And then I've got more projects that I'm taking on, which is eating up a little bit more of my time. But then I'd have to schedule with John Alba, and he is difficult sometimes to schedule because he's got other gigs going on. And we're trying to have guests and they've got things to work on. So it just got to be too much. And I thought, you know what?

I need to do a show where I can just kind of do it whenever I want to do it, whenever I want to do it, whenever I have the time and the mood strikes without having to, you know, heard a bunch of squirrels and try to coordinate. with other people. That's the hardest part. And Tony just happened to mouth off at 4 o'clock in the morning. It got me all riled up. Somebody put a little bird in my ear. I went, let's do it.

And the feedback I've gotten on that show has been outstanding. People love it. Well, I can't wait to see you interact. That's one of the fun things about doing a YouTube show is, first of all, it's free. Secondly, it's live. Third, it's interactive. So if you haven't already, head over to our YouTube channel.

It's 83 weeks.com. Be sure to hit the subscribe button. And don't you dare not hit that notifications bell. You're going to get a little push notification that, hey, Eric Bischoff is live. You can jump in there and asking questions at 83 weeks.com. Let's talk a little bit about the poll we just ran over at 83 weeks.com. We asked, is this the new attitude era for WWB? 63% voted yes

37% voted no we did a second post or second poll did Tony Kahn make a wise choice going after Eric Bischoff 88% said no 12% said yes

man it's been a crazy week I mean that was last week all that happened last week and then it felt like a whole week's worth of news happened just yesterday We teased it, we touched on it. I can't believe this is real. But we've got releases from the AEW side of things. And releases on the AEW side of things have been few and far between.

I know that during the pandemic, there were a handful. Some of that was travel related. Maybe some was personality related. But they've been very rare. And I know there's been some disciplinary things and people were released, but usually that's not been the case for AEW. Now, we've seen a lot of contracts expire and not be renewed, but this felt different. I wanted to take your temperature on what you thought when you heard that there's at least

10 folks who've been released and the rumor in innuendo is that there's other names that haven't been released to the public, but they too got a less than awesome call. That used to be like par for course with WWE, right after WrestleMania, around the time they'd go off and do their European tour, there'd be a whole slew of releases. And once upon a time, that was not the case with AW. What'd you make of this news?

Yeah, in fact, I looked at a post that Tony Con made a while back when there were releases in WWE when Tony was trying to make himself a baby face by taking a shot at WWE for having to release talent in order to manage expenses. I think the, I'm going to paraphrase, obviously,

not going to go through the whole thing, but essentially, you know, Tony Kahn said, I would rather get punched in the face business-wise than, you know, releasing people. And he went on and on, a typical Tony Kahn fashion, about three paragraphs of how he would never do, what Vince McMahon just, what WWE had just done. I don't know when that was.

It was probably in the last year or two. I thought of that. But at the same thing, same time, I've got to be honest with it, it's probably really smart. It may be the only second or third smart thing that Tony's done now in a while. I think bringing in Jen Pepperman was a smart move. I think this was a smart move. I don't know, Coache Irby, the new COO, let's give that a by default, give him a nod. So there's three smart moves recently. But yeah, I mean, look, if the sad thing is, I please don't, I don't mean, I don't

any offense. This is due to the fact that I don't watch enough and I'm not really engaged. It's not a reflection of the talent involved, but I never heard it, one of them. So if they're not being used and utilized and a talent won't feel this way, but it's better for them in a long run to just move on and to just fade away in the background, even though you're getting a check. Now, I think it was a good idea. well listen we hate to hear that people are losing their job but that is you know part of running a business and I hate that but anyone who's ran a business knows how hard it is to let someone go and anyone who's been a casualty in a layoff or some sort of a release like this knows how terrible it is you know just makes you feel like shit and then you got to go tell your family and sort of look online and relive it all it's just it's less than ideal but Conrad if I can speaking to those talent don't feel that way don't allow yourself to be a martyr don't allow yourself to feel like you're a victim because the truth is Tony Kahn's doing you a favor and by

that you know my new favor is saying comfort is a thief it's very easy to get comfortable getting a check every two weeks without any pressure and knowing that for the next year or two years or three years hey you know that check's coming whether I get a phone call to come into work or not. It's hard not to get comfortable if you're an average human being. But it's stealing from you too because you're not doing anything. You're not putting any pressure on yourself. I have to keep myself motivated by rethinking my own comfort levels sometimes. It's better to know and say, okay, I had that great opportunity. I may have a couple bucks in the bank. Now, what do I need to do to push the envelope? What do I need to do to take that next step? And now there's,

now there's pressure on you, right? Because that check's not coming next week. And sometimes that's the best thing that can happen to you. And I'm speaking for myself, not just, you know, in business, but even in, you know, taking care of myself or the amount of time I spend with my family and things that are really important that I sometimes are easy to put off to the side. So don't look at getting laid office or fired or terminated, whatever is some kind of a shot. nothing to be embarrassed about for crying out that you got a job in a professional wrestling business which probably means you're about one in ten thousand yes of people that wish they could get a job in a wrestling business so you already achieve something great and very difficult to do

because you have the talent determination persistence and all the things it takes to even get a job in this industry because it's so freaking difficult you already did that now take the experience and move on to the next one don't feel bad about it there's nothing to be you've seen a lot of statements from some of these folks but I did a quick little search on Twitter and I found the quote from Tony Connie you're referencing here's the exact quote even if I get punched in the face with circumstances it doesn't mean that I'm going to take it out on staff by cutting a hundred staff or laying off 30 wrestlers I really care about the people here and I would do anything I can to protect the jobs and livelihood of the people

who work here and by the way I really believe that Tony meant that when he wrote it I think that was probably around the same time that there were a lot of layoffs happening in WWB around the pandemic. And of course, Tony famously didn't cut a bunch of expenses there, but I can't help but wonder when I see that there feels to be some belt tightening, maybe this is a co-chae call. Maybe he is trying to get expenses more in line. For instance, as we're recording this on a Tuesday, tomorrow on Wednesday, they're

going to do a live dynamite, but they're going to tape collision. And collision, of course, is going to air, I think, just moments after WrestleMania this weekend at 1130 Eastern. I want to ask you about that, but you've got to agree this feels like a co-chae thing, because this feels like a bit of an about-face from his previous approach towards managing the talent and releases and budgeting and all that. I mean, I would assume. Yes.

Yes, I would agree. By default, he's there. This is a big decision. It's 180 degrees from the weight that we've seen things run up into this point. It'd be silly not to attribute it. And that's not a negative thing, as you said, though. No, it's not a negative. It's actually the first really smart thing strategically that they've done.

No, it would be strategic versus tactical. It's part of the overall strategy to save money, to manage expenses. This is the first time I've seen any indication. that this is i'm sure we're going to talk about this in a while but it's the first time i've seen a business move now i would i would just now i'm going to pull that back other than a couple you know wembley i think that was a great great move right it really did a great job of planting a big flag for a ew so i i applaud that it's the first mitigation mike man surrey bringing in you know a guy with as much experience as mike i think that was a really smart move

Jim Pepperman already talked about it. But this is the first real hard business move I've seen. So I take it as a positive. Yeah, I think Tony has rolled the dice and certainly taking, you know, risks in business. And I mean, he's made business moves that were betting on himself and its company. But this is the first time it feels like, you know, to use a blackjack term, a surrender.

Or it's the first time. It's the first time it feels like he might have a boss. and I'm not suggesting he does. But, you know, it's one thing to be able to, you know, pay for your own sandbox and pay for the best sand in the world and bring in the coolest toys to play in the sandbox with you when you don't have to worry about how much money you're spending. But these are, this is apparently a decision that suggests that there's now an emphasis on not spending that kind of money just to play in the sandbox.

So we'll, I like it. And let me be clear. we don't know any inside information. We don't know exactly what's happening or who's making these calls or whose idea it was or at what direction it was or any of that. But I will say in WWE, it's been my experience that, I mean, even when the whole Vince McMahon stuff was happening a couple of years ago, it was like, you know, one person's going to oversee the wrestling side of things and one person's going to run the business. And those are two totally different things. And we had a little bit of a separation of church and state.

and if all of this was on Tony's plate along with the Jaguars and the Fulham Football Club and and and it's good that, you know, maybe we are delegating a little bit, but it's concerning, according to Dave Meltzer. He had this to say on Wrestling Observer Radio. It does make sense, but at the same time,

the one thing that I do remember, one of Tony Kahn's things, was that if you sign to, if I sign you to a three-year contract, you know you're with me for three years, unlike there were where they can cut you any time. Because of course, would do that. These are actual cuts. It concerns me in the sense that he has always been strong on that, and then there's cuts. The fact that these people were cut, I totally understand, because they

weren't being used. They had just signed three giant contracts, and all these cuts combined was probably well under any of those people. As far as explanations, I don't have anything other than it's interesting because of what Tony said, but at the same time, they have too many guys, and they don't have television time for all of them, and it's unfortunate because some of these guys are very good, but they weren't being used. Would somebody get this motherfucker signed up on Grammarly or something? I have never seen, well, that's not true. I have, but this is horrible.

This dude can't write. He's a journalist. He said that on the radio show. That's the way he talks. Then he can't talk either. I mean, oh, my God. what a babbling fool well let's talk about the folks

who got their walking their walking papers the boys who were a big part of Dalton Castle's presentation man once upon a time maybe 10 years ago I thought Dalton Castle had WWE all over him I thought that gimmick would have worked huge there but now seemingly he's going to be

going without the boys and he's by the way Dalton Castle very talented performer he's on the Ring of Honor pay review this Friday Dasha who did some ring announcing Jose the assistant Jora Joel, apologies if I mispronounced that last name. Anthony Henry, Gravity, Stu Grayson, who was part of the Dark Order.

Parker Boudreau, who a lot of people were high on when he was in college, and it felt like he was going to be a WW guy when he got released from WW. He was immediately picked up by AEW, and that didn't seem to go very far. And neither did Slim Jay, a guy who I had the pleasure of seeing 20 years ago at Bill Barron's show in Cornelia, Georgia. and Slim Jay, man, he made a really sad post about how, you know, he's worked his real job through his entire AEW contract and he's still broke AF and hoping to get out of the shit hole he lives in with his family and he's not giving up on his wrestling dream.

So shout out to Slim Jay, very talented performer. If you have a spot for Slim Jay on your show, he will not disappoint. But man, I hated to hear that. I read, he worked his shoot job all the way through this and wasn't really able to get his family out of whatever place they were living and going to the new place. It made me wonder, because I've heard this rumor. Well, it's not a rumor. I know for sure there was at least a talent, and I got to assume there were more, who while

they were under contract to an AW contract, they were being paid on a per show basis, Eric. So I think that goes against the narrative that a lot of us have heard and a lot of the internet wrestling community believe, which is, oh, well, if he signed with Tony Khan, you're going to make more money than ever before. But if he was paying guys on a per show basis and then not using them, it is really best that he just let them go do something else, right? Absolutely. I mean, that's, I mean, I understand why talent would sign an agreement like that,

especially when you're trying to break into the business, not saying that anybody shouldn't take advantage of that opportunity because it is still an opportunity. Absolutely. But again, you can get real comfortable. I'm booked. I'm going to make X-months per show. It's easy to assume if someone's going to put you into contract and you've worked out the financial side of it that's based upon your performance

is that the intention behind the agreement, the good faith, if you will, that should be associated with the contract signing. You would imagine that that good faith has something to do with the fact that you're going to be booked a reasonable amount of times. even if it's not guaranteed or defined. That's good faith versus bad faith, which is I'm going to sign you and you're just going to sit home and I'm not going to pay you and you can't go do anything else. That's kind of shitty.

That's a shitty deal to put someone under, even though I understand why talent would take advantage of it. And I probably would too if I was young and trying to break into the business and I would use that even if they only booked me once, I would do everything in my ability, power, to make an impression. But, hey, it is what it is. But like I said, they're all better off. They just don't know it yet because it's still a little embarrassing and unnerving and

unsettling. And now you've got to figure out what you're going to do with the rest of your life. Well, I hope they continue to chase and pursue their wrestling dreams. I'm still pulling for those guys, just like I'm still pulling for AEW. I know sometimes you get painted with a broad brush stroke here. And all he hates AEW. And that's not true. you're hoping that AEW continues to get better and bigger and thriving

and maybe sometimes you just don't see where that's possible. I do want to talk a little bit more about AEW. I think we're going to have to when we talk about the C&Punk interview that happened with Ariel Hawani on Monday. But before we do, I want to talk about something that I think a lot of our listeners could benefit from. I'm talking about Cignos. This is a really big deal in my life and I'm excited to share it with you guys

because I'll be honest, I was ignorant to a lot of this. But the CDC estimates that there are approximately 96 million Americans who have pre-diabetes. We're talking like one in three folks, y'all. And maybe even more alarming as of those who have pre-diabetes, like 80% of people don't even know they haven't. Now, here's what's going on with all this. Foods that are high in carbohydrates raise your blood sugar more than other foods.

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This, I'm going to just chime in for a second. This is a really, really, really great opportunity to get a hold of your health and learn as you go. Because that app allows you, you know, Conrad's talking about it, but I feel like I'm talking to one person here other than you, Conrad. It gives you an opportunity to really associate what you're eating throughout the course of the day and in real time see exactly how it's affecting you and then how to manage it. I just gave you all that information. But why is that important?

Because those spikes, those up and down spikes, is stress. It creates a litany of other issues. Now, what I've learned, because I have a goal, I want to keep my blood glucose at about 95 on average throughout the day, which is, you know, you've got to be really careful. I have to be really careful what I do. But I'm kind of into this, you know, nutrition and ways to kind of find healthy ways to hack and improve your nutrition. I, my wife and I both look for those opportunities.

And what's cool about Signos is that, you know, once you get it all figured out, you got your app up and I can say, for example, I wonder, I wonder what a, I don't want to eat sugar, but what if I just have an apple instead? Because apples are healthy, right? But there's also a lot of sugar. It's natural sugar, but there's a lot of natural sugar in an apple. And it's a hell of a spike for me. Now, I wouldn't have thought that.

Right. I would have thought, no, it's just an apple. That sounds like I want to have a fucking candy bar. I'll put down the Reese's peanut butter cup and I'll grab an apple. But guess what? It doesn't make that much difference. So if you're really trying to manage your blood because this is a way that you can figure it out. And within a week or so, you're going to know what's in your safe zone and not and what to do about it.

Check it out. Cygnos.com. Be sure to use the code 83 weeks. You're going to get 20% off. What a great idea. example you just gave there with a Reesey peanut butter cup and an apple man we're learning every day use that promo code 83 weeks save yourself some money and start feeling a little better man i got to tell you i was feeling uh it's kind of crazy yesterday watching this see and punk

interview i was really blown away first of all he doesn't do media like this very often so it was a big deal that he was there and i'd heard it announced a week or so before or whenever but I just kind of didn't assume that they would get into the nitty gritty as much as they did. But boy, did they. Shout out to Ariel Hawani for a fantastic interview. Shout out to C.M. Punk for being as honest as he could.

There were only a couple of chance, a couple of times. I'll get it out. But he had to reference that NDA that he signed for Brawlout. Couldn't answer questions about what exactly happened with that or even about his dog Larry's involvement in that, as silly as all that sounds. But you saw the internet. interview, what did you think? What was your takeaway from Ariel and

C.M. Punk on the M.MA hour? First of all, Ariel's, you know, in a class all of his own. She's really good at what he does. Yes. When you watch an interview that sounds like just two guys shooting a shit at the bar and you just happen to be able to overhear it, that's a good interviewer. That's the way that fell. I was surprised, given all of the discussions about non-disperagement agreements and non-disclosure agreements, both of them are NDAs. But given so much of that chatter, I was really shocked that punk would come out and talk about anything other than WrestleMania.

It feels like a new WWE, because I thought the same thing, like they're not going to talk about all the AEW stuff. It's going to be this is an appearance that was book. because they knew people would tune in and then we're going to plug WrestleMania and we did but boy we got a lot more than that we're going to do some quotes here from see and punk in this interview with Ariel Hawani here's what he had to say about Tony Kahn quote I don't like the drama but the truth is the truth he is not a boss he's a nice guy ultimately

that is a detriment to the company but it's not my company I'm an outsider I thought I was brought in to sell merchandise and tickets and draw numbers for pay-per-view I clearly did that but that's not what the place is about and some people didn't like that what do you uh what do you think of that he's not he's a nice guy but he's not a boss like you know i have echoed many times here that same sentiment that only con is a nice guy he is a huge wrestling fan he wants what's best for wrestling i really do believe that but punk says yesterday he's not a boss and then on the same day

I'm not saying the two are related we see at least 10 people released from AEW that's kind of some boss behavior maybe what'd you think of this punk comment that he's not a boss well I think that's been clear

I mean look I'm going to get this out of the way I'm only going to say it once because when I heard about this interview and then I heard some of the feedback from it And I got phone calls from mutual friends of mine hours, go, dude, you've got to fire back. You've got to use this, clip it up and use it on wise choices because it's custom built for you.

And I was so excited. I had some dental work yesterday. I spent three hours in a dental chair. I had to have a implant put in. Not fun. Right in the middle, right in the front tooth, right? That one right there. It's a temporary.

But I didn't know how I'd feel when I got done. I didn't know if I'd have a head full of Novocaine and eating pain pills. So I didn't want to book it, didn't want to commit. And I'm glad I didn't because when I sat down last night and watched it, what am I going to say other than, yep. Yeah. Yep. I've been talking about that for three years. Yep.

Now, I don't have any perspective on what Tony's like backstage. I got a glimpse, like a brief glimpse, almost like a drive-by, right? Which doesn't really tell you anything. So I don't really know what he's like backstage, but if you look at the patterns, dot, dot, dot, connect the dots. Ooh, there's a picture, pattern at least, of everything that we've seen for the last year, two years, three years.

I've all indicated that Tony just is not a leader. How many times have I said it on this show and upset you or been put in my place, sometimes appropriately so? But it's just obvious when you see how the lack of leadership manifests on a regular basis. And there's a lot of chatter that, you know, we don't talk about here. I don't talk. I don't even bring it up because we all know people that work in close proximity. Cases inside AEW.

We all know kind of what's going on, or at least we were told what's going on backstage. There's an impression that one has, just if you know people, know somebody. but you also look at, like I say, some of the things that we've seen over the last couple of years. The punk situation is probably the most obvious. That's lack of leadership. I talked about it on 83 weeks.

I talked about it on strictly business. And then I get crucified. He's just an old man. He's bitter because Tony Khan won't give him a job. You fucking kidding me? After the Sam Punk interview, I'm way more convinced I'm 100% right that I would never want to put myself

through that kind of drama. So, Yeah, I mean, it's, it's interesting because punk had, you know, punk has a, he has a much more unique perspective than I do. I've walked through the building twice during production and got a brief impression, but punk was there for a few months. So, interesting comment, but not surprised. When you finish the interview, you know, you were pretty critical multiple times on this podcast about punk. And then when he came back to WWE, you know, you talked about how cool that was and you were happy. he was back and blah, blah, blah. And a lot of people were saying,

we're crying foul, saying, wait a minute, you were just critical of punk. And now you're sort of promoting his t-shirt on social media. And some of that was because we have an affiliate relationship with fanatics. But I'm curious, did your opinion change of the real life Phil Brooks, seeing him talk about his AEW experience? And seemingly, a lot of your feelings align with him. No. Now, let me explain. If you go back and listen, if one of our listeners or viewers are out there that really wants to try to grind me up on social media, go back and look at some of the comments or listen to some of the comments that I made about Punk right before his debut in AEW.

You know what you're going to find? Probably nothing. because I didn't have an opinion of punk going into AEW, at least not whether or not it was going to be a huge success or not success. I don't think I had no feeling about it. I had not connected to it at all because I've never met punk. I don't know punk. I've never worked with punk. The only thing I know of punk is that at one point he was a major player at WWE.

So therefore he's got equity. So I knew about punk. You won't, and if you go back and listen to some of my comments, probably within the first week or two after Punk's rival, didn't say much until punk, I take that back shortly after Punk made his debut in his opening interview, big time back on television, punk is trying to get his heat by burying Hulk Hogan, which is. is such an internet mark thing to do. That's like the lowest hanging fruit. There's cheap heat and then there's like heat that's so cheap it doesn't have any value. And when you go out and try to get yourself over by catering to the internet audience and burying a guy, you don't know, you have no idea what kind of human being,

Jerry Belay is. You may think you do because of what you've read in horrible situations he's put himself in. But that's not necessarily an indication of who he is. And you don't know who he is. But you're willing to pass judgment. I got a little bit of a problem with people that are so comfortable passing judgment on what someone is like.

And so I got vocal about that. I pointed that out. It's the cheapest, no-talent, heat thing to do that I could possibly think of for a character at the level of CM Punk, any anticipation he brought with. And shortly after, Punk made a comment, and I called it out, and of course, because that I was called a hater, frustrated old man, who can't get a job working for Tony Con. And then shortly after Punk came out, and he made it similarly. stupid comments about how he and, I don't know if it's Brian Johnson or somebody else, being now in AEW is the equivalent of, you know, Paul and Nash, only better. Really?

The hell of a statement to come out and make, try to get yourself over. So those kind of things put a bad taste in my mouth. I don't mean because I was angry or jealous, but I mean, as far as how I viewed him, not as a human being, because I've never had a social. of conversation with the band, but as a performer, and to understand the character, not just athletically a performer, but the character, if the character has, after seven years off or whatever it was to come back and have to rely on cheap heat to get yourself over and put yourself over guys like Colin Nash with the impact that they had in the NWO, because Punt thought

he and his bandits were going to be bigger than the NWO, that just made me good. Now, this guy doesn't have a clue. he's catering to the internet he's reaching for the low-hanging fruit beyond that the only negative things i've said about punk is he's not going to move the needle said that early on from the get-go and it's because i'm a hater and i can't get a job for johnny con i'm just bitter no i like talking about wrestling especially about a guy sometimes who has come out said that he knows more about professional wrestling to Ted Turner or if Ted would have been around

or if Tony would have known half as much or 1% as much as Tony Khan WCW might still be around. Okay, say stupid shit like that. I'm going to come at you. And Tony has continued to make a lot of those statements, some, you know,

more verbose or some or outside the box and others. But yeah, I'll have fun with that. I won't take it seriously. I'm not going to go home and cry. I'm not going to kick my dad. dog because of it. I'm going to laugh. I'm going to have some fun with it. But the only negative thing that I said about punk probably after all that was he's not going to move

the needle. And guess what? He didn't. Not Punk's fault. Not Mercedes-Bunay's fault. Not Okata's fault. Not Osprey's fault or whatever he's called now. You know, not Christine Cage's fault. It's not the fault of the talent that nobody's getting up. It's that there's There's no creative. It's just a wrestling exhibition with an angle as an excuse. Let's talk about what he said about the Jack Perry circumstance. Quote, Tony's big idea was separate shows. We're going to separate everybody.

I said that would never work. Just let me go. Who cares? It's best. These guys don't want me here. This isn't a real business. This isn't a business predicated on making money, drawing money, selling tickets. It's not what it was sold to me as.

Let me go. The second day we had this show, I'm sitting in catering, and Tony Chivani comes to get me. He says, Jack is cussing me out. Cussed out Mike Mansoury. He's cussed out the doctor right now. I was told people were being separated, so there's not problems.

So you don't want me in this. You all need to handle this, because if you don't, I'm going to handle this, and you're not going to like how I'm going to handle this. I don't know anything about Jack being on vacation. there are people that work one day a week and don't want to and they want to show up,

wrestle and film vignettes and then sit at home for weeks. Do what you want. It's not my company, but not on my show. What Jack wanted to do was he wanted to smash the window of a rental car with a pipe. I was like,

Doc's told you know, Daryl's told you know, Mike's told you know, Shivani's told you know, and apparently you've cussed them out, so I'm telling you know, we don't do that here. So if you want to do that, go to Wednesday and do it.

To come to this show and everyone's supposed to be separated to get rid of all the drama and you're swearing at the doctor because it's real glass, it's going to get in your eye. There's a safe way to do that. And I politely said that to him. I said, this is a different show. If you want to do that, go to Wednesday. He clearly took something very business-minded, very personal, which is fine because I've done that before too.

And it's very much who he's friends with. and shit never got squashed. Nobody's in charge, and it turned into what it turned into. So he sort of told the whole story of what ultimately led to him leaving AEW. But I think the thing that struck me the most is the way he started. These guys don't want me here. This isn't a real business. This isn't a business predicated on making money, drawing money, and selling tickets.

That's what it will sell to me as. let me go. And you and I have sort of discussed this in a different way, where you would get on here and be critical of AEW, quote unquote, flatlining. I'll never forget that conversation. Because I said, you know, another way of saying that would be the ratings are stable. But you have a growth mentality. We both do in our real life and sales and whatnot. We want to get bigger. We want to make more. We want to have more downloads and sell more merch and sell more tickets and sell more mortgages or whatever I'm selling. I'd like to do more of that and it felt like at different times AEW was kind of flat and you called it flatlining

and I just said it comes down to and this is a phrase I've learned in recent years goal alignment it doesn't feel like WWE's goal and AEW's goal are the same and maybe that's what has tripped punk and maybe some others up but what do you make of him saying this isn't a real business Let me first off, I want to kind of tag First question you asked me in my thoughts about punk And if they had changed The reason my thoughts hadn't changed Is I really didn't have any thoughts about Bill Brooks

Yeah Person Didn't know him Didn't have feeling one way or the other My feeling about him as a character At the time in AEW has not changed clearly Now Now, and if you again

Go back and listen to some of my comments when the rumors were floating around that punk may go back to WWE, I think it was on strictly business. I said to Alba, because Alba asked me, how do you think he would do there? I said, I think he'd do fine there because he's not going to be the guy. He's going to be a part of a team, a well-organized team, a well-managed team, and a team with structure and leadership. It's almost exactly what I said.

So that's the difference between things that punk said in AEW, which I still think is low-hanging fruit, things that I reacted to and just cheapened his appearance for me and my impression of him as a character. Now, after listening to this interview, the person I'm hearing, Phil Brooks, is somebody that I would, you know, it's never going to happen likely, but sit down, you know, have a steak with that guy, sure. There's a lot of what he said is rooted in common sense. Right.

It's not a radical theory, folks. It's just basic, fundamental business and especially wrestling business. The idea, now let's go back to his comment. The idea that Tony's solution to a personnel problem was to separate them without addressing the problem. says everything you need to know about whether Tony Kahn actually knows how to run a business. With 4 Imprint, finding the right promo products

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Not all veterans are eligible for the type or amount of benefits mentioned here. It's, that was a move. I mean, I don't even want to try to make a comparison. That is such a bizarre failure of management 101, talent relations,

common sense. You know that's not going to work. And this, Jack Perry, dude? Why? Just why? Why would you have someone around who has that little value but creates that much drama and is that much of a diva? I don't get it.

I can see. I can see, yeah, one of the reasons, if I ever had that stake with, how the hell did you last there as long as you did? I still disagree with the way he conducted himself at press conference. That's just me, the way I do business. I do shit backstage. Don't put it out in the public. Don't negotiate in public. Don't fight in public.

But how he lasted as long as he did is mind-boggling to me. Because it just sounds so. I mean, I can feel it. I mean, I've experienced it. I've been in dysfunctional locker rooms. I oversaw one for a while. I know what it's like. I have empathy for Tony,

except for the part where he doesn't do anything about it and decides he's going to keep everybody on separate sides of the room. That's just silly, especially when you don't book. You're just throwing random masses together. You're going to say, that's never going to work for more than two weeks. Well, we should talk about, even though he didn't say his name, he certainly hinted around

and beat around the bush, Dave Meltzer, a few times. He's talking about the Mindy's all-out press conference where he's eating the muffins and I'm old, I'm tired, and I work with children promo. And he says, quote,

you're getting out there and seeing reporters that report shit about you like it's fact without ever checking with you, who were openly friends with other wrestlers. It's just fucking high school clicky drama bullshit. I get there and see these goofs. And I just, you know, lose my temper. Top three CM Punk promo, though.

And when I heard that and I saw that in the interview, I thought, man, he's referencing Dave Meltzer as, and I'm sure he was referencing Nick Houseman being friends with Cole Cabana. And that's what set him off. And, of course, we know that there's some history with Cabana and punk, and he made it clear that he doesn't see a way past that. He's not going to speak to Colt, unless there's a lawyer present. And we know that it's about to become he said, she said with Dave Meltzer and see him punk. Would you make of him going after wrestling journalists, calling them goofs, ring friends with wrestling?

And that led to what he called a top three see and punk promo. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't read that as him going after journalists. I read that as a shot right between the eyes at Dave Meltzer. Yeah. And I don't know why he didn't say Dave's name. He probably should have because there's a lot of other people out there that are writing, following wrestling online, they do a great job. So, you know, shout out to a lot of them. Just unfortunately, Dave Meltzer gives the rest of them a bad name.

And I loved it. And, I mean, it's honest. Give him credit for that, for sure. He's honest that he's 100% right. God, when you read that back to me, it sounds like something I might have said, like almost word for word. It does. And so does this statement.

If you're more happy with some goof saying you had a five-star match and the buildings are a quarter full, we're not in the same business. No. I mean, I won't put a smile on my face. I wish I would have said that one. I may have to steal it at some point. I'll wait till after people forget about it a little bit, and I'll bring it back. Sounds familiar, but I don't know where that came from.

I absolutely agree with it. Here's the guy, Dave Meltzer, that I saw him be posted the other day. And again, I follow Dave just so I get a laugh, like throughout the day. If something's going wrong, I want to laugh, I'll look for a Dave Meltzer post. And he posted something the other day and said, oh, the problem with, you know, AEW story realizes, they throw so many of them at you, you can't focus on them. But you fucking clown. He's not in the same business.

business that the entertainment business is in in general. Dave looks at wrestling from a unique perspective and his, his half, his glass, half full, glass full, glass empty doesn't matter as long as the wrestling, as long as the wrestling inside of the ring is good. And even that I question, I mean, some of his, you know, four, five star matches that he's put over recently, but I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? I mean, it's he's so irrelevant in so many ways irrelevant in the sense that he's not connected to reality you know he talked to debilster talks about oh i study the business he's always studying something well for a motherfucker there's supposedly a journalist why don't you try studying grammar

you dip shit learn how to fucking write and if you're going to be on camera you know learn how to talk. You know what I mean? Just give it a whack. You know, it could work out for you. But I think shining light on Dave Meltzer and what a fraud he really is in the sense that he has positioned himself because he got there first in a lot of ways. Credit to him for that.

And he has been there for a long time and he's convinced people that he knows and understands things that he doesn't have a clue about. And this is where the social media aspect of it gets. fun for me because when I read and follow the people that are kind of tagging into Dave's perspective on things, it's like, I wonder what these people do for a living or what kind of social life must they have. Because just the composite view of the people that support Dave Meltzer's perspective, it's like that group of kids in school that nobody wanted to associate with, like the nerdiest

bugger-eaten motherfuckers you can find just all hanging out together because they're the only ones that can tolerate each other. That's what Dave and his little versus shit stained dirt sheet writing fans are.

Just, but I loved it. It puts shine a light on it. And that's a great thing because Dave has had a platform for what, 30 years now? He can put all this stuff out there. He can say whatever he wants. For decades, nobody could really hold them accountable.

Even his talent, you don't have a platform. You're not going to go on television really and respond the way you really want to respond. You can take a little shot here and there like Hogan did. You can do that. But it's, you know, that's not really the same thing as exposing somebody or responding to somebody in kind. And now that, you know, Bruce and myself and Conan and so many other people, Kevin Nass. Now that so many people that were actually in the business and actually know the stories behind the scene are out there, we can call him on as bullshit. And now more and more people are seeing now that we were absolutely right.

Just the other day, Coach Rosie, I think he's with us right now. Coach Rosie sent me a clip of Dave Meltzer talking about why I fired Oli Anderson. It was just like completely made up shit, completely fabricated. but that's how Dave has gotten himself over by telling these stories that he convinces people are true that are figments of his or someone else's imagination. There's nothing remotely, not even close, happen. But no, I love it. I love that CM Punk's shining light on it.

A lot of people are starting to call it Dave Meltzer and pretty soon people are going to realize that if you're, I'll be out there supporting Dave Meltzer, you're one of those burglary little kids no one wants to play with. Well, I guess I'm a bugger eater because I still read The Observer. I appreciate this guy. Yeah, but you, yeah. But I understand that he doesn't get everything wrong. I had a chuckle.

And Lord, I'm friends with Dave and consider him a friend and appreciate the effort that he puts in. But occasionally, it's something wrong. A couple of days ago, he was asked, what was the booking philosophy during the old, odd times when Andre challenged for a title? Must be brutal keeping. him so strong while never giving him the belt. And Dave quote tweeted it

and responded, Andre got a few title shots, not a ton, but had them with Bokwinkle, race, Anoki, Terry Funk, and Flair. Never with Briscoe or Vern that I can recall. Never in WWE. Bruno badly wanted to work with him either as champion or post-77. Pitched Vince's father hard on it,

but Vince's father told him he would never make the match. Felt he had two unbeatable baby faces and didn't want to hurt either. but then I couldn't help but go back to that part where he says never in WWE and I said to myself self wasn't WrestleMania 3 kind of a big deal because that was a title shot like Andre the promo that Bobby Heenan cut on on Piper's pit was about the fact that Hogan never got a title shot to Andre so

WrestleMania 3 the biggest WrestleMania of all time was a title shot for Andre. Not only that, the most watch match in the history of American television was a rematch of that match on NBC, not Saturday night's main event, but the main event in prime time. It's literally the most watched show match in the history of professional wrestling. And he says, well, no, he never got a title shot in WWE. Now, I know Hogan beat him the first time and the million dollar man cheated and Andre won the second one and we got the tournament for WrestleMania. But Andre got the title shot. So I'm saying, all that to say as big of a supporter as I am of Dave,

every now and again, brother gets it wrong. That's okay. We've all been wrong before. It's not getting this kind of information right or wrong, because to give Dave his credit, when it comes to history, I don't think there's anybody in the business that seemingly has information at his mental fingertips when it comes to the history of not only wrestling in the United States, but around the world. I would absolutely give Dave credit all the credit of the world for that. And even with his unique

abilities in that regard and the access he has to that information, whether it be packed away in his head or in that shitstorm of an office I've seen pictures of, it doesn't matter. You're going to get things wrong once in a while. That's a mistake. But intentionally fabricating, lying, lying by omission, that that ain't cool and i make mistakes every single day of course we all do you're going to continue making them especially when you put out as much volume as melzer does you're going to make mistakes mistakes aren't intentional

lying is hurting people's careers by fabricating stories are posting fabricated stories as news is I don't know that's where I can't be friends with someone like that or I can't respect them at all because that's that's the intent behind that is selfish and hurtful that ain't cool well let's talk about how you know Meltzer got a couple of picks wrong. That's okay. But maybe you can get a few right with our friends at prize picks. Prize picks is America's number one fantasy sports app with more than three million members. And it really is the easiest and most exciting way to get involved in the action while you watch your favorite sports and players. You just pick more or less on two or more player

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media scrum that calls brawl out. And Dave Meltzer has gone on and actually responded to what Punk said. He says, long before the Adam Page interview, I'd heard from the internet and wrestlers, the Colt Cabana thing. I texted Tony Kahn and said, you've got to address this for backstage because it's really fucking up the dressing room. And this was long before anything happened. Obviously, that never happened.

And I've even heard today from people that he should have just done it then in February of 2022. It was already becoming a dressing room issue. It should have been addressed, and it wasn't. This is not often that we hear a guy like Dave Meltzer say he's texting a guy like Tony Kahn, hey, here's what you should do for your business. And to see him say that on the radio really brings into question all of the match ratings and everything else that he's done.

Like, I for one do think that Dave Meltzer tries to be a journalist, and I have subscribe to his newsletter forever and ever, and I understand it, and I appreciate it. But for him to say, hey, man, you've got a problem and you need to address it, was like, what? It felt like in that moment, Dave's admitting, instead of just reporting the news, I'm making the news a little bit. What'd you think of that? Do you think that that is the only example? No, of course not.

I posted this on, I don't know where I posted it. Can't keep my shit straight anymore. or 83 weeks, strictly business, whatever. I talked about it. The reason that AEW is in the shape they're in is largely because of Dave Meltzer's influence. Dave Meltzer and Tony Khan are mentally sympathico. They think alike. They appreciate the same things based on what I've heard and what I've seen Tony do.

It's just ridiculous. I've been pounding this drum for years about how Dave Meltzer in his. Indie Riffick, indie dirt sheet universe approach to professional wrestling is exactly the wrong direction for a company like AEW. And, you know, it's easy to say, oh, well, maybe Tony doesn't care about growth. Well, that's like saying, okay, maybe Tony doesn't need the money so he doesn't really care. But if he needs a relationship with the television network, you better start getting concerned with growth because they are.

Just because you're not, doesn't mean they're not. And Tony's approach to wrestling is so fucking random and indie and dream matchy, no consistency, no creative. It's just wrestling almost at, it's one level above its worst when it comes to creative, which is so sad because there's so much great talent there. But which is why the Mercedes and the Adam Copeland's and a Christian Cages and you can bring in whoever you want to bring in and it doesn't matter because Tony doesn't know how to produce television knows how to book matches that get him excited. It's not the same. And Dave Meltzer influences that because of Tony's reliance upon Dave's input, whether officially

over the phone or by text or I hope he's going to get to five-star match and somebody's going to chant this is awesome. This is just nuts. And again, I'm grateful to see him punk for shining light on it. That's great.

And Dave, for shining light on yourself, for God's sake. You know, here's the thing. I've had this discussion with my friends in my real life about if you were going to own a movie studio, what kind of movies would you want to make? And years ago, companies like Miramax, they were making movies like Pulp Fiction and other really

cutting edge ahead of their time movies that got a ton of critical acclaim, but they weren't necessarily big box office. It's not like they had Pulp Fiction toys in a happy meal at McDonald's. That's not the way they, that's not the kind of movies they were making. And you would see, you know, the big blockbusters and the marvels and things like that where they're making hundreds of millions of dollars and they've got licensing deals at Taco Bell and they've got a whole toy aisle at the department store and things like that. And I think it really comes down to that, maybe with the approach to wrestling too. Maybe Tony wasn't looking for the commercial success more than he was the critical success.

He wanted to win these awards. You know, in Hollywood, it was a big deal to win an Academy Award. Other people would say, no, it didn't make a shit. our movie grossed a billion dollars. We don't care if it won one of those trophies. And I don't think that there's a wrong answer. It's a matter of what is your goal? I've just recently learned this.

Jeff Jarrett says it a lot on his podcast, and I eventually started to listen about goal alignment. And I think that may have been part of the issue with Dixie Carter and TNA. Maybe all the times the goals weren't aligned. Dixie wanted to be a television star, perhaps, or she wanted to compete with WWE. And maybe Jeff just wanted to make as much money as he can. good. And I feel like that might be a similar circumstance with Tony Kahn's approach to

wrestling. If he really was, because, I mean, seeing Punk even sort of said, it's not about making money, not about selling merch or pay-per-views. I did all that. It's about something else. I don't know what. Maybe having good matches. I paraphrased, but that's pretty much the sum of the parts. I would say, and Conorant, I could actually accept that. If Tony would have come out when he launched AEW and said, you know what, we're never going to be competition. with WWE because we don't want to compete with them. We're an alternative. We're going to do things differently for our fan base

because our fan base isn't necessarily the mainstream fan base, mainstream when it comes to wrestling. And we're going to do our thing. They can do their thing. We're going to do our things together simultaneously. And then go ahead and present your product and be as alternative as you can possibly be and cater to whatever audience really enjoys

that presentation. That's not what happened. What happened is Tony came out of the shoot, taking shots at WWE. Top talent, making predictions to how long it was going to be before AEW surpassed WW in ratings. All of the talent,

taking shots whenever they could. That's the conflict right there. And if I would have all the respect in the world for Tony or anybody else, especially to put up their own money come out and present something that's completely alternative and if you like it you like it

if you don't you don't but don't pick a fight with an 800 pound gorilla while at the same time saying well we don't care we don't care about ratings you don't you sure did a while ago I mean you continue to position yourself

as the quote unquote challenge your brand I don't know what the fuck you're challenging for Tony but it's not market share that's for sure that Tony has set himself up to a large degree and I talked about this before he burned so much goodwill first 12 months of AEW by doing exactly what I'm talking about he created the tribes he divided the audience coming out of the shoot and continued to do so for the last couple of years in any way he could.

And he's become more ridiculous as time goes by. And here's what makes it look more ridiculous. This is where Dave Meltzer is really dangerous for AEW in a way that Tony will probably never understand. By being AEW's surrogate and trying so desperately. to defend the AEW and thinking that you're actually good at camouflaging the fact that you're trying

to protect AEW and you're a surrogate for them, you actually think you're good enough that people aren't going to see through your shit? They do. And the harder Dave tries to defend the AEW with insanely stupid comments It's like their problem is they have so many stories.

They're throwing them at you all at the same time. That kind of shit. Everybody sees through that, Dave. And the harder Dave fights, the more bizarre he gets, and he's getting really bizarre over the last couple months. The harder he fights, the more bizarre he gets, it's because people know he's a surrogate for the brand, and he's talking to Tony, and he's friend with the bucks

because they named to move after him. People know this shit. And the harder Dave fights, the more it reflects in a negative way on AEW. And the tribal, it fuels the tribalism. Dave's creating it. He's blaming other people are talking about how horrible it is and he's creating it. And he's too stupid to even realize he's doing it. It's amazing to me.

But it's really fascinating, fascinating real-time psychology in human nature. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, what punk said. He says there's an issue. Even a night before brawl out, Garrett and I talked to Tony. Oh, no, this is Meltzer quoting again, what he said to Tony. We've already kind of covered that. We'll move on. you know the punk interview

I felt like was one of the better interviews in professional wrestling because it pulled the curtain all the way back and talked about so much the good the bad and the ugly including what happened in Wembley where as the story goes he knew when he went out there it was his last match

because he had already quit and apparently he turned to Tony and said something like you know, I quit, you're a clown, blah, blah, blah. And he never talked to Tony since. That just blew me away. That despite the release and all the subsequent back and forth, and I know, you know, I don't believe it's a word you're supposed to say.

I don't think anybody's supposed to talk about punk or anything like that. And now Perry's still not there. Like, you know, I'm sure they're going to turn that into a story. And maybe that's what they're doing. doing with the New Japan stuff, but maybe the most shocking thing to me is after everything sort of fell apart, they never spoke again. Does that shock you? No. I mean, clearly there's bad chemistry there. It's a relationship that isn't going to work out. I understand it completely. Once I kind of make up my mind that a relationship is over for whatever reason, I don't stay in touch.

nothing to talk about. No, it didn't surprise me at all. I think that's probably the healthiest way to deal with a determination of a relationship, particularly if there's legal issues floating around, which I don't know if there were or not, but that was the objection.

Well, listen, we heard Tony talk about what happened and he felt like his life was threatened. and then we heard punk share his version of events of what happened backstage at Wembley. According to the rumor in innuendo, they got the footage. So there is actually footage

of whatever skirmish existed between punk and Jungle Boy and whatever skirmish did or did not happen between punk and Tony Kahn. And the rumor in innuendo is that AEW has seen that footage. They have it. Do you think that footage gets released? Do you think we see that? That makes the lie today randomly all the sudden now?

Can't imagine that. Can you? I mean, just from a legal perspective? I don't. It'd be nice, right? I think it's probably work a lot. I think we see it. I think it comes out.

Why? Because it feels like he said, she said. And I think somebody is going to release it at some point. It just feels inevitable. especially with there's some moving and shaking behind the scenes. It wouldn't surprise me if eventually that footage came out. Well, the

only way it can get released is if Tony wants to release it. Tony's footage. Right? Well, it's the building's footage, I think. It's their security cameras, as I understand it. Oh. So it's not an A.W. cameraman who shot

it. Now, granted, A.E.W. Where was the building? Oh, it's Wembley. Wembley. Yeah, that will never see that. Unless Tony wants us to see it, because the influence that I'm sure Tony's father could put on Wembley, not that he plays there,

but, you know, they're a significant family in the UK, a sports family, with relationships and connections and, I don't know, billions of dollars. So, yeah,

that'll see the light of day if it serves Tony Kahn, an AEW. And it might. Well, it's clear that they're not going to be on each other's Christmas card list, but Punk even said, if Tony Kahn was here, he'd just say, hey, Tony, how's it going? You know, he called Tony a nice guy. I don't think that Punk has a hard on for Tony Kahn. But if he wants one, we know where to get him one.

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So listen, Eric, let's talk about WrestleMania. And we'll close up with a little bit of Vince McMahon news. So if you've heard all you need to hear about all that, then don't worry. I do want to mention that, you know, we're in the middle of the biggest WrestleMania week, maybe of all time. As a reminder, the Hall of Fame is going to be on Friday night, right after Smackdown, on Peacock. We know now that Rock's grandmother is going to be going in, along with Muhammad Ali, along with the U.S. Express, along with Bull Nakano, along with Thunderbolt Patterson,

and with Paul Heyman. And we found out watching Monday Night Raw that the tribal chief, Roman Raines will be the one who introduces Paul Heyman. Paul Heyman going into the Hall of Fame in Philadelphia just feels right. What say you? Gosh, I couldn't feel more right. Where else would be more appropriate? I think maybe Madison Square Garden, but this is so appropriate.

I'm happy for Paul. And Paul's influence on the business is just undeniable, his talent, even more undeniable as a performer. Paul's done he what an amazing story now what an amazing story his story is a movie for sure really really it's pretty amazing and Roman Raines is going to induct him

that's pretty awesome surprising but awesome and a heavy bloodline influence on the show the Hall of Fame not just because Roman and Paul are going to be there but you know Rock's going to be doing something with his grandmother so big bloodline influence it's going down after Smackdown this Friday night

on Peacock. I can't wait to see what Paul Heyman has to say. He says he's going to call it in the ring as they say. He's just going to go with what the audience is into. Maybe they want some old school. Maybe they want some current. We'll see. But I for one am looking forward to it.

I wonder, like what I got, when they set me up for the Hall of Fame back at 21, said, okay, now we're going to assign you a writer. What? Really? okay you know it's what they do but they did back then so i wonder if they're good to assign paul a writer can you imagine being that person i don't i don't think we have to worry about that no i don't think so uh we should mention they set a record on monday night you know

they had one of the biggest crowds they ever had last week in chicago but just last night it's the all-time gate record for monday night raw i think we're going to see more and more of those records as we march on. Let's talk about night one of WrestleMania. It's going to be a big show. It's Ria Ripley and Becky Lynch. I, for one, am excited for that one. I feel like they turned the volume up on

that bout when Becky did an interview promoting her book a couple of days ago. I guess it was maybe last week, maybe a week ago. She sat down and they asked her about the Ria Ripley spot where she was doing the stink face

on Nia Jacks. And boy, Becky, was not kind about it at all. She said that that sort of thing used to happen in AEW or WW all the time. And she was a part of a revolution or an evolution, whatever you want to call it, to change all of that. And she worked very hard to make sure it wasn't just about that and fulfilling male fantasies in the crowd. And she didn't want her little girl to see that sort of thing and think that if she wants to be a

WWE superstar. That's the way to do it and that's what she's supposed to do and that's what people want and blah, blah, blah. And she said, I think it fucking sucks. And when I saw that, I said, wow, that's, that's real life. That's, that's not a WWE approved statement. And then, of course, I'm watching the MMA hour and I saw Becky Lynch attack Ria Ripley and reference the daughter and all that. And I thought, man, this is wrestling done right. what'd you think of the stink face what'd you think of the comment and what did you think with the mMA hour angle with ria and becky i mean i think putting into context i think it was a work of art yeah that's assuming that the stink face was a part of the plan all along like this whole thing was laid out act one act two act three act one opens up the inciting moment just in a little elements in the storyline arc the inciting moment is when something occurs with one of your central character characters that thrust them into an entirely different situation. So if that was, the Stink Face was part one or exciting moments in Act 1, and this was all part

of a story arc with the promotion, then it's a work of art. Or it could be, it does a stink face, hey, I got an idea, let's react to that. I don't know which one it is, either one that was very effective. I think they've done such a great job with Ria and Becky, even last night on Raw, another great pull apart, just raising the attention, raising the attention, raising the intensity without giving the audience what they want. That was really, I know people are going to go, what the fuck is he talking about? Sometimes the shows that are not necessarily the most newsworthy or noteworthy because not enough really big things happen, but when the structure of the show

and the timing of that show needs to be precise and you're managing people's emotions and still trying to advance story. It's a really hard thing to do. It's very difficult to do. But they're threading that needle so perfectly that even though it's like, no, it wasn't a great rob. But it really, really was in terms of the formatting and the goal of that particular show.

I thought it was awesome. But that scene in particular, I thought, was extremely well done. Really a fun match. I can't wait to see it. It seems like it's got some steam on it, looking forward to it. We've also got a tag team championship ladder match, and we're still filling this card out. But as you take a look there, man, it looks like we've got a whole bunch of moving parts in this. But we've got DIY.

We're big Gargano fans in this household. We got Grayson Waller and Austin Theory. We got the Miz and Our Truth, which is going to be awesome. We got New Day. We got the Judgment Day. There's a lot of really fun talent in this. I'm glad everybody's getting a WrestleMania payday and a ladder match.

Man, that's been a big part of WrestleMania for as long as I can remember. But a tag team ladder match, this is going to be chaos and maybe controlled chaos, but wow, this sets itself up for some crazy high spots, don't you think? Our truth,

man, I want to see, I love that guy. He is so entertaining. Yes. And quite honestly, an amazing performer. He's so gifted.

physically, athletically. Physically, I mean, in terms of the shape that he's in, athletically in terms of what he's capable of doing with that physique, his character work is off the charts, off the charts. He's so much fun. Came in there with Ms. I don't know, man. I normally wouldn't look forward to something like this,

to be really honest about it. Is that my thing? Too many moving pieces, not really any personal issues, no real stakes other than the game. gimmick match itself. But I guarantee it's going to be one of the more entertaining segments on the show. Well, I mean, it feels like there's stakes.

You got the tag champs in there. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, there's, eh, tag team titles. Listen to you. We've also got Ray Mysterio teaming up with Dragon Lee to take on Santos Escobar and Dominic Mysterio. I mean, anytime we see Ray Mysterio at WrestleMania, I'm a fan of it.

Him standing across the ring from Dominic. this time, not in a singles like last year, but in a tag. And boy, Dragon League, goodness gracious. Wasn't that long ago, this fellow was wrestling in Mexico and an AEW. And now, less than two years later, 18 months later, he's at WrestleMania, the biggest WrestleMania of all time. That should be fun. We've also got the Uso's going head to head.

Jay versus Jimmy. Of course, Bruce used to say on something to wrestle. Brothers don't fight. But man, Jay Uso versus Jimmy Uso, as silly as a little. it is, heat versus no yeat. And I guess little Wayne's going to be there because we saw Jay invite him.

This brother storyline. I mean, it's another piece of the bloodline story. And if that's what they're going to do is try to blow this brother story off at WrestleMania. No better place, no bigger stage. I'm happy for these guys. Yeah. And Jay's

fun to watch too. I mean, they all are. Don't get me wrong, but there's something about Jay's character. Just every time I see them on TV, I smile. Jay is going to be a huge single star. Unless they put the band back together and they go after some tag straps, we'll see what happens. Speaking of tags,

boy, talk about pressure. Jade Cargill is going to be eat up with it. She's tagging with Naomi and Bianca Bel Air. We haven't seen much out of Jade since she came over from AEW. I understand she's been putting in a lot of work down at the performance center, but they're going to have their hands full as they're taking on damage control what a big stage it is for jade i mean this is a coming out party for her and what a

supporting cast bianca bill air has had some incredible wrestlementia moments like everybody listening to this knows how talented naomi is and oscar man this is this is loaded if you're in the ladies wrestling you got something for everybody in this one it's a lot of fun just a lot of fun And Jade Cargo, I don't know if they're doing a documentary or if she's documenting, you know, her career, starting an AEW and spending a couple years there and not really doing much after the first six months or so. But to get that big break, I mean, her career, she's kind of like Bill Goldberg in a way. She hasn't had, she hasn't been around that long. Yeah. I mean, yes, she showed up in in AEW back in what was it, 21, 21, 20.

22, whenever it was, when... 21, I think, when she was with Sha. Cody was in with Shaq. I was there that night. Yeah, we were there together. That night is when she made her debut on TV, maybe. But, I mean, she was green, so green, like maybe out of wrestling school for seven or eight hours, kind of green. And now here she is in the main event.

And I'm really, really glad that WWE didn't expose her, put her out there too soon because she wasn't ready. And when you have that much potential, you want to give that person, not it. I was speaking about the talent, it, not the person it. But you want to give that person every opportunity to succeed. And they've taken her time with her. I'm sure she's been spending a ton of time in the ring and training and getting comfortable because it's a whole new world for her stepping into a WWE ring versus the limited exposure she had in AEW.

So I'm excited for her. I hope somebody's documenting this because it'll be great for her to look back on someday. She's going to have an amazing career, dude. I don't know where she's going to end up, but she's going to have burning injuries or any other

self-inflicted wounds. She's going to have an amazing career. There won't be any self-inflicted wounds if I had to guess. Her husband's done okay. It's worth of Google. I want to mention that. No, I know. And I've heard, when I say self-inflicted, I mean, people can make decisions that, you know, affect the outcome of her career.

Sure. But what I've heard is that she's extremely well-rounded and grounded in individual. I don't know that, but I've heard that from a number of people. How about this, too? She's had 65 matches total. All of those matches were filmed, every single one of them. Now, she did work one AEW house show called The House Always Wins, but it was at Daly's place, and I believe it was recorded. But all of her matches besides that one match have been on TV.

Her only match in WWE so far has been the Royal Rumble. So you're in this multi-person Royal Rumble match in January. And the next time we see you in a match, not just a segment like we've seen, but a match is WrestleMania and the pressure. That's mind-boggling, isn't it? I mean, who does that? Who's never done that before? Yeah.

Okay, nobody. Yeah. Don't have to call Dave Meltzer. and figure that one out. No. No, history needed. Nobody. Imagine that in a sentence.

Hey, after 65 matches, we're going to put you in a match at WrestleMania. What? So the pressure is on there. We're pulling for it. We're big fans of Jade here. I'm also a big fan of this next match because I think this has the potential

of being a show stealer. I think it's going to exceed expectations. And I think they have a lot of opportunity for not just a great match, but an incredible story. I'm talking about Sammy Zane versus Gunther. Gunther at this point is the longest reigning intercontinental champion in history. I thought they did a phenomenal job with him and Chad Gable and telling that story.

I was pulling for Gable. I thought that he could be the guy to do it. I believed in it. And I was really glad to see Gable be taken a little more seriously and not just be a comedy act. And we don't have to say much more about Sammy Zane. You and I are huge fans of what he's been able to do. The stuff he did at the beginning of last year with Bloodline was off the charts, all of his bloodline contributions, but when he got his title shot against Roman, when he hit Roman with

a chair last year at the Royal Rumble, I mean, it was an all-time WWE moment, and there's a lot of fun story here. Can Sammy be the guy to dethrone Gunther for the Intercontinental title? And I know a lot of hardcore Sammy fans and just hardcore WWE or Bloodline fans. they really wanted Sammy to win the world title last year. It didn't happen, but that intercontinental title means more than it has in a long time now and large part of this lengthy rain that Gunther's had. But what we just saw on Monday was an incredible training vignette down at the Performance Center

where Sammy Zane was looking to Chad Gable to see, hey man, can you help me figure this out? And we saw Gable putting him through the paces and getting him ready. and it was a nice Rocky montage type moment but I got to tell you Eric I know we're not trying that fantasy book here necessarily but I kind of got my fingers crossed

that Sammy doesn't win it and it's because and he has it won but Chad turns on him and Chad becomes a badass suplex and wrestling machine heel what do you think? I'm so conflicted with that one

because I I really, really want to see Sammy. I think we've just scratched the, not scratch the surface. We got a really good look at his abilities as a character last year. But I don't think we saw everything there is to see. I think there's more, there's way more under the hood. I would really like to see that get its opportunity. However.

Bring up a good point. Bring up a good point. But I'm going to pull for Sammy. I'm not betting. Don't get any ideas, Conrad. I just don't. I'm going to bet on Sammy, but it's a completely emotional bet,

not a logical one. Well, listen, I could go one of two ways because on the one hand, I hope Gable turns on him. So now we've got a great feud for him and Sammy. And I think a badass heel, Chad Gable will get over.

And I really want to say, but I think it's too soon. Well, I don't think they've developed enough of a relationship yet, and they haven't solidified that. We don't feel it yet. We know that exists on paper because, well, it's two weeks old. But that's not enough for heat. It's just not. It needs more time before that turn would work for me.

I don't disagree, which is why I think I could also. be excited with Gunther losing the title because realistically if you look back at WrestleMania or Royal Rumble last year it came down to Gunther and Cody as the last two guys in the ring and certainly once upon a time the intercontinental champion was the number one contender for the world champion and I could totally see Gunther versus Cody at a pay-per-view oh I don't know in Germany which they have lined up on the books. So Gunther challenging Cody for the world title there could work. Now would that make sense if he was the intercontinental champ? Maybe not. So maybe perhaps Sammy does win and we get

that turn later. But it feels inevitable for me and I for one am really looking forward to a badass Chad Gable. With Four Imprint finding the right promo products has never been easier. You get free samples, expert help and art assistants to ensure your logo looks great. Four Imprint offers thousands of options to choose from, including summer ready gear, brand and apparel, drinkwear, outdoor, and more. Your order will be packed with care, delivered on time, and backed by their 360-degree guarantee. That's 4-imprint certainty. Need your order fast? Four-imprint offers quick turnaround options, too.

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I'm here telling every veteran because I wish someone had told me. Get what you earned. Visitchews.vA.gov. Not all veterans are eligible for the type of amount of benefits mentioned here. What do you think? You think it's Gunther and Cody one day at a German PLE for the world title? That just makes way too much sense. It does.

How could you not do that? By the way, Gunther's, I mean, he's a scary-looking, dude. This guy looks like if you could create an AI wrestling character that would come to life, it would be Gunther. Gunther. Am I saying, right, Gunther? Yeah, you're nailing it. All those years of German in high school.

We're nailing the main event, too, man. It's Roman Raines and the Rock versus Seth Rollins and Cody Rose. and the stakes are if our heroes win a fair and square fight on night two but if these bad guy villain Samoans they win

it's bloodline rules on Sunday just based on the stakes and the rumor and innuendo that maybe we might see possibly Stone Cold and or John Sina we talked about that last week when we got that shot

of the rock beat down on Cody Roads in the parking lot in Chicago and that big tractor trailer in the background. It feels like it's going to be bloodline rules on Sunday, and they're going to pull out all kinds of shenanigans. So if I were a bedding man, and I'm not asking you to make a bed, Eric. I know you're getting your hair going again like you like it.

We don't want to do that. I got to think Roman Raines and the Rock are going to leave them laying and win night one. What say you? I can't imagine it going any other way. Yeah. It's just, it's right there. those are the state i mean it's it's set up so well i'm just curious though where

austin or a scene are going to fit in i don't think i have questions about but yeah no i agree with you 100% that in and of itself will be an incredible wrestling mania but we're only halfway done night two has drew mackintyre versus set freaking rollins for the world title this was the highest rated segment on last week's monday night raw when those guys along with cm punk were just verbally sparring going back and fourth. Punk is going to be there. He's going to be at ringside doing commentary. You got to assume he's going to be involved. I could go either way with this. I could see Seth winning. I could see Drew winning. I know the report is out there that

Drew has not signed another contract and that would lend most people to believing, well, he's not winning. I don't know if I necessarily believe that report. Respectfully, if you're Drew, why the fuck would you leave now? I think Drew wins this, and maybe it's because he had a little help from C.M. Punk, what say you? First of all, just, I want to say this right off the top. Drew McIntyre is doing absolutely the best, and nothing else is close character work that he's ever done in his career. Yes. Every week, he gets better and better.

Every minute he's on camera, he's getting better and better and better and more believable along the way. he's not like oh i know i'll get a new gimmick no he's becoming almost like diamond delis page in a way he's becoming i think closer to who he is as opposed to being a over-the-top character and he's just fucking nailing it hey eric does that church look familiar what you're looking at right there no should it y'all used it in ace as an eight storyline Church? Yeah. Well.

You had a scene there for Aces and Aits in that exact same room. Shout out to Jeremy Borash. Not saying that he was the connective tissue, but if I had to guess, he may have been. Yeah, could be. No, I don't recognize it. Seth as well. Seth is doing great work as a character. I mean, they're both fucking crazy.

Okay. Now that I've said that, the speculation about Drew not having signed his contract yet, ask yourself, where is he going to go? Right. Is he going to retire? He's going to retire. Then, yeah, maybe he won't sign the contract. Where is he going to go?

You think Drew McIntyre is going to go to AEW? I think the whole conversation about his contract is just wasted air. I, for one, think those two guys, along with Cody Rhodes, have been the MVP of WWB for the last year. Drew McIntyre is on another level with some of his character work. Seth Rollins has been putting on clinics one after another. These two guys are two of the... I know they're not in the main event, but boy, in an alternate universe, they are, because this has been great stuff.

We're also going to see The Pride take on Final Testament. What a name that is. It's Caring Cross's new outfit with the authors of pain. and of course the pride is Bobby Lashley and the street profits it's a six-man

Philadelphia street fight presented by gin and juice which is awesome I just absolutely love that we have a hip-hop influence on this show like Little Wayne

and Mick Mill and I like that in Philadelphia we've got a street fight like that feels like ECW-style stuff I think that should be entertaining we've also got

LA Knight and AJ Styles L.A. Knight, I think a lot of people thought might be challenging for Seth Rollins' world title. It's not to be, but boy, he's got more than a worthy opponent in A.J. Stiles. AJ Stiles looks bigger and better than ever.

Both of these guys are going to be in line for a title shot and big things at later PLEs down the line. What do you expect from this one, Eric? Phenomenal match. Phenomenal match. And I love watching AJ in the ring. I can't wait to see this one really in LA night again what a story

shoot career wise what a great story at the stage of his career to be getting this kind of a break on this kind of a platform good for him before we move on too much more though I want to go back a little bit shout out to carry across keep your eye on him watch watch where he goes from here heard of your first fans you're sold on him You're sold on carrying Cross. Absolutely. I think we're going to get, I don't know why I feel this way.

I don't know why. I just feel like his time has come and we're about to see it emerge. I think if anything, it's overdue. Heck of a nice guy, but he's had a hell of a look and a great presentation for a long, long time. And he's smart. I was excited to have him at. Wicked smart. I was excited him to have him at Rick Flair's last match.

I couldn't believe he wasn't with WWE anymore. I'm glad he's back where he belongs. I hope that they can get him super hot. And I want to ask you about L.A. night. Do you think if anything that their timing has been off on L.A. night, it feels like if they were going to pull the trigger with him,

maybe they could have done it earlier this year or last year, rather, when he got that title shot against Roman Raines, I wonder in hindsight was that premature because he was hotter than chicken grease once in a fun of time. He still is. Still is. Do you think we can get him back again?

You're right. Timing has not, I don't think it was intentional. I don't think anybody made a decision. No. I think circumstances and the moving pieces that we're moving at a faster clip that some people anticipated and just all of the changes that is taking place over the last six months for a year, I don't think timing has done LA night any favors, but he's got equity. He's got a very loyal, solid fan base that are just waiting for him to get that opportunity.

timing has not been ideal, but it hasn't killed them. It's just slowed them down. I think it's just a matter of the window. And look, all of everything that we've been watching for the last six months has all been geared toward main event, excuse me, all been geared towards WrestleMania. Once WrestleMania clears, we're done. Now we're moving on to the next WrestleMania, meaning it's almost like it hitting the

refresh button. That's where I think windows of opportunity. are going to start revealing themselves within the next, I say within 90 days of WrestleMania, I think you're going to see some of the chess pieces repositioned with guys like L.A. Knight, carrying across, and obviously others. But that's one of the fascinating things for me in WrestleMania

is knowing that all roads lead to WrestleMania, roads being story, characters, everything's ideally been pointing towards this for ideally a year. We know that's not true. But the A story, for sure, getting there in various ways, even the B story. But boom, we're hitting that reset button Monday. And that's when I think for the next 90 days you start watching and try to predict where the L.A. nights and carrying across is, and others are going to go.

Are we going to see more J. Uso as the singles? So you're going to get that big push that he clearly deserves. Sammy Zane, same thing. One third. just a lot of really interesting, fun, established talent that are on the verge of taking that next step. That's the fun part. We got Logan Paul, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton in a three-way dance.

Randy Orton is as good as he ever was. And Kevin Owens is still one of the most charismatic best promos around. And Logan Paul, man, he has taken to professional wrestling like few before him, but seemingly universally hated by the WWE audience. ought to be a lot of hate here in Philly for Logan Paul.

They're going to love Randy Orton. We're going to see a lot of RKO's out of nowhere. And I'm curious how heavy the story gets between Kevin Owens and Randy. What do you expect from this one? I don't know storyline-wise, but I know visually, aesthetically, the match itself

with Logan and, I mean, Holy crap. What a ringful of talent. Like, I mean, I'm shocked. I'm just shocked. This is going to be such a fun match to watch. Logan Paul is just freaky, good, like, freaky, freaky, freaky good. What has he been in the business two years now?

Yeah, less, maybe. Something like that? Yeah. And look at him. And he's in there with two of the best. Randy, I don't think anybody's, other than Sean Michaels,

nobody else is in the same conversation with Randy Orton for the last 25 years. Nobody. Okay, Ray Mysterio. That's it. And even, even it's hard to compare Ray and Randy because Ray, it's such a different style. He's under the mask,

right? So the facials, the drama. the way of storytelling is different with Ray. Randy Orton, there is nobody better, Randy. And Kevin Owens, every time I watch Kevin Russell, I find myself watching with my jaw open. Incredible.

Like I say, Logan, this is going to be fun. You know, we were just sort of. I would buy WrestleMania just to see this match. That's how fun it's going to be. well thankfully it's pretty affordable thanks to peacock and by the way this will be the last WrestleMania on peacock I think I could be wrong on that but I think it's maybe it'll overlap a little bit but we are going to see WrestleMania on Netflix in the future which is pretty crazy to think about but I wanted to mention we were sort of heap and praise on

Jake Cargill earlier we just totally missed Logan Paul my man's only had 11 matches his first match ever was at WrestleMania this will be his third WrestleMania in his 12th match. All of his matches have been on pay-per-view except for one Friday night smackdown in February where he beat the Mizz in 12 and a half minutes. But other than that, it's just Royal Rumbles and Summer Slams and money in the banks and crown jewels

and elimination chambers and now his third WrestleMania. They've spent a lot of time making sure his matches are perfect. He's delivered every time. I can't wait to see it. And I can't wait to see Bailey finally get her WrestleMania moment. Charlotte's had the WrestleMania moment. Sasha's had the WrestleMania moment. Becky's had the WrestleMania moment.

And now it feels like it's Bailey's time. She was the fourth member of the four horse women, if you want to call them that. They led the charge for this women's revolution. And she's yet to have, in my mind, the big WrestleMania moment. Got to be her picking up the win and winning the world title from E. That's what I'm banking on, let's say you. I agree, 100%. It is her time.

The time has come. bring that bell baby and it's finally going to happen the time has come Cody Rhodes is going to finish his story on Sunday night against Roman rains I suspect it's going to be bloodline rules I suspect we're going to hear

some glass break and maybe we won't see someone and I for one also expect Mama Rhodes to be sitting front row maybe slap the rock and man if I had my druthers I'd love to see Stone Cold doing a beer bash with Michelle Runnels

how great would that be as a fun Oh, come on now That's got to happen I love it Somebody make that happen Somebody's got to make that happen I want to see that I'm calling Steve

As soon as I'm done He's got some inns You know I'm looking forward To WrestleMania both night one And night two We're going to take a break right now though because I want to show everybody A clip of something you just did recently

You sat down and watched Wrestling with Shadows The Brett Hart documentary That talked about the end of his run In the WWF And I don't even think that was originally the plan when they started the documentary, but it offered unprecedented access behind the scenes. You never saw it.

And so you actually watched it and did a little bonus episode for adfreeshows.com. You can watch the entire episode of Eric reacting to that at adfreeshows.com. But we've got the clip right now and we'll let you take a break. To be honest with you, I have more empathy now for Brett than I did up until I got a chance to watch this thing. It was really, really quite interesting. And, you know, you go behind this, you know, there's so many shots behind the scenes, you know, prior to Montreal, as well as some of the other events, and seeing some of the faces and hearing

the voices of people that I hadn't really got to know yet, but have since come to know pretty well. Some of them have become really good friends. But to see, to see what was going on on the other side of the coin, so to speak, was really, really fascinating. And, and, you know, and And Brett, you know, he opened up, man. He pulled no punches and he usually doesn't. But he pulled no punches. He was, he really revealed a lot more than I would have thought at that time that Brett would have. So there you go.

Check it out atfreesows.com. If you haven't already, what are you waiting for? You can be a part of our live studio audience whenever we do these shows. And we've got a ton of bonus content. I'm doing Tuesdays with the taskmaster every Tuesday. We do a Monday mailbag and we alternate weeks between the third band and the whether it's Nick Patrick or Mike Keota. We also sit down once a month with Lex Lugar for something we call Lex Express.

And how about David Crockett? We go episodically week by week, day by day, show by show, month by month through 1986. We've already done 1985. We're now working on 1986. It's all available at ad-freeshows.com. And we've got tons of stuff in the archives too, every single Starcast, stage show we ever had, and so much more. it's all housed at ad-freeshows.com. It's just nine bucks a month, and you get all of our shows early in ad-free.

It winds up being like a quarter of show for the current stuff, and you just get access to the old stuff, all included. Check it out. Add-free shows.com. I'll also give a shout out to everybody who's hanging out with us live here today. I know that we've got a bunch of folks in our live studio audience today. Really appreciate you guys showing up and showing out. We'll do a few questions right now.

Carl Hayes wants to know with some big WWE names coming up this summer talking about their deals. Do you think their new deals could include some movie role, some movie role potential, not saying starring, however, in a movie or a TV show? Of course, the idea being with this Netflix business, do you think

there's crossover and we start to see more WWE talent appearing in Netflix, Netflix stuff, Eric? I think it's highly possible. I don't think you'll see anything in anybody's contract guaranteeing it or anything like that, but I certainly think it's possible. You know, not only have Netflix who was in the original movie-making business and television show business, but, you know, the fact that, you know, Ari Emanuel is one of the biggest names in Hollywood.

So the closer you are to the center of power, more likely any opportunity might be for you. So I think that just the fact that, you've got the new structure and TKO and Ari Emanuel overseeing WWE and being very familiar with talent and, you know, as an agent and one of the most powerful agencies on the planet, I think that's where those opportunities are going to come from. But I don't think they'll be contractual. Let's do another question.

This is from Donovius Mack. Do you think WWE should open up night one with Becky Lynch versus Ria Ripley? We've heard a lot of people over the years, Eric, say that you want to start a show hot. You certainly did that with a lot of your WC. days. You got a lot of cruiser way at action to start pay-per-views and to start even Nitro. Do you think you open up with the ladies to not make

that title match feel less than? I don't think I would do that. I wouldn't do that. I would take a more traditional formatting approach and save my big stuff to the end and build

towards it. This is where they've got all their time and the effort. The building of anticipation of pull parts we've seen over the last two weeks, the emotion, the intensity, I'm not sure the audience is ready for that kind of a buzz

in the beginning of the show. I think some high, you know, fast pace, you know, throw your six man in there. How about Jimmy and Jay? Jimmy and Jay would be hot for the first one. Yeah. And there's not there's not the same level

of intense buildup for that as there is for Becky and Rhea. McHenry is a C story, I think. And the other one's probably a D story. So, yeah, I'd open up with that, but I wouldn't open up with Becky and me. It's too big, too big.

Travis Medway says, were you surprised Roman Raines hinted at AEW on TV last night? It felt forced, unnatural, and out of place. I wonder, what was the expected upside? What the expected upside was? I missed it. He was referencing the fact that, you know, we've all been here talking about Jimmy and Jay and the bloodline and all that.

Meanwhile, in 2020, you were off doing something else that didn't matter, something like that. I'm paraphrasing, but the idea. That was a swing and a miss. Yeah. Carl Bramlett wants to know, do you think Damien Priest walks out of WrestleMania as a world heavyweight champion? I haven't brought that up, but he's been toting around that money in the bank case for nearly a year. he is of course tag team champs do you think we see him

try to do a cash in not feeling it doesn't mean it won't happen sometimes those things are best to be surprises but I just don't feel the build towards him I don't feel anything that leads me to believe

that there's another unlike a couple of the other names I mentioned post-restlemania where the chess pieces are going to move I don't think I don't feel like he's one of those chest pieces. But that could be exactly the way they want it to be so that when it happens as a surprise. I, for one, would think that perhaps he cashes in at backlash. Whoever Cody winds up defending the world title against at backlash in France, if Cody's successful, it feels like Damien Priest would try to cash in then. That to me makes more sense than here, but we'll

see, I suppose. DeNovius Mac said, what are bloodline rules? Because last night was bloodline rules, but we saw no interference until the match was over. Well, I think it means, you know, it's basically no DQ, right? Like anything goes. Yeah.

Well, I agree with Denovius's sentiment, though. Maybe it would have made more sense if we would have seen more interference during the match. But, you know, we'll see how it happens. We'll be here to break it down next week. We're not finishing the story. We've still got a little more meat on the bone we want to talk about. But I do want to at least acknowledge that we've been covering a lot of current stuff real heavy.

And it's because I think that's what the audience wants with this biggest WrestleMania ever. We're obviously going to be talking about what happens this weekend on the next episode of 83 weeks. But after that, we're going to get more to back to more nostalgia. We've got a bunch of shows lined up that we've already got research and notes. And we're ready to go. So stay tuned. If you're not enjoying all the current wrestling talk, more nostalgia is coming your way in a couple of weeks. but we should talk about the Vince McMahon story because, boy, it changed again.

I thought maybe this thing was going to go away and we had heard the last of it. That was not the case. What we saw was Vince McMahon respond to the complaint that we all read the horrible stuff that was in that complaint in January of this year. and he responded basically with a 22-page love letter that the victim supposedly wrote to him 18 months after one of the more gross incidents that was discussed in her complaint. But maybe more damning than that

is where in one of those letters that she wrote, it was discussed that they were comfortable with each other outside of their bubble and she listed off some names the chef Brad Nick

Paul there may have been others but the internet wrestling community went bananas with this because it seemed to indicate that well what did people know and when did they know it and maybe more interestingly about all this to me

is the choice of attorney Of course, forever, it feels like literally forever. Jerry McDivitt was Vince McMahon's personal attorney, and McDivitt has since retired. And allegedly, the attorney that retired him is the attorney that represented MLW. When MLW wound up winning a $20 million settlement from WWE in the last few months. So Vince went to that same attorney, who I think has also represented Trump and been one of Donald Trump's attorneys. And now he being Vince McMahon is firing. back. And I found the timing of that curious because he does it after he's cashed out more than

$1.2 billion worth of stocks in September, even another $100 million just last week. But he did it just days before the biggest WrestleMania of all time. And I wondered, is he doing this to just court as much attention as he can to this case? Or is he doing it and making sure that that specific email is made public? Because it does listen. names like Nick, Brad, and Paul. It made me wonder, is Vince sort of needle in WWV here? What was your takeaway from this? Honestly, kind of I didn't read the 22 pages.

I took a look at it briefly, kind of followed a couple summaries. I've seen takes on certain aspects of it. But I started shutting down because I just don't want. it's so dirty it's just so dark dark is a better word than dirty it's just so dark that i don't want to start thinking about it too much so i tend to shy away from it it's going to play out we're going to see this thing come to a resolution eventually unless there's a settlement and then everybody's going to go their separate directions and i'll be the last of it but if this goes to court we're going to be hearing about this for a long time and look we've heard

her allegations and at this point there are allegations, they're grotesque, horrible. And whether part of it's real, part of it's not real, started consensual ended up being something different, whatever the human nature of that car crash

was, at the end of the day, Vince, in the position Vince was in, to have any kind of relationship like he had with the alleged victim here. That's pretty much the end of of his corporate career.

I mean, it is what it is. You can believe or not believe as much or as little of all the grotesque stuff as you want. We don't know what's true and what's not true. Just don't. And we'll find out, hopefully, eventually. But for right now, I don't even think about it too much, man. And the intention behind it just don't want to let myself get into that rabbit hole. I know that the Internet wrestling community, and listen, I've been guilty of this at times.

see something, we make assumptions, and we jump on it. I saw some folks saying when this email was released, Paul? Listen, I don't know. I wasn't there. I don't know. But the rumor in innuendo

is that Paul being Triple H and Vince weren't exactly always buddy buddy 24-7. It feels as if I've heard that there was some sort of a divide. So it feels like there would be a real stretch that, for whatever reason, Vince would invite his son-in-law, who maybe has

an on-again, off-again relationship with, I don't know, to a dinner where he's going to have someone other than Linda there. So I just want to remind everybody. And again, I don't have any insight information. I don't know. But it's not like Paul Levec is the only person with the name Paul. So I would be careful making assumptions about what people did know or didn't know. Again, I don't know.

but I just found it interesting the timing of this being released and the attorney that was used just days before WrestleMania it is at least one of those things that makes you go hmm yeah especially if you're someone like me and you clearly

based on these comments that don't necessarily believe in too much coincidence sometimes yeah it happens but this one is a little too intentional and there's too many data points along the way all happening at one time for it to be

completely coincidental. So, yeah, I'm with you. I know when I say, too, that, hey, there's more than one person named Paul. Some people are probably going to hear me say that and say, oh, well, Conrad has inside information. No, I don't. I'm just reminding you that there's a lot of people named Paul.

So, and logically, just pretend this isn't the McMahon weirdness that we all know has existed. Would it make any sense for a guy to invite his son-in-law to a dinner with his girlfriend when he's married. And that doesn't make sense to me. So I don't buy that that was Hunter. And before you tweet me and before you say, I said it, probably not Paul Heyman either.

I just don't imagine Paul Heyman's involved. Like I don't see him and him and Vince going off to dinner. Like that, I just don't think that's their relationship. So I'm saying all that to say, the timing of this is very curious. It makes me wonder if Vince feels a certain type of way like he, got pushed out or squeezed out or he's vengeful or spiteful or whatever. It feels weird to me, but I want to be careful that people who are listening to this don't just make assumptions about who those individuals are.

But this I kind of thought was at least put to bed for a little bit, and maybe I thought whatever she was after, whatever justice she wanted to be served, whatever she needed for closure, I hoped we were getting closer to that. This doesn't feel that way at all to me. This is so, this is, this is dark kabuki theater. Yes. It is so bizarre. This whole, it's just bizarre.

The fact that any of it is happening, you know, because it's such a high level. This is, this is not a small company. It's a publicly held company, a $9 billion company run by one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Vince is a legend in media. It's just all so bizarre to me. That's why I just can't. I can't devote too much time to it.

I really can't. Well, let me ask you one more question. And then we'll put a bow on this episode. We will be back next week. Let me give you a heads up. We're not going to drop it Monday at 6 a.m. We want to react to WrestleMania. We're going to try to see what we could put together about recording on Monday.

And I wanted to mention that there is a weird potential. I'm not wishing this on anyone. I'm not hoping this happens. But I am curious, Eric, hypothetically, this is doomsday scenario. What if somebody got hurt in the main event of night one? Now, I know Cody, we've seen Cody wrestle with a torn peck.

If that dude took a bullet in a leg, he'd still wrestle on Sunday. But if Roman gets hurt and he couldn't compete, or if Seth got hurt, and now he couldn't wrestle, Drew. Man, a lot of people pull out all the stops at WrestleMania, and we're asking three of these guys to do it two nights in a row. And the first night is when the rock, one of the biggest

stars in the world is in the ring, you're going to think there's going to be more eyeballs in there. We're going to do all we can. Now, I know they're cognizant of the fact that they want to stay ready for the next day, but goodness gracious, that would be a disaster scenario, would it not? it would. And let's think about this. Even if it's not a disaster, just the physical, to have two matches like this, you know, main event, WrestleMania, two nights in a row.

My God, that's going to take a toll. I mean, that's assuming everybody stays healthy. That in and of itself is amazing. Now you add in the risk of injury, yeah. I wonder how much time they're all sitting back going, okay, if A happens, then B is the solution. If C happens, D is the solution. You know, I mean, I wonder how much thought they're giving this

so that if something were to happen, they're not starting from scratch. It makes me wonder if they're thinking maybe that's why Damien Priest is wrestling on Monday, or not Monday, but night one. As a reminder, Damien Priest has the money in the bank case, but he's also got one-half tag team championships. But still, even that guy. Like, even if he was your backup plan, he's in a freaking ladder match the night before. So he'd be asking Damien to go back to back after a ladder match.

But Seth has a bad wheel. There was a time where we weren't sure Seth would even be ready for WrestleMania, but he's going to gut it out in night one. And we're asking that that got to pull double duty. There's this is going to be interesting. They're walking a tightrope, aren't they? Man, I mean, I know that we just think. Wow, I've never thought of that like that.

But you're right. I'm so used to, you know, everything goes. It wasn't according to the plan, but injuries are a thing, man. We know that. Wow. And with Seth starting out, you know, kind of gimping his way into it. And we're going to have him wrestle the Rock on night one and Drew on night two. Like, Lord, I think Seth Rawlins is one of the best wrestlers in the world, but we're asking a lot.

Like, one WrestleMania main event, people pull out all the stops. We're doing it back to back. Oh. Shout out to Seth. Shout out to Cody. Shout out to Rome. for doing it and you got to think Damian Priest is in there somewhere but it's going to be interesting one last question you know listen everybody's asking this everybody wants to know

you think there's any chance we see Dustin on camera at all on Sunday I'm going to go with my my emotion and say possible only because I want it. I want it too. I want it so bad that I'm going to put it out into the universe and hope that somehow it manifests. Listen to me. My wife, she rubs off on me.

I want it so bad that I'm going to, yeah, let's put it out there. I think it's going to happen. I think Dustin Rhodes, I think Tony Kahn, in order to get back some goodwill amongst all wrestling fans, is going to do the right thing and let us to know today that if he wants to call and talk to Paul Avec

and say, Paul, Tony has given me written permission, should you want me to be at ringside with my mother, I can be there. So I'm going to put that out into the universe and hope that it manifests, finds Tony Con wherever Tony Con is that settles in and by some time tomorrow Dustin Rhodes is placing that call to Paul. Man, I sure hope so too. I want to wheel that into existence

and I hope we can wheel some people into some new houses. That's what I'm doing in my real life over at Save Withconrad.com. I want to remind everybody that yes, I do love talking about wrestling. But the only thing I like better than that is getting people out of apartments and into houses. And as the temperature starts to warm up and the school,

year starts to wind down, people start to look around and say, hey, maybe it's time to look at a move here. Well, if you're not sure where to start, let me give you a little pro tip. You got a friend of the mortgage business. That's me. Go right now to save withconrad.com. And I'm going to show you how to get out of your apartment and get into a brand new house. Because believe it or not, even in 2024, you can still buy a house with no money down.

Now, of course, there are loan programs out there like FHA. You can get in with as little as three and a half percent down. And if you're a veteran, man, you never need a down payment. but we've got something for everybody, including farmers' home loans and USDA loans and VA loans and FHA and conventional and Fannie and Freddie, oh my, you don't have to know what any of that means. I do, and here's what I'm going to ask you. How much do you want to put down? And no is an acceptable answer, no money at all, zero.

That works just fine. What do you want your new house payment to be? That's right. I ask you, what do you want your payment to be? You tell us, and then we tell you what to go shop for. It really is that simple. We're going to help you find the house you want at the payment. that you want. It sounds too good to be true, but we're routinely helping it happen or making it

happen for our podcast listeners. We'd love to help you do this too. And I want to remind you, you don't need perfect credit or money out of your pocket to do this. And if you're already in a home, well, let's get a plan together on how to pay it off faster. If you can hear my voice and you're in a 30-year loan, it's not a matter of if I can save you money. It's a matter of how much. And at the same time, we can also lower your monthly payments. That's right. If you've got credit card debt, you know you can do better than that 19 or 29% interest. Whatever it is, it's too doggone high. Don't get stuck paying the minimum payment and just overpaying that interest. It'll take you years to get out from under it. You can hook it up right now at save with

conrad.com. Give us a call toll free at 8884250105 or drop me an email. Conrad at savewithconrad.com. It really is that simple. We want to be your mortgage advisor for life. And we never say, No, we say not yet, but here's how. We're going to get you a plan to start saving money today at save withconrad.com. AnimalS number 32416, and we'll be back next week talking about WrestleMania here on 83 weeks.com. 83 weeks.com is your home for all things, Eric Bischoff, including his brand new show, wise choices. You never know when he's going to go live. So be sure to hit the subscribe button and turn on the notifications bell.

That way you'll get a push notification. And you'll know when it's time to. go here easy e we've also got some brand new merch available for you now over at box of gimmicks.com you see eric even wearing one of the shirts today at 83 work 83 weeks merch dot com eric's got no brag just fact there it is and also my favorites you know where that saying came from no brag just fact where's that used to be there used to be a show called the guns of will sonnet walter brennan was the lead character and that was one of the the things, I think it was, I think it was Walter

Brennan's character. I was usually to use that phrase, no brag, just fact. That's why I stole it. Well, we're going back to the 60s here. We're still some more good ideas. 83 weeks merch.com. You can also pick up Eric's book Grateful over at Amazon.com or Bischoffbook.com.

And we're going to be looking to you guys for interaction and your thoughts on WrestleMania. So go check us out on the community tab at 83 weeks.com. you got questions for Eric throw them right there we'll get to them live on the show here next week and you can always get these shows early and ad free at adfreeshows.com Eric we covered the good the bad and the ugly at Vincent McMahon stuff still ugly but man everything with WWE they're just on fire it's going to be a big week for them I can't wait for Smackdown I'm pumped for

Hall of Fame but this is the most excited I think I remember being in my entire fandom outside of being a little kid, I suppose, for WrestleMania. I mean, does it feel like there's more buzz around this year's mania than ever before for you two? I am a mile for me. Yeah. I don't know what it is, but nothing has come even close for me.

I wasn't into WrestleMania in the very, very beginning. It just wasn't. But in the last 30 years of my professional career, which, I don't consider now part of my professional career, I'm kind of out of it on the outside look again. happy to be here but in the 30 some odd years that I was active in the business I never felt

this kind of buzz around WrestleMania personally it's going to be a lot of fun we can't wait to hear from you let us know what you think over on 83 weeks.com and we'll be back next Monday talking about WrestleMania right here on 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff