83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 327: What If...the WWE relaunched WCW?

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

On this bombastic episode of 83Weeks, Eric and Conrad discuss everything evolving in the world of professional wrestling. Eric discusses the crossover viral moments from NXT and TNA, Bill Goldberg's headline grabbing interview on Busted Open, the three major changes he's do in AEW, and what if the WWE relaunched WCW! All that plus so much more on this power packed edition of 83Weeks with Eric Bischoff. SIGNOS - Signos removes the guesswork out of weight loss and provides the tools to develop healthier habits. Go to signos.com and get 20% off select plans by using code 83WEEKS. MANDO - Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo 83WEEKS at ShopMando.com! #mandopod GAMETIME - Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and redeem code WEEKS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. ROCKEY MONEY - Cancel your unwanted subscriptions – and manage your money the easy way – by going to RocketMoney.com/83WEEKS HENSON SHAVING - It’s time to say no to subscriptions and yes to a razor that’ll last you a lifetime. Visit HENSONSHAVING.com/BISCHOFF to pick the razor for you and use code BISCHOFF and you’ll get two years' worth of blades free with your razor–just make sure to add them to your cart. 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://www.savewithconrad.com ADVERTISE WITH ERIC - If your business targets 25-54 year old men, there's no better place to advertise than right here with us on 83 Weeks. You've heard us do ads for some of the same companies for years...why? Because it works! And with our super targeted audience, there's very little waste. Go to 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the final trivia question, what is the largest mammal in the world? Sir in the orange, phone away, please? Um, my Kid a Smart Smoke alarm sent an alert through the ring app. See, the train monitoring agent is calling now. Hello? The Kid a Smart Smoke alarm sends real-time mobile alerts in the ring app. And with a subscription, emergency health can be requested even when you're not home. A compatible ring subscription is required for 24-7 smoke and carbon monoxide monitoring, sold separately. Hey, hey, it's Conrad Thompson, and you're listening to 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff.

Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm doing great. I'm a little slow this morning. You know, we stayed up late last night, did the review of Who Killed WCW. That was fun. Got a great response, by the way. One of the most watched episodes we've done so far of the review of that series.

And, yeah, I'm dragging it. my ass just a little bit. I'm usually up early in Adam and attacking shit and I'm just dragging my butt this morning. Well, we've all been there. We are excited that you're back with us and we hope that you will join us next week for the season finale, or I guess not the season finale, the series finale of Who Killed WCW. Episode 4 will air this Tuesday night at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central and immediately following it, if you go to 83 weeks.com, we're going to be live and you'll be able to ask Eric Bischoff anything you want about who killed WCW. I got to tell you, man, I, uh, I've seen a lot of good feedback about the series and the

show and I'm kind of wondering what's next for those guys. Like it feels like every time we turn around, they've got a new project. They just did tales of the territories and now who killed WCW. Have you had a chance to think about what, if anything, might be the next topic that those guys could, could tackle? I really haven't. You know, they're surprisingly that they've been able to do as well as they did or have so far with their storytelling. There's a lot of great stories out there. And as closely as they're working with Rock and Seven Bucks Productions and Brian Goertz and WWE, they're going to have access to a lot of footage and a lot of material that will help them build whatever stories they want to tell. But I haven't really thought about it

too much. I haven't thought about what I would do about. What stories would I want to tell? Haven't gone there yet. What, uh, what did we thought of what we've seen recently with this NXT WWE crossover? I mean, we just saw as you were in our recording on a Wednesday morning, Frankie Kazarian and Joe Hendry showed up last night on NXT and man, Joe Hendry just got a hero's welcome. It feels like he's on fire right now with him charting on the musical charts across the pond and now a big debut for nxte it felt like the entire audience knew who he was they were excited to see him i mean this sort of excitement and

this crossover opportunity i think fans have been starved for this for a long time because it never felt possible under vince mcmahon are you surprised that it's happening now yes and no um actually know. I think it makes sense. If you look at some of the, you know, the WWE lawsuit with MLW, the fact that they lost that lawsuit, I think WWE has to do as much as they can to kind of mitigate or eliminate, if possible, any of the argument that they're a monopoly. And I think by engaging with TNA and supporting TNA, they're doing what they need to do from a legal perspective to avoid future lawsuits that are similar nature in terms of accusing WWE of being a monopoly, but a better way to avoid that than to engage with other

wrestling organizations and support them. So I think it's a smart move. I think it was a move that really was a reaction to the MLW lawsuit. Yeah, as a reminder, you know, the, the gist was there was some concerns that there was and maybe a monopoly on the wrestling business. Maybe there was an antitrust opportunity. And perhaps that's the reason that we're seeing more cooperation. That's the reason we'll see AJ Stiles wrestling for Noah.

And we've seen AJ say the words, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor on Fox just last week. And now we're seeing these crossover opportunities with TNA and NXT. And I know that, you know, I'm sure a lot of people wish that that crossover opportunity was happening more on the main roster and not so much on NXT. But man, it sure does seem like a lot of those T&A guys are having a lot of fun in the NXT development opportunity. I mean, just seeing Frankie Kazarian in a WWE opportunity after all those years. I mean, it's probably been 20-some odd years

since we saw Frankie in a WWRing. I'm happy for those guys, man. No, I am too. And it's great exposure. It's a great shot in your arm. I mean, let's face it, TNA is not it's not on a network that provides a great deal of exposure now there you've got to be really really interested in TNA to find it and to watch it so to get the opportunity to be on USA network and a high profile opportunity with probably I don't know what the ratings will end up being but I'm guessing about seven 800,000 people tuning in that's a hell of an opportunity not only for the individual talent but for TNA as a brand so it'll be curious to see how, what T&A does with this exposure and are they able to leverage it to a bigger and better opportunity, perhaps on a different network?

Who knows? But it's a good thing all the way around. Everybody wins. We saw a little bit of a surprise on Sunday night. This past week, we saw the return of Jeff Hardy to TNA. At their most recent pay-per-view, last month, we saw the return of Matt Hardy. But I guess, quietly, Jeff Hardy's AEW contract expired. As I understand it,

neither of the Hardees have signed a long-term contract with TNA. It's just a per-appearance deal. But given both of their histories with T&A, that's pretty exciting to see them back on a T&A stage because through the years, man, they've both been headline main event acts there. And now to know that AJ Stiles can work for Noah,

I can't help but think how bananas that those TNA faithful and diehard fans would be, if we saw a return of AJ Stiles, I think these sort of crossover opportunities are what makes NXT even more exciting for me. Like, I don't know.

I couldn't tell you last time I was excited to watch an NXT thing. I mean, I appreciate the work that they do. It's just not something I watch regularly. And whenever I drop in, I enjoy what I see. But I just haven't made an appointment viewing. But when I saw Joe Hendry was there, I went out of my way to see it. And when I saw

that Jeff Hardy was back in TNA, I went out of my way to see it, that level of excitement, it makes me feel like the old attitude era, the Monday Night Wars era. There's something happening. I mean, it's, it's, it's creating a version of must-see TV because these unique opportunities are presenting themselves in NXT. I fully expect NXT to not so much this summer. It's really hard to grow an audience during the summer just because people aren't watching television. It is what it is. But come this fall, if NFC continues to do the kind of things that they're doing, particularly with these crossovers and bringing in, you know, establish, you know,

Frankie Kizzeria has been around a long time. He's a great talent, but he's number one, he's a super human being. I really, really like Frankie as a person and as a professional. But he's been around a long time. He's got equity. Fans know who he is. And I think being able to bring someone like Frankie into NXT, not only helps NXT and TNA, but it also is good for some of that younger talent

because they're getting to work with a more experienced individual that's been around a block for five minutes. I think it's really cool. I'm looking forward to it. Watch for NXT numbers to continue to increase. I see them probably around averaging 750 to 8.50 an episode

in terms of viewers, 750 to 800,000 viewers by October. what do you think this means for the future of t and a i mean i've seen a lot of people speculating that they're not sure how long t and a can survive with their current structure and we certainly saw a lot of big shakeups a lot of really talented people behind the scenes no longer there uh including r d evans who was a member of the w e squad and then uh went to t and a and now he i guess has joined up uh with a e w do you have a feel for what the future of t and a might it looked like? I mean, if you had a crystal ball, what would you predict?

It's hard because I just don't know anything about TNA. I don't know their management. I don't know their goals. I don't see a pattern in terms of what they're trying to accomplish. So I have zero feel for them as a company. But within the last 24, 48 hours, I noticed that they hired a chief revenue officer, former executive from WWE. when you bring in somebody whose sole focus and purpose is to figure out how to generate new revenue, find ancillary new, ancillary revenue streams, maximize whatever opportunities they clearly have. That to me is a, it's a perspective for growth. Somebody's thinking about growing. Otherwise, why would you hire a chief revenue officer? So I think that's kind of a good sign.

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That's S-I-G-N-O-S.com and get up to 20% off select plans by using the code 83 weeks today. That's Cygnos.com. Use the code 83 weeks, and you'll get up to 20% off select plans for you today. You know, Eric, you and I haven't spent any time talking about it, but I wanted to get your take on the finish for Clash at the Castle this past weekend. it was a premium live event it was a hero's welcome for drew mcintyre it felt like the entire world knew well drew's going to beat damian priest and become the world champion and they didn't do that and thanks to some fabulous production work after a referee bump drew has our man covered

he's about to get his hand raised he's going to win the world title a referee a second referee slides in counts one counts two and he stops counting and we're seeing it from behind so he can't see why and then the big reveal it was seeing punk wearing a referee shirt he had long black sleeves on to cover up his very identifiable tattoos and he's smirking at drew holding up the number two and boy the fans were none too happy lots of booze lots of chance people couldn't believe this was the finish a lot of people were very upset and he used to call this booking heat and you've said on this program many times that Kevin Sullivan knew how to book heat and I can't tell you how many times Nitro would go off the air and trash is just raining into the ring.

But that's not something we see very much these days. It feels like more often than not, we try to quote unquote, send them home happy. Would you think of the execution of the main event with Drew McIntyre and Damien Priest? And would you have made a similar call? It's hard to say what I would have done, but I love the finish. We need heat. Heat is a necessary part of the equation. good guys, bad guys, it all comes down to that.

It's storytelling, it's characters, it's so important to have a heel that people really hate. And if punk's that guy in this scenario, I love it. I love ending a show with heat. It's not that you want to do it all the time because it would lose its impact. It wouldn't be as effective if we saw it regularly. but especially on a pay-per-view because as you pointed out and I think we've all been conditioned

to the process of setting everybody home happy. We anticipate that and the fact that WWE did something different than they normally do, particularly with punk and Drew because they've been setting the stage for this for several months now. It's not like this just came out of nowhere.

It's just part of the arc. We're probably now in, to act two. We saw act one. It was establishing everybody getting to know how drew and punk felt about each other, giving us a baseline of who these two characters are and how they feel about each other. But now we've just escalated that to a different level. It's a great, it's a great way to open up an act two and let's see where it goes. But I love it. I thought it was great. And I think mixing it up and ending a PLE pay-per-view with heat like this is a great idea. The more heat, the better.

The more heat you have, the more baby faces you can make. I mean, it's a wonderful thing. But you can't build a company without real heat. Real heat. Yes, you're going to piss people off. Yes, they're going to scream and cry and piss and moan on social media. That's what you want them to do. So I love it.

Great move. Well, it's a great move to hit the subscribe button if you haven't already at 83 weeks.com. You never know when Eric is going to go live. We're doing lots of bonus content over there. And you don't want to miss it 83 weeks.com. Eric, I'm curious when you take a look at the, you know, the way Monday Night Raw ended this past week, it at least got a lot of people talking.

And I know there was a lot of excitement about seeing what was coming next from the Wyatt family. I guess we're going to call them the Wyatt 6, the S-I-C-K-S. And it looks like Uncle Howdy is here. We know or we believe underneath there is Bo Dallas and, you know, the bludgeon brother returned. But I wanted to see what you thought of the execution there. It's not something that we often see. It's not something that I don't even know has been a regular part of WWE programming for a while. It's different than for sure. What did you think of the execution of the way

we closed Monday Night Row? I didn't see it as much as I hate to say that. I will go back and watch it this week and I apologize for not. I haven't seen it. I've read a lot about it. I've seen clips of it, but I want to see the whole thing before I make a comment, particularly on execution. I know there's a lot of excitement for it. A lot of people talking about. As I said a couple of weeks ago, kind of a risky move. I applaud WWE for taking that risk, meaning, you know,

Bray set the state, Bray did something very, very special. And now to follow it up, the follow up has to be as special or perhaps even more so to avoid direct comparison. It's a very risky move creatively, but it's one that could very well pay off in a big way. Because if you go back and look at some of the merchandise for Bray Wyatt,

I mean, it was off the charts at a time when not much else was moved. At least not to that degree. So it's going to be interesting to watch, but I don't want to comment until I've actually seen no entirety. We saw Chad Gable in the guerrilla position. It looks like he'd been executed. He was shot in the head. So they've already updated his Wikipedia.

He's passed away. But before he passed away, we learned that he had either already has or was about to sign a new contract with WWE. And the gist of the interviews that I've seen was basically he was probably absolutely not going to resign. But now under Triple H's regime, it's a whole new WWE and a whole new opportunity for him. I know a lot of people who I consider very smart folks in the wrestling business

hold him in really, really high regard as far as his in ring. And, boy, he had some real regrettable creative under WWE's Vince McMahon regime, including the whole Shorty G stuff. But I love what Chad Gable's been doing, and I'm glad that he's sticking around at WWE, and I'm excited to see what's next. Labor Day grilling is a tradition in my house. Steaks, burgers, the whole deal. That's why I stock up with Omaha steaks.

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what is the largest mammal in the world? Reminder, no phone's allowed. Sir in the orange, phone away, please? Um, my kid a smart smoke alarm sent an alert through the ring app. Okay, sure. No, there's smoke in my house. Yeah, right. A smoke alarm texting you.

That's a new one. See, the train monitoring agent is calling now. Hello? The Kidda smart smoke alarm sends real-time mobile alerts in the ring app. And with a subscription, emergency help can be requested even when you're not home. Well, okay. Back to trivia. Oh, seriously. You and the green? Why are you on your phone?

Blender texting you about a smoothie recipe? Visit Kidda at KIDDE.com to learn more. A compatible ring subscription is required for 24-7 smoke and carbon monoxide monitoring sold separately. But I'm curious, like after a character's had all that momentum, and we see him with a seemingly bloody hole in his head laid out backstage, where do we go from here? It's a real headshack. I don't know, man. That's going to be interesting. Again, very, very risky.

and I have no idea where they're going to go. It's going to be fun to watch. I'm legitimately very curious where this goes from here. I love Chad Gable's work. He's a great guy, such a pro, such a pro, such a solid human being out of the ring. And I know Vince did like him. You know, while I was there for that brief period of time in 2019, Chad Gable was one of the people that, you know, when I sat down with Vince one night, he said, look, I really want to, I really want to do

something with Chad, let's see if we can develop some ideas. And unfortunately, Vince's idea was Shorty G, I think, or a version of it. And it was, I just don't think it's maximizing Chad Gable's potential. He can be a comedic talent. I mean, he's a funny guy. And he's got a great sense of comedic timing. But a lot like Kurt Angle and Dolph Ziegler, when he was in has such an amazing ability in the ring to either be a complete terror, badass, or a comedic type of wrestler. And I think Vince saw him as a more lighthearted comedy relief type of character. Hopefully, uh, Polovac and company will look at him differently and maximize his talent

because he's got a wealth of talent. He's such a talented guy. He can interview. He can, he knows his character. he's and he's fearless he's not afraid to try things that's to me that's an ideal talent we got to talk about uh something that happened the other day i believe goldberg was on busted open radio and he said something about having one last match oh man i'd love to dude 100 but i have to get my torn rotator cuff taken care of finally because we all live with these

injuries, right? And I'll come out and say it when I came back with Brock and nobody ever knew this. That first night in Denver, I blew my rotator cuff completely. And I never told anybody about it. I kept working through it because you worked sparingly once or twice a year. So I can crescendo and I can get as strong as I can. I ain't doing shit until I get that done. And that's hopefully coming up. I'm doing stem cells here soon and I'm going to see if surgeries needed. But yeah, man, I'd love to have one more match. You know how it is. Vincent and I spoke about it. He gave me his word, but all that stuff happened. Hey, man, I don't hold grudges.

Vince gave me so many opportunities, man. I'll be forever grateful, but yeah, I would absolutely love to have that final match. I would. Am I good not having it? Yeah, I'm fine with it. But it'd be neat to have it. I wanted to... Didn't, Conrad, before you ask you a question,

didn't Bill announce a tour about a year ago? Yes. Overseas? Yes. Whatever happened to that, do you know? I think he assumed he'd be able to get some funding, and then he didn't. But it was last May, I believe, where we first heard about the official retirement tour, May of 2023. And as we know, it didn't really happen.

But that was certainly discussed. I wonder where he thinks that last match may happen. I mean, he was acknowledging WWE and his gratitude for the opportunities. Do you think he's hoping to get that opportunity in WWE, or do you think he's trying to do something independent of WWB? In the interview with Busted Open, he said, I could do the promotion myself overseas, do it in Israel, do it in India, do it in Japan, maybe do it in the States, I don't know.

I thought about a lot of things, but you've seen me. I put my life on hold the last 18 years with my son. Everybody's like, why did you lose so much weight? Well, I lost so much weight because every night at the dinner table, when there's four stakes, I give him three and I take one. My wife has been completely predicated upon getting my son in a situation to where the next part of his life, hopefully he's prepared. Now my son is gone and he's been gone for two or three weeks and I've kind of turned back into me a little bit, good, bad, or indifferent. Mainly good, besides that's making me fill my time with stuff, not worrying about what the hell my son's doing, whether or not he needs me or what's going on.

So I'm picking up Muay Thai again, I'm training again, I'm eating again, I'm taking care of myself. I'm doing things I haven't done in so long. you never know never say never you know as wrestlers we never really retire until you're dead uh where would you be on on one last match with goldberg i wouldn't i mean i don't know enough about business in israel right now but given this situation in israel i don't know if that seems like a good opportunity right now or not. India, I wouldn't go near it unless you've got an amazing promoter.

You're able to verify financial backing and the promotion that's going to go into it. That, to me, would be very risky. I think the UK would be my first look. I'd explore that because just the wrestling community in the UK is so strong. That would be my first choice if I was promoting it or if I was Bill Goldberg would be the UK. Beyond that, unless he's able to put a deal together with the Saudis or something similar, I'd stay away from Japan too difficult, way too difficult.

The risk is so high there. The expenses are so high there. there. I don't know that there is a promoter there big enough or experienced enough in professional wrestling to support an independent shot like that. I don't know, man, I'd look at UK. We know the audience is there. They have a massive appetite for professional wrestling. Bill Goldberg has a tremendous footprint in the UK based on his time in WCW and all the things that he did in Nitro. and certainly his most recent run in WWE. You know he's got a massive amount of equity in the UK, and you know that the market is,

I don't know why you would to explore other opportunities, unless you've got a funding partner that's just willing to fund it because it's a fantasy. We know how, we know that there's promoters like that out there. So who knows, maybe. I want to get your take on, we're talking about international opportunity.

you and I haven't really spent any time talking about this, but AAA, which is sort of like the WWE of Mexico, they just announced at the beginning of this month that they now have a television deal here in the United States. And this has been a long time coming. I know Dorian and the rest of the fam there have been working on this for a long time. And they made their debut last week on June 15th. And that's a, that's a big opportunity for them. It's a Saturday show, and these shows are going to continue to air every Saturday at 3 p.m. and then on Mondays at 7 p.m. And we know that there are a lot of Spanish-speaking wrestling fans, a lot of Lucha Libre fans here in America. And I think the idea of putting it on a Univision station, which is

obviously a Spanish-speaking station here in America, man, that checks a lot of boxes and makes a lot of sense. I know that this is flown under the radar from a lot of die-hard WWE or AEW fans. because, well, respectfully, they probably don't speak the language. But this is a big opportunity in a really niche market. But sometimes, man, that is all you need to have a lot of success with the advertising agencies, right? It is. And Univision is a powerhouse for the Hispanic audience here in the United States. That's a great thing for AAA.

And it's funny because, God, I remember going back to about 1995. We may have discussed this previously a couple years ago, but I was working with a company. We were exploring opportunities together. And this company had the NFL rights in Mexico. So they would repackage the weekends broadcast and basically distribute, in essence, a highlight reel of everything that was going on in the NFL.

And they were marketing to the Hispanic audience in the United States. And I learned a lot about, the Hispanic audience and what peels to them and how to kind of crack the code to get into that market. Because just because it's there, now being on Univision helps a lot. But if Dorian and AAA can figure out a way to crack the code and get to those audiences in those pockets around the United States, where you have these dense populations of Hispanics, particularly up and down the West Coast, as you get into Washington State and even Oregon, agricultural communities, because there are massive communities of Hispanics that end up living and working

in these environments. And they don't travel outside of their neighborhoods, so to speak. You don't see, and this is what I was told. This isn't firsthand experience. This is what I was educated about. That you have these large pockets of Hispanic fans working. workers, people. And they don't travel outside of their community for entertainment. A lot of, there are promoters who would bring in literally from Mexico. They'd bring in Mexican music acts. They would bring in all kinds of entertainment for live events, specifically for the Hispanic audience in those isolated communities. And they made a fortune. And they did it by, again, you go to the arena. If you go to, if you're an Hispanic and you're from Mexico and you're used to

Lucha, and then you go to any arena in the United States that doesn't have the kind of concessions that you're used to, doesn't have the music that you're used to. Yes, you may have Lucha Libre in the building, but nothing else reminds you of home. And I think part of cracking the code is to be able to replicate the experience that the Hispanic audience has in Mexico and create unique shows for that audience in those pockets of communities around the United States. If Dorian can figure out how to do that and have the infrastructure in place and build that over time, I think it's a massive opportunity, but it's not easy. It's, it's complicated. It's not about just, well, we got to show in the air, so the audience will be there. Doesn't work that

way. You've got to figure out a way to access the, you've got to find a way to access the community, and it's not done the way Americans typically do. well typically here in America during the summertime we're trying to think about hey where's a fun vacation spot and we usually pick somewhere warm but especially here in the south boy it starts to get humid it starts to get uncomfortable and people uh start to stink a little bit well mando whole body deodor will have you smelling gray all summer mando's array of odor controlling solutions ensure that you'll be fresh from head to toe the solid stick and the invisible cream tube odor control for 72 hours, but you can start odor control in the shower with a four in one cleansing bar and acidified body wash, which is going to help stop odor before it even starts. And the best part is it all fits in your carry on. All the liquids in the starter pack are under 3.4 ounces. And you've even got the deodorant wipes so you can freshen up on the go.

This has been a real game changer for Tony Chivani. And I think everybody knows this. It's been well-established with wrestling business. that he was Stinky Nuts Chivani way back at Starbucks. And now he's got that sweet, sweet Tony Con money. Man, he's smelling good. And it's all because of Mando. And it fits in his carry-on.

You can't get any better than that. And Eric Bischoff, before we clicked record, he was a few minutes late this morning, but he told me it was because he needed to put the cream tube on his grundle. Yeah, he calls it grundle, but we know it is cock and balls. He puts it in his belly button. He puts it in his butt crack. He's got it all over his taint right now.

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at shopmando.com. That's S-H-O-M-A-N-D-O-com. Shopmando.com. Shopmando.com. Eric, how good does your tank smell right now? Awesome, awesome. And I got it, you know, one of the fun things about doing podcasts is a lot of new products, new companies, before they go off and spend millions of dollars a week advertising on national television, these new companies with new products often start out in the podcast world and gradually build their business and build their brand before they move on and go. big, right? And I first

started seeing Mando commercials about a year and a half or two years ago and taking notice of it. The doctor, I think her name is Dr. Klingman, I think. If I got that wrong, Doc, I'm sorry. But she came out and started talking about this product. And I thought, wow, that's interesting, especially the deodorant cream, right? I like the idea. And I tried it and absolutely love this product. The Mando product line

is incredible. And I never really thought that much. You know, deodorant's deodorant, it's utility. You just use it. But, man, the Mando products, number one, they work. Everything that you said, the claims that you talked about in terms of how long it's effective

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great, great product. Shop Mando.com use our promo code 83 weeks. Hey, let's talk about something that, man, it really jumped off the page for me. And I don't know why I was surprised to hear it. I guess I just never even imagined the possibility. But I saw it. I saw, an interview recently with The Undertaker where he was asked about his daughter because she's a big wrestling fan. She's only 11 years old. So any conversation like this is way premature. But he says that she loves the business and wants to be a wrestler. And Undertaker said something like, if her heart is in it and she puts in the work, I'll support her. Isn't that crazy to even think about? Like, I mean, I know that there's so many legacy performers. But when I think about the

Undertaker, and I just think about all those iconic moments, I never even imagined the possibility that he might have a daughter who got into the wrestling business. Time is tricky, isn't it? Yeah. It's a head fuck if you allow it to be. Yeah, I mean, that came from out of nowhere. It's certainly not something I expected to hear Undertaker talk about, but I think it's cool as hell.

And what's even cooler is, you know, if his daughter was his 11th, year old son, we would all go, well, that makes sense, right? You're the Undertaker's son and he's such a legend. You're a young, young man, young boy, but it only makes sense that you would kind of follow in your father's footsteps. But the fact that it's his daughter, to me, makes it even cooler. I think it says a lot for the state of the industry, where it's no longer just assumed that it's a male-dominated business. You're starting to see so many great female stars emerging and getting opportunities that I think it's very cool it's awesome I'm happy for for Undertaker for Mark and I'm happy for his daughter it's awesome I can't even imagine what

that might look like and again it's all super premature but it just never even crossed my mind and something else that has been crossing my mind I wanted to ask you about is the idea that Nick Aldus might actually do more than just be a GM. I think he has been a fantastic general manager and has really excelled at his role as an on-camera talking head at WWE. But we know that, man, he could go. He had some great matches, some iconic moments with Cody Rhodes that really led to the creation of AEW. But he was sort of the flag bear there for several years with the NWA. And with this big crossover opportunity happening now with T&A and NXT, I kind of wonder, do you think Nick might be getting the itch to get

back in the ring? And do you think that could be an opportunity for him? I know it is. There's no doubt in my mind. He would love. We've had this discussion a few months ago when he first got the gig as general manager. First of all, he is doing a great job. He's about as perfect for that role as one could be. He's articulated as hell. He knows the industry. He's telegenic. He's got a great look. But he's also got that threat. He's got that card in his back pocket that he could pull at any time and get physical. Not a lot of, you know, Teddy Long didn't have that. I didn't have that.

Even Johnny Laurinitis, you know, while he was GM, yes, he was a wrestler a long time ago, but he didn't have that. He wasn't a threat. But Nick Aldous has, he's a double threat. He's got the power and the influence that the general manager character brings to the table. But he's also got the physical part in his back pocket that he could pull out any time. So I think it'd be great. It'll be great for Nick.

He's, I can't see enough good things about him. He's a solid, solid human being, a great pro. He's learned a lot. And he's not afraid to admit his mistakes. He's not afraid to admit that when he came into the industry, he had a full head. He thought an awful lot of himself, too much of himself, based on what he really understood and knew and was capable of.

But he understands that. He embraced it, and he grew from it. And I hope he gets that opportunity. Number one, I think it'll be great television and be entertaining his help because he is a great character, a great performer. But on a personal level, I'd like to be able to see him check that box one more time before he hangs up the boot, so to speak. We got to talk about this interview that he gave because Nick said, it's unavoidable. I've seen a ton of sentiment from fans. We want to see you wrestle this guy.

I appreciate all that. It's not something I have any control or influence over. It's very much a case of when Paul and I first started speaking. I made it very clear. I want to be part of the team and contribute in whatever which way you think is best. If at some point getting in the ring is best, then great. The GM conversation was the shortest conversation of my career. Bruce called me General Manager of Smackdown.

Great. When do I start? They laid out the terms of money. All sounds great. Let's do it. immediately I said to my wife, Mickey James, I'm going to try to be the best GM of all time.

That's all you can do. Man, is that not the best possible attitude for anybody? I mean, how do you not love this guy? If you're, if you're a Polovec or if you're a promoter, how do you not love a talent like that?

I just want to see that's, I just, it makes me feel so good to hear comments like that. Because they're rare. and they're honest. I love it. And it's probably the reason why Nick is going to go on to be hugely successful in WWE for a long time. I saw Mickey in Australia a couple weeks ago or a month ago, whenever I was there,

or early part of April. And we talked a little bit about Nick and how he's adjusting and what it's like for him in that general manager role. And I told Mickey, I said, man, just realize that this is a, role he could hold on to for a long time because, number one, he is so good and he can deliver in the ring if necessary. It's one thing to get an opportunity to become a professional wrestler and to make it into the upper echelons of a roster and get the kind of exposure that top talent get. But oftentimes those roles are short-lived. The careers are short-lived

because injuries are a real thing. But in this GM role, man, I can see Nick in that role for the next five or ten years. And anytime you have an opportunity for longevity and security in a professional wrestling business, embrace it. Even if deep down inside you really want to get in the ring and wrestle, manage that and keep your eye on the ball and keep your eye on a long-term security that this opportunity will provide Nick and his family. his son may benefit from this opportunity long time down the road if it plays his cards right and nick is an incredibly bright person and i'm sure he will we got to uh talk a little bit about uh some more news and notes and headlines that are happening in professional wrestling right now but one of the biggest things that has caught my attention over the last week or so

is that your old pal Hulk Hogan has started his own beer and I thought my god like Eric bischoff could have told him everything he needed to know about this years ago but the real American beer I guess has launched now maybe they're doing a soft launch in certain cities but I see him doing a PR tour and man fans are lined up by the hundreds to meet Hulk Hogan the imaging that they're using is from his WWF run with the American flag it's the real American beer I love the way it looks I love the way it sounds But man, if I've learned anything from sitting under your learning tree, pardon the pun here on the show, is that, man, getting beer national in America is not easy. What did you think of his new endeavor here? It completely caught me off guard. The other morning, I get up and I'm sucking down my coffee and trying to get my head right and go about my day. And sitting in my chair, my one eye was open, the other one was still half closed and kind of. groggy, and I'm watching the news, and it's coming up next.

Hulk Hogan talks about his new beer, and I went, what? This is crazy, and I saw the interview, and then Hulk call me, I don't know, an hour later, and we caught up, and he's doing it right. I'm not going to, I'm going to be careful what I say, because it's not my job to talk about what he's doing business-wise, but I will say, having done it, and I did it by myself, I didn't have any help. I didn't have a distributor as a partner or anything like that. We just did it from the ground up.

But Hulk's got some major, major power players in that industry that are backing them up. And if Hulk would have called me six months ago and said, hey, I'm interested in thinking about maybe doing a beer, I would have done everything in my power to talk them out of it because of the experience that I had, not just me, but I've talked to a lot of other people who are independent Brewers and we all share similar kind of stories and frustrations. But he's got the right partners. Don't sleep on this one. I don't want to get overly excited about it. But he is going to be national in a very short period of time. Like I said, he's got the right partners that can

sustain the growth and keep him competitive. So who knows? I know he's, he's, He should be a case, so it should be arriving here any day. And when it gets here, we'll do a taste test right on, right on wise choices. But I'm excited for him. I can't wait. We had a long talk about what he's doing and how he's doing it. And he's lined up to do something pretty exciting. It's fun.

I'm happy for him. I mean, listen, it makes total sense when you think about Stone Cold Steve Austin having a beer. And I do want to talk about that beer in a minute. But as a little kid, the guy. who was say your prayers, eat your vitamins and all that to know that now he gets to sell those kids instead of Hulk Hogan vitamins. I mean, because I really do wonder how many guys had Hulk Hogan vitamins as a kid. I know I did. And then now as an adult, he's going to get to sell us not children's vitamins, but Grandpa's vitamins, the real American. No, no, you can,

you can take a handful of multivitamins and some iron supplements and just chase it with a beer and set of glass of waters. To me, it goes hand at hand. I can't wait to see what's next, man. I'm so proud that he's doing this and it sounds like he's so good right now, Conrad, I don't mean to interrupt you. That's rude. But he is, we talked for about an hour the other day.

And I have not heard Hulk Hogan as Terry Balea as positive as. I don't know another way to say it other than light on his feet. He's, he's got like a spring in his emotional step. I feel like I'm talking to Terry Blair or Hulk Hogan from 25 years ago. Oh, wow. I mean, he's just, his attitude is completely different and it's legit. Now, he's just, he's on a different level emotionally. He didn't even talk about his physical shit. Like every time I talked to Hulk Hogan over the last 10 or 15 years, you know, this subject, how you feel at, you know, where he at? And he's gone through so much physically, as well as mentally and emotionally with his personal life, that whenever I

talk to him, as much as I enjoyed talking to him and as close as we have been in our, it was kind of dark. Yeah. It was always a little, it's like when you go outside every day and it's gloomy. You know, it's not bad. It's not horrible. It's not a hurricane, not a tornado. but it's just gloomy and your day lacks energy because of it. I talked to him now, I talked to him the other day, and this has been going on now for a few months. But the last conversation I had a couple of days ago with him, it's like, damn, man, he's, he's optimistic. He didn't even talk about surgeries, bad back, back issues, didn't even come up for the first time since I've, for 720. years we'd be on a phone conversation and we didn't talk about the amount of

panties in we talked about all the fun things and good things that are going on in his life i was really i'm very very happy to hear that he i know he gets such a bad rap people are so opinionated but the people that are opinionated about him don't really know me as a human being and he he is a good person he's flawed as fuck so am i so are you absolutely those everybody else that judges him. But at his core, he is a really, really good human being. I could not be happier for him than I am right now. Well, I'll tell you what, Hulk Hogan and beer, it's, it's like America's pastime. And so is baseball. And I know a lot of my baseball buddies now that the basketball season is finished, that's all we're talking about.

And if you've been keeping up with grimace and the Mets, man, it's just, it's fun. I just want to mention that there's nothing more fun this time of year than going out and catching the game in real life. You know, the seventh inning stretch, the popcorn, the peanuts, the hot dogs. Is there anything better than a stadium dog with dad? It's just fun to get outside, enjoy the weather, see some athleticism. It really is America's pastime. And game time is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball, which makes getting

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And here's what's cool, man. You can do this to go see the Phillies, go see the Yankees, go see the Braves. And Tony Giovanni and I were talking about the Phillies and the Braves just two days ago. Well, we could go grab tickets and make sure that we've got the great seats that we want. and not be disappointed when we show up. How many times have we all taken a look at a seat map and said, oh, yeah, that looks good.

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all of that and these flash deals man they're all in app deals so you need to download the game time app but the all in pricing man they're trying to be really transparent with you i'm not going to say their name but you've probably used them too there was another ticketing site i would try and i love the price i'd go to click buy and then they put this big premium on and it's like wait a minute that's not what I signed up for you don't do any of that nonsense with game time they're the real deal man not only that they stand behind their pricing with this game time guarantee let me explain if you find a cheaper price in the same row and section game time won't just make you whole they'll give you a hundred and ten percent of the difference so you've got the peace of mind

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Again, create an account and redeem the code Weeks. That's W-E-E-E-K-S for $20 off. Download GameTime today. last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. I just use, I'm sorry, Conrad, but I love game time. I used it two weeks ago. And when I found out that we're doing Top Guy weekend in Chicago, the weekend of September 6th, I believe it was the date,

I went online to see what else was going on in town musically. And Lori and I bought two seats to go see Tom Jones. I love Tom Jones. one of the most amazing voices of our time, really. But we're going to see him in a small amphitheater right outside of Chicago. And I was able to go on and look at the stage from our seats to make sure that it was what we wanted. And I love that app. It is a fantastic app.

And it's also great for, for example, there's a new artist out now called Shibuzi. I don't know if you've heard any of Shibuzzi's music. That's the bar song guy? Huh? Is that the bar song guy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And another new artist. by the name of Timothy Swims. These are emerging artists. Teddy Swims. Are Teddy Swims? Teddy Swims. Teddy Swims. Man, you got your finger on the musical balls, don't you?

I'm friends. I can't help it. You can search those artists and find out where they're playing. And if they're happen to be in a market near you or somewhere where you're going, just add it on to your list of things to do like I'm doing with Tom Jones in Chicago and Top Guy Weekend. I can't wait. Hey, download the GameTime app.

do it for us right now and be sure to redeem the code weeks you'll get $20 off your first purchase i got my daughter who was going to buy last row tickets at a concert i'm talking about up against the concrete wall to front row tickets and it cost me like $20 extra i mean we went from worst to first for 20 bucks and everybody she was there with man they paid thousands of dollars for their tickets but we didn't because we went to game time we downloaded the game time app we use the code weeks we got a great seat we had a great time and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do it game time go download it use that code weeks hey i wanted to ask you i hate that we're spending so much time talking about goldberg but man this uh he's he's been a part of a meme i guess

i mean i thought for a long time that certainly brett was just having fun with it but brett has made it almost predictable and i i think it's hilariously fun and goldberg was really asked about all the comments he's heard from Brett Hart and here's what he said and this is over at busted open radio by the way the Brett Hart thing it just saddens me as a human being that's all first and foremost I would never wish ill on any opponent or anyone like that having an accident like that happen and in someone's career especially someone who's one of the best that ever was 100% it sucks I'm not asking anybody to understand I'm just saying leave me alone dude yes sir 100% put your hand up

do whatever you got to do it is what it is come on man i love you brett don't be such a prick that's all grow up and i wanted to get your take on that because i kind of thought that brett was just tongue and cheek having fun with it no and and you don't believe that to be the case and i know you've been another victim of some of brett's comments through the years what'd you think of of Goldberg's response hey man grow up you know if it's immaturity on Brett's part but he is he is a miserable human being and he hasn't been able to move on now maybe he's happy in other parts of his life and it's just not a parent but anytime we see or hear from Brett it's so fucking miserable it's just oh god to talk about a negative human being

he's like a giant rain cloud that just mopes around and will bitch and whine and moan and blame anybody he can blame to who's ever willing to listen. I mean, that's who Brett is. And I feel bad for Brett. I've talked about this a million times. This guy's, he's achieved so much, he's done things that very few people in the world will ever get an opportunity to even imagine more or less actually do. He's made a fortune.

There's no reason for this guy to be as dark and miserable as he is. Yes, he got hurt. Yes, he, and I'm just going to say it. I'd like to go back and watch that match and look very closely at the contact from that kick because I'm not 100% convinced and probably never will be or never could be convinced that the injury that Brett sustained was a result of that kick. because if you go back and you look at what happened earlier in that match, there was a spot where Brett was wrapped around the ring pose

and bounced his head. It was either off the ring or off the floor. Pretty severely. Could that have been it? Was it the kick? I don't know. And I'll be honest, after watching that as closely as I did,

Brett did have his hand up. Yes, the kick made contact. I have been kicked in the head a lot, many, way more than Brett Hart or Bill Goldberg when I was training in martial arts. And I've been kicked in the fucking head hard enough to drop me and knock me out. But that injury, I'm not 100% convinced

that it happened as a result of the kick. At the end of the day, it doesn't fucking matter. It happened. He can no longer wrestle. He, severe injury, no doubt about it. but at some point, you've got to wake up in a morning and go, you know what? I still have the rest of my life to live. I still have things I want to accomplish.

And letting go of that baggage is probably one of the key things that Brett needs to do in order to move on and find any enjoyment in his life, other than enjoying the fact that he can go out and bury Bill Goldberger, Eric Bischoff, or Vince McMahon, or, you know, I heard him the other day talking about Paul Levec and Paul's ability as head of creative at WWE. Shit all over, Paul. I mean, have you not been watching television, Brett? It's like Brett Hart thinks he's the only one in all of professional wrestling

over the last 50 years that knows what he's talking about. And it's just depressing. And I like Brett. There are a lot of good things about Brett. He's an interesting, educated, smart guy. He's well-rounded. He's got interesting views of the world. But man, when it comes to talking about wrestling, he's just so fucking miserable.

It's like, I just, I hate listening to him, not because I don't want to hear what he has to say necessarily, but it's just always the same. It's just so dark and miserable and blames everybody for everything. Like this fucking guy has never done anything wrong, never made a bad choice, never been in a situation that he regrets. It's just always everybody else. And it's tiresome. And I think it's sad. You know, you want to see guys like Brett Hart go out in a positive way. When I say go out, I'm not talking about in ring.

I'm talking about what happens after the ring because, as we all know, guys like Rick Flair and Brett Hart, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker. They're all doing things. and being positive or attempting to be. And the only one that's not is Brett, he just fucking mopes and moaps and looks for a crowd that's willing to listen to him, bury people. That's his niche in life. Too bad.

Let's talk a little bit about, you know, I know that we probably beat the Brett Hart thing to death, but I do want to at least remind everybody that no matter what you think happened with that kick or didn't happen with that kick. Brett had nine more matches in WCW after that. And not necessarily easy ones. I mean,

four matches later, he was doing a hardcore match with Terry Fonk on Thunder. He wrestled Chris Benoit two matches later. He did have a rematch with Goldberg, like the next freaking night. And he would finish up in WCW working on TV and house shows against Kevin Nash and Sid Vicious. I mean,

this was just bungled all the way around and I don't think for a minute I mean I always go back to the intent I don't think for a minute that Goldberg intentionally hurt hell no so I get I get being upset and I get being frustrated but I just always go back to intent like it's just hard for me to imagine that he would intentionally hurt breath so he wouldn't he wouldn't kind of that is the most absurd thing that anybody could say that there was intense behind that. You can accuse him of being sloppy. You can accuse Bill Goldberg of attempting to do something he probably wasn't quite capable of doing well. You can point out a lot of things that should not have happened because of the amount of experience that Bill Goldberg had. But let's be

honest, who was the ring general in there? Who was calling that match? Who should have taken responsibility to make sure that there was nothing going to happen in the mass that Brett wasn't prepared for. That's Brett's fault as much as it is Bill Goldberg's fault. That's the part of me that gets half pissed off. And it's not because I have this close relationship with Bill Goldberg. We're friendly. I wouldn't even say we're friends. We don't communicate. You know, he doesn't send me birthday cards or anything like that. We don't chat on text. If we saw each other, we'd probably sit down have a beer and share a story or a laugh. But I'm not close to Bill. But let's look at that situation that Brett wants to blame 100% of Bill Goldberg. Who was the experienced performer?

Who is the one that should have been actively involved in laying that match out? That's as much Brett's fault as it is Bill Goldberg's fault. Brett was the more experienced, seasoned professional. He was the ring. general. The fact that that came up was as much Brett's fault as it was Bill Goldberg's fault for not taking the reins and taking responsibility. That's the part I have a bitch with is blaming it all on Bill. Yeah, Bill made a bad choice. Bill probably got a little amped up. He had a little too much adrenaline running through his veins. Guess what? That's not a fucking secret. Anybody that's known Bill since he broke into the business knows he's quite capable of getting

yourself a little over-amped up. But if you know that going in, why would you not make sure that you knew exactly what was going to happen in that match? That's the part where I think Brett Hart should say, should admit that there was some responsibility on his part as opposed to constantly blaming Bill Goldberg. And I like Brett. I want to like Brett. There's so many good things about Brad. Man, that just that dark, miserable bullshit is so fucking tiresome. Something I can't believe

we're going to discuss next. Your former fellow citizen of Cody Wyoming, Kanye West. Yo, Kanye. Just performed at an independent wrestling show in Japan. Did you see this?

What weird is that? Wang Mania. which sounds like something our pal effron would invent. Kanye West was there for Wang Mania, and we saw Kanye West in a professional wrestling ring in a, respectfully, rather tiny independent show in Tokyo. Did this catch you off guard? This just blew me away the idea that we had Kanye West

in any way associated with professional wrestling, much less an indie show in Japan. I, you know, that would have been the last thing that I would have predicted. It's bizarre, but it's cool. I mean, it's just another example, I think, of professional wrestling and pop culture kind of reemerging together. You know, the Nitro, the attitude era, Monday Night Wars, that took wrestling from, oh, yeah, people watch that. it's really, you know, a lot of people watch it on television to pop culture. And I think that's beginning to happen again.

You look at the, you look at the participation of guys like Bad Bunny and Logan Paul and, and you see Kanye West out there, you know, working with small independent wrestling companies in Tokyo. I don't know. I think it's just another sign that wrestling is continuing to grow again. and emerging as a part of pop culture. It's awesome. But I didn't expect it. It was kind of weird to see.

It caught me off guard. And something else that caught me off guard is how much I was overspending on things I wasn't really using anymore. Yeah, Rocket Money has helped me out. Let me explain. If you, and here's the reality, like 75% of people have subscriptions they've forgotten about. And I have to tell you before I found out about Rocket Money, I thought I

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Rocketmoney.com slash 83 weeks. Eric, we called an audible today before we clicked record, so I made a post over on Twitter and said, hey, I'm doing a live recording right now with Eric Bischoff at 83 weeks. And I want to know if you've got a question for Eric, hit me with it. And Josh Pate over on Twitter says, with the explosion of the wrestling nostalgia industry, courtesy of podcast and full-length specials, how much have you seen guys getting creative with their memory in an effort to rewrite parts of history? It's always been human nature, but it feels more prevalent in the wrestling space.

Oh, my God. It's, yeah, I've been watching this happen for years. It's really fun. It's interesting. But I understand it. And I don't think it's as nefarious and ill-intentioned as it sometimes appears to be. And I'm not going to name names here, but I've got friends. that I've listened to do interviews over the years

and describe situations, even ones that I wasn't necessarily involved in, but describing situations and moments where I was present. And I would, I'm listening. I'm going to go, well, that's not exactly at all how it happened. But I think what happens is talent gets interviewed. I'll speak for myself. I'll get interviewed.

You know, I do podcasts. A lot of times, just do this for fun. Like if somebody reaches out to me on social media, somebody that's starting a podcast or maybe has had one for a number of years and is committed to it, but it's on a really, really small scale. And if they reach out and in a positive way and are creative enough to get my attention, I'll do podcasts with people that I've never heard of before, just because I think it's cool. I think it's fun. I know how I would feel if I were of them. And I had a chance to get somebody who'd been in the business for 30 years on my

podcast. It's a big deal to them. And I love doing that when I have the time. But inevitably, I'm asked a lot of the same questions over and over again. And part of what I try to do is make my response interesting as opposed to just, you know, you remember when you and I first started doing a podcast together. You'd ask me a question. I'd fucking answer it. Yeah. It was kind of morning and I know you got frustrated early on because I didn't have I hadn't been doing it long enough to realize that it's not just answering the question it's giving some detail kind of painting the picture adding some color to it so it's a little more vivid all in an attempt to be interesting when you're doing an interview but I think what happens when you do hundreds if not

thousands of those interviews and you get asked a lot of times the same question you're attempting to make it more interesting tends to shade what really happened. So I don't think it's so, I don't think it's bad intentions or people lying or intentionally misleading people. I just think that over time you start repeating these stories and adding a little bit of color here and a little bit of dimension there. And before you know it, you're talking about something that actually didn't happen or at least didn't happen the way it really did. So it happened. It happened. all the time. I've caught myself doing it. I've caught myself trying to make something more interesting. You go, wait a minute, that's taking a little too far. Back it up a little. So I, it happens

all the time, but I don't think, like I said, I don't think it's intentional all the time. I think it's subconscious most of the time. Mark A says, were the road warriors a flop upon their return to WCW in the mid-90s? You did bring them back right around, I guess, the beginning of nitro and they didn't have a ton of success there was why wasn't that more of a success was it just timing had they gotten a little older a little slower that was creative not right for them why wasn't it bigger god as much as i respect both of them and i was pretty good friends with both of them um their act was tired they hadn't evolved and they were in WCW at a time of evolution.

Things were changing. And I just think without a change in their character, without something to add a new level of interest or depth to the road warriors, it was a nostalgia act at a point in time when nostalgia acts really weren't working that. That's my take on it. And, you know, look, they were getting older. injuries were an issue you know that father time you know didn't take any time off when it came to the road warriors so between just the fact that injuries had slowed them down and time had

slowed them to what the fuck father time didn't take any time off when it came to the road warriors what a line that is my god yeah i mean i didn't mean it to be funny but it sure got you god I haven't seen you left that hard in a long time. Well, there's not even any gummies involved. That's awesome. The turn of a phrase, boy, goodness gracious, that got me. Blame Moloch says, was there any talent from Japan or Mexico that you wanted to try to bring to WCW but couldn't for whatever reason? No.

You know, especially with regard to Japan, that was never an issue. Sometimes scheduling was, and I had to wait and, you know, plan ahead. But there was, you know, all the. top talent from New Japan at that time, this is back when New Japan actually was a powerhouse, not essentially an indie in Japan. And by that, I mean, you know, the houses that they're, New Japan is drawing right now are 3,500, 4,000, as opposed to the major houses that New Japan was promoting back in the mid-90s. But all of that talent really wanted to work in the United States. There was nobody on that roster that didn't want to come here. Because at that time, if you were a top Japanese star,

and you came over and were able to wrestle main event or some kind of featured position, even if you're in the middle of the card on a pay-per-view, that increased your value to the Japanese audience. So there was never an issue with Japanese talent at all. And there really wasn't anybody in Mexico that I was hoping to bring in that I couldn't. And I left a lot of that up to Coney.

I didn't know who was hot in Japan or Mexico. I had a $300 million a year company to run. So I wasn't focusing on what was hot in Mexico. But other people, and Conan was at the front of that line and was really the key person in terms of what talent from Mexico we brought in. So perhaps it was somebody that Conan wanted to bring in that we weren't able to get. I wouldn't have. We got another fun question here from DRL.

Did the NWO go on for two. long. I know you've probably had a chance to think about that, but if you were going to, if you agree that it went on too long, when would have been the appropriate time to finish it up, put a button on it? Have you put any thought into that? Yeah, I put a lot of thought into that over the last several years and particularly over the last couple of months. Look, it's not a question of whether NWO went on too long. It went on too long without a story a direction. In the beginning, the NWO had a purpose. They were there to take over. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, were there out of revenge. They didn't get treated. And I know we could debate this.

Oh, you want to fucking debate it. I don't care. I know what thoughts were going through my head when I created that idea. And whatever else is going on and anybody else's head doesn't really make a fuck to me. I could care less. I knew what I was thinking. And it had a purpose. It was agenda, there was the war between established WCW talent in the NWO talent. I'm talking about 96, early 97. There was a purpose. By 1998, we lost our purpose. There was no direction.

We kept growing the NWO, but without a reason, without a direction. What was the goal? What was the agenda? There wasn't one. It was just there. And I think had there been direction, there would have been a great way to end the NWO story. But unfortunately, about midstream or three quarters of the way through the NWO story,

shit hit the fan. We'll start to fall off. Creative took a big hit. I took a big hit. I wasn't as focused as I was early on. It wasn't as creative as I was early on. I was focused on other shit that was miserable. but I think there could have been a great ending with the NWO,

but I don't think it went on too long. I think it got too big with too little direction. That's the problem. Great question here from Joe. He says that Hulk ever come at you with an idea for an angle that you had to talk him out of? So much an angle. but there were times when he would have an approach to a story that was already in play that didn't feel right to me and we talk about it and he was not as you know everybody has

this perception of Hulk as being rigid and creative control or we're going to do what I want to do and if if you don't want to go along with what I want to do then I'm going to manipulate the situation and try to manipulate you whether it be Vince man or me. This wasn't the case. Most of the time, he'd lay something out. If you just look at him straight in the eye and say, that doesn't feel right and explain why it didn't.

He was really easy to work with 90% of the time. That 10% what he wasn't easy to work with was a real challenge. But for the most part, he was, he wasn't any more difficult to work with than sting. or Lex Lugar, Andy Savage, or Roddy Piper. Roddy was probably harder. Roddy was really hard. But people have made so much about Paul Kogan's creative control. And most of them just don't really know what they're talking about.

Let's do another one here. This is a good one. Lee Myers has a great question. If he suddenly had control of AEW, what would be the first three things he would do and why? Why? Re-evaluate the talent roster, get rid of the people that there's just no reason to have around, thin out the herd, because the roster's too big.

And, you know, what's the harm other than the fact that Tony keeps writing big checks? I don't know what his payroll is, but it's got to be massive with the amount of money that he's paying people. Much bigger than WCWs ever was. He's much bigger. And he's creating zero fucking revenue with it, other than his television licensing fee. and, you know, what are they averaging, 120, $125,000 on paper views? WCW and its dying days was doing that or better. There are no-house shows.

The attendance at his TV tapings is the shits. I don't know what his licensing and merchandising is, but it's licensing-wise. I can't really be generating anything because I don't see any product out there other than action figures, and they're not moving. They're video game, they're giving away. So, yeah, you've got this probably,

$80 to $100 million talent budget. And what's the return on that? There is no. It's horrible. So the first thing I would do is thin out the herd. And I would do that for the benefit of some of that talent that just should be let go because there's never a chance in the world they're ever going to really make it long term. They're getting a check every week and that's a good thing.

But there's a lot of talent there that just shouldn't be on that roster. So I thin that up. And why? Why would I do that first? Because it's a morale issue. When you've got 30, 40, 50, 60 people under contract that haven't seen a television camera in months or in some cases longer, what do you think they talk about when they talk about amongst each other?

How great their check was last week or what little opportunity they're getting and how frustrated they are. That's like a, it's like a disease. It starts out small, and then it continues to grow and continues to grow until it becomes a big problem down. So I would fix that right off the bat. Then the next thing I would do is bring everybody together and say, ladies and gentlemen, here is the vision for this company. This is what AEW is going to become, and here's how we're going to get there. I would clearly define my creative strategy and my business strategy so that everybody on board

had a chance to actually get on board or not. But everybody needs to understand what the direction of the company is, what the goals of the company are in order for them to contribute. If they don't know what your goals are and they don't know what your vision is, how the fuck are they going to be able to contribute to the maximum abilities? They can't. So that would be the very next thing I would do. Then I would focus on creative.

I would make sure the talent knew we were moving into the storytelling business, ladies and gentlemen, because this athletic exhibition shit that we're doing, even though, you know, Tony Khan loves it because 14-year-old Tony Khan used to get his nut at ECW watching it, that's not what the American television audience is interested in. Only a small percentage of them are and is evidenced by where AEW is at. that over the last almost six years. It's laughable what little progress they've made in five or six years with the hundreds of millions of dollars that Tony Con has invested so far.

I would really focus on storytelling. I would bring in probably two writers, maybe three, to work with some of my more experienced wrestling talent, like Arnoy, well, Arn's not there anymore. Is he there? Is Arn's still there? No. Fuck, waste. Jake Roberts, other people that are there that understand the wrestling business really well, understand a guy like Jeff Jarrett.

I would tag Jeff Jarrett so hard, so fucking fast and make his arm fall off. Because Jeff Jarrett, as much as anybody I've ever worked with, maybe more than most at the highest levels, understands how to tell a story in the ring. How to take the narrative that has taken place, whether it be through your caller and your play-by-play announcers, all of the history that had happened up to any given point. Jeff knows how to take the narrative from outside of the ring and then put it together with the action inside of the ring so that it fits. So you're telling one story outside of the ring and your narrative, but you're delivering a match inside of the ring that supports that narrative. and advances it. That's a really unique talent. And I think Jeff Jarrett is probably more qualified to be,

I'm going to say head agent, head producer than just about anybody I know. I would tag him right away. So I bring in two or three writers to work with some of my more established talent, including Jeff, to figure out the narrative so that my outside of the ring narrative and my inside of the ring narrative fit together. Right now they fucking don't. It's bizarre.

It's absolutely fucking bizarre what's going on. And what's not bizarre what's going on. It's bizarre that nobody's addressing it. That's a part I don't understand. It's not that hard to fix. But those are the first three things I do. Jeff Jarrett, story, thin the herd. Well, whenever you're making sure you're getting

ready to leave let's say you you're going to travel to florida this weekend hypothetically and when you get down there and you're getting ready to fly home to cody you've learned or in recent weeks and recent travel experiences we got to check our our travel kit our bathroom bag if you will because we got to make sure there's one thing in there in particular that one thing eric my henson razor i still haven't replaced it yet i've just gotten too busy and i keep forgetting to order it but I was in L.A. on business a couple of weeks ago, and I was in a hurry to get to the airport, and I left my shaving kit in my room,

and it had my henson razor in it. My black one was my favorite. It was the only one I had at the time. I left it in the hotel. I frantically, when I got home and I realized it, when I unpacked my back, I called the hotel. I begged them to go through Lost and Found

to know of them. veil and I've yet to replace my hands. This is the first time I've shaved in like a week. Because I just don't even want to shave with a regular razor anymore. I fucking hate it. If I can't shave with my handsome razor, I don't want to shave. Sometimes I

have to, like this weekend. I'm going to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. Hanging out with some friends over there, bare-knuckle fighting championships. Hey now. Yeah. That's what I'm doing. Watch some ass kicking down on Fort Lauderdale.

but I'm not going to have my henson razor with me so I'm not going to be as confident as I normally would be meeting people I haven't met before because I want to make an impression and I'm going to go down here with a half-ass shave on because I don't have my hens and razor and I'm hot about it I'm really hot I'm going to order like four of them I'm going to have one in each room so if I forget my bag again I don't have to go for weeks using inferior quality bullshit razors that cost you. trust me, $35 a pop, but you get two extra blades. Shit. Well, I know what to do, Eric. I'm going to send you a link. It's instantshaving.com slash bischoff. And when you use the code bischoff, you'll get two free years worth of blades. Just be sure to add them to your cart.

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positive feedback on social media just yesterday where somebody said, I finally gave in and tried it. And damn, you were right. This is the best shave ever. Get the best shave ever and a hundred free blades at Hensonshaving.com slash Bischoff. That's Hensonsheng.com slash Bischoff. H-E-N-S-O-N-S-H-A-V-I-N-G.com slash Bischoff. Be sure to use the promo code Bischoff. How long have you had that beer? Oh, six? Oh, six? So it's probably been a long time since you experienced a full shave. Obviously, you have to trim and you get your neck. I mean, you still obviously have to shave. But

about five years ago, I was in Las Vegas for something with my family. And I, Garrett and I decided we're going to go get one of those old school professional shaves. I go to the barber, get your haircut. And then they do the thing with a straight razor and a lather. And it's cool as shit, right? I remember walking out of that place. And I spent like 150 bucks or 200 bucks for this whole thing. And I remember walking out of there and I ran my fingers across my face. I went, oh my God. That is truly like, you know, baby butt smooth and soft. I was so impressed. I get the same shave with the Hansen razor. Like I actually look forward to shaving in the morning. And I take my time because I like the feel of it. But I can get really close. I can get a little nooks and crannies at those really

fancy, you know, space age looking razors missed by a mile. I get in there tight. And I get done. I get out of the shower and it's the same thing. Man, I go, move. Baby butts. Moved. This is B likes it, too. It's awesome. Check it out at hinsonshaving.com slash bischoff. And you're going to be glad you did. Eric, I, uh, we've got a few more questions here. and then we want to round this one out. But Gareth has a great question for us. And he has two words with a question mark. And I just want you to react to it.

He'll Cody? I've been thinking about it. I have an idea in my head. It's not like a big idea. It's not an angle. It's not an angle. It's all about the transition. Because to go from He,

for baby face to heal typically is an abrupt transition like all of a sudden what i see in my head i almost texted cody this the other day like in fact i will cody if you listen to this if there's ever a conversation about you turning heel it starts to get a little bit real give me 20 minutes Before you make a decision, give me 20 minutes just to add a little bit of something, something to make it special. So yeah, I think, look, is it going to happen? I don't know. I have no.

I don't talk to anybody. But if it does, I'd like 20 minutes of Cody's time. I don't think he wants it. I'm probably betraying confidences. But I sort of low-key said a few years ago. when this monster WWE run first started, hey dude, when you turn hill, it's going to be gigantic. Because I just feel like there's something in his smile

and the way he uses his facials where I could imagine him instead of wearing all the light colored suits, just the darker stuff. And he's a bad guy now. I could totally see it. And I know he would pull it off. But I think he really likes the idea of being the modern John Sina, the modern Hulk Hogan.

I get that, but golly, I just, I want it to. I want it to. It'll happen. Look, right now Cody is in the honeymoon phase. Yes. Of his baby face run. And that honeymoon, it could be a long honeymoon. It could last a couple years.

I don't think it will. I think the audience demands evolution quicker. I think the days of a Hulk Hogan baby phase. or even a John's seen a baby face. I just don't think that opportunity exists in today's television environment. I think the audience demands evolution on a more rapid pace than maybe what we were used to 20 years ago, 30 or 40 years ago. But we'll see.

But if he turns, I guess I got a little something, something. And it's so subtle, but it would be so affected. Michael wants to know what is his relationship with the Rock after working with his company doing who killed WCW? I never talked to Rock. I've never had a conversation with Rock. I mean, I have working with him in WWE briefly.

But I've talked to Brian Gourke's a lot. I know I have pretty good friends. But I haven't talked to Rock at all. Hill Billy Hogan has a fun question out of someone not currently employed by WWE or AEW who's the best creative mind available other than you so if you're going to try to bring somebody in let's go back to the other earlier question one of those first three things you were going to do in AEW well you're going to bring in some creative support so you can't pick someone who's already in AW you can't pick someone who's already in WWE you got to pick someone

who's available you can't pick yourself who would that person be fully wow okay I wouldn't even Wouldn't even hesitate I would want A balance Okay let's think of that Who would the other person be Bullie and

There's a cat that's not even in the rest of the business That nobody knows Well maybe I've had them on the show a few times Guy by the name of Tom DeShane I'd bring in Tom to Shane I'd have the same conversation I'd have the conversation with bulls and Tom at the same time.

Those would be my two. Because Tom could bring the creative discipline necessary to take bully's ideas and execute them in an arc to get maximum benefit from it. What bully lacks in a traditional storytelling approach, he more than makes up for in psychology and more than any of it we use psychology a lot but it's really understanding the audience you have to understand what the audiences likes and dislikes are what what gets their attention what satisfies them what entreats them

what makes compelling television for a wrestling audience it's kind of like Vince Rousseau during the documentary last week whereas I write TV for the general audience. No, motherfucker. You were writing wrestling for WCW, which is a wrestling audience. Yeah, you want to bring in people who don't typically watch wrestling. And there's ways to do that. But you don't do that by abandoning the very fucking formula that makes professional wrestling work.

You don't try to attract a new audience by shitting all over the one you have. And that's what Rousseau did. on hot summer days i keep my makeup simple dewy skin a touch of highlighter in the corners of my eyes and just enough to feel refreshed with outgoing fully glam thrive cosmetics makes that easy i swipe on their liquid lash extensions mascara and instantly look more awake it lasts all day without smudging even in the heat and comes off with just warm water i love that their products are vegan cruelty-free and made with clean ingredients. Plus, every purchase supports communities in need. Knowing my go-to mascara also helps others, that's beauty with purpose, and it's why Thrive

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arrives, it's packed with care and backed by their 360-degree guarantee, which means it shows up looking great and right on time. In a rush, 4 Imprint has quick turnaround options too, so you can hit your deadline without breaking a sweat. Whether you're prepping for a summer event or just refreshing your promo lineup, For Imprint helps you get it done confidently and with simplicity and ease. Head to 4imprint.com to find out. more. For imprint, for certain. I think a guy like bully who understands the audience so well, it has just that, it's a feel.

It's not a knowledge. You can't learn it in a book. You can't take it in a pill. It's experience and knowledge of what works. You take somebody like bully who has such a great perspective when it comes to what the audience, when it comes to predicting how an audience is going to react to any given story or situation. Bully really has that. What he doesn't have is the traditional storytelling experience in order to maximize those ideas.

And I think the combination of Tom DeShane and Bully would be with me in the middle or as a traffic cop than anything, I think that would be an awesome combination. Jason Smith wants to know. is it me or was Brad Siegel trying to take credit for the success in WCW on the Who Killed WCW documentary? I thought he hated the product that was hands off. Which one is it? He hated the product. He was hands off, but I will say Brad did support. Early on, I've talked about this. Brad funded the research that went into Nitro. Brad funded a good portion of the production for the open.

Brad named the show Nitro. So Brad hated the product. He didn't want it. He didn't have a vote. Ted Turner said, do it, Brad. You don't get to ask how or why. Just do it. But once Brad accepted that that's what Ted wanted, he didn't hold back.

He was supportive. He never spent the day in my office. He never came. He might just showed up at a live production. If there were sponsors there or if there was a corporate reason for him to be there. But he never really understood the business. didn't want to understand the business. He hated the business, but he did, to his credit, support Nitro, especially early on. Now, when shit got shaky and all of a sudden corporate careers

were on the line, he was more than willing to abandon WCW because he never wanted it in the first place. But for a couple of years, he was very supportive. I did notice that he tended, And, you know, he said things like, you know, Eric did everything I asked him to do. And you didn't ask me to do anything. There was no day-to-day conversation with Brad and I about the direction of WCW. He clearly didn't, without question, never got involved in creative, never got involved in talent decisions. He just had no interest in it. Can't blame him for that.

It just wasn't his thing. But he did support. I did notice he tried to take a little bit of credit. you know, pat himself on the back a few times. But that's, you know, he was the president of the network. He has a right. Bobby Salsa says, I just saw an article about how WCW almost had a deal in the bag with NBC. We've talked about that here before. It's speculated that the finger polka dune happened to get the belt back on Hogan for said deal. Is there any kernel of truth to that? Now, that's interesting because the timing of that is close and I know what that it didn't happen.

but do you remember that even being a consideration that, hey, if we're going to be on NBC, we do need Hogan in a primetime spot there. Nope. Not, I mean, I understand the coincidence of it all and how someone can go, hey, I wonder if. Right. Absolutely not.

Dogey Singh wants to know, did you ever wear lifts in your shoes to make you look bigger at any point in your career? No. Why can I do that? Thomas Curns wants to know. Can Eric set the. record straight on how much, if any,

creative control Hogan actually had. Was it both written into his contract and de facto control through his rocker status, friendship with Eric? What was it? No, it started when we first started negotiating with Hulk back in 1994, and Hulk

didn't know me. He knew of the reputation of WCW, which at that point in 1994, from a creative perspective, was horseshit. There had never been any success. leadership or direction in WCW up until the point in time when Hulk Hogan signed to become a part of the company. Because of that, because he and I didn't know each other,

we had no relationship. Halk decided if he was going to bring his brand over to WCW, that he had to protect it. Because if you look at the history of WCW prior to 1994, putting your career in the hands of leadership in WCW in 90, 91, 92, 93 was career suicide. He didn't want to commit career suicide. He had value in the Holcogen brand, and he wanted to protect it. So the creative control, to answer the question, contractual, existed from day one, and for a very valid reason. It's hard to argue. If you look at where WCW was and its history and track record up until the spring of 1994,

it was fucking horrible. Nobody in their right mind who had value as the character and as a brand and was doing business outside of wrestling, probably doing more business outside of wrestling than inside of wrestling. Why would you ever expect that person not to protect that brand? writers do it all the time actors do it actresses do it all the time directors do it all the time it's not unusual at all for people at a certain level to expect and demand a degree if not a hundred percent creative control in order to protect their brand and their careers grant cameron wants to know were their thoughts of bringing in buddy landell

as the nw o nature boy after the events of fall brawl 97 having and wear that flare robe until Rick returns. Of course, what he's talking about is when you guys had Kurt Henning turn on Rick Flair and slammed the cage door on his head in real life, of course. Rick was having some plastic surgery done and needed a little time off. The next day, though, on Nitro, you did cut the sleeves off of the robe and they had a little fun with that. Was there ever a discussion about, hey, what if we brought in Buddy Landell?

We had a fake sting. We could get a different nature boy in here. Not with me. Kevin Sullivan and his team may have had that conversation at some point that I wasn't involved in. But I don't ever remember hearing any discussion about Buddy Landell, although hearing it now, I'm thinking, wow, that could have been. Yeah. Couldn't have had a good time with it. I have a bad idea. The Burt has a silly question, but it's an honest question, but he, I don't know, I hate the

phrasing. With Tony fearing for his life in London with C and Punk, what's the most Eric's feared for his safety in wrestling, minus the trip to North Korea. So if we remove and set aside North Korea, was it your incident with Rick Rude or is there another incident where you were like, boy, this is, this is getting wild here. Never. I wasn't, the thing with Rick Rood was bizarre, but it wasn't scary. I was 100% confident that Rick Rood was not going to shoot me in parking lot of the Disney MGM studio.

So, you know, I wasn't worried about that. I've never, I've never been afraid of, no, there's never been a situation where I was personally fearful. I've been afraid for others. I was scared to death when Mark Bagwell broke his neck. That scared me. But in terms of myself, no. never not even for a moment not a second last one that's not too because you know fearless i mean there's some shit that it could scare the shit out of me it just never

happened just people have i think perception of what it's like backstage and for the most part my experience has been talent is always super professional yes i've been been more concerned about my safety in a restaurant than I've ever been in a locker. Yeah, if there's a concern for safety, it's amongst the fans, you know, like when people are drunk and rowdy and messed off, yeah, doing stupid shit, but, but you don't have that level of consumption and inebriation in the backstage area, unless you're not always, so much you're in Philadelphia. And then maybe so there. All right, we'll put a button on this episode. By the way, we're going to be back next week hopefully with a producer and we'll be live on

YouTube join us if you haven't already hit the subscribe button turn on the notifications bell 83 weeks.com and throw some positive vibes our way towards Dave Silva he's down for the count he's been the Iron Man with us for a long time never missed a show so it's rare that he's not feeling up to par so we hope yeah I don't like I don't like this at all I Dave Silva is one of the most he's a quality human being and one of the people that I'm most grateful for having met through you, Conrad, as well as, you know, Cassio, you've surrounded yourself with some really, really good people and gave someone that I hold in very high regard. So same to get well quick.

One last question from The Funk. Does Eric think a WCW relaunch would be viable with the interest from Fox and streaming services to carry high quality live wrestling content? Maybe this doc will motivate the rock in WDW. to relaunch it, I would die for that. Now, we got a similar question last night because the whole rise and fall of ECW, the success of that DVD, did create WW ECW. They relaunched the brand.

And we know that didn't exactly work out the way we hoped. But that was Vince McMahon's WWE. This is a different era. This is a different time. They're sending talent to Noah. They're letting guys wrestle in New Japan. they're having some of their stars appear on TNA programming and vice versa. I'm curious, do you think if, because we've,

we've sort of laid out, you know, what the opportunity is for WWE globally. Maybe they may be maxed out domestically. But if the WWE brand is now beholden to Netflix and USA, if there is any other interest out there, could you see them spinning up another brand, calling it WCW, they own the name, they own Nitro, they could play that old music and the old theme and just really lean into it. Does that seem far-fetched to you? Yeah. Yeah. Because the WCW brand was really about Sting, Flair, Goldberg, Diamond Dallas Page, Luger, Hogan Savage at some

And without the talent, I don't know how you resurrect the emotion of the brand. Hang on. Maybe it's possible. Maybe it's possible. Okay, go ahead. Braun Breaker. True. Charlotte Flair.

Shit. Rock Anderson. Let's do it. I'm just saying like you've got enough connective tissue there. You have. Here at Bischoff. Here at Bischoff, you're available. We got to get some nepotism going right off the battle.

Wouldn't really be WCW, would it? Come on. I'm just saying it does feel like, I mean, Mike today hasn't done shit in a long time. I mean, I'm not saying it's going to happen. But it's a fun idea of a fantasy book and think about, isn't it? Especially Brock Anderson. You know, Braun, obviously.

Yeah. Huge, huge, huge. He's going to be a huge star. But that's why I said to you earlier when I asked if Arne Anderson is still in AW. Like I've had, I've, I've gone crossways with Aaron a few times throughout our 30 years of knowing each other. But I've never known anybody better at. understanding the performance in the ring, understanding heat,

understanding when and how to get over. Arne Anderson is a wealth of fucking knowledge. The fact that they haven't, the fact that they didn't, they meaning AW, tap into that, bizarre to me. The fact that they didn't take advantage of Brock, I mean, my God,

he looks like Arn. He looks like Arn did when Arn was in his 20s. And can anybody imagine that Brock doesn't have an amazing amount of skills and abilities that I'm not going to say inherited, but he learned over time from his dad. How this guy never got an opportunity inside of AEW, a meaningful one, and a push and a commitment from AEW is fucking mind-boggling to be, especially when I see some of the talent that I see on that show. Unbelievable to me.

So, yeah, I think Arn, because I forgot about Arn until just a little while ago, but Arn's presence as a part of this new reimagined WCW. Brock, as you pointed out, the second generation of former WCW superstars. Cody, Charlotte, Tessa Blancher's kid, wants to get into the business. Sting's kids training right now. King's kid. Come on. What the LeVec, what are you doing? What the fuck, Paul? And by the way, uh, I do still have the original big gold belt. I mean, can you God, come on. Why are we not doing this? I just said a few minutes ago, now I don't see it happening. Now I'm like, I want to pick up

the phone and call somebody. What the fuck? Just I just wish we could get Nick Hogan running the ropes. Can you imagine him coming out playing an air guitar? That'd be hilarious. Ooh, he gets some heat. Ooh, doggy. He's a heater. Man, listen, I know it's not going to happen, but it is fun to fantasy books. You know, my son Garrett and Nick Hogan trained together at Rikishi's gym in L.A. for a question. Oh, wow.

Okay. Nick's trained. Nick was going to step into there. He got hurt. He busted up his shoulder and I kind of waylaid him a little bit, well, waylaid him a lot. But there's a lot of connective. tissue there. It's like little seeds you could plant and fertilize and water. Boom. You never know what could grow. Well, man can call me, will you? No, call Conrad. He's got the idea. It's his idea.

No, no, no. I want you to do it. But imagine you and Mike Teney doing commentary on that show. It's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I don't know if it'll happen, but here's what I do know will happen for sure. We're going to be live this Tuesday night right after Who Killed WCW. It's going to go off the year at 11 p.m. Eastern, and you need to hurry to 83 weeks.com. Hit the subscribe button, turn on the notifications bell, and don't forget, you get bonus content all the time there, wise choices, and just whenever there's major news breaking. 83 weeks.com is your home for all things, Eric Bischoff. We'll be back next week where we're going to watch something that Eric has never seen before. It's the now infamous moment where Mick Foley flew off the cage. We're going to

watch the King of the Ring from 1998. And yes, we've all seen. the clips. But the full match, the full show, the full context. We're doing it next week here on the program. And if you've got a question for Eric, you can ask it over on our YouTube channel. It's free. It's 83 weeks.com. And speaking of free, it's free to find out how much money you can save at save with Conrad.com. We're routinely helping our podcast listeners say five, six, seven, even eight hundred bucks a month. Heck last week, I helped a family save more than a thousand dollars. Now, they didn't save a thousand dollars one time. They saved a thousand this month. They're going to save $1,000 next month. What would your family do with an extra

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We want to be your mortgage advisor for life. So if we can't save you some cash, we won't waste your time. But at save with conrad.com, we don't say no. We say not yet, but here's how. We want to get you set up to we accomplish those short-term goals and those long-term goals. We can even get you out of that apartment and into a house. There are still no money-down loans even in 2024. We can make it happen with my family for your family at save with Conrad.com.

As we're recording, we just got this five-star review from David over in Campbellsville, Kentucky. He says, Dan was easy to work with and always available if I needed anything. Just two days ago, Douglas and Columbus, Ohio threw us a five-star review. I can't say enough about the experience. It was near perfect. She was amazing. Her communication was amazing. Answered every question I had, and there were a lot.

She was always answering in the quickest manner every time. couldn't have made the process any better or more simple. Seriously, folks, if we can't save you some cash, we won't waste your time. Find out how easy it is to start saving money for your family with my family right now at save withconrad.com. NMLS number 32416. Eric, I never know what to expect. Today was a little different.

It was a two-man crew. We're normally a trio. We called an audible, but I still had a good time, and I can't thank you enough for all the time today. Thank you, Conrad. I had a blast. And thanks to everybody that was listening and look forward to. doing it next week. We'll see you next week right here at 83 weeks.com.