83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 331: Cody Rhodes' First 100 Days As WWE Champion

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

On this episode of 83Weeks, Eric and Conrad cover all the latest happenings in the wild world of professional wrestling. The guys also take a deep dive and evaluate Cody Rhodes first 100 days as the WWE champion. What impact has it had on the company, has his opponents been a challenge enough for him, what does the future hold of the world champion? All that plus so much more on this edition of 83WEEKS with Eric Bischoff. CREMO - You can find Cremo Men’s Body Wash at Walmart or Walmart.com. TUSHY - Over 2 Million Butts Love TUSHY. Get 10% off TUSHY with the code 83WEEKS at https://hellotushy.com/83WEEKS #tushypod HENSON SHAVING - It’s time to say no to subscriptions and yes to a razor that’ll last you a lifetime. Visit https://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. BLUECHEW - Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code 83WEEKS at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. That’s https://bluechew.com/, promo code 83WEEKS to receive your first month FREE 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

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 good. I'm good. I'm home for a couple, maybe 10, 12 days. This just seemed like a stretch for me and loving life, man. Everything's good. I'm excited to be with you today because we're going to be talking about a more modern topic. We are normally all about nostalgia here on the show. But today we're going to be talking about Cody's first hundred days as WWE champion.

And, of course, in order for him to do that, he had a jump ship from at EW to WW. And speaking of jumping ship, you recently sat down with Stu Snyder. We heard from him about the finale of who killed WCW. And last week over at ad-freeshows.com, you had an opportunity to sit down with a fellow who, led the march to purchase WCW.

The WWF president, Stu Snyder, who saw the real value in purchasing WCW more than 20 years ago. Let's take a listen to a part of that conversation from ad-free shows.com. One of the reasons I was attracted to buying WCW was not just about the television shows, but because of the library of programming, because the one thing I truly believed in, and I said this to anybody within WWF because I was the guy, I was the point guy on the deal. I said, what's valuable here long term, in my opinion, was the library. Because while the dot-com bust was happening, I looked down the road of the future,

and the future I absolutely believed was online and streaming and so forth. And I said that library, especially for the wrestling fan, is going to have a lot of value downstream. I loved seeing you catch up with Stu Snyder. How did the conversation go from your perspective, Eric? I mean, first of all, shout out to Stu for even doing it because a lot of people who don't know me and have only heard the stories and all that likely would not have put themselves in a position that Stu did. I dug the guy, by the way, shout out, Stu, I'll reach out to you this week. I've been a little busy since we chatted last week, but got along great with them. He owns a lobster pier in Maine.

He's got restaurants and bars and commercial sales of lobsters that they ship all over the United States. He started that with a friend about 11 years ago and is doing really, really well. so we hit it off right off the bat like before we hit record you know he was telling me about you know lobster cartel owner and uh and and we caught up on a lot of different things and talked about people that we both knew because this was really the first time i'd never talked to stew yet we worked together in turner when he was president of turner home entertainment and i was an announcer in wcW and maybe executive producer but i really had no interaction with Stu. All of the interaction between Stu Snyder and Turner Home Entertainment

would have been between either Stu himself and Sharon Sadello, who's our VP of Marketing, or somebody that works for Stu and Sharon Sadella. I was never in any of those loops. So it was first time. And then given the fact that he led the charge in his words to acquire WCW, you know, just fascinating, fascinating conversation. And I'll tell you the other thing I cleared up, in my mind, which is the only thing that matters to me right now on this topic, in my mind, this issue's resolved. Was it slippery? Was it shady? Were there things done, said? Was the timing creative? Yes. Do I think that there were some conversations to be that were had that probably people hope never come to light?

Yeah. But do I think it was as nefarious of an acquisition as even I was allowed to let myself believe based on all the other murky circumstances? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think that from Stu's perspective, and I'm going to butcher the background on this, so forgive me for that. But, you know,

from Stu's perspective, they were willing to pay a lot of money. The first go round, a lot of money for WCW initially, because there were two deals. There was a deal they attempted to close with an acquisition of WCW from Turner broadcasting way before Fusion Media got involved.

This was back when WWE was on Viacom, and it was Viacom who shut the deal down. Once the deal got shut down, we believe, Stu and I both believe, and I 100% believe this. In fact, I'm the one that I think connected the dots first before Stu and I even talked about it. What I believe happened was that an attempt in an acquisition was made at a certain point in time, long before I put Fusion together, right? Put the deal together, I should say. That deal fell apart because Viacom did not want any more wrestling programming. And because of the nature of the contract between Viacom and WWE at the time, WWE couldn't air its programming on other networks, competitive network. works.

So Vince got his hand slapped, was told no, you can't do that, which is an interesting story in itself, if you know Vince at all. I could only imagine me to fly on that wall. That would have been a hoot. That deal died. Things progressed. Brad Siegel calls me, says, hey, do you still think you've got somebody that would be interested in buying?

That's when I got involved. So connecting those dots, and not even. really connecting the dots, but seeing the timeline from someone else's perspective filled in a lot of gaps with the information that I really didn't know. I may have read it. I may have heard it. It didn't settle in because, you know, unless I'm hearing it from a credible source, I really don't give a, I don't care.

Try not to swear on this show. No more red flags. So, yeah, it was a fun, it was a fun, fun, very informational. I think the people that joined us from ad-free shows, a lot of them commented on how much they learned. And that's one of the reasons why, you know, you've got your insiders, you know, series on the ad-free shows. I'm seeing a lot of the same comments because we're engaging in conversations with people who are actually instrumental in the industry at an extremely high level who've gone on to become even more successful. We're having conversations that are real, they're firsthand, and they're detailed in a way that really can only get from the principles involved.

You can't get it from a sideline report. Catch the entire conversation between Eric Bischoff and Stu Snyder right now, exclusively at ad-freeshows.com. Stu's going to talk about his time within Turner, how he landed in the World Wrestling Federation. what his real relationship was like with Brad Siegel and how that deal to purchase WCW all came together. It's available now in long form at ad-freeshows.com

along with more than 100,000 hours of other bonus content including exclusive series. You can't get anywhere else with Tully Blanchard and Mike Keota, Nick Patrick and Kevin Sullivan and Lex Lugar and David Crockett and so much more. It's ad-freeshows.com. Eric, you and I are recording on a Thursday. Thursday night, I'm sorry, Thursday morning, fresh off of one heck of a dynamite.

It was episode 250. They opened the show with a barn burner. They went a full 60 minutes with Will Osprey and MJF. And just when I thought for sure, we were getting a draw, nope, MJF pulls out the ring, deals a victory. Did you have a chance to catch MJF and Will Osprey last night on dynamite? No, no, I didn't. It'll be interesting. I've read about it this morning.

I've seen some clips without having seen it. I hesitate to comment too much other than to say, based solely on what I've read and your comments just now, I applaud AEW and Dynamite and Tony Con for doing something different. Yeah. I don't know if it worked or not. I have to watch it. And by work, I don't mean, did it get, you know, a, they hit a million viewers.

No, they did not. They may not ever see a million viewers again. But in this context, it doesn't really matter what the ratings are. The fact is they tried something very different. It may have bombed. It may have been a horrible idea. Or it may have been a really, really great out of the box. let's surprise the audience with something that's different than.

That's why I'm so excited about it. It's different than what they typically do. So kudos without having ever seen it. And I don't care if the match sucks, which I know it doesn't. But even if it did, kudos. Try something different. The only way they're going to get out of the hole that they're in and they refuse to believe they're in, which is part of the biggest problem.

is to do something different because what they've been doing for the last two years has clearly, demonstrably, undeniably failed. It's not working. Tried something different last night. And maybe the results of it, again, I'm not talking about the ratings, reaction to it. Maybe it will inspire them, motivate them, or give them confidence to continue thinking a little bit differently than they've been thinking. So I'm happy.

I was really surprised that they went the full-time wrestling. You know, if you're really trying to be different than WWB, starting the match and going a full hour on wrestling in a single match, that was pretty cool. But I did just think, oh, okay, they're going to do the draw again. And when MJF stole the victory right there at the end, I thought the same thing you just said, well, that's different. So we'll see how it works.

Of course, as you and our recording, we don't have the ratings yet. not that it probably even matters that much, but I do want to circle back to something you just said. I'm not sure that they'll ever see a million again. You don't really believe that, do you? Oh, I thousand. I bet a lot of money on it. What could they possibly do?

Now, if there's a massive change in vision and strategy and people involved in the creative, then maybe. I mean, there's always hope. But we both know how likely that is. so setting that off to the side I'm looking at what they've got and where they've been

and the talent and I'm not talking about the talent in the ring and the talent behind the camera there is absolutely no reason to believe they'll ever hit a million they're going to be lucky to hit 800,000 again it's it's

we're going to be in the fall and football and college football and and eh I don't I think they'll have a hard time to see an 800 but I think last night if I had to guess 705 710 somewhere in there Eric is a high watermark that's her 250th episode MJF to Osprey two of the biggest stars are well whatever two of the biggest talents in the company biggest stars in that company

700 plus thousand viewers cool but like I said maybe it'll start it'll start a chain reaction of creative vision or ideas or just throw some other shit up against a wall something that doesn't involve fucking blood and 300 high spots

but you know ever is a long time right I mean, ever is a long time. I mean, I'm just saying, like, you take a look at the ebbs and flows of the WWE, the ups and downs of WWE. And I'm not necessarily comparing them. I'm just saying, like, their business has gone up and their business has come down and their business has gone up again. And we hear that phrase all the time.

All the rassling business is cyclical. Is it not possible today? No, it's not for, if it's cyclical, it's affecting both companies. I've been through that bullshit. use before. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I endorsed that position before. Oh, it must be that, you know, it's not us. Not the fact that we can't come up with a good idea.

It's not the fact that we don't have the greatest talent. It's not, you know, it's not us. It's, the wrestling business is cyclical. If the business is down or everybody in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, in the, I'll entertain the conversation. That's not the case for AEW. They're down because the audience is not buying the product. It doesn't matter if it's professional wrestling or jiffy pop popcorn.

People are either buying it or they're not. And less and less people buy the product every week. What do they have like 2,800 people at their 250th landmark show with the two biggest stars in the company? and they drew less than 3,000 people? That's not cyclical. That's just dying. WWE's businesses up year over year. They're setting financial records every time they open their mouths.

Attendance records, ratings, year over year. Business is not cyclical for them. It's only cyclical for AEW. And it's not even a cycle. It's like when you flush a toilet. Oh, come on now. God damn. And it starts, it starts out slow.

And it's a downward spiral. It's slow. Why are you taking so much joy in this? I'm not taking joy. I take joy in fact versus the bullshit that lives because of idiots like Dave Meltzer, who are constantly making excuses. That sounds something. like accusing you of peddling his shit.

But it sounds like something, yeah, I know business is a little down, but, you know, it's cyclical and they'll come out. No, they're not. Give me one reason to think that AW is going to come out of this downward cycle. Well, help me understand. Like, I understand you wanting to beat the death drum because you're doing a gimmick or something. I don't know. I'm not doing a gimmick?

We got 40,000 tickets sold for Wembley. Who gives a fuck? Who gives a fuck? I don't think Turner Broadcasting, or excuse me, Warner Brothers Discovery does. I don't think the people that didn't buy tickets to last night's 250th episode landmark mega event. Hang on, hang on. They were in North Little Rock, Arkansas. I just want to point that out.

This is their debut in the venue, North Little Rock, Arkansas. This building was probably picked for routing on their way to Texas. I don't think they expected to have a shit ton of folks there. They've never been to the market before. They probably routed at this way. Why promoted is a 200? Then why ever promote it? It's a television property,

not a live event. Like, AW's not in the live event business for real. They're a television. I mean, they're making their money from television. You know that. I know.

That's all the money. Their pay-per-view and television are the only two revenue streams they have. Yes. With 103 or 105 million. dollar talent budget let me ask you it's a little lopsided

is my point let me ask you though you're going to tell me that the only reason they picked Little Rock was for routing and there was no thought given, there was no planning there was no discussion

about the fact wait a minute this is our 250th episode we want to make a big damn deal out of this we're going to treat it like a pay-per-view, are we in the right venue? I think that conversation happened? I think conversations like that probably happened a couple of years ago where they were really concerned about the optics, and I think now they're running a P&L more.

I think there's been a change in leadership, and they're taking into account, hey, to keep these trucks going, how much does that cost? And if we're trying to cut costs and get a P&L in line, we're going to lean into the fact that this is a television property and that makes sense but while they're setting up residency in Texas like if we're really going to do that on our march to Wembley

then we're trying to do that to cut costs and reduce some overhead so that's probably why they went to Little Rock that's a defensive position not that you're defending them but I mean I understand that if I was in a room and it was like if I'm the guy advocating wait a minute this is our 250

episode. We want to get some momentum. We want to correct course. We want to reestablish our brand and create some enthusiasm and momentum. What better time than our 250th episode. Let's go to a bigger venue where we know. Let's go to Chicago. Whatever. Pick out of town where you know you can fill it up or at least get as close as you can. I'm the guy selling that. You're the guy going, Buck or Fother, look, red, black. There's only two colors of ink here. And all of its red if we decide to go to whatever venue you want to go to.

Here's how we stay in the black. I would hate to be that. I would hate to be in that conversation. I would be frustrated, but I would also know that that would be the right decision despite my frustration and my emotion. So I get it.

Can't be critical of that if it's actually being run like a business because there's a lot of other things that suggests to me that it's really not. It's being run as a fantasy, a hobby. But if that's the case, that's the case. And the only risk of that is as you become more efficient and are managing your costs as you need to do,

the perception of your product suffers. And that's the downward spiral. That's the death spiral. And I've been in it. I know exactly how it feels. It's like you're forced to make one decision that's only going to take you in the direction you don't want to go eventually. You may delay it. You may be able to camouflage it, but you're still circling the drain.

And as you circle that drain, this is a perfect time for a Tissue commercial, by the way. But if you're circling that drain, the closer you get to the end of it, the faster it goes. And that's kind of why I don't think they'll ever hit a million viewers. They're in that drain. I know that sounds horrible. He's hoping, oh, why does he sound so cheerful? I don't fucking sound cheerful. I'm the guy who's actually fucking been there on both sides of it.

And I know what I see. And I know when I see it. It doesn't mean because I'm talking about it that I'm joyful about it. I'm convinced that I'm right because I've been there and I've seen so many of the similar patterns. But it's not joy. Just passion. Well, all this circling the drain talks got me thinking about our friends over at Cremow. After a hard day in this hot Florida heat, I just want to take a shower and relax sometimes.

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How easy is that? Once again, find Cremos men's body wash and the brand new distinctive bourbon vanilla scent at Walmart or Walmart.com. Hey, I can I write one more thing on this product? Yeah. I was at the Jameson Distillery in Scotland. Last fall, Lori and I went there. We took a tour.

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Awesome. Check it out at Walmart or Walmart.com. You'll be glad you did. Eric, I know we're going to talk about some current stuff. I hate even bringing up AEW stuff with you because I feel like I know where it's going right away. But you and I didn't talk about it. You're adding, you're aiding and abetting this misinformation narrative campaign.

It's like you said, I hate to bring it up because I know exactly where he's going to go. Did I not put Tony Kahn in AED? over for being different? Yes, you do. Did I not express that sentiment with emotion? Yes. And unambiguous clarity? Yes.

You're right. I was all wrong. Let's just hit the reset button. Let me give you a chance. Hey, Mariah Mae and Tony Storm had a heck of an angle where she left Tony Storm a bloody mess. What did you think, Eric? You loved it, right? they tried something different.

It's different then by God. So got to be good. You loved it. Thank you. Because it wasn't me saying you're not going to like it because that's not fair to you. So give you a chance. And I know how much you love blood on the ladies on television because it's different than something scintillating about it.

It makes me tingle every time I see it. Well, I'll be honest. I loved it because it was. different than. This feels different than what WWE or AEW rather has been doing. It was a really long storyline. And I think a lot of us were waiting on the turn to eventually happen. We just didn't expect it to happen in the manner in which it did. And Mariah actually did an interview where she talked about getting a phone call from Tony and Tony laying this idea out a year ago. Hey, I've got an idea, but it's a long-term idea. Now they're on a collision course for Wembley.

A year-long story, Eric, and it's paying off at a big show. I know maybe you don't like the execution of how they got there. But you got to give him props for that. That was cool. If what you said is true, because we're hearing secondhand, third hand information as part of the story, in terms of when it was presented and Tony's reaction to it, all that, let's assume every syllable that is 100% accurate. Yeah, props, because it's story.

we can debate the quality of the story and what what a quality story needs and whether or not this particular story, just like the Tony Khan elite NWO light angle, that was a story. It just sucked and made no sense. It didn't connect to the audience. Guess you could call it a story as this is a story. And I'm not defending it or criticizing it actually because I haven't followed it enough to be able to do that, which is why I'm willing to take on its face. The fact that this idea was presented were a version of it, and what we're seeing is a manifestation of a creative decision that took place a long time ago. That reflects long-term booking, at least an attempt, regardless of whether it's good or bad or indifferent.

Yes, kudos. It's an attempt. I agree with you. I want to talk to you a little bit about advertisers because I'm not in the television business. Don't pretend to be. I know you're not in it necessarily anymore, but boy, you knew a lot about it once upon a time. And some of what we're going to talk about here may have changed, and you and I don't really know now. So I just want to ask.

But one of my concerns when I saw it, because as a wrestling fan, I was blown away with the story and the execution. I was like, wow, I didn't see that coming. That was awesome. But then I had paused for a minute, and I took my fan cap off, and I put my business owner hat on, and I wondered... Boy, is WW going to use this against AEW with the ad agencies? Are they going to turn off some female buyers for the different ad agencies who already assume that wrestling is lowbrow or it's for poor people? That's another thing people think about wrestling fans.

Or it's for the uneducated, something that people think about wrestling fans. Or it's for kids. Either way, if it's for kids, you don't want... a bunch of blood on there. He darn sure don't want bloody ladies. And I know once upon a time, that was a no-fly zone. But I do feel like, hey, man, if it's okay if the guys do it, then how can we say it's not okay if the girls do it?

Even if it's not your cup of tea. I don't mean to say girls dismissively. You know what I mean. But I'm just saying all that to say. I think AW only has two advertisers, Draft Kings and State Farm. I think they're making the lion's share of their money through the television rights thing,

not necessarily participating in advertising. Is it that big of a deal to advertising in 2024 to have the ladies bleeding like that on television? Or is that thinking from yesteryear? I think it's even, it's an even more sensitive topic today than I was. It was only a big topic in the past because of Vince McMahon wanted it to be. Okay.

When it was appropriate, when it benefited him, he wanted to criticize Turner Broadcasting for the use of blood. This was before I ever got into to management when I was an announcer there. That happened back then and happened several times during the period of time

that I was in control of WCW or partial control at least. And we did the same when it came to WWE. we wouldn't when they would either because it happened quote unquote the hard way or is a natural result of the contact in the ring and it wasn't part of a script of course we would bring a lot of attention to that to point out the hypocrisy but that was done almost internally and yeah we our ad salespeople would use it and so would their ad salespeople would use that kind of thing against us but i think the general audience now i think people are so much more hypersensitive to everything now. But you can trigger someone by walking past them when the wind shifts direction and they think it's your fault.

People are so hypersensitive. And that includes people. Now, this is where you're, this is where you're on the money. See, everything else around the issue is debatable. It's subjective. I like it. I thought it brings reality to it. I think it brings more drama to it.

Good or bad. Whatever I think about that doesn't fucking matter. It's subjective. We all have a different take on it. What's not subjective, what's less subjective or less obvious in terms of its subjectivity is how ad agencies feel about it. It's how they feel. Not what the numbers say necessarily, although they can work against you if they're bad, but even if the numbers are good, if the content makes an ad agency feel or a network feel like it's the wrong thing to do,

even if it's out of fear, which a lot of decisions are made based on fear. Yes. We're very risk-adverse, especially when it comes to advertising. That's why television is such a treacherous business to be in right now, is decisions are not being made just with with numbers feelings predominantly fear are driving a lot of decisions and choices and not just television but movies as well so i think and it's one of the reasons i hate blood it's not because visually i i can't take it that's not the issue the issue is when i see it because i don't look at it like a regular wrestling fan i watch wrestling i'm looking at as a

producer. I'm looking at it as the guy that has to be responsible for the bottom line. Whether I am or I'm not, that's how I view things. And when I see what you saw, I have the same reaction you had. Now, and I don't mean to, I'm sorry, Conrad, I'm on a roll if you want me to No, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. If you go back to my interview with Stu Snyder, really, really good at conversation about exactly what we're talking about. I'm using Stu's words now. I'm not trying to make myself sound more intelligent than I am by ripping somebody off. But from Stu's perspective, and it's obviously true, wrestling over indexes typical programming in terms of its rating.

It gets good ratings. It under indexes in terms of revenue relative to those. ratings meaning meaning if you get a great rating for your show if if if AEW hits a million viewers tonight but the advertisers look at that product and go I don't want to go anywhere near it right the value in a if if a lot of advertisers feel that way and by the way none of them are like none of free thinkers, right? They follow the pattern. They're like fish. They just swarm around in the ocean going wherever the most food is. Nobody's going to buck the system, so to speak, when it comes to

ad agencies. If that program, if that content makes a buyer feel, feel easy, like it might be the wrong thing to do for some reason that they can't even articulate, but it's just, wow, they feel down inside, that ad agency is not going to recommend that buy to their client because they're not going to want to take the risk. No ad salesperson wants to have to answer to a client that picks up the phone and says, hey, Eric, you put $5 million in my budget into a program and this is what I just saw. Why would you do that? No ad person wants to. No ad person that call. So they'll make decisions based on not getting those types of calls and that type of content, regardless of how the dirt sheet internet wrestling community feels about seeing women

in blood, if it makes people squeamish, it's bad for business. And when you go back to the conversation about over-indexing and under-indexing, let's fast forward that just a little bit. We still have a deal between WPD and AEW, not announced anyway. That means they're still deciding. Why in the world, and this is me, why would you take that risk? Right now, the problem that AEW has, which is the same problem by the way WWE had was Smackdown. The numbers are different, but the problem is exactly the same. Fox didn't reduce Smackdown despite, despite being number one in the evening across all television on Friday nights and all the other bullshit PR, here's my headline of the

week, storytelling, none of that fucking mattered because when it came down to the point where somebody had to grab a calculator and go, okay, it's going to cost us this, and here's what we've been able to get from it, from an ad sales perspective, and we can't afford it. Yeah, they lost money. I mean, that's what nobody talks about. Fox lost money with WWV. I mean. And that is such a glaring and important point of all of this rhetoric about the renewal and

what's going to happen. And Dave Meltzer's speculation about doubling and tripling their license fees. because, oh, look what's going on in sports. All that silliness, because that's all it is, this silliness, it's wrestling fan silliness at its lowest level in some respects. None of it matters. Now, if Fox couldn't make money with WWE, and it's 2.1, probably 2.3 million viewers on average,

and AEW is getting 700,000 viewers, and advertising in general doesn't like wrestling to begin with. Why make it that much harder by focusing on the blood? And that's a business question. It's not an anger. I'm not angry. I'm not bitter. I'm not yelling at a fucking cloud. I'm in my tree house.

It's as close as I'm going to get. but it's just an observation based on experience and common sense. This podcast is supported by Talkspace. When my husband came home from his military deployment, readjusting was hard for all of us. Thankfully, I found Talkspace. Talkspace provides professional support from licensed therapists and psychiatric providers online.

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That's talkspace.com slash military. I'm not saying that this is a hard and fast rule. I'm not saying it's a fact. I am saying that I have bought millions of dollars in media advertising from our mortgage companies through the years, and I have sold millions of dollars in advertising through our podcast. And what I've found is, more often than not, the buyers for those agencies are ladies.

and I think a lot of ladies I'm talking not the lady in your life who knows you're a wrestling fan and so she's a little familiar with wrestling but I'm saying if you just beep-op around some you know 30s 40s 50s ladies they have an opinion that wrestling is for kids and when they see this

it makes me wonder is their pause to putting some advertisers there. I think it already puts you in a box because it's wrestling. We've all heard that. We're all familiar with that. We all believe that to be true.

We know that to be true. But I wonder, does the box get even smaller when you have ladies with blood? Creatively as a fan, I thought it was awesome. But I did wonder with my business hat, is this going to be a net negative? Creatively, I'm fulfilled,

but I do wonder, is it going to be a net negative? And I hope not. I really do, hope not. Another aspect of this, and this is the human aspect of it, because you're right, the vast majority, even back when I was actively involved, I don't want to throw out a percentage, but I would not be surprised if someone came to me and said, you know what, 80% of the people that are really selling ad sales at the highest level are women. I mean, the ones that are out there knocking on doors. I'm not talking about the executives and CEOs. I'm talking about the people that are actually doing the work are women. And you know where probably 80% of those women live?

New York. Yeah. Like New York City, because that's the hub. That is the center of the advertising universe. Yes, there's L.A., yes, there's Chicago. There's even some in Minneapolis. Madison Avenue is still a thing in 2024. It's probably 80% of the market.

Yes. So now you've got 20-something, generally speaking. 28 to probably 44 would be the age range that I experienced. Right. I'm talking about executives and the people out knocking on doors. Young women in New York are not going to have a high opinion of this. It's going to make them feel squeamish. So whatever, we'll find out.

It's just to me, the timing, it's like, okay, I get it. Maybe do it on my pay-per-view. Don't do it on my television show. adjust the four if i'm so committed to making these two women bleed all over each other okay you can sell me on that if you need to i understand it on television though it's just i that's not hate that's some jealousy it's an a envy it's disappointment another opportunity and it's just i don't whatever she's subject I guess let's talk about something else

I'm enjoying creatively with AEW for the first time in a while I'm really into two at the same time lady storylines normally there's one that I can sort of get behind but there's two now not just the Tony Storm

Maria Mae but now we've got Mercedes Monet and Britt Baker I'm glad that Brits back she's an AEW original the crowd is all about it it's clear from the day one you and I I felt like Mercedes, although she's being celebrated and positioned as a baby face, she's a heel, as Bruce would say in his Jim Cornett voice.

So I like the idea that Britt Baker is now positioned to be the baby face and Mercedes is positioned to be the heel. And it certainly appears to the live audience anyway, if you're taking a listen. These crowds, man, they're firmly behind Britt Baker. Is this just what the doctor ordered, pardon the pun, for Mercedes, Monet? I think it's great. I am a fan of Dr. Baker. If I lived closer, I'd even have her work on my teeth.

And I got a mouthful of money. Trust me, when I tell you, she'd have a heyday. She wouldn't even have to wrestle anymore if she had me as a picture. She'd be floating around on a boat on her own Caribbean island somewhere. But I think I'm excited for her. I'm also mildly enthusiastic until I see more, mildly enthusiastic about the opportunity here. I think that the way they brought in Mercedes was such an obvious misfire. I mean, that wasn't even a misfire.

That was just a dud. Nothing happened. It was actually worse than bad. And it set Mercedes back because, again, when you manage, I'm sure it's the same in your mortgage business. this, Conrad, running the business, you've got to manage, managing expectations is important in almost every aspect of business, whether you're buying, selling, managing people, whatever the case may be. And then from a creative perspective, managing expectations has a lot to do with how you build

someone before they come in. Do you do a pre-build? Do you tease them? If so, how do you tease them? What's that look like? You know, build up to it. Create some anticipation. That's normally how it's done.

I guess they went the wrong way right out of the shoot, which set Mercedes back because everybody expected so much and they didn't get what they expected. Now they've got a bad taste in your mouth. It's like going to the refrigerator thinking that you're grabbing a carton of milk, you know, when you've had a couple too many cocktails and you're staggering around around 4.30 quarter to 5 in the morning and when I open, when I close,

you stub your toe on the refrigerator, You open it up. I'm going to reach in. I'm going to grab some milk. Oh, I just need my mouth breather. My throat's all dry. And I go to take that first chunk of milk and it's orange juice. And your brain just shuts the hell down.

Your throat closes up. Your eyes start bulging out of your head because you're expecting milk. But you've got orange juice. And that's what happened in Mercedes. That's funny. That was a good analogy. But now, look, it's almost like this is cool enough for me that I can almost pretend I didn't see what I saw a couple months ago.

I can almost forget it. It's like, okay, it's a bad dream. It just happened, boom, it'll never happen again. Let's move on and see what this is all about. I'm to that point. I'm not almost to that point. I'm at that point. Mostly because somebody woke up and said,

she's not a baby face. You should have never done that. So let's make her heal. Good decision. Let's bring back Britt, better decision. Now, not better, just as good. Because it feels fresh. You want to talk about feeling fresh.

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but it's crazy. Listen, I think everybody knows this. Cleanliness is next to guideliness. And in my background here today is my house that we built in Pensacola a few years ago. Every single toilet here has a tushy on it. Yeah, how about that? We want to wash away all the stickiness of sweaty summer poops with a tushy bidet. I'm a big believer in this. It's time of the year for maybe a little spring cleaning, but maybe with a clean butthole to get you going. If you're looking for a more permanent bidet at home, Tushy has the absolute best options for badees that attach to your existing toilet. You see, that's the thing that a lot of people misunderstand. hopefully you're watching along with us on YouTube or better yet just go see for yourself

at hellotushy.com slash 83 weeks this attaches to your existing toilet so it's not like you're looking at a whole new plumbing circumstance here you just put it right on top of your toilet it replaces your seat right it's like some people might call it a washlet you need to call it tushy the install is so easy that anyone can do it in under 10 minutes but these 10 minutes will truly change your life. I'm not making this up. I put our gimmick attorney on this, Mike Dawkins. He came to visit me in Huntsville, Alabama, and he spent the weekend at my house, and that meant he had his own bathroom with his own tushy. And he said, dude, what is that, and how do I get one? He went home, he made sure he got one in his bathroom. His entire family

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No, that'd be stupid. Tushy is not stupid. Stay fresh, shower fresh all summer long, and join the 2 million butts who already switched to Tushie. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order. When you use our code 83 weeks at checkout, that's 10% off your first bidet order at health. Hello, Tushy.com, and use our promo code 83 weeks. That's H-E-L-L-O-T-U-S-H-Y.com, and the promo code is 83 weeks. Eric, what do you think about your Tushy? Well, Superdame, could you go back to that graphic, please? You see that young lady, if you're watching with us, you're seeing a beautiful young lady. probably mid-20s, whatever, sitting on a toilet,

she got her hand on a little dial there that I'm guessing why. No, controls, because I've got one, controls the flow, right? Look at the look on her face. That is not representative of a look that you would get because you're cleaning your ass. That's another kind of look. And the first time that I ever experienced that look, okay, Dave, we can lose it. The first time I ever experienced that look was on an adelaide was on a trip to Japan back in 1996. When I brought my wife with me, courtesy New Japan Pro Wrestling, Antonio Noki, Masa Saido.

Mr. Baisho, thank you all. Michi Sayato. But my wife and my kids over and we spent a week in Japan at the finest hotels in Tokyo. One of them had a bidet. I didn't know what it was. I'm looking at two porcelain, but, you know, one looks like a toilet. The other one, well, one looks like a toilet in a cockpit of like a 747. Got dials all over it.

And then there's a bidet. I wanted to try the one with all the dials. Mrs. B tried it first. She went in, took a shower, came out. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. let me just say that Mrs. B. B.B. was a believer in the bidet

from that point forward. Fast forward to 1997 as we're laying out the blueprints for our home here in beautiful Cody, Wyoming, one of the most beautiful places in the world. This home that we're building overlooking the mountains and the reservoir and deer and elk and all kinds of stuff all around us,

Mrs. B had to have a bidet. So when you say it can change your life, next time you come out here, here, or if when you come out here, take a look around and I'll come up and I'll show you the bidet. It all started in Japan, 1996. Big fan. Big fan. You and your wife will be big fans. Hello, tushy.com. Use the promo code 83 weeks. I'm telling you it's a game changer. It is a non-negotiable in my life. You know, we renovated that lake house. I'm talking every single toilet has it. I mean, every toilet that I've owned in the last 10 years.

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Hellotushy.com. Use the promo code 83 weeks. Hey, so let's talk a little bit more about some modern news and notes. You mentioned near the top of the program that for AEW 250, the attendance wasn't wild. it was just over 3,000. But we know they're setting up residency in Arlington. They're going to run a ton of shows there before Wembley. And now all of a sudden, there's been some whispers, some suggestions out there that perhaps

AEW is going to be looking at doing a stadium show. Fightful and Sean Ross Sapp are suggesting that perhaps they're looking in Dallas, which means a lot of people are thinking, wait, are they going to run the Cowboy Stadium, AT&T Stadium? Tony Kahn was quoted as saying it's not something we would be looking to do any time here in the immediate future but it is an exciting idea and something I think we absolutely could

and something that would be very interesting I love the idea of the super show I think a lot of us do people got really excited about Wembley we know they're going back to Wembley do you think there's a chance that perhaps they try to do an all-in type show

a big stadium show, a Wembley-type affair in Dallas, Texas in the next year or two? It's hard to know. It's impossible to know, number one. So you just kind of look at the obvious things that are in front of us right now. They put 3,000 people in front of a live television presentation of their A show with their two biggest stars. I don't care if they're in a little. By the way, I filled arenas. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

So the small town market thing, I'm going to make a note of it, but if I'm analyzing that situation, that's not an excuse. It's an observation, but not an excuse. Look, I dismissed Wimbly a while back when you brought it up,

and I said, I don't give a fuck. And it's because it really is an outlier. It's not representative of anything other, than just the rabid wrestling audience that exists in the UK. There is a massive wrestling audience in the UK that just love wrestling. And yes, they wanted to come and experience AEW.

They sold, what, 80,000 tickets last time? They're down to 40 now. So still a big, still 40,000 tickets. It's a big damn deal. I'm not dismissing that. I'm looking at the gap, though. I'm looking at the impact of the last. event on the marketplace and what people felt about the product when they saw it, which manifests

and represents the interest level now. You're not there because it's an outlier. It doesn't matter. So if you just look at what Tony's been able to achieve in the U.S. North America, he didn't do it very well in Canada either, which has another rabid, predictably rabid. Maybe not rabid isn't the right word, but they've got a voracious appetite for wrestling. and they didn't do very well there

and okay a stadium show what are they going to put in that here's the part where I think it's possible Jerry Jones shot con NFL owners sure

that that that that mitigates the cost and accessibility obviously so it's not even the cost of the venue how do you get people people in it. They're not coming to your shows. When 5,000 people at a pay-per-view or 10,000 people

is like your high watermark, why are we even talking about a stadium? That's my take. I hope for one it happens. I love the idea of the super show, the big show, and I wonder if it's almost field of dreams like. I mean, that had to be what it felt like to go to Wembley. If you build it, they will come. I know that's a new market, and those people have never really tried it. And they hung on to SummerSlam 92, and this gave them something new to get excited about. And they are doing it to a diminishing return this year. So we'll see if they can come up with that super show idea for a big stadium show in Dallas.

I got my fingers crossed. Did you see that Rick Flair made the news this last week talking about his time in AEW? I did not. I know that he did, but I did not read or listen to any of his comments. This comes up because a lot of people have been speculating that, hey, Rick Flair is done with AEW. I don't know if that's necessarily the case. I did see a report that perhaps they're not going to be promoting his mushroom energy drink on the show anymore. But he says that he had some creative ideas where he wanted to turn on Sting one last time and have the Stinger put him in the Scorpion Deathlock.

that was back at Sting's last match in March. We haven't seen Rick Flair since on AEW programming outside of those plugs for his mushroom energy drink. Would you have liked to have seen Blair turn on Sting one last time and do you expect

to see Flair back in any capacity with A.E.W. Look, first of all, respect the hell out of Rick Flair. He and I are finally, again, this roller coaster keeps happening, but But we're on really solid ground right now.

So I just want to be extra careful because I know how people like to twist and turn whatever I say or you say anybody. You know, to create a headline. Respect the hell out of Rick. I understand why he would be motivated to come up with something like that or be a part of an angle like that. Because that part of Rick Flair that has such an amazing. passion for the business and his whether he wants to admit it or not subconsciously or consciously he has a need to be in that ring even if it's just one more moment he's no different than Mick Jagger he's no different than a lot he's no different than Stevie

Knicks who's still out touring I know that because I'm looking for tickets game time coming at you a lot of performers perform because they just have this need to get out there and feel it one more time. And that's where Rick's at. And he earned that right. But I don't think that that would be if I was Rick's manager or he just trusted me for advice, that's not the best. Despite his need or desire, I should say desire, his powerful desire to just experience that one more time, that's really not what would be best. or the character at this point in time because the audience is not going to want to buy into that.

They would much rather see those two guys hug. Sure, there will be some people who go, oh, yeah, but that reminds me of the very beginning. The end, hangs on the beginning. I heard Eric Bischoff say that on 83weeks.com. It must be true. And, oh, look, we're going right back to where it all started. So there's an argument that could be had

that would make sense to some people. Maybe a lot of people, I don't know. But if I had to bet my money and give my best advice to a client or to a friend, it would not be that. It would be the opposite of that. I would put sting in some kind of jeopardy. I would try to plant a few seeds along the way,

before Singh got into jeopardy that maybe Rick was there for reasons other than the obvious, the obvious being to be in Singh's corner and support him. I just plant the seed, not overactive, because you can kill it just by overdoing it. But subtly, just get the audience to ask themselves, what, I wonder what Rick's really thinking. Like, if you could achieve that, boom, check the box, move on to the next element of the story. and then put singing that jeopardy, make it look like there's no way out, looks like Rick's going to come. This is a simple, we've probably seen this angle a million times.

It's not hard. And it's not unique. But it's simple and it's basically and it works because it creates the emotion that you want. Have Rick come out. Give us just a beat. Don't overdo it. Don't underdo it. Give me a beat.

Make it look like, ah, see, I was right. I didn't think Rick Flair was there to really help singing out. I was right. And then, boom. Let not make the save necessarily, but be the catalyst for Sting making his comeback. You don't want to give her too much at that point because it's not necessary, number one. And number two, Sting is your guy. And you want to focus on that story.

And let Sting make his comeback and then just give me a big old Japanese bear hug in the middle of the ring when it's all over. That's the moment that people want to see, in my opinion, or would have wanted to see between Rick Flair and Sting versus getting heat on Rick. That, by the way, it's never going to go anywhere because that's it. It's done. It's one and done. People don't want one and done with Rick. They want to hang on to the nostalgia, but they want to celebrate him.

And you can't fight that. Rick can try out as hard as he wants, and I know he believes when he says that, you know, it would get heat. I know he believes that. And it would. I just don't think it would get the benefit that a moment, like I described, or something better than I described, but basically the same thing. Yeah.

Rick had this to say. He said, it would have blown the roof off the joint, and it would have made me a heel so I had somewhere to go because it's just hard to get people to get mad at me now. I think that's pretty astute that he recognizes, boy, people want to cheer me. It's hard to make them want to hate me. If you were going to try to do something with Rick Flair on television in 2024, I know he prefers to be a heel. Would you use him as a baby face?

Cut right, this is a conversation that I started having in 1995. Rick has always liked to be a heel. Because heels are in control. Rick loves being a heel. he's actually I'm going to be careful what I say here my impression Mr. Fleer is that you are more comfortable

in every aspect of your character as a heel it comes more naturally it allows Rick to be in control to a large degree Rick is also a giver he can be a taker but he's a giver he wants to how many times

if you heard people say, Rick Flair could, you know, have a match with the broom and make the broom look good. That's part of who Rick Flair is, which is part of why Rick Flair became Rick Flair. Who doesn't, what type guy doesn't want to work with Rick Flair? What type guy wouldn't even come to WCW unless Rick Flair was there? Speaking of what, did you hear that Hulk Hogan is not, this is Thursday morning? Hang on, hang on. I'll get there.

Keep going on your thought. I'll come back there. All right. So, yeah, Rick Flair has always been a giver. That's his claim to fame within his peers. He made me look good. That's a task, by the way. And as a guy who's more comfortable as a heel,

who's more secure in his performance as a heel, because he gets to do what he's best at as a heel to ask him to be a baby face is like asking me to go to work for Dave Meltzer. It's so uncomfortable that it actually, in my experience, it wound him up a little bit. He just doesn't like it because he knows what he's best at. And I used to tell Rick, and anybody that would listen to me, Kevin Sullivan, shout out to Kevin Sullivan, by the way. Yes, sir. Yeah.

Rick Flare, you probably have heard me say this before. It's a bad way of saying it, but it's accurate. I used to say Rick Flair could walk out to the ring with his 2001 Space Odyssey music in his robe and then he can pour gasoline on a bunch of little puppies, like the puppies on fire and stomp out the fire. People would still cheer him. My God. Because he's Rick Flair. What's going on in that brain of year? That's exaggerated, callous, crude way of saying it.

but that's how and that's going back to the 90s it's been a constant thing with Rick he loves beauty hill but he loves being healed for all the right reasons he's talking about his time with Tony Kahn and Rick says I don't think Tony knew that I was on blood thinners I've been doing all that shit for all these years I've had blood clot since 2012 Tony if he asked me once he asked me 10 times He said, please do not cut yourself.

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about a month ago, I'm traveling. I'm in a hurry. Late, boom, I left my Hansen Razor in my hotel room and didn't realize until I got home and unpacked. I'm hot. I'm also, I always procrastinate. I put everything off, right? I'm going to order my Hansen Razor tomorrow. I'm going to, oh, I'm busy. I'll do it tomorrow. Whatever. I didn't get around to doing it right away. So I was forced to go by, I'm not going to name the name brand, but it was one of those $39 disposable with two blades, gimmicks, right? And it looks cool, like it looks like a Porsche, like the guy that designed a Porsche Carrera, designed this $30 disposable razor, but it was all I had, and I had to shave.

So what did I do? I got it, right? Shaving, and it, look, it did the job, sort of, kind of. I had to work at it a lot more. But one of the things I noticed was because that disposable razor, look so cool in design, you know, space age looking shit, but you can't get where you need to get, you know, especially like right under your nose. If you're not careful and you're in a hurry like I am all the time, you leave that little bit of whisker there under, you don't realize

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talking about AEW. We do need to talk about what's been going on with WWB. It looks like SummerSlam is coming together. We've got Solo Sacoa officially challenging Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE title. Ria Ripley is back and challenging Liv Morgan for title that Ria had vacated.

What do you think so far of this whole RIA, Live, Dominic, Judgment Day storyline? This has to be right up your alley. It is from a storytelling perspective. I just, it's again, well done. They're paying attention to the details of the story, meaning elements that are required to advance the story when you want it advanced. The story is being structured in a way that gives the maximum control of the audience's response. And that's what you hope for.

When you can control their emotions and all the way up until the point where there's going to be a climax to the story, ending to it, or the next big step, whatever. Attention to detail is what's making it work and the performance. This is a very, you know, Dom's been here before. this, you know, love of fear thing is, or ambiguous relationship thing is that's, it's a very comfortable zone for him to play in. And this is just taking it to the next level. So it's great for Dom. I mean, everybody's winning out of this.

Who is not benefiting from these stories? First with Dom and, uh, Ria and now live. Come on. Everybody's winning here. So how do you not admire that story? In terms of me sitting down as a fan and, oh, what am I interested in seeing? This probably wouldn't be one of my top things. But as a producer, it would be near, if not, at the very top right now.

Because it's just story and character work. Is Ria Ripley the biggest upside female star in wrestling right now, do you think? In my opinion, she is. I don't even think it's close. Like, I saw that they allowed some WWE superstars to be a part. of the Call of Duty game. It came out this week where you could have Cody Rhodes or Rio Ripley or even Ray Mysterio inside the game.

And just her character, her wrestling character inside the game, it looks like she's out of the Terminator. It's unbelievable the presence and presentation that she's got and that she's so freaking young, Eric. I mean, we're talking about a really young person here who is seemingly the light bulb has clicked for them in a big way. She's only 27 years old. I kind of think she's got the biggest upside of maybe any lady out there right now.

She's magic. And here's what I know of her. Very, very limited contact with her. But about a year ago or so, I was contacted by a friend. I'm not going to drop his name. It's a big actor, very well-known actor. and said, hey, I've got a relative, big fan of Ray Ripley, any chance you could set up a phone call. Sure.

It's not typically something that I do because I know how much work goes on on the other side of that, whether you're the talents or the person coordinating it. And it's just one more thing that you've got to worry about and try to manage. So I very rarely have ever asked these favors. But I did and no problem, got all the assistance I needed. And I put the young man on the phone with Ria and I was part of the initial setup of it and introducing them to each other. And I just listened for a few moments. She is the sweetest person.

She is that little glimpse. Now, granted, I don't know. Maybe there's a whole other side to her. I don't know. but the part I was exposed to briefly, however briefly, because you can tell, I can tell, usually. I can feel sincerity. I can feel somebody who's grateful for an opportunity to talk to a fan

versus someone who's doing it because they were asked to. There's a difference. and in the first 45 seconds of me just listening to them opening up I was so grateful to her and it really to me spoke to the character I know it's a micro glimpse but I choose to believe

that little glimpse of what I was exposed to helps define who this young woman is because if I'm even close to being right she's going to be a star a woman's star in a magnitude that we have not seen yet. It'd take five years. It'd take three. Well, it could happen next week.

I don't know, but it'll happen for her. She's amazingly talented. She got a great look, and I truly believe at her core, she's a really, really sweet person. That's going to work. It's inevitable. You can't even fight that. not only does she understand how to tell stories in the ring and she's a great in-ring performer,

but she's got this look that's sort of out of this world and it's different than what we've seen. I mean, there you see, that's a clip of the video game, Eric, and it just looks like, oh, well, that's her real character. Oh, wait, but look, there's shit on fire in the background and she's got a giant machine gun in her left hand. That somehow makes sense. And in her next major feature film. Right. I'm just saying, like, the camera loves her is a phrase we used to hear all the time. And that seems to apply to Rhea.

But what's really cool is how relatable she seems to be. Allegedly, right before WrestleMania, the biggest night of her life, she had a panic attack. And that happens a lot, but usually people play it close to the vest. For her to be open and to share that even though when you're at the tippy top of your game, you're still getting your own head and second guess yourself? dude what a relatable star she's going to be box office for the wwee for a long time let's keep it moving here let's talk a little bit about damian priest he's going to be defending the world title against gunther and a lot of people are wondering hey uh what about

set ralins hey uh what about drew mcintyre hey uh what about c and punk i for one am looking forward to this it feels like gunther has been a maid man for quite a while, Damien Priest has certainly established himself as a bona fide main eventor, but I hope this is the crowning of Gunther. I loved him as intercontinental champion, would love to see what he would do with the new big gold belt. What do you think of this pairing at SummerSlam? I am measuring my words here, just to be so clear, I have enjoyed watching Damian Priest. I've enjoyed watching his rise. And that's the fan part of me and also

the producer part of me. I love to see guys that you don't necessarily pay much attention to at some point, you know, maybe for the last year or two. And all of a sudden you start seeing these little hints that maybe there's something better in the future for them. I love following that. And sometimes it happens and, you know, your instincts are validated. And sometimes it doesn't Why didn't they do that? Why don't they listen to me? But I've enjoyed watching him. I have to be honest, though, his match with Seth left me ambivalent.

The botch finish, you mean? It wasn't even the botch finish. I had checked out of that match because I was watching it and I made notes because I knew we were going to talk about it. I mentally checked out of that match five minutes, four minutes after it started. slow it was awkward i didn't believe uh amian what i mean he didn't believe i didn't feel like he was 100% invested in what he was doing that could have been nerves it could have been because he was thinking through it there could have been changes in the layout of the match minutes before

they went out there could have been a million reasons for it nonetheless when i was watching and i went oh wow this is not good and i'm hoping that we'll see another side of of him in this match. So that's one feeling. The other feeling is I'm like you, man, I want guns. I just want him to. I want it for him. That's the bad.

That's a sweet spot. Here we golfers talking about the sweeps about. A minute you make contact with that ball, you just freaking know or batter who makes contact with the ball. They can feel it in the marrow of their bones. They know it's going out of the park. That's an awesome feeling. and I want that for Gunther and as a promoter man that's what you that's what you pray for

that's what you work for it's when you know someone's really over when the audience wants it for them Cody Rhodes which we're going to talk about the audience wants it for them for them almost as much as they do it's hard to get there yeah I hope I hope Gunther gets it And I hope Damien has a great match and allows me to put when I saw last kind of in a background similar to what I did with Mercedes, beginning at AEW, just give me something so good that I forget about what I didn't like last time. That's a great way to say it. Hey, you guys quoting me and twisting and turning my shit, copy that down or write it.

Let's talk a little bit about seeing Punk and Drew McIntyre. I don't think anybody saw this coming and it almost feels a little bit like a Garth Brooks song because once upon a time people had really high hopes for seeing punk and the dream matches he could have at WrestleMania and it came down to him and Cody at the Royal Rumble and Cody was victorious but because punk wound up injured

well he didn't wind up wrestling Seth at WrestleMania and he didn't wind up losing to this guy or that guy. We got heavy, heavy, heavy on promos and story. And now we've had several months to build the C.M. Punk and Drew McIntyre. It does feel logical that they're going to do this at SummerSlam. It's probably the hottest feud in wrestling. And one of the guys wasn't even cleared to wrestle.

You think story matters? How pumped are you for Punk and McIntyre? seemingly at SummerSlam. Not yet. I'm not going to lie. I know everybody that listens to my show thinks all I do is put over WWE

and Barry AEW. Neither is true. But in this case, and I want to, I want to be excited. First of all, massive Drew fan. I mean, as a person,

his story, it's not like we're good friends or anything, but, I just, I love the fact that he tried and he didn't make it and he left and now he's back. I just, to me, that's like the best story of wrestling for me. But as much as I want to like it for Drew and for punk, because I'd like to see punk redeem himself completely. I mean, I think he has in terms of people's perception of him, even the anti-punkers, of which I was one.

Admittedly, he brought upon himself, but I want to see him succeed in WWE, and I think if there's any opportunity for Punk to really control the latter part of his career and end up with a positive legacy and a shit ton of money, that this will work out for him. That's what I want to see. But I'm not there yet. And maybe it's because, look, there's an injury. reason we're heavy and we're on story and promos is because we can't do anything else right now right or haven't been doing anything else so you it's not like a creative choice it's

creative necessity but maybe they've overdone it maybe they've dragged that story out and didn't manage it because of the injury they were not able to manage the pace of that story and that's kind of what I talk, when out the elements of each one act and when that element needs to happen, because a lot of these elements need to happen generally in order or proximity because you're managing emotion. And I think perhaps because of the injury, they've had to extend the dialogue versus the entering narrative, entering meaning in action, that they've kind of lost me. Or maybe it's just me. And I haven't. heard anything yet that makes me go, oh, now I really want to see this. But we got a lot

of time. I just hope punk stays healthy. That's, you know, not getting any younger. You don't heal. Your body just doesn't metabolize nutrients the same way when you're in your 40s as it did when you were in your 20s. And it takes longer to heal. It's just effective life. And there's things you could do to speed that up, obviously. But still, once you get to your early 40s, mid-40s, it starts getting a lot tougher than people realize. And I'm sure he's got the best of the best in terms of rehab, facilities, and nutritionists, and doctors and everybody else.

And he's probably already got a lot of that background himself. But we'll see. I just hope he stays healthy. Roll tight on that. I think we're all hoping for him to be healthy. and we're also hoping that we get the return of Roman Rains. The story that we saw a few weeks ago with Paul Heyman, not pledging his allegiance to solo and getting power bomb through the table,

has a lot of people sort of looking at SummerSlam wondering, will this be a suitable spot for Roman Rains to return? We haven't seen him since WrestleMania. It seems like it's heavy on bloodline story right now in WWV, and it does feel like we could be positioning. ourselves for maybe a civil war with the bloodline. Do you think Roman Raines comes back at SummerSlam? I hope not. I hope not. It's too soon. There's been so much going on in WD. First all, just step back. Take what if you're a wrestling fan that watches every Monday Night Raw and

every Smackdown and every dynamite and every rampage and every collision in it, whatever else is floating around out there in the universe, TNA, which I keep hearing is getting better and better every week. If you just step back and look at wrestling on what we've seen on TV like a chessboard and how the major pieces have been moving around, okay, Roman's gone, but there's been so many moves on the chessboard since that time, then it's hard to even recognize that, oh yeah, he's been gone. There's so much going on.

Nobody's missing him. there's no just deep down in your instincts your subconscious kind of i really like to see romans show up kind of wonder if romans going to surprise us tonight they're not there yet they haven't absence makes the heart grow fonder only works if the absence is substantive enough to create the desire amongst the audience to see the star otherwise they're just on a coffee break So I hope not because I think it's I think that would be rushing it in my opinion but I don't know their business I'm not looking at their numbers I'm not analyzing anything I'm just going by gut feel and a little bit of experience well let's talk about it you

mentioned WWE's got so much going on it certainly feels like from the outside looking in they're firing on all cylinders we're right at 100 days into the Cody Rhodes rain atop the WWE universe. He is the top guy for WWE. And Dave Meltzer's come out and said

something along the lines of. Cody Rhodes is more over right now than John Sina ever was. And I'm sure he's using metrics like ticket sales and merchandise sales and things like that. Their rumor in innuendo

is that Cody himself is even sending those numbers to John Sina to see, hey, does this seem right? Because I don't think a lot of people really saw this happening, but Cody's hotter than ever. And I'm wondering, you know, as you take a look from the outside looking in,

what do you think of Cody's first hundred days atop the WW universe? My opinion means nothing as a fan because of my obvious bias. Just yesterday, I was sitting out of my deck with a cup of coffee, my dog. I had finished talking to God as I normally do when I'm outside on a day like yesterday. And I was reflecting back. And I actually had some music on, and I heard this. It was Garth Brooks, I think it's called The River, came on. And I had a flashback to Dusty singing along with that song when we were driving down

a road to an event, Janie Engel in the car and Doug Dillinger. and Dusty loved that song. And if you listen to the words of that song, to me, it just represents Dusty. And what I perceive Dusty's inner thoughts do have been. This is the best way to say it. So my connection to the Rhodes family, my personal bias,

disqualifies me for anything other than I'm excited about it. But the business side of me feels differently. There's no emotion on the business side. And I think on the business side of things, the numbers speak for themselves, which is exciting. And it's exciting because exactly what you said, Conrad, you're 100% on the money. No one expected it. Yes. So now I'm thinking, what are they going to do next?

What was their original plan when they weren't expecting this? And how is it changed? When I say business, I mean creative as well. And that's a fascinating, you know, and I don't know, I don't try to know because that takes a fun out of it for me. If somebody tells me where it's going, it's like, I've got nothing to think about. Thank you very much. I'm really not watching.

You know what I mean? But I'm fascinated with it all. I'm so happy for all the reasons why I'm biased. But I'm also really excited about the business aspect of it because that. that can have some serious ramifications in a positive way. Trust me, it's not a bad thing. It just opens up more opportunities. And I'm not going to lie because we're talking about it.

Now I'm excited about it because I drink some really good coffee this morning. And about half hour after that, I got into the cratum, bam. Off I go. Off I go. But yeah, we'll let it go with it. I'm just very excited, interested to see how it impacts what they do going forward. I'm interested to see it too. I love what they're doing with Cody.

I'm excited to see what's next. It's been a long time since we've had a big baby face like this. But occasionally, even big baby faces would create a little bit of controversy. We saw him do an interview with friend of the show Chris Van Vleet recently. And, well, there were some people who were upset when he was asked to, about AEW, and he gave what he felt like were some pretty honest and forthright answers, I'm sure. And our other buddy, QT Marshall, over with AEW,

who's a personal friend to Cotees, had a little post from AEW, wishing him happy birthday a couple days ago. And in Spanish, a fella jumped in and said, hey, your best friend to keep his mouth shut when it comes to AEW. And QT, who still works for AEW, by the way, quote tweeted this and said, tell people to stop asking him about it.

If he can't handle his responses, don't ask the questions. The responses he gives are some of the most politically correct responses. He's sitting on top of the opposition and still keeps his responses classy. I think QT brings up a good point. Cody's sort of damned if he does and dams if he doesn't, because if he fields an AEW question and he says, I don't want to talk about that, that becomes the story. if he gives a politically correct fair and honest answer that becomes the story what do you make of this non-controversy we're asking cody about a ew and whatever he says

is an issue a little weird look the the social media fan base i'm not going to generalize and say the entire fan base but the social media fan base of a ew that i see a lot of are softest, least informed, emotionally challenged people I've ever seen on social media. And it's mind-boggling to me. They're all little acolytes of the Dave Meltzer School of Thinking and have subscribed to the tribalism and the victimhood of AEW and to be AEW is to be under constant attack from the WW.

Tony Kahn and Dave Meltzer set all this shit up and now they whine about it. And this little group of weirdos that are AEW social media supporters are just marching along, following that lead, and everything's everybody else's fault. It's be bad,

WWE. It's the tribalism. It's so bad. And I'm with QT. Dude, if you don't want to hear it, just don't listen. If you're that emotionally sensitive and developmentally challenged, that comments that are just straightforward answers to a question, if that triggers you, if that hurts your feelings and makes you want to lash out because Cody Rose didn't say the things that you wanted him to say because if you were Cody Rhodes, you would do it a different way.

So you're angry at Cody for not being the mental midget that you are and the emotionally stunted, underdeveloped pain in the ass to probably everybody around you. Your family, your friends probably just can't stand being around you because you're triggered so easily. Fuck them. That's what I say. I was pretty straightforward honest. I'd be telling, I'd be telling Mucker Fathers, you want to know some dirt.

You want to know what it's really like back there? Do you want to do you want to know what the rest of the roster tells me every? week? There's a, look, there's bodies in closets. You don't want that. This guy instead of complaining about it, should have thanked Cody for being professional. If he was really that concerned about the perception, and by the way, it's not perception, it's reality. If he was really concerned about the reality of the audience's rejection of AEW, because that's what it is, it's not perception, it's real, then perhaps you would appreciate it with someone like Cody in the profile that he's in goes out and handles the question professionally and doesn't

take any shots or pull any skeletons out of closets and start dangling them out there for all the clickbait geniuses and newsletter writers. I think he did the right thing. It's just unfortunate that so many people can't handle the truth. What the truth. Can't handle the truth. I love that scene. Well, something that is the truth.

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I want to thank him for a lot more than that, but let's move on. Okay, there we go. Hey, listen, let's talk about where we are with Cody. you know, I think that's pretty clear what a big influence he was with AEW. I mean, take a look at the AEW with Cody Rhodes and the AEW without Cody Rhodes. And, well, there's is probably a story there. But what he's doing these days in WWE is pretty remarkable. It's a run that we haven't seen in WWE for quite a while.

We've had Brock Lesner as champion for an extended period of time. We've had Roman Raines kind of as a part-timer. as champion for an extended period of time. But you'd have to go back to John Cena in his prime to find a guy who's doing as many personal appearances, as much media, and as many live events. Cody Rhodes is on a tear. To the point that our friends over at WrestleMania

have showed that some markets are up 40%. Other markets are up 70%, Eric. I mean, I think we all knew that creatively the show was doing well. I think we all knew that he was selling merch well, but to hear that some markets are up 70%. Is it Cody? Is it the machine? Is it that the system and just the genre was desperate for a new

John Sina, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Babyface? A combination of all of this? Like, man, being up 5%, 10%, 70%. It's unbelievable, Eric. It's all of the above. I mean, any one of the litany of success data points that you just enumerated, none of them would have happened without the one that preceded it.

I mean, it's just, it's everything. It's go back to, I think the market was desperate for a change, creatively speaking. I think there was so much focus on Vince and there was so much anti-Vince and all the drama that came up even prior to Vince, leaving the company eventually, but there was plenty of drama and just, you know, people getting creatively frustrated and not getting what they had hoped to get from WWE for a long period of time. So that when that change occurred, there was a honeymoon period. People were just so happy that there was a change that they were willing to, you know, be excited about what's next

without even knowing what was next. That's how tangible the desire for change was amongst the audience. And then you've got Triple H who worked under Vince for years. He knew what needed to be done. He saw what WWE was capable of doing. He also saw what was keeping it from happening. And once he finally got the opportunity and the support, Nick Kahn, off he went. And we've talked about this before. I don't, you know, I, there's probably a lot of new people on the creative teams now that I don't know and have never met.

But there are still a few there that I have worked with, including Bruce, including Ed Koski and others that I've known for over 20 years. These are highly, highly, highly, highly talented people. You know, the Dirtsheet universe doesn't, can't, well, they don't know because there's no way they could know. just how talented and important a guy like Ed Koski has been and still is. Bruce doesn't get nearly the credit that he deserves. And there are probably a lot of others there that are so good, some that I don't even know. But if they don't have the opportunity to bring their skill sets to the screen,

it doesn't fucking matter. And that's what Paul Aveck did. He made it possible because he recognized the asset that he had, the resource, and he allowed them to do what they're capable of doing. Do I think Paul Levec is sitting in a booking room 12 hours a day drafting story? Absolutely not. But do I, or are trying to come up with ideas. But do I think he's done a phenomenal job of putting the right people in the right situation to create the best opportunities and then be in a position to choose the opportunities that he feels most

confident in, that's a, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's nirvana if, if you're in that role. When you've got enough people underneath you that you have a hundred percent confidence in, you don't second guess them, you don't judge their ideas before they walk in the door. So enough of that, right? You, you, you, you're willing to accept another version of something that didn't work as well as you wanted it to. me an example I'm sitting in a room I'm going to make a creative assistant

I got three people pitching me stories I hear the first one I like it I hear the second one I like it I'm just not sure I like it better than the first one let's see what you got and that third story starts out

and it sounds something like so Eric I'm just thinking what if our baby face character does such and such and then no one's expected you know

our heel character does this whatever that this is right and if any element of that story that setup jarred a memory of something that sounded

remotely close what if I were to say I don't want to hear the rest of it that's stupid damn that's a dumb idea. Who are you? Who hired you? And where are you going to go to work after today? You know, that's, but what if that third story, once you got past that initial reaction, had elements that could have been one of the best stories you ever told? You'll never know

because you just cut your opportunity down by 33 to 3%. That's what that's what triple that's what Paul Levick is done. He's got the right people in the right place. He's got enough confidence in Bruce, and Bruce haven't enough confidence in the people that are working it with him. He knows where the cream is. He knows where to allow it to rise to the top.

And Triple H ultimately gets to sit back. And I'm sure he has some input, I would imagine, because he's got passion and you can't help it sometimes. Trust me. But he's also in a position where he can sit back and look at all this stuff and allow his, instinct to guide him the rest of the way.

That's, man, that's, now if I'm envious of anything, it's that. Really? I'm sitting here talking about it going, man, alive, that would be awesome. Are you a diehard Packers fan? Then you need the Packernet podcast in your life. Tune in daily for the latest Packers News,

analysis, and insights from every angle. We've got multiple shows covering everything from game breakdowns to roster updates. Don't forget our fan favorite call-in show Packernet after dark. That's right, you call in and talk about whatever you want because here it's all about you and your passion for the Packers. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe to the Packernet podcast today and never miss a beat. So Eric, let's talk a little bit about where we are with this whole comparison. You know, I said it at the top of the segment. We're hearing a lot of people compare the run that Cody's on to the run that John Sina had.

Sina has become a big topic, of course, because he's announced he's doing his retirement tour. Next year is going to be his last year in the Rassland biz. And there's even some debate. Will they do this story about him chasing number 17? He, of course, in storyline, is tied with Rick Flair. Would you put over the next year in change, would you put John Sina in the title picture and would you have him stand across the ring from Cody Rhodes?

That would not be, that's not an easy answer at all. A lot of thought would have to go into that before you could say, sure, I'd do that. That, I would have to let, that would take me weeks to wrap my head around because there's so many implications. Not only what can I achieve, that's fun and exciting because you're just projecting success. Who doesn't want to do that?

But there's the other side of that. There's the missed opportunities, meaning the creative opportunities that could have been there had you not placed all your bets of your biggest bet on Cody Sita. So you've got to try to evaluate the potential of those missed opportunities as well. And then it's like, where does it go after that? You know when one of them goes after that.

But if Cody's going to be around for a while, how would that story play out for Cody? And it's not as obvious as people who, yeah, but John Cedas passed in a torch. Okay, have that one and go read their cheat. If it's, first of all, seen as a legend, Cina doesn't have the Rick Flair problem, meaning nobody wants to see him as a heel. But he's,

he knows what it feels like. He's had those thoughts, right? Nobody wants to see that. I'm sure there were times of John's career where he contemplated turning heel, and I'm sure part of him knew that that probably in some respects that would be great,

not long term. So if the audience is not going to want to see Sina go out as a heel, I don't think. He's got Rick Flairitis. People love him too much. He's been around too long. He represents too much of their childhood.

They do not want to see their childhood hero at this stage of their 30s or the 40s and whatever they are. They do not want to see the guy that they're putting up up there with, you know, the wrestling version of Babe Ruth, and now he's going to turn heel and beat up the catcher. No, I can still see it. And for that reason, how does that, if they're not going to do that,

that means they're going to do something else. And if that's something else, is Cody beating John Sita in a straight up baby face, baby face match? Does there really do anything for Cody? Isn't it already expected? from the perspective of, well, that's how business is done, yes, generally, typically, historically, sure. But is that what's best? So I don't know. It would take a lot of analysis.

You have to hear people pitch it both ways. If I was faced with this decision, I would, if I had two creative team, if I had one creative team, I'd split them up. You're going to pitch me, Sina, you're going to pitch me Cody. and let's start talking about it and really trying to visualize it backed up with a little information of data research to help support that's what I would do but I couldn't answer that right now hypothetically I know we're fantasy booking and you don't like that but hypothetically if we put the belt on Gunther and Gunther goes on a dominant tear and now he becomes our Ivan Drago.

John Cena could play a heck of a Rocky Balboa challenge at Gunther for the world title at some point. Oh, God, man, that's so good. Wouldn't that be good? That is so good. I mean, what is professional wrestling really? Well, we know what it is. Well, he has a different opinion.

But when I look at professional wrestling genre, no company category and when I look at where video games are WWE is a real life version of a video game no doubt and the fact that we were just talking about WWE talent like Cody spinning off into other formats in the same genre in this case, call of duty, only goes to the mainstream cross-promotional opportunities

that are going to only continue to grow under TKL, primarily because of R.E. and everybody on that side of the equation, as well as an econ. That acquisition is going, we're seeing the tip of that iceberg right now. And what will be fun is when you start seeing, seeing, especially with AI coming around the corner, oh, that's going to be fun.

It's like, oh, man, I wish it was in a wrestling business now because I'd, like, I'd be an intern on that duty, right? Finding ways to integrate AI in a very futuristic way, you know, a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, what can I do now? What am I going to be able to do two years from now? And let's start planning for that and working backwards. But if you can imagine the kind of cross-promotion that's going to exist between other cross-promotions like the one we just talked about

and wrestling because they're really the same thing. Wow. So much opportunity. This is a great time to be in a wrestling business. It's a great time. And it's a fun time for us to talk about these hypotheticals. Like we all know, eventually Roman Raines is coming back. And you've made it clear that if it were up to you,

you wouldn't bring him back at SummerSlam. But hypothetically, when Roman does come back, I think we both agree, he's going to come out to a huge ovation. He's going to be positioned as a baby face upon return. Would you agree? You know what's so interesting? Yes, I do agree. But you know what's so interesting about that is he won't really change character.

But yes, yes. He's going to come out walking, talking, appearing in every way, consciously, subconsciously, and cosmically. He's going to be the same character as he is when he left. And that's badass. I would normally, I would normally slap a mucker father that said that to me. Because it's so stupid to be able to say that, but it's unique. And in this case, it's true. And one of the challenges that I used to have with Roman as a heel is I needed to see Roman as a heel.

I saw Roman as a guy I wished I was I saw a guy that I aspired to subconsciously I wish I looked like Roman Reigns I wish I had that physique I wish I had that ability in the ring professionally I wish I could walk into a room and command the presence that someone like Roman Reigns commands

not because he's intimidating because he has this look and the charisma to go with it so how do I How do I look at a guy like that and dislike him or hope that he fails or hope that he gets beat? I can't. I want to be him. If I was 14 years old right now, I'd be growing my hair along and painting my little goatee on.

That's, man. But now, because of the bloodline storyline and the just. either by intention, by design, or default, that has become the template for professional wrestling for generations going forward from a storytelling perspective. There are going to be derivatives of the bloodline storyline that my grandson will be hearing about later in life. But because it was done so well,

Roman's going to be able to come right back and be the exact same guy. This time they'll be cheering him on. They'll feel about him the way I've felt about him from the beginning. They're going to want to be him. They're going to live vicariously through that character. The same way that people live vicariously through the characters that they most enjoy watching in movies. the same way they felt about Tom Cruise and Maverick Top Gunn, they wish they could be that guy.

He already is. It's awesome. Do you think that it's going to be a challenge? Because you dealt with this before in WCW, where it was too crowded at the top. You almost had too many top guys. How can you feature them all? Do you think you're going to need to separate Roman Raines and Cody Rhodes,

like put one on Smackdown and the other on Rawls? sort of thing. Will they sort of overshadow or compete or will one feel less than? Is there a risk to putting them both on the same show? Or do you think you should keep them separate until it's time? Or what lessons can you share with us from having maybe too many top guys? I'm literally trying to imagine being in that position. My first, my go-to instinct, this is like, okay, somebody just threw a grenade,

I'm going to get in my foxhole. I'm going to duck first and I'll worry about what I'm going to do next as long as I don't die. That's the kind of response I'm going to give you. I'd keep them separate until I had time to think through a plan that made sense to put them on the same show. But keeping them apart, initially, in my opinion, gives me the luxury of time to plan. And that planning process, that decision-making process, would take months. Because you'd have to listen to a lot of really good scenarios. And some of those good scenarios of potential stories, in and of themselves may not be the answer,

but they lead to something else that's a derivative of it. But then you've got to go back and rework it. So it's just such a time-consuming process. If I had to make a decision quickly, it would be separate. Let's talk a little bit about where we go from here as far as just pop culture. I do want to get to some questions, but we're talking about Cody's first 100 days. We've mentioned that some of the houses with him on top are up 40, others are up 70%. And I'm wondering, do you think we've reached a point yet where Cody's name is,

mainstream. Are we not quite there yet? Like, I sent you an article from a few years ago that talked about where they just went out, I think Forbes went out and interviewed like 500 and something people. Hey, name a professional wrestler. And like a third of them couldn't name anybody. But Hulk Hogan's name was most recognizable. And believe it or not, John Sina's name was even more recognizable than Austin. And I got to assume that's because of the appeal of kids, because John Sina has stayed a kid favorite, almost like a comic book hero or something like that. So clearly that's the direction Cody's headed. With the high profile and the success that WW is enjoying now, do you think Cody is there at that upper echelon?

And if not, how much longer of this run do you think we need to submit him as a lot of people's maybe a Mount Rushmore like a John Sina or a Bruno San Martino or a Hulk Hogan or The Rock. Really good question. I actually read the article twice. And to all of the people who subscribe to 83 weeks.com, our YouTube channel and their exclusive members, I sent them all out of video last night actually talking about this very subject. Not so much as it relates to Cody in this context, but about that story.

So I'm going to spend just a minute talking about that. And then I'll actually answer your question. When I read that, first of all, I didn't realize that that story was written in 2022 because I went right to the, you sent it to me, I assumed, my bad, assumed that this is fresh off the press. And I looked at it and went right to the headline and went 33% of the people in the United States can't even name a wrestler. wait a minute that means 66% of America can identify a professional wrestler yes there are 350 plus million mucker fathers of us running around this country and 66% of us can name a professional wrestler I took it as good news writer was positioning it as not bad news but, hey, is this a problem going forward?

That was the undertone of that article. Is WWE losing favor in the mainstream? Not if 66% of the mucker fathers can identify a wrestler, they're not? Talk about glass half full, glass half empty. Come on. But, okay, now let me answer your question. I just want to talk about that article because I found it fascinating. Cody, I don't, how much longer, that depends on the kind of opportunities that we're going to see more of, i.e. call of duty. The more of that transition back and forth you have at a high level, promotable level, the quicker that crossover becomes because other business categories look at it and go, hey, it's working for them. Maybe it could work for us. Let's pick up a phone and give them a call. You know, that's, it's,

So that shit happens. There's very little original thinking out there anymore. It's usually what's working for everybody else and do that too. So I think every opportunity that comes down path for Cody is only going to collapse the timeline in terms of when is he finally reached that level. Because it didn't, you know, all the aforementioned talent, you know, it took Steve Austin 15 years, 20 years of his career to get to that point. Same with Hall Cogan. Not quite as long, obviously. It doesn't happen overnight.

And Cody, in relative terms, they haven't been around that long. He's been around WWE for a long time. But the character we're seeing now is we're talking two years. So it's going to take some time. We're not there yet to answer. I think to answer your question first, no, we're not there yet. How long is it going to take?

It depends, like we just said, do I think it's going to happen? Absolutely, because he's got all of the attributes. I'd love to be his agent. I'd love to walk into any meeting with any executive with Cody Rhodes at my side representing his product or project. He's an easy sell. He's a class act. He's a pro.

Look at Cody, take aside whatever you think about a professional wrestling. When I'm sitting in the last time I saw him, we were together, I was on his bus. And we're having a beer. All I see is potential. I see Cody Rose, the wrestler, the son of someone that I greatly respect. But I also just see a ton of potential. By the way, I just want to mention the poster for SummerSlam, I know there's a few different ones out there.

But there is one that's just him and solo. And I wonder if you went and showed that to somebody in 2020, 2021, hey, here's the main event of SummerSlam, Cody Rhodes versus Solo Socoa. I don't know that many people would have called it. So for all the criticism that WWB gets, or maybe even that the Cody detractors throw his way, man, WWE is making stars and just

being in the main event of SummerSlam for the title. Think about what they've done with Solo. And that's not just Cody, of course. That's the whole bloodline and Paul Heyman and everybody involved in the process. But it feels new. It feels fresh. It feels big. It's working about as well as it could possibly work right now.

Let's do some questions. And then we'll put a button on this one. Optimistic says, is there any financial or business reason for these long overruns every week Do they do anything positive for the company as a fan? I'm a little over it at this point. Conrad derail the train if he doesn't stay on factual information and starts on his 57 anti-AEW rant of the show. Okay, so we're not going to rant about AEW.

But the overruns, drop some game on us here, Eric. What was, is there more to it than what we think that, hey, this is going to give us a strong rating because people are tuning in to watch the next show. but they're still here and maybe they'll come back next week. We're trying to have a broader audience sample our wares. Is there more to it than an... There's so much more to it and what I don't... And I really don't give two shits what this cat thinks about my anti-AEW stuff.

It's his way of interpreting what I have to say. I invented the overruns. Nobody was doing overruns because nobody was doing live TV every week until I did it. And certainly nobody was doing live TV again. against their competition every week until I did it. So it never happened before. Pointing that out because I'm sure someone's going to say, yeah, but he stole the idea from Japan.

The idea, the original idea, starting early was, that was an obvious one for me. I wanted to take advantage. Have you ever read Sun Tzu Art of War? Yes. There's a lot to learn there about managing resources. in terms of waging war and the ability to win them. And the same is true in business.

You know, managing your resources. If managing, I mean, just being fully aware of your resources, what you have and what you don't have. And you can't achieve anything without that, really. But I know, okay, what's one of my resources? What do I have that my opponent doesn't have in the very beginning? I'm alive. He's not.

So I'm going to take advantage of my resources that I have and my opponent doesn't. and I'm going to jumpstart my show and while I'm doing it, I'm going to take a shit all over theirs because that will give me a tactical advantage. And that's exactly what I did. And it worked really well. Later on, and probably shortly thereafter,

the idea occurred to me that, hey, if manipulating the time on the front of the show works, Why not try to make it work for me after the show? But the strategy of doing it at the end was completely different. I should say the tactics of doing it at the end were completely different than the tactics of doing it at the beginning. My tools were different. My reasons for doing it were different. One, I wanted to pull the rug out from underneath my opponent before he realized he was standing in the ring.

where he actually started but at the end this is where it gets completely different and this is while I was smiling so much ready to bust out laughing as you were asking the question because I knew where it was going relating to the question Tony doesn't know why he's doing an overrun

he thinks an overrun is going to increase in ratings simply because you tell everybody there's going to be an overrun I've seen them do it 100 times. That's not why you do an overrun. You do an overrun because you want to manage the audience's emotion and convince them like any good actor or actress or writer, director, producer, Tony, any one of those people know that managing that emotion and allowing the audience. to believe even momentarily that what they're seeing is real.

Because their emotional attachment to what they're seeing is so strong, it overcomes the logic. They forget that they're watching television. Emotionally, they connect. Well, one of the ways you achieve that heightened state of emotion, Tony, is you create the perception. You create the scene, particularly when you're live, where things have escalated beyond the point of planning and now have taken on a life of its own. That's how you create urgency, Tony.

Urgency is an emotion. urgency and wanting and not wanting to take your eyes off of what is happening in front of you, particularly if what you just saw in your three minute, four minute, six minute, overrun was of such a heightened state of emotion that not only did it create urgency in that moment, it established a foundation of anticipation. What's going to happen next? week. Now, what are you getting ADW?

Tune in tonight because we've been awarded a five-minute overrun. Oh, sorry. Aaron Loves Wrestling has a question for you. Who wants to know? Do you think WWE will return to an attitude-era-like product when Raw goes to Netflix? Smackdown will be more family-friendly since the show will be on USA. and raw will be a more adult-like product. I feel like WWE is already teasing that

with some of the content we see on TV already, going as far as they're allowed to. And also, if this happens, will that be the nail in the coffin for AEW? Now, of course, he phrases it that way because there's been a lot written about, well, WCW couldn't compete with the WWE when they went to the attitude era.

They had standards and practices and turned or shut it down, blah, blah, blah. So that's the reason that comes up again. but could you see a separation of sort of church and state hey the family friendly WWE that's on USA but over on Netflix

that's a different ballgame could you see that being the new way for WWE in 2025 sure I mean even some of the things that Paul Levec has said publicly in whether it be answering questions in the media or just whatever

has teased that I think he's actually made a reference to it Not in any kind of granular way, but touched on it. So I would suspect that to be true. I think it's the degree to which, you know, I personally, I hope they don't go too far with it. It'd be nice to have some room, you know, drop an F-bomb here, there. You know, let's not pretend little kids are watching our show on a large basis. Yes, there will be some little kids watching this show, but your core audience,

is what we know it is. And as long as you stay true to your core audience without going too far, people won't react to that. Pretty common. If we go back to nudity, mild nudity, if we go back to some of the gratuitous type of comments that were more like nerdy frat guy comments, as opposed to cool, relevant, or hip.

As long as we don't go back to that, it'll be fine. And I don't think it'll have any negative impact on advertisers. I talked about this before. Just keep in mind, an advertising agency, they don't give two shits about wrestling. They don't care who Tony Kahn is. They don't care who Paul Vec is. All they care about is making greatest return on investment for their clients

because that's how they get paid. So that advertising, that lady in advertising isn't going, not only she's not going to distinguish between WWE and AEW necessarily, other than what the numbers represent, but she's not going to know the difference between Smackdown and Raw or he. Nobody's going to be following that closely. The people that are selling it don't know the product. So they just lump everything into one. part of the problem.

So I think as long as they don't go too far on Netflix, that show or the perception within Madison Avenue will probably not be affected as long as they don't go too far. If they do, and all of a sudden we're talking about nudity and our semi-nudity, whatever, R-rated things that you would typically see in an R-rated movie, if we start seeing that on Netflix instead of a WWE brand, I think that's a problem.

I think there's a lot of daylight between that and what they're capable. Well, what I'm capable of doing right now is helping you save some money and save withconrad.com. If you haven't already, what are you waiting for? Go check it out. Find out how much money you can save. Check out this review we just got from Landon W. The communication with Larry and his team, mainly Francis, was always pleasant and solution-oriented. How about a 4.87 star review from Illinois?

excellent communication everything accomplished in a timely fashion wrote mark what about kevin up in spokane he threw us a five star as a new homeowner i had a thousand questions and larry had an answer for each one of them one after another more than a thousand five star reviews at conradreviews dot com but you can save some money for your family with my family right now at save with conrad dot com you don't need perfect credit you don't need money out of your pocket and if we can't save you some cash, we won't waste your time. But we're routinely helping renters become first-time homebuyers. Yes, there are programs for you in 2024. Not only that, but we can help you get rid of all your credit card debt. Think about that. Wouldn't it be nice to get rid of all that

credit card debt? Just like that. We're routinely helping our podcast listeners, say five, six, seven, even 800 bucks a month. And we do that by taking a look at how much income's coming in and how much is just servicing debt? Is there a smarter way to pay that debt back? Once you owe it, it's up to you to figure that out. Like, what is the smartest mathematical solution? We want you to pay as little interest and keep more of your own money as possible. That's our mission at savewithconrad.com. And again, you don't need perfect credit to do this because we don't say no. We say not yet, but here's how. We want to be your mortgage advisor for life. And yes, we're based in Huntsville, Alabama. But we can help you coast to coast right now.

What's the worst thing that could happen? Find out how much money you can save right now for free at save withconrad.com. There's no credit report fee. There's no application fee. We're going to try to save you some cash and get you a plan to do so. We're not going to waste your time at save with Conrad.com. AnimalS number 32416. Let's do a few more questions and we'll put a button on this one.

Cleveland Screamer wants to know, Eric, prior to Nitro, did you ever consider going live on Saturdays at 605, so to speak. No. No. I didn't believe that. And we had tried live a few times. We did some live WCW Saturday nights long before Nitro. And they were beneficial, but not on a sustained basis. It wouldn't have made the increase in cost would not have, would not have allowed us to get a return on the investment. Meaning if it cost me $100,000 or $50,000. dollars a week more to go live, there wouldn't be a big enough jump in the ratings for WCW as a brand to benefit in any financial way. So I'd be blowing 50 grand a week just so I can say I'm going live because none of the

uptick from ad sales would have benefited WCW in any way, shape, do that make sense? Absolutely. Now, if ad sales would have said, okay, we'll split that 50 with you, we'll absorb 50% of the cost to go live because we get 50% of the benefit. get 50% of the benefit, cool, I'll do that. But to ask me, which is what happened in WCW all the time, and that's the kind of thing that Guy Evans touched on in a very detailed way with this book, Nitro. That's what Dick Cheatham was talking about in the seven box Dwayne Johnson documentary series of Who Killed WCW. That's what Dick Cheatham was talking about.

So we would pay a lot of the expenses for the revenue-generating opportunities that these other divisions would benefit from, but they didn't want to share in the expense of achieving it. That's the weird spot that WCW was in, just because of the structure of turn of broadcasting. Sorry, too much detail. In the weeds. Coach Rosie says, people thought you were nuts giving away big matches on Nitro. your decision is proven to be correct. What do you think the impact of MJF and Osprey on Dynamite will have on ratings, ticket sales,

storylines, and pay-per-viewbys? This comes up because a lot of people assumed, hey, that's what they're doing at Wembley. They're not going to do that on free TV, but they did. And the result is, Dave Meltzer said, it's the best match in the history of Dynamite and one of the best 60-minute matches he's ever seen. So I know you haven't seen the match yet. But I am curious because, boy, you just got gotten quartered about having Goldberg and Hulk Hogan on free TV. Yeah, by, by Dave Meltzer, by the way, too.

So there you go. And everybody else that everybody else thought they were an expert. I mean, the question, there was about three or four questions in there. If we could put it back up again. What impact do I think we'll have on ratings? Look, it's Thursday morning at 10.24 a.m. Mountain. time. Ratings won't come out for a few more hours. I predicted somewhere around 710, 712,000 viewers would be my estimate at this point. So I don't think it'll have any

impact on ratings. Now, Wembley ticket sales, no way of knowing. Nobody has a crystal ball, but if I had to place a bet, I think that what they did last night only enhanced the potential or Osprey and MJF and Wembley. Nothing they did last night hurt either one of them. The only thing that it created, and I haven't seen it, but based on what I've heard and Conrad,

the way you presented it to me, not only did it not hurt, but that finish came out of nowhere, and from what I've read, pretty well executed too, by the way. Yes. In terms of the technical execution of it, if all that is true,

all it's going to do is add more interest. So it's not going to have a negative effect. How much of a positive effect, we're going to know real soon because we get reports on ticket sales from Wembley on a regular basis, don't we? Now, Russell Ticks, isn't that owned by AEW? No, no, no, no. You know that it's not true or you don't know if it's true?

I don't believe that to be true, no. Okay. So, and I wouldn't either. I would see no advantage in doing that if I was telling. I think you're getting something confused there, just to time out. Mookie, who's the real-life Chris Harrington, he was once heavily involved in Ressle-Nomics with Brandon Thurston. Now, Chris Harrington, of course, is one of Tony Kahn's right-hand guys in the office of

AEW, but as far as I know, Russell-Ticks is not really involved. No, I wasn't confusing Russell-Nomics and Russell-Tix. actually saw several people discussing it on social media. And I didn't have an opinion of it one way or the other. It didn't make any sense to me because if I owned a company and I didn't want people talking about how my ticket sales aren't moving, the last thing I would do is put it out there all the time. But anyway, I digress. We'll be able to see. We'll probably see a post somewhere in the next day or two talking about the current ticket distribution at Wembley and where it was last time.

You can just find that on your own and see. So probably in the next three, four, you know, wait until the weekend, give people time to go, okay, I want to pick up two tickets to Wembley or when I get around to do it or when I get off work, whatever, over the weekend. Let's see what it looks like by Monday, Tuesday of next week. And if there's been a sizable increase in the ticket sales, I think it's a safe bet to assume that that was because of what happened, not in spite of it.

We're going to do two more questions, and then we're going to talk about something we said we would never talk about here on the show. So hold tight. We're going to get there, but I will give you a heads up if you want to turn it off before we talk about it. Michael Stuttler is with us as a part of our live studio audience from ad-free shows.com. I appreciate all you guys hanging out with us here on a Thursday morning. And Michael says, good morning, Eric and Conrad. Do you think there was an agreement between Cody and Tony to not talk about AEW Dirt for a specific period of time once he joined us? joined WWV.

Abso fucking lootly. I would bet everything I own and will ever own that there were NDAs involved. Wouldn't you agree? Have to be. I mean, nobody's told me that. I'm just not silly.

Yes, yes, yes. JBL Sena fan wants to know. If they had wanted a WCW reality show back in the day, who would have probably had the show focus on? Established talent or maybe a talent that needed a little more help getting noticed.

Boy, can you imagine a reality show about WCW back in the day? Who would you pick? Who would have been ratings? Who would have been a bigger star? Who would have been entertaining? Well, see, when you, when you, now, again, I can speak from 10 or 12 years worth of highly successful experience as an independent television producer that produced reality shows.

And what you learn early on is casting a reality show is a lot like casting a movie. You need a balance of different types of characters because you've got a balance of audience that are going to relate to different characters in different ways. So it's not like all young guys, all veterans. Now, you've got to have that right balance between new kid, you know, breaking in the business and an old season vet on his way out the door. Somewhere in the middle, man, if I was producing a reality show and I wasn't following Scott Steiner around 24 hours of day, seven days a week, I should be put in prison for impersonating a television show producer. That would have been awesome. That would have been awesome.

As far as young talent, younger talent, oh, God, there's so many. I couldn't even, oh, I can sit here for 45 minutes and just ponder that. But it would be a great balance. I wouldn't go to the obvious candidates. I'm not going to follow Rick Flair around him. The Nitro Girls, dude. Come on, man. I'm sorry?

The Nitro Girls. Well, then not Nitro Girls for obvious reasons. And again, you know, whenever we would pitch an idea, Jason and I would pitch it. By the way, he came to Knoxville to see me last week because the promoter in Knoxville was advertising that I was going to be there while I was in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I knew nothing about Knoxville. Sorry, Jason. I would like to have a beer with you.

but when what you learn is you've got to have you've got to have a female presence and a strong female presence in today's environment you can you can get away with the cosmetically enhanced you know visual aid if you needed but you better have a strong personality confident woman there to balance that out and that's a big issue it's not a little issue it's a big one as well as other diversity You have different races involved, amongst a lot of other things. It's hard, but you find the best characters that represent each of the segments of the audience that you're trying to appeal to. All right, Eric, I want to thank everybody for tuning in today. If you want to tune out right now, I certainly get it.

Here's what we'll be talking about. We'll be talking about a very special in the coming weeks. We'll be watching a 25-year-old episode of Monday Night, Roe. all. We'll also be talking about one of the last nitros you were a part of August 2nd, 1999. This is the now infamous nitro where Hogan returns to the red and yellow after an extended run as Hollywood Hogan. That's all coming up here on 83 weeks. If you haven't already, hit the subscribe button to our free YouTube. It's 83 weeks.com. Hit the subscribe button. Turn on the notifications bell so you know when we're live. We've had a ton of really fun guests,

including Crowbar earlier this week, who had some issues with some creative stuff in the current landscape. Find that and a whole lot more at 83 weeks.com. Love to have your feedback on the show. It's at 83 weeks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Eric's pretty active too. If you'd love to get slapped down in public, he's at E. Bischoff on Twitter.

You can find him over on Instagram at the real Eric Bischoff. But I wanted to at least address some breaking news. that happened just before you and I clicked record this morning, I mean, just moments before, MSNBC sent a tweet out. And granted, folks, we never talk about politics, and I'm not trying to talk about politics now. But this is wrestling. I can't believe this is real.

But here's the quote, here's the tweet that MSNBC put out. Two senior campaign officials confirmed NBC news that Hulk Hogan will speak tonight at the RNC convention ahead of former President Trump. formerly accepting the GOP nomination for President of the United States. Since you and I've been recording, I mean, like five minutes ago, Dave Meltzer tweets out, Dana White, Hulk Hogan, and Linda McMahon are all scheduled speakers tonight at the Republican Convention. I mean, I know there was an initiative 25 years ago to smack down the vote,

but we've got Linda McMahon and Hulk Hogan and Dana White. What's happening, man? we just talked a few minutes ago about Forbes doing that article a couple of years ago saying that Hulk Hogan was the most recognizable sports entertainer. And here he is now on maybe the largest stage possible. My goodness, what do you think about Hulkster making an appearance tonight for Donald Trump? It's a crazy time. I love it.

First of all, let me just answer the question. Absolutely love it. I read that this morning. and I was going to reach out to them because we just talked last week for quite a while and obviously it didn't come up but I figured I'm not going to try to excuse me one second I just can't believe that Hulk Hogan

I mean you want to talk about crossover appeal it doesn't get more mainstream than what we're going to see tonight Hulk Hogan's going to be on every television station every news outlet like this This is, I mean, for a guy who a lot of people thought once upon a time, he's going to have to run and hide. Boy, he's going to be more out front than ever before. And regardless of your politics, I'm glad that Hogan is coming back out. That's awesome.

So, my, he's a real American. Did he come out with his own beer? Sorry, I had to do it. I knew you were going there because I kind of thought the same thing. Like, they're having him come out to that theme song. I'm a real American. Oh, my God. It's going to be.

He comes out to the theme song to Real American and we start talking about beer. My God. But you know what? I did see Linda McMahon last night. She was there last night close to Trump. So it's not surprising that it's going to be there. But I think it's awesome. Dana White, obviously the relationship with Trump is pretty well known.

And there's a lot of love there. And this is, it's an interesting time. Go back on YouTube. not on our YouTube channel but if you look up on YouTube Eric Bischoff TED Talk TEDx is a TEDx talk

and I do a 17 minute monologue about how politics and media are more like professional wrestling than professional wrestling and I give some very specific examples

check it out you'll and that was me looking into the future. I don't know when I did that, 2019. Oh, before you and I were doing a pod. It was before that, yeah. Yeah, so we're talking about seven years ago, probably six, seven years ago.

Go back and check that out and tell me what you think. But it's Evergreen, man. It's perfect timing. To be clear, I know that a lot of your favorite wrestling podcasters talk about politics. We're not doing that here on 83 weeks. That was something that Eric and I said right up front. Hey, we're trying to be your escape. this but knowing that well there's been a lot of world news happened in the last week and

we're not talking about that here where you're escaped from that but the idea that a guy Eric is friends with that we all grew up with is on the stage tonight it's crazy I can't wait to see what happens I don't even I mean I don't know that I had planned to watch it before but now I'm like I got to see this and we not only I mean I get here's what I'm going to do I'm going to sit back and I'm going to watch it you know I'm going to have my Hall of Fame ring on And you go, you know, me and Donald Trump, we're in a Hall of Fame. Me and Hulk Coga, we're in a Hall of Fame together. And Linda over there, I made out with her.

Do you make out with Dana White, too? Not giving that opportunity. There's always next week. All right, boys and girls, we had a lot of fun talking about current stuff. We'll be back talking about nostalgia, watching a Monday night raw from 25 years ago. And then we're going to talk about when Hulk Hogan went back to the red and yellow, brother. We'll see you next week right here on 83 weeks with Eric Bischoff. SavewithConrad.com.

I'm Nick Castile from Waterville, Ohio. I've listened to several of his podcasts for a few years and I've always heard the ads for Save with Conrad. And my wife and I were looking to refinance. And we had looked into a couple different options. and then I had remembered one of the ads and contacted you guys, and here we are. We had some debt that we accumulated, and we wanted to pay it down, get everything under a much better, more manageable APR. So smooth.

I've never had anything finance go that easy. We got a chance to work with Francis and Larry. They made everything comfortable. They were very personable. They were on top of everything. They made sure we were on top of everything. They were with us every step of the way, kind of guiding us. So, like I said, I've never had an experience that went that smooth.

Right off the bat, we saved at least 250 a month. Within a couple of months, we'll probably be at the 400 to 500 mark a month. I'm Nick Castillo from Waterville, Ohio, and I've saved over $400 a month with saved with Conrad.com. And MLS number 32416, Equal Housing Lender, SavewithConrad.com. If you want to feel more connected to humanity and a little less alone, listen to Beautiful Anonymous. Each week, I take a phone call from one random anonymous human being. There's over 400 episodes in our back catalog. You get to feel connected to all these different people, all over the world.

Recent episodes include one where a lady survived a murder attempt by her own son. But then the week before that, we just talked about Star Trek. It can be anything. It's unpredictable. It's raw. It's real. Get Beautiful Anonymous wherever you listen to podcasts.