83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 350: Who Should Book AEW?

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric and Conrad hand over the reigns of the show to the listeners for another exciting and thought provoking Ask Eric Anything! Eric share this thoughts and decades of knowledge in the wrestling and television business to deliver insightful answers to every question. The guys also discuss AEW's latest ppv Full Gear and everything else happening in the world of professional wrestling. 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 LUMEN - Take the next step in improving your health, go to lumen.me/83WEEKS to get 15% off your Lumen.  MAGIC SPOON - MAGIC SPOON - Get $5 off your next order through https://magicspoon.com/83WEEKS , or look for Magic Spoon in your nearest grocery store! GAMETIME -Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and redeem code WEEKS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply). Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. MANDO - Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo 83WEEKS at https://mandopodcast.com/83WEEKS ! #mandopod VIIA - Try VIIA Hemp! https://bit.ly/viia83 and use code 83WEEKS! SAVE WITH ERIC - 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/savewitheric/ 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 Pish off, Eric. What's going on, man? How are you? I'm good, man. I'm training for Thanksgiving. You're training. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Thanksgiving was yesterday. Why are you training now? Are you trying to work off the turkey weight? What are we doing? Yeah, I should have said, I'm training from Thanksgiving. You still got the triptophan in your system. You're just a little, um, I'm training from Thanksgiving. Oh, well. I love triptophan, by the way.

It's a highly underappreciated compound or chemical. It's a wonderful thing. Triptophan is awesome. There is nothing like eating just a big slab of turkey. I'm talking maybe a pound, pound and a half by myself. Put some dressing on that, a little bit of gravy. Feed your face and it go sleep like a dog. That's some of the best sleep I've ever had is I'm trying.

trip to fan i uh i was not uh i was wondering did i have some trip to fan on tuesday night i mean i i didn't have the turkey ready until thursday but it felt like a fever dream when all the sudden i'm watching nxte and there's eric bischoff what the hell's going on eric yeah just have a little bit of fun you know how i like to have fun just put my toe in the water have a good time and i just been a little chaotic over at NXT, so I thought I'd drop in and say hello and show up in person next week. So yeah, it's going to be fun. It is going to be a lot of fun.

And of course, we know that I can't believe this is real. You're going to be running things next week for MLW. MLW NYC.com has your hookup for tickets. It's called MLW One Shot. It's going down on December 5th in New York City, Queens, New York. and this is a who's who you want to talk about a cast of characters there's a lot of top-tier talent at this show and eric bischoff you've got the the reins to the show it's been a long time since you've done this how pumped are you to have some fun next week in new york city oh i'm i'm really looking forward

to being there and interacting with the fans and being a part of a show and the energy that comes with it that that's going to be a lot of fun but i've actually been having fun the last week or two uh with with court power and jared and some of the other people over there on the creative side of MLW just kind of working on the format of the show and finding little tweaks we can make it make it feel a little bit easy EIsed if you will um so yeah it's been fun the you know it's collaborative effort and it's fun I I can't wait to see it MLW NYC.com is where you can get tickets they started just $15 but you You can be watching live next week on December 5th.

It's a Thursday night. We're going to have to pre-tape our Friday episode next week because, well, Eric's going to be in NYC. But hey, folks are listening today on Black Friday. And, you know, this is one of the biggest, craziest shopping days of the year. But before we talk about that, I wanted to ask you, since we've had a lot of turkey debates here on the show, what did you do for your turkey this year? Did you throw it on the rec tech or what, what did that look like this year? No, look, I love my rec tech. This time of year, especially in the wintertime, I use it probably three, four times a week, if not more.

Because the big green egg, it's a big, big green egg. It's not the absolute biggest one they make, but it's the second biggest one. And if you've ever tried to move a big green egg around, they're heavy sons of bitches. So the green egg is outside. the rec tech is just inside the garage door inside the garage so I could use it all year round really easily. Don't have to go out in a 30 mile an hour when it's 20 below zero and all that fun stuff that comes with Wyoming.

So I use the rec tech a lot, but to be very honest, when it comes to Turkey, especially a smoked turkey, I'm just more proficient on a big green egg. I get the smoky, I get the level of smoke I'm really searching for with a big green egg. and it's harder for me to accomplish that with the rec tech. Now, the flip side is, if I just want to throw on a steak because it's just me for dinner, if Mrs. B's out, or even if it's just, you know, Lori and I for dinner and we're just going to throw on a steak or a burger or two, you know, that's going to the rec tech because it takes a lot of time to set up a big gray egg, takes a long time for the coals to heat up and get the

temperature where you want it. And like I said, man, when it's dark outside at 5 o'clock in the evening and it's 20 below zero out there's a 30 mile hour wind it's not what i'm going to do i'll go to the rec tech but when it comes to my turkey especially on thanksgiving oh no that's big green egg all the way i'll be out there all afternoon i'll be watching the smoke come out for hours at a time it like mesmerizes me i love you eric i love how passionate you can get about almost anything so it makes you you. When Eric is in, by God, he's all in.

Speaking of being all in, you know, we're going all in this January. I can't believe this is real, but Top Guy Rumble is back. Let's take a look. Dreams become a reality for ad-free shows Top Guy members this January as Top Guy Rumble heads to the famous Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Wrestling fans have witnessed so many memorable moments at the Bon Braun Center from Monday Night Raw, WCW Nitro, AEW Dynamite, and even the historical first big TNA show that launched the company. And this January, top guys will get to make history of their own as they step inside the ropes and learn what it feels like to be a wrestling superstar at wrestling fantasy camp.

And leading the class will be former WWE superstar Al Snow. Find out if you're tough enough to run the ropes with a man who helped train men. many future stars, including the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes. And then it's time to put your booking hat on as you'll get to help book and take part in our own private wrestling show. Top Guy Tustle. That's right, you have a chance to become a manager, ring announcer, timekeeper, referee, or even make a surprise run in. And then kick back and watch the wrestling show that you helped book unfold. If that wasn't fun enough on Saturday, February 1st, top guys will come together to watch the 2020.

Royal Rumble featuring the game event with Ephron for a chance to win some unbelievable prizes. Just last year, Top Guy David McLeigh took home $1,000 in cold hard cash. It is a weekend that a wrestling fan dreams about, and it becomes a reality this January for ad-free show's Top Guy members. Become a top guy member and be a part of Top Guy Rumble 2025. And believe it or not, you can see. still be a part of top guy rumble by becoming an annual top guy member now make the jump to become an annual top guy right now and you'll get two months free with our black friday promotion come on what are you waiting for sign up today at ad free shows dot com eric we did this wrestling

fantasy camp a few years ago and now we're doing it at the vbc a building that you held nitros in that you were a part of with monday night raw i mean there's a lot of wrestling history that's here our hotel is attached to the building. I mean, this is going to be a really fun event that fans get to see what it's like, how the sausage is made. They get to wear their booking hat. They're going to decide, are these guys heels or baby faces? Are we doing singles matches, tag matches, battle royals?

Is there a story? Who's doing color? Who's doing play by play? Who are the managers? Who are the special guest referees? And they even get to take bumps themselves. I mean, this is a unique experience. It's almost like fantasy camp, one of those.

fantasy rock and roll camps or baseball camps but the wrestling version i'm pumped for this man it's gonna be a lot of fun you guys have taken it to the next level like you know i was obviously a part of the first one that we did and it was kind of you know it was the first time we kind of thought it through but not as much maybe as we could have or should have and we just kind of wanted to get a feel for the idea and it turned out to be such a blast i was so grateful for the opportunity to be a part that and just to watch because everybody was having so much fun and i remember you guys all talking about it you know we're going to do that again but we're going to make it a little bigger you're in an arena for crying out loud our ad free shows fans are going to be able to have matches in the same

arena that wwe has and wcw did and AEW oh my god come on t and a this is like this could be a career path for somebody on our team it's going to be a lot of fun join us ad free Shows.com, you get all of our shows early and commercial free. You can even be a part of our live studio audience. We've got one with us right now. And not only that, we really create like a community. I mean, there's lifelong friendships that have been forged here. And that's what ad-free shows is really about. Watching wrestling, talking about wrestling, being involved in the wrestling scene with like-minded people. I grew up and in high school, I had a wrestling friend. In middle school, I had a wrestling friend. But as an adult, a lot of us don't have wrestling friends.

ad-freeshows.com has brought those friends together. You get a ton of bonus content and you can't get anywhere else and a unique experience like this. Not only do you get Lex Lugar and Godfather and Tully Blanchard and Mike Keota and Nick Patrick and David Crockett and Sam Adonis and downtown Bruno and the Blue Meney and so many more. You get all that bonus content each and every month plus bonus content from all of our hosts, more than 100,000 hours worth of bonus content,

more than you can possibly consume. but you get these once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I mean, I don't think there's another wrestling fantasy camp like this anywhere. It's the best value in wrestling. I'm standing on business, as the kids would say. Go check it out. Ad-free shows.com. Eric, I know that we're going to talk a little bit about everything today.

We're doing sort of an ask-erick-any-type format. But I do want to get just ahead of this because we're talking about the Royal Rumble. But the next big major pay-per-view actually happens tomorrow night. Survivor Series is going to be here tomorrow night. We've got the OG Bloodline taking on the Solo Bloodline. And the OG Bloodline's fifth man, thanks to Paul Heyman, is C and Punk. Man, you want to talk about story. There's a lot of story in this one.

We're going to be breaking it down live here at 83weeks.com. So if you haven't already, go hit the subscribe. button at 83 weeks.com, turn on your notifications bell, and immediately following the Survivor Series, jump on 83 weeks.com, join Eric and myself, and we're going to be breaking down the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Survivor Series. But I'm pumped for this main event, man, just the return of Paul Heyman, the introduction of seeing punk, the roof came off the place. Storytelling at its best right here in WWE.

What are you excited for on this one? I'm excited for that one. I want to see what the writers have up their sleeve as far as the creative for this bloodline story. It is the gift that keeps on giving. And I think I've been saying that now for at least two years. It's unbelievable. And, you know, it's funny. You just recap the Heyman punk.

You didn't even recap it. You just made note of the backstory that most people are very familiar with. damn that story's just ready to go it's it reminds me of when i got to wwe and austin had been out for a while i don't know what the issue was but he'd be gone for a while and so bruce pitcher came to me and said hey creative's got an idea you know you you working with steve austin for a pay-per-view are you up for that i guess they weren't sure if the heat between Steve and I was a work or not. Or they

just wanted to be courteous and ask I guess. But I said no man, that would be awesome. I would love to work with Steve. And the best part of that was the story he had already been told. At least a good portion of the backstory. The relationship was already well established

in the minds of most wrestling fans. You know, they shot fired Steve Austin, you know, FedEx and all that crap. That story was waiting there. It was just sitting in box waiting for somebody to come and pick it up and do something with it and the same is true here different situation obviously but there's still a story sitting in a box waiting to be told so you know i often say you know i don't watch wrestling to watch the matches like most people do

i watch it differently but this is an example of the kind of thing that i really really get excited about i just want to see what they're thinking creatively and try try to anticipate, based on what I see, where this thing might be going leading into, because we're going to have to say it in a couple of weeks, WrestleMania. It's going to start feeling WrestleMania-ish before the first of the year. There'll be references, there'll be implications, there'll be suggestions. There'll just be little thought starters sprinkled about so people can start yacking about it on the internet. But it's fun, man, that's a fun part.

It's why I like wrestling so much is you can, You can, when it's good, let me, let me rephrase that. When wrestling is good, I really love to watch it for this reason, man. The stories can be really intriguing. They can be nuanced or they can be in your face. And that's the fun part of professional wrestling. Of course, that's the main event. And it's happening in a war games match,

which is certainly a match that was synonymous with Jim Crockett promotions and WCW. As a point of pride, does it make you smile that all these years later, WWE is embracing some of those WCW creations like war games? Yeah, that's a testimony to Dusty Rhodes, really. So much of the, so many of the WCW big pay-per-views, the 10 polls, as they like to call them in the formerly successful pay-per-view business. Now it's all gone to streaming platforms. But Dusty came up with so many of those concepts.

Dusty was a visionary. saw things before a lot of other people did. And this is just one of them, one of the examples. I'm glad to see it. I'm, uh, I'm really excited for this pay-per-view. I hope you'll make plans to join us. 83 weeks.com immediately following the Survivor Series show. That's 83 weeks.com.

Jump on live with Eric and myself. We're going to be reacting to the pay-per-view. We're going to be on camera answering your questions. You can ask Eric anything. Yes, anything. Live at 83 weeks.com. And it happens tomorrow night. immediately following the Survivor Series.

Before we get going, I want to take a time out and remind you that today's episode and all of our episodes are brought to you by Blue Chew. Blue Chew is an online service that delivers you the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis, and Lovietra, but at a fraction of the cost and in a chewable form. And the process is simple. You just sign up at Bluuteu.com. You consult with one of their licensed medical providers. And once you're approved, you'll receive your prescription within days. Blue Chew's tablets are made in the USA, prepared and shipped directly to your door. And the best part is, it's all done online.

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until every rod is raised. Discover your options at bluechew.com. we've got a special deal for our listeners, try Blue Chew free. Just pay the $5 shipping at checkout when you visit bluechew.com. That's bluechew.com to receive your first month free, visit Blu.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank Blue Chew for sponsoring 83 weeks. Eric, we're on the heels of a AEW pay-per-view, and occasionally we've done reaction shows

to those AEW pay-per-views. and you elected to not do that after AEW full gear saying, and we didn't share this with everyone, but you told Dave and I, I just don't want to be negative. It's not fun for me. It's draining to me. I would really rather just not have to watch the show and then be negative about it.

Coming out of it, there's been a lot of criticism about the closing match angle, the post-match angle. We literally saw a car crash. But the thing that had everybody up in arms before, the pay-per-view was the use of Big Boom AJ and his son, Big Justice, and his friend The Rizzler, and believe it or not, they got 11 million impressions just on Twitter from a 60-second pre-tape that was on AEW Dynamite the Wednesday before, and I saw incredible

feedback from the match itself. And what's interesting is, for all the criticism that the match received, it was almost universally praised as being fun and representing all the good things in wrestling. Shout out to QT. Marshall, I'm sorry, Marshall, who pushed for this, advocated for it, pitched it, made it happen, and I felt like delivered in spades, especially when you find out after the fact that Big Boom AJ worked the match with a foot that was broken in two places. He broke it earlier in the day in the walkthroughs, but he gutted it out like an old veteran, this is a hell of a story for AEW right here at the end of the year, is it not? It's probably the best thing they've got going or have had going in quite some time.

And just in terms of energy and the virality of it, how much is spreading around, as you pointed out, you know, it's, it's interesting. And I didn't watch a match, so I'm not going to comment on it. But I heard like you did from just about everybody that the match was really highly, highly entertaining and over delivered, which is awesome. and shout out to everybody involved. But, you know, let's go back and, you know, for the week or two that going into that pay-per-view, we talked on this show about how negative the AEW fan base is about this.

And I saw that as well. And it's unfortunate. You know, it paid off. So at the end of the day, it's, you know, everybody involved is only going to remember or react to how it felt when it was all over. And they probably have already forgotten about all the negative commentary going into it. But it points out something to me that, in a general way we've talked about, the AEW fan base is unique.

It's its own fan base. I don't believe there is a tremendous amount of crossover. There is some. I would, I don't know, I don't want to guess. But I would imagine there's at least 30 or 40% of the people, people that are diehard to AEW fans and they'll, you know, bury WWE all they can or want, but they still watch. But for the most part, I would say the majority of that audience probably doesn't watch

a lot of WWE. They are AEW fans. They are, in my opinion, representative of the same culture that you find on the Internet. And the people that are Internet wrestling fans, as I refer to them so. many times that are, in my opinion, make up a substantial fan base at AEW. They've conditioned themselves and kind of created their own culture where entertainment really isn't, it's, yeah, there's a box called entertainment and we'll try to check it every once in a while, but we just want great matches and blood. That's essentially what AEW is. It's, you know, the bastardized

version of the Japanese strong style of wrestling mixed with a lot of like you know 220 volt luchador stuff that doesn't really make any sense but it's fun to watch it's fun as hell to watch don't get me wrong I'm not bitch in here folks just put it back in your pants not bitch in here all I'm saying is that a large percentage of that fan base doesn't watch wrestling for the storylines the entertainment or the characters, although they don't even, they won't even admit that to themselves, but that's not what they're there for. They come to AEW because you're going to see crazy people doing crazy athletic shit.

That's very, very impressive. Don't get me wrong. But it's still, there are moves for the sake of moves that don't have anything to do with a real legitimate story. And that's fine. You know, there needs to be, I guess, a place for people like that. but when Tony or QT or who everybody involved says hey let's do something different let's let's focus on the entertainment value because if we do we've got some we've got some

media here we've got people interested in this this AJ and Rizzler thing we we got come on let's do this but the fan base is like yeah we want to watch Jerry Allen you know trying to kill himself in a car, you know, because he's a tough guy. No, he's not. He's an idiot. He's a fucking idiot. He's a 140-pound maniac. Great.

And it's going to be fun for you all to watch him until, you know, he can't walk or wrestle or maybe even draw breath because they keep trying to impress with this kind of stupid shit. So I hope that maybe a portion of the larger or a portion of the old. audience, the AEW audience that all they want to see is the type of action they're used to seeing, maybe they'll open up their minds and realize that a little bit of entertainment to kind of balance some of that is a good thing. So I know I sounded harsh there, but I'm trying to be clear. I think I'm pretty clear. But I think it's a good move. And I think it was smart on

Tony, smart of Tony, to pursue it. Hopefully there's going to be more of it. And maybe some of that AEW roster can learn a thing or two about entertaining the audience instead of themselves. I was a big proponent of this. I saw what the opportunity was. I saw what the vision was. And I know that there's a lot of people who aren't so sold on the use of celebrities and wrestling. respectfully those people don't know what the hell they're talking about with pro wrestling

I mean you go back to the the very beginning of wrestling Muhammad Ali was involved Andy Kaufman was involved who's on the freaking poster for the very first WrestleMania it's Hulk Hogan and Mr. T I mean you yourself have said hey the thing that worried me most about WWE is Mike Tyson's involvement and Mike Tyson was really the the match that lit the fuse that created the hysteria behind the attitude era and the Stone Cold Steve Austin phenomenon that we know now. But even like the second, I believe it's the second highest buy rate in WCW history,

second only to Sting and Hogan, a storyline that had 18 months of storytelling, was a mixed tag with Dennis Rodman and Carl Malone. Like the answers are right in front of you. This is not a bad thing to use celebrity. When it's done right, it's incredibly successful. I mean, take a look at if they would have put almost any other boxing match on Netflix, Eric, no one would care. But we had a boxer who was candidly well past his prime and a TikTok star, a Vine star, a YouTube star, a social media star. And they broke down the servers at Netflix with so many people trying to.

to consume it like miss me with all the we don't need celebrities in wrestling talk don't you agree well yeah i mean even if you look at recent time and i mean you go back you know professional wrestling you go back as far as you want you're going to find celebrities that have been involved in professional wrestling including back in the day joe lewis in his prime one of the best boxers in in history um but let's just look at more recent business you know you mentioned uh rodman and and Hogan, but you got Logan Paul in WWE, look, he's there because he's a celebrity. He wasn't there because he had spent, you know, 15 years working to fucking Indies and, you know, gigging himself all over the country for 200 bucks and all the silly stuff that goes along

with, unfortunately, what a lot of guys have to go through in order to get a shot at WWE or AEW or anywhere else. So, no, Logan, he skipped all that. part and he and he embraces it doesn't matter he got there because he brought how many millions of subscribers along with him that's value just like a jane boom show whatever the thing was called i didn't pay attention to it other than seeing it on social media they brought value they brought people that cared more about them than cared about a e w fact wake up have a cup of coffee and get real there were more people interested in those guys

are in AEW. Why would you not want to bring that in like Logan Paul did? Because that's how you elevate your audience. That's how you grow your audience. You don't just keep entertaining that small group of people that put you over on the internet every time you do. You want more of those people. Well, how do you do that? You reach out to people who don't otherwise know you even exist. And that's what they did. I hope they continue to do it. I hope they find more ways to being more entertaining but uh what's what's the other the hip hop guy uh master p no no no no recent wwe um puerto rican oh oh oh oh oh oh bad bunny bad bunny come on yeah same thing yes he didn't come up to the indies right either did logan hall wrestling school he just was an incredibly

athletic guy that poured his heart into it and oh by the way probably brought 15 million people that maybe heard of WWE, but I've never experienced it. That's the magic, folks. Like Conrad said, it's been going on since the beginning of time. It's the magic. It's how you make it work. Well, we're going to make it work today. We're going to be answering your questions here.

We solicited them far and wide. Let's jump into it. Joseph wants to know on dark side of the ring based on the life of the late Sherry Martell. Medusa admitted that Eric was wrong for firing Sherry because other men did drugs and they weren't fired for it. What did Eric think of Medusa basically saying he was wrong for firing Sherry in 1997? Yeah, screw Medusa. Look, Medusa's got this thing in the head like she's the

spokesperson for all women because she was the the woman who broke through the glass barrier and standing up for women. Look, and there's nothing wrong with standing up for women. I think everybody should be treated equally and fairly. And I don't have a an issue with that at all. However, by using that situation to try to get herself over just a little bit more by positioning herself as, you know, the defender of all women, without any knowledge of the facts, by the way, no background on everything that was going on to make a statement like that is very self-serving, but it's not uncommon, is it? I loved Medusa as a As a young fan, I thought she was, you know, one of the best women's wrestlers I'd ever seen.

I thought her in Akira Hokitoo and her and Bull Nakano, I mean, they really served women's wrestling really well. They were ahead of their time. But I do agree. I don't know that she necessarily had all the context to know exactly what was going on with Sherry. I don't know. He'll be wrong. I like Medusa. She, Medusa's a family friend.

Yeah. I mean, but just like you could be disappointed in a family member. you can be disappointed in a friend. And I'm disappointed that she felt the need to say that to try to get herself over a point in her life where it really doesn't matter. Just like it doesn't matter in my life. Not out there in the ring. Not out there trying to sell tickets.

Just trying to enlighten. Do you think there's a chance she's, uh, doing a little rassling? I mean, listen, a friend of yours sometimes. He gets, he gets a little creative when he's telling a story.

And we've all had fun with that. do you think you know hey the cameras are on they got the camera crew i got the lights here they're looking for me to say something i know eric he don't care let me give him a sound bite yeah and and i accept that i'm not looking for an apology but that's um because she wouldn't need to give me one she's a friend i don't i don't really care this is not really a big deal to me but you know you ask the question how do i react to those things and sometimes i think people need to think a little bit more about what they're saying before they say it, even if they're trying to just stir some shit. There's a way to stir shit without criticizing other people.

But look, I don't care. If that's what she was doing, it makes sense. I can certainly understand that. We all do it. I oftentimes will slip into half character sometimes just trying to be a little more entertaining, doing interviews and things like that. So I'm sure I've done it. I'm guilty of it. So yeah, maybe that's it. Could be. Here's something we can both agree on.

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Lumen makes a great gift, too, and we thank you, Lumen, for sponsoring today's episode. Hey, we've got another question here, Eric, and we've got a lot of good ones today, but this one comes to us from wrestling with respect. Hi, Eric, were there any venues that you strongly disliked producing television in, whether it be because of the logistics, the venue staff, the building aids, lack of amenities, etc. That's a really good question. I've never been asked that one before.

I've never really thought about it too much. But I will say that the buildings I preferred to produce in were a lot like Von Braun. I liked a smaller venue. The bigger, the venue, the harder it becomes to produce there because everything is more spread out, including your talent. You know, if you've ever worked a live TV show or even if you've just hung out backstage, it's pretty chaotic.

You know, these arenas are not set up for television production with a cast of 100 people, generally, including production people. So you got people dressing in janitor's closets or storage areas. And, you know, I've had to dress in some pretty skanky parts of the arena. in the past. So there, there is a downside to working in smaller arenas, but the downside

in the bigger areas, you've got talent spread out all over the arena. And again, if you were ever working backstage or just hanging out backstage, you just watch the chaos. Where's so and so? He's got a pre-taping in four minutes, you know, or we're going live in two minutes. Where is you? You got agents scrambling around the building like at a all points bulletin looking for talent because they're over at a small corner in a corner, in a corner. closet stretching or doing whatever they're doing. It can be frustrating in the bigger venue. So I've always liked the smaller ones.

My favorite one was the Cow Palace. I love the Cow Palace. What? Yeah. I mean, it was tough. It was hard to produce in in some ways, but everybody was right there. You didn't have to go looking very far. And I love the character of old venues.

And part of it's because I'm a history guy. I always just, you know, I think about like, what was this place like 120 years ago, you know, or when you go into a place like the Cow Palace, you know, you just start, allow yourself, Madison Square Garden, same thing, allow yourself to think about all of the major acts and stars that have ever performed in an arena like the Cow Palace, the history, you know, some of the Rolling Stones, you know, second concert in the United States was in such and such arena or whatever. That kind of stuff fascinates me. So whenever I'm in a smaller arena, yeah, it can be a pain in the ass because of space.

But sometimes that space works at your benefit when it comes to corraling talent, hurting the squirrels that it takes to produce a live show. And the bigger they are, sometimes the harder they are. More comfortable, true, but harder. I know that you weren't necessarily running the show, but you were a talent there, before you know it, both AEW and GCW are going to be returning to the Hammerstein Ballroom. What did you think of that venue as a fan? I mean, I know you weren't necessarily there in a fan. You're sitting in a box watching ECW. You're performing, but you don't have to worry

about the logistics or producing a show or hanging lights or any of that stuff, you know, negotiating terms of the deal or what have you. But just as a venue, as an environment, what you think of Hammerstein? I loved it. I loved it. It was, kind of, I don't know what the word for this is, but it's like the smaller, like center stage is kind of the same thing. Intimate, is that it? Well, intimate, but it's because of the way they raked through the angle of the seats. Yes. And the way the building is configured. It's kind of like you're in the, you know, Lori and I went and saw Gladiator 2 with Denzo Washington. Great movie, by the way. CGI blew my brains out. I was like, what the fuck? I didn't even know

they could do that stuff yet. It's crazy. but you feel like you're in the Coliseum, you know, like I felt like, you know, when I finally ended up in a ring, I said, okay, this is, this is how those guys that got ate by the Lions felt back in Rome. This is, this is cool as shit, you know, because it almost feels like the crowd's going to come down on you. It's so badass. And from a fan's point of view, you know, it, it's like you're in your TV room with

1,500 of your friends drinking beer and you're all excited about what's going on on television. kind of like watching Alabama play football at the Thompson household. It's got that energy to it. And it makes it a lot more fun. I love watching the show at Hammerstein. I was there for the very first ECW one-night stand. I'm pumped that we're going to see some more wrestling in that building. I like the positioning of that.

And there was actually a really small venue that I saw ECW in once in Atlanta. You may have seen a concert back when you live there. Did you ever see a concert at the Tabernacle in Atlanta? I don't think so. I certainly heard of it. I'm not sure if I'd been there or not. I may have. Well,

it was something else, man. Here's a question. Was it right down? Was it right? It's got to be in the heart of downtown. It is downtown. Yeah.

And you would remember, Eric, because flanking the left and right of the stage, it was like these giant pieces of an organ. You got the big organ pipes that come up around it. There was a balcony seating. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I did see a show there. it was an acoustic show. Yeah. It's a fun venue, man. And I don't know why more wrestling hasn't happened there, but man, I had a blast there. And I guess because people just love the legacy and history of center stage. And I know the reason ECW probably ran there is WCW had a relationship at center stage. So that wasn't going to happen. But still, it was a, it was a cool venue. I saw New Jack jump off a balcony there. Saw Dusty make his ECW debut there. It was a cool memory for me as a kid. Yeah. Man, I can't believe this is a question. I hate the way it's framed, but I understand why it's being asked. Here we go. Daniel wants to know if you had the

power to remove Tony Conn's booker of A.E.W. Who would you have take his place? And this isn't an easy answer, Eric, but you've been a part of a lot of booking teams and booking committees. But if you weren't going to go to a team, you weren't going to go to a committee and you're going to say, I'll put all my faith and confidence in this one guy. Once upon a time, we might have said something like Kevin Sullivan. Sadly, he's no longer with us. And I don't know that he would have been able to perform, you know, at that level in recent years anyway. But is there someone out there that you think, man, that guy is an untapped resource for creative.

He'd be a home run as the sole booker for a promotion like AW. Bulley rate. Okay. Didn't expect that from you. Can you expand on that? I you know I'm actually surprised excuse me like this is so rude it's not rude at all Eric we appreciate you hitting that mute button thank you sir yeah you know I'm often surprised when people ask a question similar to that or there's a general discussion about creative and you know

who should be doing what and who could have some positive impact I had a chance to work with bully in T&A on a number of different storylines, but the one in particular with Aces and Ate's. And it might have been my idea, it's kind of like the NWO. It might have been my idea to begin with, but as the story evolved, it was as much bully's idea oftentimes as it was mine. Once we kind of got the ball rolling and bully could see the picture. He saw the vision. He understood the characters because Billy wasn't a biker kind of guy.

It wasn't his culture. So once he kind of got a feel for what we were doing and Jason Harvey was instrumental in that as well, he embraced it. And then as we started talking about the long term ideas and hey, what if we do this? What if we do that? You know, just collaborating, right? I started to listen to bully and get a feel for the talent that he has in that respect. And the more I heard is more like, well, here's some more rope, dude. Would you take mine?

Because you're better at pulling that rope than I am right now in this. He's really, he sees the big picture. He understands story structure. He may not talk to you about it in those terms. But when you listen to him, talk about laying out a long-term story. and the way to do it, you begin to hear, oh, that's a plot point. Oh, I see what he's doing there. Okay, this is an act one idea.

You know, he doesn't present it that way, but that's what he's doing inherently. So he understands long-term story and the value in it. He understands the wrestling audience. And that's where I think maybe even, well, secondary to, I think his first, just intuitive talent, instinct. Bulley understands the audience. He understands the audience he's trying to entertain. Tony doesn't understand the general audience.

Tony understands very well one aspect of it. But unfortunately, that one aspect isn't big enough to, it's not sustainable. Whereas bully, he sees that part of the audience. He won't neglect them. but he's not going to cater to them because he understands if there's 10 people in that bucket

there's 150 in this other bucket so let's get 160 in the bucket that's the approach bullet take and he has the respect of talent because that's important it's like a director showing up on a movie set and all the actors and actresses can fuck him I don't care what he says

I'm going to go out there and do what I want to do. I know my character. Besides that, I'm up for another movie. And if I do what he wants me to do, I may not get that part. Fuck that. You know, you need a director that can not only get the best out of the talent, but also keep the talent on the tracks. So I think bully for those reasons and probably we could do a half hour

on why I think bully would be the guy. Yeah, bully. nobody even close in my opinion you know i wanted to ask you eric you know i i've uh i've had a bunch of really pleasant experiences with bully ray and i know that some people have already decided that they don't like bully ray for whatever reason i think that's silly but i hear a lot of negativity about bully and i hear people sort of repeat it but i've never had not one bad experience with bully ray so i wanted to ask you why do you think that there is this narrative out there about bully is it because that you know he's opinionated and he's not afraid to share his

opinion is it the harder new york edge he's not afraid to hurt some feelings and he takes the hey if you want to make an omelet you got to break a few eggs he but i i hear some negativity slanted in that direction like i know there's going to be a w hardcores who are listening to our show and maybe some of you hate listen and we thank you nonetheless uh but they're gonna say oh my god keep bully ray away from a w i see that all the Tom online. Why do you think that that narrative exists? Because bully doesn't bullshit.

There's a filter with bully. You can have a very highly intellectual conversation or debate or argument with bully. He's very, very smart guy. But in his normal course of conversation, he's not going to sugarcoat anything. I think he's going to tell you what he thinks. And bully's a big guy. He's physically intimidating to a lot of people. And, yeah, he's from New York, so that probably adds about 15 or 20 percent of, you know,

hotter sauce. But bully's just one of those guys that doesn't pull punches outside of the ring. I don't know about the inside of the ring. I've heard stories. But bully will just tell it like he sees it. And most people don't like that. They just, they're uncomfortable. with truth and fact and non-filters.

They're just so used to being bullshit of that as soon as you stop bullshitting them, they get uncomfortable. They think you're a bully. No. It's just how he likes to tell people what he thinks and how he feels and he does it very directly. Most people can't handle that.

Well, maybe they're just uncomfortable around it because it's different. Yeah. Well, something that's different is what they're introducing for magic. Spoon, man, they've got these brand new treats that are an absolute game changer. I can't tell you how much I love them.

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You're going to love it. I guarantee it. By the way, it's like crack for me, man. I can't put it down. Thank God there's no sugar in it because I pound that stuff. You know, my wife is obviously doing her fitness journey right now, and she's got some shows she's planning on doing in the new year. And she's actually said, Conrad, I know you get up early and start recording podcasts.

If you're not going to be able to eat breakfast, will you just eat one of these? And I was like, what? I get to eat that for breakfast. Sign me up. Dude, I absolutely love it. and I know that we mentioned that you can get it on Amazon and it's certainly in some of your favorite grocery stores, but it would really help our show and we can get it to you cheaper. If you do us a solid and go right now to magic spoon.com slash 83 weeks, you're going to love it.

I double dog dare you to try it. By the way, the cereal still crushes. If you're a longtime cereal fan, load up on that too. But the treats, you got to try it. And in order, they're not asking me to do this. I'm just going to do it. Double chocolate's my number one favorite. chocolate peanut butter is number two.

I like marshmallow. And for whatever reason, blueberry muffin is my least favorite of the four. What's your go-to flavor, Eric? Which one do you like best? Chocolate peanut butter with ice cold, whole milk, about 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning watching NFL pregame shows is my little slice of habit and Cody.

I love it. Go check it out, boys and girls. MagicSpoon.com slash 83 weeks. Hey, here's another question. 1983. Jay Tweed wants to know. do you have any advice for a writer pursuing work in big time wrestling the student of pat tanaka says hello that's something we haven't really spent any time talking about eric but if there's a listener

out there who thinks that hey man i've got the chops i've got some creative ideas i can tell a story is there a way to go about you know getting a job writing wrestling how would you do that well there's probably a million different ways i don't you know it's not like there's a one career path. I think everybody that ends up in wrestling has probably come from a unique path all his or her own. Here's what I would do, knowing what I know now, but if I was just starting out, I would write some sample stories, flesh them all out, the way you would present them, you know, to a television studio, formats the whole nine yards, lay out the arc.

and break down the beats of that arc and why you're putting them where you're putting them and what you expect the audience or how you expect the audience to react to that. Just write a couple sample stories, you know, a four-week story going into a blow-off, whether it's on television or pay-per-view, whatever you figure out. Write a four-week story, write a six-week story, write a three-month storyline that illustrates your ability to understand. how to create an art and the importance of the action and the balance of story and action and anticipation and all that stuff talk a lot about how you develop the character within

the story what happens how does a character transform after being involved in this storyline or does he or she all those things you can put down on paper as a show bible if you will or a sample Bible, put it together and show it and take it around. Send it to Corpauer in MLW. Send it over to Tony Con and AEW. Send it over to T&A. Chances are they're not going to read it. Send them another one.

Show up to his show. Hang around when the show's over because that's when you see the directors and the producers and the people behind the scenes. Go up and introduce yourself to them and say, Hey, I don't know if this makes any sense. I'd like you to take a look at this. Tell me what you think. Tell me what I can do to be better.

Give me any insight you have because you're in the business and I'm not. And do that a couple hundred times. You'll end up with a job. It's just a matter of time. But that's what it takes. And it's not just wrestling. It's the entertainment business. There's no direct path to entertainment.

Everybody comes at it from entirely different angles. but if you really want it put your best work on paper and dedicate yourself to getting it in front of people and be willing to be turned down I don't know 99 times because it could be that 100th time

that you get the game I mean J.K. Rowling got what was the book she did? I was just reading this this morning over the ranks that manuscript got turned down 12 times. She's a Harry Potter, I think. Her way out, whatever.

She got turned down 12 times. And she was in the business. She'd already established herself. So, you know, if you're breaking in, remind yourself that I'm just breaking in. And don't be afraid to take the least obvious approach. Like I said, hanging around after show, give it to a director, give it to a producer, introduce yourself. here's one this is a fun question laid back 7777777 777 777 777 wants to know if you were still running WCW for Turner and you had the opportunity to

hire one of these two people the ultimate warrior or Brett Hart who would you hire oh it's Brett Hart come on I'd go with Brett you got a you got a TV there's at least a chance I could figure it out The warrior, there's no chance I could figure. Yeah, I don't know how you would make that work. T.J. Mentor 81 wants to know if you could ban one overused spot from future matches, what would it be?

Is there one great question? I'm so glad. Anytime you see a wrestler sitting on a top turnbuckle, like, uh, and then you see his opponent come over. And then they, it looks like, it looks like weird sex to me. Yeah, everybody's trying to get in position. because we're trying to get the big bump off the top row it is the dumbest looking shit in professional wrestling i don't know why the fuck anybody does it it doesn't look believable you look so unathletic you look like a monkey trying to fuck a football so why would you even do it oh and the only thing worse while you're trying to get in position and not lose your balance before you take your big bumps so everybody could go this is awesome before that even fucking happens and you're sitting up there on your your ass trying to keep your bansy you're throwing punches like this you look like an idiot stop

it i'm bet i'm begging you to have a strong opinion today if you could just find one to have a strong opinion about uh i'd like to go to one shot of eric and and eric could you just show us exactly what you think they look like on the top rope as they're waiting on the other guy to get up there when they're sitting on the top you know what i'm talking about is everything going Oh, no, you're a position, I'm going to beat you up. Do you ever watch your own shit back when you get home? Like, you go home and say, honey, let's watch a match. Let's watch a match I had to like.

And your wife looks at you go, you punched like a bitch. What are you doing? 99 Maddox wants to know, Eric, who are your top five bands of all time? changes depends on mood oh man you know but go to you know beetles early beetles i just made such a big impression on my life i remember seeing them on an ed sullivan show for the very first time and i mean almost immediately you know there were beetle wigs for sale you know what was it used to be called the zayers department store in detroit it's kind of like a walmart but you could go in there and buy beetle wigs because nobody had a long

hair back then. You could buy these wings. You could buy beetle boots. You could buy the little Nehru jackets that they wear. It was crazy and it all happened seemingly overnight. Made such a big impression. I mean, that music I love. Rolling Stones and I still get me. Fleetwood Mac

probably is my go-to. Doesn't have as much of an emotional connection with me as the Beatles do. But when it comes to just the music, yeah, Fleetwood Mac is right up there. Grateful Dead. Not So, yeah, every once in a while.

Led Zeppelin, though, another favorite of mine. Stairway to Heaven, absolutely one of my favorite songs of all the time. Listen to it almost all the time. Rolling Stones, that's probably on the list, right? Rolling Stones, Beatles. Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac, so I need two more. Led Zeppelin.

You said that. So one more. Led Zeppelin for it. I liked Grand Funk Road. Didn't see that. coming yeah maybe that was because it was you know it was like i was 14 15 years old when they came out with a song i'm getting closer to my home um i'm your captain i don't know what the name of the song was but i know the song i love that song and it hit big during a certain point

of my life um i made a big impression on me so whenever i hear that song i i get melancholy think we've all got songs like that georgio arcade wants to know a blessed holiday season to you i saw a video on the w w vealt youtube channel which is bussing as the kids say about the wcw nitro grill place that was in los vegas in 1999 can you tell us about your involvement in that and did you enjoy the food there we've never talked about this but did you have any input on what was decorated in there what the menu looked like i mean obviously you probably had some say on who was there at the grand opening. But where did your level of involvement end in that?

I was really nothing more than a middleman on that deal. I mean, WCW. It was a licensing deal with Turner Broadcasting. You know, WCW got credit for it financially. But it was a licensing deal. And because it was so far outside of anything that we had managed as a license internally, it went outside of WCW into Turner licensing, probably Turner Home Entertainment.

So, I mean, we had input on the branding and obviously the talent that was used to highlight and things like that. But when it came to the food and the menu and anything else, we really didn't have any involvement in it. I didn't, for sure. As far as the food, it was horrible. It was like...

I mean, really bad, like department store cafeteria bad, it was really bad. Like hotel banquet level bad, right? It was, oh, yeah. But it was a gimmick, you know, it was in a gimmick hotel. It was a gimmick restaurant. Nobody was going there because they wanted a four-star burger. It's like Planet Hollywood for wrestling, right? Yeah, it was, it was very affordable because it was.

It was, you know, I think it was an Excalibur hotel. That's right. If I'm not mistaken. And that, that hotel to this day still targets like the low end visitor, somebody that wants to buy a room for $89 a night instead of $489 a night. So you've got that, you know, you've got that demographic in there. People, they're on a budget. So they go do things they can afford.

And that restaurant was great for that because it was wrestling and it was affordable food. You could bring your family in there and not go broke. but, you know, for a guy to like to eat good food, that was not my go to. You know, it's funny because I've had a lot of fun at the cauliflower alley club reunion over the years in Las Vegas, but they used to have it at the Plaza Hotel. And you knew you were in a fancy Las Vegas resort with all the fine dining in the world when you come through the front door and the first thing you smell is subway bread, if you can even call it that.

So, you know, Union Plaza, really? Yeah. Well, I don't know if it was called Union Plaza. but it was just called the plaza and it was like a off strip right down at the end of the old old Las Vegas no this is like um oh you know what I'm thinking of something station you're exactly right oh yeah you're thinking of palestation palestation that was across the street kind of from uh the palms yeah no I know where that the plaza hotel has a badass steakhouse so to circus circus circus circus is one of those hey if you rent our hotel room from one night

we'll give you three nights free please fucking come here uh but they have a a a state house called the steakhouse i think man that thing's pretty legit it's really good uh there's some i let's one of the things i do like going to vegas for is fighting those little yes you would never guess that that restaurant is um in that hotel or on that street corner there's one there called michael's that laurie and i go to it used to be right down in the barbary coast hotel right across some ceas when it was the barbary coast now it's called drays or some shit i don't even know what's called that but it used to be the barbary coast and it was the low end low end, low end of the strip. And that's where I always stayed. Like I'd get a suite. I'd get a two

bedroom suite in the MGM Grand. And then Lori and I would go over and stay at the Barbary Coast because it was so busy at the big hotel because everybody knew that's where all the talent was. It's like, fuck, I'd rather chew my leg off to get through that lobby again. So we'd just go stay at the Barbary Coast with Zane Breslov. And there was nobody there. There was locals. But there There was a restaurant on there called Michael's. Unbelievable. Like, it's one of those restaurants when you walk in and you're sitting there, you expect to see Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, you know, walk on by.

You're going to be some rat pack shit going on in the corner here in a little bit. That, it was just that vibe. The food was phenomenal, but they tore, Barbary Coast out and built a new place there or completely remodeled it. So the owners of Michael's restaurant, because it was a separate business, within the hotel, I picked it up and moved it to the other side of town. I don't know Vegas well enough to tell you where it's at. But that restaurant and everything that was in that restaurant, the furniture, they had big

stained glass like ceiling light above, everything that you saw inside of the original one is in the new one. And we still go there, like Montana ran a marathon in Las Vegas, last summer. spring. So for our celebration, we took her to Michael's restaurant, heard her boyfriend and my sister and my wife and I, and we went to Michael's restaurant. And it is one of the most enjoyable dining experiences I've ever had. It was unbelievable. The food is crazy. But like you eat an olive. You put the olive pit down on a plate and like four guys rush to see who's going to get it first. It was like, wow. And the major D is the same people that we used to see when we went in there

25 and 30 years ago. That's awesome. It's the same staff. many of them because you know the waiters are probably making 350 a year and it's that kind of place yeah i mean there are those that's when you know it's a great restaurant there's a mexican spot that i always take you when you're in town in huntsville and i mean those guys have been going i mean i've seen them for at least 25 years and i know multiple guys there who have done their loans and all that yeah there's six figure servers they've put multiple kids through college i mean it's a big opportunity when it's done right man you can clean up in that business.

Ryan M says, since you visited Japan a fair number of times for business and pleasure, are there any spots that have become must hit for you when you're there? Wow. Like if I took a trip, well, Sunday and I just went a couple years ago. We went to Masa Saito's Memorial. And we kind of do the same thing that we used to do whenever we go to town. We went to an area called Kabukcho. and kabukcho is like it's a seedier side of Tokyo it's not you know it's not ginsa

ginsa is like some of the most expensive real estate in the world at least at what time was on the ginsa strip in Tokyo it's not that it's the opposite of that it's where most people who live in Tokyo don't go once the sun goes down in fact people used to look at me and sunny go what do you went to kibok show At night? Are you crazy? Not Americans, but Japanese. Most Americans don't know. They just stagger into it. But, okay, compared to the United States, it was the safest place I've ever been. You know, crime in Japan and crime in the United States are two different conversations. But even though it had a bad reputation, it was old. So all the little, you know, restaurants

and sushi bars, you'd go in there's just like four seats at the bar. That's it. Four seats. I mean, tiny little places, and they're all run by locals, oftentimes families, those kind of experiences I live for. And, you know, it's sketchy enough that there's a little bit of energy in the room, you know, or in the streets. That's kind of fun. I like that. But I also love, there's a place we went to, they're called Oncens,

or like ancient Japanese hot springs. And we went to one up in Hokkaido, way up in the mountain. It's where the samurai used to go after they're working out, chopping people's heads off and shit. They'd go up there and sit in a hot springs, natural hot springs. We did that a couple times. So that would, I'd have to do that. Like if I only had three days, I'd do one night over here at Kabuk Show. I'd go be a samurai and a sonah one night over Hokkaido and head to the airport.

Well, I tell you, you've got the advice anywhere you go. I mean, you're a man that's well traveled. And one of the things I know from being your friend for many years, years now is whenever you're in a new town and you've got some free time you pull out your game time app and you're going to see hey what's happening in this part of the world are there any sports is there any music is there any theater can i go see a comedy show because you know that the game time app has it all and i got to tell you i've had a great experience with this i really have worn this story out but it bears repeating my daughter called me last year and

wanted to go see a concert that same day and she knew because i'd ever advertise my mortgage company on every radio and TV station that I could probably find tickets. I could not. They were at full capacity. The Orion Amphitheater was completely sold out. She found one ticket reseller website that had her back against the concrete. I thought, well, that's the worst seat in the house, but if that's what you want, sweetie. Oh, wait, hang on. I've got the GameTime app on my phone. I got her front row. Way cheaper than I could have ever imagined it was just a few bucks more than sitting in the very last row my baby got to sit front row i was super dad that day and it's all because i had the game time app and they've somehow made it

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fans of Zach Bryan and wanted to she'd been trying to get to one of his concerts, but he's, he's kind of hot right now. He's doing well. And my daughter's boyfriend is a director of photography in the TV business. So he's on a road and travel. And anyway, long. story short, Montana calls because, Dad, I really want to take, we want to go to this concert. And can you just see what tickets are available? So I went on my app, said, here's this seat. What do the seats look like? And I'm able to go on and say, here's exactly what those seats look like. Bought her two tickets, transferred them to her. She's off to see Zach Brian December 6th, I think. Check it out. If you haven't already, go use the code weeks. That's

W-E-E-E-K-S. All you got to do is download the GameTime app. I'm routinely telling everybody in my life to use this. It works every single time. It's the best deal you can find on the best tickets. It's Game Time. Download that app and use the promo code Weeks. Frederick wants to know, do you have any wrestling memorabilia like Conrad?

I mean, we see that beautiful portrait behind you from Batch at the Beach 1996. We see your Hall of Fame plaque. Did you hang on to anything else special from your wrestling career, Eric? Oh, yeah, right behind me here. This is a, no, it doesn't show up here. I may have. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's cool.

This was done. I was with Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali and I were standing outside at an event in Pyongyang, North Korea. It was an outdoor event, a ceremony. And it was, I don't want to say a street festival, but there were the North Korean version of vendors. out there showing crafts basically is what they were doing it was a big event big celebrity event or high profile event so anyway we were all there and there was a little guy um sitting on the ground and i saw him tapping on this is slate this is a heart

so this little guy's tapping on the slate he's got a little like nail in his hand he's tapping and i'm watching and he's making a picture he's he's looking at somebody like you see a sketch artist only he's doing it with a hammer with it did like that and he did it so fast it was fascinating to me and mohammed and i were both standing there watching this and then he motioned us over and he did this and mohamma gave it to me so yeah that check it out man what a cool little collectible that is uh raw veto wants to know if you could have one do over in your wcw team your what would it be the finger poke of doom watering down the NWO with either new members or

the wolf pack the botched sting storyline he called it starcade 98 but i think he means 97 the handling of brett heart or not giving the cruiser weights more spotlight well that was just dumb not giving the cruiser weights more spotlight all right uh what were they again uh finger there you you got right there finger on no i got i got to get i got to get that starcate thing out off my record i just i just can't i just don't want to have any more conversations about it for no other reason not that it may was the biggest mistake i've ever made or the situation that i didn't should have handled better um but it's the one that comes back to haunt me like i don't give a fuck about the

finger-pocket do me anybody that brings that up doesn't know what they're talking about so their time or anything they say doesn't matter to me um that one just an auto you're an idiot whenever I hear that one. But the Sting storyline, I think I could have handled that better. I mean, I think if I would have known then what I know now, not as I don't know so much, no. If I would have had the maturity then that I do now and the way of approaching things then the way I do now, I think I could have fixed that.

And that's the one I'd like to have back, just so I don't have to hear about it again. Hypothetically, would that Sting storyline have also coincided with the end of the NWO, like, as awesome as the NWO storyline is. I mean, even our Save With Eric.com graphic that we see in the corner, I mean, it's NWO inspired. NWO merch is still flying off the shelves for WWB. I'm just wondering, do you think that that would those go together, the Sting storyline and the end of the NWO?

Or would that be a totally different thing? No, it wouldn't have been the end. Even going into that day when everybody that arrived at the event that morning, including me, we're all under the assumption that we were going to have a clean finish, Hogan, Stink, you know, WCW gets their comeback. Clean, no bullshit. That was the plan going in.

Now, on the NW side of that, they were going to crumble so that they could resurrect over a period of time. and you would have had infighting within that that that that faction and you know that's how we would have thinned the herd or built up the herd whatever the case may be but it would have been an arc and it would have been a roller coaster and the roller coaster should have been you know NWO NWO they're dominating they're dominating their dominating their dominating their dominoid and then WCW finally pulls one out and boom they make their comeback and NWO takes a big hit and they slowly build themselves back up again

kind of like Alabama football after Oklahoma last week. They slowly build themselves back up and boom, they're back on top and you got a war again. That was the original plan, basically. Brad has an interesting idea and before you shut it down all the way, let me flower it up a little bit at the height of the Monday night or when WCW was beating the WWE by a mile had Vince McMahon called you up and asked to put on a show together.

Do you think you would have taken his phone call and seriously entertain the idea? As a fan at the time, we always talked about who would face who and a super show and who would come out on top. I know that makes it challenging because how do you decide who wins or loses, Eric? So let me pivot a little bit and make the story or the question a little more possible, maybe. What if it was almost like one of those, you know, memorial shows, sadly, that we had for Brian Hildebrand and Brian Pilman, where you would see WCW is going to present a match and then WCW is going to present a match and then WCW is going to present a match

and then WVE is going to present a match but the main event maybe that's like Undertaker versus Sting maybe that's like Goldberg versus Steve Austin and the main event well it's a draw it's a DQ it's a countout it's a smosh finish so if it's not like

hey we beat WWB or we lost to WWE instead it was a series of matches. We're mixing and working together with the commentators. So WCW commentators are calling WCW matches and vice versa. But then in the main event, we get this dream match, but there's not a clear winner. I know that, you know, clean finishes are important, but it still would have been a cool one-off opportunity. Could it have worked? Would you have shut it down? Why or why not? I would have definitely, A, I would have taken a call for sure. I would have been excited to explore the opportunity and I would have been open-minded to the extent that if

there was an ongoing plan, if there was an agreement in place so that this was one of maybe two or three a year or something along those lines, so that there was an ongoing relationship, that would then make it a lot easier to compromise, I guess, for lack of a better term, creatively. So, easily said, if Vince wanted an Undertaker to beat Sting, that's a lot easier for me to make a decision about if I know what's coming up next or where Sting's opportunity is next. It doesn't have to be with Undertaker.

But we want to get Sting back where he needs to be. So how do we do that together? If it was possible to have those types of conversations, I'd have been the biggest cheerleader. Here's the reality. If this is in a way that was ever going to happen. Vince McMahon has never played well with others, was never going to play well with others.

And I knew that even back in 1996 or 1997, when it was either Vince McMahon's idea or Harvey Schiller's idea to have a meeting and discuss that very thing. And when Harvey brought it back to me, because I didn't know about the meeting before it happened, I went, well, that's stupid. That'll never work anyway.

I went, yeah, you're right. I said, well, could it save you a trip? Richard Dobbs wants to know. The rumor's true that WCW tried to sign The Undertaker. If so, how much money were you and the company going to spend to get him to sign? I never heard that rumor. I've heard it a million times, and the question asked a bunch. I've never had one syllable.

of a conversation with Undertaker or any of his representatives until the day I showed up as a surprise GM in Newark, New Jersey when I was working for WWE. I'd never had a conversation. I'd never had a conversation about bringing the Undertaker in. So I don't know where that kind of rumor got started. Eric Jones is with us here live and he says, how much did Mrs. B watch the product when you were producing?

And if she did, what or who were her favorites? Did she watch the show back then? Yeah, probably more often than not because Garrett was like 10 years old. Oh, he was into it. So mom's got to watch it. So yeah, he had control of the television. You know, she didn't sit, watch everything. She probably tuned into some of my segments.

We never really talked about any of her favorite stuff. I think she probably cringed at most of it but I don't know I've never asked her we got to do one here for and this is a fun one from Ava Lund

what's the story with the backstage issue between Roddy Piper and Kevin Nash Piper said there was no fight but Kevin said he slapped Piper what's the truth and what was the cause of the friction were you there? Did you witness this dust up or did you just hear about it second hand? I was either in the room on my way out the door or in the doorway.

I'm trying to remember. And all I remember is the yelling back and forth. I didn't see a slap, but I was not in the room either in the beginning or at the end of it. I could hear it because I heard some of the things that were said that I'm not going to repeat, even on this show when I say, a lot of shit I probably shouldn't say. Yeah, I don't know.

I didn't see a slap. I was standing in the doorway. They were towards the end of a long rectangular kind of dressing room. And Kevin Nash had his back to me. Roddy was standing in front of him. And I was standing a little bit behind Kevin at an angle. So I didn't see 100%. of everything.

So I can't comment on the slap. Like if I was in court, but I don't remember hearing one or seeing what would happen if a slap took place because I don't think Roddy would have just stood there. I don't know, though. I couldn't testify. Well, something I know you can testify to

is that your balls don't stink, do they, Eric? Not a bit. Do you want to stick your hand down your pants? and do a sniff test for us. I don't even have to. I don't even have to. I'm fresh as a daze. That's because he knows all about Mando.

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And Mando's starter pack is perfect for new customers. And if you're looking to secure some last-minute stocking stuffers, it comes with a solid-stick deodorant, the cream tube deodorant, and two free products of your choice. I recommend the many body wash and the deodorant wipes. They'll even get you free shiote. shipping. Luckily, I've got a discount code to get you hooked up on my favorite smelling whole body deodorant on the market. New customers get $5 off a starter pack with our

exclusive code. That's like 40% off your starter pack. Just use our promo code 83 weeks at shopmando.com. That's S-H-O-M-A-N-D-O.com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you and don't let the meat sweats get you this holiday season. Your family and friends will thank you. Eric, we got another one here. This is from Deacon Meiser. I've always wanted to ask, was the ban on Kevin Nash's Jackknife Powerbomb real or just part of his storyline with Sting? No, that was that was his storyline.

Richard Dives wants to know, why was Paul Heyman so against working with you in WCW in the mid-90s? And why did he choose to work with Vince instead? And can you tell the real story, Eric? I didn't know that Paul was against working with me. in WCW. The issue is never, you know, keep in mind when Paul was in WCW,

Dusty was the Booker. I don't recall Dusty ever coming to Paul and I and saying, hey, I've got an idea to work an angle between you two because we were both on camera talent. I didn't run WCW when Paul was there. No, no, I think he's talking about when he was in ECW.

So when Paul Heyman is running ECW and you're running WCW, Paul Heyman chose to work with the WWF. So there was a talent exchange between ECW and the WWF, but that did not exist. And in fact, anytime you signed one of his talent, man that was legal wrangling back and forth, it felt like, respectfully, Paul Heyman maybe had a hard on for WCW. Is that fair to say? Paul Heyman was funded by Vince McMahon.

Vince McMahon owned part of ECW. That's why they work together. A lot of people didn't know that. Even all the time that Paul Heyman's burying WCW and burying WWF, Vincent Mann was funding him. How do you think he ended up owning it when Paul couldn't keep it afloat? So that's why. I mean, that's the answer.

I'm not being a smart ass. That's the answer because Vince McMahon was funding WCW or funding ECW. Wolf Lover 789 says two people have claimed you essentially pressured them into signing contracts without letting them read it first. You've stated that you would never do that. I think it was Brett and Greg G. I think he means Gagne. Please give your retort to those specific claims. Personally, you don't strike me as someone who would do that to an employee or contractor, etc.

Do you remember forcing someone to sign a contract, Eric? That's a dumbest shit. That sounds like something Greg Gaini would say. I didn't hire Greg so I don't know how that got started and by the way Greg got you if you're listening if you're dumb enough

or gutless enough to sign a contract because somebody told you to sign it and not read it that's on you not that I did it but if you if you admit that anybody said, here's your contract, don't read it, sign it or else. And you signed it?

Well, yeah, you're a bitch. At least you wear them. And to suggest, I don't know if this guy's talking about Brett Hart. Like I told Brett Hart not to read his contract, knowing that he had attorneys and agents. Come on. People can do better than that. uh eva full says what are eric's thoughts on the ted turner doc on max um have you had a chance to see that uh documentary i still haven't seen it i wanted to watch it when lorry was home and she just

got back from an extended trip to florida so i i haven't watched it yet i'm it's on my list of things to do though uh well get ready it looks like um our team at ad-free shows could have put it together better i mean it feels like like there was some AI involved in it or maybe it was a part of someone's freshman year college PowerPoint project but there's a lot of good interviews and there's some good information and and I learned a lot but some of the production of it boy it'll really make you appreciate some of the wrestling documentaries we've seen you know our friends at the dark side of the ring outfit

put together it's and by the way wrestling is discussed for total across all six episodes that long. And I think that's important. That's real important context for wrestling fans. Because to hear Vince McMahon tell it, boy, Ted Turner was the bane of his existence. And the Ted Turner story, Vince McMahon never came up not one time. Well, and the other reason I think it was a mistake to exclude wrestling is if you read any of the biographies of Ted Turner, things that have been written about him in the past. I used to have a couple of books that I remember the office, but it's been a mile.

Porter Bibb, yeah, Porter Bibb was one of the authors who wrote a book about Ted. And I remember reading it and some of the early chapters of Ted's life and taking over the sign company from his father and seeing the opportunity over at WTBS and getting into the out of the sign business and into the television business. It was a big deal for Ted and he had limited money. but one of the things that Ted believed in strongly and talked about in the book that I read by Porter Bibb was how he believed that professional wrestling even though it wasn't a high-brow entertainment, lack of a better term,

he knew that it brought a loyal audience and he knew that in order to build WTBS, Ted knew he needed to have that loyal dependable audience that will come back every single week. And wrestling was the one thing that he could have, Ford at that point in time to program the network with that he was 100% sure would be the beginning, the foundation of an audience to build from, which eventually turned into the superstation. So to leave that part of the story out of Ted Turner's story as it relates to building Turner

broadcasting is malfeasance. It's production, it's producers malfeasance. That was a huge mistake. Huge mistake because that's a big part of the story of TBS. Anyway, yeah, I'm already disappointed. Everybody wants it yet. Luchadorian found something and we're going to show you the image here. I recently came across some WCW merch documents from a show they ran in Memphis in 1998. What can Eric tell us about Mudsharks merch? I assume that was a vendor you used. Would that make sense? Couldn't tell you. I have a zero idea. clearly my signature is not on that document that's not something i would have handled i'm not trying to be evasive or cute or funny i just you know there was a lot of aspects of wcw's business

that took place every single day that didn't cross my desk and that is obviously one of them you know memphis mud sharks is that like a local triple a ball team is that well no it wasn't called memphis mud sharks it was mud sharks merch i think that was just a vendor that you guys ordered shit from i mean i don't No, but it's not like that's a wrestling entity. Like, I could, I could order stuff like that all over. I mean, there's a hundred different places I could order merch from in Alabama. And they've all got different company names.

So that's probably it, I would guess. It'd be my guess. Anthony Wyatt's hitting your ass with some logic. And I never even thought to put this together. But I'm going to ask it now. Anthony wants to know, if you considered Halloween Havoc to be WCW's version of WrestleMania instead of Starcade, then why did you wait until StarCade 97 to do Sting and Hogan instead of doing it at Halloween Havoc 97 oh that's a solid question what say you yeah it is

and it probably had to do with getting the most bang out of the NW storyline book as we possibly could ending it at Halloween Havoc would have ended two months with a revenue and story based around NWO and maybe I don't know let me ask this too you know I know that this sort of gets glossed over but I believe a lot of the posters and promotional material for Halloween Havoc it was almost kind of required that I had Randy Savage on it because of the Slim Jim sponsorship

so maybe it would have been I don't know not the best marketing decision to have a macho man poster when it's really about Hogan and Sting could that have played into it maybe it may have I mean I don't recall ever sitting down and going gosh should we do it

Halloween Havocic is here because I think that Halloween Havocis are version of Starcade. Look, that's my opinion. It doesn't mean that everything I did, I tried to do some of our biggest things at Halloween Havoc in large part because it's Las Vegas. It's a bigger, cooler venue. It's a little bit like Madison Square Garden, not to the same extent. But when things are coming to you from Madison Square Garden or coming to you from Las Vegas, Nevada, that says entertainment. It says credibility, normally, right? Now, I, I liked the venue.

I liked Halloween havoc. There was a lot of reasons why I liked it. But it's not like I went, okay, I'm going to let Starcade take a hit. I don't want to give a fuck about Starcade. That was Dusty's idea, not my idea. And I don't like pay-per-views around Christmas time anyway because people are broke. Whatever. I had my opinions about Starcade, but it's not like I booked the company around which pay-per-view, in my opinion, was the most important.

And you're probably right about Slim Jim. That makes sense. Travis Dahl wants to know. Bischoff has said several times that Turner gave WCW two hours for Nitro and then he had to figure out what to do. But Nitro was one hour for the first nine months. What's up with that? Also, when Nitro was one hour,

did they have a pre-show slate of matches or was it just one or two dark matches? I mean, listen, he probably gave you an hour and then you worked your way into the second hour. And, you know, when you retell the story who gives a shit, right? Well, and perhaps, I don't recall this as an issue, but I did see that question on social media

last night. And it made me think. When Ted made the decision to go head to head with Nitro, and it was his day, he and Brad Siegel decided when, I didn't have any vote in that. Nobody asked me. They just told me.

There were programming commitments and advertising commitments tied to primetime programming that had to play themselves out. Got it. So two hours when it's available, Brad, an hour for now is probably what happened, but it's a detail I just don't remember. Anthony Watt has a great question. Even with WCW in the decline in the year 2000,

do you think Ready to Rumble would have been a better financial and critical success had it been a more dramatic piece as opposed to a slapstick comedy? I mean, I know that, you know, it's easy to say, you know, what's what with the benefit of hindsight. But did it have to be a comedy or do you think it could have worked as a drama? It all depends who the writer and who the directors are and what the script is. I mean, could a drama work with a great director and a great writer and some great talent? Absolutely. Could a comedy work with a great director and a great writer?

and some great talent. Absolutely. What determines whether a film works or not, there's a million probably things to go into it. I'm not an expert in that world. But common sense says a lot of it is timing, how much marketing did it get? Is the star power that's being advertised,

as powerful as everybody thought it was, or maybe not so much? There's a million, you know, time of year. There's so many things to go into whether a movie is successful or not. I am just not the right guy to answer. that question. You know, I think a great wrestling drama absolutely could work. It's in these consciousness of 95% of the United States. The audience in one way, shape, or form has a connection or an understanding or at least familiarity with wrestling. So could, therefore, could it work? Sure.

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Was Jack Tunney ever considered to come into WCW and join the NWO? No. No, I, that's the first time I've heard that even suggested, but the answer is no. Meme bastard wants to know what input and oversight did you have over the WCW video games? Zero. Zero. About the only thing, the only involvement I may have had because those video games are the time they started working on them and building them because this is, you know, it takes a long time even now. but back then you can imagine it took even longer so we had to think about okay who 18 months from now should we be featuring in this video game well you can only imagine how much fun that was but that was it for me the rest of it that wasn't my world I knew nothing about video games I mean who in the right mind would ask somebody that knows nothing about how to build a video

game for input on how to build a video game that would be one of the homeless people in the people in the world calm down I'm picking up what you're putting down. I'm reading between the lines. Calm down. Hey, there's a fun question here about Goldberg. Wayne Hawkins wants to know. Do you think Goldberg lost too soon?

You know, we've heard that from Bobby the Brain Heenan, where he said, hey, after StarCade 98, I think he told Tony Chivani, they just killed the golden goose. When was the right time to beat Goldberg? Do you regret doing it at StarCade 98? Was there a better time? No. No, and Bobby's not, Bobby wasn't wrong, but who is he going to beat? Is he going to beat everybody?

I mean, I get it, and I'm sure Bill probably felt that way, but you get to a point where you're like, 375 and 0. At what point does it just not matter anymore? And we'd run through all the talent. We had to start telling stories with Bill. couldn't just put him out there to to slay the dragons every single week. You ran out of dragons. The only thing we got left is our top guys.

Now we got to tell stories because you can't just beat your whole roster with one guy. I know that. I know that there's some criticism out there for Kevin Nash being the guy to beat him. But I challenge everybody who says that. Go watch the crowd reaction. There's a huge pop. people are cheering it was a moment and you could argue that that was going to happen no matter what but i do think if you if you were going to beat him a different way

and i know i'm going to catch some shit for this but nobody kicked out of the diamond cutter it was the most well-established finish in wrestling it was the most over finish in wrestling and i know they had just wrestled two months prior at halloween havoc i also know that's the show that went too long and you know maybe they didn't get you know all the pay-per-view revenue it should have because we didn't have the proper satellite time. But if anybody was going to beat Goldberg, like literally at that point, no one had kicked out of the diamond cutter.

So him hitting a diamond cutter and sneaking and stealing a victory would have been real shock and all. Because at that point, DDP had not been a world champion, but that move was so over. I mean, Carl Malone's showing it on national television. Like that move was well established as,

hey, that's the end, right? Yeah, I think if it came from out of nowhere and it was the first time and maybe if we would have done a better job building up the fact that nobody had ever kicked out. Yes. I mean, we touched it. We covered it. You know, we checked the box, but we didn't make a big deal out of it. Right.

There's a difference. So I think if we would have had the creative foresight to start doing that months before, Page would have an opportunity to steal one so the audience would understand the implications and get a moment. about it. I think that would have been cool. You know, going into the match, I don't think it was believable. I don't think anybody looked at Bill. If you just, you know, visually, like we all do, when you see two fighters get into the ring, you pretty much make up your mind consciously or subconsciously who's going to kick who's ass just by the way it looks. Now, sometimes you're wrong, which makes it fun. But I don't think anybody would have bought for a second that Page could have beat Bill Goldberg, which would have made the sneak or the, you know, slip,

went over on him, even better. Yes. And certainly, I don't know if it would have got page over anymore. Could you get over any more than he was when he beat Randy? I mean, I think so because, you know, allegedly, Hulk Hogan became a bigger icon because he became the guy who beat Andre the giant, forgetting the fact that multiple people had done it. But I'm just saying, you know, I mean, think about what Paul Heyman did with Brock

Lesnar. For years, he would go out on TV and say that Brock Lesnar was the beat. incarnate who got the undertaker the one in 21 and one or whatever so you could i think make that a feather in your cap like i think that's going to be a big part of of cody's story with the benefit of hindsight one day he was the first guy to beat roman rains so if ddp had sort of made that his mantle piece from then on yes i was the world champion but more importantly i was the guy who beat goldberg that would have meant a lot to ddp i think yeah could have could have could have put him on and even higher pedestal.

We'll do two more and then we'll wrap this one up. But Rye wants to know in January of 2001, Eric was featured on an episode of Wrestling Observer and spoke with Dave Meltzer. How did you feel about him during this time period? And is there any specific reason you accepted this interview? Yeah. Look, I thought Dave was a piece of shit before I did the interview. At some point, a guy by the name of Zane Bresloff came to work for W.

WCW. Zane had been a promoter for the WVE, a regional promoter, not working in the company, but as a vendor. And Zane made the move, came to WCW, Zane and I became friends. Zane was already friends with Meltzer. And I'd bitch about Meltzer, how he was full of shit, he lied, never followed up on anything, never asked any questions, just ran off and wrote whatever entertained. entertained him and said no he's not that bad a guy kind of like you conrad no he's really if you just sit down and talk to him you probably really like him you guys get along you know and i thought all right i'm open-minded to a degree and i thought maybe by giving him access to me to at least give me an opportunity it's not like i'm going to answer every

question he has i can't some of this stuff is you know proprietary or some of it's creative and you can't share everything uh especially with a guy like that But I thought, you know, I'll do my best. Like I did with Wade Keller, you know, I've done with others. Mike Johnson and I, Dave Shear, for years, they would call me and say, hey, I'm writing this story. I'm going to give you a chance. Do you have any comment? And if I couldn't, I wouldn't.

If I could, I would. And I thought by doing that with Dave, maybe he would make at least an effort. Yeah. to kind of corroborate some of the shit that he wrote. So I tried. And I had a couple of conversations with him. And he still did the same fucking thing. So I looked at Zane and said, yeah, no, we're done with that.

He's an asshole. He's always going to be an asshole. And I was right then, right up there with my predictions about, you know, certain wrestling companies. So I'm like 98.7 or 8% correct. It's a fucking burden, Conrad, because people are always coming to me and they ask him to be shit. it's hard when you know you know but you don't always want to tell everybody because you don't want to disappoint them you don't want to hurt their feelings well something we want to tell everybody is that if you're feeling stress this holiday season and for a lot of moms and

dads this is a stressful time of year because you've got the regular expenses of life but now all this new holiday expenditure you got to get all the extra hosting done you got to get all the gifts you got to get all the travel if you're feeling the pinch save with eric.com can help and if you're thinking you're going to have to put christmas on a credit card you've got better options save with eric com can show you how to pay off all of your high interest rate credit card debt and even let you skip your next two house payments i mean let's be honest your single biggest bill each month is your house payment and to save with eric.com you won't have to make your december or your january payment you're done until February 1st.

And come February 1st, you're going to be saving money. We're routinely helping our podcast listeners here at 83 weeks save more than $1,000 a month. And it's easy to do when you combine all of your high interest rate credit cards. I mean, what are the rates on those cards that you've got maxed out? 28%, 31%. Not only is it super sky high, but it's also not tax deductible, the interest that you pay, whereas the interest that you pay on your mortgage is tax deductible. So if you could get rid of all your credit card debt, get rid of the stress during the holiday season and not have to make your December or your January house payment, you're going to get a jump start on what's going to be a New Year's resolution anyway.

I don't know what you're going to write on your list, but I know somewhere on there it's going to say pay off debt and save money. We'll kill two birds with one stone right now and make this the best Christmas ever at save witheric.com. And it's important to say that, you know, with our mortgage company, we're not like your local bank or credit union. We're not going to treat you like a number. Even if you have less than perfect credit, maybe you've had some challenges. You had a bankruptcy a few years ago. Maybe you've got a foreclosure in the rear of you mirror. Maybe you're having trouble just keeping up with your credit card debt right now.

We can help. What you need is a game plan. You need somebody who's been there, done that, and knows how to guide you to the next step. I mean, we all know what our goals are, right? We want to pay off our house. that's the real American dream is to not have a house payment anymore. We want to get out of debt. We want to help our kids go to college and not saddle them with student loans.

And we'd like to retire on time. I want you to think about what does the end of your loan look like? How old are you going to be when you pay your house off? Do you have a plan for that? How are you going to cover those college tuition payments and your house payment and keep juggling all these other bills? Get ahead of it. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

And Eric Bischoff has been licensed helping people nationwide save cash for years, and we've kept it a little bit of a secret, but he wants to be your mortgage advisor for life. And it's freeing to find out how much money you can save right now. You're going to talk to a real live person named Eric Bischoff. Yes, he's licensed to help you save money at save witheric.com, but it comes at a great time of the year. No house payments until February. So don't put Christmas on a credit card. Make this the best Christmas ever. Don't wait until next year to start saving money. Don't make a resolution. Do it right now.

There's no cost. There's no obligation. And if we can't save you some cash, we won't waste your time. But we also won't say no. We'll say not yet, but here's how. You need a plan. And Eric can be your mortgage advisor for life at save witheric.com. Eric, it's Black Friday, man.

A lot of people getting ready to go shopping today and spend some doll hairs. You got Mrs. B's Christmas present picked out yet? You got something in mind? We don't do the gift thing. We never have, really. Maybe when we first started dating, but we, you know, the kids, we certainly load them up and we've got a new grandson. So he gets, he gets spoiled. But now, Mrs. B and I, we got out of that thing decades ago.

Good for you guys. Well, we hope you guys had a happy Thanksgiving and we hope you had a safe Thanksgiving. And I'm looking forward to doing this again next week. But before we do, I want to remind you, tomorrow night is Survivor Series. and it is going to be a barn burner show. It's war games. C.M. Punk is there. Roman Raines is there.

Paul Heyman is there. What's going to happen? We're going to talk about it. The good, the bad, and the ugly, immediately following live right here at 83weeks.com. So if you haven't yet, go hit that subscribe button, turn on your notifications bell, and we'll see you guys tomorrow right here at 83 weeks.com.