83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Episode 418: Bidding Battle

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

On this episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson are back with a no holds barred conversation covering some of the hottest topics in professional wrestling and Eric is NOT pulling any punches! Eric kicks things off by breaking down why Randy Orton represents one of the last true "old school" performers in today's business, and what sets him apart from the modern era. Then, Bischoff sounds off on the idea of wrestling tribalism and why he believes it really only exists in one place. The discussion heats up as Eric gives major props to Brock Lesnar for going out of his way to elevate rising powerhouse Oba Femi, calling it exactly what the business needs more of. Eric gets candid about "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, admitting he understands the itch to return but explains why, in his opinion, it's never going to happen. Things get controversial as Eric reacts to Ricochet's recent comments, holding nothing back with his blunt take. And in true 83 Weeks fashion, the guys close things out with a wild what if scenario what would the wrestling world look like if Tony Khan had ever gotten the chance to bid on buying WWE? CHIME - Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. It just takes a few minutes to sign up. Head to http://Chime.com/83WEEKS  . MORGAN & MORGAN - Morgan & Morgan is America's Largest Injury Law Firm Morgan & Morgan is giving one lucky fan the chance to win $2,000 and 2x tickets to WrestleMania 42 on April 18th & 19th in Las Vegas! To enter, all you need to do is text 'HEAT42' to 4-THE-PEOPLE (484-373-6753) and follow the prompts in your text message. For The People. For The Fans. POLICYGENIUS - Head to http://policygenius.com/83WEEKS  to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you could save. BLUECHEW - Get 10% off your first month of BlueChew Gold with code 83WEEKS at http://BlueChew.com  THE PERFECT JEAN - F*%k your khakis and get The Perfect Jean 15% off with the code 83WEEKS15 at https://theperfectjean.nyc/83WEEKS15#theperfectjeanpod MANDO - Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code 83WEEKS at http://shopmando.com ! #mandopod SAVE WITH CONRAD - Stop throwing money away by paying those high interest rates on your credit card. Roll them into one low monthly payment and on top of that, skip your next two house payments. Go to https://www.savewitheric.com  to learn more.

Today's episode comes to you from the Blue Chew Studio. Get 10% off your first month of Blue Shoe Gold with the code 83 weeks at bluechew.com. Hey, hey, it's Conrad, the mortgage guy, and you're listening to 83 weeks with Eric fished off. Eric, what's going on, man? How are you? Doing great. Doing great here in Los Angeles. I got to spend a little time with my daughter at dinner with her night before last and got together

a little bit last night. So that's always fun. And just cranking away, I can care of business here at Real American Freestyle. You know, we are going to talk about Real American Freestyle, but she brought up Montana. We hear about Garrett all the time,

and of course, us longtime Rathland fans were familiar with him a little bit from his days in front of the camera on TNA. What is Montana up to these days? How's she doing? Montana's doing great. You know, she more or less followed in my footsteps.

After graduating college, she got an degree in film and television. She came to work for Jason Herby and I at the Shoeuvrevee Entertainment. Started out as a, basically as a production assistant and kind of worked a way up to development. Learned about as much as she could possibly learn working for Jason and I, and I encourage her to work for other production companies so she can get different kinds of experience that she did. She ended up becoming a vice president of a company called B10. it's a production studio here in Los Angeles.

Did that for a long time. I just decided she wanted to get out of television for a lot of reasons. I've talked about many of them here. It's just not the same business as it used to be 10, 15, 20 years ago. Anyway, she bought a franchise. She still the English Swim School, and she has this franchise here in Los Angeles and teaches swimming to young kids. How about that?

Man, I love getting a little family update. That's exciting. I'm glad to hear. It's a really interesting franchise, too. You know, when I first heard about it, I was kind of like,

what? You're going to do what? But I looked into the model of self, franchise model of self. It's a really, really interesting business. It's done quite well. I'm glad to hear it's going well,

and we know it's going well with Real American Freestyle. It's going to be going down next weekend in Tampa. Real American Freestyle on the way. It is a live event. And it is going to be a packed house. It's going to be a lot of fun. I think it's until now at Real American Freestyle.com

or you can do what I've been doing and watch on the Fox Nation app. Eric, this is one week out from another big event. Are you nervous, anxious, excited? This probably feels like a home game in Tampa a little bit, doesn't it? Yeah, it does kind of feel that way. I mean, there's a lot of emotions around this event. First of all, it's, you know, the rematch between Armand and Georgia L.

as you know most people are well aware I've got a lot of publicity there was a bit of a brawl at the end of their their first match and jad went ahead and booked the rematch so it's going to be interesting so I'm excited I'm a little nervous because it's a volatile situation wanted to come off great obviously but you know it's exciting but just the overall energy around real American free style right now. It's just, it's amazing. I mean, I'm here in Los Angeles because Fox had to grew out to interview George and Armand yesterday because they're going to do a special unvaccination promoting the rematch. I think it's on Friday. So there's just a lot going on around Real American Freestyle and it's all very, very exciting. There is a lot going on. Be sure to check them out live next week. Tickets on sale now if you're in the Tampa area, Real American Freestyle.com. it's next Saturday, but of course, you don't miss a minute over on Fox Nation. Next week is also a big anniversary, Eric, and I'm going to put you on the spot.

We are live to tape right now. Do you have your calendar in front of you? I do not. I can pull it up on my computer. What's up? Yeah, pull it up on your computer and just see what you're doing next Thursday. See what your availability is next. Thursday. That's Thursday. That's the 26. It is. I'll be in Tampa. Yes, sir.

I'll probably be a little bit underwater. There's a lot going on. But other than that, I don't really see anything. I don't have any hard appointments on Thursday. Here's what I'm thinking. In my head, Friday is probably the day before show day. It's probably your crazier day on a real American freestyle week. Is that fair to say? Yeah. So in my head next week, we should be live on Thursday, March 26, on the exact 25-year anniversary of the very last night trail. Isn't that crazy to think that next Thursday, the 26th, is the exact 25-year anniversary of the last night trail?

Isn't that weird? That is weird. On some level, it feels like it was like 10, maybe 15 years ago. It doesn't feel like it should be 25, Eric. I mean, that's it. That's the head trip, right? Time just messes with your head in so many ways. When you think about, you know, it does seem like it was just yesterday

or a couple of years ago, right? But so much has happened between that and now. It is trippy to start thinking about a 25-year-quarter of a century different ways you can say to make it even more dramatic. The impact that WCW had on professional wrestling is beyond measure and it all finished next Thursday, the 25th anniversary. Meg plans to join us here at 83 weeks.com. We're going to try to be live here and celebrating some of the good,

the bad, the ugly of WCW as we talk about that very last nitro, maybe what could have been, you know, if Eric was successful in getting his hands on the thing, what that new iteration of WCW may have looked like. It's just weird to think it's been 25 years, and I don't think we can let that anniversary just blow by without talking about it. So we're going to celebrate it. Tell a friend if you've got a friend who absolutely loved WCW back in the day,

make plans to join us next Thursday, March 26th on the exact 25-year anniversary of the last nitro. And if you had it to do over again, there's so much we can talk about with WCW. I'm excited to talk about that next week, but we do need to talk about some news. I don't know if you've been keeping up with this, but I guess once upon a time, WWE was planning to do Night of Champions in June in Rodea. Of course, this was going to be a Saudi show.

And there's a little bit of a situation going on in the Middle East right now. Of course, America is at war with Iran. And now there's lots of folks who are curious. Can they even still plan for that show? I mean, as it sits right now, it feels like they're going to have to reschedule that show or just cancel it all together. Do you imagine there's a way that show still happens in June, Eric?

Is Todi? No. Yeah. Yeah. Just to, to, no, I don't see it happening. But hopefully the situation in Iran pulls down and things get a little bit more back to normal long before June. But even still, as a matter of fact, talking about Real American Freestyle, we were supposed to be in Bahrain. We're going to bring a Real American Freestyle from Bahrain in May.

and Chad and Izzy, my partners went over there and we've just begun, you know, negotiating details and all that. But clearly we've had to postpone that trip and hopefully we'll be getting back over there. But I think travel in general is, even if you could find people willing to go over there and do this right now, it's pretty difficult. So I don't see it happening in June. I really don't. Did you ever, before this Real American Freestyle incident now, when you look back in your rearview mirror, for years and events passed. Did you ever have a situation like this

where there was some sort of a conflict or a government issue that warranted a date being moved or canceled altogether? I can't imagine that that would have been anything you've dealt with in the past, right? No, I never, fortunately, I never had to do with those kinds of issues. Do you recall if there was ever any sort of local,

like state or municipal issue where a local government got involved on any level because of something that was happening regionally or was that just never something you ever had to deal with at any given point? Just never, fortunately, I never had to deal with situations like that. Let's talk a little bit about the situation that WWE is dealing with when it comes to WrestleMania. We've mentioned that, you know, there's been a lot of discourse about WrestleMania tickets and other tickets sales down. And we knew there was going to be a challenge going back to the same place.

But this year, they're dusting off a new idea. And there's a little bit of capitalist in both Eric and I, so I thought we would talk about it. As the statement goes, WWE in partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, announced that fans can purchase seats positioned to top the iconic WrestleMania 42 sets for the first time ever when the premium live event takes place

on Saturday, April 18th, and Sunday, April 19th at Allegiance Stadium in Las Vegas. Limited tickets for the premium seats, which offer fans a one-of-a-kind, elevated viewing experience inside the stadium will go on sale Friday, March 20th at 1 p.m. Eastern at Ticketmaster.com. So as folks are listening to this, today at noon, Central, 1 p.m. Eastern, you can buy a ticket to sit on the stage for WrestleMania. Obviously, these are going to be really, really premium tickets. This is, I know what's upon a time the NFL moved to, hey, we need to have sweets. And then they move to field suites. I appreciate that the venues are often trying to find a way with the more mainstream sports franchises.

How do we charge more? How do we get more out of a personal seat license fee and that sort of thing? But now you can actually buy a seat on the WrestleMania set. That's crazy. I love it. What a great idea. It's a good idea. you. Can you imagine

you just sit there and watch that whole show from the set? That would really be cool. I like it. I like it too. I'm also looking forward to seeing what you think about the the WrestleMania build. Of course, there was a lot of chatter that, you know, hey, fans are sort of checked out on creative, but I don't know if you saw the rating came in really,

really strong for Smackdown last week. We'll be talking about that in a bit with Raj Geary. But a lot of it hinged on the angle and execution. between Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes. Did you have a chance to see that? What did you think? I did. I saw the clips of it.

And I can't tell you how happy I am. I mean, I think you know, Randy Orton, to me, is one of the best examples of, he's still old school in many respects, but he's such a great performer on every level. His promos are great. The way he sells,

is fantastic. He's so fluid and so smooth. I think that the match between him and Cody is going to be a great match. Really looking forward to it. I think a lot of us are, you know, it's a story that feels like it's been a long time coming, and they can go back as far as they want with storytelling. And the latest cliffhanger, I don't know that you saw, but Randy Orton is making a phone call, and we're not sure who's on the other end of that phone call. And I love that WWB on the heels of the mask fan and what's in the box they've immediately said hey

fans are digging this let's give them some more intrigue and when I saw that all I could think was boy if this isn't Nitro 101 if this isn't Sarso 101 you know did sting turn who is the third man who was driving the white limo

or the white hum or whatever it was there was always the intrigue and I think that fans are engaged in this but what I guess my bigger question is why did it take WWB so long to lean into this? Because this has been ready for them for a long time, but it feels like this year, it's what's captivating fans more than anything else.

I mean, who knows why they chose now to launch this story. But either way, I don't care why they waited so long. I'm just glad it's happening. It is a great story. And I think when I think about, when I think about Randy Orton and Cody, they're almost like Randy Orton, is the last of what I consider my generation of performers.

You know, Randy started at WWE just as I came on board there back in whenever it was, whatever you there was, 2001, I think, or two. That was, you know, brand new in WWE at that point in time. So I've had a chance to watch him develop new grow as a performer. I have a lot of respect for his dad, cowboy Bob Wharton. so it's just been fun for me but to me he's like him Chris Jericho there's a couple others

that are really the last of what I would consider my peers in a way even though he was much younger than I am still kind of feels like a peer to me so it's great and Cody is like the next generation of the star of the next generation behind Randy so it's a cool matchup

it is a cool matchup it's always a cool matchup whenever our supporters over at ringclassics.com can jump in and ask us live questions. Instagram or wrestling historian is with us here live and he reminds us that as you and I are recording today on March 19th, uh, 2026. This is actually the exact 25 year anniversary of when the last nitro was recorded. I'm sorry, the last thunder was reported. So of course, Thunder was respectfully the B show of WCW towards the end. And on the next the last nitro. It was March 19th in Gainesville, Florida. They did the live nitro, and then

afterwards, you know, they switched the sets, and here we go. Here comes Thunder. Uh, we recorded Thunder that night. Final episode would feature, and this is real, the final thunder, uh, Yang and Kaz Hayashi pick up a win over Air Paris and his tag team partner, AJ Styles. Oh, well, the next match is Jason J. J. J. Tennis, penning Tash. Then Ernest Miller and Emmysmood, defeating Chris Canyon and Road Warrior Animal. We're just picking names out of a hat here. Hugh Morris beat Rick Steiner. And then we've got the Cruiserweight champion, Shane Helms, teaming with Ray Mysterio and Billy Kidman, to beat Chavo Guerrero.

And the cruiserweight tag team champions, that was the thing. Kid Romeo and Elyick Skipper. We also saw tag team champion Chuck Colombo, Penn Mike Awesome, and singles action. And the main event of the very last thunder, 25 years ago today, it was recorded. Scott Steiner teamed with his buddy, Jeff Gerrett, take on Dustin Rhodes and a handicapped match. Of course, it aired two days later.

But still, I think it's awfully cool to think it was on this day, all those years ago that the last thunder was recorded. And who would have guessed at the time, AJ styles in the opener on the last thunder? Nice little piece of trivia for everybody, I think. Yeah, that surprised me. I mean, I knew that AJ had spent a cup of coffee in WCWCW, but I didn't realize he actually wrestled on one of the shows. I, of course, wasn't there at the last time.

So I wouldn't remember it necessarily. But it's cool. Time is changing the way people bank fee free and smarter banking bill for you. Not like old school banks and still charge your overdraft and monthly fees. Bill for you and not the 1%. Time isn't just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like my pay. That gives you access to up to 500 bucks on your paycheck anytime, and you can even get paid

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Results may vary. Seetime.com for details and applicable terms. I do want to ask you, you know, there's been a lot of chatter and discussion in recent weeks about John Lorinitis. I don't know if you saw, but he had his first appearance since he had some ugliness a couple of Januaries ago be revealed through a civil lawsuit. But I think it was in Chilacthi, Ohio with Dylan Hines and Bobby Fulton. And I guess there was some controversy. I'll admit I didn't see the photo, but I guess Johnny Laurennitis posted photo. of his signing and fans jumped all over and said oh it's a i and he quickly deleted it and it

became a bit of a trend but there's been a lot of discussion about johnny ace lately and something you and i i don't think have really ever pinned down exactly you brought him in towards sort of the dying days of wcw and you weren't there so for like this last next to last nitro this last thunder type you're not there in gainsville florida would johnny ace have been there and what was his role in WCW sort of in the dying days. Was he the liaison to communicate with you? What was his official capacity? I brought Johnny in initially to help with finishes. I wanted somebody that could have talked about it so many times. I wanted somebody that could bring a little bit more emphasis to our finishes and variety. And Johnny has spent a lot of time in Japan. I love

liked what I heard about Donnie's approach to booking, particularly in finishes. So I brought a man from that pretty quickly. It became obvious to me that he'd be in addition to his input on booking and finishes and all that, that he could kind of fill a need with regard to talent relations. So he had kind of a dual role for me, initially creative, but then shortly after, you know, he got there and I started working with him a little bit, he was. He worked himself into that talent relationship or talent relations position. Would that have been, you know, if WCW continued and you got your hands on the thing with Fusion Media, he would have been your JR at that point.

Possibly. You know, it's not like when I hired him, I had his future planned out for him or mine necessarily. I could see had the Fusion deal gone through because I had a good working relationship with Jeff. I appreciated his experience, his perspective, his ability to communicate. He was a talented guy. So in all likelihood, he would have probably continued in that role. Let's talk a little bit about AJ Stiles. We mentioned him just a few moments ago, being on that last thunder.

He recently had a conversation about tribalism, and I wanted to get your take on that. He says, it's a great time to be a wrestling fan. if you like wrestling, then why don't we take part in so many things going on right now? Listen, NXT is different than Raw and SmackDown. AEW is different than Raw and Smackdown and NXT. There's a lot of things going on. There's a lot of wrestling to watch. Enjoy it.

You don't have to hate one or the other. I think there's enough out there for you to enjoy a little bit of everything. I think that's what WWE is trying to do is give you a little bit of everything because you want to be entertained. You want to laugh. You want to cry. You want to enjoy the wrestling. So trying to find all that. show is very difficult.

Then you got people hating on this because that guy left here and went there. Don't do that, man. Just enjoy what you've got because who knows how long it lasts. There was a time when it was just WWE. It was just drawing Smackdown. They were combined and that's all you got. Be thankful we have so many different things. We listed four different shows.

We didn't list DNA. DNA's still in there and they're doing some really good work too. This has kind of been under the radar, but AJ's recently started a podcast that sort of talks about gaming in his life. But I love that he gave his take on wrestling. And I think most wrestling fans will be surprised to hear. I think almost all the wrestlers agree on this. Like, hey, this is a great time because talent can have multiple places to work.

Like, we're kind of blessed right now with there being options. What say you? I agree. I mean, it's great that we have as many options as we have. and I think the tribalism that exists, sorry, May I just decided to come into my room. I think the tribalism that exists

pretty much is confined to the internet wrestling community that kind of cesspool of folks that live and breathe and get their dopamine hits by being critical of other people and other organizations. It's a small part of the audience, but it's obviously a very loud part of the audience of social media. Something else that's been kind of loud this week is the ongoing

discussion about Ted DiViase Jr. I'll admit, I didn't realize all of the circumstances, but it made headlines everywhere even here in Alabama. And the headline, unfortunately, includes WWE. It says, former WWU wrestler faces decades

in prison for alleged mishandling of Mississippi welfare funds. And the charges include money laundering, theft, wire fraud, conspiracy. I guess this is all based around Biaski allegedly misspending millions and welfare funds through sham contracts. And I guess the co-computer was found guilty and received like a 32-year sentence.

I think his brother Brett pled guilty and got like a five-year sentence. Man, it's not looking like you can win this one, you know, based on the track record that everybody else has. Have you heard anything? Where are you at on all the developments? the deba boston case this week you know i you know i picked up a couple things earlier this week stories on the situation look i don't know enough about it to have any real comments other than i feel bad for ted uh senior it's he's got to be weighing on him i can't even imagine what what he's going through um we talked about it a little bit a couple weeks ago it's just

it's collateral damage i feel i feel really bad for the people who are in a situation obviously the people who got ripped off, but, you know, the immediate family is suffering along with Ted Jr. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. I'll admit, I didn't realize that seemingly everyone else involved with the case. COVID spirit got 32 years. His brother pled five years. When we talked about this last week, I don't think I knew that piece.

I'm surprised he didn't take a plea. I mean, it's rolling the dice here in a big way at this point, right? That's a big bet, man. That is a big bet. If you've co-conspirants have got 32 years or whatever it was. And I'm guessing that's federal. So there's, you know, you're going to do 75% of that sentence. They're going to mean to cut you off.

But the co-conspirator got 32 years on state charges. He hasn't even received his federal charges yet. His federal finance yet. So the reality is, and boy, I hate the way that sounds, just mathematically. if this was something you could bet on on polymarket, and I'm glad it's not. This is not good. It feels like an almost near certainty

at that point. The debiosity is in major trouble. And what's, I don't know, sad if it weren't so, I don't know, ironic. He was a member of that faction legacy and two of the other three members are headlining WrestleMania.

I mean, this is just, it's a nightmare. It will be a movie at some point. I mean, I don't know how this doesn't get adapted to be something on a streaming service somewhere. Like you've got the celebrity and the wrestling component and then the relationship with Ted Jr. and the computer, whatever that was. It feels like somebody's going to turn this into some sort of adaptation for the small screen, don't you think? Sounds like a dark side of the ring episode. for sure at the very least.

Hey, I heard some things they're working on on the next season of Dark Side of the Ring. I know you've worked with them in the past. Are you, are you on the upcoming season? Have you been on any of these recent shoots? No, I don't think I've done anything with Dark Side in quite a while for years. Did you have some sort of falling out with the Dark Side guys or just the top of the night sounds? I don't know. I think the last time I worked with them might have been eight months ago, six, eight months ago. I don't remember what it was, but I've got a great relationship. Let's talk a little bit about what's going on with ticket prices.

I think we've touched on this. WWE recently did a sale, and we're going to talk about that sale and how it worked or didn't work with Rod Gehry here in a bit when we do our wrestling update. But the cost of tickets have been a major hot point. Over the weekend, AEW sold out Staples Center. I guess it's crypto.com arena now in Los Angeles. They had over $12,000 there.

It was another million-dollar plus gate. But MVP went on his podcast and said something like this about ticket prices. Right now in our country, we have a problem with affordability across the board. I don't care what your political affiliation is. It's tough. And whatever your wrestling affiliation is, you have to admit that there are some companies that are charging more than the average wrestling fan can afford to go and see some good live wrestling. AEW, affordability matters.

and we love the fact that Tony Con has set up a company where we get down to wrestling. It's where the best go to wrestle. A father of two or three, a family of four can go to an AEW show and have a great time. Case in Point in Fresno, Save Mart Center.

You have AEW Dynamite Live, and then after that you have a collision taping. So you get two shows for the price of one. You can buy affordable seats, ringside. You can sit just a few rows back from Ringside and not have to spend two months salary to do it. I think that's a beautiful thing.

you know, listen, I understand that this is the era where we're trying to deliver shareholder value. And normally, you know, I would see this as it's just PR and on some level it is for MVP and AW. And good for them. This is the right way to play it. But I do think given that the current economic climate here in America, I think more people agree with MVP that maybe one side of the equation is priced a little more aggressively than the other. Well, you get what you pay for. as well. I'm not going to really get into the ticket pricing debate.

Every business is in business to make as much money as they can and to find the market, find the price points that work for them. Great, MVP's, you know, speaking up for the common man, good for you. That is a PR move. I think the whole ticket pricing conversation is part of that tribal conversation. that people like to have. It's just something to bitch about, something to create a discussion point between us and them.

At the end of the day, people are going to spend their money on what they want to spend their money on. If the ticket prices are higher in one company than the other, but the market will sustain it, good for them. Now on that, we agree if the market will sustain it. But I got news for you, for whatever reason you've decided, you don't think you can afford

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Eric, how about that? Morgan and Morgan giving away WrestleMania tickets. That's pretty cool. I love it. I love it. You see Morgan and Morgan. They're everywhere. Yes, they are.

Very successful for them. I think they specialize in. like asbestos related claims or something along those lines, class action stuff. Oh, there you go. Okay. And personal injury. Check it out,

Morgan and Morgan. Hey, I do want to mention WWE this past Monday. They did something I don't think a lot of people expected. We saw Seth Rawlins come out and put a promo and boy, he had guys dressed head to toe in black, wearing ski masks surrounding the ring. That sort of explained all the different body types that we saw on the way here.

He cut a promo saying he's come out. coming after Paul Heyman, he wants his fat head on this canvas again, blah, blah, blah. How comes Paul Heyman looking stressed, red-eyed, haggard, worse for the wear. And he says, F-A-F-O-F-F-F-5, here comes Brock Lesnar. What a lot of people were not expecting, I think a lot of people, myself included, just thought that we would march into WrestleMania and Brock Lesnar would do his open challenge and someone's music would hit and they would sort of set the hook with us about intrigue of who is it who's going to answer brock's open challenge and of course there was lots

of speculation hey it's going to be goon through it's going to be over me it's going to be this guy it's going to be that guy and i wonder did they lean into learning about that whole box situation who's in the box what's in the box because it wound up being danhausen and that wasn't well received but a week later the dude's getting monster pops and he's he's a merch mover a dream come true for wb but i think people had set themselves up with unrealistic expectations. Maybe they thought it's going to be Jericho or it's going to be this guy or that guy. So maybe WWE decided, nah, we're not going to let it be a surprise.

We're going to reveal who's answering the Open Challenge and we're going to do it right now. Out comes Obafemi. Crowd goes wild. But they go bananas when he picks up Brock Lesnar and power bombs him. And it got all kinds of attention. People were even pointing out that you could tell that Obel was moved. If you got tight shots on his face,

you could see the tear rolling down his cheek. I mean, you want to talk about making a guy. He is a made man. A wrestler, wrestling friend of mine said, hey, did you see Brock? Hello, but hey, put your foot on me. And I missed that.

But I thought it was cool that Brock understood, hey, we're trying to get this guy over. I know what to do. Hey, just put your foot on me. We've never seen Brock position like this. And because of that, boy, it took off. And the Instagram post of this happening

has set a record for WWE 9 million views. Wow. That is the highest viewed segment from Raw by at least 5 million views. People are really, really intrigued by this.

And I don't know that you saw this, Eric, but someone did a side-by-side comparison. Way back when Brock was just a rookie and breaking in, he went face-to-face with Polkogen. And at the time, Rock was 25 and Hogan was 48.

Wrestling's full circle. Time is an interesting thing. Hoba is 27 and now Brock is 48. The same age Hogan was when he had that opportunity. I love that about wrestling. Isn't that great about wrestling? It is and it's interesting to, in this case, because I didn't see it, but to hear about Brock positioning itself to really get somebody

else over because usually it's Brock that's up on that pedestal and people are working hard to keep him over or get him over. So returning the favor now, it would be fun to watch the process. I can't imagine how little felt that night. I mean, that's, you know your life has just changed when that finish went down. I don't know if you saw it a few weeks ago there was a report out that kind of made me laugh. I didn't jump on social and try to correct it. I do that occasionally like

hey, this is bullshit as my dad would say, but there was a report that was out that said Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman have informed WWU management that they will not be losing. Rock Lesnar will suffer no defeats before his final match and his retirement match. And I'm thinking to myself,

that's the dumbest freaking thing I've ever heard. This is not the way this works. Like old pros like Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, if the rumors are true, but allegedly Brock Lesnar is going to wrap up in Minnesota this year at SummerSlam. He's not going to say I'm not putting anybody on the way out. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't see that happening. Do you? No. What's the source for that story? I don't remember, but I know it was parroted all over the IWC, and I was just shaking my head thinking, man,

anybody who's been close enough to see how this works, that's not real. No, it's not real at all. No. Just more IWC. Garbage. Here's the question, though. If you were, if you were booking this, like, do you try to make that a competitive match? I mean, first of all, I think we, I think we agree. Like, Brock can't win at WrestleMania, right? He's got to lose this one.

I would assume. So if we both assume that Brock is going to, that, that OBA's up and Brock is down on this one, would you have this be like one of those brief Goldberg encounters? before or Goldberg caught him off guard like nine years ago and had a quick pin or would you make this a longer competitive match what type of match would you expect them to have if you were booking you know I'm not familiar enough with oba's work and he says can he go in there and have a 18 20 minute competitive match with Brock if he if he can sure um but if he can't less is more Get them out there. Let them get a big win. Let them make a big statement.

And get it over quick. But it just depends on his level of confidence. And whether or not he can go out there and have an 18 or 20 minute competitive match with something like Brock. Just to recap and run you down, you know, what's been happening. 10 days ago as we're recording, he beat Rusef in three minutes and eight seconds. A few days prior to that on Smackdown, he beat Johnny Gargano in a minute and three. he beat the miss in 4-52 kit wilson in 350 um he has had some longer matches you know at uh at new year's evil he and leon slater went 11 minutes when he wrestled cody rose before they went to a no contest it was nine minutes he did go 17 with ricky saints he did go 13 with giovon evans i know it's russomania and it's two nights so i know some people would be inclined to give them longer i almost feel like I think we I'm not going to say eat him up.

I think less is more. You have open beat him fairly quickly. And that establishes him as the new monster, right? Yeah, it would. And it sounded like when you were, you know, talking about some of his match times, sounded in the very beginning. He has kind of the Phil Goldberg formula. Yeah.

Get him in there because he's a big, powerful guy. So that's what you want to establish and kind of build him on. There's no need for him to go out there and have a, you know, 20, 25-minute Eddie Guerrero type match. He's a big, powerful, larger-than-life character. Let him go out there and get his win and kind of emphasize his strengths, literally and figuratively. Again, it just depends on where he's at. I would like to see him.

I like the Goldberg approach. When you got somebody as big as Oba, the idea of them going out, having five-star competitive in matches to satisfy the internet wrestling nerds. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Did you know Opa was an Alabama guy? I did not know that. Where's it went to Alabama?

Well, not from there. He just transferred to the University of Alabama in 2019. He's a tracking field guy, so he won a bunch of shot foot records and things like that. But roll tied to Obo, we're pulling for him here in Alabama. I do want to mention, I don't know if you saw this, but if this is true that Brock Lesnar is going to be hanging him up, I wanted to very quickly just run through Rock Lesnar's WrestleMania history

because I think it is an interesting look at someone's career. I've done this a few times with guys like Randy Savage. I would encourage everybody, go look at Randy Savage's WrestleMania run, and man, he was just knocking him dead. But let's take a look at Brock's. His first WrestleMania, as crazy as this is, is the main event versus Kurt Angle. And what was on the undercard for that?

Oh, nothing big. Just Sean Michaels versus Chris Jericho. Oh, and the last ever match of the Rock Austin trilogy, but we thought at the time was Stone Cold Last Match. But pay that no mind. Brock Lesnar's in the main event instead versus Kurt Rangel in the main event. One year later, boy, the train was off the tracks. And is he in Goldberg with special guest referee, Austin.

Somehow that night in Madison Square Garden, fans wanted nothing to do with either guy. Heel or baby. We love the referee and everybody else can get out of here. WrestleMania 29, he's back nine years later, this time against Triple H. And this just jumped off the page to me. The next appearance is The Undertaker where he ends the street. And I just kind of assumed there were more matches than that.

But this is just fascinating me to think. This first WrestleMania, main event versus Kurt Angle, even over Rock and Austin. The next one, his farewell. song against Goldberg. Of course he gets the triple H welcoming committee. Then he beats the freaking streak. Fast forward a year, and it's supposed to be he and Roman Rains. Fans are not interested in that.

Seth Rollins cashes in, and the following year, he's with Dean Ambrose, some silliness in a cage with weapons. Goldberg at 33. Roman Rains at 34. Seth Rollins at 35 Drew McIntyre at 36 He wasn't on 37

Roman Reigns at 38 Almost at 39 And now it looks like perhaps His final opponent At WrestleMania Is Obafeming But when you just line up that list of opponents And that's a pretty badass

Who's-do of professional wrestling Over a couple of different generations What do you think think about Brock WrestleMania history here, Eric? It's pretty impressive,

isn't it? Yeah. What a career. What, you know, I remember the first time I heard Brock Lesnar's name.

I'm guessing it was about 97, maybe 98. I don't remember for sure. But Berenganya called me and really

put Brock over and encourage me to come down and see, go up and see Brock and recruit him. But at the time we just we didn't have the ability to really train the way we want with the way we

would have needed to train so we didn't have our plant really wasn't up and running the way we wanted it to be but that was a that was an interesting call just think about what could have been obviously better for Brock that he ended up where he ended up but earn was very excited about Brock listener it is interesting to think you know it's almost like you could have I mean, I know it didn't work out this way, but if you were to envision, it's crazy to even think about, Bill Goldberg on Nitro, are you thinking, hey, we just try to recreate the Goldberg thing? Just do it again and then build the those two guys.

Because he just comes in as such a monster, this larger than life. And maybe the way I see that is because he was just wearing black trunks and black boots. And I don't know, I'm just trying to think about who that lines up with on the Goldberg side. but we know when he debuts WVF and just call him the next big thing. He's got Paul Heyman as his mouthpiece and he just lays waste to everyone in the ring. It felt like absolute domination. Is there anybody on the WCW side of things that you think about in the dying days of WCW? Like, hey, those two guys, they could have matched up and had great matches for a great story.

I mean, on paper, obviously Brock and Goldberg would have been pretty interesting on paper. Yeah. In the reality, he never would have come together for a lot of reasons. But on paper, that would have been a fun one to talk about. When you think about actual match quality, of course,

you know, WCW, you know, in an alternate timeline, if Eddie Guerrero is still around or Crispin Wah still around or any of those guys, they could have had phenomenal matches with them.

But it is interesting to think what a hypothetical Brock Lesnar, WCW run could have looked like. I don't know. It's hard for me to even wrap my head around that one, Eric. Of all the hypotheticals, that's maybe the weirdest one. Yeah, definitely.

And it would have been tough. You know, I joke when we talk about Bill Gilbert, but Bill didn't have anywhere near the experience to carry a match. Brock, of course, had zero experience. And both of them, obviously very intense individuals. So just trying to imagine laying that match out would have been a nightmare for whoever would have tried to attempt it. But like I said, on paper, it's fun to talk about that there really was nobody that would

have been the right opponent for Brock to bring him in and put him into a story right away. It was just really nobody. Yeah, it is interesting. I think WCW back then probably could have used a good spring cleaning. Eric, do you ever maybe decide, you know what, today I'm going to reorganize my closet or I'm going to reorganize the pantry? I really got to clean out that junk drawer in the kitchen. Do you ever get a hankering to like, in my head, this is not sorted out.

I've got to address this right now. Does that exist for you? Yeah, in my garage, occasionally. I just, in whatever reason, I'd like to have things very well organized and in their place in my garage. My closet looks like a bomb one off in it, but the garage is usually in pretty good shape. I think a lot of us probably start cleaning out a closet or getting our landscaping ride or whatever. and we like the way it makes us feel, but then we also say, and I should probably apply this effort somewhere else in another area of my life.

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Between $1,500 and $1,500 a month, I would say. It helped out tremendously as well. My name is Sergio. I'm from Lancaster, California, and I saved over $1,500 a month with savewithconrad.com. In a little lesson number 212, non-equal housing lenders, savewithconrad.com. Eric, let's talk about another big fella who's going to WrestleMania. We just ran through some of Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania history, and I'm excited to see if WrestleMania 42 is indeed his final WrestleMania. By the way, with the benefit of hindsight, does it feel like a missed opportunity that they didn't have John Sena's last match at

WrestleMania. I know they marketed that and they sold it for Peacock. To Peacock, I'm sure. But as a fan, it feels like, man, night one, John Cena, last match, that could have been big. It's interesting.

I wonder what was involved in making the decision to not happen at WrestleMania. It hadn't been a topic for discussion, and it does seem to make the most sense, right? Even from John's point of view, I would imagine. I wonder if there was a scheduling issue or if there was a movie going into production or something that would have prevented it from happening because otherwise it makes too much sense. Yeah, the thing that's weird to me too is, you know, when you knew you were going back to Las Vegas again, it feels like you know it's going to be an uphill battle to move those tickets.

We need all the help we can get. We need a little extra something. It feels like one last John Cena match could have made sense. And we would have forgiven him, even if he did say, hey, I'm finished at the end of the year. And then there was some sort of cliffhanger. Now, I'll see you at WrestleMania. Something, but it didn't happen. But what's Goonther going to do?

That's the big question. The guy who retired AJ Stiles and John Cena, what's he going to do? Allegedly, this was supposed to be a match between Ray Mysterio and Gunter, which if you're thinking like I'm thinking means, wait a minute, does that mean Ray Mysterio is getting ready to call it a career. Mysterio suffered a rib injury before the Royal Rumble, so Gunther's WrestleMania plans have now changed, and I don't even know what he's doing. I don't know that it's been announced at all, but if Mysterio is back, and that's the way it's headed, if somehow Mysterio can compete, it feels like this might be Ray Mysterio's last

WrestleMania. I hate that we're just jumping to that assumption. But anytime I see Gunther with a legend, I think that's the natural inclination that we're all going to have, right? That's what we've been conditioned to believe, for sure. Question is, what do they do with that tradition? Do they continue to feed it, continue to build the legend killer kind of character? Or do they switch on us and give Ray a win? I don't know.

I don't know. The matchup, to me, feels just visually on paper, Hunter and Ray Mysteriole, and it doesn't make physical sense. me. But it is Ray Mysterio, and he can probably have a match with just about anybody that he wants to and make it look good. But it's just, the matchup just doesn't seem to make sense. Other than the fact that Ray's a legend, and we've been conditioned to believe that

that there's going to beat the legend and put him out like he has up until this point. So, oh, it's interesting. It's what's even more interesting is we're as close as we are to WrestleMania and he doesn't have a match yet. that's weird to me after everything that's been together to have him in a situation where he doesn't have a match going into at least at this point seems a little hot based on the fact that gunther is not going to be wrestling brock lesnar at wrestlemania if you were a betting man would you bet that it's brock lesner and and goonther in summer slam in minnesota oh god

Maybe, I don't know. I don't know. He could. Again, so much depends on what's Brock. Is he really going to wrap it up in Minnesota? Is it a foregone conclusion? Do we know that for sure? Are we kind of speculating?

Because if he's really going to go out, he's going to go out in a quote-unquote hometown crowd, then I don't think I would see him in the ring with Gunther. Are they going to let Brock beat Gunther in Minnesota? Or is Brock going to put him over? I don't know. It's just too hard to guess. Well, we want to know what would you guys do with Gunther?

Who would you have Gunther wrestle at WrestleMania this year? Let us know in the comments below. Hey, speaking at WrestleMania, I don't know if you saw this, but you and I freestyled a few weeks ago. It was actually my suggestion and you eventually said, hey, you know what? Maybe that makes sense. Maybe I was wrong. I could have sworn. Hey, there's got to be a business reason behind these whole Kogan, WrestleMania one boot selling for a million dollars.

I think Fanatics is getting into the ring-worn memorabilia game, and they wanted to set a new high comp. And so maybe Fanatics for TKO was the secret hidden buyer purchased these through Heritage Doctants. Turns out that is not the case. It was a real collector. It was a real buyer. It wasn't TKO, and it wasn't Fanatics.

But Fanatics did take notice of that and decided just in time for 316 Day. let's go ahead and announce that we're going to be auctioning off one of Stone Cold Steve Austin's knee braces. His right knee brace from what will wind up probably being his last WrestleMania match. Of course, we're talking about WrestleMania 38 versus Kevin Owens. You see his right foot extended there. That is the knee brace that just sold earlier this week on Fanatics. You could have bid on that item. And if you were the winner, you paid $58,045.45.

for it. And if you're curious, yes, that is the same type of knee brace. You can get at a sporting goods store for, I don't know, two or three hundred bucks, maybe. But because don't cold war at WrestleMania, by God, $58,045. Eric, did you ever think

that we would see wrestling collectibles taken off like this? That is bizarre. That is God's way of saying you have too much money. It's just ridiculous to me. But hey, you know, God bless him.

If someone can afford that, and I'll just spend their money on a freaking knee brace. I mean, what do you do with it? At least a boot. You've got a pair of boots. You can kind of put them in a showcase, and it can be a conversation piece. Well, what are you going to do with a freaking knee brace?

Like, leave it on a coffee table, hang it from a lamp? I don't know. It just seems weird to me. 60 grand for a freaking knee brace. I don't care who wore it. It's bizarre. But whatever.

You think there's a little. a chance that old Nick Cogan is down there going like this right now because he's kind of have so much stuff right I'm just saying like if a if a knee break one of a pair that was one for one for 58 grand there's no telling what type of stuff they've got in that whole Cogan warehouse I'll tell you I don't I've never seen or had to look inside the warehouse I'm not sure what you know memorabilia necessarily that all hung on to I remember you know I see a lot of stuff I just, you know, when he had the big house over in Clearwater, not the one he was living in when he passed,

but the one prior to that, he had a big game room and he had, you know, pinball machine, you know, WWF pinball machines. And he had a lot of memorabilia around the house. But I've never, never saw it kind of in totality. I don't know how much stuff is there, but I'll tell you who's probably sitting on a gold mine right now is Jimmy Hart. Oh.

Jimmy's kind of a pack rat. No, he saved everything. I would like to see the kind of inventory that Jimmy has because he's been collecting and saving memorabilia for a long time. Man, I love to hear that. And I got Jimmy's number. I'm going to hit him up to see. Hey, let's talk a little bit about Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Earlier this week, he was on Busted Open Radio for 316 Day. And they were asking him if he had the itch. I think a lot of people are saying, hey, man, one last match we need one more stone cold match and he did talk about having the itch to have moments in wrestling again but not a match here's what he said i'm done i could go out and do something i'm not lobbying to do that the fact that people are still like hey man it would be cool to see him do something i guess it's an honor but the it would be to go back for one of those moments not a match itch i got a left knee replacement a little over a year ago and god dang my leg feels good i'm glad i got to

done. I got the edge for certain moments, but try to do a match. No. Given the guaranteed revenue that WWE now gets for their premium live events from streaming partners and so forth, I don't think we'll ever see Steve Austin have another match. Do you? No. No. Steve's too smart for that. And he doesn't need it. I mean, I understand him saying the edge and wanting those moments because you do you there are moments that are really meaningful uh i'm sure in steve's career that he still thinks about enjoys thinking about to the stay but i think steve also knows he can't go out there and deliver on the audience's expectation the audience has an unrealistic expectation when it comes to you know legends a guy like steve austin they want to they want to see steve back

in the ring so so that as a fan they can experience kind of the most of the most of the moment of the moments that they had previously with Steve when he was at the top of his game. But Steve also knows he can't go out there and deliver on that. It would be less than his ability in the ring to deliver for the audience would be less than what they expect or what they remember. And no performer wants to go out there knowing you're going to under deliver based on unrealistic expectations. Steve's not going to put himself in that position.

He doesn't need money. It's usually the only reason people do it is because they need the money and they want that buzz. They want that hit that you can only get out in front of a crowd, in front of a live crowd. That's the part of the steepnesses,

but I can't imagine it may even contemplating for a moment the idea of getting back and having a match. I was surprised he did what he did with Kevin Owen, to be honest with you.

Talk to me about the rock. Do you think that ship has sailed or do you think we can still see the rock in Roman Marines at WrestleMania one day? I don't know what it is with Rock, I just maybe because

of his, you know, the last time he came in and out, it was such a, I don't know, it was just awkward and it didn't deliver. I'm not sure how the fans would react to Rock. I really don't have a feel for it.

Is he going to get a big Rock Babyface response? I don't think so. Does he have the kind of heat that he'd that you can build a story around, probably? I don't know. I just don't have a feel for him anymore.

I'm curious to see what you guys think. If you're here with us live, let us know in the comments. Do you think we've seen the Rock wrestle his last match? Would you still be interested in the Rock versus Roman at WrestleMania? Allegedly that was the plan years ago. Next year, they are going to Saudi. We've all heard that Saudi loves their big celebrities and big names. Maybe it happened.

there. And I got to think with every passing year, Rock gets older, Roman gets older. It feels less and less likely to happen, at least to me. And it could be one of those. I mean, that's a big part of it, isn't it? I mean, the clock

is in control. Time is in control. And you're right. Every year that goes by is less of a chance that anybody's really going to be interested in going in there. Much like I said with Steve Austin, Rock doesn't want to go out there and not perform to the best of his ability and meet the audience's expectation.

He doesn't want to go out to disappointed, but every year that goes by, that becomes more and more likely. Yeah, I mean, it's been 13 years since he's had a regular singles match. I know that 10 years ago, he had a six-second thing with Eric Rowan at WrestleMania, and two years ago, he did a long tag match, but as far as a singles match at WrestleMania, it was he and John Cena in 2013. So to me, it just feels like as much as we fans really love the idea of seeing rock and Roman, if we were weather forecasters, we wouldn't be forecasting rain right now.

And I think the percentage of the odds of that rain diminished with every passing year. So I think if it doesn't happen next year in Saudi, it's probably not going to happen there. I think it's a safe statement. Well, something else is you're going to love the way blue chew gold works. Maybe the only person who's going to like it more is your part. partner. Blue Chuteu Gold is the newest innovation from the number one chewable ED brand. This is not your grandpa's little blue pill. This is the 4-1 beast that's setting the gold standard for performance. We've got two ingredients for

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today's podcast. It's time for the Wrestling News Update with Raj Geary. All right, we are back here with Raj Geary, who's got all the news that's fit for print here on a podcast. Raj, what's going on, man? What are the headlines this week? It's been a busy week.

What's going on with you guys? We're excited to catch up with you. I don't know that you saw this, Eric, but there was a little bit of a controversy earlier in the week, and I'll admit, I got a late slip. I guess Bricchay was up to his regular heel hijinks, so maybe some fans thought he took it too far, Raj, what happened? Yeah, I mean, you know, Rickiechay's kind of been, you know,

playing this scrolling character on Twitter for a while now. You know, it's been long before, even before the interview comments where Rikishay said, WV Tarnish's legacy, that was just last month. He's been doing it for a while. And this past Monday, a woman on Twitter basically made fun of his acting skills. and the woman in her bio on her Twitter bio, it says, trying not to let MS control my life.

And Rikishay responded by telling her that she was glad she had MS. You know, obviously, just a stupid, stupid thing to write. It stayed up for a while. Eventually, the next day he had deleted the tweet and issued a statement saying I took out my hatred for the IWC on Sandy, who was the Twitter user, and he wrote, to inadvertently others who are affected by MS. She didn't deserve it.

And for that, I sincerely apologize. And Rikoshae was not on Dynamite this past Wednesday. He wasn't named. I don't know if that's related or he just simply was not booked. But apparently it was a friend of Rikishas that had called him and advised them to remove that tweet. And it turns out it wasn't AEW that told him to remove that tweet. And that actually kind of blew my mind because really, I feel like someone from AEW, as soon

as they saw it should have contacted him and told him to take it down. Because since then, this story has been picked up by, you know, a bunch of mainstream media outlets. TMZ has an article on at the Sun, Yahoo Sports, Forbes, Fice. And AEW just had a really well-received pay-per-view

on Sunday night. And instead of people talking about that, this week, people have been talking about this fricchet comment, this stupid tweet that he posted. So, you know, it's kind of one of those things. People get criticized. I see WWE getting criticized for, you know, sometimes having too much control over their talent

with their social media. But it's instances like this where it's like you really do need to have some social media training and really need to know what those limits are. Because ultimately, you're not just making yourself look bad when you post the wrong thing. You're also making your company look bad. Yeah. Is there a chance he's just a goof?

Like we're kind of saying, oh, you know, he's playing this, you know, feel character and his responses are because of the world that he's paying. I just think he's a fucking dude. I mean, all the social media training in the world isn't going to help that idiot. It could be,

he's not a good guy. He's playing a human character. That's what I think. And this didn't happen in WWE, when during his time in WWE. This, you know, I mean, these kind of tweets that he's been posting, it started really over the past year.

so he has more free reign and who knows i don't know the guy but to me you know reading this if he's if he thinks he's being creative and he's using social media to get his character over he's really wrong he's not doing a good job of getting himself over to social media as a heal or otherwise i just think he's a goof well i appreciate get you guys uh chiming in on that I feel like, again, I don't know him personally, for real. I've made him a few times. I've had great interactions with him. But I get the vibe that he's kind of doing,

and Raj, you may remember this. MJF used to do this with wheelchair-bound fans who were in line for his meeting greet. He would start trolling them. And I think, you know, the context is a little different. Now you know this is an MJF fan who knows that you're basically an insult comic slash insult wrestler. That's your deal. That's your thing.

so maybe if you're standing in line for a meet and greet, you're looking for that. And maybe Rickashay thought, well, for Ms. Sandy or whatever her name was to attack him on social media, she's kind of in on the gag too, but maybe she wasn't.

But I feel like when you're a paying customer, and maybe that's different. Or where, Eric, where do you land on that? That MJF used to sort of troll handicapped fans that is meat and greens. It's bizarre to be.

It's the cheapest of all cheap heat. Can't relate to it. Can't support it. Can't even really discuss it without just want to throw up. I mean, it's stupid. That's just not the way to get heat. It's not, it's the cheapest of cheap heat. You know, can't think of a better way to say it.

Yeah, I think we just talked this one up as a misstep and a learning lesson. But it was interesting to me that it got any sort of TMZ attention, Raj. why do you think that garnered attention with TMZ because that doesn't feel like something that is TMZ worthy? Yeah, I think it's just because it did garner a lot of attention with wrestling fans. And it's almost like it's almost like the apology made it worse when Rikishay issued that apology because it's like once he issued that, that's really, it was after that apology where you started seeing Main Tree Media pick it up.

It wasn't before. So, I mean, it could be just a combination. of those two things. But yeah, yeah, it, you know, again, it got, you know, it wasn't like a huge story or anything. It was, but enough outlets picked it up that, again, it was a distraction from an otherwise, you know, a good week for AEW,

what was looking to be a good week for AEW coming off that paper for you. Raj, I want to ask you about somebody else who had a good week. I'm specifically talking about WWV. You know, we've talked about ticket prices here and how they have been negatively affected this year for WrestleMania. They were down double digits. Lots of speculation, lots of discussion about why that is. Is it because they're back in the same spot?

It's because tickets are priced too costly. What is the cause of all this? Well, I mean to cut you off on 316 Day. They announced they were doing a sale. So they started to run tickets for 31.6% off tickets. And I thought, hey, there you go. Our producer Silva's got a graphic. A whole host of shows.

like a lot of them. And now we got to see how this actually worked week over week. We saw WrestleMania on Saturday with this new sale price. We sold an extra 1,900 tickets. On Sunday, we sold an extra 2,200 tickets. For Smackdown in Raleigh,

1,400 tickets in St. Louis, nearly 1,300 added. Over 1,000 in Pittsburgh and San Jose, over 600 in Lexington. Omaha for Raw, nearly 2000 there and in Sacramento. So it does feel like this discounted ticket price did move tickets. And I think that's interesting because I've long felt like,

hey, if they want to see it, they'll pay for it. Because WWE seemingly has been pushing higher and higher and higher, but still setting records everywhere they go. This may have been the first time we saw a sale like this really worked like this in WWE. What did you think of this, Ron? Yeah, I mean, it was a huge success. like you mentioned, you know, over 4,000 tickets for WrestleMania sold in one day off of this promotion.

We mentioned last week how they were stuck at that 37, 38,000 level. Now they're at that 40,000 level with a month ago. And yeah, you know, Russell picks that posted those numbers and of the 10 cities that they had numbers for, eight of them saw over a thousand tickets sold in each venue with that sale. So I think what you're seeing now and what you've been seeing for, little bit is you'll see these reports of, you know, the tickets going on sale and tickets sales being softer. Well, in January and February of, there was 20 live events, WWE live events, Ron Smackdown in the same city. So it's like if they did, Ron, Houston came

back for Raw and Houston or Smackdown, Houston, comparing those ticket sales. And of those, nine were down from the, nine were up from the last time they were there, 11 were down. So what that thing is about half and half, so half we're up, half we're down. And I think what that means is just people are figuring out buy tickets late. You buy tickets early, you're getting the highest price tickets, you buy them late, you're going to get the sales, you're going to get the discounted tickets. And here you got a big sale, you know, over 30% off and people jumped on it. So, you know, it's one of those things. WWE, they were pricing tickets high, they were selling out quick, kept going higher and higher. Now people have stopped buying them right away and they're waiting. And

you know, it's smart. And, you know, whether that causes WW to bring the ticket prices down or just keep going as is, or you put them on sale at a higher price, bring them down later as you need to. That remains to be seen. I'm interested to see, Eric, do you remember at any point promoting a sale or a discount code for WCW or TNA and seeing that sale actually work for ticket prices? No. No, it's when I think about ticket sales in WCW.

I have two memories, you know, one, you know, Nitro, of course, where we were selling everything out, and it was easy. And then prior to Nitro, when we would paper, for example, on paper views, we had to paper the house because it looked so horrible. We'd sell 1,500 tickets, 2,000, 2,600 tickets, tops at 7 or 8,000, 10,000-seat arena, and the rest of it was all paper. So I was never in a position where I had to try to dynamically price our tickets to take advantage of the market. We either couldn't give them away or we couldn't fill them up fast enough. So there was really nothing in between. Well, you know, there's going to be renewed interest after the big angle that they did on Smackdown this past Friday night. It felt like a lot of good news coming out of Smackdown this past week, Raj.

Tell us about it. Well, what was really interesting was, well, stack down first off this past Friday night with the Randy Orton Heel turn. It's 1.419 million viewers and that point 3-2 in 18 to 49. Now that, 1.419 million viewers is the best since early September. That would be the episode that AJ Lee made a return on. So these numbers now are beating most of the numbers that they were doing under the old Nielsen system with viewership. again, it's one week, but what is really interesting is how much it beat the previous week. And the previous week was the one where Cody and Drew wrestled for the WWE title.

And theoretically, a world championship title match advertised ahead of time should be doing a really big rating. But this past Friday night was up 20% almost in both total viewers and 18 to 49. It was 19% viewers and 19% 18 to 49. So up significantly from the week before that had a title change. And also the week before had really weak sports competition while this past Friday night had really strong competition with March Madness and baseball. So really impressive number. I think, you know, as far as the creative decision to go to with Randy Orton, look, you know, people going in the episode didn't know that a great angle was going to happen at the end of the show. but I think that that pivot must have done something because it was a really big number.

You can't make too much of one number. We'll see how it is this following week, following that deal turn. But that was a big success, at least on Friday night. Yeah, it was a huge number. I mean, we're seeing a lot of momentum, and it feels like renewed interest. I know once upon a time, people were sort of non-plused about the idea of Cody and Randy. but it does feel like they've hit a home run with this story and maybe the best part of that story Eric is as you go back and you look at all of their interactions Randy has sort of

maintained the same posture the whole way through you know he's the guy who is sort of the snake in the old parable hey you knew I was a snake the whole time I was here for the world title and now you've got it and well this would have been easy if it was with somebody I didn't like like Drew McIntyre but I like you Cody so I hate that I have to do that are you pumped about this main event now that you've got some story and some momentum now Eric I sure have as I said earlier I think it's a great matchup and there's so there's so much backstory there's so much to work with and they're both amazing performers I'm a huge randy fan and I can't wait to see this play out we know that there is a flag football game

that's happening that everybody's been talking about. Of course, it's happening this weekend over in Saudi Arabia. Tom Brady's involved. He's got some NFL greats. Gras, is pretty famous media savvy. Who's rubbed up against WWE back during the pandemic era at a WrestleMania? He was recently involved earlier today, and I guess a little bit of a shouting match with Logan Paul.

Kevin Hart is trying to play peacemaker. That's how you know, okay, they're entertaining you folks. Do you think, Raj, there's a chance that this all leads to something at WrestleMania or some event to follow? Because we know, as a reminder, Tom Brady has an ownership interest in the Raiders, and they play at the same stadium where WrestleMania is. And we know Logan Paul is a huge celebrity and universally hated. We know Gronk is Tom Brady's boy.

We know Gronk has rubbed up against WWE before. He does feel like this. there's going to be some sort of opportunity for WrestleMania shenanigan. Maybe not a match, but a moment. Is that where you think this is headed, Rush? I do. That seemed out of character for Tom Brady to be making fun of wrestling like that. You know, clearly he respects it.

And, you know, you get twofold with this. You get, you know, promotion for the flag football league. And then, yeah, you could easily do something like what Mickey Roark did with Chris Jerko. That actually was supposed to be a. match that ended up changing. But, you know, they did a spot at WrestleMania. And I could easily see Logan, Paul, and Tom Brady doing a little spot at WrestleMania that, you know, get some mainstream attention.

I mean, you had a, you know, you've had, my gosh, his name is, really skipping in my mind, George's little, and Travis Kelsey's brother, Jason Kelsey, doing spot. So I could see it being something like that. It will be interesting to see. I mean, if you get Tom Brady at a WrestleMania, that's a pretty big damn moment, no matter what he's doing.

I don't imagine he's going to be doing any sort of match, but even if the physicality is just between Gronk and Logan, it just feels like having Brady in a ring at WrestleMania. The optics of that are going to have a really long tail. You know he's doing stuff with fanatics just like WWE's. That could be a really big mainstream crossover opportunity. Don't you think, Eric? Oh, absolutely.

It's absolutely. Just the PR value alone would make it worthwhile. Anything else on your slate this week, Raj? Yeah, something that actually just came out, an article by Brandon Thurston over at post- Wrestling, that, you know, there's the short shareholder lawsuit going on between the shareholders and TKO. And one of the things that came out was that one of the companies

that placed a bid on WWE was Base 10. And Base 10 is a company backed by AEW's Tony Khan. So Tony Khan's company had made a bid to purchase WW back in 2023 when that whole process was taking place. So that was pretty interesting. I did not realize that was public information now. Eric, did you know that until just now? Did not.

Did you imagine? I don't. And not only could I imagine, I'm going to make a bold prediction now. If and when WWE is ever for sale, and a lot of people are taking a look at the moves WWE is doing right now. And they're saying, well, eventually they're just going to squeeze all the money out of this. They're going to sell it out of the peak and they're going to move on. It's going to be Saudi Arabia or Tony Kahn, who buy the thing.

I mean, that's the only logical play. I mean, I can't imagine anybody else who would be willing to pay, you know, the premium that TKO is going to be looking for outside of perhaps Saudi Arabia or Tony Kahn. You mean, Shad, Tom. I mean, you're like Tony Kahn slash. Well, we don't know when this is going to happen. But let me ask you this, Rosh, we're just playing that game. When, sadly, unfortunately, Shad is no longer with us. What does that mean?

he'll he's got other children as well and things like that but yes I mean I just do not see DKO with how much money the money that they're making with

UFC and WWE willing to sell unless it's a gigantic premium now you know just with where everything is at right now with the synergies that they have I wouldn't want to I don't see I don't see them selling one property

and not the other I mean and that's why when you say Saudi, that I could see, you know, as far as selling both brands. But one or the other, I just, it's tough to see. But, you know, again, who knows? Who knows down the road? Who would I ever thought in 1998 that Vince McMahon would one day own WC. So you never know, I guess. Did you ever thought in 1998 that Eric Bischoff's in the WW Hall of Fame?

And from 2026. Yes. that Eric Vinchoff is on the cover of the video game and Vince McFan is nowhere to be found in the video game like no one would have guessed. Right. So we'll stay tuned and see how the internet reacts to possibility of what if Tony Kahn

had won the rights to bid and buy WWE. Oh my God. Can you imagine the cluster that that would have been? Imagine Tony Kahn trying to run WWE? me. I'm glad. Roger, anything else?

We need to hit this week. Tell everybody how they can keep up with you. That's about it, guys. Just follow me on Twitter at Rage, and thanks as always for having me on. This is fun.

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Or just Google the perfect gene and use the code 83 weeks 15 for 15% off. One more time, that's the perfect gene. Or just Google the perfect gene, but don't forget to use this code. You'll get 15% off and use the code 83 weeks 15. Jacob Simmel. I'm from Bulls Gap, Tennessee. I was looking for a house. and Jason, when I talked to him, it seemed like you knew a lot about what he's talking about,

and he was a big help with anything I ever needed. It's my first time buying a house. I didn't know what I was getting into. It was a good experience. I closed actually a week earlier than planned. Anytime I needed help, anything, or had any questions, you'd answer right away and help me learn a lot, too. I would gladly recommend anybody. Y'all are a big help, and if I ever go to buy a house again, I'd go with y'all again.

My name is Jacob Simmel, and I got into my first time with the team. is David Conrad.com. In a lesson number 2129, equal housing lender. Save with Conrad.com. All right, Eric, I'm excited for us to do this. We've got, we do have a live studio audience. We are going to be answering some questions, but we've got two clips that I want to share with you.

One is from a podcast that The Rock is recently on, from Patrick Bet David. And of course, we love talking about the business of professional wrestling every now and again. And he has an interesting conversation he recapped, where he's talking to Vince McMahon about negotiating his next contract. Let's take a listen. I said, who's the highest paid, if you don't mind me asking, between us,

who's the highest paid on the roster? He said, he said, Stone Cold Steve Austin. He said, okay. He said, if you don't mind me asking, what's his guarantee? He said, a million dollars. I went, okay. I want two. So, oh, I know, the balls, love that kid.

So he said, two million? I said, yes. Guaranteed? Yes. And he said, I'm just curious, where do you get that from? Like, what are you figuring out in your mind? And I said, well, I love Steve, I respect him. But if he's getting a million dollars, where I see myself going is past a million dollars,

I think it should be two. And he went, okay, I understand that logic. He said, here's what I want you to do. I'm going to put you in contact with one of our executives and I need you to take a couple of months if it takes that long because I was on the road. He goes, I need you to understand the business. I need you to understand the business

this side of the business from top to bottom, all the economics. Wow. I want you to understand that. I want you to understand. And our cost overhead. I want you to look at what's allocated to the board. I want a great thing to do. Yes.

I want you to take the time and put in the work that you say you're committed to in the ring. Yes, I expect that from you. But now I want you to learn the business. Once you learn this business, then you come back to me. And then we'll talk about what the renegotiate. Who was the executive? Was that a CFO? It was like a CFO.

Okay. I got it. Yeah. So you learned the money aspect of the business. Yes. Got it. Exactly. what the overhead costs are, what the costs are every venue we go into, what the cost of the venue is, what the state tax is, what the allocation for all the wrestlers is going to be, that percentage of what the gate is that particular night.

I didn't take three months. I mean, maybe it was just two weeks, and it was baptism by fire, and I learned to absorb as much as I could about the business. I went back to Vince, and I thanked him. I gave him a big hug. I said, I understand now. I'd like to match it at a million dollars what Steve is getting. Thank you for taking me through it. And we had a great conversation. And he said, how much do you think you're going to make this year?

I said, well, my guarantee is a million. I've been going, averaging about 50% over my guarantee, so maybe 1.5. he went okay now that you're taking yourself through that now you understand the business you're going to make 15 million dollars are you kidding yes you're not expecting this no but he already did the math he could see where it goes wow I'll make 50 million life change what was your reaction when he says holy shit I mean from what 50 a year to 10 million a lot of people have have heard that story before but I was glad that he actually shared it on a podcast and since we sometimes talk about the business of professional wrestling.

Have you heard that before? How'd that story strike? No, I've seen a clip or two from that interview, but I've never seen it in its entirety. It's an interesting story. It is an interesting story. Did you ever have a similar experience or negotiating process with any talent in WCW where you know, they were asking for something that you felt like was unrealistic, but you

knew that it came from a good place and you wanted them to learn more about the business? Did that dynamic ever exist? WCW? It really didn't and I was thinking about that as I was watching that interview. It probably is a good exercise for talent to really understand the business of the wrestling business because unfortunately most talent that I've ever had to deal with really only understand what goes on inside the ring. A lot of veteran wrestlers who talk a lot about the business of the wrestling business have very little visibility into it and really don't understand how the financial model for professional wrestling really works.

It's fascinating to me that, you know, he went and did that, I don't know, exercise with Vince McMahon and all these years later, Vince is on the outside and T.K.O. has the rock on their board. It's an interesting story. I do want to Yeah, it's just It's fascinating to me Do you believe the number?

Do you think the Rock made $15 million that year? Or is he just having fun with the story? Yeah, I think he probably colored outside the lines just a little bit. Could be, I don't know. We agree. Hey, let's see if we agree about L.A. night. I don't know if you saw this, but he went public with something that I'll admit,

I was surprised by. LA Knight revealed that his appearance on season two of Unreal has directly changed how he conducts himself backstage following the matches. He says he was on the bootleg Kev podcast. And he talked about the moment where he was on season two. And he's having a conversation with Triple H after deviating from the original finish in the Money in the Bank ladder match. And WW's producer Chris Park, who we know as a fifth, had explained the original planned finish tonight before the conversation with Triple H and all that was on camera of course

and Knight said on this podcast appearance that he was holding back significantly more than what viewers saw on screen quote I was majorly holding my tongue in that scenario if you could tell because I had my own frustrations about that situation that partially had to do with the finish but more so it had to do with an overarching theme that I don't need to get into the

weeds about here. Knight also revealed that he was unaware he was being recorded during the exchange with Triple H, which prompted the behavioral change going forward. Quote, I had no idea that I was on a microphone at that point in time. And so with that being the case, I don't even stop there in Gorilla anymore. When my match is over,

my segment is over, I go straight through and I go to the locker room, end quote. Night that he remains open to discussing what happened in his matches, but on his terms, quote, if they want to talk to me about my match or whatever happened out there, sure. Let's talk about it when there's not a microphone or camera around because that's how it's always been. But that being the case, I'm not going to stop in there and leave myself susceptible to that. The guerrilla position, of course, is the staging area right behind the entrance curtain.

So a lot of fans were shocked to see that this made air, but I think even L.A. night was like, I didn't know I was being recorded. and I know that there were some people, Jeff here it may be Chief amongst them, who was saying, this is going to create more problems. This is not good for the wrestling business. What do you make of this story coming out? I think a lot of wrestling fans just assume,

oh, well, this is all the big work. But maybe the talent was like, hey, I don't like the way that made me look, and that's not the way I would normally handle myself. And whenever I'm on camera, I expect to be in character. I'm just going to pass. I'm going to go to the locker.

room. What do you make of this? Not much. I mean, I understand it. You know, um, certainly I would like to know when I'm on camera so that I can handle myself accordingly. I understand it from the talent's point of view. Um, I don't think it's going to be a disaster for the wrestling business. I don't think it's going to cause a tremendous amount of distrust. or confusion. It's a minor blip in the, it's just like a speed bump for L.A. night. I don't know. I really don't know how it's such a little fucking thing.

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Shopmando.com. And the promo code is 83 weeks. weeks. Eric, I don't want to say I've saved the best for last, but we got a question last week that I thought you should respond to because people are throwing around allegations. They're not putting proper respect on your name, Eric. I thought we need to correct that. Unfortunately, we're going to be doing it with the words of an out-deceased man.

Mr. Mike Graham met some pretty strong accusations when he sat down with our buddy, Sean Oliver. He does a great podcast with Kevin Nash called Click This. I recommend everybody check this. out. But Sean used to be in the DVD business for KFAP commentaries and Eric and Bruce and a whole host of others sat down with Sean through the years. But he has some opinions about Eric that I wanted Eric to be able to review and respond to. Now this clip, Eric, is five minutes and 38 seconds. So we're going to break it up and I'm going to let you throw the flag whenever you want to here to respond to something or we can just play it all the way through. But we'll stop it on on your

call. So shout out to KFave Commentaries. Their fabulous YouTube channel will include a link in our description so you can check it all of Sean Oliver's great work. Here's about five minutes and 38 seconds with Mike Graham talking about Eric Fishoff and WCW.

Time Warner's involvement in the corporate structure. Fire everybody and start over. Yeah. Contracts. The biggest work at WCW guys want to get hired, they would get a stupid contract and then never come to work. It stubbed their toe and they'd go to a doctor and the doctor would write a little note saying, oh, if he

hurts his toe, it could cause permanent damage. And Turner, TBS was horrified of lawsuits. Horrified. They did not want a lawsuit. So at one time, Sting, Lex, Steiner, like the so-called 10 main event

guys, eight of them were on leave. And they were all making $600 to a million dollars a piece a year and not coming to work. The medium guys, all the Mexicans from Mexico was making $150,000 a year, and they were used for TV.

I mean, the contracts were just absolutely bizarre. Where did the buck stop? Who offered a contract? Who granted um, Vampiro, $150,000 a year? Eric Bischoff.

Beginning and in. Eric Bischel. if he liked you or thought you'd give him some money back or whatever, he'd give you big numbers. I mean, and it's a known fact. I'm not saying. Stings music, Flair's music. Eric Bischoff bought into a music company in 99 or 2000.

About 2000 is when everybody's music was redone. Hmm. I wonder why the music was done. was redone. And he was signing the checks to have the music redone. Send a check to the company that he owned. When New World Order, huge Japan wanted

T-shirts, our partners in Japan wanted T-shirts. Eric sold the WCW T-shirt rights and marketing rights to one of his friends in dip shit Montana or something. Sorry. This is so bizarre.

This is the first I've heard that I owned or had equity in a music company. It's news to me. And this is hard because Mike's not here to defend himself. And I feel really awkward even having this conversation, to be very honest with you. It was twice to say Mike had issues, lots of issues.

Clearly, it ended up with him taking his own life. He was an alcoholic. He had baggage that he was carrying around from probably a childhood. He was very frustrated. He and people like Greg Gagne, the sons of promoters who never really quite made it

carry around kind of a resentment of people who have made it and in Mike's case I think he got through the day by tearing people around him down in order to feel better about himself

that's really all I can say about me and that is such nonsense that I wish Mike would have had that great of an imagination when it came to booking. Let's put it that way. Mike Graham was there in WCW because of Dusty. Dusty took care of Mike Graham. It's the only contribution that Mike had really no contribution to WCW.

He wasn't very good when it came to creative. He was even worse when he came to dealing with talent because he had that Napoleon complex that followed him everywhere. I feel bad for Mike and people like him, but nothing that Mike said in that interview has anything close to the truth. It's just the ranting and raving of a very mentally and emotionally unstable alcoholic.

I appreciate you setting the record great on that. He does continue with some, some buff bagwell discourse that we alluded to last week. I feel like we should at least get through that piece, and then we'll let you respond to that. If you'd like to move on or put a button on it, we can do it. Then sold all the marketing stuff to his friends, and then his friends sold them to the people in Japan.

Eric was selling shit for $5 a shirt. You're selling them or 25 a shirt. And Eric was 50% owners in that. The poster company that they'd have, for years and years and years. Bagwell, Marcus. Anyway, Marcus Bagwell and his mother

opened a printing company. All of a sudden, who had the rights to print all of the print stuff for WCW. Marcus Bagwell and his mother. They had their own a printing company. And this list went on and on and on because he made the decision.

He single-handedly bankrupted WCW all on his own. He put it so far on the shitter that it could never have been bailed out. What was Brad Siegel's role? We did a special with Kevin Sullivan to our exploration of the last few months. Kevin knew a lot more than me. A Siegel came in when Eric had to wish I had to get rid of me because I'm the one that gave him the formula of success.

I'm the one that got poking in. I'm the one that told him get rid of the clashes and do all paper views. I'm the one that said start doing TV. I told him to go to Universal. Eddie Mansfield was there. Eddie blew him off so bad and I was sitting in his office in the day. Did steam coming out of Eric's ears because Mansfield was just that way.

Who? What? I've never heard of you. You just hung up on him. Oh my God. This was like the second day Eric was in power. I was laughing. I was going to be more of this, Conrad. I know you kind of like this shit, but I can't sit here and listen to the ranting and ravings of Mike Graham. He was obviously very mentally disturbed and emotionally disturbed.

It's just too. artists here and listen to this stuff. To be clear, I just wanted you to sort of clear the record up because you did get a few tweets about this. As far as we know, did Buffer Judy own a printing company? And did you decide everything? Everything that I'm listening to is so fucking bizarre. Like, me selling off merchandising rights to a friend of mine in Montana, where in the

fuck did Mike Graham come up with that nonsense? There is just, you know, usually there's at least a little bit of. of like a grain of truth or or or or the possibility perhaps of something being true. In this case, it's just fucking bizarre. It's just bizarre. And clearly Mike was very resentful of me. And I understand that. But the rest of this stuff, what an imagination.

I didn't know that Judy and Buffett well owned a printing company either. It's fucking bizarre. Well, I hate to say I told you so, but we told you so. You know, a well-built wardrobe is about pieces that work together and hold up over time, and that's what Quince does best. Premium material, thoughtful design, and everyday staples that feel easy to wear and easy to rely on, even as the weather is shifting this time of year.

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Booker T got a real special celebration in the city of Houston. It was Booker T Appreciation Night on NXT. Of course, I'm sure some of this is because, of all the value that he's added to the community and to NXT, and that all made sense. But it's not lost on me that it wasn't that long ago. He was given the not so prestigious and downright disrespectful, worst announcer of the year award and the wrestling observer.

And I thought it was really cool of WWE and NXT in the city of Houston to acknowledge that, hey, you guys have missed the point. Booker T is the man. Triple H even commented. Behind the scenes, he's a resource and a mentor. toward to our talent and in front of the camera, well, he's Booker T. He's one of these guys who I feel like a lot of times we throw around the phrase unsung hero. I think when people

talk about WCW, they obviously talk about Flair and Sting and Goldberg and Hogan and others. But man, did anybody make that transition from WCW to WVE better than Booker Tee? Like Booker T deserves his flowers and then some, don't you think? He's an amazing talent. He's had an amazing career. I still enjoy listening. to him to this day. He's got a big personality, and he's entertaining his health to listen to and he knows his stuff. We're going to be talking about WCW a lot, and we're doing it next Thursday. We're going to be doing it live here at 83 weeks.com. We want you to join us. Hit the subscribe button,

turn on the notifications bell. Next Thursday, March 26, 2020, is the 25-year anniversary of the very last Nitro. Make plans to join us. We'll talk about it in great detail. it's going to be a lot of fun. Eric Vischoff will be here. We may have a few special guests. We're certainly going to be taking your questions. We want to hear from you, your favorite Nitro memories, your favorite WCW memories or moments.

Let us know in the comments below and make plans to join us. Hit the subscribe button at 83 weeks.com. Turn on the notification bell. You don't want to miss us. We'll see you next week right here on 83 weeks with Eric Vischoff. Savewithconrad.com. My name is Sergio. Lancaster in California.

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