83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff - Strictly Business with Eric Bischoff #60: The Rock Returns to WWE

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Strictly Business is BACK for our first episode of 2024, and it's a loaded one! This week, Eric Bischoff and Jon Alba discuss the impact of The Rock's return to WWE, and how that may lay the groundwork for the company's international expansion. Then, the two are joined by real-life hero (and wrestling fan) Nick Bostic for a must-hear story about the human spirit. Plus, thoughts on Samoa Joe's AEW Championship win, and the "rumor and innuendo" in the wrestling media space. FOLLOW ALL OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA at https://83weekslinks.com/ Stop throwing your money on rent! Get into a house with NO MONEY DOWN and roughly the same monthly payment at SaveWithConrad.com On AdFreeShows.com, you get early, ad-free access to more than a dozen of your favorite wrestling podcasts, starting at just $9! And now, you can enjoy the first week...completely FREE! Sign up for a free trial - and get a taste of what Ad Free Shows is all about. Start your free trial today at AdFreeShows.com If your business targets 25-54 year old men, there's no better place to advertise than right here with us on Strictly Business. You've heard us do ads for some of the same companies for years...why? Because it works! And with our super targeted audience, there's very little waste. Go to AdvertiseWithEric.com now and find out more about advertising with Strictly Business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So don't make saving money a resolution next year. Make it happen today. at save with conrad.com Shaw presented to you by the podcast seat and ad free shows networks. I am John Alba and making his long awaited return to the podcast after the holidays with his family. Mr. Eric Beshoff, welcome back to society. How was your vacation, my friend? Well, I was a society. I mean, Camp of Florida is not exactly like a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific. I think you're spending family time and joining the holidays. How was everything? It was great.

It was great. You know, it's just, I mean, come on. I'm with my kids my grandson my wife it's just uh it could not have been better really enjoyable it's always good to get back to as much as i love being there and and being with my family i've i've come to realize that i'm addicted to the mountains i i love florida love going there i can see spending four or five months during the winter there but man i love where i live snowbird status i see where we're at here the bigger question is what did you eat you know i got to ask that the holidays it's always a big deal i sent you the picture of that suvi steak I said, I'll make it for you next time.

We're together. What do you guys have? Man, I've been on this carnivore diet. I did a five-day water fast, as you all know. And immediately after the five-day water fast, I jumped into a 30-day carnivore diet, which is, by the way, I'll be doing this indefinitely from this point forward. But I stuck to it. I didn't have one ounce of alcohol.

Didn't even have a sip of alcohol, which is, you know, first time since I was probably 15 years old. That ever happened over Christmas. nothing but meat, no carbs, no sugar, no processed food, no anything. And I've got to tell you, I have never, ever felt better in my life. When I started the carnivore diet, I took my blood pressure, and I've always run a little hot, for the most part, the last 30, 40 years, I've always had marginally high blood pressure, right but as i've gotten older it's creeping up creeping up creeping up and i i just i've avoided going

on medication for whatever reason and so i took my blood pressure it was 166 over 117 now that was a home blood pressure unit they're not exactly accurate all the time and i may have been up walking it might i mean 166 i'm usually like 145 over 90 you know would be an average for me maybe 140 over 90 this was 166 over 117 which is you know that's go to a doctor and have a conversation kind of high right right right that's what it was my blood pressure last night before i went to bed was 118 over 76 wow and that's the only thing that's changed no medication no anything i just changed my diet and by the way my diet wasn't really that bad no i know that you're clean either but this change

interesting or me not everybody's the same we're all different we all have different metabolisms lifestyles all kinds of different shit but here's the things I noticed first clarity of thought amazing I can focus now I'm not distracted with the mental clutter that would find its way into my consciousness all the time when I'm trying to focus on something I was easily distracted that shit's gone I am a laser focus mucker further and i love that my overall energy is probably 30 or 40 percent better than it was previously and i was doing pretty well it's not like i was in a rut i mean i was feeling well when i started i feel even better now zero mood swings now i can you know you can still

punch my ticket and i'll go off like i probably will oh i know i'm aware but just throughout the the day, I'm just calmer. I'm in a more relaxed state of mind. And I noticed it really over Christmas, this was so many things were like new to me over Christmas. Because again, for me, historically, Christmas has been eating and drinking and eating a lot of things that are not necessarily healthy for you. You know, a lot of sugar, a lot of processed food, a lot of carbs, all that kind of crap. And I noticed over the holidays that I was, I hate to sound like, you know, a yogi but i was just way more present i was just i enjoyed it more i really enjoyed my time with my family more because i wasn't drinking and because i wasn't affected throughout the day

with you know spikes insulin spikes and all that kind of stuff that comes along with eating shitty food so i i love this diet again you know it's controversial like everything's controversial you can't even talk about diet anymore without it becoming a political statement what's wrong with the yogis up and upside down over shit but for me absolutely love it never going to go off of it can't think of a reason why i'm going to do a blood panel um i get a blood panel done about twice a year um every six months i've got another one coming up in february and i can't wait to compare them i cannot wait to compare it Because I do a full-blown analysis of my blood.

I can't wait to compare them. It's going to be exciting. What's wrong with the yogis? The yogis too woke for you? No, no. I just don't want to try to sound like something I'm not. I don't pretend to be an expert on shit. I don't pretend to be knowledgeable things.

Like this carnivore diet, man, I'm just getting into it. I'm greener than goose shit neophyte, you know, but I'm experiencing it. And I love sharing it because I know a lot of people that could benefit from just getting the carbs and a processed food under their diet will eliminate a lot. Here's another thing I noticed. This is a little thing.

And this is what gets to be so excited about it because it's not like a big thing. It's a little thing, but it's so noticeable for me. For the last couple of years, when I'm driving, I'm in my truck. If I'm backing up, I rely heavily on my side mirrors and my rearview mirror. Why? Because I've noticed over the last 10, 15 years, my range of motion in my neck. I've never had any severe neck injuries, but I've bounced it around a little bit. My neck, my shoulders have tightened up so much over the years.

Lack of exercise, not stretching, bad diet, all that kind of shit, right? So that here's my version of looking behind me before I back up. It's about all I had. Now, swing my arm up, turn around, look all the way around, eat my range of motion just in my neck and shoulders was dramatically different. noticeable. But that goes to the inflammation. You know, processed food for me, processed food, carbohydrates, a lot of this stuff I was eating, even though I thought I was eating healthy, created inflammation for me. And that's what was contributed, not completely, but contributed to me being as stiff as I was. My joints, my ankles, my knees, everything feels great. So enough of

that. I'm not trying to convince anybody to be a carnivore. However, if you are, I encourage you to do what I'm doing, I am eating nothing but meat, and I'm getting all my meat from River Bend Ranch. Why? Because I know where it's grown. I know how it's grown, raised. I know how that cattle is fed. I know where it's processed. I'm going to visit the processing plant later this month. The meat is aged. I know who packages it, and it's an incredible quality of product. So my carnivore diet is based on Riverbend Ranch, black label meats. If you want to join the party, go to getriverbend.com. The pricing, if you compare to other meat delivery, you know, some of the famous national brands,

you're going to be surprised, pleasantly so on how much money you can save with getting the absolute best meat product you can. Okay, enough of that. Let's get on with show. score us that sponsorship when you go over there man dan you know what it's look it's just like the story we're going to tell a little bit you know when you have an opportunity to share something that's good what's positive you do it and that's why i'm so high on get riverbend dot com yeah yeah and i'm i'm all about doing what works best for you we got a really interesting episode ahead we're going to talk all about the rocks return to wwe and what wwee's process for international pay-per-views and premium live

events might look like this year. We've got a special interview that Eric Bischoff mentioned that you might have seen his story going viral over the holiday seasons. It's a great interview. That's going to come to you later in the episode. And then towards the end of the episode, Eric's, Eric's feeling fiery today. So he's got some things that he wants to get off his chest. So stick around for that. Eric, let's get into the lead here. The Rock is back. Dwayne Johnson, one of the biggest names in WW history. Shows up on Monday Night Raw as a surprise as a segment with Jinder Mahal and afterwards after he kicks Jinder's ass he says ah the rock's feeling kind of hungry should the rock go get a booth at a restaurant should the rock sit at a bar you know the rock

love sitting at a bar at a restaurant or should the rock sit at the head of the table and oh man did that entire arena go absolutely nuts because for the first time ever we've got our teas of rock and Roman Raines, the Rock would go on social media and say that people have no idea what's in store. So it certainly seems like the Rock is on his way back in some capacity. There have been tons of speculation as to where he may end up, when he may end up showing up, where this match is going to happen. I've got a lot of thoughts on it, including on how it would impact business. I'd love to hear your initial reaction to the great one making his return.

You've heard me say this before, you know, creating momentum is really, really difficult, but the really super difficult part is maintaining momentum. And here's an example of not only maintaining momentum, but increasing it. And WWE has been on a creative role. They've been on a strategic and creative role, strategic business-wise. All the sponsorships and affiliations, tie-ins, and everything else, it's a result of this merger, which we talked about here strictly business when you may have asked me early on after the merger was announced how do

how does eric bischoff think that this merger is going to affect wwee and the obvious benefits to me and i pointed them out was the strength of those combined companies is going to especially with nick con at the helm is going to provide an opportunity for sponsorships probably better international arena dates all kinds of things that are not necessarily necessarily creative and those things are happening now you add lock in on top of it this company is on fire going into the hottest time of the year for the company so it's it's amazing to me I'm shocked honestly um if conrad would have said hey I'll bet you you rock will be back before my hair on it and I would have lost again oh my goodness you know last week on the show we had

Andrew Zarian back on. And we talked about perception in wrestling and the perception of WW, the perception of AEW. And we both were just talking about how right now, WWE's cultural relevance in pop culture in the business arena, it's just booming all the way around. And then you add the rock, one of the most popular superstars of all time, a cultural phenomenon in his own right, into the equation here, into one of the most exciting times of the year. It's a really special thing for the company. Now, Eric, creatively, it begs a lot of questions about where this could be going. I think a lot of people, the consensus has been that you'd be seeing a rematch between Cody and Roman Raines at WrestleMania. Some think this match would happen at

WrestleMania, but others, like myself, have some other ideas. Is this a match that can only take place at WrestleMania, not just from a creative standpoint, but from a marquee and business standpoint as well, in your opinion? Or are there other options? I don't. Look, I think Rock is such a phenomenon, and for all the reasons that you stated, I don't think it matters. The question will be, I think, from a strategic perspective, is what's the best use? You know, we know WrestleMania is going to be off the charts if it were to be Cody enrollment, which hasn't even been announced yet. That's an assumption.

But if it were, we all know, it's going to be. mind blowing certainly if you throw a rock in there it may be more mind blowing i don't know if it were me i'd probably look for another opportunity to use rock and get i mean you're going to get russamania why not get something else i knew we would be on the same wavelength here eric because that has been my thinking the entire time as well my thought and i'll tee it up and i'd love to hear your thoughts on it. We know that WWE has this massive pay-per-view premium live event that they are doing in Perth, Australia, in February. It is the Elimination Chamber Show. It's a stadium that can hold up the 70,000 people. It's the first time they're running the Elimination Chamber Show in a stadium.

It's the second time they're running the stadium ever. This is the pay-per-view before WrestleMania. What better way to fill that stadium than by bringing the rock down there, in that around, arena for the first time ever. You then take what is traditionally a B pay-per-view and elevate it to a pay-per-view status. With that, doesn't just come a pay-per-view creative, but also a pay-per-view ad revenue. Ticket sales. This has been the Nick Kahn strategy from day one. Take things global, take things premium. WWE today, as we record this, just announced that Toronto's getting money in the bank. We know they're doing a big show in Paris. They're doing a big show in Paris. They're doing a in Berlin. Every show is premium now. We have to get out of this mentality of A shows and B shows for

pay-per-views. I really do believe, Eric, that the Rock v. Roman Raines has a significant chance of happening in Australia ahead of WrestleMania. Finish. I don't disagree. And to add just a little bit to that, and again, I know nothing. Of course. I know nothing. Can I clip that and put that on loop? I know nothing. Eric Fitzger. People will, you don't have to put it on a loop fucking people say it all the time anyway. Just take a look at it was a social media feed anytime you want. But if here's what we patterns, right? If I'm good at anything, it's recognizing patterns before most people do when it comes to the business side of the wrestling business. And if you, as you, as you point,

pointed out, since Nick Khan is kind of taken over the ship, business-wise, you look at the pattern and where these PLEs are going, these big live events, where are they going, the effort for international. Rock showing up in Australia. By the way, what's the city again? Is it Sydney? Perth. Perth. Wow. That's even more interesting. The rock's showing up in Australia, Perth, making international headlines is only going to make international expansion more profitable in the future. You'll have more cities internationally, if they even do this, I assume they do, wanting to pay for the rights. I know they do in the U.K. or they have in the U.K., that's the model. And Rock's showing up in Perth, right before WrestleMania and the headlines that's going to get is only going to make future.

international expansion, even more profitable. It's a great calling card. That's number one. On the creative side, man, I don't know. There's a million different ways to go. Of course. A million different ways to go. I don't like to get bogged down really in creative

because that's not what this show's all about. That's not what my interest is. My interest is in the business of it. But the way I look at it, too, it's like, you've already sold WrestleMania. The show, both nights are basically sold out as is. You know that WrestleMania is already commanding top ad revenue, regardless of its distribution,

just because of the name brand value alone. You have a chance to elevate this show, Elimination Chamber, which historically has been a B pay-per-view for the company, and elevate it to a premium event with an international audience, as you just alluded to. And I think putting Dwayne there in that spot takes it to an entirely different level. And we are in this line of thinking, Eric, where for so many years we have just been conditioned to think,

well, WrestleMania is the only big place that a match can happen for a marquee matchup. But what if I were to say to you, Eric, eight years ago, eight years ago, pre-Saudi Arabia, right? Oh, by the way, Eric, the Undertaker versus Goldberg, that dream match that people have wanted for 30 years,

that's going to take place in the middle of the afternoon in Saudi Arabia next year. Yeah. Would you believe that? No, on the surface, that sounds like you're high. Right.

But look how quickly things have, changed since Nick Con came into this company in WWE's strategic formula for international and premium live event expansion. This to me, A connects to B. It makes so much sense. We'll find out. It's exciting. Either way you look at it, it's exciting. There's, I mean, I've never seen so much growth, excitement, and positiveness in the wrestling industry, well, for WWE, in forever. I mean, this is, this is amazing to watch. It's fun to watch. It's fun to watch the business grow.

What do you think about this? Because this has been a big part of the discourse for the people who say, no, no, this can't happen. It has to happen at WrestleMania. A lot have said because it's in Australia. when it would air in the U.S. would probably be between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time in the U.S. So the Rock v. Roman Rains, this dream match that people have won for so long, you'd have to begin up at some time in that range just to watch it live if you wanted to. I do anyway, so I'll be watching.

Right. But I would say the majority of people do not. The way I look at it, Eric, distribution is distribution. Video on Demand is video on demand. If people want to watch the match, they're going to watch the match, however they consume it. What do you think? Looking for relevant CME-eligible content that fits your schedule, check out ACOG's new podcast series. We cover the latest on early onset breast cancer and provide practical strategies for the prevention and early diagnosis

of breast cancer and gynecological cancers. Stay on top of the info you need to better care for your patients. Search for women's cancer conversations wherever you listen to podcasts, or visit www.acog.org forward slash women's cancer pod to learn more. I mean, I tend to agree with you. I obviously not looked at the analytics and I can't, you know, look at any kind of research or patterns that would suggest a positive or negative response for me. So I'll just go with my gut.

My gut says if wrestling fans are interested, they're going to find you. Yeah. You can't hide. If they're interested, you can't hide. They will find you. And I tend to agree with your statement without any further research to support it. And then if I can, to put a bow tie on it, I know we're not talking about the creative, but from a character and storytelling perspective, think about the equity.

If Roman Raines were to beat the rock, the equity that, the added equity, that that would bring to a Roman Raines, Cody, that's kind of i and the reason i don't want to talk about creative it is because i don't want to become numb to the possibilities because there are so many and they're all good for the most part i mean if you want to be negative there's some there's some ways like this can not be necessarily popular but i like you my first thought was and if i'm i'm i mean rock doesn't have anything to prove he's not trying to build his wrestling career his resume's pretty well carved it's carved in platinum at this point yeah and just the relationship between rock and roman

wouldn't do it wouldn't hurt roman at all to beat rock especially going into russoman if there's going to be a title change there that's the picture that makes the most sense to me creatively and strategically doesn't mean it's going to happen but that's the that's the scenario that I'd like right now yeah and you're talking about building stars right and I what better way to build a star and someone like Cody Rhodes than having him potentially win a match like that that's the play call that I would make let's see what ends up having with Dwayne I just for me man I mean you've had a chance to work a little bit with rock over the years he's just different than everybody else isn't he he just exudes a type of charisma

that I've never seen any other human being exude in their life you know you know it's a I think I've done a couple backstage scenes with Rock, you know, while he was still in the WWE while I was there early on. I don't remember them. I don't remember doing them. I was probably a little, I've never been intimidated by anybody, but I've been respectful. And I was probably very respectful in thinking more about the opportunity it was for me,

as opposed to getting my shit in, so to speak. So I barely remember doing it. I think I've seen a clip or two. So I don't really have any feel for Dwayne Johnson, the person or The Rock is a character from a one-on-one experience. I really don't. Here's what I do remember, though. I remember, I think it was in 1999.

It might have been right after I was sent home, aka fired from WCW and I had a meeting in Los Angeles with my agents and I was actually this was back when CAA was in a was in their original building not the one that they're in now and there was a a hotel right near there a very very exclusive hotel that I stayed at and I remember being in that I think I was either coming out of the restaurant or walking into it and rock now this is early this is 19. 1999, right? And at this point, I hadn't ever been in the same room with Dwayne Johnson. Rock walked into that hotel. And this is the hotel. It's like it's right next to CAA, right?

One of the largest agencies in the world. All the big entertainers, and I'm talking the biggest of the big, would all go over to this hotel bar, usually five, six o'clock at night. You could walk in there and see the A list of A-lister's in this particular hotel bar. right around six o'clock or so a lot of meetings going on there that type of thing and i remember i was like coming in or out of the restaurant rock comes walking in and i could just feel everybody kind of paused what they were doing and look and it wasn't to look like who's that big bald-headed guy it was like whoa it was it was an acknowledgement and that's the charisma when you can walk into a room filled with a list actors, actresses, directors, producers, agents, you can walk into a room like that and everybody puts down what they're doing and takes notice.

That's charisma. You can't teach it. Can't put it in a pill. Can't learn it online. There's no YouTube courses for it. There's not. You can Google that shit. It's amazing.

It's amazing. He's a phenomenon. He certainly is very excited to see. What ends up happening with him also, Eric, in the WWE realm, Kevin Dunn resigning from the company, stepping away. His tenure is over. One of the most senior executives within the company was Vince McMahon's right-hand man from a production standpoint for decades.

Now he steps away here. He's ingrained in WWE production culture. What are your thoughts on that? You know, I'm happy for Kevin. Kevin's, unless you've been there, Unless you've spent any time in WWE, particularly on the production side of things, there is no way the average person, non-television person, listening to the, even people in television, 95% of them aren't going to be able to relate to what Kevin Dunn accomplished.

And not only what he accomplished, but to be able to survive for as long as, as Kevin did in the pressure cooker that is WWE under Vince McMahon, especially in that role, he needs whatever kind of award you can give to be like creative, production, executive, made of cast iron. That's Kevin, look, Kevin's not a people person. He's just not. He's a great guy. You got to get to know him.

there has to be a level of trust and communication here i like kevin done i understand why people just you know i get it you know people that don't know him and he's an asshole he doesn't like he doesn't treat people way baby man you get to know kevin he's a good guy he's incredibly talented very loyal but he's opinionated and he brokers no bullshit i love that saying brokers no bullshit. There's an actor that said it's a line in a TV series I saw one time. It was really cool. But Kevin's a unique cat, but you would have to be a unique cat to be able to survive

and contribute the amount that Kevin Dunn has contributed to the sports entertainment industry around the world. You will not find a live event that is produced better than WWE product. You're not. It's interesting because when someone is in a position like that for so long, you tend to become familiar with a lot of their technique, right? And there's a lot of Kevin Dunn fingerprints over WWE television aesthetically, even from a production standpoint over the years that had become synonymous with him.

There have been times even on this podcast where you've said that the WWE production is so clean that sometimes it's almost too clean. What's one thing that now that we're entering a new era of this production? What is one thing that you'd like to see maybe change or switch up nothing it's working it's work so you keep it i have my own opinion about things you know it's like going into a restaurant and telling the chef well you know i really think you should use a little more salt on this item and a little less salt over here and try a little rosemary over here on this fuck it's a successful restaurant it's working the chef is a four-star chef five-star whatever they are those michelin things why do they name chefs after tires by the way

it's the same company too it is it is it is it's a the same company. Isn't that crazy? That's kind of weird. You're giving a chef a title that most people associate. The restaurant. The restaurant has with rubber. I don't know. It seems like a weird branding exercise to me. But no, look, I like a grittier. I like to feel like I'm in the arena. And one of these days, we're going to do a, we're going to do a show about color and play by play. Because I'm begging you, too. That's the one. area, the one area that I think could be significantly enhanced, that is not to suggest that the people that are doing it now are doing it badly. In fact, they're doing it phenomenally across the board.

Tony, JR over an AEW, the teams over it in WWE, they're doing a great job. No complaints. However, Just because I don't have a complaint doesn't mean that there's not an opportunity to significantly enhance it. Because if you look at professional wrestling across the board, just aesthetically, right? Production is amazing. You know, what we see now on free TV, you could only experience on a pay-per-view, you know, 25, 30 years ago, right? It's just everything has evolved so much. But the one thing that hasn't evolved, in fact, and I think in some respects has devolved, is the impact that really quality play-by-play in color can provide.

Let me give you an example. I don't know anybody. I live in Cody, Wyoming, small town, 10,000 people. Everybody that lives around me that I know, and there's only a small handful of them, they don't have kids. They're all my age, maybe not a little older, a little younger, whatever. I don't have anybody that has kids that are in the high school sports teams, right?

I have no interest, really, in high school sports teams. sports other than, yeah, I think it's a good thing. It's good for the community, happy for him. But there was a sports director here in Cody Wyoming on the AM station that covered girls basketball and volleyball and obviously did high school football and baseball and things like that. But he was so good. He's no longer there, which I can't figure out. I'd like to find him. I'd like to be his agent. But he was so good that he made me interested. in sports and the people playing them

that I previously had no interest in. He was that good. And I think there's an opportunity for someone to re-evaluate the style, the presentation of today's color and play by play and think about creatively ways to enhance it, to make it

to enhance the overall presentation of the product as opposed to just supporting it. That's the best way I can say it. Right now, color and play-by-play supports the product. What if we focus on a way to enhance the product and to enhance the viewer's experience at home by thinking about different ways to use color and play by play, then we're currently doing it. That's the one opportunity I see. And whether it's in WWE or AEW or, what is it called, impact or TNA now,

now it's TNA again. Okay, TNA, whatever. Because everything else, how are you going to improve production? I mean, WWE's production is flawless. How are you going to make it better? I like AEW's production. I've got no complaints about AEW's production because personal, objectively, I like that kind of grittier style a little bit.

It's not as flashy as WWE, but that's kind of why I prefer it. But that's just me. There's a lot of people that love the WWE presentation. But there's a chance. There's an opportunity there for both companies to really rethink color and play-by-play. Well, I'll reach into my Rolodex because that's where my expertise lay. I got lots of play-by-play guys in sports, wrestling. can chat with. I'd love to have them on here on Strictly Business. Eric, we got a very special

interview ahead. Let's not waste any more time. Let's get into it. All right, Eric, we've got a very special couple of guests here on Strictly Business. I know you've been really looking forward to this. How'd you stumble across this one? You know, I was, I was just going to and saw the story. And, you know, I know this happened last summer, right? So it's not like it happened yesterday. But I saw that story and I guess because it was the beginning of the new year and I endeavor. Sometimes it's very fucking difficult, but I do my best to stay optimistic on a broad level. And it's challenging, especially if you're on social media, right?

It's really hard. But I saw this story and I went, you know what, there are, and I think my comment was, you know, God bless this young man. They're still around or something. to that effect because there really are good people, brave people, people that can make a difference in the world. You just don't hear about them that often, right? Because it's not clickbait, hot takes, rumor and innuendo like we're going to talk about later. There's just people that do real shit that matters. And whenever I come across a story like that, I like to highlight it.

And I saw a story and it just hit me. I said, man, I got to talk to this cat. I'd love to talk to them. Actually, that's not true. I posted my comment and in Kenny, who we're going to get who we're going to talk to just a minute, reached out to me and say, hey, you know, Nick's a buddy of mine. And if you ever want to talk to him, let's do it. And I was like, okay, no hesitation. Just try to set that up. My only concern was that it wasn't real and like somebody was pretending to be friends with Nick and setting me up to look like an asshole, which is not hard to do, by the way. No. It is pretty easy. That's what. It's just a field. good way I want to kick this year off something really positive and it really helps when they're

wrestling fans too so that's why we're welcoming in nick bostick and kenny uh part get part i want to make sure i got the last name right there again kenny really appreciate you guys joining us on strictly business and nick your story has gone viral once again is this happened a couple of years ago but it went viral on social media during the holiday season why don't you cue everybody in on on exactly what went down a couple summers ago that led you to this point yeah okay all right yeah so it was it was absolutely crazy uh there was a house fire in the town i live in i was just out driving that night um me and my child's mother we just moved into our first department together we were there maybe not even a full week until this incident happened and it was a life changer obviously and

A lot of good things came out of it, a lot of, I don't know, I guess you'd call it, wisdom came out of it. There's a lot of stuff I learned, you know, it was a challenge to stay humble because money, it's easy to lose sight of what's most important when there's a lot of money involved in something. And as young of a man as I am, I think I didn't do bad, but I think I could have done better as far as financial choices or decisions with it. But like I said, I don't think I did bad. Let's back up a little bit because you're jumping into where you are now. I want to go back, John, because, you know, this story, you know, it's not a brand new story. We've touched on that several times.

now we know that but i want to get back to what is the story not we'll get into where you are now nick and camp but i want to get into what happened that night you're driving down a road with your baby mama and what happens next no i was actually by myself okay i was going myself um driving down the road i see this little fire it looks like the size of like a little campfire so um i look back at the road but then i like kind of realized that i don't think i've seen anybody there attending it. So I look back and little behold, there was nobody standing around the fire or anything. So I instantly, I just slammed on the brakes and turned the car around and pulled into their driveway. And I tried flagging down a car that was passing by. I don't think they

seen really what was going on. They kept driving by. So I just decided to run around the back and I proceeded to go through a knock on the door. No one answers. So I hang myself like half way in their doorway and I'm yelling and nobody's responding or answering so I proceed through and long story short as you know you know there was there's children up there there was four children and the 18-year-old oldest sister was there and it was just it was a miracle by God that he put me there just the right time I mean it was probably a second right here I don't mean to interrupt you but this story is so fascinating to me so you're driving down the road you see what looks like a relatively small fire was a fire in the house or was it outside the house where was

the fire it was outside of the house on the porch and then it engulfed the rest of the house yeah it caught the the front of the house on fire and uh which would have been the living room and then right above the living room and the second floor was the bedroom that four out of the five people were sleeping so you so you see a small fire start turning into a bigger fire you walk through the front door you're trying to find out if there's anybody there there's nobody there what's your next move uh to go upstairs um make sure and just double check make sure that there isn't anybody up there you know for whatever reason so i mean this is so fascinating to me i'm trying to put myself in your shoes you you open a door you call out nobody answers

now you're the house is on fire okay a little bit of risk right there right you decide you make the choice you're going to go upstairs to make sure there's nobody up there. At the same time, were you thinking at all? I could get shot. You know, you're going into somebody's house. Nobody opened the door for you. Nobody invited you in.

You're a stranger with somebody else's house. Yes, the house is on fire, but maybe the people upstairs don't know that. I mean, were you concerned at all about that? Yeah, I ran through my mind, but it was the least of my concerns. I mean, in the most respectful way, you know, there was a fire.

That was the getting shot because of, intruding was the least of my worries hopefully i would have woke him up you know what i mean by then so but luckily nobody had a gun so now nick if i'm if i'm not mistaken so the parents are not home for this correct it's just the children that are home right the parents that went that night on a date night to go shoot darts and stuff so these kids are all alone yeah you dart through their you dart through their house i mean this is really a story of the tenacity of the human spirit and you you hear the noises you go up to them take us through the process from there how did you go about helping them evacuate the house and then i know the the last child that you helped save uh things got

a little more dramatic than just a simple evacuation yeah yeah the first four was easy um they were all upstairs uh sleeping um i was maybe a third of the way upstairs um until until when they opened the bedroom door up there and I've seen their faces and which at their look the look of surprise was painted on their face so I would have been to you know someone just being in my house but it helped yelling that your house is on fire and stuff so it didn't take a second but to get them to start following me downstairs we got outside to the back door and I asked you know naturally is Is there anybody else in there?

And they said that there was a baby left in there. So yeah, that's when the cage came down, man. So I didn't hesitate. I ran back in there. I knew my time was already pretty much out, you know. So I had to be, I kind of waste a second. So I ran back upstairs to where they all came out of. I checked in that room that they were all asleep in originally.

I didn't find nobody. I was looking under the bed. I was looking in the closet. I was throwing blankets around. All this is going on while the house is burning down. Yeah, yeah, which I'm not thinking about it. It looks like a normal house at that point. But, well, I mean, it kind of does. I mean, obviously where the fire is, it's obvious, but it's just like on that one wall of the house. Right. So, yeah, all that's going on, but I'm not thinking too much of it. I just know I need to work fast. I don't have time to waste and hesitate. So I checked both rooms across the hallways up there, nothing.

I see like a bathroom in another small room. I think I missed one room because that was the room we ended up jumping out the window through. I think I missed it on accident up when I was up there the first time. So I assumed that I had had the whole second stairs cleared. I went to go downstairs and like halfway up the staircase, there was a big face of smoke black smoke i go to step down in it and the heat just kind of scares me like it feels i don't know it felt like it's scorched my hair off so you've you've got you've got the baby in your arms no you haven't found the yeah okay i'm sorry so i uh i go into the smoke

i find the baby wow i get back to the stairs um we follow when we go we're going up the stairs I find a room that the fire hasn't made it to. I start ripping off the curtain in the blinds and then punching out the window, which is how I got this Scarra Maris on a forum. I'll show you a picture. Wow. It's not so visible, no.

That's real. Yeah. So I punch out, we punch out, I punch out the window. As I'm doing that and pulling the blinds off, the string gets wrapped around her ankle. So I stopped what I'm doing and I unwrap it. That was probably the most slowest pace I went throughout that whole thing.

And so I get it unwrapped her on her ankle. And then I put it back into high gear. And I jump shoulders first with her in my arms and I twist to midair. I'm hoping that whatever I land on, I take the impact, you know. So you've got a baby? How old is the baby? She turned out being six years old. so you've got a six-year-old in your arms

she probably weighed six years old probably 50 60 or more pounds and you jump out a freaking window because this is the wrestling show you decide you're going to take a flat back bump to protect the six-year-old you're jumping from a second story window how high up would you estimate you were

I don't know, 25, 20 feet. How much do you weigh? I weigh 260 pounds. Okay. I'm not like a physics guy, but I've fallen off horses. I'm about 220, and I've fallen off a horse, which is not 25 feet in the air. No. And that's a bump, brother.

How do I, I just, I just got good strong buttons, man. I drank a lot of milk growing up. I'm tall, I'm heavy. I got big strong bones, man. I'm very strong. Did the six-year-old get any injuries? Minor ones, yeah. She had a little cut on her shoulder area or a scratch, more like.

And then, or no, I'm sorry, I had it mixed up. She had two little, she had two burns on her shoulders from like Amber or something. and then she had a small cut on her ankle heel area on one of her feet. That's it. Okay. That, you know, my grandson did something similar to that playing at a playground the other day. Right. And sends the, the, the, the cold birds.

So now you hit the ground. I mean, it had to like knock the wind out of you. It had to, it had to be an impact on you, man. I mean, no pun intended. Are you, like, conscious and be able to get up and move towards the street after you hit the route? Did you have to lay there for a minute? I'm pretty sure I got up instantly. Yeah, like I said, I didn't have no time to hesitate or waste, man.

I had my mindset. Yeah. I mean, I don't recall laying there for any seconds, but I'm pretty sure whenever I hit, I got back up. And then one of the videos you see on the police cam, I'm just kind of like barely making it, you know, to the street. but I make it and then I collapse and then they have me get back up to walk across the street again well it's it's interesting because even in the wrestling sense you always hear about it like when these daredevils do these jumps off a 20-foot ladder or anything there was oh it's the adrenaline the adrenaline allows you to take that was the adrenaline just fueling you through

that moment probably yeah definitely was uh felt the adrenaline going through man because in the video you see me when i'm sitting i go to sit on the sidewalk i use this arm to like hold my weight as i'm going i'm sitting down on the ground and this is the arm with that that big cut or incision whatever they called it you know so there was definitely a lot of adrenaline going through me at that time what was the extent of your injuries um i i inhaled i got smoke inhalation i got you know like you seen on my arm and then on my buttocks on my right cheek just can keep you for the podcast, whatever, but it has some burn marks on there, some scars, and then pretty much waist down, mainly my knees.

Just love scars, man, especially when you're on your ass. You got a good story like this. Dude, you got carte blanche. Yeah, dude. What about your eye? My eye, yeah, I don't know. I think my eye may have, I went to an eye doctor and he said in 30 years, he's been in practice. this. He hasn't seen nothing like this. He don't see nothing wrong. But I've been having issues

where, like, it's like my eyes won't undilate during the day. And I don't know if it's caused because of the fire or what it is. But the doctor's flat back bump from 25 feet in here. Probably, man. For real. So what was the family's reaction upon finding out what was happening and And what has the interaction between you guys been like since? Well, when the parents had found out about what had happened, they were pretty messed up about it. Of course, like a parent would or should, I guess they took the responsibility and they've seen what could have happened. And so it hasn't really been a story that they like to relive. So I don't, I stopped calling them for interviews and stuff because a lot of the interviewers,

they always want to have both sides with story and stuff mine and theirs, but they've requested that because it's traumatic, it's traumatizing to the children to relive it and especially the father because he feels guilty the most because it was his cigarette that got, that started the fire. So, um, I can understand, you know, you first, how old were the other kids? Uh, one was 18. Uh, one was 14. The other one was 13. One of those 13 and 14 year olds was from another family who was just staying the night with a friend. There was a six year old and then a two year old. Wow. Well, it's understandable why the parents wouldn't necessarily want a lot of publicity because of the the so many people would read that story and immediately attack the parents

yeah all the information rumor and innuendo and all that's true attacking the parents for leaving their kids home with an 18 year old adult but the media and everybody else would jump all over that to try to create clickbait headlines so I understand it's unfortunate but it's a culture we live in, I can understand why they wouldn't necessarily want to relive that experience and subject themselves to that kind of thing. So now, let's get into a little bit about, you know, how it's affected your life. Kenny, before we do that, you, how long have you known, Nick? Right, literally after the situation, it were viral. This was probably September. I saw him on social media I added him because the story was so local to me I work in the town that it happened in

and one day he posted that he was being honored by the Indiana Pacers at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse and his job told him that you know hey you can't miss or something like that and obviously you know Nick should be honored he should he deserves every bit of like good publicity that he gets. And he obviously, he made the right decision because he went and got armed like he should. And he got fired for it. And I messaged him. I said, hey, I know we don't know each other very well, but I followed your story. And if you need a job, I will hire you on the spot. You are a hero. And we instantly became like really good friends. So, again, what do you do? What was your job then when you made that and I'm still here I'm a I'm an account manager with Sun State security

we do security here in Lafayette, Indiana and we just obviously was a secure site so it's a good job for Nick to grow in he was at one point one to get into law enforcement and that's a good starting point but yeah that's that's really it that's it's an amazing story. Nick, you talked a little bit when we first started about the money. And I'm assuming that came from the GoFund account. Okay. Yeah, there's got up for my medical bills, but then like a month and a half, like a month after the incident, maybe a month and a half,

Dana White had gotten in contact. The president of the UFC got in contact with a mom with his secretary or something, right? And not only invited us to fly out, to watch one of the fights, but he wanted to pay my medical bills for me. Wow. So that's so, the money that was, that's gonna go fund me, I guess the only term would be

and I inherited it and, you know, I bought me some necessities, I bought me a truck, a new truck, I bought me a camper in case I never needed a home or something like that, right? Because I have a long, a long history of being like, i was homeless i was homeless since like 16 i went off of my own thought i knew everything you know what i mean so um i got that and a nice classic car and then a house um i sold my house um i've pretty much a third of the go fund me was kept by go fund me because of the five the fees and stuff uh the other

third of the amount that's shown publicly i have in cds and then the other third of it um i own And, you know, whether it's a camper, a travel trailer, a car hauling trailer, you know, lawn equipment, zero turn. So it's allowed you to get back on your feed and get a solid. A good start. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because the Lord knows, man, I was effing it all up, man.

I was an F up before I found, before I found out Bryston was coming along. So as soon as I found out he was coming along, I quit doing the habit I was doing for so long. what was your habit bro don't be ashamed uh i'm not because it's a good it's a story that hopefully i'll inspire people to pick a better path like i did it was methamphetamine i'm so proud of you brother i mean this is it's bringing a tear to my eye it's just so cool it is so cool and regardless you know look anybody that's come into a lot of money that's never had a lot of money is going to make mistakes. Let me tell you something. I know people really, really well, you're looking at them, who went from not having a lot to really having more than I was at that time of my life

capable of managing. And you make mistakes. That's a part of growing up. Where are you at now? What's your life like today? I have a great job, a great job with great coworkers. I'm currently, I'm living in my camper. I live right next to the Speedway racetrack, here in Indiana, which is super cool. You know, I'm a big racing fan, too. My son's turning one, January on the 12th. So this will be his first birthday.

I'm excited for that. Thanks, man. Thanks. I just got a lot of my debt, like my old debt, my leftover old debt that I thought I paid off, you know, a year ago, but I've, guess i missed so um it was like it was a it was a medical bill from when i had the flu or something like that um i got to get that paid off next and it's small and then i got basically i'm sorry

but long story short man i i'm i'm happy where i'm at and i think that's what's most important well brother you're breaking up a little bit i think we've got a bad uh wireless signal somewhere in this trifecta but it's an amazing story nick kenny thank you so much for bringing it together for us, for reaching out to me the way you did. I feel better about hearing you today than I did when I read that story. Man, you're an inspiration to me, the fact that you had the balls to do what you had to do and you did it and you put other people first. You risk your life, really.

I don't care what anybody says, jumping out of a 25 foot off a 25 foot drop of a 60 or 70 pound child in your arms, taking a flat buck bump, could have easily killed you. and you did it and you saved those kids. And whatever you've had to go through to come out on the brighter side is what you were supposed to go through. And I'm sure you're going to have a great life, brother. Thank you guys so much for being with us. Thanks, dude.

Amazing stuff there. You love hearing stories about people triumping in the face of tragedy and overcoming adversity. How about just having a set of balls? Yeah. And not standing on the sidelines and waiting for somebody else to do something. I mean, you know, that was, that was an amazing story. And I'm really glad we're able to tell that story.

Yeah. It's an example. There are good people out there. You just got to look hard to find them. Sure. Absolutely. Eric, before we get into our last topic, I want to ask you about this real quick. Samoa Joe, new AWW world champion, World's End.

AWD did somewhat of a creative reset this week. Dynamite was set kind of laying the story. together for the next several months coming off of World's End. Max is on the shelf now. Adam Cole revealed as the devil. But Samoa Joe's a guy. I know you got a lot of respect for. You worked with him back in TNA.

And he's had an amazing journey in his own right. He basically retired a couple times. And now he's towards the upper tier of the industry again as the world champion of the number two company in the country. What do you think about that? Couldn't happen to a better person. Couldn't happen to a more talented person. Joe's an amazingly talented guy whose head is on.

so straight it's it like I was I'm thrilled for Joe the fact that he's able to make a what's probably a phenomenal living in the business that's very very very difficult to break into like kind of like breaking into rock and roll that difficult you know maybe making into the NFL which is like one-tenth of one percent of the people that play college football are able to achieve you know wrestling is just about as difficult and to see someone like Joe, who's been so committed for so long, has overcome so much, I couldn't be happier. Couldn't be happier. It's an awesome story.

And in the press conference, Eric, he handled himself so well up there that I even went out on the way to say, as like, if there's any pro wrestler out there, whoever wants media training on how to handle themselves in interviews or in the public forum, Samoa Joe just provided a clinic in that because he is the guy that. that company should be putting itself behind. He announced a deal between AW and Warner Bros. Games, WB. Games, the video game sector. So maybe that could be an interesting prelude as to what could be on horizon in terms of partnerships. So we will see what comes from that.

There was something on your mind, though, that was related to A.W. Eric, that man, it was all over the internet this past week. I'll tee you up on that and then we can take a deeper dive into it. What's on your mind? Well, you got the quotes, Nick Hausman. I've been really, really hot about what Nick did, and I think he's setting the internet wrestling community. And look, there's a lot of people.

I do podcasts regularly with people that no one's ever heard of before. Young guys and gals who are trying to break in, who want to have podcasts, who want to cover news, who want to talk about professional wrestling and sports entertainment. And it's tough, it's tough, right? Number one, it's a flooded market. Anybody that spent five minutes in the wrestling industry has a podcast. People that haven't spent five minutes in the wrestling business have podcasts.

And there are a lot of, people that cover the industry that have made great strides to become more professional, to become more credible, and to have someone like Nick Hausman come in and make every one of their jobs more difficult by trying to get yourself over and get noticed with nothing but rumor and innuendo that can so adversely. affect people's lives. Disappointed is the word I'm going to use right now. 24 hours ago, it would have been a little different.

I've kind of settled down and can look at the situation as objectively as I can. I was so disappointed. What, why don't you read the quote, man. You've got it right in front of you. Let's hear what Nick said, and I'll explain why I think. think he's done more damage to the internet wrestling community and the people that want to cover the industry than anybody since Dave Meltzer. So for the necessary context, on Christmas morning, Chris Jericho had tweeted about how he had never been forced to sign an NDA under

any circumstance. This was related to an interview that CM Punk's attorney had done about brawl out with Nick Hausman. And in response to that, Nick alluded that Jericho had signed other NDAs in the past. He didn't specifically say anyone in particular. So he didn't, he didn't provide any examples. He just spewed it. Just kind of ambiguously said, well, what about the NDAs you've signed? That led to a whole cavalcade of internet speak where some allegations that had been previously put on the internet several years ago kind of resurfaced.

So, so rumor in innuendo from years ago resurfaces. Correct. Correct. Dirt. Then after that, and I do want to say to Nick, Nick did not say anyone's name specifically. That is very important for the. No, it's important because it's to the, it's, it's, it's key to all of this. He didn't say shit.

There was no specific allegation made by. Nick at all. No, but there was a hell of an inference, but continue. No, no, I'm just saying for clarity, for anyone who's taking us in, there was no specific allegation. Just read the freaking thing. Here's, just read it. So this comes to us, thank you to Russell Pierce for doing the transcription. This was from Nick's podcast, which is also available here on podcast heat. Quote, there are issues with Chris behind the scenes where there's a lot of people who have been hurt by Chris and his actions. It's very uncomfortable to me to see him lauded as often as he is with only the focus on that because I do think there's a lot of questionable stories about Chris

that will find their way out over time when people are ready to tell those stories that will cast him in a very different light. Look, Harvey Weinstein won a lot of Oscars. Harvey Weinstein produced a lot of popular films. Harvey Weinstein is now in jail. I'm not saying that is going to happen to Chris, but the narrative can very quickly turn if you're hiding a lot of skeletons. That's the first quote there. I know you wanted to respond to that. I think that is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with the Internet wrestling community and those people in it who fancy themselves

to be influencers, journalists, or anything else in between. There was nothing there other. Any reasonable person that would read that, knows that Nick Hausman is accusing Chris Jericho of something similar to Harvey Weinstein. That's it. You can't justify, twist, turn, spin, or anything else. What was said there and what was more importantly inferred there and suggest that that isn't garbage, pure garbage.

I don't know if you know Nick, I don't really care if you know Nick, if you're friends with Nick, if you're not friends with Nick, but you so often talk about media and media literacy and are concerned about the credibility, particularly in the wrestling media industry, which is very difficult to get credibility in for a lot of reasons. How do you feel about that statement, John? It is a comparison that I would not have made. I'll tell you that. I think, go ahead. I'm sorry, no, I'm interrupting you, and that's rude. Go ahead. No, I think that whether he intended to make a direct correlation or not, it certainly reads as a direct correlation.

And you have to be more cognizant of that. It's pretty much as simple as that. But I do. Do you think it's driven by personality issues? Also, that pivots into what I was just about to bring up here. So Nick would later say in a separate situation, I want to be very, quote, I want to be very clear that my opinions of Chris are my opinions of Chris. I've heard a lot of things over the years. I don't personally like Chris Jericho. I don't think,

I think that's pretty obvious at this point. I think that there's a lot of issues there. There are other people that when issues come to the surface, it can take away from the legacy that they've created. And that is just a concern that I have for Chris. And that is a concern that he has for Chris, the guy that he just admitted he doesn't like. That is so insincere and phony and cover your asses. it's ridiculous that is bullshit let me all that is no facts all it is is innuendo this guy is the lowest form of contributor to the internet wrestling dialogue with commentary like this because there's no facts there's no there's no anything other than his opinion in what he's heard let me tell you something anybody that's been saying

successful in the entertainment business is going to hear stories about other people, secondhand, third hand, fourth hand, doesn't make them true. But to go out and publicly say something like this, when it can affect not only Chris, Chris has got fixed. I don't, look, Chris and I aren't tight, right? Am I friendly with Chris? Yes. Do we chat?

No. Have we been out to dinner in a last, I don't know, 20 years? No. Have we had a drink together in a last 20 years? No. So don't anybody spin this like I'm out here protecting somebody or standing up for somebody that I have a relationship with. It is tangential at best.

My problem is the same that I've had with Meltzer for so long. Is spreading rumors like this, an innuendo like this, damages the industry, it hurts the people in the industry personally and it can affect their children. I got no tolerance for people like that. And I hope that the Internet wrestling community feels much like I do and shuns this type of commentary

because all it's doing is hurting the reputation of hardworking people in it, and you can get that shit off. I don't want to hear what this piece of shit has to say anymore. I hope the internet wrestling community, because it's going to grow, it's going to get better. There are going to be people that cover the industry that will continue to do a better job and to be credible,

and to be professional. But when you have this type of commentary floating around out there that's getting that kind of attention, all it does is drag everybody down, everybody. I don't think there's any room for it. I want to, on that quote there, where, and I'm going to put it back up just so I can make sure I have the wording right, or he said, I don't personally like Chris Jericho, and I think that's pretty obvious at this point. And I say this respectfully to anyone who covers anything in journalism. Journalism is based in objectivity.

and if you can't fairly cover something for whatever the reason may be whether it's you don't like someone you have too close of a personal relationship with someone whatever it may be you have to recuse yourself from that you can't be involved in that circle and consistently reporting on things if there are personal if there is personal ill will against someone or something or strong feelings towards on one or something because then just by nature of it, right, Eric, like stuff is going to be skewed. And again, while Nick didn't necessarily specifically say anything, I do think that I do think that it was largely irresponsible in how it went about. And I would just say to anyone who is in that realm of reporting or wants to get into that, understand that even small insinuations

have a deep impact on a lot of people, whether you have good intent or bad intent, words are very meaningful. I say that as someone who has been in court cases based on things that I've reported. I was not sued, but my stuff was witness testimony in different lawsuits, including defamation lawsuits where my reporting, not, again, not me, but an article that a source of mine alleged that someone had done, the person who had the allegations leveraged against him sued that person. So you have to understand that words carry a lot of weight. And if you're going to throw stuff out there that is as serious or even insinuate something that is as serious as sexual misconduct or whatever it may be, you have to be more transparent

with that. And you better have your facts. Yeah. You better be standing on firm ground. And for all we know, maybe he has stuff. I don't know. But you can't sit on that if that's the case. And then there's also the whole slippery slope, Eric, too, of like, if there is misconduct, does the victim, whoever the victim may be, has that victim spoken out about it publicly? Have they given, it's a whole weed of things, right? Or are they really victims? Or are they not? Right. There's so many. That's what it's called rumor and innuendo. There's so many different. All this was with an inference to a Harvey Weinstein who is in jail for his behavior and inferring and connecting those two. without any facts, without any case, without any witness testimony, without an affidavit, without anything other than your pissy mood and personal opinion is so irresponsible. I just, I'm, I guess I shouldn't be shocked. It's, you know, it's the internet wrestling community.

It's the internet in general. And the internet wrestling community is probably, you know, as bad as it gets. But, man, it's such a shame because there's so many people that are working so hard to do it right. And this kind of coverage drags every one of them down. Then at the same time, Eric, and I want to expand on this, you get the situation like what we got in the press conference, the AW press conference for World's End, where this topic was brought up three times in the press conference. And Tony Kahn twice in the press conference was asked point blank, has Chris Jericho ever signed an NDA? And Tony refrained from

answering that question directly either time and started going into not commenting on rumors and not diving into that. But by not saying, John, can I interrupt you? Sure, of course. Respectfully. What would you expect him to say? I would. So, because this is very much something that happens in regular sports and news all the time, right? There's allegations against people that happens. You have to have a pre-prepared statement. They had several days, several days to get ahead of this and be ready with a pre-prepared statement on this. I personally, as a communications professional, I would have gotten away at the beginning of the press conference so you don't even have to answer questions about it. Stayed up front.

Hey, we know we're going to be asked about this. Here's my statement on this. Move on. Instead, it was a lot of, well, we have a team that handles misconduct allegations or anything like that. I don't want to misquote anyone. And if there was a problem, I would know about it. I think it's as simple as saying yes or no. And if the answer is no, be transparent about that.

So I'm going to come to Tony Kahn's defense. And I'm not arguing against Tony. I just want to say that. Like, I'm not saying to be like, oh, Tony fucked up. I just think that there should have been a PR plan. in place to handle it and maybe this should have yeah but in my defense of tony con i'm probably going to offend him in the process but who cares at this point i hope it doesn't offend him but it probably will have you seen tony con do anything on television that makes sense

tony con shouldn't be on television how many times have you heard me say this tony con should not be leading a press conference. Tony Khan, when was the last time you heard Tony Khan answer a direct question? You could ask Tony Khan what time it is, and he'll go off and find a way to tell you about the company that made the watch. It's just, is he good at it? No, he's not. Is he experiencing it?

Obviously not. Did he have a team behind him that prepped him? Maybe. Maybe he just didn't listen, or maybe not. I don't think any of it matters. It doesn't change what was wrong. And this press conference, as you refer to it, is nothing but a bunch of, you know, fanboy VIPs that pretend that they're journalists.

For the most part, there's probably exceptions. There are legitimate media there. Very few. The rest of them are fanboys. It's like a VIP fanboy experience. It's, eh, press conference, Schmeth conference. It's a joke. it's it's it's stage play most of it is most of it's stage play but there are some who did a good job

at asking the necessary questions based off of this again for me eric just to wrap it all up the whole situation is disappointing to me because i do think it does put a bad name to a lot of people that work hard i don't think nick meant to do that by any stretch of the imagination okay john no no to media i'm saying to media i'm saying i don't think that was his intent in going out with this his intent was to get himself over his intent was to get himself to to get himself clicks to to create awareness for his his sight it's no different than what day melzer's been doing for 30 years although i will say nick probably sunk to a lower low than even melzer has which i can't even believe i'm saying that

you do not like Dave Meltzer that's for sure that's been like more than I like Nick houseman I'll tell you that oh that's been at least say Meltzer look I I don't have a lot of good to say about Dave Meltzer except for if I want to know history if I want to learn about the 60s or the 70s or what was going on in Japan or what was going on in the UK I Meltzer's my go to when it comes to history and information, Meltzer is the guy. When it comes to, as he puts it, business analysis, that's like me in analyzing the NASA space program

because I had a private pilots license. You know, when it comes to business analysis and all the other bullshit that Dave puts out there in his opinions, that's all garbage. But when it comes to history and the research in the history, his analysis of it sucks. But when it comes to just, just the history and knowing what's going on in the wrestling industry for the last 30 or 40 years i

don't think there's anybody who's more knowledgeable than james elzer it's just unfortunate that he doesn't stop there and capitalize on that instead of trying to be a business analyst you don't have to editorialize everything right like not everything needs to be editorialized no because the strength and melzer stuff isn't in his effect of weakness his in the shame in his game is is is his editorial if you just shut the fuck up and provide context and the information he'd be he'd be a go-to yeah i would just say to anyone aspiring to be in media if you're going to put something out there you have to be have back bitch or don't be very direct be very direct and be very transparent because that's that's how you gain your credibility and that's how you ensure

that everyone is done right by uh and we avoid situations that all things consider just unfortunate round so absolutely irk uh i i want to encourage people here there's a new year for strictly business we love doing the show we love your guys support we want you guys on board with strictly business so here's how you can do that you're going to head on over to advertise with eric dot com you're going to get your business out in front of thousands of listeners every single week here on strictly business and you never know some episodes are explosive some have great interviews you got a myriad of ideas coming into the next year very excited for it Eric, anything else you want to throw out there, my friend?

Getriverbend.com. You got to get them on board with us. That's how I look at it. This has been another edition of Strictly Business.