Club 520 Podcast - Club 520 - Shawn Michaels on WRESTLEMANIA 42, Sexyy Red, The Undertaker, HBK's origin

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Jeff Teague, DJ Wells, and B Hen are LIVE FROM WRESTLEMANIA 42 in Las Vegas, and got a chance to sit down with none other than WWE legend Shawn Michaels! Shawn gets into the origin of HBK and how "The Heartbreak Kid" took off early on in his career. Michaels and the guys also get into him going viral with Sexyy Red and what that all entailed. And don't miss Teague, Shawn, and the guys talk about facing The Undertaker in some legendary matches, Wrestlemania 42, and so much more!All lines provided by ‪Hard Rock Bet#VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern.

Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Daniel Alarcon. And this is my friend. It's much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green. Co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important.

Listen to The Away End with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only store at the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boke. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcast. The volume. Shout out to Boost Mobile, official sponsor of Club 520, and they back again to let's y'all. know that you don't have to overpay for great wireless service. Unlock the new savings account with 25 for the unlimited wireless. It's a permanent price with no contracts or no price hikes. Listen, and you can keep your phone and your own phone number that you had previously and save up to $600 a year by switching over to Boost Mobile.

Stop overpaying and pay a fair price at BoostMobil.com. Based on average annual single-line payment of AT&T Verizon NT mobile customers compared to 12 months when the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2020, For full offer details, visit boost mobile.com. What's going on? You know what it is? Club 520 live at WrestleMania, Las Vegas, Nevada, man. We got us back out here at WW always show us.

Great hospitality, man. It's only right. We start off our interviews this week. We got a legend in the building. You know how it goes here? We're going to introduce him last. To my far left, we got my dog, Bishop, be hitting out the prayer.

Is it how you was, sir? Cool and nasty. Let's get to it. I'm excited for this. And I got a couple questions. He defeated one of my dogs back in the day, so I got a holl at him. Oh, he got somebody out to pay.

Yeah. Now, the best thing about this is, B, he's a little bit newer to the rest of the world. Now, he's a little bit adapted to him. But he's been locked in the last couple years with him and he's been to think about this. He's definitely tapped in for me. For sure. I always remember you from back of the day. That's why.

Because it was back in the end. Now, legend, for sure, for sure. To my right, we got my dog, young Nacho fatigue, the wrestling, Savant, in the building. How you feel it, man? Oh, I'm geeks. Y'all know this is one of my top five wrestlers of all the time. So to have him in the building and sit down with us. Yeah.

Excited. Now listen, man, nobody, I know I keep it very professional on the show, but today I am not doing none of that shit,

man. We got my favorite resident of all time. The reason why I got in trouble in middle school, the reason why I thought I could practice

wrestling moves all my friends, man. HBK, one of the best champions of all time. Sean Michaels in the build a big dog. We appreciate you having this,

man. I thank you guys very much for having me and I'm honored to have contributed to your delinquency as much. Come on, listen,

do you see this shirt right here? This calls the wave right here. This was middle school times. Everybody's walking down the hallway. We had no business doing that at 11, 12 years old, and I know why we got in trouble for it. I don't care anyway, man. We got a lot to talk about with you. But what's that moment like when y'all had some of the craziest merch ones of all time that was pre-social media to be in the crowd to see

all the DX shirts? What was that like? Well, again, for us back then, you didn't really mark sales. I mean, they were a big part of it. You didn't focus on that. It was just something that they kind of made shirts here and there. but we just knew we were on to something special with the DX

you know sort of attitude era in general and it was it was all derived out of very much you know kind of anger and bitterness and you know bucking the system so to speak and it turned out obviously

in a very positive way force but at the beginning if it makes you feel any better we were getting a lot of trouble too because love stuff we were doing was not technically okayed before we went out. We just did it anyway

because it was live television and it was much easier to come back and say, oh, sorry, than it was to ask for permission. Yeah, that legendary song, man, used to ring out in the halls. What was it like hearing that growing up

at the seaside Michael now, man? Nah, this is crazy, really just sitting next to you, man. I really discovered you, you defeated my dog, British Bulldog in the match. Back in the day, you kicked his ass, man. Well, kick his ass might be a little loose.

I was fortunate enough to Again, to get to work with Davey, who was an unbelievably talented dude. Yeah. He and I actually were on live events. He and I were married to each other for years, for heaven's sakes. And he was always just a fantastic dude to work with. Fortunately, one of the guys that helped me begin to, you know, ascend the roster, such speak. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

I never would have known to be here with a British Bulldog fan. Yeah. I told you, early on, I was like, yo, it took me to about 11. to 12 to, you know what I mean, switch over just a little bit. That's what I'm a show for a show. I'm a huge wrestling fan, so I know pretty much everything. I know your story from day one, but I want to talk about when you was with the Marty Janetti and y'all was a tag team, but that moment where you were able to go solo,

you threw him through the glass, messed him up, hit him with the sweet chin music, all that good stuff. Like, what was that moment for you like in your career? Well, you certainly at the time, we never, everything was so in the moment. And you weren't thinking about the future. You were never thinking about anything from the standpoint of, I hope this is something that's memorable and will go down. And history is one of the greatest turns ever.

You never, or certainly, I didn't. I didn't have the mental capacity to think about things from the perspective of a 60-year-old man. I was at that time in my life, I never thought I'd even lived a 60. So, but it was an idea, really. It was an idea that I had for both Marty and I as the Rockers to do with the nasty boards. That was a whole idea that I was going to try to pitch, you know, to Pat Patterson, Vince McMahon at the time for a storyline. Because we were just kind of existing, the Rockers. You know, we kind of had had our peak and we were just kind of plateauing at that time.

So I was just trying to think of different ideas for storylines. And then the opportunity, you know, came up to. uh go singles and i just shifted the idea to doing it with marty and i and now all these years later is become one of these iconic terms yeah turns um and look also i knew that the glass shattering was going to be yeah big impact moment i mean the turn and everything was special but at that time for a tag team and and it's not like marty and i were the main tag team or anything So to do an angle that serious and that impactful at the time was a big deal. Yeah.

He, you know, he bled and everything else. And for us to be able to have that kind of moment on television just highlighted for us, turned out to be much bigger, I think, than both of us ever imagined. No, yeah, definitely. One of my best hill turns, I would say, John Cena recently turned in hill. I was like, John Cena's like third, but you're number one for me. Like, that moment was crazy. Well, again, that is something that I think over time has really gotten more special in reaction.

Yeah. Because you do. You realize how impactful it was. And my career was, you know, has just been so fortunate to then to be a part of some really big moments, to be a part of the first ladder match. And, you know, the first Iron Man match, the first Hell and a Cell match. There are so many aspects of my career that I'm very fortunate to have been involved in, the Degeneration next.

Come on, man. You know, collaboration with all of us. Those things are just absolutely huge things in the scope of the WWE, and I was fortunately a part of a lot of them. Now, I know we're at WrestleMania. I want to ask you this question. Two-time back-to-back, Warrior Rumble winner. What was more fun for you, Royal Rumble or Mania?

So, from a pure fun standpoint, the Rumble is more fun. Yeah. Because it's not as pressure-filled and 100% focused on you. It's more about the entire match. And just the idea, I'm very happy. I feel like the rumble has gotten bigger than it was in our day. I think it's become so much more special over time. And people have really began to appreciate the rumble and everything that goes on with them.

But at that time, it was certainly, I think from a, guy if you're working in the ring and you look at it and you go that's an easier thing to have to do because you're a part of a much bigger segment so to speak when it's 100% on you like it is at WrestleMania that's when the you're the stress the anxiety pressure of making sure you go out there and deliver and as you go up in the card and then you're foolish enough to call yourself Mr. WrestleMania after a while then the spotlight really gets focused on you and as enjoyable as I can be on one hand, that means everybody's going to be looking at you and the minute you don't perform at a really high level, you're kind of screwed.

But fortunately for me, that was something that I was nine times out of ten pretty darn capable of living up to the name. And I was good about, I always do, I look at, I see things by Michael Jordan. And he was so competitive. and he was somebody with very little time on the clock, he wanted the pressure, he wanted the ball. And that's something that I realized back then that I had in common from that standpoint.

It was, even though it drove me crazy from a stress and anxiety standpoint, I wanted that kind of pressure because I felt like that's, without those kinds of things on me, I'm not motivated enough to do it just on my own. That's dope. And obviously...

That makes sense. Oh, yeah. Makes a lot of sense. Shout to the Dundak Miriamari Live with kick out right now. I watched that before here. So to see, like, how you perform and, like, how you balance

what was going on your personal light, it's to still get out there and do what you did. It's nothing but respect because obviously you had a hell of a lot of work-life balance, but you got out there every night and put it on the line, made memorable moments for everybody. And it's funny because he's been tapped back in a wrestling recently.

And the first one went to it was Roy Rump. Yeah, that was my fan. He was just like, it's a huge difference. But it was, like you said, the two different types of pressure between those two is real. Yeah, well, and, you know, obviously, I don't know, it's very strange. For me, at the time, all these years later, I think everybody looks at it as if it was, it was always going to happen. Yeah.

Very early on, I was just always thinking to myself, if I don't do well each and every time I go out there, I'm going to lose my spot. I wasn't somebody that the company kind of looked at and said, hey, let's go with him. It was something that sort of fell into my lap, fortunately. And then after that, I just felt like at any moment it could be taken away. So it made me just make sure, even on live events, I didn't take many nights off even in live events. Because it was something that I felt like if I slipped at any time,

I was going to lose that opportunity. And again, probably put way more pressure on myself early on than I needed to. And then as I got over, I was able to balance it in a much more positive way. How did you even join the sport of wrestling, man? So, again, I watched it when I was 12 years old. Way back, San Antonio, Texas at 12 o'clock on Saturday night, Southwest Championship wrestling was on. And just the montage at the beginning of the show, you know, you see everybody, jumping off the ropes and doing all this cool stuff.

And I was just, oh, my God, this is the coolest stuff ever. And it was Wahoo McDaniels, Tully Blanchard, Gino Hernandez, Emmy Mansfield, Scott Casey. Every now and then, Nick Bachwinkle or Bruzzer Brody would come through. And it just, I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And then talking about aging yourself, then cable television camera. And then you're exposed to world-class wrestling

and Ron Erickson and the Freebirds. And then W-TBS with Rick Flair and so many other people, Harley Race. W-O-R-T-V-E-V-E-R-T-Vee in New York, Bob Backlin, Jimmy Superfly Snooka, diving off the cage. Come on a legend. And so it was just captivate.

It was absolutely the coolest thing I'd ever seen. And it looked like a job that took a lot of athleticism, and I was an athlete, you know, my entire young life. The linebacker, right? Yeah. I was, you know, I went to, to a, you know, I was on the base. It was in a high school.

It was a small school. So I never got off the field. I was an offensive tackle and an outside linebacker on defense. You was an old tackle? Damn. Yeah. Well, I was, I was, for me, I was a chubby kid. Ah, what's good.

So I was 200 pounds. And in our school, that was big. Yeah. So I was, yeah, I was, I was a right tackle. And, like, like, said, an outside linebacker. That's a hell of a, you know. Now, for sure. stuff like that, you know,

we give you on the kickoff teams, return team. You play special teams too? Yeah, almost everybody played this. He said it didn't come off the field, though. I guess we talked about Travis Hunter playing

while we see the corner. He was like, I think we had, I want to say, 18 to 22 guys on the team. Wow. So you had to play. Yeah.

We fluctuated between 2A and 3A. Okay. That time. So, and that's when 5A was, I think the biggest. So there was a small school. So, yeah, you never got off for you.

Man. That linebacker background makes sense now, though. Well, I guess, believe it or not, I was, I was, I had footwork. Yeah. That was the thing that helped me. And that's what ended up helping me so much in wrestling is that I had really good footwork and I was very coordinated. And thankfully, I was not smart enough to be careful about anything.

I did not, you know, going out. out there with reckless abandon, seemed fun to me. So getting up on the ladders or, you know, jumping off of cages and things like that. It seems like a lot of fun. I never once thought about getting hurt.

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I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. In 2023,

former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth.

You doctored this particular test twice in someone's, correct? I doctored the test once. It took an army of, of internet detectives to crack the case. I wanted people to be able to see what their tax dollars were being used for. Sunlight's the greatest disinfectant. They would uncover a disturbing pattern.

Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Gregalespian and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County,

as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served in Arizona. Listen to a love-trapped podcast on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of IHeart Media, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds and marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance and everywhere in between. This seasonal math and magic, I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death Mike Cessario, financier and public health advocate, Mike Milken, take-to-interactive CEO Strauss-Zalny. If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and her own chief business officer, Lisa Coffey. Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top. Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fultonar Stars. And now, I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist. And John and I have made me. We've known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old.

I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game.

I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auer Kohn and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, I want to ask you this question. One of my favorite finishing moves of all time, sweet chain music, how did that come about with that? So that I was... watching world-class wrestling, and a guy by the name of gentleman Chris Adams, he did the super kick.

And I just, that was a move that I didn't see a lot of people do. And when he would do it, he did it so quickly, and the guy would take a great snap bump. And I just thought that's a really cool move. And it was one of those things you didn't see everybody doing. And so that was something that once I got into wrestling, I certainly put in my arsenal, and then Marty and I would use it in tag team matches.

And then I eventually, when I went singles, it was something early on that I did to set up. I'd gone singles and you always feel like, well, I've got to have a finishing maneuver. And so I started doing this side suplex is sort of like a double underhook under, you know, a crotch, you know, belly to back, so to speak. And it was okay, but I would set it up with the kick.

And eventually Paterson came to me. He was like, and you just do the kick, better. And I thought, okay. And so I started doing that. And then one time I just sat in the corner and it was taking a little bit.

So I felt like I needed to do something. So I started stomping. Legendary. Everything just for me in my career, things just sort of naturally happen. Doors kind of open that I kind of walked through. And I would stumble into something pretty, innovative and none of it was ever by plan or by straight out execution.

I was fortunate enough to come about most of this stuff organically. And I think that's what made it feel so real to the people because it was. Yeah. Now, my favorite one of all time is we have a theme in this show. We typically say, love you to death. It's typically a bad thing that comes after that. When you hit Rick Flair with I Love You. Yeah.

The ultimate person, who was that moment like, man, especially with Rick Flair, somebody you was tapped in with early? Yeah. Well, that, again, that that's one that I'm thinking about it. And the match on an emotional level for me, and Rick and I were so close. And you are now finding yourself friends with this guy you watched for so many years. And I remember it was probably a week before the match. And my buddy from high school, Kenny calls me. And he was saying, like, Oh, my goodness. I can't believe you're wrestling Rick Flair at WrestleMania. Yeah. You've ever thought about that when we were 15 in my mom's house, watching him on TV.

And that just took me back to that time. And, you know, later on that night, I wake up in the middle of the night, and this idea of the end of the match just comes to me, and I start writing it down. And all of a sudden, I'm, yeah, it's very weird because it's, you know, it's pro wrestling. Yeah.

You know, lives, I don't know, like, you know, the world's not waiting for the professional wrestling business to save it, you know, to show it the future. But it was so personal and emotional to me. I thought it was really cool and special, but sometimes you worry that you're the only one thinking that. And I wasn't sure if at that time that would tap into the emotion of all the wrestling fans out there. But thankfully at that time,

I think in that moment, we took every person in the crowd back to when they first fell in love with wrestling in that moment. And that's what made it work. And that's what made it resonate so much with the people is that no matter how cynical we can all get in that moment, they all remembered the first time they became a wrestling fan. And it meant something to them. Yeah, it was a huge moment of vulnerability, despite everything that was going on in the moment. But that was an iconic thing that happened, especially when it happened for sure. Now, we talk about this all the time. One of my favorite matches from you is you and Brett Hart, man.

Yeah. Iconic match. What was that like, man? The highest stage, everybody on y'all, especially at that time period, y'all was two of the most regarded in the business. You remember much from that situation? Yeah. Well, so the first thing is there's nobody you want to be out there with.

If you're having to do an hour, no better person to be out there with than Brett Hart. So he and I felt very comfortable about doing it. The thing that I'm most proud of, and I say this all the time, is that we were willing to take the risk. That was sort of a time in the business where you were kind of feeling like things were going to change, and sort of moving towards that more fast-paced-type match idea, and here we are having to go out there and do an hour. And it's not as if very different than the match, the hour match I had with John Cena many years later.

People didn't know that one was going an hour. And so you're able to suspend the disbelief in a different kind of way. Your match psychology can be different when they don't know you're going an hour. But when they know it's going to go an hour, it's very difficult. And it was a big risk at that time. So I was very proud of the match just from that standpoint. And there was nobody that I would rather be out there doing that with than Red Hart. And so we knew that we'd be able to, we wanted to.

We wanted to put on what we felt was a wrestling clinic. And to this day, some people will argue it's not their favorite, but I'm still very proud of that match because I thought what he and I did was really special. We went, you know, we went to full hour and they had the overtime in it. And it was just something that, again, first time guys, first time doing that kind of match on a pay-per-view, very proud of everything and how it turned out. I mean, it's hard for us to do our episode, let alone to wrestle for an hour.

That's putting your body through torture, bro. That is crazy. I love some of my favorite matches when you, you know, you went away for a while. You came back and you, an Undertaker, had some of the greatest wrestling matches I ever seen, man. And some of the rides that you took the crowd on with Undertaker and the tapping out and kicking out at certain times. It was an amazing experience to watch that. And recently I went back and watched some of those matches. Because you speak about some of those WrestleMania moments with The Undertaker.

Sure. Well, it all started early on in our career. Both of us were, you know, he was obviously had this unbelievable character. I've got easily a polar opposite character. And unbeknownst to us at the time, that we found out later in our careers. But at one time, it was spoken within the creative forces at the time that Sean Michaels and the Undertaker would never wrestle. because people just won't, they won't be able to believe that. There's no way that the heartbreak kid could hang with the undertaker.

But then from a company standpoint, you sort of get yourself into a situation where, well, that's one of the only places we haven't gone. And so back in, you know, I say early, or late 96, 97, we start to have a few matches. And, man, anytime he and I got in the ring with each other, natural chemistry. It was just magic every time I got in there and matched up with one another.

And again, unbeknownst us, we didn't know that they didn't ever want that. Well, we knew, it was like, holy cow, every time we're in the ring together, it's not only fantastic, but it's a piece of cake to do because the story is just so darn easy. He's,

for two characters that they didn't think would match up, meshed together seamlessly. And then we, you know, so we had, it culminated with the Helena Selle match early on, and that was just 100% a blast. It was just, it was so, so much fun. We went out there. We had like 50 some odd minutes. I can remember before we went out, you know, at that time, it was pay-per-view, and you have to make it to the end of the pay-per-view time.

And we had way more time left in the pay-per-view than we were supposed to have. and I can remember looking at Daker and from a distance and going, we've got like 55 minutes left in pay-per-view time. Damn. We're like, what are we going to do? And he looked at me and he goes, I'll walk slow. Bam. I was like, all right.

You know, it was like, that was his way of saying, don't worry about it. We're going to do our thing. And yeah, we went out there and just had a fantastic match. You fast forward, and I'm sorry, I'm long-winded here, but you fast forward all right. years later to the WrestleMania matches. Again, both he and I personally and professionally, very different early on.

And then later on in our careers, just absolutely adored one another, a friendship that, you know, I value so much. So we were just at such a different place personally with one another. and it's crazy to think that the chemistry could get better than it once was, but it did. And we went out there and had those two WrestleMania matches. And again, between both of those, those were the ones that let me know it's okay to go. It's, you know, you can, you've done everything you needed to do. and what I've learned in all those years past,

that's the best send-off you can get to be at peace with yourself when you leave this stuff. As I'm sure you guys are leaving anything, if you feel complete with what you've done, you know what you've given, you've received out of it what you want, and you can walk away peacefully. It was the best gift I ever got.

And like I said, it's something that we're both extremely proud. out of to this day and proud of the fact that it's something that people remember for a long, long time. Absolutely, man. And it's crazy. Like, you as an individual, you as a part of a conglomerate, we always talk about the culture, like wrestling and the culture has been so synonymous recently, but for you to be, like,

for you to walk out and see people in your merch, like, what's that feeling like? Still to this day, people still hold you at a high regard. I don't even know who you are, but they know who HVK is. What's that like, especially an event like this when everybody adduce you? Well, it is. you really so with social media and dreaming and i would have never imagined at 60 going on 61 that for instance somebody like a sexy red seriously would make me relevant yes sure this late in my life i you know again i'm an old man and i'm and i'm and i'm i'm i had some

swagger and some aura, as you kids say. Back in the 90s. Real aura. But it was because I was, you know, I was an absolute train wreck and I was a menace. That played well, thankfully, on television well. But when I came back in 2002 and everything, I was just a, I'm a nerd, I'm a dad, I'm boring, I'm all of those things. And the idea that he's still cool, that care.

is cool all these years later. And sometimes, arguably, maybe even cooler. I mean, it's amazing to me. I have to be honest, I didn't realize that HBK and that swagger and that cockiness and that confidence resonated so well. Yeah. Just so many people. I guess I just, you know, something, I guess when you're in it, you're not, you know, you're sort of in this bubble and you don't have the opportunity to see beyond that. And now I, at least I'm able to take the time, I guess, to see that and to notice that.

And you go, you think to yourself, like, well, damn, that's pretty cool. Yeah, it's dope to see you get your fire. Like, it's a video you walking down on the ramp, obviously getting ready for a match. And somebody, like, felt like a drink at you. You just kind of flip their hair, man. Yeah. And we're just like, kids, I know this is real or. Yeah.

But this is not staged. This is just what he was on every day. So to see that, like you said, you got kids and they buy it with HVK in front of that. Like, you didn't pay their birth to generation of people with that type of swag, man. How did that sexy red link up happen, man? How do y'all even cross paths, bro? It was just from her social that she put out. It was just, I think the first one was her playing my song in the background.

Yeah. And then her call. And smoking one while she was doing it. It's a great marketing. I understand. I don't know. I will not condone. We can do on this show.

But, and yeah, it just sort of went from there. And then, of course, you know, she would play highlights of me, you know, doing my strut and doing my, baking and stuff like that during so many of her songs. And after that, we just thought, well, we got to reach out to her. And I needed, I was just curious if she was, if it was just something she did out of fun or if she was really a fan. And after that, I don't know. She, like I said, we invited her. We had a great time.

She was just wonderful with us. And we continue, you know, she continues to include me just out of the goodness of her heart, I guess. And I don't know. It's absolutely a fun little, I don't know, partnership that we have. That's bridging the gap right there. Yeah. You know what I mean? And it is.

Those are things, once again, never tried to execute. It wasn't a plan. Yeah. It's just one of those things that's falling you loud. And I feel like it's a door open. And it is. It's all very genuine. Yeah.

Because I'm, you know, I'm almost 61, but I am still a kid at heart. I've absolutely never grown up. That's why I feel so good about what I do with NXT. Yeah. Again, I still have a, you know, a joyful spirit in my life. And, you know, those kids keep me young. And, you know, they're passionate. What we do in NXT is still the purest form of what it is we do.

It's before it becomes all of this. It becomes business and making money, which is all understandable because this is life-changing stuff that can go on. But in NXC, it's a responsibility that we take seriously, but we have fun while we're doing it and do our best to equip them to be ready for moments like this and weekends like this at Russell. A win is a win.

A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

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Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. top. In 2023, former bachelor star Clayton Eckerd found himself at the center of a paternity scandal. The family court hearings that followed revealed glaring inconsistencies in her story. This began a years-long court battle to prove the truth. You doctored this particular test twice in

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This is Love Trap. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, breaking news at Americopa County as Laura Owens has been indicted on fraud charges. This isn't over until justice is served. in Arizona.

Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of IHeart Media, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance and everywhere in between. This season on Math and Magic, I'm talking about. CEO of Liquid Death Mike Cessario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken,

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I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars, and now I guess also is the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids. My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game, and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team.

Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I want to ask you that. I know some of the AST fans are mad right now. They're trying to get sexy wearing the match. Is that in the works, man? No, no. This stuff is not easy to do. I think somebody might have actually asked her about it at one time. But, no, we would never.

I would never encourage her to try this stuff just because it isn't the easiest stuff in the world. No, no, it's real work. What hobbies did you have outside of wrestling, man? Like, how did you balance, like, home life and the wrestling life? That was one of the problems early on. I didn't have anything. This was 100% my focus.

And I had no idea who I was away from it. Thankfully, again, when I met my wife and our children, they obviously became a huge part of that. But also, you know, believe it or not, hunting fishing, getting out doing just that learning life, how to live. Yeah. And how to have something outside of this was a learning process for me. It was something that I had to do.

And it's something that to this day, I still make sure that I, you know, take time for that. You know, again, it's something, you know, we go on Little Vincolns. as a family, my wife and I go to the beach. You know, I'm very much into, you know, true crime and drama and stuff like that. Are you tapping to the, what shows you'd be watching, man? See, True Crime, what's some of the HBK's favorite shows on TV? All right.

I watch almost nonstop the ID channel. Oh, yeah, you're locked. You're welcome to my house. You know, the Snap on oxygen. Oh, yeah, yeah. On HLN, the forensic. Yeah. Topped your show, by the way, too.

Yeah. everything that I'm yeah I just think that's I don't know it's like just got to tell the you know the husband's out there you're gonna look at you first stop doing you're not gonna you're not gonna get away with you don't know and then you can't you can't fill out a big life insurance and then do something like seven days late No, for sure. But still, I'll be damned if they're still trying to give it a world because they're going to be the ones that they get away with them. Now, my boss, sir, I'm joking.

No violence, please. It's crazy. But I would have loved for HBK Long Order Cameo. That would have been crazy. HBK would have been fired for sure. No, for sure. Well, yeah, it'd be nice to be on the good side. Yeah, for sure.

I got to ask before we get out of here about the click. So I was a Scott Hall Raised Ramon fan Come on man Our all-time favorite wrestler But you know Kevin Nash Big sexy

The Diesel You got Triple H You also got Xbox What was that connection Like being a part of the clique And So that was real friendship

Yeah Really when And Here's the thing It might have helped Hunter was probably The only one That was

more so grounded in who he was, but he wasn't preachy and he would never judge any of us. And who knows? I don't know that we would have listened even if he did. But they were at least the people that I could talk to about the things you might have been struggling with. You could get real with those guys.

and talk about, for me anyway, I don't know, some of the fears, the, you know, vulnerabilities, and they didn't mock or make fun of me to try, you know, at the very least, I don't know, we would, but they helped me escape from it. Maybe not in the healthiest way, but they were still, my friends, Kevin Nash didn't know me from Adam. And he went in, you know, kind of exaggerated the truth to get a, you know, kind of exaggerated the truth to get his release from WCW and picked up and came up and hits his wagon to me without ever knowing me, not speaking a word to me and put 100% trust in me, you know, for his career and his

livelihood and was a buddy to me from day one. And so I don't know, that just meant so much to me. And then Scott and I, we knew each other in Kansas City. That's when we first met and then got to reestablish our relationship in WW. And, you know, we were, you know, two train wrecks, but we were also two guys, again, very emotional. And guys kind of, you know, struggle with some of the maybe, I don't know, more common things in life that people struggle with. So we could at least drown our sorrows with each other.

And like I said, Hunter was just the guy that, again, He liked the idea that we were 100% all of us dedicated to the business and getting better. And because he was, as everyone says, a student of the game, that's all we all thought about. We were with each other more than we were with anybody else. And we all just leaned on each other when we were doing this. We were on the road 300 days at that time in our teams. that we were with each other. Walthamon came in at a young age,

and we snatched him up right away. I didn't even know that we gave poor kid a choice. To be perfectly honest, he came in, you know, on one time, and we said you're riding with us, and I think he was probably just afraid to say no. Yeah, for sure. He was stuck with us ever since.

But I'm so honored that it's, you know, to be, I don't know, to have a friendship like that that still goes on to this day. And even though, you know, you don't know the types of friends you have, but you don't have to see each other. all the time, but when you do, you pick up right where you left off. It's something that, you know, last for the, you know, eternity and for the rest of your lives.

Well said. Obviously, what you being over NXT? What's it like you said, you pouring into those young guys to see them come to this stage or some of those guys being able to be at WrestleMania. What's that like for you, obviously, putting in the work to see those guys flourish? And that's why you do. Yes. It really is. This is the biggest reason I mentioned it on another interview.

kind of done a lot of these, done a lot of WrestleMania's always honored to come out and certainly represent NXT, but the most enjoyable part is watching Lash, Jordan,

Trick, Mello, Oba, watch them not just be a part of WrestleMania weekend, but be a big part of the WrestleMania weekend and watching them go out and enjoy that moment out there.

And know that this is just the beginning. Very excited for them. And it really is. It's the reason we do that because they do. They put a lot of trust in us at the Performance Center in Orlando. And it's so awesome when we see the fruits of our labor. And the fruits of their labor go out there and culminate in something that is this big and this special. Yeah.

Now, listen, two things. We're excited to be here tapping with Oba. That's for Brock Lesnar. He's not too familiar, so I'm excited for him to see that special. Over came up through the NXT. Yeah. That was one of you guys. Yeah.

He was a shot putter at the University of Alabama. Yeah, I saw a picture of him. Yeah. He should have been playing a tackle like you did. But again, and Oba, Trick, and Javon. All very different, but all so, special and unique. And I don't know, to me, it's just great

because it's such a diverse but accurate representation of NXE. And then you've got Lash and Jordan over there with the ladies that is also a great representation because you have these people that some had some indie experience, but that

others just came straight from college that all just and none of them are the same. They're not cookie cutter. They're all very different. but all still equally as special. And the sky's the limit for all of them and we're very excited that this WrestleMania

is kind of going to be there launching past. Yeah. Now listen, last WrestleMania, we tried to lock it in. Now we got you here. We're trying to get B here in the world experience in Orlando, man. We try to get being here in the road to get some training. How are we feeling, man? Yeah, I need to get in there, man.

Get my body together. You know what I'm saying? Well, look, all you have to do, you know, we have people here. Give us a call, man. Yeah. You guys are welcome and invited anytime to come on. I always wanted to know what that experience is like. And then how do you choose?

Like, I don't know. How do you know when they reached their peak at NXT to send them over this way? Well, that's a collaboration between, you know, Hunter and I at main roster and NXC. A lot of it is the week we can have people that aren't ready. maybe we feel but they need people they need a shirt so we're it's

it all depends on if if there's a role they need to feel certainly ill no different than any sport holy cow I need a quarterback yeah one of our guys went down

I need a quarterback to have somebody that's a quarterback one of our linemen went down you know what do you what do you guys got who do you think to go's ready

yes or there can be times when again they just feel like we want something fresh something new they can come in kind of like what they just did recently. And I don't want to say clean us out, but it's, you know, maybe a spring cleaning.

It's not a total overhaul. So it varies. But we have to be ready, sort of like the Marines. You've got to be ready whenever they call you. You got to jump on a, jump on a plane and get ready to go. Gotcha. This has been a special moment for us, man, legendary moment for me and my guys. as well. Shout to our family at Boost Mobile.

Shout to Stock X, man. Shout to Hard Rock, man. Our guys, HV.K, we appreciate you. Here, you got something for we get out of here. Yeah, they want to do the TikTok dance. It's a TikTok dance, suppose we're going on, man. Oh, oh. My boy, your own Malk on a... Now, he's a wrestling lover right here.

My guy, Malcolm, man, he would have to tap it with some cognitive if possible, man. I'm surprised he ain't crying right now. Some of the stupid stuff I hear, clearly I'm not a good judge of anything, so I'll try anything. one. You like the club 528.

HBK. The volume. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve

to be heard, but celebrated. So let's be. Get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins.

But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test once. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same. same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown.

I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Daniel Alarcon. And this is my friend. He's much more famous than I am.

I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-hosted the podcast The Away End with my old friend, Dan. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the Away End with Daniel Auerkone and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents Soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah.

This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hip. Hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast.

We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.