Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules - MJF on The Iron Man Match | MJF vs. Bryan Danielson (2023)
Episode Date: March 31, 2026MJF is in studio! AEW Champion MJF aka Maxwell Jacob Friedman is with to breakdown The Iron Man Match against Bryan Danielson. We get into the state of the AEW, his biggest inspirations as a wrester, ...life as the champ, and a whole lot more. (00:00) We kick things off. (01:16) MJF joins us on the couch. (29:44) We go back to March 2023. (38:47) We breakdown each wrestler. (39:48) We get into the match. (49:57) We score it. Support the show: https://hoo.be/dudesondudesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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March 5th, 2023 Chase Center, San Francisco, California.
When you're the world champ, everyone wants a shot at you.
But it would take more than 60 minutes to decide.
who leaves with this belt.
This is the Iron Man Match.
Welcome to Games with Names.
I'm Julian Edelman.
They're Jack and Kyler,
and we are on a mission to finding the greatest game or match.
Of all time.
And today we got a great episode coming up
with AEW World Champion himself,
Maxwell Jacob Friedman,
aka MJF.
And if you haven't already, follow Games with Names on Spotify, Apple, and set each episode
to automatically download as soon as it drops.
Let's go.
Games with Names is a production of IHeart Radio.
Welcome to Games with Names.
Today we are looking at the Iron Match of 2023 MJF versus Brian Danielson with the one and only
MJF himself.
MJF, welcome to the house, first off,
second off in one sentence.
Why this match? I'll tell you
why this match. This is the greatest Iron Man
match in the history of professional wrestling.
This is not a feeling. This is a fact.
It's unanimously agreed upon.
We wrestled for over an hour.
We wrestled, I believe, for an hour in like eight minutes.
And it's the most grueling match, probably of my entire career.
If Gronk was here, he would have said maybe an hour and nine minutes,
hour nine minutes, which makes it 69 minutes.
Good job.
Nice.
I'm not a bad guy.
You know, most football players aren't.
Most football players aren't.
We get hit in the head for a living, right?
Yeah.
So if we can nail a 69 joke in pretty much anywhere or nail anything anywhere, we will.
That's what we do.
We're athletes.
That's what we do.
Now, is this the greatest match of all time?
So is it the greatest match of all time?
You're asking the wrong guy because I like to toot my own horn.
I'd say it's up there, okay?
But it is genuinely within the fandom of professional wrestling.
If you ask any wrestling fan, they will genuinely say this is the greatest Ironman match specifically of all time.
So the way an Iron Man match works is you have an hour long match and whoever lands the most pinfalls or submissions is the winner.
So it's almost like the NFL, like football, it's a game of points, you know.
So whoever scores the most points by the end of the matchup wins.
unfortunately in this matchup,
I say unfortunately because I had to wrestle more than an hour
when frankly normally I finished my opponents off in like 30 seconds,
I'm kind of great at professional wrestling.
It bummed me out because we tied at the hour.
So then my boss, who is a heartless, heartless human being,
he said, well, we need a tiebreaker.
So here I am. I've wrestled for an hour.
I'm bleeding buckets.
I don't want to keep going.
And he's like, we got to keep going.
So we proceeded to wrestle each other.
And obviously I came out the victor.
right. And I definitely didn't cheat by hitting my opponent with a foreign object.
I won fair and square.
I love that. I love that. I want to dive into that a little later.
Cool.
First, let's get into, this is a sports podcast, right?
Yes. Hold on real quick, Jules. I do want to say for the audience at home,
we have covered the Brett Hart, Sean Michaels, Iron Man match.
What used to be considered.
So we'll, we'll score it at the end and see how the games with name system equates to your system.
All right.
But getting back to the on topic, Kyler. Thank you.
Can you believe this guy?
Just throwing you off in your own house?
Just throwing me off in my own studio.
Jesus.
I mean, how do they do it over there?
What would you do if someone threw you off in your own?
They'd be fired immediately.
Fired immediately.
Without question.
How do you fire someone?
How do I fire someone?
Watch this.
You're fired.
Is he still here?
Oh, I would love.
Thank God.
See how easy that is?
That's, you know, it's hard.
But getting back to sports.
No more talking, pal.
No more talking.
You're from Long Island.
I am.
Most magical place in the world, in my opinion.
In my opinion.
What's the sports,
hierarchy of you when you were growing up as a child, who were your teams?
So I'm a Mets and Giants household.
What the fuck is that?
Wild, right?
What the hell?
Wild.
And then blame my father.
So he loved the New York Mets, not a Yankees guy.
He's a sucker for an underdog, which is why he told me he loves the Mets, which is a fair
reason to love the Mets.
And also he thought the Pinstripes were a little hack.
And I'll be honest, they're okay.
Pinstripes are okay.
I don't hate them, but I don't.
love them. I think the Mets uniform is a lot more fun. And then, uh, the Giants, he, he said he couldn't deal with
having two franchises that suck most of the time. So was he once a Jets fan and then transfer? No, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, off the whip. Always a Giants fan. Isn't that like, isn't that not the norm?
No, it's, it's honestly almost sacrilegious. Uh, so normally it's Yankees, Giants, Mets, Jets.
And Long Island's, like, very heavy Met Jets. It's pretty much.
It's MetJet City, basically.
And then obviously you have your islanders over your Rangers if you're on the island.
And then the second you go into NYC, you're going to mainly predominantly meet Rangers fans.
And no one likes New Jersey Jevilsson.
We don't talk about New Jersey.
Except the Hughes.
We got the Hughes kid on there.
Team USA.
Sure.
We like that kid, but just, have you ever driven into New Jersey?
I have it.
Okay.
Let me tell you.
Yeah.
The Meadowlands.
The Meadowlands.
There's a stench.
it's an unreal stench
like dead bodies and like
baby diarrhea
like gets put into a ball
shove them to a microwave
and left in there for 10 minutes
and then you know
you open the sucker
it's it's rotten
and that's what most of Jersey
smells like to me
which is rough
because when I was filming
Happy Gilmore 2
it was all filmed in New Jersey
so I was miserable
the people there smell
and they're ugly
a lot of wrestling fans
in New Jersey
which makes sense because most wrestling fans smell and are ugly.
So it all checks out.
It all checks.
You ever meet Billy Joel?
I've never met Billy Joel, but I'm a massive fan.
Aren't you guys from the same?
We are from the same place, but he just sold his house, actually.
Was that the one that he, like, dreamed of living in and he bought it?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm a little bummed out.
I don't think he lives on Long Island anymore.
I think he sold that home.
He might live in L.A. now.
I'm not actually sure, though.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sell out.
Yeah, right?
I'm in a New York State of Marlon.
mine. That's what I'm talking about. You know what I mean? Oh yeah. He had to be a big shot.
He had to be. Didn't I tell you not to talk about? Kyler. Unreal. Triple chin over here.
Just just won't shut his mouth. Crazy. Triple chin. I got a question for you. Yes, sir. You shave that
beard. What, what do you look like? I'm afraid to and I haven't done it in like a decade.
You haven't done it in a decade? Because I don't know what's under here. Do you have a photo of what you look like without facial hair?
It would mean the world to me. I'll try to find one for you. Thank you. Maybe even we threw it up on
I'll get it. I'll get it for you.
Sick, sick, sick.
I'm the jumbo trial.
I got to plug into Facebook.
How's life with the title boat?
God, I'm on top of the world, baby.
So realistically, if you're a professional wrestler,
a real professional wrestler,
this is the most coveted prize in the sport.
This is the all elite wrestling world championship.
AEW, for those of you who do not know,
we're on Wednesday's nights,
Dynamite that is on TBS at 8 p.m.
And we also stream on HBO Max.
We are also on Saturdays on TNT,
whilst also simultaneously,
streaming on HBO Max.
We have guys like me,
Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega,
Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland,
Adam Copeland, Christian Cage.
Oh my God.
The list goes on and on.
Andrade Al-Eadolo.
I can keep naming these names,
but the fact of the matter is
the reason why everybody wants this belt
is because if you hold this belt,
it means you're the best professional wrestling
of the world.
In the world.
In the world.
And now there are other people
who would lay claim to that.
But those people are lying.
And I hate liars.
I can't stand for liars.
If you want to be considered the best wrestler bell to bell, this is the championship to win.
I mean, it's a...
And how gorgeous is it.
It is a great-looking belt.
It is gold, real gold, real platinum, real diamonds.
You know, Julian picked it up and I...
Pretty heavy.
Very heavy.
Pretty heavy.
It's real deal.
Holyfield.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Now, you're turning 30?
Or did you...
I am.
March 15th.
Well, by now, I'll be 30 years old.
Happy birthday.
Crazy.
How are you celebrating?
Well, I will have celebrated in my 30th birthday,
bleeding my brains out in a Texas death match at the Crypto.com arena.
And that's happening.
I know it's like back to the future right now because this comes out afterwards,
but that's about to be happening at Crypto.com arena this Sunday.
This Sunday.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's going to be fun.
It's going to be messed up.
It's going to be gross.
A lot of violence.
Now, you're 30 now.
Dirty 30.
30.
You were ESPN's top under 30 athletes.
Numero uno.
Yeah.
How did that feel?
Multiple times.
You know, it made sense.
Here's the deal.
I'm a humble guy.
You know that about me, Julie.
I mean, we talk about how humble I am all the time.
All the time.
And you talk about how humble you are all the time.
All the time.
And by the way, you look fantastic today.
I want you to know that.
Thank you.
It's crazy that you know, can I be honest with you?
I think what you're doing is really smart.
You surround yourself with like people that aren't the most attractive.
And it just, you're already.
a 10. But now you're like an 11, bro. It's crazy.
Oh my God. High school's last time. Wow.
Yeah. Where's you? Oh, my God. That's okay. Wow. And your friend are you? Your friend on the right.
I have a question. Was your friend on the right just head budding a tree? Yeah. Yeah. He's a low.
Low IQ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's Jeff Roder. It's a great mating ton of vibes. Wow.
A lot of acne going on with Jeffrey, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Does he know?
Does he know about Accutane at this point?
Well, I mean, this might have been before Accutane.
Yeah.
How old is he now?
He's 37.
And he's also the head straight,
the condition coach of Franklin Pierce University.
Does he teach them to headbutt trees too?
There's a lot of headbutting going on there.
Okay.
Very interesting.
There you go.
What was I even talking about?
I don't remember.
The pro act,
I don't know.
Surrounding yourself with ugly people.
Surrounding yourself with ugly people.
You know what?
In that instance,
yes.
You did the same thing.
Yeah.
Be proud of yourself.
You look handsome in that thing.
You think I'm the handsome one there?
Well, out of the two of those people, absolutely.
It looked like you were standing next to a human troll.
Dude literally looks like you just ran out from underneath a bridge.
To be fair, he is the same height as you.
He's seven foot tall.
So anyway, you know, being on top of this sport is not easy.
And you need to be a great talker.
You need to be great looking.
And you need to be a great professional wrestler.
And one of the things that I'm most proud of,
one of my nicknames is Big Hebrew.
Okay. I'm proud of being a Jew. I'm proud of being a Jewish professional athlete because there's not a lot of us, bro.
There's not a lot of us. There's not a lot of us. I don't know if you're aware of this. People don't like us that much.
I'm pretty aware. Oh, okay. I was just checking. I was just checking. Yeah. For some reason.
It's, it's a crazy. What's the Mount Rushmore of Jewish athletes? I'd say me, you. Sid Luckman. Goldberg.
Sid Luckman. Okay. Sid Luckman can go up there. And Sandy Kofx is another good one.
Hmm.
Who else?
Who else?
Seth Green?
Seth Green.
Yeah.
Oh, Sean Green.
Excuse me.
I was about to say.
Seth Green is the actor.
He made the animated show.
Yes.
Well, robot chicken?
Robot chicken.
And he was also in all the Austin Powers.
Yep.
Yeah.
And voices the son and family guy.
Yep.
Chris Griffin.
Chris Giffin.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sean Green.
Sean Green.
John Green.
Now.
Jews got to love him.
You got to.
You absolutely got to.
You absolutely got to right now.
Not.
Not right now.
But, but, but you got to.
So you said you got to be able to talk in this business.
Very important.
What goes into making these insane promo videos that you guys cut up all day long?
Oh, well, I'm mentally unwell.
So what I'll do is I will sit down in my house for hours on end
thinking of horrible things to say to my opponents.
You write them down?
Oh, my notes app is a cornucopia of just ruthlessly unhinged mean things to say.
Can you show us?
Oh, God.
I don't have my phone on the app.
at the moment.
But I have a, oh, does I do?
He's got a servant.
I might have to edit around this
because I don't know how long it was.
That was my monkey boy.
He was throwing me the phone.
He holds my bags and such.
So what is the latest one that you came up with
and who was in your mind
when you were thinking about it?
Oh, God.
I don't know.
Here's one that's on the top underneath funny insults.
You want to come back.
If you want my comeback,
you'll have to go scrape it off your mother's teeth.
It's a good one.
etc. Do you want more?
Yeah, keep going. Keep going.
No need to clap, folks. He already has it.
Keep going.
Because some of these are wrestler-specific, so you're not going to get the same amount of pop
because the people might not know.
Yeah, the rest are unfortunately wrestler-specific, so you're not going to,
you might not pop unless you are privy to the rassels.
Last one.
Because the problem is a lot of these, a lot of these are very, very specific.
So you're basically like Eminem.
You're just sitting.
Yeah, I literally, it's wrestler.
And then under the wrestler is like 70 just brutal barbs that are ultra specific about them.
And then they go to the back and they pretend everything's fine.
But then later on, my boss will walk on me and be like, hey, you kind of hurt that guy's feelings.
I'm like, hey, I kind of don't give a shit.
And then, you know, then it gets worse.
So that's wrestling.
That is wrestling.
I mean, it's.
But, you know, you brought up a guy earlier who,
is like another father figure than me besides Adam Sandler.
You brought up Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Who I think besides me is the greatest professional wrestler of all time.
And you want to talk about talking trash.
I mean, nobody knew how to talk trash better than Steve at the time.
Austin 316.
Yeah.
Austin 316.
I mean.
And that's who you remember.
Look, look, it is important to be a great professional wrestler, especially now in
2026, bell to bell.
It's never been more important.
But I would argue the most important thing is having a defined personality that
people can grab onto. Like right now, there are going to be people that are watching this who
might not know who I am. Sorry, you live under a rock, but who might not know who I am, right?
But they're enthralled now. I mean, I'm a polarizing guy and I'm quite handsome. So they're in.
You know what? I like this. You brought up Stone Cold. Let's do a little word association.
Absolutely. I will do, I'll throw out a name. You give me an instant word that you think of.
I might get in trouble, but let's see. Let's see what happened. Adam Cole.
Bay Bay Bay.
Rick Flair.
Woo!
Big A.J.
Ooh.
Boom.
C. M. Punk.
Dushbag.
That's two words.
Sorry.
Dush. It works.
It was a compound word.
But you didn't know that.
I bet you didn't think wrestlers had brains.
Yeah. How you like them apples?
Anyway.
The iron chic.
The word jabroney.
comes to mind.
Chris Jericho.
Ayatola.
He was the Ayatollah of rock and rolla.
I couldn't say the whole thing. It's one word.
I'm not talking about Saudi Arabia. I swear to God.
Guys, we're not going to get into politics on this podcast, I promise.
Goldberg.
Jew.
Samoa Joe.
Fat.
Hang man.
Adam Page.
Pussy.
And that's our word association.
There you go.
This one yet.
Nailed it.
Now, growing up,
who were some of your inspirations in the wrestling game?
I mean, Steve Austin's up there,
but I would also say Roddy Piper was the biggest one.
Oh, Roddy.
Roddy Piper, I remember the first time I saw him
was kind of in a very similar situation like this.
He was on a couch.
It was, I can't remember the name of it.
It was like Titan Tuesdays or something like that.
We're Vince McMahon, who, you know,
I don't know if you're aware of this,
but he's kind of in some shit right now.
Don't worry about it.
We don't talk politics here.
No politics. No politics.
We don't do it.
And so Vince is sitting there and he's interviewing Roddy Piper and Roddy Piper's got his feet up and he's chewing fucking gum and he's being the biggest tool imaginable.
But there was just something about him that just grabbed me by the face and pulled me in.
And that's all I've ever wanted to do since I was a little kid.
So you loved Rowdy, Rowdy, Rowdy Piper.
Who are some of the guys you inspired you in the ring?
Inspired me in the ring.
Like moves, techniques.
Yeah. You know, one thing that would shock you, that was probably one of the first ones that I watched, actually, the one that's up there on the screen. Yeah. Because he would just show up and talk so much shit. Beautiful, man.
Guys that inspired me specifically in the ring, I would say Chris Jericho. I would unfortunately say CM Punk, even though now that I've met him.
I would say Piper for sure in the ring as well. Rick Flair, Tully Blanchard. Another guy that people don't know is Don Morocco. I thought Don Morocco's work was absolutely stellar. Buddy Landell, Chris Candida.
Adam Cole, too, if I'm being honest.
And those are the main ones.
But there's so many.
If you're, you'll understand this as an athlete.
If you're a student of the game, of any sport, you're going to watch tape.
Got it.
And sometimes you have a new favorite guy every month if you're watching enough tape.
Because you're, you know, you're watching snap after snap of a game.
And you might, even present day, you might watch a play over and over again and notice one
different thing after watching that play, that one specific guy, whether he's on the O line,
whether he's on the other side of the, you know, the, the, you know, the,
on the D line, whether it's a wide receiver,
whether it's how the quarterback's fucking playing it
on the staff. It's like, you're going to
notice little things that'll make you fall in love with
players more. You're going to notice little
things that'll make you fall in love with professional wrestlers
more because everybody
in their own unique
way is different, bell to bell.
But we are all
we all come from the same umbrella
as far as professional wrestling goes
of those same guys because we're all amalgamations
of something. We're all amalgamations of something.
We're all amalgamations of multiple people.
So Julian Edelman, the professional football player,
do you have an amalgamation of football players that you watched
and you said to yourself, I want to have that tenacity.
I want to move that way.
You know, 1,000%.
There you go.
Nothing.
I mean, we always say in the National Football League,
it's a copycat league.
When you sit and you watch film or when I'd sit and watch a guy,
even if he was a different body type than me,
you could take something from anyone.
Oh, yeah.
And you got to bring it.
Because that's what all the great ones do.
They take all the techniques from all the guys,
and then they bring it into their own little formula
and bring their twist to it,
and that's what makes them great.
Stealing's pivotal, but to me,
what makes people great is when you steal and make it your own.
Like what you just said, you know?
But stealing and lying and cheating in my sport, specifically, pivotal.
We'll be right back after this quick break.
I'm Luke Wilson.
Join me each week for Film Never Lies.
Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind,
and now got my own show.
So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week.
Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app.
Ready for a different take on Formula One?
Look no further than no grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series.
Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F1, including the astrology of the current grid.
Lewis Hamilton, Crapicorn Sun, Cancer Moon.
Wouldn't you know it?
Michael Schumacher is also a Capricorn Sun, Cancer Moon.
The story of the sports most consequential driver strike.
We have one man who, upon hearing that he was going to be fired, freaked out, and apparently climbed out the window of the bathroom.
And was Daniel Ricardo's illustrious F1 career, a success story, a cautionary tale, or some combination of both?
He started getting all this attention, and he maybe started to think, I'm bigger than this, I'm better,
and plenty of other mishaps, scandals, and sagas that have made Formula One a delightful, decadent dumpster fire for more than
75 years.
Listen to no grip on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You know Roll Doll, the writer who thought up Willie Wonka, Matilda, and the BFG.
But did you know he was also a spy?
Was this before he wrote his stories?
It must have been.
Our new podcast series, The Secret World of Roll Doll, is a wild journey through the hidden
chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life.
His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans.
And he was really good at it.
You probably won't believe it either.
Okay, I don't think that's true.
I'm telling you, the guy was a spy.
Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's?
Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman.
And then he took his talents to Hollywood,
where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock
before writing a hit James Bond film.
How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever?
And what darkness from his covert past
seeped into the stories we read as kids.
The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote.
Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Ten, ten shots five, city hall building.
A silver 40 caliber handgun was recovered at the scene.
From IHeart podcasts and Best Case Studios.
This is Rorschach, murder at City Hall.
How could this have happened in City Hall?
Somebody tell me that.
July 2003, Councilman James, James,
E. Davis arrives at New York City Hall
with a guest. Both men
are carrying concealed weapons.
And in less than 30 minutes,
both of them
will be dead.
Now, everybody in the chamber
duct. A shocking public murder.
I scream, get down, get down.
Those are shots. Those are shots. Get down.
A charismatic politician.
You know, he just bent the rules all the time.
I still have a weapon.
And I could shoot you.
And an outside.
with a secret.
He alleged he was a victim of flatdown.
That may or may not have been political.
That may have been about sex.
Listen to Roershack, murder at City Hall,
on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you're trying to keep up with everything happening on and off the court,
we've got you covered on the podcast, flagrant and funny.
You look at the top four number one seeds.
What do you think UCLA is going to do?
Break down that for me, my friend.
Obviously, Yukon is the overwhelming favorite.
in this tournament, but I'll be honest, I think people are kind of sleeping on Texas.
Experts are suggesting that UCLA is the number one challenger to Yukon and that right after
that would be Texas.
S&C is so deep and so thick and just about everything.
It really is annoying.
So it's UCLA, Texas, South Carolina, LSU, only ones that could possibly upset Yukon.
On Flagrant and Funny, we're giving our unfiltered takes on the biggest moments of the
conversations everyone's having.
so whether your bracket is busted
or you just want the latest on the tournament.
We got you.
Listen to Flakran and Funny
with Kerry Champion and Jamel Hill
on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
Presented by Capital One,
founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.
Now take us through specifically how you watch film.
Okay.
When I watch, of my own matches or just in general?
Whenever you're watching film.
When I'm watching film,
I like to see specifically
how a certain athlete approaches the match,
how they approach their opponent,
also how they approach the crowd.
Professional wrestling, I just burped in my mouth.
Professional wrestling, excuse me,
professional wrestling is all about really timing
and the art of knowing when to be still.
And, you know, a lot of people in my sport now
are very go, go, go, and they're so concerned with the moves.
I have to do a cool move.
And I don't care about that.
What I care about is getting people emotionally invested.
And there's nobody in the sport that does it,
better than me, and I can say that with a straight face because it's a fact.
We don't do feelings around here, Julian.
Yeah.
We do facts.
Facts.
And the facts are.
Facts are.
Facts sell.
Nobody pulls people in like MJF.
Facts sell.
And that's a fact.
Um,
so that's what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for people who are able to emotionally puppeteer an audience.
But when I go out there,
what I'm most concerned with is beating the absolute shit out of my opponent.
With all due respect.
I mean,
the goal is to hurt them.
And the goal is also to do it any way I possibly can.
if a ref doesn't see something, they can't say something, right?
True.
So, you know, if the ref is a little bit busy because I tell them to go look over there
and then all of a sudden somebody gets hit in the nuts, it is what it is.
Part of the game.
It's part of the game.
It's the unwritten rules.
It's the unwritten rules. Eyes, throat, balls.
It's like baseball.
Winning combination.
The big three.
They call that the trifecta.
Winning combination.
Winning combination.
Now, how many times are you watching film a week?
I honestly, I consume a lot of professional wrestling because I'm,
I'm an active professional wrestler,
and I think if you're not a student of the game,
then you can never truly go down as an all-time great.
Like, I study a lot of professional wrestling
that people in my age group don't study.
Like, a lot of people in my age group
are watching the stuff like probably attitude era
or ruthless aggression, you know,
like your John Sina's, your Batista's.
But to me, I like to watch this stuff
in the 70s and the 80s
because people are no longer doing things
bell to bell that they were doing.
So it's old as new, right?
And I'm a traditionalist and a minimalist at heart.
And so I study a lot of old school wrestling.
What's a underrated match that you've studied?
The most underrated match that I've ever studied is such a hard question.
You know what?
I'm going to give you a really out there answer because it's so recent.
I recently was watching a world-class match with, gosh, I'm forgetting the guy's name.
This is horrible.
His nickname was the handsome half breed
And I'm current, which wouldn't fly now in 2026.
Gino Hernandez just came to me.
And I was watching him have what we call in wrestling a squash match.
So basically he went out there and beat the holy hell out of his opponent
In like two minutes straight.
But it was the way in which he did it that was super unique.
He would, he hit a maneuver where he hit the guy,
threw him outside of the ring.
And not only did he not.
go out of the ring. He pretended as if he already won the match. So he throws the guy outside of
the ring and he grabbed the ref and made the ref raise his arm. And the crowd obviously starts
booing the shit out of this guy because it's like false glory, right? And it's just little shit like
that. Like, oh, that's a great way to get people riled up or to pop people, you know? So that
would be my answer because it's the most recent random thing that I watched. That's awesome. I love it.
I mean, it's in any sport. You got to watch it. Yeah. You can't get better unless you learn it.
Yeah.
And who are you, who are some of your inspirations outside of the sport?
Okay.
That have inspired you in your professional life, wrestling, whatever it is.
Someone that you liked in a different field.
I mean, I'll be honest.
You're acting now.
You're doing a lot of shit.
So I'm going to say, even though I think he's in hot water now for a really dumb reason,
Timothy Shalamee specifically, what he's been able to accomplish at such a young age,
you want to talk about being a student of the game.
This guy lives and breathes.
and dies acting clearly.
And he takes his craft incredibly seriously.
And he's so young.
And I feel like a kindred spirit to him in that sense
because I, in my industry, all the top guys,
one of them, which you met, my good friend, Seth Rollins.
Fucking incredible professional wrestling.
He's killing in football right now too.
Incredible.
He's also, yeah, great football.
NFL network.
He's the guy's the man.
He knows ball.
You know, I didn't hear what you said.
He knows balls.
He knows ball.
He also broadcasted the climbing of the tower on Netflix.
Yes.
I did see a lot of shit.
It was terrifying.
He's killing it.
Like, but a lot of the guys that are in a top position are in their 40s and 50s.
This kid's doing it young.
Yeah.
And it's the same thing in my sport.
A lot of the guys are in their 40s and 50s.
I'm 29, about to be 30.
So I'm by a wide margin, to be honest, the youngest top guy in my industry right now.
And that doesn't happen unless you just really dedicate your life to something.
So I respect Timothy Shalamee in that sense.
I also, another guy I respect specifically is Adam Sandler,
because Adam was a guy that was only known for his comedy chops.
And people were like, you can't do a drama, right?
And then you see uncut gems, right?
And you're just like, well, everybody's dumb.
And I'm glad that Adam Sandler got to prove that everybody's dumb.
I loved Spanglish.
Dude, Spanglish kicked ass.
I love.
Punch drunk love.
I love.
He's like,
Darned Love.
All of his other shit is amazing.
Click screwed me up.
Click made me cry so bad.
But it made you.
It made you appreciate the time with your goddamn old ram on.
It sure did.
Yeah.
Every time I'm like,
God,
you're so boring and old,
I think of click and I go,
you're going to die someday.
Let me hear you out.
Right?
Exactly.
I guess not to derail us,
but like,
I don't think I've ever been more inspired
leaving a theater than Marty Supreme.
It felt like I could run through a brick line.
I look on life change.
He is goaded.
Give him the statue this weekend,
baby.
You know why I really fuck with Shalameh.
Because,
you know,
the,
actors and the Thespians, they're very, you know, they live in that gray world where like,
oh, we're just doing this for the art. We're doing this because this is what we do. And I respect that.
He kind of handles it like an athlete where he says, I want to be the fucking best actor of all time.
Yeah. I recognize the people in the past, but I'm trying to go out there. And I've never heard an actor say that.
Yeah. I've never heard an actor say, I want to be the fucking best actor because I'm going to work myself into that shit.
Yeah.
And like he has that, he has an athlete attitude.
And for me, I'm the same exact way and I have the same exact personality and thought process
when it comes to wrestling.
I need to go down as the goat.
I need to go down as the greatest professional wrestler, the most complete professional wrestler
ever lived.
I need to be on that Mount Rushmore or pro wrestlers turn actors.
There's three of them right now.
You got The Rock.
You got Dave DePatista.
You got John Sina.
Why the fuck can I be number four?
And I'm going to be.
No, you've done two movies.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Happy Gilmore, too.
Violent Night 2's coming out early December.
December. Iron claw. I did Iron claw. And we've got some other things I'm not legally left to say
yet that are cooking up. So it's exciting. Exciting time to be MJF. Now, do you work with an acting coach?
I do. I do work with an acting coach. Yeah. And I work on it quite hard, frankly. And also,
I get a lot of auditions. And I really love being able to jump into like the different skins and
characters. And it's fun. Because look, I've been MJF since, you know, pretty much birth. So it's,
It's nice to like, because I have to be on 24-7 when I leave my house,
it's nice to just throw on somebody else's clothes and be something entirely different.
Now, when you're working with your acting coach,
because I've worked with an acting coach.
And I felt like it helped me in my other world.
For sure.
Like it helps me with my analyst shit.
It helps me just think differently.
The whole like acting is a relationship.
You're not saying, you're lying.
You're having.
You're in the moment.
You're in the moment with the person.
It's real.
You have that crossover as well.
you think acting helps you in your wrestling?
You know, to be honest,
I think the reason why I exploded on the scene in pro wrestling
at such an early age
was because I was classically trained in theater
from the time I was six all the way till I was 18.
And I did that with the sole like purpose
of thinking that it would help me with like promos
and interviews and pro wrestling.
And it does. It really does help.
Like, because pro wrestling at the end of day
is kind of is like Shakespeare.
It's theater in the round, you know?
So it's nice.
I thought, what do you mean?
It's like Shakespeare in the sense
that like you have to be on in front of thousands of people that are surrounding you every which way.
And like, if I have a microphone in my hand, as much as I fucking despise the opponent that's in front of me,
at the end of the day, this is about ratings, right, Julian?
This is about ratings.
I've got to get as many eyes on my product as I can.
By the way, since I've won the title, just a little humble brag here, we're up in every single metric.
Ticket sales, ratings, pay-per-view buys.
Socials, big time.
Everything.
We're up in everything.
Fucking up and get to the right.
There you go.
Up and to the right.
And I'm proud of that.
And I do think a lot of that has to do with my acting background
because professional wrestling is incredibly grueling.
It's incredibly hard.
It's incredibly physical.
It's incredibly real.
It's incredibly tough.
But as we were saying, you get that leg up if you know how to talk.
And the acting thing definitely comes in handy for sure.
Do you ever turn off?
What?
MJF.
I am MJF.
It's my God-given name.
But you said you have to turn it on.
Do you ever turn it off?
No.
The second I roll out of bed, I got to turn it on.
You just wake up and go.
I got to make money, dude.
You know what I'm saying?
24-7.
There it is.
I want them shekels.
Give me all them shekels.
You know?
I do.
You feel me?
Perfect segue into going back into time in our next segment.
Oh, fantastic.
Where we go over pop culture around where this match took,
took place. March 5th,
2023. Not far,
not too long ago. Not too long ago.
But the number one movie was Creed. Number one song
Flowers by Miley Cyrus. I've listened to
a million times with a nine-year-old daughter.
Movies popping
off. John Wick, chapter four.
Love John Wick. I mean, never mess with the man's
dog. The best. Ever. You never mess with
the man. Scream six. Yep.
I mean, is there another one? There's
scream seven right now. Yeah. Scream seven.
Let me tell you, David Arquette.
Love that guy. I love that guy. I love that guy.
Officer Duffy?
Yeah, he's the man.
He's the man.
Cocaine Bear was out.
I mean, this is...
I love both those things.
Yeah.
Vinyl out sells CDs for the first time since 1987.
Wow.
Do you have any vinals?
I do.
I have a ton of vinals, actually.
My wife, my life, my life, my life, to be honest.
She collects vinals.
Yeah, what's your favorite vinyl?
My favorite vinyl is probably all the, the BGs albums that we have.
Biggs.
And I'm very good, baby.
There you go.
Super Bowl champions, Kansas City Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes was the MVP first time.
That has been done since I believe Kurt Warner.
Yeah, no, you're not.
You're not.
The MVP and the guy knows ball.
The Super Bowl champions line.
You know about football or something?
I don't know, a thing or two.
NC2A champions, Georgia.
Jaden Daniels was the MVP.
What was life like for you two years ago when this match was going on?
Not that much different.
I was champion of the world.
I was still young.
I was, you know, still hung like a horse.
Things were great.
things were great.
And wait.
I wasn't married yet though.
You weren't married.
So I'm married.
So now I'm married to my wife, Alicia, too.
And we have a dog named Kuma.
We adopted him.
He's eight.
We went, this is a funny story.
I'll try to tell it as quick as I can.
We wanted a young, very small dog.
And we ended up leaving with a gigantic Akita that was eight years old.
We were swindled.
But I'm glad we were because he's a good boy.
Well, that's perfect segue into the match.
Perfect segue.
Does it get better than that?
That was awesome.
Getting swindled, might as well bring up Brian Danielson.
Freaking Brian Danielson,
a.k.a. the American dragon at the time of this fight,
kind of an old boy at the time of this fight.
42, baby.
He'd been around the block a handful of times,
came over from the WWE couple years earlier.
Four-time WWE champ made his AEW debut in 2021 before this.
You got a little title fight action in 2022 against Page, lost that.
He was kind of running with the Blackpool Combat Club here.
I mean, yeah.
So to give more background on Brian.
Scouting report.
Give us a scouting report.
Brian Danielson is considered the greatest bell to bell professional wrestler of all time by a lot of people.
He's on that Mount Rushmore of that specific, not the overall package, right?
That specific thing.
What's bell to bell mean?
Bell to bell means what you do in that squared circle when the bell rings and when the bell rings a second time is when the match is over.
So we say bell to bell.
Bell to bell.
So he is one of the greatest technical, like in-ring technicians of all time.
He is a freak athlete.
He's tough as nails.
And he really put me through it that night.
I mean, incredible.
And again, 42 is the typical age for most top guys in my sport, honestly.
It takes them a long time.
It takes them a long time to get in.
Not everyone can do it under the age of 30.
And not everyone, he means only one person.
And you're looking at him.
And so what's the NFL comp to Brian Danielson?
That's like a Tom Brady level.
He's Tom Brady.
I would say he's Tom Brady.
Go. Like, he definitely goat status.
Like he's like soft retired right now.
I don't know if he'll ever come out of retirement.
He's a sicko.
so he probably will, because he can never get enough,
much like Brady.
And he's definitely, if you talk to wrestling fans
and you say who's one of the greatest wrestlers,
bell to bell, all time, goat, they'll say dragon.
What annoys you the most about Danielson?
What annoys me the most about Danielson,
it pissed me off that he thought I wasn't going to be able
to hang in there for an hour with him.
It made me genuinely angry.
Because he was the one that wanted to have the match,
because he thought it would put me at a disadvantage.
Little did he know.
but he was dead wrong.
Dead wrong.
Now, Jackie,
I respect that.
The one thing that buzzed me about the answer,
I don't,
this yes.
What is it doing here?
The yesing?
Yeah,
what do we,
Marve Albert?
No guy.
What are we,
Marve Albert?
Call me crazy.
Yeah.
I say no to almost everything.
If you asked me a question out of the blue,
chances are I'm not saying yes.
So I'm right there with you.
I'm with you.
I think me and you got off on the wrong foot because I'm,
I'm with you,
man.
It's only because you're fat.
M.
Let's here.
Let's get on the goat.
This is my goat here.
This better be good.
This is the goat, baby.
Oh, my gosh.
Let's get on the two-time AEW champ,
the longest running, reigning AEW champ,
the current AEW champion,
AEW international champion, six-time AEW,
dynamite diamond ring winner.
You see it?
You see it.
You saw it in this match too, baby.
I mean, the casino gauntlet champ.
Coming into this thing,
you beat Takashita,
you beat Ricky, don't call me John Starks,
coming in there with the belt.
Everyone's trying to take a shot at you.
I don't need to fight all that much coming.
into this thing two times leading up to it ready to roll made danielson run through the gauntlet
leading up to this bad boy uh and of course we got to talk about the signature moves you got the salt
to the earth you got the heat seeker all of those uh i mean the hebrewunk for a reason baby
he got him what do i need to say did he get it right he got all of it right i'm proud of them
what would what would the glaze i was i was he's a glazer i was nervous about the glaze he loves
i love to glaze i love to glaze yeah guilty is charged on the glazing i want to put jack
on a tough spot? Who is a more of a Hebrew hunk
between these? Oh my God.
Talk about a Sophie's choice. Julian
Cover your ears. My God. You can say the truth.
Yeah. I just mouthed it.
He just mouthed it. For all you audio listeners. I closed my eyes.
He just mouthed it. I closed my eyes.
Now, talking about hunkiness,
you're always dressed to the nines.
At all times. This is a custom suit.
Custom. Oh, yeah. Now what goes...
Pinstripes right here? Yeah. Tell the audience what they say.
They say your initials.
God damn right. They do. And what does your dad think about these pinstripes?
What does my dad think? He likes, he likes, he likes,
He likes these.
He's the only pinstripes he likes.
So have you earned your pinstripes?
I'd say so.
In droves.
Has Burberry ever reached out?
So I don't want them to know I exist because I make a lot of money wearing this scarf.
And they are either going to love that or hate that.
So I've just stayed away from that situation.
You feel me?
I feel you.
All right.
That's some jiu jih T's a jiu jit shit right there.
The whispering keeps them from hearing.
Now that I'm whispering, they'll have no idea.
That's what my lawyer said will be to cease and desist.
Here you go.
Yeah, we don't cease and desist.
How'd you develop your finishing move?
So my finishing move, I have two.
There's the heat seeker.
What I do is I put their head in between my big, meaty, beautiful thighs.
And I drive the top of their head onto the mat as hard as I physically can.
It's a pile driver.
And then my other move, which is the salty earth because I am, as you know,
Salt to the Earth.
I'm a great guy.
I grab the arm and I put them in an arm bar.
And do you know what an arm bar is?
Yeah, let me see.
Yeah, like, okay, let me go.
Is you're here.
So I got your shoulder basically up under my armpit here.
Oh, snipe.
What's the?
It's not fun.
It's not fun.
I don't, I didn't want to put full pressure on it.
Ow.
Out.
Oh, out.
Put full pressure on it.
Take an elbow off with that.
For sure.
For sure.
I was being delicate.
But, yeah, I've broken a lot of elbows, shoulders,
ligaments, tendons, bones.
and I, you know,
morality is the killer of careers
in my profession.
So if I got to break some bones,
I'm going to break some bones.
What's how you make ends me?
Part of the job.
Man,
what I do.
I'm a very quotable guy.
I'm known for that.
We got facts sell.
We got stealing is pivotal.
Morality is the killer.
Oh my God.
No.
Bumper stickers, baby.
This guy's very good at glazing.
I like that.
I see why you keep them around.
So when the show's over,
do you just have them follow you around and be like,
oh my God, Julian.
This house is beautiful.
You're such a beautiful guy.
Okay.
You're joking, but...
But this is...
That's his gig.
That's why the baby's a big bucks.
There you go.
There you go.
Now, would you consider yourself
a baby face or a heel?
Personally, I think I'm a baby face.
For whatever reason,
fans think I'm a heel.
Like I said,
I'm a salt to the earth guy.
I'm very likable.
Yeah, I don't get it.
I don't know why I get booed.
Doesn't make any sense to me.
Me either.
The general public is stupid.
This guy's fucking salt to the earth.
Like, amen.
It's the world that is.
I love it.
I love it.
It's the world we live.
It's a cruel world.
It really is.
Someone's going to be mad.
No matter what.
Yeah, yeah.
Someone will be mad.
It's not my fault.
That's all I know.
Jack, give me the game lead up.
Just leading up to this thing,
we had a lot of this in the profile of each guy here.
But basically, correct me from wrong here, MJF,
but he was wanting a title shot here,
and you made him run the gauntlet.
Pretty much, yeah, I made him wrestle a bunch of top-tier talent
in all-lead wrestling.
I was, again, morality is the killer of careers.
I did not care about the match being fair
because he was going in like fill of energy and no energy.
I wanted him as hurt and as maimed
and as tired as humanly possible going into this match.
Unfortunately, he is an all-time professional wrestler
and he came in fresh as a daisy.
I was going to say banged up shoulder, banged up knee,
throw a little kinesio tape on that thing.
And honestly, he was acting as if nothing was wrong.
He's a sick, sick, sick man, sick individual.
Honestly.
We'll be right back after this quick break.
I'm Luke Wilson.
Join me each week for Film Never Lod.
Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now got my own show.
So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week.
Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app.
Ready for a different take on Formula One?
Look no further than No Grip, a new podcast tackling the culture of motor racing's most coveted series.
Join me, Lily Herman, as we dive into the under-explored pockets of F-1,
including the astrology of the current grid, Lewis Hamilton, Prathicorn, Sun,
Moon. Wouldn't you know it? Michael Schumacher is also a Capricorn Sun, Cancer Moon. The story of the
sports most consequential driver strike. We have one man who, upon hearing that he was going to be
fired, freaked out, and apparently climbed out the window of the bathroom. And was Daniel
Ricardo's illustrious F1 career, a success story, a cautionary tale, or some combination of both?
He started getting all this attention, and he maybe started to think, I'm bigger than this,
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And plenty of other mishaps,
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a delightful,
decadent,
gumster fire for more than 75 years.
Listen to no grip
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You know Roll Doll,
the writer who thought up
Willie Wonka,
Matilda, and the BFG.
But did you know he was also a spy?
Was this before he wrote his stories?
It must have been.
Our new podcast series,
The Secret World of Roll Doll,
is a wild journey
through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life.
His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans.
What?
And he was really good at it.
You probably won't believe it either.
Okay, I don't think that's true.
I'm telling you, the guy was a spy.
Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelt's?
Played poker with Harry Truman and had a long affair with a congresswoman.
And then he took his talents to Hollywood,
where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock,
before writing a hit James Bond film.
How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever?
And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids.
The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote.
Listen to the secret world of Roll Dahl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you're trying to keep up with everything happening on and off the court, we've got you covered on the podcast, flagrant and funny.
You look at the top four number one seeds.
What do you think UCLA is going to do?
Break down that for me, my friend.
Obviously, Yukon is the overwhelming favorite in this tournament,
but I'll be honest, I think people are kind of sleeping on Texas.
Experts are suggesting that UCLA is the number one challenger to Yukon
and that right after that would be Texas.
S&C is so deep and so thinking just about everything.
It really is annoying.
So it's UCLA, Texas, South Carolina, LSU,
only ones that could possibly upset Yukon.
On Flagrant and Funny, we're giving our...
unfiltered takes on the biggest moments
the conversations everyone's having.
So whether your bracket is busted
or you just want the latest on the tournament,
we got you.
Listen to Flakrant and Funny
with Kerry Champion and Jamel Hill
on the IHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Presented by Capital One,
founding partner of IHart Women's Sports.
10, 10, shots, five,
City Hall building.
A silver 40 caliber handgun
was recovered at the scene.
From IHeart Podcasts and Best Case Studios.
This is
Roershack, murder at City Hall.
How could this have happened in City Hall?
Somebody tell me that.
July 2003,
Councilman James E. Davis arrives
at New York City Hall with a guest.
Both men are carrying concealed weapons.
And in less than 30 minutes,
both of them will be dead.
Everybody in the chamber's duct.
A shocking public murder.
I scream, get down, get down.
Those are shots.
Those are shots.
Get down.
A charismatic,
You know, he just bent the rules all the time, man.
I still have a weapon, and I could shoot you.
And an outsider with a secret.
He alleged he was a victim of flat now.
That may or may not have been political.
It may have been about sex.
Listen to Rorschach, murder at City Hall on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Oh my gosh.
Should we get into this match a little bit?
Let's get into the match.
I mean, this is an Iron Man match.
We talked rules earlier.
as the most falls within 60 minutes wins.
The most pins. The most pins,
pinfalls, whichever you want to refer to that.
We got a scoreboard up there.
We got the clock set to 60.
We run this thing.
I mean, going off from the rip,
there's action-packed sequences.
We don't get a pinfall.
It's about 25 minutes in.
But before that, I mean, the pops are unreal.
The fans are on their feet.
We get a great back and forth some slams.
And then my personal favorite moment,
maybe of the last decade in wrestling,
MJF is going to defend the title here.
I mean, he is fighting against the goat, a sicko,
a guy that looks like a member of the Manson family in there.
He does.
Sweating. I mean, blood everywhere.
Into the crowd trying to win this thing.
And he takes time to give water to a thirsty kid.
He was thirsty.
I mean, it was unbelievable.
The kid looks very thirsty.
Yes.
And I was worried about him.
Right.
As we all were.
You know, as a parched.
Dehydration can make people, you know, they can get sick.
Iritable.
They could be irritable.
Yep, dude, good call.
Shout out.
He was parched.
He was parched.
MJF said, dude, I got you.
I know I'm in the middle of some right now, but I'm such a guy.
I got you.
What a bunch.
Like I said, guys.
That's a bench move.
They call me the men.
The bench in some circles.
Oh my gosh.
I mean, we're brawling outside the ring, inside the ring.
Sick tombstone pile driver to go through the announcer's table.
Unbelievable.
The elbow with the blood though, bro.
Unbelievable.
Yeah.
When you got elbowed and you start seeing blood gush out.
Yeah.
How are we, are we like, fuck.
So, I'm a.
Keep it real.
When blood just starts, not even dripping, but pouring down your face, you really, you, it's like a fight or flight situation.
I went into fight mode, thank God.
But I know a lot of people that when they start bleeding like that in this sport, they just panic, dude.
They just absolutely panic.
I've seen it a thousand times.
But I stayed in the pocket.
I stayed focused.
I got that dog in me.
I wasn't going to lose.
That was real blood.
That wasn't a pack.
A pack of what?
I don't know.
You tell me.
What are you talking about?
I'm just saying it looked real red.
What are you talking about?
What are you talking about?
It looked real red.
Yeah.
Blood's red, dude.
Is he okay?
I don't know.
This guy's fucking crazy.
Jesus.
This guy,
I don't know what's going on in his goddamn head.
But before the blood,
before the flying elbow opened up our dog's forehead here,
go down one nothing.
Danielson gets the first pin.
Yeah,
I don't want to talk about that.
No, we don't talk about that.
Two nothing.
It's not about how you start.
How you finish, baby.
Oh, yeah.
Two to two, tie it up.
Go up three to two.
Then that takes us to the end,
the sick sequence toward the end here.
I mean, we got knees.
We got Regal stretch submissions,
tying it up at three.
Danielson comes back, ties it.
All right, whatever.
Gross.
Gross.
Don't talk about that.
You don't talk about that.
Somehow,
he gets over the rope after he getting stretched.
He keeps it going.
Fist of Cuffs going.
Then we get a heat seeker.
MJ has knee.
Oh, man.
Heat seeker was insane.
The knee was bugging.
The knee was bugging, bro.
Knee was bugging me out a little bit.
I had hit the gentleman with a tombstone pile driver.
The tombstone is what hurt the knee.
Not the heat sugar.
Sorry.
No, it's okay.
It's okay.
You're not bright.
I'm all fired.
And what happened was is I jumped off the second rope with this guy and I dumped him on his head.
But unfortunately, my left knee landed very hard on the ring mat.
That's a PCL right there.
Dude, there you go.
That could be the PCL.
That could be how it all started.
We were talking about.
We were talking knees and elbows and necks before the, the old pod.
Yeah.
That's how you tear that.
It's usually either in a car wreck when like the dash comes in.
I was basically in a car wreck.
Exactly.
Or if you jam your knee into the ground, that's how I tore mine.
You know, what I'd like to say to all of you people viewing this,
I wish you understood how much pain.
And by the way, we're not asking for you to like say sorry for it.
But how much pain every athlete is for the rest of their life for us doing what you love to watch us to do.
It comes with a toll.
So when you go, well, why are they making millions of dollars and I'm doing the nine of it?
It's because we're in pain, you schmuck.
We're in pain for your entertainment.
That's why.
So the least our owners can do is give us millions of dollars because I'm in like a millions of dollars amount of pain.
Fair?
I would say a billion.
A billion?
Do you think we should start asking for a billion?
You know what?
NFL we're starting to get there, half a billion for guys that I don't know, shouldn't have gained that.
All right. Let's talk some shit. Who do you feel as... I'm just kidding.
Who shouldn't be making money, Julian? Tell the people that are watching at home.
I would love to play that game with my roster. Trust me. But I get in trouble. But trust me, I have names and lots of them.
But I'm getting compensated properly. I can tell you that much.
And that's why.
Is the millions of dollars of pain that we are in.
Just, you know how you spell AEW?
Oh, MJF, baby.
That wasn't great.
That's pretty good.
because the letters are
your A-E-W.
It'd be one thing if it was like,
if like All Eat Wrestling somehow
had like an M and a J and an F in it,
like then he'd be like,
there's a joke there.
It just doesn't work at all.
We'll workshop it.
Yeah.
You got to put it in the notes at.
So I'm beginning to realize,
not only do you surround yourself
by ugly people,
you surround yourself with dumb people
so you feel smart.
A lot smarter.
Dude, you're fucking killing it.
You can't imagine how hard it is to find that.
Got it all figured out.
Sick.
Back to the match, though.
Yeah, yeah.
I thought our boy Danielson was,
I thought he was paralyzed after that pile driver.
Yeah, yeah, we all did.
Oh, my God.
It's a shame he wasn't.
Oh, God.
Seriously.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
Anyway.
Right, Julie?
You agree.
I agree.
He pulled it.
After the, uh,
the,
the submission attempt,
he gets,
he gets our man MJF and a crab.
Say by the bill.
We're good.
We're in O.T.
Here.
Oxygen guys come out.
Got to get a little breather.
Got to get right for OT.
This is a move here, too.
This is an epic move.
I'd like to talk about how smart I am when he's done, yeah.
Yep.
Well, you fake.
Take us through it.
You had to take us through this.
He won, like he won with the...
So I faked that I was exhausted.
I'm a freak athlete.
I've never been tired a day in my life.
So they got oxygen on your boy, right?
And I'm thinking of myself while I'm wrestling this schmegegg.
The schmeggy schmuck, if you will.
Where did they put that oxygen tank?
So he gets me in a Boston crab.
And I grab the rope and I tap to make him think it's over.
To make him think.
the match is over. I'm on the same. He's a big stupid dummy. And he let go of the hold because he thought he had won, because he didn't realize his back was to me in this hold that I had the hold of the ropes, which means the tapouts and I'll in void. I then roll out of the ring. I found said oxygen tank, knowing this dumb schmaggy schmuck would stick his head out of the ring to try to pull me back in. And I was low enough to the ground in which I knew the referee would not be able to see that I had hit him over the head with the oxygen tank.
And then I tapped him out like a little bitch.
So,
there you go.
There you go.
This trick in the,
you know,
you got to use your brain and brawn.
You got to use your brain and brawn.
What's your favorite weapon?
My favorite weapon that I've ever used on a professional wrestler?
Yeah.
Probably my dynamite diamond ring.
I call it kissing the ring.
They made you take it off though in the,
in the middle of it, didn't they?
It was very upsetting.
It was very upsetting.
I literally,
I had to think of a different way to end the match.
But I did, you know,
us Jews,
we think on our feet very,
quickly in order to survive. We have to.
Have to. Just historical fact.
It's thousands of years.
Yep.
Here means.
There you go.
We built them. We built them. No big deal.
Hey. In the end, four to three.
Win it. O.T.
And still. And still.
AW world champion.
Still. How many, how many days straight?
I held the world title for a record reign of 406 days.
Still going?
So, I lost the championship because somebody cheated.
Okay. You know I wouldn't lose clean. It's literally impossible.
But I've now won it back and I'm going to be defending it.
By the time these people watch it, I will have already defended it at Revolution and I intend on winning.
At crypto.
At crypto.com arena, baby.
Let's go. Yep.
Aftermath of this bad boy, Jack.
Oh, man. We talked a little bit earlier.
Danielson now in a quasi-retirement, but Samoa Joe cheated in December of 2023.
Sloppy Joe, very fat.
got his grubby hands on the belt for a little bit.
Rented it for a second.
Turkey Tits McGee, Samoa, Joe.
That's what I call him.
That's Adam Saylor right there.
That is.
That is.
That's where you're using other people in the ring.
Perfect usage.
Oh, and then August 2024, Danielson does get the AEW World Championship,
but then would lose it pretty quickly to John Moxley there in October, December 2025.
The belt comes back to his rightful home.
MJF recaptures that thing.
I had to beat three other men for it.
Crazy stuff
A lesser man could never
And now we're here here
We're here right now
I think it's time
I think it's time to name the match
And score the game
Score the match
Is this the greatest match of all time
Let's score it
Decimals encouraged
Dules can we stop one second
One sec
That post game press conference
Was epic day
We didn't talk about the press conference
Incredible
Unbelievable
I was feeling myself
I mean
I really was
Full F bombs
Yeah yeah yeah
You know sometimes
You gotta let a motherfucker know
And you clearly
let the motherfuckers know. I let it fly. That was, it was insane. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was on crutches
and everything. My knee was killing me, but, uh, you know, there was a bunch of journalists in that
room and I just had to pop off and let everybody know who the greatest of all time is going to
be. And you're looking at him, MJF, Maxwell Jacob Freeman. I'm better than you and you know it. I can go
on and on. Now, when you, right before you go into the press conference, oh yeah. Do you take a little
gander at the note sap, you a little firepower, or are we just going straight off the home?
Straight from the hip.
Straight from the hip.
Oh yeah.
Shooting from the hip,
right off the dome.
Eating pickles and everything.
Eating pickles.
Favorite pickle?
My pickles, baby.
Kalin and Kalin, go buy them.
Let's...
Kalin and Kalin.
Get yourself some MJF pickles.
Kosher?
Wow.
They're kosher.
All right.
Let's name the game.
The Iron Man match.
No, it's the Iron Man match.
The Iron Man match.
The Devil versus the Dragon.
The San Francisco Showdown.
sudden death in San Fran
Down goes Danielson
Or do you have something in mind?
I don't
You know what?
I actually like the Iron Man match
Because it's the greatest Iron Man match of all time
I like it
Let's score the game
Is this the greatest game of all time?
Let's score it
Remember the decimals are encouraged
This is zero to 10
10 being the best
One being
Like Kyler
Yeah I mean to be
That's a good one
To be honest, it's a 10.
I think we're all going to agree.
It's a 10.
There's nothing about it.
That's not 10.
It's a perfect 10.
Stakes, this is a 10 for you.
This is not going to go well.
All right.
Stakes.
How many times have you defended it at this point?
That was my third defense,
and it was against at that point,
who was considered the best professional wrestler in the world?
And I was the tender age of 26.
26.
I'm going to go with a 9.
Jack,
at a 7-5, a little low.
I had a 3.9.
Wow.
Yeah.
Can I be honest with you?
Yeah.
The fat uglies,
they tend to be jealous.
They can't help it.
You can't.
I'm whispering.
You can't hear me, right?
He can't hear you.
That guy's the fucking worst.
Jesus Christ.
This is his last time here, right?
Nice.
Are you going to keep them around?
God bless you.
You're a fucking saint.
It's not said enough.
Charity.
Yeah, it is.
It's a mitzvah is what it is.
It's what we try to do.
That's what Minch.
men do. Mitzvahs all day long.
Good acts. There you go. For the glory of God.
For the glory of God. The star power of this match.
I mean, I'm in it. So I'm going to go 10. Also, Dragon is one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.
So you have MJF, one of the only professional wrestlers who was in some of the greatest
comedies of all time, the most streamed comedy of all time in Happy Gilmore, too.
And it was about to be in the universal theatrical release picture of Violent Night 2.
I'm also a sex god.
I mean, I can go on and on.
So we're going 10.
I'm going to go with, I'm going with a nine.
Wow, it's a solid number.
You like nine.
At a 7.0.
Okay.
6.5.
All right.
What are we going to do?
This is unreal.
Do I hit him?
Yeah.
Okay.
It's a loss.
I want, listen, okay.
The game play or how the match went to the viewer.
It's a 10.
I mean, it was one of the most creative ways to win a match.
in the history of the sport.
And I pulled it off like Houdini.
I'm going to go with a 8.7.
I'll allow it.
Shout out, Grunk.
Shout out Grunk.
I had an 8.9.
That's awesome.
Heck of a match.
Oxygen tank.
Come on.
How do you fucking beat that?
I mean,
anytime guys are fight,
like regardless of what's going on,
wrestling for 20 minutes is fucking hard.
Yeah.
When you're battling another human
for fucking life,
Wild.
For 60, 68 minutes, maybe 69 minutes.
In the words of R. Kelly, I was fighting for my life out there.
Probably, we don't, no politics on this.
No, no politics.
Also, the water breaks.
Master.
Got a hydrate.
Thank you.
I weigh, you got a drink.
Liquid IV, baby.
Buy yours today.
It is.
And the name of the match.
We grade the name of the match here.
That's interesting.
I don't know.
I, again, I'm a minimalist.
and I just like the idea of the Iron Man match.
It just makes it very clear that if you want to watch the Iron Man match of any kind,
if you want to watch this stipulation specifically,
there's been thousands of them in the history and the annals of time of my sport.
I think that's cool.
This is the one to watch.
So I'm going to give it a 10.
I'm going to give it at 8.5.
We love that.
I have an 8.4.
We're in the same ballpark there.
I had a 5.1.
What does the average come out to and where does it land on the list?
8.19.
Nice.
And that's going to have it be our tied for 42nd
with the 2004 Eastern Conference semifinals,
Pistons versus the Nets.
I'll allow it.
And right above Lakers final versus the heat,
2020, COVID Kings.
I got something you're going to like here.
Right at number 54
is the Iron Man match,
WrestleMania 12,
Sean Michaels, Brett Hart with an 8.04.
Go down.
These aren't feelings, folks.
These are just facts.
Right there.
Right there.
They're just facts.
Now, who did you have on the show when you watch that?
Sean Michaels.
Sean Michaels.
Let me tell you something.
You asked me who's an inspiration in the ring and that's a name that I should have said.
Sean Michaels is, again, when you're talking about goats, bell to bell, that's another one.
That's another one.
He's an awesome dude, too.
Yeah.
I've heard nothing but great things.
He was just, he's a very down-to-earth, chill dude that has.
merit when he speaks. Yeah, he's just a sexy boy. He's just a sexy boy. I'm not your boy,
do it. Yeah. Man. The other guy, Brett Hart is whatever. He's pretty boring. But Sean's the man.
Sean's great. He's technically pretty sound though, Brett Hart. Yeah. In the ring, bell to bell?
But boring. Bell to bell? Yeah, he's a great bell to bell. But on the microphone?
That wasn't his strong suit. No. No. He also didn't look strong in a suit. I don't know. I'm not a big
Brett guy. Wait, MJ, I had a question. Like, when we're talking about those legends,
how often do those guys reach out to you? All of the time. All the time. And you know what?
It's actually a good question for you, Julian. When you were out there, primary career,
how often were you having like veterans of the sport that were retired, Hall of Famers reaching
out to you? Because to me, it's on a weekly basis. It was a, it was a lot.
But it also, you know, it's, when you're in it, guys that have been in it,
they know that you don't have time.
You don't want to be,
you don't want to be bothered necessarily.
You really need to focus on the task at hand.
And that's the unfortunate thing about professional wrestling is it's year-round.
Yeah.
We don't take breaks.
It's 365.
We have a live show to put on every Wednesday and every Saturday,
every week of the year.
Every week of the year.
Man, MJ, if we miss anything in this match?
Oh, God, I'd say no.
I think we covered just about all of it.
Did we?
Yeah.
Everyone go check out AEW.
tune in on TBS on Wednesdays at 8 o'clock.
Western time?
8. 8. Eastern.
Eastern. E.S.T. Baby. And then it's also on T&T and Max.
Saturdays, collision.
Collision.
Eight.
Eastern time.
E.S.T.
A.B. Thank you, MJF.
Thanks for having me, baby. It's been an absolute blast.
There you go. Right there. Right there.
There you.
What a match.
Thanks again to MJF.
He's a funny dude.
Electric.
He's electric.
My new favorite wrestler.
Dude, he got lines for anything.
Anything.
This guy's just sitting there pulling it M&M in it all day long for shit talking.
Writer.
He's a writer.
Shit talk, everything.
Man, I can't wait.
I can't wait to see if he goes out and kicks butt this weekend.
I might have to step in and go see that.
I should.
I don't know.
I'll be in there.
Can I bring my daughter to that?
She's nine.
Yeah.
Yes.
She gets, maybe she'll,
maybe she'll give her some water.
I was just going to say,
tag.
Tag Lill and let her get off the top row, bro.
You thirsty?
Hey, MJF.
Dirsty, bro.
Man,
fun match,
fun game.
That was all time.
And fun gas, man.
MJF, shout out.
That's been another episode of games with names.
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