Games with Names - Wrestlemania 35 with Becky Lynch | Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch

Episode Date: August 13, 2024

Becky Lynch is in studio! The Man is with us to relive the historic main event from Wrestlemania 35. Becky joins us on the couch (2:21). We go back to April of 2019 (34:48). We break down each of the superstars: Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey, and Becky Lynch (50:39). We get into the match (1:05:16). We score it (1:26:44). We wrap it up by reading some of your Apple Podcast reviews (1:34:11). Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadson. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in.

Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.

How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the Biscuits. I was a lady Rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. You get your podcasts. more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more? Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities,

available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities. Now, where did this nickname, The Man, come from? What's the story behind this? Well, in your sport, right? The top guy, what's he called? What do I call the man? Right, right.

Like, they're like, oh, he's the man. You're the man, man. You're the top dog in your sport. Yeah, yeah, I'm the top dog in my sport. So you're the f***ing man they're like oh he's the man you're the man you're the top dog in your sport i'm the top dog in my sport so you're the man i'm the man i dig it i dig it too welcome to games with names i'm julian edelman they're jack and kyler and we're on the mission to find the greatest game of all time on today today's episode, we are covering WrestleMania 35 with one of the greatest women's WWE stars. They call her The Man, Becky Lynch.

She was awesome. You guys will hear Jack and I trying to do some crazy things. The Mutt Brothers. We get into talking her infatuation with NFL gossip. So I've been getting into football, but mostly for the gossip. It's just like men's gossip, isn't it? And behind the scenes of WrestleMania 35. Main event, baby.

I was totally confused out of my mind. I had like blood dripping down my face. I was still carrying on. And we wrap it up by reading some of your podcast reviews. Nice had like blood dripping down my face. I was still carrying on. And we wrap it up by reading some of your podcast reviews. Nice and some not so nice. Yeah.

So you got to stick around until the end and get ready. Let's go. Yeah. Games with Names is a production of iHeartRadio.

April 7th, 2019. MetLife Stadium. East Rutherford, New Jersey. Three superstars, two belts, one ring. And the first pin wins it all. Yeah. This is WrestleMania 35. Oh, yeah, we're here.

If you could just do the podcast in that voice the entire time. Welcome to Games with Names with Becky Lynch, and we're here to discuss WrestleMania 35 Can you tell us why you picked this game Becky? That's great. You don't have to you don't have to say that that was Jack what do you got? Oh, yeah, brother. We're talking to the man today, but there can only be one man, and that's the macho man.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is amazing. How are our promo skills, Becky? Fantastic. Yeah, A plus. Yes. 100% top of the class. That was like my first question I wanted to ask you is,

what goes into a great promo? Oh, I mean, oh. Ah, now you're asking questions. We'll save it for later. Now you're asking questions. A good story, I suppose. There you go. And then, you know, pitch tone, all that kind of stuff.

A little bit of melody. I just pretend to be Macho Man Randy Savage the whole time. That's great. And that, you know, also that. Also that. Heck yeah. Cream rises to the top. Welcome to Games with Names.

That's Jack. That's Kyler. I'm Julian. And today we are looking at WrestleMania 35. Why we picked this match, Becky? Because this is the first time women ever main evented WrestleMania in 35 years. Let's go! That's what I'm talking about.

35 years. And this girl, this one who once failed PE, that's me also, me. Becky. Won. Won two belts. Two belts.

Becky, two belts. What is the Raw and the Countdown? The, huh? What were the belts? Smackdown. Smackdown. Smackdown. It's been a while.

It's been a while. Yes, the Raw? SmackDown. SmackDown. SmackDown. SmackDown. It's been a while. It's been a while. Yes, the Raw and SmackDown titles. And, you know, at one point I told a friend, I said, I'm going to main event WrestleMania. He said, it's nice to have dreams, be realistic. And he wasn't being mean. You know, he wasn't even being mean. He was just being like, women are never going to main event WrestleMania. And they did it.

You proved them wrong. Yeah. You proved them wrong wrestlemania well you and they did it you proved them wrong yeah you proved them wrong we did it you did it and so did ronda and flair did it as well but you came out on top it was a fun fun watch i did and you like the thing that meant so much to me about this was you know we were in the time of the women's evolution, the revolution, you know, and everything was historical. We were changing the game left, right and center. But the story here was the most interesting story at the time. And I didn't want any sort of a token gesture of we're going to have a historical women's main event for the sake of history. I wanted it to be because there is no other option

to close out the show. And we got there. And you definitely got there. And we'll get into the match and the suspension and the lead up and everything. But first, is this the greatest match of all time? No. We had to ask.

We had to ask everybody. We asked all our guests. In your opinion, what is? I'd like to say yeah, but it wasn't. No, it's not even the best match I think I had that year, but it was a historical match. Fuck yeah, it was. And one of the most historical matches and one of the most important matches of all time.

So I'll say that. In East Rutherford, i played in that stadium it gets rocking sold out you got the city line in the background you got you got flair coming in in a helicopter it was a fucking spectacle and i grew up watching ww i had a lot of fun watching this and it brought me back to a lot of my childhood uh memories because uh you know wrestling was you know i was just during that stone cold era my brother who was seven years older than me was like super macho man randy savage ultimate warrior you know hulk i was more in that like nwo x-pac and uh degeneration x stone cold rock stage and

you know everyone has their memory of wrestling and it's really an honor to have you here. So what's life looking like now? Oh, it's great. Yeah? It's great. What's great? Yeah, it's great. Everything. Everything is great.

I got my wonderful little family. Yeah. I've many options on the table, and I get to, for the first time in a long time, take a bit of a breath to appreciate everything. Because when you're on the road 52 weeks a year, nonstop going from town to town. And then in the last three years, I added to the chaos by having a daughter who I would bring everywhere with me. And then on top of that, I decided it would be good to write my biography um so it was really for the last especially last year two years pure chaos and now uh now I'm taking a little bit more time

I'm taking a breath I'm getting to look around the world getting to look at what I created and uh and and evaluate everything and it's been wonderful that's yeah people don't realize when you're in the heat of what you're trying to accomplish and i i look back on my career and i i never really appreciated it no you never do yeah because you're always on to the next and i can only imagine with you guys with 52 weeks of travel and how rigorous your schedule is and how rigorous it is to keep your body in shape and all that like we were in a different avenue of that you know being an athlete because you guys i see some of these fucking hits that you guys take and regardless of what you think this shit is like

when you see when you you kicked freaking ronda rousey and she hits her back of her head and regardless like that's that's brutal and it's got to feel like a car wreck and, you know, you're dealing with the body and it just feels like you don't get to appreciate it. It's awesome that you have a time right now where you're, you're appreciating what you did because, you know, we were looking back and reading back on your stories and, uh, you know, you were a flight attendant. Uh, you, you, attendant. You had your dream. You went to acting school. Like, what inspired you to go down this road?

Which road? The wrestling road. Oh, the wrestling road. Well, originally? Originally. Originally. Let's see originally. Originally.

So originally, I was a wrestling fan growing up. Who's your wrestlers?cfoley was my big one mcfoley was yeah mcfoley was was the one so so what you know i was when foley's mankind right yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i liked him too i didn't i didn't i always knew him as mankind then he took the mask off and became manful um cactus jack yeah yeah um and so so so i was a fan growing up you know i have an older brother so anything that he watched i watched and anything he did i wanted to do and annoy the bejesus out of him but um so so you know when we were little kids we were watching wrestle uh wrestling you know macho manho kogan whatever and uh and

then and then we both fell out of it and then when i was around 12 he started watching it again and uh and i'd be like oh don't you know that stuff's so fake that's for babies and uh just like the worst and uh he was like uh no it's gotten really good actually yeah and so i'd be like yeah whatever and then and then and then mcfoley would come on and he'd cut these promos and the way he talked and i i just you know like like oh it's kind of like side eye in it you know and then and then and then i and then it got to the point where i was like okay well let me know when mcfoley's on so then i would come and then i'd watch him and then I was hooked you know then I was back in and then uh but at the time it was like a little rough time in my my my childhood and uh my parents who had separated when I was like

one but they lived anyway it was a complicated story family family and we were going through some stuff and then I was up to no good i was like drinking i was smoking i was i was i was getting into all sorts little devil's lettuce little little devil's lettuce grandpa's old cough medicine a lot a lot of devil's lettuce um was consumed in the back of my secondary school and um i could be high school could be high school folks high school um high school high school what do you mean uh middle school at that stage i don't i still don't know your terms um but uh yeah and then like then i was getting ready for my junior cert now you guys i don't think have a junior cert um but like our junior cert is the thing that prepares us for the leaving cert, which you also don't have.

What is that? So you have no idea what I'm talking about. Zero. So the junior cert is a set of exams you do in your third year of maybe the end of your middle school. I don't know how to explain it. So it's like exit exams. Well, no, no, no. That's the leaving cert.

But the junior cert is supposed to prepare you for the leaving cert. And the leaving cert is supposed to determine your future. So it's like the SAT. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. I did terribly on those. What? That's shocking.

And look at you now. I'm about to come over there. You better hold me back, Becky. Or I'm going to get him. I'm going to get him. I didn't hold nobody back. I want to see a show. So, Mick Foley, Mankind.

Yeah, yeah. Is it the Irish name also? No, no. It was just him, man. It was just the way he talked and his ability to cut a promo. And you asked what makes a good promo? Mick Foley, you know. But his ability to craft the story and the unusual texture to his voice, everything about him.

And how sympathetic he was too and then uh so anyway i uh i was doing terribly and in school and i realized that i should probably get my act together and of course the way to get my act together would be to start professional wrestling of course you know naturally natural course of decisions um so so i went down to this school um that was an hour away from me and in ireland in ireland now in where in ireland we like near dublin or something so i lived in dublin this was in bray county wicklow which is just outside of dublin just outside yeah and a young man called fergal devitt was running this school. Fergal what? Fergal Devitt. That's his name?

That's his name. Sounds like a Lord of the Rings name. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. That's a cool name. You may know him in WWE as Finn Balor. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Fergal was running this school. And so I showed up on the first date.

Lied about my age. Had to be 16. I was only 15. 15? Said I was 17. Genius move. Genius lied about my age, had to be 16. I was only 15. 15? Said I was 17. Genius move. Genius move. Yeah, you shoot for the star, you lay down on the room, we're good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're good, we're good. Yeah, genius move. And so they let me in. They didn't even ask for ID or nothing. And so I was terrible at everything. I had failed PE. I was awful.

And I was the most unathletic thing in the world. Probably still am. But for the first time in my life, I wanted to be good at something. And I was like, oh, this is awesome. This is awesome. We didn't even have a ring. We just had six blue padded mats.

And there was also this sense of community because wrestling is like a bit of a family, you know? It often attracts the oddballs and the misfits, you know what I mean? And they're my people, you know i think it often attracts the the oddballs and the misfits you know what i mean and they're my people you know and so uh and so now i had a people you know and and and this want to get better at something and then you know how you do one thing is how you do everything so i started getting better at school and and you know confidence getting confident yeah gaining confidence gaining confidence yeah never had any of that yeah and all of a sudden i did yeah getting better at school and, you know. Confidence. Getting confident. Yeah. Gaining confidence through preparation. Yeah.

Never had any of that. Yeah. Setting a goal. And all of a sudden I did. Yeah. And like at 15, then I was heading off to England and I was training over there and I toured around England. And then when I was 17, I was off in college and I dropped out.

I was studying history, politics and philosophy. And I just had no interest in going into school i just wanted to go to the gym they had a great free gym that i'd use and so so then i dropped out of college i moved off to canada started wrestling around canada started wrestling around america eventually was taken over to japan started wrestling there at 18 and and just kind of like making a little name for myself on the independent circuit. And then when I was 19, then, you know, things were looking up. You know, I was doing well, but my visa ran out in Canada. And then I had to go home and live with my mom.

Back in Ireland. Back in Ireland. So Canada, Ireland, UK, college, dropped out, Canada. Ireland College. Ireland College. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't college, dropped out, Canada. Ireland College. Ireland College, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't want to go down that road. It gets dicey enough. No religious warfare.

It's just in the bones, you know. Potatoes. Ally, ally, ally. When was the moment you felt like you could make this a career? So, well, this is a tricky story because when i was like 17 you know i i i just teamed with my brother my brother was wrestling too and uh i just teamed with him i played the heel for the first time in this little hall in kildare in ireland in front of like 50 people and i was like damn i'm good i wasn't but i thought it was what made you feel that when

you felt that feeling um did you do a move or was the crowd reacting away the crowd was reacting they were getting pissed at you yeah she was the heel i think there was and and this has been the thing that's kind of allowed me, despite any of my and many of my shortcomings, is I've been able to somehow garner a connection with the crowd. I don't know what that is. And whatever that was, it kind of really kicked off this night in Kildare. Or at least I could feel it. I could feel that there was something that I could give to this industry to this business I was like I I want to do it I want to be a pro wrestler because before it seemed like too much of a pipe dream for this Irish girl to to become a wrestler in WWE or or anywhere in the world like who did I think that i was you know who did i think that i

was that i could make it you know and then at 17 i was like i'm rebecca fucking quinn i can make it you know yeah and then i'm getting hyped up over here i'm getting hyped up sorry about to run through that goddamn glass door over there and then um and then and then i came back after taking my year off of college and i i ended up back at home with my mom going what's your plan what's your plan what's your plan what are you gonna do what are you what's your plan what are you gonna do you're gonna go back to college you're gonna get a real job what are you gonna do and i just didn't i i you know i i was like there there's no i can't tell you what the road is going to be. Because anything that you would look at on TV, I can't say I want to do that. You know, you're looking at the time the women weren't, you know,

treated as the athletes and stars that we are today. What year is this? This is 2006, you know, and there was still a lot of, you know, pillow fights and all that kind of jazz and brand panties matches and ain't nobody more of us a prop me do that yeah more as a prop yeah well they weren't getting into it as much no no no no and it was like that because that was like the end of when i started stop watching you know what i mean yeah that era yeah yeah yeah and yeah and it was just that kind of uh they weren't really taken seriously there's certainly nobody was eyeballing

them to main event really much um if anything and so i couldn't say well well that's what i want to do on tv that you see what yeah what i was what i was looking at what i wanted to do was was these obscure promotions in japan where the women were better than any man that i'd ever seen and they were kicking the shite out of each other and uh but i also couldn't show my ma that you know she's like what what is this what are you you're gonna make money over there what if you get hurt and then um my mom doesn't sound like this by the way i was about to say mom sounded kind of american mom didn't have the Irish accent. What was that?

I don't know. I don't know. I was sitting there. I was like, did she turn it off? She just turned it off. I just have my mom voice anyway. So anyway, then I was in a match in Germany that I ended up getting hurt. And I came back and I had this gash over my eye

and I had these stitches and i walk into the house with a hat on and sunglasses on my mom's like what are you what are you doing what are you doing what were you wearing those sunglasses she yanked them off my face and uh and she was like oh my god you could have lost an eye and um don't know that i could have but um could have maybe i could have Maybe I could have. Maybe I could have. Yeah, vicious eye poke. Very illegal in the world of professional wrestling. Should be.

Who used to do it all the time? Someone used to do it. Every heel. Yeah, every fucking heel. Every heel that's ever existed. How many have you given over here? Not too many. Not too many.

Not too many. Mostly a career-long baby face with a little little little stint i mean you gotta give a little little stint here and there really my favorite stint being a heel anyway the point is the point is then i uh at that stick such a long convoluted story but uh at that point uh i had decided that I was going to move to Orlando to do a personal training diploma because then I'd have a plan, like my mom had asked, and I'd be in Orlando where they were filming TNA, which was the rival promotion at the time.

Florida is like the headquarters of all the wrestlers. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Lots of them live there. Yeah. Work on their tan, brother. Yeah. Which actually, by the way, I've got a little bit of one right now nobody said anything you got some color there girl yeah i think but i think people didn't think it was possible and i've proved them wrong you know not only did i main event wrestlemania but i also got a tan you're

proving you're proving people left right and center While we're on tan talk, how does Seamus stay so white? Is there like an anti-tan thing he can do? I don't think it's possible for that man to get any bit of color. God bless him. We love the fella. We love the fella. What a lad. What a lad.

I've been listening to his entrance music a lot lately. No way. Too many lives. It's just so good, you know? Anyway. Shout out Seamus. Shout out Seamus. And his Cybertruck.

Oh, God. He's a Cybertruck guy? He's a Cybertruck guy. I should have known. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cybertruck? Yeah. I call it the Halo truck.

It looks Halo-ish. Oh, it does. It does a little bit. At least you play Halo. It looks like the. Cyber truck? Yeah. I call it the Halo truck. It looks Halo-ish. Oh, it does. It does a little bit. At least you play Halo. It looks like the same damn thing. Yeah. Yeah. You can go camping with it, right?

Like you can set up a tent in the back or something. Yeah, but like, you know, the only thing, and we're going to get a little off topic because. Great. I have an SUV. I have an electric car and an SUV that's a gas car. And I tried bringing my electric car on like a road trip. You can't do it.

So like if you're camping, you're limited to like 180 miles away from where you live. And there's going to be no charge station there. So how are you going to do it in the Tesla truck? I know it says 350, but my thing goes says 350. You're getting about 260 out of that thing. Especially with the way you drive and you got a whole stuff. Probably got bikes. You got stuff in the back.

Coolers that are heavy. You know, you got a couple tents. You know, it's fucking bullshit. I'm sorry. So, mom, you were telling mom. So, you're not going to go camping with your Cybertruck. That's what you're saying. I mean, it looks great.

I got a Tesla. I think Tesla's awesome. But until we got like a thousand mile battery. Yeah, but I mean, why do you got to go so far? Because if you're camping, you want to get out in the nature. Yeah. But you know, what counts as nature? You know?

I mean. What counts as nature? I mean, if you want to be a poser camper you can go like 20 minutes out of right but i want to go like that's what we're talking about i want to explore the nitty-gritty of what the united states of america has to give you and all these dead spots where you can't get gas you can't get electricity you can get lost up and see some beautiful like trees and that's but they give you all the superchargers along the way they could yeah surely there's a route fucking Seamus

ah fella ah the fella I love the fella so mom sees black guy and the stitches and then the moment yeah and so and and I don't know what I'm doing i'm lost i'm all over the place i i'm like i don't know i'm 19 it's not happening for me yet you know and i'm like well maybe it'll never happen maybe i'm too old maybe i need to get a real job stop all this kid stuff and so uh and so i end up on a flight to florida and i stopped through uh through new york and i call my mom and i'm like mom i'm sorry i just want to come home i just want to come home i'll give it all up i'll i'll find a real job i'll be normal i'll settle down and she's like no no you can't come home mom was a shoulder no she was she was like she's the one

to say get your ass in gear yeah she was like you'd be giving up on everything you gotta you gotta get your act together and so and so i end up going to florida and doing a personal training diploma and not wrestling and then came home and then didn't know what to do and she was a flight attendant for 29 years she asked if i wanted her to hand in my resume does that make sense yeah um and so i said sure so then i ended up as a flight attendant didn't like flight attendanting um and and and and was longing for that passion that i felt for wrestling but felt like i couldn't do wrestling like i had at this stage burnt bridges and all stuff and lost my way. And so I ended up going to acting school. And I studied in Dublin and then in Chicago.

And then when I was finished with that, then I was trying to get acting work all over the place. And I ended up handing in my headshot and resume to the vikings that were filming in ireland at the time and like they must have taken it and just the show yeah yeah and they were like oh a stunt woman because i had all this physical experience and not much acting experience other than college and uh and so then the stunt guild called me and they're like oh hey are you a stunt woman i'm like yeah of course that's me and uh and had no idea what I was doing so then I went I was like okay well let me go down to a wrestling school because I knew what I was doing there and if I apply that confidence uh

then then they won't be any the wiser because I'll be confident you know I was a faker till I make it and so I did that but then when I went to the wrestling school the guy that was teaching the wrestling class had just gotten signed to NXT and then he was like oh do you want to get a tryout because I think you'd get it I think you'd get into WWE and I had all these plans I was going to go back to New York I'd lived in New York for a stint and uh I was gonna you know try to get theater work and um and once he said that i was like oh no no no i'm i gotta i gotta give this shot because my life won't i won't be able to progress because in in all the time which it ended up being seven years between when i busted my eye open to when i was in wwe seven years

without wrestling the whole time was just this feeling that I had left this thing that I had a gift for and that I was meant to do some more and that I was I was supposed to had all these notions about myself being great and wrestling and changing the game and stuff which allegedly were true because I did yeah no you know that I can fully relate to being the underdog that confidence that you relate to being the underdog. That confidence that you built in yourself, that underdog mentality. I mean, that sounds like it fueled your career. You believed in yourself.

And it's funny because. Well, actually, kind of not. Why? Well, because. Well, your mom kicked you into gear, made you believe in yourself. Then you. Well, no, no, no. Then I was like, oh, well, made you believe in yourself. Then you, well, no, no, no. Then, then I was like, oh, well, I, I did believe in myself, but then what I was doing was,

was wrong clearly. Cause now I'm in this state where I'm confused and I'm lost. So now I doubt myself. And now I'm like, oh, everybody else has the answers. Please tell me other people how I'm supposed to get places in life because I don't trust myself anymore. And so I think that I've always had this weird sense of confidence and just crippling self-doubt. Like in almost equal measures, that's helped, you know? Yeah. You don't get too cocky, you know? I understand.

Because there's always that devil on your shoulder going, you suck. You're the worst. It sounds very similar to being like Jewish. Ah. You always think the sky is falling at all times. And you think that way because you're trying to prepare yourself. Even if your life's at the best, because, you know, and then all of a sudden, you know, you're having a great time, a great part of your life's at the best because you know and then all of a sudden you know

some you know you're having a great time great part of your life and then something happens because there's always some bit of adversity or some problem that always you have to overcome to have growth yeah you know what i mean it's just i i 100 relate to that because it's like an insecurity where you never want to get too high because the moment you feel like you're too high, you feel like it'll get swept away from you in some form or fashion. Yeah. So that insecurity fuels you to work even harder, even if your success at a certain level, because you're so appreciative of where you've gotten in your career. You don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. Yeah. So you keep working, you keep working and you keep working something like that yes 100 that's exactly how

i felt yeah in my career you know how did you manage the the off seasons through prep preparations okay so that was never like an off season no No, the offseason is where you got your gains. That's where, because in the NFL, you can never be the same guy each year. You need to bring something new every year. Because, you know, even if you had a really successful year, that offseason, there's 31 teams that are game planning on how to make you worse. And so if you don't evolve your game bring something new to your game and stay stagnant with your game now that can go into so many different forms of fashions techniques getting in and out of breaks explosiveness route running route techniques all those types of things

then you're gonna get bottled up and that's when they try to replace you so you know i i a hundred percent like understand that that feeling it took for you to get to where you got yeah and it's it's probably did you did you love being like the heel oh yeah because i loved being a villain when i would come out because i felt you know like you're going out you're proving people wrong you're proving what you you know i would always go and fucking do my little heel thing when i go to another stadium i'd run 100 yards and i fucking fist pump over at the crowd they'd be all booing and shit i embraced it you know you go to new york city you go to buffalo these people hated you you know but i fueled off that did you feel off oh yeah yeah yeah why because you can do no wrong right like because you've got this freedom

it's it's when you're what a burden to be liked by everybody you know what i mean like to be you put that standard on yourself yeah everyone you know but that's your job yeah your job is to be the baby face the good guy to have people root for you and so um when when you're when you're the bad guy like great you make get to make people hate you and and that is your job and so you can do no wrong you can say whatever you want you can do whatever you want and inevitably when you're doing that you're having more fun so then people start to like you so then you become a baby face but then you're saddled with them needing to like you so then you're restricted and then your freedom goes away so then they start to boo you so then you start having fun

because then you're the heel and then you can do no wrong and then they start to cheer you again because you're having and it's just endless it's just this endless, it's just this endless cycle. Man. Do you have any favorite, like, specific moments or things that you got to do while you were playing a heel? Oh, gosh.

Oh, I really liked going to cut Bianca's hair, you know, but then she turned it around on me just because, like, I kind of, we led up to that so much and i think people really thought that that it was going to happen and they were so mad about it you know because bianca has this this cool awesome braid that she's able to do just amazing things with um cut that shit right yeah yeah yeah and but but but then she turned it around and then

cut my hair off scissors in the ring is always fun i like that yeah i'm very scary very scary yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah because she was like kod'ing me way too close to them scissors you know could have been very dangerous don't run with scissors don't wrestle with scissors could have lost an eye my mom was right all. My mom was right all along. My mom was right all along. Real quick before we go into our next segment, what's it like being married to another WWE star? Like, are you guys at home, like, on an off night, like, practicing moves on each other and stuff?

Like, hey, on this DDT that I got to execute next week, like, can you come over here and, like, just fucking knock them ground or what? No. No, not really. Not really that. But like, I suppose there is, like, so he's got a wrestling school in Iowa.

And so like anytime when I was coming back from- Big wrestling area, like college wrestling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Huge wrestling area, like college wrestling. Collegiate, yeah, yeah, yeah. Huge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And don't really get many of them coming into the school. Yeah. No.

Anyway. But yeah, so I get in with him and wrestle around with him. And, you know, like he's amazing. He's just so, so good. So that's just awesome. Like you couldn't get a better. Yeah just awesome like you couldn't get a better you guys couldn't get a better partner and then he's like he's just got such a great mind for it and he's so smart now this is just gonna end up in a whole tribute to how great colby lopez aka seth rollins is but he's just he's he's he's so awesome and it's so great to be able to talk about wrestling or not talk about wrestling

and um but really like run an idea through the the one thing i think the one issue we may run into is that like he's a no seller like he he doesn't sell anything right like like so so i'll be all hyped up about this idea that i have and then this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen and isn't that the best thing you ever heard and uh and he'll be like have and then this is gonna happen and this is gonna happen and isn't that the best thing you ever heard and uh and he'll be like yeah and then what you know and and then a round of applause please you know um but yeah no it's it's it's the best it's the best that's fucking awesome we'll be right back after this quick break hey I'm Gianna Prudente and I'm Jemay Jackson Gadsden we're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline right back after this quick break. Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes.

Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it? Like you miss 100% of the shots you never take. Yeah. Rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself.

Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them boys. I just come here to play basketball every single day and that's what I focus on.

From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things

sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford, and I've spent my career exploring the three-pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard

to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's jump into the segment where we go back into time around April 7th, 2019, and we talk about pop culture. The number one movie was Shazam.

The remake, yeah. Oh, the remake? Yeah, like the superhero. Oh, the superhero. I was thinking Kazam with Shaq. Oh, no. Yeah, I wish. Remember that? Kazam with Shaq. Do you remember watching that superhero? Are you a superhero movie person? No, a little

bit. Sorry. Why are you laughing? Do you remember that movie, Kaweah? No, it's got nothing to do with Shazam. It's got everything to do with the Old Town Road. Oh. Let's hear it. Well, no.

Number one song, Old Town Road by Lil Nas X. Yeah, well, this is just Dana Brooke, right? I love Dana Brooke, wrestler. She's now in TNA as Ash by Elegance. But remember when, maybe they still do do people like film themselves singing songs you know all sexy like you know but she put up on Instagram

her singing the song gonna take my horse to the hotel room why is she taking the horse to the hotel room? It's just for me, but it was just part of me. It's a little different than my story. My seven-year-old daughter loves this song.

Great song, great song. Oh, God. Fun for all ages. Fun for all ages. Fun for all ages. It does sound like hotel room. On a lighter note, Notre Dame burned down. Oh, gosh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Irish Catholic. They hit the spot. I mean, Quasimodo? That was a great movie But I wasn't You know Nobody was hurt

Nobody was injured I remember watching this They had like 24 hour coverage We'd be in the training room Getting ready for practice And we'd have this on I'm like

Oh my god That's How'd they let this happen Yeah Old shit though It's been there for a long time It's been there for a long time It's been there for a long time Long time

Rebuilding maybe Rebuilding Rebuilding Yeah Are you a Game of Thrones person? Oh my god Are you? Yeah

This was The Long Night episode Debuts the longest battle ever screened Nearly 80 minutes So you remember this scene? So So At the time You could be in one of those I was gonna say This is right before Ali Huh? nearly 80 minutes. So you remember this scene? So, so,

at the time... You could be in one of those. I was going to say, this is right up your alley. Huh? You should have been like, I feel like you should have been in Game of Thrones. Yeah.

100%. A missed opportunity. Game of Thrones casters. Yeah, but there is House of the Dragon, so. Anyway, we didn't watch it. I didn't watch it. House't watch it i hadn't watched so good have you been watching no i haven't watched what came here we need someone have you been watching i haven't yet

what i've watched house of dragons yeah it's great oh my god that last episode i'm not current oh okay he's been dragging i'm so tired from all these shoots we've been doing i like turned it on the other day and it was like the recap of season one. And it was so much that I was like, I put on old reruns of Seinfeld because I couldn't handle it. Yeah. You want to go back. I got to read season one again to get back into it.

But it's very good. I think better than the end of season of regular Game of Thrones. I take. Wait, wait. The end. The end of Game of Thrones. Yes. Like is in the season finale.

That is in the last couple of seasons of Game of Thrones. i think house of dragons caught the magic of early game of thrones so you know what i think you're wrong okay let's hear it yeah yeah yeah so so here's so going back to this right i wasn't i wasn't watching it then okay so pandemic hit now it's my time now it's my time to watch game of thrones okay right so so myself and the husband were at home and we just binge it we go through every episode of game of thrones within like a two-week period wow yeah digestion and the end was great it made sense it made sense because i had no preconceived notions you know what i? I didn't have the time in between to hypothesize. Yeah, to investigate what could happen.

You know? Like, of course Jon Snow isn't going to end up on the throne. Of course he's not. He already came back from the dead. He got one win. You know? He can't have all the wins. It just made sense.

You know what I mean? Agree to disagree. All right. Becky, just a little reference. He's a little bit of a film snob. Okay. You know, he went to the film school. You know, he did all that.

He's very... Opinionated? Very opinionated. Correct? Yeah, but are you correct? Personally. Or do you think... What is correct? Yeah, there is no such thing. Maybe in math. Yes. Science are you correct? Personally. Or do you think? What is correct?

Yeah, there is no such thing. Maybe in math. Yes. I don't know. And in WrestleMania 35. I don't know in math, guys. Well, that was the only outcome. Yeah, possibly.

I heard there's a new theory. Go on. That all the theories are wrong. Go on. Who saw it? Galaxy Brain Take. I love it love the avengers game end game came out so you're you're superheroes yeah yeah like you so you watch those yeah i'm starting to go down them now with my kid seven year old she's starting like we're started all the iron man it's getting to a point where like she's not too scared so like we're going down iron man we're gonna do it

chronologically Shit, she doesn't wanna watch Wonder Woman though. She rather watch like yeah, I don't get it We've been trying to like put it on her like What does she like she likes Iron Man? Okay, like spider-man Tony Stark. She likes what she likes I don't know how she watched that spider-man the original one with the Green Goblin is pretty freaky. Yeah Yeah, she like scary stuff? She kind of does. She'll go like, I probably shouldn't be showing a seven-year-old this shit.

No, my daughter's the same way. Loves the scary stuff. Obsessed with zombies. Well, we took her to Disneyland yesterday, though. She didn't like the Pirates of the Caribbean. Very upset when weates of the Caribbean. Pirates of the Caribbean. Very upset when we went down

the slide. The slide? Got splashed, yeah. Very upset by that. Did she enjoy the characters? Like, as in the other ones? Like, just walking around and shit?

She dressed up as Jessie and then she got to meet Jessie from Toy Story. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. She loved it. But she loves the girls. Yeah. She calls girls, you know.

So, she really likes any of the girl superheroes, the girl characters. Yeah. That's amazing. Like, I just brought my daughter to Magic Mountain, and she's seven now, so she's just under 54 inches, but she's over 48, so she goes on like 80% of the upside-down rides.

And I introduced them to her, and's like, she was about it. She was on that Lex Luthor one. Have you been there? Uh-uh. Lex Luthor is a drop one. Like it just drops. It's like 46 stories. Like I was pretty proud of her.

She's taking it like a champ and wanted to go more and more. That's like fun when you start getting to bring the kids there. A little adrenaline junkie. Let's go, Lily. What was life like for you in like 2019? fun when you started getting to bring the kids little adrenaline junkie let's go lily um what was life like for you in like 2019 where so you said 2006 where are you in your so uh you're you're you're you're popping off right now um yeah i started to kind of you know um i had i had different stages of popping off but this was probably the the height of the pop off um she's popped off

yeah yeah um so like around uh summer summer of 2018 things really started clicking and then we get to 2019 then wrestlemania yeah main event of. So like... Things were good. Things were really good. Things were good. Yeah, yeah. Started seeing my husband now. So this is a great year. Of 2019. Great year. Great year.

Great year. Fucking champ. Everything's happening. Hubby. Everything's happening. Yep. The year of Becky. The year of the Becky.

I'm going to declare it right now. Yeah. All this time later. All this time. We're going to retroactively declare it. All this time later. All this time. We're going to retroactively declare it. All this time. In the sports world

in 2018 slash 19 NBA champions were the Toronto Raptors. I remember that. Do you? Yep. Are you an NBA fan?

Nope. No? Remember it. But you lived in Canada and you saw a Canadian team win the world championship so you probably like Yep. Yep. Giannis was the MVP You lived in Canada and you saw a Canadian team win the World Championship, so you're probably like... Yeah.

Giannis was the MVP of the NBA. You know who that is? No. Large Greek. Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues. Hockey? Hockey girl? No, no, no. Any American sport?

You know, so my husband's a big football guy yeah so i've been getting into football but mostly for the gossip it's just like men's gossip isn't it like you know they're they all get together afterwards and they're like oh and then did you see the catch off him and you know it's just it's great i mean they don't say it just like that. But like the stuff that goes on and then I get really into it because like I love, I love a bit of gossip. You know, people, people,

they shit on gossip, but it's just really it's storytelling. This is my way to make it sound sophisticated. And storytelling is what we do as professional wrestlers. And it's the greatest way of communication. And really, what are we without our stories? Amen.

Anyway, I love a bit of gossip. So I find that there's lots of gossip around football. Who's your favorite football team? I would be divorced if I didn't say the Bears. The Bears. That's what you said. Your husband must be from Chicago because when you said Chicago

You said it in a Chicago-ing accent Well, Iowa, he's from Iowa In that area, you said Chicago Chicago, well I lived in Chicago You lived in Chicago? I lived in Chicago, yeah, for nearly a year That's freezing, huh? Columbia, Chicago

Yeah, we Or I arrived there On the snowpocalypse. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah. The snowpocalypse of 20, when was that? 2011? 2011. 2011.

2011. Yep, Snowmageddon. Snowmageddon. We had a big one in 14 in Boston. They had to cancel, or they had to postpone our parade because we had like two feet of snow. Oh, no. It was fucking gnarly. We had a whole winter's worth of record in like three-week periods.

It was a record for the whole winter, but all that happened in like a three-week period. It was nuts. It was kind of like the snow particles. Yeah, I was going to college, Boston Common, and and my my roommate was a huge wrestling fan so me and him there was so much snow me and him were doing all kinds of moves

with each other like into the snow oh that's great did anyone get hurt I think maybe some egos oh okay that's why we say don't try this at home

that's the real reason what's your favorite town what's the best wrestling town like with crowd in America yeah in America in America at home. That's the real reason. What's your favorite town? What's the best wrestling town? With crowd? In America? Yeah, in America. Or the world. Santiago in Chile is pretty nuts.

San Diego in Chile? Santiago in Chile. Yeah, great. I've never heard of San Diego in Chile. Santiago. Santiago. But he did once have Chile in San Diego. great i never heard of san diego and chile santiago santiago oh santiago santiago yeah but he did once have sent chile and san diego huh you did once have chile and san diego i did i was thinking about the chileans love their wrestling i didn't know that yeah yeah yeah

yeah great mexico does too though yeah yeah yeah awesome um yeah yeah gosh where else we were in um we're in italy recently um that was awesome in bologna and they're they're a great wrestling town too um but in america um gosh where where is like number one the rowdiest fans best arena like you'll go to like and this would be kind of more like house shows we don't do a lot of um tv there but like hidalgo in texas amazing crowds wow yeah pulled out of nowhere everything's bigger baby hidalgo yeah we got john michaels on and he said he liked Anaheim. Anaheim? Shawn Michaels. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just a boy, George. I'm not your boy.

How great is Shawn Michaels? He's the best. Oh, Shawn rocks. Beast. He was trying to get Jules to do a little NXT situation. Ooh, are you gonna? So I went down to Mexico City and did a documentary to promote an NFL game in 2016 2016 and we went down with the uh the lucho libres or what the that's what they're called luchadors and they taught me they taught

us a couple moves we didn't wrestle with them so they taught us the uh the one where i bounce off the rope and i grab his leg and i swing him down or with my with my legs a head scissors head scissors yeah we were doing head scissors I would love to do that oh but I don't know if I could I got my body's pretty beat up and I've watched those things how you guys I know join the club see we got right there wow we it that guy was a badass I forgot his Jack, it took you a surprisingly quick time to pull that up. Oh, it's my screensaver on my computer, bro. That's amazing. Take a quick copy and paste. We're good.

That is incredible. We had so much fun, but that's when I gained the respect. I mean, I always have, but when I was out there the next day, I was like, man, I made my knee pretty tough. I got a little swollen in that bitch you know what i mean so yeah yeah you guys are tough well you know you're already there you know like it's what's a little bit more gonna do you know would i go heal or would i i had

to go heal because everyone hates the patriots yeah yeah yeah everyone hates the yeah easy and it's more fun yeah we. We already established that. I'd have to go heel. Yeah. What would my move be? I mean, allegedly a spinning head scissors. I could do a spinning head scissors. I need something cooler.

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Flying squirrel? Yeah. Jules' nickname is a squirrel, so something squirrel incorporated. Flying squirrel. Okay. Come off the top rope. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you could do like a frog splash. Call it a squirrel splash. Ooh. Like a nut tap. Yeah, you could add a little bit more squirgliness in there. Yeah. I feel so bad. Like, that just came brought to me.

Did your brother do all the wrestling moves on you? Yeah, kind of the other way around. Yeah. So he was really good and I was awful. And like within nine months, he was already teaching classes. Like he was great. And he's just one of those people that's a really great natural teacher of anything. You know what I mean?

Like I'll have this problem in just anything and he'll be able to figure out where I'm going wrong and be able to coach me into doing it better. And he would just let me practice on him in the back garden endlessly. That's amazing. Endlessly. I thought about that because I used to just fucking rip my sister. I used to be the undertaker. We're doing choke slams. I'd get her in a figure four, sharpshooters. Because my brother used to do it to me. Was young girl yeah she's three years younger my brother's seven years older

oh yeah so he used to fucking kill me with all those moves and like you know when you're a kid they're taking it to the whole other level i'm over here tapping he's not letting me out jack why don't you set the stage all Alright, back to WrestleMania 35. Setting the stage here. This was a triple threat match. So we got Becky, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey. We're going to roll through like we do the teams. We'll roll through Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey first here. Charlotte

Flair from Charlotte, North Carolina. Little known fact. Daughter of Ric Flair. If you didn't know by the name maybe. Little known fact. 14 time world champion. Signed with WWE in 2013. You guys came up right around the same time, right, Becky? Kind of broke in around the same.

Yeah, yeah. You guys were girls, huh? We did, yeah. Best friends. We debuted on the main roster in the same group. Little. Friends? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Till this night. No, not really. Could have kind of dissipated before then. Before. But. Better for the. Yeah. Better for the match.

We were part of a little gal pal group called PCB. PCB. Yeah. Paige. Charlotte. Becky. Wasn't a very imaginative name. Acronym. No, yeah, yeah. Rolls off the tongue though. Yeah, rolls off good. PCB. Charlotte. Becky. Wasn't a very imaginative name. Acronym.

Yeah. Rolls off the tongue though. PCB, yeah. Heck yeah. What about Ronda Rousey? I got to talk about Charlotte's moves here for a minute. She does the running knee jump just like her pops. She does that knife edge chop just like pops.

Finishing moves, figure four and figure eight leg lock, right? The figure eight, yeah. It's just the figure four with the bridge, yeah, right? Which, the figure eight, yeah. It's just the figure four with the bridge, yeah. The bridge. Pro talk, pro talk, yeah. Pro talk. Should we get into Ronda here real quick?

Ronda came over from the UFC, 12 and 2 in her MMA career, known as Rowdy Ronda Rousey, the baddest woman on the planet. She was also a bronze medal winner in judo. Had a little Olympic pedigree in there.fc women's bantamweight champion made her debut in the ring the year before this with kurt angle at you are uh wrestlemania 34 i believe so relatively new in her like in-ring experience even though she'd kind of been making some little like cameos in the years before that. First WrestleMania. It's fucking WrestleMania. And she's the only

woman to hold the UFC and WWE championship belts, as well as headline a pay-per-view event for both, which is a pretty crazy distinction. What was your perception of Ronda joining WWE? It's going to be great for business. It's going to be great for business. And I think it showed

how far we had come you know because like i said when i was watching if it was back in 2006 ronda rousey who had done so much for for women's martial arts and martial arts in general ufc in general um if if it was back where it was i i don't think she would have been interested. The fact that we had changed the game so much and were seen as competitors and stars in our own rights kind of, I think, made it more intriguing for her to come over here. And she was going to bring a lot of eyes to the product. She did.

Yeah, she brought a lot of eyes to the product. She was like one of the biggest woman stars in all of sport yeah for you know her stint and when she jumped over the wdbe i was like this match made in heaven this is gonna make this way you know what i mean yeah and then that uh wrestlemania match 34 that was incredible that was a that was a great match yeah yeah so i So I think everybody was all aboard. Yeah. How would you sum up Charlotte? Are we on good terms?

Are we on bad terms? No, we're fine now. You want to just put her head into a fucking chair or something? No, no. I hold no grievances. You just let me know. Well, how about from a craft perspective, how would you sum up Charlotte and Ronda's styles as wrestlers?

You bring in fist pumps. Ronda, I'm like, you've got to settle down, coach. So, Charlotte, lots of poise, finesse, incredible athlete. Ronda, so quick to pick up the sport, you know what I mean? In terms of her experience and the application from how long she had been doing, because professional wrestling is so different than martial arts. You know, it's such a different art form. And she adapted very well. different than martial arts you know it's it's such a different art form it's um and and and

she adapted very well thanks becky you're you're you're right down the next one break down the main event please we got to talk about the third member of this triple threat match and our guest today i'm telling this to to the audience. Becky already knows this stuff. She lived it. But just for the audience, the high level on Becky from Limerick Island, build out of Dublin. A.K.A. Big Time Becks. A.K.A. The Man.

A.K.A. The Irish Last. Kicker. A.K.A. Made in Ireland. A.K.A. I think my favorite, Becky Two Belts, baby. Becky Two Belts. You know those signature moves. The disarmor. The manhandle slam.

11-time champ, if I'm not mistaken. I think that's wrong, but I like that. I think it's eight. Is it eight? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know they count some twice. Yeah, no, I think it's eight.

Okay. But I like 11. Let's go with 11. It's my favorite number. So let's just do some revisionist history. We like 11 in this house. Yeah. Heck yeah.

Fact-checking spot, but it's pretty close. And the first woman to hold the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship titles simultaneously. And the first, part of the first, Women's WrestleMania main event of all time. Now, where did this nickname, The Man, come from? What's the story behind this? Well, in your sport, right, the top guy, what's the story behind this well i'm in in in your sport right

the top guy what's he called i call the man i don't know right right like they're like oh he's the man you're the man man you're the man you're the top dog in your sport i'm the top dog in my sport so you're the fucking man i'm the man i'm the fucking man i fucking dig. I fucking dig it. I fucking dig it too. How did you hone down and develop your in-ring persona? I was just a little pissed off, wasn't I? I see the facial expression. You guys. Yeah.

You practice those? No. I'd be wild. I don't know. I suppose maybe with my daughter. We're always playing games. She always wants me to be a lion or something um so we get practice with daughter yeah yeah um you know like i think everything was so circumstantial i'd gone from being this career-long baby face of always being

the good guy always being naive having that rapport with the audience doing silly videos often you know people like this lovable goof and and then you know I got screwed over one too many times and then said I'm not taking it anymore and I think a lot of people could relate to that and people wanted to see me get my moment they were sick of seeing me getting uh walked all over and I was supposed to be the heel, the bad guy when I turned, right? When I turned into the man, I suppose, what it ended up being. But like nobody thought that I was going to be the bad guy.

Like the audience knew, the audience wanted me to have my moment. I knew that as soon as I was going to turn, they were just going to lose their minds. They were going to be happy. But I think there was a little bit of naivety from the part of the creative, which they thought that people would boo me if I turned on Charlotte. But Charlotte had been in the main title picture for a long time.

And I think people, it was just kind of a miscast in terms of where where people's sympathies would be people felt sorry for me on the run-up and then I turned and then they were like fuck yeah Becky's gonna get her moment and uh and and they didn't want to see Charlotte getting her moments anymore they wanted to see somebody new you know um and and so and so anyway it lended itself perfectly to me becoming the man now kind of went all over the place there but when very articulate it's okay i'm always might need more of my protein all over the place kind of podcast now the first time when you go from heel and you start feeling that audience starting to support you, that's got to be pretty fucking cool. Yeah, they were already behind me.

Already behind you? You were always the underdog. Yeah, I was the underdog. And they were already behind me. And then it just grew. It grew a life of its own from there. It was just, I don't know, it was this movement that we all felt part of you know yeah and then um at survivor series in 2018 then i ended up getting my nose busted open

in this invasion angle a girl called naya jacks punched me in the face um by accident but it ended up to be one of the coolest things that ever happened because I was totally, totally concussed out of my mind, like just out of it. But I had like blood dripping down my face. I was still carrying on. I ended up like up top and on top of the arena with my hands spread out, the crowd losing their mind, blood streaming down my face and it ended up being like one of these um for lack of a better term uh an iconic-ish photo in in wrestling um which I had nothing to do with wasn't even aware of what was happening um and uh and that kind of catapulted things towards going to the main event because I was on the run-up to it was supposed to be me and ronda at survivor series but when that match couldn't happen anymore

because of the broken nose and the concussion then um then well what better place for it to happen than at wrestlemania and by then people were already so invested and they wanted to see it and it was the it was the match that made sense wow when we were prepping for this episode and this whole run-up that you had we were kind of talking a lot how you know wrestling is both theater and athleticism and it's that kind of nexus of the both and what's so interesting is it's got improvisation in a way that theater might not have and maybe athleticism comes across as differently but the fact that you kind of got hit in the face and you're bleeding and you can in that moment you're feeling very physical stuff but you're also

telling a story so like how like what's going on in your brain in your process so like here's an opportunity to use this and have that kind of actually this thing that happened that no one could control actually find its way into the greater story of that you guys are telling what's it like in that moment like did you know you had something when that was happening or like did it just the next day you wake up like oh my god that happened like can you walk us through that moment a little yeah so it wasn't so i wasn't very uh with it so i wasn't aware of any i wasn't going oh this is gonna be so cool i was just like i i remember getting punched and going oh i'm concussed like as I as I as I collapsed you know and then I was like okay let me and and then I don't really remember anything

apart from at one stage going out to get a chair because I knew my spot was go out get a chair hit Rhonda with it when she comes in she was going to be coming out and so her music hit so I bailed got the chair doctor threw um a towel at me I wiped my face threw it back at him grabbed the chair and went in and then I just remember the crowd going uh after I hit Rhonda going one more time one more time and also being very cognizant that I was not with it and was like, let me do this safely, you know, um, lest she also be concussed. And then, and then just knowing that my spot was to go back up the ramp. And so it was just kind of in it, but, but not really in it, not really with it. And then I came through the curtain after the, cause I was waiting for the red light to go off, um, on the camera.

So I was aware that I had to wait for the, for the camera light to go off. And then I walked through and then I was like, Oh, where am I? Who are you? To the security guy. And, uh, yeah, then I was just, then I was just completely out of it. And then I got, I got text messages being like, Oh my God, that was awesome. And I was like, huh of it. And then I got text messages being like, oh my God, that was awesome. And I was like, huh?

Yeah, what was? What happened? The first time you see that picture, are you like, oh shit. Oh, I look so cool. Yes. I'm such a badass. Yeah, I'm such a badass.

Battle wound. But like in real life, I was backstage going, oh, what happened? Did I break my neck? Yeah. I also didn't sound like that either. Adrenaline goes a long way. I don't know what these voices are doing.

I do love a voice. Jack, hit the match. A little bit of the lead up to this one. We're talking WrestleMania 35. WrestleMania, the card's massive. 16 events this one, but Becky touched on it a little bit. The lead up to WrestleMania 35, we had the face smash on SmackDown with Rousey.

We also had February, the suspension was big in the story leading up to this with the knee injury. And then I think my personal favorite before it was in April. It was a SmackDown right before this, I believe, right when you're fighting under arrest. Oh, yeah, yeah.

That was awesome. Yeah. That was awesome. It was the Raw. The Raw, my bad, my bad. It was the Raw. And I remember because of the SmackDown that happened the night after, right? Because SmackDown was still on Tuesdays.

Right. It was Tuesday night. And so I remember getting on the SmackDown. I had to go cut a promo, but I was like, shouldn't I be in jail? You know, so their way of countering that was the police officer. I had obviously charmed the police officer into dropping me off at the building. So I showed up in a police car and got out and was like, thank you, officer. Voice.

Again, didn't sound like that I don't know anyway when you hear like oh that story is pitched or however that comes across your plate is that just like

this is fucking awesome I can't wait to do it like how does it feel like when something so absurd of like everyone's going in and out of police cars and the backstage

comes about how do you process and deal with that well I think most wrestlers, I speak for us as a general population, when we get our creative, God, no, why should we do that? Oh, God, that's so stupid.

We all sound like that. That was accurate. And then, you know, someone will explain it to us and then I go, oh, yeah, I guess that works. Yeah. It's awesome. That was alright. Sounds like when they pitch me something.

Yeah. Because your stuff is all fake too, right? No. Scripted, scripted, scripted. Wait, yours is fake? No, no, no. I was talking about yours.

I don't know why you made that reference. Wait, yours is fake? No, no, no, no. I was talking about yours. Oh. Yeah. I don't know why you made that reference. Oh, man. Is it? Huh? No. Oh, okay.

No. Of course. It's scripted. Joking. Don't come for us, Roger. No, it's a huge thing going around that NFL is scripted. No, I know. Yeah. I love the Roger. No, it's a huge thing going around that NFL is scripted. No, I know. I love the gossip.

I'm up to date on my gossip. It's a big thing. What's your favorite gossip in the NFL right now? Oh, gosh, I don't know. Is it Taylor Swift stuff? That's kind of petered out a little bit, hasn't it? Well, I'm really waiting for the next season. Off season. Yeah, we're still in A little bit. Until the season starts. I'm really waiting for the next season. Off season.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still off season. Yeah, we're still in the off season. You got to explain. The Kelsey brothers did get a new cereal, though, didn't they? Kelseyo's? Is it with the different cereals? Are their faces on a cereal?

I believe that. I'm in a group thread of junk food. Oh, yeah. This is brand new. This is 19 hours ago. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Wow. So that's my, that's my gossip. This is at 19 hours ago. Yeah. Kelsey mix cereal is being launched as a cereal that combines their three favorite brands.

Whoa. Which is, which is Reese's puffs, cinnamon toast, crunch, lucky charms. Wait, so they're going to put all three together. Whoa. Which is? Which is Reese's Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms. Wait, so they're going to put all three together? Yeah. Where do we stand on this? Would we try it? No, you can't go peanut butter with Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast.

Those are three different complete flavors. Flavor explosion in your mouth, brother. But if you're going to go peanut butter, like a peanut butter Reese's puff, you should probably go with a chocolate puff or you could go with a Captain Crunch,

something that's neutral. Cinnamon Toast Crunch, you can't have cinnamon, chocolate, and marshmallow all in the same thing. That's a lot going on. 100% you can't. Is that what they do in Ireland? Isn't that like a s'more?

Isn't that a s'more? S'more is graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow. isn't a graham cracker kind of cinnamon little hint of cinnamon i think becky's on something oh my god lucky school dude son it's kind of like total mind blow this is bullshit oh actually it makes sense yeah like when they pitch you the thing. Exactly. Exactly. Look at that callback. Now, can you explain to the listener how fucking big WrestleMania is? It's like the Super Bowl for wrestling. It's a Super Bowl. It's a Super Bowl for wrestling.

And this specific one was even bigger than just a Super Bowl. It was Kurt Angle's last match. Dave Bautista's last match. First time. Kofi Kingston. Yeah, Kofi Mania. It was also Kofi Mania. Patriots fan from Massachusetts. Colin Jost, SNL guy

in the Battle Royale, wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey for some reason. And Seth Rollins won Universal Championship this night. Can you take us through the moment? Can you take this? Because this is a big thing. Can you take us through the moment can you take this because this is a big this is a big thing can you take us through the moment when you first found out you were gonna headline wrestlemania 35 yeah call how excited were you like this is i mean we we talked about seven years ago when you're coming into mom's house with banged up eye going to

fucking everywhere on the world to now you're literally doing what you didn't even imagine to be able to do because it has never been done you're the pioneer for this how that had to be fucking amazing yeah it was incredible it was incredible i was driving from i was driving from buffalo new york to b. Route 90. Route 90. Yeah. Yep. You know it. Pike. Yep. Six hour drive.

Six hour drive. We had an early show, right? Could be a little higher. Oh, really? Oh yeah, I was cruising. But I stopped. I stopped and I had like a little dance party in the car. And then I told, I told, I told Colby.

I told my, my, my boyfriend at the time now husband he was the first person i told which was probably insensitive which was very insensitive of me because he was also hoping to be the main event of wrestlemania that year nah it's different how do you take it how do you take it um so like i've said my husband's a no-seller no-seller so so i i said we're gonna main event wrestlemania and he goes that's interesting well like he he said he was like well because normally they don't announce what the main event is and i think up until that point they actually hadn't he was right they never actually announced it beforehand nowadays everybody just says they're the main event of wrestlemania and then we'll see what happens on the day um but uh

it was a bit of a stab to him you know yeah i should i should have handled it more sensitively what what went into playing in this match like get the call, and then break us down on preparation, emotionally, physically. And then, you know... Mentally. Oh, my gosh. Like, then the week running up, like, my husband was just the best.

Like, I was just so nervous and scared and would, you know, he would just counsel me and remind me that it's not about the wrestling, it's not about the moves, it's about the emotion, it's about the story being told, and which is what it is, you know, and we were already there, we already had the crowd, we already had them hooked by the story, and it was just a matter of going out there and doing the damn thing. We didn't really get to plan the match until the day of. Whoa.

And even then, like the show, because, you know, this was a historical match. Everybody had media, media, media, media. So we were always being dragged in different spots um so so we didn't really have anything up until a few maybe an hour before we went out um and and the other thing was i don't think ronda had never been in a triple threat match before um and they're they're kind of nuanced in in in your way of structuring them in terms of how many people should be in a ring. The way they happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we didn't get to walk over all of those details beforehand. But, you know, we went out there, and the crowd had been sitting through about eight hours of wrestling at that stage. It was after midnight, wasn't it? It was after midnight. It was after midnight when we went out there. So it was a long,

it was a long night, but the crowd were still with us. They were just chanting Becky the entire time. Yeah. And we were definitely the man of that crowd. I was, yeah, I was the crowd favorite too.

And they were all still there. You know, I think that was the thing. Nobody's going to leave a WrestleMania, but you know, at that hour, the trains, I think the trains were shut down.

Like everybody ended up being stranded after this because it started raining and nobody cared. It was a whole disaster. But anyway, in that moment, in that great moment, yeah,

the crowd just kept chanting Becky all night until I won. So you fucking got it. Until I won. So epic. The shoulders down. Kind of. Reversing the pipe again. was so epic. The shoulders down. Kind of. Reversing the pipe.

Yeah. And they're trying to get you on the move and then you pull the quick one. You know, they were down-ish. They were down, baby, for three. Look, it's not my job. It's not my job to look for the shoulders being down. It's my job to listen for the three count

and it was there. I mean, the ref's going to call what the ref calls. The ref's going to call what the ref calls. So in that moment, like not to skip ahead, but just because you kind of brought it up, you're sitting on the middle of the match or the ring, middle of MetLife, like you got the thing. You're now at the top of wrestling.

You are officially the man. Like as an entertainer, as as an athlete as just a human what's what are you what's going through your mind in that moment well i think the whole day everybody exhausted you gotta be exhausted i don't think i was exhausted just yet um but everybody was everybody kept saying soak it in soak it in soak it in soak it in so i'm just going am i soaking it in am i soaking everything in soaking it in you know so i was just i was just very cognizant of soaking it in yeah yeah so i'm soaking it in soaking it in and to clarify here these were the this was the raw women's championship belt over one shoulder and the smackdown women's Championship belt over the other shoulder.

That's what was on the line, baby. Yeah, very heavy. We've had a lot of championships on this couch. We always ask, how did you celebrate it? Champagne. What are we doing? Are we going crazy? Are we back on the road?

No. Husband had bought me a bottle of Don Julio. Ooh! Yeah, baby. No, my husband had bought me a bottle of Don Julio. Yeah, baby. So we got back to the hotel, I think around two, three, maybe two or three. Had a few shots of tequila. Went to bed, had to be up at five in the morning to go do media. And then I had Raw the next day.

So that was it. That was the celebration. Grind, don't stop. Turn the fucking page. We got to go do media and then i had raw the next day so um that was that was it that was the celebration grind don't turn the fucking page we gotta go yeah then we gotta then we gotta go and then we gotta do raw the next night and uh that was it man and then just the show keeps going like doing doing the super bowl and then having a well we get three months off yeah and then having a pre-game the next night or whatever it is. So I've experienced that. When I got Super Bowl MVP, I didn't get to go out and go crazy

because the next day they fly you immediately to like Disney World. Oh. I do all the like three hours of media at Disney World for that whole thing. So you got to keep it going. Yeah, yeah. Got to keep it going.

Can't take the foot off the gas. Can't. Can't. Can't stop, won't stop. Shake it down. We get down. We get down. You know that song?

No. Can't stop, won't stop. I'm talking about the records. Jack, why don't you take us to this match? We'll rewind a little bit. I know we flash forward a little bit. But just to set the stage here a little bit and give some clarity to this one. This is a triple threat match.

No DQs, right? First one to get pinned or submitted wins. Correct? Okay. Just want to make sure I got that right and got it out there. So everyone knows the rules we're operating under here. Started out, Ronda was, we were watching last night. Ronda's throwing punches crazy early.

Full punches. Like, sir. Like, what? Yeah, what? Bro. What happened to clinch? I know. Clinching a fucking slap.

Yeah. We were throwing haymakers. It's a triple threat. No DQs. No DQs. I mean, but also, that's not that that's a DQ. Ronda was clearly toting the line. Keep going, Jack.Qs. No DQs. I mean, but also, not that that's a DQ. Ronda was clearly toting the line.

Keep going, Jack. Big time, big time. And then we get to, after we get that, we got some fighting outside the ring. We're back in the ring. Becky brings in table.

You brought in the table? Yep. What was the table choice? Because of all the props, did your mind go table right away? Or would you pick? What does the crowd chant?

Okay. They don't chant, we want chairs. They don't chant, we want kendo sticks. they don't chant we want chairs they don't chant we want kendo sticks they don't chant we want like they chant we want tables got to give the people what they want well they they go we want tables we want tables we want i haven't been in a while i went when i was like seven years old i don don't remember. That was the last time. Yeah. Wow. It was this place called, it was in Redwood City where I was from. Was it the Circle K or no?

It was like a. Gas station? No, it was some circle. It was an old arena. They went there. My dad took me. Tight. My brother. And you haven't been since.

Haven't been since. Oh, we got to get you out to the show. I got to get my daughter too. Yeah. I got to get her because she's. I'm trying to go. She likes, speaking of retirement, she always talks about John Cena because of the fucking Scooby-Doo movie.

Oh, good. And she'll ask me that. And she doesn't call him John Cena. She calls him the John Cena. Oh, I love it. So I go, she goes, Dad, do you know the John Cena? I'm like, I met him once at a Super Bowl thing. I was like, I met him. He goes, so you're friends with the John Cena? I'm like, I met him once at a Super Bowl thing. I was like, I met him.

He goes, so you're friends with the John Cena? I go, no, I'm not friends. But you say you met the John Cena. I love it. How crazy is it he retired, huh? He's the best. Yeah. He's the best.

Is he someone you look up to for maybe post-wrestling? Because in my field with football you know there's guys like michael uh michael strahan that you look at who does good morning america he does all this he's like he's a big he's done some great things after football he's used his football platform to take himself into a whole nother level do you you look at that with like cena and or is that some like an inspiration of something you want to do after maybe john john's yeah he's just i mean he's just done everything fantastically well you know he's he's handled his wrestling career with such class and now his acting career and just everything he does just turns to gold but he he's just such

a great human being you know i think like his his mindset is always like i always ask him about it you know because he's so level right he's so calm he's um he thinks deeply about things and he's uh he's always there if you need advice or whatever else he just has time for people he's just an all-around good dude he seems like it he is we're uh shout out to the john cena we've been talking to people about getting him on the show for people. He's just an all-around good dude. He seems like it. He is. Shout out to the John Cena. We've been talking to people about getting him on the show, so Jules, if you could say something really nice about John Cena, it'd be awesome.

My daughter loves you. Come on, dude. And from Massachusetts. My daughter loves him because of Ferdinand. Ferdinand, the bull one? Oh, yeah. She calls him bird man

bird man he needs to get back in the lab and make Peacemaker season 2 baby I like him in Peacemaker I think he is right it's been forever I'm waiting getting old over here John he humbled me though you're the man John Cena we love you come on the show

he humbled me because me and Lily will always flex and stuff and she goes dad are you bigger than John Cena and we love you. Come on the show. They humble me because, you know, me and Lily will always flex and stuff. And she goes, Dad, are you bigger than John Cena? I go, no. It was the first time she looked at me and asked that someone was bigger than me. So thanks, John. You make me feel like a little human for my daughter. Come on.

Games with names. Can we get the legacy of this game, Jack? I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. We got anything to wrap up on this match? We know what happens in the end. Beckyy wins it captures both belts and then crazy move to the reverse thing where ronda tried to get you and then you fucking pinned her with your legs all clenched up on her and stuff that's gnarly little crucifix actually crucifix yeah call that a crucifix so

sick a question for you there was a moment where you two had ronda over the the ropes and like she like fell down oh yeah the drop kick moment i wanted to do it i wanted to spend an hour on that drop kick that was so epic yeah what happened there is that just part of the business yeah i think i think ronda was like yeah i'm leaving afterwards let me go home. And she did. That was epic. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

So many great moments in this match. And then the aftermath, as Becky noted, it was on the road the next day. We got Raw the next night. And this Lacey Evans comes out here with the pearls and the white gloves and attacks Ronda on Raw the next night. Wasn't that right? She's like coming at you. Yeah, she punched me. Or I mean attacked Becky, sorry.

Yeah, she punched me. Yeah. mean attacked Becky, sorry. Yeah, she punched me. Yeah. Not cool, bro. Yeah. Yeah. And then in May, Charlotte would take the SmackDown belt back. Yep. Becky held.

Thanks again to Lacey Evans. With a cheap shot. I'm not a big Lacey Evans guy. I don't know. Coming out of the woodwork all the time with these cheap shots not for me not for me nah

and the persona not for me either wasn't for her either she's not wrestling anymore seeing that can I just derail us here with one question

that has been on my mind when I saw Lacey Evans and talking to Becky who's wrestled all around the world what is the most outrageous persona you've seen that just still sticks with you?

You're like, Oh my God. Uh, in terms of, in terms of like any other, like, yeah. Oh gosh,

I don't know. Like even like a failed wrestler. Oh, I don't know. There's just an insane persona. She can't throw anyone under the bus. I know, but I ain't asking to name names,

but yeah, it's just on my mind. Oh, I don't know. I don't know that ain't asking to name names, but it's just on my mind. Oh, I don't know. I don't know anything that comes to the top of my brain. I feel you. Who's your Mount Rushmore of wrestlers? Ah, that's a tricky one. That's a tricky one because there's different Mount Rushmores, right?

Like there's, are you talking wrestler? There's different Mount Rushmores? Right. No, no, no. I'm saying in terms of like, what are you talking about? Are you talking about as a star, as a wrestler wrestler as an in-ring performer as a promo star we're just talking overall overall star then you go like effect to the business i mean you got to be on there so yeah screw it i'll put myself on there you should yeah it's fucking first one ever yeah

it does what the man wants yeah i'm also gonna um i'm also gonna put my husband on there you should yeah it's fucking first one ever yeah it does what the man wants yeah i'm also gonna i'm also gonna put my husband on there he's on there yeah yeah of course got two more great um uh let's put the john cena on there the john i'm just never gonna be able to not call him the john cena i love it i love it um and then like gosh i don't know do you do Do you go in terms of what they've done for the business and the attention? Like, I go, is The Rock on there? Is The Rock? Is Stone Cold on there? Is McFoley? McFoley?

McFoley is just a real-life baby face. Undertaker? Yeah, you know. Andre the Giant? How about one name, one wrestler whose craft is just the best there is? They may not be the biggest star or have the biggest thing. Bret Hart. Their craft as a wrestler.

I mean, you could look at Bret Hart. You could look at Eddie Guerrero. Eddie Guerrero. You know? Yeah. You could look at Dean Malenko. So the greats all come from. Many, many, many.

Kurt Angle is great in the ring. Last match. What did this match do for women's professional wrestling? It blasted through a glass ceiling. It showed that we can be the headliners. That

we were going towards there anyway. And we had been there, I suppose, for a while, that we were no longer the side act. But now it was that we can be the headliners. Fuck yeah. We can be the headliners. We can be the main draws.

That's amazing. Any leftover questions, Jackie? I think we got to it all. That was an awesome match to relive. We'll be right back after this quick break. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradente. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline,

a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like, how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions, like how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed? Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week, we answer your unfiltered work questions.

Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Saner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah, rejection is scary, but it's better than you

rejecting yourself. Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career. Without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game.

Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them. Why is that? I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports.

Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the Biscuits. I was a lady rebel.

Like, what does that even mean? The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels with the image of the Biscuits. It's right here in black and white in print. A lion. An individual that came to the school saying that God sent him to talk to me about the mascot switch is a leader.

You choose hills that you want to die on. Why would we want to be the losing team? I just take all the other stuff out of it. Segregation academies. When civil rights said that we need

to integrate public schools, these charter schools were exempt from that. Bigger than a flag or mascot. You have to be ready for serious backlash. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, what do we call this match?

We got the triple threat. We got Becky two belts. We got the man event. We got the man at the Met. Which one do you like? I like Becky two We got Becky two belts. We got the man event. We got the man at the Met. I like Becky two belts. Becky two belts. Yeah, yeah. Becky two belts.

I like Becky two belts. Score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Stakes. One to ten. Ten being the highest. Decimal's okay.

What are the stakes of this match? Winner takes all. Winner takes all. So let's say high stakes. High stakes. High stakes. High stakes. 10 is high? 10 is the highest.

10 is the highest. Okay, 10. 10. Star power. 10. How many jewels do you guys score? Oh, sorry. My score, I'm going to go 9-5.

9-5. Big moment in history. Well, what was missing? What was the point adulterer? There's no perfect stake. I'm going to go 9.5. 9.5. Big moment in history. Well, what was missing? What was the point deduction? There's no perfect stake. Oh, wow. There's no perfect. 8.3.

I had 7.2. What's the stakes? There's some deduction for some things, you know, happen organically in the world, and it's competitive, and some things are theater. But I think, you know, the first women in WrestleMania. Yeah, but we're talking in this world. We're talking the stakes of this world. We're not talking in the global world. I always talk in the global world.

The sporting world. This is against Super Bowls. Aren't you philosophical? Miracle on Ice, there's geopolitical things happening. If you don't settle down over there, I kind of want to change my story and bump it up. All right, Aristotle over there. I kind of want to change my mind. All right, I will settle over here. I think we need to throw Tyler through the table.

I'll shoot that with you after this. Let's do it. Star power. One to ten. Ten. Ten. Ten. Jules.

I mean, there's some pretty big star power. Think about it. We got Becky here. Becky Lynch. She was clearly crowd favorite. Wrestling favorite at that time.

Ric Flair's daughter. After this match Ric what was it? She said that Ric Flair is now her dad. Yeah. It was kind of

fucking that's badass and Ronda Rousey. So I'm going to go I'm going to go with a 9.1. 9.1. The deduction was for the other guys, right?

Obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I mean, they bring the bill down. 8.9 and I have an 8.1. I'm getting healed right now. What's your deduction? I'm getting picked on.

I'm getting bullied right now. I feel like I'm getting healed. There's got to be a heal. There's got to be a heal. Every podcast needs a heal. I mean, jeez. Gameplay of this. The match. How it went. We'll give it a 7. 7? Yeah. healed hey there's gotta be a heal there's gotta be a heal every podcast needs a heal i mean geez gameplay of this the match how it went we'll give it a seven seven yeah i thought it was pretty good we brought a table in we had that fucking back kick that you did where ronda rousey almost

was fully concussed i can't believe she actually tucked her neck good enough for it on the asphalt was pretty tough there's a couple throws into the sidewalls. Flip off the top rope. Flip off top ropes. A couple times, the double Sammy. For me, I'm going to go 8-1. I like the decimals. Can I get a decimal? Yeah, throw a decimal in there.

It's a.5. Nice. No, that's too predictable. .3. Yeah. Love it. Jack did an 8.3. I did an 8 for gameplay.

The name, Becky, two belts, 0-10. You it. Jack did 8.3. I did an 8 for gameplay. The name. Becky, two belts, 0 to 10. You got to score the name. The name? The name. Oh, 10. Yeah. 10.

I mean, it's pretty good. I'm going to go with a 9. Jack has a 6.7. I have a 5.5. You can't bully me into this, Becky. I went too low. That went too low That's cultural relevance What? It's still early

If you talk to me in 10 years when this match still matters It is going to matter for the end of time The first time women ever made an event at Wrestlemania What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Why will this matter? Why will this matter? Why will this matter? In 35 years.

People didn't think it was possible. We want a table. I had a note I wanted to say. For stakes, Jack had an 8.3. He also scored a game 7 of a Stanley Cup final as a 7.9. So, just putting it out there. Hey, I'm unpredictable. I like your style.

Kind of like a bad boy. That's pretty good. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. This is going to be real high. It's going to be real high on the scores. Oh, wow. So 8.44 is just below the 18-1 Super Bowl Patriots-Giants.

Patriots-Giants. Right below that and right above the Bush-Push week six 2005 season, USC versus Notre Dame. Too high, too high. It's got a great fucking name, though. Yeah. So that's ahead of some Super Bowls. That's ahead of UFC.

You're in some high regards here. That's even above the Ironman match. The Ironman match, 8.04, Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart. Okay. That's up there. the Ironman match 8.04 Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart okay that's that's up there I mean well a lot of it is just really

like your own ego in terms of how high you score you know what I mean so I'm not sure this isn't really an official ranking

it's me going 10 10 10 you know what I mean like if I'd made if I'd made more 10s for myself I'm pretty sure this is actually

used by Guinness oh right okay you myself. I'm pretty sure this is actually used by Guinness. Oh, right. Okay. Guinness Book? You know that I'm also a Guinness World Record holder for playing video games. Are you? On the largest screen. No.

Oh, you played MetLife? No. Where? In Vegas somewhere. Wow. You played on the sphere? On this really large screen in Vegas. Played Pac-Man.

That's tight. Who'd you play? Bianca Belair. Whoa. Was it hard? I like usually smaller. I like smaller screens. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, but I wasn't going to get a Guinness record for playing on a small screen. 27-inch monitor. You can play the world's smallest screen. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to try. There you go. Becky, did we miss anything? I don't think so.

What do you want to plug? Oh, my book. Autobiography? Autobiography. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's the name? The Man. The Man?

Becky Lynch. By Becky Lynch. Not your average girl. Not your average, average girl. Everyone go out and get this book. Where is it available? Everywhere you buy books. Everywhere you buy books, you can get The Man,

the story behind Becky Lynch. It's an unbelievable story, underdog story, a lot of emotions, mental, physical things she had to overcome. Spectacular. It's been an unbelievable time to get to meet you. And it's been an honor to have you here in the Nuthouse talking about WrestleMania 35. Thank you for coming on. Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me. Great chat. Thanks, Maggie. Thanks. Man, that was awesome. She's great. That was so fun. My voice hurts from doing Macho Man.

Cup of coffee in the big time. Cup of coffee in the big time. Yeah. Yeah, Jackie. Jackie, when I see Jackie do the Macho Man Randy Savage, it makes me feel that one brother is coming and connecting with another. And then we go and we use those two hands and we knock out Kyler.

The Macho Brothers. Oh, yeah. And then the guy's always like, so, to sum it up, Gene's livid. Seems to be mad at something. Shout out me Mean Gene. That was awesome. Becky rocks.

That was fun. That was absolutely fun. Shout out Ireland. We put out a call, so we're going to read some of your reviews on Apple Podcasts. Keep them coming. Especially if they're five stars. Yeah, right? reviews on Apple Podcasts. Keep them coming. Especially if they're five stars. Yeah, right.

Whatever you want. It could be funny, but five. Let's get into some of these, Jackie. We trying to look like Alabama out here, man. We want all five star. That's right, brother. Hellcats in the parking lot. We don't care.

We'll give you the bag, baby. Give you the bag. We'll give you Ferraris. We'll give you hella things. we read through it we pulled a handful of these nil baby some fun ones games and names we'll do this we should nil some kids oh i'm down games and names yeah you got the eight games with names any any of you players that watch this in college we want to we want to give you money so you can give us some swag or You'll wear Games With Names merch? Yeah, we'll give them a Game With Names merch. We'll start a collective.

It's got to be. Come on now. Let's go. That'll be fun. Make a sick sweatsuit. Games With Names sweatsuit if you're a sweatsuit athlete. I'm talking like Al Davis' shiny sweatsuit type shit. I like that.

We'll bring it back. All right, let's go to this post-check. I think we're onto something. Let's see what these Apple comments. All right, we pulled a handful of these comments. I'll read them out. And then. All right, let's go to this post-check. I think we're onto something. Let's see what these Apple comments. All right, we pulled a handful of these comments. I'll read them out, and then as a room, let's react to these, see if we share the sentiment here. First one comes to us from Pootie Allen.

Shane Gillis slash Notre Dame is the heading. We got a five-star review. Please get Shane on to talk about one of his favorite Notre Dame games. I'm sure there are about 10 he could choose from. Nothing I love more than hearing the dog talk indie football. Shane Gillis, big Notre Dame fan. The dog. I like that.

I mean, we just had Notre Dame has been in our stratosphere. We talked about the one burned down today. We talked about Kazimoto a little bit in that episode. Talked about the Bush-Push. Bush-Push. Hell of Notre Dame stuff. Jack got catfished last night, Manti-Tayo. Did you really?

No. Hey, who knows? Also, he went to Elon and played football at Elon. That's right, baby. Phoenix stand up, baby. Phoenix pride. We can talk about the old west stand maybe fat frog got a lot of stuff to share so you chopped it up a little bit with at the roast yeah

oh yeah yeah yeah he was there he was there yeah god he was awesome he was awesome for shane go gay i mean i hung out with shane once when we went and visited sam in the cellar oh yeah we were at the cellar one night watching sam do his bit, which, you know, shout out to Sam once again. He just had his Amazon special come out, release. What is it? You've changed. You've changed. Yeah, it was funny.

We just did his podcast. From the Wilbur. Did it at the Wilbur. Yes. Which we will be there at the Wilbur. Sam was warming it up for us. Warming it up. Warming it up.

We were all getting hammered after one of those shows, and Shane Gillis was there, and he was such a cool dude. Yeah, he was great. There was a bunch of the comics, and I felt so like, I felt honestly, I wanted to be like Wayne's World, where they had the VIP passes, because I didn't feel like I belonged, but I wanted, VIP, we're VIP. I can just eat with all his comics.

You did get cornered a lot by Adam Freeland. Yeah, Adam Freeland was loving you, bro. He's cool. The comics love you, bro. He's cool. The comics love you, brother. I love them. ELE, baby. Everybody love everybody. It's a love fest.

Everybody love everyone. All right, speaking of some love, we got another five-star here from MickJagger57... 567893 is the username. I got a one-star from... Who's this one-star? We'll get to that one.

Yeah, well, this guy sucks, but we like our man Mick Jagger, five, six, seven, eight, nine, three.

His caption. Yo, yo, yo. I know you're an ex Patriot and the Titans ended the Patriots dynasty. All right. Where's this one? But no,

that happened. The interception, Logan, Ryan. I don't know. It did. Yeah. But when I think the end of the dynasty,

I don't think Titans. I know, but it was, I i mean it in kind of now it kind of was yeah whatever mick jagger uh either way he says could you do the music city miracle i agree with that sentiment that would rock yeah music city miracle is awesome what was that what was that white check that was like the cow play yeah check i love freaking uh dyson mcnair air mcnair mcnair Yeah, Music City Miracle was awesome. What was that? Whitecheck? That was Whitecheck. The Cal play. Whitecheck. I love freaking... Dyson. McNair. Air McNair. McNair was such a fucking good footballer.

Eddie George. Eddie George. Eddie George was so long and strong. Beast. I remember on that Madden cover guy. Yeah. He was. What year was that?

2001 or 2? I could have been there, because I think that's when the Patriots beat them in 01, maybe. Or was it 2001? Madden was 2001. Eddie George was 01 on the cover. That was a great Madden. Because they went to the Super Bowl this year and lost to the Rams at the Long Beach Yard, which we did with Kurt Warner.

Yep. Also, who played in this game? Well, not really played controversially, but Doug Flutie was backup quarterback for that game. There you go. Perhaps if he played, maybe they could have won. Yeah, they would have. It was Brad Johnson? Rob Johnson.

Exactly. See, we don't know that guy's name, but we definitely know Doug Flutie's name. I've never had any Rob flakes. I've never seen Rob just randomly canoeing down a flooded street in Massachusetts on local TV. How you guys doing? Network. All right, what do we got?

The next one. All right, coming up, we got this guy, Jake Dell, captioned, Unlistenable Voice. A one-star review. Julian Edelman proves a point that everyone and their grandma just has to do a podcast. This guy has a voice that is 100% unlistenable. Please stop with your podcast promotions of no less than 20 per hour on iHeartRadio as those too contain your unlistenable voice. What does 20 per hour mean?

I guess the good news here is iHeartRadio is promoting the show. One of our buddies that we love yeah is promoting the heck out of the show across all their other shows which is great news there's some creative feedback in this one yeah you know we take them all you know you take ones on the chin you take ones on the butt all i got out of this was maybe it didn't really make sense it's like a slap on the ass like you're doing good you take one on the chin that really sounded good he'll probably not like that one rise prophetic very nice i will say his name is unlistenable voice what's his name his name is jake dell jake dell he's gonna tank dell he ain't no tank dell he's gonna love that jake from the dell commercials dude you're getting a dell

i will say though If he's all about this Unlistenable voice talk He doesn't know we do voices Yeah We do Macho Man Macho Man Oh yeah

Yeah I'm coming for you brother Cup of coffee in the big time What you gonna put in that coffee there Jackie Oh how about some cream? Because the cream always rises to the top. Yeah. To the tippity tippity.

All right, moving on. You guys, you got it? We got another one. So, hey, constructive criticism, welcome. One star is not welcome. If you want to light jewels up, give a five star and say whatever you want. We'll read it. All right.

We'll breeze through these last two here from Dee Stewart, a five star. We like that. With the caption, bring back Joe List. Bring back Joe List as guest host. The man is a sports savant and hilarious. He should be your permanent co-host for the show. Good to know that Dee Stewart is Joe List's pen name, I guess. Yeah, thanks for sending in Joe List.

Joe List. Thanks for the review, Joe. I love it. I love it. Got to get him back on. Last one here, Jack. Last but certainly not least, Jesse Cam underscore RN, the best podcast you aren't listening to yet,

a five-star review, famed former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman is joined by Jack, his fact-checking producer and calm, cool, cerebral. Who'd be paid to buy this? Who wrote this? Who keeps them all in line in this surprisingly witty and entertaining podcast that will make a sports fan out of anyone. In their quest to find the greatest game of all time, Julian hosts a range of guests from comedians, sportscasters, to former athletes, all there to lobby for their game to pick

to be voted as the greatest game of all time. Ain't no lobbying going on. Well, maybe Mark Cuban with some 10s. Julian is charming and affable, surprisingly humble, and self-deprecating at times, all while getting his guests to open up and reveal insights into these games and their personal lives at the time.

The show does have a recency bias in terms of the game selection. I would like to see some older games reviewed, but I understand that some of those players, coaches, and fans may no longer be available, but maybe an episode dedicated to some of the greatest games of the 50s, 60s, in some sort of condensed way would be a cool listen. Love listening. Keep it up.

Wow. Wow. What a review. Wow. No 240 characters here, baby. Let it fly. Let it fly. How about give me the cliff notes next time? I think that's the first time I've ever been called calm, cool, or cerebral.

Kyler, you... Kyler. Kyler, Jack and I are both not impressed with these multisyllable words that you used in this email. That you wrote. Neither one of us know what they mean. We are not impressed with this email that you wrote about the podcast, Kyler. But Julian, you're so charming and affable And surprisingly humble

I can fully see you Doing that We gotta get up Matt Light See if he can crack to see who wrote this Matt Light will find out Cause it's probably Matt Light or something I think Matt Light Wrote this email

Man Well what a match that was such a fun episode I know. We need some reverse search here. I think Matt Light wrote this email. Man. Well, what a match. That was such a fun episode. Thanks again to Becky. Go pick up Becky Lynch, the man, not your average, average girl, wherever books are sold. Wherever books are sold. The man by Becky Lynch.

She really was the man, too. She was. As advertised. I'm a stand man. I her she was awesome that's been another episode of games with names subscribe on apple podcast spotify wherever you listen to podcasts comment a game you want us to do and remember rate and review remember to follow games with names on youtube YouTube, X, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. Leave a message at the hotline at 424-291-22. Those have been really fun.

We'll see you guys next week. Games With Names is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history.

People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry, Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Gianna Pardenti. And I'm Jermaine Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the

making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, Diet Coke. It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot.

Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. History is filled with unexpected stories, and I'd like to tell you about them. I'm Aaron Manke, and for the past six years, I've been sharing history's most curious tales on my podcast, Cabinet of Curiosities, such as the surprising country that invented the croissant and the wrestling champ who won the White House. And now these amazing stories and many more have been compiled into my new book. Curious to know more?

Pre-order Cabinet of Curiosities, available November 12th, wherever books and audiobooks are sold. Learn more over at grimandmild.com slash curiosities.