The Ariel Helwani Show - Former WCW EVP Eric Bischoff on Tony Khan, MJF, The State of WWE, and More!

Episode Date: June 23, 2023

On today's episode, Ariel returns to give you a conversation with pro wrestling legend Eric Bischoff. Together, the guys discuss Endeavor's purchase of WWE, if the upstart AEW has what it takes to topple WWE (11:32), Tony Khan's fitness for leadership (15:49), MJFs upcoming free agency (17:16), and much more.Eric Bischoff is a titan of the professional wrestling industry. He is the former Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling, the pro wrestling organization that competed head on with Vince McMahon’s WWE, most notably in the ‘90s. After leaving WCW, Bischoff joined WWE’s creative team. Now a proud resident of Wyoming, the 68-year-old WWE Hall of Famer lives a much quieter life than when he was one of the biggest names in the business.Today's episode is brought to you by My Postglow! Take advantage of a limited-time offer of 10% off before the 4th of July to secure a meaningful gift for your child at  discounted price at MyPostglow.com.

I have to be honest, I have been watching content either starring this man or produced by this man for over three decades. You know this man, he is the former executive producer of World Championship Wrestling, then became a WWE Hall of Famer, one of the most influential figures in the history of professional wrestling, the one and only EZE, Eric Bischoff in the house. Hello, Eric. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. Well, thank you for the invitation. It's an honor to be here, to be honest. What a life you've had. What a career. I'm a big fan of the podcast with Conrad Thompson, 83 Weeks. I love the way you tell stories and I love hearing about the stories. I'd be remiss if

I don't ask you a few wrestling specific questions if you don't mind. No, whenever you want, man. Are you still, you keep up with the product. Are you watching these days? I watch occasion. You know, I keep up on the business side of the wrestling business.

I'm not too interested in what's going on in the ring and on television. I was going into WrestleMania. Cause I thought the bloodline storyline was one of the best storylines that I've seen in professional wrestling in 30 or 40 years. I mean, it was that hot. Wow. That's my phrase. It was so well crafted in terms of storytelling and writing. I loved it.

And I got a little bit, I'll be honest. I was a little disappointed when Cody didn't get it. And mistake. We'll see. We'll see. I, you know, when I was asked that question shortly after WrestleMania, I, I, I said, I think my response was something to the effect of six months ago, I would have said that was a huge mistake, but having seen what the WWE creative team is capable of doing, I'm going to give it some time. I'm going to see what's next and see if they actually have an even better path for Cody Rhodes.

And I, I watched Sunday night when I got here to Tampa with my son, we watched the A&E biography series of Dusty Rhodes. And I, I watched Sunday night when I got here to Tampa with my son, we watched the A&E biography series of Dusty Rhodes and the underdog in the comeback, you know, which was, that was a dusty story. You know, he was the son of a plumber grew up in poor side of Austin, Texas and fought his way up and became this big superstar, but he never got that WWE title. And now it's Cody's turn. And I think what we're seeing is a version of that long, that long ride to the top. And if I'm right, it'll be one of the best things that I think that we've ever seen in

professional wrestling creatively. If I'm wrong, I'm going to be hot. I'm going to be disappointed. Did you think that Vince McMahon would stay away or did you always believe that he would come back in some way? No, I, I, in fact, I don't know if you, if you got a chance to listen to strictly business for now, I'm at strictly business. All I ever talk about is the business of the wrestling business. But I, when it was announced that WWE was for sale, I went, nah, it's not for sale. Vince is never going to

go away. And then when it became apparent that it was for sale or that they were looking at options, I came out and called Endeavor. I said, if there is a transaction, Endeavor is going to be the player. It's not going to be Fox. It's not going to be NBC Universal. And I happen to know a number of the other companies that were actually bidding or wanted to bid. And it was none of those. I said, it's going to be Endeavor. And Endeavor came out and essentially tried to deny any interest. But I didn't buy that either, just by the way the press release was structured. So when the Endeavor deal happened, it was like, okay, this is Vince McMahon going out on his own terms. That's what this is. Vince's involvement in the business, there was no way he was going to let anybody push him out of his own business. That

was my opinion. And now what I'm seeing is my interpretation of it is this is Vince writing the end of his own story and not letting anybody else write it for him. Do you like this move for WWE? Oh, I love this move for WWE. Look at the leverage they're going to have in negotiations. Are you kidding me? Endeavor and UFC and WWE as a leverage package, yes. And it's going to be good. I think it's going to be good for UFC.

I don't know the UFC business model really well, but I don't know it at all, to be honest. But I know what they're not doing. They're not doing licensing and merchandising to the extent that they have the potential of doing. And that's an area, if you look at the business model for WWE, their licensing and merchandising division is very mature, very sophisticated, and very well embedded in the marketplace.

And I think UFC is going to benefit from that. Conversely, I think that WWE is going to benefit from certain strengths that perhaps UFC has. I think combined, they're going to have great leverage when it comes to negotiating for venues. That's a hell of a lever, right? So I think there's going to be enough. I hate to even use the word synergy because it's so overused and abused, but I think there is legitimate, not press release synergy, but legitimate functional synergy between the two companies. Do you think it can work with Paul Levesque as head of creative with this situation? It certainly worked when Vince was gone, but now his wife, who's Vince's daughter leaves. It seems like

straight out of a movie, the whole situation. Do you think it can sustain this way? Or do you think eventually he takes over creative once again until he dies? Until Vince dies? I feel like he's, I feel like that's what he wants, that he would be the head of creative until the day he dies. Yeah, I don't think Vince is ever going to die, really. Okay. When the meteor hits and wipes out everybody else, there's going to be cockroaches in Vince McMahon.

And he'll be booking matches with the cockroaches. No, definitely. We got a glimpse of all of X capabilities. It's not, you know, look, I wasn't there. I don't know what I'm talking about, really. But I know the system fairly well, and I know the people fairly well. And I still have a couple of really close relationships there. And I think we got a good look at what Paul Levesque is capable of. And I think what Paul Levesque is best at doing is managing the process, sifting through the good ideas from the bad ideas and filling in the blanks. I don't think Paul's sitting at a table coming up with ideas. I think Paul has a very sophisticated, highly, highly capable team of people around him from Bruce Pritchard all the way down. Ed Kosky, who's been

there since the early 2000s, is a phenomenal writer and very, very experienced. So I think what Paul's capable of doing is letting people who are good at what they do, do the best they can without a whole lot of interference. That was the problem with Vince, my opinion, you know, the four or five months that I was there, you couldn't take a breath creatively unless it was approved in writing by Vince McMahon. And even once it was approved, he could change his mind 45 minutes later. I mean, it was tough and stressful, but it did bring out the best in a lot of people. So there may have been a method to that madness. No, there wasn't.

It was just him. But Paul, and the cool thing about Paul is that Paul's been on the receiving end of that. Paul knows what it's like to have someone sitting at the head of the table who's kind of all over the map and changes their mind on a minute's notice and just reacts to the last person they talk to and things like that. So I think Paul will bring the best out of the extremely talented writing team that they have. When's the last time you spoke to Vince?

December. Oh, what was the reason? What was it like? No, what was the reason? Like what, what,

why, why in December? Any particular reason? If, if it's private, I understand, but was something, uh, was there like a catalyst was the reason? Like, why in December? Any particular reason? If it's private, I understand. But was something, was there like a catalyst for the conversation? No.

Just checking in? It may have just been a text. Okay. So you're still on good terms? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. Interesting.

Would you ever go back? No. Have you ever been approached about going back? No. And if I was 20 years younger, in a heartbeat, if I got a phone call from my buddy Bruce and he said, hey, I'm thinking about getting an idea, interested in coming back, but I need one of your fingers. As long as it's on my left hand and not my right, I'd probably go for it. I mean, I love my time there, and I love working with so many people there.

I can't say enough about the quality of the people that work in WWE. It was a blessing to have an opportunity to work there. But at this stage, I'm 68 years old, and I live in a beautiful part of Wyoming. I live right outside of Yellowstone National Park. And it's been my dream to live there since the time I was a little kid. And I've worked my ass off throughout my life to have what I have there. And at this point in time, I just don't want to be away from it any more than necessary. And the idea of driving or flying back and forth and doing TVs and

nah, not anymore. All right, everyone, listen up. TST here. If you are a parent of a child who plays sports in the United States, maybe your kid wrestles, plays soccer, darts, or my favorite basketball, I think you will really like what today's sponsor is about. With PostGlo, parents like you can give your child a custom masterpiece to recognize their achievements on the mat, court, or on the field. Here's how the process goes. First, you'll answer a few milestone-related questions, and then you'll schedule your free design consultation. After that, you join a virtual session to customize the article layout and make any desired changes.

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Take advantage of this limited time offer of 10% off before the 4th of July to secure this meaningful gift at a discounted price at mypostglow.com. Thank you. Now back to today's episode. Famously, 83 weeks, you toppled WWF. Can AEW do the same? Do you see in them what you guys had in the mid-90s? Nothing even remotely close to it. Why not? They have all the money in the world, which is a nice thing to have.

But without vision and without a true understanding of the industry, it's just a really cool hobby. And that's what AEW is for Tony Khan. It's a hobby. It's a really, really, really well-funded hobby. And that's what AEW is for Tony Khan. It's a hobby. It's a really, really, really well-funded hobby that we all get to watch and participate in on television. But if you look at the creative, if you look at some of the strategic decisions they've made, look what they're doing right now. Look at the mess that they've been in for the last six months with CM Punk. It's ridiculous. And they bring CM Punk back one more time. I think he's going to be – he's not going to be good for morale, for the locker room.

He's got a pattern that proves that. He's fragile as hell. He's just not – he's not what people perceive him to be. He can't live up to the expectation. He's not really that good. He's not really that much of a draw. Yes, he raised the revenues for the pay-per-views when he first got to AEW because he'd been off TV for a long time.

He hadn't been in the wrestling ring since he left WWE. And I will give Phil Brooks credit. He was able to keep that mystique intact. He didn't overexpose himself from the time he left WWE to the time he arrived in AEW. And because he didn't overexpose himself, he had a big impact when he first came in. But if you go back and you kind of look at the only, you know, the only thing we can look at and track and judge really, because we're not, we don't have access to the financials is television ratings. And yeah, when Phil Brooks came in or CM Punk came in, yeah, ratings went up. Three weeks later, they went right back down to where they were before.

When Wembley was announced for AEW and I knew it was going to do well, somebody asked me, should they bring CM Punk in and try to sell it out? I said, no, try to sell it out, but do it without CM Punk. Do it with your roster. Don't create the perception that you need CM Punk in order to be successful anywhere. And sure enough, they sold 60,000, 65,000 tickets. No CM Punk, not even on the card. CM Punk's announced they sell an extra 1,200 tickets. He's not the needle mover that people think he is, and to bring somebody in that has caused so much disruption and damaged the brand.

I mean, CM Punk sat there in a press conference right next to Tony Khan and made him look like a moron. It just emasculated him right there in public, ripped the company, destroyed the locker room, and they bring him back? I don't get it. So you would have cut ties? If you were Tony, you would have cut ties? Yeah, in a heartbeat. I'd have grabbed the mic out of his hand and just sent him packing. It's not worth it. Are you speaking from experience? Have you ever been in a similar situation? I mean, there's been never to where you thought someone was a cancer, but for whatever reason, you kept them around and you're kind of feeling like you're seeing the same thing play out here? No, I've never been in any, I've never been,

I've kept people around. I didn't think had a lot of value, but there were reasons why maybe they were already under contract. I'm going to be paying them anyway, use them whenever I can, put them on the road, send them off on house shows, things like that. But never have I sat next to somebody who publicly humiliated me and my company and my roster and just sat there feeding his face with cupcakes while he was doing it. It was just such a bad – I mean, I felt bad for Tony. I really do. I got angry for Tony. It was the most humiliating thing I've ever seen. Have you ever met Tony?

Oh yeah, a couple of times. And do you think that he can at least take them to, and maybe it's not 83 weeks and all that, but do you feel like he can be the leader that takes them to the next level or have they hit their ceiling? They've hit their ceiling. Look at their ratings for the last, I mean, they've got 850, 900,000 hardcore fans. That's it. That's all they're going to have.

Now, they can do something every once in a while, and they're curious, peripheral fans, occasional fans will show up to see what it is. But they're going to hover around 850, 950. Every once in a while, they hit a million viewers. And if you look at their weekly ratings, it's a flat line. It's a little bit of variance here and there, but for the most part, nothing has moved no matter what they do. Tony just doesn't have the vision. Tony doesn't really understand the television business. He doesn't know how to produce. And I don't know that he's capable of recognizing that

and allowing people that do know how to do it because he's surrounded by people that do know how to do it. But Tony wants to be the Booker of the Year, the Dave Meltzer Booker of the Year and be recognized as a creative guy and he's not. It would be like me wanting to be recognized as a heart surgeon. I can be a big fan of heart surgery, but that doesn't make me a heart surgeon. Tony's a big fan of wrestling, but that doesn't make him a television producer or a wrestling

producer. By the way, do you think that he should move mountains to keep MJF? Do you feel very highly about his trajectory and his future? It's clear that there's some interest there from WWE, and he's built up this, you know, I'm going to be a free agent January 1st, 2024. Is this a big deal for them, in your opinion? I think the world of MJF, as a talent, I like him as a person. I've crossed paths with him a number of times,

and I just can't say enough great things about his talent. I don't know what MJF's goals are. We've never had that kind of a conversation. But if I'm Tony Khan, I'm going to work pretty hard to keep MJF on my roster. Okay. I'm going to have to, because if you look at that roster there's not a lot of other talents that are anywhere close to mjf in terms of overall ability and connection to the there's a lot of great wrestlers there athletes there are you know chris jericho's you know he's he's

on the downside of his career he He's 53, 54 years old. You know, Brian Danielson, he's kind of a part-timer at this stage of his life. But if you look at the younger crop of regularly featured talent that you have in AEW, three-quarters of them could walk through any mall in America, and nobody would know who they are. MJF stands out. He's gotten himself over. So I'd do whatever I had to do to keep him. Can he succeed in WWE? He's awful smart. So yeah. Okay. You have to be smart. You can't go in there, you know,

24 years old thinking you're, you know, God's gift to the wrestling industry with a chip on your shoulder. By the way, I don't think that's really MJF. That's the MGF that he wants you to see. But I have had enough conversation with him to know that he's really, really, really smart. And my guess is he's smart enough to be able to easily move on to that WWE roster if that's what he chooses to do. And so to be clear about something I asked you earlier, like if someone, let's say Tony calls you up and says, I don't need you to travel, but can you help me? Can you be a consultant? Can you help me navigate the wires, et cetera? Are you at all interested in anything in the wrestling business anymore or are you completely retired? I wouldn't be interested in working with Tony.

And I like Tony Khan. I like the person Tony Khan. Tony has a very, very generous heart. He's a good human being. But the truth is, in order for me to have any positive impact, not just me, but anybody to have any positive impact on the process, you have to be in the process. You can't do it remotely. You've got to be in there and get your hands dirty and sweat and, you know,

be miserable and eat bad food and do all the things that go along with, you know, working 16 or 18 hours a day to make this product what it's capable of being. So if I were to get a phone call from Tony or anybody else, this is here, here's a million dollars a year. And you can, we can just do it on zoom. I wouldn't do it because I know that it wouldn't be fair. It wouldn't, it won't be successful in order for me to have any positive impact in any wrestling environment, I'd have to make it the most important thing in my life. And I'm just not willing to do that at this point in time.

Not that I don't love it. And there's parts of it that I really do miss a lot. Like what? The creative process. I really miss that. And what's ironic is I'm so much better at it now than I ever was when I was doing it because I've learned more. You know, you learn from your successes, and I had some.

You learn from your mistakes, and I certainly had some of those. But then you also learn by observing and reading and talking to people and doing other things. I produced a lot of television that had nothing to do with wrestling. My partner, Jason Hervey, and I had our own independent television production company for, I don't know, 12 years. And we were one of the more successful independent television production companies

in non-scripted in Hollywood for a long time. We produced a lot of television, created it from scratch in our heads over a beer in a restaurant, whatever, took that idea, shaped it into a presentation, attached the right talent to it, sold it to a network and then produced it and delivered it to them. And I had a blast doing that. But I also learned a lot. I learned so much that could be applied to formatting and structuring wrestling stories. So I think that combination of outside professional wrestling experience,

producing, creating and producing and selling with the background that I've had, obviously in professional wrestling, probably would make me really, really dangerous and in a good way, as far as being involved in creative, I just don't have the passion for it anymore. I just, to commit 12, 14, 16 hours a day of my life to it, it's just, it's why it didn't work out in WWE.

I just, I'm not answering my phone at two o'clock in the morning, fans. I'm just not doing it. And if I do, you're not going to want to talk to me anyway, because it takes me five minutes to wake up. What's your biggest regret? Is there one that stands above, like one that you wish you could take back?

You know, until last Sunday night, I would have said absolutely not, because I'm here today talking to you. I've had an amazing, amazing career. Think about the things we just talked about, the people I've got to work with, the travel, the things I was able to see, bringing my family over to Japan and having the Japanese that I was doing business with. We spent like 10 days there on their dime and they took us all over Japan and had some amazing experiences that you would never have as just an American tourist in Japan. I could never look back and say I regretted anything. But I think now I wished while I was working with Dusty, because Dusty Rhodes was kind of a mentor to me.

I don't want to say mentor. That's overstating it. But he really did take me under his wing. He really did make it easy for me to feel really comfortable when I first got to WCW. I rode to towns with Dusty. It was Dusty Rhodes, Janie Engel, his assistant, Doug Dillinger, his head of security, and me, the four of us were always going back and forth to TV and traveling. And I went hunting with Dusty and we did a lot of things away from the business. But I never really got enough time with him to really appreciate just how talented he was.

And I wished I would have. I wish I would have asked more questions. I wished I would have dug a little deeper beyond the surface with Dusty because he's just a wealth of experience and knowledge and vision. That's the one thing. Vision, baby. I got to have the vision. He had that vision.

It wasn't just a word that he threw around. He really had it. And same with Roddy Piper. I regret the people that we've lost and I had access to, I regret not taking the time to get to know them better. That's the only thing I regret. Could I ask, and just two more, and thank you so much for the time. This has been fantastic. Is there a moment, something that sticks out, like when you were your happiest, like you think back and like, that was the apex. That is something that I talk about with my grandkids or want to talk about, where it just felt like it was all good at the top for you, just beautiful to look back on.

There were really, there are two things that stand out as a highlight to me because I don't think about the past too much, good times or bad times. It's just, you know, there's nothing I can do about any of it. You know, if I learned something from it, great, move on. But I don't dwell on the past at all i don't own one piece of memorabilia if you came to my house there's not one wcw ish thing photograph anything it's just not it's not who i am but the first day that i showed up um my first day of work at awa, working for Vergagna in 1987. That was a pretty cool day.

And after launching Nitro and then consistently beating WWE in the ratings, the ratings would come out on Tuesdays about 4.30, about 4.45, I'd get a phone call from Ted Turner. And he was just, he was like a little kid. He was so happy, you know, and to get, you know, Ted Turner was kind of a big deal, you know, and I didn't have a real, you know, it's not like I knew Ted well, I had never been in a one-on-one meeting with Ted. I'd been at corporate functions with him and things like that when there's a hundred other people around. But to see that phone light up and see Ted Turner's office on my caller ID, it was like, ooh, this is pretty cool. And it was so much fun. Ted was having more fun than I was, and I was having fun watching Ted. It was great.

That is amazing. I could ask you about specific things all day long uh i could keep you for five hours but i won't but just one last one if you can indulge me i've always wondered about this that speaking of first days and i was wondering if you were going in this direction the the the first day at wwe when you showed up on raw after being such a bit of rival right and and it maybe got personal at times and you know the butts and seats and all that stuff. Is there something that sticks out from that day? I can't, like, I always remember watching. I'm a big, like, body language guy and wanting to know, like, what experiences are like and all that.

And I just was wondering always, like, when you showed up to the arena, what was that like? You show up there. Is there something that sticks out, that first face-to-face with Vince? I've always wondered that. And then the hug was tremendous between you two on the stage. But just like the behind the scenes stuff, if there's anything that comes to mind, I'd love to know. Yeah. I mean, it was interesting because it was when Vince called me and said, hey,

because people don't realize this, but WWE had called me the year before and asked me to come in. But it was Jim Ross that called me. And Jim and asked me to come in, but it was Jim Ross that called me and Jim, Jim and I know Jim and I are really good friends. Now we're, we're all good. But at the time, Jim still had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder regarding me. He, Jim still felt like for some reason that I was responsible for him being let go, even though he requested his release. All I said was, sure, if he wants to go, let him go. Why keep a guy that doesn't want to be here?

And I knew Jim pretty well. Crabby Jim Ross is not a pleasant experience anyway. But somehow in Jim's mind, that equated to me having fired him. All right. So anyway, Jim Ross calls me up. And this is a year before I actually came in. It was right before the 4th of July. It was my wife's birthday. My father passed away on the 4th of July. So it's kind of a little family reunion, friends. And I got friends that come in on their Harleys and whatever. It's a big deal. Has been for 20 years or more. Anyway,

it was like three or four days before the 4th of July, and I've got friends coming in on their way, literally on their way into Wyoming to visit for a week or so. And I get a call from Jim Ross, and he was very surreptitious in relaying any information. Yeah, boss, hey, Eric, how you doing? Think about maybe boss, think about maybe bringing you in and having a look, maybe see if we can do something together. And I said, well, Jim, what do you have in mind? Well, don't really know, just kind of run some ideas around. So, Jim, you want me to drop everything that I'm doing?

I didn't say it this way, but what I was thinking was, you want me to drop everything I'm doing, fly in to wherever it was for WWE on a Monday, fly in on Sunday and then be there Monday and then fly back. You don't want to tell me what I'm doing. There's no contract on the table. You just want to know if I'm willing to show up. And the truth is, the honest truth is I had gained a lot of weight. I was not TV ready.

And if you go back and look, even by the time I got there a year later, I was still pretty chunky. But I knew I wasn't TV ready. I had friends and family coming in for the 4th of July. And I could tell that Jim really didn't want to make that phone call. It's the last thing in the world he wanted to do that day was call me and have me come in. So I passed. I said, I really appreciate the offer, and I'm glad you guys, you know, thing in the world he wanted to do that day was call me and have me come in so i i passed i said

i really appreciate the offer and i'm glad you guys you know think enough of me to invite me in but i'm good no thanks so the following year i'm guessing vince went and maybe i should call him and i got on the phone with vince and uh it took me about a minute and a half or two minutes before in my mind I knew I was going to go. Wow. Because it was an opportunity for me to kind of end my story the way I wanted to end my story. It didn't end well at WCW, and I thought, you know what?

I know I'm pretty good as a talent. I know I'm pretty capable of doing some fun things. There's a whole lot of people in WWE I've never had a chance to work with. And that's just, as a performer, that's always fun. So I thought, you know, I'm going to go do this. I thought it would last a year, maybe two. And that way, when I finally closed the chapter of my professional wrestling career, I can do it the way I want to do it and go out on a high note. So I went in back to your original question. One of the things I told Vince on that phone call is we can't tell anybody. I mean, we've got to keep this secret. And I said, Vince, I'm going to tell you the truth. I knew you were going to call me today.

This is not a surprise call because someone in your office who I'm friends with called me yesterday to tell me you're going to be calling me today. And I said, we can't have that because if this leaks, it's going to ruin the fun, right? So I said, I'll cover my own airfare. I'll cover my own hotel. I'll take care of all my trans, get to the building, all that. Because the minute somebody in the travel department sees my name on an email, it'll get out. So we did that.

Stephanie knew, obviously Vince. Attorneys knew. I think Shane probably knew Linda, obviously. I think that might have been it at that time. So I'm at the hotel. I told them where I was at. Car comes and gets me. Now it's about 5 o'clock, right?

4 o'clock, 5 o'clock. Car comes and gets me, brings me over to the building. And I'm in the limo with the windows all blacked out. Can't see in. But I could see out. So the limo pulls into the building. And I just in the limo with the windows all blacked out. You can't see in, but I could see out. So the limo pulls into the building and I just sat there. I didn't want anybody to see me. It had to be a surprise.

So I agreed to just stay in the limo until somebody came and got me to make our entrance. So I'm sitting in a limo and I felt like a monkey in the zoo because guys were coming by and you're trying to peek it they don't realize that I can see them right yeah you got their face up against the glass or peeking and trying to figure out who's in that car who is it who is it I was laughing my ass off and then Stephanie came in about 20 minutes before we were to walk out half hour she came in and it was the first time I'd ever met Stephanie face-to-face. And Stephanie sits across from me. She goes, are you nervous?

I said, no. I'm excited, but that's not the same as nervous. Really? You're not nervous? No, not at all. I'm just happy to be here, and it's going to be great. I can't wait to get out there and see what the reaction is. And she looked at me like, you know, you can't be serious. So she leaves. She goes, okay, well, good luck. We'll see you out there, you know? And then Vince comes in about two minutes later. Hey, pal, how are you feeling?

Nerves getting to you? No. Why do people keep asking me if I'm nervous? I've done this before. It's not that I'm excited, but I'm not nervous at all. All right. See you out there, pal. And that was it. And then once I got out of that limo,

because all the production people, anybody that didn't have something really imminent to do, important to do at that moment, were all kind of hanging around the limo because they wanted to see who it was. When I stepped out of that limo, the genuine look of shock on people's faces was just something I'll never forget. I'll never forget that.

And the other thing I'll never forget. I'll never forget that. And the other thing I will never forget is how welcome everybody in the McMahon family. There was still some talent, Arnie Anderson, Rick Flair, you know. But Linda, Vince, Stephanie, Shane, they were so gracious and so welcoming me. I mean, I felt like I was home as weird as that sounds given the, the battle and the nasty things that we did to each other and, and publicly and not so publicly to feel that much a part of their world

really from the first night made me feel real good. It was a very unique experience. Well, this has been tremendous. I can't thank you enough. I've wanted to talk to you for quite some time. Really appreciate all the time you gave us today, a little reminiscing, a little contemporary stuff. Keep up the great work. I'm enjoying your takes on the business all the time on your various shows. And congratulations on an incredible career, really. I've been watching you and admiring you from afar for a very long time. So great to meet you, Eric. And thank you so much for this.

I really appreciate it. Well, thank you. And continued success, brother. You're heads and tails above a lot of people in your industry. And you've worked hard. You've got a lot of credibility. And that's why I respect you as much as I do. So you keep up the good work.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm riding off into the sunset. So you keep up the good work. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm riding off into the sunset, brother. Your career is just beginning. Thank you. That means a lot to me. Thank you so much. Take care. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh