The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1105 - LIVE from WWE World at Wrestlemania XL with Michael Cole, Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Logan Paul, Gunther, Sam Roberts, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

On today’s show, Pat and the boys are joined by the voice of WWE, Michael Cole as they are LIVE from WWE World in Philadelphia ahead of Wrestlemania XL. Today’s show is LOADED with guests including WWE COO and Head of Creative, Triple H, The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley, United States Champion Logan Paul, Intercontinental Champion, The Ringer General, Gunther, and finally, the Lord of the Marks, from the Jim & Sam Show, Sam Roberts. Make sure you subscribe to YouTube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people. We are live at WWE World on this WrestleMania. Feel good, fight it. This program starts right now. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please.

Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up, please. Back up see, there's a reason that WrestleMania is must-watch. There's a reason that WrestleMania is celebrating 40 years of greatness.

There's a reason that WrestleMania is the greatest show on Earth. And that's because michael cole is here hello hey guys i am so excited to be a part of this show this audio is going to be something that's what we're learning quickly strictly because the wwe universe that has showed up here today is the reason why wrestling is wrestling we appreciate you all so much a lot of ones to the sky as we acknowledge the wwe universe that has showed up here no way you need to acknowledge your tribal chief michael cole and No way. You need to acknowledge your tribal chief, Michael Cole, and everybody else in here needs to do the same,

but I do say Cody Rhodes will be here in about 30 minutes. The toxic table is here at Boss of Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Con Man looks like you're paying homage to the Undertaker the dead man and tie it is very evident that you're paying homage to Michael Cole of yesteryear yeah absolutely had to you know everyone comes to WWE world and you know you see a lot of people dressing up like their favorite WWE superstars that reverberation is going to maybe give me a brain aneurysm but that's okay I mean we're here this is incredible and I thought you know what better way to celebrate

the start of this incredible weekend than to pay a little homage to Michael Cole. Had to do it. Had to, you know, soul patch, suit, everything. We're not messing around here, okay? This is WrestleMania 4. Yeah, obviously, WrestleMania's taking place here in Philadelphia at the Link tomorrow night and Sunday night. It'll be the biggest

WrestleMania of all time because the final boss is here. The Rock is a part of the entire... He was 90 minutes late to a Q&A with Michael Cole yesterday. It was actually two hours. I don't even know if... I don't know how this sounds in everybody else's

ears. I don't know if you... Can you guys hear us out here? They're saying turn it up. If we turn it up, it'll be Michael Cole years for the rest of my life. Foxy, there's people all the way over here in this corner. I mean, this place is... We can't hear you.

We can't hear you. We can't hear you. Oh, no. Okay. Good to know. Good to know. We can hear everything in this place at once in our ears, actually. Funny enough. It's a gift and a curse.

That is wrestling fans in a nutshell. These people have made this weekend. Good luck. Turn it up. It's not just wrestling fans. It's Philadelphia wrestling fans. Yeah, Philadelphia is the place. Too much.

Final Four is also happening, obviously, tonight. The women's Final Four tips off. The men's Final Four tips off tomorrow. Sports are at an all-time high. To be clear, to be in a city of champions like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this particular... Okay.

I guess they don't really win. Michael Cole, I don't know if you can hear us or not. E-G-L! Okay, there's some Eagles fans in the crowd. Michael Cole, WrestleMania, though, is the culmination of an entire year of work for the WWE and WWE superstars. This year is being billed as the biggest fall time.

Why do you think that's the case as a man who's been here for 60 years? Well, not quite 60, but thank you. This will be my 27th WrestleMania this year. 23rd behind the mic. And I think WrestleMania 40 is the biggest of all time because you've got the clash of the yesteryear in Iraq and yes, that... I mean, and I'm deaf, but I still can't hear anything. Is someone turning on an EMP or a dolphin sonar? Can't hear a thing out here. In our ears, we can hear everything.

Out there, we can't. You were giving a great answer. I didn't get to hear it because I was listening to what they were listening to, which is absolutely nothing. This has got to get figured out. I mean, this has certainly got to get figured out because we got the King figured out. I mean, this has certainly got to get figured out because we got the King of Kings, your boss,

the Cerebral Assassin coming out here. Your boss as well. Yeah, I don't have a lot of those. Not getting into it. Cerebral Assassin, but Cerebral Assassin will be here in about five minutes or so. Rhea Ripley, Mommy, will be joining us in the second hour. Logan Paul will be here in about five minutes or so. Rhea Ripley, mommy, will be joining us in the second hour.

Logan Paul will be joining us. Gunther will be joining us. And Sam Roberts, the lord of the WWE marks, will be joining us. But whenever you look around at this place, the NFL can learn a lot.

Not from the audio that our show is spitting out to these people. Ladies and gentlemen of WWE World. They had him for one second. We're teasing him a little bit. What's that?

Could be aftershocks from the earthquake. That's true. Getting rid of everything. I mean, what are we trying to find a perfect balance for right now? We've been here a few days trying to set this thing up, but the WWE world, you can't tell how loud the WWE universe is gonna be on the first day of May. I think this is a nice introduction for the people at ESPN that maybe were setting this entire thing up that had no idea what these humans were about to bring.

Because those who don't fully understand the wrestling world, I don't think fully understand that the fans are a character in this entire thing. The fans are the ones that decide who goes, what goes, how it goes. And I think the big thing that we need to talk about this weekend is they're the only reason that we don't have The Rock and Roman Reigns as the main event on Sunday for the WWE Universal Championship because the fans got so loud for Cody Rhodes it actually changed an entire career an entire weekend and that's where the WWE is different I don't think a lot of people that don't know wrestling understand that indeed if it wasn't for the WWE fans being so vocal Cody

Rhodes would not have an opportunity to finish the story. And he does have that opportunity, which is his right, by the way, by winning the Royal Rumble match. Yeah, but like you said finish the story. I've been told he hates that. No, yeah, he doesn't want to finish his story, okay? Cole, I don't know if you follow the WWE as closely as we do, but this is the culmination of what? Two years and finish your story? That's not what it's about. It's about Cody fulfilling his destiny.

It's not about finishing some story. There's more story to tell after, okay? So obviously you don't listen to Cody Rhodes. You don't listen to his interviews. You don't listen to our commentary. Never. Because you're a stooge. No.

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Sorry. Sorry. I'm not a Cody Crybaby like you. What? I'm a Cody Crybaby like you. I am.

I'm a Cody Crybaby. That's right. I'll be the first to admit that. All right, let's talk about some things that happened last night before we dive into full WrestleMania with the Cerebral Assassin, Mr. H. Paul Levesque. The NIT Championship was last night. Yep.

A team that we had an actual vested interest in because we had a meeting set for this week. If they were to win, Indiana State loses to Seton Hall in a barn burner. I was incredibly lucky to be watching that alongside Boston Connor, alongside JT and the boys, Taco's a drummer,

Chris is a guitar player, and also Morgan Wallen, and also Bailey Zimmerman, and Tyrese Halliburton. And Tyrese Halliburton. And Tyrese Halliburton. But nonetheless, there was potentially going to be a little NIL deal with the Indiana State folks, and we will certainly still make do on,

not the full amount, but we're going to work through some things. And split it up. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. That was a heartbreaker for Indiana State last night. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it felt like they, you know, at halftime, they had a ferocious run to tie it at half, and then they kind of had the game in hand.

And then, obviously, Seton Hall, who we talked about yesterday, good team, they've beaten UConn, playing a tough Big East. I mean, I think they went on a 9-0 run to close out the game and win it. So, absolute heartbreaker. But Indiana State's got a lot to, you know, a lot to be proud of. They accomplished quite a bit this season. Congrats to the Sycamore. Yeah, good season.

And to Seton Hall. Congrats to them. Did you watch any of those NIT games, Cole? Yeah, in between that and the Knicks' big win last night, I did. The Knicks won? Yeah, the Knicks won last night. Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson lit it up again.

I doubt it. But he did. Yeah, I don't believe you. Irrelevant. He doesn't believe you. Well, how about the Jets? Are they going to win the Super Bowl this year? I like the moves they made.

I do. Although the Eagles got our guy Bryce. Well, they also got Saquon, which is a massive win. Feels like the Philadelphia Eagles doubled up. I believe what we're being told is that they're rewiring the speakers so that the humans can hear this. Nice. Okay. Because there's a certain CCO walking over in a very cool suit.

So do I. Yeah, truly. We want speakers! Should we start chanting as well? Might help. We want speakers! We want speakers! I don't know how it happens.

It's kind of like the water of game day. Is it sabotage? It could be. It might be. It could be. One last attempt. I mean, maybe. I mean, maybe.

Yeah, there probably is a reason you're sabotaged today. What's that, Cole? Watch your mouth. You're about to get smacked in the mouth. What are you talking about? It's a reality. Because we're not Cody Crybabies? Is that what it is?

Is it a WrestleMania? Obviously, massive weekend here in Philadelphia, even though all these people are standing around staring at us, can't hear a word of this. Yeah, sure. One of the most uncomfortable positions I've ever been placed in in my entire life right now. Because what these people were told and sold was...

There it is. Starting to trickle in. Is that right there? That's exactly it. That they were going to get a chance to hear legend after legend after legend after legend today to kick off WrestleMania. Now they can't hear a damn thing. No. And I know that everything was working last night, right?

Because when The Rock showed up two hours late, those speakers were echoing through the whole place. Yes, exactly. Can we not plug into those speakers? That'd be cool. Is there any way we can do that? Okay. Okay. Well, tell... Hey, in real time, we're figuring it out. We're figuring it out.

We're in there. We're getting this thing... Start sign languages. Okay. Hi. Love you. Plug it in the thing and we acknowledge. We acknowledge. Okay. There it acknowledge. Okay. Okay.

Good heat. There it is. All right. Cole, what would you do if an entire audience could not hear a word you were saying that was standing right in front of you? I'd go to the bar. Well, that's the problem with you. We've been talking about this.

You somehow look younger and better than ever. Thank you. And you're boozing way too much. No, not at all. Just as a friend of a program here. You hung over this morning. Yeah, you were late to the meeting this morning. Actually, I wasn't. Yeah, you were latezing way too much. No, not at all. Just as a friend of a program here. You hung over this morning? Yeah, you were late to the meeting this morning. Actually, I wasn't.

Yeah, you were late to the show meeting. There was one person in the lobby at the call time of 8.30 this morning. That was me. Well, that was the 9309 type situation. Got your ass in here. We're staying at the worst hotel in Philadelphia at Michael Cole's recommendation, which is fantastic. But Cole was ready to go to co-host today.

I don't think he had any idea that there was just going to be no sound for the entire building. No, no chance, especially when you walk in here after seeing what happened yesterday. We wanted to kind of hopefully deliver on all fronts. For the people. For the people, exactly. Right off the bat for there to be the chance that we've had thus far. That was not what I was expecting, but hey, that's what WrestleMania is all about, baby. It's all about adversity.

Arthur Blank said that Kirk Cousins is the greatest leader he's ever seen in his entire life. Allegedly, the Atlanta Falcons are also sending a larger group to Michael Penix's workout to see what's going on over there. Kirk Cousins signs a $130 million deal. I don't know what they're doing at the backup position, but maybe Penix learns workout to see what's going on over there. Kirk Cousins signs a $130 million deal. I don't know what they're doing at the backup position, but maybe Penix learns under Kirk. Is that the thought here, you think, Tone? Or is this all smoke signal season right now with planes and everything like that?

I mean, it could be. I mean, Kirk, we know, has how many years left? Three or four? I mean, Michael Cole wanted him last year when Aaron Rodgers got hurt. But, yeah, Penix would be incredible. But the only thing with Penix is he's already 25 years old. I don't know if he's a guy that you need to put under a guy for a year or two.

I think he's ready to go, to be honest. I think he is, too. Who knows how long he'll last? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? I don't think we should bring our guest out here if they can't hear him. No way. Yeah, I think so. But he's probably a busy human. Sound guy sucks. Sound guy sucks.

Sound guy sucks. Oh, no. He knows. He knows. He's in the middle of it right now. Frantic. Someone get a hold of Bruce, too, because I don't want him thinking this is on him, because he will, in fact, drown himself later.

Speaking of, congratsats Nick and Carly. Yeah congrats. Most member of the family. I mean I don't even know what the. We've done a lot of things. I think we got a mobile microphone. Con man why don't you get the mobile microphone. Let's get the mobile camera. Okay.

Let's go ask some of these people their thoughts on what's happening. Yeah, I got a Jets mark with the American Nightmare flag right there. Yeah, yeah, perfect. Here we go, here we go, here we go. Con man over here. Yeah, that was a great catch, by the way, on the money.

Is this thing on? Can you hear me? You can hear me? All right, cool. Here we go, right here. You see this guy? Hey, what do you think is going to happen this weekend? Because clearly you're a Cody Crybaby bitch, people are saying. Did you hear that, pal? The Rock does not deserve anything that he is getting.

Cody Rhodes is a two-time Royal Rumble winner. He is the one who's here day in and day out. Every live event. Every fan from you. The Rock just gets here and gets what he wants. Just gets here? How old is that guy? How old are you? How old are you?

21. Oh, he doesn't even know. You don't know shit. You don't know shit. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can't swear like that. You got any online members? Anybody? There it is. There it is. We swear right now. You got any online members? Anybody?

There it is. There it is. We got one here. We got one here. Hey, what do you think is going to happen this weekend? Roman's going to smash him. Yeah. Yeah, Cody sucks, right?

Cody sucks. Nobody in the audience can hear what the crowd is saying. Right. Not at all. Okay, sounds good. Let's do that. We back? We're bringing gain down on microphones to see if these speakers can work a little bit better.

Okay. Here we go. Let's get moved. That sounds technical. Cole, in this particular business, what we're learning quickly is you have to do everything. Yep. You have to have hands on everything. So why don't we just use a megaphone?

Okay. Stand on the desk and use a megaphone. It's honestly not a bad idea. Are they selling those at WWE, the superstore? I sit right next to that speaker going, I can't. I don't know if the gain on our microphone is the reason why that speaker ain't working right here. Have they checked?

Is it plugged in? Do we have power? Is it plugged in? Do we know? Man, I'm glad I got out of bed for this. You! Hello? Can you hear us?

Can you hear us? Is there any sound at all? There's some. A little bit. A little bit. A little bingo now. A little bingo. We can hear you just a little bit.

Can we hear you a little bit more? A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now.

A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. A little bit louder now. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! All right, all right, all right. We can't make a mockery of this whole thing. Can you hear us?

Can you hear us a little bit out there? A little bit. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now on this eve of the biggest and greatest WrestleMania of all time is 14-time world champion, current CCO of the WWE. Ladies and gentlemen, Triple H.

Yeah! Time to play the game! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I was back there, and I tripped over a board. Sorry, that's on us. That's on us. We put that down. No, don't be so... No, no, I was back there fixing. I tripped over a board. Apparently it knocked out the speakers. Yeah. That was you. Don't take blame.

No, no, no. I had to fix that. Hey, we want to let you know the reason why the speakers aren't working is because these people are all so damn loud. Can't hear us again. Listen to this. We want speakers! They want speakers.

They want speakers. We want speakers. They want speakers. They want speakers. We want speakers. We want speakers. We want speakers, too. Yes, we do. We definitely do. It's not just about having speakers. It's about having speakers that work.

That's it. Bingo. Can you guys hear anything at all out there? But they responded to you.. H this is punishment for years of the what chant like now you legitimately have a reason mr. H WWE world has seemingly been a smashing success, aside from the speakers, for these people to be able to hear us. But whenever you think about this WrestleMania,

it feels like it's been billed as the biggest and greatest of all time, living up to the hype thus far. The coverage has been absurd. The Rock and Roman is going to be the biggest tag team match of all time against Seth and Cody. How did we get here? And how pumped are you that this is where the state of the WWE is right now?

I'm incredibly excited about it. How did we get here? A lot of hard work from a lot of people. Spitz of water! Spitz of water! Spitz of water! Here we go, yeah. Speaker 2. They might break. Yeah!

Yeah! Woo! Yeah! No sound needed. Holy shit! Holy shit! That was incredible. Holy shit! No sound needed. Holy shit! Holy shit! That was awesome. That was incredible.

Chief content officer, you got any other non-sound things? We can do it for about two hours in 40. Get the socket cam going. That summarizes my career. I was able to spit water, and I still can. I've still got it. I was able to spit water and I still can. I've still got it. I think I had a chance to be at a boxing match with you and

you said a lot of hard work before they cut you off and you're right. I mean, the WWE Superstars, the crew, the production, I'm so lucky to get to see it day in day out to build to this point. I got a chance to walk with you during, I forget whose boxing match it was at Madison Square Garden. One of the first times I think we've ever really met or hung out. And I was walking behind you, and people were screaming your name in seven different languages, legit.

WWE has become such a global phenomenon. How do you continue to build it and not lose anybody's interest? Because obviously these fans, I don't know if they're all from Philly, but the area, but like the area. But then like internationally, what WrestleMania is about to do is absurd as well. How do you focus on all that shit? Man, to me, it comes down to simple fact of storytelling. If you tell a good story, they will come.

Right? If we give good creative, you know, the talent are amazing. And I will put this locker room up against any locker room in history or anything else from top to bottom the athletes are incredible you know their dedication to this their passion for it their desire to make the show big all the way around right there's a massive team that does it but at the end of the day it just comes down to the storytelling and what we can do if we tell great stories if the talent tell great stories in general and then in the

ring and we deliver that they will come yeah hell yeah and they have and they will bigger than they ever have and speaking of stories would have been cool to see rock and roman connor's got a question yeah it would have been incredible we were all hoping for that but you know every you know generation you mentioned the stories are told. There's different eras. And right now people are kind of having that debate, like, what era is this? You know, some people say the Triple H era. Some people say the global era.

Obviously the Bloodline era. To you, do you think this era has that staple yet, or do you think there's still more to be told in this time of the WWE? Man, I think it'll organically find its way to whatever people want to call it when it's getting into it and fully get into it the reason i don't think it's got a clear name yet is because we're not into it yet right like to me and i was there the attitude era you know i was there for all of it we didn't call it the attitude era while it was happening that sort of came later

but you could feel this groundswell happening right now you can feel this groundswell happening i don't feel like we're in the thick of an era i feel like the next couple of days this is the launching pad of that era we're just getting started dude like we are right now at the beginning of it it's about to explode and you haven't seen anything yet. This place is about to be on fire in a way that has never been on fire before. That's awesome. Oh, that is awesome to hear. I love to hear the passion.

If they heard that, they'd be pumped, too. Cole's got a question. So, Trips, you and I both have the honor to be a part of the Attitude Era. And I've been meaning to ask you this for a long time. What do you think is the difference right now between that era, which was a massive boon for this company, and today's era? In some way then, we were fighting for our lives, right? So when the Attitude Era was first coming to be, it was literally us fighting for our lives. There was a company that was out there that had more money, that was doing big things,

that was kicking our ass, in a way. And we wouldn't let them, right? We all, when they were, I can remember a distinct moment in time, I had just wrestled Austin, was on the build to WrestleMania, we were in Chicago at what was called the Rosemont Horizon at that time, I had just wrestled Austin. Like the week or two weeks before they had been at the United Center.

Like six of the top ten guys didn't show up for their show at the United Center. Goldberg wrestled the Giant. It went like 38 seconds. Giant came out smoking a cigarette, put it out, right, like Goldberg, Jack Hammond, or whatever. Austin and I were in the main event at Rosemont Horizon. We went 45 minutes and gave them a pay-per-view, right? Our storytelling was better, all this stuff.

So there's a moment where you feel that build, but we were building up against something. Right now, we are just, we're up against ourselves. We're up against the attitude era. We're up against the ruthless aggression era. Whatever you want to call it, the best of the absolute best of WWE, that's what we're working against. And these talent, they're hungry.

They're excited for it. My job now is to not make anybody as successful as it gets is to not get complacent. You've got to keep that fire. You've got to keep that passion because if you don't, it goes away. You've got to approach every day like it's day one and go all out and make it work. And that's just how it works. If we can do that,

you ain't seen nothing yet. Hey, you saying that we're in a competition against ourself is certainly going to be a... Come on. Up and to the right, baby. Up and to the right. That ain't our fault. That ain't your fault.

Not saying anything to be controversial. I'm spitting facts, right? Bingo. Bingo. Towns got a question for you. Yeah, Mr. H, we were in Vegas for Super Bowl week. We were there for the press conference with the slap heard around the world.

And the entire time I was sitting there and watching, I saw the slap and you were on the stage and they just said it and I'm looking at you right now we all know that you still have it don't you think it's a little overdue for you to slap someone in the mouth I don't want to slap anybody in the mouth anymore because usually when you slap them there's a slap coming back at you I right now I am it's a funny thing about doing this now, and I used to say it when I was running NXT, right? There's something, I've always enjoyed that backside of the business. I've always enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect, the creative and all that other stuff. Competing in it was fun.

Doing all that stuff was amazing. But I almost enjoyed this side more, right? Helping these guys and girls, watching them go out there and succeed, watching them, like, take something that they love and is a passion of theirs and go beyond their wildest dreams and getting what they want, to me that's more exciting than the physical aspect of it. As much as I enjoyed that, as much as I love the sold-out crowds and that adrenaline, you know, Rock goes out there

all the time and does the goose bump thing. You think he just always has goose bumps? I've been wondering about that. I think it's just his skin. Yeah. I think he should. I know. Papatoui.

He's got a skin care line. I hope it doesn't do that to everybody. Papatoui. No, I'm hoping I get goose bumps. Yeah. But, you know, when you're out in front of 80,000 people or whatever it is, you can't help but get that feeling. To me, I sit in the back now.

I'm not out there for every minute of it and getting that moment, but the excitement level is just as high. I get the goosebumps. I'll get goosebumps watching him get goosebumps. I'll get goosebumps when that main event goes down and that tag match happens or any of the matches that night. Man, to me me it's as emotional as anything I've ever done in my career it's it really is sounds cliche but it's like watching

your kids do stuff you're proud of as opposed to you doing it it's almost even more meaningful so you know I know there's a lot of banter around oh people's love for things or their love for the business or whatever. 24-7 from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, 24-7, right? This grind, what we're doing this week, you look at what we're doing this week. There is no company on this planet doing the amount of live content we are doing, selling the tickets we're doing over this short a period of time. No one on the planet, I don't give a shit about what it is, what profession it is, what sport it is,

what entertainment it is. There's nobody doing it, right? You only do that with a level of passion that everybody else that says, no, no, I'm passionate about this, I love it, they don't even understand the term. That's love it, they don't even understand the term. That's the truth. They don't even understand the term. So, whatever you think about it,

they've got speakers. Hey, to the time in which we had no sound for this audience, we got two words for you! Fuck me! Yeah, I love that. Okay, can you hear us? We did it, we did it. We did it.

Somebody ran over to Best Buy, we are back in business. Big shout out to the Philadelphia Union coming through here. Union, Union, bloopers. They boo them. They just fix it for him and they're already getting booed. Well, I assume there's probably some preconceived notions about how this all went down from some people. But, hey, I come from Pittsburgh. Believe me. I very much understand the entire process of the entire thing.

You talked about, you know, you enjoy the booking aspect of it and feeling like that. I know whenever you go out there, you'll cut a promo in front of some of these crowds. And you hear the people. And I'll see you get jacked up a little bit. You know, you start doing the whole thing with what happened to you. Are you able to potentially, like, are you still working out as hard or do you still have that? If you, so if the story called for it, you could potentially get back in the ring. No, I don't think I would. I don't think so. Yeah. Like, you know, physically, I'm not saying mentally, I'm saying, no, I don't think I should Physically. I'm not saying mentally. I'm saying physically. No, I don't think I should be out there taking bumps around.

Like, look, I've got a jump starter, right? So that's all good. That's a backup system if anything goes bad in your life, which could happen to anybody at any given time. Hey, man, especially nowadays. Right? Yeah. So I got a backup system. You don't want to unplug the wires.

No, yeah, and that would be good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, because that's always my thought because i'll see you and you see me say to you every time i go i do you i hit him and i'm like hey you look oh we get mania season are we getting ready for that and then the back of my head i'm like asshole he can't probably can't even do that every time i ask you look i'm i it's funny because sometimes people will say that and they'll be oh man i'm sorry i forgot you can't right like i'm totally good with that. Like, I rode it

until the wheels fell off, almost literally. I'm great with that. And I was at a place where I should have been retiring anyways. I was in a place in my mind where I wanted to be done with it. You know, the last year that, right before this all happened, I had been asked to go to

WrestleMania two days, I need you, you know, hey, you can work with anybody you want, and I had said, I don't think I want to do it. And I was, oh, please think about it, let's just do it, please think about it. And I had thought about it, and was going to go back and say, I'm not doing it, and then I had to not

do it. So, I was already there. I'm good with it. I have zero regrets. I want to tell you, I'm not sure if I'm fl with it. I have zero regrets. I want to tell you. No, that's the thing. I'm not sure if I'm flattered or threatened. Ty's got a question for you. Yeah, Triple H, despite what anyone may say,

the best talent in the world is in the WWE, and it's been that way for a really long time. And you talk about the 24-7 aspect of your job. How do you maintain just everything you have going on in-house and the current superstars on the roster and also looking at, like, talent acquisition and, you know, finding the next Cody Rhodes or some of these other guys?

Like, how do you split that beam? How do you be where your feet are, essentially, while also looking out for the future of the business? That's the trick, right? It's the trick in all of this. I say for me as well, like, you know, married, three kids, I want to spend time with them. People ask me all the time, work-life balance.

It's bullshit, there isn't work-life balance. There is none. You do the best you can. Be present where you are. If there are things that I used to be on top of all the time, I would keep track of everybody that was everywhere that was in this business working, time. I would keep track of everybody that was everywhere that was in this business working, right?

I don't have time to do that anymore. I have people that do that. People like William Regal and different folks that are out there that I get reports on everybody. I know who's out there, I know how good they are, I know what their potential is. I see what's out there, I see what's don't. And I don't subscribe to the, oh well this guy, oh, well, this guy says they're good.

That guy says they're good. I have to see and feel it, right? I have people that I trust. It's just keeping track of who's out there, how good they are, and what you think they can do. And because they succeed someplace else doesn't mean they'll succeed at the big time. How many players go from college football to high level and fail in the nfl it's massive right it's a different game it's a

different world if they're not here to be all in on this like when i see people that come out of you know trying to make it and then they pick the job where they go, well, they work less, the schedule's lighter. All right, then I'm glad I didn't get you. Because if you're not in it for the grind, at that point early in your career, you have no business being here. Okay, so when I was in the league, I would come to every event that you guys had. And I got hooked up with somebody at the WWE, I forget who it was, and they sent me a DVD about becoming a superstar.

It was like a recruiting DVD, I think, for people that would get sent out there. And it's like, here's what a superstar is and kind of laid out what it is. Here's the steps you could take if you want to become a WWE superstar. In your eyes, what does it take to succeed at the WWE? Because there is people who have had success that might have three initials, you know, that these people were just chanting moments ago. It's like, what do you think in the WWE it takes to be success? Why do some people go and why do some people not, do you think, in the WWE?

So, in a lot of ways, like I always say, charisma is king. And that's the truth in this business. I can make a long list of people that were not at the upper echelon of the athletics that were massive stars in this industry, right? Charisma is king. You know, the athleticism is one thing. So when we're recruiting, especially now as we're recruiting through NIL program and college athletes all around the globe that have a passion to come in and do this, they're all amazing athletes, right?

You find out which ones are the better ones for what we do, but then charisma is king. Leadership is king. I look, when we go to these tryouts and they're going through the three-day stuff, we wear them out, and then we look to see when you're exhausted, your true personality shows, right? When you're on your last breath, your true personality shows. I want When you're on your last breath, your true personality shows.

I want to see who's a leader. I want to see who picks the guy up next to him and goes, come on dude, suck it up, we can do this, let's go, right? As much as this is an individual effort, this is a team effort, right? We're all here to put on the greatest show for them in the world, from top to bottom.

So they've all got to work together to make that happen. It's not one person's gig. Last question for me. I know you're very busy, and I think they can hear us. You can hear us, though? You guys should have heard the first half of the conversation. He was killing it. The first half, he was killing it. The first half was way

better. No, no, no. It's about to be the best. It's about to be the best right now. On Monday, when we are live here from WWE World, and hopefully we don't even have to stay at the office by Monday. Numerous days until then. What do you think the overall feeling will be of the WWE Universe and of us coming off the biggest WrestleMania link? What do you think the feeling Monday morning is going to be from WWE Universe? I'm hoping it's, holy shit, that was the greatest thing ever. Okay.

Greatest thing ever. Just in general, the greatest thing ever. Yeah, I want people to leave here and think, you know, look, people are going to nitpick everything, right? It's just the way it is. And they're going to have their moments that they love. They're going to have their moments that they didn't like, whatever. They're all going to analyze the booking and the finishes and the everything that we do. They're going to

overanalyze all of it. You said it earlier about even like Roman and Rock, people always go like, oh, we should have got that. They should have done it should have been like it doesn't end you know what happens at like 11 p.m on sunday night when when uh when wrestlemania is over the second night of wrestlemania is over and we all do that someone hands me the sheets for raw the next night and i start looking at that show because and we've already been looking at it but like it the story continues when you get to the end of the best chapter in the book that you've ever read you flip the page and there's a whole new chapter where there's a whole new volume it's it's if they're only mistakes if that's the end right but it's never the end it's never the

end the story continues so we're going to pick it up wherever we are and we're going to move forward and i promise you this between wrestlemania 40 and wrestlemania 41 we're going to come up with the best thing ever to blow your mind and make you go like oh my god this is better than 40 was let's go we're lucky to be in the triple h era right now if that's what people are going to call it. I'm not saying they're calling it that, but if it is, call that. We're very lucky to be a part of it. Thank you for having us, and I just heard

that Sunday's ending at 11 p.m. Is that what you heard, too? Yeah, 11 p.m. Yeah, me and Cole heard that. Yeah, we heard that. Or so. Yeah, or so. Ladies and gentlemen, the CCO of the WWE Triple H!

Thank you, man. Gotta hold it. Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Triple H! Woo! Thanks for helping me do the spit thing. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

I heard this guy years ago just on the side and I said like, oh my god, this guy loves our business and he is the craziest dude I've ever heard that just is as real as it possibly get and I told somebody in that moment call this Pat McAfee guy and see if he wants to come by NXT and get involved in what we do and he makes me look like a genius for making that call every day. So thank you dude. No, no, stop, stop, stop. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Michael Cole was the one who had to make that call. I was going to say, who made the phone call? Michael Cole made that phone call. It's been an honor. It's been an honor, Mr. H. I showed up in jorts that first day. Yeah. What else?

I mean, I was... Yeah, showed up in... That was the uniform. You also wore jorts to WrestleMania. No, that was tailored tuxedo shorts. Those weren't jorts. Yeah, you asshole. Remember when he tried to get me fired? Yeah, I do recall that.

Yeah, Colby. Yeah. We had an RV busted down outside of MetLife. That's right. And Michael Cole's in there babying about my... You know what he sounded like? A crybaby. Yeah. Speaking of... Whoa. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is the people's champion, the 2023 and 2024 Royal Rumble winner,

the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes! A dandelion in my soul, every bite out of control, do it all to get them off their feet. Crowd is here, about to blow, waiting for me to start the halls Whoa! My father said When I was younger I'd die a priest and a man Yeah, yeah, yeah He took it all away, I give it all away To take my freedom

He didn't change a game game I'm better than today I'm still my king Oh, now you know Who I am You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name

You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name

You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name You know my name There's been Yes-o-mania, there's been WrestleMania. It does feel like this is the American Nightmares WrestleMania. Yeah. Cody, I was born in 1987, okay? I grew up in the Attitude Era, and boy, did I love everything about it. Oh, yeah.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels were coming out and saying, we got two words for you. Fuck it! And then you had a bald-headed Texas rattlesnake that would come out and say, give me a hell yeah. old headed Texas rattlesnake that would come out and say, give me a hell yeah. And then there was a man who would walk out in front of millions of his own fans and cut promos that were better than anything I'd ever heard in my entire life on a microphone. There's a lot of us from that era. Rockies, Rockies, Rockies up! Rockies up! Rockies up! Rockies up! Rockies up! Rockies up!

Not true. That's not true. I don't know. Wow, Cody! Whoa, whoa! Insighting violence. For those that don't know, Cody and The Rock have exchanged slaps and a mouth to each other, but I will say this, and also you've gotten whipped with a belt and thrown off here on bus, which I can't wait to ask about in a second, but there was a lot of us from the Attitude Era that heard The Rock was coming back, and we heard The Rock was taking on

the greatest of all time, Roman Reigns, in the main event of WrestleMania, and we got jacked up. We got zeked up. But I think what everybody says in every arena that we travel to is, Cody Rhodes has earned this main event against Roman Reigns. And if it was not Cody Rhodes, it would be absolute bullshit. Cody, from your standpoint, has this all gone the best way possible, worst way possible, or how do you think you would describe this road

to this main event back-to-back nights to WrestleMania from your perspective? The road to WrestleMania for me? Oh, the roads to WrestleMania. That's what it is. There it is. We're just starting. I'm coming in a little bit hot, and here's why. The roads to WrestleMania, it's been tumultuous.

Everybody's seen the matches that I've had. Going back-to-back, winning the Royal Rumble once again. Thank you for that stat, Pat. It was all gearing towards getting back. And me and Mr. Cole here talked all about it. We want to get back. Last year, Roman Reigns screwed me out of the biggest moment of my life. Getting to WrestleMania 40.

Yeah, right? Indeed. But here's where I'm coming in hot. This is where my mindset is. Just a little news for everyone who didn't hear already. Last night, Michael knows this, 1 a.m., laying in bed. It's the first time I'm going to get a little sleep before we get into this big, big, big event that is WrestleMania. All of a sudden, loud bang at the side of my bus.

Thought it was a gunshot. Terrified. Clammed up. Next thing I know, my bus driver yells, we got to get off this bus. It's on fire. What? What? So my bus, it didn't burn to a crisp, but it was up in a big fireball for a moment. And the reason I share this story is I'm here this morning non flinching and I grabbed two things off my bus when I thought this is it this is the end I grabbed two things I grabbed a picture of my daughter and a picture of my wife and then I grabbed my WrestleMania boots there and nobody here who is more ready for WrestleMania than me. Okay. Well, did everything else burn?

Like, are we going to see the pants and the jacket and everything? Here's the only thing. The suits that I wear will all be, you'll know, there's a smell off of them. There's a smell. We got a lot of stuff out of there, and it all worked out. Thankful, by the way, we got anybody from the Philadelphia Fire Department here today. Thank you, Philly FD. Thank you, guys. Much love.

Hey, that's a true story, though. Shoot right there. It happened last night. It happened last night, and I was thinking I was coming on here hot already because this show, again, we've discussed it, seems a little biased. Oh, biased. Oh, biased. I'm sorry about that. Look, that wasn't this. See? Seems a little biased. Oh, biased. But finally, finally you're going to get a level playing field today on this show.

Michael Cole, how pumped are you? Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! Cody! That's why we didn't want him to hear any of the show. That's why we didn't want him to hear any of the show. We kept the speakers down. But Cole,

I know you've known Cody for a long, long time. But you've been openly on the mic on Raw. Just completely biased against the bloodline in favor of Cody. And why is that? And why do you think there is such a disagreement potentially, Cole, on like we want Rocky versus the hashtag we want Cody, which trended for like 72 hours immediately upon the news?

Well, first off, when I got a text message at 2.40 a.m. this morning that he had a fire on his bus, I was a bit concerned. Happy or okay, Cody? That's scary. You're sitting duck there. It was a bit concerned, but... Happy or okay, Cody? Yep, made it. That's scary. You're sitting duck there. It was a scary moment. Was that the universe telling you maybe, hey, let's get out of this weekend? Let's not dance with the bloodline?

Let's not stare? The final boss, Don? Let's not go into a Sunday with bloodline rules? I think it's the opposite. I think the universe was saying, hey, we're going to set your bus on fire, and you're still going to go in and wipe the floor with the bloodline on Saturday.

You're still going to do it. That's good mindset. That's good mindset. I think it also has to do with the fact that Roman Reigns come on this program last week and called me a dick rider. Whoa! No! Richard Kreider.

Yes. Richard Kreider. That was him. Was he? Richard Kreider. No, he didn't say dick rider. Richard Kreider Richard Kreider Richard Kreider That's what it was Nonetheless

Listen I've known Cody Known his family for a long long time And Cody's earned this opportunity You know Cody was a part of One of the first internet shows At WWE Called the JBL and Cole show Cody was a part of one of the first Internet shows at WWE called the JBL and Cole Show. Cody was a big contributor to that.

And that was a really rough time in his career. He was playing this character known as Stardust. He didn't know whether he was coming or going. He never knew if he was going to make it in this business. He never knew if he was going to make his dad the American dream. Wow. Still got it. Proud. Bullshit. I didn't like that. Wow, still got it. That is bullshit, I didn't like that.

I didn't like that, what's going on? Had to do that. Cody went away, created an unbelievable opportunity for himself, forced his way back into this company where we had to have him, went out and won back to back Royal Rumbles. And then The Rock. It's not easy. What does The Rock do?

The business gets hot again. Rock decides he wants to be a part of it. He pushes his way in through the door. He decides to take the spot of my man Cody Rhodes in the main event at WrestleMania. That is nonsense. Because he is on the board. that he is the final boss, that he is allowed to do this. Cody Rhodes heard all of these people that were chanting,

we want Cody. Cody Rhodes decided in Las Vegas, and Pat, you and I were there. Cody Rhodes walked out on stage and said, uh-uh, this ain't happening. I won the Royal Rumble. Damn it, I'm taking my spot at WrestleMania. Jeez. What a bargain. Some lies in there.

There were no lies in there, by the way. No. I'm not even close. We want Cody! We want Cody! the way. Wow. Guys, for those saying we want Cody, as silly as it sounds, it's so nice to hear it because I have wanted you guys my entire career and this is the right time to do it.

So thank you guys. And by the way, this is a fact. The last time Roman Reigns had a match was at the Royal Rumble on the last Saturday of January. My man next to me, Cody Rhodes, wrestles every single week, not only on Monday Night Raw, but at live events around this country.

So I cannot think of a better person to represent where WWE is going today than Cody Rhodes. Okay, Michael Cole, I understand we're on a campaign trail right now. Obviously, you're called a politician, which I think is bullshit because you're a hardworking guy. Am I a politician? Because that's what was said about me.

Guess who's on Fox News this morning talking politics? Who? Who? I didn't see it. Your boy, Dwayne the Rock Johnson. No. No. No.

He's a tribal chief. He wasn't on Fox News. I've heard him talk politics before. You know what? If Rock wants to run for office just to piss him off. Rock is up! Rock is up! Rock is up!

Rock is up! Rock is up! Hey, I don't know. If Rock wants to run for office seriously, though, just to make him angry, maybe I'll run for office, too, you know? Ooh. I think that'd be sweet. I don't know the platform.

Connor's got a question for you, Cody. Yeah, Cole kind of just laid out the career arc that you had. And not so recently, you were doing house shows. And you mentioned, too, you were hoping for – you know what? I don't care. You see this guy in the Jets jersey? That guy's been a loser his whole entire life, and he's got an American Nightmare flag. No offense.

Nothing against you. And he's got an American Nightmare flag, so you just know he's a loser. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. No offense. No offense. No offense. No offense.

To that point of the mark with the flag. Garza! Garza! Garza! Garza! Are they mad because I get it? Are they mad because I know? No offense. No offense. But to that point about going through that grind,

when you were doing those house shows and gyms and there wasn't the whoa of the entire arena that we see every single week, was this exactly what you envisioned? Like, did you know, like, hey, this is where it is? Yeah, like you knew that you had it in that moment, or was it more so like, hey, I just got to keep putting in that work, and it will pay off? I really, truly didn't have an end game.

I really didn't know where it was going to go. The main thing I wanted to do was interact. Sometimes more important than the match on an independent show is the meet and greet you do before, is the pictures in the ring after. That was the first time, cuz I grew up in WWE. That was the first time that it wasn't the house lights weren't down and a spotlight on the ring. You could see every single person.

And when I could see every single person, and I wrestled every independent I could possibly think of in the US and the world over When you can see them You can make a connection with them and that had been the thing missing I grew up with all this great lineage and history and experience that my dad tried to give me and all that But really unless you cross over and connect with them. It doesn't go anywhere It's something that I agree on with the rock the Rock connects with his audience. He makes a point to it. He shows you how he feels about it. And in that respect, we are similar

up to that point. I didn't know. Go ahead, Cole. Cody, you mentioned your lineage. We may have a new audience watching here today. That was very professional of you. They're asking him to teach classes in Syracuse again. Been 27 years. But when you talk about the lineage, and of course your father, the late great American dream, Dusty Rhodes.

Your brother, of course, Dustin. What they've never done is what you're attempting to do Sunday. With everything that Dusty accomplished in his unbelievable career, he never held the WWE Championship. And this is what you're trying to accomplish on Sunday night. If that happens. This is your story.

And I'm sure you've run this through your mind over the past year. You've got to finish your story. Please. If you finish your story. When you, when, if you finish the story, what's that going to feel like? Is it going to be this huge, like, relief, like this weight is finally off your shoulders? Like, what do you think is the – We boozing? What?

Well. Having a little Wheatley vodka or what? What? There is the Wheatley bus. We can get some back. Well, it's on fire. It's okay. The vodka survived.

It's moonshine now. To answer your question, Michael, I can't really predict what something like that would feel like because of what you said. I've never been to the end zone. You know, there's that statement, you know, when you enter any sports entertainment, hey, act like you've been there before. I haven't.

And that's the whole point of getting there and getting it done because I want to know for the first time what that feels like. I want them to know for the first time what that feels like. I want them to know. And the story about Dusty Rhodes in 1978 and holding that title. I have that title with me. Holding that title and then it being taken away because of how he won the match. That's all very much what we talk about when we talk about finishing the story.

But the story that begins if I am able to be the greatest champion that WWE has seen in decades. Our tribal chief is who he's talking about. Ever, probably. That's who he's talking about. The story that begins then is something that I would look forward to so, so much because it's no secret. I mean, we should know because we're on ESPN right now on one of the most successful shows with ESPN's golden boy,

Pat McAfee, right here. Whoa, whoa, whoa. But we should know wrestling, and you guys should take credit for this, wrestling truly has never been this cool, ever. Amen. We acknowledge. So instead of it ending, right,

instead of the story being finished, I say each and every one of us, fan, performer, competitor, analyst, commentator, we start a whole new damn story Monday night after WrestleMania, after I beat Roman Reigns and become the undisputed WWE champion. The Raw After Mania is certainly one that the world highly anticipates every single year because it's starting the whole new season that is 52 weeks a year. And this man has showed up for all of them. And that is why these people love him. We'll be going into break. We'll come back on the other side on ESPN. We'll see you then.

Cheers. We're still live on YouTube and ESPN+, which is really the only people that matter. And I would assume the only people still watching. It's the truth. Because we didn't have would assume the only people still watching. The truth. Because we didn't have speakers for the first 20 minutes of the show. People that are watching on ESPN had to turn it off. I mean, absolutely had to change the channel. I have a question for you, actually.

Oh, no, I have a question. Okay. Shut up, Cole. Pat invited me on this show today. Pat has a question. Do you wait? I don't need to listen to your shit. Do you wait?

He has a question. Get up there, Cole. Get up there. Whoa. Cole, get up there. Get up there, Cole. Athlete, huh? Got him.

That looked very natural. Yeah. That looked very natural. That looked very natural. Thank you, thank you. Bet you're great at shooting hoops. Hey, you talk about story, and obviously the story for you is about the American dream and what your father experienced and having it for only a moment and then gone, and then you worked to build and come back and do this, and ever since you got back, it's been finish your story, Cody.

Finish your story. You've got to finish your story. Finish your story. Cody. Finish your story. Got to finish the story. Finish the story. Finish the story. Cody Rhodes has to finish the story. Got to finish it. We just heard recently, like you don't necessarily love that we all say that. Is that real?

Or do you think it's just gotten hammered home too much? It's too, what do you think? Like, because Tyrese Halliburton, Indiana Pacer All-Star, when he was trying to shoot hoops to win 50 people 500 bucks on our show, he's a massive wrestling fan, big fan of yours. Huge fan. He was literally like 15 misses in, and he was like, finish your story, Tyrese.

Like he was using it as motivation and homage to you. What is your feelings on finish your story, and is that how we should be talking about it whenever we're calling the match on Sunday? Finish the story was something. I feel like I have this little knack for phrases that often aren't about me that catch on, like FTR, Bullet Club is fine, and then ultimately finish the story.

The reason I am, I guess, irked by it, or not irked, is because last year we were saying finish the story, going into WrestleMania 39. And I don't care what you know or don't know about sports entertainment, that's a suspension of disbelief. Losing at WrestleMania 39 is the lowest of lows. It was an absolute awful feeling, an awful feeling in the stadium, an awful moment.

And that's why it's more embarrassing. So when 2K24 says, you know what? We're going to theme our whole game after finishing the story. Okay, all it does, though, is it puts me in this position, and obviously, guys, you can tell I might project confidence, but I'm nervous as hell. This is terrifying. We're going into this thing, and we have to win.

It's a must win, and when we do, when we do, then we can say we finished the story. There we go. So we can still say the story is being wrote or written as we join back on ESPN Live from WWE World. That was professional as hell. The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes, has stuck with us past overtime because that's literally what he does every night for the WWE, which is why these people love him so much. Ty Schmidt has a question for you, Cody.

Yeah, Cody, speaking of all this, I mean, everything with the finisher story, like you kind of just alluded to it a little bit, but how do you frame it in your mind? You know, everyone, hey, finisher story, finisher story. If you were to beat Roman on Sunday night, if you were, you know, bad chance. But if you do, if you do...

Hey, I'm just trying to be a realist. I'm just trying to be a realist, okay? If you do, like, how do you, like, then the work actually begins. You know what I mean? It's not just like, oh, this is great. I'm happy to be here. You know, I'm a champion now. Like, then you're getting everyone's best shot.

Like, how do you frame that in your mind? Like, I mean, like I said, you just alluded to it, but, like, it's not the end of something. You know, if you're worth the salt, it's the beginning. But he'll actually go to work after winning the championship, unlike others. Oh! Easy. Who are you talking about? You suck, Paul!

Oh, I saw this. You get the pieces. That is a great question and my mentor in the business used to say, hey, are you on WrestleMania? And you'd say yes. He'd say, that's great. What are you doing the next night? It truly is incredibly, and Hunter just mentioned it, the show never stops. All these

new individuals who have jumped on board with WWE and new people in management, you know, with TKO, with Endeavor, Lee Fitting, all that. They're seeing how unbelievable sports entertainment and pro wrestling can be and how consistent it is. Year round, we do not stop. We continue to go. It's the best thing on the planet when it's in your blood and when you love it. No complaints at all about the schedule. For me, I would want to be a present champion on both Raw

and Friday Night SmackDown. I also don't love how that championship title looks. Okay. I don't love it. And not too long ago when I was here on the first run, I didn't like how the Intercontinental title looked and I changed that sucker too. So there might be something there, but for me truly, I'm not gonna get cart before horse on this. We have to put it in perspective. You're saying all the things about finishing the story, WrestleMania 40, 40 years of WWE being celebrated. But we cannot go without mentioning how good at capturing the imagination of the audience Roman Reigns has been.

Amen. Incredible. Amen, brother. You're right. Amen, brother. You don't have to do that every time. That's our travel team. That is.

That's our travel team. He really will be looked at in a completely different sense, I think, five, ten years from now. What he's done is amazing. I don't have to like Roman Reigns, but I absolutely respect him. And I think, and this isn't a mind game, this isn't anything like that, I'm of the thought that Roman Reigns also wants a fair fight on Sunday. I think Roman Reigns wants to prove to everybody here he can go without the help of the bloodline, without the help of the final boss.

And I can tell you now, as much as I respect Roman Reigns in a fair fight, he don't stand a chance against me. He don't stand a chance. And I think Cody's point is this, and we've missed this point throughout this discussion. Tomorrow night, the main event, is the biggest tag match in history, which is The Rock and Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. There is so much riding on this match for you, Cody, because if you guys lose, then the match on Sunday versus Roman Reigns

for the championship is Bloodline Rules. Bloodline Rules. No. Oh, no. Bloodline Rules. Which means anything goes. And we saw what the Bloodline was capable of this past Monday night on Raw on the Bloodline Rules match.

Look at you, boy. Seth Rollins. Look at you, boy. Yeah, he said boy a lot. Tomorrow. Did you think you were getting thrown over that whenever he was throwing you off your bus? There was like a time where he kind of put you up over where the ramp was.

We thought potentially you were getting thrown off the ledge of the building. Into the ravine. Into the ravine down there. I think the biggest fear I had was actually when we cleared and we weren't clear and he was still whipping me and still going. I actually was afraid he was going to start hitting some of the civilians. Well, he did get the ref the other night. Yeah, he got our referee, Spider, the other night.

So the final boss plays by his own rules. I'm sorry, Michael. No, I was going to say tomorrow night's a must win for you. It is a must win for me. And also we can't not mention the fact that a guy who really deserves the main event is getting his first WrestleMania main event. That being Seth

freaking Rollins. He's a visionary. Seth Rollins last night also provided me Seth Rollins last night also provided me. I was going to say, Seth also provided me shelter from the storm last night because when I was standing out in the cold with my WrestleMania boots and a photo thinking that my whole home was just burning in front of me, he let me come on his bus and hang out for a little while.

That's very nice, Seth. Good chemistry. He's a visionary. He's a revolutionary. He is Seth. That's pretty cool. Every arena he goes into and does that. And then they sing. And you know what else is like,

shoot one of the coolest things that we see every week? The... The what? The... You know what? What about it? You got the people. You know, the final boss did start drifting away from the people's champion in his promos. Yeah, but that's the thing.

The other night, people were chanting Rocky sucks. And one of the guys I looked at, he had a rock shirt on and he was chanting Rocky sucks. I think most people know or hope, maybe they don't know, maybe they hope that underneath the final boss is the actual people's champion. Underneath the final boss. I don't know if that's the case. Maybe he's a lost cause at this point, but right now he's the final boss and he's standing in my way.

Hey, real quick. I don't think anything you just said is real, but the... Whoa! Just first thought. Dude, he's wearing Papatoui, dude. He's the cleanest he's ever been. There ain't nothing underneath that.

It is right there. Papatoui, Caramana. Yeah. Oh, nice, huh? Brother, i think he's selling french toast too this is the uh rolex that you also gifted to seth freaking rollins i assume i did yes that's very nice to you this is how often i guess this was just you felt obligated to do as such to thank him for everything he's done or to gain a little team chemistry i know you're sleeping in his bus last night after yours burns to the floor.

But why did you do this? And that's like quarterbacks in the NFL do this. Like this is like a really cool team thing that you're kind of doing here. I consider WrestleMania a bit of a holiday. I think a lot of fans, we consider it a bit of a holiday. There's plenty of gifts to go around. I just gave Triple H his gift. It's just a feeling.

Did you get a gift? Just put it on my wrist. It's just this feeling of giving back because I think, and I said this yesterday, and it's not political. It's not a shill. This WrestleMania is solely provided by the fans changing their minds on something. The fans changed the course of WWE, and Hunter had the foresight. Nick Khan had the foresight to say, you know what?

We're not going to stay in the court. We're going to go that way. We're going to go with the hot hand, and they did. And that's why I don't want to let any of you down. I just want to get through this. Thank you all. My gift to you, my gift to you would be becoming the undisputed WWE champion. There you have it, ladies and gentlemen.

The gift that keeps on giving. The American Nightmare. Ladies and gentlemen. That's a Rolex, huh? On both wrists? Well, for me, yeah. That was insane. That was very awesome of you.

Thank you so much for taking the time. We're obviously massive fans of yours, and I think that is the big separator. A lot of the people that wanted Rock Roman, it's not that they're not fans of Cody Rhodes. Their thing is just like, hey, Cody, maybe next year, huh? We got the rock back for the first time in this entire thing. But your fans and you decided, no, I've worked my ass off for this. We have nothing but respect for that. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who come Monday could be the WWE Universal Champion of the World!

The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes. Thank you. Every mile, the patrol. Do it all again tomorrow. Hey, stick out! Get it! The crowd is here about to blow. They told me to stop the show. Now the good lights go off. Oh, whoa!

And I'm far too scared. Cole being a mark, taking photos and videos. It's on camera, Cole. All the time. Oh, sorry. You got a mark? You got a mark? Your first time on a mic? Hey, big thanks to Cody Rhodes for staying overtime there.

That was very kind of you, Cody Rhodes. You guys could hear that entire thing, yeah? We should feel good about it? Great. I would like to let you know, because I hadn't had a chance to do this yet, thank you all so much for coming out here and representing. The WWE Universe is the greatest group of fans on earth. They will passionately lose their mind.

That's very nice of you. Very nice of you. We can stop there. We can move on from that one. You guys are fantastic. You're awesome. I'm incredibly lucky to not only, you know, I grew up in the WWE universe, but now getting an opportunity to spit into a microphone every single week

for you guys to potentially enjoy it. I'm very, very lucky and thankful for all of you. Now, with that being said, I acknowledge our travel chief. Always. I acknowledge the tribal chief. Always. I acknowledge the final boss. Michael Cole, did you feel like you could kiss any more ass there during that entire conversation? Good question.

I respect Cody Rhodes, longtime friend of the family. I hope he gets it done on Sunday. There's a lot of Richard Kreider jokes being made about the way you asked him questions. Oh, yeah, I'm sure there was. And you don't help the matters either. What do I do? I mean, you wear your The Rock shirt on national television. You put the

finger up in the air. Talk about biased journalism. Whoa, whoa. Very biased. Just look at the stats, Cole. You can't argue with greatness, brother. Yeah, why don't you just acknowledge one time that the only reason why you're in that nice suit and this entire convention center is made to be absolutely fantastic is because of the bloodline

that family and everything they've done over the years you know roman cut a promo this past week and it was a shot directly at cody and also a couple of initials that were being chanted earlier. He said, like, nobody in this bloodline leaves. This is our company. They view WWF slash WWE as their family's company because they've been some of the greatest pillars of the largest wrestling company on Earth for, what, 60 years straight now at this point? Why don't you respect that? Why don't you understand that? Why don't you appreciate that?

Why don't you want The Rock and Roman to do what their family has done for 50 years, which is carry individuals like you and me on their back to the top of Lincoln Financial Field where there's going to be... How many people? I'm not sure yet. 100.

Sold out. Both nights. A packed out Lincoln Financial because of Roman and Rock. Why don't you just acknowledge it? Well, it is because of Roman and Rock. It's also because of Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes. It's because of Drew McIntyre. It's because of Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch and everyone else that's busted their ass for 360-plus days this year.

And Logan Paul. Yeah, J.D. McDonough. Logan Paul as well. Well, not McDonough. I don't think we have to say that. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. A lot of Mommy chants. Have some good news.

Mommy is on her way. Good. I was told that lotion sales in Philadelphia have gone through the roof with Mommy coming to the city. From what I've been told, that is potentially a factual statement, especially across this front row. You can kind of see. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. People really rolling through lotion whenever there's weekend house show matches happening. Instinct faces are taking place all over Nia Jax. Mommy from Australia has become one of the biggest names on earth, not just in the WWE. We'll be joining us soon, but that is what the WWE WrestleMania is. Full spectacle, brother. Well, and Rhea's incredible, too, because Triple H mentioned it.

When you came in to the WWE and Cole made that call, she was like NXT. She really has come up through NXT into the WWE. Like, I remember her from way back then, and now she is, like, of the women's wrestling world, Roman Reigns. That is basically who she is on that side. Why does she hang out with that dumb group, the Judgment Day? What's her deal? Why is Dirty Dawn allowed to be Iran mommy? McDonough?

Why don't you ask mommy when she shows up here in a little bit? That's going to be my first question. The thing about Rhea Ripley, and Connor, you just talked about this a little bit. People have it, right? Very few, but there are some that come around once in a generation that has it. Rhea Ripley has it. She is a massive star. She has everything.

She has power, long-time champion. She has the charisma that Triple H was talking about earlier today. Jocked. Jocked. Absolutely jocked. She has a unique look. She has a different look. She's a great individual.

She puts in the work and the time to be a part of all this. And, you know, she's really a once-in-a a once in a generation star. Yeah. I think war games night, Rhea earlier, she might've won the championship that evening. I forget, or maybe she was in war games as well in some, but she had heard or maybe caught wind that I was potentially going to be, sure. You know, going off the top of that thing. And she came over with that sweet Aussie accent and was just like, good luck, mate. You know? Yeah.

Like, thank you, Rhea. Yeah, but it's literally like the entire generation now that was in the Cerebral Assassins NXT now is up here. So when I leave, you know, to go do College Game Day, which if you're in the football world, have to take that job. For sure. Institution of football.

Had to take it. Very lucky to take it. Loved it. Leaving WWE was not easy, though. That was not fun at all. to take that job for sure institution of football had to take it very lucky to take it loved it leaving wwe was not easy though that was not fun at all i was very to be honest i was uh i was bummed out like super bummed out so was i yeah i was i was gonna try to do both i was gonna try to do friday night smackdown my show five days a week in college game day on saturday nick khan you everybody was like nah that you will die if you do that. So when I come back, it was a completely new company.

A lot of moves had been made, and I had no clue what to expect. And then I get in there, and it's like, oh, it's like everybody from back in the day at NXT, it was almost like a reunion. This company lasts forever because the development, the young, the future. And out here right now, I saw a couple of youngs that were on each other's shoulders. Like that kid right back there, there's a good chance he's going to make a run at becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at some point.

It's so much different than every other sport because if you have a dream and a work ethic, you can really make it work, which is why I love this place so much. It is literally the story of the American dream every single weekend, but it's a global entity. I'm very lucky to be here it's a it's a beautiful it's an incredibly beautiful thing well and one of the things uh triple h just mentioned but we didn't give him enough credit for what he did initially at nxt

um and also what sean michaels is doing there now uh 85 to 90 percent of our rosters um got their start in nxt at some point or their start in NXT at some point, or performed in NXT at some point. And it's really become this unbelievable training ground of the superstars of tomorrow. And Shawn Michaels has done an unbelievable job over the past couple of years of really, really The baby HPK.

Yeah. And getting us to the point. And don't forget, we've talked a lot about WrestleMania this weekend, tomorrow at high noon in Philadelphia, East Coast time, NXT stand and deliver as well. Big weekend for NXT stars. Hell yeah, Braun Breaker, Baron Corbin, here we go, and Bananas. Yep, let's go. Trick, Mellow Gang, the blow-up, Carmelo and Trick, going to have their big one-on-one match. Yeah, and WrestleMania weekend is also

a massive weekend for people that are in NXT to potentially I don't want to say get called up, but kind of. Get called up. It's that season. It is. It's also surprise season. Oh yeah. Who's coming back? There's been a lot of rumors.

I love the fact that everybody that is in charge here at the WWE understands A, Pat's a lot of rumors. I love the fact that everybody that is in charge here at the WWE understands, A, Pat's a doofus. We shouldn't let him know anything. But also, Pat's natural reaction is probably going to be absurd. I can't wait to see what the hell you all have in store for all of us. Can't wait. In the WWE universe.

I cannot wait. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the women's world champion she's from Australia but she's loved worldwide they call her mommy because she's always on top ladies and gentlemen Rhea Ripley ripley It's Steve's Band. How are you? Absolutely shocking.

That's Connor down there. He's a big fan. Connor down there is a big fan. I've seen him on it all the time. If we could turn down that music, I assume there is a two-syllable word that is not daddy, but the other one that is Steve Channon. the other one that is. Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. So now your life has random chance of mommy to you.

You're the champion and you are one of the biggest draws on Earth. When we met you, you're at NXT, everybody knew that you were gonna be this we met you, you were at NXT. Everybody knew that you were going to be this person. I assume you did as well. But from us to you, hell yeah, Rhea. Hell yeah. Thanks, guys.

How is life at the top right now? How does it feel to be? And why do you hang out with those bums of the Judgment Day? Wow, we're going to go there. First question. I said I was going to say it. First question, this is journalism. Well, I actually asked her the second part of that, which is why does she hang out with Dirty Dom?

Yeah, I guess the rest could kinda, yeah. Wow, wow. Because he is double the man you are, Cole. Whoa! I love that. You were the one that was supposed to ask the question. I was trying to draw back there. You knew, obviously, I think everybody knew that you were going to be,

I don't know if everybody knew you were going to be mommy, but I think everybody knew you were going to go. At what moment in your run here at WWE, counting NXT, did you know, okay, this is special. Things are about to be a little bit different from here. To be honest, I didn't know. I still, I wake up every single day and I feel like I get to do these amazing things, but I don't actually realize how big of a deal Mami really is.

Mami's big deal. You're a big deal. Yeah, I need Mami. You don't want Mami, you ain't got nothing else. You're a big deal, and this weekend you got the man. Yeah. Okay, Becky Lynch, she has been at the top. She's been main event.

She's obviously been there, done that. She had a book come out. Great book. Yeah, great book. Great book. Good stories. I thought it sucked.

What's your problem? What's your problem? Tony. I thought it sucked. Are you a little bit worried, though, that Becky Lynch, show experience,

been there, done that, that maybe she'll have a little bit of a mental advantage, especially with the high that she's rolling on? Or how do you feel going in, Tick, on Becky Lynch? I feel confident. I think people forget that I've been at this game for a long, long time as well. If anything shows, look at WrestleMania 39. I stepped in there with one of the best, one of the four horsewomen, Charlotte Flair.

And I took her SmackDown Women's Championship. So stepping in with Becky, it's going to be the same, except I'm walking in champion and I'm walking out champion. Michael Cole has a question for you, Mommy. So, by the way, Rhea has now held the championship for a full year. Congratulations. Hell yeah. Not easy.

It was a leap year, too. I think there was an extra day. There was an extra day. We had our 66th day, yeah, you did it. Rhea, you and I talked a lot about this back in February when you returned home as champion to defend at Elimination Chamber in Perth. Tell us about that week and what it was like for you

to come home to your homeland and your family holding the championship. Down under like, mate. It was amazing. It was a really, really special moment for me. I hadn't been able to compete in Australia for seven years, and the last time being for Riot City Wrestling, the federation that I started with.

So to be able to go back, not only a WWE superstar, but as your Women's World Champion and put my title on the line against the unstoppable force Nia Jax. I have my family in the crowd. I got my friends in the crowd. It was a really, really heartwarming moment for me. It's what I could have dreamt of. Yeah, your main event at two.

Yeah, we main event at two yeah we made a better to yeah my name popped up when you use the hashtag on X how many people are in that stadium there I heard it was in the middle of nowhere Australia that's what Logan Paul said I know I wasn't there that's a really hard trip 50,000 50,000 people who's the main event Rhea and Naya let's go that's big money speaking of N, the other week on the internet. Yep. Yeah.

A lot of lotion sales, I believe, around the IWC taking place. Are we, is that a new move we're going to keep in the arsenal going forward? As much as people want to see it, which I know you do. Probably not. It's more of a payback because Naya did it to me, so I really wanted to show her what it felt like. Well, I saw Shayna Baszler was trying to sign up for it. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she was. Yeah, she was. The world obviously erupted, and Becky Lynch responded about it too. Yep. She said that, I don't want my daughter seeing that type of stuff. Now people would say, Becky, there's a chance some of your cheats, every once in a while in the middle of battle, it could happen. But how do you feel about the grandstanding potentially by some people

about how you go about doing what you do? At the end of the day, people aren't in my shoes, so they don't know what it feels like to walk a day in them. Whether they want to judge me for the things that I do or they are supportive of the things I do, it doesn't really affect me, to be completely honest. At all. Because whatever I do is working.

You're talking about me. You could say that you hate me, but you're talking about me. So technically, you're still a fan because you're helping me become a bigger person than I was the day before. And that's the wrestling business in a nutshell. Tone's got a question for you. Big fan. Yeah, big fan, Rhea. I acknowledge you day before. And that's the wrestling business in a nutshell. Tone's got a question for you. Big fan.

Yeah, big fan. Rhea, I acknowledge you as mommy. I want you to know that I need to ask a question. When I and all of us are calling you mommy, what is that relationship? Because I think we're a little confused on what the mommy relationship is. Can you define that for us as your children or not children? I'm confused. Yeah.

I mean, how do I word this? A little brain buster. Respect. You guys are all my children. Okay. So, Tom's your child. There you go. Thank God.

Mommy is definitely a word that gets thrown out a lot, especially when I'm out in public, and it is quite funny to me because people just walk past me in public areas, and they're like, mommy. And I'm so caught off guard by it sometimes. I'm like, child. Yeah. Love that.

I think they love it as well. Ty has a question for you. Yeah, mommy, you mentioned Charlotte Flair, and obviously we've got big-time Becks coming up here. But, I mean, how do you stay humble? Like, you're the best there is. It's that simple. Does anyone pose any kind of threat to you?

And, like, do you even have to stay humble? Because you know, hey, I'm going to go in there, I'm going to beat wholesale ass, and I'm getting out of there. Like, how does that work out on a day-to-day? So there's threats in everyone. Anything could happen and anyone can get you at any given moment. That's the thing. I'm obviously very confident within my abilities and what I do and what I bring to the ring.

But there's always that slight chance where you take someone for granted. And that's sort of what happened when I was coming up too. People thought that I was a no one and I hadn't made a big enough name for myself yet, so they didn't take me seriously. And then I beat Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship. What? Hell yeah.

And then I went on to Survivor Series and won for the female team and won for NXT. And then I went on to Waror Series and won for the female team and won for NXT. And then I went on to War Games and won a 4v2. Okay. So, I mean, every time I step in the ring, yes, I'm going to be confident. I'm going to be cocky. I'm going to be myself. But at the same time, I have to be aware of everything that is going on because anyone could get anything.

I could lose in a split second to Maxine Dupree if I don't take her seriously. Well, I saw you go to bat for her. The world was very thankful for you. That was a good mommy child situation there going to bat for one of your kids. I can't help but notice this is pretty heavy duty here. What the hell's going on? We're going into mania injured right now. What happened? Um, it's, it's an old thing. It's an old thing. It's been there for a couple months and, uh, This is more so I don't hurt myself more. The doctors, they know that I'm pretty irresponsible at times, and I'm not going to stop going to the gym and doing stupid things.

They're like, you were confined to a brace, my young girl, and you're not allowed to take it off. Okay, so this is making an appearance this weekend too? I probably won't wrestle in it because I tried to wrestle in it at a live event. That's why you had to start using your cheeks. Exactly, because it's just like it's not practical at all. I understand. Connor's got a question for you, Mommy.

Yeah, Mommy, obviously you will. I mean, good heat. That is good heat, brother. Why do you got so much heat, fam? Well, because they're just stupid and they know that I know what I'm talking about and they don't. And to that point, if they would let me get there, obviously on Saturday night you will retain. You will beat Bex. I mean, that's just kind of set in stone.

We all know that's going to happen. But that's Saturday. Sunday, Pat, you know, brought up the Judgment Day. Now, some of us up here, myself included, believe McDonough probably time for him to go. But, again, that's something that you need to decide because you are the general of Judgment Day. Now, one of your members, you know, Mr. Senor Money in the Bank, he's had that briefcase for quite some time. A long time. He missed a lot of opportunities, Bobby.

That's what a lot of people are saying. I don't know what's going on in that locker room. Yeah, so Saturday you get your job done. Sunday, will you be perhaps in his ear, hey, look, this might be your best shot. There's going to be 100,000 people in Philadelphia in that stadium pumped up to see how that story possibly finishes.

Will you tell maybe Damien, hey, listen, I'm the general and I'm telling you it's your time now. You better run your ass out there and cash in, or is that not your position? Are you kind of hands off there? Look, we've definitely discussed a few different routes that we should go with this. Judgment Day, we're a family, so we talk about things.

Nah, you guys have been disagreeing a lot lately. We've seen it. All families fight, though. All families fight, and they stay together because they're stronger. Sometimes you've got to boot a trainer. If you can overcome a fight within a family, that means that you're really family. That's true. Amen, mommy. Well said, mommy.

That's why you're mom. That's why you're mom. Exactly. But when it comes to sending your money in the bank, I've seen it. I've seen it all over the internet. People love to complain and throw shade when they have no idea what the hell they are talking about. I saw Roman. I saw

a couple opportunities. There's been opportunities, but at the same time... Remember Rock was saying look at your boy? Remember how he was saying that? Look at your boy. The problem with that is if Priest were to go out there and try and cash in on Seth,

then he's got Roman there. He's got The Rock there. They're obviously already angry and already revved up. They can start taking out on him. And then if Cody starts getting up, he can help Seth out. And then it's a failed cash in. I don't want my man to fail. You're smarter than us.

We have to think about every single little part of what is happening and if there's anyone up and about, it's not a smart time to go down unless we're going to go down as a group. But that was not the time. They were swinging belts around. I didn't want to race to get hurt. He didn't want to get hit with one.

Yeah, he hit a ref. Why do people think that he wants to cash in on only Seth? Oh, could be Roman. Oh, the phone. Yeah, why why do people think that he wants to cash in on only Seth? Oh Exactly acknowledge the Judgment Day This one instead they really family or are they Are they really family or are they together? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Anger gun.

Whoa. It was miscommunication. The final boss got a lot going on. He didn't know you're supposed to just put the thumb in. He's chewing fireworks. You should know. What's the product, fam? Well, also, there's a chance. He broke his thumb.

Hey, man, there is a chance that he is the hardest worker in the room. Yeah. Every piece of his body except for his right thumb. Yep. A little lazy. Yeah, that one definitely is. It kind of falls a little bit. It falls a little bit.

Open right up. What do you think that means, mommy? You think of falls a little bit. Falls a little bit. What do you think that means, Mom? Do you think there's a little bit of a... I don't know. I mean... And then on Jimmy Fallon, did you see? Oh, yeah. He said you got Roman Reigns, and then you got Final Boss. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

What the hell? We don't need this type of disagreement going into a big weekend. We have to beat the shit out of Cody Rhodes and Seth Rogen. What do you mean, Mom. I don't know. Cole's got a question for you. Well, it's not really a question. It was a statement. I've talked a lot about Damian with him

over the past couple of weeks, and he's got a chip on his shoulder because he reads the internet. He's heard the chirping that people say he's scared to turn in the contract, that he's not championship material, that he couldn't carry the ball if he won the championship. And this really bothers him a lot.

And he really wants to prove the world that that's not the case. Well, well, well, listen. What crap is he going to say? He's doing a lot of chirping in that Judgment Day locker room. A lot of it. Speaking different languages to different people, kicking people out. Don't be playing with my dart boards. I haven't seen them do it. I haven't seen them.

I haven't seen them. He's very protective over his family. He is. Very protective. What about his dartboard? What about his darts? Especially his darts. Why are you guys always playing darts? Why aren't you guys ever focused on the show?

Why aren't you watching? We're killing it out there. You guys are playing darts. We're out there playing darts, and we're still killing it. Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. You're right.

Dirty Dom. Oh, God. and we're still killing it yeah you're right you're right you're right uh dirty dom oh god oh what a handsome handsome man look at that luscious mullet huh well speaking of mullets how about this guy right here yeah hey i got purple, I'm ready. I'm ready for the Judgment Day if you need me. I'm better than McDonald's. So, like, Dirty Dom, we all detest. He's scumbag. Yeah, we all detest.

For sure. He's great. He's a piece of luck. He's lovable. No, he's not. Nothing about him. Nah. Confirm.

You and him attacked his dad, Ray Mysterio. That was too hot. He deserved it. He had it coming. He deserved it? He was it coming. He deserved it? He was a deadbeat father. He was never his son. He's never been.

You know how many birthdays that man missed? Oh, mommy, I don't want to hear it. He was putting food on the table. He's one of the reasons why this whole thing exists. Pretty sure that was Angie. I'm not going to argue with you. Angie. Semantics.

Angie swagged out as well. I don't think I've ever seen a more, like, flex dresser in my life than actual Mama Mysterio over there. But, like, real talk, why do you just, if you were to, he'd be gone forever. We'd never have to see him again. He would literally not pick up. He'd probably be at that other place. Yeah.

In front of, like, 600 people. Yeah. Like, why can't we do, why don't we. Dumb. Yeah. For like 600 people. Like, why can't we do... It's two months. You're the only... Why don't we... Dom? Yeah.

Why don't we... Dom's the goat. Not one. Oh, easy. People say Ray Mysterio's the goat. Hell nah. Dominic Mysterio, the other one. Okay.

The better one. He looks like a goat. Oh! Yeah, Cole! Yeah, Cole! That was a good one, Cole. Thank you, thank you. That was a! Yeah, Cole! That was a good one, Cole. Thank you, thank you. That was a good one, Cole. Anyways, Rhea, thank you for taking time to join us.

You have a massive weekend. You're going to watch little Dirty Dom get his ass beat by his dad. I know that's going to be a heartbreaker. But remember, all these children here will still call you mommy after this weekend when you do what you have to do to Becky Lynch. Yes, they will. We appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, our winning world champion, Rhea Ripley.

Thank you. Thank you. Great to see you, Rhea. She so jacked. You're so jacked. Hey, hold on real quick. Can we ask you? Hold on, hold on, hold on.

I don't like doing this to people, but I forgot. What do you want? What is your lift? What is the lift of choice for you? What do you, what is the, and do you put up massive numbers or do you just lift all day, every day? I lift all day, every day pretty much, but I love, I obviously love back day. But my chest day is getting pretty good. Okay, where are we at?

If you were just to throw. If I'm doing an incline bench with dumbbells, I've gotten up to the 80 pounds. No way. For like a good three reps. Let's go, dude. Holy shit. We appreciate you.

Maybe not right now, but you know. Yeah, got it. Absolutely jock. Ladies and gentlemen, Rhea Ripley. Thank you, mommy. Thank you, mommy. Ladies and gentlemen, Rhea Ripley, our champion. Wow.

Hey, she is so jock. Rhea, thank you for that. Bex is shaking in her boots. Thank you. Yeah, Bex has no chance. Well, that's the thing. Like, my wife is currently reading Becky Lynch's book. Nice.

Okay. Not your average, average girl. Right. And Becky Lynch came in and she was like Stone Cold Steve Austin for women, right? When she was driving in, coming through the crowd. Like, my wife is a massive Becky Lynch fan. But since seeing Rhea Ripley from the beginning, it's like, she's different. She's a different.

She's like a perfect superstar. Is she not? She's exactly what WWE is looking for in a superstar. And it's confidence. I mean, if you look at the evolution of Rhea when she first came in to where she is today, from everything from her look to what she does in the ring to the way she talks, the way she cuts a promo, I mean, she's absolutely incredible. I don't like the wrist thing.

Yeah, that's not good. It's been there for a little bit. I also don't like the, I don't think, I don't think we were all thinking as children either in the mommy relationship. I think we've got to rethink that. What, you don't like being a child? No.

Because you're an adult. Exactly. Is Boston Connor an adult? No, no, no. I never will be. I mean, I'm an adult to these guys, so I'm smarter than everybody out here. But aside from that, no, no i have never i never will be i mean i'm an adult to these guys i'm smarter than everybody out here but aside from that no no not really no that's pretty good heat though you're

trying to talk to mommy and all of a sudden you're getting booed out before logan paul joins us let's chit chat about that's your united states champion okay we're in the united states let's remember that's our champion yeah uh mav you know, trip. Logan Paul. Logan Paul. Logan Paul. Logan Paul. Logan Paul. Okay.

Yeah. All right, Logan. All right. Hey, that's good. You can earn that. Yeah, I like that. I like that. Let's talk about the Final Four happening this evening.

The women tip off NC State versus South Carolina. South Carolina favored by 11.5. That's a lot of points for a Final Four game, but don't think it's going to be enough. This South Carolina team is an absolute wagon. We should assume that they're going to continue to be so. Yes, Con Man? I'd say so.

The only thing that happened with NC State was that they just came out shooting basically lights out against, I believe, Texas in the Elite Eight. But, yeah, I mean, with Cardoso in the middle, give me a break. Congrats to NC State, both men and women's basketball in the Final Four. That's awesome for the Wolfpack. UConn versus Iowa also. Cannot wait to watch this tonight, 9.30. After SmackDown, you'll be able to catch the Hall of Fame. After the Hall of Fame, you'll be able to catch UConn versus Iowa.

Iowa favored by two and a half. Paige Buckets versus Kaitlyn Clark. A lot of chatter Ty about who's who in this entire one. Yeah, a lot of chatter. Everyone knows that Kaitlyn, I mean, Rowan basically said it when we were in Iowa. You know, he acknowledged Kaitlyn Clark as basically his female counterpart. She is our

tribal chief. Okay, she understands too. Like, she has to have the same type of game that she did against LSU. Like, if she scores 40 again or whatever, everyone talking about, hey, we'd never be talking about Kaitlin Clark if Paige Buckets never got hurt. She did. Not everybody. Molly's talking about it.

She's a UConn alum. She's talking shit, which I believe is being taken as journalism, which I don't love. A lot of people piggybacked on that and agreed with her point. She was absolutely just talking shit and kind of trying to stir things up a little bit, but then I think a lot of people who want to see Kaitlyn Clark fail were like, you know what? She's absolutely right.

But I think it's going to be a high-scoring game. I'll be very interested to see what the numbers are on this one with the 9.30 start time. Oh, yeah, because UConn LSU had 12.3 million, peaking at 16 million. Let's talk about ratings. Cole, right now, more people are watching the WWE than, like, ever before.

What a wild, wild run to be a part of. Everything is up and to the right in the sports and sports entertainment world, Cole. That's real deal. It's been incredible. The ratings have been off the chart, especially in the demo, obviously, that we sell, which is the adults, 18 to 35. The thing about it is that not just the television ratings. Doesn't care about the olds. Look about the attendance.

We've had 13 straight, 14 straight tonight, television sellouts, which is incredible. We're going to have 100,000 people a night in the building in Philadelphia. We're going to be sold out again on Monday night. It has been an incredible time to be in this world. 13 straight televised sellouts. When did you guys just make up that bullshit? I heard you say. Right. I know. What is your problem? No, it's real. But it's like every building is packed. Like, I think that is just the conversation.

Every building is packed. Yes. Like putting putting the television sellouts, it's like, okay, so maybe there's a house show that wasn't marketed that maybe didn't sell 100 tickets. Every building is packed out right now for the WWE, which is not a normal thing across entertainment. It's fantastic. It is. We are so lucky to be a part of this. Everywhere from Anaheim and San Jose all the way over to North Carolina and Raleigh, Chicago in between, now in Philadelphia with hundreds

and hundreds of thousands of tickets being sold to every single event in this entire thing. It's like business is booming. You know why? Because Michael Cole is here. Oh yeah. I would like to take some credit for that now. But think about it.

You know, we're 52 weeks a year. 52 weeks Monday Night Raw, 52 weeks Friday Night SmackDown, 52 weeks NXT, a different premium live event every month. And to be able to jam this many people into arenas each and every week for all these shows is incredible. Men's Final Four tips off tomorrow. NC State takes on Purdue. Would like to say, everybody's talking about DJ BJ going to the NFL.

Six foot nine. Good personality. Good feet. Pretty physical. Guy got WWE superstar written all over him. I love everything about him. Cannot wait to watch him take on Big Zach Eady. Nine and a half point spread there.

And then Alabama, UConn tone. One half of the hammer. Gone. One half of the hammer. Gone. Cowboys love that. Love everything about what just happened there. What do we take in in that particular matchup?

And over the weekend, what are you leaning towards? I honestly, I feel like it's too many points. Like final four, it's almost double digits for both game. And like as a gambler, like who's too many points. Like, Final Four, it's almost double digits for both games. And, like, as a gambler who's been gambling for a long time, you see those numbers. And even though UConn and Purdue has been absolutely dominant, I feel like I have to take the dog in both.

Not to win. Absolutely not to win. But with the points, I think I have to take the dogs. And I was thinking I would love to see Eadie in the ring against Omos. Oh, Zach Eadie is a WWE superstar. Yeah. I thought you were talking about DJ BJ. A couple 7'4 Giants.

Hey, what happened to Omos? We should have asked Triple H that. He is in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal tonight on Friday Night SmackDown. I was in Battle Royal one time, the Royal Rumble. Yeah, right. With Omos. Yes. And once I saw the way he was looking at me, I said, get me out of here. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Which allowed me to still hold the record for the longest time in a Royal Rumble spent by any announcer in WWE history. Yeah, but after Omos scares an adult out of the ring, isn't there something we can do with him maybe, you know, afterwards to some people? You know, if that might have been a question for Triple H there. Should have been like. CMH! CMH! CMH! CMH! You know, if that might have been a question for Triple H there should have been like. We'll be joining us this afternoon for the kickoff to WrestleMania. Five o'clock Eastern on all the WWE socials. It'll be myself, Michael Cole, CM Punk will be a part of the team.

It is going to be a great time kicking off the entire week. You brought it up or you, Ian, in the ring. Are you undefeated at WrestleMania? Undefeated at WrestleMania. Pat is also undefeated at WrestleMania. Yeah, he is now. When are you two going to get back and put that undefeated record back on the— No, we'd be a tag team.

That's what I mean. I don't mean against each other. Yeah, we could be a tag team. We could. Maybe we'll just beat the dog shit out of Corey Graves and Wade Barrett. That feels great. There you go. I'm afraid I've got out of Corey Graves and Wade Barrett. That feels great. There you go. I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you, Wade Barrett. You know what I mean?

I'd have to bring the singlet back out. Absolutely. And the food man too. Yeah. Tuck the squirrel and nuts in there, pal. You have to. Yeah, do what you gotta do. You have to. Get back into shape too, all juiced up. I have to. Do we have a picture of Michael Cole in the singlet from WrestleMania?

We're pulling it up. We're pulling it up currently. We need to see... They're talking about you. There I am. See? Undefeated at WrestleMania. There you go. Hythons on his arms. Is there going to be anything like that you think this weekend? Something as

iconic and memorable as that? As the people in Philadelphia chant, chant one more match one more match one more match to michael cole i don't know if they'll be chanting that to me but i take the payday yeah of course of course naturally how many years you've been in wwe though 27 27 years congratulations how many how many shows have you missed uh three now three shows over 27 years 52 weeks a year many shows have you missed? Three now. Three shows over 27 years, 52 weeks a year, obviously traveling on the road away from your family. We appreciate your dedication.

Thank you, thank you very much. A lot of these people that come back, me, come back to the business, are like, oh, Cole's still here. Oh, Cole's still here. Some people need to go take a break, rest the mind, rest the body, maybe get a refresh. You for 27 years straight, every single week,

but three of those have been on the road working for the company. You're a legend, Cole. Yeah, thank you. All right, Cole. Incredibly admirable. Thanks, Cole. Respect.

And the other stuff he did before. Yeah, he used to cover actual wars. Was in Bosnia. Thank you, Michael. Look at that. Wow. Thank you, Michael. Look at that. Wow. Thank you, Michael. Kind of beg for it. Thank you, Michael.

But we got it. Thank you, Michael. Now, people are going to say we were kind of begging for it, but we got it. Hey, I'll take it. Keep begging. This guy, before he was at the WWE, he was covering wars in Bosnia, for real. This is this guy. Oh, what a stat.

Look at that. Look at that picture. Spent Easter with David Koresh down in Waco. I was going to say, like, Bosnia. For real. This is the guy. Look at that. Look at that picture. Spent Easter with David Koresh down in Waco. I was going to say, I am curious, Cole. If you had to compare David Koresh to either a current or former WWE superstar, who do you think he kind of – I don't know if we should do this. I don't know if we should do that.

I mean, we should go there either. He played great guitar. He did. I got one. I mean, I got one that kind of just resembles him. I mean, J.D. either. He played great guitar. He did. I got one. I mean, I got one that kind of just resembles him. I mean, J.D. McDonough reeks of fresh. Oh, my God. You and J.D. McDonough.

I love J.D. McDonough. Well, that's one of us. I don't like Judgment Day, but I don't think he's any part of that. Michael Cole, you were the first person to speak to David Koresh. You covered the Bosnia War in Bosnia for how many days? Three tours. I was there nine months at one point.

Stuck in a war zone for nine months. You're on a river that was on fire, almost died, being an actual journalist. Then you come to the WWF. You let the attitude era

kind of run wild with you. And then now you're still doing it in better shape and doing better than you've ever done. Lucky to call you a friend. Thank you. Even though you're

kind of a piece of shit. For sure. Great guy. Kind of. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time to introduce to you a man who is a trailblazer on the internet. His family has changed the game completely for how you can make a living from living your life and creating content. He has taken to this business like a fish to water. Your United States champion, the maverick, Logan Paul. Yeah! Jocked. Jocked. Properly jocked.

Properly jocked. Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock!

Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock!

Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Go, Jock! Hell yeah. Dude, you're absolutely jocked right now. Jeez, so jocked. I've been training for WrestleMania, Pat, believe it or not. Yeah, amen.

Fight camp. Brother, why are you always standing? Because I fall asleep if I don't. Yeah, I need to move. You moving with me? You standing with me? I'm so tired, Pat. I was woken up this morning by a natural disaster.

Earthquake. Earthquake. That's because you're in time. Brother, I thought to myself, if I was in earthquake, I morning by a natural disaster. Earthquake. Earthquake. That's because you're in time. Brother, I thought to myself, if I was an earthquake, I'd hit Philadelphia too. Amen. Well said. I made a huge mistake. Just give me one sec.

Oh, no. Oh, no. We need Stone Cold Steve Austin's beer tosser. Stack. We need Stone Cold Steve Austin's. Nikki, who tosses beers. This is important. There it is. Thank you, boss. Yeah, no problem. Hey, congrats

on that being a smashing success. Congrats to you, dude. It's a smash. We're on a program. Absolutely. The whole thing. You do those with the words. That's because I get bored. What's good? This is the entire thing. I got to stay active. Logan, I'm going to let you know this. Little guy in the prime shirt.

My big stupid head. Handsome, though. Handsome. Very handsome. Oh, man, this is great. Now, that leads to my first question. Cool. When you first got to WWE, this guy sucks.

We hate this guy. Get this guy the hell out of our life. Yeah, it's still like that. No, it isn't. The whole day, they were chanting. Oh, yeah. Cheers. We thought it was a Logan sucks chant happening.

We're like, hold on, wait a second. It was Logan sucks. No, it was Logan Paul. They were chanting your whole damn name. These people love you, dude. You've earned it from them, I think. Logan Paul. Logan Paul. Oh. Yeah your whole damn name. These people love you, dude. You've earned it from them, I think. Logan Paul! Come on!

Oh. Yeah. Kind of sounds like sucks. What? Yeah. Wow. You know, I'm not sure what to make of it, because, like, I'm the bad guy. So, I mean, it's great.

I'm flattered. But at the end of the day, I'm here to beat up your favorite superstars. Which we love. Yeah. And that's why we love them. Ty has a question for you, Logan. Yeah, speaking of that, how are you going to differentiate the urge to be like, hey,

I just want to beat the shit out of Kevin Owens. I understand Randy Orton's here. That's a big part of it, but I'm looking at this sloppy guy over here in a cutoff and gym shorts. Steals everyone's moves. And I just, I don't even, I'm not even focused on Randy. I just want to beat the piss out of this guy. Like, how are you going to differentiate those two things?

Your name is Ty? Yeah. Ty, I already did that. Well, I understand. It's been done. I beat Kevin Owens already. So if I'm being honest, Randy's my true opponent in this match. He's a legend.

And, like, I'm honored to be in the ring with a legend killer. Seriously, like, Randy Orton is one of the best that WWE has. All the time. He's amazing. And so, you know, it's going to be a great match, but Randy Orton is really who I got my eyes set on. Okay. So you do realize that you beat Kevin via disqualification.

Oh, Michael. Oh, stop being a mark. I don't like why he's doing that. It's still Good Friday. Michael, a win is a win. Bingo. Suck it Cole. But there's a point to this, because your match up at WrestleMania on Sunday is triple threat which means there are no disqualifications or count outs.

So you're going to have to pin or submit either Randy or Kevin to keep your championship. So I've heard. But you can use the brass knuckles. Yeah, no DQ. Hey, you all want me can use the brass knuckles. Yeah, no DQ. Hey, y'all want me to use the brass knuckles? Yeah! Kevin used them, though.

He cheated. He did. No, I agree with that point. He did. Some people say you set him up, but that means you're smarter than he is. Do you feel like you were made to be a WWE superstar? It feels that way. I feel like I was made to drink Prime. Amen. Maybe drop NASCAR with that.

Wow. These are good fans today. That's what I'm saying, Logan. Real deal. I did not expect this either, dude. Yeah, this is crazy. It's been like two hours of this for you. I think you've got to the point where you've worked yourself into a shoot, brother. You're baby face. Yeah, you're over, brother.

Can they hear us right now? Yes. At the beginning, they couldn't, though. It was bad. Man, aw. Hey, which one of you wants to be a wrestler when you grow up? Here we go. I see some hands.

I see all these little kids. Man, it's possible for all of you guys not to be inspirational, but... That's awesome. This is crazy, man. I'm supposed to fight. all of you guys not to be inspirational, but. That's awesome. This is crazy, man. Because of you. I'm supposed to be a heel, dude. No, no, baby face. This baby face Logan Paul.

That's right. No, no. It's the kids. They melt my heart. Look at this. All the kids. They're the. Kids aren't here for me.

That's not prime merch. How did you get that? Oh, you're getting robbed. Take it off. Season's assist. Take it off. Take it off. Season's assist.

We'll get you another one. We'll get you another one, kid. We'll get you another one. Tone has a question for you, Logan. Yeah, Logan, I have a question about how you came in, and it's similar to me watching Pat. You guys both came in, and everyone said your matches were incredible, but you guys didn't come up through the WWE,

and you both have hit these high-flying spots. Do you feel necessary to do that type of stuff early in your career, early in these matches, just to kind of prove yourself? And now you kind of don't have to do that? Or is that just who you are and you're going to be jumping off? Dude, that's who I am. If I'm not 11 feet in the air, I'm not happy. That's why I smoke.

Dude, my nickname's The Maverick. I love flying. I don't know why, but I need to be flying through the air. Ever since I was a kid, I've been jumping off the top of the playground, the highest thing I can find. I have horrible knees because when I was a kid, I'd launch myself from the second- story window onto the ground and just like, yeah, hurting my body. That seems to be dumb,

but you're like an incredibly intelligent person too, which I think is a massive piece of this whole thing. No, it's a duality to it, Pat. If you're dumb, you can also be smart. Yeah, you're right. Well said. Like that.

Well said. That's right. Holy shit. That's why these people are chanting your name. That's why these people are chanting your name. Michael Cole refuses to admit it, though. Michael, do you have a problem with me? Not at all, Logan, but I do want to say this. I've been doing this for a very long time. I have never, ever seen anyone in my 27 years

take to this business the way that you have over the last couple of years. Kurt Angle's involved in all this. That means a lot, Michael. It's honest to God truth. The performances that you had put in the ring, and I look back at the match you had with Roman Reigns

in Saudi Arabia. I mean, absolutely blown away by what was accomplished that night. So congratulations. Thanks, man. Pat, too. Man, you see Pat in the ring? How does he do that? How does he do that, but he looks like that?

Okay, Logan. Watch him. Whoa, whoa. No, it's crazy. I've seen you box jump to the top rope. Yeah, you said to me, this was one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. After the match, Logan comes over, and he to me, this was one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. After the match, Logan comes over and he goes, this is going to sound

so rude, but like, I didn't know you were that athletic. I'm like, dude, I was a professional athlete. Yeah, I understand. I understand what you're saying. I understand. Yeah, but Pat, you were a punter. Easy, Logan. Easy, Logan. Logan! No, no, no, no, no. But you were just any punter. Thank you.

You watch a Pat McAfee highlight reel. Boom. Bro, you're doing wild. You could have been a middle linebacker. But here's the thing. Mutt me. Well, I was. Mutt me the other night.

Madden, they had me in 99, middle linebacker. I was a fucking mess. Sorry about the language. Sick. But for real, though, I don't. I'm OK, though. I get to experience a dream in there. I get a chance to get it.

It hurts. Everything hurts. Is that why? Are you coming back? No, that's what I'm saying.. I get to a chance to experience a dream in there. I got a chance to get it. It hurts. Everything hurts Is that why are you coming back or just no? I'm saying the complete opposite What I'm saying is like I got a chance to experience it very lucky to be able to get in there and do it Everything hurts. I'm 36 years old right now. I got a baby. I talking to microphones. I feel good you experiencing it Which is like the bump the pain the running the ropes hurts I mean everything hurts in this business. And for you to sign up for more of it, I think once you get in there after already being

a very, very, very successful human being, I think adds to the respect that all these people have for you right now. So I think you should take that in a little bit. That's real deal. Thanks. I mean, I say this as arrogantly as possible. I don't have to be here. Yeah. I don't. I'm here because it's... Sorry, kids. It's fucking awesome.

Yes. It really is. This is the coolest industry in the world. I'm surrounded by the most athletic and talented people I've ever met from the crew, the writers, the athletes, the executives, you guys. Michael Cole, absolute legend. My turn to gas you up. Voice of the WWE, man. Like, seriously.

Your guys' passion for this industry is contagious. I feel it. I have what's called the bug now, and I don't think I can stop, dude. Nice. We're lucky for that. Conor's got a question for you, Logan. Yeah, obviously, you know, growing up, you're state champion wrestler. I mean, just shut the fuck up.

These people, man. These people. These people just suck. The worst. What did you do to them? Well, they just don't understand that I know everything correct, and they know nothing about anything when it comes to the world. I mean, just look around.

The amount of zero IQs you see is absurd but when we're talking about yourself and your story like all-state wrestler in high school then you're boxing one of the greatest boxers of all time floyd mayweather and now obviously you're a superstar in the wwe i mean you don't just stumble in you're our united you don't stumble into that that's a real goddamn championship but when you're talking about those three things, how do they each kind of shake up against each other? Like when you're thinking about, you know, preparing to go against Floyd Mayweather,

that training versus going up against, you know, like you said, the Legend Killer and Kevin Owens. Like where does that, how do you frame it in your brain when you've gone through such massive events already? I can't believe I'm about to say this. Kevin, run with this on your Instagram. Fighting Kevin Owens was harder than fighting Floyd Mayweather. Whoa.

Wait a minute. Whoa. Wait a minute. Let me tell you something. Yeah. Wrestling is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. There is no industry that requires the amount of skill sets all in one, like the WWE. Like, it is crazy. You know, the amount of skill sets all in one like the WWE.

Like, it is crazy. You know, the amount of things you have to think about when you're in that ring. I liken it, and I've said this a thousand times, but when you're boxing, I'm worried about one person. I'm worried about the guy across from me. When I'm wrestling, I'm worried about 60,000 people in the arena, right? And it's my job to make sure that they got their money's worth. I take that very, very seriously. So I'm in the arena, right? And it's my job to make sure that they got their money's worth. I take that very, very seriously. So I'm in the lab, man. I want to make sure you guys

got your money's worth on Sunday. It's also like you slip like the Spanish fly with Ricochet. Oh my God. Every single moment in there, and I came back for Miz last year for WrestleMania, and I hadn't been in a

ring okay I go up to that thing where I'm doing the the swanton and I'm up there and I'm like what the why am I this should have been I should have done this you know yeah but I'll tell you what man when you got 160 000 eyeballs looking at you you're gonna jump that's part of the skill set though it's like mentally physically but if you miss you're in jump that's part of the skill set though it's like mentally physically but if you miss you're in front of everybody and also the the injuries that happen in this thing are very real so like once again you continuing to show up and do what you do man i i love it i think the boys love it yes and it's uh keep going because the shit you're doing is you and ricochet are trying to like defy what humans can do in rifts.

Yeah, this was a crazy move. This is incredible. I don't think this had been done before. I'm really proud of this one, me and Ricochet. Yes, you should be. Jeez. Oh my God. You're a psycho, dude.

Took a couple years off my life. Yeah, absolutely. I'm serious. But we're all doing stuff that's doing that, but we hope you live a long, long time. Logan, you're obviously, you're a tremendous businessman as well, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention and talk about the history you're making this year

as it comes to Prime at WrestleMania. Let's talk a little bit about that and how that came about. Yeah, yeah, okay, so TKO publicly traded now, and I think it's a new era of WWE. You know, with that era comes, you know, hopefully a new champion. Hashtag we want Cody. Hopefully it comes with a little bit more edge. I don't know. We want Cody. Well, baby face Logan right now. Yeah. I don't know. Do we want Cody? Oh, babyface Logan right now.

Yeah. I don't know. Do we want Cody? Boo! But with that came the real estate of the center ring. And I thought, how cool would it be if a company that I founded took that position? We happen to have the revenue for it. We did $1.2 billion last year.

Pretty good. I'll get the job done. Not bad. Pretty good. Job done. So we copped the middle ring, and so yeah man, WrestleMania this year, I'm going to be wrestling on a logo that I sketched on a notepad.

That's crazy. Yes, yes it's crazy. It's going to be such a surreal moment. And you think about decades and decades and decades of the tradition and history in our company, and that center ring has been sacred. There's never, ever been anything on that ring in the history of this company, but come this weekend, your logo is going to be on it.

I'm looking forward to the backlash. Yeah, yeah, it's coming. Yeah, it's going to be loud. It's going to be loud. It's going to be loud. Did you say 1.what billion last year? 1.2. Man? 1.2. Man.

1.2. And I'm not just saying that. A lot of my peers will make up numbers, and we can see the numbers. That's the internet. Oh, yeah. No, they're lying. I don't want to say any names. Do it.

Do it. Might as well. I know that typically, I can't. I actually can't. We can't say a couple names today either. Yeah, we're the same boat. Same boat on this one. A lot of stuff is fabricated.

Prime is not. It's a great beverage, a great product, and now partnered with a great company. I'm very excited. Congratulations. You should be happy. You can't find this shit anywhere, right? It just sells out everywhere? You can find it in Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, Wawa.

Sold out, sold out, sold out. Everywhere. You can find an empty place that is supposed to hold Prime bottles because it's sold out. Because, I mean, the Prime merch that is around. Crazy. The Prime cry girl over here. I mean, there's just a. She's awesome.

Yeah, yeah. She's so sweet. Yeah, she is. Yeah, no, no. Like some of this merch, most of it's customized. We don't sell Prime merch. It's not customized. That's. That knockoff. That'd be stolen. Yeah, some, no. Like some of this merch, most of it's customized. We don't sell Prime merch. It's not customized. That's knockoff. That'd be stolen.

Yeah, some jackass. It's supposed to be $1.4 billion. Yeah, right. Yeah, he actually got some money stolen from the merch company overseas probably. Anyways, Logan, good luck this weekend. Pull one for you. Thank you, man. Keep your eye out.

Hey, come on. Triple threat. That's not good. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, no. I'm going to be watching as well. I'm going to be watching. watching also damien priest still hasn't cashed in oh he made a comment to me backstage like watch my title or something like whoa i don't know i don't know i don't know for the good of the united states let's make sure that brother brother come on that doesn't go to

judgment united states champion this belt is not leaving my waist this weekend okay let's make sure that's thank you thank you for being our champion thank you ladies and gentlemen hey hold on hold on hold on before you go that whole situation with what's his name what's the situation you know what it is no not that one jake fighting mike Tyson? That's awesome. That is awesome. What's the situation? Dark thing. Bullshit. Oh my God. Bullshit.

Don't even get me started. Because we're kind of in that world. Don't even get me started. That would have been... The amount of babyface stuff that is happening with you, because you're babyfacing that one in that entire thing as well. Just know we all believe it's bullshit.

Thank you. Graham Bensinger is a snake. Okay. I don't want any other celebrity and personality to fall to Graham's endearing demeanor like I did.

He is a snake. If the story that you were telling, which we assume, because obviously we've kind of, like absolutely wild, that would even happen?

I gave five months of my life to this guy. I gave him access to everything because he told me he was making an Apple TV documentary. Shows up on his YouTube channel. It's BS. Yeah, and we saw it.

I think it got like 15,000 views in the first 12 hours. Yeah, it's crushing. Maybe. But if it was to be on your YouTube. Yeah. I mean, it would have. Big business. Yeah, why wouldn't you just do it for yourself?

Yeah, you got the crew. We're on your side. You too. Cheers, buddy. He's babyface soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, why wouldn't you just do it for yourself? Yeah, you got screwed. We're on your side. You too. Cheers, buddy. He's babyface soon. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

I don't want to make decisions around here, but they do. Sports! Are happening. Obviously, the final four for the women tips off this evening. The men tip off tomorrow. But we are in the great city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for WrestleMania

40. The biggest WrestleMania of all time. E-S-E-E-L! Eagles are rebuilt. You know, rebuilt. J-E-T-S. Jets, Jets, Jets. That was Michael Cole right there.

Pittsburgh Steelers don't have any of those chants because they're an actual football team. There's a lot of Steelers fans here as well. That's one half of the hammer. Cowboys tone digs, and then the toxic table at the end at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. We've been incredibly lucky to be here on this eve of WrestleMania 40

because the energy is palpable in this city of brotherly love and what's about to happen over the next three days is gonna be nothing short of historic now speaking of historic a man who has held the intercontinental title for 665 days five days joining us now which is german for the ring general ladies and gentlemen yeah Now, the hand we just shook there is the hand of a man who chops people from one side of a city to another. An intimidating force who has reigned supreme over the intercontinental title at a historic rate. A man who's going to go down in the history books from Austria. Gunther, you look really good. Thank you for coming.

Speaking of the microphone there, we're going to want to hear you. The world learns about Gunther and becomes a massive fan of Gunther. Whenever I say and then I say that's German for the ring general, is that an accurate statement? Is that how

you say ring general in German? Is it No, that's not. That's just you taking the piss, obviously. Is that an accurate statement? Is that how you say ring general in German? Is it ring general? No, that's not. That's just you taking the piss, obviously. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Taking a piss? Yeah, whoa, whoa.

But that is the ring general. Is that? General. Who? General. The ring general. Very nice. Boom.

Well, it's an honor to watch the Hing Genoa work every single week. I have noticed for the last four weeks, though, you've stayed away from ringside. You know, this past Monday, you beat the hell out of a United States Olympian, Chad Gable, as you distracted Sami Zayn with the big matchup

this weekend. Are you focused? Are you worried that you haven't been around the ring in a while? And the ring might have lost it a little bit? Or how do we feel going into Mania weekend? Feeling fantastic, actually. I think it's one of the biggest weekends, or the biggest weekend in this business ever. Growing up and being a fan of this business,

I feel like WrestleMania 10, WrestleMania 20, WrestleMania 30, that's always something extra special. And to be in that position that I am now and to be a big part of that is, yeah, it's a great moment and it's a great feeling. Okay, let's talk about it. There's been some wrestlers in the past and even some basketball players that said they learned English through watching professional wrestling and watching WWF and WWE.

Is that true for you? A a little bit yes for sure but I think in general like American culture is very popular in Europe so are we okay now you come from Austria yes Which obviously has great history that I learned all about. Chapa! I've known the history of Austria my whole life. Yeah, right. And that's the case. I think most people do, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

But you're with a guy from Germany and a guy from Italy in Imperium. Yes. You guys don't get talked about as a dominant group as much as everywhere else. Judgment Day gets talked about. Yeah, of course. Awesome Truth is getting talked about now. Obviously, a new day is historic. Not a lot of talk about Imperium.

Why is that, and what is the deal, you think, with how everybody judges you guys? I think when it comes to the group, as of right now, I just think there is a lot of focus on myself. If you have a title reign that long and that meaningful, it draws a lot of attention. So I feel like that makes it a little bit harder for the other two guys to stand out

at the moment. Michael Cole has something to say about you. I know that. Gunther, I mean, I love calling your matches. That's his name. That's on his name. How do I pronounce it? Gunther? Yeah, it's fine. I have a little coot. I want to be accurate.

I'm a journalist. I want to be accurate. Gunther? It's fine, like I fine. I have a little coot. I want to be accurate. I'm a journalist. I want to be accurate. Gunta? It's fine, like I said. Fine. It's fine. You sound like an asshole. I love how Michael says it, by the way. Thank you.

Okay, let me hear it real quick. Gunta. That's not what I said a little bit ago. The point I was making was I love calling your matches. There is an absolute just just, realism in it that is just incredible. When you chop people, it sounds like a shotgun going off throughout the arena.

It's just that attitude, it's that you know you can't lose, that nobody can stand toe to toe with you, you ooze confidence, it is just incredible to be able to call your matches. I'm happy you got that all out. Yeah, I appreciate it, Michael. And I got to say, I do enjoy when you call the matches as well. I think you're a fantastic announcer.

Additional to that, you have to carry that one on your back. Okay. That's true. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, come on. Come on, let's be honest. He's the professional. You're just hanging out there, too.

Okay, all right. Conor's got it. We're not even going to talk about it. I'm trying to figure it out. I'll be as professional as possible. I mean, if you're going to say that, then it kind of leads perfectly. These people, just the biggest marks on the planet. But just from what you just said, you know, it's funny because I kind of feel a similar way

because, you know, the guys you hang out with suck. Imperium, I mean, you are fantastic. I wouldn't say they suck. That's an insult. They would kill you. That's your opinion. It's an insult. Especially Kaiser.

I've known that guy since I'm 18 years old. Yeah, no, absolutely. And so that's why you might not. I don't think he sucks. Well, you might not be able to see it the way that we years old. Yeah, no, absolutely. And so that's why you might not. I don't think it sucks. Well, you might not be able to see it the way that we see it. No, I see it. I know you see everything, but I'm saying. I'm just saying.

I mean, you got a suit. You got to do it. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you. That's how you are, right? That's how people feel. People want you to chop those other two bums so my question is at what point do you say like hey having these two anchors on me just isn't

what you know i i need in my wwe career and you know when you go get hopefully try and go after that universal championship down the road perhaps but is there a possibility like yours exactly i mean you want one of these? You got to do it on your own, just like I did. That's why my question to you is when do you just say, hey, sorry, guys, it's my time. Shut up. I mean.

Oh, my God. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, I say this. I don't do that usually. The first time I ever wrestled in America was in Philadelphia, actually. And now I came back and I realize it's the same dump that it was 15 years ago. Amen! So, if it would be a nice city, I would do it. Luckily for you,

it's not. Oh! Oh, man! The world is heartbroken that a sternum of a man a stooge is not broken all right all because gunther says philadelphia is too big of a trash bag of a city this is a dump not everybody here is from phil. You're not talking about everybody. WWE Universe doesn't deserve to see that, you don't think? Like I said, I'm a trained professional. Me too.

He's your student. I can't. Yes, dude. I went to that school. You saved his life. Wrestling school. Whenever we talk, whenever you talk about historic runs, obviously we know, I mean,

you say you've known Kaiser since you're 18, second generation wrestler, I do believe, over there in Germany. Kaiser has 0.05% body fat, as do you at this point. And we've all seen on the internet the transformation and the reminder of people of who and where you are now. You look so good. people of who and where you are now, you look so good. Yeah. When you started that process of becoming the most jocked guy you could possibly become,

is this why you did it all? Is so that you can have moments like this at WrestleMania? Or at what point do you say, you know what, I'm just going to get in ridiculous shape and become the most dominant Intercontinental Champion of all time? I mean, I guess it was, yeah. But just in general, I was heavier before. But I always liked that look of like the 80s, 90s, old school wrestlers like Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy

and all those guys. Then I was in NXT and I think, yeah, I felt good and I think it was accepted. But when I knew I would come over here on the main roster, I just thought it's, yeah thought it's time for an update. It's time to bring the best version of myself, and that's why I put the work in. The haircut, too. He's absolutely chiseled.

He's the Terminator. Yeah, you are the Terminator. Speaking of Terminator, how about Sami Zayn? Sami Zayn? What do you think? What do you think? What do I think? Yeah. I think he's a guy that's hung around Roman Reigns before,

so he's an honorary U.S. He's got a little bloodline in him. I think he's a guy who's had WrestleMania before. I think he's a guy that's been at the top of the mountain before. I think he's a resilient guy. Has he? Has he been to the top of the mountain? Okay, he's been top of a mountain,

even though there are higher mountains on the other side of said mountain, potentially. But he's been there, done that a long time. I think he's ready for the moment. You seemingly feel the same way. That's why you're trying to distract him the last couple weeks? You don't think you're, you think he's, you think he's too good? That's why you're trying to beat him down a little bit?

You're a little worried about your title run? Is that what it is? No. Chill out for a second. We're chill, we're chill we're chill uh obviously sammy is fantastic he's been around longer in this business than i am and i was always aware of him i wrestled him several times in i don't know 10 years ago or something um i know how good he is and all his accomplishments speak for himself but to be quite honest nobody has ever done what I have done I walked in here I took over I took responsibility and yeah created a new

level of prestige for the Intercontinental Championship and for myself and I don't think Sammy can claim this for himself. He doesn't know how it is to be in my position. He doesn't know the pressure and what it takes to be in my position. And I think he's more dreaming than being realistic about it all. This is a different world than the last time

Sammy held the Intercontinental Championship. And the point I want to make, Pat, is I love Sammy. He doesn't have a chance in hell this weekend okay oh he doesn't okay did you see what this man did to seamus and drew mcintyre last year at wrestlemania in the match that stole the weekend yeah you guys uh you guys really beat the i mean just absolutely beat the shit out of each other. And who was the last one standing? Beat the shit out of Conor. So you certainly have had main event WrestleMania experience and big matches,

but this Sami Zayn feels different. You know, he's training with the Alpha Academy. He's mentally in check. He had to go on a run. And you were very easy to impress because if you think 10 push-ups at the performance center are going to change anything thank you i'm glad you brought that up because i agree with pat that you are an absolute specimen and you look great right now and i respectfully disagree with pat that sammy zane belongs in the

same ring with you because he is so flabby right now don't you think you deserve a better more polished opponent for in this wrestlemania and then after you just absolutely chop all that flab off of sammy zane this weekend okay who's next in your sights um who's next i don't know um but also to be honest um i don't have anybody inside i'm in the sight of everybody agreed so my mind never goes to who i want to be in the ring with of course there's some guys i would like to wrestle but if it's realistically going to happen yeah he can wait okay hey what is this thing when i do this i started doing that i don't know if you saw it well it was the last time it was four weeks so you've done a lot of stuff since then so i don't know if you saw it. Well, it was the last time. It was four weeks. You've done a lot of stuff since then.

So I don't know how quickly I'm, you know, just publicly, quietly, I'm a big fan. You know, you get it. What am I doing there? That's just like tightening up. It's a very nice pose. Shows discipline. Shows respect. Shows dignity.

And if you would have well-trained shoulders, they would pop a little bit as well. So maybe keep practicing. Pat, why don't you explain to Gunther what you were doing a couple of weeks ago when Jey Uso was coming to the ring and Gunther was in there and you were on the table doing like this thing. That would seem to be very disrespectful of the Intercontinental Champion. Oh, it is. What? How is that?

I see that, by the way. Then the week after, he was standing like that in I was there. I see that, by the way. Then the week after, he was standing like that in front of me. He's kissing ass to everybody on the road. Oh! Oh! I mean, I don't know if you heard that, but it's kind of like common knowledge around the boys that he's doing that.

No! So everybody's, no. Easy. That's okay. That's not the trick. No way! That's how high. We love to have him on board.

I respect the ring. Gow wow. Whatever you're acting like. The ring. Gow wow. Okay? I do. And Yeet, man, I've seen Jay for a long time.

Love Yeet, Yeet, Yeet, Yeet, Yeet, Yeet, Yeet, Yeet. I'll tell you what, it's going to be tough this weekend with the Yeet, no Yeet situation. I want you to be aware of that. But I do believe with the way you've carried yourself on this particular program today not on Monday maybe not the week before I didn't think that now you view it differently than me you know because the ring sacred but it's kind of unbecoming of you a couple times what you've been doing but I think at WrestleMania buddy I'll be showing discipline and shoulder caps all day what an upgrade all day We appreciate you stopping by.

Thank you very much for having me. You've been cool to watch. Thank you very much. Cuz since NXT too. Yeah. Just like we talked to Rhea earlier, it's been a nice ride watching you ascend. Keep going. We're fans even though you do some despicable stuff.

Ladies and gentlemen, 665 days he's been the intercontinental champion blazer gentlemen I don't like that music as you're leaving them as people are gonna get that music I don't like that I don't like what just happened with the timing. It's that's fault. The World Heavyweight Champions are on the main stage. It means our time is wrapping up because it's about to get very loud in here.

Yeah. I think they thought we were done about 40 minutes ago. What an intimidating son of a bitch. Scary. Why are you doing your shit that you're doing to make him feel the way he's feeling about me? Because I respect him, number one. Number two, you are a kiss-ass. And number three, I would have paid so much money to see that guy get chopped.

We would have had to send him to the Philadelphia hospital. I was ready to go. All right, let's wrap up and get the hell out of here as we continue to distract all the good things that are happening here at the WWE World. Hey, we aren't done yet, me and you. We still got another show to do later today. Well, yeah, we still got to do... Be where your feet are. Yeah, cool.

Shut up. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us... Wrestling aficionado, I will say. Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Roberts. Yes! Happy! We don't know if Sam Roberts has any intro music, but we

do know he's in front of the program rocking Travis Scott's. Come on, please. A little taller. Hello, Sam. Sam, before we bring out a couple more guests to wrap up this

thing who've been hanging out and are pumped to be here. Sam, as the Lord of the Marks. Who gave me that title? That guy. I mean, it's Finn. Is it not? That's why you have a job with the WWE, because you're a walking Rolodex of the WWE.

Is that why you hired me? Because I'm Lord of the Marks? Yes. Okay. Yeah, and it's a thing that we have known for a long time. Literally, first time I worked with you, NXT, during a kickoff show, I think in New Orleans, maybe. Maybe Chicago. I forget which one it was. New Orleans, I believe.

I just remember thinking to myself, like, oh, okay, this guy knows everything. So I'm in an okay spot. I can say whatever the hell I want. This guy's going to save me. So immediately, you have made me better in this entire thing. And we've been a massive fan. And then finally, the WWE saw it, and they hired you full-time. Congrats, Sam.

Thank you, Sam. You've earned this. Thank you. I appreciate that. You've earned this all. With that being said, as being the Lord of the Marks. Sure. And I hope you guys are okay with that, that I'm the Lord of the Marks.

Yeah. You represent all of them. Now, that could change, though. That could change, though, with every dumb statement that potentially comes out of your mouth. What? They're calling this the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Yes. Do you agree that that's going to your mouth. What? They're calling this the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Yes. Do you agree that that's going to live up to the billing?

It is absolutely the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Which ones are being compared against, you think? Talking to you. The biggest? Yeah. Well, I think WrestleMania is Saturday. When you look at that tag match, when you look at the fact that The Rock, What? Roman Reigns, What?igns, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes,

all enter into one match with ramifications that lead to Sunday. Oh, my gosh. It doesn't get any bigger. Because one day literally affects the next. So one day could be big. But guess what? Tomorrow is bigger. Bigger.

Wow. And that's how you see it going. Because it all climaxes. Have you ever done that? Lord of the March. I mean, fair question. I've been a part of my share of climaxes.

This guy is the Lord of the March. Amen. I have three kids. What? What? Three. Real have three kids. Nice. What? Three. Real ones? Real.

There you go. All right. Traditionally conceived. Whoa! Way to go, Sam. That's right. Mommy isn't the only one on top. Hi-oh!

Hey! These guys have a great day. Tom, go ahead, bro. Yeah, Lord, I have a question for you. Yeah, he's our Lord. While Cody was on here, okay, I had a bit of an epiphany or a change of heart. Okay, I am a rock guy. I grew up a rock guy, and I respect the hell out of the goat Roman Reigns, okay?

But when Cody was out here talking about how he would feel and everything that he's been through to get to here, if he does get one, two, three on Sunday. Am I allowed to be happy with whoever wins on Sunday night? No. No. Absolutely. Make her a crybaby.

It's okay. Michael Cole's not going to be happy with one winner. Exactly. Cody. Well, like there's Super Bowls where I don't care which team wins. Yeah, but this isn't that. Okay, that's why I asked, Lord. The biggest Super Bowl of all time, you care.

This is the biggest WrestleMania of all time. That's why it's so big. Because the sides are so divided. There's two clear-cut competitors. There's no way you could support both of those guys. I'm a crybaby then. You're a crybaby.

Yes! What? Are you kidding me? I'm so sorry you had to see that, Sam. He turned me today. Are you insane? Yeah, a little bit. He was right here, though.

His bus caught on fire last night. I'm sorry to hear that about the bus. He almost died last night. And he survived it. He comes out here. He does the whoa on the thing. These were wobbly. These were wobbly. He still did it for the people. Look, he's the whoa on the thing. These were wobbly. These were wobbly.

He still did it for the people. Look, he's incredible. Phenomenal. In any era. That's AJ. You get it. I get it. He's stupendous.

There he is. In any era on the planet, Cody Rhodes would be the man, the greatest, the champion, except the one that we're in. That's the problem. The only problem is that Roman Reigns exists. Yeah, he does. And that's what Cody has to deal with. Thank God he exists, dude, right? He is the greatest.

Of all time. You should see how well my children eat. You know why? Because Roman Reigns. That's right, Roman. And we're thankful for that. Amen. I guess he's supposed to be the best and most jocked he's ever been.

Any other matches you know that could potentially steal the weekend? Well, I think you had Mommy on here. Rhea Ripley versus Becky Lynch is an easy show stealer. I think when you think about what Gunther and Sami Zayn, here's the thing about Sami Zayn. What did he do at WrestleMania 38? He stole the show with Johnny Knoxville. What did he do at WrestleMania 39?

He stole the show with his main event. The idea that he's going back at WrestleMania 40 with a guy like Gunther telling an entirely new type of story. Sami Zayn and Gunther could steal that show. Okay. I like to hear that because Gunther. That's why I'm the Lord, by the way, of the marks. Seems like you're really taken to it. Because earlier, just a few minutes ago, you were like to hear that because gunther that's why i'm the lord by the way boom marks seems like you're really taken to it because earlier just a few minutes ago you were like is that right well i didn't because yeah because it felt like the emphasis was on the marks before

but you started putting the emphasis on the lord okay the emphasis on the marks okay oh ty's got a question for you yeah Yeah, Lord. Everyone knows WrestleMania, you know, surprises. Surprises. Tend to kind of steal the show. Hey, who's coming out? Who's coming back? You hear that? That could happen.

Yeah, exactly. Right there. Long. Yeah. Undertaker's music. Someone yelled Cena. We'll see. I don't know.

Ricky Sineki might come running down the ramp. What does Undertaker do? Rest in peace. Oh, my God. It sounded just like him. Is he here? Absolutely. Just like him.

That was pretty damn good. I've been working on it for weeks. That was such a fine balance of, like, so disrespectful, and then, like, also try and see me. I'm doing what I can. I mean, I wish I could be Tate, but I can't. You bought the merch. Sorry about that.

Yeah, but surprises are big. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, seeing as I know you're reading all the dirt sheets. I love dirt sheets. You're mingling with all the merch. You're the lord of them. Love them. You're the lord of them.

Love them. Exactly. You're feudal peasants out there. That's right. What kind of surprises do you think we might be in store for? What's one that you're like, oh, God, if this happens tonight. Climax. Yeah, exactly.

Well, I mean, it's interesting because you said surprises can steal the show, but this feels like one of the rare occasions where everything WWE is doing is so hot and running on all cylinders that I don't think any surprise is going to steal the show from what's in front of

us. But I think it could add. It could be a little accoutrement. Sure. Whoa. Holy shit. You understand? I didn't, but like context clues made me say like, okay, like salt. That's it.

A little cherry on top. A little cherry. A little cherry. See that? Cole, you know, I'm a big context clue guy. He's huge. That's how you make sure you're living. Bingo. I don't know what the lot's going on, but I can kind of get the gist of it with how

you're talking in this entire thing. Cole, when you hired Sam, you said, this guy knows everything about everything? Yeah, I mean, just, he's an entertainer. I mean, he's just. He's an entertainer. He's just great at what he does. Wow. Okay.

Sam Roberts. I appreciate that. From the Michael Cole tree, what do you think about Michael Cole just getting embarrassed earlier? Well, look, I mean, I think Michael Cole has gone out on a limb as of late. This new Michael Cole used to be very impartial, right? Used to, journalistic integrity used to be a key for you. And now it feels a lot more like you're getting very comfortable letting Dominic Mysterio know that you think, I don't think, you think he stinks. Drew McIntyre was a hypocrite.

He's upset. You keep saying it. Scottish warrior? And he thinks that you have the influence, which both of you do, as the voices over the WWE universe. And you're forwarding that story that Drew doesn't agree with. I think it takes a lot of chutzpah to do what Michael Cole is doing. That's why I hired him.

He says words I have no idea what he's talking about. That's right. Is that what the whole thing is? Context clues, yeah. Oxy. Gutsack. Gutsack. You've got to have a good gutsack. You've got to have good gutsack.'s talking about. That's right. Is that your context clues? Yeah. Oxy. Gut sack. Yeah. Gut sack.

You got to have a good gut sack. You got to have good gut sack. Good gut sack. Heavy. That's kind of the king of it all. Speaking of kings, you're the king and the lord. Right. We appreciate you.

Where will we see you this weekend? What are you doing? Kickoff? I'll be on the NXT Stand and Deliver countdown. Okay. Where we started. That's right. I'll be hosting The Bump on Monday from WWE World.

Wow. Who knows? Maybe popping up the Slammy Awards are coming back. Whoa. On Sunday morning, maybe a little part of that. Whoa. Look at you living dream, buddy. It should be a lot of fun. You found it. Hey, man. I appreciate it. I heard the show the other night

was awesome. It was so good, dude. So much fun. Yeah, I hear we're moving tickets. Love that. Not Sam Wrestling's moving tickets. So much fun. Yeah, I hear we're moving tickets. Love that. Not Sam Wrestling's moving tickets. Hey, man. We're secretly running a business on the side. He's got three kids to feed.

Yeah. Roman can't do it all. Yeah, yeah. We've got to do something. Have an incredible WrestleMania week. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you guys. Thank you, guys.

Lord of the March, Sam. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you lord thank you my lord hey cole great hire roman thank you great hire striking how much he looks like bill truly yeah especially when he shaved his head remember his hair what his hair used to be oh yeah that was so dumb there's no reason for you to do that. Look how good the shape of your head is. We don't talk about the old hair.

Okay, we won't say. If you googled what his old hair was, though, one last time, we'll bring it up. That's the last time. That was the last time. Sorry, my lord. But what we were saying is, like, that bald head looks so much better than what he used to look. Oh, yeah. It looks like a half sun on the top of his head. I'm not bringing it up.

I didn't bring it up. I did not. You mean when he looked like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? He wishes. Yeah, his hair, it was so terrible. Oh, my God. There it is. There it is.

Hit it off. We brought it up. That was the last time. That was the last time. One last time. But, Sam, when you look at that photo, like, what are you, you know? You got to get it off. Oh, Jesus. Sam, it's right there. So you didn like what are you, you know? You gotta get it off.

Oh, Jesus. Sam, it's right there. So you didn't even have to shave, you just stopped blowing your shoes. It's a little Dennis Miller-like a bit. I mean, I guess. Crusted a clown a little bit. It's when he was Squire of the March, not Lorde, so. I mean, look how much better you look.

Look how much better you look. You knew that was there the whole time too, because look, you can definitely see your entire bald head underneath that hair. Yeah, I know. I can see that was the thing. Frodo-like. He was the town clown at the time. He was, wasn't he?

Truly. Frodo was the town clown. Yeah, exactly. That's what we're saying. Look at your come up. Good for you. It's a big blowout. Ladies and gentlemen, a guy who could be like, if he was to dress up.

Is that when I forced you to go out and buy a suit? He could be a part of a motorcycle gang now. Oh yeah, definitely. Hell's Angels. You put on a vest and do the whole thing and people would be like, oh, that guy put a fake tattoo on the head or whatever. And look at what you used to look like. Just do the full screen on me.

Yeah, but this is a come up. This is good. This is WWE. This is a story. This is a climax. Way to go. We acknowledge your climax. This is what you could be. This is a climax. Way to go. We acknowledge your climax. Acknowledge your climax. This guy's at his peak. He is.

He is now the final boss. That's WrestleMania, hey. That's like the grandest. The final mark, if you will. It's time for us to get out of here. Two guys have been hanging out backstage that, you know, I think our fans love. And we appreciate the hell out of them absolute legends cannot wait for WrestleMania I feel like they're

shoot marks though they are full-on shoot marks ladies and gentlemen AJ Hawkins Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! ! Yeah! ! Hey, what's up, brother? Yes, Cole needs that seat at the end, brother. I'm good. You turned him. What am I doing? At the end. At the end. At the end.

Right over there. Right over there at the end. Perfecto. Cole will do it. You see, this is why. Yeah. Too many people at a mic. This looks like an NFL kickoff show in like a year and a half from now.

Super Bowl. Super Bowl. Election coverage, too. Yeah, this is what it looks like. So, obviously, we have the great Michael Cole from the WWE guest hosting. Hey, Cole, you killed it today, buddy. Thank you, Cole. Thank you guys for having me, seriously.

It's going to be a great weekend, a fun weekend. I want to thank all the fans who showed up for this show today. Really, thank you guys for coming to Philadelphia and being a part of all this. That's not how you say Philadelphia, but I do appreciate that you put a Dow in the middle of that thing. Boys, this is multiple WrestleMania weekends now. How pumped are you that Mommy came by, AJ? I know you're a massive fan.

I know D-Butt, you got to see everybody in the back. How do we feel about Mania weekend? And are you on Cody Rhodes' side or are you on Roman Reigns' side going into the weekend? Well, first off, that's a tough choice, but, you know, I'm a Roman Reigns guy. Hell yeah. I'm with you guys. Hell yeah. Of course. Hey, we're picking. What we're doing right now is picking matches. Don't pick that one yet.

I will not pick that yet. Alright, here we go. Let's make some picks. Alright. Let's make some picks. We will have a tally on Monday's show live from here on Who Did How What. On Saturday, we got Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee taking on Santos Escobar

and that piece of trash, Dom Mysterio. We'll start with AJ Hawk. AJ, who do you have? Give me Dom Mysterio. I was just talking to Sam Roberts earlier about him. That's right. Darius, your thoughts? Right there with him.

Dirty Dom! Yup, Dirty Dom, yup. Why do you like Dirty Dom? Because the way Rhea... I like the villains. I always liked the villains. Amen. For the most part.

Not all villains are good, though. Not all of them, but I like Dirty Dom. Well, there's some... He's a villain. He's got a lot of... So, like, actually, there's some actually there's been a lot of heels that have actually become baby faces because they're so light and they're actually good guys.

Logan Paul. He's becoming a baby face right in front of our eyes. Tone Diggs, who do you got? I'll take the father who's actually done something. That's what I'm talking about. That's what we're talking about. Ty Schmidt as Michael Cole. Yeah, I agree.

I'm going to take Ray Mysterio. Dom came from Ray's nutsack, so he knows all the tricks that Dom may be trying to employ. Give me Ray. Okay. I like that. That's probably very accurate as well. Boston Connor, your thoughts? I'm picking Dom because he came from Ray's nutsack.

He knows the ins and outs of it. He might know a little weakness that he has, so I got Dom. Let's go to Michael Cole, a man who's been here for 27 years. Dominic gets another WrestleMania match because of his dad. He hasn't earned anything yet. So Ray's going to spank him again and win the match. Wow. Nepotism works.

Okay. Look at that. He didn't pull the I can't pick because I'm calling it. Let's see. Yeah, I like what you did. Kirk Herbstreit can maybe take a little lesson or two from this. Let's go to a brotherly battle. A sibling rivalry.

A battle between yeet and no yeet. A battle between bloodline and former member. A battle of blood. A battle of love. A battle of dream as children,

as they were hanging out in Rikishi's living room. AJ Hawk, do you have Jey Uso and Yeet beating Jimmy Uso and no Yeet, or are you no Yeet over Yeet? I am going Yeet all day long because I know you can't help but yeet all over yourself when he comes out. So yes, give me Jay. You know where I yeet from? Where? From the window to the wall.

I yeet all over it. I know. I watch it. I watch it happen every Monday night. It's hard. Monday night on TV, everybody. Yeah, all right. The way you're saying stuff's interesting. Darius, your thoughts? We are in Philadelphia, too. Yeah, all right. The way you're saying stuff's interesting. Darius, your thoughts here? We are in Philadelphia, too. But I'm going to

go with J. I'm going to go with J. Uso. I've been in the building a couple times, and he is over. So yeah, I'm going to go there, too. Okay, Jealous Jim or J., do you have 10 digs? Mr. Yeet, please. Okay, J. Uso, here we go. I will also yeet. Oh, my God. Is this a clean sweep of the yeets? Absolutely not Yeet, please. Okay, Jay Uso, here we go. I will also yeet. Oh my god, is this a clean sweep

of the yeets? Absolutely not. No yeet. Come on, what are we talking about here, gentlemen? Bloodline, baby. Okay, Michael Cole, is Connor keeping score? I do have the tally. I agree with Connor. No yeet. Boom! Because

of the bloodline being around all weekend long. Okay. Okay, let's go to a women's world championship. Rhea Ripley was just on the program, and Mommy was awesome. She's taking on the man, Becky Lynch. Do you like Mommy or do you like the man, A.J. Hawkins? This is pretty easy for me. Give me Mommy all day long.

Becky Lynch, lover, great book. Unbelievable wrestler, unbelievable person. But Mommy is truly over. Darius, your thoughts? I mean, this is a no-brainer. Mommy. You kidding me? Okay, Ty.

I mean, this one could last 10 seconds if Rhea wanted to. Mommy. All right, Ty. Give me the man. Oh, what? Give me the man. I love mommy i i love becky lynch give me the man where's the man from ireland you don't mess with the island baby i'm going with the man big time backs all day wow becky biceps two belts Big time Becks

The man Becky Lynch Michael Cole as the Rhea Wow Yeah You're smart Quick

There we go Okay let's move to Sunday shall we There is a heavyweight championship being battled for That is not really being chatted about enough In Drew McIntyre's eyes He has been doing everything Like rubbing in CM Punk's face for that is not really being chatted about enough in Drew McIntyre's eyes. He has been doing everything, like rubbing in CM Punk's face that he got hurt, doing funerals and stuff, reading obituaries. But he's telling Seth freaking Rollins he's not focused enough on their match

for the World Heavyweight Championship. Seth freaking Rollins. Drew McIntyre. AJ Hawk, who walks out of Sunday the heavyweight champion. I'm going to have to go with maybe the undersized guy in this match. Give me Seth freaking Rollins. Whoa, undersized. A little bit undersized.

They're both equally jocked. But Seth freaking Rollins all day. Darius, I'll go Drew McIntyre. How come? I like the little thing he did with the casket. That was sweet. He wrote it out of the – Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the eulogy.

You saw the eulogy. I said obituary. It was all Dick's. Yeah, that's what I mean. He got it. He got it. That's what I mean. And as Cole was saying it during the show, I almost dropped, like,

oh, bitch, you're wearing – no, you – okay, got it. You got it. That's why we need to keep our mouth shut. I like that that segment alone. By itself. Put the title on this guy. Tone Diggs, your thoughts? Yeah, I'm worried that Seth's going to get his ass beat on Saturday

and just not going to be himself on Sunday. So give me the Scottish psychopath. Whoa, warrior. Scottish warrior. It's quite terrible. He's probably the Scottish Psychopath. Whoa, Warrior. Scottish Warrior. It's quite terrible. He's probably a psychopath too. He actually thinks he's the savior of WrestleMania. So yeah, probably

a little bit of a psycho to think that. Ty Schmidt, who do you like? Seth freaking Rollins is from Iowa. He's an Iowan. But we're in Philadelphia. Well, I'm just saying. I put on for guys from Iowa. He's from Iowa. i understand we're in okay so dumb jesus christ i understand that but i am i'm heated all right

i'm trying to make a pick here this guy's trying to get me off off route now having said that I like the Scottish Warrior by way of not one, not two, but three claymore kicks. What? Three? Yeah, three claymore kicks. Is he going to count down to each one? He is. Three countdowns. Yep.

Three claymore kicks. And that's all she wrote. I still love you, Seth. One against his home state. Yeah, he did. He's from Iowa. Got it. Yeah. Follow the program jesus christ connor uh how do you feel about ty turning on his iowans and also do you agree with uh to be honest i don't

i don't love that especially going into an iowa woman's final four game to be completely honest with that being said anything about it so i think we're okay. Okay. All right. Just making sure. With that being said, I mean, my WWE character is inspired in part by Seth freaking Raw. I believe that he eats all three of those Claymore kicks, and then he comes off and he puts his foot on the back of McIntyre's head and possibly squeezes his brains out of his ears in a vicious victory for Seth freaking Rawlins. Okay. He remains the champion. That's what they're fighting for in front of you. Who do you like, Cole?

I abstain. Whoa. What? Why? Don't be a dork. No, because it all depends upon what happens Saturday night. That's what I said. What happens if Seth and Cody win? I don't know. Seth has all this momentum going into Sunday. What happens if Seth and Cody win? I don't know. Seth has all this momentum going into Sunday. What happens if Seth and

Cody lose? Seth probably going to lose the match. It all hinges on Saturday night. Oh, well don't watch on Sunday then. We know what's going to happen. We know what's going to happen on Saturday. Good job. Thank you, Cole. No, because you guys are dummies to bet on that match.

Dummy. That's harsh. You're a dummy. It would be like betting on the final game of the NCAA basketball championship before the Final Four is played. I'm going to do that. I already did. That happened.

You already did. Yeah, there's a lot of futures bets. A lot of futures bets around here. Plus 2,000 NC State. Let's stay on Sunday. Bad bet. This one has resulted with somebody going to jail. Okay?

Yeah. Somebody went to jail. With everybody saying, yeah, yeah. He takes on A.J. Stiles, and this one has gotten ugly. This one's gotten ugly personal, showing up at houses, showing up at houses, going to jail. L.A. Knight, A.J. Stiles, AJ Styles, AJ Hawk, who do you like? Well, Pat, I've been on the guy named LA Knight's side for a long time.

I think you know, I think the panel knows, all of you guys know, but give me LA Knight, I cannot wait. He is going to be on fire when this happens. Yeah. AJ, you say that because NXT. Yeah. Now, he'd been wrestling a long time before that. I guess we missed it because we don't pay attention enough to everything. But whenever I did my NXT run down there,

literally the next premium live event, TakeOver, okay, was when LA Knight debuted. He got this promo in the commentary, and it was like, we like this guy. And then I see his ass jump to the top rope. And then everything, it's like, I love LA Knight. Jocked. Long time.

Everything he's doing, that guy can talk. How about when he was a model manager? Yeah. That was pretty amazing. That was a great run he had. That was a good program. He's found himself, it feels like. Darius, how do you feel?

Yeah, me and AJ were backstage talking about NXT Day. So, yeah, I'm going to stay there as well with the, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tone, LA Knight or AJ Styles? Does AJ Styles have that stupid hair and stupid gloves? No, he has good hair.

Good hair. Gloves are cool. Give me LA Knight. Okay. You don't like the gloves. No. Come on. Never know when a football's coming.

True, but But always ready. It's funny you mention that because I was actually telling you guys, I've never liked AJ Styles. Can't stand him. Don't know why. I just. I hope he beats your ass. You know what?

Maybe. Because I think this should be a loser leaves town match just for him. So if LA Knight loses, hey, that's all right. He'll continue whatever new program he's got. leaves town match just for him. So if L.A. Knight loses, hey, that's all right. He'll continue whatever new program he's got. If A.J. Styles loses, I never want to see him again. What's this? It seems a little bit.

Give me L.A. Knight. Yeah! Yeah! All right, I like that. I don't know why I can't stand him. I just can't. That's A.J. Styles has obviously been around a long time. Yeah.

Got a lot of work documented. Sure. We've seen him flying around for a long time. Yeah. Got a lot of work documented. Sure. We've seen him flying around for a long time. That springboard elbow I've seen in like five different promotions and it's hit perfect every single time. Yeah. So I understand you might be a little peeved off by AJ Styles, but that man's been

dominant in the ring for a long time. Connor, do you like him or do you like LA Knight? I mean, you said he's a high flyer, but I don't think people realize how much of a technician A.J. Stiles is. Sure, L.A. Knight, he's got the yeah, and that's awesome, even though a lot of people would argue he just stole that from Stone Cold. But again, although that is great. Our show is stolen from everybody.

Absolutely. No doubt about that whatsoever. And if our show was wrestling A.J. Stiles, A.J. Stiles would probably take it home. So I'm going with the phenomenal one. I have no doubt about that whatsoever. And if our show was wrestling AJ Styles, AJ Styles would probably take it home. So I'm going with the phenomenal one. I have to. I feel it's the right pick in this situation, even though my heart is with LA Knight. You're an idiot. I'm taking it.

I'm sorry. I heard what you said, brother, and I accepted the mana that you said it with. But I take that mana, and I send it to AJ Styles because I think he wins. That's very nice of you, Connor.nor i think aj styles family would be happy remember la knight showed up unannounced trespassed on his property attacked him that's too bad bad man got arrested that's bad mana bad bad mana he was with his family he was with his family he was with his family earlier today watch what don't be quoting the rock they were in a fight earlier today here at the media we have footage of that actually oh no walks up what earlier today what was that who's on top broken chair why did LA Knight do it that way it's serious

got leverage jeans seem to be a little bit tight but they're mobile he's got to break it up. Go for Mark Guillotine. AJ Styles, low man wins. Got leverage. Jeans seem to be a little bit tight, but they're mobile. He's got him up against the wall. He's painted him. Ground control here. Go ahead, Locke. Go ahead, Locke. LA Knight doing anything to survive as he's up against Cage. Cameras are rolling everywhere.

Oh! AJ Styles picks up LA Knight and dumps the man. He's got rear control here. People look on with a sense of what the is this going on i'm going to break this up oh he's got to get to you oh no he's got to get to you this la knight end this thing with a choke guy no no he's not he's no way there it is yeah you know the bottom of those boots are very slippery too it looks like they're at a point in time where they're maybe a little bit more exhausted

than they thought they would be. Maybe confused a little bit. Thought this was maybe going to be broken up by now. Good breather. Are people just letting us fight till death right now? What are we doing? What is going on here? This was a media of...

Oh, he throws him off the wall. There it is. Oh, no, another scoop. Oh! It was worth the wait. It was worth the wait. It was worth the wait. A lot of people watching, not a lot of people breaking it up at this press event. Yeah.

Why would you? These two hate each other. Carpet does not budge. I'm going to change my pick. Here we go. What? I'm going with AJ Styles. Boom.

I did not know he had that in his game. Boom. I am all the way back in on AJ Styles. That was awesome. I will say, out of that whole thing, LA Knight seems to back in on AJ Styles. That was awesome. I will say out of that whole thing, LA Knight seems to walk up on AJ Styles. AJ Styles had no idea that was coming today.

He was just trying to do a little press. A little talk. He was not prepared. He might have been in a clear mind, still routine thing. All of a sudden, he gets attacked with a standing headlock. It was a standing headlock. And he says, get out of here. AJ Styles ready. Oh, he says, get out of here. Yeah, see ya.

AJ Styles ready. All right. Oh, he made him bleed his own blood. Oh, no. Nobody makes AJ Styles bleed his own blood. See that? I'm going to fuck you up. Is that what he said?

Yeah. Oh, he's a jack. Jacked right now. He's incredibly jacked. Might change my face. Boom, boom. That's why you ride with the Styles, baby. Does AJ always look like that?

Yeah. Might have been what caused the earthquake. AJ Styles is awesome. Truly. That might have been the earthquake. That one where he did the boom. Cole, what do you think? I don't think he gave a pitch. AJ Styles.

You know, this is going to be very biased of you when we're calling these matches. Biggest night of LA Knight's career, by the way. Biggest match of his career. AJ has the experience. He had the Slim Jim thing. That happened. That was big night. Again, biggest match of his career at WrestleMania.

Well, at WrestleMania, obviously. Ladies and gentlemen, this is it now. We'll do Saturday's match first because that'll be an indicator for the next match. Give both answers at the same damn time. At the same damn time. At the same damn time. AJ, who wins Saturday? Rockin' Roman!

Versus Seth Freakin' Rollins in the American Nightmare. Cody Rhodes in the biggest tag team match of all time. And then what happens on Sunday between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns? And I think this is an easy one for me. I know Cody was out here. Very impressive, did a great job. But give me Rock and Roman all day long. We know that. Okay, that's Saturday.

That's Saturday, okay, here we go. Sunday, I'm staying on the same path. Okay, that's Saturday. That's Saturday. Okay, here we go. Sunday. I'm staying on the same path. I'm not going anywhere. We're going to carry that momentum into Sunday night, I mean, from Saturday until Sunday. Bloodline rules. Here we go.

We take the weekend. Okay, Bloodline takes the weekend, says A.J. Hawk. Darius J. Butler, your thoughts? Same. Right there. Cody was impressive. Almost wore me over. I'm not going to pull a toe move.

I'm not going to do that. Bloodline. Roman and Scott. I like to see the one and say Scott. Tone Diggs, your thoughts? Night one, Roman and Rock will win. Okay? Okay.

Night two, Cody Rhodes will win. Really? How? That'd be impossible. Will it? Bloodline rules? We'll see. Come on.

Bloodline rules, brother. Cody wins with bloodline rules? We'll see. Yeah. Come on. Yeah. Bloodline rules, brother. Cody wins with bloodline rules. Listen, I've seen Cody's blood, okay? A lot of it. And that blood runs. These colors don't. Cody Rhodes, America, baby.

Yeah. What's that? You heard. Yeah. Those colors don't run, brother. America, baby. I think that's what he said. America. Yeah.

I don't think I fully comprehend it. I think it's the red, white, and blue. Yeah. America, baby. I think that's what he said. America. Yeah. I don't think I fully comprehend it. I think it's the red, white, and blue on his... Oh, his tattoo. His tat. Yeah, that's what he's talking about. Outfit. Outfit? Outfit.

Sure. He's awesome. He was awesome up here. He was. I also didn't know his neck was as big as it was. He's a boot. Yeah, he is. He is built like a...

Did you know he's a two-time state champion wrestler? No. Of course I knew that. Yeah. Yeah. He's a bulldog. Yeah, he is. Yeah. He's built like a beast. Did you know he's a two-time state champion wrestler? No. Of course I knew that. Yeah. Yeah. Ty, your thoughts? Bloodline rules, and then on Sunday night.

Do-do-do-do-do. And still, you're saying? Do-do-do-do-do. Yeah, I mean, that's a no-brainer. No question. Connor, you agree? Funny enough, I actually don that's a no-brainer. No question. Connor, you agree? Funny enough, I actually don't. Oh, what?

I think, and I don't know why, but, you know, what's on the line on Saturday? You know, is there a championship on the line? Yeah, kind of. In a way, rules are on the line. We're talking about the tribal chief. He cares about hardware. He cares about hardware. He cares about championships. So Saturday, sure, he's wrestling for bloodline rules on Sunday,

but does that matter to the travel chief? I truly don't think it does. So I think the travel chief saves someone the tank on Saturday night. I think Seth and Cody, they get it done on Saturday. What about the final boss? I watched Cody Rhodes run out and give it to the final boss

on Monday night. How'd that end? It ended poorly for him, but was that legal? Was that sanctioned? Would that be allowed on Saturday? I don't think so. I don't know who's reffing. Perhaps there's a little distraction. Eddie Munster.

Eddie Munster. Munster would be a great one for it. I mean, there's a bunch – I mean, there's 25 too many rests. But still, I believe that with the victory on Saturday between Seth and Cody and, you know, Roman in the final boss, I think they get it done. And then on Sunday night, our tribal chief, as he always does, he retains. One-on-one. One-on-one.

No bloodline rules. No gimmicks. No bullshit. No bullshit. Everyone's thinking, hey, Cody's got the momentum going in. Tribal chief doesn't need no momentum, folks. He's the GOAT. He doesn't need anything but himself.

He is momentum. He is momentum. He brings the momentum. His momentum reigns. Boom. And that's why I think, although he loses on Saturday, he doesn't lose anything because on Sunday he retains. Michael Cole, how do you feel about that?

I just, I do not see in any world how The Rock is going to lose his return to WrestleMania. However, with that being said, I think. What was that about, the way he said that? I think Cody Rhodes is going to pull it off on Sunday night, despite the fact it's going to be bloodline rules. We're on the same side. I will remain non-biased.

I just want to call it as I see it. Hey, man. We'll make it. Hey, good man. Thank you. And now for the entire WrestleMania, I will have Michael Cole selections while the match is being called. Right here.

So it's on those. Yeah, I got them right here. Thank you to Undertaker. Yeah, anytime. Boys, great day. right here. Thank you to Undertaker. Yeah, anytime. Boys, great day. In the back, way to figure things out. Good work, boys. Good work, boys.

Atta baby! Zito Stone, Colton Stone, Rob Stone. What? I had it. Good work, everybody back there. We appreciate you. To the camera people, to the union folks that got the speakers figured out

by adding another speaker. Huge. That was a big deal. Yeah. That was a big deal. To the camera people to the union folks that got the speakers figured out by adding another speaker And to the people that hung out with us today, thank you so much Okay, ladies German now begins the kickoff to WrestleMania is at 5 p.m. Eastern time was just an hour and 50 minutes from right now me and Michael Cole amongst the cast and panel of others, including CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk.

Yeah, yeah. CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk. CM Punk.

CM Punk. That name might be the most chanted name in the history of arenas. Yes. He'll be there with us kicking off WrestleMania weekend. We're so incredibly lucky to be here. Can't thank you all enough. Boys, you're the best. Absolute best.

AJ, can't wait for another Mania with you. D-Butts, we're back here on Monday. This should be a good time. All right? Hell yeah. Now, enjoy the hell out of the Final Fours. Thank you, guys. Enjoy the hell out of WrestleMania. Michael Cole, you crushed it today. Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me here. All right? Hell yeah. Now, enjoy the hell out of the Final Fours. Thank you, guys. Enjoy the hell out of WrestleMania.

Michael Cole, you crushed it today. Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me here. I love you, Cole. You can't. Shut up. Huskies. We'll have a lot to talk about on Monday,

including what takes place in this beautiful city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, over the next few days. We're lucky to be here. We're thankful to be here. You all are the best because you allow us to do this for a living. It's the dumbest shit of all time. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together.

Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Goodbye.