The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1288 - UNC General Manager Michael Lombardi, Field Yates LIVE From The Senior Bowl, Stephanie McMahon, WWE Superstar Sheamus, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat more about the Super Bowl and some of the intriguing bets that have been popping up on sports books arounds the country before making way for several great guests. First, North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi joins the show to give his take on Pete Carroll as Raiders Head Coach and Liam Coen as Jaguars Head Coach, how much prep goes into the Senior Bowl, and his thoughts on the Super Bowl itself. Next, Field Yates joins the show LIVE from the Senior Bowl in Mobile to chat about who’s been making the biggest impressions amongst teams and GM’s. Next, former board member of the WWE, former WWE Superstar, the Queen of Queens, Stephanie McMahon joins the show to chat about the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, growing up in the WWE, why stepping away was so important for her, her new series on ESPN+, Stephanie’s Places, and much more. Lastly, WWE Superstar, former Champion, and friend of the progrum, Sheamus joins the show to chat about the Royal Rumble, how his year has been going, and why he wants to take another Ireland trip with Pat and the boys. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. We’ll see you on Monday. Enjoy the games. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble about the thunder down on this big Thursday January 30th 2025 this program starts Football is wonderful and obviously next week is Super Bowl week as we will find out if a three Pete is happening Or if Nick Sirianni and the Philadelphia Eagles will win their first Super Bowl since big Richard Nick Foles led that squad into a wonderful horse poop eating time of Philadelphia the Chiefs are favored by one and a half currently will that change next week? We will certainly monitor it the stories are in abundance for this particular one Patrick Mahomes He's gonna cement himself as the greatest of all time for winning three straight

How about Travis Kelsey's he can get a notch under his belt? Andy Reid, this man has the most wins for both teams that you're currently looking at, both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. Will he continue on his dominant tour with this fantastic squad out of Kansas City? And then on the other side, Saquon Barkley. Can you win with a run heavy, run first first offensive line led team in 2025? Everything says yes, but will they be able to beat the team that refuses to lose, which is the Kansas City Chiefs? We shall see. We'll be live in New Orleans from Radio Row starting next Wednesday all the way through Friday.

The guests are already stacking up. The guest names are pretty big. I don't want to give anybody away. Dan Marino will be joining us. What? Send it. Yeah. No flubs. Send it. Dan Marino and many, many more will be stopping by. We can't wait to get down there. We also can't wait for this weekend in this beautiful city of Indianapolis, Indiana. The Royal Rumble has invaded Indianapolis and everybody is here, including Stephanie McMahon, who will be joining us in the second hour live in the Thunderdome. Wow. Cannot wait to chit chat with her.

She'll be joining us and obviously it's an honor to get a chance to call her a friend. Cannot wait for the chat with her about the business, the state of the WWE, her life and everything else. And then this weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium in front of a record breaking Royal Rumble crowd, magic will be had and we will find out who will be punching a ticket to the main event of WrestleMania. There'll be a 30 woman Royal Rumble, a 30 men Royal Rumble, or a ladder match. Battles all over the place and history will be made right inside of the lighthouse Lucas oil Stadium tomorrow night game Bridge field house

We kicked everything off at 5 p.m. Eastern on Peacock and all the socials Michael Cole and I'll be hosting the Royal Rumble kickoff then that goes into the Friday night Smackdown which then leads into 6 p.m. Eastern kickoff time of Royal Rumble on Saturday The city is auzz. The city is alive. The city is thankful that WWE came here and It's a great time to be alive. It's not just me here Obviously the boys of the Talks at Table here at Boston Connor at Ty Schmidt Royal Rumble time massive weekend Everybody has flooded into our gorgeous city. Yeah, it's the absolute best and if you've never experienced a Royal Rumble

I really don't know how to describe it because everyone knows WrestleMania is like the Super Bowl equivalent, but the Royal Rumble, I mean, it's bigger than a championship weekend. It's kind of its own thing. There's really nothing in the world of sports that's like it. And even if you haven't been a WWE fan for a really long time, like if you watched 15 years ago, there's a chance you're gonna show up at the Rumble and some of your favorite superstars of the past are gonna be there.

I couldn't be more excited for this weekend because it really is like, if you read the dirt sheets and all that kind of stuff, you can kind of get an idea of what's going on in the business. You have no idea what's gonna happen at this event. You really don't. And a lot of times, you don't know what's gonna happen until until it happens that night at that time and people within the WWE don't know and I think that's why it's like it's one of the best events not just in the wrestling world but in the world of sports entertainment. Literally anybody can show up at the Royal

Rumble and has shown up at the Royal Rumble. Stars of yesterday, stars of tomorrow, stars from other promotions show up and then in the end One person gets a chance to have their dreams come true and main event WrestleMania well this be the year that CM Punk gets to go main event WrestleMania Oh, whoa he win the Royal Rumble well the second city saint finally punch his ticket after tearing his Tricep from the bone last year in the Royal Rumble. How about John Cena? The final time is now Drew McIntyre. Obviously, Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes are participating in a ladder match.

It's gonna be absolutely absurd. For those that don't know, the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes is WWE Champion. He's in the middle there with the blonde hair. He comes from a royal family of wrestling. The guy next to him, Kevin Owens, there is a Canadian guy. He's in the middle there with the blonde hair. He comes from a royal family of wrestling. The guy next to him, Kevin Owens there, is a Canadian guy. He's a psycho. And he certainly said some things about a lot of people, but having him be a part of a ladder match in Lucas Oil Stadium, people that watch back in the day, remember Jeff

Hardy just used to do- Oh yeah, whatever. Shane McMahon used to jump off of whatever. Kevin Owens is a mix of both of those guys. And I legitimately cannot wait to see what happens in the carnage and the chaos. And you know, who wins this Royal Rumble, both the men and the women?

And you know, who is gonna cement themselves as one of the greatest of all time? Winning a Royal Rumble can certainly help do that. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Don Cowboys, Tony Diggs. There isn't a betting odds, I don't think, on the Royal Rumble on ESPN bettering official sites, but there is a bunch of them for the Super Bowl next week.

You went through a few of them. Dallas Goddard's over, yardage yesterday feels good because the Chiefs have not been able to defend against a tight end and they give him the ball a lot. Is there any other bets that you've been looking at for the Super Bowl that maybe we should think about snooping around on yeah a couple tidbits for today Patrick Mahomes as a favorite of three points or less or a dog in the playoffs is eight

No against the spread and eight no straight up, which is is not a surprise at all Andy Reid off of a bye, you know, we've been talked about it 23 and four. Okay. 23 and four Andy Reid is off of a buy. Technically with this week off is technically off off of a buy here for Andy Reid in that situation. Those those are two heavy heavy heavy stats going in the Chief's favor. Seven of the last seven games, the Chiefs are sorry the Eagles have covered their first quarter spread They're actually plus one and a half in the first quarter of this Super Bowl

So just a couple of things a couple tidbits for today as far as the Super Bowl is concerned I love that also some breaking news out of the Philadelphia Eagles camp Brandon Graham stud linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles BG. I believe was what they call him, tore his tricep week 12 they have opened his practice window today so he could potentially be playing in the Super Bowl next weekend that would be a huge addition to a defense that has been buzzing and flying around if BG tears his tricep week 12 plays in the Super Bowl you're talking legendary shit folklore shit I'm pulling for this story to happen. Yeah, without a doubt.

I mean, that was crazy. I don't know what noise that was. Okay, yeah, it looks like we got some tunes going mid. Man, he's panicking, sprinting across. The bump box bug, dude. Bruce Brown's having a morning. Yeah, wow. Bruce Brown is having a morning.

Hey, you're doing it, Bruce. You're A A-OK Bruce. It's all gonna get figured out. Bruce is in charge of figuring out all the tickets. Sure. For the Royal Rumble this weekend. Certainly a lot on his plate. People coming in from out of town. Where are they sitting? Where are we sitting? Who's sitting where? There's booze bags gonna be in places. We need to make sure we get it all figured out. Hey Bruce you're doing great. Keep it going Bruce. That's on me I I was worried about that for the last two minutes Yeah, and then it happened obviously and just think the worst thing that could happen has happened

It's not the terrible end of the world So don't worry about it Maybe stress less Bruce Brown and also when Stephanie gets here make sure you take care of her Okay, so let's go ahead her team. Let's make sure we're doing A-okay. Bruce got a lot on his play right now. A lot of logistical stuff that I don't think he's prepared for. But certainly 0 for 1 with the bump box. Only way we can go is up from here Bruce Brown, but it's a beautiful Thursday here on this. He's great in high stress situations. Yeah he is great in high stress situations. Everyone says that about Bruce. That's kind of like the 1A of when you're describing Bruce. This

guy always performs under pressure. Always does. We love Bruce but Brandon Graham this situation I think is it is I mean like you said it's legendary I think there were talks that this might be his last year regardless so if he were to come back play in the Super Bowl get a sack or have you know a massive moment and if they win to go out on top like that is the that is a storybook ending And like you said like this is the Chiefs or I mean the Eagles defense is unbelievable Getting a guy like him back in just for a player to a couple third downs It's huge people remember the stuff like this forever remember Tio came back off of a broken leg to play in the Super Bowl

Thomas Davis with his broken forearm came back to play in simple people love this shit They'll talk about it forever if Brandon Graham's able to do it. They lost that particular game, Thomas Davis with Carolina Panthers, although his forearm looked gnarly to say the least. Cam Newton was asked this morning about MVP or Super Bowl. Would you give up your MVP for the Super Bowl? He said no, I wouldn't, but then he gave a full answer about like,

there's a lot of people that aren't good at football that have won Super Bowls. There's a lot of great players that haven't won a Super Bowl. There's not a lot of great players that haven't won a Super Bowl, there's not a lot of bad players that have ever won an MVP, so I think you know the way his answer was taken was kind of out of perception, but you won a Super Bowl you remembered forever. Yep. You won a Super Bowl after tearing your tricep in week 12 and come back, you remembered as an absolute dog. Not that BG wouldn't

be, but that is something that Nick Sirianni prides himself. Speaking to Nick Sirianni, he'll be joining us tomorrow. Yeah. 1.30 Eastern. Yeah, I had Andy Reid on yesterday, very close to the vest, didn't tell us anything. Sure. Nick Sirianni, we assume will be a great conversation

tomorrow at 1.30. Cannot wait to catch up with him. How's the team feel? What is the vibes as they travel down to New Orleans? Are they loose? Do they feel like they're the team that's not getting any credit? Cause all the storylines are the dynasty, the dynasty, the dynasty. Also

Jalen Hurts, is he good enough? He's not good enough. Patrick Mahomes, greatest of all time. I assume Sirianni is utilizing all of those things to stack the chips onto his boys shoulders. And I can't wait to hear him tomorrow, Conn man. Yeah, especially because they just lost to him. You know, like a lot of these players, although it will be some of their first Super Bowl, like Jalen, they just lost to him, you know, like a lot of these players Although it will be some of their first Super Bowl like Jalen They just lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl a few years ago There was that story last year about how Jalen's background on his iPhone was the Chiefs Celebrating that victory over them, but I'm pumped for this game

You know a lot of people saying they're not gonna watch it those people suck and they're gonna end up watching the game I think it's gonna be a great one You know you think about the chips that say quam Barkley has on his shoulder, let alone, you know, going in as one and a half point dogs, but just not really being wanted by the Giants that entire thing, him setting all those records. And then you just think about the vibes like you mentioned, like my lotta, we showed that clip yesterday of him, you know, pancake and three guys and then, you know, laughing as he's running down the field on the first play against the commanders and Saquon took it 60 yards

to the house. Like I think there's going to be a great Super Bowl, definitely better than ones of the past. And who knows if the Chiefs do win, Pat Riley owns the trademark for three Pete, he's going to make like a billion dollars. So I know who he's rooting for. I think the Chiefs are trying to get ahead of that. Yeah, they're trying to get ahead. Like is it a Chiefs speed?

Is it three Chiefs? But what they wanted to get away from the three Pete, I think because Pat Riley has just raked. Yeah. He's just raked in money off the three Pete stuff. Since the 80s. Genius move. Yeah.

Got the Bulls twice because they went three in a row twice. Also had the Yankees in the 2000s when they won the World Series. Made a bunch of money off that, I assume. Lakers. Yeah, Lakers. but that's where it started with him But if you know if he gets 5% yes of every dollar made off of anything that has three Pete on it just hell Yeah, hey Great shirts. How much did you sell there?

a million bucks sweet 500,000s coming old uncle Pat Riley. Yeah, I'm dealing with a Jimmy Butler situation. Yeah, the Miami Heat might be nowhere near a three-peat at this particular situation, but I am. I am for sure. So go ahead and pay the corner, pal. Who's the corner? That is Pat Riley. Genius. Business decision. All right, we have some breaking news out of the NFL. Steve Wilkes has been hired as the Jets defense NFL. Steve Wilkes has been hired as the Jets defense coordinator. Steve Wilkes obviously been around the NFL a very long time.

Congrats to him getting a gig over there. Aaron Glenn, we assume will be running the defense, but Steve Wilkes also has very, very, very deep resume of being a successful defensive mastermind in the NFL. What if the Jets don't suck? What if the Jets don't suck? Isn't that crazy to think about? I like Aaron Glenn. I like the way Aaron Glenn has handled himself. I like the way he didn't bow down to the Jets media too. I think he understands the situation

over there. He got Woody Johnson to say, maybe I haven't been the best owner. Maybe the Jets are turning the corner or is this what we always do with the Jets? Anytime there's a little bit of change. Yeah, Jets are the Jets and still, you know, we we just watched them it is the Bills division going forward and all eyes kind of turn to Aaron Rodgers because that is the biggest question mark when it comes to the Jets but what do you think about the Aaron Glenn saying that he's not gonna be calling plays that you know he is kind of passing it off is this one of those moves you bring in a vet like Steve Wilkes? I think that's why

Steve Wilkes gets the gig you know I think obviously Aaron Glenn will be a big piece of what we're doing in strategy. But if you call the plays as the head coach and then you stink and then it's, you know, you give it up, that's not good. Somebody else calls plays, they stink, then you can take it over. You know, that's like a very good move, I think,

logistically, just for the future. Not saying Steve Wilkes will stink. He has not stunk in the past. That's why he is who he is. He's been in the NFL a very long time. Great hire, I think, in eyes for the jets, but you can't it's hard to Be the head coach stink as a play caller then give up the range kind of lose legitimacy Somebody else doing it if they stink you picking it back up always good move mike mccarthy down in dallas was doing something similar

Yeah, doug peterson down in jacksville was doing something similar I think this is the right move and also aaron Aaron Glenn knows he's a leader of men right now. Not just a leader of the defense. I like the move by Aaron Glenn. But I think the OC thing is the more interesting thing, right? Because that kind of stems with everything that they're going to do with Rogers. Obviously, they need a quarterback of the future. Rogers isn't going to be there for the next five to 10 years. But they need to hire a guy that Rogers gets along with who runs a similar kind. You know, they're not going to bring in a guy and then make Rogers learn a completely. I mean, you wouldn't think they would. Yeah, they might, but you'd think he's going to want a guy who kind of runs that primary like West Coast offense, you know, that he's used to. So we'll see. Like that it's kind of all eyes on that. And I guess that starts with, are you going to bring Rogers back or not? And does Rogers want to play? I mean, there's so many things and who knows what the deadline is.

We have not reached out to Aaron, Rogers or Glenn to get an answer on that. I don't think that would be right for us to do, especially because we talk in the microphones. But I think Aaron Glenn said that there has been text exchanged with Aaron Rogers. I think Aaron Rogers from what we know has great respect for Aaron Glenn. I assume Aaron Glenn has the same exact thing for Aaron Rodgers. A lot of decisions have to be made on that front before it happens, but I don't think the Jets are going to be picking an offense coordinator around Aaron Rodgers. Personally, I don't think because I believe if he comes back, the plan is going to be

to get a young guy, have him watch Aaron and then hopefully hand off the reins for the future. I wouldn't think so either. I don't think you want to hire your future OC based off of potential maybe one year with Aaron You know and just kind of put your your whole future into that But I like what I like with the Wilkes hire and what I like with all these first-time Head coaching hires is when they get a DC or an OC or someone on their staff that has been a head coach before now Wilkes was a interim head coach with the Panthers

But he did a great job with that Panthers team was so good that all the players wanted to him And the Carolina Panthers but he did a great job with that Panthers team. So good that all the players wanted him and the Carolina Panthers to hire him. They did not do that but like a guy with head coaching experience and running a team with a first-time head coach I think is always a good idea. I think so too. More news Matthew Stafford will be playing next year. Congratulations to Matthew Stafford making the decision to run it back. You look great this year at the end. You know there was a lot of moments where we thought the Rams could go on and win the whole damn thing somehow out of nowhere.

Very young defense, obviously Puka Nakua and Cooper Cupp and Kyron Williams and that offensive line that figured out how to block because they were a crew that was getting kind of buried early in the year and last year. Matthew Stafford decided to come back. Good for him. Good for Matthew Stafford. I love that one for him good for Matthew Stafford I love that

one of the old guard is still kind of doing it and Les Need talked about it actually and here's what he had to say. Number one do you could you see a scenario where you would trade Stafford and if you did do you think that's something that you guys would try to do quickly as opposed to dragging it out? Yeah Sandra on that one I think Matthew probably disturbed our rejuvenation period because I think we did play in the division around that year and then maybe a week later is when it leaked that, hey, he would like to be trading the Lions. We're thinking of trading,

so we had to get back to work a little bit quicker than we wanted to. But I haven't, on trades Gary too, that's one thing too. It'll take someone calling or us reaching out if we want to do that. That's the things that'll be determined down the road here. Okay, yeah, we have no idea what's going to happen.

There's a lot that has to get figured out. Les Snead has done a great job building that roster. Remember they go all in they go all in to win that Super Bowl in Los Angeles They do they did then what you can do on the other side, you know You kick the can down the road kick the can down the road Inevitably that can is not gonna have any more road to get kicked down. It's gonna be staring you right in your dumb face They did that they were able to adjust they got great usage out of their draft picks, even though they didn't have a lot of draft picks. Remember, his entire thing was, fuck them draft picks.

Now he's got young guys in very important positions, he's able to manage the roster, and Matthew Stafford coming back. Look out for the Los Angeles Rams out there in a battle for LA as the Chargers, also on an upswing, good for both of them. Yeah, awesome, and with the Rams, you mentioned I think earlier in the week

They were one of those teams early on in the season where it's like hey, they might trade Everybody they have Cooper Cup was hurt and they were talking about him being a guy who's gonna get moved and then when they beat The Vikings on that, you know last second kind of controversial face mask on Sam Darnold is when their whole entire season turned around and you know, they have so much young talent Like why would Stafford, you know want to get out of there? He's kind of rumored to get traded It feels like every year whether that's some sort of contract negotiation or something along those lines But when it comes to less need basically everything that he does I feel like now is hey probably the right move just because of them winning the Super Bowl and them being able to turn it

You know around so quickly and Sean McVay Yeah, I think we have faith in Sean McVay. Yeah already a Super Bowl champ So he's our cemented as a guy that can get it done So damn young and literally Liam Cohen just gets a gig You know his coaching tree is starting to become bigger than a lot of the greats that have ever been around here It might be one of already one of the biggest coaching trees of all time I mean like literally if we talked about it a couple years, like a cup of coffee with McVeigh

gets you a head coaching job. And I feel like that may have died down for a year or two, but I mean, we are fully back into it. The, I don't know, probably 12 teams, 13 teams, basically from his coaching tree. Also, Raiders are bringing back Patrick Graham as their defensive coordinator. Congrats to Patrick Graham.

Congrats to the Las Vegas Raiders. Max Crosby spoke to Jim Gray about Pete Carroll, just said his energy is the one thing that he has realized. Joining us now is a man who has deep history with the Raiders. He's currently the general manager of the University of North Carolina Tar Heel football team, friend of the program. Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Lombardi. How we doing? I love Chuck. I love that Chuck gave you the doughnuts. You got to love Chuck. You can't, you know, what a great guy.

Congratulations. I mean, I'm pretty excited that Chuck isn't going to be bringing in 50,000 calories every single Thursday, but we will miss his presence as we will miss obviously you as you continue to work on your UNCGM job. Let's talk about the Raiders here though. Obviously you have deep history and love for that particular franchise. You like the Pete Carroll hire? You like Pete Carroll becoming their guy? And what do you think he brings to the Raiders that maybe they haven't had for a while? Well, I think sometimes these owners need to buy credibility, right?

Because they've made so many mistakes along the way that they have to buy somebody who brings them credibility in the building. And Pete Carroll, who will, you know, whatever people want to say outside the NFL and in the media, Pete Carroll has had an NFL Hall of Fame coaching career. If you just look at what he's been able to accomplish in Seattle, the winning that he did there, going to two Super Bowls, winning one, you know, he gets his team into the playoffs. I think to me, the Raiders bought credibility. They needed it. And they needed somebody who's going to give them some competitive nature within the framework of how they're going to play. I think it's a great hire. He's a young 73. He's got incredible

energy. I think he'll be able to walk in front of that team and get in front of them and have Have the ability to say fellas if you want to win a Super Bowl This is what you have to do and look when they went out there with John Schneider when they started in Seattle when he left To go from SC there. They were not a good team in Seattle and and between him and John Snyder working together They rebuilt that team with a great defensive front, Michael Bennett, Cliff Averill, all those great players up front that they had. And that's why they were able to win Super Bowls

in terms of they were dominating in their scheme. What do you think he did this entire last year, Pete Carroll? We didn't hear much from him. He was hanging out with Washington and you guys up there for a little bit, I think with the Huskies. was there anything else teaching USC. Yeah. Yeah, like he's a professor for a bit What do you because like we know Bill traveled around to a lot of different colleges to kind of see how it is Chuck has remained dialed in throughout literally since he retired. We assume Pete stayed with the game stayed in the game

How do you think he spent this past year? And what do you think has either helped him become a head coach again or do you think he's just going to pick up where he left off? I think the year off always helps somebody, especially it refreshes you, recharges you. Plus, you know, you go through that period of, wait a minute, somebody didn't want me, you know. I feel like I have a lot still to prove. And when you've got a career like Pete's had, where he's won a national championship in college, won a Super Bowl, I think you want to go out there and go out on your own terms. I think Pete wanted to stay in Seattle, the organization made a decision to move on

and I think he wants to prove it was a wrong decision. So when you're out of football, I think you're constantly evaluating what can I do better in the next job I get? What do I need to improve on? Where were the mistakes I've made it you do this ongoing Autopsy of your career and I think you have to do it every year whether you've been fired or not It's the only way you can improve. I mean after a year here in North Carolina. We're gonna go through an extensive Understanding of what we did well what we didn't do. Well, we've done it after the portal We'll do it after recruiting because the only way you get better is

to learn from your mistakes and I think Pete's one of those people who's very curious. You know he listens to a lot of leaderships podcasts. I know that so I'm sure he's ready to take it up another level. Yeah we can't wait to watch Pete back there with the Raiders and once again we all feel the same way as I believe you do. The NFL is better whenever the Raiders and once again we all feel the same way as I believe you do the NFL is better whenever the Raiders are rolling especially with a city like Las Vegas who's never had a great NFL team until maybe next year. Let's go down to Duval. Ty has a question for you. Lambeau what do you think about Jackson ville hiring Liam Cohn? We've seen all the stuff come out obviously He's getting killed for saying do vol

In his press conference and not really knowing the cadence and then all the stuff's coming out from Tampa about him Pissing off the front office and a lot of coaches with the way he left there He only has five years of NFL coaching experience, but he's you know well respected coming from McVeigh's tree Do you think they made the right hiring? Is he ultimately a guy who's gonna be able to turn around Jacksonville? I think it's a really hard job. They're not gonna play at home for the next two years,

so you've got a lot of obstacles that you're not in control of. I think one of the things you have to do in Jacksonville is change the culture. You've gotta convince people down there that you know how to win. I think there was a team that needed to buy credibility more than anything. And I hope Liam can do that.

But as a young coach with five years, he's going to have to win people over at every single staff meeting, every single team meeting and show that, you know, look, we can win this thing. The Bucs lost a playoff game, so he doesn't come in there with the stature of saying, hey, follow me, guys. I know how to win Super Bowls. He's going to have to show that they can win. the playoff game so he doesn't come in there with the stature of saying, hey, follow me, guys. I know how to win Super Bowls. He's going to have to show that they can win.

I think Jacksonville has that losing mentality that they're going to have to erase because it just naturally flows. Uh-oh, something bad happens. It's going to continue. I think he's got a challenging leadership job ahead of him. I don't know who's going to help him, whether they stay with the interim general manager or they find somebody outside, but I think it's a huge job. I really do. I think he's got a lot ahead of him because becoming a head coach at any level is hard.

Becoming a first-time head coach at a job that's challenging is going to really tax him. I don't think he even remotely understands the terrain that lies ahead of him. Yeah. And you know, you can be a goober in your opening press conference. We've seen that before and end up working out. We've seen it end up not working out. We would like to reserve judgment on any of these coaches. Can you really tell if a guy's gonna suck as a head coach?

You have no idea, right, if a first time head coach is gonna be good or not, right? No, I think you need to, you know, look, to me, I think you need to see their leadership skills immediately look to me, I think you need to see their leadership skills immediately. Are they going, how they hire coaches. I think are they going to hire their friends or are they going to hire the best person for the staff?

That's the first, to me that's the first look at what you're dealing with. Are they going to be head coaches or are they going to be subcontractors? I know Liam said he's going to call plays, that's great. But is he going to be involved with the defense? Everybody wants Jacksonville to fix Gerard Valerian. Jacksonville has lost so much they need to fix their franchise. Right. It's like us coming here in North Carolina said, all we have to do is fix the quarterback. No, we've got to fix everything if we want to get to the next level.

And I think that's Liam's challenge, too. You've got to be able to work at all areas as a head coach, or else the rest of the organization feels like you're not paying as close attention to him. So he's got a challenging job and I hope they give him a support system to help because these young coaches are out there on an island. I think after you've been fired from your first time as a head coach you realize I'm sure if you talk to Robert Sala today he would say wow there's so much I didn't know that I know now. Yeah, and Robert Sala back as the defense coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers

we assume his name will be up for another head coaching gig at some point and that second time around has been very good for a lot of people. Head coach is not easy, not easy at all. He won't even remember that in about two weeks because the amount of shit that's gonna come across his desk. We're pulling for him legit. We would like everybody to have great success Hopefully he's able to do it you bring it up the point about not having a home game in two years is a very good one Too because they're doing stadium renovation, right aren't they building a full stadium? Okay, so that's a task in of itself having to manage that because that's more distractions

Anything that is a distraction from winning is gonna be tough to navigate Hopefully Liam's able to do that There is a chance he doesn't though coaches end up stinking in the NFL. We hope he's not one of them Connor has a question for you Lambeau Yeah, Lambeau different kind of situation in Cincinnati Duke Tobin came out and he kind of talked about how Jamar Chase is obviously a priority as far as a contract goes, but then you think about you know, T Higgins Trey Hendrickson he said look hey we can't be paying you know top dollar at multiple positions around the league the exact

one was we can't have guys at the top of the payroll in every position right how do you think they go about assembling their team and how do teams not fall into this kind of category like the Cowboys are in now and seemingly the Bengals are in where you're paying three guys, you know, 50% of your cap, but you kind of have to hold on to those guys because of how productive they are. Yeah, well, you want to hold on to me just got to draft really well. I mean, the Rams got away with it. I know I listened to what less said before I came on and less has done a great job of

rebuilding that defensive front with the draft. And to me, if you're too Tobin, you've got to say do I I've got to sign Hendrickson he's my best pass rusher he gives me a presence on defense I love to sign T Higgins but unless I can get T for the right deal I'm gonna have to draft somebody I'm gonna have to find again it's the same thing whether you're in pro football or college football they're replaceable parts and they're non replaceable parts and I think when you talking about a great pass rusher like Hendrickson,

they're hard to find. They just don't come walking down the street. You got to pay him and you're going to have to pay him. You could never overpay for great, but what happens is when you start overpaying for good, you get in trouble. And I think that's something that Cincinnati can't do. Look, since he has been, look, the offensive line has been a mess. Their defense hasn't been very good because of the way they practice and because of the way they don't really demand physicality. Look, the reality of it is, is teams that can't run the ball don't play good run defense. I mean, that's just a fact. Look, the Rams, one of the areas they have to improve on is their running game. They were 31st in the National Football League in yards per attempt. And guess what? Their

defense was 26 in allowing yards for attempt. Those two things have to go together and Sinsey never puts those two together. I think it's one of the hardest defensive coordinator jobs in football because of the way they approach offensive football in Cincinnati. They never run it. They really don't manage the game correctly. They just want to score, score, score and all of a sudden they're in a scoring duel and they end up losing.

So Duke's got a challenge but he's gonna have to draft really well. Okay so let's stick with the Cincinnati Bengals and T Higgins situation. You think he's gonna be okay without Jamar Chase? Obviously there was a lot of games where Jamar was not playing. Obviously there was games without Joe Burrow playing and everything like that. You think he's gonna be able to become a true number one somewhere if it's not in Cincinnati? I think he can be. I think they're going to have to move him around. I think he is certainly a dynamic player. And I think if he goes to the right team where he is, let's call him a one,

where he also has inside slot receiver or a tight end, then I think he becomes a player. Because remember, when you have Chase on the field, everybody's rolling the coverage or trying to double him some way. Now they did a good job in Cincinnati this year, motioning him, keeping him away from double teams. But I think T is really talented and I think T can go somewhere and be a really good player. You put T Higgins on a team like the 49ers, my Lord. You know, he could end up shining because they've got other players around him. And then he looks really good. Brandon Ihook would be even better with someone like T or Debo or someone there

So yeah, I think he's and here's the problem that Duke has Duke's not gonna be able to pay what other teams gonna pay because people are gonna overpay For T Higgins in the sense that they need them. Yeah got the Patriots over here saying give them to me How to cast me right talking about overpaying you got Packers here saying give them to me Yeah, and then people in Indianapolis, fans of the Colts, they're saying he'd be great here especially because we got Pittman already on one side, Alec on the other side. Tee would be great to open up the entire offense. I assume there's a lot of teams that are envisioning potential Tee Higgins on their offense making them better. And anytime that happens, you

know, all you need is two to really drive up a price. If there's more than that, you're talking, congrats to T. Yeah. Congrats, you've earned it, brother. Welcome to New England, T. And also all the mic'd up segments I've seen from T, beloved by his teammates. Like absolutely beloved by his teammates. And him not being the number one guy,

I think there's a sense of humility that comes with that. I think there's a sense of work that comes with that. I think he is a prized possession of this particular free agency. And before the season there was that entire video he released of him from his car knowing like hey this is probably my last year in Cincinnati but still going out there and playing and not causing any problem. And his mom came out and was like he's gonna do what's right he's gonna go do this entire thing. I mean he is a guy that can potentially change your offensive franchise. We shall see how.

And I think what people lose sight of too here pad is since he's not a tax-free state so, you know Duke's not gonna be able to match the deal that someone else puts out there and And because he's not in it Whereas if he were in say Houston Houston could get close because of the tax implications don't ever Don't ever think that that's not a big factor in these deals because it is you know, you go to Massachusetts He's gonna pay a hefty sum the Patriots are gonna have to pay way more than say the Raiders did if they sign them You're talking about, Texas. Yeah Right any of those here you're just I mean that's just the cost of doing business

Without representation up there in Massachusetts of doing business. You're going to have to deal with it. Taxation without representation up there in Massachusetts, not a place as known as Taxi Juices. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's representation. That's why the Tea Party was there, Connor. I mean, I don't want to disrupt you, Connor. I understand you want them there. I know. Now, Lambo, you get it. And that tea is still at the bottom of that harbor. Don't you forget it, brother. But I mean, that's happened these last two years though with IU Gang Calvin,

really. That was a conversation and they did overpay and overshoot everyone else because of tax and how to work out. We don't need to talk about that Drake may That was before Drake was a pro Quarterback. All right, let's move away from the NFL. Let's go to trying to get into the NFL AP tone has a question for you Lambo. Yeah Lambo one of those reasons Why T is you know coveted so much is because it's not the wide receivers in this upcoming class aren't like the ones that we've had in the past few classes, they say right now. But right now on my time on it, it's all shrine game, it's all senior bowl, it's all highlights from that stuff. Where do these the shrine game and the senior bowl, where does this rank in the process

of the draft process and for for guys like you for GMs, for scouts and stuff like that? I wish Chuck was still here today because we could reminisce about watching the senior bowl 12,000 times with Al Davis. I mean, that's all we watched. And people say, well, why did you watch one game all the time? We would watch practices and we would watch the game because college football is about level of competition. That's really what it's about.

And the senior bowl, historically going back to my first year in 1984 when Bruce Smith played in the game and Jerry Rice played in the game and some great players played in the senior bowl, is you get good on good. You don't have to worry about who we play in, who's the guy across from them, who they block in, who's the guy across from them, who they block in, who's the corner. And so the senior bowl tape for scouts and organization is a valuable tool. The other value that goes into the game is can players improve their way from Monday when they start practice till Saturday when the ball gets kicked in the air. Are they improving using NFL techniques and fundamentals? And it's different there than in college.

So I think it's huge for every player to go in there. If I were a quarterback and I represented a quarterback from college, I want my player to play in the senior bowl because there's no blitzing. It's either cover three or one man. At the middle of the field is always gonna be closed and you're not getting blitzed. And if you can't succeed in that offensively,

then you've got no chance to play in the NFL. They're saying Tez is really showcasing well out there at Oregon. He's a great returner as well if you need him. Quick as a hiccup, absolute stud, getting a chance to take on corners. One-on-ones obviously something that's going to be watched very closely for wide receivers and corners. A few snaps ago we saw Mike Green out of Marshall lead the FBS in sacks Just deboeing a guy from Ole Miss, I believe no Oregon. I'm sorry, Oregon Tackle He's never gonna get the chance to play against Oregon Tackle as the Marshall thundering herd

So whenever he runs somebody over like that, obviously he's gonna open Scouts eyes as a senior bowl Hall of Famer Hell yeah, okay, that's true as a senior bowl Hall of Famer I will say it was an honor to get a chance to meet everybody down there. What's happening in the lobby and handshaking is an extension of the combine is what they're saying. The meet and greet, the face to face time and seeing people is a big deal, right down there? No question. And you get to see them in an environment. And the best time to really spend time in Mobile is when everybody goes home. Today's Thursday, most of the NFL teams will go home. And if you stay for Friday and then you stay for the game,

you really get more time with the kids because most teams have gone home from their week. And I think it really gives you a chance to see. Plus you wanna see how the kids behave and prepare for the game. I think that's really important. You wanna watch games on players. We spend too much time watching highlights.

You should watch a quarterback. Look, you know, when you're watching a quarterback playing high school, I don't want to watch all the throws he makes. I want to watch what happens after he gets sacked. I want to watch what happens after, you know, he has a bad play. I want to see the next play. That's never on the highlight tape. And when you're down there at the senior bowl and you're watching games or the full game,

you see that. Yeah, I, uh, I enjoyed my time down there. Wasn't able to do much, you know, because there's only one field. So kickers, punters, you don't really get a lot of opportunity. Thomas Morson. You know, Pat, people saw you boom the ball, though.

That's really, you know, they could see that. And this way you didn't have to work, you know. What you want to do with the senior bowl is put the question, man, we need to do more work on that guy Well, we need to spend more time with that guy and then all of a sudden that momentum will build You know because what's happened is they don't really have a great look at you through college because now they see a lot Live is always better than watching tape. I think they got a chance to hear it. You know the ball come off my foot I I legitimately think that was what the difference. I think they got a chance to hear it you know the ball come off my foot I I yeah I legitimately think that was what the difference I think they got a chance to hear it and like oh shit

wait a second this guy's got I think that's a great point because it's like a golf shot I mean how many times when you see them hit that golf ball the way it sounds yeah it's the same thing with you punters great punters have a different sound than average punters bingo like if I was to go to the combine which I think I'm gonna be down there for the specialist this particular year I'm gonna get a chance and I wasn't invited to combine I was invited to the senior bowl as a kicker, but I was punting and kicking at the practices before the practices It's like you can tell by the sound I think you like for me anytime

I went to a kicking camp and there's no offense anybody that I was at the camp with and Thomas Morse dead Who's still punting in the NFL was that some of those camps? It's like you can just hear the different There's levels to this entire thing. At the combine, if I was to be scouting somebody, it'd be like, I wanna hear who's out there first, and then once I hear it, let's go see if their form is worth a shit at all,

and if they can pound it and boom it, and their form's okay, this is probably gonna be a guy. Now you gotta figure out mentally if there's somebody, all the other positions, there's certain things you're looking for. Like I think they want a shitty ash of some of those DNs and some of those offensive linemen. But then the sound too of the thud that these guys are bringing, I think is a big deal, which is why boots on the ground is so damn important. I enjoyed my time down in Mobile. Absolutely enjoyed it. Most of the practices, though, I was just making like one handy catches. Just trying to showcase my athleticism on the sideline like hey I could throw this thing 70 yards if I had to like anything to try to make myself look like I was a little bit more of an athlete but congrats to all the guys that get invited to the senior bowl and also uh congrats

to the shrine bowl people no offense. Yeah. You know because Nagy puts out a tweet that says like all right scouts recalibrate your eyes It's time for the senior bowl in the shrine bowl guy got all offended. It was like I don't think he was Talking shit. I guess you could take it a shit, Doc I think he was just saying like recalibrate your eyes like there's a whole new batch Yeah, people but the shrine bowl guy was like you don't have to bury us It's like whoa, it's all good. We're're all scouting we're all trying to get guys into the NFL. The senior bowl though has been the thing for the longest. Let's talk about the Super Bowl now

Lambeau. We're over a week away obviously and there's some storylines developing nothing will really start cooking until next week. Today Brandon Graham got announced his practice window has been open after tearing his tricep in week 12. That is certainly something Everything else is just seemingly Chiefs vs. Eagles two different styles here Eagles are a 1990s football team They're gonna pound the rock They got the most explosive player on the field and Saquon Barkley whenever he has it and then the Chiefs just win They're coming off their best offensive performance by far of the entire season How are you looking at this as we're about a week away and what should we be thinking

about as we talk about it? Well, I think we should spend a lot of time thinking about Andy Reid going against Vic Fangio and there's a lot of examples of that when he was in Denver. He's the head coach of the Denver Broncos. So you got a lot of tape to watch. I think Andy Reid has spent most of his week this week watching Denver Broncos versus the Can't see Chief. What will Vic Fangio try to take away?

I understand the Chief's offense is different, but Vic has a certain style that he wants to play. And I think Andy will study those four games or six games, how many they were in Vic's tenure. I think he was there for three years. His tenure in Denver will really be the providing the launch pin for what the game plan will be for Andy Reid as he goes forward because he's got the tape and he'll see from game one to game four how he wanted to play him.

And look, this Chiefs team, you know, forget about all the nonsense about the officials and all that. They just know how to win, right? They know what it takes to play and they knew they needed to score more points. They revved up their offense last week and then they were able to make the plays that they needed to to win the game. And it's the same thing with Philadelphia. I mean Philly, you know, was probably anticipating play in Detroit and Washington took care of that. So they were able to get in this game and they let Jalen Hurts kind of take over a little bit and wear the Washington commanders down.

So I think it's a great game, but I think both teams are peeking at the right time. There's no this game and they let Jaylen Hurts kind of take over a little bit and where are the Washington commanders down? So I think it's a great game, but I think both teams are peaking at the right time. There's no question. I think so too. We're in for a great one. I'm excited for it. Lambo, we can't thank you enough for making time. Thanks guys.

What are we doing right now? We're still scouting. We're recruiting. We've got a couple more days on the road and we're going to keep hammering those young men out there that want to play professional and come see our school. Wow. Getting business lined up Pat. We got we got a long way to go that we're working on a lot of things so it'll be fun. It's great. Realistic expectations next year. Have you guys put that out there yet or no or we trying to win it all all the time? I think we're just

you know we're gonna stick with the Belichick mantra. I'm just trying to get better today. That's all I'm worried about. I got to get a little bit better today. If I do that, I'll be good. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, multiple time Super Bowl champion, Lombardo. Yeah, Lombardo! We'll be joined by Vanderfield Yates here

in a matter of moments. He's live down at the senior ball. Can't wait to get his kind of takeaway on everything. Lombardo is just like 4,000 miles an hour all the time. He's the best of the best. He's got an answer for everything. Never has said, you know, I haven't thought about that Ever he's thought about everything all the time Vic Fangio vs. Andy Reid. That's a beautiful thing. You're holding up seven

What's that? A six so they played six times when he was with the Broncos two times when he was with the Dolphins I believe and I think Patrick Holmes is and Andy Reid are eight no against Vic Fangio if I if I Oh, yeah, that was a stat that hit the internet last night. I forget who tweeted it. Somebody said, not for nothing. Patrick Mahomes pretty good against Vic Fangio in this entire thing. Now this defense with Vic Fangio,

a little bit different than the defenses that Vic Fangio has had in the past. It is 100%. I mean, the playmakers that he has with the Eagles is much different. Also, you know, Patrick Mahomes is good against a lot of people. Well, and also Jalen Carter.

Yeah, little different animals. Little new. They also have two rookie cornerbacks, too. So it's not as if they've been in the league for very long. Jalen, just knowing it's the last game, not that he ever saves anything. OK, I'm not saying he plays like 98 percent of the staffs. It's absolutely unbelievable, especially with what was being said about him whenever he came in. This guy's a workhorse, actual workhorse dog. Can we talk to Nick Sir being said about him whenever he came in this guy's a workhorse actual workhorse dog

Can we talk to Nick Sirianni about him tomorrow? But there is an obvious difference in plays when he's trying like whenever he decides like yeah I'm gonna beat you on this play He comes out of his three-point stance and you just see every person that he's ever he just presses him and then it's a swipe And then he's in the backfield chaos completely Patrick Mahomes has done well with that though. That is a patch moms has done very well with that throughout But are they not gonna do that? Are they just gonna try to keep patch my homes in the pocket because that is when Patrick Mahomes

Allegedly is not at his best when he's extending plays making them a homes magic is when my homes is my homes I'll be interested to see what Vic Fangio tries to do, but you can't overthink it either. You got to be yourself. Fascinating game. With chess, especially with two weeks to prepare for it. It's like, do we do too much? Do we do our shit? Do we change? Do we not? There's so much going on behind the scenes right now. That's why whenever we get to the game, it's exciting to watch that first drive. Like, okay, you can tell what they're declaring they're going to be doing.

And that's why the first 15 so important. Yeah. and you kind of saw it against Jaden Daniels too Like if you know Jalen Carter is pushing the pocket crazy and Mahomes does have to escape like Nolan Smith runs a 4-3 So like that he can run in space as well. So it is I mean, this is a great matchup I great truly cannot wait for the superball I can't believe the thought that you're not gonna watch is even out there for some reason. That's over, I think that kind of passed. I hope so. Joining us now live from the Senior Bowl

is a man who has obviously been in scouting departments in the NFL before. He's a fantasy football guru for ESPN, friend of the program. Ladies and gentlemen, Vanderfield Yates. Yay! Wow! The air? Not bad, right? You look so cool. Can I say, can the glasses stay on or no? Yes you can do whatever the hell you need to do buddy. This is maybe the coolest looking dude that's ever been on our show.

Thank you Field. Geez Louise. How's the weather? How's the weather down there? It's cold everywhere. It looks like it's okay in 70 degrees for the past three days. It's unbelievable. And you know, listen, I'm a northeast guy. I live in Connecticut full time. I haven't had anything other than like a hoodie for three straight months on. So this is tremendous. I am soaking up every last bit of sun before the senior bowl practices include a couple hours. Okay. As you should, we're happy for you. We'll try to embrace the 70 degree weather via osmosis here. What has been the big thing that has stuck out down there? I know there's been a lot of heat on Jalen Milrow maybe not performing that great. Mike Green there out of Marshall obviously. Debo in the Oregon tackling one-on-ones has been a story. Tej Johnson Oregon wide receiver

has been stealing some headlines. What are the storylines of this year's Senior Bowl you think Vanderfield? Yeah you're on it right there with a lot of those. I'd say that one of the cool things for this year is this is the first full year we've had in which juniors were allowed to participate in their Senior Bowl. So I think there's a chance that the top end talent from this class by the time it's all said and done in April ends up being about as good as you've seen from the Senior Bowl. That really has been one of the big themes this week, but at the top of the board,

you mentioned some of the guys that have made their biggest marks. There's a good crew of pass rushers here this week. Mike Green, you mentioned it went viral yesterday for D cleaning Josh Connerly, who by the way, himself, I think it's going to go in the first 15 to 26 out of Oregon. Donovan Azaraku from Boston college of their name. That had such a good first couple of days that he is now No longer at the senior ball kind of guys that are doing exactly what they need to do to prove to NFL teams But the perception of those players coming into the week was accurate

And in the quarterbacks are always going to be one of the big story lines in this second practice We'll have Jalen Milro and Jackson Dard two SEC quarterbacks who go about their business in very different ways. I think we've kind of seen with Jalen Milrow, sort of the peaks in the pits for this player, right? The very good of Jalen Milrow is the guy who had 20 rushing touchdowns last season. I think if he runs during the pre-draft process, it's going to be a sub 4-4-4 time, which that's obviously uncoachable. But as far as it's consistently as a passer, that's going to be something he has to prove to NFL GMs that he can do at a

high enough level to be a sustained starter in the league. Okay so obviously I hate doing this because we have no idea what the projections are gonna be but Jalen Milro with the ball in his hand special throughout all of his career at Alabama when he would decide to tuck it he was the fastest guy on the field he had great toughness he he had great vision. Is there any conversations about him potentially taking some reps at different positions or are we all in on quarterback Jalen Milrow still?

Yeah, we're all in on quarterback for Jalen Milrow. I think these players, you know, they deserve it. I understand why people ask these questions. It's a natural one to ask, but he might be as fast as any running back that he is on the same field with this afternoon. It's all been quarterback focused for Jalen. The tricky part about Jalen is that it's not that he is incapable of making specific types

of throws. He's not the best rhythm passer yet. It's just he doesn't do it frequently enough. There was a throw on the first day of practice here that I thought was maybe the best that we saw from any quarterback on the field. It was a dart to a wide receiver Jalen Royles from Utah State and then it was like the next rep Jalen Milrow has a ball that lands in the dirt and the feet of a wide receiver and you're saying to yourself if you could just do the first half what we saw at a much more consistent level there'd be no

question that you would be in the first round conversation. He's a really unique player. I do think that whatever team takes him hopefully we've learned our lesson from some of these quarterbacks that have come into the NFL young and Jalen is a true junior. He's a younger prospect that I know that we have guys that come in and make their mark like Jaden Daniels and Bo Nicks this past year but those guys are much more the exception than the rule and development's going to be a massive theme for What Jalen Milro's early career looks like special talent and also beloved by his people down there in Alabama Great personality great leader and we saw the viral video not the one in the dirt of him overshooting somebody by like 15 yards maybe and he said his hand size wasn't as big as maybe they're looking for they're always gonna cut you down Good luck down there Jalen. We're pulling for you con man. I was a question for you field

Yeah, Vanderfield down there does there seem to be one position group? That's kind of the most stacked when you're just looking at and do you think because of that, you know Will some of the top players in that position maybe drop a little because of how stacks, you know D-tackles or tight ends might be this year? Yeah I kind of feel like you've got two draft clashes jam-packed into one at running back, defensive tackle and tight end as well. This running back clash is so deep we know that Ash Jenty is going to be the first one taking out a Boise State at deserving you know I would say he's maybe a piece of top eight prospect in my book I just don't know where he'll go because we

know the NFL values running backs in a different way than how the top 100 prospecting live book. I just don't know where he'll go because we know the NFL values running backs in a different way than how the top 100 of your respective favorite draft analyst board looks. He's terrific, but you've got a bunch of other guys that you might see them fall into the third round just because of supply and demand and look like guys that could start. Trevor Etienne, who finished up his career at Georgia, is about to practice here in just a few minutes. I thought he's looked excellent the past couple of days. No surprise, the younger brother of Travis, who's also a big factor in the passing game, or has been for Jacksonville. Trevor, easy pass catching skills, that much is for sure,

but we've seen guys that come in all different shapes and sizes too, like Oli Gordon from Oklahoma State. He was a dope walker finalist in 2023 for the best running back in college football. He had over 1700 rushing yards two seasons ago. Wasn't as dominant this year, but I'm just telling you, you walk past the guy and if you told me he was actually like the starting defense event for Oklahoma State, I'd buy it. He is absolutely massive.

So how these guys end up falling off the board beyond Ashton Jenke and a couple others, I think they're really gonna come down to what exactly is your team prioritizing? Because you've got guys that can catch the ball at a high level, you got guys that can run for power, you got guys that can do a little bit of both. But this running back class is ridiculously stacked.

Can't wait to watch how it all unfolds on draft night. Obviously we'll be keeping up with Vanderfield until then. Tyler has a question for you, Field. Yeah, Field, I do. And you talked about the running backs. I was looking at the tight ends as well. I mean, Tyler Warren's not there. Colston Loveland's not there, but I saw Harold Fanon has been dominating the tight end out of Miami Arroyo.

I believe his name has been dominating. Is this one of the best tight end classes in a few years as well? It really is. Elijah Arroyo, six foot four, 251 pounds. The average nearly 17 yards per cat, were tight end is just ridiculous and it's You watch him out there athletically. It's he had a catch in the end zone today in which he he jumped high I certainly couldn't jump as high as he did But it looked like he barely effort and to do so and just a reminder of how physically gifted he is And Harold fan and this is I one of the things I keep coming back to with fan and during the pre-trap

Process is that when you play against bowling Green and with due respect to the rest of that roster everybody knows what the plan is It was to throw the football to Harold Fanon last season So you think that a defensive coordinator would say I don't care if I got to put three guys on him Let somebody else besides him beat us He had a hundred and seventeen catches last year and over fifteen hundred yards the guys production every single week look like a madden box score So the numbers speak for themselves this past year and whatever you see these guys come down here And this is one of my favorite parts of the senior bowl

They're guys from bowling green and North Dakota State and Alabama A&M and Marshall sort of stepping up in terms of the competition level How do they look and I think Harold Fenton looks like one of the guys. So that's a good sign for where he will end up as an NFL prospect. He's got a really solid week this week and he catches the crap out of the ball. That much is for sure. I appreciate the fact that you're judging these prospects

on whether or not they can jump higher than you. I did not know that was a piece of the entire thing. Absolutely. We didn't hear you though, cause the AirPods cut off. That's on us. I'm sure it was a great line. We only have a couple of minutes left before the hard out here. How are the kickers and the punters doing we hitting big balls or no? Yeah, we had that we had so at the end of each practice these coaches had been doing these callout competition periods

Well, okay, give me an offensive and defensive lineman Give me a running back and a linebacker see who wins the rep the final rep of the practice this morning Was not a one-on-one. It was a one on everybody else is the kicker Fitzpatrick from Florida State see who wins the rep. The final rep of the practice this morning was not a one-on-one, it was a one-on-everybody else. It's the kicker Fitzpatrick from Florida State had to drill a 50 yarder for everybody to avoid pushups. This thing would have been good from 65. And there was a bit of wind here this morning.

So we got a couple Australian punters, as you know, those Aussies are all over FCS punting right now. And these guys have been dropping some bombs this week, that's for sure Yeah, not as many going into the NFL as there had been in the past But hopefully, you know, whatever gets in there is the greatest of the greats We can't thank you enough for making time for us. Enjoy your time down there in Mobile All right, guys. Have a great week next week in New Orleans. Can't wait to watch. Are you gonna be down there? I

Will be I'm hoping to get down there late in the week but I'll come over and uh well I don't know about crash the set you guys have gotten like you know legitimate A-listers there but at least come over and watch from the stands. Dan Marino is joining us but if you show up with those shades I think you'd get in anywhere ladies and gentlemen Field Yates. Love that I enjoyed you know looking back on my time at the senior bowl, that would have been cool to have been able to do that.

That guy hits that 50 yarder. Everyone watching. That's like a real pressure to you. That's like a real moment. He hits a good from 65, good from him. Good for him. I assume that's only going to boost it. Combine for the specialist, obviously a big deal.

Senior bowl happening currently. Royal rumble happening this weekend. Super bowl next weekend. tonight though, Con Man. Yeah, massive Pro Bowl games. I mean, this is why we watched. We got dodge ball tonight. We also have the quarterback challenge tonight. I believe there are a few others.

I'm not sure if the lineman spike is tonight. It is the big spike is tonight. I know rag now is going to be doing that. There are a bunch of awesome things starts at 7 It's on ESPN. I believe it goes till about 830 This is just night one night to slash day two is on Sunday the game itself the flag game starts at 3 But of course they have the entire you know kind of obstacle course the great football race the head-to-head Madden as well will be awesome tug-of-war a classic and then perfect pun

That does sound like kind of a cool perfect. Oh, excuse me Putt perfect kind of like dude perfect where they're kind of putting into like a beer pong type Oh, hey cops, but yeah some absolute dogs Kyle use check is punting for the NFC, which is kind of sweet Marlon Humphrey also both non punters The Logan cook from Jacksonville and Jack Fox the actual punters for each AFC and NFC I know dodgeball. There are a few places you can actually place bets on for tonight, which is pretty sweet Yeah, no big deal. Hey Drake make good dodgeball player, right? Yeah, Drake may preseason this year actually drill the kid Right in the beak They don't want anyone to get hurt and that kind of makes sense and that's why I wouldn't put Drake May out there I assume Drake May is going to shatter. It's gonna be the quarterback

Challenge tonight if I had to guess yeah, boom. He is. Oh, this is for the trivia game I believe the passing the test that looks pretty sort of a Geez, okay, I don't even know what the hell you're talking Well, I saw trivia. I don't know what trivia I believe Trivia bases it how well they do in the trivia is how much time the quarterback in the past the test There's Johnny Smith's gonna be hooking up Drake may yeah, which is great Nico Collins dog is gonna be helping Joe burrow. Miles Garrett, big brain, helping Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback.

And then Josh Jacobs for golf, Fred Warner for Sam Donovan, Mike Evans for Baker. Tonight should be a spectacle to say the least. What's up Spotify, this is Holly. I remember this one time we were on tour. We didn't have any guitar picks and we didn't have time to go to the store. So we placed an order on Prime

and it got there the next day ready for the show. Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Football! It is wonderful. We're so lucky that we get to talk about it every single day. Tonight, the Pro Bowl games kick off on ESPN at seven o'clock Eastern.

Should be fun to watch the charades in the horseplay of the NFL's best or the NFL's average that have been voted in the Pro Bowl because the starters have opted out of these particular things. Should be fun to celebrate the game and the league that we love. Cannot wait to see how all of the players perform,

especially in that big old spike. As offensive linemen try to put a football through the earth and then it will measure the amount of power that they have. All starts tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Batonnius is spiking a ball tonight. Dexter Lawrence is spiking a ball tonight. This might be the one. Quinnen Williams is spiking a ball tonight. This might be the one. Quinnan Williams. Yeah.

He's spiking tonight. I mean this might be the one that steals the entire weekend for the Pro Bowl games. Obviously that's tonight 7 o'clock on ESPN. The Talks at the Tables here at Boston. Connor, Ty Schmidt. Ty, I know you've been looking forward to this. The big spike is maybe the thing that's gonna save the Pro Bowl games. I think. I didn't realize we had a proprietary, you know, spike-o-meter as well. So I mean they've've they're they're pulling out all the stops for this and then yeah you mentioned it we got sexy Dexy they got Frank rag now but Chris Lynch he tore his back didn't he he did so he's gonna

have to be using his left arm maybe maybe he uses both oh maybe it's a double-handed double-handed spike strategy is gonna be maybe a major league situation where it's fixed now and it's so tight that when he spikes he's gonna throw it through the earth Oh rookie of the year. That's what I meant. Yeah one half of the hammer dad Cowboys a Pito And that's the first time I've ever been able to correct somebody Pop culture Good about that Garden hoser and I had a good summer a couple different ones not as good as his friends had when they were building that boat

I sure but certainly a, great movie there. You've got to hit that floater at the end. Maybe that's what Ragnar is going to do. Maybe Ragnar is coming in and only needs a two on his spike-o meter. He decides to throw it up as high as he can and dunk it in there. Joining us now is a man that we wish we could see on the spike-o. You're breaking probably. Yeah, I don't know how he would handle it.

Obviously, I think in the punt perfect, he would do a great job as well. He's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner, ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hall. AJ, Spike O meter tonight, almost like the Spike O-matic in the entirety. Are you excited for tonight's 7 PM Pro Bowl games, pal? Yeah, I'm very excited. But first thing I saw, you guys just mentioned Frank Ragnow, the torn peck. That dude, I hope he doesn't tear that peck again or figure it out.

But I don't know if the big spike is going to be the number one thing I'm tuning into. There's a couple others maybe. But yeah, I guess I'm going to see the technology they invented for this event. Riddle me this, what are you tuning in for then if it's not the big spike, pal? Was there a five-legged race I saw on there? I thought there was three-legged, but was there five? That is Sunday. The great football race is on Sunday Oh, okay. Well, I look forward to sunday nights, please. Can you put on tonight's events, please? There we go

The uh, you're talking about the relay race you're talking about the relay race tonight. Yes. Yes I want to see these guys run. Yeah me too, especially if they're gonna go for it You know like they've had these races in the way past people tried. Yeah Recent memory some try sure Michael Parsons became the fastest guy because Tyree Kill and many others just didn't even try Yeah, did they not try cuz they didn't want to get hurt or cuz they didn't want to lose You know, if you don't try and you lose you could say I didn't try if you try and you lose and all of a sudden It's uh, well Yeah, I guess I'm just slower than everybody else

afc jonathan taylor he's gonna try i bet he should i hope so i bet he's gonna try if i have to guess everybody is yeah happy to see that leader in the clubhouse it seems I uh... he's the anchor anchor? well no he's not he's leading them off but you get it I just that's one name and I can already tell this is probably gonna be a laughing stalk I can probably already tell they're not gonna give a damn a shit about anything in this

well Jared... that's a bummer that I just see that. Jared verse will be cool he's probably gonna be moving yeah Joey Bosa he's certainly gonna give maximum effort Yeah, Nick Bosa as well He's gonna I'm calling Kyle right now Keith is gonna bust his ass Yeah, can we face some Kyle van? No, I please just so we could see if yes, please call him so we can see what the effort level is gonna be

Derwin James not gonna lose. I don't think no anything Buddha Baker's not gonna lose it anything. Oh Terpon could Darrell Hodge. This is Bobby Wagner's first, uh Pro Bowl, right? So he'll he's gonna fucking go all out Yeah, he certainly is I Love it. I'm a little bit worried about this Patrick card going is good news Yeah, cuz he's gonna want to seem to be faster than people could imagine He's always been you know, probably downplayed on speed joining us now ladies and gentlemen pro bowler Calvin or a college Okay, what's going on? Hey, I also got a special guest with me

Fred Warner Gonna see you Fred. I think we'll see you next week down in radio row. We appreciate you joining us sir We can't wait to see you sir. I'll see y'all there how's the golf game going boys how we doing down there forget him right now forget him right now you got him next week you get me right now okay hey we're talking about this relay race thing that's happening tonight what's the effort what's the effort level gonna be on this cow hey you see how they paired me and Bobby Wagner up against each other that's the type of effort we're getting.

How has it been down there? How's it been? Me and Bobby, the older states, the elder statesmen of the group, they paired us up against each other. You know what type of effort I'm giving you. I'm giving you that championship effort, that first class effort of just making it to the finish line. That's the type of effort. Okay. Let's not pull anything. Obviously we we are old as shit now after a very, very long season. How's it been down there chit chatting with everybody, catching up with all the Pro Bowlers? Honestly, it was dope. I had a great conversation with Mike Evans last night. You know, shout out to the 2014 draft class. That's the homie. We had a good conversation and it was awesome.

It was awesome to let him know how I felt about when he earned his money at the end of the year. I felt like I earned money for like with him, you know, that's the type of love that the 2014 class had for each other. And it was just awesome to catch up with him meet his family proud of John Smith former teammate that ended up getting into the Pro Bowl broke records this year so the vibes are high right now elite elite time so far yeah that is the Pro Bowl has always had that now the product on the field in the Pro Bowl games certainly could get called into question

but the behind the scenes everybody mingling is always great. Go ahead AJ Ever think of throwing some suggestions out there possibly for the relay race tonight Maybe you guys have to start you get a bat and you spin around the bat five or six times We watch you guys stumble around and try to figure this thing out Louisville chugger Yeah, I think it would be good to mix it in there, you know, maybe throw in a couple other Random things like that Spin around couple other random things like that. The spin around, I like that. See let's see who's got balance, who's got effort and energy after you get dizzy. I like that. What are you guys are you guys gonna give a lot of fake energy?

And a boy! A lot of that tonight and we're doing a lot of and a boy! Hey you know me, we gonna be hyping everybody up. We gonna be hyping everybody up. Hey, I love that work young young gun. I love it. I love it I need more though. I need more. Are you gonna let are you know Patrick Queen? Are you gonna let Fred Warner beat you? You know, you got to play the mind game. Yeah, talk a little shit I appreciate that speaking of talking shit. You guys took Chuck Pagano from us. Congratulations. Do you know him aside from talking to him on the program? He's the man Hey, honestly, I Tweeted at you guys the other day you guys are four for four with getting people jobs getting people paid. We appreciate that

I appreciate that well, we're We're honestly happy to have them, you know, he's obviously Harbaugh's guy but getting to know him a little bit outside of football, just the man he is, he's first class and to have him in the building just adds that juice. He's got that old school juice, you know, that you need to have in a building. And I think that's something that the Ravens are missing. Besides Harbaugh, you know, on the staff, we have the young guys. They brought Dean Pease in as a consultant.

And now you brought in Chuck Pagano. I mean, the sky's the limit for that group leading with Nate Wiggins now and Kyle Hamilton, who's an avatar, who's behind us. He's playing golf, too. I would say they're too far, but just a great group of guys in the secondary and we are excited. We're excited to get them in the building, bring that old juice energy up in there.

Have you thought about the Super Bowl much? What are your thoughts? Yeah, all right. Hey, enjoy your day. We appreciate the hell out of you, Pro Bowler. Ladies and gentlemen, Cal Van Dorn. Yeah, Cal. So he Bowler. Ladies and gentlemen, Cal Van Dorn. Yeah, Cal.

So he basically just sat him and Bobby. We're going to do it. So there's a figure, huh? We're going to finish. We're going to finish the race. We are going to get to the end. You know, they did that obstacle course a couple of years back, and Miles Carroll broke his foot or something.

Yeah, exactly. Because he was giving actual effort. And it's like we're so close to almost giving effort and then a guy gets hurt and everybody goes see that's why and agents are calling going see now his offseason the rule you know what his offseason is now rehab for a broken foot for what was it getting a sack in the playoffs was it maybe during the season did he hit an escalator get paid more money no it was at the pro bowl jumping over a tire So let's make sure we're not doing that and that's kind of a part of the problem of it all AJ

That is the problem the more Yeah, there's just so much money on the line and so like the teams I can imagine if you're a coach and you see one of your players out there giving maximum effort Okay, I'm very glad that you are the standard is the standard but you need to figure it like you play for whatever team we're on you don't play for them yeah, and There will be a couple people that get like uber competitive and can't help themselves. Normally it's the younger guys You know it is like the younger guys that like feel like they're untouchable and they're you know

invincible and everything like that, but just like the thought of tonight being awesome Feels like a little bit of a pipe dream. But well, expectations, expectations. You got to manage them. Yeah. Let's look for vibes. Yeah. A lot of superstars. There's going to be moments that are going to come from it. And let's try and enjoy it that way as opposed to thinking like, yeah, this is going to be high level competition in all these things. Well, like dodgeball is consistently fun. Like that will be a kind of a sweet event no matter what happens because it does get

heated and they take it very seriously. And then of course too, like the quarterback challenge is awesome. I wish that they did put like an Orlovsky or just a regular average Joe out there to show you how difficult these throws are just because they don't look that hard because the moving targets and all that type of stuff But I think there's a lot to look forward to this the big spike. I think Ty kind of hit it It's the best it really might steal the show Like if they spiked the shit out of this ball and they have some sort of measurement for like

Pines of how much they do they have it'd be off. Let's just hope to God Okay, then nobody gets hurt doing the spike emitter can you imagine now retares his pack oh never gonna happen again yeah be Mike it'll never it'll never happen again and with right now with the way he competes he might see somebody get 700 mega meters here's a spike emitter down there a pro bowl they're already already practicing with it. This is from two years ago That's that 83 Russell Wilson gets a

1360 Tyron Matthew 1335 sick dude. Yeah, what is someone bounces on back up off their nose and breaks their nose and it bleeds all over There's a chance. I guess that's why they got the net around there to be clear spike Oh, maybe go to your local state fair. There's a much I guess that's why they got the net around there to be clear spike. Oh, maybe go to your local state fair There's a much better setup with the yeah ax in this particular thing. Yeah, it's a spike-o-meter though Yeah, but do you think tie you think the same thing you still think of that tie? I think this is a proprietary item, so I think they've probably re-worked it a little bit

I would still think that the spike-o-meter is gonna steal the show I think this was kind of just like the let's see. Let's see what the spike of me is two years ago Look at this. Look at all these names these guys lining up. These guys are waiting 40 minutes to get in on the spike of me Yeah, there is a line out the door Cam Jordan got a 907. Okay, whoa, Patrick Mahomes 1386. That's good enough for third place 1486 that's good enough for third place Jakeem Grant senior is that who that is Wow as good spike Tyree that was good like yeah, he's been in the end though Shaq bear really brought the hammered down. Thank you missed it. It better not be like I think you what do you mean?

Gonna be out of this tournament no, we need this ball to Scott. The big thing about a spike is the after. Yes. Oh. Well, that makes sense, actually. Come on. I'm a little worried about spike. No, no, no. This is a prototype.

It doesn't look like this. It's going to be cooler. This could be a two-minute segment. This would be an hour and a half. This could be a two-minute segment. It's a shack letter. Yeah, this is a shack letter. Maniac.

Let's see what he does. Oh. Good spike. Yeah. Yeah. That's whatq Leonard. Yeah, this is Shaq Leonard. Maniac. Let's see what he does. Go for it. Oh, good spy! Yeah! That's what I'm talking about Shaq! He's got that punch too, you know, he's punching balls out so he's got an explosion. He won the spike-up meter. He did. By a landslide. Yeah, by a lot. You kidding me? So is it still the same decibels and measurement? What is that 2001 spike of meters yeah yeah 2000 pound 2,000 91 pounds of pressure on the spike of me go so it's like the equivalent of like dropping like a ton a ton from the sky onto the the ground I go back to that Barghetti thing a ton 2,000 pounds what's a thousand pounds hmm half time okay none of it makes a lot of sense

imagine somebody that doesn't watch football, happens to be in America. Sure. Happens upon ESPN tonight. All stars, right? He's the best in the world. Spike a moon. What are they doing? 20 91 on spike. Oh, yeah. What does that mean? That has to be visually a lot better. I hope it's good. I'll be honest. I don't remember that from last night I thought it was a new event me too. It is a new that was just practice. That was like a hey We're trying something it has two years of work. That was a social clip. It is a brand new event There's gonna be something so much fireworks so much core They might have like glaze in like a dunk tank and a jay glazer. Yeah, and if it's like

2500 spike-o-meters Exactly, there's definitely some drop them in there like once they hit the spot like when you guys hit the anvil Yeah, there needs to be yeah that ball needs this there might be pyro. There might be pyro out there. We don't know fireworks I'm worried about spike. Oh, don't think about the sound. We shouldn't watch it. We shouldn't have yeah cuz that was a prototype It's like we're looking at a BlackBerry thinking that it's gonna be an I was the pilot of exactly BlackBerry pearls You don't know how good that was when I had the little rollie actually. I am well versed in the BlackBerry's I do know how really oh, you're a little bit too young. I think for the blackberry No, I'm not brick breaker come on my pa had one so

I'm not a brick breaker. Come on. My Paul had one, so I messed around on there. I messed around on there from time to time. Let's talk about some changes the NFL made this year. The kickoff, okay? Remember the new dynamic hybrid kickoff. New kickoff rule stats are coming out now in the season. 57% increase in returns.

Average starting field position improved by several yards. The more touchdowns, more returns past the 40 yard line and a lower injury rate overall positive sign. And if you look at the championship games, felt like every kickoff was returned. Now I don't know what's gonna happen in the Super Bowl. Bucker has a massive leg. He's able to put the ball out if he wants to.

Jake Elliott as well. It should be warm weather. Obviously perfect climate down there in New Orleans. So maybe it'll just be touchback, touchback, touchback. But in the championship games when weather wasn't perfect, everybody was kind of forced to return, made the game much more exciting. I enjoyed that it ended up working out because we had a lot of questions going into the season AJ.

Yeah, I mean, I think this is exactly what they wanted, right? They say it's a lower injury rate and we have 57% increase in returns. I mean, I think I guess as the season goes, we've seen more and more return, right? Early on, we were seeing a bunch of touchbacks. Is that just due to weather? Weather, I think it's weather and also kickers legs getting maybe tired, you know,

cause there was even some teams that were really focusing on this, they were bringing it out from like one, two deep. You know, if it was going four or five deep, I think it was a guaranteed touchback, but some teams were bringing it out from two deep. Some kickers weren't able to get it any deeper than that later in the season because their legs were tired. And then weather obviously has a massive implication.

Couple of snow globe games, balls not going into the end zone. Guys were being forced to return it. Strategy was on display. I think if you're a Riz and a special teams coordinators that came together and put this together, you're celebrating massive success

in keeping the kickoff in actual play for the sport. Yeah, I agree. It was awesome this year and, you know, hopefully they make that one little change that we talked about in the beginning of the year. That would make a huge difference on if they bring it out or not. But Nico Romigio, Chiefs punt returner kick return, he brought one out from like eight deep this weekend. So.

And that's Tobe who prides himself on having a great special teams unit. As does Philadelphia. Any teams that have depth and are good are normally going to be good at special teams. Coach Riz obviously becomes the interim head coach of the Saints. Going into the year, the only thing anybody knew him for is being the guy who kind of pieced together

this new dynamic kickoff, taking some stuff from the XFL, adding some stuff from special teams practices, which is where this all began, so you can save guys' legs. And then inevitably inevitably we get something that adds more exciting plays. Congrats everybody. Not an easy decision to do something like that,

especially with how stupid it looked at the beginning of the year. Yeah, and it wasn't a kickoff, but I mean, if you even just think about the last time the Eagles and the Chiefs played in the Super Bowl, that Kaderi's Tony punt return, it kind of swung the entire game. That kind of got the Chiefs back into the football game. AJ we thought it had no chance we thought the kickoff was

gonna be over we thought it was gonna be a fourth in 25 or whatever on the other 25 to kind of start drives now it feels like the kickoff's at least gonna stay for a while. I remember beginning of the year to your point we weren't seeing many kickoffs return and everything just looks stupid and we thought well they're gonna have to do something drastically different or they're gonna get rid of it. Instead now we're looking back at the stats. We're saving football, baby. We're saving kickoffs.

I love it. Congrats to all parties. Yeah, I mean, I can't say I love it. I don't love it visually. I still think it's kind of awkward and weird. But I do love the fact that the kickoff feels like it's here to stay. I felt like going into this season, they're like, well, I don't know. Kickoff feels like it's on its last leg like they're ready to get rid of this thing and so they were just wait it felt like they were

waiting for reasons to almost get rid of it so now I think this does it does a lot doesn't to quiet the noise too about player health and all that stuff it goes it gives another check mark in their box you know the league like hey we're taking care of these guys 33-yard extra point looks stupid for a long time yeah you know now it's just kind of you get You're right you get used to it. You do get used to it. It is surprising how fast you can get used to something. Yeah humans are by nature you like for instance with music you hear a song one time it's like nah and then whenever they force that song down your throat 50 60 times it's like

kind of a bop. Kind of a bop. And I think, you know, a couple of seasons into this, people will be a little bit more used to the awkwardness of the setup. I think players will get used to it. I think coaches will get more used to it. I think there'll be more strategy that'll come about it. And if it continues to go the way it's going

with these numbers, I think the NFL is going to be excited to have the electricity of returns remain in the game. Now they just got to change it so that you don't have to declare if there's an outside kick before you kick it. I don't know how you do that. How do you do that? Just don't make them do it.

Yeah, but you got the rest of the team 30 yards away. Yeah, that is I think the kicker sprints down with the ball to where the house is lined up. Sprints down, sets it up, it goes, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess you can't do it anymore. Yeah, legitimately, there's, I don't know how you wouldn't. Land it inside. Is college going to keep it?

Is college keeping the real kickoff? Because you go to watch college, they do the old school. Yeah, but they do fair catching. Yeah. A lot, yeah. Which... I would imagine dudes are still knocking themselves out in college kickoffs. I don't love the fair catch on kickoffs.

No. I don't love that. I don't love the fair catch on kickoff. I don't love that. I don't, they need to get rid of that. They need to, they need to just for the good of sport. People can't be watching that. And especially for the good of the players that are out there, you know, like, you got some really good players. There's guys 30 yards away and they're giving themselves up.

It's like, you look soft. You look like you're not an actual football player. That's an embarrassment. If your special teams coach can't draw up something where you catch a kickoff at the 10-yard line and you can't get to the 25 or 30, maybe you need to fire your special teams coordinator. Maybe you need to go back to the drawing board as opposed to the fair. I don't like it at all. I think it is an embarrassment for football, the fair catch on kickoffs. I don't like it at all. I think it is an embarrassment for football, the fair catch on kickoff.

Definitely it does suck, but because they still have the element of surprise on inside kicks, would you keep the fair catch so that they can keep surprise onside kicks? Yes. Yes. I mean, I guess we would do that, but also surprise onside kicks started dwindling away too at the end of this whole thing. Successive onside kicks are dwindling away. There's actually more successful onside kicks this year than I think any

of us could have expected. Yeah. Remember there's a couple times when those got happen and I think it's because kickers started working on it but also maybe because they're not working on it defensively as much. You know you're not having as many hands team reps, you're not doing as much because your kickoff team is all the way down there. It's a very small chance you're gonna have to take on an onside kick so then you don't really rep it or practice it as much but yeah it's impossible to not have to declare on an onside kick. So then you don't really rep it or practice it as much But yeah It's impossible to not have to declare because we're based in one in college too with like some of these really good teams who?

Are super deep you would think like hey, that's really the only way some of these like four or five star You know underclassmen are getting on the field at all So like is that is that the only way you want to see what you got from them is just like hey go stand out There we're gonna fair catch it. So I just want to make what you got from them is just like they go stand out there We're gonna fair catch it. So I just want to make sure you're going through the motion like, you know Some of the like Ohio State like they had a book out there. That's what I'm saying. Like they got they guys a great player Yeah, I got him acting like he's scared to return a cat. Right. What are we doing? What are we doing? Makes no sense Ryan days doing a little media tour. How come he had stopped by our show AJ was that all?

Huh? Yeah, I don't know. It's good. It's a good question. We should reach out. Is he scared? No, I saw he's on Kelly Clarkson. He did her show. He's not his balance. Well, she's sitting awkwardly close Did he do that did he do the Jennifer Hudson We did that show the dead or lost he danced down the hall. Yeah, I hope he did. I hope he did that. Did he do that show? How weird would that be if he's like, I'm not dancing down the hall, though.

I'll come on, but I'm not doing that. You have to. Yeah, you don't have a choice. That's the happy place. That'd be awesome. That'd be sweet if he just walked super fast straight past the camera, though. Head down, Santino Marella speed walk.

At the very end, he hits the worm as he gets through the line right into the studio. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a living legend in the Thunderdome traveling to the great city of Indianapolis, Indiana for the Royal Rumble. We have Royal T. Ladies and gentlemen, the queen of Queens Stephanie McMahon Come on, Dave. I'm ready. Edit it, Andy. Give me a big hand. Okay. Yep, crush it. Nice, Stephanie, my friend. How you doing? How you doing?

How are you? Good to see you. Thanks for having me. Hi, absolutely. Our pleasure. Now, now, now, we're lucky. Yeah, thank you. We are lucky to have you.

Great boots. You see these boots? Oh yeah. Love them. Holy shit. Yeah, those are bad ass boots. Those ain't shakers. Those are bad ass boots right there.

Now, which one is Dan? Dan? There's a sign about Dan farting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's Dan Orlovski. Yeah, he's actually from Connecticut.

Oh, hey. Yeah, the great state of Connecticut. He's on TV all the time on ESPN. Thank you for making the trip. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having me. Okay, Royal Rumble Week. We were trying trying or weekend. We were trying to describe it earlier I think Royal Rumble is something that encompasses all wrestling fans all entertainment fans because literally anybody can show up

Obviously with Paul, mr. H. Mr. Leveque in charge of all the creative What should we be expecting this weekend? And what are your favorite things about the Royal Rumble? Oh, well, you're asking me standard fare here, Pat. You know, yes, the Royal Rumble kicks off the road to WrestleMania. So as you know, the winner of the men's Royal Rumble match and the winner of the women's Royal Rumble match, they go on to choose the championship

that they'd like to compete for at WrestleMania, which of course is the granddaddy of them all. The show of shows. I mean, that is the spectacle, and that all starts with the Royal Rumble. So I think John Cena competing in his last Royal Rumble ever is gonna be really meaningful. I'm looking forward to Charlotte Flair's return to the ring. It's been way too long. Lots of surprises that I don't even know about and if I did I wouldn't

be allowed to say. Oh yeah, you should. Yeah, but I don't know. I mean I know some things but not all things. I was certainly surprised yesterday at the office when Triple H was announced that he was going into the Hall of Fame. Congratulations, Mr. H! Yes, by Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker who were so happy that they were able to pull one over on him. And they got me too. I had absolutely no idea. It was so incredible.

Magical time for the WWE right now. Yes, it is. Saw you at the Intuit Dome for the Netflix premiere. Yes. Big pop for Steph whenever she got Oh, yeah Massive pop for Stephanie McMahon. How proud of you are you of the WWE right now of Mr H and of everything happening with the business

I'm I couldn't be more proud and I put out a tweet or a post on X, you know that morning Because I was just so overwhelmed. I saw the spot and It just made me cry. I mean, I was just so proud. I was in tears to think about WWE I mean when my parents first started trying to promote WWE we actually had to buy time to get on the air and you think about how it's progressed and then how we've been on cable and And you think about how it's progressed and then how we've been on cable and broadcast and then ultimately launched the first one of the first You know D to C services one of the first streaming platforms It was you know Hulu Netflix and WWE Network there may have been a couple other ones

But that's how you know it was big and then we were one of the first to sell You know to sell our content then to peacock and then now to be on Netflix I mean, we're the first regularly scheduled live program on Netflix. I mean, that's incredible. Yeah, a lot of pressure. I told Paul that I said, hey, listen, as somebody who is regularly scheduled is live and has relationships with WWE and the NFL, which Netflix has invested billions into both. Let's get it right, Paul.

Yeah. Let's get it right, Paul. Yeah. Let's get it right. Well, so far, so far, I think he is. And it's so funny because I am so proud. But whenever I talk to him and I say how proud I am of him, he always talks about everybody else. Yes. Because it's about the team.

It's about everyone who brings it together. It's you too, Pat. I mean, every Monday night. And then Netflix is going to have the Royal Rumble internationally So for the first time ever in almost every country internationally Royal Rumble will be streaming on one platform And then of course domestically it's peacock Okay So let's talk about you talked about the history of paying time to get it on the air and then all the evolution and the growth

Of the wwe let's talk about you. Yeah. You've grown up in front of all of our eyes. I've been a WWF, WWE fan my entire life. So I feel like I've- And now I'm an old lady. No! I am. Younger than ever!

We're an old lady. Younger than ever! 28 is not old. Awesome mom, awesome mom, badass business person, everything that you, philanthropist, everything you've been a part of. But growing up in the spotlight, I assume, is a bit absurd, especially whenever it involves the wrestling business.

Do you stop and think about that ever? Do you get a chance to get away? Have you reset it all? What is it like to be Stephanie McMahon? So one of the things that I learned when I stepped away is that I'll never get away from WWE ever. It is a part of who I am. It is what I love.

I really did grow up in this business. So it was not unusual to have shoots done at our house. I was in the first ever Saturday night's main event. I went trick or treating at Roddy Piper's house, which was actually our house. And he was putting candy, you know, bowling balls, breaking our candy bags. I mean, you know, he was the heel at the time. And I was on that episode with Chip from Kate and Allie.

Like it was just random, right? I did modeling for, you know, the catalog and I didn't get paid. We didn't have child models at the time, you know? It was like all of the employee's kids, we were just dressed up. And, you know, it's like all of the employees kids we were just dressed up. And, you know, I've just I've lived this amazing life with so many opportunities to meet incredible people and be a part of something that's so special that connects people all over the world. And I feel it everywhere I go and every arena I go to is something that is just so special.

Big pops for Steph everywhere she goes. You know, it's not like that for her. That's not necessarily true. That is true. Oh yeah. That is absolutely true. And a lot of people, you just talked about stepping away. A lot of people thought you wanted to get away from it all,

you know, and it had been your entire life. Was there a moment where you wanted to get away and then you realized that like you're proud actually of everything that happened? I never stopped being proud, ever. I do think I wanted to disappear for a little while. Understand. And I kinda did.

You know, and it was good for me. I needed it. And now I'm back. Yeah, well it's great to have you back. Con Man has a question for you, Steph. Yeah, Steph, as far as the evolution of the Superstars, you kinda just mentioned way back with Rowdy, Rowdy Piper and everything like that. And now the things they're doing in the

ring are insane. Do you feel like the athleticism is at an all time high and can it even go further just because at some point that is there like a stop to it? Yeah, like a too much fat. We're talking about Kevin Owens going off of like eight ladders on Saturday night. Like, can that continue to kind of climb and reset the bar? Well, you know, I don't want our talent to ever put themselves in danger. You know, of course there's a risk to what we do, but I think the athleticism has evolved in all sports.

You know, it's not just WWE when you watch football now, when you watch every different sport, I mean, you see these athletes taking it to another level. When you watch high school athletes now perform, it's at another level. I think it's just the evolution of human beings, and we're going to continue to see that. And yes, I think the athleticism will continue to wow and amaze everybody watching in WWE. How do you feel about the company's ability to create new superstars? You know because there's other wrestling promotions

obviously that have existed throughout time. I'm not just talking about currently I'm talking about through time and the ability to create superstars is something that is very hard for a lot of people to do. WWF, WWE have always been able to do that. Now obviously with the Performance Center and with NXT and everything that's been invested in that. How do you feel about the ability to create superstars and why do you think that that is something that this company, your company has been able to do for so long? Gosh, I think it's because it all starts with the superstar.

It all starts with that talent and that character because you have to have a reason to care, right? You have to have a reason to care to see to watch them in the ring to want to see them win, to want to bow to see them lose. You have to care about the character. It's not enough to just have in-ring action. So I think that's something that WWE knows better than anybody. And it's a process. It's, it's working with the talent.

It's finding out who they are. It's, it's the vision for the character. It's working with the talent. It's finding out who they are. It's the vision for the character. It's giving it a try. At NXT, you'll see multiple different personas sometimes come through and it's the same person. It's because you're trying different things and seeing how the audience is going to react. And ultimately, it's the audience that chooses what's going to work or what isn't going You know, I think Stone Cold Steve Austin's told plenty of stories about that. Yeah stunning Steve was certainly Beautiful the ringmaster the ringmaster back in the day was glorious. You're one of the best heels of all time Oh, did you enjoy that love being? Thank you. Yes. I hate being a baby face. It's the worst. Yeah, love being a heel. Prefer to be booed. Yeah.

Much, much more preferred. Whole life? You felt that way? Oh yeah. Even when I was growing up, like I always loved the heels. You know, I didn't like cheering for Hogan. It just wasn't... Well, LA did. But he was the most over ever,

but I just, like, yeah, I didn't. I wasn't on the bandwagon. When did the smack-a-man do? The slap? So it was when I became just like yeah, I didn't I wasn't on the bandwagon. When did the smack come into the slap? So it was when I became you know a character and obviously when I became a heel And I don't know what the my first slap was but I remember the advice that I was told because all the boys were Like you got to lay it in stuff. Oh, yeah, they said you got to lay it in It's got to look good and make sure you don't pop anybody's eardrum You got to hit them, you know in a particular spot, but hit them hard.

So that's how the slap kind of starts. Yeah, you lay it in there. I think, yeah, it was like Foley, I think. Jericho, I remember one time DX was holding Jericho, I forget the storyline, but I was going over to slap Chris and he like wincedced all the guys thought it was so funny and they made me wait and let him win And then they had me slap him it was really funny, how are your relationships with uh, let's I don't say ex talent But oh geez of the wwf because obviously there is situations that happen with superstores. I think it happens in any business Definitely in a business where there's a lot of egos,

only a certain amount of spots, a lot of travel, a lot of exhaustions, and a lot of physicality, where people kind of get on the outs with the family, shall we say. Now, in the family, the WWF to WWE, how have you been able to maintain relationships with people that have been through the WWE, and does it always feel like a reunion every time people come back home and

Do you feel a big part of that whenever people come back? So to answer in reverse order, I don't necessarily feel a big part of it if I wasn't It is always a big reunion when somebody comes back and I try to keep you know, good relationships with everybody It's if there is a falling out or some particular negative aspect, that's not what I choose to focus on. And if someone needs to get over whatever that is, and then that's their purview. It feels like the business, everybody takes a break.

Not everybody. Michael Cole's been doing this for 28 years straight. Isn't that insane? Yeah, I know I love Michael Cole me too What I mean, I slapped the crap out of Michael Cole Ty is a question for you stuff. Yes, Steph You mentioned, you know stepping away and how that was great for you But once you kind of go out there and you get that pop and people are booing you and we've talked to so many

superstars just say how intoxicating that is and like the adrenaline you get from that. Do you ever miss that aspect of it and wish like, oh man, I wish I was still doing this on a consistent basis, going out there every single night and getting booed and kind of feeling that rush from the live crowd? It's a great question. And I think there was a period of time

that I have felt that way. I think there's various periods of time where I felt that way. But honestly, after I wrestled Ronda and Kurt at WrestleMania, it for some reason didn't become my driving force. Like it was so amazing that match and what we were able to, the story we were able

to tell, what we were able to accomplish that me being the only non-athlete, you know, it was a tall order for me and ever since then I haven't had that craving. Honestly, it's more how are they going to react? It's not like, oh, I'm craving them to do this or that. It's more like, ooh, are they going to react at all when I come out? Because I've really only been out at WrestleMania, opening the second night of WrestleMania, and then I've been in the crowd.

So it's not like I've really been out in front of everybody. Great promo at Mania. Yeah. Great promo at Mania. Well, I got to usher in the Triple H era, the Paul LeVeque era. I mean, it was such a cool moment for me to be able to do that.

How is that, watching him transition from all these different phases? Because that, I was just a fan, so I've only followed along. I've never asked him or you. I believe it was just a bit before our show that you guys were maybe concocting to happen. Then you come fall in love. Oh, oh, oh, oh that yeah, mr. H

So and now there's been so many different iterations of you so many different iterations of him So many different iterations of the business kind of watching it all grow How do you feel about the current state of mr. H and you guys as a family because he's more busy now Maybe than ever. Yeah, he's busier now than ever but he's happier than ever, you know, he's he's more busy now maybe than ever? Yeah, he's busier now than ever, but he's happier than ever. You know, he's working so hard, but it's something he actually just talked about at the town hall to all of our employees. I say our, I know it's not our anymore,

but to the WWE employees. Staff, yeah. Place. I can't get the hour out of my lexicon, but he- You should. But he talked about the fun, you know, and how everybody is having as hard as they work. They're having that much fun and how important that is. I mean, I think you guys know that better than anybody, right? You can put in all the hours, you can

grind away, but if you're having fun, you know, that's, that's where the money is. And then if you're having fun, if our talent are having fun, then the audience is having fun. Yeah. And it radiates then the audience is having fun. Yeah, and it radiates to the screen. It does. You feel it. Yeah, and you got to find people that love the business. Like for football, for instance, we talk about all these NFL teams trying to find guys that love ball. Like I feel like in the wrestling business, you find out quickly who loves the business.

Don't you think? You do. I think so. Yeah. Yeah, because if not, you're not going to make it. And some people, though, come from different walks of life life but they fall in love with it, you know, and that's where the passion resides. It's like, you don't have to have been a fan your whole life but yeah, if you're a fan, it makes a huge difference. I think you guys have the most loyal

and passionate fans out of any business. I would say that. I mean, I'm sure other leagues, sports leagues would say differently, but I believe that wholeheartedly. There's about to be what what 65,000 plus. Maybe 70,000 here at Royal Rumble, biggest Royal Rumble attended event happening here. But I think also because our fans are such a part of our journey,

they are the reason for our success and they are part of making it so successful. So even this move to Netflix, it's like, that's what I put in my post because it's everybody who's ever been a part of WWE or loved it in some capacity that has gotten us to this place. And our fans know that they're a part of it. And I think that's kind of what makes it different. Yeah, you just said our fans again, you should keep doing that. I know I told you I can't get out of it. You should keep doing that. It's very natural and everybody understands it. The fans are

a character. Yes, you know I don't think that's necessarily something in all Sports or any other entertainment business? It's like the fans matter more in wrestling than any other place and it's a beautiful thing I was lucky to be a part of the WWE Universe now get a chance to say dumb things into a microphone in your Business AJ has a question for you Steph. He's in, Ohio Yeah, Stephanie, someone that I've been a big fan of

for a long time and an absolute great company man for you guys, The Miz. Now, are we seeing, we hear The Miz talk a lot of times, he feels like if he's not forward-facing in some of the posters or some of the promo, he may get a bit excited. Are we expecting to see a nice, like a push for The Miz here over the next couple years?

You never know what's gonna happen with The Miz. He's very surprising surprising comes out of nowhere How do you feel about the amount of content, amount of superstars and trying to keep everybody happy that your business has to do? I don't think it's possible to keep everybody happy You know ever in any capacity that you're always gonna have some people who are happy some people who aren't but I think the amount Of content that is being produced is at a record level. But again, we have such an incredibly talented team, our production team, being led by Lee Fitting.

We have, you know, of course, all of the talent. You know, everybody's willing to shoot content. Everybody wants to shoot content, and we have more programs and shows now than we ever have before. And Trailblaze everywhere, Speed. Yeah. Yeah yeah X was the first one that showed up on it It's like everything you guys are doing is like trailblazing not everything's a home run, right? It can't be I think everybody agree with that

But you guys step into the batter's box more than anybody which I think is why I love your guys's business so much and also You know with how I don't say all the businesses but with how long the business has been around Okay So do you know that really if you position the business right and this is something I used to do it all these business Conferences when I would talk to the audience is Really it goes all the way back to the days of the Roman Coliseum and then I say thank God You know we evolved from you know with the outcome We evolved to scripting the outcome and that was a good thing. Yeah, smart idea.

But you know, really it does go all the way back. You know, it's the oldest form of entertainment, I think, you know, hand to hand, man to man kind of combat goes along with being a human being and it's a part of survival, right? And then it evolves over time. Abraham Lincoln. Honest Abe.

Was a professional wrestler. Some historians refute that and some absolutely support it. And when you think about his style and his promo, if you will, he always talked about people. He told stories. And that is what WWE does better than anybody. And that's what this business does. You tell stories.

Standing at six foot six, wearing a top hat, making him seven foot one out of Illinois, honest Abe Lincoln. That's good billing for him but with how. At the carnivals. Which is where this whole thing kind of starts you know people talk about carny and everything like that and kayfabe and everything like that. The language is a carny language and the history of it. Everybody you know you would think with how big the business has got billions dollar deals billion dollar deals it's

still family-run business always will be there's only a few people that are making decisions in there obviously your family has been a part of that for as long as any of us can remember it. How has it been to not like take it personal, all the pop shots or all the shots that have been taken at you, your family, everything? Do you try to stay above it? Do you try to stay away from it? Do you try not to see it?

How do you kind of engage in all that type of stuff? So it's been my whole life. And when I was in high school was when my dad was indicted by the federal government. And the media came after my family in a really big and really hard way to deal with when you're in high school. And I think at that time I was filled with a lot of anger and resentment. And I had a hard time, you know, navigating all of that. And I think, you know, now in my later years,

when all of it seems to happen again, it's, you know, with a little bit of reverence that I can appreciate all of it because it's just noise. You know, people have opinions no matter what, and that's great. And you can think you know exactly what's going on. You can give whatever dirt you think you know, but at the end of the day, I know where I stand

and that's how I have to just be grounded and rooted in who I am and what I believe in and try to ignore the noise. Yeah, and I think that's why people view you the way they do. Even if they view your dad or your family differently, I think that's why everybody appreciates the hell out of you. That's why there's big pops every time Steph comes out. We have a graphic here, the Queen of Queens, co-founder of Connors Cure, like the amount

of stuff you've given back to the world to make the society better, I think you felt an onus to do and you have certainly managed to do and helped to do. Why is that such a big part of what you think WWE is all about? Because it's all about our fans and it is all about giving back. I mean, that's been a part of the ethos of WWE from the very beginning. We were one of the first partners of Make-A-Wish Foundation over 30 years ago. And our talent were the most requested wishes, you know, out of anybody. And that's really how the relationship started.

And it's like, of course, yes, of course, bring this child. Yes, we want to make this wish come true. What more can we do? And that then evolved into Special Olympics, and that evolved into a lot of other partnerships, you know, that we have that are all about giving back. Connor's Cure was founded because of a little boy, you know, named Connor Mahalik, who was impossible not to fall in love with. And he was, I met him at the Royal Rumble. It was after the show.

And he was standing there, he was wearing a shirt that was like dragging on the ground and Justin Roberts, one of our referees, introduced me to him. And he was telling me all about his t-shirts and how Seamus had just given him this one that was dragging on the floor and that he, underneath that he had a Daniel Bryan t-shirt on because Daniel Bryan was his t-shirt and under that he had a Skylanders t-shirt on and I was like, buddy.

It was just, you could tell he was sick because he had a scar running up the back of his head and he had a little lump on his head and he, you know, you could tell he was sick because he had a scar running up the back of his head and he had a little lump on his head. And he, you know, you could tell he was sick, but you'd never know it from his personality. I asked him for a hug and he said, no. And I said, why not? And he goes, because I give choke out hugs. And I was like, try me buddy. And it was the best little hug.

And when I stood up, that's when his dad told me, he said, you know, you guys aren't supposed to be back in Pittsburgh until the summer. And this was Royal Rumbles. And he said, and the doctors say that Connor's not going to make it. And I just couldn't get over that. And when I said goodbye to Connor,

I gave him a little kiss on his cheek. And I'll never forget how soft his cheek was. And then he turned around and he looked at me, and I know this sounds crazy, but I swear our souls touched. And I made an unspoken promise in that moment and went on the bus that night because we were on the tour bus and Paul and I were talking about what we could do and we invited him to WrestleMania and we were thinking give him something to hang on for. And it worked because hope is really important and hope really does matter.

And his dad said that at WrestleMania, it turns out the doctors told him not to travel. And they said, this will be a disaster. Don't travel. His dad did it anyway. And he said it was like he had his little boy back. He could tie his shoes. He could feed his shoes he could feed himself he could do all these things and then his hero Daniel Bryan ultimately wins it all at Wrestlemania. Yeselmania. And Daniel Bryan came over to him with the championship and said you did

this and you have to continue your fight and um and Conor did for three more weeks. And then he died. He died in his dad's arms three weeks later. Yeah, Yenzer, little Yenzer kid, in Pittsburgh Children's Hospital obviously, is a powerful one, a great one. We appreciate everything you've done for him. I'm getting emotional as a kid. I think we all are.

I have an almost two-year-old, he's got a daughter, he's got two kids. Yeah, it makes a difference like as you tell these stories, we're thinking about it. But so what can we do? That's what WWE does though. That's right. And so there's something we can do. And we galvanized our fan base

and we've raised millions of dollars for kids with cancer. And it also maintains a personal commitment for me. And I'm doing a number of different things outside of the company. So. Hell yeah, Steph. Hell yeah. Hell yeah, Steph. All right, as we all get past the tears of remembering, sorry about that.

God, no, don't be sorry. We are very lucky that you are doing that and giving back to the world, especially in the city that we are from Pittsburgh. So we're very grateful. AP tone has a question for you with your vast knowledge and wisdom of the business and the company. And now that you're back, do you feel an obligation or do you have a lot of superstars or people around the business?

I mean, Pat talks about every time he comes back, he talks about how much of a, how awesome everyone is from superstars to the camera people to everybody. Do you ever feel an obligation to, you know, be a mentor, give advice to any of the superstars or anyone in the business now because of, of that you've been in all your entire life? I don't feel an obligation, but I'm more than willing, certainly, and anybody who wants my opinion,

I'm happy to give it, you know? But it is true how great everybody is. Oh, the best. I mean, just the culture of the company, I think, just hands down across the board. Got caught in the question a lot. Yeah. Got caught in the question a lot

by people that don't know the company. But you're talking about camera people that have been there for like 30 years. You're talking about like Nicky and his crew, the production crew has been there for like 25 years. The guy who threw Steve Beers during the attitude, they're still there right now doing it. It's like everybody is at the top of their profession.

That's right. And they won't leave. They won't go anywhere else. And then think about all the life you lived during that time and the challenges, because life kicks everybody around right and then the Challenges that you have personally in this team that's always there every single week there for you And I think that that's just another part of it. It's another part of why it is so special I don't want to put you on the spot here, but have you ever given your Mount Rushmore of?

WWF WWE superstars no I can't do that Leads me to the Hall of Fame you know given your Mount Rushmore of WWF, WWE superstars? No, I can't do that. Yeah, don't do that. Yeah, that's way too many. That is so rude. It leads me to the Hall of Fame, you know? Yeah, yeah. It'd be so, so rude. But there are a couple different people that have, obviously you mentioned Hulk Hogan earlier.

Yeah, yeah. And then LA booed his ass out for- They did, yeah. Yeah, they did. Wow. They did. Maybe comes back with the NWL. Yeah, yeah. The black and white, yeah.

The press conference. But what he was able to do, obviously alongside Andre and that entire crew, kind of launch the business into something very different. And then Stone Cold, The Rock, that entire Attitude Era, DX, that whole crew, they do what they do. Cena takes the reins, takes it to another, this group takes it to another. Do you view it as different eras or how do you kind of view the history of the game? I think it's appropriate to break it up in eras.

I think it helps define it because it is so big and there has been so many special people and special moments. So I think eras work. Yeah? What's your favorite era? The Attitude Era? What an insane time to be alive. The Attitude Era was out of control.

It was crazy. It really was. To be a part of it on the inside and outside, it was lunacy. That's where I grew up in That makes so much sense In the back there's a guy named Nikki skates massive wrestling fan. He has a question for you, Steph Stephanie what does the future look like for you from the wrestling standpoint like the business like where you go from here? You're on Netflix now. You're all over the world, like how much further can you guys take

this thing and I know there's been shows in Europe now, is that the next step? Where are we going next? So international is a big focus but again I'm not an executive at the company right now so just you know. Right now? Oh I don't mean anything by that, I just mean I'm you know speaking on my own here. Absolutely. But international is absolutely a huge focus and that's part of one of the reasons why the partnership with Netflix is so important to us. When you think about even NXT and you think about our developmental center in Florida right now, the Performance Center, what if you have those all over the world?

What if you can grow sort of mini territories? What if you replicate NXT in different countries all over the world? Ultimately, then what does that do? Aside from a programming standpoint, but then you level that up and, you know, how do you then a global world tour where we're competing against ourselves in different countries, you know,

what does that look like? I mean, there's the sky, there's one thing about WWE is we've never put a ceiling on anything, you know, what does that look like? I mean, there's the sky, there's one thing about WWE is we've never put a ceiling on anything, you know? And we're limited only by our imagination. So I think that, you know, that's the best answer. But yes, international is a huge focus. It's the greatest business in the world. I'm so incredibly lucky to be a small,

little tiny part of it. I'm so lucky to be invited back. We will continue this conversation on ESPN+, Disney+, YouTube, and TikTok Live. Still alive. Still alive. Still bringing it. Still bringing it. We don't know how much longer it will be. Royal Rumble on Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern. Smackdown kicks it all off tomorrow from Gainbridge Fieldhouse here in Indianapolis, Indiana. We'll continue our chat with royalty Stephanie McMahon digitally we can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living be a friend tell a friend something nice

It might change their life All right, we got it out. Yep. Boom. We're no longer on ESPN So if you want to just drop a bunch of motherfuckers, but we didn't promote the ESPN show, what are you talking about my show? Oh We'll continue to evolve wouldn't be us if we did yeah Yikes that is a hundred percent on us With that being said I was gonna steer it, but then I wasn't sure. You should've, you should've said, you should've, you could just view this show as your show. Whenever you say our show, just do whatever you need to do.

But we are live on ESPN Plus currently. Awesome, awesome. And we're live on Disney Plus currently. And YouTube, and I believe that is gonna be a few of the homes for a show that you are creating. That is correct. And I think this is an announcement that is. It is, it is in partnership with Omaha Productions

and ESPN and WWE. It is a part of the Peyton's Places show and it is called Stephanie's Places. And I'm going all over the country and hopefully the world to really find out the stories behind the biggest stars in WWE. I believe we have a sizzle reel for. over the country and hopefully the world to really find out the stories behind the biggest stars in WWE. I believe we have a sizzle reel for-

Nice. Staffs places. It has no audio on it, but it is a bunch of the shots you caught up with Stone Cold Steve Olsen. Ryan. I did. You got a chance to catch up with Charlotte Flair. Ryan.

Roman Reigns. Wow. And the whole bloodline, by the way. Down on a yacht down in Florida. That's sweet. Hilarious. Yep, yep. It's coming in March.

ESPN original, Stephanie's Places. You know the history of this business through and through. What is the goal of Stephanie's Places? It's really to tell the stories that haven't been told and to find out more about the people behind the characters. And what I want to do is bring some type of advice to the audience. These people are all hugely successful, but like most people, they've been knocked around a lot. So how did they overcome the challenges that were put in front of them?

How did they get over certain things to become who they are today? And it's really their journey. That's what I'm trying to tell is the story of their story, their journey of how they've gotten to where they are. Have you enjoyed hosting? Have you enjoyed it? I've loved it. So I have to say, I was really nervous to do it.

You know, again, it was like my first step back, if you will, and into the business. And I was really, really worried about it. And ultimately it's just been so rewarding to get to hang out with our talent that I know so well on a certain level, but then to get to know them so much better and differently and again, to bring their stories out. And it's interesting because with each person it's different. In some cases, like I'm the younger person who remembers them as a big star and how do we do this? And then in other cases, I'm the older person and I'm trying to pull things out of a younger superstar

and it's no one show is the same. And it's just a lot of fun. Hell yeah, we can't wait to watch coming in March. Go ahead, Tom. Did you get to meet Steve's cats? Cause this office, poncho. Poncho, poncho. Poncho, but he kept running away.

Well, that's poncho. Classic poncho. I don't like cats. What? I don't like cats. Neither do I, but Steve's cats are different. Well, I know. And that's what he said.

He said they were like dogs and they were great. And I'm not disparaging Steve's cats, but yes. In general, I'm not a cat person. Well, there are cats that are like dogs though. They say that, they say that. I don't like cats since I'm a kid and they mess with me. So my husband's sister, she had a cat that was like 22 years old or something, never came out of the closet,

but it would just stay there unless I came over and it would come sit behind me on the sofa and his sister was like This never happened. I don't know what No, they mess with me. They know I don't like them I I was a sophomore in college and my roommate and I we had this apartment the bathroom door wouldn't close all the way and This cat would come in and perch on the sink when I was taking a shower and I'd wash my hair like I thought this Cat was to jump over. No, it was not.

It was messing with me and it knew exactly what it was doing. I was bit by a cat when I was in like daycare. Black cat bit my middle finger. What does that mean? Well, you know, we know what that means. It means you're going to hate cats for the rest of your life. That's right. I think is what happened.

Okay, before we let you go, you can tell us now. Congratulations. You're gonna be in the Rumble this weekend. Wow. All right. I am not in the Rumble match. That is, I'm not in the Rumble match at all. Oh, okay. Well, you wouldn't tell us if you were. Yeah, I can't. K-Vape, K-Vape, K-Vape, K-Vape Okay. Okay. Okay. We'll dump it. We won't let anybody hear

it. Okay. Well, we appreciate the hell out of you. Let's take a break. On the other side, we'll wrap up all the stories. Let's celebrate the hell out of Stephanie McMahon and Stephanie's place. Thank you guys. Thank you for making time to stop by. I know it's your first time doing any interview since stepping down as an executive. That's right. At WWE. You came in here and crushed it. Well, we're crying. Yeah. Yeah. I did. I'm legit. This is my first time doing any interviews and stepping down as an executive. That's right. At WWE. You came in here and crushed it. Well, we're crying.

Yeah. Yeah, I did. Real legit. This is my first time crying in here. Really? Definitely. Oh, so great. I have, I have a credit.

Yeah. Yeah. I'd say tone is crying too. I mean, so was I. And I didn't even have to slap you to make you cry. I'll do the Jericho. Yeah. So great. I got to get that footage. Thank you very much for having me. It was an honor. No, the honor is ours. Thank you for everything

you've done for society, for the business and for us. Football! It's wonderful. That's AJ Hawk. he's a college football national champion a Super Bowl champion age I mean that's first time I've ever cried here with Stephanie McMahon absolutely crushed it so thankful she stopped by with the WWE team it's always nice to see them great people all around talks to tables here at boss Connor and that Ty Schmidt we We talk about it a lot and You know anytime we say it into a microphone I almost feel like we're braggarts and I don't mean to sound that way But like anytime we're on WWE people they're way too nice to us

Yeah, and I think that is I mean they put you guys in the video game, but crazy they are To us they've always been the coolest people tie and we've been around them now What six seven years in this entire thing. A lot of wrestling marks leave that out of their comments whenever they bury me for certain different things. It's like this started back with the NXT kickoff panel all the way back in New Orleans, all the way through doing that, to commentating NXT, to doing some of the panels and kickoff shows for the WWE, to getting to commentate on SmackDown, to now getting to do Raw, to doing some of the panels and kickoff shows for the WWE to getting to commentate on Smackdown to now getting to do raw to doing some matches It's like they've been cool to us since the beginning and it's not just me

It's all of us and it's absurd every single time tonight and Very rarely do you do something like we're going to like their biggest events of the year where you know like They have so much shit going on and a lot of times we're going to places with like 10 deep, you know, and it's not easy to just like Accommodate, you know, like oh, yeah, like you guys like whatever you need. Seriously, you know, we got we got seats for you You know, you can go to this area. You can do this you great It's like it'd be very easy if there are that many people to just be like Pat you're good

But like get get your fucking just be like, Pat, you're good, but like, get, get your fucking posse. Like, you know, they can go sit up in the nosebleeds and kind of just be done with it. And they've never done that. Like at WrestleMania this year, we were sitting behind the rocks mom, you know, like, yeah, it's two chains is right by exactly. It's insane. And it's time and time again, you know, they're good people. They've been so nice to us. We're incredibly thankful. Obviously know, they're good people. They've been so nice to us We're incredibly thankful obviously Stephanie and mr. H have been incredibly kind to me. I started NXT whenever Triple H was running NXT

He has been nothing short of just a I mean whenever he was on at the end to a time We almost I almost got like emotional when he was like, hey Watching you and your guys too from the beginning I think they feel like they're a part of it AJ. Like I feel like the WWE people are like, and Michael Cole definitely is like, man, whenever we met to where you are now, like they feel like, hey, the little boy has done pretty good,

like and his friends. And that's a cool thing to feel, you know, especially from a company that I've obviously been a fan of my entire life, AJ. I told you from the first time I ever went to anything WWE when you were doing NXT back in the day like from the first, I remember the first time I went down there with you. I was there for like we were there what five, six, seven hours it was during COVID all the stuff's going on and I just couldn't believe like you said like I was like why I felt like

I was stepping on toes okay I shouldn't be here I shouldn't be doing okay and they were so open and all I can't they're like, yeah, man, whatever you guys need, like, it was a family like it truly felt like a family atmosphere. And that was it's always cool to see all the old wrestlers coming back and they all have a gig and they all have a place in what they do. And they have so much respect for him. Like, it's a cool like old school type culture, I think, too. I agree and you know when I mentioned getting away because that happens with everybody in the wwe Like you get to a point, you know, we can see it happening publicly with some people maybe Where you get to a point where you forget how good it is and how lucky you are to maybe be working where you are and how pumped you should be and it's like That happens in every business, especially in one where you have to travel around. It's a lot of work. There's a lot of this. There's only a certain amount of spots. It's like people get away and then they kind of get like refreshed.

And then whenever they come back, it's always like, welcome back. It's great to have you. That business has a lot of that. And I think it kind of happens literally for everybody but Michael Cole. Michael Cole is like the only constant. Like 28 years. And I'm always like, Cole, like, don't you think you need a break? He's like, break? I take a break? I'm going to fire my ass. What are you doing? And the only constant, like 28 years. And I'm always like, Cole, like, don't you think you need a break?

He's like, break? I take a break? I'm going to fire my ass. What are you doing? And I'm like, no, no. Like, it is kind of one of those things. It's one of those businesses where it can be a lot, but everybody has the same mindset. Like let's just do the best shit and let's serve our fans.

That's legitimately how they feel. And Royal Rumble being in Indianapolis, and I know Mr. H said this, but like I pushed very hard for it to be, for them to come to Indy for a lot of things. Now, certainly did Nick and Triple H say, and Michael Cole go, oh, you want a home game? Everybody wants a home game, you know, like Michael Cole in San Antonio the other night, it was said like three times, like I'm from 20 minutes down the road so like Michael Cole drove home after the thing so anytime I was promoting like hey you guys need to come through Indianapolis more we need bigger shows in Indianapolis give us a chance Indianapolis people are gonna show up they're all like okay yeah yeah yeah we'll stay in Indianapolis and then what Louisville you want Louisville next and then you know we'll go to Chicago too and maybe Detroit you just

want us to maybe stay in there and they were talking shit obviously But then whenever I started saying like no I think this place would be a great host because we're a great hosting place and they like I feel like whenever they got The deal done to do it They're like pumped to come tell me like hey We're coming to indie band like very excited for it And that's why this weekend is so damn cool because I think the crowd that is going to show up for this royal rumble Is going to be an electrifying crowd.

I think they're a crowd that is going to be very thankful that the Royal Rumble is here and obviously WrestleMania is coming. That was agreed to in the deal and I think Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and SummerSlam were all deals that were agreed to with the city of Indianapolis and it's like whenever that deal gets done one of the first calls that Nick and Triple H make is to me and they're like hey man we got it done like let's let's enjoy the hell out of this and it's like this weekend is the first of that and I'm so lucky and pumped to be a part of it all I saw you crying over there because the things that WWE is giving back to the community too is immense and it very rarely gets talked about outside of the wrestling

fans. You're right the Connor's secure secure thing, the stalled, I didn't know the story of it. Yeah. And ever, ever since we've had kids, just a ball of mush, but no, but then like, seen it, what scene is the most of all time for make a wishes like, and he's not the only one. Like he's just, cause he has done a thousand of them. But yeah, all the WW superstars, they're always with kids. They're always giving back to the community.

It's awesome. Great business. Yeah. And you can do anything to the community. It's awesome. Great business. Yeah. And you can do anything in the business. Yeah. Work their asses off, too. That's the biggest thing right there, what Connor said. It's like all that other stuff, yes, I retweet,

but they all work so hard, and you just have to respect that. Yeah. And you can do anything. I mean, they can put a WWE baseball game together somehow. Yeah. And it would work. Sure. They would make it work somehow.

Like, if you have an idea they want to hear, and all right let's make it happen. You know, what if, as opposed to like nah that can't happen which some places are like you know I'm not going to point fingers at anybody. Most places. Most places. But WWE you have an idea they're like okay. Figure this out. Let's see. Sounds like Andy Reid a little bit like what Coach Andy Reid said yesterday. He'll listen to anyone who has advice. He's not guaranteed to call it, but he'll listen. Okay. Speaking of Andy Reid, do you know on this day, seven years ago, the chiefs

traded Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins in exchange for a third round pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller. This trade would inevitably lead to Patrick Mahomes becoming the starter for the Kansas City Chiefs. Alex Smith had just got done with his best season of football. Alex Smith started that season by beating the shit out of the New England Patriots on opening night. Then they would lead to a season where they'd be so comfortable with their seeding, they would rest the starters in the final week. Patrick Mahomes, this quarterback out of Texas Tech,

would play against the Denver Broncos in the final game of the season. Once again, because they had such a good season, they didn't have to play the last game. It did not matter. That's how great Alex Smith was. Everything they thought Alex Smith could be, he was in this particular season with Andy Reid.

Patrick Mahomes beat the Denver Broncos in the final game of the year. Then the Chiefs would not win the Super Bowl. That off season would start and what would they do? They'd get rid of Alex Smith after he lives up to the hype and expectation from all the years ago in draft night. And everybody, including us, would say, the hell is Andy Reid doing?

Why the fuck would you get rid of Alex Smith whenever he plays his best ball and only going to play even better ball you assume going forward in this Andy Reid system? And then we had a caller call into our show from Kansas City go, Patrick Mahomes is going to be the best player to ever play football for the Kansas City Chiefs. And we said, look at this blind loyalty that these people have to the Chiefs and to Andy Reid. Little did we know that everything that was happening in practices and everything happening in that Denver Broncos game was something that they knew was going to become a very consistent level of play. So obviously this day, January 30th,

is one that's remembered for a lot of things I would assume. But the biggest one is that this is when the Patrick Mahomes era began in Kansas City And you have to give credit to Andy Reid for pulling the trigger and making the decision happen especially with how good Alex Smith was playing and The rest they say is history AJ Hawk They had to know obviously they did know they didn't they didn't think they knew they knew what they had in Patrick Mahomes I do remember. I mean, I don't know anyone that's like, oh yeah, that's normal that they're trading away Alex Smith. We remember the season that he did have then,

but I do remember hearing throughout like different players talk about through camp or whatever, just about Mahomes. Like, hey, I'm just telling you like this dude is, he's next. Like they weren't saying get Alex Smith out of here, but they were talking about him, what he does in practice. Hold on, I got a text from a Colquitt, right? The punter?

I think as we were doing our show, we did a full on, oh, what a stupid decision. And then I got a text from Dustin Colquitt that was like, bub, bub, this is you are, this is the guy. This is who we want. This is the guy that is going to be great. And wait until you see what this guy is going to become. And what's he become?

Oh, well, he's 29 years old. He's a multiple time Super Bowl champion. And he's already in a conversation to be in the greatest of all time I also never forget I want to say clip in the show cuz I don't know if we had we had rights yet or not But there was a preseason game I don't I can't remember who was against but there was multiple throws where he was rolling right and just throwing the ball like 80 Yards down the field like oh, okay. Yeah, that makes it. Yeah, but the day of the ball like 80 yards down the field like oh okay yeah that makes it. Yeah but the day of none of us. No not the day of. Yeah I appreciate us all going yeah on day we remember seeing we were all I was gobsmacked that they moved on from Alex Smith and that was at the very beginning of our

program you know that was at the very beginning of us being doofuses talking about sports and it's like boy has this worked out for them pretty well I'd say. Well even so like they could have known what they had in him. And, you know, like, oh, this guy's unbelievable in practice. Like, there's no way that they would have thought, hey, we're going to make this trade and we're going to be at least in the AFC championship every year for the next seven years. Like that, that's still a pipe dream. So that like that just speaks to my homes to like how, how good he actually is.

Like there, there was no fall off ever. It's like he came in and he just continues to win and continues to win and it's crazy. I don't think anyone could have said they saw that coming. All right, and more news coming out of Baltimore. Sounds a little bit alarming about Justin Tucker. We will obviously follow along with that. And ladies and gentlemen, joining us us now a man who's from

Dublin Ireland what one of the greatest hosts in the history of international travel. Yeah, ladies and gentlemen WWE superstar Shave Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Come on! Come on, lad! Lad!

Have a crack! Big, terrible bit. Yeah! My neck. Oh, I'm surprised you had me back after the last time, huh? You were great. Yeah, you were great the last time. That's why we had you on.

Seamus in town for the Royal Rumble, gonna win it this weekend? That's it man, the plan, 2012, I'm gonna win it last time. I'm about due for another win I think. Yeah, you're about due. You're about due for another win. How you feeling? I feel great. Yeah, look at AJ there, looking sharp again, man.

Fresh caught AJ. Yeah, it's pretty fresh today too Seamus. I appreciate the vest you gave me as well. I'm taking a great day where I'm going to wear it on a big thing. He lost that. He threw that thing away. I was going to say, I haven't seen you wear it. You know what I mean?

I'm a bit disappointed. He said it was shite, Shamus. What? That's terrible. Maybe if I get a renewal of my vows or something, something really serious. That's all I want. That means we're never going to see that thing. Oh!

Well, to be clear, he has no idea where that thing is, which is a shame but oh no what time on the plane it feels like just yesterday We're in Dublin Ireland together. That was the beginning of the college football season. We just wrap that up Last Monday the college football season ended you were almost right with your national championship prediction in Notre Dame And also you picked Georgia Tech to beat Florida State Yeah, sounds like you're a big brain college football guy a huge brain college football guy, you know huge. Well, I'm already I'm already working my picks for next season Yeah, weren't you uh, he was a mascot. Yeah, you were Georgia Tech's mascot Yeah, I end up going to a couple of games they're awesome the whole the whole the whole team and the facility now they're brilliant Everyone was great. They really welcomed me in so

I think it all stopped though. We went to Syracuse and they lost at Syracuse. So I went to the, obviously the one in Dublin, they won. And then we went to, I went to the one in at Georgia Tech when they played Georgia. And then it was the afters. When they lost to Syracuse, they didn't get an invite back. So the lucky charm stuff wore off, you know?

The lucky charm. The lucky charm stuff. But let's talk about Dublin, man. What a time it was. Can't wait to go back. Popped McAfee with his shirt off, you know? They're lucky charm. Okay, charm stuff. But let's talk about Dublin, man. What a time it was, right? Can't wait to go back. Hot Maccafee with his short off, you know? Taking the 10 feet at the first.

The whole world, the whole world. Disappearing, coming back, like, you know, like a magician. The whole world saw us over there on the internet having a good time. We're going back. Oh yeah. They're taking a lot of football over to Ireland now. The NFL has said that they're gonna take a game over there another college football games going over there

I don't want to say it's because of you, but I want to say it's because of you. You need to know that I appreciate the free shader for you. Well, listen, it was it was a blast me I know would we go back to that we have to show over there for the whole week this time or it's good I did Put on Patty's I'm ex-car He's got one of those black ones. You know what I mean? Listen, it's not the money I'm worried about. Deliver.

I don't know if I could survive a week over there. I think we did it right the last time, about 24 hours or so. But we would definitely take the show back over there. I had it. Great. You were the best host I think we could have ever had in an international trip. You and the Mahins.

Yeah, and the Mahins over there, obviously. Here's how they trip. are. Mahins, Mahins, Mahins. What were you calling it? Yeah. Mahins. Oh yeah. Look at that. Oh, I'm getting homesick watching this. It's the best. Yeah. We had great time over there, man. It feels like just yesterday, but everything kind of flies. Since then you've signed a new deal with the WWE. Yeah. Five years. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.

I was on, I was with so many Guinness deep that night that I was actually going to announce it and I like, well, I hadn't actually put ink to paper at that stage, but I was just so everything about that week was just such a huge hype for me as well. Ireland was on a great display. I think showed up in a big way and that game was obviously electrifying comes down to a game winning field goal. How, how do you feel though going into the rumble you look like you're in incredible shape right now you know I obviously I feel the best of having years I just celebrated birthday Monday

40th I'll say 27th. Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! I'm gonna get jeered up here big time man I'm gonna be going in so much confidence on Saturday but yeah you know like I just feel like really good at training's going well, it's going well and you know, I've I still haven't lost. I think I'd say more passionate now than I've ever been in my entire career. And I had that match with Braun Breaker, I was starting to know its main event that was so close. We had Jesse Ventura calling the shots saying I was robbed. You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

Oh, look at that. By the way, spear of the year there, mate. That's the hardest spear I've ever taken in my life from that kid. Yeah, I think both of you felt that. I was just feet away from there. Your rib would end up being a downfall. You'd go for a brogue kick later. Something would catch.

You wouldn't be able to time it. Braun would take advantage. He'd end up winning and retaining his Intercontinental Championship, the only title you have yet to win in the WWE Do you have your eyes set on a rematch or we all focused on a Royal Rumble? What are you thinking? What's it me? I mean most the 29 other men in that match They're gonna be if they win they're gonna go after like Cody or Gunter Boiff and I win that match

I'm going right back after from only title you haven't won only title I haven't won. And people are saying to me like, you know, what's the deal? You know, are you going to give up? Like people say it's an icy course. But that title is one thing I need to be complete and become WBE's first ever Ultimate Grand Slam Champion. There's Grand Slam Champions and then there's the Ultimate Grand Slam Champion.

That's what I want after 17 years with the company. Commander Supreme Champion. Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. He's kind of what he is. He's clapping in there. Look's what I want after 17 years with the company. Commander Supreme champion. Yeah. Unbelievable. He's kind of what he is. He's clapping in there. Look, he's clapping. He's getting the clap.

Yeah, got it. That's Zeke. Zeke will give you a, hey, anytime you need to be G'd up, which I don't know what that means, Zeke will help out. Connor has a question for you, Shane. Shaders, we got a guy in here who's actually doing the workouts that you've been putting yourself through. And he has really transformed over the last few weeks. But what are some of the hardest workouts you've ever done when it

comes to your series? Talking about the Celtic Warrior workout. Yeah. Yeah. So actually I just did one today. That's why I flew in early. I did one with Penta. He's obviously W is new as superstar. You've seen him. He's unbelievable, crazy acrobatic. He's also strong and Charles probably one of the hardest chops in the business but I did a workout with him we played handball first which killed me at that and I made an arm workout and it's all see this quick shout out here you know I'm great at giving shout outs on your show yeah but no the hardest one I think so far it's been a woman Maxine Dupree it

landed about two weeks ago it was a Pilates and I got torn into a human pretzel man. Like there was, there's some shady pictures out there, you know, with two women just kind of bending me out. It looks weird, but, uh, that was that I, I needed a couple of weeks off after that one. What is it? Celtic warrior workouts. Yeah. YouTube, my YouTube channel, Celtic warrior workout.

And when are you going to be on by the way? But I gotta start working out first let me figure out my workout first and then we'll do it for the last year you do other people's workouts that's right and I'll be doing yours we could do it here I don't have any way we can have like a full on bleedin the Robies class you know the head pounds yeah yeah yeah maybe we do Hawkers workout yeah maybe we do Hawkers workout. Yeah, maybe we do AJ Hawks. Tybo, Billy blanks, Tybo. We should do that. I know Seamus got that across the pond. You know Billy blanks? I don't know. Double time go.

You don't remember? You don't know? Wow, workout expert. You don't know Billy blanks. Oh boy. Never think on the Tybo there AJ, sorry. You need to pick up the- Yeah me either. What's your mindset going into the rumble? You just gotta stay on the ground. Why doesn't anybody just go in there and just lay down? Yeah. Yeah.

That's too crazy. Can you tie yourself? Can you tie yourself? Try that, please try that. Lay down, hold onto that bottom rope. Yep. Up, just like this. Boom and bang and just hang on on that bottom of the reel.

Just think about it. Just something to think about. I know it's not really your style. You like to fight. I do. And you like to create banger after banger after banger after banger. But if you hang on and hang on and hang on and then wait for the banger at the end. I think you're final two no matter what something to think about. That's a good plan. That's a good plan. You know I can't believe I didn't think about that. Boom. I do like the fight. You're welcome. Have fun getting that title. You cheat up. Also I queued up all of a sudden. I'd say if I was Bronson Reed or Otis that would be an even better one or even what are you saying about those guys? I say they're big guys. Okay, they're big

Lifters Bronson Reed broke both of his ankles, right? He did See in there huh Bronson teasing peas man. Yeah, I couldn't even imagine I couldn't even imagine the amount of force that was coming down. Snap like chicken bones. Boom! Just like he's going to be back bigger, stronger, faster than ever. We assume that. The tsunami is certainly lethal.

I love working in that splash, that's not, I've taken that a couple of times. I thought the first time I took that move, the tsunami, like the splash off the top, I literally taught my neck was, you ever see those like, those packets like with the kind of like the fruit packets they give the kids and stuff Yeah, I felt like one of them I thought like I thought my head was gonna literally pop off my body and fly Have you ever taken a Naya Jackson Naya later? No, I haven't actually that one. No, no I've not but I saw Rhea take one the other night and she was face Facing down. Yeah, so she had her back. I thought she snapped her spine

Oh legitimately thought she snapped her spine instead. She got up, picked up Naya, did the entire dance. What is the key to a Royal Rumble victory though? 2012, why do you think you won that one? I just, I mean, the plan. Gotta get lucky? There's definitely a bit of luck in there. It's obviously what number you come in at as well. I think the one, two years ago, my last Rumble before I got hurt, I was, me and Gunter were number one on number two. And it was a slugfest, especially when Otis came in, that's it, or not Otis, almost came in. Sorry, the giant and clothes like me, Drew and Gunter in the face. And we're lying on the ground just looking at each other, just contemplating life going, that's kind of why they call him a giant.

And he's, you want to talk about the hardest hitter almost 100 percent. How long you've been in business now? 20 years wrestling, 17 years going to 18 years with the WWE. That's including developmental like the NXT at the time, which was FCW. And on June 30th, it'll be 16 years on the main roster. OK, that's amazing. Congratulations. You should be incredibly proud of the durability, sustainability and the inability to remain relevant long enough for that to matter

I think I saw you take a clothesline from hell on a cut up the other day from JBL, but these Royal Rumbles There's like a nostalgia effect that happens you've wrestled against a lot of these guys that come back in here Yeah, man. I was in there when when I first started the first year I was in there like doing six man tags on live live events was me it was me Randy I think it was a show big show and we're taking on like Taker Sean and Sina I remember as Shawn Michaels had this thing on Sundays we do a Saturday live event Sunday and it was like Sean doesn't bump on Sundays that was. You know, it's homage to his, uh, you know, his faith. Jesus rest on Sunday. Right.

Michaels had never bumped on Sunday. That's, that's how far back man. You know what I mean? Like they were all in the ring. They're all WrestleMania 26. My first WrestleMania against Triple H, the most nervous I've ever been in my life, I think. And then, you know, you had taker Sean in there as well. Uh, and so many, so many other guys, I just saw many talent that have come and gone in my time here. I just, it's great. And I love working with the younger talent now, you know?

It's a great crack. Beating the shit out of them. Yeah, it's beating the shit out of them. Yeah. It's just shite out of them all. Yeah, they're shite. They're shite. Bring them all, fella.

I'm ready for Saturday. I'm hyped for Saturday now. Let's go. Yeah. We're going to win. Yeah. We're also going to win. Yeah, we're gonna win nobody You got the you got the bulls words mate, you know fires me up, you know to me. Yeah

Yes, you're going against prom break it the other night run breakers my dog You know, it was kind of a tough thing for me kind of be split Just the body was kind of burying the Steiner family as a whole So I felt obligated to kind of go go to back for I got on as the body was kind of doing his thing. I saw you take a photo with him afterwards. He come and tell you you got screwed. You got wrong. Yeah, he did. I was you got wrong. There's a pretty there's a damn damn moment for me, man. I like I don't know how many shots of how do you see title, but I thought it was so close, especially after that broke. And

that yeah, of course, it's you just got to pick yourself back up. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's not like you did the next day in college game day. By the way, the next day, right? College game day after all this, I turned up fresh to Daisy. And he was just like, I used to I could see it, man. I got three hours we did. I know.

I see the pain in his face. I completely forgot about that next day. Oh, yeah. I think that was kind of my problem. Yeah. I was kind of caught up in the moment. You know, I want to go banger after banger after banger after banger. I forgot about the day after all this.

That's the thing though, when you're out in Dublin writing the drink, that's what me and Elijah used to do. We'd be like, there is no tomorrow. You know that Rocky thought rock. Exactly. There is not. You don't think about tomorrow. You just think about that point that's in front of you.

Yeah, exactly. And that's what we did. If we go back, I assume it'll be the same exact story. Without a doubt. Seamus, we appreciate you stopping by, man. I appreciate the call there. I appreciate having me on the show. Do you want to do a giveaway?

You want to do a giveaway? I don't know what, uh. Take down Connor. I don't know what a man can take down. My back hurts just from him grabbing my fucking neck. Yeah, me too. Dude, he'll come over to me. I'm just excited to see you, Connor.

I'm excited to see you, guy. I love you. You're not worth it. La, la, la. We went to war together. Went to hell together, bro. Yeah, me too. Dude, he'll come over to me. I'm just excited to see you, Connor. I'm excited to see you, guy. I'm all out of here. You're not worth it. La la la. We went to war together. We went to hell together, bro. Yeah, I know. You know what I mean?

How about after his matches, he's like the most sweaty guy I've ever seen in my life. I also sweat a lot. I am too Irish, lad. He'll come over to the commentary table, and I have no idea what's happening. I'm either getting punched in the face right now, I could get kicked in the face, or I'm getting a massive hug that's about to just drench me. Normally, it's a hug with a grab. You're an aggressive lover, I think people will say.

And I want to let you know, we appreciate every second of it. Yeah, here's a moment here. Yeah, obviously, whoa, okay, spill my drink. Love you. Headlock, Cole, how you doing? We had no idea that was happening. That was burger. That was burger after burger, Seamus, right there. That was 274. Yeah, you spilled my entire, I mean, you see.

Yeah, the drink everywhere on the side there. But you want to, I want to let you know everybody that's ever been around you loves you, Seamus. I love you guys too. I appreciate that. Anytime in Indy, I love popping up and saying hello to you all guys. And hopefully we can make Dublin happen again. Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

And we'll. Okay. What American people do when they're in the States? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know., I appreciate that. Anytime in Indy, I love popping up and saying hello to you guys and hopefully we can make Dublin happen again. Hell yeah. Okay, what American sport do you think you're potentially best at? Can you throw football? I'm just, I'm not the greatest thrower. Football, I'm not going to play football, you know, like proper football, soccer. We have a hurl in here, don't we still? Yeah, I don't know if we have the ball. Yeah, the ball right here. Right.

Bone said he could take him down. This one. There it is. Oh, yeah, you should try that. Oh, I don't know. It's all right, man. I'll I'll demo this place a little bit. I'll bring a bit more light into the place. It'll be grand.

No, but we need this here. I can putt. Can you putt? Uh, golf? I'm not. I have a putt putt. Can you putt? Golf I'm not I'm just you know, I'm just a can you make one putt I can strike. Yeah He can make a putt for sure yeah, you can make a putt Can always have a sphere D ball like brawn did I'll watch that it fell out of your it fell out of the pack now, too just You are significantly more jacked in the last day. Yeah

You're welcome All right. All you have to do is just make one cut. Okay. What's the name? What do I get for that? 30 people will win $500. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah, this is not just for you. 30 people will win $500 if Seamus. That's really good. You got seven. Yeah. The Celtic warrior Seamus trying to win 30 people five hundred dollar. Oh It is very aggressive, uh, once again, he came fresh out of a workout so he's all jacked up 30 people 500. Oh It is makeable jam it in there this is not he is trying to jam it in there says AJ Hawk 30 people win 30 people $500 if Seamus is able to oh you're getting there buddy. You're getting there buddy speed

All Seamus is gonna have to do is put one golf ball into a hole and 30 people You're getting better though Oh You're getting better though Here you got not leaving any short take it you got this 30 people $500 if Seamus is able to bury that no That's not a good one. Yeah, I tell you what I'll take you take a breather Take a take a breath Gumpi wants you to take a breath for a second dumpy once you just kind of inhale take it Visualize the putt he's in the back. All you gotta do is just put that ball

into that tiny little hole over there. Yeah, I know, I get the gimme. 50 people. Hey, 50 people. Listen, you're on the spot is where you're supposed to be This is something you'll be able to do 50 people will win 500 dollars I heard you the first time yeah

That's what's next 60 people 500 dollars All you have to do is make one putt here Sheamus Oh shit! Oh! It all comes down to this.

We had banger. After banger. After banger. After banger. Can we get a putt that goes into the hole? 60 people will win five? No we can't. All right.

All right. We got the Royal Rumble on us. Here's wins coming Saturday. Yeah. Same for Saturday. Here's wins coming Saturday. Yeah. Saturday.

Saturday, brother. Yeah, that's not a reflex. What's happening? Bingo. No, it is. Power. Power. So much power.

Blasted. All right. All right. That's it. Yeah, it is. I'll see you later. You're going to throw seven guys over the top rope. All right.

Hey, hold on, Sheamus. Don't leave yet To all the boys in the back great work today boys To WWE crews that that is here we appreciate the hell out of you Stephanie McMahon Phenomenal. And to Seamus, thank you for stopping by and lifting our spirits and our hopes for a great Royal Rumble weekend here in Indianapolis, Indiana.

To all the people that watch along and allow us to do this for a living, we can't thank you enough. You're the greatest people on earth. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're gonna sing together. Team on me.

Put it out. Hey, we don't set the bar there you go we are at a bar and we went to a lot of bash yeah and they were all great time i'd a.j. who one day where that fest i gave him one day yes i will yes i will shamus i'm gonna get out of your way you're sitting you see this camera you see the you're on the you're behind can Can you sit up a little bit? Yep. There we go There you go. There we go. I'm a leaner Team on me team on three one two three. Goodbye