Episode 518: Cody's Rocky Road
This week on the Experience, Jim talks about The Rock & Cody Rhodes, as well as the timeline of Vince McMahon's scandal! Plus Jim reviews WWE Smackdown & talks about AEW Dynamite ratings, Nova Scotia, and much more!
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Transcript
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 25 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 28 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 32 Like a midnight and the rock and roller, he's in a fight for wrestling solar using a racket and some mind controller. He's Jim Cornette.
Speaker 22 The keys to the future held by the past.
Speaker 32 And with tag team partner, Barion Last, he sends this message out by podcast.
Speaker 32 Jim Cornette!
Speaker 32 Well, he's never fake a phony.
Speaker 32 He never backs down from a fight.
Speaker 32 He never wins the pony. Cause his mama raised him right.
Speaker 32 It's time
Speaker 32 to prevent
Speaker 32 your mind.
Speaker 32 Get the experience.
Speaker 32 Get the experience.
Speaker 32 Get the experience of Jim Cornette.
Speaker 32 Hello, everybody, and welcome back.
Speaker 33 Well, Cody Rhodes is taking a rocky road to the finish of his story, and how many other people's stories are going to be finished when they go down with the SS Vince McMahon.
Speaker 33
It's the How Much Weirder Can This Shit Get edition of the Jim Cornette Experience. And joining me.
Hawaiian Brian, the podcasting lion, the king of the Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network, Mr.
Speaker 33 Co-HostU. He'll furthermore be known simply as podcaster number one, the great Brian Last, everybody.
Speaker 32
Aloha, Jim. A pleasure to be here once again.
Apologies in advance to the listeners. I have a little bit of a cough today.
Speaker 32 I don't sound as vibrant as usual, but we've got a lot of interesting things to talk about.
Speaker 32 What's so funny?
Speaker 33 Right off the top of the bat here, you're going to describe your normal self as vibrant, your normal.
Speaker 33 oral projection.
Speaker 32
Yes, in fact, I am. I don't have that sort of projection today.
I don't have the strength in my throat because of the cough to be as vibrant as, or have my voice as vibrant as usual.
Speaker 33 What did they describe the baby as on Seinfeld? He's breathtaking.
Speaker 32 Breathtaking.
Speaker 33 No, you're not as breathtaking as you normally are.
Speaker 32 Like the other one where
Speaker 32
they have the ugly baby. And they're, maybe that is the same one.
They asked Kramer who he thinks the baby looks like. He says, Lyndon Johnson.
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 33
That's an ugly baby. ugly baby.
But here, here's a banana for your monkey. Go back to the old Borsch belt with that one.
But anyway,
Speaker 33 oh boy, howdy, they won't give us. You know, we wanted to talk some about some January 1984 Mid-South wrestling and all kinds of wonderful stories of that nature, but they will not let us rest.
Speaker 33 Because now the wrestling world is in an uproar.
Speaker 33 There's turmoil.
Speaker 33
There's all kinds of K. People's heads have caught on fire, Brian.
You know why? Because The Rock has come in to layeth down the people's elbow
Speaker 33 and some smacketh down.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 apparently there's a backlash, but I think I've got the new
Speaker 33
WWE 2024 theme song. I just don't know who's going to be singing it.
I don't know if it's going to be Triple H or The Rock or Cody or even Vince.
Speaker 33 They will never forget you till somebody new comes along.
Speaker 33 See, I can sing. I don't have a frog in my throat.
Speaker 32 Maybe you should apologize for your voice too, right here at the top of the show.
Speaker 33 Hey, hey, hey, there's a new kid in town.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 32 who's that?
Speaker 33 It doesn't really matter which side you're on. Think about this.
Speaker 33 Think about this now.
Speaker 33 Is Cody singing it there's a new kid in town because the rocks got his match is triple h singing it
Speaker 33 because the rocks got the board of directors and the bosses ears
Speaker 33 is vince mcmahon singing it because at least on camera the rock
Speaker 33 not off camera he wasn't involved in any of that stuff The Rock could be the newest, biggest heel in the WWE since Mr. McMahon
Speaker 33 for coming in and people knowing that he can put his fucking foot down.
Speaker 33 But we're going to analyze all these things here on the program today.
Speaker 33 You know, normally I would say between now
Speaker 33 Triple H and The Rock, you know, I would use one of my
Speaker 33
cogent similes, Brian. I would use one of my old southern sayings.
I'd say, who's fucking this dog and who's holding its head?
Speaker 33 But maybe in light of recent revelations, maybe we can't apply those similes anymore here because it might be,
Speaker 33 who knows, it might be a future lawsuit coming up.
Speaker 32 Yeah, too close to reality with some of these people. Out of those four people, who do you think could sing the best? I think Cody probably has the best singing voice.
Speaker 33
Cody would probably be, yeah. Well, he's he's younger and he's probably uh, you know, he hasn't got as much gravel in his voice.
Vince could only sing if it was goddamn
Speaker 33 fucking Mom's Mabley's greatest hits at this point.
Speaker 33 But nevertheless, anyway, or Bob Dylan, Dylan.
Speaker 32 You know, Bob Dylan started out, hey, man, man. And now he's like,
Speaker 33 is he? What is he? What's happened to him there? Is it just age? Is he 80, what, 85 or whatever?
Speaker 32 He's in his 80s and his singing voice has changed. But also, I think whatever he was putting on to have the Dylan sound in the early years, he kind of got away from that.
Speaker 33 Well, that's that's the, I guess that's what you always want to do is you get something that's internationally successful and remembered 50 years later and get the fuck away from it.
Speaker 32 I'm dropping shit all over the place back here. What's going on?
Speaker 33 You've got some issues today.
Speaker 33 You've already talked about your voice.
Speaker 33 You were late on the
Speaker 33 asked for more time on the recording process here. At least I got another
Speaker 33 hour of belly rubs and puppy play time in with Harley. It was a family.
Speaker 33
Family belly rubbing session here with Stacey. Stace got on one side of her.
I got on the other side and we just rubbed the belly. She just grinned and just loved that.
Speaker 33 What was I talking about?
Speaker 32 It was your show.
Speaker 33 Alrighty then. Oh, so anyway, before we talk about all this chaos in wrestling, we wanted to check in with some of the listeners, the people, the cult of Cornette.
Speaker 33 Let's see who we want to check in with.
Speaker 33 And the first one is to say, I don't know if you are aware of this, Brian, but I just found out Rob Moore, our friend down in Texas, has been in the hospital and he's been sick and under the weather.
Speaker 33 And we wanted to send him a shout out that one of our mutual friends,
Speaker 33 Travis Haeckel, said he might make him feel better if we perked him up on the program here. So, Rob, get better soon so that you can send me another idea that people can threaten to sue me over.
Speaker 33 Get well. We're not going to tell the story again.
Speaker 32 Really nice guy. Really, really nice guy.
Speaker 33 Yeah, until the lawyers come knocking on the door, Brian. And then it's
Speaker 33 all fun and games till people call the federal authorities.
Speaker 32 I can tell you something about Rob Moore that most people who know him may not know, or you may not know.
Speaker 32 In, I think, 1987, Rob started the Dingo Warrior Fan Club.
Speaker 32 Because he was based in Dallas, and I've seen the signed permission slip.
Speaker 33 He didn't want people.
Speaker 33 probably after a few years later to know that the way things all turned out in the end.
Speaker 33
But we love you, Rob. Feel better.
Feel better.
Speaker 33 And this is, I got this one from Kevin from
Speaker 33 Illyria, Ohio, that town that you had trouble pronouncing at one point. I had to rectify your stratagems there.
Speaker 33 But Kevin and his wife, Tommy, I get T-O-M-I, Tommy. It's a female anglicization of Tommy.
Speaker 33 They lost their Jack Russell and Shihhtzu mix, or as they like to call him, the Jack Shit. His name is Jax, J-A-X.
Speaker 33 So you see where all that's going on in there.
Speaker 33 But he was 12. He had heart issues and etc.
Speaker 33 And but the vet,
Speaker 33 this time last year, only gave him a few weeks to live, but he just passed away just a couple of weeks ago, missed his 13th birthday by six days.
Speaker 33
And we just wanted to send our sympathies to Jack and Tommy. Not an official Reggie's corner.
We'll catch up on that at some point whenever
Speaker 33 people in the business stop killing their own careers.
Speaker 33 And also, Brian, here is the, I got an email from Darcy
Speaker 33 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world.
Speaker 33 And I'm going to read you something, but then he asked a question, and I want to get your input on this question first before I answer it, okay?
Speaker 33 But he says,
Speaker 33 in the summer of 2020, my twin brother Dale faced a devastating diagnosis of brain cancer. He had been a dedicated fan of your podcast for quite some time.
Speaker 33 And during the grueling periods of two surgeries and numerous treatments, your podcast provided much-needed distractions and laughter. And sadly, Dale passed away in November of 2022.
Speaker 33 And Darcy, we're sorry to hear about that. But
Speaker 33 Darcy goes on to continue, I once asked him what question he would have loved to ask you, Jim, and I'm now posing it in his honor.
Speaker 33 In the spring of 1994, Dale and I attended a WWF live event in Sydney, Nova Scotia. That night featured matches such as Jeff Jarrett versus Doink,
Speaker 33 Razor Ramon challenging Diesel for the Intercontinental title, and a main event grudge match between Lex Luger and Crush.
Speaker 33 Here's the question, Brian.
Speaker 33 Sitting ringside in the front row, first row, was someone who bore a striking resemblance to you, Jim. If it wasn't you, then it must have been your doppelganger.
Speaker 33 Assuming it was you, could you please shed some light on your role in the WWF during that time?
Speaker 32 This is Nova Scotia, you said?
Speaker 33 Sydney, Nova Scotia, a house show in the front row would you please handle this one for me in the spring of 94 dick murdoch came to smoky mountain wrestling so i don't think jim was in nova scotia for a house show
Speaker 32 i mean you you every now and then
Speaker 33 did you do any house shows in 94 i mean i was trying to think maybe the garden but did you do any house shows no i think i did i could do the garden i think in 94 and actually
Speaker 33 No, maybe I didn't as a house show because the 94 of the garden was like in January. They were going to have their own Royal Rumble, and that's when me and buddies got snowed in in Knoxville.
Speaker 33 We got all that fucking snow.
Speaker 33 And I actually had said, fuck it, I'm going home while I can still get there before they officially called the flight off because I wasn't going to take off in that weather.
Speaker 33 But the boys, Tom and Jimmy, they waited until, because it was their Madison Square Garden debut, right? So they're like, hi, well, not debut, but it was a big deal to them at the time.
Speaker 33 But nevertheless,
Speaker 33 I'm just, I'm fucking with you, Darcy,
Speaker 33 because no,
Speaker 33 if I was at a house show, it wasn't in Sydney, Nova Scotia, because I still was mostly in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
Speaker 33 I was just doing television and pay-per-view events for the most part with the WWF, but also I wouldn't have been sitting in the front row.
Speaker 32
Yeah, that's the other interesting thing. Yeah.
Yeah,
Speaker 33 I still wasn't the...
Speaker 33 They didn't have, you know, like the goddamn people.
Speaker 33 The fans at that point, you couldn't guarantee that the people in the front row were with it and weren't going to just fucking dump goddamn popcorn over your head or Pepsis or whatever or kick you in the shins and shit.
Speaker 33 No.
Speaker 32
Yeah, that's the thing. It's not like you would have showed up and said, Who am I working with? Am I going to the ring with Yoko tonight? No, no, no.
Just sit at ringside.
Speaker 33
Yeah, we got a front row ticket for you. We couldn't sell.
So just watch everything. No, that's
Speaker 33
no, it was not part of some type of subterfuge subterfuge or anything. That wasn't me.
But now,
Speaker 33 who the fuck? Because
Speaker 33
if it looked like me, he had to be almost the same age as me. So it couldn't be like some.
And also, I've never been to Sydney, Nova Scotia
Speaker 33 in that way, or any way, actually.
Speaker 33
Come to think of it. So there you go.
We did go to Halifax that time. I tried to
Speaker 33 fucking pull Bucky Beaver's teeth out.
Speaker 33 But no.
Speaker 33 But anyway, that was just,
Speaker 33 I was amused by here. The thing is, Darcy, you got, you had one, you had one shot at asking a question.
Speaker 33 Could have been, who knows what it was the meaning of life, Jim. See, I could have filled you in on that, but now nobody's going to know because you didn't think to ask it.
Speaker 33 I'm just not going to tell you.
Speaker 32 I like the idea of this some guy with glasses sitting at ringside and people like, hey, is that Jim Cornette?
Speaker 33 Well, also, he was carrying a tennis racket and wearing a pink suit. But
Speaker 33 I kid. I Josh.
Speaker 33 We got a nice email from Nick in Sycamore, Illinois. Would you like to hear this? This is actually a nice thing that we're not going to make fun of for once.
Speaker 33 Nick says, my son Avery is an 11-year-old who was diagnosed with nonverbal autism at age two.
Speaker 33 He also struggles with a sensory processing disorder, so finding things that he can tolerate, especially orally, as in audio-wise, can be a struggle to say the least.
Speaker 33 Like some youngsters do, he and I have found a bond over the spectacle that is professional wrestling.
Speaker 33 The overall presentation and production of the television shows provide the right amount of stimulation to keep his attention, and this is rare because the typical time he'll dedicate his attention to anything is five minutes on a good day.
Speaker 33 I write all this to tell you that about two years ago, I was listening to some older YouTube clips of your promos with the Midnight Express and found him being drawn to the screen.
Speaker 33 Of course, with him being unable to share his thoughts verbally, I had to look for his cues to derive his enjoyment from said promos.
Speaker 33 Fast forward to present day and one of his favorite activities is to drag me by the arm to the car so I can put on the latest episode of the drive-thru or experience, which he will listen to for hours at a time while we aimlessly cruise the Chicago suburbs, and I could not be happier.
Speaker 33 Finding ways to bond with him is not always easy, but you have provided us with a fantastic, albeit vulgar at times, opportunity to smile together.
Speaker 33 And thank you, Nick, for letting us know that. And
Speaker 33 that's the thing is,
Speaker 33 Brian,
Speaker 33 what would have been the odds? I mean, it could be classical music or it could be sounds of nature.
Speaker 33 Your voice and my voice. What the fuck is going on?
Speaker 32 That's a very nice story. And you know, we hear somewhat often from people who will say, like, they ride around with someone or someone in their family listens to the show.
Speaker 32
They don't even like wrestling. They just enjoy the show.
They enjoy hearing your stories.
Speaker 33 Yeah, I don't know if,
Speaker 33 I think Nick is probably sounds like a father who's tried a variety of activities. And I'm just, I apologize to Nick at the same time as I'm glad for him that it has to be you and me.
Speaker 33 Oh, Lord. Anyway, and speaking, by the way,
Speaker 33 we've been talking about all the news in the WWE. Well, I've got some customer feedback here
Speaker 33 on some of the WWE business and also their customers.
Speaker 33 Well, yeah, one of theirs and one of mine.
Speaker 33 Both these things can be true at the same time, remember?
Speaker 33 No, from Ryan. He doesn't,
Speaker 33 well, he mentions here where he's from, but kind of. But anyway, I will read it and you'll understand.
Speaker 33 Ryan says, Dear Jim, I just wanted to say thanks for not sending my purchases to the Republic of Congo.
Speaker 33 Right before the holidays, I ordered two shirts from your store, of course, Cornett's Collectibles folks at jimcornet.com,
Speaker 33 and two from the WWE store.
Speaker 33 I received my shirts from your store in early January, which I would consider really fast when you take into account the holidays. Thank you to the fine feather bottoms.
Speaker 33 But the WWE shop zone, on the other hand, took forever. I was perplexed on why it took so long, so I checked up on it.
Speaker 33 At this point, I noticed the package was sent from New York to Belgium, where it was awaiting to be sent to its next location.
Speaker 33 From there, I took a closer look and realized they were sending it to the city of Fargo in the Republic of Congo, which I don't believe exists.
Speaker 33 So after two phone calls and a few days of waiting, I was able to receive a refund for the CM Punk shirt they were now sold out of
Speaker 33 and expedited shipping of the other.
Speaker 33 So I just wanted to say thanks for the fast shipping and not sending my goods to the Congo.
Speaker 32 Fargo in the Congo.
Speaker 33 Fargo in the Congo.
Speaker 33 Or Mogo on the Gagogo, whatever that old vaudeville routine was.
Speaker 33 Well, right there, you have it, ladies and gentlemen. There's some consumer product
Speaker 33 information, feedback, whatever the fuck you might call it from the people at the, I am more efficient here at jimcornet.com at Cornett's Collectibles, more efficient than the evil empire at wwe.com.
Speaker 33 So choose for yourself. Who do you want to support? The people who are paying out hush money or the people like me who are just frying up some hush puppies here at home minding our own business.
Speaker 32 All the hush money, then they send your stuff to the Congo.
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 33 And they're probably laundering it over there.
Speaker 33 That's part of some kind of scheme. How would that work? You're the financial genius.
Speaker 33 They take money for goods. They send the goods to the Congo.
Speaker 33 They melt them down and send them back to sell them again. What's going on there?
Speaker 32 They send them to the Congo. They declared it to be lost mail.
Speaker 32 They then have a person on hand in the Congo on their behalf to sell everything on a bootleg site.
Speaker 33 There you go.
Speaker 33 And they're making their money twice.
Speaker 33 And they're not even using Cornycoin.
Speaker 33 Well, you don't need to worry about that, folks, at jimcorned.com. And by the way, I'll go ahead and tell them now so we can get on to the good stuff what they're looking forward to.
Speaker 33 It's not even a week away.
Speaker 33 Saturday, February 10th at noon Eastern at jimcorned.com.
Speaker 33 As we've mentioned, the part two, the final chapter of the Midnight Express 40th anniversary celebration will be the tag team sets for the first time ever, Eaton and Condry or Eaton and Lane, in display boxes, heavily illustrated with full color photos.
Speaker 33 And each action figure set comes with an autographed photo. of either myself and Stan or myself and Dennis, a very few packages with Bobby's signature, as we've talked about.
Speaker 33 That's why you got to be on there at noon. And I've impressed upon Hotchkiss that he needs to make that live right then, that very second.
Speaker 33 And, you know, Hotchkiss has a hard time counting to 12, but he's going to wait till the hand is right there. Anyway,
Speaker 33
these can only be purchased at jimcornet.com. They are available nowhere else in the world.
There's less than a thousand of each of the Midnight Express sets, and
Speaker 33 there's 500 sets of Stan Lane and Dr. Tom Pritchard, the heavenly bodies, for good measure, along with an autographed photo of all three of us,
Speaker 33 and with the Smoky Mountain Tag Team Championship belts. And as I've mentioned, because I'm getting too old for this, none of these are going to be remade or others produced in the future.
Speaker 33 About 500 of the four packs are still available if you want to be a completist.
Speaker 33 And that's going to be the big celebration that we finally did the action figures. And
Speaker 33 I'm doing a George Costanza and bowing out on a strong note.
Speaker 33 But anyway, thank you to everybody, by the way, who has or will participate because, again,
Speaker 33 the midnight is sharing equally, and Bobby's kids and grandkids, and the proceeds from this,
Speaker 33 and it is meant in various ways to each one of the entities, Dennis and Teresa, Stan and Maria, and Stan's mother.
Speaker 33 and all of Bobby's progeny.
Speaker 33 It's meant a lot so far.
Speaker 33 Saturday, February 10th at noon Eastern. Did I say that, Brian?
Speaker 33 But you can go right now to jimcornet.com and look at the various merchandise and pictures of same and see the some come with books and some come with
Speaker 33 bells and whistles. And
Speaker 33 what is it in Whoville, the flim flangs and knickknacks?
Speaker 33 We've got all kinds of packages for all, but starting at $99.95.
Speaker 33 Now I sound like fucking Wayne over at Classy Motors. And it's got cool air.
Speaker 33 What do you want to talk about? Tot-Tong Teletong.
Speaker 32 That's how I feel.
Speaker 33 Folks, if I could only reveal just how miserable Brian Last has been for the past couple of days, but.
Speaker 32 And it's not even because of the rock.
Speaker 33 No, it was not even because of something somebody else did. It's some insidious
Speaker 33 cretiness bug inside your system. system
Speaker 33 uh but nevertheless um well you have some information because before we just talk about
Speaker 33 the wwe which is now
Speaker 33 for good or bad
Speaker 33 it's like they're hogging all the spotlight for poor tony tony had his you know minor meltdown on twitter last month or whatever and Jericho got in a little trouble.
Speaker 33
And then suddenly the WWE comes in with fucking steamrollers and dump trucks full of good news and bad news. We're going to hit you all with it.
Bam, bam, bam, bam.
Speaker 33 And they've just knocked everybody off the front pages, taking all the oxygen out of the room. But the one thing that we have not talked about in AEW was the ratings for
Speaker 33 last Wednesday night's dynamite program. We reviewed it on your show, The Drive-Thru, but we had,
Speaker 33 that was so quickly after the fact that the ratings people hadn't even caught up with us yet.
Speaker 33 And we continue to marvel every week that anybody watches this thing at this point and that they're narrow casting to such a minute niche audience.
Speaker 33 But where'd they start and where'd they finish? And what happened to Mr. In Between, Brian? What date was this even? Seems like a century ago.
Speaker 32 It was a month ago or last month, January 31st, 2024.
Speaker 33 Well, that's what's happened. A month has gone by.
Speaker 32
Or a few days. It was last month, not necessarily a month ago.
I misspoke, but AEW Dynamite.
Speaker 33 Well, it was last month.
Speaker 32 It was last month, but not a month ago.
Speaker 33 It's January 31st. Well, it's February now.
Speaker 32 Well, on the 30th.
Speaker 33 It's a month ago, because January is a month before February.
Speaker 32 From 8 to 10.06 p.m. on the 31st, AEW Dynamite get 818,000 viewers.
Speaker 33
Well, I've lost my pen now. Here, hold on.
I got to keep track of this. I want to make sure I know exactly what's going on.
818,000. So they lost about 15,000 of their faithfuls.
Speaker 32 And you have to say here at the top, with everything happening in WW, like you said, it's easy for that to just swallow up all the wrestling news and everything.
Speaker 32 Before that, you had Tony's meltdown, you had Jericho's stupidity.
Speaker 32
But there's no buzz. There's no buzz about anything with AEW right now.
It's kind of
Speaker 32
not concerning, but... It's amazing.
There's no buzz about anything there.
Speaker 33
It's a sound. It's not really a buzz.
It's more like a beep,
Speaker 33 beep.
Speaker 32 Well, let's see where the heartbeat started.
Speaker 32 Well, hold on. They didn't follow yet, sir.
Speaker 33 And by the way, I read in some one of the industry publications,
Speaker 33 I can't remember. Of course, I peruse all the finest
Speaker 33 documentation in the world today on the ratings, but the Big Bang theory is due at about 1.2 million people or thereabouts a lot of times
Speaker 33 that before
Speaker 33 in the time slot before
Speaker 33 AEW. So
Speaker 33
they're being handed more often than not even more people than their opening quarter reflects. It's just those people are the ones who go, oh, fuck no.
And they're gone like that.
Speaker 32
But go ahead. Well, let's go to quarter one, 8 to 8.15 p.m.
These were compiled by WrestleNomics.
Speaker 32 The last minute of the Big Bang Theory. I'm going to put that in there because that is the first thing that you see when you tune in at 8 o'clock.
Speaker 32 Followed by Jon Moxley versus Jeff Hardy with Picture in Picture, 981,000 viewers.
Speaker 33 Okay, so
Speaker 33 they're up there, almost a million. Lately, they've been getting right at about a million people to start.
Speaker 32 Well, quarter two, 8.15, 8.30 p.m. The continuation of Moxley versus Hardy.
Speaker 32 The post-match with Mystico
Speaker 32 Hechichero.
Speaker 33 Now, wait, what?
Speaker 32 I'm not terribly familiar with him, to be honest with you.
Speaker 33 Hector Guerrero, is it what you said?
Speaker 32 Hechi Chero, I think is how you pronounce it, or Hechi Cerro, H-E-C-H-I-C-E-R-O.
Speaker 33 C, C-C-Ride,
Speaker 33 I don't know.
Speaker 32 Well, him, Mascara Dorado, Volgador Jr., Matt Seidel, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker. and Christopher Daniels.
Speaker 33 And a partridge in a pear tree.
Speaker 32 Followed by an ad break. And the beginning of Adam Page versus Toa Lenoa.
Speaker 32 Linoleum?
Speaker 33 His name is
Speaker 32 Total Linoleum.
Speaker 32
Well, it's Toa Lenoa. I keep thinking of Te Leone because of you.
836,000 viewers.
Speaker 33 Oh, sweet Jesus, as Percy Pringle would say. So right there went 145,000 people,
Speaker 33 which one might be able to attribute to Moxley and Hardy
Speaker 33 going through that quarter-hour milestone. Continue on.
Speaker 32 The milestones continue. Quarter three, 8:30.
Speaker 32 8:30 to 8:45 p.m.
Speaker 32 The continuation of Page versus Linoleum with picture-in-picture ads
Speaker 32 and the Young Bucks backstage angle, 799,000 viewers.
Speaker 33 Oh,
Speaker 33 geez, so there another 37, but
Speaker 33 is that the first time you can remember they've gone below 800,000 in the first quarter or first hour? First hour?
Speaker 32 You know, I can't remember the last time it happened. I'm sure it has, but maybe the first time in a while.
Speaker 33 Yoch. All righty.
Speaker 32 Well, quarter four,
Speaker 32 8:45 to 9 p.m.
Speaker 32 Wardlow versus Commander.
Speaker 32 The post-match with the Undisputed Kingdom, Orange Cassidy, Trent Peretta, and Rocky Romero, an ad break, and the sit-down interview of Big Bill, Ricky Starks, Sting, and Darby Allen,
Speaker 32 798,000 viewers.
Speaker 33 Okay, so I was going to say, well, maybe they just saw the buckaroos, Matthew and Nicholas,
Speaker 33 in the previous quarter and said, fuck it, would come back, but no, they didn't even come back for Darby Allen and Sting here.
Speaker 32 Well, we next have a big nine o'clock hour, 9 to 9:15 p.m. quarter five.
Speaker 32 Chris Jericho versus Kyle Fletcher with Picture and Picture Ads,
Speaker 32 786,000 viewers. Ouch.
Speaker 33 And they put Jericho on, even if it was Kyle Felcher. Jericho is the only thing, well, one of the only things they have passing for a name.
Speaker 33 And they put him at the top of 9 o'clock hour in a match and lose
Speaker 33 12,000 people. That's not a good sign either.
Speaker 32 He's been off WWE TV for a long time at this point, and they haven't really been doing anything good with him
Speaker 32
ever. So not a big surprise there.
But quarter six, 9:15 to 9:30 p.m.,
Speaker 32 the continuation of Jericho versus Fletcher, the Deanna Perazzo video, and the acclaimed Billy Gunn Bullet Club Goal Live promo, an ad break, and the start of Taya Valkyrie versus Deanna Perazzo, 795,000 viewers.
Speaker 33 Oh, good lord.
Speaker 33 The fucking potpourri segment gained
Speaker 33 over Jericho at the top of the hour. That's interesting.
Speaker 33 Hey.
Speaker 32 Hey, what? What was that, Fonzie?
Speaker 33
No, I'm just. Hey.
Hey, yeah.
Speaker 32 Hey.
Speaker 33 They got 9,000.
Speaker 32 Cunningham in my office.
Speaker 33 Hey, no, come on.
Speaker 32 Well, we go down a quarter. What is this now? Quarter seven?
Speaker 33 I don't know, Tom Bosley.
Speaker 32
You tell me. 9.30.
Hey, Hey, sit on it, Potsy. 9.30 to 9.45 p.m.
Speaker 32 The continuation of Taya Valkyrie versus Deanna Perrazzo. I'm laughing because I'm fucking happy day.
Speaker 32 With picture and picture ads.
Speaker 33 You look more like Anson Williams.
Speaker 32
A post-match and the Darby Allin Young Bucks backstage confrontation. Another ad break.
And the Samoa Joe entrance.
Speaker 33 Hold on, wait a minute. The Buckaroos were in this quarter too.
Speaker 32 I'm going to say this is going to be the lowest quarter in a show so far and you would be correct 759 000 viewers ouch
Speaker 33 oh boy so they have just by random chance they in quarters three
Speaker 32 and seven they have been in the lowest quarter hour of the program to that point in time that that appearance took place Yeah, again, it's a harsh reality that a lot of people who love the Bucks and have for a long time have to face about who they are in 2024.
Speaker 33 They're doing such important and excellent work and they're saying such profound things in these backstage pre-tapes that they phone in for their seven figures a year from Richie Rich.
Speaker 32 CM Punk will generate more income for WWE over the next nine months that he's injured than they will in AEW. Think about that.
Speaker 32 We go now to quarter eight and I remind you we have an overrun.
Speaker 33 Can we hurt both of them, see if they can make it a contest?
Speaker 32 We have the Adam Page backstage promo and the beginning of rob van dam versus swerve strickland with picture in picture
Speaker 32 792 000 viewers and the six-minute overrun the continuation of the match and then adam page confronting swerve 820 000 viewers
Speaker 33 okay and you know again do we take that at the end out like we usually do because what the fuck uh
Speaker 33 but at least it shows some there was some curiosity not only for who the opponent was going to be and it's van dam and he's a legend but also swerve
Speaker 33 is now
Speaker 33 he's their middle star he's the one that that moves some kind of rating especially toward the end of the program if they put anybody else they just plummet off the precipice the plummet off the precipice well if you take out the first quarter and the overrun The key demo peaks with Swerve versus Rob Van Dam in quarter eight with 348,000.
Speaker 32 It's 393 for the first quarter, but that's Big Bang Theory, so I'm not counting that. It bottomed out for the 9 o'clock hour, 311,000 for Jericho versus Fletcher.
Speaker 33 Well, you know, if you take out the first quarter and you take out the overrun,
Speaker 33
you also, you start with 836,000. And you end with 792,000.
And the lowest you went the whole time was 759. So really,
Speaker 33 of the real fans they have probably watching this program, or usually most of their programs, it's around 75,000 that they
Speaker 33 have a range there of
Speaker 33 750 to 830 or whatever.
Speaker 32 Yeah, to say 800,000 people every week who are looking forward to Dynamite and give it a chance.
Speaker 32
come in and they go out and who knows where they are, but it's around that number. It's not the 900,000, 1 million number that the Big Bang Theory gets.
It's about 800,000.
Speaker 33 And, you know, then on
Speaker 33 some memorable occasions,
Speaker 33 they plummet even further at the end from that when they've had these real stinkers.
Speaker 33 But the base people, they're trying to give it a chance, but you can tell where even they zone out in the middle or toward the end.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 I just wanted this week. It just happened to be around the Buckaroos.
Speaker 32 Listen, other than Swerve, who has always moved numbers for the most part, and people are into, and he seems like he has something going on, and that picked up at the end of the show.
Speaker 32 Moxley versus Jeff Hardy, the women's stuff, Paige versus Toa Leone, or whatever his name was, Linoleum, the Wardlow Commander match, the Orange Cassidy crew being involved and stuff, Jericho versus Fletcher.
Speaker 32
There's nothing on the show to excite anyone. Unless you're like a die-hard AEW fan, like the most die-hard.
These are bad shows. These are bad lineups and bad shows.
Speaker 33 Well, you know, we've just, we've talked about it. They've kind of run out of stuff besides Tony's, you know, incessant matchmaking, just writing down matches and dream matches.
Speaker 33 And, oh, we can't wait to see this guy that has never wrestled here before come in and wrestle the same fucking match that the last five guys that came in have never wrestled here before had.
Speaker 33 Because nobody knows who the fuck they are and we can't tell the difference.
Speaker 32
Well, they have a big show this Wednesday, big crowd expected in Arizona. Tony Conner's a major announcement.
Some big matches, Swerve versus Adam Page.
Speaker 32 So I expect this week's number has to be significantly up, but we'll see.
Speaker 33 Well, we'll see. But
Speaker 33 what's going to happen with Paige?
Speaker 33 Okay, besides the fact that he drank Swerve's blood, Swerve is beating him every time. But does anybody want to see Paige win this and
Speaker 33 get a title match with Samoa Joe instead of Swerve?
Speaker 33 Does anybody want to see a three-way with Paige involved to get in the way and be a fucking distraction in a third wheel?
Speaker 32 Does anyone truly see Adam Page as a main inventor and not just an upper mid-card guy? And that's not an insult. That's the reality of who he is.
Speaker 33 And so, you know, but Tony hates dirty anybody's feelings, so we'll find out about that. But,
Speaker 33 you know, he's coming off the drubbing of the 300,000 people that watched Collision on his national cable network.
Speaker 33 And, you know, he does the same number on Wednesday nights, give or take.
Speaker 33 And there's nobody buying tickets to the live events except for the guy that's going to retire.
Speaker 33 So he won't be there to sell tickets to the rematch.
Speaker 33 So if I was Tony, I would...
Speaker 33 I would be looking for something to do. And by the way, I'd like to say, since we're talking about numbers, Brian, just if I could,
Speaker 33 just for a second, if I can toot toot my own horn.
Speaker 33 Well, this closest I had.
Speaker 33
We want to thank everybody out there. This was the same week, calendar week here.
We hit 400,000 subscribers on the official Jim Cornette YouTube channel and 500 million downloads.
Speaker 32 Million.
Speaker 32 Views.
Speaker 33 Or views or whatever the fuck, however, whatever the terminology is, 500 million of those
Speaker 33 in the same week.
Speaker 33
That ain't better. But wait a minute, we're doing audio.
How can they be views on the audio?
Speaker 32 The Travis Eckle artwork, they find guest artists that we have on the channel. Everyone loves that stuff.
Speaker 33 Well, that's true. They're just listening to us in the background where they're staring into those for the fucking meaning of life that's hidden down deep in the fucking duck's ass or whatever.
Speaker 32 Those pieces of art, those are 4K. So people blow them up on their screen when they listen to the show and it looks great.
Speaker 33 Well, there you go.
Speaker 33 They're 4K. Well, they're for you, for you to look at.
Speaker 33 That's even better than being 4K, but it's not as good as being for me.
Speaker 33 But anyway, here's the thing.
Speaker 33 While Tony's numbers are sinking and our numbers are growing exponentially every goddamn day, I got an idea for how Tony could up his numbers.
Speaker 33 Because if Tony could up his, you people out there, you could up yours.
Speaker 33 I've got the idea.
Speaker 33 Would you like me to explain it to you? What? What are you laughing already? I haven't even told you yet.
Speaker 32 You already told the listeners, up yours. I want to hear what's next.
Speaker 33 Well, I want them to up theirs.
Speaker 33
Because everybody, see, here's the thing. Here's what Tony needs to do.
Because his numbers
Speaker 33 are kind of bad because the only numbers he's getting credit for on TV are the people that's actually watching his show, right?
Speaker 33 What he needs to do is he needs to get him an Express VPN account because then Express VPN is going to scramble it to where
Speaker 33 people that are trying to watch the USA network, they're going to be directed to Tony's show.
Speaker 33 And the people that are trying to watch the Food Network, they're going to be directed over to TBS or TNT.
Speaker 33 And the people that are trying to watch C-SPAN, if Tony gets the Express VPN and they scramble all these signals so that nobody knows that they're actually watching AEW wrestling on purpose, he'll get a bunch more fucking viewers.
Speaker 33 Isn't that brilliant?
Speaker 32 I don't think any of that can happen. Certainly isn't brilliant.
Speaker 33 What?
Speaker 32 I mean, it's an inspired idea. I'll give you that.
Speaker 33 Well, inspired is even better than brilliant. A lot of people around here are brilliant, but very few are inspired.
Speaker 32 You got me there.
Speaker 33
Well, see, there you go. But there's the thing, because ExpressVPN will scramble everybody's fucking brains so they don't know how to think about you.
You won't be where they think you are.
Speaker 33 You'll be somewhere else and they won't know
Speaker 33 because that way they can't track you because they is everywhere, folks. We've talked before about the people inside your walls that the internet service providers plant there to eavesdrop on you.
Speaker 33 They've got the stethoscope.
Speaker 33 The things are sticking in their ears and they got the round thing up on the other side of the wall while you're talking to fucking Junior about his goddamn grades.
Speaker 33 So imagine what they think when you're in the bed with the Mizes with nookie time later that night.
Speaker 32 What are you talking about?
Speaker 33 Imagine what Junior thinks when he's got the,
Speaker 33 if you, you've taken the glass and turned it upside the other way to listen. Nevertheless,
Speaker 33 ExpressVPN will scramble all your shit where that all those days, and you know who they are, can't keep track of what you're doing on the internet.
Speaker 33 And they can't harvest your data and sell your data into slavery, where it'll be bound in bowels of a slave ship and sent to people who will then take advantage of it.
Speaker 33 And ExpressVPN is just going to confuse the fuck out of all these people, just like I am right now, so that your connection is rerouted through so many different places, they'll think you're the goddamn flash.
Speaker 33 And they'll just give up and move on to an easier pick and sucker.
Speaker 33 And every time you connect to Express VPN, you get a random IP address shared shared by many other ExpressVPN customers. They can't pinpoint exactly what you're doing.
Speaker 33 They'll think that everybody's into Dalmatian porn.
Speaker 32 Nope.
Speaker 33 And best of all, ExpressVPN is super easy to use. No matter what kind of device you're on, phone, laptop, smart TV, electronic listening device, telephone bugging apparatus.
Speaker 33 All you got to do is tap one button and boom, they think you're in Bolivia. your package is going to the republic of congo
Speaker 33 so if you really want to go incognito brian and protect your privacy i think the the people out there they they owe it to themselves to secure themselves with the number one rated vpn
Speaker 33 and that stands that stands for very private number
Speaker 33 This is even better.
Speaker 32 That's not what it stands for.
Speaker 33
That's what, well, of course that's what it stands for. And express means you get it quickly.
Like in the old days, you called a phone company for $2 a month. I still have the servers.
Speaker 33 You get a non-published number.
Speaker 33 And that means it doesn't go into the telephone book just with all the riffraff and the knickknacks and pattywhacks.
Speaker 33 You don't want to be in the telephone book unless you're a business because then everybody knows you're a sucker for aluminum siding.
Speaker 33 So get your unlisted number quickly from Express Very Private Number or ExpressVPN.com for short.
Speaker 32 I don't really understand anything you're talking about, but let's talk about people who can get access to websites with everything happening right now with the WWE network about to be shut down. Yes.
Speaker 32 Content moving to Netflix, some content on Peacock. This is a great way for international listeners.
Speaker 33 Before they take it away from you, record all this shit.
Speaker 32 Well, I didn't say record it. You have access to it.
Speaker 33 Well, they won't know what you're doing in your own home because you've got ExpressVPN. They think you're in fucking Calcutta.
Speaker 32 What are you going to record it on?
Speaker 33 Well, on a goddamn DVD or a VHS tape like God indeed.
Speaker 33 Because when they take the network away, I've still got all my shit.
Speaker 33
But anyway, you can get three months of this shit for free. I'll tell you that by cracky.
If you go to expressvpn.com slash jce, you'll get three extra months for free with the slash jce.
Speaker 33 And we know what you know.
Speaker 33 What you're using this for. You're using it to stay away from people who are trying to keep an eye on you and or what you might be visiting on the wave websites.
Speaker 32 Or you just want to access things that you may not be able to access where you are because of something that's not available in your country like the great British sewing bee.
Speaker 33 Or maybe you want to access some type of video that you don't want the
Speaker 33 baron of the
Speaker 33 castle that your spousal person is to come in there.
Speaker 32 That was a hell of a series of words you threw at me. Yes.
Speaker 33 If you want to make sure that your significant other is significantly confused about what you're looking at on the end, all these things,
Speaker 33 it's good for a variety of these things. You don't want the next-door neighbors chiming in on this either.
Speaker 33 You know, they can take binoculars and look in the window and see what website that you're visiting, unless you get ExpressVPN, and then the whole thing is scrambled like the old Barker channels on the pay-per-views.
Speaker 33 Expressvpn.com/slash JCE, three extra months for free of this valuable service to protect your secrecy and security and privacy.
Speaker 33 Privacy is a big deal.
Speaker 32
That's right. And of course, ExpressVPN is there for you.
It's the number one VPN, and you can get access to all sorts of content on the internet from around the world.
Speaker 32 ExpressVPN, what's that promo code, Jim?
Speaker 33 JCE and protect your privacy because everyone wants their privy protected.
Speaker 32 All right.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 33 All right, right. Well, before we go any further, I thought that we would kind of update ourselves on and just get a grip on some of the previous news before we go to the new news.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33
there's also a timeline. We asked somebody, or asked anybody actually on the show, put together a timeline of some of this.
Well, our
Speaker 33 good buddy over there, Thurston Howell III,
Speaker 33 put together at WrestleNomics, put together a timeline of the business
Speaker 33 news and
Speaker 33
basically all of the things that went on behind the scenes from the point of time that the NDA was signed. That a blanket description, it covers everything.
January 28th, 2022
Speaker 33 is when Janelle Grant signed the NDA releasing Vince McMahon and the WWE,
Speaker 33 according to the complaint that she's just filed, right?
Speaker 33
Right. So that was the start of this thing.
And he put together a timeline of the shit, which we're obviously not going to read everything, and you can't. And it would be,
Speaker 33 I mean, you can, but not on the air verbally like this. It would be very confusing, but
Speaker 33 we encourage everybody to.
Speaker 33 But the
Speaker 33 fucking thing is,
Speaker 33 in hindsight now,
Speaker 33 you see a lot of these people involved who
Speaker 33 it looks like Stephanie, at least, has been trying to stay away from Vince for the past two years.
Speaker 33 Whenever he comes, she is publicly, oh, it's great to have Vince back. And she's fucking gone, right?
Speaker 33 That's happened on a couple of different occasions.
Speaker 33 And when you and I were talking right before we went on the air,
Speaker 33 it was only two months after this NDA was signed that the
Speaker 33 anonymous email came from the
Speaker 33 person who said that they were the friend of the
Speaker 33 unnamed at that time, former WWE paralegal.
Speaker 33 And that was WrestleMania Week. And
Speaker 33 the very week that the board of directors gets this news that there's an NDA and starts all these investigations and starts all these balls rolling,
Speaker 33 that was when Vince came back and, and I use in quotation marks, wrestled at WrestleMania.
Speaker 33 When he had that deal where they had the thing set up with McAfee and Austin Theory, right? And then Vince, through whatever twists and turns they ended up taking, listen to our review on YouTube.
Speaker 33 He inserted himself in it and it fucking stunk.
Speaker 33 And then poor Steve Austin had to come out and
Speaker 33 give Vince the stunner that broke both of his legs, you know, in pieces, it looked like. He just collapsed into a goddamn melted heap.
Speaker 33 So
Speaker 33 he has been, but that was the first,
Speaker 33 the first time that the news comes to the board of directors, Vince puts himself on WrestleMania and beats Pat McAfee.
Speaker 33 And then when the Wall Street Journal, what, April, May, June, three months later reports this, when they find out about it, that the board has been investigating all this shit.
Speaker 33 That's what he came out on SmackDown and Raw those two weeks. They're like, here's John Cena
Speaker 33 and here I am. Fuck all of you.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 in the middle, and I'm jumping all around, but in the middle,
Speaker 33 in May, Stephanie stepped down, says she's taking a leave of absence to spend more time with her family, apparently the family that didn't already work for the company.
Speaker 33 right? And so she was gone at that point. She was still on the board.
Speaker 33 And when Vince tried to come back, she was one of the people voting for him not to come back.
Speaker 33 And when he came back anyway, she fucking welcomed him back and he fucking quit again.
Speaker 32 Remember, she went on TV and led the audience in a thank you, Vince, chant.
Speaker 33 No, actually, remember?
Speaker 33
Remember, she didn't lead. The audience started doing that.
And I think I said at the time
Speaker 33 she she stepped on his chant.
Speaker 33 I don't think she started it. Let's go back.
Speaker 33 Enterprising sleuths that have more time on their hands than we do.
Speaker 33
Go back and see. I think the people started it.
And I don't know that she
Speaker 33 did any encouragement at any at the least, but I think she may have stepped on it. We said, she stepped on the chant.
Speaker 33 Maybe I'm thinking of another one.
Speaker 32 And I think it's important to differentiate two things here at the start. One, as you mentioned before, the friend of Janelle Grant got in touch with the board of directors with that letter.
Speaker 32 And then separate from that,
Speaker 32 it appears that someone on the board of directors got in touch with the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 33 And there's also, if you go down in this timeline, as soon as Vince does power his way back,
Speaker 33 he fires or I don't know, can you fire the board? He moves the board of director people out and a couple of them quit.
Speaker 33 And one or two of them had gone on record as saying that we didn't agree with this. We don't want to be here.
Speaker 33 But that's that you can tell who is.
Speaker 33 So
Speaker 33 Stephanie takes the leave of absence, you know, when she
Speaker 33 after WrestleMania that year, and the rumor tried to be floated that Vince
Speaker 33 either removed her or she wasn't doing a good job or whatever, which that didn't get a lot of traction.
Speaker 33 But then when all the NDA news breaks, all of a sudden Triple H replaces John Laurenitis in talent relations, which was
Speaker 33 the reverse that had happened a number of years ago when Vince put Laurinitis back in Triple H's spot.
Speaker 33
And Vince retired the same day as Triple H replaced Laurinitis. And Brock walked out of the TV taping.
the same day.
Speaker 33 And then Steph came back when triple h was back in and vince was out
Speaker 33 and then two weeks later they fire laurinidas
Speaker 33 but then
Speaker 33 by four months later vince is back in
Speaker 32 stephanie and triple h both vote no but it doesn't matter because so does nickonpool so does so does nickon and they even write a letter to him explaining that they don't think it would be beneficial to the company to come back and he says In my position, he can insist on whatever he wants because he had the power.
Speaker 32 In my position, I feel that I have to be there for this sale of the company. I will not accept anything unless I'm part of it.
Speaker 33 Basically saying, no, nothing will happen unless I okay it.
Speaker 33 So I'm going to fuck all you guys. But anyways, and Stephanie, you know, welcome and welcomed him back and then left for fucking good.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 also, if you add up a couple of the bonuses and stock sales and whatever that Vince, after the whole sale and merger and TKO deal happened,
Speaker 33 Vince has sold stock for or gotten
Speaker 33 as some type of bonus over $750 million
Speaker 33 and still owns 12% of the company. It's not enough to cause what he caused before, but that's the point is he's gotten $750 million out of this deal so far.
Speaker 33 He owns stock in a company that's worth much more than that.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 they're where they're at right now because he didn't pay $3 million to this woman.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 32 let's stop, let's talk about that a little because it's such a puzzling.
Speaker 33 What kind of an idiot is he?
Speaker 32 We've talked in the past about this is what Vince McMahon has done to a lot of people outside of sexual misconduct allegations, doing business with them. Here's the deal.
Speaker 32
All of a sudden, you stop getting the payments. He finds some kind of way out of the deal.
He did something he didn't like. He screwed over Larry Matasik, Mike LaBelle, Stu Hart.
Speaker 32 The list goes on and on, not even counting the predatory business practices that he did against the NWA and Crockett promotions. But he always finds a way.
Speaker 32 If it's good for him, he's either going to get out of the deal or get a deal, only if it's good for him.
Speaker 32 He pays her.
Speaker 32
She says in the complaint, she didn't understand why he couldn't just give her all the money all at once. And he said, I think it was for like estate planning or something.
He just couldn't.
Speaker 33 No, it was a cash flow or
Speaker 33 spread out the
Speaker 32 cash flow.
Speaker 33 But now, you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 33 We have also
Speaker 33 been, it's been reported. I hesitate to say we've found out or anything factually these days anymore, but it's been reported reliably
Speaker 33 that these NDAs, all of them that Vince signed, because this was for 3 million, but the investigation that this one snowballed into, remember they found 17 or 18 million to women, and then another fucking $5 to $7 million he gave to fucking Trump illegally.
Speaker 33
That we see more similarities. The deals don't apply.
He always finds something. But anyway,
Speaker 33 and he had, apparently, Jerry McDivitt draw these up and have these deals signed without the knowledge of the WWE as a company is what the story is now
Speaker 33 being told. So that that's why, when they found out about them, they had to not only revise their
Speaker 33 earnings or their financial report or whatever it was, but also
Speaker 33 if the company didn't actually know that these were signed and that this was going on,
Speaker 33 then that does alleviate
Speaker 33 some of the
Speaker 33 culpability, liability, whatever the fuck, especially of this new company now.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 could this be the
Speaker 33 first time that Jerry McDivitt has fucked something up
Speaker 33 or allowed something to be fucked up and legally that bad?
Speaker 32
You know, Vince has lost before. A lot of people forget that.
Jesse Ventura kicked his ass in court. Bill Eady
Speaker 32 beat him in court. Again, I was reading, I mentioned this to you recently, the six-pack by Brad Beluchian.
Speaker 32
He talks to Bill Eady and he tries to get something about the settlement. Whatever he got from WWE, he wouldn't say anything.
He just smiled and said he's very happy. And that took 10 years.
Speaker 32 The lawsuit was like from 1991, it was settled in 2001.
Speaker 32 Vince McMahon drew that thing out for 10 years.
Speaker 32
And Bill Edie ended up winning in the end, apparently. So, you know, Jerry McDivitt isn't immune.
It all depends on this specific situation in the case and who's willing to fight.
Speaker 33 Well, but also when you think of the gravity of the two suits, I got Bill Eady over here. I got this massive international news story disgracing me over here.
Speaker 33 It seems like they might have taken a little more care.
Speaker 32
The other thing is, we only know what we know. And the Wall Street Journal reported that there were these other deals.
I mean, some of them go back to like 2006, 2007, somewhere in there.
Speaker 32
He was making deals back then. We don't know how far back these go.
It's puzzling that these weren't personal NDAs.
Speaker 32 It was company-wide,
Speaker 32
which he shouldn't have done. But the biggest problem always comes down to the fact that even though it was a public company, Vince still ran it the way he always did.
It was his company.
Speaker 32
And he could do whatever he wants at any time. And the shareholders let him do it.
That's the fact. He was able to spend and do whatever he wanted.
The shareholders let him do whatever he wanted.
Speaker 33 And as, by the way,
Speaker 33 You know, when you look at some of the people, because of course there's the only people identified in the lawsuit are Vince McMahon and John Laurinitis, but obviously,
Speaker 33 because of the
Speaker 33 overwhelming circumstantial evidence, Brock Lester's not looking too good. And we'll talk about his current status in a second.
Speaker 33 But the thing is, everybody's wondering who the other corporate executives are, and et cetera.
Speaker 33 corporate officer number one or number two or whatever the case. And,
Speaker 33 you know,
Speaker 33 is it
Speaker 33 even more significant
Speaker 33 than just new ownership? And again, I'm not even saying just because I don't like the guy.
Speaker 33 I'm not saying that he was doing any wrongdoing, but I'm saying he, you know, he's a fly on the wall close enough to the inner circle. He might have known if some alleged wrongdoing was being done.
Speaker 33 Kevin Dunn leaves at the end of the year with one week's notice, right? Didn't he
Speaker 33 announce around Christmas time? Yeah, I'm going to finish up the end of the year.
Speaker 32 I don't know how much notice he gave. He was just gone one day.
Speaker 33 Some short period of time. Well, they announced
Speaker 33
when we covered it. I said, well, Jesus Christ, it's fucking holidays.
It's the end of the year, even like five days later, whatever.
Speaker 33 That's a month before this lawsuit is filed. Would you
Speaker 33 one would think that
Speaker 33 if Kevin Dunn was one of the closest people to Vince, and you would think that you would know as a person involved in something like this, if something was bubbling before it happened.
Speaker 33 You think Kevin wanted to get out before he got any on him just for being around.
Speaker 32 I don't know. The Ashley Massaro stories, and there's various ones going around, and I believe her attorney has recently spoken, done an interview somewhere, and I'm sure we'll hear more about it.
Speaker 32 But I saw something recently with Paul London,
Speaker 32
who I guess was dating her at a time. And he said that she hated going on the plane, but Vince and Kevin Dunn always wanted her on the plane.
Not just Vince, Vince and Kevin Dunn.
Speaker 32
You say Kevin Dunn's a fly on a wall. He was Vince's top lieutenant for years, got away with everything.
I mean, we heard stories that were just stupid.
Speaker 32
Like, I know someone who had a meeting with Kevin Dunne. He started cutting his toenails in the middle of the meeting.
Just a complete dirtbag move.
Speaker 32 But it's not a safe thing to assume that everyone didn't have an idea there was something going on, even if they didn't know exactly what.
Speaker 32 If there were mistresses hired to work in the office and right away people knew, how did they know right away? How did they know any of that?
Speaker 32 All these other things happening with talent, anything that happened with talent, that shit goes around amongst the talent pretty quick.
Speaker 32 So
Speaker 32
it's Laura Nitis who is in charge of talent relations at various points. Kevin Dunn.
was the head of production. We don't know what he knew.
Speaker 32 You know, the big thing that's going to be interesting is going to be Triple H and Stephanie.
Speaker 32 And I hate to say it because I like Triple H's wrestling product, but if you're that close to Vince and you're around him nonstop for years,
Speaker 32 not just in the arena, in the office,
Speaker 32 and all this was happening, and people knew he had a mistress in the office who got a job she didn't deserve or deserve may not be the word, wasn't qualified for.
Speaker 32
I don't know. I mean, that's the thing.
Who knew what and when is the thing that's going to probably bring bring down a bunch of people?
Speaker 33 Well, that's what, yeah, with Kevin Dunn, again, not saying he was pretending, and I can't even imagine trying to participate in anything with Kevin. My God,
Speaker 33 it'd be like trying to get romantic with fucking Willard.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 if anybody knew something was going on, he had to be one of the people who knew just because of that proximity.
Speaker 33 From reading the complaint,
Speaker 33 and I said, I worked in the office or darkened their doorstep in 20-something years, but some people were around there for a long time. Others have been newer additions.
Speaker 33 One of the unnamed executives or however described,
Speaker 33 I think I might know who that might be. And from my interaction with him,
Speaker 33 I would think that if Vince McMahon, if he thought Vince McMahon has a girl on the side and he's putting her on the payroll,
Speaker 33 he would have rolled his eyes and held his nose and gone along with it, whatever.
Speaker 33 I think if he'd have known almost any of these
Speaker 33 details, you'd have needed shock paddles to bring him around
Speaker 33 because he was an older white man who would have also been
Speaker 33 aghast. That's a word that doesn't get used a lot, aghast at the obvious jeopardy that it was putting the company and the participants in because he was a
Speaker 33 halfway level-headed individual. So, but uh.
Speaker 32 But if you were, but if a hypothetical person and that and that would, that wouldn't be Bruce Pritchard, by the way.
Speaker 33 I'm not talking about Bruce. Okay.
Speaker 32 I thought you were talking about Bruce.
Speaker 33 No, no. If I said level-headed.
Speaker 32 That's why I was confused for a second.
Speaker 33 Yeah, well, no, it wouldn't have.
Speaker 33 No, a person whose name wouldn't even be known to the vast majority of the wrestling fans.
Speaker 32 Well, that's a part of the story. Vince all of a sudden bringing back people that the company got rid of to surround himself with, like Bruce Pritchard, like John Laurinite.
Speaker 32 People were around him that other people in the company are like, why is this person here? They're only here because of Vince. Well,
Speaker 32 not because of anything they're adding to anything. He just wants his confidence.
Speaker 33 And see, that's
Speaker 33 suddenly it looked like that he was bringing in the padding to surround himself with rather than his own daughter and his own son-in-law.
Speaker 33 And it was the only time that they gained power, retained power, or weren't fucked with in some kind of way
Speaker 33 was because Vince had taken NXT away from Triple H.
Speaker 33 And then, you know, he was out for a period of time with the heart issue, which,
Speaker 33 you know, I've said probably the last thing that I think he would have wanted to have thought about when he was having heart problems was Vince's fucking issues.
Speaker 33 But I'm, you know, anyway,
Speaker 33 we'll talk about Triple H when we talk about The Rock later on. But with Stephanie,
Speaker 33 is there any public sighting of her? Is she
Speaker 33 anywhere doing anything? I'm not talking about in wrestling, just is she, you know, taking the kids to soccer games or does anybody know what she's doing?
Speaker 32 Hey, another interesting thing that's in the timeline here that you talked about, remember, after all this first went down, Vince, Stephanie, Triple H, and Pat McAfee went and sat ringside at a UFC event.
Speaker 33 Ooh, you're right.
Speaker 32
Some sort of show of force. You know, it wasn't just Vince going to check on an event with Pat McAfee, who's a star.
He brought Stephanie and Triple H with him.
Speaker 32 Unless they were negotiating with Endeavour in the back on that night. What was that about?
Speaker 33 Well, that may have been part of the thing that was about.
Speaker 33 And okay, and here, Brock Lesnar.
Speaker 33 What the talk about somebody shitting in their own post-toasties.
Speaker 33 He is not only a WWE legend and the biggest per capita per match box office attraction, probably maybe not except for The Rock or
Speaker 33 whatever.
Speaker 33 And he's also a former UFC champion and an MMA legend.
Speaker 33 The same company now owns both, and they can't fucking put him out in front of people.
Speaker 33 However, he,
Speaker 33 we've now come to find out.
Speaker 33 that he was pulled from the Royal Rumble. The spot that Braun Breaker had was going to be Brock Lesnar.
Speaker 33 And actually, because the match was laid out, they're saying all the shit that Braun Breaker did was supposed to be Brock Lesnar. And now you look at it, you can see it.
Speaker 33 And you can also see that Braun Breaker did it pretty much as good.
Speaker 32 Yeah, it worked out well for Braun Breaker, but that would have been Brock Lesnar's spot, the thing with almost, and then Dominic Mysterio eliminating him.
Speaker 33 Yes, because apparently they were going to have Brock kick the shit out of Dominic because he's got heat at Elimination Chamber and then do something at WrestleMania.
Speaker 33 So he got pulled from three pay-per-views in a row. There's a new WWE game.
Speaker 33 I want to say a card game that I read.
Speaker 33 Is that code for one of the fucking electronic devices the kids have these days, a card game?
Speaker 32 I'm not sure what game you're talking about.
Speaker 33 Well, there's a new WWE game that Brock Lester was in that the toy company said, well, we're not going to leave him in it. And they took him out of it.
Speaker 33 So three pay-per-views at a goddamn game, already cost him what two or three million dollars
Speaker 33 and he and they haven't even mentioned his name yet but boy i'd like to see him come out and say well prove it's me because i think they can
Speaker 32 what if he goes for the larinitis defense i'm a victim in this too my boss was oh my
Speaker 32 god that would be the fucking thor the god of thunder said i was fucking victimized by the fucking dr don blake on the topic of brock to go way back and taking your personal feelings out of it, because other people felt differently about her than you did, specifically Vince and Kevin Dunn.
Speaker 32 When Sable first left, she sued them for sexual harassment, remember?
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 32 You know, who knows what was really there and what really wasn't. They were obsessed with her.
Speaker 33 Well,
Speaker 32 and that's Brock's wife.
Speaker 33 Well, that's what I was going to say, but then there's the O. Henry
Speaker 33
there. We got O.
Henried
Speaker 33 because then I could understand
Speaker 33 if the story was that after Brock and Sable got together, then
Speaker 33 Brock
Speaker 33 hated Vince because of whatever his wife may have told him. We don't know.
Speaker 33 But no, Brock becomes close enough to Vince that when Vince retires, Brock walks out and Vince is setting, allegedly,
Speaker 33 Brock up with
Speaker 33 play dates with the office personnel.
Speaker 32 And you have to wonder.
Speaker 33 That seems to be a contradiction, doesn't it?
Speaker 32 You have to wonder, is this because Vince and Brock are especially close, or did Vince have this kind of relationship or try to pull this kind of thing with top guys that he was negotiating with?
Speaker 32
Is there anyone else? I mean, there's a lot of guys he's been close to over the years. Hogan lived next door to him in Greenwich at one point.
Him and Sean Michaels were real tight.
Speaker 32
Him and Brett, before everything went bad, were real tight. There are a lot of guys that had really close relationships with Vince.
A lot of guys that did when Linda was around and acted.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 perks like this, I use perks in quotation marks because of the alleged offering in the contract negotiations, et cetera,
Speaker 33 didn't come up from Vince back then.
Speaker 33 There's no way, there's no way any of those guys, well, I mean, Bret Hart, you wouldn't even say that too, for fuck's sake. He would have goddamn probably punched Vince early.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 there's no way that you would have been able to keep these guys from saying that at one point or another if there had ever been.
Speaker 33 And I mean, this specific story, yeah, Vince tried to get me to fuck his girlfriend
Speaker 33 or
Speaker 33 his office employee or his massage therapist or fill in the blank
Speaker 33 or shared picture. Vince showed me nude pictures of this girl that he's having this fling with.
Speaker 33 That's never been a part of the canon of the mythology, has it?
Speaker 32
I don't think so. I mean, I don't know everything, but I had never heard that.
But what we had heard is that Vince had had affairs in the office.
Speaker 32
Remember, his assistant was Emily Feinberg, who was a Playboy Playmate. And she ended up getting screwed.
I don't say get screwed, but she testified against Vince in the steroid trial.
Speaker 32 And Laura Brevetti's ex-husband, she was one of Vince's attorneys, went up to Emily Feinberg pretending to be a reporter for 60 minutes, got her whole story, and then she got destroyed on the stand.
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 32 So Vince, that was with Linda there. He was sleeping with his assistant.
Speaker 33 Well, yes, but he wouldn't wouldn't have said, hey,
Speaker 33 Brutus, you know, come on over.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 32 What do you think?
Speaker 32 You know, we'll talk more about it because it kind of is involved with every single thing we're going to talk about with WWE TV coming up, but Triple H.
Speaker 32
You know, WWE, their product has been the best it's been in a long time. The TV has great segments with confrontations.
that we love and that we talk about here.
Speaker 32
He's doing his thing without Vince. Everything seemed to be going well.
We'll talk later about how the rock kind of gets thrown into that and changes everything. But,
Speaker 32 you know, he's finally got his chance to do it. And he may get dragged down by this if he's involved in any way.
Speaker 33 Well, but I've got to think
Speaker 33 because they are dealing with each other, the Nick Cons and the Triple H's and the Ari Emmanuels, and they're dealing with each other, I would think, on a regular daily or almost daily basis. And
Speaker 33 they know more than we do,
Speaker 33 whether they want to admit it or not. And they've got to probably have formulated some opinion
Speaker 33 in a positive fashion about Triple H's involvement or lack thereof before they've let him get this far.
Speaker 32 They made Vince the executive chairman. There's no way that Endeavor wasn't aware of some of these allegations or at least
Speaker 32 multiple issues with Vince and the company and sexual harassment and NDAs. And they still made him executive chairman.
Speaker 33 What does the executive chairman do?
Speaker 32 He's the executive chairman of the board of directors. So he's the head of the board of directors.
Speaker 33 So what would he actually have be able to do in that or have been able to do in that company before he resigned it?
Speaker 32 Oh, I don't know what exactly.
Speaker 32 Who could he tell?
Speaker 33 Who could he say, you motherfucker?
Speaker 33 Go goddamn lift that fucking barge and move that bail.
Speaker 32 I mean, technically, he was the boss of Dana White and Triple H in one respect.
Speaker 33 But here's the, I'm going to ask you, how much was ceremonial to be the executive chairman to placate this fucking eccentric,
Speaker 33 demented senior citizen that we're trying to get this, and he's going to die soon. We won't have to worry about him because he's almost 80.
Speaker 33 But in the meantime, would he have been able to call up Dana White and say, hey, that fucking main event you're plugging for the next pay-per-view, fuck it. Change it.
Speaker 33 I don't like, he wouldn't be able to do that.
Speaker 32
But they were asked about all these things. There was a CNBC interview with Ari Emmanuel next to Vince, and he was asked about it.
And he said he wanted Vince there. They needed Vince there.
Speaker 32 Dana White said good things about Vince. I have a tough time thinking these guys were not aware of something going on.
Speaker 32 And they were all praising Vince. Did they think this was all going away? Did they?
Speaker 33 Well, that's what I'm saying is I think it's both these things can happen at the same time.
Speaker 33 I think they figured we've got to give, because he wouldn't accept his ego, wouldn't accept anything less than some type of position like this, but much of it may have been ceremonial.
Speaker 33
So they knew he couldn't fuck the company up. And they were figuring either they didn't know the extent of it or they were figuring it wouldn't come out in public the extent of it.
And people get over
Speaker 33 NDAs and hush money all the time, just not with details like this going on.
Speaker 33 I would have to think that even that company, had they learned the extent of this, would not have, you know, if they get before a jury, can you imagine how much they're going to award Janelle Grant and punitive damages?
Speaker 32 I mean, you talk about all the money Vince has, and that's going to come up in that trial. He's going to lose a good chunk of it.
Speaker 33 Okay, well, speaking of losing money, we talk about Brock is out a few million dollars just so far, just from,
Speaker 33 you know, being alluded to in this.
Speaker 33 With Laurinitis,
Speaker 33 how deep can he, how how big a settlement could he pay? Certainly not like Vince McMahon, because remember we talked about him on the previous program. I said,
Speaker 33 how could he have been that fearful for his fucking job? Because he's been a wrestling executive, major company for most of the past 20 or 25 years, whatever the fuck.
Speaker 33 My God, he's not going to be in a box under the overpass. That's not if he's living a goddamn
Speaker 33 normal life and not the subject of a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
Speaker 33 So I don't buy that he was so fearful for his job that he would not perpetrate crimes on behalf of Vince's say-so, even when Vince wasn't present.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 I can believe that he would squeal like a pig under a gate at Vince or about Vince McMahon if he's staring in the face of a $10 or $15 million or who knows what kind of fucking judgment in a civil suit,
Speaker 33 which is why that apparently he's already.
Speaker 33 I was a victim here.
Speaker 33 Have you heard about his lawyer?
Speaker 32 I mean, I saw the quote from the lawyer. I don't know anything else about the lawyer.
Speaker 33 Okay, you know, I'm not one to tell tales and I'm not one to
Speaker 33 prattle or you know, tell tales out of school or cast aspersions on people. So I encourage everybody to do your own research.
Speaker 33 I'm not saying that this is completely valid information, but a lot of people said it.
Speaker 33 Apparently, on Twitter, I've seen people screenshotting the fucking reviews or the comments from wherever it came from.
Speaker 33 The attorney that is representing John Laurinidis is apparently not well regarded at all by many of his former clients. And
Speaker 33
they're saying, what a lazy piece of shit. What a crook.
He stole money. He fucked me around.
He did this and that. I'm not saying these things
Speaker 33 about this apparently shyster lawyer because he might get on the phone and call our shyster lawyer and it would start something. I'm saying,
Speaker 33 if anybody's got some spare time and wants to do the research on the guy representing John Laurenitis, see what you come up with is all I'm saying.
Speaker 33 But a lot of a lot of negativity.
Speaker 32 You know, Laurenitis is a guy that's not well thought of by too many people. No, like beyond you, like Jim Ross has made statements in the past publicly.
Speaker 32 Teddy Long has made statements in the past publicly. Various talent have made comments.
Speaker 32 He wasn't well thought of. That's the way you phrased it.
Speaker 33 He just wasn't well thought of. Like
Speaker 33 the goddamn sardines on fucking pizza. He just wasn't well thought of.
Speaker 32
Like, I've never heard anyone ever say to me, you know, he does a good job. Give him a break.
No one.
Speaker 32
Everyone thought he did a bad job. Everyone thought he was unqualified for his job.
And then you hear all this.
Speaker 33 Well, remember, at first, Stephanie liked him because he was a smiling, younger, good-looking guy in a suit that replaced Jim Ross, who was telling Vince, the chairman.
Speaker 32 The truth. Yeah.
Speaker 33 The truth about her creative performances.
Speaker 33 And then he morphed into whatever he fucking became.
Speaker 32 Can you imagine what Stephanie thought when Bruce Pritchard got rehired? She's the one who got him fired for pulling a gun on her or whatever.
Speaker 33 Oh, now don't say that.
Speaker 32 Waving a gun around a Yosemite Sam, whatever he was doing.
Speaker 33 He didn't pull a gun on Stephanie McMahon. Apparently, he did have a gun in his briefcase for reasons that I've not ever been told or understood or whatever.
Speaker 32 He doesn't have heat. What was he running around with a gun for?
Speaker 33 Who knows? Well,
Speaker 33 he was in the office, right? You're talking about heat with the fans.
Speaker 33 If I was there, I could go in a fucking arena of 15,000 people and feel safe, but I wouldn't want to go in the office and turn my back without.
Speaker 33
But nevertheless, so that's Laura Nidas. He can't afford to pay a big settlement.
And he's got a lawyer that apparently
Speaker 33 one would presume by the way he's been described that he will represent anybody for a fee and figure out something to either, maybe he's a personal friend of Johnny's, who knows.
Speaker 33 And these, this is some of the other things that I've been thinking about. What's going on right now since this
Speaker 33 complaint has been filed and made public, the lawsuit by Janelle Grant.
Speaker 33 I have questions still
Speaker 33 on what the fucking arrangement is here. And maybe we got another clue on who the friend of Janelle Grant was because the story is that Janelle Grant was living in this building.
Speaker 33
Vince was living in the penthouse. Janelle Grant knew the manager of the building.
And the manager of the building said, well, you ought to talk to Vince McMahon. He's a billionaire.
Speaker 33 He might give you a job, right?
Speaker 33 Right.
Speaker 33 And then later on, after these things happened to her with the WWE, apparently she managed
Speaker 33 or
Speaker 33 I guess did she become the building manager or was the building manager, was she running the building in some fashion?
Speaker 32
I don't know if she took his job. That's a very interesting question.
I didn't think that.
Speaker 33 Was it a his or a her?
Speaker 32 I'm not sure, but they had said that she had taken over. She had been working in the building she was living in.
Speaker 33 Yes. And so did she take over or was she handling something else for the main manager? Was the manager, were they girlfriends?
Speaker 33 Were they you one would think that Janelle Grant would not have confided in some old guy that looked like fucking,
Speaker 33 you know, Bookman on what's happening or whatever. We don't know.
Speaker 32 We don't know who the building manager was.
Speaker 33 Well, but I'm saying maybe they were females of a similar age where they could bond or, you know, whatever.
Speaker 33 But so that's the thing is that
Speaker 33 here's what I don't understand now. And the again,
Speaker 33 how old is Janelle Grant? Now, you said you newspapers reported she was 43, but I'd heard that she was in her 20s. And the picture of her looks youthful.
Speaker 33 But now people are saying she's in her 40s. Why is her age up in the air? Not that she did anything wrong with that.
Speaker 33 But I think you don't need specifics. Here's where she lives if you want to go bother her.
Speaker 33 But clarifying her general
Speaker 33 biography enough to see how she clearly ended up in this odd situation, I think would help humanize her even more and make people understand what the fuck's going on if it's sympathetic to her case.
Speaker 33 And so, if
Speaker 33 did Vince move?
Speaker 33 And is he still living there? Is the manager mad at him, the building manager?
Speaker 33 If the building manager was friends with Janelle Grant and gets a job, says, go talk to Vince, and Vince gives her a job.
Speaker 33 And then the building manager finds out about this, was the building manager the one that emailed the board, the friend of Janelle Grant?
Speaker 32 That is an interesting question. We know Vince has a residence in Florida, obviously, and who knows what other places, you know, maybe a place in Manhattan or something.
Speaker 33 He doesn't spend a lot of time in Florida when he's doing these fucking business deals.
Speaker 32 Does he still have that condo in the Trump building that Janelle Grant lives in? That's a very interesting question.
Speaker 33 Yes. So that's what I'm saying: is
Speaker 33 if I was the building manager and I was really truly friends with Janelle Grant and I really had a genuine idea to try to help by saying, well, talk to Vince McMahon.
Speaker 33 He, you know, is a, could give you a job. And then Janelle Grant confided in me
Speaker 33 that
Speaker 33 this had gone on. Wouldn't I feel like shit? And wouldn't I think, well, somebody needs to fucking do something about this?
Speaker 33 Right. So then wouldn't I be the anonymous friend that emailed the fucking board of directors? But at the same time,
Speaker 33 When the NDA was signed,
Speaker 33 Vince, if was Vince still, did they have to pass each other in the lobby?
Speaker 33 Were they still living there? Did she move? But she couldn't have moved because why would you move away from a building that you're then going to work managing?
Speaker 33 And the story why that she had to give up that job was that she was so upset and disturbed by what had happened that she was depressed and couldn't leave her apartment for weeks at a time.
Speaker 33 So
Speaker 33 who is, I can't think that the building manager that put her together with Vince, did he then or she then flip and decide with Vince McMahon? But then how did Janelle Grant get the job?
Speaker 33 We need details.
Speaker 32 Yeah, we don't know because it says just a friend of Janelle Grant's.
Speaker 32 And if she has friends and she's going through something like this, you got to think some other people may be aware that something's up.
Speaker 33 What I'm thinking is somebody needs to talk to the building manager and find out what the building manager knew when.
Speaker 32 And what I'm really interested in that we may never find out is who leaked this to Wall Street Journal because that changed everything.
Speaker 32 That was the game changer.
Speaker 33 I think it was somebody on the board of directors.
Speaker 33 It could have either been one of the civilians that weren't in the wrestling business that were on the board of directors that were just mortified at conduct like this,
Speaker 33 or
Speaker 33 it could have been fucking Stephanie.
Speaker 33 I don't know. I still don't know.
Speaker 33 Because would that be sitting well with, you know?
Speaker 32 We haven't heard anything from the family.
Speaker 32 I mean, Triple H had that press conference, didn't say anything, but obviously Shane, Stephanie, and Linda, who's still making appearances for, you know, various Republican events,
Speaker 32 living by herself in Florida, not living with Vince.
Speaker 33 That's right. Linda, somebody sent a poster with she's speaking with every right-wing Republican wing nut.
Speaker 33 How can she
Speaker 33 are these people in such a bubble of their own delusions that they don't read the paper or watch the news? How can she poke her face out there after this?
Speaker 32 Boy.
Speaker 32 there's a conspiracy theory, and I only call it that because it's unproven, going around that maybe Shane McMahon was the person who leaked this to the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 32 Remember, he came back. When did Shane McMahon come back to the Royal Rumble where he had some kind of incident backstage?
Speaker 32 And then his dad said, Don't come back, and he almost got into a fight with Brock. When was that? Right? Is that the details you remember?
Speaker 33
Oh, goddamn it. We got to listen to our own YouTube channel.
We covered it at the time. It's been a couple of years ago.
Speaker 33 That's when Shane blew his snavits out.
Speaker 32 Was that 2022?
Speaker 32
Yeah, that was 2022. He was paid over $700,000 for the Royal Rumble in 2022.
But backstage, I have a story here. Backstage chaos in clashing with Brock Lesnar saw him quietly let go by his father.
Speaker 32 Wow.
Speaker 32 See, that's another big question.
Speaker 33 Remember, also, a lot of the guys had been mad that he had inserted himself into the match and the whole nine yards, and then he,
Speaker 33 you know, went down in spectacular fashion.
Speaker 32 He's the one I hope one day says something, because he's the only one who ever walked away for whatever reason. And now all of this makes you wonder what else could have been going on.
Speaker 32 But he walked away and tried to do something on his own.
Speaker 33 He would eventually. I told you he was my favorite.
Speaker 32 You've always said that. At this point, he may be my favorite too.
Speaker 32 But I have a tough time thinking all of this wasn't known by some of these participants, or a good amount of this wasn't known by a lot of these participants.
Speaker 33 I,
Speaker 33 the detail,
Speaker 33 I need to know the amount of details now. Here's another thing: I've thought of something that nobody else has asked about.
Speaker 33 The physical therapist, right?
Speaker 32 Right.
Speaker 33 Who are his patients right now?
Speaker 32 Why is he unnamed?
Speaker 33 I mean, what the
Speaker 33 who this is a physical therapist that leads one to believe medical professional, people actively, or person actively seeing clients, patients or whatever. What is he?
Speaker 33 Adjust your back and give you a shit shampoo? Can somebody review his fucking license?
Speaker 33 Just give it a little asterisk at the Better Business Bureau. Shouldn't people, if there's somebody somebody out there that's engaging in this behavior with alleged clients,
Speaker 33 shouldn't we know about it?
Speaker 32 Who's the physical therapist? Who's the celebrity doctor he was working for that Vince sent Janelle Grant to?
Speaker 33 Well, there you go.
Speaker 33 And either what is the doctor's celebrity or what celebrities is this doctor seeing?
Speaker 33 Because as George Carlin said,
Speaker 33 Somewhere in the world is the world's worst doctor, and someone has an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I think we ought to have this knowledge shared with us.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 you mentioned Bruce earlier. I think he's toast because he's been so close to Vince and with the company so long, they're just going to get rid of him because
Speaker 33 just because.
Speaker 33 I think that while I believe there is no way that he could have been involved as a participant in this,
Speaker 33 I think he mounted probably a vigorous,
Speaker 33 a vigorous effort at remaining willfully ignorant.
Speaker 33 But I think there's also...
Speaker 33
Well, there you go. And he's excellent at it.
And I think that there's some level of Vince may have shielded him from discussion of this on a personal basis for plausible deniability.
Speaker 33 Just for situations just like this, he kept his feathers numbered. Because if Bruce didn't know nothing, didn't see nothing, didn't hear nothing, didn't talk about about nothing,
Speaker 33 Vince would say, well, Bruce can be there when I'm not.
Speaker 33 And then, as Ronda Rousey said, he can be the avatar.
Speaker 32 But if Vince is showing everyone things on his phone, and we only know that based on what Vince said in text messages,
Speaker 32 Bruce is the only person he's not showing stuff to?
Speaker 33 I think Bruce would have treated it like a pickle on his plate and looked out the window.
Speaker 33 Bruce has the thing. Bruce
Speaker 33 always had a saying:
Speaker 33 I don't rib, rib, don't want to be ribbed.
Speaker 33 Meaning he is not going to rib anyone or mess with anyone's belongings or whatever the fuck back in the 80s, WWF style ribs, and he don't want to be ribbed. Don't rib, don't want to be ribbed.
Speaker 33 I think he would extend that. Don't fuck, don't want to be fucked.
Speaker 32 I don't know how he, you know, he doesn't survive, I don't think, but also how does anyone ever want to hear him again?
Speaker 32
All this guy ever did was defend Vince McMahon, defend everything Vince McMahon ever did. Give that side of the story.
And now all of a sudden he's not going to say anything about this? We'll see.
Speaker 32 He's got a a lot to own up to about all of this. He got brought back to be Vince.
Speaker 33 Well, he doesn't have to own up to anything.
Speaker 32 He has to talk about what he knows and what he doesn't know.
Speaker 33 He has to spill his guts, but he doesn't have to own up to it.
Speaker 32 Well, I think a lot of people have a lot to answer for.
Speaker 32 Kevin Dunn, Bruce Pritchard, John Laurenitis, Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon, other unnamed executives, the other people on the board of directors, including those who resigned, giving
Speaker 32 rather benign statements about, you know, we had a problem with things that were here, not really letting you know.
Speaker 33 We've got busy schedules. We've, you know, the kids now, they're doing soccer.
Speaker 32
And Endeavor. Again, Nick Kahn was one of the people that voted for Vince not to be brought back.
Nick Kahn didn't know what was going on. Endeavor knew what was going on too, I would have to think.
Speaker 32
So every one of these people is going to have to answer. for this.
And I'm sure they're all dreading it. I'm sure they're all dreading it.
But it's coming. That day is coming.
It's a reckoning.
Speaker 32 It's the reckoning Vince McMahon never thought would happen.
Speaker 32 Boy.
Speaker 32
I got to get David Schultz on the phone. Find out how he's doing nowadays.
Okay.
Speaker 33 Wait a minute. You haven't heard him hooping and hollering and shooting his shotgun off?
Speaker 32 I'm sure he's having a.
Speaker 33 That brings us to Vince to close
Speaker 33 the most unsympathetic defendant since Donald Trump. And with him on the stand.
Speaker 33 In a civil trial, just with the techs and just
Speaker 33
the demeanor that he's probably going to have and the way he's going to come off, he's cooked. He's still got the multiple NDAs for tens of millions of dollars.
Are any of them valid?
Speaker 32 Are any of them enforceable? Yeah, that's the other thing, because I guess they were, again, they're company NDAs. They're not Vince McMahon NDAs.
Speaker 33 No, no.
Speaker 33 They're that's the thing is that from the report that I'm hearing, the company may be covered, but the company didn't do them. Vince had them done by McDivitt privately rather than going through.
Speaker 32
Oh, that's right. I said it backwards.
I said it backwards.
Speaker 33 But well, but no, but they cover the company, but they covered, they potentially, in that case, would cover the company without the company's knowledge. Right.
Speaker 32 Which is not legal.
Speaker 33
That's why I'm saying they can be challenged. And I mean, I don't know if anybody's going to be anxious to give the fucking money back or if they thought there might be a danger of that.
But
Speaker 33 if McDivitt did them personally, and that's Vince and Jerry McDivitt.
Speaker 33
Poor Jerry wanted wanted to retire. Maybe he's going to, maybe Vince is going to be floating in the wilderness on his own after this.
And maybe
Speaker 33 if McDivitt did draw these up, maybe he's not the guy to defend this suit anyway.
Speaker 32 Yeah, maybe he wants to retire before this trial because this may not be one you can win.
Speaker 33 Well,
Speaker 33 Grant's lawyer says others are coming forward. What are these stories? And they have shown they're not hesitant to put some out.
Speaker 33 And there's a federal investigation going on that's criminal, not civil.
Speaker 32 And they got his phone.
Speaker 33 And they got his phone.
Speaker 32
There it is. Because he's texting.
I said this last time. He's texting all these things to Janelle Grant, and they're hideous.
Speaker 32 What was he sending the other participants, like Laurenitis and the physical therapist and Brock Lesnar? We don't see those text messages.
Speaker 32 We only see the sweet nothings that he's sending to someone who he's abusing.
Speaker 33
But we don't see. And you know what? That's the one thing.
Trump never put anything in writing. That was how he got away with everything.
Vince didn't even learn from his billionaire buddy.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game.
Speaker 4 It's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 32 You know, on this topic, let me ask you a question I've been thinking about.
Speaker 32
I was a big Chris Benoit fan. I can't watch Chris Benoit matches.
I hate the guy. I can't watch his matches at all anymore.
If I see him on a show, like an old show, it repulses me.
Speaker 32 The most successful era in WWE history is the attitude era, which is all built around Vince and Steve Austin.
Speaker 32 What does this do to that, to that legacy, to that footage, the idea that the biggest draw in company history, Steve Austin, is tied directly to Mr. McMahon?
Speaker 32 That if you ever want to revisit any of these things in the past, Vince is all over all these clips.
Speaker 33 Well, but
Speaker 33 can you not watch any movie that Joan Crawford ever appeared in without thinking about her beating her fucking kids with wire hangers?
Speaker 32 I mean, I'm not watching too many Joan Crawford movies nowadays.
Speaker 33 Well, I mean, it's a broad example.
Speaker 32 Right.
Speaker 32 But that's a little bit different than, you know, Mommy Dearest is a little bit different than whatever the fuck Vince had going on there.
Speaker 33 I know that, but the point I'm making is
Speaker 33 at some point
Speaker 33 in entertainment or in rock and roll or in sports or in football or in
Speaker 33 fucking, I don't know, rocket research down in Huntsville, Alabama at the Von Braun fucking center or whatever.
Speaker 33 There's going to be shitty people that do great things in a field that you're interested in.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 to be honest,
Speaker 33 I think Vince's is worse than Benoit's, but to me,
Speaker 33 I can watch a Chris Benoit match and I get sad
Speaker 33 because
Speaker 33 of that, you know, that great kid that his brain melted and went crazy and did all those things.
Speaker 32
But would Vince, he he was the host of the show. He was the person who eventually was an on-air character making out with women, having women do.
Remember Stacey Keyward dancing on a table?
Speaker 33 Yeah, no, that stuff may not age well.
Speaker 32 And there's a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 33 There's a lot of that stuff.
Speaker 32 Him having sable all over him. That was a thing in like 2003 or whatever.
Speaker 33 You know, and I've, and I, I can admit, I identify, I was heartbroken when it, because I cannot ever hear goddamn Ted Nugent again,
Speaker 33 Cat Scratch Fever without thinking, but yes, he's now a Republican dipshit.
Speaker 32 Yeah, I feel that way about.
Speaker 32
I feel that way about Roger Waters. I like Pink Floyd, and then I found out he's a raging anti-Semite.
Fuck that guy. I can't listen to his shit anymore.
So those are small examples.
Speaker 32 With the Vince thing, and we don't know what else is going to come out, but you have to think more is going to come out.
Speaker 32
It becomes tougher. Any TNT, he's the host of TNT, acting like Mr.
Proper.
Speaker 32 He was the host of the Saturday morning show, Saturday Night's Main Event too, Monday Night Raw for a number of years.
Speaker 32 And just wacky segments, wacky humor, wacky personality.
Speaker 32 And eventually, like I said, making out with women and doing wacky things on his show.
Speaker 32 It's going to be tough for a lot of people to watch that when he gets, if he gets convicted of something, if...
Speaker 32 There's a trial and they find him guilty of rape. If any of these things happen, how are you going to ever watch him again comfortably? And how does WWE present their history?
Speaker 32 How do you present the history of the Attitude Era?
Speaker 32 The rise of Austin and The Rock.
Speaker 32 Because McMahon's in the middle of that whole thing.
Speaker 32
It's a rough thing. It's a rough thing to think about.
I've been thinking a lot about it. It's like
Speaker 32 you never expect that just someone who's all over a show is going to be accused of the worst shit ever.
Speaker 32 And this may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 33 Boy, now you bummed me out.
Speaker 33 I guess we'll just have to go back to pre-1984.
Speaker 32 Let me cheer you up. Top-tongue, tell it.
Speaker 33
No, let's just go back before 1984 when everybody in the wrestling business was halfway sane and behaved themselves. Yeah.
Well, Ari CBA,
Speaker 33 when you hear about shit like this going on.
Speaker 32
Again, it's different with Vince because he was Vince. I mean, it's going to be a very interesting thing.
You know, there have been books written about him,
Speaker 32
and every single one of them now is wildly incomplete. Anything ever written about him or talked about him is wildly incomplete because this is going to be the coda.
This is the end of his story.
Speaker 32 It's going to be Vince either going to jail or going home in disgrace or somehow winning this trial, but a lot of people aren't going to think anything except about the accusations.
Speaker 32 Or he's going to lose the trial, not go to jail, and have to pay punitive damages of $100 million
Speaker 32 for someone who he's shat on.
Speaker 32 Like this is, this is a bad ending and it's going to taint everything that came before it.
Speaker 33 Well, we said the other day, he probably won't live long enough, just chronologically, to redeem himself. You know, people sooner or later always forget this will take a little while
Speaker 33 and he may not have that while.
Speaker 32 And you have to want the other thing that's, you know, it's kind of superficial with all this, but
Speaker 32 him changing his face, the plastic surgery, the dyed hair, the mustache, all the things that suddenly happened.
Speaker 32 What triggered that?
Speaker 32 He had a very distinct look his entire career, even when he went gray. He looked one way, and then all of a sudden he became a different-looking person.
Speaker 32 What triggered that? I mean, again, I don't know how much that ties into all this, but you know what? It's the same period of time.
Speaker 33 No,
Speaker 33 he was setting up the insanity defense,
Speaker 33 Vincent the Chin Higanti, right?
Speaker 33
Instead of the bathrobe and slippers, he's shuffling around looking like goddamn Snadley whiplash. People obviously thought that he was demented.
That's what he was going for.
Speaker 33 He's going to clear his name by pleading complete batshit insanity.
Speaker 33 You want to bet me?
Speaker 32 Huh? Brian? Oh, I don't know if I want to take that bet. I can't tell.
Speaker 32 I don't feel comfortable either way taking that bet. No.
Speaker 33 What are the odds on that? Can we look up the DraftKings sports book and get the odds on that? Are they taking odds on whether Vince is declared bat shit insane in court on DraftKings yet?
Speaker 32 Not yet, but they are the official betting partner of the Jim Cornette experience. So maybe in the future.
Speaker 33 Well, and they are the official betting partner of the Super Bowl, Super Bowl L-V-I-I-I. How many is that?
Speaker 32 L-V-I-I-I, that's 53.
Speaker 33 Well,
Speaker 33 I think it's more than that, isn't it? If the L comes before the V, does that subtract or add to? I think it's 58.
Speaker 32
58. 58, you're right, 58, 58.
Yeah.
Speaker 33 Well, fuck those Romans. They should just put the numbers down.
Speaker 33 But I'll tell you what, they're the official betting partner, not the Romans, but DraftKings Sportsbook of the Super Bowl and all the other bowls, the Super Bowl, the toilet bowl, the orange bowl, whatever the case.
Speaker 33 DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered because right now,
Speaker 33 if you take the code down, get your pens and paper ready, ladies and gentlemen, to write this down.
Speaker 33 I'm going to give you a code how you can, new customers over at the DraftKings Sportsbook, can bet $5 on the Super Bowl and turn it into $200 instantly in the bonus bets.
Speaker 33 And some rules may apply, so you need to read about this. But
Speaker 33 right now, just go and download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use the code JCE.
Speaker 33 You bet $5 if you're a new customer, $200 instantly in bonus bets. Here's what I would do.
Speaker 33 What I would do is I would take a third of that money and bet on one team, a third of that money and bet on the other team, and a third of that money and bet on a draw.
Speaker 33 Do they do draws in football, Brian?
Speaker 32
They don't do draws. And also, I don't think you should be giving anyone betting advice, but this is the big game.
This is the one that everyone's been waiting for, the Chiefs and the 49ers.
Speaker 32 Who do you think is going to win?
Speaker 33 Well, is he a minor 49er? Dreadful sorry, Clementine?
Speaker 33 Are the Kansas City Chiefs? Is Wahoo still playing for the Chiefs?
Speaker 32 No, Wahoo played for the Jets. And
Speaker 32 it sounds like he played for the Chiefs, did he?
Speaker 33 Maybe it was Ernie Ladd. Well, if Ernie Ladd and Wahoo's playing, I'm betting on that team.
Speaker 33 But right now, you just download that app and you do that thing where you get that money and you bet on, I was thinking thinking if you just bet one way, the other way, and in the middle, then you'd come out pretty much ahead no matter what you did.
Speaker 33 But it's up to you, Brian. You want to turn my advice down just because I'm looking at this from a pragmatic, sensible point of view, as any
Speaker 33 good quality gambler should.
Speaker 33 If you're going to be wagering, you should examine all sides of this thing, get your parents' permission before placing the bet.
Speaker 33
But anyway, you can get 200 bucks extra if you bet $5. Seems to me like it'd it'd be worth it.
What the fuck?
Speaker 33 Yeah, how long? You only live once, right?
Speaker 32 How low can you go?
Speaker 33 All those other sayings.
Speaker 32
Was that a question? I don't know what. I don't know.
For the record, Wahoo played for the Houston Oilers, the Denver Broncos, the New York Jets, and the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 33 Well, there you go. See?
Speaker 33 And his grandfather.
Speaker 33 Fought with Grant at Richmond, and then he fought with Custer at the Little Bighorn. He couldn't get along with anybody.
Speaker 33
But anyway, folks, once again, bet $5, get $200. Bonus bets only on the DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 58.
See, here it's written out.
Speaker 33 Before in red letters, they had the L V I.
Speaker 33
That's what was confusing. But nevertheless, there's 58 of them.
And if you hurry up and bet now and make it a big success, they'll do another one next year. The crown is yours, folks.
Speaker 33 Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or in West Virginia that has to stand out all by itself and cause me to read even more copy. Visit www.1-800-gambler.net.
Speaker 33
One state has its own fucking 800 number for this specific problem. In New York, well, here's another one.
Call 877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY-467-369.
Speaker 33
You can't text in West Virginia. They don't have that technology yet.
In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.
Speaker 33 If you're having a problem gambling, they'll come over, pick you up, and take you to the casino.
Speaker 32 No, that's not what that means. That is exactly not what that means.
Speaker 33
Well, call 888-789-7777 to find out. Sounds like a slot machine paying off.
They're going to trigger people. Or you can visit ccpg.org.
That's in Russia. Please play responsibly.
On the behalf of
Speaker 33
Boot Hill Casino and Resort. Boot Hill, Kansas.
They bury people there with their boots on. He died with his boots on.
Stunk to high heaven did his feet. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction.
Speaker 33
Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours and 15 minutes after issuance.
See dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources.
Speaker 33 Period.
Speaker 32 That's right. DraftKings, the official official betting partner of the Jim Cornet Experience.
Speaker 33 While I get my oxygen tank fired up over here, can you tell the people what's going on over at the Arcadian Vanguard Network this fine week?
Speaker 32 Oh, another fine packed week, another fine week of
Speaker 32 and even some of this.
Speaker 32 That sounds like shit.
Speaker 33 Another fine week of packing.
Speaker 32 The Arcadian Vanguard Podcast Network, get information on Facebook at facebook.com slash Arcadian Vanguard. Or of course, we're on Twitter at Super Podcasts.
Speaker 32
This week, on Shut Up and Wrestle with Brian Solomon, a look through the archives, Brian plays an old interview he conducted with Bruno San Martino. Hear this.
Great stuff. S-U-A-Wpod.com.
Speaker 32 Or for Shut Up and Wrestle with Brian Solomon, wherever you find your favorite podcast, Stick to Wrestling with John McAdam continues. Their look at 40 years ago, Vince McMahon's national expansion.
Speaker 32 Hear this today at mcadampod.com or look for Stick to Wrestling with John McAdam wherever you find your favorite podcast. Don't forget about the wrestling news each and every day for free.
Speaker 32 Get your wrestling news, the morning wrestling newscast, from the wrestlingnews.com directly, or look for Arcadian Vanguards, The Wrestling News, wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
Speaker 32 And of course, the 605 Super Podcast, the
Speaker 32 Mothership.
Speaker 32 Hey, go through the archive at 605pod.com, available wherever you find your favorite podcasts, The Mothership.
Speaker 33 All right.
Speaker 33 Well, before we talk talk about the big news, because that's always behind the scenes, not on television, we got to talk about what they showed us on television, because that leads into the big news.
Speaker 33 SmackDown
Speaker 33
on February 2nd from Birmingham, Alabama. Ah, Boimingham.
I remember Boimingham. It was one of our better towns.
Speaker 33 And now the SmackDown announced team is Corey Graves and Wade Barrett.
Speaker 33 So they're a two-man team there,
Speaker 33 as well as
Speaker 33 with Cole and McAfee on Raw. And also we
Speaker 33 said goodbye to Panting Patrick.
Speaker 33 What did you think? You said they're going to be two heels, but Graves can be straight.
Speaker 32
Graves can be straight. I think he did an all right job.
There's too much Michael Cole in what he does. You could tell who he's been trained by, like the hand movements and all this shit.
Yeah.
Speaker 32 Too much of that fakery. But other than that, I thought they did well together.
Speaker 33 And I mean, you know,
Speaker 33 he's gonna probably get better moved into that position now because it's
Speaker 33 he didn't really need to be a color guy i know he has the wrestling background but that is ever farther in the
Speaker 33 in the past and people know him more as a as a commentator now and he's he's young he's he's got the hip with it look
Speaker 33 the cool kids you know he's probably got the fucking pin in his loafer and everything corey graves i don't know if i would say he has the cool kids look or anything he looks younger than fucking Jim Ross and Gordon Soley and Lance Russell and me, for example.
Speaker 32 Well, you may have a point there, yeah.
Speaker 33 Yeah, see, but if I comb my hair right, nobody will notice. Anyway,
Speaker 33 so the first segment was Logan Paul, the in-ring promo.
Speaker 33
I continue to every week be a bigger fan of Logan fucking Paul. What a natural heel he is.
He's got the attitude, the inflections, the facials while he's speaking.
Speaker 33
And he's got the material. You know, he's, this is his shit.
The writers didn't say, didn't tell him to say that Kevin Owens looks like a pissed-off doughnut, right?
Speaker 33 And,
Speaker 33 you know,
Speaker 33 he's so good with this. He's a personality.
Speaker 33
And the crowd started what him, and he made it work and worked it in. to where they were working with him without even knowing it, but he got booze at the end of it.
Did you notice that?
Speaker 32 I did. He does a great job.
Speaker 33 Yeah, so he just went with it and turned it around on him.
Speaker 33 Backhand, right back at you.
Speaker 33 And of course, then Kevin Owens' music plays, and here he comes, and he got a big reaction. And Owens, you know,
Speaker 33 a less glib babyface could get slaughtered by Logan Paul, but he holds his own.
Speaker 33
And he still wants the U.S. title, but Logan Paul says, Hey, you got your shot one and only.
I outsmarted you.
Speaker 33 You know, fuck that. No rematch.
Speaker 33 And I'm going to go find a real challenger. And then I'm going to go down here and talk smack about you on color.
Speaker 33 And so basically, Logan Paul gets out of the ring. They go to the break, but Owens is going to have a match with Austin Theory, our boy Austin.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33
Logan Paul is going to sit there for it. So I'm hooked on this now because I like Austin Theory and I want to hear more of Logan Paul.
And Owens is there too.
Speaker 33 But this,
Speaker 33 you know, again,
Speaker 33 they've fallen into Logan Paul. Who would have ever thought that he would be this good?
Speaker 32
He's one of the best performers in all of wrestling. He could do it in the ring.
He could do high spots, even the ones you don't like. He could do them.
He could do it on the mic. He's a natural heel.
Speaker 32 He's one of the best guys to come around in wrestling in
Speaker 32 the last 10 years, 15 years.
Speaker 33 And he started late and he's a full-sized grown adult.
Speaker 33 Imagine that.
Speaker 33 But anyway,
Speaker 33 but after that, they obviously have the match. They come back from the break, Theory and
Speaker 33
Owens, and they actually wrestled some. Imagine that.
Theory takes a great arm drag.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33
they didn't do the two minutes minutes to break deal on this one. They got to go five whole minutes.
So you were kind of somewhat invested in it. And then Theory backdropped Owens on the apron.
Speaker 33 They went to the break.
Speaker 33
But when they came back, you know, again, it's a good WWE style match. They're not good TV match.
They're not going to do too much for too long.
Speaker 33 But Theory we love and
Speaker 33 Owens we tolerate.
Speaker 33 And then finally, they did the fucking
Speaker 33 WWF finish.
Speaker 33 Boom, as Waller draws the referee, Logan Paul hands Theory the brass knucks, which Owens grabs and nails Waller and then nails Theory and boom, one, two, three.
Speaker 33
And Logan Paul gets the bullshit face, and then Owens runs LP, LP. That's my abbreviation here.
Owens runs Logan Paul off through the crowd. So it was a good match and a good little deal.
Speaker 33
It's better than the normal lackadaisical underneath stuff they fill a lot of this TV time with. I don't know.
What'd you think?
Speaker 32 I thought it was all right. It was a good match.
Speaker 32 And I thought the finish was pretty clever just because it builds into everything that just happened at the Royal Rumble with the brass knucks, and it tied into everything Logan Paul was saying during the promo about, you know, how he beat Kevin Owens.
Speaker 32 And Owens was admitting, yeah, the referee did a good job. They found the brass knuckles on me.
Speaker 32 I wasn't thinking this would be something they were going to carry to WrestleMania, but it's starting to look like maybe they will.
Speaker 33 Well, and I knew from the finish at the Rumble, they had to do something, whether it was Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania, or whatever, but that wasn't it.
Speaker 33 That wasn't it, bro, or whatever the kids say.
Speaker 33 But then we go from some, and you know, that was watchable, and it kept it moving. And you're interested in the talent.
Speaker 33 And then you got Escobar and his group of ne'er-do-wells meeting in a crowded restaurant again.
Speaker 33 Why?
Speaker 33 Why are they being filmed in crowded restaurants, Brian?
Speaker 32 Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 32 They needed a meal and a drink.
Speaker 33 I needed a drink after trying to watch this.
Speaker 32 How many camera angles or how many camera cuts were there? There were four people at a table.
Speaker 32 You would have one camera, but there was a camera on each guy's face and a woman's face, too, every time they did anything.
Speaker 33 You should see the behind-the-scenes footage of all those servers trying to get past all those camera people and technicians in order to deliver the food to the table surrounding.
Speaker 33 It was very inconsiderate.
Speaker 32 And then, speaking of inconsiderate, I like Escobar.
Speaker 32 I like Escobar. I think he's good.
Speaker 33 But he's not goddamn the
Speaker 33 cartel boss.
Speaker 33 You know, this is not believable shit that they're,
Speaker 33 it's just they're sitting in a restaurant being dramatic in an unbelievable way.
Speaker 32 Well, yeah.
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 33 All righty.
Speaker 33 And then in the unbelievable part of things, we had a three-way tag team match with Purely Dreary against Butch and Bait.
Speaker 33 I'm sorry, that's Dun and Bait now.
Speaker 33 And sounds like a companion magazine to Field and Stream, Dun and Bait.
Speaker 33 And they were against the LWO.
Speaker 32 Butch and Bait, maybe a different magazine altogether, too.
Speaker 33 Butch and bait. Well,
Speaker 33 what were your thoughts on the three-way tag team match?
Speaker 32
You know, I kind of just went to the finish. I hate the multi.
I thought it was a four-way tag match, actually.
Speaker 33 Was there more?
Speaker 32 I think there was a fourth tag team in there.
Speaker 33 I may have missed that.
Speaker 32 And I just kind of went to the finish. I wasn't
Speaker 32 too interested.
Speaker 33 What was the finish?
Speaker 32 I don't remember, but done in bait one.
Speaker 32 Dunnond Bait one. That's the finish.
Speaker 33 Well, that's what I mean. Who won? Yeah.
Speaker 33 We finally got to nine o'clock is what happened.
Speaker 33 And here comes Bailey's bunch, damage control for the in-ring interview and Bailey to celebrate winning the women's royal rumble and who's she is she gonna pick Ripley everybody she's gonna pick Rhea Ripley everybody's thinking it
Speaker 33 and
Speaker 33 who's the other girl that's not
Speaker 32 that wasn't there Dakota Kai yeah she wasn't there where'd she go I don't know they didn't even say anything did they they didn't mention her Well, they mentioned her in the promo, but they didn't say like she's not here.
Speaker 33 Well, that's why they didn't mention why she wasn't there.
Speaker 33 Could it be that she had knowledge that something was going to go down and didn't need to pick a side or didn't want to pick a side?
Speaker 33 She wanted to be neutral, plausible deniability.
Speaker 32 Well, you know what? That is interesting because it does give you another segment. Well, whose side is she on?
Speaker 32 But as far as this segment goes, I thought this was really well done.
Speaker 33 Well, actually,
Speaker 33 I've got to agree with you
Speaker 33 because what they've been building up is the other girls, especially EO Sky and Carrie Sane and Oscar,
Speaker 33
the Kabuki Warriors, they've all got history. They've all been together for a long time, have known each other.
Bailey's kind of been the odd woman out in the thing.
Speaker 33 But now Bailey comes out and she's dressed all in white, very subliminal.
Speaker 33 You'll recall when Paulie clocked me over the head with the phone, I was dressed in a great variety of white clothing.
Speaker 33
She's a babyface now, and the people are cheering for her. And Pierce and Aldous are in the ring.
Who's she going to pick for the blah, blah, blah women's title match?
Speaker 33 And she does this promo, which, and she can talk. That's, I just,
Speaker 33 remember what I said she could be a great manager like JJ for the Four Horsemen when she transitions out of her wrestling career. It's just that she's the biggest girl on this team by far.
Speaker 33 I'm not into her compadres and cohorts, but nevertheless,
Speaker 33 she did the promo.
Speaker 33
She had her girls' support going into WrestleMania. She would many times cry.
It's not going like I want it to. And they'd be there for her.
They were like family.
Speaker 33 And the other three
Speaker 33 are making fun of her behind her back, but when she turns around, they straighten up like kids in class, right?
Speaker 33 And they're laughing and pointing.
Speaker 33
And she leads up to be the absolute best. I have to beat one of the best.
I don't know why you wouldn't have to beat the best, but nevertheless, that brings me to Rhea Ripley.
Speaker 33 And they're doing it again behind her.
Speaker 33 And she turns around and says, or I could fight a different fight. Sometimes it's more personal.
Speaker 33 People you thought were your friends, sometimes you have to prove them wrong.
Speaker 33 And at this point, she's doing a good promo and they're doing the standard heel stuff. But the really, the thing that put it over for me and got me into it, she walks up to them and speaks Japanese.
Speaker 33 And in their faces, the eyes get big as pie plates because she's like, yeah,
Speaker 33
I picked it up from all of you talking behind my back. So there's the reveal.
She knows what they've been doing. That was fucking great.
Speaker 32 That was so.
Speaker 32 Well, their facial reactions, when she reveals she knows Japanese, was great.
Speaker 33 Yeah. And then she blistered them for talking about her.
Speaker 33 And she wanted to do all these things together with them, but EO,
Speaker 33 since the others came around, you know, it's not you and me anymore, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 33 And then the other girls jump Bailey from behind. And they hammer and she's down, but is there celebrating?
Speaker 33 And this one's like, what the fuck?
Speaker 33 Bailey reaches behind the ring steps and comes out with a fake lead pipe.
Speaker 33 And I know it was a fake lead pipe because she hit
Speaker 33 the girls enough that they would have had internal injuries if it was a real lead pipe. But why is a lead pipe leaned up behind the stairs?
Speaker 32 Obviously, Bailey had it set up there, knowing that she was going to get hit and be in that corner and able to reach down and just grab it.
Speaker 33 That's what they would like people to think like, wouldn't they?
Speaker 32 That's the only thing you could believe, right?
Speaker 33 Well, anyway,
Speaker 33 point being,
Speaker 33
good segment. Now it's going to be Bailey and E.O.
Sky at WrestleMania.
Speaker 33 I could have done without the lead pipe. Certainly, to God, she, you know, we could have done something else besides a fake lead pipe, but I'm being picky.
Speaker 32 I thought this was a really good segment, having Ria in the back watching the monitor added a little bit to it because she didn't know which way she would go.
Speaker 32 And then the reveal of she speaks Japanese, watching the other girls' faces drop. Eo Sky, I thought, was great in this with her facial reactions because she didn't expect any of this.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 34 great.
Speaker 32 I'm trying to remember. What was the last time we saw a women's promo segment that was this good?
Speaker 33 It's been a while.
Speaker 32 Yeah, no, this was great. I like this.
Speaker 33
And actually, it was one woman doing the promo and the other one's reacting. But, you know, that's the thing.
And Bayley,
Speaker 33 knowing how to speak Japanese, Brian, you know how she did that, don't you?
Speaker 32 Do I know how she? I have no idea how she did that. No.
Speaker 33 Well, you know, all the talent, the men and the women, they spend a lot of downtime in the airports and the bus terminals and looking for their shuttle bus to the hotel in the hotel rooms.
Speaker 33 Bailey got one of those unlimited wireless plans and she's been studying Japanese in the privacy of when she had private moments, specifically so that she could know that these other three were about to stab her in the back.
Speaker 33 That's one of the things you can do when you pay almost nothing for unlimited data. Have you heard about this?
Speaker 32 I have not heard about this, but it sounds like she needs a good phone plan.
Speaker 33 Well, that's the thing. You're going to get the good phone plan along with the unlimited data as long as you're going to Mint Mobile.
Speaker 33 That's why they call it Mint Mobile because they're going to save you a mint.
Speaker 33 And then you'll find a Mint on your pillow in the hotel when you got plenty of data on your phone. And you're sitting there and don't know whether to wind your ass or scratch your watch.
Speaker 33
Just get on your phone and learn Japanese. Or get on your phone and call Japan because you get unlimited talk and text.
with Mint Mobile plus the high speed data.
Speaker 33 So you can learn to speak Japanese probably, what, three or four days with the data being high-speed?
Speaker 32 Well, no, that seems rather quick. I think it would take more time than that, to be honest.
Speaker 33 Well, no, things move quickly in today's modern, technologically marveled world.
Speaker 32 Right. Doesn't mean you'll maintain the data in your head that quickly.
Speaker 33
Well, you'll have it right on your phone. So just tell your phone to talk to these Japanese people.
And it'll do it at a high rate of speed. It'll sound like a Japanese auctioneer.
Speaker 33 Macarena, whatever the fuck. Because all your plans at Mint Mobile, whether it be three, six, or 12 months, they give you the best rate whether you're buying for one or a family.
Speaker 33 Families start at two lines, by the way.
Speaker 33 So if you get two lines, that means you're a family. If you get a line and some, I don't know, some guy across the street that you don't know gets a line, well, you guys are now related.
Speaker 33 And you can probably cash in on his Social Security when he's gone.
Speaker 33 But anyway, right now, if you switch to Mint Mobile, you can get your first three months of premium wireless service starting at just $15 a month. And that's the unlimited everything.
Speaker 33
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Just fuck with them. Just call people you don't even know in foreign countries.
Speaker 33 Folks, to get your new wireless plan for just $15 a month, to get the plan shipped to your door for free, I guess it's written down on paper and it'll come in a plain brown wrapper.
Speaker 33 Go to mintmobile.com slash JCE.
Speaker 33
Mintmobile.com slash JCE. Cut the wireless bill to 15 bucks a month.
Know all the knowledge there is to know in the world and talk to anybody that you want to talk to wherever,
Speaker 33
even if they don't want to talk to you. Also, if you call from a Mint Mobile number, they have to answer.
If they don't, their phone gives them a slight electric shock.
Speaker 32 That's technically not true, but it's a nice thought.
Speaker 33 It could happen.
Speaker 33 Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions may apply, but not to some of you because you make your own rules because you're renegades that way.
Speaker 32
Once again, Mint Mobile. Yes.
A fine solution for all of your mobile needs. What's that promo code, Jim?
Speaker 33
That's the promo code is JCE, and they are certainly a fine solution. One of the only solution you're going to need.
They'll solve everything for you.
Speaker 33 They'll get to the bottom of it, root these things out, drain the swamp.
Speaker 32 It's becoming very popular. We've heard from some listeners that have enjoyed Mint Mobile so far or enjoyed their plans or getting on
Speaker 32 mobile, whatever.
Speaker 33 And they're mints. And they're mints.
Speaker 33 You can take these mints with you anywhere because they're mobile.
Speaker 32 Well, there are no physical mints for the record.
Speaker 33 I thought every time you sign up, don't you get mints?
Speaker 32 No.
Speaker 32 You don't get any mints ever.
Speaker 33 Somebody sent me mints.
Speaker 32 Really?
Speaker 33 I just had one of them. I felt felt kind of ill afterwards.
Speaker 32 That wasn't from Mint Mobile.
Speaker 33 I was smelling the burnt toast after I took it some for some reason.
Speaker 32 Burnt toast?
Speaker 33 I don't know. Anyway, continuing on with SmackDown.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 18 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrouters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 33 What was the deal with
Speaker 33 what's the deal, Jerry?
Speaker 33 Bobby Lashley and the street prophets, and Carrion Cross, and the
Speaker 33 Age of Pain, or the
Speaker 33 Final Testament, the Friends of Distinction.
Speaker 32 What is their Friends of Distinction?
Speaker 32 I like the Friends of Distinction. I can dig it.
Speaker 32 Oh, it did. That's good stuff.
Speaker 33 Can you dig it, baby? Well, we're grazing in the grass trying to figure out what the authors of pain.
Speaker 33 The authors of Pain and Carrion Cross and Lashley and the prophets, they came out to the ring.
Speaker 33 They got in a big, sloppy, six-way fucking fight. Scarlett jumped up on Bobby Lashley's back,
Speaker 33 trying to claw at his eyes. And that's when,
Speaker 33 returning from Beyond the Pale or wherever the fuck she's been, B Fab,
Speaker 33 remember she was the female cohort of Flop Dollar
Speaker 33 and swerved before they got canned the first time, and he went to Greener Pastures. And the other guy,
Speaker 33 and she got Scarlett off of Lashley and
Speaker 33
looked very confused about what else she should do. And they all ran off and it was over in two minutes.
Was it supposed to be a match? Was somebody coming out? What the fuck happened here?
Speaker 32
I have to go back and watch it. I hate to say it.
I fast-forwarded when I saw who was in it just because nothing's really happening with any of this. I didn't know B-Fab was going to be there.
Speaker 32 I would have watched.
Speaker 33 But it was over so quick. It was like...
Speaker 33
Something we've done has run long. We don't have time to have the match.
Just go out and do the finish.
Speaker 33 There was no, I don't don't think it started, so I don't think it was ever over. They just fought and then quit fighting after BFAB saved Lashley from Scarlett.
Speaker 33
And Scarlett was quite upset. She did give a damn.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 32 She looks good with the brunette hair.
Speaker 33
I'm not digging it. I'm digging it.
You can dig it, but I can't dig it. But she can dig it.
Dig it, dig it. Can you dig it?
Speaker 32 Oh, let's dig it.
Speaker 33 Baby.
Speaker 33
So then we go to the back again. I'm I'm sorry.
No, she looks too dark now. She had the blonde.
She had the Marilyn Monroe thing going on. Now it's just like.
Speaker 32 Ava Gardner.
Speaker 33 I don't know whether she's a Gardner or not.
Speaker 32 How many wrestling podcasts this week will mention Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, and Marilyn Monroe in one show?
Speaker 33 And the Friends of Distinction.
Speaker 32 And the Friends of Distinction.
Speaker 33
I don't think any of them. God damn it.
That's why we're on top.
Speaker 33 So in the back, Nick Aldiss was making Braun Breaker an offer, smart man, but Adam Pierce comes in and he's a one-oh, you got to talk to me on Monday. I'll give you a better deal than that.
Speaker 33
And so Braun said, I'll think about it, Mr. Aldiss.
And Mr. Pierce, I'll see you on Monday.
So at least we're going to get to see him sooner than later.
Speaker 32 They have to bring him up to the room.
Speaker 32 They have to bring him up to the main roster now. There's no reason not to.
Speaker 33
Yeah, I mean, Jesus, look at some of the things they're showing us right now. And here's this fucking future WrestleMania main eventer, as long as The Rock approves.
So
Speaker 33 anyway, then as Braun leaves, Jane Cargill comes in
Speaker 33 to talk to Nick Aldiss. And did you catch Adam Pierce calls Aldous 00 salesman?
Speaker 32
I did catch that. I love their interaction.
I'm a big fan of Nick Aldous so far. And he's brought out the best at Adam Pierce.
Speaker 33 Yeah, well, because Adam's got somebody to talk to that
Speaker 33 he can do something with rather than just telling guys what their matches are and arguing with them and shit.
Speaker 32 See, I like Nick Aldous because you can't figure out what his motivation is. Sometimes he's like right down the middle, straight-laced, and sometimes it feels like he's not.
Speaker 32
And he's got these issues with Adam Pierce, who's like Mr. Nice Guy in terms of how he's portrayed on the show.
I'm intrigued by all this.
Speaker 33 Yeah, see, Aldous is a cutthroat businessman out for himself. And if what's best for the company and/or the TV show is best for him, if he does it, that type of thing.
Speaker 33 But then what wasn't best for the television program was Tiffany Stratton versus Mia Yim.
Speaker 33 Did I miss anything? I had to belch.
Speaker 32 I wasn't feeling well.
Speaker 33 That's right.
Speaker 33 You had a severe attack of the hooping belch about this time of night, didn't you?
Speaker 32 Around this time of night, yeah.
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 33 It's a regular thing. I think it comes from too much fucking potassium.
Speaker 33 But anyway, now we got to the main event of the evening,
Speaker 33 which was another interview, obviously.
Speaker 33 But at 9.37 p.m. Eastern, I clocked it, Roman Reigns began making his entrance with Paul Heyman and Solo and Jimmy Uso.
Speaker 33 And I know he's a big star.
Speaker 33 And I know that the entrance is the pomp and pageantry of the thing.
Speaker 33 Guess what,
Speaker 33 how long from the time the entrance started till he spoke his first word, Brian, guess the time elapsed?
Speaker 32 Six minutes.
Speaker 33
You are incorrect. Only four and a half.
Oh.
Speaker 33
Four and a half minutes later, he spoke his first words. And then we acknowledged him.
And then he moved on.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 this was brilliant in a number of ways, what he did, because he said, we got to address.
Speaker 33
Some of the things that were said on Monday. My little brother, Seth Rollins, and nobody reacted.
And then he said, That's right, no pop.
Speaker 32 That was something. How about that?
Speaker 33 Oh my god.
Speaker 33 Don't throw rocks at a man carrying a machine gun, Seth. And I hate that the writers probably told him to say most of those things, but he was wholeheartedly with it.
Speaker 33 But apparently, it didn't get over on the island of relevancy out there in the South Pacific.
Speaker 33 But he says, Seth Rollins says he's got the title.
Speaker 33 The title, the blah, blah, blah. He's
Speaker 33 Roman calls it the loser bracket title.
Speaker 33 I beat all those guys that are contending for that. He told the truth, that here's the heel telling, and it was devastating to the case they made on Raw.
Speaker 33 It was obviously what everybody was thinking because we said a lot of these same things.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 so
Speaker 33 they
Speaker 33 have have a guy say something on Monday night on purpose and then have the other guy come out and just fucking destroy him on Friday.
Speaker 33 And he said he runs around for two years in his wife's clothing and calls himself the guy.
Speaker 33
Well, yeah, I work 10 times less than you and I make 10 times more money. You people want Seth Rollins money or tribal chief money? Oh my God, stop it.
He's already dead.
Speaker 33 Just the toe of the boot just kept kicking him.
Speaker 32 And you wondered about those comments that Rollins made about him on Monday night. Like, wow, those are a little hard there.
Speaker 33 Yes. And that's, and this is, that was the perfect receipt.
Speaker 33 And this is.
Speaker 33 So anyway,
Speaker 33 he says, so Cody can do whatever he wants to do because he's got values. It may and may not all be about the money with Cody Rose.
Speaker 33 So Cody can either be the very best number two in the world or take another crack at number one.
Speaker 33 And I mean, let's just stop there before we go any further.
Speaker 33 Good Lord, they again.
Speaker 33 Nobody was going to buy Seth's line of
Speaker 33 goods that he was trying to sell on Raw, except if you were like the AEW style fan that's like, oh, yeah, he has great matches because it was just bullshit and it was made up and you couldn't get behind it.
Speaker 33 I didn't think they were going to just disembowel and fucking
Speaker 33 what's circumcise or
Speaker 33 what's the word I'm searching for? Neuter.
Speaker 33 Cut the balls off of Seth Rollins so verbally, but I think Roman may have been just a tad bit personally offended.
Speaker 33 It's kind of like when Lawler got hot when Jimmy Hart said, what do you do with a horse when he breaks his leg? He shoot him.
Speaker 32 Did you see the video? I forget when it aired on this show, but it was Cody and Seth Rollins. It was Rollins doing commentary talking about the various champions of the NWA and the WWE.
Speaker 32 Once again, do you want to be the Hulk Hogan champion or the Ric Flair champion, the Dusty Rhodes champion? Oh, so they had a Ric Flair montage. I was like, what is this?
Speaker 32
And I stopped to fast-forward to see it. And it was all building up that promo.
It was referring to that promo, I guess.
Speaker 33 They're being too smart for their own good, and that
Speaker 33 they can't build up the secondary title,
Speaker 33 especially while Seth is the first and only honor, only honor. First and only owner of it,
Speaker 33 it's not going to be nearly as big or as important to the fans or anybody else as the ones, ones that Roman Reigns are wearing or is wearing or whatever the goddamn grammar is.
Speaker 33 So they're just tearing down their big one, trying to build up their little one, aren't they?
Speaker 32 Who knows?
Speaker 33 Well, anyway, when he said you want to be the very best number two or take another crack at number one, Cody music,
Speaker 33 and he gets a big pop and he makes his entrance. And they go to the break in the middle of an interview segment because it's already been going about eight minutes and they got a lot more to go.
Speaker 33 But the cliffhanger is: who is Cody Rhodes going to choose when he comes back or when we come back?
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 they come back three and a half minutes later, and the music's still playing, and Cody's just now stepping in the ring, so he must have stopped to have a coffee or whatever.
Speaker 33 And the big Cody chants, and
Speaker 33 boy howdy, they're ready to see this fucking thing.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 he asked Roman, can we have the ring to ourselves? And Paul and Solo and
Speaker 33 Uso step out.
Speaker 33
And that's when Cody tells the story. I took counsel this week.
I talked to family and friends and legends.
Speaker 33 And Seth has made
Speaker 33
great points in his argument, but I disagree. It's not the Hollywood title.
It's the title that my daddy had in his hands, and that's the title I still want.
Speaker 33 And everybody thinks, here we go.
Speaker 33 And then
Speaker 33 Cody says that, Roman, you say all of this is yours.
Speaker 33 So finishing my story is taking
Speaker 33 everything away from you.
Speaker 33 And I want that title, and I'm coming for it because I want everything,
Speaker 33 but not at WrestleMania.
Speaker 33 And that's when people kind of go,
Speaker 32 even Roman was surprised.
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 33 And he says, I took counsel from one individual that I talked to that knows you very well.
Speaker 33 And boom, the rocks music hits. And Roman's face changes.
Speaker 33 And in a realistic realistic way, not a
Speaker 33 way,
Speaker 33 and the place goes batshit.
Speaker 33 And here comes The Rock.
Speaker 33 And now, by the way, The Rock's music starts playing at 9.52 p.m.
Speaker 33 SmackDown goes off the air at 9.58
Speaker 33 because they're on network time.
Speaker 33 And nothing else was said.
Speaker 33
Rock makes his entrance, shakes hands with Cody. They hug.
He whispers something in Cody's ear. Cody smiles
Speaker 33 and then leaves, turns back and nods, sort of like a,
Speaker 33 he ain't heavy, he's my brother. Look back.
Speaker 33 And Rock does the slowly. I turn to Roman and the music comes down and the Rocky chants go.
Speaker 33 And he does the face-off with Roman. First, they're all the way across the ring, and they get a little closer, a little closer, a little closer.
Speaker 33 And finally, as they're about six inches from nose to nose, we go off the air.
Speaker 33 So the last six minutes on the air, nobody spoke.
Speaker 33 It would just, but
Speaker 33 that's the thing
Speaker 33 is
Speaker 33 we'll dissect in a moment
Speaker 33 the logic of it or the reasons for it or the
Speaker 33 potential backlash from it or whatever the case.
Speaker 33 But what a fucking two-segment piece of business here.
Speaker 33 If you just want to talk about making people
Speaker 33 go batshit about something in the building, in the room, in the moment.
Speaker 32 Well,
Speaker 32 part of it,
Speaker 32 part of it is that they've stacked it so that the rock gets these kind of reactions because he keeps coming out as a surprise. The surprise pop is different than the advertised pop.
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 33 I'm swallowing still. I thought you were going some further with that.
Speaker 32 But I mean, every appearance he's made recently, it's a surprise appearance when all of a sudden his music hits and people react to it.
Speaker 33 Yeah, but if it's Tits McGee and the music plays, people are gonna fucking throw goddamn fucking stale jelly doughnuts at him. He's still a star to get the oh shit, it's him, right?
Speaker 32 I mean, I'm sure the people in Birmingham didn't expect the rock to show up.
Speaker 33 No, that wasn't that wasn't part of the uh the advertised program.
Speaker 32 They didn't realize how desperate he is.
Speaker 33 But
Speaker 33 see, you're going to,
Speaker 33 I'm being neutral because I see both sides of this thing. And you could have bigger troubles than what they've got as far as,
Speaker 33 oh, God damn, which major star do we put in this main event that sold 100,000 tickets already live?
Speaker 33 But this, as a performance, Roman was fantastic here.
Speaker 33 And then
Speaker 33 Cody, he's over and they want to see it. And they've got him to where they want to see it.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 I thought he performed this well,
Speaker 33 even though that it is on the face of it, the surface of it,
Speaker 33 we don't understand why he made this decision. We do because we know the backstage news and the out-of-the-ring news, but just on the television presentation.
Speaker 32 Yeah, in K-Fabe, it makes no sense.
Speaker 33 In Kayfabe,
Speaker 33 well, it could, I'm going to tell you in a minute how it could eventually, but right now it doesn't make a lot of sense to the average fan. Go, we wanted to see you do it.
Speaker 33 We like the rock, but we, you, you know.
Speaker 33 So
Speaker 33 the segment was great. And it,
Speaker 33 you know, they've been doing ratings on SmackDown when you get star after star after star. Last week was almost two and a half million people.
Speaker 33 I'm pretty sure this one, when the numbers come out, will be a big number and probably massive at the end.
Speaker 33 Because you, at the very least, even if rock was a surprise, you knew that Cody and Roman were in the in the middle of the ring face to face.
Speaker 33 So they're doing big numbers for this, and it was a good segment on the program.
Speaker 33 But,
Speaker 33 but,
Speaker 33 lots of people are upset
Speaker 33 because,
Speaker 33 and remember last year,
Speaker 33 we were pissed off because Cody didn't win. Because I thought, ah, fuck, but they have managed to make it better, I think.
Speaker 33 I didn't think they'd do it, but the people want to see it more now than they ever have.
Speaker 33 But at some point, will they tamper with this,
Speaker 33 you know, one too many times or delay it or milk it or whatever?
Speaker 32 Yeah,
Speaker 32 this was the one too many times based on the reaction outside of that arena from wrestling fans all across the world so far.
Speaker 33 Well, and let's talk about that for a second because before we get into the
Speaker 33 business office aspect of things, just what the fans have done, how many
Speaker 33 100,000 tweets did hashtag we want Cody get
Speaker 33 in a day or whatever?
Speaker 32 Well, it's been a day, I think, or a day and a half, but as we are recording right now, Sunday, 335,000 tweets.
Speaker 33 We want Cody.
Speaker 32
And for the record, I saw We Want Rocky was also trending earlier, but that was only, I think, 12,000 tweets. Ouch.
That's a hell of a ratio right there.
Speaker 33 Well, you know, here is the thing. Before we go any further with talking about what we really know and what might actually happen,
Speaker 33
when I saw this and I started thinking about this, I said they could eventually do it like this. I'm not saying they're going to.
I don't know if they're going to. They probably won't.
Speaker 33 But would it be
Speaker 33 something that they would have set and thought and said this will work
Speaker 33 to have their cake and eat it it too and have both of these matches
Speaker 33 you can't deny that the rock is a major hollywood celebrity and with
Speaker 33 peacock now having more subscribers than ever people it might not watch a wrestling event at this point
Speaker 33 oh shit rocks wrestling is samoan cousin and the main event of this big spectacular fucking show that we can see with our peacock prescription or some prescription subscription also they're not even cousins in any way well what but you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 33 For the average person, they watching this show, because regardless of what they want to say about how mad they are, the people that are really into the WWE are watching WrestleMania,
Speaker 33 especially since it don't cost $100 anymore to order two pay-per-views.
Speaker 32
That right there, you just hit the nail on the head what the problem is. The problem is WWE did something.
that would appeal more to non-fans than the actual weekly viewers.
Speaker 32 And what they did, I think based on the reaction we've seen so far, and this is what I expected,
Speaker 32 it has upset the viewers because you're taking something away from them that they've been waiting for for really no good reason. Tickets are already sold.
Speaker 33 Well, but no, it's not even about the tickets anymore.
Speaker 32 Again, you brought up Peacock. It's something they think is going to appeal to people outside of wrestling, not wrestling fans.
Speaker 32 And I think that's always a dangerous road to go down, trying to appeal to the casuals or whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 33 Well, but some sometimes it works when they shaved they thought they were to shave either trumps or vince's head they shaved vince's that worked biggest pay-per-view ever yeah
Speaker 33 and the rock is certainly a bigger deal not only to the wrestling audience but the movie audience and whatever but he's done he's not the big deal now that he was in 2013 when he came back Well, but the point I'm making is, is this an idea that they may could have sold themselves on that this will work?
Speaker 33 Because what happens every time anybody is built up to face Roman Reigns? In the big match, the rest of the bloodline comes down.
Speaker 33 And either because it's no DQ and they can, they kick the shit out of somebody, or if not, they fucking wipe the referee out.
Speaker 33 And there are people who have been in fucking medically induced comas that come around quicker than the referee and they beat the shit out of whoever the guy is challenging Roman and he wins, right?
Speaker 33 That's it every time.
Speaker 33 So,
Speaker 33 what about if if
Speaker 33 Roman and Rock, this match I can't see being for the title, wouldn't be for the title. I wouldn't have it for the title if I was doing, if I was in this position and I was going to get out of it,
Speaker 33 I would have the Rock versus Roman Reigns is the main event of night two of the biggest WrestleMania of all time and get all that publicity and all the.
Speaker 33 peacocks and all that stuff and Netflix would just be just tickling themselves on their taint and all that.
Speaker 33 But Cody Rhodes is the one that stops all of the interference from any member of the bloodline personally on the spot so that The Rock
Speaker 33 in a non-title match for the tribal chief position
Speaker 33 defeats Roman Reigns.
Speaker 33 Because of Cody making the playing field even when Rock was about to suffer the same fate as everybody else has.
Speaker 33 And then there's Cody to hold the Rock's hand up. And then The Rock, as tribal chief, is the first one to lay down the goddamn
Speaker 33 proclamation that Solo and Uso and any other member of the bloodline is not allowed to assist Roman Reigns from now on.
Speaker 33 He has to win his battles himself.
Speaker 33 The only one that doesn't abide by the ROC, the new tribal chiefs' rules, is Paul Heyman because he's not only not really blood, he's also a fucking conniving shyster crook con man.
Speaker 33 And so Roman has only Heyman as an ally
Speaker 33 over the next two or three months leading up to SummerSlam,
Speaker 33 where at that point,
Speaker 33
Cody Rhodes gets his opportunity to finish his story. He's taken away the bloodline.
He's taken away the support system.
Speaker 33 He's taken away all of Roman Reigns'
Speaker 33 improper advantages. And now he's going to take the title.
Speaker 33 And the Rock could even be the special referee or whatever the fuck.
Speaker 33 But at the point that Roman Reigns suffers his loss for the championship,
Speaker 33 totally at the hands of Cody Rhodes, that's when Heyman stabs him in the fucking back
Speaker 33 and Roman Reigns comes back as a babyface.
Speaker 33 Does that get him out of it?
Speaker 32 No.
Speaker 32 No? I don't think so. I think people are going to be.
Speaker 33 And nothing can get him out of it.
Speaker 32 I think, first of all, I think if it's Rocky versus Roman at WrestleMania, Roman has to win. Because it doesn't help the company for the Rock to win that match.
Speaker 32
First of all, The Rock's going to come out of that match needing multiple surgeries for injuries. I'll bet on that now.
He's going to be fucked up after one match.
Speaker 33 And we're not wishing on anyone.
Speaker 32 I'm not wishing it on him, but I'm saying
Speaker 32 if you look at his previous matches over the last 15 years you look at everyone else who comes back after a time off and he's 51 or whatever and he's bigger than he naturally should be, he's going to get hurt.
Speaker 32
And he's not the guy you want as your champion. They've spent all this time building up Roman Reigns.
It's worked. He's got to beat Rocky.
That puts him over bigger than ever. That stuns The Rock.
Speaker 32 Let's see if he can really act.
Speaker 32 Show us how upset you are about that.
Speaker 32
And then you get something with Cody. Now, it should be at WrestleMania.
It's stupid that it wouldn't be. This isn't like something you want to see to backlash or something.
Speaker 32 It takes away all the pomp and circumstance of 80,000 people and fireworks and everything.
Speaker 33 Do you think it's a double bad whammy if they don't get to see Cody beat Roman, but at the same time, Rock doesn't beat Roman?
Speaker 32 I think they're going to have to play their cards perfectly for fans not to turn on Dwayne Johnson because we're about to be inundated with his crap.
Speaker 32 His daughter, all of a sudden, is on NXT as the general manager.
Speaker 32 Despite no one thinking she has any specific abilities as a promo, as an on-camera personality, I think she tried out to be a wrestler or something. That didn't work.
Speaker 33 Well,
Speaker 33 now hold up. We'll examine his auxiliary
Speaker 33 crew here that he's bringing in in a second. But just staying on the rock and Roman,
Speaker 33 I don't see how
Speaker 33 they're going to get away with not giving the people Cody and Roman and then having Roman Reigns beat The Rock and leave WrestleMania with, ah, he did it again.
Speaker 32 Now, again, maybe there are creative ways around that. I'm not saying I would necessarily do this, but maybe Cody beats Damian Priest and gets the money in the bank suitcase.
Speaker 32 Again, that's kind of a lame way to get around it. Maybe Cody wins Elimination Chamber and
Speaker 32 somehow could pick something from that. I don't know.
Speaker 33 All right, how about this?
Speaker 33 How about this? How about if Cody
Speaker 33 is, if the match is for the title with Rock and Roman
Speaker 33 and Cody
Speaker 33 helps The Rock win the title and then we get The Rock and Cody for the title and Cody beats The Rock?
Speaker 32 Unless if you want Dwayne Johnson to be booed, yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker 33 Well, I'm just trying to get out of this that they've got into now.
Speaker 32 Well, let's go back a step.
Speaker 32
Cody and Roman was built up for WrestleMania last year. Everyone thought Cody was going to win.
Cody lost. Fans were upset.
We were told by Paul Heyman and Triple H and everyone, give it time.
Speaker 32 These are the early innings. The story still has to be told.
Speaker 32 And in that year,
Speaker 32 Cody is more over today than he was then.
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 32 Cody's the most over babyface in wrestling right now.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 32
everyone knows. that this is the everyone knows this is the match they expected especially when he won the rumble and it feels like it's being yanked away.
We've seen this before.
Speaker 32 Brian Danielson, you know, they eventually put him in a three-way match with what? Batista and Triple H, and he won. The fans kind of went crazy demanding it.
Speaker 32 I think we're going to have a problem now because Dwayne Johnson's not going to always be able to show up and get a surprise pop.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 32 the fans and the chatter about this is getting louder and louder.
Speaker 32 Because it feels like for the first time in a real long while, WWE is like slapping the face of the the fans with this the reaction's been overwhelming they did not expect it most disliked video in wwe youtube history to the point where someone just wrote to me i have to check on this they said they just put it up again a second time but they cut out cody's sad facial expressions
Speaker 32 so i need to go and check out if that's a real thing
Speaker 32 they replace it with a shot of cody playing with his baby and he's smiling the rock just started showing up and gets put on the board of directors given a ridiculous pay package.
Speaker 32 Nick Kahn's friend from childhood. Ari Emanuel's people have been representing him for years.
Speaker 32 And now all of a sudden, he's jumping right into the main event of this show that he wasn't needed for.
Speaker 32
I mean, that's the other thing. It's a kumbaya moment.
The locker room gets along. They're doing great business, record business.
Everything's working out fine.
Speaker 32 And then he's throwing himself right in the middle of it.
Speaker 32
And the word going around is that he was politicking for it. The other word going around is that he's politicking the win.
So who knows? But this is a locker room morale crushing thing
Speaker 32 for someone who is a massive star from the past to come in and just take the spot on top when it's not needed, it's not necessary.
Speaker 32 And it may be counterproductive long term to everything they've been building and working on.
Speaker 32 And he's just going to be slotted in there.
Speaker 33 Brian, I can explain to you why this happened. And I can also explain to you why you're so upset about this,
Speaker 33 why you're so incensed about this, because you're not listening to enough pleasant music.
Speaker 32 What?
Speaker 33 You're not listening to enough pleasant music.
Speaker 32 That isn't true. I listen to so much pleasant music every single day.
Speaker 33 No, you need to listen to some carpenters.
Speaker 32 What? No.
Speaker 33 You need to listen to some of the Archies, a little bang, shang-alang.
Speaker 32 Oh, the Archie's.
Speaker 32 I like the Archies.
Speaker 33
That's how my heart went. I like bubbles.
You need to put your Raycon wireless earbuds in. You need to shut out the outside world.
Speaker 33
And you need to listen to your own pleasant soundtrack. And it'll lift your mood.
It'll improve your state of mind.
Speaker 33
You won't be thinking about all these scandals and backstabbing incidents and treachery and deceit and dishonor. You'll be thinking about...
the strawberry alarm clock and incense and peppermints.
Speaker 32 That's not really a relaxing song.
Speaker 33 Well, it certainly is.
Speaker 33 No, it's not. Incense and peppermints, the color of time.
Speaker 32 That's not how they sang it. That certainly is not how the record sounds in any way.
Speaker 33 You could listen to Alley U by the Hollywood Argyles. That's a fun, boppy song.
Speaker 32
Well, you're just all over the place. That was written by Kim Fowley, by the way.
You're all over the place.
Speaker 33 Well, with the Raycon Everyday Earbuds, you can be all over the place because you can listen to anything you want.
Speaker 33 You can play the soundtrack that your mind hears, and imagine what kind of fucking chaos that'll be. You've got the optimized gel tips for the perfect in-ear fit.
Speaker 33 You just stick them in there and the gel instantly bonds to your skin and forms a permanent seal. So there's no way you're going to be able to shake or drag these things out.
Speaker 33 And you know, now the surgery for the removal of the Raycon everyday earbuds is cheaper than ever. It's covered by most major insurance.
Speaker 33 And your Raycons are here for not only a good time, but a long time,
Speaker 33 much like many of your other relationships, with eight hours of playtime and a 32-hour battery life. And
Speaker 33 Brian, you know, they've got the customizable sound profiles, three of them, the earbud tap functions, the noise isolation mode, the awareness mode.
Speaker 33 Basically, you could put these that you can call cabs with these things.
Speaker 33 If you actually, you got the Raycon wireless earbuds in, if you put your index finger on your right hand in your right ear and you whistle with two fingers in your mouth, then it will broadcast it off the left channel to all the taxicab companies in the area.
Speaker 32 Not true.
Speaker 33 You've tried that in New York, haven't you?
Speaker 32 I have not, and it's a real bad.
Speaker 33
And it helps also if you're standing on one leg and hopping and waving the other arm over your head and screaming like a chicken. People will stop.
Sometimes it's not even a cab.
Speaker 33 It's just random people in a car will stop when they see you.
Speaker 32
None of this has anything to do with Raycon. As you said at the top, you can listen to fine tunes, some good music.
You can answer your phone calls.
Speaker 32 You could listen to a podcast or a wrestling show, whatever you want.
Speaker 33
Well, imagine that. And, you know, Valentine's Day is coming up.
So get your significant other set of these bad boys and put it on the noise isolation mode.
Speaker 33 And that way you don't have to talk to them and they won't be able to hear you. So it'll
Speaker 33 tremendously elongate your relationship.
Speaker 33 And anyway, right now, if you go to Buy Raycon, that's B-U-Y-R-A-Y-C-O-N, buyraycon.com slash J-C-E,
Speaker 33 you can get 15% off. So you can save money on whatever bimbo or bimbet you're buying something for for the holiday, for Valentine's Day, 15% off and free shipping.
Speaker 33 They'll bring it to the old hag or the miserable piece of shit that you're involved with, whichever one applies, and not charge you for shipping or the extra 15% you're going to get off the whole total.
Speaker 33 So that's a good deal, right?
Speaker 32 That's a good deal.
Speaker 33 What if there's three or four people that you don't like in your life, you can save money and get them something where that they can't hear you and won't want to talk to you either.
Speaker 33 Well, maybe just... Just buy a set of these for everybody that you really just pisses you off that you don't like.
Speaker 33 Tell them to shove these in their fucking ears.
Speaker 32 I don't want to discourage anyone from buying these for anyone, but let's focus on the people that you like in your life.
Speaker 33 Well, there's a lot more of them that I don't like than ones that I like. So it seems to me that Raycon's business would be enhanced if I was buying them for people that I didn't like.
Speaker 33 Because there's a ton of them. They'd sell fucking everyday earbuds out there, everyday asses.
Speaker 33 Think how many people you don't like.
Speaker 32 Yeah, I'm not buying anything.
Speaker 33 I'm not sure how many people you do like.
Speaker 32 I'm not spending a cent on any of these people.
Speaker 33 Well, fuck them then.
Speaker 32 Exactly.
Speaker 33 Buy your own Raycon.
Speaker 33 Because you've already got your everyday earbuds, but other people don't.
Speaker 32 And nor will they with my money.
Speaker 33 Well, then you're going to have to put up with them hearing you and talking to you because there won't be anything to cut them off from the outside world.
Speaker 32 So your solution is to find all the people I don't like and buy them noise-canceling earbuds so I don't have to hear them?
Speaker 33
Yeah, tell them stick these in your ears. Then they won't be able to hear you and they won't want to talk to you.
So you don't have to deal with them. They'll be in their own world.
Speaker 33 And then potentially, if you can get them all to wear them at the same time and broadcast some kind of, I don't know, high-frequency signal, you could fry all their brains at the same time and they'd be goddamn just wandering around like fucking turkeys, gobbling and looking up at the sky when it rains, and they'd drown.
Speaker 32 I don't know about that. Once again, incense and peppermints, ladies and gentlemen, you could hear great tunes, relaxing tunes, whatever it may be, rock and roll, rap,
Speaker 32 everything in between with Raycon. Yes.
Speaker 33 All you have to do is go to incenseandpeppermints.com. I'm sorry, buy raycon.
Speaker 32 Buy raycon.com. That's right.
Speaker 33 Slash incense and peppermints. No, slash JCE.
Speaker 33 15% off in free shipping on the incense or the peppermints.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 18 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 33 But anyway, so that's, I just wanted to get that in because we're supposed to before the end of the program. But let's dissect
Speaker 33 the reasons for the rock
Speaker 33 in this whole thing and how
Speaker 33
I think these people are viewing this. Brian, think about it.
You've got
Speaker 33 Ari Emmanuel, big-time Hollywood muckety muck,
Speaker 33 Nick Con, childhood friend of the rock, right? They go way back.
Speaker 32 Robust friend, yeah.
Speaker 33 All of the big executives that they either have got in this new company conglomerate TKO or that they have inherited from the UFC.
Speaker 33 They're used to making the biggest match.
Speaker 33 In the fight game, it's about making the biggest fight, the star power, right?
Speaker 33 And I can see where no matter how popular Cody is for these people who may not be yet tuned into the
Speaker 33 dedicated,
Speaker 33 the most loyal WWE audience, just looking at it from being promoters and being
Speaker 33
dealing with celebrities. Here's The Rock.
He's a fucking movie star. You can't deny it.
He's been in more movies than Cody has.
Speaker 32 Yes, he has.
Speaker 33 They just gave him $30 million to be on the board of directors. And this is at a period of time where the company, even their new company, because of the previous administration,
Speaker 33 has never looked worse because of all the shit about Vince and Laurenitis or whatever.
Speaker 33 And The Rock to the general public is a very popular son of a bitch.
Speaker 33 And he's on the board of directors. And they want him to have not only
Speaker 33 his standing as the biggest star in the recent history of wrestling, but
Speaker 33 also his celebrity and his notoriety. But in a positive fashion, how can that be bad, right?
Speaker 33 This is fucking great. This is what they're thinking.
Speaker 33 And the stories are now that the rock,
Speaker 33
but you say politicked. I mean, pitched the idea, came up with this.
Think about this. They thought they had
Speaker 33 Seth and Rollins. Seth and Rollins.
Speaker 32 They certainly did.
Speaker 33
Well, they had both of them. They thought they had Seth and Punk and Cody and Roman and Brock Lesnar on the card.
And all of a sudden, Rollins is hurt and Punk is out.
Speaker 33 And Brock is
Speaker 33 persona non grata can't be used.
Speaker 33 So The Rock goes in and says, well, I got the answer. I'll come back.
Speaker 33 And you know what? You can't blame not only him for pitching it,
Speaker 33 but also because he wants to be as valuable to these people as possible because they just paid him $30 million and he's got a big-time spot.
Speaker 33 And he's, as we'll talk about in a minute, he's got a good chance, maybe, of running this son of a bitch one of these days.
Speaker 33 And he said, well, I'll come in and save the day and we'll have this long-awaited match.
Speaker 33 And,
Speaker 33 you know, blah, blah, blah. And they've come up with however they're going to get out of it and whatever idea they've got from there.
Speaker 33 And that's
Speaker 33 the UFC as a precedent is more like
Speaker 33 the pioneer days of wrestling, not in terms of it being a work, but in terms of the way that was presented and promoted to the people. They didn't do angles before television.
Speaker 33 They didn't do promos before television.
Speaker 33 To the public, wrestling, even when it was a work, was still presented as,
Speaker 33 you know, this guy's trying to build his winning streak to challenge the world champion. And, oh boy, there's bad blood between these two guys because the last match they had, now they got a rematch.
Speaker 33 I mean, it was fairly bad. And that's the same thing
Speaker 33 as we've talked about. You get with the UFC, the guys on top, the Conor McGregors, the every once in a while, the gimmick attractions like the Diaz Brothers, whatever,
Speaker 33 they get away with doing a little more trash talking and a little more promotion, but there are no,
Speaker 33 the angles are much simpler. Nobody's running over anybody with a golf cart in a fucking UFC, right?
Speaker 33 And they book big name fighters against each other in big pay-per-view main events.
Speaker 33 So that's what
Speaker 33 Nick Con
Speaker 33 and
Speaker 33 whoever that side of things in the TKO administration probably thinks they've done. They've booked the biggest name possible in the wrestling business to be in the main event of their biggest show.
Speaker 33 What they didn't
Speaker 33 probably expect.
Speaker 33 And because I don't think it happens this way in
Speaker 33 Hollywood,
Speaker 33 and
Speaker 33 the fans don't usually hijack the UFC events,
Speaker 33 but the most dedicated audience for the WWE and the ones that have driven this turnaround and powered their business here lately
Speaker 33 is both anti-Vents and pro-Cody
Speaker 33 because they want to see the story finish. You can't do that in the UFC because you can't.
Speaker 33 There's that that pesky little thing about we don't really know who's going to win the fucking fight when we book it.
Speaker 33 But the wrestling fans now, they know this is different.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 even if they like the goddamn rock, it's a different fucking movie. They want to see the end of this movie first.
Speaker 33 So I can see both sides. And I can also see The Rock,
Speaker 33 obviously for self-serving purposes, wanting to go in there.
Speaker 33 Because think about this, the fucking grandson of Peter Myvia, the son of Rocky Soulman Johnson,
Speaker 33 could end up not only being at one point the biggest star in Hollywood, but also running
Speaker 33 the goddamn WWF at some point in the future.
Speaker 32 Which would be a disaster.
Speaker 33 It might be, but that doesn't mean that he thinks it will be.
Speaker 32 But you hit the nail on the head. The problem is The Rock has the relationship with Nick Kahn.
Speaker 32 Ari Emanuel, I'm going to guess he may not know the ins and out of pro wrestling so well, but he knows the rock is a star and he knows that his agency has represented him.
Speaker 32 Rock's the biggest wrestling star they can get to be a part of any of this stuff, and he needs it. He needs it more than they need it.
Speaker 32
Rock's right now, not in the middle of a career resurgence or anything. His movies have been bombing.
People don't want to see them. He destroyed DC.
Everyone's been talking about that.
Speaker 32 I brought it up on a show a few weeks ago. Now we're seeing reports where people are saying, yeah, that's one of the reasons he's there.
Speaker 32 That's going on. His TV show, canceled, was a terrible show.
Speaker 32 The thing with him and Oprah asking the common man to donate their money while they sat there worth a whole lot more than them was ridiculous.
Speaker 32 It's one thing after another, after another, after another. So he comes back to wrestling when he needs it, which in a way is kind of pathetic because there are people there every single day.
Speaker 32 busting their ass for that company to try to do it.
Speaker 33 Well, but at the same time, this is not Bulldog Bob Brown booking himself in the main event in Kansas City.
Speaker 32 No, and this isn't even Hulk Hogan showing up at the end of WrestleMania 9 and taking the title from Yokozuna after he beat Brett Hart.
Speaker 33 It's not even Hogan in the Georgia dome when the tickets were already sold.
Speaker 32 No, this would be like if Hogan showed up at WrestleMania 10 in the garden, and right before the match with Brett and Yokozuna, he took Brett's spot. That's what this would be like.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 32 the backlash is coming because Dwayne Johnson built his career on being really fucking talented in the ring, really talented on the mic, a generational talker.
Speaker 32 If you think about that era of WWE, Steve Austin and The Rock, Vince McMahon, even The Undertaker is like a notch below that.
Speaker 32
He can't do that anymore. He doesn't have the chops.
His promos have become... cornier and cornier.
No disrespect. Hey, they say now that he's going to bring Brian Gewertz back into the world.
Speaker 32 I don't know what to say.
Speaker 33 He's got old Gerwitz there, the only guy ever to lose a slap fight to Paul Heyman.
Speaker 32
Yeah, that's what you want. A little virgin whose material was shitty 15 years ago.
He's now going to have a hand in a creative.
Speaker 32 Listen, I've not always been a big Paul Laveck fan, and we don't know how tied up he is with all this Vince stuff.
Speaker 32 Paul Eve should be running that company right now for the creative end. without any interference because he's proven he could do it and he's doing well right now.
Speaker 32
Why fuck anything up in the middle of the hottest period ever? You know, they thought, well, turn Austin Heal and have him go with McMahon. We're as hot as we can be.
What could go wrong?
Speaker 32 Everything went wrong.
Speaker 32 And you're shoving the rock in a spot
Speaker 32
that the wrestling fans who live and die with wrestling don't want him in. You're not hearing any of those fans say, yeah, this is great.
None of them. No, they're invested in Cody.
Speaker 33 Well, see, that's why I'm saying I don't think that the non-wrestling people that are now in the picture understand,
Speaker 33 because there is no parallel potentially in the UFC or probably even in Hollywood for the vehement
Speaker 33 disagreement that they will encounter from their main fan base with something like this in trying to,
Speaker 33 oh, the rock, we get 5 million people to watch Peacock or when it's the fucking rock.
Speaker 33 But they.
Speaker 32
But it may not. That's the other thing.
Who knows knows if he'll draw an extra audience to Peacock for this?
Speaker 33 Well,
Speaker 33 let's face it, it's going to look good regardless because there's more people that have Peacock and there's going to just be more people to watch this just because it ain't going to cost them anything.
Speaker 33 And it's right there in the living room, right? It's not, it's harder to quantify anybody's
Speaker 33 contribution in the way of pay-per-view buys or whatever anymore because of, you know, it's more accessible.
Speaker 32 But this is bad news.
Speaker 33
Here's the thing. Listen to me.
As good a job as Triple H has been doing, and I'm not arguing with you about that.
Speaker 33 He has been, and it's probably better on a day-to-day basis than The Rock could ever do because he's not been in that fucking space.
Speaker 32 He's probably better on a day-to-day basis than Vince has been in a long time.
Speaker 33 Well, yeah, well, and that, and that's faint praise.
Speaker 33 Vince, as we've found out, his mind started turning to fucking squash years ago.
Speaker 33 But they also
Speaker 33 Triple H has has got to watch out because even if he's not involved or wasn't involved or
Speaker 33 he and Stephanie have been trying to distance themselves from the
Speaker 33 other side of the family or whatever the case,
Speaker 33 again, you got Hollywood agents, deal makers,
Speaker 33 childhood friend of the Rock. He's a fucking celebrity.
Speaker 33 In Triple H's defense, he's done this job and done it well.
Speaker 33 But who are they? They They may think, you know, still,
Speaker 33
it's the fucking guy's son-in-law. You know, maybe we ought to just break clean.
You never know what they're going to think.
Speaker 33 They probably had, as I said earlier in the program, they've had enough contact with Triple H and been there and had numerous discussions, I'm sure, to where they have a fairly
Speaker 33 good level of confidence that nothing bad is going to come out about him per se, or they wouldn't have had him in this position this long, this high.
Speaker 33 But if it comes down to a pissing contest between The Rock and Triple H, they're going to probably do what The Rock says. The Rock says,
Speaker 33 because he's the fucking rock. And they're looking at a movie star and a celebrity, and they don't understand the intricacies and the nuances
Speaker 33 that go into some of this shit. And anything from
Speaker 33 the best players don't always make the best coaches to,
Speaker 33 you know,
Speaker 33 he may not have the golden touch on everything anymore. But you can't deny that these people would probably put more faith in what The Rock says than even Triple H because of
Speaker 33 the different levels of notoriety.
Speaker 32
I can't deny that. I think it's a sad fact.
I think it's a sad reality. But The Rock has never shown an ability to book.
The Rock's material has been incredibly lame.
Speaker 32
He's running on the fumes of what he once was because he comes out there with his Brian Gowart's material and it bombs. It's lame.
It's terrible. Remember Cena Corn?
Speaker 32 I've never got crip notes on his hand.
Speaker 33 Yes, but
Speaker 33
I've never seen bomb because people are just happy to see him there. He can fart in their general direction.
They're going to moderately like it.
Speaker 32 Again, the surprise pop is a lot different than The Rock's going to be here next Monday. What's he going to say?
Speaker 32
There's a big difference there. They're doing everything they can to stack it so The Rock gets these moments.
And the last thing wrestling fans want is
Speaker 32 built around The Rock.
Speaker 33 But that's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed supposed to stack these programs so everybody gets a big pop
Speaker 33 it's just that some people have a more pull than others to have that done the problem is the rock is a self-serving guy and he's coming in here oh now come on now i mean if a self-serving person if he was just
Speaker 33 completely self-serving would
Speaker 33 Well, they would do things like nepotism, like having their daughter become the general manager of their own brand.
Speaker 32 That's right.
Speaker 33 Even at the tender age of early 20 something and the fact that she couldn't say Sue if the hogs had her, or there might be a renewed push for a talent that is related to The Rock that was released months ago because there wasn't anything for her and suddenly she's just kicking everybody's ass.
Speaker 33 Well, there'd be something like that going on if there was anything untoward with this relationship.
Speaker 32 I have no doubt The Rock would love to run WWE and love to be the top star there, but it would be the wrong move in 100 different ways. And what happens the next time he gets a big role?
Speaker 32 He's not going to drop wrestling like he always has?
Speaker 33 Well, hold on here a second. If he just got $30 million to be on the board of directors, he's going to be in the main events of pay-per-views.
Speaker 33 He's going to, goddamn, if he potentially was signed on to run this company and get X amount of stock, how many movie deals are that fucking good?
Speaker 32
Well, he announced he's doing Smashing Machine, the Mark Kerr movie. I haven't heard too many other.
Again, The Rock has had a string of movies that have not done well.
Speaker 32
So I don't know what roles he currently has, but he keeps trying to get his own projects off the ground. They're all terrible.
That's what HP.
Speaker 33 What are your movies doing?
Speaker 32
I don't have any movies. I guarantee if I made a movie, it would be better than The Rocks.
Even if it made less money, it would be a better movie because he doesn't have the sensibilities.
Speaker 32 He doesn't understand. His TV show was a bomb.
Speaker 32 The XFL is a bomb.
Speaker 33
I'm talking about Tony Khan. Even if it doesn't make 15 cents in Chinese money, it'd be better.
It'd be more stars.
Speaker 32
Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have Dwayne Johnson in the film, but maybe that would help the film actually.
Now that I think about it, no, look, the fact of the matter is, I was a fan of The Rock
Speaker 32 in his day, and he was great. You go back and watch that stuff, the facial reactions, the timing, everything.
Speaker 32
He was great. I'm not taking any of that away.
I'm saying this is Hulk Hogan coming back, not even WrestleMania 10. Imagine 10 years later, well, 15 years later.
Speaker 33 He did come back 10 years later.
Speaker 32 Against The Rock, and it worked. They started cheering Hogan.
Speaker 32 but this would be like a hulk hogan coming back when not needed and people saying well he's a big star we got to put him in the main event it's akin to hulk hogan and wcw at times what i i guess the point i'm making is the talent isn't happy you see the logan paul treat uh treat what tweet treat it was a treat what he tweeted well yes and that's it logan paul tweeted hashtag we want cody
Speaker 33 We love Logan Paul and he's a great talent. He just signed a contract.
Speaker 33 I'm sure they'll honor it, but it's probably not a good idea to get sideways with the fucking biggest member of the board of directors and the biggest star in a known universe in his first week on the job.
Speaker 32 Well, first of all, they have a history, but second of all, you know, what's The Rock going to do? Fire him? Go ahead. That would be.
Speaker 33 What is their history?
Speaker 33 Have they crossed paths?
Speaker 32
Yeah, I just saw this. So apparently years ago, when Logan Paul was just a kid making stuff on social media, his brother was a star on the Disney channel already.
He got to know The Rock a little bit.
Speaker 32
The Rock appeared in a few videos with him, a few photos with him. They got along.
Logan Paul, and I think he even says it was a mistake,
Speaker 32 around that time went to Japan and I guess filmed people who had committed suicide.
Speaker 33 Oh, I heard about this story.
Speaker 32
And it cost him a lot. It cost him a lot of his fan base.
People were upset.
Speaker 32 Right around that period of time, he said that The Rock's PR person reached out and said, Dwayne wants you to remove every single thing you have up with you and him. Every photo, every video.
Speaker 32
He wants it all gone. And he thought him and Dwayne were cool.
He said a few years later, when he started doing the wrestling stuff, all of a sudden Dwayne hit him up. Hey, Logan, what's going on?
Speaker 32 And he never responded.
Speaker 32 He's like, fuck this guy.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 32 this,
Speaker 32 you know, they got something interesting on their hands. Because if they go all the way with this and the fans reject it, it's going to be an interesting dynamic.
Speaker 32 I don't know if the fans, let's look at it another way. Do you think the fans are going to get behind Cody versus Seth?
Speaker 32 And then what do you do? Does Cody win that belt?
Speaker 33 Well, but we already know Seth is hurt. Oh, and well, and there's another thing, to be quite honest, that I've missed when I talked about what they could do.
Speaker 33
I didn't mention is Cody's got to win that thing. And then the only reason he won that was so that he can unify it.
So he can go in against Roman at some point and unify the fucking belts.
Speaker 33 That might help also.
Speaker 33 But we know Seth is hurt.
Speaker 33 You don't want him to risk further injury to have a blowaway match, but else then it's going to be a letdown. That's why
Speaker 33
him and a heel that could take advantage. It would work.
But this is the opposite of that.
Speaker 33 But that's why my head is not on fire about it because I'm kind of understanding what each side is thinking in this.
Speaker 33 It's nice problems to have. Gosh, should we have the rock on our fucking show or not?
Speaker 33 But with the locker room,
Speaker 33 yes, because
Speaker 33
their money is guaranteed. WWE's money is guaranteed.
Everybody just gets paid now like they've got a fucking job. It blows my mind in the wrestling business.
Speaker 32 And it's important to know, this may be the healthiest locker room they've ever had.
Speaker 33 Well, yes, that's the thing is that everybody gets the money regardless of whether what sells or what don't sell or pay-per-view or whatever. So now they're like, well, Cody's with us here.
Speaker 33
We love him and he's here with us all the time. Whereas The Rock is this star that comes in every so often and we don't even know him, some of us.
So they're going to be on Cody's side.
Speaker 33 If this was 40 years ago and it was the territories and you got paid on the house, they'd probably all be blowing the rock.
Speaker 32 Now, there are some people who think that
Speaker 32 if CM Punk hadn't gotten hurt, the road they were going with was Punk and Rollins. Cody and Roman.
Speaker 32 There are other people that think that even if Punk didn't get hurt, The Rock was still going to do this. You have any thoughts on that?
Speaker 33 If he was, this made it easier. And also, don't forget, Lesnar,
Speaker 33 because that's another thing.
Speaker 32 Who is he going to work with? Was it him and Gunther?
Speaker 33
I heard it was going to be him and Gunther, which would have been, you know, just lovely for us. Prick.
Now he's fucked that up.
Speaker 33 Every time I want to see one of these assholes that I don't like, just because I begrudgingly admit they have talent, then they piss me off.
Speaker 33 But again, to
Speaker 33 Nick Con, to the upper echelon, losing a star, the level of Brock Lesnar and CM Punk at the same time, Seth Rollins is injured and probably not 100%.
Speaker 33
That just made it all the more easy for The Rock to come in and say, well, look, I can... I can do my part to save this whole thing.
And he probably believes that also.
Speaker 33 Because, I mean,
Speaker 32 you know, he's the rock he has self-confidence
Speaker 32 he certainly does so it's
Speaker 33 again you know in years past this would have been great problems to have well we lost CM Punk but we got the rock or whatever but the way that they've got themselves into this thing with the most again with the most dedicated regular devoted fan base the regular viewer
Speaker 33 They wanted Cody to finish this thing. So that's going to be,
Speaker 33 I was just going to say it remains to be seen how vehement they're going to get about this. I don't think that it will get to the level of Danielson 10 years ago just because
Speaker 33
times have changed. And also this is The Rock is a bigger personality.
He's still going to have people on his side.
Speaker 32 If they make Cody go out there and endorse The Rock and be his little buddy, that's not going to help any of this.
Speaker 33 Well, but I think the way that they tried to present this was Cody on an equal standing bringing The Rock in to do something for him.
Speaker 33 If it's followed up on that way, then it helps.
Speaker 33 But if it's, and that's why I said Cody almost has to be the one to level the playing field for Rock.
Speaker 33 Because
Speaker 33 it can't be Rock doing something that everybody else has failed to do while presented with the same set of circumstances.
Speaker 32 I don't know what the upcoming schedule is. I don't have it in front of me.
Speaker 32 But if you are going to still do Roman versus Cody a title change, do you try to hold it at Madison Square Garden to complete the story?
Speaker 33 Only if Madison Square Garden is a big premium live cock event.
Speaker 32
But see, that's the issue. WrestleMania is going to be the scene.
It's going to be the thousands and tens of thousands of people, the fireworks, the stadium. That's the place to do it.
Speaker 32
That's the problem people have. You don't want to see this on like some secondary pay-per-view.
You want to see this story end at WrestleMania.
Speaker 33 Well, but how secondary is SummerSlam?
Speaker 32 It's not secondary. It's just six more months.
Speaker 33 No, it's not.
Speaker 33 Not after WrestleMania, April.
Speaker 33 June, July. It's the end of July, right? So three and a half.
Speaker 32 I was thinking from now, but I was also thinking August. But anyway.
Speaker 33 I don't know. You know.
Speaker 33 We'll see what happens.
Speaker 32 Do you change course? Do you? I mean, I know you can't predict what they'll do.
Speaker 33 Yes.
Speaker 32 If the reactions become something you can't hide, do you
Speaker 32 change course? Do you lean into it? Do you try to do anything differently? And what do you think about what I brought up earlier, the idea that Roman would defeat the Rock at WrestleMania?
Speaker 33 Well, see, that's why I said earlier, that's a, that's a big double whammy to not give the people Roman and Cody, and then also Roman wins and beats the Rock even.
Speaker 33 Would that be an Andre moment and Andre and Chic? We're like, oh, fuck.
Speaker 33 At this point, nobody's ever going to do it. It turns them off.
Speaker 33 And also, again, you go with a triumphant return of a fucking major star of the past.
Speaker 33 But normally, this would have been,
Speaker 33 this would have been booked to where that you could get the new star to win the title and
Speaker 33 stop the undefeated streak or the defense streak or whatever, and then have the big star return for a double whammy rather than the big star comes back first.
Speaker 32 Who does it help more and which victory would help the company more, Cody or The Rock? Who does it help more?
Speaker 32 And what would actually, in the long run, be the best thing for the company?
Speaker 32 Rock's 51. Cody still wants to.
Speaker 33 Yeah, no, Cody is definitely the long term. And
Speaker 33 it helps the company more that Cody
Speaker 33 wins the title and is the next champion then I can say then The Rock, who's
Speaker 33 bigger than the title, to be honest, at this point, and also has already had it multiple times, and
Speaker 33 they would be wasting Roman Reigns' streak and
Speaker 33 defenses to just have The Rock win it.
Speaker 33 But again, you know, it's counterproductive.
Speaker 32 To me, that's coupled.
Speaker 33 But champions in the past have lost non-title matches or lost falls in tag team matches, and it didn't take away the momentousness when they lost the actual belt.
Speaker 32
This is a different situation because of the way they built up the bloodline. I mean, he's held the title for all this time.
Not that many defenses, like a Bruno or something, but
Speaker 32 man of days,
Speaker 32 the whole idea should be the first person that beats Roman Reigns gets elevated. It doesn't elevate the rock at all.
Speaker 33 Well, and you asked, you know, if they start getting bad feedback, do they call an audible or do they switch directions?
Speaker 33 I can't anticipate.
Speaker 32 Yeah, Philadelphia. How's that crowd going to react?
Speaker 33
Well, but at the same time, they're not all from Philadelphia. Most of them aren't.
It's not like
Speaker 33 here's 50,000 fucking pissed off Philadelphians that cheered the hunter that shot Bambi's mother. No, they've come from everywhere but Philadelphia.
Speaker 33 And so
Speaker 33 I can't imagine them giving The Rock such a bad reception
Speaker 33 at the TV tapings leading up to this and or even at WrestleMania where the most
Speaker 33 you know dedicated WWF fans are going to be
Speaker 33 I can imagine there being booze or dueling chants or whatever but not like I were hooting you out of the fucking building you prick we wish you weren't here I can't see that with the rock I'm sorry
Speaker 32 again it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out Brian Gerwertz back involved with creative because of the rock which would be so stupid Nia Jax is all over this show again.
Speaker 32 His daughter, who,
Speaker 32 you know, may be a really nice person, but she's not an on-air character on a wrestling show.
Speaker 33 Yeah,
Speaker 33 we're not maligning her as a person or, you know, saying she shouldn't do anything that makes her happy, but
Speaker 33 it's a little obvious when just suddenly, you know, this
Speaker 33 she's been wrestling training for like a year, and suddenly she's the general manager on camera of the promotion.
Speaker 33 George Gulis was never the commissioner,
Speaker 33 right?
Speaker 32 No, he was too busy going to bed or picking his
Speaker 32 ass, whatever he did.
Speaker 33 Go to bed, Georgie.
Speaker 33 But yeah, you know, but that's the thing is, I'll close with this. We'll close it up until next week when more shit will be revealed and we're re-evaluating our opinion of everybody.
Speaker 33 I see the TKO executives going, you know what?
Speaker 33 We've got a good relationship with Triple H,
Speaker 33
or he wouldn't have got that far. And they've obviously been pleased with his business performance.
And I don't think he would have got this far without them knowing
Speaker 33 somewhat that he had somewhat of a defensible, clean bill of health.
Speaker 33 But if this gets bad enough with Vince, they may just, I mean,
Speaker 33 I would think Bruce would start, you know, heading down to the U-Haul place to buy boxes because he was so closely aligned with Vince.
Speaker 33 Stephanie's not there anymore and doesn't look like there's any plans for her to come back.
Speaker 33 Triple H is the only one from the Vince McMahon regime and company that you would think is pretty goddamn important to stay there.
Speaker 33 for the benefit of the product and the talent roster and everything else. But if TKO makes a clean break and said, we don't want any more of that Vince McMahon fucking stench on us.
Speaker 32 How are they going to do that? Ari Emmanuel had to know this stuff about Vince McMahon and he made the, made him the executive chairman. He was asked about it in interviews by all these things.
Speaker 32 Was he concerned? But, you know, so for TKO to give someone like Triple H, just to use him as an example, a hit over this, they're going to get killed because
Speaker 32
I mean, Dana White hit his wife on video. Well, yeah.
He's still the head of the UFC. Vince McMahon had all sorts of allegations.
They made him the executive chairman.
Speaker 32 They didn't have to buy WWE.
Speaker 33 In Hollywood, aren't these NDAs, you know, fairly common? But
Speaker 33 there's nothing common about the details of this thing that's come out in any industry or line of work.
Speaker 33
And I'm just thinking that they didn't have any idea that this was the story. They thought it was, yeah, the movie producer, he's paying off the girls to whatever the fuck.
But,
Speaker 33 you know, this is, I think, has probably caught a bunch of people with their thoughts unawares.
Speaker 32 We'll see. Ricochet has also tweeted out, We Want Cody, as a hashtag.
Speaker 33 Hey, now tell you, Logan Paul may have the balls and the fucking shoe size to say what he wants, but I don't know if I was Ricochet, if I'd be pissing off the fucking rock right now.
Speaker 32 Would you? You know what?
Speaker 32 The last thing the Rock needs is a locker room revolt against him and the locker room is pretty united i mean everyone there's still factions and people still have issues with other people but as i said before maybe more than any other time in wrestling history especially without vince there who always
Speaker 32 tried to create a dynamic that was tense for other people other than him
Speaker 33 this locker room gets along yeah he vince liked having Because that was the old, the old-fashioned way that a lot of promoters did.
Speaker 33 Vince liked having his top guys kind of at odds with each other because it made them work harder and try to get over each other, which made shows and business better.
Speaker 33
But like I said, now it doesn't matter. And the guys don't care who's on the card.
They don't care what it draws because they're always getting the same amount of money.
Speaker 32
And I killed Cody years ago when he was trying to be something he wasn't. And I killed him when his booking in AEW didn't make any sense.
and was counterproductive.
Speaker 32 And again, he was trying to be something he isn't.
Speaker 32 And since he returned to WWE,
Speaker 32
he has found who he is. And the fans accepted him.
In AEW, the fans didn't accept him. Here they do.
Not only do they accept him, his popularity has only grown.
Speaker 32 He absolutely deserves to be, not deserves, I mean, it's wrestling. He should be in the main event of WrestleMania against Roman Reigns to finish the story, to complete the booking the right way.
Speaker 32
for a number of reasons. He deserves it.
He's earned it. And he's proven himself.
Speaker 34 And
Speaker 32 it's tough for a guy just to slide back in and take all that away.
Speaker 33 If this was an Agatha Christie novel and they're just about ready to name the killer and suddenly they introduce a new character, wouldn't it throw you fucking off?
Speaker 33 Yeah.
Speaker 33
Oh, wait a minute. We didn't think about him.
He was the gardener in the boathouse.
Speaker 33 What? Nobody's mentioned him in the first 240 pages. Well, he just got here.
Speaker 32
Man, with Punk being injured, you get Cody the belt and you get him into a feud with Gunther. And it would be amazing.
It would be great.
Speaker 32 But instead,
Speaker 32 you know, it's going to be interesting, too. How much is The Rock going to be on TV? Is The Rock going to be at Every Raw? Is The Rock going to be at SmackDown?
Speaker 32 And how much is he going to be around before and after WrestleMania on TV? Because you can't have him beat Roman if he's not going to be around even as little as Roman's around.
Speaker 32 So that's another question. Cody's there every week.
Speaker 33 Well, and that's why I say they get this match, but there has to be heavy involvement from Cody in a momentum-changing way or a point of making a difference in some respect to where that Cody and The Rock are presented more as bruiser and crusher than,
Speaker 33 you know, fucking Andre and Mike Pappas.
Speaker 32 I know how Cody can get the match back.
Speaker 32 The Rock comes out on Raw, gets in the ring, you know, quiet, not quiet, but he doesn't say anything, lets the crowd get going.
Speaker 32 And then right before he's about to talk, you hear from the back, who told you this was open mic night, bitch?
Speaker 32 Brandy hits the ring and demands her man gets a title shot.
Speaker 32 I've come up with multiple options over the last two years to get Brandy on this show.
Speaker 32 And it always starts with its open mic night, bitch.
Speaker 33 Yeah, I don't know if Open Mic Night's ever coming to the WWE.
Speaker 32 I don't think so, but it's going to be interesting how this plays out and how the fan reaction. goes because,
Speaker 32
you know, it's almost like an activist fan base nowadays. There's not a passive fan base just waiting to see what happens.
They want to make what happen.
Speaker 32 They want to make things happen that they want to happen, especially when they're led to believe it's going to happen.
Speaker 33 But think about this. If somebody a year ago had said, well,
Speaker 33 a year from now, the same company is going to own the WWE and the UFC.
Speaker 33 Vince McMahon is going to been run off in shame for fucking sexual deviances, the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of ancient Rome.
Speaker 33 And
Speaker 33 the fans are going to be pissed off because the rock came back.
Speaker 33 What would you have said?
Speaker 32 I would have said,
Speaker 32 I don't know. I mean, you know what? We've had so many twists and turns and surprises over just the last few months.
Speaker 32 I don't know what's going to happen next.
Speaker 33 Well, I know what's going to happen next. Your show, right?
Speaker 32
Oh, no. Yes, the drive-through.
Next.
Speaker 33 Yes, because this has been mine and it's over. And now yours is coming up next in a few days.
Speaker 33 Or you can, if you want to out there in podcast land, you can listen to the last podcast that was still Brian's show,
Speaker 33 just the last one we did a few days ago. Tot-tong teletong.
Speaker 33 Or you can come back next week and listen to more of this one.
Speaker 32 That's right. We will be here.
Speaker 33 Just
Speaker 33 err on the side of safety and listen to everything. Who knows what's going to happen.
Speaker 32 Or what if next week we have a big show?
Speaker 32 Like it's going to be the Brian and jim special like a big celebration a big show but i don't show up alice radley instead gets plugged into the spot that's the rock coming back that's what no no no no
Speaker 33 i would be fearing for my life if that scenario you just described happened
Speaker 33 I don't think anybody's going to be that pissed off about the rock, but there would definitely be some villagers with pitchforks.
Speaker 32 Yes, they would.
Speaker 33 Well, anyway, we're all coming back next week on the experience. Keep watching the wrestling news and watching the skies because you never know what's going to fall on you next.
Speaker 33
And until then, thank you. Fuck you.
And bye-bye, everybody.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.
Speaker 1 This isn't just a game, it's a once-in-a-generation event.
Speaker 5 The Harlem Globetrotters 100-year tour.
Speaker 12 Celebrate 100 years of high-flying dunks, 100 years of show-stopping moves, and 100 years of changing the game.
Speaker 17 Bring the whole family and be part of the legacy.
Speaker 20 This game is once in a century.
Speaker 23 Be there at Chase Center on January 18th.
Speaker 29 Go to HarlemGlobetrotters.com for your tickets to the 100-year tour.