Jacob Fatu vs. Roman Reigns: Who Leaves Backlash Champion?

0:03Peter Rosenberg! Shout out, Zach. I got you. The major stick. Oh my goodness. It's professional wrestling. The king of kings. 24 seconds. A thousand percent confirmed. M-mage. Stay mage and enjoy yourself. M-m-m-m-m-m-mage. M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m. Male measure Me właściwie It's still rooted Me F Me Meisi S Male measure Me Butler percentage Me My I It's still rooted Oh I'm sorry Sweet sweet Sweet sweet Peter Rosenberg. Shout out to that guy, Greg. I like delicious chicken. It was repugged. It's professional wrestling. Ladies and gentlemen, the world's number one sports and recreation podcast and live radio show.

1:15Welcome to Cheap Heat Live on Pro Wrestling Nation 24-7 on this May 8th weekend, or maybe May 9th, because when you think about it, it is Backlash Weekend. And it is all happening, folks. tomorrow in Tampa. Hi, Maya. And I'm here, your Forever 24-7 champion. Joining me from Philadelphia is the physically large stack guy, Greg. What's going on, Pete? Glad to be back. I heard how you guys were talking about my tribal chief last week. So I'm here to right the ship, hopefully. Although I think it's going to be hard after Monday. He got the Tongan death grip. Then it turned into a Tongan death grip choke slam.

1:56So it is looking kind of shaky. I'm not going to lie. But yeah, the death grip has been has been employed by Jacob Fatu. Another man who once also is known for using the Tongan death grip. It's 38 at 35. This is the first time I'm talking to Greg in person here. Not, you know, over the Internet's without the beard. I got to tell you, he looks fantastic. You like the no beard. Yes. Yes. Yes. You look younger and cleaner I mean this is the look I like bearded dip though This is more like a shadow No this is the longest it's Possibly get I'll be shaving The moment this podcast Is over You can't shave until my beard Comes in we have to like Do work together I have never reached the beard Threshold after the itching And after the annoyance I don't know what the crossover.

2:55I don't know what it feels like to jump over that threshold. By the way, it's so funny that you've never done that. You have like as full and perfect a beard as anybody I know. And you shave it off every like, why not try? Yeah, it's going to connect. The hairs are going to come in. It'll be perfect. Yeah, it'll be offensively perfect, honestly. Yeah, it's almost like annoying, like painted on perfect. And you why do you want to get rid of it every time? I got to tell you, because I don't know what it's going to look like. I would have to buy a fake beard and walk around with it for a couple of weeks just to see how it feels.

3:33And then take off the fake beard and then maybe commit to growing the beard. But the beauty of the beard is if you don't like it, you just get rid of it. Save it off, yeah. I need a test beard week. I need a test week. No, I'm being serious. You should just do it at this point. You're pretty far down the road. You are. It would be a week. One week from now, you'd have the decision. One week. I don't know if I could get through a week with this. It's not that crazy. All you have to do, the only thing you have to do is hit the line at the bottom of it. You have some line there, and that's it. Go to a barber.

4:06I can hit the line. It's shaped up. Yeah, you got it. He doesn't even need. Honestly, his SGG, his comes in so full. He doesn't even need a barber. It's so easy because it's so full. Do you have a clipper of any sort? Yes. like you take the clipper you hit a line on the neck right on the bottom of the neck that's it call it a day I'm looking at the sides too it looks it looks even it's like it's it has like a looks like a good line you already line up the top yourself yeah you've been lining up I line up I'm one of the you halfway there you just gotta hit the neck I really I really think you have to try this for a week and see what happens the interesting thing about you did a good job too by the way He's got the full growth in under the lip, too.

4:52Like, no spots are missing. Like, it will be, you will be, honestly, you already come off as very young. Don't you think there could be some upside that gives you, like, a little bit of, like, extra gravitas to have the beard? You're sensing gravitas. Beard gravitas is what I'm sensing. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Because it connects, too. That's the reason people turn back. It doesn't connect. But you see, there's no. I have full connection. Yeah, full connection. I really think you should and SGG I just want to say I want to point something out you claimed that when you were trying to make yourself feel better or maybe you were trying to make Crystal feel better you were like nah in a week I'll be back I think that was two weeks ago my dude you are not back it was two weeks ago and I was hoping people forgot and no I'm not back you are not Dip you are not you have no gravitas right now I need two more Dip look at what he when was the last time you shaved me yeah a week ago start the show start no fuck this start the show no i gotta start let's get into the wrong place because he's upset because that was disrespectful no actually oh you're so what you're what this is weeks for you of growth and yeah it's nothing he's two weeks in two look what's going on there nothing i don't even i'm not even where dip is at right i'm like a chia pet i mean you are it just no you're like homer simpson it just pops out it's unbelievable Anyways, Backlash is going down tomorrow To celebrate that Hour two And if you're listening in podcast form It will be a whole separate podcast I did an hour with the Samoan werewolf Jacob Fatu We ended up at ESPN together doing promo And we had a gap between shows That was like 90 minutes And I was like, you want to do cheap heat?

6:39He was like What? Come on, Winnie Let's go you know what I mean and we I we just sat into a dude this guy is so good he was so he wanted to be so on point on ESPN and so I was trying to loosen him up because like he was we told him at first like yeah you know on on get up you got to be pretty quick like your answer should be succinct they ask you something 20 30 seconds so he ended up overthinking it it was actually very funny and curb like almost and he ended up like keeping it too short and then and then as it went on at the end of the hit with greenie he he because because i told him to kind of hit him but you know halfway in character halfway out of character like hit that kind of tone and he ended up just hitting it very quick and staying in character and then at the end greenie made a joke to him and he didn't smile at all and and greenie put a hand on his shoulder and he like shrugged his shoulder and like he like shrugged green's arm off i love that and and then afterwards greenie was like dude i love that that was the best one we've done like and like gave him a pound and like look so he ended up even when he wasn't able to fully be himself like he is in the interview you're gonna hear he's still just so good but this hour we did he told me afterwards that he gave details of his getting signed that he's never given before like we really got into the weeds on his relationship with the Usos and Roman and how he got here.

8:09He's just a really honest, interesting guy, which, guys, is literally what makes this fascinating. When I've been doing promo for this event, I keep telling everyone what makes it so great is the reason we love wrestling and think it's great is when there's that line of realism. And, like, the truth is you know, Jacob Fatu does want everything Roman has. And he took the private jet from Raw to go to New York to do the press. He didn't know he was doing it. He thought he was flying a flying commercial. And then they're like, no, no, come on. And he gets on the jet. It's the second time they've put him on the jet.

8:44And Roman Reigns only flies in a private jet. Jacob's like a kid. He doesn't even, he's like, what is this? You get to fly. He thought he had to pay for his sushi. He was like, do I have to pay? I was like, yeah, Triple H is going to take your credit card when you're on the jet. So the point is, though, he doesn't have what Roman has and I think it makes this fascinating SGG we fantasy booked the whole thing last week you weren't here listen I don't think this is likely to happen at all but what would you think if Jacob Fatu were to beat Roman Reigns and they were to then go back and forth maybe between now and SummerSlam well that's the thing you say you don't think it's likely it's 50-50 for me like this is a coin flip it's all on the table right because when you think about let's think about Roman Reigns and just let me focus on him a little bit.

9:34When he did that biography, one thing that he said was that, you know, if it's just him at the top... Quoting the biography, Dipp? We're going back to the biography. This is really something. If it's just him at the top, there's no point to this. If it's just him at the top, there's no point to this. But, you know, it has to be him and Jimmy and Jay. And even though his character is very much like a ladder puller, like he gets to the top and he doesn't want anybody there, it feels like for his family he is very happy to hold that door open. So I could see a world where if they can convince WWE that it makes business sense and this is the next big star, then Roman Reigns' title run might be short-lived.

10:19As much as I would love to see another thousand-plus day reign and chase Bruno and do all of that, I could see a world where he says, nah, this is for the generations and they pass that title around just to be clear we are this show is on may 9th three weeks and a day later is clash in italy so like they turn around with another ple immediately overseas yeah because this was soon very soon after wrestlemania also so it's like i can see them trade is this two or three weeks after mania i want to say three it's three yes three weeks then three weeks and then they have a gap between May 30th, May 31st, whatever it is, and June 27th or something for the next Saudi.

11:06Yeah, was that Night of Champions? Night of Champions. And then there's nothing, I believe, in July except Saturday night's main event. And then you get SummerSlam. Yeah. I really, I just like that I don't know where they're going to go. I like that I don't know where they're going to go. Because they don't have any bad options here, right? It's either the championship stays on Roman Reigns, who's the modern-day GOAT. He's Roman Reigns. Or it goes to Jacob Fatu, who they've built very quickly into being the most dangerous person on the roster. Dip, is there any chance or not a chance? No, no. There's no chance.

11:46No chance. The thing is, what happens to Jacob Fatu after he loses to Roman Reigns on Saturday? Tomorrow. Man, you really just took it all. Well, I mean, what had us all off to have hope? I'll say this, though. To answer this question, what happens to Jacob Fatu? Like I said, there's no bad options with respect to who takes the championship. And there's no bad options with respect to who loses, right? Because, you know, we were talking to Emilio before we got on the show. And he said he would like to see what Roman looks like chasing the championship. That's not a bad option if Roman loses. And he has to be in the challenger spot for one to three months, six months, however long it takes.

12:25but also with Jacob, if he loses and he feels like his one chance is slipping away because he's told people already he's desperate and he's been in an advantage position. So if this is his form of desperation when things are going good, how desperate is he going to get when he loses and what does that look like and does he become more dangerous and more violent? That's not a bad option for Jacob Fatu either. yeah i could see jacob getting into it with jimmy and jay maybe maybe he has a singles program with jay destroys jay so how about that's probably where we're headed is my guess is is jacob and jay i was going to say that the same thing i'd like to see jacob and jimmy can i can i share my off the wall guess of what's going to happen off the wall or it is michael jackson season yeah When Roman Reigns, the night after WrestleMania, shared the ring with Jimmy and Jay, he cut a promo.

13:25He talked about them being like a fist. And immediately I thought about the night the Shield broke up. He cut that same promo with Seth and Dean. And then 30 seconds later, there's a chair in his back. and I am thinking that because again Jimmy and Jay they've told Jacob Fatu what to do what not to do they've told Roman what to do what not to do but physically they haven't picked a side yet and I'm thinking that Jimmy and Jay whose father is the twin brother of Jacob Fatu's father and they have the same last name on their birth certificate and WWE is Uso, but on their birth certificate, it's also Fatu.

14:11I think they already picked their side and I think that history is going to repeat itself and that we are a fist analogy that Roman likes to use that has never been successful for him is going to rear its ugly head again. And I think the Fatus are going to unite and Jimmy and Jay might actually be with Jacob. that'd probably be the best twist to the story you could possibly. That would be fun. I mean, if they, if they really wanted to do that and cost Roman the match and then move on, you know, it protects Jacob. You have, he doesn't have Roman. It protects Roman. It propels Jacob. It protects Roman.

14:54It protects Jacob. Roman can move on to whatever, you know, they could have a rematch. He's never winning. Jacob Fatu is not taking the title off Roman Reigns. last week we fantasy booked it and i said it maybe it's a possibility or that's maybe the way they should go but after a week's of reflection after a week of reflection i'm like there's no freaking way this is happening on business don't backtrack because you have to stand i'm standing on business i'm off business i i you know i but it's not that you don't think it's good it's just that you don't think they will will yeah and uh i like the idea of of the usos joining their their uh their cousin jacob and um but you think there's a world you're talking about a world where i'd like to see the entire bloodline unite against roman i think that would be fun but it's possible solo is a fatu also we got the the taller tanga we have now we we got we got solo in there bring them all together again and form the like bloodline and and they all and then they all argue again about who's the tribal chief or something.

15:55And then, you know, I don't know. I like the idea of faction against one man. If you were going to do the thing where Jimmy and Jay end up teaming up with Jacob, then Jacob wins. Yeah. Jacob takes the title and the Usos and they walk off and Jacob's now head of the table, basically, with the Usos by his side. I don't see how you get there, but it would be made. Do you think Jacob is capable of feeding the entire family? is the question that's the thing i don't think he's that's what makes it better and more menacing is that he doesn't give a damn about feeding the entire family he's gotta feed himself he's he's focused on his seven kids and himself and all of that and that's like a new wrinkle to leadership that um i think it makes the story interesting he's not trying to be roman reigns listen i'm sure talla tonga needs at least 20 000 carbs a day i mean that man is gargantuan yeah it's true what you're saying yeah um anyway it's nice to not know even though we know it's it's the most not knowing knowing scenario that you could possibly get in wrestling uh i mean listen the obvious the the obvious feeling that we all had at the beginning was when we saw this was oh they're giving him jacob cool that's a fun thing to have where we know roman wins and we move on to the next thing it would be so cool if it wasn't that that's all and and as i said last week, and you can weigh in as well, 877-344-4893.

17:24As I said last week, there were really no major surprises at Mania at the top of the card. So it would be really a cool surprise. And in this era where they're trying to show people, hey, ESPN viewers, you got to have the app. You got to watch all these PLEs. Why watch them? How do you get people to watch all the PLEs if you don't do huge title changes on the PLEs? And that's what I was going to say. You say that, like, you know, Jacob Fatu is just a thing to get to the next thing. But look at this position that Jacob Fatu has been in, right? We don't see very many people because he didn't win a Rumble.

18:01He didn't win a Chamber. There's no reason for him to be on Raw. He's a SmackDown superstar. We don't see very many people pull double duty like that. It's like it's him and it's Cody. And I can't really think of anybody else who does that, number one. Number two, after the show, they didn't say, find your way to New York and then, you know, this is what you have to do. They put him on the private jet. They sent him to their big business partner, ESPN. And they said, you know, just to make sure this goes right, we're going to link you up with Peter Rosenberg, the hardest working man in sports entertainment and sports entertainment.

18:37The bridge between ESPN and WWE. The link, not the missing link, but the key link. We're going to link you up with Peter Rosenberg. He's going to be your right-hand man throughout these days' festivities. He's going to take care of you. You set him up right. All great interviews. Is that much responsibility? Is that something that they drop in the lap of somebody who they are sure can't handle it and he's just the next thing to make the guy at the top feel even more like he's at the top? Or is that the guy they're getting ready to be the guy? Yeah, but getting ready to be the guy doesn't mean that he's getting ready to be the guy this weekend.

19:11it may be a little it may be a little test run for six months from now it doesn't because they can always say card is subject to change right but if it was a test run to be for six months from now he knocked it out of the park i would say with the media and the way he's handled himself and you know we've interviewed jacob fatu we hung out with him when the cameras are off and then we interviewed him when the cameras are on he checks all the boxes and i think if you're watching what he did this week not just on programming but how he promoted what's happening this weekend And I think there's a case to be made to say, hey, look, we can do this right now.

19:44Because this is also that period of time, like after Mania, before SummerSlam, where fans expect a little bit of a lull, not that much excitement. He is the right shot in the arm right now. I still love you, Roman Reigns. I still acknowledge my tribal chief. But if you're going to do it, now is the time to do it. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that Roman is just going to Eurostep past Jacob Fatu. Well, we will find out tomorrow, and we will hear a lot from Jacob Fatu in hour two. Let's move on to a bunch of other stuff. Obviously, we have talked about the passing of Ted Turner. I thought that AEW did a really nice job with the tribute on Wednesday night on Dynamite, hosted by Tony Schiavone.

20:27Sting came out, and I thought they did a really great job honoring him. And it was interesting because to see a tribute to Ted Turner on Turner television on a wrestling show where once again, you're only afforded the opportunity to have competition to WWE because of Turner Networks, essentially, was the perfect place to honor him. And like what an incredible legacy it is. I mean, you know, I know we always it's really fun to talk about how Vince won the war. I mean, to some degree, guys, Ted Turner let Vince win the war. I mean, let's can we just say we just say the truth? Yeah, Turner could have bought the whole thing.

21:11He could have said, you know what, Vince? On second thought, I changed my mind. Give me your company. Like he could have turned the temperature up more. But as he famously said to Vince, I'm in the wrestling business. and as much as he was into it and sting talked about this in the tribute and even though he told the wrestlers you do what you do i got deep pockets i'll make sure we can do it i think turner probably could have fought even harder from a financial standpoint if he wanted to but he was willing to do what he was willing to do and vince and company obviously did a great job wrestling changes forever vince buys wcw ah vince won the monday night war great story and we're all wrestling has the story that lore continues on but guys without Ted Turner going back to everything that the Superstation did for Crockett for for Georgia Championship for WCW for WWF for two seconds all of these things really afforded us the landscape of pro wrestling that we have today dip I think it's fair to say that even though he wasn't like a true wrestling guy Ted Turner is one of the most important figures in wrestling history yeah I would have loved to have known that guy I feel like he's a guy that had a ton of video sequences I would I would love to have seen it I'd love to see a doc on Ted Turner was there ever one yeah yeah was there it had to be I don't know I don't know but he was clearly a big mark he you know I wonder though how deep he really went like he loved wrestling but how deep did oh yeah max max has a six-part doc called call me ted wow i guess i completely missed that yep it's on max and when did that when was that released 2024 wow i totally missed that yeah well guess what there's a lot of tv out there so i'm gonna watch that too that's that is on my that is top of the list at this point um i'd be very interested in that um you know i don't know like and politically i think he would have fit in very well on gp and i'll say that seemed like a great guy he did he did seem like he was he ruffled feathers he was he was outspoken on some issues that made you very controversial and is a unique a unique rich guy that is for a unique billionaire that's for sure the wild thing about ted turner is that he allowed bill watts to make the rule that if you threw someone over the top rope in wcw in 1991 you got disqualified that was that i would say out of his and out of the whole ted turner legacy that is probably the biggest blunder uh he could have he could possibly have achieved is is that crazy rule that wrestling rule it was it was he let it was the nwa rule right he let bill watts run wild that is for i thought it was a bill watts rule i think bill watts made that rule but p you know you brought up a great point about you know vince mcmahon getting a lot of the credit that ted turner should at least get some credit for right even when we think about wrestling it's like you know vince took wrestling national he took wwe coast to coast turner had tbs and georgia championship wrestling was airing nationally on tbs before we get hulkamania before we get you know wrestling on the usa network before all those things so ted turner like you said he He is owed a lot of credit for the wrestling that we appreciate and get to watch today.

24:38It's not just as being the competition, but just as being a place that like, you know, your Ric Flair's and your Dusty Rhodes and Sting and Shivani and all these people get to thrive. Yep. Not just in the Monday Night Wars, but before the Monday Night Wars, you know, thinking about Clash of the Champions when WWE was putting their foot on NWA's neck and pay-per-view. and then they said, all right, well, we're going to put some super shows on free TV. And that goes all the way up to now. Yeah. I mean, that's the really cool part about it is that when you think about it, like, you know, it was a really cool tribute on AEW because what a great, the fact that there's a current show that's now the longest running primetime show, which is crazy, in Turner wrestling history, in Dynamite, as time flies, it's absolutely nuts.

25:27It's pretty cool that they were able to do it there. the Turner Home Entertainment logo is one of the great wrestling logos if you recall the blue one I remember that was a big Halloween Havoc VHS logo thing for me I used to love seeing Turner Home Entertainment I'm sure Ted enjoyed seeing it as well in this week's in this week's what will Peter's brother read in wrestling next that makes you go all right you've lost your mind my brother has found a book a proper biography on ed farhat the original sheik wow by the way i i think is that sab that's that was uncle right i gotta i gotta say yeah go ahead it's uh questioning his sanity at this point i completely agree i i you you rosenbergs man once you once you're into something you're really into something but this This is crazy, though.

26:28I mean, this is now. I think the original Sheik's bio biography is really pretty far down the list in wrestling, important wrestling biographies. By the way, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he did his research and it's the most important one. Well, no, his his I think his logic is he keeps coming up in everybody else's books. So he might be an important because the original Sheik did so much with so many people in in the early days. in so many different territories that I think he just kept hearing the name Ed Farhad and then he wants to read this man's book. No, he's out of his mind. I'm going to ask him right now for the complete line.

27:09That's good logic though. I might want to know more about him. Did you give him the Gary Hart book? He found it on his... No, I don't have it. I gave it back to Stone Cold. Now, he found it online though. What's your complete list of wrestling books read thus far speaking of ancillary characters in the GP universe I want to give a shout out to Howie Tannenbaum on his 41st birthday he is upstairs ruffling bags up in Dipper Lago right now I was going to say why else did he get a shout out on this podcast because he's not going to hear it otherwise unless he was in earshot of you that is the only chance I was hoping he'd be in earshot and then come you know come I'm walking down the steps, but I don't know what's going on.

27:55Are his kids into wrestling right now or any of them fully in? No, I mean, we've tried over the years a couple of times. They went to the house show in White Plains with me and everything, but they met Cody Wodes. You want to see a kid who's into wrestling? You want to see someone who looks like Ed Farhat?

28:16Does she have a lot of blade marks on her head? Oh, yeah. Oh, no. that was close that was very close i know it's an underrated god bless you you bless you baby you know what's an underrated thing dip the ability to blow your nose not not having it is brutal all you can do is wipe you're just smearing and smearing you know what i always find interesting about babies at this age or even younger you can wipe their nose of snot and they let you they get annoyed about every other thing but when it comes to wiping the snot or wiping a face they let you wipe the face she she gets annoyed though there's sometimes it's hard like she can make it challenge it depends that was an easy one but it can be challenging all right you one down okay see you later at farhat she's she's the she's she's the original chic three by the way there were some names i gotta tell you there were some names in these in these days where they are just making things up.

29:22They're adding numbers at the end. I'll say, but there was no Fallon Henleys back then. Oh, no. No, you couldn't find a Fallon Henley amongst anyone. All right, so we talked some about Ted Turner, obviously hugely, hugely important. And, SGG, you haven't been here since there were all these releases. And, of course, after all the releases, we thought we were done. Then the new day. has moved on. So I think at this point, the only thing there is to do is discuss how soon we will have the New Day versus the Young Bucks because it's obviously happening. I mean, that is... It's going to be 90 days, a little less than 90 days.

30:04I don't know. I don't know. Like the way it ended, because you're reading stories online, depending on how it ended. Dip, just from what you know of legalese, is there a world in which they could have gotten out and part of the agreement would be like, hey, it's a shortened non-compete or there is no non-compete or no matter what, you think there's a non-compete? I don't know. I couldn't even speculate. Everything's different. Yeah. All I know is I wish him the best. We love him. I almost posted a picture with me and the pancake. That's my greatest. And I've gotten to know and love these guys over the years.

30:41Obviously, I spent the Super Bowl with Kofi Kingston, as the world does. You were the caveat. The caveat. yeah that's when you became the caveat sure but but uh maybe my second greatest memory of the new day is when they threw me up uh when austin threw me a pancake he saw you and threw a pancake at you he saw me in the front row of of raw or whatever it was and he threw me a pancake and i caught it like boom like that's that's some gimmick that was gimmick infringement right there you called them austin that's a milio's thing give me oh yeah uh dude you gotta you're right hey listen when I see Etor and Austin and Kofi

31:21no I was going through my stuff with them and frankly there's like so much that like I did the best to pull some stuff to post it to send them off but like I mean they've been such a stalwart these are guys I just never thought would not be in WWE I mean is there a more WWE act than the New Day at this point. Like, there is WWE as it gets. And what will they be called if and when they pop up at AEW? Well, New Era's out because they will get sued to oblivion by the hat company, so that's out. Why would it be New Era? I'm just saying, like, you got it. What's bigger than a day? Oh, oh, oh, it's a New Era.

32:06The shmoo, the shmoo shmay. The shmoo shmay. No, I don't see it working. i wonder if they like do you think they stay in something it's a smush may yes it is or do you think they go completely different and it's unrelated altogether to the vibe honestly this is their chance to go completely different um like the style they wrestle is going to remain the same of course but you know the presentation the gear the name i think they have you know the chance to go all the way different with it i i think i'm not 100 sure guys but i think that the last long form new day conversation of the wwe era was on cheap heat at the royal rumble i think so we did an hour me me woods and uh kof at the hotel in in saudi arabia and they were really funny and really still like passionate and i really thought they well this is why you know they're going somewhere else you listen to that interview they still had a lot to give like they they they still want to do stuff i mean kofi is what 40 41 yeah i think around there i think 41 and woods is younger than that but but they still here's the thing here how do i say 44 kofi's 44 kofi's 44 war yeah i'd like to see them do a completely different thing leave wrestling and go get their you know aeronautical engineering licenses and build a rocket ship and they build a rocket ship that's all we know is we hear them by their government names created a rocket ship yeah yeah it's time to to pick up something new and then and then when they get inducted into the wwe hall of fame they just seem like completely different people and like they reminisce on wrestling like it was a whole other time in their lives but now that they're narrow article engineers and they view things in a different way, but they love this part of their life.

34:03Now they're more thought of, of course, for creating the rocket. By the way, I think they'd be great weathermen. Weathermen? Yes. I'd love to see the New Day do the weather. Yeah, well, is that a solo act, though, or do you think they go together? Together. Yeah, but they can't do News Day. That's Taken 2. It's a News Day. It's a News Day. Yes, it is. Taken 2. So you think just a news podcast, maybe they team up with the Long Island newspaper, Newsday, and they start a news podcast. It's a Newsday. Yes, it is. Oh, my God. I'm loving this idea. Finally, finally, finally, something could get people to actually go beyond the paywall at Newsday.

34:46Newsday has a lot of nerves. They have a lot of nerve. Let me tell you right now, Newsday, you got a lot of cubes to ask people to try to cough up money to get behind a paywall to read your crap. I got news for you. The Daily News is ballsy enough. OK, like at least the New York Post knows it's an utter piece of shit and it's completely free. But they get enough eyeballs with their lies and spectacle to make it worthwhile. The Daily News, they want to charge you. Guess what? It's called I Never See the Daily News. Is Newsday the type of like aliens Are you know invading Texas No no no no The Inquirer The Inquirer yeah yeah I love that stuff I love it Weekly World News was a big one I think it's the best I think the fact that you could just I mean it's the original everything else that's going on now Yes it's the original world that we live in It's the original blah blah blah It was the only blah blah blah thing of its kind And now Until later because you have to understand the inquirer was interesting because it walked this line of ridiculous but also like they got the bill clinton jennifer flower story and like it's correct they got it like there's real stuff there then the weekly world news was all out like not only yes bill clinton's having an affair with jennifer flowers or had an affair with jennifer flowers but also they had an alien baby together the weekly world news would go to the next the next level of like it's just made up stories half man half kangaroo spotted in Dover Delaware completely made up I have Nick's current list of books here's what Nick has read so far in his six months being back into pro wrestling he read David Shoemaker's book he read Dan Murphy's The Wrestler's Wrestlers which I have not read but sounds good he read Gary Hart he read Stan Hansen he read Ole Anderson Ric Flair Bob Backlund and now The Sheik he said the Backlund book was fascinating and that he's not like other people in the wrestling business at all he said he said backland does not trash other people his book is not just like like the flare book is just like i hate this guy i hate that guy this guy sucks the big boy sucks brett hart sucks let me tell you why this guy sucks and by the way he's not the only one brett does the same thing uh you know who was a real piece of shit is that's like with every wrestling book and like ollie anderson for example not surprisingly a real piece of work right but he said bob backland it's more like oh you know who I really enjoyed?

37:36I really enjoyed this, which you, which you don't, you don't get enough of in pro wrestling. Let me tell you how I, my, my, my thing on Bob Backlund. He is such, he is so, he was so great at what he did that from, from childhood to adulthood, I still have no idea if he's completely insane or not. Yeah, I know. I have no idea. I don't know where the character begins and ends. Nope. I don't know if he's crazy, if he's completely normal. I have no idea. If I met Bob Backlund today, would he like just like give me a headbutt or and or just wide eyed headbutt? Or would he shake my hand and say, hey, kid, it's nice to meet you.

38:17I I when we I remember seeing him, guys, when we were all together in L.A. I think that's the one the mania I remember seeing him. Guys, I have a pretty distinct memory of being in one of my favorite places in the world. the the the area between the jw marriott and my favorite restaurant um what's my favorite restaurant again katsuya no before katsuya the american crap oh yard house yes between the marriott and yard house i am pretty sure i saw bob backland running around in full suited lunacy gimmick in that little area. I agree with you, Dip. I have no clue. Can I say this about Bob Backlund while we bring him up?

39:01I don't think he gets enough credit, right? He gets credit. I don't think he gets enough. You think about it, right? Right now, we talk about everybody, and when we talk about how great they are, they need to have a second act. It's necessary. And I think Bob Backlund was the first one to successfully pull that off. He became champion again over a decade after his first championship. And when people talk about that first championship in the 70s, you skip over it. It's like a whatever thing. But at that time, people were not holding the title that long if they were not putting asses in seats. It was completely such a business driven thing at that time.

39:39Seriously, that if you were not actually packing the house and people were not into you, you were not holding the championship for as long as he did. It's a great point. He's not my cup of tea as a wrestler. even though it's like super realistic it's like too realistic his 70s matches weren't boring either if you go watch them like he's not doing things that are boring like when he comes back in the 90s with like this old man yeah it didn't it didn't fit although it's funny that they did choose to bring him back at that time when like as we know it's not a time that's looked at as particularly fondly you know a great time in wwe and they're like you know we should do bring back backland we need maybe vince knew like this is let's be honest this is the drizzling shits let's I got a who's around who could still go like Bruno by Bruno can't go back when could go back then was like 28 in 1995 by the way that's the funny part how old was he let's look hold on what I think he was like 42 no he was older than that because I think Brett was like in his 30s Bob Backlund was born in 1949 why don't we just try to get him on the show and talk to him Do you think he'd be too insane?

40:49Yes. So Dip wasn't that far off, though. He was 45. Yeah. I mean, he seemed... I thought he was... I thought there was an old man coming to wrestle Bret Hart. He was younger than me right now. He was younger than me right now. So you could be champion right now. I mean, he has a better... He has a better history, I think. But, all right, quick break. We come back. It's GP Live, Pro Wrestling Nation, 24-7. Well, it's great to see the fans at the stands here on WCW Saturday night. And we've got a couple of very special people. Good friends of ours and, of course, of World Championship Wrestling.

41:26Jane Fonda. Jane, welcome to Center Stage. And, of course, our fearless leader, Ted Turner. Ted, it just seems to me like you take a look at these guys. They get bigger, they get better. And World Championship Wrestling just seems to keep on keeping on bigger and better all the time, too. Well, I've been involved with the wrestling business since we started televising it back in, I think, 73. And so it's a real pleasure for me to be really in it now. Well, the growth is phenomenal, and we certainly appreciate your support. I can't tell you what an honor it is. These fans love you. We want to see more of you.

42:07All right, stay tuned when we return. We're going to be back with the Super Bowl Control Center. Don't go away. It is GP live pro wrestling nation, 24 seven, getting you ready for backlash. And in doing so backlash, uh, in doing show, uh, we'll have Jacob fought two for the entire second hour of the show. So like, it's, it's going to be awesome. If you are interested in Jacob fought two, who's main eventing, of course, with the Roman reigns tomorrow, then you are going to want to hear this. Now the, the card guys or backlash, uh, 2026, as, as the great Dan housing would put it is, um, it's, it's not gigantic as you as you might expect strong though but strong you got roman and jacob singles match for that's for the world heavyweight championship you got uh eo and oscar which dip can't wait for you got uh trick and sammy doing it one more time um interesting place they're going with the death of the gingerbread man i have to say this though about this match go ahead and i have something i want to say about you asca as well but with this match specifically i think people something i haven't heard people talk about as much there's a double turn has taken place and i don't know why people if people have missed it if it wasn't you know done as overt as like but a double turn has officially taken oh with tricking sammy yeah yes if you watch smackdown accurate and you watch the way that joe tess is speaking about sammy zane sammy is full bad guy it's not just that the audience has rejected Sami Zayn.

43:39It's that Joe Tess is out there like, Trick was having some fun. Sami came to ruin it. Why he got to be like that? And that's very different from the way Michael Cole sort of explained the way Cody's heelish antics at WrestleMania as like, you know, he's just doing what he got to do, but he's still our guy. He's still a baby face. Joe Tess threw Sami all the way under the bus. And then when Trick came out, he was on the Trick train. I think a double turn has taken place. It has. We use this, People are so caught up about, we don't like the gingerbread man. It's silly, but that gingerbread man got us the double turn that people were asking for.

44:13Can't both be right? Yeah, we got there, but couldn't this have been done really cleanly right before WrestleMania and Trick would have just been the overt babyface against the big heel Sammy Zayn? Why are we... It's like SGG's explanation is exactly right, but people have the right to be critical of it in the sense that why were we half-assing it? Just make him all the way bad versus all the way good. I can't give Trick credit here. I have to give it to Sammy Zane because Sammy Zane is, is one of the great talents in wrestling and he can just roll with it and just make whatever, like he's, he's ability to just sort of play by the audience rules and, and go with whatever, you know, whatever is happening and be natural about it and make it feel real.

45:02He's just, he's up there. He's on, he's, there's no, almost no one better at sort of um like being being real and natural i agree but still but why why do we do it this way why was it like kind of i didn't say it was great i'm just saying you know i i think people love that trick williams song man i think i think they love that song i i think that's i think you're short-changing trick i i love trick i'm into it i'm very it's more it's more than the song though it i love people they love to sing the song well no listen and that's big but i'm just saying trick it's how many things does he have to do before he gets like the credit for it it's it's the song it's the lemon pepper steppers it's the look it's i mean i'll be honest even yadi is working i i gotta tell you i thought he stuck around i thought yadi on the mic when they when they cut a promo the other day i gotta tell you how about this yadi's as good a crossover guy on the microphone when he's in the ring cutting he's shockingly good shocking shocking I couldn't believe how good he's great he's legitimately now Dip you did have a criticism which I think was fair Dip didn't like and I think you were right and I was actually thinking about telling him this he doesn't need to ad lib on the song so much like you can just let the song play don't do it at all he does the what and you don't like let people do that at home because they're emulating Booker T you don't need to do it there you should tell him I think I'm going to tell him lay off on the ad lib in the song I'm going to tell him because he's so good play it more straight because when he gets to the ring, his promo skills have been unreal.

46:36The conversation with Peter and Lil Yachty is like, yo, my man, look, I've been doing this a long time. Let me just give you a little hint. To me, the conversation between me and Lil Yachty is Mr. Lil Yachty, I think if you could think about doing something a little different. Then why don't you do it? You should actually do this. I think I'm going to call Mr. Lil Yachty and say look. I know we don't know each other well but I... We've met. I've met Mr. Yachty if you've met. Yeah, we've met. I don't know if you would call me but I just want to say the ad-libbing I wouldn't ad-lib as much. Lay out.

47:16Let him, let him. He's got it. He's got it. Trick's got it. Help him when he gets to the ring. You're helpful. But no, Yachty really is good at cutting these promos. So I am interested in that. And then we got to go now. Somehow we didn't even... Honestly do we need to say anything about Seth Rollins and Braun Breaker? Like this is Roman and Jacob, I'm very excited. Roman and Jacob, y 'all need to ball out or Seth will mess around and steal another PLE. That is what he does. He lays in the cut and then he gives you Seth Rollins versus Gunther, which people are like, yeah, it's going to be a good wrestling match, but how exciting will it be?

47:51And it ends up being incredible. I think we all know Seth and Braun will be awesome. So I wonder how they'll structure this card. You think they'll start Seth and Braun? That's a good idea. Maybe, yeah. Potence, potence. Because either that or like second or it's in the middle, I mean, you can't have it right before. But setting the tone is, if you can't close out, setting the tone is not a bad spot. I'll tell you what, here's what I do. I bookmark it with the two main events essentially, Seth and Braun and Roman and Jacob, and then you put the EO Asuka smack in the middle. And then you have like these three, you know, very different in style, but like wrestling matches that people are going to be really into seeing from just a straight up wrestling standpoint.

48:37Not that Sammy and Trick won't have fun and have a good match because they will, but it's a different kind of match. And then, of course, you have the Dan Housen Mishigas with whatever that turns out to be. I heard Sam fantasy booking that it would be John Cena who ends up finding a way into that match, which I thought was a fun idea. Otherwise, I don't know who Dan Housen is going to give the human money to. if he does jump in though does that mean he broke his retirement vow John Cena no Sam Sam booked it in a way where basically it's like he ends up doing it but he never even does anything he's on the outside he helps Dan Housen make explosions like nothing happens and Dan Housen just wins which I wouldn't be mad at but like otherwise I mean do we think this announcement otherwise is just about club WWE I think so as Vincent Van would have called it towards the end club jerry i i i i was gonna say i assume it's about club wwe but they've made a lot of announcements about that already so i don't i'd like a comp i'd like a comp into the club i i think i put in my time i think we deserve that i think a comp into club wwe i'd like a comp at least two years i'm gonna tell you what club wwe is gonna be club wwe is going to be the content creator hangout.

49:53It's going to be all the content creators all hangout. What if it were an actual physical club? Now we're having a conversation. It's just hosted by techno and hosted by Gronk every week. I got to tell you I will never ever be there. What? I'll be there every night. But if they made it like the Square and Circle Cafe, a delightful restaurant perhaps. They're still pushing forward with the Hulk Hogan restaurant, it seems, in Times Square. Okay. I got news for you. That was going to be tough when Hulkster was with us. Right. Now, that is an impossible thing to do. Wrestling restaurants are tough, man.

50:41It's tough. And to base it on Hulk, who is entirely too problematic for too many people and not even there to be there himself to promote it, that's tough sledding. It's probably better that he's not there to promote it. No, I don't think so. Because now you're just like when Hulk was around, you always had the hope of like, oh, maybe he's, you know, everyone still was always holding out hope for change. The story's written now. So you're either going or you're not. He can't get you through the door anymore. And you're not going to get stuff signed. By the way, Dip, I was at Linder's house the other day.

51:13This guy has figures signed that you will not, you won't believe. He has current figures signed by dead people. Yeah, it doesn't even make sense. He had to dig them up. There's no other way to... He's digging up corpses. He's digging... No, but he has, like, original AWA figures signed by... There are things going on here that are crazy, dude. I mean, he's an absolute lunatic. I mean, you'll... We know this. By the way, you will... No, no, you're going to have two simultaneous thoughts. One is you are a complete psychopath who needs legitimate help. And then you're going to go, oh, my God, this is an incredible life.

51:49exactly I could never admit though I'm not going to admit it I'm impressed I can't admit his faces his original faces of Foley triple pack signed in different pen by each Foley that's fire look at him's face it's pretty that's pretty alright that is going to do it for Cheap Heat the podcast edition if you want to hear the Jacob Fatu podcast. Make sure you go listen to that. You are going to love it. It's an hour with Jacob Fatu. You will dig that. But shout out to all of you our podcast people. We love you so much for subscribing. Shout out to Emilio Sparks, Kelly, and the whole squad. Guys, we're overdue.

52:30SGG gave a couple Patreons over WrestleMania. Mother's Day is not going to be good, but next week we have to do a Patreon of some sort. Maybe we get my brother on and we'll watch some old wrestling again. What are your teas? That's fantastic. Alright, we'll do that next week for our patrons. That is GP Live on Patreon. Enjoy yourself and stay major this weekend, guys. Please do. I'll see you on the Countdown Show.