Hour 1: Spurs-Thunder Game 2, Steelers/Rodgers Expectation Level, plus WWE Legend John Cena

0:00Rich Eisen:Ian Fitzsimmons here, and I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I was skeptical about ordering plants online. Like this is actually going to show up alive at my house. But after my wife and I ordered from Fast Growing Trees, convinced. They have this thing down to a science. They've built a whole system to protect your plants until they arrive. They even have a lab where they test against cold, heat, humidity, you name it. Any condition, they've got it. And they thrive. We couldn't believe how good our plants looked when they arrived at our doorstep. And everything showed up exactly how we expected.

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1:16Rich Eisen:Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. Terms at aka.ms slash college PC. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part.

1:55Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show.

2:05Rich Eisen:Could be Aaron Rodgers' last game. Yes, this is it. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What's he going to be like with truly no F's left to give? Let's go, let's go, let's go. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guest, WWE superstar and actor John Cena, Steelers Radio Network host Jerry Dulac, two-time Super Bowl champion Osi Yumanura. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Oh, hey there, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on Disney +, live on the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, coast to coast. Also, wherever you are with Satellite Radio, Sirius XM Channel 80. That's home to ESPN Radio and home to us, which we're thrilled to be on every single day.

2:54Rich Eisen:John Cena is going to be zooming in in less than 20 minutes' time. It'll be great to chat with. Last time he was in anywhere of our orbit, he sat for two and a half hours on no-contest wrestling. Is that correct? I mean, he changed the game for us. He did indeed. So he did, actually. And he's going to be zooming into our program in less than 20 minutes time. And as we learned going off the air, Aaron Rodgers is playing football only one more year. He flat out said that in his introductory or reintroductory press conference in Pittsburgh. So that means we sent up the bat signal for Jerry Dulac.

3:29Rich Eisen:He'll be joining us on this program. O.C. Umanura from way back in the day of the New York football giants, two-time Super Bowl champion. and I first interviewed him in the first couple years of NFL Network's existence, now turned 23. He's involved with NFL UK and NFL Africa, and we'll stroll down memory lane and talk about the international series and how the international flavor of players in the NFL keeps growing. That's in hour number three. There's you at 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Win-loss games galore. Lots to talk about. Chris Brockman, good to see you over there. Hey, Rich. Hold on a second.

4:05Rich Eisen:I'm going to fall down. Okay, very good. Oh, gosh. Sorry. Wow. Look at you performing. Let me make my point real quick. Oh, my gosh. Okay, very good. Oh, my gosh. How are you, Jason? Hey, I'm doing great. Oh, Felly talked to Felt down. Because I saw it. Careful. He's committed to the bit. Sorry. He's committing to the bit. The bit's committed. Jeez. Good to see you. You rascaled into our studio today. Yeah, a little foot surgery yesterday, but, you know, beat my record. Excellent. Last time I was here three days after spine. Okay, very good. Well, good. I'm glad that you're here. Thanks. Bye. Poise counts!

4:37Rich Eisen:Poise does count. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. How are you? I'm great. Don't fall down over there. Hey, listen. I understand the conversation that you're alluding to right there. Every single time the Oklahoma City Thunder win a playoff basketball game, we're talking about how they flop and the officiating and how they're being poorly officiated. But I do, before getting into that, I want to say just how wildly entertaining the first two games of the Western Conference Finals have been. And the first three playoff games of these Conference Finals so far. The first two of the West sandwiched around that comeback win by the Knicks that the Cavs are trying to rebound from tonight in Madison Square Garden.

5:24Rich Eisen:On the ESPN family of networks, the Disney family of networks. That'll be later on tonight. And it's just been superb. And Shea Gilgis Alexander, who's MVP awarding, led to Victor Wembonyama's 40-20 piece on game one night, back on Monday night, that SGA showed up last night. And he does hit the floor an absurd amount of times. On every shot. Like even Joel Embiid sitting at home going, that's embarrassing. And so it's frustrating to watch. But the guy is particularly special and one of the best basketball players in the NBA. Where you're wondering if does he need to even do it sometimes. Ever.

6:19Rich Eisen:And the officials aren't, you know, biting as much as they have. He took just six free throws last night, which is a box you want to check if you're the San Antonio Spurs. certainly when playing SGA in his home arena. Just six free throws for him last night. 12 of 24 from the field, though, and a lot of them come in every single time the Spurs would make it a one-possession game after the Thunder took a 10 - or 11-point lead. There was, as you know, in the end of the first half, a comfort zone for Oklahoma City where they led anywhere between 6 and 11 or 12 points, and then the Spurs made a run to start the second half second half, and then SGA and the rest of this highly talented team.

7:08Rich Eisen:This highly talented team. Alex Caruso is just a marvel to watch play basketball. I loved listening to Jamal Crawford and Reggie Miller both kind of chuckling at his game, where he would just come off the bench and within two seconds gets his first touch and he launches a three and he heat checks successfully. It really, he checks in and then he checks this guy. And he plays both ends of the floor. And a transition game is crucial for him. Dude, I don't, again, mean to bring up any sore subject, but how the hell did the Philadelphia 76ers just let Jared McCain become an Oklahoma City Thunder, essentially, you know?

7:48Rich Eisen:And how many crucial minutes he's playing. Another long list of bad moves. And he is playing such terrific basketball. He was only 4-14 last night, but his clutch shooting. A.J. Mitchell, another member of this team. A little bit of a breakout, these players. And, you know, their defense leading to 21 turnovers for the San Antonio Spurs. Now, you could also credit the fact that the Spurs are banged up and De 'Aaron Fox is sitting in his street clothes and Stephon Castle is turning the ball over at an alarming rate. He, last night in game number two, wound up with nine turnovers after 11 in game one.

8:36Rich Eisen:That's 20 of the 44 turnovers that the Spurs suffered in the first two games of the series, leading to 55 Thunder points, including last night. Right. The turnovers that they coughed up, 21 of them led to 27 Oklahoma City Thunder points, which is, by the way, the fifth time in this postseason of the nine victories that they've had. Five of them have featured at least 27 points off of turnovers. It's tough to beat this team to begin with. Okay. It's tough to beat this team to begin with. And there's that. So I did want to give some flowers before I jumped into the officiating portion of this conversation.

9:24Rich Eisen:Because the Spurs do have some good things to check a box after last night's loss. The fact that they almost won this game and were in it towards the end without De 'Aaron Fox for the entirety. And this dynamic 20-year-old Dylan Harper being out for much of the second half. Now, I'm sure Oklahoma City Thunder fans are saying, well, Jalen Williams, he's out with a hamstring injury again. And it looks like Dylan Harper's out with a hamstring injury of his own. They called it a leg injury. He's holding the back of one of his thighs. That's never any bueno. And boy, did they miss his playmaking ability.

10:02Rich Eisen:And there's also Stefan Castle with the turnovers comes in a remarkable game. His ability to get to the basket is outstanding. his throw down dunk last night on Hartenstein caused me to scream out loud. Literally, oh! That was... I tweeted I said some stuff that wasn't safe for work. That was unbelievable. Wembon Yama was held to just 21 points and 17 rebounds. That said, this kid. And I know I was calling him with his burning desire to win Michael Jordan-esque. He's now averaged in the first two games of this series 30 points, 20 rebounds. Last guy to start a playoff series averaging 30 and 20.

10:58Rich Eisen:His name is Shaquille O 'Neal in the 2001 NBA Finals against your Sixers. That's the last time you've seen a player so dominant with a 30-20 stat line to start a playoff series. and they go home with one win in their back pocket, hoping to maybe get De 'Aaron Fox back from the dreaded high ankle sprain. Harper's going to go through an MRI. We shall see. But I will just say this. The fact that Victor Wembenyama still scored 21 points and 17 rebounds. 17 rebounds. And by the way, four block shots. There was one sequence that he followed up his own miss from the right side of the basket. Knew he was going to miss it.

11:46Rich Eisen:With a left-handed finish on the other side of the basket. That was insane. The fact that he did that and then went down the floor and came up with such a suction cup type block. like a gravity suck type block on the other end of the floor then wound up on the floor and then got hit i believe it was dort or joe one of those uh fellas who gave him a little bit of business on the floor um the fact that he did that wearing an isaiah hartenstein suit all night is truly remarkable. Hartenstein, I mean, if this was football, he would have had about 30 holding penalties last night. Honestly, the Oklahoma City Thunder would have lost about 300 yards.

12:44Rich Eisen:Personal foul. 300 yards of penalty yards. Not personal foul, holding. Well, there was one personal foul where he yanked Castle's hair. You know, I took personal umbrage to that. I mean, that, you know, Tarika was giving him the benefit of the doubt, saying, was that basically a tangle or a pull? And Reggie's like, no, it was a hair pull. A hair pull, yeah. He should have dossed out for that. And so the way Hartenstein was allowed to defend Victor Wembonyama last night, he was the primary defender on Wembon Yama according to ESPN tracking on 47 plays last night do you know how many times he was the primary defender on Wembon Yama in game one two three oh three he's got more beef than anyone else on there and so this is now established that Hartenstein is Mark Degno's designated defender of Victor Wambanyama.

13:53Rich Eisen:His name Lambeer. And he is going to yank him, pull him, grab his arm, hook his arm. Try to bait him. He's going to do all of that. And that way that he handled his business led to everyone wondering if Shea Gilgis Alexander saw this and knew that this is not sustainable or a good way to play him based on this conversation he had post game on NBC. You all made a pivot defensively, Hart on Wendy. What kind of impact did Isaiah have tonight? I'm not sure if it was good to be honest. Break that down for me. Say again? Break that down for me. Why was his impact not good? It was all right. It was good.

14:48It was good. We wanted to switch it up, give him different looks. Yeah, that's what it's about. When you play against good players, you got to switch it up. Make sure that it really was not the same, and we did that tonight. Appreciate the honesty. Thank you.

15:01Rich Eisen:And I appreciate kudos to Zora Stevenson. That's a great follow. It's so important to listen. So many people who interview for a living, and it took me years to figure this out, sitting in this chair you're already on to your next question you don't listen to the answer and she's like break that down for me and he says what was that and she goes break that why was that not you know good good and he then paused and goes no it was good it was good and then he went to the postgame press conference and i i don't know if somebody said anything to him or whatever or he realized whatever that exchange was uh he was far more effusive about hartenstein's defense and then was asked this point blank yeah shea your answer on heart in the post game interview on the court was different than the one in here can you just kind of explain what was going on there um i didn't really hear and then once i realized what she said i gave her the right answer yeah at first i didn't i heard it wrong what she said okay do me listen i'm just gonna do this uh Hoskins, do me a favor and re-rack the original, please.

16:13Rich Eisen:And you tell me. It sure sounded like he heard the original question and had a problem hearing the follow-up, which he's just like, explain it, explain it. You all made a pivot defensively hard on Wemby. What kind of impact did Isaiah have tonight? I'm not sure if it was good, to be honest. Yeah. Break that down for me. Say again? Break that down for me. Why was his impact not good? It was all right. It was good. It was good. Yeah, we wanted to switch it up, give them different looks. Yeah, that's what it's about. When you play against good players, you got to switch it up. Make sure that it really was not the same, and we did that tonight.

16:50Appreciate the honesty.

16:51Rich Eisen:Thank you. Appreciate the honesty. Well done again to Zora Stevenson. Listen, I'll be straight up with you. I don't know if you can wager on this sort of thing on your sites, Christopher. Hold on a second. What do you got? You don't know? If Hartenstein plays the same way, and I imagine he will try, He will foul out in San Antonio in game three. I am sure the Spurs video department is cutting up a nice montage of the way Hartenstein abused Victor Wembenyama. And that will be sent to the league office. And they will have that as their viewing homework. homework and there's no doubt the spurs and mitch johnson and all of them are going to be talking about this for the next 24 hours and if he does the same thing he will foul out and they're going to have to figure something else out i can't find fouls okay um over under number fouls i don't know if he does the same thing yeah i mean because dude that was ridiculous and they don't even have to give much of a montage just send the nbc broadcast tape they they were showing it they were on it mid-game and at one point i think was it reggie or jamal crawford's like this is the third time we've shown this where he's hooking his arm and victor wambanyama does not complain ever.

18:27Rich Eisen:Do you see that? He never, ever complains. He's never in the face of the officials. When he has a foul, when he's committing a foul, he raises his hand like it's 1965.

18:47Rich Eisen:It's not part of his DNA to complain. We'll see if that changes we'll see if that changes but it's a 1-1 series tie and it is popcorn ready material and the spurs now have home court advantage in the best of five and we'll see how the officials officiate when bunyama being defended there was one part in game one where chet holmgren's stepping on his foot yeah during a free throw throw yeah i literally haven't seen that since I was in like junior. Okay. Like they're pulling out all the stops. Yeah. And it looks very deliberate too. You think? Oh yeah. 1000. He just looks at his foot. Yeah. Like I said, someone did that to me in eighth grade.

19:31Rich Eisen:I did it. They are a spectacular team right now. Oklahoma city funder. Spectacular. They could win it all again, but they've got their biggest test here. Got to get one in San Antonio with us seeing the way it was officiated on Wembe and Yama in the last two games. That's going to change in game three. You know it and I know it. Yeah, it's just like everybody complained about how they didn't do anything to Wembe in game one, and now they actually went and tried to stop him, and now we're like he was too physical with them. But there's nothing else they can do. Just sit back and enjoy game three coming up.

20:05Rich Eisen:Also, sit back and enjoy the next conversation. That also includes you, TJ, because I know you're going to get jealous. How so? You're the only one who's allowed to talk to John Cena around here. That's true. John Cena is next right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody, this is going to be a blast. Don't go anywhere.

20:25Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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22:52Rich Eisen:Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio with WWE brand ambassador, John. I like it. Got a good ring to it. You just said moments ago, our radio audience just rejoined, that your moment of fulfillment that you tapped out on, right? Yeah. that was mixed reviews. Why do you think that was, John? Well, I, it's, and again, I'm speaking from my perspective, and I am aware that everything I say is going to create chatter, and that's a good thing because, you know, hopefully people were interested, but there's no right way to please everyone when you're truly closing a way, closing a 23, 24-year-old journey where our fans have invited me into their living room 52 weeks a year, plus ancillary premium live events for 23, 24 years.

23:44The best you can do is do all you can. And honestly, that's where the moment of clarity and fulfillment came from, where it's like at the end of my physical journey in the WWE, after that last match, listening to the noise one final time, knowing that, man, I don't think I can't give another ounce. What a way to close that chapter. But it's a bold, creative decision, just like the John Cena heel turn is a bold, creative decision. You're not going to please everyone. Our fans are very vocal and very involved, which is why I'm excited about the future of what's to come where we can try to involve them more and hopefully crowning a champion of the John Cena Classic.

24:27but it's those moments where you do take a risk. You do travel outside the predictable norm, and that incites conversation, and you've got to be ready for all angles of that.

24:40Rich Eisen:What can you tell everybody about any latest on the classic that you just referred to, John? Man, I can tell you I'm pumped, and I can tell you this is an idea from me, and I can also tell you that this is going to get a lot of chatter too because the audience is kind of every which way but loose on this. I got the idea from that last event, that Saturday night's main event where Gunther and I were the close of the show. But the idea for the open of the show and the way I wanted to promote it was instead of doing, you know, a 90 minute tribute showing highlights and interviews of folks to to to essentially my career.

25:18There's no there's no pay it forward there. So I chose to use the rest of the evening as showcasing marquee superstars as a way to get crowds in the building and keep them excited. You hear the music of your favorite superstar. That's great. And pair them up against the future of our business. Names like Sol Ruka, Javon Evans, certainly Obafemi. They all kind of debuted on our grand stage that night. And I thought the event went well. Not only was it well received by the audience, sans from my part, the ending, which is OK, because I'm the polarizing guy. I can bear the weight on my shoulders.

25:51Um, when I promoted it, people enjoyed the idea. Uh, when we executed it, people enjoyed the event. And more importantly, the talent, it's not like the talent aren't excited for a fan, but the talent felt like they were part of something new. And that was really important. So I got the idea from there. And then I, I kind of wanted to extend it a little bit more. I'm like, how can we involve the fan base? So that's where the fan vote came from. And then I tried to take it a little bit further and saying that like, man, if you're a talent and you go out and you actually tear the house down, but you're this close to winning and maybe you came up short, you still have the opportunity to be in the running to see if you won the fan vote enough to be crowned champion.