Reactions to John Cena's final match, the rise of NXT Superstars, and the reveal of the Masked Man

31:34He was not winning before. Because let's face it, John Cena went about eight years, like you said this, without winning a match. He became part-time back in 2017. team. Yeah. So, you know, he wouldn't get a championship match based on anything other than his good standing in the company and what he's done in the past, because it wasn't earned at that particular moment, but they did what he did. He used that power. He stepped in the elimination chamber. Didn't even win that clean. Didn't win that clean, you know, but then he won it. You know, he did win it. And then, you know, of course we had that heel turn, which was amazing.

32:12Amazing. I mean, come on down. That is going to go down, right? We never got the rock three fingers, two fingers. One, I don't know. But the hill turn went. Maybe it's just to say, I did it. You wanted it. I gave it to you. I don't know if you liked it or not, but this is what you said you wanted, so this is what you got. But then it was just like it ended in two weeks. And then he turns around and goes, I just didn't want you to forget about me. What? But that was enough. That's all it took, man. It was something that simple. Like, hey, that's it. And, you know, remember when he came out? Shane, I think I just thought about this too, man.

32:51I don't know if a lot of this was hurt. You know, he claims he wanted 200 dates, right? Yeah. He got, what, 36. Then we got to remember, he was Europe. He was over there filming. So every Raw was at like 2, 3, 4 in the afternoon when that whole thing started. That was just weird in itself. Yeah. You know, so you got to kind of wonder. Like, if he hadn't been filming, if he was in America that whole time, you know, would things have been different. Not that the story ending would have been different, but maybe this run would have been a little different. And I'm not going to act like we ain't getting no memorable promos out of his ass.

33:29Oh, yeah. Like that first one. That Brussels? Man, where he told that poor little kid that just looks shook and no one ever asks about me and how I'm doing. And if you remember, the promo started off flat. And then it progressively did. It got better. And it's like, okay. Or when he, when Cody was in the ring and he said, he said, you know, people always want to tell me that I bury talent. I don't bury talent. I am talent. I bury mediocrity. I mean, make no mistake about it. When you talk about the greatest wrestlers of all time on this stick, if you got five and you don't have John Cena in it, I can kind of accept that, I guess, depending upon the area you grew up in, the wrestling.

34:25But if you have a list of 10 and John Cena ain't on that list, then you're listed. I'm not even calling you a hater. I'm just going to say your list is invalid. Because we've seen this dude obliterate, decimate, just murk people on the microphone, man. And that was starting to come out in the heel way a little bit, you know. His version of the CM Punk pipe bomb? Let's talk. Yeah, right? We talked about that when it happened. Just the fact he sat up on that rope, on the top rope, and he just basically word for word but flipped it and made it his own. CM Punk's pipe bomb. Genius. It's like when it comes to the microphone, John Cena has very few peers in the history of wrestling.

35:14Bad man. Yeah. Your boy's a bad man. He's a bad man. And like I said, I do. I still, that album is constantly on repeat on my iTunes. It's like I don't necessarily choose what comes up next, you know, but it stays in rotation. And I'll say this because I've ridden in a car with him a few times. You know how you got a bunch of songs on your phone and you like the songs and your shuffle is putting out the hits for you. He know all the words to every song that come on his iPhone. It's crazy. They used to call me the human iPod back in the day. There is something. I've got this knack. If I hear a song like three times, I know the words.

35:55Back in the day, people would be amazed by it. That's impressive. My mom would always go, and I'd be in my room listening to NWA or, you know, whatever, Run DMC, LL, Kumo D. She'd be like, and then I wasn't doing so good in school at the time. It would be like, oh, well, if they put them lessons into a rap song, you'd probably be able to remember. And I was like, yeah. Eric B said them. You know what I mean? If I had heard Rakim drop 16 about history or especially math, because I was horrible at math, if you could help me, I'd have been good. But, yeah, that's just a side note. But yeah, man, just Cena is just the whole generation.

36:34Like you said, this is going to be their heartbreaking moment. A whole generation. This man was the greatest wrestler of their generation. Now, look, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not part of the, I feel John Cena is the greatest wrestler of all time bandwagon. It's not like I dislike John Cena. I just, if I'm making my top five, he's not making it. But that's just me. You know, I go far back, you know, so it's not mine, but I understand the significance. I understand what he means. The 650, make a wish, that alone, man, that tells you what kind of human being this guy is because what you guys got to understand, man, is, for instance, I'll give an example.

37:18We were watching Saturday Night's Main Event, and I was with Emila Kunis, as we've mentioned before, so it's no big deal. but I'm trying to explain to her a little bit about John Cena. And I've told her about all the make-a-wishes that he does. And she said, what? I said, over 600. She goes, that's amazing. She goes, I did one. One. And she goes, TJ, I was so hurt. And it was so, like, I felt so bad, you know, for these kids. She goes, I was so hurt. I couldn't do another one because it hurt me so much. So you got to think about the toll that takes on you as a human being, right? To have to sit there and you see these kids.

38:01And unfortunately, you know, a lot of them aren't going to make it, man. You know, that's why they, you know, and for you to constantly be able to do that and have that pain in your heart, because he's a human being, like he's, this has got to affect you. Right. And, you know, for him to constantly be able to do that, that speaks wonders, too. Yeah, that's a valid point. That was one of the things because O 'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your vehicle's check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians.

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39:15When the Saturday Night's main event was going on, I was in the car with my dad and older brother. I was going to the Anaconda premiere. Oh, yeah. And, you know, it's rare that I am not working and my dad has a premiere. I haven't been to one of my dad's premieres in like 10 years. Oh, he's in this one? Yeah. I did not know he was in there. Yeah, yeah. He'd make a little, you know, a little cameo in it. It's a reimagining event. Yeah, a little cameo in there. But, yeah, so I haven't been to one of my dad's premieres in 10 years, and I knew I had to watch Saturday Night's main event. For work. Yeah, we like me.

39:56Yeah. But, like, you know, I had to go support my old man, you know? I got to put my family first. Yeah. So while we're on the carpet, John's match is starting as we pull up. And I was going over just the stakes that are happening. And when I mentioned the Make-A-Wish, that was the one thing where my dad was like, wow. It was like, that's impressive. Because that is a mental toll. And that shows how many people you touch. You are a beacon of hope for a lot of people. And that right there, man, people who don't watch wrestling will never get that. They'll never get it. They don't understand what it's like to be a kid and to feel.

40:51At the end of the day, wrestling is supposed to make you feel something. If it hurt, if it's good, something. confused. Lord knows confused happens a lot. But it's supposed to make you feel. If you're just watching and you get nothing from it, it's not doing its job. And John, whether you loved him or hated him, was able to grab that emotion out of you. That's a bad mother******. D-Lo, you get the bleep. During the match, John did things that a lot of people held against him. A lot of things that would drive me crazy sometimes like the the audible spot calling which he's been known for you know the you can audibly hear it you could see his mouth moving you know that part um the the looseness sometimes with the stf when he would put it on and it was just like you couldn't get a five-year-old to choke out from that it's too loose or the fact that tj be choking out five-year-olds well you know like my nephews and my little cousins for sure they get choke slammed power bombed and all that and they love it by the way.

41:57Big tuna. Let me tell you something. Go start powerbombing like a five-year-old in the bed. They will keep coming back to get powerbombed until you said, alright, I'm tired. The kids love it. Tap out. The thing that I didn't like that Cena did, it was like when he would lose it was not, like you pointed this out, an automatic roll out of the ring sometimes. I'm like, damn man, just sell that a little bit. So all of that happened in the last match and I kind of laughed about it because like there are three things that he does that kind of drive me up the wall and he did them all and i sat and laughed that's for you that i felt like it was for me you know but yeah man we could we've spent a lot of time on this and honest to god we could do a three-hour john cena podcast and maybe when we come back we'll still because this is still setting in right now we'll continue to talk and praise him but you know man big ups to him the just think about all the injuries he suffered and then coming back each time months before a normal human being should he probably shouldn't have been allowed to come back as soon as he did from some of these injuries you know but a lot of them were you know a pop disc you know things that torn pec muscle yeah the things that make you fear am i going to be able to walk away from this business the way that i i came in and you know by the grace of god he he has he went out the way that he wanted to in an event that he scoped out the way that he wanted to.

43:22And it was always about giving back and pushing the next, you know, passing the torch, letting us know that we're in good hands, showcasing, being able to showcase Oba, showcase Sol Ruka, Leon. Well, yeah, we'll get to that. Yeah, and Javon and Gunther, like, it was special. It was a special, by far, my favorite Saturday Night's Main Event. Like, by far. Like, that was like, it was something nice. Yeah, and for all the people, because you read online, and I brought it up about people that say John Cena held back. Got to understand, there's also another handful of people that he elevated. Like, Big E said, you know, there was a John Cena documentary where Biggie bench-pressed, I think it was 575 pounds.

44:14If you go back and look at it, a young Roman Reigns was the one spotting him. And then as the camera passed around, you saw Xavier Woods, you saw Seth, you saw Ambrose. You saw all these young studs who are now top of the game. They were all training. And Biggie said that Cena told the producers that if that did not make it in the documentary, he wasn't going to sit down for any more interviews. Like he looked out for Biggie. When Biggie, like Biggie said, when he first got to WWE in the main roster, he touched John Cena, you know, with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee when he, you know, and you look at the Matt Cardona's and Zack Ryder's and Dolph Ziggler's Nick Nemitz and all the other people who he did elevate.

44:55Yeah, well, there's some that got held down and probably had their pushes stalled for sure. But there are others that did get elevated. You know, look at our truth. Look at, oh, rest in peace, Shad. but John was heavily into crime time. You could tell when they had a little bit of time together, he was definitely feeling being with JTG and Shad Gaspard. You look at Enzo Amore and Big Cass, how Cena saw him in NXT, heard him do a promo, and Enzo was like, oh, this is my tag team partner, even though they weren't a tag team. And they got brought out with Cena to do a dark match. And then even on the main roster, they worked with him a little.

45:34He helped elevate Enzo and Big Cass. So there's many more examples of that as well. But, you know. I mean, how about the fact that Dominic Mysterio. Yeah, we talked about this. Dominic Mysterio now is the last person to lose a title to John Cena. The last person to beat John Cena for a title. You also get to beat John Cena's last singles victory. and it was John Cena's last PLE. We said this, I think last week, Dom got three of John Cena's last four matches. So guess who's made? Dominic Mysterio. Like we said last week, the Judgment Day, he literally touched every member of the Judgment Day on his last PLE.

46:22Guess who's going nowhere? The Judgment Day. They'd be crazy because they all got touched by John Cena on the way out. We got Ziggler back for a match. He got Cardona. I'll never forget that. Yeah, man. So, yeah. Of course, there's always people who can say something negative about something. I think the biggest John Hina seal moment or seal moment. Heel moment was Total Divas. Oh, man. Him and Nikki Bella, and he had his house rolls, and they were crazy. And I was like, I remember watching that going, man, everyone wanted to heal John Cena. And right here he is on E. Like, that was some heel stuff.

47:07He had some moments on there. I remember Bree was getting at his ass at a dinner and talking about how he won't be an uncle to her kids because he's not there for family and yada, yada, yada. And then he goes, where's Brian right now? Oh, man. So, yeah, that was Hill Cena. at his finest. And then did you see the video that they made, which was kind of dope? Not the one they played at the end, but the one where all the superstars were holding up signs. Yeah. They start with the Rusev and it went, you know, down the line of everybody. Trying to make them cry. You know, never give up. Thank you, John.

47:44And I thought the most amazing one was Brock at the end, just like I see you. Because nobody tormented Brock Lesnar more than a doctor of Thugonomics, John Cena. If you weren't watching WWE back then, go just check it out. Because rapping John Cena, he had testicular fortitude because he would get in that ring and he would just trash talk a young Brock Lesnar. And it was just like, bro, you were about to get murdered. And then he would. Brock, they say you got a concussion. Brock, in order to get a concussion, you need a brain. Chill, chill. Chill, chill, chill, chill. Nobody's tortured Brock Lesnar the way that the doctor of Thuganomics did.

48:30And it ended, of course, with the tribal chief. But I thought that was a pretty dope thing to do, to have all those people. You know, Rusev, he was a guy that people claimed kind of got held down. He could have won overseeing that WrestleMania. But what do you remember more, the fact that he lost or the fact that he came to the ring in a tank? What stands out more to you? You're always going to remember Rusev coming in a tank, right? The Bulgarian brute. So yeah, was this a perfect ending by most fans' estimates? Probably not. Did you get everything you wanted out of it? Definitely not. But is this what John Cena wanted?

49:08I think it probably is. And if that's the case, you've got to respect it. You've got to respect it because we're not in a... I don't think anybody in creative on this last final run, And, you know, there was the wrench that the Travis Scott thing threw in. But at a certain point, you give him the keys. How do you want this story to end? You know? And I believe that. I believe that 100%. And at the end of the day, we're not going to be able to know anyway unless they show it in season two of Unreal. Which is coming out. You know? So I wonder if we'll be in that one too. To us? Yeah. We're in the first one.

49:49I hope so. um we're so cool but now you know you're not going to see john scene in the wrestling ring maybe until you know a super big check with a couple commas and a bunch of zeros gets lit across the table and then you know that that changes everything but man i'm right now i'm looking i know you're not supposed to but i'm looking at my phone right now and i'm looking at john scene as imdb page and i'm just like you know he's gone from the wrestling but he ain't going to be gone from your life. This man's done so much great, really good work in Hollywood, you know, that this is just going to keep going.

50:24John Cena is not going to fade away. It's not like you're not going to be able to see him. He's got so many projects. Just see you later. I was just watching Sisters again the other day with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and he was Pazuzu, the drumming. Oh my god. And he had Amy Poehler and Tina Fey shook. Talk about a monologue. where he went through all the different drugs that he had. This will get it hard. This will get it soft. Yeah, bro. He was a machine. Pazuzu. To now, you know, you got the peacemaker and all the things he's got going on. So John Cena, man, the future for him is going to continue to be bright.

51:00He's going to continue to do his thing. And, you know, now he doesn't have to worry about putting more wear and tear on his body because now he's got stuntmen to do all that stuff, bro. So, yeah, there's so much we can talk about. I think we did a great job of just kind of honoring him and, you know, just saying thanks, man. Because anytime you go out there and you put your health on the line for our entertainment, we have to enjoy it. Tip your cap. No doubt. Tip your cap. But look at it. Look at that. So, yeah, that's it. That's all she wrote for the John Cena era. But moving on real quick, I want to talk about what you started to talk about.

51:35The fact that, well, first of all, let me ask a question before we move on. A few months ago, I gave you my creative liberty as to how I thought John Cena's run as a heel. This was as a heel should end. And that was with Oba Femi. And, you know, that was one of our one of the videos that we put out on Instagram that had the most engagement of anything that we've ever put out. Some people were down with it. A lot of people weren't because maybe they weren't familiar with Oba. didn't know but after what we saw at saturday night's main event first of all let's talk about the fact that cody we talked about this last week cody shows up before oba and ricky saints had their match and says look at this john cena's retirement the winner of this match is wrestling me oba wins he gets the belt back and then he goes to smackdown and he cuts that fire promo on Cody, like about the future and this, that, and the third.

52:37And I'm like, that is money right there. That man is a star. And that's why I said I felt like it should have been Oba. And now I'm just wondering, if you happen to see that video, maybe we'll post it on our Instagram. But I'm just curious to the people who commented when we first posted it, after you got to see what finally transpired, what do you think would have been the better ending? because they both ended with Cena losing, but just different characters. But that doesn't even matter because the idea of this was to introduce these NXT kids to a worldwide audience. And the first thing you saw was Cody Rhodes, quarterback one.

53:20Awesome. We know that. But then the lights go down and the green laser pointers and the red and you see this figure emerge from the smoke. And then you see this figure bobbing. Yeah, man. And I love the fact that the crowd was hitting it. And I love that those who don't know about him were like, who is this? Because whoever that is is a star on my television. And that man made his way. Like, whoa. You love him. To the ring. And the crowd was into it. And people I was with watching were like, who is that? Because you know when you see a star, Obafemi is a star, man. And we've said it on this show from day one.

54:12He was the first person to be a two-time guest. Like, seeing him in person when we were with him, like, he has this presence. He has this X factor. Is he the biggest man in the world? No. But he's big enough. Big enough. You know, is he the best wrestler right now? No, but he's good enough. Yeah. And he looks like somebody that you definitely don't want to be on the bad side of. Yeah. That's a grown ass man. Right there. You know? So, of course, we said last week, and I believe I said that someone, I said, Drew McIntyre is going to. Yeah. Did I not tell Drew McIntyre? I didn't think it was going to end like that.

54:53Like it just felt like DQ. Like I thought it would be one of those ref is distracted. Claymore. Yeah. Drew slides out and then over get a pin. But a DQ, it just felt like. Well, neither one could really. Safe. I can't say neither one could stand the loss. Like Oba, despite what we think of him, he's still not on the main roster. Yeah. So him losing wouldn't have been a bad, you lost to the number one guy right now, the world champion, WWE unified everyweight champion. So I don't think that would have been a bad look, but I do like the fact that they both kind of got out with unscathed. We kind of knew that the interference was the way to go.

55:41You know what I wanted to happen though? What you wanted? So we saw what happened, him and Cody raising each other's arms. I wanted Oba to hit him with one powerbomb and dip out. Just to be like, I almost had your ass. Yeah, but you know what? Nat would have turned people against Oba, and I don't think that's what you want right now. You left out of there impressed, and he's still getting cheered. That's instant boos, and that takes him on a different path. I think Oba, when he gets to the main roster, I don't want him all the way healed. I don't want him all the way faced. I want to feel how I felt during, remember during the, during Undertaker's biker phase and just Undertaker in general, Undertaker was one of those people that like, yes, he's a face, but he's such a, like, you're doomed when you see him, you're doomed.

56:41And even though he might've been a face or just so beloved that he kind of blends into a face. He was one of those faces that was like, don't disrespect him now. Don't disrespect Taker. Taker beat your ass. And I want that for Ova. I want that feeling of just like, yeah, he's somebody you cheer for, but don't let him feel you disrespected. Don't get it twisted. It's the ruler, bro. So yeah, man. And like I said, I love it because I threw that out there months and months ago. People weren't buying it, but Obafemi will headline more than one WrestleMania. I'm going to just put that out there someday.

57:22Yeah, man. Cody did his best to help him shine. That backbreaker he hit Cody with, I audibly went, oh! When he held up Cody, faked like he had a cigar, put it out. I was like, yeah. He emoting. He shining. No doubt. And shout out, like I said, shout out to QB1, man because he went out there and did his thing too oh that ear yeah right i was nervous well you know i i had i was watching with there was a few little kids around and one of the moms there was a mom there and she kept telling her daughter oh it's fake it's fake and i was starting to annoy me that you can't keep saying it's fake but i then i realized it was so she wouldn't get freaked out by the blood so i kind of you know i let that yeah see i'm the opposite parent i don't like people saying the F word.

58:14I told you what I caught my daughter doing. Yeah, definitely. You never told. Yeah, bro. So we were watching Dynamite, me and my sister. And I keep hearing, like, I know I'm watching wrestling, but I know, like, I'm hearing a second bell, like another set of announcers. Something is messing up my equilibrium. And I look behind the couch, and I see my daughter on her iPad. So I'm like, all right. I know she's not watching wrestling. There's no way. That sounds like wrestling. Yeah, there's no way she's watching wrestling on his iPad. So I got up, took my phone out, trying to record her. But I don't want her to see because if she see that I see, she'll be like embarrassed because you behind the couch doing it.

59:03You ain't doing it for everybody. And she was watching Drew McIntyre and CM Punk's Hell in a Cell. the bloodiest match probably of her life. You know, she was watching and Kareem goes, that's her third time watching it. I was like, damn. Because I remember you and I were on the phone, right? And then you were like, hold up. You go, hold up, hold up. You know what? You were like, let me call you back. I gotta take a video. I gotta take a video. Let me call you back. You called me back like five minutes later. You ain't gonna believe what my, and then you sent me the video and sure as anything, she's sitting there back against the couch watching Drew and Punk just pummeled.

59:46And I found out through my sister, she asked, when does it come on? She watches Netflix on Mondays. And talk to Papa. You don't understand. I can take this world. We'll open up for you. So yeah, man. I caught you, Jordan. I caught you. I love that, man. Because I know for a fact, ever since we started doing this podcast, now I've got friends who I've known for decades who never really watched wrestling with me before will now give me their opinions as to why things are happening. And they try to explain it to me. To me. they try to explain wrestling to me. I'm like wait, what? I gotta admit, that kind of annoys me.

1:00:30How are you going to start telling me something that I've spent the last 30 years of my life and just obsessed with and now you've been watching for 50 episodes of No Contest, now you're going to tell me, well no, this is what's going on. Oh real. Thank you. What I also love is, and we'll get back to the topic of hands, but you brought this up. I also know friends who now their kids are heavily in it. Like your daughter, like my godson, like Don Bowie, our producer, like his son and daughter, they're heavily invested. And like, you know, same thing. Don was like he saw his son drawing one day.

1:01:06He was drawing CM Punk's like logo. Like, you know, so it's like I feel like mission accomplished for us was we wanted to open up wrestling to a lot of people and get some people back in. And those are the comments I see. I stopped watching wrestling and I've gotten back in it and you guys have helped me or like kids like the ones I've mentioned. Also, my friend Katie Chinaka, she's an actress and she her grandma, her Yaya, because she's Polish. No, she's not Polish. I'm sorry, but she's Greek. She's Greek. And there's some Windex on. She's I want to say 93, 94. Katie randomly calls me one day.

1:01:45She's like, you know, my. She calls her Yaya. I believe because she loves wrestling. And I'm like, what? She goes, Oh no, she watches every week to the point where Katie will send me videos of her grandmother watching wrestling. And now she watches our podcast. Yeah. She, I don't even know if she speaks English, but so we go from shout out to Yaya. And I hope it's not, it's, she spells it GIA, GIA. I'm assuming. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, so from the, from, you know, 90 years young to how old's Jordan? eight years young to bear to Dawn's kid you know so yeah I think that was part of our mission and I I'm happy we're kind of succeeding at that and kind of getting people in it my mom she was on she was on her anniversary trip with my dad and she sent me a picture of her iPad that she was about to start watching raw I said yeah she typed back she ready she talking about Jake or she talking about herself Yeah.

1:02:48She ready. All right, yeah, so shout out to everyone who, like, you know. And shout out to all of y 'all who's been showing us that we made it into your most listened to. Man, that was so dope. Like, you know, when the Spotify and the Apple and all those year ends. I mean, I counted, I mean, not a ton, but I counted at least, like, 15. Yeah, bro. That had, you know, tagged us. I appreciate that, man. That is so, and again, for you, it's different, right, man? Because you do movies. Like, you kind of grew up in this thing. And now, you know, you, I hate to say this, God, because you're sitting there.

1:03:25But you're a star in your own right. In your own right. Damn, I am. And so you're kind of. I am amazing. You're used to it. But for me, man, I've always been, you know, my whole time in L.A., I've always been kind of like the man sitting next to the man. Right. You know, so for people to, like, kind of respond to something that we're doing. and it's just like it's I mean nothing tripped me out more than walking down the street in London or being in an airport in London and have two guys tell me they love the podcast like what that's amazing to me the one dude was like you're international bro yeah man and like dude like just a little you know inside baseball you know behind you know my curtain NCW means so much to me because in my other career like Like, there's not a single accomplishment that I can have without people telling me it was handed to me.

1:04:21Because you're like, there's just not, like, I can't do nothing. Yeah. Like, nothing. And people think my father just waves this magic wand that, like, puts me into Star Wars. Abracadabra beat. Yeah, and like, you know, like, no matter what, I'm never going, like, they're going to diminish every accomplishment that I have. this is the one thing that I feel like this is our shit, you know? And so like, this is like a, a, our baby, you know? And so to see y 'all appreciate it, it, uh, it means the absolute world. Yeah. But, enough, I guess enough of, uh, us patting each other on the back, you know, I am great.

1:05:03Very stuff. Horvitz. Yay me. let's get back to Saturday night's main event. Like we said, But Oba came out looking like a star. And that was the purpose. And then, you know, they even managed, you know, the Miz got in a little bit. So we got a little Miz. We got a lot of R-Truth. And then we had last week's guest, Joe Henry, pop up. And so they all got a little shine. You saw Joe was wearing that merch. That merch. If you haven't seen it, check out last week's episode. It was a great one with Joe Henry. And I'll be honest with you, man. And there were times when I was watching TNA a couple years ago when he first really hit the TNA scene and he was fighting AJ Francis for the digital media championship.

1:05:49And he was so over. And there were times I was like, I don't get this. I don't get why he's so over. I don't know if I still understand why he's so over. But it don't matter because Joe Hendry is over, man. And after that interview, I walked away like, I like this dude, man. Yeah, the man. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, so they all got a little shine on the show, which was nice to see him and R-Truth. And by the way, like, the whole R-Truth thing, too, where, like, he was going to get let go. Then we fought for him to come back. And then we thought something was going to happen. And then nothing really happened.

1:06:28And then Cena turned face again. So here comes Ron Cena back into the mix. But that reaction that Hendry and R-Truth got, look, if Truth is really going to be on his way out after this, I think we've got to see those two together, man. That needs to be a tag team to kind of introduce Joe to maybe the rest of the universe that isn't familiar with him. But those two just looked good together. And I was like, I want to see more of Joe. That might have been the test run. By the way, Joe Hendry, I didn't get to tell him this. during the interview, but like his smile, you remember them old Burger King commercials with the King?

1:07:07Okay. It was like a man in a King mask. He just like pop up in people's backyards. If Joe Hendry ever turned heel, he could be the funniest heel ever, bro. Just like just that ax murderer smile of his popping up in random places. So yeah, I need to, I need to see that. And it's like I've heard him say Joe Henry is actually an awful person to the person he's going after. Because it's like he's ruining their lives. He's disrupting. But to everyone else, he's. And then to the person he's going after, it's like, you don't see this? Yeah, bro. It's like the New Day. Like the baby face New Days were bullies, bro.

1:07:50They're bullies. They jump everybody. Like, they're not nice. But we love them. Yeah, exactly. Throwing pancakes? Oh, man. I'm telling you what. You get a trombone over. Right. Come on. What's the chance of that? Man, rest in peace, Francesca. Yeah. I think she's still somewhere out there. Yeah. I hope she's doing okay. You know she is. She's got an inanimate object. And then we got Bailey taking on Saul Ruka. Hey, we want some Bailey. Now we're huge Bailey fans here on no contest wrestling podcast. Queen of the wacky inflatable arm flailing tube men. And I'll be honest with you. I don't particularly like the way that Bailey's being used.

1:08:36Disrespect it. Cause she's way too goaded, but she's also looking out for the betterment of the business. You know, you see what she's done with, you know, her, when she had that, that camp for all women, like that was such a, Yeah, kindness of a heart. Yeah, dope idea to bring these women together, to have them perform, to teach, learn from each other. I know. And then apparently John Cena spent eight hours with them, talking to them, giving them information. That's another thing about Cena, like wanting to leave the business better, like giving of his time to like, you know, you've seen stories from Johnny Gargano, Just many wrestlers of him just kind of pulling them to the side and just giving them a little bit of knowledge.

1:09:27Yeah, and you need people like John. You need people like Natty. You need people like Bayley who are that traditionalist. Bayley recently talked about how it trips her out that some people leave early now. You know, some people don't stay to watch the full event or don't stay to pick people's brains. Or, you know, they ask questions of superstars and then won't sit and watch the match to take notes. You know, I had, you know, in all the old school wrestlers that I've heard said in documentaries and here and there, I don't even see everyone wiping their feet before they get in the ring. Yeah, that bothers me.

1:10:21That is like, I'm a mark, and I know that. From the Bronx, wipe your feet when you step in my house. Yeah, it's like, it's certain things that are like, we're losing the recipes. And then there are people who want to keep those things alive. And those things, those little details, they really separate the good from the greats, you know? And you have to pay homage. Or else what's the point of anything that you're doing or the sacrifices being taken? Yeah. So I think it's pronounced lodestone, what she's doing. And like I said, just watching it, it just looked amazing to bring all these women together and learn and just, you know, bond with each other.

1:11:09And then, of course, you had Natty there. I know Lyra was there. TJ Wilson, I believe, was there. Cena did his thing. You know, a no-contest wrestling favorite, Nikki Blackheart. Blackheart. She got picked, which, you know, I know excited both of us because, you know, we're huge fans of her, and so it was good to see her get picked, you know, and everyone, man. So just shout out to Bayley for doing that, man, and making sure that she's going to leave the business better than when she found it. So just wanted to give her props, but kind of when I just, I'm showing my notes there, kind of when, you know, when the match got announced, I kind of knew that soul was going to go, Bailey was going to put her over.

1:11:54Yeah. And it was a kind of a star making turn for soul. Because when she came out, people were in the room like, well, who is that? And I'm like, oh, she's up and coming. And then, you know, she started doing some of these moves that she does. And it's just like, it's my zebra cake right there. Universe. Oh, Ruka. Love her so much. When we were backstage with her at WrestleMania world, you wouldn't even speak to her. Well, I was, man, man. I mean, I can't say none. Cause I didn't speak either. I just sat there and stare at like, there's why I can't even look over. I do regret us not talking to her, but then Dom came over.

1:12:32Yeah. So then we were chopping up with Dom and then Ricky came over. So we're chopping up. My dumb ass would have probably tripped over my lip. But yeah, you know, soul did her thing. And then of course the soul snatcher or finisher, the entire room went nuts when it happened. But Bailey being the vet that she is kind of slid out the ring. She didn't, you know, she didn't get the pin with that move. Yeah. It was kind of like the roll up, you know, but yeah. So Bailey put her over and she looked amazing. But I think I don't have many problems with soul, but I just something about the character wise.

1:13:08I'm not sure of it. Like, is she a surfer? Is she a skater? Right. You know, I don't totally do. Yeah. I don't particularly love the gear, but that's just me. But that's just like nitpicking. Cause she's got everything, but I think she's got a character wise, just kind of figure out exactly who she is. I just be, whenever I have to describe Sol Ruka, I say, that's baby Lita. She is like, she got that cool factor. She's cool as hell. And she will take the risk. Yeah. You know, when she does that springboard over the ropes, I get nerves. You know, because she tall. Yeah. That's the other thing, right?

1:13:47Clip, bro, like, it's a lot of, like, close calls, you know? But, yeah, bro, she is box office. Yeah, for sure. And then also, like I said, the whole point of this was kind of to introduce the NXT kids, if you will, to the main event crowd. So not only did you see Bayley, who's someone you should know if you're just a casual fan, but if you weren't aware of Lyra, if you hadn't been watching, she was at ringside. And then you see this Amazon-looking woman dressed in all black leather with red hair. Yeah, X-Men. And it's just like, who is that, too? That still ain't even really flourished how she's going to.

1:14:30Yeah, we thought they were going to knock heads, but they kind of put it to the side for this. But yeah, you look at Zaria and you go, I don't know who that is, but I want to know who that is. Star making in that. So you got four women, man, and Bayley's already made. Lyra, I can say she's well on her way, but Lyra, Sol, and Zaria, man, spotlight shone on them, even though, like I said, they ain't getting the ring. but just especially that presence of her if you didn't know who she was you're definitely like well what's that all? I asked my sister who I know and you know we've talked about Lyra Bird person every week but she was just out there in the hoodie I was like who the hell is that?

1:15:11Lyra's Lyra. Yeah man. Regular ass clothes. So yeah man so that was dope and then we got the tag team match between Dragon Styles as I named them. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee taking on Leon Slater and Javon Evans, you know, the young OG, youngest in charge. And I remember telling Ashton, I'm like, you haven't seen these two? He goes, no, I'm like, oh. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.

1:15:49Gemini and Chrome is here for it, Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+. So good, so good, so good. New markdowns up to 70 % off are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Stock up and stay big on shoes, tops, dresses, accessories, and more must-haves for summer. Join the Nordic Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Yeah. Wait. And they showed out, man.

1:16:31You on NBC. Yeah. Come on now. And they both showed just like that ridiculous athleticism, you know, and showed that they're only 21 years old. Right. Like. They just are able to legally go to a bar. Right. And yet they're doing these things that you very rarely see, you know, and even the point where AJ, you know, he slipped about to do the form. Look, I think somebody shook the ropes. Yeah, right. I think maybe it was the referee rubbed baby oil on the ropes because I've never seen that. But shout out to Leon for like handling that like a vet. Presence of mind. You know, and they got reengaged and they were able to do what they needed to do.

1:17:14But yeah, presence of mind. That's one of those things that the higher-ups, they make a note of. He's writing that down. If you recall, episode three. I could trust him. Swerve Strickland told us that when he had a match with Tanahashi, Tanahashi was on the top rope and almost fell, and he was able to save him from falling and kind of continue with a move to keep things on track. And he said that was one of the things that let Tony know. I can trust him. I can trust this guy. And now Leon's got a championship match against Oba coming up. So, you know, Javon's already, you know, doing his thing.

1:17:50And Leon. Ricky now. He got a little tip for Ricky. Yeah, man. Like, shout out to – that was a fun match. You got to see Dragon Lee do his thing. Because I get nervous when he does his flip out the ring. Because it's like, brother, you were going way too fast. Yeah. Slow it up, dog. I mean, as long as you keep in mind your rotation, you're good. I want to see you here for a long time, not a good time. But yeah, so shout out to those four. Future looks bright, dog. Future looks bright. So, you know, despite the booze and everything, I think overall it was a good show. But we'd be remiss if we didn't kind of shed a light on the ring.

1:18:30Head around. Gunta. I can't tell how many letters are taken out when you say it that way. ladies and gentlemen the thing is when he came on to the show the Eisen show Rich goes why don't you introduce him and I was like that's your thing he goes no introduce him I was like bro if you would have told me this 30 seconds ago I would have came up with something but I had to keep it simple because I was like ah well former two time champion the son he's going to look to you know retire John Cena this is the ring but I would have done it if he would have said one minute if he goes hey you're going to introduce him.

1:19:09I'd have been like, cool. But I was like, oh, yeah. And I know my motto always is I stay ready. So I ain't got to get ready. But I've never had to do that before on the Eisen show. So but it won't happen again. I'm acting like I'm introducing every single guest that comes on this show. I won't. Yeah. Actually introduce him, but I'm going to be prepared. I keep it on the hip. Yeah. So there ain't tuna. Gunter. And like, you know, he told us what he was going to do and he did it. I asked him are you ready to become the most hated man in sports entertainment? Yes. Yes I am. What a sicko. And so now what's this mean for him?

1:19:49And I also brought up like you retired Goldberg you have a chance to retire Cena. I'm like is there some sick like gratitude you get by putting these legends out the pasture? You know because now where does Gunther go right now? He's retired Goldberg. He's retired Cena. who's the last person he said goodbye to on Raw hey AJ that moment when he did that and laughed and drove away was like insane so yeah shout out to Gunther I got to talk to him in the green room before the show there after the show was over even before during it he said I'd love to come on the podcast So hopefully, guys, very soon we'll have the ring general here at no contest because I've got a lot to talk to him about.

1:20:43I don't know if he's obviously not the final boss because that's the earth. But he's not the final boss. By the way, you guys just witnessed the cleanest we've ever done. We never planned it. It just happened. That was great. Yeah, man. Now what do you do with Gunther? He's a made man. Like, obviously, he's now, in my movie terms, he's a friend of ours. Not just a friend of yours or mine. He's a friend of ours. So he's made. And now everything he touches is going to turn to gold. And for people who didn't understand, they were like, well, why him? Why the tap? I'm like, because John Cena made the ultimate heel.

1:21:22Yeah. He was already a pretty ultimate heel. But now we're giving him the cape. He's going to be a. Oh, super heel. Super heel. That's right. So we'll see where he goes from here. I think people are leaning towards him against Lesnar and mania 42. Listen, it looks to be, cause who else is going to stand? There might be on the way out. That's what I'm saying. If this man was able to put out Goldberg, Cena, Lesnar, and then styles. And then when they, when they start to really pieces together and they say, Oh, he's turning into a bit of a legend killer. And then it's time for Randy to leave out the door.

1:21:56Oh man. It's getting scary. He's just going to ruin everyone's childhood. Hell yeah. He's the new boogeyman. Yeah. Shout out to the boogeyman. Right. But yeah, man, I'm going to be interested to see how they use him, where he goes from here, and who he beats up next. The whole building hated him at the end of that match. The whole outside of the arena was cursing at him as he walked to the bus. First of all, you're sitting there yelling at Gunther. He just beat up your hero, John Cena, and you're going to step to him. What do you think is going to happen to you? What are you going to do about it?

1:22:30Yeah, if John Cena couldn't beat him, you ain't going to beat him. Right. Unless John Jones is standing out there. Man off the couch. You know what I mean? Right. You're going to sit your ass there with your$6 beer. Unless Alex Pereira is in there. By the way, we have Alex Pereira, who we sat with at Fanatics Fest, and we thought we took his table. Then he came walking over, and we were both like, ooh, sorry. He was like, no, stay. Yeah. He didn't speak, though. Yeah, he just was. He was like, we're cool? All right. because I don't have problems. I don't have time, you know? Just watch his feet.

1:23:04But yeah, man, so Saturday night's main event definitely hit. It was fun. And, you know, coming up, man, we got December 23rd. There's going to be some NXT action. We're going to see Chelsea Green put up the United States Championship against Seoul. Staxon area on the ground. They're going to take on our guy Shiloh Hill. Did I say Hill? Like I said, like it was a hill, which I kind of like. I was thinking about Charlotte Hill and Skylar Ray and then there's a Speed Championship Contender Tournament and Izzy Dane will take on la la la la la la la la la la la so that you know that's coming up and then Monday Night Raw happened yeah brother we had Gunther start off the show like we said with the AJ Styles dressed in all black like the Darth Vader he is dressed in all black like the Omen he got the Roman Reigns after he beat The Undertaker treatment where the fans just booed him and he said John Cena tapped out like a beep and then he left and he came back and then he left and he goes oh I got something else to say.

1:24:09I'm surprised he didn't go and your mama too. That was the only thing he was missing but yeah he played it well and then him walking back you know we saw Otis and we saw Tozawa and they weren't happy. Adam Pearce is sitting there screaming at him like what did what is my job i'm sorry y 'all are sensitive right now like oh i get sent home you go home for what get out of here i like you dog but you gotta chill like this this man had a job to do and he did it he can't help you you know he's got gunther said f your feelings you know i mean i ain't got no time bro that's the ring and around and the mad is sacred he wipes his feet before he gets into that.

1:24:55I don't know if Cena did. Maybe that's why he beat him up. I don't know. Like, you know what I'm saying? You better tread lightly around Gunther. That's all I'm saying. But yeah, and that was the big thing that happened. And then, of course, the AJ thing, waiting for him outside, which didn't make sense because it was cold. You didn't have no jacket on. And then you just pointed him to the car. You could have did that from inside. You said, now you might have phenomena. I have thought AJ had... You got there. AJ out there catching phenomena. They were getting phenomena. for what? Just to stand there and then point the guy to the car and then have him go, hey, AJ, okay.

1:25:30It ain't right. Come on. The guy looking like the valet. I thought, because when I saw the car, I was like, oh, did he trash his car? And I was like, oh, that's snow. Get your ass in the house. What are you doing out here? I guess that's where we're going next. But how are we going next? AJ's already in the tag team thing. He just wanted to let him know, I appreciate what you did to my friend. Right? Right. And then we had the tag team match. The Usos back together against the New Day. That was fun to kind of see them, those guys. I could watch them wrestle a lot. They needed to get that dub. Yeah, they did.

1:26:02But then again, the New Day kind of need a dub. But, you know, they're heels. They just got put back together, you know. No, I'm saying if Jay lost again. Yeah, he'd really be crashed out. Right. And then, you know, we had Ray against Logan. Yeah. Oh, we also have Vaquera against Raquel. Hi, Raquel. She gets a high, too. So we had Stephanie in one half of the hard I can't even roll my R now. Had a hard Raquel. And her and Stephanie were putting on a pretty decent match. And then Nikki Bella was like, nah. Just like an Eagles fan. Ain't nobody win but me. Yeah, so she came in. Did you see the knot she put on Raquel's head?

1:26:52come on now. That's a good face. That's you out here messing up. Nikki, you're a great face. Stephanie's a great face. Raquel's a great face. You can't be mad. But once they messed up Jay Cargill's face, I was like, well, anybody can get it. Yeah, but like, bro, we played. Listen, you know, you're not supposed to really hit me. That notch she had on her forehead, man. What you thinking about? It looked like Hasim Rahman after he fought Lennox Lewis, I think, is when one of those popped up. Yeah, man. She did not seem happy in her promo. So I don't know if it's work or shoot. But, man, so it looks like.

1:27:33She did not. No. Because she had it covered, the whole promo. And then she released it. It was like, oh. Yeah, man. It was like, you know, Craig and Smokey looking at. Red. Reds. Yeah, bro. My goodness. Get you some ice. So we saw it and we were like, damn. So yeah, so we're probably going to get a triple threat match at some point there. So yeah. And then Stephanie is just, she's over Nikki at this point. Stephanie's pissed. And I don't want Stephanie mad at me. I have a feeling, I think I said this to you before, I feel like a heel Stephanie is going to be so incredibly vicious and dangerous.

1:28:19I don't know if you want her turning to the dark side. And then we had the reveal of the masked man. And lo and behold, it's kind of no surprise. I knew it. Everyone knew it was one of the last week. You said you knew it was a black man. It was changing his body. I still think the dude from last week was a black dude. But the dude from this week was definitely Caucasian. Yeah. And it was Austin Theory. And it was kind of like, yeah. Looking like evil Aiden Ross. and he kind of did if you remember when ddp uh he had his stalker angle with yeah and then when they they unmasked diamond dallas page when he was in the ring he was very similar he had a black trench and he kind of went this way and revealed that it was him that by the way is one of the best pops of all time yeah and the fact ripped out that diamond dallas page wasn't a bigger star in WWE doesn't sit well with me.

1:29:14And one day we'll have him on the pod because we were trying to make it happen a few weeks ago or a few months ago, some things happened. We'll get him eventually. But that was a missed opportunity. He was the people's choice in WCW. He got over organically. He was the man. And so, I don't know, I just threw that in there as an aside. But yeah, he kind of pulled the mask off DDP style. And that's Austin Theory. And it wasn't that much of a pop. I got to be honest. Is it because people kind of already were resigned to the fact that it's going to be, it was him? And I don't want to be that guy. But thanks, dirt sheets.

1:29:47Yeah, like, bro, we knew who it was at Survivor Series. At the end of the night, everybody was already speculating, like, who haven't I seen in a while? And it was already whispers that it was Austin Theory. They should have revealed that dude at Survivor Series. That was when it was its hottest. That's when it would have been the biggest holy shit moment. But hindsight is 20-20. What you got? Looking back, yeah. Yeah, man. But here's the thing, and this is, I hope he go crazy. Can I give you and Don Bowie another creative liberty if I could? Oh, man, let me put my seatbelt on. So back in 2020, you know.

1:30:28You be tripping. Rollins, during the whole pandemic era, Rollins recruited Theory, and he was like during the Monday Night Messiah. Oh, right. So remember, they were together. Buddy Matthews and stuff. Yep, and that was the time where Buddy and Seth beat the crap out of Dom with the kendo stick, and it was to the point where that was a little uncomfortable. But he was already been kind of in a group with them, and so I'm just kind of thinking, right? Austin Theory and Seth, they were already in a group, and my thought was this. Seth did say that under no circumstances was CM Punk ever going to be world champion, right?

1:31:11And Punk did get to become champion. And then we had this guy attack Punk in war games, right? So my thought was, because we were sitting there thinking, all right, different body types. This looks like different people. What if Seth, because he is a visionary. He is a revolutionary. He is Seth freaking Rollins. He is an architect. He's usually two steps ahead of everybody else. Now, I know he got dumped and jumped out of the vision, right? But what if Seth was sitting there going, Bron and Bronson, they ain't it. What if his plan was always to have a backup plan? What if his plan was to create a vision that would take out those two because he didn't think that they were the right guys?

1:32:01He used Paul Heyman. You kind of know that Becky so much kind of said that when she dropped that fire promo on Heyman after, you know, the vision got rid of him. So what if this is a new Seth Rollins group and there is more than one person? What if it's Austin Theory is just the beginning? Right. Another masked man pops up. Another masked man pops up. This goes on for a few months. They all using the stomp until Seth is ready to come back. And then Seth now, this is his new crew. the crew who's better than the vision the crew who can do the things that he didn't think Braun and Bronson and Paul could do and that's him and Austin Theory and Montez Ford and somebody else I'm just saying I don't think that this is

1:32:53I'm not going to say what I don't think it is I think this is going to lead up to Seth's new crew This is going to lead up to Seth's new faction when he gets back, and he's going to partner with him. Because he can't be faced. You've done too much. Don't nobody like you right now. Yeah, but you know what happens when you come back, you always get that good pop, right? Especially because they're still heels, and they got rid of him, so that kind of by default makes him a baby face. It would make sense why he keeps using the stalk if he was sent, and also it makes sense because Paul Heyman is like, I don't know who this dude is.

1:33:28I didn't call for this. This ain't part of my plan. Somebody's plan. Yeah, so I kind of just feel that, like, next few months go on, we're going to see this new faction eventually. And, you know, you talked about how you text Paul. You know, I text Colby when he first got hurt. I checked in on him. Colby Lopez? You know, my guy. And my neighbor from around the way. And I said, well, bro, you know, when the return happens, it's going to be legendary. and so it will be legendary whenever he pops back up except I feel like he's going to have a whole new crew with him man and it's going to be Theory and maybe one or two other people to go at this vision because I think Logan Paul's stuck with the vision now at this point I love it by the way I love Logan Paul as evil Sammy Zane I love it, I'm having a very good time I can't deny people get mad all you want argue with your mama, it's working it's working so I feel like that's where we're headed man Seth's gonna have a new vision a new crew and you know whenever he's ready in probably 3-2-3 months it's gonna have to drag out a little bit obviously but I don't know it's kind of where I feel like this could go yeah buddy so I don't know man there's so much to talk about but we've already went on for a little bit anything else you want to touch on pause pause give a shout out to Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron who become the inaugural AEW Women's Tag Team champions congratulations to them I don't know how I felt about it because I thought I don't know I thought Ty J was going to win from the beginning as they were kind of a unified they were a tag team and you usually have more chemistry than a bunch of people throwing together.

1:35:20And, you know, Harley kind of seems like she's been passed around a little bit. Like she started off with, you know, who was she with? She was with the lawyer Mark. Why am I drawing a blank on his name? Who was with Jade Smart Mark Sterling? Sorry. And then, you know, she went on and she joined up with Soraya for a little bit. And then she went on and then she was even with Mercedes Monet for a bit with Minnie Monet. And I thought that was an excellent pairing. That was hilarious. You know, with her, with the doll, you know, and then, you know, then she started kicking it with Stat a little bit, and now she's with Willow.

1:35:57But it looks like maybe she's found a home with Willow. But, gee, a shout-out to those two. That's always a big deal. Willow's so cool. You know, you had Joe and Eddie Kingston going at it. Like, you know, we got to touch a little bit more on that maybe in the months to come. But I'm going to be interested to see where Samoa Joe takes this title, what happens with Swerve and Hangman. I don't know why Joe still has the trios title. We have the Freebird rule in AEW. Give it a look. He's right there. You know what I mean? So, yeah. So, interesting. They're going to be following that. We follow all wrestling as much as we can.

1:36:32Yeah, man. I mean, we follow wrestling as much as we can. Can you tell the people where they can follow us? Yeah, well, if you want to follow us. And I don't see if you sat through all this while you wouldn't. Make sure you follow us on all of our socials, okay? On Twitter X, it's at There's No Contest. On Instagram, it's No Contest Wrestling Podcast. On TikTok, if you're a TikToker, we're No Contest Wrestling Pod. Make sure that you download and subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music. And of course, all the videos you can see O'Shea's smiling face on YouTube, on the Rich Eisen Show YouTube page, or just go to YouTube and type in No Contest Wrestling.

1:37:12all of our stuff will be there from episode one to now this is episode 60 64 yeah six foe how about that rolling in a six foe with everybody saying oh we gotta do something special in three episodes yeah i know they're gonna hate that man but uh so you know peep this so next week what we're gonna do is you know it's uh christmas won't be doing a new pot but we're gonna do was going to do a best of 2025 edition for everyone. You know, some of the great guests that we've had throughout the years from, you know, Obafemi to Bron Breaker to Liv Morgan to Stephanie Viqueira to Nia Jax to everyone all the way down to Joe Hendry last week.

1:38:00We put together a nice little best of. To Roman. To Roman. And then we'll be back on the 29th on a Monday. We'll do that before New Year's Eve. And then we'll see you come on strong again for the new year, 2026. It's going to be no contest wrestling's year. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. Yes, on behalf of my podcast partner and myself, make sure y 'all have a good day. We're not too good. Because who the hell do you think you are? Also, shout out to my buddies at Monster Energy, because I'm drinking and they're paying me for it. You know, before we go, though, there is one thing that I do want to talk about since we talk about Altoona so much.

1:38:43I have to like kind of give a shout out to something, you know, Monday I'm on the Rich Eisen show and I get a text at nine Oh five. We go, we go on air and I found out a guy that, a true Altoona legend, Steve Tannehill passed away. Steve in the early to mid nineties was the quarterback for South Carolina, the Gamecocks, you know, and he went down there. He was a Yankee to all those Southerners. You know, Steve, he had long hair. He had a long mullet that flowed out from his helmet. He had an earring. And people down in South Carolina were not feeling it right off the bat. Steve, you know, knowing from Altoona, he was always a little cocky.

1:39:22He was like, we all know the kid, right? We all know the kid who's good at everything. And that was Steve. He was good at baseball, basketball, and football. He goes down to South Carolina as a Yankee. And he looks over the quarterback situation in preseason and said, oh, I'll be starting by midseason for this team. And that did not endear him to the local community. And then at 0-4, he gets a start. And he goes on, I believe, a 6-7 game winning streak. And everybody started to embrace him. And was he a little bit cocky? Absolutely. That was part of it because he was good. And, you know, he would do things.

1:39:56And, like, this goes back to high school with him. Like, he would, you know, throw a touchdown pass and do a baseball swing. Or he was a guy who hit a three-pointer and cup his ear. You know, he was Altoona High's leading, all-time leading scorer in basketball. You know, he started as a sophomore in football. You know, Clemson is South Carolina's biggest rival. They beat them. He went to the paw print on the 50-yard line and got down and pretended to autograph it. Like, he was just that guy. He was doing things, bro, like that before it became, like, a popular thing to do. And then he went down, you know, stayed in South Carolina, became a high school coach.

1:40:33won, I think, between three and five state championships as a high school football coach. I'll just always remember him from Altoona. We weren't super close, but we were friendly. And I can always remember, he definitely had an air about him. His dad was a legendary women's girls basketball coach in Altoona, two-time USA Today national champions. Do you understand how hard that is to be in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and you become the USA Today national champions? and women's basketball, man, that's almost unheard of. But yeah, very well-respected family. His sister was a star basketball player. She became a college coach.

1:41:11But he was definitely special, man. He was just one of those kids who could do it all. And then, you know, we didn't have a lot of contact over the last 30 or so years, you know, because Facebook, MySpace didn't really, you know, didn't exist back in those days. But it definitely touched me, man. And it kind of, you know, made me sad just remembering him as a kid, you know? And so I just wanted to give a shout out because we talked about Altoona so much. So I just want to say, you know, my prayers go out to his family, his close friends, everyone he's touched down in South Carolina, everyone back home in Altoona that know him and his family.

1:41:50God bless you, brother. Rest easy. You definitely made the most out of the God-given skills that you had. You became a legend. And I think that's how everyone down there and back at home are going to remember you. So big up, Steve. Rest well, my brother. Rest in peace, Steve, man. And that's Tuna T-O-O-N-A, man. Yeah, man. I see a lot of y 'all. We act like I'm calling him a fish. Yeah, but I just had to get that out, man, because... Beautifully said. Kind of sad. You know, we had a sad week all together. I know I'm getting off base a little bit, but we talk about everything, you know, between the Bondi Beach thing and then the Brown University thing And then the awful thing that happened to Rob Reiner and his wife, man.

1:42:30And then I got that news the next day. So it was, you know, it was a tough week. But, you know, we got to keep on keeping on. And you just remember these people fondly, man. And, you know, they say legends never die. And in this case, I think it's definitely true. Absolutely, man. We'll make sure we put together something real nice for you guys to watch over the holidays. We appreciate every single one of you. and beautifully said, my friend, from your boys, Junior, and the big tuna. This guy. Happy holidays, y 'all. See y 'all. Bye, Ms. Parker. Bye, Ms. Parker.

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