What Do You Wanna Talk About? - WWE superfans Sean & Finn Rhatigan

0:05Hello, everybody. Welcome to What Do You Want to Talk About, a Fanatics and WWE original production. We, of course, are at WWE's warehouse, which is the epicenter of everything in our entire wrestling history. Today is a really special and unique episode. My guests, you might have seen, actually, you might have seen quite a lot. They are often in the front row, in the good seats, and they have an incredible story to share that I have heard firsthand. They've hung out on my bus. They have given me maybe some of the greatest gifts I ever received in terms of the things I actually like and was so excited about to meet them.

0:48And they are massive contributors to the Dusty Rhodes Foundation, which my mother very, very much appreciates. please please welcome to what do you want to talk about sean and finn radigan

1:05the is this also the first time i've ever had two have we done it well look at that trend setting right trend setting um making history uh that's what we like to do i have to say So the team here does a great job with the podcast, and Craig does a great job. Ben and his team, everybody, they do this great job. You guys, though, today said we're going to help curate the space. These are not warehouse material. Ben probably would like them, but these are yours, these two ropes. Finn, this one, where did we get this? That was from Bad Blood in Atlanta. Okay, so my Bad Blood robe. Yes. Okay, I have a good story there.

1:53And then, Sean, I know, is this 83? So what we've been told is that's the one he awarded the ring the night he fought superstar Billy Graham in the garden. So, my gosh, you know, oh, my. So it's the. Which garden? Do you know which one of the three? I think you're right. I think it was the first one. Wow. Yeah, but don't quote me on it. So the story. Yeah. The story. And that robe. Yes. That is, you know, the collectors and those who are out there in the world of title collecting or whatever it may be, they always know about the guy who has. I know the guy who has the yellow intercontinental title.

2:32They always kind of kick back and forth. This seems like an item that is very valuable in a collection in terms of is very unique. And a lot of these guys, and Ben can tell you this, collected things are not collected things. They had stuff, but they had others that looked just like it. It's kind of hard to determine which is which. And then footage and photographs are not always great. I'll be a prime example. I think Ben has authenticated them. But these boots, I don't even know. I don't even know. They could be. They smell like him. So I think they're the dreams. But that's incredible. I want to tell you a Bad Blood story because I really got tickled when I saw that robe come in here.

3:15You guys were at Bad Blood. Yes. Yes. Did you like the entrances, the marching band entrance? That was great. Finn, thank you for saying that. Because in the arena, as we were, we felt differently about it, apparently. Because when I came to the back, Brian Fadim, who's very important to me and all of WWE, the director, told me, I'm sorry about that out there. Said what? So apparently, this is my understanding, I hope I'm not giving too much away, but it's a fun moment. I guess the band wasn't really supposed to play long, and the band was supposed to do a prelude, and then we hit Kingdom. But instead, the band did their prelude, and then the band leader, not facing anyone who could give him any type of cue, looked at his band and just went full Kingdom, where they played it in that arena to us, the coolest thing ever.

4:16as loud as possible, where the music is playing, but they're also actually playing Kingdom, and they're moving back and forth. I never knew that it wasn't supposed to go that way. I love it how it is. I thought this is the coolest entrance ever, and it was ridiculous because he had the orchestra and I had the marching band, but Bad Blood, you were a part of history because it's probably the best Atlanta WWE show ever. I would say so. What would you say at the end? And so, Finn, your take on The Rock comes out at the end. I was very – I mean, I was very surprised because I thought it was over. And then he came out, and I was just like, there's no way this is happening.

4:57Because I wasn't expecting him to come to a PLE like Bad Blood. So I was like blown away that he was there. And then he did like the thing where he counted on his fingers, and that was pretty cool. Do you know what he meant? Nope. Me neither. Does anyone? Could be coming for us all. Okay, I love, too, that you're already ahead of the majority of my peers in the roster, but you don't mind using the term PLE? Nope. Solid. I don't either. And it's pro wrestling. After a while, it just becomes second nature. You move into saying it, and then there were pay-per-views, but before pay-per-views, they weren't pay-per-views.

5:36They were closed circuits. So PLE is the term. I love that. So that, in terms of, I said it when I introduced you guys, you guys are in, we see in the front row often. Do you always go? Father, son, is it always together? Well, now that I'm at a boarding school here in Connecticut, it's harder for me to get out of school because it's a high school now. So my dad goes mostly like September. He went to Wrestlepalooza alone. and he went to Elimination Chamber alone because I was at school. Because I can't really miss sports games that much. At least you're not counting. Yeah, but now I go less with my dad.

6:22But it used to, back when I was in eighth grade and seventh grade, we would go a lot together. I love this. And Sean, this experience you guys have at shows, I hate to put you on the hot seat, but coming to these WWE events, You guys have come, how long has it been? Since what year have you been coming to these? Our first one we actually went to was in 2016. He was a lot younger, but back then they were doing house shows, so it was a lot easier to go to. It was WrestleMania 40 where we really got really back into it. We're big Star Wars fans, and they had just closed the Galactic Star Cruiser.

7:01And we had been there once or twice and really enjoyed it, and we just were always watching, but we were like, he wanted to go to, was it 38, 39? It was 38. Hollywood, right? Yeah, 39. Yeah, 39. Yeah, and so he unfortunately had a little bit of a medical issue that was pretty serious at the time, and when he kind of stabilized, I said, what do you want to do? Whatever you want to do, we're going to go do it. And he said, I want to go to WrestleMania 40. and we drove down to Philly and went. Cold on night one, huh? It was very cold, yeah. Cold, a lot of long-haired wrestlers had real dry hair in the wind and were not understanding.

7:44Well, it was cold. I popped for a Galactic Star Cruiser, so I'm obviously a massive, massive, massive Star Wars mark and Star Wars fan. I consider myself, I don't try to be a know-it-all, but I consider myself pretty expert. And Cardona, Matt Cardona, which you have some of his memorabilia here. I think we have a barbed wire bat. And you said it was from, when I asked you what it was, like the craziest answer ever. You have a barbed wire bat from Matt Cardona from what? It was the Major Pod Holiday Show this past December. Okay. Okay. Well, that's a good, they're friends of our pod. We like them.

8:21Glad you have that. But his one thing he has on me is he stayed at the Galactic Star Cruiser. Yes. And I'm like, well, I can never really go too hard in on him on what he doesn't know or Filoni stuff and Clone Wars and this and the Mortis gods and whatnot. And, yeah, no, so that's the one thing he has. But anyways, you guys go to WrestleMania 40. This is what I meant by the hot seat is, do you have a favorite memory together as father and son coming to these events? Is there a moment that it was not just another great night at the matches? is is there is there your your peak moment i i i have one i when the undertaker's bell dongs at 40 yeah that was just i i can still watch that and get goosebumps yeah because it was it was as if the uh the sheriff had arrived to make it a fair fight very interesting it was it wasn't about he was going to give you an advantage it was and and the way that all wound up playing out lights go off, he's there, lights go off again, and now it's just you and Roman in the ring.

9:27It was cinematic. You mentioned the sheriff, and it's very much how I saw it, tipping the scales of the balance, putting the balance in order. There are people who talk, and I won't say names because it's very obvious who I'm about to... There's people who think somebody else could have been in that spot. I would not have... Not that I'm saying I had any structuring of it. I'm saying looking at it now from the perspective of hindsight, I would never want it any other way. That is how I wanted it, exactly how that happened. And that moment with him, which I think you know, I referred to as, I thought it was real magic almost.

10:05And in a way it was. So Undertaker gong. Finn, what about you? Honestly, I'd probably say the same thing because when the gong went off and the lights, I was going crazy. Netflix has a thing that they put out. It's like the greatest five minutes in WrestleMania history. And it's John Cena coming down, Rock coming down to do that. And then what we're talking about now, The Undertaker showing up. The funny thing about it is it's my match. And in the greatest five minutes of WrestleMania history, I'm basically taking a nap on the canvas while this happens. So I'm like, well, you could have included, you know, I got up.

10:45I got up at the end. That's amazing. Okay, I'm glad WrestleMania 40. I think the pressure's on when you come to a WrestleMania 40, widely considered one of the greatest WrestleManias of all time. The pressure's on to continue that. Now, I see you guys in the front row, and I'm going to ask you, Finn. There's a lot of questions about some of the people in the front row, and I was very excited when I found out we were going to be talking. Because I go, maybe he knows. Maybe he knows. so you've you've been by green shirt guy huh yes many times okay is he in sanitation is he in the mob do you do what what do you know about him he is 100 actually honestly i wouldn't know okay so okay we don't know uh i think at this point the speculation on green shirt guy what he does i don't know maybe uh fiction the fiction might be greater than the truth on it all but he uh i don't know if you realize this is green shirt guy and then is it trinidad flag yeah he was at the garden last night trinidad flag of course trinidad flag he came to a signing i had in georgia there's you is there any others that need to be shouted out any other real kind of ogs that are our front row who yeah so the one i like to talk to the most he's a he's a great guy his name is sammy yeah on instagram send universal he's just a really great guy to talk to.

12:09He's always wearing stuff from Kobe because that was his favorite basketball player. He's always wearing Kobe's shoes. He's always wearing bright colors. He's a really great guy. You said Sammy Universal? Yeah. Of the all-star front row crew, do you guys ever hang out? I've obviously been seeing him a lot less because I can't really go to these shows a lot because of school. It's not a bad thing, by the way. You brought up school. It's a very like, so I love what I do. I love this. And I didn't go on to higher education. I didn't go to college. But there are many moments when I wish I did. And especially looking at a life of, man, well, what do I do when I'm done wrestling?

12:56If I got into the executive side of this thing, I don't even know properly how to format or spreadsheet and things of that nature. So the school will all work out in your favor. it's it's it's it's a good way but continue you said and not so much because you're in school right now right yeah yeah so not as much because i'm in school right now so it's it's kind of hard to see all the the whole front front row crew but like when we're in hospitality and like other places like oh like we might oh want to go to the arena together in a car ride like we're always kind of with each other so that's it's really nice i used to think uh because during the house show run at the end of the night i'd always be able to talk to the crowd and sometimes I felt like, am I saying the same thing the guys would say in church?

13:41And I was, because I'd be saying like, hey, if you don't know that person, then say hi to them. I was basically saying, say hi to your neighbor, shake their, and I meant it because I kind of thought like, hey, you had this fun night together, right? I don't think they're that crazy, whoever this is next to you. Maybe you'll see them again. The wrestling community becomes a family. It's very special. one of the things I like now more than uh I think in the 80s and the 70s the it was such a protected industry yeah that guys didn't want to reach across as much and say hello and then in this modern era it's it's far more common that we we know one another uh but then also you're kind of you go to and you go to so many shows do you feel you're still is it still magical or are you or is it harder to impress you it is for me it is 100 still as magical as for someone's watching it just like seeing people fly off the top ropes or just watching the stories that you guys tell yeah it's like the wrestling not like well quote unquote being fake it's not in my mind at all when i'm at these events i should yeah that's so that's that's the way yeah that's the way it's it's it's no different than when you sit in the movie and you yeah you know The first time I think I heard the suspend your disbelief is really the goal of any of this, especially with who knows.

15:09Everyone's journey to get to their seat is different. You're here and representing the modern part of our fandom. Sean, I feel like I read somewhere in preparing to talk to you that you – Black Friday? Black Saturday. Black Saturday. Black Saturday. How long have you been watching this? I started watching in late 1982 I was actually at Wrestlemania 2 Which city? In Nassau Coliseum Why they considered one of the worst Wrestlemania So I got to bookend it What were they thinking? Let's do three cities? We wouldn't do that today Did you watch some of the show on a screen? Nassau Coliseum was the first four matches Or first three And then you watched the rest of it And that was the night they introduced the big blue steel cage Yeah Yeah, and so I was there with my mom and my brother, and we had a good time.

16:06But, yeah, I've been watching since 1982. Big news. WWE and sports fans, the world's number one sports fan festival, Fanatics Fest, is making its return to New York City. Fanatics is bringing you closer to the league's teams, superstars, and athletes you love across four action-packed days in July. Meet your favorite WWE superstars. Get your hands on exclusive merch and interact with the biggest names in sports. Tickets are on sale now and fans of the podcast can use code Cody10 at checkout for 10 % discount. Head to FanaticsFest.com to get your tickets today. I'm here on the job site with Dale, who's a framing contractor.

16:47Hey, good morning. Dale traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for all his business vehicles. We're here where he needs us most. Yep, they sure are. We make it easy for him to save on all his insurance needs, all in one place. with coverage that fits his business and bottom line. Oh, I shouldn't have looked down. It's all right. We're so far up here. Look at me. Take a deep breath. No, I'm good. So good. Get a commercial auto insurance quote today at Geico.com and see how much you could save. It feels good to Geico. That's a really cool one to hear. I was at WrestleMania II. Yeah. Because it's like if you hear like I was at WrestleMania III, okay, I get it.

17:22Pontiac Silverdome, you know, the Hogan-Andre moment. I was at WrestleMania I, but the random I was at WrestleMania II. because today, this crew would be the one who would do it. We would not say, you know what? Let's do a show in three cities. Let's do it, and we're going to show a screen with 1982 projection technology. We're going to show a screen of the other shows. Could you see the other stuff? You could, but it would lose connectivity sometimes or the worst. There was about two or three minutes where during the Hogan-Bundy match, the announcing was about 30 seconds behind. what was happening.

18:01And my mom looked at me and goes, you like this? And I, yeah, we love it, mom. Yeah, that's a hard one for mom, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the biggest show, but you only got so many matches. So rest of the day, too, growing up, did you have a favorite in terms or a series of favorites for you? Yeah, I was a big Georgia guy. I was a big NWA guy. Yeah. I loved Flair. I loved your father. Yeah. Tommy Rich was one of my all-time idols. You look more like a flair guy. Yeah, yeah. Which is not a bad thing. No, no, it's not. But love Tommy Rich as well. Wildfire, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think people who've never, who literally will watch this and nod their head?

18:40Like, I know Tommy Rich, but not. What do they need to know from your perspective about Tommy Rich? Every time you watch a Hell in a Cell match, that's a derivative of the last Battle of Atlanta. Wow. For Spuzz Sawyer. That's a really great way to go with it, too. I was just going to say babyface fire, but yes. And we watched it with him recently. We actually got to sit down and watch The Last Battle of Atlanta with him, which was pretty fun. When you watch the old stuff, there is no wrong answers on this pod. When you watch the old stuff, does it hold up? I mean, you can tell it's a lot slower.

19:15Rather than today, they're jumping off the top rope and doing whatever. Can you imagine if you put Javon? That would be something. It's still like just watching matches of like Hulk Hogan and Tommy Rich and all those people it's like it's really cool like they might not be doing all the stuff they're doing now but it's really cool like just seeing what they were doing at that time so yeah uh it's funny you mentioned Tommy Rich this is such a random detour but Busted Open had me they were really asking me to do this interview for them it's really important for some anniversary show so really important and I love them and respect them but they were really putting it on about doing it and i was at the beach or some a really rare moment where i was not plugged in and i ended up saying i'll do it i'll just call in i called in and they had 15 minutes with me and dave lagreca spent 10 of it talking about tommy rich he loves tommy rich and i told him after i go this is what you wanted man people are going to be tuning into this me going on about tommy rich like this is modern wrestling you know like let's talk about like braun breaker oba or something what are we talking about tommy rich but yeah he was incredible and you're right the last battle of atlanta it's it's legacy hangs on um you uh what do you do if you don't mind me asking i feel like i never asked that question because always i sit next to people who are already at like my place of work what do you do i'm in finance i'm a chief financial officer at a firm cfo yes i love that yeah yeah do you have a jacket with CFO sequined on the back.

20:51No, but... You should. I think I might be asking for that for my birthday. Yeah. Bobby Heenan style. Yeah, yeah. Bobby... And I think, too, if you have it, it will only help the front row moment. You know? Yeah, it will. Everyone's got their own style, but you guys... It's going to sound mean to green shirt guy who we're not sure is in the mob or not. We're going to say not for the safety of all this. And if he is, we appreciate him and respect him. And, uh, yeah, but, uh, I think they'd start to like, you guys, this is gonna sound crazy. You guys always look normal. You know what I mean? You look normal.

21:26Some of them really stand out in a way that's like, okay, I know, well, I know him, you know, like, um, in terms of these shows and, uh, and, and you, you're talking about your history with it. You mentioned the NWA. Where are you from? I'm from New York. I grew up on Long Island. Okay. So how were you getting the NWA? Was it magazines or was it at this point you were getting Superstation? It was Superstation and magazines. I loved magazines growing up. That was always take the bike and do they have the new magazines. But yeah, we got Superstation, 605 on Saturday night. Mom would make homemade pizza and you would watch her stuff.

21:59Tell people why it was on 605. That was, if I remember the story correctly, that was Ted Turner time. So he felt like all the other networks played their first commercial five minutes in. And that's when people would change channels. Yeah. So if you put a show on at 6.05, you had a chance that when they were changing channels, you were going to catch them. I don't know if that's it. I think I've heard that, and I've heard the Braves baseball thing. Like something where the Braves, the games were never consistently timed. Yeah. Yeah, no, but 6.05, the Superstation. What was your magazine of choice?

22:32Was it Pro Wrestling Illustrated? Was it The Wrestler? It was The Wrestler. I loved The Wrestler. They always had the bloody covers. Yeah, it seems like the Northeast is far more into The Wrestler than Pro Wrestling Illustrated. But that's very interesting. And I know we share some similar interests. You, Scotch, Cigars, one of the last magazines still in the game. I will point out, Cigar Aficionado. I was on the cover recently. So very... Congratulations, by the way.

23:05I'm so glad I got a pop out of that. Yeah, no, you guys got me some cigars once before. Yes, we did. So this is a secret now. It's not going to be a secret anymore, but I hate gifts. I hate them. I hate them because I don't know how to receive them. I feel like I'm not being grateful enough or I'm not appreciative of it. Sometimes I get so insecure I'm not worthy. But then also fans give you gifts sometimes that are so nice but so insanely big. Where am I going to take this? last year at um wwe world there was a fan who had the full production crew with him this was a moment they were in my line to meet me and they had a poster board like a giant board and i can tell this is big and i'm not going to ruin anyone's party i'm excited to see what you got but i can tell they're filming it so it's a whole thing we're on right we're okay he turned it around and God bless, it's a picture of my whole family, completely AI generated, except for my Pomeranian.

24:13So Yeti is a real photo and then surrounded by AI images of my family. And Liberty's hair is wrong because they AI generated. What would her hair look like? And I took it and it was honestly the thought is always so important, but we have to do something with this. I have to get this back. A, get into the car. I have to get this somewhere. So we're kind of giving it a hard time, and I brought it to my hotel room, and I showed it to Liberty, and it was a mistake. Because I said, I said, we got to take this. We're going to get rid of this, and started crying. No, that's my family. So we had to sit it by her bed, and as we can hear on the monitor, she's like good night yeti good night like she's like talking to it so now i still have this this ridiculous thing but your gifts have always been things like cigars the great gifts uh are you uh is that something are you still a cigar guy today i am i am yeah it's the only time i like really relax i just i kind of channel everything out and and just i'll watch a ple sorry i keep calling it pay-per-view no p-le yeah uh and just sit on the back deck and and just a nice scotch and and enjoy i'll tell you a cigar story because you got cardona's bat in here i gave uh i got him into him and i always start people with a stick called the java which is an easy stick to start with it's cheap because it's flavored but he was like i love these i love these this is awesome and he's texting me all the time and then he sent me a picture of him with his pool wrong side fully he had been just fully smoking like he was still clipping and smoking the wrong way and a month had gone by so i can't imagine how many people would come over how many things but it was a whole moment now i think he's got it down he's got it figured out but it was uh it was a great little teaching moment i don't get many on him because he's a big bully type i don't know if you guys know really he's always so nice you've seen the pod with him right yeah he's a bully he's always so nice to finn he is yeah nice to me yeah yeah yeah well look at you you're dressed nice you know you got that bad of his you know like um speaking of the bat came in these unbelievable robes the bad blood robe which i now look at and miss because whatever the material sandra used on it seems like it's holding up.

26:45Yeah. Seems great. I want it back, but no, no. It's yours. It's yours. Behind us, did you bring the Ding Dong mask? Yes. So that's actually a replica, but we actually have a full ring-used bodysuit of theirs, and we actually have the bells that went with it. It's a simple follow-up. Yeah. I'll ask you then, why? I genuinely don't know. Okay. Very right. what is it about the Ding Dongs that you like? They were doing a virtual signing at K &S WrestleFest, which are friends of ours, friends of mine, and they had Ring U's gear and they were looking to sell it and I thought it's just a unique piece of wrestling history because it's not known as the greatest gimmick that anyone has ever done.

27:38I mean, just dressing people up with bells but, you know, fun stuff. Let me ask something. Ben, would you be interested in that ding dong mask the alpha outfit sure wow okay so yeah you made the right call yeah Ben would be honest because he gets a lot of stuff and you've done the warehouse tour you've toured around yes yeah we toured with you yeah that was a good time I think when I come in here it lives up to the hype like when I come in here there's something that makes me if I'm having even a bad day how can you know there's like hulkster hats over there and yeah 24 inch python like how could you not love this so it lived up to the hype definitely 100 yes finn you uh modern generation right so i go on the show called the breakfast club yesterday and uh the guy called me old and he was like hey its main events are all old and he was using the modern you know the the social commentary that's happening right now i'm like all right well we're experienced but i started thinking like yeah i'm i'm the more experienced generation yeah i'm fine with that in terms of this young crop that's coming up you seem to know do you have one or two that you like like of the of the young of the young nxt or new folks the youngins yeah i think javon evans is gonna go really far yeah like really really far not physically i mean physically he's gonna go really far physically and like just like what he's going to accomplish with his career, I think it's going to skyrocket in four or five years.

29:14Wow, you got this well-timed out. You're extremely well-mannered, by the way. That's a lost art. Well, well done. That's the wife. Where's mom? Well done. So Javon is one. Do you have any of the ladies? Anybody's oboe was there? You were in the garden last night? Were you in the garden? No, sadly not. Were you in the garden? I was. I got questions about the garden for you. Okay. So, Javon, give me one other. Ooh.

29:44Obafemi. Yeah. I tell people he nearly took my ear off, but it was actually the new table. It's just a terrible design. We all agree. Just go back to the old table. But, yeah, no, anyways. Yeah. It's so hard to think about it right now because I feel like, I mean, I guess you could say she's not like currently, she's not in NXT right now, but Roxanne Perez. Yeah. I think she's going to go really far. You know how naive I am? It's my running gag with Roxanne Perez is I went up to her a year ago or whatever it was. I was like, first Rumble? And then she said, no, it's actually my third. And I, oh, okay.

30:24I just hadn't, you know, I honestly had not paid attention where I should have paid attention. so now every time i see her like i saw her yesterday i was like ah first garden show huh she's like yep first i'm like all right that's our bit at least at least she appreciates it but Roxanne Perez and Javon i don't think you can go wrong with those two choices i don't either yeah are you ready to hold wwe history in the palm of your hand tops is bringing you closer to the action than ever before with wwe tops now highlighting the biggest matches and milestones from WWE shows and PLEs throughout the year.

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31:36Be sure to subscribe to the WB Topps Now mailing list on Topps.com and follow Topps on all social media platforms so you never miss a single moment. What do you like in terms of subject-wise in school? What do you like? I really like history. American history or world history? I always like ancient history. I really like ancient history. Oh, okay. And then like anywhere from 1800s to the 1900s. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. It's usually a sign that you're getting older, right? I heard Shane Gillis say that. When you start watching history documentaries and next thing you know, you're starting to get a little bit older.

32:20But you're a history buff. Yeah. History. I really like history. I've liked history for all throughout school. And then also science. I really like science. Yeah. Yeah, we're doing, so I'm a freshman. And so at my school, you do different science, like, subjects each term. So first we did physics, then we did chem. Now we're doing biology. And so we're learning about birds right now in our area, which is really cool. Yeah. Because, like, it's just cool, like, just seeing how living things work. Yeah. Because it's just so complex, you know? So it's just really cool seeing all it all was. So you're learning about birds?