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Just tap target. Pump up the volume. This is the Rich Eisen Show. And we're actually going to get to talk baseball with Clayton. I'm going to try to throw some cheese real quick.
Hold on. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Small team, what do you want? Cut her in. Slide her in.
I don't throw a cutter in. He doesn't slide her in. Slider. Cut her. Dirt hey.
Sit him down. Rich Eisen Show with guest host WWE Superstar Seth Rollins. Today's guests, Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward. Bears cornerback Jalen Johnson. And now sitting in for Rich.
It's WWE superstar Seth Rollins. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh man, I am still popping for that intro. I had not seen the intro for the first time. I'm seeing it.
That is incredible. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Seth. Rollins show. In case you are unfamiliar with the voice you are hearing, the face you are seeing, I am a visionary. I am a revolutionary.
I am WWE superstar, multi-time WWE champion, WrestleMania, maintenance, the one, the only Seth. Freaking Rollins. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I appreciate the serenade. That's what I'm used to.
So thank you, guys. Thank you. While I am here sitting in the rich chair, I am joined by this lovely cast of characters that Rich normally has. Chris over here to my left, Jason Feller, right in front of me, and over in the corner. I didn't realize you were so far in the corner.
I didn't realize you're so far. You might be, you might as well be on an island somewhere in the Pacific. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only TJ Jefferson. You know, I'm going to treat you like, treat this like a house show, right?
So you've got to play to the people way up top. I'm the person way up top. Oh, you're in the nosebleeds. You're in the nosebleeds. There is a difference.
There is a difference between the house shows, the live events, the non-televised events, and the television. You do have to work a little bit differently. But yeah, guys, I'm here. I can't believe it. We talked about this.
Rich invited me to be a host on the show. Many months ago. Yeah, how long ago was that? I'm not even sure. You were in Green Bay.
No, that was before a Green Bay. It was before a Green Bay. It was Super Bowl. And it was Super Bowl in New Orleans when you first brought it up. Yeah, I thought it was a joke.
I thought he was just being kind, you know, kind of. Are you serious? I didn't think it was real, but here we are. It has all come to fruition. I am excited to be here.
Thank you guys so much for having me. It is, I'm going to do my best. I'm going to be honest with you. This is, in case you didn't know, not my first job. Not my first gig.
I didn't go to college for broadcast journalism. I know nothing about this.
So I'm leaning on you guys. I'm leaning on all the callers at home. Anybody who wants to chat with us, please call in. We have a number for that, actually, 844-204-Rich. Please give us a call.
Give me your thoughts, questions. You can talk about sports, talk about wrestling, talk about my incredible style. Talk about anything you want. My beautiful wife, Rebecca Quinn, Becky Lynch, whatever you want. My daughter, anything.
You ask, I'll answer. Unless I don't want to answer, then I'll tell you to F right off.
So that's what we're going to do. What was you, man? I don't know why, but I do. What was your major in college? College, what?
You didn't go to school?
So I went. What did you go to? What did you study? I studied wrestling. I studied pro wrestling.
Look, when I was like 14 or so, I was like, look, ma, dad, I want to be a pro wrestler. And they shook their head and they were like, okay, yeah, sure, whatever, kid. And that just didn't stop. And by the time I was 18, I was like, look, I want to train to be a pro wrestler. This is what's going to happen when I get out of school.
But I'd put in the effort. Like, I'd gone to the gym. My buddies and I were doing shows in our backyard for a while. Don't try this at home. I'm not advocating for that.
But we were doing it. You know, it was just like. It was just like playing football, like in your backyard for us. It was wrestling. And so I decided to get into it.
And my parents were supportive. My mom said she would allow me to do this, allow me to live in her house if I went to the local community college.
So I just went, took the gin, the gin eds. Yeah. And after two years, I was like, hey, ma, this is going kind of good. Like, you know, I could think I could really, really do well at it if you just let me stop going to school. And fortunately, she made the right call.
So here we are years later, and things are good. My mom's actually moving out to Los Angeles, by the way. No way. No, nice. She's moving out to be, I mean, she's still in Davenport?
No, she's in Davenport, Iowa. Been there for the last 30, 40 years. She's moving to Los Angeles. Has nothing to do with me, entirely to be with her granddaughter. Oh, yeah, you don't matter.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It has nothing to do with that. I'm totally a side project. But yeah, she's going to be here sometime soon at the end of this month. Very excited to have her on board.
That's awesome. The way they say mother knows best. She knew best. She made sure she wanted best and then told you that. I'm nothing without my mom.
To this day, my mom still handles. You're looking at three mama's boys over here.
So, guilty as charged. She's a goat. She's as good as they come.
So, yeah. But let's jump into it. Let's talk about first my weekend. Let's do it. Let's just get that out of the way, right?
We need to talk about it. I'm sitting down. I look great. I can see myself on the monitor right here. I look great.
I'm not going to lie. But underneath this monitor, I do have a leg brace on. Over in the corner are my crutches. This past Saturday, I was in a match on Saturday Night's main event, which we special on NBC on Peacock. I was in a match with LA Night, and I hurt my knee.
I was doing a move that I do all the time. It's a moonsault, a backflip. In this particular instance, I was landing not on my belly, but I was landing on my feet. When I landed, I felt my knee kind of pop and buckle. You know, we got out of the match and we moved forward.
Monday, I was in Birmingham, Alabama, where our specialists are at. We try to take a look at the knee through some imaging. It was a little too swollen.
So, we're going to take another look, hopefully, in a week or two here in LA to try to get something, some sort of firm diagnosis, and then we can go from there. I am not a doctor. I only know my body and what I feel. And what I feel is that this is going to be me out for an extended period of time. That's.
You know, we were talking off air earlier and it is a bummer, but look, it is what it is. Our business moves on. This isn't the first time that I've been injured. It won't be the last time. And, you know, I've always just got WrestleMania in the back of my mind.
I'm like, can I make it back for WrestleMania, for WrestleMania season for the whole thing?
So my brain always goes there. And I feel good about that. But beyond like a firm timeline, I just won't know until we get a better answer on the MRI.
So that's where it's at. If you guys have any questions, you want to get anything out of the way, that's where I'm at with it. I'm open to whatever you guys want. If you got any questions.
Well, I guess, first off, just on a human level, like mentally, how are you? Because you're on a roll right now in your business. And then for this to happen to you, man, like, are you okay? Yeah. I mean, look, there's no good time to get injured.
You know, there's no like, oh, this is the best time of year for this to happen or, you know, you're not being used. Very much.
So, you know, you can take a break. But this is not my first rodeo. You know, I had a very serious knee injury, same knee actually back in 2015. I was in a much different state of mind at that point in my career where I was still feeling like I needed to work, work, work to get to the top.
Now I'm sort of at the top. I've had multiple injuries over the years.
So I know what it feels like to take a step back, but also I have the confidence in our roster and in our team that they're going to be able to move things forward in a way that's entertaining. Like, I don't want to say they don't need me, but like, we're good. We're in a good place right now. And when I come back, I'll be better than ever. How would you compare this to other injuries that you've had in your career?
Well, I don't know. Again, because I don't know. Again, I'm not a doctor. I don't want to do their job. But it feels a lot like 2015 in the sense that I was.
You know, kind of an end story, I was on my way up to taking the top spot.
Now, when I blew my knee out in 2015, I was actually the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
So that was like a heartbreaker for me. And I had just sort of reached that mountaintop. We were on the way to WrestleMania, and I felt like I was in for a really big spot that year. This is sort of like that. But again, I've just mentally in such a different place 10 years.
Gone. You know, I'm just, I'm more comfortable with it. I'm kind of like trying to find the silver linings. Like, um, You know, my daughter's four and a half. Like, I'm going to be able to spend a lot of time with her that I might not have been able to otherwise, you know, because the schedule is going to get crazy.
We have a bunch of international stuff coming up. I would have been gone for all that.
So, um, I feel like mentally I'm in a good place. I think physically, I'll be fine to come back from it. You know, when we get into the rehab and whatever it is we're going to end up doing with this, but I feel good, man. I feel good. I don't want to jinx it.
I'm sure there's going to be some weeks where I'm miserable, but like, I feel good about it. I'm trying to find the silver linings, and everything's going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. We're good. We're good, guys.
We're good. All right. We're good. So now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about sports. Let's do it.
What's going on in the sports world? Y'all, where are we at? It's the middle of summer, so things are kind of quiet. What do we got? What's happening?
I think the biggest thing in sports, you know, it's obviously this is kind of the slow week right before NFL training camps kick off next week, and then we start really ramping into the NFL season. We had the Major League Baseball All-Star game last night, and for a few innings, it was kind of a snoozer. It was 2-0. The NL put a couple runs up in the first inning on Tariq Skubel, arguably the best pitcher in the game. And then it was kind of just a snooze fest until the sixth when we got some runs.
Pete Alonso, home run. Then the American League starts their comeback. Bren Rooker, home run. And then all of a sudden in the ninth, we got a 6-6 ball game. And then we're going to extras.
Wait, not extras. We're going to this cool home run derby swing-off. And this is where things kind of take a turn because you'd expect, look. If we're having a three guy, Three swing home run derby off. Who's going to be in this?
Otati. Judge, Ronald Acuna, the hometown guy. Maybe you get Kyle Schwarber in there. Maybe you get some of the other big names. And really, Kyle Schwarber was the only one who was involved in this because Well, Alonzo was going to be able to get away from it.
Well, Pete Alonzo was going to come up, didn't get a chance to, but. And then that's kind of where the controversy is right now. It's, yes, this event was so cool. The ending was so awesome. This swing off was such a great idea.
Where were the big stars? And that's kind of what the hot button topic is in Major League Baseball right now. Was there a reasoning why, do we get any explanation for why we didn't have the big stars involved in this?
So the managers, Aaron Boone, Yankees manager, Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager. Apparently, you had to submit your three-man roster before the game. just in case. And one of the reasonings was, look, we don't want to put Otani and Judge out there because they played the first couple innings and they come out of the game. They've been sitting for a couple hours.
And now we're going to ask them to go up cold and try to swing out of their shoes and hit some home runs.
So they put players in that were already in the game or mentally getting ready to play there in the later innings.
So that was kind of the explanation on that. You know what? I can understand that. I get the frustration if you're a fan. And you're thinking, I want the heavy hitters here.
But as a guy who's had to do. Like multiple matches in a night. When you have to do a match, you're fired up, you go out there, you do your thing, and then you sit and chill. Physically That is very difficult to ramp back up and to go out and do that again without risking injury. But mentally, it's even harder.
Like, you know, when for me, when my music hits, it'll burn it down, the crowd goes nuts. I feel that adrenaline can pretty much get me through anything that's going on. But. If you have to do that multiple times in a night and go out and get physical while you're out there, I feel like this is just me, and maybe it's, you know. Maybe this was part of it, but I feel like my performance suffers.
I feel like I'm not as on. Like everything's just a little slower to kind of get cooking.
So I sort of understand that. I get the complaint. I get the frustration when it comes to like, oh, you want to see the big guys take the big swings to finish out the game. But I do get that. I do understand it.
Yeah, I get it too. And, you know, people were kind of taking umbrage with it. But look, Brent Rooker went out, hit an absolute bomb. And then you get Kyle Schwarber, TJ, and like, you know, you're no fan of Philadelphia sports. But this guy is just a legend.
He gets up there, three swings, hits three absolute moonshots, and he becomes MVP of the All-Star Game. The American League, their last player, a guy on the Rays, he gets up there and goes OFER, and National League wins. Kind of a womp, want, womp finish. Pete Alonzo was going to get a chance to maybe answer had Aranda hit a home run to tie it up at four, but. It ended up being a really dramatic and exciting finish despite the lack of name Star Power.
Is this the first year they've done this? It's the first year that they've actually, yeah, that it's come to fruition. It's been in the hopper there for a couple seasons.
Okay. We've had it just in case. We haven't had to use it. This was the first year. Oh, man.
All right. Tie game at the end. Let's bust this baby out. Nice. And so it ended up kind of living up to the hype.
It was really exciting, but like I said, just not the name, not the Otani, the judges, the Kunas that maybe you'd like to see. And the All-Star game is no longer for Comp Control of the World Series, right? It's just straight up exhibition. Just fun. Just fun.
Let's party. Let's get some names out there. Let's get some buzz for the second half of the baseball season because it's been a really exciting Major League Baseball season so far. Oh, come on. No.
I mean, come on, guys. My series is good this year.
So for me, it's been excellent. Red Sox won 10 in a row going into the all-star break. You got some guys making serious threats at some home run totals. Cal Raleigh, it's been kind of his season so far. You say home run totals.
You're talking about like the records? We're talking like we're talking Bonds' number here. 38 home runs at the All-Star break. Is Bonds' number the number? Is that still the 70, what is 73?
Question, Seth. If you ask us, yes. Bonds McGuire, 70, 73, or is it still like his judge as 60? Judge, right? Judge at 62 a couple years ago.
And they made a big point during that run that they were calling it the American League record, which was kind of wink-wink, the actual record, the clean records, whatso have you. And so, yeah, I mean. 73 is technically the mark, but do, I don't know. It depends how you feel about the whole steroid era and if you want to acknowledge that. We acknowledge it.
I mean, one of your co-workers, we acknowledge it. We acknowledge the steroid era. We're big steroid era fans. Do you acknowledge it as its own era or do you acknowledge it as a part of baseball as a total? McGuire and Sosa saved baseball.
That was the greatest summer as a baseball fan that I can ever remember. And baseball was struggling at that point. Oh, big struggle after the lockout, right? I would say that you got to kind of turn a blind eye to that stuff. I don't know.
73. If someone gets a 70, that would be absolutely insane. That would be insane. Even the safest drivers still encounter unsafe conditions, so it's important they do it in a safe vehicle. And Hyundai's offer available class executive advanced safety features to help keep you protected against the many challenges the road throws your way.
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Restrictions apply. I'm going to say this. I am a man that knows when he's defeated. I was beaten this year. Yes.
So. My business manager is supposed to have the hat for us. He did not. Oh, we're throwing Jamal under the bus. We're throwing under the bus right now.
He's not thrown under the bus by the bus just. See, he didn't even show his face. He's. I was willing to wear this hat. He hadn't made it up.
Well, he told me that the hat that he made up had the final score on it. No, he had the hat on there. It was a hat. I don't know what that is. The hat is supposed to read the following: I am going to.
So This can hear this. Mm-hmm. Hail to the victors, valiant. Hail to the conquering heroes. Hail, hail.
to Michigan the lead. Dirs and best. Wow. That is for you. Wow.
Only keep going. I honestly did not. I turned for me to do that. I honestly. I can't have thought of anything else that you would do that would make me think that you would not have to follow through on your end of the wager, which is where I should have gone to Michigan hat on the faunted field of Notre Dame with touchdown Jesus behind you, but Do I let him out of that end of the bet now?
That was pretty epic, actually. And he nailed all the words. Oh, he grew up in the state of Michigan. He should know them. He should know them.
I mean, that was the first time. I did not know them. I had to look him up to make sure I was saying it correctly for you. Also, I'm getting visions of Jerome practicing before he came out. It sounded rehearsed.
Yeah, it sounded rehearsed. That was great. That took a lot out of me. Great job, Jerome. You know that.
That was awesome. That was all right. What's up, guys? WWE Superstar Seth Rollins filling in here for Rich Eisen. I'm doing okay.
Am I doing okay, guys? You're doing great. I'm doing all right. All right, fantastic. I love the first segment.
I had a great chat, but things are about to pick up right now because we have a guest. I would love to bring him in right now. He is a legend in Pittsburgh defensive tackle, Cam Hayward. Yeah. Good, that's good.
I can't believe that clip show. Rich must have arranged that to But you get under my skin. Oh, yeah. He would never. He would never do such a thing.
No, not our rich. Cam, how are you, man? I'm good. We got camp next week. You know, just trying to enjoy my free time while I got it.
Yeah. So that's what I wanted to get into. Like, what is an offseason like for Cam Hayward at this point? Like, does it look different now that you've been doing this for a while? Different from when you were a rookie first, second year now?
Like, what does offseason look like for you?
Well, having kids definitely has changed everything. You know, you're definitely dedicated more to them during the offseason. Going to basketball games, flag football, softball games, staying busy there. And then, just the professional side of it, you know, you're starting to. I feel like I've started to start training even earlier.
You know, now I take off a week or two as opposed to when I was younger. You know, you might take a month off. But then the business side of just, you know, networking and going out and traveling, you do a lot more.
So it's definitely jumped up and ramped up. More than I ever thought it would when I was a younger guy. Yeah. Do you do you look forward to the off-season then? Or is it, is it like, oh no, I've got all this extra stuff I got to do now.
I got to get done. Like, you know, what's the dynamic like? I mean, when you're in season, it's like this is your job, right? This is, this is, you're regimented. You know exactly what you're doing.
That's kind of spelled out for you. But like offseason, now you said you've got all this going on. It's not like you're a young man. You're just taking a month and going to Cabo or something. You know, like, what, what, do you look forward to it?
Are you like, ah, this is a rest? Or how is it mentally for you? It's funny. Like, I look forward to the offseason, you know, right when it ends. But then when I get to this time, I'm looking forward to like end season because I like I need that routine in my life.
I need like, you know, football is my safe haven. Football is like where I can just focus and just lock in, and there's not as many distractions.
So excited for the season.
So to get this thing going. Yeah, man. And this season, especially, you got to be a little excited, right? You guys landed in quarterback. I think the last time we talked, you had nobody throwing the ball.
You had no one under center. I think I might have made a remark or two about that. And now you got all AR.
So, and he did. He said it's his. Final season, it sounds like.
Sounds like it, you know. If all things go the way we want, you know, we might have to beg him to come back for more. But, you know, last time we talked, we talked about him being the bear killer.
Now we get to bring him over here and we're going to have to have him kill some other. Logos and mascots along the way.
So, yeah, you got some wildlife in your division. I look forward to it. You could be a Raven killer. He could be a Bengal killer. Yeah.
And I think you guys are coming to Chicago at this some point this season, right? Yeah, you're gonna come to the game? Oh, I hope so. I'd love to. I'd love to be there.
I mean, maybe. I'm bad luck, man. I'm bad luck for the Bears. Yeah, they're so up. Is that the week before Thanksgiving?
Is that the Sunday before Thanksgiving? Yeah. Okay. All right. We'll see.
I don't. When is our man? I have to look at our schedule. We have a big show around that time, War Games, Survivor Series in San Diego, sometime around that. But if I am free, I would love to be there for that.
That would be tremendous. I'd love to see it. I hear you're a big Bears fan, but then talking to the Street Prophets, and there was talk that there was another big Bears fan.
So it's a toss-up right now. You want to just clear the air and tell me who the bigger Bear fan is? Oh, there's no question, it's me. No question, it's me. It's not even close.
Montez, so the Street Profits are a tag team in WWE. You know, there's Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford. Montez Ford, also a Chicago Bears fan, but I mean, he's like, fair weather is a bad way to describe it, but he's not on the level that I'm on. Like, I languish over football. Pretty much all season, but during the season, especially, you know, he moves on quickly.
He's out quickly. Dawkins, though, is a Bengals guy. Yeah, you got the other street profit, big Bengals guy, like huge Bengals guy.
So he is praying for your downfall. Oh, he is. He wants to. Yeah, man, the Bangladesh are tricky. How did you guys do against Cincy last year?
Uh we went one on one. One on one. Yeah, we won up in Cincinnati and then he beat us back in Pittsburgh. God, these just these elite quarterbacks, what is that like? Is it a different mental game for you going in against someone like a Lamar or a Joe Burrow?
Like, what is your mindset when you have someone that we would consider in our world an elite quarterback? Is it different than when you're going again against like a rookie or someone that's a backup or someone that just doesn't have the clout that these guys have? Like, do you prepare differently? Do you get up for the game a little bit more? Like, what's that feel like?
I don't know if it's getting up for the game, but you definitely have more in your pocket when you're playing those guys because they've seen everything. You know, you play Joe and you play Lamar. You got to have different looks that you might have shown early in the season. You got to be able to bring blitzes off of. Edges in the middle, you know, because the thing with Joe is he's got two wide receivers that are, I think, in the top 10 with T.
Higgins and Jamar Chase. And then with Lamar, he's making his wide receivers great. And then he's got the feet to just, you know, dance around the pocket.
So, you know, it's a different task week in and week out. But, you know, there's a lot of respect there because those guys are up for the MVB every year.
So you got to have your best performances. And do you think The inverse when they see someone like Cam Hayward on the opposite side, you know, under center there, they're looking across the line. Do you think there's Do you feel a confidence like, oh, they know it's me? You know what I mean? They know I'm coming for them.
Yeah, there's no doubt of that. Like, you know, I try to make sure my presence is felt every time we play them. You know, win or lose, I'm going to make sure that the quarterback, you know, knows I'm coming for him and he's not comfortable. You know, having a run and make like TJ and Alex Highsmith on the outside, you know, they make my job a little bit easier. But like we love to hunt quarterbacks for a living.
And so going up against those guys and, you know, Cleveland every year, it creates good rivalries and just hard-hitting games. Who's your favorite? Who's your favorite guy to get a hold of? Oh, right now, or like back when they were still playing? Oh, pick one.
All-time. I love an all-time. Who's your favorite guy to just bring to the ground? Standover. When you get Brady, that's just, you know.
Because Brady Brady talks a lot and like you respect it and he's the top of the game. And if you get Brady on the ground, you know it's defeating to the other team because, man, Brady is just, he doesn't go down a lot. You know, he's got a quick release. And, you know, there are usually big games where you got to get him down. Yeah.
So we talked about Rogers' big offseason move for you guys. You made another move on your side of the ball recently. Big trade with Miami, I believe it was. You've acquired Jalen Ramsey, who perennial all pro, Pro Bowler. How do you feel like that changes the defensive dynamic?
What does it do for you guys now moving into the season? You know, first, you know, the way it came out, I thought we were, you know, bringing Jalen in for just a pick. And I was like, oh, hell yeah, I love this. You know, and then I found out it's a trade for with Minka. And I'm like, damn, you've taken away, you know, a guy that has really meant a lot to our group.
So I was a little bit bummed about it. But, you know, you look at what Jalen brings to the table. There's no shorter talent there. Jalen, you know, is a ball hawking, you know. DB that can play corner, he can play slot, he can play safety.
His versatility makes him, you know, very, very great in our defense. And, you know, week in and week out, you know, you look at him and, you know, he's taken receivers out of the equation. I loved looking at those battles between him and DK all those years ago. It's nice to have both of those guys on our sideline now. And now they can go out and wreak a lot of havoc on both sides of the ball.
Yeah. I mean, he is a personality, though. He's a personality. And as someone who has a locker room, I have my own locker room in WWE, and I know that when.
Someone comes into that locker room who has a personality. There's always an eyebrow. You know, there's always an eyebrow being raised. And it's different when there's a body of work that comes with it. You know, they can get a little bit of a.
A past, sometimes, do you consider yourself? I mean, you've been in that locker room. What, 15 years now? You know, this is your 15th season, I think.
So it's like, are you, you consider yourself, you have to, the guys have to consider you a locker room leader at this point. Is there that thought in your head? Like, okay, you know, we're going to give you a little bit of a leash. You know, you can do your thing. We want you to do your thing.
But, like, don't. Don't mess this up. We got a good thing here. Is there a feeling? Is there a conversation that gets had?
Anything like that? I don't think there's really a conversation. You know, I think sometimes when guys get traded, they get a bad rap of who they are. You know, you got to welcome a little bit of what each person brings. You know, the logo is the logo, and the team is always put before everybody else.
But what makes up the team is different personalities. And there's got to be a gel to it. You know, just talking to Jalen so far, Jalen just wants to play ball. Jalen wants a chance to compete at the highest level. And we're going to do whatever he can to foster that.
You know, we're going to put him in the right situations. You know, sometimes coaches, you know, kind of run from those situations and say, you know, man, that guy can be a headache. It doesn't matter if a guy's a headache. We can still win with a guy and he can be a part of it and be a positive contributor. You know, I think sometimes you got to welcome what all a player brings because, you know, that's what makes a good team.
You know, it's not like all good teams never. Have headaches or all good teams, never have players that are different. Man, you got to let players be the players and go out there and try to message the team. Yeah, I mean, you guys got a stacked squad this year. And like I said, with Rogers kind of saying it might be his last year sort of thing, like I mean, all chips are in.
Like, it's, I mean, I mean, every year you want him in the Super Bowl, but it's, it's, you're, you got to be feeling. Like, we gotta, this is, let's go, you know what I'm saying? Let's put it, let's put it all out there this year, really. And my question is. For you.
At entering year 15, especially in your position, how are you feeling? How many years do you think you want to do this? Where are you at mentally? with your career and and and your future. You know, I'm still hungry.
You know, there are a lot of things I still want to accomplish in this league. And the first thing that comes to mind is, you know, holding one of those Lombardies one day. And, you know, I feel like we have a team to do it. You got to love the way our staff and our organization go about every year saying we're trying to compete for a championship. It's not like we're trying to rebuild or hold anybody back.
We understand what this city wants. And as players, we want to answer that call. I take it year by year, see how the body's feeling, see if I'm able to, you know, train the way I want, get after it. But when I can't do that, then I will hang it up. But, you know, I'm having a lot of fun doing this job.
And, you know, what better job could you have than playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers? You know what I will say? You've aged very well. You aged very well. You know, I'm looking at you now.
A lot of gray hair here. Yeah, you know, a little gray, never hurt nobody. But I mean, look at you. You've still got like a baby face to you. You know, doesn't he, boys?
Then he's still got like a little bit of like it's just a boyish charm to you. You mentioned you're a dad. How many what what I don't think we've ever talked about dad life? Like what's your uh how what what's your kids situation? What's your home situation?
So I got one boy, two girls. My boy is nine, and then my girls are seven and five. And there's never a dull day in our house. You know, it's, you know, my son, he's like five, seven at nine years old.
So he's a big kid. He's a big kid. And I was like that too as a kid.
So, like, you know, I always, you ever see that Robin Williams movie, Jack? That was like, that was like my life growing up.
So he's going through that. And then my girls run the house.
So we are very busy in our house. Oh man, that's fantastic. Is your wife big? Like, do you have a, you know, stature-wise too, or is she petite? You know, she's tall.
She played volleyball at Ohio State as well. Oh, okay.
So you're 5'11, and she's the shortest of all her sisters. Oh, nice. Wow. Wow. So, yeah, your boy is, he's, he's gonna, he's not gonna stop.
That's fantastic. Off the chart, as the doctor says. Oh, man, I love this. I love it. You boys got any questions for Cam?
Cam, I think we can't let you go without asking about number 90. Nothing too specific about what he's up against, but what's the vibe in the locker room ahead of training camp when something like this is going on? Have you talked to him? What's his mindset? Just kind of the general feelings on what's going on with TJ Watt.
You know, I think we've talked, but like, we don't really talk about like contracts, but. Man, that's my brother. Like, I want that dude to get paid what he deserves. That dude is one of the most fierce and best players in our league, and he's respected throughout the league. You know, we talk about as a defense, we circle players on offense, but offensive players have to circle number 90 week in and week out.
And there's a level of respect there. I've had the The best time being able to play with him. And, you know, I hope last this year is not the last time we play together because that dude, you know, that's my running mate. And we've created a lot of havoc together. And I just want to see that guy continue to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and be a one-helmet guy.
Yeah, you can't, you don't really think of the Pittsburgh Steeler defense without thinking about you and TJ together.
So, you know, the idea, I mean, it's been thrown out. What if he gets traded? And so it's like, how do you handle those discussions as a team and as a unit? I'm going up to Omar and I'm telling him that's not happening. If there's even a trade that gets up there, I just don't think it helps our team to trade a guy like that.
Do you have that power? No, I don't. I don't have that power. You can just bang on the door and be like, I'm gonna tell you, guys, we gotta talk. I don't know if it's even gonna work, but.
I'm gonna throw my hat in the ring and just say this cannot happen.
Well, but uh that's just the way I feel. I love that. I love that. Hey, Cam, TJ here. You famously had that quote earlier about Aaron Rodgers.
Either you want to be a Steeler or you don't. It's that simple. You came on the show, we chopped it up. You kind of. Said, you know, how it was taken or maybe misconstrued.
What was that first meeting like when AR finally showed up to camp? How'd you guys chop it up and? Was that even addressed? Man, it was funny. We got to text him a couple of days before he signed.
And then he texted me and was like, Hey, can I come out to your golf event? And then come out. I always host a family barbecue for players and their families. And he was like, Hey, can I just attend? And I was like, Hell yeah.
And we just got to chopping it up. And it just felt like he was bought in. And you know, it worked out for the best. Like, I know sometimes we live in a society where we want things now. But patience has a way of paying off.
And to now see he's a Pittsburgh Steeler and just him walking through the locker room, asking questions how we do things. He's bought in. And that's all I can ask for our quarterback. And as a teammate, I'm excited to go to work with him. Yeah, that's the phrase that's being used, Cam.
All in. The Steelers are all in this season with Rogers and now Ramsey and they'll get the Watt thing figured out. Does it feel like that to you guys, that this is kind of an all in season? Yeah, you know, every year is all in for me. You don't know if you're going to get another team.
But, you know, I think that's what you want. You know, you could have a team that's trading everybody away and, you know, just trying to stockpile picks. That's not the feeling I get here. It's more of we are trying to make a statement for this team and provide ourselves an opportunity to compete for a championship. Cam, you are the man.
Thank you very much for joining us today. I think we did all right. Normally, these roles are reversed. Usually, you're interviewing me for your podcast.
So, it was very cool for you to come on here. Let me ask you some questions. I think, did I do okay? Can you give me like a grade? Did I do all right?
You did great. You get an A. You didn't ask about our wager we made. Oh, I didn't forget that. I'm not letting you go in.
You know, we made that before Rogers came on board, I think. But I'm a man of my word. I'm a man of my word. I'll stick to it. I'll stick to it.
So, you better be there. You better be playing, playing your heart out. I'll try to be there. I want to be there. I want to watch you lose to Chicago in Chicago.
That's what I want to watch. Most people are going to be able to do that. I want to see me dress like you. I want to see you dressed up like me. That's what I want to see.
We'll get you one of these fancy chains right here. We'll get you one of these. We'll get you all. I got an extra one in the works. We'll get you like a black and gold.
One, we can do it all for you, man. No, I wouldn't see you in a Steeler jersey. Oh, if it's a Steelers jersey, would it be your jersey or Aaron's jersey? Which one are you gonna make me wear? Oh.
No, I'll do mine. You don't want to hurt me too bad, man. Don't hurt me too bad. It pains me just to see him on my screen down here. But yeah, good luck to you, man.
I'm sure this is not the last time we'll talk before we get to that game in November.
So you're the man, dude. Thanks so much. I appreciate you coming on. Take it easy, bro. Appreciate you.
Get healthy, dude. We appreciate it. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there.
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Not available in all states. So, you know, we love talking movies around here. You know, we love talking comedy around here. We also love talking about classics around here.
So You know what I'm all about. That said, All of that said. You know how I must have felt when I was sitting in the movie theater like I was the other day watching the previews and up came a preview. for the naked gun. with Liam Neese and his Frank Greben, junior.
That Preview had me at hello. I loved police squad back in the day. I loved the naked gun back in the day. And here comes the naked gun once again with yes, Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. Come on now.
Son of the celebrated police squad, Lieutenant Frank Drebin from the original movie. Paul Walter Hauser's in this movie. Also, Pamela Anderson. Guess who also makes an appearance? WWE superstar.
Cody Rhodes and the producer of the movie is Seth McFarlane, the creator of The Family Guy. Come on now.
This is going to be so much fun. I'm excited to see The Naked Gun in theaters on August 1st.
So. What do you do on August 1st? Of course you're going to a theater near you and you're seeing the naked gun. I might even be there. We have come up with a list of NFL players and we have placed it on a A clipboard.
Clipboard. Yes.
That's just like Mr. Garvey had the roll call of his bewildered students in front of him. We have a list of NFL names and asking you to Mr. Garvey them and we'll do our best to to decipher who they are.
Okay, here we go. I'm ready. Y'all ready for roll call? Yeah. I'm gonna call it these names.
If you hear, just say yes or here or present.
Okay, number one. Where is Ladidi? Mecha Pie. Mekong K. Ladide, Mekong K, are you here?
They're the D D It's La D Mekong K. Let's see if he's here. Oh, Lad McConkie. There he is. Boy.
Your name is Ladivi Mekong K. When I called your name Stay here. My go do this all day.
Next. Is Doraque Maye here? Where is the Raque Maye here? Mama, yay. Yeah.
I don't know. Come on, Rich. Where are these people? Where are students at? He might be in New England.
Let's see if we guessed this one right here. There he is. Yes, there he is. That's what I said. Durac game by game.
Wait a minute, what's his name? Durake Maje Cuba? No, no, no, he's just a QB. Oh, he's just a QB quarterback.
Okay, I should have paid attention to the parentheses.
Next. Where is LIM? It's in burgers. Yeah. Yeah.
It's L I M. Itchenberg up in here? Let's see if he uh L I am, huh? Let's see if L I am Oh, no, that I am Eichenberg.
Okay. Each inberg. That's a CH. Each and Berg. I mean, I'm next.
This is ridiculous. Let me take verb. Ain't nobody here. You might be in Miami.
Next up. Is Chasse McLaughlin in here? Where's Chasa and McLaughlin? Yeah. Chase, I mean I don't know how to say this, Chase McLaughlin.
Is he? I mean, he might be in Cincinnati. He might be in Cincinnati. Oh, he's in Tampa. He's in Tampa Bay.
Watch this now. This brother's name is Balake. I know that name. I'm pretty familiar with that name. Balak Karoom.
Balak, come on. Where you at, Balakaroon? Hail to the victors. Yes, thank you, Balak Karoom.
Okay. Where is Duque Relay? Yeah. Pretty dukay. It might be hold on.
Hold on. It may be Dookie. Dookie Really. Relay. What hell?
What is it, though? Let's see what he is.
Okay. No, he's in Miami, too. Oh, he's also at Duke. All right, Duke. All right, last on the list, last but not least, we got...
G-Regs or William. Where is G-Regs? Really, I feel like G-Regs really might be a kicker. Am I right about this? This is the feeling.
See? Yep. There he is. Oh, yeah. G-Red Zerillia.
Playing for the New York Gietza. Jietza. Oh my god. Oh my gosh, that's fun. We are back here on The Rich Eisen Show.
I am not, in fact. Rich Eisen. I have a little more hair than Rich. A little more style than Rich. I am, in fact, WWE superstar Seth freaking Rollins.
We are here. We are live. I am with Chris. I am with Jason. TJ.
We are having fun. Just had Cam Hayward on the show. Man, Cam's great. He's all right. I love him.
I love him. And a gigantic man. Just huge. Just a house. And the fact that he's been able to do this at his level for so long.
I was, you know, one of our My colleague's WWE big Steelers fan. He, Chris Park is his name, better known. By Abyss. The monster. The monster Abyss in TNA.
Never wrestled in WWE. Big Steelers guy. And, you know, I said, you know, the thing with Cam is he's one of the greatest to do it at his position in his era. It's a shame he played during the Aaron Donald era, you know, because he gets overshadowed because Aaron was, you know, such an elite level, you know, redefined the position. You know, he had a little bit sexier numbers than Cam, but Cam is like a stalwart.
He is incredible, one of the greatest at his position. He should be Canton Bound for sure. And I think he's headed for the Hall of Fame. Four-time first-team All-Pro. Oh, he's, yeah, he's the band.
I think the only thing he doesn't have the Lombardi trophy, right? That's the only thing he said that he's... I mean, he mentioned that as one that he really wanted. Was he on the team that... Beat the Cardinals in the Super Bowl?
Now his first year was 2011. Oh, so he just missed it. He just missed it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the only thing man of the year.
Like, he's kind of done it all except playing the Super Bowl. Special guy. All right. I made promises. I will keep promises.
We said we were going to talk to some of the callers, so let's talk to him. I'm just going to go down the list. We got two minutes right here.
So let's rock. Derek. Derek from Missouri. Derek, what's online? Ladies and gentlemen.
By name is Derek in Missouri. And it is my honor and privilege to introduce to you The man known as a visionary anti-revolutionaries. But since day one... An architect. He has not only won, but a two-time Money in the Bank winner and current holder of the briefcase itself, And once he gets healed from his knee injury, will soon to be The reigning, defending.
Undisputed world heavyweight champion of the world. Yeah. Freaking Rawling. All right. You know what?
You've been holding long enough. You can do that. Derek, you can make that introduction. Derek, we got one minute. What's your question?
What's your question? I just want to say thank you for all you've done in the ring. I appreciate you and everything. My question for you is: What are your high expectations for the Bears this upcoming season? With Cale going to his second full-time year and having Finn Johnson as the new HC down there.
Oh, baby. Expectations through the roof. I am hyped on Chicago. I am hyped on the Bears. I was hyped last season, man.
I was hyped last season on Caleb. I am more hyped this season. I think he's going to have an incredible sophomore year. I mean, look, chances are he's only going to have one head coach this year. He's only going to have.
What is this? What do you do? What do you. Brock, what are you doing over there? Not yet.
I'm talking to Jack. Don't do that. Don't do that to me. All right. I saw him.
He was doing a little something with his hand, like a little, it's not going to be for the Bears. Nah, I'm high on the Bears, man. I think we're going to get an NFC North Championship. That's what I think we're going to get out of Chicago. I'm saying it, man.
I feel good about it. I feel great. I'm interested. Yeah, we got to. You got to.
It's going to be great, man. Thank you for that question. But yeah, I feel really, really good about the Chicago Bears this season. As you should. And we'll hit a top five expectations wish list later on in today after we talk to Jalen Johnson.
But we have time for another call, Seth. Do we got more?
Okay, let's go. Go down the list, man. Give me Ross, right? Let's pop it. Ross wants to play the win-loss.
So let's wait on the market. Oh, okay.
Sorry, sorry. Scroll line three. Yeah. Jawan and Jacksonville. Juwan and Jacksonville.
Hey, Seth, I'm a big fan. Can you hear me okay? Yes, sir.
So Seth, you know, um sorry about the injury that happened, but like I just wanna got a question for you, so it's gonna be like Look at it as like an upside, spend time with your daughter, you know, spend time with the family, the kids, you know, all of that good stuff.
So how do you plan on going about that? Will you be backstage in the WWE shows with Braun and Bronson and them? Or will you know you can be with the family and just watch them from afar? You know, that's a great question. I don't think I have a complete answer for you yet.
I think once we get a full picture of what this injury looks like and the timeline, the exact timeline, if it will require surgery, then you get a whole different ballgame. There's going to be rehab.
So I probably won't be on the road full-time. I think that's a big ask, considering I'll definitely have to do some sort of rest and recuperation or some sort of rehab with whatever this injury ends up being exactly. But you know, there is always the possibility that I go out there with Paul Heyman, with Braun, with Bronson, and kind of continue what we're doing.
Now, at the end of the day, I don't know if you saw on Monday, Roman Reigns returned to the field. I'd like to stay as far away from Roman Reigns as possible.
So, word on the street is that he's got a movie role coming up sometime in the fall.
So, maybe when he takes another vacation back to the island of irrelevancy, I'll pop back in and see what's going on. But, yeah, you know, we'll see. It's all sort of TBD at the moment. We just don't know exactly what's going to happen. I've never had a role.
On screen, where I haven't been 100% fully active, ready to fight at all times.
So I don't know what that would even look like or feel like. Even when I'm backstage now, like I was on Monday, I feel like You know, I'm not, but I feel like a nuisance. I feel like a pest. I feel like I'm in the way. Why?
I don't know. I don't know. I just don't, I don't like it. I don't like the way it feels. I feel like I'm not, like I'm half the man that I, that I am supposed to be.
You know, and it just doesn't feel. Shout out to Scott Wyland. Yeah. There you go. It just doesn't feel the way it's supposed to.
But, you know, we'll see. Time will tell.
So, um, I don't know. Great question, though. Yeah, that's the thing in the NFL. When you're injured, you're not around the team.
So that's something that you kind of have to navigate. Exactly. Good way to finish out the first hour. We did it, boys. Let's move on.
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