This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes, and it can mean hundreds more in your pocket.
Visit Progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Do you Going on, everybody.
Welcome to the No Contest Wrestling Podcast. I am the heel that you love to hate, that baseball hating Dodger, O'Shea Jackson Jr. It's me. It's me. It's that T-double-O-J-I-G-G.
You know, I'm just channeling my inner row, dog, right? Hey, yo, it's TJ Jefferson here with. Welcome to No Contest Wrestling. Yeah, man.
So we had a.
Some pretty impactful things happened on WWE. One thing that I uh Mm-mm. Really just trusting Paul with, really trusting him with my man Jay Uso. Lost the Intercontinental Championship. After 29 days.
I couldn't even get a month. It was like February. It was February history monthly year. And they gave you an extra day. Yeah, man.
So, I mean, there's just a part of me that's like.
So you're telling me there's no world Where Roman Reigns music hits. He saves his cousin. And we could still push that forward without my guy losing the title that we all were just so happy for him to have. I feel like I feel like I'm watching Brock Lesnar just rip Kofi Kingston in front of this new Fox TV deal. And it just, it stung.
And it really, I was waiting for that OTC music. And it just didn't happen. And I mean. Yeah, now I hate the new bloodline.
Well, I mean, look, and that means that they did their part, right? They did what they were supposed to do. When Jay shows up on SmackDown. And he kind of, I won't even say he challenged Solo, but he was like, look what I did on my own. Yeah.
This is something you can do. You kind of had the understanding, I think, that this was going to happen. Right. But the way he did it. The way he Ask Solo why he brought the Tongans in and why he brought Jacob in.
That was some real stuff because we all have those black sheep in our family, right? Who maybe the one half of the family don't really mess with like the other half, or someone who you kind of, like I said, the black sheep. We all keep them Silverteeth cousins. Yeah, right?
So. Jay really did a good job of asking Solo why you went and did what you did to bring them in. And Jacob, you know, we don't mess with him like that. Yeah, he bite. That was some real stuff right there to me.
Yeah, it's. It's one of the reasons why the bloodline story has been so compelling because it's family. It's real drama interwoven into it. It's nothing fake about it. And it's these ups and downs that Are part of the job.
I just praised AEW for breaking everybody's heart. Yeah. And like another moment, you know, we always talk about on this show when did wrestling break your heart. That moment right there, Braun Breaker destroying Jay and taking that's some kids' moment. Oh, yeah, that's some young wrestling ranked superstars' moment who's out there eating, yeah.
Who's like, No, I gotta, I gotta write this wrong some kind of way.
So, you know, it's definitely gonna fuel this story, it's gonna do what I mean, me as a Bloodline fan. I want to see them back together.
So that's aiding it forward. But. Man, it's always going to be a what if you let him kick that. That hurt a little bit, I'm sure. But also, you know, a lot of people have their thoughts on Solo as the tribal chief.
Who did win North American? He did win that North American. He had that belt for a cup of coffee. But Solo, I feel is doing a A good job of Now he's starting to like come into his own. It took a while.
I wasn't impressed or accepting of it at first, but when he went face to face with Roman. And Roman agreed to acknowledge him, but he wouldn't acknowledge him as the tribal chief.
Solo kind of stood his ground. And then you saw Roman. Roman's still at the core. He's still going to be this egotistical, kind of arrogant dude who sees himself as the head of the family, as the head of the table, as the tribal chief.
So, for him to come out and acknowledge, so yeah, I acknowledge you as what, though, not the tribal chief. And then Solo stood his ground, which made Roman snap into a, you know, and what to him. Yeah. It was just like, okay. I'm not sure exactly where this is going, but I love the path that they're taking.
We know what it takes in order for. You to be tribal chief. We know what has to go down. It's either the elders or trial by combat. And that's the one thing.
Solo never actually won the Ulafala. He just picked it up off the ground. And Roman's so, I guess, attached to it. If you see, every time he gets his hands on it, he loses. Kind of a sense of where he is, and then it always gets snatched back.
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, that's just more of it. It kind of reminds me of these are two separate worlds, I know, but remember when Bubba Ray used to slam demons through tables and go into a trance? Yes. Kind of like that.
You know, Roman feeling his purpose, you know, kind of refuel his soul. And. We all know where this is headed. Survivor series has to go down. I'm wondering if it goes even further because, like, they are, they just grow.
They grow fatus everywhere, man. There's plenty more room where they can go with this. And one thing that we did see, though, that's outside of the bloodline. That Braun and that Jacob Marlowe. Let me explain to you something.
Bron Breaker.
Son of Rick Steiner, nephew of Scott Steiner. He spears Solo outside the ring, which I thought was where Solo came to help Jay. Did you you gotta pick up on that? Silo came down there, he brought Loa, Tonga Loa, Tonga Tama, Tonga Tama, to help Jay. Of course, didn't see it that way.
He spares solo.
Next thing you know, Jacob comes out. And then you get that matchup. I haven't felt that way since Hogan and Andre stood face to face and looked at each other. I haven't felt that way since Austin and Rock stood and just looked at each other. Jacob Fat 2 and Braun Breaker.
I'm like, I didn't know I wanted it, but now I need it. I got to have it. Yeah, like I thought. When we saw Strowman and Bronson just destroy everything in the arena. That's what Jacob and Breaker need.
Yeah, I just need it to just be the most cinematic, prop-breaking nonsense. And just I need the chaos. Obviously, this is just the tease. There's, you know. Jacob has done some solo work in the live shows and things like that.
But, like, yeah, we know it needs to happen. Yeah. And now, and now we, like, like I said, we see Survivor Series. We know we're going to get Bloodline versus Bloodline. We don't know who's going to be in it.
We know kind of the new Bloodline side. We realize we're going to have Roman and Jimmy. Let's just be honest, chances are we are going to get Jay. Yeah. But who's that fourth going to be?
Is Sammy Zayn going to come back to the family? Will it be Talatonga? All right. The brothers who they've signed. Do they have time, though?
Do they have the time to like do you need time to have a six foot, eight inch tongan come out? Throw them out there. Throw them out there. You know, it's like so. I'm invested.
I know you are. This bloodline thing, if you're not a fan, I'm sorry. Yeah, what? You either got to become a fan or find something else to watch. This isn't going to end anytime soon.
And I know we're excited for it. Absolutely. And, you know, we're talking about. What if Roman would have came out to help Jay? What if they would have let him have the Intercontinental Championship a little longer?
What if Alon and Jacob go together.
So, I mean, I feel like what ifs is a perfect segue. And also, you know, if you watch SmackDown on Friday, you understand that Cody Rhodes came out. He started talking about what-ifs throughout the history of wrestling. And he gave three in specific. He said NWA champion Harley race versus WWW.
WF champion Bruno San Martino as a what-if back in the day. Could you imagine? He also mentioned AWA champion Nick Bockwinkle, one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, in my opinion, taking on the nature boy Ric Flair, champion versus champion. He also mentioned WCW's Bill Goldberg against Stone Cold Steve Austin. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?
Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help you find options within your budget. Try it today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law.
Not available in all states. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts people. You love their jingle. You're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road. And the parts knowledge they have, it's all you need for your maintenance and repairs.
They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle. Need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed, or a quick service? They'll help you there and find the right part or point you to the nearest local repair shop for help.
The professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts are your one-stop shop for all things auto-do-it-yourself, and you can find what you need in store or online.
So stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at O'ReillyAuto.com/slash Eisen. That's O'ReillyAuto.com/slash E-I-S-E-N. O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Mm. In the world of professional wrestling, there are literally hundreds of thousands of what-ifs that could happen.
So that's what O'Shea and I decided to do this week. We wanted to take. Each of us three what ifs throughout the history of wrestling in the shade because this can be done so many times. I have a feeling this won't be the only time that we do this because how can you narrow them down to three? But we did.
We each gave three what ifs. And we're going to explain how that could have changed the history or the course of wrestling.
So. Who's your number three? My number three. Who's your number three, I should say? My number three moment.
And this is just to dig at everybody on Twitter. What if those damn. Cody crybabies would have just knew their role and shut their mouths and let us get rock versus Roman at 40. Oh my God. Can you just shut up and watch TV?
Like, I want it so bad. To be in Philadelphia, the Philly crowd, Rocky, Rock, you know, that whole thing, and be able to watch Roman. break Hulk Hogan's streak. I wanted that so bad. And before all of you get on Twitter, well, but what, but what you can't take away what Hulk did for the business.
Not about Hulk. I'm not talking about him. I'm talking about Roman Reigns, greatest of all time. I don't care what nobody says. Argue in the comments with yourself.
But yeah, man, I really wanted to see that. I really wanted to hear Michael Cole say that Roman Reigns, who I look at as my Mr. WrestleMania, most main events, yada, yada, yada. You know, He would have had the longest streak in the WrestleMania era. I would have loved to have that.
And obviously, what Roman has done, it's hard to take that away. He's going to stand the test of time. He's still doing it. I hope I get to see him with the title again. But yeah, I just got, I use that third one just to dig at y'all.
The other two, you'll agree with me. And I agree. You know, so many people, for so many years, we wanted. Roman against the Rock. Yeah.
Oh, my God. We're getting to a point in time where we have to make this happen soon because Father Time, as we all know, is undefeated. There's going to be a time where Rock probably can't physically do it. But, you know, the way he looks, that could be 10 years from now. Who knows?
But what we did get was one of the greatest. WrestleMania main events of all time, the way it all Panned out with everyone coming and becoming a part of that match. I sat there, I was in the third row. On hard cam side, and it was just an amazing, amazing outcome.
So they tried something. Didn't work. They swerved. Shout out Nana. They swerved, and I think they ended up with something a little bit better.
This is kind of my personal opinion.
Well, my personal opinion, to hell with what you say. All right. I don't give a damn. Cody, we're cool or whatever. That's my man.
Like, man, we knew you were going to get the title eventually, man. Come on, baby. You could have given me a couple months. You would have had to get it right now. I want you at three years.
Yo, chill, bro. Chill.
So I'm going a little deeper with mine, and mine is this. Back in the early SmackDown days, you know, UPN. UPN. Kurt Angles in the middle of the ring, and he asks for a challenger. Out walks out a guy.
Says his name is John Cena. He says he brings ruthless aggression. He slaps the prototype. He slaps the lips off of Kurt's face, or I like to say the face off his lips. And then the character of John Cena is born.
But John Cena has admitted that the character got stale. He has admitted that he was close to getting fired at one point.
So, my number three, what if for today is, what if Stephanie McMahon didn't hear John Cena freestyling on the back of the bus that day? Because the story goes they're on the bus going somewhere. Cena's in the back, I believe, with Rikishi, Ray Mysterio, a few people, and he starts to freestyle. Cena, you know, he's got bars. And Stephanie McMahon hears this.
And she suggests she suggests she suggested a a tweak to his character. The doctor of thugonomics is born. Word life. This is basic ergonomics. That became.
Huge, right? John Ceda, he came out in every town with the different jerseys. He had a rap for everybody he was going against, every city, every town, every opponent. Changed the perception of John Cena. It led to over a decade-long run of John Cena being on top.
Of the WWE and thus being on top of the wrestling world.
So I always have to wonder if Stephanie McMahon did not hear John Cena rat. What would have happened that you know for that time period? He wouldn't have got the man. You wouldn't have and whether, regardless of whether you're a Cena fan or not, for him to stay on top of this company for as long as he did. No other wrestler has done that.
Yeah, when when um You know, I was a fan of the doctor. You know, I was a fan of that. But then once it got to. You know, super Cena. You know, I'm not going to act like I was.
Jumping for joy. I get that. Yeah. And my shout out to my little brother Sharif. My little brother Sharif is a member of C Nation.
He will, boy, disrespect John. Disrespect John in front of Sharif. But yeah, he's definitely. one of those staples in WWE that is on One of the most professional people on the planet of all time. On the planet.
The Make a Wish Foundation and everything that. He has brought is because Stephanie heard him on that bus. And you have to, you know, regardless of if you were a fan or not, if you were in charge of a billion-dollar corporation at that time and you need someone to carry your mantle to be your champion, to be the face of your company, John Cena was the choice at that point. And you know what? Him.
He proved it. He backed up. He Made them seem as though the choice that they made was correct. And look, it was. Yeah.
It was. And look, we all maybe had a little scene of fatigue at the end with the Super Scene and stuff. But the fact of the matter is, merchandise sales, make a wish. The talk shows everything that goes into what they want is a face of this billion-dollar company he provided and he knocked it out the park. And you got to give them respect for that.
And it's really brave of WWE to make an invisible man the face of their company. I couldn't see him half the time, which was the other problem. I'm like, you know, why is Edge wrestling himself? But then how's he getting pinned? But it was the Edge wrestler himself.
All right. All right. What do you got for number two? My number two.
Now, this one. Um Probably early in my life as a wrestling fan, this was probably the most stressful angle. of my life. But Later on, I found out that I got shortchanged a little bit because of, you know, some personal reasons. But what if?
We had all the major WCW and ECW players. For that alliance angle, man. That was one of my ideas, too. Oh, yeah, if, dude, yeah, dude, if they had the heavy hitters, like the heavy hitters in that, it would have. Like, they would still be getting paid off of it.
Like, it. To think of it now. Missed opportunities. Yes, of course. And, you know, there was a lot going on during those wars.
Time Warner contracts was the big thing, they were paying guys. hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. To basically stay at home if you felt like it, and very few guys shout out to Booker T five time, five time, five time, five time, five time. Actually, six. Booker T is the only guy who's.
Gives himself less championships than he actually won. He's gracious, bro. He's king. He's king boy. He's one of the few guys who was just like, no, I'm going to keep working.
I'm going to make my way over here. I'm going to make a name for myself. But I think about that all the time. I used to wish that maybe WCW had stayed separate and they could have run them as two different companies. But yeah, you got a great point there.
Dude, just to be able to see. I mean, what would that last match be? You know, if we could have Sting, we could have Goldberg, we could have DDP. Who would we have DCW? Yeah, RVD at the end of it.
Just the Triple H not getting his quad tore off the bone, and him being able to be in it. Just, if we could have got the full magnitude of that alliance angle. It would have been the greatest story in the history of the business. And you're right. And like I said, that also made a list.
I had to cut it down. And for some reason, I thought you might go with that because we didn't share our list. But yeah, I think that's. Overall, that might be the biggest missed. opportunity maybe in the history of wrestling.
The fact that that, I just wish it could have been different. I think every wrestling fan wishes it could have been different because the potential to have something. Otherworldly was there, man. Yeah, it was like. A layup and dunk are both worth two points, but you want that dunk.
You want the dunk, right? You want that dunk to dunk. For business owners like you, the American Express Business Platinum Card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions. With its world-class business and travel benefits, you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves.
And you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at AmericanExpress.com/slash Amex Business.
When you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like Aloe or Skins, sure, you think about a great product, a cool brand, and brilliant marketing, but an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business making selling and for sure. Shoppers buying simple. For millions of businesses, that business is Shopify. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. With ShopPay, that boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts are going abandoned and way more sales happening.
So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whatever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web, in your store, in their feed, and everywhere in between. Businesses that sell more, sell on Shopify. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout Skins uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com/slash WestwoodOne, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com/slash westwood1 to upgrade your selling today.
Shopify.com/slash westwood1. All right, so I'm going back. You mentioned Triple H, right? And he has a little bit to do with my number two. And that is What if the curtain call never happens?
Oh man.
So back in the day, I believe it was 1996, if I'm not mistaken. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall decide that they're going to leave WWE. After a steel cage match between Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Triple H come to the ring inside the cage. Basically, there's not a lot of footage of this. We have like one fan video who snuck a video camera into Madison Square Garden who recorded this.
Really, the only shot that I've ever seen from that. I've seen still pictures, never seen another video. They all hugged, they embraced. It was a way for the click to say goodbye to each other. Vince apparently said it was okay.
And then the backlash that he got from all the boys in the back saying, You kill Kayfabe, you expose the business.
Someone had to pay.
Someone had to pay for this. Holland Nash are leaving the WCW. Sean Michaels was the man. He was untouchable. He was Teflon.
That brought the heat down on Hunter Hurst Helmsley, who wasn't Triple H yet. Right. So I can remember. Going to Pittsburgh Civic Arena and watching WW F at the time, WWE. And wondering why Savio Vega was beating Trip Hunter Hurst Helmsley every time they wrestled.
Like, he went on a streak where he was losing every single match. And then you get older, you realize what was happening at that time. Back then, we didn't really have the internet like we do now, so we didn't know why this was going on. You just saw this guy just losing to everyone, and then you find out what happens now. The bigger repercussions and ramifications of this is Triple H, Hunter Hurst Helmsley, was scheduled to win King of the Ring.
King of the Ring. That got scrapped.
So you know who did win King of the Ring. Stone Cold Steve Austin. That changed the wrestling business. That changed life. They didn't just change wrestling.
That changed everything. It tasted better. Colors were brighter. Brighter. Everything.
You know, but my thing about that was Shea is this. If Triple H doesn't get punished, he wins. King of the Ring. You don't get the Austin 316 promo. One of these.
Greatest promos, the greatest t-shirts in the history of the world.
Now, does Steve Austin still become a star? I still believe he does because I feel like he and Bret Hart still will have a program. I feel he still has that, you know, he can call him the hitman. I don't know if we can curse on this. He call him the man.
If you remember that promo, and then you still have the, oh my God, Brian Pillman's got a gun. Right? If you can remember that when the former Hollywood blondes in WCW got together.
So I feel Steve Austin is still going to become a star. But you're not going to get Austin 316. Which is huge. Hopefully, you still get, and that's the bottom line. But I don't think Austin 316 happens because it happens because he wrestled Jake the Snake.
Robert, so you don't get that. Is that the most famous shirt in wrestling history? I would have to say so, yeah. Right? You don't get the most famous piece of merch ever.
You get your biggest star ever, but he has to take a different path. And Triple H, obviously, he overcame him. And what I understand is because he. He ate that poop sandwich and he Did it because he knew it was coming. He earned the respect of all the boys, all the people in the back.
And that probably also changed the trajectory of his career. He didn't complain, he just did what he had to do.
Okay. That That crap. And look what happened, man. Yeah, he honestly both characters, I think, would have to be. I mean, Austin, it.
He wouldn't be too different, but If you think, you know, when he was Hunter Hersh Hemsley, him winning King of the Rings, that's getting milked a little bit longer than the Connecticut Blue Blood. You're going to get the for a little bit longer.
So, yeah, it definitely things happen for a reason. Yeah. Things happen for a reason. But it's crazy to think. Had that moment not happened, could have changed everything.
Could have changed everything.
So, what's your number one? My number one, I feel like somebody over, somebody through the screen or wherever you're listening. is thinking this It's gotta be screw job. Oh, yeah. If that just went the right way, what if the screw job didn't happen now?
There's a couple of ways to play that. It's Whether, you know, because obviously we know about the contract talk with, you know, Brett and Vince. Vince offered Brett, I believe, like, a $20 million contract and then decided that he couldn't pay it.
So he said, Hey, you can go if you want. You took it back. Took it. Took it back. And then Sean ended up retiring anyway, which.
Anyway, so so. We should go that route or If he still goes to WCW and the screw jaw doesn't happen, because remember, Brett said that. Him and Sean had a conversation. Hey, Survivor Series, it's going to be in Montreal. If they want me to give you the title, I have no problem with that.
I've always been a company guy. And then Sean goes. I appreciate that. I would have not done the same thing for you. Yeah, and that was.
And that's what set Brett off. That set Brett off. Where I can't give this guy the bad.
Now, if that goes another way. And Brett goes on to WCW. Things are all good. There might be a world where I got Brett in that alliance thing I was just talking about. About that.
Can you imagine? Not Brett Hartz leading the alliance, coming back to seek revenge on this that did him dirty. It just goes back to that alliance thing with me. I know, but like, it's just so many. implications.
It was such a domino effect. That if Brett, if the screw job didn't happen, we might not even get the character Mr. McMahon until further down the road. Because it was because of him saying, you know, Brett screwed Brett, that natural hate came for him. And so when I think about, A moment that changed the landscape.
And if it was flipped another way, it's got to be the screw job at number one, man. I agree with you. And like you said, I think the Mr. McMahon character was going to come. Eventually, it just came quicker.
Yeah. But there are more implications than just that, bro, because. Let's just say Vince doesn't Give Brett the money. and then takes it back and Brett leaves. Let's just say Brett stays.
You have to assume that maybe Brett You know, the tragedy with Owen doesn't happen because Brett's always said he would have talked him out of going up to the Blue Blazers son.
So you don't have that happen. Also, here's something that just popped into my mind. StarK97. They had the whole buildup of Sting coming back to Wrestle Hulk Hogan. They had the wonky finish at the end where Nick Patrick was supposed to fast count.
Apparently, Hogan told him don't fast count.
So it was a regular count. Him. wins and then brett comes out brett hart comes out and his big kind of Welcome to WCW. Has them restart the match and then does another pin. I can just remember everyone being so disappointed in the end.
And I feel maybe we don't have that. Maybe they're not trying to compensate for having Bret Hart. Maybe that ending of that Sting-Hogan match is a little bit different. That goes down in history differently.
So, yeah, the screw job has many different dominoes. Yeah, and many things could have turned. And I guess we'll end this with my number one. I'm going to go back in time to 1984. Actually, to 1983, Hulk Hogan was wrestling in the AWA, the American Wrestling Association.
And he was supposed to beat Nick Bockwinkle for the world title. We all thought so, but Vern Gagne was hesitant. To put the championship on Hogan.
So Hogan goes to WWF. In between that, there's a lot of things. Hogan did the Rocky movie, he was with WWF. Fince Sr. told him not to do it or he'd be fired.
He did it anyway. Great move, by the way. Thunderlips was classic character. He goes to the AWA. Vern hesitant to make him his top guy.
He goes back to WWF.
Now, my what if is this? The Iron Shei beat Bob Backup for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship in 1983 at the end of the year. He said to wrestle Hulk Hogan in January of 84. The story is Vern Gagne. Offered the Iron Sheik a considerable amount of money to not lose to Hulk Hogan and even go as far as to break Hogan's leg and bring the WWF title.
To AWA. The Iron Sheik being the guy he was who was respectable, who did respectable business. Told Michigan. What was going to happen, or actually was Vince Jr., I guess, one of the two Vinces. And Told them what was offered to him and basically said, I'm not going to do this.
I'm going to put the Jabroni Hulk Hogan over. And he did business the right way. But you always got to think: what happens if the Iron Sheik decides to take that money, break Hulk Hogan's leg? The history of wrestling is different. You don't get.
Rock and wrestling. Maybe they push Hulkamania back a year because I think that was going to be the plan. Do you get another Bob Backlund title run? Does someone like Roddy Piper or Paul, Mr. Wonderful Warndorf, do they get a little run with the title before Hulkamania actually starts?
Does the rock and wrestling connection with Cindy Lauper, does that happen? Does WrestleMania with Mr. T-Hack? All these things could have changed the history of professional wrestling if the Iron Sheikh had decided to. You know.
Not follow the script.
So that's and break Hulk Hogan's leg. And he didn't. And, you know, now we are where we are now. I thought you were going to ask if Hulk didn't go to the WWF. But like I said, there are so many, we can do these first.
I was going to be like, man, everybody gets championships. What do you mean here? I get more macho. I get Roddy. I get, you know, whatever.
I'll get on my Hulk Hogan tirade another day. But solid, solid, solid what if. If you guys like to see more lists, guys, all we do is talk in hypotheticals, right? Like all day. Every dude watching this knows that they've talked in hypotheticals for 70% of their life.
So we would love to do lists. Comment any type of list that you would like to see us break down. Make sure you follow us on Instagram, no contest wrestling podcast. On Twitter, there's no contest. Follow us on the Rich Eisen Show YouTube page.
Yes, if you want to see us. And also, when these clips hit social media, I can't wait to hear you guys' what-ifs. Let us know some of the moments that you think could have changed the history of wrestling forever. I'm interested to hear it.
Now, I will give it an honorable mention. What if AEW Kept Cody and SM Punk Yeah. Man, I think we might need another show to really deep dive that because that's a longer discussion than we have time for right now. Speaking of AEW. We got part two of Swerve.
Part two of Swerve is about to drop right now. I know you guys love our Yap Fest. The people who do stay tuned, we appreciate y'all. We got a show to run. You people who go on the YouTube comments and say, skip to the 16-minute mark.
Why you want to listen to these guys yap? It's a podcast, baby. You're supposed to yap. Don, Don, make sure you bleep this. Eat it up.
All right, so anyway, this is part two of Swerve. We're so grateful for Swerve to giving us its time. Obviously, it had to be breaking up into two parts. And we promise you guys, this is not how the show is going to be. This is just what happens when you get two fans to talk to some of their favorite wrestlers.
It goes a long time. But we're knocking it down. We got some great guests lined up, some people that gave us the green light for the show.
So we got some baby hitters on the way. We got some great guys who have been DMing us, emailing us. Representatives of these people, the wrestlers themselves who are saying, Hey, I want to come on.
So the future's looking bright, and I'm excited for what we got coming on here. Yeah, well, you know, hate it or love it, it's no contest, bro. I want to talk about the house call because you know there's a there's a lot of moves where you know a slam you can kind of measure it a little bit more than a striking yeah kind of finish so like I need to know Who, if they stick out in your mind, really ate one where you were like, a bad one? We'll talk about that later. I got a couple people where they was like.
Like Kyle Fletcher took a nasty one. His head was like a car accident. Like, clack. It was like bad. I was like, ooh.
Yeah. Welcome. You might not know the house call is a move where your opponent's kind of prone and you run and you jump up and you kind of give them a half-cap like Sabat kick below. Yeah, right to the dome, like kicking him in the head. Yeah, Miz made fun of me for that.
He's like, he was like putting his best together in the locker room. He was like, he's like, yeah, I was thinking maybe if you're down on one knee, like talking to somebody else, I'm just over there overhearing. He's like, I run in and like, just kick the hell out of your head. But like, I bring it from over here and I just go across and it's just like knock your head clean off. He's like, sorry, swerve.
But like, um. Uh A Aiden English is the one that came up with the name of it. Oh, that's a good name. Yeah, he was like on commentary, he was doing 205. And he was excellent at what he was doing.
He was like, because the crowd goes swerve's house. What if you made a house call? That's the move you do. I was like, I love that. If you want to, like, he's like, I'm going to put that in the commentary.
And then I just ran with it ever since then.
So, shout out him. Um Uh I originally saw it because, like, Johnny Gargano, we were on Evolve and Dragon Gate USA shows, and he would always like snap mare the guy down and hold a kick. He would just like drop it real quick. And I was like, Yeah. And I looked at it, like, what if I like held that a little longer?
And I'm like, so like, that's why I always tell people, like, copy what you copy what you see, copy what you like. And just copy. Like, for the first couple of years, just copy, just do copy a little bit. And eventually you'll grow out of it and you'll make something new out of copying somebody. And then you'll be original.
Like, when I first met at Will Ospreay, he copied every freaking move we did. He literally stole every move like we did. Me, Fox. Ricochet, Leo, like Seidel, AJ Styles, he stole all of our shit. But I was like I love this kid though.
Because he's so good. And he made it look better. That's all the recipes. He made it look better, but then he started like coming into his own and really adding, like, because you know, like, like Andrade was doing like backflip, boom, land, again. But he started doing like backflip, backflip, boom, shooting, star, boom, front roll, jump, full, boom.
I was like. He made that look so much better because he copied it originally. Just like, so he started finding his own within the copying.
So, like, I copy Johnny Gargano. Love you, Johnny. Love you, Candace. And uh, he did it like just real quick. And I was like, Let me jump and arch it a little bit because I can hold it.
Yeah, and it was also, I stuck with it because Will said, like, I tried to do that move and I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. Listen, bro, I don't know what it is. I can't hold it. I can't, I can't do it, bro.
It's impossible. I can't do it. I'm like, something you can't do? Yeah, that's my point. Keeping that tight.
Yeah, I'm like, so stay away from it. But yeah, so like, that's where it really came up. And then, like, funny story.
So. I don't think I've ever told this on air. We love that. Yeah, man, it's great. No contest wrestling.
So, I like your voice. Oh, I'm going to upset somebody, but I don't care. Let me get my water ready.
So, when I first started doing it in NXT or whatever, I like hit it, but some people were like, duck. And so therefore he would like go and Triple H is like. Just don't use it as a finish. I like it, but just don't use it as a finish. I'm like.
And then Sean was like, Great with him. He's like, Yeah, it's not a finish. Like, sometimes it hits, sometimes it's not, because people are ducking from it. If you duck from it, I'm like, of course, I'm going to miss anything. And, like, You of all people, Sean, you do a supernatural finish.
So I struggled finding a new finish for a while in NXT, and then Finn came back, so I couldn't do the swerve stomp.
So I was like, for a year, I was just like, so I came up with, I'm a big, big fan of Naruki doi.
So he does the Naruki driver, but originally he's. Um Uh sh uh shout out to uh SATs, the um storm cradle drivers, the original. Move for it. But so I came up, I saw it. I was like, I can probably, because I can, I was using it on Leon Ruff, so I can, I can hit that.
But then Bronson Reed came up. I'm like, ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah, that's how do I do it?
So it came time to win the North American title, and this is like a year apart. And Like Bronson's the North American champion. And then, like, they're like, Sean was like, Yeah, we're coming up last night. Like you guys, we were coming up with the creative for last night. Could you do that kick for the finish?
I'm like, you gotta be freaking kidding me, man. You gotta be kidding me. No, just let me cook. And I had to be like, yeah. I can do it.
So I had to circle a whole year later of like, Sean, like, now you can do what you want.
So But yeah, so that's why the match ends with a house call, boom, 450 to the back win. But yeah, that's the little story. That's hard, dude.
Well, now I got to look up Kyle Fletcher getting his head kicked. I'm looking for that, bro. It was my first match after the title mine. I got to see that. That man, like, ear-touch shoulder, my brother.
I was like, No, man. After that, I was like, Yeah, we got to talk. We're going to have to talk about this one. Yeah, love Kyle, but he murdered me in that match. I was like, I was like, ooh, he throws, he throws.
Hammers. Yeah, that dude moves quick. He's quick and he's like... Effective, he goes through you. Yeah, he's he's brutal.
Big dude, too. But yeah, 25, 24 years old. I'm. Man, I'm looking forward to it. That's too much youth.
You're gonna be out here trying to kill me. I'm like, bro, say that for Will. I'm getting old, man. But, like, I look forward to, like, man, there's so many young guys on this roster. I look forward to seeing like five years, 10 years from now, like, Nick Wayne's in there too.
Washington Boy. Um, look, another guy you just did dirty was like, you had to let him know what you had to let him know what time it was. I'm creating his origin story. That's what I'm saying. You had to let him know what time it was.
I'm creating his origin story. He's lucky I didn't Bruce Wayne him because he's going to become Batman one day. You believe that? He's that good. Yeah, you got to give these kids some pain.
These kids are coming in too easy. I'm like, I love Jamon Evans. Shout out to you. I want to see some pain from you, bro. Oh, I want to see some pain.
I'm like, Jamon. Extremely talented. One of the greatest things I've ever heard in my career, still to this day. Like when I was on my 90 days between WWE and AEW, I was doing seminars and I went up to Carolina and Javon was like 16, 17 years old, and there were like 20 kids. And I asked everybody, like, hey, who you are?
How old are you? What got you into wrestling? And what do you want to do? and you know, go around the room. And I go to Javon.
And like you can tell, he's Jay Malachi, you could tell he's like the standout of the class. You could just instantly see it. And everybody looks at him like, Yeah, go tell him, go tell him. He's like. Honestly, I got into wrestling from watching you versus Leo Rush at Defy.
I was like, wow, am I that far removed at this time?
So it was like, so I'm Unkh.
So, yeah. And so I go, I'm in Tampa. This is like, Earlier this year, I'm in Tampa. This is June. I'm in Tampa, like at a 21 Savage invited me to the show, and I'm watching.
And then, like, Javon Ell was walking by 6'4 now. I'm like, God damn, boy. He's that's all. He's like 6'3, 6'4, man. He's he's gonna grow up to like 6'5 ⁇.
Yeah, he's a specimen, and he's like humble, super humble kid. Love him to death. I watched just to root for him, you know, and. Like, shout out to him. He just wrestled Randy Orton, killed it.
You know, AEW Dynamite's doing his thing. But man, like, there's still people I have sentimental value in. You know, like Javon, I'm going to root for him no matter what he does, wherever he goes. What about um I want to ask you about, you know Yeah. Wrestlers have these stories about life on the road.
Share with us some of your stories.
Some of the guys you made these towns with.
Some of the guys. Oh, man. Maybe do you still travel with some of them? I see them in the locker room every week. Like.
Like Tony Neese was like one of my first guys I got in the road with like this like almost 10 years ago. I got in the road with to he would like drive from New York pick me up from Pennsylvania and then go to Pittsburgh, which is another four hours for shows. And he didn't have to do that. He knew I was like, didn't have a lot of money for gas, but he would like him, John Silver, Alex Reynolds would be in the car sometimes.
Sometimes Rex Lawless would come in there. Um And they would like to do that route, boom, pick me up, and then go this way.
So it's a funny story. We do the after the show, because you don't stay. Hotel tonight, you drive right back after the shows are done.
Some some them some of them shows don't end till like 11:30 at night. She probably drove through Altoona, Pennsylvania. That's where I'm from. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Had to have driven through Altoona.
Well, from the we went like the Carlisle area, like um. Yeah. Yeah, we went like that area. You know, PA. Pennsylvania talk, you know.
Yeah. Shippensburg area. We went past that.
Okay. Yeah. So drive four hours, dropped me off at the house at like four or five in the morning. And then Um, I was getting my bags out, getting the car, getting the house, whatever. They take off, they're gone.
I look back. Me and Tony both had blue bags. I got Tony's bag. He's an hour up the road. I was like, dude, I got your bag, man.
He's like, oh, I got a show tomorrow, too. You got to drive an hour on the way back. Switch bags. He drive all the way back up to New York. He got home at like eight in the morning.
I was like, man, he tells that story every time. But he's like those are my Like My those are my guys, man. We got in the car with. You went Darwin shared sometime. Yeah, those were the Evolve days.
Yeah, like by that time, we were on planes a little bit more.
Sometimes we were still getting New York to Connecticut.
Okay. And then we just drive together or Riddle was in there a little bit. What are those road trips like? Just talking about the business life? Or were you the best?
Sometimes we want to escape and not talk about the business at all. I read some people. I hear some guys wanted, that's all they want to do. Like Trip said, like the click, they would only talk about the business. I've assumed some people, you might want to get away from it.
We got away from it. We wanted to laugh. We wanted to just tell like little stories and stuff like that. I remember me and MJF, we did an Ohio show. We had to do CCW the next day.
So MJF had the car. He drove and he did the whole eight hours, no switching or nothing, all through the night. That's a trooper. Yep, and we got a hotel room just to get some sleep before the show. He never complained.
He was. Like, no, I'm gonna do an 18-year-old MJF.
So, MJF always has my respect in that way. I had to bet him on that one. Because, like, he was getting a lot of traction and stuff. I was like, all right, hold up, young boy. You gotta pay to do a little bit, though.
A question that we want to start asking everybody here. The situation is you're at a bar. 50 dudes. I think 50 is a lot. I was thinking that with a lot of people.
That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot on a bar. Maybe like 20. Listen, that's 10 apiece.
That's like 81% drunk. All right, when you're at a bar, there's a large number of people that grip a cat that. Don't want you in there. You need to pick four other wrestlers. that you know if these guys are with me, we get into the car.
Oh, okay. Help you. And they don't like you because of, you know, they just don't like you because you're a bad person. I'm like, why don't they like me? There's a difference.
Are we in Arkansas? Are we in West Memphis and Tennessee? Let's just say we're in Los Angeles where it's all kind of. We're keeping it current, wrestlers. Current.
Not all time, because all time those.
So you and four others to get out of a bar. You know, like, well, I'm bringing Kingston. Oh, yeah. Kingston. I wish I was a little kingston.
He's dirty. He fights dirty. I like that.
Well, you know, Eddie's going to have the Tims on. You know, stomp somebody in the ribs with the Tims. Um I need somebody who's going to move the crowd, move the people.
So, Samoa Joe. Oh man, that's Joe, you done made it twice. Like, you look at Joe wrong, you just know that you lost already. You know, like Um So by Eddie Kingston, Samoa Joe. Eddie Kingston, Samoa Joe.
Uh You and so now two more people. I need two more people. I got my big guy now. I need a wing. Who's going to come around side?
I need a quick body. Like, Darby's going to throw his body at somebody. He's going to jump off the bar and like on somebody. He's going to hit. Darby wearing them thick boots, too.
You don't want to get kicked with Darby scrappy. Yeah, you can't hurt a Darby. Yeah. You can't hurt a Darby. You can't hurt a Darby.
The most frightening person in the world to fight is the guy who just don't feel pain that's gonna keep coming at you. Hit me!
So he's going with Darby, you putting Darby in there? Yep, yep, yep.
So we got my crazy white boy. Samoa Joe, you, Darby Allen. Man, shout out Jake Hager. Shout out Jake Hager. I'm American Music.
He got reached, too. Oh, yeah. Shout out, Jake. There's got to be a scene in something. We gotta record this.
I like that.
I mean, that's Roadhouse. That looked like a good setting for Roadhouse. That was my guys. Let's hope it doesn't happen, but if it does, you know, I like the shot. That's a solid team, Joe.
Joe, Joe, on two lists, bro. Samoa Joe don't play.
Well, speaking of Samoa Joe. April 21st, AEW Dynamite. You defeat Samoa Joe. World Championship and in doing so. you become just the eighth black wrestler of a major promotion.
To become world heavyweight champion. Yes. I know this wasn't lost on you. And for people who don't know, let's just go down the list. We had Ron Simmons.
The rock. Mark Henry Booker T, that was out of order, but they still did. No, absolutely. Kofi Kingson. Bobby Lashley.
Big E. Swerve strictly. I also want to give respect to Moose, Rich Swan, who did it in TNA. R-Truth, Ron Killings, NWA, heavyweight champion, Jonathan Gresham, Jay Lethal, also ROH, but of the major. Organizations, which I guess there are two.
He became number eight. What was that feeling like? And what? Like Did you feel any pressure? Did you feel like as a man of men make this work?
Because if Your title ring doesn't work. Then that might hurt the next man up. It's like you.
So, what were you feeling at that moment? Because the fans really, we talked about this. The fans really got to a point where it was just like we knew. Yeah. Okay, the next champ is swerved.
This is a given. We've already decided.
Now, Tony, you just got to listen. Yeah. Doesn't always work. In your case, it worked. I was relentless with it.
Um I I didn't wanna necessarily Like push Tony for it? Because that's not how I work. I didn't want to do the political game. I was like, my work is always going to have to speak for me. Always.
I have to get better in promos. And then also, like, not getting better in promos doesn't mean just like you just talk like a wrestler. I got to find my voice too. Yeah. I can't sound like MJF.
I can't sound like Christian. I can't sound like Copeland. I can't sound like Kingston. Um Uh uh you know, I I like I can't sound like These other guys that are already doing their thing with it. I got to find what Swerve would sound like.
And. That's what's going to carry the tidal reign. After that. Like if I focus on this now, that's what's going to help carry into whatever feud, whatever people I go after or come after me. You know what I mean?
Um.
So I had to level up there. I had to level up on my body. I had to be responsible. Like being there on time, being there early, leaving late. I had to be the one that's like you always see swerve somehow.
Then I had to do the work outside of the ring, outside of the arena, that put me on press. I want to do media. I want to do this. I want to dress the part. I want to promote.
I wanted to just be the most well-rounded champion. Not like, oh, he's the best black champion. No, I wanted to be a well-rounded champion. period.
So I had to do a little bit. more of like this like finding out learning the business and um earning my keep And Talking like great about the company, which is not just like piece, like PR stuff. It's how I genuinely feel, but I'm also going to say it in a way that I see it. My vision of it. Are we perfect?
Absolutely not. No place is perfect. But these are the reasons why. This place means something to me and should mean something to the fans that either aren't fans or the fans that are fans appreciate what we have and what we're going. And what I want to bring you on that ride and educate and bring people with me into.
The product, and I want to be the face of why you like tune in and why you stay.
So all those things I wanted to just like like before he gets to just the wrestling, that has to be all taken care of.
Now I'm given the ball. Boom. I'm a like I said, I'm a very patient. I know It's always going to go up. A lot of people were frustrated and Like, wanted to see this, wanted to see this, they're not getting this.
Why are they treating this? I'm like, good, that means you care. Yeah. Like, I want, I'd rather you voice your concerns and your displeasures rather than just like, yeah. Oh well.
Yeah. No, you care. You want to see it. Therefore, you're going to keep watching to see if it does eventually happen. And that's eventually what did happen.
The title rain did nothing but go up, which I said was going to happen on busted open radio. I said, I was like, don't worry. We're going to keep rising. It only gets better, and it's going to get better again, and it's going to get better again. Then you're going, like, I think I'm the only world champion to be on Dynamite, Collision, Rampage, all in the same week.
I'm the only I'm the only one to ever do that. You know? Um Like then it was then it was about finding out like What history can I make with it? What really is like untapped that I? Having done.
Let me do some things. Let me go out, take the championship, like make a music video with it with Blund B. Right. You ain't see the AW World title in the music video. I'll do it with Legends.
Like, you know, it's not like in some backyard or like. On the phone. No, I want to make it right. I want to do as much with it as I can and put this championship in a different light that only I can do it.
So that was the challenges. the matches are like, Okay, me and Osprey, next up. I know this boy from like 10 years ago. Like But I'ma always put will in a different element. 'Cause we know what Will can do.
We've seen it for a while. Yeah. But I'm going to put you in my world now. I'm going to fight you. I'm going to try to hurt you.
And like I said, this championship means more than our friendship. This championship, like, like Will was on another level. But Swerve is at a different level. Yeah. Different ballgame.
And and I wanted to show the world like, well. You want, like, this is the face of the company. This is the guy. I'm like, I agree, he is incredible. But in my world.
There's still a ways you got to go. And that's why I wanted to showcase with Will. And we did he did that. have amazing chemistry, it's never left, never gone anywhere, it told a different story. That took the title like, okay.
Alright, there is another height to this. you know, 'cause Will's been amazing having great matches, but he never main invented till he faced me.
So that goes to show. The prestige is up here. Great as you are, you're still another platform you got to jump to. There's levels to this. It is.
Levels. It is. And we did that, we accomplished that well. And now he wants to see Will's journey to get back there.
So I created his story arc too. Through mine. Then, you know, like I said, I had to go through a little lull with. Christian, I had to lose some things as a champion. You have to lose a little bit too.
So I lost the Mughal Embassy. They turned on me. Like, I used them to get to my success, and I left them behind. You know, even though I got them wrestling. Kenny Omega and Jericho.
I got them wrestling the Bucs for title matches twice in Hangman. I got them on the main roster, like on AEW. Doing some things, but they still feel like they were slighted. I'm like, okay, cool. I'm going to take you all out in one segment on collision.
Mm. And I'll say Brian Cage for last. And then but then Nick Wayne has to get his revenge back on me too, because I wronged him.
Okay, little man, you think you ready? Mm-hmm. Let me show you. Let's go. And then I came back in the full.
So it was like a little curving story arcs right there. And I think that's another way we took the championship in another direction. It's like, let me fight from under because Christian, he's 50 years old and veteran. He's not the. The nasty brute beat you down guy.
He's going to be smart and use all these other tricks around me. And I got the six foot six dragon you got that I got to slay eventually. And, but on top of all that, I still got the EVPs. moving things around. you know, playing the political game with me.
You know? So we stacked the deck against me, and I don't think we've seen that with a champion for a while. Mm. But then I learned. And then I grew and then I got aggressive.
Now I'm the one. like in the driver's seat. going forward.
Now I'm the one making history of Wembley.
Now I'm like on the street now. Yeah. So. I'm really proud of like Putting Like Mar like I'm really proud of putting that championship in there. Just a different light that it was a short time, but it was impactful.
Yeah. It was quick, it was wow. but it hit. Yeah. Like you like those matches, those championship matches are going to be like talked about in the history.
For a while. And I said on the Breakfast Club, like Doug Williams on that evolution of the black quarterback, he said: if you write the history book, of the NFL, but in my case with AW, can they leave you out of it? They can't now. That's the impact. That's the legacy.
You can't leave me out of the history of this company anymore. Like and now with like the new contract I signed, you can't leave me out of history of wrestling. Yeah. Which That's where that championship went to. The transitions are crazy.
It's almost like you know what we're going to ask you before we ask you. Right, because right now, Swear Strickland is spelled with dollar signs. What uh. What how does it feel? How does it feel to.
Can we hold something? I just want some shit. Talk to Rich. Chattis money well before I did. He's in London.
He don't be picking up. He's in London right now calling NFL games. But yeah, just. The launch table conversations. Yeah.
you know, life at the cul-de-sac. to where you are now signing This contract this this history yeah history making contract I know Just from talking to you now, you always got the hunger for what's next. But just tell me what this feels like right now. This feels like. Security?
That besides like the physical, like just like the Things like It feels honestly like I I wasn't afraid to leave the lunch table. Mm. I'm the one that got up and said I'm going to do it. And that's honestly what all this is really about. Don't be afraid to be the one to get up and do it.
Yeah. Like there's one thing that like Terry Taylor used to say. He's like, somebody, like, somebody in this room is going to change the business. Why not you? Right.
And I remember texting them that like recently after I said I remember you said to our class when we were watching tape one day, Somebody's going to change the business business in this room. Why can't it be you? And I challenged you on that. I took you up on that without even telling you I took you up on that. I just didn't know how I was going to do it.
I didn't even have a plan in mind. I didn't know. what it was going to be. But I had every intent in my mind to change the business and leave my market somewhere, somehow. And, um, for people that wanna like say it's not enough is like he didn't do this he didn't follow up but like there's like of course there's still always going to be more to do Always.
But what I've done now up to this point If I like past tomorrow, hope God I don't. Like I'd be More than happy and satisfied with it, you know. I'm not thinking too much about the next too much, but I do have plans and I do have seeds planted that are really starting to grow quicker. And I'm really going to be like, okay, I got to. This is going to be challenging to like water all these different plots at the same time.
Because they're growing quicker than I thought.
Now it's just, now I got to adapt. and move forward. But the The best part I feel about this Now. What I really am proud of, and what I'm really happy about with the now and the contract. I've for s fifteen years I've been adapting and moving around.
And watching how the business kind of takes shape and form. And I got to sit. And then, like, find my way in it, and like, sit, and find my way in it, find where I belong in the room.
Now it's going to start move maneuvering around me.
Okay. And that's the position I always wanted to be in. Like Now, like Things are starting to part and move around for swerve now. And that's another type of mental I got to. learned to put myself in now.
Like I don't gotta like Like, move out of the way for everybody now.
Now it's like kind of moving out of the way for me. Yeah. I was like, oh, wow. You turned into ludicrous. Get out the way.
Yeah. You turn into ludicrous. It's like, yeah, now like certain things are just like starting to move. Wow, that's that was easy. I can You mean things don't gotta be that hard anymore?
Like, no. No, they don't. Because You have 15 years of working hard. You have 15 years behind all that.
Now things are just like. Oh yeah, sure. You mean that you don't need to see? No, no, we got you. Because they've seen it.
Like, they've seen my work. And they, like, I had to earn the equity for that, too. I had to earn that. I had to, like. Show that I can do your job before I can do mine.
I got to show, like, I can do what you ask of me. Like I said, and me just coming in, like, I want this, I want this, I want this. And I'm like, no, how can I make your job easier? How can I make Your tasks for the day simple, and you don't got to worry about my part of what I of my job. You never like it, it's like it's like as a quarterback, you know, you don't gotta worry about the left side, that's blocked, right?
You know, like, I just gotta focus on getting this, this, this, but that. He ain't touching me. Like they're showing blitz on the weak side. Like. Yeah.
I got homie over there on the left tackle. Secured. Yeah, secured. Like, you know, you don't got to worry about that. And that makes everybody's job so much simpler.
when you don't got to worry about the next person, when you can come in and make just the day easy. That's someone you always want to keep around, and like, that's someone you're always going to like. That, like, I said on Breakfast Clubs, like, that's someone, like, when you got someone so good at their job. You'll pay extra for it. Yeah.
You got someone. That's like, no matter, like, hey, you call them. They show up and the job's done and it's not taken all day. and it's like done the right way. You'll pay extra for that.
Absolutely. I miss you, Aaron Donald. My God. I got his jersey on the wall. I paid for the auction and I won.
And I got it on the wall. That's it. Signed by Aaron Donald. I met him, too, after he won the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah.
That's, bro. What a. What a man going to be. What did he do? Like I said, you don't got to worry about the middle.
No, you good. Before we get going. Let's talk about the music, man, because I know that's such a big part of what you got going on. You have Flash Garments. Of course, we talked about the song, how it's ahead.
I'd be sitting here. Flash wrote that thing, man. By the way, you don't even understand when we're on the big show, the Rich Eisen show, every now and then we'll be talking Rams, and Rich will say to. Brockman and Mike, who you met, who'll be like, whose house? They're Rams ticket holders.
They're always going Rams house. Take one guess what I say every day. Yep, I had some house. I have it dated whose house or whose house came before the Rams even got to LA. Listen, I have that date.
I remember I have the show. I can pull it up. I saw a video of you on Instagram where you were at the Rams game and they were playing, and you were just sitting there like. Yeah. You disgust me.
Whispering under your breath. Are we pandering right now? Do y'all know that I'm here? But the music, man. And Hu Kid was there too.
He was there with Agani. He was there with a gun. I saw him he popped up on the screen. I was like. I want to be gunner, bring me back there.
That was the day after the Texas death match, actually. Oh, my God. You just go to events after destroying.
Something about LA that brings out the nasty side of it. That sounds about right. That sounds about right, LA. Full care, you wouldn't hang man. Yeah.
That was still my favorite. One man drank another man's blood in that match, man. I don't know why I did that. That was crazy. Come on.
We didn't talk about this. I'm like, why are you doing this right now? Because people ask, why did the syringe go in the mouth? Why you drink my blood? I don't know.
It was there. But those are staples, and that was like images that's going to carry for a very long time. Yeah, um But I don't even know what the question is. What you got going on? Shot a flash garments, man.
Like I said, this man is. Like daily changing my life. Even when I'm not there, he's maneuvering things to make the team work. And we look at it as a team. We actually have a documentary with the Lucas brothers, the Oscar-winning Lucas Brothers that we've been shooting since December.
Since World's End.
Okay. And we have so much footage. We had like they were there shooting Wembley, so they caught that. They shot. The night after they saw it the night of and the night Like after the event in Dynasty, me winning the championship.
So you get in the documentary, you get to see me and my kids in St. Louis. They surprised me. My attorney, Tony Risha, my manager. They surprised me.
He got my kids.
Okay, Tony Richard. I saw you give him a shout out when you signed the contract. I was like, Yeah, he's, yeah, yeah.
So he's. He's the one that flew my kids out with the mother of my kids. Flew him out. As a surprise, I didn't even know they were there.
So, you get to see that in the documentary.
Okay. So, I got to celebrate my kids that night. It was an amazing feeling. Jericho was in there, like, surprised. He knew about it the whole time, didn't tell me.
So, Jericho is one of the guys. Jericho's always in the know. Always. He's like, What's going on in St. Louis tonight?
But he, like, so you get to see that in the documentary, you get to see a lot of the pain. Of putting this stuff together, like Flash, like the stuff he has to go through, the music side too. And this meet this this week we end up like meeting with Warner Brothers and pitching it. Um Things are looking very, very good. That's what's up.
And like when you got like award winners. like the Lucas brothers. Yeah. Like that that name holds a lot of weight in the rugs. And he was like.
I've done a lot of pitch meetings in Hollywood. This never s goes this good. It never goes as smooth, and so that's why that's why I say, like, things are just like opening up now on this other end. I'm like, crazy, right? You mean we don't gotta.
Oh, no, no, well, how do you set up another meeting with someone? Iron is hot, right? Iron is hot when you become world heavyweight champion. Yeah, it's a little different. The treatment is different, and like, like I say, it goes beyond wrestling in a lot of ways.
It's like. And um so Like pitching that story, telling that story, and we're still more to shoot, but it's really unfolding in a beautiful way. Music, I'm, I just got in the studio with Eric Bellinger a couple nights ago, like, super hit writer, super hit RB singer. Um working with him, learning from him. Guys that have done everything in the industry.
Um I'm slowly, slowly, but surely connecting with like a big Sean, an inspiration for me. The reason I became Swerve. Sean is a good dude. Sean is incredible. I can't wait to meet him.
Um Got another working on a lot of projects. Flybush Zombies, we just recorded two tracks with this week. I'm out when I go to LA, I'm working, I'm grinding, I'm moving, I'm shaking. I leave a space open as well. For, like, whatever pops up, because you have, you know, LA No Contest Wrestling Podcast, right?
Like, oh no, I moved, I moved. Space for you guys. Appreciate that. I made sure I was like, not on Wednesday. But I made sure that I made sure that to happen.
Um Music has like really become something. It feels like the independent wrestling hustle again. It's like now I'm like getting that, like, ooh, yeah, I love it. I love it. I was like, let's try to get this feature.
Let's reach out to so-and-so. Let's go here. Let's like, hey, I can be in that studio. Hey, what do you need? We can be here.
We can be here. Like, let's get on these festivals. Let's go on these shows. We're on the 17th and 18th, we're performing with Fozzie again in New York and Philly. And I got a con New York con earlier that day.
So it was just moving, moving, moving. It's like, oh man, I got that hustle again. And then, so like the 17th, 18th, 19th, my daughter has her homecoming.
So I got to drive all the way down. Oh, yeah. Do the homecoming with her. I gotta be there. Do the photos.
Um with big girl, big big baby girl. Yeah. And um And I get them for another day or so. And then back on the grind. And then, you know, so Um the balance is getting there.
Not always, can't make everything, but working on that too, and working on bringing them into these things as well, and not just be like. you're over here, you're over here. I want this to be like a big Family thing, yeah, but it can't always be a big family thing, yeah, yeah, and which is. heartbreaking side of that too, which you'll see in the documentary. Certain things as it is.
Yeah. Well dude, you gotta let them know though real quick. What's word? Swerve Strickland. You are officially the second member.
that we are going to induct. in the no contest. Wrestling Podcast Hall of Fame. Congratulations, my brother. Congratulations.
You keep trying to get confetti, but Rich won't let us. Yeah, we'll get it. You better sweep that too. Yeah, I'm not down. As we put you in our Hall of Fame, so you're going to have, like the NFL, you're going to have your own bus.
You're going to have your Swerve section ring. But what we need is: I make the bus, though. That's the only problem. Three matches. We need three Swerve Strickland matches.
Kill shot matches. The put in a on a loop to run Next to your bust in the Hall of Fame. What three matches should we have that live on forever? In the NC. There could be three just from AEW alone.
And that means you don't have to. They can be anything. Yeah. Texas Dumbass gotta be. There's something that this is Swerve Strickland to people who may have never seen Texas.
Oh, man. Me and Danielson Wembley. Has to be up there. Even in a loss, I don't care. Like, that was probably one of the best.
You had me looking crazy on Twitter. We're going to talk about it later. Oh, yeah, I know. I feel. I was trying to put that man away, that old old Washington man away.
He is But like in that match, in that match, it's like what Jay said: a loss ain't a loss, it's a lesson. It made me bigger. I appreciate it. It's a blessing, right? Like Brian Danson, he made me a bigger performer.
He made me a big time performer. because I didn't have to be in that position. He could have been there with anybody. Yeah. By he knew with me We were going to do something special, and we did.
I like that.
More special than I even could have predicted. Even going out there with Bun B, Prophet, the producer who made the song, Big Pressure. Type uh flash who kid west side gun All being on that stage. That's a lot of hip-hop royalty to just contact into that kind of thing. Nana being a part of that.
Yeah. Being someone I watched when I was like in 2005, I was watching Nana. And then like To revive his career in 2024 is like, that's huge. That doesn't happen often. you know, so that, um, me and Hangman Texas death, of course Yeah.
Yeah, that was like where Key of forums, sh shot up, just like Crazy heights of violence and like athleticism and truly believing s these two guys Really just wanted to murk each other. Just end it. And it could end at any moment. You didn't know when. Like, you know.
Fortitude of like constantly just want to keep moving, keep going, keep wanting to push each other to the limit of things. And like and shout out to Hangman, like as much as I don't want to, shout out to Hangman for he had a Texas death match earlier that year with uh Moxley. Oh, not great.
Well, man, I can't schedule more than one of these. Yeah, like, like, he had it early that year, and I'm like, man, that's at the bar then. I was like. I was like, I know I can do something special with that, you know? And here we are.
Later on. Um And then the third, it might be like I'm not trying to be Deathmatch heady. Like that. Mm. Well, those are the th three things I kinda like.
Because if you're going to put them on loop, you don't want too much blood around here. Hey, man. They know what they signed up for. They want a wrestling. This is a lot of people.
I'm like, that's a lot of blood. That's a lot of blood that's just flowing. Because if I can't tell the story of Swerve Strickland without. I'm not putting, and this isn't my choice. Yeah.
But a lot of people don't see having talked about my debut on 205 Live was against Drew Gulak, main eventing. After SmackDown, I had to go after Roman and those guys. And we still stole the show. Nice. After that, if somebody can find that in the.
You know, out there in the YouTube lands. It might not even be on YouTube because it was like 205. But like, that match was like something that's that's that's where I knew. Like, I arrived. I'm like, you can't tell me shit.
Yeah. He's here now. Yeah. You can't tell me shit. And then I went to the PC next day and they told me shit.
So, but like, that was one of the ones I was like, I felt like I knew. I was like, I know that I can crank these arenas. Yeah. That was before I became an arena-style wrestler. I was like, I know I can.
I know what I'm talking about. Um But that's one to seek out for anybody that doesn't know. Um And I would say, I'll just do it. Lucha Underground, Hell of War. It's not bad.
I mean, you had ESPN covering Pro Wrestling at a time where they would not cover Pro Wrestling. Yeah, yeah. Like, just for the impact alone, it's like up there with, that's always going to follow me in my career. But it's like. And remember, this just through the start.
As the career goes, we're going to keep adding to the league. Yeah, for sure. But it's like. It's like asking, like, you know, 50 cent, like, oh, in the club. All right, I'll play it.
Yeah, you know, but up there. It's my birthday, bro. It bought me two, three cribs. Yeah, that's a diamond record.
Okay, double diamond. Yeah, all right. But like, yeah, that's, but that, I would say, those three for sure.
So let's seek those out. But honestly, like, I didn't even know if I would add more. Pass like Lucha round like that. I didn't know the impact of like these matches would have traveling like that. Like in in a sense, like me and me and Keith winning the tag titles was another one of those moments.
Like and then defending them against uh the acclaimed all like all out, which People did not see that match coming like that. That's like a bit, another one that's like real near and dear to my heart because we had to follow like Kenny and the elite earlier that night. You know, like. Like that was a high bar. And we smashed it, I think.
You definitely did. And once again, like I talk about, we brought the claimed up. No doubt. And that's always the goal. Like, I'm never trying to put someone down.
I'm always like, we push you, we push you because we need. Another Person here. Yeah. We need that. I never like it, and I think they learned that from that night.
It's like, because like going in, they were just kind of like, Oh man, we always get these opportunities and we fail and we all get these opportunities. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. You fail because people, they're not putting you in a position to succeed. We're going to put you in a position to succeed through failure. That's right.
And they learned that lesson. They were like, wow. We never felt that we're going to look good. Yeah, that's the goal, man. Yeah.
Well, dude, this uh you know, just hearing about your life, hearing about how when you Got into the military, and your pop said, You're not going to change the government. And then you get. To this point in your life when you find your career path and you have changed it. You have been able to do that with your contract. It's a beautiful, full circle.
We want to thank you for everything that you've done for the business and thank you for your time on the No Contest Wrestling Podcast, man. Beautiful. I love this, what y'all have set up. Can't wait to see more of it. Like, and I'm like, whatever y'all need, I'm here.
Tell friends. That's what we need. We need you to go back to the office and let them know that this is. Yo, y'all doing it. Like, y'all know, if y'all know, understand how much y'all reach is.
Y'all doing it yourselves. I can always, I can speak, you know. Oh, thank God. I can speak a little bit more, but y'all doing it for yourselves. Yeah, man, but you know, it's one of them things, like you said, the work speaks for you.
Yeah. You don't need me to speak for you. Y'all work will, but I will do it anyway. The word of a world champion. Forever champion.
I love the, like, people are saying, like, no, forever champion. I didn't say for him either. I said the word of a world champion. I'm going to change my bio when I leave here. Yeah.
Smart. You're a one-time channel like that. Forever forever champion swerve, but yeah, dude, thank you for your time, bro. Uh, make sure you guys. Check out the No Contest Wrestling Podcast every Wednesday.
Give it up for Swerve Strickland, bro. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you. Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it.
Our interview with the great Swerve Strickland. That's the second time Samoa Joe has been on one of these bar fight lists. Right? So that lets I tell you. That's a bad man.
We got to get you on a pod, Joe. No doubt. We got to get Samoa Joe. And if you're in a bar fight, You might be who you want with you. Right, exactly.
TJ, tell the people where they can find us, please. Oh, remember, you can find us everywhere, dog. We're at Instagram. No contest wrestling podcast. Twitter, there's no contest.
YouTube, the Rich Eisen Show YouTube page. We might be down the block from you, who knows? And make sure you guys follow us on social media because that is where. We're going to let you know who that third guest is. No doubt.
No contest wrestling podcast. And remember. Real G's move in silence. like burned on you. Shoot.
Do you Bingo. All right, Bill, we're recording now. And please put your phone on silent. Oh, where is my phone? Let's go, man.
Get it together over there, player. Go ahead, pick on me the way that you want to. I would say that to my son. Just go. All right, why would people want to listen to the Sims Complete podcast?
Father-son dynamic duo talking about the game of football. We do a lot of quarterback and coach talks. It's fun. I love doing this. It's been awesome.
Sims Complete. Check this out on the Believe Network. Appreciate it. Just search Believe, B-L-E-A-V, wherever you listen.
