Ep 608 - WrestleMania (feat. Cody Rhodes)

Support the D. A. W. G. Z. @ patreon.com/MSsecretpod WRESTLEMANIA 42 THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! Viva Las Vegas Listen to Cody's Pod 'What Do You Wanna Talk About? Go See Matt Live @ mattmccusker.com/dates Go See Shane Live @ shanemgillis.com Go See Lemaire Lee Live @ https://lemairelee.fun/ Go See Shawn Gardini Live if you want @ https://www.shawngardini.com/live yo. The cast is soo ble$$ed this week. Had to get it to you guys asap. We got to surprise Lameez with the champ, and the champ was maybe a little surprised by lameez. It was so awesome haha. Cody is the man. Wish him luck this weekend. I hope you all have a great week and an even better WrestleMania. Please enjoy. God Bless. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/DRENCHED and use code DRENCHED and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Visit https://bit.ly/3Q45Fru for 35% off your entire first order at NOBULL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Wow, wow, Wes.

• 0:02Speaker 01

  Hey, you're not masturbating in here, are you?

• 0:03Matt McCusker?

  What up, big guy?

• 0:08Speaker 01

  What are you doing? What are you doing? I'm turning my stuffs in here, hold that, man.

• 0:13Matt McCusker?

  What's going on, man?

• 0:15Speaker 01

  Get in here, baby. Get in here, get in here.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 0:30Matt McCusker?

  Don't put the belt, don't put the belt on.

• 0:34Speaker 01

  This is, uh, so you got quite a scene in here.

• 0:39Speaker 01

  What's going on?

• 0:40Matt McCusker?

  I don't know, dude, it's just chill.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  No, this is free spirit, a minute, you know?

• 0:44Matt McCusker?

  It's watching the rise and fall of Reggie Jenkins.

• 0:47Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 0:48Matt McCusker?

  It's pretty good.

• 0:49Speaker 01

  Well, thanks for, uh, thanks for having me in here.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  Thank you so much, dude. I, I, I just, it's okay. This is the type of energy I needed, right? My guy. All right, man, we're gonna do this pod. What we got going on?

• 1:03Matt McCusker?

  I'm turning off the TV, I'll be in there.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  Oh, dude, why do you have it so loud?

• 1:09Speaker 01

  You're right there. Oh, man, I love this. All right, man, it's gonna work.

• 1:14Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I'll be, I'm coming.

• 1:20Speaker 03

  How does it feel?

• 1:21Matt McCusker?

  I don't know, that was the last thing I expected.

• 1:24Speaker 03

  The bags on you?

• 1:25Matt McCusker?

  The bags on me.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Hello? LaMaire's gonna cry.

• 1:29Speaker 03

  LaMaire, you...

• 1:32Speaker 03

  Are you crying, LaMaire?

• 1:34Matt McCusker?

  I'm not crying, dude.

• 1:37Matt McCusker?

  Just very surprised.

• 1:39Speaker 03

  A good surprise.

• 1:40Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it's a nice surprise, dude.

• 1:42Speaker 03

  It was tough to keep you out. Normally, you're asleep by one. So I thought, I thought we could sneak in there while he'd still be asleep.

• 1:48Speaker 01

  That'd be nice.

• 1:48Speaker 03

  Instead, he's been...

• 1:49Speaker 00

  Get on top of him.

• 1:50Speaker 03

  He tried to go to the gym this morning, and I had to be like, no, dude, get back in your room. I have a meeting. I told him I had a meeting. And he was like, oh, okay.

• 1:59Speaker 00

  I have a meeting, works really well on a lot of people.

• 2:01Speaker 03

  It was, it, yeah.

• 2:02Speaker 00

  I have a comment, oh, I, I don't think it's even like the parlance anymore, but I have one where I tell my one buddy, and he knows. I'll be like, I gotta Zoom. And the Zooms, I don't think people are even Zooming anymore, but he knows, that just means I'm leaving.

• 2:15Speaker 00

  I gotta go.

• 2:16Speaker 03

  It's a good move. What's going on?

• 2:18Speaker 00

  Thanks for coming.

• 2:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:19Speaker 00

  Tony Rose, appreciate you, man.

• 2:20Speaker 03

  We're stoked.

• 2:21Speaker 00

  We're in Austin, huh?

• 2:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is it.

• 2:23Speaker 00

  My, uh, my dad grew up in, uh, East Austin and I feel like I forget that. And I feel bad because I'll come into town and I got two nephews who are at the University of Texas. Just.

• 2:37Speaker 03

  That's awesome.

• 2:38Speaker 00

  Forget to say hi. Breeze right over them. They're out there doing it, yeah.

• 2:41Speaker 03

  You gonna say hi to them today?

• 2:42Speaker 00

  Nope.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  You guys fucking.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  No, we already.

• 2:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, I got a Zoom.

• 2:46Speaker 00

  David, Dad's from East Austin? I didn't know that. Yeah, no, he was, uh, he was from East Austin. His, uh, his whole story, uh, coming up in Austin was just like, especially when he got into his, his wrestling career and the American dream, he was the, a plumber's son. Yeah. My grandfather, Virgil, was a plumber, but the story he would tell, and you see it in a lot of the old, old territory wrestling interviews, is that like they were down on their luck style plumber. But my mom knows better. He was a non-union plumber who was killing it. He, he, he was doing very well.

• 3:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:23Speaker 00

  And Dusty, uh, my dad was like his pride and joy. You see all these pictures of him in like full blown, brand new cowboy outfits and like the red wagon and everything. I mean, they weren't super, super rich or anything like that, but it's funny to hear the, the story as it's told later in my dad's career, cause you know, I'm the common man that, you know, dad was a plumber. I came up on the streets. Yeah. Yeah, there's some elements of that I don't know about, you know? There's a lot of big, like my life ends up very much. Have you seen the movie Big Fish?

• 3:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:54Speaker 00

  Yeah. Okay, so my life, I felt like that movie hit me in a way that no movie has ever hit me. When my dad passed away and we, uh, were at his service, it is literally like the scene in Big Fish, where you, you realize, man, a lot of this stuff was real. Like a lot of these stories were, jeez, like these characters are, it's accurate, which is a crazy thing to think. But yeah, his, uh, the lore, it was there.

• 4:25Speaker 03

  One detail.

• 4:27Speaker 00

  Well, this is what I don't mind it cuz like, hey, he's a plumber's son. They grew up on a.

• 4:31Speaker 03

  Technically.

• 4:32Speaker 00

  So it's real. It's real. But I always laugh like my mom knows a little better on that how he was. He was treated very well.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I like to hit my dad with that. My dad, I like to tell him he was fake poor. My dad, he loves crying poor. I'm one of 10. We didn't have a pot to pick. You know, all that shit. It's like, bro, you're spoiled, dude. Shut up.

• 4:53Speaker 03

  He call, we call it a Springsteen when you pretend to be more working class than you are. It's Bruce Springsteen.

• 4:59Speaker 00

  I feel like that's maybe all generational.

• 5:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:03Speaker 00

  Is they seem to, for how bad it was, they seem to get everything they ever wanted, you know?

• 5:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:10Speaker 00

  Everybody got the the big family and everything. And I get it.

• 5:13Speaker 03

  College was 20 bucks. House, house was $150.

• 5:16Speaker 00

  Right.

• 5:17Speaker 03

  They're doing great.

• 5:17Speaker 00

  And then so cuz we're talking about your hours, sleeping hours. What's what? When are you up? When are you down? That's a good question. La Mer, when are you up? When are you down?

• 5:27Speaker 03

  Why are you talking to?

• 5:30Speaker 03

  No, no, this is actually important. What are you trying to talk shit?

• 5:33Speaker 00

  Shut the fucking bell. La Mer, we we've got, we've got guys in our group that run at a completely different speed. That there, you know, if you text him at 7 a.m., you'll receive a reply at 1 p.m. That's when he's up.

• 5:47Speaker 03

  It's kind of most of the squad.

• 5:48Speaker 00

  Okay, yeah.

• 5:49Speaker 03

  Other than Matt, Matt's awake. The rest of the squad is.

• 5:53Speaker 00

  See, I'm from like a different, I think I'm misplaced in time. I'm up super early.

• 5:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:59Speaker 00

  I'm a total goody two shoes. I'm also a real let everyone know I'm working real hard here, guys. Like it's.

• 6:05Speaker 03

  Speaking my language. Most of the guys who wake up early, let everyone know they're up.

• 6:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, they're really like, it's a contest.

• 6:10Speaker 03

  Just so you know, I'm awake right there. I do it every single time. It's the best. I love to like, cuz we were just filming a TV show and I had to wake up every day like 6:00. Every day I would text all my friends, be like, dude, wake up, you bums, dude.

• 6:21Speaker 00

  The struggle, man.

• 6:22Speaker 03

  Get up. Yeah, rise and grind. Christ, I'm already working.

• 6:25Speaker 00

  There is something beautiful to getting up early in the morning. There's a whole day that you don't.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  That's just. It is nice. It's awesome.

• 6:31Speaker 00

  I I discovered the super old man thing that I do. I was describing it as maybe the most old man thing I do. We just went to the beach with my girls. And I go down to the beach, right when the, the, guess the chair part, like the chair person opens? And I'm there waiting to get my beach chairs. And then I put stuff in the chairs.

• 6:56Matt McCusker?

  Yep.

• 6:57Speaker 00

  So that people know these, these are.

• 6:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, these chairs.

• 7:00Matt McCusker?

  Yep.

• 7:00Speaker 00

  These, these are taken. And I, so I was standing around with a group of men that were much older.

• 7:07Speaker 00

  And talking about things a lot different than what I would be talking around. I thought this is, yeah, this is where I'm supposed to be.

• 7:12Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:13Speaker 00

  This is me.

• 7:13Matt McCusker?

  Now I have two little kids. Any chance you can get to just like, get it like a solo 15 minutes is pretty nice.

• 7:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:20Matt McCusker?

  I would wake up, we're at the beach. I wake up like, I gotta set the tent up now. I'm gonna set it up. It's nice too. You're like, oh, it's probably low tide now. I'm gonna push it back a little. High tide's coming.

• 7:28Speaker 03

  Start gauging the tides.

• 7:31Speaker 03

  I know the tides.

• 7:32Speaker 00

  Bro, I love that.

• 7:34Speaker 03

  I don't know how long this lasts or when they go back out. I have no clue.

• 7:38Speaker 00

  Now you got to. You're thinking about the tides.

• 7:40Matt McCusker?

  Got them.

• 7:41Speaker 00

  That's the type of talk I want.

• 7:42Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:43Speaker 00

  Cause I don't want.

• 7:44Matt McCusker?

  Make it up. I just make it up. I go out there and just go like, yeah, probably low tide coming in.

• 7:47Speaker 03

  This is my theory on it. You guys with your kids. You can be wrong about everything all the time.

• 7:53Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:53Speaker 03

  To your little kid, you can go, the sun explodes at night.

• 7:57Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 7:57Speaker 03

  And they'll go, holy shit.

• 7:58Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, but then they start going to school and then they start calling.

• 8:01Speaker 03

  But I think for like six years.

• 8:03Matt McCusker?

  Oh, for sure.

• 8:04Speaker 03

  You have just like, I've never been wrong.

• 8:06Matt McCusker?

  No.

• 8:06Speaker 03

  I haven't been wrong in six years. I can say anything.

• 8:08Matt McCusker?

  Complete free reign.

• 8:09Speaker 03

  You go, the tide's gonna be gone in 20 minutes.

• 8:11Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I'm running up against kindergarten right now. She's debunked a couple of my things and I'm like, yeah, well, your teacher doesn't know.

• 8:17Speaker 03

  Starting to investigate the investigators. She's starting to find out some things.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, you're undefeated for a while.

• 8:22Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 8:23Speaker 00

  You're undefeated, but it's also to the tides thing, just to get back.

• 8:27Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 8:27Speaker 00

  You're not totally wrong. Do you, do you, I feel like you may not know exactly what you mean. It was like low tide, high tide. There's something to what you're saying that's accurate.

• 8:37Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 8:37Speaker 00

  It's come, water's coming in, water's.

• 8:39Speaker 03

  It's gonna happen. I just, I'd be surprised if. Anybody here knew the timing? Like, how long is it the high tide and low tide?

• 8:47Matt McCusker?

  See, I got observed.

• 8:48Speaker 03

  Are we talking like 12 hours or?

• 8:50Matt McCusker?

  No, it's like, I think it's every.

• 8:52Speaker 03

  I know the moon controls the tide.

• 8:53Matt McCusker?

  Moon controls the tides, or should be, dude, you're ready to go.

• 8:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, I can talk tides.

• 8:56Matt McCusker?

  That's all you need, one fact.

• 8:57Speaker 03

  I can talk tides.

• 8:58Matt McCusker?

  Oh, I get it. I look at wet sand and then I, and I, if I see the waves aren't exactly making it to the wettest point, I go, tide must be going out.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  Tide's going out?

• 9:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 9:05Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:06Speaker 00

  Now, man, you're undefeated right now.

• 9:08Matt McCusker?

  This episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  Mint Mobile.

• 9:11Matt McCusker?

  Mint took what's wrong with wireless and made it right with premium wireless for 15 bucks a month.

• 9:18Speaker 03

  No gimmicks, no gotchas. You can even bring your current phone and your number. Go to mintmobile.com/drenched.

• 9:28Matt McCusker?

  Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months. Plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50GB may slow when network is busy. Includes up to 20GB of hotspot. Capable devices required. Availability, speed, and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com.

• 9:47Speaker 03

  Incredible. What I would have liked, what I would have liked when we visited La Mer's room was for you to see, he has a secret cabinet of.

• 9:54Matt McCusker?

  Oh.

• 9:55Speaker 03

  Of his guys.

• 9:56Matt McCusker?

  Ooh, a shrine.

• 9:57Speaker 03

  He has a shrine of guys. He took down the shrine? He got made fun of too much?

• 10:03Matt McCusker?

  What was the shrine?

• 10:04Speaker 03

  No, you started getting some pussy in there and you had to fucking hide. You had to hide a shrine, dude.

• 10:09Matt McCusker?

  La Mer, what was the shrine?

• 10:10Speaker 04

  It was just like, uh, it was like a Kofi Kingston and Orange Cassidy.

• 10:15Matt McCusker?

  Oh, see?

• 10:16Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:17Matt McCusker?

  Oh, wow.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  He had the figures in there. We're like, well, man, dude, it's time to put down the figures. But he had them hidden in one of the cabinets.

• 10:24Matt McCusker?

  What, honestly, why did you put them down? Why, why'd you take them down?

• 10:28Speaker 04

  Um, I don't know. I just, I don't know.

• 10:32Matt McCusker?

  I'll tell you, if, if you have a lady friend in there, be you. Keep your figures up, man.

• 10:39Speaker 03

  True that.

• 10:39Matt McCusker?

  Keep, keep, I'd say.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  You went in there, you can't. You can't be himself if a woman's in there.

• 10:47Speaker 00

  I mean.

• 10:47Speaker 03

  You can't go, I'm watching cartoons and playing on my video game.

• 10:51Speaker 00

  It was a lot of, I noticed a lot of sensory overload. TV was jacked up on a documentary and then you were playing your RGB. When you were deep in that, obviously there cannabis swirling in the air.

• 11:09Speaker 03

  A lot of weed.

• 11:12Speaker 00

  And then like a very makeshift cleaning system where things were stacked.

• 11:17Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, he's waiting to clean.

• 11:22Matt McCusker?

  I'm on my way to cleaning.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  It's like rings of a tree. You can see the last time he cleaned by the layers of trash. You go, that was April.

• 11:29Speaker 00

  Oh, man. Well, be proud of your figures, man.

• 11:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, don't, don't be afraid of that.

• 11:34Speaker 03

  I am jealous. My nephew has all my figures now.

• 11:36Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 11:37Speaker 03

  And I saw him and I was like, fuck, I was wondering where those went. I want them back, dude.

• 11:42Matt McCusker?

  You should take them back.

• 11:42Speaker 03

  I should.

• 11:43Speaker 00

  Any, any grails in there? Anything that was real?

• 11:46Speaker 03

  I was a big DX guy. So I was like, when I saw the DX figures.

• 11:52Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:52Speaker 03

  I was like, damn, I wish I had those guys back. Stone Cold, obviously. It's a classic.

• 11:57Speaker 00

  What was it about DX that you, was it them just?

• 12:01Speaker 03

  They were just being bad boys.

• 12:02Speaker 00

  Sound Suck It.

• 12:03Speaker 03

  Suck It was incredible. Suck It was huge.

• 12:06Matt McCusker?

  That was the biggest, I don't know what the.

• 12:08Speaker 03

  It was R67.

• 12:09Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it was.

• 12:10Speaker 03

  Every single kid of a cameras on.

• 12:12Matt McCusker?

  I don't know if that, what genius it was, if that was X-Pac himself or there was just like an absolute genius somewhere that was like, here's what we're gonna do. Cause that was one of my favorite things.

• 12:20Speaker 03

  Hey, do you know who came up with Suck It?

• 12:22Speaker 00

  So I think if you kind of pull the thread on Suck It.

• 12:26Speaker 00

  There's gonna be a two or three guys who try to say it was them because at first people were doing a crotch chop.

• 12:32Matt McCusker?

  Yep.

• 12:33Speaker 00

  And DX classic WWE style, let's market this.

• 12:39Speaker 00

  And it's a whole nother thing. I'm gonna say it's, it's someone, it's a X-Pac. Probably if anything, Shawn Michaels would get the credit for it because he was doing this.

• 12:48Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 12:49Speaker 00

  Kind of before, but it's like the Fargo strut, which is what Ric Flair does, that whole deal. If you really look at it. It's hard to always determine who came up with it first. More wrestling, the rule is whoever got it over, whoever made it famous, it becomes theirs, especially in like the seventies and eighties. They were just Bob Dylan songs, just straight ripping the lyrics and putting them into promos. They would do similar stuff in different territories, but there's no cable at the time.

• 13:16Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 13:16Speaker 00

  So it was really whoever marketed and patented. Prime example, Hulk Hogan's Hulk Up. Every wrestling babyface pretty much used to do the hit ya, nope, not anymore. And they'd start coming back, start coming back, and then he made it such a big thing. The Hulk Up was so the finger point that nobody else could do it anymore. And if you do it today.

• 13:37Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 13:38Speaker 00

  You're like a crazy person. You try to Hulk up at any point, even though that was a common babyface. Basically, they'd be selling, hey, I'm done with you hitting me.

• 13:45Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 13:46Speaker 00

  Like now I'm coming back and the crowd could feel it. But yeah, wrestling, whoever gets it over, it's theirs.

• 13:51Matt McCusker?

  So it's Pox, pretty much. It's X.

• 13:52Speaker 00

  I'd say so, yeah.

• 13:54Matt McCusker?

  That's awesome.

• 13:54Speaker 00

  Him or Sean.

• 13:55Speaker 03

  Tony Ayo came up with, you can't see me.

• 13:57Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 13:59Speaker 03

  You don't think so?

• 14:01Matt McCusker?

  Hold on, here we go. La Mer is activated.

• 14:02Speaker 04

  Like by the rules, John Cena got it more over, you know?

• 14:05Speaker 03

  I don't know. Tony Ayo did it in a, in like Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

• 14:11Speaker 04

  But John Cena's been doing it for 20 plus years, you know?

• 14:15Speaker 00

  Where, where do you stand on? I think you're gonna be the, you're gonna be the boat.

• 14:22Speaker 00

  Where does it, where? It's John, right?

• 14:24Speaker 03

  You're taking it from Ayo and giving it to Sean. Yeah, Ayo will get you, dude. I'm gonna have him break into your room later, later this week.

• 14:33Speaker 00

  How many people go in his room, by the way? Was that common?

• 14:35Speaker 03

  Not many. You're one of, most people don't make it back. That's a tough.

• 14:39Matt McCusker?

  Cleaning ladies refuse.

• 14:40Speaker 03

  Cleaning ladies do not go in.

• 14:42Speaker 00

  I'm honored. Yeah. I say, cause I saw you at the Austin show you came to, right? Was that, yeah. Heck, yeah.

• 14:51Speaker 00

  Good time, man.

• 14:52Matt McCusker?

  This episode is brought to you by PrizePicks, a preferred partner of the NBA.

• 14:56Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 14:57Matt McCusker?

  The regular season is wrapped up and the NBA playoffs are finally here. And there's no better way to cash in on that high-flying hoops action than PrizePicks, America's number one sports picks app. Every bucket, every dime, and every win means more when you're playing on PrizePicks. So don't pass up your next shot with PrizePicks and get $50 instantly when you play your first $5. Ooh, who am I excited to see in the playoffs?

• 15:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, who are you most excited to see?

• 15:22Matt McCusker?

  Man, who am I thinking about right now?

• 15:23Speaker 03

  I'd love to see the 76ers make some noise in the playoffs.

• 15:26Matt McCusker?

  That's, I'd like that.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  If I were a guy who used PrizePicks, I would say Joel Embiid.

• 15:32Matt McCusker?

  Woo, more.

• 15:34Speaker 03

  He's hurt again?

• 15:36Speaker 03

  You gotta be fucking kidding me. He's having appendix surgery? There's no way. All right. Oh, my God, dude.

• 15:45Matt McCusker?

  God dang it.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  Well, anyway, I would say Tyrese Maxey.

• 15:49Matt McCusker?

  Bless. Embiid, less.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  Embiid, less for sure.

• 15:53Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, Maxey more. Good call. Well, guys, PrizePicks is simple to play. Just pick more or less on two to six player stat projections. If you get your picks right, you can cash in. Pick from all your favorite sports, anything from basketball, baseball, hockey, UFC, soccer, college basketball, tennis, golf, esports, and more. And the good news is, if you want to get in on the action, PrizePicks is now available in all 50 states, including California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia.

• 16:15Speaker 03

  I like to include those states. When I say all 50, I want to make sure you know it is all 50. Matt?

• 16:22Matt McCusker?

  True.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  Download the PrizePicks app today and use code DRENCH to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code DRENCH to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. PrizePicks.

• 16:34Matt McCusker?

  It was good to be right. Now it's just PrizePicks.

• 16:38Speaker 00

  Are you going to WrestleMania? Why?

• 16:42Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, man.

• 16:45Speaker 04

  I don't know. I just, I don't know. I wanna go. I don't know.

• 16:50Speaker 03

  He got me back into, he got me back into wrestling with a mania like two, two years ago.

• 16:55Speaker 04

  Dude, I like to say I got Jelly Roll into wrestling too.

• 16:58Speaker 03

  You got Jelly Roll into it?

• 16:59Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:00Speaker 00

  So you're responsible for, cause Jelly is like full blown wrestler now. Jelly loves it.

• 17:05Speaker 03

  How'd you get him into it?

• 17:06Speaker 04

  We were, uh, we were, um, we were in his car during the Nashville festival and, uh, we were smoking and then we were hanging out. And then, uh, I was like, we were, Raw was on Monday and I was like, I would like to go. And he was like, you should go. He saw, it was a Harley, I think was Dogma guest. And he was like, dude, I wanna do that. And I was like, bro, you should definitely do that.

• 17:28Speaker 03

  Damn.

• 17:29Speaker 04

  Make him validate.

• 17:30Speaker 00

  And Jelly Roll was a big part of what we do now.

• 17:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  Thank, thank you.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  So that was La Mer.

• 17:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, La Mer.

• 17:35Speaker 03

  The guy, the guy sitting next to a guy going, I, I think I'm gonna do that. And he goes, yeah, you should.

• 17:41Speaker 04

  Yeah, that was all me. That was me, dude.

• 17:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, but well, you gotta come to mania, man. It's Vegas. You gotta come to mania. But did you, did you get, you got into it because of?

• 17:51Speaker 03

  He got me into it for a minute. It was, uh, it was during WrestleMania and I was like, man, turn this fucking, I don't like watching wrestling, turn this off. And then I started watching it and I was like, oh shit. And then we were watching it. Actually, I watched the last few manias when, uh, yours. When, uh, Taker came back and like all that. I was laying on this couch. Yes. I was laying on the couch and then when the lights went out and Taker came back, I was like,

• 18:17Speaker 03

  everything came back. I was like, holy shit.

• 18:19Speaker 00

  He, uh, I, I've told this story before, but he ran to the ring with two brand new, I believe either hips or knees. He had just had double. And this was the first time he'd run, but the, the blackout, when we do it in the stadiums or in the arenas, it's not full like it is on TV.

• 18:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 18:37Speaker 00

  It's, you can see a bit and he rolled in the ring in a way that he could have probably killed a full blown lion. He had such. Testosterone and I mean, he was so ready to be standing up and for that moment. It was incredible just to see how agile is why under such a great athlete agile he was. But then again, in the moment, he hits the choke slam on on rock. And I told him when he was on my podcast, but I can't believe it happened this way. He literally looked over to me and I think I missed the moment a little bit because I think he was looking for a little bit of I got you kid. Sheriff's leveled the playing field here, but I was just half dead from whatever Roman and I had done. But he he completely just winked at me.

• 19:22Speaker 00

  Lights went out. I I I was I was in it. Yeah, I was so like, man. It's again, like the big fish element of it with what we do, the suspension of disbelief. What's real, what's not? You cannot convince me he's not magical.

• 19:37Speaker 03

  So sick.

• 19:40Speaker 00

  He lost his lights to go out and save my WrestleMania. So do you know that's how my Eagles love all that all started?

• 19:47Speaker 03

  No, I had no idea.

• 19:48Speaker 00

  OK, so I bounced around NFL wise. I'm from Georgia. I'm from Marietta, Georgia. So as far as teams to root for in Georgia that are safe, the Bulldogs in Athens can never go wrong with UGA. The Braves, the Braves are going to consistently be a good team. I got really into the Falcons as a kid.

• 20:10Speaker 03

  I'll let you down a little.

• 20:12Speaker 00

  Michael Vick came on board.

• 20:13Speaker 03

  That's awesome.

• 20:14Speaker 00

  Two season tickets sold out. I was wearing that number seven jersey every day. I was all about it. And then the worst thing that could have possibly happened in the state of Georgia.

• 20:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:23Speaker 00

  And then we fell off as a fandom. And then, of course, Matty Ice and the comeback. So I always loved my home team, but I never I was never fully juiced in.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:37Speaker 00

  My sister, my oldest sister, she ended up her big dream growing up. She wanted to cheer for the Cowboys. So she cheered for the Cowboys for two seasons. So most of my family are are Cowboys fans, but I never really had a team. So I bounced all around every year. I just kind of take a pick.

• 20:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:54Speaker 00

  Hey, this I like a good SEC quarterback. I'll follow him. I, my favorite arena to perform in, arena is Wells Fargo in Philadelphia. It's a hard arena. They like the bad guys more. And for whatever reason, on a night I had nothing going on, this is Money in the Bank, years ago. I'm sorry, I'm looking at you, La Mer, like you know.

• 21:17Speaker 03

  Guaranteed, us.

• 21:19Speaker 00

  You know, and the way the story we told the match was like, maybe they'll get behind Cody, because this is kind of a, an odd group that we don't have a running favorite. Maybe they'll get behind him. They got behind me in this match. And the story of the match was more about me losing than winning. But after that, I thought, so strange. I'm a nepo baby in the business. Lots been handed to me. I've, this is a type of crowd that wouldn't take to me. And from years of performing in front of them, they did. So I always had this Philly love. Fast forward to the biggest match of my life and where my whole life changes. And why the title exists, like why I have it here is there on the link is WrestleMania 40.

• 22:00Speaker 00

  And I, after that, I just couldn't, I mean, I dressed in their locker room.

• 22:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's awesome.

• 22:06Speaker 00

  My life was, my life changing as an entertainer in the wrestling business, all discussed right there in that infrastructure. So I just felt, I'm in, I'm, I'm in.

• 22:16Speaker 03

  Go Birds.

• 22:17Speaker 00

  Good team.

• 22:18Speaker 03

  Go Birds.

• 22:19Speaker 00

  You're like, yeah, like.

• 22:20Speaker 03

  Go Birds again.

• 22:22Speaker 00

  Great conversation with Sirianni, everything, like a great team. I'm in and, and, you know, everything he did, I felt like I had just something about this place.

• 22:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:31Speaker 00

  Fast forward to, I want to take my, some of the camera guys and one of our writers at WWE, his name's Kersh, and our director, they want to go to this Phillies Raiders game in Philadelphia. Like, they want to go to the Eagles Raiders game in Philadelphia. And I was like, oh, we can do it. We can make it work. And I, I didn't want to go through anybody. I just got a suite, got it catered. I didn't try to do any of these hookups. The same game that I did this, Joe Biden was at. And I'm not kidding. They treated me better than they treated Joe Biden.

• 23:07Matt McCusker?

  That's kind of unsurprising.

• 23:08Speaker 03

  That makes sense. I know those guys.

• 23:11Speaker 00

  I got pictures of me on the field throwing the ball. I, I stood by the tunnel. They made everyone in my crew feel amazing. All we, so afterwards, we're going to leave. We've had the best experience ever, especially some of the crew who, this was just, all of it was a bonus. Hey, come back, come in the locker room, going in the locker room, doing some local access interview about how the offensive line played that day. And I'm just talking nonsense, but they treated me like a native son. So every time I go, it gets deeper. Like I can't, cause my mom, the other day she asked me, she was, why are you an Eagles fan? Nothing ever good happened there. And I'm thinking, you, you were

• 23:51Speaker 00

  in the, you were in the ring, Michelle. That's where they play, you know? But yeah, that's where, that's where it all started. So I'm new, I'm new.

• 23:59Speaker 03

  It's fun.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  But man, they do, they've been so good to me.

• 24:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, the Eagles are awesome.

• 24:03Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. Also going back to the Nepo baby thing, I, I don't like that idea at all. I hear, you hear it about like Ice Cube, Son, all this stuff. And it's like, the idea of somebody working hard and then putting their kids in a good position to like work hard and do good stuff. People resent that. I'm like, I look at it like a Roman senator. It's like, you're just bringing more glory to the house. So it's like, yeah, dude, it's like house, O'Shea Jackson, he brings glory to the house of Cube. You bring, you bring glory to the house of Rhodes. I don't, that whole thing, I, I just, I'm just not with that, man.

• 24:33Speaker 00

  Bro, it's spot on. That's like, that's, that's it. I mean, the song, as I'm a super dramatic person, and when it comes to wrestling, I take it so seriously for how often silly the job actually is. But I mean, the first words of my song are wrestling has more than one royal family. And it's all about, you know, the Hearts, the McMahons, the Guerrero's, and finally getting a little, hey, the roads are here, dude. You know, we're going to run the score up.

• 25:00Matt McCusker?

  Fuck yeah. That's what I'm talking about. I think that's awesome. But you hear people like, ooh, it's like, dude, tell your dad to do better, man.

• 25:08Matt McCusker?

  Tell your dad to step it up, man.

• 25:10Speaker 00

  So. Anybody who brings their kids around work and they're, if they're like young boys or whatever, and they're thinking about getting into wrestling, I always tell them like, hey, it's gonna be easy for you. Private jets, you're not gonna be commercial. And I can always see like their parents like, stop. You get on the tour bus, like, hey, you got a little heat in the locker room? That's okay. They're just, just, if it's gonna be bad, just lean into it.

• 25:31Matt McCusker?

  Yeah.

• 25:32Speaker 00

  Lean into it, you know, like WrestleMania, somebody called me the golden boy yesterday in a backstage pre-tape or a few weeks ago on TV. And I thought hilarious because I used to be a job guy here. I started very low here, but after that, I decided I'm gonna just go in on this and my mania gear, lot of gold, like real.

• 25:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, that was sick.

• 25:57Speaker 00

  Real, a little bit of a under the, under the cowl.

• 25:59Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 25:59Speaker 00

  You man.

• 26:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, you're fucking right.

• 26:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, you know, yeah. Yeah. You gotta go, dude.

• 26:05Speaker 03

  Who was hardcore highly like?

• 26:06Speaker 00

  Oh. Big Bob?

• 26:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:12Speaker 00

  Do you have any bodybuilders in your, in your life?

• 26:15Speaker 03

  No.

• 26:15Matt McCusker?

  Just, just me.

• 26:16Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 26:17Speaker 03

  Matt, Matt's been juiced up for a while.

• 26:20Speaker 00

  So he was the first guy who taught me how to train, but his life consisted of, one night I drove him from Jamestown, New York to somewhere upstate New York in the middle of a blizzard and we get to a Red Roof Inn at 7:00 AM, legit, barely. This has just been brutal. The show's not till 7:30 the next day. And I asked him when he wanted to meet and he's the old school guy who they didn't just set times. They'd say, oh, call me when you wake up, that thing. Like, no, tell me the time. Cause that's weird, right? But he was like, I don't know, what is it? 7:30 now? Let's say meet at 10? What?

• 27:00Speaker 03

  Sleep for two hours.

• 27:01Speaker 00

  What? And we'd work out, we'd eat, then we'd have nothing to do. We'd eat again. He was just very much the first guy I met. That was one thing he did right by me. He taught me about, I guess, proper training and proper nutrition and took me to the gym. And as far as a tag team partner, he was one of the toughest guys in the locker room. So no one ever really messed with any of us. But then other nights he'd scare me. I think he. Like, one night, I was in the shower, and you know those soap caddies, the things you put a bar in, a bar of soap? I guess I was taking too long, and he was getting frustrated with him anyways, and all of a sudden, that soap caddy flew by my head and shattered against

• 27:45Speaker 00

  the shower wall at like, a Mariano Rivera speed, to the point where I hope he wasn't aiming for me, because that would have killed me. But no, he was, he has a very grumpy reputation, but I had, at the time, I got nothing but respect for it, because I needed that. I needed, I think that's why they put us together. Give him the most curmudgeon, I mean, his name is Hardcore Holly. Let's, let's see how they do. He'd do, one thing he did that would always be a lesson, but a tough lesson, sometimes he did way cooler stuff than me in the ring, and then they'd build the, the big hot tag, we call it. The guy's getting beat up, he's getting beat up, he's getting beat up, finally,

• 28:30Speaker 00

  the, the other team are gonna power play style, switch the odds here. And sometimes, instead of him getting beat up to tag me in and give me this big glorious moment, he'd just grab a guy in a full Nelson and pick him up and slam him, which is a full Nelson slam, which is a finish, basically. And then he'd just walk over and tag me like this, and I'd get in and like, oh, punch.

• 28:52Speaker 03

  He's coming to kick him while he's down.

• 28:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, and I was already like, really plucky, so like, yeah, baby, like, uh, this guy. So he was, he was the exact right person, still friendly with him to this day, I think. The exact right person I needed in my life, a wild one, and but never, never did anything crazy or unsafe, because he's got a lot of weird stories. He was great by me, what I needed at the time. This episode is brought to you by AG1. Dude, real quick, gotta tell you guys about this.

• 29:22Speaker 03

  Oh, I like this.

• 29:23Speaker 00

  I like that, too. AG1, the healthy stuff I've been drinking recently, still just one scoop, once a day, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, all this stuff my actual diet doesn't provide. Mixes great, doesn't taste like a fistfight, package travel easily.

• 29:39Matt McCusker?

  If you're on the road doing shows or just too lazy to measure anything out, which dude, come on. They also recently came out with AG1 Pro, the same foundation, but with creatine in one simple delicious drink. So if you're someone who trains a lot or wants to get more impact out of your stack, this one might be worth checking out. So hurry up and go to drinkag1.com/secretpod and for a limited time only, get a free immune support bundle, including omega-3 fish oil and vitamin D3 plus K2 with your first subscription to AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro. That's drinkag1.com/secretpod.

• 30:17Speaker 03

  This episode is brought to you by Quince.

• 30:20Matt McCusker?

  Nice.

• 30:20Speaker 03

  What do you know about Quince?

• 30:21Matt McCusker?

  I love Quince. I'll be, I'll be honest. They sent me the stuff and I, their boxers, they use like cotton, like regular materials, not a lot of polyesters, natural fibers. I'm a, I'm a big fan.

• 30:32Speaker 03

  Well, not everyone wants to spend forever on the perfect look. Quince gets that. It's why they make staple pieces for your wardrobe that go with pretty much anything. They're, uh, they're really easy to style and they feel great to wear because they're also made with premium materials, including like you said, organic cotton, merino wool. There's even a hundred percent Mongolian cashmere sweaters, starting at just $60. That's, I mean, talk about a deal.

• 30:57Matt McCusker?

  It's pretty crazy.

• 30:58Speaker 03

  That's a bargain.

• 30:59Matt McCusker?

  Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com, get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks you where you heard about them, let them know it was Matt and Shane's secret podcast. It's the best way to support the show.

• 31:23Speaker 03

  What is the training like then? Cause you got like, it's almost probably similar to bodybuilding, but then you probably have to do a lot of like, I don't know, like agility, balance, flexibility. So you don't just like jump off a thing and rip everything.

• 31:36Matt McCusker?

  Today it's, uh, the way NXT operates, which is our developmental system, the performance center. I, I won't.

• 31:44Speaker 00

  I like how I came up, uh, which was a different system. I came up, I went to OVW, where you got with like-minded people. You'd sit there and watch wrestling. This is before the network. It was WWE on demand. It was like 79, like on the cable package. Watch MSG Network shows and stuff like that. I got around people who liked wrestling. I'd go to the gym. They'd, that was, if you liked it, you'd click. Today, it's all, they've got it all mapped out really well. They've got exactly what you mentioned. They've got agility. They've got multiple rings, including one that has a, an extra layer of pad and bounce. If you're gonna try big high spots.

• 32:25Speaker 00

  They've got Shawn Michaels. Again, we're talking about probably the greatest in the ring ever. So that's your head coach. How could you not be good? The system they have down, down there with the performance center now is designed for the NIL athlete because they're used to it. I came from baseball. I came from football. I came from gymnastics. So they need all that. They need a room that's a recovery suite. They need a full-blown weight room, which they have. They need all that. When I came up, you were just doing it.

• 32:53Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:53Speaker 00

  Yourself, which I liked because you found like-minded people. I remember my whole class of coming up from OVW, but the system now, it's a lot healthier.

• 33:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:03Speaker 00

  A lot healthier to get everybody ready. But the bodybuilding aspect of it, because since 2007, they've, the wellness policy is there. So the bodybuilding aspect of it, there's a couple OGs still who treat it that way. For the most part, it's, uh, it's all shapes and sizes again.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:21Speaker 00

  Little 80s, 70s style where not everyone is shredded to the gills and not moving. There's a lot of, I guess, better athletes, I suppose. Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 03

  There's less juicing.

• 33:32Speaker 00

  I would try to put it in.

• 33:35Speaker 03

  Cause those boys were flying, dude. Old wrestling's nuts.

• 33:40Speaker 00

  You nailed it.

• 33:42Speaker 03

  See, old wrestlers, you see guys sprint that like Ultimate Warrior. I'm not saying he was, well, he probably definitely was, but. See him just sprint out of the fucking tunnel. You're like, this guy is the highest guy I've ever seen in my life.

• 33:53Speaker 00

  They uh.

• 33:54Matt McCusker?

  It's kind of awesome though.

• 33:55Speaker 00

  Yeah. There's this crazy clip of Road Warrior Hawk, I think, running, this is pre WWE, but talking about that type of energy and flowing through the veins. Yeah. He's running out in a studio TV show. So his distance he needs to move is about 10 feet to the ring. And then he's gonna have to turn to face the little studio camera. Forget if he was saving my dad or if they were saving somebody, but he's running with such everything that he jumps the top rope, nearly hangs himself. The rope gets, and then he's able, as strong as a bull and the adrenaline and speed, yank his head out, save the fall. So he never falls. He jumps with the top rope where his head gets

• 34:40Speaker 00

  hard to be never received. But then he's, you know, when you're falling and you need something to catch, he catches himself on the top rope where they're all like this anyways, looking at the heels. Come on.

• 34:52Speaker 00

  He nearly, what the, like, you know, the conversation after had to be like, what the, oh, he nearly died. Just run in there, man.

• 35:00Speaker 03

  Like when Ric Flair, when he, he's old, but when he like runs into the turnbuckle and like bounces off of it.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 35:05Speaker 03

  He's just flying.

• 35:06Speaker 00

  I think Nature Boy, if you were to shoot him in today, you know, he could flip up, he's, he's, he's got it.

• 35:13Speaker 03

  What about the Shock Master? You think he was a little juiced on that?

• 35:16Speaker 00

  Well.

• 35:17Speaker 03

  Shock Master might have been juiced on that.

• 35:20Speaker 00

  Shock Master's connected to my family. I don't know.

• 35:23Speaker 03

  Oh, I didn't know that.

• 35:24Speaker 00

  So, uh, he's no longer married to my Aunt Bobby, but that was my Uncle Fred. What? And my dad, I'm trying to word this nicely because I don't know. I was a kid. Seems like my dad was trying to help Fred out.

• 35:37Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 35:38Speaker 00

  And seemed like he was trying to give him a role. He had great run at WWE as Typhoon and tugboat. So the Shock Master was the role. I don't like to dis-

• 35:50Speaker 00

  It doesn't seem like the idea was that well thought out.

• 35:52Matt McCusker?

  It was a stormtrooper mask. It was a bedazzled.

• 35:57Matt McCusker?

  It was a bedazzled stormtrooper mask.

• 35:59Speaker 00

  Stormtrooper helmet that Janie Ingalls. Janie Ingalls. Spray painted silver spray paint on it. But the story, the story I've heard is that it wasn't Fred's fault. Because before, when they did flare for a gold, the he, this guy ends up falling as he busts through a wall. His helmet falls off and it's, he's, the whole thing's dead in the water right that moment. The best part about that is Sid, who's going to WWE's Hall of Fame right now, is still trying to hang on to it. Most people in that group are.

• 36:33Speaker 00

  Like, this, this ain't good. We gotta get out of here. We can't just go, well, cut, you know, it's alive always with us. But Sid's going, who is that?

• 36:44Speaker 00

  He's trying to stay in, but the thing that Fred told everybody is there was a board, a guy named Jackie Crockett, who was a cameraman. He put that board there to just make sure the flare for the goal, because it was just a three wall set, doesn't fall. That board apparently was not there earlier in the day and that board is what did it. I don't know anyway, which this ever would have worked. Say he emerges through the wall in his stormtrooper helmet, his fur vest.

• 37:11Speaker 00

  And Ole Anderson, who's doing his voice. From somewhere else.

• 37:18Matt McCusker?

  He's like, yeah, it's not him talking. He's like lip syncing like he's talking. It's so crazy.

• 37:23Speaker 00

  But okay, so this happens and it's funny to the entire wrestling world. Some stuff is so bad, it's funny. We call it a monitor sellout where it's just, oh my God. It's gone so bad. Looking like, let's stay. But I had a very interesting ride home because my dad was mortified. And I'm pretty sure he thought he was gonna be fired by Ted Turner and TBS. My uncle was not gonna make it in that role. That wasn't gonna. So we just drove home from wherever that was in dead silence, like the loss of the games, like that type of. So all we ever talked about was wrestling and how cool that was, but I knew like.

• 38:03Matt McCusker?

  It's bombing. We do, we do this.

• 38:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 38:05Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. You bomb, you get in the car with everyone, drive home silently.

• 38:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, the bit, the bit didn't work out.

• 38:11Matt McCusker?

  Someone says one thing like, dude, shut the fuck up. Yes, that's a bad drive. And there's always the one guy trying to be like, let's go to Taco Mac or something. No, man, like, yeah.

• 38:21Speaker 03

  My friends, we have a, I'm thinking of the mashup.

• 38:24Matt McCusker?

  Oh, it's the best.

• 38:25Speaker 03

  The funniest bomb ever. My two friends went on stage together and just the crowd fucking hated them. And then we get in the car and we're driving back to our place and it's just dead silent. And then finally it's like, you guys suck. And then they were like, okay, all right, yeah, that's pretty funny. Yeah, we suck. And then after like an hour of me making fun of him, the one dude just lost his mind and tried to fight me.

• 38:43Speaker 00

  Oh, no.

• 38:45Matt McCusker?

  Then we had chairs and we had like a house with like five of us. There's one chair, we'd all play video games. If you bombed, he's like, dude, you gotta sit in the bomb chair. You bombed tonight. You gotta sit in the bomb chair. He kept bringing up the mashup. Yeah, and he stood up fully like, fight me right now. I can't.

• 38:57Speaker 03

  I thought he was joking too. He like went to the kitchen. He was like, you motherfucker. So I got in his face joking. I was like, and then I realized he was serious. And I was like, oh, he might, he might murder me.

• 39:09Speaker 00

  Do you feel it's important though, the passion in terms of when you bomb or have that moment? You need to have that bad night, right?

• 39:15Speaker 03

  Uh, yeah, for sure. But I would never, again, I don't know why I would say never. I spazzed on so many people after I bombed.

• 39:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, that happens.

• 39:25Speaker 00

  I think you need that bad.

• 39:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's embarrassing though, when you, if you bomb and then you get mad at somebody else.

• 39:30Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 39:31Speaker 03

  You gotta be mad at yourself.

• 39:32Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I almost, I almost threw a can of Liquid Death just the other night. I flubbed the last like two words of my closer. I just like fucked up the clothes and flubbed the words. And I was like, all right, yeah, you guys got the idea. I'm out of here. Sorry about that. And I walked backstage and I was getting like ready just to hurl a full Liquid Death. And I saw a camera above me. I'm like, yeah, maybe I'll just chill. So I just squeezed it privately. I put it against my chest and squeezed it.

• 39:57Speaker 03

  I saw like, right before you took a break from standup, you got offstage at helium. And I was on the other side of the door and I was just like, ooh, that sucked. And you're like, fuck. And I was like, oh, nevermind, nevermind. Cause normally if you bomb, you can just be like laughing off. But every once in a while you'll see someone like fully like.

• 40:17Matt McCusker?

  No, dude, the worst, we did a comedy contest in New Jersey.

• 40:20Speaker 03

  That was sick.

• 40:21Matt McCusker?

  And I, I had like an okay set and I remember the guy came up after me and was just like, yeah, this guy started just like trashing me. And I'm just watching it. I was like.

• 40:29Speaker 03

  He was sitting next to me and he was like.

• 40:30Matt McCusker?

  Motherfucker. Shane's laughing. I'm like, it's not funny. And then I chilled out for sure, but I remember he was done. He was with his girlfriend. I like walked up to him. This was like hours later. Walked up to him. I go, that was pretty funny, man. He was like, okay. And I was like, no, seriously, ever do that again? I like pulled him in. I'm like, if you ever do that again, I'll fucking kill you. I swear to God. He was like, dude, relax. I'm just kidding. He was right. I'm just being a spaz, but yeah.

• 40:53Speaker 03

  No, it's okay.

• 40:54Speaker 00

  As far as like wrestling promos go and the last lines being flubbed, that's one of the worst feelings ever when you think you've got some hot ammunition and then you come back and realize didn't get, I got 60% of that and it didn't land. And also you feel like it's everybody else's fault because or at least I, you go out there and it's live. So there's the camera there and there's all these other elements. I'll tell you a crazy one that people never take into account. Now on my bus, every now and then I'll try and do this, but the amount of stuff, physical stuff sometimes in wrestling. So you're just sitting there, you're talking, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna say this.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  Then you realize like, I gotta, I'm gonna have the title and, and the mic. And then I might have the glasses on. You think of all these other elements and I always, those are where I usually go to blame. Like that's where, yeah. You'll know, there was one promo I did where I laid the title in front of me and I just told the cameraman, I said, shoot up like it's a big dramatic shot. I can't fuck around with this thing right now. Like it's so much. Yeah.

• 41:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, blame everything else.

• 41:57Speaker 00

  Blame everything else.

• 41:57Speaker 03

  When I bomb, I have a fucking crowd sense of whatever, no matter what. I got a fucking guy before me. Suck.

• 42:04Speaker 00

  When's the last time that you felt you bombed?

• 42:07Speaker 03

  Uh, it happens a lot. I bombed on Friday at the fucking United Center in Chicago.

• 42:12Speaker 00

  Big building.

• 42:13Speaker 03

  It was the biggest.

• 42:14Speaker 00

  Big money.

• 42:14Speaker 03

  Literally the biggest arena. And that was actually sound's fault.

• 42:18Speaker 00

  Yeah?

• 42:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:19Speaker 00

  So it was acoustic wise?

• 42:20Speaker 03

  Acoustically, it was terrible. We fixed it. They, they were adjusting it the entire time during my set.

• 42:26Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 42:26Speaker 03

  Took like 25 minutes into my set. They started to fix it.

• 42:30Speaker 00

  Did you feel that, are you your own biggest critic that you bombed by your standards or did you feel you really?

• 42:37Matt McCusker?

  It probably wasn't a true.

• 42:39Speaker 03

  It wasn't a true, it was fine. The, the show was fine, but there was definitely like sections of people that could barely hear it. So then you're like, damn, those people wasted their money.

• 42:47Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah, that's.

• 42:48Speaker 03

  And like you feel terrible about that.

• 42:50Speaker 00

  You're a real, you're, you're a real one.

• 42:52Speaker 03

  Well, that's the worst.

• 42:53Speaker 00

  Well, the consumer experience is everything. I feel like the longer you go in any type of entertainment, I like being around people who care. Cause a lot, like a lot of young wrestlers, for example, they're just. Just wanted to body slam him and then he kicks me up and we go, they're thinking very much about the two of them.

• 43:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:09Speaker 00

  And then I think especially if they go on before Raw or SmackDown air, I'm thinking, here was 12,000 people.

• 43:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:15Speaker 00

  They were, they, they didn't mind what you did, but you could have brought them in.

• 43:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:19Speaker 00

  Involved them, could have like, get them going.

• 43:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:21Speaker 00

  Excited, we're about to go on air.

• 43:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:23Speaker 00

  Versus do kind of your own performance.

• 43:25Speaker 03

  The first, uh, I did, the first arena I ever did, I was always like, I'm not going to use fucking like fog machines and fucking lights and shit.

• 43:34Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:34Speaker 03

  Like, I'm like, that's all fucking corny. I just, it was the worst decision of all time.

• 43:38Speaker 00

  Oh, okay.

• 43:39Speaker 03

  I just stood on a, it was just silent in a stage. And I was like, we gotta get some fucking lights and shit. We gotta spruce this up.

• 43:46Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:47Speaker 03

  Cause I'd see other comedians doing it, I'd be like, fucking losers.

• 43:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 43:50Speaker 03

  And then you kind of have to.

• 43:52Speaker 00

  That's kind of the, uh, George Strait in the country music world just stands in the center of the stage.

• 43:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, it turns out I'm not George Strait.

• 44:00Speaker 00

  I feel like a lot of people have the turns out, I'm not George Strait moment. Where it's like, you know what?

• 44:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:05Speaker 00

  Load it up.

• 44:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm good.

• 44:06Speaker 03

  Mine was night one and then night two, I was like, all right, we gotta get like some fog or something. They got one tiny, like, small fog machine. It was like a hundred yards away from me. There was just like steam coming out of the side. Bombed again. I was like, oh, fuck.

• 44:22Speaker 00

  It's a work in progress.

• 44:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're figuring it out.

• 44:25Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, that's too big of a space just to come out to and be like, walk.

• 44:28Speaker 03

  Walk out quietly.

• 44:29Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, everyone's waiting for you.

• 44:30Speaker 03

  Crazy.

• 44:31Matt McCusker?

  That's so funny.

• 44:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was bad.

• 44:33Matt McCusker?

  I did, I, I used to think it would be funny to come out on stage to ambient music, like the stuff you fall asleep to.

• 44:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:39Matt McCusker?

  I tried it once and I was just like, I'm so.

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Song choices? So who picked songs to walk out to? Uh, cause it's funny and, and the idea of it's funny. Like, what if I walk out to like flute EDM of fucking dubstep? And then every time Matt walks out at one of my shows, I'm like, who picked, what is this? Turn this the fuck off. It also plays for three seconds. It just blasts fucking garbage.

• 45:05Speaker 00

  It doesn't even play long enough for it to land.

• 45:09Matt McCusker?

  And I also run the stage as fast as I can.

• 45:12Speaker 03

  You never go, that was funny. He just starts, he's like, hey, how's everybody doing? This guy's out of his mind.

• 45:18Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, it's like, boing, boing, boing, wow.

• 45:21Speaker 03

  What's the song? You got the song.

• 45:22Matt McCusker?

  I know exactly what it is. I can play it right now.

• 45:24Speaker 03

  Nuts, dude.

• 45:25Matt McCusker?

  This is a song.

• 45:27Speaker 03

  How did you come up with your theme song?

• 45:29Speaker 00

  Damn.

• 45:32Speaker 00

  That song, speaking of him coming out to land songs that may not land.

• 45:37Speaker 03

  You gotta hear this fucking.

• 45:38Speaker 00

  Hit it.

• 45:38Matt McCusker?

  I got a good one right here. Where is this? I think it's, is it this one?

• 45:45Matt McCusker?

  Oh, here it is. I found it. No, no, no, it's not that.

• 45:48Speaker 03

  They're pretty, they sound pretty similar.

• 45:49Matt McCusker?

  It's, no, it's right.

• 45:50Speaker 03

  I am excited to hear.

• 45:51Speaker 00

  I'm worried that there's such a long list.

• 45:53Matt McCusker?

  Here we go. Let me skip ahead a little bit.

• 46:03Speaker 03

  It's a good, it's a good fucking wrestling walkout.

• 46:15Speaker 00

  Yeah. I'm worried though.

• 46:19Speaker 03

  It's crazy.

• 46:20Speaker 00

  The song doesn't really tell us anything about you, right?

• 46:23Matt McCusker?

  Other than I privately think that's funny to come out to that.

• 46:26Speaker 00

  Cause to your, to your question, the trick with a wrestling song, all the greatest wrestling music, it doesn't need to be a good song. It needs to be a catchy song. Jimmy Hart, Mouth of the South, the manager for Hogan, he was making all that great nineties content music that ended up being everyone's favorite. It was catchy. I like Kingdom, the song I come out to. But, and I actually think it's, those guys are great. Downstate's great. It's a great song. It's done amazing things. It's the only walkout song I think WWE has that WWE doesn't own, which I don't know how we feel about that, but.

• 47:06Speaker 00

  The issue is I hear it so much that especially at the end of the night, if I'm doing the rounds and I'm staying and they're just playing that one song, it gets you. And I heard my daughter the other day, she doesn't know the words, but she was saying, uh, like something, she put Paw Patrol in it all of a sudden. It's very, it's very, you can, I've, I've heard people do the something, something Cody Rhodes, which is just kind of the appropriate way to sing it and whatnot. As long as you get to the whoa.

• 47:32Speaker 03

  What do they, what do they say?

• 47:33Speaker 00

  Well, the, uh, yeah, the way, nobody seems to know the words, but they just, there's one part of like something, something Cody Rhodes. And it's, if you think of it that way, it's, it's a pretty, it's a pretty interesting song by WWE standards too. It's got my voice, which I recorded on a Generation One iMac when I first left WWE. Cause I took this song on the road with me. That's one of the things why WWE doesn't own it. I took it when I went and did independents and started, basically started myself back over to eventually come back to WWE. But I, I can say this, it can never change. Unless I was to go, you know, bad guy, then that song is out, I suppose. But that's the other thing. I'm locked into it. We're married together, that song and I.

• 48:18Matt McCusker?

  Oh, here we go. This episode is brought to you by No Bull.

• 48:22Speaker 03

  Matt, please speak for 15 to 20 seconds about the worst pair of pants you've ever had.

• 48:27Matt McCusker?

  Hmm.

• 48:28Speaker 03

  And go.

• 48:30Matt McCusker?

  Uh, worst pair of pants I've ever had. I, I, I know what they are. So I had these, another brand of high-end activewear, but they almost, they were so sleek. They felt almost like pantyhose. And I would get a, and this is, I'm just talking pants right now, No Bull. I would have like a doorbell bulge. It looked like you could literally press the button and enter my house. It was, they were so tough. First of all, they were like so tight on me and I felt like a girl.

• 48:54Speaker 03

  You're saying your dick and nuts were sticking out.

• 48:56Matt McCusker?

  Yeah. Like I was dressed.

• 48:57Speaker 03

  I thought it was soft enough that it'd probably give you a slight chub all day.

• 49:00Matt McCusker?

  That's the thing, but then it goes away. I was just so conflicted because I was like, am I borderline, am I like that one politician's husband? If you know what I'm talking about?

• 49:08Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 49:08Matt McCusker?

  I felt like him a little bit. I felt like him a little bit. Worst experience with pants ever. And then I was hard on the flight the whole time.

• 49:15Speaker 03

  You're gonna, you're gonna love this. No Bull has decided to put an end to our misery.

• 49:18Matt McCusker?

  Thank God.

• 49:18Speaker 03

  All right. It's, it's a training brand known for award-winning footwear and apparel. And now they're bringing their no bullshit attitude to men's pants. What the?

• 49:25Matt McCusker?

  Can you even say that?

• 49:26Speaker 03

  I guess. These guys are edgy as hell. Starting with these things called the Deal Maker. It's basically a full-on jean swap. Same look, but breathable, stretchy, and actually comfortable. No stiffness, no weird breaking in period, none of that.

• 49:41Matt McCusker?

  Like a good jean swap.

• 49:42Speaker 03

  I love a jean swap. And then there's the game changer, slacks. Made out of sweats. You ever fucking think about it? Seems impossible, but it's super soft, there's tons of stretch, and they still look sharp as hell.

• 49:53Matt McCusker?

  Perfect.

• 49:54Speaker 03

  I'm gonna say, Mom, can you go to the store? I need you to buy me the Deal Maker and the Game Changer. She's gonna go, Son, that's bullshit. I'm gonna go, No, Mom.

• 50:05Speaker 03

  That's Noble. Exclusively for secret pod listeners, Noble.

• 50:09Matt McCusker?

  You're a madman.

• 50:10Speaker 03

  I mean, I am a madman, dude. I'll sit here and drink whiskey in this chair.

• 50:16Speaker 03

  Exclusively for secret pod listeners, Noble is offering 35% off your first, and holy shit, 35% off your entire first order. Visit nobalproject.com and use code SECRETPOD for 35% off your entire first order. That's nobalproject.com and use code SECRETPOD. Respectfully, the jeans had a good run.

• 50:37Speaker 03

  Monday, May 4th, I'll be at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. Monday, May 4th. And then, May 7th, I'll be at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. I'll be there the 7th, 8th, and 9th, but there's still tickets on the 7th, on a Thursday. Please, please come.

• 50:55Matt McCusker?

  Let's go. Guys, 417, please come into the Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, Arizona. It's in the damn round. Right now, I'm about to be in the U. I need you guys to complete the circle, so I'm not just in the U. Otherwise, I'll be a pendulum. I'll just go back and forth. I need to come and get that orbital velocity. So, please come into the Celebrity Theater. And then, after that, the Celebrity Theater's not looking bad. I've hoped for that. Tucson, Arizona. What the fuck did I ever do to you guys?

• 51:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, what's your problem?

• 51:23Matt McCusker?

  Come out to Tucson. Come on, guys, it'll be fun. The Rialto Theater.

• 51:26Speaker 03

  Go Roto-Dors.

• 51:27Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, man. Hell, yeah. And the Toronto, you guys keep doing what you're doing. That's gonna be great. Riviera Theater, Chicago, or yeah, May 16th. And that'll be fun as well. It's just goddamn Phoenix and Tucson kicking my ass right now.

• 51:39Speaker 03

  We'll figure it out.

• 51:40Matt McCusker?

  We'll get them. My word.

• 51:41Speaker 03

  We'll find her.

• 51:43Speaker 04

  I was a big Smoke America's guy, like the Ash and Cody Rhodes. Yeah, that's my guy.

• 51:47Speaker 03

  Speaking of bad guys, what's going on with that prick, Pat McAfee?

• 51:49Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, what the hell?

• 51:50Speaker 04

  What the hell, dude?

• 51:51Speaker 03

  What a prick.

• 51:54Speaker 00

  How well, how well do you know?

• 51:55Speaker 03

  I know him pretty well.

• 51:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 51:57Speaker 03

  He's a jerk.

• 51:58Speaker 00

  Let me see what I can, let me see.

• 52:00Speaker 03

  I'd like to stomp him in Las Vegas WrestleMania. I'm gonna beat the fuck out of Pat McAfee.

• 52:05Speaker 04

  I mean, that would honestly be awesome.

• 52:07Speaker 03

  I actually have to open the Straight of Hormuz again, though.

• 52:09Speaker 04

  Oh, true.

• 52:11Speaker 03

  Fucking, they closed it, so I can't go to Vegas.

• 52:13Speaker 00

  True.

• 52:16Speaker 00

  I've been, I've been told that some of the people in his, his orbit, his circle, uh, think he's the next Sylvester Stallone. In terms of TV, film, uh, I don't know if I'm getting that. From what I've watched, I have very limited knowledge on Pat. Other than I love me some College Game Day.

• 52:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 52:40Speaker 00

  He is very good on College Game Day.

• 52:42Speaker 03

  Well, see, I know you don't wanna hear this, he's the fucking man, dude.

• 52:45Speaker 00

  Yeah, I, I would, I would say, I, I'm glad, I'm glad. There are people who like to, uh, pitch themselves in these WrestleMania and these big moments. I am flattered.

• 53:00Speaker 03

  Yeah, he wants to be a part of it.

• 53:01Speaker 00

  I'm flattered, uh, yeah, that's his, that's his, LaMaire, you shaking your head, no.

• 53:06Speaker 03

  Well, LaMaire, have you turned on Pat?

• 53:08Speaker 00

  Have you turned on Pat? This is a Pat-friendly house, right?

• 53:11Speaker 04

  I haven't turned on Pat, but like, dude, like, you know, like, it doesn't make any sense.

• 53:19Speaker 03

  Talk your shit, dude.

• 53:20Speaker 00

  Yeah, talk it.

• 53:21Speaker 04

  Like, yeah.

• 53:21Speaker 00

  Talk it, cuz I'm not.

• 53:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, give me, give me.

• 53:24Speaker 00

  I'm just gonna do the Mariah Carey answer moving forward on Pat McAfee. I don't know him.

• 53:29Speaker 04

  There's like no tough punters, like, you know?

• 53:33Speaker 00

  What's the, I'll say this, alright, cuz he kicked me in the, like, below the belt here.

• 53:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 53:38Speaker 00

  Uh, that was an NFL punter. That, that, that might be, though you wanna stay away from those legs?

• 53:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 53:46Speaker 00

  I don't know, uh, that might be it, yeah. This is the first time I've been, been asked about him, and I think henceforth, I'm just going with the Mariah Carey, I don't know him, response. Even though I might be on television.

• 53:58Speaker 04

  What was the nature of the betrayal? What exactly happened?

• 54:01Speaker 00

  Oh, man.

• 54:02Speaker 04

  What'd he do?

• 54:04Speaker 00

  I, uh, let's see how we could explain.

• 54:08Speaker 00

  Randy Orton, who I'm wrestling in WrestleMania. We have like almost two decades of history between each other. He was my mentor. I had Cena, who I drove around. I had Randy. Very different opinions, but also really helped shape me. We were on screen together as part of his group legacy. He had my dad's last match. My first match in the company is Randy. There was a lot of rich story material. And then we inserted Pat McAfee. And that's, we are literally in that part right there.

• 54:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 54:45Speaker 00

  So your question is everybody else's question.

• 54:48Speaker 03

  True.

• 54:49Speaker 00

  And that is-

• 54:49Speaker 03

  What the hell's this guy even doing here?

• 54:50Speaker 00

  I, uh, yeah, no, you know, like the, the troops all outside and there's that clown, right? I'm not saying he's like the clown in that regards. He just, it's an interesting fit. And we're, we're gonna see, we're gonna see, we're gonna see where it goes.

• 55:03Speaker 03

  You're saying he's not a serious person?

• 55:04Speaker 00

  No, I don't, I think he seems like, you can't have that much success and be ground up like he is without being a serious person and having been to the Thunderdome and-

• 55:13Speaker 03

  For sure.

• 55:14Speaker 00

  There's, what I would say is, right now, what I've seen is everyone around Pat McAfee, his orbit, probably someone needs to say no every now and then. That seemed, that seems like a dangerous group of people to, you know, you need, like, we were talking about Bob Holly earlier, man. You need that one guy in the room to be like, I don't know, man, jumping into the WrestleMania main event. Also, while I was getting my ass kicked in the ring the other night, looking up and he's wearing shades, like he put the shades on to go out there. It's a different era of wrestling. It was like watching a guy at a bar do like a Stone Cold impression. Or like, and here's, here's the thing, and I'm

• 55:57Speaker 00

  really trying to, I'm just gonna stick with the, I don't know him, but this is my, is, I heard him, again, getting my ass kicked, I heard him talk about the Attitude Era. And I'm thinking, oh, man, I don't think he knows. Almost 30 years ago.

• 56:15Speaker 00

  Almost so love it. And it was the most prolific era in the business until the last four years.

• 56:22Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 56:23Speaker 00

  So if you're part of the last four years, you kind of feel like, why are we talking about this? You know what I'm saying? We're playing in this game. Why are we talking about this? And, uh, yeah, no, uh, I'll stick with the official though. Uh, I don't know him. Yeah.

• 56:35Speaker 03

  Damn dude.

• 56:36Matt McCusker?

  Should be interesting.

• 56:37Speaker 00

  Oh, that's the best part about it. I, it's very interesting. WrestleMania and something that modern wrestling fans and more what I mean is younger fans who didn't watch WrestleMania one or two, the original WrestleMania was built on the celebrity interaction. Like Mr. T, Hogan, Liberace, everything there, you know, uh, you know, Wendy Richter, everything like.

• 56:59Speaker 03

  Liberace wrestle.

• 57:02Speaker 00

  Mike Tyson and, uh, you know, when WrestleMania with him and, uh, with Sean and Steve. So there's always that element. Now Pat is there.

• 57:10Matt McCusker?

  There was that in the ring.

• 57:11Speaker 00

  He's, he's in it.

• 57:12Speaker 03

  He's this, he's the new Liberace is what you're saying.

• 57:16Speaker 00

  In that list of celebrities who come to the first WrestleMania, Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, Wendy Richter and Liberace, you decide where Pat falls on the, on the, on the list. You decide, you know?

• 57:31Matt McCusker?

  There's that.

• 57:31Speaker 03

  Yeah. I was watching the, I just saw an Instagram reel of, uh, when Mayweather was on, when he punched Big Show. I watched that live and I was like, he really fucking punched him.

• 57:41Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 57:42Speaker 03

  And then them talking about it was pretty sick.

• 57:44Speaker 00

  Also, I think show, uh, the big show, they had a nice agreement between each other. That when wrestling's done, right? The best thing ever is when you can just have a little bit of doubt on, ooh, seems like those guys do hate each other. Seems like, and we have a lot of that in both main events this year. There's a lot of sincerity to the suspension of disbelief.

• 58:07Speaker 03

  I just believed you.

• 58:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:08Speaker 03

  About that.

• 58:09Speaker 00

  Well, I tried very hard to navigate and he's your buddy. So now I'm sitting here and feel bad.

• 58:13Speaker 03

  No, dude. When you're here, I'm turning on Pat, dude.

• 58:16Matt McCusker?

  It's WrestleMania.

• 58:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 58:17Matt McCusker?

  It's WrestleMania too.

• 58:19Speaker 03

  Pat backstabbed me on college game day.

• 58:20Speaker 00

  Judging, oh, bro, you got hokey dogs on.

• 58:23Speaker 03

  He told me Nick Saban loved joking around. Nick Saban does not love joking around.

• 58:28Speaker 00

  We're having fun here, right?

• 58:31Speaker 03

  We got done, he was still going. He was like, dude, go talk to him. There's no way he was serious. I was like, he was serious.

• 58:35Speaker 00

  Yeah. You bit, well, so he's such a serious guy, Saban. I, uh, the crazy thing from my game day experience, did you have notes when you did yours?

• 58:43Speaker 03

  No.

• 58:44Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 58:44Speaker 03

  I didn't know what was going on.

• 58:46Speaker 00

  You just went, well, you know, college.

• 58:47Speaker 03

  I had a couple of drinks. I had a couple of drinks during the day, too. It was a night game. It was a Notre Dame playoff game at night, dude. I was, Matt got on there, Matt.

• 58:55Matt McCusker?

  Almost made it.

• 58:56Speaker 03

  It was a nice boot.

• 58:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's, it's such a great show. And I went on and I had the night before, kind of like a set, had been thinking of, there's, there's some teams I don't know. I don't know enough about Kansas State. But I want to be able to make my picks. And I'm in Athens and I go up there and I got the title and I got the Fanatics other UGA title. They're making me bring up there. So I didn't have notes. And I sat down next to Coach Lee. I sat down and he looked at me and just went, no notes, huh? And I thought, fuck. Shit. Oh, man. Oh, dude. No, no, no. Could I have notes? I would have not been able to memorize who won this award because some of those teams are, I'm not watching.

• 59:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:37Speaker 00

  You know, I'm an SEC guy mainly for the most part. That's where I was at, but I loved game day. Loved it.

• 59:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's awesome.

• 59:43Speaker 00

  You did great on game day, man. Yeah.

• 59:45Speaker 03

  I'm gonna have to replicate it this year, hopefully.

• 59:46Speaker 00

  The rivalry is great.

• 59:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:48Speaker 00

  Saban's the straight man on that show. I mean, it's real.

• 59:51Matt McCusker?

  That was so funny. He also have a deep knowledge of all like the teams and stuff. I wouldn't, I'd be tough. They would sniff me out pretty quickly, I think.

• 59:59Speaker 00

  Do you ever, uh, do you ever listen to a Saban or a Kirby locker room speech to get yourself fired up?

• 1:00:05Speaker 03

  Those are sick. Those are pretty awesome.

• 1:00:07Speaker 00

  I have found myself listening to Kirby talk to a bunch of college kids like they're going to war.

• 1:00:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's awesome.

• 1:00:14Speaker 00

  And I didn't realize the amount of F bombs in a college, like Kirby speeches get me. That's a regular little treadmill listen.

• 1:00:21Speaker 03

  Freeman got one at, uh, Notre Dame's coach got one. It was halftime of Notre Dame, Penn State. I think it was 10, nothing, 10, 3. And he was like, it's just a fight. Go out and fucking fight.

• 1:00:31Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:34Speaker 03

  He's like, you gotta do this. Fight them.

• 1:00:37Speaker 00

  Get your pads on, man.

• 1:00:38Speaker 03

  Lou Holtz has my favorite one. He, it was right before, it was Notre Dame Miami.

• 1:00:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:00:42Speaker 03

  They got in a fight in the tunnel.

• 1:00:43Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 1:00:43Speaker 03

  And all the players are like, because Coach Holtz was like a very serious, like, they're like, we're gonna, he's gonna yell at us for fighting. And he's like, I just got one thing to say. You leave Jimmy Johnson's ass from me.

• 1:00:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, RIP.

• 1:01:00Speaker 00

  Is this Catholics convicts era? Oh, gosh. What a, you seen that thirty for thirty?

• 1:01:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was that game. It was that game. Yeah.

• 1:01:07Speaker 00

  That's, that was as real as it gets, man.

• 1:01:08Speaker 03

  That's fun.

• 1:01:08Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. All on the line.

• 1:01:10Speaker 03

  You know what I'll say about the Miami fans? They, they love the whole, we're the bad guys thing.

• 1:01:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:01:15Speaker 03

  You call them convicts once and they're all like, that's mean. Ooh, I thought you guys were Catholic. Ooh. Shut up.

• 1:01:22Speaker 00

  Well, I think also the-

• 1:01:23Speaker 03

  November seventh, we're coming for you, Miami. You're coming to South Bend.

• 1:01:28Speaker 00

  I think the sensitivity of that era was a little different, though, in terms of what was on TV. Also, the way they presented both teams always. Yeah.

• 1:01:38Speaker 03

  Well, the way the teams presented themselves also. Miami's scoring touchdowns and taking their helmet off and spiking it on a guy's head.

• 1:01:45Speaker 00

  Good character question to find out where you stood during the Catholics convicts side of football.

• 1:01:51Speaker 03

  I know exactly where I stand, dude. I like my roster not getting arrested constantly. That's, I mean, what are we talking about?

• 1:01:59Speaker 00

  That's why my, that's why my dad loved you.

• 1:02:01Speaker 03

  But I see why you like the Bulldogs.

• 1:02:03Speaker 00

  Oh, the, them dogs, bro. They're the best.

• 1:02:06Speaker 03

  They're pretty good. Other than that Sugar Bowl.

• 1:02:08Speaker 00

  Yeah. But also as far as a team to root for.

• 1:02:11Speaker 03

  It's a good team.

• 1:02:12Speaker 00

  You're consistently, you, you're winning home games between the, between the hedges. Ugg is still on the field.

• 1:02:17Speaker 03

  Ugg are fucking rules.

• 1:02:18Speaker 00

  He's the best. Always.

• 1:02:20Speaker 03

  LaMarr's, LaMarr's gonna be, I'll go fifteen.

• 1:02:24Speaker 03

  When this Ugg dies, I'm signing up LaMarr.

• 1:02:26Speaker 00

  I like every time they bring Ugg around, another mascot or try to do one thing.

• 1:02:29Speaker 03

  Got upset.

• 1:02:30Speaker 00

  You know Ugg? The bulldog, man.

• 1:02:32Speaker 03

  You like it. Bevo, Bevo attacked Ugg.

• 1:02:34Speaker 00

  Bevo and Ugg. Every time someone's like, I think it's a good idea. Let's just get him together. Like, why would you put a, a full blown steer and this bulldog are gonna do well together, you know? Oh, I love them dogs.

• 1:02:45Speaker 03

  And they're dog biting people sometimes. That's nice.

• 1:02:48Speaker 00

  Well, that great picture, I think, is Ugg five in the Auburn game?

• 1:02:50Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 1:02:51Speaker 00

  That's the type of run through brick wall stuff. If our dog is getting into this, we're fighting, you know?

• 1:02:55Speaker 03

  That's pretty cool.

• 1:02:56Speaker 00

  Yeah. I think my niece is going to UGA.

• 1:02:58Speaker 03

  Nice.

• 1:02:59Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's big. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, the dogs. Good team. My mom's a big Notre Dame fan.

• 1:03:04Speaker 03

  She's, she's a saint.

• 1:03:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, she, she, yeah, she'll be happy to hear that.

• 1:03:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:03:09Matt McCusker?

  She understands your struggle.

• 1:03:10Speaker 00

  Cause we don't get it. Cause here's why.

• 1:03:13Speaker 03

  What don't you get, dude?

• 1:03:13Speaker 00

  So, her era of- Growing up Notre Dame, it's Notre Dame. That's all you have to say. Touchdown Jesus. It's Notre Dame, right? However, we don't know anyone who went there anymore. We don't have any connection to it.

• 1:03:26Matt McCusker?

  That doesn't stop.

• 1:03:27Speaker 00

  And multiple children have gone to other major universities and it's still, I'm going to the Notre Dame game with my sister. Who, who, who do you know?

• 1:03:36Speaker 03

  It's, you gotta get out there.

• 1:03:38Speaker 00

  That's their thing.

• 1:03:38Speaker 03

  Once you see it, you go, I get it.

• 1:03:40Speaker 00

  Does it get you?

• 1:03:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, you'll get it.

• 1:03:42Speaker 00

  Yeah. It gets you. All right. Fair enough. It's one of the greater franchise, I'm franchise, greatest institutions of all time. If not, top five.

• 1:03:51Speaker 03

  Top five is crazy.

• 1:03:52Speaker 00

  Top five.

• 1:03:53Speaker 03

  Now, since Bama went on that run with saving, now Notre Dame's too.

• 1:03:57Speaker 00

  And Bama being one?

• 1:03:59Speaker 03

  Bama's now number one.

• 1:04:00Speaker 00

  Where would you put UGA?

• 1:04:01Speaker 03

  Recently, they, they made a good run because before that I think they had one title since like 1980.

• 1:04:06Speaker 00

  Yeah. And then they had, they finally.

• 1:04:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, they're up there for sure.

• 1:04:09Speaker 00

  What about Texas?

• 1:04:11Speaker 03

  Not really.

• 1:04:12Speaker 00

  You're living here, man.

• 1:04:13Speaker 03

  I still like Texas.

• 1:04:14Speaker 00

  They're great.

• 1:04:14Speaker 03

  Their, their Longhorns are fun, but.

• 1:04:16Speaker 00

  Welcome, baby.

• 1:04:16Speaker 03

  They're not, you can't put them up there with, they're not even above Oklahoma.

• 1:04:20Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 1:04:21Speaker 03

  All time though, just blue blood wise.

• 1:04:23Speaker 00

  Wrestling, uh, famous wrestling announcer Jim Ross is watching this now. Yeah, he still has.

• 1:04:34Speaker 00

  Oh, man.

• 1:04:34Speaker 03

  Now Texas is right there.

• 1:04:36Speaker 00

  I, uh, I think I sent you a text about this. I don't know. I think I saw you talk about it one time and I was telling myself, I was like, I have to ask him about it. Is, uh, Ken Burns Civil War?

• 1:04:47Speaker 03

  Shit rocks.

• 1:04:48Speaker 00

  I live for Ken Burns Civil War. And it, have you seen it?

• 1:04:53Matt McCusker?

  I haven't seen it now.

• 1:04:54Speaker 03

  It's 47 hours long.

• 1:04:56Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, I heard it's long as hell. I haven't been able to commit to it.

• 1:04:59Speaker 00

  There's no video.

• 1:05:00Speaker 03

  I've watched it eight times.

• 1:05:01Matt McCusker?

  Pictures, just scanning.

• 1:05:02Speaker 03

  I've watched it eight times. I don't think I've gotten to Gettysburg, dude. I watched the first five hours of this thing.

• 1:05:08Matt McCusker?

  That's still really good.

• 1:05:09Speaker 03

  It's great.

• 1:05:10Speaker 00

  I, uh.

• 1:05:10Matt McCusker?

  That's awesome.

• 1:05:11Speaker 00

  I got the, the part of Guile in Street Fighter coming up.

• 1:05:14Speaker 03

  Oh yeah, that's right.

• 1:05:15Speaker 00

  And I'm thinking like, oh, I just want to get as American as I can get, right? And deep dive into, you know, military history, all stuff I already like.

• 1:05:25Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:05:25Speaker 00

  Clearly already very, very much liked. But I was just diving in and for whatever reason, I got stuck on Ken Burns Civil War and I was just fine with that.

• 1:05:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's incredible.

• 1:05:34Speaker 00

  It's so good. It's so good.

• 1:05:35Matt McCusker?

  It's so funny to watch that prepare for Kyle.

• 1:05:39Speaker 00

  I got a knowledge of what it's, what it took.

• 1:05:43Speaker 03

  Thinking about pick its charge.

• 1:05:46Speaker 00

  Boom. This is what it took to get, you know?

• 1:05:48Matt McCusker?

  True.

• 1:05:49Speaker 03

  You good to hang out with Schultz on that?

• 1:05:50Speaker 00

  What's that?

• 1:05:51Speaker 03

  Andrew Schultz on that?

• 1:05:52Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, he's phenomenal.

• 1:05:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, he's the man.

• 1:05:54Speaker 00

  Oh, and genuinely phenomenal.

• 1:05:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:05:57Speaker 00

  I think people will be, because they have Noah, Centineo, Kalina and Koji, the three leads, Chun-Li, Ryu and Ken are killing it. They, they, they knew their stuff. They were ready. They were pros, pros. And I think they put 50 Cent and Schultz and me, and we got to come in, float in. And the way Schultz is in the movie really blew me away. Yeah. Cause I got to see him both making people laugh hysterically and then also a couple sincere moments. He's a special one.

• 1:06:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:26Speaker 00

  Really special one. Yeah. He told me he'd help me against McAfee. I don't know.

• 1:06:32Speaker 03

  What? Some jokes?

• 1:06:33Speaker 00

  And then Schultz also has started, I think, single-handedly Schultz started a Mortal Kombat versus Street Fighter.

• 1:06:39Speaker 03

  I saw that.

• 1:06:40Speaker 00

  And everyone, I think onstage thought like the same thing. Okay. Well, we'll back him. Cause that's our guy. But like, eh, you know, like, yeah, I don't know how far. I think it's only getting worse. Like Schultz is ready for a fight, but also like, I don't know. I was saying, he's like my tag partner. I'm in. We're, we'll, we got, we got his back. Great guy. I wish he had jumped in the ring with his shades on, talking about the Attitude Era.

• 1:07:06Speaker 03

  True.

• 1:07:06Speaker 00

  While I was laying there confused, you know? But yeah, no, I know him.

• 1:07:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:12Speaker 00

  I know him.

• 1:07:13Matt McCusker?

  I know this other guy.

• 1:07:14Speaker 03

  McAfee's a fricking punk. I can't wait for this all, I can't wait for this all to get settled.

• 1:07:19Speaker 00

  Is this your wrestler go-to? This right here? Have you?

• 1:07:23Speaker 03

  I go Hulk Hogan. We're coming from you.

• 1:07:26Speaker 00

  Have you, uh, do you know, when you do, when you do media and stuff for, for your shows, do people ever ask you, hey, do something funny for?

• 1:07:33Speaker 03

  I every, all the time.

• 1:07:35Speaker 00

  Okay. And what, do you have a bit?

• 1:07:37Speaker 03

  No, I say no. I don't do.

• 1:07:39Speaker 00

  I, dude, I tell everyone, because some people, when they don't know wrestling, and I totally understand how great the eighties were, and I get it, I loved it myself. But that is a common, hey, man, why don't you just cut a quick little promo for us?

• 1:07:53Speaker 03

  Oh, man.

• 1:07:53Speaker 00

  And that's what they want.

• 1:07:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:07:57Speaker 00

  And I usually, it's, it's so soft and just almost, I'd say, I, you can see in their eyes.

• 1:08:06Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 1:08:07Matt McCusker?

  That's not what I want.

• 1:08:08Speaker 00

  That's not what I was saying.

• 1:08:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:09Speaker 00

  I thought you were gonna like, say, let me tell you something, brother. And, you know, like, bro, it's 7 a.m., uh, I'm in a suit, and it's, it's 2026. You know, like, I can just tell you this other stuff. But then also, in my mind, I leave, like, well, I should have something.

• 1:08:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course.

• 1:08:22Speaker 00

  I should have a thing. Like, when I met Burt Kreischer, Burt's more of a pro wrestler than half the pro wrestlers. He's like, ready for that.

• 1:08:29Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:29Speaker 00

  So I, I now try to have one ready, but then I never do. And just always try and tell him, let's just avoid.

• 1:08:34Speaker 03

  Before we, before we get out of here, because I think you actually have to go.

• 1:08:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:08:37Speaker 03

  Could you cut one for us, Lemar?

• 1:08:38Speaker 00

  Yeah, sure. Lemar, you cut a Wrestle.

• 1:08:40Speaker 03

  Please, cut a WrestleMania. He needs you to cut one.

• 1:08:42Speaker 00

  I need it, Lemar.

• 1:08:43Matt McCusker?

  Lamaze, get out of here, bro.

• 1:08:44Speaker 03

  Get in front of the camera, get in front of the camera and cut one.

• 1:08:47Matt McCusker?

  Give Pat McAfee a message. Send Pat McAfee a message right now. Get him to the camera, bro.

• 1:08:51Speaker 00

  I'll set you up, Lemar. This guy came for us.

• 1:08:54Matt McCusker?

  Yeah, bro.

• 1:08:54Speaker 00

  He inserted himself into WrestleMania. That's your turf.

• 1:08:58Matt McCusker?

  Lemar, the belt was in your pool house.

• 1:09:01Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:02Matt McCusker?

  Honor it.

• 1:09:02Speaker 00

  That, they, the title.

• 1:09:03Speaker 03

  Grab the Notre Dame belt.

• 1:09:05Matt McCusker?

  Get the belt, bro.

• 1:09:06Speaker 03

  Get the Notre Dame belt for this.

• 1:09:07Matt McCusker?

  Don't even mess around.

• 1:09:08Speaker 03

  Yes, feel it. Feel the strength of it.

• 1:09:11Speaker 00

  Yeah, feel that.

• 1:09:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:09:13Speaker 00

  Coach Lou's in there. Oh, yeah. You got that banana style.

• 1:09:17Matt McCusker?

  Get him, you gotta cut a promo, man.

• 1:09:19Speaker 00

  Cam, tell McAfee what's up, dude.

• 1:09:20Speaker 03

  What's the date? When's WrestleMania?

• 1:09:22Speaker 00

  1890.

• 1:09:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:09:23Matt McCusker?

  He knows.

• 1:09:26Speaker 00

  Tattooed in his brain. Come on, Lemar.

• 1:09:30Speaker 04

  Pat McAfee, you dare say that the wrestling industry is, the wrestling fandom, the, the IWC stinks?

• 1:09:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:37Speaker 04

  Dude, this, this, this is the stuff that you're made of. This is where you're from. Without the IWC, you wouldn't even be on TV. You wouldn't be shit.

• 1:09:46Speaker 04

  Keep going, old man, dude.

• 1:09:48Speaker 01

  Keep going, the man, he wouldn't be shit.

• 1:09:52Speaker 04

  This WrestleMania, April 18th, April 19th, you and Randy Orton think you're gonna take on the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes? You think you're gonna walk out unharmed?

• 1:10:04Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:10:04Speaker 04

  You think you're gonna walk out fully together? You think you're gonna walk out the same guys?

• 1:10:09Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:10:10Speaker 04

  You're threatening life-altering injuries. No, dude.

• 1:10:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, we tell him. Blood in the man, come on, baby.

• 1:10:18Speaker 04

  This guy right here, Cody Rhodes, the American Nightmare, the QB1 of the WWE.

• 1:10:24Speaker 00

  Fuck, yeah.

• 1:10:25Speaker 04

  He rarely lets us down.

• 1:10:28Speaker 03

  He rarely lets us down?

• 1:10:30Speaker 04

  He won't let us down.

• 1:10:31Speaker 03

  You guys do better shit talk than that. He fucking, he does pretty good for us. What the fuck, dude?

• 1:10:37Speaker 00

  The man, that was great.

• 1:10:38Speaker 03

  Good job, old man.

• 1:10:39Speaker 01

  You did it, man, you did it.

• 1:10:41Speaker 04

  This guy, QB1? He's got a pretty good weight percentage.

• 1:10:45Speaker 00

  All right, little man. I think unfortunately you set it up where it's like, oh, man. He rarely lets us down, basically like, hey, dude.

• 1:10:54Speaker 04

  There's no chance he's gonna let us down.

• 1:10:57Speaker 00

  Lemar, I was happy. So you're coming to Mania, right?

• 1:11:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, you know Scott Young.

• 1:11:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, he's gonna get into Mania.

• 1:11:03Speaker 00

  You gotta be there after all that. Watch out for Pat, too.

• 1:11:06Speaker 04

  Pat's gonna watch you.

• 1:11:07Speaker 00

  You gotta be there.

• 1:11:09Matt McCusker?

  Can I, before, before we go, I have to do, I have to say one more thing. We, so on the way here, I was doing a little research. I came across an interview, you and your wife, Brandy, right?

• 1:11:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:18Matt McCusker?

  And I, there was just a point of it, made me laugh so hard where she introduced herself as the African American Nightmare.

• 1:11:25Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11:25Matt McCusker?

  And then you said it, you're like, the African American Nightmare. She's like, okay, don't say that anymore.

• 1:11:31Matt McCusker?

  That interview's so funny.

• 1:11:32Speaker 00

  It's not mine.

• 1:11:33Speaker 04

  Matt's married to an African American Nightmare as well.

• 1:11:35Speaker 00

  It's not mine, it's not mine to access.

• 1:11:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:11:40Speaker 00

  And I learn it more every day.

• 1:11:44Speaker 00

  It's not so I I referenced my nickname on TV Rahim and that was funny. Until I said it and then now I I live with it.

• 1:11:59Speaker 03

  That interview is so funny.

• 1:12:01Speaker 00

  It's not mine to say.

• 1:12:05Speaker 03

  No one he loved it. He must have been like, oh, I'm keeping that.

• 1:12:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, no.

• 1:12:09Speaker 03

  See how it goes for me.

• 1:12:11Speaker 00

  It's not mine.

• 1:12:12Matt McCusker?

  God, that was a really funny interview. Definitely watch that.

• 1:12:14Speaker 00

  I learn every day.

• 1:12:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's good. You're growing.

• 1:12:17Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:12:17Speaker 03

  You're learning. La Mer, thank you for the promo. That was incredible.

• 1:12:20Speaker 00

  Great job, La Mer. You're coming to WrestleMania, man. You got it. And Pat, he'd be scared. He'd be scared running into you, man. You got him shaking, right? You got it. You're holding the Notre Dame title, friends of our friends at Fanatics. You know, you feel in that energy.

• 1:12:36Matt McCusker?

  It's past move now.

• 1:12:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:12:38Speaker 00

  I do worry about Randy Orton. I think you could take Pat.

• 1:12:44Speaker 00

  Randy, Randy, like a human horse, though, a thick, you're thick, boy, you know, so you got it.

• 1:12:49Speaker 03

  La Mer, you're strong as hell, right?

• 1:12:53Speaker 03

  You're okay?

• 1:12:55Matt McCusker?

  No, no, Pat, we're talking about you taking out Pat.

• 1:12:57Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, I can take Pat.

• 1:12:58Matt McCusker?

  Pat would beat the hell out of you.

• 1:13:01Speaker 03

  Pat will beat your ass.

• 1:13:03Speaker 00

  No, dude.

• 1:13:04Speaker 03

  I'm turning heel. I'm going back. Pat, you're the man, dude. All right. Well, thank you very much. You're the man. Seriously.

• 1:13:11Matt McCusker?

  Thank you, man.

• 1:13:11Speaker 00

  This is a blast, man. Thank you so much.

• 1:13:13Matt McCusker?

  Watch new episodes of Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast on Spotify.

• 1:13:17Speaker 03

  Do it.