The Line Change Podcast Episode 5 - Nick Piccone & Vaughn Johnson (@ShootersRadio)

WrestleMania week is here! On Episode 5, Nick Piccone and Vaughn Johnson of the Straight Shooters Podcast join Jon Jansen to talk all things #WrestleMania.

• History of #WrestleMania
• Significance of #WrestleMania in Philly
• Expectations in and around Philly for #WrestleMania week
• And more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It is the Line Change, episodenumber five. Line Change presented by Cut,
the social sports betting app. Youcan check it out Kutt dot com.
Also you can download the app Kutt. Cut is how it's spelled downloaded,
sign up and use the referral codeGambler g A M B L E

(00:20):
R. I don't know why I'mtalking about audience like they don't know how
to spell. You know how tospell Gambler. Use it as the referral
code. Sign up for Cut.It is episode number five. Though.
You can check out the line Changewherever you get your podcast, Please rate,
review, subscribe over on the ApplePodcast Store. Also go on our
YouTube channel, Subscribe, subscribe,subscribe Fox Sports the Gamblers we can find

(00:41):
it. The line Change all partof the Fox Sports The Gambler Family one
A two point five FM fourteen eightyam, and you can follow us at
FOXPHL Gambler on all Socials. Myname is John Jansen, host of this
fine program, and the guests todayyou can hear them on the roundtable.
When we're gonna do that for allbig wrestling shows. I was gonna say
Wrestlemingia, not just Restlemania, butall big wrestling shows on the Gambler.

(01:03):
You can also hear they're great,critically acclaimed podcast, the greatest wrestling podcast
in the world, Shooters Radio,Nick Pcone, Vaughn Johnson, Gentleman,
WrestleMania in our backyard? Does itfeel really, you know where it felt
real to me? If it's finallystarted to feel real. Not that WrestleMania

(01:25):
is happening, that's always happens,but it felt real of oh, this
is a Philly thing. When TripleH puts out a promo video and it's
Meek Mill, it's dreams of Nightmaresand it's finished. The story of von
I see you shaking your head yeswith the Eagles hoodie on and Dreams of
Nightmare, of course, was likethe theme song of the twenty seventeen Eagles.
That was like, so happen,That's what happened. I was wearing
this, you caught me in themorning. I was wearing the hoodie of

(01:48):
my former employer. And now youbring this up. It's all a full
circle moment right now. It is. It's full circle And when did it
start? Is it starting to feelreal to you that not only it's wrestling,
but it's WrestleMania in Philly, becausethis is the first one I think
I saw. It was yesterday,It was yesterday. It was March twenty
eighth, twenty five years ago thatit was last in Philly, and now

(02:09):
it's back twenty five years later.It seems like a good time to be
in Philly. Yeah. I wasjust down at the Wells Fargo Center for
James Harden's return to Philly. Itwas that Wednesday night and look different story.
But did you boom hello? Hello? I'm an objective journalist that did
not come, but I was there. I was there now boo. I

(02:31):
was there to document the booze thatI was sure to have working. Yeah,
I was working function currently you werebooing, But your your exterior was
I'm big jay journalist to Vaughan Johnson. We'll talk about it offline, Johns.
But but I can't compromise the whileI was. While I was there,

(02:53):
though, I got to see thesigniss up at the at link of
Financial Field right now, and it'slike, damn, yeah, it's here,
almost here. At least we gota little more than a week away
as we record this. Yeah,it's it's kind of wild. It's kind
of wild to see the signage.It's kind of wild to know that wrestling
fans around the world are counting downthe days before they come to Philly and

(03:15):
they're worried about what they're gonna eat, what they're gonna do, And we
got and I can tell you forthe inquir we got a bunch of stories
if you are interested at the inquiry, if you are traveling in, we
got a bunch of stories for y'allthat are you know, going to be
available for all the guides you needas far as this awesome food, drinks,
all that type of stuff. Ifyou want to know all the stuff
you need to know about being inPhilly during WrestleMania, we check out Inquired

(03:38):
dot com. But but yeah,it's gonna be It's it's wild to think
about that we're less They're about aweek away from this, and I think
I feel like I'm already tired thathaven't even done anything yet as far as
the week, because I've been doingso much preparing for it. The anxiety
is starting to hit into like,oh my god, there's a lot to
do. There's so much to do. There's a lot, a lot of
places that need to be a lotof people I need to see. So
many people are going to be here. It's it's a lot. It's oh

(04:00):
my gosh. Yeah, this isall happening so fast, even though we've
done this for a year, It'sall happening like right now. Right I'm
wondering how much video going have toedit and post and stuff like that,
and how many people like I'm wantedto talk to and interview and meet for
the first time, not just wrestlers, but like people just within the industry,
other wrestling reporters, uh, peoplethat work for various promotions that I
haven't either have met or haven't metseen in a while, or whatever the

(04:25):
case may be. So yeah,it's gonna be I'm expecting it to be
some long days, some long nights, but hopefully it's fun and hopefully we
all have a good time here andPhilly. Hopefully Philly puts on a good
show. I would assume, youknow, knowing Philly, how we all
know Philly, we'll put on agood show. But you know, you
just never know how people might feel. So I hope people have a good
time here. I feel I feellike Philly is a great city for WrestleMania

(04:46):
because this is a walkable city.There's a lot of things to do,
and it's gonna be a lot ofplaces to go to see wrestling this week,
and it's not gonna be not gonnahave to go far. With other
times in the past you'd had toleave the city city limits to see a
show or go to it maybe anotherstate. This is a show, you
know, depending on the arrangement.But here in Philly, everything is pretty
much within city limits. You canuber, you can walk, you can

(05:09):
accept the you know, public transitto pretty much everything you need to get
to. That is great advice,That is great. So yeah, I
think that's a really big convenience forpeople here. I'm not sure how many
other cities have had that type ofsetup, you know, around WrestleMania that's
as convenient as Philly, especially likeyou're not talking about New Jersey, even
when we gotta go from New Yorkto New Jersey back and forth. We're

(05:30):
talking about everything is in Philly,and that's dope and I'm looking forward to
it. Yeah, Nick, isit is it starting to hit you?
When did it hit you that,oh, this is not just another WrestleMania.
This is not just a WrestleMania.I could watch on TV. I'm
sure you're going to watch on TVstill, But when did it hit you
of, oh, this is inour backyard. This is I mean,
there's there feels like a certain ownershipof it, like this is our WrestleMania.

(05:54):
This is not just a WrestleMania.This feels like this is our WrestleMania.
And there feels like an ownership ofthe week A big deal. I
know, look, w W's gonnaput on a good show, all the
ndies is gonna put on a goatshow. But it's it feels like it's
up to us to also make theweekend and week feel even bigger than it
should be. Yeah, you knowevery year they put up that WrestleMania sign

(06:15):
on those TV shows, your voicesgot real deep. You. I don't
know what that was, Nick,but like you're ready to go. That
was like announcer Nick pecone right there, the boys got deep. Maybe I'll
try to, uh you know,continue that. I don't know, but
we're talking to or from Power Rangersall of a sudden. Maybe it's because

(06:35):
I took this h the cover off. I don't know. Maybe that's why,
but uhdat sound like you're ready toreplace Dan Baker soon. That's what
was nice. Nice. So Iit was really seeing the Liberty Bell WrestleMania
logo on w w TV, notjust like a promo, but after TV

(06:56):
show, Cody Roase pointing at it, you know, people point out at
it. That's kind of like wow, like that's our WrestleMania, you know.
So obviously as we get closer,right, it does feel like an
ownership. It's like, exact thing, this is me, this is exactly
this Philly thing I did this.Yeah, right, it does. Though
I don't know why it's such aweird feeling because I don't like, if
a super Bowl ever came here,I wouldn't feel that way about a super

(07:18):
Bowl. But I don't know nownow it's in our backyard. Wrestling is
such a I guess, a personalthing and such a when you watch it,
you you are part of some collectivegroup. But I don't know.
There was something about it being inPhilly that it's like, okay, yeah,
this is for us, and it'sa different mindset because the last time
it was here, yeah, twentyfive years ago, it was still exciting,
but we were all so kids,you know, like I was thirteen

(07:42):
years old and people might not lookat wrestleming in fifteen is one of the
best of all time, but itreally was the first of the hot era
in w W. I know,fourteen was kind of like the changing of
the Guard, but like the gamewas a pretty high era for them too,
well, like that was the builtyou know, like and then to
the Austin era. This was kindof like, Okay, we're in that

(08:03):
era, so let's see what happens. You got, you know. Ninety
nine was a crazy year for WFWe talked about it on the podcast,
especially the lead up from like RoyalRubble to WrestleMania, like it was like
week to week craziness. Not somuch now because they let things play out.
The creative flow is a lot differentin twenty twenty four. Thankfully it's

(08:26):
a good thing. So I thinkwe've had time to digest obviously, we've
had a year to digest the wholeCody Roads losing to Roman Mania thirty nine,
and it's just like right after that, like, well that's it,
Like where are they going to gofrom here? Arguably even a bigger kind
of focus towards the main event thisyear than last year, and now with

(08:48):
the Rock involved, you know,them doing two nights of the Rock and
Roman versus Cody and Seth, andthen Cody versus Roman, like that's that
feels more important. And then lastyear in a way, like I know,
the USO's versus Ko and Sammy wasbig and we were looking forward to
that. But this is like onanother level, it feels like and maybe

(09:09):
it's the creative direction, maybe becausethe Rocks involved, you know, the
whole transfer of ownership to TKO,and you know it's not one person calling
the shots anymore, thankfully, Soit's kind of almost like a concerted group
effort of creativity that you know makesthis WrestleMania feel a lot more important.

(09:31):
At yes it's WrestleMania forty as well, so that they love those round numbers,
right so, and the fact thatPhilly, you know, they finally
have a chance to show out.The last time WrestleMania was here, the
VET was still here, the WellsFargo Center was brand new. It was
it was what the first EDI andCenter at that time, so the FU

(09:52):
Center. So you know, there'sa lot different, Like I know,
it's Findy lives here, and youknow people are going to take advantage of
that, but it just it's awhich way will be by the way,
eleven hundred Social Xfinity Live, GreenLesion Radio is going to be there,
and Rick Flair is going to bethere, and a bunch of people are
going to be there. So yes, Exfinity Life. Yeah, it feels
different as an adult, you know, like that that we're actually partaking in

(10:13):
it media wise, you know,like we're covering it. I'm not a
thirteen year old kid just watching forentertainment, you know. So, uh,
it's definitely you know, once Isaw that WrestleMania signed on like Monday
Night Raw for the first time,I was like, okay, like it's
ours. Yeah, one of thebest that we weren't adults back in ninety
nine because I mean probably would havebeen at the WrestleMania Rage Party and that

(10:35):
didn't a great time, you knowwhat I'm saying. The place that I
wanted to be at twenty five Likefor people to know that I was at
twenty five years later, yeah,and you know what, you know,
what's going to be really cool thetwenty five years later snapshot of what WrestleMania
was in Philly. Then for WrestleManiafifteen, and what WrestleMania is going to

(10:56):
be now. I mean it's it'sgotten bigger, it's gotten massive, it's
more of a pop culture events.It's two nights now, So I mean
the scale that WrestleMania is now,I mean, this is the biggest it's
ever been. Did how did weget here? I guess I'll start with
you, Von. How did WrestleManiaget to this point where not only it's
a big event, it's the biggestevent in wrestling, It's always been the
biggest event in wrestling, but nowit's it is becoming one of the biggest

(11:20):
events in all of entertainment. Likeit truly is. It is on that
massive of a scale. How dowe get here? And how much bigger
can can it get? I meantwenty five years later, I mean it's
much bigger than it was now thelast time it was in Philly. But
what about I say, the nexttwenty five years, but like maybe the
next five to ten years of whatthis could be, because it feels like
it's just getting grander and grander andgrander, and this is I think a

(11:41):
culmination of all of that. Thisfeels like a real cultural shift or at
least a landscape shift in wrestling.How big this WrestleMania is going to be.
It's not a lot of legends,just the Rock, but it's really
this roster doing well and these newcurrent wrestlers. I hate to say new,
but these current wrestlers making a bigdeal about a big wrestling show.
But this this has gotten massive.How massive has it gotten? And how

(12:03):
much of grander of a scale canwe can we expect maybe with WrestleMania moving
forward, Well, it's gotten massivebecause WWE just they earned another ending quest
for worldwide domination. So it's goingto just it was bound to grow anyway.
Vince McMahon back in the nineties,I don't think he really aspired to
put the WrestleMania back in arenas,but they had to because the business had
changed and you know, they wouldlosing money. At some point they would

(12:26):
removing the water coolers out of thetowers in Stanford, Connecticut. So they
made that shift. But as soonas they got back on their feet and
the attitude there was running full steamahead, they went back into two stadiums,
right, So that's kind of whatthey wanted I think the whole time.
I mean since WrestleMania three. It'sbeen in the stadium, right,
That was back in nineteen eighty seven, So it's always kind of been this
grand event that Vince McMahon envisioned itto be, like a super Bowl of

(12:48):
wrestling. And it's like you said, it's only gotten bigger, did I
think what's helped to get bigger isthat not only has WW programmed events around
it, but the entire wrestling industryhas as well. When you got all
the other promotions that run shows aroundit, I think that's only helped it
become a bigger event. Whether WWwants to admit that or not, I
think the inclusion or not really theinclusion of thing. It's not like WW

(13:11):
included them willingly, but the restof the wrestling industry kind of jumping on
that bandwagon and booking their shows andtheir events. You got conventions, you
got concerts, you got parties,and Guie the Rapper has a party every
year a WrestleMania and it's gonna happenagain here in Philly. So those type
of instillary events I think has helpedgrow the profile WrestleMania without WW really even

(13:35):
doing anything, because it's not justa show Now it's not just a show
an event you go to and youknow, back in the day, you
just go to access I guess andgo to some autograph signings, you see
the different memorabilia. WW has adisplay and that was pretty much it.
But now when it's more the offer, so it's more enticing as a fan
if you're like, Okay, I'mgonna spend all this money right a Disney

(13:56):
attraction, right, and like youhave four days of this huge thing,
right, if I'm going to travelthere, I might as well get more
banged from my buck. So it'snot just w W shows. We're gonna
you're gonna see game changes wrestling,You're gonna see Ring of Van or you're
gonna see all these other GCW isgonna have blood Sport and for the culture
on blood Sport, Shane Bays isgoing to be on blood Sport. You
got Big Fi's Bunch, so yougot all these other events is also you

(14:18):
look forward to seeing. Also,it's like a it's almost like a gathering
that just fans. It's a gatheringof the industry. You know, it's
a whole It's where some people mightnot see each other the whole year except
that WrestleMania, and it's a placewhere you can connect and meet new people
and stuff like that. So it'smore than just a wrestling event. It's
it's it's you know, it's obviouslypop culture and all that stuff that ww

(14:39):
might like to say, But Ithink for the wrestling industry as a whole,
for fans, I think it's justa week long cultural event that they
can it's literally wrestle Mania, Likeit's not just the name of the show.
It's like you're an undated for multipledays with just pro wrestling, and
there aren't too many other times ofthe year or if there are any other

(15:01):
times of the year where that canhappen. So I think I guess that
the whole industry kind of jumping onboard has helped grow the profile WrestleMania,
at least amongst fans, and it'smake it it's made it worth your while
more to at least be your feeton the ground in the city more than
just Saturday and Sunday. Now peoplecoming in Wednesday, now, people coming
in Thursday. And I'm sure thehotels and the restaurants in the city they're
not complaining, you know what,I'm saying people are staying longer. So

(15:24):
and in a former WW standpoint,it's gotten in a WrestleMania specifically standpoint,
it's gotten so big that Citi's bidon the event. Now we're talking about
a big process that only events likea Super Bowl or Final Four might have
for All Star Games, stuff likethat. WrestleMania is on that level,
and it's been that way for abouta decade plus now with cities have bid

(15:46):
on it. I know personally,Philly has been bidding on WrestleMania for since
like early twenty Ten's okay, andthey finally got it this year. But
it's you know, it's a wholeprocess. You got to have your stuff
together. It's a city. Yougot to have public trans you got to
have convention centers, you got tohave hotels, restaurants, you got to
have arenas, football stadium. Yougot to have all these facilities and all

(16:07):
these different mechanisms in place just fora WrestleMania to even consider you being consider
being there. So, yeah,it's a monster at this point, and
I would imagine that it's you know, as much as ww's on screen product
has improved because they've let their starsbe stars and they've lied more heavily on
the current stars instead of bringing inthe nostalgia plays. And I guess it'll

(16:29):
grow along with it. I mean, ww's business is only getting stronger,
You're only making more money, thestars are only getting bigger. I don't
see why WrestleMania won't grow with it. I mean, you got dishes,
WrestleMania. Wrestumenia forty is huge.Who's to say that WrestleMania forty one wherever
that is, won't be even bigger. So nick the massive scale it's gone

(16:52):
on, When when did this?I I hate to say, when did
this start to feel mass because it'salways WrestleMania is felt massive, But it's
it's really because again, more moreingrained in pop culture, more and more
where I know, I've seen casualswatch WrestleMania before, but I feel like
I'm seeing now more than ever,where everyone I know is interested in what's
happening in wrestling and WrestleMania. We'veseen more people outside of the wrestling world

(17:15):
come in and make appearances and makebig deals out of WrestleMania. We've seen
Rob Gronkowski before, We've seen abunch of other celebrities do it as well.
Ronda Rousey's coming. That was abig deal at the time. It's
not a big deal now, butit was a big deal at the time
for WrestleMania. So when when didthe shift happen? And what's it like
seeing now WrestleMania what it was twentyfive years ago and in Philly and now

(17:37):
what it is going to be theSlammy Awards. That's it. This is
what got. This is a bigdeal because now we have awards around this
okay, goodness, like listen,he's out, you know, and then
then it becomes a big deal.Yeah, that was incredible. You got
You had a whole character Owen Hartmade that was based on winning as one

(18:00):
Slammy Award and then he won asecond. Just carrying them around like it
was fantastic. But obviously, youknow, tongue in cheek, but that's
one of my favorite things. They'rebringing that back, by the way,
So I don't know if it's goingto be the way it was. I
say, ninety six ninety seven werelike the best Slamy Awards that they ever
had, but award rankings ready tosay, I believe Nika Slami Award rankings.

(18:23):
Are you kidding me? Are youamazing? Amazing? Yeah? I
mean I will I will say.You know, WrestleMania never really felt like
the Oscars, never really felt likethe super Bowl, despite how many times
they would tell you this is thesuper Bowl of Wrestling and stuff like that.
I was like, okay, likerelaxed, like it's not with the

(18:45):
advent and uh, you know,continuing adaptation of continue continuing evolvement of social
media. I think that has helpedtremendously, and not just wrestling, but
obviously awards shows like the Oscars,Grammy's Like, I never really used to

(19:07):
watch those shows, you know.I think the only thing I ever watched
growing up was like the MTV videomusical Wars, because everyone in school,
you want to be part of theconversation that like everybody's talking about it,
you want to be part of.So I think the first real example of
social media affecting me in terms oflike what I watched or don't watch was

(19:27):
the red wedding episode of Game ofThrones because everybody on Twitter was talking about
it, and I'm just like,I never watched it. I had no
idea what, like I've I've heardof it, but I never watched it,
so I didn't really know what peoplewere talking about. I just knew
Game of Thrones and they're like,oh my god, like everyone's freaking out
right, So I that was thefirst episode I ever watched because everyone was

(19:48):
talking about that's the first real,like, I know, sports related you
know that that's sort of different,But that was the first like pop culture
like entertainment type of things that everybodyon my timeline was talking about. What
was it twenty thirteen maybe when itaired twenty twelve maybe, So that was
the first real pop culture event thatI was felt left out of, I

(20:14):
guess because usually I pay attention tomost of those things. And I think
with the continuing evolving, evolving ofsocial media that's helped WrestleMania in a way
because now everybody's talking about it,even the casuals. You know, casual
fans back then didn't really talk aboutwrestling or anything. They didn't really know
about, right, But now everybody'sgot a voice because of social media.

(20:36):
So you're gonna you're gonna hear badtakes, you're gonna hear good takes about
everything and anything. So WrestleMania isincluded in that just even the Royal Rubble
kind of goes up there. Summerslams up there, but like the Royal
Rubble is another one where it's like, this is my favorite night of the
year. We talked, We've talkedabout it on the roundtables we've done and
our podcast, but I honestly thinkthat has a lot to do with it.

(21:00):
That's why. And I'm sure Vaughan'sgonna, you know, have a
great time on social media posting stuff. This week. We are at the
Gambler for sure that that's gonna obviouslyincrease excitement, increase exposure as well or
WrestleMania in general, and maybe evenafter that because Monday Night Rawl is going

(21:21):
to be here, you know,and the events before that, you know,
Hall of Fame. I know everybodythinks Paul Hayman's going to have some
great speech. Paul Hayman's always working, so I don't expect his speech to
be some like crazy great thing thatI might be wrong, but you know,
the Hall of Fame is great ingeneral, Like it's just a fun
night you expect, you know,just reel this, I guess in a

(21:45):
way, so we might get thatprobably not from Paul Hayman, but maybe
from the others other inductees. Butyeah, I think, you know,
social media kind of has increased theimportance of a lot of events, not
just wrestling related. So I thinkthat in the South, you're gonna you're
gonna hear we're gonna get tweeted abunch by people we don't care about wrestling.

(22:07):
Yeah, it's like, well thenjust scroll pats it or yes you
do. If you're in Philly,if you're in Philly this week and you
don't care about wrestling, you mustleave the city. Exactly. It's gonna
be. I'm telling you it's goingright Vons, It's gonna be. You
gotta go to Wait, I'm gonnahave some some family. My my nephew

(22:29):
is staying with me because he wantsto do all the wrestling stuff all week.
He's staying with me in Delco.And so like it's even Delco is
gonna be like that, Delco IsBucks, Montgomery, anything anything around here.
You have to like go to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh. Yes, Like go
all the way in the west,go you know what, go down south,
go all the way into Virginia.You might be safe, but anywhere

(22:51):
near Philly. No, it's it'sgonna be all everybody's gonna be around this
area for wrestling. It's that bigof a deal now, and it's it's
like a super Bowl that being aculture shock to some people as well.
At absolutely I was about to sayit's gonna be I think some people who
haven't been paying attention in wrestling,you don't, you know, you have
no reason for you to pay attentionto WrestleMania in the scale of it,
especially if you're not feet on theground in these cities like I've been,

(23:14):
and I know some of you guyshave been also, And when I was
going every year, it was alot then and it's only gotten bigger since.
So yeah, if you if you'renot familiar with WrestleMania, you're not
feel familiar with wrestling fans. Andif you're like in this city, especially
like Center City, Old City,Northern Liberties area, wherever their shows are
happening, like I know GCW's atpens Landing Caterers, prepare to see a

(23:38):
lot of fans, prepared to seea lot of wrestling merch. Make my
head in the sand here. Butlike usually, if let's just say if
a super Bowl were to come toPhilly or you see it in any city,
it's like a prepare for this,Prepare for this kind of traffic,
Prepare for you know, the publictransportation to be this, prepare for events
here, like, prepare for allof this stuff. I don't think there's

(23:59):
been like a enough preparation for,like, hey, be ready for how
many millions of people are going?And by the way, I'm pretty sure
it is millions, right, Iknow it's only it's all I think,
but it's like seventy thousand, butmillions of wrestling fans. I would say
at least a million to two millionwrestling fans are going to be here to
take in everything, maybe not allat the show at Wrestlingnia itself, but

(24:21):
to take on, like you're saying, the indie events, WWE World,
all of the other things that happenaround just saying thing it's a super Bowl,
all the thing that happens around justthat one event. There are going
to be so many other things outsideof that to do, and there's gonna
be so many people that are wantingto travel to do it. Hey,
I don't know if it's millions specifically, but at least a couple of hundred
thousand. You're talking about one hundredtwo hundred thousand. At least, that's

(24:42):
still a lot of people. Ithought it was. I thought it was
at least more well maybe the MaybeI don't. I don't think it's quite
a million. That's a lot ofpeople, but maybe bank going. I
was thinking Cody's parade, wonder.Yeah, maybe I was thinking more revenue
than anything. That's uh. Yeah, you go and get some millions of
dollars for sure. Yeah that's whatI was thinking of for But hundreds of

(25:02):
thousands of people, good, onehundred maybe two hundred thousand people, Yeah,
you can expect that. And yeahit's gonna be they're going to flood
the city. Like you said,it's not just the people going to WrestleMania,
Uh, it's also the people whoaren't going to WrestleMania who just here
to You got wrestlers, you gotreferee, you got all the people who
work on all the bands who aregoing to other shows that's not involved in
WrestleMania. So it's gonna be alot. You're probably gonna have a lot

(25:25):
of bars as well. Knowing itright, like you would think a lot
of places around the city would behere to do because that's a really tough
thing for It's not been done asmuch I think lately. But I think
with it in the city, Iwould imagine places would want to do more
and somebody. You go to hosta WrestleMania watch party, at some point,
you would think somebody's gonna do itto take advantage of all the people.

(25:48):
Surprised. Yeah, that's what Iimagine. You know, I would
be surprised if they did not,like said it was, logistically, it
is hard to set up. Iwonder if w makes it easier for a
host city, especially if we understandthere are a lot of people here and
we want to make sure that.Yeah, it's not as easy as just
hooking up the TV and putting onPeacock like you gotta some things like Clarence.
At least you want to do itlegally, right, but if you

(26:11):
want to be able to promote ittoo. But I would imagine that you
know, obviously there's going to bea lot of people who don't go to
WrestleMania, and if you're in Philly, or if you're just traveling here for
other stuff, you probably want towant to watch the show around other people.
It makes it more exciting. SoI'd imagine some bars will have post
watch parties. I don't know anyof any specifically off the top of my
head, but I don't see whythere wouldn't be at least one in the

(26:33):
city somewhere. I know people thatwent to Pittsburgh when the Flyers played the
Penguins outdoors, and they didn't goto the game, but they went to
like bars around the area. I'msure to the Super Bowl when I went
to Jacksonville, Yeah, go tothe game. We went to everything outside
of the game, right We wereright outside of the stadium, in a
place there, right outside of thestadium in Jacksonville. So yeah, that's
that's what it's going to be.It's it's people that just want to be

(26:55):
around the event, not not wantto be in the event, just want
to be around it. Want tobe and all the events happening. Tailgates,
I'm sure, Oh yeah, there'sgonna be tailgates. Look, I'm
being the parking lots before WrestleMania bothnights, talking to people, getting interviews
for like videos, see how farpeople traveled, doing some fit checks,
because you know, it's crazy.There's gonna be tassels and paint and belts

(27:18):
everywhere. So yeah, I'll beroaming the parking lots before both nights,
would do a fit check Part onePart two, because you know there's two
different audiences. It's gonna be peoplewho didn't go to Night one who went
to night too, and they deservethey shine too. So yeah, so
it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a lot hopefully out
of out knock on Wood that it'sa lot of fun and that everybody has

(27:41):
a good time, nothing goes awry, and yeah, everything goes off without
a hitch. And then we havethe fortieth WrestleMania in our city and it's
huge, Like we've seen every tenyears, how the WW kind of does
WrestleMania and ten, twenty thirty wereall very memorable. I was at third.
I had the pleasure of being atthirty and seeing the streak end and

(28:02):
Daniel Bryan winning the world title.And now it's the great moment in time
and the one was the Great City. Hopefully we can kind of replicate that
here in Philly with whatever happens duringthe show, and people have a great
time and party the whole week.Yeah, it'll be great. And you've
just mentioned there it is the fortiethone and thirty twenty ten all significant.

(28:23):
This one does feel landscape changing.So to kind of shift over from how
significant it is just to the cityand how big it's gonna feel in Philadelphia,
I think now it's a shift tohow big this is going to feel
just for wrestling in general. Wehave storylines that are happening that could be
landscape shifting. The Cody Roads Roomand Rain storyline, finish the story and

(28:45):
the bloodline. It all feels verybig. Nick. I'll start with you
here, how significant does this WrestleManiafeel to WWE? Because it feels like
the new era and not a newera, but obviously the Vince McMahon era,
for probably better is gone and prettymuch dead at this point. It
is over, it's not happening,it's not coming back, tried, Vince

(29:07):
McMann gone for good. Obviously,some really terrible reasons and accusations thrown a
Vince McMahon for why he is completelyout of the company now. But still
now it's new. This is now. It feels like strictly triplehous thing,
and WWE has been doing this thingfor a couple of years now. Jerome
Moraines has been champed for years andyears and years. It feels like he's
been a champ for a decade.This feels like a huge significant WrestleMania.

(29:32):
How significant do you think is itheading into it? You know you mentioned
rest Maania thirty, WrestleMania twenty.Those WrestleManias also did not feel like a
Vince McMahon production. So based onthe stories, the winners, you know,
stuff like that. So I don'tknow, thirty in Adstreet, that's
a vis McMann decision. Oh yeah, but I mean like it was great,

(29:55):
not like the reaction I say,oh yeah, yeah, Brian,
it was forced to do it.And obviously twenty you know, we won't
get into that, but the twochampions at the end there definitely didn't feel
like I Vin's man, uh youknow, like vision but uh, you
know, this has to be kindof a like I know, people are

(30:17):
like, oh, well, whathappens when Cody wins? You know,
like what's he going to do afterthat? I'm like, man, what
don't worry about that? Like we'rehere and now right asking that question what
the song. Maybe not all,but I know I think I think it
is with you that that there arethere is a contingency, or at least
there there are questions always of well, what happens when you take it off
from and then you put it onCody? What what is going to be

(30:37):
happening? What happens? Is raingonna look? Like I'm with Nick,
Just give me what what's the bettermoment right now? What's what's the best
moment? You live for the moment? Like no one, No one thought
that about Daniel Bryant, you know, like unfortunately he got injured after the
Romans supposed to have the title forever, Like he's got to lose it at
some point. So who cares aboutwhat happened? Like you obviously you care
about what happens next, but youbook it. That's what happens, like

(31:00):
you make it better. Like it'snot like the industry just takes a down
term because Cody's champion. Like peoplelike the guy, So you would think
that momentum carryover. It's from fromnat standpoint, it's on WW to capitalize
on that. That's on w W. That's not necessarily like this the winds
the winds are blowing certain way,and now people have a lot of favor

(31:21):
with Cody. That's just that's onWW to book him in a sensible manner
that people still like him. Andif he let's say that people do kind
of turn on him a little bit, all right, flip him heel and
now you got another character. Nowyou do something else, Like I don't
I don't know why there's so muchof a concern. With's a concern when
Sean Michael's lost the title to SteveAustin. No, who cares bro give
the baby face the title? Evenwhen he lost the sit there wasn't really

(31:45):
concern because there's a bill to WrestleMania, like that's always going to be there,
like uh even from November to youknow, March or April, so
uh you know, yeah, Imean like this has this also really should
be looked at as a landscape changingevent because you you can have another year,
maybe two. I'm not so sureabout two. But the obviously the

(32:06):
Rock and Roman story does not needthe title, so and that convey an
event even without a title. Theway they build this story, like people
there are people that turn on itbecause it did kind of lose a little
luster, but I mean it's back, you know, like I think it's
back. You could tell I thinkit's clearly with Rock and Roman and go
from there without the title involved,and you have Cody with the title and

(32:30):
his programs or whatever. So youknow, that's kind of where I think
they need to go. You know, this has to be it's Wrestlemantia forty.
It's got to be almost like arebirth of sorts of the vision of
w in general. Two champions thatare there a lot, you know,

(32:52):
like and then you have the RomanRock story that you don't need to have
them on TV every single week totell. So it just seems a lot,
right, especially with the person booking. It seems like he's been booking
logically the last you know, fewmonths, So you know, you hope
that it is that shifts. Butagain, like we've been wanting that for

(33:15):
so long at certain different points ofthis era of w W for the last
like twenty years, and it justwhen it comes, it goes like that,
you know, like Daniel Bryant wentlike that, but to no fault
of his own, like he gothurt. Like I mean, I get
that, but you just hope thatthey have a vision that can play itself

(33:37):
out without anything kind of having tochange their you know, booking or creative
plan, because we it almost feelslike when that happens, they just kind
of like veer off course and it'sjust like, like, how do we
get that back? How do weget that lightning in a bottle back?

(33:57):
I feel like they have the lightningin a bottle now. I I felt
that last year, but again Iwas like, oh, like, Cody's
done, and look what they did. I don't think they did. I
don't think they could do it foranother year. That's why I think this
has to be the moment. Youcan't keep trying to do that over and
over again. You have it aboutas big as it's ever gotten, to
the point where they can't at leastyou can't do it with the same person,

(34:17):
Like wrestling storylines are so similar,like even I'll even take it farther,
it's not even just the same person. I don't know if you're ever
going to capture this again. Thisthis feels massive. I don't know if
it can get ever as massive asit's getting right now. You got lucky
that like last and obviously you you'readding the rock in here, so like,
of course it's going to get biggeron that massive scale, but you've

(34:38):
added the rock, like the rockis here, Cody Rhoads, the bloodline,
storylines, great Blood, it's likeat its peak. I know,
wwe could maybe find something massive,but you're taking a giant, giant gamble
if you don't capitalize now, becausethis to me feels as massive as it's
gonna get currently with with everything that'sgoing on and this or entitle reign in

(35:00):
all of that. Am I wrong? I know, I don't disagree at
all. I think you got to, like you said, you got to
strike while the iron is hot,and the iron is white hot right now
it's piping hot. So yeah,you can't jack this out another year at
least with Cody if you can't havehim win a supper slam, like that's
not it. No, no,no, no, don't do that.

(35:21):
But Cody's the American nightmare. Thecountry started here in Philly. How America
would it be for him to holdthe title next to the Liberty Bell something
like that? You know, somethingvery yeah, let's do it? Why
not? I know? He tweetedabout the Rock on Monday, so I

(35:42):
don't know a W is so funny. They do such a good job of
promoting w W. It's kind ofwild. Dustin is inserting himself, at
least via social media, into thestore, which look, I don't care.
I don't mind it. I loveall the rock. Social media stuff
has been great. I don't Ithink Dustin should be there in some capacity
because you know, he was goldas he's a legend a w W two.

(36:04):
It's just he's an a W employee, a W like I don't want
you to promote I know that's yourbrother in all, but like, we
got enough to worry about. Butyeah, I don't really share the same
concerns as people who think, oh, what's gonna happen when Cody wins?
Like I can understand if Vince McMahonwas still booking and you had those concerns
because he wasn't good at especially inthis latter years, as as in control.

(36:29):
But I don't know. I havekind of faith in this regime for
some reason, not just specifically place, but the whole creative process they have
now like you said last year,and I even have faith in the talent
right now and right as everything justseems like it's it's perfect right. Last
year Cody lost and we thought itwas it was done, it cook and
now here we are again just asexcited, more if not more excited,

(36:49):
obviously partly because it's in Philly,but if the Rock is involved, got
all that stuff going on, Soyeah, let's see what happens. I
mean this, this regime is stillpretty new. You know, we've kind
of got a for what they liketo do and how they like to do
things, but you know, we'restill learning about how they want to do
things in this particular error, sothere's still more to do at this is
Vince. I we probably know exactlyhow this will go, but it's not

(37:12):
so well, let's wait and seeon that. Geez, people wrestling fans
so cynical. Sometimes even though it'sa good moment happens, we're right about
the bad moment that might follow.Like take it easy, enjoy this first,
Like yeah, I think it's ait's good to follow up now with
that with all you just said there, And I asked this to Nick,
but seem to you, how significantis this WrestleMania? How landscape shifting does

(37:35):
this feel? And maybe I'll askboth of you because the wrestling knowledge on
both of you is so great thatI can ask a kind of random question
here, one that I haven't askedyou guys yet or told you about.
But this is the most significant WrestleManiasins when Man, that's a good question.
I would say they've had a couplebig ones, like thirty was big

(37:59):
obviously. I think thirty two wasbig for them because they put it in
the AT and T Stadium and theywanted to put one hundred thousand and then
people, you know. I wouldsay the first one since the twenty twenty
one was a big one, Ithink because they first time they had fans
in the stands, even though itwasn't at full capacity, but that was
I think that was pretty significant.But yeah, you're talking about WrestleMania forty.

(38:22):
I don't think no matter who isin charge, no matter who's on
top, it's gonna be significant becauseit's the milestone event. They got the
Excel and the logo. You know, ow WW loves the Excel and all
that stuff, so they're going toput a lot of promotional muscle behind it.
Anyway, right, look at theadjectives, play with the big Boys,
play all right, but it's gonnato me, it's it's it's obviously

(38:46):
they're going to try to make everyWrestleMania is the most significant WrestleMania. Uh
so we'll be saying this probably thesame thing next year, and I think
that's ww's intention. I don't thinkthey'll try to make that one less significant
than this one. But today,yeah, it's huge. Obviously, You're
in Philly, You're in the wrestlinghot bed, so I think that helps
too. You got a ton ofwrestling fans here. The city's easy to

(39:07):
get to, so people are gonnabe in the city. You got a
great stadium Linkoln Financial Field. Ibelieve the weather, the forecast right now,
it's like it's gonna be nice onboth nights, no precipitation. You
got your current stars on top.When it comes to Cody and Roman,
even though if it's like Cody's facinga Rock and WrestleMania, he's facing Roman
Reigns and this event and this cardis largely built around current stars. To

(39:30):
me, that's the most significant aspectof this is that they have you know,
yeah, Cody and Roman on top. You got the Rock on night
one, and he'll be involved inNight two, I'm sure, but you
got this ladder match, you gotthe j Uso versus Jimmy, So,
you got Drew versus Seth, yougot goon Through versus Sammy's Ain Bailey versus
Eel Sky Becky versus Rea Ripley.There's probably gonna be more women's matches added

(39:52):
before you know the show comes around. But you have this car. Like
I said, this card and alltheir stars are feel like stars and everything
feels important to me. That's justthe most significant thing. It's not just
about this WrestleMania. You also worabout what are we gonna do moving forward?
Well, doesn't it feel like thatcould be a bigger too? Like
the stars now feel like great.But if Cody wins, how much bigger

(40:14):
he's going to get? And Ithink even Roman and Rock, you know,
if that spurns a bloodline feud thateven gets bigger. It just feels
like it's it's big now. Andthey've been kind of like breaking the glass
ceiling over and over again of howbig, how big it can get.
But it just feels like the starsare gonna shine as bright as they possibly
could be, probably as bright sincethe Attitude era. When the star and

(40:34):
maybe even some of the what wasit, Oh my god, I'm always
forgett ruthless aggression era where there's stillsome really big stars in John Cena was
huge or Andy Orton was big.But I feel like you're breaking a giant
glass ceiling that they haven't broken ina long time in terms of star power
and how massive they are. Likethat's what it feels like to me,
at least where they've been going andwhat this could do for them. O

(40:55):
Vaughn listed you know, specifics uhand that that was a great reason,
like great reasoning. Mine is moresimplified that if you talk about significance,
to me, it just means likeera, you know, a new we
have a new regime. We're excited, we're excited about it. So this

(41:15):
might be for me, the biggestsignificant, most significant WrestleMania since WrestleMania is
seventeen because that was the first onepost WCW purchase and let's see where they
go from here type thing without anymainstream competition. Yeah, not great,
you know, like following, Imean that's a lot of people love the
Austin character because he was like funnyand like the Vince and Kernan Angle stuff,

(41:37):
and that was like immediately after that, but then you got into the
whole alliance thing and invasion, whichwas not good. But in terms of
significance, In terms of significance tome, that might be more of what
I like, my simplified version ofOkay, where do they go from here?
Type of thing. I get whatyou're saying in that respect, But

(41:57):
WrestleMania seventeen, if i'd like theculmination, this almost feels like, like
you said, the beginning, likethey haven't. I don't think they've spent
too much time building up to thismoment. It's either last as WrestleMania this
year, where seventeen you had fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and they built
up three or four years before that. This feels like it's almost like a
launching point. It could be,at least I think that's what ww's hope
is, is that it's only thebeginning. So yeah, I think there's

(42:21):
still more to come, and hopefully, you know, WW obviously has a
lot of momentum right now, buthopefully for this sake, and I think
for our sake. I think weenjoy WWE when it's good. I mean,
that's good for wrestling, right,Yeah, I guess may Mania thirty
then, like Daniel Bryan winning atitle, that felt like a shift in
what wrestling, at least WWE wasgoing to do moving forward because that was

(42:42):
that was new Daniel Bryan. Iwas older then, but that's a ring
of honor guy winning a title,and it felt like that set up everything
sort of after that, that setup an XT. Obviously, I know
NXT was you know this this segmentand a thing that they did in a
group that they did, but thatset up NXT as a brand and wrestling
even after after that, Like Ifelt like that that shut up set up
a new era that that certainly Ithink is even lasting until now. But

(43:07):
again, this feels like a newera in a way. I don't know
what that era is going to looklike. Again I can say in hindsight
what WrestleMania thirty meant. I don'tknow if that's what we thought it was
going to mean. But I thinkthis now, this is a this is
a new way this do. Right, this does feel like a beginning.
I would go back to WrestleMania thirtywhere it did feel like a new beginning,
and maybe that you're right, thatit's the significance of ten, twenty,

(43:30):
thirty, forty that you know adecade later that this is certainly going
to change in a way. Isthat is that? Is that good?
WrestleMania thirty? Is that? Yeah, let's do it. I like seventeen.
Well, seventeen was good. Seventeenwas all right. I like seventeen.
So before I get out of here, last question, because you guys

(43:50):
are going to be playing all weekon the Gambler. All week it's gonna
be Shooters Radio is going to beplaying along with stuff from Roy Burton at
the BS line. Also the linechange you're gonna hear this episode and a
few more during the week. Dailyticket is going to be all the Gambler.
It is the Gamblers turning into wrestlingall week long, starting with the
watch party April second, as well. Slam dunks and slams or something.

(44:12):
I forget what y'all called it.It's actually slam dumps and body slams.
That's it. It's perfect. Sowe're gonna be doing a watch party for
the Sixers, okay, see game, and then we're we're also going to
be doing wrestling stuff around that.But so let me. Tell me what
you guys have in store. I'llstart with you Nick for Shooters Radio and
what you have in store for Uthe everything coming up into WrestleMania. I'm

(44:35):
sure you know this week next week'sepisode, well we'll decide, you know,
well, we're going probably obviously witha lot of WrestleMania stuff. We
might have some of Vaughn's interviews thathe does, we'll have that available.
Also this episode we're gonna record alittle bit later today, on Friday,
March twenty ninth, we're gonna doa live commentary of the last main event

(44:59):
of WrestleMania and Philly Stoke Cole seeBoston versus the Rock wrestleming in fifteen.
We haven't done a lot commentary ofthat, so that's going to be exciting.
We'll have some audio as well fromthat match, you know, beginning,
middle end, you know, thatlead up to it. We you
know, we incorporate the audio ofthe matches as much as we can without
kind of trouble, right, Sowe'll have some sound bites so if you're

(45:20):
listening, you know, in thecar or something, you'll be able to
hear what's happening on TV and kindof follow with us as we do that.
So that'll be exciting, uh,you know, and obviously a lot
more Wrestlemanian stuff, Vaughan, Whatdo you have in store? Man so
much? I'm gonna be at wW World multiple days. I'm gonna try
to hit other events, as youknow, as many events as possible.

(45:42):
We'll see bon John von Johnson willbe everywhere. You'll think of the streets
out here in these streets. AsI've always literally, it's the time has
come for you to witness it inperson. You know, I'm not I've
been saying it for years and years, but you might be the hardest working
guy this week. You might be. Look, I don't know, we'll
see. We'll see. There's gonnabe some hardworking people obviously, but yeah,

(46:04):
you might actually see me out herein the wild in these streets for
the first time in person, atleast at least you know willingly. You
know you can find me out here, so say hello if you do see
me. But I'll be at WWWorld, I'll be at WrestleMania out I'm
gonna slide through different events as theycome, like wile at Mania or the
sup Plex, Vintage Wrestling block party. When is the supplex and body slams
the van am I slide through thatas well. Oh, we're gonna do

(46:27):
it at the Duncan Lounge. Aregonna be watching the Sixers game and then
it's gonna be all wrestling around there. It's basically our kickoff to wrestling.
So I'll slip through that as wellif you want. If I'm inviot,
if I'm allowed to, So,yeah, I would be out here interviewing
people, mingling with people, interactingand you know, I'm really looking forward
to just meeting people, meeting peoplethat I've only interacted with on social media,

(46:50):
uh, and just shaking their handand saying hello and interacting with them.
It's been a while since I've beenat WrestleMania, so it's glad.
I'm glad to be back finally,and you know, in our hometown so
I don't have to get a hotelto to fly. I'm coming straight home,
sleeping in my home bed every night, which is nice. But yeah,
it's gonna be a lot. It'sgonna be a lot. And I'm
taking the whole week off after fromwork, from my day job, from

(47:12):
my shoot job at the Inquiry souh, because there's gonna be a lot
and I'm gonna need that rest.So I'm gonna need that rest. I
need to catch me my slogan thewhole week after that rest, bro,
I'm gonna need I'm gonna need tocatch up and get my mind right,
get my mentals right. Like MarshallLench used to say, get your chicken
and your mentals right. Well,I'm gonna get my mental next week.
Next week. I'm going to Vegasthat next weekend. So so much to

(47:36):
you, brother, I'm gonna needthat rest somehow. But uh Vaughan Johnson
Nick pcone Shooters Radio check it outagain. We're gonna be playing their episodes
all throughout the week on The Gambleras we get you ready for WrestleMania.
That is it for the line Changeepisode five again. Rate review. Subscribe
over at Apple. Make sure youget that five stars. I think this
was a five star five star episode. Dave Meltzer were definitely rated five stars.

(48:00):
Make sure rate review. Subscribe overat Apple and wherever you get your
podcasts. Also subscribe Fox Sports TheGambler. Enjoy WrestleMania week, and stay
tuned right here on the gambler