GamblerMania XL Hour 2: Andrew Goldstein & Politicin’ Hak - 04/03/24

IT'S GAMBLERMANIAAAAAAA!!! Roy Burton is joined by former WWE creative writer and current Wonder Sports podcasts producer Andrew Goldstein & cohost of the Steel Steps podcast Politicin’ Hak to talk all things #WrestleMania as we inch closer to WrestleMania 40 in Philly!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Fox Sports Radio The Wrestler. Now Here is your host, Roy
burtend It is finally WrestleMania Week hereon Fox Sports The Wrestler, and we
cannot talk about the grandest spectacle ofthem all without the Big Oos himself,
The Final Boss Podcast executive extraordinaire andformer member of the WWE Creative Team one

(00:22):
Andrew Goldstein. Andrew, how's itgoing man? What up? Roy?
It is a yearly tradition to talkwrestle Mania with you the week of the
big show. So I'm excited tobe here. Thank you for having me.
And you know it's WrestleMania week,man, let's get hyped. Yeah,
yeah, no, it's always ourfavorite week of the year. And

(00:43):
again, you always have the insideinformation about WrestleMania, being that you're part
of the creative team at ww Andlet me just ask you a question off
the rip. I don't know ifyou've ever been backstage at a WrestleMania per
se, but you were with thecompany during some pretty big pay per view
events, you know, during yourtime there, So what's the vibe like,
you know, kind of behind thescenes at an event of this scale.

(01:03):
I should say that I was letgo from w W right before WrestleMania.
So I've never been backstage at aWrestleMania, but yes, I of
course was backstage for my share ofpay per views, Great American Bash,
a Summer Slam, et cetera.So the Punjabi Prison, Let's be honest,

(01:23):
classic, So honestly, I gottabe honest, it's it's very business
as usual, though I feel likeMania is probably different because there's so much
media and there's so much attention nowand it's become like a four day festival
that you know, legends are intown, local media is there, national
media is there. That's not what'shappening at your other pay per views,

(01:48):
you know, premium live events.So I would surmise that WrestleMania is a
different vibe backstage. But most payper views as business as usual because that
the pay per view on Sunday leadstart the workers week. So you do
your pay per view on Sunday,you fly or drive to Raw, you
finish Raw, you fly or driveTuesday to SmackDown. Though now SmackDown is

(02:12):
live on Fridays, but in myday, it was a Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday deal and then you go backand you write the show the rest
of the week. Yeah, soobviously, you know, so a little
bit different these days. But youknow, like you're saying, like you
know, with the all the nationalmedia and everybody kind of you know,
Howard, let's be honest, comeon, heh Yeah. Yeah, Le's
supposed to be with the fir COprobably becase it's gonna be a little chilly

(02:34):
on Saturday at least night one.It's gonna be a little in the eighties.
Exactly, exactly exactly, you know, speaking you know, you were
a writer, speaking of the writingteam. Obviously, they've had to do
some kind of gymnastics over the lastyou know, three months, you know,
trying to pivot a couple of timesfrom a the CM Punk injury and
then b, you know, bringingin you know, the Rock himself to
be a prominent on screen character interms of the Rock storyline, the Rock

(02:57):
woman kind of storyline. Do youthink they've kind of recovered well from some
of the stumbles they had early onwith that? I do. I was
pretty critical at the outset of thestory because of the sort of rocky start
that it got. Not all ofit they're they're doing, but some of
it. Certainly they're doing it felta lot to me like Rock was giving

(03:23):
us was sort of in the boardroomselling us on this idea every time he
cut a promo in the in theearly stages, it felt like he was
trying to sell us that this isa good idea of what they're doing to
sort of give the match to Cody, then take it away and then give
it back to him and figure outwho the tag team match, and you
know all that like it sort ofplayed out. But I will say the

(03:45):
last few as always the last fewweeks, that when you're truly when you
make that last final turn onto thereal road to WrestleMania, everything starts clicking
and SmackDown and Ron and SmackDown.I've certainly become appointment telling vision because Jesus
the Rock has actually been showing upon Ron's back down. That's more than

(04:05):
you can even say for Roman.Uh yeah. So and obviously we saw
what happened. What felt like togo home with Rock basically destroying Cody.
So again, very final boss vibesthe video game where like you just get
your your enter, your stashed energyis on like one percent. If you're

(04:29):
looking looking at this like a likea video game, and Cody is is
the babyface and Rock is the finalboss. No, No, you're absolutely
right, it's it's it felt verygo homemish, and that's why I was
like, I was kind of surprisedyou gave us that, you know,
you know, a couple of weeksbefore the actual event, because again,
it was that was a pretty thatwas you know, I don't want I
think you know, you talked aboutit, you know on the mass Man

(04:50):
Show like this is this is probablyone of the best, if not the
best episodes of RAW that we've seen, you know, in the last ten
or fifteen years. I'm a littlebit surprised that we got it, you
know, not as the go HomeShow, but like the week before the
Go Home Show, it's the penultimatethe I again, pure speculation. It
feels to me like because of rockscheduling, they might have had to move

(05:15):
such a big angle up. Butwe'll see what they do tonight, We'll
see what they do Friday on theon the real go home shows. But
again, I mean the tickets aresold, you know, the the appointments
are made with husbands and wives towatch the peal to make sure that the
husbands don't have to put the kidsto bed and they can watch the whole
show, you know, because itstarts at what six o'clock and it goes

(05:38):
all night. So you know,like I said, the butts are already
in the seats. They don't haveto do too much more selling at this
point. But yeah, dude,they've hit it all of the park this
last month, and just just ingeneral, not just with the storyline,
but just in general. I thinkfor the most part, especially since Triple

(05:59):
AH has taken out where I thinkthey've kind of you know, it's been
noticeable the amount of attention they putinto the storytelling angle to the visual direction
of the shows themselves. How wouldyou grade this, I'll call it this
because current era of w W programmingwhen it comes to SmackDown and Roll and
even NXT, because I think they'vethey've taken a different step after you know,
the n X two two after that. My favorite like personal game to

(06:23):
play when watching RAW and SmackDown andand the plis is like just like making
mental note of all the sort ofundoing of Vince's stuff. You know,
like we'll take a guy who waslike named something stupid and like give them
back his real name, or they'llgive they they'll you know, call a

(06:45):
finisher what it really is. They'lluse the word wrestler, they'll use the
word pro wrestling, like all thosesort of tiki tac things that Vince was
so you know, a you know, uh sort of obsessive about his I
can't say that word, his littlepiccadillos. So all of those are shipped
away and we're kind of back athaving, you know, God forbid a

(07:09):
wrestling show on Mondays and Tuesdays withobviously the wrapping of WWE's entertainment, and
now they present things and it's stillas big as ever, and it's still
at the scale that Vince built.It just doesn't have all the goofy you
know, don't say this, don'tsay that, don't call this that.
You know, but I would toyour specific question. It's hard to raid

(07:34):
it because every once in a while, Vince would, you know, and
that's what kept him going. Everyonce in a while Vince would pull like
a rabbit out of his hat andbe like, you know, how many
holy Sahi t moments do we haveover these years? And that's with Vince
in charge. So you can't really, you know, you can crap on
his booking a ton everybody. Again, it's very easy to do. But

(07:55):
he did have that genius stroke inhim. And I think, you know,
obviously Triple H is hitting more doublesand triples each week, whereas Vince
was very we talk about all thetime doubles, triples and singles and wrestling,
and I think Hunter, like Isaid, he's he's hitting for for

(08:15):
like a high average, whereas Vincewas very content to sort of, you
know, be like a Phillies batter, just wait and maybe hit a home
run every like sixth game, butgames where there's no home runs and nobody
on base to bring it back.I always like on the season that Brave,

(08:41):
that Brave series is still still havingon my chest as well from that
opening series. So yeah, butbut you know, we got it's it's
a long season. We'll we'll recoverfrom that. But you know, it's
like you go two months with nohits and then all of a sudden,
they'll like break a home run record. So that's kind of That's kind of
how I look at Vince versus Hunter'sbooking, and just to kind of get

(09:03):
back to the Vince point, youknow, because Vince was very heavy handed
with the scripts and the booking andthe flow of things. And you know,
on roll this past week we hada pretty loose segment between Seth Rollins
and Drew McIntyre and CM Punk,which I thought was one of the better
segments of the show that kind ofgot lost, you know, in the
whole final ball stuff. But whatdo you think of that segment specifically,

(09:24):
and do you think that in generalthat they those three have done enough to
kind of elevate that that second titlebe still my heart that that was.
That was perfect though for me,just to get three professionals out there and
let just give them bullet points andlet them do what they do. And
you know, I said on theMass Band Show, it's like Punk is

(09:46):
he calls himself the best in theworld, and you can, you can
crap on it all you want,but you watch a segment like that and
you're like, oh, yeah,that dude really has that notch on his
belt where he can, you know, he can flip the switch and just
literally out talk anybody and more importantly, raise the person who he's cutting the

(10:07):
promo against, raise their game.So you see Drew being you know,
his game has been elevated. Rollin'sgame has been elevated just by interacting with
Punk because Punk brings an air ofyou know, training wheels are off.
Guys like if you're gonna if you'regonna rap with me, like you gotta
it's like a it's like a rapbattle, Like you can't come with weak,

(10:31):
you know, I'm gonna crap onthe red like the writer stuff goes
right out the window, and itjust is like you've got to be in
the moment. And like Drew hasreally stepped up his heel. Drew in
this era, like right now,this last year has been incredible, the
trolling online, using social media toget himself over as a heel, you

(10:52):
know, whining and bitching and complaininglike he's he's really been the one of
the MV on the heel side,and he's really just doing classic stuff,
like classic stuff that has always worked. And again, you know, I
think it also does have to doa little bit with Vince not being there,
and Vince he's sort of micromanaging things, whereas I think Hunter because he

(11:16):
was one of those guys with thatdidn't have to use bullet points. I
think he recognizes the people who canin his locker room, and so I
think he was He sat back andwas completely comfortable saying Okay, Punk,
okay, Rollins, Okay, Drew, go out there, here's what you
need to get across, but doit your own way. And obviously Punk
went went over the line as heis wont to do. But it made

(11:41):
for great TV. And I don'tyou know, like it's it's that old
saying of you know, make amistake, what does it make a mistake
and ask for for goodness? It'seasier to ask for forgiveness and ask for
permission exactly. So that's I thinkthat's what they're doing. You know.
Obviously Punk made the joke about madethe inference to Vince uh and sort of

(12:03):
silenced Drew on who you know whonamed you the chosen one? And that
was sort of a but you know, look it was again it's it's put
your Phone Down television, which isthe new Musky TV for two thousand and
four. It's who makes you putyour phone down? Those three guys certainly
make you put your phone down.We're talking with Andrew Goldstein, producer,

(12:26):
podcast executive and former member of thew W creative team. I do want
to touch on Drew for another point. His contract status, according to reports,
is kind of up in the air, and like you said, he's
been doing some amazing heel work,probably probably the best he'll work in the
company last six months last year asa member of the creative team, as
a former writer. Does that doesa wrestler's contract status kind of you know,

(12:48):
influence it all? You know whatkind of booking that wrestler would get
normally. I mean, you justgot to call Howie Roseman. He's right,
he's right in the build. He'sright in the building. Get him
signed, spread that money out overthe next ten years. No, we
didn't, you know, we didn'tknow too much about wrestler's contracts. Again,

(13:09):
this is fifteen years ago now,because of the prevalence of you know,
the internet wrestling community has just explodedand everybody has an angle here and
there and Twitter and everybody has aplatform. I should say that sort of
news is out there, you know, with your with your wrestling journalists and

(13:30):
your press conferences. After PL's likeyou have an opportunity to actually ask questions
about wrestler's contracts. You have MJFmaking it part of his storyline. So
it's certainly become a thing, whichI think is a good thing because you
look at the NFL, you lookat the NBA, I mean, the
off season is the is the regularseason? Really it's just as exciting.
So if wrestling can add that elementto the intrigue and the mystique of just

(13:52):
like, yo, is this thelast time we're going to see Drew?
Just you know, is Drew goingto take win the championship and leave the
company? Like? All that stuffcomes into play, but in terms of
what we know as writers that itsort of need to know basis. But
I would I'm pretty I would putstrong money that Drew's coming back. Oh

(14:13):
yeah, yeah, yeah, Iwould think that I would leave. No,
no, not not as hot ashe is right now, because like
you, and not with a competitorlike ay w ready to pay. That's
right, that's right. Absolutely.We've talked a lot about the men's you
know, men's roster and the men'sbuild up to rustle Minia forty, but
I think that we might agree thatthe women's division might be as good as

(14:35):
it's ever been in w W.And so you know, what's all said
and done. You know, Sundaynight, eleven thirty pm. You know,
which are the women on on thisuh on the roster or on the
w w E Russell Innia card youthink might steal the show this weekend.
I mean, I just think thatRhea is such a star, and even
though she's wrestling the man, BeckyLynch, I just think there's no reason

(14:58):
to put the the title back onBecky, you know, like I would
just keep real hot. But myreal answer is, and we saw the
makings of it on Friday, thisnew faction seemingly or this new sort of
threesome that they put together together togo against Damage Control. I mean,

(15:22):
what a great way to debut JadeCargill then to put her to protect her
with two pros, you know,right beside her. And so I'm looking
at them to see, like whatkind of money potential I see when they
actually like, are you know,a three person tag team? So that

(15:43):
really intrigues me, just to seewhat kind of performance they can get out
of Jade and to see what hertrajectory really can be. But I think
it's a super smart stroke of geniusto protect her the way that they have
to not debut her as like asingles competitor right off the bat. And

(16:03):
that's why WWE sort of wins,because you know, they rarely make a
mistake with launching somebody, and sothe little sort of kernels of jade,
you get little tidbits here and there, and everybody's like, give her a
match, give her a match.Well, now she's going to debut at
WrestleMania basically, I mean, obviouslyshe was in the Royal Rumble, but
she's going to debut in a ina match, but have the protection of

(16:26):
being alongside the eest and and NaomiNaomi. Yeah, no, no,
I'm looking forward to that match especially, but you know, again, like
a lot of people out there,I'm looking forward to the whole thing because
I don't know if you know this. This is my first WrestleMania that I
will be attending. Yeah, butask you a personal question, because you

(16:48):
are a you are a you know, a man who's been to several WrestleManias.
What kind of advice do people likeme first time? Is like me
need to keep in mind in orderto get through this weekend. Well,
dude, it's a different experience thanit I mean I went to a Bunch
in a Row in the mid twothousands with Rosenberg, and those were like
the long haul, all day Sundaykind of affair. Right, this is

(17:14):
this is sort of uncharted territory forme because I've never been to a two
day and I'm only going Saturday,so I don't I don't know the vibe
of like what the strategy is betweennight one and night two and how you
keep your energy up and like goingand coming and going and coming, like
especially like I feel like the broadStreet line is going to just be popping
off right now, you know,all weekend, like you know. So

(17:37):
I don't have the best advice.But back in the day, I mean
it was it was like pack oflunch, bro, Like you're gonna be
there all day and if it rains, like good luck. Right right now,
I think we're gonna get pretty decentweather. So I think we're okay
with that. I went at Netlifeand I think I was there for like
eight hours, Like that's a fullwork day, you know, that's a

(17:57):
whole day. Yeah, that's sick. I'm a whole last day. Yeah.
So so thankfully they've broken up forus, so now you know,
we have two four hour chunks Ithink on Saturday and Sunday for those of
us who are going both days.But you know it's a little bit easier.
It seems like the last couple ofthe last couple of months, the
last couple of years. Before weget you out here, though, I

(18:18):
do want to ask you a questionbecause again, folks need to know because
you have some really cool projects thatare burning up the podcast charts. So
again, before we get you outhere on this Wrestmania talk, please let
people know how they can check outall your work. Roy, I'm so
thankfully giving me this opportunity. Imake it's I call it my baby,
this show because it just is aVenn diagram of all the things I love.

(18:42):
And so I built with my partnerDave Easton at Wondery. Wondering is
the podcast we wonder. It wasan independent company, got bought by Amazon,
and so I worked for Wondery makingchat shows, comedy and sports,
and we got Rosenberg and we gotBeatle and we're like, what are we
going to do with them? Andwe built this show called Over the Top

(19:02):
that is basically I call PTI oncrack, but it's you know, part
of the honestly, honest to goodness. The pitch that we made was to
do sports and pop culture debate settledunder Royal Rumble rules, So basically you're
a sports talker for a living.We all grew up on w IP.
Do those people like Rosenberg and Beetleall day? Every day? They have

(19:23):
to talk about whatever the big storyis ad nauseum constantly, whereas you know,
day two of like a week longstory, they're out of stuff to
say about Kyrie being crazy or youknow, a Rod not being able to
find the money to buy the Timberwolves. They're done talking about it, but

(19:45):
they have to keep regurgitating and regurgitatingand regurgitating. Okay, I'm going a
long but over the Top gets ridof all of that because it's the Royal
Rumble. So you start with twostories, you decide which one stays,
which one gets thrown over the top. So every ninety seconds another story comes
in five four three two one whosemusic is that? Wow, it's the
Golden Bachelor. Do we want tokeep talking about the Phillies, you know,

(20:08):
crappy start, or do we wantto switch to the Golden Bachelor?
Sorry, Phil's get out of here. We're gonna talk about the Golden Bachelor.
And you do that through twelve stories, and then the last story standing
is declared the most important thing onplanet Earth this week. So, if
you like wrestling, you like sports, you like pop culture, you like
sports talk, but you don't havetime for seventeen Bill Simmons podcasts, listen
to over the Top. It's themost efficient way to get your sports and

(20:30):
your pop culture over the top whereveryou get your podcasts. Like it,
star it, review it, butreally just subscribe. I need the downloads,
guys, just give me. Ineed the downloads. Over the Top,
Rosenberg and Beetle, you'll love it. Look, this is the perfect
audience these people. Everybody listening tothis right now again is a sports fan
listening to Fox Sports. The wrestlerright now is a wrestling fan. So

(20:51):
Over the Top is the perfect podcastfor the folks listening to this. So
for those of you out there againwho clearly like wrestling in sports, check
out Over the topscribe to it,and do yourself a favor as well.
Follow and on Twitter. He isat a nge gold on Twitter slash x
ange. Thanks for joining us,Man we appreciate it. Roy, It's
always a pleasure. I look forwardto it every year. I hope to
see you in Philly. We getto tap it up in person, maybe

(21:15):
get something to eat, as wealways talk about food and really really appreciate
the luck Man. Thank you,my friend, and folks. Keep it
locked here for more Wresselmania talk hereon Fox Sports The Wrestler. This is
Fox Sports Radio the Wrestler. NowHere is your host, Roy Burton.
This week we are known as FoxSports the Wrestler as we get you ready

(21:37):
for all things WrestleMania forty and there'sno one better to get you guys ready
for the big event here in ourfair city. This week, I'm a
good friend co host of the StealStep Show, which you can check out
every Friday at ten pm on YouTubeand wherever you get your podcast. My
good friend Politic and hoc Hock.How's it going, man, Brother Roy?

(21:57):
What is good? Man? Greatlyappreciate joining you here. Listen.
I need to tell people out therethe word fan is short for fanatic,
and I'm gonna say right now Ido not personally know of any bigger wrestling
fanatic than my guy. How Icame right here. The man is at
the indie shows, he's at ringsided TNA shows. He's in the building

(22:18):
when the major promotions come into town. If there is a ring and some
folding chairs are set up next tothe ring, hawk is gonna be in
the building. He's gonna be theresomewhere, ringing folding chairs. Hawk is
gonna be in the building. That. Oh, I think that's a pretty
fair assessment. Yeah, that's that'svery fair. Along with with approaching you
know, WrestleMania week, we gotto GCW Collective. I'm getting to gonna

(22:40):
be, you know, sticking myhead out there as well as night one
to night two of WrestleMania. Soyou know what, we're gonna be outside.
In the words of Jadakiss, I'moutside. That was my question.
So Wrestlmingia week, you got GCW, you got two nights of wrestling,
anything else, anything else You're gettinginto wrestle an a week. Oh man,

(23:00):
Well, I'm also being attendance fora wile a Mania that's going to
be on Thursday, I believe.So yeah, so you know, me
stepping out, stepping outside for walleMania. But after walle Mania, I'll
be attending the night event that's goingon at GCW Down and Penn's Landing,
which has an unorthodox start time ofeleven fifty nine. So I'll be there,

(23:22):
and I'm still like trying to developa strategy of how I'm going to
sleep next week, and I'm stillnot there with what what's going to happen?
Yeah, No, it's gonna bea crazy, crazy wrestling. Your
week is gonna be crazy for forall of us, especially for for Hock.
And again, please do yourself afavor. If you're a wrestling fan,
please follow him on x Slash,Twitter, Slash, Instagram, Politic

(23:45):
and Hawk. That's p O LI T I C I N Underscore h
a K. Give him a follow, one of the best wrestling follows out
there. Whether you're a fan ofyou know, local wrestling, I guess,
I guess in indie wrestling, youknow big promotions, Hot covers it
all. So definitely follow him andthe rest of the Steel Steps crew.
Hot. I gotta I gotta askyou because we're gonna talk WrestleMania, you
know itself, the actual match itself, the actual you know card itself.

(24:07):
But sure nothing really matters, youknow when it comes to WrestleMania unless the
storylines leading up to it are anygood as you know, as you're as
a wrestling fan, and given theaudibles that they've called over the last couple
of you know, weeks, youknow, with adding the Rock to the
next and then they'll you know,the CM Punk injury and all that stuff,
I think that ww's creative team dida pretty decent job staying on track.

(24:29):
Would you agree? I would agree, I'll be honest as much as
I've been pro Rock to be onWrestleMania because I actually want him to go
against Roman Reigns initially, and thenyou know, they hit that swerve and
then now we got the match betweenRoman and Cody, but we also have
the additional match of Seth Cody goingup against uh Rock, the Rock and

(24:51):
Rollman. And I'll be honest,I wasn't totally for this. I felt
like this was a diverted move becauseyou know, they wanted to please the
fans and normally that's not ww'sm ButI will say leading up to this past
Monday night on Raw, they kindof hooked me in big time because on

(25:15):
an episode of Still Steps two weeksago, I literally made a case about
how it felt like Rock was youknow, was overdoing it with the character
to a certain extent and it justdidn't feel genuine. But I said that
because we only saw them on oneon one network, which was Fox and
being on SmackDown. So eventually,at some point you got across, you

(25:38):
know, you got across the barrierand go to Raw, you know what
I mean, make a statement onRaw, and I asked, you mean
for that statement to be made somuch, you know, hit the SpongeBob
sound. It was like seven dayslater, he shows up on Raw,
you know what I mean, Hegoes face to face with Cody, doesn't
say a word, and then youknow, have the infamous beat down at

(26:00):
the end of the show, whichI thought was a great way to end
the show and to you know,to get people hooked in. So at
this point, you what, younow hit all avenues as far as making
the storyline makes sense. And atthis point, going into Russelemania, which
we're about, you know, eightdays away to you know, to this
date, I'm I'm ready, likeI'm pumped. No, no, I

(26:25):
think we all all are pumped onI'm glad you brought that up because I
did want to talk about the rockcoming to you know, Raw and kind
of pushing the boundaries a little bitfrom what we're used to seeing recently in
ww programming, you know, youknow with the Beatdown, with the language
and all that stuff, and againwith Raw, you know, going to
Netflix next year, you know,do you think we're gonna see kind of
more of that kind of storytelling goingforward? I think so, and and

(26:47):
I think this is you know,I got to give a lot of credit
to Triple H for keeping an openmind as far as what you know,
fans or I should say, thew W universe is in tune too into
today's world or the pro wrestling.So you know it's you know, granted
that it's you know, professional wrestling, but one thing about professional wrestling or
you know, being a fan ofthe w WE, you always love the

(27:11):
entertainment aspect hints why it got thee inside of w W. So it's
like you got you got that balanceof entertainment as well as the balance of
the wrestling that's going on in thesquare circle. So now you know you
got this up. Well it's youknow, now confirmed the Netflix deal and
that you know they're going to bebringing Monday Night Raw over over to Netflix.

(27:33):
I think this is you mean,we're we're getting little samples as far
as what we mean, what toexpect once that that transition is me especially
like with with the language and youknow, the blood, which we don't
see often. Like I don't thinkwe saw it, you know, since
you know, since the mad Manwas in was in power. But now
that you know, we we gotwe got the blood back. You know,
we got a little bit of thelanguage. Like this is a great

(27:56):
time to be a fan, noabsolute time to be a fan. We're
talking with Politic and howk the cohost of the Steal Steps show again.
You follow him and Steal Steps onTwitter, slash Instagram. Just kind of
kind of keeping on this thread alittle bit. You know, we've seen
The Rock, you know, crassshows like you said, and kind of
you know, you know, ampup the storytelling. We've also seen The

(28:18):
Rock and Drew McIntyre kind of embracethe trend of going to social media the
further the stuff that's kind of goingyou know, on in their on screen
storylines. I know you and me, you know, we're the type of
fans you kind of keep up withall that stuff, you know, no
matter where it is. Oh yeah, is that asking too much of the
fan base to kind of, youknow, be plugged into all that stuff
while while the storyline is going onon screen. I mean, if you
look at today's society, you wouldthink on a common sense level that a

(28:41):
lot of fans are are tuned into getting me to that level of social
media, Like everybody has a smartphonetoday. Like if you don't have a
smartphone, then you must be livingunder a rock or you've just been one
strong individuals that never cross over tothe dark side. But you know,
like I don't think I don't thinkit's too much to ask for, you
know, I mean for fans tobe tapped in to me. I feel

(29:02):
like it actually makes the storylines evenbetter. It catapults it, you know,
to to a better level. Andhonestly, I got to give credit
to to the young bucks, youknow, to the elite as far as
like they kind of kind of beenlike the the the originals per se getting
as far as like, you know, having that social media presence, having

(29:22):
a YouTube series that that kind ofcorrelate with the storylines that that were currently
going on and in the actual worldof professional wrestling. So it's great to
actually see WW, you know,begin to tap into that that that lane,
especially for like someone like Drew Mcatite, which who is my my favorite
hill wrestler to this day. Andyou know not well, we'll we'll talk

(29:45):
further about him, you know,upcoming metch with Steph Rollins a little bit
later. But I feel like this, this benefits him, Like this benefits
him. Uh. You know,the Rocks presence on on social media is
huge, So it's like like whathe does on on social media, he
knows for a fact that he's goingto get the attention of the w W,

(30:06):
not only just the w W universe, but as well as you know,
I mean a non wrestling fan whomay not be as in tune to
WW. So it's almost like thebest is the best of both worlds.
I mean not only for the fan, but also for the for the talent,
and even more so for for thecompany. I want to I want
to circle back and Drew McIntyre pointbecause like you said, he's been an
amazing heel. You know, Icalled him last week a generational hater.

(30:29):
You know, when he came outduring that segment, you know with with
the Seth Brollins and cmpunk, youknow, I'm gonna ask you, I
was gonna ask you just in general, you know, what's the other match
or what's another match looking forward tooutside of the Dwayne Roman Cody saga.
I imagine it's that the Seth BrollinsDrew mcintyrey match. Imagine that's high up
on the on the card of thethings that you're looking forward to wrestling you
a weekend. It is. It'sit's definitely up there, because you know

(30:52):
it is for me, it's noteven just the actual storyline that's going on
with Drew inside of the ring,it's also the politics behind the scenes whether
or not if he's actually gonna stillresign with the w w E. According
to I believe it was Mike Johnsonwho's had a report either today or or
a few days ago, who uh, you know, those behind the scenes

(31:15):
are indicated that he still has yetto you know, put the pen to
the to a contract yet, soyou know, there are still you know,
kind of I guess, still goingover things as far as like what
the what the contract will be,but definitely it is up there. I
gotta be honest, and you know, I don't want to play spoil alert,
you know in a way, butI'm also leaning towards you know,

(31:37):
the brothers match with the usso's Jayand Jimmy, Like this is you know
what I mean, this is onewhere you know, you you saw it,
you know, something that was thatwas going to be developing, you
know, I mean some time ago, and and here we are, you
know, I mean we're actually gettingyou know, getting it at the biggest
stage. And I feel like it'sit's actually appropriate for you know, I
mean to be on this particular stagebecause you know, these two individuals mean

(32:00):
at being a tag team, likethey've been knocking it out the part especially
evolving becoming like one of the greatesttag teams of all time in the w
w WEE. And now that they'vebranched off and become singles competitors, and
you know, Jay's killing it.Jimmy. I feel like Jimmy, you
know, really started making that stridenow that you know, he got the

(32:22):
backing of the tribal chief. Sonow it's like he you know, he's
gaining that confidence and you know hewent out and you know, destroyed his
brother about two weeks ago. Uhyou know, like listen, you know
what I mean. I'm your olderbrother, you know, you know what
I mean, I mean talking thattalk. So you know that's aside from
the SETH and Drew, Uh,Jay and Jimmy, the USU's definitely is

(32:43):
a match I'm looking forward to onMania. So you know all that,
all those are great picks, butI don't want to kind of discount the
women because there's a lot of youknow, great oh yeah, absolutely artists
on the card as well. Ithink you know, we've kind of all
been pastally waiting for the you know, the part two of the the J
car story to be told after thather debut in w W and Royal Rumble.

(33:04):
Do you think we're gonna get anotherviral moment out of j Cargo this
weekend. I think they're going totry to figure something out. I don't
know if it's going to actually likehappen like on Mania. I mean,
it probably will happen on Mania,but I don't know if it it would
actually be like an actual match.I was hoping maybe we would have gotten
the storyline right out the gate afterrumble between Biaka and J but we didn't

(33:29):
we didn't. We didn't get that. And also looking at the landscape of
the car, like Bianka still hasn'treally put you to me, put you
know me, put her her herchips on the table. As far as
you know, getting get in theactual match. But I mean at the
at the you know, last minute, they could probably run a Bianca Jay

(33:50):
maybe fighting another tag team and youknow, getting something there and you know
maybe like the you know, thekickstarts on traction from there. But if
we don't get a match, I'mone thousand percent certain certain that she'll probably
have some some nice five minute spotin the back door our WrestleMania. Yeah.
No, I think we're definitely gonnaget some kind of like you said,

(34:10):
whether it's a tag match or aviral moment or something, we'll get.
We'll get some Jay cargill Y youknow in the ring this time for
sure. We're talking with Politic andHawk here on gambler Mania on Fox Sports.
The Wrestler Hot I gotta gotta askyou to put your thinking cap on
for a second. Okay, youknow the city better than anybody, you
know, WrestleMania is a night forguest appearances and surprise returns outside of the

(34:36):
people who we know who are goingto be on the card, who are
going to be in the building forthe show. You're gonna be in the
house. You're gonna be in thecrowd. Oh what do you think the
Philly crowd would pop for the mostif they showed up at the Link this
weekend? Well, definitely Meek Millsgoing. I think he will probably be
there. They've been running a lotof a lot of you know, montages
of him lately, so I thinkhe'll be there. But my only caveat

(35:00):
of picking him is if he donot do dreams and nightmares on I'm going
to write like I might just startto write, you know, it's seen
it seen the wins. We right, and Meck does not do dreams and
nightmares at Mania, we will writelike he has to do dreams, dreams

(35:20):
and nightmares, like I think Ithink they will. I do think they'll
they'll, you know, they'll they'llpop for him big time. I don't
know aside from that, Like Ican't remember. It doesn't have to be
you know, it doesn't have tobe in you know, celebrity, could
be a former wrestler, it couldbe Okay, I mean anybody in that
case, stone Cold is gonna getit big times. Like it's definitely going

(35:42):
to be stone Cold because you know, they made not a their there there,
not a word of powder from howhigh they made, not a near
there another any any type of mentionof him. But if I mean,
if you those you know, ifyou're like a mark like myself, and
I'm pretty sure you know Roys themark as well, you know, like
you you know you you do,we read we read this, you know
the dirt sheets, and you knowwe know that there are you know,

(36:05):
some quote unquote you know, discussionsgoing on for him to possibly be there.
So I think stone Cold will probablyget the biggest pop uh if he's
in town. Yeah, I thinkso. I think because you know,
like you hear that glass break,man likes it's just like it's just gonna
be like I got told. Itold a friend of mine, I'm like,
I might ascend directly into Heaven ifI hear the glass break, you

(36:27):
know, night night two during youknow, bloodline Combat or whatever they or
calling that match. Yeah, Imight like literally go straight to heaven.
I might miss the end of thematch. I hear that glass I had
that glass break and Stone Cold comesout because you know that crowd will be
hot. You know what I justI just visualized. I just thought about
the Tom and Jerry iff where whereTom you know, it's like going you
know, it comes out of helike cell reports out of his body going

(36:50):
up to go up to escalator.Just just like that thought like, I
don't know what that's me. That'sme? So you might you might,
you might. You might have totell me how how night because I'm like,
might not be there. Let meask you. Let me ask you
a quick question though, because thiswas something that you know, a lot
of people were trying to like solvethe puzzle on social media since Monday night
during the spot where Rock and Codywere battling outside, and it was just

(37:15):
a coincidence that you had that momentwhere the WW trucks were there where they
had both Sina and Stone Cold.Uh, you know, right right there
on the truck and you as weknow both uh both have had beef with
the Rock in the past. Soyou think it was any anything to that.
I think there was everything to that. I think because I think this

(37:36):
night too, I think we're goingto get the night to where you know,
anything glowed, anything goes no DQkind of thing. And I think
I think everybody's going to come outthat locker room. I think everybody's going
to come out of that locker roomand try to interfere, right, And
I think again, I think we'llget a moment where that glass breaks.
Yeah, I think we're going toget a moment where we hear those horns.
And like I said, if thosetwo guys come out, I don't

(37:57):
even eat both. I can takeone, but both them come out,
that crowd is gonna be electric,an electric and electric moment for sure,
and I'm glad that we're both gonnabe in the building yea to experience that,
because it's gonna it's gonna be crazy. Yeah, a lot of people
have been talking about this, thisrocky moment that you know that could potentially
happen, and I just explaining thatthat moment where everybody coming out out of

(38:19):
the locker room and then stone coldlike capping it off, you know,
callsing causing Roman, well not justRoman to lose, but somehow to like
manage the rock and then Cody ableto capitalize on Roman, and then you
know, you got the whole thering crowded and stuff, and it's almost
like, you know, like thatthat moment in Rocky, like when you
finally won the title exactly now it'sit's gonna be. It's gonna be Rocky

(38:42):
too all over again. It's gonnabe. It's gonna be an amazing,
amazing time. Hopefully if if itplays out the way it is in my
mind, it's gonna spoiler, youknow, exactly exactly a couple of questions
before we get you out of here. You know, a lot of people
they see russell Mania coming to town. They're not really plugged in. They
really don't know what's going on,but they know it's a big event,
you know, see w W superBowl. So if somebody came up to
you into the hot you know,I'm at the loop. I don't know

(39:04):
what's going on, you know,but I want to kind of get caught
up on what's happening. What wouldbe the first thing you were tell them
to watch? Oh Man, firstand foremost, it has to be the
GCW Collective. Like you know,GCW is like a standout one of the
top I want to necessarily call it. I mean, like they are indie
promotion. But it's like the natureevents that they've run. It's like so
many events that you know that they'rerunning for for the weekend, Like you

(39:28):
have Joey Janella's spring Break. Youknow, it's it's a little it's a
little bit of you know, Imean something for everyone. So again,
like you have Joey Janella's spring Break, you have Josh Barnett's blood Sport.
You also have like the forda Cultureevent you know, you know for the
you know, I mean for thefor the African American community. So it's
like, you know, at alittle bit a little bit of everything.
And then you also have uh,you know, the the you know events

(39:51):
uh taking place down at twenty threehundred Arena, so you know, like
you know where the birthplace at ec W. So you know, you
have battleground going on. But definitely, like the first thing that I will
I will probably you know, mentionto someone to attend it is probably the
GCW event because you know, youyou know, you get to you know,
you get to bang for your buckno matter what show that they're running

(40:12):
it. And I believe I thinkthey're running eleven shows in total from from
Thursday to Saturday. Yeah, No, it's gonna be a very very busy,
very crowded weekend or week I shouldsay. Yeah, you're in Philadelphia
WrestleMania week. Again, please doyourself a favorite. Keep it locked on,
you know, on hawks, youknow, social media platforms, because
again, like I said, ifthere's a ring and there's ropes and there's

(40:34):
chairs, I'm outside, it's gonnabe tweeting about it's gonna be outside.
If people want to kind of keepup with you, you know, this
week, and people want to kindof keep up with everything that you have
going on to Steel Steps as well, what's what's the best way for them
to do that? Yes, sir, you know Still Steps. We're on
the edge of Philly sports. Soif you ever want to check into our
show, we're on Friday nights atten pm Eastern time. We're actually going
to do a special show this Thursday. I think we're going to be starting

(41:00):
in around eight thirty nine o'clock.But just stay tuned, you know me
to my to my social media feedat politic and p O L I T
I C I N Underscore h AK. You can find me either on
Instagram or Twitter if you want toyou know, go to the EOP sports
website directly, that's eop sports dotcom slash steal hyphen Steps. You can

(41:22):
follow us there for our you know, show content as well as you know,
wrestling articles that my my other cohost does, Joey Woods, you
know, shout out to hell bothChris, you know, everybody you know
part of the Steel Steps movement.And you know just you know, follow
me on my on my platform andtrust me, you know I'm gonna take

(41:43):
your take you across the world.That's the goal. Yeah, the Steel
Steps Steal Step Show, awesome show. Had had a pleasure to be a
guest a couple of times on theshow. You guys do amazing work.
So I just want to kind ofshow you give you guys some love as
well. Please everybody listening, doyourself a favorite. Follow the Steel Steps
crew and specifically follow my man Politicand hoc Hawk. Thanks for joining us,
Man, I appreciate it, Yes, sir, appreciate it. Roy
greatly appreciate it, you know,having me on and keeping locked here.

(42:07):
We have more WrestleMania forty for youcoming up next here on Fox Sports. The Wrestler