Nick Piccone Interview -- 8/5/23

Nick Piccone joins Mark Henry Jr. to talk #Phillies, Trea Turner's standing ovation, Aaron Nola, #SummerSlam, Roman vs. Jey Uso, and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yes, when the one Royal familythe train land in the tone, every

(00:22):
boy of the troll to it,all the cat and all the face crowded
here about the blue man for meto stop the show out the god like
them? Why my mother when Iwas young, my time to get all

(00:56):
the way, I get it allaway. Take my go down. I'm

(01:19):
ready now, damn it down,Gonna give them what welcome back to cover
radio show. So I had thejam out there for a little bit.
If I'm gonna, if I'm gonnado Cody Rhodes, if I'm gonna,

(01:42):
if I'm gonna put that on,I gotta do the whole, the whole
game. I gotta do the wholestiff best. Jeremy said it to me
all fair. Um, he's workingon something over there, so I won't
ask him his opinion, but hesaid it is the best current wrestling theme
song. I think that's true.I think it's true. I mean that
moment that he had at Mania comingback, not this year but last year

(02:05):
against Seth when he came out tothis song and they kept it from aw
an absolute all time moment there forCody Rhodes. So we're gonna be talking
Summer Slam with Nick Pocone right whenwe get him on the phone. We
had him and then we lost himthere. But we're gonna be talking Phils,

(02:27):
We're gonna be talking all things SummerSlam, and real quick before we
get to Nick Pocone, I wantedto talk real quick about something that I
didn't mention in the last segment,because it's important to mention. I didn't
talk enough about the loss last night. Aaron Nola stunk. There's no way
around the fact that Aaron Nola stunk. And I'm sure we're gonna talk about

(02:47):
that with Nick Pocone. But Ithink Topper did a really bad job managing
last night when it comes to leavinghim in for the sixth, ending eighty
six pitches after the first five,he clearly didn't have his best stuff.
He clearly didn't look good. Hedidn't have a single clean inning. He
was battling through five. He gotout of some jams. He only gave
up the two runs on the homer, but you know, he gave up

(03:08):
the one second and third to startwith no outs and he gets out of
it. But the pitchcount went wayup against the team. It shouldn't go
way up again. So even ifeven if you're saying take him out after
five, it's not a good start, but Topper let it spiral. It
seems like they leave Nola in waylonger than these other pitchers. You know,
Sanchez is throwing a no hitter withseventy something pitches and they take him
out the third time through the lineup, and Nola they just leave him in

(03:30):
there, even though there's been nosign that he looks like himself in the
game. So I don't understand thatdecision from Topper, and I don't understand
bringing un your Marte in when youhave second and third there with no outs.
So I think we have Nick Pacoonon the line, So let's see
if we can get him on Twitter. You can follow him at underscore pracone
going going x him all your thoughts, you know, go really good follow

(03:53):
on x as me and Jeremy werejust talking about. But we have Nick
Paccone on the line. Nick,how you doing, buddy? I'm actually
I actually might be a little bitmore positive than you today, which is
a reversal of sports compared to thelast few weeks. So well, yeah,
we'll get into it. Yeah,I'm still positive. Overall. I

(04:15):
have some things that are obviously concerningme, but I from an overall perspective,
I'm still I'm still pretty positive.This is the third best team in
the NL, So from that perspective, I'm doing okay. But let's start
there. I was just talking butbefore we had you on about Aaron Nola.
I'm not sure what you heard,but obviously Brual start last night,
I would say that. I thinkobviously, even if you say take him

(04:36):
out after five and after eighty sixpitches, then that's not a good start
against the Royals. Five minutes,two runs, whatever, it's not a
good start. But he hadn't nota clean ending. He was at eighty
six pitches, third time through thelineup. We've seen Topper take Sanchez out
with a no hitter at seventy twopitches because it's the third time through the
lineup, and we've seen Topper takeplenty of guys out way too early to

(04:57):
turn to the pen. And inthe sixth inning, he he was up
a home run and he leaves himout there still, and then he leaves
him out there continuously for two morehits, and then you bring marte In
in a brutal spot. I thinkobviously Nola has to be better. He
has to figure out how to notbe in his own head when he gets
into these terrible situations. But it'salso on Topper at this point. I
think Nola has to have a quickerhook. We've seen it too many times

(05:18):
in the sixth and seventh inning whereit ruins what would have been a fine
start. What do you think aboutTopper leaving him in there? And do
you think that they kind of Ifeel like they've been leaving Nola in far
too long in plenty of his starts. Yeah, I think we know we're
in the middle of seventeen games ina row. I think that has something

(05:41):
to do with it. He's alreadytaxed the bullpen a little bit in the
beginning of this streak, so probablysaw it. Nolah Again, he's been
durable for us pretty much his wholecareer. Maybe you know, holgo shut
down the Royals. You know,it's probably a Toppers thinking, and you
know it just it didn't happen,And like you said, it's happened for

(06:03):
him too often, especially this season. He would think, Okay, at
least he'll get a quality start againstthe Royals, even though the Royals are
on a streak in their own Butno, arnolda has eleven quality starts.
I tweeted this out, eleven qualitystarts in his twenty three starts of the
year, and that's just not goodenough if you're gonna be taken seriously.

(06:25):
Is the number two in this rotation, especially when Kyle gets in has twelve.
You know, that was a funlittle I'll get it baddot people a
little riled up. But Arnola's gotto be better. I don't. I
think a lot had to do itthough, you know, the seventeen games
in a row. He doesn't wantto tax the bullpen, even though he

(06:46):
was kind of taxed it already alittle bit. So, UM, I
don't have strong feelings either way.It says Aaronola has got to be better.
Yeah, he's got to be better. That the thing I'd say,
And um, this is I guessit's funny. I was joking with Jeremy
off air, and we even jokedabout it a little bit on air.
But when I said we were havingNick Pocono and Jeremy's like, oh,

(07:06):
get your popcorn ready, Mark,Mark and Nick are gonna go at it.
It's always interesting, but it alwaysends up being like way more,
way more civil than I think Jeremy'sexpecting, or some people would expect after
looking at our Twitter stuff. Theone thing, so you've been quick to
point out on Twitter that you're expectingthe pitching to regress, and that's a
concern of yours with the offense notimproving, that you're expecting the pitching to

(07:30):
regress. What I would point tois I would say we've been the best
rotation in terms of f were inthe MLB, and that's with Aaron Nola
having eleven out of twenty three qualitystarts and a worse whatever than Kyle Gibson.
And by the way, twere KyleGibson's been amazing for the last month.
He's like four of his last fivestarts have been masterful. But yeah,
even against the Phillies, we werea part of that. And I

(07:53):
think there was like two more goodlineups in there too. There might have
been like Toronto and Tampa. Likehe's just been really good lately. It's
so frustrating to watch. But withNola, I'd say that I think that's
a point of I don't think there'sthat much regression to be had, because
I don't think no one's going tobe much worse than he's been. Like
even you know, he's had goodstarts sprinkled in here. If he was
just all bad, i'd say,like, yeah, we can't even buy

(08:16):
into him at all. I'm notsaying treat him like a number two.
I'm saying you have a quicker hookwith him Topper, for sure. But
the fact that we're so deep threethrough five and maybe even three through six
now has to help a little bitwith maybe our top two not being quite
as dominant, even though I thinkWheeler is back to what we've seen,
and the underlying numbers would tell youhe's even even better as of late than

(08:37):
what we saw the last couple ofyears. So I think Wheeler is a
true ace. And then now itcomes down to maybe needing one out of
the two of Nola and Ranger tobe what we need what we had that
last year, and then one outof the two of Lorenzo and Walker to
be what they've been this year.So I feel like you at least have
a lot of places to turn toin terms of arms in the rotation and

(09:00):
I guess that leads to a questionabout Lorenzen. What was your thoughts on
the Michael Lorenzen trade? What wereyour thoughts on his first start? Obviously
positive, but what are your thoughtson the sixth man rotation and what that's
going to look like for the playoffs? Cliff le vibes man that it was
all the only thing that would havemade it better is it being a home
games kind of like oh Man,like you know, um, yeah,

(09:24):
I don't think it could have wentbetter for Lorenzen's first start with the Phillies.
I liked the idea of a sixman rotation. Again, I said,
maybe it'll help guys like Wheeler andNola. That Nola especially this season.
But you know Wheeler, he missedthe two starts last year in August.
I believe or might have led intoSeptember. I don't remember off the

(09:45):
top of my head. But keepingthem as fresh as possible heading into the
playoffs, because yes, I dostill think they are a playoff team.
They again, I think you mentionedit earlier and I kind of agree with
you. No other team is kindof running away with wildcards. We want
the Phillies to be that team.We want them to be like that first
wildcard team that's at least, youknow, five games up, and it's

(10:09):
just not been happening. So Ithink that's where a lot of the anger
comes from from a lot of thefans. It's like, only suck and
stuff like that, like, Okay, no we don't, we don't suck,
but why can't we be the teamthat's running away with wildcard just because
the other teams aren't doing it?Like doesn't make us feel better, you
know, But with the sixth manrotation, I thought that would actually help,

(10:30):
you know, not only the rotation, but the bullpen as well.
So I'm not hoping, you know, that's the case. And I think
it was a strategic move by DaveDombroski. We would have loved another bat
and you know, left left fielderright handed hitting that just you know,
didn't shake out. And I thinkit's fine that he didn't make a trade

(10:52):
just to make a trade. Youjust got to hope the moves that he
did make help this team make itto the play all set them every least.
Yeah, but Lorenzin, uh,you know, it couldn't have gone
better, and I just hope thatcontinues to. You know, he's a
big piece of this push, andit's something interesting you can work with in

(11:13):
the playoffs where you obviously have Wheelerfor game one, like in a five
to seven game series, like youcould have I mean, who knows how
it shakes out, how guys arethe rest of the way, But whoever
our number two is, who,Like let's say Nola finds his former Let's
say Lorenzen is a stud for therest of the year. Like if you
piggybacked like Walker and Ranger, andyou piggybacked like Lorenzen and Sanchez like a

(11:37):
righty and a lefty for Game threeand four and like didn't have to use
your bullpens as much in those gamesand kind of went with two starters.
Like there's a lot of interesting thingsyou can do like that, and another
thing that could play in I've heardsome some rumors that you know, they're
they're advancing Griff McGarry pretty fast here. Griff McGarry has been really good in
double A. They brought him upto triple A yesterday. They plan on

(11:58):
starting him two times this week.I've heard rumors that he could be up
within the next two to three weeks. So Griff McGarry could play, you
know, another factor in that.But let's go to the offense, and
let's take a look at the offense, and let's talk about Trey Turner,
because he was the story of lastnight taking you know, the putting aside
the game and putting aside the resultand everything like that and everything that was

(12:18):
frustrating. When it comes to it, Trey Turner got a standing ovation,
got multiple standing ovations. And itstarted as kind of like a Twitter grassroots
thing. And I initially gave NickPacomb credit and he's still the first person
I saw it from, and Ithink he's the person that really amplified it
with a lot of tweets and funnymemes and stuff like that throughout the day.

(12:39):
Who I know you mentioned the namethat you saw it from, and
give us just a little like insighton how the trade Turner thing happened,
and then what your thoughts were onhow it played out, and what your
thoughts were on his comments after thegame. Yeah. So I saw a
tweet from miss Rupert, who coversthe minor league, the minor league,

(13:00):
and he knows a great job doingthat, and he had close tweeted the
press conference. Well, I guesstechnically it was a press conference Tray Turner
after the game in Miami where hebooted the ball and Miami tied it and
the Phillies wound up losing. Treymakes that play the Phillies win. I
don't have a problem of him takingownership of costing them the game. And

(13:22):
I don't have a problem saying,hey, Tray Turner cost that game because
he makes that play in the Phillieswin. There was literally one play that
kind of decided that in the moment. Yes, there was a team failure,
but you know that play caused them, caused the Marlins to tie the
game. So he took ownership ofit. The whole only reason we saw

(13:43):
those comments from Tray Turner after thegame is because he stayed behind. It
was in the batting cage is tryingto figure things out. You know,
we heard the story even Rob Thompsonstayed behind. You know, he was
in a batting cage till midnight orafter midnight trying to figure things out,
and reporters were still there and that'swhen he thought of reporters. And we
saw that on NBC Sports Philadelphia.It just looks like he couldn't have been

(14:09):
lower that he literally from his mouthsaid, I cost us the game.
It just we have when we seesomething like that, there's no other recourse
than to just feel bad for him, you know, Like I was the
first one to be like that,this is on Trade Turner, right after

(14:31):
that happened, right after Stilly sawus. I'm like, ye, like,
Trey, what are we doing here? And this happened a couple hours
later, and then you see itthe next day and you're like, man,
like, nobody's harder on Tray Turnerthan Trade Turner. And he really
feels like he knows what's happening,like he knows he's not performing, he
knows that. He's very self aware. And then we saw comments from Nick

(14:54):
Castiano's like, you know Trey,like we're here for Trey, Like Trey,
no, what's going on? Likewe're here for him? You know,
great leadership in that clubhouse right now, especially for Mick who was on
record. And you know, Ithink it was the Athletic story that I
read that had Nicked saying a lotof things about Trey. So that's where

(15:16):
it stands from. That's where youknow, I saw Mitch quote sweet that
it's like, you know, maybea standing o will go a long way
for Trey, And to me itwas like an innocuous, you know tweet
that I was just like, yeah, like, why not like it.
It'll make the national media, youknow, po that they can't trash to
us if we did Trey a standingovation instead of just boo him, which

(15:37):
by the way, we haven't beendoing for the last few months. I
think we gave him a grace periodof like two or two and a half
months maybe before finally we heard alot of booze that Citizens Bank Park when
he wouldn't come through. So Ireally think that for me, it was
more innocuous, like, yeah,like, let's national media a chance to

(15:58):
trash us again and just give hima standing Oh you know, I didn't
think it would turn into what itturned into. And then other people,
you know, a Twitter that havea bigger following, that have a bigger
platform, also started getting involved inthat. So that's where you know,
I wasn't sure what to expect goinginto last night, but I was actually
surprised that he got as much loveas he did in terms of you know,

(16:21):
the applause and everything and listen,and there's so many people now I
don't want to say so many people, but now we see the people that
are acting like they don't know whytrains get a standing o base, and
it's like, dude, it literallystemmed from the postgame comments he made,
how down he looked, couldn't evenlook at the camera, how depressed he

(16:42):
sounded. It's just like, let'slift him up. We don't think we're
gonna magically cure him. Like that'snot where I think it was coming from.
I think it's like, man,this dude can't be any weller right
now, he's coming home. Let'sjust you know, support him another way.
That's why the chatty thing sort ofgoing around online, which is really

(17:03):
cool. It's like standing ovation won'tdo it, but hey, let's donate
to his charity, a favorite charity, which was a nice gesture. But
also you know, being in themoment and like seeing that and hey,
he appreciated it. Like it wasn'tsomething where people made this argument that oh,
it's so condescending and it's gonna makehim embarrassed, which to me,

(17:23):
it's just like we see a lotof manufactured arguments about certain things in sports
on many platforms, and for me, that was the biggest manufactured one that's
got so condescending instead of make himembarrassed, you know, like you don't
know, tray Man, Like,we saw what Trey was going through with

(17:45):
our own eyes. We heard thedejection in his voice, and we saw
how to now like he looked,So let's just support him by clapping.
Whether we we thought that would curehim or not, I don't think that
was the lean of it, butas the least we could do. It's
like the thing, you know,we've been going him, So it was

(18:06):
for me, it was more likethe least we could do was just show
him that, hey, we're gonnabe here for a decade. Let's you
know, we were here for you. It's like the thing, and so
many people that were against it justkind of blew it out of proportion.
I think, yeah, you youmentioned that people with bigger platforms took it.
I mean I think people put onequote out there, maybe set it

(18:26):
on radio elsewhere, But you werethe person I saw talking most about it.
And you might not have a biggerplatform with some others, but man,
you are good at Twitter. Youget engagement by the bucket loads sucks.
Yeah, good at ask Jay's correctingme. You're good at X.
So you get engagement by the bucketloads there, And I think you were
a huge part of that kind ofmovement. Um, just in the interest

(18:48):
of me not being fake, Iwill say that I do see both sides.
I lean more towards your side.And like I said in the first
segment, if I was there,I would have clapped, and if I
was there, I would have takenpart of it. And I totally understand
the human aspect of it. AndI'm a human above all, and you
know, I'm the one preaching positivityamong the fan base. So I can't
sit here and say, like,that's stupid, we should boo. I'm

(19:11):
like, I don't really care.My take on it was like I couldn't
really muster up much of an opinioneither way. But I understood both sides,
and I understood why some people wouldsay that they thought it was a
little bit fake and a little bitlike to stick it in the face of
the national media that like, hey, we're not as bad as you think
we are, Like, and Iget that angle, Like I do kind

(19:33):
of get that, but also Idon't care. I think there's too much
positivity to say from it. Andthe one thing I'll push back on you
said, we've been booing Trede Turnera lot. I actually like, as
someone who's been lecturing Phillies fans abouthow negative they are, I actually don't
think we've been that unfair to tradeTurner. Like. I don't think it's
been this like voracious level of hateand booze at the stadium and even online,

(19:59):
Like I think people Nola and Schwerbergget just as much hate as Trey
does, and I think you seeother guys get like just as much grief
as Trey does. I don't thinkthat the negativity towards Trey has been too
far deafening across the line or anythinglike that. If anything, I get
frustrated that there's not more individual playernegativity in questions. And I think most

(20:19):
of the time when Trey does somethingnegative, it's I hate this team and
this team stinks, and you knowthis team's unserious, Like they make it
a referendum on the whole team insteadof focusing on one guy out of twenty
five. So I actually I don'tknow what you think. I don't think
it's went too far at any pointon the Trade Turner negativity, do you
No, No, I agree withyou one that, Like, yeah,

(20:41):
I say, we've been billing,but it hasn't been either like deafening us
every single time that he comes tothe plate or pops out or strikes out
or makes an error in the field, and it's just like more like a
come on, dude, like whatare you doing out there? You know,
because trade Turner expects more from TradeCenter and we expect more from Trade
Turner that he'll be the first totell you that. So um, yeah,
I don't think it's been like twonegative. But I think being what

(21:06):
he said after that game, justhearing hearing his voice was the catalyst for
listening. We got to lift thisguy up because you know, we haven't
heard that from anyone else really.You know, like if if Scharber had
a similar interview postgame comments he castshim the game and when we heard him
in the same way as Tray,I think we would have given Scharber standing

(21:30):
movation. I don't I don't thinkit's I don't think it's specific the Tray
Uh. Like I said, Ithink the anti cheering crowd kind of you
know, it blew it out ofproportion. But I do I agree with
you in that I don't think that. I don't think the national media,
you know, angle of it kindof took the left of its own.

(21:52):
I didn't I might have been thefirst one to say something about, hey,
let's push it back in the nationalmedia, but I didn't think that
would be the you know, theprior of doing it. For me,
it was just like, let's lefttray up. But a lot of people
took it like, yeah, let'sshow a national media that we're good fans.
Like I don't agree with that aspecteither, you know, like a
lot of people took it to thatlevel too, And I was like,
well, that's not exactly the reasonwe should be doing it's just the you

(22:15):
know, make ourselves look good.It's that we want. It's more about
tray than us. So I dothink both angles of it kind of blew
it out of proportion. And whatwas originally the intent of Mitch's first tweet
and then my tweet, you know, you know, I kind of have
that shtick a little bit, likeyeah, let's throw it in the face
of national media, but the premiseof it was dude, like if we

(22:38):
and look, Tray got an RBIssingle. And I'm not saying that was
the reason for it, but alot of people that there were people out
there saying what the standing ovation didnothing? And I was like, listen,
dude, trade sing down an RBIssingle, Like that would have put
the Phillies ahead. And I don'tavert to give up this too. Run
you know what I'm saying, likewe we can't. It's not one or
the other, you know, itcould be a mix of both. I

(23:00):
do understand, like, man,we don't need a coddle this three hundred
million dollar player who's here for tenyears. I understand that. But it
wasn't about the booing. For me. It was like, man, if
you saw that interview and like Isaid, that's where to spend from for
at least for me and a lotof people that I was like, you
know, I let's lift them upa little bit because of that interview.

(23:22):
It wasn't anything else. Yeah,one last thing on the Phillies, just
just because I really want to getover to SummerSlam. But there's obviously so
many Phillies conversations, but I willjust say you mentioned being surprised, like
kind of the life of the townethat it took on and how big of
anovation that it got in the arena. And this is my takeaway from that.
And this isn't even really a question. I just meant to say it

(23:42):
earlier in the show and totally forgotabout it. I think people drastically underestimate
how online the Philadelphia fan bases,Like, I think we are arguably the
most online fan base that there isin terms of all of the all the

(24:03):
MLB fan bases, and even justin general big cities fan bases. Boston's
up there as well, for sure, but I think we are just so
online. And I think a lotof the times Sean Brace, a lot
of the times will throw at mewhen I'm going on and on and making
fun of the Negadelphians and making funof the negativity, Sean Brace will say
like, oh, that's online,Like that's on Twitter. You're you're too

(24:25):
deep on the timeline, And myanswer would be, like, I think
that Twitter is a more like realistic. I think more people are on that
Twitter and more people are seeing thatthan we anticipate, and I think a
larger percent of the people that aredown at the stadium are seeing these kind
of movements each day that we haveabout the Phillies, more than we expect

(24:45):
and more than we think. LikeI think we think we're in this little
bubble, but I know, likeme and you are tweeting all the time.
We're tweeting all our thoughts, likeJeremy is tweeting sometimes, Like there's
all of us. We're in it. Like we're tweeting every day. I
think we take for granted, likehow many friends and family members I have
that maybe aren't maybe aren't tweeting,Like maybe they're not tweeting out their thoughts.

(25:06):
Maybe they're not creating content obviously,but they have a Twitter and they're
following us, and they're following youknow, the big content creators for each
Philly sports guy, and like therethey might not be interacting with it,
but they're seeing it and they're apart of it. Like I don't know,
there's there's not a question here.So this is bad radio by me,
But it's more just to say,like Sean Race, people are online,
Um well yeah, even if youread an article, you know,

(25:29):
like a lot of tweets are inarticles that they'll read too, So that's
a great point. That's a greatpoint you get. You get clipped in
a lot of a lot of articles. I feel like you're every time I
go and read like a Phillies article, you'll throw your Fransky call or a
tweet in there. So um,I said, who who'd you get into
it with with Crossing broad the otherday that used your tweet? Oh yeah,

(25:51):
yeah, yeah, you know heposted something today that was anti you
know, cheering Pstray. That isthe problem I have. But like it's
they get condescending to a point whereit's like, oh, let's use some
common sense. I guess like anotherhost last night it was like anti boo
or anti cheering, and it waslike, yeah, let's you know that
that's common sense. It's like,man, we don't need to be condescending

(26:11):
either. At the same time,like we we can see both angles of
it and formulating an opinion without uh, trying to bring down the other side
as being you know, some insanetype. You know, it's not insane
behavior to try and lift Try Turner, who's clearly I went through struggles.
It is very open about it.You know, it's not some insane thing
to do just because we're Filly fanbase, and we expect more. Uh,

(26:36):
you know, it's more just like, all right, we we did
the booing, let's try something else, you know, like maybe this will
help and listen RBI single. I'mnot saying Trey is cured, but he
wasn't the reason for the loss lastnight either. So uh, like he
was in Miami the other night.You know that's you know, dating steps,
I guess. But the one suitethat he used in my articles or

(27:02):
his article, h I hadn't mentionedI didn't want Bryce stock bench just like
bryceon stot just play him against leftbees or whatever. And yes, there
was the argument that, uh,you know, the seventeen straight games,
you know, if any day he'sgoing to get off, it's going to
be now. But he's one ofthe best sitters on the team right now,
and you're feeling like every fifth daybehind Christopher Sanchez, your you're fielding

(27:23):
h not even a triple A lineup and might be you know, like
a two and a half A lineup. You know, like it's like,
what are we doing here? We'repunting a game, uh in the middle
of the wild card race, whereuh you're sitting your two best hitters and
Boom and Stott, So just playStott. And I guess someone replied to
me, uh, Bryson has playedin ninety eight of one hundred and five

(27:47):
games or something like that, sohe that responds. That's also that's also
a little fun with numbers because I'msure that he'd probably pinched it in like
eight or nine of those And thatexactly. That's you know, that's where
you make your numbers, your friend, where help help your point. You
know, you're you're the point you'retrying to make. And I saw that

(28:07):
the article and I had tweeted athim, but his main point was Preston
Stott has played more than people think, and it's like, well and keep
him in there, you know,like he's the hottest hitter and a lineup
that struggling. I don't understand whyyou just don't keep playing them. Yeah,
I get even more frustrated with themarsh stuff when he's the highest ops
on the team. Drives me nutsevery single day. He was Bence to

(28:30):
that game. Yeah, we hadlike that. That lineup was and that's
where I have a problem with themanager. It's like, come on,
dude, Like no, I don'twant Rob Thompson fired, but it's like
you don't need to put this behindfor Sanchez every sixth day, you know,
yeah, every sixth day. Ithink Rob Thompson's extremely average. I
think he's an extremely average manager.I think he's been really good at managing

(28:51):
the bullpen most times. I thinkhe's had some bumps lately, and I
think he's been pretty brutal lately.So I think he's like about as average
as they come as a manager.But I think the guys generally like him,
so I think that's like eighty percentof the job. So that that's
That's really all I have to sayabout Thompson. But when you go on
your Thompson things like, you'll noticethat's not where I get upset. Like
the Thompson stuff super average in myhead, Like I'm not some Rob Thompson

(29:15):
defender. Um. But let's getover to summer Slam. Let's get over
to the fun stuff of the day. I wasted way too much time talking
fills there, but we got totalk some SummerSlam. What's your what's the
match you're most looking forward to tonightoutside of the main event, Oh,
outside of the main event, Oh, man, Well, what's the main
event. There's four of them inthis Jeremy's gonna come in. I'm just

(29:40):
saying what they're saying. They're sayingit's a four match main event. It's
been they're saying, it's ridiculous.Nick Picoon, I thought I was a
w W E shill, like becauseI'm always going at a W and I
thought I was at w W SHIW. Jeremy is getting checks from the McMahon
family, yea, with his takesthat he gives to me on this show.
Every every decision that ww's made hasalways been the perfect one. Romans

(30:07):
should have the belt for the nexttwenty five years. If sure, it's
it's great. It's great to hearmister w W over there. But in
terms of I think the main eventis going to be Roman Jay, I'm
probably more excited for Cody Brock personally, just in terms of like what I
think will be fun. But that'shonestly, like I could you could commnce
me either way on that Roman Jayis going to be the main event.

(30:30):
But outside of Roman Jay, whatwould you say you're most excited for.
I'm gonna go Finn Valor Seal.I think Finn Valor is going to win
the title. Wow, my officialprediction. I think they've built this as
well as they possibly could. Ireally didn't care about it in the beginning,

(30:52):
but you know they've They've really mademe kind of care about this in
a way that I didn't think Iwould. You know, to me,
it was just like just one thetitle, don't care. He's going to
keep it for a while. Butnow like there are rumors that he's got
injuries and he's filming something maybe comingup, so I could definitely see him
dropping. It's a Finn Balor,and you know, you have that dynamic

(31:15):
with Damian Priest with money in thebank, so I think that would be
Judgment Day has been a huge partof roll for months. They love w
reportedly loves how they're doing. It'sa shame that they just kind of helps.
It's a shame that the two peopleinvolved in this storyline of the two
least interesting numbers of the Judgment Daywith Finn and Priests. But yeah,

(31:37):
so I agree with you. Thematch is gonna be a banger. We
all know that it's seth in Finn. There's no way it's not going to
be a banger. I. Theinjuries kind of cloud my judgment. I
think the best way to handle itif we're trying to get Priest ready for
a main event, is to havesomething where Priest and Finn turn on each
other here in some capacity, orPriest costs Finn the match, or priest
cashes in on Finn, because Ithink a priest Finn feud would be a

(32:01):
good thing to get Damian ready.So that's in some capacity I'm expecting to
come out of tonight with Damian versusFinn. I don't know who the face
is. I don't know who theheel is, honestly, but I think
we're going to get that feud comingout of SummerSlam, and I think it's
gonna be good for both of them. But I don't know where the title

(32:22):
ends up, Like, does Finnbeat Seth and priest cash is in?
Does Finn beat Seth and priest Wekind of play this out for a couple
of months where a priest is hauntingset Or or priest is haunting Finn,
and that's kind of a storyline.Does Seth win because priest costs Finn?
Like I think, no matter what, we're getting priests Finn coming out of

(32:42):
this. What do you think Iwould I would love to see you know,
Finn win and then Priest come out, you know, with the brief
case, but act like he's celebratingwhat's in you know, like, yeah,
man, he won the title andeveryone thinks he's gonna cash in,
but he doesn't. And yeah,Fin's kind of like, you know,
I look it over sort of,I do, like you're out here congratulate
it made, but you have thatbriefcase with you. Bladavian's like just happy

(33:05):
at ten one, and then thatcould be an interesting dynamic, you know
where Uh beens the champion, buthe's literally got his best friend, you
know, for all times, forpurposes. Uh that got shit on him
at any time and take that title. We're not talking about true best friends
who actually can co exist. Yeah, but I do want to real quick

(33:30):
talk about Roman and Jay since wementioned it, and I think that's obviously
the main event. So um,Roman and Jay Roman obviously holding has hold
developed for three decades at this point. Um, it's been it's been since
nineteen ninety five. Yeah, yeah, Um, in my opinion, there's

(33:51):
been a lot of times. Obviously, I was a proponent of like,
yeah, let's send me, let'sSammy take the belt and have him job
it back in some scenario to Romanand we'll be fine for men, and
it'll give us a moment. Andwe were both on the And I still
am of the mindset that they messedup this the Cody Rhodes thing. I
think Cody should have got the beltat Mania. And I'm back at the
point where to me, this Romanj match does not feel big enough to

(34:15):
justify Roman losing the belt after howlong it's been, Like I think,
if Roman's jobbing the belt, it'sgot to be to a guy who we
think is going to be a mainof entor for the next like five years,
and we think is going to beable to like partially carry the company,
assuming that Roman will be taking timeoff at some point. Like I
like Jay Uso, I don't thinkhe's that guy. Like I think,

(34:36):
if we're talking about the guys whoneed to be considered to take the belt
off Roman, it's you know,Cody, it's Solo, maybe Seth,
maybe La, But I don't seeanyone else, Like I don't see Jay
as this guy who's gonna hold thebelt for a long time, and I
understand the storyline why he could bean option, but and I loved the
early Roman Jay matches. I'm expectingtonight to be an amazing match and amazing

(35:00):
story. I don't think Jay shouldbe the guy who takes the belt off.
So I'm I'm mister Roman reigns tonight, like I'm I'm putting my ones
up. I'm all aboard keeping thebelt tonight. What do you think happens
and what do you want to happen? I agree, I think Roman wins.
I don't think Jay's that guy either, But you know, I don't

(35:22):
think they could have built to thisparticular mess any better. I think everything
storyline wise makes sense. I couldsee Jimmy returning and taking out Solo,
and then you know, maybe youhave somebody else come in or something to
introduce something that kind of like Classat the Castle last year when Solo debuted.
I do think it's someone like Soloor Cody that eventually dethrones Roman.

(35:43):
I think it happens at WrestleMania.I don't think you know you have Roman
lose the title, even though Summer'splanned. To me and I heard your
conversation earlier I do think it's thesecond biggest the w calendar out there.
I know Roy Rumble is right there, but the way they treat SummerSlam now
to me just is you know,number two. So I just don't thank

(36:07):
Roman loses tonight. Uh don't.It could have been anybody, It could
have been Cody. It could beRoman versus Cody two. I still have
to think Roman wins because I thinkRomans dropping the title at WrestleMania. I
don't see why, Um, hewould straight from that plan. If if
that was you know, he's notgonna lose it that Survivor series for sure.
Yeah, so I don't think hewas. I think he keeps it

(36:29):
till WrestleMania. Um. But yeah, maybe we see some new face and
reject themselves at some point. Uhyeah, they'll be Shenanigans for sure.
I think I agree. Maybe wemaybe we can get Dwayne in to Detroit.
I don't know what is his scheduleslooking like. Forbid, he shows
up and when him done something.Don't get me started on Dwayne. Um,

(36:49):
but I'm over him me too.I'm right there with you. I
wish we had more time, Ireally do. I want to get into
each match and dive in for liketwenty more minutes. But um, well,
we'll be bringing Jansen on to talkeven more about it later. But
the Summer Slam stream the Gambler tonight, we'll be missing Nick McComb but he'll
be tweeting it off on Socials andI'll be watching him. This was made
for me, and I'm so angry, um dealing with the medical stuff that

(37:14):
I haven't been able to sit inmy chair for more than ten minutes at
a time. So I gotta getthis stuff taken care of. But man
like, I'll be tuned in forsure. We'll be missing you there tonight,
and hopefully it's a it's a Phillieswin and a good Summer Slam tonight,
so you know, I'll just dohim tweet. I'll do and tweet
the Phillies all night. Yeah.Yeah, maybe it's good we're not sitting

(37:36):
next to each other tonight. We'dbe we'd be doing our Twitter argument in
real life now I'm joking. Youcan go and follow Nick mccoon at Underscore
for Cone on Twitter. Check outhis Summer Slam thoughts, his Phillies thoughts.
Check out his pod, The ShootersPod. You can follow at the
Shooters Pot. I think Vaughan Johnsonis gonna be there tonight, right,
it is awesome, So yeah,he'll be holding down for the Shooters pod

(38:00):
there for Pacones. So thanks forcoming on, Nick, appreciate it.
Man, have a good time tonight. Of course, of course there he
is Nick Pacone. We love havinghim. All we could have we could
have talked for twenty more minutes andwe got to get to Jansen though that
it's so disappointing Jansen. You know, it's a leftdown but chances, I

(38:20):
mean, he's been on this showprobably like double the amount of any other
guests I've ever had, so clearlyhe's doing something okay, But we're gonna
we're on the other side. We'regonna do a little MLB picks, a
little immaculate grid, and we're gonnabring Jansen on later. So to keep
it lock to the topical radio showright here on the Gambler,