Friday is Story Time on The Coach and Bro, and it opens with Vince Russo on a tear about the difference between content and good content. Howard Stern's show moved to HBO Max this month as a weekly filmed series after cutting his SiriusXM schedule to one day a week, and Russo — a Stern listener since 1983, and the reason he wanted to get into radio in the first place — watched the first episode and could not believe what a network that built its name on The Sopranos had just paid for. He gives it six episodes. Coach's read is different: when you have been around that long, nobody gets to tell you what to talk about, and networks are handing talent longer and longer leashes because the ugly stuff is what gets clicked. From there it turns to the video of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch getting swarmed at the Mexico City airport, where Rollins moves and his wife does not. Russo's take — "grab her by the arm and take off with her" — is the one that ended up quoted around the wrestling internet by the afternoon. Both hosts are clear that Becky Lynch can handle herself; the point is that you do not leave anyone behind in a crowd in a country where you do not know who is carrying what.
Story three is uglier and both men treat it that way. A 64-year-old Pennsylvania man was taken for more than $42,000 by someone impersonating Rhea Ripley; a second fan says Liv Morgan impersonators ran him for about $35,500 across multiple accounts, fake meet-and-greets and merch that never arrived. Russo adds the version that just happened in his own family — his sister was talked into a wire over a fake missed-jury-duty warrant and only stopped because the bank asked her what she was doing — and Coach points to Travis Kelce being named among the victims of a $35 million Ponzi scheme this week. The wrestling-specific wrinkle is the one worth hearing: fans want to be connected to their favorite performer more than fans of almost anything else, and predators know exactly what that is worth.
Then the main event. Eight days out, both companies are in Chicago on the same night — AEW All Out at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, sold out, against WWE and AAA's Worlds Collide at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, streaming free on YouTube with Chicago-native CM Punk advertised. Jim Ross said on his podcast that everybody in the business should be helping each other and that it is never going to happen, and Coach plays the clip. Both hosts agree with the sentiment and reject the conclusion: this is competition, it is how the territories ran, and Nick Khan is not going to be the nice guy about it. Their frustration is pointed at the other side — Tony Khan telling them directly that AEW is not trying to win, it is trying to do its own thing, which Coach calls the most ridiculous statement he has ever heard anybody make; and the year-plus since WrestleMania was announced for Saudi Arabia with AEW still not having claimed that week at home. A viewer super chat lands the thesis of the whole segment: if you know nothing is coming back over the wall, you stop being scared to go over it. The back half is Story Time proper — Johnny Unitas on a sideline in Baltimore, Michael Clark Duncan, Tom Jones and Tony Curtis in Vegas, twelve security guards clearing the MGM Grand lobby for Sammy Davis Jr., and Jay Leno testing Tonight Show jokes at the same Manhattan Beach club every Sunday night since 1987 — plus Crown Jewel, Club WWE, a new segment called Heel Tweets, and a Jags pick.
Topics & Timestamps
(All timestamps are estimates — see note above.)
[00:00] — Cold open: third show of the week, and Friday is Story Time with Vinny Ru and the Coach
[00:40] — Weekend betting: Coach hits the Bills cover and the over; Russo takes the under, "the most boring play in all of football"
[01:22] — TOPIC 1: Content is king — but networks are about to learn the hard way that content and good content are two different things
[01:52] — Howard Stern's SiriusXM show cut to one day a week, with a weekly filmed version on HBO Max — Russo on being a Stern listener since 1983
[02:44] — Russo's review of the first HBO Max episode, and what a 72-year-old man chose to open with
[03:14] — The bold prediction: six episodes, then the network wants out — and why the same warning applies to WWE, Netflix and everyone else buying content right now
[04:53] — Coach's counter: when you have been around that long, nobody tells you what to talk about, and the ugly stuff is what gets clicked
[05:26] — TOPIC 2: Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch mobbed by fans at the Mexico City airport — Rollins moves, his wife does not
[07:00] — "Becky Lynch can fend for herself" — the point is not that she is fragile, it is that you do not leave anybody behind in a foreign airport
[07:23] — Super chat tiers explained: $5 puts your comment up and gets you on the Coach & Bro-lette Wheel, $10 gets it discussed, and the wheel pays a $25 merch gift card
[08:29] — TOPIC 3: Two wrestling fans, roughly $77,000 gone
[08:47] — A 64-year-old Pennsylvania man sends more than $42,000 to someone impersonating Rhea Ripley; a second fan says Liv Morgan impersonators took him for about $35,500
[09:14] — Travis Kelce named among the victims of a $35 million Ponzi scheme
[09:22] — Russo's sister and the fake jury-duty warrant — the bank teller who stopped the wire
[10:20] — Why wrestling fans are the mark: nobody wants to be connected to their favorite star more, and predators know it
[12:02] — Super chat (Sarge Max Steele, wheel spot): "your BlueChew commercial makes you and Coach look like bros with benefits"
[12:35] — TOPIC 4: Eight days out, every wrestling company is in Chicago — AEW All Out against WWE and AAA's Worlds Collide, same day, same market, with CM Punk advertised and the show streaming on YouTube
[13:21] — The tape: Jim Ross on his podcast — "everybody could help each other," and why he says it will never happen
[14:04] — Russo's answer: this is competition, this is how the territories ran, and if they play that game you play it back
[15:58] — The WrestleMania-in-Saudi week AEW still has not claimed, more than a year after it was announced
[18:00] — "One of the biggest fumbles we've seen in a long time" — and the case that protecting the company from WWE fans is why AEW keeps not answering
[18:40] — Will Ospreay grants Jon Moxley an AEW World Title shot at All Out — the LeBron analogy
[18:58] — A champion should never be the one putting the belt up: the case for an authority figure, and what creative has become at both companies
[20:10] — Suggested Ad Break 1
[20:15] — Super chat (Dan): TNA's reverse battle royal, and Russo on why every stipulation used to need a reason — the origin of the steel cage match
[21:29] — Super chat (X Country 6709, $20): the antenna saga, no local channels in Denver, and Coach letting slip that Russo is already on BTT's Roku channel
[23:22] — Meeting Johnny Unitas on a sideline in Baltimore, courtesy of Len Dawson
[24:16] — Russo's $12.50 thrift-store Kyrie Irving sneakers
[25:03] — TOPIC 5: the most impressive person you have ever met
[25:41] — Coach's answer: Michael Clark Duncan, and a career that did not break until after 40
[26:17] — Russo's first idol, Tom Jones — and his mother punishing him by taking the show away
[27:13] — The real answer: Tony Curtis, three feet away in Vegas, and a 20-year-old son with no idea who that was
[28:16] — Twelve security guards clear the MGM Grand lobby — for Sammy Davis Jr.
[28:53] — What made a star in the sixties and seventies: the couch next to Johnny Carson, and why real film stars would not do television
[30:48] — Jay Leno's Garage, the Walk of Fame weekend with Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias, and Leno never touching his Tonight Show money
[32:53] — Leno stepping back to care for his wife — "there's nothing more manly than that"
[33:31] — Same Manhattan Beach club, every Sunday night since 1987, testing the week's jokes
[34:02] — Super chat (Team Q): Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia as the regional conflict escalates — nobody should be punished for not going, and why WrestleMania is the harder call
[35:55] — The Jimmy Fingers problem: a second band wants their music on a show open, and Coach and Russo on what loyalty to a day-one listener is worth
[36:59] — Super chat (Trevion Jay): if the dog never bites back, you keep petting it — the best framing of the Chicago argument all show
[39:53] — Club WWE adds old Raw episodes as a member perk — if old-school wrestling does not work, why is it the offer
[40:35] — Exclusive CM Punk merch, why membership clubs are where everything is going, and the one line both hosts draw: ticket prices
[41:20] — Suggested Ad Break 2
[41:26] — Super chat (Jimmy Fingers, $10): "you can't come to this party late and try and steal my gimmick"
[42:49] — The Ric Flair impersonator reading a real Ric Flair tweet — and Charlotte Flair on trying to get her father off social media
[44:37] — New segment announced: Heel Tweets, starting next Friday — Coach and Russo read the comments calling them stupid
[46:57] — Super chats on the JCW speculation: Russo's answer is that the long version lives on RussosBrand.com, not in a 30-second answer
[50:41] — The real reason things get re-evaluated: his wife is retired, the show sits at noon, and a year of show-by-show work is a year
[54:33] — Super chat (Jeff TH910): merch delivered, and playing catch with his son in a Coach and Bro cap
[54:56] — The Rock crediting Russo on a podcast, and both hosts on Ari Emanuel's media run
[56:30] — Tony Khan gets a bad rap for being born into money — and why neither host will sign onto that one
[57:55] — The Coach & Bro-lette Wheel: Thirst One Three takes the $25 merch gift card
[58:29] — Weekend plans, the Rockies and Mariners, and the first joint Coach-and-Russo pick: Jaguars +3
[59:54] — Sign-offThis episode is sponsored by BlueChew. Better sex in a tablet — go to BlueChew.com and use promo code COACH to get your third month of BlueChew Gold FREE when you buy two, plus 10% off and free overnight shipping on your first order.
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