Classics: ECW Barely Legal 1997

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[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, this is the 75th edition of Top Rope Nation Plastics.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It is the all-time first ever ECW paper view.

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[SPEAKER_03]: A legendary show does it live up to the hype as it aged well.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We'll talk about it tonight at ECW barely legal from April of 1997.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I know Jesse has been wanting to do this one for a while, Jesse.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I actually have some nerves.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It's a rare when I get nerves.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the last time I had nerves like this was a wrestle rock 1986 my first classic appearance where I had to do exactly what I'm about to do this evening.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean with that one it was like you were at the show so I mean you were very young but

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[SPEAKER_03]: like take it away Jesse and this one we all I mean we're all familiar with ECW but you more so than Justin and I as we'll talk about we've we've done about the show why that is a little bit but we'll get to it here in a minute but before we do maybe a more important matter do you have anything in the glass tonight?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Right now it's empty but it's going to be filled very

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[SPEAKER_00]: Jin Maurey.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Hold on, let me go full screen on this one.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Here we go.

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[SPEAKER_00]: From Europe, fancy.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think they started selling it in the United States in 2016.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This is a gift from a client of mine, and I have not opened the bottle yet.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So this will be, I got a shot glass next to me, I'm probably gonna go to these puppies.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, nice.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Very nice, just enjoy it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I see your name tag here on the video stream.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We'll talk about that one.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Bishop takes it where, question mark.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, it's old late 90s signs at wrestling events.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You never know what you're gonna get.

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[SPEAKER_03]: How are you doing?

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[SPEAKER_03]: And what's in the glass for you?

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[SPEAKER_01]: God love them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Happy to be here for barely legal.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Opening my notes right now so we can get into our deep dive into the life of Jerry Lawler.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Oh no, barely legal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: hotel rooms, anything like that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So unfortunately, this is like the worst possible time for me to do this, considering it's ECW and you know sand man's on the show, but I'm kind of going dry here for a while.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's been almost a week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, but an honor of Jesse running the show, I've got a athletic Mexican style coppers for that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Nice.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So you're getting a place?

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[SPEAKER_01]: You boys are getting sober

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[SPEAKER_03]: Oh no, everyone just turned off their podcast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: All right, well, maybe I'll have a gummy later.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not that sober.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I picked up one here that I recommended to you, Justin, and I had to get a second four pack of it, so it's the dread not from avoidance.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Really good IPA.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I'll be sipping on that as we go through this show.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, we'll talk pop culture and do all of that, but then as we were talking about in the text thread between us, I'm going to kind of let Jesse run it once we get into the show proper, because I think his notes are more elaborate than either of ours.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And it should also be said,

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[SPEAKER_03]: wasn't like hard to find the show, but we did have to go through other means to watch the show because of course, we lost the WWE network, we lost Peacock, the WWE brand, is not legally out there in a way that it used to be.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Now you can still find these shows other ways, and in some ways they're actually superior because you get the original theme music.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But you know, you got a download at watching a computer, plug your computer in and all of that.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We had a lot of discussion on how to even watch the show when we started researching for this, but yeah, I guess we could talk right away.

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[SPEAKER_03]: We've talked about this on the pod before, but we have new listeners and maybe they haven't heard us mention this.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Justin, you're a familiarity with ECW around this time period or when you first started to see them.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Almost exclusively from the magazines.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember if at this exact time, the world of wrestling magazine was out, I was a big fan of that one, but maybe pro wrestling illustrated, but it, like I said, almost exclusively for magazines and following that kind of coverage in those kind of pictures, because I honestly don't know where I would have seen any videos.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, you know, the,

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[SPEAKER_01]: internet was barely a thing.

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[SPEAKER_01]: YouTube was, uh, but a distant dream, uh, let alone daily motion or other means.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, and I certainly don't remember any ECW VHS is being available to rent at any of our area, uh, block busters or, you know, whatnot.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So, it was probably quite a while until I

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[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it was all just kind of my imagination up to this point.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they ended up getting a national video deal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: God, it was around the time that you see the TN deal probably where they started showing up in Sam Goodie and they were like best of tapes late 90s,ish early 2000s.

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[SPEAKER_03]: World of Wrestling wasn't quite out yet.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think that started maybe in 98.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And then there was the ECW magazine, which was really high quality.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And I used to buy that every time a new issue came up, but that was right around when they debuted on TNN.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So 99, I think that that started.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So for me too, it was,

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[SPEAKER_03]: It was really pro wrestling illustrated inside wrestling, you know, all the old magazines.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That's where I first heard about it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I never had access to watch it at this time.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It was it was syndicated, but our local stations in eastern Iowa were just and I grew up did not carry it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I think they were on in Des Moines, but not in our area of the state.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And

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[SPEAKER_03]: I've talked on the show before that like November to remember 97 is the first time I watched them because it came in free on the paper view channel.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I said, I remember sat there with my dad and we watched it because it just happened to come in for free.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I saw that lie.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That was the first time I saw ECW and another funny story I've told in the pot before, but in case you never heard it, I do vividly remember.

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[SPEAKER_03]: going into my keyboard in class, back when we had keyboard in class in ninth grade.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So sort of like the fall of 98 and this one kid who knew I liked wrestling said something along lines to me.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Hey Ryan, have you heard of this ECW?

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[SPEAKER_03]: It's pro wrestling, but it's real.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I had, you know, I had known what it was because of, you know, watching November to remember the year before, and also like the raw invasion earlier in 97, and this was a kid who, he was a WCW fan, he didn't watch WWF.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So he wouldn't have seen the raw invasion in the early 97 at all.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So he didn't, he wasn't familiar with them at all, but he had like an answer something that had dish, so he could watch it on the satellite dish.

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[SPEAKER_03]: and he had started watching it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But by that point, I had already knew what it was.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And I remember just being really hyped when they got on TNN that I could finally watch them.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So it was way late in the ball game.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I do remember in the O1 right before they closed their website, Justin had advertised a live show that was going to be in Des Moines at the Valaire Ballroom that summer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Obviously never happened because they went out of business.

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[SPEAKER_03]: They never

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so I mean, I came to the game way late and so because of that, I didn't see the weekly TV as it aired.

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[SPEAKER_03]: All of my ECW viewing has been like going back and first tape trading then online mostly watching big matches versus watching entire shows.

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[SPEAKER_03]: You know, so like when Jesse and Unplug did the rewatch on a weekly TV, that was pretty, I mean, I knew some of the big moments with the, you know, jack promos and stuff, but that was still very eye-opening and awesome that you did that because there was stuff I had no idea about that I never saw.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So, Jesse, you're definitely the one more in tune with the history of ECW among us three.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So, where else, they're live from the ECW Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1,200ish fans in the old Bingo Hall there.

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[SPEAKER_03]: They did a 0.26 paper view by-rate, which was around $45,000 paper view by as paper view was $20 at the time.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And we know that, because there's the famous clip of Pauli addressing the locker room, prior.

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[SPEAKER_03]: to going on the air, which famously was filmed for Beyond the Matt, you know, when they were filming Terry Funk, and he was going to retire, then he goes back, and you see all this backstage, and becomes his very famous speech, the polygas in the locker room about how they have arrived to the dance.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to insert that audio right here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't can hear it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: If you haven't seen for some reason Beyond the Matt, which is an exceptional documentary.

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[SPEAKER_04]: We will pay $20.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Hopefully.

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[SPEAKER_04]: For the privilege to see you guys do what you have done for three and a half years.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Thank Terry Funk for all he's done for this company, for help putting us on the map, for being on selfish and selfish times, for taking the young guys and showing them a better way.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Tonight, we have a chance to say, yeah, you're right.

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[SPEAKER_04]: We're too extreme, we're too wild, we're too out of control, we're too full of our own shit.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, we have a chance to say, hey, fuck you, you're wrong.

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[SPEAKER_04]: Fuck you, we're right, because you have all made it to the dance, because believe me, this is the dance.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, so there's the, there's the speech from Paulie and Jesse.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Take it from here, my friend, your thoughts on that speech.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Chobom, Sorara.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean Paul Hayman's a master motivator.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I mean not just with the locker room, but also with the fan base, which was really what led to the rise of ECW.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So he ended up taking up ownership away from Todd Gordon later in 97, which ultimately was the downfall, which we'll get into later.

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[SPEAKER_00]: However,

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you cannot deny like what just how good of a we could even use the word manipulator few was he really was did you hear a lot of these people a lot of the performers even telling stories like I loved Paul But I couldn't tell half the time if he was telling the truth or if he was lying

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[SPEAKER_00]: he would never lie to the fans.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That is what a lot of talent would say.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You would never lie to the fans.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I loved about ECW going back to like 95, 96.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They let you in a little bit behind the curtain and tell you so and so didn't show up because they were in Japan or they're sick or they got injured or something like that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Here's your replacement.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Card is subject to change.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So Paul did right by the fans.

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[SPEAKER_00]: again with the locker room in the pay and all of that not so much but with this speech uh just and actually would you like to deliver the famous line that Paul Hayman said in that speech?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I don't think I know what the famous line is.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Not the line about the dance.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was like the the fucket line.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Oh.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Said they don't quite have it memorized.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There is he drops a few F bombs on it, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And I got to scroll all the way down to my notes.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Because this is one of the few things I did not do was go through the actual, yeah, right there.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I had the video up in a different tab.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I just don't want to get pulled off of YouTube.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I didn't play it on our stream.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Um, it doesn't have a transcript actually.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I thought it had a transcript, but there's no close captioning on it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So I got it right here.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There are parts.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He just says the privilege to watch which you've done for the last three and a half years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You got to think Terry Funk for taking these young guys and showing them a better way.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Here it is.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Fuck you, you're wrong.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Fuck you were right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they just went about their business on this evening in April of 1997.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Can I ask you guys, because he welcomes us to the show, he's Joey Styles, you know, in the ring.

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[SPEAKER_03]: What do you guys think of Joey Styles?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Do you like his announcing style?

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[SPEAKER_03]: Do you not like it?

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[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, because obviously other than Pauli, you would watch ECW and you'd hear him all the time.

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[SPEAKER_03]: So like, what did you like him or not?

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[SPEAKER_03]: And maybe your opinion is change on over the years.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Justin, your thoughts on Joey Styles?

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[SPEAKER_01]: It's...

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[SPEAKER_01]: it's so iconic and so like inseparable from the ECW product that I do like it but that is also