Latest / The 3Ts: Tables, Tailgates, and Toploaders / A Hobby on the Edge

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A Hobby on the Edge · The 3Ts: Tables, Tailgates, and Toploaders

• WEBVTT 00:00:11.379 --> 00:00:13.640 What's up, friends? Welcome to another episode 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.280 of Tables, Tailgates, and Top Loaders. So happy 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:19.179 to have you all aboard for this episode. I'm 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:21.699 your host, as always, TB. Thank you all so very 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:24.079 much for stopping in and checking out the 3Ts. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.660 I hope you all are staying warm out there wherever 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:30.039 you are in the world, in the country, what have 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:32.420 you. But we have so much to get to, so much to 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:34.920 talk about. Let's not waste any time. Let's dive 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.259 right in. Hobby enthusiasts, card collectors, 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:40.000 you are on the clock. It's been a minute since 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.659 I've started off. with you guys but I feel like 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:45.359 it's time so how are we feeling I need to be 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.799 honest with you folks it's been a tough go lately 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:51.460 in the industry I don't know if you all follow 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:53.179 some of the stories surrounding the hobby but 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:54.939 there's been a lot of crap a lot of negative 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:57.439 stories a lot of negative things circling around 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.979 the hobby and I felt like it was time to talk 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:03.000 about some of them today Because I think some 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.019 of these stories are important and I think it 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:07.579 also will show you where my mindset is right 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.079 now with this thing, with this hobby, with one 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:12.439 of the three T's. And if I'm being completely 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.219 honest, I have thought numerous times about actually 00:01:15.219 --> 00:01:17.900 making some changes to this podcast. And what 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:20.099 I'm talking about, I've been thinking about changing 00:01:20.099 --> 00:01:23.959 from the three T's to the two T's. And I'll tell 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:26.390 you why. If you go all the way back to the beginning 00:01:26.390 --> 00:01:29.150 of this journey, all the way back to what I was 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:30.989 trying to accomplish from the very beginning. 00:01:31.390 --> 00:01:33.650 I was talking about why I love these three hobbies 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:36.670 and how they have become a part or have been 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.030 a part of my life. And I'm finding it harder 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:42.010 and harder to stay positive about sports cards, 00:01:42.109 --> 00:01:44.989 about card collecting because of all the negativity, 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:48.269 because of where the industry is heading, because 00:01:48.269 --> 00:01:50.409 of some of the changes I've seen in the last 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:53.549 two years, last three years. And some of this 00:01:53.549 --> 00:01:56.010 stuff I've talked about before, you know, I complain 00:01:56.010 --> 00:01:59.530 about skyrocketing box prices. I have complained 00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:02.180 about the inability. to get product. I've talked 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:05.859 about the EQL system and all this stuff, some 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:07.879 of this stuff I've talked about before, but it 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.120 all seems to have gotten completely out of hand. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.039 And as a consumer, as someone who comes on here 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.580 and tries to stay positive and tries to talk 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:17.599 about the fun, because that's the most important 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:20.379 factor, the fun factor of this thing and sticking 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:22.979 with something I love, it's been mad frustrating. 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.900 And some of these same issues have kind of reared 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:29.509 their ugly head within the last few weeks. And 00:02:29.509 --> 00:02:30.870 we're going to dive into some of that stuff. 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:34.610 So let's start with this PSA news. Now, PSA, 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:38.310 for those who don't know, PSA is now the leading, 00:02:38.389 --> 00:02:41.210 the industry standard when it comes to grading 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:43.849 your sports cards, when it comes to grading your 00:02:43.849 --> 00:02:46.919 cards of any kind. And what do I mean by grading? 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:49.800 So grading, basically what that means is you 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:51.979 have cards that you like, that you want to protect. 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:54.280 And what you do is you send them off to a company. 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:56.159 And we're going to talk specifically about a 00:02:56.159 --> 00:02:57.780 few of them today. But you send them off to a 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:00.000 company. The company then has people that they've 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.939 hired. They review your card. pretty much under 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:05.360 a microscope. They have certain things that they 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.819 look for when it comes to the quality of your 00:03:07.819 --> 00:03:11.219 card. And they then put a grade on your card. 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:13.939 And they create a label. They encase the card 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:17.219 in a solid plastic structure, essentially, that 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:20.680 protects the card and keeps it safe. And it locks 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.300 in this grade of the card at that point in time. 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:25.500 And what you're hoping to do is get a perfect 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:28.780 score. So most of the time, it's out of 10. And 00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:32.240 then they break down this score. depending on 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.759 the quality of your card. And that score also 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:38.560 usually is associated with what they think the 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:40.960 card is worth. Now, when they log this card into 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.719 a system of some sort, they keep a database of 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.919 how many cards have been submitted of the same 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:49.939 card, right? So I don't know, whatever you want, 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.520 1952 Mickey Mantle, X number of cards of this. 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:57.759 have been submitted. A certain percentage are 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.060 a 10 and a nine, and you just work your way down 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:01.759 the list, right? So you should be able to, once 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.080 you submit a card and it's graded and it's kind 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:06.159 of logged, you should be able to then see where 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:08.360 your card ranks amongst all the other submissions 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:10.939 of that similar card and how many other cards 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:13.759 of that are there that have the same grade. So 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:18.240 anyway, PSA, they're like the top of the mountain 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:20.829 when it comes to card submissions and getting 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:23.149 your cards graded they're like the the pinnacle 00:04:23.149 --> 00:04:25.930 right so earlier this week they announced that 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:28.389 they were coming out with another price increase 00:04:28.990 --> 00:04:31.129 Another price increase to submit your cards and 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:34.529 get these cards graded. In addition, they have 00:04:34.529 --> 00:04:37.689 extended the wait time. So how long it's actually 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:40.589 going to take for you to get your card back from 00:04:40.589 --> 00:04:43.149 them. So you pay an increased price and they 00:04:43.149 --> 00:04:45.009 are now telling you not only has the price gone 00:04:45.009 --> 00:04:47.209 up, but now it's going to take us longer to process 00:04:47.209 --> 00:04:50.110 this and to get you your card back. So you pay 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:52.649 more to wait longer essentially is what the issue 00:04:52.649 --> 00:04:54.350 is becoming. Well, here's the problem. How many 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.730 people out there, how many people listening have 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.089 ever played the game Monopoly? And what's the 00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:01.089 point of the game? The point of the game is to 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:04.329 buy out, trade for, somehow acquire all the properties 00:05:04.329 --> 00:05:07.310 around the game board or get as many of these 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:09.709 properties as you can because then what do you 00:05:09.709 --> 00:05:11.889 do? You eliminate the other players in the game 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:13.509 because essentially when the players land on 00:05:13.509 --> 00:05:15.269 your property, the more you have, the more money 00:05:15.269 --> 00:05:18.449 you get. And your goal is to bankrupt the other 00:05:18.449 --> 00:05:21.129 players. And you do so by collecting as many 00:05:21.129 --> 00:05:23.149 of the properties on the game board as you can. 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:25.910 So it makes it harder and harder for your opponents 00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:28.269 to find safe spaces. So every time they roll 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:30.189 the dice, every time they take a turn, they're 00:05:30.189 --> 00:05:32.870 essentially paying you money. And this is kind 00:05:32.870 --> 00:05:35.470 of what PSA has done or has attempted to do over 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:38.089 the last few years. Now, it started out with 00:05:38.089 --> 00:05:42.269 rival grading company SGC. In February of 2024, 00:05:42.649 --> 00:05:46.350 it was announced, PSA, they bought out. their 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.949 rival and and when i say rival i mean this is 00:05:48.949 --> 00:05:50.949 another company that was in the grading card 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:54.050 space that was sgc we all have our preferences 00:05:54.050 --> 00:05:56.810 when it comes to things like we all have a specific 00:05:56.810 --> 00:05:59.389 way that we like to do things so if like you 00:05:59.389 --> 00:06:02.009 have a car mechanic that you take your car to 00:06:02.009 --> 00:06:05.889 you know you gain a trust you gain a a certain 00:06:05.889 --> 00:06:07.449 way that you like things done whether it's a 00:06:07.449 --> 00:06:09.810 restaurant or whatever product or whatever service 00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:12.449 you're paying for look we all have things that 00:06:12.449 --> 00:06:14.649 we we get used to we get comfortable with and 00:06:14.649 --> 00:06:16.629 then we go with them well As far as when it comes 00:06:16.629 --> 00:06:19.829 to how we submit and grade cards, for me, SGC 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.509 was at the top. I personally, I love the way 00:06:22.509 --> 00:06:26.069 SGC slabs look. And when I say slab, a slab is 00:06:26.069 --> 00:06:28.310 simply the way the encasement looks. So your 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:30.970 card is now encased in this plastic, permanent 00:06:30.970 --> 00:06:34.670 plastic sleeve. And I just love the way historically 00:06:34.670 --> 00:06:38.949 SGC has done it. They have this simple black 00:06:38.949 --> 00:06:41.410 and white tuxedo look to the label that they... 00:06:42.340 --> 00:06:46.699 or affixed to the top of the encasement. I think 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:48.279 it looks sharp. I think it looks professional. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:50.560 And when it comes to just displaying your cards, 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:52.899 what doesn't match with black or white? So a 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:54.920 lot of people will submit cards because they 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:56.600 want to protect them and they want to display 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.800 them. And they put them in their room or their 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:02.139 office or their man cave or whatever the hell 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:03.980 you want to talk about. But they like to display 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:05.519 their cards. If they're not going to sell them 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.639 for, you know. for monetary, you know, if they're 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.220 not in the flipping industry, people have their 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:12.839 cards graded because they want to look at them. 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.000 And a lot of times a black and white tuxedo look, 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:18.449 it really matches. Anything that you're displaying 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:20.610 it with. So anyway, it doesn't matter. So PSA 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:23.509 bought out SGC. Now you could still submit your 00:07:23.509 --> 00:07:26.930 cards to SGC, but it now falls under the PSA 00:07:26.930 --> 00:07:30.209 umbrella. So what they're doing now, PSA, once 00:07:30.209 --> 00:07:33.910 they took over SGC in February of 2024, they 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:36.709 have essentially said, well, now SGC still exists, 00:07:36.750 --> 00:07:39.389 but now they're trying to tweak it. They're now 00:07:39.389 --> 00:07:42.790 branding it as this like special boutique experience. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.720 And they're claiming that the focus of SGC is 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:49.829 to. focus on the vintage cards. So like older 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:52.569 stuff, real older stuff. So what's the result 00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:54.509 of this? What have we seen as a result of this? 00:07:54.589 --> 00:07:57.410 Well, SGC Slabs, people who have graded with 00:07:57.410 --> 00:07:59.850 SGC in the past, they have seen a significant 00:07:59.850 --> 00:08:02.189 drop in the value of these cards. How do I know 00:08:02.189 --> 00:08:04.430 this? Because this is what I'm looking for when 00:08:04.430 --> 00:08:06.350 I go on eBay, when I go on some of these sites, 00:08:06.410 --> 00:08:08.329 when I'm looking for cards that I want to buy. 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:11.129 I love the look of SGC. I'm not in the flipping 00:08:11.129 --> 00:08:13.850 game. I'm not in the business of making money. 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:16.050 I just want cards that I want for my personal 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:18.060 collection. So when I I'm searching. I'm looking 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:20.519 for graded cards. I love the tuxedo look, as 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:22.740 I've said. And I've seen cards that I've been 00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:26.579 eyeing up. I've seen SGC cards, the slabs, take 00:08:26.579 --> 00:08:30.000 a significant hit. So the value of these slabs 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.610 is... definitely going down over the last two 00:08:32.610 --> 00:08:35.590 years. They just don't stand up in value in comparison 00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:38.889 to a PSA slab. So if you have an SGC card that's 00:08:38.889 --> 00:08:41.509 been graded a 10 and you have a PSA card that's 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:43.809 been graded a 10, you put those exact same two 00:08:43.809 --> 00:08:46.129 cards together next to each other, the PSA card 00:08:46.129 --> 00:08:48.750 is going to carry more value. Why? Because they're 00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:50.789 the industry leader. They're the industry standard 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:54.740 and they've essentially bought out SGC. So PSA 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:56.299 is like the top of the mountain. It goes back 00:08:56.299 --> 00:08:58.659 to the Monopoly thing. And this is kind of a 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:01.080 shame, right? Again, this is my personal opinion. 00:09:01.220 --> 00:09:03.940 I think the PSA slabs are okay, but in no way 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:06.419 are they my favorite. I just don't like the way 00:09:06.419 --> 00:09:11.279 they look. It's a red label. They have a red 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.200 label. And it looks like it came out of a typewriter. 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:17.379 And I think the label looks cheap. You put it 00:09:17.379 --> 00:09:20.389 side by side with an SGC slab. I don't think 00:09:20.389 --> 00:09:22.429 there's any comparison in my opinion. I would 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:24.450 go with SGC all day. I think it's clean. Like 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:25.929 I said, I think it looks professional. It looks 00:09:25.929 --> 00:09:27.909 sharp. But in the industry, in the industry, 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:30.129 we're talking about money talks, but it doesn't 00:09:30.129 --> 00:09:32.730 stop there. So just a few months ago, in December 00:09:32.730 --> 00:09:36.230 of 2025, PSA, they did the exact same thing. 00:09:36.269 --> 00:09:38.509 They bought out another rival grading company. 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:40.850 This time it was Beckett. Now Beckett has been 00:09:40.850 --> 00:09:44.409 in the space, in the industry. A long, long time, 00:09:44.549 --> 00:09:46.610 right? They came to prominence in the 80s and 00:09:46.610 --> 00:09:48.950 the 90s. They kind of set a standard within the 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:52.129 hobby. They're huge when it came to magazines. 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:54.870 You used to order Beckett grading magazine or 00:09:54.870 --> 00:09:56.850 pricing magazines, and you could look up the 00:09:56.850 --> 00:09:58.730 value of your card. So I remember doing this 00:09:58.730 --> 00:10:00.750 when I was a kid. Oftentimes you would go to 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:04.190 a mall who malls were always the spot to have 00:10:04.190 --> 00:10:07.009 card shows and you go to a mall and certain tables 00:10:07.009 --> 00:10:08.970 will be set up and they would have Beckett magazine 00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:10.710 sitting there and you could literally look up 00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:12.730 any card you wanted and it would tell you the 00:10:12.730 --> 00:10:15.029 value of the card. Right. Because we didn't have 00:10:15.029 --> 00:10:18.350 eBay. We didn't have like these databases that 00:10:18.350 --> 00:10:21.419 you could simply type type up. type in the card 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:23.960 and then you could see all the sales. You would 00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:25.919 have to rely on these Beckett magazines to tell 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:27.539 you what the price of the cards were back then. 00:10:27.620 --> 00:10:30.220 So in the 80s and 90s, Beckett really became 00:10:30.220 --> 00:10:33.659 a standard within the... hobby within the trading 00:10:33.659 --> 00:10:36.399 card industry well they got into the grading 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.419 portion of the the hobby as well and along the 00:10:39.419 --> 00:10:41.580 way bad decisions were made they started to kind 00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:43.440 of slip a little bit they were at the top but 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:44.879 they were still doing business and they were 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:46.840 kind of falling falling back a little bit and 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:49.080 people still continued to submit with them but 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:51.659 it got lower and lower and lower so as we get 00:10:51.659 --> 00:10:53.899 closer to this buyout that happened a few months 00:10:53.899 --> 00:10:56.100 ago they were operating beckett was operating 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.460 right around a three to five percent of the market 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:00.830 share and when i say market share i mean the 00:11:00.830 --> 00:11:03.929 the slab the the grading industry so you have 00:11:03.929 --> 00:11:06.750 psa who right now is operating probably around 00:11:06.750 --> 00:11:10.110 a 75 to 80 percent in the market share and you 00:11:10.110 --> 00:11:12.509 have a second company cgc who we're not really 00:11:12.509 --> 00:11:14.789 going to talk about today but cgc is probably 00:11:14.789 --> 00:11:19.309 the company who grades non -sports cards so like 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:21.629 your pokemon stuff and all that stuff in that 00:11:21.629 --> 00:11:24.740 realm people mostly have their stuff graded with 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:27.340 cgc and then the the lower percentage companies 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:29.740 this is where you'll see beckett so beckett was 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:31.779 operating right around three three to five percent 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:34.019 of the market share well here comes psa they 00:11:34.019 --> 00:11:36.519 snatch up beckett too and it's the same story 00:11:36.519 --> 00:11:39.200 after the After this acquisition, they claim 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:40.980 Beckett is still going to continue to operate 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:43.419 in the same space. They will continue to provide 00:11:43.419 --> 00:11:45.039 the same services, blah, blah, blah. It's the 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:48.059 same story, just like they told with SGC. And 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:50.240 you know how the results are going to go. People 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.940 still own Beckett Slabs, but they're not going 00:11:52.940 --> 00:11:55.539 to be worth as much. So this is going to continue 00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:58.240 to drive even more and more submissions to who? 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.759 PSA. which is the intention in the first place. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.559 So they bought out SGC, they bought out Beckett, 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:06.139 they're claiming that these companies are still 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:08.759 gonna exist under the umbrella of PSA, right? 00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:11.379 But their value is essentially plummeted. So 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:13.600 why would you submit the cards unless simply, 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:15.860 going back to what I was telling you, you just 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:18.379 like the way they look. And if you're not in 00:12:18.379 --> 00:12:21.000 the flipping game and that's just the slab you 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.940 like, whether it's SGC or Beckett, yeah, you'll 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:26.679 still continue to submit to them. But as far 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:28.779 as the flipping game, which is ballooned and 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:30.929 - taken over, right? People are not going to 00:12:30.929 --> 00:12:32.429 submit their carts to those companies because 00:12:32.429 --> 00:12:34.389 the value just isn't there anymore. So now it's 00:12:34.389 --> 00:12:36.629 back to the story of this week, another price 00:12:36.629 --> 00:12:39.450 increase that's come out from the PSA camp. What 00:12:39.450 --> 00:12:41.950 PSA expects you to forget is that they've already 00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:45.450 done this. two other times in the last 12 months. 00:12:45.610 --> 00:12:49.210 So PSA is now on their third price increase and 00:12:49.210 --> 00:12:51.889 their third turnaround time increase in the last 00:12:51.889 --> 00:12:54.789 12 months. Are you serious? And the argument 00:12:54.789 --> 00:12:57.870 I hear everywhere is that this is to try to decrease 00:12:57.870 --> 00:13:00.190 the amount of total submissions because they 00:13:00.190 --> 00:13:01.970 claim that they can't keep up with the demand 00:13:01.970 --> 00:13:04.950 for card submissions. They're saying that by 00:13:04.950 --> 00:13:07.610 increasing the prices, they expect the submissions 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:10.210 to go down. Nope, I'm sorry, I don't buy that 00:13:10.210 --> 00:13:12.639 for a second. I don't buy that for a second. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:15.440 And this is clearly what you do when you have 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:18.139 created a monopoly. Going back to the game, you 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:20.480 can essentially charge whatever the hell you 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.460 want because you are practically the only game 00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:25.580 left in town. You have bought out your competition 00:13:25.580 --> 00:13:29.059 and now you are calling all the shots. Just because 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:32.539 SGC and Beckett still exist doesn't mean that 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:34.340 they have any relevancy anymore. And this is 00:13:34.340 --> 00:13:35.940 what I was talking about. The value of their 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:38.639 product has gone way down. And now you are forcing 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:40.500 those who are in the space of trying to make 00:13:40.500 --> 00:13:43.200 money to use the only service that is left, which 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:45.460 is now PSA. Look, the writing is on the wall, 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:47.220 folks. If you don't believe it, I don't know 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:48.759 what to tell you, but it's right in front of 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:51.419 our faces. And so in my opinion, this idea that 00:13:51.419 --> 00:13:54.559 they are doing this to decrease business, it's 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:56.740 just ridiculous. Why would you ever want to decrease 00:13:56.740 --> 00:13:59.259 your business? don't think it's to decrease the 00:13:59.259 --> 00:14:01.340 business. I think that they're pushing this stuff, 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:04.000 this narrative that the demand is too high. Why? 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:08.480 It's to try to lower the consumer's expectations. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.580 Why? Why would they want to lower the consumer's 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.039 expectations? Well, the only thing we have left 00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:16.580 to do, we have two things left to do. Stop buying 00:14:16.580 --> 00:14:19.779 it, stop buying the product or complain. Hey, 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.440 we're in 2026. The thing we love to do the most 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:24.379 is complain. I mean, I come on this podcast every 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:25.840 week and I usually complain about something. 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:28.049 But that's all we have left to do is complain 00:14:28.049 --> 00:14:30.629 because turnaround times were already insane 00:14:30.629 --> 00:14:33.470 for a value submission. Oh, and I didn't even 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:36.029 talk about like what the prices are up to. If 00:14:36.029 --> 00:14:38.110 you go to the PSA website, they show you the 00:14:38.110 --> 00:14:41.409 price updates for new submissions. And frankly, 00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:44.149 it's insane. Most people operate in this value 00:14:44.149 --> 00:14:47.190 category. Well, what has value, the value category 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:50.070 gone from? If you submit a card who has a value 00:14:50.070 --> 00:14:53.009 of less than $500, which I think is where most 00:14:53.009 --> 00:14:55.190 of us operate, it used to cost you, and this 00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:58.210 was a week ago, it used to cost you $27 .99 to 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:01.190 submit a card, one card to get graded. Now that 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:04.309 cost has gone up $5, $5 per card, and now the 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:09.230 value category is $32 .99, $33 to get one card 00:15:09.230 --> 00:15:13.679 graded. Are you kidding me? $30? $33. And what's 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.460 the turnaround time? Well, they're telling you 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:17.580 the turnaround time for a value card that now 00:15:17.580 --> 00:15:22.019 costs you $33. This is directly from their website. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:26.720 $32 .99 per card. Estimated turnaround time, 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:31.899 75 business days. 75 business days. Are you kidding 00:15:31.899 --> 00:15:34.740 me? Are you insane? And so people were already 00:15:34.740 --> 00:15:37.259 saying that the turnaround times were out of 00:15:37.259 --> 00:15:39.860 control. So this idea that they're coming out 00:15:39.860 --> 00:15:41.879 saying, oh, we had to increase our prices because 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:44.159 too many people are submitting cards and blah, 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:45.799 blah, blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no. They're 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:48.460 doing this to try to lower your expectations 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.820 because there's no chance in hell that you're 00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:52.759 ever going to get your card back in 75 days. 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:54.759 That's three months, by the way. Three months. 00:15:54.940 --> 00:15:57.120 75 business days is three months. And if you 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:58.679 think you're actually getting your cards back 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:00.799 in 75 days, you're nuts. You better block. Lock 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:02.860 out five to six months of not having your stuff. 00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:04.659 If you're an average Joe like me who just wants 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:06.980 to get a few carts graded, slabbed, put around 00:16:06.980 --> 00:16:08.679 your personal collection, hang them on your wall, 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:10.740 put them on your desk, whatever. But you know 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:12.980 they got you no matter what. So this statement 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:14.759 that they're trying their best, that the demand 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:18.509 is too high, and they just can't keep up. Look, 00:16:18.629 --> 00:16:20.809 they're trying to tell you that the price increases 00:16:20.809 --> 00:16:23.529 are a result of too many submissions. Okay, okay, 00:16:23.610 --> 00:16:25.850 PSA. I hear what you're saying, but I think you're 00:16:25.850 --> 00:16:28.429 full of crap. And you know that this company 00:16:28.429 --> 00:16:30.710 is in the position where they can increase prices 00:16:30.710 --> 00:16:32.429 to literally whatever they want because they 00:16:32.429 --> 00:16:34.909 own almost the entire market and the only thing 00:16:34.909 --> 00:16:37.129 people have left to do is complain. They will 00:16:37.129 --> 00:16:39.269 complain, they will submit, and they will now 00:16:39.269 --> 00:16:41.649 sit there and wait. Complain, submit, and wait. 00:16:41.710 --> 00:16:43.629 Another cycle. You know how I love my cycles. 00:16:43.809 --> 00:16:45.549 And here we are again. Complain, submit, and 00:16:45.549 --> 00:16:47.570 wait. I don't know. But this is a real problem 00:16:47.570 --> 00:16:49.509 and there's no end in sight. There's no end. 00:16:49.610 --> 00:16:51.649 And keep track of it. Because it wouldn't shock 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:53.950 me to see this trend continue and prices most 00:16:53.950 --> 00:16:58.070 likely will probably go up again in 2026. I mean, 00:16:58.090 --> 00:17:00.909 we're only in February. Why? Why? Why will prices 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:03.379 continue to go up? Because it helps. the bottom 00:17:03.379 --> 00:17:05.579 line of PSA. And that's the only thing they care 00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:07.839 about. Instead of increasing their infrastructure, 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:11.019 instead of actually addressing the problem and 00:17:11.019 --> 00:17:14.220 maybe having another headquarters or adding another 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:18.119 facility and doubling your staff. I mean, you... 00:17:18.329 --> 00:17:20.769 You're the only game in town. You can't hire 00:17:20.769 --> 00:17:23.430 another 100, 200, 300 people, whatever it takes 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:26.349 to deal with the influx of product. Instead, 00:17:26.529 --> 00:17:28.109 they're just going to keep increasing prices 00:17:28.109 --> 00:17:30.549 and making more and more money. And this doesn't 00:17:30.549 --> 00:17:32.450 stop unless people stop submitting their cards. 00:17:32.529 --> 00:17:34.250 And unfortunately, the hobby has become such 00:17:34.250 --> 00:17:36.589 a business now that I don't see that happening 00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:39.869 anytime soon. So it's so frustrating. And that's 00:17:39.869 --> 00:17:42.369 just the grading space. But if you don't like 00:17:42.369 --> 00:17:44.130 that story, I got another one for you. Maybe 00:17:44.130 --> 00:17:45.910 you've seen this, maybe not. But this has drawn 00:17:45.910 --> 00:17:47.990 even more attention, more negative attention 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:50.190 to the breaking community. Now, if you don't 00:17:50.190 --> 00:17:51.750 know what breaking is, breaking is essentially, 00:17:51.890 --> 00:17:53.950 we talk about buying product, like a new product 00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:56.210 comes out. So for example, what just hit? Tops 00:17:56.210 --> 00:17:59.589 2026 Baseball Series 1 just hit. Now, it doesn't 00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:01.450 matter, but just follow me. So somebody called 00:18:01.450 --> 00:18:03.990 a breaker gets a lot of this product, whatever 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:06.880 you want to. say 2026 tops baseball they get 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.420 a lot of product and then they they host a break 00:18:09.420 --> 00:18:11.980 on some sort of platform so whether it's whatnot 00:18:11.980 --> 00:18:14.940 whether it's youtube whether it's fanatics it 00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:17.329 doesn't matter they host a break And what they 00:18:17.329 --> 00:18:19.529 want the consumer to do is come into this room, 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:23.289 come into this channel, and buy a spot in their 00:18:23.289 --> 00:18:26.109 break from the product that they have. So let's 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:28.869 say it's 2026 Topps Baseball. They want you to 00:18:28.869 --> 00:18:31.289 come in, and they will divide up that product 00:18:31.289 --> 00:18:34.390 into certain categories. Most of the time, it 00:18:34.390 --> 00:18:36.690 revolves around a certain team. So let's say 00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:38.750 you're a Baltimore Orioles fan. You come in. 00:18:38.829 --> 00:18:41.069 They have the product listed. They have all... 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:43.619 All the teams listed that are going to be in 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:45.900 that product. So every team in Major League Baseball. 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:48.599 And then each team is assigned a numeric value, 00:18:48.779 --> 00:18:51.259 a monetary value. So you want the Orioles? Well, 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:53.279 depending on the players who are in that product, 00:18:53.460 --> 00:18:56.819 they raise or lower the prices accordingly is 00:18:56.819 --> 00:18:58.779 what they're supposed to do. Oh, this team is 00:18:58.779 --> 00:19:00.799 in high demand. This team has a lot of good players, 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.480 maybe a lot of hot young rookies that are supposed 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:05.960 to be really good. So the price maybe will go 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.779 up or down to reflect that accordingly. So you 00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:10.819 want to buy the Orioles out of Top Series 1? 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:13.900 and maybe they're opening a single jumbo hobby 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:17.660 box. A single jumbo hobby box historically runs, 00:19:17.779 --> 00:19:20.940 or at least for this release, it was 200 bucks. 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:23.779 Well, instead of 200 bucks, they're gonna charge, 00:19:24.099 --> 00:19:27.039 I don't know, they're gonna raise the price and 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:28.779 it's gonna be 300 bucks and they're gonna divide 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:30.880 it evenly over the teams and blah, blah, blah. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:33.339 Anyway, they use this calculation and then they 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:35.519 drive up and create these margins and you pay, 00:19:35.660 --> 00:19:38.900 let's say, 35 bucks to buy the Baltimore Orioles. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:42.500 Then the break. opens the product on camera and 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.420 whatever players come out that are linked to 00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:47.660 the team you bought you essentially will own 00:19:47.660 --> 00:19:49.779 those cards right so that's essentially what 00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:52.240 breaking is and it doesn't necessarily have to 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:54.740 be by team sometimes it's random sometimes you 00:19:54.740 --> 00:19:57.200 go into a room and you can randomly buy a spot 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.220 and so if it's baseball you might end up with 00:20:00.220 --> 00:20:02.519 the Miami Marlins and you're like oh what the 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:04.880 hell did I just pay 50 bucks for for the Marlins 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:08.210 who gives a crap right And somebody will be lucky 00:20:08.210 --> 00:20:10.829 and they'll get the Dodgers or the Yankees and 00:20:10.829 --> 00:20:13.930 everyone's happy. But you get these other scrubs 00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:15.549 who get the Marlins and you're like, oh, that 00:20:15.549 --> 00:20:17.490 was a freaking waste of money. But anyway, back 00:20:17.490 --> 00:20:19.930 to the story. In the braking community, there's 00:20:19.930 --> 00:20:22.930 a YouTuber and there's a breaker named Pac -Man 00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:26.509 Brakes. And he's running brakes on the Whatnot 00:20:26.509 --> 00:20:30.250 app, which is a braking platform, a braking service. 00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:32.710 People go to the Whatnot app and they sell a 00:20:32.710 --> 00:20:34.930 lot of stuff. Well, he has a braking channel 00:20:34.930 --> 00:20:37.670 on the Whatnot app. Now, he's selling a product 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:40.549 called Midnight Basketball, Topps Midnight Basketball. 00:20:40.609 --> 00:20:43.170 Now, truth be told. I have gone to his YouTube 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:45.589 channel prior to this whole fiasco coming out. 00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:48.170 I've seen some of his videos. He usually opens 00:20:48.170 --> 00:20:50.289 the products. He usually talks about them. Sometimes 00:20:50.289 --> 00:20:53.410 I think his opinion is okay. Sometimes I like 00:20:53.410 --> 00:20:55.829 to check out what other people are thinking of 00:20:55.829 --> 00:20:57.410 certain products. He does a lot of basketball. 00:20:57.470 --> 00:20:59.609 He does a lot of football. And so I like to see 00:20:59.609 --> 00:21:02.069 what people think of the product ahead of time. 00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:04.390 So he gives his opinion on them. Okay, fine. 00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:06.349 So far, so good. This is what a lot of people 00:21:06.349 --> 00:21:08.970 do. But he also does breaks on this whatnot app. 00:21:08.990 --> 00:21:11.430 Well, here's the problem. He recently reviewed 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:14.450 this Topps Midnight Basketball product, and basically 00:21:14.450 --> 00:21:17.470 what he said was, it's trash. And he talks about 00:21:17.470 --> 00:21:19.650 it on his YouTube channel, and then he goes and 00:21:19.650 --> 00:21:23.069 breaks the exact same product on Whatnot, and 00:21:23.069 --> 00:21:27.609 he hypes it up like it's amazing. And he essentially 00:21:27.609 --> 00:21:32.069 insinuates during the breaks that you need to... 00:21:32.430 --> 00:21:34.829 jump in because you're going to make a ton of 00:21:34.829 --> 00:21:37.329 money on this product that he just got done trashing 00:21:37.329 --> 00:21:39.450 over on his YouTube page. But it's worse than 00:21:39.450 --> 00:21:41.170 you think. It's worse than you think because 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:43.289 as I just explained, in most breaks, the product 00:21:43.289 --> 00:21:45.390 is divided into teams, right? And we just talked 00:21:45.390 --> 00:21:47.430 about this with the Baltimore Orioles example. 00:21:47.609 --> 00:21:50.589 In this break, he's not selling teams. He decided 00:21:50.589 --> 00:21:52.970 he's going to break the product down into individual 00:21:52.970 --> 00:21:56.430 players, which is way worse and way more ridiculous. 00:21:56.509 --> 00:21:59.089 And he's charging these ungodly amounts of money 00:21:59.089 --> 00:22:02.819 for a very specific individual. player and for 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:04.720 this product midnight tops midnight basketball 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:08.180 there are practically no cards in a box so for 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:11.420 example a hobby box you buy one hobby box of 00:22:11.420 --> 00:22:13.099 midnight basketball you know how many cards you 00:22:13.099 --> 00:22:16.400 get seven one hobby box has seven cards in it 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.299 a whole case if you want to buy a whole case 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:21.359 there's eight boxes in a case eight so a whole 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:24.079 case of cards is going to call is is only going 00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:27.650 to have 56 cards in it an entire case. And I 00:22:27.650 --> 00:22:29.670 think an individual hobby box was running some 00:22:29.670 --> 00:22:32.750 ridiculous amount, like five, $600 for, for seven 00:22:32.750 --> 00:22:37.029 cards. And so this guy has a 10 case break that 00:22:37.029 --> 00:22:40.410 he is selling 10 cases. So a total grand total 00:22:40.410 --> 00:22:44.970 over 10 cases of product, there are only 560 00:22:44.970 --> 00:22:47.509 cards. And instead of dividing it up into teams, 00:22:47.589 --> 00:22:50.829 this guy has divided it up into individual players. 00:22:50.970 --> 00:22:53.730 So You want to talk about lowering your odds 00:22:53.730 --> 00:22:57.410 to an insane degree. Not only are you not getting 00:22:57.410 --> 00:23:00.390 a team, but now you're hoping and praying that 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:02.450 your ridiculous amount of money is going to land 00:23:02.450 --> 00:23:05.250 you a single individual player. And the player 00:23:05.250 --> 00:23:08.569 in this case that he goes off on is Dylan Harper. 00:23:08.769 --> 00:23:10.670 Dylan Harper is a rookie for the San Antonio 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:13.049 Spurs. Nice player, nice player. But in this 00:23:13.049 --> 00:23:16.769 video and this whatnot break that he, this video 00:23:16.769 --> 00:23:18.869 that has kind of caught fire, he's charging $5 00:23:18.869 --> 00:23:23.849 ,000. for a single spot to grab rookie Dylan 00:23:23.849 --> 00:23:28.130 Harper of the San Antonio Spurs. $5 ,000. And 00:23:28.130 --> 00:23:30.950 if you watch this video, guess what? No one is 00:23:30.950 --> 00:23:34.609 falling for this. No one. No one is buying it. 00:23:34.750 --> 00:23:36.329 And if you've ever been in one of these break 00:23:36.329 --> 00:23:39.250 rooms, the great thing about it is there's a 00:23:39.250 --> 00:23:43.029 chat. There's a live chat that scrolls as this 00:23:43.029 --> 00:23:45.250 live video is happening. It's no different than 00:23:45.250 --> 00:23:46.930 YouTube and all this other stuff, except the 00:23:46.930 --> 00:23:49.470 chat is live. So time is ticking by. Time is 00:23:49.470 --> 00:23:51.569 ticking by. Minutes are turning into hours. The 00:23:51.569 --> 00:23:54.069 spots, these open spots, are literally sitting 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:56.650 there. And this guy, Pac -Man, he's getting more 00:23:56.650 --> 00:23:59.210 and more aggravated. And he's getting bent. And 00:23:59.210 --> 00:24:01.230 he's taking it out on the customers, the people 00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:03.390 who are actually in the room watching this, because 00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:05.450 they're refusing to pay these ridiculous prices 00:24:05.450 --> 00:24:07.849 for players who just aren't worth anything near 00:24:07.849 --> 00:24:10.019 the crazy prices he's charging. He's trying to 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:12.819 charge and he's becoming aggressive. He's talking 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:15.180 down to people. He's basically looking like a 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:18.200 total freaking clown. He becomes this arrogant, 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:20.380 entitled. I mean, he already was arrogant. He 00:24:20.380 --> 00:24:22.380 was already kind of like this entitled kind of 00:24:22.380 --> 00:24:26.200 child, if I'm being completely honest. But he's 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:28.420 acting like this arrogant, entitled a -hole who 00:24:28.420 --> 00:24:30.559 isn't getting his way. It's like a petulant child 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.289 in this room. And this is. This was a perfect 00:24:33.289 --> 00:24:36.250 example of people finally waking up to what has 00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:38.809 been happening on the breaking side of this hobby. 00:24:38.930 --> 00:24:41.529 And he's getting blasted for this video and rightly 00:24:41.529 --> 00:24:45.349 so. But the problem is that this is not solely 00:24:45.349 --> 00:24:48.569 this one video. This is happening everywhere. 00:24:48.809 --> 00:24:52.150 This is happening on platforms all... across 00:24:52.150 --> 00:24:54.329 the breaking community. And this is how it goes. 00:24:54.410 --> 00:24:56.829 Like rooms sit open, breaks go unfilled. You 00:24:56.829 --> 00:24:59.009 go into a room. I've done this. I've physically 00:24:59.009 --> 00:25:01.049 done this. I've done this many times because 00:25:01.049 --> 00:25:03.289 I want to see what is actually happening. I will 00:25:03.289 --> 00:25:07.539 go log into an app or. One of these channels, 00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:09.740 one of these platforms, and you pick a specific 00:25:09.740 --> 00:25:12.339 room who's advertising products. You go into 00:25:12.339 --> 00:25:14.920 the room and you see what I've seen. I've seen 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:17.759 this guy or this girl or this breaker. They're 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:19.220 sitting on their phone. They're playing on their 00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:21.359 computer. They're watching TV. Nothing is happening. 00:25:21.539 --> 00:25:23.759 Nothing is happening for hours because they're... 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:25.980 They can't get people to buy into their breaks 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:28.859 or it takes forever to fill these breaks. And 00:25:28.859 --> 00:25:31.099 then they sit there in this empty room where 00:25:31.099 --> 00:25:32.640 nothing's happening and they try to convince 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.920 you that these products are so great and that 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:36.799 every card you're going to hit is unbelievable 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:39.259 when in fact most of this stuff is complete and 00:25:39.259 --> 00:25:41.380 utter garbage. And it's like this time after 00:25:41.380 --> 00:25:44.579 time, room after room, breaking has slowly taken 00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:47.759 over the industry and it is becoming a problem. 00:25:47.940 --> 00:25:50.420 Full disclosure, I have participated in some 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.220 of this stuff and I've seen some really good. 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:54.299 breaks, and I've seen some really bad breaks. 00:25:54.700 --> 00:25:56.539 When I was first kind of testing the waters and 00:25:56.539 --> 00:25:58.400 seeing what this was, this was a few years ago. 00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:00.319 I can't even remember the product, but it was 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.519 a baseball product. And I think I got in the 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:05.319 room and I bought like the Minnesota Twins because 00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:07.420 one of the players I try to PC is like Royce 00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:10.380 Lewis or something. And I wanted to try to jump 00:26:10.380 --> 00:26:13.859 in and see what this was all about. So I think 00:26:13.859 --> 00:26:16.740 one of the breakers had a coupon code or whatever 00:26:16.740 --> 00:26:18.920 the case may be. Anyway, I gave it a shot. I 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.619 ended up getting like two cards. And now with 00:26:21.619 --> 00:26:23.619 the coupon code, thank God, it only cost me like 00:26:23.619 --> 00:26:26.079 $15. But I was like, it would have cost me like 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:30.940 $40 to end up with two crappy. low end cards. 00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:33.059 And I'm like, well, that was disappointing. So 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:34.680 then I'm like, oh, maybe I'll try this a couple 00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:38.140 more times. And then the WWE Chrome product came 00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:40.519 out, which I love, but you couldn't get anywhere. 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:42.380 So the only way you could get your hands on some 00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:44.059 of these cards is to enter into some of these 00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:46.779 breaks. So I went into this one breakers room 00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:50.460 who usually breaks a lot of WWE products. Well, 00:26:50.539 --> 00:26:53.359 they were doing in this room, randomly generated 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.119 wrestlers, right? So, and this can change depending 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:59.589 on the room, but they have - have like a wheel 00:26:59.589 --> 00:27:01.829 and on the wheel they put all the wrestlers names 00:27:01.829 --> 00:27:03.950 and they basically the computer spins the wheel 00:27:03.950 --> 00:27:05.809 and wherever it lands you get the you get the 00:27:05.809 --> 00:27:07.789 player's name and there's all kinds of variations 00:27:07.789 --> 00:27:09.829 like this right they'll come up with all all 00:27:09.829 --> 00:27:11.809 sort of things so the computer will randomly 00:27:11.809 --> 00:27:13.990 generate two names and you can pick which one 00:27:13.990 --> 00:27:15.690 of the two you want and then the other one gets 00:27:15.690 --> 00:27:17.609 thrown back into the pile and you just keep doing 00:27:17.609 --> 00:27:20.089 that until all the breaks are essentially bought 00:27:20.089 --> 00:27:24.269 right so i joined this this random uh wwe break 00:27:24.269 --> 00:27:26.970 and i end up getting assigned to bianca belair 00:27:27.390 --> 00:27:29.410 And I can't even remember what I paid for Bianca 00:27:29.410 --> 00:27:32.130 Bel Air. It was like 40 bucks. I ended up with 00:27:32.130 --> 00:27:34.549 like two cards of Bianca Bel Air. And I'm like, 00:27:34.569 --> 00:27:37.130 okay. Now, thank goodness one of them was numbered. 00:27:37.230 --> 00:27:40.289 But you think two numbered or one numbered and 00:27:40.289 --> 00:27:43.089 one regular Bianca Bel Air cards were 40 bucks? 00:27:43.170 --> 00:27:45.529 Are you kidding me? It may be four bucks. Did 00:27:45.529 --> 00:27:47.390 I have a good experience? I think I had a pretty 00:27:47.390 --> 00:27:50.730 good experience in the baseball room a few years 00:27:50.730 --> 00:27:53.410 back because it was entertaining. I felt like 00:27:53.410 --> 00:27:56.069 it was fun. I didn't feel pressured into doing 00:27:56.069 --> 00:27:59.470 anything. But as I'm doing the WWE break, the 00:27:59.470 --> 00:28:01.430 guy was just pushing and pushing and pushing. 00:28:01.549 --> 00:28:03.910 Oh, you got to get in on this. And it was just 00:28:03.910 --> 00:28:06.660 like trying to convince you that. these ridiculous 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:10.240 prices were perfect and you're actually underpaying. 00:28:10.259 --> 00:28:12.599 You're actually getting a bargain. And this is 00:28:12.599 --> 00:28:14.700 exactly what this Pac -Man scenario is. He's 00:28:14.700 --> 00:28:17.480 trying to convince you that $5 ,000 for Dylan 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:19.720 Harper is a steal and that you're going to make 00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:24.559 well more than your investment. Out of 560 cards, 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:26.099 how many times do you think you're going to hit 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:29.000 a Dylan Harper? Maybe once or twice? Maybe? But 00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.440 the idea that two cards, you're going to get 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:35.140 $5 ,000 worth out of two cards? There's no freaking 00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:37.799 chance. And so we've come to the point where 00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:40.259 some breaks can be okay, but you got to be careful. 00:28:40.380 --> 00:28:42.680 But it all comes down to straight up gambling. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:45.000 That's what we are doing, folks. That's what 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.680 we are doing. This is no different than going 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:49.839 to Las Vegas, no different than sitting at the 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.259 blackjack table or the craps table. You are essentially 00:28:52.259 --> 00:28:54.599 gambling away your money. But the difference, 00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:56.839 in my opinion, the difference is when you go 00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:59.039 to Vegas, no one ever tells you that you're going 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:01.079 to win when you sit at the table. You sit down, 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:03.000 you give them your money, and they say, good 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:05.359 luck. and they kind of give you this look like, 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:07.319 well, you're just pissing your money away because 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:09.200 that's what you're doing. You're watching your 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:11.160 money be pissed away. Now, sometimes you win, 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:14.079 but most of the time, what's the Vegas rule? 00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:17.799 The house always wins. Well, here, the house, 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:20.049 these breaking sites. They're trying to convince 00:29:20.049 --> 00:29:22.009 you that you're never going to lose. And it's 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:24.009 just a bunch of garbage. They try to convince 00:29:24.009 --> 00:29:26.029 you that the crap you're pulling from these random 00:29:26.029 --> 00:29:28.170 packs is worth 10 times the amount that it actually 00:29:28.170 --> 00:29:31.650 is. It's bad. It is really, really bad. So yeah, 00:29:31.670 --> 00:29:34.529 breaking, I've talked about it before, not as 00:29:34.529 --> 00:29:37.029 much in this detail, but it doesn't stop there. 00:29:37.150 --> 00:29:39.250 Because this negativity train on this episode 00:29:39.250 --> 00:29:40.589 of the three T's, we're going to keep rolling 00:29:40.589 --> 00:29:42.490 because this is the grand finale. This is the 00:29:42.490 --> 00:29:44.910 grand finale for this segment. I got one more 00:29:44.910 --> 00:29:46.970 story for you, but I need to preface this story 00:29:46.970 --> 00:29:49.839 with the following. quote, this is unverified 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:52.339 alleged information. I am not presenting this 00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:54.779 next segment as fact, nor am I asserting the 00:29:54.779 --> 00:29:57.539 accuracy of the information. I am merely commenting 00:29:57.539 --> 00:29:59.640 on what has been made public and I am offering 00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:04.220 my humble opinion as TB and which is most likely 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:06.099 totally worthless. So there you go. Hopefully 00:30:06.099 --> 00:30:09.539 I will now not get sued after talking about this 00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:11.680 next story. But the next story involves this 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:14.359 fanatics leak that has happened in which essentially 00:30:14.359 --> 00:30:16.799 this goes all the way back to the national, which 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:18.799 is one of the main. card shows we've talked about 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:20.640 the national before but these documents were 00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:24.019 leaked which reveal this confidential data uh 00:30:24.019 --> 00:30:27.279 that shows a breakdown of the the hierarchy of 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:30.279 distributors and breakers and we just talked 00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:32.900 about the breaking industry right these documents 00:30:32.900 --> 00:30:37.319 came out and listed mega breakers mega distributors 00:30:37.319 --> 00:30:40.660 of of product and who is getting what and who 00:30:40.660 --> 00:30:43.420 is spending what money so you have certain high 00:30:43.420 --> 00:30:46.380 high end Card distributors, you all know who 00:30:46.380 --> 00:30:47.859 I'm talking about. I mentioned them numerous 00:30:47.859 --> 00:30:50.880 times before, right? So if you're not getting 00:30:50.880 --> 00:30:53.019 your product directly from Topps, it's going 00:30:53.019 --> 00:30:55.839 to only come from one of probably three places. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:58.599 Three places where you go and you buy your card 00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:03.059 supplies. Blowout Cards, DA Cards, and Steel 00:31:03.059 --> 00:31:05.279 City, right? Put your main two, Blowout Cards 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:08.079 and DA, Dave and Adams. But then it goes on and 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:10.599 it lists all these other breakers who are spending 00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:13.859 and what they're spending to get product. And 00:31:13.859 --> 00:31:16.460 we are talking millions and millions and millions 00:31:16.460 --> 00:31:19.059 of dollars, right? So, okay, maybe you're just 00:31:19.059 --> 00:31:21.140 like, well, yeah, it makes sense. These companies 00:31:21.140 --> 00:31:22.740 are going to pay millions of dollars to get products. 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:24.599 What's the problem? Okay, well, what the problem 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:29.059 is, is it allegedly, let me make sure I'm saying 00:31:29.059 --> 00:31:32.019 allegedly, but it's basically saying that there's 00:31:32.019 --> 00:31:35.019 a connection between the breakers, how much they're 00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:37.380 paying, and what access they have to their own 00:31:37.380 --> 00:31:39.500 channels. Now, we have to kind of break this 00:31:39.500 --> 00:31:41.450 down, right? We have to kind of break this down 00:31:41.450 --> 00:31:43.990 because we just talked about breaking platforms. 00:31:44.170 --> 00:31:46.960 Well, fanatics. has slowly worked their way to 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:49.160 the forefront of the breaking platforms. They 00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:51.859 have created their own app and they are now practically 00:31:51.859 --> 00:31:54.779 leading the charge when it comes to spaces in 00:31:54.779 --> 00:31:57.339 which people turn to for breaks. So we've already 00:31:57.339 --> 00:31:59.220 talked about this, but there are multiple platforms 00:31:59.220 --> 00:32:01.759 that exist in this breaking space. We've talked 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:03.799 about YouTube. We've talked about whatnot. eBay 00:32:03.799 --> 00:32:06.460 Live has just joined the space, but Fanatics 00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:10.200 has pushed, I'd say, all the way to the front. 00:32:10.259 --> 00:32:12.660 Is this a coincidence? Hell no, it's not a coincidence. 00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:15.200 Go back four years ago. What happened four years 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:18.359 ago? This kind of changed the industry. It created 00:32:18.359 --> 00:32:20.200 a rumble throughout the whole industry. What 00:32:20.200 --> 00:32:22.180 does Fanatics go and do four years ago? They 00:32:22.180 --> 00:32:24.880 bought out Topps. Topps, the Topps industry. 00:32:25.180 --> 00:32:27.920 Fanatics bought Topps. What does Topps do? They 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.259 make most of the trading cards in this space. 00:32:30.599 --> 00:32:33.519 Yes, Panini exists. Yes, Upper Deck exists and 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:36.079 Leaf exists, but Topps is the industry standard 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.880 and they were bought out by Fanatics. And we've 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.240 seen it recently. Topps and Fanatics are acquiring. 00:32:42.029 --> 00:32:44.650 all these licenses to your major sporting teams, 00:32:44.750 --> 00:32:46.849 to your major sporting leagues. They just got 00:32:46.849 --> 00:32:50.349 football back. They just got wrestling. So Fanatics 00:32:50.349 --> 00:32:52.849 bought Tops, and now they're acquiring all the 00:32:52.849 --> 00:32:55.069 licenses. And now they've established their own 00:32:55.069 --> 00:32:58.380 breaking card platform. So breaking cards has 00:32:58.380 --> 00:33:00.559 become more and more popular. Fanatics creates 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:03.140 their own breaking platform. And lo and behold, 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:06.599 what are we seeing? The top breakers in the industry 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:08.980 are leaving the other platforms. So they're leaving 00:33:08.980 --> 00:33:11.259 YouTube. They're leaving whatnot. They're leaving 00:33:11.259 --> 00:33:13.980 eBay Live. And they're coming over to Fanatics. 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:16.960 And they have now joined with the industry leader, 00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:19.740 Fanatics, to host their breaks. Is this a problem? 00:33:19.859 --> 00:33:23.220 Of course it is. Open your eyes, people. Fanatics 00:33:23.220 --> 00:33:25.579 now essentially owns everything. So what are 00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:27.660 we seeing with these leaks? We're seeing that 00:33:27.660 --> 00:33:29.819 Fanatics, who owns everything, is selling the 00:33:29.819 --> 00:33:32.140 product to the consumer, who we want to think 00:33:32.140 --> 00:33:34.579 is us, but we're not getting any of the product, 00:33:34.740 --> 00:33:37.000 which goes back to what happens on these release 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:39.380 days. Nobody can get anything. And as we're seeing 00:33:39.380 --> 00:33:41.940 from these documents, allegedly, Fanatics is 00:33:41.940 --> 00:33:44.640 essentially funneling the product right back 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:47.380 to the people who work for them and sell the 00:33:47.380 --> 00:33:49.740 product on their own app. We already kind of 00:33:49.740 --> 00:33:51.920 knew that this was happening, but now these alleged 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:54.880 leaked documents are coming out, and it's proving 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:56.869 what we already know. They are funneling the 00:33:56.869 --> 00:33:59.269 product directly to the most influential breakers 00:33:59.269 --> 00:34:01.630 who are now breaking on their own platform. Now, 00:34:01.670 --> 00:34:04.069 the Pac -Man thing, no, that didn't happen on 00:34:04.069 --> 00:34:06.109 Fanatics. It happened on Whatnot, but the point 00:34:06.109 --> 00:34:08.750 is the same. And Pac -Man isn't a top -tier breaker, 00:34:08.909 --> 00:34:11.630 but it's happening everywhere. That video is 00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:14.329 a microcosm of what is happening in break room 00:34:14.329 --> 00:34:16.829 after break room on every single breaking platform. 00:34:17.630 --> 00:34:19.389 The breakers are doing the same thing. They are 00:34:19.389 --> 00:34:21.510 talking down to their customer. They are hyping 00:34:21.510 --> 00:34:23.349 up the product. They are charging ridiculous 00:34:23.349 --> 00:34:27.469 amounts of money for a garbage team or person 00:34:27.469 --> 00:34:31.849 or random spot. The upcharges are happening everywhere, 00:34:31.949 --> 00:34:35.309 and now it's owned all by fanatics. So they're 00:34:35.309 --> 00:34:37.469 funneling the product to the people that work 00:34:37.469 --> 00:34:39.329 for them and they're jacking up the price to 00:34:39.329 --> 00:34:42.110 kick the profits back to those who produced it 00:34:42.110 --> 00:34:44.750 in the first place. And again, back to the game 00:34:44.750 --> 00:34:47.429 board. This is monopoly. Holy cow, people. This 00:34:47.429 --> 00:34:50.050 is a problem. This is a problem. You have to 00:34:50.050 --> 00:34:52.630 see what is going on here. You could say conspiracy 00:34:52.630 --> 00:34:54.429 theory all you want. This is not a conspiracy 00:34:54.429 --> 00:34:57.500 theory. This is happening. This is real. And 00:34:57.500 --> 00:34:59.900 again, this isn't going to be solved unless somebody 00:34:59.900 --> 00:35:02.139 else steps in and does something about it, which 00:35:02.139 --> 00:35:04.380 probably isn't going to happen. Look, I'm not 00:35:04.380 --> 00:35:06.000 trying to play Debbie Downer, but this stuff 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.019 is real and it's happening all over the industry. 00:35:08.099 --> 00:35:09.820 And it takes me all the way back to the beginning, 00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:11.460 all the way back to the beginning of the podcast 00:35:11.460 --> 00:35:13.320 and how it's become awfully tough to come on 00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:15.840 here and talk positive about this hobby that 00:35:15.840 --> 00:35:18.300 I have loved for a long time when it's absolute 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:21.460 crap. And as a podcaster, as someone who tries 00:35:21.460 --> 00:35:25.380 to look and go back to episode one, why I started 00:35:25.380 --> 00:35:27.739 this thing. because I started it because I love 00:35:27.739 --> 00:35:29.880 these three things. I love these three hobbies, 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.559 the Buffalo Bills, professional wrestling, card 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:35.519 collecting, I love them. But it's very hard to 00:35:35.519 --> 00:35:38.360 focus on stories that are positive because there's 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:41.139 not a lot out there. And if you dig deep, if 00:35:41.139 --> 00:35:43.380 you look, read between the lines and you actually 00:35:43.380 --> 00:35:46.719 see what is going on, it's really, really tough. 00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:49.679 So I say that all to say, I'm gonna try to keep 00:35:49.679 --> 00:35:52.960 focus on stories I can tell, but those stories 00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:55.380 are becoming... smaller and smaller. I'm going 00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:57.360 to try to focus on products that I can actually 00:35:57.360 --> 00:35:59.880 speak about, but right now it's very hard because 00:35:59.880 --> 00:36:02.099 it's extremely limited. And we've talked about 00:36:02.099 --> 00:36:04.159 the stories of not being able to get product. 00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:05.900 And this is happening for collectors like me 00:36:05.900 --> 00:36:08.139 all over the market, all over the industry. Topps 00:36:08.139 --> 00:36:11.179 says the presale goes up at 12 a .m. or 12 p 00:36:11.179 --> 00:36:13.739 .m. and then you can get online and people are 00:36:13.739 --> 00:36:15.760 doing it and nobody can buy any of this product. 00:36:15.980 --> 00:36:19.039 And allegedly, as we're seeing, they're funneling 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:22.039 the product to their own employees. And the market 00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:25.820 share of the direct consumer approach is essentially 00:36:25.820 --> 00:36:29.079 gone. I heard one person argue that Fanatics 00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:31.639 doesn't want you and I to actually buy this product 00:36:31.639 --> 00:36:34.199 unless it's through a breaker. And at first I 00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:35.559 thought, well, that's crazy. But the more and 00:36:35.559 --> 00:36:37.280 more I dig into this, the more and more likely 00:36:37.280 --> 00:36:40.519 that that's actually going to be the only way 00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:42.119 we're going to be able to get our hands on this 00:36:42.119 --> 00:36:44.820 stuff. And that's scary. That's a scary thing 00:36:44.820 --> 00:36:46.760 to think about. And I hope that's not true. But 00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:48.980 yeah, you can go to Walmart and you can buy this 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:52.219 retail stuff. But as we're seeing, nothing is 00:36:52.219 --> 00:36:54.400 in retail. It just goes back to why you're in 00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:56.539 the hobby. And this is what I kind of talk about. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:36:58.800 It's frustrating. But like I said, I'm going 00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:00.619 to try to talk about stories I can actually talk 00:37:00.619 --> 00:37:03.079 about and product I can actually buy. But right 00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:05.739 now, it's very, very limited. I learned real 00:37:05.739 --> 00:37:07.820 quick that I couldn't keep up with the calendar. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:09.360 I couldn't keep up with the release calendar. 00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:12.139 I had started out. I talked about this a long 00:37:12.139 --> 00:37:15.000 time ago. I made a YouTube channel called Real 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:16.880 TV Rips. And I had started out trying to make 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:19.460 videos of product openings. And I would do my 00:37:19.460 --> 00:37:21.280 own reviews on the products that I would open. 00:37:21.340 --> 00:37:23.039 Well, pretty soon, I had to take a real look 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:24.579 at what the hell I was doing because I couldn't 00:37:24.579 --> 00:37:26.320 keep up with it. I couldn't keep up with it. 00:37:26.340 --> 00:37:28.570 The prices kept going up. And it just wasn't 00:37:28.570 --> 00:37:30.989 feasible. And I couldn't justify the cost I was 00:37:30.989 --> 00:37:32.989 putting into it. And I had to take a step back. 00:37:33.070 --> 00:37:35.210 And my focus since that point has definitely 00:37:35.210 --> 00:37:38.130 changed. What I buy now is way scaled back. And 00:37:38.130 --> 00:37:40.650 it's not always an interesting story that people 00:37:40.650 --> 00:37:42.389 are going to want to hear or that I'm going to 00:37:42.389 --> 00:37:44.309 want to talk about on a podcast. And look, I've 00:37:44.309 --> 00:37:46.449 said it from the beginning. We all have our own 00:37:46.449 --> 00:37:49.389 reasons for being in this space, in this hobby. 00:37:49.710 --> 00:37:52.230 What we love, why we are in this, it all depends 00:37:52.230 --> 00:37:54.150 on the person. But I started this thing out. 00:37:54.760 --> 00:37:56.760 I started this leg of the three Ts because I 00:37:56.760 --> 00:37:58.420 love collecting cards. I'm not going to stop 00:37:58.420 --> 00:38:01.099 collecting cards, but I definitely need to refocus 00:38:01.099 --> 00:38:04.179 on it. I definitely need to refocus because it's 00:38:04.179 --> 00:38:06.320 so easy to get caught up in this crap and get 00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:08.739 bogged down with all the nonsense. And I'm not 00:38:08.739 --> 00:38:10.099 going to tell you how to spend your money, but 00:38:10.099 --> 00:38:12.599 you just need to be aware of what's going on. 00:38:12.699 --> 00:38:15.860 Don't be a blind sheep that's being led to the 00:38:15.860 --> 00:38:18.039 slaughter. That's all I ask. And I tell you at 00:38:18.039 --> 00:38:19.840 the end of every episode, keep doing what you 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:21.599 love, but just be smart about it. Just be smart 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:23.539 about it. And don't forget, I've said this from 00:38:23.539 --> 00:38:25.389 the beginning. That's why we're supposed to do 00:38:25.389 --> 00:38:27.929 this. Unless you're a flipper, which I'm not, 00:38:28.050 --> 00:38:30.150 you're supposed to be having fun because fun 00:38:30.150 --> 00:38:32.489 is the most important factor. I don't know. And 00:38:32.489 --> 00:38:36.130 maybe you all think I'm crazy. But I had to talk 00:38:36.130 --> 00:38:37.750 about that. I had to talk about that because 00:38:37.750 --> 00:38:39.429 it's happening and we need to be aware of what's 00:38:39.429 --> 00:38:41.849 going on. But anyway, okay, let's turn our attention 00:38:41.849 --> 00:38:43.989 to the squared circle. Wrestling marks, how are 00:38:43.989 --> 00:38:47.010 we feeling? Time is ticking by. We are turning 00:38:47.010 --> 00:38:50.190 our attention to the Elimination Chamber in good 00:38:50.190 --> 00:38:53.449 old Chicago, Illinois. Coming up quick. Quick, 00:38:53.550 --> 00:38:56.530 folks, it is two weeks away. The focus on Raw 00:38:56.530 --> 00:38:58.949 and SmackDown the last week and a half, it's 00:38:58.949 --> 00:39:00.769 been about qualifying matches. It's been about 00:39:00.769 --> 00:39:03.369 filling out the Elimination Chamber card. I am 00:39:03.369 --> 00:39:05.599 so... So freaking excited to go to this one. 00:39:05.679 --> 00:39:07.360 I can't wait. It has been on my bucket list to 00:39:07.360 --> 00:39:10.139 go to an Elimination Chamber show. And I'm so 00:39:10.139 --> 00:39:11.860 excited. Two weeks. I can't wait to be there 00:39:11.860 --> 00:39:15.139 in Chicago. So far, we've seen on SmackDown, 00:39:15.199 --> 00:39:17.119 we've seen Randy Orton qualify. Obviously, there's 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:19.119 going to be another one tonight on SmackDown. 00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:21.699 LA Knight qualified on Monday Night Raw on the 00:39:21.699 --> 00:39:23.420 men's side. And on the women's side, we've seen 00:39:23.420 --> 00:39:25.420 Tiffany Stratton on SmackDown and Rhea Ripley 00:39:25.420 --> 00:39:28.420 from Raw side. And it looks like we are moving 00:39:28.420 --> 00:39:30.340 forward with a couple other matches on the card. 00:39:30.420 --> 00:39:33.440 We're getting CM Punk versus Finn Balor. Ballard, 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:36.559 oh my goodness, are we actually going to have 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:39.400 the year 2026 be the year of Ballard? Probably 00:39:39.400 --> 00:39:41.820 not, but I am getting myself psyched up about 00:39:41.820 --> 00:39:44.219 this. Is there any chance he wins? We'll do an 00:39:44.219 --> 00:39:46.860 Elimination Chamber preview probably in a week 00:39:46.860 --> 00:39:49.840 or two once we know what the Chamber looks like. 00:39:49.940 --> 00:39:52.500 But I am super psyched to see Punk versus Ballard 00:39:52.500 --> 00:39:55.579 too. They had a banger of a match a couple weeks 00:39:55.579 --> 00:39:58.239 ago on Raw. That match was fire. I love Finn 00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:00.940 Ballard. I will be in Chicago cheering on Ballard. 00:40:01.260 --> 00:40:03.320 Could we see the demon? Could we see the demon 00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:06.860 come out at Elimination Chamber? I mean, holy 00:40:06.860 --> 00:40:09.179 cow. I will be like a little freaking school 00:40:09.179 --> 00:40:12.059 kid if that's the case. I would love to see it 00:40:12.059 --> 00:40:14.199 with the old music, the old. face paint, the 00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:17.460 whole gear. But I am super, super excited for 00:40:17.460 --> 00:40:19.500 that match. What else has been added? AJ Lee 00:40:19.500 --> 00:40:21.820 versus Becky Lynch. This kind of went forward 00:40:21.820 --> 00:40:23.940 on Monday Night Raw. I'm looking forward to the 00:40:23.940 --> 00:40:26.360 match, but what was going on with that promo? 00:40:26.539 --> 00:40:29.440 That was a super weird promo. I don't know what 00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:31.440 they're trying to accomplish with that one, but 00:40:31.440 --> 00:40:34.420 they come out there, this awkward laughing stuff. 00:40:34.679 --> 00:40:37.340 It was just weird. I don't know whether AJ has 00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:39.579 been gone too long, and now she's just doing 00:40:39.579 --> 00:40:43.050 this weird way of talking on the mic. And then 00:40:43.050 --> 00:40:45.510 Becky was kind of tapping into it as well. I'm 00:40:45.510 --> 00:40:46.989 not sure what they were going for. It didn't 00:40:46.989 --> 00:40:48.869 really work for me. But anyway, the match was 00:40:48.869 --> 00:40:50.789 set up. But again, I'll be in Chicago rooting 00:40:50.789 --> 00:40:53.230 for Becky Lynch. I know you all love AJ, but 00:40:53.230 --> 00:40:55.949 Becky's the best. She is the man for a reason. 00:40:56.030 --> 00:40:58.429 And she's on top of the industry. But what I 00:40:58.429 --> 00:41:00.949 did this week, I love to take DeLorean trips. 00:41:01.070 --> 00:41:03.130 You know that. I'm a big nostalgia guy. And with 00:41:03.130 --> 00:41:05.909 the Elimination Chamber just around the corner. 00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:08.039 What I wanted to do, I wanted to go all the way 00:41:08.039 --> 00:41:10.099 back to the very first Elimination Chamber match. 00:41:10.260 --> 00:41:14.019 This happened way back in 2002. This took place 00:41:14.019 --> 00:41:16.539 in the Survivor Series pay -per -view, if you 00:41:16.539 --> 00:41:18.300 can believe it. The very first Elimination Chamber 00:41:18.300 --> 00:41:20.920 was a single match that occurred during Survivor 00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:24.059 Series 2002. This took place in Madison Square 00:41:24.059 --> 00:41:26.559 Garden. Now, what they did, they lowered the 00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:29.739 cage. Now, the Elimination Chamber, if you've 00:41:29.739 --> 00:41:32.039 never seen it, it's a dome -like structure that 00:41:32.039 --> 00:41:36.360 fits. over the ring and it essentially extends 00:41:36.360 --> 00:41:39.960 the ring on a parallel platform so on each side 00:41:39.960 --> 00:41:43.079 of the ring you now have a metal floor and on 00:41:43.079 --> 00:41:47.070 each corner by each turnbuckle is a plexiglass 00:41:47.070 --> 00:41:50.909 enclosed pod so you have four enclosed pods the 00:41:50.909 --> 00:41:54.610 floor outside the ring is metal it's a metal 00:41:54.610 --> 00:41:57.789 structure and then this cage encloses the entire 00:41:57.789 --> 00:42:00.230 thing so all the pods and the entire ring is 00:42:00.230 --> 00:42:03.389 enclosed in a caged like structure so you think 00:42:03.389 --> 00:42:05.809 your normal hell in a cell well this is a dome 00:42:05.809 --> 00:42:09.190 a curved dome and they've added four pods this 00:42:09.190 --> 00:42:12.090 is a six a six man a six woman match you have 00:42:12.090 --> 00:42:15.559 six members all come down to the ring four of 00:42:15.559 --> 00:42:19.619 them are locked in a pod and two start one -on 00:42:19.619 --> 00:42:21.699 -one in the center of the ring and there's a 00:42:21.699 --> 00:42:23.440 predetermined amount of time usually it's like 00:42:23.440 --> 00:42:26.199 five minutes every five minutes a new pod is 00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:29.159 opened and another wrestler enters into the match 00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:31.500 so this very first one taking place all the way 00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:35.340 back in 2002 msg you had eric bischoff who was 00:42:35.340 --> 00:42:38.130 part of the company at the time He is essentially 00:42:38.130 --> 00:42:40.769 credited with being the creator of this match. 00:42:40.829 --> 00:42:43.070 Well, he comes out and he gets on the microphone 00:42:43.070 --> 00:42:45.469 and he basically explains the rules of the match, 00:42:45.570 --> 00:42:48.010 which I just explained to you. He claims that 00:42:48.010 --> 00:42:49.829 this plexiglass on each one of these pods is 00:42:49.829 --> 00:42:51.809 bulletproof. I'm like, yeah, I don't know about 00:42:51.809 --> 00:42:53.789 that. That's probably not true at all. But anyway, 00:42:53.889 --> 00:42:56.909 you have your very first contestants come down. 00:42:57.070 --> 00:42:59.710 Chris Jericho is the first one out being introduced. 00:42:59.929 --> 00:43:02.650 And this was weird because his theme song at 00:43:02.650 --> 00:43:05.670 the time was King of My World. And it was done 00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:07.670 by a band. band called Saliva. If you remember 00:43:07.670 --> 00:43:09.670 this group, Saliva, like I said, this was in 00:43:09.670 --> 00:43:12.309 New York City. WWE also had a restaurant at the 00:43:12.309 --> 00:43:15.670 time called WWE World. And what they were doing, 00:43:15.750 --> 00:43:18.130 Saliva was actually live from this restaurant 00:43:18.130 --> 00:43:20.750 and they were performing Jericho's entrance music 00:43:20.750 --> 00:43:22.650 as he was coming down to the ring. It was very 00:43:22.650 --> 00:43:27.599 strange, but it was not good. It did not sound 00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:30.119 like the actual recorded version. He sounded 00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:33.840 terrible. I don't recommend you turn this on 00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:36.059 just to watch the Saliva performance, but anyway, 00:43:36.199 --> 00:43:38.719 it is what it is. So he comes down to a live 00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:40.980 performance by this band Saliva and his own theme 00:43:40.980 --> 00:43:42.940 song, and he gets locked in one of the pods. 00:43:43.159 --> 00:43:45.659 Next, we have Booker T. Everyone knows Booker 00:43:45.659 --> 00:43:48.360 T. He's currently an NXT commentator, but Hall 00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:51.920 of Famer, the great five -time, five -time, five 00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:53.619 -time, five -time, five -time champion, Booker 00:43:53.619 --> 00:43:56.360 T. And so he's also in this match. And we have 00:43:56.360 --> 00:43:58.400 everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood demon, 00:43:58.539 --> 00:44:01.860 Kane. He also comes down with his fire and whatnot. 00:44:02.599 --> 00:44:05.119 Shawn Michaels gets introduced. He is the last 00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.300 one to be locked into one of the pods. He comes 00:44:07.300 --> 00:44:09.659 down rocking this terrible looking Karen haircut. 00:44:10.179 --> 00:44:12.519 It was terrible. His hair was in this weird length 00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:15.579 where it was just above his shoulders. So gone 00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:18.079 was his long flowing locks and the ponytail he 00:44:18.079 --> 00:44:21.420 used to rock. It was just terrible length, and 00:44:21.420 --> 00:44:23.820 he looked awful. It just looked awful. Like he's 00:44:23.820 --> 00:44:26.019 going to get in the pickup line at school, and 00:44:26.019 --> 00:44:27.840 then he delivers some cupcakes afterwards. I 00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:29.500 don't know. He looked terrible. But he's the 00:44:29.500 --> 00:44:31.559 last one to get locked into a pod. And then the 00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:33.559 last two who will be starting in the ring, you 00:44:33.559 --> 00:44:37.820 have Rob Van Dam, Mr. RVD, Mr. Pay -Per -View 00:44:37.820 --> 00:44:40.420 himself, and then the reigning champion, Triple 00:44:40.420 --> 00:44:44.000 H. So the match starts out, Triple H, Rob Van 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:46.760 Dam. Within the first five minutes, you see Rob 00:44:46.760 --> 00:44:48.880 Van Dam throwing Triple H into the side, one 00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:50.619 of the sides of the cages. So they're outside 00:44:50.619 --> 00:44:52.099 the ring. They're standing on this platform, 00:44:52.420 --> 00:44:54.920 and he's throwing Triple H into the side of the 00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:57.780 cage. Well, it breaks. There's a section of the 00:44:57.780 --> 00:44:59.699 cage, the very first Elimination Chamber match, 00:44:59.840 --> 00:45:02.780 and he throws Triple H into the wall, and the 00:45:02.780 --> 00:45:05.940 wall breaks. And I'm like, oh, boy, this is not 00:45:05.940 --> 00:45:08.159 a good start. He literally slams him into it 00:45:08.159 --> 00:45:10.139 three times, and on the third time, the section 00:45:10.139 --> 00:45:12.559 of the cage breaks. And then Triple H is bleeding. 00:45:13.530 --> 00:45:16.429 And it's just crazy. So they move away from that 00:45:16.429 --> 00:45:19.190 section. I think they tried to fix it off camera 00:45:19.190 --> 00:45:21.510 probably. But a couple things I noticed from 00:45:21.510 --> 00:45:23.710 this first match, anytime they did a move on 00:45:23.710 --> 00:45:26.750 the actual steel floor, it was loud. So whether 00:45:26.750 --> 00:45:28.829 it was a body slam or a drop or something, every 00:45:28.829 --> 00:45:31.889 time they hit the outside connected floor that's 00:45:31.889 --> 00:45:33.750 made of steel or metal or whatever the hell it 00:45:33.750 --> 00:45:36.449 was made of, it would rattle like you wouldn't 00:45:36.449 --> 00:45:39.579 believe. It was crazy. And another thing I noticed 00:45:39.579 --> 00:45:41.880 that the top of the pods on each turnbuckle, 00:45:41.980 --> 00:45:44.619 they weren't enclosed. So the top of the pods 00:45:44.619 --> 00:45:46.900 actually had these chains going across them. 00:45:46.940 --> 00:45:49.780 So they were kind of open, which is weird. I 00:45:49.780 --> 00:45:51.360 want to say this is probably the only time it 00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:53.300 was like this because normally the pods are completely 00:45:53.300 --> 00:45:56.340 enclosed, including at the top. So there's this 00:45:56.340 --> 00:45:59.039 one section where Rob Van Dam climbs one of the 00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:01.539 pods to do like a frog splash on Triple H. And 00:46:01.539 --> 00:46:03.940 he's on top of Chris Jericho's pod. And Jericho 00:46:03.940 --> 00:46:06.159 literally climbs up and reaches through the top 00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:08.300 of the cage and grabs RVD's leg. And I'm like, 00:46:08.340 --> 00:46:11.119 well, that's interesting. So it was just very 00:46:11.119 --> 00:46:14.820 weird to see how far this chamber has come in 00:46:14.820 --> 00:46:18.260 the last, what, 20, 23 years. Anyway, a certain 00:46:18.260 --> 00:46:19.429 amount of time, I think. think it's like five 00:46:19.429 --> 00:46:22.349 six minutes go by and they do this stupid weird 00:46:22.349 --> 00:46:26.429 computer generated sound like a randomized sound 00:46:26.429 --> 00:46:28.769 and the the light flashes around on one of the 00:46:28.769 --> 00:46:31.190 four pods and it lands on chris jericho so chris 00:46:31.190 --> 00:46:33.389 jericho is the next one to come out and now it's 00:46:33.389 --> 00:46:36.809 a three person match so they're fighting time 00:46:36.809 --> 00:46:40.050 goes by and the next to be to be released from 00:46:40.050 --> 00:46:43.030 the pod is booker t so you have rvd chris jericho 00:46:43.030 --> 00:46:45.789 booker t and triple h they're all fighting rob 00:46:45.789 --> 00:46:48.900 hits a frog splash rob van dam hits a a frog 00:46:48.900 --> 00:46:51.099 splash on Triple H from on top of the pod, but 00:46:51.099 --> 00:46:53.480 he basically lands really awkwardly. And instead 00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:56.179 of landing like on Triple H, he like jumps off 00:46:56.179 --> 00:46:58.000 the pod and kind of lands on his feet and then 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:00.320 falls down. And it was real awkward. It looked 00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:02.420 like it hurt like hell. And then Booker T hits 00:47:02.420 --> 00:47:04.900 him with a drop kick, which is weird of all moves. 00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:07.360 He hits RVD with a simple drop kick and then 00:47:07.360 --> 00:47:10.539 he pins him. And Rob Van Dam is gone. So I don't 00:47:10.539 --> 00:47:12.519 know if that was supposed to be the finish to 00:47:12.519 --> 00:47:15.719 get Rob eliminated. But I think he probably heard 00:47:15.719 --> 00:47:17.880 himself from that frog splash. Anyway, he's eliminated. 00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:22.719 So now we're down to Booker T, Chris Jericho, 00:47:22.760 --> 00:47:25.760 and Triple H. Kane is the next one to be released. 00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:28.599 He goes to work. He throws Jericho into one of 00:47:28.599 --> 00:47:31.829 the pod structures in the corner. And Jericho 00:47:31.829 --> 00:47:34.710 basically breaks all the plexiglass, which they 00:47:34.710 --> 00:47:37.429 told you was bulletproof, by the way. Jericho 00:47:37.429 --> 00:47:40.909 breaks all the plexiglass out of this pod. And 00:47:40.909 --> 00:47:43.030 this is kind of a theme that you will see in 00:47:43.030 --> 00:47:45.309 every one of the Elimination Chamber matches 00:47:45.309 --> 00:47:47.070 moving forward. If you watch some of these, you're 00:47:47.070 --> 00:47:48.869 going to see somebody get thrown into the pod 00:47:48.869 --> 00:47:52.130 and something break in one, if not more, of the 00:47:52.130 --> 00:47:54.650 pods. But then Kane hits Booker T with a chokeslam. 00:47:54.909 --> 00:47:57.289 And a minute later, Jericho pins him and Booker 00:47:57.289 --> 00:48:00.469 T is gone. So finally, then you see HBK get released. 00:48:00.590 --> 00:48:02.389 He's the last one to come out of the pods. And 00:48:02.389 --> 00:48:04.849 now everyone's going at it. And away we go, right? 00:48:04.909 --> 00:48:07.210 So Kane's chokeslamming everybody. The match 00:48:07.210 --> 00:48:09.369 kind of slows way down because I think probably 00:48:09.369 --> 00:48:12.130 people were tired. But then Kane is the victim 00:48:12.130 --> 00:48:14.650 of a super kick, a pedigree, and a Chris Jericho 00:48:14.650 --> 00:48:16.510 lion's hole. And then he's gone. So now we're 00:48:16.510 --> 00:48:18.929 down to Jericho, Triple H, and HBK. Everyone, 00:48:19.050 --> 00:48:21.769 everyone is busted way open at this point. Everyone's 00:48:21.769 --> 00:48:23.739 bleeding. They didn't care how much you bled 00:48:23.739 --> 00:48:26.039 back then. It was just kind of ridiculous. But 00:48:26.039 --> 00:48:28.880 Jericho hits a line salt on HBK, but he kicks 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:31.900 out. Triple H and Jericho managed to, they had 00:48:31.900 --> 00:48:33.739 been working together up to this point. Well, 00:48:33.760 --> 00:48:35.500 they suddenly turn on each other and they start 00:48:35.500 --> 00:48:38.860 going at it. Triple H goes to hit a pedigree 00:48:38.860 --> 00:48:41.079 on Chris Jericho, but he kind of reverses it 00:48:41.079 --> 00:48:43.980 and spins Triple H into the walls of Jericho. 00:48:44.039 --> 00:48:45.760 But as he puts him into the walls of Jericho, 00:48:45.860 --> 00:48:48.059 which is a submission move, kind of like a boss. 00:48:48.119 --> 00:48:50.139 It's just a Boston Crab. Let's be honest. But 00:48:50.139 --> 00:48:53.630 as he puts Triple H. in the walls of Jericho. 00:48:53.750 --> 00:48:56.769 Here comes HBK and nails him with a sweet chin 00:48:56.769 --> 00:49:00.389 music. And then he is pinned by HBK. So now we 00:49:00.389 --> 00:49:03.690 are down to HBK and Triple H. Both of them are 00:49:03.690 --> 00:49:06.230 busted wide open. There's a catapult spot where 00:49:06.230 --> 00:49:09.530 HBK is kind of catapulted into the pod. Of course, 00:49:09.530 --> 00:49:13.550 they keep fighting. There's an elbow drop onto 00:49:13.550 --> 00:49:17.329 Triple H from HBK from off the top of the pod 00:49:17.329 --> 00:49:19.269 again. And of course, he does the same thing 00:49:19.269 --> 00:49:22.050 that RVD does. He did this. Weird landing. Maybe 00:49:22.050 --> 00:49:24.289 they hadn't tested this. Maybe they hadn't practiced 00:49:24.289 --> 00:49:26.389 with this structure at all. But it seemed like 00:49:26.389 --> 00:49:28.070 these guys were literally jumping off the pod 00:49:28.070 --> 00:49:29.750 and just landing on their feet and then doing 00:49:29.750 --> 00:49:31.869 their move. It was very awkward, just weird as 00:49:31.869 --> 00:49:35.289 hell. But anyway, the match goes on. HBK goes 00:49:35.289 --> 00:49:38.190 to hit him with a super kick. He reverses into 00:49:38.190 --> 00:49:41.130 a pedigree, but HBK kicks out. He can't manage 00:49:41.130 --> 00:49:44.710 to get the full three count. And then HBK hits 00:49:44.710 --> 00:49:47.250 him with a sweet chin music, covers Triple H, 00:49:47.289 --> 00:49:50.309 and we get a 1 -2 -3 new champion. The place 00:49:50.309 --> 00:49:53.269 absolutely goes nuts. Madison Square Garden, 00:49:53.409 --> 00:49:56.610 the pop on the win for Karen, Shawn Michaels, 00:49:56.809 --> 00:50:01.989 is insane, right? JR, so Jim Ross, he is one 00:50:01.989 --> 00:50:04.590 of the great commentators of all time. He was 00:50:04.590 --> 00:50:08.190 commentating at the time. It's JR and Jerry the 00:50:08.190 --> 00:50:12.030 King Lawler on commentary. Jerry loses his mind. 00:50:12.780 --> 00:50:14.639 screaming his head off. The place goes crazy. 00:50:14.719 --> 00:50:16.659 He loses his voice. You can hear his voice go 00:50:16.659 --> 00:50:21.269 as he's screaming over this new win from... from 00:50:21.269 --> 00:50:24.750 HBK. Confetti starts to rain down from Madison 00:50:24.750 --> 00:50:27.829 Square Garden. And there you see HBK with his 00:50:27.829 --> 00:50:30.250 Karen haircut winning the heavyweight title. 00:50:30.530 --> 00:50:32.769 Confetti is raining down over him and his bloody 00:50:32.769 --> 00:50:35.389 face. So there is your very first elimination 00:50:35.389 --> 00:50:38.469 chamber. It was not bad. It was not bad for a 00:50:38.469 --> 00:50:40.730 first time. I just, I wonder looking back, had 00:50:40.730 --> 00:50:43.449 they actually practiced inside this structure 00:50:43.449 --> 00:50:46.230 or did they just wing it? Because some of the 00:50:46.230 --> 00:50:48.150 things looked weird as hell. Some of the things 00:50:48.150 --> 00:50:50.230 look awkward. There were some quick eliminations. 00:50:50.409 --> 00:50:52.530 once things got going, but I think it was okay. 00:50:52.650 --> 00:50:54.730 And like I said, I think RVD probably hurt himself 00:50:54.730 --> 00:50:57.570 and had to eat a quick pin, but who knows. Either 00:50:57.570 --> 00:50:59.750 way, like I said, there's some weird spots, but 00:50:59.750 --> 00:51:02.050 not too bad. If I were to rate it, looking back 00:51:02.050 --> 00:51:03.809 on the very first Elimination Chamber match, 00:51:03.969 --> 00:51:07.150 I think I would give it a 2 .75 turnbuckles out 00:51:07.150 --> 00:51:10.489 of four. So there you go. That's my review. We're 00:51:10.489 --> 00:51:12.010 going to have some things to talk about moving 00:51:12.010 --> 00:51:15.090 forward with WWE as we move into the Elimination 00:51:15.090 --> 00:51:17.110 Chamber in two weeks, but I think that's going 00:51:17.110 --> 00:51:20.269 to wrap up the wrestling portion. the show buffalo 00:51:20.269 --> 00:51:24.369 bills bills mafia how are we feeling what do 00:51:24.369 --> 00:51:26.909 we want to talk about because it's getting a 00:51:26.909 --> 00:51:30.070 little slow there's a it's a slow news cycle 00:51:30.070 --> 00:51:32.949 for the buffalo bills so what i figured i would 00:51:32.949 --> 00:51:36.269 do i i always like to look up buffalo bills news 00:51:36.269 --> 00:51:38.670 and see kind of what's being talked about and 00:51:38.670 --> 00:51:41.559 see if i can you know have anything be relevant 00:51:41.559 --> 00:51:44.460 when it comes to uh the bills and anything that 00:51:44.460 --> 00:51:46.500 would be exciting to talk about and so what are 00:51:46.500 --> 00:51:48.840 we what are we in like we're waiting for the 00:51:48.840 --> 00:51:50.559 combine to start we're waiting for the draft 00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:53.420 to get going and we're still a couple weeks if 00:51:53.420 --> 00:51:55.699 not months away from that stuff so it comes down 00:51:55.699 --> 00:51:57.960 to like roster examination and sometimes this 00:51:57.960 --> 00:52:00.659 is exciting sometimes it's not but i think You 00:52:00.659 --> 00:52:02.780 know, the cap, the NFL released that the cap 00:52:02.780 --> 00:52:05.960 was going up about, what, $29, $30 million. This 00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:09.519 has been our Achilles heel going into each and 00:52:09.519 --> 00:52:12.019 every offseason. We find ourselves under the 00:52:12.019 --> 00:52:14.780 cap. Specifically now, it depends what site you're 00:52:14.780 --> 00:52:17.880 looking at, but anywhere from $9 .5 to like $11, 00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:20.280 $12 million over the cap is where the bills are 00:52:20.280 --> 00:52:22.679 currently sitting. And that's after the cap is 00:52:22.679 --> 00:52:24.719 going up. So I don't want to say we're in trouble 00:52:24.719 --> 00:52:27.889 because if you look at... different sites now 00:52:27.889 --> 00:52:30.170 what's cool i don't know if any of you have ever 00:52:30.170 --> 00:52:32.250 done this you can go to certain websites and 00:52:32.250 --> 00:52:35.650 you can see all the contracts of every team in 00:52:35.650 --> 00:52:37.369 the league and you can see what those contracts 00:52:37.369 --> 00:52:40.789 break down to what the average annual salary 00:52:40.789 --> 00:52:43.150 is of these players what the total deal of the 00:52:43.150 --> 00:52:46.130 the each deal is you could see how much the deal 00:52:46.130 --> 00:52:48.889 costs against the cap what the debt i mean like 00:52:48.889 --> 00:52:50.750 you can get lost in the weeds some of this stuff 00:52:50.750 --> 00:52:53.090 some of this stuff is really confusing but anyway 00:52:53.639 --> 00:52:55.920 you're seeing articles come out. You're seeing 00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:58.239 how the bills can essentially restructure certain 00:52:58.239 --> 00:53:01.219 deals and how they can immediately get cap compliant 00:53:01.219 --> 00:53:03.440 by the start of the new year. And they're gonna 00:53:03.440 --> 00:53:06.460 have to. So every team is required to get in 00:53:06.460 --> 00:53:09.320 the positive. And like I said, right now we're 00:53:09.320 --> 00:53:12.059 operating between nine and 11, maybe $12 million 00:53:12.059 --> 00:53:15.480 under the cap. So there needs to be cuts or restructures 00:53:15.480 --> 00:53:19.079 or pay cuts that happen. So everyone looks about 00:53:19.079 --> 00:53:20.920 deals that make sense. And we've done this with 00:53:20.920 --> 00:53:24.139 Josh Allen. Pretty much every year, we do a restructure 00:53:24.139 --> 00:53:26.820 and we kind of essentially kick the can. So while 00:53:26.820 --> 00:53:29.679 he's still going to make the money, we essentially 00:53:29.679 --> 00:53:32.739 rework the deal. And I'm not totally sure how 00:53:32.739 --> 00:53:34.920 this works, but you kind of kick the can. And 00:53:34.920 --> 00:53:36.760 what I mean by that is you essentially move his 00:53:36.760 --> 00:53:39.280 money further down the line. So you might not 00:53:39.280 --> 00:53:41.320 pay some of it this year, but you'll pay it in 00:53:41.320 --> 00:53:43.760 years to come. So what they're saying is if we 00:53:43.760 --> 00:53:45.900 restructure Josh Allen, we can instantly save 00:53:45.900 --> 00:53:48.199 $12 million. So that right there, that one move 00:53:48.199 --> 00:53:51.280 can essentially make us cap compliant. Players 00:53:51.280 --> 00:53:53.659 who are kind of in a similar boat, Ed Oliver. 00:53:54.239 --> 00:53:56.320 If you restructure Ed Oliver, you could save 00:53:56.320 --> 00:53:58.059 probably another $10 million. Spencer Brown, 00:53:58.320 --> 00:54:00.820 depending on how much they're looking to move 00:54:00.820 --> 00:54:02.659 down the line. And some of this stuff I'm getting 00:54:02.659 --> 00:54:04.599 from other websites. So don't think I'm so smart 00:54:04.599 --> 00:54:05.860 that I know what the hell I'm talking about. 00:54:05.960 --> 00:54:08.639 But I read like Buffalo rumblings and I look 00:54:08.639 --> 00:54:11.139 on some of these sites that people know what 00:54:11.139 --> 00:54:12.739 they're talking about because I really don't. 00:54:12.780 --> 00:54:14.239 But they're saying if we restructure Spencer 00:54:14.239 --> 00:54:17.199 Brown, we could save anywhere from $6 to $10 00:54:17.199 --> 00:54:19.280 million. There's certain players on the team 00:54:19.280 --> 00:54:22.420 that make sense. to do the restructure. And when 00:54:22.420 --> 00:54:24.519 you're looking at who do we want to restructure, 00:54:24.639 --> 00:54:26.679 it has to be a player that you know is good, 00:54:26.820 --> 00:54:28.559 number one, and that's going to stay on the team 00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:31.059 for more than a few years, right? Because you 00:54:31.059 --> 00:54:32.539 don't want to be on the hook for these salaries 00:54:32.539 --> 00:54:35.380 years and years after the player has either retired 00:54:35.380 --> 00:54:38.340 or moved on to another team. So Josh Allen, yeah, 00:54:38.380 --> 00:54:40.219 that makes sense. Ed Oliver, yeah, I guess that 00:54:40.219 --> 00:54:41.719 makes sense. Spencer Brown, yeah, he's pretty 00:54:41.719 --> 00:54:43.420 good. I don't really want to lose Spencer Brown. 00:54:43.500 --> 00:54:45.019 But then you get to the next one, and this one's 00:54:45.019 --> 00:54:47.519 kind of caused a little bit of controversy, a 00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:49.159 little bit of talking points around the Buffalo 00:54:49.159 --> 00:54:51.730 community. We get to Deion Dawkins. Now, Deion 00:54:51.730 --> 00:54:53.750 Dawkins, they're saying that if you restructure 00:54:53.750 --> 00:54:55.750 his contract, you could save anywhere from eight 00:54:55.750 --> 00:54:58.150 to 11 million, depending on how much you want 00:54:58.150 --> 00:55:00.889 to move down to for future years. Excuse me, 00:55:00.909 --> 00:55:03.510 future years. And so the talking point has come 00:55:03.510 --> 00:55:06.150 up that Deion Dawkins might be a trade candidate. 00:55:06.309 --> 00:55:07.869 And I'm just like, let me think about that for 00:55:07.869 --> 00:55:10.449 a second. Is Deion Dawkins a trade candidate? 00:55:10.530 --> 00:55:13.989 And I just don't see how this is ever going to 00:55:13.989 --> 00:55:16.769 happen. There was kind of a notion a few years 00:55:16.769 --> 00:55:19.860 back that, Stephon Diggs was untradeable. And 00:55:19.860 --> 00:55:21.699 we learned that that wasn't in fact the case, 00:55:21.739 --> 00:55:24.760 but we did have to eat a lot of dead cap money 00:55:24.760 --> 00:55:27.360 as they call it. Stephon Diggs had essentially 00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:30.320 worn out his welcome and we were ready to ship 00:55:30.320 --> 00:55:32.280 him out of town despite whatever the cost might 00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:35.219 be. Deion Dawkins, he's like one of, I don't 00:55:35.219 --> 00:55:37.539 know, three to four players on this team that 00:55:37.539 --> 00:55:39.860 you would think are essentially untouchable, 00:55:39.960 --> 00:55:42.380 not just for their play. And I admit like his 00:55:42.380 --> 00:55:47.099 play on the field for 2025, was it peak? Dawkins' 00:55:47.179 --> 00:55:49.480 performance, no, but he's still pretty damn good. 00:55:49.599 --> 00:55:51.539 He's still one of the top left tackles in the 00:55:51.539 --> 00:55:54.139 league. So I don't want to... get into while 00:55:54.139 --> 00:55:56.519 he's past his prime. I still think he's got quite 00:55:56.519 --> 00:55:59.480 a few number of years, really good years, really 00:55:59.480 --> 00:56:01.360 solid years ahead of him. And do I want to move 00:56:01.360 --> 00:56:03.739 on from Deion Dawkins? No. In fact, at the beginning 00:56:03.739 --> 00:56:05.420 of the season, I did an episode talking about 00:56:05.420 --> 00:56:07.400 potential jerseys that I would buy. And I think 00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:09.739 Deion Dawkins, he has a chance to go on the wall 00:56:09.739 --> 00:56:11.780 of fame for the Bills. He could play his whole 00:56:11.780 --> 00:56:13.559 career here, him and Josh. I would love to see 00:56:13.559 --> 00:56:17.019 Dawkins and Josh go down together as the dynamic 00:56:17.019 --> 00:56:19.480 duo and essentially host the Lombardi Trophy 00:56:19.480 --> 00:56:23.380 and just go down in Buffalo Bills lore. to Bills 00:56:23.380 --> 00:56:25.440 who are going up on the wall of fame. So do I 00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:27.320 want to move on from Deion Dawkins? No, I think 00:56:27.320 --> 00:56:30.380 outside of his contract scenario, outside of 00:56:30.380 --> 00:56:32.920 his contract value, I think he's worth too much 00:56:32.920 --> 00:56:36.800 to the community. He does a ton of work in Buffalo 00:56:36.800 --> 00:56:39.639 and around Buffalo. And I just think, I think 00:56:39.639 --> 00:56:42.179 he's too important. So is he a trade candidate? 00:56:42.360 --> 00:56:45.119 I can't see that. But some other names that come 00:56:45.119 --> 00:56:47.320 up. And these are some of the hot topics. Dawson 00:56:47.320 --> 00:56:49.440 Knox, yeah, he's on the hook for a ridiculous 00:56:49.440 --> 00:56:51.159 amount of money this year. I think it's like, 00:56:51.280 --> 00:56:53.900 I don't know, $18 million is what we're looking 00:56:53.900 --> 00:56:57.380 to pay him this year. Dawson Knox, hell no, you're 00:56:57.380 --> 00:56:59.380 not worth no $18 million. So they're saying, 00:56:59.440 --> 00:57:01.699 well, he can either take a pay cut or we could 00:57:01.699 --> 00:57:04.980 cut him or we could do some kind of restructure. 00:57:05.159 --> 00:57:08.000 And I think that's pretty fair. I think we're 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:10.039 looking to save like a million, I'm sorry, like 00:57:10.039 --> 00:57:13.400 $11 million by doing some sort of restructure 00:57:13.400 --> 00:57:16.469 or... Do I want to see Dawson Knox cut? Again, 00:57:16.590 --> 00:57:18.329 I think he's one of these guys that's such a 00:57:18.329 --> 00:57:22.030 solid point to this team, and I think he plays 00:57:22.030 --> 00:57:25.210 an integral role to not only the tight end room, 00:57:25.329 --> 00:57:30.219 but to the team as a whole. I really think and 00:57:30.219 --> 00:57:32.900 I hope that Dawson Knox will kind of come to 00:57:32.900 --> 00:57:35.500 some agreement with Bean and they'll meet in 00:57:35.500 --> 00:57:37.980 the middle and maybe he'll come in and be willing 00:57:37.980 --> 00:57:39.800 to take a pay cut. But some of these other guys 00:57:39.800 --> 00:57:42.199 like Curtis Samuel, you could basically cut Curtis 00:57:42.199 --> 00:57:44.099 Samuel and save $6 million and you're probably 00:57:44.099 --> 00:57:45.519 like, well, who the hell is Curtis Samuel? And 00:57:45.519 --> 00:57:46.840 I'll say, yeah, that's a good point because he's 00:57:46.840 --> 00:57:49.340 never on the field. I would not bat an eyelash 00:57:49.340 --> 00:57:51.860 about cutting Curtis Samuel. Same thing with 00:57:51.860 --> 00:57:54.320 Taylor Rapp. We saw this and talked about this 00:57:54.320 --> 00:57:56.659 earlier. Taylor Rapp coming off the field. Now, 00:57:56.719 --> 00:57:59.500 this was due to injury. He had surgery, but taking 00:57:59.500 --> 00:58:02.219 him off the field was almost addition by subtraction. 00:58:02.239 --> 00:58:04.699 So we'll save $3 million if we cut Taylor Rapp. 00:58:04.820 --> 00:58:07.679 And then another one that's kind of in this weird 00:58:07.679 --> 00:58:11.210 gray period. We could cut... Tyler Bass and save 00:58:11.210 --> 00:58:14.409 almost $3 million. So $2 .9 million to get rid 00:58:14.409 --> 00:58:16.670 of Tyler Bass. Ah, that's tough. That's tough. 00:58:16.769 --> 00:58:19.369 He also had surgery on his hip, I believe, and 00:58:19.369 --> 00:58:21.429 he didn't kick at all this year. So Matt Prater 00:58:21.429 --> 00:58:24.190 did fine. But again, he's like 87 billion years 00:58:24.190 --> 00:58:25.989 old. Do you want to rely on Matt Prater coming 00:58:25.989 --> 00:58:27.809 back for another year? Maybe if you can get him 00:58:27.809 --> 00:58:29.710 at like the league minimum, if he's willing to 00:58:29.710 --> 00:58:32.469 come in and play for practically free and we 00:58:32.469 --> 00:58:35.050 could save a couple mil cutting T -Bass. I mean, 00:58:35.070 --> 00:58:37.269 I guess I wouldn't be opposed to it, but who 00:58:37.269 --> 00:58:39.030 the heck knows? And then a couple other ones. 00:58:39.210 --> 00:58:42.329 Matt Milano, look, his deal is done. His deal 00:58:42.329 --> 00:58:44.190 is done. He's going to be one of these guys that 00:58:44.190 --> 00:58:47.630 I'm not sure how he's going to fit into the shift 00:58:47.630 --> 00:58:50.090 in defensive philosophy, moving to the 3 -4. 00:58:50.309 --> 00:58:52.429 Does he have a spot? Does he have a spot with 00:58:52.429 --> 00:58:55.110 the new defensive coordinator, Jim Lantern? I 00:58:55.110 --> 00:58:58.730 don't know. Maybe. But I would have to think 00:58:58.730 --> 00:59:00.730 that if he wants to stay in Buffalo, he's going 00:59:00.730 --> 00:59:02.610 to really have to come to terms with what his 00:59:02.610 --> 00:59:05.309 role is going to be and what his value to this 00:59:05.309 --> 00:59:06.809 team is going to be. I would love to see him 00:59:06.809 --> 00:59:08.949 come back, but it has to be significant. It's 00:59:08.949 --> 00:59:10.429 got to be like one of these Trey White deals. 00:59:11.309 --> 00:59:13.369 I don't know what he would get on the open market. 00:59:13.489 --> 00:59:15.849 It would be very interested to see what he gets. 00:59:16.510 --> 00:59:20.949 But we're looking at paying him. dead cap money 00:59:20.949 --> 00:59:24.210 of $11 million if he's not on the roster. So 00:59:24.210 --> 00:59:26.409 we need to do something. He either needs to agree 00:59:26.409 --> 00:59:30.070 to a total restructure or we just eat $11 million. 00:59:30.349 --> 00:59:31.650 And that's the thing that's frustrating. You 00:59:31.650 --> 00:59:33.309 look at some of these deals and you're like, 00:59:33.389 --> 00:59:35.309 why are we paying these guys to not be on the 00:59:35.309 --> 00:59:37.690 team? It's just crazy. But I don't know. Another 00:59:37.690 --> 00:59:39.829 one they're talking about, we have a guard and 00:59:39.829 --> 00:59:42.210 offensive line problem. So you have David Edwards, 00:59:42.429 --> 00:59:44.550 you have Connor McGovern. Those guys are done. 00:59:44.750 --> 00:59:46.449 They're going to command big money. Are we going 00:59:46.449 --> 00:59:48.510 to pay a ton of money that we don't have right 00:59:48.510 --> 00:59:51.210 now? Is it David Edwards and Connor McGovern? 00:59:51.269 --> 00:59:54.329 I don't know. And then Osiris Torrance. Osiris 00:59:54.329 --> 00:59:56.710 Torrance has one year left on his rookie deal. 00:59:56.929 --> 00:59:59.750 He could be a candidate for an early extension. 01:00:00.010 --> 01:00:01.530 You know, Brandon Bean loves to give out these 01:00:01.530 --> 01:00:03.849 early extensions. Sometimes they work out in 01:00:03.849 --> 01:00:05.769 our favor. Sometimes they don't. The Taron Johnson 01:00:05.769 --> 01:00:09.309 extension, that one ain't looking good. The Terrell 01:00:09.309 --> 01:00:12.170 Bernard extension, I don't know. Think what you 01:00:12.170 --> 01:00:14.789 want. But Bernard, I don't think, played very 01:00:14.789 --> 01:00:17.329 well this year. What will his role be, again, 01:00:17.429 --> 01:00:19.769 in the new defense? It's hard to tell. But do 01:00:19.769 --> 01:00:22.170 we extend torrents? I don't know. I don't know. 01:00:23.130 --> 01:00:26.349 We kind of got some guys in Anderson and Van 01:00:26.349 --> 01:00:28.809 Cran Granger who are kind of been waiting in 01:00:28.809 --> 01:00:32.420 the wings. And I think. one if not both could 01:00:32.420 --> 01:00:34.960 be slotted into the starting lineup and i think 01:00:34.960 --> 01:00:36.960 we definitely will take a step down but is it 01:00:36.960 --> 01:00:40.099 worth uh the huge investment we will have to 01:00:40.099 --> 01:00:42.119 shell out to keep some of these guys i don't 01:00:42.119 --> 01:00:43.840 know i think this is where we turn to in the 01:00:43.840 --> 01:00:45.940 draft and some of the later rounds maybe maybe 01:00:45.940 --> 01:00:48.420 like round three or four we we see us start to 01:00:48.420 --> 01:00:50.820 pick away at some of these offensive line spots 01:00:50.820 --> 01:00:53.380 but we have a lot a lot of holes to fill and 01:00:53.380 --> 01:00:54.739 these are just some of the things i'm seeing 01:00:54.739 --> 01:00:58.679 and with the the new league year about to start 01:00:58.679 --> 01:01:00.420 this is what you're going to start to see see 01:01:00.420 --> 01:01:03.400 as we turn the corner. This is going to be the 01:01:03.400 --> 01:01:05.360 story of what is going to need to be addressed, 01:01:05.579 --> 01:01:06.960 and you're going to see restructures. You're 01:01:06.960 --> 01:01:09.639 going to see cap cut casualties. You're going 01:01:09.639 --> 01:01:11.199 to see some players that you thought were going 01:01:11.199 --> 01:01:12.679 to be on this team get cut, and we're going to 01:01:12.679 --> 01:01:14.139 come out here, and we're going to complain, and 01:01:14.139 --> 01:01:15.760 we're going to throw our hands up and go, why, 01:01:15.780 --> 01:01:19.000 why, why? And it's going to be a fun next couple 01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:21.539 of months. So anyway, there's really not much 01:01:21.539 --> 01:01:23.039 else to talk about. I already talked about the 01:01:23.039 --> 01:01:25.360 coaching changes. I already talked about the 01:01:25.360 --> 01:01:27.860 new vision moving forward, and that's it. So 01:01:27.860 --> 01:01:30.679 I thought we'd just do kind of a general roster 01:01:30.679 --> 01:01:33.530 breakdown. some of these roster decisions that 01:01:33.530 --> 01:01:35.869 Brandon Bean has moving forward. It's not an 01:01:35.869 --> 01:01:38.750 easy job, but he's got a lot of work to do. Got 01:01:38.750 --> 01:01:40.530 a lot of work to do. Who's going to be up for 01:01:40.530 --> 01:01:42.269 trade? Who's going to be available versus free 01:01:42.269 --> 01:01:44.130 agency? And of course, coming into the combine 01:01:44.130 --> 01:01:46.829 in the draft, it's going to be crazy to see what 01:01:46.829 --> 01:01:49.389 direction Jim Leonard and Joe Brady want to take 01:01:49.389 --> 01:01:53.030 this thing heading into 2026. But I think that's 01:01:53.030 --> 01:01:55.670 going to wrap up this episode of the 3Ts podcast. 01:01:56.150 --> 01:01:58.090 Do me a favor, share it with someone you know 01:01:58.090 --> 01:02:00.469 if you have enjoyed this episode or any other 01:02:00.469 --> 01:02:03.190 episode. of the three t's yeah help your boy 01:02:03.190 --> 01:02:05.050 out share it with anybody i don't care if it's 01:02:05.050 --> 01:02:07.789 your neighbor your grandma whoever your teacher 01:02:07.789 --> 01:02:11.780 whatever you want share it with the whomever 01:02:11.780 --> 01:02:13.820 you meet on the street just just help me out 01:02:13.820 --> 01:02:16.099 let's spread the word so whether you're a fellow 01:02:16.099 --> 01:02:18.519 mafia member a card collector someone who just 01:02:18.519 --> 01:02:20.599 loves professional wrestling it doesn't matter 01:02:20.599 --> 01:02:22.400 i'm trying to grow this thing one episode at 01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:24.599 a time so please hit that follow hit that like 01:02:24.599 --> 01:02:27.380 leave me a quick review and let's build this 01:02:27.380 --> 01:02:30.500 thing together and as always as always i appreciate 01:02:30.500 --> 01:02:37.579 you all very very much so until next time Whether 01:02:37.579 --> 01:02:40.239 it's ripping packs, breaking tables, or dropping 01:02:40.239 --> 01:02:42.880 elbows, keep doing what you love. And as always, 01:02:43.079 --> 01:02:44.179 Go Bills!