Tag: Joe Rogan

Ric Flair calls Vince McMahon his hero: ‘He’s a great guy, I don’t care what he does’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

While appearing on the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Ric Flair revealed that Vince McMahon is his “hero.”

Flair made the statement after the subject of McMahon’s sexual misconduct scandal was brought up. Flair said he judges people by how they treat him, and no one in the pro wrestling business has ever treated him with more respect than McMahon.

Rogan: When he was getting involved in scandals and there was like girls that he had paid off, I just wanted to say: Duh. Like, duh. You’ve got an 80-year-old savage who’s built like a f*cking gladiator. Gee, you think he f*cks? What do you think? You think Vince McMahon is doing that just for f*cking hee-hees and haw-haws? No, of course he’s got some floozies on the side.

Flair: He’s my hero.

Rogan: That guy’s an animal.

Flair: I judge people by how they treat me and he has treated me like — I’ve never had anyone treat me with more respect ever in this business. He’s a great guy. I don’t care what he does. He’s my hero.

McMahon retired from WWE amid the sexual misconduct scandal in July 2022 but returned to power this January. McMahon assumed the role of executive chairman upon his return and remains in that role following Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE.

In December 2022, McMahon agreed to a multi-million dollar legal settlement with former WWE referee Rita Chatterton, who accused McMahon of raping her in 1986. McMahon’s lawyer Jerry McDevitt said that McMahon “denies and always has denied raping Ms. Chatterton” but settled the case “solely to avoid the cost of litigation.”

Flair recently made an appearance for WWE when he inducted The Great Muta into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania 39 week.

WWE and Peacock’s “Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair” documentary is one of five nominees in the Outstanding Long Documentary category at this year’s Sports Emmy Awards.

Dana White: Joe Rogan could have worked at UFC 271, no scheduling conflict

Posted on by Josh Nason

UFC president Dana White told the media following Saturday’s UFC 271 that color commentator Joe Rogan could have worked the show and that there was no scheduling conflict that prevented him from being there.

As recently as Wednesday, Rogan was still slated to work Saturday’s pay-per-view alongside Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier. 

White refuted the company’s statement that the popular podcaster and longtime UFC broadcaster had a scheduling conflict.

“I don’t know what Joe Rogan had to do. You guys will have to ask Joe Rogan, but there was no ‘Joe couldn’t work’ or anything like that. I know that came out. It’s total bullsh*t,” he said.

Rogan has recently come under fire for old video footage of him using racial slurs in addition to giving a platform for anti-vaccine supporters on his podcast.

White didn’t know when Rogan would return to the booth, but “whenever he’s gonna work again, he’ll be working.” The UFC’s next pay-per-view is set for Saturday, March 5th in Las Vegas.

At several points during the show in Houston Saturday, a “Free Joe Rogan” chant broke out.

Wrestling Observer Radio: Ratings analysis, Observer Awards preview, Joe Rogan

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio to talk about the major stories in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Joining us is someone who used to be a guest on Wrestling Observer Live when it was on eYada, John Muse.

We talk about the latest with Joe Rogan and UFC 271. We then look at Dave’s analysis of WWE and AEW ratings. We preview the big wrestling categories in the Wrestling Observer Awards. We hit on two small stories before answering two questions.

Click to listen below.

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Joe Rogan off UFC 271 due to ‘scheduling conflict’

Posted on by Josh Nason

Joe Rogan will not be on Saturday’s UFC 271 commentary team due to what the promotion is calling a “scheduling conflict.”

The booth will be made up of Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping instead.

TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter reported that per UFC officials, Rogan “had a scheduling conflict” and will not be on the show. However, MMA Fighting reported that as of Wednesday, Rogan was set to join Anik and Cormier per usual.

As of now, Rogan is scheduled to be part of March’s UFC 272.

Rogan, who hosts the popular Joe Rogan Experience on Spotify, has come under fire in recent weeks for past use of racial slurs in addition to his discussions regarding use of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya stuck up for Rogan at a press conference this week. He is set to defend against former champion Robert Whittaker in a rematch Saturday.

The PPV will also see heavyweight contenders Derrick Lewis vs. Tai Tuivasa and middleweight contenders Derek Brunson vs. Jared Cannonier.

February 14, 2022 Observer Newsletter: January wrestling ratings, Joe Rogan controversies

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Looking at the January numbers as well as growth from last year always has a lot of extenuating circumstances.

First off, direct comparisons are misleading because last year both AEW and NXT were head-to-head, and there were major outliers. If we do throw them in, we’ll get a real number, but a number useless to learn from, which is the goal here. The goal here isn’t to regurgitate stats for the sake of stats but to look at the true growth or decline of the promotions and how well they are getting their audiences to grow and also to become more than just viewers but to attend live events.

And even though both AEW would look far better in growth figuring in the show against the insurrection where numbers were killed by news last year, or Raw would look much worse this year if we factored in the Legends show, this is more trying to factor in real gains and losses, not run a bunch of misleading numbers to give us a false impression.

Subscribers can continue reading the newsletter here.