WWE: Cody Rhodes Launching New “What Do You Wanna Talk About” WWE Podcast, Shawn Michaels on Reason for Multi-Person Matches at NXT Stand & Deliver, New Topps WrestleMania 41 Patch Program

Cody Rhodes Launching New “What Do You Wanna Talk About” WWE Podcast

WWE announced that they have partnered with Fanatics for a new podcast series titled “What Do You Wanna Talk About” hosted by current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.

It was announced that this new upcoming podcast will be premiering later this month and new episodes to be released every other week.

WWE’s official website:

WWE & Fanatics partner to launch “What Do You Wanna Talk About” podcast with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes

April 15, 2025 – WWE and Fanatics today announced the launch of “What Do You Wanna Talk About” hosted by Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, a podcast sponsored by Wheatley American Vodka. The first episode will debut later this month, with new episodes launching every other week.

“What Do You Wanna Talk About” will feature Rhodes one-on-one with WWE Superstars and Legends as they share never-before-heard stories, discuss their career-defining moments and more while enjoying their favorite cocktail from Wheatley Vodka, the Official Vodka of WWE made in the Heartland at America’s oldest continuously operating distillery, Buffalo Trace Distillery. The podcast expands on the Rhodes-led digital franchise which launched in July 2024 and featured interviews with Randy Orton, Bianca Belair and others, as “The American Nightmare” traversed the country in his Wheatley-wrapped tour bus. New episodes will be available across all audio platforms and WWE’s YouTube channel, which has amassed more than 108 million subscribers.

In March, WWE announced that Fanatics will partner on producing and distributing all WWE podcasts, strengthening an already successful partnership between the two brands, which includes global e-commerce, licensed merchandise and memorabilia, and more. The expanded partnership includes the recent launch of “The Raw Recap Show” hosted by Megan Morant and Sam Roberts which reacts to the highlights and headlines of every episode of Monday Night Raw. WWE will also debut an instant-reaction podcast hosted by Morant and Roberts following each Premium Live Event, with the first episode debuting after WrestleMania 41.

In 2022, Fanatics became WWE’s exclusive global e-commerce partner and later expanded their comprehensive long-term sports and entertainment partnership to include operations of WWE’s global event merchandise business which has led to record growth for WWE’s annual calendar of live events, including Premium Live Events such as WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and more. In 2024, WWE and Fanatics hosted the first-ever WWE World – Fanatics Events’ debut event – as part of a record-breaking WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia. Returning for WrestleMania 41, WWE World is a five-day interactive fan experience taking place from Thursday, April 17 through Monday, April 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall.

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Shawn Michaels on His Reason for Booking Many Multi-Person Matches at NXT Stand & Deliver

A recent episode of The Bobby Bones Show podcast featured WWE SVP of NXT & Talent Relations Shawn Michaels as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Michaels thoughts about his reasons for booking many multi-person matches for NXT Stand & Deliver events and if a standout performance by a NXT talent at the show could lead to a main roster call-up happening sooner rather than later.

“Absolutely, Stand & Deliver, much like WrestleMania, you can turn your career around in one match and one moment. Even when it comes to bonuses, those are things that, especially from an NXT standpoint, we have a lot of multi-person matches at Stand & Deliver. A lot of people don’t like that, but these young men and women work throughout the entire year. Not all of them get an opportunity to be on PLEs and those televisions that are on the road, which we’ve been doing more of lately. We want to give as many people as we can an opportunity to perform on the biggest weekend. That’s the reason people get into this line of work. To have that experience to have those moments. We’re hoping we have a lot of standouts come Stand & Deliver. It’s something we definitely keep an eye on and anytime there is a performance or somebody goes above and beyond, whether it’s in a match or throughout the entire year, we try to take care of them as much as possible.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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WWE & Topps Announces New WrestleMania Patch Program

WWE and Topps announced that they will be launching a new patch program for WrestleMania 41.

It was announced that each WWE Superstar competing at WrestleMania 41 will be wearing a special patch on their gear to later be removed, autograph, and inserted into special one-of-a-kind WWE trading cards.

It was also announced that a similar program will be launched for WWE Superstars making their main roster debuts following this weekend’s WrestleMania 41 event.

Official press release:

“All Superstars scheduled for a match at WrestleMania on April 19-20 will wear the WrestleMania Patch (with many wearing it on their boots). And starting at RAW on April 21, ALL Superstars making their first main-roster appearance will be wearing a Main Roster Debut Patch (a program that will continue for any main roster debut in any future RAW or Smackdown).

All patches will be removed from the Superstar after the match and then inserted into a one-of-one trading card, with the Superstar later adding their autograph.  There will also be custom authentication on the card — a COA/Fanatics Authentics hologram – as well as day, date and name of the event.

Sets including WrestleMania Patch and Main Roster Debut Patch cards will hit hobby shops later this year.  Debut patch programs from Topps started in March 2023 with MLB, extending to MLS in 2024.”

Each WWE wrestler on WreslteMania 41 will wear this patch on their gear, which will be put into trading cards pic.twitter.com/N1pKEVD7W6

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) April 15, 2025