0:00
Wow.
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0:01
I'm going to have to take off my jacket for that one. Yeah. I'm sweating. Me, too. Oh my goodness.
0:11
Hey, what's going on, everybody?
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From First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans, and you're watching Hot Ones.
0:14
It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
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And today, I'm joined by the legit boss herself, Sasha Banks.
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She's a WWE Superstar, a four-time Raw Women's Champion, and today, she bravely steps into the squared circle in an I Quit match against the wings of death.
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Sasha, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. I like that intro.
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How are you with hot food? I love hot food.
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Um I felt like uh I was born with spicy food.
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I've been eating it since I was a little baby, so I'm ready for this challenge. Whew. Here we go. Mhm, what's good? Delicious. I like wings.
1:11
So, I've never heard a professional wrestling origin story that I wasn't fascinated by, and yours is no different.
1:16
As I understand it, one of your major breaks came when you went to a chaotic wrestling tryout. Yes.
1:22
Where you were the only female up against, as you put it, a bunch of fat JEFF HARDY WANNABES. OH MY GOODNESS, YES.
1:31
WHEN YOU think back on that day, what do you think set you apart?
1:35
Oh man, besides my looks and just being the only girl there, the moment I found out that there was this little tryout, I was 17 at the time.
1:41
I worked out like there was no tomorrow, and I walked in there, and I was like, "What is this?"
1:44
I thought it was going to be like people who look like Hulk Hogan or Batista, and it was just these little teenagers dressed up like Jeff Hardy, and I was like, "I got this in the bag."
1:51
And then, I took my first bump, and I was like, "Oh god, is this is I love?"
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And I'm like, "Hell yeah."
1:58
What's one thing that you don't miss about the independent wrestling scene? That's a good question. Scummy promoters.
2:06
Um I don't miss getting paid $25 or getting paid by just getting a slice pizza.
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It was legit either you get pizza or hot dog or you get $25.
2:13
That was just like, you know, it.
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Cuz I know this is very much a lifelong dream for you.
2:18
You were emailing wrestling academies at 12 years old.
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What's one thing now that you're one of wrestling's biggest superstars?
2:24
One thing that really is everything you dreamed it would be, and then one thing that's just kind of a harsh reality of the business. That's wow.
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I feel at ease when I'm in that square circle.
2:35
The hardest reality is just knowing that it's a lot of politics, a lot of grueling grueling traveling, which I didn't realize how hard that would be.
2:43
Getting on an airplane every single day.
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You know, sometimes you're in the middle seat, sometimes in your way back, sometimes in your first class. You you never know.
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I was in Salt Lake City just 2 days ago and then Anaheim last night.
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Now I'm going to India this week. It's just it's non-stop.
2:57
Hot ones in the morning, wrestling at night.
2:59
It just goes like that sometimes. You ready to move on? to move on. I'm very chewy. Sorry about that. Don't apologize.
3:08
This is a show where you can get away with that.
3:12
So I want to stay on the origin story for just a little bit longer cuz I think some of our viewers might be surprised to know that you're first cousins with Snoop Dogg.
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And in addition to performing your WrestleMania entrance music, I understand that he helped craft your boss persona. Yeah.
3:25
I didn't have a larger than life character and I was kind of looking around I'm like, we don't really have any bad guys.
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So let me turn bad cuz I was a good guy at the time and I'm like, you know what?
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Just accept Snoop Dogg's your cousin. Just do it.
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When I was around him, his bodyguards would always call him, "Hey boss, boss, boss, boss, boss."
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And I was like, that's kind of catchy.
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That's a good little nickname.
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So I was like, Sasha Banks, the boss.
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And then it turned to the legit boss. And now I'm here. See these glasses?
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And then he's really connected to the WWE.
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You know, he's a Hall of Fame member and then Insane.
3:55
Anytime he was like with the WWE, I would call him and I'm like, "Please take me with you. I love this. Please, please, please."
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And I remember going with him at 2008 and he was doing rehearsals with the Divas at the time and he was walking down the ramp and I was following him behind like this and I was walking down the WrestleMania ramp.
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I was 16 at the time and 25 doing it this year.
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I'm like, "Dreams really do come true."
4:15
And then another MC that seems to loom large for you is Nicki Minaj.
4:16
I read that you listened to Moment for Life on repeat up until your WWE tryout.
4:23
That's that's the only song that I listened to on my flight to my tryout.
4:27
And I told myself I'm going to go down to this tryout and I'm not going to leave until I got signed. Badaboom. Here I am. I love green sauces.
4:37
Kalisto's wife, another WWE superstar, makes me green sauce all the time and I legit can drink it. It's I'm so obsessed. Respect.
4:46
When you do a 30-minute long Iron Woman match against Bayley, what's the immediate aftermath of something like that?
4:52
Do you need to take a 4-hour nap?
4:54
Do you guys have beers to celebrate? How does it work?
4:58
I did have a glass of wine afterwards and I did have a large pizza.
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Cuz to prepare for that match, all I did was cardio because I'm like, "This is the longest match I've ever had."
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And then my Iron Woman match with Charlotte, I think that went 45 minutes and I was just like dead because she broke my nose during it. I was just bleeding. I'm like, "Oh my god. Can this be over?" It's finally over.
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So, um yeah, lots of wine.
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I love drinking wine after a match.
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It makes me really calm and relaxed.
5:25
What is the craft service like at WWE?
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How do they keep you guys all fed with all the strange diet restrictions?
5:31
Um you know, there is a little salad bar and we have our plain chicken and that's what I pretty much have every week on a Monday Night Raw.
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I just stare at the dessert and just hope one day that I can have a bite.
5:41
Do you remember the first conversation you ever had with Vince McMahon?
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After we debuted on Monday Night Raw and he bumped into me, and he's like, "Huh, you're the boss, huh? Huh, I'm the boss, too."
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I'm like, "Oh, this is weird. It's so weird. He's so intimidating.
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I get so nervous to talk to him." Still? Still.
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Walking on eggshells around them. Always. I'm the boss.
5:59
Like, what the I need to have confidence. How does that work?
6:03
That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Let's kick two up.
6:08
I love chicken wings for breakfast.
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Like, be my new favorite thing.
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That's what people like watching this don't realize sometimes.
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early in the morning right now.
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Like 5:30 in the morning.
6:19
So, know that you're not originally a New Englander, but I know that you've made Boston your home.
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Boston has a reputation for being maybe the best sports city in the country.
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Do the wrestling fans stack up? god, absolutely.
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I was in Boston when they won the Bruins championship.
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The whole just town just came out of these restaurants and just went to the streets and just started rallying.
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I'm like, "Let me join, too. Yeah." It was so crazy.
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That's why I love Boston so much.
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Anytime I go out in Boston and they say from Boston, Massachusetts, the crowd just erupts.
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And I remember in my Hell in a Cell match with Charlotte, I lost it, and they were just dead silent.
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They couldn't believe it.
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I thought they were going to start a riot.
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I'm like, that's Boston fans for you.
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That's Boston for you, bro.
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Run y'all fade, and we going to talk about it later.
6:59
If anybody get stabbed, somebody go to jail.
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Other than that, we out of here, and the meal was delicious.
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I was just like, jerk taste to it, doesn't it? Mhm.
7:10
I'm looking at this last one, and I'm like, "Oh god."
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Or this one that has a bomb on it.
7:15
Yeah, this one has a bomb on it.
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This one has a bullet on it.
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And then this one is just I'm ready for it. All right, Sasha.
7:20
We have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram.
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We do a deep dive in our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
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So, I'll bust out the laptop, and then you just tell me the bigger story. Does that sound good? All right. Laptop, please.
7:35
Here we go, off the stool.
7:38
I'm nervous what you're going to pull up. right, things first. Two legit bosses. Hey, that's right. Rick Ross and the boss. He was really cool. I met several rappers. I met him, P.
7:47
Diddy, of course my boy Snoop, Wale.
7:50
Yeah, but he's you know, Rick Ross the boss. He's cool.
7:54
Wale name-dropped you in that song Reminisce. Yes.
7:57
And he actually made my own song.
7:57
I I don't think he's really posted it yet or like maybe it might be on SoundCloud, but it's really freaking cool.
8:03
Yeah, he supports a lot of the WWE superstars. He loves New Day. He loves myself, too. And uh great.
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He's a huge uh supporter. He did the show. He did the show. Yeah, he got through it. Oh, did he? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. him. I have to tie him. Oh. Throwback. An eye roll.
8:25
It's not an eye roll because it's a weird story.
8:27
So, this is not a legit match.
8:29
It's a paid match and they're called customs.
8:31
So, it's where fans can put two wrestlers together and pay them to have a custom match. Really? Yeah.
8:40
So, there's girls that can have matches with no shoes on and no socks or in singlets.
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And I never understood what it was.
8:48
And I got requested to do so many weird matches and I was like, "No.
8:53
I'm going to have a regular match."
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So, I only really had two matches because everything else was too crazy.
8:57
It's crazy that I'm doing a crossface and I was 18 and now that's what I'm doing on the main roster on Raw.
9:04
It's like a the Bank Statement origin story over here. is.
9:07
It's like the start and I never used that as a finisher on the independent scene.
9:11
For me, it felt really weird.
9:13
Yeah, it does sound a little strange.
9:14
to be like, you know, some somebody guy some guy wanted me to pull hair or like cuss and I'm like, "No, I'm a wrestler.
9:20
I'm going to have a wrestling match, dude.
9:21
And that's what you're going to pay for." Bam. I'm getting more scared. Same with me, though.
9:32
We're in it together, though. Mhm. Yeah. feel that kick. Mhm. Mhm.
9:42
Cranking here a little bit.
9:43
Then I'm going to have another bite cuz I got to move on, but woo. Yeah. Ooh. Yeah. Woo, woo, woo. Yeah. Here it's happening. Yeah. That's pretty good. Woo. Yeah.
9:59
So, wrestling fans are notoriously hardcore and you've spoken in the past about autograph hawks meeting you at airports or staking out your hotel. Where is that line?
10:07
What separates the super fan from somebody who's just taking things way too far?
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and the internet fans love me for this.
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They tweet me every day and, you know, harass me for it.
10:18
But, if I meet you down on the street or if I meet you at the arena, that's fine.
10:22
That's me just a normal day.
10:24
I'm also tweeting you, "Hey, come see me at this arena."
10:26
So, I'm letting you know the location.
10:27
I'm not tweeting you, "Hey, I'm flying out of Delta, baggage claim six."
10:31
How do you know that information?
10:33
How do you know what hotel that I'm at?
10:35
Like, that to me, that's called stalking.
10:37
That means you're calling the hotel, figuring out that I'm staying here, and you're here at 4:00 in the morning.
10:41
There's a huge just like hotel, airport, no thank you.
10:46
At the arena, if I see you down the street, if I'm like if anything else, if it's outside of wrestling that I didn't tweet out, "Hey, I'm going to be here." It's just random. It's completely fine. I'm all game.
10:54
I mean, how are you going to miss me? I have purple hair. I can't hide this. I like that one. Yeah.
11:13
So, early on in your career, you said you faced frustrations being trained in the traditional WWE Diva style. Yeah.
11:20
But, in recent years, there's been a clear changing of the guard from the bra and panty matches years ago to now women headlining pay-per-view events.
11:27
As somebody who has seen that first hand, what sorts of shifts happened over that time?
11:35
It wasn't just WWE, it was like women in sport in general.
11:38
Like Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, they were just taking over and we kind of had to catch up to that.
11:44
The training before was just like hair pulling, no striking, make sure you just look beautiful and only have a 5-minute match to doing it just like them, doing it better than them.
11:53
I'm better than all these guys.
11:53
Main eventing just like them, having first time ever as Hell in a Cell matches, Money in the Bank matches and representing a whole new generation and having mothers and fathers come up to us and be like, "Because of you guys, I feel comfortable having my little girl watch wrestling and she wants to be a WWE Superstar." And it's so empowering.
12:11
It's It's the best feeling in the world.
12:18
This is the one that makes me nervous. The bomb.
12:21
Yes, this is uh it's stifled many a Hot Ones guest. Okay. You ready for it? I am. Okay, let's try. This one smells deadly. Mhm. Oh my god, yeah. That one's deadly. Mhm.
12:46
One more bite for good measures. Wow.
12:49
I might have to take off my jacket for that one. I'm sweating. Me too. Oh my goodness. Mhm. Mhm. Let's go in there. Little luck. Wow. Mhm. Uh-huh.
13:06
These next questions are going to be really hard. But I'm in it.
13:13
So, I'm fascinated by the Japan wrestling circuit.
13:14
When we had Chris Jericho on the show, he had great stories about wrestling in Japan.
13:18
And then I know that you grew up watching All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling.
13:23
Does it still have a special place in your heart? Yes. Oh, I'm sweating. That was so hot. Mhm. Yes.
13:36
I love all types of wrestling, but Japanese wrestling was my favorite.
13:40
I still watch it to this day. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
13:45
Are Japanese pancakes really as fire as everyone says they are?
13:49
Um, no, they tasted just the same as American pancakes, but a lot of whipped cream on them. If I Wow. Dude, yeah. Woo. Yeah. Yeah. It's going down. Yeah, it's going down. Ah.
14:02
If you were stuck on a desert island Yeah.
14:05
and you could have one anime series with you Oh. one K-pop album Uh-huh.
14:10
and then one movie, what would they be?
14:12
That's so hard cuz I have two, but of course I think Sailor Moon's my number one, but I also love Death Note.
14:18
K-pop album, maybe Big Bang. I love Taeyang. Oh, he's so cute.
14:21
And my favorite movie of all time is Oldboy.
14:26
These are all Asian things. I love Asian people. I'm married to an Asian.
14:31
It all comes full circle. I won. Oh, gosh.
14:39
I'm not ready for you to say, "Are you ready for the next one?"
14:41
All right, so this is Mad Dog 357 with number nine plutonium. What's that? Ugh.
14:53
One time my um my husband bought a hot sauce and he had to sign a waiver just to buy it.
15:00
And you could only use a drop of it in like chili.
15:02
Yeah, some of these like in the on this one I think it has like a whole disclaimer situation. Yeah.
15:07
Just so you signed a waiver for it to buy it?
15:09
No, we just dis- we just ignore those things left and right on this. Oh, god. Let's do it. Mhm. Ooh.
15:21
That's what's kind of good.
15:21
Sometimes just in the soup, you know?
15:25
You know, when it comes to what wrestlers wear, sometimes that's just as important as their finishing move and their attitude.
15:30
So, with that in mind, I want to show you some of the most iconic wrestling looks over the years, and I just want to get your snap reaction.
15:36
The looks that you like, the ones that you don't like, and then maybe afterwards you can crown a king. Does that sound good? Perfect.
15:43
All right, laptop, please. Ah. Yep, yep, yep. Pain. I love pain. See ya. Ric Flair.
15:54
You just knew this guy had money just by his suits and his Is my nose dripping? Yeah, mine. I'm always checking. Oh goodness. Painful.
16:06
Stone Cold Stone Cold hell. Yeah.
16:07
It was so simple, yet badass, that skull. Ah, that vest.
16:13
Man, he is a badass son of a You like that? Thank you. FTW, drink beer.
16:23
Ah, I just looked at that shirt the other day.
16:25
I'm like, what a great shirt, right? Ah, the best. And then? My favorite. Yes. Ah, I love the flames. I love the cross.
16:35
I even loved his gear from WCW. I love Eddie.
16:39
Who do you think had the best look of all time? Doink the Clown? Um, of all time? Ooh, that's hard.
16:43
I would actually have to say Macho Man.
16:45
He was just flashy, out there. I loved his colors.
16:48
If I was a little kid, I would want to be like him. My lips are burning. All right, Sasha Banks. What are you doing?
16:56
You're pouring it on there?
17:03
Here's what I would say, Sasha Banks.
17:05
You're holding up in a way that you are in like a top percentile. Yeah.
17:09
You're like very much, you know, I know that you're a spicy food kind of sore, and you're showing that today.
17:16
Very tough, very strong, but this is the last dab.
17:19
We call it the last dab because it's tradition around here to put a little extra on the last wing.
17:23
You don't have to if you don't want to.
17:28
So, it has the sauce already with an extra? Yeah, with an extra. All right, I'm in it. Little look at the team. tonight?
17:38
We've had many of those looks on this show. All right, a little dab.
17:42
It's always a dance with the devil, the last dab. How's that look? So, I look at that. Textbook. Textbook. All right, Sasha Banks. RIP. I did it. I feel accomplished.
18:12
Hot as hell, but I love spicy foods. I told you, Bailey. I love spicy foods.
18:18
All right, Sasha Banks, whether it's a 30-minute Iron Woman match or choke slamming the Wings of Death on YouTube, you're a woman who's overcome a lot in life and in wrestling.
18:26
But with your back against the ropes, I wonder, what's your message to the hot sauce makers out there?
18:34
What do you have to say to Smoking Ed and all these jabronis who think that they can take Sasha Banks down with the wings? Oh, man.
18:43
I beat you, [ __ ] Sorry. I did. I won. I'm the best. You are the best. tap out. Cuz I'm the legit boss. And we out, right? And we out. And we out.
19:00
If you had to call out another wrestler to go up against the Wings of Death, who would you call out?
19:06
Who wouldn't stand a chance against the last dab? Bailey. Against the bomb. Bailey. sure.
19:12
That girl couldn't even do the first one. You heard that, Bailey. You heard her. You heard her, Bailey.
19:17
And Sasha Banks, look at you, you queen, all the way through.
19:22
Killing the wings, not a drop of sweat.
19:24
So impressive from the other side of the table.
19:27
And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, Sasha Banks.
19:30
This camera, this camera, or this camera.
19:32
Let the people know what you have going on in your life. What?
19:36
I have nothing but wrestling.
19:36
Um we have Raw 25th anniversary coming up January 22nd. I'm so excited.
19:41
And it's so crazy, 25 years and I'm 25.
19:44
It's been on since I've been born, so it's insane.
19:49
Um you can follow me at Sasha Banks WWE on Instagram and Twitter.
19:51
Um keep on supporting me and keep on supporting women's wrestling and uh I love all you guys. So thanks for watching. Good job, Sasha. Good job. Get that rice out. Yes. Veteran move.
20:06
Got to stuff up the stomach. Got a toothache tonight. Gosh.
20:12
Are any of you guys going to the show or you have to work? You should come. I'll I'll go. You want to come? Yeah, I want to come. I'll get you tickets. All right, deal. It's awesome. I'm in. Yay!
20:21
We'll hook that up, right? Perfect. Let's hook that up. Put me on the list. I got you covered.
20:27
Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
20:28
It's Sean Evans and I'm very excited to announce the Hot Ones Hot Sauce box.
20:34
It's a monthly subscription from your friends over at Heat Nest. What's in the box? What's in the box?
20:38
Well, in the box, we have hot sauces from the show, an opportunity to get these labels before anyone else, and then maybe you'll find some treasure.
20:50
Maybe you'll find a secret item.
20:52
Like in January's box, when we had Hot Ones chocolate pow pow.
20:57
How fresh is this product?
20:57
So fresh, I haven't even tweeted it.
21:00
So fresh, in fact, this is the first time holding it in my hands.
21:04
This box can be delivered to you every month.
21:08
The January box is set sail.
21:10
We're bringing February into port.
21:13
No telling what you're going to get, but you're going to get it first.
21:18
It's the Hot Ones Hot Sauce Box, only from Heatness.