1. The WWE’s Paul Heyman had a wild appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show Monday.
Heyman brought up the lawsuit against ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe, which became public just a few hours earlier. He accused McAfee of bashing Stephen A. Smith. And he mixed it up with fans in the crowd as McAfee was doing his WWE World show following WrestleMania.
Every ESPN executive just had a heart attack. pic.twitter.com/WSrybUEhRO
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) April 21, 2025
JEEZE LOUISE @HeymanHustle 😂😂 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/03hlaTQHa3
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 21, 2025
Where you stand on Heyman saying all that stuff on ESPN’s airwaves is subjective. Some people were offended. Some people thought it was in bad taste. Some people took it as pure entertainment. Some people took it as a wrestling character performing in character.
What can’t be argued, though, is that people tuned in via YouTube.
As of 10:30 am ET on Tuesday, the Heyman interview has tallied 425,000 views on McAfee’s YouTube page. The video of McAfee’s full Monday show has 585,000 views.
I went back and looked at the numbers on the past 50 videos posted to McAfee’s YouTube page. The most-viewed video, which featured the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport talking about Shedeur Sanders, drew 505,000 viewers. The next highest total on the page was 285,000 for a video of McAfee discussing quarterback Nico Iamaleava leaving Tennessee.
The Iamaleava video is a week old and the Sanders video is two weeks old. Heyman has generated his numbers in just 24 hours.
So, like I said on Friday regarding McAfee’s interviews with Aaron Rodgers, no matter where you stand on ESPN’s partnership with McAfee, you can’t deny that controversy equals cash. And McAfee knows how to do to controversy better than anyone. Except Paul Heyman.
2. Hopefully McAfee was able to enjoy the big success of his Heyman interview because hours later he got choked out on Monday Night Raw.
3. Shaq had to leave the Inside the NBA set Monday night because of what appeared to be stomach issues, and Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith handled the incident exactly how you would expect.
Shaq had to hustle out of Studio J 🤣😅 pic.twitter.com/HcAXHjqUki
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 22, 2025
4. Ian Eagle and Grant Hill had an excellent exchange about their NCAA tournament partner, Bill Raftery, during Monday’s Detroit Pistons–New York Knicks game.
Grant Hill: "He was pleading like you and I pleading with (Bill) Raftery, 'Can we leave the bar and go back to the hotel?'... 'Please, Raft! Can we leave?!'"
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 22, 2025
Ian Eagle: "You can't. Have you been out with the man?"
Hill: "My liver is detoxing after spending a month with Raft." pic.twitter.com/td83rWlwAC
5. I’ve covered the WWE and Shaq already. Now, here is Shaq talking about being upset about getting confirmation that wrestling is fake AS AN ADULT.
“It actually was a sad day for me.”
— The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) April 21, 2025
- Shaq when he realized the WWE wasn’t real 💔 pic.twitter.com/nd8CsRRDBd
6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with TNT's Charles Barkley.
Barkley reveals whether he’s happy with TNT’s decision to continue Inside the NBA, but air it on ESPN, explains why he’s still upset with how TNT has handled things and lays down the law about how much he’s going to work going forward and why he has no interest in fulfilling the final seven years of his contract.
Barkley also expresses regret over recently saying, “Y’all got some big b----es here” regarding San Antonio women, shares his frustrations over Stephen A. Smith’s possible presidential run, weighs in on the NBA playoffs and explains why the Los Angeles Lakers have no shot to win the NBA Finals.
Following Barkley, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins the show for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include the Masters, the Kansas City Chiefs getting their request to be the traditional Christmas Day team turned down and a great new WrestleMania doc. In addition, I reads March Apple reviews for SI Media With Jimmy Traina.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 88th birthday to Jack Nicholson.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as WWE’s Paul Heyman Drew a Ton of Eyeballs to ESPN With Controversial Interview.
