Jonathon Coachman at Friday night's Madison Square Garden house show was just the start of a big week for WWE's partnership with ESPN.
Past and present stars will be popping up on the sports network's family of channels all week to hype WrestleMania, and that started in a big way already this morning when Hannah Storm sat down to talk to former WWE and UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar.
The amateur wrestling standout from the University of Minnesota has made an impact on every athletic/entertainment endeavor he's attempted, so there was plenty for Storm and Lesnar to talk about, from his transition from college to WWE and how the money he was offered trumped the fact that he wasn't a pro wrestling fan before they started pursuing him:
To the circumstances behind his leaving the company (including a quote WWE will love: "I was on the road, and I was injured, and I was the champion and I didn't want to quit, I had the 'no quit' attitude and, yeah, Vicodin and vodka were my closest friends - and my closest enemies") to tryout for the National Football League, and how he eventually came to convince Dana White to let him sign with UFC:
Earlier in the morning, he was featured in a much more relaxed segment focused on this Sunday. Hosts Jay Harris and Randy Scott plugged Mania, and Lesnar's Street Fight with Dean Ambrose, although ESPN hasn't released video of that discussion yet:
Dean's just a crazy guy. I think he is legit crazy, that's what's kind of fun about this. This is sports entertainment, but every time I come through the curtain it's real. I bring a real factor to the ring. Being in the ring with Dean and just being around him in the ring and watching him, I really think guy is nuts. I think he's crazy. We're in a street fight on Sunday and I'm looking forward to that. I haven't been in a street fight in a long time, so I'm kinda looking forward to that one.
Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Shane McMahon and Undertaker are scheduled to appear on ESPN later this week as the WWE promotional machine chugs along toward AT&T Stadium.