On December 12, 2022, “Undisputed” had its spiciest segment in the history of the show, where tempers flared massively between Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe. This was the episode where Shannon screamed the iconic “I’m in the effin Hall of Fame.”
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After this heated exchange, it wasn’t entirely clear what the duo’s interaction off-air would have been like. Interestingly, Skip’s latest revelation paints a much friendlier picture.
The tipping point of the outburst between the duo occurred when Shannon felt that Skip implied he was jealous of Tom Brady. And when Sharpe called it out, Skip doubled down by calling Tom the best “in your game”, which indirectly downplayed Shannon’s NFL career.
This led to the Club Shay Shay host screaming about his Hall of Fame achievement and the rest, as we know, is history. While many would have expected this heated on-air discussion to spill off the air during the commercial break, Bayless, in his latest appearance on “Pardon My Take,” cleared up all confusion.
It was business as usual for the 72-year-old analyst as he calmly left the table, went to his small desk, and started prepping for the next debate.
“There was no lingering fight about it when we went to commercial… I tried to show him from day one, that when we go to commercial, I’m letting all of it go. I’m passionate about it, but I also know the show must go on, so l’m gonna walk away for a second as I always did. I walked over to my little desk and I began to prep for our next debate and l let it go.”
The showrunners, however, knew that their on-air argument had blurred professional lines. So they urged the duo to sit down and resolve the issues, which, according to Skip’s statement, was done cordially.
“We had a great talk about it, we hugged and went on to the next day, so we were really good,” Bayless said.
But as we now know, this incident was one of the final nails in the coffin, as Sharpe and the show soon exited Skip’s life.
That said, while many were surprised to see Sharpe buy his way out of the most popular sports talk show at the time, his decision a year later demonstrates how right he was.
Sharpe has grown by leaps and bounds since leaving “Undisputed”
After Sharpe’s exit from the show, many wondered if he would ever reach the same level of popularity in sports media that he had with Skip. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the former tight end not only did but even surpassed his “Undisputed” stint by becoming a certified media analyst elsewhere and launching his own podcast.
Today, Sharpe is arguably the biggest sports media personality, hosting the super successful “Club Shay Shay” podcast, starring on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith, and producing regular content with Ocho on “Nightcap.”
Bayless, meanwhile, has seen his stocks plummet since “Undisputed” got shelved. He no longer finds himself in the spotlight of a major network, nor has the successful social media distribution that Sharpe does.
After Shannon’s exit, if someone had reported today’s reality back then, no one would have believed it. But it is what it is. As Sharpe showed, sometimes, breakups are the best thing that can happen to you.
