Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef

Viva Las Vegas!

It's an exciting day as Netflix is live around the world.

Today, the two greatest competitive eaters of all time,

Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi,

rekindle one of the biggest rivalries

in sports history...

...and it will all go down here,

at the Luxor Resort and Casino inside the HyperX Arena Las Vegas.

Two champions, both hungry for victory,

will settle their beef once and for all.

To call Kobayashi my nemesis, it doesn't do the rivalry justice.

I would be happy and honored

if the viewers think of this match

like a showdown between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

He was an amazing champion, until he started losing.

I thought he should show some respect, like a gentleman.

He couldn't tolerate being next to me. That's not champion behavior.

After taking 2007 off due to an arthritic jaw,

Kobayashi plans to reclaim the title.

He has a jaw injury. He has arthritis of the jaw.

He has "jaw-thritis."

He's a liar. He was playing up his injury.

Right after I qualified and broke his record,

he says he has the jaw injury.

Then he ends up eating more hot dogs than he ever did before.

It didn't add up quite right.

When I heard Joey saying

my jaw problem was fake,

I got really upset.

Nobody likes being called a liar,

but when you do it, you're gonna get called it.

People seem to think that

Joey actually may be cheating a little bit.

I've definitely witnessed some cheating, yeah.

I'm not the judge. It's the judge's call.

- Is he a good athlete? - No. Not at all.

He used to be my main rival, but I kind of retired him.

- Okay. - There you go.

If you ask him about every loss, he'll give you an excuse.

He's making stuff up in his own head.

There's no more excuses. I'm always gonna beat him.

This is the first time that my personal feelings are involved.

I want to kick his ass!

- Oh, yes! Can you believe it? - Right?

Yes!

It is getting personal around here.

Unfinished Beef.

Hello, everybody.

I'm Rob Riggle,

and I am so happy to be MCing a show that combines my two great loves:

Vegas and hot dogs.

Apologies to my kids.

My fabulous cohost today is an accomplished athlete herself.

WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Garcia, everybody!

Thank you, Rob. Thank you, everyone.

I'm so happy to be here.

And in just about 40 minutes...

Oh, I love you too.

...these two undisputed heavyweights of competitive eating

will be standing on this stage, devouring hot dogs at unimaginable speeds.

And you know what? You're all just gonna have to see it to believe it.

That's right. That's right.

Two thousand four hundred hot dogs have been cooked in the last month

to get ready for this moment.

Three hundred hot dogs will be prepared for today's main event alone.

That is a lot of encased meat.

It is going to be glorious, and perhaps a little gross.

That's right.

But, you know, Rob, that's not the only competition happening here today.

Nice! That's called a tease in the show business game.

That's right, we're taking the action poolside

with two other greats in the sport,

competitive eater Matt Stonie...

Mm-hmm. Yes.

That's right.

He will battle three Olympic medalists.

And 23-time Guinness World Record holder Leah Shutkever

will try to set yet another eating world record live.

And these USC students rocked Allegiant Stadium last night,

and now they're here to help hype up this crowd,

so hit it!

Joey Chestnut!

Yes!

- All right! - Whoa.

I mean, what a great way to get the energy going for this live event.

Let's hear it again for the USC Band.

- Yeah. - Whoo!

All right, now let's meet the team calling the action of today's main event,

Chris Rose and Cari Champion!

- Hey, guys! - Hello!

- Nikki, Rob, thank you, oh, so much. - Thank you.

- Ah, Cari, in our respective careers... - Yes.

...we've had the good fortune of covering some of the world's biggest events, right?

Super Bowl, NBA Finals.

- You covered the fight game in Vegas. - Right. Not too long ago.

Actually, about ten years ago, 2015, not far from here.

- Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather. - Mm-hmm.

And there's a lot of poetry with the two.

Let me explain. This is my logic here.

In that particular fight,

there was the moment that we had to determine the undisputed champion.

Very much as the case here.

Chestnut, Kobayashi.

Who is the undisputed champion when it comes to competitive eating?

We will find out today because there is unfinished beef.

Yeah. When it comes to this world,

you're talking about the Mt. Rushmore of competitive eating.

There aren't four faces out there. It's two. It's Kobayashi. It's Chestnut.

Most likely those faces

- are full of food, is my guess. - Filled with food.

And their relationship is frosty at times, it has been hateful,

and that has carried through to this Labor Day weekend.

- Don't you think? - Yeah.

I think that, as we just talked about a moment ago,

we had a chance to talk to these guys this weekend. There is no love lost.

We can clearly see who likes who and who doesn't like who.

I really believe that Joey has some sort of respect,

but the fact is he called Kobayashi a liar, and he does not like it.

So, I know when they were weighing in, Joey extended his hand.

He said, "Let me try to shake your hand." Kobayashi was like, "Yeah. Okay."

- "If we are doing this, I will do it." - Well, they did it. Uh-huh.

And you know what? Two seconds, shoutout to the crowd in here right now.

Because they are here to hype up these people to do what they do best.

- I love it! - That's right.

It is all coming your way in about 40 minutes or so.

We are in Vegas so we're talking about a "Tale of the Tape."

Let's remember that there's 100 grand on the line for the winner today.

- That's a nice bag. - That is something special.

But we are in Vegas, so let's see it. A pair of 40-somethings.

One guy in Joey Chestnut, 40 years old, from suburban Indianapolis.

46-year-old Kobayashi from Japan. You can see the weight difference.

Joey Chestnut outweighs his opponent by nearly 65 pounds.

A 3rd grader.

That's about the size of a third grader. You're right, Cari.

All right. But look at the bottom line.

Personal best in 10 minutes

of hot-dog eating.

For Joey Chestnut, 76 dogs consumed.

- Wow. - Kobayashi, just 64 and a half.

That happened back in 2009, his last Nathan's appearance,

which coincidentally he finished second to...

- The guy. The main guy. - ...Joey Chestnut.

Speaking of Joey Chestnut,

he told me that he cares about the taste of everything he's having.

So in case you're curious at home, it is Labor Day, you are eating.

They're having Ball Park beef frankfurters wrapped up in a Great Value bun.

Combined, each hot dog and bun is cooked about maybe 89.2 grams.

That's the weight of it if you will, 280 calories.

Take a look at it right there. Preparation is key.

That's roughly three ounces, right?

You can see it. It's a serious thing.

Can you hear the crowd?

- They're going, "Mm!" - They're buzzing.

- They love it. - They love it. They want a hot dog.

All right, listen, it is time to at least get a small look

at who we want to see, and that is Joey Chestnut.

There's been so much conversation about:

Is he ready? Will he be the definitive champion?

There he is sitting in his dressing room.

Locked in, listening to music.

Not necessarily doing any jaw exercises

as we thought he would be doing, Jaws himself.

But he's in a... Yeah, he's locked in.

He's in the zone.

Definitely the main ingredient that's helped him build

one of the most impressive careers in competitive eating history.

So let's find out a little more about his entire career.

He is your hot-dog eating champion, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut!

If I could talk to my 9-year-old self

and tell him that he was gonna be the world champion competitive eater,

he'd say, "Oh, my God, my life is awesome."

Joey Chestnut is a hot-dog eating genius.

The hot-dog eating champion.

Joey Chestnut? He's my hero.

The first contest I did, I was nervous.

I was so scared.

I remember once the contest started, I was like, "I don't have to hold back."

I felt a weird kind of...

It sounds dorky... freedom, to be myself.

As a young man, watching the dominance of Kobayashi,

Joey felt the calling to compete against the best.

Kobayashi!

Takeru Kobayashi, he's the reason why I went all in on competitive eating.

He is a master!

He was the man with the target on him. He was unbeatable.

He is a magician!

I had to make a decision early on that I was gonna do something

- nobody else thought was possible. - Kobayashi is an alchemist!

I did my first contest in 2005, competing against Kobayashi

in Nathan's 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

For the past month, I've been eating hot dogs every Saturday.

I was four months into competitive eating, I placed third.

Kobayashi won that contest.

Takeru Kobayashi!

The next year, 2006, I placed second.

Kobayashi was seemingly unbeatable.

The top-ranked eater in the world.

But I used it as motivation to push myself.

And the third year...

2007...