Remove the Old Pop-Up Drain Stopper

What happens here

The first actionable step in replacing a bathtub drain stopper is to remove the existing one. For a typical pop-up style drain stopper, this is usually accomplished by pushing it down firmly into the drain, rotating it counter-clockwise to disengage its locking mechanism, and then pulling it upwards and out of the drain opening. This frees up access to the underlying drain flange.

Goal: Extract the existing pop-up drain stopper.