Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #100 - AJ Lee's Return, Smashing Machine Review - Is it The Rock's Best Performance?, What's Next For AJ Styles

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

Grab a CVV Micro Brawler! - https://cvvmerch.comWelcome to AskCVV #100! Wow! What a huge number! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet gives his full review of The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt and answers questions about AJ Lee's WWE return, what her next feud will be, whether John Cena or Brock Lesnar will win at Wrestlepalooza, what AJ Styles is going to do before he retires, WWE's recent list of the most indestructible Superstars in history, the greatest wrestling video game of all time and much more!Quote I'm thinking about: "I know some days feel impossible, but they are not. One foot in front of the other, forward, never backwards,. You moving forward IS A SUCCESS! Believe in YOU! You got this, I have this, we all have this!!!" - Dustin RhodesPlease support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux   SUPERPOWER: Go to https://Superpower.com and use code CVV to get $50 Off your annual Superpower subscription. Live up to your 100-Year potential. #superpowerpod   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 20% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insightFAST GROWING TREES: Get 15% off with code INSIGHT at https://fastgrowingtrees.com   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris The Welcome back to another one here on Inside. It is I, the three numbers in the back of your credit card. CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being a real one

and for hanging out with me on a Friday. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on planet Earth. Hit a hurricane run on that follow button wherever you're listening to this. And I know you hear me say that on every episode.

I throw a fun move in there. but seriously, could you check at some point this weekend to see if you're actually following the show? It's one of the most helpful things that you could do for the show to grow. And the bigger the show gets, the bigger the guests can get. And speaking of that, I'm in Las Vegas right now for the big Canello versus Crawford fight tomorrow night at Allegiance Stadium. And because I know you're going to ask, I'm going with Canello on this one. My bookie has him as the favorite. I'm going with Canello.

But because it's the TKO event, a lot of WWE superstars are in town for it. So we've already done a few interviews already. I actually did an interview yesterday with Tuesday's guest. Should I say who Tuesday's guest is? Yeah, of course I should say who it is. We've already recorded the interview. It's such a good one. I can't wait for you to hear this.

Stephanie Vakere will be the guest on Tuesday. She is awesome. And this is an episode that you do not. want to miss. I'm pumped about it. A lot of you have been asking me about micro-brawlers. Yes, they're still available, and I've made it far easier for you to get your hands on them. We set up the website, CVV-V-Murch.com. So, CVV-M-R-C-H, CVV-Murch.com. So you can go there, and you can pick from either the regular version or one of the very few remaining chase variants that are left. So hopefully by the time you go to CVV-Murch.com, there still is

a chase variant for you to grab on there. But this is the big one today. And I am so proud to say, welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 100, the century edition. Man, I can't believe we've done 100 Ask CVVs. This is wild. And just thank you for being on this journey with me, whether this is the first Asked CVV you've ever listened to or if you've been around. since those really not so good ones early on.

Ask CVV1 through 10-ish. We were just really ironing things out. We were just figuring out what worked and what didn't. And I just love that we do this every Friday now. It's so much fun. If you have a question for next week for Ask CVV number 101, man, I can't believe we're in the hundreds, but Ask CVV number 101.

Leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify. send it in on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV or shoot me an email. CVV at ChrisFamfleet.com. If you are listening on Spotify, just leave the word jam. Just leave the word jam so we know that you're with us and you're paying attention here. Let's dive into this. Lots going on this week. So and a lot of questions here as well.

This first one comes from Joe. Aesthetics underscore on Instagram. Hey, CVV, I wanted your take on this. It might be an unpopular opinion. I love that AJ Lee is back in WWE. I saw she signed a new contract. I just keep thinking there's not many possible storylines she can go off of. I thought that she would just come back to team of CM Punk, and that would be it.

Oh, my friend, I think you are so wrong about this. This was a huge return. Huge. She hadn't been in WWE in over 10 years. She announced her retirement. over 10 years ago. Last time she was in WWE was 10 years, five months and seven days ago,

to be exact, 3,800, and 12 days in total. And there's the obvious storyline here with Russell Paloza in the mixed tag match and Triple H said it this week that he said it on the Pat McAfee show that this is the biggest mixed tag match since WrestleMania 34, Ronda Rousey's debut.

I actually, I mean, if you think about that, that was seven and a half years ago, I can't off the top of my head think of a better, bigger mixed tag match. I mean, that one was just stacked. So there's that. This is the obvious match. The match that comes after that is also just as obvious. We're going to see A.J. Lee versus Becky Lynch at some point. There's no other reason for this mixed tag match.

And then on top of that, no other reason for. for A.J. Lee to basically steal the women's intercontinental championship and be skipping around with it. So we've already got that storyline right there. That may turn into more than one match. That may turn into a program that's several matches. So I like this already. But when A.J. Lee left the company in 2015, things have changed a lot since then. W.W.E. did not have the women's Royal Rumble, the women's money in the bank, women's elimination chamber, women's hell in a cell, women's championship, women's world championship, women's intercontinental championship, women's U.S. championship, women's tag team championship.

So in the last 10 years, it's just great to go out and read off that list and just realize of the massive strides that have happened since the women's evolution, like, really took over. but there's a lot of different things that AJ Lee can do that she just didn't have the option to do when she left in 2015. So there's a lot, a lot of meat on the bone here and so many different things for her to do. Like just look how many new superstars are in WWE that she didn't have a chance to work with 10 years ago. Are you telling me you wouldn't be excited for AJ Lee versus Ria Ripley? A.J. Lee versus Tiffany. Stratton, A.J. Lee versus Stephanie Vakere, A.J. Lee versus literally anybody else. There is so much here.

And I can't wait. The return was, what a reaction. And I've said this many times before. There's something special about the Allstate Arena. The ceiling is lower. It's made of wood. It just keeps the sound in. So that's why, I mean, the pop was already going to be massive. for CM Punk when he returned to Survivor Series in 2023. The pop here for AJ Lee was going to be massive as well. But there's just, it's an added element

of just the way that building is constructed. It's also the same building where the infamous Charlotte Flair and Tiffany promo happened. And I was there for that episode of Smackdown. I couldn't hear a single word coming out of either of their mouths because it was just so loud. The booze were just so loud in there.

So like all of those factors together, AJ not being in WWE for 10 and a half years, the fact that it's Chicago, the fact that it's that building specifically, the fact that it's part of this bigger storyline that has CM Punk involved, all of that together made this return just so special and so perfect. I love that she is back. And that leads us right into this one here from Adam Courtier. error. I hope I'm saying that right, on Facebook. With the CM Punk slash WWE beef seemingly now squashed, after her run, does A.J. Lee finally get inducted into the Hall of Fame. I think the answer for this is a very simple, of course. Yes. I think there's no question about that with the career that she's had up to this point, up to when she retired in 2015, and then the career potential that she has moving forward from here. She was such a huge part of the storylines in the early 2010s. She's a three-time WWE Divas champion.

That's the world record tied with Eve Torres for having the divas championship the most times. She's just so revolutionary in what she did. And that was an era where it was tough to stand out with your actual in-ring ability. They were not a lot of people. during the divas era that were given time. But she was so good at taking the small amount of time that she was given, taking the storylines that she was given,

and making the most of them. And just great to see her back. The answer to your question, simply put, yes. Michael Griffin on Instagram says, yo, CVV! What do you think Triple H was hinting at when he said, you can always come home? So what Michael's talking about here is when AJ,

when AJ Lee returned, Triple H posted a photo on social media saying, it's the pointing photo, like the, you know, she's back, that type of thing. And the caption said, you can always come home, welcome back at AJ Melendez. And I saw people speculating that, like, oh, that was like a message.

Like he's sending that message out to somebody who doesn't work for WWE anymore. And maybe, possibly, I guess. Or he could just be, like saying, hey, it's been over a decade since you were here, but the door was always open, welcome back home. That could also be the interpretation here. But if we are going to follow this wild speculation down this rabbit hole, and why not? It sounds like fun. I think that they're, the top names that I saw, and who knows if these people are ever going to wrestle anywhere else,

but the top names that I saw of like, oh, maybe Triple H was hinting about these people. Maybe he was sending a message to some of these people. The top names I saw were John Moxley, Mercedes Monet, and Adam Copeland. But maybe. I don't know. I mean, I suppose it's possible. I mean, anything can happen in the wild world of pro wrestling. It's possible. But I think when you really look at the names of people who used to be in WWE and are not anymore, the list is quite long. Like the list is very long. People that are now in A.W. People that are now in TNA. People that are just doing their thing on the indie. Shout out to Matt Cardona. I think that there's just this idea in WWE of like if you were in WWE at some point in time and everything lines up

and it works out and both parties are interested in this, then yes, there's the option to return to WWE or in Triple H's words here, quote, to come back home. I don't think that this was a specific message to anyone saying, like, this is a thing that's going to happen. But the great thing about wrestling is that on any given week and any given event, there's always the possibility of a surprise return. And I don't really think there's any in the pipeline right now. but who knows? The Royal Rumble is right around the corner. And I just feel like there could be one or two at that point in time where some contracts may have opened up.

And I'm just curious. I guess we'll see what happens around that point in time. But I don't think this was like a direct message. Connor Wolf Flanagan on Instagram says, Ask CVV number 100. How was the Smashing Machine? Was it the Rock's best performance? So I saw the Smashing Machine earlier this week.

I saw it on Tuesday at a screening because I'm doing an interview with the real life smashing machine Mark Kerr. He's going to be on the show in the next few weeks. What a fascinating story he has. And I can't wait. for him to be on the show. I can't wait for you to check out that episode. I can't wait to just hear what he thinks about his thoughts on the movie and also his thoughts on the way that

Dwayne Johnson played him. So this is for sure the best performance of the Rock's career. I can confidently say that. I think that up until this point, I think his best performance was actually in Ballers. I thought that that was the character that just allowed him to have the most depth with his acting ability and just the character that he was able to really sink his teeth into. Rock disappears in this movie. And some of it is the prosthetics. And you've seen that in the photos for the Smashing Machine. You've seen it in the trailer. But he walks like Mark Kerr. He talks like Mark Kerr with a little bit of that Midwest Ohio accent that Mark Kerr has. like if you if you haven't seen the new trailer for smash machine which came out earlier this week

take a look at just the first 30 seconds of it it opens up with the rock playing mark cur at a press conference and he's just speaking to the audience and i think it's the first real time like you've seen other clips of him talking about it's the first real time when you can really see like oh wow like he he sounds like him here too i i i i truly think that this is the defining role of the Rock's dramatic career. I don't think that anybody else could have played Mark Kerr as convincingly. I think the movie itself is very solid. I think it's a really good movie. It's a slice of life for Mark Kerr between 1997 and 2000, a very specific time in his life when he was in the Pride Grand Prix, this big tournament was happening

in Japan. And it's just, it's very raw. It is very real. It deals with some heavy, heavy topics. And The Rock tackles this all with such ease. And I know that there have been a lot of people that have said about The Rock, and I'm sure he's seen the comments online of like The Rock just plays himself in every movie. This could not be further from The Rock playing The Rock. And it's just so amazing to see.

Will The Rock get an Oscar nomination? I think that that's been the big talk here. And I think with A24, the movie studio, debuting this at Venice and then going on from there to the Toronto International Film Festival, that's like the start of an award series run. I don't know who the other competition would be in that category, which would be best actor.

But I think that he's very deserving. Like, it's unbelievable the work that he's put into this. And also, the fighting scenes are so realistic. And, like, that's something that in a movie about an MMA fighter's career, like, it has to look real. It has to feel authentic. And there were somewhere, like, either Rock or some of the other actors are just, like, smashing their opponent's faces in.

And I'm like, man, how do they film that? Like, it just looked so real in those scenes. but I think that depending on what the competition is, yeah, there's a chance. The Rock could get nominated for an Oscar or the Rock could get nominated for a Golden Globe or Critics' Choice Award. I also think that the film has the ability to be nominated for Best Hair and Makeup. Like, one of the things that blew me away so much is there's a scene later on in the movie where Mark Kerr shaves his head. So the rock shaves his head. As he's doing it, he's sitting in a barber's chair.

And I'm thinking, oh, man, as soon as he shaves his head, he's just going to look like the rock. And just the way that the prosthetics made his face look, he has the cauliflower ear. He still looked like what Mark Kerr looked like at that time. And it's just such a testament to how great the makeup was. So I think there's a real potential for that. I think the way that this was shot, it's beautifully shot, incredible cinematat. There's a possibility it could get a nomination there. Maybe it gets nominated for editing. Like if you have the chance to see this when it comes out on October 3rd, take that chance.

Go see this movie. And I think that you will thoroughly enjoy this. And you will be so impressed by the Rock's performance in this. And keep an eye out for my interview with Mark Kerr. I believe it'll be that week. I think as the plan is right now, Now, the movie comes out October 3rd. I think we're going to put this interview with Mark Kerr out on October 2nd. So keep an eye out for that one. This episode is brought to you by fast-growing trees. Fall is planting season. And did you know that many plants and trees actually do better when they're planted this time of year?

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Get in on the action. Download the app today and use the code Insight to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code Insight to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It's good to be right. An email from Connor D who says, What do you think has been the most defining moment for John Sina and the retirement tour? Does he also beat Brock Lesnar at Russell Palo? Thank you for all these interviews as they helped me to get through my final semester of college. I love all of your work.

I look forward to every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Real, real one here, Connor. Well, thank you, Connor, and best of luck to you in your final semester of college. You got a few questions here. So we'll start with the first one. What has been the defining moment of John Sinez retirement tour? I still think the defining moment, like the moment that we will look back on that will be in like highlight reels, five years, 10 years, 20 years from now will be the facial expression

when he turned heel at elimination chamber. Of course, when the run is actually over, there will, I'm sure, be some beautiful moment in the ring right after his final match. That will also be one of the defining moments, but that hasn't happened yet. So I can't speak to that yet, although I'm sure that will be one of the moments. John Cena's heel run may still be quite. questionable, but the heel turn itself, I think is the biggest moment from this entire, not just his retirement run, but this entire year of wrestling. Like, that is one of the biggest, most shocking moments. The fallout after that, yeah, but I think that that's going to be the moment.

And I just, why are, like, why are people acting like the matches during his heel run were bad? like they were objectively good. Sina versus Orton, banger. The feud with Art Truth, I thought was fantastic. The match with CM Punk, great. The match at Money in the Bank, maybe the weakest one of this whole thing, like of the PLE matches for sure.

But I think the actual in-ring performance, like bell to bell during the heel run, don't get enough credit at all. My favorite match of the year so far is the SummerSlam match. It's John Cena versus Cody, too. That match had everything. I loved it. Close second, and I know that this is an unpopular opinion because people don't like him,

but that match with Logan Paul was, I think it exceeded all expectations. And I know that saying nice things about Logan Paul makes people very upset. But how could you not enjoy that match with Logan Paul at Clash and Paris? Moving on to your next question here. Does he also beat Brock Lesnar at Russell Palozo? I don't know. And the odds on this are like super tight. And I just, I think that if John Cena loses some more matches,

whenever whoever his opponent ends up being for the final match, it just has to be meaningful. Because I'm of the belief that John Cena is going to go out laying on his back. That seems to be what the greats do is you go out putting someone else over. If John Cena loses at Russell Paloza and then he loses at Crown Jewel and then he loses at Survivor's Series, I'm not saying that's going to happen. But if that happens to be how this goes, then like, What are the odds? What are the stakes?

What does it mean in that last match if he's coming off of this losing streak? So he needs to pick up some wins between now and that final match for that final match to like mean something. Obviously it's going to mean a ton, right? It's John Cena's last match. So whoever his opponent is, they have the honor of having John Cena's last match. And in my opinion, they will have the honor of beating John Cina in his last match. But if I just.

don't know what either person really gains here. Brock Lezzer or John Sina in this match. Is Brock Lezzer back in a full-time capacity? After this one-off match or seemingly one-off match with John Sina, does he go start another program with somebody else? Does he start another feud with somebody else? Does Brock Lezzer disappear and we don't see him for months? Do we finally get the Brock Lezzer-Gunther feud that we were supposed to get two years ago? That's actually my opinion. I think that's where we're going to go with this. Does that happen early next year that leads us into WrestleMania? Yeah, I feel like maybe that's where we're going with this, as I'm saying this out loud. But if that's the case, I don't know, Brock Lezzard doesn't need a win here.

John Cena, he doesn't really need a win either. But I think that logically, if we're putting our wrestling logic hat on right now, I think. that John Sina getting the win here makes more sense. And Brock Lesnar kind of has John Sina's number, far more wins over John Sina. And the win, one of the wins that John Sina only has two wins against Brock Lazzar. They've fought each other, wrestle each other six times. Two and four is John Sina's record. One of those wins is a disqualification wins.

So like I think that John Sina, who would make sense for him. to get the win and then to take this momentum into wherever we go from here. But I honestly, I don't know. And I'm curious to see if we get any sort of inclination of like, do we see Brock Lesnar again between now and Russellaloosa? Probably not. And we know that we won't see John Cena again. That wasn't even a John Cena joke.

That wasn't even what I was lining up here. But we know that John Cena only has a handful of appearances left. And after Russell Palozo, we don't see. We will not have another appearance from John Cena until October 11th, crown jewel in Perth. Then we get Ron Boston, November 10th. Rod, MSG, Madison Square Garden, New York City, November 17. Survivor Series November 29th, then the retirement match, December 13th.

I've seen the chatter online. I just want to make it clear. The location for John Cena's retirement match has not been announced yet. We know it's not happening in Boston because WWB made it very clear that his last appearance in Boston would be on November 10th. That's it. So it's definitely not happening on December 13th. there have been whispers that it's going to be Washington, D.C.

But just to make it clear, that has not been officially announced yet by WWE. I'm not saying it's not happening or that it's unlikely, but just to be clear, that that part has not been officially announced. But so I don't think, I don't think we see Brock Leszor between now and then. So it's just, I don't know, there's nothing more to go off of other than Brock Leser coming out and interrupting that wonderful match we had on Smackdown, John Cena's final Smackdown match will go down as a no contest. Sammy Zane versus John Cena, what a classic that was, ends in a no contest, which will, I think, be a fun little trivia fact many years to come from now.

Who was John Cena's last opponent on Smackdown and what was the result of the match? We remember it now, but will you remember that? 2049. I guess we'll see. I'll see you in 2049. Sam. Dot underscore. Ward underscore. Love that, Sam. This is on Instagram. What is your top A.W. and WW dream match. So this is, if we were to have a match between someone from A.A.W. versus someone from W. My top one, this is my top personal pick, not like what the world would want to see me personally i'd want to see set ralins versus will osprey because i just man both of those guys are some of the very best wrestlers in the world right now and seeing them together and just the magic that they could make that would be amazing i'll give

you a runner up and i think that this is a popular answer in like the what if if if it was actually possible if there was an actual forbidden door that didn't have any rules and we could see anyone from any company, Russell anybody from any other company. Kenny Omega versus Seth Rollins. Oh, my goodness. Ha!

It would be so great. It would be so great. Those are my two. There's plenty of other matches. I'd love to see, but those are my two. And then you're in this scenario, you're also talking about two people, Will Osprey and Kenny Omega

who've never been signed to WWE before. And yes, I know Kenny Omega was signed to a WWE developmental deal in 2005. He wrestled in Deep South, but never wrestle like in WWE, was never on a WWE main roster contract. So, like, to have someone like Seth Rollins who

could just have a great match with anybody against two of the very best in the world, that's it for me. If you have a better answer or whatever your answer is, I would love to hear it. Put in the comments, send me an email, whatever it is. I love the idea of like the what if, even if it's completely hypothetical and may never happen.

I just love the idea of like, what would that match look like? This is from Roger McFly on Instagram. McFly! Think McFly! Well, back to the future reference there. Hey, Chris, a few months back, you had AJ Styles in the show. Yes, I did. One of my favorite interviews of the year. And he mentioned that he's winding down his career. He also said that he had a specific direction

in mind for his retirement and that fans would be able to recognize it if it started to play out. With that in mind, and considering how AJ's booking hasn't always lived up to what he's capable of, what do you think that retirement plan could be? Any guesses on what story or sendoff he might have envisioned or maybe some of his dream matches that he'd hope he could make happen before calling it a career. A lot of great questions there. So if you haven't checked out the interview with AJ Styles yet, I loved it. And AJ is one of my absolute favorites. AJ said that he doesn't want to wrestle past his 50th birthday.

He just turned 48 this summer. So we've got a little less than two years left. And AJ's like, no, I promise you. I will not wrestle past 50. It seems like we might be getting the beginning of what he was talking about with what we saw on Raw. This promo that he cut during the commercial break, it just felt like it was very authentic. It felt like it was one of those like worked shoot promos where like you're saying a lot of things that we know are real, but this is also possible.

possibly in storyline. But he raised a lot of good points. He was talking about Gallo's and Anderson who don't work for WWE anymore. He's talking about how like nobody has his back and that somebody has it out for him. This is probably like a 0.1% chance of this actually being true. But man, I would love for this to somehow end up with a match with John Cena. and I think that Sina, I mean,

Sina and Logan Paul did a lot of different superstars moves during their match at Clash in Paris. But I feel like John was very intentional with that Stiles clash. And the crowd loved it and gave that incredible reaction. And I just like, it's amazing to me how much Paris and Leon and just France in general loves AJ Styles.

I think there was a real, missed opportunity last week on Raw. AJ Styles comes out to that incredible reception. He is phenomenal, the chanting, the singing. What a beautiful moment. How can you not be romantic about pro wrestling? I loved it. I think there was a real missed opportunity there for AJ Styles to win the

Intercontinental Championship. And maybe they didn't have the insurance in that building because the roof would have blown off that place. if AJ Styles won the Intercontinental Championship. Maybe that's it. I don't know. But it just felt like that was AJ's audience. And I would love to ask him the next time he's on. I would love to ask him, like, what is it about the French audience?

What is it about the audience in France specifically that just loves you? Is it just a massive respect for the career that you've built? Or is there something deeper than that to it? But I think there was a real missed opportunity to have him win the I.C. title, even if it was just a brief championship run, even if we just had it for a few weeks or, yeah, until like Russell Palozo or something like that. I just think that those are those moments

that we think about and talk about a lot as fans of like, you're tuning into Raw, you're tuning into SmackDown, you're tuning into Dynamite, you're tuning into Impact, whatever it happens to be. And like, I think for a long time, there was just this expectation set of like,

well, it's a weekly show, so like, they're just going to build to the premium live event slash pay-per-view. And that's when the stuff actually happens on the big event. And I just think that this would be another nice reminder of like, this is why you have to watch every single week. And also, we're going to give you what you want. Like, even if AJ Styles went to the ring in that match with Dominic Mysterio, and the plan was for Dominic Mysterio. And the plan was for Dominic Mysterio to go over, how could you not listen to that crowd and make a game time decision of like, hey, tell the referee, AJ's going over now and like make that game time decision. I would have loved to see that.

But I can't even guess right now what the actual storyline arc will be for AJ as he starts to wind down his career. I don't know. but it seems to me like we're getting a little bit of a different a j we had like comical fun a j for the last few months and it was great and i think that it just continues to show why a j's one of the best like in the ring obviously incredible we know that but like his character work is just amazing and and the funny thing is and we talked about this when a jay was on the show his character work in TNA was not that great. It actually took him going to Japan for him to like really get that

out of him and like figure out who he was as a character. And I just love how many layers there are to what he does now. And we saw that with the buildup to this Dominic Mysterio match and the disguises. And I was silly and it was fun and it was so entertaining. And I love it. Feels like he's turning into something else here. I'll be very, I'm very excited to see where it goes from here. But just keep in mind, it's not like AJ's retiring next month or at the end of this year or something. We've still got some time here, okay? So if we've got a little less than two years of AJ Styles, let's appreciate it. And I'm not saying he's going to retire like at 49 years old and 364 days.

Maybe not. Maybe he does retire at some point next year. This is all up in the air. We're just speculating wild here, wildly here. But I'm excited to see what's next for AJ because he has not lost a step at all. And it's amazing that he can still go the way that he can go. Tristan Washington on Spotify. Hey, CVV, what do you think about Raw moving to 7 p.m.?

Why the change? And you're right. we're so used to seeing it at 8 p.m. Eastern and beginning this next raw. So on Monday, raw will now start at seven for as I believe it's for the remainder of the football season. And the straight up reason that I can see and the only reason that it's happening is so they're not going head to head with Monday night football. So that at least for the first hour, they're doing their own thing. And this really speaks to, kind of just the message WWE has been saying for the last many years of like our competition is

everything else. Like our competition is anything else that you could want to be entertained by. And Monday Night Football is a massive show. Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football are every single week some of the most watched television programs of the week. So I can understand the idea of like, all right, let's try not to go ahead. head to head with them for the entire duration of the game. So you get that first hour. And I'm actually, I wonder how that hour is going to break down. Like, is that hour going to be filled with like all the musty stuff?

And then like, is there going to be like some sort of, I believe the Monday night game started 820, right? So is there going to be something like 810ish, 815ish that's going to make you need to stay on raw and not if you're inclined? to go over and watch Monday night football. It's partly that. And it's also, where does Monday night football air? It airs on ESPN slash ABC. And if ESPN is in this partnership with WWE, they want as many people watching their stuff as possible here is what I would think.

So I think there's a lot of different elements to it. But yes, for this Monday, Rob begins at 7 o'clock. And I don't know if everybody's, aware of that. So just keep that in mind if you go to watch it. Jimmy Makenson on Facebook. Yo, CVV. What did you think of the WWE most indestructible list they put out this week? Some of the names made sense, but others were laughable. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Keep up the great work with the pod. So yeah, WWE put out this YouTube video where they ranked the most indestructible superstars in history. I'll get you. I'll get you. I'll

you the list here. And you, then we'll talk about it. Because some of these, yeah, they definitely make a lot of sense. And some of them, you're like, I don't know about that. Number one, The Undertaker. Number two, Brock Lesnar. Number three, Goldberg. Number four, the Fien Bray Wyatt. Number five, Kane. Number six, Hulk Hogan. Number seven, Ultimate Warrior. Number eight, Jacob Fatu, number nine, mankind, number 10, Solo Sakoa. All right. So there's definitely someone there where you're like, we're missing a few names there. Like, how are we going to put, with great respect to these guys, how are you going to put

Jacob Fatu and Solo Sakoa on there and not have Umaga on there? Okay? Like, umaga. Makes a lot of sense. Andra the giant is not on there. And then like I just think that I don't know what the actual criteria is for this list, but Supersina. Super Sina like went almost an entire decade without losing.

Roman Reigns. He held the WWE championship for 1,316 days. Seems pretty indestructible to me. Also, how is mankind at number nine? That man could have lost his life twice in that 1990. King of the Ring, Helen Assal match versus the Undertaker. You can't keep mankind down. So I thought that there were definitely some interesting choices on this list

and some glaring ones that were left off. But it's a list of 10. It's not a list of 15. It's a list of 10. And I guess there's some names you've got to include and some that you are aren't able to. And I also think that when they do these modern day lists, especially, they throw in some modern day superstars because I understand there may be some fans who have never seen an Ultimate Warrior match, or there may be some fans that the only Goldberg watch

match they've ever watched was that Saturday night's main event. So I understand that there may be some newer fans that have only come around the last handful of years. But that was Super Sina? come on email from Tyler provost hello Chris real real one here and I look to become a real real real one when you make it back to Cleveland well I look forward to coming back to Cleveland love Cleveland now that football

is fully back in full swing and as you know being a Cleveland Browns fan there have been some pretty bad seasons oh in 16 and one in 15 and I'll always like to point out that those seasons were back to back so the Browns were 131 over two seasons. Man, it's tough to be a Browns fan.

My question to you is, what would you say was the worst year or, quote, season for pro wrestling? My mind immediately goes to COVID in the PC era, but I thought they did some good things during that time. I love your show and everything that you're doing for the wrestling community. And thank you for making my weeks go by

with bangor after bangor, after bangor, after best of lot. Thank you so much. Best, Tyler Provost. Well, thank you, Tyler. And man, hoping our Browns can pull out a win this weekend. My mind also immediately goes to the COVID era and like early COVID. Like March, April of 2020 is pretty unwatchable. And I get it. You're dealing with a worldwide pandemic. there is no precedent for what you're supposed to do when you're used to having a touring show and you're used to having tens of thousands of fans in the building and now you have nobody. And if you do go back and watch those early COVID shows, they're tough because like the really early ones the WWE did, they're like shining a light on the empty seats.

And like it's just like stark reminder of like things in the world just. aren't right right now. AEW was actually able to pivot a lot quicker early on than WW was like AEW being set up at Daley's place. They were focused on the entrance way. They were focused on the ring and the entrance way. Like, let's not focus on the things we don't have, which are,

we don't have fans, we just have empty seats. Let's not put the focus there. Let's put the focus on the actual action. And it took WWE a little while to figure that out. But those early matches are tough where like you're hearing the feet like almost like when you're at a basketball game and you like hear the sneakers like squeaking on the court. You're hearing like feet running in the ring and you're hearing like literally everything.

And I get it. It was a tough pivot for everyone for obviously for the wrestlers who are used to being able to play off the crowd and figure out like, is this thing working or is it not working? like when something's working, you keep doing it a little bit more in a match. When it's not working, I hear you guys. We'll pivot this way and we'll do something else. When you don't have that, you're kind of going out there and you're just flying blind. And I think that was a tough part of it.

I feel for the people who made big debuts or big returns during that time, like Dominic Mysterio wrestled with no crowd. Matt Hardy went to AEW and made his debut. Like that very first one, it was cool. There's a visual of, like, him, like, way up high, like, in the high up seats and you see him up there doing the delete thing. Brody Lee debuted during that time in AEW. Like, I feel for those, like, not being able to have that huge reaction from the audience.

But they were both. both AEW and WWE and TNA, they were able to figure it out. They were able to make the best of a very bad situation and make it work. But I think back to like early COVID and I'm like, oh, I'm not rewatching much of that at all. And like, WWE did the best they could with WrestleMania 36 and especially with like the cinematic matches. Great job with those. But like, again, it just felt like a reminder of.

like, yeah, things are, things are a little strange right now. And I remember people ask me back then, like, when the full crowds come back, do you think we'll see cinematic matches again? And I'm like, probably not. Like, maybe under like a very special circumstance with like a character where like that would make sense. But for the most part, if you're live at a Royal Rumble or you're live at double or nothing, you're live at WrestleMania, what are tens of, you're, of thousands of people in the arena or the stadium going to do when a cinematic match comes on, we're just going to watch the screen for

15 or 20 minutes. That's not part of the experience of going to a wrestling show. And I think that that's the obvious and like easy answer. I think that like 2010 WWE was a little rough. Like it got a little stagnant

there and like they were in the PG era. And I feel like WWE was like leaning hard into PG stuff, like took away a lot of the edge. A lot of guest host during that time that didn't know a lot about wrestling, which sometimes made for some really awkward, like, kind of like bad comedy skits almost. And just like at that point, you're like eight years into having no competition. And I think competition's key to like, it forces you to be better week in and week out. And it also not just as a company as a whole, but like as a wrestler just forces you to be better. Now there's a possibility of getting paid to go somewhere else, getting paid more money to go there.

TNA, though, and that's funny during that time, 2010, TNA did try to go head to head with Monday Night Raw. Do you remember that? Impact went head to head with Raw for like three weeks and then realize, you know what? Let's, we'll just go back to what we were doing before. So I think 2010 is another one, 1993 coming off the steroid trial, losing Hulk Hogan, gimmick, like very, very gimmicky at that time, like almost too gimmicky. I think that could be another answer. But I think my answer will, even though it's an easy answer, I think it will forever be early COVID. that tough, tough watch.

Daniel Petino Martinez on Spotify. Hey, Chris, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Daniel? I was wondering what your favorite wrestling game is of all time. Mine would be SmackDown v. Raw 07. Great gameplay and a great soundtrack. I think I'm going to have to agree with you on this. And a lot of it for me is just like pure nostalgia.

I have so many great memories tied to playing SmackDown versus Raw 07 on PlayStation with my friends. Like we would, like, there was like four or five of us that we would have like, for a while. It was just a beautiful summer that year. We had like weekly, sometimes even like nightly tournaments where that's great times. Greg, Will, Len, great times playing Smackdown versus Raw with those guys. So that game, and you're right, the gameplay of that is amazing, soundtrack, so good. I think of like the, like the, we'll call it like the, the newer era of games. That's definitely my pick.

But man, how good was WWF no mercy? N64. Like that might be the all-time greatest game. And also, shout out to WCWNW Revenge. That game is just such a great sleeper pick for like that game doesn't get enough respect. Such a good game. And now I feel like I got to grab the N64 and pop those games in and play them when I get back here from Vegas. That would be so fun.

Aaron Smith, 1985 on Instagram. Question for Ask CVV number 100. Hey, CVV, would you rather Chris Sharp to have had a one-year run? as talent in WWE with a shot at gold. Or, wow, something there must have sounded like, hey, Siri. It's so funny, my phone started talking to me. Or CVV has a three-year run with WWE on Commentary with the opportunity to call a WrestleMania main event in that time.

Wow, what a would you rather? Aaron, well, I am neither a wrestler nor a commentator. So this is quite the, would you rather here. So I'm going to have a one year run and I only have a shot at gold. What did I do in that one year run

to not earn the opportunity to keep going? Did I get fired after that one year run? Do I have the ability after that one year run to go somewhere else? Can I still keep wrestling or is that it? I just wrestle for one year and call it a career. Or a three year run? to call a main event at WrestleMania, you know what?

I think I'll take the one year wrestling run, only because I feel like the pressure to call a WrestleMania main event would be so much. I've never called a wrestling match. I've done a little bit of color commentary. And maybe you've seen the color commentary I called for a few row matches last year, reality of wrestling Booker T's show in Houston, which was so much fun. I got to call these matches with my very, good friend, Brad Gilmore, who's actually

Booker T's co-host on their podcast, the radio show, the Hall of Fame. So I think I choose the wrestling career. And I always, I don't wonder, but I think sometimes of like, if I had kept going

with wrestling training, and then that would have then turned into indie wrestling, which who knows where my career would have gone from there, I trained to be a pro wrestler in 2002. There's a like super different time in the world in general, but like definitely a different time in pro wrestling and like independent wrestling, especially independent wrestling in Canada.

And I think that if it was that time in my life, I don't think that finishing wrestling school, going on in the Indies and like figuring things out from there would have been that prosperous. I am such a big believer in like, you are where you are in life because of the decisions that you've made. And The Rock said something to me so powerful years ago in an interview we did when he said sometimes the best things in life are the things that don't happen. And I believe that is the story of my life and my career. Because if those things had lined up and played out however they were going to play out,

wouldn't be here right now doing what I get to do now. And like, how lucky am I that I get to host this podcast and have this YouTube channel and connect with you and put these clips out if you don't want to watch the full interview? Like to be able to talk to some of the greatest wrestlers of all time and some of the most iconic wrestlers of all time and just nerd out about wrestling with like people like Dan Soder earlier in the week. Like, how lucky am I that I get to do this? So in your completely hypothetical situation here, I'll take the one year in WWE,

and I'll always talk about that shot at gold that I had. Even though you didn't specify what gold it was, is this a WWE championship, or is this like I had the shot of the 24-7 title or the speed title? Either way, I'll take that. the wrestling run and I just think that the calling a WrestleMania main event feels like a lot of pressure.

Well, that my friends is the final question on this. Ask CVV number 100. Wow. The Century Edition. And again, I just want to say thank you. If this is the first episode you've ever listened to, I appreciate you. for all 800 plus of these, I love you.

And we're going to keep this thing going. How about another 800? How about another 800 after that? And then another 800 after that. And then another 800 after that. This has been just such a blast. And being able to hang out with you one-on-one like this every Friday, no matter what you're doing, whether you're driving to work or you're working out

or you're just getting ready for the day, whatever happens to be, I just want you to know that like you're such a huge part of my day as well. And there are so many podcasts out there, so many wrestling podcasts as well, but just so many podcasts in general. Thank you for making this your show. And thank you for hitting that play button every Tuesday, every Thursday, and every Thursday, and every Friday. I cannot express my gratitude to you enough for that.

so again just thank you man we've done a hundred of these wow i'm gonna leave you with a quote from dustin roads he tweeted this out this week and i just thought it was so powerful and i'm sure that there's somebody out there who needs to hear this i know some days feel impossible but they are not one foot in front of the other forwards never backwards you move it forward is a success. Believe in you. You've got this. I have this. We all have this. Be great and be grateful, my friends. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Stephanie, the care, joins us on Tuesday. You do not want to miss that one. Jim Rome takes on sports.

Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack.

Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned. and