Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #110 - The Best Raw In Years, Cena vs. Dom Again, Dolph Ziggler & Zack Ryder Return, NXT Mount Rushmore

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

Get your tickets for Insight LIVE in Las Vegas: https://cvvtix.com Welcome to AskCVV #110! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet answers questions about Raw at MSG and whether it was the best Raw in years, why we are getting John Cena vs. Dominik Mysterio at Survivor Series, reacting to Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler's WWE returns in the Last Time Is Now Tournament, who is on the NXT Mount Rushmore, interview techniques and more!Quote I'm thinking about: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." — Walt Disney Please 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 FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFFSTASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   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   NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! 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 10% 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/insight   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 Are you, my friend? Welcome back to another one here on InSight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet. Hope you've had a great week. Thank you for being a real one. And for hanging out with me on a Friday for an AskCV episode.

And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Toss your phone up into the air right now. And hit that follow button with a brogue kick wherever you're listening. and I'm just envisioning someone tossing their phone up. And if you could actually hit the follow button while you're doing a brogue kick, I would be very impressed. If you're listening on Spotify, could you leave a rating on there? Or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, and I know a lot of you are,

could you leave a review on there? And it doesn't need to say much. It could just be a few words or a few emojis, but both of those help the show so much. And as the show continues to get bigger, the guest, can continue to get bigger too. And we've got one that we're going to end the year with. And it's like 97% confirmed. I don't want to say too much because we haven't recorded it yet.

But this is a big one. And you will know exactly what episode I'm talking about when it airs. And it'll air within the month. It'll air like I'd say sometime between now and December 3rd. 13th. So you'll see that one. And then there's another huge interview that we're going to do, we're going to record it towards the end of the year. And I think it's going to air like to kick off 2026 with a bang. And it's someone I've never interviewed before. It's a bucket list guest. And just keep your fingers crossed with me that nothing goes awry with these plans because we

are locked in for a date and a time and a location. the location being their house. So I can't wait. I can't wait for that one. That's going to be huge. Speaking of confirmed guests, I'm sure you've seen the announcement. Chelsea Green is our guest for Insight Live next Friday in San Diego,

the day before Survivor series. Tickets are sold out and they've been sold out for weeks. So thank you for being awesome and for packing the house before you even knew who the guest was. these live shows are such a blast. Chelsea is the perfect guest for a live show. So even if you're not going to be one of the people there, you're obviously going to hear the episode here on the podcast. You're going to watch it on YouTube.

It's going to be an all-timer. I can't wait. And if you are going to Vegas for WrestleMania 42, I'd love to see you there. We're back at Circular Resort and Casino, the Thursday night of WrestleMania Week. So grab those tickets. at CBVTix.com.

And also looking into doing a live show the day before Elimination Chamber in Chicago. So hopefully we can make that happen. And I will give you all of the details if slash when we're able to lock that one in. I went to see Hot Mulligan last night. What a show. What a band.

They actually recorded Kyle Fletcher's new theme song in AEW. And what a banger of a theme song that is. shout out to their drummer Brandon, who was a massive wrestling fan. And it was awesome being able to hang out with him and the rest of the band before the show. And just like, it was so funny.

We were chatting about wrestling while standing on the side of the stage like before they were about to go out. Like just randomly talking about like raw this past week or what could happen at Survivor Series or like the lead up to WrestleMania. It was just amazing. And then like their music hit. And like,

he fist bumped me and ran out on stage and the show started. I was like, this is crazy. But what a blast. If you are a pop punk fan like me, I'm sure you already know about Hot Mulligan, but if you don't, man, what a show. What a band. And it was so cool. The crossover between wrestling fans and Hot Mulligan fans is, it must be a lot because I was chatting with quite a few of you about wrestling at the show last night. It was amazing. But here we go, my friends. Welcome to Ask CVV number one, perfect 10, Ty Dillinger edition. And also, welcome to Ask CVV number one, Lord 10, Si, edition. I like that one. A little play on words there. Welcome to Ask CVV. Welcome to Ask CVV.

number 1-110. Oh, you didn't know, addition. And then one more. Welcome to Ask CVV number one, 10 beats of the Bodron edition. Man, these have been fun. If you've got an idea for next week, Ask CVV triple ones.

Ask CVV-1. Let me know if you've got a question as well. Send it in on Spotify in the comments. Shoot me an email, CVV at chrisfanveli.com or send it over via social media, whatever the social media app of your pleasure is. Just use that hashtag, ask CVV. Let's dive into this one from Roman Torres 718, Roman Torres, sorry, 718 on Instagram, who says, what was your take on John Cena's last raw at MSG?

and what did you think of Dolph Ziegler's return to the WWE? I think that was the best episode of Raw that we've seen in years. And I understand that that is a very subjective opinion because then you'd have to dial it into, okay, well, what was up to this point, the best episode of Raw leading up to this? And I think that maybe it was one of the Raw episodes leading up to like WrestleMania 40 and the whole finish the story storyline. There was a lot of great stuff going on there and the building. up to WrestleMania 40 just in general was huge. But this was such a great episode of Raw. It felt like

it had everything. We had three returns. You already mentioned one of them. We had Dolph Ziegler. We had Brock Lezzer and we had Roman Raines, which is funny because I've seen the memes online and it's true. It feels like Roman Raines returns like every three to four weeks and we treat it like it's a huge return. And it kind of is because we never know when he's going to be on the show. But we had the big returns. We had the title change with Maxine Dupree, winning the women's Intercontinental Championship for the first time. And wow, she's just put in so much work. Like, so much work behind the scenes that nobody sees. Training at flatbacks with Sean Spears and Tyler Breeze on her own time using, you know, her off days for that. Training in the dungeon 2.0 with Natalia

and TJ again, like no one's telling her she needs to do this. She's going in there on her own, just wanting to improve like this hunger to get better. And that flatbacks and the dungeon new point O, that's on top of her spending time at the PC and training there. Go back and listen to the first time that Maxim was on the show. It was like a year and a half ago. Her work ethic is just incredible from how she got the cheerleading opportunities with the LA Rams and the Phoenix Suns and the stories behind that to how she reverse engineered getting a

WWE tryout and then that led to her getting hired. It's incredible. And she is a shining example of hard work paying off. And she hasn't like she doesn't deserve this championship. She's earned this championship. And I love it. Dolph Ziegler returning was such a great surprise. and what a reaction for him. And man, if you happened to forget how good Dolph Ziegler was it selling, this was a beautiful reminder of how amazing he is. Like nobody sells like Dolph Ziegler. The way he took that turnbuckle in the corner,

like it was a shotgun blast and even the sound it made. Oh, I think Natty even commented. She was like, oh, Brett Hart was like impressed by that. Like Brett Hart was known for the turnbuckle spot. And the way he sold that Samoan Spike, like he sold it like a UFC fighter getting knocked out. And if you listen to the last episode that I did with Dolph Ziegler a few months ago, he was talking about how like he has like almost a scientific approach to selling. Like he'll watch movies and he would be like, I would watch the second biggest bad guy and how

they would like take damage or how they would get killed. And I would like make a mental note of that. Or I would watch a UFC fight. and I would make a note of like, oh, that's what that person looks like when they get knocked out or their body stiffens up here or whatever the case may be.

I thought that was so interesting. I'm actually surprised Dolf didn't win. The crowd was so behind him. But I guess if we're being honest here, like I don't think either of these guys are going to win the last time is now a tournament.

Neither Dolf Ziegler nor Solu Sooiccoa are going to win or we're going to win. So I guess with that in mind, why not have Dolph win? Like it would make sense. He's a former two-time world champion. It's completely believable that he would come in. Solosacoa within the storyline wouldn't have been prepared because it's a mystery

opponent. So he could come in and steal a victory here. Wouldn't even be stealing a victory. He would be earning this victory and it would make sense. And it would have been a nice surprise on top of the surprise, especially with how behind him the crowd was, right? And then we would have got, I think it would have lined up to be Dolph versus the winner of Finn Baller and Penta. That's a possibility here because the brackets are a little, they're not that clear on who gets who next.

Like it's not like a NCAA suite 16 bracket where we're like following the bracket down. Like we actually, I don't really know if we know the entire quarterfinal bracket here. But what I'm saying here is we might have gotten Dolph Ziegler versus Penta. And Dolf Ziegler versus Penta would have been like absolutely insane.

Here's who's left in the tournament right now with the mystery spots filled in. We've got Carmelo Hayes, Bronson Reed, Finn Baller, Penta, Solo Sacoa, Gunther, L-A-Night. Yeah. Jay Uso, Rusev, and Seamus. So it's 10 that are left right now.

The field's going to be trimmed to eight tonight on Smackdown. Then we'll move into the quarterfinals. So on Smackdown, we're going to see Carmelo ticking on Bronson Reed and Finn Baller battling Penta in the last round of the last of the final round matches. And then this is where it gets tricky where we don't exactly know the brackets. The winner of Carmelo and Bronson and Thornson and Thur, Finn and Pence will then move on to take on solo or Gunther. So we don't, that's the thing.

I wish we could like look at this already. I wish it was like spelled out for us already. We don't know if it's going to be Carmelo or Bronson. And so the winner there taking on solo or Gunther. And then we don't know if it's going to be Finn or Pentah, the winner there taking on solo or Gunther. So like we can't even like look ahead to like possible match. chips here. I think we can like, yes, based on who's on raw and who's on Smackdown,

but that stuff, as we have discussed, at great length, is very fluid as to who's actually on Smackdown and who's actually on raw, whether the draft is actually a thing. And this is a complete aside, but I guess we're not getting a draft in 2025. Maybe they've been listening. Maybe they understand how the draft just doesn't make any sense. The last draft we had was April of last year. So unless something drastically changes in the final five weeks of the year here, I don't think we're getting a draft. I feel like that's a win for wrestling fans everywhere.

I really do. But let's get to the most important part of Monday Night Raw. Let's talk about John Cena, his last Raw ever. as an active wrestler. That reception at Madison Square Garden was massive, massive. And you could see how much it meant to John Cena. Like that building, just there's so much history with John Cena inside Madison Square Garden. Sina won his first ever championship, the WWUE United States Championship at WrestleMania 20 when he beat the big show. That happened in Madison Square Garden. of course the incredible Royal Rumble return 2008 counts down for the 30th entry and oh my gosh it's

John Cena how the heck did he recover in time this is crazy and then to be able to bring it full circle a Madison Square Garden for his last raw is a beautiful thing I was fully expecting an intercontinental championship match on raw that's what I thought we were going to get I thought it was going to be kind of akin to what he would do with the United States Open Challenge. Like I thought it was going to be a you want some, come get some. Dom came out. Interrupted John Cena again. Mega heel heat. Man, he is so over. I'd love to see it. I sure seem like we were going to get a rematch there, right there right now. And Dom was like, no, we're going to do it in San Diego, my backyard. I'm going to have home field advantage.

So we're getting the rematch. John Sina versus Dominic Mysterio at Survivor Series. We'll talk about that match specifically in the next question here. What we did get on Raw was another impromptu John Sina match. And I love that this has been the theme of the tail end of the farewell tour. We've just been getting John Sina going out there. We know that he's going to be part of the show. Like John Sina's appearance is announced, but we don't know if he's wrestling or not.

then he goes out there and we get an impromptu match. And what we got here was a six-man match between the Judgment Days, Finn Ballard, J.D. McDonough, and Dominic Mysterio against John Cena, Seamus, and the Hall of Famer, Ray Mysterio. And what I really appreciate about this match is it allowed four more people here to share the ring with John Cena before this thing is all over in less than a month, which is crazy. This had a feel of like a house show match. like just everyone in the ring having a blast, the fans on their feet, having a great time, like no stakes in this match, which I think can either be a good thing or a bad thing. A good thing in that like there's no stakes so everybody can just have fun.

It doesn't really matter storyline-wise what happens here. But at the same time, you've got John Sina seven days into his Intercontinental Championship run. We know he only has two dates left. Survivor Series and then his final match. It just kind of makes me question what the motive is here aside from just like, let's give the fans a great time. And if that was the intention, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I think that we were all thinking, all right, he's the Interchronidal Champion.

We've been seeing mostly one-on-one matches throughout this entire John Cena run, almost the whole thing, actually. This is Sina's first multi-person match since that Smackdown match, Cody and Sina versus Drew and Logan Paul. That was back in August in Montreal. So, like, I love that more people were able to share the ring. I love the fun moments in this, 30 beats of the Bodron, 15 knuckle shuffle. And when they first announced John Sina's retirement tour, this is pretty much how I thought things we're going to go. I thought we were going to get fun matches filled with nostalgia that allowed the crowd to just be there, be present, have a great time. But with only two dates left now,

I wish we could have seen these types of matches months ago. And I get that that's difficult too because John Cena was the WWE champion leading up to SummerSlam when he lost it to Cody. So like, there's been a real balancing act during the John Cena farewell tour of like balancing the chase for the championship. And like that was the narrative of the John Cena farewell tour at the beginning. Right. Like I don't, if you remember his very first promo that raw Netflix, January 6th in Los Angeles, if you remember that promo, it's like, you know, nothing's guaranteed here.

I'm certainly going to try to get that opportunity for the championship. You know, we'll see. I'm going to be in the Royal Rumble. Then it goes in the Royal Rumble. He doesn't win it. Then it's like, all right, I'm going to put myself in elimination chamber. So like the first few months is just a year. him trying to get that title shot.

We obviously get the heel turn. We get the title win at WrestleMania. Then we get the title defenses and the heel run. Then we get the face turn and then him dropping the championship at SummerSlam. And that basically brings us to kind of this back, I guess, third, back quarter of this, yeah, I guess quarter, back quarter of this where it's just been more focused on like let's have the fun matches. Let's let's put put on the matches that you guys have been looking for. Let's have some fun here. It's just rough now, right? It's difficult because every time a match is made,

like this impromptu match on Raw, it's cool because we go, oh, those four people, four extra people, now get a chance to be part of John Cena's farewell tour. And now Dominic Mysterio gets to share the ring with Sina again. So that would have been his second time, right? And then Survivor's series will be his third. But every time this happens, everyone online kind of goes, ah, well, there was the opportunity for it to be with this person or that person or that person. And I think inevitably, this thing is going to end. And we knew this from the beginning of the John Cena of retirement tour. There's going to be names and faces that are just left off for one reason or another, for, you know, very obvious reasons like they don't work here. For other obvious reasons like they're injured.

or then there's other reasons that just kind of make you scratch your head. Like, why isn't there a match with this person or that person? And I think that that leads us pretty perfectly into this next one here. An email from Dave C. Hi, Chris, longtime listener and first time submitting a question. Love your content and really appreciate the positivity you bring to everything in wrestling and in life. I need some of your positivity with this question because I'm having trouble finding it.

Why is Dominic Mysterio getting to be involved in three of John Cena's final matches? If they wanted to run any kind of storyline between them, why did they wait so last minute? I also can't understand that Logan Paul was involved in two of Sena's matches this year when so many other people could have had a chance to be in the ring with Sina for the first or one of last time, one of the last times. Guys like Russo, Ethan Page, Ricky Saints, Roman Raines, Alistair Black, Austin Theory, Miz, Drew McIntyre, New Day, Uncle Howdy, L.A. Knight. Yeah. Obafemi, Penta, Tric Williams, Joe Henry, or Carmelo Hayes. What a list, by the way. Geez. Thanks for everything you do. Also hope to see an interview soon with you and Ariel Hawani, Dave from Chicago. Ariel was on maybe four years ago, but it was over Zoom. A lot has obviously changed for both of us since then.

I'd love to have Ariel back on the show. Maybe next time I'm in New York or if he ever happens to be out on this coast, I'd love to have Ariel back on and just like, just chat some wrestling. Ariel is a lifelong fan and it's always great to hear some of his insights, pun intended. I'm also trying to make sense of this little mini Dominic Mysterio feud that we've got here because things seemed really solidified last week. Like I felt like last week on Raw in Boston, that was a complete story. That had a beginning, a middle, and an end. that was the beginning was it's john sina's last time in boston and then dominic mysterio comes out and interrupts

blah blah blah promo let's do it right here right now put the intercontinental championship on the line there's our middle then we get a match then john sina wins the match becomes the intercontinental for the intercontinental for the first time becomes a grand slam champion there's our end i felt like that was it and then at some point he loses the championship to whoever that may be I don't really have a huge problem with the six-man match. I think my only issue with it is like it's, we're so close to the end of the farewell tour that it's like, I want every match to mean something storyline wise.

And I get that this match meant something entertainment wise. And I've got no problem with that. But I'm with you here. I don't think we needed to see a rematch with Dominic Mysterio and John Cena. and I would think, I would guess, if I'm making my prediction right now, I would think that Dominic Mysterio wins that match, gets the championship back. I don't see why John Cena would need to win that match.

But I also don't see why Dominic Mysterio would need to beat John Cena. And maybe this is just a decision for like, let's try to put as many young performers over on my way out. Maybe that's what this comes down to. I can't argue with that. I love that, but Dominic Mysterio is already over. He proved that he can hang with John Cena on the mic and in the ring. And again, like beginning, middle end is what we got in Boston.

I would have to guess that Dominic Mysterio is the Intercontinental champion after next weekend in San Diego. I just, I could be wrong. And I've made a lot of predictions that are wrong, although I should point out I've made a ton of predictions that are right as well. but I can't see John Cena's last match being for the Intercontinental Championship. I think that the prize in itself is being John Cena's final opponent. Retiring John Sina win or lose, although I would assume it's a loss for John Sina.

But I will point something out. You said that you can't stand the fact that Logan Paul was involved in two of Sina's matches this year. He was not involved in two. He was involved in three of John Sina's matches. this year. And I guess technically speaking, four, and I guess if you want to really get technical and include the Royal Rumble, five, because he did have some moments with John Sina and the Royal Rumble. But he had Clash in Paris, obviously one of the ones we're talking about here. That Smackdown I was talking about in Montreal, Cody Rose and John Sina defeating Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul.

That one seems to be forgotten about, maybe because it was an impromptu match, maybe because it was by disqualification, but there's two. Then, of course, there's the money in the bank match, Cody and Jay defeating the evil John Sina and the evil Logan Paul. Then, again, technically speaking here, he was part of the elimination chamber match. So like, there's another one. There's been a lot of these moments here. And I agree with you that, like, there are so many people I would love to see John Sina have the opportunity to work with this year that's just, it's not going to happen. And some of them were like so glaringly obvious. How did we not get a one off match with the Ms? That's one I would just love, love to see. I think Drew McIntyre would have made a ton of sense too. And Drew has lost so

many times to Cody Rhodes for the WWE championship. I would have much rather have seen Drew McIntyre mixing it up with John Cena. But I think the problem with the tour in general is there's only many dates and there's only so many people that John Sina can work with. Sure, you could have a six-man match every week or, yeah, you could possibly have a gauntlet match. And I've seen the fantasy booking to give us a gauntlet match for the final match. I don't see that happening. I think it's just going to be a good old-fashioned one-on-one match. Can this person get the better of John Sina on his way out? That's what I think we're going to get. But there's so many, we had so many opportunities here. John Sina has had, if you include the Royal Rumble,

16 matches this year. So wow, if you do the math, he has two more matches, obviously, 36 dates in total, 18 matches. That's pretty great because I think, especially early on in the year, it was very heavily favoring like John Sina would have an appearance. John Sina would have a promo segment, like building up to whatever the match was. And then we would have the match. Like, if you look here, he had zero matches in January. He had the Royal Rumble match in February. He had elimination chamber in March. He had WrestleMania in April. Then he had two matches in May. He had backlash and then Saturday night's main event with our truth. So like there were already five months into the John Sina farewell tour with one, two, three, only five matches. So it was like a match a month

essentially at that point. Again, zero matches in January, but you get what I'm saying here, five months, five matches, which means on the back end, well, he had three matches in June. He had zero matches in July. So like there we are halfway through the John senior retirement tour. So like if we're literally doing it by the calendar here, not by appearances, but by the calendar, January to the end of June, he had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. So that means we're getting eight matches in the first half of the year, 10 on the back half of the year. There's a lot of different factors to play into this. Injuries. That's actually a question I would love to ask John Cena, how worried were you

about injuries. Like if you're guaranteeing you're going to make 36 appearances and you get injured in your fourth match of the year, what happens now? What do you do? So there's so many matches

I would love to see and we will be fantasy booking and picking apart the John Cena farewell tour for many, many years to come. I think that there's been so many amazing moments from this last year.

I think there's been some times where it's like, yeah, we could have seen this or would have been nice to see this, but there's a lot of matches. And you list some great dream matches in there. A lot of matches I would have loved to see. And also, like, I know it's not going to happen. I know it's not even within the realm of possibility. But Roman Raines, I don't feel like it was ever really even talked about as a possibility for John Cena's final match. And like when we were talking about surprise entrance in the last time as now tournament, like Roman's name was one. that was like never coming up.

Also, how quickly did the Rock's name fall out of contention? I was doing these polls on Instagram. I was doing these polls on my YouTube channel of like, who do you think is going to be John Cena's final opponent? I listed out like everybody. I was listing out like 20 different superstars, 30 different superstars. And for a while there, Rock was leading all of these polls. And I think it goes back to what we were talking about with Smasher Machine.

I think that people saw how dedicated he was to promoting Smash a Machine, how dedicated he was to that role. The possibility of the award season run here, even if it's not an Oscar nomination, I think for sure he's going to get nominated for a Golden Globe. Critics Choice and like a bunch of other awards, maybe a SAG Award or a Director's Guild Award or something like that. I think that as soon as people saw how all in he was on promoting Smashy Machine, Rock's name just fell off of that list. But there's a lot of people in here that I would love to see a match with. I don't know if you can use the term like they deserve a match, but just being a fan, there's a lot of matches I would have loved to see. I'm actually surprised that Joe Hendry wasn't part of the last time as now tournament.

And I get that things can change. We could have an attack backstage, an opening in the tournament, and someone needs to go in there and fill a spot. I feel like that's still a possibility. But I think that the huge rumors of like Jericho being part of this or Edge being part of this, like I feel like those can be put to rest now. They don't seem likely, especially with the comments that Tony Khan made in the Ariel Hawani interview this week. But a lot of matches I would have loved to see there that I guess will just have to play them out on 2K. And that's, be the place where they exist.

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investing involves risk. Offer is subject to terms and conditions. Lucas WB17 on Instagram says, Hey, CVV, this is a question for Ask CVV number 110. I absolutely love the series and it gets me through work on a Friday night. Well, I hope that works going well right now for you, Lucas. What are your feelings about Matt Cardona returning as Zach Ryder on Smackdown this past week, despite the fact that he has said he would always prefer to come back as himself? Thank you so much for keeping me entertained. As always, love from Leeds England.

Two big returns over the course of four days. We talked about Dolf Ziegler slash Nick Nemeth returning on Raw. But last Friday, the surprise entrant in the last time is now tournament was none other than Zach Ryder, aka Matt Cardona. And what you're alluding to here is actually a question I asked him the last two times that he was on the show. The idea of you've built so much as Matt Cardona under your real name. What if WWE wanted you to come back as Zach Ryder? And if you missed it, here's the direct quote from him from our last interview, which aired on May 15th.

This is episode number 758. What if they said, we'd love for you to do a one-off spot at the Rumble, but you've got to be Zach Ryder. I've had gear ready every single year. Okay. This is the truth. So I always have cheer. I'm always ready.

I always have gear, right? But the trunks are like the same, but the knee pads are interchangeable to ZR or an MC. So like whatever what I have, you know? So you wouldn't be opposed to being Zach Ryder? It's not my first choice. I think Zach Ryder's dead, and I don't mean that in a negative way. Zach Ryder set me up for Matt Cardona. I mean, obviously W.E thought Zach Ryder was dead.

They fired me five years ago. I don't care how you define success. Money, accolades, happiness is the most successful I've ever been in my career as Matt Cardona. But it's because Zach Ryder and WWE set me up for that. Well, there we go. Zach Ryder back from the dead last Friday on Smackdown. But Matt in this interview, quote, is saying it's not my first choice. But also within the same sentence saying he's always had gear ready.

He's had knee pads with the ZR and the MC on it every single year just in case he gets that last minute call. That call came last Friday. He's a surprise entrant in the last time is now turn a. And with all that said, yes, he comes back as Zach Ryder, woo, woo, woo, woo, the whole thing. They mentioned his real name on commentary. They cut to a sign in the crowd with the name Matt Cardona on it. They talked about his indie work, him being the death match king,

and all the things he's done in the last five years since leaving WWE. So I think it was more of like you knew him as Zach Ryder the last time he was here. you'll remember him as Zach Ryder if we play O Radio and he comes back. This is Zach Ryder, but if you're a smart fan and you've been following his career, you know exactly what he's been doing since the last time you saw him in WWE. Matt Cardo is the perfect example of getting released and becoming a better version of yourself. He was released five and a half years ago, 2020. A lot of people were released during those COVID cuts in 2020 and 2021.

one. Some of those people were brought back. But no one did more in terms of reinventing themselves during those last five years than Matt Cardona. He looks like a million bucks now. If you see the shot of him standing on the top rope posing or middle rope posing on Smackdown, he's jacked. Like if you compare him now to where he was five, six, seven years ago when he was in WWE. Complete difference. I didn't even mean to do that because he's the complete Matt Cardona. That was a complete coincidence that that happened. But he's just jacked now. He looks like a star. It reminds me the work that Drew McIntyre put in on the Indies after he was released. And then he made himself a better version and then came back to WWE.

It feels like what Cody Rhodes did after he asked for his release in 2016, went to the Indies, went to Ring of Honor, became a better version of himself, which then led to what he did in AEW. Who cares what Matt Cardona's name is in WWE, especially when he's saying like, yeah, it's not my first choice, but I've had gear ready every single year. His goal was to get back to WWE. That's what he did. He got back to WWE. Is it just for one night? Is it for one run? Is this a new contract? We don't know. And we'll figure that out. I guess. as the weeks and months go on here. But massive congrats to Matt Cardona.

Five and a half years after he's let go, he came back as the version that WWE fans knew him as. I mean, think about this. Drew McIntyre left WWE. Then he really made a name for himself elsewhere as Drew Galloway. Drew Galloway didn't return to WWE.

Drew McIntyre did. But I loved seeing that. And the thing that I really especially loved about the Zach Ryder return and the Dolph Ziegler return was it was like a tip of the cap of like you were here for a long time in WWE. So like thank you for that. Thank you for all of the memories you made here and the work that you put in. And it was also like a, but we appreciate what you've done since. Like it felt like it was like an acknowledgement on both ends of their career. Like thanks for what you did here.

here's an opportunity to go back in front of that audience where you really made your name. And also like, we see what you've been doing. Like you, you earned this spot to come back. So those were two nice surprises. I kind of wish like in the Royal Rumble, they're all surprises. I guess I should say they're not all surprises in the Royal Rumble. They announced what, 12, 15 names ahead of time. But then like all the other spots, every single time it's three.

two, one, it's a surprise. Like, oh, whose music is, is going to hit? Is it going to be someone that's been previously announced? Is it a surprise? Is it someone who's making a return, someone who's making a debut? I love that stuff. 14 of the 16 spots in the John Cena tournament were announced beforehand. Two of them were surprises. It was fun. Like, for all of us to just be able to chat about this and bounce ideas off of one another, who could it be Joe? Endry? Could it be Chad Gable? Maybe it's a returning Austin theory. Is it Dolf Sigler? Is it Matt Cardona slash Nick Nevers slash Zach Ryder? Like, it was really fun to be able to toss all of those ideas around. Could it be edge? Would that make sense? Is it Chris Jericho? I think that that's where wrestling's at its best when

it's unpredictable. Because I think that leading up to this Monday, on raw. After Solo Sacoa was in the ring, and there was that long pause, and I love that they did that, and it was, and his opponent, another long pause before, I'm here to show the world hit. If I had asked you, who do you think it's going to be in that exact moment? You probably would have told me Joe Henry. And that's what I would have said. I would have said Joe Henry. Sure, outside chance, it could have been Dolph Ziegler slash Nick Namath, but I think that like the odds on favorite was going to to be Joe Hendry. And it wasn't. And because it wasn't, it ended up being a surprise. And I think they're cooking up some bigger things for Joe Hendry right now. I don't think it's just what we're seeing in

NXT. I think there's bigger plans here. I'd be shocked if he's not in the Royal Rumble. But that's a conversation for another time. I'm just going to put a button on this and say, big, big, congrats to Matt Cardona. Ponce Sean underscore on Instagram says, Hey, CVV, I'm starting to figure out your trends. You interview someone and boom, they're back on raw like Dolv Ziegler. What other shots are you going to call? Well, Sean, a broken clock is right twice a day. And it's funny. Someone left a comment on Spotify last week and they said, you need to stop making predictions. And I don't know if they meant that in a positive way of like, you need to stop making predictions. You keep getting things right. You called that Matt Cardona could be in the John Cena tournament. You've predicted almost

every single PLE and the outcome of those matches since we started predicting PLEs. My record, I haven't looked into it, but it's like in the 80s or 90s for sure. Or I don't know if that comment meant to say, you have to stop making predictions because you keep getting things wrong. Like me saying, I don't think John Cena will win the intercontinental championship. I just don't there's time. Boom. It happened. Wrong. I'm okay with that. At the start of the year, yeah, I just, I don't think that John Cena will turn heel during this retirement tour. It just feels like he's going to go out there instead and just like give the fans what they want. Play the greatest hits. Well, I was definitely wrong about the hill turn. I'm happy I was wrong

about that. I loved the heel turn moment at Elimination Chamber in Toronto. But I would say I'm right about the other part of that. That's what he's been doing on the back half of this, is giving the fans what they want. But I don't think, I'm not on to anything here. Okay. I'm not in terms of bringing a guest on the show and them having a big career moment, I'm not on anything. It's purely coincidental. The broken clock, right twice a day. But like, Joe Hendry came. on the show and then debuted in NXT. Michelle McCool, we did an interview,

although that interview, just I didn't air it for months because we had some backlog of other great interviews. I released it and then like, what, two days later, it was announced that she was getting inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame.

That was purely coincidental. And also the fact that, like, I sat on that interview just because we had so many pre-recorded and so great. grateful to be ahead at that point in time. We sat on that for like, yeah, two-ish months. Same thing happened with Lex Lugar. I interviewed him, loved that interview, talking about just like all the huge strides he'd been making with his health and working with DDP. And then what a

week or two later he's inducted or announced that he's going to be inducted in the WWB Hall of Fame. Again, pure coincidence on that. The Matt Cardona timing, I don't, that doesn't even feel coincidental. was on the show in the summer and now he's having this great moment, this great return on SmackDown, obviously, that's coincidental. Nick Nemeth on a few months ago. That was, I was more just like, kind of surprised at that interview with Nick Nemith didn't happen earlier. He's been in TNAA now for almost two years. And I'd done so many interviews with him. That was our 18th interview together. So I was actually surprised that I hadn't done an interview with Nick in 2020. to talk about the original TNA run,

winning the TNA championship and everything around that. Again, purely coincidental. But if you guys want to think that someone appearing on my show means that something is going to happen with their career, I'm okay with that. Totally okay with that. Let's keep that. Let's keep that going.

Donut Dynasty 54 on Spotify says, Ask CVV 110, the perfect 10, Ty Dillinger edition. There were so many people who sent that one in. I love it. Keep sending them. I love these suggestions. Hey, Chris, my name's Michael, and I have a question listening to your podcast since 2020. My goodness.

Thank you, Michael. My question is a Mount Rushmore question since you love doing these. It's true. I love doing these. It's that time of the show again. It's Mount Rushmore time. ladies and gentlemen, what is your Mount Rushmore

for NXT wrestlers? I'm talking about the people that put NXT on the map and define the brand. Mine would have to be Sammy Zane, Kevin Owens, Bailey, and Neville.

I would love to hear yours. Keep doing what you're doing. You are an inspiration. This may be the toughest Mount Rushmore because there's so many people that put NXT on the map. You're talking about like the earlier era of NXT, but I really agree with Paul

Walter Hauser was a guest last week. And he said that his favorite wrestling promotion of all time, including the attitude era, his favorite, I should say era of a wrestling promotion was NXT from 2015-ish to 2019-ish. And it's really hard to make an argument against that. If we're talking about what the MVP brand was of the 2010s, you've got to give it to the black and gold version of NXT. So I don't, to do just four here feels like I would be doing a great injustice to so many of the people that built NXT into what it became at the time and now what it is now. So like how can you talk about NXT without mentioning Johnny Gargano? And of course, how can you mention Johnny without talking about Tomaso Champa?

Like Johnny had at that point in time, the best matches, the best stories, the best takeovers. The way like Johnny and Tomaso would like work so well off of each other because they were good friends and like laying it in a little extra stiff on each other because there's that history and that love between them. how can you talk about nxte especially black and gold nxte without adam cole baby all of his his takeover streaks like absurd he never missed undisputed era

like what a stable maybe the greatest stable in nxte so like oska how can you know how can you talk about nxtt without mentioning oska like an unbelievable run like she had zero losses. Zero.

She's like, what a force to be reckoned with. Sasha Banks. You mentioned Bailey. You mentioned Sammy Zane. You're right. How about Finn Ballard to be part of that conversation? Shinske Nakamura.

Short run there, but like absolutely nuclear. What he did. Yes, of course, Kevin Owens. Everybody you named for sure. But, yeah, this is one. If once a month I can allow the Mount Rushmore to have more than four faces, we'll just get the hammer and chisel out and chisel some more faces into the side of the mountain.

I feel like it's too difficult to narrow that one down because NXT just caught lightning in a bottle. It reminded me so much of like mid to late 2000s Ring of Honor, like the same. style of wrestling, that gritty, hard-hitting wrestling. And that's what we got like, what, eight to 10 years later, five to 10 years later in that range with NXT, like such good wrestling. All of those takeovers when you go back, they're all rewatchable. And I just, I love it. It's a great question. I'm a huge fan of that style of wrestling too. So I love talking about all those names that we're talking about where they came from and what they're

doing now. This one's from Facebook. Steve Barris says, do you think Sina is making a percentage of merch sales or is that built into his contract? I would love to see how much that man would be making, taking a percentage of these ungodly merch sales. John Sina is for sure taking a percentage of merch sales. Every W.W.E superstar is taking a percentage of merch sales. And I don't think it's just WWE. I think that's across the board. That's a, that's a wrestling thing in general. Stars are getting a percentage of their merch, A.W. Stars getting a percentage of their merch. But for sure, for sure, John Sina and WWE are getting a cut of the merch that's sold. And you can even go back to like, like 20 years ago, 20-ish years ago, I should say. There's video of John Sina like at the arena, checking out like how the merch stand is laid out, like where his merch is in relation to other T-shirts or other pieces of merch on the stand. Like, John Sina has always had a real eye when it comes to marketing and like merchandising. So none of this is new.

I think that Sina having as many t-shirts as he's had or just as many different types of merch that you can buy from John Sina, it's not an accident. Like, I don't think that John Sina is this marketing machine in WWE just by happenstance. This is something that I think he worked on very closely with Vince McMahon. and then I think works on very closely now with Triple H or whoever it is, it's in charge of merch. So yeah, for sure he's getting percentage. And then you think about like the way that they're doing the John Cena farewell tour,

it's at least one new T-shirt in every city. And I've been to, I've been fortunate to have been to a bunch of different dates on John Cena's farewell tour. The lines to buy merch are so long. In the venue, they're always long, but also when you go to like the superstore, when you go to the WWE superstore, it's packed. And I always ask, every time I check out and buy something, I say, what's the hot seller? And the answer this year has always been, oh, it's the John Cena yellow shirt. It's the John Cena blue shirt. It's the John Cena in New York or New Jersey for

SummerSlam. It's the John Cena giant shirt. It's a John Sina jet shirt, whatever the case may be, John Sina has been like printing money with merchandise and like kudos to him. And I think it's also been a really interesting thing is like seeing what the designs will look like, especially if it's your hometown or it's representing the sports team that you love. Like I loved the elimination chamber shirt that John Sina had, the vintage Toronto Blue Jays powder blue. loved that. So cool to see that. I love the, have you seen what his shirt looks like in San Diego, like the vintage San Diego Padres look? It's so cool. And the other really cool part about this is we can look at all the shirts from this year and we can like have a great debate about which one's your

favorite and why. It's a fun thing. And he also, I saw an interview clip with him saying that there were 17 other shirts that they made that weren't released because the schedule changed or they designed them for cities thinking that they would get a raw or Smackdown or PLE there and it didn't end up happening. So there's 17 other designs that have been created but unreleased. So these are quite literally the never seen 17. Email from Connor D who says, hey, CVV. I realized in AskCV number 109, there was no Mount Rushmore question. So I wanted to ask you, for all the people who you have interviewed, who was on your Mount Rushmore for interviews in and outside of the wrestling business?

Always look forward to ask CVV on Friday as it completes the week for me. All the best, Connor. Yeah, can you believe that? Can you believe we went the entire episode last week with no Mount Rushmore question? Crazy. Mount Rushmore, it's become a staple of Fridays. has become a staple of Ask CVV. So bring on the Mount Rushmore questions

and also the Would You Rather questions as ridiculous as they may be. Who's on my Mount Rushmore? The way that I interpret this question is like if you are brand new to the show and a lot of you are and welcome, thank you for joining us. Also, there's a lot of you guys

who have been around for months, years, a lot of people who have been around since the audio version of the podcast, started in 2019. There's also a ton of people who have been around since like the big show interview where I was in Miami standing in front of the ocean, 2016. There's some of you guys who found that viral Ann Hathaway clip from 2011. That's from 2011.

It turns 15 years old next year in that clip resurfaces every week. Every week someone tags me in that. Maybe you found me from a celebrity interview years ago. Maybe it was from an very early wrestling interview. Like I was doing a pretty regular interview routine with like the Ms. in Cleveland when I was working there or Dolf Ziegler in Cleveland. Really early ones with like Jeff Hardy. They got like a few million views when he was in TNA in like 20.

I don't know, it was like 2011. Is that an interview? But all of that is to say, if you're listening right now, just thank you. you. Thanks for being on this journey with me. If I'm to pick my Mount Rushmore of interviews or podcast guests, the last interview I did with John Sina, I absolutely loved. I even said it, completely unplanned, unprompted. I said to John Sina, this is my favorite interview I've ever done. And it's true. I love that. He was dropping so much wisdom. He was telling so many great stories. So that one for sure.

The one with The Undertaker from last year. And the fact that I got to sit in his house and do that interview, like it still blows my mind that we talked for almost two hours. And like, there's still so many other stories that we could get to and we could talk about. But that was such a fun interview. And like, he's just like, he's happy to just like speak off. the cuff off the top of his head and just like speak his mind about when things went right in his career or in a match and maybe when things didn't go right. So there's two. Oh,

this is so, these Mount Rushmore's, man, so hard. The one I did with Edge last year and it was an hour and a half or so at his house. And that's the other common thread there. I did that one in his gym. I did the one with The Undertaker, in his gym as well. Such a cool thing to be able to sit in their gym and do these interviews. The one with Edge, like, especially since he grew up about an hour away from where I grew up. So like there's that similar-ish upbringing in the greater Toronto area. And I'd love that conversation. We dove into so many different things. And again, just kind of like the Undertaker one, just like we barely scratched the surface. There's still so many other things we could have got into in that interview.

One more, the Mount Rushmore. There's been so many. And like not just in the last year or two, but like since the podcast began six years ago and like even the interviews before that. But the fourth one here, I think I'm going to just selfishly do this one just for me, AJ Styles. He was my guy in like the mid to late 2000. I remember the first few times I saw him rustle and I just my mind couldn't wrap or like I couldn't wrap my head around the things he was doing in the ring and how he was able to do it so effortlessly, so smoothly.

Like it still blows my mind to this day. The way he does the backflip lands, catches them in like the scorpion death drop and then like drops from there. So smooth like it's one motion. And then the first time I saw the spiral tap, I was like, what is the how? How does he do this? Wild. And he's just such a down-to-earth guy.

Like I felt like I was just having a chat with my buddy, AJ. And again, still so much stuff we could talk about. I would love to have AJ again on the show next year, especially since he says 2026 is going to be his last year wrestling. I would love to interview him like either right before his last match or right after. It's just kind of do like a career retrospective. And also like I look back at like what this last year has meant to him as he's been winding down his career. So those are my four.

But as I look around my office in the house here, I've got eight by tens autographed with a like little message from some of the bigger interviews that I've done over the last few years. And like I'm just looking around this. room with just like sheer gratitude. The faces on my wall that I've been able to share conversations with. It's crazy. The Hardy Boys. Dave Batista. Drew McIntyre, Christian, Samoa Joe, Seth Rawlins, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle. Oh, such a good one. The Kurt Angle interview. Goldberg, Booker T. Oh, Ray Mysterio. That would have been, I would have been, I would have been a real close contender as well.

So many of these great interviews. And just wait till you see what we have in store, Connor, for 2026. Ooh, I got some good ones on the way. This is an email from Jack Melton who says, Hi, CVV, real, real one here. I work on a British morning chat show called Sunday brunch, and I get to interview celebrity guests, sometimes even WWE related guests like Triple H,

best day ever and I get to write interviews every week. That's so cool. Man, Jack, that's awesome. Whilst I love the podcast and the Ask CVVs for the wrestling chat, I also love hearing about your background and broadcasting as I feel I can relate to that. I also love listening because your interview techniques and hearing how much you get out of each guest that comes on the podcast. My question, in true Ask CVV style is what is your Mount Rushmore of interview techniques slash skills or tricks that you use to make guests feel most comfortable and get the best interview that you can out of them. I would love to incorporate some of these into my weekly workflow to get the best out of the celebrities who I am fortunate enough to interview. Many thanks,

Jack. Well, Jack, many thanks to you for the very kind words and a triple H interview. You've got one on me. I've never had a triple H interview yet. Who knows? This could be one that hopefully happens at some point next year. But Mount Rushmore of interview techniques, you guys are the Mount Rushmore's. I love it. Number one, and this is so simple. In fact, it's so simple that I think that people don't pay attention to it. But the most important interviewing technique, no matter who you're interviewing, no matter what level you are doing this at, no matter how long you've been doing it, the number one thing is just one word. Listen.

That's it. Be present, be in the moment, and listen. You put all of this time and all this effort into formulating that question. Listen to the response. Like actually listen to what they're saying instead of skipping in your head to whatever the next question is and like, okay, So they've said this, but I'm going to, the next question is going to be this one. No, actually, listen.

Treat it like you're going out to dinner with somebody. You're going out for a beer with somebody. You ran into somebody at the grocery store and you haven't seen them in a while. Actually, be present and listen. There's a great quote from Larry King. I love this so much. He says, my first rule of conversation is this. I never learn a thing while I'm talking.

I realize every morning that nothing. I say will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn a lot today, I'll have to do it by listening. So listening, number one. Number two, build rapport. I think that that's such an important thing of like, try to bridge the gap, find the common ground, whatever it might be. Maybe you cheer for the same sports team. Maybe your dad went to the same college as them. Whatever the case may be, try to find some sort of common ground and build some sort of rapport, whatever it is. The rapport could be like, I was at raw last night and I saw that match. Like, there's the rapport. I was in the same building as you yesterday, whatever it is. These are just a few examples. But the other thing within the

building rapport is the interview doesn't start when the cameras start rolling. The interview starts, like if it's an in-person interview, the interview starts when you walk into the room and you see that person and you shake their hand and you're like having that little chat before the cameras roll. If it's a virtual interview, the interview really begins when the Zoom window opens or Riverside or Streamyard or whatever platform you're using. The interview begins when you see that person. And it's like that acknowledgement of, oh, hey, hey, thanks for taking the time to do this. And then like the preemptive chat that you have before is actually just as important as the interview itself, I think. Another point here, number three, I guess. And by the way, as I'm going through

these, I am most certainly no expert on this. This is just from my own experience, the things that I've found work really well. We're doing about a hundred-ish interviews a year, right? It's two a week, every week. So, 52 weeks in a year. It's 104 interview episodes. There's some repeats here and there. Actually, I should warn you right now because some people get very upset when there are re-aired episodes. So I will give you fair warning. Next Thursday will be a re-aired episode for Thanksgiving.

It's Thanksgiving here in the U.S. So next Thursday will be a re-eared episode. If you have an idea of which episode you'd like to see as a best of episode next Thursday, let me know. Otherwise, maybe I'll just pick from my previous Mount Rushmore in the last question. we just had. But again, these are just my experiences and what I've found that really helped. So number three is do your research, like do as much research as you possibly can about that person. If they're an actor, try to watch as many of their movies and try to like really like

do your research about their filmography and their career. If they're a wrestler, watch some of their big moments, the big matches, especially their recent stuff. Like, know enough about their career that when they start talking about an inflection point, like if they start to say something like, well, you know, then there was the match at SummerSlam, you know, we all know what happened there. You should be able to jump in and go, oh, yeah, no, of course, the match with Brett Hart. Yeah. Like, or oh, yeah, yeah, no, 1994.

Yeah, for sure. Like, that's the thing that we're talking about here. Like when I was with Mick Foley and like he's, oh, yeah. The match with Randy Orton. And I was like, oh, Backlash 04. Yes, of course. Yes. So I think it's do your research.

And when you think you've done enough research, do some more research after that. Like, I don't think you can ever know enough about the person that you're talking to. And I think that that's where the best questions come from. Because you've learned so much about them that like questions I feel like just naturally pop up from just starting to learn about their career and like the major beats of their career. And then I guess the last one here also sounds pretty simple. I guess all of these sounds simple if you really think about it. But number four for me is be curious. When you've done that much research, questions will naturally start to pop out at you. Be curious. Like be genuinely curious

instead of just like asking the surface level stuff like, I'm sure you've listened to a few of my interviews or maybe you've been around long enough to listen to a lot of them. I ask some like deep cut questions sometimes, mostly just because like I'm curious. Like the McFoley interview, for example, I have been curious for years. What hurt more when he went through the cage, through the cell? Was it the fall? Because that looked awful. Or was it the chair to the face as he's falling, which I believe is what ended up knocking

his tooth out and up into his nose? It's a question I just genuinely. genuinely want to know the answer to. And I think that in being curious, Jack, don't be afraid to say, I don't know. Like, for example, if you're interviewing someone and they say, oh, you know, I was, I was watching the movie Vanilla Sky the other day. Have you seen that? Don't be afraid to go, oh, no, I haven't seen it. Like, don't try to sound cool and be like, uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen it. Yeah. And like, just to like add on to the conversation, If it's okay, like it's okay to go, no, I've heard it's great, but I haven't seen it.

Or it's okay to also go, what do you mean by that? Like if they're talking in terms or talking in like a generality about a subject and you're just like, oh, I like, what exactly do you mean by that? Don't be afraid to like play the role of the every man, play the role of the person listening of like, yeah. And like, what exactly do you mean by that? Like don't be afraid to like, I guess ask. for clarification or also like be honest. And have you, did you have a chance to,

have you seen that movie match, listen to that album, whatever? Like, if you haven't, you haven't. And that's okay. And I think that that, like, be honest, I guess is another part of that. So there you go. There's four for me.

And Jack, congrats on the, what sounds like a very fun job that you have. And I hope that even one of these helps you out in a little way. This one's from Brandon Charles on Facebook. Actually, very similar to what we were just talking about there. What is your mindset as you're actually going to the studio?

As you're actually getting ready for the interview, what's that stillness in silence look like or is it loud? So on my drive into the studio, so the studio that I record the in-person interviews in Los Angeles, it's like, depending on traffic and traffic in Los Angeles is, Not good. Depending on traffic, that drive can take, I would say on average, it's about an hour and a half.

And it's crazy because it's like 40 miles. And that drive can also take two hours and 15 minutes. And that drive home can take sometimes up to two and a half hours. So on the drive-in, I usually try to find a podcast episode with that person, who the guest is. And I listen to that. I don't specifically look for a certain. host doing that podcast or a certain show they've been on. I'm just like, what's a relatively

recent podcast that they've been on? And I've already done a ton of research and all of that, but like I put on the podcast as we're driving in and it kind of feels like they're in the car with me. And I'm having a conversation with them, even though I'm eavesdropping in on this conversation. It's almost like, and I just thought of this right now, but it's almost like I'm Ubering them in. I'm Ubering the host and that interview subject in. And they're like sitting in the backseat and I get to listen in on the conversation. And that's kind of the beauty of podcasting, just in general, is like when you get a great conversation on a podcast, it kind of feels like you're out to dinner and like super interesting people are next to you. And you're kind of like

lean in your ear over a little bit. You're like, I can't. I got to listen to this. This is, this is gold. So that's kind of what it feels like to me. So I'll put on a podcast. I'll just listen for maybe there's a, an interesting, story that I missed out on or maybe they'll say something that'll trigger a question in my mind. I'm like, oh my gosh, they told like three quarters of that story, but there's a part of it that's was missing for me. And it also just, it also reminds me of like what the cadence is of that person. Like, do they take really long pauses in between their answers? So like, I need to be aware of that. like they're not done their sentence.

I should wait until it sounds maybe more like this. And that's when they're done. So that's one of the biggest things. And then, so that's when I drive into the studio. When I'm setting up for an interview, like, for example, like when I'm going to like a hotel and I'm like setting up the chairs and the microphones and all of that stuff, I'll oftentimes do the same thing. Put on a podcast as I'm setting up. So like that feels like that person's. like in the corner of the room and I'm listening to that conversation.

But there is a real stillness of like once everything's set up and good to go and the only thing we need to do it after that is like just hit the record button. There's a stillness in like, okay, what's the, how are we going to start this? That's always been a really big thing, I think, dating back to like when I started working in radio is like, how are you going to start this and how are you going to end this? And you probably heard me mention this before. I kind of got the ending down now because that just comes. from my genuine curiosity of like, what are you actually grateful for with this amazing career

you've built and the life that you're living? What are you grateful for? How are we going to kick this off? Are we going to kick it off with like, wow, the last time I did an interview with you was 12 years ago or the first time I met you, Kurt Engel, I was 17. And look at this photo of us. Am I going to kick it off with, wow, what a year you've had. Like, look at this run. Or am I going to kick it off with you've got this championship. And the last time I saw you, you didn't have that. I don't know. There's a thousand different ways, a million different ways you can kick off the interview. But trying to just find a way to like kick off the interview and like get the ball rolling. And once the ball's rolling, we can kind of take things from there. But really interesting question here,

Brandon and also Jack. And thank you guys for even being somewhat interested in just like the process of how all of this comes together. Fred 14A on Spotify says, Hey, CVV, what's your Mount Rushmore of intro songs no longer used by active wrestlers? For example, CM Punk and this fire burns. That's a good one. That's a good choice there. I think that if we're talking about, essentially what you're asking is who has an old

theme song that is better than their current theme song? And I think if that's the question we're answering here, Seamus. At the top of the list, even though Mount Rushmore's aren't ranked like that. But lobster head, that's a much better theme than his current theme. And that's not just me saying it. That's Seamus also sharing that same opinion. So I'd love to have Seamus's old song back.

And I think there's nobody on this planet that would rather have Seamus's old song back than Seamus himself. And he's said he's asked and it's kind of been a dead end. And he's like, oh, doesn't. seem like it's really worth me asking anymore. Along those same lines, Drew McIntyre's Broken Dreams, I think, is a much better theme song. And I think same situation as Seamus.

Like, I think if Drew had his way, he would have broken dreams back. But it seems like it's out of his hands. That decision is not his own. This is going to be a controversial decision, a controversial opinion. But I prefer Triple H's my time. Obviously, Motorhead, legends with both King of Kings and the game, great songs, but maybe it's nostalgia. And as you know, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

But I just love one two. Is this one? That song gets me every time. And maybe it's because that was like the first iteration of the new version of the game, Triple H and like the run that he was. went on after cutting the game promo on Jim Ross. I just, I love the one two. Is this so on? And I know that is an unpopular opinion. And here's another one, another unpopular opinion, but I liked Bray Wyatt's old Wyatt theme song better. I like the Wyatt family theme song better

than the theme song he had at the end. Maybe it was just like the slow, like that guitar, do it sounded a little bit like smashing pumpkins, didn't it? There was just something that was so eerie about the rocking chair and the fireflies and the lantern. I don't know. That song to me tied everything together. And I don't know if it's better. Certainly, okay, it's certainly not with this next example here.

It's not better, but I really liked Randy Orton's burning my light. theme song. It's not better than voices. Let me just clarify that, okay? I think voices is so good, but I've really liked that, hey, nothing you can say. Maybe it's because I'm a like pop punk fan or something like that. I don't know, but we are starting to see a trend, though, of wrestlers getting their old themes back. So maybe this continues. Gunther just got his old theme back, which I think just fits him better. Shinske got his old theme back, and I think that that's a different kind of story. I feel like he had the new theme because he was heel, and they didn't want people singing along to his theme song if he's a bad guy. But Shinske with the OG theme song, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

It's so good. It's so Shinske. And the movements in the ring along with that, I love it. So if this is starting to be a trend, I guess never say never. Maybe Seamus gets lobster head back. Too many limes. Too many limes. Maybe Drew gets broken dreams back. Who else needs to get their old theme back? Because this is not an exhaustive list, obviously.

But those are a handful for me where it's like, yeah, the old theme was pretty good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Alexander Dumas on Instagram says, Hey, Chris, I got a would-you-rather question for episode number 110 mile-per-hour speared by Braun Breaker episode. Could you imagine a human running 110 miles an hour? Here's your choice. These are so dumb. I love them.

Keep the would-you-rather's coming, please. The sillier, the better. Here's your choice for the rest of your life, starting now. Michael Cole is inside your head commentating everything you do. everything you think and every move you make. Or also for the rest of your life, every time you open your eyes when you wake up, your new morning alarm clock is Bronson Reed appearing above you?

And then you get hit by his tsunami? And then he disappears? I think that is a pretty easy choice here. Like I get that the Bronson Reed one happens and then that's it. And you live the rest of your day without Bronson Reed tsunamiing you. I understand that in the first example, Michael Cole is literally commentating every move you make. So like, you listening to this right now, if you're working, Michael Cole is like, oh, wow, look at that.

Like whatever you're doing, whatever you're doing. If you're walking right now, you're working out, you're walking the dog, you're cooking, whatever it happens to be. Michael Cole is in your head. And I believe you're probably the only one that can hear this. So it's like Michael Cole is the voice inside your head, like Randy Orton style. He hears voices in his head. but Michael Cole's so good.

Like how could you not want the legendary voice of the WWE, Michael Cole commentating your life? I mean, he's a future Hall of Famer. He has called the biggest moments in WWE over the last 25 years. Now he's calling the most mundane things in my life every single day. I'm going to go with Michael Cole on this one. Also, let's put this out into the world. Michael Cole dream interview for sure on the show.

There's so much we could talk about with Michael Cole. But it would be pretty funny. He's trying to think of a completely mundane task that he's commentating. Like you're washing your car and he's just like, wow, he's unraveling the hose. What does this mean? What could he be doing here? Wow, spraying the car with the water. You're doing laundry and he's.

because Cole also has like, especially old Michael Cole, and I don't think it would be old Michael Cole, but older Michael Cole, like Heel Michael Cole had like a condescending way of commentating things because that was the character that he was playing. So maybe he's like, I don't know, making fun of the way you're folding your clothes or the way that you're cutting lines in your grass. Like, I don't know, the way you're cutting your grass is like not straight. I don't know. Like you're zigzagging all around. But I'm going to go with the Michael Cole one on this. And yes, please keep the would you rather's coming. That, my friend, is the final question.

On this, Ask CVV, number one, perfect Tantai Dillinger edition. Number one, Lord Pency edition. number 1-110. Oh, you didn't know? Edition and the 110. Oh, sorry, 110 beats the Bondron edition. Send in your questions for next week. Ask CVV, triple ones.

Ask CVV 11. Leave a comment on Spotify. If you're still listening right now, that makes you a real, real one. Thanks for hanging out with me all the way until the end. of an Ask CVV episode. Also, if you've got a question, shoot me an email, CVV at chrisfamily.com or send it in on social media with that hashtag ask CVV.

We will wrap this up with a quote from Walt Disney, who said, The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Be great and be grateful, my friend. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got swerve. Strickland joining the show on Tuesday. And then we've got the, what show do you want as the best of for Thursday as we celebrate

Thanksgiving here in the United States? Let me know. Have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Alley.

Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987.

I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.