Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #113 - Predicting John Cena's Final Match, Gunther, Masked Man, Breakout Star of 2026, Nattie's New Gimmick

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Welcome to AskCVV #113! On this episode Chris Van Vliet answers questions about John Cena's last match at Saturday Night's Main Event and whether we could see any surprises, what a win over John Cena would mean for Gunther's career, who will be the breakout star of 2026, what is the identity of the masked man on Raw, Natalya's new gimmick, what's next for Maxxine Dupri, Mount Rushmore of final matches and much more!Quote I'm thinking about: "I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better." – Georg C. LichtenbergPlease 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/CVVand 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! Greetings and salutations, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. You are a real, real one for being here. So thank you for hanging out with me on a Friday. And thank you for making Insight, the number one wrestling podcast on the planet.

Hit a Stiles Clash on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening right now, so you don't miss a single episode ever. I'm on my way to Washington, D.C. right now as you listen to this. I obviously recorded this Thursday evening so it could go live at midnight Pacific time, but I will be flying to D.C. most of Friday for John Sina's last match tomorrow at Capital One Arena.

And isn't it crazy that here we are on the eve of John Sina's final match? Like it just feels like this snuck up on us. The start of the year, it was 36 dates. Then we were in the 20s. Then we were in the tens. Then we got down to the single digits. Then we were like, man, just five dates left. And here we are.

It's December 12th. Tomorrow is the December 13th date that we have all had circled on the calendar for months now. It's crazy. Expectations are obviously high for Saturday nights, main event. I'm really curious how this all plays out. We'll chat about it a bunch today,

but thanks for hanging out with me. And man, I can't wait to dive into all of this. Also, thank you to everyone who checked out the interview with John Cena this week. Wild. Wild that we did that interview as one of John Cena's last ever interviews as an active wrestler. Crazy. A ton of stuff to get into, but welcome, my friends, to ask. Ask CVV number one, one, three minute warning edition. Also, Ask CVV number one, one, three count edition. Shout out to three count. Get up on your feet.

Put your hands together. Oh, so good. Shannon Moore, Shane Helms, Evan Courageous. You know I love WCW. Welcome to Ask. CVV number one, one, three, mb, three-man band. I love that. And welcome, my friends, to ask CVV number one, one, three faces of Foley edition. It's Ask CVV number 113 number 113. If you've got a question for next week for Ask CVV number 114, if you've got an idea of what number 114 should be,

or 114 should be, let me know. Shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanvely.com. Leave a comment on Spotify with your question or suggestion or sending down on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV. We will kick this off from Derek Higgs on Instagram, D underscore Rick 1-1, who says, yo, CVV, real, real one here hoping to one day become a real, real, real one.

Also shout out to all the real, real, real ones who were there for the Chelsea Green episode in San Diego. That episode went live yesterday. She's just so entertaining. She's hilarious. I love that she was the guest for that show. And thank you to everyone who joined us there. Some announcements hopefully on the way for more live shows coming up soon. I always look forward to your interviews on Tuesday and Thursday, and I love ending my work week with the Ask CVV episodes. Speaking of Ask CVV, my question for Ask CVV number one, one, three faces a foley edition, is this. I see a lot of people complaining about Gunther being John Cena's final opponent, but I just don't get the hate.

I think this is going to elevate him into ultimate heel status and set him up for a long run as a top heel. He's also one of the absolute best in the ring, so we know this match is going to be a certified banger. If he does, in fact, pin the goat on Saturday, how would you fantasy book his path leading into WrestleMania? Again, big fan of the show, and I appreciate all you do, Derek. I think the thing with John Cena's final match is you can't please everybody. Whoever they ended up going with for this, whether it was L.A. Knight, yeah, whether it ended up being Gunther,

whether it was one of the fantasy picks from months ago. If you and I were still having this conversation in May or June, Think of the names who were on that list of that time. The Rock was on the list of that time. C.M. Punk was on the list. Could they do another one with Randy Orton, even though they said that that was one final time? How is Edge's contract going to play out? Is Chris Jericho going to be available?

Is it going to be a young up-and-coming talent like maybe Carmelo Hayes? The thing is you can't please everybody. And I think that if you really break it down, and when Sonti's app was on the show, he had such a great point here. Gunther is a prototypical John Sina heel opponent. Like if you were to take a John Sina heel opponent and make them in a lab, they would look like Gunther. And I think that there's a storyline set up here of like Gunther retired Goldberg.

Gunther win or lose is going to retire John Sina. I think that that's a point that seems to be missed on this. Even if John Sina wins, he retires. So John Cena's last opponent will always be Gunther. So I think it's a tough situation where like, how can you make it so it's a win-win for everybody? You can't. You just can't.

If you were to have an opponent from his past, if it was going to be CM Punk again, Randy Orton again, whoever it might be, oh, why couldn't they give that match to someone who he's never wrestled before? So I think that there's, there's no pleasing everybody in this. And I think that that's the main point of this. WWE put on a tournament.

We were all invested with these 16 names that were in there, got whittled down to eight, then four, then two. Now we finally have one. That's the main part of the storyline here. I've seen so much talk online of like, well, there's no build to this match. There's no storyline to this match. The storyline was the tournament.

How, like, there was a month long, over a month long tournament with the whole intention here of, like, whoever can make it all the way through all of these rounds gets the honor of facing John Sina in his final match. And when John Sina was on the show last week, we did the interview last week, the episode aired on Tuesday, he was talking about what's the story going to be? Well, for me, off the top of my head, it's, you're going to retire the greatest of all time. cool yeah that's that's certainly one of the storylines but i also like that goonther's taking this a layer deeper talking about yeah john sina is the greatest sports entertainer of all time but i am the greatest wrestler of all time and i just appreciate that it's like he's approaching this from like yeah you've got just a few days left to enjoy john sina the countdown clock man what a beautiful heel move that was And I also like that John Sina, his catchphrases never give up.

And Gunther has taken that, flipped it on its head and said, this is the man who never gives up. Well, you know what I'm going to do to you, John Sina at Saturday night's main event. I'm going to take every little ounce, every last ounce of hustle, loyalty, and respect out of you. I'm going to force you to give up. I think the storytelling there is great. And you're absolutely right, Derek.

this is going to be a banger of a match. And I think that there's got to be some special things here. I'm not saying there's going to be some run-ins or anything like that, but I think that the whole night leading up to that final match is going to be really special, the way that this is all built up. I would have to think someone like Kurt Engel is front row, or maybe Kurt Engel has a moment with him backstage. Like I think that there's going to be a lot of different things here.

that are going to make us just appreciate this night. I mean, truly outside of like WrestleMania, this is one of the biggest wrestling nights of the year. Whether you're a hardcore wrestling fan, whether you're a lapsed fan, or maybe you're even just a casual fan. Maybe you've never even watched John Senior. You're just a fan of his movies.

Everybody's either going to be watching this match or watching clips from this match on Sunday morning. I think there's going to be a ton of attention on what's going on. on here on Saturday night, and I'm just very interested to see how this all plays out. We can fantasy book this till the cows come home. But what's in front of us right now is John Sina and Gunther. All of the ideas about who you thought it should have been, it doesn't matter now because

this is who it ends up being. And I think that this is going to end up playing out to be a great match. I think there's some other things, though, that are interesting. Like we talked about last week how the rock. was leading the poll that I put out like six months ago of who do you think it's going to be John Cena's final opponent. Rock led that poll, which is so interesting because he's not even part of the conversation now. Also, Roman Raines, I don't feel like, was ever part of this conversation as well. Even in the fantasy booking realm, I don't feel like people brought up Roman Rain's name as often as maybe they should have.

Obviously, it's not a match that we ended up getting. And very clearly, we will never get. but I think there was some interesting names that were thrown out and then also some interesting names that were never thrown out. But you can play coulda, woulda, shoulda. I guess it doesn't really matter here because this is what we've got. And I think that this is a huge push for Gunther either way, which actually leads me right into this next one from Nick underscore Gonzo on Instagram, Nick Gonzalez.

Hey, CVV, hope you and the family are doing well. what we are. Thank you. I have a question for you. If Gunther finds a way to beat John Sina, should that earn him a title shot. I believe beating Sina in his final match should give him the number one contender spot. Love to get your opinion. Thank you for everything you do. I always look forward to listening to the new episodes. Hope you have a great one. I hope you have a great one too, Nick. I think that in storyline here, it's not a number one contender match. John Sina is not the former, he's not the last person to wrestle the champion, Cody Rhodes. It's not a number one contenders match,

but I see what you're saying with this. I see where the argument can be made. He's the guy who held the WWE championship more than anybody else in history. I just beat him. I just retired him. I just made him give up, if he does, in fact, tap out or pass out.

I could see where the argument would be made here. I don't think that's going to be the initial direction that this goes. I think that there's obviously going to be a big push for Gunther leading into 2026. Like 24, huge for him. 2025 has also been a great year. I think in 2026, I think he'll step it up to an even higher level here. I have a feeling that what we're building to in 2026 with Goonther is a match with Brock Lesnar. And did you pick up that half sentence that John Cena said in our interview on Tuesday? He said something, I don't know if he meant it.

I don't know if this is a fully fleshed out plan, but he said that when Brock Lesnar rides off into the sunset, and I think that'll be in Minnesota, is he hinting that Brock Lesnar is going to retire at SummerSlam in Minneapolis this summer, if that's the case, and they continue on with Gunther just putting out all the old timers to pasture. Could we see Gunther versus Brock Lesnar maybe in the final match or maybe leading up to what will be Brock Lesnar's final match? But I think that what Gunther did with the World Heavyweight Championship was fantastic. I think it's just a matter of time before Goonther is the WWE champion as well. And this leads us into a whole other discussion that we've talked about many times.

It's who does Cody Rhodes end up losing that championship too? I still feel right now, and obviously a ton of things can change as we head into the Royal Rumble and everything after that, I still feel like it's Randy Orton. I don't know if Randy Orton has that many more years left. I think he's got at least one more WWE championship run in him. And there's the very obvious story there, the easy story, it's right in front of us with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes. I think it's just a matter of time before they pull the trigger and give us that what will be an incredible

storyline, what will also be an incredible match or series of matches. I would have to think that Randy Orton would be the next WWE champion. I don't know where it goes from there. I also don't know how many title changes that we're going to see. Now, that's, that's another thing that we talk about a lot. It's only a handful of title changes every year now. In this calendar year in 2025, we've only had two different WWE superstars hold the WWE championship. Cody Rhodes started the year with it. He lost it at WrestleMania. So he held it from WrestleMania 40 until WrestleMania 41. John Cena, then had it from WrestleMania 41 until SummerSlam night two.

And now we've got Cody Rhodes in his second championship reign, 130 days into it as we sit here right now. Maybe we see three championship rains next year. Maybe we see four. I think it'd be really interesting to see the stories that could get told, especially if they're done the right way. Could it be Cody Rhodes drops the championship to Randy Orton, which then builds to Randy Orton and Gunther. Either way, Gunther being John Cena's final opponent is a huge feather in his

cap. It also shows you the trust that WWE in general just has for Gunther. And I just, I love the way that he works. And I think that so much of what he does is so believable. I also just appreciate the psychology of the way that he's able to speed things up when it makes sense for a match and also slow things right down when that makes sense as well. Also, I don't think it's talked about enough how funny Gunther is. Like his promos, he always has these like one-line insults where he just like, ah, that was great. But also in the way he works sometimes. He does hilarious things in the ring. So I'm interested to see where this goes. And also, if this elevates Gunther, Who else gets elevated with him along the way?

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slash insight. That's ZAPIER.com slash insight. Hector Rodriguez on Instagram says, How did it feel knowing you had one of John Cena's last full-length interviews? Surreal, like wild, that he did this little media tour over the last week or so. You saw him on Jimmy Kimmel. You saw him on Joe Rogan. You saw him sit down with Bill Simmons.

You saw him with Tom Rinaldi on the official WWE channel. And he was on my show. Pretty crazy. And we learned a ton from that interview. We learned his favorite moment from the retirement tour. The fact that he started planning the farewell tour three years ago in 2022. He told me he spent nine months getting all the t-shirts approved for the farewell tour, which I thought was a fascinating detail that I don't think anyone would really think about.

It's the little things, right? we learned about the nuances and the meaning behind some of the things he did during his heel turn, like why he wore the championship title backwards, why he had the towel behind his head for those entrances. He was basically saying, like, I'm out of here. And like, you're just going to see my back as I'm walking out the door. Who he thinks is the best to ever do it. He said, AJ Styles is the best to ever do it.

He said CM Punk was his wrestling soulmate. He gave us the story behind that incredible love letter to wrestling that match with AJ Stiles in Perth, trading the iconic finishers, him taking the TNA finishers, and him giving the WWE finishers, that beautiful moment where he gave sister Abigail to AJ Stiles. We learned how being a husband has changed him. We learned what winning the 17th WWE championship meant to him. his thoughts on winning the intercontinental championship.

And yet the one thing we didn't get a clear answer on was the involvement of Travis Scott and the Rock at Elimination Chamber when he turned heel. And it's just, it's too bad that the focus of this interview that was 90 minutes seems to be all focused on that one exchange. I would still love to know and I'm sure that at some point in time, the answer will come out from what I understand. There was a match planned.

Travis Scott was going to be part of a multi-man match at Money in the Bank. The plans ended up falling apart for that. It would have been great to hear what the full plan was for that. I'm sure that will come out at some point in time. I guess right now with what's going on. I guess now is not the right time. But should I go through that list again of all the things we learned? Should we talk about the one moment where we didn't get a clear answer?

John has always been so kind to me throughout my career. I did my first interview with him in 2017. Actually, I think it was 2016. He hosted a show called American Grit on Fox. I did a satellite interview with him, like a virtual interview with him. So that was the first time I ever interviewed him. Then I interviewed him, I believe, the next year when he started Bumblebee. And then a few other interviews for movie junkets peppered in here and there. The first like wrestling interview I did with him was WrestleMania 35, 2019. You may remember that one. We were like standing there and he kept like being so kind and just giving me more and more time. I just always appreciate how present John Cena is. I always appreciate like when you have his time.

you have his time. And it's just, there's a real lesson to be learned from like being present and paying attention to what's going on in front of you, whether that's a conversation, whether that's a meal, whether that's your kids playing, whatever it happens to be. There's a real lesson to be learned of like, life is this. This thing that's happening right now, it may not always be exciting. It may not always be life-changing, but this, this is life. And I think that that's a constant reminder I get every time I have a chance to share a conversation with John Cena of like this, this thing you're doing right now, whether

you're walking the dog or you're working out or you're driving to work or you're working or you're preparing a meal, whatever you're doing right now, this is life. and like to try your very best to be present in that moment is something that I take away every single time that I have a chance to sit down with John Sina. Lamar Wright on Spotify says, Hey, CVV, what do you think about the reports that John Sina is going to open the show on Saturday?

So it's interesting. I've seen these reports online, and I think they came from a comment he made when he was on Jimmy Kimmel, and he was talking about how he wanted the night to be focused on the superstars of the future. Here's the actual quote, because I feel like for some reason,

his words have been twisted into John Sina confirmed he's going to open the show, or John Sina says he's going to be the first match of the night. I don't think that's what he's saying at all here. So I'm going to give you the full quote, and then we can chat about it after. So I actually suggested that instead of a tribute and spending the whole show based around,

okay, this is the past, I wanted to have my final match, which I will get a chunk of time and then generate the rest of the show to the future. So if you tune in to Saturday Night's main event on Peacock on the 13th, you'll see my final in-ring performance.

But you'll also get a look at the major WWE superstars facing future stars because the way I came into this business was a major star, a gold medalist, was like, open challenge to anyone. And me, a no-name, came walking out there and that was the start of this crazy ride.

So 20 years later, kind of want to return the favor. and you're going to see some technically minor leaguers step up to the plate and see if they can hang. So I think somehow him saying, I suggested this, which is the actual thing, somehow I think that this has been turned into this is a factual thing that is going to happen. I would be so incredibly surprised if John Sina versus Gunther, John Sina's final match, the man who they've been calling the great, greatest of all time, the never seen 17, if that becomes the curtain jerker. If that becomes the opening match on this Saturday Night's Main Event card, I just don't see it happening. WWE says all the time, we make movies. They're in this storytelling business. They're all about

like building up to this big thing. I think what we're going to see tomorrow on Saturday's Saturday night's main event is a build to this beautiful crescendo that will be John Sina's final match. I think that we're going to see these other three matches peppered in there. And man, some of these matches, I mean, actually all of these matches, Cody Rhodes versus Obafemi, champion versus champion, Bailey versus Sol Ruka, and my goodness, AJ Stiles and Dragon Lee versus Jvon Evans. and Leon Slater, I don't think the world is ready for this match. And if, for whatever reason, this happens to be the first time that you ever see Javon Evans and or Leon Slater in action,

buckle up, buckle up, this thing is going to be just absolutely insane. So I think that as we see those matches, I think peppered in between them are going to be, I'm just guessing here, but vignettes, throwbacks to remember when John Cena did this thing, or maybe, uh, Maybe some of John Sina's most famous opponents or maybe famous people saying, oh, wow, here's my favorite John Sina memory. I think it's just going to be this continuous build, this continuous drip of like, man, John Sina is great and this is it. Like, wow, we're building up to this final match that's going to happen here.

Then I think after all of that happens, we're going to cut to commercial break, come back, and it's going to be John Sina versus Gounther for John Sina's final match. I just don't see any scenario where it makes sense to have one of the biggest matches of the year. One of the matches is the most anticipated with the biggest build. Even if we haven't known who the opponent is, the build to John Cena's final match on December 13th has been going on for months. Even when we didn't know the date at the start of the year, we knew that this was the final date of the 36 that were announced.

I don't see any world where this is the opening match. That has not been officially announced by anyone. This is an online rumor that got a lot of traction, but I don't know why. I read you the quote. It sure doesn't sound to me like this is going to be John Cena opening the show. But I guess we'll see how this all plays out tomorrow night. And if you're in D.C., it'd be awesome to give you a high five

and chat a little wrestling with you. Simon James English. This is Simon English 2001 on Instagram. Says, hey, CVV, real, real one here. Your podcast has led me to start training, rest, start wrestling training at the late age of 24. First of all, the late age of 24, are you kidding me? This is amazing.

So many of the greats didn't start training till after that. I always love to remind people that, DDP didn't start wrestling till 36? I was 36, right? I was messing up. 35 for 36. It doesn't matter. 24, you are still a baby with so much in front of you.

I love it. All right, back to the question. You've done so much for me, so thank you. Question for Ask CVV number 113. With most of the vision, not knowing the masked man, who do you think set it up? Personally, I think it was Logan's doing with the way that he reacted people mentioning it, but I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks again, Simon from Darlington, England. I think for me, what would make the most sense, if we're just looking at this from like

a pure storyline perspective, I would think Paul Heyman's the mastermind behind this. I would think that Paul Heyman would not want his group to lose any sort of matches. I would also think that Paul Heyman's probably the one who gets to say yay or nay when it comes to a new member joining the group. So I would have to think that Paul Heyman's probably the one pulling the strings on this. Your thoughts about Logan makes sense, but Logan Paul is also the newest member of the vision. How, from a storyline perspective, how would we be giving that kind of a responsibility to the newest member of the group? I just don't know if that, from a storyline perspective, would make that much sense. So I would, I would think that the brains behind this would be Paul Heyman.

I think we're going to keep getting teases every single week. My prediction is still that we got to wait till January 5th, that WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Bronner and CM Punk. I, I think that that's when we finally get the unveiling of who it is. My guess is still Austin Theory, but this is wrestling and anything can happen. Even if it's been Austin Theory under that mask on Raw, and even if it was Austin Theory at Survivor Series, there's a chance that over the next few weeks, it might not be Austin Theory. It could end up being someone else. I'm not saying this is an Al Grande Americano situation because I have heard rumors that people seem to think it could be a different person. But what I'm saying is

maybe what the original plan was doesn't end up being what we end up seeing. I'm not suggesting that's going to be the case, but we've seen plenty of examples in the past where it has played out like that. But I think if we're going to connect the dots that we've seen, if we're going to believe some of the chatter online, some of the rumors online, and we're just, we'll play it. We'll play into it for a minute here. Austin Theory was apparently, according to reports, pitched as a part of the vision months ago. I could see this playing out here. And that would really, I think, level him up to be part of a main event group like this, to be part of, those are some of the most talented guys on the roster right now. I think that that would be an amazing reintroduction of Austin Theory.

We haven't seen him in like six months. So it'd be great to, if that is, in fact, the case. I would think it's Paul Heyman saying you, Mr. Theory. You are part of this. David Perry on Facebook says, what surprises do you expect for John Cena's last match? Special ring announcer, run in by a surprise returning wrestler, add a person to the match.

How cool would it be if Edge got added to the match live? You think you know me. So special ring announcer, not happening because it was announced this week that Lillian Garcia is having the honor of announcing John Cena down for her, or down for his final match, which, I mean, that makes sense on so many levels. Surface level, she's the ring announcer for Saturday Night's main event. Makes sense. but just there's so much history there.

She was one of the first people to announce John Cena. It was her and Tony Chimel that were announcing John Cena at the start of his career. It's a complete full circle for John Cena to have the legendary, amazing Lillian Garcia announced John Cena down of the ring. Also, congratulations to Lillian Garcia. She recently announced that she got engaged. I'm so happy for them. So amazing to her and her fiance.

Incredible. A running. could be possible. And that could be interesting to see, although I feel like that would take the focus away from John Cena and his final match and whatever ends up happening there. Add a person to a match

is a really interesting stipulation here, a really interesting curbball. Because I put out a poll on the CVV feed, the feed I have on Instagram, where he's like click join, it's free. You go join in there. We've got some fun stuff going on there. I take a lot of Ask CVV questions from there.

We have some fun polls in there, some behind the scenes photos that you've never seen before. I said, who wins on Saturday? John Sina, Gunther, or someone else. John Sina is actually leading this poll right now, as I sit here. Gunther is not far behind, but then someone else. I just threw that in randomly because I think there's people that have these. theories out there that someone else could be part of this match.

Gunther could be taken out of the last minute's wrestling. Anything could happen. Gunther could be on his way to the ring and someone attacks him, right? These are all possibilities. I think it's unlikely, but possibilities. And let's speak in all of these possibilities and plausibilities. Someone else has like 20% of the vote. So like John's seen it leading the way.

Gunther, not far behind. But there's a lot of people online thinking, you know, can't just be a straight up match. Can it? I don't know. My gut says that's what we're going to get. I think we're going to see a lot of other things that are thrown into this. I think that there's going to be after the match, we know or lose.

Again, I think John Cena takes the loss here. I think there's going to be the whole locker room empties out. I think that we're going to go, oh, my gosh, look, that's so-and-so. Oh, look, wow, that's that person. I think there's going to be a lot of that. I think there's also not going to be a dry eye in the building. I think this is going to be a super emotional night with just the buildup to like what this means because of what John Sina has meant to wrestling for the last 23 years.

Edge getting out of the match, I think is wonderful fantasy booking. I think it's going to be one of those things that if Edge isn't part of this, I think then we look ahead to, oh my goodness, well, are we going to hear? Edge's music at the Royal Rumble? Maybe. I think that if we look ahead to 2026, seems more likely that maybe Chris Jericho's music could hit at the Royal Rumble, but who knows? Who knows how this will play out? I don't think we'll see a run-in. I don't think there's going to be anyone added to the match. I just, I truly think we're going to get John Sina versus Gunther. I don't think that there's going to be any sort of a wrinkle like that.

But I also know that if you look at the last year or so of WWPLEs, and I know this isn't a PLEs, but this is a major event, WWE loves the shock value of a big surprise. Whatever that ends up being, I don't know. We can speculate a ton about this. It would also be interesting, like Edge being part of the match. seems really unlikely. But what if? What if Adam Copeland is just sitting in the audience? Again, I don't think that's very likely. But that seems more likely than Edge coming out since it seems like

he's under AEW contract. I think the one big thing leading into tomorrow night is, are your expectations going to be met? And if we go into this with the expectation of like, all right, well, this, this, this and this need to happen or else the show's going to suck. Well, you're probably going to be pretty disappointed. I'm going into this with just the expectation of like, we're seeing the greatest of all time have their final match. Like when Sting had his final match in AEW,

I don't remember this much chatter about like, oh, is the undertaker going to show up? Obviously, that's not going to happen. But there wasn't, I don't feel like there was this much chatter about like, Will this person show up or that person show up or will it lead to this thing or that thing or something else? And by the way, there was a title on the line in that match. Sting and Darby Allen were the AEW tag team champions.

There is no title on the line here. John Cena's career isn't even on the line here. John Sina is retiring when lose or draw in this match. It's just really interesting of all like the fun stuff that people are talking about. But I think for me, I'm going in there. I'm going into Capital One Arena, and I'm just going to sit back and see how they put this whole thing together. In the same way that, like, I love Christopher Nolan. Christopher Nolan is my favorite director.

But every time I go in to see one of his movies, I just go, what do you got? How are you going to present this to me? I don't go in going, well, I see Leonardo DiCaprio's in this movie. And if Leonardo DiCaprio's character doesn't, I don't, I'm just going to watch the show. and then we can talk about it after, but my feelings about it now, we're not going to affect the show at all. So I'm going to go into this and go,

let's see what you got. I am prepared to be entertained, and I feel like we all will be. Rocky McRae 13 on Spotify says, Ask CVV-113. Hey, Chris, hope you're having a blessed day. Hope you are too. My question is this,

Who do you think will be the big breakout performer in 2026 in WWE? Braun is a clear choice, but I was thinking more beyond him. Bronbreaker is the clear choice. I mean, Bronbreaker is going to start off the year with a World Heavyweight Championship match. And I think that at some point, whether it is that first raw on Netflix to kick off the year, the one-year anniversary of raw on Netflix, I should say, whether it's on January 5th or to some other point, I think that Bronbreaker wins his first world championship at some point in 26. And I really feel like we need to look at this as like Bronbreaker, for sure, we'll have a

breakout year. I mean, 2025 was amazing for him, but I think 2026 is the year that he levels up. I think we look at it as like Bronbreaker, the lock for sure to break out and then kind of everybody else after that. So I think that Dominic Mysterio is going to continue to ride this rocket ship that he's on right now, like every single time he goes out there. He just continues to get better and better. You know who else? I feel like it's continuing to ride this momentum and continue to just build every single week. Bronson Reed. Like they have built Bronson Reed to just be this like monster. The way that he took out L.A. Knight. Yeah, I feel like it just continues to prove. He's just taking everybody out. Took Seth Rollins out. He'd

takes everybody out. And I feel like we just continue to build here with, like, Bronson Reed being a force to be reckoned with. What's next for Julia? I feel like she has the real possibility here to step up. Roxanne Perez as well. Like, Roxanne Perez is going to be guaranteed a WWE women's world champion at some point in the next year or two or three. She's still so young, which is crazy. She was born in 2001. It's crazy how talented. she is for how young she is. I think that she has the potential to have a breakout year. How cool is it that she got to share a moment in the ring with John Cena in his second last match? John Sina took her finisher. I love it. John Sina took pop rocks like it was nothing.

It was so cool. I think there's a lot. I also think that on the AEW side, Kyle Fletcher, it's just like a ticking time bomb. It's just a matter of time. Like he's done some great stuff for the TNT Championship, but like, it's just a matter of time here. He's had some AEW World Championship opportunities, but, man, Kyle Fletcher ticks every single box, and it's just a matter of time before he's a world champion. I can't wait for you to see the interview that I did with him. That airs next week.

He just, he thinks about the business in a, just a different, a different way. This episode is brought to you by Hems. Hair loss isn't just about hair. about how you feel when you look in the mirror. Hymns helps you take back that confidence with access to simple, personalized care that fits your life. HIMS offers convenient access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with ingredients that work, including chews, oral medication, serums, and sprays. Doctor-trusted ingredients like finasteride and oxidil can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months. You shouldn't

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Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information. Pete Eccles on, I hope that's right, on Instagram says, Hey, CVV, last week you teased a possible live UK show in January. Is there any update on this? I'd love to become a real, real, real one. No official update yet, and I know we're getting close. for almost a month away from Smackdown. It's going to be in London on January 16th.

All I will say is just clear your calendar for the evening of January 15th. No guarantees here. I haven't solidified anything. I haven't finalized anything. But I'm just saying, just keep that date open. And hopefully by Ask CVV-14, we'll have some more official news. on that one, but I would love for you to be a real, real, real one.

I would love for us to do our first ever Insight Live in the UK. I can't wait. This has been one of the most requested things of like, man, when are you going to come here? Well, we're working on it. And if we do Insight Live that Thursday night, I will for sure see you guys at Smackdown that Friday night. So just bear with me on this one. Also, same answer for Elimination Chamber in Chicago.

We're looking into a date to do Insight Live the Friday before Elimination Chamber. I actually just got an email before I hit record on this looking at like dates and venues and like trying to figure that stuff out. So hopefully we're able to make that one official in the next week or two. But just bear with me on this. Nobody wants us to happen more than this. guy right here wanted to happen. Sam Acquisto emailed this one and said, hey, CDV, real, real one here would like to be a real, real, real one if you ever came to Salt Lake.

I would love to come to Salt Lake. You've said that Christopher Daniels has told you that every wrestler has a last match, but they don't always know when it is, right? That's so profound, too. I know that you love a good Mount Rushmore question, so here we go. What is your Mount Rushmore of final matches planned or not. It feels like Flair versus HBK would be a shoe-in. Had it actually been Flair's last match? Can't wait for your cameo in 2029's Zootopia 3 as Chris Van Bleet, a sheep newsman,

interviewing the Zebrose, CM Punk and Roman Raines, Sam from Salt Lake City. Do you think you could pull some strings and get me in Zootopia 3? Chris Van Bleet just writes itself. Man, that'd be so great to see. It's a tough question. You know, I love a good Mount Rush more questions.

So thank you for sending this in, Sam. It's a tough question because you specifically said final matches, not retirement matches, two very different things, right? Rick Flair's retirement match versus Sean Michaels from WrestleMania 24 would be number one on there. It would totally make sense. However, Flair wrestled 17 more matches. after that. Sean Michaels.

He would be on there too. His match versus the Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 was about as perfect as you can get. Like a perfect wrestling match, perfect send-off for one of the greatest of all time. But then he had that tag team match, DX versus the Brothers of Destruction at Crown Jewel in 2018. Even though HBK told me in our interview a few months ago

that he doesn't consider that his final match, it is indeed the last match that he ever. wrestled. So like it's so tough here, right, there's so many legends here. But if we're talking final, final match, not retirement match, final match, it's tough. Look at other legends like Triple H. You know what Triple H's last match was? His last match was a house show in Tokyo where he teamed up with Shinski Nakamura to take on Robert Rood and Samojo, house show. So if we're going with like final, final matches. You got to go Batista.

WrestleMania 35 against his greatest rival, Triple H. And the beautiful thing about that, he told this story when he was on the show last year. He didn't tell anyone. He knew it was going to be his last match,

but he didn't want to like go into this with the pomp and circumstance and all the expectations that come along with what is your last match. He went out there. He worked the match that he wanted to work. with the opponent that he wanted to work against, and they had a great match,

and that was indeed his final match. And fun little fact here, you know, who else worked their final match that same night? Kurt Engel. Kurt Engel worked his final match at WrestleMania 35 against. I'm sure you remember this, against Baron Corbyn. And Kurt Engel told me the story,

he's told the story many times, that he wanted John Cena to be his last opponent. And he was like begging Vince McMahon to make it happen. And Vince said, sure, you can do it, but it'll have to be next year at WrestleMania. It'd have to be at WrestleMania 36. And Kurt said, my body just won't hold up. I can't do it. I have to have my last match this year.

And Vince said, well, if that's the case, if you've got to have your last match this year, then it needs to be against Baron Corbyn. We've got to pay off this storyline that you guys have been building towards. So we got what we got. But, man, how good would Kurt Angle versus John Cena have been for Kurt Angle's last match? And the crazy thing is, John Cena was there. John Cena made that surprise return at WrestleMania 35 coming out in the Yankees jersey coming out to basic thuganomics. It was right there.

It was right there. So we got Batista on the list. You know who else? Stone Cold Steve Austin. His final, final match was that super fun match at WrestleMania 38 against Kevin Owens, 19 years after his previous final match. And you know who that match was against? That was against the Rock at WrestleMania 19. Wow.

And that's funny because he went into that. It was in 2003. Went into that going, this is my final match. Again, like, didn't tell anyone. He just, his body just wasn't holding up.

He knew he couldn't keep doing it. Went into that one. Had that match with the Rock that he's said that, like, that of the WrestleMania matches he had with the Rock, 15, 17, and 19, said that that was the one he doesn't like, that's the lowest on the list for him.

But then, like, for him to come back 19 years later and have that match with Kevin Owens in Dallas and Stone Cold's home state of Texas, that was just fun. And a great surprise, too, because the buildup to this was that Kevin Owens needs an opponent for WrestleMania. And, like, of course, it was heavily speculated

and, like, I think we all kind of knew who it was going to be. But, man, what a pop when his music hit. It was great. And since you are a real, real one, I am so excited to tell you that Stone Cold Steve Austin is going to be on the show in the next few weeks. This interview has been one I've been trying to get for years. Like Stone Cold has been a bucket list guest for me. I've done like super short interviews with him before, one over Zoom, one over via satellite years ago, but like never sat down with him in person. So I believe we're going to kick off 2026 with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

I went to his ranch just outside of Reno, Nevada, and sat down with him for almost 90 minutes and just chatted wrestling, chatted about his career. And then, like, I got to hang out with him after. We walked around the ranch. He introduced me to the solid-ass cats. We saw his horses. We saw his cats. We saw his pond with all the bass in it.

an unreal day. And actually, what makes it even more unreal and unbelievable and mind-blowing is that was last Tuesday. And then the next day, the Wednesday, was when John Cena was in the studio. Like, I don't think I'll ever be able to beat that 24-hour span in the history of Insight with Chris Van Fleet. Wild. So back to the question here. I can't wait for that episode, by the way. Batista, Stone Cold. We just mentioned it. But Sting. Like if we're talking about final, final matches and like you're never going to wrestle again, he went out on top. He was the, they won that match.

Darby and Sting won that match. He went out on top as the AEW tag team champion. And it was a fantastic match against the Young Bucks. It was a night dedicated to him and his career. Revolution, 2024. They did such a great job paying tribute to Sting and also like bidding farewell to him. I thought that that was really well done. especially the way that like obviously things in wcw didn't go the way that anybody in wcw wanted them to go

stings career in wwee also didn't go the way that any sting fan would want it to go and i'm sure if we asked the stinger himself it didn't go how sting would would have wanted it to go he had four total matches in wwee triple h beat sting at russlemania 31 sting beat the big show via DQ, a short match on Monday Night Raw. John Cena and Sting teamed up to beat Seth Rollins and the big show on Raw. And then we got Knight of Champions. Seth Rollins defeated Stings. So Sting's WWE record is two and two.

And yeah, and then he wrestled far more matches in AEW. But like for him to have an actual official sendoff, I think Sting's got to be on that list. And again, like, this is a tough list because we're talking final, final matches, not all the hoopla around a retirement match and then you work one or two or three or 17 more. We're talking final, final matches. I want to throw the Undertaker in there, but I feel like it has to have an asterisk because it wasn't like an official match, but because it was a cinematic match. But the Boneyard match with AJ Stiles was just, it was so,

fun and they did the best they could for the strange time that we were in and not being able to wrestle in front of fans like that that's the greatest cinematic match of all time firefly fun house match super fun as well but i just think that in terms of storytelling and everything they were able to pull off in that match the way that they made it look so realistic even though it wasn't in front of a crowd i thought it was i thought it was really well done so yes it's an official match but it's It's a cinematic match. So that's why I'm going to leave a special category for that one. But like, it's just such a gray area.

But you mentioned his name earlier. Christopher Daniels. He had a 32 year career. An absolute legend. When you think of TNA, Christopher Daniels is one of the first names that pops into your head. When you think of some of AJ Styles best matches, you've got to think about matches that he had with Christopher Daniels.

He handpicked his opponent earlier this year, Hangman Page, and it wasn't just the send-off for Christopher Daniels. It was, but it also continued to push Hangman Page further. It pushed Hangman Page further in the storyline that he had. That was how he started the year, and then he continued with this momentum to eventually at All In, in July, Adam Pageant is a beating, John Moxley to become the AAU champion. So there's my list.

It's a tough list. This is probably the one that took me the most amount of thought to go through. What are the actual final, final matches? And like Christopher Daniel said, every wrestler has a final match. Not every wrestler knows when that final match is going to be. Father time, undefeated. And I think that's what we've seen with a lot of these final matches where it's just like, you had your last match and you didn't know it till later that day, later that week,

later that month, later that year when you got a diagnosis or something like that. So if we're talking final, final matches, there's my list. Future is Fontaine on Instagram. Would you rather receive? Oh, I love a good would you rather. And please send them in. The more ridiculous, the better. Would you rather receive a Claymore from Drew McIntyre,

every time you brush your teeth or never have sweets ever again. You know I have a real sweet tooth, so this is hard. Like, real tough. Like ice cream gets me pies and cakes and candy. It's tough. Like I have a real problem with sugar and sweets. but I Claymore from Drew McIntyre, you know, I could, this could be like a nice thing to help me like never eat sweets again. Like, like never eat sweets again or Claymore from Drew McIntyre every time you brush your teeth.

I guess I could not brush my teeth ever again. Like that's one way to avoid that thing. But then like you run into the obvious problems pretty quickly of, you know, being the guy who doesn't brush their teeth, I feel like I wouldn't be able to sit very close to anybody that I'm interviewing after a few weeks. Could I still use mouthwash? Like, could I use my, could I finger brush my teeth?

You know, like where, you know those times when you like forget a toothbrush and you're at a friend's house or at a hotel and you're like, oh, just put some toothpaste on my teeth? Nah, I don't think so. Finger brush, brush your teeth. It's right there. It's in the word. I guess I'm going to go never have sweets ever again.

And that would be the way. That would be like the thing that would like push me over of like, hey, you know, if you eat sweets, hmm, that means every time you brush your teeth, you're going to get a Claymore kick. And Drew McIntyre is an imposing figure. But man, I will miss sweets if that's the case. Nancy emailed this one and hey, Chris. A lot of ease in that hay. Hey, Chris.

Your thoughts on the vignettes with Maxine and Natty, do you think the next time we see Maxine, she'll have a character change and come back as a badass with a new entrance and ringgear? How about Natty? Do you think she'll lead a faction of badass women? Thank you, Nancy. So what we're seeing with Natty here,

this is the Natty character. We've seen Natalia in WWE, her whole career. She started showing us this version of Natty, this much more aggressive version of her, this badass, like, who relies on their wrestling. And I love it. Like we saw that in GCW,

I'm Bloodsport. We've seen her work the Indies as this Natty character. I love that we're finally getting this in WWE. And when Natty was on the show a few months ago, she was teasing that like this was on the way, that this was to come. I'm so glad it's finally here. Because there's a real distinction here

between the Natalia character we have seen in WWE, the one we know and love, and this version of Natty. Completely different look. If it's anything like what we've seen on the Indies, it's a different entrance theme. She comes to the ring with like kind of a fight crew. I hope that the presentation that we've seen of Natty on the Indies is what we end up getting in WWE. Her song is on the Indies is killing in the name, Rage Against the Machine. Like it starts off with the same like guitar that her theme has now, the Hart family, I guess, guitar riff that Brett had and she has. And then it breaks into,

dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, I can't wait. And I think that we're all going to be surprised by just like how she can go with this character. And I think it's truly going to allow us to see a very different side of her. I think the interesting thing about Maxine is Maxine really hasn't had her own character since debuting in WWE. I mean, think about it.

Her name alone is just a version of Max DuPree. So she had that. Then she was doing the stuff with Otis, and then she was doing the stuff with Chad Gable. Like, she's never been able to, like, have, truly have her own character. So maybe this is a chance for her to, like, really be able to break out on her own. Like the last part of 2025 has truly, you want to talk about a breakout year or breakout moment for somebody, that's Maxine Dupree.

And like if you compare the wrestling that she is doing now versus the wrestling she was doing a year ago, I mean, geez, even six months ago, she has stepped it up so much. And that's just because of the dedication that she has to improving her craft. She's been taking her own time, her own off days to go in and try. train at the PC, to go in and train with TJ and Natty at the Dungeon 2.0, to go in and train at flatbacks with Tyler Breeze and Sean Spears. She wants to level up. And she has. And if she's leveled up this much, if she's gotten this much better in this relatively speaking short period of time, man, I think 2026 could be really scary for how good Maxine could be. So I think that maybe this is,

I don't know if it's going to be like maybe it's Natty doing. some sort of like mentoring as a character of Maxine, but I do think we're going to start to see Maxine step out on her own and become her own character, not tied to a faction. But it'll be really, really interesting to see because they've done some tag work together, Natalia and Maxine. They're obviously very close friends in real life. So it'll be really, I'm really curious to see how this plays out.

And also curious to see how Maxine's Intercontinental Championship plays out. And like, what does being Intercontinental Champion mean? Like when she does end up losing that championship, where does that send her off to? Is it for the U.S. title? Is it trying to get that I-C. title back? Is it stepping up into the world title picture at some point in time? That'll be interesting. And that, my friend, is the final question on this.

CVV number 113. Should we do it all again? 1.13 minute warning edition. 1.13 faces a fully edition. 1.1.3 count edition and 113MB edition. Send in your questions for next week for Ask CVV number 114 by leaving a comment on Spotify by sending them in on social media with that hashtag. ask CVV or shoot me an email, CVV at chris van Vleet.com. I'll leave you with this quote to head into the weekend

from George C. Lichtenberg. I cannot say whether things will be better if we change. What I can say is they must change if they are to get better. Be great and be grateful, my friends. Have an amazing weekend. Enjoy John Sina's final match,

Saturday night's main event, I will see you in D.C. If you're there, have an amazing weekend. We will 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. Hammer 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 them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this.

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