Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #115 - Biggest Moments Of 2025, Royal Rumble Picks, Fav Interview, Roman Reigns

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Welcome to AskCVV #115! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet answers questions about who is the favorite to win the 2026 Royal Rumble, what's next for Gunther, what the plans will be for WrestleMania 41, who will be the face of WWE now that John Cena is retired, favorite live events of the year, best interview of the year, greatest Christmas present and a surprise visit from mom and dad, DVV and HVV!Quote I'm thinking about: “Every day may not be good… but there’s something good in every day.” — Alice Morse EarlePlease 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!FACTOR: Use code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF to get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year!GLD: New customers get 50% Off with code INSIGHT at https://GLD.com 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 friend. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Merry Christmas, if you celebrate. Hope it's been a great week for you and a wonderful holiday season. What a year this has been. And since this is the last AskCVV of 2025,

we're going to look back at some of the biggest moments of the year in wrestling. And, of course, look ahead to some of the story. lines and what they could mean for 2026. But as always, thank you for being a real one and for hitting play on an Ask CVV episode and for hanging with me on a Friday. And thank you for making insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Slap an ankle lock on that follow button on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening. And it would be the best belated Christmas present ever. If you left a rating on Spotify or a few words, it's few emojis, throw it together and call it a review on Apple Podcasts.

That would be incredible. We just announced Insight Live in Chicago, so looking forward to seeing you Friday, February 27th, the day before Elimination Chamber. Grab your tickets at CVVTix.com. Also, if you're going to be in Vegas for WrestleMania 42, I will see you at Circa Resort and Casino for Insight Live the Thursday of WrestleMania Week. t-I-X.com. I'm recording this right now on Christmas Eve. So this is Wednesday as I'm recording this right now. So I hope you enjoyed the best of episode with AJ Styles yesterday, one of my favorite

chats of the year. And it's been a busy week in our household of full house as well. My parents are in town from Toronto, technically from Pickering, Ontario, Canada. My wife, RVV, her mom, gammy as we call her. She's staying with us. And my kids, Logan, who is two and a half and Cooper, who just turned one last week on December 17th, they're just so excited for Christmas morning. Logan keeps asking for a green bike with a pink helmet. So, you know, I'll give you three guesses as to what Logan is getting for Christmas. It's funny. She told Santa that. She's like, I want a green bike. And he's like, well, you better want a helmet with that. He better ask for a helmet. It was so cool that Santa's like in on that as well. But hope you've had a great

week spending time with family, friends, loved ones, and thank you for hanging out. This is a busy weekend. So thank you. And welcome, my friend, to Ask CVV number one, one, self-high five edition. Perfect because DDP was just on the show on Tuesday. Love that guy. Truly an angel on earth, and I'm so grateful to call him a friend. Also, welcome to Ask CVV number one, one, five moves of Doom addition.

And we did the five-time, five-time thing for 105. We did the five-star frog splash for 105. So I think that's it. Welcome to Ask CVV number 115. If you've got a question for next week, if you have an idea for Ask CVV number 116, leave a comment on Spotify, shoot me an email CVV at Chris Fanfleet.com or send it on social media using that hashtag AskCVV. We'll kick this off with this one from Brendan on X at BD CLE 29. I love it. CLE, my American hometown. I love Cleveland so much. Ask CBV number 115 as we head into

Royal Rumble season. Does Gounther's win slash retiring John Sina make him a clear favorite to win the Rumble? Who else would you consider as frontrunners? Hope you had a very merry Christmas. I see where you're going with this. Gunther is just on a tear right now, like an absolute tear. He only has two televised losses this year. WrestleMania 41, losing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Jay Uso, and then CM Punk defeating him at SummerSlam. That's it. What's interesting, I'm looking here on cagematch.net at his run for the year.

26 matches this year. And I'd say around, I'm not going to go on the exact numbers here, about half of them house shows slash live events. So like, Guntur, like, very much like being protected, not just in the like the wins that he gets, but also the time that he's spending on television, the matches that he's having. Like this is, this feels like a very old school thing where like when Gunther has a match on TV, it means something. So I see what you're saying here. He's retired Goldberg. He's retired John Sina. I don't think he needs a Royal Rumble win in 2026 to keep this momentum going. Like, I don't know

if anybody has more momentum right now in all of wrestling than Gunther and like the run that he's on. right now. I don't know if he needs that Royal Rumble win. And I also don't feel like he's set up in at least the early part of the year to be in the title picture. I just feel like he has other things that are in his path. I still feel like we're going to get Gunther versus Brock Lesnar at some point in time. I know there's been a lot of rumors. If AJ Stiles was retiring in 2026, it's got to be a program there with Gunther. And whether Gunther's the one that retires him or not, it's a conversation for another time. But I feel like what we're going to see with the winner of the Royal Rumble is someone who is immediately shot into that title picture, that main event spot at WrestleMania.

So if we look at the odds here, who is the odds on favorite as of right now to win the Royal Rumble? Of course, you can go to mybooky.orgie.org. Use the code CVV. When you sign up, you'll get a nice 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit there. The favorite, as of right now as we record this in the Royal Rumble, about a month away, the favorite by a lot is Roman Raines. Then drops off quite a bit to Braun Breaker, Sammy Zane, then we see Goonther. And I'll read you the rest of the list here. I mean, these are just odds.

This is just speculation. This doesn't actually mean anything, but I'll read you the rest of the list. the list. After Gunther, L.A. Knight. Yeah, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Jacob fought two, Seth Rollins, and then Obafemi rounding out the list. I mean, in any given year, really any of those people could win the Royal Rumble. But let's look at Roman Rains' like track record when it comes to Royal Rumble. He has one Royal Rumble win, 2015, so it's been 11 years since he won a Royal Rumble, but man, he has been close so many other times. 2014, runner up.

Batista won that one. One in 2015, 2016, third place. Triple H won that one who eliminated Dean Ambrose. 2017, runner up as well to Randy Orton, who won. 2018, runner up, Shinske Nakamura won.

2020, runner up. Drew McIntyre won that one. And then last year, he was in the final five. Of course, that was won by Jay Uso. who eliminated John Sina. I think Roman's in the spot here where he doesn't need to win a Royal Rumble. That's why he's been the runner-up

so many other times. He still finds a way to be in that main event picture in that title spot. And also, he hadn't been in a Royal Rumble for, he was in it in 2020, and was in it in 2025, but missed 21, 22, 23, 24,

missed those four years because he was holding the championship for most of that time. Unbelievable, the run that Roman Rains has been on. But I think that as we sit here right now, those odds are on to something. It feels like Roman Raines winning the Rumble sets us up for the long-rumored Cody Rhodes versus Roman Rains 3, which it feels like as of right now, and I know we've still got five months to go,

but that feels like the match that we are setting up for at WrestleMania 42. So I would say my pick right now would be Royal, for the Royal Rumble winner would be Roman Rains. Unless things change and shift quite a bit, I just don't think you need, you don't even need Gunther in that match. Because unless he's going to win it, but what's the point in having him in there?

Like he already just has so much steam behind him. I would go with, as an early pick, Roman Rains makes a ton of sense right now. Sean. McGinnis on Instagram says, who is the person that's going to carry the company in the future like John Cena did? Well, the thing is, like, yeah, John Cena is now officially retired, right?

And it's, we are living in a world now where John Cena is not an active wrestler. But John Cena really hasn't been full-time since 2018. Like, he's been doing the thing where he pops in, makes some appearances, wrestles a match or two, or 10 or something like that. And like I actually pulled these numbers up

when I had John seen on the show a few weeks ago. 2018 was the last time he wrestled, let's call it like a good amount of matches. 28 matches that year. 2019, 8. 2020 1. 2021, 16. 2022.

1. 2023, 8. 2024, 1. And then this year, the retirement tour, 18 matches. I don't know if you'd consider it. a full-time run, but I mean, he was there at every PLE. He was there at almost every Saturdays' main event, 36 appearances, 18 matches. But I feel like there have been other people already stepping up since John Cena kind of

became a part-timer in the late 2010s. And I think that the two people that if you really think about it, Roman Raines, for sure. And then when Cody Rhodes returned at WrestleMania 38, he's kind of stepped into that spot as the face of the WWE. Look, nobody is going to replace John Sina. I think that that is abundantly clear. Like, John Sina did so much during the time that he was there, especially like late 2000s into the early 2010s

when the roster wasn't quite as deep as it is now. No one's going to replace John Sina. But I think that if you look at who we have right now, and of course this can change as people continue, to spend their time in WWE and continue to get world championship runs. But I think as of right now, Cody Rhodes is the guy who's doing all the things. Cody Rhodes is the guy who's arriving early, staying late. He's the one who's doing the public appearances.

He's doing all kinds of different interviews. He's the guy who they'll throw a giant stack of eight by tens in front of him, and he signs those all day. Cody Rhodes is in that spot right now. For how much longer? I don't know. But I think Cody does a lot more things behind the scenes than anybody sees. And that's the type of stuff.

That's why he calls himself QB1. Because he's the guy who's like doing all the work. He's like, there's a lot of pressure on him too, especially in the position he's in as a baby face. I always say it's tough to be a baby face. Because, sure, the majority of the crowd is cheering you and they're supposed to be cheering for you. but there's always going to be that section of the crowd.

And it seems with Cody Rhodes, it's a growing section of the crowd, but there's always going to be that growing section of the crowd that's doubting you or booing you or not liking what you're doing, which is tough when your job as a baby face is for everybody to cheer you. When you're a heel, getting booze is your job. If people are cheering you, hey, that's on you. If you want to cheer me, that's fine. But like, I still don't like you.

And now I'll say some terrible things about your hometown or your appearance or whatever the case may be, if you still want to cheer that, hey, that's not my fault. And that's kind of the thing about a heel is like it doesn't, the reaction you want to get is the boo. But if you get cheers, hey, that's not so bad. It's tough when you're in that spot, especially as the number one baby face. But I'd say that Cody Rhodes is that guy. And I think a lot of the metrics back that up as well. Cody's always at the top or near the top when it comes to merch sales. And he's also either at the top or near the top when it just comes to total matches. He had the most matches in WWE in 2023 with 113.

Most matches in WWE in 2024 with 101. It's actually dropped off quite a bit. I actually like seeing these numbers. He's not near the top this year. Most matches in 2025, these are approximate numbers, at least to the best of my knowledge, the best of my research here. L.A. Knight.

Yeah. leading the charge this year, 67 matches. Then it's Roxanne Perez with 65, Pence, 63, Jay Uso and Stephanie Vakere tied at 53. That's at least according to these numbers. If you have some numbers that are more accurate, please let me know, but that seems to be the numbers that I've come across here.

But with that said, Cody Rhodes has been shouldering a lot of this for a long time. So there's no one going to be like John Cena, but Cody Rhodes, especially since returning to WWE, has certainly stepped up. Zach Cornwell on Facebook says, for CVV number 115 moves of Doom Edition, Zach, you and I are on the same page with this. I love it. I just want to say, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's been a pleasure to listen to you throughout my week when I work.

Appreciate you, Zach. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well. Question time. Since it's the last Ask CVV of the year, what is your Mount Rushmore of 2025 moments? Thank you for the awesome content this year. You know, I love a good Mount Rushmore question. So thank you, Zach.

So I think that we talked about this about a month or two ago of like, what was the story for 2025? The story for 2025 was really focused on John Cena and the farewell tour. and saying goodbye to his incredible career. So do not be surprised when some of the biggest moments of the year are centered around John Sina. I think that whether you liked how it played out or not, when we're talking about biggest moments

of the year, certainly most shocking moments of the year, John Sina turning heel at Elimination Chamber. And it reset the entire narrative for better or for worse for John Sina's farewell tour. But if we're talking about big moments, that's not just a big moment for 2025. That's going to be a big moment that I think like when we look back at wrestling for the decade, that's going to be one of those moments. I think that John Cena winning number 17, becoming the never seen 17. That's another big moment. That's my second big moment for the year. And yeah, it's interesting because you could make an argument that that was one of the least entertaining John Cena matches of the year,

for sure. But him making history, John Cena getting another title run, that was kind of one of those things that if we talked last December of like, what do you want to happen during the John Cena farewell tour? Well, could he main event WrestleMania? Could he at some point in time win that 17th championship, well, I killed two birds with one stone. 17th championship, night two of WrestleMania, 41. I think that Seth Rollins,

cashing in at SummerSlam, the ruse of the century, because it wasn't just like a title change, but it was like everything that went into that. It was him coming out on the crutches. Oh, man, it's just him warning CM Punk. Hey, don't you forget, get when I'm healthy enough, I got my eye on that title.

Then it goes to walk to the back, throws the crutches off to the side, and runs down and wins the World Heavyweight Championship, and CM Punk held it for like five-ish minutes. What a moment. And also, I just love how Seth Rollins played everybody, like was walking around in crutches in real life because he didn't want anybody to know. What a moment. It's such a replayable moment as well. And then, my goodness,

the tough thing, as always, about Mount Rushmore's is coming out of that one final spot. But I just don't think that it would have been possible, call it three years ago, to see A.J. Lee back in WWE. Obviously, her husband, C.M. Punk, returning at Survivor Series, 23, changed things, maybe cracked that door open a little bit.

But AJ Lee returning, I think, was, it was just great. She's a generational talent. And also it, like, gave us new possibilities in the women's division. And for her to come back after 10 years of being away from WWE, we didn't know if we'd ever see her in WWE again or ever in a wrestling ring again. So for that to happen, I think that's a big moment. There's so few surprises left in wrestling. And I know that they didn't really allow that one to be a true surprise.

They kind of like hinted very heavily at what was happening. And it was also, there were a lot of rumors that she was returning. But like, still, there's always that doubt of like, oh, man, are they building this up? And it's going to be somebody else. But it wasn't. It was AJ Lee. And I think it's fantastic that she's back.

and a big surprise, like one that, like, people have been clamoring for, people have been hoping might happen, what actually happened. And it's funny. Like, I feel like if, if you had slipped into a coma a few years ago and you woke up at some point this year and you're like, oh, my gosh, John Cena's a heel and CM Punk is back and A.J. Lee is back. And Cody Rhodes is in WWE again? I feel like there's a lot of different things.

And there's many other things in the list, but there's a lot of things we're like, oh my gosh, wow. But those would be my four. I think there were obviously a lot of great matches, but that's not what you asked me. You asked me about moments. And those are the four that I'll go with.

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Sean Radigan on Facebook says, Ask CVV number one. 15 plus 10 equals 25. Then you take the 12 and divide by 25 and that's 1225. And that's 100% chance that it's Christmas Day. So that makes this, the Steiner Math Ask CVV Christmas edition. I don't know if I follow all this, but I like it. Okay. Hey, CVV, Merry Christmas to you and your family. What is your Mount Rushmore of wrestling moments that you would tell a new fan to watch that you feel would ensure that they would become a wrestling fan? All of our best holiday wishes to you.

well, all of my best holiday wishes to you as well. And I can't wait for AskCTVV number 141 and two thirds edition, because that'll truly play into the Steiner Math. Oh man, that promo, so good. I'm going to actually go with matches and not just moments. I know there's a lot of amazing wrestling moments, but I feel like to truly become a wrestling fan, It comes down to like figuring out the storyline that goes into that match and the emotions around it.

So I'm going to give you four matches. And I've thought about this off and on. I'm going to give you four matches that I would show to any non-wrestling fan to hopefully get them into this crazy, wild world of pro wrestling that we love so much. if we're talking about pure emotion, WrestleMania 18, Rock versus Hogan. And it'll also be, you know, great. It'll be an easy transition because most people know who the Rock is.

Most people know who Hulk Hogan is. So then you're explaining to them this idea of like, all right, at this point in his career, Hulk Hogan's the bad guy. The Rock is a good guy, but his time in WWE may be coming to an end because things are starting to go well for him in Hollywood. And then you can, like, show them the stare down and the motion behind that.

The crowd turning on rock, cheering Hogan. It's a beautiful thing. I love that match for so many reasons. But I just think the story that's told in that match is just, ah, it's beautiful. Then we're going to go with just pure wrestling here. An amazing story. A damn nearer. perfect wrestling match. Undertaker versus Sean Michaels,

WrestleMania 25. And you've also got the story that leads into that of like, it's legend versus legend, it's streak versus pride. The Undertaker is an iconic character, even if they've never seen an Undertaker match. I'm sure they're familiar with who the dead man is. Even if they've never seen a Sean Michaels match, I'm sure they know who HBK or the sexy boy is, or you can explain it to him. And even if they've still never heard, of him, they're going to fall in love with his entrance theme. I love it. And that match is just so, so good. Athletic, it's dramatic, it's cinematic, it's all of the things. Then we're going to go to the night two main event of WrestleMania 40. Finish the story. There's, again, so much emotion,

story that goes into that one. The year buildup, Cody Rhodes losing at WrestleMania 39, earning that title shot back again, finally doing what his father could never do. We've got the run-ins there from the rock. We've got the run-in there from the lights go out, gong, the Undertaker. Beautiful thing. John Cena is in that match. Beautiful thing. And then for just pure spectacle and athleticism and like a, oh my gosh, can they actually do those things? This is crazy. One of my most rewatching matches ever. I'm so grateful I've talked to all three men that were in that match. TNA, Unbreakable, 2005, AJ Style, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels. Just, it was just a pure display of like that cruiserweight style, that X-Division style.

Man, I just, I've, you know how much I love that match. How could it not be on the list? Such a good match. And then maybe I'd also show them at least the intros. for the AJ Styles, Cody Rhodes, backlash and Leon France. Like, phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. Like the camera shaking,

the look on AJ Styles face, how can you not be romantic about pro wrestling? So good. CG-G-21, C-G-S-I-G-I-G-I. And then you got another G at the end, 21. Hey, Chris, a real, real one here. Keep up the amazing work that you're doing. Back during the Monday Night Wars, how would you watch both Monday shows? In Texas, Central Time Zone, Nitro started at 7 and Raw started

at 8. Since Nitro ran for three hours, I would watch the first hour of Nitro live and then switch over to Raw for the next two hours. Immediately after Raw was over, TNT would re-air Nitro, and that's how I would watch both shows. I love this question. And I just love the nostalgic factor of like thinking back to being 16, 17-ish years old and trying to figure out, I'm going to watch raw tonight. I'm going to watch Nitro tonight. So you're right. In the last few years, Nitro was three hours long. And that first hour of Nitro, the Cruiserweight Hour, was so good. And like one of the reasons that I think I love that fast-paced style of wrestling is because of the WCW Cruiserweight Hour. It was just so good. So I'm with you. Eight o'clock. I was tuned

into Nitro, and then I would usually flip over to Raw, which was on TSN, by the way, in Canada, I would usually flick over to Raw and just kind of see what the opening segment would be. And I feel like there was a lot of 20-minute talking segments that kicked off Raw. And like for all of the amazing things about the Attitude Air and the Monday Night Wars, I just didn't love a 20-minute talking segment. So if Nitro was starting out with a match, there would be a lot of times where I'd be like, okay, well, I'll start to watch this promo, but I'll flick back to Nitro.

Oh, they got a match on right now? Oh, it's, I don't know, Booker T, Scott Steiner, and Sting. Ooh, maybe I'll tune into this, see what this is all about. But in Canada, we had Raw airing at Live at 9 on TSN. Then it repeated at midnight. And then it also re-aired the next day at 4 p.m. So you had three chances to watch it,

or also recorded if you wanted to. So if, like, things were really heating up, on Nitro. Sometimes I would be like, oh, if I really want to see that segment at midnight, like that opening segment,

I'll just watch it at midnight because I watched the opening match of Nitro instead. And then like also, there'd be a lot of times where like, Nitro would go off the air, but Raw would still be on.

So I'm like, oh, cool. Caught a little bit of that main event and then like switched over. These are, these are purely problems of people that are about our age, right? Like social media

didn't exist at that point in time. You weren't getting recaps on the dirt sheets till the next day. So, like, if something big was happening, the only way you found out about it was your friend called up your parents' house at 9.30, 10 o'clock. God forbid it was any lighter than that, because my parents would be asleep by 10. But, like, oh, my gosh, did you see that? Can you believe Stone Cold did this? Or the Rock did this or that thing with The Undertaker? That would sometimes be a thing.

But, man, that was a special thing. Like if the phone rang after nine, it was not a good thing in my household. It was like, oh my gosh, you got to pick that up like half a ring. But you knew if the phone rang at that point in time. And it was a Monday night. It was one of my friends being like, you need to see this thing. Mikey Frenet on Instagram says, Chris, as we round out 2025, what are the top three or top five, if you're generous, events that you personally attended?

and why? It's tough. It's tough to narrow it down. Thank you, by the way, for not making this a Mount Rushmore. It's a top three. Interesting. Just trying to be different.

I like that, Mike. I like that. So I was very fortunate this year to go to a lot of wrestling shows. Like, how grateful am I? How lucky am I that this is what I get to do for work? Like, so cool. I went to raw Netflix,

Royal Rumble in Indy, WrestleMania in Vegas, backlash in St. Louis, Money in the Bank in L.A., SummerSlam in New Jersey, Russell Paloza and Indy Survivor Series in San Diego. John seen his last match.

I went to Smackdown in Chicago, went to Smackdown in Nashville in July, went to Raw and Anaheim, went to TNA in Irvine, California, went to AEW in Ontario, California, went to AEW in Houston. And I think that's it. I believe that's it. Am I missing any there? So narrowed down to three.

Royal Rumble was, I just love a Royal Rumble match. I love them. I love the element of surprise. I love everything about them. I love the countdown. I love the crowd participation. Royal Rumble. I'm going to go with Royal Rumble. Oh, I forgot Elimination Chamber. My goodness. How can I forget elimination chamber. I also went to Worlds Collide in Las Vegas. And there's some indie shows on top of all that as well. What a year of wrestling. Elimination chamber just simply because John Cena and the heel turn. And also that elimination chamber match in general, I feel like is, it's so underrated because there's so much focus on just like John Cena winning the match and then the heel turn that came later and the selling your soul segment with the rock.

and Cody Rhodes, but the elimination chamber match, I thought was one of the better elimination chamber matches in years. And also the match with Kevin Owens and Sammy Zane, oh, man, just like, so good. And while we're talking about Kevin Owens, that match with Cody Rose, the latter match at the Royal Rumble also just amazing. So there's two. Nothing beats being at WrestleMania just in general, but we've talked a lot about just the card as a whole. So I think if I'm going to go top three, I actually think I had a lot more fun at SummerSlam. And like, think of the big moments at SummerSlam.

Sure, John Sino won number 17 at WrestleMania, but SummerSlam, we had CM Punk winning the world title, the ruse of the century, Seth Rollins cashing in, Brock Lesnar with the big surprise return, also a fun match with Dirty Dom and AJ Stiles. yeah, SummerSlam was a blast. And it was also just cool hanging out with so many of you guys throughout the course of the year, whatever city it happened to be in.

Man, isn't wrestling beautiful? Isn't wrestling beautiful? And I can't wait to see you. As of right now, I think the next show I'm going to be at is Elimination Chamber in Chicago. Of course, Insight Live the night before. Maybe, like Ross in Toronto on, January 26th, maybe, maybe we'll be there, although my parents are out of town that weekend, so I don't know. So it's a, it's a maybe. And I've also been talking about, talking about going

a Smackdown in London. Unfortunately, it just doesn't look like a live show is going to come together there. I've worked so hard, tried so hard to try to make this work. It's just scheduling, just not going to plan out on that one. And I, the WWW. tour on that one is wild with everything that they're doing and everywhere that they're going to be. And just unfortunately, I just don't think it's going to happen. So whenever the next PLE is in the UK, that's where and when. I think we'll do a live show there. And I can't wait.

I can't wait for that one. Uho Horio 999 on Instagram says, Chris, you were my favorite podcaster of the year, who has been your favorite interview this year? for you personally. Well, thank you for the kind words. We just put together the top 10 list for, like, by views and downloads, like the most popular episodes of the year. You're going to see this list in a few days. I think we're going to post it early next week. But number one on that list, the most watched, most listened to episode of the year is also my personal favorite episode of the year. So it's funny how that works out. It was the episode we just did a few weeks

ago with John Cena. Like, how amazing is it that with one match left in his professional wrestling career, we got the chance to sit down with him and just recap this entire year? All of the different matches, different moments, different promos, different people he worked with. It was a really unique opportunity. And I'm like so grateful to John for making the time. when like, hey, he's so busy. Making the time during such a crazy stretch of leading up to that last match, doing all kinds of different interviews, that was just a really amazing opportunity to have him in the studio. That was my favorite one for sure.

And you will see the list of the other top 10 episodes. And I feel like a lot of those are like, oh, you know, that's not only one of the most popular episodes of the year. It's also one of my favorites. Goes without saying. But you know, a big TNA fan, being able to have AJ Stiles on to talk about his WWE career, also talk about his incredible work in TNA.

That was a favorite for sure. To finally get Scott Steiner on the show. Like I think up to that point, Scott Steiner like really hadn't done a podcast. So to get Scott Steiner on the show, to chat with him for over an hour, he's incredibly open, incredibly candid with his stories and his opinions.

That was a great one. That is also on the top 10 list. Jeff Hardy to kick off the year with Jeff Hardy. Also kicked off the year 2025 with Seth Rollins, Hour Plus with Seth Rollins and everything going on in his career. There were a lot of great ones this year. One that I am like personally so proud of is the Steve Blackman interview. I know I've mentioned this a lot.

But this is how much I loved it. Steve Blackman hadn't done an interview in like 17 years. So to be able to connect with him, get him on the show. He told so many amazing stories. That one was like, oh, man. He just felt like it was, he was like getting a unicorn. Like, such a fun one. I know that I have been rambling on for a while here.

You asked me for one, and I've given you like eight already. But Joe Hendry this year, like with, What he, it had been a year since he had been on the show and then like, oh my goodness, all the stuff we talked about that it happened in that year, the NXT debut, the Royal Rumble moment, the WrestleMania match with Randy Orden. Incredible. Samoa Joe coming on the show. And like, I'd done very, like, had brief interactions with Samoa Joe, but to have him on the show and to talk about his incredible career, TNA, AEW, W, W.E. Oh, man. Loved it. Ria Ripley had done short interviews with her, but for Ria Ripley to be on the show this year,

now I'm just listing every interview. Now I just feel like we're going through them all at this point in time. But even though Kurt Engle had been on the show a few times before, the interview we did this year, I just felt like even though we had covered some of the bigger topics, I feel like we hit on some like new things with this one. And I just... love Kurt, love Kurt so much.

There's some big ones on the horizon already for 2026. I think you already know one of them. But I can't wait for you to see who we have on the show in January. And then just wait, just wait to you see who's on in the months after that. But keep an eye out for that top 10 list. I'd say like Monday-ish. Monday? I think that don't quote me on it.

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Prize Picks. It's good to be right. Brandon sent this one in on Spotify. Hey, CVV. real, real one here from Kentucky. With WrestleMania season just around the corner and the fact that they are running back in Vegas, do you think that there will be a sense of awareness within the company to make up for this past year's mania?

Aside from the main event of night one, overall, most of the show was widely paned. I do know that there were a few exceptions like the women's triple threat match. Thank you for mentioning the women's triple threat match, Brandon. I appreciate that. Thank you for spreading some joy in a time that there is so much negativity. Well, Brandon, thank you for sending in a question. I think for sure. And I don't think this is an official, like, memo within the company.

But I just feel like for sure there's going to be the idea of like we got to do better than last year. And I just think that that's a mantra within WWE in general. Man, WrestleMania 40 was great. How are we going to top it? They're putting together the card. It ends up being what it is. All right, well, how do we top it next year? What's the plan for that one?

With that set. I just feel like with everything going on with WrestleMania 43 and Saudi, I just feel like there may be, and this is, don't quote me on this, but I just think that there may be like a little bit of holding back. If there was going to be a huge surprise at WrestleMania 42, maybe we just hold off and that'll be WrestleMania 43. Like if there was a whisper at any point in time of the Rock, having a match at WrestleMania 42,

I feel like that has probably been shelved to at least WrestleMania 43 or probably for WrestleMania 43. If there's a big retirement storyline or a big payoff, I feel like it's going to be at WrestleMania 43. I'm not saying that WrestleMania 42 is not going to be good,

but I just feel like there is, it's going to be a lot of eyes on WrestleMania 43 and with how that's handled is obviously from the report we've seen, a ton of money that is also going into WrestleMania 43, and I would assume that with that ton of money would be some very high expectations. So I think that WrestleMania 42 has to be better than WrestleMania 41, for sure. I love that you mention the women's triple threat match. I love that you mentioned the main event on night one, Seth Freaker Rollins,

defeating Roman Raines and CM Punk. We had the turn by Paul Heyman. I think that one of the matches that gets slept on and not talked about enough is the four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship. Dom, Brom Breaker, Finn Baller, and Pencea, and I know I've mentioned this before, but Brom Breaker didn't get pinned, lost his Intercontinental Championship and hasn't mentioned it since. Maybe that's the storyline we revisit the future. Probably not. But I feel like there were some good match, like, just in terms of just straight up wrestling. Al Grande Americano versus Ray Phoenix. Oh, man, especially with the last-minute pivot,

with Ray Mysterio getting injured the night before, and then WWE being like, man, El Grande-A Americano, who may or may not be Chad Gable, they have similar builds and body types. You've worked so hard for this match. We can't just take you off of the card. I love that they had the last-minute pivot, kept El Grande, Al-Miricano on the card,

and then went, hey, Ray Phoenix, do you want to make your WrestleMania debut? Do you want to go out there and put on an absolute bang of a match? Boom, here we go. Also, some fun surprises. Randy Orton going out there with an unannounced opponent, a surprise opponent, Joe Hendry having one of the pops of the night. There were some fun moments sprinkled in here and there, but yes, I think the bar has been raised.

I think the WrestleMania 42 has to be better than what we got with WrestleMania 41. And then I just feel like as we head into WrestleMania 43, all bets are off with that one. The only underscore limb collector on Instagram. Hey, Chris, Merry Christmas. Do you think Austin Theory will end up turning face to challenge Braun Breaker if he wins?

Jay and Roman style. I really think that Austin Theory would work better as a baby face just in general. I've known Austin for a long time. I worked an indie show with him back in 2019, Blueprint Pro Wrestling, Deerfield Beach, Florida. I was the ring announcer. He came in as an unsigned talent,

and it was like 20 at the time, had the look, had the mic skills, had the wrestling ability, had it all. It was like, it was just a matter of time. Like, we all said it. Everybody there was like, it's just a matter of time before this guy gets signed. I think that when you really get to know,

Austin. You're like, man, he's such a good guy. And he plays a great heel. I think he would play a much better baby face. And it'd be really easy to cheer for him as well. At least maybe that's just me because I know him well, but I feel like he would make for a much better baby face. I would love to see that happen. I don't know if Austin theory being part of this angle with the vision is leading to a world championship shot. I don't know if that's the plan here. It'll be very interesting to see who Austin Theory's first matches slash first program, like, slash feud. That I think will be really telling here. But you raised another good point here. It's Brombreaker, CM Punk for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on January 5th, that first raw to kickoff

the year. It's CM Punk's first title defense, by the way. He hasn't defended the title since he won it. It's his first title offense. I just, I wouldn't. think that CM Punk would lose the championship in his first title defense, but, boy, there's a lot of momentum behind Ron Breaker, especially with the shenanigans that could be involved with the vision. I don't know. Is Austin Theory actually with the vision? Or is Austin Theory, as you're alluding to here, is he doing his own thing and is he maybe on Seth Rollins side? It'll be like super interesting to see how that plays out. But I would love to, in 2026, see a legit, invested babyface run from Austin Theory and just like let them, like,

take the reins off. Just let him go. Let's see what he can do. Justin Parazek on Facebook says, just throwing out a thought out there. We know that merch can bring in big numbers for people, predominantly to the top 10 places that are normally held by baby faces. Do you think that while superstars are heels? do or should they negotiate more money since the vast majority of them miss out on being a top

merch seller while still helping out the baby faces get over? Just a thought. A really interesting thought, Justin. And it's always been like the thing that's said in wrestling of like heels don't sell merch. And I think that for the most part, that is like traditionally true, there is obviously a plethora of examples proving that wrong. But I, like Roman Raines is I think a good example. But I think that for the most part, yeah, you're right. And when you think about the biggest merch sellers of all time, like Rock and Stone Cold, it was mostly when they were baby faces. I heard that like Stone Cold, and I don't know if this is fact or not. This is like hearsay from like third or fourth hand knowledge. But I heard that Stone Cold didn't care so much about his downside. He just

cared about how much of that merch can I get? What percentage of the merch can I get? I think it was a pretty big chunk. So it's like, all right, if I can go to this town and sell X amount of Austin 316 shirts and then go to this town and sell whatever the other shirts are, that was actually one of the questions I asked him. Can't wait for him to be on the show. Oh, I can't wait for you guys. Check this one out in like a week or two. I was like, what? Other than the Austin 316 shirt, what is your favorite shirt of all time of yours? And it gave me this great answer. But I think, think that that's a big thing. Like John Cena, obviously selling a ton of merch.

Even when John Cena was a heel this year, he was still selling a ton of merch because he was selling the, as he calls them, uniforms, the tour shirts in each city. But it's an interesting point you raise. And I don't know the, I don't know how contracts are broken down, but it's not just the minimum guarantee. It's also you get a percentage of the gate. If you're on the main event card, you're getting a percentage of like, stuff with video games, you're getting a percentage of merch, which isn't just t-shirts.

It's also like all of the other items. Then you've got like action figures thrown in. Now WWE is doing like these endorsements where like Cody Rhodes, American Wheatley vodka, or like Gunther and the general insurance, which I think is so brilliant because he's the ring general. That's also a completely other factor. But it's a great point. Like I would have to think and I don't, the numbers aren't like out there.

when you go to a venue, but I would have to think there's a lot more Cody Road shirts being sold than Gunther shirts being sold, for example. And there's also a lot more Cody Rhodes options when you go to a live show. But that's an interesting thing. If you're going to, if you're resigning a new contract, a two, three, four, five year contract and you know you're going to be on a mean baby face run for a while, do you negotiate that in? Hey, I'm not going to sell as much merch as some of the top baby faces. Hey, let's give me some more downside guarantee here. Email from Adrian Lopez who says, hey, CVV, Adrian here. I noticed while watching your interviews that you have some great sneaker taste.

How'd you get into sneakers? Maybe a Mount Rushmore of sneakers. I hate to be a disappointment here. I like sneakers. I wouldn't call myself a sneaker head. Like, I feel like I just kind of wear the ones that I think look cool. And I'm sorry if that's disappointing news to people who are legit sneaker heads and know exactly what you're talking about. Like, I know a few of them. Like, I know I rock a lot of military blues. Or I know I rock, oh my gosh, no, I'm on the spot here. I mean, man, there's so many.

I don't know, there's green ones and there's red ones and there's purple ones. I recently had the Ray Mysterio shoes, which I thought were really cool. But I'd say for the most part. I'm wearing mostly Jordan fours, some Jordan threes, and the occasional Jordan ones, that's really it. That's my entire sneaker collection. And when I'm walking around the house, just slipping out of shoes, like going in and out of the house, walking the dog, Luna, it's crocs, like slipping on the crocs, slipping off

the crocs. And like, we've been going to the beach still, like when the weather's nice, flip flops. So like the sneakers are honestly like, look at what I wear during 96% of these interviews. Black t-shirt from Viori. Viori.com slash CVV. They're so good. Genes, black jeans, sometimes gray jeans, sometimes blue jeans. And that's it.

Some shoes. So it's like if everything else is going to be relatively plain, relatively minimalist, at least we can have a pop of fun. with the shoes. And also, I don't know if you notice on the wide shot, the socks are still often very fun. I'm wearing Christmas socks right now. Logan was like, holly berries! Because they're green socks with holly berries on them. But I'm not like a, not a huge, like, I don't know the ins and outs and the history of the sneakers, but I will tell you this. The reason I'm drawn specifically, I think, the Jordan fours, other than the fact that they're like super comfortable is, when there was a pair that came out when I was in fifth grade.

I believe it was the Jordan for, it's now been reimagined as the Jordan for retro bread. So it's the black one with like some little bit of white and red and gray accents. I remember my, I grew up and we always had like, just enough money to get by, like just enough money to get a pair of shoes,

new pair of shoes for the school year. and I remember there was a guy in my classroom, Danny Schofield, who had a pair of those those Jordans I'm talking about. And he'd like worn through them, he'd been wearing them for whatever a year. And he was like, oh, I'm getting new shoes this week.

And I was like, oh, that's really cool, man. What are you going to do with your old ones? And he goes, I don't know, throw them out. I've been wearing them for like a year. And I'm like, could I buy them from you? And he goes, I guess. and I'm just going to throw them out. And I said, well, I want to buy them.

Like, I'd never own a pair of Jordans up to that point. And he's like, yeah, I don't know. Like, give me a dollar. I'm like, a dollar for Nike Jordans? My mind was blown. So I go home that day. And I tell my parents, Danny Schofield's going to sell me his shoes for a dollar.

And my mom's like, we're not buying used shoes from your friend, Danny. And I was like so heartbroken. because I wanted these so bad. And I never got to wear the cool shoes. Never got to wear the cool shirt. Never got to ever got to wear anything named brand. And then here we are, whoever it be 20 years later,

those shoes were re-released with a modern spin on them. And yeah, I went out and bought the Jordan 4 retro bread reimagined Danny Schofield shoes, all because of that story from when I was 10 years old and I couldn't get them.

Yeah, yeah, how fun is that? Which leads us very perfectly into this next one here. Michael Jones on Spotify says, Hey, CVV, Merry Christmas. On last week's Ask CVV, you were asked about the best Christmas present you've ever received, but I don't think we actually ended up getting the answer. And you're right, Michael, Merry Christmas, by the way.

You're right because it was like baked into also like, give me your Mount Rushmore of favorite Christmas songs. And also what was just, your favorite Christmas present. And I got so, I was going so in depth. And I got so wrapped up in listing off my favorite Christmas songs and singing them and all the ridiculousness that went along with that, that you're right. I forgot to talk about my favorite Christmas present. And it was when I turned 16, my parents got me a guitar. And it was one of the most thoughtful gifts that I'd ever received. And it was like something, I'd been like kind of tinkering around.

I had a few friends in high school that had guitars. And I was like, you know, like, I didn't really know how to play, but like a friend of mine had taught me power chords. And like opening up this giant box under the tree and like seeing that guitar. Like that was one of those like one of those moments, like the one of those formidable moments that like changes the course of your life. Because I was like, I'm going to learn how to play this thing. And I taught myself how to play guitar also with some of my friends who were in bands in high school.

And like, with that said, within a few years, I was in, I don't know if you'd call it a band. We called it a band. But we had some friends that would like, me and my friends that would jam together. I guess it was technically a band. But like it taught myself how to play. I'd be like looking at the guitar tabs online and it became like a new passion, a new obsession. And then like, probably less than a year later, I didn't have a guitar stand. So my guitar was just like leaned up against like.

the wall. And I remember for, I don't know what it was, but something knocked over my guitar. And it fell onto my dumbbells that were right next to it. And the neck of my guitar broke in half. And I was devastated. And it made me really emotional because this guitar meant so much to me. And I was crying. And my mom's like, all right, well, when your next birthday comes around, we'll get you a new guitar. And I was like, what? You will? And that's the guitar I'm looking at right now,

the same guitar. My friend Ryan Chalmazak, who went to my high school and played in a band called Ever Since Eve, I was like, Ryan, can we go to the guitar store and can you help me pick out

a new acoustic guitar? He's like, sure, let's do it. So I'm looking at my Yamaha acoustic guitar. In fact, when I had Joe Hendry in the studio, I brought in this exact acoustic guitar and he played a little bit of music for us on that same guitar. That guitar means so much to me. And this one that is sitting in front of me right now is 25 years old.

It was the guitar that I would like put in a case and bring to like a camping trip. Put in a case like going to my friends just hanging out in the basement to watch some wrestling or watch some hockey or football. Play a little guitar after. This is the guitar I brought to college and played it in my college dorm room. Like it just so many amazing memories attached to this. I don't play it now nearly as much as I should. In fact, when I see Wade Barrett posting these guitar videos,

like he brings a traveling guitar with him and he says it like keeps him out of trouble. I'm like so envious of like, oh man, I love that he's committed to it. And I need to be more disciplined. That should be one of the things I do in 2026. That should be a New Year's resolution. Although a New Year's resolution doesn't need to begin on January 1st, I should literally pick this thing up and like just start playing it a little more often. Like it's a few steps away from where I sit at my computer.

And I feel like if it was right next to my computer, I would play it far more often. And in fact, I just picked it up. I don't even know if it's still in tune. So, oh, that was me taking the pick out. Oh, yeah. Still pretty intense. It was a G? I'm getting all nostalgic here.

Nostalgia. Hell of a drug, but I think that's the one. And then also, my dad and I go to a different baseball stadium every year. It's become our tradition. We've gone to 26 of them. One year, my dad, and this is probably 15 years ago, my dad got a frame. And at that point in time, we'd been to like 12 stadiums, I think, 12-ish. Yeah, about 12.

He got a frame and he put a photo in of every. stadium we'd been to in order. And I just remember opening that up. And it was just like a flood of emotions, flood of like a nostalgia, the flood of feelings. And I was just like, oh my gosh. Like all of these amazing memories. And that was another like just super sentimental and thoughtful gift as well.

Man, I'm getting all, uh, I'll choked up telling these stories. I love it. KWMS. 29 on Instagram says, Hey, CVV. how do Mr. DVV and Mrs. HVV feel about their son being prominent in the pro wrestling space, do they have a favorite wrestler? Well, instead of me answering this question, I have some very special guests joining me for the very first time

on Insight with Chris Van Vleet. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you, Dirk and Helen Van Vleet, mom and dad. Thank you for joining me. I can't believe you're here. Thanks for having us. We can't believe we're here either. Is this your first time on a podcast? Yes, definitely.

Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Well, this is so exciting. You guys have been to a live show. You came to Insight Live in Toronto with Natty. And I embarrassed you a little bit in front of the crowd. I was like, hey, my parents are here. Big round of applause for my parents.

And everyone applauded. And I thought, like, later on, I feel like it was a missed opportunity for the crowd to chant. Mom and Dad. mom and dad next time next time on a scale of one to ten you guys are probably a zero as wrestling fans right oh maybe a two mom's a two dad's a zero yeah i'm a zero minus one that's okay dad's a big baseball fan only four more stadiums to go dad exactly done 26 i can't wait all right so how do you guys feel about your son being a uh in the pro wrestling space i'd say i'm i'm i'm Proud of what he's accomplished, because like everything else in his life, he put his mind to it, and he went after it.

And I think what he's accomplished, even if I'm not a fan, he's accomplished quite a bit. So I think that's really good. Thanks, Dad. I appreciate that. Mom, you echo those sentiments. We're very proud of all your accomplishments and what you have been able to do with. with this career. It's been awesome. It's pretty crazy. Thank you guys for your support always. And thank you for coming down for Christmas. It's been great to spending Christmas with you guys.

Thank you for inviting us. So instead of asking, do you guys have a favorite wrestler? Can you name a wrestler? Or how many can you name? I'll start. Okay. There's Hulk Hogan. There we go. The Rock. Two. The Undertaker. Three. Rick Flair. Woo! Four. John Sina. John Sina. Natty.

Oh, I kind of feel like I gave that one to you guys. But you were there. Isn't she so wonderful? She was. Unbelievable. So personable. Is that the end of our list? You're putting us under the gun here.

That's the point. Someone that wears the mask, the Mexican. Ray Mysterio. I'll give it to you. That was fantastic. There's a picture of him on the wall up there. I think that's pretty good. Good. I think there's got to be like another Canadian or someone you know.

Oh, the Hart brothers. The hearts? All of them. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. The Canadian family. Corey?

No, no. Not Cory. I knew it was wrong somehow. Yeah. Brett. Brett, yeah. Right. Owen.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I actually remember, you might remember this. I remember waking up in 1999. You came into my bedroom. And you were like, a wrestler died at an event last night. It was Owen Hart.

And like, you were my, like, news source for that one. I was like waking up. I was like, what? Owen Hart? No way. I thought what a tragic accident that was. I'm actually impressed. I thought you guys might only be able to name like three wrestlers.

Well, none of the current wrestlers. These are all old time. Natty is current. Yes. You got one current wrestler there. But the rest have been in the around, while. That's because we saw her. That's right. Well, thank you guys for coming in here and for making your debut on Insight

with Chris Van Fleet and for making your podcast debut as well, just in general. Very cool. Thank you for this opportunity. Maybe we'll have more chances at another visit. And more very intriguing questions. Wow, do you want the people to send you questions? Because they will. They'll send in questions. They might be. a request a full interview with mom and dad Van Vleet. It might be about three minutes. No, we could talk all day. It'd actually be really interesting, I feel like.

Well, thank you guys. Love you. And thank you for spending the holidays with us. Thanks, bud. Thank you. I hope it's many more holidays like this with you and the kids. The best. Thank you, guys.

Email from Ben, would you rather? I love it. And someone pointed out we didn't have a would you rather question. last week. So we'll make up for that right now. Ben says, What's up, CV?

Would you rather wake up to Vicki Guerrero screaming, excuse me, in her nails on a chalkboard voice every day for the rest of your life?

Or have Tyson kids haircut, photo attached for reference. Oh, we all know the Tyson Kid haircut you're talking about. Have Tyson Kids haircut for the rest of your life.

Oh, there's rules here. Wow. You cannot shave or alter the haircut in any manner other than trimming it to its original length as it grows. And Vicki does not have a snooze button. Her screaming will be the first thing you hear every single day as you wake up. Happy holidays, Ben. What a would you rather. Well, here's the thing. I don't mind waking up in the morning. I prefer waking up with a nice song on the phone. or like a pleasant sound on the phone. I think having her scream, would you rather? Probably, I'm guessing. I'm picturing it being like right in your face, right in your ear. That'd be very jarring.

Get you right at a bed of, although I feel I could really kick in your central nervous system. My goodness. Wow, here we go. Let's get down on the ground and start doing some push-ups. That would get old real fast.

Then again, so with the Tyson Kid haircut. Although I love how Tyson Kid embraced that. I've talked to him about it on the show before. And he's like, I love that it was my thing. I love that it was like, people could look at me and immediately, like, it was a thing that set me apart. Immediately know, like, oh, wow, like, he's a little bit different. If I did the Tyson Kid haircut, I'm just thinking about, like, we just got, like, Christmas photos taken. Like the ones you'd put on, like, a Christmas card. Or, like, we got a photo taken with Santa recently. We're like, one was like just Logan and Cooper.

And then the other one was, like, all of us. I'm ruining these photos for the rest of our life. First thing you're going to see is this silly haircut. I guess I could just wear hats, right? Would you guys be okay if I just wore hats all the time? I think then if that's the case, that doesn't seem to be part of the rules here, Ben. If that's the case,

I guess I'm going to go, Tyson kid haircut. My hair already flips up a little bit at the front, although I then have the rest of my. head with hair on it to make up for that. But I guess, I don't know, the excuse me, screamed every single day for the rest of your life, would be waking everybody else up too. And I can't have that. I don't know. I just, that doesn't seem right. We're going to go with the Tyson kid haircut. Don't get any ideas here. We're not, we're not actually going to have the Tyson kid haircut.

that just sounds absolutely ridiculous. This one's from, we'll just say Ash on Instagram. You've got Ash, H-X, D-R-A-H-M-X-N. I have no idea how we'd pronounce that. Hey, from London, CVV, would you rather, would you rather, would you rather, would you rather fight?

One big show-sized Hornswoggle or 10 Hornswoggle size, big shows, keep up the phenomenal work. So I actually sent this to Hornswogel because I wanted to get his opinion. I also wanted to see that people were thinking of him with this fun question. Here's what Dylan said. Here's what Hornswagel said. He said, 10 little guys for sure.

10 little guys? I mean, I guess so. Because think about it. If you're going with one big show-sized Hornswoggle, they're going to be super strong. not the Dylan's not strong, but like big show strong, like 500 pounds plus strong, seven feet tall, like throwing you around, manhandling you. I guess Dylan's on to something. Hornswoggle is on to something here.

With the little guys, you'd probably have the reach advantage. You'd certainly have the height advantage. Certainly have the weight advantage. Maybe there'd be, you know, if one jumps on your back, you have the ability to, like, knock some other ones off. I'm going with Hornswoggle on this one. He's right. We'll go with the 10 big show, 10 hornswoggle-sized big shows.

Please keep sending in the Mount Rushmore's and especially keep sending in the ridiculous. Would you rather questions? The more ridiculous, the better, please. And that, that'll wrap it up for the last Ask CVV of 2025. Thank you for being a real. real one for hanging out with me all the way until the end. Thank you for being on this journey with me. What a journey it's been. And I promise you, my friend, it's going to get even better in 2026. And I can't wait. Thank you for joining me on this. Ask CVV number one one self high five

addition. And ask CVV number one, one five moves of doom. If you got a question for next week, a suggestion for Ask CVV number one 16 time world champion, Rick Flair edition. Woo! Also, wasn't that great to my parents knew that money wrestlers? That shocked me. My parents have probably watched a combined total of like four minutes of wrestling in their lives, combined.

So for them to like know that many wrestlers, I was impressed. I was very impressed. That was also fun having mom and dad, HVV and DVV on the show. Thank you for sending that question for them. And I also understand it's been a while

since the wonderful, beautiful, incredible RVV, Rachel Van Vleet. I understand it's been a while since she's been on the show. So we've got to have her back when she's not like super busy

with all of the other things that she's doing. I feel like it's sometimes tough to sneak away and record these. Sometimes I'm recording these as everybody in the house to sleep, And today just happened to not be one of those days. But if you got a question for next week,

leave a comment on Spotify. Also, I just appreciate all the comments on Spotify. So thank you for that. Send it in on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV or shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanfleet.com. I'll leave you with this quote from Alice Morse Earle. Every day may not be good,

but there's something good in every day. be great and be grateful, my friends. Happy holidays. We'll see you next year. That'll be the next Ask CVV. It's next year. Have a great holiday season. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Shane of Bazler joins us on Tuesday. 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.

Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.