Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #137 - Clash In Italy Bold Predictions, Oba vs. Brock 2, El Grande vs. El Grande, Early KOTR Predictions

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

What's up Real Real Ones! Welcome to AskCVV #137! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet gives his bold predictions for Clash In Italy and answers questions about whether Jacob Fatu will beat Roman Reigns, if Oba Femi will remain undefeated, the build up to El Grande Americano vs. Original El Grande Americano in their mask vs. mask match at Noches de Los Grandes, MJF beating Darby Allin and becoming the AEW World Champion for the third time, the most underrated factions of all time, early picks for who might win King and Queen Of The Ring and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "It is better to be consistently good than occasionally great." - Nick Bare Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF 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/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV 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 PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://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

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Chris. my friend, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vleet. Thanks for hanging out with me on this Friday. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit an F5 on that follow button so you don't miss out on any new interviews every Tuesday and Thursday.

And of course, as you know, ask CVV every single Friday. and happy Friday to you. Today, Friday, May 29th, is a special one here in the Van Fleet household. Today is our daughter, Logan's third birthday. So a huge happy birthday to Logan. We've got a big party for her tomorrow. A pizza party!

Mini Mouse is going to be stopping by, but don't tell Logan, it's a big surprise. So you can imagine how excited we are about the pizza and Minnie Mouse and all of this, man, I can't wait. Thank you guys for all of the very nice comments over this past week about the insanely hilarious, insanely fun episode we did last Thursday with Dan Soder and Will Sassau.

Thomas Chalk wrote this in, and I think this sums it up. I got a ton of messages, but this sums it up. Hey, StevieV, Real One here from Oz. I'd love to be a real, real, real one someday. if you ever come down under, or if I make it to the States. I just wanted to say thank you for the Dan Soder and Will Saso interview. It was unbelievable.

It is the best time I've had in years. I genuinely had to stop my gym session as I couldn't stop laughing. Any other real, real ones yet who haven't got to it yet are in for a treat. Thank you for all the good times. Cheers, Thomas. I had a lot of people say I had to pull my car over because I was laughing too much. Or I was playing this at work and my coworkers were like, why are you laughing to yourself? So good.

Let's be honest here. I did very little in that interview. To quote The Rock, I knew my role. And my role was to just sit back and let the magic unfold in front of me. my whole job here was to get these two hilarious guys together in the room and then we'd hit record. And like, sure, I navigated the conversation. I kept him within the guardrails a little bit, like progressed the conversation along. But for the hour and 40-ish minutes that we were in there, or at least in their recording,

because we chatted a whole bunch before and after. And it was equally as funny. I can promise you that. my job was to just like let them go. It was so, so good. A lot of you have been saying, I got to get them together once a month. I don't know how that's going to work.

Will lives in Los Angeles. Dan lives in New York. I don't know how often they're in the same city at the same time. They're also like super busy. The fact that we weren't able to get them together for this honestly kind of felt like a once in a lifetime thing. They had only met once before,

which seems crazy. because they have so much in common. Aside from the love of wrestling and comedy, they're just like they're two very similar people. Once a year, maybe we could, maybe we can try to get them together once a year. I don't know. But I've talked to both of them over the last week or so.

They both loved it. And they love the comments that you guys are sending their way. So please keep them coming. Otherworld 2.0 on Instagram. says, what was your favorite impression from the Will Saso and Dan Soter episode? I loved Will's normal Hulk Hogan impression. Well, hold on a second there, brother. Hold on a second, dude.

I agree. That was so good. And the way that he would just like turn it on out of nowhere, hold on there, Chris. Hold on, Dan. Hold on there, brother. I also love the bit about Dusty Rhodes trying to get Rick Flair off the phone. It's unbelievable. And not something that either of them planned out or even talked about.

beforehand. That was just, that just happened in the moment, which, and they just kept rolling with it, which I think is what made it so, so funny. It was all so much fun. So all of this is to just say, thank you. I think it's at like 625,000 views on YouTube, which officially makes it the second most watched YouTube interview or interview on YouTube of the year behind Stone Cold Steve Austin. I think it makes it like, and the episode's only been out for a week. I think it makes it like top five all-time views, like all time. Because I think Undertaker's number one, but that's also been out for almost two years at this point now.

It's like 1.3 million. Austin's a little over a million. Then there's a whole bunch after that. Like I think Seth Rawlins, I don't have the list right in front of me right now, but like 800-ish-thous, 700-ish-thous-thous. so this is already at 625 and it just keeps going. And I think it's because a lot of people are watching this more than once or more than twice or more than 10 times.

It's just so, so good. So thank you for all of the very kind comments about that. That was not an official question there for the episode, but I just want to kick off the episode by saying, I'm just so glad we enjoyed that. But welcome, my friend, to ask CVV. number 130 lucky number sleven edition. And Ask CVV number 137 edition, as in Dustin Rhodes brief character in WCW.

And we did this with Ask CVV number 127. I don't know if it really works, but let's do it anyway. Welcome to Ask CVV. Number 1.30, Dan the Beast, Severn edition. And of course, Ask CVV, number 130, Trent, seven edition. Send in your ideas for Ask CVV, number 138. Send in your questions as well by leaving a comment on Spotify. Visit chrisfanfleet.com.

Click on the contact section there, and you can ask your question on there, or of course, send it on social media using that hashtag, Ask CVV. Now the WrestleMania has done. All eyes are on the biggest party of the summer, Summer Slam. And I want to shout out our sponsor for today, Seekek. With over 35 million downloads,

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Plus, every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And with any tickets you're looking at, use the code CBV for 10% off your next set of tickets at Seek. That's 10% off any tickets with the promo code CVV. Make sure you click the link down below in the show notes to download the app and that code will automatically be applied to your account so you can use it later. Shout out to Seekkeek for sponsoring this episode. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system, and it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running.

Bring it with SAP Grow, AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Frankie Figgs on Instagram says on the last Ask CVV, number 136, I could hear one of your kids screaming at around the 49 minute mark. It must have been Logan having fun. And I just thought that was really cute slash funny. All the best take care and keep doing what you're doing. You're killing it. I didn't think you guys would hear that.

That was actually my son Cooper, who's 17 months old. He's teething right now. He has some new teeth coming in. If you're a parent, you know exactly what this phase of life is like. There's been a lot of crying. He's just uncomfortable. It's not fun cutting new teeth. But he was like many rooms away from where I record these episodes.

I didn't think this mic would pick that up. So I'm glad that Cooper could make his podcasting debut with that. Not exactly the way that I would have wanted it to go. So my apologies for the crying. baby in the background. He was not having a good time. He's okay now. He's doing much better now. Osvaldo Ramirez sent this in on chrisfamily.com. Hi, CVV. This is a real, real, real one from Chicago. That means you came to the show in Chicago. I love it. Thanks for the amazing content. Keep up the great work since this podcast keeps me going through finishing up my BSN in nursing.

I love that. My question for you is, is there any chance that we may see Jacob Fatu win the world title due to a heel turn from the Uso's since they've been a focal point on settling forth how family is important for the bloodline? Aliding themselves with Jacob Fatu and causing chaos could lead us to a very interesting scenario leading into SummerSlam. I see where you're going with this. I just don't see Roman Raines drop. the title just yet. And what leads me to believe that is they're making this tribal combat, which essentially means no holds barred. But when they're calling it tribal combat, it's really set up to favor the tribal chief. This is the third of this specific match type that they've had.

The tribal chief, Roman Reigns, have won, that's won both of them, has won all of the tribal combat matches thus far. I just think that Roman Reigns continues being the world heavyweight champion until SummerSlam. And then maybe that's for the shenanigans with the Uso's and things start to get shaken up. Maybe that's where that happens. And if that is the case, the Uso's turning heel, I think Roman Rans continues to, like I think the push is to continue to keep him as a baby face at least until then. I've got a lot of thoughts about everything that's going to happen leading up towards SummerSlam,

and we'll get to a lot of this here. I do think that this match at Clash in Italy is going to be wild. I think it's going to be chaotic. I think it's going to be like really physical. I think there's going to be some outside interference. Like you said, maybe it's the Usos. Maybe it's a new bloodline member. There's been a lot of talk about Zillifah too.

And not even if he's going to sign with WWE, but a matter of like when he's going to sign. with WWE, and I would just have to think with the family history there and him being the son of the late great Umaga, he finds his way into this storyline with ease and also adds a whole new layer to the bloodline angle, which, man, can you believe we're almost exactly six years into this? The bloodline angle just keeps pushing on and they keep finding new ways to inject new life into this. but I think Roman Reins retains the title here, but what a street fight,

because that's basically, this is just a glorified street fight, what a street fight we're into, in for here. And I think that Jacob fought too, he's obviously going to be a world champion at some point. I just think that Roman Reigns is going to be losing this title, in my opinion,

to Obafemi. And there's a lot of stuff we'll talk. about with that in these next few questions here. But I think it's Roman Raines keeping the title till SummerSlam, dropping it to Obafemi at SummerSlam. And then Roman goes away for a little bit, because that seems to be what Roman Raines does. And then he returns as the attraction that he is. But the Uso's turning heel at some point in the next few months, yeah, I can definitely get on board with that. Also, just because like, this character of the tribal chief,

we've seen it a lot leading up to this point, but this character is like burdened by the responsibilities of being the tribal chief. And it's like he gets pissed off so easily now because like, he's the tribal chief. You don't understand how difficult it is to be the tribal chief. And that's what a lot of, like,

I guess that's what's weighing on Roman rains. and I could see how that could play out here with the Uso's and maybe them not showing the appreciation that he thinks that he should be shown. So it'll be interesting to see where that one goes, but I think the Uso's are, they're together now, and I think they remain together for at least the foreseeable future. That leads us to this one from Roman Torres 718 on Instagram. What is the most anticipated match that you want to see at Clash in Italy? well, first of all, a whole lot of second there, brother. First of all, I think we've got to talk about how great this crowd's going to be in turn.

Like we've seen it at all of the previous clash or bash PLEs, like clash at the castle in Wales, Scotland, France, this one here in Italy, it's going to be great, Bash in Berlin as well. The crowds are always just incredible. And I think that that's one of the things I'm most looking for. forward to is just seeing how red, hot this crowd is going to be. The match that I'm most excited for, and it's a huge rematch here, it's Obafemi versus Brock Lezor. And what's interesting here is if we look at this card, it's all rematches. And I think that like some of them are rematches coming off of WrestleMania. Some of them are just rematches in general. But all of these are two

opponents that are facing each other for the second time. So there's history here with all of these. The Obafemi versus Brock Leznor one is especially interesting because a month and a half ago, we thought that Brock Lezler was retired. Well, I guess Brock Lezler's not retired. We will hopefully get some answers about this on Sunday. And that's an interesting thing to point out. It's a Sunday PLE, not a Saturday PLE.

I think we've gotten so accustomed to the Saturday one-night PLEs. But what happens in this? Where does this one go? And I've got two trains of thought here on the Brock Lesnar Obafemi match. Train of thought number one is let's continue to build up Obafemi. He's the guy who retired the beast, or at least we thought, retired the beast, at least pissed him off enough to come out of retirement and have this rematch at Clash in Italy. Obafemi goes out there.

We get more of a structured match here. It's a match that lasts longer than the five-minute match that we saw night two at WrestleMania. It's a match that lasts longer, some offense for both sides. But Obafemi picks up to win another decisive victory. This guy is unstoppable. It's a torch-passing moment. He's the man. Who's going to beat this guy?

He's beating Brock Lezor twice now. That's where I think it's going to go. Although I still don't see the purpose of Brock Lezor going through the motions of what looked like a retirement to now not be retired. Brock Lezler did kind of address this on Monday and he was like, you're going to get beat by a retired beast. It's like, okay, so you were retired. All right.

You never officially said you were retired, but now you're saying you were retired. so now you're unretired, which kind of takes the specialness away, not even kind of. It does take the specialness away from that moment that we saw at WrestleMania 42 because, man, that was just damn near perfect. Brock Lesder breaking character, addressing the crowd, like tapping his chest, pointing at everybody, crying in the ring with Paul Heyman, walking back up the ramp, like containing his emotions. All of that felt real.

But when you go back now and you look at some of the details of that and some of the nuance of that, I feel like they knew that. I feel like at least Paul Heyman and Brock Lesder with how close their relationship is and working together for almost 25 years together. I feel like at least those two were in on this. And as I pointed out before, I feel like the production had to be in on this as well to build that much time in for Brock Lezor taking the shoes off, taking the gloves off, addressing the crowd, that whole thing. I just, the question now is, if that was all planned, was this planned?

Was the return plan? And I would have to think, yeah, all of this was planned. And if that's the case, and I know it's so hard and, like, I preach patience, it's such an important thing being a wrestling fan. And I know it's such a difficult thing for us to do. But if that's the plan here, if we zoom out a little bit, we zoom out a few months here, is this plan going to take us to SummerSlam? Is this plan going to take us all the way to WrestleMania 43 in Saudi?

I'd have to think there's a lot more to this. I don't think that what happened at WrestleMania 42 was just, all right, that's it. Oh, my gosh, let's scramble and figure this out and find a way to get Brock Lesnar in Italy. and then we'll try to find a way to get Brock Lesnar in his home state of Minneapolis or Minnesota. I don't think that's the case here. So train of thought number two here, and this throws everything off

with what I'm thinking about leading up to SummerSlam, but what if we have, like I'm saying, a competitive match, but Brock Leser comes out victorious, which then sets up the trilogy at SummerSlam, maybe Oba Femmy's forcing Brock Leszuna put his career on the line now in his home state, in Minnesota.

That's the only other way I can see this going. But I still think that option number one here of Oba Femi remaining undefeated on the main roster, continuing to just pin people and continuing to just be completely dominant, I think that's the way this goes. I think it actually goes all the way like to, he beats Brock Lezzer here, wins King of the Ring, King of the Ring, although they haven't officially said it yet, traditionally speaking over the last few years,

king and queen of the ring get a title shot at SummerSlam, so then Obafemi wins King of the Ring, gets the title shot at SummerSlam, gets the match with Roman Reins, wins the World Heavyweight Championship, and then I think continues to remain undefeated for the remainder of 2026, maybe all the way up to WrestleMania 43.

that's the way that I see this going, but just the fact that's like, we're getting a rematch already. Why? Because it's not like Clash in Italy is a massive PLE. It's not one of the big four. Why is this happening? And the only thing I can think of

is either to make Obafemi continue to look incredible or to set up a third match the trilogy of Obafemi, Brock Leser, in Minneapolis at SummerSlam. I just, and I'm so torn on this, I'm so on the fence about like which ones it actually going to be because I don't see any other scenario, but one of those two.

That's it. Like, this isn't Brock Lezzer's last match, I don't think. I think that because Brock Lezzer is now back, I think that we've got at least three more matches, if not more. And it seems to me, if we're just reading the tea leaves, it seems to me that Brock Leser is certainly winding his career down. So we've got Clash in Italy.

We already know that's happening this weekend. It's got to be at SummerSlam at this point. So there's another match. And I think that if he's going to be at SummerSlam, he's got to be at WrestleMania. So there's at least three more. You could throw in some other matches in there to like continue to build this up. but that's the way I see this going down.

And then maybe it leads to, if Gunther's going to continue to be the career killer, maybe it's Gunther, Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania 43. Maybe if we get there. But there's just a lot of questions with this one. And the biggest one being, what exactly did we see in the ring at WrestleMania 42?

Was that authentic? was that part of the story? We've got Becky Lynch putting her women's intercontinental championship on the line against Sol Ruka and Becky Lynch

has spent almost the entirety of her time as the women's icy champion putting other people over. I still don't understand where this narrative of Becky Hogan has come from. And I spoke about this

with her when she was on the show. We went through a pretty extensive list of all the people that she's put over all the people that have beaten her. Recently, if we're looking at the Intercontinental Championship, Lyra Valchuria, Maxine Dupree, and I feel like Sol Ruka is poised to be next up. And that disqualification finish that we got at Saturday night's main event,

I feel like was a way to get us back in the ring to see these two back together for another high-stakes match. This time, this Sunday. Clash in Italy. And it just seems to me, Sol Ruka picked up the win by DQ at Saturday Night's main event. I feel like now is Sol Ruka's chance

to get a victory and become the women's intercontinental champion. Sol Ruka has been in some great matches, some very big spots since coming on on the main roster and like clearly, W.E knows she's a star. here. And I feel like this match is going to be a star-making moment for Sol Ruka. I've got

Sol Ruka winning this one and becoming the new women's intercontinental champion. We've got the WWE Women's Championship. Ria Ripley versus Jade Cargill. It's the rematch from WrestleMania 42. And it just seems to me like Riaa Ripley's going to be. Like Ria Riebly's going to be hanging on to this. It just feels like it's just a little too early into her title rain to drop it here. So I think that we're going to see Ria Ripley retain. And then I think that whatever's next for Ria Ripley, I'm thinking it's going to be Ria Ripley and Charlotte Flair. I feel like that's eventually where this is going to go. And that would be the long-awaited WrestleMania 39 rematch, but I'm going with Ria Ripley on this one.

Cody Rhodes putting his undisputed WWE championship on the line against the ring general Gunther. And it's just, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how this one goes. I really don't. I didn't even think we'd be in this position. I was one of the many people who thought Cody Rhodes was going to be losing the championship to Randy Orton and Rustamania 42.

That didn't happen. We also haven't seen Randy Orton since then. This is also a rematch. Cody Rhodes defeated Gunther in the WWE Crown Jewel championship match for the title that doesn't really mean very much, the giant Crown Jewel championship. But he beat him at Crown Jewel, November 2nd, 2024. So a rematch here about a year and a half into the making. I think that this is going to sound crazy,

but I think that Cody Rhodes could afford a loss here. Gunther has all of this momentum right now. Look at all of the legends that he's retired. And I think that this would also give Cody Rhodes a chance to step away for a little bit, continue to get that heat on Gunther, and then maybe, maybe it sets up Gunther Randy Orton at SummerSlam, and then that's maybe when we get

the championship back on Randy Orton for the first time in many years. Maybe that's when Randy Orton wins number 15. But I'm going to throw you a little bit of wild card here. I don't think this is the popular pick, but I think that Gunther beats Cody Rhodes and becomes the WWE champion. There's a few matches here. I think that like kind of foregone conclusions, like I think Rio Ripley is like a guaranteed he'd winner there, but I honestly, I think Brock Lezor and Obafemi could go either way. I think

Sol Ruka should win the IC title here, but I could also see this one maybe going either way. I think Roman Raines, like I said, I think we've made a strong case there that he should win. But I think there's a lot of dominoes in that one. I'm thinking Roman Reigns the title, takes it to SummerSlam, Obafemi, wins his match with Brock Lesnar, wins King of the Ring. That takes us to SummerSlam with those two together. I think there's just a lot of moving parts on that one. And unlike my backlash predictions, which were a very solid five for five, a perfect five for five, I don't feel as confident with these ones. And I think that that's where wrestling's at its best. when you're looking at and you're going,

ah, I'm just not sure. Sean Nihaw sent this in on Facebook. Hey, CVV, a real, real, real one here. I know a lot of people had issue with Darby Allen's short AEW title reign or being the champ at all. He had seven successful title defenses in 39 days. What's your take on his title defenses to his,

what is your take on this with title defenses to short run? ratio. That is some kind of world record, or at least a world record for a recent world champ. I love Darby's title run here. And I loved how it began, kind of began out of nowhere. Like the match with MJF to begin with, where MJF lost the title and Darby won the championship, that one kind of came out of nowhere. And I loved it like, we got shocked by it. It was just so poetic. happening in Darby Allen's home state, like 20 minutes from where he trained. He won the title here on an episode of Dynamite, Spring Breakthrough in Everett, Washington.

And the match just, like I said, it was just kind of announced and it happened. And I think that on the surface, a lot of people looked at it as like, oh, yeah, Darby Allen's going to get this title shot in his home state, like with all of his friends and family members in the audience. Like, what? What a cool moment for him to have this title shot. and now, man, he's going to just come up a little short. And then he shocked the world.

And he won that championship. And he wanted this title run to be unlike any title run that anyone had had with the world title in AEW. He put it on the line every chance that he had. Defending the title against a ton of people, including Tomaso Chamba, Brody King, Pock, Dekechita. Like lots of titles. title defenses here, a fighting champion, sometimes defending it more than once a week.

But as I said last week, I think that I predicted MJF would win the title and not have his headshave. What an event, double or nothing was. Like top to bottom, great matches, great moments. So cool seeing Edge and Christian, Christian Cage and Adam Copeland win the tag team titles together for the first time in 25 years. what a great moment that was. So many good matches there. But I predicted that MJF would win this because it will set up the match

of MJF versus Will Osprey. If they're going to do all in London, they're going to do this at Wembley Stadium, Will Osprey is not only going to be in that main event match against MJF, I predict Will Osprey will become the AEW world champion for the first time at the end of All-In. I think that this was the first kind of piece of that puzzle to come into place. MJF becoming the champion will take us to All-In, which is August 30th.

So we got like three months to get there. Obviously, Will Osprey is going to have to win the Owen Hart Cup. And of course, knock on wood, continue to stay healthy. throughout the Owen Hart Cup and then all the way to all in. But that's what all of this was leading to. And I don't think that this is Darby Allen's last title win. I don't think it's his only title win. I just, it was so memorable in so many ways. One, a lot of people just counted him out from day one, by the way. When you saw Darby Allen in 2019, you're like, that guy's never going to be a world champion. and I think that he's just continued to prove himself.

And maybe I'm biased because I've known Darby for a long time. I remember ring announcing him at Blueprint Pro Wrestling in Deerfield Beach, Florida, well before he was even on AEW's radar, well before AEW was even a thing. So maybe I'm just biased there and I see his work ethic and his passion and his determination. But I just loved the fact that it went along so well with his case. character. This never say die attitude of like, you can knock me down, but you know I'm just going to keep getting back up. So cool. And also great to see Sting get involved in that as well.

But I think the whole idea here, MJF getting that title back takes us to MJF versus Will Osprey, all in. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drape you denim wide leg.

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Jacob Dixon sent this in on chris vanvleet.com. Hey there, CVV, fellow Canadian here. from small town, Toronto, Ontario. Oh yeah, a real small town, Toronto. I believe it's the fourth largest city in North America. I am hooked with the Al Grande-A Americano storyline over on AAA. When we first saw the debut of Al-Grante-Americanano, I wasn't sold on it.

I remember thinking that it was an odd idea and it wasn't going to last or go anywhere. Now, I truly believe it's one of the best storylines in wrestling right now, the AAA version you've been. got in brackets here. It's been an emotional, aggressive must-watch feud and has brought tears to my eyes, has brought my eyes over to AAA. Maybe tears to your eyes too, I don't know. I'm excited for their mask versus mask match coming up and it could be a match of the year contender. My question for you, was there ever a debut of a wrestler or a storyline that started off that you were not sold on

or you weren't into at the time, but over time became one of your favorites and must watch? So mask versus match, mask here. El Grande Americano versus the original. El Grande Americano happens tomorrow. It's a match. I can't wait. Norte de las grandes. And like, you're right.

You're right. And like this is, this goes back to what we were talking about with patience. When this storyline first kicked off, when Chad Gable, or at least someone who looked like Chad Gable, put this mask on, people were like,

what the heck is going on here? Remember when everyone was like, they are absolutely tanking Chad Gable's career by making him what? El Grande Americano? He's named after a Starbucks drink? You remember that?

Then, when Chad Gable or the Algrante Americano that looked like Chad Gable got injured, do you remember people thinking he was an absolute joke that Ludwood Kaiser would become

Al Grande Americano and like there would be no reference to the fact that this was a different character, and then that turned into all kinds of silliness. Remember when people were just writing this off as like, what the heck are they thinking? Patience, my friend, patience. Because like you said, this has turned into one of the best storylines in all of wrestling. I think the only problem here is it would be great if this was happening on the main roster of WWE. Although with that said, I don't think that this, This would have had the chance to grow and blossom into what it has in AAA if this was done in

WWE. This would have been an amazing match to happen at WrestleMania. But again, I don't think that it would have had the time to breathe, to have the time to like build on itself like it has in AAA. The Ludwig Kaiser version of El Grande Americano has just taken this character to a whole other level. and this storyline has like taken over Mexico and has taken over AAA's weekly show. And it's just so amazing to see what these guys can do

when they had some room to really like showcase their abilities here. So what happens in the match? What happens in this match here? I think that Ludwig Kaiser's version of Al Grande Americano or at least the one that looks like him, I guess we'll just keep playing that game. I think that Ludwig Kaiser wins this match.

I think that the original Agronde Americano gets unmasked. We see it's Chad Gable. And that sends Chad Gable back into being Chad Gable and whatever course that he has set off on. But there's a really good chance here that Ludwig Kaiser never returns to being Ludwig Kaiser. At least I can't see it happening any time in the near future. He has absolutely embraced this character. And as a result, AAA, Mexico is. as a whole, any Lucillebrae fan, have embraced him.

Like, he's shaking hands and quite literally kissing babies. He is so over. He's the most over superstar, most over wrestler in AAA. It's been amazing to see. Like you said, this could be a match of the year contender, and I am all for this. WWE just put up a 45-minute long video called Road to Al Grande-Amercano versus original Al-Gronde-Miricano in a mask versus mask match. And it's amazing watching this whole thing play out.

Where does it go from here, though? If it does go the way that I'm talking about with Ludwig Kaiser winning this match, does Chad Gable find his way back onto the main? roster of WWE is back on Raw or Smackdown in the next few weeks? Does Ludwig Kaiser just remain an absolute star? Sorry, El Grande Americano. The taller, leaner one remain just an absolute star in AAA. And like that, it just becomes like a massive attraction there.

I'm curious. Or I'm curious if some version of this storyline makes its way to Raw or SmackDown. But again, I just don't think you can see. your teeth into it in the same way. I just don't know if this would have the room to really breathe and do its thing if they were doing this on Raw or SmackDown. It would come across as I think being a little bit hokey, which is kind of what it was at first. It took these characters in this storyline going to AAA to like be taken seriously, which is a crazy thing to say about a gimmick that probably wasn't going to work here originally.

Like this doesn't feel like it was ever set up for either of these guys to succeed. But they've taken it. They've ram with it. And my goodness, they have succeeded with this. So that's my prediction for this. To your question of, was there ever a debut of a wrestler or a storyline that I wasn't sold on? I'll give you one.

And this is going to be a little surprising, I think. I wasn't sold on Edge being a single star. and maybe it's because I just saw something in Christian. And you can clearly see that Edge would be a star too, but I just remember like, I thought that they had more to give as a tag team. And when they started to break them up, I was like,

I just didn't feel like Edge was ready for that spot yet. And obviously, I'm wildly wrong on that. And it didn't take long for me to go, oh, yeah, no, I can see what they're doing here. And they're completely right. But I just, for me, I just don't think that I was done seeing them as a tag team. And I think it just boils down to this stat for me, to this fact for me.

We talk about Edging Christian as being one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Of course, we remember the legendary TLC matches and the feud with the Dudleys and the Hardee's. Edging Christian as a team won seven tag team championships. They won those seven championships over the course of 12 months. It's a crazy stat, right? And I think that that's why I think to me like, oh, they weren't done being a tag team. They weren't done being a tag team for Edge to them break off.

And it was like five months after losing the last tag team championship with Christian that Edge or Christian went on to become Intercontinental Champion. I guess I got that a little backwards. Edge wins the title. Loses it to Christian. So like then there's going back and forth with that. I guess that was just what I was thinking. It was the idea of like,

I didn't think they were done as a tag team together. And again, that stat of seven tag team championships in 12 months. Yeah. So I think that's it. But all that's to say, can't wait for mask versus mask. our salabacy

I hope I said that right on Instagram says if you could go back in time to change a booking decision with a huge ripple effect which one would it be there's so many that you could go back and change but I think if you want to play the game of like

the butterfly effect if you want to play the game of like if this doesn't happen then that doesn't happen and if that doesn't happen and this doesn't happen, I think that there's two main ones. I think one, if the screw job never happens at Survivor Series 97, if they went with the original plan and Vince doesn't screw Brett and Brett doesn't, it was already leaving for WCW, but if he doesn't leave in the angry way that he does, I think that there's a lot of dominoes that don't fall after that.

the Mr. McMahon character likely doesn't get created, or if it does get created, it's not till a while later, like this kind of forced Vince McMahon's hand to make that character happen, which then kind of forced the attitude era and like a lot of the components there with, if there's not a Mr. McMahon character, then Austin doesn't have Vince to feud with, and of course, a lot of other things there. So I wouldn't change that. I wouldn't change that because I think that the entire ripple effect of what would happen with the Monday Night Wars and Raw and Nitro and everything there would be completely different.

But that's what I think about a lot. What if they had just stuck to the plan here and Brett had dropped the title the next night would have been very different. Another one I think about in WCW is what if Hogan wasn't the third man? What if it was Sting, which was originally an idea that they were throwing out there? This is Sting. What does that do to Sting's career? What does that do to Hogan's career. Because like this breathed new life into Hogan's career, turning heel, the NWO is the NWO as popular? Is the NWO as revolutionary if it's not Hogan Nash and Hall? If it's Nash-Hall and Sting, does it still work? That's one I think about a lot. So I don't know if I would change that booking decision, but I think about that one of like,

does it work if all of these pieces here don't fall into place? I don't know if this one here has a ton of ripple effects, but just in terms of like, if I could change the outcome of a match, boom off the top of my head, Booker T should have beat Triple H at WrestleMania 19. It's the end of the sentence. You know the rest.

You know that's true. Ethan Kerr 555 on Instagram says, Who do you believe is the greatest in-ring wrestler of all time? I believe it's Will Osprey. Will Osprey is insanely talented. I am a huge Will Osprey fan. Will knows that. You guys know that.

I think when you're talking about who the greatest in-ring wrestler is, it really just comes down a personal opinion. There's really no wrong answer here. There's going to be a lot of names that people are going to constantly say in a conversation like this, and they will always be right.

Kurt Angle. Sean Michaels, Brett Hart, Eddie Guerrero, a lot of other names you could throw in there. Personally, for me, I'm going to go AJ Styles. I just think that AJ is absolute magic in the ring.

When you look at his work in TNA and the X Division, you look at his work in TNA as a world champion, you look at the complete transformation and rebirth of his character in New Japan, Bullet Club. Then you look at him going to WWE, which is something that fans didn't think would be possible. AJ himself didn't think it would be possible. He thought it was too late in his career and Vince thought he was too small. Then everything he did in WWE, having banger matches with whoever his opponent was. And I think the icing on the cake is when John Cena was on Insight in December.

And I was doing that thing with him, I'm going to name some of your opponents. Give me one word or one sentence that best describes them. And I said AJ Stiles and he said the best ever do it. Really? He's like, yeah, Sean might be upset about this and he always took good care of me. But yeah, AJ's the best to ever do it. And like, again, I know that this is all down to personal opinion. But for me, in ring, I think it's AJ Stiles.

He's just so, so smooth. Randy Orton is as well. So smooth. And Randy's still doing it. Again, I don't think there's a wrong answer to this. If you want to say Mr. Perfect, yeah, you're not wrong about that. And a lot of it comes down to not just your personal opinion, but also your personal preference. Some people like high flying better.

Some people like technical stuff better. Whatever it is, for me, I'm going to go A.J. Stiles. Mike Brenner on Spotify says, what's up, CVV? Thanks for the hours of entertainment every single week. My question for Ask CVV number 137 is, what do you think is the most underrated faction? We always hear about DX, NWO, and the Four Horseman, but who do you think doesn't get enough love?

Oh, there's a lot. But I think you're right. I think we hear about the main ones all the time, but there's a few for me that maybe they didn't have a long enough run. Maybe they didn't get booked in the right way. maybe there was other factions in there that was getting more attention. But one that I think about frequently is the natural-born thrillers in WCW. Every single one of these guys looked like a million bucks.

And if WCW had kept going, I think there was a lot of potential for these guys in WCW, Chuck Palumbo, Johnny the Bull, Mark Jindragg, Mike Sanders. above average, Mike Sanders. What a name. Reno, Sean O'Hare, Sean Stasiak. Every single one of these guys was just absolutely jacked, so athletic.

Mike Sanders is the most underrated guy on the mic, perhaps in the history of professional wrestling. I've said that many times before, and I stand by it. I think the natural-born thrillers, if WCW wasn't where they were at at this point in time, because this was such a short faction.

This was 2000 to 2001 when WCW ended. If this had the chance to like really play out in WCW's heyday or if WCW just wasn't in the position they were into that point in time and this had another year or two to continue to go, I mean, Mark Jindrack just looks the part. Then you get a guy like Sean O'Hare, Oh my gosh.

Sean O'Hare. I want to talk underrated. Every single guy that I just listed to you there is just incredibly, incredibly underrated. You know what other faction I don't think gets enough love? Main event mafia in TNA. Main event mafia in TNA doesn't get enough love. You've got a faction here that started out with Kurt Engel, Sting, Kevin Nash, and Booker Tee. So good. You know what else in TNA? Didn't get enough love?

Fortune. Rick Flair, A.J. Stiles, Kazarian, James Storm, Bobby Rood, later on, Doug Williams, Matt Morgan, Rob Terry, Christopher Daniels. Oh, my gosh. Look at all the talent I just listed here. And I get it. Like at that point in time, especially with both of those factions, at that point in time in TNA, things were a little bit more. wonky, maybe not the best booking decisions were being made, but just the idea of these. I think on paper, there was a lot that could have been done with all of these factions, and they were just like a product of a bad circumstance at that point in time. But if you're talking about great factions, it's hard not to talk about DX, NWO, four horsemen, aces and aides. I'm not going to go on and list every single faction.

Of course, evolution's in there. But there's a lot of great factions. I think there's also some that just like, if it was a different time, different place perhaps, maybe it would have gone a little differently. Hey there, I'm Paula Pan. I help people make the smartest money decisions possible. If you don't control your money, it controls you.

You're not in control of your finances. You have to look outside of yourself to live the life that you want. You're not in control. You're like, what is it that you actually want? Money should follow the dreams and goals because sometimes we make the dream and goal the money and you've overworked yourself and you've exceeded what you've needed

for the actual thing you want. Sometimes we forget, like, what's the actual thing you want? Afford anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Square up. You know, what's going on, man? It's Andreberto. Two-time world champion.

You know, I fought. I loved it. I really wanted to do that sit down from a fighter's perspective. My G. What's going on? Caleb Clats. What's going on my blood? Now you got a chance to really draw in your audience to let them see who you are.

I'd have to have a lot of internal talks to say, do I even want to carry on? But spiders, we know what time it is. Like, I think the time is now. Square up. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's go. Jake Terror on Spotify. What's up, CVV?

Thanks for being the best part of Friday. No, Jake. Thank you for being the best part of my Friday. since L.A. Knight, yeah, declared for King of the Ring, I'd love to hear your early picks for both King and Queen of the Ring. We are a little less than a month away from what will be the finals of the King of the Ring tournament happening at Night of Champions, June 27th. They haven't made it crystal clear yet if the winners get a title shot at SummerSlam. and I just feel like that had been abundantly clear at this point in the past. But L.A. Knight saying, like, yeah, I'm going to win this thing and I'm going to take on Roman

Raines makes me feel like that's the case. But I just feel like that would have been explained by Michael Cole or explained in a graphic and that hasn't happened yet. So I would look for that to be made clear tonight on Smackdown because it did that seems a little, the water seems a little muddy on this. You already know who my pick is for King of the Ring. It's Oba Femi, which I think would set up Oba versus Roman at SummerSlam, unless we get the situation where Obafemi loses this weekend to Brock Lezor, Trilogy versus Brock Lezor at SummerSlam. I just, I don't think that's where we're going with this. For Queen of the Ring, I don't think there's as clear of a winner. But since we've got a month until then, we don't even know who's going to be in

this other than L.A. Knight, yeah, who I just sat down with for an interview. You'll be seeing that one pretty soon. It's been a while since he's been on the show. I've known him for years. Man, he's so talented. But I don't think he's been on the show since like December of 2020. And the whole idea when we sat down in December of 2023, it was like December 30th or December 31st, he was like, I want to win a title in 2024. Well, what did he do in 2024? He won the United States championship, not once, but twice.

And I still think that L.A. Knight should, he should have already been a world champion. I don't know how that has not happened. But I still think that L.A. Knight needs to be a world. champion in WWE at some point soon. Let's make this thing happen. But you're right. We don't know who all of the entrance are into the King of the Ring, Queen of the Ring tournament yet. But if I'm just throwing some darts blindly at the dartboard and making some educated guesses here, I'm going to say E.O. Sky would be a great Queen of the Ring. That would set us up for EO. Sky

versus Liv Morgan. And maybe that's why Liv Morgan hasn't defended the women's world championship yet, waiting for a real storyline that she can put that title defense into. But last June, Liv Morgan told Eoskei that she's never beaten her,

and then Liv got injured before they could have a match. Eio has avenged all of these losses and became the world champion. we'd be an excellent payoff here to have this match here. So I'm thinking E.O. Sky, Liv Morgan. I'm thinking Obafemi, Roman Raines, these are my way too early picks for King and Queen of the Ring. Bryce emailed this one.

And hey, Chris, it's Bryce from Gastonia, North Carolina. Longtime listener, big fan. My question for you is this. I love the episodes where you get. fans of wrestling on like Dan Soter, Will Saso, and Brad Williams. Have you ever thought about doing the occasional roundtable of celebrity fans just talking about wrestling similar to the recent Soter and Saso episode, but maybe with one or two more people there, so it's a group of four or five?

Excited to see my question if it's read out. I'll be listening with my wife, Sally, on the way to the beach. Love the hard work and consistent positivity. Keep it up. Well, Bryce, I hope you and Sally have a great time at the beach. What's up, Sally? I hope you have a great weekend. I would love to do these more frequently,

but I think it all just comes down to scheduling. We had been talking, just between you and me here, we had been talking about trying to make this Will Saso, Dan Soder thing, happened for months. And like, it was just the perfect storm of, like, Will Saso does a ton of great impressions. Dan Soder does a ton of great impressions. Both of those guys aren't just, like,

surface-level wrestling fans. And you already know that because you listen to the episode. They, like, their wrestling knowledge goes deep, like real deep. So it's a matter of getting people on that have chemistry with each other. And what was funny was they hadn't, they met once, like almost 20 years ago. Dan Soder was doing comedy in Vancouver. Well, Saso happened to be in town and, like, was like, hey, would you mind if I got on stage at your show? And he's like, oh, sure, no problem.

That was the last time they saw each other. And then they went and had this amazing, fun, hilarious conversation filled with the most ridiculous impressions you've ever heard. Boom, like that. Like, it just happened. So I would love to do this type of thing more often if I could. It's just that there's a lot of moving parts to make it happen. It's a lot of lining up schedules. It's a lot of, like, getting people that have chemistry and are compatible and, like, have a deep enough wrestling.

knowledge. So all of that is to say, maybe. I've thought about this. Let me know what you think. Will Sassau and Carrie and Cross at the same time? Just Jesse Ventura talking to Jesse Ventura the whole time and I'll just sit there. Sounds amazing. But yeah, I'd love to do this type of thing more frequently. And I also just love having those, call them wrestling adjacent guests. on. People who you've seen as comedians or people you've, they're actors and movies or TV shows that you love, or like Gary Vaynerchuk is going to be my guest next week. He has a massive following on social media. He's an incredibly successful entrepreneur and well-known speaker and New York Times bestselling author. But like he's a huge wrestling fan and like also has like deep, deep knowledge

about wrestling. He's coming on the show next week and you're going to be blown away by his wrestling knowledge. Yeah, maybe you can get someone like him paired up with, I don't know, an actor or comedian. Yes, I would love to keep that stuff going if we can. But again, it's just like scheduling. But also, like, I just want to have more wrestling adjacent guests. Like, I have been, I was very inspired by Cody Rhodes having Timothy Shalome on and Timothy Shalame just like rhyming off all kinds of knowledge about wrestling and his favorite

matches and like talking all kinds of knowledge about ECW One Night Stand and the boogeyman. I was so inspired by that. I'm like, I didn't know Timothy Shalame was one of us. Makes me way more of a fan than of him that I already was. I was like, could I get him on? And then was very quickly told, no, he's too busy. Okay. Who else would fall into that category?

Well, Johnny Knoxville would be a great fan. Not only is Johnny Knoxville would be a great guest. Not only is Johnny Knoxville a fan of wrestling, but he had a match with Sammy Zane at WrestleMania. Try to make that one happen because there's a new jackass movie right around the corner. Maybe we could somehow pull this off in the next few weeks. Matthew McConaughey is a big wrestling fan.

Could we get Matthew McConaughey on to just wow us with his wrestling knowledge? So these are just the things we think about a lot. And by we, I mean, me. I'm trying to make this all come together here. Andrew Bergman on Facebook says, do you think Roman Raines will be the first ever three-time Hall of Famer? I personally don't include Brett Hart's match with Stone Cold as a Hall of Fame induction. That's more of an honor for the match.

Thanks, Andrew. I see what you mean here about the match inductions. Is it really a second or third inductions? for that person? Like they don't get a ring, right? They get a bust. Is it a Hall of Fame induction or is it a honoring of the match? I think I'm with you.

It's honoring the match. A lot of two-time Hall of Famers right now. So there's a lot of people that could be in as a three-time Hall of Famer if we really break this down. But I see what you mean. Could Roman Raines be a three-time Hall of Famer? Individual career? Absolutely.

The Shield? Absolutely. The bloodline. more than likely, for sure, like the storyline itself, will the faction be inducted? Probably one day down the line, but I guess it's a question of who from the faction would get inducted.

Roman would clearly be in, but who else from the faction would be in? Because you got Roman, Paul Heyman, Jimmy and Jay, Sammy Zane, the Rock's in there for a month or two. Tongaloa, Jacob Faw, too, J.C. Mateo. Solo Secoa, Tomatanga, Talatanga. Four or five of them, I guess, could be part of it. So Bloodline, I just don't know.

What I think, though, is I think Triple H and Rick Flair will end up being the first three-time WWB Hall of Famers. And it'll happen at the same time when evolution gets inducted whenever that ends up happening. I mean, how can you not include? evolution. How can they not get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? But I don't think that happens. I don't think evolution gets inducted until Batista finally does get inducted. He was announced for the Hall of Fame class of 2020. That was canceled because of COVID. So it's just a matter of I think, like when I talked to Batista was that last year? No, my goodness, was that two years ago? I think it was. He said yes. He's still getting inducted. It's a matter of just like figuring it out with his

schedule. But there's a lot of two-time Hall of Famers already. And I think the only other person when you look at the list that has a chance of being a three-time Hall of Famer, Triple H and Rick Flair, I think, are just, like, it's a foregone conclusion. Rick Flair is in as an individual. He's in as a member of the four horsemen. Triple H. In as a member of DX. Then years later, in as an individual. Ex-Poc is in as NW and DX. I think X-Poc could get inducted individually for the career that he's had. That's probably the only other one I can think of.

But like when you really think about it, it's going to be Triple H from Rick Flair. Yes, maybe one day it's Roman Reins, but I don't think we need to be talking about any sort of Hall of Fame inductions with Roman Raines since he's still very much in the peak of his career doing what he's doing, Roman Raines, I think, has quite a few more years. Zay Perez on Facebook says,

what storyline could you picture Chris Sharp being part of if he were signed with WWE? Which current storyline would you like to be inserted into? The backyard wrestling character of Chris Sharp worked always so well as a heel. So I think you would have to take Chris Sharp and put it into a heel storyline. You know where I think it would work

really well? The vision. And there's an opening in the vision now. With Logan Paul being out with the torn tricep and I hope that he recovers and has a nice fast recovery. But I think that like aligning with those guys, Bronn Breaker,

Austin Theory, Bronson Reed when he's healthy again. I feel like Paul Heyman, greatest manager at all time, I would love to have his tutelage. Put me in there. Put me into that. Put me to that situation.

Yeah, I could talk. I could learn how to wrestle. But put me into that situation. That's, I think, where I would love to be. As a heel, who has a chance to just showcase what they can do on the mic, but also back it up in the ring.

And if I can't back it up in the ring, my buddy, Braun Braker, will be there to help me back it up. And like, just work as a heel who maybe likes to run away from the ring sometimes. I think that's where I would, that's where I would love to be inserted into. That, my friends, is our final question on this.

Ask CVV number 1.30, lucky number seven. Edition, 137, Dustin Rhodes brief character in WCW edition. 1.30 Dan the Beast Severn edition. And 130, Trent 7 edition. Send in those questions for Ask CVV number 138. We'll see the fallout of Clash in Italy. We'll see just really curious where things go with Brock and Obfemi. I'm pumped about that match

because I think that this one's really going to be a showcase of what these guys can do together but we'll see the fallout of that when I see you next week for Ask CVV number 138 send in your questions on Spotify visit Chrisfanfleet.com

and send them in on there or of course you can send them over on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV I'll leave you with this quote from Nick Bear it's better to be consistently good than occasionally great.

Be great and be great for my friend. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. One night with Stein. One night with Stine. Shout out. Full send, no. Hey, bro.

Sine, what's the home? We've been sitting here for like an hour together. I know your name. What's your name, though? It's funny. I can't guarantee anything. All I can guarantee is that you're going to be entertained. I'm a professional.

I'm here to interview. So the whole interview, you didn't ask me what I like Better Burger King and McDonald's. All right, and we are going to wrap up on that note. Thank you, Steve, so much. That was a good. Burger King. One Night with Stiney.

One Night with Sine, baby. Let's go. One Night with Stiney. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.