Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #138 - El Grande vs. El Grande! King & Queen Of The Ring Picks, Where Is CM Punk?, Gunther Got Screwed

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

Welcome to AskCVV #138! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet answers questions about Clash In Italy and the outcome of the Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther match, the incredible mask vs. mask match between El Grande Americano and The Original El Grande Americano, who the most famous wrestlers of all time are, what's next for CM Punk when he returns, will Randy Orton be competing for the WWE Championship, the best matches from every wrestling company, the upcoming interview with Paul Heyman and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "If it makes you happy, take the risk. Worst case, you learn. Best case, you change your whole life." - Jazz Bowerman 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

Chris V. Are you, my friend? Welcome back to another one here on InSight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for spending a little bit of your Friday with me. And thank you for helping to make Insight

the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. If you haven't done so already, lay your phone down on the ground right now. And hit a spiral tap on that follow button wherever you're listening. If you're new here, first of all, welcome. We have new interviews every Tuesday and Thursday, and then every single Friday.

It's our weekly finisher, Ask CVV. But you already knew that because you're here right now. Next Thursday, June 11th, I'm hosting a screening for an amazing documentary about independent wrestling called Slow Burn Shoot, an indie wrestling story. Man, this is so good. And while it's set in the world of independent wrestling,

It's really about the people who dedicate their lives to this crazy business we call wrestling way before they ever get signed by a major wrestling company. It's a fascinating and unique take on a wrestling documentary because it doesn't focus on like a single tragedy or controversy or defining event. Instead, this looks at the people who make up this community and explores how their passion for wrestling ultimately ends up defining. who they are. Whether it's like someone trying to break into the business, someone trying to reinvent themselves after reaching the top and now they're back on the Indies, or just figuring out how to walk

away after they've dedicated their entire life to this and maybe that thing they love didn't love them back as much. This film's just all about the human side of wrestling and the community that keeps it alive. It features Eddie Kingston, Britt Baker, Ethan Page, Johnny Gargano, Swagel, Nick Gage, and I'm also in the film as well. And I'm hosting this screening. I'm actually going to be moderating a Q&A at Brain Dead Studios in Los Angeles. It's Thursday, June 11th.

I'll be doing this with the director of the film, Adam Wilde, and also special guest, Paul London, who of course knows a thing or two about indie wrestling. So if you live in Southern California, if you're in the Los Angeles area, I would love to see you there. Next Thursday, get your tickets for the screening at Slow Burn Shoot.

Film.com. You can find out more info on Instagram. They are at Slow Burn Shoot. If you're on the East Coast, there's a New York screening happening at Nighthawk Cinema in Williamsburg on Monday, June 15th. That screener or that screening is going to have director Adam Wilde. Also, special guest Joey Janella and Hot Sauce Tracy Williams. It's moderated by Gabby Lespeza.

Again, slow burn shootfilm.com. I can't wait to see you guys there in Los Angeles on Thursday. Welcome, my friend, to Ask CVV number 130 Aces and Eighth edition. Also, ask CVV number 138-time Intercontinental Champion, the Miss edition. Eight times second only to Chris Jericho, who has nine? Send in your questions for next week. in for AskCTVV number 139 by going to ChrisFambley.com. Click on that contact form on there. You can send in your questions there. You can, of course, send them in on social media using

that hashtag Ask CVV. Or if you're listening on Spotify, and I know quite a lot of people do, sending your questions on Spotify as well. 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. This episode is brought to you by L'Oreal Group. Beauty is a powerful force that moves us.

That's why Loreal Group has built a business that is inclusive at its heart with 100% of its brands, championing diversity. with 25,000 professional opportunities for people under 30 worldwide and 54% of leading positions held by women. Diversity is a strength that helps Loreal Group create the best beauty products for all people. Visit Loreal.com to learn more. Let's dive into this with this one from Richie, who sent this in on chrisfanvly.com. He says, this is some fantasy booking here. Let's see how this all plays out.

Hey, CVV, given how Clash played out, I did a little fantasy book and hear me out and let me know what you think. Gunther declared the number one contender due to the controversy at clash. Then night of champions, they teased it. So I'm going to go Roman versus Cody. Then Oba winning King of the Ring because I can't see him pulling double duty with Brock here. Saturday night's main event at Madison Square Garden. We get Brock versus Oba.

Oba goes over with Brock in the lead up saying that he wants one more title run and he must take that spot from the new king of the ring, Oba. Then we get SummerSlam Oba versus Roman. And then we get Brock versus Gunther, with Gunther agreeing to put his number one spot on the line in return for Brock's career. Oh, I see what you're doing here, career killer. What do you think of all of this?

You have mapped out a lot here, my friend. First of all, let's talk about Clashing Italy. My predictions on this, admittedly, not so great. probably actually my worst predictions, maybe ever on the show. Three for five. But you know what was great? That crowd in Italy. Oh my goodness.

The crowd on Sunday singing along to Brock Lesnar's theme. The crowd on Monday singing along to Roman Rain's theme. So fun. So fun. In my defense, I was really on the fence about the Obafemian and Brock Lesnar match. I just didn't know which way this was going to go. because you could make a strong case for either of them winning. And I did.

I made a strong case last week on Ask CVV for either way. And I'm like, I guess I got to make a decision here. So I'm going to go with Oba winning. And like, that's the end of it. I just also felt that Oba was on track to win King of the Ring, which would then give him the title shot at SummerSlam.

So then we wouldn't need this trilogy with Brock Lesnar, which is very clearly what we're getting. They just Brock and Ober are one and one. They keep reminding us. their one in one, we're for sure getting Oba versus Brock at SummerSlam in Brock's home state, Minnesota. Again, though, I don't think this is Brock Lezzer's last match. I think he wrestles into 2027 and, man, I just kind of feel like they've tried to zap us

like men in black style and make us forget about that beautiful retirement moment that Brock Lezzer had at WrestleMania less than two months ago. They're just like, moving. right along like that never happened. Nothing to see here, my friends. And I suppose you could use the excuse if you want it. You can make the excuse of, oh, wrestling retirements, they hardly ever last, right? Just ask Rick Flair or Terry Fung or Mick Fuller or Jerry Lawler or all these other people. But man, I just something felt different about the way Brock said goodbye at WrestleMania in Las Vegas this year. So I don't know. But keeping in this same thought here,

Speaking of trilogies, Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reins is obviously happening at some point. They teased it again this past week on Raw. But I think there's no way that this match happens as champion versus champion.

And that's why I thought that maybe we'd see a title change at Clash in Italy. That's why I predicted Gunther winning this. And like, it was obviously some funny stuff going on there. So it was a bold pick for me to say that Gunther would beat Cody in Italy,

but I just think that Cody's days are numbered as champion. Gunther's foot was way, way under the ropes here. I got a question about that. How come sometimes they'll look at that and they'll restart the match? And then other times they just go, oh, oops, my bad. Well, sorry about that. And like, that's just the decision that it is. But here's why I think Cody's days are numbered as champion.

As we look ahead to Crown Jewel, the date for that hasn't been announced yet, but it's typically October or early November. As we look ahead to Crown Jewel, we know it's champion versus champion. What's the match right now? Who's the champion and who's the other champion? It's a trilogy, right? It's Roman Raines and Cody Rhodes. I just don't think that it happens there, which is why I think we have to have at least one, if not two, new champions by the top of the time. we get to crown jewel. Like I, it's one of the other, or maybe both, but I just don't think that we're going to get Cody versus Roman there.

So perhaps it's a new WWE champion and a new world heavyweight champion, which I think makes you focus here on SummerSlam. That's the next like real big one that's coming up here. That's not to say the championship can't change hands before that. And we've seen it happen actually a pretty good amount in the last six to 12. months, the major titles choosing or changing hands on weekly television. It's how Cody won it. That's how Drew McIntyre won it.

But I just think in general, Cody's more interesting when he's chasing the title. And that's why he lost it earlier this year to Drew McIntyre so that he'd be in the position of chasing it through elimination chamber. What a moment for Sol Ruka at Clash in Italy, the new WWE Women's Intercom. continental championship. I don't know where this idea came from that Becky Lynch is Becky Hogan, that she doesn't put people over. She's been putting everybody over. She's been putting everybody over, especially the younger talent. She obviously just put over Soluka, but she was recently like making Maxine Dupree look like a million bucks. It, like, crazy, crazy that that somehow

caught fire and, like, spread. So silly. But, What a moment for Sol Ruka, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for her. Ria Ripley defeated Jake Cargo, as we predicted. Roman Raines defeated Jacob Fatu, as we predicted. And I would just think that's got to be the end of their feud. Where can this go from here? Especially with the fact that Jacob Fatu is now aligning himself with Roman Raines. It's going to be interesting to see what that ends up leading to.

I know it's a new iteration here of the bloodline. Just feel like we are now six years into the bloodline, right? It began basically when Roman returned at SummerSlam in 2020. So we are almost exactly six years into this. But we've got the bloodline storyline in some, like, form in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2025, 26 now. It'll be really interesting to see where this goes. and also interesting to see what's next for Roman Reins.

Like, how does Jacob Fawtu go from having these championship matches and being so close to now just being a guy in the faction? I don't know. That one doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But now that I'm thinking about Jacob Fattu, I'm thinking about the idea down the line here. Maybe it's not that far down the line, but Jacob Fattu versus Obafemi one day,

Oh my goodness. Oh, goodness. That'll be so good. As I look through your predictions here, Richie, the one that really doesn't make a lot of sense and with great respect to you is not going to happen. We're not going to get Oba versus Brock at Saturday Night's main event at MSG.

I'm sorry. I'm just, I think that you're not going to have Brock Lesern a match two weeks before SummerSlam in his home state. I'm not saying it's not going to happen. I'm not saying it's not possible, but it seems highly, highly unlikely. But I like how you put together all these other things. If this happens, then this happens, then if this could happen, then this thing could happen. Brock versus Gunther is probably a match that's going to happen at some point in time. And maybe that's WrestleMania 43, because I still do think that Brock Lezner is going to wrestle at another

to WrestleMania. I'd still just love to hear the story behind that moment at WrestleMania 42. Because it wasn't even like, man, Obafemi's so good. I had to retire. Because if they built this into the storyline of like, he's so damn good that I realized I wasn't good enough and I couldn't hang with someone like him. I had to hang him up. Man, that could make a lot of sense. Or if Obafemi like forced him out of retirement, like maybe this was the plan all along that Brock Lezzer would leave his boots and his gloves in the ring and then Obafemi would be like, oh, that's it, that's all you've got, old man, really? And like, somehow coaxed him out of retirement. That would have made sense too. But instead, Brock Lezor just

kind of came back, like I said. Zap, men in black style. Forget about what you saw over here. That never happened. That was just a moment that happened in the ring. But I think there's a big focus going into SummerSlam is going to be around who the champions are, men's side, women's side. And of course, now that they've confirmed that the king of the ring and queen of the ring get a title shot at SummerSlam, well, how is this all going to shake out? Because it's a lot of moving pieces and parts here. I just did a fascinating interview with Paul Heyman.

We'll talk about that a little bit later on. But one of the things he talked about, like, was very openly talking about this is like, they plan out storylines a long time in advance. I said, you're already thinking about WrestleMania 43? It's like, I'm already thinking about WrestleMania 44 and 45. And so it's interesting to think of like, okay, so if we're going to get to this point with these two competitors at WrestleMania 43, that means that all the PLEs between now and then, well, we've got to keep that in mind.

Because if our final goal here is just making up names here, but if our final goal is Brock Lezzer versus Gunther, okay, well, what's the path that gets us there? And what are the things that are going to stand in the way until then? And what are the things that are going to keep this afloat till then? So there's definitely a lot to think about, a lot to consider there when we're looking ahead to SummerSlam, especially. Dakota Terry on Facebook says,

Hey, CVV, we've got to talk about L Grande versus L Grande. For sure, WWE's match of the year so far. Well, we talked to all that about Clash in Italy, but my goodness, Clash in Italy was overshadowed last weekend by AAA Noce de Los Grandos. Grandes? Noce de la Grande. By the AAA show. Noce de los Grándos.

on this. Man, that card was incredible, start to finish, but what a main event. Oh, my goodness. The original Al Grande Americano versus El Grande Americano. And this is just a perfect example of when something has time to cook. When you've got that time to tell a story, this is the kind of magic that you can get. every single person in that arena was on the edge of their seat. They weren't in their seats.

What am I talking about? They were standing. But they were so invested. Everybody watching this around the world was bought into this. And again, may I remind you that a year ago, everybody thought this storyline was stupid. Let's be honest here. When Chad Gayle put the mask on, they're like, they're ruining this guy. Why would they take a guy who has so much potential and ruin him?

Then he gets injured. out with a shoulder injury. And they take somebody else. They take Ludwig Kaiser and they put him in a mask and people go, now they've ruined Ludwig Kaiser's career. So they've ruined two people's careers for the sake of this dumb gimmick under a mask. Oh, yeah? Maybe if you had a little bit of patience, you might have seen that it could have worked out.

That's why I'm always like, I'm not that quick to judge. I'm not that quick to judge because I'm like, well, maybe they can turn this around. Maybe it's on paper initially doesn't seem right. Danhausen's debut at Elimination Chamber. Oh, he's so stupid. What's the hype around this guy? Oh, yeah? Really?

Look at him now. And that's why I was the whole time with this El Grande versus El Grande thing I was saying, just have a little bit of patience here and look at the payoff. What a match. You're right. This is for sure, WWE's match of the year so far. And it is going to take a lot to try to top that. And the thing I love about this is this is clearly two guys who were hungry.

This is two guys who took this gimmick that, yeah, maybe on paper didn't sound like it was very good. But they put everything into it. They poured their heart and soul, not just into the gimmick, but into the story itself. And they made this the most interesting story happening in the WWE world. What a match. totally rewatchable match too i've seen it three times now should be more but a little busy with the little ones running around here but what an amazing match so much emotion just like solid match but like so much emotion in this and then at the end i couldn't believe it it was chad gable this whole

time who knew who knew but what a match and that i i think it's difficult with recency by I mean, the match took place less than a week ago. But that's going to be one of those matches, I predict, that we're talking about in five and ten and twenty years of like, remember that match. Like, that match had no business being that good. And this was such a good story going into it. Now, I mean that with great respect, right?

Like, what I'm saying is the bar was not set that high. Like, this match could have been just a fine match, and we would have all gone amazing. Congrats to those guys. Thanks for entertaining us. Being so invested in this and the way they tied this storyline together week after week after week, the way it started to get really personal with Loua Kaiser and his girlfriend, just made that match mean that much more. What a match.

What a match. That's a match. I think if you have a friend who doesn't watch wrestling or a friend who hasn't watched wrestling in a while, that's one you should probably show them. That ties right into this one from D saves 614. David says, after that amazing storyline and saga completion for the Grande Americanos, where does Chad Gable go from here? Do you think he will become a face back in WWE or will he remain a heel? What direction would you like to see him go upon his return? Well, this whole thing started because Chad Gable hates Luchadors.

Well, who has the Intercontinental Championship right now? Well, that's right. It's a luchador. It's a masked luchador by the name of Penta. They would be absolutely ridiculous if they didn't somehow follow up El Grande versus El Grande with Chad Gable finding his way into this Intercontinental Championship pitcher. Chad Gable should have been the Intercontinental Champion a long time ago. But I digress.

You can't change the things that happened or didn't happen in the past. But that's what I think it is. Chad Gable takes the momentum from that. Even if he continues to be a heel, it doesn't matter. There's nothing but respect for him. There always has been respect for Chad Gable, but it's on a whole new level now. And as far as Ludwig Kaiser is concerned, as far as El Grande Americano is concerned, I don't know if he ever comes back.

He is so beloved in this gimmick. I don't know how he could come back. The only way I could see it working is if he's doing both gimmicks at the same time completely separate from one another. Like Ludwig Kaiser has a match early on on Raw, El Grande, Americano has a match later in the show. That's the only way I think it could work.

Because El Grande Americano is over in such a special way. especially in AAA, but there's enough of an overlap between AAA fans and people who watch WWE that everybody gets what's going on here. Everybody understands the hard work he's put into this and why this is connecting with fans. I just truly think we may never see Louis Kaiser again. And if that's the case, congrats to him. Because that's the whole thing in wrestling. I remember asking Baba Ray Dudley, years.

ago, what's the best advice you have for somebody getting into the business? Get over, is what he said. Get over. Whatever it takes. Whatever you've got to do, get over. Well, what's Ludwig Kaiser slash Al Grande-A Americano now? He is over. And he is over in such a huge, huge way. Let him run with that in AAA. Let him just absolutely take that and run with it. New champion, Al-Gra. Americano, I think it's just a matter of time before that happens. Give him the AAA mega championship. It's just a matter of time. He is so, so over.

And I can't wait to see how this all ends up happening. But if the champion right now is Dominic Mysterio, well, I guess that's the next big feud for El Grande Americano. And Chad Gable, I think it's just a matter of time before we see him back, before we we see him back on the main roster. And, I mean, we talked about SummerSlam being in Minnesota, the home state of Brock Lezzer. Well, Minnesota is also the home state of Chad Gable. Chad Gable, Penta, SummerSlam, Minneapolis, story rights itself.

Dan Shaver says, yo, CVV, the absolute perfection of creative booking and storybuilding altogether has come from El Grande Americano's Mask versus Mask match. And it got me thinking, who do you think in wrestling right now currently has all of the tools to create a great story or an interesting title run, but hasn't been able to do it due to the wrong booking or the wrong creative slash character angle? I really hope after Mask versus Mask, this is shown WWE that Chad Gable has all the tools to make a run for a singles title. It absolutely has. Also, I think the fact that WWE didn't just allow that match to just play on Saturday night. They also on Monday night said this match was iconic. This match is so good. I'm paraphrasing, obviously. But that match will air in its entirety

after this episode of Raw on Netflix. And now they're also touting the massive numbers that this did on YouTube. They get it. Not just Chad Gable, but Ludwig Kaiser slash El Grasne-American. They get it. But who's the person I think has all the tools? and just hasn't been booked the right way. For me, it's L.A. Knight. With the popularity that he had, started to build up in 2023, then massively over in 2024,

I just don't know how he didn't, at least win Money in the Bank, one of the three times he's been in it, especially 2024. Money in the Bank in Toronto. Drew McIntyre wins it. Later on that night, goes to cash in, unsuccessfully,

gets interrupted, gets foiled by CM Punk. And I get that that continued to, like, add fuel to the fire of the CM Punk and Drew McIntyre feud, but I just think it could have been done in another way. Like, it was done at the expense of somebody else winning money in the bank and, like,

using this as a storyline for months. I would have loved to see LA Night, win it there, 2024, go on to cash in on whoever, become the champion, even if it's just a few months. This is a guy who he's been a world champion in TNA. He can clearly be a world champion.

But I think that's one for sure. That's one that I would absolutely change if I could. He's also just so over. Like from the second, from the millisecond, his entrance theme hits. It's one of the loudest pops of the night, no matter where you are. I'll give you another one, Austin Theory.

And I know that he was real close. There was clearly a Vince McMahon guy. Because under Vince McMahon booking, he was being given a lot of incredible opportunities. I mean, when you think about it, Austin Theory has had major moments in the ring with the rock, with Stone Cold Steve Austin, with Vince McMahon. Like, he's had these massive moments that I just feel like they haven't capitalized on. He has a great look, great promos. It's a natural heel presence. Like you look at the guy and you just want to hate him

because he's like a good looking jacked guy who can wrestle. And I just, it's a matter of time, I think, till Austin Theory gets placed in the right scenario, gets placed in the right storyline where it's like, boom, here it is. Square up. You know what's going on, man? It's Andreberto, two-time world champion in our fall.

loved it. I really wanted to do that sit down from a fighter's perspective. My jeep. What's going on? Caleb Klaz. What's going on? My butt. Now you got a chance to really draw in your audience to let them see who you are. I've had 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. 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. 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, 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. Logan Cochran sent this in on Facebook and said, CPP, big fan of the show. But what are your thoughts on Obafemi in the King of the Ring tournament? And do you think he can actually win it? So much has changed here since last week. Last week, I was like, oh, Obafemi's going to win this thing. I mean, it was an early prediction.

But I'm looking at this. And the brackets hadn't even been announced at that point, but I'm like, well, this is how Obafemi gets a title shot. This is how Obufemi finds himself in a Somerslam match with Roman Raines. I'm not so sure anymore. But let's look at the King of the Ring brackets right now, King and Queen of the Ring. What's the first thing you notice when you look at the brackets?

Yeah. Why the heck is Liv Morgan in this? Doesn't make any sense. She's the women's world champion, which is a little perplexing since the winner of King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring gets a title shot at SummerSlam. And I know she made a post on Instagram saying,

I'm coming for it all. This has to be an oversight, though. Because especially when later on this year, we're going to get champion versus champion at crown jewel. So that one doesn't make a lot of sense. What else do you notice? Well, you notice Obafemi is in the tournament. Which I'm not really sure how storyline-wise that's going to make sense, especially now that he's one and one with Brock Lesnar after clash in Italy. That's clearly leading up to a trilogy at SummerSlam.

And last week on the show, I said there's two paths for Obafemi. either, beats Brock Lezor at Clash in Italy, remains undefeated, continues this path as a monster, wins King of the Ring, faces Roman Reigns, wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and then keeps winning,

keeps winning all the way until WrestleMania 43. That was one path I said. The other path, loses to Brock, sets up a third match, which is what we're getting here, Oba versus Brock 3 in Minneapolis. It's just,

I feel like Brock is going to continue to wrestle after that, like I said. He's so strong, explosive power still. He's not slowing down at all. But if Obafemi's in this tournament and Obafemi seemingly already has this match lined up with Brock Lesnar, I mean, you've got to look at the writing on the wall here. He's not going to win King of the Ring. And the way that I see this playing out is Obafemi advances in the King of the Ring tournament.

He's already in the semifinals right now. he will face the winner of Dominic Mysterio, Braun Breaker, Brooke Williams, Damien Priest. I'm assuming here the winner of that will be Bronbreaker. It's just a guess. I don't know. I guess it's not that obvious. What I think will happen is when the Obafemi versus the winner of that match,

my guess, Bronbreaker, happens that Brock Lezzer comes out and costs Obafemi the match. That's the only way I see this making sense. because Obafemi, winning King of the Ring, gives him that match of SummerSlam, which is not what we're getting at all here. So I think that Obafemi ends up having this match ruined by Brock Leser, continues the steam here, continues the hatred, and then it continues to fuel what we get for SummerSlam between the two of them. So who wins King of the Ring? We know Obafemi is advancing. On the other side of this, we've got Seth Rawlins versus Javon Evans. versus Tonga versus Saints.

I would think the winner there is Seth Rollins. Maybe Javon Evans, but likely Seth Rollins. And then the other match, J. Uso, L.A. Knight, Royce Keys, and Finn Baller. I would think, man, man, that was kind of tough. Actually, there's a lot of reasons

you can make a case for any of those guys winning that match. But Finn Baller advancing makes sense. Then we get Finn Baller versus Seth Rollins on that side, Obafemi versus likely Bronbroker on the other side. I just don't know who wins this.

The other thing I think when you look at the brackets is there's some glaring omissions from the tournament. And I know that there's only a limited number of spots. There's only 16 spots in the king and the queen tournament. And with that, you've got to manage a lot of different storylines too.

Like you can't have people taking losses here just for the same. sake of putting them in the first round of the tournament. So I know that there's a lot of people in this where you're like, well, why isn't so-and-so in this? And I think when you look at that realistically, what's the point in having someone like Drew McIntyre or Randy Orton or C.M. Punk or Tiffany Stratton or Jordan Grace? What's the point of having them in the tournament? If they're just going to lose in the opening match in the opening Fatal Foreway, what's the point? The only real reason to have a huge name like that in here is if they're going to win.

Because otherwise, it's like, you're just putting them in the tournament for the sake of putting them in the tournament. If you swap a few names out here and you've got, say, Tiffany Stratton in here, or you've got Drew McIntyre or Punk or Orton in here, are you just putting them in the tournament just to see their name in the bracket? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I feel like we look at the brackets here. I think the way it's going to end up shaking.

out is for the king of the ring finals, I think it's going to end up being Seth Rollins versus Bronbreaker. I see Bronbreaker winning that match. So Brombreaker, King of the Ring, title shot against I guess is Roman Raines. On the queen of the ring side, I think we end up getting to a finals that Charlotte Flair versus Eoskeye. I think they are on opposite sides of the bracket for a reason. What a match that's going to be. I originally, when we didn't know the whole brackets last week, I said Eoskeye, which I would love to see that happen. I think it was Eoskeye versus Liv Morgan's, what I was predicting. I actually think we're going to get Charlotte Flair.

And I think it's Charlotte Flair challenging Ria Ripley to a match at SummerSlam, renewing their rivalry. But it'll be really interesting to see where we're at with the semifinals and then who ends up being in the finals of this one, too. Greg Powell on Spotify says, Hey, CDV, we haven't seen CM Punk since WrestleMania. What do you think is next for him? It's a great question. We haven't seen CM Punk since the WrestleMania main event on night two.

What a match that was, CM Punk, Roman Raines, one of the all-time. Great, WrestleMania main events. But that was 48 days ago. we haven't seen or heard from him since. We also haven't seen or heard from Randy Orton since night one of WrestleMania. That was 49 days ago.

I will tell you this, when CM Punk comes back, he's going to be super jacked. We've already seen like some photos here and there. And I know that he's been working so hard with trainer slash coach J. Faruja. Jay is so insanely talented. He's worked with a ton of different people. He's the guy responsible for getting Chad Gable into the crazy shape that he's in. He's worked with Seth Rollins,

with Becky Lynch, with Bailey. Bailey's in tremendous shape now, perhaps even the best shape of her career. We're seeing that with CM Punk too. So when CM Punk comes back, whatever the storyline is, there's going to be a lot of people going,

oh man, look at the shape he's in. Incredible. It's amazing. So that's going to be number one. I don't think that CM Punk is back in a world title picture. Like I mentioned, we haven't seen Randy Orton since WrestleMania. I think Randy Orton finds his way into a rematch with Cody Rhodes. Like there's some bad blood there, quite literally.

Cody Rhodes, bleeding a lot, WrestleMania. Cody Rhodes, I was swelled shut at WrestleMania. I think that we end up seeing a rematch there, but I also understand that Gunther's in the picture here. You can't just have Gunther lose the way that he lost a clash in Italy and just ignore that and just move on to whatever the next opponent is or the next feud.

Things with Gunther are clearly not done. And maybe that's the match that ends up happening at Saturday Night's main event in New York. And then, hey, maybe it ends up being a three-way. Maybe we get Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Gunther at Summer Slam. I'm just spitball in here. But you've got Cody Rhodes the champion, but then you've got Randy Orton could at any point in time pop up and go, hey, you owe me a rematch. And then you've obviously got Gunther in this going, hey, I didn't really lose that match.

is just an idiot referee who wasn't looking at my foot, which was four feet under the ropes. So it'll be, I'm curious to see where both of these go. But I don't think CM Punk's back in the world title picture. I don't know what that means for him. I don't actually know what's next for him. But I think that Roman Raines is moving on to other opponents here. Brett Hanning sent this in on Chris Famer. and said, hey, CVV, hope you're doing well.

I've been a real, real one for over three years now. I love the questions you get on the AskCTV episodes about Mount Rushmore and Would You Rather's? I'm going to ask a different type of question. What's an unpopular wrestling opinion that you have? The more controversial, the better. For example, mine is, I'm not a fan of all the live music entrances at WrestleMania. I feel like it takes away from the aura, personally.

Thanks for all you do for the wrestling community. You and Sam Roberts get me through all the flights and driving that I have to do for my job. Hope that this makes the show. Well, it did make the show. Thanks, Brett. Well, Brett, thank you for your question. That is a hot take for sure. That is a controversial opinion.

And sure, some live performances aren't done right. But man, when they are, some of them add just so much to the aura. like watch Mark Henry getting sung to the ring by 3-6 Mafia, 3-6 Mafia, and tell me that's not a great entrance. Watch Triple H getting played to the ring by Motorhead at WrestleMania 21 and tell me it's not amazing. Ria Ripley getting played to the ring by motionless and white.

I think it just adds to it. There's a lot, you're right, there are a lot that, what are we doing here? especially when you can tell the band maybe just doesn't quite get wrestling or it doesn't quite fit. So there's some. And maybe those have soured you on it. But Brett, there's some really good ones. Start with Triple H at WrestleMania 21. Get back to me. My unpopular opinion here, maybe it's not so unpopular because it's extremely logical. The draft is so dumb. The draft is just so stupid. And I'm glad they didn't do a draft in 2025. I have major, major issues

with the draft. It's never made sense. Not from the beginning. It kind of made sense a little bit at the beginning. But it's certainly in the last decade plus, the draft is just stupid. And I feel like last year, we're like, that's kind of draft season. It's kind of like the time of year they do a draft and it didn't happen. And I was quietly, actually kind of loudly rejoicing going, yes, just because the draft doesn't make sense. It pigeonholes people to like, now you're part of this show or the other show. And there's, I enjoy the fluidity now where it's like, all right, this person's supposed to be a raw person, but if they show up on Smackdown, that's fine. When you're holding to the rigid rules of the draft, that doesn't make sense. You can't have like,

Cody Rhodes gets drafted to raw and then three weeks later because they would always do this thing what's this person doing on Smackdown? They're not supposed to be here. That's a raw superstar. Yeah, they all work for the same company. Doesn't make any sense.

I've always had an issue with that. And I like now that like it's floating back and forth here. Although did you see when they announced the King of the Ring brackets there was the blue glow around Finn Baller, and people were going, wait a second. Did Finn Baller get moved to Smackdown? Yes, Finn Baller got moved to Smackdown

during a Netflix commercial break, I believe is when that happened. So if you were watching in the United States, you didn't see that because there were commercials and the commercial breaks are all different in different parts of the world. But the draft. So dumb.

And I hope we never get a job. draft again because the only time the draft really, like truly made sense was like the first few years, the first few iterations where there was one champion and that champion worked on Raw and SmackDown and everybody was vying for this one championship, whether you were on Mondays or you were on Fridays, you were fighting for that championship. And I get that back then, Smackdown wasn't always on Friday, but you understand what I'm saying here, Raw or SmackDown. But then it turned into, to like, it just got messy. It just got messy and it didn't make a lot of sense.

So the draft. That's what it is. This one's from Spotify. What a username. It looks like you just like took your face and smashed it against your keyboard. 2-2-T3W2KS-7RG-G-Z-O-R and a bunch of other characters here. You said, realist of the real ones here. What's the last WWE theme song that you found that just fuels a workout for you?

Bianca's song escaped me until this past week. Bianca's song is a banger. But I'll tell you this song that I have listened to more than any other song at the gym over the last probably three months is Kit Wilson's theme song. Kid Wilson! It's not only on my gym playlist. It's just on my like, liked song playlist on Spotify. I just, I love that like catchy pop music.

I always have. It reminds me a lot of the band, the 1975, like that type of like electro pop music. So when I first heard his song, not only was I like, that's a great theme song. I was like, that's just a great song. So that's, that's, I'm not ashamed to admit it, but it's that one for me.

Ricky Jones on Spotify says, what's up, CVV? I saw your post on social media asking who the five most famous wrestlers of all time are. I'm curious to hear your list. Keep doing what you're doing. You, sir, are the man.

Now, Ricky, you are the man. So I asked this question on Instagram. I asked it on Twitter as well. And on Facebook. Got a lot of different answers here. I posted it like this. I said, who do you think of the five most famous wrestlers of all time?

Like if you bumped into a random person on the street who didn't watch wrestling, they would know who all five are. So we're not talking about like deep cuts. We're not talking about who's the most talented in the ring. We're talking about like, for example, if I was explaining to someone and they were like, oh, what do you do for a living? Oh, I interview pro wrestlers. You know, like, Hulk Hogan. Like that's what I'm talking about here. Who would be the five people who a non-wrestling fan would know?

So to answer this question, I've brought in a non-wrestling fan. My beautiful, wonderful, incredibly talented wife, RVV is here. Hey, babes. Hi, I'm a little offended. You called me a non-wrestling fan, though. I've come a long way. It's not that you're a non-wrestling fan, but like, you're not like watching it week in, week out like the rest of us. It's true.

So like you might actually be the perfect person for this. You probably know more wrestlers than the average non-fam, but I'm saying like, you know, you're not like, I got to watch Raw every week. I got to watch Smackdown every week. I got to watch every PLE. Like you don't even know what the next PLE is, do you? What does PLE stand for? Yeah.

Premium live event, of course, used to be called pay-per-views for us older folks here. Do you know what the next paper view is? I don't know. Italy? Oh, no, Italy was, I don't. Yeah. See, it's night of champions. Yeah, it's like a month later on this month. So, but you've been to, what, three, four, five events by this point now? Handful. A handful. Like three raws, maybe, two raws in a Smackdown, two AEWs maybe. TNA.

Yeah, that's right. You went to one. Yeah, you went to TNA in Irvine, California. I took you to, when you were like eight and a half months pregnant, I took you to championship wrestling from Hollywood. That's right. And then we tried to take baby Logan and that didn't go so well. We tried to take a nine-month-old Logan to Monday Night Raw in Anaheim, California. She lasted about 30 seconds. Not to her fault, though.

She was fine. She just wouldn't keep her headphones on and it was way too loud for a baby that young. without headphones. And also, in my daughter's defense, she's now three years old, she turned three last Friday, May 29th. I already said happy birthday to her last week on the show. I'll say happy birthday to her again, our sweet little girl. That particular episode kicked off with Drew McIntyre versus Cody Rhodes. Drew McIntyre, a ton of pyro. Cody Rhodes, also a ton of pyro didn't go well for a baby that's not wearing headphones. So we tried. we'll have to try again maybe in another year or so.

Yeah, when she's old enough to bribe to keep headphones on her head. Right. Okay, so who would you think of the five most famous wrestlers of all time that a non-wrestling fan, if you bumped in on the street, they'd know. If your mom, who would Gammy know? Gammy would know, let's see. So of all times, so not like who's hot right now. The Rock.

Sure. Yeah. Hulk Hogan. Yep. John Sina. I'm with you. Let's see. Sean Michaels, I feel like that's a very well-known.

Maybe. I mean, he's so insanely talented, one of the all-time greats. I just don't know if the average person would know him unless they saw a meme about his entrance theme. I'm just a sexy boy. Sexy boy. Andre the Giant? That's actually a pretty good guess. Yeah.

And then Stonefish. Cold. I think Stone Cold's a great guess. Andre, I think, makes a lot of sense because of Princess Diaries. So, like, he was already, like, you know, freak of nature. How could you forget if you ever saw Andre growing up in the 80s or 90s? But then when he was in that, it's like, oh, wow, now he's, like, mainstream here. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think that was five, right? That's five, yeah. I'm going to look at my list here, because I think we had, we had some crossover. I say the rock, macho man. Oh, yeah, macho man. And I I think Macho Man, just because the Slim Jim commercials when we were growing up, were everywhere. So true.

Right? So true. Yeah. I had The Rock, for obvious reasons. He's one of the biggest celebrities on the planet. I think he's the fourth or fifth most followed person on Instagram. Even if you've never seen a rock match, you know the Rock was a wrestler. Hulk Hogan, again, for obvious reasons, he's one of those people that transcends generations.

he is largely responsible for the massive boom that we got in the 80s leading into the 90s and everything beyond that. John Sina, because like The Rock, even if you've never seen a John Sina match, you're aware he's a wrestler, even though he's been in a ton of movies. And I've said this before, but John Sina is like just crushing it in some of these comedy roles. I also have Stone Cold and Macho Man. We talked about Macho Man, the Slim Jim commercials. He's a cultural icon. He was everywhere. But I think this was fun, right? Because then there's another few names you can throw in there. But if your list doesn't have The Rock or Hulk Hogan on here, I mean, come on. Yeah, most recognizable, for sure, names and faces. So great to finally have you back on the show. You haven't been on in

two or three months. Long time. Yeah. Nice to be back. Thanks for having you. Great to have you back. The people were clamoring for the return of RVV. And here. Here it is. I'm sure it was your number one most requested thing. For sure. For sure. Well, thank you, honey. Love you.

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please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Zach Smith on Facebook says, what is your Mount Rushmore of best matches? Give me one from WW, one from AEW, one from TNA, and one from NXT.

Wow. Zach, really making me think here. I'll start with the ones that for me, like our instant obvious answers. TNA, I've said this, a thousand times before, Unbreakable, 2005, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, A.J. Stiles. One of my favorite matches of all time. What a match. WWE, I'll give you two different answers because if we're talking just like in ring,

I'm going to go WrestleMania 25, The Undertaker versus Sean Michaels. It's about as close to a perfect match as you can get. But of course, I have a soft spot. my heart for WrestleMania 18 and just the story that's told there, the crowd reactions, everything about that, icon versus icon. We were just talking about the biggest, most famous wrestlers in the world with the lovely, beautiful, incredibly talented RVV. Rock Hogan. To put those two guys together, I wish that was their only match.

The second match they had, it wasn't even a year later. It's paled in comparison. but WrestleMania 18. Oh, man. So good. AEW. I think I'm actually going to go with the first ever double or nothing.

Dustin Rhodes versus Cody Rhodes. The only time I've cried watching a wrestling match. I was there live in Las Vegas. You talk about storytelling when we were talking about mask versus mask earlier. Brother versus brother and everything that went into that and the emotions were. high than the match afterwards, you know, hugging in the ring. That match was just storytelling

done well. And there were so many people in the audience as you looked around that felt the same way. And I'm sure same with people watching it at home. NXT. Man, there's a lot to choose from. There have been so many incredible matches. If I had to narrow down to just one, I'm going to go, Johnny Gargano versus Tomaso Champa. Takeover, New Orleans, 2018. What a feud, possibly the greatest feud in NXT, depending on who you ask. What a story in this match. Incredible, emotional investment.

There's a reason that Johnny Gargano is Mr. Nxti or is Johnny Takeover. What a match. Two amazing wrestlers in there. But it's hard. It's hard to narrow it down as one from each company, especially when there have been so many amazing matches. Like when we talk about TNA,

you could literally just say Kurt Engle versus anybody. Because Kurt Angle during that time was so good. Like 0-607, 08, 09, Kurt Angle, man, like current angle, AJ Stiles, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe. And we could play that game with all four of these companies that you pointed out here. but I think my definitive four would be those.

Julian from Michigan sent this in on Chris Vanley.com. Hi there, CVV. Real, real, real one here from Michigan. I love the new interview you just did with L.A. Knight. Yeah. So much fun and it totally made my morning. I love that chat too. I'm so glad that you enjoyed that as much as I did.

Question for you. During the interview, L.A. asks if he's allowed to swear and then hilariously drops a whole bunch of swear words right after. So I'm curious, which guest or guests of yours swore the most during any of your interviews with them? Thanks, Julian. That was pretty funny. I've had quite a few people that have been like, can I swear? I think most hilariously, our truth was said damn. And he was like, oh, damn. Can I swear? Yeah, sure. You can say whatever you want. always my answer too. My answer is always you can say whatever you want. I'm never going to tell you

what you can or can't say. If that's how you want to describe something or that's what you're feeling, by all means, go ahead. I also understand that a lot of people listen on Fridays because there is no swearing when we do ask CVV. And I appreciate the messages I get from people that are like, I can listen to this in the car with my kids. So if that's you right now, hello to you and to your kids. And to your kids right now. If I was to make a list of the people who swore the most, number one by a mile is Will Osprey. He swore so much in the interview that it got age restricted on YouTube and you need to be signed into YouTube and at least 18 years old to watch that interview with Will, which probably caused the numbers to be like the view count to be way lower than it should have been. Because

number one, you had to be signed in, you had to be 18, but number two, I don't think that YouTube wants to push something like that when there's that much swearing. But that's how Will talks, and that's what makes Will, will, is just he speaks his mind. After that, Lacey Evans, when she was on the show, was that three-ish years ago? A lot of cursor. A lot of cursing in that one. And then I think a close runner-up to Lacey Evans was when Rhonda Rousey was on the show. Was that last year? Same thing. Like, she just speaks her mind and has no filter.

So I think those are the top three. LA Nights was just funny how he just out of nowhere was like, said blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just like rattled off a few curse words. You'll also notice I've never censored any of these. You'll listen to some podcasts and they'll bleep it out or they'll just leave a blank there. I just figured this is how the conversation happened in the room, and this is how the conversation is going to air. And I'm not saying it's going to be like that forever.

I don't like to speak in certain terms like that. But that's how it's been since we started the podcast. We've never bleeped someone and we're now, what, 926 episodes in right now. So I assume that that's how this is going to keep going. Mani Figueroa on Instagram says, Hey, CVV, hope you're having a great day. I am. I'm having a great day.

I hope you're having a great day, Mani. Happy Friday to you, my friend. You posted a picture of you and Paul Heyman. I was wondering if that interview is coming out soon. Oh, yes. That interview is coming out soon. And I feel like I keep saying, I keep saying to myself,

I shouldn't be posting this stuff till it's like, edited in the can and ready to go. The Paul Heyman interview will be coming out on June 23rd. It's coming out the week of Night of Champions. I know we had originally said it was coming out at the end of May. We had some trouble editing some things together, but we are on track. You will see that interview on June 23rd,

and I can tell you this, it's well over two hours long. And there are so many stories in this that he's never told before. There's so many different, like, he's a genius. We know that. We know that Paul Heyman is the goat for a reason. And there's so much like insight, pun intended, that we get from him here. But there's just also, like the details. Like when he starts breaking down the details of what the tribal chief character is all about,

it's just, it's amazing. They thought of everything. They thought of every little nuance from, and I'll give you one right now, now, even though the interview comes out in a few weeks, he was talking about like, the tribal chief should never have to carry his own mic. The wise man should hand him the mic. And the wise man shouldn't hand him the mic in the hand that's closest to the wise man. Roman Raines always asked for the mic in the other hand to make it as hard as possible for the wise man to have to reach over the body of the tribal chief and then sneak his hand back and hopefully doesn't graze against

the travel chief and off with his head, he would, you know, upset him. There were just little details like that. There was also a great story about Paul Heyman's ponytail. If you're around my age, you'll remember Paul Heyman in ECW, Paul Heyman, early days of WWE, had a ponytail. That was his look. For a lot of years, it was he wore the ball cap with the ponytail out the back. He told a story about how hell in a cell between, I think it was CM Punk and Ryback.

when CM Punk beat up Paul Heyman, or there was a plan for CM Punk to beat up Paul Heyman and cut off Paul Heyman's ponytail and hold it up like a trophy. And then Vince McMahon said, no, no, I don't like that idea. Just go cut your hair. What? Shot down that amazing idea.

This is just a bit of a tease. A bit of a tease for this interview with Paul Heyman, which will be well worth the wait. June 23rd is when that comes out. But mark your, calendars for next Thursday, June 11th. Not only am I hosting the screening in Los Angeles that I hope to see you at. It's going to be just a blast watching Slow Burn Shoot with you.

But June 11th is the interview with Heidenreich. The first interview that Heidenreich has done in over 10 years, we talk about everything. Yes, we talk about the Michael Cole segment. I know you're thinking about that. I know you wanted to know the answer to that. The answer is yes. We talk about that. But a great interview, great to see him doing well.

And he had basically stepped away from wrestling for like, yeah, pretty much 10 years. His last appearance was RussellCon in Orlando when WrestleMania 33 was there. And he hasn't done a signing an appearance since then. He's back. He's back in the world. He's back in the world of conventions. you'll see him at, I think the biggest one he's doing that's announced right now is big event, New York, happening in November.

But I love that he's back. I love that he's on Twitter and Instagram now. He's on Twitter at John Heidenreich 7. He's on Instagram at John Heidenreich 74. So June 11th, keep an eye off for that. June 23rd, Paul Hamid, and a bunch of other great interviews along the way as well. some big ones here in June. That's our final question on this.

Ask CVV number 1 30 Aces and 8s. And Ask CVV number 138 time intercontinental champion the Miz edition. I'd love to hear your questions for next week. Chris Vanfleet.com to send them in on their. Send them in on social media using that hashtag AskCVV. or send them in on Spotify using, you know, don't use a hashtag. Just put your questions on Spotify. I will find them.

Thanks for spending a little bit of your Friday with me. Whatever you're doing right now, whether you're driving to work or you're working or you're walking the dog, working out, whatever it is. I appreciate you making the time to hang with me. The fact that we're at the end of this episode officially makes you a real, real one. If you want to become a real, real, real one,

hopefully I'll see you at the next Insight Live. We've got Fanatics Fest, which is going to be huge. Saturday, July 18th in New York City. Fanatics Fest has this insane lineup. One of the massive WWE stars who's at Fanatics Fest is going to be my guest. And then I'll see you in the Big Easy. I'll see you Money in the Bank weekend Saturday, September 5th in New Orleans. Grab your tickets for those at CVVT.

ticks.com. I'll leave you with this from Jazz Bowerman, who said, if it makes you happy, take the risk. Worst case, you learn. Best case, you can change your whole life. Be great. And be grateful, my friend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Kathy Kelly joining us on Tuesday. We've got Haydnreich joining us on Thursday. Have an amazing weekend. We'll see you next week. Hey y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up?

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