Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #14 - Reacting To CM Punk's WWE Return, Randy Orton Is Back, I Randomly Call Maven To See If He Will Answer

Starting point is 00:00:00 All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van. Oh my goodness. Here we go. Welcome back to another one on Insight. I'm CBV. Chris Van Fleet, so good to see you here.

Starting point is 00:00:17 And yes, thank you once again for making Insight one of the top wrestling podcasts in the world. Someone asked me, they're like, you keep saying it's one of the top podcasts in the world. Who else is on this chart? Who else is there?

Starting point is 00:00:31 So I just pulled it up right now. It's busted open, Jim Cornett, Bruce Pritchard, Eric Bischoff, and then you got us there. So pretty cool to be in the same conversation as some names like that. But thank you for being here on this Ask CVV episode if it's your first ever Asked CVV episode. This is how I know you're a real one. This is how I know you're a real supporter of the show if you're listening to one of these to hear my take on what's going on in the world of wrestling. my opinions on how to be a full-time creator and everything in between. Basically, this works by you send in the questions using the hashtag Ask CVV on social media.

Starting point is 00:01:15 So a lot of them hear from Twitter, Facebook, and from Instagram as well. But you ask the questions and I'll give you my opinion on these. I don't know if they're the answers, but they are my opinions of what's going on here. And there is a lot to cover in the last few weeks in this wild world. of wrestling. But first, if you're one of the 75% of people who just listen to the show but haven't hit that subscribe button yet, haven't hit that follow button yet, could you please do me a favor? I don't ask for a lot, but could you take a few seconds today to hit that follow button on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, wherever you're listening right now? It helps the show so much.

Starting point is 00:01:58 and the more of the show continues to grow, the bigger the guests that we can continue to get will be. So I don't have a Patreon. I'm not asking for money. All I ever ask for is, hey, could you just hit follow? And maybe also, if you like any of the sponsors that we talk about on the show and you think they might be helpful in your own life, go check them out. And we will give you a bit of a discount on whatever that happens to be. So please hit follow wherever you're listening to this right now. Let's dive into these questions.

Starting point is 00:02:30 There's a bunch of them. And yeah, crazy weekend. We'll talk about Survivor Series. I was there in Chicago. And actually, look, that's where we're going to start here. Mark T.43 on Instagram says, wow, can you believe CM Punk is back in WWE? If you listen to the last Ask CVV episode, I basically said, everything seems to be lining up for Survivor Series.

Starting point is 00:02:54 It's in Chicago. CM Punk just is, is it. top of mind for everybody with how things kind of fell out there in AEW. If it's going to happen, it feels like it's going to happen in Chicago. It feels like it's going to happen at Survivor Series. And I think that the way they did it was so smart. That tease of the copyright, the trademark going up on the screen. Oh, there it is.

Starting point is 00:03:17 The show's over. Oh! And out of nowhere, do do do doodoo doodoo doodoo do do to do look in my eyes. You don't need to hear me sing this. Living color sings it much better. But what a moment. And also, I'm sure you noticed this, but it was a moment. And the moment was him standing out there and the music playing. There wasn't commentary. There wasn't a shot to any of the specific people in the ring to foreshadow what might possibly happen. It was CM Punk and some crowd reactions there. And I think that they absolutely nailed it.

Starting point is 00:03:55 did I ever think that CM Punk would be back almost 10 years after walking out of the company? No. But I think if you would ask me five years ago, if I ever thought CM Punk would be back in wrestling, I would have thought the answer was no. And him being in AEW open the door for this to happen. So if the AEW return to pro wrestling in general, the AEW debut, the return to pro wrestling, if that didn't happen, this wouldn't have happened here. I truly believe that because it sure seemed like CM Punk was happy doing what he was doing,

Starting point is 00:04:30 just living a life after pro wrestling and everything seemed to be good. That leads us actually into this next question here. Trevo 193 says, I know you posted this question earlier this week on social media, but what is your answer? Which of CM Punk's returns do you think was bigger? So I made this post on social media and basically said, recency bias will say, of course it was Survivor Series. I mean, it's top of mind.

Starting point is 00:04:59 We never thought he'd be back in WWE. But I think people are discounting just how big the AEW debut was and the return to wrestling as a whole. And it's not just the fact that he was out of wrestling for seven years and came back and nobody thought he was going to come back. I think a really big factor that nobody seems to be keying in on. And it's funny how, like, time so quickly can shift history and make us remember different things. But when CM Punk returned to wrestling in 2021, when he made that debut on AEW Rampage, the world was in such a different place. Up until basically a month before that show in Chicago, we had half full arena shows. And not long before that, it was empty arena shows.

Starting point is 00:05:49 CM Punk's timing there with just how things were started. to get back to normal in this post-pandemic world was so crucial to that moment. And people seemed to forget this. People just take for granted that like, oh, yeah, it was just another like full arena show. This was one of the first full capacity sporting events, not just WW events, AEW events, wrestling events. This was one of the first full capacity sporting events where an entire arena could be sold out. And the fact that you couple that with people who were just like,

Starting point is 00:06:23 clamoring for the world to be normal again. You couple that with arguably one of the biggest returns in the history of pro wrestling. It was a really big moment. And I think that there's people that discount the AEW debut because Tony Kong kind of tipped his hat and basically told everyone it was going to happen, whereas the WWE Survivor Series moment was very much a surprise. And I think that that needs to be taken out of the equation here. If it's not for one, if it's not for the AEW thing, the WW thing doesn't happen. But beside the point here, it's pretty incredible that one man, C.M. Punk, is responsible for two of the biggest returns in the history of pro wrestling over the course of a little over

Starting point is 00:07:13 two years and on top of that in two separate companies. That's big. That's never happened before ever. So whether you like CM Punk or you hate CM Punk, CM Punk is without a doubt a needle mover. And it'll be very, very interesting to see what happens with this whole situation here. At Jay Cravalho 24 on Twitter says, what was the atmosphere like when you were at Survivor Series with CM Punk returning to WWE? And do you think Punk will finally main event to WrestleMania next year in Philly at WrestleMania 40. So, oh man, it pains me to tell this story. So yes, I was in Chicago for Survivor Series. I was at the Allstate Arena on Saturday night. I did not see CM Punk return live. In fact, nobody in the media section saw CM Punk return live. So those WWE press

Starting point is 00:08:21 conferences that you see and I was so grateful to be a part of and to be able to ask a question at this one. And I also asked a question at SummerSlam and I was there at WrestleMania when they did this. So the way that these work is as soon as the last match ends, they take you to the media room and get you set up because, as you know, the event goes off the air and boom, we're live on the WWE network. We're live on Peacock with the press conference. So like things move fast, right? So it was one, two, three, the war games match ended. They rounded up all the media members. And we very quickly went from where we were sitting in section 101.

Starting point is 00:08:58 If you happened to be in the Allstate Arena, maybe we were sitting close to each other. It was in section 101 row D. If you happen to be there, you can be like, oh my gosh, we were one section away. But they took us all from there, immediately put us into the media room and we're just waiting for the press conference to start. And then someone in the room's like, no way. Oh, no way. Oh, he's here. And I'm like, what are they talking about?

Starting point is 00:09:21 Like, he's here. CM Punk is here. And they were like referencing this little monitor that was on the floor that was still playing a live feed of the show. And we all looked over and it was like, oh, my gosh, CM Punk's here. And like he's 200 or 300 feet from where we're sitting right now, but we're in this room that is removed from where the actual show is going on. So we can hear the buzz of the crowd a little bit, but miss the moment. Isn't that crazy? Miss the moment.

Starting point is 00:09:50 And this is by no fault of anybody's. The WWE people had, that took us into the room, had no idea that this was going to happen. So it's not like they were like, ah, we're going to put you, screw you over here and make you miss the CM Punk return. They thought the show was over. And we went into the press room and, well, history happened. and I watched it. I actually watched it on YouTube. I watched the clip on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:10:16 I didn't even, you know, I didn't see it live as it happened in person. I didn't see it live on Peacock. It was, look, but the moment itself was crazy. Like the amount of buzz that that created in the media room. And then as the show let out, we were hearing the fans walking through the concourse. We were just hearing like these very loud CM Punk,

Starting point is 00:10:36 CM Punk chance going through the hallways right before the press conference started, there was like this real, there was this real buzz in the city just as a whole. Like everywhere I went from chatting with wrestling fans at the airport to the hotel to just around town, everyone was like, do you think CM Punk's going to return? Like it was the talk of the town. And what was very interesting was before the show started in Chicago and then also during the show, there would be these random CM Punk chants that would break out. And they would immediately be met with booze, which I thought was so interesting. So very loud,

Starting point is 00:11:11 Sian punk, Siam boo! The two were like almost equal power of the Siam punk chants and the boo's like meeting each other together, which I thought was so, so interesting. And I'm sure you heard a lot of wrestlers

Starting point is 00:11:27 talking about it, but I've been in a lot of different arenas and I've been in a lot of different stadiums. I've been there for wrestling shows, sporting events, concerts, you name it. I've never been in a place with the acoustics like the Allstate Arena. Like there's something about the way that that building is constructed with a bit of a lower ceiling and a ceiling that's also made of wood, which the acoustics there keeps the sound in.

Starting point is 00:11:56 It was like thunderous in there. And I've been in places with a much bigger crowd. I mean, I was at WrestleMania 32 at WWE's record setting crowd. I've been in plenty of places with. huge crowd. I've never heard it be as loud as this before. So all of those factors put together made this a huge moment. But it's just, it's amazing. And so to answer the second part of the question here, Jay, do I think punk will finally main event a WrestleMania next year in Philly at WrestleMania 40? I mean, it feels like right now, yeah, I mean, if you were to book this right now,

Starting point is 00:12:35 as I sit here and record this at the end of November in 2023, it really feels like it's going to be Roman and Cody on night two, and night one's going to be CM Punk and Seth Rollins. Of course, anything can change. And I think the biggest question for me is going to be, how are they going to keep the CM Punk and Seth Rollins storyline going for the next five months leading into WrestleMania? Because he's going to have to have a match at some point in the next five months.

Starting point is 00:13:02 And it's going to have to be a match that's meaningful. It can't just be a match. for the sake of being a match. So as we sit here right now, I feel like that's what we're going to see. And those are two huge main events. And what's really interesting about seeing all the buzz online about those being the two main events is,

Starting point is 00:13:22 what was it, a month ago when it was like, well, is the Rock going to be at WrestleMania? Where's the Rock going to factor into this? Crazy now that no one's even talking about the Rock. Like, isn't that wild? Isn't it so funny? How quickly things can change in the landscape of pro wrestling? Wild.

Starting point is 00:13:40 Wild. This episode is brought to you by Ghostbed. And if you're looking for the key to top-notch performance, it all starts with a good night's sleep. And that is coming from me, someone who is not getting a lot of it with a newborn in the house. And if you're striving to reach your potential, it's time to pay attention to your sleep quality.

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Starting point is 00:15:14 would like to see CM Punk face in WWE aside from Cody, Raines, and Rollins? No, I cannot. And here's why I say that. I think that, look, I'm not a booker here. I'm not a wrestling expert at all, but my fan opinion says that I think that CM Punk wrestled too much in AEW. It got to the point where the matches that he was having in AEW weren't important or weren't significant because he was wrestling every single week in matches that didn't have any sort of buildup or any sort of storyline. So if CM Punk only faces Cody, Roman Raines and Seth Rollins in the next year with some great storytelling and some great buildup, I will not be upset at all. I don't want to, kind of jumping off the point I just made in the last question and answer there, I don't want to

Starting point is 00:16:04 see CM Punk wrestling for the sake of just seeing him wrestle. And, you know, with great love and great respect for what he did in AEW, there were a lot of matches there. And I'm not going to specifically name opponents, but there were a lot of matches there that did not need to happen. And they just happened for the sake of like, CM Punk is wrestling live on this show. I think that CM Punk would benefit most and WWE would benefit most. And then as a result, fans would benefit most from him working like that kind of like Brock Lesnar's schedule. Like he appears on shows frequently, but he's not wrestling all the time. And when he does wrestle, it's impactful and it's meaningful.

Starting point is 00:16:45 And you were invested into the story and into the match itself. That's what I hope for. Smarty Marky underscore 14 underscore. What did you think of Randy Orton's return at Survivor Series? Randy Orton looks gigantic. He looks like a million. bucks. He's in the best shape I think he's ever been in. Nah, you know what? He is in the best shape that he's ever been in. 43 years old and he is more jacked than ever. It's amazing what a little bit of

Starting point is 00:17:15 time off from the road and a little bit of rest and recovery can do for your body. He looks great. I will say, though, that I don't like the way that they basically announced on Raw the week before, or the Raw, right before SummerSlam that he was going to be at SummerSlam or Survivor Series. My mistake. I don't like that they basically, like, said he was going to be there. It's kind of like, it feels like when you're with your parents at the store and then they buy you the gift and then they wrap it up and tell you that you can't open it until it's under the Christmas tree.

Starting point is 00:17:52 Like, that's what that felt like. Cody Rhodes making that announcement on Raw of being like, so the first. the person that's going to be joining us at Survivor Series as the fifth man is a viper. And his name rhymes with Shmandy Shmorton. Like I didn't like that. I think it would have been better to have the big reveal happen at Survivor Series with just his music hitting. I don't know why it had to be like, yeah, Randy's going to be there. I liked the storyline better that they were teasing the whole episode on Rob.

Starting point is 00:18:28 like, I'm going to call my friend. My friend's going to be here. Well, who's their friend? I mean, is he friends with CM Punk? Is he friends with Randy Orton? Is he friends with somebody else who could be making their return or debut? I just wish that it had been a bit more of a surprise. The moment itself in Chicago,

Starting point is 00:18:47 Survivor Series was fantastic. But I just wish it would have been a bit more of a surprise. I don't know why that had to be done the way that it was done. I just, maybe it was. because there would have been a lot of CM Punk's, CM Punk chance up to that moment, but I just feel like it would have been better of like, these are the four people on the team?

Starting point is 00:19:09 Who's the fifth person going to be? Who's it going to be? Oh my gosh. And then it's Randy Orton. Other than that, though, Randy looks incredible. He looks like he's having a lot of fun too. So I can't wait to see where all of this goes. J.D. Martinez, who is at Rubbish Writer Zero Zero on Twitter, on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:19:32 If you called Maven right now, would he answer? I don't know. Let's find out. Let's give him a call. What a question, by the way. Let's see. I haven't talked to Maven in a little while here. So this will be completely random. Oh, my, let's see. Put it on speaker. Okay, let's see. If you called Maven right now, what do he answer? I'm guessing the answer. Oh, hey, what's up? Oh, there he is. What's going on, man? What's going on? Brother, you're calling to set up round three? I think we need to do round three, right? I am recording a podcast episode live right now. I do this episode called Ask CVV. So people send in questions. We talked obviously a lot about CM Punk and Randy Orton, but someone said, if you called Maven right now, would he answer? And I'm like, I don't, let's find out. And the answer is yes, Maven will answer. Of course. Any time. You can call me at any time. So you put, so what you're telling me is that you're calling me, put me on the spot. Yes. I'm forcing me to be,

Starting point is 00:20:50 it's you're forcing me to be on. Well, I mean, you could have, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could have been a thing. Wow. Wow. Can look at, look how great of a guy, Maven is. Wow. You are, you are. You are. You are. You are. You You're a true friend. I appreciate you. Yeah, no, I was, I was looking at what you put about, you know, punk and Orton's return. I'll tell you what, it's a good time to be a wrestling fan these days, isn't it? When's your return happening?

Starting point is 00:21:19 I mean, you've seen about as much as of a maven return as you're going to get. I think you need to, I think you need to be at the Royal Rumble. Those, you know what, that's the one shocking thing. I would have, you know, even if the WWE didn't ever want to bring you back full time, I can understand that. But I always thought, you know, they would at least bring me back for a Rumble or two.

Starting point is 00:21:43 I know. Never materialized. Well, look, with everything that you're doing on your YouTube channel, which is blowing up, every time I go on there, I'm like, oh, wow, just another million-view video for Maven. Incredible. With everything you're doing there, you're turning a lot of heads.

Starting point is 00:21:58 If you haven't already, you're going to get a phone call or a text, from somebody saying, hey, what's your schedule look like in the next few weeks? Gotta be honest, not holding my breath. Okay. Not holding my breath. Well, look, thank you for answering. Thank you for proving to everyone that you are awesome.

Starting point is 00:22:15 I will text you when we're done with this episode. But, dude, thank you for just being the man. Oh, bro. What have I said? Even more than just having a working relationship, I consider a sprint. So, my friends call, I answer. well the same likewise if you ever call me as long as i'm not sleeping i will answer the phone i hear you brother i'm about to check out this episode keep doing what you do um absolutely

Starting point is 00:22:45 look i consider myself friends with uh with jonathan coachman and i learned so much about him that i did not know in your in your interview with him it was so good he's the best he is and he not unlike you actually. He has this energy that is so infectious. It's impossible to be in a bad mood when you're talking to him. Yeah, I just,

Starting point is 00:23:09 he's just, how good is he on camera? Oh, man. And I think that people forget, like, yeah, he did everything that he did in WWE and in ESPN and you know what he's doing with the PGA tour. He also just called

Starting point is 00:23:21 the last Logan Paul fight. Like, just doing massive things. And I feel like people aren't even appreciating that. Well, he's just, he's a talent. He's so good. You, you put a camera and a microphone in front of him and it's like he's at home. It just comes out. He's just an interesting figure to listen to. I could listen to him read the dictionary. Look, this sounds like, that sounds like you're describing yourself. That's what that sounds like. Thank you for this impromptu interview that we've done here. I told you. I can't wait till we do, do part three. me too.

Starting point is 00:24:00 I can't wait until we do so many of those that you don't even have to ask me about my music or the Royal Rumble. I will. All right, my friend, keep up the great work. Likewise, brother. I will talk to you soon, my friend. Take care. All right, Sue. Wow.

Starting point is 00:24:18 So I didn't think he was going to, his third ring, right? I was like, oh, I guess he's not going to answer here. There you go, J.D. Martinez. If you call Maven right now, would he answer? the answer is yes and if for some reason you're not subscribed to maven on youtube he's the he is the best wrestling YouTuber out there right now and that is that is saying a lot i'm not even i might i think he's doing far better work than i am i mean it's incredible so that was great but i feel like we've now opened pandora's box of like every one of these episodes is going to be like if you called

Starting point is 00:24:53 john sina would he answer uh the answer to that the answer to that one one's, I think, going to be no. I don't think John Cena would answer my phone call. Top Rope Madness on Instagram says, I just started listening to the show at the start of the year, and now you're my favorite podcast. That's very kind. I listen to every episode. It feels like your show has become really massive over the last six months, and you are everywhere. What would you attribute this to? Well, I think I first attribute it to people like you that are listening to the show each and every week, no matter who the guest is, no matter what the stories are, whether it's a guest or it's an Ask CVV episode, it's people like you. And I think the other part, if we dig

Starting point is 00:25:36 just a little deeper, one layer deeper, I think I've been really intentional over the last six months, really, well, since WrestleMania, since WrestleMania in L.A., and I live about 45 minutes from where WrestleMania was at SoFi Stadium. I've been really intentional about the guests that I've had on the show. And I'm trying to have the biggest guests possible that give us the biggest bang for the hour that we spend with them. Not just in the stories they tell us about their time in wrestling, but also their life stories and things that we can learn from them that we can apply to our own lives. So if you've been listening to the podcast for a long time, you know that there was a point in time where I just wanted to pick the brains and talk to anybody who is successful,

Starting point is 00:26:22 anybody I was interested in. I was selfishly talking to actors and entrepreneurs and comedians and directors and, of course, wrestlers. And I just looked at the numbers. I looked at the metrics. We're now 539 episodes in here. And I noticed that there was a baseline for all episodes in terms of the amount of people that listen to the show. But that number was always higher when it was a wrestler. And it didn't matter if they were with, Impact AEW, New Japan, WWE, whatever. Wrestlers in general just always did better. And even when I had massive names, like household names like Dane Cook, or if you're in

Starting point is 00:27:04 the personal development space, huge people like Lewis Howes, who has one of the biggest podcasts in the world, or Ed Milet, who changes lives with the work that he does and also has one of the biggest podcasts in the world, those just didn't seem to resonate with my audience. So it was focusing on just wrestling and then focusing on the biggest names that I could get and do them in person. I think that that's actually been a really big thing too. Obviously, when the world was shut down and with the way that we were at in 2020 and into 2021, it was hard to do in-person interviews. And before the world shut down, I was doing all my interviews in person. So we had to pivot. I'd never done a virtual interview in my life.

Starting point is 00:27:49 life. I didn't even have Zoom downloaded on my computer in March of 2020. That was a pivot that I made. And then I also made a pivot back in 2021, 2022, and certainly now where I'm trying to do every single interview in person if that's possible. So I think that that's also been, you know, a real change there. There's just something about being able to talk to someone in person. Look at them in the eye, give them a handshake, give them a hug, feel their energy. It makes the conversation flow so much better because as good as technology is, there's still that slight little pause on Zoom or Streamyard or whatever you use to record. It just doesn't make the conversation flow as well. So I think it's a combination of a lot of those things. And thank you for noticing,

Starting point is 00:28:37 by the way. I really appreciate that. And this is that time of year when Spotify does Spotify wrapped and you see the top five artists you've listened to, top five songs. And you see the top five podcasts. And it's been so cool. I think it just started today. It's been so cool getting tagged in so many people's Instagram stories and tweets and on Facebook of people that are saying, I'm their number one podcast or I'm their top five. And then you look at the other four and you're like, oh my gosh, like to be even in the same sentence or in the same top five ranking as those other people, it's amazing. And I'm super, super grateful for that. And with all that said, The show is continuing to get bigger every week.

Starting point is 00:29:21 The numbers month over month are continuing to grow. April, when WrestleMania was here, I banked, I think it was 14 interviews. And then we put out some really big ones. We had a lot of like hour-long interviews where people came to the studio that we have in Hollywood. And we did some big ones. So then April became our biggest month of the podcast ever. And then May became the biggest month because it was bigger than April. And then June was bigger than May.

Starting point is 00:29:50 And then July was bigger than June and so on and so on. And the show has been growing month over month ever since then. So I think in short, for someone who might have a podcast, it's being intentional and being consistent. So you guys know that we will always have at least two episodes every week. There's always going to be an episode on Tuesday. There's always going to be an episode on Thursday. And then sometimes we throw a bonus one in like we did yesterday.

Starting point is 00:30:16 we re-aired that great conversation I had with Eugene. And sometimes we throw these Ask CVVs in on Friday, but it's being consistent and it's being intentional. It's a very long answer to that question. But I really wanted to get a lot of context there. Gimmicked underscore 088 on Instagram. What is the story behind the website rassland.com? You made a video talking about how it used to redirect to www.com,

Starting point is 00:30:44 but now it redirects to your podcast. What happened? So I made this video. I'm fascinated by domains, by the way. I'm just fascinated by what does this word.com lead to or this phrase.com lead to or is that phrase.com available. Can I buy that? I'm just fascinated by domains.

Starting point is 00:31:02 I always have been. I have been for like 20 years. So one day I found myself down a rabbit hole and I was looking at what does Rasselin with an R-A-S-S-L-I-N, Rasselan.com. What does that go to? It redirects to www.com. That's weird. Okay, what about rassling with a W?

Starting point is 00:31:21 W-R-A-S-S-L-I-N, Rasslund.com. That also redirects to www.com. So I made a video going, hey, did you know this? Have you ever seen this before? Did you know www.com owns those two words. That's so weird. And then about six hours later, I got a DM on Instagram from a guy name Anthony Jay at Hard to Be a Lizard on Instagram. And he sent me a message. He's like, I'm shook right now.

Starting point is 00:31:54 Like, I can't even believe that you're talking about this. I have the answer for you. I own both of those domain names. And then he tells me a story that back in the late 90s, early 2000s, he was one of the owners of Grassland.com, the one with the W. And it was one of the biggest UK-based wrestling news sites at the time that had this own, like, printed newsletter called the Rassland Post. So he tells me this whole story. And then when the site closed down, he kept the domain names and they needed to be redirected somewhere for whatever reason. So he just wasn't even thinking about it.

Starting point is 00:32:27 He just redirected them to www.com and hadn't thought about it since. And then I made this video, kind of bringing this back up and bringing this all to light. And he said, so, you know, there's the story. It was, it's privately owned. and it was meant to be a temporary measure, but I had forgotten about it. And he goes, but if you're interested, I would happily redirect them to your podcast if you want. And I was like, oh my gosh, I wrote them back. I said, I can't believe you saw this video. I can't believe I now have the answer to rasslin and rasslin.com. And if you're willing to redirect it to my podcast,

Starting point is 00:33:04 hell yeah. So when you're done with this, and by the way, when you're done following the show, because you know how much it helps the show, type in rasslin.com and see where it goes. It's mind-blowing to me. It is crazy that this is a real thing. So Anthony Jay, I appreciate you. Thank you for just being awesome. And thank you for reaching out and telling me that whole story.

Starting point is 00:33:29 That was so cool. So cool for me to hear. And also, side note, I am still on the hunt for cool and unique and interesting domain names. So if you happen to, own any cool or unique or interesting domain names, or if you have any in mind, shoot me a message. I tried to buy superkick.com the other day. I was just like, that'd be cool. I don't even know what I

Starting point is 00:33:51 would do with it. But it'd be really cool to own superkick.com, not available. It'd be really cool to own gimmick.com. Not available. And the person that has gimmick.com is like not doing anything with gimmick.com. By the way, superkick.com is available. If you go on GoDaddy, they want 15,000 $499. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think we'll be buying Superkick.com for 15 grand. GimX.com, that'd be so cool.

Starting point is 00:34:20 All the good ones are taken. All the good ones are taken. Charlie Van at Charlie Van Jr. on Twitter says, content creator question, especially with podcasting, I've been using the typical Blue Yeti. Is that still a good go-to? Or do you have a recommendation

Starting point is 00:34:37 to help elevate the sound of the show better? So he's talking about the blue Yeti microphone, which was kind of the standard for the beginner microphone five to ten-ish years ago. And I think the Blue Yeti is still a really solid microphone. And I will preface that by saying, any microphone is better than no microphone. So the Blue Yeti, solid. Great microphone. I think there's been some much better advancements in microphones, especially over the last handful of years, like COVID really spread that up, spread that, um, sped that up when kind of everybody was doing interviews and everybody all of a sudden had a podcast. I think that if you, if you have a little bit of money to spend, the sure MV7,

Starting point is 00:35:22 which plugs directly into your computer with a USB port, it's kind of the, so I have the sure SM7B. That is the gold standard of podcasting mics. I have spoken about it extensively. This is the mic. Like when you see a clip of any top podcaster, Joe Rogan, and now I'll list off a bunch of shows that you probably don't listen to, but Dak Shepard with Armchair Expert or Lewis Howes or Ed Milet, all of them. They are all using the Sure SM7B. It's the podcast mic. It's $399, but you can buy it used on eBay for maybe $250 or so.

Starting point is 00:35:59 And actually, I bought both of my mics used. I have two of them. Two Shura SM7B. So I bought them used. But that's the gold standard. If you want something that just plugs directly in your computer, I would recommend the sure MV7. I also had the Road podcaster, the Road Pod mic, which I would recommend in that one.

Starting point is 00:36:19 I'm just looking it up right now. That's a really good entry level mic. It's only $100. So I would say that that's probably replaced the Blue Yeti. And it's a better looking mic just aesthetically. I think that the Blue Yeti was a popular mic when people were just recording the podcast. and they weren't visual. Because the Blue Yeti's a big mic.

Starting point is 00:36:42 It's a big, big ball, right? I think that the road pod mic has kind of replaced that as the entry level, less than $100 mic that sounds great. And if you are recording an audio or a video version of the podcast, it looks great too. But again, any mic is better than no mic. at Fugo, P-U-G-G-O-24-254.

Starting point is 00:37:13 If you had one takeaway from 2023, what would it be? I love the podcast. I don't know if you're asking what my one takeaway just about, you know, like the world of wrestling is or just 20-23 as a whole. I'm going to give you my biggest takeaway personally for 20203. It was a big year. You know, I got married about a year ago. We're celebrating our one-year anniversary on December 17.

Starting point is 00:37:36 that's so, so grateful for my wife, Rachel. She's the best partner. And she's rather attractive, too. On the inside as well. Like, she's just the best. She's the total package. Love her so much. But it's been an incredible year.

Starting point is 00:37:52 And you know that I became a father six months ago. Actually, as I record this right now, our daughter, Logan, is six months old today. May 29th, 2023 is her birthday. My biggest takeaway. is in becoming a father, I view things so differently now. I feel like there's just a different impact that certain moments have in my life, certain things have in my life. And I see the world so often now through her very brand new set of eyes. And she's seeing everything and experiencing everything for the first time ever. And that has made me pause and appreciate

Starting point is 00:38:35 that when things are happening in the world, I need to look at them with that same sense of wonder. I think that's so often we get caught up in, you know, time just goes by so fast and we don't stop to like appreciate things as they're happening. And I've been really conscious over the last six months of when I'm in the middle of something that's amazing, I lock down that memory. And I remember the sight and the smell and the taste, if you will, and the feel of that moment.

Starting point is 00:39:10 And then I can go back into my memory bank later and like have that moment again. I think that that's something I didn't do before. And it's so cliche and everyone says it to you when you have a kid of like, oh, it goes by so fast. You better appreciate it while it's here. They'll never be six months old again. And it's so true. And as cliche as that is, and I've literally heard it from anybody who has kids at any age.

Starting point is 00:39:35 it's so true. And you never get those moments ever again. And it's made me appreciate them that much more. So I'm really fortunate that I get to spend a lot of time at home when I'm not traveling on the road. Like I work from my office in our house. And it's cool to be able to even if it's just for a few minutes after a call or after recording an interview or whatever it happens to be recording a video, I could just pop out and refill my water bottle. And, kiss my daughter and kiss my wife and like appreciate those moments. I'm so grateful to have those. And I think that's another thing. Just like I've doubled down on gratitude. That'll always be a leading factor in my life. And I think that that's been a real focus for me. It's just like continuing to just appreciate what I have. I put this quote out. It was at the end of one of my episodes recently, but I'll say it again here if you didn't hear it. No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future, but any amount of gratitude changes the present. Boom. Lindsay Jay on Instagram, you're such a positive person. Is there anything that

Starting point is 00:40:49 annoys you or bothers you? Do you have a pet peeve? Yes, of course, we all do. But my biggest pet peeve is when you're in a, so my biggest pet peeve is a lack of spatial awareness. So if you're in somewhere that's very busy, like an airport or a theme park or a mall, and everybody's kind of going with the flow of traffic, like walking, and then someone just like stops dead in their tracks to grab their bag or look around or whatever. And then like the next person behind them has to like screech on their, you know, breaks, not actual breaks, but like just has to like come to a screeching halt to like not crash into that person as they have.

Starting point is 00:41:35 stopped in the middle of this busy flow of people and not been aware of the fact that there's other people around them. That happens every time I'm in the airport. It's just like so annoying. Like, just step off to the side a few feet. And I know that there's a lot going on. I know that you're looking for your gate or you need to find a restroom or you're looking at the board to see if your flight is delayed. I understand that. But just add one tiny little layer of awareness on top of that to realize that you're not the only person that exists here. You're like just step off to the side and then collect your thoughts or do whatever you need to do. And the amount of times that I've either have crashed into people, have watched people get crashed into, it just, it's just such a simple thing.

Starting point is 00:42:24 And I know that this is so silly and so stupid, but that is something that has definitely been an annoyance. And then I'll give you one more in, I guess more of a business thing. I have a bunch of people that work with me. Some of them on like a full-time basis. Some of them on a part-time basis. Some of them just doing stuff here and there. And I'm so grateful to be able to work with people and be able to me, be a full-time creator myself.

Starting point is 00:42:52 A little plug there for full-time creator.co. If you're a creator and you want to take things to the next level, join our full-time creator mastermind at full-time creator.co. But one of the coolest things about being a full-time creator is being able to support the fellow full-time creators who are audio engineers or editors or graphic designers. And like by me living my dream and doing this, they get to live their dream as well. And that is one of the coolest things. The frustration that comes out of that is I don't ever really set hard deadlines other than like the episodes on Tuesday and Thursday need to come out when they come out. and that's that. What's been frustrating with some people, and I don't mean people that currently

Starting point is 00:43:35 work with me, but people I've worked with in the past is, hey, when will that video be edited? Or when do you think that graphic will be done? And someone will say, yeah, I'll have that up in the next hour. So there was no deadline on this. I've basically said, when will it be done? And now that person has said it will be done within the next hour. So they have self-imposed a deadline now of one hour. So if it's 1130, I'm going, okay, great. By 1230, this thing will be done. And then 1230 rolls around and it's not done. And I think the frustration comes from if you didn't think it would be done in an hour, why did you self-impose the deadline of one hour on yourself? So just like I think it's being more realistic with with your deadlines.

Starting point is 00:44:30 So if you think that amount of work is actually going to take an hour and a half, don't tell me it's going to be done in an hour. If it's going to be done in an hour and a half, I don't actually care when it's going to be done. But if you now tell me it will be done by the end of the day, oh, that's always my favorite one. My favorite is that'll be done by the end of the day. And I don't know if that means five o'clock in the East Coast.

Starting point is 00:44:51 I don't know if that means five o'clock on the West Coast. I don't know if that means midnight on the East Coast. I don't know if that means midnight on the West Coast. So I basically just go, all right, end of day, great. By the time I wake up tomorrow, it will be done. And it shocks me how often the, quote, end of the day deadline that it's, again, self-imposed by whoever this is, isn't actually met. So all of that is, you know, I love the book, The Four Agreements.

Starting point is 00:45:21 It's a book that I think there's. They're so simple. There's four simple agreements in there. One of them is be impeccable with your word. Be impeccable with your word. And that's one that I'm always just so blown away by that if you're going to say something, mean it. All we have is our word. And the other four agreements, if you're interested and check out that book, the four agreements, don't make assumptions. Always do your best. Don't take anything personally and be impeccable with your word. Four super simple agreements that are so hard to keep with yourself. All right, we got a few more here.

Starting point is 00:45:57 Thank you for all these questions, by the way. You guys are awesome and appreciate it. It's always so good to be able to hang out with you guys one-on-one like this and to be able to just chat about wrestling, about being a full-time creator and all that stuff. As someone who was looking to start a podcast, what did you find was the most daunting thing to start? This is from at UTDGeorge Zero-0 on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:46:21 the hardest part about starting a podcast is the starting. I think that people look at it like everything needs to be perfect. I need to have everything lined up and ready to go. You don't. You just need to start. And you know, I like quotes. And there's a quote that is so fitting for this. You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. And I think that people overthink the idea of the podcast of like, all right, I need to have the website ready to go, and I need to have the best microphone, and I need to have great podcast art. No, you don't. You need to start. And you need to realize that you're not going to have a ton of people listening to episode number one. And you're going to have slightly more people listening to episode two, but still not a lot.

Starting point is 00:47:08 And then by the time you get to episode 10, you're still not going to have a lot of people listening, but it'll be more than you had on episode nine. And the idea is you need to just keep building. Like you got to think about it like a brick wall. Like is a, does a brick wall look like a brick wall when only five bricks are laid down? No. You got to keep building on top of that brick by brick by brick. And I don't know the exact stat. I should probably look it up if I'm going to be listing this off.

Starting point is 00:47:37 But there's some wild amount of podcasts. Let's see. I think it's 80% I think of podcasts stop after. seven episodes. Let me see. Podcasts stop after seven episodes. Let's see. We got all the world's information right here. 90% of podcast don't publish more than three episodes. So I think that that's a really big thing. So here, I'll read this whole thing off because it's so fascinating to me. And for anybody who's ever got into podcasting and stopped, I'm sure you can relate to this, for anybody who's interested in getting into podcasting, this will be very beneficial for you.

Starting point is 00:48:29 So 90% of podcasts don't get past episode three. So that's 1.8 million who quit because there's 2 million podcasts. Of the 200,000 that are left, 90% of those will quit after 20 episodes. So there's another 180,000 that are gone. So to be in the top 1% of podcasts in the world, you only need to publish 21 episodes of your podcast. So your competition is not the 2 million podcasts that exist. It's the 20,000 podcasters who didn't quit. So that kind of puts things into perspective. And I'm sure that you can think of some podcasts that, I'm sure you have a friend that started a podcast and it lasted two episodes or maybe you started a podcast and a last two episodes or maybe you started a podcast and it only lasted six episodes. And there's so many factors that go into this,

Starting point is 00:49:18 right? Like life happens. I get that. But the most important thing with podcasting is starting. And the second most important thing with podcasting is to continue going. And be intentional about it. If you're going to put out a podcast every Monday, you put out a podcast every Monday. Be consistent with it. No matter what's going on in the world, no matter what's going on with your job or your life, no matter where you are, you make a commitment to it like you would make a commitment to your job. And the more consistent that you are, the more that you show up, the more your audience will also start to show up. Okay, this leads us to our last question here from Cisco C87 for the quotes at the end of the podcast. Is there a rhyme or reason to which one you use?

Starting point is 00:50:08 I love that because I've already given you two quotes within this podcast. I just love quotes in general. I love how they, like, sum up really big thoughts in just a handful of words. So sometimes the quotes are related to what we're talking about. Like the episode with Eugene, by the way, he was talking about committing to the character and, like, how far the commitment got him. So then I had a quote about commitment because it kind of tied into everything he was talking about there.

Starting point is 00:50:35 The quote is, no, this is not it. The quote is, let me pull it up, without commitment, you cannot have depth in anything. whether it is a relationship, a business, or a hobby. That's from Neil Strauss. So the quotes are sometimes tied into the conversation and sometimes just for me kind of like a personal reminder, almost like a diary entry of like, oh, that's a thing in my life that I need to work on, or that's a reminder of my life that I need to have. Or sometimes it's just like, oh, that's such, that spoke to me in such a deep way that I want to share that out with other people. So there's sometimes a rhyme. There's sometimes a reason.

Starting point is 00:51:13 but all of them are something that's deeply profound to me. So there we go. That was a great Ask CVV episode. I think we're going to do these more often. I think we're going to do them like every two-ish, three-ish weeks. And don't be hitting me with questions like, hey, if you called the Rock right now, would he answer? Because the answer is probably, I don't think, no, the Rock.

Starting point is 00:51:38 I don't have his number, by the way. So then there's no possible way that the Rock could answer. but can you believe Maven? Oh man. Maven making a surprise appearance on the show. What a guy. What an episode here. I would love to hear your thoughts on CM Punk,

Starting point is 00:51:55 on Randy Orton, on everything leading up to the Royal Rumble and then WrestleMania. Let's leave you with this quote from Andy Andrews. Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest, well, that's a choice. choice. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight with a

Starting point is 00:52:21 very special guest who is the best in the world at what he does. See how I put that pause in there so you're like, oh, is it? Now, oh, I see what you did there. See on the next one. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #14 - Reacting To CM Punk's WWE Return, Randy Orton Is Back, I Randomly Call Maven To See If He Will Answer

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