Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #140 - Best King Of The Ring Winners, Dream Matches That Never Happened, John Cena Hall Of Fame Induction

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Welcome to AskCVV #140! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet discusses the chances of Oba Femi winning the King Of The Ring Tournament and whether it will be IYO SKY, Charlotte Flair or Liv Morgan who will become Queen of the Ring. CVV also answers questions about the greatest dream matches that never happened, who the best King Of The Ring winners were of all time, favorite interviews, Danhausen's rise to fame, Mount Rushmore of movies and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.” - Rocky Balboa Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Chris. How are you, my friend? Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thanks for hanging out with me on your Friday. And thank you for making Insight,

the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a 450 splash on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening right now, because I would hate for you to miss the two big, interviews that we have next week. The wise man, Paul Heyman on Tuesday and Biggie on Thursday. Both of them are such great conversations. The one with Paul Heyman is the longest episode ever on the show.

It's like two hours and 10 minutes, two hours and 15 minutes, somewhere around there. I don't have to tell you this, but he was dropping so much knowledge in this. And there's so many stories he tells in this that he's never told. anywhere else. He doesn't really do a lot of podcasts. Pretty rare for him to do podcasts. I think the last one he did was Logan Paul, but I can't think of any other wrestling podcast he's done outside of that.

So such a great one. That's Tuesday. On Thursday, Biggie, I don't know if you've heard the news yet. Biggie just announced he has a new book. It's available for pre-order now. It's called How to Get Over. I had the chance to read it before our interview. and wow, so good. It's a very, very personal book, dives into a lot of personal issues that he's

never shared before and just such a great read, such an inspiring read to know that the title of the book isn't just how I got over in a wrestling sense. It's not like the term of like getting over. It's also how he got over depression and a very tough childhood, how he got over a career ending injury. All of it. A fantastic book. You can pre-order it now on Amazon or you can go to how I got over.com to pre-order it as well. Fantastic. Happy Father's Day this Sunday to all my dad's out there. My daughter Logan had a thing at her preschool yesterday called Donuts with Dad, which was the sweetest event, the sweetest thing. I'll never forget it. It was hanging out, eating donuts with all the other kids and all the other dads, they just did muffins, muffins with mom for Mother's Day.

And then Logan goes, I got a surprise for you, Daddy. And then she takes me over to her classroom and she gives me this. It's a tie that she like painted herself to the best dad ever. And then there's one of these things where the kids fill it out, like the teachers are asking them questions about their dad. My dad's name is daddy. I love this. My dad's job is playing with toys.

They're kind of accurate. I do play with toys sometimes. My dad always says he wants to play with me. My dad is really good at putting stuff in my car. I do put a lot of stuff in the car. My favorite thing to do with my dad, playing hide and seek in the living room. She's very good.

I find in great hiding spots. But happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. this Monday, I'm going to be in London at the O2 Arena for Raw. I can't wait to be back in London. I can't wait to be at the O2 Arena. I've never been to the O2 Arena. I've heard so many amazing things about it. So if you're going to Raw on Monday, if you live in and around London,

if you live in England, I would love to see you say what's up, chat a little wrestling with you, but I'll keep an eye out for you on Monday. at raw. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number one, 4D through the table edition. And Ask CVV number one, WrestleMania, night 40, night two edition. Just the best WrestleMania in recent memory for sure. or not the best WrestleMania of all time. I still think that's WrestleMania 17, but WrestleMania 40, night two,

my goodness. So good. If you've got a question for next week, ask CVV number 141. If you've got an idea for AskCV number 141, send it in. If you're listening on Spotify, just leave a comment on there.

Send it in on social media using the hashtag AskCV or the way that we get most of the questions these days. Go to Chrisfan.com. on the contact button, and you can fill out that form to send in your question for AskCVV number 141. If you were watching Backlash, you might have seen a face that you recognize sitting behind Michael Cole and Wade Barrett. Not only did I have those awesome seats, I also got an impromptu interview with The Miz and Kit Wilson. Check it out on my Instagram. Shout out to Seat Geek for the great tickets and shout out to Seat Geek for sponsoring this episode. With over 35 million downloads,

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We'll kick it off with this one from Steve Marks, who sent this in on ChrisFamily.com. Hey, Chris, I have a question for Ask CVV number 140, the WrestleMania XL edition. Look, we're on the same page with WrestleMania 40. many XL. With Jay Uso being in the semifinals of the King of the Ring versus Javon Evans, if he wins and goes on to wing King of the Ring, I've spotted a major continuity error. Because the winner of King of the Ring goes on to challenge their brands champion.

Doesn't this mean Jay should challenge Roman and not Cody, even though the tribal chief told him to go after Cody? I would love to hear your thoughts on this piece in love as always, Steve from the UK. Well, Steve, I may see you. in the UK on Monday. I love that you pointed this out. And I have also been thinking about this all week. I'm trying to make some sense out of this. I actually posted a graphic on Facebook and Instagram

earlier in the week that pointed out that only one of the eight king and queen of the ring semi-finalists from Smackdown. The other seven from Raw. Check it out. E.O. Sky. Ra. Dominic Mysterio. Ra. Obofemi.

Raw. Lev Morgan. Raw. Ra. Ra. Ra. J.O. Ragell Ra, J. Uso. Ra. Charlotte Flair. Smackdown. Seems to be very, very raw, heavy here. I don't know if they've ever specifically said you have to challenge your bra. You're right. I feel like I think you're right. You're supposed to challenge your brands champion. It kind of feels to me that this isn't a continuity error. This is more like typically. their cap. Because I don't think it's Jay Uso who goes on to the King of the Ring Finals. I just don't see it happening. I think the much more interesting match is Obafemi versus

Javan Evans. We've seen the magic they made together in NXT. Oh my goodness. I think that might actually be Obafemi's best match. If you go back to NXT and watch the work they did together, it would be incredible to see them have another match on the the main roster. That's what I would love to see. Also, it's the idea of like, this is a new generation coming in. If you get Obafemi and Javon Evans in there, two guys whose age begins with a two, I think it really speaks to like where we're headed with WWE and that like, look, we're building new stars. One of these two guys is going to win King of the Ring and look, let's be honest here. I wouldn't care which one of them it is because I think it'd be exciting

to see where they go on from there and what they can do. If that happens to be the case, if we're getting Obafemi versus Javon Evans, seems to me like Obafemi would be the winner. This is a prediction I had weeks ago when the rematch happened with Brock Lesnar. I'm like, well, if they're going to do two, they're probably going to end up doing three. I keep saying, Brock Lesnar, home state, Minnesota, we're getting. a match at SummerSlam. And if we're getting a Brock Lezor match at SummerSlam, it has to be a match with Obafemi. Like no other match really makes sense to come together in what would it be, the next

six, seven weeks before August, 1st, August 2nd, SummerSlam. Does this mean Obafemi works two matches? We talked about that quite a bit last week, but I just don't see any other situation as it stands right now. I know we've got a week until the finals. of King and Queen of the Ring and Knight of Champions, but I just don't see any other situation other than Obafemi becoming King Oba. But remember when people were upset that like, oh, Randy Orton's not in the King of the Ring tournament,

CM Punk's not in the King of the Ring tournament, enter the name of whoever isn't in the King of the Ring tournament. I'm glad they weren't. Because if they were, they'd be suffering the same fate as people like Royce Keys, Finn Baller. LA Knight. Brom Breaker, Trick Williams. I'm not going to name everybody who got eliminated,

but you're in the tournament just for the sake of being in the tournament, and that doesn't make a lot of sense. Look how pissed off people were that Finn Ballard didn't advance. I'm one of them. I thought for sure Finn Baller was going to advance. I think I originally said to the finals. Made a lot of sense in my mind for Finn Ballard to advance to the finals. Also, we got surprised last week.

People were like, oh, Obafemi versus Dominic Mysterio. Brock Lezzer is going to show up. Brock Lezzer's going to ruin the semifinals for Obafemi. It's going to set up their match at SummerSlam. That didn't happen. Does Brock Lezzer come out and ruin the finals? For Obafemi? Could make sense.

But then if that's what happens, if he somehow does this behind the referee's back or distracts Obafemi and picks up a win for, I would think, Javon Evans, or if it happens to be. Jay Uso who advances the finals. What kind of win is that for what would be end up being a baby face, right? If it's Jvonne Evans or Jay Uso, you win King of the Ring because of a distraction or because of an interference, it's not a very strong victory there. So I can't see that happening.

I think it's a decisive win for Obafemi. Down on the women's side, you got Eoskeye who's going to be facing the winner of either Liv Morgan or Charlotte Flair. This doesn't make a lot of sense logistically because if Ioski won this tournament, she'd be facing Liv Morgan at SummerSlam, which would make me think it's got to be Charlotte Flair that advances to the finals. And then I think we get Charlotte Flair, Ria Ripley, for the rematch at SummerSlam. I know that Liv Morgan said she was in the knight of chance or in the queen of the ring tournament

because she wanted it all. She wasn't happy with just the World Heavyweight Championship. She wanted to also win the women's championship as well. I get that that's a nice little footnote on like just an explanation as to why she's in the tournament, but it doesn't make a lot of logical sense why she's in the tournament. It would make even less sense if she won this tournament. I don't see that happening at all. I think we're getting Charlotte Flair versus E.O. Sky at Night of Champions.

unless something changes between now and next weekend, I think it's going to be Charlotte Flair, winning this, although my original pick was E.O. Sky. And I think what's throwing me off here is that I'm looking at the bracket right now, as we're talking. And I'm seeing E.O. Sky and I'm seeing her face just a few inches away from the face of Liv Morgan here.

And I'm like, what would be the point of E.O. Sky, winning the queen of the ring tournament to then face the champion who got beat in the queen of the ring tournament. Like it just doesn't really add up here. Unless there is another situation here, unless they're building this out to mean something more here, I don't know. But I think Steve, you're right in this idea of like, if Jay Uso wins, he's going to take out Cody on behalf of Roman Reigns.

There's still a lot of bad blood there. We're clearly getting teased a lot with Cody and Roman. Cody Roman number three, which could happen. Could happen later this year. Crown Jewel. I don't think will happen later this year at Crown Jewel. Could happen next year at WrestleMania. But I think that's dependent on whether the Rock wrestles at

WrestleMania and Saudi or not. But strange that you could win the king of the ring tournament and then you could try to fight somebody who doesn't even work on your show for their championship. Another reason why I think the brand split is good. The draft makes zero sense. F. Hillard 96 on Instagram says, Hey, CvV, what is your Mount Rushmore

of King of the Ring winners. Thanks for all the great work you do. You're a stud. You're a stud. Thank you. If we're talking about the greatest King of the Ring winners, we have to talk about King Booker. Because not only did he take King of the Ring

and went on from there and became the World Heavyweight Champion, but he made it one of the most, probably the most interesting character that ever played. Booker T. was absolutely hilarious. hilarious in his role as King Booker. I've said it many times before. I will continue to say it. Booker T is somebody in wrestling who can do it all.

He can work as a baby face. He can work as a heel. He can work as a singles wrestler. He can work as a tag wrestler. He can work as a serious wrestler. He can work as a comedy wrestler. He can work as a manager and also a commentator. Booker T.

Just fantastic. phenomenal. I think that we saw his best work as King Booker. Brett Hart. Brett Hart won in back-to-back King of the Rings. He won in 91, and he won in 93, and he's probably one of the guys who did the most with it. Like what Brett Hart did with this and making the Intercontinental Championship feel like really important and makes him look like really strong at that point in time. Also the fact that he was, won twice. You got to talk about Brett Hart. How can you talk about the King of the Ring without talking about the King of the Ring tournament in 1996 in the birth of Austin 316, which

absolutely skyrocketed Stone Cold Steve Austin into the success that he had and skyrocketed that character. If not for King of the Ring, if not for the Austin 316 tournament, who knows where things go with Stone Cold. I'm sure he would find his footing. I'm sure he would become the absolute massive star that he was. But the King of the Ring tournament is like that line in the sand moment, that moment that like for Stone Cold Steve Austin, there's before King of the Ring, 1996, and there's after King of the Ring, 1996.

And there are two completely different versions of him in terms of the success that he was having. He was catching on leading up to the King of the Ring tournament 96, but afterwards, man, it's completely different for him. there's a lot of other people I could put in this fourth spot here, but I'm going to go with Kurt Angle because it capped off an absolute insane rookie year that he had. And when he won the King of the Ring tournament,

it, I think officially signaled his breakthrough into the main event. And then he ends up feuding with top names like The Undertaker, Stone Cold, and Triple H, and then eventually wins the WWE Championship when he beat the Rock at that year's no mercy. So I'm going to go with Kurt Angle because it just,

what a year, what a rookie year he had. And I know you can also make a similar argument for Brock Lesnar, winning in his rookie year, and also becoming the WWE champion when he also beat the Rock. Man, there's a lot of similarities with that.

But Kurt Angle, man, like, that just what a year he had. And also like really, to see how King of the Ring was able to be a stepping stone for a lot of people, especially in the 90s into the 2000s, when you win King of the Ring and then it goes on to like basically say to everybody in the audience, this person's not a mid-carder anymore. This person's a main vendor. And it would have been really interesting back then if they had the same stipulation that they have now where you win King of the Ring and you get a title shot against the champion.

from your brand at SummerSlam. I think it might have changed things up quite a bit. Because this means that like the King of the Ring tournament essentially serves as the Royal Rumble for SummerSlam. Like you win the Royal Rumble, you get that title shot at WrestleMania. You win King of the Ring now and you get that title shot at SummerSlam. You think about, because I'm looking through the list here, how many people win King of the Ring and then within a year or two

become the WWE champion in the 90s. It happened with Triple H. It was like a huge moment for Edge when he won King of the Ring 2001. We already talked about Kurt Engel doing this. Brock Lezner doing this. It used to be a thing where you won this and boom, right into the main event. And then we had like this, especially in like the mid-2000s, you've got like, or even like earlier than that, you got William Regal becomes King of the Ring.

very entertaining, but it doesn't turn into a championship for him. You got Bad News Barrett. Same thing. Baron Corbyn, Xavier Woods. It became like a kind of a mid-card thing that, like, helped you to build a heel gimmick. When you look at especially with what Xavier Woods did with it, what Baron Corbyn did with it, what Bad News Barrett did with those, that's three King of the Ring winners in a row,

where they make it, it's King Barrett. It's King Corbyn. It's, it became like a. a mid-card thing rather than like what it used to be in the 90s where it's like it catapults you into the main event. You win King of the Ring. It was almost like that version of winning money in the bank. You weren't cashing in for a title shop, but like it was something that definitely said to the audience, this person is someone you need to keep an eye on because if things go right for them, if a few things fall into place, boom, this is your next champion. And that wasn't

the case for a while. It's obviously shifted now that the King of the Ring winner becomes someone who goes on to have a title shot at SummerSlam. We had King Gunther, who never put the crown on. You notice that? He just kind of held it there, maybe because they didn't want a photo of Gunther wearing the crown. Maybe they thought it would like take away from the aura that he has, the mystique that he has, if he's wearing this Burger King crown. And then you had Cody Rhodes who won it.

Again, goes on to have the championship match with John Cena. at SummerSlam, but it's an interesting observation to see what King of the Ring was, what King of the Ring is now, and then also what King of the Ring was 10-ish years ago, because there are three kind of very different signals to the audience. Garino underscore 26 on Instagram says, if you could only pick one dream match, only one out of these choices. You pick one and all of the others are forever banished. What's your choice?

All of these in their prime, by the way, you've given me nine choices here. I can only pick one of these. Okay. Batista versus Brock Lesner. Undertaker versus Sting. Goldberg versus Stone Cold. Brett Hart versus Kurt Angle. C.M. Punk versus Stone Cold.

A.J. Stiles versus Sean Michaels. Big show. versus Andre, Sina versus the immortal Hulk Hogan, brother. Stone Cold versus Hulk Hogan or possibly Hollywood, Hulk Hogan. Only pick one. What do you choose? Those are, I would say, the nine dream matches that everybody hoped we could get one day that just for one reason or another never ended up coming together.

And it's funny because you look at some of these and you're like, really? We never got Batista versus Brock Lezor? No. Never happened. We never got AJ Stiles versus Sean Michaels? No. Man, how good would that have been? Oh my gosh, how good would that have been?

So it's interesting to approach this, right? Because if you're talking about like just wanting to see an incredible wrestling match, that's one answer. If it's about seeing the iconic dream match that never happened because it's this massive star versus that massive star, I think it might be a different answer. I think the dream match of all. all dream matches that never happened, and it felt like it could happen because they were both in the same company at the same time.

But the match we never got is Undertaker versus Sting. I think that's the match you have to make here. That's the big money match. The match that I personally would want to see because it would just be an absolute clinic. And it's a match that apparently we were close to getting at WrestleMania 20, Brett Hart versus Kurt Engel. you'd be getting Kurt Angle basically in his prime. You'd be getting Brett Hart probably a few years too late. And Kurt Engle told me in an interview we did seven years ago.

He said they talked about it. It was pitched. Kurt Engel was on board and wanted this to happen. And Brett Hart basically said, I'm not who I was. I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not going to be able to give you the Brett Hart that you should have. It's not going to be the match that we would want to have. so not happening. But that for me,

when you're talking about just pure technical wrestlers, oh, man, Bradharrard versus Kernangle would have been just amazing to see. It's a match that really should have happened at WrestleMania 31. Both guys are in the company. Both guys are on the WrestleMania 31 card. Instead, we get Sting versus Triple H

and we get a great match here, the Undertaker, versus Bray Wyatt, love that match. Like, definitely a match that, like, makes people realize how damn good Bray Wyatt is. But you had it right there. And Undertaker's talked about this before, but Vince just said no. Vince didn't want this match to happen. Maybe Vince thought it could happen the next year at WrestleMania 32 in Dallas,

but that just didn't line up with the very short WWE career that Sting has. I don't know how much this gets talked about, but Sting had four matches in WWE. That's it. Rethled his first match at WrestleMania 31. So, man, as I'm saying that, so Sting's debut WWE match could have been against the Undertaker. Man.

So he debuts at WrestleMania 31, March 29th, 2015, 2015. He wrestles his last match at Night of Champions that year, September 20th, 2015. That's it. Not even six months, five and a half months of Sting in WWE, four matches. Yeah, I'm going with Undertaker versus Sting.

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Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. Square up. You know, what's going on, man? It's Andreberto. Two-time world champion. You know, I fought. I loved it. I really wanted to do that sit down from a fighter's perspective. My gee. What's going on? Caleb Klutz. What's going on? 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. Lord Drackenfell on Spotify says, regarding your baseball analogy about the WWE draft, it doesn't make sense to be playing for the Blue Jays and then go to bat for the Mets. To that, I say, Danny Jensen, started a game with the Blue Jays, got traded to the Red Sox, completed the game as a Red Sox player.

You're absolutely right. This did happen. But within that scenario, everybody was informed that there was a trade. What I'm saying in WWE is when someone is supposed to be part of the raw roster and they just randomly show up on Smackdown with no explanation, they weren't traded there. They're just showing up because it's better for the show. And then they go back to Raw. So this is not a good example.

Because in this case, they go, oh, actually, a trade has just happened. He's going to go to the other dugout, put on the other uniform and play for the other team because the other team traded for him. In WWE, the thing that always annoyed me, look, I love the brand split. I just hate the draft. It doesn't make any sense. The thing I've always hated is the draft happens. and then three weeks later, they'll be like,

what's that person doing here? They're supposed to be on SmackDown. We get that they all work for the same company. So the idea of what I was saying, if we're to treat the draft like a sporting event, which is the idea behind a draft, is if these people are going to be on Raw and these people are going to be on SmackDown,

there just needs to be some sort of exchange if that person's going to go to another show. So your Danny Jensen example is a wonderful bit of sports trivia but doesn't apply to this example at all. The only way it would apply is if they were to go, what's Dominic Mysterio doing here on SmackDown? Well, he's here on Smackdown because he got traded for Finn Baller.

Or what's Ilya Draganov doing on Raw? Well, just so everybody knows, Eliy Draganoff is now on Raw because he got traded for Bronson Reed. So that's what I'm saying. You can't just have someone be like, what's the Second City Saint doing here in Chicago on SmackDown? Well, you know exactly what he's doing here in Chicago. He's popping the numbers. He's getting the crowd excited, even though he's supposed to be on Raw.

He's on Smackdown this week. for just the sake of the show. That's what I'm saying. If we are to have a true draft, and I'm so glad we didn't have a draft in 2025, if we're to have a true draft, we've got to stick to some rules here. That's all I'm saying.

Deadpool X4C on Instagram says, when will John Sina get inducted into the Hall of Fame and who is the best tribal chief? I think we know who the best tribal chief is. It's the tribal chief, Roman Reigns. I mean, come on. Solo Sacoa very entertaining, but it's only one tribal chief. When will John Cena get inducted into the Hall of Fame?

I still think it's going to be WrestleMania next year. And I think they're going to do whatever they can for WrestleMania and Saudi to be the biggest event with all of the biggest names there. We already know John Cena is not wrestling again. So we can stop talking about that. We can please hopefully stop asking him about that in interviews. I saw two quotes this week, people asking what it would take for John Cena to come out of retirement or will John Cena come out of retirement? Let's give it a rest. John Cena's retired. He's not coming back. It's not going to have another match. But I think that John Sino will be part of WrestleMania 43. I think he headlines the class of the Hall of Fame of 2007. That would be.

And I think that he's probably the first one announced for that Hall of Fame class as well. And then I think that you could have the Rock going in in 2028. Like there's a chance, as we sit here right now, in June of 2026, there's a chance that we could still get Rock versus Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 43. If that's the case, I think it's the Rock's last match. And then I think he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame of the year after. But I will not be surprised when the announcement comes either later this year or early next year that it's John Sina as the first. inductee into the class, a Hall of Fame class of

27. Whitaker 1028 on Spotify says, Hey Chris, imagine Dr. Emmett Brown came and picked you up in the DeLorean and he hit the speed of 88 miles an hour to take you back to any wrestling event.

Where would you go? Because of a moment that happened, whether it was a match or a debut or a return, or just because of a massive pop that happened. Thank you, and I hope that you and your family are good. And remember, when life gets you down, always kickout at two. That's a great catchphrase. Mike Whitaker from the kickout crew. I've answered this question before of like what moment would I want to go back to? And I'm going to answer this one different. If I could go back to an event and see an amazing

event from start to finish, that's what I'm going to talk about here. The moment I would want to go back to is I'd want to go back to seeing mankind getting thrown off of hell in a cell just because it's so completely unexpected. You certainly don't go into that show expecting that to happen. You're not showing up at the civic arena in Pittsburgh that night for the King of the Ring tournament expecting not only for Mick Foley to be thrown off the cell, but then a few minutes later for Mick Foley to be chokeslam through the cell. So with hindsight being 2020 and knowing that you could go back and see one of the most iconic moments in pro wrestling history, I would go back to see that match, that moment.

But if I'm going to go back to see a full event, I'm going to see WrestleMania 17. And I was fortunate to be at WrestleMania 18. I loved being there. What an incredible atmosphere. someone on Instagram this week posted some of the greatest pops of all time. And I think for me, my brain automatically goes to returns because some of those returns are the greatest pops ever, right? Hardy Boys at Russellmania 33, Edge returning at the Royal Rumble 2020, CM Punk coming back to WWE Survivor Series 2023. But there's some moments

that are also some big ones that are like someone winning a title. But there's a moment during the WrestleMania 18 Rock versus Hollywood Hogan match where Hogan kicks out of the rock bottom at like one and a half and immediately starts hulking up. Oh my gosh. Getting goosebumps just talking about it. And I think I forgot how big that pop was. So I was so grateful to be there for WrestleMania 18.

But really hard to argue against WrestleMania 17 being the greatest WrestleMania of all time. I'm going to go through this card. Of course, we all think about Stone Cold and the Rocks, the main event. Unbelievable. But it kicks off with a match for the Intercontinental Championship, Chris Jericho defeating William Regal. Then you got a six-man tag match.

It's Taz and the APA defeating Right to Censor. Kane defeats Raven and the big show in that super fun, hardcore championship match. You got Eddie Guerrero with Perry Saturn, defeating Test for the European Championship. You got Kurt Angle defeating Chris Benoit. You've got China defeating Ivory. You've got a street fight. Shane McMahon defeating Mr. McMahon. Then you've got TLC, Edging Christian defeating the Dudley Boys and the Hardy Boys.

Then you've got the gimmick battle royal, which was just fun. End up getting won by the Iron Sheik. you've got the undertaker defeating triple h in one of their many many great russlemania matches and then you got stone cold steve austin defeating the rock and then afterwards shaking vince mcman's hand and turning heel i would go back to see russlemania 17 just to see all of these amazing matches like anybody who's been to russlemania 17 i am jealous of you I am officially jealous of you that you got to witness this live.

That is my answer and I wish I had a DeLorean so I could go back in time. I'm kind of, that's the dream purchase for me is getting a DeLorean. Obviously it doesn't have a flux capacitor or at least a working flux capacitor

to allow me to go back in time, but oh man, Delorians are just so cool to me. Greg Ford on Facebook says throughout this incredible journey that you've been on. What is your single, most memorable or personal favorite moment slash guest that you've had in the studio? In the studio specifically would be John Sina. And that's crazy to me that he came to the studio just by himself, not with anybody else.

And he gave us, what, an hour and a half, like completely devoted to the conversation and snapping photos afterwards and he signed something that's now hanging in my office. But I think the greatest moment slash guest didn't happen in the studio. My favorite episode of the show thus far, and who knows what may happen in the next handful of years here, but it was with The Undertaker. What a day that was. I was a guest on his show to start off the day, which is a crazy sentence to say out last. when he was doing six feet under with Mark Callaway,

his co-host Matt Lida, who's now become a good friend of mine, he reached out and said, would you be interested in being a guest on the show? And I was like, what me? A guest on The Undertaker's podcast? Are you sure about that? But also, yes, 1,000%.

And he goes, all right, if you come to Austin for that, then maybe we could set something up where The Undertaker is a guest on your show after. Like, this is insane. I'm going to be a guest on the Undertaker's podcast, and then later that day, I get to interview the Undertaker,

mind-blowing, mind-blowing. I show up to the studio, a studio they were renting for the podcast. We're just hanging out, get to meet The Undertaker. I get to meet Mark, because he's the coolest guy. He's the nicest person you could ever meet. I'm a guest on the podcast with The Undertaker and Matt Lida.

we chat for an hour and a half or something like that. It's a fun episode. It might be the most fun episode I've done, my favorite episode where I've been a guest on somebody else's show. Afterwards, I said, all right, well, where do you want to shoot the interview with you? And he goes, oh, I don't know, what's best for you? I said, you tell me.

I can rent out this podcast studio that you're renting. Like, let me know who I need to talk to to to set that up. We can do it at my hotel. We can do it at your house. like seriously, whatever is easiest for you. And he thinks about it for a second and he goes, eh, why don't we do it in my house? I'll give you the address.

So it gives me the address. He goes, yeah, when you show up to the house, why don't you set up in the gym? So if you're looking at the house, the gym's to the right. Yeah, just the door is open, just go in there and, you know, set up. So I set up in the gym.

And he goes, oh, by the way, get my phone number in case you get lost or have any questions. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm going to the Undertaker's house where he's not even going to be to set up for this interview. He had a few more interviews to tape that day. So go to his house, set up for this interview. And he goes, oh, and if you have some extra time,

you're welcome to get a workout in in my gym. Make yourself at home. So set up in the Undertaker's gym, get everything all ready for the interview. And then when he finally shows up, I said, how long do you want to record for? And he goes, you can talk to you. get all the stories out of me.

Unbelievable. That episode's almost two hours long. And it's, he just tells the best stories. And then the icing on the cake. Not only am I a guest on the Undertaker's podcast earlier that day. Not only have I recorded an almost two hour long interview with The Undertaker, which is, I believe, the most watched episode of Insight on Instagram. It has like a million and a half views.

But then later that night, he had a dinner reservation for us at an amazing steakhouse with all of the people who he had had for interviews that day in the previous day. It's me, Maven, the godfather, Midian, and the Undertaker, and then some of our friends all out for dinner. An amazing night. So many stories we can't tell from that night. At least we can't tell them publicly. What an amazing day.

That is for sure. hands down my favorite it's going to be a tough one to beat 5237 shan on instagram says dead or alive what's your dream interview and what's the best interview that you had well you already heard about my best interview the dream interview unfortunately it'll never happen but i would love to have sat down with eddie guerrero really at any point in his career would have loved to chat with edie guerrero what an absolute legend taken from us far too early. Eddie Guerrero will forever be the answer to that question for me. Matthew Lee on Instagram,

on Facebook says, has Danhausen become more of an influencer now as Logan Paul has become more of a wrestler? I think Danhaus has just become a star, an absolute star. Crazy to see what he's done in his first hundred, hundred-ish days. I don't know the exact number. It's like 111 days he's been in WWE versus all of the years that he was in AEW.

It's just amazing seeing the star he's become and seeing the absolute merchandise, just a merch selling machine that he is in WWE. This thing with the Knicks has catapulted Danhausen into the mainstream too, which is so cool to see. The Knicks have to thank Danhausen. The Knicks are NBA champions because of Danhausen cursing them and then uncursing them, right?

After he uncursed them, they only lost one game. I think Danhausen should get a championship ring. They should be hanging the Danhausen jersey in Madison Square Garden. I can't wait

until WWE returns to New York returns to Madison Square Garden at Saturday. night's main event, it's July 18th, so it's like a month from yesterday. You know they're planning something huge for Danhausen at Saturday night's main event. So, but Danhausen, I don't know if he's become an influencer because he's still wrestling a decent amount, undefeated by the way. I think Danhausen is the only person on the current roster who has an undefeated record in WWE. And Logan Paul, I, there's always

these interesting discussions about Logan Paul. I don't think he falls into the influencers slash YouTube slash celebrity wrestler category anymore. Logan Paul is a full-time wrestler. I understand that he's injured right now with a nasty tricep tear, although he did just show up on raw. So, like, and that's a great spot for him to be at. He's still injured, but still running his mouth, still generating heel heat. I think that I understand there was a lot of, lot of hate for Logan Paul, not just Logan Paul, the character. There is hate for Logan Paul, the person. I understand that. But if you're looking at this objectively, if you're just looking at Logan Paul as a performer, you can't deny that he's talented. And I don't think that Logan Paul's not

in that part-time wrestler celebrity category anymore. Logan Paul is just a member of the raw roster now. Danhausen's in such a unique spot right now where he could wrestle. And I've known that for years. I've known Danhausen for 10, 11 years. I've always known that he could wrestle, even when he was doing the Donovan Danhausen, like just generic indie guy wrestler character. We know that he can wrestle.

But he's also in this really unique spot where he can keep doing what he's doing forever. Like he can be in that art. our truth spot where you're in your 50s, wrestling here and there because you know you can still go. But they talk about how you have a bump card in wrestling. You can only take so many bumps. Your body only allows you to take so much damage. The way that Danhausen wrestles and the fact that he's being used sporadically as an in-ring performer means that bump card is not taking nearly as many punches. He still has a lot left on that bump card. And I just love the position he's in now.

where he can show up on ESPN, or he can show up at the Knicks game, or he can show up in all of these mainstream pop culture scenarios, yet still, you know that if he had to go in the ring, he could. So maybe he's become an influencer, maybe he's become a mainstream star, or at least someone who the mainstream is somewhat aware of, even if they don't watch wrestling. But I love the fact that he can still back it up.

And that character is so, so entertaining. Amazingly entertaining. And again, I will laugh at all the people who watched him debut at Elimination Chamber and thought that he was a failure. Who's laughing now? Danhausen's unbelievable. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement. And nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025.

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for the Cadillac definition of luxury. 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. Yeah, you're not in control of your finances. You have to look outside of yourself to live the life that you want. you're not in control.

You're like, 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. The great Alex Blake actually sent this in as a cameo, but this is such a great question. Chris, I've been to three live shows, VIP every time.

I appreciate you always being so cool and making the live shows so fun. I'm 27, training to be a pro wrestler. Maybe one day you'll interview the great Alex Blake. We're halfway through 2026. I'm curious, what are your top five interviews this year? Mine are the Miz, the Hardys, Maven, because I was there, MJF, and number one, L-A. Knight.

Yeah, you even wrote, yeah. My favorite wrestler of all time is Eddie Guerrero. CVV, what are three things you're grateful for today? So top five interviews of the year so far. We're almost halfway through the year. That's crazy. Where is this? You're gone.

My top five for this year, in no particular order, would be Stone Cold Steve Austin. What a great chat that was. I think that's either my second or third most watched interview on YouTube of all time. and the interview was dropped just a few months ago. It went live in January. The Will Saso and Dan Soder episode will never be topped. Even if I have those guys back in the show, that episode will never, ever be topped.

It's just so incredibly funny. Those guys are amazing. I can't believe that we got them together for that amazing episode. And that's closing it on a million views. And it got released like three weeks ago. That's crazy to me. I'm going to agree with you with MJF. And I think this is the closest we got to seeing who Max is.

He's very often in character, but at the same time, it's a super thin line between who the character is and who he is. But I love that we got a glimpse into who he is and how his brain works. He just thinks about wrestling on a different level. And he thinks about it in such a mature way. He just turned 30. But he talks about wrestling. with such a veteran's mindset.

He talks about it like he's been in the business for 20 plus years. And that was just a really interesting conversation to hear him break down the way he thinks about wrestling. The big show. Man, he tells such great stories. And he's hilarious. I've done shorter interviews with him, but to be able to have the big show on for an hour and a half and to hear some of those amazing stories, especially the Arnold

Schwarzenegger story. that was a that's an all-timer and it hasn't dropped yet but it goes live on Tuesday i told you about this at the start of the episode but the paul haman chat is amazing it's one you don't want to miss so that's one i got to put on this top five and also crazy to think we got six months left in 26 someone asked me this question in December so we can come back to this because i'm curious These are my top five now for the first half of 2026. Someone asked me this question on an Ask CVV in December, and we can go through what the top five interviews of the year are.

And I wonder, do any of these move? Do any of these change? Which names get slotted in and which ones get taken out? I don't know how we could possibly take out Stone Cold and the Will Saso and Dan Soter episodes. So I also don't know how we could move the Paul Heyman ones, But we'll see. We'll see what's movable there.

Josh Bloom, Josh Blum on Facebook says, how does Obafemi spit out so much mist? Is it just saliva or does he have like a little pouch filled with water that he can bite into? This past week he had an entire match, then cut an entire promo, then spit out as much mist as Triple H did when he was chugging a bottle of water. Make it make sense.

This is, What a question. I don't know. Maybe he just has a lot of spit. Maybe it's mixed with sweat. I don't know what it is, but if somebody has an answer for us, please let us know.

I guess when Obafemi comes on the show, we've got to ask him. Crim Los Amy on Instagram says, you talk to performers from every generation, from Hall of Famers like Sean Michaels to rising stars of NXT and AEW. What's a piece of, quote, old school wrestling locker room wisdom that you think today's generation values the most?

I am not an expert. I've obviously never worked a wrestling match. But from what I've gathered from talking to some of the veterans and hearing them talk about giving advice to younger talent, the one thing that seems to keep coming up all the time is to listen to the crowd. and I think that that's one thing that I think younger talent don't do or don't maybe don't know how to do yet. Listen to the crowd in terms of like when they're getting up or when they're getting down, when they're getting quiet, or when you feel like you've really got them in the palm of your hand.

The other thing that veterans talk about all the time is slow down. Like slow down. And when you think you're going slow, slow it down. even more. I think those are two pieces of advice that I've heard veterans say a lot, and they're two that seem to make a lot of sense. Another one, and this doesn't have to do with the actual in-ring wrestling, but just being present. When you're a star in WWE, especially when you're a top star, you're being pulled in a lot of directions. It's not just showing up on raw or showing up on SmackDown. It's all of the appearances and the interviews, and

all of the media and everything that surrounds at the autograph signings, the meet and greets. And sometimes it can feel like it's just you're doing this thing here in this city, but you're off to the next city tonight. You're going to be on a plane. And then you'll be in that city tomorrow, but then you'll be off to another city the next day. And it's like you're constantly living this life of like, you're going here, then there, then there, then there. And I've heard so many people talk about just trying as best as you can to be

present. And I think we saw this actually, a really good representation of this during John Cena's retirement tour. You saw him slowing down his entrances. And I don't mean the heel entrance where he would walk to the ring. Even when he was a baby face, you saw him slowing things down. You saw him looking out into the crowd more. Instead of just seeing the mass of people, you could see him taking in the faces of individuals in the crowd. You even saw that one moment where he was walking to the back and he mimicked like he was taking a picture. And then he made a gesture like he was committing it to memory. And like I think that that was a really good representation of him taking it all in,

like quite literally taking a mental picture. So I think that that's another one, just being present. That's just great life advice too. Be present. The King Jesse Mitchell on Facebook says, besides Back to the Future, what's your top four movies of all time? I can't just pick Back to the Future, Back to the Future 2, and back to the future three, and then just pick Back to the Future One again, and that's my Mental Rushmore.

I see what you're doing here. I love Back to the Future, not just as a movie. I think it's the perfect film, but I just also love what it represents. It represents that moments matter. Moments and life matter. If this thing doesn't happen, then that thing can't happen. And if that thing doesn't happen, then this other thing doesn't happen. I think about that all the time.

But if I can't pick Back to the Future on my list, my top four movies, I'm going to go with Jurassic Park. I'm going to go with Interstellar. And I wish I could pick just all Christopher Nolan films. I guess I could. But I'm a huge Christopher Nolan fan. I also love the prestige. I love Memento.

I remember seeing Memento in a film. studies class at Wilford-Lorea University. It's like a first-year film studies class. And I'm like, what a movie. It's so good. I also love Inception. But the list here. Jurassic Park, interstellar, Rocky. There's something about all the Rocky movies. I especially also love Rocky four. I love all the Rocky movies, but Rocky's a special film. And it's, there's just, It's not just a boxing film either. At the core of it, it's a love story, but it's also about believing in yourself

and chasing after your dreams. And what a score. Oh, man. Dun-d-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And then I'm going to go with something a little more modern here. I'm going to go with ex machina. That might be a deep cut,

but a sci-fi thriller that makes you think. That movie ends, and it just has you asking questions. and I love movies like that. There's a lot of movies that fall into that category. That's my favorite type of movie. My favorite type of movie is when the movie ends and you go,

oh, wait a second. What about this character? What about that character? I love the open-endedness of things like that, which is all I also love prisoners. I could probably swap ex machina and prisoners depending on the day of the week. Prisoners has one of those endings. Gone Baby Gone has one of those endings.

We could go down an entire list. I'd be here for the next four hours listing off movies that have those kind of endings. But those are the types of movies that I love. Gone Baby Gone is one. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. That ending just hits you like a Mack truck. And especially if you're watching this with friends or family or you're watching this with your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, it starts a disgusting.

When Gone Baby Gone ends, it gets you into like a moral discussion of what's right and what's wrong. And like you can definitely with that movie see both sides of it. If you've seen that movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But I think those are my four. If I can't pick back to the future, I love talking movies. I love talking wrestling. I love these questions. That's the final question on this.

Ask CVV number one for D through the table and ask. Ask CVV number one, WrestleMania 40, WrestleMania XL edition. Send in those questions for next week. Ask CVV number 141. Leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify. I feel like we haven't got enough questions

from Spotify recently. Not a complaint, just an observation. I love that they're still coming in, the majority of them at least coming in on chrisfanj.com. That's, of course, where you can send them in. or you can send them in on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV. Since I said that Rocky was one of my favorite movies of all time, I will leave you with a quote from the great Rocky Balboa.

From the movie Rocky Balboa. It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. Not just boxing advice. amazing life advice. Also an amazing scene. Incredible acting from Sylvester Stallone. Be great and be grateful, my friend. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. I'll see you in London on Monday for Raw. Then we've got Paul Heyman on Tuesday

and Biggie on Thursday. Don't you dare be sour. Have an amazing weekend. We'll see you next week. One Night with Stein. One Night with Stiney. Shout out. Full Send, no. What's your name, bro? Sine. What's your name?

We've been sitting here for like an hour together. I know your name. What's your name? Stoney. I can't guarantee anything. All I can guarantee is that you're going to be entertained. I'm a professional. I'm here to interview.

So the whole interview, you can ask me what I like better, Burger King or McDonald's. All right, and we are going to wrap up on that note. Thank you, Steve, so much. That was a new. Burger King. One Night with Stine. One Night with Stine.

One Night with Stine. Follow and listen on your favorite. platform.