Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #142 - Sami Zayn Is WWE Champ, Oba Femi Chooses Brock Lesnar, What's Next For Cody Rhodes

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

See you at the next Insight LIVE! Get tickets at https://cvvtix.com Welcome to AskCVV #142! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet discusses the fallout from Night Of Champions and the winners of both King and Queen Of The Ring he also answers questions about Sami Zayn winning the WWE Undisputed Championship, Oba Femi giving up his title shot to face Brock Lesnar in a Hell In A Cell match at SummerSlam, what's next for Cody Rhodes, the Top 5 most iconic moments in WWE history, Kevin Owens' possible return, favorite inspirational quotes and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” – Harvey Mackay Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Vy. Mutations, my friend. Welcome back to another one here on InSight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Vleethausen. Thank you for being a real one. Thank you for hanging out with me on a Friday.

And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit an OG cutter on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening right now so you don't miss out. on a single episode every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians on Wednesday, July 1st. Happy 4th of July this weekend. Feels like summer is now like officially in full swing. And this is the first Ask CDV that I'm recording from our new house here in Nashville.

To peel back the curtain a little bit, it's been a pretty crazy week and a half or so. on top of packing up our house in California and getting ready to list that and moving here to Nashville. I've been on a lot of planes. I've been in a lot of different cities. So the move was one thing in itself. And then all of the other stuff going on was like something completely different. So I was in London for Raw last Monday and quite a few interviews there. Did three interviews there that I'm pumped about. I can't wait for you guys to see. So So I was there for Raw Monday night, flew back Tuesday. It's a 12-hour flight.

Then a few days later on Friday, we all flew to Nashville as a family to get settled. So me, RVV, Logan, Cooper, our dog, Luna, Rachel's mom, Gammy is what the kids call her. We all flew there on Friday. I then flew back to California on Saturday night to meet up with the movers on Sunday to pack everything up to load the moving truck to clear out the house. That truck left on Monday. I flew back to Nashville that same day. The moving truck took off. It actually just arrived right before I hit record on this episode. So this is late Thursday night as I'm recording this right now. So in the past, what would that be? Week and a half. L.A. to London, London to L.A., L.A. to Nashville, Nashville to L.A.,

LA, back to Nashville, and here we are. I love it. I wouldn't change anything. And I've got Orlando next week. Three, possibly four interviews there. I'm pumped about that. Then we've got Fanatics Fest in New York City. That's going to be incredible.

We're doing a live show, Insight Live, July 18th. So it's Saturday, July 18th at Fanatics Fest. so if you have tickets for Fanatics Fest, my show is just part of the admission. 12.30 p.m. will be announcing that guest, hopefully very soon. Then as I look ahead in the calendar here,

man, we're already looking at SummerSlam. SummerSlam is four weeks away as we sit here right now. So a ton, a ton going on here. I love it. I will say, I have to say, a very missed opportunity by me last week on Ask CVV. number 141.

That should have absolutely been Ask CVV number 141 and two third chance of winning Steiner Math edition. So thank you to everyone for pointing that out. You're right. I had that written down like, I don't know, 20 weeks ago. I was like, ah, when Ask CVV number 141 comes around, I know exactly what that's going to be. I feel like I really dropped the ball on that one. But with that said, welcome.

my friend, to ask CVV number 142 cold Scorpio edition. Also, ask CVV number 142 cool addition with Rikishi and the glasses dancing all over the place. Ask CVV number 140 Becky two belts addition. and of course it's Ask CVV number 140 Sweet edition. Send in your questions for next week. Ask CVV number 140. It doesn't matter if the rock counts to three edition.

Send in your ideas for AskCV number 143. Send them in on Spotify if you're listening on there on social media using the hashtag Ask CV or of course by going to the newly revamped chris famfleet.com where you can see all of the recaps of all the episodes you can watch the episodes listen to them there and you can see all the quotes and the photos from them chris fanfleet dot com let's dive into this one daniel raymond on spotify says CVV we need to unpack night of champions a lot happened did anyone see sammy zane becoming WWE champion. Well, yeah, Sammy Zane is

WWE champion. Also, my very early picks for King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring ended up being right. But I don't want to like pat myself on the back because I definitely, like I shifted things up a lot because the way the quarterfinals

and the semifinals shook out, there were some real surprises. Like there were some james. genuine surprise. Who thought that, like, who thought Finn Baller was not going to make it past the quarterfinals? I certainly didn't think Bronbroker was going to get eliminated in the quarterfinals. Like, there were a lot of surprises that were happening there. And you're like, okay, hmm, really. Like, I didn't see the whole Liv Morgan thing going the way that it did. We'll get into all

that, but four for six on my predictions and night of champions. And I love when I'm wrong. Like seriously, I love what I'm wrong because that means that things aren't predictable. I did not predict Sammy Zane winning the title, although I did say that Cody Rhodes' days as the champ were numbered. And I just feel like, I don't know what it is. I'm sure you'll agree with me on this. Cody's best work is when he's chasing the title. That's what we saw leading into Elimination Chamber, I just feel like that's where his best work is when Cody's trying to get after the championship.

But I love that Sammy Zane finally got his moment. And you can see how much it means to him. You can see he's been working his whole career for this and it's all paid off. I've seen the comparisons online to Mick Foley, winning his first WWE title. I see the similarities. I see it.

It's like a man of the people. I also kind of feel like it's similar to when Darby Allen won the AEW world title. It's funny, though, that Sammy's a heel, but this win is getting treated like he's the ultimate baby face, especially by all of his friends that are celebrating this online. So huge congrats to Sammy. Very interested to see where it goes. Also, I know it's probably way too early to be talking like this, but very interested to see how many titles does Sammy win in his career?

Is it two, three, four? Is it just one? We'll see. The cage match. I also got this one wrong. I did not think Seth Rollins would win against Bronner. The odds on this were dead even. And I just didn't think that Seth would win in such a decisive way.

I thought they were going to even the score here between Breaker and Rollins and the feud would continue. But now, and this is the beautiful thing about wrestling, now it all makes sense. As we're looking at this in the rear of your mirror, it makes sense. Give Seth Rollins a strong victory. It ends things with Bronbreaker, at least for now, at least for a little while. And it gives Seth Rollins this massive momentum as he heads into the world championship match with Roman Reins at SummerSlam, which they just announced on Raw. That match, By the way, with those two guys wrestling the way they're wrestling, Roman Raines and Seth Rollins, that match is going to be unbelievable.

Although, I try to figure out exactly what makes Seth the number one contender, other than the fact that he asked for this title shot, other than the fact that he came out, confronted Roman, and basically was like, we got to do this again. I absolutely adore Seth Rollins. You know that. I'm just talking about this logically. Okay. Logically, within the storyline, what did he do to earn it? Why not do a number one contender

match on raw? Make it a triple threat. Make it a four-way match. Make a little story out of it. And then it leads to the face-off that we saw with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins a week later. You'd end up in the exact same place, but now you'd have some context. Hey, you saw what I did last week, I took out those other three guys. Roman, we've been, we've so much history. We came into this company together. Let's do this. I'm the number one contender.

Let's make this happen. I'm just saying it would give us a little bit more of some context. Fun fact, with Roman Raines in SummerSlam, Roman has never lost a singles match at SummerSlam ever. very, very interested to see how this one goes. And I know that Seth Rollins said one last dance. Is this really the last time we're going to get Seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns? I don't think so, but I just know this is going to be such a great match.

Queen of the Ring. E.O. Sky is Queen Eio so well deserved. And, man, she is so freaking good in the ring. I still can't figure out logistically within the ring. the storylines why Liv Morgan was in this tournament, why she hasn't defended her world title, but she's in the Queen of the Ring finals, actually the Queen of the Ring, quarters, semis, and finals. But now I guess she has to finally defend that championship at SummerSlam.

Eosai has selected hers. So we get the rematch here, EOS Guy versus Liv Morgan. Do you think Liv Morgan lost because she got cursed by Danhausen? I mean, it kind of makes sense. Why else would the world champion lose? Other than the fact that Eoske is incredible, but I feel like we're really playing into the Dan Housen Curses here.

Really playing into it. But this storyline is making, I guess, a little bit more sense now that, like, Eo is basically saying, hey, I'm better than you. I beat you before. Beat you in the Queen of the Ring Finals. I'll beat you again, but this time I'm beating you for your title. Can't wait to see what this match looks like

at SummerSlam. Okay, let's talk about King of the Ring. King Oba Femi, and it's very clear they are going all the way with Oba Femi. He's the king of the ring. He's also going to have this huge match at SummerSlam against Brock Lesnar.

And, you know, because of the magnitude, that's a match that's likely going to main event one of the nights at SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar versus Obafemi. That's going to make history for Brock Lesnar. That's Brock main eventing, what will be his 10. SummerSlam.

If you look at all of the pieces of this, there's a chance on paper when you add this up. There's a chance. Maybe this is Brock Lezler's retirement match. Like his actual last match, not what we got at WrestleMania. Although perhaps what we got at WrestleMania was Brock Lezor saying,

this is my final WrestleMania. Maybe that's what that moment was in the ring. Maybe that wasn't a retirement. Maybe that was just Brock Lezzer you're having an emotional moment realizing he's never going to wrestle at a WrestleMania again. I don't know. Maybe.

But if we add up the pieces here, this is Minnesota. This is a brutal match. It's hell and a cell. It's also a passing of the torch moment. One dominant athlete to another dominant athlete. Beast to ruler. I would argue that Oba right now wouldn't be viewed in the way he is without. without Brock Lesnar is the comparison.

Think about it. We know that Brock's time is limited. He may only have a few matches left. Hell, he may only have one match left. Obafemi coming in to fill that void is absolutely perfect timing for that. And like, because Brock is still here, Oba's like the reflection of that.

Like, because Brock is still here doing his thing and we're still able to see him, we're able to go, Oh, wow. That new guy, he's maybe as dominant as Brock Lezor. Maybe he could be more dominant than Brock Lezzer. And SummerSlam's the perfect place for this match. If you look at Brock's history throughout the years, he's Mr. Somerslam.

He's Mr. Somerslam in the same way that Sean Michaels is Mr. WrestleMania. Iconic moments, massive matches. That's Brock Lezor in the summer. and Brock has been in this mode over the last many summer slams where he's making other people look great. I looked it up. Brock Lezzer has lost his last four SummerSlam matches. Yeah, four. Cody Rhodes, Roman Raines, Seth Rollins, and then Roman Raines again before that.

We'll talk in a little bit about how we got here to this match because I'm still not exactly sure, Obafemi wins King of the Ring, seemingly says no thank you to the title shot because he wants to face Brock. We'll talk about that in a little bit here. But Obafemi, when you looked at the original bracket for King of the Ring, you're like, well, how's anyone going to beat Obafemi? Unless it's Brock Lezor coming out and ruining his match, like running out and disturbing his match and running in. I'm so glad that didn't happen. I'm glad we got an actual match here. And again, we talked about this last week. When you looked at this on paper, Obafemi versus Jay Uso, I know there were a lot of people that

were like, are they're really going to go with Jay Uso? Jay Uso is going to win King of the Ring. I'm like, man, if you just look at this, it feels like it has to be Obafemi. And it is. And I think that they went with the absolute right choices here for King and Queen of the ring. Although what's going on here with King of the Ring, I will try to make some sense of this. Tiffany Stratton versus Jade Cargill. I called this to a T. Right down to Charlotte Flair interfering. I feel like we're definitely getting Charlotte versus Jade at SummerSlam. And like I said,

we're getting Tiffany Stratton going into SummerSlam in her hometown as the women's United States champion. And the men's United States match, Rickie Saints, I called that one too. I feel like Trick Williams is going to be holding this for a little while, but what an opportunity here to have Ricky Saints level up, not just in his abilities, but also in the way that the crowd perceives him. Oh, this is a guy that's fighting for the mid-card title. Oh, maybe I should pay a little bit more attention to Ricky Saints. And yes, you should be paying a little bit more attention to Ricky Saints. If you only know Ricky Saints and you don't know Ricky Starks, look at some of his work in

AEW, look at some of his work in the NWA, look at his amazing matches as Ricky Saints in NXT, especially with Ethan Page. So talented and it's just a matter of time until he is holding, maybe it's the United States Championship, maybe it's the IC title down the line, but Ricky Saints is so good. And I feel like people are starting to finally. come around on him and go, oh yeah, yeah, this guy's great. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer.

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Cutting through the clutter, one hot take at a time. Love seeing you all in the chat before the show. I tried to jump in just a few minutes before to say hello. I love the chat interaction. Thank you for helping. But I do it to get all of the videos and all of the content that you won't find anywhere else. Scrolling with Haley.

Just search that up and I will be there. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Matt Stiverbola sent this in on Chris Vanvly.com. He says, Chris, Matt from Atobico, Ontario, Canada here. I love it. I was also with you in the crowd for Russ Money 18 and will never forget Rock versus Hogan. How could we forget that, my friend? Question for the original realist, real, real, real ones, CVV.

That is a lot of reals. Why would they abandon the King of the Ring winner, getting a title shot at Somersland, without an explanation and then go with Oba and Brock and then Seth and Roman. Two great matches that need to be on Summer Slam, but I find it tough to follow the story and how will Oba get a title shot now? What are your thoughts, Matt? Matt, it's a little confusing, isn't it? It's like winning the Royal Rumble and then giving up your title shot.

Oh, wait, that happened two years ago with Cody Rhodes. We all know how they got the train back on track, and it led to that incredible. Redoul, WrestleMania 40 night two main event. So good. But you remember that? Cody Rhodes won and was like, hey, Rock, you can have my spot. Don't you worry. Although he did have that look in his face like,

I definitely don't want to be doing this. Crowd got behind him. We want Cody. The rest is history. But it seems like if we are taking Oba Femi at his word, and why shouldn't we take him at his word? Oba is foregoing his title shot opportunity at SummerSlam. and he instead asked raw general manager, Adam Pierce,

to make this hell in a cell match with Brock Lezzer official at SummerSlan. And I guess the part that's most confusing about all this is no one said this was either or. It wasn't like, all right, Oba, you got to make your decision here. It's one or the other. You can either have that title shot or you can finish this trilogy with Brock Lezner inside Helen Ocel like he suggested. If that had been part of the story, I feel like,

yeah, maybe we'd be able to wrap our heads around it a little bit more. I don't think that this is going to be Obafemi pulling double duty. I would love to see that. Give us Helen Assel one night. Give us the title shot the next night. I would love to see that. And I know that that's been widely speculated about for weeks. It doesn't sound like that.

what we're getting here. Not at all. Oba said, basically, he knows the championship's going to be around. He's so confident in his abilities that he's going to wait until that opportunity happens for him again in the future. He's essentially saying, beating Brock Lesnar right now means more to him. And what a great promo segment they had on Raw, a great exchange there. Oba Femmi standing toe to toe with a guy who's been in the business for almost 25 years. And just hanging with him, like he belongs there, you'll love to see that. But this doesn't mean that Obafemi's deferring his title shot to later. Like, I don't think he's like treating this like a money in the bank.

This isn't like a favor that's owed to him that he can cash in on later. That's not how it's perceived at least right now. That's not how they're presenting this. I don't think that in eight weeks he's going to go, all right, Adam Pierce. give me that title shot tonight on Raw because I didn't have that match at SummerSlam. It sounds like he's saying, I know what's at stake here. I know I had this golden opportunity to choose the champion of my choosing at SummerSlam. Instead, though, I need to finish things with Brock Lesser.

Fun fact, Obafemi's match against Jay Uso and Knight of Champions was his longest match since making his main roster debut. It's seven minutes and 56 seconds. I would imagine the Hell and a Cell match is easily going to break that. That match with Brock, with Oba, it's going to be so chaotic. And I know that so much of the allure of Hell and a Cell

is finding a way to get out, I don't think that's going to be the case here. I feel like they're going to stay in. I feel like the cage is going to be a huge element in this. I don't think they're going to be escaping. I know that that was a, we always think, of course, about when you think of hell in a cell, what do you think of? Right.

You think of, God is my way to see is broken in half. You think of mankind getting thrown off. I don't think that they're going to find a way to get out and get on top or use the cage on the outside. I feel like the cage is going to be keeping them. in and keeping the brutality inside there. I can't wait to see what they do here. I saw another fun fact. This is the 54th, hell on a cell match.

There's been 53 up to this point. This is the 54th, hell on a cell match. Cody Bovie sent this in on ChrisFambleed.com. Cody says, hey, Chris, happy Friday. I have a question for you with Sammy winning the championship at night of champions and Kevin Owens, having a few segments at Great American Bash, do you think we could see a return here soon? They have a long history together,

and Kevin's status is up in the air right now. After listening to your episode with Big E, though, I truly hope he's 100% if and when he comes back. Love what you do in these past few interviews, you've knocked it out of the park, Cody. It's very interesting, very interesting that you bring Kevin Owen's name up with this. Sammy Zane, as you said, is the WWE champion right now. Who was Kevin Owen's last match against before he was out with an injury?

That's right. It was Kevin Owens beating Sammy Zane Elimination Chamber in their home country, in my home country of Canada. The night that John Cena turned heel at Rogers Center in Toronto. Who was Kevin Owen's last match before that? It was the latter match. against Cody Rhodes, that unbelievable ladder match for the WWE championship at the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis. So right there, you've already made a strong case to be able to insert yourself

not only into the title picture, but into the title picture with Sammy Zane. Yes, of course, there is so much history between those guys. But now you have the case of like, hey, you were the guy that injured me. You were the guy that took me out for a year and a half. I'm ready to come back and I'm ready for that title. I would love to see it happen. I don't know what Kevin Owen's status is. I hope he's doing well. I hope he's feeling well. I hope he's healing up. I hope he has the chance to wrestle again. Kevin Owens is one of those guys that is so passionate. Like he bleeds wrestling, so passionate about wrestling. I hope that he's able to. to, like any wrestler, the hope is that you can end your career in your terms. So I hope that Kevin

Owens is able to make a return. And there would be no better time. There'd be no more fitting of a time than Kevin Owens coming right into Sammy Zane, his former best friend, coming right into that. Like, I could see, remember when he was given the package pile drivers? filthy package pile drivers who gave one to Randy Orton, gave one to Cody Rhodes. What if after a match Sammy Zane is celebrating

KEO's music hits, KEO beats him down, gives him a package pile driver, boom, sign me up, take my money. I'd love to see it. But I think the biggest question here is, is Kevin Owens ready to return? Will Kevin Owens ever return? will Kevin Owens ever returned?

Man, I just, I hope he's able to. I would love to see it. Tessa M. White on Instagram. What's next for Cody Rhodes? Does he take a break or does he redevelop his character? We would love to see him turn heel. Yeah, there is going to be talk of Cody Rhodes turning heel, I think, for, until he does it, whether that's six months from now or six years from now.

Although, didn't Cody say he only wants to wrestle first? five more years, whether it's five years from now or five months from now. I don't want to spoil Smackdown for you when we're talking about what's next for Cody Rhodes. So I will not spoil it because it was taped on Monday because of the holiday weekend in the U.S. I just, I will say this. This is not a spoiler. I would just say Cody Rhodes is still in the title picture. So Cody Rhodes isn't taking a break. He's not disappearing. He's still very much a part of this. And that's all I'll say about that. What I would love here is I would love to see Cody Rhodes in the United States championship picture.

Like kind of crazy when you think about it that the American nightmare has never been the United States champion. He's won every other title, but he hasn't won the U.S. championship. I would love to see that. Similar in a way that John Cena was able to elevate the United States championship. like John Cena was that fighting U.S. champion. You want some. Come get some. And I think that Cody Rhodes has a lot of similarities to John Cena.

Face of the company, the person who's arriving early, last one to leave, the one who's doing all of the stuff behind the scenes that I don't think ever gets enough credit. The one who's always taking the photos with the fans, signing all the autographs before the show. Like you see these old videos, these old shots of John Cena arriving and there's like, he's sitting down in a room where there's like just stacks upon stacks upon stacks of eight by tens. And he just sits down on a table and like signs, who knows, a thousand, two thousand, three thousand. Cody Rose is doing the same stuff. If you've been to a live event, what's one of the items that you see at the merch stand

at the live event? What's one of the autographed items you always see? Yeah, it's the Cody Rhodes autographed weight belt. It's one of the top sellers. Cody Rhodes is in that position. I would love to see him do some amazing stuff with the United States championship. Have some amazing matches with some people who he maybe hasn't had a chance to really mix it up with. It'd be so cool to see that.

Although, like I said, it seems like Cody Rose is still going to be. to float around the world title picture here. I don't know how long Sammy Zane's run is going to be. Is Sammy Zane going to lose it back to Cody Rhodes? That'd be an interesting thing. It'd be very interesting because when you look at Cody Rhodes' championship wins and losses, Cody Rhodes has always won it back from the person who beat him for it. Think about it, right?

He lost it to John Sina. He won it back from John Sina. He lost it to Drew McIntyre. He won it back from Drew McIntyre. He lost it to Sammy Zane. Well, he went it back from Sammy Zane. Time will tell on that one. Also, where's Randy Orton?

Where's CM Punk? There's a lot of people that are at the top of the heap here. It's a lot of people that you can insert them right into that WWE championship spot. I don't know if you need Cody Rhodes in that spot, especially when you've got someone like Randy Orton, who's got to be coming back at some point in time here. I'd love to see where Randy Orton falls in a place here, would certainly hope it's for Randy Orton winning number 15.

Is CM Punk going to be looking for the WWE championship? to see him punk find his way into the world title picture again. There's a lot of question marks here. But with Cody Rhodes, I don't think anything changes here. There may be a week or two when he's promoting Street Fighter, when Street Fighter comes out. Roman Raines is also a Street Fighter, so maybe perhaps that plays into Roman Raines

and his championship run. But that's down the line. That's October 16th when the movie comes out. But I'm just saying, I think there's going to be a global press tour around the release of Street Fighter. I'm saying that for two reasons. One, that maybe that plays into the title picture when you've got two of your top guys promoting this huge film.

And number two, selfishly, I would think that Cody Rhodes and Roman Rains would want to be promoting this film. And where better to promote your film than do a bunch of wrestling fans on a little podcast called Insight with Chris Van Vleet. So just throwing that out there. Just throwing that out there. World Wrestling Kid on Instagram. You're the booker.

Rock agrees to one last match at WrestleMania 43. Are you booking Roman versus Rock? Are you booking Cody versus Rock? Or are you booking something else? Let's hear it. If it's me, I'm booking. Roman versus Rock. It's the match we probably should have got at WrestleMania 39. It's the match they tried to make at WrestleMania 40, which we actually just talked about. Are we glad it didn't

turn out that way? The story just wasn't lining up. If Rock's going to wrestle anymore, I think Rock has one more match in him. I think it's one more match, then he gets inducted in the Hall of Fame. if WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia is going to be massive. If they're going to pull out all the stops, I would think they're doing whatever they can to try to make sure the people's champ, the rock is there. One of the biggest stars on the planet. Why wouldn't you want Dwayne Johnson to be part of the buildup to that WrestleMania and to be one of the main event matches?

I'd love to see it. But you raise an interesting point here. There is clearly a story there with, Cody and Rock. Cody called him out. And there was also the beat down, the heel turn with John Cena. There's a lot of history there.

I don't think we're getting that one. If Rock had two or three matches or four matches or five matches left, sure. Yeah. I think you could have a program with Roman. I think you could have a program with Cody. And then I think you call it a career and you take your rightful place

in the WWE Hall of Fame. but I still feel like, and we've got a ton of time, it's July. And we're talking about WrestleMania next April, which they haven't announced the date yet. But next April, if we're looking at it right now, I think it's got to be Roman versus Rock. One, because I think Rock wants that match to happen. But two, the final boss storyline is not done. And like I've pointed this out a ton, but there's no explanation for why Travis Scott was in the ring when John Cena turned heel, why the Rock was in the ring, when John Cena turned heel, and the explanation that was given to us when I interviewed John Cena was basically like, who cares? And I think the idea there is let's just get some of the biggest stars in the industry, Rock and John Cena together for.

for this moment. But there's some loose ends that storyline-wise could be tied up. I would love to see Roman versus Rock, especially when you saw how crisp Rock looked at WrestleMania 40. Not only was he in the best shape of his life, and I know that he's not that big anymore. At that point, I think Rock said he weighed 286, I think was the number. I believe that was what he said. And he looked like a million bucks. Rock has said he's like cut down a lot. He's like changed his diet. He's he's eating in a healthier way, I think, which is way better for longevity. If rock wrestles again, are we going to get a leaner rock? Like rock is very lean in a way that like, like, when I saw him at the smashing machine world premiere, he was wearing this double-breasted suit with no shirt

underneath, like pure rock fashion looks so good. His muscles were like rippling out of his suit. And it's like, oh, like you've always been like a muscular guy, but this was like, oh, you're like super lean here. Will we get that lean rock that's maybe, I don't know what Rock weighs now, 240-ish, maybe? Or will Rock bulk up to have this one last match? I don't know. But if Rock moves for this hypothetical last match we're talking about. If he moves the same way that he moved for WrestleMania 40, we're in for a great match. Timothy Waterhouse on Spotify says, hey, CVV, you have been on our role lately. I especially love the Paul Heyman episode and the Biggie

episodes last week. Since the 28th anniversary of Mick Foley getting thrown off Hell in a Cell was just last week. My question for you is this. What do you think are the top five most iconic moments in wrestling history. Not matches, but moments. That's a good one, Timothy. Since you mentioned it, Mick Foley getting thrown off Hell and S.L. I've got to put that on there as an iconic moment. That's one of those moments. You can show to a non-wrestling fan that makes them go, what? What just happened? And that, that man walked away from that yeah yeah kind of injured and dislocated his shoulder and then later on you don't even want to see what happened with the tooth in the chair and all that but that's one of those

moments what an iconic moment when they show the highlight packages that's always one of the moments that you can guarantee will be in there another moment just like that it's hogan slamming andre russlemania three like that's one of those moments that's played in all the highlight packages. It's one of the iconic moments. It's one of the moments that like really started to change the course of wrestling. It's iconic in that like you're looking at this, knowing the history going, oh my gosh, he slammed the giant crazy. Slam that nasty giant. That's going to be one of them. The Montreal screw job. An iconic moment. The waves from that, the butterfly effect of that, rippled out for years and years and years to come.

It completely changed the trajectory of Brett Hart's career. It completely changed the trajectory of Vince McMahon and the Mr. McMahon character. That's one of those moments for sure. And I think, like, I was watching, I was watching the Vince McMahon documentary. And I was explaining, I was watching this with RVV, my wonderful, incredible wife. And I was explaining a little bit of the back. story as we were getting into that part of the documentary.

And she's like, really? Like that actually happened? I'm like, yeah. And then look, like, she's like, did, did that guy know that he was going to spit in his face? I'm like, no, he was legit pissed off and he spit in his face. And then later on he punched him. Like when the cameras weren't around, he punched him in the face because he was so pissed off. iconic.

Hogan turning heel and forming the NWO. absolutely iconic moment. Again, a moment that changed the course of wrestling history. If it's not for the NWO, then we probably don't get DX. It's Monday Night Wars, like really ramping up there. And also, who saw it coming? Who saw it coming that Hogan was going to turn heel? Other than who saw it as he on?

I know that, like at that time, you're probably not thinking much about it. it, but watching it back now. What do you mean? Whose side is he on? Tall Kogan! Of course, it's a good guy. And if I have to pick a fifth one here, there's so many iconic moments,

but I think if we're talking about moments that are truly, like, bigger than wrestling, I think you've got to go with the streak ending at WrestleMania 30. It's such a massive moment for Undertaker's career. It's a massive moment for Brock Lezzer's career. It is perfectly punctuated by the expression on Paul Heyman's face. And I loved hearing the story on the episode last week

where Paul Heyman was giving us the behind the scenes of like how that all came together, the expression on his face. He was all of us. We all had that same expression on our face of like, how did this thing happen? Amazing. I remember I was working. I was working. I was working. I was working. I was in Cleveland at the time. I was working for the CBS affiliate there, W.O.I. Channel 19, action news. Honest, fair, everywhere. And I remember our sports director, Tony Zarela. I love Tony, Tony Z. And I remember him, because I went to that WrestleMania, and I came back that Monday morning, and I went into my usual TV shift that afternoon. And I remember Tony saying, what's the big deal with this?

guy losing. Like, isn't it scripted? I said, yeah, it is, but like nobody expected the Undertaker to lose, especially not at WrestleMania. And he goes, yeah, but like, why are people freaking out? Why are they making such a big deal about it? And I said, like, it's like one of, it's like when one of your favorite characters gets killed off in a TV show, completely unannounced, or it's like when you start watching a movie and there's a huge star in the movie and they die in the first like five minutes. You're like, oh my gosh, I didn't see that coming. It's one of those shocking moments. Like, and that's where like wrestling or just entertainment in general, that's where it's at best when it catches you off guard, when it shocks you. So you got to, I think you got to go

with the streak ending at WrestleMania 30. There's other iconic moments you could throw in there, but for me personally, I think it's hard to argue against those five. takes on sports. I will always have a complicated relationship with this game. But people evolve. So do sports. Do not make me regret this. Do not make me devolve. Back to that guy that so many clones wish that I still was. And do not embarrass the entire country. Now, I can go back. I can get there fast. Lose tonight. And you got a real problem. Do not blow it. The Jim Rome Show podcast. You've been warned. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Mike Thompson on Facebook says,

yourself included, which four wrestlers past or present do you want on your 4th of July hot dog eating team? So we're like, we're doing the Coney Island hot dog eating contest, Joey Chestnut style, the goat Joey Chestnut. I'm going to go with,

so it's me plus four, right? Which four wrestlers passed or present? I'm going to go with Andre the Giant. There are so many legendary stories about the amount of food he would eat and certainly about the amount of alcohol. He would drink. We're going on to the giant. I think we're got to go with Otis. I think Otis did some sort of eating contest in a pie eating contest around a Thanksgiving episode of Smackdown, I think.

Otis is just the best. I ran into Otis in London. And he went to say goodbye to me, and instead of giving me an actual hug, he gave me a bear hug. And I don't think Otis knows his own strength because he gave me what to him was just a little squeeze. I felt like, I feel like my ribs cracked. I was like, oh, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Christopher. Oh, yeah.

And I was like, oh, that's too much. Otis, stop it. What a guy. Notice, I love you. He's the best. We got to go with Otis. You know that man can put down some food. I think for the very obvious choice here is Bronz Strowman.

I mean, he hosts the TV show on USA Network called Everything on the Menu. Have you seen how much food he's putting down? He's also a big, big man. I think we got to go Bronz Strowman. And then who's going to round out our team here? A lot of people we could go with. but there are a ton of stories when it comes to Yoko Zuna. I think I'm going to round out the team here with Yoko Zuna.

So we got Otis, Andre the Giant, Bronzeman, Yoko Zuna, and maybe I'll eat like three hot dogs in our 10-minute Coney Island hot dog eating contest. Those guys are putting down a lot, though. Who's going to beat that team? Come on. Trent. Dot Young 88 on Instagram. Ask CVV number 142. Good day, CVV.

The realist, real, real, real, real, real one here. That was for having the CVV sign front row at Crown Jewel in Perth, Western Australia. Man, Trent, shout out to you. Trent brought a CVV sign front row. You might have even saw it when you were watching Crown Jewel in Perth. Appreciate you. I recently went on a holiday road trip from Perth up to Broome in the northwest of West Australia. 3,108 kilometers, roughly 1,933 miles.

That is a lot. Round trip, I made it through 79 episodes of Insight, starting all the way back at the beginning on Spotify. It's been really great to see the show and how it's evolved over time. Man, I'm sorry for some of those early episodes. You listen to 79 of those. Some of those were some real stinkers back then. I've always been a big fan of the inspirational quotes at the end, remembering vague goals, vague results.

But I would love to know. What is your Mount Rushmore of inspiring quotes? Through the show, I've adopted John Cinas, control the controllable mantra as one as well as one from the legendary manager Bill Nicholson, it is better to fail aiming high than succeed aiming low. Set our sights so high that even in failure, there is an echo of glory. That's a great quote.

I'm going to steal that one. So my Mount Rushmore of inspirational quotes, and I love a good quote, I love when a complex thought can be distilled down to just a few words. I love that so much. Control the controllable, I think is my favorite. Three words.

Control the controllable. You can't control what other people say. You can't control what other people do, but you have 100% control over how you react to what other people say and what other people do. It's not always easy, but you do have that control. I also love this two shall pass.

When things are not going so well, this two shall pass. when things are going amazing, this two shall pass. Like just, it's the reminder that life is peaks and valleys. It's the reminders that like it's not always going to be this bad, but it's not always going to be this good. Like things come and go. And it's a nice little reminder that this two shall pass.

I always love this Maya Angelou, quote, I've learned that people will forget what you say, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. And that is so abundantly clear. That is such a great quote. I think about it all the time. That really speaks to wrestling. You're not going to remember every move in a ring in the match. You're not going to remember every word in a promo, but you will remember how that match made you feel or how that match made you feel or how that promo made you feel. Was it, did it suck?

Did it make you laugh? Did it make you cry? This is actually always, if anyone ever asked me for advice when they're giving like a best man speech or a maid of honor speech or a toast. I always say, I basically like paraphrase this.

Like they're not going to remember every story you tell. They're not going to remember that you are the, you know, that you guys met in. college in your second year geography class, people aren't going to remember that. They're going to remember, were you the funny speaker, were you the nervous one, were you the drunk one, were you the quiet one? That's all they're going to remember, especially when there's five or ten speeches or more. They're just going to remember how did you make them feel?

What was the lasting impression that you had on them? And think about this all the time when it comes to like meeting a celebrity. That person could be the nicest, most considerate person, and you're going to judge them based on the 10-second interaction you have with them. Were they nice? Were they smiling? Did they shake your hand? Did they engage in a brief little bit of banter with you? On the flip side, did they just sit at the autograph table, barely look up, and then just hand you the autograph? Oh my gosh, I used to really like that person. maybe now, not so much. I think about that all the time. And since I love gratitude, since it's a huge focal point of my everyday, I love this quote. No amount of regret can change

the past, no amount of anxiety can change the future, but any amount of gratitude can change the present. And it is so, so true. Any amount of gratitude. changes where you're at right now. SSJ underscore Jojo on Instagram. Hey, CVV, I was wondering what the reference and joke Brian Cage made when he said, did you talk to Taker? And you busted out laughing.

So this is such a, it's like a two-second thing that happened, I believe, on Smackdown. Brock Lezzer was backstage with the bands, like pumping up before a match. And he said, you talked to Taker? It was it. So Brian Cage was during the interview, if you were just listening, it probably wouldn't make as much sense. He had the bands. He was like doing bicep curls with the

bands while he was sitting there in the interview, at least for this second of the interview. And he was like, oh, it's like that segment, that backstage segment. Did you talk to Taker? I laughed because it was such a very specific reference that I was like, oh my gosh. I remembered that and clearly he did too. That's it. That's all it was. There's nothing more to it other than that. So if you can find this clip, please tag me on Instagram or TikTok or X.

It'll all make sense when you see this clip. Maybe my editor, Troy Blair, is just the absolute best at finding like these little nuggets. I'm sure Troy has already found it. I'm sure Troy will make this into a TikTok or reel at some point soon, and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about here. Jeff Sebastian on Facebook says, whenever the topic of best matches to get someone into wrestling comes up, the answers are usually older matches that typically don't have any active wrestlers.

What are some matches from the current era that you would recommend to somebody that's getting into wrestling? My pick is the women's triple threat match from WrestleMania 41. What a match. one of the best matches from 2025. It's a great match. And I think that the reason that people go with classic matches is nostalgia is a hell of a drug. And I think that you have like these two forces that are always kind of working against each other

when you're talking about wrestling specifically. Nistalgia is up against recency bias. So like a match that you saw just this past weekend may go down in history is one of the greatest matches of all time, but like because it just happened last weekend, you don't have like the full context of like, all right, where does this fall in history? Am I only thinking it's so great because I just saw it last week with that recency bias of it? I feel like it truly takes some time to like figure out where does this fall? Because if you saw a great match a week ago or a month ago and you're like, oh, man, that might be one of the best matches of all time.

It just sounds like hyperbole. But with that said, mask versus mask, Al Grande Americano versus original Al-Grané Americano is one of those matches that I feel like as soon as it was over, you went, yeah, that's an all-timer. That is an all-time great match. So I think that that's a match right there. And like the story, because that's really at the heart of it, what gets you hooked on wrestling.

Like, sure, it's the athleticism. Sure, it's the characters, but it's the story. It's the story that you can really sink your teeth into. That's what makes you love wrestling. And the story with that match, it's just, it's personal, it's deep. And the way that it all played out in that match was just incredible. I hope I have a chance at some point this year. to chat with Chad Gable about that match.

I hope I have the chance to talk to Algrani Americano about that match, but that's a match that I would for sure put on that list. Also, from just a few months ago, I think that that main event match with Roman Reigns and CM Punk is one of the greatest WrestleMania main events ever. And I'm not saying greatest WrestleMania matches

because there's been a lot of great WrestleMania matches, but I think one of the greatest WrestleMania main events. I also think that if you're getting someone into wrestling and you're showing them something fairly recent, you got to show them Cody versus Roman, night two of WrestleMania 40. Also because like, Undertaker comes out there, they probably are aware of who the Undertaker is. Rock comes out there. I'm sure they're aware of who the Rock is.

So like you've got all these different elements. It's kind of like Avengers end game. That's a match, I think. You got to show them. But I see what you're saying. A lot of matches are like, oh, watch this match from 20 years ago. Watch this match from 25 years ago. I get it.

So if you're trying to, like, show people matches with people who are with superstars who are in it right now that, like, maybe they can continue to follow the story. Like, WrestleMania 40 would be a perfect example. Show them that match. Roman, Cody Rhodes, still the top of the card right now. Cody quite literally just lost that title that he won, that he finished the story with at WrestleMania 40 in Philly. Roman doesn't have that title anymore,

but Roman has another title now. That all makes sense when you're explaining it. So I think there's a lot of matches, but there's a handful right there along, of course, with your triple threat from WrestleMania 41 last year. Chua Jung Yang on Facebook says, where do you think the payoff is to the story with L.A. Knight and Solo Sacoa.

I think the payoff here is a SummerSlam match. The Bloodline versus L.A. Night, L. Solo Sacoa, and then they're going to need a partner. I think it's going to be a six-man match. That's where I think this goes. L.A. Knight and Solo Sacoa have been having issues with the Uso's and Jacob Faw, too. I think they'll come together three versus three.

at SummerSlam, L.A. Knight, solo, they're going to need a partner. I think that partner is going to be Royce Keys. So we're going to get the Bloodline versus L.A. Knight, Solisokoa, and Royce Keys. Solo and Keys have come to blows recently. Royce Keys didn't want to join the MFTs. MFTs aren't even a thing anymore. Solo's doing his own thing. Solossocoa as a baby face could be very interesting here. But that's where I think this is going. I think that it's solo, night, Royce keys, all coming together to fight against a common enemy. And I think that if we're looking at SummerSlam here, got the potential for probably what, 12 to 14 matches. We already know what a few are here. And as the next few weeks kind of go on, we'll get like, it'll be much clearer to see

what these matches are. But I wouldn't be surprised if we get an intercontinental ladder match. Also, are we going to get Nick Aldous in the ring? Like, this has been teased for a long time. But when Nick Aldous and Gunther got physical on Smackdown and, now they've both been sent home. And Adam Pierce is now the GM of both shows. It kind of feels like there's something going on there. Like Gunther accused Nick Aldous of being a failed wrestler. I mean, that's got to hurt. Nick Aldus is a former NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. He helped the championship for over a thousand days. He can go. He can go in the ring. I thought it was funny when Nick Allis, when they were pushing. And Nick Aldus was

was like, you get one. And then Gunther, like, attacked him again. And then, like, everyone came in to break it up. Could we see Gunther versus Nick Aldus? Could that be Nick Aldous's last match? Nick Aldous was on the show with me, would that be about a year and a half ago? And he said he's not done in the ring.

Like, he definitely wants to lace him up again. And why wouldn't he want to lay some up again? Like, he's such a great wrestler. He's an incredible Smackdown general manager. but it'd be great to see him in there. That could be a match that maybe we end up getting. He's only 39 years old. I think all this can still go.

But this, I'm turning this into like a, like my predictions here for SummerSlam. I feel like we need to wait a few more weeks here. But L.A. Night, Solosokoa, I think that's where we're headed with that one. That's our final question on this. Ask CVV number 142, cold Scorpio edition. Ask CVV, number 142, cool edition.

Ask CVV, number 140, Becky Two Belt edition. And of course, Ask CVV, number 140 to two belt edition. Send in your questions for next week. Ask CVV number 143. Send in your ideas. Send them in on Spotify, if you're listening on there. Send them in on social media using the hashtag Ask CVV or send them in on the newly revamped, Chris VanVleet.com. We've got some big ones coming up here in the next few weeks next week. Tuesday we've got the great collie, his first ever. English podcast, and we've got a fantastic interview on Thursday with Finn Baller. Things get a little emotional during that interview. Kind of unexpected. I love how open he was in that conversation. And I don't want to give too much away.

But I will say that we have a certain phenomenal guest coming on. I've said too much. We have an interview with that will be phenomenal. in the next few weeks. And then also a bunch of other great ones. So make sure you lay the smack down on that follow button so you don't miss out on any of those. We already gave you a bunch of quotes, great quotes earlier. I'll give you another great one here from Harvey McKay.

Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never. Get it back. Be great. Be grateful. Have an amazing weekend.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. The place where I, Megan Klingerberg, a World Cup expert, teaches you everything that you need to know for this summer's World Cup. How special is it that we've been able to follow this young group of guys? It's been such a roller coaster of emotions. You can feel the intensity. Quite a bit of time. energy effort, everything along the way on these guys making the country proud, and I think

they will the summer. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henko. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.