Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #145 - CM Punk & Cody Get Heated, Big Cass' WWE Return, Nick Aldis vs. Gunther, Best Wrestling Video Game Ever

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Welcome to AskCVV #145! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet recaps SNME's and the fallout between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, he also answers questions about Fanatics Fest NYC being interviewed by Stephanie McMahon and interviewing The Undertaker, what will happen between Nick Aldis and Gunther, the next "Paul Heyman Guy", predicting the order of the matches at SummerSlam, Mount Rushmore of bald wrestlers, best wrestling quotes, Big Cass' WWE return, the best wrestling video game ever and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop." - Confucius 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

Recently, our company's softball team lost the big game by one run. Then Dale tried to console us with the quote, Winning isn't everything. Well, Dale and I are very different. I get early payout from Bed 365. If my team goes up big, I get paid out instantly, even if they blow the lead later. Sound familiar, Dale?

Thanks, Beth 365. Must be 19 or older Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please go to connectsuntario.c.c. Welcome back, my friend, to another one here on Insight. It's me. It's me.

It's CVV. Chris Van Fleet. I hope you've had a great week. Thank you for keeping me company on this Friday. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the entire planet. Hit a flying forearm on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening. if it is Spotify, could I ask you to take

four seconds today to leave a rating for the show on there that helps so much. Just go into the show's main page, click the three little dots, dot, dot, dot,

and then you'll see rate show. If you're listening on Apple, my goodness, a rating or review would just mean so much to me on there.

So thank you for even just considering it, even just thinking about it. Thank you. I love this episode with AJ Styles. that we had on Tuesday.

I hope you enjoyed that chat as much as I did. You've been listening to the show long enough. You know that I'm a huge TNA fan. And especially that era like 05 to 09, I loved it. And A.J. Stiles was the guy when you think of TNA, especially during that era.

So to be able to sit down with him and talk wrestling is always amazing. This is the second time he's been on the show. But to talk with him six-ish months, five and a half months after his retirement, it was just so interesting to see his look back at his career, look back at the last year or so. And whether we knew it or not,

this was like an unofficial retirement tour. And he did a lot of things over this last year that he always wanted to do. And also, I briefly, very briefly, was able to get into the ring with him at Rusev's wrestling school here in Nashville, catch wrestling academy. And I got locked up with him.

and it's been a long time since I trained. Like, I trained when I was still in college. So he was like, oh, wow, that's very, very tight on the collar and elbow tie up there. And he gave me some, like, very brief pointers for someone who's not going to be wrestling, but I'm just saying it was so cool to get in there with the man that John Sina says is the best to ever do it. And you've heard the silly synonym names that I have for. wrestlers, the synonyms like the big show is the large program. Badass Billy Gun is evil anus William Firearm. Well, Tuesday's episode, this one's so dumb. Alan Jones Techniques.

AJ Stiles is Alan Jones Techniques. If you want to stop listening to the show now, I completely understand. It's been a good ride and I appreciate you. But, If you haven't listened to that episode on Tuesday, what a chat and then also Dragon Lee on Thursday. Yes, we did A.J. Lee this week. The team of A.J. Lee. I love it. It was so fun. Also, so good to see so many of you guys at Madison Square Garden last weekend for Saturday night's main event. What an arena. Like, so cool to be able to cross that off my bucket list. I was three for four on the Saturday night's main event predictions. And in my defense, I made those predictions before SmackDown, obviously,

asked CVV aired during the day on Friday. Had I watched Smackdown? Had I known that the stipulation would be that if Sammy Zane and Gunther won that match, it would be a fatal four-way for the WWE championship at SummerSlam, would not have made this choice. I was like, oh, you know what, there's going to be some dissatisfaction. here with punk and Cody Rhodes. And there was, and we'll get to that a little bit later on in the show.

But had I known that this would be the stipulation, I would have been like, you know what, I just don't think they're going to do a four-way match at SummerSlam is one of the main events. I just not enough time to build up to this. I feel like especially with the way the WWE's been doing main events and especially title matches, I just felt like we were going to get a one-on-one match. So as soon as they announced a stipulation, I went, I wish I could go back and re-record just that section of Ask CVV because I just knew.

I knew it was going to be Cody Rhodes and CM Punk somehow finding a way to win, which is exactly what happened. But I will take the three out of four on this one. I'm okay with that, but there's a lot to dive into. That match had some repercussions as we thought it might. but welcome, my friend, to Ask CVV number 145 knuckle shuffle edition. Ask CVV number 140 Big E's five count edition. Ooh, that's a deep cut.

I like that. Also, Big E was a great guest. Check out his book. How I Got Over.com to pre-order his book. And of course, we do this. every time we've got to. Ask CVV number 145 time, five time, five time, five time, five time, WCW champion Booker T edition. And speaking of Booker T, I'm going to be at Booker T's wrestling company, Reality of Wrestling on Saturday, August 8th in Texas City, Texas. I can't wait

to be there for summer of Champions 12. And I don't. know what's going to happen there. I legitimately don't know what's going to happen there, because that's kind of how wrestling works. You find out like the day of or like last minute, but all I'm saying is the last time I was at an indie wrestling show, someone got hit with the rock bottom. Or as some people in the comments have called it, the sharp bottom. I don't know if that's a very good name for a finishing move, but whatever you want to call it, it was a pretty great rock bottom if I don't say so myself. but I will be there. I'll be hanging out with you guys, and I can't wait. So that's Saturday,

August 8th. Also, I'll be announcing an Insight Live. Oh, man, I don't want to give away too much just in case. Like, not all of the T's are crossed. Not all of the eyes are dotted yet. But if things come together, we should be announcing this early next week with a massive guest in a city that means a lot to me, a city that's very near and dear to my heart. I've probably already said too much. You're probably putting at least some of the pieces together here, but it's a legendary wrestler from that city,

in this city. Well, let's just chat next week. You'll probably hear about it next week because, yes, I've already said too much. Also, I have definitely. said too much here. Also, I saw Odyssey on Friday. What a film. Oh, my goodness. Christopher Nolan does it again. What an epic film. Beautiful cinematography. What a wonderful score. Great performances. Maybe we'll chat about that more next week. But my entire Instagram algorithm now is just showing me all kinds of Odyssey, fun facts and behind the scenes things and memes. I love it. Jim Rome 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. Scrolling with Haley. I'm Haley Karania.

I scroll with the homies here in the live chat because there's a lot to scroll through on X, on Instagram, on TikTok. 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. We'll kick it off with sam.p212 on Instagram who says, how did it feel to experience Fanatics Fest as a talent? Someone under the lights instead of as a fan. Sam, I was still very much a fan. I still very much experienced it as a fan.

I was there on Friday and Saturday, Friday as a fan the whole time. And the cool thing about Fanatics Fest, if you haven't been, and I'm sure you've seen a ton of stuff online about it, The cool thing about it is that the stars that are there and like the list of talents, crazy, they're like somewhat accessible. Like I feel like when you go to other conventions, the talent's like on the stage doing a panel or an interviewer or Q&A or they're like behind a table with a huge line for a meet and greet or autograph signing and that's it.

At Fanatics Fest, you're walking around like the main floor and then you'll see just like a swarm of people off to the side, like, 12 feet away from you, and you're like, what the heck is that? And then you see like, I don't know, LeBron James walked by or like DJ Khalid walked by me and like his security like bumped into us. And that's such a cool thing. And it's not like they're not just walking by. They're going to like rip packs like to just go to someone's like card table and just rip packs. Or they're going to someone's table to like, oh man, I heard that you had the, you know, very specific card. I've been looking for this

show Hey Otani card. And then they're like making deals. It's just amazing to see this all unfold. Because again, I feel like a lot of conventions, the talents like unreachable unless you pay for the meat and great price and then you get your

moment with that person and then that's it. Here it's just everywhere you turn. There's someone. So Saturday, I was a guest on Stephanie McMahon's podcast, which was an absolute blast. I think that'll be coming out sometime in August. And then right after that, I went right from her stage to the stage where I was interviewing The Undertaker, which was,

he's just the best. Like, he is the absolute best. And it was a great conversation. You'll be seeing that, I think, let me look at the, look at the calendar here instead of just like throwing out a random date. I believe that'll be up on Tuesday, August 4th. So you'll see that on August 4th. great chat. But speaking to what we were just saying about like, there's talent everywhere, Undertaker comes on stage and we just began the conversation. We're three minutes into it. And then off in the distance, I hear the Undertaker's theme song. Like, what is that? So like, we're on one side of the convention hall and we can see across to like where they were doing the WWE entrances. Little did we know it. But that was Tom Brady doing the Undertaker's entrance.

in the casket, which became a viral clip online. So like, while Undertaker's on stage, 100 feet away or whatever it was, 90 feet away, maybe a little more, I don't know, but there's Tom Brady doing his thing. And then a few minutes after that, we heard some huge booze, like right behind the stage where we were.

Like, what's going on here? And they weren't booing the Undertaker. They were just booing in general. Like, what, wait, what is this? It was huge boos for Wemby. Victor Wenigana. And it's like, oh my gosh, here we're talking to Undertaker and right over there, that other things happening.

All that to say is like, it's a blast. I've been to Fanatics Fest now two years, when last year went this year. I have so much fun there. And it was also so great to see so many people that are passionate about wrestling. I had so many great conversations with fans just like you talking about what's going to happen at Saturday Night's main event. How is that going to tie into something? SummerSlam and where does it go from there to maybe we're talking about Crown Jewel.

I love wrestling. You know that. I love chatting wrestling. So it was so cool to share those conversations with you guys, both inside where Fanatics Fest was happening and also on the streets. Like just walking randomly around New York City. And of course, yes, I got myself a great New York slice of pizza. Like there was a great spot to get a slice right next to the hotel. while we're getting a slice, chatting about wrestling.

I love it. It was great. And like, what a weekend, too. That was the same weekend where the World Cup finals were happening, like, just over the water in New Jersey. So there was just this energy in the city. And, yeah, just especially on Sunday when the World Cup finals were happening. There was just like this bus. And for everyone wondering, I was a guest on Stephanie McMahon's podcast.

And you're right. She hasn't been a guest on my show yet. I made a really strong pitch during the interview of like, hey, you got to come on my show. She said yes. She also said she'd put in a good word with her husband, although I chatted with him at some point, and that's also going to happen.

We've got to figure out a time and a location for that, but Stephanie said this will happen. So I'm thinking maybe early fall. Like, we'll see. But I can't wait. There are so many stories that she would have. I don't know if we'd have enough time. But I can't wait.

There's a few. There's a few on the, like, there's the list of people who've never been on the show before. And I feel like we're slowly one by one getting to cross a lot of them off this year. Like how cool was it to start the year with Stone Cold Steve Austin? I never thought we'd be able to have an interview with the great colleague. Like, I can't believe we got the great colleague. That one happened. Finn Baller, someone who, like, very rarely does podcasts.

We got him on the show. I love that. Paul Heyman, another person who very rarely does podcast. We somehow got Paul Heyman on the show this year. Heidenreich, who I feel like we hadn't heard from in years and years and years. That photo of him working at Walmart pops up. One thing leads to another. you guys were so kind to like float my name out to him.

Somehow that got to him and then he reached out to me. We got Haydnreich on the show. And that for Haydnreich has turned into Hydenreich doing all these appearances and like coming back into the world of wrestling. I love it. So there's still a few names. Stephanie McMahon would be one of them.

Randy Orton would be one of them. Triple H would be one of them. I also had a conversation. backstage with Roman Reigns. I'm not saying he's coming on the show, but I would love to have him on. At some point in time, we had a great conversation.

Man, that guy is awesome. And I'm so happy for all of the success that he's had. I also, right when I got there on Saturday at Fanatics Fest, the first person I saw was Danhausen. And there was a, an initial conversation about like, who's the guest going to be for this Insight Live at Fanatics Fest? And they showed me the list of all the people, all the WWE superstars who were appearing

at Fanatics Fest that Saturday. And I said, Danhausen, he's got to be the top of the list. And then it turned out that Danhausen was doing an autograph signing at the exact same time as my show. So it was like, sorry, he's not available. And then I got to do it with the Undertaker. Can't feed that. But I think that Danhausen may be coming on the show at some point. I don't know when, but we've never had Danhausen in character. So I think that that could be fun. You can go back. There's been two interviews with Danhausen out of character.

If you want to learn the ins and outs of this character, what makes him tick, what makes him tick as a person, Donovan Danhausen. Go listen to those. But the Danhausen character is hilarious. So fingers crossed. That'll be happening at some point soon. But all of that is to say, what a weekend in New York City. I also recorded one.

I haven't even mentioned this yet. I also recorded a chat with Little Guido slash Nunzio. When was the last time that you heard from Nunzio? What an amazing story he has. He's still working indie shows. And when I say, when was the last time you heard from him, When was the last time you, like, heard an hour-long conversation with him? Oh, man, I can't wait for you guys to hear that one when it comes out in a few weeks.

So a great weekend in New York City. Thank you for all of the hospitality there. Scott to the Rescue 14 on Instagram says, Yo, CVV! Where do we go from here? We have Punk and Cody after that SummerSlam press kickoff thing. It felt a little reminiscent of the WrestleMania 40 kickoff, didn't it? Remember when Cody ate that massive slap from the rock and then chaos is kind of what we got here, right?

CM Punk pie facing Cody Rhodes and a little bit of a melee after that. We've still very much got Babyface versus Babyface in both main events here. And I think it's the title matches of the main events. I know they haven't announced what nights the matches are going to be on. I know they haven't officially announced the main events. but if I'm looking into this and observing this as a wrestling fan like we are, I'm thinking Roman Seth is one night and Cody and Punk or the other night. I don't know which one's which.

If I had to guess, maybe night one is Roman and Seth. Yeah, I think so. And then CM Punk Cody, I think could be night too. Who knows? We're just speculating here. Speculating wildly, as my friend Sam Roberts likes to say. But SummerSlam's next weekend, which is crazy. I'm going to be in Minneapolis beginning on Thursday,

so I would love to chat wrestling if you're in Minneapolis for SummerSlam. I don't think a full-on heel turn is happening between now and then. And I was like, I don't know if we're going to get Babyface versus Babyface in both of those main event matches, but I don't see a heel turn coming. And I guess you could make the argument that, like, Roman never officially turned baby face. He's kind of a tweener. I don't know about that.

I think with the crowd reaction that he's getting, he's not only a baby face. He's one of the biggest baby faces right now. Seth Rollins, also baby face. CM Punk, also a baby face. Cody Rhodes, also baby face. But CM Punk accidentally hitting Cody Road. and I put accidentally in quotations there,

accidentally hitting Cody Rhodes with the strap of the WWE Championship at Saturday Night's main event, I like that that turned into this very real, heated segment backstage, like shot in the way that it like, almost like TNA used to shoot their promos like early 2010s, like mid-2010s

where like it felt almost like reality show-esque, like turn that camera off and then the camera points down but like they're still recording the audio and you're hearing people yelling or like the camera's kind of like sneaking this view that's kind of what we got there like Cody went off on CM Punk

like he's like cursing at him like going off I don't think that's Cody turning heel I think that's Cody just like the Cody character I should say being legitimately upset about this like hey we're on the same team what the heck are you doing here why would you do that to me

and punk's going hey I don't mean it? And then there's the underlying idea of like, well, did he really mean it? That then got used as ammo as they went to the SummerSlam kickoff. It's like, it's not a full heel here, but like, Cody's definitely frustrated here. Like, that's what I, that's what I'm seeing here. Cody's frustrated. But the thing I question here is like the easy heel turn has always been you just turn on the biggest baby face. You just, John Sr., you kick the biggest baby face in the nuts, boom, instant heel. We get it. What's the move to turn either Cody Rhodes or CM Punk heel? What, like, seriously, what is the move? Because if you're going to turn on the biggest baby face,

well, Cody's the biggest baby face. How does he turn on himself? Is it just like he works an aggressive of style and Cody has kind of worked a heel-ish style. And I'm thinking specifically, WrestleMania last year, WrestleMania 41, where even though John Cena was supposed to be the heel, the crowd was cheering him, the crowd was booing Cody.

And Cody was like working heel-ish. And he's done that quite a bit where he's like, he's listening. He's hearing what the crowd's doing. And he was responding to that because he's a veteran. That's what you do when you've been in the business as long as he has. but I don't know what the move is.

Like, realistically, Cody can do some heelish things, but like, what makes it a full-on heel turn? And I don't think we get a heel turn between now and SummerSlam. I don't think there's enough time. But that doesn't mean that things can't transpire

in Minneapolis at SummerSlam that would be perceived as a heel turn or that would be a heel turn. Maybe it's, whoever wins the match, there's an attack after the match. Like that could be it. Like, why would you do that?

Why would you attack after the match if the match is over? And I've seen a lot of people online saying that Roman Raines and Cody Rhodes, they'll be busy promoting Street Fighter, so they can't be the champions. First of all, Street Fighter comes out on October 16. There is plenty of time between now and then. And if you haven't heard, yes,

both Cody Rhodes and Roman Raines are in the new street fighter movie. The trailers look fantastic for this. But there's no reason they can't be the champion. And in fact, I think that if you are the champion, I don't know if both of them would be the champion. It would obviously depend a lot on the storylines, but I think you would have to at least factor this in a little bit because there'd be this nice crossover in the mainstream of like,

oh, wow, that guy Roman Raines. I've heard of him before. Oh, wow, and he's a champion. He's on the red carpet with that championship belt. That's pretty cool. I think you've got to think about that a little bit. But I think there's this perception of like when someone goes away to film a movie and they drop the title and they go away and we don't see them for a month or two or three,

like exactly what's happening right now with Drew McIntyre. When you're on the global press tour, I really do think you could take two, three weeks off, or you could be on the other side of the planet promoting the film and then you come back, maybe you're in, I don't know, make up the name of some country on the other side of the planet

where you're promoting this film, you fly back real late on Sunday to be there for Ron Monday, or you fly back early on Friday to be there on SmackDown. I think it's possible. And I also think that, like, being the WWE champion or the World Heavyweight Champion not only helps to promote WWE, it helps to promote the Street Fighter movies. So I don't think you can just write off this idea of, like, oh, street fighters coming out,

they won't be around, they can't be the champion. I don't think that's the case at all. We'll do the full SummerSlam predictions next week. I'll be recording AskCTVV while I'm in Minneapolis. but I don't see Roman Raines dropping the title. At least not right now. I also think the Summer of Punk might not be over just yet. And again, I think that CM Punk having the championship and Cody continuing to chase it,

whether Cody is the number one contender after Summer Slam or not, I guess that would be another conversation if he does in fact not win it. But I think the Summer of Punk might not be. be over. James Parsons on Facebook says, hey, CVV. I love your podcast. It's always fun and full of information. My question is, will Nick Aldous's match against Gunther be a one and done? I don't think it's won and done. Now, I'm not sure he's going to be a full-time wrestler because he's doing such a great job as the GM of Smackdown. But if you've ever seen, or if you've never seen, I should say, a Nick Aldous match before. If you're not familiar with his work from TNA or NWA or New Japan, man, you are going to

be blown away at SummerSlam next week. And I think he'll be too good for you to go, oh, that's it. Like, we just get this one match. I don't think that's going to be the case. He's a two-time NWA World's Heavyweight Champion. That last rain was 1,043 days. He's also a former TNA World Heavyweight champion. Like, he's so, so good. I understand, though, that his last match was 1,070 days ago. That's what it'll be by the time SummerSlam rolls around. He last wrestled in October of 2023. And when I posted this match graphic that, like, hey, it's official. And I love that they made that official at the Summer Slam kickoff. Like, things feel very heated there. But I posted the match graphic on Facebook. I said, all right, it's official. Gunther versus all this.

One of the comments said, how is WWB going to make this guy feel like he's a legitimate competition for the guy who retired Goldberg and John Cena and AJ Stiles? And I responded to that and I said, the second he comes out on that entrance, not wearing a suit and people see just how jacked he is, you're instantly going to go, oh, like if you're not familiar with his work, like he's, he's jujajacked. and you're going to see that and you're going to go, oh, yeah. Okay, I see. I see how he could go toe to toe with him.

For those of you that aren't aware, Nick Aldous is 6'4, and he was billed at 242. Gunther is 6'4, build at 250. To quote the legendary Mike Goldberg from UFC, everything else is virtually identical. cool. And they wrestle a very similar-ish style, like 42 seconds into this match. You're going to see what Nick Aldus is capable of and you're going to go, oh my gosh, okay. Their styles match up so similarly, like that European style. And here's an interesting thing to think about. Nick Aldous is 39 years old. Think of who the WWE champions are right now. Think of who's in the main event at SummerSlam.

Everybody there, their age begins with a four. Nick Aldous is 39. He's only one year older than AJ Stiles was when AJ debuted in WWE. And of course, you know, AJ went on to have an insane, incredible 10-year Hall of Fame run. I don't think this match with Gunther's

going to be a squash match. I feel like it's going to be a competitive of 10 to 15-ish minute match that really showcases what Nick Alders can do. I had Nick on the show in November of 2024. And I asked him, I said, would you be at peace? If your career ended now, if you never wrestle another match, would you be at peace with the career that you've had? And he said, no, I want to lace them up again.

And I think that I've earned the opportunity to do that. and I couldn't agree more. Here we are almost two years since that interview, and he's getting the opportunity to do it. And also, I'm going to have Nick on the show next week. It'll be so amazing to talk to him at this stage of his career now. Right before this big match at Summer Slam, right before his return to the ring against Gunther,

it'll be great to chat with him about where his mindset's at, what his expectations are for this match, how this all came together, all of that. So that'll be Thursday, this coming Thursday for that conversation. What I think's interesting about this match, though, is if Gunther gets the win, I feel like he holds it over Nick in the future. Like, any time there's something he wants on Smackdown, he can just go, hey, hey, don't make me choke you out again, Nicholas.

Do you remember what happened last time you stepped up to me? And again, we'll do the full Summer Slam predictions next week. see Nick Aldus winning this just because I don't think Gunther could lose this match and it makes sense, but I guess we'll see, but I would think that it's a very competitive match. Gunther gets the win, but I don't think that's the last of Nick Aldus. And I know he's hungry to do more, so I guess we'll see how it all plays out. Reese Jones 8 on Instagram says, CVV, hope you're well, sir.

Oh, I am well. I hope you're well as well. Reese, I hope you're well as well. Okay. I have a question for Ask CVV number 1, 45. Who do you see being the next Paul Heyman guy? Assuming SummerSlam is Brock's last match, I see Heyman looking at Oba.

Would this make Oba unstoppable? Or does he simply not need Paul Heyman? Keep up the good work. I enjoy Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Reese from Shrewsbury, England. When you think about it, Paul Heyman is typically paired with someone who needs help with promos

or maybe their promos aren't their strongest suit. The obvious exemption of this is when Paul Hamer was with CM Punk. But when you look at the rest of them, you're like, oh, yeah. Well, look, Paul Heyman's one of the very best to ever hold a microphone. So, like, hard to be on his level. But he brings people up.

like I wonder what Brock Lezzer's career looks like without Paul Heyman. And then Paul Heyman turned that on me and said, I wonder what my career looks like without Brock Lezzer. But with that said, Obafemi is so good on the mic, especially the improvements he's had over what's called the last six to nine months. When you look back at last year, yeah, he was good. There's a very good promo. When you look at him now, it's like, oh my gosh.

like he gets it. And even if it's something like, like what he did at Saturday Night's main event, just gets in there, gets hyped up about this match, like cuts that very brief promo in the ring. It's like the intensity, the realism of it.

Like, he gets it. It takes every box. I don't know if Oba benefits that much from having Paul Heyman. And that's not like with great respect to Paul Heyman. Obviously, Paul Heyman levels up anybody who's a Paul Hamon guy, but I don't think that Obafemi needs that.

I would love to see, and maybe the ship has sailed on this, I would have loved to see Austin Theory with Paul Heyman. I think that it just would have leveled him up and given him a bit of a mean streak. I think that would have been really cool to see. Austin Theory, though, is getting people to hate him in a different,

heel way right now with what's going on with the vision and Maxine Dupree, which has been fun to see people just crash out online about like how much they're hating on this. Like, yes, we understand Maxine Dupree is married. We also understand that these are performers playing roles. This is no different than when you watch movies or TV shows. It's so funny to see that. I don't know who the next Paul Heyman guy will be. And I think that whoever it is, like, Paul Heyman is a pretty great track record. But it'd be really cool to see, like, take someone from the midcard or the upper mid card, pour a little gasoline on that fire, see what happens.

Because Paul Heyman is not, like, for the most part, Paul Heyman is reping champions. So it'd be interesting to see, like, who do they have their eye on for someone who just needs just a little bit more here. Bronson Reed could also make a lot of sense. I'm excited to see what happens with Bronson Reed when he comes back from his injury. And if you've seen any of the photos he's been posting online, he is looking lean and mean.

But that's a great question. Who could be the next believable Paul Hammond guy? Ryan McLeod on Facebook says CVV! With three exclamation marks. Did you see yourself on season three, episode two of Unreal when CM Punk and Bailey walked by you? A little under four months now until the Jericho cruise. Can't remember if you're doing a live episode from the ship or not. Either way, I will see you there.

First of all, yes, I am doing a live episode from the ship. This is going to be my first Jericho cruise. I can't wait. I'm pumped. I've heard so many great stories about this. So, yeah, sign me up for that. I don't know who my guest is going to be, but just between me and you. And it's just us talking here right now, right?

Chris Jericho is like, yeah, whoever's on the ship, like as long as they're not busy during that time slot, you're welcome to interview them. So it's a pretty big guest list of people we could have on the shows. So you tell me, Chris Jericho cruise.com, look at the list there, and you can see, well, maybe, maybe I'm. I should look here. Let's look at the lineup. Let's go through some names here. Jeff Hardy, Mad Hardy, the Great Muda, Nick Nemith, Bully Ray, Elena Black, Ted DiBiase, Carlito, Shotsie, Vampiro, Buff Bagwell, A.J. Francis, Blumini. The list goes on and all there's, I'm on this list here. So we shall see. The second part, I, I, did not see myself on season three episode two when I watched it the first time.

I do remember being on the floor. I was standing there on the floor for John Cena's last match, Saturday night's main event last year, Washington, D.C., December 13th. And I remember just like looking over to my left and being like, oh, there's C.M. Punk and Bailey. And they wanted to watch John Cena's last match in the arena, like on the floor, in the bowl, as CM Punk called it as a fan. They wanted to watch it with the fans. So it was cool. Just look over and like, oh my gosh, they're right there. And then they end up standing like,

you know, 20 feet away to watch it. So I got a lot of people sending me messages being like, oh, I spotted you during that part. And I'm like, oh, that's so cool. Like, I remembered that happening. And I think there was a moment on season two when there was a shot of the crowd during the promo segment with Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair. And it cut to me and I was like just in the crowd in Chicago during that. I guess I'm an unreal veteran now. Been on two episodes for a total of 1.3 seconds. But it was just, it shows the passion that wrestlers in general have towards the business.

but specifically in that moment, it shows the passion that like C.M. Punk and Bailey have. They weren't like, they didn't have like 10 security guards around them as they were walking out. It was just like maybe there was one and then a little camera. I didn't realize it was an unreal camera, but just that was it.

And they just watched it the way that they watched wrestling matches growing up, which I thought was really cool to see. So thank you to everyone who sent a quick message to be like, hey, I spotted you. Yeah, kind of. Like, you have to really be looking to see it. Ashton Smith on Spotify. I like how you did this.

So it's Ash, then 10N Smith. Ash 10 Smith. Hey, CVV, I'm going to night two of SummerSlam next weekend. And I'm wondering what matches you think will end up on each night. I'm really hoping Oba versus Brock is night two. but we've got nine matches announced right now for SummerSlam. I'm thinking they'll probably, I don't know, if we're following the way it was at WrestleMania,

I think there's a pretty good chance, actually, that like the Oba-Brock match might be on ESPN. So it might be the opening match on night one or night two. Maybe it's night two opening match. I could see that one making sense. I mean, we're literally just like making this up as we're talking. right now. But I think that ESPN has seemingly wanted to put like some big matches, like the Oba Brock match and the Intercontinental Championship ladder match, for example, at

WrestleMania. They want to put that on the free stream of ESPN so the people are like, oh, man, this is so good. I need to now subscribe to watch the rest of this show. And I think they also try to put on some like recognizable names. So like if you're a lapsed fan, you haven't watched it in a while, oh my gosh, that's Brock Lezzer. He looks the same as he did 10, 20 years ago? Crazy. I think there's a chance for that. Night one or night two, though, I don't.

I don't know. I don't know. Last year had 13 matches. Seven on night one, six on night two. I think that's probably where they'll fall. here, like 13, 14-ish matches. As we look at it right now, we've got Liv Morgan versus Yo Sky,

Obofemi versus Brock Lesnar, Helen Assal, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, which I'm thinking is probably the night one main event. I don't know. We're just guessing here. Penta versus Chad Gable. Oh my goodness, I can't wait for that. CM Punk Cody Rhodes.

If Roman Seth is night one, then that's going to be night. two. Then we've got L.A. Knight. Yeah. Solisicoe and Royce Keys versus the bloodline in the six-man tag match. We've got the five-way ladder match for the interim WWE Women's Championship. I don't know why it's the interim, interim WWE Women's Championship. Why isn't Ria Ripley just like vacated? And I guess it's the idea that when she is ready to come back from injury, she will then take on whoever the interim champion is and they'll unify them or determine who the real champion is. But man, it's been a long time.

It has been a long time since WWEs had an interim champion. The last time it happened was 2020, the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. When his name was Jordan Devlin at the time, J.D. McDonough, he wasn't able to defend the title because of the travel restrictions because of COVID. So they had an interim champion then, and it was like a six-way match for the NXT Cruiser Way championship. You remember this? Santos Escobar won that match. So six years ago was the last time they did an interim champion because of like the wild state of like the world at that time, but to do it again here. And I'm thinking it's just to keep Ria Ripley top of mind and like immediately insert.

her back in and be like, hey, you're not the real champion. I'm the real champion. Hey, one of these people in this five-way ladder match, let's go. Tiffany Stratton versus Jade Cargill versus Charlotte Flair or Nia Jax versus two others, which will be determined this week. I could see that match being one of the free ESPN matches. That could kick off the show. We've also got Gunther versus Nick All this, we've got Dan Housen versus Dominic Mysterio. The winner will get to keep the $100,000 that Dan Housin stole from the Judgment Day. Dan Housin's 15 and O in WWE right now. That match is going to be all kinds of fun.

I think we'd just be guessing here. I think we'd just be guessing about all of them, but I mean, that's what's kind of fun about this. Penta versus Chad Gable? I could see that just for some reason being on. night one. Like, give us that fun moment because I don't see any world where Chad Gable does not win this match with all of the momentum that he has, especially coming off of Mask versus Mask and AAA, the huge baby face reactions that he's getting now, like, how can you not love Chad Gable? On top of that, he's in his hometown. He's a Minnesota guy. He's from Minneapolis.

Of course, he's going to win. So I think that that might be a big night one moment and then we ride that momentum into night two but i hope to see you i hope to see you there ashton at night two i will be there love to see you guys richard on instagram says what is your hey cvv what is your mount rushmore of bald wrestlers also what do you think of triple h growing his hair back thanks chris you're the man yes yes you're the man yes Triple H starting to grow back. I wonder how long he's going to grow back. Like is he going to,

is he going to grow back like vintage triple H? Like ponytail? Is that where this is headed? Or is he going to grow back like where it's just like a little bit of stubble? No, I don't think so because like he did make a comment of like he's growing this back. Remember when he had that very short period of time when he was doing like the in between? when he cut off the ponytail, but then he had like this short, like,

I don't know, a few inches long, kind of like slicked back. It almost looked like Vince's hair a little bit. And then he had that for, I don't know, a few weeks or months, and then he was like full on shaved his head. I don't know. But now Rushmore of bald wrestlers.

Okay. Here we go. There's some obvious ones on this, obviously. Stone Cold Steve Austin. But he also made being bald so cool, especially during that era, like mid to late 90s, like, yeah, a lot more people are shaving their head now just like because it's cool. Stone Cold, I feel like, was riding that wave of making it cool. Before then, there were a lot of people just rocking the George Costanza.

I feel like if Seinfeld came out in 2026, George Costanza would be full on shaved head, probably with a beard. Stone Cool, Steve Austin. Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle did certainly had the best matches of his career after he shaved his head and if you don't remember the

what went into that it was a hair versus hair match with Edge and I think everyone looked at that going Edge Edge's hair is way too good there's in no way he's going to shave his head and obviously that was what happened there while not fully bald I mean he rocked the skullet for his entire career

I think when you're talking about bald wrestlers, you've got to talk about Hulk Cogan. And then who do we put on the fourth spot? There's a lot of wrestlers that shave their head, a lot of wrestlers that are bald. Who earns this fourth spot? I think you could say the Rock,

but Dwayne Johnson is the bald one. Like when you think of the bulk of the Rock's career, the Rock had hair, I had some version of hair, had the people's sideburns. I don't, I think we'd have to put an asterisk next to the rock. Sure. He's had a shaved head for a long time now, but that's movie star rock. That's not wrestler rock.

Like, if you look at the amount of matches that the rock has wrestled with a shaved head, I don't know the exact number, but what is it? Maybe 10, 20? All the rest of them, he had some form of hair. So, with that said, I think we got a good goldberg. shaved head goatee the intensity one of the most intimidating looks certainly in wcw right the streak an instantly recognizable silhouette the entrance yeah there's my four i feel really good about that four what a fun question that is chad patterson on spotify cvv i can't stop thinking about that gem of a quote

from Gangrel during your interview with him. Meaningful moves make memories. Memories make money. That encapsulates wrestling better than anything I've ever heard before. Are there any other great wrestling-related quotes that really stick out for you from any of your other interviews? Yeah, that quote from Gangrel was fantastic. Meaningful moves make memories. Memories make money.

there's another one I think about a lot. It's from Nigel McGinnis. Wrestling is what happens in between the moves. And when you think about the all-time greats, that is so true. It's not about the suplexes or the headlocks or the cross-bodies or whatever. Moves matter,

but wrestling is what happens in between the moves. That's when you get people to care. There's another one. It was Cody. quoting the late great Dusty Rhodes, his father, and he said, maximize your minutes. That's one I hear a lot. That's a dustyism. There's a lot of, when you hear anybody talk about coming up through NXT during the dusty years,

there's a lot of wisdom that dusty imparted on people. I've heard a lot of people reference maximize your minutes. And that's the idea of whatever the length of time they're giving you on TV, make the most of that time. Chelsea Green is a prime example of that. If they give you 10 seconds, do whatever you can to make those 10 seconds matter. Big E was talking about if you're in a scene, if you're doing a segment and you're one of six guys in that segment. So it's all three members of the New Day and maybe another tag team or another faction, three members that they're like feuding with.

you're one of five, six members on the screen. He's like, I was always looking for something to. These are his words, to chew the scenery, like to do something that like, even though your eyes should be on the other part of the screen because those are the people talking, what's this guy doing over here that makes my eyes not be able to look away from him?

So maximize your minutes. I love that. And then there's another one. Christopher Daniels said to me when he was on the show last year, I was saying like, oh, not every wrestler gets a final match. And he goes, oh, no, every wrestler gets a final match. Not every wrestler knows it's their final match. That one is really stuck with me.

Because not everybody gets the send-off like AJ Styles got at the Royal Rumble. Not everybody gets the send-off like John Cena did last year after the end of his retirement tour. Not everybody gets that last match the Goldberg got. Not everybody gets the last match that Sting got. Look at Triple H's last match. It's a random six-man tag at a house show. There's a lot of those stories.

There's probably way more of those stories than there are of the people knowing it's your last match and billing it as your last match. So those are a few. Those are a few for me that like really stick out. Rual, Rol, Rol underscore 11 on Instagram with Mania. starting to go international next year. Where else in the world should host a WrestleMania? Well,

look, WrestleMania is not starting to go international. WrestleMania 6, WrestleMania 18 in Toronto, and that was outside of the United States. But look, London needs to happen. I don't know how many times I need to say it. London needs to happen. I feel like WWE's been planting the seeds for this for so long. I've been so fortunate now to see both a raw and a Smackdown in London. And London, oh my gosh, what a crowd. It was just so fun. London, absolutely. Whenever the next international

WrestleMania is, it's got to be London. But then you think about great crowds, and how could you overlook France? Like, between the crowd and Leon, the crowd at Clash and Paris, oh, man, that crowd's just so fun. But I will remind people, that just because a city is hosting WrestleMania doesn't mean that the stadium is full of people

from that city. Yes, of course, there is a, maybe it's 40%, 50%, I don't know what the exact numbers are. A vast majority are from that city or the greater region around that city. But you got to remember, people will travel to WrestleMania. So just because WrestleMania was in Las Vegas doesn't mean everybody in the stadium is from Nevada. Like people will fly in. A lot of people will make this a yearly trip. A lot of people also make it the bucket list thing. Like, I want to go to WrestleMania one time in my life.

Man, a flight to Vegas is, it's only two hours from where I live. This is the year. We're going to make this thing happen. So I think there just seems to be this misnomer that, because it's in Toronto, for example, because it's in New Jersey, for example, that it's full of people from that city. Not the case.

From people a short flight away, sometimes even a long flight away, or a quick drive away, yes, absolutely. But I just feel like this needs to be pointed out because people seem to think it's like a hometown thing of like, oh, WrestleMania 40 was in Philly. That Philly crowd was great. Yeah, the Philly crowd was great,

but it wasn't just filled with people from Philly. It was filled with people from all over the world. Actually just pulled it up here. WrestleMania 40, for example, had fans from 64 countries, had all 50 states represented. So I just want to point that out that, yes, I can't wait for WrestleMania to be in London and France and Australia

and all kinds of other places. Yes, I can't wait for it to go back to Toronto. Toronto, but just because it's there doesn't mean it's just filled with people that are from there. Although if you are from there, it'll make it a lot easier for you to go there, sleep in your own bed. The trip might cost as much as it would if you were flying somewhere else. Curtis Buck sent this in on chrisfanfleet.com. He says, CvV, what is your all-time favorite wrestling video game? Mine is WrestleMania 19 for the GameCube. Hope to finally, as the Rock would say, be featured on Ask CVV.

Curtis, you are featured on Ask CVV. When AJ Styles was on the show earlier this week, Alan Jones techniques, he said his favorite video game, and he's a huge video game guy. So loves pro wrestling, loves video games, bring it together here. What's your favorite wrestling game of all time? He said virtual pro wrestling too, which caught me off guard. I thought like everybody says no mercy. I feel like that's one of the number one answers for almost everybody.

So AJ Stiles says virtual pro wrestling two. That was a game on Nintendo 64, by the way. If you're asking me, I think the best gameplay and I think no mercy is just so fun. I think it's really tough to beat no mercy. But I have a really nostalgic. spot in my heart for Smackdown versus Raw 2006. And that summer was just such a fun summer. I remember playing that game.

There was a group of like six of us. And we had Smackdown versus Raw 2006 tournaments like almost every night for the entire summer. And for me, it's just a special place. And we would like, you're downloading the creator wrestler. Like you would find out how to like make,

all these people that weren't in the game and you would give them the movesets and you were like going into the creator wrestler and you're tweaking all the little parts to like all these people all of our favorites were in the game yeah that one for me playing with like all my good friends in my hometown that was the last summer I ever lived in my hometown until I ended up moving back a few years later that was not part of the plan that's a whole other story where right after that summer, I moved to Vancouver. So the other side of the country was living just outside of Toronto in my hometown Pickering, Ontario, got this job for MTV to Canada, which changed my life, hosting this national show. That's where I did my first interview with a wrestler, Bobby

Lashley. So little did I know. All of this stuff was about to happen. At that time, also playing SmackDown versus raw 06, I was also working as a news reporter for Chex TV in Peterborough, Ontario. So like on the days when I either got off early or the days I wasn't working, boom, we were playing that game. So that one for me, and this is the great thing about nostalgia. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. And I think that that game will always have a real special place for me. Also, shout out to WCW versus NWO Revenge. Fantastic game.

And here comes the pain. Also, fantastic game. SmackDown 2, know your role. Also, pretty great game. And again, I think a lot of it depends on, like, how old you were when you were playing these games, the memories you have attached to them and all of that stuff. And I think that that's what makes all of it so interesting. Mike Rambussen sent this in on email says,

What's up, StevieV? We saw another vignette for Big Cass on Raw. Are we just getting Big Cass? Or do you think it's Big Cass and Enzo? I think the fact that it's been two weeks in a row of it being Big Cass. It's the silhouette of Big Cass. And then this week, they formally revealed it was Big Cass, although we all knew it was Big Cass.

Nobody else looks like that. I mean, he's seven feet tall and you can't teach that. I think if it was going to be big Cass and Enzo, we'd be seeing Big Cass and Enzo. I'm just looking at the evidence that we have in front of us. I think that we'd be seeing silhouettes of both of them together. And again, we'd instantly know, oh, it's Big Cass and Enzo, which makes me think that all of the work the Big Cass has been doing, he's been doing a lot of work as a singles guy. And like, the big cast you see now, the big bill that we saw in AEW,

is very different from the big cast that we last saw almost decade ago in WWE. I think that there's a real possibility here of seeing like a meaner version of big cast. Like he was the fun loving guy with the catchphrase when he was with Enzo. And it was great. And they were so, so over. I think you're going to see a very different side of big cast. I also think you're going to go, that guy's been putting in the work.

the way he wrestles in the ring, shows he's put in the work. He's more jacked than he's ever been before. I think if you haven't seen him work since he left WWE, you are in for a surprise. It's Monday, August 3rd, is when these vignettes say that he's coming back,

and that is the Monday after SummerSlam. So all the fallout of SummerSlam and also the return of Big Casks on that day. That's our last question. On this, Ask CVV number 145. Knuckle shuffle edition. Ask CVV number 140 bigies, five count edition. And ask CVV number 140, five time, five time, five time, five time, five time, five time.

WCW champion, Booker T edition, C.U at reality wrestling with Booker T on Saturday, August 8th. Yes, I'll be interviewing Booker T. Again, there's a lot to get into. Booker hasn't been on the show in two years. There's a lot to get into with Booker T. He's hilarious on commentary, but also just the career he's had. So I can't wait to catch up with him. Can't wait to see you on the Jericho cruise.

Can't wait to see you in Minneapolis in this Thursday. Like, man, it's just a few days away. This is crazy. If you have a question for next week, ask CDD number 146. send it in on chrisfamily.com. Leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify or of course, send it on social media using that hashtag

Ask CVV. Thank you for spending a little bit of your Friday with me. None of this is possible without you. By the way, it would just be me sitting here talking in its microphone to myself. So thanks for keeping me company.

Thank you for being the best part of every single week. And I will leave you with this great quote from Confucius. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Be great, be grateful, have a great 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 club.

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.