Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #152 - Bronson Reed Returns, Roman vs. Penta, Johnny Gargano Wakes Up, Early MITB Picks

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Get tickets for the next Insight LIVE! https://cvvtix.com Welcome to AskCVV #152! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet talks about the fallout of Sunday Night's Main Event and answers questions about what's next for Bronson Reed, who will win between Roman Reigns and Penta for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, what happens if RVD doesn't get pulled over in 2006 and is forced to drop the WWE and ECW Championships, how many Championships Randy Orton will end his career with, will Chad Gable become a World Champion, Mount Rushmore of people named Chris, the most underrated interview on Insight and the return of RVV! Quote I'm thinking about: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” - Wayne Gretzky 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

You gotta try breakfast at you gotta try. And what better way than with a delicious Pret organic coffee? Starting with just $1 all day, every day now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast at A&W. At participating A&W locations in Ontario. And salutations, my friend. Welcome back to another one here on Inside. It's me.

double Chris Van Fleet. I know there's thousands of podcasts that you can be listening to right now. So I appreciate you for hit and play on this one for hanging out with me on an Ask CVV episode. And thank you for making insight the number one wrestling podcast

on the planet. Hit a stone cold stunner on that follow button on Apple or Spotify or wherever you usually listen to these. We have new interviews that are recorded in person every single time on Tuesday and Thursday and then every Friday,

you and I get to hang out like this and chat a little rasslin together. Speaking of chatting rasslin, I just got back from Orlando yesterday where I recorded three episodes, and we've been getting a lot of fun guests on the show recently. I think you're going to really love these ones when these episodes start to come out in the next two-ish weeks,

but there have been a lot of fun episodes. APA. They were hilarious. Rob Conway had so many good stories, and when was the last time Rob Conway was on a podcast? That was just a blast. Chelsea Green, always such a great hang. Will Osprey just a few days after his historic win at All In? So good.

I know that like literally almost every wrestler lives in Orlando, so like this could be pretty much any wrestler, but you will see the first of these episodes on. Let me check the schedule here real quick. Okay, there it is. Thursday, September 24th. So 13 days from now, you'll see the first of these episodes. And I'll give you a little, I don't want to say too much, but I'll give you a little hint. One of them is a nostalgic wrestler. One of them is a current wrestler. And I will say the other one is like,

maybe a mix between the two. There we go. And like I said, it's Orlando. So it could be pretty much anyone. I hope to see you at the next Insight Live the day before Money in the Bank in New Orleans. Man, that is now less than a month away. I'll see you Friday, October 9th in Nola. Money in the Bank is the next day, Saturday, October 10th. Grab your tickets at CVVTix.com. There's still some, not a lot, but there's still some VIP tickets available. That includes a meet and greet after the show. and it includes a special Ask CVV before the show. So grab those tickets at CVVT-I-X.com. And I will see you in New Orleans.

For that one, we're still working on Survivor Series in Houston, but hopefully I'll have an announcement about that in the next week or two, I will say. But welcome, my friend, to Ask CVV number one, 50 taboo. Tuesday. Tuesday. See what I did there? And Ask CVV as a deep cut. Number one. Cody Rhodes Funko Pop number 152 edition.

Send in your questions for next week. Ask CV number 153. Send in your ideas as well. I know we've gone through here. We've done a lot of 102, 112, 112, all that stuff. so 1-2-3-13-3. So what are your ideas for 153-153? Next week, leave a comment on Spotify, if you're listening on there. Send it in on Chris VanVleet.com or, of course, posted on social media with that hashtag, Ask CVV.

If you were watching Backlash, you might have seen a face that you recognize sitting behind Michael Cole and Wade Barrett. Not only did I have those awesome seats, I also got an impromptu interview with the Ms and Kit Wilson. Check it out on my Instagram. Shout out to Seat Geek for the great tickets and shout out to Seat Geek for sponsoring this episode. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events listed on Seat Geek, including concerts, WWE, festivals,

and more. Seat Geek has your back with all these tickets. Every single one is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 so you know if you're getting a good deal. Look for the green dots. Green means good. Red means bad. Plus, every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And of course, I've got a code for you. Use the code CVV for 10% off your next set of tickets from Seekek. That's 10% off any tickets with a promo code CVV. Make sure to click the link in the description to download the app and that code will automatically be applied to your account so you can use it later. Big shout out to Seatkeek for sponsoring this episode. Great news. The federal EV rebate is back. Eligible customers get up to $5,000 with the federal EVAP rebate on select 2027 Volt and 2026 Equinox EV models. Visit your local Chevrolet dealer today for more details. Got an email here from Dave to kick it off. He says, hey, Chris, well, you called everything at Sunday night's main event. Last night's show was awesome. I saw a green shirt guy, but I didn't see you

there, but I'm sure you were somewhere. I was hoping to run into you. to say, hey, looking forward to insight in New Orleans, still on the edge of my seat as to who your guest might be. Keep being awesome and keep being grateful. I know that I will, Dave. Well, Dave, first of all, I will see you in New Orleans. I can't wait. And the guest probably won't be announced for another few weeks here as we try to nail down some schedules. But thank you for noticing my predictions for Sunday night's main event. They were so spot on. You'd think that I the show. Not only was I four for four in the match card. I was

actually five for five on the matches because I also said that Trick Williams would get his match when Lil Yadi survived the five minutes with Baron Corbin. Hats off to Lil Yadi. Hats off to him for like going for it. And if you know the story, Little Yachty didn't really have a lot of interest

in wrestling a match and it just kind of all came together. It was supposed to be a one-off thing. It was supposed to be a one-off thing where he walked down to the ring with Trick once. he's like, well, I'm too big of a wrestling fan to just walk out there once. I need that story to make sense. And here we are six months later. And kudos to him for doing the dang thing. So I said that there would be five matches. I said Trick Williams would win his second United States

championship. And he did just that tricky two time. That's what he's calling himself on Instagram. The big story coming out of the night is the return of Bronson Reed. And And man, he looks great. This went down pretty much exactly how we talked about how we go down. Because you got Bronbreaker, you got Obafemi, neither guy can really take a clean loss in this. Well, what better way to figure this out than by having Bronson Reed return aligns himself back with the vision? Paul Heyman doesn't have to make a decision just yet. This very obviously sets up Bronson Reed versus Obafemi.

big meaty men slapping meat match, which maybe that's money in the bank, kind of feels like that's where we're headed with this one. I would think Obafemi gets the win here, but the other really interesting thing is we saw Obafemi get beat down at Sunday night's main event. We saw Obafemi get beat down a Monday Night Raw. That's not going to keep happening here.

Like Obafemi is obviously going to get some offense in. He's going to get that momentum. He already has a ton of momentum, but he's going to get a very very, a very decisive victory here. I wonder, though, if this doesn't start to play into something

with Paul Heyman. Like, maybe Paul Hey, man saying to the vision, guys, that's enough. Because he likes Obafemi. We've seen that. There's a lot of mutual respect there. Maybe Paul Hammond says,

guys, that's enough. Maybe it leads to Paul Heyman teaming up with Obafemi. Maybe not immediately, but maybe it leads to that at some point down the line. I mean, it kind of writes itself here. It seems to make a lot of sense. Also, main event, Randy Orton, defeating Cody Rhodes. I think I like this match better than I like their match at WrestleMania. That's not to say that I didn't like the match at WrestleMania. I

just thought that the story told here just had another layer to it. Randy Orton's got to go on from here to face CM Punk. I just feel like that's exactly where we're heading with this. And if slash when, well, it's going to be when CM Punk drops the championship, I feel like it's going to be to Randy Orton. It's just a matter when is that going to happen. Is CM Punk still going to be the champion as we head into Crown Jewel? Is it going to be Roman Raines versus CM Punk in about two months when Crown Jewel rolls around? I think the answer to that is no. Roman Raines versus CM Punk,

night two main event, WrestleMania 42 was such a great match. One of the best matches of the year. I don't feel like they're going to do that match again at Crown Jewel or it's really for nothing. Like, yeah, you get the oversized Crown Jewel championship, but it doesn't really mean anything. So what's the point in doing Champion versus

champion when it feels like there be something to lose there in a match that for all intents and purposes doesn't really mean a lot in the like grand scheme of things. So that's why I think we're not going to have those two champions. We're going to have somebody else in there. Is it Roman Raines dropping the title? Is it CM Punk dropping the title? CM Punk dropping the title to Randy Orton feels like it would make a lot more sense to me than Roman rains. That actually leads us quite well into this next question. Joshua Stucky on Instagram says,

What's the chances Penta beats Roman in Mexico City? Hometown win keeps the weekly show title change. Roman could enter money in the bank or a triple threat with L.A. Knight. Yeah. Man, I am so pumped for this match. This is going to be such a great he-ally quality match that we're getting on Monday live from Mexico City. What are the chances of Penta beating Roman in Mexico City? If we're being honest with each other and we always are, I think the chances are quite slim. That's not to say this match isn't going to be absolutely incredible. I think there's going to be some really, really near falls, like 2.99 near falls. But I think at the end of the day, it's going to be Roman Raines who gets the win here.

And I think that Roman rates continues to hold this at least till Money in the Bank. And Money in the Bank's going to make things really interesting. We'll talk about Money in the Bank in a little bit here. But I see where you're coming from, Joshua. Hometown win. The crowd's going to be absolutely on fire for Penta in Mexico City. I get that. And I think that Penta is a future world champion.

I just don't think it happens here. I'm really curious, though, does Penta take a Mexican destroyer? I would think, yes, it's a relatively safe move to take. But think in your mind here, when was the last time Roman took a pile driver? Has Roman ever taken a pile driver? The only one I can think of is WrestleMania 33, he took a tombstone. So technically a tombstone pile driver, but has he taken a pile driver? I don't think so.

I think we're going to get a very, very near fall on a Mexican destroyer. I think we're going to get like a 20-ish minute match. And it's going to be like tons of offense for both guys, but it's going to be Roman picking up the win here. But I love this tournament so much. I love when a month out you're able to go, okay, well, it's one of these eight people that are going to get a championship shot.

I love that. They've got to earn it now. They've got to win these matches on the way to end up getting to the finals to become the number one. contender. I've appreciated this tournament so much. I hope that it's something that doesn't just go away. I hope it's not just won this year or one in the next few years and that's it. I would love to see more of this. But so excited for this match, Penta has the ability to have an amazing match with

anyone. Roman Raines is at the top of his game right now, having, in my opinion, the best matches of his career. This one could be an all-timer. I am tuned in for the time. For the time, this one. And an interesting thing to note, now that football season is back, when we talk about Monday Night Raw, we've got to talk about they're going head to head with Monday Night Football every single week. So this Monday, that epic match, Penta versus Roman Reins for the World Heavyweight Championship, it's going to head with the Denver Broncos at the Kansas City Sheafs. So this is going to be something I think, WW is taking this into account in years prior. I think they're going to have to take it into account every football season where it's like, all right,

if we can only have this viewer watching a television program live in this moment, what's it going to be? What kind of card? What kind of matches can we put together to take on Monday Night Football? Penta versus Roman with the world title. Yeah, that's a match I can't wait to see. Smite 255 on Instagram says, hey, Chris, I know that we know that. we can send questions otherwise, but I sent this in on Instagram. How many championships do you think Randy will finish with? He is my goat, and I hope to see him reach the top again. I think it's just a matter of time before he reaches the top again,

before he's a WWE champion again. 14 championships right now as we sit here. If I had to guess, I think he finishes with 16. and I think that because so much was made of John Sina being the greatest of all time, and they were calling him that for years even before his final run, they made so much of the Never Seen 17, I think that that's a record that's going to stand for a very, very long time. That's not to say that Randy Orden isn't deserving of it. Randy Orton has been there the whole time.

sure there's been breaks here and there for injuries, but he's always been there. And Randy Orton is one of those very rare people who's wrestled their entire career within WWE slash the WWE developmental system. Randy Orton, depending on who you ask, is either one of the greatest of all time or he is the greatest of all time.

I'm a huge Randy Orton fan, but I just think that when you look at this logistically, I don't think he's going to tie that record number 17 or break that record number and become number 18. Charlotte Flair, on the other hand, might. And that's part of a completely different discussion. Charlotte also has 14 championships. And I feel like, especially with the way that she's starting to get booked now after Sunday night's main event. 15's probably not that far away. Then it's 16, woo, to tie her father. But I think when it comes to Randy Orton, 16's probably the number. And you talk about Rick Flair. There's obviously a ton of history

with Randy Orton and Rick Flair with evolution. Make sense for them to end up both having 16. Although if you ask Rick Flair, it's not just 16. Randy's 46 now. If he wrestles into his 50s, we've got four more years of Randy. Hopefully it's many more years than that. But two more for Randy in the next three, four, five years seems very, very doable. Jonas Isaacs on Instagram says, is Chad Gable World Heavyweight Championship worthy?

Of course he is. and he has been for a long time. I'm so excited for him being the intercontinental champion, trying to get him back on the show here. In the next month or so, schedules are obviously a little difficult right now with WWE on the South America tour, but I'm going to try to make this happen soon.

Chad Gable, of course, is a future world champion, has all of the abilities. When it comes to technical wrestling, bell to bell, Chad Gable has to be top three, top five in the world right now. Like,

how can you not like Chad Gable? How can you not respect him? That match he had with El Grasne Americano, El Gros versus El Grande, one of the best matches of the year. That's going to go down as one of the best matches of the decade.

And Chad Gable has, like, earned everything he has right now. I can't believe it took this long for him to win his first singles championship. The question just comes down to, will it time out for him? Because the top of the card is pretty full right now. Like it is an embarrassment of riches. How many people are in that main event picture or how many are knock, knock, knocking at the door of that main event picture. Like when you really run down the list here, there's a lot of names. And it just feels like the time.

has to be right for somebody to break through, get into that main event scene, and win that championship. That's not to say he couldn't go in and win a championship. And there's lots of wrestlers who have had one, one WWE championship reign, and that's it. Jinder Mahal, Kofi Kingston, JBL. There's a long list.

I'm not going to name off all the people, but there's a lot of people who only had one championship reign, but they made it mean something. Like crazy to think that JBL only had that title once. He held it for 280 days, but he only had it once. But it was so meaningful. I'd love to see Chad Gable in that conversation. A recent example of that would be Damien Priest.

And I think that you could put Chad Gable into that spot and totally make it make sense. But when you look at everybody who's in the main event picture right now, and then the people who are right on the cusp and they're going to be in the main event picture in the next handful of months, it's a lot. It's Randy Orton, C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, Roman Raines, Sammy Zane, Jay Usso, Drew McIntyre when it comes back, Seth Rollins, Gunther, Kevin Owens, L.A. Knight, Finn Baller, and then knock it on the door, Obafemi, and Brombracker, and I would agree with you, Chad Gable. It's a lot of people. That's what, 14, 15 names that I just listed off here.

So absolutely ready for it has absolutely earned that spot. It's just a matter of how does this shake out? Because in the names that I listed there, L.A. Knights in the main event picture hasn't won a title yet. Finn Ballers in the main event picture hasn't won a title in 10 years. Kevin Owens, same thing. So it's like wrestling is all about timing. I mean, life is a lot about timing. But does it time out?

Does a story make sense? let's see how the IC run continues to go as well. But yes, before Chad Gable is done, and I hope it's many, many, many years from now, I would hope that he goes down as at least a one-time world champion. Jack Seham or Jack Cham, 21 on Instagram, says now that Bronbreaker and Soul Ruka

have qualified for money in the bank, give us your slightly early predictions. Well, these are more than slightly slightly, early. This is still a very early prediction since we only have one person confirmed for each match. But if I had to give you my picks right now, not even knowing everybody who's qualified for the Money in the Bank ladder match, I'm going Roxanne Perez and I'm going Bronn Breaker. And a really interesting thing here when you look at the men's money in the bank is if we look at all of the last winners here and who is cashed in successfully and who has failed with their cash in,

It follows a pattern. 2021, Big E, Mr. Money the Bank cashes in successfully. The next year, Austin Theory, fails. Damien Priest, 2023, successful. Drew McIntyre, 2024, failed. Seth Rawlins last year, successful, the ruse of the century. This year, if we're following the pattern, failure. I certainly hope that's not the case. I love a great money in the bank story. I love a great money

in the bank story when it's just in the back of your mind. Like it's been two months, it's been three months, it's been four months. And you just, it's just lingering there. The champion, both champions have to kind of always be looking over their shoulder. Oh my gosh, is tonight going to be the night? Is that person going to try to cash in? I would love a great long-term storytelling with money in the bank. And I think that Roxanne cashing in Unlive feels kind of like a foregone conclusion. That's what we're kind of lining up for here. We're going to be waiting for that perfect moment. Kind of will remind me of when Tiffany Stratton cashed in on Naya Jacks.

It was like she just had had enough and finally cashed in. And I think that this will be such a breakout year for Roxanne Perez. What I really mean is when she cashes in. So like, yeah, she's doing great work now, but 20, 27 for Roxanne Perez, I think, is going to be something really special. So my pick right now with about a month to go, Roxanne Perez, braum breaker. Scott Morrison on Facebook says, what if Batista not getting inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame has worked out

so that all of the OVW4 get inducted in the same year? Scott, it's a nice thought, but I don't think they're going to put John Cena-Da-Batista, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton all together in the same year. Also, Randy Orton's not going to the Hall of Fame for a little while here because he's still doing it and he hasn't slowed down. So John Cena or Brock Lesnar next year, Dave Batista, I'm not sure why he told me when we did an interview when he was on the show last time. He said that the schedule just didn't work out, but he's got to go in.

Like, is he technically a Hall of Famer right now if he hasn't been inducted? He was announced for it, but never gave the speech, never got to put the ring on. So I guess he's not technically a Hall of Famer yet. But if you're looking at those four and you're looking at the way that WWE does the Hall of Fame, that's four headliners right there. and Rock will probably be part of this conversation. I know obviously not part of the OVW conversation, but part of the headlining a WWE class, Hall of Fame class at some point in time here soon.

I still feel like there's a real possibility for a match at WrestleMania 43, but we'll have to see if any actual signs lead to that. I'm thinking maybe in February, the road to WrestleMania, but February with Rumble, we would start to hear some rumblings

about that. But there's a lot of massive headlining talent that have not been inducted yet that will be headlining the classes for probably the next four or five years to come. You've got to try breakfast

I-A-W. You got to try. What better way than with a delicious Pratt Organic Coffee, starting with just $1 all day, every day, now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast. At participating A&W locations in Ontario. Visit BetMGM-GM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick.

BetMDM and Game Sense remind you to play responsibly, 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, Peace contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Swanton 714 on Instagram says, What did you think is CM Punk getting Johnny Gargano to wake up last week on Smackdown?

Man, I loved it. And I loved that it happened in Cleveland, Johnny Gargano's hometown. And Johnny just posted on Instagram yesterday. He said Johnny Wrestling is back. I love it. And CM Punk has been ever since he came back to wrestling. Like even in AEW and the work he's doing now in WW, he's been so good at putting over younger talent.

And I don't necessarily mean like they have to get a win over him for that talent to get put over. But like having a great match like that. and like you can clearly see that there's mutual respect there having that match in johnny's hometown that's done more for johnny gargano than anything he's done in the last probably two plus years and i don't know where they were going with this planking gimmick but that is the perfect way to snap him out of it i'd actually be really curious next time johnny's on the show i got to ask him like, what was the plan here?

Because he did it for almost seven months. And then what it took was CM Punk going, hey, I know you're in there. I know Johnny Wrestling's in there. All right, if you want to wake up and meet me in the ring for a WWE championship match, let's do it. And then the camera pans over.

And Candice Luray goes, oh my God, next thing you know, Johnny's standing up. Yeah, you're on. Let's do it. And what a match. And I love that after the match, he's on punk's shoulders on cem he's on cody's shoulders and he's getting his flowers candis is on punk

shoulders it's just what a cool moment and i just went through that long list of everybody who's at or right near the top of that main event scene right now and cm punk is certainly at the top of that list as the w wwe champion right now but it's been so amazing now that he's back in wrestling and i i mean his current run in WW and what he did in AEW, he's worked with so many talent that aren't right there at the top of the heap either. And it's been cool to see that he gives these moments to these wrestlers, like the work he's been doing on house shows with guys like Ricky Saints, or when you look like way back here and his work in AEW,

he was having matches with like Dax Harwood or Max Caster or John Silva or Daniel Garcia. There were so many of these matches where you're like, just cool to see that there's like, it doesn't have to be this storyline that's built up for weeks and weeks or months and months for CM Punk to have a match. He's like, hey, can we go out there

and make some magic together? Well, hell yeah. Let's make that thing happen. Let's do it. And this match with Johnny Gargano, even though he lost the match, It feels like a beginning, not an ending. Like, and then this opportunity for Johnny, I think, could really light a fire in him and, like, kickstart something completely new.

And it's because of this angle with C.M. Punk and Johnny Gargano. And I love how that played out. I wish, and I understand that the pre-taping shows totally make sense, just wish that it hadn't been spoiled online like a week before. really hard to stay off of Facebook or Instagram for a week. I knew there would be some things out there when these shows were pre-taped, but I saw that and I went, oh, what a cool moment. But I also went, I wish that I could have just played out live. Like, had that been done in a live Smackdown,

it would have been like just a little bit more of a unique moment. Mick Flip 75 on Spotify says, real, real one here in Denver. Hope you and the family are well, and thanks again for all your hard work. I don't miss an episode. So I've been catching up on the El Grande-American saga, and I'm honestly shocked at how authentically moving it is.

I don't know if there's ever been as true of a baby-faced folk hero since the early days of Hulk Hogan. So my question is, how does it feel, knowing that you may have conducted the only long-form interview with Ludwig Kaiser that will ever exist? And where is Ludwig Kaiser these days? It's been all, I think it's been like a year and a half since we saw Lubu Kaiser. But I'm honored that I got to do that interview.

Like, I feel like Ludwig Kaiser was a little bit of an enigma. Like we saw his character work. We saw him in the ring. We saw some stuff on social media. But like, I really wanted to learn more about him. And I'm so grateful that we got to do that interview. Man, that was, yeah, over. That was last year's Royal Rumble.

It was Royal Rumble 2025. What a nice guy. What a great human being. And if you haven't listened to this Ludwig Kaiser interview yet, I would recommend it because like you said, this may be the only long-form Ludwig Kaiser interview that ever exists. Because if we're to believe the speculation online that Ludwig Kaiser may be El Grande Americano, I don't know.

I don't know if I see it. I feel like Ludwig was taller than El Grande-American. But if we're to go down that path, if we're to believe that silly rumor for just a minute here, why would El Granae-Americano ever go back to being Ludwig Kaiser? Why? He's absolutely crushing it. I know that we're going to get a huge El Grasne-Americano moment on Monday in Mexico City. It's going to be the biggest pop of the night, which says something.

because Penta is going to be going for the world title that night. And even though he's going up against Roman rains, you know Roman's going to get a huge pop in Mexico City as well. Roman's just on fire right now. But made me feel really special that Ludwig agreed to do that interview when we did that. And there were so many interesting things to talk about at that time, the Imperium breakup and him really finding his footing as a single star,

I would love the chance to sit down without, Grand de Americano now. Like, there's so much history there. But if we could peel, we could peel back, K-Fabe, just a little bit, I'd love to know the story of, like, how did this get pitched to you? And, like, at that time,

El Grande Americano for Chad Gable wasn't really working that well. And then Chad Gable was breathing new life into this, but Ludwig Kaiser came along and just like, made us forget that Chad Gable was even doing this. And he's turned this into something that has profoundly changed his career and also changed his life. It's just amazing seeing what happens when you commit to something. And that's not just a life lesson for wrestling.

That is just something in life in general. When you give your all to something and you're not afraid to look a little bit silly. And I think that that's when wrestling's at its best. when you are 100% in it. And that's what this version of Algrana Americano is doing. And I love seeing it. But do you think? Do you think El Grasne Americano?

Would ever do an interview? I think the answer is probably no. But maybe that needs to be on the bucket list. Maybe it's like right up there. It's like Sting. Sting, Randy Orton, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H. Algrone Americano.

Let's do it. Stephen Meller email this one in. I have a question for Ask CVV number 152. It's time to jump back into your DeLorean. Oh, you know, I love when I jump into my DeLorean. You have one chance to change the outcome of a match. It can be any match in history you can write a wrong. Which match is it going to be?

Well, I'm going to fire up the DeLorean, and I'm going to set the date to April 6th, 2014. Yeah, I'm going to WrestleMania 30. I would change the outcome of Brock Lezzer versus the Undertaker. I would make it so the streak never ends. And I understand the counter argument here. Brock ending the streak creates arguably the most shocking moment in WWE history, turns Brock Lezzer into this kind of final.

boss version of Brock. He's the one in 21 and 1. I get it. I understand that. But I just think that Brock didn't really need it. In fact, I don't think anyone ever needed to break the streak.

If it was up to me, Undertaker wrote or retired, 27 or no. And the thing that I think is often lost in this conversation is the fact that just three years later, Roman Raines beat the Undertaker at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando.

And that's like something that never gets talked about. And I think it's like, obviously the blow is softened significantly at WrestleMania 30 when Undertaker takes that first loss. But then when Undertaker loses at WrestleMania 33, it just kind of felt like, oh, I guess we've kind of seen that before. And I know that Undertaker was planning to retire. He left his gear in the ring and was ready to walk away. and then had many other great matches after that.

I'm a big fan of the Boneyard match. I would still keep it so the Boneyard match is Taker's last match. I would obviously still keep the finish in that one with Undertaker getting the win over AJ Stiles, but I would make it so that the streak still exists to this day. To the point where Undertaker is having his own podcast, he's doing all these other interviews, and people ask him all the time about it,

would you come back? Would you come back and put that streak on the line? Oh, you know, never say never. But I think that the streak, there was a long stretch in time in WrestleMania where the streak could become bigger than a championship. Like it was essentially a second main event on the WrestleMania card, no matter where it was on the WrestleMania card. And once Taker reached the matches with like Sean Michaels, 25, 26, Triple H, punk like the question was like it was like could this be the year like could this streak actually

end this year so we're talking like that stretch of it 25 to 29 is like truly where it felt like this could be it like that one kickout where it's like almost at three with triple h is like this seemed like it i just don't think brock needed it and i don't think that Taker needed to lose. So that's the match. I would go back and change. I would make it so like Brock hits that third F5.

One, two, Undertaker kicks out. Oh my God. Who's kicked out of three F5s? Brock's losing his mind. Heyman can't believe it. Brock goes for another F5. Undertaker escapes Tombstone. One, two.

Oh, no. kicks out, then maybe another tombstone, one, two, three, that's it. And then I think it's 27 and O. Undertaker never loses. We talk about the undefeated streak forever and ever and ever instead of talking about, well, was it the right move? 25 and 2 doesn't sound nearly as sweet. That's 27 and 0.

Crystal Porter on Instagram says, what's your favorite? kind of donut. And I can't answer this question without bringing in my resident donut expert. She's been waiting in the wings. My beautiful, lovely, incredible wife, Rachel Van Vleet, RVV back on the show for the first time in three months, maybe? A long, long time. The people have been missing you. I haven't been missing you because I'm so lucky I get to see you all the time, but the people have been asking for you. I miss the people. Before we get into your favorite kind of donut,

and by the way, Rach loves donuts. Like, she loves donuts like, I love pizza, maybe more. I think, like, you love donuts.

I do. I love a good donut. Before we get into your favorite kind of donut and my favorite kind of donut, Rachel's been doing quite the CVV impression lately. And it cracks me up. It cracks the kids up.

I think you'll get a kick out of this, so take it away. Well, for background context, you record a lot at home. So I hear a lot of what's going on behind the scenes. So I'm pretty well versed in the CVV lingo. And sometimes, it doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes it takes, you know, a few takes to get things off the ground for AskCTVV or if I'm recording one of these ads, it takes like several different takes.

So you sometimes hear the start of AskCTVV like four or five or six times. No, no more than four, five, maybe. Never six. Maybe five. Maybe five. So what do you hear? What does it sound like? All right, my friends, here we go.

Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. It's your friendly neighborhood CVV, Chris Van Bleet. And thanks for joining us, my friends. Do me a favor and hit a power bomb on that follow button. That's too good. I might have messed it up a little bit, but. I think you nailed it. Those are all the things I'd say.

Oh, no, I love you so much. Well, if I'm ever like too sick to do this or I lose my voice. You got a backup. A free backup. Oh, I wouldn't have to pay you? Well, I'll pay you in donuts. Deal. Deal. So what is your favorite kind of donut?

I'm a sucker for a good maple. I love a good maple donut. I don't discriminate, though. I love a good cinnamon roll, which I don't know if you could. Like the donut, not, you know, not the cinnamon roll with the. cream cheese frosting, but like a classic donut shop cinnamon roll. Oh, yeah. Like with that glaze on it, not the icing.

And when you do the maple one, you often want the maple log. The maple bar. Sounds gross. Maple bar. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you know them. You want anything with sprinkles on it, basically. I only, and I don't want the chocolate sprinkles.

I want either rainbow sprinkles or like if it's going to be all blue because it's, I don't know, the maple leaves or it's going to be all pink for Valentine's Day, that's what I want. I don't know why we'd be buying blue maple leaf donuts here, but if we were back home in Toronto, maybe. Yeah. But donut holes too, or munchkins, if you're a Duncan fan. Timbitts? Timbits.

If you're Canadian. Yeah. Love a good donut hole. I remember, that sounds gross too. I remember when I first moved to the U.S., and someone's like, do you want some munchkins? I was like, what? Don't you mean timbits?

And tis the season. Pumpkin spice munchkins are back. Oh, you do like PSL, anything. Anything. Pumpkin, you got me a pumpkin coffee this morning. Anything. I did. It was the first day they were selling it here.

And I was second in line to get it for you. Can't waste any time. Well, welcome back to the show. Thank you. Thanks for making us all laugh. What an intro. I guess, send in your questions. I know this wasn't specifically a question for RVV, but who better to talk about donuts than the person you. I maybe before meeting you, I'd eat like

two donuts a year. And then in the first year, I think I probably ate like a donut a week. I don't even think it hasn't been like a lifelong obsession of mine either. But in California, there's so many mom-and-pop donut shops that are amazing. All of them are just, somehow incredible. So I think it was honestly kind of like COVID-ish time that right around then that I just became borderline obsessed, a little obsessive with donuts. Well, I don't mind it. I mean, I wouldn't mind a donut every day. I don't. Not the healthiest choice. We make better choices now, but it might be a super heavy way like Crash Holly if that happens. All right, well, thank you, honey. Thank you. Love you. Sending your questions for rage.

Most likely Adriannix on Spotify says, hey, CVV, how do you think the late 2000s looked for WWE if RVD doesn't get pulled over and doesn't have to let go of the WWE title? How would it go for the main event scene as well as for the WWCW era? It's a fascinating what if. And I think one of my favorite WWE butterfly effect. because RVD getting arrested on July 2nd, 2006, doesn't just derail RVD in the main event scene. I think it changed the entire trajectory of WWE's version of ECW.

Like, I don't think that RVD keeps the WWB championship for like a crazy length of time, but I think that the way that ECW ends up playing out is, like, very, very different. So here's the alternative timeline. Instead of the traffic stop happening within 48 hours, RVD loses the WWE championship to Edge on Raw, loses the ECW championship to Big Show the following night,

and WWE suspends him for 30 days. Like that's a huge course correction. So what if none of that happened? And I'll be relatively conservative here. I don't think that WWE was going to have RVD hold the title like deep into the fall. I think that Sina and Edge were like too much of a main focal point on Raw and Raw knitted his championship back.

But I think that if you give RVD this novelty of having both titles for a month or two, it gives you some really interesting television. You get RVD versus Edge. You get RVD versus Sina 2. RVD versus Orton. The possibility of RVD versus Sean Michaels, RVD versus Triple H. And then I think that it probably takes you to SummerSlam

and then Edge will ultimately end up defeating RVD. So like we still get to the same endpoint, but a lot of other stuff happens in the meantime. And then the focus now can become on the ECW championship. And the focus can now go strictly to RVD being the face of ECW. because with Big Show being the ECW champion instead of RVD here with this course correction, Big Show is now the centerpiece here. And I would think it should be RVD and it could be this whole storyline of like original ECW

versus ECW's original version of ECW plus you've also got like this new generation coming up here. And I think the biggest person to benefit from this would be CM Punk, who's on the rise here and like absolutely ready to explode. So instead of the ECW title bouncing from at the time was RVD to Big Show, big show to Bobby Lashley. Do you remember who Bobby Lashley lost it to? Yes. Dureg Vince McMahon.

So instead of it bouncing around here, I think RVD would probably end up carrying that championship through 2026 as Punk is gradually rising here. And then at December to dismember, you've got RVD who survives in this match. And then it gets to a point here where it's like it's RBD and Punk. Maybe you do that at one night stand 2007. And then suddenly, Punk's first major WWE championship means something. Punk being the ECW champion there means a ton because he beat the guy for it.

He beat RVD for it. and RVD would be the person who would have been carrying the ECW brand for a while. And then you start to have to have this conversation of like, well, if RVD is the focal point here and punk is this new hot story coming up, well, how much longer would ECW be around for? And I also think it changes the trajectory for Paul Heyman and his future with WWE. because December to remember was a huge reason that he left and the creative disagreements that he had with Vince McMahon. He talked about that in great detail

when he was on my show a few months ago. So maybe Heyman's days if Vince allows him to tell a little bit more of the story that he wants to tell. Instead, it was Vince basically going, oh, yeah, no, CM Punk's not going to win. And Paul Heyman was like pushing for it to happen and basically was like, not going to happen. And it led to Paul Heyman being very upset and then not just leaving

WWE, but leaving wrestling for years. So I love talking about what ifs. I love the idea of jumping the Delorean and trying to see all the different butterfly effect things that could maybe happen from this one flap of the butterfly's wings. But that's a really interesting one. I don't think ECW in WWE lasts a heck of a lot longer than I think it ended in 2010. But I think that it could have been around, yeah, for a little while longer and certainly have been more interesting. That's for sure. But it's funny that these decisions that get made can drastically change how things end up

going. You've got to try breakfast. And what better way than we? with a delicious pre-organic coffee, starting with just $1 all day, every day, now until December 31st. You gotta try breakfast. At participating A&W locations in Ontario.

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly, 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you,

Peace contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Cam Zygass on Instagram says, what's the one interview you're most proud of that you think deserves more attention? So you mean like an underrated one, like a gem? There's quite a few. but I think if there was one you're looking for that's maybe not an obvious choice. That Ludwig Kaiser one we were just talking about is like such a good one.

The Mark Merrill one I did earlier this year was just, it's such a great story. He's so inspiring. It has just an amazing story of like, what's the way he says it from the penthouse to the outhouse. I think is basically what he was saying. Amazing that he was at the highest of highs, then he was at the lowest of lows, and now he's just continuing to inspire people

with the work that he does, speaking to students and telling his story. It's such an inspiring episode. Along those same lines, every time Diamond Dallas page is on the show. And you know that I'm a great friendship with DDP. I love that guy. But every time he's on,

I leave there going, man, the world would be such a better place if there were more people like DDP in it. I just love the kindness he has, the genuine love that he has for people. There's nothing fake about him. Like, he's just such a good human being. So I would listen to literally any of the DDP episodes. And then I think there's some like deep cuts. Like, also, you want to talk inspired?

Or like, if you want to be inspired, you want to listen to an inspiring conversation, when Lex Luger was on the show, that was just fantastic. Loved seeing Lex on the show and everything that he's been through. And he still tells every story with a smile on his face.

But if you want some deep cuts here, like go check out, like the Gangrel interview recently. Al Snow had a lot of like really good stuff. If you look at either of the Al Snow interviews I've done, Dilo Brown. Dilo Brown is the Forrest Gump of wrestling. He's been there through it all. He's seen it all and he has so many amazing stories.

It's an older interview. It's like three, four years old. But he's like a walking attitude era time capsule. And he's just so candid with the conversations that he has. So there's a handful there. And also, I was saying, it's one of the ones I interviewed I did yesterday in Orlando

and I was like trying to not tell you who it is but Apollo Cruz is going to be on the show in two weeks and it's it's a really deep conversation about life

and about mindset and about so many different things we went really deep in this conversation of course we talked about his time in WWE and his recent return to TNA and all the other things that he's doing. He's actually working with, he's working as a nutritionist now and a fitness coach. And he was the one that got RICOchet dialed in for all in and RICOchet. Like, I don't know how RICOchet could get even more jacked and even more cut, but somehow

he did with the help of Apollo Cruz. That's one that you absolutely need to listen to when it comes out on. the 24th. You need to listen to that one. So there's a handful there. If you have some time this weekend, go and listen to those. And if you happen to be listening on Spotify, oh man, a five-star rating would go such a long way on there. If you're listening on Apple, could you just leave a few words as a review? Like, that stuff helps the show so, so much. And the bigger the show gets, the bigger the guests can continue to get. And like some of those people that are on the bucket, list, I feel like we're getting just that much closer because the show continues to grow,

all because of you, because you continue to show up every single week. So thank you. I can't thank you enough for that. Connor Iograsso on Spotify. I hope I'm saying that right. Irograsso. Hey, CVV, since your name is Chris, how about we get a Mount Rushmore of people? named Chris. That can be any Chris, dead or alive. Oh, my goodness. Well, I've never met a Chris I don't like.

A Mount Rushmore of Chris's. There's a lot of us. Like, I remember growing up, and there was a Chris or Christopher, a Mike or Michael, and a Jonathan or John in like every class. There was like three of us, three of them. Like if there were 30 kids in the class, like seven of them were named Christopher, Michael, or Jonathan. So, so funny. So there's a lot of Chris's, a lot of Chris's.

My Mount Rushmore of Chris's. We're going to kick it off with Chris Farley. Absolute legend, absolute icon. Chris Farley. And what a career, right? then we'll go obviously i got to put a chris from wrestling in here and if this was just a mount rushmore of chris's this person would be my first entry chris jericho what a legend he's still doing it since chrises are also christopher's then i got to go christopher nolan my favorite director

i think he's the best director working right now some of my favorite movies are his movies. What did everybody think of Odyssey? Is Odyssey in your top five of Nolan films? Is it in your top three? Is it your favorite Christopher Nolan film? My favorite Christopher Nolan film is interstellar. We already did the Mount Rushmore of Christopher Nolan films. We don't need to do that again, but Christopher Nolan. And man, there's a lot of Chris's, but I'm going to go with Chris Hemsworth. Thor himself puts him on this list. World ride recognition is enormous

for Chris Hemsworth. I was very interested to see if that Hulk Hogan movie was going to come together and every time I got to interview Chris Hemsworth, I would always slide in a question about that Hulk Hogan movie that was supposed to happen that sounds like it will now never happen. But there's my four.

Honorable mention to Chris Kringle, who, I don't know if we were allowing fictional characters or not, but lots of chrises. There are a ton of chrises. I think those are going to be my four chrises. John Cooper on Spotify says, CVV, you're my favorite podcast and you do my favorite interviews. What, in your opinion, has been your best timed interview? Like one that came out of the exact perfect time that might not have been as interesting if it was a month sooner or a few months later.

that's really interesting because I think there's been, I have benefited a lot by just a well-timed interview. That's either someone saying yes to doing an interview when they are like red-hot, or it's we put out the interview and then something big happens with their career and I get the benefit from that. But I think if I'm thinking of like really well-timed interviews, Kit Wilson's one that immediately pops to mind. Like I was the first long-form interview that he did after the new gimmick change, after the new very catchy music, Hey, Kit, are you there? Kit Wilsson.

So Kit Wilson was white hot when I got to sit down with Kit earlier this year. So that was like one where it was like Kit has an amazing story. But had that interview come out before the gimmick change, if it was just one half of pretty deadly, of course the interview would have been interesting, but I don't feel like people would have tuned in with as much interest. Another one is Nick Gage. I did the interview with Nick Gage right before his Dark Side of the Ring episode came out. And I was so fortunate that I got to see an early screener link of that episode.

So we talked a lot about the actual episode itself. So when the episode came out, when the Dark Side of the Ring episode came out a few days later, the interview that we did ended up kind of being like this companion piece to it. Like the interview had some interest and then the Dark Side of the Ring episode came out. I don't know if the exact number is like three, four days later. And then like the numbers shot up because people were like either I want to learn more about Nick Gage or like, man, are there stories in this interview that I didn't hear in the Dark Side of the Ring episode? So that was one for sure. Jadie McDonough is another one.

I got J.D. McDonough after, like, what was it, a month or two after, the moonsault to the announced table that broke his rib and punctured his lung and he still somehow finished the match because J.D. McDonough is an absolute savage and a badass. That was, like, just, I just got lucky. Just super lucky with that timing. And that's another one where, like, had that interview been a few months before, almost all of the stories except for that one would have been the same, but he was top of mind. And people were just talking about, like, how he just had so much heart to finish that match and not even think twice about it with an injury like that. And I remember I was messaging with JD about doing this interview. And he said,

yeah, as soon as I'm cleared to fly, I'll come to L.A. and we'll do it. I'm like, cleared to fly. Oh, yeah. He punctured his lung. What a, just, what a guy. That was great. I'd say accidental timing on the Michelle McCool one. We had recorded that interview like two months before, and the schedule just got moved around with when it was going to get released. And then I ended up putting the episode out, and two days later she got inducted or announced that she was going to be inducted

in the Hall of Fame. And I do nothing about that. And I was just so lucky that the timing came together. But that was another one where, like, she was in the news cycle and people were talking about Michelle McCool, boom, here's an interview. You can immediately go check out and watch. The Will Osprey one that came out yesterday, that was most certainly intentional timing. That wasn't just like accidental. He won the title at All In. I interviewed him three days later in Allen, Texas, and the episode came out a week

after that. So like just great timing that people were talking about how amazing that entrance was, how emotional the vignette with his mom narrating the amazing moment where he makes history and Wembley Stadium, all of it, right? There were so many things to talk about just from that one match. And I was fortunate that it all timed out. And then there's one on Tuesday that, again, intentional timing here, but on Tuesday, We welcome Lil Yadi onto the show. It's his first ever wrestling interview that he's ever done. And when I tell you that Lil Yadi is passionate about wrestling,

Lil Yadi is passionate about wrestling. And we recorded this the day after his match at Sunday night's main event against Baron Corbyn. And he was sore. I was like, what hurts on you? He's like, everything. So we recorded the interview at his house in Atlanta. that's one you'll be seeing on Tuesday.

If you have any sort of preconceived idea about Little Yachty, throw it out the window, go into this interview on Tuesday with just an open mind and prepare to be wowed by someone who loves, loves pro wrestler. That's the final question. On this, Ask CPP, number 150 taboo, twos. Day edition. And ask CBV number

Cody Rhodes Funko Pop number 152 edition. Send in your questions for next week. If you're listening on Spotify, since we were just

talking about donuts with my lovely, amazing, beautiful partner in crime, RVV, drop your favorite

type of donut in there. So we can all come together here. and share our love for the wonderful pastry that is a donut. Sending your questions as well on Spotify, send them in on ChrisFambley.com and send them in on social media with the hashtag

AskCV. Thank you for all of the great questions this week. I can't wait to break down Penta versus Roman Raines next week on AskCV. Shout out to RVV for hanging out with us for a little while here. She's the best. I just love her so much. I'll leave you with this quote from Wayne Gretzky. I know Wayne Gretzky has this quote that you hear all the time.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I love that. But I'll leave you with, I guess, his second most famous quote. A good hockey player plays with the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. Be great. Be grateful. Have an amazing weekend.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com.