Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #17 - Royal Rumble Picks, TNA Is Back, My Mount Rushmore, Tips For Starting A Podcast

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Welcome back to another #AskCVV episode! On this one, Chris gives his predictions for the full Royal Rumble card and answers questions about TNA Hard To Kill, his wrestling Mount Rushmore, how to be a Full Time Creator, keeping your mental health in check, Oscar predictions and more.  If you have one that you want answered on the next one, send it in using the hashtag #AskCVV! Sign up for Full Time Creator for $1 at http://fulltimecreator.co Quote I'm thinking about: “Stop complaining about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't put in." Sponsors: BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv FITBOD: Get 25% off when you use the code INSIGHT at http://fitbod.me/INSIGHT MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Get up to $200 cash bonus when you use the code CVV and sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com GHOSTBED: Get 40% of your purchase with the code CVV at http://ghostbed.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to http://TryMiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 25% For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are go. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van! Believe! Oh, hello, my friends, and welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us.

And thank you for making Insight, one of the top wrestling podcasts on the planet. If you happen to be one of the people who listen to the show, but you haven't hit follow yet, let's make sure we change that right now. I'm assuming, I'm assuming if you listen to an AskC.

VV episode that because you're such a real one, because you listen to every episode that you're already hitting follow. But take a second right now to just check. I thought I was following the show. Oh my gosh. I'm not actually following the show. I've been talking about this so much over the last few months because it's the most important thing that you can do to help the show grow. And we've been growing a ton and I want to keep growing this with you. We keep climbing up the charts. We're so close to being number one. So with your help, leaving,

like following the show, but leaving a review or a rating, oh my goodness. If you're listening on Spotify or you're listening on Apple Podcast, that five-star rating

or just leaving a very quick review on Apple podcast, that's huge. That's huge. So I'm going to thank you in advance for this. And man, I can't wait to show you

some of the guests we have in store over the next few, yeah, next few weeks, next few months as well. If you've never joined us for an Ask CVV episode, it's simple. You submit your questions on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, I guess, maybe TikTok as well,

using the hashtag Ask CVV. And we get to a pile of them here. We talk all about wrestling and content creation and movies, little movies thrown in here, but all kinds of great stuff here. So if you have a question for the next one, Ask CVV number 18, send it in using that hashtag AskCTVV. Let's dive right into this. A lot of questions. about the Royal Rumble, which is just around the corner.

We'll go with this one from Dragon Gaming YT on Twitter. Your question was just so comprehensive here. What is your prediction for the Royal Rumble winners and for the entire card? So let's start with Logan Paul versus Kevin Owens for the United States Championship. I like this because there's a little bit of history, right? K.O. hit Logan Paul with a stunner in 2020. at WrestleMania 37. There's a little bit of history here.

They're both insanely charismatic, obviously both very talented. I feel like we all know the answer to this one, though. It feels like Logan Paul is going to hang on to this until WrestleMania where it feels like at least right now, it's January, 2024, but at least as of right now, it feels like he has this great buildup with L.A. Knight.

Yeah. And then L.A. Knight ends up winning the United States championship from Logan Paul at WrestleMania 40 giving LA Knight. Yeah, his very first championship in WWE. So I think that one's a pretty easy one. I think that's Logan Paul beating Kevin Owens. And by the way, I've talked about this before, but if you think you have some knowledge here and you think you know who's going to win,

go to my bookie.orgie.org, use the promo code CVV when you sign up. You'll get a nice little bonus there. And yes, you can bet on WWE PLEs at MyBooky. You might as well put your money where your mouth is. and make a little bit of money here. This was not intended to be a my bookie ad, but it kind of all makes sense here. All right, move on to the fatal four-way match.

It's Roman Reigns defending the universal championship against Randy Orton, A.J. Stiles, an L.A. Knight. Yeah, I feel like we kind of all know the answer to this one as well. It feels like Roman Raines isn't going anywhere without that championship for a long time. So I think it's, I think Roman Raines walks into WrestleMania 40 with that championship.

I know you could come up with. some other theories that might make more sense, but with the run that he's had, being the champion for as long as he has been, I just can't see him losing it anywhere but WrestleMania. And on top of that, I know there's been a lot of people that are saying, oh, well, if Randy Orton pins Roman Raines, or if someone else takes the pin and wins the championship, we can have this little side story with Roman and the Rock. I get it. It's a great theory. It makes a lot of sense, but I just can't see this title rain ending with somebody else taking the pin. I could be wrong, right? It's pro wrestling. Anything could happen, but I just don't think that there's any other situation

at the Royal Rumble that isn't Roman Rains winning here. It's going to be really interesting. There's going to be some like two and seven, eights counts. There's going to be some really, really close calls here. But I just think it's going to be Roman Rains, and that's going to lead into whatever ends up being at WrestleMania 40. I'm still sticking with this idea that it's going to be Roman Reigns and Cody. We'll get to that in another question here in just a few. But there's my pick for that one. Then let's go into the women's Royal Rumble.

I think it's going to be a toss-up here. It's either going to be Bianca Bel Air or it's going to be Becky Lynch. And I think if I had to make a prediction right now, and it's always so hard making predictions when there's still like, well, there's still another Smackdown. Tonight as this episode airs, we still got raw. and Smackdown next week. I think we only know as of right,

as of this recording right now, I think we only have four women officially declared for the women's Royal Rumble. That's always so interesting to me. And it's always so funny to me. Why does some people have to declare and then other people just like pop up into it? Like, isn't that, is that just me being weird?

Like, is that just me being technical here? But isn't it funny that some people make a big deal about it, like they cut this entire promo and they're like, that's right. I am going to be in the Royal Rumble. And then there's like 20 other people that just like randomly their music hits and they walk out. Like why didn't those people have to declare that? I've never understood that.

And I get it. It's nice to have these beautiful surprises that we get. But it's just the logistics in wrestling always make me giggle just a little bit. But if I'm going to make a bold prediction, I think it's Becky Lynch, which sets up what they could bill is one of the biggest, or perhaps the biggest, it's WrestleMania 40, they could promote this as the biggest women's championship match in history.

I'm not saying that it is, but I'm saying they could promote this as that, because it'd be Becky Lynch setting up this match with Ria Ripley and like, you know it, I know it, everybody knows it, Ria Ripley is the future of this company. I'm not just talking about the future

of the women's division and the future multiple time women's champion. She's the future. Like, she's so insanely, talented, she has everything. And you can clearly see that WWE is attaching that rocket to her back. So I think it's Becky Lynch, Maria Ripley. So my pick there for the women's Royal Rumble, Becky Lynch, although I think it's going to be Bianca and Becky like final two for sure, or final four for sure, final two. That would be my guess. The men's royal rumble is going to be interesting.

I think in the men's royal rumble, the story that makes the most, sense to me, and I didn't even mean to say story. You know where I'm going with us now. I think it's Cody. Back-to-back Royal Rumbles. He couldn't finish the story at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles. Now we go into WrestleMania 40 in Philly. That's still my prediction. And I get it. We're months away from WrestleMania. That is still my prediction as we sit here right now. I do think there's going to be some sort of a swerve or some sort of a something fishy is going to happen with CM Punk or Cody. I feel like it's going to be CM Punk and Cody is the final two. I think something's going to happen there. But the idea that we have the universal championship and we have the world

heavyweight championship, it makes things interesting here because it can, it provides us with another lane here to tell some more stories. So if CM Punk does win, I think that obviously leads to a match with Seth Rollins, but I don't think that CM Punk needs to win the Royal Rumble in order for that match to happen. Now, I think you could also make a really strong case for C.M. Punk winning the Royal Rumble because he's never won the Royal Rumble. In fact, the Royal Rumble match will be C.M. Punk's first televised match, obviously not a one-on-one match, but that will be the first televised WWE match that he's participated in since 2014. So it's going to be really interesting. Why would CM Punk make his or have his first match in WWE be something that he doesn't,

I guess, technically win? That's the funny thing about the Royal Rumble is there's one winner and 29 losers. So this is me. This is my gut. This is my pick. And if I was on my bookie.org, I would be putting my money on Cody. It just seems to make the most sense. I don't think CM Punk needs to win this match in order to set up what will inevitably be this great story with CM Punk or with Seth Rollins, CM Punk, Seth Rollins that will culminate at Russellmania. So that's my picks there. I'd love to hear what yours are. And I think there's going to be some great surprise entrances, surprise entrants that have entrances.

You know what I mean here. I think there's going to be some great surprises. I think Naomi's going to be there. her contract with TNA ended last weekend and hard to kill. In TNA, she was Trinity. I think that that one's going to happen. I would not be surprised at all if A.J. Lee's music hits. I don't think it's going to be like a return, like where A.J. Lee is like back.

I think maybe she's just back for the Royal Rumble, does her spot, and that's it. I guess we'll find out. But I think that those are two surprises that I would definitely, definitely think we're going to see. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. A common misconception about relationships is that they have to be easy to be right. But sometimes the best ones happen when both people put in the work to make them great. Therapy can be a great place to work through the challenges you face in all of your relationships, whether that's with friends, work, your significant other, or anyone else, really.

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slash CVV. Robbie Collins at Robbie C. 1877 on Twitter says, do you think Matt Cardona makes an appearance of the Rumble? I mean, if you look at Matt Cardona's booking schedule, Matt Cardona is going to be in the middle of the Jericho cruise while the Rumble's happening. So, and we talked about this when he was on the podcast last month,

he's like, look, if they want to book me, and he wasn't K-Faping here, he was being totally honest. If they want to book me, better do it soon because I'm going to be on the Jericho cruise. if I had anything could happen in wrestling. But if I had to bet, I think that we will see him on the Jericho cruise. And when you see him on the Jericho cruise, whatever day that starts, I think it's the Thursday, Friday.

When you see him on the Jericho cruise cruise, I think it's like, okay, there it is. He's on the cruise ship. That cruise ship is not going to go out to sea and then turn right around and drop him back off just so he can be in the Rumble. So I think that if you see him on the Jericho cruise, there's your answer. answer. He is not going to be in the Rumble. I'd love to see Matt Cardone in the Rumble. And that would make, that would make a great story for him to return. I think he's going to be back in WWE at some point in time, maybe over the next six to 12 to 18 months. But I just feel like Matt Cardone is a man of his word. He said he's going to be on the Jericho Cruz. He will be on the Jericho Cruz. That's what I

think. We'd love to be wrong here. Simon underscore, underscore Stevens on Instagram, what number would you want to enter the Royal Rumble at? I mean, I think the obvious answer is 30, right? I don't want to be in there for an hour or something trying to avoid getting tossed out. I want to get in there when everybody's gassed. I want to get in there when there's a lot less people left. I want to get in there when there's not going to be another countdown and another person coming in behind me. Number 30, that's the best spot to be in, right?

And I always wonder, going back to the logic and wrestling makes me scratch my head sometimes. If you have the 60 seconds to walk out to the ring before the next person comes out, why do people run to the ring? Like, if you are serious about winning the Royal Rumble, wouldn't you take as much time as possible to give everybody in the ring another minute to tire themselves out, another minute to possibly throw another person over the top robe? People run, like, run out. And I understand, yes, it is pro wrestling.

I get it. I even heard that, was it a year or two or three ago, that there was a mandate from Vince McMahon that was like, everybody needs to run out when their music hits. I get it. But if I was, like, if this was, if this was actually logical, my music would hit, I would walk out to the ring. I would saunter out to the ring. I would walk around, around, around, and then just waiting, just hanging out, seeing what's going on, making people look at me, maybe distracting people. and then when I hear the 10, 9, 8 of the next person's entrance, when it hits one, then I just run in the ring.

That's what I would do. I think that makes a lot more sense. And I would love to see a heel do this like once a year. And I understand the idea that if one person does it, then why would the other, I guess, 27 entrants do it because number one and two don't have that luxury? That's another part of wrestling logic. They always talk about how hard it is to win if your entry number one. one in the Royal Rumble.

What about number two? Number two has the exact same odds against them. Because number one's out there, obviously wrestling against nobody. Then number two comes out and it's just them. I don't know why it's not talked about more, that one or two are essentially the same pick. One or two, both have the odds stacked up against them. I just wish we would address that because it's something that, I don't know, it adds up.

it makes too much sense to me. So I'd want to be number 30. And also number 30 is always a fun pick. And I know there's going to be a lot of people. We talked about this on the last CVV, AskCTVB episode. A lot of people saying, oh man, MJF's going to be number 30 in the Rumble.

No, he's not. If you listen to that episode, you know what I'm talking about. I for sure think that MJF will sign with WWE one day, but that day will not be any time this year. I think he's with 80s. for another, I think three years. Don't quote me on that, please. But the idea of keeping MJF off TV and not even mentioning him in AEW is so, so smart.

Because there's going to be so many people talking during the Men's Royal Rumble about, oh, man, is MJF going to be here? No, he's not. We've got to take a sip of this F3 energy here. So good. Josh Rosenbaum at Real Coach Rosie on Twitter says, I saw you having a blast at TNA Hard to Kill. What impact do you think Nick Nemeth will have on TNA?

Man, hard to kill was so good. I was there, and if you watched Hard to Kill, you spotted me a few times. I was in the front row. Like, if you were on, if you're looking at the stage, I was in the front row to the right, like in the corner there. There's a few shots of me during Moose's match with Alex Shelley.

there's a moment in that match where he throws Alex Shelley into like the barricade and Moose is right in front of me and I go to like fist bump him and he just stares at me and I'm like oh yeah he's a heel oh my gosh so I turn my fist bump

very quickly into like a point like yeah yeah oh yeah you're the man one of these type of things so if you watch back if you watch back the pay per view you'll see what I mean clip that share it on Twitter I would love to share that out in my silly ridiculous moment.

And then I talked to him after because I did an interview with him the next day, which you'll be seeing here very soon on the podcast. And I was like, oh, yeah, sorry, man. I know you're a heel, but I just got so excited. He's like, it's okay, man. I had an entrance one time where my wife was like jumping up on me and like trying to hug me and kiss me and I had to like no sell it. Like, who is this crazy woman?

And he's like, look, I can't do that. Like, I'm a bad guy. I'm not supposed to be interacting with you like that. I'm like, oh, that's funny. I get it. If you're not going to interact with your wife like that, why would you fist bump me? The atmosphere at Hard to Kill was great.

And the card from top to bottom and all the matches that were on the pre-show were just so good. So, so good. The Nick Nemet's surprise at the end came out of nowhere. There's not a single person in there that expected him.

And it's funny because his music hit. And what came up on the screen was wanted man. And I had just seen the day before that Downstate had put out the wanted man song, Downstate the same band that does Cody Rhodes music, the same band that does Matt Cardona's music, Alex Riley's, the Ms, Dolph Ziegler's music in WWE. Nick, they did Nick Nemeth's new song. So I had seen Wanted Man. I'm like, oh, you can even hear me. I'm saying there's a video of it. I'm going, that's Doff Ziegler. It's Doff Ziegler. And then they went from Wanted Man on the screen. to Nick Nemeth.

We're all looking at the stage and then we're like, oh my gosh, he's in the ring. I think that if he actually is signed with TNA and is going to spend some time there, and this isn't just like a one-off, have a few matches,

if he's actually signed a TNA, I think he becomes a TNA heavyweight champion at some point in time. I don't know when that is, but it's going to lead to a match with Moose, and that match is going to be insane. Moose is so underrated.

Did I say so enough? so underrated. Moose is so talented. He looks the part. For being 6-6 and whatever he is, 270, I think he is, he sells so well. We get into that in the conversation that we recorded, the new episode that you'll be seeing. Man, Moose is fantastic. And I love that he's getting his flowers now. If you don't know what I'm talking about, if you've never seen a moose match, if you're sleeping on TNA, stop. It's so good. And I know there were, I know there were some rough patches there with TNA. I think we can all admit that. There were some rough patches with TNA. That's not happening now. TNA has some of the best

in-ring product anywhere in the world. Go check out literally any match from Hardicill. Put them all in a hat and just pick one out. You won't be disappointed. That's how good that pay-per-view was. And I think this really sets the tone for this new era of TNA. Like, whatever they had going on with impact wrestling, I feel like that is now a, chapter that has now closed. We are in this new chapter now, the rebirth of TNA, and hard to kill really set the tone for, I think, how good TNA could be. So really excited to see what's next for them. World of Wilcox on Twitter says, a lot of Mount Rushmore wrestling talk lately. Who's on yours and why? He's a lot of Mount Rushmore talk all the time, I feel like, right?

Who are your favorite wrestlers? Who are your favorite Canadian wrestlers? Who's your Mount Rushmore of tag teams, all these things, right? I've said my Mount Rushmore many times. And the reason that I even started thinking about this conversation was in 2018, I did an interview with Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair at the same time. You can go check it out on my YouTube channel, but like, oh my goodness, two absolute legends of the business. So I got to thinking, I'm like, well, those guys for me are number one and two on the Mount Rushmore. I know that Mount Rushmore is not like a ranking system, but those are two automatic. for me on the Mount Rushmore.

Two of the greatest, not just of their generation, but of all time. Those are people that they're recognizable. Even if you don't watch wrestling, everybody knows who Hulk Hogue is. Everybody knows Rick Flair and woo, right? So my other two spots is tough.

It's tough. I think I give one to The Undertaker, just for the legacy, for the character, for everything that he did. And I guess it's still kind of doing, even though he's not wrestling right now, I just feel like his presence is still being felt.

It wasn't that long ago that he was on NXT. So that's the number three spot. And the fourth one's tough. And here's the thing I will say about Mount Rushmore's. It depends on when you got into wrestling. It depends on like the style of wrestling you like. It depends on how old you are now. So for me,

attitude air is what sucked me in. That's what made me, you know, the mega fan that I am now. and that obviously led to me not just watching raw, but also watching Nitro. And then I found out about ECW and I was a huge ECW fan. TNA started up a few years later. It was so into TNA and the X Division got me so hooked because I love that style of wrestling. All of that is to say, for me, the fourth spot is Stone Cold Steve Austin.

And Austin made the attitude era what it is. And the main storyline that got me into it was Austin McMahon when all that was going on. I know there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be like, what, what do you mean, Chris? You didn't put the Rock on your Mount Rushmore, and I get it. But when you really think about the Rock's career as a wrestler, the Rock was only a wrestler for an active wrestler for seven years. Obviously, he did other things and had some comebacks and he had some short programs, but the Rock was really only a wrestler for seven years, which also speaks to how great that run was. that it was only seven years and it had the gravity that it did. It had all of the memorable moments that it did and all the catchphrases. But I think that The Rock has done more in Hollywood. It's actually

surpassed what he did in wrestling. And I understand that Dwayne Johnson, the actor now, would not be possible without The Rock and Rocky Maya Via, for that matter. I get that. I understand that. But there's far more people out there that have seen Dwayne Johnson movies that have not seen a rock match. And that, I mean, that blows my mind. But when you go outside of the wrestling bubble that we're in right now, that's the truth. So I think Stone Cold is my fourth member there. So it's rock. Rock fantastic as an honorable mention, but the Mount Rushmore for me is going to be Hogan, Flair, Austin, and Undertaker.

I'd love to hear yours tweet them at me. Bruce Banner 476 says, what is the part of your morning routine that you can't live without? I mean, there's a lot of them. What's the one part of it? Oh my gosh. It's probably gratitude.

That's not just a thing I do at the end of every episode. That is a thing I do at the start of every day and the end of every day. Because I just think that it helps you re-center your focus on what's important. If you can wake up in the first, thing that you do is you focus on three things in your life that you have that you're grateful for, that changes your entire mindset for the rest of the day. And then when you do it at the end of the day,

you go, oh my gosh, I'm so grateful for my health or my daughter or roof over my head, whatever it happens to be, whatever's on your grateful list. It just reframes everything because, sure, there's some parts of every day that don't go the way that you want them to go. And yeah, there's some parts of every day that could make your day go, man, that was a bad day. Jeez, I can't wait for this day to be over. And I'm saying that this just helps to reframe your day. Yeah, a bunch of bad stuff happened, but you can at least go, but these three things weren't so bad.

I have these three things. And when you focus on the things that you do have, rather than focusing on the things that you don't have, that changes everything. And I'll give you one more. I know you said, what's the one part of your morning routine that you can't live without water. That's another huge part of it. When I wake up, I drink 32 ounces of water with some electrolytes in it and some lemon in it. Like, boom, the second I wake up. When you think about it, if you sleep for eight hours, we'll just say eight hours is a round number and I know you're laughing

at me. Eight hours, CVV, must be nice. However many hours that you've slept for, you haven't drank anything during that time. Your body gets to be dehydrated. So the first thing I do, when I wake up after the gratitude. But first thing I do when I get into the kitchen is I drink the 32 ounces of water, like drinking all down because that gets everything going. It gets your cells rehydrated. It gets water moving through your system and just gets everything going again. And I think that's a huge, very, very simple part of my morning routine that I would recommend

to anybody. It's such a game changer. And then there's, of course, all these other things in my morning routine, Cold plunging's been a huge part about it. And if you follow me on Instagram, you know that that's something I do every single day. There's so many health benefits. I'm not going to get into all of them here,

but there's so many health benefits. If you're interested, a quick Google search will show you, all of the amazing health benefits there. But a cold plunge, if you don't have a cold plunge, a cold shower for two minutes, life changing. Life changing.

Alex, the boss man, underscore 01, on Instagram, says, I saw you post something about Downstate doing a new song for your podcast. What's going on with that? It's true. It is true. I've been talking with Downstate. The lead singer, Zach Call, was on the show last year.

Fantastic episode. And I already listed off some of the bands that they've done entrance themes for, but they're so good. They are so good. They are like the band when it comes to wrestling. Obviously, Jim Johnston is the goat, like the entrance theme goat. But when you talk about a band, Downstate has done some of the best ones. Obviously, Kingdom, Cody Rhodes song is at the top of that list.

Whoa! But they are now going to do the new theme song for Insight with Chris Van Fleet. The fact that I'm even saying that as a sentence, it's amazing. So the same band that does, Cody Rhodes, Nick Nemith, Matt Cardona, Alex Riley, the Miz's theme song, Chelsea Green. Yeah, the same band. is going to do my theme song. So next Thursday, we're going to debut that. I've heard it. Game of goosebumps. It's pretty awesome. I can't wait for you to hear it. So I love the song we have now, but

the song I have now is just like some copyright free song that I found on, I can't remember, some audio website. And it's great. It has a really good, like theme. It feels like it's a wrestling show, but now I have my own song from Downstate. So next Thursday, with the episode that we drop next Thursday. You will hear it then, and you're going to love it. At the Tyler Brunner on Twitter says, I left radio broadcasting last year,

and now I've been motivated by you, CVV, to start a podcast. I have the idea. I have the interviewees, but I'm afraid my podcast will get lost in the ocean of other sports podcasts out there. How do I stand out as a host and on social media?

First of all, Tyler, congratulations. congratulations. You need to take that first step now. Like, congratulations on figuring this all out. You've got the idea. You've got the interviewees. You got to take that first step. If you get into this idea of like this paralysis by analysis, like, oh, I'm looking at this aspect and this aspect. And I'll start when this thing happens. You just got to start. Every podcast starts with their first episode. And then they go on to their second episode and their third one and so on and so on and so on. And this is going to be tough to hear. And I think this is a big part about podcasting that no one really talks about is it takes a long time to really start to build up that

audience. Here we are on this one, episode number 556. And how many people listening to this right now didn't start listening until a few months ago? Super grateful that you're here. It's amazing that you're here. But we're almost five years into this. And if I had given up after 12 episodes or after 112 episodes because I said, oh, man, it's getting lost out there in the ocean of other sports podcasts, then we wouldn't be where we're at right now. The most important thing you can do is make this episode, the best possible episode that you can make it. And then make the next episode, the next best possible episode that you can make. And then the next episode of that, you just keep going, keep moving forward like that. If you get into this concept and this

idea of like, there's so many of them out there, how am I ever going to stand out? You're not. You're not going to stand out. And you know why? Because you're not even going to start. I think a really important thing that I've done over the last two years is I've really gone hard on social media. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here. We post about it's about 100 to 120 shorts slash reels slash TikToks every single month. And I know that sounds like a lot. And I'm super fortunate that as a content creator now, I've gotten to the point where I'm able to also help out other fellow content. creators who are editors or writers who are much better at those skills than I am.

Audio engineers. What's up, Donald? Thank you for making me sound so good on these episodes. I'm so grateful that I can support fellow content creators that are, this is their dream to do it as well. And they're able to achieve their dream and live their dream as content creator through the content that we're all making together here. So I think it's take these big episodes, take these interviews,

if they're, say, an hour long, try to break them up into five to eight to ten. Interesting little clips. I've said this before. Stop me if you've heard this. But those little shorts, those vertical videos are the breadcrumbs. They're 30 seconds. They're 45 seconds. They give a little taste test of what your show is all about.

And if someone likes it, then they can go check out a clip from your show. That clips maybe two to five minutes. It's just one thought, one idea. And if they like that thought, that idea, that clip, that's the slice of bread. they can then go find the loaf of bread, which is the full episode. I think it's so important to get as much content out there that you possibly can within the time constraints that you have and the resources that you have. But it's a big ask for someone to listen to an entire podcast.

And I'm so grateful that you're doing it right now. But it's a big ask. If someone sends you a link in a text thread, if they said, oh, man, you've got to check out this, the latest episode of this podcast. And they send you a link. And you see the runtime on that podcast is like a hundred, you know, an hour in 17 minutes, you're going, I'm not listening to that.

I just send me the part that you're referencing. So I fully understand that and appreciate that. I just think you got to do the thing. So many people talk about starting a podcast. So many people dream about starting a podcast. And this goes for anything, by the way. YouTube channel, podcast, whatever it is in content creation. So many people talk about it and dream about it and don't actually take that first step.

they defeat themselves before they even get going, oh man, that mountain's too high to climb. I'm not even going to bother starting. If you are truly passionate about it, and that's an important part about this, if you love every single part of the process, if you love researching the guests, booking the guests, recording the interview,

editing the interview, uploading the interview, promoting the interview, if you enjoy every single part of that process, keep going forward. If you don't, it is going to feel like a slog every single time. Oh my gosh, it's time to do that one part of it. I don't like anymore. I hate editing.

If it gets to that point, it's going to be so difficult to keep moving forward. And I'll also add on this. If you're serious about doing this for a living, you probably heard me talk about it before, but I have this mastermind that I've created, full-time creator.co. You can join for a dollar. If you are actually serious about making money as a content creator, it would be really silly for you not to join. It's a dollar. You can join for a dollar, see what it's all about. If it's not for you, that's cool.

You don't need to keep moving forward. You don't need to continue. But if you don't get some sort of value out of it, I'd be shocked. So fulltimecreator.com, co, if you're actually serious about taking things to another level here, Tyler. So not just for you, Tyler, anybody listening. So good luck with the podcast. I'm here for you. And we're here for you at full time creator, if you have any questions.

notorious DOC at basically doc. What interview made you step up your game? I really think it's every interview makes me step it up a little bit more every single time. Because I truly believe that if you're a content creator and you're not looking back at your old stuff and like cringing just a little bit, then you're not heading in the right direction. So I think it's every interview. It's every interview that's the next one makes me step it up just a little bit. And I remember when I was starting my career. So I, for those of you that don't know the story, I lied my way into getting an internship

at a small station in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Nobody was going to give me an internship. Nobody was even going to give me an interview for an internship. I looked all over the internet for the general manager's email address for this small station in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, Czechs TV, C-H-E-X-TV. And I lied to him. I said, it's spring break next week. I'm going to be in Peterborough.

I'd love to come by and talk to you about this opportunity. And he's like, well, if you're going to be in town, sure, yeah, come on by. It's not something we usually do. Long story short, he was like, hey, I see something in you. We're going to create this internship spot for you. That ended up turning into a job. And so I was a news reporter at first. Then I got a job on a show called 969 on radio.

or TV, which ended up becoming MTV2 Canada. I was on there. That's where I was interviewing celebrities. This is where I did my first interview with Bobby Lashley, my very first wrestling interview, interviewed musicians, comedians, everyone, right? I remember being there. And my interviews are very much like question answer, question answer. I would try to throw in something like fun, funky, like, but it would always be very like,

just like disjointed. Like I would ask a question about one thing. And then when they were done, give me that answer, I was just so in my head. head, I would just jump into the next question without like really listening. And that's always the biggest thing I say. You got to listen during an interview. I remember we had, if you're from Canada, you'll remember much music. I mean, much music is still around, but you'll remember what much music was. And for those of you who don't live in Canada, much music's kind of like a Canadian MTV. So think like there's the VJs on there. They're interviewing mostly musicians, but also like celebrities and actors.

I remember that much music was our sister station. So we were within the same family as them. They were taking the raw interviews and just putting them up online with like no cuts, no edits. And this is like, this was unheard of it this time. This is 2006. And I remember seeing these and I'm like,

oh man, if my station, if my show ever started doing that, I would be exposed to the world. Because my interviews, when they were edited up into a three minute like nicely edited package, they looked fine. Like you had the sound up from the music video and then my question and their answer and then

up to another part of the music video and there was cool music playing underneath it would look fine as an edited story. But the whole interview as a whole, oh my goodness, it just was not good. And I remember watching these raw unedited interviews from my colleagues and much music and going, man, they're so good. Like they flow so well. I hope that mine are never uploaded like that. that right there was a really pushed me to be like, these need to be more conversational. These need to be much just more like just two people just hanging out and talking. And there was also former Much Music VJ actually,

insanely talented TV host, George Strombollopoulos, who hosted a show after he was on Much Music in Canada. He was on a show called The Hour on CBC. And I know you've probably never heard of him unless you're from Canada, Canada, but go look up the hour on CBC or George Stromboloblus. Just look up literally any of his interviews on YouTube. He actually did a lot of interviews with wrestlers. You can check out some great ones with Chris Jericho. I was actually in the studio audience. I didn't know George at the time. I was in the studio audience when he interviewed Jericho. Just check out how conversational and laid back

that style is. And he was a huge influence without even really knowing he was a huge influence. George Strombollah was a huge influence. So I think for me, there wasn't one interview that made me personally step up my game, but I think it was watching how good everyone around me is and was that made me go, I need to be on that level. And I know it's not going to be easy. I know it's not just going to be like flick a switch. And the next interview I do is going to be as great as George John Bolobulus or any other

great interviewer, Howard Stern or Oprah Winfrey or Larry King. I know, but I know that if I can keep working at it, if this interview can be better than the last one, and then the next one after that's better than this one, then I'm heading in the right direction. So that's my long way of saying, I'm just always trying to get better. Thank you for the great question at basically doc.

Fahad Zahar, Zardari. Fahad Zardari on Instagram says, what keeps you motivated to make your content regularly? Because it's damn hard for me to focus, man. I can appreciate that, especially at the volume that content is being produced and also consumed out there. Man, I can totally relate to that.

What keeps me motivated is knowing that I love doing this. Dude, how fortunate am I that this is my job? I think about that all the time, And I am so supremely grateful, number one, for this opportunity. And number two, that you're here with me on this ride. Whether you just joined me last week and this is your first episode or second episode, or whether you've been with me since I started posting videos on YouTube in 2011. Or maybe you've been with me before then back in the Canada days.

That motivates me all the time. It motivates me this idea that anything is truly possible in the world that we live in right now. Like if you were passionate about peanut butter, you can make a podcast and a YouTube channel and a TikTok about peanut butter. Like that, that motivates me all the time. I also get that it's really easy to get burnt out. And what I will say to that is don't feel like you have to keep doing this. Like if this does not serve you, if this does not juice you up, it's okay to not post 100 to 120 videos. a month because CVV says that that's what you need to do that's you don't need to do that you don't need to

constantly be grinding but the thing that motivates me the most is I just love this I love this so much and I've had a love for broadcasting since I was four years old and at the heart of broadcasting is the idea of storytelling and that's what I love so much about especially the medium of podcasting but just interviews in general I just love storytelling and I love being able to be the this conduit, this vehicle to have other people who are the very best at what they do, be able to tell their stories through the conversations that we have. That's what really motivates me. And it's not like every single day, you know, I wake up and I'm like, yeah, it's going to be

the best day ever. But I'll be lying if I said that most days weren't like that. Like, I'm pretty jacked. I've always pretty jacked about like doing this. I've always said that my definition of success is. being excited for what I'm going to do at the start of the day and at the end of the day, being proud of what I've accomplished. So that is my driving force every single day.

And that is rinse, laather repeat every day. So my goal today, as I'm recording this, my goal today was to be excited for what I was going to do today and be proud of what I was going to, you know, what I accomplished at the end of the day. My goal for tomorrow is going to be the exact same, be excited for what I'm going to do and be proud of what I've done at the end of the day. That is what drives me.

everybody has their own motivations. Everybody has their own factors that drive them. You've got to find what yours is because yours will not be the same as mine and mine will not be the same as anybody else's. But that for me is what drives me and what motivates me. The future is tofu on Instagram. What a username. You don't talk about stuff like this.

But how do you keep your mental check? Mental health in check. I think I do talk about. about it actually quite a bit. Like I talk at great length about how important the gym is for me to borrow a phrase from The Rock. Like he talks about that being his anchor. And that's it for me too. Like the mental health benefits of working out, of going for a walk outdoors are huge. So I talk about that a lot. I also talk about the idea and for me that this is a really important thing of like focusing on the good rather than just getting lost in all of the bad.

there's positive and negative available every single day. And I would just rather try to focus on the positive things than focus on the negative things. Also, there's a good reason that BetterHelp is a sponsor this show. BetterHelp's not just a sponsor of the show because they pay me money to do that. They're a sponsor this show because I use BetterHelp. And I'm not ashamed to talk about the fact that I've been with Better Help and I've been doing therapy with Better Help for the last year. And I guess the best way to describe it is it just makes you feel a little lighter. Like being able to talk through the issues that you have or talk through situations that upset you

or frustrate you and to have an unbiased opinion, like an unbiased person listening to this and giving you their feedback on it. That's been so helpful. And that's a really big part of it. If you've ever thought about therapy, I would really really. really encourage it. And better helps a great place to start. If you want to go there, you can use the code insight to save 10%. But I would encourage you, whatever your path happens to be, therapy's been a really important part of that for me. And also just being open and honest. Like my wife Rachel and I

talk about everything. We're open and honest with each other about everything. And I think that that helps a lot too, because then you don't have these things that are like buried down deep inside you that like it's angering you that you feel like you can't talk to that person about that it comes out in a big fight we don't have that we've just been really open and really honest with each other so those are some things that i do going back to the morning routine thing i i also cold plunge like i talked about and i do breathing exercises i know those may be too like woo-woo for some people but wimhoff breathing has really helped to center me and and meditation as well that's really helped like center me.

And yeah, so a combination of all of those things, but it's, it's an everyday thing. So whatever it is that you're dealing with, the future is tofu on Instagram. I hope that you're able to figure that out. I'm going to take a little, another sip here of F3. F3 energy, baby. That original flavor is so good. A tropical theory. That's my favorite.

Moore underscore Justin 75 on Instagram says, which film do you think will win best picture at the Oscars and why. I love that this has gone from Royal Rumble predictions to now Oscar predictions. So, excuse me, Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is going to win best picture. I feel like Oppenheimer's been cleaning up at the award shows already. And the Critics Choice Awards are always, Critics Choice Awards are always a good indicator for the Oscars. They're always one of the best predictors for the Oscars. And I'm not just saying that because I vote on the Critics Choice Awards. It's true. I vote on the Critics Choice Awards every year. I'm super grateful to be invited to the Critics Choice Awards and to be able to interview some of the biggest stars on the planet.

But Oppenheimer won Best Picture there. Oppenheimer also won Best Director, Best Actor for Killing Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr. Best editing, best cinematography, best score, best visual effects. I'm not saying that Oppenheimer's going to win all of those awards at the Oscars, but Oppenheimer is going to win Best Picture. I don't even think it's close. Like I don't, and here's the craziest part about this. I don't think Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan's best film. I said it.

I said it. I much prefer interstellar. And when you start to dive deep and you peel that onion back, oh my goodness, that story has so many layers to it. Same with Inception. If we're really going into, I think Tenant's fantastic too. Look, every Christopher Nolan film is fantastic. But I think Oppenheimer is a great film.

It is objectively a fantastic film. I just don't think it's Nolan's best film, but it's going to win Best Picture just because of the competition that it has this year and just, I think it stands head and shoulders above the other options for Best Picture this year. So that is my pick for Best Picture. That is my favorite director that's working today.

I love the way that Christopher Nolan plays with time. and we look at look at every movie he's done Memento plays with time moving backwards and forwards Inception plays with time time's moving faster or slower depending on if you're a dream

or in a dream or not interstellar my goodness the time is all over the place in that one wild Dunkirk time is moving in three different timelines tenant time is moving forwards and backwards my goodness then we've got the

prestige. The timelines all over the place there. I've loved his fascination with time. And I've never had the opportunity to talk to Christopher Nolan, but that's a dream interview for me for sure. I'd love to hear who you guys think is going to win best picture. Because, I mean, let's be honest. It's going to be Oppenheimer. All right. We've got one final one here. This is from cannon.orgers on Instagram. I love this question. It's 2024 for wrestling off to a crazy start or what? Yes, my friend, it is off to a crazy start. I've been saying this for a while, but it is more true now than it has ever been. It is such an amazing time to be a pro wrestling fan. And that doesn't, it doesn't matter what you are a fan of. If you're a fan of WW,

AEW, New Japan, TNA, MLW, whatever it happens to be, any independent wrestling, GCW, whatever it is, wrestling is hot right now. I love it. Wrestling is so good right now. We have so many options. It's literally every day of the week, which is incredible. If 2024 is starting off this amazing with just the first three weeks of the year, my goodness, we are going to be in for some great stuff.

And I think that all, you know, I think that it all really, the tone will be set at the Royal Rumble. I think a tone for 2024 will be set. to the Royal Rumble. If it hasn't already been set by TNA and Hard to Kill and then we've got AEW Revolution right around the corner, it's a really exciting time. And I said before, and this was misquoted by many people, I said that maybe, key word, maybe it's more exciting than the attitude era. Maybe. That is up for you to decide. I haven't even decided that. It's all very subjective. I'm just saying it's really exciting now and it hasn't been for a

long time. Of course, there's been great moments, little flashes of greatness here in different eras over the last 20 years, different matches, different storylines, different paper views over the last 20 years. But wrestling now is hotter than it's been in a long, long time. Dare I say it, it's the hottest it's been in since WCW went under and since ECW got bought out. Like, it's the hottest it's been since then. Actually, I don't even think that's a, that's not even a hot take. That just seems like it's a fact. And sure, you might not like everything that's going on in every company right now.

And that's okay. That's okay. And that's why pro wrestling is this beautiful buffet of all of these different styles of matches and different types of characters. And you'll like some and you don't like some. That's okay. Maybe you go to the buffet and you're like, oh, man, they got crab legs here. That's fantastic. And while I'm doing the crab legs, I'm going to grab this steak here.

Ooh, they got those weird red jello cubes. Not a fan of those, so I will not be touching those. Oh, but I'm back in here on the mashed potatoes. Those look great. That's what pro wrestling is. You're not going to like everything. That's okay. But there is a lot of stuff too like right now in pro wrestling, and I'm here for it.

I'm also here for the Royal Rumble. So if you're going to the Royal Rumble in Tampa, I will, St. Petersburg, I will see you there. It'd be so awesome to run into you to say what's up. You know, I've got those T-shirts, right? I've got those grateful t-shirts on pro wrestling teas.com. Go search just my name on there. You will see the new t-shirts. I've got a few new t-shirts on there.

So how cool would it be to see a CVV t-shirt at the Royal Rumble? Or better yet, we had one. We had our very first CVV sign at TNA Hard to Kill. If you're going to the Royal Rumble and you're going to bring a sign, I wouldn't argue against you putting CVV on the backside of your sign. maybe just flipping it over every once in a while, that would be really cool to see. And if that does happen, I will run over and I'll give you the best high five of your life. That would be really cool.

If we're at the stadium there and I see a CVV sign, I'm losing it. I am absolutely losing. Or if I see it on TV, I'm going to lose it. Guys, you're the best. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I say it all the time. I say thank you so many times in every episode, but I mean it. I appreciate you so, so much.

I am so grateful for you. Thank you for joining us for this Ask CVV episode. I don't know where this quote is from, but I keep seeing this online. And I think it's so fitting, especially with New Year's resolutions, kind of dying out here. Like I think Quidders Day is actually today,

as I put this out, it's the day where statistically, most people have already given up on their New Year's resolutions. This quote, I think is so fitting. Stop complaining about the results you didn't get from the work. from the work you didn't put in.

And if that's you, whatever your New Year's resolution was or whatever your goals are just for the day, stop complaining about the results you didn't get from the work you didn't put in. Put that working, baby, whatever it happens to be. Just get a little bit better every single day. Be great, be grateful. Have an amazing weekend.

We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s, Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video.

They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.