Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #20 - Elimination Chamber Predictions, Austin Theory's "Wrestling Is Fake" Reaction, Macho Man Impression

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Welcome back to another #AskCVV episode! On this one, Chris gives his picks for Elimination Chamber, his thoughts on Austin Theory's response to being told that wrestling is fake, taking his daughter Logan to her first live wrestling show, tips for being a better content creator, favorite independent wrestling show, a random Macho Man impression and much more. If you have a question that you want answered on the next one, send it in using the hashtag #AskCVV! Quote I'm thinking about: "No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen" - Alan Watts Sponsors: BABBEL: Learn a new language and get 50% off your lifetime Babbel subscription at http://babbel.com/cvv ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: You can try MUD\WTR now for $29, that’s less than a $1 cup per day when you go to: http://mudwtr.com/cvv MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv 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 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 15% on your BONCHARGE Infrared Sauna Blanket! 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

Chris. Well, here we go, my friends. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Hope you've had a good week that you have some big plans ahead for the weekend elimination chamber. If you live in North America, are you waking up early? 2 a.m. here on the West Coast, 5 a.m. on the East Coast, obviously, 3 and 4 a.m. in between there. I mean, it's even early if you're watching this in the UK. You guys get it. If you're in Australia, I'm so happy for you guys. I'm so happy. A PLE, a W.W.E. PLE in Australia.

We're obviously going to be talking about that on this episode. But welcome to AskCV number 20. You're a real one for being here. I say that all the time, but I get it. You know, you want to tune in for an interview with Chris Jericho or Johnny Gargano or Bobby Root or Tori Wilson or whoever it happens to be. But if you're here and it's just me and you hanging out right now, whether you're walking the dog.

or you're working out or you're driving to work, maybe you're at work. This is how I know that you're a true fan of the show. So I appreciate you. I'm answering your questions here that you sent in on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV. And if you have a question for the next one, send it in using that hashtag,

and we will get to as many of these as we can. We will start with this question from Timothy 7990 on Twitter. Did you see that video of Austin Theory getting mad at that reporter who called wrestling fake. Since you had a similar video go viral, what do you think of how Austin responded? So I had that video that went viral like two and a half years ago. And I think that people think I was interviewing that person and then they were disparaging wrestling.

It was the other way around. I was a guest on dropping bombs with Bradley. And we were like two minutes in of the interview. And he's like, oh, who's your favorite person that you've ever interviewed? And I said, well, you know, I was a big wrestling fan growing up. So it was The Rock. He's like, wait a second, you like wrestling? And I'm like, yeah, no, I liked wrestling.

I still do. And then that went into that tangent that you saw in that clip with him being like, don't you know that's fake? It's like, yeah, okay, Brad, don't you know that movies are also fake? Do you like movies? Don't you know that they're fake? So it's just such an interesting thing. It's 2024.

We are all aware that pro wrestling is. scripted. I think we're all aware that everything on TV is scripted, whether that's a sitcom or whether that's a drama or whether that's a reality show. I think we're aware that it is all scripted. And it just feels so silly that in 2024, people are still calling wrestling fake. Like, I don't, I just don't understand the terminology of that. When it comes to the Austin theory video, we don't know the full story here. Like it's a 12 second clip or 14. second clip or whatever it happens to be. And there wasn't a lot of context given to this. Sure looks like very worky. Like it felt like it was a work. I just can't see Austin Theory getting

that mad at someone without knowing the full context here. But this is the funny thing about the time that we live in. The people like to jump to conclusions after seeing like just a tiny little slice of something. I'd like to know more of the story. But I love Austin Theory's reaction to this. Like, seriously, you think this is easy? You think you could do this? You can walk a mile in my shoes. I love that. I think it's great.

I just don't know how authentic it is. And I think that's beside the point here. The point here is wrestling is not fake. Okay? Like, wrestling is predetermined and scripted, but so is breaking bad. So is Game of Thrones. So is succession. So is everything.

And you don't see me standing outside of, Infinity War telling people like, oh, you cried during that movie, but don't you know it's fake? Like, Iron Man's not really dead, spoiler alert. You know, like, I just don't understand how people aren't seeing them as the same thing. And then there's this argument that always ends up coming up of like, well, yeah, but like, it's live and it's in person and they're pretending to do this. It's like, well, have you ever heard of, have you ever heard of Broadway? Like, have you, could you imagine going to see Hamilton on Broadway? And like when it's over, telling someone like, you know that wasn't actually Alexander Hamilton.

Like, did you know like Alexander Hamilton doesn't actually rap? Like it just, I just, I can't understand the disconnect here. And I get it. Like, we're wrestling fans. We're in it. We understand how this works. But for the people that are outside of this, for the people that are just casually seeing wrestling on Instagram or Twitter, or they're just casually seeing wrestling as they're like flipping channels,

I understand that they don't get the inner workings of how pro wrestling works. But it's just such a weird thing. And it's like it's so weird to try to boil it all down and diminish wrestling by just saying that one word. And like it's the one four-letter word that I think makes fans upset, obviously. And it certainly makes wrestlers upset as well. So I thought that clip was great. I don't know if it was real. I don't think any of us know if it was real or not.

But I think that's beside the point. I love the way that he handled it. I've been an Austin Theory fan for years. I worked independent wrestling shows with him back in like 2019. Shout out to Blueprint Pro Wrestling, my buddy, Jamil Malick, who runs that in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Austin Theory is amazing. We knew he was going to be a star then, and he is a star now.

So I love the way that he handled it. I just, I don't like the arguments that you end up seeing in the comments that are like, he should have slapped him upside the head. That's not really how wrestling works because wrestling works like if I'm wrestling you in a match and we're both wrestlers, like we have decided like what we can and cannot do, like what we will and will not accept in that match. If you're just slapping someone upside the head because they said some words that you didn't like, that's not wrestling.

That's assault. So when people are like, oh, he should have slapped him for that. And I know that there's like the classic clip of that happening. I get that. It was a totally different time. But like the whole idea of like, well, you know, he should get in the ring. Yeah. I mean, if he got in the ring and ran the ropes and took some bumps, of course, he would

realize that it hurts and it does not tickle. But I think that's beside the point. The point here is we need to like start to have people realize that this is a form of entertainment. This is a show. and stories are being told. Whether those stories are being told on a silver screen,

like a movie, on a stage like Broadway or any other play, or on a TV screen, like you'd see with any sort of TV show, or the stories are being told in the ring. They're stories. And I think that that's the bigger point here that needs to be made.

It's not the idea of like, oh, it hurts and people get injured. Like, you'd have to be an idiot to not realize that. It's more of the idea of like, this is a form of storytelling. Maybe you don't get it because you've never watched a full episode of raw or dynamite or collision or impact or smackdown,

whatever happens to be. But the point that should be driven home is not how much this hurts and how much people can get injured because it just seems like you'd have to be really stupid to not realize that part of it. The bigger part here is this is a form of storytelling. And it may not be for you. And that's okay. But let people like what they like. That's the part I just don't get.

The Architect, 909, you spelled the architect with a K in there. I like that on Instagram. Who are your picks for Elimination Chamber? I'm excited about Elimination Chamber. And I think they did this really well at the Royal Rumble. And W.W.E is doing this really well with Elimination Chamber as well. Four matches, top to bottom. And it makes the pay-per-view kind of like have a good pace to it.

Because I think a lot of times, and we're going back a few years here, you'd have like, I'm a card with six or seven matches on it that you, you maybe didn't want to see all of them. So there's seven matches and you're like interested in three of them or you're interested in four of them. And the other ones you could just, you know, you could take it or leave it. The thing here is like if there's three out of the four that you're interested in, well, now you're invested in 75% of the cards. So just overall, I like this move from WWE making the paper views a lot quicker. It also allows. the matches to maybe be a little bit longer because you've got that time to tell those stories.

But here's my quick picks. Men's Elimination Chamber, I think it just feels like all signs are pointing to Drew. He's really building up the storyline here. And Drew versus Seth, WrestleMania. I mean, it's February. It's so hard to make predictions when we're two months out. Because then people like in two months, they'll be like, ha, you said this thing was going to happen. It's like, yeah, I said that thing was going to happen based on the knowledge that we knew in February and the way that storylines were going.

But it feels like Drew had that WrestleMania moment at WrestleMania 36 when he won the championship. But did he really have the WrestleMania moment? Like when you're in an empty arena and you're winning the championship, is it really the WrestleMania moment? And I'll actually answer that because Drew McIntyre told me in our interview that you can find from last year. He told me no, that didn't feel like a WrestleMania moment, and he still wants his WrestleMania moment. So if it's Drew versus Seth for the

World Heavyweight Championship, I could see Drew winning, and I could see Drew getting that WrestleMania moment. So I go with Drew on that one. Sure feels like Becky Lynch wins the women's elimination chamber, and then I feel like there's zero chance that Nia Jacks beats Ria Ripley.

Although I think that's going to be a fantastic match, but it's going to be Rio Ripley going into WrestleMania, going into Philly as the champion and likely also leaving. But again, don't quote me on that.

That's just how it feels right now as we say this. And then I think with the tag team match, that one's just obvious. Say it with me. Judgment Day retains over Pete Dunn and Tyler Bate, but that match is going to be fantastic.

So I'm excited about all four of these matches. I feel like we're going to do the next as CBV episode, maybe next Friday. How do you guys feel about doing these every week? I know I've kind of like teased it a little bit, but I feel like we've got enough to talk about. And there's enough questions that come in that we could do these every week. So I think when it comes to the next Ask CVV episode, we'll be looking back at Elimination Chamber going, yep, four for four, Drew, Becky, Ria, and Judgment Day.

Those are my picks. I guess we'll see what happens. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. 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. I started doing therapy with better help last year. And I guess the best way to describe it is I just feel lighter as a result. If you're thinking of doing therapy, give BetterHelp a try.

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And the cool thing about Babel is they're teaching you in real world situations, not just like random words here and there. They say the word, you say it back to them, and they tell you if you're saying it right. I'm only a few weeks into this, but it's working for me, and I know it's going to work for you too. And here's a special limited time deal for our listeners only. Right now, get 50% off a one-time payment for a lifetime Babel subscription by going to babble.com slash CVV. So get 50% off at babble.com slash CVV. That's spelled B-A-B-B-B-E-L.com slash CVV rules and restrictions may apply. Mega Mike underscore 98 on Twitter says this storyline with Cody, Roman, and the Rock is really getting interesting.

Do you think this was a plan all along for the Rock to turn heel? That is such a tough question to answer. I will say this was WWB's plan yes and no. So I don't think that WWE, and especially with Triple H in charge of the booking, I don't think they're foolish enough to have Cody win the Royal Rumble and then not have him main event. So I do believe that was the plan. Cody wins the Royal Rumble and then main events, WrestleMania.

I know there's a lot of theories here of CM Punk was supposed to win the Royal Rumble. they got injured and then like they made a last minute audible Cody wins the Rumble. I don't personally think that and I have my own reasons for that. So I don't think that the plan all along was for Cody to win the Rumble and then them figure this thing out with the Rock later on. I do think there was an audible called when the Rock got the backlash that he did get. The whole we want Cody hashtag and trending online, that whole thing, that felt like an audible. But if that moment, and I don't know why more people don't talk about this, the moment

where the rock comes out, Cody and Roman are in the ring, the rock's music hits on Smackdown, the rock got a massive ovation here. And I, like, and like he wasn't booed on that episode, right? He wasn't, like the backlash didn't happen until really Twitter got a hold of this and then in the days after that. That's like when this really started to maybe be the audible that they called. But like the rock's music hits the fans that are there live go bananas biggest pop of the night then there's the odd moment where cody leaves the ring the rock is there the face off the rock and roman that still wasn't getting like megabood it really wasn't until the backlash online that i feel like the audible started to be called and i i don't think it's like the rocks trying to shoehorn his

way into WrestleMania. Again, I don't think with Triple H in charge, he really hasn't dropped the ball in terms of booking. I just don't feel like they would be foolish enough to think that fans would just go, oh, yeah, that's great that Cody last week said he wanted Roman Reigns, and now he says he doesn't want Roman Raines. I don't think so. I could be totally wrong here. But I've said this before. I will say it again. Patience. And the funny thing about pro wrestling is we see something transpire on Monday or Wednesday or Friday or Saturday. And we immediately want to know why. We immediately want an explanation.

And I just think that if we would have been patient, and I'm not saying that we should have just shut up and not said anything as fans. But if we had been patient, the following Thursday when they did the press conference, we started to see like, oh, okay. And also the Rock's appearance of Pat McAfee, we started to see like, oh, okay, that's what this is going to turn into. That's what that segment on SmackDown meant. And I feel like there's this rush to try to make sense of something instead of, since we were just talking about TV shows, instead of just waiting for the next episode. Like, my wife and I just finished successionally or recently. That shows fantastic. But like when one episode ends, I don't like go.

online and start complaining about how things happen on one episode. I just go, oh, we should wait until the next episode comes on here and see where they were going with this thing. And that's how I personally feel about wrestling. I love watching these stories unfold. I also love that we're in a time right now where wrestling storylines don't necessarily need to unfold during Raw Smackdown, Dynamite, collision, Rampage, NXT, impact, whatever it happens to be. Like, we're now living in a time when storylines are unfolding on the Pat McAfee show on ESPN, also streaming live on YouTube and TikTok, whatever. Like, that didn't happen 20 plus years ago. I also love that we're living in a time right now where a press conference where not a single second of wrestling happens.

And there wasn't even a ring there gets more viewers than an episode of Raw or Smackdown or Dynamite or Impact or Rampage. Like, that's an exciting time right now. So it is like one of those things that is so easier said than done, but patience. And we still have, what is it, seven or eight more weeks until WrestleMania, patience. And I know that is so hard to put into practice. But there's going to be stuff that's going to happen. Look, there's going to be stuff that happened between now as you listen to this and Elimination Chamber that's going to dictate what happens at WrestleMania.

And also it's so funny, Triple H did an interview, was it yesterday where he was like, I would just want to say this. The Rock will not be an elimination chamber. Like, don't get your hopes up. I want to put this out there. I'm not spinning this. The Rock is not going to be an elimination chamber. And it's amazing to see how many comments of people are saying, oh, that means the Rock's going to be there. Like, what?

Like, Triple H is saying he will not be there. And the discourse happens to be like, oh, that means the Rock's going to be there. Like it's just, I love it. I love it. But it's just so funny how we just can't take some things at face value. Like, sometimes, yes, of course, there's layers to this. There's levels to this. There's more than meets the eye. And then sometimes it truly is just like, oh yeah, Triple H said he wasn't going to be there. Elimination chamber ends. He's not there. Okay. Well, let's move on to the next thing. So I love seeing this unfold. But again, patience. Let's just truly see how this all unfolds. Like, this is such an exciting time to be a pro wrestling fan. I love it. And I have just taken much more of a wait and see approach.

I'm not saying, like, I'm not saying that I liked the way that the Cody thing happened. Like, it makes sense, right? Logistically, you know I love logic when it comes to pro wrestling. Cody wins the Royal Rumble. Cody should be main eventing WrestleMania. That's just how it goes. Like 1 plus 1 equals 2.

That's just how it is. So I'm not saying that I liked how this rock storyline went, but what I am saying is it's not over yet. And this is a big thing that people don't seem to remember or don't seem to want to point out. The Rock versus Roman Reins was never a match that was announced, ever. There was not a match graphic for this. There was not an, it was, the rock never said like, you, me, WrestleMania. And then Roman Raines said,

yes, let's do it. That never happened. It was heavily, heavily teased, right? And I think that maybe they were testing the waters here, like, ooh, if we tease this, what would this end up, you know, being? What would people think of this? But there also might be something going on here where it's like, if the rock turns heel, that now makes Cody. And even, even, you know, even bigger baby face than he already was. And there was a point in time that you could argue that Cody was not the number one baby face. It was someone named L.A. Knight. Yeah.

The reactions that L.A. Knight was getting over the last few months were definitely bigger reactions than what Cody was getting. So I just think there's something else going on behind the scenes here. I could be wrong. I could be wrong. I'd be happy to be wrong. But I think there's something else going on behind the scenes. So let's just see how this all unfolds.

because we've got several options, right, for WrestleMania. I said this on the last CVV episode two weeks ago, but it still stands to reason that we could see Cody versus Roman. We could see, well, probably not anymore, but Rock versus Roman, definitely seemed like a possibility. Again, it was not a match that was ever announced. We could see a three-way match. Then I saw some theory of like, oh, it's going to be a tag match.

It's going to be Cody and Seth versus the Rock and Roman. And it's like, no, that's not happening. That's not happening at all. Seth is going to wrestle the winner of Elimination Chamber, which, as we already went through, is probably going to be Drew. So let's just see how this all unfolds. Christian 07 Luna and also legendary John T on Instagram.

You both asked the same question here. How was it going to Monday, Raw, with your family? I saw that video that you posted with your wife, Rachel, and your daughter, Logan. So my daughter was wearing this very, very cute onesie of the macho man. Ooh, yeah.

It did not go well. Logan is eight and a half, almost nine months old. And we were so excited to take her. Like, I thought this would be such a cool thing to be able to, like, show her photos of and tell her about years from now, like, you went to your first wrestling show when you were eight and a half months old. So first of all, we drove there. It was in Anaheim on Monday.

And we live about 15 minutes from the Honda Center. We drove there. It took so long to find parking and get over there, and we thought we'd be getting there early. West Coast Times here, Ross starts at 5 o'clock, but they had stuff at 430s. We're like, oh, man, if we could get there at 4.30, we'll get to our seats, we'll get situated. We got, we were walking into the arena at like 457. We got to our seats at like 459. We sit down on our seats, boom.

Ross starts. amazing. And if you remember, it was Drew McIntyre versus Cody Rose to open the show. So we're sitting there. We're taking some photos. We're starting to take some videos. Drew comes out. Massive explosion. Right? It's part of Drew's entrance. We had those ear protector things on Logan, like these super cute pink ear protector things that we had on her. And she kept swatting them off her head. And we're like, oh, maybe like when she hears like the rumble of the crowd and she hears the music, she'll keep them on because it'll be muffling all that sound, right? It's noise-canceling headphones. It didn't work. She's swatting these things off of her head.

The big explosion goes off and she didn't have the ear protectors on her head at that exact second and it just, it didn't go well. So I said to my wife, I said, the next entrance, which is Cody's entrance, is going to have even more explosions. So we should probably at least take her into the concourse while that happens. So I stayed for Cody's entrance. She went back into the concourse like as far away from the arena as possible, like basically all the way back to like the doors where you enter the arena. Cody comes out, huge explosions. And Logan didn't keep her headphones on or her ear protectors on for that one either. So needless to say, it didn't go well. And Rachel was like, well, we can go in there like watch the matches. I'm like, I mean, it's it's just not. It's not a great

idea because there's going to be loud music and more explosions and she's not keeping her headphones on. So we made the decision to leave Monday Night Raw after like five minutes. All of that is to say we will be back for another wrestling show when she's a little bit older. So maybe it's another year or two. But I like that we tried. It didn't go well. And we'll go on to the next one. But it would have been a it would have been a, it's a, it's a. It's a, nice idea. It was a nice idea, but our daughter needs to keep the ear protectors on. It was fine when the ear protectors were on, but she kept swatting them off her head. So we'll have to try again another time in a year or two. A little sip of F3 energy, original flavor today.

Jeremy 14 Fisher on Twitter says, hey, that was a pretty awesome macho man impression that you did in that video that you posted with your wife and your daughter before you went to Raw. What other impressions are you keeping from us? So that video that you saw, go check it out on my social media. It's on TikTok. It's on Facebook. It's on Instagram. By the way, we just hit 400,000 followers on TikTok. So if you're one of those followers on TikTok, thank you. 400,000. I just started that account like, I don't know, like two years ago. So thank you. Amazing. So check out the video. It was totally authentic too. Like my wife was making this video of Logan standing on the counter with her cute little converse shoes and the macho man shirt, I was filling my water bottle. I came around the corner and I saw this and I couldn't

believe it. I couldn't believe how cute she looked. So yeah, I did the macho man. Yeah, Randy Savage impression you dig it. Ooh, yeah, macho man. Yeah, I'll give it like a seven out of ten. But I feel like every, so I feel like everybody can do three wrestling impressions. Everybody has some version of macho man, even if it's just a, ooh, yeah. I feel like everybody could do some sort of version of Hulk Hogan. Let me tell you something, dude. I actually did that impression for Hogan. He's like, wow, that's pretty good, man.

And I feel like everybody does some sort of version of Stone Cold Steve Austin. What? What? Stone Cold. Stone Cold. Steve Austin. What? What?

And that's the bottom line because Stone Cold said so. I can give that like a six out of ten. I'm not saying these are good. I'm just saying everybody has a version of those. I also think that if you can do like that raspy voice, you can also get into a little Jaisen Stuy them. I am Jaisen Stuy.

That wasn't good at all. I don't know why I thought I could do that. But those are the impressions I've been hiding from you. This is why I've been hiding them from you because they are, they're not great. I understand that. I've also pulled out the occasional it doesn't matter. You know, like, hey, who's your favorite wrestler?

It doesn't matter who your favorite wrestler is. Also not a great impression, but the cadence there, I felt like it was pretty good. Mardso. Is that Mard Sue or Mard So? M-A-R-D-S-E-W on Instagram. Hey, Chris, big fan here. What do you think about a Stone Cold versus the rock match at WrestleMania? I mean, let's be.

perfectly honest here. That's not going to happen. But I think what we can see is we could see a Stone Cold versus somebody match again at WrestleMania, and we could see The Rock versus somebody match. But I don't think that with two wrestlers in their 50s, even though they are two of the greatest of all time, I don't think that's a match we can see anymore. Because I think that in Stone Cold even told me this in the interview that we did last year, the reason that match with Kevin Owens worked is because Kevin Owens carried him through the match and made Stone Cold look like a million bucks. Like Stone Cold said, like, he was so rusty that his punches were off. Like, he was, like, actually potatoing Kevin Owens in the head.

So I think we could see Stone Cold wrestle again. I think we could see The Rock. I think we will see the Rock wrestle again. But I don't think we will see them wrestle against each other ever again. And I also feel like it would really tarnish what they did in the past. Like the WrestleMania matches they had before were so good. that I don't feel like, like, WrestleMania 17, The Rock versus Stone Cold is one of the greatest WrestleMania matches ever, like certainly top five or 10. So I don't think we'll see that happen.

Daniel S. Rivera on Facebook says, what was your favorite indie wrestling show that you've ever attended so far? I had the pleasure of meeting you at Blizzard Brawl in Wisconsin this past December. That was so good to meet you, Daniel. So good to meet all of you at Blizzard Brawl. And shout out to my buddy, Dave Hero. He puts on such. a good show with Blizzard Brawl, and I'd heard about it for years. I was honored to be able to go there this past year in December. And that's also where I did some pretty great interviews. That's where I did an interview with Al Snow, EC3, and Damien Sandow, aka Aaron Stevens. So my favorite, I've talked about this several times, many different episodes. It was Neo Spirit pro wrestling in Niagara Falls,

Ontario, Canada. I believe it was 2001. And it's a lot of match between Danger Boy, Derek Wild, and Showtime Eric Young. And you can, if you find the clip on YouTube, you can actually see me in the background, like absolutely flipping out. I was with my buddy Greg and with my buddy Trevor, Greg Kuzak and Trevor Smalls. We are just losing it. Like a Death Valley driver off the top of the ladder to the outside through a table. Like they were doing insane things.

It is the wildest ladder match that I have ever seen. And I'm not just talking about like ever seen live. Like this is the wildest ladder match I've ever seen. Yes, there's very grainy video of like some highlights of it that you can find on YouTube. And it's funny because I've talked about this so many times that so many comments on that YouTube video are talking about how like, oh, I came here because I heard Chris talking about this to Ethan Page. or I heard Chris talking about this to Eric Young. And it's, I talk about this match. I talked about it with Sean Spears recently, if you remember that.

It's such a great, that was such a great show, like top to bottom. And Neo Spirit, it also was called Fighting Spirit Pro Wrestling. They put on such good shows. Niagara Falls is not like super close to where I grew up. Like Pickering, my hometown in Niagara Falls is like, it's a solid two-ish hours, give or take. like maybe it's 150 or maybe it's 2.15, but like it's a solid two hours. And we would make the drive to go to these awesome shows. So that's it. That's my favorite indie show, my favorite indie match ever. I don't think that answer will ever change. I mean, that match happened 23 years ago and

the answer stays the same. And what's so funny is I'll like go back and check out the interview I did with Eric Young. And we're going to be doing another one soon. A little teaser there for you. I said to him, like, you had the best independent wrestling match that I've ever seen live. And like immediately, he's just like, oh, yeah, yeah, the one with Derek Wild. I'm like, what? It's crazy. I didn't even, I didn't talk about like where it was. I didn't talk about who his opponent was.

I didn't talk about the fact that it was a ladder match. He just immediately knew. It's like, oh, yeah, yeah, that's the one. That's the one that people always talk to me about. And it's just such a good match. Michael Earl Pam on Facebook says, what advice could you give to all future interviewers and all future wrestling podcasters. It's a great question. I love answering questions like this. It's why I started full-time creator. If you are a creator who's looking to do this full-time, go check out

full-time creator.co. Join for a dollar and be part of the mastermind where we dive deep into not only how to become a creator, but how to make money as a creator. And I think one of the biggest things is do what you can with what's in front of you. So I always tell people if you want to interview wrestlers, go to wrestling shows. Go to your local independent wrestling shows. Ask the wrestlers who are there if they're interested in doing an interview. Go to your local wrestling conventions

and ask the wrestlers there if they're interested in doing interviews. If that's not a possibility, send 100 emails to wrestlers of all different levels. They could be wrestlers who have a year of experience. They could be wrestlers who have five years of experience. They could be legendary wrestlers

who have 20 or 30 years of experience. Send out a bunch of emails introducing yourself talking about who you are and what you do and lead with value. What value can you bring to them? Because it's very obvious what's in it for you, right? They're giving you half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour of their time. What's in it for them? What are they getting in exchange for it? What platforms are you able to put it on? How many people might be listening to this or watching this? Are they promoting an upcoming match that you could help to get the word out about? Do they have a new book? that they just wrote that they're promoting. Find something there. And also like, do what you can

with what's in front of you in terms of equipment too. Like, I think a lot of people go, oh, man, I'd love to be a YouTuber, but I can't afford a camera. Or I'd love to be a podcaster, but I can't afford a microphone. Like, the phone that you are listening to this on right now has a camera that is good enough for you to be a YouTuber. And it has a microphone that's good enough for you to at least start as a podcaster. So I think that's a really big misconception. Find out what all of those excuses are in your own life that are preventing you from doing that thing. And I'm not just talking about podcasting or YouTube or content creation. Just in general, what is the thing that is standing in the way of you and doing the thing that you want to do?

But if you break it all down, the answer most of the time is you. Like you're the thing that's standing in the way. Find whatever you can. Find a way to do that. Oh, I don't have the right equipment. Yeah, you do. You have that iPhone or Android or whatever it happens to be in your pocket. Start shooting on that. I don't have a microphone. Yeah, you do. I don't have any contacts. Well, do you have an email address? Well, send out a bunch of emails. Every no that you get is going to be that much closer to getting a yes. So, like, you either find an excuse or you find a way. Like that's, it comes down to that. That's, that's my version of a very famous quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger,

but you can either have excuses or you can have results. You can't have both. That's the quote. And I think that that is so, so true. So it's up to you. Do you want results or do you want excuses? Because you can't have both. James Krause on Facebook says,

at your possible live show during WrestleMania 40 weekend in Philadelphia, do you have any guests lined up? Are you going to be doing a meet and greet as well? I'm grateful for my kids, my friends, and my job. Deepest respect for what you do. Well, that's, I love that, James. I love the gratitude thing. And you've been seeing me wear the shirt recently.

Grateful with the three in the middle. If you're interested in grab one of those, go to pro wrestling teas.com slash Chris Van Fleet. They come in black and white. There's also some other shirts on there that I love. But it doesn't look like, I hate to say this. Unfortunately, it does. doesn't look like the live show during WrestleMania 40 weekend is going to happen.

And we had the venue. I mean, I guess we still technically have the venue. It was supposed to happen Friday afternoon, like 4 p.m.ish. But unfortunately, everybody who we wanted as a guest was already booked. We reached out to a ton of people and they were already booked. And I think this is the thing about WrestleMania weekend. The best thing about WrestleMania weekend is everybody who's ever done anything in pro wrestling, is in town. But the worst thing about

WrestleMania weekend is everybody's so busy. Like, it's hard to just get interviews in general. Like, it's hard to just, like, grab someone for half an hour, 45 minutes, or an hour for an interview because people are, like, booked solid. So I reached out to a ton of big names. I reached out to WWE Hall of Famers. I reached out to active wrestlers and active superstars and everybody's booked

that Friday evening. So unfortunately, it's not going to happen. I would love to do some sort of a meetup, though, whether that's at a bar or a hotel lobby or something, I would love to meet you guys. The plan was to do the live episode of Insight with a massive guest and then do a meet and greet after. And we could get photos with the guest, of course, and then photos with me if you want that. But unfortunately, it's not going to happen.

So we're looking ahead to SummerSlam. And I don't know if you've heard the rumors. But the rumor is that SummerSlam is going to be in my American hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. So I'm hoping. I'm hoping it's in CLE. They have not announced this yet, but when they do, expect an announcement very short after of me with a massive guest in Cleveland, live episode of Insight, probably the Friday before SummerSlam. But I hate it because I'm going to be in Philly. I'm going to be, I fly to Philly the Wednesday before WrestleMania, and I'm there all the way

till Monday. So I'm there Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I'm there six days. And it's just unfortunate that we aren't going to be able to make that live episode happen. And then like last ditch effort, I was like, DDP is such a good friend. He'll do it. I would love to have DDP back on the show. Who wouldn't love to hear DDP tell some amazing stories live and in person?

And DDP told me, ah, I'm not flying. until Saturday. I'm like, ah. So, SummerSlam. And if you have some guests that you'd love to see there, please send me a message and or send me a tweet, whatever, put a comment on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok or YouTube, SummerSlam. That is the plan. Daniel Zamerano on Facebook says, when is the episode with Disco Inferno coming out? The episode with Disco, Inferno is coming out on Tuesday. So that's coming out this Tuesday. And I feel like we are so fortunate right now to be like to have a bunch that we pre-recorded and they're ready to go. So that's an interview we did last month. We did that at the same time as the interview with Rhino and Moose.

There's a few. There's a few that we recorded in January that'll be coming out soon. So that's one of them. So a great conversation with disco coming out on Tuesday. And if you haven't heard it, I was a on Keeping a 100 with Disco and Conan. So go check that one out. That was like a month, a little over a month ago. So go check that one out. Bobby the underscore danger one on Instagram says, I saw you share a behind the scenes photo of you with John Cena.

Please tell me this is a full length episode. Well, my friend. Well, Bobby, I can tell you that this was a very full length episode. with John Sina. He is fantastic. I've been talking to him for months, dating back to, I think, October, to try to line up like a real podcast episode with him. Because I've interviewed him, I think it's four times before. Most of them are, you know, five-ish, ten-ish minutes. We did that one, WrestleMania 35 weekend, which still one of my favorite interviews ever. And it was like 15-ish minutes. And that's the one where he was like, hey, you know, you got more time.

I went to wrap it up and it's like, I don't know, keep going. We still got more time. That happened again here. So he has a new movie coming out on Amazon Prime. It comes out on March 7th. It's hilarious. It's called Ricky Stenicki.

It's a very hard R-rated movie. And he's so good in it. So he was in Los Angeles doing press for Ricky Stenickey, which I can't wait for you to see this movie. It's so raunchy. Like he sings all these songs. he sings all these songs, like famous songs about masturbating.

That's his character. It's so good. So, and we talk about that during this interview, but he set aside an hour for this interview. Yeah, an hour with John Cena. And then at the 55 minute mark, someone comes in with a sign that says five minutes left. And John's like, hey, there's going to be this guy

coming in off to the side here to tell you, you only have five minutes left. But yeah, don't listen to him. I'll tell you when this interview is over. And I'm like, what? Yeah, he's like, yeah, fuck that guy. I'm like, wow. What a guy. So we ended up talking, I think it was like an hour in 13 minutes. And we talk about everything. And at the end of the episode, I said, look, I've been in broadcasting since 2005, and I can confidently say this is my favorite interview that I've ever done. So that interview is coming out on March 5th. Why isn't it coming out earlier, CVV? The interview. The interview.

is embargoed. So oftentimes this happens when you do an interview that's in line with a movie coming out or something that they're promoting. They want all of the press to come out around the same week of the release so that all eyes, all the talk is about that movie. So the movie comes out on the seventh and this interview is going to come out on the fifth. So I mean, I hope you'll mark that day on your calendar. I don't know if you've noticed, but these interviews come out, the episodes of the show come out at midnight. They drop at midnight Pacific time. So that's 3 a.m. East Coast time. Then you can do the math based on wherever you live in the world. So I would hope that you are setting an alarm right now for whatever midnight Pacific time is in your time zone on March 5th.

That is when the interview with John Cena is coming out. And it will be very difficult to have a better interview than that one this year. but my goodness am I going to try to have one that's better that one's just that's so good so good a little another sip here of f3 energy use the code CVV at f3 energy.com and you will say 15% grab the energy pack like I think a lot of people are like what's your favorite flavor I always say it's tropical theory the original is very good citrus clarity is also big fan favorite just get the energy like variety pack and you get four cans or sorry yeah four cans of all three flavors you get a 12 pack. Yeah, use that code CVV. Joel Noel Cleary on Facebook says,

when are you going to do a full interview with Brett Hart? Well, I've never done any interview with Brett Hart. And he is high on my bucket list of people that I want to interview. I would like to make it happen this year. And I've been trying so hard. There's been so many conventions that we've both been at at the same time. I have been talking to his manager for the better part of a year to try to make this happen. I would say, look, I don't know when it's.

going to happen. I will be optimistic to say it'll happen at some point this year. Maybe Brett would be my live guest. How awesome would that be? Just two Canadians hanging out live in front of you guys, meet and greet after with Brett the hitman heart. So I don't know when it's going to happen. I just hope it's going to happen soon. Troy Blair Media on Instagram. Troy is the man who edits all of my amazing vertical video. So all my shorts, TikToks, reels, Troy is the man behind that. So shout out to Troy for helping to grow this into what it's become. Troy says, what question do you get asked the most? That's a good one, Troy.

The question I get asked the most is it's so often, when are you going to interview someone's so? And it's my favorite when someone's like, hey, I would love to see an interview with blank. And I'm like, oh, I interviewed them two years ago. Here's a link. Oh, okay. And then like, inevitably it happens a few days later.

hey, you know it would be really awesome? An interview with so-and-so. And I'm like, oh, yeah, no, I interviewed them six months ago. Here's a link to that. And it's my favorite thing. It's my favorite thing when are you going to interview somebody? And I'm able to, like, send them a link right now and say, oh, that's already happened. When are you going to interview The Undertaker?

Here you go. Here's an interview with The Undertaker. And I know that sometimes people might be saying, like, what are you going to interview so-and-so? Like, it's not fair. Like, someone's like, when are you going to interview Roman Raines? And I can't be like, here's an interview I did. with him 10 years ago and the interview was 90 seconds long because that is true. I interviewed the shield like 10 or 11 years ago and it's a very quick, not great interview. And you can find

that on my YouTube channel. It's still up. So like I get those ones. Like Roman's definitely someone I'd love to interview. What he's done over the last three-ish years, three plus years since turning a heel, it's a storyline we're going to be talking about like 10 and 15 and 20 years from now. even if you're not a fan of the Bloodline storyline, even if you're one of those people who complains because he doesn't defend the title enough, I truly think this is going to be a storyline that we're going to be talking about

many, many years from now. Whether you like it or not, it's the storyline that will define, that is defining the current era of wrestling that we're in right now. And I will say this, this wasn't a question that was asked, but they just kind of want to go off

on a brief tangent about this. I understand the idea of like, oh, Roman doesn't defend the title enough. I get where people are coming from with that. Roman obviously also has his own health issues and maybe he's not able to wrestle as much as perhaps you'd like to see him wrestle. One thing I would like to see more of in this era of wrestling that we're in right now is title changes happening on television. Like it just feels like when there's a title match and they're so rare, when there's

title matches on television right now, it just feel like we already know the outcome of it. And I just hate that that exists. Like, Seth Rawlins defends fairly regularly on television, but I just hate where you're like, yeah, well, I know who's going to win. And with Gunther's incredible reign, 620 plus days as we're recording this right now, amazing. But when Gunther has a title match on Raw, we're like, yeah, you kind of know who's going to win. And it would be awesome to see like that Mick Foley moment where Mick Foley wins a

championship on Raw. Like that, that makes it like appointment viewing. And what I mean by that is like, you have to tune in live when Raw is on. You have to tune in live when SmackDown's on. You have to tune in live when Dynamite's on because you never know what's going to happen. And I would love to see that like start to be sprinkled in a little bit more over the next year or two or more where it's like it makes it important that I have to tune in on to see Raw. I can't just watch clips on Instagram or YouTube or Twitter. I have to tune in live to watch this because so-and-so may win the championship. So that's something I would like to see happen a lot more. Stay true wrestling on Instagram says, what is one controversial moment in pro wrestling history that you believe needed

to happen? I think that's an easy one. I think it's a screw job because everything that happened after the screw job would not have happened if it wasn't for the screw job happening. Like Vince McMahon basically became the Mr. McMahon character after that. That heavily took us into the attitude era and everything that we got out of the attitude era. So obviously, I don't enjoy how the screw job went down. I still don't like that it's 25 plus years later. We still don't really know what happened to screw job. I hate that that was the way that it all happened, especially hated because I'm a Canadian guy.

I like Brett. And I think that bread is like a good, like a good upstanding just person, not even like outside of wrestling. I think he's just a stand-up guy. And I believe him. I mean, I wasn't obviously working for WWF at the time. But I believe him when he says he's not going to take the title and go on nitro with it. But if it wasn't for the screw job, I don't think that there would have been the momentum for the attitude era and the Mr. McMahon character and becoming like the evil.

boss. So I think it's it's the screw job. I think the screw job has to happen for everything to happen after that. I don't think that I think everyone would agree with that. There's obviously other moments in wrestling, but that's the one that I think is that pretty easy for all of us to agree on. Like screw job sucked. But everything that came out of the screw job, good, you know, was good stuff. Marvelous Michael 84 on Instagram says, where did you get that awesome Andre the giant shirt that you were wearing during the interview with O'Shea Jackson Jr. That episode was awesome. By the way, I loved it. That shirt is from Eerie TV printing on Instagram. That's E.E.R.I.E. TV printing. Like, Eerie, like, ooh, it's spooky.

That shirt's hilarious. Because if you watch the interview, I know a lot of you might listen to it, but if you watch it or you just watch a clip, it's like Andre's staring at the camera the whole time. And by the way, O'Shea is wearing this awesome shirt of the fiend. So it's like his shirt and my shirt are both kind of like maybe communicating with each other in some sort of way. Also like a rest in peace to both legends, right? Under the Giant and Bray Wyatt. So yeah, go check out Erie TV printing on Instagram.

Thank you guys so much for the awesome shirt. The amount of compliments that I have got on that shirt is overwhelming. So thank you for that. And oh, one. Oh, one, yeah, one question left here. Alexis underscore on underscore top underscore on Instagram. That is three underscores there, Alexis. Man.

And by the way, thank you for all these questions. Thank you for just being here. And thank you for being who you are. I appreciate all these questions. I love hanging out with you guys. If you have a question for the next one, ask CVV number 21. That's my favorite number, by the way.

21 is my favorite number. It was my number when I played baseball. I played for many years. I played from like age four to like 24. So baseball is a big one for me. 21 was my number for most of that time. So Ask CVV. 21 is coming up here in, I guess, a week, right?

Let's do them. Let's do them weekly and see how that happens. If you have a question, send him in using that hashtag Ask CVV. Alexis underscore on underscore top underscore says, hey, Chris, I absolutely love this show. I listen to it all the time when I'm out walking the dog. I also love the Ask CVV episodes, and yes, I'd be glad to have them every week. So there we go. Anyway, here's the question.

Who do you think is the real workhorse of the WWE as a whole? I think the true workhorses are Natalia and the Ms. And I would have said Dolph Ziegler, but obviously Dolph Ziegler is not with WWE anymore. Those are like the underrated slash underappreciated people who are willing to go out there and do whatever is asked of them. And it's not about winning titles, although they have obviously won many titles. It's not about winning titles. It's not about like, ooh, I think my character should do this or do that. It's about like what's the best thing for the storyline.

And you will never hear me say anything bad about the Ms. or about Natalia and just the work that they do. It's so good. That's why they are, they've been around for as long as they've been around. That's why they are easily first ballot hall of famers. That's why they've had the career that they've had. Because I think at the end of the day, a lot of people, especially fans, forget that this is a television program. Like this is a script that you're following and this is what your character is being asked to do. And I think the idea

sometimes of being like, oh, my character wouldn't lose to that person or my character wouldn't say this thing. And I understand that like promos, those can be worked on. But like the idea of like, oh, I see in the pantheon of everything is going on here, if my character does this, that's better for that person's character, which as a whole is better for the product. And those are the people that get it. Chelsea Green was saying this recently in the interview that we did. She's like, I don't care about winning. What I care about is making moments.

Santino's the same way. And our truth is like the perfect example of this right now. It's not about like winning or losing for those people. It's about like creating a moment that you remember. member. And I think that that's, Sanino said it was so interesting. He said this in the interview that we did last year. He's like, a lot of people remember his quick elimination at the Rumble, but they don't remember who won the Rumble that year. Or they don't even remember which Rumble it was.

They just remember like, oh, that's one of those cool moments from the Rumble. And I look, I get that you're listening to this. You're going, well, of course, so-and-so won the Rumble. I don't even remember which Rumble it was. See, and this is what I'm talking about. But in terms of like true workhorses. I had to take a step of water there. In terms of true workhorses, those are my answers. The Mizz and Italia, and it's going to be really hard to argue

with either one of those. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you more than I could possibly explain. Even if we did a three-hour episode, I couldn't possibly explain in that time, how awesome you are and how much I appreciate you. And just thank you. Thank you for being on this ride.

with me. We're 570 episodes in, and I feel like we are just getting started. So please support the show by clicking follow wherever you're listening to this right now. If you haven't yet, hit subscribe on YouTube, please hit subscribe on both of my channels. Ask CVV and then the main channel. Chris Van Fleet, we're closing it on 600,000 subscribers on the Ask CVV channel. We're closing in on half a million on the main channel. It's just so excited because we truly are just getting started. Put March 5th, midnight Pacific time in your phone. The episode with John Cena is, it's the best episode you will hear all year.

And I hope that you appreciate it. I will leave you with this quote from Alan Watts. DDP shared this yesterday on Instagram. And it just resonated with me so much. It's similar to a quote I've shared here. before, but I just love how succinct this one is. Alan Watts said no amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen. Be great. Be grateful. Enjoy Elimination Chamber. We will see you on the next one for some more

insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast.

What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.