Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #44 - We Need Another Midcard Title! Jesse Ventura Interview, Lucha Underground's Best Wrestlers, Dream Matches That Never Happened

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Welcome to AskCVV #44! On this episode, Chris answers questions about Big Bronson Reed's recent push and comparisons to Earthquake, bringing back the European Championship, the best Pay-Per-View of 2024 so far, favorite wrestler from Lucha Underground, when the Jesse Ventura interview will come out, dream matches that never happened and much more! If you have a question for the next AskCVV episode, leave a comment on Spotify or send it in on social media using the hashtag #AskCVV. Quote I'm thinking about: "The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit." - James Clear Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/ BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv MAREK HEALTH: Get a 10% discount on Marek Health's Optimization Package with code CVV: https://marekhealth.com/cvv BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com 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

Baby, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for being with us on this one. And thank you for helping to make Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. And you do that by listening to the show, following the show, sharing the show. And if you're in the very small percentage of people

who are like at that top tier of supporters, whether you know it or not, you're the people who have left comments or you rate the show or you've left a review for the show. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, I appreciate you. You're awesome.

Happy Friday. I hope you've got some big plans this weekend. We got some big wrestling shows in the next few weeks to round out our summer here to finish out the summer of 2024. A.W. All-In is next weekend, August 25th. That's going to be a big one. And they also just announced that All-In is happening

in Arlington, Texas next year at Globe Life field. That's the baseball stadium where the Texas Rangers play. That is going to be the largest show that AW has ever held in the U.S. So huge congratulations to them for that. The weekend after, we've got Bash in Berlin, August 31st, and then just like that, summer's over. Crazy, right? Then September is the day after that, Labor Day right around the corner. Cold weather is going to be upon us soon when fall hits, kids going back to school. And then it's like, Christmas. It's like boom, boom, boom. 24 is speeding by. Where has it gone? I will say this, though. 2024 will go down in history as one of the best years ever for professional wrestling.

And we're saying that now just past the halfway mark of this year, but I don't care how old you are or how long you've been watching wrestling for or where, where you sit on this. I think just objectively, when you look at the numbers, wrestling is hotter than it's been in a very, very long time. So just take half a step back and just appreciate what's going on right now with whatever company you like to watch. I would hope you're a wrestling fan and you appreciate wrestling with any sort of letters or words attached to it. But, just if you could just take half a step back and appreciate that things are pretty great right now. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 44, the Hank Aaron edition. Of course, also the Reggie Jackson edition and the Lewis Hamilton edition.

And it's so fun seeing your comments on Spotify or the messages that you send me when you're like, hey, CVV, I got a question for Ask CVV number, whatever. It's the so-and-so edition. it's so cool hearing all of your suggestions. I love them. Keep them coming. Who's it going to be for Ask CVV number 45 next week? Please send them in.

It's always cool to see what suggestions you have. And if you have a question for next week, send it in using the hashtag Ask CVV on social media. Leave a comment on Spotify. Shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanbleet.com. Let's start off with this email from, Michael who said, hey, CVV, now that WWE is doing a lot of PLEs in Europe, do you think they should bring back the European title? I love the show. I love the guest, but Fridays Ask CVV show is the one

that I look forward to the most. Well, that is awfully kind, Michael. I see a lot of these comments recently. And that, I'm genuinely shocked by that, but it's amazing. This was an idea that we came up with like a year ago where it was just like, you know what, it'd be cool to answer some questions this week. Turned into doing Ask CVV like once-ish a month, then it was twice-ish a month, then it was like, well, we've got some big events coming up or some newsworthy things were happening. I was getting a lot of questions about that. What if we could do this once a week? Would people actually listen? If we did these things every single week and the answer, at least for now, seems to be yes.

So I am very grateful for you, Michael, and I'm very grateful for everybody who tunes in every Friday. There's a large cohort of people who just listen on Fridays, and that blows my mind. But I'm here for it, and it's amazing. I'm almost in a loss of words for,

like with the amount of guests that we've had recently, and the amount of big name guests that we've had recently, there's still a lot of people who just show up for us to just talk a little wrestling on Fridays, and that is a very cool thing. So, Michael, I agree that the European title should come back. I have some very fond memories during the attitude era of some European champions, some European championship matches, and I totally think that it needs to come back. That was a title held by some legends.

I mean, you've got people like Cartangle famously held it. Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, of course, the British Bulldog, Jeff Jarrett, Christian, Bradshaw, Jeff Hardy, like Rob Van Dam, the list goes on and on and on. And what was cool was that was kind of like you got some gold now. It's kind of like, all right, can this person be a champion? And then oftentimes that went on from the European Championship to the Intercontinental Championship. And remember Kurt Engel famously helped both at the same time when he was calling himself, the Eurocontinental champion. We do need to keep in mind, though, that the European

championship existed before the U.S. title was a thing. The U.S. title wasn't a thing during that same era. And I think the other thing that I think is important to keep in mind is the European title was only around for like five years, 97 to 2002. And that was it. But bring it on back, baby. I think there's a need for one other. men's belt and certainly one, if not two, women's championships as well. So bring it on. and especially with the amount of PLEs that are being done all around the world, I want to see more. I want to see some more championships and I want to see the opportunity for more people to hold gold within the company because there's just not that many,

if you're a singles wrestler, you've got four championships as a man that you're competing for. On the women's side, you get two and their world titles. I think there's just got to be one more kind of in-between championship. And I guess you could make the case that there is the speed championship. I just don't know if that falls into the same category, okay? So, yes, give me another one. Parker the Batty 96 on Instagram says, hey, CVV, what's the story behind the 39 cent residual check that you posted on Instagram this week. Is that real? You made 39 cents for being in a movie? So earlier this week, I posted a photo of one of the SAG residual checks that I got from a movie that I was in in. I acted it in 2014. It came out in 2015. It's called criminal activities starring John Travolta. I played a news anchor in it. It's one of those classic scenes where someone gets a phone call. What's that? What? Wait, what channel? And then they turn it on and there I am, the news anchor, delivering the bad news, delivering part of the plot of the movie and things progress from there.

It was so cool to film that movie and to be part of that. I've been in a handful of movies. I played a news reporter or news anchor and quite a few. I'm also in the bronze with Sebastian Stan, Melissa Rauch. I'm also in a movie called Love Fines You in Sugar Creek. I had like three scenes in that movie. I, the criminal activities movie, of course, that I just listed off. I was an extra in a lot of movies as well. I'm an extra in Cherry with Tom Holland. I'm an extra in The Love Guru with Mike Myers. I'm in like four or five scenes in that one. I've talked about that many times.

But look for the guy in the green shirt. You really can't miss me in quite a few of those party scenes. I'm in a movie called Chloe with Liam Neeson. and Amanda Seifred. I'm in a few scenes there. They're prominently shown in a few scenes. But with criminal activities, I had an agent when I was living in Cleveland,

and when there were a lot of movies were being filmed in Cleveland at that time, like Captain America, too, was filmed there. The Avengers was filmed there. A movie called Draft Day, based on the Cleveland Browns starring Kevin Costner. That was filmed there. A movie called Fun Size.

There were a lot of movies that were filmed. in Cleveland at that time. So when they needed a news reporter type, there weren't a lot of options. And I often either got the audition or in the case of criminal activity. I just got the job. So it was really cool. He just filmed it in our television studio.

I read their news copy, their news story that they had. I think I read it like six times, seven times, something like that. the director of the movie, Jackie Earl Haley, who you've seen as an actor in like a ton of different movies like Watchmen, a whole bunch of different movies. He's, so he's the director. He's also in Bad News Bears and a bunch of other things. He's the director of this movie. And he called me up and we walked through the scene and he was like, yeah, I just want you to read it like a news reporter. I don't really have a ton of direction for you other than I want it to feel like an authentic news.

segment. I'm like, okay, great. And we filmed it in, I don't know, 10 or 15 minutes on the set. I just read the teleprompter, read the news story and sent the files off to them. And that was it. I wasn't even on the set of the movie at all. We filmed that one just from the TV studio. The other movies that I listed, I was on the set for those ones and had an absolute blast being part of that. So I didn't just make 39 cents. I made whatever the, they call it SAG scale. So SACS scale. So is the actors union. I made the scale pay, which is like, I think it was like $7 or $800 for the one day of work that I did. And the way that the residuals are set up is every time the movie is either sold to like streaming service or it plays on TV or there's still home releases. Like whenever

there's that, whenever that happens, I get like a minuscule tiny little cut of it. And I've got to wonder like what the actual stars of the movie are making. So I made the money when we filmed the movie. And then I'd say like twice a year, these checks just randomly show up in the mailbox and I play a fun little game with my wife because you'll get it in the SAG envelope so you know exactly what it is.

I'll play a fun little game with my wife. I'm like, price is right rules. How much do you think this check is going to be more? And she'll be like, $4.17. And sometimes it's more. oftentimes it's less. So the residual checks are hilarious when they're less than a dollar. I always like to post the photos when they're less than a dollar like this one for 39 cents.

But sometimes, like the biggest residual check I've got in the last handful of years, I don't know, 20 bucks, which is mind-blowing that you're getting $20 for work you did 10 or 11 or 12 years ago. It's just crazy how that happens. And I should point out that's only for the speaking rules. So the movies where I said that I was a background actor, Chloe or the love guru or cherry, that is just a straight, flat payment for the time that you spent on the set, and that's it. And when you're a background actor, you are not making sag scale.

You're not getting that same day rate. You're making like, I think it was like $12 an hour or $15 an hour. And sometimes those days are long, like the days that I spent on the love guru, sometimes they were like 16 hour days and you'd leave it like two or three. or four of the morning and they'd be like, all right, well, check your email at 8 a.m. And we'll give you your call time for the day. You're like, what? I'm an hour from home.

It's three in the morning. I'm going to drive home, sleep for four hours to wake up at 8 a.m. to check my email to find out, oh, we got to be back on the set at 10 a.m. And that's the life of an actor. We're super exciting. Well, life of a background actor. I certainly cannot lump myself into the actual actors who do this for a living. But that was the life. And I was on the love guru for 10, 12 days. It was a blast. So you get these

residual checks a handful of times a year. And more often than not, it's just funny to see how much they are. I got a lot of people commenting going, do you even cash a check for 39 cents? Yeah, why not? What else am I going to do with it? Throw it out? I wouldn't, if I had 39 cents of change in my pocket, wouldn't just throw it out. So yeah, you know, mobile deposit, take a picture on your app. You get to keep the check too. So yeah, no big deal at all.

I had a lot of fun doing that stuff. And I look forward to the opportunity to maybe doing another movie at some point again soon. I don't know. It's a fun experience. I've also done some short films. I think if you do enough Googling or YouTubeing, you may find me. You'll actually find the scenes that I'm talking about.

I actually shared the scene from this movie, from criminal activities, the 39 cent residual check movie. I'd shared that scene on Facebook and also Twitter. So if you want to go check it out, you can go find that. Blake Henry on Facebook says, I see a big similarity between Bronson's current run

of big splashes from the, top and the earthquake John Tenta from the 90s, especially in the lead-up to SummerSlam 90 with Hogan. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but I like the idea. What you think, brother? Blake, I understand where the similarities come from, and I super appreciate how Bronson Reed is being booked since returning back to the WWE. A lot of people may forget that he was released during the pandemic time and recently came

back about a year ago. he's been booked like a monster since coming back. They gave him the moniker Big Bronson Reed too, which it just immediately tells you everything you need to know about him. I mean, you can look at him and go, yeah, that's a big man. But the fact that that is, that is his actual moniker, that is his nickname, he's Big Bronson Reed, big Bronson Reed. I love it.

Earthquake, I think if you were put Earthquake next to Bronson Reed, they would both still look like very large men, but earthquake was just an absolute specimen. of a human being. I mean, he was six, seven, 467 pounds. Like, just a huge, huge man. That was also in the era, right? In that era of time in the WWE in the 90s,

you had these massive, larger than life characters. So I definitely see the similarity in the style of wrestling. And I also see the similarity in the way that he's being booked right now. And I can't wait to see what's next for Bronson Reed. I've always enjoyed chatting with him as a person, and I'm very much

enjoying the work that he's doing in the ring right now. So with this kind of push that he's getting, can't wait to see where this goes. Missy Patterson on Instagram says, have you ever tried to get Sting for an interview? He is my all-time favorite. Well, Missy Patterson, I've tried, and I am still trying. And since you left this, comment on Instagram. You probably saw that on Instagram, I met Sting at Russell Gone. And we chatted about doing an interview. And I mean, think about this. When was the last time Sting did an interview? Like not an A.E.W interview, but like when was the last time that Sting did like a look back at his career and an in-depth interview? I mean, I don't actually

know the answer to that. But it was a long time ago. I think the last, interview I can remember with Sting was way back like, man, WCW days. Sting without his makeup, just Steve Borden, was on 100 Huntley Street. I remember that. And I actually remember, I've told this story before, my dad, not a big fan of wrestling growing up. And I went to church every Wednesday and every Sunday up until about age 18 when I went off to college. I remember him being on 100 Huntley.

Street, which is a Christian-based talk show. And I taped the show on a VHS tape. And I said to my dad, look, this wrestler named Sting, Steve Borden, he's on 100 Huntley Street. He's on this Christian talk show. Like, wrestling can't be all bad, dad. And that was actually like a small win. That was a small win for the young Chris Van Fleet to allow his parents to maybe, certainly not get on the side of wrestling, but maybe go, huh, maybe I should give this another look and see what it's all about. But that's the last, I mean, there have been other interviews, but that's the last one like I can really think of.

There's, yeah. I do know that he did one with Inside the Ropes with my friend Kenny McIntosh. Was that seven-ish years ago? Something like that. But Sting doesn't do a lot of interviews. So he is at the very top of my list of people who I would love to have on the show. there's a handful of them, but he's at the top of my list of people I'd love to have on the show. And I would like to think that it may happen at some point in time.

I certainly don't want to put a timeline on it, but that'd be a really, really cool one. Also on that short list, we'll just talk legends. I've interviewed Stone Cold a few times. They've always been relatively short, like the Junkett style interviews where he's promoting a movie or a project that he's part of. an hour with Stone Cold would be so good. Man. Also, trying to get Randy Orden, I think that that's just a matter of time.

That would be a really good one, but there's a few. There's a few, but Sting at the tippy top of that list for me. Prize Picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active users. Prize Picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play Daily Fantasy Sports because unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings

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So that's timeline. dot com slash insight for 10% off timeline.com slash insight. Justin Tomatuck on Spotify says, Hey, Chris, I just started listening to your podcast during the pandemic. It's a great listen while traveling, going out for a walk, or just doing stuff around the house. I love the endings with gratitude. I actually go on people's TikTok live to ask them,

and they respond with, wow, that's a great question. Wow, that's really cool. My question is, what other podcasts do you recommend other than wrestling? something that'll motivate me. I went back to working out and trying to be consistent. P.S., can you cut a promo on me as Hank Hill? I'm never going to live down this Hank Hill thing. Boy, I tell you, hoot, that's really all I can say.

There's not a lot of things I can say as Hank Hill. I got to work on this so I can cut an entire promo. That boy ain't right. Bobby? Oh, no son of mine. go to a party with girls. I actually listen to a lot of other podcasts outside of wrestling. I don't even really listen to a lot of wrestling podcasts.

The ones that I think that I'm always checking the, I'm very guest-driven on podcasts. Let me just say that from the outset here. So the ones that I'm always checking to see like, oh, who's their guest this week? Because I love their style of interviews. I love how in-depth these conversations can be. Diary of a CEO with Stephen Bartlett, that's right up there.

Lex Friedman podcast, Joe Rogan, depending on who the guest is. School of Greatness with Lewis Howes. Ed Milette, that's just a handful of them. I think that if you can find somebody who either, one, a guest that you're aware of and you want to just find out more about this story, those are a few great places to look. Or two, sometimes they're really good at titling these episodes and you've never heard of who the guest is,

but these interviewers are so good, these hosts are so good at being able to pull out these great stories or these nuggets of knowledge. I think that there's also like times when you're like, I've never heard of that person, but this topic sounds really interesting. That's how I first found out who Chris Voss was, who ended up being a guest on the show a few years ago.

Former FBI negotiator, he's the author of a fantastic book called Never Split the Difference. I heard him on a podcast and I went, man, the way that he thinks is just so fascinating. And I found a lot of really interesting people from just listening to them as guests on podcasts. So those are a few places where I start. But I would hope that if you're recommending podcasts, I hope Insight with Chris Van Vleet is

somewhere on your list. Maybe it's behind the shows that I just listed, but maybe it could be up there. I don't know. That'd be very kind of you to share this show. What am I even talking about anymore? German Carillo 42 on Spotify. Hey, CVV, first time commenting. Well, thank you so much for that. I love your show. In a hypothetical world, if there was an alien invasion, that's amazing. Which five current WWE superstars would you like on your team? Oh, so is it only five aliens that are, invading. This is a five on five matchup or is I guess it's six on six, right? Because it's me plus the five WWE superstars. So this is a six on six alien invasion. I don't think we stand a chance at all. I mean, if the aliens have the ability to come here, we're pretty screwed. I always laugh when Joe Rogan talks about Brock Lesnar. And he's like, if aliens were

to come here to earth, we should send Brock Lesnar as like an example of like, this is like what a human being is capable of. And I tend to agree with him. Like when you look at just the sheer size and strength and athleticism and just the way that Brock Lesnar is built, I think he's a pretty great representative of like, if you were to have just fantastic genes, yeah, this. So I'm going to go with Brock Lesnar. I'm going to go with Drew McIntyre just because he's just, I mean, he's a very nice man in real life.

But when he turns it on, he can be such a mean dude. And I think that the promos he's been cutting on CM Punk recently, just, he's just nasty. And I think we'd need a little bit of nastiness on our human team of humans versus aliens in this battle that we are surely to lose. We'll also throw Ria Ripley in there for similar reasons, like just the intensity in which she wrestles with, the mind games that she is able to play. Maybe she could work some sort of mind games on these aliens. And, you know, this might just not be sheer strength that we're looking for.

We may be having to look for other skills here. So I think that her mind games would be good. And if we're going to talk mind games, and we're going to talk about like deep layers here. Well, we've got to have Randy Orton on our team. Obviously, he has the size. Obviously, he has the strength. I mean, it's very clear that he has the stunning good looks.

Maybe that will catch the aliens off guard. Can hit him with an RKO out of nowhere. He'll be, if Randy Orton listens to the voices in his head, Randy Orton gets out a razor and we get bald Randy Orton like we had in 2008, 2009, those aliens may not stand a chance. And then for our fifth WWU superstar, how could you possibly want to hurt anyone if they're making you laugh? So our truth is also going to be part of our team.

This is, what a fun hypothetical question. Our truth is just so effortlessly funny. And I'm sure that if aliens could find their way here, they would understand what we're saying. Maybe they don't speak English, but they would find some sort of way to communicate with us. And our truth in any language

would be hilarious. So there's my, there's my team. And I don't know, am I, am I part of the team? If that's the case, I'm the first to go. Or am I just like the manager? Am I just overseeing this? Like, I'm going, hey, you five, good luck.

Let us know how it goes. What a, what a fun, silly question. Tyler Glasgow on Facebook. Hey, CVV, what do you think is the best pay-per-view of 2024 so far? That one feels pretty obvious. WrestleMania 40 is one of the best WrestleMania's in a long time. I think it's the best WrestleMania since WrestleMania 30. There were a lot of great things that happened at WrestleMania 30,

a lot of memorable things that happened at WrestleMania 30. From the opening segment, it's Hulk Hogan, oh my gosh, now it's Stone Cold. Oh my God, the Rock is here. Well, that's crazy. Of course, the streak ending, you know, whether you agree with that decision or not, it is a defining WrestleMania moment and a moment that also define the careers of not just The Undertaker and Brock Lezzer, but Paul Heyman as well. The look on Paul Heyman's face after the one, two, three is just priceless. And then yes, Yesselmania, Daniel Bryan, I was there, the confetti raining down.

down on us. I actually kept a few pieces of those confetti. I'm not saying by any means that WrestleMania 40 is better than WrestleMania 30. I think you've got those two very powerful forces working up against each other, nostalgia versus recency bias. I think when it's all said and done, though, WrestleMania 40 is going to go down as one of the best WrestleMania is of all time. And again, this goes back to what we were talking about at the very start of this episode. We are very fortunate to be in this timeline right now. We're very fortunate right now that this is the kind of wrestling that we get served up night after night. It's amazing. So yeah, WrestleMania 40s are the best pay-per-view of 2024 so far. We've still got a few months left.

There is a possibility that something else might be able to top it, but that's going to be difficult. That is going to be difficult. Just think of the story that was told. on night two. I also the story that was told at the end of night one that led into night two but the story

that was told in that match the end night two main event match like I saw real tears when we were there in Philly. So real tears pouring down the faces

of grown men when John Sina came out when the undertaker came out when Cody finished the story, one, two, three. It's special. And I think wrestling is at its very best when it makes you feel something.

It doesn't necessarily need to be feeling joy or feeling, you know, like, so happy you want to cry, like feeling something. This is why people like, dirty Dom are so good because he makes you feel something. This is why Randy Orton has been so good at his entire career because it makes you feel something. This is why MJF every single time he gets on the microphone is just fantastic because he makes you feel something, whether he's a baby face or he's a heel. He makes you feel something. And Russellmania 40, top to bottom, beginning of Saturday to the end of Sunday, made you feel

something. So they've got some big shoes to fill for WrestleMania 41. And I know there's a lot of things that WrestleMania 41 already has going for it. I mean, it's in Las Vegas. That in itself just makes it feel big. It's the fight capital of the world. say that at the start of every UFC event that's hosted there. But you also know it's John Cena's last WrestleMania. You know that the rock is likely going to be thrown into the mix there somewhere. We are very lucky. We are very lucky that these are the options that we have right now in wrestling. Lex Toy Shop on Instagram says, when does a Jesse Ventura interview drop? I've got a lot of questions like this one, whether that's on Instagram or

it's a comment on YouTube or its comments on Facebook. I even got some emails about this. It makes me feel very excited that you guys are looking forward to this interview as much as I'm looking forward to this interview coming out. It was a fantastic conversation with Jesse Ventura. And I think what adds just another layer of interest to this is, I'm sure you saw the video that played of him meeting up with Triple H in St. Paul, Minnesota that day. We recorded the interview like 20 minutes before that. Like as soon as Jesse Ventura left our interview, he drove to the arena and had that meeting with Triple H.

And then whatever ended up happening after that, I don't really know. But it's just kind of cool that that was the same, not just the same day, but that was the same like timeframe when that was happening. So I think the thing that people don't realize is we're not just like recording an episode and then putting it out, recording an episode and putting it out.

we're recording as many of them as we can and saying yes to all of the opportunities that we can and then putting them out on a schedule. So I think, I think as I sit here right now, we have 12 interviews that have been recorded and scheduled. And I'm happy to go through the schedule with you guys to answer your exact question of when is this interview going to come out. So we've got the next episode is on Tuesday because of course Tuesdays and Thursdays, new guests every single week. So Tuesday is Rhonda Rouser. We just teased this on social media yesterday.

A fantastic conversation with her. I hope that you listen to this interview with an open mind. And I understand some of the things that she said about WWE. A lot of those things she said about. WWE were from her experience working directly with Vince McMahon in a Vince McMahon led, Vince McMahon run, WWE. It's a pretty different world now. And she doesn't, she's not bitter about wrestling. She doesn't hate wrestling. She very much seems to be grateful for her time that she spent there. I just, I hope that you listen to that interview with an open mind. Also, she has a badass graphic

novel that she's doing a Kickstarter for called Expecting the Unexpected. We'll of course chat about that during the interview, but I already, I already supported the Kickstarter and I'm getting, I'm getting a hard copy version of this graphic novel, which I'm pumped about. So Ronda Rousey, Tuesday, Thursday, Scott DeMore. That's going to be a fascinating interview. And if I'm being completely honest with you guys, because I always am, we haven't recorded that one yet. That one's being recorded this weekend. I'm flying to Detroit as soon as I'm done recording this episode. So flying to Detroit, literally not leaving the airport, flying to Detroit, staying in a, in the hotel in the airport, the Weston, doing the interview there, flying right back as soon as the interview is done.

That's one of those interviews you can't sit on for a long time. Like if I put out this interview with Scott Tamor, especially after, you know, the recent news of him starting up his new wrestling promotion, and that's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, which I remember as a it vague, vague memories about Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, but he's starting that back up. And then he's already announced the shows that he's having. Saturday, October 19th, Sunday, October 20th. They're going to air on Triller. So that interview, Thursday.

Then, Tuesday, August 27th, Jesse Ventura. There you go. Tuesday, August 27th is when the Jesse Ventura episode will drop. Oh man, it's such a good one. Then we've got Kayla Braxton, and I think the next one that we've scheduled after that is a fascinating in-depth conversation with Damien Priest. There are some other ones that we've already recorded. I just don't have them scheduled yet.

Who are those guests? Chris, will you tell us who they are? Yeah, of course, I'll tell you who they are. But then am I going to get inundated with messages going, well, Chris, when is the Otis interview dropping? because we did record an episode with Otis. I don't have a date on that one yet, but we've got Otis still in the chamber.

Otis is going to be launched here sometime in September, so that episode can't wait for you guys to hear. Godfather's another one. Jake the Snake Roberts is another one. Ken Shamrock is another one. Should I keep going? Okay. Stephen Amel is coming on to the show.

I've never had him on as a, like a, long form interview guests before. We've done very brief, very short interviews. Man, can't wait for that one. And I think that, I won't list any other names. I'll just say that that's who we've got lined up. So I appreciate so much how excited you guys are for the Jesse Ventura interview. And you should be. This interview had it all. This interview had it all from me surprising him with Kerry and Cross, who then starts interviewing Jesse Ventura as Jesse Ventura. They both said, I ain't got time to bleed.

And then I FaceTime Will Saso, who then starts talking to Jesse Ventura as Jesse Ventura. Then there's a moment during the interview where I hit Jesse Ventura with a question, I just asked the question, brought something up. And he paused for, some time and wiped tears away from his face. So this interview ran the gamut of a lot of different topics and a lot of different emotions.

So you've got your answer now. August 27th, Jesse Ventura, and of course we'll be talking about that quite a bit. You'll see photos. You'll see clips. It's a good one. You will not want to miss it. If you are one of the many, many people or listen to the show, but don't follow the show, now it might be a good time to follow the show.

Mike Cuniff on Spotify says, In what ways do you feel like you've grown and or improved as a podcaster slash interviewer over the last couple of years? Were there any famous interviewers that inspired you? I can't remember who said it. But if you're not looking back, on your old work and cringing just a little bit, then you're not headed in the right direction. Like if I'm looking back on interviews from three years ago or five years ago and going,

oh, man, I can't top that. Or, oh, man, that was the absolute best interview. I couldn't have asked any of those questions better or phrased things differently, then I don't think you're heading in the right direction. Like every new interview or every new piece of content, for me, for me is a new chance to learn something, another chance to get better. I think the ways that I've grown or improved is the best kind of interviewer is one who genuinely listens. And I've been extra diligent over the last few years to be as present as possible and not try to skip ahead in my mind to what the next question is and like to truly be present with that person and listening and hearing the words they're saying and trying to guide the conversation from there.

I'm not always perfect at it at all. Of course not. But I've been trying to get better at that more frequently. And I think that's helped with almost all of the interviews this year, I believe with the exception of one, have been in person. It is so much easier to be present with somebody when you were in their presence. So that's been something that I've really been trying to make. make happen. If they're in Detroit, well, Windsor, Ontario, like Scott DeMore,

sure, let's do it. I'll fly there. Make it happen. If the Rhonda Rousey interviews are a great example, they offered her as an interview about a month ago over Zoom, and I said, does she have any plans to be in Los Angeles? Oh, yeah, well, let's work around that schedule. Could we make that happen? And she was gracious enough to join us inside the West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood. And it just makes the interview that much better. I think the other thing is just listening to other interviewers who I look up to. I listed off a handful of podcasts that are on my playlist week to week. I think just hearing how other people have conversations, I think inspires me, whether it's directly or indirectly. I think hearing different follow-up questions or

hearing the way that other hosts or other interviewers change the subject or handle difficult topics. I don't know. I don't know if you listen to every interview that we've done, but over the last year, there have been a lot of emotional moments during these interviews. And I've, I've had to like, you know, figure out, like, what's the approach here? You know, when you're sitting a few feet away from someone and they're choked up or they've got tears running on their face or they can't speak for various different reasons, you know, whether they're remembering

a loved one who they lost or whether they're speaking about a tragic moment in their life, whatever it is. And I think it's in those moments and the way that those are handled is how I think I'm learning. So I think the other part of it is you're constantly learning. I would hope that whatever interview that I have next is slightly better than the last one that I had. I would hope that the one after that is a little bit

better than the one before that. And if you can just improve just a tiny little bit, not just with interviews, not just with your job, but if you can just improve a tiny little bit every single day, that's going to compound on itself. And then by the end of the year, You're going to be just that much better at whatever it is that you're focusing on. Artie Williams sent this one in on Instagram. I just found out that the Rock and Randy Orton have never had a one-on-one. There's a question for you on AskCCDV. Maybe RKO can bring back the legend killer.

It is actually pretty crazy to think that we never had the Rock versus Randy Orden. But I guess when you look at the timelines, they just just missed each other. They just didn't quite line up. I don't know how many more matches the Rock has left. And I think I would have to think it's less than five. It might even be less than three. I don't know. But I think the Rock's only going to have a few more matches left.

The obvious one seems like a one-on-one at some point in time with Roman Rains. It feels like we could maybe get the Rock, John Cena, one more time, even with just a short buildup, even if it was just nothing more than like a game recognizes game. Like, you know, John Cena clearly it's going to be done at the end of this year. Like this is the end for John Cena December 2025. The Rock's close to the end of his career. Both obviously future Hall of Famers.

Man, I've said obviously way too many times during this episode. There's something I could work on when you were talking in the last question there, Mike. What are some things you could work on? Not saying obviously eight times during. and Ask CVV episode. I would love to see Randy Orton versus The Rock. I just don't know if that's something that we're going to get with the very limited amount of matches

that The Rock has left. But it got me thinking. There are a lot of matches that never happened in WWE. Ray Mysterio Triple H never met for a one-on-one match. The Rock and Sean Michaels. That one actually shocked me when I really thought about that. Because again, their timelines just missed each other. Rock and Sean Michaels never had a match.

Brock Lesder and Sean Michaels never had a one-on-one match. J.B. L. and Kane, even though just like Ray Mysterio and Triple H, like their same time wrestling on the same shows, just never, never work together. And there's a dozen other ones that I didn't list here, but those are just some like real top of mind movies, moves there, or matches there that never happened? Scott Joseph Melanson on Facebook.

What's the most painful move you remember taking from training to be a wrestler, besides getting chopped? I trained for a few months when I was in Toronto. I'll make the story brief because I've told it many different times, but I trained when I was 20 years old. I was in my junior year. I was in the summer between my junior and senior year. of college. And I went in the summer and it was like a halfish hour drive, 40-ish minute drive

from where I went to school or from where I lived in the summer, living in my parents' house. And then when it was time to go back to school, it was like a little bit over an hour. And I kind of had to make the decision, all right, do I focus on wrestling school or do I focus on school school? Like, where do I want to put my focus? Because I'm a big believer in the man who chases two rabbits, catches none. Because you can't. put all of your effort in either one if you're trying to catch both rabbits. But the thing that hurt the most, I think it's, it's going to sound really silly. Like you always hear that, you know, just taking a bump in general, that hurts. Once you've got your technique down, they still kind of hurt a

little bit, but I think you just kind of get used to it. Your first bump that you ever take, though, will just shock you. First time you run the ropes, just like knocks the legs. It's like knocks the win out of you. What I think hurt the most was when you're drilling, like when you're doing the drills with a lot of like hip tosses in them or a lot of scoop slams in them and it's just like, it's just bump after bump after bump after bump after bump after bump after bump. Like by the time you're on, you know, your 29th bump in 10 minutes or 20 minutes, it's like it just starts to feel like it's, yeah, it hurts. And the next day, you're hurt. You're hurting in places to borrow a line from Jerry the King Waller. You're hurting in places. You didn't

even know you had places. Remember, he would always say, he's got muscles in places. Most people don't even have muscles. You just hurting, like, your neck hurts and your back hurts and your shoulders hurt. And then your body just starts to get used to it. And it gives you, it certainly gave me so much respect for what these men and women do at any level, whether you're an independent wrestler or whether you're signed to a contract somewhere, it's crazy. And I never wrestled in front of a crowd. I've done, you know, a handful of moves here and there and gave a rock bottom in Cleveland during an AIW match in the middle of West 6th Street during our tailgate. I've never, I've never worked a full match. I've heard that when you take bumps in front of an audience,

it hurts a little bit less just because of the adrenaline, the rush of the crowd. I never got to experience that. But I think it's just the repetition of like when you're doing that universal drill, which is the lock up into the headlock and you shoot them off into the ropes, leapfrog drop down, hip toss. They call it the universal spot because it's like universally known. No matter what language you speak, no matter what country you're from, everybody kind of knows that spot. Did I just say everybody like L.A. Knight? Everybody. Everybody. Isn't that so funny how there's certain phrases in our life that you just say them slightly differently and you know exactly what I'm talking about. If I were to ever do that again, you would know who I'm talking about.

Finally, it's just the word finally. But I said it a little bit differently and you know exactly who I'm talking about. Fun, man, wrestling is so funny. Wrestling is just just, it is in our, it is in our DNA now as lifelong fans. I've tweeted this so many times. But for the longest time as a kid, I thought Hulk Hogan's name was Hoke Hogan. Hoke Hogan. H-O-K-K-E-C-O-G-A-N. H-O-K-K-G-A-N. H-K-K-N. And I think that that stems a little bit from Ultimate Warrior. Hoke Hogan. I think it stems a little bit from macho man saying it, but I thought his name was Hoke Kogan. It took me a long time to realize his name was Hulk Hogan. But I think that there's all those little things in our life. Again, wrestling is in our DNA and there's just so many

silly things. Can you hear the word what and not think about Stone Cold now? Can you hear the word yeah. Said in any sort of way? Yeah. Yeah. Without thinking of LA night. It's crazy. It's crazy how silly this is.

Fizz 1138 on Spotify. We all loved Lucha Underground. I know that I really loved Lucha Underground. Who do you think we're the best wrestlers in Lucha Underground? Which wrestlers have done the best since Lucha Underground? And who do you think should be doing more nowadays? I am a huge, huge. Lucha Underground fan. I was so fortunate. I was living in Cleveland at the time. Cleveland.

I was living in Miami at the time. Yeah, I had just moved to Miami. And I happened to be in Los Angeles for some sort of movie junket or movie premiere. And Lucha Underground was taping that weekend. And I was like, oh my gosh, I got tickets. I was there in the temple. What an experience. Those fans are rabid. I don't know if it plays this way on TV because I feel like the temple appears to be a lot larger than it really is. But there's only like 300-ish people inside the temple, but they are like 300 of the loudest, most passionate fans that you've ever seen. What an experience to be there. And the amount of talent that came through Lucha Underground and are most, I think all of them are doing things other places. And this is, this is not an exhaustive list. I think that is very important

to point out. This is not every single wrestler from Lucha Underground. So please don't send me a message or leave a comment and say, well, yeah, but you forgot this person. Yeah, but you forgot this person. I know, I know. This is just a handful of people off the top of my head who were some of my favorites in Lucha Underground. Of course you had ricochet as Prince Puma. Man, I had never seen some of the things that he was able to do. I wasn't aware of who Rookishay was. Prince Puma was my first introduction to him. And so good.

They call him Cage. Remember the way Melissa Santos introduced Brian Cage? They call him Cage. Carrying Cross was there. Ray Mysterio was there. Chavo Guerrero, Chelsea Green, Willie Mack, Kyrie Sane.

MVP was there. People forget about that. Of course, John Morrison. and Tara Valkyrie, and John Morrison was Johnny Mundo there. Hentagon, Ray Phoenix, swerve Strickland, did some incredible work there,

his kill shot. I mean, just think of the people I just listed there. You can't pick one or two or even five. Everybody's so talented there. And in a time, you know, it's like 2014-ish to 2018. That's when Lucha Underground,

was doing its thing, we were so starved for just another option when it came to wrestling. And Lucha Underground wasn't just another option where they were like clearly trying to do

the same type of thing as what WWE was doing. They were doing this completely different thing where it was a TV show and a world within a world and there were some supernatural elements to Lucha Underground

but the matches were, oh man, they were just so good. if you've never seen Lucha Underground, do yourself a favor this weekend and just pull up a handful of matches. Like, type the words Lucha Underground into YouTube and whatever pops up, just hit play. Just hit play. They're going to see Anhelecoe jumping from the rafters. You're going to see Jack Evans doing ridiculous things.

You're going to see Prince Puma doing things you didn't even think a human was capable of doing. It was so good. It was incredible. I wish that we had a real send-off because it just kind of went away. And then it felt like maybe it's going to come back. Will it come back? And it just never did. And then not long after that, AEW started up.

A lot of the talent went there. I mean, the talent for the most part, have found homes, whether that's in Impact Wrestling or that's in New Japan or that's in WWE or MLW. MLW, you love to see it. you absolutely love to see it but i've the nostalgia is strong for me when it comes to lucia underground it is timeless wrestling too it if you're a lucia underground fan you know exactly what i'm talking about here i feel like i'm i feel like i'm talking about you know like like you're talking about like a girlfriend that broke up with you when you weren't ready for like the relationship to be over

that's how i'm talking about lucia underground like oh yeah no it was That's our last question on Ask CVV number 44 the Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Lewis Hamilton edition. Thank you for all of these questions this week. Man, I've been having a blast with you guys, not just on these AskedTVV episodes, but on all of the episodes. I appreciate you guys for taking the time out of your day to spend some time with me. There's so many other shows that you could listen to.

and I thank you for choosing this one each and every week. Since we were talking about building habits and getting a little bit better each day, I've recommended this book on a bunch of different episodes, Atomic Habits from James Clear, I'll leave you with a quote from that book, which is such a great read. The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It's the spiral of repeated mistakes that follow.

Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is a start of a number. new habit. Atomic habits, James Clear, if you're looking for a new book, that's a good one. I guess I've given two book recommendations on this episode. Wasn't even thinking about that. Never split the difference. Chris Voss, former FBI negotiator, great book. And now this book from James Clear, Atomic Habits. Looking forward to seeing you guys on Tuesday's episode, Rhonda Rousey, joining us on the show for a fascinating conversation. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more

Insight, have an amazing weekend. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. 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. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.