Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #51 - Bad Blood Predictions, Brock Lesnar's Return?, New Intercontinental Title Design, Best Wrestling T-Shirt Ever

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Welcome to AskCVV #51! On this episode, Chris gives his predictions for Bad Blood and answers questions about the new Intercontinental Championship design, whether Brock Lesnar will return soon, SummerSlam becoming a 2-night show, the most underrated WrestleMania main event, The Rock's possible return, favorite wrestling t-shirt ever, tips for being a content creator 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: “Being consistently good is better than being occasionally great” - Nick Bare Complete this survey for your chance to win $500: https://bluewirepods.com/survey Sponsors: VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at http://manscaped.com HELLO FRESH: Get free breakfast for life at http://hellofresh.com/freeinsight ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at http://zocdoc.com/insight 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 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/ 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 have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Hope it's been a great week for you. Thanks for being with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a top rope elbow drop on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to this right now. We've got some big episodes on the way as we close out the year.

And I don't want you guys to miss out on them. 3,900 ratings, I think right now on Spotify at last check. So if you're listening on Spotify, it takes just a few seconds. Could you just hit the rate the show and then the stars will pop up? I would hope you'd choose five stars. It's not the Tokyo dome, no, but I would hope you would choose five stars for the show. It just helps the show to grow so much. And it'd be so cool if we start off next week's Ask CVV with 4,000 ratings for the show.

that'd be amazing. As you're listening to this right now, I'm in Atlanta. Bad blood this weekend. So if you're going to the show, I look forward to running into you there, giving you a high-five, chatting a little wrestling with you.

It should be a good one. It should be a good one. By the way, I mentioned that I was in Ontario, California last week for Monday Night Raw. I saw a Chris Van Yeat sign in the crowd. So whoever that was that had the Chris Van Yeats sign,

You were all the way across the arena. I just saw it when they were doing that thing where during the commercial break, if you haven't been to a live raw in a while, during the commercial break, they will say, put your signs up, and then everybody puts their sign up, and then some people get to be on the Jumbotron, and Samantha Irvin is reading out the signs as they're put up there. I saw Chris Van Yeats sign. He wasn't on the Jumbo Tron, but I saw it from across the arena. And I just want to say thank you to that person who made a Chris Van Yeat sign.

And anybody who's ever made a CVV sign or an insight sign or something to do with being great and being grateful, you're awesome. I wonder, could we see one this weekend? Will we see one this weekend at bad blood? I'll be on the lookout for that. So if you have a CVV-themed sign, shoot me a message before the show or tag me on social media before the show. so hopefully we can actually run into each other, unlike the Chris Van Yeat sign that I saw. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 51,

the Ichiro Suzuki, Randy Johnson, Bernie Williams, and oh yes, Dick Buckkus edition. It's just fun to say that name, isn't it? Dick Buckkus. So many legends, more number 51. So welcome to Ask CVV number 51. Thank you for all the questions. that you guys sent in using the hashtag

Ask CVV on social media. The emails that you've sent, CVV at chris fanfleet.com, or my favorite, all of these comments that we see on Spotify. I think the show is like top 20 in all sports shows on Spotify. And that's all because of you.

I have very little to do with this other than me talking into the microphone, but the fact that of all sports shows, baseball and especially football right now with so many fantasy shows, going on in basketball, all of this different sports podcasts. And they're like bar stool and ESPN and Fox Sports. You guys have put us high on that list. So I appreciate you so much. Let's keep growing this thing. 24 has been a huge year. Let's make 2025 even bigger. Ah, yeah. That was a little

little Otis like, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It was so great. Let's keep growing this thing. I had 2024 has completely exceeded my expectations thus far. Let's see what we can do in 2025. We'll kick things off here with this question from T.J. Young, who left a comment on Spotify. I was a wrestling fan throughout my childhood and fell off a little bit in the ruthless aggression era. But I am now back in it. And at 34 years old, I'm going to bad blood, which will, be my first wrestling event ever. Well, that's awesome. What are your predictions for this match card and what do you think will happen with Dom in the Shark Cage? Thanks for a great podcast, your constant gratitude and being one of the reasons that I got back into wrestling. Well,

TJ, I appreciate the very kind words. I hope that we run into each other this weekend at Bad Blood. That'd be awesome. This is going to be a good one. And I love that Bad Blood is back. I was looking at the odds here on my bookie.ag. There's been a lot of talk. We talked about this last week. What's going to be the main event? I still think it's going to be Cody and Roman versus the bloodline as the main event because there's probably some surprises in there. But let's run down the card here. So we've got Liv Morgan with Rear Ripley and you were talking about the shark cage. My prediction for that is just entertainment. Dom hanging above the ring in a shark cage is just going to be wildly entertaining and wildly hilarious.

So we're all going to win with that one. We are all going to win with just him getting in there, I think, is going to be a whole production and he's not going to want to be in there and he's going to make a whole thing out of that. Then him getting raised up and he's going to be the cowardly heel, it's going to be hilarious. So I can't wait for that. I predict that Liv Morgan retains her championship in this match and the odds are in favor of that. minus 800 for Live Morgan there.

And when you sign up at my bookie and use my code, CVV, you'll get a 100% welcome bonus on your first deposit there. So whatever you put in, 50 bucks, let's call it, for example, they will match that $50 for anything that you want to bet on, including bad blood this weekend. So that, I'm thinking Liv Morgan retains there. We've got a lot more story to tell. Damien Priest versus Finn Baller.

I like Damien Priest in this one, and the odds are also saying that Damian Priest is going to win this match. Let's move on now to Naya Jax defending her WWE Women's Championship against Bailey. And I just think that Naya Jax wins this one. And I think that I don't think Tiffany cashes in, but I think that's that gets teased here. But I think Naya Jax retains. And it's actually interesting. There's another bet that you can make here. does Tiffany Stratton cash in her money in the bank?

Minus 300 says no. So they're saying no, it's the odds are not in favor of that happening, but I feel like there's a storyline that's going to continue to build with that one. C.M. Punk, the favorite against Drew McIntyre in hell at a sell. And I would agree with that. I feel like C.M. Punk comes out on top here. There's also odds for who's going to bleed in this match. And the odds seem to say that both of them are going to bleed.

CM Punk a minus 140 and then Drew McIntyre are minus 120. So Drew McIntyre more likely to bleed according to my bookie. And then we move on to Cody Rhodes and Roman Raines versus the bloodline here. I have said it before and I will mention it again here. I don't see any scenario where Cody Rhodes. where Cody Rhodes or Roman Raines takes a pin here. So with that said, it has to be the bloodline. And that's what it has to be the bloodline losing is what I'm saying here.

So it has to be Cody and Roman winning. That's what the odds say as well. There's going to be some other stuff going on in this match. Is Jimmy Uso going to return here? That seems pretty likely. Where's he been? What's he been up to? Whose side is he going to take here?

I've also heard some rumors. or some speculation about the rock returning, which could make sense to set up Survivor Series and then everything that would end up happening from there. But if you're asking me, I don't think The Rock returns at Bad Blood. I have been saying this for months now that The Rock is holding out for the big events.

And this is no disrespect to bad blood. But, I mean, let's be honest here. It's not WrestleMania. It's not SummerSlam. It's not the Royal Rumble. It's not Survivor Series. I just think that if the rock comes back, it's also not the first raw on Netflix,

which is also going to be treated as a really big show. I just think that when the rock comes back, it's going to be something big. I'm not saying it can't happen to bad blood in Atlanta, but I'm just saying it seems to me unlikely that that's going to happen.

Jimmy Uso? Yeah, I think that that's a real possibility here. And I also think that that's going to go on as the main event. Cody Rhodes and Roman Raines versus the bloodline. just because can you see Roman Raines making an entrance anywhere other than the main event at this point in time, at this point in his career? Yeah, I just don't see that happening. But when you look at this card, this looks very entertaining and I'm excited to see how this all

shakes out and also what the implications are here for Survivor Series in, what is that, seven weeks from now, eight weeks from now at the end of November. And then what happens at Survivor Series that leads into the Royal Rumble. And then Royal Rumble then takes us into WrestleMania season. And isn't it great how it all just kind of flows in to one another. So those are my predictions

for bad blood. But, and I just, these matches to me, and I could be way off on this, but when we're talking about those five matches, I just feel like we all can kind to come to a, like,

a consensus of, yeah, I mean, we kind of see how these are all going to play out. Just if, unless there's a curveball that's thrown here, do you feel like we're going to be five for five on these predictions? A perfect five for five. But of course, anything could happen in the WWE and we'll see. Chad Jones on Facebook. Hey, CVV, what do you think of SummerSlam being two nights beginning next year?

I'm from Minnesota. So I'm a little bummed that we aren't going to be the first ones anymore. I probably should have talked about this last week on AskC CVV-50. The biggest thing that stands out for me with SummerSlam, 2024, 2025 being at MetLife Stadium is that WWE is finally admitting that MetLife Stadium is not in New York, okay? WrestleMania 29 and WrestleMania 35, they kept pretending that this stadium that is in another state is in New York City. And I get that it's close-ish, but it's not even in the same state.

And WWE was pretending for so long that MetLife Stadium was in New York. It just, it blows my mind. So it was amazing when we saw the graphic come out, when the announcement was official, that this is SummerSlam in New Jersey. And I was like, oh, my gosh, they're finally admitting it. They're finally admitting that MetLife Stadium is not in New York. And I understand. Yes, if you're a Jets fan or you're a Giants fan, your New York-based teams play there. I get that.

I understand that. But it just felt so weird that for two separate WrestleMania's, we pretended the stadium was in a completely different state. What? So that was the biggest thing that stood out for me, that WWE is saying, yeah, this is going to be in New Jersey. And, you know, I feel like I have a time. high into New Jersey. I married a Jersey girl. So I'm kind of like, yeah, it's cool to see that on the sign.

I love New Jersey. It's cool to see that on the poster. It's at SummerSlam in New Jersey. But I get it. And I'm not surprised by this announcement at all. I was a little surprised that they announced SummerSlam 2026 before they announced SummerSlam 2025. I'd be interested to hear what the logic was behind that, it just didn't fall into any sort of sequential order there. But I won't be surprised when the Royal Rumble also goes to two nights. That one just, to me, feels like it's an automatic. You do the men's Royal Rumble on one night. You do the women's Royal Rumble on the other night. But right now, WrestleMania and Summer Slam being two nights, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

We're going to get to a point in the next few years where the big four that I was just listening before when I was talking about the Rock, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble. I think all four of those will end up being two nights. But with, like, with that idea of this being two nights, I think the bar was set so high at WrestleMania 40 with night one telling a story that led right into night two

and the implications of what happened on Saturday, bleed into Sunday, I don't know if you're going to get that every single time. So there is going to feel like if you're going to do this many two-night events, it's going to feel like sometimes where like night one is going to be its own event and night two is going to be its own event as well. Because you can't always have it where the story so perfectly is being told night one into night two. But look, wrestling is hot right now.

and I don't care who you are. I don't care what metric you'd like to measure this from. Wrestling is hot right now, and it's the hottest it's been in a very, very long time. And WWE would be making a huge mistake if they weren't capitalizing on this. From just like a fan-based point of view, like I really don't think you can have enough wrestling right now.

It's on pretty much every day of the week. But also from a business standpoint, look at the TCO stock. It's up. Actually, let's see exactly, how much it's up this year? Because you will get the occasional person that's like, yeah, wrestling's, what are you talking about?

wrestling's hot? It's, man, it's gone way down. In the last year, the stock is up 47%. So if you had invested on this day, last year, the stock was around $83. And now the stock is at $123, up $47. So if you're looking at this just from a business standpoint, two nights means close to double the revenue. Yeah, why wouldn't you do that?

Time is now 1199 on Twitter. What's up, Chris? I'm like you where I always catch myself calling them pay-per-reviews. I just can't get used to the term PLE. Is it okay? If we just call them pay-per-views? Yeah, I mean, you can call them whatever you want to call them. I get why WWE has changed the name of these.

They used to exist on pay-per-view. You used to actually have to pay to watch them. Since that's not the way it's been for a while now with the WWE Network and then with Peacock, they just had to come up with a different name because the name just didn't fit what they actually did. You can't call it a pay-per-view if you're paying for a monthly subscription that happens to include this big event that happens. So I'm with you.

I think it's going to be a difficult change, much like the conversations we've had so many times about calling a stadium, it's old name, even though it hasn't been called that for 20 years or whatever it is. It'll always be skydome to me. It'll always be staple center to me,

whatever it happens to be. I understand that. It will always be a pay-per-view to me. Of course, yeah, sure. Call on a pay-per-view. I will probably also, be interchanging the two all the time, pay-per-view, PLE, whatever I remember to say. Premium live event is certainly a mouthful. So I think PLE is a lot easier to say than premium live event every single

time. But if you call them a pay-per-view, we know what you're talking about here. It's okay. You can call it a pay-per-view. We just, we're not actually paying to view them. Well, you can still, you can still order at pay-per-view, but, you know, it makes a lot more sense to just be, paying the $499 or $7.99 or whichever package of peacock that you have, that makes a lot more sense. Manny Figueroa underscore underscore on Instagram. Hey, CVV, what are your thoughts on the new IC belt? I love it. I think that just that tiny little bit of blue being added to it has just, it was what it was missing.

I like the design of the new Intercontinental Championship. and I have ever since it came out. I think that it's a perfect mix of like new and old, but it was just missing something. And I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And then Bell Records on Instagram made this post right after Jay Uso won the Intercontinental Championship. And he said, what if this was the version that Jay Uso used as his version of the championship?

And that got a whole bunch of likes and shares and comments for him. I shared it on my Instagram and my Facebook and tagged him and you guys seem to love that version of it. And it's funny to me, just a few days later, he comes out on Raw with pretty much the exact championship that had been posted by this fan account, Belt Records with the Z at the end, by the way. It's almost like someone saw that. And Triple H has joked that he has a burner account in the IWC, the internet. at wrestling community. I wonder, I wonder what the real story is behind this.

And of course, we'll never know it. But was this in the works for a long point in time? Like, were they already talking about, all right, let's add a little something to the Intercontinental Championship and, oh, you know what?

When Jay Uso wins this, that'd be a really good time to kind of switch that over. Because I don't think this is just Jay Uso's version of the championship. I think that this is the new version of the Intercontinental Championship moving forward.

So do you think they were like, oh, you know, Jay Uso has some blue with his branding, with his everything that he wears to the ring? It would make a lot of sense for when Jay Uso wins this, for that to be the moment for us to change this over and add a little bit of color to this. I mean, Jay Uso's fun. He's, he's lively, he's colorful himself. You know, the two just go hand in hand here. Or do you think he won the championship? And then that post made its way around the Internet and gained a lot. a lot of traction and like the comments on it were really, really positive on it.

There's always those few people that are like, I don't like this version of the belt anyway. They've got to go back to that one that I really liked from 1996. There's always those people that like just don't like change at all. I always find that so funny. There's always the people that are like, you know, it could be anything else. It could be a new theme song. it could be new gear, it could be a new championship, and they just won't like it.

Even if it's like 95% people are like, yeah, that's a really good idea. I'm glad that person has a new theme song, or I'm really glad they came out with that new style of championship. There's always going to be those few people that are like, no, I like the old way better. Yeah, that's cool.

That's all right, you know. Changes just a part of life, though, and changes the way things go. I also get that nostalgia is such a powerful drug, that there's something about seeing an older design, or actually the way that the new championship here kind of ties into that nostalgia from 20-ish years ago in that version of the Intercontinental Championship belt,

it's been a really good merger of like new and old. But I would be very curious if someone in WWE didn't see that post and went, huh, I think they're on to something here. let's make that the new version of the Aircon O'Otional Championship. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe they were working on this for a while, but it's just very curious the timing of that one. Joe O'Leary on Spotify says, hey, CVV, I thought I was following on Spotify for at least a year,

but I've just checked, and I wasn't. So now I am. Well, thank you, Joe. I think there's a lot of people, because Spotify's so good at going, oh, you often listen to this show. We'll just put it on your homepage here. But we see the numbers. something like 76% of people just listen to the show but don't follow the show. So thank you for

writing that wrong, Joe O'Leary. Thank you for not being a jabroney anymore. Ask CVV question. Well, it's awesome to see Jay Uso win a solo belt after all this time. Do you think it's a shame that Braun didn't get more of a dominant and extended run with the belt and a potential waste of an opportunity to build him as one of the next elite level guys on the roster? Not at all. I think that bronze championship run here with the Intercontinental Championship is his first of many. And I said it last week, but I think we're going to go back to a point where the Intercontinental championship and the U.S. title for that matter, and possibly even the World Heavyweight Championship changes with a little bit more frequency. And I think that this being a nice surprise out of nowhere,

like there was no buildup to this. There was no like huge month long, two months. long story here. This was this was a match on raw where I was in the audience assuming that we already knew who was going to win. We thought for sure it was going to be brawn breaker. And out of nowhere, Jay Uso, one, two, three, clean victory in the middle of the ring. It's like, oh, man, what I think this does is it now sets up the expectation that any time a championship has defended on Raw or Smackdown, then it could change hands. We got tricked into thinking for so long. that these championships can only change hands at a PLE slash pay-per-view tying it into the other question there. And so I don't think that this in any way affects Braun Breaker and his run and anything

that he has going on there. This was a great way to cement him as a future star. And I would argue that when you watch just the ins and outs of that match, that might be Braun Breaker's best match to date. Just the way he's interacting with the crowd and they're chanting, walk that dog, and he's interacting with them. He's doing these veteran-level things for a guy who's only been in the business

for a handful of years, and he was working in there like he's been in the business for like 15 years. And there was a moment, actually, I turned to Troy Blair, my friend and the mastermind behind all of the vertical videos that you see on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube shorts or Facebook. And I said, man, Bronz are really good. Like, we already knew he was good. And of course, wildly athletic. But he's just, he has that it factor. There were so many little things he was doing that made him so great. I've heard this quote before.

it bears repeating that wrestling isn't about the moves. It's about what happens in between the moves. And Bronbreaker is doing veteran level stuff in between the moves. So not at all. Not a potential waste of an opportunity. There are going to be so many more opportunities for him in the next year and in the next many years after this. It was a chance for him to win a championship early on in his career and early on in his

main roster run that sets him up so he's now main roster or sorry mid card or above with all of the matches that he's working from now on so not at all and i'm it'll be interesting to see how he's booked as we head in towards russolmania i would have to think brawn breaker has a russomania match at russlemania 41 i know it's an early prediction but let's see what happens Connor Wolf Flanagan on Spotify says, Ask CVV number 51. Armando Aramondo Estrada just signed a legends deal, and Zilla is doing less, it seems.

Could we get Armando as Zilla's handler in WWE soon? Also, go Browns. Yes, go Browns indeed, although my goodness, is not easy to be a Cleveland Browns fan. What the heck? One and three. Ha! I think that there's two things here.

One, I think the news of Zillifatu not working any more GCC shows was misinterpreted by a lot of people. I think that that got misinterpreted as, oh, man, he's clearing out his schedule, he's not taking any more indie bookings, he's getting called up, we're going to see him in WWE or NXT soon. And then he appeared at Booker T's reality of wrestling, which, okay, yeah, that one moment. might make sense. Booker has a great working relationship with NXT. I mean, he's a commentator there, but you see a lot of exchange of talent there. NXT people appear on reality of wrestling all the time. So I went, okay. He's still working an indie show here, but with an asterisk, right? It's Booker T, it's reality of wrestling. But then he worked a show at Hogg. And I went, which is House of Glory in New York. And I went, okay. All right. So he's still working indie dates. So that's just a he's not

working with GCW, something, you know, is happening there. But this doesn't mean that Zilla's not working independent dates at all. So will Zillifatu be in WWE at some point? Yeah, of course. Absolutely. Is it happening right now? It doesn't seem to be. Maybe it's in the next year or two, but he's still relatively new and relatively fresh. Like he just made his wrestling debut last year. I was actually there. It was that reality of wrestling, Booker T's promotion,

in Texas City, Texas. So will he be going to WWE? Yes. Does he have all the tools to be a star in WWE? Of course. Yeah. Watch any of his matches

and you will not be shocked. I mean, this is the son of Umaga. Yes. Of course. Of course he's going to be in WWE at some point. I just don't think it's happening right now. The second part of this is I think when someone signs a legends deal

people misinterpret this as, oh, we're going to see them now as a manager. We're going to see them making a surprise appearance. While that is in the realm of possibility, I think what the Legends deal is more often than not is it's a licensing deal. Now we can make t-shirts with your name and face on them. We can make action figures with your likeness. Maybe you'll be making a surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble. but I think it's more of a way of WWE taking care of its own.

And there's some people that have recently signed a Legends deal like Victoria recently signed a Legends deal. It's like, hell yeah. I was so happy to see that. And it's WWE taking care of those people who gave their blood and sweat and tears to this business. And then when you end up getting released because pretty much everyone who gets signed to WWE at some point in time gets released, except for like maybe the Undertaker in Stone Cold

Steve Austin, but almost everybody else gets released. So it's their way of saying, thank you. Thank you for everything you did. We're going to take care of you now. It's almost like what the Players Association does in pro sports. It's almost their way of going like, thank you for everything that you did. And like, we're going to make sure that you're taking care of now moving forward. could Armando Estrada continue this storyline? I mean, he managed Umaga. Could he now manage Umaga's son? Yeah, that would be amazing. And I would love the, the story that would be told there throughout the decades and tying that back in. Sure, that would make a lot of sense. But I think when you see someone signing a Legends deal, instead of trying to fantasy book this and figure out,

where is this person going to appear now? And are we going to see Ken Shamrock in the Royal Rumble? Well, that would be exciting. I would love to see. see that, look at this more of like, this is WWE doing right by that, by those men and women. That's what this is. And there seems to be a lot more of that happening under this new regime. And Triple H really seems to be taking care of people who gave everything they had for the business. So I love to see that. And I think we're going to continue to see more of these legend signings throughout the years. Jake on Spotify says, Hey, I've been listening.

It was, hey, with an exclamation mark. That's why I said it like that. Hey, I've been listening to the podcast for a long time. And I wonder, what is your favorite part of wrestling? Is it the stories, the matches, or something else? I think it's the stories. Like, the stories are the things that get us into it. That's the part that I think is the most fascinating.

It's the part that can give you goosebumps. I've also been blown away by the athletic. that's always been something I've been really drawn to, like that famous match between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe, TNA Unbreakable 2005, that was one of those matches where I was like, how are they able to do this? Like, I always was a big fan of seeing people do things that I wasn't able to do myself. Like, when AJ's, when I first saw AJ Styles do the spiral tap, I was like, how is this even possible? And I remember, rewinding it and then playing it back frame by frame by frame by frame to see like, oh, wow,

that's where he's twisting and that's where he's initiating the rotation. It was blown away by it. So I've always been impressed by that. You're either on one side of this match or the other when it comes to that epic, iconic match between Will Osprey and Rickishay. I love that match because, again, that's one of those matches where they're doing things in the ring that I can't physically do. And I like to think I'm pretty athletic.

Okay, I like to think I'm a pretty athletic guy, but they're doing things I could even dream about doing. I mean, I could dream about doing it. And I just know that I could not actually physically do it. But I love the storytelling that exists in talking people into the arena, like some of the great promo artists of all time. Like, I've always been a big fan of the storytelling that exists there. And then the storytelling that exists bell to bell.

That's always been the thing that I've been drawn to. And I think that the reason I love broadcasting, the reason I fell in love with television and radio is because when you strip it all away, whatever, whether it's a visual medium or whether it's an audio medium like radio or like podcasting, what do you get at the end of the day? You get storytelling. And that's the thing that I love so much. And I think one of the things that I learned, learned early on in my broadcasting career is that you and I could experience the exact same thing. Like, let's say that you and I are driving to the movies and we see, you know, car crash in front of us. Like some, like a big event that you're going to go home and like

tell your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend or girlfriend or mom or dad or brother or sister about. The way that you tell the story is going to be a little bit different than the way that I told the story. What's the first thing that you're going to start off with? What's the first thing that I'm going to start off with? What are the details that you're going to leave out that maybe I might add in? I've always been fascinated by that in such a big way. When I was starting off my television career as a news reporter at Checks TV in Peterborough, Ontario, you would show up to an event and there'd be the newspaper reporter there. And oftentimes there would be the radio. And oftentimes there would be the radio reporter there. And we were the only TV station in town, so we were the TV reporters.

And it's funny. We would all be there for the same thing, whether it was a charity event or whether it was something like newsworthy, like a crime or something like that. And the way that we presented the story on TV would be a little bit different than how it was on the radio and a little bit different than how it would be on TV or how it would be in the newspaper. What were the sound bites that I would choose versus how they would choose them? I was really always fascinated by that. Because we all experience the same thing. But the way that we told the story or retold the story was just a little bit different. And that applies to wrestling. You could have two people in a match that are, you know, because at the end of the day, a lot of wrestling is good guy versus bad guy. It's good versus evil.

Not always, but it's these two forces that are up against each other. How is that story told? And how can you put a new spin on it? That's the thing that I've always been fascinated by. because you could have two wrestlers in, you know, let's call it a hell in a cell this weekend, right? We've all seen a bunch of hell and a cell matches. What's the story that you're going to tell in there? How are you going to use the various weapons that you could use in that match?

What's the story and how are you going to tell it? That's always been it for me, always. Andrade. Indrata, really? Oh, wow. Andrade on Spotify. It says, what's up, Chris? your show gets me through some work gets me through work sometimes brother i appreciate it i'm curious

who is that one interview that's made you the most nervous i don't know if i've been like sitting there like super nervous or like sweating or like fast heartbeat before an interview but i think sometimes it's like all right how we're going to make the most of this interview how are we going to are we going to how are we going to ask it first question to hopefully build some rapport so that the conversation flows really well after so that the next question that I ask after that can really land and they can open up. That's really where it comes in. And I think I even talked about this last week. There's some big ones where you set some expectations pretty high, like The Undertaker or Jesse Venture or the recent one with Dave Batista where you're like, oh man, I just hope that this

goes well. I hope they're in a good mood. I hope they, again, back to the last question that we were talking about there. I hope they tell some great stories here. I hope that we can draw some really good responses. I don't know if there's been one where I've been like, oh, like super nervous, but it's just like, I hope it goes well. I hope it lands so that in the moment as it's happening, it just feels like a good conversation that flows. And then when you're listening to it on the podcast, it's entertaining. It's something where you feel like you're a fly on the wall for that one. So that, I think that's it for me. where my expectations are. Dan Nause on Facebook.

What is the most underrated mania main event ever? Ooh, the most underrated one. So this is not the best main event. This is the most underrated main event. I think it's got to be WrestleMania 20. Chris Benoit versus Triple H versus Sean Michaels, you know, for the obvious reasons,

because in WWE's eyes, this match doesn't even exist anymore, especially since Chris Benoit won that match. Yeah, that's got to be it for sure. That's certainly the most underrated and the least talked about as well. I mean, it's not even talked about at all when it comes to WWE and the WWE history books. I also think that the next year, WrestleMania 21, that's a really underrated WrestleMania as well. that was Triple H defending against Batista. And that, I think, go back and watch it.

I think that that's Batista's best match ever. And I think that that one's also not talked about very much either. Because, you know, Triple H has had some incredible WrestleMania main events and WrestleMania matches in general. Think about all the matches he's had. It's amazing. But yeah, it's got to be WrestleMania 20. Chris Benoit, Triple H, Sean Michaels, and look, you put Sean Michaels in any match, and you know it's going to be magic.

But there was something about that one that, you know, obvious, yeah, yeah, it's very obvious why WWE doesn't mention this anymore. Yes, I get it. We all, we all get it. We all understand that. We all know why. But that's a match that's really worth rewatching. So if this weekend, before or after bad blood, you're just looking for a wrestling match to put on, I would say, WrestleMania 20.

Throw it on, fast forward to the main event, and sit back and enjoy. Another one from Spotify here, sick, vicious. If you could pick one superstar to represent each decade from the 80s to now, who would they be? Bonus question. Put all of your picks in a battle royal. Who would come out on top, in your opinion? Love the show. This is so difficult.

Oh my goodness. I got to narrow it down to this one person per decade. So we're going to pick what's 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020. So five people in total here. These for me are going to be the people who best represent that era. And when you think about the 80s, you think about Hogan. All right. If it wasn't for what Hogan did in the 80s, we wouldn't have had what we had in the 90s with

the attitude era. So this actually might be the easiest one. Hogan, 80s. 90s, it's got to be Austin. Even though that's really just a few years of the 90s, if it's not for Austin and Austin 316 and the rivalry with Mr. McMahon, we don't really get the steam that the attitude era had.

So, all right, Hogan 80s, Austin 90s, 2000s. tough. But I think coming off of everything that was happening in the attitude era and then it dips down into that lull that followed the attitude era. And actually, reverting back to that last question, another reason that WrestleMania 20 is kind of not talked about as a whole, but especially that main event not being talked about is 2004. And you were coming off of how hot things were in the attitude era. And then wrestling dipped down. for a little bit. A lot of us were still watching,

but just as a whole, wrestling took a bit of a dip there. So that's why WrestleMania 20 and also 21, they not really talked about as much. So 2000s, I'm going to go John Sina. Because John Sina really carried WWE through some of those slower,

lower, not as well-watched years, some of those years when, things maybe weren't as exciting. There were also some other big names in the 2000s, Orton, Eddie. Kurt Angle, even though he wasn't in WWE for all of those years, Kurt Angle did his best work during the 2000s. And arguably, the best work perhaps of any wrestler during the 2000s. Like his matches in TNA versus Samoa Joe versus AJ Style,

really versus anybody. It's Kurt Angle. I mean, come on. But yeah, Sean Michaels had some of his best matches in the 2000s. But I'm going to go just as a figurehead of that decade is John Sina. Then we go to the 2010s. And again, you want to talk about some years where things maybe weren't so great. John Sina was the one Karen us through there as well.

So John Sina is the representative of the 2000s and of the 2010s. I got to give an honorable mention here to CM Punk. And I know that CM Punk wasn't there for, and we left in 2014 and then wasn't there for the rest of that decade. You got to give an honorable mention to CM Punk because there's a lot of people that point to the pipe bomb is the reason that they got back into wrestling during that time. And CM Punk brought a realness to wrestling during that time when wrestling really needed something else.

It needed a bit of an edge. And CM Punk got people back in. But it's definitely Sina during that era as well. And again, this is no disrespect to other people that existed during that time. Plenty of other people. But when you think about the person who was pushing the product forward and who was having those big WrestleMania matches and who was the big draw during that time, it's got to be John Sina.

And the 2020s, I mean, come on. Say it with me. That's the tribal chief, Roman Reins. Maybe as the decade continues, I mean, it's 2024 right now. We still got half of a decade left. Maybe as we round out the rest of the decade, maybe it's somebody else. But it's certainly Roman Reins, when you talk about the big matches, when you talk about WrestleMania's, it's Roman Reins.

So we'll run it down again. 80s, Hogan, 90s, Austin, 2000, Sina, 2010s, also John Sina, 2020s. Roman Rain. Roman Raines. That is an interesting question, and I'm sure that lots of people in the comments are going to have their own version of those answers, and that's okay. That's what I love about this. That is also one of my favorite things. Storytelling, my favorite thing about wrestling, athleticism as well, but the fact that it's subjective, that's also one of my favorite things about wrestling and also movies as well. You and I could go see the same movie, the same time, and I could love it and you could just think it's okay.

Same with a wrestling match. We could see the same match. And I could think that was incredible. You could go, yeah, it's all right. It's okay. It's like a buffet, right? Maybe I'm going for the prime rib, the carving there. You know, I always love going to the person with the knife and they're carving

and you're like, oh, I'll take an end piece, please. And maybe you're on the other side going, you know what? I'm just going to go straight for the desserts. Cool. We're at the same buffet, though, and I love it. Hey guys, hope you're enjoying this podcast. But if you're a podcast fan, you don't want to stop now, do you? You want another podcast to listen to. Well, I am Sam Roberts, and my podcast is called Not Sam Wrestling.

If you want to over-analyze and look into everything that's happening on every professional wrestling show, every single week, look no further than Not Sam Wrestling for the best analysis anywhere. Every now and then, we throw in an interview as well. we have emergency podcast going on all the time. We hit you with a new episode every single Monday morning. And then after that, who knows throughout the week where you'll be able to find us. But check my show out, Not Sam Wrestling at YouTube.com slash Not Sam Wrestling air.

And wherever you got this podcast, just search Not Sam Wrestling. Apple, Spotify, you'll find it. Thanks. William Lopez emailed this one in. Hey, Chris, massive fan of the show. And after listening for about a year, really wanted to send in a question for Ask CVV. My question is, what do you think the Saturday night main event show is going to look like? Do you think it will feel like a PLE, a TV show, or a house show?

Best wishes, Will the CVV fan? Well, thank you, Will, for the question. I think Saturday night's main event is going to feel like nostalgia. That's the one word that I think is going to encapsulate everything that we're going to see. For people who aren't familiar with this, maybe if you're going to be, you know, you're a new fan or maybe you're you're just coming back to watching wrestling for the first time in a while. This is not a weekly show. This is a very special thing, a one-off thing that's, that ends up happening. And it's on network television. So you're reaching a wider audience when this

happens, which is amazing. A great thing to see when this is on NBC. This dates back to The 1985 when they started doing Saturday nights main event. The last time that we saw one was a long time ago. It was July of 2008. The main event was Edge versus Jeff Hardy. This is very much a special event. It's a one-off. So it will certainly not look like a house show.

It's going to look and feel, in my opinion, like a little bit of nostalgia. And if the rumors are true, if the reports are true, Jesse Ventura is a color commentator on this. That has not been confirmed by WWE. But Jesse Ventura was the voice of Saturday night's main event along with Vince McMahon for a long, long, long time. Jesse Ventura could be back here alongside. I'm guessing it's got to be Michael Cole.

It's got to be Michael Cole as the play-by-play commentator on this. but it's going to feel like a throwback to those older shows and a throwback to this just playing on a Saturday night. I remember watching these as a kid. Like these were pretty frequent. I'm actually looking at the list right now. In 1985, there were four of these. In 1986, there were four of these, oh, there were like four or five of them every year in the 80s.

It's pretty cool. I wasn't watching in 1986 or 1987 who's a little bit young. Maybe I watched it and don't remember. But I think that like 91, 92 is probably when I watched one of these. But there was a long point in time there when they didn't do one. It was 1992. And then there wasn't another one until 2006. So a big gap there.

almost the same, almost the same type of gap that we're seeing now, 2008 to 2024. But I think it's just going to feel like a bit of a throwback to that time. And it's going to, it's going to be more than a TV show. I'm going to, here's my guess. And this has kind of always been the case with Saturday nights main event. It's not quite at the level of a PLE, but it's more than a TV show, if that makes sense. So I think they're going to keep up with the tradition of that. Curtis Heckenliable on Facebook says,

what are your favorite wrestling t-shirts of all time? Long-time listener from oil country. And then you put the little Canadian flag there. Well, Curtis, appreciate you being a listener of the show. When I was a big Triple H fan in the heart of the attitude era, I love the I am the game where it was like the, big letters like all the way from like the top of like the the neckline all the way down like your belly button and then on the back it said because I am that damn good that's one of my

all-time favorite shirts I remember lining up to get that at a house show at the skydome when it was still called the skydome but when I when you think about like just all-time greatest shirts I think there's three there's really three it's Austin 316 It's NWO. I still have an NWO shirt. That's just an all-time classic. And then it's DX. Those are the shirts for me.

I also had an APA shirt. I went to a house show. I wish I could remember this specifically. I went to a different house show in Toronto. And I can't remember what shirt I wanted, but they didn't have it in Stogger. They didn't have it in my size. I think it was the Rock shirt.

I think it was the get ready because your candy ass is next on the back. They didn't have my size. So I'm like, I'll buy the APA shirt. And I ended up buying the APA shirt and the Triple H.

I am the game shirt. I actually never owned an Austin 316 shirt. Fun fact. I was looking on eBay the other day for like a vintage one, like a true 1998 Austin 316 shirt with like the smoking skull. It's crazy what people are asking for these vintage shirts.

Like just wild. $350 or $400. I'm like, I want one, but do I want one that bad? Like, probably not. I don't know. I still do want one. So if you have a large laying around, shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanvely.com.

I'll pay a fair price for them. I'm just not paying $350 for it, okay? But those are my favorite shirts of all time. I actually sold. Why did I do this? It was such a nostalgic shirt for me, but I hadn't worn it in so long. I sold the Triple H shirt that I had. I am the game because I am that damn good.

I sold it on eBay for, I don't know, $90 or $80. I put it up for auction. The auction started at $1, $1. Then I ended up selling for maybe it was 80, 90, 70, I don't know, somewhere like, it was more than I spent on it. I think I spent $30 Canadian on it 20 something years ago. But I sold it because I'm like, I'm not just sitting in my closet. that hasn't,

haven't worn it in years. Now I kind of wish I still had it. So I don't know. If you have one of those shirts, hit me up as well. Maybe, maybe I could buy it back from the person that bought it from me on eBay.

Jake on Spotify. Oh no, we already answered. We already answered that. Why did I put that in here twice? Jim Barth on Spotify. CVV, much love to you and I love the pod. So I have a question. Do you think Brock Lesnar returns at some point?

I think that, yes, he returns at some point. I can't really make a prediction for when that happens, but pretty telling when this week he was added back onto the active roster when you go to www.com. He had been removed. When the investigation had started with Vince McMahon and his name being tied into everything with the allegations there, he had been removed,

but he was added back in just a few days ago. And usually when someone gets added back on to the active roster, that means that we see them back on TV at some point after that. Again, like The Rock, I don't think that this one just happens for the sake of happening. I don't think you just throw him on a random Raw or random Smackdown or a lower level PLE. Royal Rumble feels like it could be a good time for Brock Leznor to return. And then that sets up something for WrestleMania.

And again, I think it's important to point this out. And Mick Foley has pointed this out and he said it better than I could ever say it. These are just allegations at this point. All right. And if these allegations are true, it's despicable and disgusting and awful. But these are just allegations at this point. I think it is important to let the legal process do its thing. Like there should be due process here.

We should be able to see this case out before pointing, fingers and what happened to innocent until proven guilty? So especially when it comes to Brock Lesnar here. So Brock Lesnar back on the active roster on www.com, which to me says, yeah, we see him make his return. Where will this end up being? I don't know. Let's see. on Spotify. It's IDK, Avery G. The Dick Butkiss edition, Ask CVV number 51. What were your thoughts on the last monster standing match on Raw? I felt like the feud delivered and the Seth Freak and Rollins return was so unexpected. Another great main event in my opinion and I would love to know your opinion on it. Here's the thing about that feud. I loved it and it was the absolute perfect encapsulation

of a mid-hard feud. There wasn't a title on the line here. It was just two big, meaty men slapping meat to quote Big E. And I loved it. But it was just two matches. That's the really interesting thing about the feud. It was two matches. And from there two matches, we got some big viral moments.

We got the tsunami onto the car crazy. we got the Bronson Reed throwing a fan what? We got Bronson Reed and and Bron

Stroman breaking through a wall like there were so many great moments there and then we got the ring breaking which felt to me like it legitimately broke I could be wrong about this

but all of the other ring breaks that we've seen the ropes go and then the ring kind of flattens out or like one side of the ring goes down. On this one, the ropes just broke. Like, it looked like this was, like, it truly broke.

And if that's the case, like if it truly broke, cool. If it was all of work and that was all planned, I like that we don't even know. We don't know one way or another if that was legitimate or not. But I think that this feud delivered in so many ways. And it also sets up what's next now for Big Bronson Reed. he's actually our next guest on the show. So that's Tuesday's episode, Bronson Reed. Fantastic conversation with him.

And he was on the show, was that three years ago, three-ish years ago after he got released from WWE and he was in New Japan. Got a lot of ground to cover between now and then. Like so much has happened for him. And he's getting a lot of opportunities on Raw. And you love to see it. He is so talented and really athletic. for a guy of his size.

And it's so cool to see that they've made him into this monster. Even calling this last monster standing, I love the branding around this. He was the Colossus in NXT. And that was cool. That was great. But something just hits different. Something hits different about calling him Big Bronson Reed.

I don't know. It just comes out of your mouth a lot better to Big Bronson Reed. We love alliteration. And now this sets up a great feud with Seth Rollins. and Seth Rollins can get his revenge for being taken out with the six tsunamis, which, by the way, you'll hear it in the interview next week. But the plan was not six tsunamis. I think the plan was, it was certainly less. I don't know if he told me the actual number, but the plan was not six. So this ties into like, okay, Seth Rollins has taken out. Who took him out? Well, it's big Bronson

Reed that took him out. How is Seth Rollins going to get his revenge? Well, he's going to cost him this last man standing match. Now we've got this beautiful feud that sets up. I love it. I love it so much. And I know it wasn't part of that feud, but the six tsunamis, I guess it ties into this now, but Bronson Reed, he's just viral moment after viral moment after viral moment. I love it. Jake Yarger on Spotify. No, this is on Facebook.

Jake Yarger on Facebook says, what's the best advice that you can offer me as someone trying to become a legit. legitimate content creator. Consistency is the biggest thing. Consistency is so important. It's not about the content that you put out just today. It's about the content that you're consistently putting out today that leads into tomorrow, that leads into how much did you put out this week? What did your content look like? If you zoom out over the month, then zoom out a little bit more over the year. And then you zoom out to five years like the podcast here, here we are, episode 663. I think that that's the most important thing. And it's so, so easy to make excuses.

Oh, man, I just got so busy or I got called in from some extra shifts at work or, man, I wasn't feeling so sick or I wasn't feeling so hot. I don't know if you can hear it on my voice right now, but a little stuffed up. It would have been really easy for me to go, do it and ask CVV and chatting for an hour. That's probably not the best thing for my voice, especially when it sounds like I'm talking out of my nose some of the time right now. But I think it's just the idea of showing up because if you consistently show up, your audience will also consistently show up as well.

I would also say find somebody in your space who is just absolutely crushing it and start to find out like what are the things that make that person so great? What are the things that make that person stand out? Success leaves clues. What are the little things? If you can pull two or three little things from all the people that you look up to and kind of put that together and put your own spin on it, you'll start to find there's a lot of things in common amongst the people who are doing it and they're being successful at it. So nothing's going to beat consistency. And also find a niche where you can really be successful. Like we have niched down big time on the niche of talking to pro wrestlers.

And when you look at the charts, we were talking about the Spotify charts earlier. When you look at just the wrestling chart, I'm not going to name shows here or name names, but there's not a lot of shows that are doing interviews. A lot of shows that are talking about wrestling. There's not a lot of shows that are specifically doing interviews. So we have really niched down on that. And it doesn't matter what's going on in the world. It doesn't matter. I don't know if you could hear my little girl. She's screaming or having a blast there in the other room. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world personally or professionally.

We are putting out an episode every Tuesday, every Thursday, and every Friday. And as we keep showing up, the audience will keep showing up as well. and I didn't even purposely do this, but I heard a quote this week from Nick Bear that it's the quote that we're going to wrap things up on. And that was actually our last question. So thank you, Jake, for that question. And thank you everyone for all of the great questions here

on Ask CVV number 51, the Ichiro Suzuki edition, Randy Johnson edition, Bernie Williams edition, and yes, the Dick Buckkiss edition. Thank you for all the questions. Send in your questions for AskCTVV. Number 52, and the quote that we will wrap things up on is from Nick Bear. Being consistently good is better than being occasionally great.

So in a nutshell, Jake, that's the best advice that I could give to you. Being consistently good is better than being occasionally great. Had a blast with you guys on this one. Looking forward to seeing so many of you in Atlanta for bad blood this weekend. and we'll recap everything next week and see. Were we five for five on those predictions? I think we're going to be five for five on those predictions. It just feels like, I don't know.

How could it go any other way? I guess we'll see. But be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Bronson Reed joins us on Tuesday. Have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday for that one.

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.