Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #53 - Brock Lesnar's Return, The Rock Will Be At WM41, Best RKO Ever, Crown Jewel Championship

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Hello friends! Welcome to AskCVV #53! On this episode, Chris answers questions about the Crown Jewel Championship and what it really means, whether Brock Lesnar will return to year, who will be the next superstar to get called up from NXT to the main roster, rumors that The Rock won't be at WrestleMania 41, the best RKO of all time, thoughts on the Motor City Machine Guns, favorite storyline ever and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed." - Wayne Dyer 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 https://manscaped.com ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://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 https://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 https://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

Happy Friday and welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us. I know there's a ton of wrestling podcasts out there. Taz actually put out a tweet this week and he was like there's an oversaturation of wrestling podcast and then he was like, how often do you listen all the time? Sometimes occasionally, never. I can't remember what all the options were, but I know.

I understand that and I appreciate you. Here we are in episode 669 of the show. And I'm just so grateful that you're here. And thank you for making Insight, the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. If you haven't yet, hit a twist of fate on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever it is that you're listening right now.

We had the most comments ever for an episode on last week's Ask CVV episode. At last count, 188 comments. That blew the old record away, which is like 150 something. So crazy. Thank you for that.

If you're listening on Spotify, hopefully you're already following the show. If not, hit that follow button with a twist of fate, of course. But leave a comment on there. I always love seeing the comments, especially on these Ask CVV episodes. That's one of the spots where we grab the questions

for the show here. also the ratings i think we were like 3.9 3 390 3.9k ratings on spotify and i saw that john michael on spotify left a comment he said thank you for explaining where the rating section was i've been trying to find it for a year now i think i've just been assuming that people know where you can find the rating section on spotify and i always throw it out please leave a five-star rating on the show it's so simple. Go to the main page of the show, hit the three dots.

I'm saying it's so simple, but it's not simple. The fact that I have to explain three steps is clearly not simple. Spotify, if you're listening, make this a lot simpler. Go to the main page for the show in Spotify. Click on the three dots.

Then you click on rate show. And then you get an option to rate on there and just tap the stars and then you're good to go. So thank you for pointing that out. John Michael, I think I took for granted that people assumed, I assumed that people already knew where that was, but clearly, clearly that was not the case.

Also, shout out to Brandon, the drummer from Hot Mulligan. I mentioned on an Ask CVV episode that my favorite wrestling shirt of all time was an old school triple H shirt. I am the game because I am that damn good. And I was like, but I've always wanted to own an authentic Austin 316 shirt. Well, as soon as that episode aired, I got a DM from Hot Mulligan, who is one of my favorite bands. I saw them play with Census Fail right before I moved out of Florida in 2019. So the fact that Hot Mulligan is, was in my DMs, blew my mind. I just talked to Bronson Reed about them and

brought them up in our conversation. Now I've got a DM from, from Hot Mulligan. Crazy. My mind's already blown. And Brandon, the drummer, says, hey, I've got an Austin 316 shirt with your name on it. What is your address? I'm going to send that over to you. And I'll also send over some hot Mulligan T-shirts. Oh my gosh. So Brandon, you're awesome. I can't wait to see you guys rock out again live sometime soon. And he also threw in this amazing vintage triple-H shirt, which, you know, I'm going to rock that on an episode in the next few weeks. So keep an eye out if you're ever watching the clips on social media or if you ever watching the full episodes on YouTube. Brandon, you're awesome.

So thank you so much for that. And I was not expecting anything at all. I was just saying it'd be really cool to own an Austin 316 shirt. And I kept favoriting these or watching these auctions on eBay for them. But now I own an authentic Austin 316 shirt. Thanks to Brandon from the awesome band Hot Mulligan. So go check out Hot Mulligan. They're awesome.

Also, big thank you to Bully Ray for the shout out on Busted Open Out. After Dark on Wednesday. He was talking about that Don Callis segment on AEW where Don Callis said there are no real journalists in pro wrestling and bully race had some very nice things about me. So thank you, bully for that. I've always loved bully. We've had some great conversations both on and off the air. And I've been fortunate to also be a guest unbusted open a few times.

Although he said my last name wrong. And I don't know if this is just a bit. He called me Chris Van Valleier. And I don't know if this is an ongoing big. it because this has happened a bunch of times when I've done stuff with Busted Open. I don't, maybe. Is that like a gimmick name, Chris Van Vleier? Look, I'm just happy to get the mention.

I think people understand who he was referring to. Does he know? My last name's not pronounced like that. I'm not sure. And that doesn't really matter to me. They actually maybe brings more attention to it if he keeps mispronouncing it. so I don't know. I don't know.

But welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 53, the Bill Romanowski, Bobbyabreou, Harry Carson, and yes, Herbie the Lovebug edition. Oh, yeah, so many iconic names to rock number 53. Who's going to be the people we talk about next week on Ask CVV number 54? send me a message and let me know also thank you for all the messages a lot of them on spotify isa carerro 94 anthony rubino and j p chengen who said the five star you had a five star triple h impression can we talk about your triple h impression spot on that triple h impression was spot on i was just referencing what he said in the bad blood press press conference i feel like i needed to do it in

the voice that he did. So go back and listen to it. But I was basically talking about he was asked if raw is going to be two hours or three hours when it goes to Netflix. He's like, well, I'll let you know when I know. That wasn't nearly as good as I did it the week before. But I just felt like I had to go for it. Had to go for the Triple H impression. I don't even think my Triple H impression is that good. There's like old school. I feel like there's old school. Triple H was like really over the top, like which which the Rock used to make fun of. I am the gay. Remember the Rock? And I'm gonna do this

at the end of every sentence. Remember when Rock did that? But new Triple H, it's a little, like it's lower and it's not as like he doesn't drag it on for as long. Like I asked him a question about, what was it, money in the bank? Well, I'm going to give you an answer to is Triple H right now. And I think the thing that I need to say about that is,

So thank you for the kind words. I think that I've talked. Is this just like the Hank Hill impression that I did where like I can say one great sentence as Hank Hill, but I can't like say much else. So I feel like I need to keep the triple H impression to a minimum like one sentence. Hank Hill impression, one sentence. And then you guys can think that I can actually do a good impression when clearly I can just say like six words as that person. We will kick things off with this question from Adam, who wrote this in on Spotify.

And if you want your question answered on next week's Ask CVV, leave a comment on Spotify, shoot me an email CVV at chrisfanvely.com or sending your questions using the hashtag AskCV on social media. Adam says, what did you think about the new crown jewel title and the champ versus champ? I thought they were about to reveal a women's midcard title. So this is the interesting thing. And we've talked a lot on the show about like expectations. So when your expectations are like, oh my gosh, there's a title underneath a cloth in the ring, what's the new championship going to be?

And when you're already setting your expectations up for, that's the women's midcard title, oh my gosh, is it going to be a United States championship or is it going to be an intercontinental championship or is it going to be some other sort of championship? You've already set up your expectations that if it's anything other than what's in your mind right now, you're going to be disappointed. So when they reveal that crown jewel championship, I think a lot of people were instantly disappointed because their expectations had already been set that this was going to be a women's midcard championship. I will say, that crown jewel championship is not the best looking title that I've ever seen. In fact, if you look at all of the

current championships in WWE right now, yeah, that that rank. that's last place. I think that we would have, it would have been difficult if the 24-7 championship was still around. Do you remember when the 24-7 championship was still around? Mick Fully revealed it back in 2019, he brought it out of a bag. He held it up. And the crowd was kind of like, huh, okay. I kind of feel like that's what happened with the Crown Jewel Championship. And then it wasn't really explained exactly what's going to happen with that championship. All right. So it's the world champion versus the WWE champion in both the men's and the women's.

Okay, that's great. Amazing. So the winner of the match gets this crown jewel championship. Then do they defend that crown jewel championship next year at crown jewel? Do they walk around for the next year holding the crown jewel? championship? Like, if Cody wins the match, we're just speaking hypothetically here, is he going to come out with two championships the following week on Raw or the following week on Smackdown? I doubt it. If Gunther wins, is he going to hold two championships, one around his waist and one on his

shoulder? I don't think so. This seems to me kind of, it's like almost in the same vein as, remember when Braun Strowman won the greatest, what was the greatest royal? Yeah, greatest, greatest royal, yeah, greatest just Royal Rumble, and he got a championship, and then we never saw it again. It's also similar to like when you win the Andre, the Giant Battle Royal, and you stand next to the trophy, but the trophy's so big. It's not like you're going to bring it out with you to the ring all the time. Like you can do that when you have a championship belt. You can do that when you have a crown and you're king or queen of the ring. I'm very curious. I get what they're doing here. I understand that they're trying to raise the stakes for the matches that they have at Crown Jewel.

Because for a long time, Crown Jewel has kind of existed in this alternate universe. And like, some matches would sometimes get thrown together that didn't have a lot of lead up or didn't make a lot of sense. And it was clearly, they were just trying to put like, all right, this person has to wrestle this person because that's what the people who are. paying for Crown Jewel have asked for, so I guess that's what we're doing. I don't know if this really makes a lot of sense. The Crown Jewel Championship, as of right now, we don't really know a lot about it. I had my hand up during the press conference, and that was going to be my question to Triple H. I was going to ask him, like, what is the title? First of all, what does the title mean? Okay. Number two, does it ever get defended? Or is this just, you're the winner of that this

year's crown jewel champion versus champion match. That's it. Here's a belt to commemorate that. And number three, then does the title next year just reset? Because the match, if they're going to continue this every single year, it will just be the new champion versus the new champion next year. So a lot of questions here. A lot of questions. I posted something on Instagram like a week and a half ago. You'll have to dig down a little bit deep for it. I've been posting a lot on Instagram. It's like five to ten posts a day. But I saw some AI mockups of some other versions of what the championship title could look like,

the crown jewel championship. And I thought there were actually some pretty decent ideas in there. But I think the thing you have to take into account when you're thinking about any sort of new championship for any wrestling company is there's only so many designs. There's only so many shapes you can have. as well. So, like, I think the shape's interesting. I don't know if it is, they said it's 50 carrots of diamonds. Like, is that legit? Like, actually 50 carrots of diamonds? Or these cubic zirconios in there? Because, you know, I bought, I bought my wife's engagement ring. And I know

how many carrots were in that. And I know how much that ring cost. 50 carrots? Like, the, the, the market value on 50 carrots of diamonds would be like, I don't, $200,000? That's a total guess. Maybe there's some jeweler out there that's maybe $300,000, $400,000, like hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's no way there's actually 50 carrots of actual diamonds in that championship belt. But I digress. I digress.

when it comes to the actual match, I hope that we see a definitive finish on both the men's side and the women's side. And I want some sort of screwy finish where it's going to set up some other match down the line because think about it. When you look at Gunther v. Cody, neither of them can really lose to each other

for a match that doesn't really have any stakes. Like if it's winner, take all. Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, that changes the game completely. But if it's just a match where it's the two champions are up against each other and they win this crown jewel championship, which doesn't really have any sort of relevance to the current storylines, what are you going to do? Like, who's going to take the pin here?

That's the thing I don't understand. But I don't know how you can crown a crown jewel champion and give them this title without a clean finish or without a finish. So someone's going to have to take a pinfall or I guess you could tap out as well. But in both those matches, Liv Morgan versus Niagara Jacks, Gunther versus Cody Rhodes, I don't know how you have a loser in that match or someone taking a pinfall or tapping out without making them look weak. So it'll be very, very interesting to see what they end up doing with that one. This episode is brought to you by Timeline. Timeline is a Swiss-based life science company, and they're a global leader in urolithin-A research.

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inflammation. This is all part of your healthier aging routine. Check it out for yourself at timeline.com slash insight. They're giving you 10% off your first order of mitopear when you go there. So that's timeline.com slash insight for 10% off. Timeline.com slash insight. Carson Maxwell on Facebook says, Hey, CVV, you are the only wrestling podcast that I listen to. I appreciate you.

My question to you is who do you think will be the next call up from NXT to the main roster? But I think when you look at the NXT championship, there's two guys right there in Trick Williams, current champion, Ethan Page, who has done it all. You could immediately slide those guys into the main roster. And the women's side, Roxanne Perez or Corrade, it's just a matter of time. Look, it's a matter of time before all, four of those people I talked about. But I think Roxanne Perez or Corrade, those two, I feel like one of those two, could easily slide in at some point in time.

And I think when you're looking ahead to, they kind of did this last year with the Royal Rumble, you saw Brom Breaker, make an appearance there. This could be kind of like the spot to test the waters. Put an NXT talent into the Royal Rumble, see what the reaction from the crowd is, see how they do on a big stage like that,

like competing in front of 50, 60, 70,000 people, however money it's going to be in Indianapolis, and then kind of figure it, out from there. But when you look at all of the people that are in NXT, Ethan Page is the one who's, he's main roster ready. And he's done it all in AW, done it all in TNA slash impact. Like, the guy is absolutely 100% ready. I'm not just saying that as his friend. He's doing huge things in NXT. But I think that those are the four that I would definitely put up there as like, if, when they make their main roster debuts.

None of us will be surprised. Crazy underscore Damon 18 on Spotify says, Chris, it's already been reported that the Rock isn't working a match at WrestleMania 41. I love that you left this comment because it is so and not true. I saw the reports. Who put the report out?

There was a report out earlier this week. that the Rock won't be able to appear at WrestleMania 41. To me, that doesn't make any sense. And I'm like, really? So the Rock's doing all this to not be at the biggest show in Las Vegas? That doesn't make any sense to me. Then I saw a comment on the Rock's Instagram. And there was someone named the actor Man Essex.

the actor man Essex, who said to the Rock, are you really not working WrestleMania at 41? Say it ain't so. And the Rock responded and said, don't believe any of that bullshit. So the Rock, shutting down the rumors here, the Rock didn't need to leave a comment. Rock didn't need to shoot down these rumors.

Rock didn't need to clear the air. He could have just let people continue to think what they want to think. But I like that he did that. It just to me didn't make any sense. And I think that the lesson to be learned here, and I'm sure you already know this, but don't believe everything you read on the internet,

especially when it comes to wrestling. Like if it doesn't, if it sounds a little too good to be true, probably is. Although, I will say, there are many exceptions to that rule, like when the initial reports came out from Sean Ross Sapp when Cody was leaving AEW and there was a report that came out that he was going to sign back with WWE, the amount of people who were saying all kinds of nasty things about that report at that time. And it turned out to be 100% true.

So I will say that with a lot of things, if it doesn't add up, yeah, it probably isn't going to happen. Probably doesn't make sense. Probably is nothing more than just a rumor or speculation. And then on occasions, there's occasions where, you know, you do get surprised, but the rock will, I don't know this is a fact, but I would be shocked if the rock is not part of WrestleMania 41 in some sort of way. Kamen Garduno on Spotify says real, real one. I love that. I said at the end of the last Ask CVV episode, I said if you're still listening right now,

you are a real, real one. Because real ones listen to the Ask CVV episodes. I can understand when you want to listen to John Cena or The Undertaker, Cody Rhodes, or Ray Mysterio, or Goldberger, whoever it happens to be. But if you're listening to an Ask CVV episode, You write real one. If you listen all the way until the very end,

you are a real, real one. And I said if you're still listening at that point in time, drop in the comments that you're a real, real one. And I saw a lot of real, real one comments. So thank you. Appreciate that. Kaman says, real, real one. Do you think Matt Cardona will ever make it back to WWE?

Zach Ryder was the reason I fell in love with wrestling, but Matt Cardona keeps me. in wrestling. I would have to think with Triple H having, Triple H having his finger on the pulse and knowing what's going on on the Indies and knowing who's, you know, getting really hot right now, he is fully aware I would have to think of everything that Matt Cardona has done since he got released from WWE. I'm actually shocked that Matt Cardona hasn't come back to WWE yet, but this is that kind of fun time of year. Three-ish months. Once from now, we've got the Royal Rumble.

And this is the time where the rumors start to churn. We start to bring up names that we haven't maybe talked about in months, sometimes years. Matt Cardona should be towards the top of that list for surprise entrance in the Royal Rumble. I would love to see it happen. And when you think of anybody who's ever got released from WWE and then put in the work to reinvent themselves and then become a better version of themselves. And when I say that, you think of names like Drew McIntyre.

You think of people like Cody Rhodes. And you should absolutely 100% be thinking of people like Matt Cardona. He has put in so much work. He continues to put in the work. His schedule is just mind-blowing. He grinds like crazy. Like it's an indie booking on Friday in one city, followed by another indie booking Saturday

and a completely other city, different city. Then he'll get on a plane and fly to a different city on Sunday and do another booking there or drive to it at a different city. It's week in, week out, month in, month out, now year in, year out. He's been putting in the work, and he's not just showing up, putting on a match and leaving. He's putting in the work on social media

to bring you into these storylines, to bring you into these feuds. It doesn't matter which organization, it's with. It doesn't matter which wrestling company is with. It doesn't matter who his opponent is. He brings you in and he makes you care. And really, at the end of the day, when you boil it all down, that's what wrestling is all about. It's like making you feel something. So there is, it feels like Matt Cardona would have to make another appearance in WWBR get signed back to a WWE contract at some point before he's done. He's got a lot more years.

left in him. I'm sure he's not even thinking about hanging him up anytime soon. But when you look at the work that he has been doing, he absolutely deserves it. So let's see. Let's see what happens when the Royal Rumble rolls around because he said this many times. Zach Ryder's dead. It's all about Matt Cardona now. So let's see what happens there. Nader taught. What a username. taught on Spotify. Ask CVV. I love listening to your show. I work. I saw your reel on Instagram with AJ Styles and I was wondering, will you ever do a sit down with AJ Styles? Oh, man. This is a because. So AJ is my guy when it comes to TNA. I had the best of AJ Styles, Volume 1, Volume 2 DVDs. I wore them out. We're talking like 2006, 7 right around there.

I probably watched more TNA than anything during like 06 to 08. Still watched everything, but I just loved that style of the X Division and everything they had going on there. I was supposed to do an interview with AJ Stiles, the morning of bad blood in Atlanta. And the night before on Smackdown, he injured his ankle slash leg slash foot. And I got a text from him.

like late that Friday night. And he's like, I think I broke my ankle or my foot. And I'm so sorry, man. I don't think we're going to be able to do the interview tomorrow, but I'll let you know. And yeah, so it was supposed to happen. It still will happen at some point in time, but he's got some healing that he needs to do.

And let's get him all healed up and ready to go again. And then we'll sit down and do the interview. But I was so looking for it. forward to that interview. I was so excited for that interview. And there was no time limit on it. We were just going to talk. We were just going to hang out. And he had been so kind and so gracious and all of the messages that we had and the phone call that we had leading up to planning that. I was so excited for it. So to answer your question in short, yes. Will I ever do a sit down with him? Yes. Do I know when that's going to happen? No, not sure.

right now. But it will happen at some point in time when AJ Styles is good and ready. And man, that is one that I cannot wait for. Taylor Dixon emailed this one in. I thought this might be a good brain teaser in terms of in ringability, promo work, and a top manager. Who do you feel is the true triple threat in the history of pro wrestling? That is a fantastic question. When you think about in ringability, promo work. So we're talking like character work and promo work, and then also a top manager. I'm going to, I don't know if this is kind of expanding what you're saying with manager, but I'm going to also throw in like general manager there because that's a type of manager, authority figure type of thing. Booker T can do it all. When you look at

Booker T, he can work as a baby face. He can work as a heel. He can work as a funny guy. He can work as a serious guy. He's fantastic in the ring. He's fantastic on the mic. He was great when he was the general manager. He's amazing and unforgettable with the commentary that he's doing. Like put Booker T in any situation and he will not get out of the park. That is the answer to this question. Booker T, because you only listed three categories there and I listed like five or six, Booker T is the answer. Like there's nothing Booker T can't do in wrestling. Oh, I forgot.

You want him to work as a tag team wrestler? You want him to work as a singles wrestler? That's okay. He'll be a Hall of Famer at both. It's amazing. It truly is amazing what he's capable of doing. So Booker T is my answer to that one, Taylor. This one's from Instagram.

Stephanie Sigafoos, S-S-S-Sigofus says, I was going for a run this month. morning and listening to your fantastic interview with Bronson Reed. I was wondering, what is your most listened to episode? And have you ever had guys or gals come on that come on a podcast to further a story angle? I would love for you to land Kevin Owens immediately. Also, I finally figured out how to do a rating on Spotify, I think. Well, thank you so much for the rating, Stephanie. And I'll answer your second part of your question first. I don't know if I've had anyone come on to try to further a story angle because a lot of times

we're doing interviews and they're not airing for two or three weeks, sometimes longer. And I think the other thing is most of these interviews are fairly evergreen. So you could listen to an interview from six months ago and it still makes sense because they're talking a lot about like their career in general or their life in general, like character development in general, both as an in ring character and also just as like a human being and developing your character. I think the last time someone like really came on to like push a storyline or talk about a storyline was when Chris Masters had his NWA championship, his title shot against Tyrus. He had just been on the show like two months before. And then like this title shot

kind of came out of nowhere and he was like super excited as he should have been and as he should be and he's like would I be able to come back on the show to talk about the title shot? I'm like absolutely. Yes, for sure. So I don't know that I'm trying to think. I don't think so. I don't think there's been like a lot of times where oh no, I guess there was Paul Walter Houser called out Sammy Callahan and accepted a match with him and I was like, you're insane. And that ended up leading to a match at wrestling revolver. But yeah, those are the only ones I can like really think about

off the top of my head. I'm glad you enjoyed the interview with Bronson Reed. I did too. And it was so great to be able to do that one in person because the first time we talked was over Zoom. And it's just never the same.

It's never the same doing it over Zoom. To answer your question about the most listened to podcasts, I actually pulled up the stats here. This is just the audio. So this is just for you listening to the show. Although I'm sure the YouTube numbers would refer.

reflect probably similar-ish rankings. The most listened to episode of the year by far is The Undertaker. Number two is Cody Rhodes. Number three is John Sina. And I'm going through these because I'm hoping that if you're a kind of new listener to the show or maybe you've missed a few episodes, this will give you an idea of like, oh man, I got to go back and listen to that one. So Undertaker, Cody Rhodes, John Sina.

Number four, Ray Mysterio, number five, Adam, Copeland, followed very closely at number six by Christian Cage, Goldberg, number seven, Drew McIntyre, number eight, Joe Hendry, number nine, number 10, Damien Priest. That's as of right now, and again, those are just the audio numbers. The YouTube numbers might be a little bit different, but since we are on the podcast right now, we are talking, this is audio that you're listening to right now. I figured I would go through the audio numbers there. And that was interesting for me to look at.

I think I could have guessed those top three. Those ones made sense to me. But the other ones, I don't know. There were a few surprises in there. And I love to see that. It'll be interesting to see how that shakes out at the end of the year. Because I will do, every month I do, here's the top five episodes of the month.

But at the end of the year, I will also do, I think I'll do top 10 episodes slash guests of the year. I'll put out a little post on social media about that. So it'll be interesting to see where those all land by the end of the year. Thomas Hensel emailed this one in. Hey, Chris, I've got a question for Ask CVV number 53, the Herbie, the Lovebug edition. I love that.

With Cody mentioning slaying a beast during his promo with Gunther, when do you think Brock Lezor could return? And are you as excited as I am at the prospect of Lesnar versus Gunther? Thanks from an OG-19 action news viewer. Well, thank you. 19 Action News was the TV station that I was on in Cleveland. So I appreciate you. I left there in 2014.

So here we are 10 years later, Tom. And you still remember the work I did there. That's amazing. There were two Brock Lesnar references on Monday, on Raw this past Monday. Seth Rollins was saying to Adam Pierce, let me remind you that I've slayed beasts and Cody Rhodes. He said, I have already slain a frightening beast. least, these are not done accidentally. So the fact that they are dropping these back in

makes me feel like they're kind of testing the waters to see. Are people picking up on that? Of course, they're picking up on it. We've talked recently about how nothing that's done on raw or Smackdown, at least in the promos or in the backstage segments, nothing's an accident. Yeah, there might be things in the ring that are improvised or they might call an audible and the thing that they plan doesn't really work out, but this other thing that ends up happening instead, it's a better outcome. Sure, that happens. But with these promos, these are done intentionally. So, yes, I think Brock Lezzer is coming back. And there have been a lot of reports and a lot of rumors over the last week that that is for sure happening.

When? I have no idea. It would just be a guess from me. But his music hitting at the Royal Rumble, hmm, that'd be a big one. That would be a huge pop. Is it the Royal Rumble? I don't know.

Is it something before then? They've been setting up this match and they were trying to do this last year at the Royal Rumble. They were trying to set up Brock Lesnar, versus Gunther, which I still think will end up happening. And it was reported last year that it was Bronn Breaker that came in and ended up having the kind of spot that Brock Lezzer would have had with Gunther.

I think that Brock Lezler versus Gunther is inevitable. That's a match that we're going to see at some point in time. When? I don't know. But the fact that we're getting these little hints about the beast kind of reminds. finds us that, you know, Brock Lezzer isn't like someone that they're completely erasing from history. Hepering it back in. Tatei on Spotify says, what's your favorite RKO in history? And what do you think is the most underrated one? My favorite is probably the Chad Gable

Moon Salt on Raw. That's incredible. I go one, two, with my favorite RKO. Today, number one is the Evan Bourne shooting star press and of the RKO. Crazy. Especially when you consider, and I interviewed Evan Bourne about this. He's like, yeah, we couldn't practice that. Like, it's not like you just go out and you do it. Like Randy was like, yeah, I can, I can time that. I'll catch you. We'll do it.

That was, I think the other thing that was so cool about that one was the way that, so Evan Bourne comes out, he kicks Randy, Randy's down. and you kind of forget, because there's other stuff going on in the ring, and the camera's shooting that, you kind of forget that Evan Bourne is jumping up to give the shooting star press. So he jumps up, he does it, and then Randy out of nowhere hits him with the RKO, and it's, it's done so quickly that even the commentator's like, did he? What? Oh, my gosh.

Like, they can't even believe their eyes. So I think that one. And then the other one is the curb sum. WrestleMania, the curb stump into the RKO, just because he went so high. It's something we had never seen before. And then there's the great story of like they practiced it all day and they couldn't get it. And they're like, you know what? When we get out to the ring, we're just going to go for it.

And they did it. And it worked. And that's why I think you see that over the top reaction from Randy Orton when he hits it because it's like, oh my gosh, I did it. We pulled it off crazy. in terms of underrated, one that very rarely gets talked about is AJ Stiles going for the phenomenal forearm and that one gets countered into the RKO. Crazy.

How is that one not talked about more? I'm not saying that should be number one or number two on the list, but that's a top five, top ten for sure, but that's a top five, top ten contender, in my opinion. And no one really talks about it. He goes for the forearm, boom, into the RKO. That's the great thing about the RKO. Randy Worden has found a way to turn almost any move into the RKO. Steel Trap left this one on Spotify.

Hey, CVV, been listening for the past year, and I love listening to your interviews at work. It makes the day go by so fast. Well, that's amazing that I can join you at work right now. I know there's a lot of people that are listening right. now at work. So I'm glad that we're going through the work day together right now. I've heard you say who your favorite wrestler is and who your favorite on the mic is, but who would you say is your favorite high flyer of all time? Thank you for all the hard work you do. This is a personal answer for

me. And I think it's just because of the time that I really became a massive wrestling fan, which was the late 90s. Jeff Hardy was always my guy. And I just loved seeing the things he did, but I think what impressed me the most about Jeff Hardy was that he just did it with such confidence. Like he would climb up to the top of a ladder or climb up to some other tall place and he'd just be like, yeah, of course, I'm doing a swan-time bomb off of here.

There's no question. Of course I'm going to hit this. I think it's Jeff Hardy for sure. And I think when you talk about just like luchador style, high-flying, like the greatest luchador of all times, for a Mysterio. And I'll give you another deep cut here of just like, I don't know if he's a high flyer,

but Kid Cash in ECW, the way he could hit a Hurricane Rana from anywhere. Any angle, he could, he could be on the top rope inside the ring. You could be standing on the outside and he would somehow hit a perfect Hurricane Rana from there. That just always impressed me so much. But yeah, Jeff Hardy,

Jeff Hardy's my guy. Jeff Hardy is my guy. And like there were a lot of people when I was getting into wrestling in 98, 99 that I loved watching. But every time Jeff Hardy came out, it was like, oh, yeah, we're about to see something absolutely incredible here. Kevin Wright left this one on Facebook. If you were head, if you were to head to the top rope on a downed opponent, what move would you hit if you were a heel versus a face? and how would your execution differ? What a very thoughtful question, Kevin.

Well, for me, it's the swan ton bomb. And if you dig real deep into the archives of some of my backyard wrestling as Chris Sharp, you will see, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, but you'll see I'd do a pretty mean swan tom bomb. And actually, I was jumping into a pool last week. I was like, do I still have it? Could I still do a swan tom?

Heck yeah, I can still do a swan bomb. taunt into a pool. It's not the same at all, but it'd be a swan ton bomb. And I think if I was a heel versus a face, I think a face would get up there. You know, Jeff Hardy like you do one little taunt and you quickly hit the move. A heel, I think, would take their time a little bit more. Take their time climbing up the top rope, to the top rope, get the crowd behind them. Maybe you stand up a little bit slower when you get up. So that you're fully standing up is a lot slower. And then you hit the move maybe with a little bit of a taunt afterwards. Like a baby face is always trying to do things the right way. Heel's always trying to do things to like,

I'm show you how much better I am than you. Show you how much like you think you're good. Come on. I'm so much better than you. So maybe after you hit the move, you go for a laxadaisical pin or you go for a slow pin or, you know, the face would jump right onto the to the opponent and try to get the pin. But I think it's a heel. You might take a little bit time. You might remark at how beautiful you flew through the air as you were hitting this move and then go for the pin.

That's just my thoughts as Chris Sharp, the swanton bomber of backyard wrestling. Sunny Strong Loki on Facebook. What has been your favorite WWE event in Toronto? Is this some sort of a trick question? I mean, the answer is obvious. Is WrestleMania 18? I mean, come on. Is there, I suppose I wasn't there and I wasn't watching wrestling at the time.

I suppose WrestleMania 6 could be an answer. But it's, I mean, the correct answer to this question, this is not subjective. It's WrestleMania 18. And what's the favorite, what's the best match? Not even favor match. What's the best wrestling match that has ever taken place? in Toronto? Well, my friends, that is Hollywood Hulk Hogan versus the Rock at said WrestleMania 18. No, what do you mean, Chris? Wasn't it? Edge's last W.W.E. Match

against Seamus at Scotia Bank Arena? Yeah, it was a pretty great match. Very great match. And yes, there's lots of other really good matches in Toronto. But it's WrestleMania 18. Come on, man. Come on. Alonzo Sawyers on Facebook. says, yo, Chris, where are we meeting in Vegas for WrestleMania? Well, I will be there. I will also be at the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis. I haven't confirmed this yet, but I will say, when it comes to WrestleMania, when it comes to Las Vegas, keep that Wednesday night open.

Okay, hopefully, some of you guys are flying in and you're adding a few extra days onto your trip. Just make sure your flight lands like Wednesday afternoon. Because Wednesday evening, I think we're going to be hanging out. All right? I don't know where. I don't exactly know when. But I'm putting the pieces together right now for a live episode of Insight at Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

And I teased it last week. I talked about last week on Ask CVV number 52. But keep your calendar open. Friday, January 31st in Indianapolis. We haven't announced it yet, but there is a very, I feel like I've already announced it without announcing it. I haven't announced who and where and when and all that,

but the very first live edition of Insight with Chris Van Fleet will be happening on Friday, January 31st. in Indianapolis. We will be announcing all of the details next month. So keep an eye out for that. We've got lots of time, right? It's still three and a half months away. We've got lots of time.

But next month, the official announcement of where you can get tickets, how you can get VIP tickets, where are the event's going to be, what time it's going to be, who I'm going to be on stage with. All of that stuff will be announced next month. But I just want you guys to pencil it on your calendar. Just mark it in on your calendar and take, you know, I will see you Friday night, January 31st in Indianapolis. Scott Silva on Facebook says, which wrestler have you met that was the furthest from their on-screen character and which one was the closest to what is portrayed on TV?

I think the furthest away would be the undertaker. Like it's not like a actual dead man rising from the great. is not sitting there and having an interview with you. Mark Calloway is also just one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Like what a humble down-to-earth guy. Like for someone who is widely considered one of the greatest of all time, he could have an ego. And his head could be gigantic. He could have a massive ego.

And he just talks to you like, just one of his friends. and it's not just me because I was a guest on his podcast and then he was a guest on my podcast. It's not just because it's me. That's how he treats everybody. That's how he treated the waitress at the restaurant when we were there. And we all went out to dinner that night. It's just who he is. So I'd say Undertaker, probably the furthest away, Hornswoggle is like his comedic chops.

And how funny he is is severely underrated. Like, yeah, he had some funny moments in WWE and his character was funny. But Dylan, the person, is hilarious. And if you haven't checked out any of the interviews I've done with him, but specifically the most recent interview that I've done with him, go check it out and get ready to laugh. He's the best. His character was funny, but like him in person, amazing.

So I think that that's another big difference. In terms of someone who's like the closest to who they are as of their character, I think that, I mean, you've heard this many times, but the best characters in wrestling are the characters where it's them, but the volumes just turned way up. So like Cody, pretty similar when you meet him in person, just a great guy, like just such a really good person and makes time for everybody. That's the coolest thing to see. L.A. Knight, same thing, just like a really good guy.

And when you see him cutting a promo, he's even. said this. He's like, what did he say? What was his exact quote? He's like, L.A. Knight is me at a, it's a combination of, it's like L.A. Night is a combination of me at a party and me in a fight. Like, put the two together and that's what you get. He's pretty similar as well. And I'd say Dave Batista, just like, you see, you've seen like his promos. He's just like a genuine person. you talk to him and it's like, man, that guy's just awesome. John Cena, too. Like, John Cena played that character for so long that he was just like the good,

all-American guy. John Cena is just a great dude. And like, I think you could see that from the amount of make a wish that he's done, like the Guinness World Record for make a wishes. It's just who he is at his core. And I can't say enough good things about him. I can't say enough good things about all the people I just listed. And that is not an extensive.

exhaustive list. Those are just a handful of people off the top of my head that really stand out in both of those two categories, someone who's the furthest possible from their character and someone who's really,

really similar to their character with maybe it turned up a little bit. Fed 33344 on Instagram. I feel like that was, that's like someone's password. Fed 33344. Do you like Motor City machine guns?

Man. Love. more to motor city machine guns they are one of the best tag teams of this generation and if you are unfamiliar with their work maybe you don't watch tna wrestling you are in for a treat you are in for a treat when they come to wwe this there's a lot of tag teams that wrestle now that owe a lot to just the style the motor city machine guns have the fast paced like it really really good christ Abe and Alex Shelley amazing individually, like so good. Their careers individually are so amazing.

They're both former TNA world champions, both former TNA X division champions. And of course, TNA tag champions, I can't wait. I can't wait to see what Motor City machine guns do in WWE. And I don't know if it's pretty, I mean, they haven't been officially announced, but those vignettes they've been playing. Yeah, that's Motor City Machine Guns. So I hope this didn't come as some sort of a spoiler to somebody

who didn't know they were coming. Yep, they're in WWA. By coming. Hey guys, I'm Sam Roberts, and excuse the interruption, but I want to talk about feelings. What are you feeling right now? Dread that eventually this podcast

is going to end will fear not. Because as soon as this one is done, just look up Not Sam Wrestling, and you will have hours of additional pro wrestling podcast content. In Not Sam Wrestling, we get together every single week, and we break down everything going on in the world of professional wrestling. And if once a week is not enough, well, then every now and then we'll throw in an interview

like when we did last week with Kurt Engel here in the Not Sam studio or an emergency podcast where we react to what just happened immediately after it happens just going through our feelings. So if you want to join the community, if you want to live by the, three rules of Not Sam Wrestling. Watch the product, speculate wildly, and everything counts. Then join us. Look up Not Sam Wrestling wherever you get podcasts.

Mickey underscore B. at, Mickey B. At, since Sincina was the one who said it, do you think he will appear at the UK WrestleMania? Well, first of all, we're going to need that announcement to happen. Because I think that this is just a matter of when WrestleMania is in the UK. This is not a matter of if this happens. It's a matter of when it happens. This is something I've been saying for the last year, over a year.

I've been saying this since Sina made that announcement at Money in the Bank last year in London. And I was like, I've predicted, I said within the next three years, this is last year. I said, I think we're going to see a WrestleMania in Las Vegas. And I think we're going to see a WrestleMania in London. Well, we already have the Las Vegas one. That is for sure happening. when is the London one happening? When's the one in the UK happening,

wherever it ends up being in the UK? I would think London. That one's just a matter of time. So will John Cena be there? Probably. Will's John Cena be wrestling there? Absolutely not. Like he has made it so clear that 2025 is it.

Like this is it. This is his retirement tour. When he has his last match, that is it. So 2025 is. is it for John Sina. One more Royal Rumble, one more WrestleMania, one more Survivor Series, one more SummerSlam, all of that. That's it.

That's all we get from John Sina. So will he make an appearance there? Probably. Yeah. I think that John Sina will, and he said this, will be around and be doing things in WWE for a long, long, long time. But I think that'll be more of like just coming out and cutting promos or maybe a little backstage thing here or there.

But if I had to guess, yeah, John Cena is at that WrestleMania in the UK, whether that's WrestleMania 42 or 43 or, I guess possibly beyond. I just feel like it's going to be before that. But he won't be wrestling there. He will not. He will not be wrestling there.

How do I even say this? Wath-W-R-R-C-A-R-C-A-H-R-C-A. 24, Wathrich 24. Hey, Chris, just started listening a few months ago and I love the content. I'm going to go to the Rumble in Indy and I just had a thought. What do you think about Bronbreaker winning to challenge Gunther at Mania? Would be an absolute banger. It would be an absolute banger. And I think that Braunbreaker versus Gunther will happen, but not yet. Like I don't think that's the WrestleMania match next year. I feel like there's going to be something else. Also, a lot of things would have to happen for this situation that you're talking about

to come to fruition. Ron Breaker would have to win the Royal Rumble. Gunther would still have to be the World Heavyweight Champion, not just at the Royal Rumble, but then by the time April rolls around for WrestleMania, I think that that one's actually not as likely. I think it's far less likely that Gunther will still be the champion in April of next year. Well, CVV, who's he going to lose the championship to. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is to that one. I just don't think he's going to hold that championship for six more months because, yeah, we are six months almost to the day. Wow. Six months, right? November, December, January, February, March. Yeah, six months, almost to the day to WrestleMania. Crazy. I don't think he holds it for another half a year. I'm not saying

that he's not deserving of it. I'm not saying that at all. I just really think we're going to get back to a point where the World Heavyweight Championship, especially, and also the WWE Championship, but I think the World Heavyweight Championship is going to be that title that changes hands a few times a year, two, three, maybe four times a year. I really think we're going to get back to that. And I would not be surprised if, and I, we're going to get some surprises on that first raw Netflix. I think there's going to be some surprises of people who show up that you weren't expecting to show up. There's going to be some returns from people that, oh, my gosh, I can't believe that person's here. And you may also see a surprise of someone losing a championship. Oh, my gosh,

this will be like, I think they're trying to set it up so that it's like that happened on the very first episode of Raw on Netflix. Well, now I need to tune in every week because who knows, who knows what could happen here? I also don't think, I think Bronbreaker will win a Royal Rumble at some point in time, I don't think it's in 2025 just yet. I think there's some other storylines that would need to be set up from the Royal Rumble leading to the Road to WrestleMania in 2025, where, look, Bronbreaker is a young man. Bronbreaker has a extremely bright future. He will win the Royal Rumble at some point in time.

And we will go back and listen to Ask CVV number 53, and we will remember this. exact moment right now, but he's not winning in 2025, in my opinion. And as we get closer to the Royal Rumble, we can talk about who are the most likely people to win it. And that's kind of the thing about the Royal Rumble is it always comes down to like, there's always like one or two where it's like, oh, yeah, it's either going to be this person or that person. And then there's like a dark horse. That could be her. It could be him. And then there's like, everybody else is like a long shot. It's just, it's, it's interesting how it always comes down to that every single year.

Dino on Spotify, real, real one. And we got another real, real one. I love it. Chris, big fan of your show from Hull in England. My question to you is if you could wipe your memory of any wrestling storyline and enjoy it again in its entirety, which storyline would you choose? All the best. Well, I can tell you the storyline I would never.

want to relive again, and that's the Katie Vick storyline, the worst storyline in the history of pro wrestling. But the storyline that I would love to wipe from my memory and then rewatch from the start, like not knowing anything, like so zero expectations, like it's just building every week. Oh my goodness, they did this. Oh my, they're now doing this. It would have to be McMahon versus Austin. And I was, when I was watching the Mr. McMahon docu series, episode four, added where they're talking about like the birth of the attitude era and where the Mr.

McMahon character really came from after the screw job, the Montreal screw job with Brett Hart. And like they, he built like Vince McMahon turned into the Mr. McMahon character. Like one of, if not the most hated heel in the history of pro wrestling. That storyline just was so layered. And it had never been done before. That was what was so interesting. I think we've seen wrestlers take on the authority.

figure now. And it's like, okay, cool. Yeah, I like that. It's good. When this was happening then, this was unprecedented. And there was still also a bunch of people that not long before that, they were like, Vince McMahon was just still a commentator. Vince McMahon wasn't, was definitely not an on-screen authority, but like, there were still a handful of people that were like, they didn't have the full scope of, oh, yeah, no, Vince McMahon, like, yeah, no, he's not just the commentator. Like, he's the guy who runs all this. So then for the lines to be blurred of like, okay, is that Vince McMahon the character that's saying this or is that Mr. McMahon the character that's saying, Vince McMahon the person or

Mr. McMahon the character? There was a lot of really great stuff that was going on during that time. And that was the storyline that sucked me into wrestling. Like I was familiar obviously with wrestling and I was starting to watch it, but that was the storyline that just got me so invested, so invested in what was going on. So that's the one. That's the one that I would go back and start to finish. Give it to me. Just I want to see it all. That was, I think that's my favorite, like start to finish, my favorite storyline in all of wrestling. And that is our final question here on Ask CVV number 53, the Bill Romanowski.

Bobby Abraeu, Harry Carson, and Herbie the Lovebug edition. If you haven't yet, hit an elbow drop on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever it is that you're putting this into your ear holes right now. I appreciate you for being here. Thank you. I was telling you how to leave a rating. I hope that you've done that. 4.4 on Spotify as I leave, as I record this right now.

The goal is to get to 5,000 before the end of the year, but I really think we can get to 5,000 in like the next month. If everybody that actually listens on Spotify were to just take the four seconds to like click those three things to do that, then we'd be at 5,000 by the end of this weekend. I know that's a lot to ask. So I will say within the next month, could we get to 5,000 ratings?

I think we can't. I absolutely think we can't. but I appreciate you guys for being here. You, like I've said before, you are a real, real one. If you are listening right now all the way at the end, so drop that in the comments that you are a real, real one listening to this AskCTVV episode, and we will wrap it up with this quote from Wayne Dyer.

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed. And I will add on to that, The present is what you got right now. So appreciate this moment right now. Have an amazing weekend.

Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Deanna Parazo joins us on the show on Tuesday. We will see you 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 ticket man job but get up in here the jim rome show podcast what should be follow and listen on your favorite platform you've been warned