Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #54 - Samantha Irvin Leaves WWE, Jey Uso's Short IC Title Run, Will Randy Orton Turn Heel?

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

Hello my friends! Welcome to AskCVV #54! On this episode, Chris answers questions about Samantha Irvin's decision to leave WWE, the return of Lilian Garcia, why Jey Uso's Intercontinental Championship run was so short, a potential match between Bron Breakker and Jacob Fatu, the possibility of Randy Orton turning on Cody Rhodes, will Tiffany Stratton cash in her Money In The Bank briefcase at Crown Jewel, why I miss Titantrons and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “For those that understand, no explanation is needed. For those that don't, no explanation will suffice." 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

Yes, welcome back to another one here on Inside. I'm CVV. Chris Bamfleet, happy Friday to you. Thank you for being here with us, and thank you for helping to make insight the number one wrestling podcast on planet Earth. If you haven't yet, hit a running knee on that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to listen to these podcasts. Yeah, don't just hit the follow button, like with your thumb. or your finger. Hit it with a running knee. Yeah, that's how you'll make sure that you won't miss out

on any of the episodes that we have coming up. And we've got a lot. So I am sitting here right now in New York City. I was in Las Vegas yesterday. That's where I did two interviews. We had Liv Morgan and Dominic Mysterio. That was the episode that was published right before this one. So that's why we didn't have a Thursday episode. I got a lot of messages from people going. what happened? Did you forget to hit the publish button? How come we didn't get an episode on Thursday? So I explained it during the Dominic Mysterio episode, but if you didn't listen to that one yet, and I'm sure that when this episode's done, you'll go and listen to it because it is filled with all kinds of Domisms and just all kinds of silliness. And we share a hatred, a pet peeve for people at the airport.

and we talk a lot about chicken tendies, a lot of really good stuff in there. But we did that interview on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, and they were in Las Vegas talking about WrestleMania 41 and tickets being on sale. And they wanted the interview to come out on Friday to coincide today with the official on sale of WrestleMania 41 tickets.

So as you're listening to this today is a day, WrestleMania 41 tickets are on sale. So it was a rare occurrence because usually it's going to be an episode on Thursday with a guest, another guest on Tuesday, Thursday with a guest, and then Friday, here we are, Ask CVV. So that was a rare occasion there where the guest episode was just pushed a day later so we could squeeze that in. But I think that's the fastest turnaround we've had for an episode in like quite some time. Like the turnaround from that, like us hitting the stop button.

on the recording and then uploading the files and editing the files. It was like 30-ish hours. And sometimes, sometimes it's a week or two or a month or longer depending on all kinds of different things. But I'm so glad we were able to get that one out. What a fun conversation. And Dom is at the top of his game. And that's not just on TV. And when he's wrestling, that's not just when he's cutting promos, that is all the time. And, how could you not love the work that he's doing? So I'm in New York right now. I just recorded interviews in the room that I am sitting in right now.

It maybe sounds a little bit echoey? I don't know. Donald, my amazing audio engineer, probably fixed that, so it doesn't sound echoey at all. So shout out to Donald. Thank you for that. But in this room, this beautiful, large room that I'm in, that they were so gracious to be able to allow me to shoot in in this hotel,

did interviews today with Austin Theory and Grayson Waller, and I can't wait for you guys to hear both of those ones in the next handful of weeks here. I'm going to be at SmackDown tonight in Brooklyn, the Barclay Center. So if you're listening to this and you're going there, I will see you there. And I can't wait. I can't wait. But welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 54, the Brian Erlacker, Teddy Bruske, Horace Grant.

And yes, of course, the Giancena edition. Yeah, John Cena wore number 54. And for years, I was like, oh, he must have worn 54 because it's like that whole idea of like the 54th man. So football roster has 53 people. You weren't quite good enough to make it there.

So you wear 54. I think that's why the Rock wears 54 when you see him doing anything with the XFL. It's that idea of like, you know, to push harder. Like nothing is guaranteed. You got to push harder for that. And I tweeted this because someone was like,

do you know, does anyone know why John Cena wore number 54? And I put that out as my idea. And then someone responded. And they're like, no, you just wore 54 when he played football in high school. I was like, oh, well, that makes far more sense. Much better, much easier, simpler and better explanation than what I was trying to come up with. But if this is your first Ask CVV episode, first of all, welcome, take off your coat, stay a while. If you want to include a question for next week's Ask CVV, send it in on social media using the hashtag AskCTVV.

Leave a comment on Spotify. That's been so amazing to see. And I think last week I was like, we're at 4,400 reviews. And Spotify seems to be the place where the majority of people listen. And I'm sure this, you're listening to this right now. somewhere else, and that's totally cool. Just looking at the metrics, though, a lot of people listen on Spotify. And we were at like 4,400 ratings for the show. And you go in to the show, I was explaining this last week, because a lot of people couldn't find the ratings. You go to the show,

you hit three little dots, and then it comes up, rate show. We're now 4,900 ratings because of you guys. So I set this goal of 5,000 ratings before the end of the year. My goodness, we're going to do it before the end of the weekend. So a huge thank you. to all of you guys who took the time, and by the time, I mean like, I don't know, 11 seconds, appreciate all of you that took the 11 seconds to actually go in, hit those three dots, hit rate show, and then click on the stars.

So thank you. Man, 5,000 before the end of the weekend. What's the goal going to be now for the end of the year? I don't even know. Should I just make up a silly number right now? 7,000 ratings. Why not? Sure.

But yes, you can also leave a comment on spot and we'll grab a bunch of questions from there as well. We'll kick this off with Tyler Schreiber on Twitter at T. Shrebe's underscore 05. Ask CVV number 54. What are your thoughts on Raw's main event? I feel like Jay's championship run was too short, but as you've said, have patience. I love what you're doing. I agree. It was really short, but I think what's lost in this is that the Intercontinental championship in a typical year changes hands a lot. Like, we got spoiled with a really long run there with Gunther holding it for 666 days. But like, if you look just two reins before that, because Gunther won it from, first

of all, I said he was Gunther. Now I said he's Gunther. Interchangeable, right? He said I could call him by either name, but Gunther won it from Rikersh, who had it for about three months. But people don't seem to remember this, that Rikish. won it from Sammy Zane, 22,

Sammy Zane had it for like two weeks. So this is a title that changes hands pretty frequently. And I know there were people talking about, oh man,

bronze run wasn't very long either. Bronze run was 51 days. Jayous's run 27 days. I get it. You want to see a real story being told here. You want this to lead

into a match at a PLE where they retain the championship that leads to another story somewhere else. And I get that. And I think that this is not Jay Uso's first and only Intercontinental Championship run. It is obviously his first one. This is not his only Intercontinental Championship run. I think that this is the first of many and also the first singles title for him of many. I don't think that WWE just did this willing-nilly like, yeah, you know what, let's give him the title and then four weeks later, let's take it off of him.

I really truly think, and I've been saying this for a while, I think this sets things up so that you have to watch Raw. Like the whole, we've heard the catchphrase for years. It's so cliche, anything could happen in the WWE. And I think with Raw going to Netflix, and I especially think WWE trying to impress Netflix and really boost the viewership there, not just for that first episode, but like four week,

two and three and week 17 and, you know, week 91 when they get there, I think that they're, they're trying to set this precedent, they're trying to set this standard of, you need to watch, because number one, you don't know who's going to show up. And number two, the championship matches that take place here, they actually mean something. Because I pointed this out when Jay Uso won the championship. The last time the Intercontinental Championship was one on an episode of Raw was Bobby Lashley, March 11th, 2019. And I understand that this was a Smackdown Championship for a while. But I think that they're trying to set up this idea of like, you got to watch. You got to see what happens. But speaking again to the shortness of that rain, when we go back to

Bobby Lashley, 2019, when he held the championship there and won it on Raw, he had it for four weeks. Before that, Finn Baller had it for three weeks. And before that, Bobby had it for a little over a month. Before that, Dean Ambrose had it for four weeks. So the end of 2018 into 2019, you saw this where it was changing hands a lot. It just made the Intercontinental Championship picture really interesting because anything could happen at any point in time here. And that's what I think we're getting here. I am confident that Jay Uso is going to be a world champion at some point in time, whether that's a year from now or two or three years from now. They don't call him main event J. Uso for no reason.

He's main event J Uso because that's a guy they know they can put in the main event. And he's just so over. Like being there at Raw and watching him just have the audience in the palm of his hand, and I'm just talking about the entrance here, having the audience in the palm of his hand as he's coming out and he's doing the yeat motion, like he is so, so over. So yeah, it was short, and there wasn't a lot of story that was told there. Other than the fact of, like, Brom Breaker was pissed off. Brom Breaker was not ready to lose that championship.

And I'm talking in K-Fabe here. Lost it to Jay Uso. Hey, you weren't better than me. I think I'm better than you. Maybe it was just that one night. Come back around. Here we are. Maybe they have another program there.

Maybe not, but the matches that they've had, damn, real good. That actually leads us so seamlessly into this one from Good Job Cobb on Instagram, who shout out to Good Job Cobb because he had a CVV sign at Bad Blood, tagged me in the photo. I didn't have a chance to run into him in the arena, but that was so cool to see. So thank you for that.

And again, whoever the person was a few weeks ago on Raw that had the Chris Van Yeet sign, incredible. Maybe we'll see another one of those at some point in time, but that was so cool to see. So good job, Cobb says, what did you think of the stare down between Brom Breaker and Jacob Fattu during the intercontinental title match

on Monday Night Raw? I love the idea that we could eventually see these two face off against one another. I think that's the main event booking right there. I also love that they teased it, and then later down the road, we may get that aha moment and come back to this past Monday.

Yeah, that was a moment. And it was cool because there was such a slow burn to it. It was this idea of like, turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around, oh, there it is. They locked eyes. Then we cut to the close up. That's going to be something they're going to revisit for sure. And how could you not? It's like two freak athletes and two guys who are just so good at being able to tell a story inside the ring.

That's a match that I can't wait for when that happens. And I've known Jacob Fattu for a long time. such a good dude. And I also, like, when I saw him make his debut in WWE, I was like, man, he slimmed down. I didn't realize how much he had slimmed down. I think he's lost like 40 pounds. Not that he was ever like a, you know, overweight or anything, but like, he looks like an athlete now. Like, and the things he can do at the size that he is will never cease to amaze me.

So when that match happens and, hey, maybe. that's for the Intercontinental Championship. Maybe it happens sooner than we think. Like, that's a match that could happen in the next few weeks. Again, anything could happen in the WW. Anything can happen on the WWE. That's a match that could definitely happen on Raw. And, man, buckle up. That'd be so good. Mo Shindig on Spotify says, real, real one here. My question is, do you think people are upset with Samantha because they are WWE fans, not Samantha fans, and feel like her leaving, even though Rookishay said that she's not going to AEW, is like her betraying WWE.

First of all, thank you for being a real, real one. And that is for people, real ones listen to the AskCTVV episodes, real, real ones, listen all the way until the very end. So I appreciate all of the real, real ones out there. I don't understand why WWE fans are so upset with a personal decision. that Samantha Irvin made. If this is something that she decided to do, and from the sounds of it,

doesn't sound like there's any animosity here. It doesn't sound like anybody is upset with anybody. It just sounds like something that happens in a job. This happens in the workplace all the time. You move on and you do something else. I don't know why there's so many WWE fans that are taking this so personally. Yeah, Samantha is an,

absolute rock star. And she is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. And she also took to this job of becoming that voice of Monday Night Raw, becoming that WWE ring announcer. She took to it so quickly. And she had developed this amazing style of her own. So I can understand that she had really endeared herself to a lot of fans. And fans felt like a real connection with her. And I also understand that maybe you didn't really get a chance to figuratively say goodbye. This wasn't like, hey, guys, at the end of the year, I'm moving on and doing something else. This was like, out of nowhere on a Monday, hey, guys, I'm leaving Monday Night Raw.

And that was kind of it. There wasn't really a lot of an explanation there. And I don't know if we ever will hear that explanation. And if Samantha doesn't feel like sharing that, then she doesn't need to. Like, if she is happy with the decision that she has made, then that's amazing. I just couldn't believe the people on Twitter that were mad at ricochet somehow, like he's tied into this or that were making comments that AEW was going to try to take her away. I would be just, I would be so shocked if she signed with AEW at any point in time.

They've got Justin Roberts there, who is one of the greatest ring announcers of all time. I don't think he has any plans to go anywhere else. That guy was put on this earth to be a ring announcer. Like, even his speaking voice, even his speaking voice is just so silky smooth. And his delivery as a ring announcer is amazing. Justin Roberts isn't going anywhere. So I don't know how people can jump from like, I don't know. In a normal critical thinking situation, you would go, all right, A to B, B to C.

C to D, all right, cool. That's how I've come up with my conclusion. People jumped from like A to like W here. And I don't understand the connection that's being made here. It just doesn't make sense. So if she's happy, that's all that matters. Will we miss her? Of course.

We will miss her. But if Samantha's happy here, I think that that's all that matters. And that seems to be lost in this conversation. And I just don't get that. This is, again, not a matter of someone saying, you know, she didn't do a very good job so we let her go or her saying, I didn't enjoy the work environment, so I left there. This was just someone saying, you know what, thank you so much for this opportunity. I appreciate it so much. And she thanked everyone in her message. She starts off with thanking the woman's locker room.

Then she thanks the crew and the cameraman to all the WWE superstars, past and present. Then she thanks Paul Heyman, Michael P.S. Hayes, Michael Cole, road dog, Scott Armstrong, Gabe Sapolsky, George Carroll, Jr. Thank you, Triple H. Thank you, Mark Henry. Thank you the coaches, producers, medical, writer, talent, relations, makeup, photography, social media. The list goes on and on and on and on. How could you possibly be upset with this? I'm excited to see what's next for her.

If that happens to be her furthering her music career, I will always be a fan of the work that she does. This episode is brought to you by Manscape, the global leader in men's lifestyle and grooming. Every man knows the unbeatable feeling of a fresh barbershop shave. Now, what if I told you that you no longer have to wait weeks or even months between appointments to experience it? Introducing Manscape's newest innovation,

the chairman pro-electric foil shaver. The game-changing tool that brings the luxury of a professional shave right into your home. Whether you're after that daily, silky smooth finish, or you prefer to maintain a more rugged 5 o'clock shadow, the chairman pro electric foil shaver is your go-to for precision and style every time. Head over to manscape.com and join the over 11 million men worldwide who trust Manscaped by using the code Chris Van for 20% off plus free shipping. I had an interview recently where I wanted a little bit of a closer shave.

Hopefully you can't see it on the YouTube version, but I certainly. nicked myself right under my chin and yeah that one stung a lot you might have been able to see it hopefully not but what makes the chairman pro stand out is versatility and precision it comes with two interchangeable skin safe blade heads so you've got the skin safe four blade foil for that close like completely clean shaven look and if you're into more like the stubble look they've got the skin safe stubble trimmer that keeps it kind of more like what you normally see when i'm not cutting my face. It's also waterproof, which I love. So you can use it, yeah, like you can use it in the shower. So get the chairman pro today and experience a shave that is as smooth as you

deserve. Get 20% off plus free shipping with the code Chris Van at Manscaped.com. That's 20% off plus free shipping with the code Chris Van at Manscape.com. Justin Taylor on Spotify says with Samantha Irvin, gone now from WWE. Will you change your intro. Well, that's a good one. Will I change my intro? And you know, maybe I'll leave this up to you guys. Should I change my intro? And if you look at the interviews that I've done over the last handful of years, I've gotten a few ring announcer intros from some of the all-time greats. I have a ring announcer intro from Lillian Garcia. I have one from Mike Rome, and I have one from Justin Roberts. What should we do here?

You guys tell me in the comments, if you're listening on Spotify, should we keep Samantha? Should we go with Justin Roberts? Should we go with Lillian Garcia? Or should we go with Mike Rome? I'm going to leave it up to you guys. So if we don't want to change anything, that's okay. But if you guys think that we should change it to another voice,

you let me know. That has a really good way of me just saying, hmm? I don't know. It truly is up to you guys. Mr. Manthio on Instagram says, Yo, CVV! You mentioned that we should have a clean finish

for both the men and the women's world championship matches at Crown Jewel. I agree, but do you see this as an opportunity where they turn Randy Orton heel and we get the start of him and Cody to set up the Sina-Oorton feud down the road? I think there's got to be some sort of run in here, some sort of funny business that goes on

in both of these matches. And I think that you've got enough people at play. We'll talk about the men's match first. You've got enough people in play with Cody and Gunther that there could be a lot of different situations there. Yeah, Orton could come in, cost Cody the match. Could have Goldberg come in, right? There's a history there with Goldberg and Saudi Arabia. Could have Goldberg come in and cost Gunther the match.

Maybe that sets something up. I know Goldberg has been talking for a long. time he mentioned in the interview that we did. He wants that one last match. Whether that happens or not, he still feels like he's owed it. Whether it happens or not, I mean, that's, I guess, to be determined, but that's another opportunity. Brock Lesnar coming out and just laying out both men. That could be something that happens as well. But I will stick to this concept, though, that in both matches, we need a clear winner. Even if there is some funny business here that, ends up leading to a bigger storyline down the road,

there needs to be a clear winner here. And again, I don't want to get into it. If you want to hear it, you can listen to it on last week's Ask CVV. I still just don't understand the crown jewel championship. Like, is the person who wins the match going to walk around with two belts for a while? No, I think the answer is no.

I think maybe they pose with the belt and then that's it. But then when we look at the women's match, you've got Liv Morgan and Nia Jacks. And I think that one of the really big factors in this match is Tiffany Stratton in that briefcase. So does that factor into the match itself? Does this factor into a cash-in after the match, depending on who wins this match?

But I think that that's something that it's going to be in the back of everybody's head. You've also got, and I feel like people have forgotten about this, and maybe this isn't the right time for it, but who did Liv Morgan win the Raw Women's World Championship from? Yes, she won it from Becky Lynch, who we don't really know her status right now. But that's another wild card here. Maybe it's not a crown jewel, but that's a wild card.

I think we need to keep in mind over the next few months because that's going to be one of those big surprises that's going to hit out of nowhere if the rumors are true and she is resigning or has already resigned with WWE. but I definitely think we're going to see something because how else do you book this so that your champions are looking strong at the end of it? You got four champions here in two matches, right? The raw world heavyweight champion,

you got the undisputed WWE champion, you've got the women's world champion and the WWE women's champion. How do you book this so that there's a clean winner in both matches so that someone does get that money shot holding up the crown jewel championship that with 50 carrots of diamonds

that didn't make any sense. But I digress. I think you have to have a clean winner, but you have to then still also continue these storylines on on both Smackdown and on Raw. So, really, really curious

on how that goes, and I'm invested. I'm invested in those. Mike Richie 878 on Twitter. Hey, CVV, I just got a cold. plunge. Hey, congratulations, Mike. I love the feeling after I get out, but I dread going in there every single day, especially on a cold morning. I know that you cold plunge all the time.

Any words of advice? Again, congratulations on getting it. I think the best way that I've heard it put is, and I talked about this with Chad Gable, if you remember that conversation. We live in a life where like we have all of the modern day conveniences. and we have all of the modern day comforts. Stepping outside of your comfort zone, literally and figuratively, and doing something that makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable or doing something that is a little bit hard,

that's, I think, where you really can grow as an individual. And there is not a single day, and I go into the cold plunge every day. It's the best feeling, and you can look up all of the scientific studies behind it. I'm not going to list off, all of the health benefits for it here, but there are many. There's not a single day when I go into it, and I'm, like, jacked up and pumped to go in it.

Like, every single day I'm taking off the cover, looking down at the chiller, 42 degrees. And that's relatively warm. I had it at 39 degrees for a long time. I'm looking down at that going, oh, man, I could go. I can go make myself a mud water and come back out in a little bit. I can respond to that email. I can post another video on social media.

It's my brain playing these tricks on me and trying to get me back into that zone of being comfortable. So I just go for it every single day because I know that when I come out of it, two, three, four minutes later, I'm going to feel amazing. Because the dopamine hit when you come out of a cold plunge is a real thing.

And if you don't have access to a cold plunge or you don't have access to a cold lake or a pool or whatever, just cold water, cold water in the shower, and not just for like five seconds. Like, run it on you for a little while there. And when you are done with that, there's just, there's something, you just feel so alive. I always joke, I'm like, oh man, I can fight a bear.

But that's truly the feeling that you have when you come out of it. So I just think the best advice, Mike, is you got to go for it. Because especially if you do it early in the day, now you've done something hard. now you've done something that you don't want to do and now you've told yourself that thing that I didn't want to do I did it anyway and by the way I feel great now that I've gotten out of there so if you start off your day doing something hard everything after that feels just that much easier so that's what I would say and if you are interested in getting one I use the one from plunge.com they're not a sponsor of the show, but because I bought mine

after I interviewed the CEO, which is an episode you can go back and listen to a while back. They did set up the code CVV to save a bunch of money if you are interested in grabbing one of those. Richie Sox on Instagram says, new listener and have been binge listening

to episodes the past month. My favorite part of the show is the quotes at the end of each episode. Well, thank you, Richie. My question is, do you miss when the entrance videos were pretty much a high light reel of the superstar. I used to love looking up at the TitanTron to watch them. And it's interesting that Richie wrote this in because Nick 110-1-111-1-1-1 asked a really similar question. Hey, Chris, your podcast gets me through my days. Thank you so much. My question to you is,

what do you think about WWE not using a Titan-Tron for videos during Superstar entrances? I miss Titan-Tron's so much. I was such a nerd when it came to like audio-vision. stuff. This was like the early days of like, I've always been passionate about broadcasting and television and radio and everything like that. And I was editing video like in high school when we're talking like the 90s here when nonlinear editing was not really like a thing. We're talking like a really early version of like Adobe Premiere. I would download I would download like all the different versions of these Titan-Trons. And we're talking at a time that existed before YouTube

where you would find these on like websites. You would go to a website and you would download like different versions of theme songs, like especially when they first came out and you'd hear crowd noise or you'd hear like J.R. and King like talking over a certain part and then it would be looped and then you would hear that part of the commentary again. I would download the really, really early versions of these Titan-Tron. and sometimes they'd be in like terrible quality, like they were recorded on a potato or something.

There would also be like, oh, we couldn't get like the actual version of that Titan Tron. So like we kind of made our own version of it. Like it is a fan-made Titan Tron, but it looks identical to the actual official WWE Titan Tron. I miss them. And I know that it harkens back to like a different era of WWE where Titan Trons were a thing.

And I understand. the idea behind it now. It's like their name in like their color scheme with their font. I get it. I understand. And it's on the screen the entire time and it tells you exactly who that person is. So if you don't know who's walking out, maybe you don't recognize their entrance theme or maybe you're a new viewer of the show, you go, oh, wow, that's Grayson Waller. That's Roman Raines. That's Cody Rose. Oh, he's the American nightmare. Look, I see that whole thing on the screen. I understand that that's branding. But man, there's something that's just pure nostalgia for me when it comes to Titan Trons. Chris G2808, first of all, what a great name.

I've never met a Chris that I don't like. What's up, CVV? Coming from the UK and loving the show. My question is about the bloodline feud. They are teeing up J.U to be part of it at Survivor Series. But my question is, do you think the rock is the leader of the new bloodline and is pulling the strings in the background and that Solosokoa is just the face of it. That is a very good theory.

I think, though, the Rock is part of a bigger storyline here. So I think that this will play out how it plays out at Survivor Series. And I think that Paul Heyman will be involved in some sort of way. And that'll be interesting because maybe it's not Solo Soola. Solo Sikola that's the face of it. Maybe it's Paul Heyman. maybe Paul Heyman. I mean, you could make a real strong argument that Paul Heyman is the real travel chief.

Who's been pulling the strings of all of this all along? Who's the guy that even made Roman Raines turn heel? Like, who's been behind this whole thing? It's Paul Heyman. So there's definitely going to be an element of this where Paul Heyman plays a really big role. I think the Rock's going to be part of that. Survivor Series match, I don't think that it's going to be like tribal chief versus tribal chief. I do feel, and we've got a lot of time here, like six-ish months, I'm still saying that it's going

to be Rock versus Roman Raines at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. How do we get there? I'm not quite sure yet. I don't know if the Rock's going to put himself in a position where he's the bloodline leader, at least not right now. If, and I think when, Rock works WrestleMania 41, and he certainly made it clear that, like, those rumors of him not working WrestleMania 41 were not true, he's going to need to be on TV a bunch, but I don't think that's this year.

I think he's on TV a bunch beginning in the new year, Royal Rumble, then lead up to WrestleMania, and then it all culminates at WrestleMania. We'll see, though. We've still got some time here to just see how this is all going to play, out just for Survivor Series in general. And it's going to be big. Like there is a lot at stake here. I feel like a lot of years Survivor Series is just kind of like, hey, let's take this handful of people and this other handful of people and we'll put them against each other for really not a lot of reason here.

Other than these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. Here, we've actually got something to like really sink our teeth into for the first time in a long time. with Survivor Series. Oliver Drake says, Ask CVV, Hey, Chris, long time listener, first time questioner. Long time first time, right?

What are your thoughts on the report that both Raw and Smackdown will be three hours beginning in January? While Raw being three hours is not a surprise at all, I do still think, though, there's not going to be like a definitive runtime on Netflix.

Because, you know, Netflix isn't linear television. Netflix isn't, the traditional network. So if it runs a little bit over, that's fine. If it runs a little bit under, well, that's also fine. It's not like they're filling a time slot here.

With SmackDown being three hours, I can't say I'm surprised because then it allows for the network to sell that money more ads. And if WWE is willing to make the show longer, which obviously they are, then that's an opportunity for the network now to sell that money more ads

on one of their most popular shows on their entire channel. So I think it's win-win for everybody here. And it also gives the chance for more stories to be told as well. I know there was when Ra moved from two hours to three hours, 10 years ago, people were upset,

and then Ra moved from three to two, and they were upset. And it's just so funny. And this isn't exclusive to wrestling. But people don't like change. People don't like when something shifts and changes. So it might be a bit of an adjustment. I mean, it was an adjustment for Rod to go from three hours to two hours. And the show needed to work out a few kinks. I think,

though, making the show a little bit longer, they already have the experience with it, with Raw being three hours for the last decade. Smackdown being three hours, I just don't even feel like we'll notice it. I think it'll just kind of feel like an extension of like, oh, yeah, That's just, that's what we're used to now. But it gives an opportunity for that many more people to be telling a story during that time. It also allows for the matches to be a little bit longer because you're not trying to cram so much into a short period of time. Two hours plus commercials that doesn't give that much time to work with. This one's coming from Instagram.

Will's underscore treasure says, at what age is it appropriate to show an episode of the attitude era to your child? that was a fantastic question because when I was watching it at 1516, my parents were not happy about that. I told the story when I was a guest on The Undertaker's podcast, but my dad came down the stairs and next thing you know, Stephanie McMahon's being attached to his symbol, and she's being put up for like a sacrifice, not a good spot for Dirkman Fleet to walk in on.

And then, of course, you see the memes all the time of like raw most of the time, and it's just a normal wrestling match. And then raw my parents walk in and it's Sable wearing a hamprint body paint bikini. I don't know. If we're talking about my child here, so my little girl, Logan, and then baby boy who's going to be joining us. The due date is December 11th. Who knows if he'll be born on December 11th, early, late? we're just looking forward to healthy and happy little baby boy. But I think when I'm talking about my kids, oh my gosh, I don't know.

16, I think is probably the kind of the, it's probably where I'd feel safe. And I, like, there's, for all of the happy memories we have about the attitude era, just go back. Just pick, pick like any three episodes of raw from like that era of like, 98, 99, 2000. There's some pretty questionable things that were happening on almost every episode. So for all of the great stuff that we got

from Austin and The Rock and the Mr. McMahon character and Undertaker and Triple H and Jericho, all of that, and also some insanely talented mid-card wrestlers, for all of that, there's also some stuff. I don't think I need to particularly name any storylines or any promos. There's some stuff there that, even questionable then, certainly questionable now in the climate that we now live in 25-ish years later. But there's some stuff in there that, I don't know. I don't think I'd want, like, small kids to be watching.

So maybe when we talk about the attitude era, maybe we're not. not showing my kids a full episode of raw or or nitro for that matter like that's lumped in here with the Monday Night Wars maybe we're just showing matches yeah like I could I think I could show my 12 year old daughter or 14 year old daughter or 14 year old son I think we could show them some matches some great matches from that era but I understand now especially now that I'm a father I understand my father's concern I understand my dad's concern about like this isn't what we watch you watching But I will also say there were a lot of shows I wasn't allowed to watch in my house.

And maybe this is the same for you as well if you're about the same age as me. I wasn't allowed to watch married with children. I wasn't allowed to watch The Simpsons. I wasn't allowed to watch Jerry Springer. And when I got a little taste of all of those, I was like, ooh, oh, I like this. Like Simpsons became my go-to show. My parents came around on Simpsons, but we're talking like early when I was, you know, 7, 8, 9. 10 years old. I don't think they were big on the way that Bart. I think my mom specifically said she

didn't like how Bart spoke to his parents. Yeah, I get it. It's also a cartoon, but I get it. But Simpsons became like my go-to show. We all have the go-to show where when nothing else is on TV, oh man, I'm going to flick it on that. Simpsons has always been that for me. And Seinfeld as well, to like a lesser degree. But the thing I love about both of those shows is like you don't need to know where you're at with the storyline. You don't need to know, oh, this is season 7, and this character has done this, and they're tied into this other thing

over here. No, all of those episodes are standalone episodes. And that's what I always loved about those two shows. And the writing on Seinfeld, come on. Brilliant. One of the greatest TV shows of all time. P.W.E.

on Spotify says, finally found the ratings, and I gave the show a five Star Frog Splash. I've been listening now for around three years, and I'm a real, real one. My question is, what has been your favorite, oh my God, moment in wrestling? That mankind, hell in the cell thing, not included. Okay. For me, it's Shane McMahon's fall from the scaffolding in his match with Steve Blackman. Close second is Kane's pile driver to Linda McMahon on the steps, which I remember as a child thinking he killed her. Man, those are two great moments. in your, I appreciate you giving the caveat here that we can't include mankind being thrown

off hell in a cell because that's kind of the go-to, right? That's the go-to moment of, oh my God, I can't believe that thing happened. I'm going to go with, and two excellent choices. I mean, Shane McMahon, any of Shane McMahon's high spots are crazy. Like, crazy. It's hard to believe that he's able to walk after any of those moments. But the one for me, like the real, oh my God moment of I can't believe they did this was when Bubba Ray Dudley power bomb May Young. Like, and the lead up to it, like he gets her up and he does it twice, right?

But I'm talking about the one off the stage. Like he gets her up and you're like, no, he's not going to, he's not going. No, no way he's going to actually. It's like someone's going to run out, right? Oh my gosh. It jumps off the stage through the table. Oh, crazy. And then Baba Ray sells it so well in that euphoric transits.

he would go into, that was the moment for me where I was like, I can't believe that they did this. And May Young, so tough. She was 77 at the time.

That's the moment. And I think the, like, match, like, that's just a moment, but the match is definitely Brock Lesnar ending the streak of WrestleMania 30. And I was there.

And it was just, I've never, it was the strangest reaction. I've never been in an arena or, that case, stadium where it was this mix of like, it was a lot of confusion. Like for probably no exaggeration, five or ten minutes after that, people were like, that was a mistake.

Like, could Undertaker not kick out? Like, did they count three by accident? What happened here? And I think the only thing in that moment that made me realize, oh, this was supposed to happen, was the reaction that Paul. Hall Heyman gave. And I went, oh, huh, because it, it was just met with this real, like, just disbelief. Because you were at a point where every time that Undertaker went into WrestleMania, it was kind of a foregone conclusion. Yeah, it'll be a great match, but he's going to win. Of course

he's going to win. The streak will continue forever until he decides to retire one day. And the street getting broken at WrestleMania 30 was, that's just a total. my God moment. And it took the whole stadium a good while. And I feel bad for the match that came on after that. There was a women's match on after that. I feel bad because people were still so caught up in not being able to believe what they had just seen. And it took a while to wrap their heads around that and be able to come back around for when the main event happened. But I think that's it. And you're you're not going to find another moment like that again. Yeah, sure.

At some point in time, there may be another streak, but I don't think, because we've seen that it could have, it was broken, I mean, he lost twice at WrestleMania. But even if they do another streak, it would never compare to this. So that was a, like,

a truly just insane moment. And whether you agree with the decision or not, whether you think that he should have kept the streak forever or not, or not, and whether you think it should have been Brock Lezard that ended it or not, I think this is what wrestling's all about. It's about creating these moments

that make you feel something. Whether you love it or you hate it, you feel something and they've got you. And that's one of those moments personified. Alga Torre, Elga Torre, 2 Grande 32-34. Man, there's a lot of letters in there. El-Gato Grande. See, it's all together. It's all together as a username.

Like, just a bunch of letters together. The large cat. El Gato Grande, Grande, 32-34. Did Naya take the money in the bank briefcase? Did Nia take the money in the bank contract out of Tiffany's old case so she had protection if Tiffie cashed in? It's a really good theory. but if I'm going to stick in the world of like when things make sense in wrestling, and I know that that often does not happen, but bear with me here for a second, if we're going to speak like just logistically, no one ever checks this contract. Okay, it's not like they run down the ramp and they hand it to the referee and the referee goes, okay, like you're going to the DMV.

Okay, and let me just make sure that you had this form filled out correctly here. and can I see some photo identification? And okay, yeah, it looks like you're all set there. Would you like to cash in the money in the bank briefcase now? You would? Okay, then let me walk it over here. And could we please ring that bell? It doesn't work like that.

The briefcase is the contract. And sure, this could set an entirely new precedent for like, what are the contents of the briefcase? But the briefcase itself is the contract. And we've seen even storylines where, like when you steal the briefcase, you steal the idea of like what that briefcase means. So I like this idea here, but I don't think it runs this deep. I think that Tiffany is going to cash in on Naya Jacks and Tiffany is going to become a huge baby

face in the process here. And she's already been teasing it a lot. And it's just a matter of time here. And then it sets up this great feud because Nia, everything has been going on with Naya and Tiffany and kind of pushing her around and bullying her around a little bit. This is setting up for Tiffany to be a baby face, and I think be a baby face for quite some time. Nominon on Instagram says, I'm currently doing a passion project for close to a year.

How do you stay passionate with insight? Well, that's awesome that you're chasing after your passion. So it's very cool. I think that when it comes to doing something that you're passionate about, it's important to keep the thing that you're passionate about your passion. And what I mean by that is when it starts to feel like a slog or it starts to feel like something you have to do rather than something that you get to do or something that you're excited to do, then you're really treading into some difficult waters there. So for me, I just feel like I'm so fortunate and I think about this all

a time. I found what I was passionate about really early on. Like without getting into the whole story, because I've told it so many times before, but I fell in love with the idea of broadcasting when I was four years old with a Fisher Price tape recorder and pretending to be the radio DJs that I heard. And like, for me, it was like, could I ever do this one day? Could I ever work on the radio? Or could I ever work on TV? Because at that time, YouTube wasn't a thing. the internet wasn't a thing. I just loved the idea of being able to tell a story to the masses. So I understand that I am really fortunate that I found the thing that I just love to do,

the thing that lit me up every single day. I'm glad I was able to find that early on. So I think that that's a really important part of all of this, is staying passionate is like, this is the thing that drives you. Like, this is the thing that lights you up. And when it stops being that thing, that it's no longer a passion. It's a job. And I think that's what's so cool about having a passion is it's not a job.

It's an escape from a job. It's an escape from reality. It's an escape into the thing that you absolutely love to do. So you're a year into this. So I don't think you need any sort of encouragement. You're doing it. How do I stay passionate with insight? I have a genuine curiosity.

Because at the core of what we do with the podcast, like the interviews is I'm just trying to figure out like what makes that person tick? What allowed that person to get to where they're at in their career, sometimes against all odds? And that's really where my passion comes from is like a genuine curiosity of like, I want to just pick this apart and figure like, I want to take the most minute detail of that story and somehow find a way to be able to apply that to my own life and maybe just,

become slightly better at what I'm doing, whether that's personally or professionally. But I'd love to hear more about what you're doing. And shout out to anybody who's chasing after their passion, whatever that happens to be. Hunter underscore Quillan says, who do you think would win in a match between peak TNA, AJ Styles, or current day, Will Osprey? Oh, man. Hunter, what a question. We all win, okay?

we all win. If we got like 06 AJ Styles versus current day Will Osprey, everybody wins. Hell, I'll take this one step further. I don't know how this could ever possibly happen, but A.J. Stiles really hasn't lost a step. So we could have current, well, he's lost a step because he's injured right now, but like in what he's capable of doing in the ring, if we could get current day, AJ Styles versus Will Osprey. We would all win. Oh, man. Or imagine we had a time machine

and we were able to go back and somehow take this version of Will Osprey, put him in that DeLorean, hit the gas, take it up to 88 miles per hour. When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit. In fact, the future, so good. If we could take him back to 06, oh, man.

This is the thing. it would be kind of like the matches that we had with AJ and Samoa Joe or the matches we had with AJ and Christopher Daniels or really anybody that was in that X division mixed up there like a 50606-07-08 it'd be you'd have the ability to have so many matches and they each one would be great in its own right and every time I start talking about my prime TNA watching days which is probably like I go 05 to 08 or like my probably favorite TN. Maybe 05 to 09, but somewhere in there. Maybe it's 06 to 09, but somewhere in there, like the later part of the latter part of the 2000s. I get so excited about it. And like as soon as I finish these episodes,

I just immediately go to YouTube and start watching X Division matches or Ultimate X matches or something from that era. So good. I could watch Unbreakable, 2004, a thousand times. 2005, 2005. I don't know why I said 2004. I could watch Unbreakable 2005, a thousand and one times. It's just so good. Kirby, Rachel, says, Ask CVV number 54, the John Cena edition. I love the AskCTVV episodes

just as much as I love the interview episodes. So thank you so much. They make my day so enjoyable. Past or present, who is your dream wrestling interview that you wish you could do. Also, Mr. No Days Off, Michael Cole has to be one of them. I mean, he's very close to the top of that list. I have such a massive respect for Michael Cole and everything he's been through too, because when you think back to when Michael Cole first started doing commentary late 90s, he got a lot of flack because he wasn't JR. And if you go back and listen, Michael Cole was fantastic. I mean, he's on a whole other level right now.

But if you go back and listen back then, he was great. And people didn't give him a chance because they were so used to hearing J.R.'s voice. And Michael Cole wasn't that. And I think he had such an uphill battle of like maneuvering his way around and winning the audience over.

And, you know, the heel work that he did probably didn't help that because I think people were stuck in that for a long time of thinking that Michael Cole was that heel character that he was playing on TV when now he's just an incredible broadcaster like like one of the greatest of all time. So yeah, Michael Cole is on that list. Sting got to do an interview with Sting at some point in time. Sean Michaels and that was one we were so close to doing so close. So Sean Michaels on that list which feels very attainable. It's going to happen at some point in time. And we just talked about him. AJ Stiles and Randy Orton. So there's like, that was five, right? But yes, man,

can we make a Michael Cole one happen soon-ish? Maverick Tao? Real, real one here. Do you think that will ever come to a point in pro wrestling where we could see a collaboration with AEW and WW? I think it would be the biggest show in wrestling history, plus maybe squash a little of the toxic pro wrestling headspace. I think. that we would all love to see that. There's a lot of dream matches there between WWE and AW. It just doesn't seem like that's something that would happen anytime soon. It just feels like these are two separate companies doing their own things. And again, like the AJ Stiles versus Will Osprey match, which would be one of these matches that would happen if

there was ever a collaboration, the fans would win here. The fans would win. But I don't think that's something that's going to happen. And I don't don't think that's a bad thing either. Like one of the reasons that WWE is setting all of these records and one of the reasons that pro wrestling as a whole is so hot right now is because there's competition. When WWE was this monoculture for so long, it just, it wasn't good for the fans and it wasn't good for the wrestlers. They didn't have any other options. Like if you got released from your WWE contract, you were going to have a really difficult time trying to make up the money that you lost anywhere else. So I don't think that that's going to happen anytime soon.

Jeff Woods emailed this one in. Hey, Chris, I would say I'm a new listener. I picked it up about six months ago and I can't put it down. Loved your interview with Stephen Amel and I binged heels on Netflix in a couple of days because of it. Well, that's pretty cool. Amazing show from start to finish. is your favorite wrestling-based TV show or wrestler moment on TV? Obviously, not Raw or Nitro. I've been partial to Vader on Boy Meets World in his several appearances. It's time, it's time, it's Vader time. Thank you for all the gratitude and amazing insight.

That's a good pick. But I distinctly remember the Rock and Ken Shamrock being on that 70s show and setting my VCR so I could watch it. I didn't even watch that 70s show. I mean, I caught it from time to time. But I set my VCR because I was such a hardcore fan. And I was a big fan of both of those guys, too. So that's it for me.

And it was also cool to see them stepping outside of their comfort zone a little bit and doing something a little bit different. That's one of Rock's very first acting roles. So that's the answer for me. but when anything was happening that time, during that time that was slightly outside of the wrestling world, I was set in the VCR and I was taping it. Or I was watching it live and setting the VCR and taping it and then rewatching it the next day. Like when you would see, I mean it was Triple H made an appearance on Conan O'Brien. Like when there was that type of stuff, I had, I think my parents probably

still have these VHSs. Next time I'm home. I'm going to go searching. through these and see what I can find. But I loved that stuff. I remember, like, taping something, and there was a Triple H Nutrition ad. And he looked like just mega-jacked, like just absolutely, like insanely huge. And I would watch that nutrition commercial back

over and over and over and over again. It takes far more than desire to push your body to the limit. you know, metaphor, or metaphor, I think it was. Yeah, I watched it over and over and over and over. It takes energy and lots of it. If you know what I'm talking about, please drop a comment.

Otherwise, you could fast forward through that last little bit there. And that's it. Oh my gosh. I didn't realize we were at the end here. That is it for Ask CVV, number 54, the Brian Urlacker, Teddy Bruske, Horace Grant and Giancena edition.

Thank you guys for all of these questions. It's been fun hanging out with you in this random room here in New York City. And looking forward to seeing you guys at the Barclay Center tonight for SmackDown. If you happen to be in the city, you happen to be going. Look forward to being able to give you a high-a-five and see you there. Chat, a little bit of wrestling with you. If you have a question for Ask CVV number 54 in whatever edition, that might be. Send it in using the hashtag Ask CVV. Leave a comment on Spotify and or email it in CVV

at Chrisfanley.com. And also while you're on Spotify, hit a big old running knee on that ratings button, not just on the follow button, on the ratings button as well. I saw a quote this week, just about wrestling in general and that whole concept of like, oh, don't you know it's fake? And this is a quote that I just love so much. So the next time, you hear a discussion about that or someone says it to you, this quote is just so applicable. For those that understand, no explanation is needed. For those that don't, no explanation will suffice.

How fitting is that? Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Have a great weekend. 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.