Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #60 - New Day Heel Turn, Survivor Series Recap, Raw On Netflix, Is CM Punk The GOAT?

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets for the first ever INSIGHT LIVE the day before the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2025 in Indianapolis are on sale now! Welcome to AskCVV #60! On this episode of Insight, Chris recaps Survivor Series: War Games and grades the PLE, he also answers questions about Raw on Netflix, what's next for The New Day after turning on Big E, the most underrated seller of all time, where CM Punk is in the GOAT conversation, favorite and least favorite Christmas song and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "It’s OK to get frustrated, or sad, or down on yourself — or even wake up some mornings and not want to be yourself. It’s OK to have bad days. But just keep having days. Just keep going. Just keep waking up and trying again. Because every day won’t be like that, I promise. And tomorrow is a new one." - Big E 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 ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv 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 BLUECHEW: Use the code CVV to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com 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

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Vlee! Oh my goodness, welcome back to another one here on Inside. I'm CVV. Chris Van Vleet, thank you for being here with us on this one, and thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. That song, by the way, my intro song by Downstate, yes, the same band, who has recorded entrance themes for people like Cody Rhodes, It's Dolve Ziegler, Alex Riley, Matt Cardona.

That song, the Insight with Chris Van Fleet theme song, is now available on Spotify. So after this episode, go give it a listen. I can't believe that song's on Spotify. Insight with Chris Van Fleet. Speaking of Spotify, Spotify wrapped is out now, and I've reposted everyone who has tagged me with Insight as their number one show. It's seriously mind-blowing. You guys never cease to amaze me.

According to the numbers, these are from Spotify. Insight is the number one podcast for 11,000 people. That is bonkers to me. Absolutely bonkers. So if you haven't checked your Spotify wrapped yet, go in there. If Insight is in that top five, snap a screenshot and tag me on Twitter or on Instagram so I can share it out. Again, you guys are the best. And thank you so much.

for being on this journey with me in 2024, I can't wait to show you what we have on tap for 2025. But make sure that you hit a power bomb on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever so you don't miss out on what we have on tap for 2025. And my goodness, there is a lot of stuff that we have, including the first ever live episode of Insight. It's happening the day before the Royal Rumble. in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Tickets are still on sale, although there's only a handful of them left. Go to CVVTix.com to grab those. It is January 31st, 2025 at 5 p.m. So lots of time to get to SmackDown. They haven't announced yet that Smackdown is going to be in Indianapolis. I would guess that it probably is, but we've built in enough time that you can definitely do both.

So CVVTX.com to grab those tickets. Welcome, my friends, to ask CVV number 60. Wow, we're already at number 60. The Autogram, Jose Theodore, and David Andrews edition, man. If you have a question for the next Ask CVV, which is number 61, who's number 61 going to be? I don't know. But if you have a question, either leave it in the comments on Spotify, send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV on social media or email me, CVV at chris vanfleet.com.

You are a real one for listening to an AskCTVV episode. So I appreciate you. You're a real, real one if you listen all the way until the end. So I will see in about an hour. I'll see all the real, real ones in about an hour. But we'll dive in with this question from Christopher Perkins on Facebook. Hey, CVV, I saw you asking on social media how we would grade Survivor Series war games, but how would you grade the show?

That is a very good question. After every big PLE from WW or every big pay-per-view from AEW, I do. I ask on YouTube and I also ask on social media, how would you guys raid this? And it's like a grading system, like it's a report card, ABC, D, and then F. So most of the grades on this poll, like the vast majority graded it as an A. And that's how I would grade it as well. I love how the show was kind of set up, like bookended by the women's war games match to start the show, men's war game match to end the show, they were both around 40 minutes or so.

And then I think it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that intercontinental championship match was easily the match of the night. that Brombreaker, Seamus, Ludwig Kaiser, just brought it. And I think we saw a whole new side of Kaiser in there.

I said this on last week's episode, and I will hold true to this, Seamus will become a Grand Slam champion at some point in time. The ultimate Grand Slam champion, right? Because it's not just those four championships.

He also won King of the Ring, Royal Rumble. Like, it's crazy. What an insane career. And I can't wait for you guys to hear the episode with him in a few weeks. I think Seamus wins

that championship. championship. It's just not right now. Like it'll happen at some point in time. But man, that match as predicted brought it on all levels. Shinski Nakamura surprised us all, right? And that was kind of the one match we had as like a coin toss. And the odds on my bookie were like real tight on that one. And it's interesting because there were a lot of people that didn't like that, didn't like that outcome. They didn't like that surprise, which is so ironic because I think one of the things that's, what makes wrestling so special, one of the things we love the most about it is the surprises. Like when when there's a surprise return or when someone wins that, oh my gosh, I didn't think that person was going to win. I can't believe it.

They won. I thought it was a nice little surprise. I also thought that L.A. Knight's first run with any sort of championship in WWE, this of course being the United States championship, I thought it was fantastic. This also sets L.A. Knight up for whatever happens to be next. He's been a world champion before in TNA. There's no reason why he can't be a world champion in WWE as well. We'll just have to see what 2025 has in store for him. But I thought all five matches here were great, a ton of great storytelling, especially in that main event. Man, new bloodline versus old bloodline. There was so much great storytelling going on there.

Cinema, as we like to say. Cinema was happening there. So I would give this an A for sure. I was curious, as soon as I saw that first match, I was curious if you would see some discourse online about there being more ads in the ring. Because I talked about this months ago. When they first unveiled that the prime logo would be in the middle of the ring at PLAs, I said, it's not going to be the only logo. You just wait. You just wait. If you've got UFC and WWE under the same ownership and you watch any sort of UFC event, there's like 15 logos in the ring and no one says anything about them. There's no comments online during any of those UFC shows talking about there's, man, I can't believe there's a monster energy logo in the ring or can't believe they're,

whatever the logos happen to be in there. There were, I believe, six, right? Seven. There were seven logo placements in the ring during Survivor Series. And I think this is just a sign of what's to come here. So I was just curious if we were going to see anything online about that because I understand that when you go from not having really any sort of brand placement to going to where we're at right now, I understand that side of things. I understand it's a bit of an adjustment. But when you watch literally any other sport,

they are baked into every shot. Like when you're watching baseball, they're all over the outfield fence. When you're watching hockey, they're all over the boards and also on the ice. Actually, also on the jerseys. They're also, yeah, they're on the jerseys in baseball. They were on the helmets during the World Series. Like, this is, this is not a new thing. And I, I understand that people don't like change, just period. And I understand that beyond that, wrestling fans really don't like change. So it's an adjustment that I think it, for some people, might take time for other people like myself. I just kind of went, oh, wow, true classic. I've worn their t-shirts before. Oh, that's pretty cool that they're in the ring. And then I just pay attention to the

match. So I'm like, you know, there's been, TNA has had logos in the ring on the canvas for years, New Japan as well, AW. I don't know. It's kind of just become a part of this. It's actually kind of weird to see, it'd be weird now to watch like baseball without all of the product placement that they have. But anyway, I was just, I was just wondering if there would be more discourse about this online. It didn't seem like there really was much discourse online. So just thought because you and I had talked about this months ago. I was just wondering where we'd be at now with this. Michael Weber on Spotify says, hey, CVV, I love this show and you were my number one on Spotify wrapped. That's awesome, by the way. I wanted to ask you, how do you feel about WWE pre-tapping

some shows. I love it. I love the fact that for the first time in however many years, these very hardworking men and women, not just the superstars who you see in the ring, but everybody else behind the scenes, they now get to spend the holidays with their family. And I can't believe that we live in a world where anyone could possibly think that that's a bad thing. Like there were, Mia Yim, some did up best. She sent this tweet out, to some fan who was complaining about a pre-tape show, and she said, quote, we like spending time with our families during the holidays. Oh, and if taping on Tuesday, then I would have missed saying goodbye to my baby girl, be more considerate. And I think that she summed that up so well. If there's, I don't even know

the exact numbers here, but there's not a lot. If there's four or five pre-taped episodes of Raw, or four or five pre-taped episodes of Smackdown over the course of a year, but that means that everybody who's working in the ring, everybody in the office, everybody on the production crew, they all get to spend a week or two with their families around the holidays. Man, that's the best thing possible.

Like, hats off to them. Because there was a very long period of time when this was 52 weeks a year, no matter what. So in this new era, whether we're calling this the Triple H era or whatever, I think it should be called the AAA.

era because that really is the driving force behind a lot of these changes. Triple H and Nick Con, you know, really the people behind the big changes that have been happening over the last few years. But in this era, and you can see it. Like, I've seen Nick Con at many different shows. He's always with his kids. His kids come with him to every single show. Triple H father himself to two little girls or two girls.

And like, they get it. They understand this. And I think that having that kind of perspective really changes things. So if there happens to be sometimes when two shows are taped because everybody gets a week off, I think that's fantastic. I think that's a really good thing. In fact, when I did that interview with Seamus that you'll be seeing in a few weeks, he had just come back from his honeymoon.

He got married two years ago. Yeah, and he was dealing with some injuries during that time. but just with the way his schedule was, he wasn't able to go on a honeymoon until two years later. So I appreciate it. I love it. Zero problem from me for the tape shows. There should be zero problem from anybody that you want to give some people some time off.

Yeah, who cares if the spoilers might be online around a few of the holidays? Big deal. If it means that people can spend time with their families, then I am all for this. It is crazy to think that anybody would have an issue with that. Crazy. Scooter Lund on Spotify says,

Ask CVV, I just got my Spotify year-end wrap and insight was right at the tippy top of the list. This seems to be a trend here. But thank you, Scooter. With the Royal Rumble right around the corner, what was your favorite Royal Rumble moment? My favorite Royal Rumble moment is 2008, John Cena making that return because nobody thought that it was even close to being possible.

He rehabbed in like three months. And I asked him about it during our interview. And that actually might be one of the interviews that we re-air. So over the next few weeks, I'm sure you already know this, but I guess I'll say it again. We have another baby on the way. As I record this right now, the due date is five days from now. So it could be at any moment. It could be in the middle of this episode.

Who knows? So if I have to abruptly leave, you will understand why. But I'm going to be re-airing some of the biggest, best, most memorable episodes from the year. And I think the John Cena one is going to be one of those episodes that we re-air. And he tells a great story about just like how he rehabbed. He made it his job to like go in there three times a day, every day, to rehab and be ready to go. so that he could make the Royal Rumble. That moment was just so perfect.

Like his music hits at number 30. He comes out with that look on his face. The camera immediately cuts to Triple H. Triple H has this look on his face. Like he can't believe it. Like he's just seen a ghost. And then John Sina goes in, ends up winning the Royal Rumble,

which is, you know, what a great story. And because of that, it gives us that fantastic triple threat match between Randy Orton and Triple H and John Cena at WrestleMania that year. So that's it for me. And it's so hard when you answer these questions of like, what's your favorite of this or favorite of that? That's it for me because like I was saying earlier,

surprises are one of the best things in wrestling. Surprise returns especially. So when you can not just have a surprise return, but then it leads to the great outcome of that match, which then tells a great story that led to WrestleMania a few months later. Man, that's it for me. Quick aside here, do we think John Cena's going to win

the Royal Rumble? I honestly can't pick my favorite right now. I can't pick who I think's going to win. And it's coming up on us soon. It's a little over a month and a half away. John Cena is the favorite right now. On my book, you of course, use the code CVV when you sign up, 100% welcome bonus.

But I don't know. Like, it's hard to predict it because John Sina is not woven into any sort of storylines right now. We won't see him again until January 6th, that very first show on Netflix. And that show is going to be huge. That show is going to be like WrestleMania level, huge. So I don't know. John Sina is a favorite to win the Rumble, but I don't know if we can really talk about

who's going to be, who could win the Rumble or who the final four is going to be until after we see how things play out that first week of the year with raw Netflix and then Smackdown, I don't think we can really speculate too much about what's going to happen there until that point. Horn Dogg on Spotify, great name, horn, and it's Dowg, D-A-W-W-G, Hornedog. What is the one match you would like to see in the John Cena retirement tour? And congratulations on your new family member. Well, thank you for the early congratulations on Baby Boy Van V-V-V-V. maybe boy Van Fleet, who again could be here at any point in time.

The match that I really want to see during the John Sina retirement tour is John Sina and Randy Orden. And that might be his last match. That would be my guess right now for what his last match is. But there's just so much history there. And I know that this is the easy answer, but that's the honest answer. That's the match that I really want to see. And I'm really wondering how they're going to treat the retirement tour is a good. going to be lots of storytelling and build up to a match at a PLE and then again, lots of buildup

and storytelling to the next PLE? Or is it going to be like, John Cena is here in whatever the city is, and he's wrestling live on Raw tonight. He's wrestling live on Smackdown tonight. And like, are we going to get John Cena making, like, not just appearances, but during those appearances, is it going to be wrestling? Because they're saying, they, John Cena is saying about 35 appearances in 2025. So with PLEs, that leaves him with 20-something appearances, is that 20-something matches at Raw or Smackdown? I don't know. It's going to be really interesting to see how this all plays out. Does John Cena wrestle on that very first Raw on Netflix, January 6th? That's another big question here. And if he does have these matches week in and week out,

it's a great opportunity there to give us like one-off dream matches with not a lot of build. It also gives us the opportunity to see John Sina in the ring with younger talent. Like how great would John Sina versus Bronbreaker be? That's a match I definitely want to see in 2025. Or could we see a match with someone like Carmela or could we see a match with like Ilya? Like there's a lot of amazing matches that could happen. And we could just spitball these all day. Is there another match with Austin Theory in there?

But I think the thing that's so tough about this retirement tour is there's only a finite amount of time. There's only 12 months to tell these stories. There's only, as of right now, 35-ish dates. So there's not going to be as many matches as we want. know that as we come towards the end of the year, we're going to go, oh, man, he never got the chance to do anything with so-and-so. And I think that we're just going to have to accept early on that there might only be 15 matches. There might only be 10. I don't know. I think if he's going to be on this retirement tour and he's going to try to work as safe as he can and hopefully stay injury-free,

I think limiting the amount of matches that he has, limiting the amount of of ring time that he has is really the only way to do this right. And this is another thing. Are we going to end up in situations where John Cena's in a match tonight, but it's a six-man match or it's an eight-man match? And then that's limiting his ringtime. Yeah, but with great respect to John Cena's incredible career, I don't know if anybody's going, oh, man, I can't wait to see John Cena in a six-man

match that's just being put together randomly on this episode of SmackDown. down. Like, I would hope, and Triple H and everybody else behind the scenes and creative, I'm sure is very aware of this, we want to see those marquee matches, even if there's not a ton of buildup for them. Like, just hot shot a match with John Cena and whoever, like, you know, that big name, just give it to us. We want to see it. So I'm hoping that that's what we get. But I think if I were to say off the top of my head, two matches, Randy Orton and Brombreaker, Those are the ones I definitely want to see. Simon Dostos Armstrong, also on Spotify.

Do you think that WWE will be a big hit on Netflix? I personally think it's the wrong move scrapping the WWE network here in the UK to put it on Netflix. Plus, we all saw the buffering issues in the Jake Paul Mike Tyson fight. If that happens on Raw, well, then how good would that be? Well, what good would that be?

Well, to echo what Triple H said during that event earlier this week that I was at WWE and Netflix, the event they had at the Netflix headquarters. If there's that many people watching Raw that were watching the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight, then they've got a much bigger thing

to deal with there because that's insane. Like 60 million people, I think, was the peak amount of people that were streaming at one point in time. I think they realize at Netflix that they will not have 60 million people streaming. So they will not be facing those buffering issues. I'm also sure that they have put in every measure possible to make sure that that never happens

again, if and when, they do have another large streaming event like that and an audience that big. But I think that putting everything all in one place, and I'm just speaking internationally here, because in the U.S. it's still going to be a little bit different. Peacock still has the rights for PLEs. Peacock still has the rights to the WWE network. that goes, I believe, until March of 2026. Contractually, this will be the last WrestleMania on Peacock.

Contractually, that obviously could change. They could re-up. It could end up going somewhere else. But as of right now, contractually, this is the last PLE on Peacock. Internationally, though, you guys have everything all on Netflix. Like, it's all going to be there in one spot. I don't see how that's the wrong move at all. Like instead of going, oh, yeah, no, where do we want to, where do we need to go for the PLina?

Oh, okay, so I got to open up that other app here. Maybe I even have to subscribe to that other app because I don't have it. It's all in one place here. And I think that that's the game changer. And I would have to speculate that when this deal comes up with Peacock next year, that Netflix is going to be very interested in trying to get that same deal where the WWE network and all the PLEs are on Netflix as well. And here's the other thing. I don't know anybody who doesn't have a Netflix account or who doesn't have a Netflix login. Like maybe

you're sharing an account. Maybe you've got your brother or your sister or your cousin or your uncle's login. But everybody that I know has a Netflix login. And that's not the case with every streamer. But Netflix is like, you know, there's a reason that Netflix and chill is a phrase. It's not like, it's not Hulu and hang out. It's not, want to come over and peacock network and, I don't even know what the, see, I can't even think of it. Netflix and chill is a thing for a reason because Netflix is available in that many homes. The official numbers, I believe at the end of the third quarter of 2024, I'm looking

them up right now. Netflix had 282.7 million paid subscribers worldwide. So over a quarter of a billion subscribers worldwide. So that means that not just raw, but the WWE network internationally, PLEs internationally, that's all available on everybody's home screen. So when you log into Netflix, whether you like wrestling or not, whether you're a WWE fan or not, it's going to pop up there on your home screen and it's just going to be right there. If you want to tune back in, if you're a lapsed fan, oh my gosh, what's this all about?

Hey, wow, the rock is back in wrestling. This is crazy. I'm going to give this a, going to give this a little look. I would predict that the amount of wrestling fans will really start to grow just with the availability of this. You no longer need cable or TV network. You no longer need that. You no longer need a cable subscription to watch. You just watch on Netflix. And I think that this is going to be a huge game changer. And I've said it so many times before. Everybody else from the sporting world is going to have all eyes on WWE and all eyes on Netflix on January 6 just to see how this whole thing plays out.

And I think it's going to be, I really think that the product's going to look a lot more like a PLE. and what I mean by that is when you watch a PLE, you don't need to take these required breaks. They do have these breaks to kind of like give you a little bit of a breather between matches or to change things in the ring or set different things up. I think that there will be some breaks because there still are a lot of people who watch Netflix on the basic plan that has ads. So they'll have to do something there, whether that's picture and picture or it's, you know, slower spots of the match or whether it's cutting to like an internal type of ad like elimination chamber

is coming to Toronto. Tickets are on sale now, whether it's cutting to those types of like promo packages. But it's going to look a lot different because on a traditional broadcast channel, you've got to take a break at exactly 1830. And that break needs to last for exactly two minutes and 30 seconds. it's going to be a very different thing, but a very different viewer experience. And I just can't wait to see how this all plays out. And I think it's also going to be different, right? Because that first show on January 6th is going to be a certain way.

And maybe they're going to try something else a week later on January 13th and see if that works. And if that doesn't work, all right, we've got a little bit of a different format on January 20th. And they're going to be working out the kinks and figuring it all out. but I just think that at the end of the day, the real winners here are going to be the fans. And I don't think there's going to be any sort of issues with buffering. Gareth Martindale left this comment on Spotify.

Ask CVV number 60, the Matt Unger edition. A lot of people always ask about the Mount Rushmore of singles wrestlers. And I've done that many different times before. You can go back and listen to my Mount Rushmore of singles wrestlers. who would be on your Mount Rushmore of factions? For me, it would be the bloodline. NWO, DX, and Evolution, honorable mention for the four horsemen.

Oh, my goodness. Well, how can I, I think you nailed it. I don't think there's anything I would change about that. That's, that's it. I mean, NWO and DX are one, two. I don't think anybody is making a Mount Rushmore of factions without having those two on there. They are like cemented in.

And then I'm with you. bloodline evolution. And I think depending, and this is the interesting thing about anyone's Mount Rushmore, is it all depends on like, how old are you? When did you get into wrestling? Who were the people you really looked up to when you were younger? Like, who were the people that you made sure you needed to watch their matches for? Four horsemen are incredible.

But they were a little bit before my like real passionate time of being a wrestling fan. I understand their importance. to wrestling history, but for me, I'm going to go with exactly what you said. Bloodline, NWO, DX, Evolution, honorable mention to the four horsemen. Hiram Aalia, Aela, Aela. I think that's probably it. You emailed this one in. Hello, Chris, big fan of your show. Do you think that in five to ten years, CM Punk will be at the same level as Flair, Austin, Michaels, when discussing the best of all time? God, blanche. God, bless and congrats on the new family member. Well, thank you very much for that,

Hiram. I think that it depends on who you ask. And that's the thing about any sort of goat conversation, not just in wrestling, but in any sort of sport or even acting. It really depends on it's so subjective. And that's the thing I love about it. That's the thing that's so great about art is it's subjective. It's up to each person's interpretation. There's a lot of people you would ask now that would say CM Punk's already in their goat conversation. So I think for those same people, five to 10 years from now, yeah, of course. CM Punk is in that goat conversation, especially when you think of the greatest returns of all time.

I had a little chat with CM Punk at that raw Netflix event earlier this week in Los Angeles. And he's like, when you talk about like top five returns, like, I've got most of them. And it's like, yeah, no, that's true. They chanted his name for 10 years. when he was gone from WWE. And for most of those years, there was zero hope of him coming back and they chanted his name anyway.

I think that depending on who you are, depending on where your fandom is, yeah, CM Punk's already part of that conversation. So in five to 10 years, you'll still be talking about him as one of the goats. I don't think there's any question about that. He's had an incredible career. And it will be interesting.

I know that the one thing that he hasn't done that he wants to do is main event WrestleMania, will this be the year? Will WrestleMania 41 be the year that that happens? Let's see. The Frisler 414 on Twitter. Yo, CVV! We always hear about how good Dolph Ziegler

and Austin Theory and Rikoschet are when it comes to selling. Who do you think is a very underrated seller? That is a very interesting question. two names immediately popped to mind. People who are like, I think selling, they're so good at selling, but their strengths maybe lie elsewhere that you don't even think about how good they are at selling. Triple H and Brock Lesner.

The way that Brock Lesnar sells for everybody, whether you're someone like Ray Mysterio or you're someone like The Big Show, the way Brock Lesnar sells, like it actually actually feels believable, especially the way he sells punches. I've always loved that. And Triple H as well. The way that Triple H would sell with the wet hair flicking into the air every time that he sold a punch, I love it. Those are my two. Those are my two extremely underrated sellers. Because when you think of Brock, you think about just brute strength and incredible athleticism. When you think of Triple H, you just think of like great storytelling, great promos and incredible entrance. And I think that selling ends up being like a little bit down the list for both of them. But go back and watch any of their

matches, any of their matches. My favorite Triple H match, this is just popping in my head because we talked about it a month or two ago, is the match he had at the 2000 Royal Rumble against Cactus Jack. And there was something about that match that I just feel like really elevated Triple H to just a whole new level. because it's like, man, he's doing the same stuff that Mick Foley. Like, Mick Foley's crazy. He's doing the same stuff that Mick Foley's doing. That's wild. But the way that he sells, there's like this, it's like a swinging neck breaker that he takes on the outside.

And you're just like, damn, man, it's good. So those are my two for sure. I mean, there's lots of other people. But for me personally, those are the two that immediately pop into my head. Jason Rumpun on Instagram says, Ask CVV number 60 if Biggie won't ever be cleared. or anytime soon. Do you see the new day or Kofi and Woods to go on a heel run

and win the tag team titles to just, quote, justify their decision to turn? Or do you see Biggie interfering with that match when it does happen? Also, I learned Control the Controllable from you, learning it from John Sina, and it's something that I practice a lot. Well, that's awesome, Jason.

Thank you. That's something that guides my life all the time. Control the controllable. It's like hounded it into my head now. I think that when you talk about the new day and you talk about Kofi and Xavier Woods, they are one of the greatest tag teams in the history of pro wrestling. I would love to see them win the titles as heels. And I think that that's where this is going.

I don't think that they're teasing a breakup, then bringing them together and turning them heel just for them to have like some fun as heels. This is going to end up in a tag team title run at some point in time. I don't know how Biggie plays into this, but can we talk about that segment? Can we talk about that segment? It was, man, that was something else. That segment on Raw had everything. And there were some moments there.

The way that Biggie was selling the things like, you know, come on, man. Oh, you don't mean that. Oh, man. Like, come on. Let's one more time. Let's do this together. Like the way that Biggie sold that segment, the way that we all sided with Biggie, man, I can't be saying those things about Biggie.

It's crazy. This is all leading to another tag team title run for Kofi and Woods. I don't know where Biggie factors into this. Maybe. Maybe there's some stuff happening behind the scenes where this is all leading up to Biggie's return. from everything that I understand, Biggie has been trying to get cleared to return. And his injury is, I know that they brought up three names during that segment, right? Stone Cole broke his neck and he came back.

Edge broke his neck and he came back. So I think if we're, a current angle broke his neck and he came back, it's a different injury. And not all neck injuries are the same. so his is being treated with, I'm sure, the utmost, that they're looking at this as closely as they can and they're focusing on this to make sure that no further injuries, no worse injuries can happen here. I will say this.

If Biggie is able to return this, maybe he's already been cleared behind the scenes and it just hasn't become public information yet. If that is the case, what an amazing way to slide back in and have him return. But if that's not the case, I don't know where he factors into this. I don't know where he fits into this. If that was it, if that's the segment that we saw on Raw and that's it,

that's the only time we see him in the ring. And now he continues to be the guy who's on the pre-show and the post-show. Maybe that's the case. And if that is the case, I love that they were able to use his injury as the real catalyst for the new day breaking up and turning heel. That was a beautiful segment. Beautifully done. Kyle.a.

A.W. On Instagram says, got a question for Ask CVV number 60, the Cozy Coleman edition. It's also for RVV2. I just have to apologize. V. I don't think can make it in here. I don't know. I'll have to scoot out here and see. But the question is, what in your opinion was the hardest and easiest thing about parenthood? Hope you guys are all good and good luck with the little lad on the way.

There's lots of hard things. There's lots of easy things. I will say that the good, far, far. What happened to my voice? Far. It far outweighs the bad stuff. to make it like really simplistic, the hardest thing is saying goodbye when I'm leaving to, even if it's just to go into L.A. to record some episodes for that day, or it's leaving to go to the airport, to fly away for a few days. That's the hardest thing. The easiest thing is to come back. And she's at the age now. She's 18 months. She's at the age now that when I walk through the door, she has a huge smile and she like runs to me. and it's, oh, it's the best.

That is, that's the epitome of being apparent is those moments. Like, you are the reason that they smile in those moments. Love that. I love that so much. I think the, the cliche thing to say would be like, oh, the hardest things, the lack of sleep. But it just comes with the territory. Like, I don't think that, and that's one of the, that's one of the most ridiculous things

that people say to you when you're about to become apparent for the first time. they'll be like, I'll get your sleep now. We're like, oh, man, oh, you don't know what you're in for. It's like, it just comes with the territory. Like, if you were planning on going on a, you know, going from point A to point B and it's a five-hour drive, it's like, yeah, you understand that in order to get to that other spot, you just, this is the thing you need to do. You need to drive to get there. If you want to have a baby, one of the things you need to understand is they wake up a lot because they, they're, you know, need to eat or they need their diaper change or whatever it happens to be. So I always, I always,

like, thought that that was the silliest thing you could possibly say to someone. On the flip side of that, bringing it right back around here to the positives is one of the things I love the most about being a parent is when we're out and about and we're getting groceries or we're just, you know, we went to see Santa last night. One of the things that, one of the things that, we're getting, things that is that just makes me smile so much is you will see people who are older. Like you'll see people who are in their 50s or 60s or 70s or 80s. And you see this immediate smile on their face when they see a child. And I think what it does is it transports them back to that time of their life.

You know, it takes them back 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, whatever it happens to be. It takes them back to that moment when they're going to be. it takes them back to that moment when they had an 18-month old kid. And they, it's always met with a smile. So if we're walking into a grocery store and someone who is a parent or maybe a grandparent now that has older kids, we always get this smile, you know, they'll look at us, the look at the baby, and they'll smile. And it just, it reminds me of how special this is.

And also this idea that like little kids are, only little kids for a few years. And then you get into a whole new phase of their life. That's one of the things I love it. It's this constant reminder every time we see someone who's like a grandparent age. And they're like, sometimes they say hi to the kid or sometimes they'll like, you know, the grandfather will say to the grandmother or something or vice versa. It just reminds me of like, oh, this is special. And I love that. And I know that that didn't. That part there didn't directly answer your question, but it's something I've thought about quite a bit. And it's this nice little reminder of trying to appreciate those moments. And I've been

hyper aware of that over the last few years in general, but now I'm hyper aware of it even more, just appreciating the moments as they're happening because you'll never have that moment ever again. I appreciate it while it's there. N.J. Kevin says, please tell Mrs. RVV that as a Jersey boy from Atlantic City, it is a pork roll egg and cheese. If Rachel was here, she would tell you that it's a Taylor, Taylor ham egg and cheese. There's a big distinction in New Jersey. And after baby boy arrives, I think we've got to dive back into this one, NJ. Kevin and figure that. out, but I appreciate you saying that. And it is a delicious breakfast sandwich, by the way. I've had many of them. Now, every time we go back to New Jersey, we have them all the time,

they're fantastic. Andrews underscore photos on Instagram, and that's photos with a Z at the end, or a Zed. I've now assimilated. I've now, I was a Zed person for a long time. Now that I live here, it's one of the, one of the few things I have to say differently. What we have to have an updated interview with Ria bloody Ripley anytime soon. Much love. Well, I would love that to happen. I mean, the interviews I've done with her have all been very brief. And she said to me recently, she's like, I'm surprised we haven't done a full interview yet. And I said, I'm surprised too. So she's down. She's interested. We're going to make this happen. When? I don't know. but this is something, definitely something that I want to do at some point in time soon.

So I'd say 2025. I mean, we're going to have, if we do two guests a week, every week, it's 104 guests a year, I think there's room to slide in Rio Ripley as a guest on one of those episodes there. Overly excited 88 on Twitter. What a name. Your tweet got me curious. What is your favorite and least favorite Christmas song? Ooh.

So I tweeted out early in the week. What is the Christmas song that you could go, that you'd be okay, never hearing ever again? And we're a lot of Mariah Carey haters in there. And I get it. The song is like associated with like Christmas music being played too early. I understand that. The song itself, all I want for Christmas itself is not a bad song.

I get that it's just maybe it's overplayed. Okay? I'll admit that. But there were so many haters. And I know that Twitter is kind of like a place where, like, haters like to hang out, like, and commiserate together. But the amount of people who responded to that and said, all of them, I'd be okay, never hearing a Christmas song again.

Like, I didn't realize that there were so many Scrooges in the replies on my Twitter. My goodness. All of them? Are you serious? Ebenezer Scrooge. geez my favorite Christmas song and this is going to be you look you guys if you've been listening long enough if you're a real real one you know that I love nothing more than extremely catchy pop music like it's not my favorite genre genre but like I love those earworms

those songs that you hear them and they're just stuck in your head all day with that said I could play in sinks, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays on repeat and never get sick of that song. I'm serious. I love that song so much. It's just like a modern day Christmas song. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Now it's stuck in your head.

Ooh yeah. I love the, oh yeah. Oh, yeah. But if we're talking about traditional Christmas songs, I also love rocking around the Christmas tree. and Jingle Bell Rock. Those are like two go-toes for me, what I'm talking about, like just a classic Christmas song.

And Jingle Bell Rock is at the top of the playlist that I created on my Spotify for when we were decorating the tree. Least favorites tough because I just in general love the holidays. Christmas is my favorite holiday. And hearing any Christmas song immediately just transports me

to like great Christmas memories. And I understand that that's not the case for everybody. And I appreciate that. I don't love like the sadder sounding, like the downbeat, like the sadder Christmas songs. Like, Wham is great,

but I don't love last Christmas. Like if we're going like run route, like, run Rudolph. Yeah. Yeah, we got some run Rudolph run, some Chuck Berry there and, you know,

all these other. upbeat songs like the ones I was talking about with Jingle Bell Rock and rock around the Christmas tree. And then you go into like, wham last Christmas. It's like, oh, man, like what? We just brought it down so many notches. Same with wonderful Christmas time. I'm not saying they're bad songs, but like just in terms of like, we are rocking out here. We are lifting our spirits in the holiday spirit. And then those songs are immediate skips for me. And if those are songs you like, that's great. That's fine. To each his or her own. But those are immediate skips for me because I just want to keep things upbeat. Although, you guys know I love looking into like things being logistic, like things making sense.

It always strikes me as a little bit odd. How many of these songs by American musicians are talking about snow and winter and how just the general idea of Christmas is centered around white Christmas, like the perfect Christmas, the ideal Christmas setting as a white Christmas, which is, it's just so fascinating to me because the vast majority of people who live in very populated states, like California or Florida or Arizona,

will not see any snow. And yes, I get it for all of the actualing people out there. Yes, there are mountain areas in, California and Arizona where it can snow and there's definitely snow in the mountains right now. But for the major cities in those states that I listed, there will never be snow. That's not going to be the case. In fact, I looked it up. Over the past 20 years, an average of only 37% of the lower 48 states of the United States had a white Christmas.

So I found that interesting. And look, I grew up in Canada. There's snow from November with the possibility of it being there until May. There was a lot of snow and a lot of cold months. But it's just funny to me, there is so many, I'm speaking specifically to Americans here. There are a lot of Americans that have never seen snow and have never experienced snow. And I always wondered, you know, what's it like when you're listening to songs like White Christmas or like Chestnuts roasting on an open fire and you're like,

I don't know. If I go outside right now, it's 72 degrees Fahrenheit. What's the snow you're talking about? I just, I've always found that very interesting. I get that that is a completely different thing for a very, for another part, like for the other 37 percent who have experienced a white Christmas over the last 20 years. I get it. But it's just, it's an interesting thing to think about that some of the major cities of the United States do not have snow, and that's not part of Christmas at all. And that's just something I've thought about. I've also thought, since we're talking about Christmas stuff, how come Olive, the reindeer olive never gets talked about? Olive, the other reindeer? I know this is so silly. That's a great dad joke, by the way.

Please add that to your repertoire. When we're talking about the reindeer, you know, Dasher and dancer and prancer and vixen, comment Cupid, Donner Blitzin, but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all. Of course, Rudolph. But what about olive? And I get it. Why would we talk about olive? All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call Rudolph names. Yeah, but add that one to the dad joke repertoire. Olive, all of the other reindeer. Another thing here. Why have I gone so deep on Christmas songs and Christmas lyrics? I worked at a Christmas radio, I worked at a radio station in Cleveland. WD.O.K.

Cleveland's new 102, better music. a lot of it for your workday. I worked at, it was, yeah, I worked at 102.1 and we were the Christmas radio station. So there was a day, and we'd never really set it in stone, but there was a day in November when the station would flip over and be 100% Christmas music until Christmas time was over. So it was like five, six weeks of straight Christmas music. So I have heard a lot, a lot of Christmas songs. Probably more than the average person. When you're a radio DJ at a radio station that is playing Christmas music 24-7, I've heard it all. And I would be sitting there in the studio at the radio station. And I was like listening to the words of some of these songs. And some of them

make no sense. And I would start to take note of all the lyrics that just didn't make any sense. Like in It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, he uses the word mistletoe as a verb. There'll be much mistletoeing. What? Like if you're talking about people kissing under the mistletoe, I get it. But no one has ever talked about mistletoeing as a thing. And then there's that other song, He'll be coming down the chimney down.

He'll be coming down the chimney down? Yeah, I know. I know. This is quite the tangent we've gone off on here. But I'm sure there's other lyrics, other Christmas lyrics that you're thinking about going, you know what, Chris? You're right.

That song doesn't make sense either. And I will talk to my friends about all of the other reindeer. Daryl Dath on Spotify says, let's talk about steak. What's your favorite steak cut? Do you prefer, what's your preferred cooking temperature of steak? What are your sides with your steak? Do you like fries, mashed potatoes? Steamy medley vegetables, salad.

What is it for you? The steak cut that I am most on right now is filet mignon. I'm also a huge rabbi fan. I love the especially a really good marbled meat. I go like just barely into medium. Like like you barely hit medium. That's that's my preferred temperature. So not quite medium rare, but not quite medium. That's where I like it best. I like still being able to cut into it and a little bit of blood comes out. I'm getting hungry for steak. Man, so good. So that's my go-to right now is probably a filet, probably going to go filet mignon.

Depending where we are, I will go, like if we're at a steakhouse, I will probably go bone in, maybe even tomahawk ribeye just because when the bone and the like the marrow and the juices bleed into the steak with the bone on, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And also, I really think the MVP at a steakhouse are the sides. Like, there's been many times when I've gone to steakhouses just to eat the sides. I love a good French fry. I also love a good sweet potato fry. So French fries are probably, yes, they're probably going to be one of the sides that I order.

Grilled asparagus is, if that's on the menu, we're getting grilled asparagus for the table. Or maybe I'm just getting it for myself. But grilled asparagus, that's the go-to vegetable when I'm at a steakhouse. Grilled brocolini, I love brocolini. Man, now I'm just listing off like literally every food. I also, I do love mashed potatoes a lot, but I'm probably going to go with fries over mashed potatoes. It's not that I like them better, but if you're at a steakhouse, steakhouses, I know have just such good fries. I'm probably going to go with those.

And this might be controversial, but I don't eat a lot of salad. I eat a lot of vegetables. Don't get me wrong. And I have nothing against salad, but I'm not a huge salad dressing person. Like at all, I haven't found a salad dressing that I really love. So if I am eating a salad, it's usually being eaten without any sort of dressing on it. I know. Strange, right?

Weird. Not even like an oil and vinegar. I don't even really like that that much. So if there's an option, like, you know, it's sometimes you'll go to a restaurant, like, that salad's like part of the meal that you're getting. I'll usually ask, can I swap that out for a soup? I love soup. Can I swap that out for a soup?

Great. Let's do that. That's what I usually do. Or when I'm at a wedding, we went to a wedding recently, beautiful wedding here. The salad came. I was like, well, I love cucumbers. I like, I like the cucumbers, but I just didn't like the dressing. they put on it. So Rachel ended up eating my salad and I just ate the cucumbers from it.

But yeah, that's, man, now I'm so hungry. Now I want to go to a steakhouse. What have you done to me, Darrell? Jeez. If you're still listening right now, you're a real, real one. I appreciate you. Just, and you're listening on Spotify, if you're listening on Spotify, just leave in the comments, what is it? What's the temperature of steak for you? Is it rare? Is it medium rare? Is it medium? Is it medium? Is it Medium well? Is it well? Is it well? Just type that. Just a few words. Just type that in and let me know. And if you are listening on Spotify, a rating would go such a long way. I would appreciate that so much if you could just leave a rating for the show. We're closing in on 7500 ratings for the year. And I just, I can't thank you guys enough. That was the last question that we had on this Ask CVV number 60. the Autogram, Jose Theodore, and David Andrews edition.

Thank you guys so much for joining me on this one. If you've got a question for Ask CVV number 61, send it in on the comments on Spotify. That's a place we've dug a lot of these from. But I also took a lot from the emails here. So CVV at chrisfanveli.com. And as always, hashtag CVV on social media. You guys are the best. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate.

appreciate you. There is a small chance that perhaps there's not an Ask CVV next week. If there isn't, you will know exactly why. I will be in the hospital with the newest addition to the family. So if, for whatever reason, you wake up on Friday morning and there's not an Ask CVV there, you will know exactly why. I'm going to wrap things up with a quote from Biggie's article that he recently put out. It's his essay in the Players Tribune. called Sour. And man, it's such a good read. I can't recommend it enough. And also, what an amazing career. If this is it, if he will never wrestle again, what an amazing career. But I feel like this just, it really, it really hit home for me. And I'm going to share this with you if you haven't

had a chance to read the article yet. It's okay to get frustrated or sad or downing yourself or even wake up some mornings and not want to be yourself. It's okay to have bad days. But just keep having days. Just keep going. Just keep waking up and trying again because every day won't be like that. I promise. And tomorrow is a new one. How good is that. Be great and be grateful. Have an amazing weekend, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes.

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

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