Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #68 - Royal Rumble Predictions & Surprises, Jacob Fatu, Charlotte Flair's Return

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets are on sale now for INSIGHT LIVE in Toronto & Las Vegas with VIP Meet & Greet! Welcome to AskCVV #68! On this episode, Chris gives his Royal Rumble predictions and guesses at who some of the surprise entrants will be, he also answers questions about Triple H wrestling again, Charlotte Flair entering the Rumble, favorite non-Rumble match at the Royal Rumble, Jacob Fatu's promo on SNME, an off-season for wrestling and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” - Oscar Wilde Sponsors: PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank which was designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight33 to get 33% off your order of Mitopure while supplies last ORGAIN: For 30% off your order, head to https://Orgain.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT SQUARESPACE: Head to https://www.squarespace.com/INSIGHT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code INSIGHT 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 HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.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 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 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 Fleet. Yes, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Bleet. So good to have you with us here. Hope it's been a great week for you. Thank you for joining us on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Super kick that follow button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening to

this right now. We've got some massive guests on the way. It is Royal Rumble Week. It's a lot of people in Indianapolis. So you never know who might, who I might be doing an interview with, who might pop up on the show. So make sure you're following the show and you're subscribed on YouTube so you don't miss out. We're almost at a million subscribers on YouTube. So, man, we're going to be there real, real soon with your help. I should point out that I'm recording this on Wednesday right now. I'm flying to Indianapolis for the Royal Rumble. On Thursday, I'll be flying all day. And then as soon as I get to the hotel, we've got an interview scheduled. So there wouldn't be time to get this out. I usually record this like Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening so that it can drop, boom, right at midnight Pacific time on Friday on 3 a.m.

East Coast time and wherever you're listening to this, you can do the math on the time zone there. But I will point out that I am recording this right now on Wednesday. So maybe something will change. I don't know. It's possible that we could learn some more information about some of the predictions I'm going to make. And I've got some bold predictions that I'm going to make about a few different things in here. So just keep that in mind as you're listening to this. which is

Ask CVV number 68 the Yarmar-Yager edition. Oh yes. It's incredible. Dude is 52 years old and still playing professional hockey.

Amazing. You know, if this is Ask CVVU number 68, you know what next week is, right? Ask CVV number 69. You know who wore 69? Among many other people, Brock Lesnar, War 69 for the Vikings.

A lot of people, a lot of people wore 69. A lot of very popular football numbers. So let me know who you think Ask CVV number 69 should be in addition to Brock Lesnar, of course. And send in your questions on Spotify. Leave a comment on there. Send them in on social media using the hashtag Ask CVV or shoot me an email. CVV at Chris Vanfleet.com. By popular demand, we.

We have added a second live show in Toronto during Elimination Chamber weekend. I can't wait to be back home in Toronto for this. What a weekend it's going to be. We've added a second show. It's on Sunday, March 2nd, the day after Elimination Chamber. And the guests have been officially announced. All three members of the Hurt Syndicate, Bobby Lashley, MVP, and Shelton Benjamin. They'll all be there.

And they're also going to be sticking around for the meet and greet. That's not the case with the other show. shows. So all three of them and me, if you're interested in meeting and greeting me, we're all going to be part of the meet and greet here. Tickets for the show are available at CVVTix.com, CVVTIX.com. Tickets for all the shows are available there. We've also got the show the Thursday night of WrestleMania week, and then of course the Friday, the day before Elimination Chamber, February 28th. That one, we haven't announced the guest yet for that one, but you'll see.

It's going to be big when we announced that one. But the Hurt Syndicate on Sunday, March 2nd, I will see you there if you're going to be at Elimination Chamber. I'll see you there if you live in and around the GTA. And if you live in and around the GTA, you know exactly what GTA is. No, it's not Grand Theft Auto, the Greater Toronto area. So welcome to Ask CVV number 68.

We'll kick things off here with this one from Cameron underscore 1214 on Instagram. What are your final match predictions or surprises for the Rumble? I can't wait to see you live tonight. I like what you did there, Cameron. You knew that we'd be listening to this on Friday, so

it's tonight that I'll be seeing you guys. By the way, the live show in Indianapolis with special guest Carlito is sold out. It's sold out earlier this week. I am pumped to be there with you guys. The first ever live episode of Insight. It's a

that you guys, you guys almost sold this thing out without a guest announced. That is, man, that makes me, that makes me feel real special. So thank you for that. But yes, Cameron, I will see you tonight at Insight Live at Helium Comedy Club in Indianapolis. Four matches for the Royal Rumble. We'll run them down real quick here. Kick things off with the tag team match. DIY, and Gargano and Tomasso Champa versus Motor City Machine Guns. It's a two out of three falls match for the WWE tag team championships. The odds on my bookie have this as DIY retaining the championship minus 400s. They're the favorites there.

I would have to agree here. The real winner in this match is going to be all of us because those four individuals can go. And when you put them together in their prospective, respective tag teams, they can go as well. So this is going to be incredible. This is just a little aside as I'm thinking about it, which is the great thing about these Ask CVV episodes. We record them all in one take. And it's just a stream of consciousness, just all the things that pop into my head, I would just start talking about them.

When was the last time you saw a two out of three falls match, only go to two falls? Like when was the last time I didn't go to the third fall? I can't think of one. Maybe there's been one, but I can't think of one. So obviously this will go one, one, and then it will end up going to that third fall. But I'm going to go with DIY on this, retaining the championships. But my goodness, this match is going to be great. And it really could go either way.

The winners here are going to be us because this match is going to be just bonkers. Then we'll go to the latter match. Cody Rhodes defending his championship against Kevin Owens. No surprise here. The huge favorite is Cody Rhodes. And I think at this point in time, I don't see any scenario where Cody Rhodes isn't the champion walking into WrestleMania 41. Will he be the champion walking out of WrestleMania 41? I guess it depends where the storyline goes and who his opponent is.

But at this point in time, I don't see that being the case. But I think that he carries the championship through Royal Rumble. through elimination chamber into WrestleMania, but probably not out of WrestleMania. So I'm going to go with Cody Rhodes winning this one and Cody Rhodes in ladder matches. Remember that ladder match he had with Sammy Guevara in AEW? Cody Rhodes turns it on for ladder matches. This is going to be something. This is going to be something else.

Then we'll go to the women's Royal Rumble match. The odds right now at my bookie have shown. Charlotte Flair is the clear favorite, followed by Becky Lynch, then Eoskeye, than Rio Ripley, and then a bunch of names after that. I think that Charlotte Flair feels like, man, it's so tough. Because you guys are going to be like, just pick one winner. Don't give us four names, Chris. I'm going to go with Charlotte Flair here.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Becky Lynch plays spoiler and wins this. I know Becky Lynch hasn't been officially announced for this, but she feels like someone who's definitely going to be returning for this match. So going to go with Charlotte Flair, but there's going to be some surprises here. If you listen to the recent episode with Jordan Grace, feels like we could definitely see Jordan Grace in the Royal Rumble. She's certainly made it sound like,

well, she's done with TNA. She made that very clear. She enjoyed her time there, but her contract has expired. I think we'll see Jordan Grace as one of the surprises. I think we could also see Alexa Bliss as one of the surprises. But I guess I'm going to go with Charlotte Flair. If I have to pick one, if I have to pick just one,

it's going to be Charlotte Flair. Then we go to the men's Royal Rumble match. The odds have shifted a lot on this one. And if you sign up in my booking, you use my code CVV, you'll get a 100% welcome bonus on your first deposit. John Cena was the clear favorite for a long. long time. John Sina now has the same odds as Seth Freak and Rollins. He moved up a lot. When we were talking about this last week, Seth Rollins was like, I think the fourth, like in the number four or fifth

spot. But John Sina, Seth Rollins, same odds right now, followed by C.M. Punk, Roman Raines, the Rock, Randy Orton, and then a bunch of names after that. So, well, that's a prediction there. Randy Orton returning. That one makes sense. I could see that one happening. I still think that if it's going to be anybody winning this, it's going to be John Sina or CM Punk. Yes, of course you can make cases for Roman Raines or you can make a case for Seth Rollins. I keep seeing the name, like the Rock's name popping up, but I don't know if the Rock's going to be in this match. I don't know what value it is for the Rock to show up in the Royal Rumble just to get tossed over the top rope unless it's setting up something with Roman Rains. which could make sense.

I still think that that's what they're angling for for WrestleMania 41. I still think that we're going to see Rock Roman Raines. They're not going to, that's a match they've wanted to do for so long. I don't think they're going to try to push this off to Russellmania 42. It has to happen to Russellmania 41. But if I have to pick one, oh, man, we talked about this last week. And this is what's so exciting about this year's Royal Rumble is there's no real clear cut winner here. In previous years, it's like, this person's probably going to win.

And if not, it's going to be this other person over here. Here, it's like there's four, maybe five names that you can make a real strong case for them winning the Rumble and then their path to WrestleMania from there. It's John Siener or CM Punk. CM Punk or John Sina. It's like I feel like it's a coin toss at this point in time. I'm going to go see him punk. It was just like, it was just a game time decision right there.

I just, there was something in John Cena's promo that the one that he cut on that first raw on Netflix that just made me feel like this is going to be like the hero's journey. He's going to try to win the Royal Rumble and he doesn't. It's going to try to win elimination chamber and he doesn't. then he's going to try to win money in the bank, and he does. That's where I think this is going. I don't think they're just going to make it as easy as John Sina enters the Rumble and wins. I think there's going to be a little bit of an uphill battle here.

John Sina enters the Royal Rumble. We know that John Sina hasn't won a singles match in over 2,000 days. John Sina gets tossed over the top rope. Oh, my goodness. Well, John Sina ever went another match. Where does it go from here? That's where I think that storyline's going. So I'm going to go with CM Punk winning the Royal Rumble, but there's a ton of like really interesting prop bets that are also going on. Will the winner of the, will the winner's number be odd or even? Will anyone be eliminated in under 10 seconds?

The odds are actually saying yes for both the men's and women's rumble. So some really interesting prop bets there at my bookie. I've been really good with the predictions. Like I haven't been keeping track. Maybe one of you have. But I've been like 90% right. And a lot of these PLEs I've been nailing them like five for five, 100% correct. I don't know if that's going to be the case here.

There's a good chance that when we meet up again next Friday, I'm one for four on this one. And it's tough. This is the interesting thing about the Royal Rumble. 30 people enter. Only one person wins. Are there 29 losers? Like that's the, that's the thing I can never wrap my head around. Is there 29 losers? Like, did 29 people lose the Royal Rumble or did they just not win? But then again, if you don't win, what's the opposite of that? Yeah. What's the opposite of winning? It's losing. So if you don't win, I mean, it's just another way of saying losing. But do you lose the Royal Rumble if you get eliminated? And then there's,

The other cool thing about the Royal Rumble is even if you do lose, you can come out on top. Like, Goonther is spending over an hour in the Royal Rumble and it really just like showed that he could go. Like, he could really go. Also, I think people forget because he's just been so dominant in the main roster. Bronn Breaker really didn't show up on the main roster full time until the Royal Rumble last year. and him coming out in the Royal Rumble was like, it's just a massive showing for him. It was basically proving to the world what he was capable of doing.

So I think that that's kind of the cool thing about the Royal Rumble is it allows people to shine even if they don't win it. So let's see. We'll meet back up next Friday for Ask CV number 69. And you guys can grill me in the comments if you think. that I'm completely wrong on this, but it's tough. It's, it's really tough to pick just one person this year. It hasn't been this hard to pick a winner in, in recent memory. It, in, it certainly has not been this difficult. So we shall see. Luke Geranford, Luke Geronford, 12 on Spotify.

Hey, Chris, I'm traveling from the UK for the Royal Rumble, and I was wondering what time should I arrive to the show? How early in advance would you recommend for me to get into the arena? Thank you. Love the podcast. Well, thank you so much, Luke. That is a heck of a journey that you're making from the UK, but it's going to be one heck of a show.

Gates open at 330. Show starts at 5.30. I would say get there as close to 3.30 as possible with the caveat that if you are standing outside lined up, it might be a little bit cold. But I would say get there as early as you can to get in. You know, get in, get some photos, check out the setup. Maybe you want to line up for some merch or grab some food. I would say do all of that stuff before the show starts.

Because once the show starts, you want to be in your seat. You don't want to have to worry about trying to line up to get your slice of pizza or your burger or your fries or whatever you're going to eat or lining up. for a beer, although there will be some video packages. The beer might not take that long, but the food and the merch, some of those merch lines are just insane. I'd say get there as early as you can to just get in there. Be with all the like-minded people. That's the coolest thing about any wrestling show is in regular everyday life, you're not running into that many people who are as hardcore about wrestling as you are. Well, guess what? When you go to something like

the Royal Rumble, you've now got tens of thousands of people who love it just as much as you. And that's one of the coolest things. It's one of the greatest things about wrestling fandom as being able to strike up those conversations with people that are in line. Because, you know, if you're lined up at a wrestling show, everybody's a wrestling fan. So you can chat who do you think's going to win? Who do you think might be one of the surprise entrance? That stuff's so fun. So I can get there as early as much as well. possible and enjoy yourself. Have an amazing time. Falcon Jack on Twitter. Can we normalize Royal Rumble with active talent roster and no guests slash crossover? There's plenty of other

opportunities all over the year for everybody. I don't know. I don't think that's a very good take at all. Because I think that one of the great things about the Royal Rumble, because as we just talked about. There's 29 losers and only one winner. One of the best parts about the Royal Rumble is the surprises. As soon as that clock shows up on the screen, 10, 9, 8, it's all about who's going to come out next. And you can see the wide array of reactions from, oh, yeah, all right, when it's someone that the crowd doesn't seem to really care that much about, to, oh, my God, I can't believe they're here. Like Edge, for example.

I think that seeing a legend or a Hall of Famer peppered in here and there, maybe one or two, love it. Last year when we saw Jordan Grace enter the Women's Royal Rumble, what an amazing surprise. And then she went in there and just worked her ass off and showed everyone what she was all about. I think that those moments are amazing.

So, no, I don't think we should, normalize it just being active talent. The Royal Rumble is all about surprises. I think as of right now, there are only one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, it's only eight men announced. And I think there's only a handful of women announced for the Royal Rumble. Maybe some more will be added here, but the great thing is, well, who are the other 20-ish people? That's the fun of this. And it's, If it's just people who are on the active roster, I don't know. No, thank you. It's not for me.

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It's also something that I wear to the gym all the time. Same with their Ponto Performance Joggers, which are so comfortable. I wear them in and out of the house all the time. In fact, you'll never see me in an airport wearing anything else but the Ponto Performance Joggers. Viori is an investment in your happiness. And for anybody listening right now, they're offering you 20% off your first purchase. So get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet by going to vori.com slash CVV. That's VU-O-R-I-com slash CVV.

Marcus Reiner on Facebook says, hey, CVV, I love the show. How do you feel that it was your interview with Kurt Engel that has united the wrestling world together to ensure that we never call him? perk angle ever again. Well, I honestly can't believe that that nickname was even a thing. I can't believe that people thought that was funny or some sort of endearing term. There are plenty of wrestlers, plenty of wrestlers who have had very public struggles with drugs or alcohol or both drugs and alcohol. I'm not going to name names here.

Some names are immediately popping into your head because the list is long, right? The list is so long of people who have gone to rehab at least once, if not multiple times. The thing I don't understand is we're not calling them drunk this or cokehead that. And I don't know why it stuck with Kurt Engel. And one of the things he pointed out during my interview is he hit his prime in TNA. He made it very clear he did not wrestle when he was on painkillers. he wouldn't have been able to do that. He was like, you've seen people who have wrestled high and it doesn't go well. He's like, I took the painkillers basically to get out of bed and then to go to sleep.

But I would never wrestle high. But Kurt's now clean and sober. He has been for 14 years. He's a fantastic father, a dedicated husband. And I'm sure that he doesn't want a constant reminder of the absolute lowest point of both his personal and professional career when people just constantly are saying that nickname. But getting the IWC, the internet wrestling community to agree on one thing, never happens.

But I'm glad that we could all come together on this one and agree that it's time to call Kurt Engel anything but that. I've seen prime angle. I've seen peak angle. You can calm the goat. whatever you want to call them, though, just have some respect. But it's, yeah, I just can't believe that was ever a thing. And if you haven't checked out the interview with Kurt Engel, it's one of my favorites I've done.

It's certainly my favorite of the year. It's also one of the most watched interviews, most downloaded interviews of the year so far. Of course, we're only a month into the year. But it's a great conversation. And if you haven't checked it out yet, I highly encourage you to spend some time this weekend to listen to that for if you have a free hour. That'd be a good, good use of your hour in my humble opinion. Callie wrote this on Spotify. Hey, CVV, I really love wrestling, but I'm struggling with enjoying the shows since I not only know that it's predetermined, but also understand the booking

and therefore mostly knowing who will win. For example, I know that if Jeff Hardy would enter the Rumble, he would never win it. Do you have any advice on how to make watching wrestling more enjoyable again. Also, I'm a huge fan of the podcast and the positivity that you bring on the table while doing it. Greetings from Germany. What a perplexing question. I never understand why people can't watch wrestling for what it is, which is a television program. And people don't bring the same preconceived notions to Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad or The Boys or insert the name of any show here. And I think that when you start to look at it through the lens of what it is, which is a scripted television program, you start to see that there are main characters and there are

supporting characters. And the supporting characters sometimes help to make the main characters look better. And in the case of wrestling, that is by losing a match in order to make the other person look good. And sometimes the main characters will do things that will help the supporting characters. and help their growth and help their storyline along. I think the biggest thing here, Callie, is just enjoy it. Like, just enjoy it. It's not about what a cliche I was about to walk into, but I might as well say it now.

It is not about the destination. It is about the journey. Like if you watch Night 2 of WrestleMania 40, I think we all kind of knew who was going to win. But what made that match so great was the storytelling along the way, not just the storytelling in that match, but the storytelling in the months prior to that leading up to it. It's everything. It's all the beats, right? It's the near falls.

It's the, I can't believe he kicked out of that finisher. Oh, my gosh, this person is interfering in the match. Well, what does that mean for their storyline moving forward? I think just enjoy it for what it is. don't i think one of the worst things to happen to wrestling over the last probably 25 years if we're being completely honest here is the advent of the internet and while i think the internet is an amazing tool it is allowed us to connect with people on the other side of the planet like think of all the people that you're connected with now that you never would have been connected with if it

wasn't for the internet i love all that stuff about it but i think one of the one of the downfall of it is everybody thinks they're smarter than they are when it comes to wrestling. Like, there's all these wild rumors or people spewing fake news online that have like, no, not even a grain of truth in it. And I think that that's one of the, like, just enjoy it. Like, just turn on the show, watch it and enjoy it. Yes, it is predetermined. We have known that. We have known that. that for a long, long, long time. I know that too when I go to a Broadway show. And I don't, I don't, like at intermission, I don't stand around the lobby telling people like, hey, you know, that's fake, right? The guy up there's not actually Alexander Hamilton. Did you know Alex,

yeah, I don't know if you know this or not, but Alexander Hamilton didn't actually know how to rap. You just watch it and enjoy the story and enjoy the show. And then sometimes you get surprised. Like sometimes you go, man, there's no way that so-and-so will lose. What's this? Think of all the great upsets in wrestling history. Think of when the one, two, three kid, better known as Sean Waltman, better known as Xbox. Think about when he beat Razor Ramon. Nobody saw that coming.

And I think that that's what makes wrestling so special is that, to quote Vince McMahon, anything can happen in the WWE. And that's the cool thing. So even though you think you might know it's going to happen, just buckle up. Anything. Anything can happen. Colin emailed this one in.

What are your thoughts on WWE completely ruining the Charlotte Flair Rumble Surprise? I think a complete surprise return would have been better. Best wishes to you and the fam. I agree with you, Colin. I'm struggling to see what the idea. was behind pre-announcing her return. People were already going to tune into the Royal Rumble. I'm sure there's a handful of Charlotte Flair fans that are tuning in now because they know that 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, one of those is going to be Charlotte Flair's music hitting

and her coming out. But I think we kind of already expected that she was going to come out. I don't know why they needed to confirm it a week before. And they did the same thing with Survivor's series in 2023. They pre-announced that Randy Orton would be returning. And I was like, why are you, why don't you just let his music hit? Like he could, he could have been the surprise fifth member of that war games match by his music just hitting. And instead, like a week before, they were like, they didn't say it, but they were like,

I've got a friend who will be joining this match. And his name rhymes, rhymes with. Andy Norton, and he's a snake, a viper, if you will. I see now, in hindsight, that for Survivor Series 2023, I think they announced Randy Orton's return a week before to allow for the full moment that CM Punk was able to have at the end of the show. Because I think that if we had two surprise returns, that, well, I guess technically we had three,

because our truth also returned to Survivor Series 2023. But I think that if we had Randy Orton, oh my gosh, that return's so big, there's a possibility, I guess, that maybe CM Punk's return wouldn't have landed as big as it did. There is this thought, and it's an old school idea in wrestling. I think this is actually a Vince McMahon thing. I've heard many people talk about this. Vince McMahon seemed to think that there's only so many pops that a crowd has. The crowd only has so many pops in them. like don't use them on other things, like save them up for the big pop.

Maybe that's the idea here. I don't know. But if we're to apply that to the Royal Rumble this weekend, that means that there's a bigger return that's going to be happening. Perhaps it's Becky Lynch. Maybe it's somebody else in addition to that. But possibly, I'm just trying to logically think my way through this. But I think that Charlotte Flair's music hitting as a Rumble surprise for me,

Personally, that feels like it would have been a lot better. I don't know. But at least we go into this Saturday knowing that she's one of the surprises. She's not even a surprise. She's one of the people, one of the entrance, I guess. Brett Clark emailed this one in and is titled John Cena's Path to Glory. Hey, Chris, long time, real, real one from down here in Brisbane. I think it's realistic to think that the Royal Rumble will be a bad one.

for John Suna. I can see a situation where everyone in the roster wants to eliminate him so they will gang up on him. This will set up future matches. I also think that he will somehow lose elimination chamber and then go on to win the money in the bank contract. There's my thoughts anyway. Good luck with the live shows. Wish I was over there to see one. Best regards. Brett. Well, I think we kind of touched on this already. I don't think that everyone's going to gang up on John Sina in the Royal Rumble. John Cena is going to be one of the final four. He might even be the final three or two. But John Seen is not entering the Royal Rumble to have six or eight other competitors gang up on him and all eliminate him.

John Seen is going to have a great showing in the Royal Rumble. This is how I'm thinking it's going to go. I think John Seen is going to have a great showing and we'll end up being in the final four. But I'm with you. I'm with you. I think he'll enter the elimination chamber and could lose that and then go on to win money in bank. And then there's a real storyline there of like, John Sina now has the money in the bank contract. Who's he going to cash in on? When's he going to cash in? And all of the storyline that goes along

with that. The only problem with our theory here is money in the bank happens after WrestleMania. So, Brad, if we're going along with this theory that you and I have here of not winning the Rumble, not winning elimination chamber. How does he have any sort of momentum going into WrestleMania? Does he, like, how can you have a guy who hasn't been winning be in a main spot at WrestleMania? And I guess the simple answer to that is he's John Sina, you dummy. And that's true.

Yeah. You dummy. L.A. night. I love when he would call people dummies. I guess he mostly did that as Eli Drake. Yeah. But I just, he needs to have some.

sort of momentum and some sort of story. And I guess the fun thing about this whole John Sina retirement tour is all the wild speculation that we can have. We know so very little. We've only seen John Sina on our TVs once in 2025. After this weekend, it will be twice. But up to this point, it's only been once. And it was just for a promo. And that promo did not set up any sort of storyline with an individual did not set up really anything other than the fact that he won't wants to try to get that lottery ticket, wants to somehow try to get that 17th championship. But I could see this.

I could see money in the bank that it would make a lot of sense. I don't know. All we can do is just guess at this point. But it sure seems to me like there's something there. I still feel like he's only going to have like six to eight matches. That's what I think. And we've, after this weekend, if he said there's 36 appearances, it's only 34 more appearances after that. Some of those are going to have to set up the matches, set up the storyline.

Some of them are just going to be promo. Some of them might just be a little backstage things here and there. But if there's 34 more appearances after this, it's not 34 more matches. So, very, very curious. But I, I just tend to feel like he's not going to win the Rumble. So you're with me on this, and I appreciate that. Kurt Ryan Solomon emailed this one in. I'm Kurt from the Philippines, the land of Thrilla and Manila and home to one of the greatest boxers of all time, Manny Packia. I've been an avid listener of your podcast, and make sure to tune in every day on my way to work. It's my go-to morning motivation, and I wouldn't start my day without it.

First off, massive congratulations to the newest member of your bloodline. B, BVVV. I absolutely love how you bring your family into your wrestling journey. It's not just inspiring, but it's such a beautiful and heartwarming thing to witness. I also love the Ask RVV segment. If I ever get married, I can only hope that my wife and I share the same passion for WWE that you and your family do. It would be the perfect way to bond, create memories, and build that special connection.

I should point out that my wife doesn't really like wrestling. She just puts up with it. I'm sure there's a lot of people that can relate to that. She's the best. Rachel is the absolute best. and I love her more than any words could possibly, possibly say, but she doesn't love wrestling. She's like, yeah, I'll go with you, or yeah, we can put it on while we're having dinner because it's on at 5 o'clock here, but she doesn't love wrestling.

Anyway, back to this. Now, here's my question. Given Triple H's ongoing efforts to prioritize family time and the well-being of WWE superstars, do you think WWE could ever adopt a legitimate season structure with an off-season similar to the NBA or NFL, imagine how this could benefit WWE superstars, providing them with time to recover from injuries, heal their bodies, and keep the product fresh for the fans, especially now that the sports world is increasing their focus on wellness and well-being. Do you ever think that this is a possibility in the near future? It's a great question. And I love that Triple H is more focused

on family stuff than we've ever seen before in the entire history of WWE. I don't think that we'll ever see an offseason, and this is why. As I just pointed out a few minutes ago, WWE, it's different from the NBA or MLB or NHL or NFL. It's not a sports league. It's a television show. And in the way that they've been selling these TV rights deals, they've been selling them as a 52-week product. So think about this. If you were to have an off-season, I don't know, just randomly 20 weeks. So you're only going to do 32 weeks. So you're only going to do 32-week of RAW or 32 weeks of Smackdown, you're now losing your earning potential on 20 weeks television. That's hundreds of millions of dollars. So I don't see that happening. What I do see

happening is what we've seen recently where people get time off. Randy Orton is currently off right now. And they wrote them off in a great way. Make Kevin Owens look really strong. I'm sure it's setting up for something else when Randy Orton comes back, which could be this weekend. I mean, think about that. We didn't even think about that when we were talking about the Royal Rumble. Sure, Randy Orton might be in the Rumble. Very possible if he's healed up in time. But also, Randy Orton could play a factor in this ladder match. I mean, it was Kevin Owens who took him out with that pile driver. Randy, uh, Randy Orton could come out and he could ruin Kevin Owens' chances of winning that ladder match. But I think that we're, that's what we're going to see a little bit

more of. Take a week off, take two weeks off, take Becky Lynch six months off. Although Becky Lynch from what Seth Rollins was telling me in our interview hasn't been taking a break. It's not like she's been sitting at home just chilling. It sounds like she's been working even harder than she was in WWE with a whole bunch of different film and TV projects. But I think that that's what we're going to be seeing more of. The roster is so stacked. There is so much talent on the roster, both the women's and the men's side. And I think that it's not a problem when someone like how long did Roman rains take off after WrestleMania? How long did Paul Heyman take off after after he got put through the announced table? That's what I think we're

going to see a little bit more of. I don't think there's going to be this demand to be there every single week. You've also seen the live event schedule get cut back quite a bit. And the focus now is on the television shows. So that's what I think we're going to see. I don't think we're going to see a full-on off-season because think about it. What would we do as fans? What would we do as fans if there was an off-season? I guess we'd have to go watch something else on Mondays and Fridays and Tuesdays. I just, I can't see that happening, but I do think that there will be a continued focus on allowing people to spend time with their families. When I interviewed Seamus, he was talking about how he finally got to go on his honeymoon after not being able to do

that. He got married two years ago and was just taking his honeymoon. Moon now, but he got the two weeks off to be able to do that. That's what I think we're going to see more of. I think you're going to see a standard break around the holidays. And I think you're going to see superstars being able to take a week or two or three or a month or two or three here and there. That's what I think we're going to see. But I think that the show as a whole will continue chugging along. It is the longest running episodic program in history, right? We hear that all the time. Brian Manns emailed this one in. Hey Chris, real, real one here. I found your show last year and I can honestly say I'm addicted.

And because of your show, I have a TNA plus subscription. I was surprised at the quality of wrestling from TNA, but I suppose that just shows my original ignorance to the product. Anyway, I'm going to my first rumble this year. I've been trying to figure out some surprise entrance. I stumbled across the Jericho cruise that takes place between January 31st to February 3rd. Two of the names were a letdown. Joe Hendry and Nick Nemouth.

I'm assuming this means that neither will be attending the Rumble. What are your thoughts on this? Hope that you and the entire Van Vleet faction are doing well, Brian. That's an excellent question. Also, do not sleep on TNA. My goodness. And if you have TNA Plus, go back into the archives. Go back to like Kurt Angle, 06 to 09.

go back and watch AJ Stiles versus Samoa Joe literally any year go back and watch some Christopher Daniels from like the mid-2000s amazing red from like 4, 0, 06-07 watch any ultimate X match

I'm sorry, I've gone off on quite a tangent here if you can't tell I love me some TNA but let's talk about some Royal Rumble surprises like we already named a few of them So Becky Lynch, I think that's one of them. Alexa Bliss feels like a possibility. Jordan Grace, I would be shocked if Jordan Grace isn't in the Royal Rumble,

especially after what she said during our interview. But when you look at the two names that you talked about here, Joe Hendry and Nick Nemith, we know there's this working relationship with WWE and TNA. So it's very plausible that either of them could be in the Royal Rumble. So I did a little bit of digging. Okay. You said that the Jericho cruise leaves on January 31st, comes back on February 3rd. It's a good chunk of time, right?

It's five days where all of these wrestlers would be out at sea, they wouldn't be able to participate in the Rumble. So when I looked at the cruise dates and like what's going on, what's the itinerary for the cruise. Well, just so happens that they're heading to Porta Plata, Dominican Republic. They get there on Sunday, February 2nd. It is entirely possible that anybody who's on the Jericho cruise might miss the first few days of the Jericho cruise, but then they pick up the cruise in Porta Plata, Dominican Republic, and then they cruise from there back to Miami. So let's look at the schedule for the two people that you're talking about.

Nick Nemeth, what are his appearances on the Jericho cruise? Nick Nemith is scheduled to appear on the Jericho cruise on Saturday, February 1st at 11 p.m. He's part of Paterson's Memorial Karaoke. That seems to rule Nick Nemith out as a possible Royal Rumble entrant. How could he possibly be in the Royal Rumble? if he's going to be part of this karaoke at the exact same time. But then we look at Joe Hendry. Joe Hendry is not scheduled for anything on the Jericho cruise until Monday, February 3rd.

He has a meet and greet at 1.30 on Monday, February 3rd. And then that night, he is doing Paterson Memorial Karaoke. at 10 p.m. If I'm reading this right, if the itinerary that is on Chrisjericocruise.com is correct, that means that they cruise the 31st

and the first, which is the day of the Rumble, and then they get into Dominican Republic on the Sunday. It is entirely plausible that Joe Hendry could be in the Royal Rumble, fly to Dominican Republic, pick up the cruise there, get on the cruise, and then make his appearances on Monday.

Doesn't seem like that's the case with Nick Nemeth. But again, anything can happen in wrestling. It could be possible that someone's appearance on the Jericho cruise could be pulled at the last second. But I guess people will be finding out today, as you're listening to this right now, since it is Friday, January 31st. If Joe Hendry's not on the ship in Miami, you can speculate wildly from there. If Nick Nemeth is on the ship, I think the writing's on the wall. It's thought it was interesting to do a little bit of digging here, see what's possible.

But once you're on that cruise ship, once you leave the port, once you leave Miami, you can't get off. You don't get off until it touches land again, which is Dominican Republic. So if you're, whoever boards the ship on Friday, I think you can pretty much guarantee unless they're sending a helicopter to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, you can pretty much assume that those people are not going to be on the Royal Rumble. Whoever does not get on in Miami. Yeah. There you go.

But I also think there's a possibility for a few other surprises as well. The Hardy Boys, I've been saying this for weeks. but it'd be, especially with the iconic music that, that, I know they can't come out together. I guess it would be Jeff coming out to that music. That iconic music hitting and then maybe Matt, oh man, could it be Matt Hardy's like version one music that plays when he comes out. Oh, yeah. Amazing.

But I think that that's another real possible surprise. And then I think a legend or two, a Hall of Famer or two, could also be thrown in there just for good measure. But if you're reading between the lines here, I think you know that the DNA world champion is likely going to be in the Rumble. I'm just reading the clues here. I'm just being like Colonel Mustard.

I'm just being like Professor Plum. Michael Anthony Robinson on Spotify says, Hey, CVV, I'm a real, real one from Rose Hill, Kansas, after the heated exchange that KO had with Triple H when he assaulted Cody and the recent exchange with Sean Michaels, do you see a scenario where Triple H comes out of retirement to face KO at WrestleMania? Triple H never had a real last match, even though he said that he's okay with that.

Could be a great addition to the card. Congrats on BBCVV, and thank you for the great content every week. Well, thank you, my friend, MAR, Michael Anthony Robinson. I would love to see another Triple H match, but we need to be completely honest and completely serious about this. It is not happening. He had a very serious cardiac event in 2021. He has gone on the record many times to say, quote,

I will never wrestle again. There is no reason to think that he would. He has a defibrillator in his chest. So I think that it would be putting his health into a lot of danger if Triple H wrestled again, especially with the style that Triple H wrestled. So, no, I would love to see it happen again. It won't happen again. But I like that Triple H has now become this kind of authority figure in the same way that Nick Aldous and Adam Pierce are,

where it's like, you don't cross the boss. Like, you need, like, he reminds you of like, yeah, I'm one of the greatest of all time. And like, don't you forget that? And I think that that's kind of what he's doing in these situations. It's like, hey, you got out of line. and it's my opportunity and my job right now to get you back in line. That's what that character is all about. And I also like that we are in the era right now where we feel like we're in the

know with what's going on with wrestling. So when Triple H comes out here, we don't go, oh, who's that guy? I don't know. And he comes out there, you go, oh, that's Triple H. 14-time world champion, also the COO. okay, the words that he says into the mic, they carry some weight because of the role that he holds in the company. I appreciate that, but no, we're not going to see another match. And I think that's for the best. Like, it sounds like we were real close to losing Triple H in 2021. And to now

see how healthy he looks, I feel like we should be grateful that he's still with us. And I was a massive triple H fan. Had his poster on the back of my door when I was in high school. I would love to see him wrestle again. And I'm sad that he never got his final match. But I think it's for the betterment of his health that that doesn't happen. Sean Rat. I know that's not your real last name.

I'm sorry, Sean. But I'm looking at this. You left this comment on Facebook. C-Rat is what your name on Facebook is. Hey, CVV, happy Royal Rumble weekend. It feels like Jacob Fahtu had a real breakthrough moment at Saturday night's main event. Not quite Steve Austin in the 316 speech, but still a I have arrived moment. What do you think it looks like for him between now and WrestleMania?

My son and I are really looking forward to the live CVV event in Indy. Thank you for all of the great content in 2025 already. That was definitely the I have arrived moment for Jacob Fattu. I think that for people who had never seen him outside of his WWE debut, everything he did every week made people go, oh my gosh, this guy's incredible. Yeah, we've known that for years.

Jacob Fonte was amazing. And he's also in the best shape that he's ever been in. Like, he was, I don't know what it was, 30, 40 pounds heavier with some of the stuff he was doing on the Indies or an MLW, which is like crazy. Like when you see a guy that size being able to do me, moon salts or move the speed that he does. Reminds me a little bit of like Umaga with the speed that he moves around in the ring with. But I think there was a portion of the audience that just

saw him as like the guy who did the prayer hands all the time. Oh no, no, no, no. That match with Braun Strowman, I think opened up a lot of people's eyes to, yeah, there's something here. This is certainly a future intercontinental champion. This is a future United States champion. And I don't see why he wouldn't be able to be a future world champion at some point in time. He has it all. And I'm so glad that he's been given the opportunity to really showcase that. There's just such a realism to what Jacob Fattu does when he talks. Like, I am genuinely scared as I'm listening to him. Could you imagine being the person who's on the receiving end of that promo? Best is yet to come for Jacob Fattu.

Jay Mark Lucas left this one on Facebook. Hey, CVV, just want to let you know that I have officially secured VIP tickets to your live show in Vegas for Mania Week. Can't wait to meet you as well. Can you give us any hints on who you'll possibly have as a guest? Also, I posted a question on the Ask CVV number 66 edition and my 11-year-old son, Jeremiah, went crazy when he heard you shout out. my name. Can you do me a solid and give him a shout out for being a real, real one so that he can be the envy amongst his friends at B. Gail Wilson Middle School. Thanks, my friend. See you in Sin City in April. Jeremiah, what's up, my dude? I hope that you and all of your friends at B. Gail Wilson

Middle School are listening right now. And I hope that they realize how awesome you and your dad are. So I appreciate you for listening and I'll see you guys in Las Vegas. Man, that's cool. Can't wait to one day. I have a, I guess it'd be like an 11 and a 10 year old. No, hopefully be listening to their favorite podcasts and hear their name, shout it out. So, yeah, man, that's so cool. Can't wait to see you guys in Vegas. Steve Placito on Instagram says, what is your favorite non-rumbel match in Royal Rumble history? An excellent question. Can I give you three?

I'm going to anyway. Royal Rumble 2000, Dudleys versus Hardy's table match. It's so good. Even though it's such a short match, it's like 10-ish minutes. They put so much into that match, so many great high spots, so many cool moments. That match for me, and that's a precursor. That's pre-TLC. That match for me was like, I've never seen these things done in a match before.

Like Jeff Hardy jumps off the entrance way? What? Crazy. Wild. So and to that match for sure, that's one of my favorite tag team matches of all time. And it's on the same show, also Royal Rumble 2000. Triple H versus Cactus Jack in a street fight. I think it's my favorite triple H match. Yeah. Yeah, I'm thinking, yeah, that's my favorite triple H match. So how could it not be my favorite non-royal rumble match. That match is just great. And it really, like, we were already aware of what Mick Foley was capable of, but he takes the pedigree into the thumbtacks, like he nose dives into them.

Then he gets up and they're like, thumbtacks are all over his face. And it's just like, damn, how can you not respect that? So those two, and then we talked about it recently with Kurt Engel, but 2003, Kurt Engel versus Chris Benoit for the WWE Championship is just a, a damn wrestling masterclass. And Kurt talked about it. It's like, it just, he's like, it sucks that I have to, like, diminish some of the things that I've done in my professional career because we aren't allowed to talk about Chris Benoit. And he's like, it takes away from like his own career, from Kurt's career because of the actions of Chris Benoit. Of course, Kurt does not condone them.

Nobody should. It's disgusting. It's awful. But as a wrestler for just talking. about his in-ring career, and this is in 2003, that match is unbelievable. If you haven't watched it or you haven't watched it recently, I think we've got some pre-royal rumble homework for you. Just put it on and just enjoy. Man, it's so intense and hard hitting and the grappling they do. Oh, man. So good. So those are my three. Those are my three. There's plenty of other ones that could be on the list, but for me personally, I can't narrow it down to just one, but those are three that I could rewatch any day of the week. Dylan Hammonds 30 on Instagram says, what are your chances of ever interviewing HBK? Well, I did a quick interview with him on the red carpet for raw on Netflix.

I've put a few clips on social media from that one. But the odds I'd say are pretty good. and I never want to, I never want to guarantee anything. I never like announcing when things happen. Like, I never like announcing, like, announcing, like, I'm flying to this city to interview this person because things can always happen. Plans can always change.

And that's what happened with Sean Michaels. I'm happy to tell you the story about it now. But I flew to Orlando. I flew to the Performance Center. I did those interviews that you saw with Sean Spears and Ethan Page and Trick Williams. I was supposed to interview Sean Michaels there. And I found out the day before that he had a conflict with his schedule and wasn't going to be around.

It was like, oh, man. Oh, I was so excited for it. It was so prepared for it. So it was originally going to be Sean Michaels and Ethan Page and Tric Williams. In the last minute, they were like, who else do you want? We're so sorry. He's not available. I said, well, let's trade one, Sean, for another.

Give me my good friend, Sean Spears. So I was able to get him on the show again, be able to catch up with him. Just two fathers of two, just hanging out. So I think the odds are good. And it was cool to be able to just spend even a few minutes with Sean Michaels on the red carpet and have a brief chat. I asked him like three questions. And again, you can see those on social media or on the CVVV clips channel. But it's one of the greatest of all time.

And that, my friends, is the final question here on Ask CVV number 68, the Yarmary Jagger edition. Send in your questions for AskCTVV number 69 by leaving a comment on Spotify, sending it on social media using the hashtag AskCV or shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanfleet.com. If you're listening on Spotify, give me your predictions. You heard mine. Give me your predictions for the men's and the women's Royal Romo.

Just drop their names. Just drop their names. It could be like John Cena, Charlotte Flair. It could be Roman Raines, Becky Lynch, whatever the two names are. Put them in the comments right now. I'm very curious. I'll go through them next week when we meet again next Friday. I'll go through them and we can see how many people got both right.

How many people only got one right? How many people were way out, like, way out, completely wrong, way out, and left feet? no clue dropping it's always interesting people are always like what if like a what if like an up-and-comer could win yeah i i don't see that happening i i feel like there's some underdogs that win like there's there's someone who's like oh yeah i didn't expect to see them win but then you see the storyline where it takes you like for example when ray mysterio won and it led to him winning the world championship but i think that the moment like we talked about earlier is when when like you can be made in the Rumble.

The Rumble can make you, even if you don't win. So I think that it's going to be someone, it's going to be who you think is going to win. There's not going to be a surprise winner here. There might be a surprise person in the final four. But the winner on both the men's side and the women's side, I don't think it's going to be shocking. And I think it's going to really,

we're going to have a much clearer picture about WrestleMania after this weekend. I will leave you with this quote from Oscar Wild. I love this quote. To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist. That's all. Be great.

Be grateful. Have an amazing weekend. I'll see you in Indy. If you're there, I'll see you at the Rumble. And we will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Chris Jericho joining us on Tuesday. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockument.

Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley.

Ever heard of then? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.