Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #71 - Will Cody Lose At Mania? Ricky Starks' New Name, Best Hall Of Fame Class Ever, John Cena's Next Opponent

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Tickets are on sale now for INSIGHT LIVE in Toronto & Las Vegas with VIP Meet & Greet! Welcome to AskCVV #71! On this episode, Chris answers questions about Michelle McCool getting inducted in the WWE Hall Of Fame, if or when Cody will turn heel, Ricky Starks' name change in NXT, a possible AJ Styles interview, the best WWE Hall Of Fame class ever, who an underrated promo is and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "Beware of destination addiction: The idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, or even with the next partner. You'll never be able to experience happiness in the present moment until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else." - @spiritualgoal Please support our sponsors! PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux STASH: Go to get.stash.com/INSIGHT to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insight to get 10% off your order of Mitopure! 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: 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. Well, here we go. Happy Friday, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Inside. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet. Hope it's been a great week for you. Thank you for being with us on this one.

And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. I'm sure you've already done so. because you're a real one and you're listening to an Ask CVV episode. But if you haven't, lay your phone down on the ground right now. Grab it out of your pocket. Lay it on the ground and hit a moonsault on that follow button on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. So you don't miss out on anything that we have coming up. It's kind of mind blowing when you look at the numbers on the back end. It's something like, like 67% of people who listen to the show don't follow the show. And on YouTube, it's far worse. It's like in the 70%.

Like people just pop in, listen or watch on YouTube, and then that's it. They don't just push a button. It's all I'm asking for you to do. And the more people that subscribe or follow to the show, the bigger we can get and the bigger the guests can continue to get. And my goodness, we've got some good ones. I just got off a plane yesterday. I did three big ones. I think there's a question later on in the show that kind of links up to one of those.

So hang on for a little bit here and you'll find out who that huge future Hall of Famer is that'll be on the show soon. But we've got some really big ones on the way. Elimination Chambers happening next weekend in my hometown, Toronto. I can't wait to be back there. We've got a few big interviews lined up there. And then it's like less than two months to WrestleMania. I saw a post the other day. It was like 60 days to WrestleMania.

And now we're less than two months. It just, it feels like we were just in Philly. Last year for WrestleMania 40, and WrestleMania 41 is already here. Wild. Speaking of Elimination Chamber and speaking of WrestleMania, I've got live shows happening, two of them in Toronto for Elimination Chamber.

I got one the day before and won the day after, and then I've got one the Thursday of WrestleMania week. I would love for you guys to be there. We do an Ask CVV before the show, like an exclusive one. It doesn't go out anywhere. other than for the people in that room. It's just for the people in that room.

We don't record it or anything. It's a special thing that we do. That's for the VIPs only. So we're doing the show on the Friday. It's Friday, February 28th, the day before Elimination Chamber, doing one on Sunday, March 2nd, the day after Elimination Chamber,

and then we've got one on April 17th in Las Vegas. Tickets for all of these are available at CVVTix.com. I've also had a lot of people hit me up going what should I do when I'm in Vegas? Where should I stay? Has been a big question I've been getting. I'm staying at Circa. And that's where my show is. That's where the live insight is happening that Thursday. They've got room deals going on right now. So if you haven't booked your hotel room yet, I would check out Circa's website. It's linked up if you go to CVV. CVV ticks.com. It's linked up there. But they've got some killer deals. And they just have stuff going on all week as part of

Sarkomania, brother. They've got my live show. Busted Open's doing a live show there. They've also got watch parties. So if you're only going to one night of WrestleMania, you can check out the watch party the other night at Stadium Swim, which has a gigantic, gigantic screen that you'll be in, it's like a pool party.

April in Las Vegas, the weather would be beautiful. It's a pool party, and you're watching WrestleMania. So that's happening on Saturday and Sunday. Or if you're going to mania, if you're going to Vegas, but not going to mania, you could watch WrestleMania both nights at that watch party. But again, that's at Circa, CVV ticks.com for all of that stuff. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 71, the Yvgeny Malkin and Walter Jones edition.

Thank you for being with us on this one. If you've got a question for next week's Ask CVV, leave it in the comments if you're listening on Spotify. I think that's always the best way to get these questions in here. put it on social media using the hashtag Ask CVV or shoot me an email CVV at Chris Vanfleet.com. All right, we'll start off

this one, AskCVV number 71. With this one from Frank McLean on Instagram, hey, CVV, be honest. Did you know Michelle McCool was going to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? Your interview with her was released the day before that announcement. You seem to have some sort of magical powers

when it comes to predicting these things. So with that said, could you set up interviews with demolition and Lex Lugar now? I got this question a lot. The timing of the Michelle McCool interview was completely coincidental. It couldn't have worked out better, but it was completely coincidental. I had no idea. I knew that she would be inducted into the Hall of Fame at some point in time because her resume speaks for itself. But I had no idea that I'd be putting out that interview on a Thursday.

And then that Friday, she'd be getting surprised by AAA. with the announcement that she's getting inducted in the WWE class of 2025. Amazing. So well deserved. So overdue as well. And I can't believe the discourse online from people that don't understand why she's getting inducted. She made history.

She was the first ever WWE Divas champion. She's the first woman to be both the WWE and women's champion. She's the only ever unified Divis champion. She was one of only four women to be part of the first ever women's tag team tables match. And of course, she was part of the historic first ever women's Royal Rumble and Evolution. Like, I just don't understand. I just don't get it. So I couldn't be more happy for Michelle McCool.

And if you haven't checked out the episode yet, go check it out here when you're done with this episode or watch it on YouTube. As for demolition and Lex Lugar, I think now with. the new regime with Triple H in there and a lot of the things, a lot of the decisions we've been seeing behind the scenes, I think it's a matter, just a matter of time for both of them. Demolution just signed a Legends deal, which seems to me like that's a precursor to them being inducted. And Lex Lugar? I actually just did a, I just did an interview with Lex Lugar. We just did it on Monday. So, and I, I don't want to give too much away.

You probably know from either listening to my interview with DDP or maybe you saw some of the headlines, DDP has been working with Lex Lugar. And Lex Lugar has been in a wheelchair for a long time, a long time. DDP's been working with Lex on his mobility and he's looking good. He looks very healthy. And just as a whole, he just seems really happy, like super energetic, full of energy. but I didn't know this. Lex brought it up during our interview. He is, he just signed his third Legends deal. There are five years at a time. So he's been on the WWE Legends deal for over 10 years.

And I think that what Lex needed was, I think, a change in management and a change of who's running the show behind the scenes. And that's what we have now with Triple H. I think there was some animosity there. There was some heat from various different things for Lex Lugar. I think the first one, if you go way back, was he was the first person to defect from WWE and show up on Nitro. He showed up on the very first episode of Nitro. I think that rubbed Vince the wrong way. And then you fast forward to everything that happened when Lex was in a very low point. And we did talk about it during the interview, he was dating Miss Elizabeth when she died and everything that surrounded that, I think that that didn't play well into this. I think there were just a lot of different factors.

And Lex will also tell you that he was a different person back then. And he was very self-centered, just thinking about himself. And since becoming a believer, since finding God in 2006, he's become a whole new person. And a lot of people have said that. DDP is like, I would never have been friends with him back then. And now they're close friends. So I think it's just a matter of time before demolition and Lex Lugar got inducted. Maybe it's this year.

They've only announced two names for this year, Triple H and Michelle McCool. So we've got what? It's usually five people. So we get three more names that'll be announced. you could, I think you could see demolition and Lex Lugar maybe together this year or maybe one of them this year, one of them next year, but I think that there's no question that within the next handful of years, they're both in the Hall of Fame and obviously extremely deserving of it. Jonathan Trench on Facebook, what did you think of Ricky Stark's new name in NXT?

It was very interesting how they didn't say his name for a little while, and I think that got people questioning of like, oh, is he not going to be Ricky Starks? And then what name are they going to give him? So if you didn't catch it, he is Ricky Saints, which pays tribute to the fact that he born and raised in New Orleans. And obviously the football team there is the Saints. And it's like he said in the interview that he did with Bullie Ray on Busted Open After Dark, Saints is about as close as you can get to Starks. I don't know the whole story here. And I'd be interested to hear it, maybe when Ricky comes back on the show, this must mean that Ricky didn't own the trademark. Or if he did own the trademark, that means he would have been the one

to make the decision to not be Ricky Starks in WW. But I'm curious because he was Ricky Starks in the Indies. He was Ricky Starks in the NWA. He was Ricky Starks in A.E.W. I'm just, I would love to know all of the thought and all of everything that went into making this decision. But for people that don't like it, I think that it just comes down to wrestling fans don't like change. People in general just don't like change. But when you think back, there's lots of people who have had different names. No one, like, are you complaining now that Tyler Black is not Tyler Black in WWE? What's this new, what Seth Rawlins? He's, it's Tyler Black. Why would, why would I call him Seth Rawlins? Just takes some time to get used to it. When Walter became Gunther,

people were up in arms about it. Eoskei, her name was changed. I remember doing an interview with Brian Danielson. He was obviously Daniel Bryan at the time. I did the interview when he was the WWE champion. So we're going back. It was 2013 we did this interview. And I asked him.

I said, are you, you made a name for yourself as Brian Danielson. And all of the things you did in Ring of Honor and everywhere else, Japan, before coming to WWE, was a difficult to, change your name. And he's like, look, there was a certain audience that knew me as Brian Danielson, but the people who know me now as Daniel Bryan is far larger. And I think that's kind of going to be the case with Ricky Saints, where he built his career as Ricky Starks. And it's almost like a, this is a defining moment now. Like Ricky Starks was all the things he did before Tuesday.

And now Ricky Saints is everything that he's going to do after this. But it is interesting because a lot of people who have come over from TNA or AEW have been able to keep their names. So it's a curious thing. Sean Spears was able to keep his name. He wasn't Sean Spears when he was in WWE. I think there's a lot of people to forget that. He was Ty Dillinger, went to AEW, one went to the Indies and went to AEW with Sean

Spiers came back to WW, not as Ty Dillinger, came back as Sean Spears. It's curious. Ethan Page, same thing. Ethan Page was able to keep his name. I'm sure we will start to get more of an answer as Ricky Saints does more interviews over the next few weeks. Maybe one with me even. We'll see. It'd be great to have him back from the show. But I'll say the same thing that I always say, and say it with me here. Have a little bit of patience. six months or a year or three years, you won't even be talking about what their name previously was. I mean, you're surely not doing it with Gunther. You're surely not doing it with Eoske. You're just going, all right, that's the name that we'll call that person. And we just kind of

move on and move on from there. Connor on Spotify left this one. Real, real one from Scotland here. Well, thank you, Connor. With Roman not being a participant in the chamber and us, not seeing him since the stomp, do we see him involved at Elimination Chamber, or are they possibly waiting to see what they're doing with him? For example, waiting to see if Rock's schedule is clear. Or is that one out of the equation?

Keep up the great work. Your positivity is refreshing. I would be shocked if Roman Raines isn't part of WrestleMania in some way, shape, or form. I know I've been saying for a long time, Rock Roman Raines seems to be what they've been gunning for for a while now. They try to do it at 39. They try to do it at 40. Are they going to do it at 41? I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong here with less than two months to go to WrestleMania,

I feel like if it was going to be Rock Roman, we would already have some seeds planted for that. We would already have this in the works. And as of right now, we don't even know if Rock's going to be part of WrestleMania. We certainly don't know if he's going to be wrestling a match there, but we don't even know if he's going to be part of it. And I don't know if you saw the news that just came out. This was crazy, by the way. The Rock is doing a Martin Scorsese film.

And that is, by the way, how you correctly pronounce his name. People say Martin Scorsese. Martin himself says Scorsese. So he's, it's, it's Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Emily Blunt are going to star in this Martin Scorsese crime thriller that is being described by deadline as the departed meets Goodfellas. It follows an aspiring mob. boss who fights rival crime factions for control of the underworld of the Hawaiian islands. That's huge, by the way.

Like, not only is Rock going to be trading lines with some of the best in the game, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt, it's going to be directed by one of the all-time greatest directors. Amazing. I can't wait for that. That announcement just came out. I don't know if that factors into this. Usually when these announcements are made for a film, it's not like they make the announcement

and start filming it the next day, they probably won't start production on this for many months from now. I don't think that film factors into any of these WrestleMania plans. So let's just put that out there right now. I saw a lot of discussion that was like, well, guess Rock's not going to be at mania now.

I would be surprised if this gets filmed between now and WrestleMania. But for Roman Raines, he's got to have something there. I know there's been a lot of talk about it. is it a three-way? Is it a three-way match? Is there a four-way match? I don't know. And we would just be just guessing at this point in time. But I will say this. It doesn't feel like there would be a WrestleMania in this current era without Roman Raines, especially when his

main evented so many of them. We went through the list last week. And you can go listen to last week's episode if you didn't check it out. But it's something like seven or eight of the last 10 WrestleMania's have been main evented by Roman Raines. It's wild. It's wild. So I'm not saying he's going to be part of the main event, but I think that Roman Raines is back and part of this at some point in time. Elimination chamber? I don't know. I don't know. And I think what else, you know, a big thing that a lot of people aren't talking about is, yeah, elimination chambers happening next weekend. Two weeks after that, March 17th, they're doing raw at Madison Square Garden. and there's just something about that building that just takes things up a notch.

So I feel like that one's going to be treated, maybe not quite like a PLE, but it's not just going to be a regular raw. So just look ahead, just kind of keep that in the back of your mind that that raw will also, I think, have some big moments or interesting things. But I would be shocked. I would be absolutely shocked if Roman Ray. isn't part of WrestleMania. And I know that there doesn't seem to be a path for him right now. But with that said, it's really not a path for a lot of people right now. The pieces are going to

really start falling into place in March, I think, especially with Elimination Chamber and then everything that kind of happens with Raw and Smackdown after that. This episode is brought to you in part by Stash. Saving and investing can feel impossible. But with Stash, it's not just a reality. It's easy. Stash isn't just an investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with dependable financial strategies to help you reach your goals faster.

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Offer is subject to terms and conditions. Jim, which is at JT. Wrestling Cards on. Instagram. Hey, CVV. First, I'd like to congratulate you on all of your success. Thank you, Jim. Very nice of you. Every interview that I listen to, I can hear your passion. I discovered your podcast about a year and a half ago. I've gone back and listened to lots of old episodes. This is how I spend my lunch breaks at work every day. I can honestly say I've enjoyed every single one. I also really enjoy the Ask CVV episodes. I love hearing your opinions and listener questions. My question to you is you mentioned not too long ago about your intentions to interview AJ

Stiles. I'm a huge fan of him going back to his TNA days. He is truly phenomenal. Can you provide any update on when we may hear from the phenomenal one on CVV? Thank you and I really appreciate all of your hard work that goes into the podcast. Well, Jim, I will tell you this. I just interviewed AJ Stiles. And I say that with a giant smile on my face. I interviewed him on Tuesday of this week. it was awesome. So you will be seeing and hearing that interview next Thursday, February 27th. So mark that on your calendars. Hit a Hurricane Rana on that follow button so you don't miss it.

It's really, we talked for over an hour and a half. I think it's the second longest or third longest interview I've ever done on the show. Say it you will not want to miss that one. and I'm with you. I'm a huge AJ fan. He was my guy dating all the way back to like 0405-06 TNA. Like the things he was doing in the ring, I'd literally never seen anyone do that before.

So we talk a lot about TNA. We talk a lot of everything in his career. So there you go. Next Thursday, it's a big one. You will not want to miss that one. Jonathan PKK on Instagram says, Hey, CV, a real, real, one here. I find your Ask CVV episodes just as good as your interviews. It's always good to hear your

informed view on things. Well, let's be fair here, Jonathan. I don't know if it's informed. It's just my ramblings for an hour here, but thank you. My question for the next episode is this. With a lot of ex-WWE stars and other promotions, which one would you like to see return one day? All the best to you and your family from the UK. Well, if it was last week's episode, I would have told you the Hardy Boys. But now we see that the Hardy Boys are returning to NXT, I guess debuting in NXT, but returning to WWE on NXT on Tuesday, which is that place is just going to go bonkers when that happens. But my answer here is Matt Cardona. Because everything that he's done since leaving WWE is just continuing to like put dirt on the

grave of Zach Ryder because he has completely reinvented himself. He's become the most interesting and most popular independent wrestler over the last few years. This isn't just like a thing where he has a run for six months and does some interesting stuff. He keeps reinventing himself as an independent wrestler. And he's made some appearances in AW. He's made some appearances in TNA. I would love to see him go back to WWE showcasing everything that he's done since getting released. Man, it was almost five years ago that he got released from WWE. I would love to see that. And like his wife's already there.

His wife is crushing it. Chelsea Green as the inaugural WWE women's United States champion. I would love to see him back there, even if it's just for a short run. But I think that he is more than deserving of that. opportunities. So that is my answer today. And that will continue to be my answer every single time I'm asked this until Matt Cardona does eventually return to WW. Ruben Gonzalez on Facebook. Do you think any TNA superstars will compete in a mania match or any TNA titles will be defended at WrestleMania? I would love to see that. You guys know

as good as anybody that I love TNA, and I am a hardcore TNA fan going back 20 years, 20 plus years. I just don't feel like we're going to see TNA stars at WrestleMania or TNA titles defended at WrestleMania, simply because I know we kind of had a one-off there with the Royal Rumble and Joe Hendry appeared this year. They said his name and he appeared. I didn't even mean to say, appeared. And then last year we had Jordan Grace, who was under TNA contract. At that time, obviously, she's under WVE contract now. I think that the Rumble is kind of a one-off where you were able to see TNA people doing stuff on the main roster. But WWE has been pretty clear that the relationship is specifically with NXT and TNA. And the door is going to swing both ways. TNA people

on NXT and NXT people on TNA. So with that said, We haven't seen TNA stars on any other PLE, with the exception, of course, of the surprise appearances at the Royal Rumble. So I don't think it's going to be at WrestleMania as much as I would love to see that happen. Since we were just talking about A.J. Stiles, I said, look, they've got this relationship with TNA. Any chance we could see A.J. Stiles back in TN. He's like, look, man, I'd love to do that. I would love to do that. There's a lot of Frankie Cazarian's still there. Eric Young still there. Those are some guys.

I would love to have another match with. So I think that there could be some opportunities to, maybe there's a main roster person like AJ who goes to TNA, but I don't see it happening at mania, at least not yet. Maybe one day. But I think the other thing about WrestleMania is there's only so many people that can be on WrestleMania.

There's only so many matches. There's only so many competitors within those matches. And I think they do a good job with like the Andrew the Giant Battle Royal, although that's not even really, man, the owner of the giant isn't even part of WrestleMania anymore, which is just wild to me. They've been doing on Smackdown. And the whole thing was like, I feel like they used to do the under the Giant Battle Royal to go, all right, here's all these people who don't have a match at mania. Let's at least give them a moment so they can walk out on that stage, walk down that ramp at WrestleMania. So the point I'm making here is

there's only so many spots, only so many matches, only so many people that can wrestle at mania. And I just don't at this point, I don't see them giving it to people who aren't employed by the company. That's just my take. I saw Jordan Grace's tweet a few weeks ago. She's like, screenshot this tweet. There's going to be an ultimate X match at WrestleMania. And I'm like, I would love to see that. I love ultimate X matches. I just don't think it's this year. Maybe it's in the future. I would love to see it in the future. I just, yeah, I just think that not yet. Sawyer Patterson emailed this one in. Do you think that Cody Rhodes will drop the title before, at, or after mania? And if so, who will he drop it to? P.S., I love the pod. Congratulations on

BBVV. Baby boy Van Fleet. I can't believe I'm a father of two. Wild. I don't know. Sawyer, this is tough. We don't even know who Cody's WrestleMania opponent is right now. We don't even know, like, we could guess. We can guess like possible opponents, but it'd really just be fantasy booking at this point in time.

If I'm talking, like, just from my gut here, if we're going to speculate wildly, as San Roberts likes to say, I think he doesn't drop the title before. I think Cody goes into WrestleMania as the WWE champion. So that eliminates one of your three options. I think he loses it at Russellmania. I don't know who it's two. I think that there

could make some strong cases here. If Randy Orton comes back in the next few weeks or month or so, Randy Orton, I think they could have an incredible match. I think Randy Orton could then drop that, which then would down the line, set something up for Sina to beat Randy Orton for that. I think there could be a story there. Maybe it's John Sina. I've been making this strong case that if this is John Sina's final WrestleMania, why wouldn't it be John Sina's last main event at a WrestleMania 2? It just doesn't, I don't know, I don't, especially with the prominent role that John Sina's playing in 2025,

this isn't just a one-off match like he's had previously. It made sense for him versus Austin Theory to be the opening match. John Sina had barely been around. He hadn't wrestled in a while. John Sina's back is a most, full-time wrestler, I think that you could have enough weeks slash, and you've got a month

and a half here of storytelling, to work that in, to him having a match with Cody at WrestleMania. But I think we're really not going to have a clear picture of this till after Elimination Chamber. And if John Cena doesn't win Elimination Chamber, which it just, it feels like he's not going to.

it just really, it really feels like this is going to continue to be an uphill battle of like, not even can he win the Bingwood? Like, can he win a match? I can, I think it's going to continue to be this story told for John Cena of like, oh man, he came up short at the Rumble. Came up short at Elimination Chamber. He's going to keep coming up short. Can he even win a match to earn that championship match? I don't know. But I think that, I think that, Cody Rhodes drops it at mania, opponent to be determined, I guess. And this is probably the type of question we can look at like a month

and have a much clearer picture of like, okay, all right, that's what this is lining up to be. And we can kind of see what the writing on the wall is now from this. Fundy Nammo on Instagram says, want to meet up for a pick at the Rumble. At the Rumble, like next year's Rumble? I don't know if I'm going to be flying to Sadi for the Rumble. You can't possibly mean the Rumble.

Maybe you mean the Chamber. That's got to be what you mean, right? Can we meet up for a photo? Well, I've got two live shows. There are still VIP tickets available for both of them, CVVTicks.com. So that's for sure. If you go to the show on Friday or the show on Sunday,

A thousand percent, of course. Other than that, I'll be around the city. I will, I don't think I'm going to be at Smackdown, but I will be at Elimination Chamber. I usually arrive an hour and a half before the show. I also know it's happening at Rogers Center. There's going to be 50 or 60,000 of us there. I'll stop by the Superstore at some point in time.

You know what? I'll stop by the Superstore and I will put it on Twitter or Instagram like, hey, I'm going to be the Superstore at this time. But other than that, come to the live show. You do not want to miss the live show. We have an absolute blast there. If it's even half as good as the one in Indy was, it's going to be just amazing.

So I would love to see you there at the live show, and I'd love to see all of you guys there. If you live in and around Toronto, even if you're not going to Smackdown that night, if you live in and around Toronto, come in from Markham or Pickering or Atobico or Scarborough. I'm just going to keep, I hope you guys are saying what, as I'm saying this, come in from Ajax, what, come in from Brampton, what, come in from Mississauga,

what, come in from Barry, what, come from Aurelia, what? The list is going to go on it. I'm not going to keep doing this. Come from Niagara Falls, what? There's a lot of cities and towns around Toronto. If you live in and around that area, I would love to see you at the show. Yeah, if you are coming to SmackDown, I've been asked this question a lot. Yes, there will be enough time to come to my show and also go to Smackdown as well. So just know that you can have tickets to both and you will not have any sort of concern to be able to be at either of them for the full length of time. You'll be able to do it. But I'd love to see you guys there. Pablo Louise Williams on Instagram says, I've heard several comments saying WWE should get Emmys. Would you agree? I feel they've done amazing work and they should definitely be recognized for it. Keep up the great work from a real, real one. Well, thank you for being a

real, real one. And yes, the fact that WWE hasn't even had a nomination is wild. I should point out that WWE has been nominated for a sports Emmy for like Undertaker the last ride or the Rick Flair documentary, but we're talking specifically here about a primetime Emmy. So like an Emmy for Monday Night Raw or SmackDown. And it's just, I don't know, it's weird that it's not considered, it's not even in the conversation. Like the fact that they haven't been nominated when you see these performances specifically from like Paul Heyman or Roman or Roman Raines over the last year or two. And if you missed it, Paul Heyman spoke at great length about how not only does WWE deserve a nomination, he deserves an Emmy nomination. And Roman Reins deserves

an Emmy nomination for their work. Go check it out. It was Paul Heyman has such a way with words, but the way that he was talking about this during the press conference after the first Ron Netflix. Yeah, look. And I have four Emmys myself. They are not. not primetime Emmys, but I'm looking at them right now in my office. I have four Emmys myself. And I think that it's, there's something about being recognized by your peers, because that's who votes. Your peers are part of the electoral group that does this. There's something about getting that recognition from your peers that, I don't know, I just feel like WWE should, at the very least get nominated be part of this conversation. Yeah, it needs to happen. And I won't be surprised

when it happens, but I'm surprised right now that it hasn't happened yet. This email is from Lars Broussard. If I'm saying that right, that is fantastic Lars. It kind of like rhymes. Lars Broussard. That could be like a wrestling name. I've been a real, real one since 2023 when I hit a tilt the Whirl backbreaker, tilt-a-world backbreaker on that follow button. So timeout for a second. When I was a backyard wrestler in the HCW in Pickering, Ontario, Canada, my best friend, Greg Kuzak, who wrestled under the name Rage, he didn't realize it was called a tilt-a-wirl. He thought it was called a tilt, what, Turk, Turk-the-world. So, like, he would do commentary on some matches, and he would call it a Turk the world.

And we had to be like, Greg, it's not Turk the world. So still, 20 plus years later, I will sometimes accidentally call it a Turk the world, Turk the world. A tilt a whirl. Back to the question. As a lifelong wrestling fan, it's always so nice and refreshing to hear your positive outlook on wrestling. Even though I love the community overall, sometimes the IWC gets a bit much with the

negativity, you think? But your continued preaching of patience is outstanding and much needed. My question for Ask CVV number 71, the Dennis Schroeder edition, is this. Who do you think would have a more engaging heel turn? Cody Rhodes or CM Punk? They're both fantastic as baby faces or heels. And I know since Cody is the face of the company, it seems less likely that it would be him to turn bad. However, it just seems like with how much history and storytelling is on the table for both, it would be too good of an opportunity to pass up. Thank you for all that you do. And congrats on adding the fourth horse person

to the CVV faction with BBV. P.S, what is your go-to topping for BreweryX pizza? That way, when I go, I will know what to get. Pepperoni for sure. And there are those like little crispy pep cups, the ones that like, you know the ones, little crispy ones. Love them little pepperoni.

So pepperoni for me, that's it. Not that I don't love other toppings, but specifically with like a New York style pizza, pepperoni is the standard bearer that all other pizza shall be compared against. I think a more compelling heel turn would be Cody. And that's not to say that CM Punk is not a great heel. CM Punk is a fantastic heel. CM Punk is fantastic as a heel or a baby face. I just think it's with, if we watch the story arc that Cody Rhodes is currently a

on and has been on since returning to WWE at WrestleMania 38. It would be interesting to see how he would turn heel. He's been the face of the company for the last almost two years. I guess you could make a real strong case that it's been like into WrestleMania 39, certainly cemented with the championship win at 40. But if he's the face of the company, if he's the one selling a lot of merch, if he's not the number one seller, he's in the top three. or top five every single month. He's the one who's making these core memories for these young

boys and girls at these live events. Like, kids love him. They love him. So for Cody to turn heel, he'd be turning his back on a lot of the things that the Cody Rhodes character currently believes in. It's the same reason I think that John Cena didn't turn heel when they were very close right before WrestleMania 28, which is what Sina told me in the interview that we did last. year. We just love to see where it goes with Cody. Like, how could we make Cody not like, like, how can Cody make us not like him? That would be what I'd be most interested in. And then where does it go from there? Do the kids who dress up as him at shows, do they now, like, hate him? The kids that are bringing Cody Road signs, do they not like him anymore?

Do people not do the woe anymore? Because you can't be, you can't be singing along to a heels entrance theme. So there's a lot of components here that would have to change. We've seen Cody turn heel before, but I don't know, like in AEW, like kind of teased it and didn't really go all the way with it. It'd be interesting to see where it goes. And I think that if we're going to compare it to Sina simply because Sina was the face of the company for so long, Cody's the face of the company Now, it's like, I think the only way that you can do this is he had an opportunity with Sina where the crowd had kind of already turned on him. And I think that if he just leaned into that a little bit, it would have been just beautiful. It would have been so perfect because the path was already

leading there. There was an opportunity for Cody and AEW where the fans kind of turned on Cody and he just continued to be a baby face. I don't know if you remember this or not. If you're watching AEW during that time, Cody dyed his hair black for like two weeks. And it wasn't really explained as to why. And then he just went back to the blonde hair. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe he's like, it's a completely different look. I don't know. But that's the one I'm most interested in. But with that said, there's other components you've got to think about here. then who becomes the face of WWE? Who is the big baby face that they're relying on that?

And we could throw around a bunch of names, but it doesn't feel like there's a solid other person that WWE's really been leaning on in the same way that they've been leaning on Cody. There's a lot of other people that are great and over and fantastic, both in the ring and on promos, but it doesn't feel like there's been really that other face. Yeah, you could make a case for Roman Ray,

but Roman's not there every single week like Cody is. Roman's not there at every live event like Cody is. And Roman certainly seems to be taking a lot more time off over the last year, which is great. You know, spend time with his family and, you know, his young kids. I love that. So I think that there's a lot of,

there's a domino effect here if Cody turns heel. If CM Punk turns heel, you know, which version of heel C. Punk are we going to get? They're all good, but which version of that are we going to get? And I feel like if CM Punk turns heel, there's not as many dominoes that need to fall there. Like, I feel like he could easily turn heel and it wouldn't really affect things much. People are still going to buy CM Punk merch, whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. People are going to buy his merch no matter what he says on the mic.

And that's kind of the beauty of who CM Punk is. but I would love to see where this would go with Cody. And I'm, I just feel like it's going to happen at some point in time. I don't think it's as soon as some other people think. But I think we'll have to see what his WrestleMania story looks like and whether or not he's still the champion after WrestleMania. And I still feel like he's not. Trevor McNeil on Facebook says,

Hey, CVV, who do you think is or was an underrated promo and doesn't get enough love? All right, Trevor, this is going to be a deep, deep, deep cut. But one of the best on the mic that nobody talks about is above average Mike Sanders in WCW. I told you it was going to be a deep cut. go back on YouTube, go back on the network,

watch any above-average Mike Sanders promo, especially the stuff he was doing with the natural-born thrillers. Man, the natural-born thrillers were just stacked with talent. Sean O'Hare, Mark Jindrack, Chuck Palumbo, Sean Stasiak, Johnny the Bull, and above-average Mike Sanders. Just go back and watch any of his promos. I don't, why don't people talk about,

Mike Sanders anymore. Maybe because he didn't go to WWE after he did his stuff in WCW. I mean, he was with WWE briefly after WCW got bought, but like mostly on the independence, like mostly on the developmental, I mean, and then did some stuff in TNA, but man, above average Mike Sanders. If you know Mike Sanders or you are in touch with him, just please let him know how appreciated he is for the work that he did. Man, so good. So there's my, there's my answer. And I'm not even going to give you a follow-up answer. I'm not even going to say, you know, but also this person or also this person, above average Mike Sanders is the answer. Okay. Ace Linden left this one on Spotify. Hey, CVV, what do you think about another Kevin Owens and Sammy Zanefew?

Do you think it'll be different from all the other Sammy and K.O. Feuds? And do you think it'll end up in a WrestleMania match? Have a great weekend, Ace L. That is the match I'm most excited about for Elimination Chamber. Because when you put those two guys together, it's always so good. And since we were just talking about promos, Kevin Owens is so great at making it feel real. Of course, we know behind the scenes that Sammy and Kevin are good friends,

Sammy, Zane, and Kevin, are good friends that came up together. Everybody knows that. But there's something about when Kevin Owens gets a microphone in his hand. And he starts talking about Sammy Zane where you're like, oh, wait, do they, do they have a falling out? Do they not like each other? And that sense of realism just makes it so good.

So that's the match I'm most excited about. They could wrestle a thousand times, and I would never get sick of seeing them work each other. Could it end up being a WrestleMania match? Sure. At this stage of the game, less than two months away

from WrestleMania, yeah, I could definitely see them heading towards that. But I guess we'll have to see if there's more meat left on the bone after elimination chamber. Is there more of a story to be told there?

Probably, likely, but I guess we'll have to see where that one goes. But I'm excited about that one. Hey, I can't wait to see that one. Bray Rizzle on Instagram says what is the best Hall of Fame class ever? I think if we're talking just sheer, like, star power for a Hall of Fame,

you've got to look at the class of 2005. It's Hulk Hogan, Rowdy, Roddy Piper, Cowboy Bob Orton, Jimmy Hart, Paul Orndorff, Iron Sheik, Nikolive, Volkov. There will never be a star-studded class like that. one ever again. That's the winner. There might be other years where you preferred the speeches better or there might be other years where you liked the headline better or whatever the case may be. But I think if we're just talking about like star studded, like it's one after another, after another after another, 2013's close, like really close. Mick Foley,

Booker T, Tristratus, Bob Backlin, Bruno San Martino, like really. Really? Really, really. You know, close. But I think when, yeah, I think when you're talking about just like a lot of those people on their own could have headlined the class. Same with, same with 2013. Like Trish Stratus could have outlined. McFoley could have headline. Booker T. could a headline. Burna San Martino could a headline. Yeah. I think, and going back to what we were talking about with the first question, curious. I'm very curious to see who the other three names are and when they get announced. I also like the WWE, they've been borrowing so much from pro sports over the last few years. And one of the things I love is they've been incorporating the reveal, the announcement, like telling the person you're

getting inducted. I just, I love that. NFL does it. If you've never seen it before, maybe you don't watch American football, they do the knock where I think it's the head of the NFL and Hall of Fame. Like, come to your house with a camera. crew, knock on the door and like get the genuine reaction of like you in your home with your wife, the kids, the dogs barking. And it's such a genuine moment. And it always ends up being so emotional. And man, it's hard not to tear up watching those moments. It's been cool seeing WWE incorporating that into these Hall of Fame announcements where it's like you're getting the genuine reaction. It's not just like a graphic on social media.

so-and-so is in the Hall of Fame, it's like, here's the moment they were told that they're going into the Hall of Fame. And I hope that we continue to see that, not just this year, but I hope that that's a thing with every single year where it becomes like the NFL's knock, where it's like, here's the exact moment. It just really humanizes the person, too, especially in something like wrestling, where, you know, sometimes we don't see the human behind the character. and it's cool in those moments. It's beautiful in those moments to see like, okay, this does mean a lot to that person. Leslie on Spotify says, great interview with Ludwig Kaiser, but one thing, when he was talking

about asking out Tiffany Stratton, how do you lose rock paper scissors on purpose? Fantastic question. And I love that that Ludac Kaiser interview made people like him. I even said it during the interview. I'm like, man, when people see, like, the real version of who you are, when people see who Marcel is, not the Ludwig Kaiser character, they're going to like you. And that's going to be tough because when you go out there, you want to get booed because you're a heel, but people are going to like you now.

He's so likable. And I loved hearing his journey. He's been with WWE seven years. And over the last year or so, all of his hard work starting to pay off. One of my favorite conversations that we've done over the last year, I don't know how you you lose rock, paper, scissors on purpose. The only way I can think about this, I definitely should have asked him.

Didn't I say, like, what'd you go with? Or maybe I, I thought I was like, what did you play? Like, what did you do? The only way you can lose it on purpose is you just keep playing the same stupid thing over and over and over again. Like, if you're playing like best two out of three or best three out of five or four out of seven, you just keep playing paper, paper, paper, paper,

or just scissors, scissors, scissors. Maybe, maybe that's it. I don't know. I should have asked more questions. Was it just one? Was it rock paper scissors shoot? That was it? Or was it two out of three?

Was it a series? But that's the only way I can think that you would throw a rock paper scissors game. Although, this reminds me of a funny story. When I worked in Vancouver, I hosted a show called 969. It's where I did the first ever wrestling interview. with Bobby Lashley, MTV2 Canada is what the network ended up becoming. I worked with a co-host named Joel Herod, who was so talented and just so effortlessly hilarious.

Joel's so good. Joel went to a rock paper scissors championship and made a TV story out of it. And he was going to do this bit. He did this bit where he called himself, Joel the Rock Herod. and he was going to make this funny story where he's like, I'm just going to play rock every single time. And he thought it would turn into this funny story of like, number one, he's at a rock paper, scissors championship.

People didn't even know that existed. I didn't know that existed. And number two, he's just going to play rock every time. Like, he won't even last through the first round because he's telling people, I'm going to play rock every time. It's on my shirt. I'm Joel the Rock Herod. He ended up winning the entire championship, which is crazy.

It was like this reverse. psychology of like, well, he's telling me he's going to play rock every time, but can I actually believe him? Well, like, he got in people's heads, which was so fascinating. And yeah, he ended up going through the entire thing, like into the quarterfinals, into the semifinals, into the finals, into the entire time, they filmed the whole thing and made this amazing segment. He literally just played rock the whole time. And him and the cameraman and the producer who put this together, couldn't believe it. And I remember on like Friday, we, like said goodbye for the weekend and he was filming this that weekend. And I was like, man, I can't wait

to hear like, Joel, when you get back on Monday, tell me all about the Rock Paper Scissors Championship. And he walked in the office with like a huge smile and I'm like, what? What is it? What happened? He's like, I won. I'm like, no, you didn't. It's like, no, seriously. I'll show you the video. Like, I won. And he just literally played Rock every single time. So maybe that's not a good way to lose rock paper scissors. I don't know. I'll have to ask Ludwood Kaiser and get back to you guys on next week's episode. But if you haven't listened to that episode with him, it's a really good one. And you really find out who he is and what he's all about. Brian, the musician on Instagram says, what's advice you can give to someone who's going through very tough times in life? Brian, I'm so sorry to

hear that. I don't know what specifically you're going through, but I hate to hear it. I just remember hearing Tom Hanks talking about when things are good, just remember, this too shall pass. And when things are bad, you also got to remember this two shall pass. And I think that that's something I come back to, whether it's a, whatever it is is going on. Just remember, like, this is just, is just a stage or a season of life. And it's not always going to be like this. I think that's the thing I always try to remind myself of. And I know it may feel like there's no end in sight,

that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, but just remember that this two shall pass. And there are seasons in life, just like how there are seasons of a year. And I think that, yeah, that's a big thing. And also, I don't, again, don't know specifically what it is, but control the controllable always rattles around in my head. You can't control what other people say.

You can't control what other people do, but what you can control is your thoughts. You can control how you react to what other people say and what other people do. So I hope you get through this. And you'll be all right. You will get through this. You'll be all right. It's, the end is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is in sight, my friend. But again, I'm, I'm, I'm sorry that you're dealing with that.

And that, my friends, is the final question on ask CVV number 71. Thank you for joining us on this one. Send in your questions for next week. Leave a comment on Spotify, if you're listening on there. Send in it on social media using that hashtag ask CVV or shoot me an email, CVV at chris van Vleet.com. I saw Lewis Howes. shared this one, which really resonated with me. And I'll leave this with you as we wrap up this

episode. Beware of destination addiction. The idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, or even with the next partner. You'll never be able to experience happiness in the present moment until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else. And that's why I love gratitude so much. And you've heard this quote before, but I will say it again because it bears repeating. No amount of regret can change the past. No amount of anxiety can change the future, but any amount of gratitude can change the present. So instead of being like, oh, man, I'll be happy when this thing happens. There's a lot of things in your own life right now to be happy for. Maybe you're not where you want to be, but you're on the way. And I love that. So be

aware of destination addiction. Be great. Be grateful. Have an amazing weekend, my friends. Got two big ones next week. Will Saso returns on Tuesday, and you already heard it. We've got a phenomenal episode on Thursday with the one and only AJ Styles. We'll see you right back here on Tuesday for the next one. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. 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.