Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #78 - Kevin Owens' Injury, Randy Orton's WM41 Opponent, Does Cena Win #17, Fav Promo Ever

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Get your tickets for INSIGHT LIVE in NYC & Las Vegas with VIP Meet & Greet! Welcome to AskCVV #78! On this episode, Chris talks about his most anticipated matches for WrestleMania 41 and answers questions about Kevin Owen's neck injury, who Randy Orton's WrestleMania opponent could be, the best looking WrestleMania stage ever, favorite promo of all time, the weirdest thing that has happened during an interview, whether John Cena will win his 17th World Championship, favorite game console and much more! Quote I'm thinking about: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" - Wayne Dyer 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 SEAT GEEK: Get 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure! STASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off your next order at https://magicspoon.com/cvv 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 FABRIC: Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at https://meetfabric.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 MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF 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 with the code CVV at https://bluechew.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

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Oh my goodness. Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, happy Friday. Thank you for being with us on an AskCV episode. This is how I know you're a real one. You're here with me as we just chat wrestling for the next hour or so.

And thank you for making Insight, the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Slap a Texas clover leaf on that follow button on Spotify or Apple or wherever it is that you're listening right now. If it's Spotify, give that rating a belly to back suplex. Those ratings are so helpful on there. And I was like, man, can we hit 10,000 by WrestleMania? You guys blew that out of the water. We're almost at 11,000 ratings. So thank you for all of those. Thank you in advance if you're even thinking about leaving a rating. It's a thought that counts, right? Thank you for even the thought of doing that. Although the action of actually hitting that belly-to-back suplex on that rating would go quite a bit

further. But I'll just say I appreciate you for all of that. And I appreciate all of you who said hello last week at SmackDown. I was there in Chicago. A lot of you eagle-eyed viewers saw me. I was sitting right behind the announced table. I was seated right behind Joe Tess and Wade Barrett and the amount of people who snapped a photo or tagged me when you saw me in that opening shot on Smackdown, that was so cool. And yes, I was sitting next to Brock Lesnar guy. And if you know, you know from social media. It was awesome. What an amazing night and really good Smackdown start to finish. But it was so cool seeing so many of you guys there. And I said that we had two big interviews that we recorded in Chicago. You already heard one of them yesterday.

What a chat with K-O. And then you will hear the next one on Tuesday. And don't worry, I won't make you wait until the end of this episode. I'll just let you know who it is. It was a Canadian-filled trip to Chicago because it was me. It was Kevin Owens. We also did one with Chelsea Green. And it's funny.

As we were wrapping up the Chelsea Green interview, Kevin Owens walked into the room. So he, like, makes a little cameo in the Chelsea Green chat. So that was fun. And I can't believe it. We're now a less than a week of, away from Insight Live in Las Vegas next week. Next week is WrestleMania.

Like, this just crept up on us. I feel like it was, oh, man, this is six months away and just be patient. Let's see how this all builds up. And then it's like, all right, well, it's this year. Let's see how this all comes together. It's next week. So between now and night one of WrestleMania,

we've just got one more raw and one more Smackdown to see how all of the pieces are going to fall into place. I can't wait. We announced the special guest next week for Insight Live. If you missed it, it's Our Truth. Amazing. So yes, I will be joined for a live episode of the show with the legend himself, the future Hall of Famer, Our Truth.

Tickets are still available at CVVTX.com. CVVTX.com. If you don't have any plans next Thursday evening, the VIP portion starts at 7 o'clock. The main show starts at 8. I would love to see you there. It'd be amazing to be able to hang out with you in Las Vegas as we get ready for WrestleMania. And I just feel like it's going to be huge. The Ask CVV slash Insight Live, that's going to be huge for sure.

But I just feel like with everything that's coming together here, WrestleMania 41 has the potential to be like really, really special. So, man, I can't wait. We'll do a full rundown of the entire card with predictions next week. when we have a crystal clear picture of what everything looks like, what all the matches look like, and of course some rumors and some speculation and then some long shots maybe. But we've got a lot of stuff that has happened between last week and this week. It's crazy.

So let's get to it. Welcome, my friends, to ask CVV number 78, the Bruce Smith, Jackie Slater, and Orlando Pace. addition. Yeah, remember him, the offensive tackle from the greatest show on turf? If you have a question for next week, ask CVV number 79, leave a comment on Spotify, send it in on social media using that hashtag, ask CVV or shoot me an email CVV at chrisvainvli.com. It kind of feels like next week's just going to be a full rundown of like, these are the matches. Here's the predictions. Where do we go from here? How does this all come together? My goodness.

It just gets so excited. This is like Christmas for us as wrestling fans. This is like, it's like Christmas. And next Friday is like, it's WrestleMania Eve. Ah, man, it's Smackdown. It's the Hall of Fame, which I believe I'm going to be at. So if you're going to be the Hall of Fame, I'll see you there. But it's next Friday is Smackdown and the Hall of Fame.

It's WrestleMania Eve. Then we wake up on Saturday morning. All of the presents are under the tree. And instead of Christmas morning, where we open the presence, we get to open them that afternoon. It's West Coast time. So we get to open them that afternoon. And man, I'm just curious, what's going to be the opening match?

And we already know what the main event is, night one, night two. What's the opening match? What's the second last match? These are the things that I think about. These are the things that really intrigue me. Let's get to the first question here from Anthony White on Facebook. Hey, CVV, it was so cool seeing you sitting behind the announcer table at Smackdown in Chicago. I got to ask, was that Charlotte and Tiffany segment as awkward in person as it was on TV?

I need to be completely honest with you. I couldn't hear a word of that promo. No one in the arena could hear a word of that promo. The booze were so, so loud. And here's the thing about that building. It was at the Allstate Arena. This is the same arena where CM Punk returned. in 2023 at Survivor Series back to WWE,

there's something really special about that arena. Like the ceiling is a little bit lower. And when you look up, it's like made of wood. And there's something about the acoustics in there. I've explained this before, but that's why the pop. Well, the pop was already going to be massive for CM Punk. We're turning to WWE in Chicago, like all of those elements, just made it lighting in a bottle.

But the extra factor on top of that, that was the fact that the Allstate arena just has these insane acoustics. So you factor all of that together. You've got this mega heat for Charlotte. And it was just like we couldn't hear a word of it. I've obviously watched it back and I've seen all the clips and the memes and everything on social media. But in person, like you couldn't hear anything. You couldn't even, you couldn't even talk to the person sitting next to you. And they couldn't hear you. Like, that's how loud it wasn't there. So I don't know, like, it's hard to say what it played out, how it played out, like,

when we were there in person. I don't know how they could hear, like, hear each other and even hear themselves. And I feel like maybe even though she's a professional and she's been in this for a long time, maybe that's what threw off Charlotte. Because things, boy, they started getting real personal there. Did you see the tweet that Charlotte sent out yesterday? This is so funny. because people were talking about like, oh my gosh,

like Kaiser, really? In Charlotte's DMs, that doesn't seem likely and I don't know. So Charlotte tweeted this. I thought this was hilarious. After being blindsided by my personal trauma on live television, my character said something on air

that was not true, and I'd like to take this opportunity to clear the air. I should have never called the Chicago fans smart. I sincerely. apologize. What a heel. What a tweet. What a heel. But that really felt personal. And I think that that's what's interesting, especially around WrestleMania season, like the stakes are higher. And I mean, if you're talking about championships, stakes don't get any higher than wrestling for the

WWE women's championship. And you're doing it at WrestleMania. So like the stakes are obviously already very high. But then you throw in, you sprinkle. You sprinkle. in a little bit of personal things here, like the zero for three line. It's like a dagger. That was one like that was one of like three lines that we did here. And it was like, oh my gosh. Wow. Wow. They really went there. I would assume, as is normally the case with these kinds of promos, there are certain lines that are like, all right, you can talk about anything but this. That happens to be the case. a lot of the time. Like, yeah, like, you remember Ethan Page saying to me, yeah, yeah, you can talk about anything about my kids. Like, yeah, hit on anything you want, but just don't

talk about my kids. Okay, great. So everything else is fair game? All right, cool. I would have to think that there was some sort of a conversation beforehand with Tiffany and Charlotte going, all right, well, what if I poke the bear with this comment? Oh, okay, really? You're going to go there? Well, how about this one? And you got to remember. remember, there's so many different layers of approval and so many different writers and producers and executive producers. It goes up, it runs up the chain here. So I'm not saying that these lines were all approved. It's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying they were all written out, but what I'm saying is, yeah, maybe there was a line here or there that was thrown in,

just for good measure. But I would have to think that just the general tone of that promo, was thought out in advance. Coach underscore Art underscore 1974 on Instagram. This is Art Rios says, what do you think will happen to Randy Orton at WrestleMania? Is K.O. really hurt or is it a storyline? I am a real, real one who listens on Sirius XM app. Wow, that's amazing.

So looking forward to CVV number 78, the Ron Girdre, Goudre, and Sid Fern Hernandez, Charlie Huff and Tim Wakefield edition. I thought Charlie Huff and Tim Wakefield wore number 49. I'm pretty sure about that. But yes, this is Ask CVV number 78. That was a heart-wrenching segment with K.O. And SmackDown.

And it's just, this really speaks to the era of wrestling that we're in right now, where you don't know. Like the fact that people are asking questions of like, is he really injured? is he working us? It really speaks to like, we always hear, our K-Fabe's dead.

K-Fab's dead. If K-Fabe is dead, why are we a week later asking if the thing that we were told during that promo was actually true or not? Like, that's the beauty of where we're at with wrestling right now. Like, fans think they're so smart.

Fans think they're so clued into everything that's going on just because they read it on Twitter or they, read it on some dirt sheet or they read it on Reddit. And I think the beauty is there are still some secrets that are held close to the best. I don't think we have any reason not to believe Kevin Owens, especially with the way that he's worked throughout his whole career. Like even if you're not familiar with him before signing with WWE, go take a look at some

of his matches with El Generico, especially in Ring of Honor. Like, goodness. Those guys were like felt like they really didn't like each other. They're best friends. And I feel like there's a thing in wrestling where you kind of go a little harder. If it's your best friend, you go a little, work a little stiffer. If it's your best friend. But I don't think there's any reason to not believe Kevin Owens that there's serious issues

with his neck, that he requires surgery. I was unaware of any of this when I did the interview with him on Friday morning and that it was later that day when he made the announcement on Smackdown. Where does this leave Randy Orton, though? That is the big question here. And I think there's four realistic possibilities here. The obvious one that is staring us right in the face is Nick Aldus. And he even said on the show when he was a guest last year that he wants to lace him up again.

Like his in-ring career isn't over. And Nick Aldous is incredible in the ring. And there is a reason why when you think of the 10 pounds of gold, you think of the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship in this modern era, there's a reason why you think of Nick Aldous. He's a two-time NWA world's heavyweight champion. He held the title for over a thousand days, 1,043 days, to be exact.

You might remember him as Magnus from his TNA days. He's a beast. He's so, so good in the ring. And I think it's unfortunate that there's a lot of people who only know him as the Smackdown GM. Like, just go back and watch any of his matches. and you'll be so, so impressed with his work rate and just the believability, the real believability that he has in the rings. So that's an obvious choice. I think that there's got to be at least

one more match for Nick Aldous. I mean, he's only, I think he's only 37 years old, unless he's had a birthday since we last talk about it. I believe he's only 37. Okay, there. I just looked. He's 38, November 6th, 1986. So he's 38 years old. He still has a lot left in the tank. So I would love for that to be the match. And it makes sense. He's now taken two RKO's. Randy Orton is pissed off because he doesn't have an opponent at WrestleMania, but he can't take it out on Kevin Owens. That's out of Kevin Owen's hands. Like, it's not his fault that he's getting neck surgery. Well, who's going to take it out on? Took it out on Nick Aldus. It makes sense. That one adds up. I would love, love to see WWE do that.

Who knows if is actually going to happen? The next one that makes a lot of sense, Alistair Black. We've seen the vignettes about his return. Like, it's inevitable. It's happening at some point in time. It seems like it's happening very soon. Is it happening at WrestleMania?

Is this going to be one of those cases where we get Alistair Black or Randy Orton standing out there? Like, I've got a match, but who's my opponent going to be? Kind of like Seth Rollins, WrestleMania 38. Is it going to be like, that, it could be. And if that's the case, Alistair Black's a possibility. Rusev. Miro's contract is up in AEW. He's not with AEW anymore. If you believe what you've read online, he's already signed with WWE. So there's another guy whose return is imminent. This is going to happen. It's not a matter of

if it's happening. It's a matter of when it's happening. So those are two very real possibilities, the return to WWE for either of them. And then another one who I think would just slide into that spot so perfectly is Carrying Cross. And if you think about it, there's a lot of similarities to Randy that Carrying Cross has, like just in how physical he is, also how he plays the mental game so well. There's also like the way that they both cut their promos where it's like it's not over the top, it's not yelling, it's down here, and it's just speaking directly to that person.

And I think that there's a lot of similarities there. And I think even just a short program between Carrying Cross and Randy Orton would elevate Carrying Cross so much, like would elevate him. I think back to that level that he was at in NXT, two-time, NXT champion. even if he loses in a match or in a program with Randy Orton, just being in there with him, trading promos with him, having an incredible physical match with him, that would just level him up so much.

That's something that I would just love to see. If it's not WrestleMania, that's fine. But I just would love to see that. Just put that out into the universe. At some point in time in the next, before the end of the year, hopefully. Carrying Cross and Randy Orton together,

that could be great. But I don't know. I'm really curious where this one goes. And I think they can't do WrestleMania with a healthy Randy Orton and not have him on the card. So I think he has a match. I've heard a lot of people say,

well, he's going to be part of that main event on night two. He's going to interfere with Cody. It's going to set something up for later on or interview with John Cena, set up that match that we know we're going to get at some point this year, which is John Cena versus Randy Orton. yeah, maybe.

Like, that's possible. But I also feel like we can get to Randy Orton versus John Sina in a lot of other ways. But I also don't know. I really don't know how John Sina and Cody ends up going. Like it can't just be the two of them. There's going to be some other outside forces, outside interferes. I don't know. And this is the great thing.

It feels like it's such an unpredictable time. Salamander 11619 on Twitter says, Hey, Chris, a real, real one here with a question for you for Ask CVV number 78. What WrestleMania 41 match are you most hyped for? And what match do you think is a sleeper match that could steal the show? Well, at the risk of sounding cliche, the match that I'm most excited to see, just because I don't know how they're going to have it play out,

is Cody Rhodes versus John Cena. I think we can all kind of assume, and when you look at the betting odds on my bookie, the odds are favoring John Sina winning number 17. It's his last WrestleMania. It's his last WrestleMania main event. I think that he wins number 17 there. Let's talk again, though, in a week, because who knows, maybe my answer will change the next week. I probably won't.

And by the way, if you missed it, John Cena's going to be on Smackdown next Friday. So we were talking last week of like, oh, John Sina doesn't have any more. announced dates. That was it. What we saw in Raw, you know, that was the final face off. It was the final showdown before WrestleMania 41. We get at least one more, or at least one more appearance from John Cena two days before their match on WrestleMania night two. So that's the match that I'm most excited, just because there's a lot of question marks there. Is the Rock involved in some sort of way? We haven't heard from the Rock in a while. Does the Rock interject himself into the match?

You know, what role does he play? That's a huge, huge factor. Is Stone Cold somehow involved in WrestleMania as a whole? Is Stone Cold involved in this match? We know exactly where Stone Cold's going to be next weekend. It's going to be in Las Vegas, Nevada. And he lives actually not that far from there. Stone Cold's in Nevada.

So, you know, it kind of makes sense. So there's those questions there. And it's like, then we've also got, does John Cena remain a heel? Yeah, I think John Cena remains a heel. But where does it go? So there's so many questions around that one. And I think just on top of all of this, the bar is set so high from how we ended WrestleMania last year.

I know they're going to try to make it match that. and that is a huge bar that has been set. So they're going to try to make this as memorable and as impactful as night two of WrestleMania 40 was. I don't know if they're going to live up to that. They're certainly going to try. But there's just so much that's going on with that match that that's the match that I'm most excited about.

The match that I think is going to steal the show is Ray Mysterio versus El Grasne Americano. I mean, we don't know a lot of. about El Grande Americano, but what an opportunity for this young up-and-comer who just debuted a few weeks ago. He's just a, that's a physical athlete with great conditioning. And then you're going up against the greatest luchador of all time in Ray Mysterio. That match is going to be amazing. And it's, it's hard to say that it's like an underrated match because you know how good Ray Mysterio is. You know from the last few weeks how good Al Grasne Americano is. But I just, with a match like that, I feel for a guy

like Chad Gable, who is one of the most underrated, one of the most underutilized talent in all of WWE. And after all the hard work that he's put in, he's being left off the WrestleMania card. But I'm hoping, though, I'm hoping that if El Grande Americano wins this match at WrestleMania, you know, maybe that leads to a match with Chad Gable somewhere down the line. Maybe that's a SummerSlam match. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, the amount of messages I get, comments I get, you know who Al Grande

Americano is. Are you, are you an idiot? Do we? Are you sure? Can't be Chad Gable. Chad Gable was sick. Chad Gable, Chad Gable speaks English. A Grande,

Americano does not speak English. Also, that four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship, Bronbreaker versus Pena versus Finn Baller versus Dominic Mysterio, my goodness, that's going to be amazing. Like, I can't wait. And I just, I feel like we're going to get a title change. And with the amount of momentum behind Dominic Mysterio, it sure feels like this is his opportunity, this is his time.

So we'll run down the entire card next week. But yeah, that's, that's what I'm, that's definitely what I'm thinking about. Those are the, those are the three matches I'm thinking about a lot. And of course, the main event on night one, that's a big one too. A lot of, a lot of different elements at play in that one. If you've watched any of these interviews on my YouTube channel, you know that I know a thing or two about a good plain t-shirt. It's kind of become my uniform. at this point. Just a solid black t-shirt or a solid white t-shirt.

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I've never met a Chris that I don't like, so thank you for your email. Hey, Chris, I'm a real. real, real, real one, seeing how this came to my mind while on vacation in Mexico with my wife and kids. I hope you're having a great time. Since Sina recently told us that he's been doing a social experiment for the last 20 years on the fans, do you think that the heel-turn ideas that he talked about in your interview were a part of that same experiment? Same experiment. I'd hope John wouldn't include you in his web of deception. Anyway, crank a cold pill and keep your stick on the ice for

a fellow Canadian. Thanks from Edmonton, Chris Sautchuk. Was that a red-green reference there? Keep a stick on the ice? I like that. I don't know if I was part of John Sina's experiment. I think what he was referencing is when he was saying that he had the social experience for the last 20 years, I kind of feel like every wrestler is just constantly thinking about their character. I feel like every wrestler is constantly like looking at their real life as like, oh, what would my character? do in this situation or this thing happened to me in real life, how could I spin that into something that my character would do or my character would think? I feel like it's in the same way that like every comedian is constantly looking to turn like the everyday interactions they have

into a bit. Like a kind of funny thing happened to me. How can I like work this into a story that becomes like a funny part of my routine? Like I feel like I've quite a few friends who are comedians. And I feel like that's always like kind of how they're thinking just like, yeah. And I think the same thing happens with wrestlers. Or like how a film director is looking at the world through a different lens, like pun intended, how they're looking at the world through like a frame of like, oh, wow, this really interesting thing happened to me at making up a situation here at the coffee shop. Well, what if we started on a wide shot, then it went to a close up of the coffee mug and then an extreme close-up of the guy's eyes. I'm just making this up as I go, but I feel like

film directors, filmmakers in general, like think in those terms of like, what would be the best way to tell this story? So I think that that's what John Cena was referencing of like, oh, well, what if during this next promo I say this word and let's see how the crowd reacts to it? Or what if I were to say this in an interview. Let's let's kind of do a litmus test online and see what people think if I were to say that. That's what I think this is. Like I think that John Sina, the baby face character, stays pretty true to that character. Like, I don't think there's, it doesn't, he doesn't vary too much. We're seeing obviously a completely different side of John Sina since Elimination Chamber in the Healturn. But I think that that's what he's talking about here. I would,

will say this, that I've interviewed Sina, I think five times. And that last interview, the one that was from last February when he was promoting Ricky Stenicki, that was like the most honest, I feel like he's ever been. Not that he was dishonest before, but like he didn't dance his way around any questions. Like we had a full-on conversation and anything that I asked him, like it gave me a great story. about. And I just think that there was, there's no web of deceptions there. Like, I just think that he was just truly speaking from his heart. But I also think that when you've been doing this as long as he has, when you're 20 plus years into this, and this isn't just John Cena, this is anybody who's been in the business for that length of time, you just have this real self-awareness, not just about you

as the person, but you as the person playing the character. I'm a dude playing a dude, disguise it a dude. Like, I think you have this self-awareness of like, all right, this is how I would think about this. This is how my character would react to this. That's what I think that he was talking about there. And I feel like with every appearance we're getting with John Cena now, we're peeling back another layer of the onion every single time. And it's been fascinating. Like this is, these have been such great promos. And, and I can't wait to see what happens when we see him on Smackdown as well. Good job, Cobb on Instagram says, yo, CVV. Yeah. That's how you wrote it. What's the deal with the favor that Paul Heyman owns CM Punk? So Paul is going to be in his corner

for the triple threat match. And what's the significance? I seem to be missing something. here. Is it truly a one-time favor and Paul can go back to Roman after this? What is so exciting or special about this? Perhaps this causes a riff between Roman and Paul and he simply can't go back to his tribal chief. I don't know. As always, I'll let him cook. But I'm really interested to see how they draw me in with this part of the story. Keep killing it. Your content is on a whole other level. Thank you. I appreciate the very kind words there. I mean, you're starting to see. Like there's some, chinks in the armor here, especially with the fact that Roman Raines is like, oh, I'm like, that's the favor? Like, you want Paul Heyman in your corner? Well, that's never going to happen.

And then Paul Heyman's like, well, yeah, no, I have to do this. So now Roman Reins is like, well, wait a second. You're going to turn your back on me. And I think we're building up to this part of the story that has kind of been, it's gone without being said that like Roman's real confidence here. Roman has been winning so much because he has the wise man in his corner. The wise man's been helping him. So if Roman Raines knows how powerful the wise man is and he doesn't have him, well, the mental games have begun. So I think that that's where this begins. But now we've got an additional favor thrown in here. Paul Hammond now owes Seth Rawlins another favor. Like where where do we go with this one?

So that's why, like I was saying, with the main event on night two with Cody versus John Cena, there's a lot of factors at play here. Like, this match really could go anyway, especially with the fact that there's no real stakes here. So, like, what does the winner get? What does this mean for the losers? Like, there's, it's really interesting

to see where this is all going. And I feel like this is going to end up leading to a one-on-one, a singles match with CM Punk and Roman Raines. Perhaps there's a championship involved. I don't know how we get to that, but perhaps there's a championship involved there. But it seems to me like there's, they're cooking up something there.

So like you said, you'll let them cook. I appreciate your patience. It is so rare. but there's going to be some real elements here. And I feel like there was a big lesson learned with WrestleMania 40 last year where night one was a cliffhanger. Night one was a cliffhanger that led into night two. I don't see right now a week out how we can have a cliffhanger, how night one can

leave us going, oh my gosh, what does this mean? Where do we go from here? But I do feel like night one's going to end with us going, what? wait, that just happened or how did that just happen? There's a lot on the line here. And I'm, it'd be very interesting to see what happens here. But they've really built up Paul Heyman to be almost like at the level of like this mythical character. Like, like, almost like he's Roman reign's good luck charm. Like without the wise man. Like what? How can I do this? What do I, how do I do this? Like, when was the last Roman Raines entered for a match without Paul Heyman by his side. It'll be really interesting.

Also, Roman Raines has been walking a very fine line of he's still a heel, but he's getting some real baby face reactions. And it feels like WrestleMania might be, might be the time where he turns fully baby face. I don't know. a lot of, a lot of things going on in that one as well. Tim Butler on Facebook says, hey, CVV, I saw your post on Facebook asking what your favorite WrestleMania stage was, but I'm, I'm curious, what's yours? So I put this out there. I had a picture of some of the most epic stages.

I said, what's your favorite WrestleMania stage? And I think I'm with you guys. The same two answers kept coming up and, well, I think there's more than that, but like, WrestleMania 33 stage, I think that's my number one. It was just larger than life, the roller coasters, that ramp that was like so steep, that felt like the long, I think that must be the longest ramp in WrestleMania history. And then like seeing like the Hardy Boys come down that with that incredible return. WrestleMania 33 is, yeah, that's number one for me. Honorable mention to WrestleMania 39.

and the way they made the stage look like an award show, like their WrestleMania goes Hollywood, they're at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. It's the state of the art stadium. And they did the stage to look like an award show. And then with the little movie posters on the side, like they took, there was a lot of detail and a lot of thought that went into those.

That one, I think, was just so well done. WrestleMania 34, too. actually both of the New Orleans ones, 30 and 34, I thought were really good. That's it. The 33 for me is number one. And it was just 39 in person looked great because it was like, it was just big. But the way 39 looked on camera, I think was, yeah, it was fantastic. And this leads us into the next one.

David Andrews on Spotify says, hey, long time. listener of the show, here's my question for Ask CVV number 78, the Eric Landry edition. What do you think the WrestleMania 41 set will look like? I'd love to hear what you think it could be. I've been a huge fan for a long time,

and I listened to you on the way to work and while I'm at work. So basically all day, well, I hope you're having a safe drive to work right now, David. Thank you for the question. They're going to tie a lot of elements of Las Vegas into this. I mean, I think that's a good thing. goes without saying, but maybe it's something to do with a slot machine or something like that.

But what's so cool about this whole thing is this stage reveal is like it's one of the big moments. I was talking about this being like our Christmas, like Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. The stage reveal, like it truly feels like Christmas morning when those first photos start to come out, whether they're leaked photos online or whether it's like the first few people that have gotten into the stadium. It's so cool being like, oh my gosh, well, look at that. And then you're picturing the entrances in your mind. They're going to tie some real classic Las Vegas stuff into this. I don't know exactly what that'll look like. But again, I feel like the bar just keeps getting erased every single year. So this stage, especially in that stadium, just like SoFi Stadium, a Legion Stadium in Las Vegas

is a fairly, like what is it, two, three years old. It's a state of the art stadium. This is going to be real, real good. It was a $2 billion project to build a Legion Stadium. And in typical W.W.E slash WrestleMania fashion. Like, they're just, they're going to blow this out of the water. This is going to be just incredible. The Ronarchy on Spotify. What a name.

Raise up the ones for our XLR cable ula, OlaFallowing OPTC. Wow, that is a deep cut there. Allow for some wild speculation. Wink. I see what you're doing here. Shout out to. to my good friend Sam Roberts. Did you hear his promo?

We aired one of his promos on the show the other day. And if you listen to his show, you would have heard my voice. We did a little promo swap between the two of us, which was so cool. As a sports fan, when records are broken, it usually becomes, what about the new heights that they can set?

And what's the new record? We've been thinking, have we been thinking too small with Sina? What if he gets number 17 at mania in some cheap fashion, loses it, hates what he's become, looks in the mirror, and sees what he never changed. And he hustles, shows loyalty, and respectfully works back to babyface and wins 18 by the end. First of all, the runarchy, I love how many different ways this John Cena story can go. And the amount of messages, the amount of emails, the amount of chatter I've seen online of like, well, what if this happens?

What if that happens? What if the rock is just in there? This is a wonderful fan theory I've seen. What if John Sina is there just to protect Cody Rhodes? What if he turned just to save Cody Rhodes from the evil final boss? And at WrestleMania, what if John Sina will then turn on the rock? And, you know, it'll be a very short-lived hill turn. I don't think that one's likely, but it is a wonderful fan thing.

theory that I keep seeing. I think that they have made such a big deal about John Sina and number 17 that that's where the story ends, that John Sina will finish the story with 17. And then he will lose 17 before he retires. That's how I feel about it. That's where I think this is going. I don't think it's win 17, lose it, win 18, especially with the length of the title runs that we've had. Like, Cody's now held it for over a year. You know that Roman Raines had it for 1,316 days. I don't think we're going to be in the era of these quick title changes, at least not with the world championships. I think that will happen with like the U.S. title and the IC title on both the men's and the women's side. I don't think it's 18. I think we do find our way back to John

Sina being a baby face. I don't know how. I don't know how. But I, I don't know how. But I, I think that that's where this is headed. But 18, I don't see it. But as you know, I have been wrong about a lot of different things. And almost to the point where I'm like, oh, man, there's no way the Rock will show up at bad blood. Rock shows up at bad blood. There's no way John Cena will turn heel.

John Cena turned heel. So like it feels like at this point, if I'm saying something like speculating wildly about something, it feels like. like with a few of these big ones, we'll just do the exact opposite. In my defense, though, if we're looking at the, like, actual wins and losses at PLEs, I've got a pretty stellar record since we started doing predictions last year. I've got a pretty great record. I think it's just been more of the wild speculation of, like, could this crazy thing happen? Well, no, it's not going to happen and yeah it happens. Joseph Dutting emailed this one in. Hey Chris, Joseph here from New Zealand.

I usually listen to your interviews while I'm working on the golf course. What a job. However, I had to watch the Gabriel Iglesias one on YouTube. It was awesome. I've seen him perform live in New Zealand. Are there any other celebrities who are connected to slash love wrestling that you would love to interview? Cheers. Well, thank you, Joseph, for your email. There's a lot. I love that interview with Fluffy. That's an interview I've been wanting to do for a long time. And the fact that we did it in his compound with the VW buses and the DeLorean, it was so cool.

The fact that we were able to do it there was awesome. And if you haven't watched it on YouTube, that is one that is just, look, he's fluffy. He's hilarious. It's worth the watch. Even if you listen to it, it's worth the rewatch, I guess I should say, the re-listen. But it's just a visually stunning interview. with all the colors from the VW buses popping behind him. So thank you, Joseph, for watching that one on YouTube. There's a lot of celebrities. I've got like a short list here. So if you happen to know any of

these people, if you happen to be best friends with their manager or their touring manager or something like that, please put in a good word for your boy CVV. Snoop Dog would love to chat wrestling with Snoop Dog, like how many wrestling appearances he made. He had the wild, segment at WrestleMania 39 with Shane McMahon tearing his quads and then they're just putting this together on the fly and he drops the wildest looking people's album you've ever seen. I'd love to have him on the show to chat wrestling. Jelly Roll, he follows me on Instagram. So this is a good start.

I've sent him a DM. He has not even read it. So that's not so good. But Jelly Roll is a huge WWE fan. We saw him at SummerSlam last year. He gave that massive choke slam to Austin Theory. Jelly Roll. I would love to have that one.

I would love to make that one happen. Mike Tyson, of course, the tie-in here with WrestleMania 14. Mike Tyson's done quite a few things in wrestling. Let's make that one happen. Matthew McConaughey. I mean, K.O. practically called him out on the episode yesterday. K.O. wants to have a match with Matthew McConaughey. Matthew McConaughey is a huge wrestling fan.

That one would be amazing. And then, of course, we talk about Interstellar. And brief sidebar here, brief tangent. The scene that gets me to tear up every single time is in Interstellar, when his character, Cooper comes back after the water planet and he's watching the messages from his kids who are now grown. Oh, gets me every time. And the fact that that was one take,

like the first take, the close-up that you see, that was one take. Oh, man, it's so good. So Matthew McConaughey, bad bunny for obvious reasons. He's so good to have him on, talking about backlash in Puerto Rico,

talking about his WrestleMania match. Let's make that one happen. And then I think the other one that absolutely needs to happen is McCauley Calkin. Like, I feel like we could talk to McCauley Calkin for 16 hours about his love for wrestling. And if you've just started watching wrestling over the last few years or a few months, yeah, he's popped up when Rob made his debut on Netflix in L.A. And yeah, you saw him at Madison Square Garden.

But he's been going to wrestling events since, like, he was in the Home Alone days. Like he is a lifelong WVE fan. He's a lifelong wrestling fan. Like he gets it. So to just be able to chat wrestling with him would be amazing. So there's my kind of short list. Again, if you are friends with their manager or their agent or their publicist, you know, just slide in a good word there for your boy CVV.

Justin Lewis.21 on Instagram. Hey, Chris, what is the weirdest thing that has happened? during an interview. I think the weirdest thing that happened during an interview, it wasn't a wrestling interview. And it's a clip you've likely seen online. It was when I was interviewing Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson for a Hunger Games movie. And like when you walk into the room for one of these junkin interviews, they always say like state your name and your outlets. Chris Van Vleet, the time I was with CBS Cleveland. Chris Van Lee, CBS Cleveland. And then Liam just as the cameras are starting to get rolling, oh, I got a brother called Chris. I said, oh, yeah, very dangerous man. Yeah, the god of thunder.

Like, we're just making small talk. And Woody Harrelson clues in that like, oh, my gosh, I never put that together that's your brother. And Liam's like, you didn't know that was my brother? And I'm like, yeah, you know, they look pretty similar. Like, yeah, no, yeah, man, I'm just putting that together right now. And he's drinking, he had a coffee mug with a tea bag hanging out of the side of it. I'm like, what else you got in that mug there? It's like, oh, wow. Yeah, I never put that together. It's just, what a wild moment. And I was there for it. So that's one of those interview clips that pops up all the time. I got tagged in that one last week. There's three outside of the wrestling world. There's three celebrity interviews that pop up, if not weekly,

if not daily, definitely weekly. It's the Anne Hathaway Forward Young Man. That was 14 years ago, guys. There's this one with Woody Harrelson and Liam Hemsworth. It is a classic. I still can't believe he didn't know that Liam Hemsworth and Chris Hemsworth were brothers. Wild. And the other one is, the Dakota Johnson and Leslie Mann moment. I'm sure you've seen it. It needs no explanation, but yeah, that's the weirdest,

wildest thing that has happened for sure. The Woody Harrelson thing. Well, the other two are as well, but yeah. Weird. Arias underscore Alexander 31 on Instagram. Hello, Chris.

Why don't I say, I said it like I was a robot? Hello, Chris. Hello, Chris. What is your favorite WWE promo of all time and why? It is definitely hard to narrow it down to just one. I think like literally any promo, The Rock Cut between like 1998 and 2001 could be on this list. I mean, it doesn't end in 2001. It pretty much every promo The Rock's ever cut. But I think one of my favorites, I'm going to go with an, I'm going to go with an in-ring. one, and I'm going to go with a, like, backstage one. So I'll break it up.

So I get to cheat here and give you two answers. Triple H is I Am the Game promo with JR was one of those where, like, we had seen glimpses of Triple H like he was a heel. We'd seen glimpses of him, like, being the Triple H that we, he ended up becoming. But that was the promo that really solidified him. And him saying, that line like, I am the game. I am the game, JR. And he's wearing the backwards leather hat. That was a Sunday night heat promo. Isn't it amazing that it's, and it wasn't just I am the

game, JR. I am the fucking game. J.R. Wow. Crazy. And that's the promo that really launched him into that next level and like everything that he ended up doing after that with the McMahon Helmsley. era and the at that time one two is this one that that theme song and then into the motorhead theme song some of these incredible entrances but it all began with that promo that sit down promo with jr it's just so so good and it also showed that like china was by triple h's side and that specific promo i remember jim ross starting off that interview being like you asked the china not be involved in this interview. I'm just wondering why. And then it kind of goes from there. So that'll be my my backstage answer. And it wasn't just the one F bomb. Like there was a few.

There was a few F bombs in that. And then Jim Ross being like, uh, watch your life with you a little. There was just so many elements of that promo that I loved. The in ring promo. And there's so many options here. but I think that if we're just talking about just authenticity, it's Eddie Guerrero and the addict promo with Brock Lesder. Because he was, there were so many things he was saying in character that were also so true. And man, nothing but love for Eddie Guerrero. And I still can't believe he's not with us. Like we lost him far too soon.

But there was so many elements where he's talking about his real life and he's combining it in with his character and now, I am an addict. That's such a good one and how emotional he got, the buildup of everything there to him winning the championship. Incredible. Just incredible. I get goosebumps, even just talking about it. I have goosebumps right now.

Slapping my arm like the rock here. But every time I watch that, I get goosebumps because it's just, it's so authentic. It's so raw. And it's just, it's one of the realest, most raw promos that you'll ever see. It is an all-time great promo. It's worth a rewatch this weekend if you've got 10-ish minutes to spare. Jake on Spotify says, hey, Chris, my name is Jake from Arizona.

I got a double part question for Ask CVV number 78, the Art Shell Edition. It's always so many names I'm missing out on. I don't name off like three or four people, but art shell, deep cut. I like it. I like the fact that the three grateful thing question wraps up every interview and ends things on a positive slash intriguing note. My questions are number one. Do you ever get any answers that are shocking slash surprising, even though you've been

asking this question all this time? And number two, did you know that when you first started interviewing guests that that would be the final question for each of your interviews? keep up the good work. To answer question number one, yeah, there's a lot of common threads. And you've been listening to the show long enough to know, yeah, a lot of people who are thankful for their health or a lot of people are thankful for their family or for their friends or for opportunities. I'd say that those are probably the most common ones that we get. And the thing I love about those common answers is all of those things I just listed. All of those four things

are things that all of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we live, no matter what stage of our life we're in, no matter how good things are or bad things are right now, we all have those things to be grateful for. The fact that we're still here. Like, maybe your health isn't great right now, but you're still here. And I think that that's something that we can all be grateful for. The surprising ones, like when someone's, you know, I've had people be like, I'm sorry, I'm grateful for you. I'm like me. You're grateful for me. Have all the things you can be grateful. You're grateful for me. But I appreciate that for the few people that have given that answer, they're like, they're so grateful for the present moment. Like, they're grateful for like this,

this thing that is happening right now. Because the presence, like, it's like, you can't, it's like water. It's like sand going through your hands. Like you can't grab it. Like you can try, but you can't. And that's what the present is. So like for people who are saying, yeah, I'm just grateful for like this present moment. I'm grateful for the opportunity

to share this conversation with you. That's always one that's surprising to me. I always love that. You know, you sometimes get like a Christian Cage. Do you remember his answer? Me, myself and I was like, ah, that's exactly what Christian Cage would say. It's not what Jay would say,

but I was not talking to Jay. I was talking to Christian Cage. There were maybe some Jay moments, but I was certainly talking to Christian Cage for that interview. I had one where, I don't want to say who it was, but I had one where this person said that they were grateful for, man,

I don't want to say too much to give it away, but essentially like they were on the verge of a new relationship. And I think it was new and it was exciting. And they were just, they were grateful for it. And I think that even, though it was cryptic, they were now kind of hard launching this relationship and like putting it out into the public sphere. And I think that, by the way, that couple is now happily married. So it's,

it's interesting that it kind of started publicly with just a comment. I'm grateful for with a big smile on their face. I'm grateful for new beginnings or however it was phrased, like new relationships or like, there's this person I've been seeing that's like really great. And now they're married. It's like, yeah, that's so cool. Like, see the full circle thing come all the way around. For the, did I know if I was going to be asking this question at the end of every interview when I started interviewing?

No, not at all. I've been doing it, I think, four years. And there's a lot of people who have listened to every single episode. there's some people who just started listening to the show a few months ago or maybe last year and you went back all the way to episode one and you're listening to every single episode and catching up that's mind-blowing and I'm super grateful for you I wouldn't want to go back and listen episode one two three four sixteen hundred and fourteen three three hundred nine I wouldn't want to go back and listen to those. So thank you for going back and listening. I don't know which episode I started

it with. I don't know who the guest was. So if you have listened to all those episodes, could you drop a comment in Spotify or could you send me an email and let me know? And we'll follow up on it next week. I don't remember when I, like specifically when I started it, but I do know that gratitude has impacted my life so much. It has profoundly changed my life. when you focus on the things you have rather than the things you don't have, it's amazing the changes that can happen in your life. And you've heard me say this quote before. I said it with DDP.

I repeated it with Lillian Garcia. And I will say it again now because it is such a, it's such a simple quote, but it is so powerful. It's that 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. And I just, I was noticing with a lot of the podcasts that I was listening to,

a lot of the books I was reading or interviews that I was either watching or listening to, there were a lot of like the same core values that people kept coming back to or the same like morning routines people kept coming back to. And gratitude was something like across the board people kept talking about. and I journal. I don't journal as much as I should. I am fully aware of that. I should be doing it more often. But journaling and keeping a gratitude journal and just speaking out loud the things I was grateful for changed my life a lot. When we were in a tough time in the world, like, I know that like things are at least back to normal as far as like restaurants being open and being able to like

sit next to someone at like a wrestling show and not stand six feet away from someone in a grocery store, like things were a little funky there in 2020. And I had just moved to Los Angeles and I have a bunch of friends here, but with just how weird things were and how things weren't open, like, it was, it was tough. And constantly like reminding myself of the things that I had and the things that I could be grateful for really put a focus on especially at that point in my life, life, what was important and what was like, man, it's great that I have, it's great that I have these things. So I just brought that in as an element into my interviews just as like, well, I'm grateful for these things. What are you grateful for? And it's been just really interesting over the

last four or so years seeing what my guests who they've achieved so much, they've made a in WrestleMania or if they've won a Golden Globe or they've had the number one movie at the box office or whatever it is. They're a Hall of Fame or like they've accomplished so much. They're a bestselling author. Whatever it is, they've accomplished so much. But they're grateful for the same things that we have in our life. And that's just that means a lot. That's powerful. And also, I listen to the School of Greatness. I think Lewis House is an amazing host and an incredible interviewer. He was a guest on the show a few years ago. He asks a question at the end of every episode of his show that's like, it gets me thinking

every time. Every time I listen to one of his shows, it doesn't matter who the guest is. He asks this question. He calls it the three truths. So he says, like, picture it's your last day on earth. And it can be whatever you want. It can be 100 years from now. It can be whenever you've lived your full, complete, fulfilled life. It's your last day on earth. And everything that you've accomplished will, can't come with you. The only thing that people will be able to remember you by is this piece of paper that you can write on right now, three things you know to be true. What are three truths in this world? And it's like such a deep question. It ends up having a lot of people going, wow, like, oh my gosh, what would I write down?

I don't know. I don't even know what to say. Three truths. And I love how thought provoking that question is. And I think it was the idea of his thought provoking question. Like there's a lot of times where I wouldn't even be interested in who his guest was or what their story was. And I would just fast forward to the end of the episode of like, what are their three truths? Like what are there three things in their life they know to be true?

It's like, oh, wow. And some of them are so simple. Like some of them are like, be present or like appreciate the moment or like, I'm just spitballing here because I don't know what I can't think of some great answers. But there's, for me, it would be like gratitude. Like be grateful. That would be one of my truths, like the power of gratitude. But that question has always really resonated with me. And then he asks his final question, it's called The School of Greatness.

He says, what is your definition of greatness? And it's always so interesting hearing what different people's definition is because they've accomplished so much in their life. And so often their definition of greatness has nothing to do with their career and everything to do with who they are as a person. So that's kind of where the idea for it began. and if you have time after this episode's done, I encourage you to go check out the School of Greatness.

I think my favorite episode of his, he interviewed Kobe. Like, I was up to look. It was 2018. They did that interview. So two years before we lost Kobe. And it's just such a profound interview. So that's where I would start or, I mean, that's a,

I don't know if I should be saying, yeah, go listen to an interview Lewis did seven years ago. You can probably listen to some of his more recent stuff. But I, that's kind of where the idea began for me. But again, I am curious, what was the episode number where I started asking that question? Because I don't know. I don't know. This episode is brought to you by Hymns.

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See website for full details and important safety information. Paul Kingston on Spotify says, what do you think about the new Smackdown announcer? Mark Chinook is his name. Mark Nash is the WWE name that they've given him. He's been crushing it. Like he has been knocking it out of the park. If you don't know who he is, if you're not familiar with his work,

he worked as a ring announcer for top rank boxing. He is the current in arena host for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL team in Vegas. And he was also a host for the Vegas, Las Vegas Raiders for two seasons. Obviously, a consummate professional. I think that the way that you know he's crushing it is it just, kind of flows. Like it feels like he's just been there for a while, even though he's been there for, what, three weeks at this point? It just, he just feels like he's a natural fit to that.

And that is, of course, not a knock on the legendary Lillian Garcia. That is not a knock on Alicia Taylor, who was doing this. It's not a knock on micro. They're all great in their own right. I'm just saying that he has come in. He has his own style. He is crushing it. And I can't wait to see how this continues to evolve for him, how he continues to like put, he's already starting to get like his own like signature announcements. I'm, I look forward to seeing how he continues to interject his own personality into this.

But he's been crushing it. And I'm, I'm excited to see what's next for him. But I know it's funny. Wrestling fans hate change. Wrestling fans hate when things are new. Oh, Why did you change the set?

Would you like the set before? Why did you change the intro to the show? Why did you change this person's theme music? Like all of that stuff, right? Like even when the theme music is like, unless you had a terrible theme, right? Like, let's appreciate that. Like when AJ's got a new theme, we certainly had reason to question that. We're like, what the heck did you do?

That's funny. He explained in our interview exactly why he had that theme. But wrestling fans hate change. They hate new things. And the fact that for the most part, the comments online about Mark Chinook, Mark Nash, whatever you want to call them, have been pretty positive. Like, that is a great thing in this extremely fickle business. It's extremely fickle industry where people love to criticize and pick apart things.

So my hat is off to Mark. We shared a few messages this week. And I was just like, man, you're crushing it. Like, I hope you know that. So yeah, he's doing an amazing job. Jacob Smith. Smith underscore Jacob 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. What a username? I guess when you have the last name Smith.

You know, it's a pretty common name. It's tough to get an original username. Hey, Chris, hope it's okay for me to ask this question. What is your favorite video game console of all time? Mine has to be the Wii. So many memories of me and my brother and dad playing Mario Kart together. make it too easy of a choice. Who is your Mario Kart character? Who did you go with? I was Yoshi most of the time. Yoshi was usually my go-to. This is a great question. NES. Original NES is,

that's the O-G for me. I have so many memories of that. Like, I was, what, five when that system came out? No, no, I just looked it up. I was two when it came out. So I obviously don't, I don't have the memories of it that early. But early 90s, that was my jam. Okay. Like Super Mario 3 is such a iconic game. Blades of steel. If you know, you know. Blades of steel RBI baseball, like ice hockey. So many great games, double dragon, like so many great games on NES. My parents wouldn't let me have a Nintendo. I've had it on my list every single Christmas, and my parents made it clear I was not getting Nintendo. So this bummed me out.

Then when Super Nintendo came out, I have so many great memories with Super Nintendo, Mario Kart on there, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball. I mean, the fact that every time Ken Griffey came up to bat, he hit a home run. He made the character so good. I have a lot of memories with

those systems, the first system I owned was game gear. Talk about deep cuts. My parents wouldn't let me have a system that we could plug into the TV. I guess they had their reasons for that, but I saved up all of my birthday money and Christmas money one year, and I bought a game gear. And Sonic was my game on there. But then eventually, when I was 16, I had saved up my own money. My friend Matt Cook was selling his Sega Genesis. And he's like, yeah, man, just give me like 50 bucks. I was like, what? So I bought his Sega Genesis for $50. And Sega Genesis was my game. So my favorite game console of all time for nostalgic reasons. And I say it all the time, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug. It's Sega Genesis. So Sega Genesis, that's my game, that's my go-to

game console. I just have so many great memories of like those years of my life, like those formidable years, those adolescent years, playing it in the basement, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3. I love that Sega Genesis had the blood in Mortal Kombat. Super Nintendo had sweat when you punch people. It didn't make any sense. The amount of times I would play NHL 94, specifically NHL 94 and specifically NHL 97 with my buddy Greg Cusack. A lot of great memories tied to that. So that that's probably the system for me. But Wii means a lot to me. I remember having a Wii. I bought it like, remember when whee's were like the tickle me Elmo of that time? Like people were lined up outside of stores because they were like the hot item that year.

Was that 2007? I remember. I was lined up outside. Lined up outside. I had a Best Buy in like December. And I was like out there like hours early. It was so cold. But I went in and I, I bought a wee. I don't even know if I should be saying this. But I bought a wee. I got it modded.

And if you know, you know. And then I found someone on Craigslist who is selling like the burnt games, like the modded games for $3 a piece. I remember going to this. I drove all the way from like Pickering to Mississauga because I was back home living with my parents at that point in time. That's a part of a longer story where the TV show that I was on got canceled and I packed up the car and moved back, lived with my parents for a handful of months before I got another job. But I was driving from Pickering to Mississauga, which is like, not that close. Like call it an hour, like 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic.

And I was like, I remember buying 15 games for $45. So I was getting 15 games for cheaper than what you would buy one game for in the store. And I was unemployed. So like it was like the best use of my time and money at that point in time. But we meant a lot to me. Like we golf. There's so many memories. Like especially at that point in time, I was 24.

25. It's like 24-ish 25 where like you would have these. you'd have Wii parties. I remember I would pack up my Wii and bring it to so many people's houses because it was like such a hot thing at that point in time of like, you know, you're using the remote, you're using it like it's a steering wheel. And you're swinging it like it's a golf club. Like it was just wild. Then you're swinging it like it's a tennis racket with Wii sports. So I have a lot of great memories tied to Wii. But there's another part to this. We went away two weeks ago to Big Bear, which is like a mountain.

town like an hour and a half from where we live. And that's a crazy thing about California. It's like 75, 80 degrees where we live, palm trees. You drive an hour and a half to the mountains. And it's like below freezing. There's snow on the ground. So after the kids went to bed, there was, they had an Xbox 360, a PS3 and a PS4. And they had rock band. And we got so excited. Like Rachel was like, oh my gosh, I am so good on the drums of rock band. I'm like, you're so good on the drums. I'm great on the guitar. This is going to be so cool. Well, needless to say, we tried for an hour. It was broken. None of the gaming systems worked. It was a nice idea that it was there, but that it planted this idea in our heads. Like this total, it was this goddess like

inception style. It planted this little seed. We're like, well, now we need to play rock band. Like, this needs to be our thing. After the kids go to bed, we've got an hour or two. Instead of watching, we're done with White Lotus, you know that that's the show that we watch. We're done with that. So let's get rock band. Let's get guitar hero world tour. So I bought a PS3 on eBay for like 60 bucks. And I'm waiting for it to be delivered. It says it's going to be here on Saturday. It's tomorrow. I will follow up next week and let you know. But I'm so excited about this. So excited. we got the drums, we got the guitars, we got the microphone, and I bought Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, and I can't remember what I think it was the Green Day one. We got four games on the way. And all of this was like, I couldn't believe how cheap it was. But again, it's like nostalgic. Why'd you buy a PS3 and not a PS4 or PS5? Mostly because when I was playing rock band, I was playing it on PS3. Also, how I'm going to say no to $60? And you're buying guitars, like nobody. Everybody has these like guitar hero guitars just laying around their

house now with like collecting dust because you haven't played the game in 12 years or whatever it is. People are selling them on Craigslist or selling them on Offer Up for like 10 bucks, five bucks, 10 bucks. I got rock band world tour for like $6 on Amazon. So that's why. That's why I bought PS3 specifically to play rock band. We'll follow. up next week. What a story about game consoles. We ran the whole gamut there. People ask me all the time, like,

oh, what's the game you're playing? I'm like, I'm not. I haven't played a, I haven't played a video game in way too long. Like, it's been an embarrassingly long, long time. Like, I seriously don't think I've played.

I had a PS4 when I lived in Florida and I moved from Florida in 2014. I, no, sorry, I lived in Florida. I hadn't even when I lived in Cleveland, I had before I moved to Florida. I think I sold it right before moving to Florida in 2014. So I probably have not played a video game. Aside from like some arcade games like NBA Jam,

oh, there's another, another game I love. Aside from like playing NBA Jam or like Mortal Kombat on like an arcade game, I haven't played a video game in like 10 years. So nostalgia is, is strong with this one. That, my friends, that's how we're going to wrap it up on this. Ask CVV number 78.

If you've got a question for next week, leave it on Spotify as a comment, sending it on social media using that hashtag AskCVV or shoot me an email. CVV at chrisfanfleet.com. We still got tickets available for the show next week. Thursday night at Cirque Resort and Casino with special guest,

truth. You won't want to miss it. Grab those tickets at CVVTix.com. Have an amazing weekend, my friends. We'll wrap this up with this powerful quote from Wayne Dyer. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Chelsea Green with us on Tuesday. You don't want to miss it. We'll see you right back here on Tuesday for that. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes.

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

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