Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #8 - Yes, That's Me In A Liam Neeson Movie! SummerSlam Predictions, Getting Starstruck, Favorite Wrestling Storyline

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

It's that time of the month again! Chris answers your questions that you submitted on social media with the hashtag #AskCVV. Send one in next month! We've got a range of topics from wrestling storylines to interviewing advice to acting with Liam Neeson! Here's a full list: Do you think Jey Uso has a chance in defeating Roman Reigns at SummerSlam for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and who do you think would be next for Roman Reigns IF Jey is able to dethrone him as Tribal Chief? Why did you spoil that John Cena was in the Barbie movie? Just kidding. Do you have a guest planned for episode 500 yet? What is your favorite wrestling storyline of all time? When you were just starting out your channel, what kept you going in the beginning? What was your first impression of Shaun Ricker? I mean LA Knight, YEAH! What does it take for one to become a professional wrestler and does it take much financially? Besides The Rock, who had you the most star struck when you first met them? I want to AskCVV should WrestleMania have been a two-night event sooner? Hey Chris, do you have any plans of writing a book yourself at some point? About your journey as an interviewer/host? Chris, what is your advice for preparing to be a parent? Has anybody ever tested your professionalism while conducting an interview? As the father of a daughter, what is the one moment you can and cannot wait for? How cool was it to be cast in a Liam Neeson movie? What makes a great ring announcer? In my mind Samantha Irvine is the best! Do you ever fly private? Sponsors:  To get 15% off MudWtr go to http://mudwtr.com/cvv to support the show and use the code CVV Quote I'm thinking about: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." - Wayne Dyer For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? 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

All systems are gathered. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas. Greetings and salutations, my friends. Welcome back to another one. Here on Insight, I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. And actually, before we dive into the full episode here and answer all the questions, I'll answer one right now. Someone was like, how come you say your name at the start of every single episode?

And the answer is so that people will know how to say my name. I've heard every possible mispronunciation of it. Van Vliette, Van Falae, Van Vylate, Van Vyelet, Van Vliot, whatever, all of them. So the reason I say, I'm Chris Van Vleet, is so that people can go, oh, that's how he says his name. I get it. So there you go, Chris Van Vleet.

And I know there's a lot of new people that have been tuning into the show these last few episodes. So if you're one of them, Thank you and welcome. This is likely your first ever Ask CVV episode. And for everybody else who's been here perhaps since episode number one, and here we are in episode number 497, welcome back. It's always good to see you here.

And we've got, man, I think we got the most amount of questions that we've ever had on today's episode. So I wasn't able to get to like all, I think it was like a 90 of them. But I picked out a whole bunch of really interesting and really unique ones here. You can see a list of all the questions actually in the show. notes. And of course, in the title of this episode, we've got some of the most interesting topics that I thought might make you want to go, oh, I don't normally tune into these solo episodes, these Ask CVV episodes, but I kind of do want to hear his SummerSlam predictions. Or I kind of do

whatever else in the title might have attracted you in here. And I don't know if you saw this, but as of this exact second that I'm recording this, we are the number two. wrestling podcast in the world. Ladies and gentlemen, so I thanked you on the last episode when we were number three, but now we're number two. So a huge thank you again. I just appreciate you being on this journey with me. We've been doing this now for over four years on the podcast.

And, you know, it's always been top 20, top 15, sometimes top 10-ish. So cool that we're number two right now. Could we be number one by the end of the weekend? I don't know. Could we be number one next week with episode number 48 being Rickashay? You heard it here first. Actually, I tweeted it out. If you have a question for Rickashay, please tweet it at me.

That's a big guest. So, I mean, to come off of Cody Rhodes and Booker T and Ricketts, closing in on episode number 500, I think it's possible here. So if you enjoy this episode and you want to ask a question on the next Ask Seasier, VV episode, just send me a tweet using the hashtag Ask CVV, and we'll get it included here. And let's just kick this off here. Let's kick this off with the SummerSlam predictions. This is a question from Jay Cravalo at Viper Assassin YT on Twitter.

Do you think Jay Uso has a chance in defeating Roman Raines at SummerSlam for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship? And who do you think would be next for Roman Raines if Jay is able to dethrone him as the tribal chief. It's a great question. And to answer the very first one here, I think, yes, of course he has a chance. Anyone has a chance in the WWE universe. I don't think that it's going to happen, though. I think it's going to be an incredibly entertaining match, and this bloodline story has been so, so good. And I'm speaking without hyperbole here. This is truly one of the greatest wrestling storylines in the last 20 years easily. And I think if you expand it beyond that,

like back into the 90s and that 80s beyond that. I mean, it's a top five or 10 wrestling storyline, I think, of all time. And I know that that is a bold, hot take there. But I love that it's culminating in these great matches and Sammy being worked into this and the match with Cody at WrestleMania 39 being worked into the bloodline storyline. So I think that, of course, Jay has a chance and it's going to be an amazing match, but I don't think that Jay Uso is the one who dethrone him, at least not yet. I really think that Roman is going to have this championship leading into the end of this year, into 2024, into the Royal Rumble, and then I think that something happens at WrestleMania 40.

I mean, it seems like the story was leading up to at some point, Cody Rhodes finishing the story, WrestleMania 40. I don't know how that happens now. With them being on two different shows, with Cody being on Raw and Roman being on SmackDown, I don't know how they bring this back together. unless Cody wins the Rumble again, which I don't, if you were to ask me at this exact moment right now, July of 2023, with the way things are going,

that storyline doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. So I think that we're going to see a lot of interesting matches leading up to WrestleMania 40, but I think that Roman is the champion going into WrestleMania 40. I don't know if he's the champion leaving WrestleMania 40. So we'll have to see there. But the match that I think that,

I am most interested in for SummerSlam, and I think that a lot of people know it's going to steal the show, is Logan Paul versus Rickache. And Triple H has said this many times, so this is his quote, not mine. Logan Paul has no business being this good. I mean, it's not just the moves. It's not just the athleticism.

It's the fact that he gets the it that makes someone a great pro wrestler. Like he has the facials, he has the selling. His promos are actually really good, too. For a guy who, like, didn't come up through the Indies and didn't spend time in NXT, like hasn't done live events. His promos are so good. And I've said this a few times before.

So stop me if you've heard this. But I truly think that Logan Paul is a new Shane McMahon. Because Shane McMahon would go to these matches and you're like, I don't really care if he wins or loses, but he's going to do something silly. Or like, oh my gosh, this is a ladder match or, oh my gosh, this is a hardcore match. He's going to do something silly. he's going to do something entertaining. He's going to do something that we're going to be talking about.

Here we are talking about Shane McMahon stuff 20 years later with, you know, the Steve Blackman's spot with the elbow or the Kurt Angle and King of the Ring and the glass. Like, you know, the list goes on and on and on, him jumping off hell in a cell, all that stuff. And that's where I think Logan Paul is. So put Logan Paul with his insane athleticism against Rickash who's, oh my God, so incredibly underrated and underutilized. them together in one match. It's going to be good. It's going to be good. Also, Cody versus Brock, I'm really, I think that Cody has to win this, right?

Like, Cody has to win this for this to continue on. But then what does that mean for Brock Leszor? So does Cody win in some sort of a dirty way? I don't know. I just can't see Cody winning clean. And if he does, I don't know what's next for him after that. So that match is, that match is the most interesting. interesting to me in just in terms of like, I really don't know what's going to happen here.

But you might have heard me talk about this during the Cody interview if you watched it on YouTube. But you can place a bet on this at MyBooky. So MyBooky.com. Use the promo code. CVV, you'll get an additional 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. So yeah, you can bet on WWE at MyBooky. You can bet on all the SummerSlam matches. And of course, you can bet on UFC. And maybe you want to bet on boxing. You want to talk about the Paul brothers. It's Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz the same night as SummerSlam. So if you're a combat sports fan, that might actually be tough. So very long answer to our first question.

So thank you for sending that in, Jay. Sandra Kay on Instagram says, why did you spoil that John Cena was in the Barbie movie? Just kidding. I know you're just kidding. But I know how many people were actually serious about that? So to kind of give a backstory here, I did the interviews for the Barbie movie,

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and the whole rest of the cast of the movie. And I've, like, I saw John Cena in the movie. He's not in it for very long, but there's a fun cameo of John Cena as a Murman. So when I went in to talk to Margo Robbie, who's a wrestling fan, by the way, I of course had to bring this up.

Like, it's because of Margo Robbie that John Cena got into this movie and created this fun moment. This was not me spoiling anything when I posted this three weeks ago. The movie studio, Warner Brothers announced this in April. His name was in the trailer in April.

Then John Cena went on The Today Show, you know, small little tiny show, the Today Show in May to talk about this role and how this came together and him bumping into Margarabi at dinner and like blah, blah, blah, I'm in the movie. So I was blown away by everyone's reaction of me spoiling this by, you know, putting this out there. how could I spoil something that the movie studio already told you about? I don't think it's spoiling. It's just I delivered the news to you instead of another news source. That doesn't sound like a spoiler. But thank you for the fun question, Sandra. Michael Roscoe on Instagram says,

do you have a guest planned for the big episode number 500? Well, Michael, I do. I do. I have a guest planned for this. And I'll talk more about it when we actually roll out episode number 500, which, man, I'm so excited about. It's, I can't believe that's a real number, but episode number 500 is going to be rolled out on Tuesday, August 8th. Tuesday, August 8th is episode number 500. And I thought long and hard about this because, I mean, who do you, it's such a monumental.

Like, okay, on one hand, it's monumental. Five hundred episodes. on the other hand, it's just the first of 500 episodes. Like, we're going to do another 500, and then another 500 after that and after that, you know, keep going, keep going. So in one way, it's like, yes, let's celebrate the little wins. Let's celebrate everything that's happened along the way.

Here we are, 500 episodes in. But also, it's like, it's just kind of another episode because we're just going to, you know, that's going to be an episode on Tuesday. Then there's going to be another one on Thursday. And we're going to keep moving forward from there. but I picked a guest that means so much to me. It's someone who has been so insanely kind to me

and someone who is a legend. So I'll just leave it at that and you can draw some conclusions or you can make some guesses or you can tweet me what you think. But it's going to be a really special one. So you'll be seeing that on August 8th and I can't wait.

I can't wait. A little sip of water there. Breaking Braden on Instagram says, What is your favorite wrestling storyline of all time? That is difficult because there's been so many great ones. But I think I've got to go back to McMahon versus Austin because that was the storyline that really hooked me and got me in. And I think that that was like really the backbone of what made the attitude era great

in the beginning part of the attitude era. like Vince McMahon going from being a commentator to being like a character and leaning into that after all the Brett Hart stuff. Like that was just, it's brilliant. And I think that there was, it was so relatable because we've all worked for a boss that we don't like or we've all worked for a boss who's maybe a little bit too arrogant. And Vince McMahon just took all of those qualities and rolled it into this one Mr. McMahon character. And then I think we can all relate to Stone Cold, you know, wanting to give your boss the finger or all of. those other things that they did during that storyline. So that storyline for me was really special because it got me in, it sucked me in, you know, to be a wrestling fan that I am now. And also,

I just think that it was just really smart writing. And it led to so many other great stuff after that. So look, there's been a ton of great storylines in the history of this incredible business. But that one for me personally means the most. Jeff Scooter on Instagram says, when you were just starting out on your channel, what kept you going at the beginning? So, I mean, I take it way back. I'm like, I'm not an OG. Actually, I guess I did have a YouTube channel in 2007.

Quick story. I was working for MTV to Canada at the time. I was working in Vancouver on a show called 969. And we were getting huge interviews with some of the biggest musicians in the world at the time. And I just always had this like, I don't know, it would just like kind of bug me a little bit, that you would talk to a huge band. And then the only people that would see it would be the people that happened to be watching your channel at that exact time on that exact day.

So me and my co-host at the time, Lauren Toyota, who's incredibly talented, we started these like burner accounts. Like mine had this stupidest. I think it's like, look it up. It's still a YouTube account. So you can look it up. It was dirty pirate hooker. one, two, three, which is a joke from a line in Anchorman. You're a dirty pirate hooker.

It's a dirty pirate hooker, one, two, three. And I put like a few interviews on there just because, like, if you didn't watch the TV channel, but you were a fan of a big one was the fray. Remember the fray, that band in like the mid-2000s? I had a great interview with them. I was really proud of. So I just, like, took it off the TV channel and just put it on this random YouTube channel that I had.

And I was just like, I want other fans of this band to be able to see this interview. So I did that a few times. It's just a few interviews on that channel. And then in 2011, I continued the same thinking. And in the meantime, I went from Vancouver to hosting a show in Toronto to then in 2010 moving to Cleveland and working for the CBS affiliate there and getting access to like even bigger stars, like some of the biggest stars on the planet. You've heard me talk about this before. I've talked to Samuel L. Jackson and Tom Cruise and George Clooney and Sandra Bullock and Merrill Streep and Stephen Spielberg and, you know, the list goes on and on and on. And again, I had the same idea of like, I'm doing these interviews with these huge names.

What if you're a huge Morgan Freeman fan? But you don't live in Cleveland and you're not tuned in at exactly 419 on that Thursday. Well, that's too bad. You didn't get to see that interview. So that's where, like, it started for me of like, I just wanted other people to see these interviews, especially like at that time, Twilight was a really big movie. Hunger Games started to be a big movie at that time. And I was interviewing Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner and then

Jennifer Lawrence. So I had these huge interviews with these huge names for these huge movies. And I was just like, man, if I can get these up, fellow fans of these movies can enjoy these interviews. That was really all that kept me going in the beginning. I had access to some amazing, amazingly talented people that were. some of the biggest stars on the planet at that point in time. And I was just like, I just want to get this out there.

I didn't think about content being a job. I never thought of this in 2011 when I started my main YouTube channel. Never thought of this would be like a full-time gig. I didn't even know what AdSense was. It wasn't until like, I think a year into me having that channel. I was having a random conversation with one of my colleagues. And he was like, oh, yeah, blah, blah, blah. When I upload videos, you know, it's not a lot of money, but the Google AdSense is okay.

and I was like, hold on, pardon me, what? Money? And he's like, oh, yeah, there's this thing called Google AdSense. Just go to the website. You like, click a consent box. And when you get $100, they'll pay you out. And I'm like, are you serious? He's like, yeah, what did you think those ads were on YouTube? And I just didn't know. So at that point, my goal was just to like make $100 a month and get paid out every single month. And I was fortunate that that started happening, like, relatively quickly, I think like within two or three months of starting my Google AdSense account, I went from like $33 to like, I don't know, $71. And then I was like, oh my gosh, I've got like $124 for just uploading these interviews that I already enjoyed doing.

And then it kind of bled over to the wrestling world where I, uh, WrestleMania 27, if you go way back on my YouTube channel, I was there at like WrestleMania access and they would like stop the autograph line. I went up with my flip camera. If you remember a flip camera and I was recording these interviews. I did one with Cody Rhodes and Dolph Sigler, which you can see on my channel. And it was just kind of like a situation where I was there. I was in the same building at these people. Could I borrow a minute or two or three of their time to, you know, get a quick interview

with them? And as a wrestling fan, talking to wrestlers, that was really what started to give the channel some momentum when it wasn't just celebrities. It was like, Raw's in town. The Miz is from Cleveland. He's coming home. I live in Cleveland. Does he want to come by the TV station and talk about wrestling for 10 or 15 minutes with a wrestling fan? And he was like, yeah, sure, let's do it.

That was really what kept it going was like, I get to talk to people that I, look up to about the stuff that they are so good at. And then as it kept going, it was just like, I just, I kind of got just, you know, really hooked on that idea of, oh, I did one. Can I do another one? Ooh, I did another one. Can I do another one after that? Oh, I did another one after that. And then, like, you'd have an indie wrestling company come to the town you were living in for me, Cleveland at that time. And then down the line, it was Miami. I was like, oh, Christopher Daniels is going to be an AIW. Well, I kind of know the guy.

I met the guy once who runs a IW, John Thorne. Could I reach out to him and ask if we could interview Christopher Daniels for the TV station and then also do a longer interview for my YouTube channel? What? He just said yes. That was really what drove this. So I hope that whatever it is with the channel that you have or the podcast that you have, that you can find that passion.

Because that's what it really comes down to is being excited about what you're doing. and I get really excited about these interviews, and I hope that you can feel that. I get excited about doing these episodes, and I hope that you can feel that too. And I've teased this a bunch over the last probably two months, but I'm building something out

for people who want to be a full-time creator. And I want to be able to dump all of the knowledge that I have and tell you all of the mistakes that I have made so you can learn from them and not make them yourself. I'm going to be rolling this out, and I would think it's probably two or three weeks. So keep an eye out for that. Something about being a full-time creator.

And we're building up a membership so you can be part of that community. Okay, so we know it's going to be Cody Rhodes versus Brock Lesder at SummerSlam. And if you think that Cody's going to win, why not make a little bit of money on this? At MyBooky, you can turn your WWE knowledge into actual cash in your wallet. Yes, you can bet on www.m at mybooky.ag. This is the premier place to bet on all combat sports. So we're talking, yes, WWE, but also UFC, boxing, really everything. You name it, and they've got it, and you can get in on the action.

And what I love about this is wrestling fans are always like, man, this person for sure is going to win this match. Well, if you're like so sure about it, why not place a bet on it? And when you sign up at mybooky.orgie.org and you use my promo code, which is CVV, you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. So if you've got, say, $100 in there, well, now you've got $150 to bet on SummerSlam or really anything else that they have there.

So it's my bookie.orgie.org, and use that promo code, CVV for a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. Navi Raphael on Instagram says, what were your first impression of Sean Ricker? I mean, LA Knight, yeah. I mean, the guy is so talented. So talented. And he actually said this.

in the first interview that we did. But you could even like watch him on mute, or you could just watch a giff of him, or jiff of him, however you want to pronounce it. And you can see that the guy just has charisma, like oozing out of him. I was very familiar with his work as Eli Drake in Impact Wrestling.

And I think people sleep on the fact that he's a world champion. He was a world champion in Impact Wrestling. And I interviewed him, I was the first interview. I did the first interview with him after he asked for his release from Impact wrestling. And I don't want to like put words in his mouth so you can check out the interview that we did from 2019 to find out like, why did he ask for his release from Impact Wrestling? And then he

didn't show up to WWE till several years later. But the guy's so talented. He has the look. He has the voice. He has the charisma. He has the body. He has everything. And I just think that I wish that WWE had seen what he was capable of the first time of the first time of the that he was in WW. Like 10 years ago, I wish they had seen it because then I think that we'd be talking

about whatever his character would have ended up being called in WWE. I don't know if they would have stuck with his NXT name, but I feel like we'd be talking about him 10 years into his WWB career,

a highly decorated superstar. But I think there's no mistakes in life. I think that the things in your life happened for a reason. And like the Rock, you know, told me during that one interview, we did. Sometimes the best things in life are the things that don't happen.

And perhaps for Sean slash Eli slash L.A. maybe the best thing to happen in his life was to not stay with WWE and to really find his path with Impact Wrestling in NWA and then found his way back to NXT and WWE. So I'm really excited for what's next for him. Dude needs to start winning some more, though. like he's so over without really having a main storyline. Isn't that crazy?

And he's so over without having really any big wins. Like his last storyline was, I mean, his last real big storyline was the Bray Wyatt, pitch black, pitch, oh, geez, that Mountain Dew match or Royal Rumble. And he loses the match. And then Bray Wyatt disappears.

It's like, that match helped nobody. And the match was like, I get it. Mountain Dew probably paid a lot of money to be the sponsor of that match. But my goodness, that match didn't help either of them. But the fact that he's gotten this over without really any help from anybody, I mean, that just truly speaks to how special of a talent he is. Hank Man, Adam Rage, what a name.

At I'm the Golden One, I'm the Golden One on Twitter, says, what does it take for one to become a professional wrestler? And does it take much financially? It's a really interesting question. And I will divert back to the interview I had with Santina Morello. And he talked about, he told this great story in this analogy of like, he, when they were in Europe, he went into the coach store with Randy Orton. And he's like, I've always thought of myself as being a guy who could have a coach wallet.

Oh my gosh, 6,000 euros. I'm not paying 6,000 euros for a wallet. Jeez. And he related that to pro wrestling. There was a price to pay. if you want to be successful, if you want to, like, be a pro wrestler as your job, as your career, make a living off of it, there is a price that you have to pay. And I'm talking here more like physically and mentally and like your time.

But he talked about like training twice a day, like every day and like speeding up that process and learning from everybody that he could learn from and try to be the best that he could be. So I don't want to quote how much a wrestling school costs, but, you know, it would be a few thousand find the best school that is within any sort of proximity to where you live. And if there isn't a great one, if there isn't one with a reputable coach, someone who's actually been there and has done it, like obviously immediately off the top of my mind, top of my head, I think of Sean Spears and Tyler Breeze and flatbacks because, you know, not only if they've been there, they are there right now.

And I think about schools like that all the time, like Baba Ray Dudley's school or Devon Dudley's school, you know, there's tons of great schools like that. If there isn't one in your area, or like Lance, Lance Storm, you know, so many great people have come out of there. If there isn't a school like that in your area, I would look into saving up what you can to move down and spend, you know, the few months at somewhere like flatbacks and get the best possible training that you can get. So if you're, if that's something you're looking into, Hankman, Adam Rage, I want to wish you the best of luck. I know it's not a career for everybody. It was something that I knew that I wanted to do when I was 20. And then I went to

wrestling school. And it's, it is very difficult. And I have an immense amount of respect for the men and women who do this at any level. But I, you know, I came to a fork in the road. I've told this many times, but, you know, the quick version of it is I was doing this in the summer between my sophomore and junior year of college. And then when it came time to go back to college, I was like, well, man, what do I'm going to do? I can't do both. Like, I could do both, but I want to be able to put all my focus on something. So is my focus going to be on school school or is it going to be on wrestling school? And I decided school, you know, getting my degree in communication studies and then wrestling would kind of always be there if I wanted it to be. So if this is something you want to do, give it your 100%. Like, and it needs to be something that you are 100% committed to doing.

because if you're not, there's no point in you doing this. In fact, Booker T said this in our last episode. 99% 100. If you're 99% sure about something, not quite there. It should be 100% of something 100% of the time. Tim Vixulius. Vixulus.

I think it's Vigzulus. At Tim underscore Vigzulus. Besides the rock. Who had you the most star-struck when you first met them? I mean, I'm not, usually starstruck. I've been so fortunate to be able to do this now for most of my career that it's just like I'm talking to another person who just happens to be really, really, really good at whatever it is that they do, you know, whether that's, you know, telling jokes as a comedian or

directing movies or wrestling or playing a sport or acting in a movie. They're just, you know, they're really, really good at it. And I, you know, have the opportunity to spend some time with and I'm grateful for that. But I will tell you that the setup for a red carpet definitely leads, like, leads you to, like, be a little bit like, I don't know, nervous, anxious, all of those things. So Tom Cruise, well, The Rock was the number one person I wanted to interview. And I was so fortunate to be able to interview him for the first time in 2012. And, you know, I've interviewed him a few times since.

But then when I got an interview with The Rock, the next person was Tom Cruise. And I got to interview Tom Cruise in 2018 in Paris. And the red carpet for Mission Impossible Fallout was right in front of the Eiffel Tower. And if you haven't seen the photo, Google it. It's amazing. It's like we're standing there. And the Eiffel Tower is like right behind us. But the way that red carpets are set up is like you get there early.

You get your spot. You do some like, they call them standups in the TV world where you like, you're you on camera like doing intros and outros and stuff like, hey, coming up, we're talking to this person about this movie. Don't miss it. Like that type of stuff. So you're there early. You know, there's all this buildup, all this buzz, all the thousands of fans there, screaming fans.

Then the red carpet starts. And then some of the other cast members come down and then maybe the director walks the carpet. Oh my gosh, there's Tom Cruise. And like for that red carpet, I was maybe a quarter of the way down. So pretty good because they will enter the red carpet on one end. and then they'll start speaking to all of the press as they make their way down the red carpet. So I was like a quarter of the way down, maybe 20 people down, maybe 15 people down.

So where you get starstruck is you're like, oh my gosh, there's Tom Cruise. And he's now six news outlets away from me. So I'm going to talk to him in six interviews. How long is an interview? Oh, they're like two or three minutes. So, oh, my gosh, I'm talking to Tom Cruise in 15 to 18 minutes, something like that, 15, 20 minutes. And then he does another interview or two or three. you're like, oh my gosh, now he's three people away from me.

That's where it kind of builds up and you're like, oh, my gosh, that interview was really short. Is my interview going to be really short? Oh, my gosh. And you're like second guessing the questions in your head and you're like, oh, is this the question I should lead with? Or should I wrap up with this question? I don't know. That's where you kind of get starstruck. And then, you know, he walks up to you.

You shake his hand. He's one of the nicest people on the face of the planet. And he's so insanely engaging in the conversation. Like he looks you in the eye. Like you're the only person. person that exists in that moment and he's so, so present. And, you know, number one puts you at ease, but number two makes you go, oh, yeah, this is why you're so good. This is why you're so good at just being a movie star and also like acting and all of that together. So that's a really cool one. And I

hope that when Mission Impossible eight, I guess, or seven part two, dead reckoning part two comes out in a few years, I hope that maybe I have a chance to talk to him again at some point in time there. The kid, Mikey Wilkes, who is at Kid Wilkes on Twitter, I want to ask CVV, should WrestleMania have been a two-night event sooner? Oh, yes, yes, way sooner. Way sooner. And this is said by someone who has been to 12 WrestleMania. So I've been to 18, 27, 29, 301, 32, 33, 33, 34, 35. Of course, nobody went to 36. Then 37, 38, 39. And I remembered, so I used to go with my friends. It was a group of four of us. And it was me, big wrestling fan. My other buddy, like casual wrestling fan, like watches every once in a while. And then two of our friends that just weren't

wrestling fans and just went for like the spectacle of it, which I thought was so awesome. Like, they were just there because they're like, let's go to a, let's go to a show with 80,000 people. And you can explain to me what's going on or why this person's wrestling this person. So it was really cool being able to go with my three buddies, Alex and Brian and Jason. We always had such a great time and everything that goes on around WrestleMania. And the last time that we went together was 34, New Orleans. And I just remember my one buddy, Jason. I was like, should I name him or should I not? I remember Jason being like, oh my gosh, why is it, why are we getting here so early? And why does this thing go so late? And the thing

is it ended up being like a seven-hour show, if you include like the pre-show and everything. And it's like it just dragged on. And I remember the next year I was actually just covering it in New York, WrestleMania 35, Kofi Mania. And it was just so long. And then if you went to WrestleMania 35, you can relate to this. It was so difficult to get out of that building, especially late at night. It was pouring rain and Uber's were insanely expensive. And it was just like, yes, two nights is so much better because it brings. breaks it up into too much more chewable. Like, it just, they're just so much more digestible.

The chewable and digestible. I don't know what I said there. But they're just too much more digestible timeframes. Four-ish hours, way better. So yes, I think it should have been a two-night event years ago. Number one, just for like it to, you know, you can include more people in it. Because a lot of people, yeah, go to night one and two. But there's a lot of people that just go for one.

or just go for two. And I think that it allows more people the opportunity to go. And I think that it makes it a weekend long event, which I think is really cool. If you're a hardcore fan, now you've got Saturday night WrestleMania, Sunday night WrestleMania, baby. Yeah, now it's cool. And I think it's really smart that WWE started to do that. But yes, they should have done that a lot sooner.

At Julian underscore 0904 on Twitter says, hey, Chris, do you have any plans? of writing a book about yourself at some point about your journey as a interviewer or host. I've toyed around with this a bunch and maybe you've heard me talk about it. I think I'd like to write a book at some point in time. I don't think it's about my journey as a host or interviewer. I don't think that that's super interesting. I've told that story a bunch of times. You can hear that on a podcast or see it on a YouTube video.

I mean, at the crux of that story is just like the idea of like number one, be like, so insanely stupidly passionate about something. And then number two, like, don't take no for an answer and just keep looking for your way to find a yes that could maybe lead to another yes at some point in time. That's really what my story is. But I think that there might be a book in there about like, I get asked a lot about, like, how do you start a YouTube channel? How do you start a podcast?

How do you grow in social media? And like, I know it sounds cliche, but it's like, you just got to start. And I think that that could be a good book title one day, just start. But also I think that there's something going back to that idea of like, I'm building this community of people who would like to also be a creator one day, full-time creator. I think there's something there. Full-time creator, I think is also a great book title. So I don't think the book's about me. I think the book's more about like, how can you do this? Can you do this? Of course you can do this. And here's the steps of how to do it. So there we go.

At Matthew Allen 6.621 on Twitter says, Chris, what is your advice for preparing to be a parent? Look, I really don't think anything can prepare you to be a parent. And you can hear lots of great advice from people who have been there and they've done it. But really nothing will prepare you for the life-changing moment that that is. I think it's twofold life-changing. One, you find out that your significant other is pregnant. That's such a huge. moment. It's like, oh my gosh, the world as we knew it before this does not exist. It has abruptly ended as of today. And actually, we went on a trip to Cabo, me and my wife, Rachel, and she didn't know that she was pregnant, like very, very early on. We had just the greatest time, you know, we're in Mexico, drinking tequila and having all kinds of fun and, you know, eating great food at the resort and going on all these adventures. And then, like, we found out, like a few weeks later that she was pregnant.

And it was like, okay, kind of in a weird way, that trip to Cabo is like the end of this one chapter in the beginning of a new one. And then when the baby is actually born, it's like, oh, my gosh. And now we're in another chapter here. I just think the biggest advice that I would have is just enjoy every moment because Logan's two months old this weekend, this Saturday, her birthday is May 29th. my birthday is May 19th. Kane's favorite day.

And it just feels like it's going by so fast already. Like even as I sit here in the office of our house recording this, I know they're like 20 feet away and I'm like, I kind of want to spend some time with them. I feel bad that I'm in here recording and they're over there, probably, you know, trying to eat or sleep or, you know, whatever is going on at this exact moment.

But yeah, just enjoy every moment. That's really it. I know that that's super easy. or super basic and cliche, but yeah, just enjoy every moment. At Brandon Wilson 7, and you spell Brandon with an I, B-R-A-N-D-I-N-Wilson 7. Has anybody ever tested your professionalism while conducting an interview? Hmm. Yes. And it's probably not the one you think.

It was actually an in-person interview. I mean, the one that immediately pops to my head. I'm not going to name names. But it was an in-person interview, and we got, I don't know, pretty early on in the interview. And I was just like, come on. Come on. Like, I don't know. You might be able to put two and two together and figure out who I'm talking about.

I like that person a lot. But just, yes, it's, yes, my professionalism has been tested. But I also think that part of being a great host, because I think I'm a host first, and I'm trying to build rapport. And I'm also just a curious person. I think part of that is kind of either rising to their level or sometimes on the rare occasion coming down to whatever their level is.

And I don't just mean their level of like intelligence or anything like that. I mean more of their level of their energy. Like I'm a pretty excitable guy. And if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that. And I think that sometimes it's not always easy for a guest to like rise up to my level of like, oh my gosh, I'm pumped about every day.

So sometimes, you know, you come down on that and that's okay. But for this particular interview, I was just like, yeah, I'm going to put the, like, unless you say something, I'm going to put this out there, this interview out there, unedited, and I don't know if this makes you look that great. But this is the interview that we did, and let's put it out there. So, so, yeah. Oh, here's another parenting question. at fan dads.

That's a great Twitter handle, by the way. As the father of a daughter, what is the one moment you can and cannot wait for? That is top level questioning right there. I can't wait for all the like dad-daughter things, right? Like our very first like daddy-daughter dance or daddy-daughter like date or something like that. Like, yeah, I'm so excited for stuff like that. And just to build memories. Like, to build memories with her, a really big one, core memory for me growing up was

when I caught my first fish. And I am mega passionate about fishing. I own a bass fishing company. We sell tungsten weights. It's called Woo! Tungsten W-O-O-Xclamation mark tungsten. So if you're into bass fishing at all, check us out. Woo-tungsten.com.

I remember catching my first fish. It was a rock bass on Sturgeon Lake, Fenland Falls, Ontario, Canada. That was such a core memory for me that I can't wait to create that core memory with her. And maybe fishing won't be her thing. I don't know what it'll be, but I can't wait to be part of whatever that core memory is. The thing I can wait for is we all make mistakes. And I did some pretty silly things and stupid things and made some dumb choices. in my teen years and maybe my early 20s, mid-20,

and I'm still making dumb decisions now, but not as dumb, I've learned from them. And I can wait, and I don't want it to happen, like to get that call one day of like, hey, dad, I did blank. Or, hey, dad, I know you, you'll be really upset, but blank. And I just want to always be there for her,

you know, her mom and I, always supporting her. but that's one that I'm like, let's push that off as long as possible because it's, you know, it's inevitable. That's just part of being apparent, I think. So what a really good question that got me thinking there. Man. Danny, who is at Scottish Gigolo on Twitter says, how cool was it to be cast in a Liam Neeson movie? And it's true. It's true. I'm in a Liam Neeson movie. We're with a man of Cyphred called Chloe. You can go check this out. I think it's, I think it's still, on Netflix. I'm also in the trailer for this movie. I have no lines. I'm just in the background, but I'm very featured in the background just as an extra. I'm a guy sitting at a cafe. And they

were filming this in Toronto. Adam McGoyen is the director. And I just, I had an agent at the time, and they submitted me. And he wanted me to play a waiter in the film. And I got to set and they already, they used actually one of the waiters from the actual cafe. So I ended up just sitting in this one, I'm actually having two scenes. There's one scene where I'm very, very pivotal scene in the movie sitting behind Amanda Seiford as she's like looking at Liam Neeson, it's like this very pivotal moment in the movie. And then there's another very pivotal point in the movie where Liam Neeson is married to Julianne Moore. So their characters are having this big argument. And I'm sitting directly behind

Liam Neeson in that scene, reading a newspaper and drinking wine at this cafe. And the whole premise of the movie is like it's set in this college town. It's set in Toronto, but it's like it's a college area of the town. So I was just supposed to be a college student, just like sitting there behind him. And I remember learning so much from the two days I spent on that set. And it was a super intense scene with Liam Neeson and Julian Moore. And she's like yelling at him and it's this very intense argument scene. And I just remember Liam Neeson just like being so like almost like whispering.

He was so quiet. And I just, it was the opposite of how I, how I would ever think that scene would be played. And I remember watching. I was like, oh, that actually felt like they were talking. Like, that actually felt like what an argument would look like at a cafe between a very angry wife and a husband. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, that is acting. And to be able to see that two feet in front of me was so cool.

So I'm also in the trailer for that movie and I'm also in the movie. Snap a screenshot. I always say, snap a screenshot and tag me. Snap a screenshot. of see if you can find me and Chloe. Also, I'm in The Love Guru. I've had a few people take a screenshot and tag me of that one. The Love Guru with Mike Myers. I spent like two weeks on that movie. And I also have a role in a movie called The Bronze. I actually have some lines. I play a news reporter in that one. I have some lines in a movie called Love Finds You in Sugar Creek.

I play a news reporter in that one. Are we seeing a trend here? And I have some lines in a John Travolta movie called Criminal Activities. So, see if you can find me in that movie. Snap a screenshot. Send it over to me. Okay, just a few more here. At Don Stevens, 29931. What makes a great ring announcer?

In my mind, Samantha Irvine is the best. Samantha Irvine is very good. And she's become very good, very quickly too. Like, Lillian legendary, and this is nothing but love for Lillian. And she will tell you this. If you watch some of Lillian's early stuff, she doesn't have nearly the poise

or nearly the voice. nearly the, just the presence, the, just the grandioseness of who she became, you know, a few years after that. But Samantha has picked us up so quickly. And she's just so talented. I'm sure you've seen the video of her like playing the flute and she's a great singer. And very good. So she is great.

I agree with you. What makes a great ring announcer, I think, is someone who can elevate the moment. Justin Roberts is so good at this. Bruce Buffer in the UFC is an absolute freaking walking goat when it comes to this. It's someone who can make the already special moment feel just that much more special. And you don't need to be huge and over the top with like the style that Bruce Buffer has. Like Michael Buffer makes the moment feel so special just by like bringing it down a little bit. Let's get ready to rumble.

Like he's so good at like bringing you in to the moment. So I think it's just someone who can, who has the voice, obviously, and can make it really special. And everyone who WWE is hired from Mike Rome is so underrated. I wish that guy got more like actual screen time, like, because you hear his voice all the time, but like put his face on the camera. Greg Hamilton, so good at this as well. Justin Roberts, of course. You know, Tony Chimel, Howard Finkel, you know, these are, they're all legends.

And WWE takes that position very, very seriously. I mean, I listed off just, what was that, six names? And that's over the course of 30 plus years, 40 years of WWE. Like, that is a very special position. So it takes a very special person to be in that position. All right. It's the last question. We got a lot of questions.

So thank you for sending them all in. If you have questions for the next one, hashtag ask CVV. And we'll get to them in the next one. I think we'll be right before all out. So, man, we'll have a lot of talk about there. And also the fallout of what happens at SummerSlam here. This is from my friend Rich Graham. He says, do you ever fly private?

Such a luxury. Rich and I went to college together. He lived on the same floor in our dorm. Williston 2A. North, like I've shouted this out before. No, I've never flown private, Rich. I'm not as fancy as you, Rich. But it is on my bucket list. And I actually said to Rachel,

the other day I said, in the next five years, we will fly on a private plane. We'll fly on a private jet. Even if it's like an empty leg flight, you know what I'm talking about here? Empty leg flight's like if someone actually owns a private plane or has rented it out and they're flying from, I don't know, make it easier.

L.A. to Vegas. The plane then has to go from Vegas back to L.A., empty. So what they try to do is like for a super discounted price, they go, tomorrow, you know, tomorrow there's a flight on this plane from Vegas to L.A. because it needs to reposition. It needs to go back

to that city. And it's like way cheaper. So, yeah, maybe it'll be an empty leg flight, but yes, the goal is to fly private. Maybe it'll be on Vince's plane one day. I don't know.

Maybe it'll be on Tony's plane one day. I don't know. But I guess we'll find out in the next five years. You heard it here. Vague goals get vague results, right? Specific goals get specific results. So five years from now,

or within five years. We'll be doing that. Maybe it's with you, Rich. Maybe me and you, Rich, will be flying on a private plane together. Who knows? Okay, there we go. There were a lot more that we could have got to here, but I can't believe we're like 45 plus minutes into this. Amazing. Thank you for being with us on this journey. This is honestly meant so much. If you listen to it, Ask CVV episode, you are a real one. So I thank you. And I hope that you enjoy these as much as I enjoy recording these. Wayne Dyer has this great quote, and you know that I love quotes, and you know that I end every episode with a great quote.

So here's the quote from Wayne Dyer. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Be great and be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight with the one, the only, Rickshay. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback model. 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 Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.