Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #87 - R-Truth Is Back! King Of The Ring Early Predictions, CM Punk vs. John Cena

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Get your tickets for INSIGHT LIVE in NYC with VIP Meet & Greet! Welcome to AskCVV #87! On this episode Chris answers questions about R-Truth's return to WWE at Money In The Bank after being released a week before, the fallout from Money In The Bank in Los Angeles, early predictions for who will win both King and Queen Of The Ring, the upcoming CM Punk vs. John Cena match at Night Of Champions, which match in wrestling history deserves a different finish, the worst or most annoying guest ever and much more!   Quote I'm thinking about: "An athlete won't discourage you from working out. A business owner won't discourage you from starting a business. A musician won't discourage you from learning an instrument. It's always the people going nowhere who always have something to say." - Jim Kwik   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: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Download the Rocket Money app and enter “Insight With Chris Van Vliet” in the survey   HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE 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 Inside, I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, happy Friday. Hope it's been a great week for you. Thank you for being a real one and for joining us on an AskCV episode. And thank you for making insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet.

Slap a sharpshooter on that follow button. wherever you're listening right now, and I'm sure you've already done this because you're a real one, you're listening on a Friday, it's just you and I hanging out. But if you haven't, for whatever reason, could you leave a rating on Spotify or could you leave a review on Apple Podcasts? Both of those help so much. And as we head into the summer here, we've got some really big things planned. You'll be seeing a couple of those big guests right around the corner. If you live in and around New York, I'm going to be in New York next week for Fanatics Fest. The lineup there is insane at Fanatics Fest.

Like the WWE superstars that are going to be there, it's crazy. Making appearances, doing meet and greets, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, The Undertaker, Ria Ripley, Jay Uso, Liv Morgan, Bianca Bel Air, Alexa Bliss, Bronberger, Jacob Fon, Ch, Laudeau, Chelsea Green, Triple H, Becky Lynch, Stephanie McMahon, Dominic Mysterio, Ray Mysterio, Randy,

Orton, Kevin Owens, Logan Paul, Penta, Damien Priest, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Tiffany Stratton, Trist, and Sammy Zane. That is just stacked. And on top of that, you've also got Tom Brady's going to be there. LeBron James, Peyton Manning. The list goes on and on and on. So if you're going to be at Fanatics Fest, keep an eye out. I would love to say what's up and chat a little wrestling with you.

Speaking in New York City, that's when our next Insight Live is happening. that's where it's happening. August 1st, the day before the first ever two-day SummerSlam. We're kicking it off that Friday night with Insight Live in New York City. And look, I understand SummerSlam is not in New York City. So we'll be just across the water doing our show in New York City. Then the next day, they'll be at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for SummerSlam. I get it.

If you live in New Jersey or you live in New York, people always get upset when it's like, No, WrestleMania 29 and WrestleMania 35 were not in New York. I know WW tried to make it seem like they were. They were not. They were in the shadow of New York City, as they sometimes like to say. But yes, SummerSlam is in New Jersey. My live show, though, is in New York. We're going to have a big guest.

Grab your tickets now at CVVTX.com. CVVTX.com. And a big thank you again to everyone who joined us for Insight Live in Los Angeles. we couldn't have had a better guest than Ethan Page. Ethan Page and I go way back. We've known each other of like 15 plus years. It's just, I guess, kind of a thing when you live in Ontario and you're either a pro wrestler or a huge pro wrestling fan like I am.

So we go way back. Ethan Page is hilarious. You're not going to want to miss this episode when it comes out. It's not next week. We're editing it together now. You'll see it the week after that. It's so good. good. He was roasting people in the audience. There was a moment there. RVV was at the show.

It was the first live show that my wife, Rachel's been to. She was helping out the Q&A. So she was like walking the mic around for everybody that had their hand up asking questions. And there was a moment where she like had to crawl across the stage to get to somebody who was sitting in the front row. And then she was like ducking down, but still on the stage. And I'm like, okay, honey, you can get off the stage now. get to the next person. Ethan Page is like, did you just tell your wife to get off the stage? Then the crowd's,

boom. Good times. Good times. And now like 15 people this week have been like, hey, didn't you kick your wife off the stage during your live show? I'm like, no, it's not what happened. That is not what happened.

I was trying to politely say, hey, let's get to the next question here. All of that is to say, a very fun live show with Ethan Page. And if you live in or around New York City or if you're going to be there for SummerSlam, you don't want to miss the next one. And yes, a lot of people have asked, are we going to do something around Survivor Series in San Diego?

That's the plan. We're working right now to solidify a venue, figure out a date and a time for all that. But I would say pencil in that front. Friday night. It's Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving. Pencil in that evening for Insight Live in San Diego, although I may have said too much, and maybe I'll be regretting this if plans don't work out, but that's what it looks like as of right now. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 87, the Sydney Crosby, Travis Kelsey, and yes, grunk edition. A lot of, those are big names. They wore number 87.

A lot of people were like, you can't forget Sid the Kid, right? Of course, he was top of the list, a Canadian and grew up watching hockey and still watches hockey, of course. You got a question for next week, the Eric Lindrosse edition, number 88. Send it in on social media using the hashtag, ask CVV. Shoot me an email. CVV at chris fanbly.com. Or if you're listening on Spotify, just leave a comment on Spotify.

And we'll be collecting the questions, as we always do from all of these different places. We'll kick it off with this email from Matthew O'Brien who says, hey Chris, I just finished watching Money in the Bank. First of all, how was L.A.? But second, and most importantly, with the return of Our Truth, do you think this could have been a part of the storyline all along? And could we see Our Truth become a big player on the roster? Or did WWE slash TKO just get so much backlash from the fans in the space of a week that they had to bring him back? We'd love to know your thoughts on this and I love the podcast. Have a blessed day, Matthew from Dublin, Ireland. Well, that is the question of the week. That is a, that is a big question. To answer your first

question, how was L.A.? It was great. And I don't know if it comes across like this on TV, but the Intuit Dome is loud, like loud to the point where I went with my buddy Zeus, who owns West Coast Creative Studios, the studio, the podcast studio in L.L. where I record on my podcast. I went with him and like it was one of those deals where like, you know when you're at a loud party or you're at a bar and you have to like yell so the person next to you can hear what you're saying? That was the vibe the entire night at the Intuit Dome.

So much so that like I had a really hoarse voice on the drive home from there. I don't know if it plays off like that on TV, but there's just something about the way that that building is set up. It's very, I don't know, all the all the seats are like it's almost like they're almost like on top of one another like the stadium goes up instead of out and i think that that really helps with the acoustics in there but it is it is loud in there and i don't want to pat myself in the back too much but i got most of the predictions correct once again for money in the bank set ralins is mr money in the bank

naomi is miss money in the bank it'll be very interesting to see how both of those play out and I feel like especially with Seth Rawlins, just kind of, you could just hold that briefcase up at any point in time, whether that's to Gunther or that's to John Cena, just holds that thing up. And that's just the constant reminder of like, nobody's safe here. Nobody is safe.

But we'll get to the more important question here about our truth. And I've gotten so many messages about this. I don't think that this was planned out. I think from all of the reports that we've seen, our truth did in fact get released or they couldn't come to terms on a new contract. And he was out. That was legit. And I actually texted him after he got released and shared my thoughts with him. And he wrote me back. Hey, thanks, Chris. I really appreciate that. I don't think that you play around with someone getting released in real life. And I know that the lines are very blurred right now. But I don't think that in the same weekend when Carlito's

contract is announced it's not getting renewed, when Valhalla, aka Sarah Logan, got released, and Our Truth got released. I don't think that you play around with a storyline like that. Like, I think that this was legit. And I think that WWE slash TKO heard the fans loud and clear. Like even before Raw started, I just think that the discourse online, the amount of people saying we want truth and the amount of people that were just like blown away by the fact that you would release one of the most popular, one of the most entertaining superstars of all time, like guaranteed future Hall of Fame. Like there's no question about that. I think fans are just scratching their head as like, how do you release a guy like that? a guy that everybody in the locker room looks up to as a mentor, they look up to as a friend. Like, you don't, it's just doesn't make sense.

And we saw all of the different messages from various superstars who were like, man, how do you get rid of a guy like that? And I think that WWE realized real quick, like, hmm, that was a mistake. And then when Ross started and there were a chance that were so loud, they couldn't be. be ignored even by the people that were in the ring. It's like, okay. Yeah, something's got to happen here. The question was asked at the post-show press conference. The question was asked of Triple H, like, was he actually released?

What was it that brought him back? And Triple H's answer was, and I quote, because I want to quote this to make sure that we're directly quoting him and speaking about his exact words here, Triple H said, I love the question. You enjoying the show? All part of the show, man. And people have been hanging on that last part, all part of the show. And I think the general interpretation that I've seen online is, oh, he's saying it's part of the show. Like, this was all a work. We got worked here. Our truth wasn't actually released. They just pretended that he was released. I think another interpretation of that could be, are you questioning whether this is part of the show or not? You enjoying the show. Are you

enjoying the show? He's basically saying, are you enjoying the show? What does it matter if he was released or not or if this was a storyline or not? If you're questioning it, then we got you. If you don't know whether this was real or if it was not real, we got you. That is an interpret I believe of it's part of the show. Part of the show is the line is so blurred that you don't know. But I think that if you do enough research online or even just a little research online, it seems pretty clear what actually happened here. And one of the real telling moments for me, if you watch the post show, was the way that Kathy Keller reacted to this. So she had that live shot from the Intuit Dome and she was saying like, you know, huge surprise tonight,

our truth returned, took out John Sina, and then she started getting emotional, talking about how our truth is back. And it just, it spoke to me and said to me that this, this was real. There's real emotion attached to that. And then our truth comes out on Monday Night Raw, and he's not our truth anymore. Our truth seemingly is dead. And this is Ron Killings. And Ron Killings cutting his hair live on TV is going to be one of those moments that goes down in WWE history. Like when they start to play the best raw moments like the next anniversary show that they do, that's going to be one of those moments where it's like, oh my gosh.

Like not only is our truth back in WWE, but he is very clearly a different version of himself. And that promo was like a quick few minute promo, but he talked about. how our truth was too nice and too forgiving. And this is our, this is Ron Killings now. And it was just, you can, we know that our truth is a veteran. Like, it's obvious that he's a veteran. But like a promo like that just punctuates the point of like, this is why he's so good. So good. And if you haven't checked it out yet, Ron Killings did an interview. I'm busted open. I think a day or two ago. It was a quick segment, like a little over four minutes long.

He was brilliant. It was just brilliant character work. If you haven't watched it yet, go check it out. And he just kept saying, I'm driving now. I'm driving now. Which I thought was just continuing to drive home the point of like, he's the one in control now. I love it.

I love that he's back. I love that WWE was, forced to listen. We even talked about this on Ask CVV last week. Like, if you are genuinely, truly upset about this, have your voice be heard. And that's exactly what happened. Our truth is back. Now, how long until Carlito is back to? Because if our truth is going to be playing this more serious version of himself, if he's Ron Killings moving forward, Carlito's gone. Who's bringing the laughs. We really don't have like a comedic character in there. And I'm curious who's going to pick up that torch and run with it because now there's a huge white space. And I wonder who's

going to take that. But I couldn't be happier that Ron Killings is back. And I've seen people say, well, he's a heel. And he's a heel now with the way that he's acting. I don't think so at all. I don't think that you return, take out the biggest heel in John Sina, help the biggest baby face in Cody Rhodes win a match. I don't think you do that if you're a heel. But I think that we're going to start to see some real layers to this character. But I don't see how you could get the fans to boo Ron Killings at this point. So I think that, yeah, there'll be some layers here. And that busted open interview, I think, is a bit of a taste of.

of what's to come. He was almost like a split personality. There were moments where he was like cutting a very serious promo as Ron Killings and then his facial facial expression changed. And you could see that, oh, that now he's our truth. And he's like apologizing for things. It seems like that's what we're going to be seeing from him. But impossible to boo Ron Killings at least right now. Maybe that will change. But as of right now, It's just a nice little reminder that the voice of the fans can be heard. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. Prize picks is the best place to turn your sports knowledge into cash.

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I'd start to feel myself getting stronger with more energy and experiencing less inflammation. I think it's worth you checking out as well. Timeline is offering 10% off your first order of mitopure. Just go to timeline.com slash insight. That's timeline.com slash insight. John Carver on Facebook says, Whoa, you called it CVV. We're getting John Sina versus CM Punk.

What do you think of this happening at night of champions? It's very interesting that this match, along with the Randy Orton match, is being promoted as one last time, which now removes them as possibilities for John Sina's last match. And it really feels like, I don't know we've got six months to go here, but it really feels like all signs are pointing to Cody Rhodes. because after money in the bank, John Sina has pinned Cody Rhodes this year and won the WWE Championship, won number 17.

And Cody Rhodes has pinned John Sina. Granted, it was in a tag team match, but still, each of them have one pin on each other this year. There's more stories to be told this year, but it just feels like that's what we're lining up for. or at least at this point. But I'm so excited for John Sina versus C.M. Punk. One of my favorite WWE matches of all time

and certainly my favorite John Sina match and I guess also my favorite CM Punk match is Money in the Bank 2011. The crowd, the reactions, the finish, CM Punk winning the championship, blowing a kiss going off into the crowd. Beautiful. Beautiful. And these guys are two of the very best

from this generation on the mic. We saw a little taste of that. On Monday, we're going to continue to see more of that as we ramp up tonight of champions. But what a brilliant heel move by John Sina. You want the title? Okay. Yeah, come to the place that you hate the most. You have to face me in Saudi Arabia.

What a brilliant heel move that is. And ruining wrestling can mean whatever. it means to you. And I think that that's kind of the cool thing, the open-ended thing about saying ruining wrestling, because if you like John Cena's heel turn, great. Success. He's ruined wrestling. If you hate John Cena's heel turn and you are expecting something completely different, well, great. He's ruining wrestling for you. And I think that there's just been these little nuances in promos, in matches, in backstage things that John Cena's done, even in the post-show press conference. There's been just a little Easter eggs in there that we pick up on

either the next day, the next week, or when the dots get connected a month or two later or something like that. But I'm excited for this match. And I don't know where it goes from here. If this is one last time, I assume John Cena wins this match. I assume. John Cena wins this match. I've been assuming that John Cena holds the championship until SummerSlam. I don't know who the opponent's going to be at SummerSlam, but I'm excited for this. This is the John Sina match so far this year that I've been the most excited for because we've only seen the one promo, but we're going to get, I would guess, at least two more.

Things are going to probably start to get real person. personal because that's what CM Punk likes to do. And if John Cena's playing the heel in this one, and that's an interesting point, this will be the first time that John Cena and CM Punk have ever faced each other, where John Cena is the heel and CM Punk is the baby face. We've had lots of matches between them, but never with this dynamic. So if John Cena is going into this match as a heel, I feel like he's going to be coming into this guns blazing.

Aaron Bloid on Facebook says, hey, CVV, what did you think of Jay Uso's first short title run? And why can't he keep a solo individual strap for a longer period of time? His title run and the I see title run seemed pretty short for a tag team guy that is as over as anybody in an individual career. I'm a newer listener. So thank you for giving me some great content every week. Well, thank you, A.A. Ron. I feel like Jay Uso's World Heavyweight Championship win was mainly done to create a great WrestleMania moment.

That was how WrestleMania Night 1 kicked off. And I feel like that was the idea of like, let's kick off the show with everybody in the crowd, waving their hands, yeating as Jay Uso's making his way all the way from the top down onto the floor. Side note. I don't know if I should be saying this. Side note, I saw Jay Uso that Monday there was a Netflix thing in Las Vegas.

And Jay said to me, man, I was blown up because it was such a long way to go, like all the way from the top of Legion Stadium, all the way down into the ring. He's like, man, I was blown up. That entrance blew me up. I thought that was so funny. But I think it was to kick off the show with all of that energy, all of that excitement, then have the match, then at the end of that match, have the big moment of Jay Uso gets his WrestleMania moment.

This is not his last world championship win. Like I think that he'll win this a handful more times. And I don't know if it, like, this is, it's so, was it a short run? Was it a long run? Like it's such a strange term, right? Because like, is it short if it's two months? Is it short if it's four?

four months. I guess anything is short compared to 1,316 days from Roman Raines. Jay Uso held the World Championship for 51 days. He only defended it twice, defended it against, well, I guess, no, yeah, he defended it. He had that matter. Yeah, he defended it twice. Seth Rollins defeated him via DQ. He beat Logan Paul, and then he lost it to Gunther on Monday.

Interesting little fun fact here. At 51 days, Jay Uso's title run, world title run, is longer than, I'm looking at the numbers here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Longer than nine of John Cena's 17 title runs. So yes, certainly short. He only had it from WrestleMania to now. And I don't know why he didn't hold that longer or why he didn't hold the IC title longer. I enjoyed Jay Uso as world champion.

I know that he is very polarizing. I think that this is, Jay Uso's going to win another one at some point in time, probably in the next year or so. But it's just interesting how our perception of what is a long title reign or what is a short title reign has changed so much. And I think it's because a lot of the title rains have been a lot longer over the last, call it like four or five years.

And I know you're probably asking, man, that's longer than nine of John Cina's title rains. Yes. And I will, I will rattle them off here for you, the shorter ones. Five minutes is the shortest one. He also had 14 days, 49 days. Another one was 49 days. Another one that was 49 days. 21 days.

14 days, 20 days. So, in his longest one, because I'm sure you guys are wondering, 380 days. So title rains have definitely got. longer recently and I think that we're used to seeing them be a little bit longer. I mean, Cody held it for as long as Cody did a full year. So I'm with you on this one. And I don't have an answer as to why it was short, but I feel like whenever his next one is, it'll be longer. Dahlia on Spotify says, Hey, CVV, Dahlia from Greenville, South Carolina. I love the show and I consider myself a real, real one. Having listened to every AskCV episode since,

I started listening and working on listening to the old ones too. Well, you do not need to go back and listen to the old Ask CVVs. They probably won't make a lot of sense in hindsight, but I appreciate the gesture and the thought. The participants of the King of the Ring tournament have been announced and the second fatal four-way match on Raw has a mystery opponent. Who do you think the possibilities are? And maybe somebody not in WWE at the moment. The only person that comes to mind for me is Roman Reins.

So King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring two weeks away at Night of Champions. And if we look at the brackets here, we've got Sammy Zane already advancing. He beat Penta, Brombreaker, and Dominic Mysterio. We've also got, this is going to be a very interesting bracket, this one here. Randy Orton versus L.A. Knight, yeah, versus Alistair Black versus Carmillo Hayes. Carmel O'Hase. Oh, Randy Orton or L.A. Knight, like one of them has to not advance. That's going to be interesting.

I would have to think just with the nature of how the King of the Ring tournament works, you would want someone who's kind of on the upswing here. Like Randy Orton doesn't need to wing King of the Ring. It's not saying he's not deserving of it, but he doesn't need it. LA Knight, yeah, could do a lot with King of the Ring. So I would think LA Knight would advance in that bracket. Then we got on the other side, Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Andrade, and Shinska Nakamura. I don't know how you don't have Cody Rhodes advancing from that one.

Then you've got Seamus, Rusev, Bronson Reed, and then the mystery person there. Who could it be? Roman Raines is a great guess. We haven't seen Roman Reins in a little while, but does it make sense for the exact same thing we were talking about with Randy Orden? Does it make sense to have Roman Reins going at King of the Ring tournament? I just feel like he's at a point now where he can be doing things that are bigger. Like he doesn't need King of the Ring. Who else could that mystery person be, though? I think if you're smart and I think that if you truly are listening to the fans, it's carrying cross. You put carrying cross in that spot and just let him do his thing. I think some other options are what about Ron Killings? What about Al Grande Americano shocking the world again? I think, I mean, this is the cool thing is it doesn't have to be someone making this massive return. It could just be someone who's been in the mix and has not been officially announced for the match yet. But I'll be very curious about that one. And I would have to

think that whoever that mystery person is, that's the person advancing. So then our brackets are now Sammy Zane L.A. Knight. Yeah. And then on the other side, Cody Rhodes in this mystery person. So I would think L.A. Knight, yeah, advances. Cody Rhodes advanced. I mean, I guess it all depends on who the mystery person is, but where does this go? Like Cody Rhodes being in there is a real, throwing a real curveball at me because I don't see why you would have Cody Rhodes in the King of the Ring tournament if there was no plan to have him advance all the way to the end. But if I were to guess right now, we've got two weeks to go, L.A. Knight is the perfect pick

for King of the Ring. because King of the Ring is someone who shows up every single week. They're reminding people of how great they are because they're the King of the Ring. And then it ends up giving them a boost in their career and usually ends up leading to more things. I think that with L.A. Knight being in three straight money in the bank ladder matches and not getting the briefcase, L.A. Knight needs something to be able to sink his teeth into. This would be absolutely perfect for him. again, two weeks to go here. We don't know who the mystery opponent is.

So a lot of things could change here, but that's how I feel right now as we look at this. For Queen of the Ring, we've already got Roxanne Perez, who's moving on. She defeated Rio Ripley, Liv Morgan and Kyrie Seine. On this same side here, we've got Jade Cargill versus Meachin versus Piper Niven

versus Nyad Jacks. It seems to me like it would be makes sense for Jade Cargill to move on on that one. On the other side of things, then you've got Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Chelsea Green, Candice Larray. That is a stacked match there. If it's not Charlotte Flair, it's Alexa Bliss. If it's not Alexa Bliss, it's Charlotte Flair. This kind of feels to me like the Cody Rhodes bracket where it's like, why do you put Charlotte Flair in here if there's no plan for her to like win this whole thing. So I guess my gut just says it's got to be Charlotte Flair then. Then you've got Oscar, Stephanie Vakere, Raquel Rodriguez, and Ivy Nile. I think it's

got to be Stephanie there, which then leaves us with Roxanne versus Jade, the winner of that moves to the finals, Charlotte versus Stephanie. Again, I think that King of the Ring, Queen of the Ring, give someone a lot of promo time, give them a lot of TV time, strap a racket, rocket to their back and just make this thing happen. So with that said, I don't think you can go wrong with Stephanie Vakere or Roxanne Perez. Two weeks out, if I'm just making a prediction here, using my gut and my gut alone, I'll go with Roxanne Perez. but we'll probably have a completely different outlook if we look at this next week.

But it's going to be very interesting. And also, why is King of the Ring slash Queen of the Ring not its own event? Why is this happening at Night of Champions? I would like to know the answer to that. Shopping for a car should be exciting, not exhausting. But between misleading prices and hidden fees, it can feel like a maze. That's where Car Gurus comes in. They rank the best deals, verified dealers, and make sure you never pay more than you should.

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Sedill and Phanastriide. Prescription product require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. Jingleheimer Schmidt. John Jacob on Instagram says, do you think the Rock's family being at Money in the Bank was a work?

Or is there some sort of ego slash politics thing going on? If you didn't notice during the main event, the Rock's mom, Ada, was right. behind the announcers. She loves wrestling. In fact, I remember seeing her at Ronan Pro Wrestling shows at Broward Community College in South Florida. I remember seeing her there like when there was no family member of hers that was on the card, no family member of hers that was even involved with the promotion. She just loves wrestling. And I would, she's the sweetest woman ever. And I would chat with her and I'd be like, well, you know, what brings you out? And she's like, well, I love her.

wrestling. And that was like that was it. Like she just loves wrestling. And I think that's the case. She probably was in town and he has a pretty solid hookup for tickets, I would think, TKO. And I think that that's all it came down to. I don't think there's any reason to read into this more than people are, like more than what it is. I think a lot of people saw her in the crowd. They recognized her and they went, oh, that must mean the rocks here. Well, I don't think that meant the rock was there at all. I truly think that she just likes wrestling, clearly more than likes. She loves wrestling, loves being there live, and that was it. And there was a beautiful interaction when Cody saw her and came over and said hello to her

and gave her a kiss on the cheek. I think that's it. She just loves wrestling and she was there checking out the show. Whitaker 1028 on Spotify says, hey, CVV, I started listening a few months ago. Now I don't miss a show. I hope that makes me a real, real one. It does. If you listen all the way to the end, you are a real, real one.

My question is, with money in the bank just passing, how do you feel about the briefcase being on the line in a match like a title would be? They did it a few times, but it could be, but could it be a thing that happens more, or should they just stay with the person who wins it being the one who cashes in? They've had it on the line before. Usually, Mr. Kennedy is a big one that comes to me. mind here. Usually it's because of like, oh, well, that person won't be able to hang on to it because

of an injury. And that was the case with Mr. Kennedy. I don't mind when it's on the line, but I much prefer it being just the thing that lingers in the back of your mind. At any point in time, if there's a beatdown happening or there's a six-person match or a tag team match and the champion seems to be getting the brunt of the beating, it's just in the back of your mind. Like, ooh, is Seth Rollins music going to hit? Is Naomi's music going to hit? Is this the time? Are they going to cash in?

I also loved, even though I hated the way that it ended with Austin Theory, I loved how often they teased the cashing. Austin Theory's music would hit in one of those exact moments that I was talking about. He'd come down and then something would happen to avoid him from cashing him. But I loved it. It was just like the constant like reminder of this thing could happen. I hate that he cashed in on the U.S. title and somehow didn't win. Austin,

Austin theory deserves more. But I would think with both of these, we're going to see them being held on to for a little while here. I don't know what my definition of a little while is. Maybe it's a few months. But I think that this is going to be a central focus of the Paul Heyman, Bronson, Bronbreaker, Seth Rollins faction.

I think it's going to be a central focus of like, these guys are unstoppable because they have, well, because they're huge and great wrestlers, but they've got the money in the bank briefcase. And then when that gets cashed in, I would have to assume it's a successful cash in. Then it's like, well, we're a dominant faction because we've got either the WWE championship

or the world championship. and I just, I can't see Seth Rollins cashing in on John Sina. Could be wrong. I've been wrong about a lot of things with the John Sina retirement tour, but I can't see him spoiling the John Sina retirement tour with a cash in. I've seen the theories. I don't follow them, but I've seen the theories of John Sina's going to win his retirement match. The money in the bank winner is going to come out and cash in

ruin John Sinus Parade. I don't see it going like that. But I guess we'll see. I would think, and it's only been a week since Seth Rollins won this thing, I think it seems a lot more likely that Seth Rollins cashes in on Gunther or whoever Gunther ends up losing this championship too. And I guess we'll see. Like, you may not like it.

But I think Logan Paul is in that world championship conversation. So we'll see. We'll see what ends up happening. Jamie Crawley on Spotify. Hey, Chris, question for Ask CVV number 87. Have you got your wish? And has the WWE abandoned the draft given that we're now well into June and there's no sign of it. Superstars appearing on both brands appears to be getting normalized a bit now. So I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you. Much love for all of your great work, Jamie Crawley. in London. Yes, there is nothing I hate more than the draft. Just because it doesn't make sense. That's it. It's like nothing is worse than someone getting drafted to Raw and then a few days later or a few

weeks later, what are they doing on SmackDown? They're not supposed to be here. And I like that we're at least acknowledging now that Cody Rose has been showing up on Raw and he's been showing up on SmackDown. It's happened quite a bit with CM Punk. It seems. very fluid now. And I don't know if this is Netflix going, we need these certain people appearing on raw. I don't know if this is the USA network saying we need these people on SmackDown, but I appreciate it, especially if you're attending live shows. For example, I went to Smackdown in Chicago, and I was like, man, we're in Chicago here. There's no way CM Punk's going to show up. Well, CM Punk's music hit. And it's like, cool. And,

And there was no mention of like, whoa, what's he doing here? He's supposed to be on the red brand. I think it was just like, I appreciate that it was just a normal thing that it's like, yes, he has a WWE superstar. Why wouldn't he be on one of the WWE shows? The draft has typically been the last week of April, at least the last few years. Although there were some years. So typically April.

April is usually when the draft is. So it hasn't happened yet. My goodness, I can't tell you how happy I am. But there were a few years when the draft was in October, 2019, 2020, and 2021. And they kind of like set it up like it's a new season of Raw. It's a new season of Smackdown, which makes really no sense if it's on every single week. What they're trying to do is they're trying to line this up with how seasons are done in network television. Like when you've got a new season of whatever show that you're watching on whatever network,

those big shows are often coming that first week or second week of October. That's, that was the plan here before. And I think that that really worked when they did it in 2019. That made a lot of sense because Smackdown was just arriving on Fox. So I think that they were going, look, it's a whole new season of Smackdown. And we're going to shake up the roster. And we're going to, But my fingers are crossed, my toes are crossed. It would be amazing if we don't have a draft this year. So maybe if we don't talk about it too much, they won't remember that they haven't done it yet.

Will Flanagan emailed this one in. Hey, Chris, real, real one since 2023. I found your podcast after getting back into wrestling. And now I listen to your episodes nightly when I'm doing my favorite thing, which is cooking for my wife. I have two questions. Me and my buddies have watched a lot of PLEs together and we're located in Iowa. So next August, we're already planning our trip to Minneapolis for SummerSlam 2026. What are the odds that you will have a show? The odds are pretty much 100%. It is far too far away. Far too far away.

What the heck is that? It is a long way away to guarantee this, but we've already been talking about that happening. So plan on the Friday before SummerSlam. Plan on that. My second one, my wife and I recently got married in September of last year, and now the idea of kids is floating around. I know people say there is never the right time, but was there a right time where you and RVV knew it was time for kids? Thank you for all you do. Hope to see you in 2026, Will Flanagan. Well, I will see you in 2026, sir. You're right. There is no time to have kids. It changes your life in the best and most profound way. And I am so, so proud to be the dad of those two little kids. My little girl, Logan, my son, Cooper. No, there's not a right time. What I think you need to do is you need to have a

conversation, and this is what Rachel and I did. You need to have a conversation of like, are we ready for all of this to get shaken up? Are you ready for sleepless nights? Not just when the babies are born, but for your wife during pregnancy. You know, knock on wood, hopefully it's a smooth, healthy pregnancy, but there's just a lot of things that come into play. Are you ready in your life financially? Are you, no one, you're never going to be ready to be father. Like there's no words of advice that anyone could ever give you that are going to prepare you for being responsible for a tiny little human being. Nothing. And it's, it truly is, again, life change. But I think it's just about having a conversation and going, all right, like, should we start trying?

and if we and if we get lucky and it happens the first try, are we ready to shake all this up in nine months? And are you ready for the expenses to come along with that? Are you ready for the time commitments that come along with that? And I think that's it. The fact that you're even asking me this sounds to me like you're pretty ready. So best of luck to you. Luck's not going to be a helpful thing. You're going to be great.

You're going to be great and you're going to figure this out every minute of every day, every hour of every day. The pieces just start to come together and everybody. I mean, I've only been a dad for two years now. But every parent will tell you that they're still figuring it out no matter how old their kids are. So if you guys think you're ready, if you're even having that discussion, sounds like you're already kind of on the path here.

Striker.burn on Instagram. If you could change the outcome of any match in history, what would you pick? Man, any match in history. There's so many. There's so many. I think the one that immediately comes to mind is WrestleMania 30. I would not have ended the streak there.

And it's not that I didn't enjoy that match or I didn't enjoy that moment. But Brock Lezzer didn't need to be the one to end the streak. And I don't know if the streak needed to end at that point in time. I think that the streak should have ended at some point in time,

like should have ended somewhere. And I think people forget sometimes that The Undertaker has too losses at WrestleMania. Of course, he lost at WrestleMania 30 to Brock Lesnar, but he also lost at WrestleMania 33 to Roman Reins, a match that does not

get talked about that often at all. And I just think that if Undertaker was going to put the streak on the line and actually lose it, like he'd put the streak on the line so many times before, but if he was actually going to have the streak end, it should have been someone

who really could have used that as like fuel. Like, Brock Leicester was already way over in 2014 when they had that match at at WrestleMania 30. He didn't need it. And, you know, he's not in the position to say no to Vince McMahon and say, no, I'm sorry, sir. I know you want me to win this match, but it's not going to happen, especially when,

according to all accounts, especially what Undertaker was saying, like they made the decision that afternoon. So it's not like he's going to go, all right, no, I'm not doing the match now. if you're going to have me win the match. But I just don't think, like, it created a, the most talked about moment of that weekend for sure. I have told the story many times, but you could hear a pin drop,

not just after the match, but like for the next, like, 10, 15 minutes, it was just like utter confusion. Like, strangers looking at each other. Like, what? Did that really just happen? Like, are you serious? Like, did they really have the Undertaker lose?

What? Crazy. What? Wow. Oh my gosh. No. I think it should have been Bray Wyatt. It would have made so much more sense to have Bray Wyatt be the one who ends the streak. It would have been a true like passing of the torch moment. And Bray Wyatt would have been able to like, he's now the successor to the undertaker. He ends the streak. And then it also makes sense that they're both kind of supernatural character. There were always comparisons between Undertaker and Bray Wyatt and just the fact that they were like, just deep character work, like very committed to what they were doing. But also the fact that like Bray Wyatt was able to do some supernatural things. And that's also what the Undertaker did. So that would have been, I would have changed the outcome of that. I would have had Undertaker win at WrestleMania 30 and then take us to,

whatever WrestleMania you want to go to from there. Maybe it's that next year. I mean, it was Undertaker versus Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 31. That's where the streak

should have ended. Or maybe not there. Like if we're just completely fantasy booking this thing, maybe Undertaker has a different opponent at 31. Maybe it's Undertaker, Bray Wyatt at 32 in Dallas,

100,000 fans there. Maybe that's where the streak ends. But I just don't think it was, I just don't think it helped anybody to have the streak end the way that it did. Runner-up answer here is the screw job. I think it would have made so much more sense to go with the original plan, which was the match ends in a countout or a schmaws. Sorry, just like a bunch of people run in.

And then Brett loses the title on Raw. makes far more sense. But there's so many dominoes that fell after the screw job and so many things that happened as a result of the screw job. We got the Mr. McMahon heel character, which was real fuel to the attitude era in general and they really helped with the Monday Night Wars, like that Mr. McMahon character was pivotal and everything that Stone Cole was doing. And then you had Austin McMahon.

So there's so many things that ended up falling out from that. But maybe this is just the Canadian and me speaking. Maybe I'm biased as a result. But I just think that it just casts such a dark cloud over Brett Hart's career for a little while. Vince McMahon was never looked at the same, which he ended up leaning into and becoming a heel. Brett, screw Brett. But that could have gone differently and still had a positive result. at least in the moment. It's not until we're able to zoom out many years later that we went,

well, you know, screw job might have sucked in the moment and been very confusing when you're watching that whole show. You're like, what is going on? What? He didn't tap. Why the referee ring the bell? What's going on here? Very confusing. But if you zoom out a little bit, you zoom out six months a year, and then you zoom out 10 years and 20 years, it's hard to argue against it now, but they didn't know all that in the moment. They didn't know that at all. They just legitimately thought that Brett was going to leave with the championship. And he was going to go to WCW and show up with the winged eagle.

Just obviously, they made sure that didn't happen. Nancy ORA emailed this one in. Hey, Chris, I have a question for your Ask CVV number 87, the Sydney Crosby edition. Is it my imagination or are most of the WWE, both Raw and Smack down champions heels. Both men's top champions, Sina and Gunther, and the IC champion, Dirty Dom, as well as the women's IC, Becky, and the women's tag team champions, live in Raquel, and the men's raw tag team champions, the new day. Also, both Money and the Bank winners are

heel in Naomi and Seth Rollins. What's going on in WWE with all the heel champs? The only faces are both top women's, E.O. and Tiffy, and U.S. champs, Selena and Jake. of Fahoo and the Smackdown tag team champions street profits very interesting and astute observation Nancy you're right yeah we're I guess we can call dirty Dom a heel but man it is so fun to boo him he's like yeah sure dirty Dom for all intents and purposes is a heel like by definition but he's not as like he's not as healy as some of these other people like he's a heel in a completely different like fun way in the way that like in the way that Eddie Guerrero was a heel. Like, yeah, he's a bad guy, but also like,

ah, man, it's, he's fun. It's, it's fun what's going on here. I've heard so many wrestlers say this. And I believe it to be true. It is harder to be a great baby face than it is to be a great heel. And you also hear so many wrestlers talk about how much more fun they have being a heel. because when you're a baby face, you want 100% of the crowd to be cheering for you. And if a few people are booing for you, you're like, well, what's going on? What am I doing wrong? If you're a heel and the crowd is booing you, great. Fine.

If some of the crowd is cheering you, it's like, whatever, to each his or her own, it's fine. So I think that a lot of it has to do with that. It does not really like a ton of like, super strong baby faces. But it is a very interesting observation. And I think that, I don't know, it's as a wrestling fan for many, many years, I've always been drawn to the heels. I just think that they're the ones who like get to say the things we're all thinking. And I think that really started with Stone Cold, although he wasn't a heel at all, kind of the anti-hero. But I think you also see great examples.

examples of that with when CM Punk is a heel like he's saying the things that you're only supposed to think and not say out loud and I've always been drawn to heels but that's a really interesting observation and that it it may be yet this may be the most heel champions that there have been at one point in time I don't know but yeah I'm glad you pointed that out oh how do I say this thigman underscore 024, T-H-I-J-M-E-N. Thigman? Probably Thigman. Thigman. I don't know. Who was the most annoying person to interview? Whether it was they didn't want to be there or they just weren't nice. I'm not going to name any names here. But I'm sure that if you've been listening to the show or you've been watching on YouTube for long enough, there's a few that already immediately come to mind and they're not MJF.

Although he is both annoying and didn't want to be there. There's two for me that come to mind. And they fall into both of the categories you're talking about. One of them did not want to be there. And they gave great answers and told some solid stories, but it is really clear from body language and a ton of lack of eye contact that they did not want to be there. So that's one of them. The other one was they just talked at me. Like I did an interview with this person

and I would ask a question and they would, their answers would be like 10 or 20 minutes, if not more. Like the answers were long. And it's just like, all right, like you've, and there were many points in that interview where I'm trying to steer them back on course. Like, okay, let's, let's get back on topic here. I don't know how you ended up talking about the thing you're talking about right now. But it wasn't even that they were long-winded in their answers. It's just they were like talking at me, not talking to me, like talking at me, like what they had to say was more important than what anyone had to say. And I will say that it was. a bit of a relief when that interview came to an end. So I'm sure, again, if you've been listening or

watching long enough, you already know who I'm talking about, but those two immediately pop into my head here. W.W.E. Dream Match 2711 says, if you had to face a WWE superstar male or female, who would it be? Well, selfishly, I would want to match with the Rock. Okay? That this is very unlikely and of course this situation will never happen anyway. So we might as well dream as big as we can. So it would be me versus the Rock night two of WrestleMania. Okay. But if we're being more realistic here and again, this situation will never happen and I will not be in a match with a WWE superstar. But if it were to happen, I would pick Seth Rollins.

And I would pick Seth Rollins because he is the very best at making his opponents look like a million bucks. So even me, a non-wrestler, a partly trained professional wrestler, but even me, Seth Rollins would be able to pull a great match out of me because that's how good Seth Rollins is. Put Seth Rollins in there with anybody. and it's a great match. So it would be me versus Seth Rollins, if we're being more realistic and I'm not just being selfish and picking my favorite wrestler

from when I was a kid, The Rock, if I'm trying to actually have a great match where I could leave that match and people could go, well, Chris Sharp actually knows how to wrestle. Of course, Chris Sharp knows how to wrestle. Two-time HCW champion. The master of the swan ton bomb

my friend Greg Cusack's backyard. But yeah, I think Seth Rollins should be the answer for like any other, aside from like the dream matches of like, oh man, I grew up watching John Sina or I grew up watching the Rock or whatever it happens to be, if you're a young up-and-coming wrestler and you get signed to WWE and you don't have a ton of experience or a ton of matches behind under your belt, the answer to that question should always be Seth Rollins. like Seth Rollins will not only make you look awesome, he'll like, he'll make you level up so that all your matches after that will be that much better because you were able to mix it up with him.

And that, my friends, is the final question on this. Ask CVV number 87, the Sydney Crosby, Travis Kelsey, and Rob Grunkowski edition. Thank you for joining us. You are now officially a real, real one for being with us and for listening. listening all the way until the very end here. If you've got a question for next week for Ask CVV number 88, leave a comment on Spotify. Send it in on social media using the hashtag, Ask CVV or shoot me an email, CVV at chris vanfleet.com. If you are listening on Spotify right now and you're still with us a real, real one listening all the way until the very end here,

do me a favor and just leave a comment that says peanut butter. Just peanut butter. You can put other words if you'd like, but just put peanut butter so I know that you were actually listening all the way until the end here. And I'll leave you with, it's not necessarily a quote so much as it's just a, I guess it's a, it's kind of a quote, but I saw this on Instagram from Jim Quick. And I shared it on my story and it seemed to really resonate with a lot of you guys because I got a lot of people responding to that story that I put up.

An athlete won't discourage you from working out. A business owner won't discourage you from starting a business. A musician won't discourage you from learning an instrument. It's always the people going nowhere who always have something to say. Be great and be grateful, my friends. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more. insight.

Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack.

Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.