Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AskCVV #97 - John Cena's "Failed" Heel Run, Naomi Vacates Her Title, Roman Reigns' Next Feud, AEW Forbidden Door

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

Welcome to AskCVV #97! On this episode, Chris Van Vliet answers questions about who will be the next WWE Women's World Champion after Naomi vacated it (and congrats to her and Big Jim on their baby announcement!), John Cena admitting his heel reel was a "failure", does MJF beat Hangman Page for the AEW Championship at Forbidden Door, who will be the future of WWE, what is Roman Reigns' next big feud, the possibility of Chris Jericho returning to WWE, who will win the Super Bowl and much more!Quote I'm thinking about: “The biggest education for me is what very little I know” - Tony Robbins   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   SUPERPOWER: Go to https://Superpower.com and use code CVV to get $50 Off your annual Superpower subscription. Live up to your 100-Year potential. #superpowerpod   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 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 20% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   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. Happy Friday, my friends, and welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for hitting play on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Throw your phone up in the air right now and hit that follow button with a van dominator, like RVD style, like how he would hit. hit it with the chair. I want to make sure that you don't miss out on any new interviews that we have

every Tuesday, Thursday, and of course, Ask CVV on Friday. And you, my friend, are a real one for listening to an Ask CVV episode. Like, I understand if you want to listen to an interview that I have with any of the wonderful guests that we've had on the show over the last many years, especially, I mean, what a week we've had. Spike Dudley on Tuesday for episode number 800. Roxanne Perez yesterday and man that that episode really surprised me like I already knew how talented she was and I already knew how passionate she was and how dedicated she was but being able to sit with her and share a conversation and just hear her entire story it just she blew me away and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for her but you were a real one for click and play on an

Ask CVV episode, you and I just get to hang out for about an hour on a Friday. And I love this. So I appreciate you for that. I am in New Jersey right now. We flew to the East Coast to spend some time with my wife's family. They live in New Jersey. So I'm actually going to be hanging out with some of you guys tonight. If you live in Northern Jersey, if you live anywhere close to the wrestling collector in Stockholm, New Jersey, swing by tonight between 7 to 9 p.m. It'd be great to be able to chat with you. Talk a little wrestling.

Basically, like an Ask CVV in person. But like come by the wrestling collector store and it'd be great to see you there. Seven to nine tonight. I can't wait to see you there. Welcome, my friends, to Ask CVV number 97, the Jeremy Roneck, Nick Bosa, Connor McDavid, and Kurt Bush edition. If you've got a question for next week,

if there's a number that pops into your head, if there's a person who is associated with that number when you think of the number 98, let me know. If you're listening on Spotify, leave a comment with your question on there or send it in via email, CVV at chrisfanvely.com,

or shoot me a message on Instagram or wherever. Like put it on social media with the hashtag, I can't believe how close we're getting to ask CVV 100. Like I started doing these, obviously 97 episodes ago, 97 Ask CVVs ago. Just an idea of like, I've had a lot of like similar-ish questions that have been sent to me via one mode or another, like, why don't we put them all together in an episode and see what people think?

And apparently you guys liked them. And that's how you became a real one by listening to an Ask CVV episode. you become a real, real one. I feel like people have asked a lot about, how do I become a real, real one? All you got to do is just listen until the end. It's one thing to hit play on a Friday. Like, you want to listen to a little wrestling chat,

you want to talk a little wrestling on a Friday. I understand that. But to listen all the way through until the very end, that makes you a real, real one. And to be a real, real one, that's for the people who have come to Insight Live. We've done six of them already. What a year this has been. We've done six of them. I'm wondering how many people listening right now are real, real, real ones. Did I see you in Indianapolis? Did I see you

in Las Vegas? Did I see you at either of the shows in Toronto? It was so fun to be back in Toronto for those. Did I see you in New York City for that show? Or did I see you in Hollywood? Or will I see you at the next one. I think we'll be officially announcing it this week, but since you're listening right now, I guess we can make it official that I will see you on Friday in November 28th in San Diego, the night before Survivor Series. So we're going to kick off Survivor Series that Friday night. It's the day after Thanksgiving. It's Black Friday, and it's the day before Survivor Series. So I would love to see you there. Tickets are going to be going on sale in the next week or two. CVVTix.com, CVVTX.com. So I would love to see you there. We'd love to see all the new, real,

real, real ones at that one. Let's kick this off today. Ask CVV number 97 with a question from Alex Zilla 408 on Spotify. Ask CVV number 97, the 2004 NASCAR Cup series champion, Kurt Bush edition. I even had that already. It's amazing? Like, there's so many different ways you can go with a lot of different numbers. But I was like, you know what, we haven't done a lot of NASCAR. And if we only have a few numbers left in the Ask CVV 1 through 99 of numbering, let's get a little NASCAR in there. CVV, what direction do you think they should go for the vacant women's championship?

Seems like there are a lot of possibilities with Reho, the Kabuki Warriors, a new Bailey, Lyra, and much more. Shout out to the realist one from a new real. one in training. I love the show. It helps me get through crushing Excel sheets at work. Well, I love that we are crushing Excel sheets together right now. And you're not a real one in training. You are a real one for listening to an Ask CBV episode. Is that it? So first of all, huge congratulations to Naomi and Big Jim with the big pregnancy announcement. I love that. We kind of speculated on that. Like, why was she not medically cleared?

To wrestle on Raw, well, it is the absolute best possible reason why, because they're expecting a little one. So huge congrats to them. And I think we just need to take a quick time out here to talk about the amazing year that Naomi's had. Turned heel has delivered the best character work of her entire career, won the money in the bank briefcase, cashed in successfully, made history by turning. her cash in to the first ever triple threat women's match with the Money in the Bank

cash in, won that, then announced her pregnancy after years and years of hope and patience, if you've seen any of her conversation she's had about that. This has truly been her year, and I love it. So 2025, what a year for Naomi. She deserves it all. So where do we go from here? the WWE Women's World Championship is now vacant. Stephanie Vicar is an obvious choice to put into this situation. I mean, she was supposed to have a match with Naomi at Clash in Paris. That's obviously not happening now. So I think what should happen here is I think that we'll have like maybe it's a four-way match for the vacant championship.

Maybe it's a six-way match. Maybe it's a ladder match. but I think it's not like a one-on-one. I don't think it's, and look, I could be completely wrong about this. But I don't think it's going to be like, all right, you're the number one contender and you're the number two contender. You guys battle it out. I feel like this is going to be like a four-way match.

So if we're going to put four very deserving people in there, and there's obviously plenty of deserving people on the women's roster, it is stacked right now. But I would go personally, Stephanie Vakere, Ria Ripley, Eoske, Oskye, Oskah. Like, I think that the four of them together would be something really special. And I would feel like because we're getting so close to Clash in Paris, it's next weekend. I feel like we're going to get an announcement maybe tonight on Smackdown. Maybe it's Monday on Raw.

But, like, the Clash in Paris card right now only has four matches on it. And there's not a single woman in sight. on this match card right now. I'll run it down for you real quick. John Cena versus Logan Paul. Seth Rollins versus CM Punk versus J-U-So versus L-A-Night. Yeah, I love that you said, yeah, there. Four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Seamus versus Rusev, and I just giggle at the name of this match. A good old-fashioned Donnybrook match. That's what they're calling it. A good old-fashioned, not old-fashioned, all-l-O-and-a-postrophe, good old-fashioned Donnybrook match. and then Roman Raines versus Bronson Reed, which is going to be such a banger of a match. I love that. And of course, Seamus versus Roussev, clearly a banger when Seamus is associated with that, but not a women's match in sight right now. So I think it's either tonight or it's

Monday, they announce exactly what they're going to do with the vacant women's world championship. And I just feel like they're going to throw a bunch of people together in a match and it's going to be magic. So that's where I see this going. And then whenever Naomi is ready to come back, whenever that happens to be, and I hope that she takes as much time as she wants with the new little one. And again, congrats to them. Whenever she comes back, I think you insert Naomi right back into that title picture with a whole storyline of like, hey, this is the title that I never lost. And I also think it's worth mentioning that Naomi, again, doing such amazing work as a heel, pretty hard to boo someone when they're like, yeah, we're having a baby. So it's like, boom, instant face turn,

like the respect for Trinity, the character, like the person behind the character, I would have to think when Naomi comes back, it's going to be a huge pop. Do they figure out a way to like get her some heat from there? Or does she run as a baby face? That'll be an entirely different thing they're going to have to figure out when they cross that bridge quite a while from now. But I think that whoever ends up winning that championship, they're kind of just keeping it warm for Naomi because she'll be coming back and she'll be looking for that title. This episode is brought to you by Timeline. tried all the health trends, but you're still feeling tired, foggy, or off your game. You're not alone, my friend. It's time to go deeper. We're talking way deeper because true health starts in

your cells. Timeline has the first ever longevity gummies powered by mitopure. A delicious, easy way to put more energy into your day. These are the only clinically proven urolithine gummies for strength, endurance, and healthy aging from the inside out. I recently turned 42, and I Think a lot about what life will look like in my 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 80s, I want to live into my hundreds. And I understand that our body makes less and less energy as we get older. But these really help to recharge the batteries. I take them every single day, and I love how these gummies taste.

If you want to stay strong and energized now as you age, then you have to try mitochondrure gummies. My friends at Timeline are offering 20% off just for you because you're listening right now. Head to Timeline.com slash insight to get started. That's Timeline.com slash insight for 20% off. Your cells will thank you. Email from Jithin Jacob. Hey, CVV, do you think the main reason for Cina's face turn

is for the entrance pop at SummerSlam that he didn't get at WrestleMania? There was a crazy pop at SummerSlam. I was shouting at home due to all the emotion. You could argue that the turn was for, face Sina versus Heel Brock. But it would have been better storytelling as Heel versus Heal going into the match. And then John realizing during the match that he had to dig deep and tap into his hustle, loyalty and respect personality to overcome Brock. A real, real one, Jithen J. Well, I think they turned him face because they just realized what he was doing with the heel run. This wasn't working.

I think there was no way that John Sina was going to retire as a heel. I think that we all kind of agreed on that one together. However you felt about John Sina's heel turn, I think we all agreed that the back half of this or the back few months of this was going to be John Sina as a baby face. And I did the math, and I think he spent 45%, like if he retires on the rumored date, if his last match is on the rumored date right now, which is December 13th, he will spend like 45% of this year as a heel.

So like that's real close to like half and half. So we got the first few months, babyface John Cena. Then we got the middle five-ish months, heel John Cena. And now we get the last bit of this, babyface John Cena again. And I just think that it was like everybody that was good. going to these shows and that was selling out the shows on the John Sina farewell tour. I mean, they're buying John Sina's shirts. I haven't seen the numbers from every single event that John Sina has appeared out this year,

but I would hazard a guess that John Sina has been the number one guy when it comes to T-shirt sales at all of those cities. So you're going there with the idea of you're going to see John Sina and you want to cheer for him, but you're like, yeah, I'm booing him because. the character is like kind of asking to be booed, but I'm still so excited to be here and see John Sina. And I got to say, I'm happy to admit I was wrong. Like, I was really wrong when it came to this concept of like, it's so easy to turn heel, right? And we saw that. You kick Cody Rhodes in the nuts. Boom, snap your fingers. That's it. You're a heel. We get it. And I was like,

it's it's not that easy to turn baby face. Like, I think a baby face turn ends up being like a really slow burn. And we've seen that with Roman Raines over the last year or so. Like, he's done baby face-ish things, but never officially like, here, I'm planting my flag. Like, check it out. I'm a baby face. Well, John Cena just like came out and said, yeah, you know what? That stuff I've been doing for the last.

Five months, that didn't really work. So this is who I really am. And, yeah, let's go from here. And it's like, oh, I guess it is that easy to turn baby face. He just, I mean, he essentially has told the crowd in that promo the Friday before SummerSlam, he basically told the crowd like, yeah, I'm going to be a baby face from now on. So like, let's cheer and I'll run to the ring. And we can do that whole thing again.

Like this has now become. We've now entered the part of the John Sina farewell tour that I feel like I predicted around this time last year. When we first started talking about the John Sina farewell tour, we were saying, I was saying, I feel like this is going to be like what it was like when Kobe was in his last year or when Derek Jeter was in his last year. Like go out there and you pose for the photos and you play the greatest hits and you let people know that like, You're grateful for the entire career that you've had and you wouldn't have this career without them. That is the stage of the John Sina retirement tour now with 11 dates left that we've entered into. It's John Sina going out there and going, I appreciate you guys.

I can't believe we're almost into double, or single digits now as this thing winds down. And it's like, let's just enjoy this thing together. But it's just, it's also interesting that John Sina made this appearance in Chicago last. week. And he essentially came out and said like, oh, yeah, my heel turn, it didn't really work. At Chicago Fan Expo, he was asked about that first heel promo in Brussels. And he said, like, it was asked like how he felt about bombing that first heel promo. And he said, quote, oh, no, I wasn't upset. I just knew I failed. Ain't nothing wrong with that. You can learn from failure, right? I just went out there

and bombed. Poop happens, guys. It doesn't say poop. I'm just censoring the naughty word there for all the children who are listening right now. So John Cena's basically saying, yeah, yeah, I failed. It didn't go so well.

Although I would have to disagree. I would humbly disagree with you, John Cena. That promo specifically, if we're talking about that promo in Brussels, your first heel promo, I don't think that he failed on that. I think maybe he failed with the messaging,

and I mentioned this a few times, that like, the whole John Cena heel run was predicated on this idea of like, you guys booed me when I was trying to get cheered, and I tried really hard, and you still just gave me a really hard time for it. Like, he was speaking to the audience

of like 10, 13, you know, 10, 12, something years ago. go. He was speaking to that audience specifically. Like it, it truly felt like he was teeing up all the lines that he had prepared when he was originally going to turn heel 13 years ago. Rock Hogan won. I'm like, Rock Hogan, my goodness. That's for later. I got to, I got to mention about that later, but Roxina won when he told me in our interview that there was actually a plan for him to turn heel at that time. It felt like he was speaking from that experience. Like a lot of, like,

nobody was looking to boo John Cena in 2025. And the promo work that he was doing, I think was based around this idea of like, I gave you my all and you guys didn't respect me. So like, maybe he failed with the messaging. But I actually think if you go back and watch that promo in Brussels, and I think you have to owe a lot of this

to the incredible crowd that night. but that was a masterclass. Like that crowd was just handing it to him. Like they were, they were just so ruthless, so mean to him. And then Cody Rhodes comes out. And they were just like eating out of Cody's palm of his hand. And the thing that made that Brussels promo so great was the way it ended.

You remember this? John Cena walked out of the ring and it wasn't like his music hits and the announcers are saying oh wow you know what a bad guy John Cena is blah blah blah blah the promo ended John Cena goes to walk to the back

and they didn't play his music and I don't know this for a fact but I would hazard a guess that that was a game time decision I don't think they planned that promo out of like all right he's going to leave to no music the crowd was so loud and the crowd was just like letting him know exactly how they felt they were booing him then they

started singing na na na na na nah nah nah nah hey goodbye like that ended up being his exit music like it was wild to see that if you don't remember it if you don't remember it vividly it is worth a rewatch for sure and the crowd there 10 out of 10 no notes a plus performance from the crowd. If John Sina thinks he failed, maybe that's on him, but that crowd made that promo so incredibly, incredibly memorable. I think that we could have had Heel Sina versus Heel Brock, but when this match gets announced for John Sina versus Brock Lesnar, it sure sounds like it's going to be September 20th at Russell Paloosa in Indianapolis. What a name, by the way, Russell Poloza, I think that this certainly does work better with a baby-faced John Sina

versus a heel Brock Lesnar. It's kind of what we're used to seeing in their matchups. And I actually posted a graphic earlier this week. They've had six singles matches together. You know what their record is? For those of you who didn't see the post, John Sina has two wins and Brock Lesnar has four wins. So Cesar has four wins. So Sina 2 and 4 against Brock Lesnar. Lesnar is won on Smackdown in 2002. Smackdown in 2003. Backlash, 2003.

What an underrated match that was. SummerSlam, 2014. Those are Brock Lesnar's four wins. Sena's victories, Extreme Rules, 2012. And then he won at Night of Champions 2014, although he did win that one via DQ. So when that one comes around, again, I don't, like, there's no title in the line. Neither guy really, like, needs that win. So I'm really curious the way they go for when we get John Cena versus Brock Lesnar.

But I love the baby face reaction that John Cena is getting now. I enjoyed his heel run. Like, I think that I put this up on Instagram. put it up as a pole, how would you grade it? Like, if you were a teacher and now that you've seen the entire heel run, and it's, like, in its entirety, seen it start to finish, you've seen the whole movie that that was, you saw the lead up to it, you saw the actual moment that it happened, and you've seen everything since and all the fallout, how would you grade it? And I think I'd graded a B. I think that the actual turn itself is up there as one of the greatest heel turns

in the history of pro wrestling. Hulk Hogan forming the NWO will forever be number one for me. And I think that on a lot of people's list, number one. But if we're talking like just WWE, man, in terms of just a moment. And I know there's going to be a lot of people that go, yeah, the turn was great itself. Like that moment in elimination chamber was great, but then everything that came after kind of negated that and I didn't enjoy the heel run as much. It was like, we're not talking about the run here.

The turn? Fantastic. If we are talking about the run, yeah, solid. Like, and I appreciate that John Cedar went for it. Like, would have been so easy for him to just, for 36 dates, just do what we're, used to seeing John Cena do. And that's what we're going to get for the next 11 or so, I think. But I like that he went for it. And I like that he took a chance. And I like that in that,

we got one of the most memorable moments in WWE history, one of the greatest heel turns in not just WWE history, but in all of wrestling. I love that moment. The fact that there's no explanation of why the Rock was involved and what the heck Travis Scott was doing, in the ring. That is a conversation for another time, which I don't feel like we're going to get an explanation unless one of these final matches that John Sina has is against the Rock.

And hopefully at that point, they can tie up some loose ends and explain to us a little bit of this. But for now, the heel turn A plus plus. The heel run like a B. Like I'm a solid, A solid B. But I do think there's going to be like some little moments from it that we're going to look back on five years from now, 10 years from now and go, oh, remember that time John Sina

did this? Remember that time John Sina said this? I think there's going to be some of those moments. And we're not going to be able to appreciate all of that stuff until we're looking at in the rearview mirror. Mike Weber on Spotify says, CVV, what up? I'm saying it like that because there's many exclamation points. Do you think we'll see a new AEW champion

at Forbidden Door? I think there is a chance. So it's Hangman Adam Page taking on MJF at Forbidden Door. Hangman has only had the title now for a little over a month. He's only had one title defense. He had that one title defense

against John Moxley on Dynamite, everyone banned from ringside that match. I do feel like there is a really, really, really good chance that the next AEW champion happens to be those three letters, MJF. But I don't think it happens at Forbidden Door.

And I only think that that's the case because Hangman's only had this title for such a short period of time. And he is such a different wrestler now than when he was the age. champion the first time around. And I think because of that, like he was the AEW World Champion, won it in 2021, dropped it in 2022.

So it's been a little over three years since he was the champion. And he's just such a different version of himself now. And I think that this version of Hangman Page deserves this run to be seen all the way through. Some interesting stipulations now on this match. and MJF like totally getting in hangman's head. But he said that he wanted Page to agree to the championship changing hands via disqualification. He says that the championship can also change hands on a countout.

So if Hangman Page gets decued or counted out, MJF wins. And then also MJF said that he wouldn't have to cash in his earned opportunity for this world title shot to take place. So MJF now has that in his back pocket as well. which then leads me to believe that MJF loses this match, but then has that ace in his sleeve, like the ace in the hole of like, all right,

I'm going to cash in for this earned opportunity at some point in time down the line. And I wouldn't be surprised if MJF is the champion, like if we look at the end of this year, December 31st, 2025, who is the AEW champion? I wouldn't be surprised if it's MJF. And maybe that's something that happens.

happens at All Out. But I just don't think that we see a new AEW champion at Forbidden Door. I think that Hangman just has so much more of a story to tell with this version of himself. But with that said, I also think that Hangman chasing the championship, especially with what we saw with John Moxley, was really interesting. Like him in the chase may end up being a better story than him being the champion. but I feel like when he does lose the title, it will be to MJF, but I don't think it's happening this weekend. And I know you didn't ask,

but there are some amazing matches on this card. I can't wait for Okada versus swerve. Man. And Zach Sabre Jr. versus Nigel McGinnis for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. That's a match I don't think we ever thought was possible. And we're getting it at Forbidden Door. And like, that's kind of the cool thing about just the concept of Forbidden Door.

But, man, that is, that's going to be the fact that Nigel McGinnis is wrestling in 2025. I love it. I love it. Wesley J16 on Spotify. Hey, CVV. I started listening to the show shortly after WrestleMania 40. And I've been tuning in to every episode since. And each one is a certified banger.

After banger, after banger. You put that in all caps, so I had to read it a little louder there. I love the way you bring gratitude to every episode, and you inspire me to have a more grateful outlook on life. Man, I love that. My question for Ask CVV, number 97, is which match do you think is more likely to happen at WrestleMania 42? Cody versus Roman 3 for the undisputed championship,

or Roman versus Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship. That is a tough one. Both seem very possible. Both seem very plausible. I think personally, it's more likely that we're going to see a match between Roman Raines versus Seth Rollins. But here's the thing. I don't think that it's going to be Rollins still as the World Heavyweight champion by that time.

So like you're saying, are we going to be? going to see Cody versus Roman for the WWE championship. It's funny. A little quick aside here. They don't call it the undisputed championship anymore. Have you noticed that on www.com? It is just the WWE championship, which is an

interesting point to be raised then that John Sina was in fact the last real, in brackets, undisputed champion. Interesting little fun fact there, right? I think that

we see one or two, maybe more, but I think we see one or two World Heavyweight Championship title changes between now and next April. I also don't know if Cody Rhodes is still going to be the champion by then. I think there's a good chance that Randy Orton may actually be the next WWE champion. And I don't know how long Cody's reign's going to be. I don't know how long the next champion's reign would be, but if Randy is the next champion, I think there's a chance that Randy Orton could be the champion going into WrestleMania 42. That's something I would love to see. And maybe, quite honestly, could be Randy Orton's last title reign. And man, what better place to have a title reign than WrestleMania. So I don't know. I think that both of

those, I mean, it's August right now. We've got so much time between now and Resslemania 42. A ton of things could happen between now and then. We could fantasy book all we want for WrestleMania 42, but things are going to change. Things are going to change a ton. And I'm sure you watch WWE Unreal. Things even change for them in the writers room, Like the ideas that they have in August and September and October and even into like January and February, the ideas they have then, like they morph and change into different things. But I think as we sit here right now in New Jersey, in August, I can hear the crickets chirping outside. I love it. We're up here in Sussex County.

I think that those are the two matches that seem most possible. Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reins or Roman Reins versus Seth Rollins. Like when we're talking about who is Roman Reins opponent going to be at WrestleMania, those seem like the most likely ones. I think we're building to a big Roman Reigns versus Seth Rawlins feud. And I think that we're going to see a little bit more of how that plays out with this Roman Reins versus Bronson-Reed match at Clash in Paris. And maybe this ends up being a thing where Roman Reins goes

through the entire Paul Heyman faction. Maybe it's Bronson Reed first, and there's some shenanigans there because maybe there's always shenanigans with that group. But I'm just saying maybe there's some shenanigans here because there's beef with Rollins and Roman. Like there's beef there. So maybe there's some shenanigans in that match. Then I don't know, spitball in here.

But maybe we get Roman Raines versus Braun Breaker at something like Survivor. series. And then maybe there's some more shenanigans there. And then maybe this weaves itself into a story that tells something, leads somewhere to a match with Roman Reins and Seth Rollins. I could see that happening. But again, lots of different things could happen between now and then. But I think like some really big questions to ask right now are who's going to be the champion on December 31st, 2025, both WWE champion and World Heavyweight champion

and also, because we were just talking about, AEW champion. Then who's going to be the champion going into WrestleMania 42? And the answer to those questions may not be the same person. And I truly think

that we are entering into this era of, even if it's slightly shorter, I think we're entering into an era of shorter title range. I don't think, think we're going to have everybody needs to hold the belt for a year for this to be a super meaningful championship reign i think we might get back into like you better watch especially with

the money that was just thrown around for this espn deal and russell pelusa being the first pl a that's going to air in america on esPN i just think there's going to start to be this idea of you have to watch like it's not just royal run or WrestleMania or SummerSlam or whatever. It's not just the big PLEs where things can happen. And I mentioned this before, but like we've seen a lot of title changes happen on Raw. We've seen some title changes happen on SmackDown. And I think we're finally back, at least to some degree, back in that era of like anything

can happen. And I find that to be really, really interesting. My favorite fun little stat right now that I keep coming back to is in 1999, the WWF championship changed hands 11 times. 11, 11 times. So maybe it's definitely not going to be 11 moving forward, but I think we're going to start to see a little bit more title changes. And just that idea of like, you can't miss Raw, you can't miss Smackdown. you can't miss a quote unquote B-P-L-E because anything can happen. Andrew Funditus, Funditust, Fundinamo is your name on Instagram.

If you're against eating fruit on pizza, do you eat it without sauce due to tomato being a fruit? This is in reference to the Seamus episode, the Seamus live episode that we did in New York City, where Seamus was talking about how much he loved pineapple on pizza, a very, very controversial take. Perhaps one of the most controversial things ever said in the history of insight with Chris Van Fleet. The crowd was not enjoying that. They were booing.

And then Seamus tried this pounded off as like, oh, they're booing you, fella. They're booing you for not liking pineapple on pizza. Guys, I don't care what you put on your pizza. I do not care at all. I love the phrase don't yuck other people's yums. And I think that applies to putting fruit on pizza, and that applies to whatever you end up doing in your life.

Don't yuck other people's yums. But come on, we're not considering tomato being a topping on pizza, are we? Like, sure, sure, there are pizzas that exist that don't have tomato sauce on them? And if that's your thing, cool. I'm not judging you. Don't yuck other people's yums. But when you go to order a pizza, I think that we're all kind of in agreeance here, that a pizza has crust, sauce, and cheese, right?

And then the toppings are the things that go on top of that. So I get it. Tomato is a fruit. But I do not. see your logic here, Andrew. It doesn't feel like a pizza if there's no tomato sauce on there. And look, I've had pizza with pineapple on it and, you know, kind of reminds me that phrase like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers. You're like, what? What kind of phrase is that? You've heard that phrase before. Ah, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers.

Like, just getting crumbs in the bed, but no big deal. That's kind of how I, look, I wouldn't be my first choice, but if I went to a party and the only pizza they had was pizza with pineapple on it or Hawaiian pizza, I'd still eat it. I might pick off a few of the pieces of pineapple, but I'd still eat it. An email from Liam. Hey, CVV. Liam here, or artfully Liam, as I'm known on Instagram.

certifiable, real, real one here from Lincolnshire in the UK. And I'm probably pronouncing that with the accent that I have is probably doing no justice to Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, right? I don't know. Massive fan of the pod. My question is this with the departure of John Cena from the wrestling business in a wrestling capacity. And as we watch Roman and Cody transition into simultaneous motion picture careers, how do you see the main event scene evolving over the next 18 months in WWE? Will Braun be

headlining, WrestleMania number 43? It could happen. To my mind, this reminds me a lot of WrestleMania 19 in Seattle when the card was stacked with transitional matches quietly showcasing the passing of the torch from one generation to the next. Feels like we're approaching a crux time like that right now. Curious to hear your thoughts. Keep on producing banger after banger. And thanks for all you do and how you do it. All my best, Liam. So look, when it comes to WrestleMania, I don't think Roman Raines is going anywhere. And I think when it just comes to WWE in general, I don't think Cody Rhodes is going anywhere. So yeah, Cody Rhodes is going to be playing Gile in the new street fighter movie. And he may be gone for a stretch of

time. But he's the WWE champion. So I don't think this is something where like he's, we're not going to see him for six months. Like I don't think that's the case at all. I think that Cody Rose is going to continue to be the workhorse that he is. I think he's going to continue to be the guy who shows up, not just on Raw and not just on Smackdown, but like Cody Rhodes is at so many live events. So I think that that doesn't change, at least not in the near future. Roman Raines, I think, will continue to be on the schedule that he's on right now, where when we see Roman Raines, it's meaningful. When we see Roman Raines, it's a big deal.

And when we see Roman Raines wrestle, it's an even bigger deal because he only wrestles. I think it's been five matches this year. So I think that that will continue. And I would hazard a guess, another hazarding of guessing that I'm doing here. It would get to the point, I think, where it was like when The Undertaker would wrestle basically just WrestleMania. And I think that we may get to that with Roman Raines. Maybe it's not just WrestleMania, but I think there's a chance that as Roman continues to work, maybe it's only two or three or four matches in a year. But yeah, I think that Bronbroker is a future main eventor for sure.

I think that Bronbreaker is a future WWE champion. And I think that I think we could see him as the World Heavyweight champion even before then. So I don't know if it's Bronbreaker headlining WrestleMania 43, but Bronbreaker

headlining WrestleMania in the future? Yeah. Absolutely. I think that there is no question about that. And that leads us ever so perfectly here into this next one from, I have too many ties on Spotify. What a username. And it's, I have the number two many ties. You got a lot of

ties. I do too. And it's funny, I don't really wear a ton of ties anymore. I used to wear them every day when I was an entertainment reporter in Miami and Cleveland and Toronto before that. And now I just have a closet full of ties that I wear like, I don't know, five times a year, red carpet events or wedding or something like that, I just can't get rid of them. I'm sure you could agree. But that transitions us so perfectly into this question. CVV, considering that most superstars in the WWE are in their 40s and some pushing 50, do you think there will be a talent shortage? Well, I don't know if it's most are in their 40s, but I think when you look at how stacked the roster is in NXT, both men's and women's, there's no shortage of talent.

Like, I think to answer your question directly, no, I do not think there's a shortage of talent at all. But there are a lot of wrestlers that are in their 40s or 50s right now. And I really feel like, as cliche as this is going to sound, in pro wrestling, 40 is the new 30. people are taking care of their bodies better than they ever did before. There is so much focus now on stretching and like so many people talking about doing DDPY, which is just incredible for that. Like look how mobile DDP is at 69 years old. I love it. But there's also a lot of focus on recovery. And just in general, the schedule is lighter and they don't seem to be partying

like those stories you would hear about in the 80s and 90s. So I just think that being 40 in 2025 is very different from being 40 in 1995. But you're right. There's a lot. This is not an exhaustive list, but there are a lot of wrestlers on the WWE roster who are in their 40s or 50s. Our Truth, 53. John Cena, 48. Ray Mysterio, 50.

Randy Orton. 45, Roman Raines, 40. Jay Uso turns 40 today. So happy birthday to Jay Uso. Yee! Naya Jacks, 41. AJ Stiles is 48, Finn Baller, 44.

Oscar turns 44 this year. So does Eric Rowan, he turns 44 this year. Natalia is 43. Seamus is 47. Shinske Nakamura, 45. CM Punk turns 47 this year. Candice Lurray turns 40 this year. Damian Priest.

turns 42 this year. LA night. Yeah. It's going to be 43. Cody Rhodes is 40. The Mizz turns 45 in October. And Kofi Kingston just turned 44 last week. With that said, I think what's going to be really important is continuing to build younger

talent and building that younger talent into main event stars like we were just talking about. So I think that if you look at the next. five to 10 years as a lot of the people that I just listed will be having their last matches and retiring. We already know with that list, we already know at least John Cena will be retired at the end of this year. We don't know about anybody else on that list. Actually, that's not true. We know AJ Stiles said he will not wrestle after his 50th birthday. So we've got till June 2027 for AJ Stiles. Maybe before that, I don't know.

His birthday's June 2nd. But for everybody else, we don't know. Five-ish, 10-ish years, 15. I don't know. They can wrestle as long as they want to wrestle. But what's going to be important is building the next generation into main event stars. People like Dominic Mysterio, Roxanne Perez, Tiffany Stratton,

Trick Williams, Brom Breaker, Lyra, Valchirio. Obafemi, just to name a few. Those are all certainly people who are in the beginning stages of their career. But I don't think at all that there is a shortage of talent. And I think that just with the list of people that I just named right there, those are all people that five years ago, you would have gone, who? What? And in fact, some of those people weren't even wrestling five years ago.

So I think WWE has done a really good job of starting to, build for the next generation. And those are just, that's just a handful of names. Like, you see every Tuesday, there is a lot of talent to choose from. And there's a lot of like diamonds in the rough. And I think it's just going to be a matter of years until we start to see who the other breakout stars are. Suburban underscore dadcore on Spotify.

Do you think Ray and Dom will ever actually reconciliate? If so, what do you think the catalyst? would be. I think the only possibility of that happening, the catalyst, like you said, would be Ray Mysterio's retirement match. And I think that whenever Ray Mysterio decides to retire, I hope that it's 150 years from now. I love Ray so much. But whenever Ray wants to retire, he's already a Hall of Famer. Like, what more could you possibly do to, like, his career is already incredible. What more could you possibly put on top of that? But when Ray Mysterio does have his final match, I don't see how it could be anybody else, but Dominic Mysterio. And I kind of feel like

Dom keeps taking jabs at his dad, his deadbeat, as he calls him all the time, whether it's in a promo or it's in an interview. He's like, he doesn't even reference Ray Mysterio being his dad. It's his deadbeat. I just feel like that is, it's, yes, him continuing to, like, not break K-Fabe, but I think it's him, like, setting this up because he's got to know. Whenever this match happens, he's got to know that Ray Mysterio's last match is going to be against Dominic Mysterio. And I could see a moment in that, at the end of that match, where, like, there is a genuine release of emotion in the ring. Like a genuine hug in the ring.

And it could be a moment like one of my favorite most emotional matches ever when Cody versus Dustin had that match at double or nothing, the very first AEW event. Like, I was emotional. Like that. A hug was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I could see that happening if the story is told right with Ray and Dom. And then, like, yeah. imagine Dom would go into that match as a heel, but like,

kind of like a true passing of the torch, like a true like, you know, here's all the things I did. Now it's, it's your turn, son. Like, I'm going to step out of the way and like, I want to watch you. So that's where I could see this going. But at the same time, I could also see Dom just continuing to build on the heat that he already has and he has mega heat. But he's kind of like drifted into this, he's drifted into this category now where like it's fun to boo him. Like, and that's not saying that's a bad thing at all. But like, you're booing him because like that's the thing you're supposed to do. And it's become like fun of like, you can't not respect what Dominic Mysterio has built. It's been amazing to see. And I'm sure

a heel turn, like I'm sure it can't last forever. I'm sure a face turn is coming at some point in time, but maybe that's the catalyst. Maybe it's, maybe it's a match with his father and like, whatever that ends up turning into. Jonathan Weber on Instagram, hey, CVV, we haven't seen Chris Jericho in AEW since April. Do you think that we're going to see him make a return to WWE. So his last appearance in AEW was April, April 6th, the AEW Dynasty. He lost the Ring of Honor World Championship to Bandito. And we haven't seen him since. If we're to believe the reports online, his contract is up at the end of this year. It's up in the end of the year, so December of this year, which has already started the rumors and the whispers online of, well, you know what happens?

in the early part of 2026, the early part of every year is the Royal Rumble. So I do know this, that whenever Chris Jericho comes back, it's going to be a different version of Chris Jericho. He has been the master of reinvention with all of the different gimmicks that Chris Jericho's had. Lionheart, the man of a thousand and four holds, Y2J, suit and tie, Jericho, list, You just made the list. Painmaker, Le Champion, Demogod, the Wizard, the Ocho.

And most recently, the learning tree, there's obviously other ones strewn about in there. But Chris Jericho is so good at figuring out new ways to get himself over. So whether that happens to be in AEW or whether that's back in WWE, it's, I just would have to think it's a different version of himself. When you talk about John Sino wanting to like really try something new and push the boundaries this year on his farewell tour, it's kind of what Chris Jericho does all the time, like just figuring out a way of like, let's make this completely different. And he's been on the show many times. And one of the things I, like, really remember is him saying, like, when he came back to WWE, he, like, instructed them, like, do not call me Y2J. Like, don't say it on commentary.

Don't make any reference to this at all. I'm not Y2J anymore. That's not who I am. It's a completely different version of me. So, like, let's not even remind the audience of Y2J. And he said that he's taken his inspiration for changing up his gimmicks so much, not from wrestling, but from David Bowie and the idea that like every Bowie album was completely different from the last one. So I think there's a possibility here. Sure, like it's wrestling. Anything is

possible. And I think that Chris Jericho's had an amazing career. It's a Hall of Fame career. Will he get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame one day? Yeah, absolutely. There's no question about that. I think that if he continues his career in AEW, I think that it may take a little bit longer for that induction into the WWE Hall of Fame to happen. But I think there's a sure, there's a possibility. And what a cool moment that would be. What a cool moment that would be to hear Chris Jericho's music hit at the Royal Rumble or wherever it happens to be. The big question would be, does he come back to break the walls down? Or does it come back to Judas? Or does it come back to something completely different?

Like, we haven't heard Judas in a long time. When he was coming out as the learning true gimmick, it was not Judas because tough to be a heel when the audience is singing along to your entrance theme. I would have to think that, and we're just fantasy books. looking here. We're just talking about what if this thing happened, if he returned to WWE. I would have to think it's to Judas. I think that, yeah, that would be a whole new version of WWE, Chris Cherico, and a song that we've never heard in WWE, but I don't know. and I don't know how much longer this break will be for Jericho. I mean, I guess I suppose there's a real possibility if we're talking about the idea of what if.

I suppose there's a possibility that if his contract does in fact end in December, maybe there's a chance that we don't see him back in AEW. It'll be really interesting to see what happens. But I think the best thing to happen right now is, is just a little bit of space from the Learning Tree gimmick and a chance to come back with whatever the new version is of what he's doing. James Colantonio on Facebook says,

yo, CVV, I saw you talking about the early Super Bowl odds, but who is your pick to win the Super Bowl? Well, as you guys know, I am a Browns fan. It is tough to be a Browns fan, as you know. Well, look, Rachel, RVV is a Giants fan, so it's not like it's that much better, although they have certainly won the Super Bowl far more recently than the Browns. But I went through the odds on MyBooky. This was on a recent video. And of course, when you sign up at MyBooky, use the code CVV. If you're a new user, they're hooking you up with a 50% welcome bonus when you use my code. So sign up with the code. CVV. I'm not going to list the entire list here, but here's the favorites. The Ravens are at the top of the list. Then the bills, Eagles, Chiefs, Lions, Commanders.

Then we'll go to the bottom of the list. We'll go from worst and then we'll work our way up from there. The worst odds plus 38,000, which would mean if you bet $100, you'd win $38,000. dollars is the New Orleans Saints, then the Browns, Jets, Titans, Rachel's Giants, and Panthers. So who's my pick? I mean, it's hard to bet against the Chiefs. And they were, I know they didn't win the Super Bowl last year, but they were in it. And they were going for that three-peat. And look, the Chiefs have become like what the Patriots were for so many years and what the Yankees were. for so many years where it's just like people hate them. And if you're a chiefs fan, you love that people

hate them. But if I'm looking at this as objectively as I can and not with my Cleveland Browns goggles on, I think it's tough to bet against the Chiefs. I think it's also tough to bet against the Eagles looking for the repeat here. I will say this. And I don't see any odds for this as of right now. I'm sure that this will be a thing at some point in time. I have a feeling that Taylor Swift's going to be the Super Bowl halftime show. That new album coming out, I'm sure there's a new tour attached to this. She now is in the zeitgeist of the NFL world. I think that Taylor Swift plays the halftime show.

Who will be playing in that Super Bowl? I don't know, possibly the Eagles. possibly the chiefs. I don't know. I'm so tough to say. Like, I think that any of these teams in the top six or eight of the odds here, you know, have a real chance, but I would love to see the Browns win. But as it stands right now, I think they have like five quarterbacks.

Man, just like, could you just win like, could you just win eight games this year, Browns. Like eight would be nice. I'd love to see eight games. All right, there we go. That is the final question on this. Ask CBV number 97, the Jeremy Roneck, Nick Bosa, Connor McDavid, Conner, Connor McDavid, and Kurt Bush edition. Thank you for listening. Thank you for hanging out with me on a Friday. Thank you for being a real, real one. I appreciate you. If you've got a question for next week. Leave a comment on Spotify. Let me know what your question is for Ask CVV number 98 or send me an email, CVV at Chris VanVleet.com or send it in on social media using that hashtag Ask CVV. We'll end this. We'll send you into the weekend with this quote that I love from Tony Robbins. The biggest education

for me is what very little I know. And I love that idea of the white belt mentality. I love that idea of like you could always learn something every single day. The biggest education for me is what very little I know. Be great and be grateful, my friends. Have an amazing weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock, but there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to 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 them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Alley. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.