Insight with Chris Van Vliet - The Best Moments of 2020 - What Was Your Favorite?

Episode Date: December 31, 2020

What a year 2020 has been! In this special episode we take a look back at the absolute best moments of the last 12 months. From getting chopped 20 times by Shawn Spears, Tyler Breeze and their students to sharing conversations with the likes of Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang, David Benoit and Kurt Angle, it's been an absolutely unforgettable year. Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here: http://bwhustle.com/join Support the show by supporting our sponsors: INDEED- Try it today with a $75 credit to boost your job post by going to http://indeed.com/BlueWire BETONLINE- Get a FREE welcome bonus by using the promo code BLUEWIRE at http://betonline.ag If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.   For more information about Chris and the podcast go to https://chrisvanvliet.com   Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys. So I know we have a lot of podcasters who listen to the show. So before we get to this episode, I want to tell you about Blue Wire Hustle. It's a brand new program where you can host your very own podcast here at Blue Wire. Hustle was created to give everyone the opportunity to take your podcast to that next level. Or if you've always thought about hosting a podcast, but you didn't know where to start, hustle is the perfect place for you. As part of the program, you'll receive personal cover. art, Q&As with Blue Wire's top podcasters, I actually just did one a few weeks ago,

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So if you're interested, get your application in today. To apply, just go to bwhustle.com slash join, and you can check out the description box of this episode to find out that link. But one more time, it's bwhustle.com slash join. That's a great question. Look at you, man. With the powerful questions. This is the Chris Van Vleet Show. Chris Van Vleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen.

Chris. Well, here we go and welcome to a very special edition of the Chris Van Vleet Show. I appreciate you being here with us as we take a look back at the epic year that we've had. More than 90 interviews and it's just been so exciting to see the podcast continue. to grow each and every week. And it's all because of you. So I just want to take a second out right now before we get into the meat of this one to say thank you for helping to turn this podcast into what it's become. This episode is all about you. And thank you to everyone who's taken the time out of your busy lives since the show started last July to leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

because it's really the biggest thing that you can do to help this show grow, because the podcast charts on Apple are heavily weighted by how many new subscribers and how many new reviews that you have. So if you haven't subscribed yet on whatever platform it is that you're listening on, be so appreciated if you were to take a few seconds out of your day right now to do that. This review comes from Martin B88 in the UK. He titles this, Best in the Business. started listening to the show about three months ago and haven't missed an episode since.

What I like so much about Chris is he has no ego whatsoever and never tries to make the interview about him. He asks the questions and listens to the answers. His genuine interest and enthusiasm for wrestling shines through. Chris just comes across as a type of guy that you'd want to have a beer or coffee with and talk about wrestling. Keep up the good work CVV. Well, thank you, Martin. And next time I'm in the UK, let's have a beer. or coffee together. Probably a beer. That sounds like a lot more fun, right? And also, I don't drink coffee.

Can you guys imagine me with more energy? Hiped up on caffeine with even more energy than I currently have? That'd be wild. So I'm going to keep reading one review out on every single episode and shouting you guys out free of charge, of course. So without further ado, let's get right into this. It's the top five interviews of 2020. What a year? What a year? And I say that like 1% in the eye-rolling, you know, 2020 way of, oh, what a year it's been. But I mostly mean it in the positive, very excited way of, man, what a year this has been. And I get that 2020 has been a tough year. And we've all had to make a lot of adjustments and do things in a very different way than we were used to doing them before. But it's also been a year that's allowed us to like take a step back and realize what's important to us and who's important to us.

It's also been a year of a lot of first. And for me, it was my first time ever growing an epic beard. It was my first time ever doing a virtual interview. You know that I love doing interviews in person, being able to look people in the eye and shake their hand and feel their energy. This year we had to pivot and figure out how to do a Zoom interview for the first. time. Also, the first time I ever wore a mask during an interview. Did you ever think that in 2020, you'd be signed full-time to a wrestling company? No. Surprise, I've lasted this long. First time I ever found out that my neck could make noises like this. One of your toes just a little bit?

Oh! Dr. Bo Heightower. Man, he has some magical hands there. Also, the first time that I was ever grateful that my chest didn't cave in. Still hurts just watching that video. I get asked all the time, how many days did it take for your chest to heal up? About six days. And when we took that photo for the thumbnail, like look how painful that looks.

That was like at the height of when it looked its absolute worst. After that, it just kind of like started bruising and then it got to a point where it looked like I'd spilled spaghetti on my chest, like very like yellow bruising. And then it was fine. But it's mind-blowing to me to think that that video has been viewed over 1.4 million times. So I'm guessing if you're watching this right now, you're probably one of those 1.4 million people. So thank you.

Thank you for watching me in a lot of pain. So obviously in March, things changed a lot for everyone. And for me, that meant we weren't able to do interviews in person anymore. We had to pivot very quickly, you know, buy a microphone, just figure out this whole situation. to do these interviews virtually, which actually worked out really well because we were able to land a lot of interviews that we probably wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. And the funny thing is when you reach out to someone, like when this thing first started in March and April, if you ask them like, hey, are you free to do an interview?

If their answer is anything but yes, they're a liar because like, what else were you doing? Everything was closed. So it actually worked out really well. We were able to get like a ton of interviews and just start cranking them out. So it's been really interesting looking back on this year and seeing all of the interviews that we've done. So to narrow this down to just five is not easy. And I'm guessing there's going to be an interview that you thought should totally be on this list. And I can guarantee you that that interview was number six for sure.

So here we go. My top five interviews of 2020. And I'm going to give you a little backstory to each one. First of all, I tell you why that interview was so important to me. And number two, to tell you, like, how the interview came together, because for most of these, actually for most of the interviews I've ever done, there's an interesting backstory of, like, how the pieces came together to actually make the interview happen. Number five, my interview with Eddie Kingston. With pro wrestling, if you retire, while your body can still go, he didn't retire, you quit. So we did this interview back in January. It was at the NWA Hard Times pay-per-view in Atlanta.

I drove from where I was living in Cincinnati. It was about a seven-hour drive from Cincinnati to Atlanta. And I actually didn't know which interviews I was going to be doing there. I knew that I had access to a handful of people, but nothing was confirmed. So I had just wrapped up an interview with Nick Aldous, which I actually did know I was interviewing Nick Aldus. And then they said, well, are you ready for Eddie Kingston? And I said, I don't know that I'm ready for that interview, but let's do it. And the great thing about Eddie Kingston is you don't really need to prepare.

I mean, you stick a mic in that guy's hand, whether it's a promo or an interview. That guy's just going to go. And you're going to get gold, which is exactly what we got here. Everyone's like, oh, man, because I know people at AEW. And like I told you before, I won't, I don't know if I said this publicly. But like, when I hit up certain people at AEW who are in control, I don't hit them up like, hey, man, I need a job. I have been hitting them up for years saying, hey, your kids are getting big.

Or hey, man, congratulations on this and that. And I would feel like a real piece of shit or a real fuck boy. If I go, hey, man, your kids are getting big. P.S., I really need a job. And I want to make some of that Tony Khan money. It's pretty crazy to think that Eddie Kingston almost retired from pro wrestling, almost hung it up completely.

And I think we're all glad that he didn't because he is tearing it up right now in AEW. That's it. Like, I'm here. There's no more... So you die. Yeah. Either people stop book three ways.

People stop booking me. My body shuts down on me or like you said unless I die. Number four is Mohammed Hassan. That was a character than any baby face want to go against because it was a heat magnet. I mean, you know, you go out there and it doesn't matter who you are. You're getting cheered because I just want to see me get my ass kick. I have to give a shout out and a huge thank you to my friend, Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful.com, because he's the one who made this interview.

with Mark Copani happened. Mark Copani is Muhammad Hassan's real name. He now works as a high school principal in upstate New York, but he was one of the biggest heels, not just of that era, but of all time. And his run was so short.

2004, 2005, like, that was it. And then he was released because of that controversial angle and a lot of pressure from media and pressure from UPN, which is where SmackDown aired. And he got released and basically said, all right, well,

I'm going to retire. from wrestling now, and he hung it up completely. It's ironic if you listen to your promos, especially now, 15 years later, it's ironic that people are booing you for speaking the truth. Like, nothing you're saying is actually healish at all. I think he'd be applauded today. If I went out there and said those things today, I think I would get a standing ovation because it was the truth. I mean, it was how people felt in this country. We were reading about it in the news. It was unfair. It was unjust. Muslim Americans, people were being lumped together as if everybody was a terrorist because they were, you know, from that origin, from that nationality.

So it was the truth. He's only done a handful of interviews since he was released in 2005. So over the last 15 years, he's done, I don't know, like three or four interviews. So to be able to share this time with him is something that I'm very, very thankful to him for and also very thankful to Sean Ross Sapp for making this happen. I've always been proud of what I did, but I'm at a place now where I have a new level of success in what I'm doing. And I don't think that that's the creeping fear or that creeping feeling of failure doesn't affect me anymore. I don't. And not that what happened was my fault. I mean, that was out of my hands. Yeah.

But I have a hard time not holding myself accountable to everything. And so I would still hold myself accountable to that there are things that I may have been able to do that could have changed the outcome. 2020 has changed a lot of things. It's definitely changed. changed how we work. And businesses across the globe are challenged to be their most efficient, which means every hire is critical. Indeed is here to help. Indeed is the number one job site in the world with more total visits than any other job site according to ComScore. Indeed helps you find quality candidates quickly so you can focus on hiring the person that you need to keep your business going. Unlike other sites, Indeed gives you full control and payment flexibility over your hiring. You only pay for what you need, and you can pause your account at any time and there's no long-term contracts.

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able to say that I've had a presidential candidate as a guest on my show. And not just any presidential candidate, but a presidential candidate who loves wrestling has evidenced by this conversation here about his favorite match of all time. This may date me, but I remember a macho man Steamboat, WrestleMania 3, just being his mind-blowing match. That all-time great. Yeah. And because I was a macho man fan, in part because of that match. And then so he loses that match, but he somehow gets elevated from it because it was so good. And then he goes on to become the champion. And I loved the Matro Man title run.

It made me very sad when, as a kid, I was pretty young. But when they gave the title back to Hulk Hogan the following year, I was like, no, I thought we were past this. So Mr. Yang turned a lot of heads when he called out Vince McMahon for the way that he treats his so-called independent contractors. And he's basically saying, look, if you want to treat them like independent contractors, we'll let them be independent. let them do what they want to do. If you're going to treat them like employees, which Mr. Yang says that's exactly what you're doing, well, then give them the benefits of actually being an employee.

So I reached out to Mr. Yang on Twitter and I said, I'd love to have you on my show. I'd love to have a conversation with you. He actually wrote me back and said, I'm a big fan of your work. A few days later, we were having this chat. The WWE, to me, has a choice. It's, look, we're going to treat you as independent contractors

you can do whatever you want on your off time, and we don't have all of this say-so over a lot of your activities. Or you can start treating them like your employees, which they are, and you introduce real benefits, including a real union or professional association and real negotiation.

Now, he said in that interview that if Joe Biden was elected president, he would make it his mission to go after Vince McMahon. So when Biden takes office on January 20, I guess we'll see if anything changes. Will I forget about this? Hell no. And the bill's coming due.

I'm going to be the person that does it or the person that is there when it's done. Number two is Kurt Engel. Oh, it's true. It's damn true. I was really screwed up physically, mentally, psychologically. And I had to leave. And when I did, Vince and I never spoke again until I came back two years ago. This was actually the first interview that I uploaded in 2020,

and I knew the second that interview was done, that it would be on this list because it was so, so good. Sitting down with the Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist, and having him open up for an hour about literally everything was nothing short of incredible. And we were connected through a mutual friend who basically said, all right, yeah, Kurt is down to do this interview. So I texted Kurt Angle, which is crazy to think that I texted Kurt Engel,

and that's an actual sentence that I'm saying that it's true. I texted him and said, well, when are you free? And he said, I'm free after my next WWE loop because of the time he was working as a WWE producer. He said, let's do the interview in Pittsburgh. At the time, unfortunately, I was taking Pankos. I was taking somas. And, you know, every once in a while I would black out.

Here I am, text events. And so he showed me all these. I'm like, oh, my God. I actually said this stuff. And he stood up and he took his jacket off. He says, you want to kick my ass? Let's go right now. Wow.

And I looked at him. I'm like, oh, my God, I can't believe Vince McMahon wants to beat my ass. So I had no idea where we were going to do this interview. I was just so excited that Kurt Engel was doing an interview with me. So I booked a hotel room near the Pittsburgh airport, knowing full well that I would only be using this hotel room for one hour for this interview. and I got to the hotel with five minutes to spare because traffic was so bad. They gave me the room key. I sprinted down the hall, got the camera set up and the microphone set up as quickly as I

possibly could. When I put the last thing in place, that's when Kurt texted me and said, I'm here. I'm like, this couldn't have timed out any better. And what an amazing conversation with truly one of the absolute best to ever lace them up. What sucks is my best phase of my career was in TNA. As good as I was in W.W.E. I was the best there. I got better in TNA.

And unfortunately, the W.W. universe will never see those matches. Well, there's probably a lot of people watching this that have only watched your matches in WWE. So if someone's watching this and they want to see one of your best TNA matches, what should they watch? Anything with A.J. Stiles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Rude. Desmond Wolfe, Ken Anderson, Sting, Dostinger.

But there are a lot of great people. And my number one interview of 2020 is David Benoit. I just, I didn't believe it for days, bro. I think the day it really hit me was his funeral. That was a hard day. That was a super hard day. His story is so amazing.

And I am so, grateful that he was willing to share it with me. I talked to my dad, Father's Day. That was the last time. Wow. We talked for like two hours. Wow. That was the last conversation you had? Yeah. Is there anything specific from that conversation that sticks out for you? Yeah. We were just laughing and getting ready to make plans for the summer. And I got to say I love you one last time with him. And, you know, that was the last time. I'm sorry if this is too much. No. No. No. No. Okay. It was good to get it off my chest, bro.

So up to this point, he'd only ever done one interview. And it was with Fred Rosser, aka Darren Young, on his podcast called the Pro and Bro Wrestling Podcast. So David and I follow each other on Instagram. And then one day he just randomly sent me a DM and said, I should be on your show sometime, a big fan of your interviews. And I said, absolutely. We will do this thing wherever and whenever.

And he obviously lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I said, I'm willing to fly to Edmonton. We can do the interview there. He goes, no, I think I'm going to be heading to Vegas in the next few weeks. I want to see a hockey game there. So we'll do it when I'm in town. I said, absolutely. I will fly to Vegas.

We will make this thing happen. And what are the memories that you have of him? Oh, man. We used to travel time on the road. And he'd tell me stories, you know, talk about Eddie and everything. He'd tell me life. Tell me what to do and, you know, yes sir, no sir. All that.

You know, just laugh. So it took a few months to make this interview happen because the original messages that we sent each other were in October and we finally did this in January. And the biggest thing that you don't see during this interview is that we got to hang out the day before the interview. So we were planning to do the interview on a Friday morning. I booked a flight that landed Thursday night.

And as I was landing in Las Vegas, I was like, well, what am I going to do tonight? I mean, it's Las Vegas. There's tons of things you could do. But I was like, I'm going to send David a message and say, why don't we go grab a drink or dinner or something? So I sent him a message. I said, do you have any plans tonight? Let's grab a drink. He said, absolutely, bro.

Let's do it. I think that's one of the biggest reasons why this interview worked because we got to hang out the night before and, like, feel each other out. We became friends during this process. And then when we did the interview the next day, it was just like two friends. just catching up and a camera happened to be there. So when I landed in Las Vegas, I took my suitcase, went straight to the hotel, then I met up with him at his hotel.

And of course, in true Las Vegas fashion, we had those giant yard drinks and basically just walked around Las Vegas. And a few hours in, he turned to me and said, I just want you to know that nothing's off limits. And I said, like, nothing at all. He goes, yeah, man, nothing at all. I trust you.

and you can ask me whatever you want. And I think in that moment, I went, oh my gosh, this conversation is going to be something so special. And David himself is so special. What's the first thing that most people usually say to you? You look like you're dead. Yeah, that was obvious. So there we go, my friends.

Those are my picks for the top five interviews of 2020. But I'm curious to hear what yours are. So tag me on Instagram or Twitter. And let me know. You can find me at Chris Van Fleet. And thank you so much for listening to the show this week. And thank you so much for making this show what it's become. You can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And please, it would mean the world to me if you could rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.

And before we go, just remember, 2021 isn't going to be any different from 2020 unless you do something to make it different. It doesn't just magically change because we went from December to January. And as the author Mike Dooley once said, life's not about expecting, hoping, and wishing. It's about doing, being, and becoming. And I'll add one in two before we go. Dreams don't work unless you do. Be great. Be grateful, my friends.

And we'll see you on the next one. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? 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. But get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.