Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blee!
Happy New Year! Welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Bamblete. Hope it was a great New Year's Eve for you. Hope that January and 2025 are treating you well so far. Thank you for being with us on this one and thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet.
Hit up, head agree on that follow button on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening right now. And now I'm picturing you doing it. I'm picturing you grabbing your phone and like pretending your phone has two arms that you're lifting up and hooking together and then dropping it down on that follow button.
By the way, if it's easier for you to just hit the follow button with your thumb. That's totally okay as well. But I think if you can, if you're able to hitting a pedigree on that follow button would be huge. I just checked the charts the other day. This is the all sports chart on Spotify. And insight is number 11 right now. So like Pat McAfee is on that list. And Jason and Travis Kelsey show is on that list.
And somehow insight is on those. So I just appreciate you guys. Some of you have been around since day one of the podcast. Some of you have been listening for just a few weeks, a few months, wherever you're at on that journey. Man, I appreciate you so much. You are a real one.
for listening to an Ask CVV episode. And I appreciate you if you hang around till the end. That's what makes you a real, real one. So we'll see you in like an hour. We'll see all the real, real ones in an hour. For now though, it's just the, the real ones. Welcome my friends to Ask CVV number 64.
The Nintendo 64 edition, the Commodore 64 edition, and the Tom Rafferty and Randall McDaniel edition. If you've got a question for next week's Ask CVV number 65, send it in on social media using the hashtag Ask CVV. Leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify. And I know it's more than half of the audience listens on Spotify now.
So if you're listening on Spotify, leave a comment on Spotify. Maybe we can get up over a hundred comments again. I think we did it like two, three weeks ago.
And we were real close last week, but I get it. Yeah. Holidays, maybe not as many people listening to podcasts. You're probably either back into the routine now or close to being back into that routine. So if you're listening on spot, if I leave a comment there or shoot me an email, CVV at chris van Vliet.com. We are less than a month away from the very first insight live happening the day before the Royal Rumble.
It's January 31st in Indianapolis. It's right before SmackDown. So like this is like your SmackDown pre-show. It's like across the street from where SmackDown is too. So if you're going to be in Indianapolis or if you live in and around Indianapolis, I hope to see you there. Friday, January 31st, tickets are still on sale. CVVtix.com. That's CVVtix.com. We'll be announcing the guests or guests.
I don't want to give too much away, but we'll be announcing that very soon. And then we will also have info for insight live in Toronto, right before elimination chamber. That's that we're probably a week or two away from that. Although every time I like give these timelines, I don't even know. I actually don't know if it's a week or two away. It could be three weeks away. It could be tomorrow.
But every time I give a timeline, I catch myself and I'm like, what am I doing? I don't actually know. I don't have the answers on this one. So I'll just keep it vague. Sometimes soon we'll be announcing that and we'll also be announcing what's going on in Las Vegas a whole. Yes, we're doing inside live there, but we're doing a whole bunch of different things there.
And I can't wait to let you guys know all about that. It's going to be huge 2025 already off to a huge start. I just got off the phone. Oh, man, I'm probably saying too much. Probably saying too much. I just got off the phone right before I hit record on this episode. And I confirmed a huge interview.
And we're still working out the details and the timing of all this, but let's just say raw is on Netflix in Los Angeles on Monday. My studio is in Los Angeles. There's a lot of big prominent people in WWE that are going to be in Los Angeles on Monday. And there's a lot of opportunities there. So I don't want to say too much. I don't want to jinx this.
But if you're not following the show, you're going to miss out because this is a, it's a big one that you'll be seeing hopefully in the next few weeks here. It's big. Speaking of raw on Netflix, we're going to kick it off with the first question here from Greg Powell on Facebook. He says, Hey, CBV, the card is stacked for the first raw on Netflix. Let's hear your predictions. Greg, the card is stacked. Like this is,
This is a PLE level card. This is a great thing. There's a lot of big stories that are being told going into this. These aren't just throwaway matches either. So let's check this out.
We're gonna start things off with the WWE Women's World Championship. It's a last woman standing match, Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, and the odds are actually up at my bookie. And if you sign up, of course, at my bookie using the promo code CVV, you'll get a 100% welcome bonus on your first deposit.
They've got Rhea Ripley as the heavy favorite here. And I would tend to agree there. I think Rhea Ripley is going to be walking out of here the new women's world champion. So that's that one match. Then we will go to Jey Uso versus Drew McIntyre. I mean, all these matches are so good. I'm going to give this one to Drew McIntyre. And I just think with the momentum that he's had and there are very few people.
in wrestling right now that are as good on the mic as he is. And the way that he's allowing this to kind of bleed into his real life and he's blurring the lines like he's never done before.
It's been so fun to watch. I think the Drew McIntyre wins this one and then it sets Drew McIntyre up for a huge 2025. Like you thought that 2024 was big for him and it was, but I think it was really just showing what he's capable of. And I think in 2025, don't be surprised if he's a champion again. We'll have to see when that is, but I think at some point in time, Drew McIntyre becomes a champion in 2025. How about this match?
between CM Punk and Seth Rollins. These promos have been spicy. These promos have been fierce. These promos have maybe stepped over the line a little bit, and that's what makes it so much fun. These types of promos remind me of the type of promos that we saw when Rock and Cena were going at each other. Like Cena was like really going at the Rock.
and Cena was saying some things where you're like, man, that felt personal. There were some things in there where it's like, oh, do you think he's okay with him saying that kind of stuff? That's what this feels like. And CM Punk's no stranger to that. That's where CM Punk is the absolute best. He's so good at towing that line. And he did this in the Drew McIntyre feud too. Do these guys actually hate each other?
that do Seth Rollins and CM Punk actually hate each other here. That's what we're getting with these promos and the promo that we saw last Monday on Raw. I was already excited for this match because I just knew from a technical standpoint, it was gonna be so good, but now I'm like invested so much more. The odds here almost have this, it's almost like a coin toss. They've got CM Punk as the slight favorite at my bookie, but I really think this match could go either way.
If I had to make a prediction, I'm gonna give this to CM Punk. I'm gonna predict that CM Punk wins this because it sets CM Punk up for a much bigger 2025, kind of like what I was saying with your McIntyre. It just seems to me that CM Punk winning this would allow him to continue his momentum into WrestleMania. There's still a real good possibility, I think, of CM Punk headlining WrestleMania one of those two nights.
I think a lot has to depend on what happens at the Royal Rumble. And I think CM Punk could be someone who wins the Royal Rumble. He'd be on my short list of like two or three people that I think could win the Rumble and then you'd be able to tell a great story out of that. So I think that CM Punk wins this match. It's going to be an incredible match. I know it's early. It's only the first week of January, but this on paper right now is the type of match that could be a match of the year contender.
Again, I know it's early. There's 51 more weeks of raw after this and 51 more weeks of just wrestling in general after this, but that's the type of match that I don't know. Just it has all of the elements to make this an amazing match. And then we've got Roman Reigns versus Solossecoa in tribal combat. The odds favor Roman Reigns right now.
This is the match where I think the rock somehow gets involved in this.
I'm guessing this is the main event. I'm assuming this is the main event. I don't see any other scenario other than Roman Reigns with his arm raised at the end of this. So I would pick Roman Reigns as the winner here. The only way I could see that not happening is if the rock somehow interferes and then he gets involved in this and he screws over Roman Reigns. That's the only way that I don't see Roman Reigns winning this match. But it's funny, they have a special prop bed here.
who will open the show on Netflix and they've got the rock and John Cena's the options and the rocks actually the favorite that they have to open the show and then John Cena is like not the odds aren't as good for him. I actually don't think so. Like I don't think the rocks can open the show. I don't think that the raw opens up and it's the rocks music that hits.
I could definitely see the show opening up John Cena's music hits. The place goes bananas. John Cena cuts some sort of promo, kind of sets the tone for what his year is going to be like and describes what his retirement tour is going to be like. I could see that happening. I don't think the rock is going to kick off the show at all. I think the rock is going to be part of that storyline with the bloodline, which is then going to lead to some kind of WrestleMania match.
I know they were trying for years to get rock versus Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. Maybe this is the year to do that. There are a few other stories that could be told independently with both of those guys. But I think at the end of Monday night, we're going to have a real clear answer of what the rocks WrestleMania match is going to be.
And I still just feel it in my gut that they're angling for rock versus Roman Reigns. So we'll see. But I think at the end of the day, this show is going to be one where there's going to be some surprises. I think this is going to be a show where the matches are just going to be top notch. And this is going to be one of those, I mean, this is a weekly television show.
It's going to be one of those one. This is not a PL. This is not WrestleMania or the Royal Rumble or anything like that. But this is going to be an episode of Raw that is talked about, I think, for a long, long time. And I'm going to be there. If you're in LA, I look forward to also seeing you at the Intuit Dome.
This is going to be something else. So I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Mitchell Duggan left this comment on Spotify and said, I think the ads on Netflix will be Netflix related, new programming, et cetera, and WWE related superstars pitching merch and products like Slim Jim's, et cetera. I said last week that
based on the way that the NFL did their Christmas day games on Netflix that I was a little surprised. I'm like, you know what, I've been saying for months, I don't think there's going to be ads when Raw goes to Netflix.
And then when the NFL had their Christmas day games, it just looked like a normal broadcast, like anything you would see on any other network. And I went, oh, I have a feeling that's what RAW is going to look like. And I get what you're saying here, Mitchell, you're basically saying like these are going to be internal ads, like this is going to be Netflix promoting, you should watch this series or this movie is coming up.
or WWE is saying, these are some of our sponsors. So here's an ad for, like you said, Slim Jim, or here's an ad for Prime, or here's an ad for John Cena appearing at Elimination Chamber. Yes, I do think we're going to see that, but I also think we're going to see some traditional ads. People pay for the 30 second ad spot and you're going to see just a traditional ad.
In fact, I would be willing to bet you one Canadian dollar, Mitchell. I'd be willing to bet you a loony that that's how it's going to go. I don't think it's just going to be some internal ads. I think you're going to see just normal ads being run on there.
I also think that this is a bit of an experiment. We've got 52 weeks this year to kind of see what does weekly programming on Netflix look like. What do we want weekly programming on Netflix to look like if you are working for Netflix or if you're working for WWE?
And I think that week one may not be indicative of what week 52 looks like. I think week one, two, three, the first handful of weeks is gonna be them ironing things out, pushing the boundaries, figuring out what works, what doesn't work. And I think that as they get going, maybe in the spring or summer,
They'll start to have this dialed in a little bit more. And these are going to be small minute little tweaks and changes here and there. But I just, I think we need to set the tone right now that the raw that you see January 6th on Netflix may not be the same type of format of the show that we see in December of 2025 as well.
So I think there's going to be a lot of people that go, oh man, Ron Netflix had this, this, and this on the first episode. So that means that all of the episodes are going to look like that. Not necessarily, but I think when it comes to ads Mitchell, it's going to just be traditional ads like you would normally see on any other type of broadcast.
One underscore 31 underscore boost dose on Instagram says, John Cena's last win was against Triple H in 2018. And it came after his squash match defeat at the hands of the undertaker at WrestleMania 34. Since then, John Cena has lost multiple matches being John Cena's last year. Do you think that WWE needs to build John Cena up or can they have him go straight into the main event?
Yes. So what you're referencing here is John Cena's last singles televised win. He has a lot of wins on how shows after the one you're talking about, but it's true. His last win in a singles match that was televised is at the greatest Royal Rumble on April 27th, 2018.
It's been a while. He's also had lots of tag team victories and lots of multiple people victories, like six man matches and stuff like that. But yeah, you got to go back a long way.
for that to happen. Also, fun fact, just since we're talking about it, his last one on Raw was almost exactly seven years ago. He defeated Kane in a no disqualification match on March 26th, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio, baby. So it's been a long, long time. Look, this is John Cena.
Sure. He lost a lot of matches because he was making a lot of other people look good. He was in a situation where he knew he could elevate other talent by making them look great by putting them over. This is John Cena. He does not need to work his way back up to the main event. You could stick John Cena in the main event of every Raw and every Smackdown and every PLE right now and it would make perfect sense.
Yeah, I don't think that John Cena needs to build his way back up and I think it would be a waste of time, quite frankly, if they did that. I think that John Cena will be right in that main event spot beginning this raw Netflix and he will not leave that spot. Yeah, maybe he'll have a match that's in the middle of the card or
Maybe possibly. I still don't really think it's going to be a thing. But yeah, he could compete and possibly win the Intercontinental Championship at some point this year. But while a year is a long period of time, I think at the same time,
12 months of storytelling, 52 weeks of TV is not that much when you think about the fact that how many real stories could be told here? How many real feuds could you have? Five? Six? Like if we're talking about feuds that are actually built up. Sure, you could have these one-off matches that we've talked about. And I hope that we do see some of those because I think that there's kind of two categories of John Cena matches that we could see in 2025. We could see
Some last matches, it'll be the last time he ever faces someone like Randy Orton, it can be the last time he ever faces somebody like Seth Rollins, so on and so on. And the other category is the first time, it's the first time he'll ever have a match with someone like Braun Breaker, first time he'll ever have a match with someone like Gunther.
And the list goes on and on and on. I think we might see a mix of both of those. But no, John Cena just not need to be built back up. This is John Cena. And I laugh because I was at the press conference at Money in the Bank in Toronto when John Cena came back unannounced and then announced his retirement tour in 2025. And wow, man, that was half a year ago. And here we are that John Cena retirement tour is starting.
But someone in the press asked Triple H about like, do you think when he's done, will he be in the Hall of Fame? And Triple H is like, yeah, like he can have his own Hall of Fame if he wants. Like this is John Cena. There's no buildup required here. Put John Cena in whatever storyline is going to be the most interesting and entertaining and let him cook.
Tim C emailed this one in and said, hey, CVV, discovered your excellent show in 2024 and have been working through as many episodes as I can. My question for asks CVV is what element of pro wrestling do you find requires the biggest suspension of disbelief?
Personally, I find that if the storytelling and in-ring work is good enough, then I could put most things aside. But the two that I struggle with are ladder matches where I take someone a huge amount of time to climb the ladder and retrieve the titles, usually have to try to unclip them for several minutes, and referee bumps. The slightest accidental punch or kick rendering a ref seemingly unconscious for enough time to miss a three-count or a low blow, et cetera.
Obviously both are just part of the nature of wrestling, but what if any of these, but what if any of these suspension of disbelief do you struggle with? Tim, this is good. I always love talking about logic and wrestling because it's funny to me when it doesn't exist.
To answer your question, I would say go back to a time when you weren't a wrestling fan, like go back to like watching it for the first time or think about wrestling through the lens of someone you know who doesn't watch. Brother, sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, colleague, mom, dad, whoever it is.
And think of the things that they would point out, the things that they would go, why is that person doing that? Or like they ask an obvious question like, why is he climbing the ladder so slow? That's where I think you can really start with a question like this. And I remember when I first started watching, we would watch it at my grandparents' house.
and when we watch it with my cousins. And I remember that when they stomped, when they punched was something I just couldn't get over as a little kid.
And remember, we would have run around my grandparents' house and we'd be like stomping on their floor while hitting each other, stomping and we'd just fake punches. So I think that's a, that's still a big one. And I think because you and I have been watching wrestling for so long, we're just oblivious to that now. But when you watch this through the lens of a brand new viewer of the program, they're probably going, what? That's, it doesn't even make sense.
But I think you nailed these other two. The climbing of ladders, I just don't get. And I understand it's building the momentum. It's getting the crowd to come to like a crescendo when you get to the top of the ladder and you're either grabbing the briefcase or the belt or someone's coming up to grab you or push you off. I understand why it happens. But we are not talking about like within the program of wrestling, we're talking about just like,
If we were to treat wrestling like it was real for a moment, not that it's not real. You guys know what I mean. We were to treat it like you actually don't know who's going to win and you're climbing the ladder, trying to get it, climb the ladder faster than your opponent. Grayson Waller was talking about that. He had that WrestleMania match at WrestleMania 40 last year and said like, I hate when people climb ladder slow. So he's like, I wanted to climb it as fast as possible.
Ref bumps are funny because there's times when there's times when a move takes someone out for the whole match and there's times when that same move or same bump takes someone out for 10 seconds. I find that to be interesting. I think the other thing that requires a
a suspension of disbelief or suspension of belief. I think another thing is like finishers that can take someone like take one wrestler out in two minutes. And then that same exact move needs to be done three or four times to somebody else to take them out. I think that that's always really interesting. Like if try explaining that to someone who doesn't watch wrestling,
If it's a finisher, why didn't it finish him? Why is the match still going on? But I love these types of questions. Please keep them coming. So Tim, my hat's off to you. I'm not wearing a hat right now, but if I was, my hat would be off to you for these type of logical type of questions. I love them.
Jason, the sellout on Spotify asks CVV, hey, Chris, huge fan. I heard you tease the upcoming show for SummerSlam in New Jersey. I will be ready when those tickets go on sale. Amazing. I will see you there. Just a question, who do you think has the greatest entrance of all time? To me, and this might be a reach to a few, but I know recency bias is a thing, but main event, JU so is at the top of my list. Who is yours? Thanks for all you do. And I hope to see you in Jersey for SummerSlam.
If you haven't been there live for a J you so entrance, it's hard to understand just how great it is. And I see where you're coming from Jason. The crowd gets so into it. It's, it's almost like they're moving is just like one, one organism, like everybody's together in sync and the lights and the lasers. It's impressive. It is certainly one of the better entrances in modern day wrestling without a doubt.
My favorite entrance is Triple H. And I just think there's something about his music hitting and just from the first like guitar strum time to play the game. That just sets the tone. And then he's got the spot at the top of the ramp where he kind of pauses and he does the little mini water spit in front of him and then he starts walking and the lighting there is so perfect.
But when he comes down to the ring and that spotlight shines just on him and he spits the water up, go back to like a mid 2000s or early 2000s entrance with the Motorhead theme and you will not see more flash bulbs going off.
And for me, I think that that's an indicator of that's an entrance that people are wanting to pay attention to. Of course, it goes without saying that the undertaker has the greatest entrances and certainly the greatest WrestleMania entrances. But I think when you're talking about just a moment in an entrance and that's what I'm really focusing on here, the flash bulbs when Triple H does that water spin, it's three things here. It's the music hits.
He does the water spit at exactly that point and the spotlight is on him. And then flash bulbs are going off as a result of all of that. That's number one for me. Gonna be really, really tough to top that. I've been there many times to see it live and it's pretty cool. And it's pretty cool.
Well, the undertakers is obviously great because there's just the lead up there. And it's the mind games of how long his entrance is and how slow he walks. I get all that. But for me personally, Triple H.
Jerry Damasi emailed this one and said, Hey Chris, congratulations again on baby boy Van Vliet. Quick question all the way from Melbourne, Australia. What are your thoughts on a John Cena heel turn in his last run? Listen to the John Cena interview again on your show and it really felt like he wanted to turn heel. Love the show, big fan. Yeah, it sounds like he really did want to turn heel. And I think that he was just at a point in his career. And if you don't know what I'm talking about,
In the interview that I did with him and we re-aired it a few weeks ago, he said he was real close to turning heel right around the time of rock and just seen a one. So that'd be 2012. It sounds like just, it sounds like he was just, he wanted to do something different and he had everything planned out and I don't need to regurgitate all this. You can go listen to the interview, but he had,
new ring attire. He had a new song. He had a whole new attitude that was going to be surrounding this. So yeah, I think he really wanted to do that. And instead, he's been a babyface for pretty much his whole career. I don't see a heel turn happening in 2025. I think that that's something that that ship has passed. And even when you listen to John Cena doing the interviews in the press conference at Money in the Bank, the one I was just talking about,
Someone asked him that, and he was basically just like, I'm gonna be who I am. And I think that that's what we're gonna see in this final run.
I think this is just going to be an appreciation of who John Cena is as a person, who John Cena is as a performer, and what John Cena has done for this era of WWE. I think that that's what we're going to see over these next 12 months with a lot of great matches and promos sprinkled in there. But I don't think we have enough time here for him to start the year as a babyface, turn heel somewhere. It would have to be after WrestleMania. I don't think John Cena would wrestle at WrestleMania as a heel.
And then he would be healed for a few months because he has to end his career as a baby face. So I think it's a nice thought. It's a nice idea, but John himself has basically said, no, not happening. Well, it's not my favorite time of these Friday episodes when my beautiful, incredible wife, Rachel comes in here for the Ask RVV portion of the show. How are you, my love? I'm wonderful. How are you?
So much better now that you're here. Thank you for popping in at the exact perfect time for these questions. How old is Cooper now? 17 days? 17 days, yeah. Man, two and a half weeks. BBVV, baby boy, Van Vliet. B Kyle 326 sent this one in for you. I guess we can both answer this one. What's the biggest difference in your life since having kids besides time?
Besides, so not necessarily, you know, completely ignoring the time factor, but I think being more intentional with our time and a little more into planning our days accordingly, like who gets to go to the gym at what time.
Yeah, and scheduling certain things like I think we've become we're both all we were always both very routine oriented and you know down to scheduling but I think now it's it's another level you kind of have to work around nap schedules work schedules class schedules at the gym and even activities for the kids that
That's the biggest difference. It's not just, oh, I can just go to the gym when I want. I can just go to the grocery store when I want. I can go have lunch when I want. It's a lot more planning involved. Yeah, you got to be way more intentional about your time, which was not a thing before. I remember one of my friends before we had kids and he was like, you think you're busy now?
just wait till you have kids. And I didn't really get it. And it's so true. It's just now you have to be intentional. There's not a wasted second now. It's trying to figure out how does everything slide into the day and how does it all make sense here. I think for me, another big thing is just purpose. It's so much bigger than just me now. I'm doing something for you, and I'm also
Everything I'm thinking about is also for you and for Logan and Cooper all the time now. It's like when I'm booking flights, I'm like, all right, how can I get home as quick as possible? And if I somehow am done this interview early, could I then take this earlier flight? Could I stand by for this earlier flight? So it's a lot about purpose and what's best for all of us as a whole. And also, so that's my serious answer. My not so serious answer is,
Have you noticed how much you talk in the third person now?
Yes. Very much so. Daddy's going to get that for you. No, Daddy will do that. Yeah. Mommy will do that. All the time, all the time. Even how I say things to you that way, not the third person, but I'll tell Logan, Daddy will do this. And that's my way of telling rather than, hey, honey, can you go do this? I just skip the middleman. And I tell Logan, oh, Daddy will go do this for you. And then you go and do it.
Yeah, I've never talked in the third person, obviously, ever. Could you imagine that? No. Chris is going to go do this. Chris is going to go to the gym now. Chris is going to the gym. You feel like the rock. Yes. The rock says this. Maybe we will start doing that. That's a good way to call myself the Chris. Yeah, Chris. The Chris Sharp. The dad? The dad? I could raise the dad's eyebrow.
Ooh, I don't know about that. Drop the dad's elbow. So the set of the people's elbow. This will be a work in progress. The dad's elbow. No, we got it. I don't know if you'll be laughing if you understood what I'm saying here. But yeah, there's a lot of third person talking, which is very, very strange. I feel like the rock when you would cut that promo is like, you know the rock knows this goof wearing a hat nose, this chick gawking at the rock.
so in love with the Rock would do that. Abby, Abby, Abby Holman sent this one in, especially for you, honey. Ask RVV as a fellow mom of littles. Do you have a go-to coffee order? We are on kid number three. Well, congratulations, Abby. Kid number three. My goodness. Go to coffee order, RVV. Abby, your hands are full. We commend you. Three kids is a lot.
Um, I don't, I typically don't get coffee out and about because I do prefer my coffee in the morning and not the afternoon and we're not really out in the morning unless it's just like on a walk. For today, I got coffee today, ironically, which is so funny because honey, can you swing by the Starbucks by your gym?
I think I've gotten Starbucks maybe what three times in the last year and ironically today was one of those days. You're usually going to like these one-off coffee spots, which are always so cool. Nothing against Starbucks, but it's cool to go to these one-off little cafe in or caffeine alley. What's the one down on the other side of the hill? What's that one called?
Coffee Grove. Coffee Grove. So that being said, if I go to Starbucks, I'm like a cafe miso. If I go to these one-off coffee shops, which I prefer, I always love their cold brews, a cream top cold brew, especially. So that would be my go-to one at a one-off coffee shop, a little mom-and-pop shop, but Starbucks,
I don't really like their, they're, sorry Starbucks, I don't like their iced coffee too much, so I get a cafe misto usually there, but. Those cream top ones sound like a nice little treat. So yummy, so yummy, they are a treat, it's more of a dessert, I'd say. A nice little treat.
Maybe that's a question for next week. What's your favorite treat? Why am I saying treat like that? I don't know. All right, honey. Thank you. My pleasure. And thanks to grandma for watching the kids while you popped in here. I appreciate you. Oh, man. I love her. I love her so much.
Tim Dobbs sent this one on on Facebook. Chris, what return slash appearance makes the most sense for the Royal Rumble? I think there's a few that make a lot of sense here. I think in terms of returns, Charlotte Flair, if that doesn't happen on raw Netflix, I think you can just bet on it. Charlotte Flair will be returning at the Royal Rumble. That's just my personal opinion, but that's one for sure.
Becky Lynch as well. And as of right now, Becky Lynch is the favorite on my bookie to win the Royal Rumble. I think that Becky returning there, that's one that's going to happen. In terms of surprises or people who would be nostalgic returns, I could see a situation where either Santino or Santina comes back.
WWE has that working relationship with TNA. Santino Morella is in DNA. It's easy. They can make this happen so easily. But think about this. What if Santina?
entered the Royal Rumble, and it'd be the first ever father-daughter in a Royal Rumble. His daughter Ariana Grace is in there, and then Santina's music hits. Santina comes out. It'd be epic. And maybe... I remember him teasing this during our interview. He's like, I know how to get eliminated faster. He has the record right now, Cain eliminating him in a second or whatever it was. He's like, I know how to do it faster.
I think that if Santino or Santina come out in the Royal Rumble, I think that that's exactly what would happen. I think that he would try to break that record. It'd be hilarious. We talked about this last week, but it seems to me that we could have Dolph Ziggler slash Nick Nemeth coming back again with that relationship that TNA has with WWE.
You could also see Joe Hendry making a surprise appearance. And I think that if anybody has earned the opportunity to go back to WWE, even if it's just for a one off.
Matt Cardona has been just tearing it up with everything that he's been doing since he got let go. Man, that'd be almost five years ago. He's done so many huge things. And I think that it'd be great to see him come back, not as Zack Ryder, but for Matt Cardona to be making his WWE debut.
There's a few off the top of my head, but we talked about this last week and with raw and SmackDown and NXT, you've got a lot of talent there. And there's only 30 spots on the men's side, 30 spots on the women's side. There's not as many opportunities here.
to have those surprise returns or the nostalgic pops for the legends, because then you're taking away a spot from somebody who could really benefit from that. And I think that's why you didn't see any of the legends come back last year. I'm not saying it's not going to happen this year, but it's not like it was, what was that? A handful of years ago where there was two or three or four legends that came back, they're fun to see and they always get a massive pop.
But I can also understand when there's only one royal rumble every year for the men and one royal rumble for the women. That's it.
And if your spots being taken by not your spot, but your potential spot is being taken by somebody who hasn't been the ring in 10 years, 20 years, you're kind of going out, man, I got to wait till next year just to be in there again. So I would think that's why we didn't see a lot of the legends return in the men's rumble last year. And also why I don't think we'll see too many of them this year either.
Jay's naughty wood on Spotify says, what seems to be the flavored flavor of that drink that you have on the table in the studio, the F3 energy drink? I think Jay, it's usually a toss up between, between tropical theory and strawberry lemonade. Strawberry lemonade's the new flavor of F3 energy. And that's my personal favorite. It was tropical theory, which is the blue writing on the can, but strawberry lemonade.
It's so good. It's amazing. That's not not to take away from original or citrus clarity. They're all great flavors, but I think for me, strawberry lemonade's number one, tropical theory, number two, original.
go with number three, citrus clarity number four. And I think what the guests really like is almost everybody asks beforehand, how much caffeine's in here? Because I don't think they want to like get too much caffeine, only 120 milligrams. Oh, that's it. Okay, great. And not that it's that's it. Like that's
quite a bit more than a cup of coffee, but it's quite a bit less than a lot of the other energy drinks that you would get at the grocery store at a gas station. So I think when someone hears, oh, 120, oh man, that's considerably less than some of the other ones. And I think that people are more apt to even try it. And then they take a sip and they're like, oh my gosh, this tastes way better than I would have thought. And then they usually go, do you have any more of those before I leave? Yeah, can I just take one with me to the hotel or to the airport? Yeah, sure. Yeah, we got you.
Don't worry. Nate Boling left this one on Facebook. If Big E were to be cleared to wrestle again, do you think he would need to form a new tag team to take on the new day or would it make more sense for him to be a manager or maybe a GM in place of all this? If all this were to get a single push, where do you think he'll end up?
Well, fingers across that biggie could get cleared to Russell again if that's what he wants to do. But he's been doing amazing with everything that he has going on outside of pro wrestling. In fact, I just saw him in a peacock series, a comedy series called laid, which just started streaming like a week or two ago.
He's crushing it. And he's been hosting all of these shows that you see on the WWE network, and he's been doing all the pre-show and post-show panel stuff for PLEs. If he wants to wrestle again and can get medically cleared to do so, and that's what he wants to do, then absolutely, I'm looking forward to that happening. But he seems to be doing pretty great with everything else. If he were to get cleared, let's play hypotheticals here.
If he were to get cleared, I don't think he needs to form a new tag team. And I don't think all it would do is just be compared to the new day anyway. So I think that if he were to get cleared, it would be biggie.
settling his differences, settling his beef, figuring things out and absolutely squashing, I'm sure, Xavier Woods in one match and Kofi Kingston in another match, or maybe just make it two-on-one and he can destroy him both at the same time. I don't know if that's gonna happen, but I'm certainly pushing for him to be the healthiest version of himself that it can be. And dude looks, dude looks like he's in great shape. I ran into him.
Where was that that I ran into him? We ran into him in the lobby of a hotel at a PL. He actually it's happened a few times. I'm like, man, he has like one of the largest, like he's just, his chest is just huge. Like he's, he's just so broad. And it, I think it, it kind of throws you off. Cause yeah, you know, he's big and you see him on TV and you're like, that's a big dude. And then you see him in person. You're just like, man, you, you're just a very, very large man. Like it makes sense to call you big E.
In terms of him being a GM, man, we are in a great place right now with two incredible GMs on Raw and SmackDown. It's been so fun just watching the magic happen with Nick Aldis and with Adam Pearce. I don't think either of those guys are going anywhere. And if Nick Aldis does lace him up for another match or another run, I think that that would be alongside what he's doing as the GM of SmackDown.
I don't think that would be him stepping away from that and wrestling. I think it would be just like, I'm still the GM of SmackDown. Don't you forget it. And also this other thing on the side here where I'm having a match or two or five or whatever happens to be. I really think that if you look at the history of GMs that they've had, I don't think you've ever had two at the same time who have been both so equally good at their job in their own individual way.
Of course, Teddy Long is the goat, but I think when we're talking about both at the same time, both Raw and SmackDown, there's a really, really good thing going on right now. And I don't see them changing that anytime soon. Of course, Big E would be great in a role like that. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Mike Calandro.
wrote this one on Facebook and says, in honor of raw, moving to Netflix, what was your favorite segment of the attitude era? Not match, but a vignette, an interview, skit, et cetera. I mean, it's the rock, Mick Foley, this is your life. And there's a reason that that's the highest rated segment in the history of raw. It was just so fun and goofy and silly and over the top and
also nostalgic and poignant. I loved it. And it was that I know the segment ran like way longer than it was supposed to run. There's lots of great stories about that. But that segment is the rock and Mick Foley at their absolute best.
And there's so many fun surprises in that. If you don't know what I'm talking about, or if you've maybe just seen clips of it or you've seen like headlines about it, take some time at some point this weekend to watch it or rewatch it and just relive the magic that they had. It was so good. This is going to be a deep cut. I don't even know if this happened on raw. I think Sunday night heat for sure, but I think they replayed it on raw.
when Kurt Angle was feuding with The Rock. So we're going way back. This is 2000, I think.
Kurt Angle recut a lot of the rocks different interviews together. So it looked like Kurt Angle was interviewing the rock when instead it was Kurt Angle fake interviewing the rock. So Kurt Angle would ask a question and it would cut to the rock answering it in some ridiculous way. Kurt Angle would ask another question and it would be a completely different shot of the rock wearing different clothes, maybe he's wearing sunglasses now, answering the question in another silly kind of way.
And it was so funny, my friends and I would quote it all the time. But my friend Greg and I still quote it to this day, to this day!
So that's, that's one of them just for personal reasons, because it was just so silly. Remember when weird Al would do this? Weird Al would, when he would take over MTV and it would be ALTV, he would do the same thing. He would cut in these silly questions. But I remember to this day, like I was still word for word. Rock, thanks for joining us today. That's super.
Rock, I wanna start out this interview by asking you what you think about Stone Cold Steve Austin. Well, Rock will tell you exactly what he thinks about Stone Cold Steve Austin and all his little shenanigans. Sure, he's a piece of monkey crap in a jabroni. Whoa, it's a little harsh, isn't it, Rock? I'm gonna rock drink some water. Sure, Rock, drink up. I know that I'm the only one laughing here, but that segment's, that segment's so fun to me.
so fun. I feel like I should repost this on social media so you guys know what I'm talking about. In fact, I'm going to ask Kurt Angle about that. I have an interview with Kurt Angle coming up in the next two weeks. I'm going to ask him about that exact segment and what he remembers from it. Sean Gutton plan wrote this on Facebook and said, who was the funniest wrestler you interviewed and why was it our truth? Man, how good was that interview with our truth? But at the same time, also how
in depth. Was that interview with our truth? Like, yeah, it was funny and I laughed more during that interview than any other interview I've ever done.
But then there were also times when he got deep and really thoughtful with his answers. And I loved it. That interview had just a little bit of everything. And I said it during the intro, but our truth and Ron Killings are two very different people, two very different characters. And it was cool seeing that on display because one second he was our truth, making me laugh. The other second, he was Ron Killings and he was given some in-depth answer about something.
So definitely Sean, the funniest interview I've ever done are truth, but Otis was great. Otis is just so naturally funny. The way he's calling everybody, babe. Hey, babe. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, babe. So good. So Otis is up there for sure. And I will say it was an interview I did 2023, but Gunther is surprisingly funny.
Like for the serious character that he plays, and you've seen some hints of it, like the money told. Like when he told Bret Hart, the Bret Hart was his second favorite wrestler. Like there's some hints of like comedy in there, but Gunther outside of the ring is way funnier than you would ever imagine. And I will just say this as an aside.
Sometimes when someone is known for being funny, you have this expectation of like, oh, man, this interview is going to be hilarious. And I have found sometimes, because I've interviewed a lot of comedians, I've found sometimes that unless they're doing their routine, sure, they're still funny. Sure, they still have great timing, but like not every word they're saying is going to be hilarious. And especially when I worked in Cleveland,
We had a lot of comedians come in and they would do a live interview in the air. And at first we're like, oh my gosh, better put your finger on that sensor button like anything could happen here. This could go off the rails. And a lot of times they would just be very straightforward conversations. And you would be expecting them to just like, turn it on, like be funny. Hey, you, hey, be funny.
Not that you're like, Hey, monkey dance, not like that. But it was just more like you would just expect someone who that's their profession to always be funny. And that wasn't always the case. And I always found that to be interesting that comedians, yes, very funny when they're doing their routine, very funny when they're in their element, but not all of them are all that funny all the time.
That's not the case with all of them. There's a lot of people like Kevin Hart will make you laugh every 20 seconds. It's just, I think that's what he thrives on. He thrives on just making people laugh. But I wasn't sure what I was going to get with our truth. To be honest, I knew he was great. I've never heard a bad thing about him.
I wasn't sure what I was going to get. And from the second he walked in the door, it was just a huge beaming personality. And it's just who he is. And I love it. And that guy just has a smile that'll light up a room. Amazing. But yes, our truth, funniest interview for sure.
Otis hilarious. Also go check out my interview with Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle is fantastic. Dylan just has such great stories and comedic timing. And he has this infectious laugh that it's hard to not laugh when you're hearing him laugh. So if you're relatively new to the show, go back and listen to Otis or Gunther from 2023 or Hornswoggle. And man, get ready to laugh.
Arkham underscore Avengers on Instagram says, have you ever lost your equipment in airport luggage? Oh, let's not put that out into the world. So not yet. No, and I'm knocking on wood as I say this. No. And I very strategically hack my luggage the way that I do. So.
In my carry-on, I have all of the really important stuff, like the camera and expensive stuff too. The cameras are with me. The microphones, the audio recorder, all that stuff. So that if the rest of the equipment got lost, at least that's still on my person. What I check is kind of the bigger stuff. I mean, there are all those stuffs important, but I guess they're not as important stuff.
The stuff I check is mic stands and tripods and lights and oh, this realizes now. I also check my mic cables. Oh my gosh. So if my luggage were to get lost.
I would be scrambling to find mic cables. In terms of tripods, we could put it on a desk or put it on a table or something. It wouldn't look perfect, but that would work. In terms of like in a pinch, we could just hold the mics instead of mic stands.
But at least we would have the cameras and the mics and all that stuff. But no, I am very grateful that that has not happened yet. And I am not wishing or hoping for that to happen at any point. My luggage has been lost before.
It was not on a work trip, but it was lost for a day or two, and then someone just came and delivered to my door. And it was FedEx, actually. FedEx delivered it to me, which surprised me. I wasn't sure how they were going to get it to me. It ended up going on the wrong flight.
It was, I think it was a, yeah, it was like a day or two later. FedEx just showed up and like just handed me my suitcase and they were like, here you go. And I'm like, oh my gosh, thank you for finding it. They're like, it's like, I didn't find it. I just delivered it to you. So I'm not hoping or wishing for that to happen or putting that out into the universe. But I have at least taken some sort of precautions that if that were to happen,
I would still be wearing the clothes from the plane, because my clothes would also be in the checked luggage that could possibly get lost. I'd still be wearing the clothes from the plane, so I'd be wearing very comfortable Viori pants, like my Sunday performance joggers, which I love. Viori.com slash CVV man, they're the best. They are the best pants to travel in. But I would at least still have my gear as well.
That is the last question for Ask CBV number 64, the Nintendo 64, Commodore 64, Tom Rafferty, Randall McDaniel edition. Thank you for all the questions that you guys sent in here. Thank you for being a real, real one and listening all the way until the end.
If you're still listening at this point, drop your favorite burger topping in the comments on Spotify, mustard for me, mustard and pickles. Oh man, they're both so good. If I had to just have one, probably be just mustard.
drop your favorite burger topping in there. And if you have a question for Ask CVV number 65, leave it in the comments on Spotify as well. Send it in using that hashtag Ask CVV on social media or shoot me an email, CVV at Chris VanVliet.com.
Since it's the new year, a lot of people talking about resolutions, I'll leave you with this very powerful quote from FM Alexander. People do not decide their futures. They decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.
Be great and be grateful, my friends. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Seamus joining us on Tuesday. We'll see you then. And if you're going to Raw on Monday, January 6th, I will see you there as well. Have an amazing weekend.
