transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies. The process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states.

Speaker 2:
[00:50] Oh, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Vliet, back from Las Vegas after WrestleMania 42. Thank you for hanging out with me on this post-WrestleMania Ask CVV. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a crossroads on that follow button wherever you're listening to this right now so you don't miss out on anything that we have on the way for the rest of this month and especially what we have on the way next month. There's a lot of really good ones lined up. I had such a blast in Las Vegas. I was there for a while. I was there on Wednesday morning. I got there Wednesday morning and I was there until after Raw on Monday night. There was so much going on in the city. This is always the case with WrestleMania. So much going on, including, of course, Insight Live Thursday night at Circa. Maven was such a fun guest for this. He told some stories there that I think afterwards he's like, is it okay that I told those stories? Do you think this audience is like okay with those? I'm like, yes, they love them. And if you were there, all I need to say to you, and you'll get this, two words, do better. There was the theme of the episode. You'll hear that interview on Thursday. It'll also be on YouTube as well. Such a fun one. If you've never been to an Insight Live and you have the opportunity to, you can't miss it. The next one is two weeks from today. Tampa, it's the day before Backlash. So if you live in and around Tampa, or if you're planning on going to Backlash, you don't want to miss it. cvvticks.com to grab those tickets. SmackDown that night is in Jacksonville, Florida. So a lot of people have been asking if this coincides with that, or if they'll be able to watch both. Yes, my show starts at 4 p.m. Should be done by 5.30-ish, so lots of time to get home or get to wherever you plan on watching SmackDown that night. But cvvticks.com for the tickets for that, and we'll be announcing the guest, I would think, next week. So if you've been holding out to see who the guest is before you buy your tickets, you can hold out for a few more days. We'll be announcing that guest next week. Welcome, my friend, to Ask CVV number 130-2-2-2-2, sweet addition. Also, Ask CVV number 130, kick out at two, edition. If you've got a question for next week, if you've got an idea for Ask CVV number 133, leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify. Send it in on my website, chrisvanvliet.com, or you could of course send it in on social media using that hashtag, AskCVV. There is so much to get into here. I was at both night one and night two of WrestleMania. I had some pretty solid seats on night one. And yes, SeatGeek is a sponsor, and I used SeatGeek to get tickets on night one. And of course, you can use the code CVV to get a nice 10% discount on your next set of tickets from SeatGeek. But for all of the talk about ticket prices being expensive, you could sit on the floor for night one or night two for a price that began in the 200s. So I get that when tickets first went on sale, they were more, and then as we got closer to the event, they started falling in price. But to think that you could sit on the floor for, I don't know the exact price, $280 something, $270 something. It's a far cry from what people were talking about four or five months ago with like, oh man, look how expensive it is to get in. You could get in. I was watching tickets pretty closely. You could get in for like a hundred, a little over, like 110, $120. I had a blast. If you follow me on social media, you saw I had a great angle. I was like, I was on the side that you see when you're watching on TV. So like the same side as Green Shirt Guy, I was in the ninth row and I got some amazing shots from there. So shout out to SeatGeek for the awesome seats. If you're going to be going to Backlash or Raw or SmackDown or TNA or whatever the show is, if you're into baseball or basketball or hockey playoffs are here, seatgeek.com. Use the code CVV for 10% off. Let's dive into this one. So much to talk about here. Ian738460 on Instagram says, Hey CVV, what was your favorite match of night one and your favorite match of night two? Also, who do you see Oba wrestling next? Night one and night two felt like two completely different shows, didn't they? I put up a poll on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube asking you guys to grade each night of WrestleMania. Grade it like you're a teacher grading an exam, A, B, C, D, or F. Night one got a C, that was the top vote. Night two got an A as the top vote. So I think that we balance this out and using that logic there, I guess the whole show lands at a C, B, C, D, or F. I mean, I think it was a C, B, C, D, or F, but they felt like two very, very different shows. My favorite match from night one, Gunther versus Seth Rollins. That was just a good old fashioned brawl. Just two guys that look great no matter who their opponent is, and they're facing off against each other. This looked great on paper, but I thought that that match delivered. I'm very interested to see what's next for both of those guys. I think it's obvious now what's next for Seth Rollins. Brawnbreaker cleared. They were setting that up. Brawnbreaker going up the ramp, they were setting this up to be the WrestleMania moment of all moments, with him going full speed down the ramp. He just barely missed the spear, like he hit it, but he didn't hit all of it. And man, I think it probably good for Seth Rollins that he didn't hit all of it, because he was going like top speed. What's his top speed? 23 miles an hour, running down that ramp, wild. So I think we've got Brawnbreaker, Seth Rollins next. I don't know what's next for Gunther, but that was the match of the night for me on night one. And also so many moments on night one, so many returns on night one, and no returns on night two. We've got Brawnbreaker returning, Paige returning. Someone asked me who would be there on the Raw after WrestleMania, and I predicted Paige would be at the Raw after WrestleMania. Well, I was wrong on that, but close enough. She returned night one at WrestleMania and walked out as Tag Team Champion. That was what a pop. I think that was the biggest pop of the weekend, maybe. Certainly, the biggest pop for night one, at least in my opinion from where I was sitting. Bianca Belair returning on night one, giving the amazing news that she and her husband, Montez Ford, are expecting a baby. So massive congrats to both of them. But I just felt like the pacing on night one felt off. I will say this, I have not seen the broadcast. I only saw what I saw being in the stadium. I've heard what people are saying from what they watched on TV. I didn't get that same experience. I thought that the pacing was just off in terms of like some matches were short. Felt like some of them could have needed some more time to tell more of a story. But I wasn't watching the same thing that you were likely watching unless you were there. Night two though, had completely different pacing. I felt like the matches flowed well into one another. I felt like the stories being told there were cohesive as a whole. Like night one felt like its own PLE. Night two felt like its own PLE. The reaction to the main event on night one, I thought was also really interesting. Randy Orton has been doing everything that Randy Orton can, to be a heel, to get booed. It's not going to happen. How are we going to boo Randy Orton, one of the greatest of all time? Also, how can you boo him when he's just so smooth in the ring? But Cody was clearly hearing the fans booing him. There was even a moment where he was tapping his ear, like, oh yeah, I hear you. I also felt like, and maybe you'll agree with me here, I also felt like Cody was leaning into that and wrestling as a heel. And Cody's made it no secret, we've talked about it a lot, his favorite match of all time is also my favorite match of all time, Rock Hogan, WrestleMania 18, and what happened in that match? The baby face, The Rock, started getting booed. The heel, at least going into it, Hollywood Hall of Hogan was getting cheered. They switched it up in the middle of the match. And I feel like we saw a little bit of that here on night one of WrestleMania 42. Cody was leaning into wrestling like a heel. There were a lot of heelish things that he was doing. And my goodness, did your boy predict it right? Said we'd see a punt. And we saw that punt for the first time in six years. You know the last time that Randy Orton did a punt? Was towards the end of 2026 to Keith Lee. It was in the Thunderdome. That's how long ago it's been. We've seen a lot of teases, but that's the last time we saw Randy Orton nail a punt. And my goodness, did he nail it? Yeah, my goodness. He nailed it. And we saw on Monday what Cody's eye looked like. Like, it was rough. And you could see that Randy Orton was concerned. Like genuinely concerned, like out of character concerned. I was shocked. I was as shocked as most people there. That Cody Rhodes retained the title that Randy Orton didn't win. I thought for sure we were gonna get Randy Orton winning number 15. Where does this go? Curious. I also feel like the story of that match just fell a little bit flat. It wasn't explained that well. It's like, yeah, Cody wins, but then everything else that happened there, although I will say, Pat McAfee is seemingly gone. For all of the buildup and all of the heelish things that he was doing, it seems like he has been written off. He got taken out by Jelly Roll, the elbow through the announce table. Also, shout out to Jelly Roll. To think that he was 250 plus pounds more, like two-ish years ago, and now he's moving around the way that he does, incredible to see. Santi is lucky that that wasn't off the top rope where he'd be oiling up right now. It was just announce table to announce table, but what a spot. Congrats to him. He looks great. Pat McAfee gets taken off in the stretcher, and I said to my buddy, Jamil, I said, he's not out, he's not done, he'll be back. Sure enough, he came back, takes the RKO from Randy Orton, and that's the thing about the Randy Orton character, is you're never safe when you're in the ring with him. He doesn't care who you are or where your allegiances lie. He'll hit an RKO on whoever. But it seems like Pat McAfee has now written off of WWE TV. He also made a comment on his show that wrestling is now in the rear view mirror as he continues to play up the gimmick and wear the neck brace everywhere, which I'll applaud that. I still think that that match did not need Pat McAfee in it. That buildup did not need Pat McAfee as part of it. I understand that that got a lot of eyes on to WrestleMania and on to that main event match with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, but that story is like almost 20 years in the making. The story wrote itself. I don't think that it needed that at all. But I think we can all go, okay, Pat McAfee is gone, this story can, however it goes for Cody and Randy, maybe individually, maybe as a rematch, let's see how this thing goes. Also, for all the hate that iShow Speed was getting leading into this match, why does he have a match? He's not a wrestler. You know what they were doing after that match? They were chanting for Speed. Like he won them over. Guy looked like a million bucks in there. Like what a physique. Also, took some bumps that spot off the, not even the top turnbuckle off like the top ring post through the announce table. Wild takes balls to do that. But I thought it was interesting for all the hate. Everybody there went, you know what? Maybe I don't like you Speed, but I respect you. Night two, my favorite match was the main event. Roman Reigns versus CM Punk. Roman Reigns is now the champion for the first time in two years. I'd like to point out that that was the first time that Roman Reigns fought for a championship in two years. He never got a rematch. Never got a rematch after losing to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 after Cody finished the story. That's the first time that he fought for a championship. It's the first time he's holding a championship since 2024. That match just felt big. There was this gravitas to this match, Roman Reigns vs CM Punk. I feel like the pacing of that match, the storytelling in that match, it went over and above my expectations. I knew it was going to be a good match. You've got two amazing wrestlers in there going up against each other. I knew it was going to be great, but I just thought that everything in that match over delivered for me. Also fun fact, the first WrestleMania main event since WrestleMania 36, where there was no outside interference. That's a little crazy to think about. And I think that any sort of outside interference from anyone could have really jeopardized the feeling of that match. And I'm glad that this was as clean a match as it could be without any outside interference. Of course, we'll get to the fact that this may not have been a clean match. We'll get to that in a little bit here. As for Oba Femi and your question of who do I see him wrestling next? Man, that match, Oba Femi versus Brock Lesnar, was the match I was most excited for for WrestleMania. And I thought that that match did everything that it needed to do. It went exactly how I thought it would go too. I predict Oba Femi would win that match and that's exactly what happened. And he won it in a way that didn't make Brock Lesnar look weak. And here's the thing, Brock Lesnar had nothing to gain by winning that match. Oba Femi had absolutely everything to gain with the victory of Brock Lesnar. And this sets him up as the next big thing. It's a torch passing moment from one beast to another beast, from the beast to the ruler. And that's exactly what we got. There were, like, Oba Femi doing the little things right. 27 during that match, he's 28 now. Happy birthday to Oba Femi this week. But like the way he sold the F5, he didn't like completely no sell it. It's not like he took it and like stood right back up. Took it, you could see that it was affecting him. And then the match went on. But like to hit Brock Lesnar with that power bomb so clean, one, two, three, it's a very decisive victory. It's a moment. It's the moment, like for this to be Oba Femi's WrestleMania debut, for that to be his first real feud on the main roster and for it to be this decisive victory against Brock Lesnar, who of course will be a future Hall Of Famer, it's massive. It doesn't get much bigger than that. It sure seems like in the post show of WrestleMania that we're setting up for Oba Femi versus Roman Reigns. I don't know if that's next, but I don't think Oba Femi can take a loss at any point soon. I mean, he has so much momentum right now. WWE can't afford to cool things off with anything less than a major feud with a huge star. That's not to say that Oba Femi is not going to have other matches. I could see him continue to have these squash matches to just solidify the fact that he is a monster and nobody can beat him. I think that maybe over the next few weeks, few months, he'll have these matches where he goes out, beats people in a minute or less, or maybe two minutes or less. I think that we see that, but it sure feels like maybe it's SummerSlam. It sure feels like the next big feud for Oba Femi is Roman Reigns. What would a victory over Roman Reigns mean? What would mean Oba Femi is the new world champion? But it would also mean that in the course of just a few months, he's beaten and retired Brock Lesnar, we'll chat about that in a little bit, and also beaten Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns doesn't take a lot of losses. I also loved that Intercontinental Championship ladder match. Oh man. That cutter, that cutter by Javon Evans ladder to ladder on Rusev. Oh my gosh. And shout out to both of them for making the timing like absolutely perfect. Penta with the Mexican Destroyer off the ladder onto another ladder. So many amazing spots in that. I can't wait to have any of those guys back on the show so we can chat about those moments or on the show for the first time. I've never had Javon Evans on the show, never had Dragon Lee on the show. I can't wait. I would think a Javon Evans interview should happen at some point this year. But man, also the Demon's entrance. When you look at this as a whole, I also put a poll out was like, which night of WrestleMania did you like better, Saturday or Sunday? And a lot of the comments were like, is this even a question? And I'm like, I know, I understand. And there were some votes. It was like 96% Sunday, 4% Saturday. There were some votes for Saturday. Maybe your favorite wrestler wrestled on Saturday or maybe your favorite wrestler wrestled on Saturday and won. I could understand that. Maybe that's what's causing the bias there. But I think as a whole, night two, even if you just watched for free on ESPN, the two opening matches, Oba Femi, Brock Lesnar, and then you get the six pack ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Man, what a way to kick off the show. Then you get Trick Williams' entrance. You get the Demon's entrance. You get Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargo. You get Roman Reigns and CM Punk. You get Night 2, the clear winner. In fact, if this was just a one night WrestleMania, if it was just Sunday, if it was just Night 2, I feel like we'd be going, oh wow, what a WrestleMania. What a WrestleMania. My predictions were mostly accurate, but man, I'll admit it, I got a few of the big ones wrong. Especially Cody Rhodes defending or defeating Randy Orton, retaining the title, that was a big one I got wrong. I'm okay with that. Got a lot of the big ones right. The other one I was flipping the coin on because the odds were so close, Becky Lynch, AJ Lee. I was like, you know what? I could see AJ Lee retaining the title. Becky Lynch won that. I love the Wonder Years. I love that they played Becky Lynch live to the ring. Her song, it's just a great song. How did you guys do on your predictions? I had also a great time seeing so many of you guys at WrestleMania, chatting with you guys when we were walking around Las Vegas. That's just the cool thing about WrestleMania in any city, is seeing fellow wrestling fans wearing wrestling shirts, chatting about wrestling. That was a really cool thing as well. Well, now that WrestleMania is done, all eyes are on the biggest party of the summer, SummerSlam. And I want to shout out our sponsor for today, SeatGeek. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events listed on SeatGeek, including concerts, WWE, sports, festivals, and more. The thing I love about SeatGeek is they've got your back. Every ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you know if you're getting a good deal or not. Look for the green dots. Green means good. Red means bad. Plus every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And with any tickets you're looking at, use the code CVV for 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off any tickets with the promo code CVV. Make sure you click the link down below in the show notes to download the app and that code will automatically be applied to your account so you can use it later. Shout out to SeatGeek for sponsoring this episode. As wrestling fans, we've been hearing a lot about VPNs lately. And it's true, you can access content that's available in other countries, but might not be where you live. Or maybe it's available at a fraction of the cost in those other places. NordVPN is my go-to. With just a few clicks, you can change your virtual location, which allows you to get access to that content as if you live there. On top of that, they've got your back when it comes to security. When I'm traveling, I'm logging on to public Wi-Fi at a hotel or at an airport. NordVPN gives me that peace of mind, knowing that I'm protected from hackers trying to steal my personal information. You can use it on any device like your phone, your laptop or your tablet, and it's lightning fast. If you want to check out NordVPN, head to nordvpn.com/cvv and you can access our exclusive deal, which gives you a massive discount plus four extra months, and there's no risk with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. So give it a try. It's nordvpn.com/cvv. That's nordvpn.com/cvv. Elvis Rods sent this one in on Facebook. It says, why didn't the ref disqualify Roman when he hit punk with the steel steps at WrestleMania? Elvis, you know that I love wrestling logic and I, I adhere to wrestling logic, wrestling logic, perhaps more than anybody. It's a question I was asking and I have been asking since Sunday. Why wasn't he disqualified? Why does some things, like it seems like if you use some things outside of the ring, like the announce table is another one. The announce table is a foreign object as well. Also, when they're setting up things on the announce table, it takes way longer than 10 seconds to like brawl out there, set the person up, jump onto them. How come there's no count out? I'm just, I'm just curious. I feel like I need to have Mike Chioda back on the show to ask him about the logic of this. Excellent question. Why didn't the ref disqualify Roman? I don't know. And you could possibly use this as a way to like, get yourself a rematch. Like, hey, Roman Reigns, you used an illegal object. You used a foreign object. I deserve a rematch. But it sure seems like with the way that things are setting up here, we could get CM Punk versus Cody Rhodes, which could be very interesting, but excellent question. I'm glad that you brought this up. I don't have the answer, but I sure would like to find one. Anthony Mirabil on Facebook says, hi Chris, newbie, real newbie here. Do you think this is Roman's last full-time run being here all summer? I know it's not his retirement run, although who knows lately. Thanks so much. Well, first of all, Anthony, you're a real one for just listening to the show. You're a real, real one if you listen all the way until the end of the show, and you're a real, real, real one. If you come to an Insight Live, like the next one in Tampa on May 8th, it'll be interesting to see what Roman's definition of I'm here full-time is, because I know he got a lot of flak for not being there for a lot of his 1,316-day run as the champion. Although I will say that Roman's been here quite a bit this year, like this calendar year, 2026. Maybe he didn't wrestle a lot of matches, but he was there a lot. When I say he didn't wrestle a lot this year, I mean he wrestled in the Royal Rumble, and then he had his match at WrestleMania. Of course, he won the Royal Rumble, but he was there a lot. Like he was there a lot for the buildup with CM Punk. He was there on almost every RAW, so I could see him being there a lot. But the question is like how often will he wrestle? I would think based on previous experience, not a lot. But there's a caveat here. That championship that's around his waist, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship has become the workhorse title. We saw that with Seth Rollins, we saw that with CM Punk. I would have to think that can't end with Roman Reigns. But also I understand that the appeal of Roman Reigns is that he doesn't wrestle that much so that when he does wrestle, it makes it mean that much more. It feels like, and I know it's not official right now, it feels like he's gonna wrestle at Backlash. Jacob fought too, Roman Reigns at Backlash. So if he's gonna wrestle like the PLEs, if he's gonna be the guy who's there for the PLEs, maybe he has three-ish, four-ish matches between now and SummerSlam. Because if we look at the schedule, you've got Saturday Night's Main Event, Fort Wayne, Indiana, May 23rd, maybe he's there. So we just talked about Backlash. Backlash I think is a given. So maybe Saturday Night's Main Event in Fort Wayne, Clash in Italy, May 31st, I would think he has a match there. Would make sense. Then you've got, looking at the schedule here, you've then got Night of Champions, June 27th. And then you've got SummerSlam. Well, you got Saturday Night's Main Event in there as well. Madison Square Garden, New York City, Saturday, July 18th, the same weekend as Fanatics Fest. If you're going to Fanatics Fest, I've got a free show there if you've got a ticket. If you've got a ticket for Fanatics Fest, I'll be doing a show the Saturday, not the same Saturday. Wow. Saturday, July 18th, 1230 p.m. at Fanatics Fest. He could wrestle there, Madison Square Garden. And then you've got SummerSlam, I think, for sure he has a match at SummerSlam. But it'll be interesting. This could be Roman Reigns' like last, call it quote, full time run, where he's wrestling. 10 times, 12 times a year. Funny to think that that's like a lot of matches for Roman Reigns. But if you look at his schedule over the last many years, it's a lot more matches. I just pulled it up here. 2025, seven matches. 2024, six matches. 2023, 11 matches. And then 2022, 51 matches. It was on a lot of dark or a lot of live shows. Like very, same with 2021. I don't count the exact number here, but a lot of live shows, a lot of like, man, probably close to 70, 80 matches. It'll be really interesting to see how this goes. But I just feel like Roman Reigns with a world title just feels right. Like it just seems like everything's right in the world. And that belt looks really good on him. And I'm really curious where it goes from here. Is this a new chapter for Roman Reigns? This is a chapter where like, he's gonna start putting people over. Not that he hasn't put people over, but is this gonna be a chapter where it's like, we all know that Oba Femi is the next big thing? Yeah, I don't mind giving him the rub. It'd be really interesting to see. Greby051 on Spotify says, Hey CV, big fan of you and I always listen to your podcast at work. Question, will you be at SummerSlam in Minneapolis this year? And my other question is after Brock losing and leaving his boots in the ring, do you believe he will do a small retirement tour and finally have his final match at SummerSlam since it's in his home state? Thank you CVV, big fan. Yes, I will be in SummerSlam in Minneapolis. Yes, we will do an Insight live. I don't have the exact details, but we should be announcing that in the next few weeks here. I would think maybe it's the Friday afternoon, Friday evening before SummerSlam. My initial reaction to Brock Lesnar taking off his gloves and taking off his boots and leaving them in the middle of the ring, my initial reaction is this is it. That's his final match. I think we've got so accustom to a retirement tour, a farewell tour, because that's what John Cena did. I think we need to get that out of our heads. I don't think that a retirement tour, a farewell tour exists, certainly not at the magnitude of what John Cena did, where it's a full year, January to December. Here's the dates I'm going to be there. Come see me while you can, because when it's over, you can't see me. That's what the shirt said, the double meaning. I love it. I think this is it. And whether or not this was planned or not, I don't know if we'll actually have an answer for that. And if there is an answer to that, if somebody like behind the scenes does know this, or if they were filming this for WWE Unreal, they've been keeping this one real close to the vest, because that felt real. The only thing that I would think about with this is if this was completely unplanned, if nobody knew but Brock Lesnar that that was going to be his last match, they seemed to build in enough time to make this happen. That was the shortest match of the night, by the way, by a lot. That match was four minutes and 46 seconds. So less than five minutes. What a decisive win for Oba Femi. But I think that's it. I think that that's Brock Lesnar's last match. And that was also the first time we've seen Brock Lesnar, I think, at a character, especially at a character in a WWE setting. Like the moment with Paul Heyman, he puts up the X, which is his way of saying, yeah, this is legit. I'm actually doing this thing. And then their long embrace in the ring. You could see Brock was crying. You could see how red his face was from getting emotional. And then having that moment where he's standing on the top rope and acknowledging the crowd, like that's not the Brock Lesnar we've seen before. That's not this, that's not the beast. That was like Brock Lesnar, the person in that moment. I think that we had all come up with this idea of like, oh, it's got to be Gunther and it's got to be in Minnesota at SummerSlam. What better way to go out than at WrestleMania with this torch passing moment? Again, like Gunther doesn't need that moment. He's retired three legends. Retired Goldberg, who's in the Hall of Fame, retired John Cena, who will be in the Hall of Fame, I'm sure next year or the year after, and he retired AJ Styles, who got inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Gunther doesn't need that. He already has this great gimmick as the career killer. I don't think he needs more. That moment meant so much more for Oba Femi. I don't think there's a small retirement tour. I mean, when you look at it, I don't think there's more matches for Brock Lesnar. It's not like he's someone who's wrestling a ton of times in a year. I actually put this out on social media, and people were surprised to see the breakdown of all the matches that Brock Lesnar's had per year. I'm going to read this off to you because I think you'll find this interesting. 2026, Brock Lesnar wrestled two matches. 2025, two matches. 2023, six matches. If you can see what I'm getting at here, there's not a tour when Brock Lesnar's only matches this year are the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. 2022, eight matches. 2021, one. 2020, three. 2019, eight. Then we finally get up into double digits. 2018, 11. 2017, 14. 2016, 11. 2015, eight. 2014, four. 2013, three. 2012, two. And then there's a big jump there. From 2012, he didn't wrestle before that till 2007, one match. 2006, four. 2005, three. Those are New Japan. A lot of people are asking, Oh man, I thought he left WWE for UFC and the NFL. He did have a little stint there in New Japan. 2024, 18 matches. And listen to this. 2003, 137 matches. What a huge number after listing off like two, six. Then we'll round it out here. 2001, 51 matches. 2005 matches. So when you look at all of that, yeah, I don't think he's gonna be having any more matches here. But what an interesting breakdown of all of these matches and just the career that he had, especially when he was like this workhorse in 2002, 2003, wrestling on average three matches a week. Pretty crazy. 443 matches in total. And I was listing off those mega huge numbers for 2002 and 2003. He wrestled 278 matches in those two years, 0-2-0-3. From 2004 to 2026, he wrestled 165 matches. Isn't that insane? That he wrestled 278 in the course of two years and then 165 over the course of the next 22 years? Wild. Just wild. I think this is it. And this is not unlike the AJ Styles match where they're going out on their own terms. The only difference here is the AJ Styles match was billed as like, if you leave, your career is done. This Brock Lesnar match, like he went into it with this superstar who has all of this momentum and all of this buzz behind him. And again, the most anticipated match of WrestleMania weekend, Brock Lesnar loses the match clean with a, what a power bomb too. And then that's it. So I would be shocked, shocked if Brock Lesnar has another match. I think the next time that we see Brock Lesnar in the WWE or doing something WWE related is when he gets his Hall Of Fame induction. Tristan Tansje, Tristan Tansje, 0602. Brock Lesnar's retirement. What is your Mount Rushmore of favorite Brock Lesnar matches? There's a lot of great ones. Also crazy to think, you know, I do that thing like guess the wrestler and I show all the championships and like, they won this one, then this one, then this one, and then I make all of them like in order. Brock Lesnar's is just world titles. That's it. He won nothing else but the WWE Championship. Crazy. On my Mount Rushmore Brock Lesnar matches, I gotta put my favorite Brock Lesnar match on there first. WrestleMania 19 with Kurt Angle. Also crazy to think that was Brock Lesnar's WrestleMania debut and what a match. I think that so many people remember it for the Shooting Star Press gone wrong, but I think that actually adds to the lore of the match. Because up to that point, this was like NCAA champion versus Olympic gold medalist. Just like who can out wrestle who? This was a true dream match of these two guys stylistically matched up perfectly. And I know that Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle told me this was supposed to win with the Shooting Star Press. That was supposed to be the big WrestleMania moment. How is a guy who is 295 pounds moving like that off the top rope? And obviously Kurt Angle was too far across the ring. If he was just a little closer, if he was just like a foot closer, it would have been beautiful. But the fact that Brock Lesnar lands on his head and still somehow finishes the match, picks up Kurt Angle for the F5, one, two, three, wins the match. What a match. A totally amazing rewatchable match too. Love that match. I'm gonna go with SummerSlam 2002 versus The Rock. And it's such a, that's a moment and that's a match where Brock Lesnar arrived. And to be able to hang in there and have this incredibly entertaining match with The Rock so early in his career is a true testament to how talented Brock Lesnar is. Also how talented The Rock is, but we already knew that. But that's a moment where it's like, you've been calling this guy the next big thing. Oh yeah, now he's arrived. And it's very clear that this guy can go. And it's also Brock Lesnar's first WWE Championship win. I love that match. When I see clips of it online, I always stop and watch them. I love it. SummerSlam 2014 versus John Cena. And I just think that that's another one of those matches where it's like stylistically, like this one just makes sense. And I get that like it's not a traditional great match here, but this is the perfect booking execution. And this completely changed WWE's main event presentation, the birth of Suplex City, a shocking moment and like an unforgettable squash here. Nobody expected this match to go the way that it did. And I think it was like it truly set John Cena up as like, well, we already knew John Cena was a star, but it's like, oh, that's not how we expected that one to go. And I think that sometimes wrestling is at its best when you can be surprised like that. Which leads me to my number four pick here, which is WrestleMania 30, the streak ending. It's a great match. It's an absolutely unexpected finish. You can hear a pin drop after the one, two, three. Everyone thought it was a mistake. I was certainly one of those people in New Orleans. It was like, that can't, that's not how this was supposed to go. What the heck? Also, I love the surprise factor of the John Cena match, but can I add one more on here? Brock Lesnar, Eddie Guerrero, No Way Out 2004. What a story going into that match. What a moment for Eddie Guerrero. That might be one of the best Eddie Guerrero matches. And just like, you were so invested in that story leading to it and the match just like hated off in such a great way.

Speaker 3:
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That's cargurus.com. arcticfoxmc on Instagram says, will Gunther's favor that he's owed be to try to get Brock at a retirement? Maybe it's a match with Bron Breaker. Maybe it's a match with Roman or something else. What do you think? I again love the idea that there's something that keeps us guessing. We've been having this going on now in many different ways for the last few years here. Who's in the crate? What's the favor? We've got another favor here. Paul Heyman seems to have a lot of favors. Paul Heyman's pulling out a lot of favors for people. I would have to think that this favor seems like it would be a shot against Roman Reigns. A title shot against Roman Reigns. Because I don't think it's to get Brock at a retirement. Although I could see the story there being like, hey, this is Gunther talking. Hey, Brock Lesnar, you were too scared to face me. So you just hung him up. You were tired because you saw what I did. You saw how dangerous I am. I could see that being a storyline. But again, I think that Brock Lesnar's done. Such a perfect ending to his career. I think for him to come back and have one more match just feels like it would tarnish that moment. That moment stands alone. So I don't think it's to get Brock Lesnar out of retirement. I also don't think that Gunther needs to ask Paul Heyman for a match with Braun Breaker. Braun Breaker seems like someone who'd be hungry for a match like that. So when Braun Breaker's done with Seth Rollins and whatever ends up happening there, I would think Braun Breaker gets a win there. But I don't think that Gunther needs to ask for a favor for that. So maybe when we see what happens here at Backlash, Jacob fought to Roman Reigns when that match becomes official. Seems to me like Roman Reigns would retain. So maybe it's Roman Reigns and Gunther. Feels like it could make sense. Evan Grand sent this one in on chrisvanvliet.com and he said, Hey Chris, happy WrestleMania week. My question for you is which WrestleMania moment meant more to you after hearing a wrestler share a behind the scenes story? I heard a great story when Tyrus was on the show years ago. And this was WrestleMania 35, the infamous WrestleMania where things went way too long, way, way, way too long. And he was talking about like he's getting ready to go out. And like the show had run over and he's like, am I going to get my moment? Like, is this going to happen or is this just going to get scrapped? Man, I'm getting all my WrestleMania is mixed up here. Not WrestleMania 35, WrestleMania 28. It's the story that Tyrus told me, Brodus Clay. And he's getting ready in Guerrilla and like things are running long and John Cena is going to go out and John Cena out of nowhere goes, I got to go to the bathroom. And he says to Brodus Clay, how long do you need? Like, I'm going to go to the bathroom. It's going to take me like about four or five minutes. I'll be back. So like then John Cena is just gone. So Brodus Clay got to have his WrestleMania moment. If you remember it, it was that segment where he goes out there and dances with all the mamas. He got to have that moment because John Cena facilitated that moment happening by going to the facilities. John Cena having this impromptu, quote, bathroom break, allowed him to have that moment. Go listen to the story. We've clipped it out. It's on the CVV clips channel. It's a great story to hear him tell. And I think it also just speaks to the character of John Cena and who he is and he knew how much this would mean to him to be able to have this WrestleMania moment. That's my favorite one that I've heard of, this wasn't supposed to happen except for the actions of one person. If John Cena just decides to go along with the plan that they had, doesn't end up happening. So he wrote his clay got to have that WrestleMania moment because of Cena. Adam Robinson wrote this one in on chrisvanvliet.com and says, hey, CVV, keep up the great work. Do you think that Cody Rhodes could vacate the WWE Championship because of his injury? I was thinking about that because you could see that the punt landed. And then you could see not long after, it was bad. Cody's left eye was swelling up. It almost looked like the scene in Rocky where he's like, cut me, Mick, cut me, because he can't see through his left eye. And it's like, is he going to be able to compete? Is it going to be able to defend the championship? And Cody posted on social media this week. He posted this on his story. It was, quote, you won't lose the eye. It has to be the most positive yet absurd thing I've ever heard in a doctor's office. And they haven't gone into detail about what the actual injury is here. I don't think it's just a black eye. Maybe it's a broken orbital bone. And this is the thing, there was a time when you had to defend the title every 30 days. That's certainly not the case anymore, especially during Roman's 1,316 day run. But there was a point in time where like this injury would have for sure led to Cody Rhodes being like, I can't compete right now, but like whoever ends up holding this title, when I come back, don't worry, I'm gunning for you. And I was thinking like, is that what this is going to lead to? And Cody Rhodes, even though he appeared on Raw, Cody Rhodes is a SmackDown guy. Then I don't get me started on the draft and it being absolutely meaningless. But I think that this is kind of proof of that. Cody Rhodes shows up on Raw, has this moment with Punk. But I think the moment is telling, because I'm paraphrasing here. But CM Punk talked about like, what if a championship opportunity just kind of like fell in his lap? What if it just fell from the sky? And maybe, perhaps, if Cody Rhodes isn't actually able to compete, if this injury is too much, that he'd be on the shelf recovering from this for too long. Maybe, the WWE Championship becomes vacant. And that's why CM Punk alluded to that idea of like, maybe this opportunity just kind of falls in my lap. Or maybe, they're talking about CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes at some point in the near future. Backlash, not a champion, SummerSlam, whatever the case may be. But the injury looked bad, really bad. And I still think that there's a way to get Randy Orton that championship. I don't think what we saw with Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes is done. And we'll probably see more about that. We'll probably see the fallout on SmackDown tonight of what's actually going to be next for Cody Rhodes. Because we saw the fallout on Raw of what's next for Roman Reigns. Excuse me. But I think we'll see tonight, where does this go with Cody Rhodes? I don't feel like he vacated, but that's a nasty looking injury, nasty. But I think we've got two paths that this is going to lead to. It's either Cody Rhodes and Randy again, and Randy Orton, this would be the, if it is a backlash, this would be the second backlash in a row, where Randy Orton gets the WWE Championship shot. So is it Cody Rhodes and Randy? Or is it Cody Rhodes and CM Punk? But I don't think, I don't think Cody Rhodes vacates the title. But if he does, we would certainly know that he wouldn't be able to compete. Jordan Levic sent this in on chrisvanvliet.com. Hey Chris, real, real one here. I always listen to your show, My Way To Work to get me ready for the day. Well, here we go Jordan, let's get ready for this day. My questions are, what's your early prediction for next year's WWE Hall Of Fame class and who's going to be in first between John Cena and Brock Lesnar? I think John Cena goes in next year. And I think it's another way to make John Cena a part of WrestleMania, even if he's not wrestling. They did it this year with John Cena as the host. And I should have mentioned this earlier, but I loved the segment with Dan Housen, with Miz and Dan Housen and all the little Dan Housens and John Cena just kind of watching there. For everyone who was hating on Dan Housen after Elimination Chamber, I feel like you must be feeling pretty silly right now because whether you like him or not, he is over like Rover. Man, it's been so fun watching Dan Housen and his rise. And I've known Dan Housen for a long time, almost 10 years since I met him on the Indies. Ronan Pro Wrestling in Pembroke Pines, Florida. I mean, I just love that he's getting all this attention. He's been in, Dan Housen has been in WWE like seven weeks. And he's not only one of the most over superstars, the fans chanting along to, you are cursed, saying that with him. But he's also moving a ton of merch. I just love to see it. Massive congrats to Dan Housen, amazing. I think John Cena goes in next year. And I don't think that WWE would make John Cena and Brock Lesnar in the same year. I think they would hold off on that one. So I think it's John Cena, class of 2027. And they get to say like, hey, John Cena is part of WrestleMania 43. And again, I've said this so many times, but I think that WWE is gonna plot all the stops to make WrestleMania 43 as big as it possibly can be. And John Cena headlining the Hall of Fame makes a ton of sense. I also think Mickie James is long overdue for an induction. I could definitely see that one happening next year. There's a lot. And I feel like I predicted some of them, like a demolition this year, Lex Luger last year. I feel like there's a few obvious ones, whether they happen next year or not. That's something we got to, and we'll figure that out. But like there's some other ones that's like, how is this person not in the Hall of Fame yet? There's a long list of those ones, but Ken Shamrock is one that's on top of mind for me right now. How is Ken Shamrock not in the WWE Hall of Fame? He's in the TNA Hall of Fame, he's in the UFC Hall of Fame, he's in all kinds of other Hall of Fames. How is it not in the WWE Hall of Fame? William Regal should also be in the Hall of Fame, that's one I could definitely see, WWE Hall of Fame class of 2027. Finley, Jazz, I think also now that Luger and Sid Vicious are in, Rick Martel, Ken Patera. Like it's a long list of people who could go in, it's just a matter of like, who goes in now? Also the fact that Stephanie McMahon's in, it's just a matter of time before Shane McMahon's in. Shane McMahon has had so many iconic, legendary moments. I think that one's also just a matter of time. It'll be interesting to see how it all ends up shaking out, because there's only room for so many each year. So I guess we'll see, but John Cena is my guess to headline it next year. Lance Wayaneth on Instagram says, with the upcoming AAA mask versus mask match between the Americanos, who wins? And what do they do with the character that loses? Man, this has been so fun watching the original El Grande Americano and the taller, leaner El Grande Americano go at it. And if you haven't been watching, this is one of the best feuds in all of wrestling right now. So, so fun. If I had to make a prediction of who wins this match, I just think that if you look at what the taller, leaner El Grande Americano, who some people say may resemble Ludwig Kaiser, if you look at what he's been doing, he leaned so far into this character. And dare I say it, he's doing better work as El Grande Americano than he was as Ludwig Kaiser. In fact, I don't know if he'll ever take the mask off because he's doing such great work. Like he is so over in this gimmick. And it's almost like this gimmick was created for him, even though it wasn't. We obviously know the story of how he became El Grande Americano. The shorter, more muscular one who looks a little bit like Chad Gable got injured. El Grande Americano came out taller, looking very different. He's just ran with this. And he is like a legend now in Mexico, shaking hands, kissing babies, speaking Spanish like it's Ludwig Kaiser. He's just so talented, speaks four languages. I think that what happens here is original El Grande Americano loses this. Chad Gable coincidentally returns. Or maybe we see, oh my gosh, well, if he's going to get unmasked, I think we can give up the facade now. He gets unmasked. Oh my gosh, it's Chad Gable. And then I think Chad Gable then goes on to have the singles run that he has needed to have for the last two years. Put Chad Gable from there right into the US Championship picture, put him right into the Intercontinental Championship picture, and have him just show out. That's where I think this goes. But I can't wait for that match. They, both of them have leaned so far into this. I love it. And also Chad Gable since coming back from injury, is, looks better than he ever has. And I feel like he's wrestling better than he ever has. Can't wait. So as you know, I've been really focused on my health lately. And it hit me that I should be putting that same energy into my dog's health too. We got a sweet little girl, a 15 year old Chowinny rescue named Luna. Luna does a lot of licking though. She'll leave like wet spots on the furniture from it. And I learned this isn't normal dog behavior. Could actually be a sign of allergies. Just like us, dogs rely on good bacteria to support their gut and help keep their immune system calm. That's what led me to Better Wild Allergy Relief Soft Chews. Designed to help support your dog's allergy defenses by strengthening digestion and restoring balance from the inside out. Powered by Ancestral, Advantage, Wolf Probiotics, and natural ingredients shown to help reduce itching while supporting gut, immune, and skin health, Luna takes them every day since Better Wild sent us some and the difference has been huge. 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Speaker 4:
[59:52] Kayak gets my flight, hotel and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon.

Speaker 1:
[60:05] Just tell the manager you'll sue.

Speaker 4:
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Speaker 2:
[60:20] Jake Ballentine on Spotify says, Hey CVV, I absolutely loved that you called Billy Gunn Evil Anus William Firearm to his face. Do you have any other fun synonym names like that? So Billy Gunn was on the show yesterday. I love having Billy Gunn on the show. He's so fun, and he tells such great stories. What a great guest. I would have Billy Gunn on every single month if you guys would be okay with that. He's the best. But I have this thing with my friends where we use synonyms to make things sound like just silly and dumb. And I feel like I had to tell Billy Gunn that we've been calling him Evil Anus William Firearm. So Bad Ass Evil Anus William Firearm, Bad Ass Billy Gunn Evil Anus William Firearm. I had to tell him. It's so dumb. So some other ones we have, Jake, are The Patriotic Bad Dream, Cody Rhodes. I hope this isn't just funny to me. And if it is, I don't care. The American Nightmare, The Patriotic Bad Dream. You've of course got Jacob the Serpent Roberts. That one speaks for itself. The Big Show is The Large Program. It's so dumb. And then The Big Red Machine, Kane, is The Large Crimson Apparatus, Kane. If you have any others, there's so many, there's so many here, but if you have any others, feel free to drop them in the comment section or send them over to me so I can read them out next week. Ever since I said that in the Billy Gunn interview, I've gotten a few messages from people that are like, me and my friends do that same thing too. I thought we were the only ones. Oh no, we're all silly and childish and thinking up these silly, silly things. Trying to think if I have any other ones. Some of them are like, like the rock, you could call the boulder. It's like, man, that one's not nearly as fun as Jacob the Serpent Roberts. Or Gemstone, Dallas. Yeah, this one's not even coming together. If you have some others, please let me know. And just in general, I feel like my streak of predicting some like almost being dead on perfect or if not perfect with my PLA predictions, I feel like that kind of came to an end here. And I mean, so I got the women's fatal four way match for the Tag Team Championship. I got it wrong, but I got it wrong because Paige decided to return. If I had known that Paige was going to be there, I would have picked her. I picked Bayley and Lyra as you recall. So I got that one wrong. I kind of just rolled the dice on Becky Lynch and AJ Lee. I got that one wrong. Okay with that. I obviously got Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton wrong. So I went four for seven on night one. Night two, I believe I went six for six. Oba Femi, Penta, Trick Williams, Finn Balor, Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns. Okay, well maybe the streak begins anew then. Four for seven on night one, six for six on night two. And that, my friends, is the final question on this Ask CVV number 130, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, sweet addition and Ask CVV number 130. Ah, kick out at two, addition. Send in your questions for next week. Ask CVV number 133, Ask CVV 133. Send in your silly synonyms as well. I'd love to read some of these. The sillier the better. I gotta come up with a better name than this. And I feel like the next time I interview one of these people, you imagine me sitting down with Cody Rhodes and calling him the patriotic bad dream. But send those in on Spotify, leave a comment, send them in along with your questions on chrisvanvliet.com and send them in on social media using the hashtag AskCVV. Grab those tickets for Insight Live in Tampa the day before.

Speaker 4:
[65:04] Backlash.

Speaker 2:
[65:05] At Backlash. I feel like every time I say at Backlash, I now have to say it like that promo. At Backlash.

Speaker 4:
[65:12] At Backlash.

Speaker 2:
[65:16] You know what I'm talking about here. Also, we've got Insight Live in New Orleans the day before Money in the Bank in September, cvvticks.com for that. I'll leave you with this quote, one of my favorites, from Wayne Dyer. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Be great and be grateful, my friends. Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you on the next one for some more Insight. Former WWE superstar Dakota Kai joins us on Tuesday. Then Insight Live with Maven is Thursday. Have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday with Dakota Kai.

Speaker 5:
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