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AskCVV #10 - CM Punk Thoughts, My All Time Favorite Diva, How To Book Better Guests, Interview Pet Peeves
Chris is back answering your questions from social media on another edition of AskCVV! If you have one that you want answered next month, don't forget to send it in using the hashtag #AskCVV!
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Quote I'm thinking about:
You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Zig Ziglar
“What a question to kick things off with here! There is so much to bite off and chew on and talk about with this situation. But I will say this, I never thought CM Punk was ever going to come back to wrestling. And I know that in pro wrestling, you never say never. But from everything that he had been saying all the years that he was gone, it just certainly sounded like he was done with it. And then he came back and it was, depending on who you talk to, it was either the best return of all time or arguably the best return of all time. I mean, it was incredible. And I think one of the big elements of his return that is not talked about is it worked so well not just because it was in Chicago, but it worked so well because it was right after the world had just started to get back to normal after all of the craziness of 2020 and early 2021. And it was like one of the first shows where there was a full crowd inside an arena. It was like, Oh my gosh, we're already excited because you know the world feels normal again for the first time in over a year. And oh my gosh, I heard the rumours, this is actually happening. “Look in my eyes!” Oh my gosh! Yeah, it’s happening, he’s here! And it was just so exciting. And those are the moments that whether you're an AEW fan, WWE fan, New Japan, IMPACT Wrestling, whatever it is. Those are the moments as a wrestling fan that you look at and you go, yes, this is it like what a cool moment. And then we started hearing all these stories about things that were going on backstage and I will preface that by saying we don't actually know the full stories, these are always just reports of like, oh, you know, this person is saying this thing happened. But then when All Out happened and the press conference there and the things that he was saying with his boss sitting next to him, Tony Khan sitting next to him. I just thought it just went too far. I get that he was frustrated I get that he was upset with a lot of the things that were going on behind the scenes, but to air that dirty laundry in the way that he did, it just didn't sit well with me. Then him being suspended and him not being on TV and I stopped seeing him for months after that felt like it gave that whole situation a chance to breathe a little bit and I honestly wasn't sure if he was going to come back again or not. And then he did come back and it just seemed like whatever the situation was, whatever that dirty laundry was that had been aired, it seemed like none of that had been fixed. And it left Tony Khan in this really difficult spot of like well he is one of our biggest draws. We have kind of created this whole show on Saturday, Collision, around CM Punk, and it's like what do we do now? Again, we don't know the full situation of what went on, but obviously was bad enough for Tony Khan to get rid of CM Punk to fire CM Punk, and on that note, I will say that Tony Khan did, I remember Eric Bishoff being like the fact that he like actually had the was brave enough to fire CM Punk like congrats to him. On that note though, I will say that it was strange timing to do it on Saturday right before Collision and then right before All Out. I feel like All Out already was fighting for relevancy I feel. I felt like All Out already had its back up against the wall. Because All In, a huge show. You know, they're the biggest show that AEW has ever done by far one of the biggest wrestling shows of all time. And then a week later, they're saying Oh, yeah, by the way, like, don't forget this pay-per-view that has been a tentpole pay-per-view for AEW, since the beginning, Labour Day weekend means it's All Out. And it's kind of just like, it just kind of felt like it was buried off the back of everything that had gone on positively for All In and then it's like right before Collision, you know, we terminated CM Punk. And it's like, oh my gosh, well, now, if I was a CM Punk fan, or I was watching Collision for CM Punk, well now I’m probably not. And if I had an idea, you know, if I was thinking, Oh, maybe CM Punk will show up in had in Chicago at All Out? Well, that's now off the table. And I just thought that that announcement should have been made on Monday. I felt like there should have still been this mystique around Collision and All Out of like, Oh, could his music hit? You know, rumours are swirling about everything that happened with him and Jack Perry, could he still be here? What's going to happen? And I just felt like, I don't know, the timing didn't seem right on that. I felt like it took all of the focus away from Collision. And all the focus away from All Out, which was by all intents and purposes, a pretty great pay-per-view. And I just felt like all of the headlines and all of the focus around All Out was talking about CM Punk. And I just felt really bad for the performers who worked at the show. So I will sum all this up by saying, I will sum this up with an analogy. I feel like CM Punk coming back to wrestling is kind of like when you break up with that girl. And you know, it's been a few months, and you're like, Yeah, I'm glad I'm broken up with her. And then, you know, a few years go by, and you think about her every once in a while, and you go, you know, it really wasn't that bad, right? It wasn't that bad. Like, you know, we could have made things work. We had our issues, but we could have made things work. And then you get back together with them. And like, very quickly, you go, Oh, yeah, that's why we broke up. I just kind of feel like that's the situation here. Like CM Punk left WWE, walked out of WWE, walked out on pro wrestling and it just seemed like he was pretty happy with how everything was going. I'm sure he missed pro wrestling. But in the back of his mind, there was probably that little voice going Yeah, but it didn't work out because of this reason, or it didn't work because of that reason, and then whatever happened, came back. And it just seemed like all of those reasons, just happened to still be there. So that's what I think of the situation. I think that he was one of the best things to happen for AEW. And also in a way, it sure seems like he was also one of the worst things to happen to AEW. So very, very curious about what the fallout from this is."
"That seems to be the big question that is surrounding CM Punk. And I would say that under the management now, I feel like CM Punk would actually be a great fit in WWE. So I think there are two questions here. It's, do you think he'll return? And should he return? Maybe not in that order, maybe I should have reversed the order there. But like, should he return? Does it make sense for him to return? I think it would actually make a lot of sense for him to return. And he has a big legacy in WWE. I mean, when you think of a promo that really walks the line of is this real? Is this not? Is this a work? Is this a shoot? What do we call them now? We call them a pipe bomb. And we will forever call them a pipe bomb because of the pipe bomb that CM Punk dropped. And it's so interesting that he's created a lot of memories in WWE. And it sure seems like there's some unfinished business that could happen there. I mean, I think, here's what my prediction is. I'm just thinking this right off the top of my head here. I feel like we're not going to hear anything really, maybe there might be lawsuits. That'll be very interesting here. I feel like with the release of the wording of what AEW said when CM Punk was released, I felt like it was worded in such a way that like, there may be some pending litigation from this, like firing someone with cause sounds like oh yeah, well let's have the lawyers talk about this. But it seems like as we head into the Royal Rumble in January, I feel like there's gonna be a lot of buzz of like, Will CM Punk be there? Will his music hit? And I just feel like if he had a short run, maybe it's the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania. Just him being there. I don't even think he needs to be in the title picture. I think just him being there could really be a very interesting situation. But I think to answer so I think like should he go back? Could he go back? I think the answer there is yes. Will he go back? As I sit here right now, in September of 2023. I think the answer to that question is no. But it's pro wrestling. Really, anything could happen."
"I'll actually give you a kind of a non-traditional answer here. It wasn't one of my interviews that really changed my approach to the job. It was from my now very good friend Jake Hamilton. You could check him out on YouTube at Jakes Takes, it’s the name of his channel. He is one of the best interviewers on the face of the planet. And I am so grateful to be able to call him one of my friends. But when I first met him, he wasn't my friend. I mean, I didn't know him, we were strangers. And here was this guy. It was like, 13 years ago when we met in 2010. I was doing a movie junket for the movie Dinner for Schmucks. Remember that movie, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell? So I was doing that interview in Los Angeles and I'd never seen him before. But here he came in very well dressed, with beautiful hair, and he has great hair, and just a good looking guy who's I think he's like, so at the time, he would have been like 22 and I would have been like 26. And the dude just crushed these interviews. And I went back and looked through his highlight reel. And he had these moments where he was just swinging for the fences. He was creating what I later called Jake Hamilton moments. He asked Angelina Jolie if she would dance with him because she had so many great slow-dancing scenes in movies. He asked Morgan Freeman to read his eulogy because Morgan Freeman has such a great speaking voice he just did incredible, amazing moments. And I'm like, here you are sitting down with the biggest stars in the face, the planet and you, my friend are swinging for the fences, and you are knocking it out. And it was from watching his interviews of just like, I thought the work that I was doing at that time was good. Actually, at the time, I would have thought it was really good, but then I saw him and it made me level it up. And I've told him this many times. But you know, he's so incredibly talented, but it was seeing him not be afraid. And it was seeing him word things in a certain way of like, if I ask it like this, the chances of it actually happening might be better. So it was, you know, those were the interviews that really changed it for me. And I highly encourage you to go check out any of Jake's work. And there's actually a compilation not made by him, made by just a fan of celebrities saying that's a great question to Jake. And it's like a 15-minute compilation of him asking these brilliant questions and celebrities going that is a great question. So you asked a great question here and that's my answer. Those are the interviews that changed my whole approach to the job, and really just started to make me think about the way that questions were worded because, at the end of the day, these are just words, right? But words in a different order can have a very different effect. So that was it for me."
"Oh man, well, you know, being from Toronto, Trish Stratus was obviously a big crush. But when I saw Torrie Wilson for the first time in WCW, I was like, wow, yeah, that's it. So, Torrie Wilson, and then you know, I feel like everything she did in WWE was even that much better. So, Torrie Wilson, who I have yet to ever meet, or have on the show, but that is certainly a guest that I would love to have on the show. I mean, Trish as well. I've met Trish twice. Never done an interview with her. But I've met her twice. Once when I was 17 I was like my gosh, I met Trish Stratus. And then I met her at WrestleMania 35 in New York. And I'm like, I need to do an interview with you. And she's like, absolutely just send my people an interview or an email with an interview request and for whatever reason just never come together. But I feel like that one could happen. I feel like a Trish Stratus interview is imminent at some point in time. I'm not saying it's like next week or next month, but I feel like that one could be possible."
"Oh, man, I love Cleveland. I miss Cleveland. I miss you guys. I'm still a Browns fan. And my goodness, what a start to the year with that huge win over the Bengals. I love it. So I lived in Cleveland from 2010 to the end of 2014 so five years total. I lived right downtown at that time. So there were a lot of restaurants that were downtown that I loved going into. One of them was called Cleveland Chophouse at the time. Now it's just called Cleveland Chop. That was one of my favorites. We would go there for lunch all the time because I was working a later shift. I was on the afternoon news shows on 19 Action News, which is now just I think it's Cleveland's 19, CBS 19. I was on the afternoon show so I started work at like three-ish o'clock and ended around midnight. Which was, you know, I get off work at like midnight and I wouldn't be like ready to go to bed because you just come off of like, working on TV and like being on TV and being all amped up. And a lot of restaurants wouldn't be open. The reason I say that is Bar Louie was across the street from where I lived, I lived in this apartment building called the Bigham. And there was no like hardly anything that would be open after midnight unless it was a Friday or Saturday night. But Bar Louie was. I spent a lot of time at Bar Louie and I know that's like a place chain. There are several of them all over America. Quaker Steak and Lube had the best wings. And The Winking Lizard downtown had the best wings. And I'm a huge wing fan. By the way, if you have any chicken wing suggestions, like chicken wing restaurants, please tweet them at me. Please, please, I travel a bunch. Maybe I'll be in your city and I will eat those wings. Maybe I'll eat those wings with you. And one more is Melt Bar and Grilled. It is a grilled cheese sandwich restaurant in Lakewood. It's so so good. So there's a bunch of them there for you. And I just love Cleveland. And it's been like two years since I've been back. I miss you guys. So I'll have to head back there again sometime soon."
"I get a lot of compliments for this. And I don't even feel like I consciously do it. But I get a lot of compliments from people who say I love how you don't interrupt your guests. Something like oh, yeah, I mean, I brought them here for them to talk, why would I be interrupting them? But yeah, I guess that's a thing where people will interrupt a lot. So that is something I'm aware of when I see it in other interviewers. And I think another thing that I see in other interviewers is, the person that you brought on to be your guest will start to tell a story. And then you'll interject with your own story. And then oftentimes, the story of the host is longer than the story from the guest. And it's like, what's going on here? And I've never understood that, it's like, no, please stop talking so we can listen to what the guest is saying. That's always been. Yeah, that's always been a big one for me. And I think that just all falls under the category of not listening. And I think a really simple one too is not doing your research. Like, I think there's a lot of people that just do like the real simple, very basic Wikipedia, bullet notes, bullet points. And I think it just like this has to go at least one layer deeper than that, like, especially if we're going to talk wrestling here. At the very least fellow interviewers type that person's name into Google and click the news heading. What are some of the most recent headlines about that person? What are some of the most recent quotes that person has said, and I think it's just little things like that, that are just like, Ah, man. I'm sure bothers you as much as bothers me. When someone starts to tell a story or reference something that's like, very like for that person, like a very well-known thing, and the interviewer, you can tell just has no clue what that person's talking about. It's like, Ah, I'm listening to this podcast because I'm a fan of the person that you're interviewing. Like, just do have the respect enough to do some research. So that's it right there."
"I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating. The interview begins the second you see that person, the second you walk into the room if it's in person, or the second the Zoom window opens or the Stream Yard link opens. If it's a virtual interview. For in-person, I think a really important element of this, falls into the technical side. Make sure the shot the camera shot looks good. And I'm not saying you need to have a new camera or anything like that. Like I shot so many of my interviews on my iPhone for years and years and years, I still often shoot my two shot on the iPhone. I just think that's a really important part. If your interviews look like crap, people will think they are crap. If your interviews sound like crap, people will think that they are crap, perception is reality. And I think that's a really big thing. And people make a decision really quickly, especially if they've ever seen your content before or heard your content before. People make a decision within the first 3 seconds of a video. So I think that it needs to be fairly well lit, even if that's just natural light, you and your guests sitting in front of a window like that's a really important thing. Don't make it backlit, don't make it too zoomed out, don't make it too zoomed in don't have too much headroom, little things like that I think are really important. Other than that, I think the nuts and bolts of interviewing remain the same, I will stand by the fact, that yes, it is a fact that interviews in-person are far superior, far better, and a much better connection than doing interviews over Zoom. But I think the nuts and bolts of doing an interview, whether it's in person, or whether it's over Zoom, are pretty much all the same. And one more little, tiny little baby tip about doing an interview in person, just make sure to show up early. If you say the interviewer is going to be at two o'clock show up at like 1:45 Just so you can set up, be ready to go so that you're rolling at two o'clock. I think that that's a really important one."
"I think that it's really important to structure interviews and the fact that like what's going to be a good opening question? And if things go really well, with that opening question, could it lead to this next question, if the conversation leads that way? So I think that that's a really important one, like, start off strong, especially if this is someone that you've never interviewed before if you're just meeting them for the first time. Again, going back to what I was just saying people, people will make judgments very quickly, not just about content, but people make judgments about other people all the time in person when they meet them. So I think you can do whatever you can to try to win that person over and really build a rapport with them. Even before the cameras are rolling, start to build a rapport in the same way that you would if you ran into someone at the bar who happened to be a fan of the same sports team that you are. You would just you would have something in common and then you would build on that. So I think rapport is a really important thing to build that connection. And to keep that conversation going."
"Eddie Guerrero and he was taken from us far too soon. And I feel like there was still so much that we would have seen from Eddie I would have loved to see that. So I just would have loved to have a conversation with him. I think that he's one of the very best to lace them up. The answer to that one is it's for sure is Eddie Guerrero."
"I mean, you're listening to this right now. I know that you already have a decision in your head as you hear that question. And come on let's say it all together here. The Royal Rumble, right? Because when you win the Royal Rumble, you're guaranteed the main event at WrestleMania. And I get with the Money in the Bank contract you can call your shot. It can be anytime, anywhere, any place. But I just feel like there's a very special time in wrestling between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, you know, the road to Wrestlemania. And if given the chance if given the option, I would like to be the focal point of that if this is me, I would like to be the focal point of that road to WrestleMania. Also, I just think that they've dropped the ball just a few too many times with the Money in the Bank contract, especially in recent years. It used to be you won the Money in the Bank contract, it was a foregone conclusion that at some point in the next 365 days, you are going to be the World Champion. And that's really shifted in the last few years here and I hate what happened with Austin Theory. And I'm guessing, this is a guess, I don't know this at all. But it just feels to me like they gave him the Money in the Bank contract and maybe they didn't feel like he was getting the reaction that they were looking for or didn't think that he was ready to be the World Champion at the time. And him cashing in for the US title and then not even winning the US title. Even though he had been the US Champion before that just didn't sit right with me. So yeah, Royal Rumble. And also like there's something about winning the Royal Rumble where the person who wins the Royal Rumble is already a main eventer. And now they're like just continuing to be main eventers. I feel like the Money in the Bank is a great stepping stone for someone who's like right on the cusp of being a main eventer or like very high mid-card and then they get Money in the Bank and it like you know raises them and elevates them to that next level."
"Well, I would say that you can book guests with little to no contacts, you could book guests with no contacts, in the same way that you got your question right here on the podcast. We're all connected now with social media. And I think you don't need to have contacts, you don't need to be able to know someone who knows someone, all you need is a keen eye on someone's Instagram bio or Twitter bio to find out their email and just send them a message. And I think the second part of that is you need patience, you need to be able to know that, like, you're gonna send quite a few emails that aren’t gonna get responses. And you're gonna send emails that are gonna get just, No, sorry, not interested. And then eventually, you're gonna get one that's like, yeah, that sounds good, what date and time works for you? And it may take you six emails to get there may take you at eighty-six emails to get there. But just know that every no that you hear or every no response that you get is going to get you one step closer. And I'm not sure what you're booking guests for, I'm gonna guess it’s a podcast, please, for the love of God, please make sure to link your podcast in the email that you send. There is nothing more frustrating than getting an email from someone who's like, Hi, I'd love to have you as a guest on my podcast called The ABC Show. If you're interested, please write back. And then you're like, well, what's The ABC Show even about? Oh, can I hear an episode? And then you're basically saying to the person that you're trying to book, The onus is now on you to go into YouTube or podcast app, type in The ABC Show and then listen to it. You want to try to eliminate as many barriers as possible, just link to it. The ABC show highlighted hyperlink, boom, go. And it's just amazing to me how many people don't do that tiny little step. Also, one more thing. And at some point here, I should probably actually like formulate, like what does the guest booking email look like? To actually like, make sure that you increase your odds, I can't say you're gonna book a guest every time or you gonna book more guests, but increase your odds to book more guests. I think another thing is like, list off some of the previous guests that you've had on the show, if you want to take it one step further link to those episodes so that the person who is potentially going to be a guest can have a listen to that."
"I mean, it's changed everything. I was just interviewed for a podcast earlier today. I actually I'll share this out on I think I am going to share it tomorrow on Twitter, Facebook Instagram, and on YouTube. I post a lot of stuff on the YouTube community wall. But I did this really fun podcast. And we talked a lot about the dad journey a bit on it was with Kia Nalbandi, who is just crushing it at like 2 million subscribers on YouTube, just crushing it with his content. And it's changed my life in every single way for the better. And I love how I now see the world through her eyes. Logan is three-and-a-half months old. And then there's these little moments where like, you'll say something goofy or silly. And she just has this big smile that fills her entire face. And it's like, Ah, man, it's the best, and I can't wait to take her to our first baseball game together. I can't wait to take her fishing. I can't wait to take her to our first pro wrestling show. Like I'm just excited to like, make these memories with her. And I'm so so so grateful every single day that I have the best partner, my wife, Rachel, and we're in this journey together as husband and wife, and as mum and dad now to our little girl Logan. So yeah, that's I mean, it's changed my view on life in the fact that I now see things through her eyes. She's seeing everything for the first time. You know, and then there's this real childlike innocence that all kids have. And I feel like I am now seeing things through her eyes. And it's just made me have this so much of a better appreciation for everything. And it's also really helped me to understand situations a little bit more, I feel like I've been so much more empathetic. I think there might have been a younger version of me that like when a kid cried on a plane, I was one of those very stereotypical people that would roll their eyes and be like, oh, man, good, someone shut that kid up. And now I have so much more empathy for what those parents are going through. Like when a kid is crying on a plane the kid doesn't go onto that plane, this little baby doesn't go onto a plane with like, the intention of like, I'm gonna ruin everybody's flight. Watch this! They're just a baby. They're trying to figure things out. And I can guarantee you this, we've been very, very, very fortunate Logan's now flown on four flights to Nashville and back, to New York City and back. So four flights total very long flights, the New York flight was six plus hours with the delay that we had. So I was like, eight hours of sitting on a plane. We've been so so so so so so so fortunate that she slept for most of the flight, and just been overall just like, really good. I'm sure that's not always going to be the case, there’s going to be one where I'm sure she's gonna have a meltdown. But I now have the empathy. And I understand that you know, there's always more going on in a situation than what you see on the surface. So I guess that is to say, I have been much slower to come to a conclusion about something because you never really know the full situation."
"I feel like the answer here feels pretty obvious, right? Batman. Iron Man is just really at the heart of it like a great inventor. They're both rich. They're both like billionaire playboys. But Iron Man is just like really good at using technology. But if this is a shoot fight, just people fighting it's Batman. Bruce Wayne, for sure Bruce Wayne beats Tony Stark, I think every single time like 100 times out of 100. Batman's good with his utility belt. But at the end of the day Batman doesn't really have any weapons like Batman's for the most part, like punching people in the face and ties them up with whatever that thing's called, that he ties him up with and the batterang kind of just like gets their attention but like, I mean, for the most part, Batman is hand to hand combat. Iron Man is a rich guy in a suit. I have great love for both Batman and Iron Man, but I'm just saying this is a shoot fight. We were looking at the odds there, I feel like Batman would be a minus 5,000 or something like that. You know what I mean?"
