AskCVV #12 - CM Punk In WWE? Hulk Hogan's Stories, TNA Is Back, LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns, Best Advice Ever

You posted a poll about it. But do you think CM Punk or Randy Orton or maybe both of them show up at Survivor Series?

"It's a very good question, and that's why I put the poll out because I didn't want to vote. I didn't want to vote on that poll. I wanted to see what you guys had to say. According to the poll results, the winner of that poll was everybody thinks Randy Orton is coming back. And then the second was Randy Orton and CM Punk. Third was CM Punk. And then fourth was neither of them are coming back. I don't think that neither of them are coming back. I think we're getting Randy Orton, for sure. And it's gonna be massive because it feels like he's been gone for so long. And we already knew how good Randy Orton was. But him coming back is going to be this nice reminder of man, he's even better than I remembered him being. But everything seems to be lining up for CM Punk to be there in Chicago for Survivor Series. And WWE has been dropping these little hints, whether they are on purpose, or they're accidental. I just feel like there are too many that have been going on for this to be a coincidence. WWE could just be completely trolling us at this point. And I feel like when you go to any WWE post on Instagram, the USA Network account is totally trolling people. Like they'll make these posts and they'll say, like, Look in my eyes, what do you see? And it's like, okay, we see what you're doing here at USA Network. And I like it. Even if CM Punk doesn't show up. I feel like everybody's going to be looking at the show and watching the show thinking that he might, because it's a big question mark. Right. It's not like when he showed up on AEW, it got to the point where Tony Khan basically said without saying like, hey, there's a really big surprise and if I was you, I wouldn't miss Collision tonight and basically said without saying like CM Punk is gonna be there. And maybe that'll happen between now and Survivor Series, but that hasn't happened yet. So I think what this does, is it brings a lot of eyeballs to Survivor Series. Maybe it brings a lot of casual fans who haven't watched in a while maybe it brings a lot of AEW fans who haven't watched the WWE PLE in a while maybe it brings them over, spend that $4.99 on Peacock to watch Survivor Series. And even if he doesn't show up, you've got a pretty stacked card. And if he doesn't show up, you just gained a bunch of people who watched probably a very solid show. That probably also had a return from Randy Orton. So I don't know. I mean, nobody knows, right? This is the best guess from anybody. But it sure seems like CM Punk is not quite done with pro wrestling. And it just doesn't feel like an accident. Remember there was that run there where he was making amends with everybody. He showed up at Impact. And then he showed up at WWE and very quickly got told to leave. I don't feel like he did that just because. I feel like he was planting some seeds and just seeing what was possible, seeing how he'd be received. And it just feels like with Triple H in charge. I feel like Triple H could book this in a way where it's very interesting to watch on TV and it's also booked in a way, done in a way where behind the curtain. Maybe there aren't the issues like there were in AEW alleged issues, we really don't know what happened behind the scenes, we can speculate all we want. But we really don't know what happened there. And so it's all third and fourth-hand information and hearsay. But what I think is that Triple H would lay down the law and be like, Look, if you are coming back, you are coming back under these very strict rules here. But if you think about it, it's been nine years since he left, it’s almost 10, actually, in 2014, but like the beginning of 2014. So it's been almost 10 years since he was in WWE. And there are a lot of people who credit their fandom now to the pipe bomb bringing them back into this like new era of like, is this real? Is this a work? I don't know what's going on. I think that there's there's something there. And even if he doesn't show up, and I don't know this for a fact at all. But even if he doesn't show up, I feel like those options have been explored in great detail. But I will tell you this, I will be there at Survivor Series. This will be no surprise. So if you're going to be there in Chicago, it'd be awesome to be able to say hello to you and give you a high five and shake your hand. But I will be there. You may see me in the post-show press scrum. Hopefully, I'll have my hand up. Hopefully, I'll be able to ask a question, but you will see me there. And I hope to see you there." 

What do you think about TNA coming back?

"I love it. I love it because there was no one that was a bigger TNA fan from about 2005 to about 2007-2008. I went to so many shows, they came to Oshawa, Ontario, which is maybe like 20 minutes from where I grew up in Pickering, Ontario. I remember sitting online and refreshing the screen and getting front-row tickets for a house show. And then they came back not long after that I got second-row tickets to a pay-per-view. I don't want to get it wrong here. But I was let me see. TNA No Surrender 2008. And what a card there, September 14 2008, at the General Motors Center in Oshawa, Ontario. So all of this is to say, I love it. And I get why they're doing it. Nostalgia sells. Like I think that's a really big thing that works in the pro wrestling industry is nostalgia. That's why we see these returns from people like the Undertaker, from Sting or Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. Because nostalgia is this drug that cannot be replicated by anything else. It takes you back to a time and a place. And when you hear that music hit, you go, Oh my gosh, I remember whatever the memory happens to be insert it there. And with TNA I think that even though it's officially been Impact Wrestling for the last many years, there's still a giant portion of the fan base that has just continued to call this TNA. They'll even be wrestlers that work there currently that will refer to it as TNA. So I think for everybody, it really has just been TNA. And I think that when you think about TNA and Impact Wrestling, everybody automatically goes back to TNA being like the time that they loved and the superstars that they loved there. And the roster that was just so incredibly stacked, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kurt Angle, the list goes on and on and on and on Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money Inc. You know, Abyss, I mean, like look, I'm gonna miss so many people, but you get the point here. This is a stacked roster. But here's what I think. If they are going to go all the way in here, to borrow a line from TNA. If they are going to cross the line then they've got to go all the way in here. They can’t just dip their toe in and call it TNA but still looks and feels a lot like Impact. Like, it really comes down to this. If it's going to truly be TNA wrestling, you know where I'm going with this, they've got to have the six-sided ring. Without the six-sided ring, it just still feels like Impact Wrestling with a different name. So if you're going to do it all the way if you're going to cross the line, you've got to go with the old logo, you've got to go with the six-sided ring, you've got to go with everything that made TNA TNA with of course, the exception of you know, a lot of the roster is already signed the contracts elsewhere, which you're obviously not gonna get. But the six-sided ring is a must. And I don't think that information is going to be leaked out at all. I think when that first TNA event happens in January, in Las Vegas, I think that we're going to all look at that, and we're gonna go oh, my gosh, it happened. It's a six-sided ring. And I think it's gonna be a lot like what they're doing with the CM Punk thing. It’s one of those like, could it be? Is it we're not sure. I don't know, oh, my gosh, and then you tune in and you see it. So it'll be very, very interesting. It'll be very, very interesting. When that happens, Hard To Kill January 13 2024. And what a fitting name for the pay-per-view. Because if nothing else, TNA has been very hard to kill. And I for one will not just be tuning in, I will be there. So if you happen to be in Las Vegas for Hard to Kill in January. I will see you there, my friends."

Will LA Knight be a one-shot wonder or will he continue his hot shot run post Crown Jewel?

"Well, look, I think we're all going into Crown Jewel expecting LA Knight to not win. And I don't think that that's a big surprise. Roman Reigns has been the champion for the better part of three years. But I don't think that it is a bad thing. That doesn't mean that everybody who's faced him over the last three years and has lost has looked bad, there is a way to lose and still look strong. I actually think that this puts him in a better spot than he was a few months ago when he was so close to getting that Money in The Bank briefcase and didn't get it. Now he has a title shot on a huge show, but I will say that Crown Jewel just falls into this kind of weird. Like, it's just you know what I mean? It doesn't feel like it's totally within canon. It kind of feels like an alternate reality. It just feels like it's another universe in Crown Jewel and things could happen there that I don't know, maybe don't make a lot of sense. And you know, we've seen some strange returns happen there and some strange matches happen. So I think we're all going into that expecting we know the outcome of that match. And no, I think that LA Knight continues the momentum because he's the most over wrestler I was gonna say in WWE, but he might be the most over wrestler on the face of the planet right now. And I don't think the WWE gives him a title shot at Crown Jewel and then that's it, he doesn't get another title shot, doesn't get anything else ever again after that. So I think that this is actually gonna be a true test of like, how over is he? We know he's pretty over. But when you see a crowd overseas chanting for him cheering for him louder than anywhere else. I think that that's a true test that he is the most over so I think that win or lose. In terms of the actual match, he comes out a winner. For sure."

Who do you think was the most entertaining interview?

"It's got to be The Rock. Because what you see with The Rock on social media is who The Rock is, when you interview him, you know, on camera, off camera, that is who The Rock is. And he brings it, just bring it, I didn't even mean to do that. Just bring it! But The Rock brings it. The Rock is very hyper-aware of the fact that like there are cameras there, this is going to be a moment that is going to get shared everywhere. And he does whatever he can to make it such a great moment. And I just have a huge respect for the celebrities that do bring it. And even though maybe he's not looked upon with a great amount of favour right now, Will Smith brings it when you interview him. He brings this massive amount of energy and this charisma that's so infectious. And he's just so engaging in the conversation. So Will Smith's another one Anthony Mackie, same thing, just this magnetic personality. So there are just a few right off the top of my head like entertaining, fun. Yeah, it's just a great time and Will Sasso recently. How good was that? If you haven't gone and checked out that episode, from the second we started rolling, he was making funny faces and doing voices. And the whole hour that we spent with him was just like me, trying my hardest to not laugh over what he was doing to ruin the audio of it. So good." 

It feels like you've interviewed everyone. Is there anybody that you haven't interviewed yet?

"Yeah, the list is pretty long. And I know it's been a really good run over these last few months. And I appreciate you for being with us no matter who the guest has been. But yeah, there's a lot of people, if we’re talking just wrestling here. I still haven't done an interview with Bret Hart, which I'm working on. I mean, I just interviewed Nattie and I said, Hey, next time you see your uncle Bret, could you find a good word for CVV here and she said she would. Shawn Michaels, I haven't interviewed yet. Randy Orton, Samoa Joe. Although I met Samoa Joe years ago at an indie show in Ontario, Canada. But I haven’t interviewed him. Christian Cage who I also met if you saw the way back Wednesday post that I put out, I met him in 2001. The same day, I met Kurt Angle and Trish Stratus, she's another one I haven't interviewed before. Edge. I guess we're calling him Adam Copeland now, which let me just go off on a very, very short tangent here. It's so interesting to me. How when someone changes their name and pro wrestling, just like that, you're not calling him Edge anymore? it's Adam Copeland. That's great. But How funny is it that when the stadium where your favourite sports team changes their name, you can't use like, I'm not calling it that anymore. And it’ll always be the Staples Center to me, I'm not calling it the crypto.com arena. And I'll always be Skydome to me, even though I changed his name to Roger Center, like 15 years ago, it's just so funny to me how people are like, I would rather call it this corporate name, I would rather call it Staples rather than crypto.com arena or whatever it happens to be. I find that so funny. But in pro wrestling, the person Edge is actually a perfect example. On Saturday, he was Edge and then the next day hours later, he was Adam Copeland and fans will not call him Edge anymore. And I just find that so interesting. That is a little side there. AJ Styles who I've met but never interviewed. I did an interview with Kevin Nash years ago. And it's such a sad story. But the audio cable for the mic wasn't completely plugged in. This is when I was recording all my interviews on an iPhone. It wasn't completely plugged in. And we got the video of the interview. But the audio wasn't there. And I was so sad. We were driving home from this, it was in Orlando was driving home and I said to my buddy Jamil. I said Oh, hit play on that interview. And I'm like, Yeah, turn the volume up. He's like, the volume is up. I'm like, What do you mean? Like, turn it up what's going on here? I don't hear anything. And he's like, I don't hear anything either. And then we very quickly found out that there was no audio. So there is a lost Kevin Nash interview. That’s it we lost it. So I feel like I need to do another Kevin Nash interview. And in terms of celebrity interviews, there's a bunch, but quickly off the top of my head, Matthew McConaughey, and I love who he's become and what he's become. And if you haven't read Greenlights, what a fantastic autobiography, and I would encourage you to listen to the audiobook on that one. He says so many great little stories that he adds on there. Martin Scorsese, I haven't interviewed him yet. And Christopher Nolan, who I think is the best director working today. And every movie that he puts out is so good. And I would just love to talk to him specifically about his fascination with time. Because think about it, think about the way that he views time. It's so interesting, every movie, from Inception to Dunkirk to Interstellar to Oppenheimer, they all play around Memento, of course, they all play around with time, and I would just love to dive into a conversation about that." 

Why did you interview Hulk Hogan? All he does is lie.

"What a great question. And it's so funny to me when I put that interview up on YouTube. It was up for like four minutes. And there were already like a dozen comments that were like all he does is lie. Look how many lies there are here. Why would you even give this person the time of day when it's just going to be an hour of lies? And look, I get it if you don't like Hulk Hogan, the wrestler it’s fine. If you don't like Hulk Hogan, the person, that's okay, too. But what was so fascinating to me about those comments was if I go back through them now, and there were like 100,000 views in that YouTube video. There's not anyone who actually like bullet-pointed out the lies. I know it's this cool thing right now, because of that Jim Cornette episode, or it's this cool thing right now because of some threads on Reddit of like, Hulk Hogan is a liar. And sure I get it. He embellishes a lot of stories. And there's also a lot of apocryphal things that he says, but I don't think he's like going into these going, I'm gonna pull a fast one. Like, I don't think he's, he's trying to like, lie, I really think that he has a terrible memory. I'll give you a perfect example of this. When I asked him about like, a final match, he said he wanted to have one with John Cena. And he's like, oh, yeah, we were talking about it happening at WrestleMania 25 in Orlando. And everyone's like, Oh, there he is lying again. Everybody knows WrestleMania 24 was in Orlando. WrestleMania 25 was in Houston. Hulk Hogan, What a liar. It's like, come on, he's almost 70 old. Like I'm sure that he doesn't know the location of every single WrestleMania all the way back from, you know, 39 all the way back to one, just because he said that WrestleMania 25 was in Orlando. he misspoke, it's not a lie. He misspoke. We make mistakes all the time. And I just think it's so funny that he gets picked on. Like, there's plenty and I get it. I get it. There's a lot of crazy stories out there. They are well documented. I get it. I just think though, that it's become this fad to just like, instead of appreciate the conversation for what it isn't. And sure, maybe there are a few Apocryphal Tales inside of there. But instead of appreciating the conversation for what it is, there are just these garbage comments, and I just don't get it. I just don't get if you don't like Hulk Hogan, that's fine. But I will tell you this. When Terry walked into the room, we shook hands, and it gave me a hug. And he introduced himself to my videographer who was working with me in Tampa, Harry Aaron, who's fantastic. He said, Hey, good to meet you. I'm Terry. It wasn't like, oh, what's going on there, brother Hulkster here, like Terry himself, was fantastic. And I loved being able to sit across from Terry at Hogan's Hangout in Clearwater Beach, and have a conversation for an hour. It's one of my favourite episodes of the year. And I know that other than that very loud, very small minority of people who are leaving those trash comments. I know that I've had more people reach out to me over the last few weeks since that Hogan episode came out saying that they loved it. And it's one of their favourite episodes too. And yeah, he's an absolute legend. Pro Wrestling is where it's at right now because of what Hulk Hogan In and Vince McMahon built in the 1980s. And you know this, and I've talked about it a great length Rock Hogan, my favourite match. And in my opinion, the greatest wrestling match of all time." 

What are your favourite dad moments?

"Oh man, there's a lot. She turns five months old on Sunday, the 29th. It's just the little moments, like her smiling for the first time. She laughed the other day, for the first time. And there's just something about the way that a baby looks at you with this, like, excitement and wonder. And that's it. And it's just those moments where you are their world. They're looking at you, they're looking at Mommy, they're looking at the dog, and there's just this excitement. And yeah, look, there's gonna be so many more moments I could, I could be asked this question on every single one of these Ask CVVs. And I'd have a different answer as she continues to get older. And don't worry, I won't do that for all of the non-dads out there. The non-parents out there, I will not bore you with this. But I'm just saying it gets, it's just so exciting. Every single day, there's something new every single week, there's something new, it's all these new milestones. So it's all of that. It's all of that. And I love being Logan's dad, she’s the best."

What's been the biggest challenge for balancing being a content creator and being a dad?

"I think the biggest thing is time, the biggest thing has been time, like, especially with workouts. I would drive to the gym so that's, you know, 10-ish minutes, I would work out I would sauna, then I would drive home. So that's, you know, an hour and a half-ish, maybe a little bit more. And now it's like, if the baby goes to sleep, let's go to the garage and bang out some squats and do whatever we can with the dumbbells and kettlebells in there. So that's been the biggest thing is managing time. And it's also so hard like I travel a tonne with work. And I'm going to be I don't know if I'm supposed to like be leaking this out. But I'm going to be at the world premiere for the Iron Claw in a location to be announced later. The time and date to be announced at another time. But that's in Dallas, already said it. It's a trip, right? So I'm travelling for that I'm going to be in Las Vegas next week. It's balancing that too. And I just feel like it's so much harder every time to leave get on a plane and to sleep away from both Rachel and Logan. And but I will say it makes it feel so much more special when I come back. It's just so exciting to come back. So that's I think that's been the biggest thing is time is balancing all the time." 

When you moved houses, how did you know what room was right as your new podcasting studio? How did you move all your equipment without being damaged? 

"For me, I've moved a lot. And I think the biggest thing is, if the interview is going to be happening on camera, I just need good lighting. That's it, whether it's natural lighting coming through a window, or it's the studio lights that I have inside my office right now, lighting is the most important thing. But when I first moved to Los Angeles three years ago, I didn't have my furniture, hadn't made it yet. I just had what I packed in my car when I drove out. So I did a few interviews where I set up my laptop on moving boxes, and I was sitting on a separate moving box. So if you go check out my interview, specifically with Wade Barrett, the lighting is fine, because I had a big bright window in front of me. But you'd never know it. But I was using a moving box as the desk. So that was a big thing for me was just finding good lighting. And when we moved into the house that we're in now, it was pretty clear there was like an office space on the main floor of the house. The bedrooms are upstairs on the second floor. So on the main floor of the house where I'm sitting right now is very clearly like an office although didn't have a door. So we had to like get a door installed here. So that you know, keep some of the sound in here. For the second part there. How did you move all your equipment without being damaged? I just packed it carefully. It's not a tonne of equipment. For me at least it's a microphone which I'm speaking into right now. I just put that in my suitcase. I wrapped it up in a bunch of clothes and that was it. I actually travelled with it on occasion with the camera. I put it in a camera case and the lights, I just folded them down. And that was it, I put them in my own car. I didn't trust those to the movers. I didn't trust those to like put it in a box. And I've moved, I've moved a tonne l I've moved from a different country to the country I live in now I've moved from Canada to the US. I mean, look okay, I'll go over Toronto, Vancouver back to Toronto, Cleveland, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Cincinnati, Studio City, Costa Mesa, California. Now I live in Orange County, California. So a lot of moves there. So I don't trust anything that I really want to keep tabs on to the movers or to boxes, those things go in my car. So I think that that's a really big thing. That's camera equipment. That's, you know, other personal effects if you will, but yeah, that's it for me." 

Have you seen Wrestlers on Netflix?

"Yes, of course, I've seen wrestlers on Netflix. And it's fantastic. And I always get a little bit worried when there's going to be a show about pro wrestling because I don't feel like it's always shown in the best light. But Wrestlers far exceeded any expectations that I had. And I've been to Ohio Valley Wrestling and Al Snow is awesome. I would call Al Snow a friend. Oh, yeah, I stayed in a house with him and some other people. And Dave Hero WrestleMania two years ago in Dallas, and he's awesome. We were like, late at night 2 a.m. eating pizza. And he was telling great stories, I love Al. And I love how wrestlers have showcased who Al is and what he's all about. I love that it shows the good and the bad of the wrestling world. So with that said, I've been trying to get Al on the show and sounds like we're going to be able to do an interview when he's in Los Angeles next week. So keep an eye out. Keep an ear out for that one coming up real soon. But I love the show. And I love what they did with it and the way it's shot, the way it's edited the stories they tell there, so so good." 

Do you think we're in the best era for wrestling? 

"That is tough. That's so tough because I don't think you can really gauge an era until the era is done. And going back to that concept of nostalgia when we were talking about TNA. I think that the Attitude Era is looked upon so favourably now because it has the rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia that we are looking at it through and don't get me wrong, the Attitude Era was great. But for every Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H Undertaker, Mick Foley, The Rock, for all the great stuff that was going on there. There were also some pretty questionable storylines that were happening there. Naked Mideon is one that like immediately pops to mind. There was just you know, for everything good that was happening there. There was also some bad stuff sprinkled in. So I will say we are in an incredible time right now. And if not the best time in pro wrestling. It's certainly one of the best times. And I think we all kind of understand that wrestling is cyclical. Wrestling gets hot for a while, and then it kind of cools off and loses the excitement and then it gets hot again. It's hot again right now. It is red hot again, right now. Whether that's WWE, AEW, TNA now, New Japan, or whatever it is wrestling is exciting again, now. So if it's not the best era, it's certainly one of them. And I think there's gonna be an entire generation of people who either weren't born during the Attitude Era or were too young to really appreciate the Attitude Era that are going to be talking about this era, whatever it's called, that's going on right now. They're going to be talking about this in 10 and 20 and 30 years, there's going to be a whole lot of people in 10 ish, 20 ish years, who are going to go I became a wrestling fan because of that era that was happening in the early 2020s. And I wanted to become a pro wrestler because of what was going on in the early 2020s. And we're gonna see, I think, some amazing talent coming out of being fans of this era in the same way that we're seeing amazing wrestlers now, and we have for the last 5-10 years because they were huge fans during the Attitude Era. So I'm super excited for that. But I think it's so hard to be able to pinpoint and like put your finger on of like, is it the best? I don't know. Let's judge this in 20 years asked me that again on Ask CVV number 614 or something like that." 

What is the best piece of advice that you've ever received? 

"Three words from John Cena, control the controllable. That's it. And I've talked about this before, but you know, quickly, it's just the idea of, we can't control the things that happen to us. What we can control is our response to the things that happen to us. And when John Cena whittled it down and summed it up in just those three words, control the controllable, that was so powerful for me. So if you haven't checked out that interview, it was 2019 WrestleMania 35 in New York City. I had the chance to talk to him. That's that interview where like I went to wrap it up and he's like, Oh, we got more time. And then I went to wrap it up again. And he's like, You got time for one more question. So gracious with his time there. But like so profound, with so much of the things that he was talking about during that interview, but control the controllable. Best piece of advice I've ever received for sure." 

Would you be in the 2024 Royal Rumble? 

"I mean, look, anything could happen in the WWE. Doing a Vince McMahon impression. I mean, I wish it could be in the Rumble. I will be at the Royal Rumble though. I've already booked my flight. So I will be at the Royal Rumble. I will see you in Tampa. But I don't think I'll be in the Royal Rumble but look. Stranger Things, no stranger than me being in the Rumble. I don't actually think that's happened. Stranger things have happened in wrestling. But no, that's probably not gonna happen."

When will you interview the man who's your first wrestling interview? Bobby Lashley. 

"Hopefully, soon, I've been talking to Bobby Lashley about making this happen. For like, two or three years, we've gone back and forth on DMs who've gone back and forth on text messages. I will say that we're getting closer to making this happen. And I feel like Survivor Series if he's there, real good possibility, although that is Thanksgiving weekend. So I feel like there might not be as much stuff going on around Survivor Series because it's Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe it's Royal Rumble, I don't know. But if I had to give it a timeline here. I'd say within the next six months, this seems very possible. So let's throw that out into the world. And I can make up for that very silly interview I did with him in 2007 with that ridiculous blonde patch in my hair. But seriously, in all seriousness, what a hell of a career Bobby Lashley has had. And I would love to be able to sit down with him for an hour plus to just go over everything. Everything WWE Impact Wrestling, MMA stuff, all of it. So cross your fingers for me." 

Would you like to interview Pat McAfee? 

"Hell yeah. He is so insanely good at what he does. And I'm not just talking about the commentary in WWE. I'm talking about what he does with his show what he does on College Game Day, and everything with ESPN, so talented. And he has that magnetic charisma that when you turn on the TV and you see him or you turn on your laptop or your phone and you see him, you're just drawn in. So I would love to have a conversation with him. And I tried really hard like two years ago, I was going back and forth with one of his people back, you know, and we were super locked down and everything was happening over Zoom. And it just kind of kept getting punted. See what I did there, it just kept getting punted, it was like, He's not available now try again, you know, we'll see what his schedule looks like next month. So I hit them back up. He's not available, you know, hit me back up next month, and we just kept punting this down the road. And I finally said, I'm like, Look, we've gone back and forth on this for months. It doesn't sound like it's gonna happen, does it? They're like, well, you know, anything could happen. And I'm like, alright, well, like we'll see if it ends up happening one day, but yes, I would love, love, love, love to have a conversation with him. If you listen to the Baron Corbin episode, which just got put out yesterday. Baron Corbin told some great stories about sleeping on Pat McAfee's couch. I think that Wikipedia has it where they were roommates. But he's like, I wasn't his roommate. I just slept on his couch. So he had such great things to say about Pat McAfee and everybody that I've talked to, has great things to say about Pat McAfee. So I would love to meet him if that means me flying to Indianapolis and making it happen if that means our paths cross in a College Game Day, city. Sign me up. But I would love to make it happen."

What is the best platform for recording virtual podcast interviews? 

"That sounds like a Full Time Creator question right there. And I love it. I guess we've had a few creator-ish questions here, like balancing time with being a dad, a creator. By the way, if you are a creator, and you haven't even just looked at the website Full Time Creator.co. And what I have going on there, take a second today and go take a look. If you're a creator who truly wants to take things to the next level, and you're not willing to spend $1 How serious are you really about getting to that next level? Because I know that if I had the opportunity to learn from someone whose podcast is in the top 10, who is getting millions of views on YouTube a day, who has many followers on the platform that look I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here. What I'm saying is, I want to help you. And that's why Travis and I have built this out, we want to help you. So if you want to be helped, which I would hope that you would want to be helped if you'd want to shortcut things just a little bit, maybe take a few months off of the process, maybe take a few years off of the process, maybe get to making some money as a creator quicker, boom, than you would if you did this on your own. If you are serious about that, go sign up for $1. Give it a trial, see what you think. But we're building out a community in the Full Time Creator mastermind to help other creators just like you. So what's the best platform for recording virtual podcast interviews? I love Zoom and all the interviews that WWE sets up are over Zoom. I've used other platforms, I use Streamyard, and I lost an interview as a result of it like it just didn't save. And I had to very sheepishly and embarrassingly message that person and say, Hey, so you’ll never believe it. But that interview that we did, doesn't exist anymore. And that really soured me. Steamyard is great for going live. But I was using Streamyard for recording interviews, and then it led me down. And then I think Riverside's really good. The quality of the interviews that you get from that is really good. But it only works great if both people have a rock solid internet connection like I'm talking if both people are plugged into the Ethernet cable because otherwise, it's kind of frustrating to record on Riverside. And sometimes there's a slight lag and you're talking to the person, they look all fuzzy. I did an interview with Sean Ross Sapp when I was still using Riverside, and the sync was off. And it was just so frustrating. So I had a subscription to Riverside, if you don't know, I'm talking about Riverside.fm. And records 1080p, which is great. When it's great. And it's not always great. So I just use Zoom. And I think the biggest reason I use Zoom is because it's kind of just like the currency of online meetings. Yeah, there's Google Meet, and there's Riverside, there's Streamyard and there's Teams, there's all these things, but I think that people just kind of associate a video call a video meeting with Zoom. It's definitely the like industry leader. So I just send people Zoom links. Because with everything that happened with the world being shut down, everybody has Zoom, whether it's on their phone, or their tablet, or their laptop, everybody has Zoom. So I think kind of the international language of video calls is Zoom. So that's why I use Zoom, I am well aware that the audio quality would be better if I use something else. I am well aware that the video quality would be better if I used something else, but I've been burned too many times. And I've heard good things about Zencaster haven't used it before, but I've just been burned too many times. And since this is such a big part of what I do for my job, I just need something that's reliable and Zoom has never let me down ever. So that's why I use Zoom."

Do you feel good slash proud when an interviewee says that's a great question, because you should. 

"It is a good feeling. It is a good feeling, especially when you're doing those celebrity interview movie interviews, junket stuff like where the person is sitting in the room, and a different reporter is cycling in every four to five minutes. And they're doing 20, 30, 40 interviews in a day. And if you're able to ask them something that they haven't heard, number one that day, or number two, just ever, and they say that's a great question, and they're trying to buy time to answer it. Yeah, it's a good feeling. It just makes you feel like you've asked something original and interesting. Instead of them just flicking on I'm in publicity mode. And I'm gonna give you the standard answer that I gave the other 46 people that came before you, I love that it actually makes them use a different part of their brain and actually, like, think of an answer. So yeah. I also love when you ask the question, that person goes, That's a great question and gives you a super insightful answer. My favourite part of all of that is when somebody that's watching or listening to the interview, gets something out of that they either learn something about that person that they didn't know before or they hear a story that that person went through in their life, and then it inspires them to do something in their own life. That's my favourite part about that whole thing. That's my favourite part about just the medium of podcasting, in general, in the medium of broadcasting in general, is being able to tell stories, that's always been my favourite part. Ever since I got into this, it's my favourite part is just telling stories, and then the effect that those stories can have on the rest of us. Because at our core, if you go way, way, way, way back here, to like when we were sitting around campfires, and trying to keep the, you know, bears away from eating us. I'm talking 1000s of years ago if you couldn't tell, it all came down to stories, and the stories that were passed down from generation to generation to generation. And that's the thing I love about all of this, it comes down to stories."