Chris Van Vliet Doesn’t Rewatch COVID-era Wrestling: “It Was Awful”

Whenever a pro wrestler is ready to break kayfabe and share their story, Insight with Chris Van Vliet is the first stop more often than not.

Van Vliet is known for his eclectic guest list, spanning all promotions from the biggest superstars of today (Cody Rhodes) to forgotten names from the past (he recently landed Attitude Era alum Steve Blackman’s first interview in 17 years). But that’s not what makes Insight so, um, insightful.

The Canadian podcaster, one of the most powerful people in sports media, is one of the sharpest interviewees around—a disarming, yet well researched, host with a keen ability to get people to open up.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Van Vliet tells Complex. “The fact that I’ve gotten to talk to some of the people I looked up when I was a kid and got to share these long, in-depth conversations, the wrestling fan in me is totally freaking out.”

It’s still real to him, damn it.

How would you describe the last 12 months of your career? Do you have something you consider your biggest win?
It doesn't even feel real. We kicked off the year with an episode with Stone Cold Steve Austin that I recorded at his Broken Skull Ranch. To be able to sit down with Stone Cold at his house and chat for over an hour was unbelievable. 

What do you have going on right now?
We do three episodes a week every week of Insight with Chris Van Vliet. So it's 156 episodes a year. It's an interview every Tuesday and Thursday—all the interviews are recorded in person with the guest. And then on every Friday I do an episode called “Ask CVV” where listeners send in questions via email or social media or comments on Spotify. And we talk about the week that was in the world of wrestling and also things like, Oh, what's the greatest faction of all time or what's the greatest entrance theme of all time? All of my focus and effort professionally is going into the content with Insight.

And then personally, it's been a wild year because my daughter just turned three. My son is approaching two. So we've got our hands really full with that. And on top of it, we decided last month we were going to leave California, so now we just moved to Nashville. So there's been a lot balancing going on.

Was Nashville more of a professional or personal move?
Personal move, for sure. I feel like I have the ability with what I'm doing to live kind of anywhere. We want to be closer to home. We wanted to be in a state that had no state income tax—that was a big part of that. But we also wanted a place where we could raise our kids. We live on a little bit more land now and kids can run around. And that was not a possibility where we were living in California.

Where in Cali were you?
We were in Orange County.

Who would you refer to as your mentor?
Yeah, I don't think there's been one specific person and I think that's been an interesting part of my journey. I never had anyone help open the door for me. I never had anyone help me get my foot in the door. So early on in my career, I was the guy looking online for the email address of the general manager of a TV station or the program director of a radio station. I was lying and trying to make myself available. “Oh, I'll be in town next week. It'd be great to chat with you about this open position.” So I had to fight and claw my way to get any sort of opportunity in television. And it was like one little thing would build to another slightly bigger thing, then that would build to something a tiny bit bigger than that. So it was all these little baby steps along the way.

Did you have a breakout interview?
This is very random. So it was 2016. I did an interview with The Big Show in 2016 when I was still working for WSV on the Fox affiliate in Miami. And it was an 18-minute interview, but it ended up doing almost five million views on YouTube. And I'm not quite sure what it was about this interview. I mean, The Big Show is amazing and a legend. That probably has a lot to do with it. But that long-form interview ended up going everywhere.

It's the interview where we're in Miami standing in front of the ocean, or in front of a bay. And he talked about how it was the first time he'd weighed under 400 pounds in his professional career. It's also an interview where I asked him, "Who's the strongest wrestler you've ever been in the ring with?" He immediately cuts me off. “John Cena.” That interview gets referenced so often as the first interview of mine that people ever watched. And I think the amount of views it ended up with led to other interviews.

What is your advice for people starting out pro wrestling podcasts?
I think the biggest piece of advice is you have to start. So many people talk about doing it or dream about doing it, but never actually hit record and do it. The barrier is low right now. Everybody has a camera and a recording device in their pocket. Just hit play. And then after that, hit upload. I think the two most important things to be a podcaster are you got to start and you need to keep going. So many podcasts end up fizzling out after five or 10 episodes. I think consistency is the biggest thing for sure.

Also, you got to love every part of the process: booking the guest, researching the interview, doing the interview, editing it, producing it, uploading it, and then promoting it. If you don't love all those steps, eventually this thing's going to fizzle out.

Finish the sentence for me: I knew I made it when. . .
I don't think I made it yet.

You moved to another state and kept doing your thing. And you make a good living talking about something you love. So, yeah, you made it, bro.
I don't know if I made it.

You might not have as much money as Nick Kahn, but you made it. OK, let’s keep going. Do you re-watch old wrestling matches?
Yes.

Do you re-watch anything from the COVID era?
No.

Why?
It’s this reminder of how strange things were in the world at that time.

Strange is doing a lot of work in that sentence. It was terrible.
It was awful. You’re sitting at home, you can't leave, you have nowhere to go, and then you turn on Monday Night Raw for an escape and you're reminded, oh wow, yeah, things aren't right right now.

Do you use AI at all at work?
No, no. I use very talented people who are far better at editing, writing, and research than I am. AI gets a lot of stuff wrong too. The other day I asked it, “Who are the four biggest wrestlers to never main event WrestleMania?” And they were like, “Oh, well, Kurt Angle’s got to be at the top of the list.” What are you talking about? Kurt Angle main evented WrestleMania XIX!

Which public figure holds too much power?
I don't think I have an answer to that one.

Recent power purchase?
I bought my dream car. A DeLorean. 1981 DeLorean DMC 12. I'm a huge Back to the Future fan. So this has been my dream car for probably since I started my professional career 21 years ago. And I finally bought a little beater fixer upper, but it looks great in the garage.

Dream interview?
Sting.

Most exciting thing happening in pro wrestling right now?
El Grande Americano.

Bret or Shawn?
I'm Canadian. I got to go with Bret.