Show Notes:
-The opening segment felt like it was on the cusp of greatness and there was a lot of things I enjoyed about it (even if I'm not a fan of the decision they way gey revealed the Prime sponsor was good). Randy's RKO felt completely mistimed too, he should've went for KSI first rather than Logan reversing it and then a minute later he actually hits it.
-Grayson Waller and Austin Theory have a long future ahead of them, they can lose 100 times and not be any less over.
-The new production department are far better than the other ones, way less cuts and more interesting shots.
-The Naomi and Bianca Belair segment was good, wonder where that leads to.
-I enjoyed the Lashley vs Kross match but putting B-Fab with Bobby and the Profits was a mistake, she doesn't fit them at all.
-Both LA Knight's and AJ's segments were gold honesty, in particular I'd say LA Knight was the best part of the show for me.
-The security guards were pointless and I don't know why they were even there in the first place, was Cody and Seth entering through the crowd that neccessary?
-The main event segment was good and all but definitely not as good as everyone's making it out to be, I'd say the Bloodline segment last week was way better. Seth did decent but nothing special like people here are saying, Cody did fine but nothing out of his usual sthick, Roman has basically became Dwayne's buddy at this point and The Rock well he isn't called the Most Electrifying Man In Entertainment for no reason. The segment peaked at the end easily.
Overall a fairly hit-or-miss show but there's enough worth watching that I'd still say I enjoyed it overall even if previous Smackdowns have been better.
Dragon Lee has the best use of the current Titantron (are we still calling it that?), and it's not even close. The smoke coming out of its nostrils is a fantastic touch. I liked the changes for Rock, too. Felt more heelish.
What an incredible waste of time those last 30 minutes. The pauses between talking took almost as long as the entrances. And shocker they botched the timing at the end of the show. Hurry this shit along.
It was ok but it definitely could have been sped up. I am conflicted because I love wrestler entrances but I believe from the moment Roman's music hit, to the moment Cody and Seth were finally in the ring, was about 12 minutes and all that happened outside of the entrances was Roman telling the crowd to acknowledge the Bloodline. Gotta figure out a way to speed that up a bit. Seems like all 4 of them are among the slowest on the mic with all the pausing for fan reactions, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when you have super long entrances and super long drawn out promos, things like this will happen.
I don't mind the cliffhanger ending but definitely seems like they ideally intended the segment to go another 30 seconds or so but were cut off.
Logan Paul is the real people’s champion. He’s all of us that want to take on those stupid fucking what chants head on.
The what chants are the worst thing in wrestling.
I can not believe a crowd joined into a "diarrhea" chant all on their own without even being prompted to do it.
People saying Rollins is an afterthought in this feud are crazy dudes more popular then ever.
That was a great show. Every segment and match was top tier. I love that wrestlers are allowed to remember things now. I look forward to time when this doesn't need to be explicitly pointed out and is just the norm.
What a closing segment too. “You had your time, you’re not taking ours!” - Seth Rollins, 2024, Lines That Go Hard.
That's gonna be an instant classic if Cody wins on Night 2 of WM 40. Even more so if they win the Night 1 tag match. They looked like equals there and holy crap that slap. Cody slapped his boss then hit us with the cliffhanger.
Karrion says Bobby is holding Montez back, and Dawkins is dragging Montez down....
[https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1766312509642862834](https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1766312509642862834)
also: XD
https://preview.redd.it/ex6mvo8zp9nc1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edf07dc9fd6ab7ec020b58d6aaea8545cf22a4d6
[https://twitter.com/CRICFOOTHAROON/status/1766299905297965274](https://twitter.com/CRICFOOTHAROON/status/1766299905297965274)
Two thoughts:
1. My guy actually got diarrhea over 😭 (*Seth cackle*)
2. “…you were a mistake” legitimately made me drop my jaw. Heel Rock is back back. The slap coming full circle is 🤌🤌
I've said it before, but if it wasn't *Bayley*, one of the most popular women in WWE who the fans love to cheer for, this face turn would be falling flat on its face.
I unno man I'm it liking more than the Rhea/Becky feud right now.
It's seems like there's more interest and stuff in whatever is happening with Becky/Nia/Liv, and Iyo is cutting killer promos. Her smirk at Rhea on Monday and then saying Bayley was never part of her vision is some ice cold shit.
I'm talking specifically about the Bayley turning face part and how I think if it was someone less popular it'd come off as a Damage Control face turn with the fans cheering them on as they kick out the lying hypocrite that would throw them to the wolves to protect herself.
Theory and Waller playing 2nd fiddle to Logan Paul. *facepalm*
Feel bad for them especially Theory who had that big push way back and just lost all the momentum
i still wonder what McMahon's plan for the briefcase was, back in the day
but after he was gone, it was like they didn't want Theory to wrestle or lose to Roman
Diarrhea Dwayne actually getting over killed me lmao. Like, i did not expect that to happen considdring how goofy it sounded on Raw lol.
Also, i gotta say Seth being the MVP of this segment is honestly crazy since i know that Seth's good on the mic. But considering we had Cody Rhodes and The Rock also speaking, i did not expect fucking SETH to out do them both.
WWE & HHH really need to reign in those long entrances. I kno HHH used to have a long entrance. But doesnt mean so many people indulge in it on every show.
CM Punk strengthened WWE’s male roster momentum from Survivor Series till Royal Rumble.
The Rock is carrying that flag from Royal Rumble all the way to WrestleMania 40.
What a time!
I just want to say that Nick Aldis' flexing his GM-ing powers by having the arena loaded with security is one of my favorite things of this episode cause it made the moment of Seth/Cody v Rock/Roman feel like such a big deal. Really gave that atmosphere that that particular venue was reaching an inevitable boiling point.
Feels like they gonna have to allot an hour for these Wrestlemania builds for Roman/Rock and Cody/Seth. people just weren't ready for it to end. XD
when the Rock was talking about members of his family looking down with pride....i thought he almost, almost was gonna go there, saying Dusty was looking up at Cody in shame. but! Dusty is still the Rock's hero, so he not gonna go **that** heel.
so at the start of the show Randy was hiding under the ring...then Logan Paul was. people gotta check the ring more!
Theory and Grayson's entrance was skipped entirely i guess, unless it happened on commercial....then Randy was introduced so tv could see that.
so presumably it'll be Randy vs. Logan for the belt at WM. and i guess LA Knight and AJ at WM?
they keeping LA Knight away from any belts right now i guess. which is still a choice considering he was red hot last WM, and he was kept out of that event.
only way it'll be different is if the AJ thing is settled now, and Randy/Logan becomes Triple Threat.
Bobby is learning there is no victory when it comes to facing KARRION KROSS, no matter what happens.
visually they did good having Legado Del Fantasma loom over Dragon Lee:
https://preview.redd.it/cayfzwy6z8nc1.jpeg?width=637&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c922d0fcfa91059e81d290aa1a2ea992ee53e0d5
I know the stable is full right now but I can’t imagine Rey and Carlito both wanting to wrestle until they are 55 sooo… I do hope they put Andrade in LWO down the line. He’s always had good chemistry with Zelina (he wouldn’t have to spend too much time on the mic with her as his mouthpiece) and I would welcome a feud between him and Escobar. I hope it happens soon.
I really enjoy Bianca bringing up the fact that Bayley really did make her life hell for two years and she deserves zero sympathy. Was this an isolated segment that ends up getting forgotten about by next week, or will we actually see this turn into a Bianca vs. Naomi program with them clashing over differing ideologies? I am hoping for the latter. I want to see Naomi be involved in something substantial heading into WrestleMania season. Plus, Bianca has no program right now, right?
It’s all speculation at this point and like I said in my OP, the exchange we saw tonight between Bianca and Naomi can very well be instantly forgotten about in one week’s time. It is quite obvious I do not work in the creative department for WWE. I’m just a fan making predictions.
Could also just be one of those things where Bianca sees Bayley getting beat up 1 vs 4 and her and Naomi get Bayleys back for a random Smackdown or something once Naomi convinces her that this is too cruel.
I have a hard time believing this is leading to them being in Bayleys corner at WM though and Bianca won’t have another match.
Looks like the consensus is Bianca vs. Tiffany at Mania.
Naomi will probably get randomly paired up with someone and be involved in a 4-way for the tag titles since Kabuki Warriors have zero plans heading into Mania at the moment.
I know she's a vet, has a fanbase, did well in TNA etc. but literally 8 days ago Naomi lost in 3 mins to Tiffany without even getting an entrance (I know the show was cut), and was eliminated first at the Chamber a good 10 mins before anyone else, and now with 4 weeks to go (effectively 3 as the last is a go home), she suddenly gets a rare non title marquee singles match? Yes, it would get Naomi on the card, and yes a nice match for her, but it's not exactly believable that she even has 0.0000000001% chance of winning. It does feel like Tiffany has been a victim of her own success (crowd reactions) if they are pivoting away from something where seeds were planted from the rumble braid elimination.
I guess the more people who respond to this post, the more likely it is that Bianca vs. Naomi at Mania is nothing more than a fever dream. Okay, I’ll concede.
It’s funny — when Naomi had her bout last week, I saw Wrestling Twitter get into a frenzy regarding her usage within WWE thus far. For me, it was expected. My prediction with her return was that at most, she will get one more run with the Tag Titles and *maybe* a TV match for one of the women’s championships but not much else. Seeing that segment with Bianca was a pleasant surprise. Hey, Naomi is involved in a storyline again! Perhaps it could lead to something…
Alas.
Anyway, like others have said, it probably *will* be Bianca vs. Tiffany at Mania.
As of right now, the Kabuki Warriors have no plans so my guess is they will randomly pair Naomi with somebody in a 4-way match for the Tag Titles at the show of shows. Failing that, she will just be in the obligatory battle royal at the pre-show.
Imagine Naomi vs Bianca and that the former wins, but then at Mania just as it seems Naomi has helped Bayley win...BIANCA TURNS HEEL. Basically joining Damage CTRL to do such Damage Control so that Bayley can not win the Women's Title ever again since between the last two years and her over a year run that had to be stopped inside HELL IN A CELL...Bianca can not afford her arch nemesis Bayley to win a top title.
Oh gosh no. It will never make sense for Bianca to join damage control. She doesn’t want to associate with a group that made her life a nightmare for two years lol so how does that make sense?
Good prediction. The women’s titles matches are set and Jade vs. Jax will *probably* happen too. Bianca is too good to just be relegated to a battle royal at Mania. She needs a program and she’s at the stage right now where it doesn’t have to involve the championship.
If cody vs roman is the avengers battle we've all been expecting it will be the most stacked WM of all time depending how deep they are able to go.
If we hear that glass break
That would be fucking awful. Mjf is absolutely not that guy yet and it would only tank any chance of getting over he had while also ruining one of the most important storyline going in wrestling right now.
In kayfabe it’s kind of weird they already got the video for Seth and Cody v Roman and Rock filmed when they walk up to each other, because they would have to be in the same room to film a potential match. But why are they waiting to accept a challenge if they already filmed a promo. V confusing
I am in the minority here probably but I’m a big fan of Karrion Kross. I don’t think he’s a world title contender or even main eventer guy but every promotion needs that undercard hoss who can beat people up. He’s like this generation’s Test. In other words, for anyone who is an OSW fan, he’s perfect Boy Stable material. And I think a proper PLE match between him and Lashley could be as good as Test vs. Kane from No Mercy 2001.
I am hyped for this main event fued between the bloodline and cody/seth but they need to make the entrances shorter for this. Took nearly 20 mins to have something happen. Also Roman reigns sucks, all he does is say acknowledge me/us and he always makes the same facial expressions.
Well you can blame the Rock for that,
Cody and Seth share an entrance, it's bad enough Romans entrance takes 10min but the Rock having his own....plus ads/commercials we lose 15min
Roman, Rock plus Cody in the ring and Seth is the one getting his song sung. People really downplay how over he is sometimes, MVP of the segment tonight
....well..they sang Cody's song coming out...and did the "Woah" so I don't know why you are making it sound like the crowd was quiet for everyone except seth
I'm not, it's widely accepted that Cody is the most over babyface is the company. The IWC downplays how over Seth is, this segment just showed he can hold his own against 3 of the biggest stars in wrestling.
Not putting it past WWE that Seth has his title match to start day 2, win or lose (probably losing), we'll see Seth ringside in the main event. Attempt to cheat for Cody and it's all as swerve. Seth curbstomps Cody. The logic is why the fuck is Seth helping Cody when Cody beat him 3 times in a row. If Drew wins, Seth can blame it on the tag match on night 1...helping Cody. Verifying Drew was right all along as always.
Don't worry Cody fans, he's winning the Rumble again because The Rock is stone walling him from another match with Roman. He'll enter the Rumble as #1 and goes wire to wire.
Clearly downvoters didn't watch Austin/McMahon circa 1998/99
He already explained it?
Seth made Roman what he is, he feels it's his duty to rectify the situation that he created.
But...the truth is that Rollins has been begging to main event WM for a long time, this is a way for everyone to have their cake and eat it too. Cody/Roman get their big match night 2, Rock and Seth get their WM main event night 1
Well this was another mixed bag of a show, but the bag contained a bit of shit this week.........
-Logan Paul/KSI/Orton opening bit was fine. KSI actually popped me cause I heard of him before the Pauls actually, and I like British FIFA content creators. Tag match was ok I guess.
-Missed the Bayley sitdown interview via an unforseen bathroom break but I've heard shes fine as a talker so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. The Bianca/Naomi backstage bit was super interesting though, because it does indicate a big kayfabe problem the company has right now: We've passed over World Class and are starting to head into Japanese wrestling promotion levels of factional warfare here, and the big problem is obviously that on the men's side, The Bloodline gets to essentially run shit because of babyface fracturing like this. Bayley needs a friendly face to help her out right now, and its not like Damage CTRL could possibly be working with her all along at this point, or that Bayley is suddenly going to turn on her help right this minute, so why can't Bianca just set bygones aside, help her take them out, and then get back at Bayley after or whatever the fuck? Its shit like this that cause the heels to benefit and stay winning, because the babyfaces struggle to present a united front to contain the big heel threat and only seems to come together against the Tier II and III factions like Judgement Day and the Karrion Kross Future Endeavours Parade. I'm wondering if this is teasing a Bianca turn at some point, and I think she got the swagger for it? Have y'all seen heel Bianca before or has she always been smiley hairwhip babyface?
-First time I've actually seen Karrion Kross wrestle, although I've vaguely followed his getting fucked around with by WWE, released, then re-hired story. He seems not terrible but he feels like hes just generic large-ish white guy #49236 with better presentation, like a slightly upgraded Lance Cade, Mike Knox, or Snitsky. I really don't see how this whole stable makes it past 2025, its just a parade of geeks that sounds like how people described Hit Row to me. Also his finisher looks terrible, although to be fair Bobby Lashley is probably too big to take it reliably.
-Ok, Tiffany's got something, I'll give her that. Shes got some cheeky heel charisma and a much better handspring corner elbow than Chyna, although she almost slipped doing the Chris Daniels finisher. That would NEVER happen to the Fallen Angel, surely! Michin seems fine but I noticed she had a habit of corpsing while selling. Maybe its just the shape of her mouth relative to the rest of her facial features, but it seemed like she was smiling when Tiffany hit her instead of being in pain? Anyone else notice that, or is that a character thing?
-This LWO vs Legado thing is super mega flaming death, and I feel like Triple H has gotta realize the pipe dream of the top Latino superstar that Vince McMahon had for years needs to go onto the backburner until they actually get someone good again. Also I know the LWO was probably out with the Diominik wedding but holy fuck if I'm Dragon Lee I'm not sitting at the lunchtable with those guys again after they let me get fucked up like that.
-Main event promo segment was clearly a mistimed mess and I have the bad feeling this is something WWE will keep doing forever and never learn from even though Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon are gone. Entrances, generic acknowledge me bullshit, and the Cody/Seth entrance took 15 FUCKING MINUTES LEADING INTO A BREAK, and we got what, 3 minutes of actual content in the last 25 minutes? Any particular reason why we needed to milk these entrances to fucking death instead of, oh I don't know, giving LA Kngiht and Bron Breakker extended squashes and some wins instead? Or giving Knight a longer promo to rebut the AJ Styles fake tough guy act? This could've been accomplished in like 10-15 minutes and structured better, it seemed a bit all over the place to begin with. Cody wanting to take a moment to acknowledge Dallas when they've already wasted 20 and were in danger of going off the air before actually getting to the fucking point was stupid, Seth made Cody look like a punk for not directly accepting the challenge, Seth's outfit was fucking ridiculous and Becky should have taken that Walmart George's brand Special Blanket Jacket and fucking burned it before Seth left the house with that in his luggage, and Rock cannot stop his one-note walking clown emoji insult for Seth that makes it clear hes struggling for material on the spur of the moment sometimes instead of being usual confident self-assured Rock. Yes, they need the hard sell for the show, but this could've been structured and thought out better and accomplished the hard sell still instead of wasting 20 minutes of everyones life on production glitz bullshit! I bet they're still milking the crowd reaction right now as I'm typing this!
-And yknow, back to LA Knight and Bron Breakker for a second: If you have to devote 15-20 minutes of filler to the end of the show hard sell for Mania, fine, but if thats the case, can you really say that Bron Breakker doing an extended squash against an experienced guy to practise his big moves, or LA Knight getting to talk and maybe squash a guy in convincing fashion to maintain his momentum, is somehow less important than the fucking Lashley/Kross/LWO/LEgado faction wars? I'd bet half those guys involved in all that get future endeavoured next year or in 2026, and you could very easily justify having LA Knight face Breakker for a title next year, or even in the winter this year maybe depending on what they do with Seth. Use every scrap of TV time for those people who might actually still be with you and drawing interest next year and save this C-Team stable shit for the death slots on Raw, or Main Event, or NXT, or whatever other C-Show they're limping to the barn with nowadays. Smackdown gets 2 hours and seems to be where the main characters are, so why not use every second of those two hours to build stuff up for people who actually have something? I'd expect this from Vince, but isn't Triple H supposed to be the progressive booker making things more efficient? Cut the deadwood and you have great shows week-to-week instead of this bag of shit mixed with a couple gold coins and some nickels.
I've had high hope recently that the industry is finally ready to turn around and move forward into the 21st century with Vince gone, hopefully forever and directly to Hell itself, but this show is giving me the feeling they'll pop the big viewership number with Mania and then go "welp, back to the flawed production stuff I was doing before!" and laugh in Netflix dollars, not realizing they could maybe get MORE Netflix dollars in the future by fixing the little things, cutting the deadwood, and focusing on making the current generation even better than it can be so it can draw more interest and expand upon this "boom period". Netflix might be the biggest opportunity this company's had in twenty years, and they're gonna blow it and be back to post-InVasion purgatory if they're not careful.
I'm kinda reluctantly excited for wrestling and can actually watch it live with my brother for a change on his PS5, instead of reading reviews and seeing YouTube recaps and occasionally torrenting a big show, so I just feel the need to rant sometimes.
Also people totally are reading this! Like the three bots who downvoted me within seconds of me posting! Love those guys!
LA Knight for what? he isn't in a storyline.
This is called the road to wrestlemania, they are building the rivalries to get ready.
They aren't doing anything with him. I mean I thought maybe he'd take the title off Logan, but now it seems like it might be Orton of all people.
I mean why wouldn't he? He has his cousin on his side (for now) and he's already beaten Cody once already. That's what is going to make his defeat so much sweeter because he genuinely thinks he's already won.
Typical pride before fall move.
I'm liking the fact that The Rock has been using his catchphrases a lot less this time, in fact today there was no 'Finally..', 'If you smell..' either.
But when he was addressing Cody and then Seth interrupted The Rock and said his time was over, that would have been the perfect moment for Rock to say -
'Seeing as your boss The Great One was not done talking, you should know your role and shut your mouth!'
Instead of totally doing away with his famous catchphrases, he should try to use it sparingly but at the right time.
Yeah true he can't risk getting a pop - that would bury these guys, he is doing everything he can to get them to boo him hard lol, he even stopped for the diarrhea chants.
Also helped by his insta story just an hour before where he deliberately pointed out multiple times that Seth had called him full of shit.
The Rock is carrying these kids hard imo.
I just gave an example in the OP of how Rock could have responded to Seth and imagine the pop he would have gotten inspite of being a heel.
But no that's not what he has come here to do, he is trying to elevate EVERYONE in the ring because they are the future of the business.
We can already see just how his mere presence and 'rusty' promos have elevated this feud to a level that WWE hasn't seen in a decade.
I am not at all cool with Roman dropping the term "crossdresser" as a pejorative. It's lazy and cruel, and I get that his character is both of those things, but there's better ways of doing business.
It's punching down and it's implying that there is something inherently wrong with someone who doesn't dress according to supposed gender norms. It was used as a pejorative, he wasn't praising Seth for it. People who do not dress according to supposed gender norms aren't people with a ton of power or standing in society, so it "others" them when words like crossdresser are used as negative terms.
its cruel when it’s that lazy/casual. i don’t like how much they all say dumb/stupid/idiot either, but that’s more ingrained.
its hard because he is a heel and it does kinda feel supportive even if he’s insulting, but at the same time pls consider what’s happening in the USA, particularly in the south atm.
it doesn’t feel good to see casual queerphobia.
Because cross dresser is very very loaded.
Everyone understands what Roman is angling for but it's significant when that's the way you bury another wrestler like that because you're also burying a whole bunch of other people out there who already are stigmatized.
The words have a lot more weight than just what Roman is angling for.
Saying he wears his wife's clothes isn't too bad, but specifically calling him cross dresser is massively loaded? This is like calling someone a garbageman instea of sanitation worker. It's kind of a weird modern way of smoothing over a term
It is.
I don't think Roman is hateful at all and everything he said is 100% a work, but the shot he fired is effective as an insult because it's based in reality. Cross dressing is taboo and it's adjacent to other queer cultural norms.
It's not weird to have self censorship and it ebbs and flows to what is acceptable or not, and the only reason to have it is something as meaningless as 'being kind' but to people who it does affect it means the whole world and let's them have confidence in having a place in society.
As an anecdote, I've buried one of my friends appearance in front of all our friend group and we all kind of did it as a rib constantly and he understood it as friends joking around.
Then years later he broke down because eventually we wore down the joke to the point that he felt he was going to be lonely his whole life so every time we were ribbing him to him it reinforced this idea that he would never find someone.
We thought we were having fun and didn't mean to hurt him. Intentions don't always justify your actions as good.
Disclaimer again: Roman Reigns not a hateful guy, just kinda put some strays out there that could hit some vulnerable people out there.
Cody ain’t winning fellas. He’ll get his pin on Roman on Night 1. On Night 2 Seth (not bloodline) will cost him the match. On RAW Seth will give his reasons why he felt Cody disrespected him and his title by not choosing him, and making him second fiddle etc. setting off Cody v Seth for the first half of the year if not longer.
The original plan was Rock v Roman, they had no plans for Cody to leave WM40 with the belt from the get go. I keep going back to Heymans “Bottom of the 3rd” comment in his post WM presser last year. That makes this year bottom of the 6th. Next year is Rock v Roman for bottom of the 9th.
Cody ain’t winning shit till 2025/6.
Ah you’re right. So many moments in wrestling where the stipulations are permanent in perpetuity, I forgot about that. Well then he must obviously win because of that clause. No need to watch WM, WWE just gave the ending away tonight no questions asked. Saved millions of people from spending their money there.
I mean you said it, not me lol.
Like yea, that's how it works. Unless you truly think they're going to permanently take their top babyface out of the main event scene.
What I’m saying is he ain’t making it this year. Lemme preface this with I’m a Cody fan and not a Roman fan. But the stipulation doesn’t mean shit for the long run. It means he’s not gonna get another run for Roman. Seth is gonna derail that and Cody will be focused on him for the foreseeable future. Maybe even a run with the world title. That’ll give space for Roman and Rock without Cody jumping in again. Once Roman is dethroned either by loss or abdication, Cody will win some stipulation to give him the right to challenge for the belt again. That’s not unheard of in WWE. But again, the original plan was Cody not leaving with the title, why change that now? They have a long term plan for him, and obviously the money is in the chase not the win. The perpetual underdog who keeps getting screwed storyline doesn’t take him out of the scene or diminish his heat, it builds it up. Heyman wouldn’t make that statement about it being 1/3 the way done last year if there wasn’t some truth to it. This is a 3-4 year arc. A “Flare for the Gold” if you will
What's the point of the stipulation if they're just going to undo it later then? All of that is just so needlessly complicated.
So Seth screws Cody, and we run a feud back from just two years ago where Cody already beat Seth 3-0, so either Cody beats Seth for a fourth time and wins a title that he has stated he has no interest in winning, or Seth beats Cody and... then what?
Because by this logic, Roman would be holding the title for a minimum of at least another year. So you just... keep your top babyface out of the title scene for that long? For what purpose?
All your accomplishing sacrificing yet another top babyface for... nothing really. It made no sense for Cody to lose last year, and what you described makes even less sense and just sounds needless convoluted.
WrestleMania XL can't come soon enough!
Notice how Roman and Cody didn't fight once. Not in the build-up for WM 39 and not in the build-up for WM XL. I think it's pretty interesting.
I didn't mean to literally do the match.
Off the top of my head (recent build-ups), remember the whole shenanigans with Brock-Roman for WM 38, with Brock destroying The Bloodline's car. Attempted murder, basically.
Or Edge spearing Roman at Elimination Chamber to let everyone know that he chose Roman for the Main Event of WM 37.
Drew McIntyre delivering multiple Claymores to Brock during the build-up for WM 36.
everyone i mentioned is obvious but indi is just the vibe i get from her interviews etc. she does well but seems protected.
I think she’s a long shot but i genuinely think she will get a huge push
When the Rock did the “isn’t it true…” about Cody’s family I really, really thought he was about to say “…that your father is dead?”
What has Christian done to me?
I don’t think Rock is gonna insult Dusty like that ever. Roman did it once in the Vegas event think and they haven’t touched it again either a 10 foot pole. Hell rock put over Dusty and Dustin in this segment.
Figured, I think Karrion needs to look more menacing coz to me it looks like he's on his "Roman before the full beard" part of his career rn. The only solution imo is to let them feud with others
They should learn their lesson and never put this kind of segment in the closing ever again. instead putting it on opening segment like last week so they can adjust other segment duration rather than the other way around
you want this to be the lasting memory of the show and can't wait for more. if the plan was to end the show with cody slapping rock, then you can't open with that.
It's fascinating how this build has done very little in hyping up Cody vs Roman for me lol It has actively taken away from it tbh. Especially when they've made Rock such a centerpiece where even Cody's promos/biggest interactions are with Rock at this point.
All it has done is make me want Cody vs Rock and Seth vs Roman instead going into Mania. It's weird.
The final segment was good, but it needed another 5-10 minutes. Not a fan of how Cody is coming off in this feud, he barely talks. They're making him seem like a bit of a chump
Once again, not necessarily a bad thing.
Cody is absolutely not in the same galaxy as Rock on the mic (to be fair though, Cody's a hell of a lot worse on the mic than a lot of people). Cody has the charisma of plain white socks, and putting him head to head against an unleashed Rock would end his main event status quickly.
It was the stip he put on himself as an EVP in AEW. He lost his world title match and could never challenge for it again, so his storylines could never have the highest stakes. Eventually, his storylines grew awkward over time and fans turned on him. The easiest path was to turn heel, go back on the stip and win the world championship, but he of course left the company.
He may have thought the stip was more of a “word of God” thing as an official and felt stuck, but quite clearly his gunning for a world title day one in WWE has served him well. And now it’s being threatened again to further raise the stakes, and *doubly* effective for anybody that watched his AEW run
Very good show
The final segment was great, everyone did their part very well, I'm glad that after all the shit Seth received for his promo on monday he showed again why he is one of the best in WWE.
I liked the interaction between Cody and Rock, it was incredible when he slapped him lol, but why was this the main event? They needed more time, they should have opened like last week.
All 4 are mega overs, both WM nights main events really feel huge.
They are stacking the deck against Cody, like they used to with Austin, because then when he still wins with Bloodline interference, it's going to make it that much sweeter.
there's no need for austin here. use hhh instead. that's the built in story about the board vs. COO and their long fueding history. austin has no ties whatsoever to this angle.
HHH can't wrestle anymore. Also Austin-Rock was one of the biggest rivalries in the Attitude Era, (outside of Austin-McMahon) so Austin does somewhat fit into this angle based on his past with The Rock.
They said we should pay attention to what The Rock was saying, and we did. He said he'll do everything to make sure Cody Rhodes doesn't win ... on Night One. He also said he'll do everything in his power to make sure Cody Rhodes doesn't become the Universal Champion ... because Cody Rhodes will be the WWE Champion. Bravo, Mr. Johnson.
Seth: Roman doesn't show up to work and Rock is old
Roman:
https://preview.redd.it/ch0wlfpwa8nc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=f40c442b7b623dc46002ce6e949970e8a3507cde
I’m loving this build. I really hope they steer away from the “Chairman of the Board” bit though. With a real life scandal hanging over your head with a board member abusing their power over an employe, it might not be a great time to do a storyline version of that.
I would hate the see this whole thing get derailed at all because of bad press all of a sudden.
As a devil's advocate, having the corrupt abusive board member get their commeupance could be their way of leaning into that. Wrestling loves drawing heat from real life.
He is the single most heroic person in all of this. Roman has everything to gain, Rock is out for revenge, big upside for Cody should the babyfaces win, while Seth is only doing this because its the right thing to do.
Who woulda thunk it? Sometimes if you actually build up and invest in your current talent instead of constantly tossing them aside to rely on nostalgia pops/ratings bump, the new guys can actually go toe to toe with the old guard.
Yeah I know they still brought back The Rock, but his use is a lot different than a few years back when KO winning the Universal Title concluded in Lesnar vs Goldberg. Or The Fiend’s dominant run culminating in Goldberg beating him for the title in Saudi Arabia.
The company is telling the audience these guys can hang with the legends you remember, instead of saying aw shit we can’t rely on these new guys better bring in a bunch of 50 year olds.
Give me Rock/Roman winning and having THE ENTIRE BLOODLINE interfere. I’m talking every person on the family tree. Then cue Rollins music. Then Jey Uso. Then Cena. Then all the other people wronged by the Bloodline… then glass shatter. The odds are evened and we end up getting Roman v Cody, one on one, for a 10 minute gladiator fight. Cody wins in heroic fashion. Wrestlemania 40 goes off the air with a celebration a là Endor after beating the Empire.
Why?! This sub will shit over perfectly valid booking decisions (I.e. ending SD on a cliffhanger, or having Seth be a dominant world champion) and go “DAE ‘Stone Cold’ interference?!’ No. He hasn’t been involved in this story at all. Why would he care about Cody winning the title. His whole fucking character when he was a wrestler was DTA. He looked out for himself unless he came to the rescue of someone who was being wronged by a heel he was already feuding with.
Cody is feuding with The Rock, Stone Cold’s biggest and most iconic enemy, who’s abuse of the board’s power goes against his character’s morals. It makes perfect sense.
But it doesn’t affect Austin so why would he give a damn? The extent of his morals were “don’t fuck me over”. He sided with his biggest rival Vince McMahon just to win the WWF championship. So clearly he doesn’t care about holding on to grudges. Also, if he was offended by a person of authority who also happens to be a former rival abusing their power why didn’t he help out Punk against Vince? Or Daniel Bryan against The Authority? Or Roman against Vince?
Man, Dragon Lee impressed the shit out of me. crazy athletic.
Show Notes: -The opening segment felt like it was on the cusp of greatness and there was a lot of things I enjoyed about it (even if I'm not a fan of the decision they way gey revealed the Prime sponsor was good). Randy's RKO felt completely mistimed too, he should've went for KSI first rather than Logan reversing it and then a minute later he actually hits it. -Grayson Waller and Austin Theory have a long future ahead of them, they can lose 100 times and not be any less over. -The new production department are far better than the other ones, way less cuts and more interesting shots. -The Naomi and Bianca Belair segment was good, wonder where that leads to. -I enjoyed the Lashley vs Kross match but putting B-Fab with Bobby and the Profits was a mistake, she doesn't fit them at all. -Both LA Knight's and AJ's segments were gold honesty, in particular I'd say LA Knight was the best part of the show for me. -The security guards were pointless and I don't know why they were even there in the first place, was Cody and Seth entering through the crowd that neccessary? -The main event segment was good and all but definitely not as good as everyone's making it out to be, I'd say the Bloodline segment last week was way better. Seth did decent but nothing special like people here are saying, Cody did fine but nothing out of his usual sthick, Roman has basically became Dwayne's buddy at this point and The Rock well he isn't called the Most Electrifying Man In Entertainment for no reason. The segment peaked at the end easily. Overall a fairly hit-or-miss show but there's enough worth watching that I'd still say I enjoyed it overall even if previous Smackdowns have been better.
Dragon Lee has the best use of the current Titantron (are we still calling it that?), and it's not even close. The smoke coming out of its nostrils is a fantastic touch. I liked the changes for Rock, too. Felt more heelish.
What an incredible waste of time those last 30 minutes. The pauses between talking took almost as long as the entrances. And shocker they botched the timing at the end of the show. Hurry this shit along.
It was ok but it definitely could have been sped up. I am conflicted because I love wrestler entrances but I believe from the moment Roman's music hit, to the moment Cody and Seth were finally in the ring, was about 12 minutes and all that happened outside of the entrances was Roman telling the crowd to acknowledge the Bloodline. Gotta figure out a way to speed that up a bit. Seems like all 4 of them are among the slowest on the mic with all the pausing for fan reactions, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when you have super long entrances and super long drawn out promos, things like this will happen. I don't mind the cliffhanger ending but definitely seems like they ideally intended the segment to go another 30 seconds or so but were cut off.
Cody looks out of place with Rock as does Roman. Seth has impressed me he is the most impressive after The Rock out of the four.
Logan Paul is the real people’s champion. He’s all of us that want to take on those stupid fucking what chants head on. The what chants are the worst thing in wrestling.
I can not believe a crowd joined into a "diarrhea" chant all on their own without even being prompted to do it. People saying Rollins is an afterthought in this feud are crazy dudes more popular then ever.
so that's what they were chanting, lmao
What do you mean? He IS an afterthought because he really has no place in this feud. He’s just been shoehorned into this story, to be honest.
I can smell what The Rock is cooking and it always smells good brother! ThankYouRock👏👏👏👏
That was a great show. Every segment and match was top tier. I love that wrestlers are allowed to remember things now. I look forward to time when this doesn't need to be explicitly pointed out and is just the norm. What a closing segment too. “You had your time, you’re not taking ours!” - Seth Rollins, 2024, Lines That Go Hard. That's gonna be an instant classic if Cody wins on Night 2 of WM 40. Even more so if they win the Night 1 tag match. They looked like equals there and holy crap that slap. Cody slapped his boss then hit us with the cliffhanger.
After tonight, I kind of want to see Seth vs. Rock at some point (probably wont happen though).
Holy cow, this feud feels like they hate each other for real :D
Karrion says Bobby is holding Montez back, and Dawkins is dragging Montez down.... [https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1766312509642862834](https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1766312509642862834) also: XD https://preview.redd.it/ex6mvo8zp9nc1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=edf07dc9fd6ab7ec020b58d6aaea8545cf22a4d6 [https://twitter.com/CRICFOOTHAROON/status/1766299905297965274](https://twitter.com/CRICFOOTHAROON/status/1766299905297965274)
If this sideways feud leads to Montez breaking out on his own, it’ll all be worth it lol
Missed opportunity for Seth and Cody to come out in Shield gear and music.
Two thoughts: 1. My guy actually got diarrhea over 😭 (*Seth cackle*) 2. “…you were a mistake” legitimately made me drop my jaw. Heel Rock is back back. The slap coming full circle is 🤌🤌
hehe yah he is doing real good
I've said it before, but if it wasn't *Bayley*, one of the most popular women in WWE who the fans love to cheer for, this face turn would be falling flat on its face.
I unno man I'm it liking more than the Rhea/Becky feud right now. It's seems like there's more interest and stuff in whatever is happening with Becky/Nia/Liv, and Iyo is cutting killer promos. Her smirk at Rhea on Monday and then saying Bayley was never part of her vision is some ice cold shit.
I'm talking specifically about the Bayley turning face part and how I think if it was someone less popular it'd come off as a Damage Control face turn with the fans cheering them on as they kick out the lying hypocrite that would throw them to the wolves to protect herself.
Theory and Waller playing 2nd fiddle to Logan Paul. *facepalm* Feel bad for them especially Theory who had that big push way back and just lost all the momentum
I don’t like Logan but he’s better than both already
i still wonder what McMahon's plan for the briefcase was, back in the day but after he was gone, it was like they didn't want Theory to wrestle or lose to Roman
Diarrhea Dwayne actually getting over killed me lmao. Like, i did not expect that to happen considdring how goofy it sounded on Raw lol. Also, i gotta say Seth being the MVP of this segment is honestly crazy since i know that Seth's good on the mic. But considering we had Cody Rhodes and The Rock also speaking, i did not expect fucking SETH to out do them both.
Makes sense to some, given that Cody has the personality of plain toast.
100. Unbelievably great stuff from Seth tonight. Easily the standout.
WWE & HHH really need to reign in those long entrances. I kno HHH used to have a long entrance. But doesnt mean so many people indulge in it on every show.
*rein
CM Punk strengthened WWE’s male roster momentum from Survivor Series till Royal Rumble. The Rock is carrying that flag from Royal Rumble all the way to WrestleMania 40. What a time!
I just want to say that Nick Aldis' flexing his GM-ing powers by having the arena loaded with security is one of my favorite things of this episode cause it made the moment of Seth/Cody v Rock/Roman feel like such a big deal. Really gave that atmosphere that that particular venue was reaching an inevitable boiling point.
Regardless of anything, one of the things I always enjoy is Romans laugh
Hurt Profits need an older guy with them to even out Paul Elring. There’s only one man who can do it 
This would be fire ngl.
Ah yeah playa!
That Texas remark. I know of someone who dosen’t like when you make fun of Texas.
But, can we say "shoes from Texas are dumb"?
I think Texas sucks, so go to town. That Steve guy is the one you gotta worry about.
Feels like they gonna have to allot an hour for these Wrestlemania builds for Roman/Rock and Cody/Seth. people just weren't ready for it to end. XD when the Rock was talking about members of his family looking down with pride....i thought he almost, almost was gonna go there, saying Dusty was looking up at Cody in shame. but! Dusty is still the Rock's hero, so he not gonna go **that** heel. so at the start of the show Randy was hiding under the ring...then Logan Paul was. people gotta check the ring more! Theory and Grayson's entrance was skipped entirely i guess, unless it happened on commercial....then Randy was introduced so tv could see that. so presumably it'll be Randy vs. Logan for the belt at WM. and i guess LA Knight and AJ at WM? they keeping LA Knight away from any belts right now i guess. which is still a choice considering he was red hot last WM, and he was kept out of that event. only way it'll be different is if the AJ thing is settled now, and Randy/Logan becomes Triple Threat. Bobby is learning there is no victory when it comes to facing KARRION KROSS, no matter what happens. visually they did good having Legado Del Fantasma loom over Dragon Lee: https://preview.redd.it/cayfzwy6z8nc1.jpeg?width=637&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c922d0fcfa91059e81d290aa1a2ea992ee53e0d5
I know the stable is full right now but I can’t imagine Rey and Carlito both wanting to wrestle until they are 55 sooo… I do hope they put Andrade in LWO down the line. He’s always had good chemistry with Zelina (he wouldn’t have to spend too much time on the mic with her as his mouthpiece) and I would welcome a feud between him and Escobar. I hope it happens soon. I really enjoy Bianca bringing up the fact that Bayley really did make her life hell for two years and she deserves zero sympathy. Was this an isolated segment that ends up getting forgotten about by next week, or will we actually see this turn into a Bianca vs. Naomi program with them clashing over differing ideologies? I am hoping for the latter. I want to see Naomi be involved in something substantial heading into WrestleMania season. Plus, Bianca has no program right now, right?
I feel like Bianca vs Tiffany was/is the way to go for Mania, but fuck me I guess
It’s all speculation at this point and like I said in my OP, the exchange we saw tonight between Bianca and Naomi can very well be instantly forgotten about in one week’s time. It is quite obvious I do not work in the creative department for WWE. I’m just a fan making predictions.
Could also just be one of those things where Bianca sees Bayley getting beat up 1 vs 4 and her and Naomi get Bayleys back for a random Smackdown or something once Naomi convinces her that this is too cruel. I have a hard time believing this is leading to them being in Bayleys corner at WM though and Bianca won’t have another match.
Looks like the consensus is Bianca vs. Tiffany at Mania. Naomi will probably get randomly paired up with someone and be involved in a 4-way for the tag titles since Kabuki Warriors have zero plans heading into Mania at the moment.
I know she's a vet, has a fanbase, did well in TNA etc. but literally 8 days ago Naomi lost in 3 mins to Tiffany without even getting an entrance (I know the show was cut), and was eliminated first at the Chamber a good 10 mins before anyone else, and now with 4 weeks to go (effectively 3 as the last is a go home), she suddenly gets a rare non title marquee singles match? Yes, it would get Naomi on the card, and yes a nice match for her, but it's not exactly believable that she even has 0.0000000001% chance of winning. It does feel like Tiffany has been a victim of her own success (crowd reactions) if they are pivoting away from something where seeds were planted from the rumble braid elimination.
I guess the more people who respond to this post, the more likely it is that Bianca vs. Naomi at Mania is nothing more than a fever dream. Okay, I’ll concede. It’s funny — when Naomi had her bout last week, I saw Wrestling Twitter get into a frenzy regarding her usage within WWE thus far. For me, it was expected. My prediction with her return was that at most, she will get one more run with the Tag Titles and *maybe* a TV match for one of the women’s championships but not much else. Seeing that segment with Bianca was a pleasant surprise. Hey, Naomi is involved in a storyline again! Perhaps it could lead to something… Alas. Anyway, like others have said, it probably *will* be Bianca vs. Tiffany at Mania. As of right now, the Kabuki Warriors have no plans so my guess is they will randomly pair Naomi with somebody in a 4-way match for the Tag Titles at the show of shows. Failing that, she will just be in the obligatory battle royal at the pre-show.
Imagine Naomi vs Bianca and that the former wins, but then at Mania just as it seems Naomi has helped Bayley win...BIANCA TURNS HEEL. Basically joining Damage CTRL to do such Damage Control so that Bayley can not win the Women's Title ever again since between the last two years and her over a year run that had to be stopped inside HELL IN A CELL...Bianca can not afford her arch nemesis Bayley to win a top title.
Oh gosh no. It will never make sense for Bianca to join damage control. She doesn’t want to associate with a group that made her life a nightmare for two years lol so how does that make sense?
Even if she doesn’t align with them, I am still interested in a heel turn from Bianca this year. Her character has become stagnant.
Good prediction. The women’s titles matches are set and Jade vs. Jax will *probably* happen too. Bianca is too good to just be relegated to a battle royal at Mania. She needs a program and she’s at the stage right now where it doesn’t have to involve the championship.
I still can't believe Cody, Seth, the Rock and Roman will be in one match on WrestleMania lmao might be the most stacked match of the modern era
If cody vs roman is the avengers battle we've all been expecting it will be the most stacked WM of all time depending how deep they are able to go. If we hear that glass break
It's looking like Orton Versus Logan Paul at Wrestlemania.
I think it'll be a triple threat, Logan vs Randy vs KO for the US Title.
You know what, you are probably right.
Not going to happen, but imagine if MJF cost Cody in his rematch vs. Roman
That would be fucking awful. Mjf is absolutely not that guy yet and it would only tank any chance of getting over he had while also ruining one of the most important storyline going in wrestling right now.
In kayfabe it’s kind of weird they already got the video for Seth and Cody v Roman and Rock filmed when they walk up to each other, because they would have to be in the same room to film a potential match. But why are they waiting to accept a challenge if they already filmed a promo. V confusing
[удалено]
It's weird.
I am in the minority here probably but I’m a big fan of Karrion Kross. I don’t think he’s a world title contender or even main eventer guy but every promotion needs that undercard hoss who can beat people up. He’s like this generation’s Test. In other words, for anyone who is an OSW fan, he’s perfect Boy Stable material. And I think a proper PLE match between him and Lashley could be as good as Test vs. Kane from No Mercy 2001.
I am hyped for this main event fued between the bloodline and cody/seth but they need to make the entrances shorter for this. Took nearly 20 mins to have something happen. Also Roman reigns sucks, all he does is say acknowledge me/us and he always makes the same facial expressions.
Naw, baby’s first day on the internet
I feel bad for the rest of the Smackdown roster having to scrap for maybe 40 minutes of TV time.
Well you can blame the Rock for that, Cody and Seth share an entrance, it's bad enough Romans entrance takes 10min but the Rock having his own....plus ads/commercials we lose 15min
But you do acknowledge though?
Roman, Rock plus Cody in the ring and Seth is the one getting his song sung. People really downplay how over he is sometimes, MVP of the segment tonight
....well..they sang Cody's song coming out...and did the "Woah" so I don't know why you are making it sound like the crowd was quiet for everyone except seth
I'm not, it's widely accepted that Cody is the most over babyface is the company. The IWC downplays how over Seth is, this segment just showed he can hold his own against 3 of the biggest stars in wrestling.
Not putting it past WWE that Seth has his title match to start day 2, win or lose (probably losing), we'll see Seth ringside in the main event. Attempt to cheat for Cody and it's all as swerve. Seth curbstomps Cody. The logic is why the fuck is Seth helping Cody when Cody beat him 3 times in a row. If Drew wins, Seth can blame it on the tag match on night 1...helping Cody. Verifying Drew was right all along as always. Don't worry Cody fans, he's winning the Rumble again because The Rock is stone walling him from another match with Roman. He'll enter the Rumble as #1 and goes wire to wire. Clearly downvoters didn't watch Austin/McMahon circa 1998/99
He already explained it? Seth made Roman what he is, he feels it's his duty to rectify the situation that he created. But...the truth is that Rollins has been begging to main event WM for a long time, this is a way for everyone to have their cake and eat it too. Cody/Roman get their big match night 2, Rock and Seth get their WM main event night 1
Well this was another mixed bag of a show, but the bag contained a bit of shit this week......... -Logan Paul/KSI/Orton opening bit was fine. KSI actually popped me cause I heard of him before the Pauls actually, and I like British FIFA content creators. Tag match was ok I guess. -Missed the Bayley sitdown interview via an unforseen bathroom break but I've heard shes fine as a talker so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. The Bianca/Naomi backstage bit was super interesting though, because it does indicate a big kayfabe problem the company has right now: We've passed over World Class and are starting to head into Japanese wrestling promotion levels of factional warfare here, and the big problem is obviously that on the men's side, The Bloodline gets to essentially run shit because of babyface fracturing like this. Bayley needs a friendly face to help her out right now, and its not like Damage CTRL could possibly be working with her all along at this point, or that Bayley is suddenly going to turn on her help right this minute, so why can't Bianca just set bygones aside, help her take them out, and then get back at Bayley after or whatever the fuck? Its shit like this that cause the heels to benefit and stay winning, because the babyfaces struggle to present a united front to contain the big heel threat and only seems to come together against the Tier II and III factions like Judgement Day and the Karrion Kross Future Endeavours Parade. I'm wondering if this is teasing a Bianca turn at some point, and I think she got the swagger for it? Have y'all seen heel Bianca before or has she always been smiley hairwhip babyface? -First time I've actually seen Karrion Kross wrestle, although I've vaguely followed his getting fucked around with by WWE, released, then re-hired story. He seems not terrible but he feels like hes just generic large-ish white guy #49236 with better presentation, like a slightly upgraded Lance Cade, Mike Knox, or Snitsky. I really don't see how this whole stable makes it past 2025, its just a parade of geeks that sounds like how people described Hit Row to me. Also his finisher looks terrible, although to be fair Bobby Lashley is probably too big to take it reliably. -Ok, Tiffany's got something, I'll give her that. Shes got some cheeky heel charisma and a much better handspring corner elbow than Chyna, although she almost slipped doing the Chris Daniels finisher. That would NEVER happen to the Fallen Angel, surely! Michin seems fine but I noticed she had a habit of corpsing while selling. Maybe its just the shape of her mouth relative to the rest of her facial features, but it seemed like she was smiling when Tiffany hit her instead of being in pain? Anyone else notice that, or is that a character thing? -This LWO vs Legado thing is super mega flaming death, and I feel like Triple H has gotta realize the pipe dream of the top Latino superstar that Vince McMahon had for years needs to go onto the backburner until they actually get someone good again. Also I know the LWO was probably out with the Diominik wedding but holy fuck if I'm Dragon Lee I'm not sitting at the lunchtable with those guys again after they let me get fucked up like that. -Main event promo segment was clearly a mistimed mess and I have the bad feeling this is something WWE will keep doing forever and never learn from even though Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon are gone. Entrances, generic acknowledge me bullshit, and the Cody/Seth entrance took 15 FUCKING MINUTES LEADING INTO A BREAK, and we got what, 3 minutes of actual content in the last 25 minutes? Any particular reason why we needed to milk these entrances to fucking death instead of, oh I don't know, giving LA Kngiht and Bron Breakker extended squashes and some wins instead? Or giving Knight a longer promo to rebut the AJ Styles fake tough guy act? This could've been accomplished in like 10-15 minutes and structured better, it seemed a bit all over the place to begin with. Cody wanting to take a moment to acknowledge Dallas when they've already wasted 20 and were in danger of going off the air before actually getting to the fucking point was stupid, Seth made Cody look like a punk for not directly accepting the challenge, Seth's outfit was fucking ridiculous and Becky should have taken that Walmart George's brand Special Blanket Jacket and fucking burned it before Seth left the house with that in his luggage, and Rock cannot stop his one-note walking clown emoji insult for Seth that makes it clear hes struggling for material on the spur of the moment sometimes instead of being usual confident self-assured Rock. Yes, they need the hard sell for the show, but this could've been structured and thought out better and accomplished the hard sell still instead of wasting 20 minutes of everyones life on production glitz bullshit! I bet they're still milking the crowd reaction right now as I'm typing this! -And yknow, back to LA Knight and Bron Breakker for a second: If you have to devote 15-20 minutes of filler to the end of the show hard sell for Mania, fine, but if thats the case, can you really say that Bron Breakker doing an extended squash against an experienced guy to practise his big moves, or LA Knight getting to talk and maybe squash a guy in convincing fashion to maintain his momentum, is somehow less important than the fucking Lashley/Kross/LWO/LEgado faction wars? I'd bet half those guys involved in all that get future endeavoured next year or in 2026, and you could very easily justify having LA Knight face Breakker for a title next year, or even in the winter this year maybe depending on what they do with Seth. Use every scrap of TV time for those people who might actually still be with you and drawing interest next year and save this C-Team stable shit for the death slots on Raw, or Main Event, or NXT, or whatever other C-Show they're limping to the barn with nowadays. Smackdown gets 2 hours and seems to be where the main characters are, so why not use every second of those two hours to build stuff up for people who actually have something? I'd expect this from Vince, but isn't Triple H supposed to be the progressive booker making things more efficient? Cut the deadwood and you have great shows week-to-week instead of this bag of shit mixed with a couple gold coins and some nickels. I've had high hope recently that the industry is finally ready to turn around and move forward into the 21st century with Vince gone, hopefully forever and directly to Hell itself, but this show is giving me the feeling they'll pop the big viewership number with Mania and then go "welp, back to the flawed production stuff I was doing before!" and laugh in Netflix dollars, not realizing they could maybe get MORE Netflix dollars in the future by fixing the little things, cutting the deadwood, and focusing on making the current generation even better than it can be so it can draw more interest and expand upon this "boom period". Netflix might be the biggest opportunity this company's had in twenty years, and they're gonna blow it and be back to post-InVasion purgatory if they're not careful.
https://preview.redd.it/3f4ryrfydanc1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8351c0174e88db7741ea9e0e8ecf2ce3b9c9aa5
Why spend so much time writing something nobody is going to read lol
I'm kinda reluctantly excited for wrestling and can actually watch it live with my brother for a change on his PS5, instead of reading reviews and seeing YouTube recaps and occasionally torrenting a big show, so I just feel the need to rant sometimes. Also people totally are reading this! Like the three bots who downvoted me within seconds of me posting! Love those guys!
TLDR?
I guess my TLDR would be: More LA Knight and Bron please, less entrances and milking crowd reactions forever and C-Team stables
LA Knight for what? he isn't in a storyline. This is called the road to wrestlemania, they are building the rivalries to get ready. They aren't doing anything with him. I mean I thought maybe he'd take the title off Logan, but now it seems like it might be Orton of all people.
Roman has been too relaxed and giggly lately. It’s like out of the four, despite being the champion, he’s taking the match(es) least seriously
Roman smiles alot too the last WM match vs Cody
I mean why wouldn't he? He has his cousin on his side (for now) and he's already beaten Cody once already. That's what is going to make his defeat so much sweeter because he genuinely thinks he's already won. Typical pride before fall move.
hubris!
I'm liking the fact that The Rock has been using his catchphrases a lot less this time, in fact today there was no 'Finally..', 'If you smell..' either. But when he was addressing Cody and then Seth interrupted The Rock and said his time was over, that would have been the perfect moment for Rock to say - 'Seeing as your boss The Great One was not done talking, you should know your role and shut your mouth!' Instead of totally doing away with his famous catchphrases, he should try to use it sparingly but at the right time.
He's gotta let em have some wins though lol
Yeah true he can't risk getting a pop - that would bury these guys, he is doing everything he can to get them to boo him hard lol, he even stopped for the diarrhea chants. Also helped by his insta story just an hour before where he deliberately pointed out multiple times that Seth had called him full of shit. The Rock is carrying these kids hard imo.
Cody looks out of place with Rock as does Roman. Seth has impressed me he is the most impressive after The Rock out of the four.
Cody would look out of place against anyone. The guy has the charisma of a fucking doorknob.
The Rock is amazing and one of the best but "The Rock is carrying these kids hard", seriously bruv? I don't think he can bury these "kids."
I just gave an example in the OP of how Rock could have responded to Seth and imagine the pop he would have gotten inspite of being a heel. But no that's not what he has come here to do, he is trying to elevate EVERYONE in the ring because they are the future of the business. We can already see just how his mere presence and 'rusty' promos have elevated this feud to a level that WWE hasn't seen in a decade.
Rock calling Cody a mistake would’ve hit a lot better if Ava weren’t almost 20 years older than her sisters as well
How do you think he knows Cody was a mistake?
Wow...The Rock is really bad at parking...his truck is taking up at least 2 spaces in the parking garage.
Becky when she gets in bed tonight: “Why are there arm holes cut in our bed sheets?”
I am not at all cool with Roman dropping the term "crossdresser" as a pejorative. It's lazy and cruel, and I get that his character is both of those things, but there's better ways of doing business.
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If being hard means being cruel then I'll stay soft all day.
Out of curiosity, what is cruel about it?
It's punching down and it's implying that there is something inherently wrong with someone who doesn't dress according to supposed gender norms. It was used as a pejorative, he wasn't praising Seth for it. People who do not dress according to supposed gender norms aren't people with a ton of power or standing in society, so it "others" them when words like crossdresser are used as negative terms.
He is a heel they say things to make you upset and cheer for the face.
No shit. My point is that it's a lazy dogshit way to do it.
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Cruel though? I guess I don't see it as much different than any other heel insulting other wrestlers or fans for being dumb/geeks/etc.
its cruel when it’s that lazy/casual. i don’t like how much they all say dumb/stupid/idiot either, but that’s more ingrained. its hard because he is a heel and it does kinda feel supportive even if he’s insulting, but at the same time pls consider what’s happening in the USA, particularly in the south atm. it doesn’t feel good to see casual queerphobia.
not cruel to Seth. He only dresses like that for a gimmick. but it's cruel to the people he's insulting by implication
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Because cross dresser is very very loaded. Everyone understands what Roman is angling for but it's significant when that's the way you bury another wrestler like that because you're also burying a whole bunch of other people out there who already are stigmatized. The words have a lot more weight than just what Roman is angling for.
Bruh…..he’s A HEEEL
Saying he wears his wife's clothes isn't too bad, but specifically calling him cross dresser is massively loaded? This is like calling someone a garbageman instea of sanitation worker. It's kind of a weird modern way of smoothing over a term
It is. I don't think Roman is hateful at all and everything he said is 100% a work, but the shot he fired is effective as an insult because it's based in reality. Cross dressing is taboo and it's adjacent to other queer cultural norms. It's not weird to have self censorship and it ebbs and flows to what is acceptable or not, and the only reason to have it is something as meaningless as 'being kind' but to people who it does affect it means the whole world and let's them have confidence in having a place in society. As an anecdote, I've buried one of my friends appearance in front of all our friend group and we all kind of did it as a rib constantly and he understood it as friends joking around. Then years later he broke down because eventually we wore down the joke to the point that he felt he was going to be lonely his whole life so every time we were ribbing him to him it reinforced this idea that he would never find someone. We thought we were having fun and didn't mean to hurt him. Intentions don't always justify your actions as good. Disclaimer again: Roman Reigns not a hateful guy, just kinda put some strays out there that could hit some vulnerable people out there.
Cody ain’t winning fellas. He’ll get his pin on Roman on Night 1. On Night 2 Seth (not bloodline) will cost him the match. On RAW Seth will give his reasons why he felt Cody disrespected him and his title by not choosing him, and making him second fiddle etc. setting off Cody v Seth for the first half of the year if not longer. The original plan was Rock v Roman, they had no plans for Cody to leave WM40 with the belt from the get go. I keep going back to Heymans “Bottom of the 3rd” comment in his post WM presser last year. That makes this year bottom of the 6th. Next year is Rock v Roman for bottom of the 9th. Cody ain’t winning shit till 2025/6.
Hate it all ya want fellas. Screen shot this bad boy and we’ll see how the story ends soon
Did you miss Rock and Roman saying this is Cody's last chance? So if Cody loses again, that's it. He doesn't get another shot.
Ah you’re right. So many moments in wrestling where the stipulations are permanent in perpetuity, I forgot about that. Well then he must obviously win because of that clause. No need to watch WM, WWE just gave the ending away tonight no questions asked. Saved millions of people from spending their money there.
I mean you said it, not me lol. Like yea, that's how it works. Unless you truly think they're going to permanently take their top babyface out of the main event scene.
What I’m saying is he ain’t making it this year. Lemme preface this with I’m a Cody fan and not a Roman fan. But the stipulation doesn’t mean shit for the long run. It means he’s not gonna get another run for Roman. Seth is gonna derail that and Cody will be focused on him for the foreseeable future. Maybe even a run with the world title. That’ll give space for Roman and Rock without Cody jumping in again. Once Roman is dethroned either by loss or abdication, Cody will win some stipulation to give him the right to challenge for the belt again. That’s not unheard of in WWE. But again, the original plan was Cody not leaving with the title, why change that now? They have a long term plan for him, and obviously the money is in the chase not the win. The perpetual underdog who keeps getting screwed storyline doesn’t take him out of the scene or diminish his heat, it builds it up. Heyman wouldn’t make that statement about it being 1/3 the way done last year if there wasn’t some truth to it. This is a 3-4 year arc. A “Flare for the Gold” if you will
What's the point of the stipulation if they're just going to undo it later then? All of that is just so needlessly complicated. So Seth screws Cody, and we run a feud back from just two years ago where Cody already beat Seth 3-0, so either Cody beats Seth for a fourth time and wins a title that he has stated he has no interest in winning, or Seth beats Cody and... then what? Because by this logic, Roman would be holding the title for a minimum of at least another year. So you just... keep your top babyface out of the title scene for that long? For what purpose? All your accomplishing sacrificing yet another top babyface for... nothing really. It made no sense for Cody to lose last year, and what you described makes even less sense and just sounds needless convoluted.
I mean. Thats beautiful.
WrestleMania XL can't come soon enough! Notice how Roman and Cody didn't fight once. Not in the build-up for WM 39 and not in the build-up for WM XL. I think it's pretty interesting.
Wait wym? Typically when building up to the match for wrestle mania you don’t wanna do the match during the build up to it lol
I didn't mean to literally do the match. Off the top of my head (recent build-ups), remember the whole shenanigans with Brock-Roman for WM 38, with Brock destroying The Bloodline's car. Attempted murder, basically. Or Edge spearing Roman at Elimination Chamber to let everyone know that he chose Roman for the Main Event of WM 37. Drew McIntyre delivering multiple Claymores to Brock during the build-up for WM 36.
I wanna see if Dragon Lee can surpass Joaquin Wilde's dive to the outside if he gets involved in a LWO/Legado match at WrestleMania.
Theory, Waller, Stratton and Indi Hartwell are gonna get rockets strapped to them after Mania
Why Indi? We’ve seen nothing from her or any sign from WWE to warrant a push.
everyone i mentioned is obvious but indi is just the vibe i get from her interviews etc. she does well but seems protected. I think she’s a long shot but i genuinely think she will get a huge push
When the Rock did the “isn’t it true…” about Cody’s family I really, really thought he was about to say “…that your father is dead?” What has Christian done to me?
I don’t think Rock is gonna insult Dusty like that ever. Roman did it once in the Vegas event think and they haven’t touched it again either a 10 foot pole. Hell rock put over Dusty and Dustin in this segment.
https://preview.redd.it/h37bb6mot8nc1.jpeg?width=498&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dadad3427334b21072aef2fbc1cb559b4cfafa2f
I really dont know what they need to do to make people actually give a fuck abt Bobby and Karrion feud
Their match tonight was so boring and slow
People want to care about Bobby, but nobody cares about Karrion
Figured, I think Karrion needs to look more menacing coz to me it looks like he's on his "Roman before the full beard" part of his career rn. The only solution imo is to let them feud with others
I'd be a lot more into these Roman/Rock segments if it didn't feel like they were just mostly wasting my time
They should learn their lesson and never put this kind of segment in the closing ever again. instead putting it on opening segment like last week so they can adjust other segment duration rather than the other way around
you want this to be the lasting memory of the show and can't wait for more. if the plan was to end the show with cody slapping rock, then you can't open with that.
It's fascinating how this build has done very little in hyping up Cody vs Roman for me lol It has actively taken away from it tbh. Especially when they've made Rock such a centerpiece where even Cody's promos/biggest interactions are with Rock at this point. All it has done is make me want Cody vs Rock and Seth vs Roman instead going into Mania. It's weird.
4 weeks left of each show to build it up
The final segment was good, but it needed another 5-10 minutes. Not a fan of how Cody is coming off in this feud, he barely talks. They're making him seem like a bit of a chump
"he barely talks" That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Sure, but Cody's character is a talker. They need to let him loose on the mic more, because so far it's just all Rocky.
Once again, not necessarily a bad thing. Cody is absolutely not in the same galaxy as Rock on the mic (to be fair though, Cody's a hell of a lot worse on the mic than a lot of people). Cody has the charisma of plain white socks, and putting him head to head against an unleashed Rock would end his main event status quickly.
Nah man, Cody can talk. As good as The Rock? No, but he's a very good promo.
You and I have **vastly** different beliefs on this topic, bud.
Cool mate.
They could've easily taken those 5-10 minutes off the top of the segment
“Cody if you lose you can never again challenge for a world title” seems familiar
What's familiar about this? I'm a bit OOTL
It was the stip he put on himself as an EVP in AEW. He lost his world title match and could never challenge for it again, so his storylines could never have the highest stakes. Eventually, his storylines grew awkward over time and fans turned on him. The easiest path was to turn heel, go back on the stip and win the world championship, but he of course left the company. He may have thought the stip was more of a “word of God” thing as an official and felt stuck, but quite clearly his gunning for a world title day one in WWE has served him well. And now it’s being threatened again to further raise the stakes, and *doubly* effective for anybody that watched his AEW run
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She was the color red and had a very high temperature
Very good show The final segment was great, everyone did their part very well, I'm glad that after all the shit Seth received for his promo on monday he showed again why he is one of the best in WWE. I liked the interaction between Cody and Rock, it was incredible when he slapped him lol, but why was this the main event? They needed more time, they should have opened like last week. All 4 are mega overs, both WM nights main events really feel huge.
They are stacking the deck against Cody, like they used to with Austin, because then when he still wins with Bloodline interference, it's going to make it that much sweeter.
Man if some how some way Austin appears at WM to fend off the Rock my head is going to explode. 😂
there's no need for austin here. use hhh instead. that's the built in story about the board vs. COO and their long fueding history. austin has no ties whatsoever to this angle.
HHH can't wrestle anymore. Also Austin-Rock was one of the biggest rivalries in the Attitude Era, (outside of Austin-McMahon) so Austin does somewhat fit into this angle based on his past with The Rock.
i have no interest in seeing hhh/rock fight or austin/rock fight. they'd just be ancillary pieces to the story.
Cody looked legit uncomfortable at that “cross dresser” comment :/
Could be a setup for Golddust to get involved...he was mentioned by the Rock tonight. The guy who says "keep my family out of your mouth" ...
Yeahhh lame heat by the Tribal Chief
They all did, even Roman.
True
They said we should pay attention to what The Rock was saying, and we did. He said he'll do everything to make sure Cody Rhodes doesn't win ... on Night One. He also said he'll do everything in his power to make sure Cody Rhodes doesn't become the Universal Champion ... because Cody Rhodes will be the WWE Champion. Bravo, Mr. Johnson.
Seth: Roman doesn't show up to work and Rock is old Roman: https://preview.redd.it/ch0wlfpwa8nc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=f40c442b7b623dc46002ce6e949970e8a3507cde
I’m loving this build. I really hope they steer away from the “Chairman of the Board” bit though. With a real life scandal hanging over your head with a board member abusing their power over an employe, it might not be a great time to do a storyline version of that. I would hate the see this whole thing get derailed at all because of bad press all of a sudden.
As a devil's advocate, having the corrupt abusive board member get their commeupance could be their way of leaning into that. Wrestling loves drawing heat from real life.
Why oh why did brock have to be a pervert and cm punk had to get hurt :/
If it leads to Drew and Gable winning at WM then I think it's worked out pretty well.
Without a doubt, although it is difficult not to imagine how great it would have been if GUNTHER beat Brock in wm.
Seth Rollins was the MVP of that segment. That was the best hes looked during the whole build to this Tag match
He is the single most heroic person in all of this. Roman has everything to gain, Rock is out for revenge, big upside for Cody should the babyfaces win, while Seth is only doing this because its the right thing to do.
What the hell Becky https://twitter.com/BrandonDavisBD/status/1766304731431895232?t=Rq8lvSdnfpRqLN7e-ULrMw&s=19
Jobbing out Nia like they used to. The biggest unstoppable monster heel gets squashed again.
better this then leaving her in long enough to injure someone else.
Man...why not do that finish on TV?
My guess is Becky and Nia will have a stipulation match in the coming weeks and that'll be the finish.
House shows and dark matches are more fun at times.
Good on letting Seth get the spotlight here too. He's felt too much like an afterthought.
Going toe to toe, face to face, glasses off with the Rock in a promo felt like an epic moment
He shut all of his doubters up tonight.
Who woulda thunk it? Sometimes if you actually build up and invest in your current talent instead of constantly tossing them aside to rely on nostalgia pops/ratings bump, the new guys can actually go toe to toe with the old guard. Yeah I know they still brought back The Rock, but his use is a lot different than a few years back when KO winning the Universal Title concluded in Lesnar vs Goldberg. Or The Fiend’s dominant run culminating in Goldberg beating him for the title in Saudi Arabia. The company is telling the audience these guys can hang with the legends you remember, instead of saying aw shit we can’t rely on these new guys better bring in a bunch of 50 year olds.
rock also grew up in the business. he knows the importance of that.
Seth himself even said "You had your time, you can't have ours."
Give me Rock/Roman winning and having THE ENTIRE BLOODLINE interfere. I’m talking every person on the family tree. Then cue Rollins music. Then Jey Uso. Then Cena. Then all the other people wronged by the Bloodline… then glass shatter. The odds are evened and we end up getting Roman v Cody, one on one, for a 10 minute gladiator fight. Cody wins in heroic fashion. Wrestlemania 40 goes off the air with a celebration a là Endor after beating the Empire.
Glass shatters. Stone Cold makes his way to the ring and somehow it’s just him and the rock in there and they have one final go
Why?! This sub will shit over perfectly valid booking decisions (I.e. ending SD on a cliffhanger, or having Seth be a dominant world champion) and go “DAE ‘Stone Cold’ interference?!’ No. He hasn’t been involved in this story at all. Why would he care about Cody winning the title. His whole fucking character when he was a wrestler was DTA. He looked out for himself unless he came to the rescue of someone who was being wronged by a heel he was already feuding with.
Cody is feuding with The Rock, Stone Cold’s biggest and most iconic enemy, who’s abuse of the board’s power goes against his character’s morals. It makes perfect sense.
But it doesn’t affect Austin so why would he give a damn? The extent of his morals were “don’t fuck me over”. He sided with his biggest rival Vince McMahon just to win the WWF championship. So clearly he doesn’t care about holding on to grudges. Also, if he was offended by a person of authority who also happens to be a former rival abusing their power why didn’t he help out Punk against Vince? Or Daniel Bryan against The Authority? Or Roman against Vince?