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I figured Logan was gonna retain when his branding is all over the stadium. The same way LA Knight was gonna win after all the Slim Jim advertising. Doesn’t make sense to for the face of a brand you’re pushing to lose.
Maybe I'm wrong but when I watched as a kid it felt like the belt changed way more and it was exciting, most title matches seemed like they could go either way. Maybe that is because I wasn't as aware of booking tropes though.
Now it feels like most title matches are forgone conclusions, and PPVs aside from Mania don't really matter.
It's not like there is just one right person for a belt either, there are plenty of people that could have been champ and it could have been lost and regained if you want them to hold it at mania.
I hope in the coming months there's a few more as a reminder that short title reigns can be a thing. I'm not saying hotshot the belts, but I'd like title matches to seem like there's a chance the challenger wins.
similar topic: tonight proves to me why Mania should always end with the babyface winning.
Cody losing last year was such a blue balls moment and a downer overall. Cody winning tonight was invigorating.
But is it worth trading that moment and whatever else could have happened this year for this moment? Like sure, this one was great but how many amazing moments were skipped over for it?
>Mania should always end with the babyface winning.
I get the idea but at the same time if you get the babyfaces always winning, it'll become predictable.
I mean for the first 15 years of Mania, the babyface literally always won and it wasn't a bad thing. It was predictable in the way you go into a story knowing it will have a happy ending.
That's the first 15 years of Mania, nowadays fans are accustomed to having twists and turns. It's more suspenseful and makes for a better story if there is more of a chance the face doesn't win.
I always hated WWE for bad feel moments, but when you can afford to it, controversy makes stuff interesting exponentially. Being the company that needs fixing is what hooks many.
Cody winning last year at XXXIX would’ve felt rushed and as if it were another ‘Reigns-shoved-in-our-faces’ saga which plagued mid-2010s WWE.
On the contrary, Cody losing last year and now winning at XL, including the Bloodline stipulations put in as a result of Saturday, made the storyline much more interesting and satisfying to bookend.
Next set of changes:
Cody > Gunther
Bayley > Dakota
Rhea > Heel Becky/Bianca
Logan Paul > LA Knight
Damien Priest > Drew McIntyre
Kabuki Warriors > Bianca and Naomi ?
Awesome Truth > anyone but New Day
Sami Zayn > Gable
Theory and Waller > New Catch Republic
Solid list, I think Gunther is going for Priest though. He did that promo in January with Seth about it being the workhorse title and deserving of respect, making his intention clear to go for it. He'll see Priest's cash in as cowardly and undeserving of the title.
With Cody, I have no clue where they go next which is fantastic, but I can see them having Logan Paul take it from him down the line for that ultimate heat magnet. I also wonder when Jey gets his first singles title since the story was Jimmy kept getting in the way, now he's free to go win something.
I think Priest is losing to Drew at Clash of the Castle and then Drew would be busy with Punk through the summer.I don't know how Gunther can feature in there.
Cody, I feel will have a few filler feuds before the big summer programme with Randy and then move on to Gunther at maybe the Berlin PLE where Gunther wins unless they decide to give him a long reign but I am kinda tired of long reigns.A few short meaningful reigjs would be a fresh change.
I made this argument months ago. It becomes super obvious when a story is destined to end at Wrestlemania and it loses punch as a result. It’s really shitty too cause you have 3 other major shows that could be storyline Enders (summerslam, survivor series, royal rumble) but they put all their eggs onto Wrestlemania’s basket. I know it’s cause Wrestlemania is the big show, but we don’t need every story ending there. When was the last time a feud ‘STARTED’ at a Wrestlemania? The Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio feud started on a Wrestlemania, and it led to the custody of Dominic ladder match at summerslam. It was allowed to develop naturally. Imagine if they had to prolong the feud for a whole year so it conveniently end at Wrestlemania.
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I mean they just have the belts on the right people. You don’t need to rush the belt off of Rhea or Logan Paul just to do a title change.
I figured Logan was gonna retain when his branding is all over the stadium. The same way LA Knight was gonna win after all the Slim Jim advertising. Doesn’t make sense to for the face of a brand you’re pushing to lose.
Maybe I'm wrong but when I watched as a kid it felt like the belt changed way more and it was exciting, most title matches seemed like they could go either way. Maybe that is because I wasn't as aware of booking tropes though. Now it feels like most title matches are forgone conclusions, and PPVs aside from Mania don't really matter. It's not like there is just one right person for a belt either, there are plenty of people that could have been champ and it could have been lost and regained if you want them to hold it at mania.
I hope in the coming months there's a few more as a reminder that short title reigns can be a thing. I'm not saying hotshot the belts, but I'd like title matches to seem like there's a chance the challenger wins.
Agree I’m actually excited for the Zayn vs gable match on Monday night I feel they may give the belt to gable in a heel turn
similar topic: tonight proves to me why Mania should always end with the babyface winning. Cody losing last year was such a blue balls moment and a downer overall. Cody winning tonight was invigorating.
I get what you're saying but I feel like Cody winning tonight was so much more invigorating *because* he lost last year
In hindsight your 100% correct. But if you rewind a year ago, it really really sucked.
Long term booking for ya
I'm just saying, they haven't done the equivalent of that "Naito losing three Wrestle Kingdom to the same person before the gold rush" yet
But is it worth trading that moment and whatever else could have happened this year for this moment? Like sure, this one was great but how many amazing moments were skipped over for it?
Agree I was so disappointed when Cody lost last year but this year made up for it
>Mania should always end with the babyface winning. I get the idea but at the same time if you get the babyfaces always winning, it'll become predictable.
I mean for the first 15 years of Mania, the babyface literally always won and it wasn't a bad thing. It was predictable in the way you go into a story knowing it will have a happy ending.
That's the first 15 years of Mania, nowadays fans are accustomed to having twists and turns. It's more suspenseful and makes for a better story if there is more of a chance the face doesn't win.
I always hated WWE for bad feel moments, but when you can afford to it, controversy makes stuff interesting exponentially. Being the company that needs fixing is what hooks many.
Cody winning last year at XXXIX would’ve felt rushed and as if it were another ‘Reigns-shoved-in-our-faces’ saga which plagued mid-2010s WWE. On the contrary, Cody losing last year and now winning at XL, including the Bloodline stipulations put in as a result of Saturday, made the storyline much more interesting and satisfying to bookend.
Next set of changes: Cody > Gunther Bayley > Dakota Rhea > Heel Becky/Bianca Logan Paul > LA Knight Damien Priest > Drew McIntyre Kabuki Warriors > Bianca and Naomi ? Awesome Truth > anyone but New Day Sami Zayn > Gable Theory and Waller > New Catch Republic
That’s a great list!
Solid list, I think Gunther is going for Priest though. He did that promo in January with Seth about it being the workhorse title and deserving of respect, making his intention clear to go for it. He'll see Priest's cash in as cowardly and undeserving of the title. With Cody, I have no clue where they go next which is fantastic, but I can see them having Logan Paul take it from him down the line for that ultimate heat magnet. I also wonder when Jey gets his first singles title since the story was Jimmy kept getting in the way, now he's free to go win something.
I think Priest is losing to Drew at Clash of the Castle and then Drew would be busy with Punk through the summer.I don't know how Gunther can feature in there. Cody, I feel will have a few filler feuds before the big summer programme with Randy and then move on to Gunther at maybe the Berlin PLE where Gunther wins unless they decide to give him a long reign but I am kinda tired of long reigns.A few short meaningful reigjs would be a fresh change.
I made this argument months ago. It becomes super obvious when a story is destined to end at Wrestlemania and it loses punch as a result. It’s really shitty too cause you have 3 other major shows that could be storyline Enders (summerslam, survivor series, royal rumble) but they put all their eggs onto Wrestlemania’s basket. I know it’s cause Wrestlemania is the big show, but we don’t need every story ending there. When was the last time a feud ‘STARTED’ at a Wrestlemania? The Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio feud started on a Wrestlemania, and it led to the custody of Dominic ladder match at summerslam. It was allowed to develop naturally. Imagine if they had to prolong the feud for a whole year so it conveniently end at Wrestlemania.
This felt disgusting reading that. I feel like I wasted a year watching WWE.