The WWE Discussion Thread

[Rozalia1]

I'll be rooting for Cody Rhodes too. No swerves, no surprises, no screw jobs, just give the obvious winner the win.

 

The one detail I hope they add post the rumble win though is changing him away from the whole American Nightmare thing. In AEW he had some match... I forget which, perhaps the infamous match with Ogogo, where he was billed as the American Dream. Likewise here, as the top face going into a match where he vows to win the title for his father they should bill him as the American Dream too.

[Infected Elite]

My picks:

 

- Cody wins rumble or riot (maybe from #1 so he gets his fancy entrance?)

- Rhea wins womens (is there anyone else? no. Rhea should have won when Bianca did and been in Biancas spot this entire time)

- Roman because he prob wont lose till a mania (hopefully this one, though really KO is a perfect fit to beat Roman twice now but well, Roman. Fuck the Bloodline)

- Wyatt wins and hopefully squashes Jobber LA Knight, yeah yeah yeah (Brodie Lee!)

- Bianca wins because whatever. Bliss gets pissed. Walks off with Uncle Howdy.

 

My nightmares:

- LA Knight wins even with Uncle Howdy helping

- Rock returns in any capacity (Big ego needs to stay away)

- any woman but Rhea winning rumble

- any man other than Cody winning (unless Jay White joined but he's better fit in AEW and is a better star than Roman)

[Peaches]

Hyped for Saturday. The Rumble is always the most fun PPV. 

 

My predictions:

Sami wins the men's match. Nothing else makes sense to me. I understand people love Cody, but also it's bad timing. He just got back, why disrupt the best storyline in wrestling today by trying to rush a Cody/Roman story? Let Sami win and it destroys the Bloodline from within. They can't keep Bloodline going for too much longer, and it makes sense for Sami to dismantle it. Then at Summerslam, give Cody his opportunity against Roman for the other World Title.

 

I hope Rhea wins the women's match. I would personally love Bayley to get it, but Rhea makes more sense. Judgement Day needs some gold to feel more legit. Rhea and Dom are super entertaining together. So give it Rhea, let her and Dom cheat Bianca out of the championship. Rhea gets a good reign with Dom being here little shit manager. This also gives Bianca a rest, since she's been the top of the division for awhile now.

 

[Darth_Krid]

3 hours ago, PeachesPK said:

Hyped for Saturday. The Rumble is always the most fun PPV. 

 

My predictions:

Sami wins the men's match. Nothing else makes sense to me. I understand people love Cody, but also it's bad timing. He just got back, why disrupt the best storyline in wrestling today by trying to rush a Cody/Roman story? Let Sami win and it destroys the Bloodline from within. They can't keep Bloodline going for too much longer, and it makes sense for Sami to dismantle it. Then at Summerslam, give Cody his opportunity against Roman for the other World Title.

 

I hope Rhea wins the women's match. I would personally love Bayley to get it, but Rhea makes more sense. Judgement Day needs some gold to feel more legit. Rhea and Dom are super entertaining together. So give it Rhea, let her and Dom cheat Bianca out of the championship. Rhea gets a good reign with Dom being here little shit manager. This also gives Bianca a rest, since she's been the top of the division for awhile now.

 

Fully agree with this. Think Rhea and Cody both winning is too obvious and they'll want to swerve at least one of them. With the women's I don't think there's anyone else legit right now to win it (Becky is still feuding with Bayley and they'll probably eliminate each other) whereas Men's I think they have to capitalise on Sami. If the title match goes on before the Men's Rumble I think it tells us a little more than if it goes on last.

 

Why announce Cody before the Rumble and ruin the surprise if he's going to win it? I think maybe Solo Sikoa might eliminate him to sort of keep him feuding with the Bloodline but work his way up to a match with Roman. Or him and Sami both win (eliminated at the same time) and each challenge for a belt to split them.

[Rozalia1]

That sort of thinking is the biggest damage Vince Russo ever did. There is no need for a surprise if the vast majority of people want the obvious. Many very popular things out there are completely predictable. Cody Rhodes is untainted in WWE as unlike other faces he hasn't been jobbed out to oblivion repeatedly to the numerous super heels WWE has had. He also had that incredible match with the torn pec against Seth that won him so much respect. We already know what happens to him if he doesn't win the title at Mania by looking at Lex Luger who never recovered after not being able to take the title from his own big Samoan opponent.

 

As for Sami. Look, I like the guy like everybody else and his thing with the Bloodline has been great but... WWE champion? Beating invincible heel champion Roman Reigns at that? Lets not forget that even now Sami is very much a jobber who loses almost every match. Jinder who someone would cite who went from jobber to champion at least had some things in his favour. He had recently returned so much of the jobber stink had gone off him. The number of matches he had lost since his return were against top guys and in each match the story was him beating the hell out of them and they just about pulled out a win. He was also jacked to the gills (departure from his jobber look) and the champion was Randy Orton who is the most giving champion when it comes to dropping the belt as he doesn't mind who he has to drop the title to.

 

As for Solo... I see some manner of match with Cody before Mania in his future. I imagine with all of this paranoia Roman is showing the story will be that Roman fears that Cody can beat him so he'll attempt to have Solo beat Cody so bad that he can't make it to Mania. Cage match is the most common type WWE do for these things, but I recall news that they're more open to doing Hell in a Cell outside the PLE so perhaps that. A street fight was Solo's thing in NXT as it was what blew off his feuds and you can promote Solo as the street champion again and the fact that he is undefeated in street fights (and those matches were against monster heels by the way, so it wasn't him having his opponent out of his element). Considering Cody though... it isn't impossible we get a bunkhouse or bullwhip type match.

[sk_lp_him]

13 hours ago, Infected Elite said:

My picks:

 

- Cody wins rumble or riot (maybe from #1 so he gets his fancy entrance?)

- Rhea wins womens (is there anyone else? no. Rhea should have won when Bianca did and been in Biancas spot this entire time)

- Roman because he prob wont lose till a mania (hopefully this one, though really KO is a perfect fit to beat Roman twice now but well, Roman. Fuck the Bloodline)

- Wyatt wins and hopefully squashes Jobber LA Knight, yeah yeah yeah (Brodie Lee!)

- Bianca wins because whatever. Bliss gets pissed. Walks off with Uncle Howdy.

 

My nightmares:

- LA Knight wins even with Uncle Howdy helping

- Rock returns in any capacity (Big ego needs to stay away)

- any woman but Rhea winning rumble

- any man other than Cody winning (unless Jay White joined but he's better fit in AEW and is a better star than Roman)

 

Big ego or not Dwayne doesn't need WWE, WWE needs The Rock. He's making 50 films a year, I doubt going back to WWE is in his top priorities.

[Infected Elite]

46 minutes ago, sk_lp_him said:

 

Big ego or not Dwayne doesn't need WWE, WWE needs The Rock. He's making 50 films a year, I doubt going back to WWE is in his top priorities.

 

I dont think WWE needs him. They need to build new stars and a proper main event scene instead of pointless feuds. At least the midcard is going somewhere and tag team division has potential. Main event though, those belts need to be split up.

 

Plus of Dwayne came back he'd probably tear his abdomen like he did against Cena at Mania 28 hahahaha.

[RoastedPeanut]

I would love to see KO take down Reigns, but I just don't see it happening tomorrow.  I wouldn't mind seeing him get screwed out of a win by the thug squad and then annihilate one of them before they can enter the rumble, take their place and win it (provided the championship match isn't the main event).

 

I'm a bit torn about the idea of Cody and Rhea winning seeing as they are both heavily tipped. It would be great to see a massive swerve and someone we're not really talking about comes out and wins, but yeah can't see that happening. Just hope it isn't The Rock or Naomi. 

 

As for the other matches on the card, I honestly don't really care. Love for Bianca to drop the title then released by the company, but yeaaaaah I don't think so, lol

[Infected Elite]

Cody wins rumble from #30. Cody is coming to dethrone Roman Reigns. Gunther set new record for rumble time. Starting #1, in final two. Total time: 1hr 11min.

 

Pitch Black match was kinda cool. One was enough. At least its established LA Knight is a fucking jobber. Can't stand that goof.... Yeah!. Wyatts new mask looks cool. Even before the mask, when he had the dark makeup and stuff. Wicked. Hopefully less gimmick matches once the full Wyatt 6 are revealed but I'm fine with it for now.

 

Boring ass Bianca retained obviously to continue her reign of terror over the womens division. Some post match Wyatt 6 Bliss stuff.

 

Womens rumble #1 is Ripley, #2 is Liv Morgan. Scary botch by the botch queen Dana Brooke. Why is she employed? honestly. She's extremely green, botches a ton, puts others at risk, isn't funny so she's no good for comedy. Hope to see her fired post Mania. Natayla returned. Roxanne Perez arrived (yay!), Zoey Stark was in it too (zzzzzzzzzz). 

 

Asuka is back to a massive pop with the killer clown look from japan. Pretty cool. Piper Niven is back (thank fuck. Nobody gonna be big with a name like Doudrop. Can we get rid of the name "Michin" for Mia Yim while we are at it?)

 

Zelina Vega is in Juri SF6 cosplay. She will be a commentator in the game. Thats pretty cool. 

 

They botched or rushed the clock for #30 and its..... Nia Jax ? Hopefully she isnt back and its a one off. Crowd booing heavily. As they should. Nia Jax causes more injuries than anything. One of the biggest pops when Nia got eliminated. Good. 

 

Ripley and Liv were final two, Ripley wins. Lets hope she goes on to beat Bianca at Mania.

 

Roman wins because of course he does. Long as fuck drawn out boredom bloodline segment beatdown with highlight of Sami hitting Roman with a chair before getting beat down. Jey left and didnt assist in beating Sami down. Hopefully this entire bloodline garbage ends soon. Roman needs to go. Loud Fuck you Roman chants which honestly, he deserves. 

 

Looks like Sami/KO vs Usos at Mania for 1 set of tag titles. Cody vs Roman. Bianca vs Rhea.

 

The best part of the rumble event? Dwayne never showed up. Stay gone. Nobody wants to see Rock vs Roman for any title.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Infected Elite

[Peaches]

That ending was perfect. That pop was insane. This is probably one of the best storylines in wrestling ever. Can they make a different title for Cody to go after? Because holy shit, give me Sami vs Roman at Mania.

[Infected Elite]

8 minutes ago, PeachesPK said:

That ending was perfect. That pop was insane. This is probably one of the best storylines in wrestling ever. Can they make a different title for Cody to go after? Because holy shit, give me Sami vs Roman at Mania.

They've already said they don't see Sami as a main event star. He's getting a shot at Elimination Chamber. I am curious about the chamber match itself though. Both womens titles? IC title? it won't be for Roman's. Also Cody deserves to be the one to dethrone Roman. They could go the route of Roman defending each title separately (would be nice) and losing one to Rhodes on night 2 but Bianca vs Ripley should close night 1.

 

That ending was longer than the damn match probably. Pop was good. Best storylines ever?

not really. Sami is good but this thing has been dragged out forever. Bloodline sucks. They have new titles in the works apparently. Perhaps one is announced before Mania but it may take away from Cody beating Roman if they did.

 

You get Sami vs Roman in Montreal at Elimination Chamber Feb 18.

 

[Peaches]

7 minutes ago, Infected Elite said:

They've already said they don't see Sami as a main event star. 

 

They also didn't see Cody as a main event star. That's why he was a midcarder and comedy jobber for his whole WWE career until this return. That's why I disagree that he "deserves" to dethron Roman. Why? Because he co started AEW and booked himself to the top?

 

I do agree that Roman should defend both titles separately. They need to be split. But I don't think he should drop one before Mania. Defend both at Mania, against Sami and then Cody. If they end the longest run in WWE history in like 40 years, they should end it all in one night. I love the Bloodline storyline. But it is clearly coming to an end. End it on the biggest stage.

[Infected Elite]

4 minutes ago, PeachesPK said:

They also didn't see Cody as a main event star. That's why he was a midcarder and comedy jobber for his whole WWE career until this return. That's why I disagree that he "deserves" to dethron Roman. Why? Because he co started AEW and booked himself to the top?

Left WWE, worked numerous promotions, went from a vanilla nobody to come with an idea and made himself a star in Japan and ROH. He didnt book himself to the top in AEW. He may have had some of the more compelling storylines sure, but he lost more often than not. He also immediately removed himself from the world title picture by losing to Jericho at AEW Full Gear. 

 

 

4 minutes ago, PeachesPK said:

 

I do agree that Roman should defend both titles separately. They need to be split. But I don't think he should drop one before Mania. Defend both at Mania, against Sami and then Cody. If they end the longest run in WWE history in like 40 years, they should end it all in one night. I love the Bloodline storyline. But it is clearly coming to an end. End it on the biggest stage.

He wont drop one before Mania. They had debated the idea according to Meltzer (whom i dont care for btw. People act as if there is only one opinion in the world of wrestling, his lol).

 

Thats my guess is the entire Bloodline ends at Mania. Roman disappears until maybe SummerSlam (i wish for good if I'm being honest).

 

I am pretty sure Trips wants 2 sets of tag belts by Mania though so i expect to see Usos lose SD tag belts to hopefully Imperium but yeah prob Strowman and Ricochet. Then Usos regroup and lose to Sami and KO at Mania for Raw tag titles.

 

So hoping Edge and Judgment Day ends too. Hate Judgment Day aside from Ripley. Finn would be better if he was like he was in NXT before his 2nd call up. 

 

So Mania looking like:

 

-Cody vs Roman 

-Rhea vs Bianca

-Usos vs KO/Sami

-Rollins vs Logan Paul (LOL)

-Austin Theory vs John Cena

-Brock vs Lashley (zzz) or Gunther (ooo)

-McIntyre vs Gunther maybe(?)

-Wyatt 6 group fully forming

[R123Rob]

Roman Reigns - The GOAT ☝️

[Glorious Fury]

Thought the Rumble was decent overall and Rhea and Cody were both the right winners. Credit to Logan Paul/Ricochet too as the high spot was something fresh and different.

 

The post match Bloodline/Sami and KO segment was superb and was by far the highlight of the show for me. Whilst Sami is clearly white hot currently and has the sympathy of the crowd after that ending, he will likely gain the resolution of his story in another way relating to Reigns and the Bloodline's downfall, rather than winning the title as he isn't really world champion material nor credible enough to beat the most dominant champion of the last few decades. Cody a far better fit overall. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Glorious Fury

[sk_lp_him]

Rey Mysterio is still not eliminated so Cody isn't really the winner. ? Good rumble overall, I marked out when Sami Zayn hit Roman with the chair. The worst part was Nia Jax, I was thinking I'll never see her again but that was the most disappointing and anti climactic Nr 30 in a Rumble match ever.

[SelectiveGamer]

I don't have much to say honestly.

 

If Vince really is making creative suggestions... (which I have no doubt he is. Otherwise I doubt Omos would be back and have been in the Rumble) this event made it seem like anyway that HHH isn't taking them seriously or just continuing to do whatever he wants (which is good obviously)

 

The right people won the Rumble matches as they were the only ones that made sense. The other matches were basically 'filler' if you ask me. I'm surprised there aren't more people complaining about the way they had the lighting for the Pitch Black Match. But I do agree it should probably be a one-off but I can't help but shake the feeling it won't be. We'll see obviously.

 

Roman/KO match was... fine I guess. Prior matches were better but the ending was probably the most important bit really. I can't shake the feeling though that Rock could still show up. Maybe Jey calls him or something because he didn't like what went down at Rumble? (like on the phone I mean or something)

 

I'm just spitballing honestly but I don't care anymore either if he shows up or not at this point. Nice final Rumble for me though since I still feel like demented old sexual predator will still force himself back into creative inevitably.

 

Weird that Matt Cardona made all of those trademarks for Zack Ryder stuff but wasn't in the Rumble. He has to be doing that for some reason... right? I mean I'm not saying I don't understand where others are coming from about how he should be Matt Cardona if he does go back to WWE and not Zack Ryder it's just... weird I guess. Time will tell again obviously.

 

WrestleMania season is here and the looming threat of demented old out of touch sexual predator forcing himself back in and back into creative is just going to grow larger because he thinks they can't have WrestleMania without him ?

Edited January 29, 2023 by SelectiveGamer

[MidnightDragon]

How did I mess this up?!  

Edited January 30, 2023 by MidnightDragon
I'm an idiot

[Infected Elite]

13 minutes ago, MidnightDragon said:

Chiefs Super Bowl bound again. Hell yeah!

 

wrong thread

[MidnightDragon]

13 minutes ago, Infected Elite said:

 

wrong thread

I'm an idiot.  

[afc-razor-84]

On 27/01/2023 at 9:59 PM, Infected Elite said:

My picks:

 

- Cody wins rumble or riot (maybe from #1 so he gets his fancy entrance?)

- Rhea wins womens (is there anyone else? no. Rhea should have won when Bianca did and been in Biancas spot this entire time)

- Roman because he prob wont lose till a mania (hopefully this one, though really KO is a perfect fit to beat Roman twice now but well, Roman. Fuck the Bloodline)

- Wyatt wins and hopefully squashes Jobber LA Knight, yeah yeah yeah (Brodie Lee!)

- Bianca wins because whatever. Bliss gets pissed. Walks off with Uncle Howdy.

 

My nightmares:

- LA Knight wins even with Uncle Howdy helping

- Rock returns in any capacity (Big ego needs to stay away)

- any woman but Rhea winning rumble

- any man other than Cody winning (unless Jay White joined but he's better fit in AEW and is a better star than Roman)

Spot on prediction. ?

[Rozalia1]

 

WWE

 

The Royal Rumble was great and I feel WWE has successfully restored its power as I remember many years ago where they had like 3 straight bad Rumbles and it made me fear that the magic of it had been lost. Cody won and in the process likely built a ready made program for himself post Roman with Gunther. 

 

Rhea going after Charlotte was a surprise but when you think about it makes some sense. Asuka's change at the rumble means she is likely Bianca's mania opponent (who I assume will win). Interesting that both of Bianca's partners against Damage Control are now running with crazy gimmicks again. Heels too but Asuka hasn't been revealed as one yet especially as seemingly her next opponent is Carmella who is seemingly a permanent heel (she was a heel even when together with the babyface team of Enzo & Cass in NXT).

 

NXT

 

Creed Brothers showing again how good they are. I loved that even though they're up against a team of two monsters, types that aren't going to often leave their feet, Julius kept doing takedowns on them and causing the monsters to be doing quick tags to try and contain him. Brutus also while he doesn't often get the notice that his brother does has also kept being great. Their mentor the paralyzed Roderick Strong I'm sure is very proud of them.

 

Stevie Turner debuted and looked positive in the ring though not much translated from the gimmick to the ring work. That very nice DDT variation she did should be her finish instead of that basic side slam.

 

Toxic Attraction did good promo work I felt as they demeaned and talked over Roxanne. Something I noticed was when Jacy said she was going to win Gigi just rolled her eyes a little bit and let it go. When Gigi said she was going to win she got more of an "oh crap" look and Jacy reacted much stronger. Ummm... could do a thing where they put the title on Jacy with Gigi being an unequal partner in the team as she is afraid of Jacy or feels that Jacy deserves the title more than she does. I think I'd still prefer co-champs as Toxic Attraction are perfect for that.

[Infected Elite]

Carmelo Hayes is going to defeat Bron Breakker. That's not a prediction, it's a spoiler.

[Rozalia1]

NXT Vengeance Day

 

Wes Lee made a believer out of me out there I have to say. Great action. Dijak may not get to follow up on what happened in the finish though due to that finger injury he sustained though.

 

I was pleased with Fallon and Kiana picking up the titles as they're excellent talents. Fallon is positive in the ring and has some personality while Kiana is very advanced for her experience in a certain aspect, that being reacting in character to the action be it on offense or defence, that many guys out there with 20+ years of experience will apparently never understand as they think doing movez is what makes you a good professional wrestler. Face/Heel tag teams are a nice novelty too.

 

They got me with that 2-0 victor for Melo as normally in that situation the face gets a fall once the manager is neutralised. The post match attack everyone but apparently Apollo could see coming, ironic considering his seeing the future gimmick. Good to see Dabbo get his old name back. It might sound a bit silly sure, but it is at least memorable.

 

Gallus... we'll see. They were pretty much the worse choice to win the titles but in NXT you got to give everyone a shot.

 

Its quite incredible that even with Jacy standing out more and carrying the tag team due to Gigi having whatever issues was affecting her in the ring to the point she'd barely wrestle or bump, the crowd was very much into Gigi. Some people just have a look and innate charisma that gets people into them and she seems to fit that bill. My one fear was I've seen talk of Gigi as a possible fit for the Isla/Alba team if Toxic Attraction breaks up and... no. In Toxic Attraction the tag titles are always an option and she'll always be an equal partner in that alliance, and considering how the people take to her you could argue she would be the greater half. A weird Isla (who is brand new to NXT) stable where she is the third wheel her and who takes all of the pins would only hurt her advancement.

 

10 hours ago, Infected Elite said:

Carmelo Hayes is going to defeat Bron Breakker. That's not a prediction, it's a spoiler.

 

I have to agree. An interesting detail is that Carmelo has basically been a champion constantly but I've not really seen talk of people being sick of him as champion, while Bron seems to have people who think he needs a break. I assume considering Grayson's promo had him straight up call Bron boring and the match had Grayson getting chants over Bron that they must realise that a Bron vs Melo match is likely going to result in the fans being firmly behind Melo.

 

Personally I think Bron is the perfect guy to break from the typical face mold and he has shown some flashes of the attitude to do that. An issue in professional wrestling today is that faces are largely "I'm happy to be here, I respect everyone, want no problems with anyone, and want to wrestle nice clean matches". Meanwhile heels go out there and ooze personality picking fights with the faces causing fans to start getting behind them as they add excitement to the proceedings. Yeah, I know that a face acting that way inevitably is going to get people saying "that ain't how a face acts", but with Bron being a Steiner who are known as crazy wild men I think he can certainly get away it. Just look at face Brock whose only difference from heel Brock was talking more and having fun playing along with other guys stuff before completely destroying them. People loved it.

 

Anyway, back to this match. A cage match in WWE and no escape the cage rule? Incredible. Seems to have been done to set up some angle for Grayson after the show as Grayson feels Michaels made the change to the match to screw him as obviously Grayson's entire plan to win the title was to escape the cage. Which is good, though considering Grayson while still youngish is older than the rest of the 2.0 crew, I think they really do need to consider getting him on the main roster sooner rather than later. Grayson has enough size, is good in the ring, has his character work down, does good heel promos, heck he even has the best talk show segment in the Grayson Waller Effect which is something that can be used to introduce him and help build interest in him for those who don't know who he is.

[Taihou]

11 hours ago, Infected Elite said:

Carmelo Hayes is going to defeat Bron Breakker. That's not a prediction, it's a spoiler.

Carmelo Hayes has star written all over him. I want him to win every title possible