The WWE Discussion Thread

[Infected Elite]

48 minutes ago, JeffGordon2 said:

I hope so I like Roman as a performer and as a heel especially but Cody needs to finish his story and have his epilogue of that story being WWE Champion for a while.  I personally don't find it funny to hope for or see wrestlers get injured though no matter who it is.  There is some crazy instances though that live on in infamy such as Kevin Nash's quad tear by walking and Vince doing the same at the 2005 Royal Rumble like how is that possible even?  That is true you can't push everybody all at once and they've got a lot of talent all around even outside of singles matches.  I was so stoked sting was able to come back and wrestle at all with Darby for example in those tag matches and such.  I love MJF a lot and I'm very curious what he's going to do next since he dropped the belt to Joe which is cool he at least is champion in a top promotion since he wasn't booked well in WWE at all.  It would be interesting if they book that with Joe and Swerve to do that match at Wembley then in turn that match at Full Gear.

Cody needs to finish. If Roman wins at Mania 40 then its fucked.

 

As for AEW, the plan always was for MJF to drop to Joe apparently and also have Cole turn/cost him but Cole got hurt.

 

@Rozalia1 im a fan of wrestling period. I just dont like Roman. If he died i wouldnt give a damn.

[JeffGordon2]

25 minutes ago, Infected Elite said:

Cody needs to finish. If Roman wins at Mania 40 then its fucked.

 

As for AEW, the plan always was for MJF to drop to Joe apparently and also have Cole turn/cost him but Cole got hurt.

 

@Rozalia1 im a fan of wrestling period. I just dont like Roman. If he died i wouldnt give a damn.

Everyone's going to be watching Cody v ROman in anticipation for another interference spot.  I can only imagine the anticipation.  Another factor too with MJF wanted time off too right as he's hurt and he allegedly has not signed a new deal yet with any promotion.

[Rozalia1]

2 hours ago, JeffGordon2 said:

Me too as I always felt Cody in his initial WWE run didn't get what he deserved booking wise at all and AEW looked like that was going to be the answer then it was disappointing too and I could totally see him being the successor to HHH one day.  I don't see why he'd ever leave WWE since they've got him in the best positoon he's ever had.  There definitely is a weird group of fans that I don't get with AEW with where they think whatever gets over will get over and nothing else they always seem to have to be right.  If AEW could appeal to the casual wrestling fan because that group of people very much exists even though AEW doesn't seem to think so.  They could do really well I think even still and the other common gripe I've heard is that one week someone gets buried and then next week they're pushed to the moon also ties into the incompetent booking point you mentioned.

 

I was a big fan of Cody in his first run. Post his tag title run with his brother and then after his father died they could have started raising him up the main event and just kept jobbing him out. I thought it foolish how they pushed Finn to the top of the card when to me Cody was already there and superior in every aspect (Finn grew on me over time).

 

1 hour ago, JeffGordon2 said:

Everyone's going to be watching Cody v ROman in anticipation for another interference spot.  I can only imagine the anticipation.  Another factor too with MJF wanted time off too right as he's hurt and he allegedly has not signed a new deal yet with any promotion.

 

Jacob Fatu (31) has become a free agent and has had Rikishi promoting him so I'm thinking he'll be coming to WWE. The only thing is... do you introduce him before Mania to help beat down Cody and establish that Roman is running so scared that he is calling in more family members to help him? Or do you have Solo get foiled and then have Jacob debut to hit the interference and make people believe that Cody is going to lose again.

 

MJF getting injured like he did means that even if he doesn't have a contract beyond 2024, Khan can certainly delay him going to WWE as he can add time injured to the contract. Hopefully the Jay White affair (that dive to the floor was so stupid) and how his face run went will have taught MJF some lessons. Does he want to try and maintain himself as a big fish in a small pond? Or go to WWE where the Miz spot (not a bad spot) might well be his limit

[Infected Elite]

5 hours ago, JeffGordon2 said:

Everyone's going to be watching Cody v ROman in anticipation for another interference spot.  I can only imagine the anticipation.  Another factor too with MJF wanted time off too right as he's hurt and he allegedly has not signed a new deal yet with any promotion.

MJF quietly signed.

[Infected Elite]

These nxt signings are fine. They all are above NXT. But there's so many in NXT that should get released, never called up... Bearhill, Dijak, Chase U, and quite a few others, Noam Dars little dumb entourage. I would call up Gigi and Jayne though.

 

I expect Hayes and Melo on Smackdown.

Bron on Raw.

 

- Cargill on Smackdown (match vs Bianca is rumored for Mania.)

 

- Tiffany signed for smackdown which sort of shocked me. She still needs a bit of work but has definitely improved from when she debuted. Kind of reminds me of Alexa Bliss. Took a shit gimmick, ran with it a bit.. grew in the ring, made some tweaks and changed character and here we are. It is dumb she had a short feud with Fallon Henley, did some chores and went to smackdown. Thought they would do the odd fellows tagteam. I still expected Tiffany on Raw for some reason. But ima go on an early prediction: Tiffany wins womens MITB 2024. She could do some good with that briefcase and not cash in the same night like recent winners. Could also whine the case is heavy. she doesnt want to carry it etc. Shes almost perfect for it. 

 

- Bayley vs Iyo is obvious. Cool, Bayley can speak japanese. Kairi looked amazing in her gear. Hope she gets a solo run in the summer. (Solo run doesnt necessarily winning the title ffs). Where was Dakota? though shes apparently nearing a return.

 

- Karrion Kross put too much muscle on. He moves so slow compared to when he was bald. Still, hopefully something good will happen with Final Testament. Rumor is Lashley and Profits (The Pride? lmfao), vs Final Testament at Mania. I guess. Get everyone on the cards.

 

also wish Mia Yim wouldnt use Michin. I get she asked for it and got it but its such a weird name. Whatever though. 

 

Now overhyped sack of shit is coming out to see who Cody picks for Mania...

 

and out comes dwayne to steal the spotlight from full time talent for a match not many people care to see.

 

Fuck Dwayne and Roman. 

 

someone on NoDQ made sense:

 

Huge letdown imo, The Rock x Reigns match is awesome, but Cody going for Rollins title is just stupid, because if he wins that then when the hell is he losing to go after the Universal Champion? Call me wherever you want, guy won the f*cking Royal Rumble and then steps aside to a 50 year old take his match? doesn't even make sense, it's being too much of a babyface stupid guy and that promo was just weird.. If not at Mania then when, Cody?

 

Except Rock v Reigns isnt awesome. Its of no interest to me period. Cody got a bigger pop than the Rock... Quit relying on these ancient fuckin egotistical maniacs for Mania.

Edited February 3 by Infected Elite

[Rozalia1]

Can't even talk about the rest of the show which had plenty of good stuff to talk about. This Rock stuff better be just working the fans to make them think that we're not getting Cody vs Roman at Mania. I've thought Rock has been crap for ages now and largely gave him a pass, but if he steals Cody's spot then he'll have heat with me forever. People rightly hated Hogan for stealing spots, and doing this would be no different to that.

 

I'm angry, but above all I'm sad. Heck, it even got me thinking that Rock isn't even doing the job to Roman if that match happens at Mania. At the Rumble they didn't rely on old stars and even made a point of it in the press conference afterwards, and now... this.

[Infected Elite]

@Rozalia1 as much as i dont like you, at least we both hate Dwayne...

 

 

Hopefully this is a swerve with the "no triple threat" bullshit, and Cody gets added. If he faced Seth, he looks like a fuckin goof since Roman basically shit on everything despite the fact the Raw Roster defends their belts unlike this pissant fuck. I'm done watching unless Cody gets added.

 

Fuck Dwayne, fuck Roman. Fuck the samoan dynasty.

 

 

 

still rings true. I am not a fan of bitch Punk, but this Punk was fine..Hes right, nothing would change until Vince is dead. At his age with all the allegations, i hope he does die. Then the company being taken over by HHH, yeah lets hire all these guys back and not have em on tv or cram the rosters and have nothing for them. Then lets bring in Dwayne because "its good for business " ? or is it because the Rock used his TKO leverage and just said "nope, I'm in the main event".

 

Done with WWE. If Cody ends up facing Roman, or in a triple threat at Mania. Ill come back. But as it stands, i couldn't care to see Rock vs Roman. It wont be a good match. As for "selling tickets", they sell them months early. So no. Rock vs Roman didn't sell out Mania.  

 

EDIT: I am not waiting another year. I hope people harass Triple H and his family and absolutely riot. If Rock v Roman is the main event, fans should walk out, throw drinks etc. 

 

Rock is a bigger sack of shit than Roman. 

Edited February 3 by Infected Elite

[RoastedPeanut]

The Rock needs to seriously fuck off. Are they done with the writers strike yet? Go back to Hollywood already. They shouldn't even be toying with the slight chance of Cody not dethroning Roman at Mania. Dwayne wouldn't even be able to put on a pre-show worthy match let alone main event the damn show. The chump would be gassed and injured after a few moves.

[Infected Elite]

37 minutes ago, RoastedPeanut said:

The Rock needs to seriously fuck off. Are they done with the writers strike yet? Go back to Hollywood already. They shouldn't even be toying with the slight chance of Cody not dethroning Roman at Mania. Dwayne wouldn't even be able to put on a pre-show worthy match let alone main event the damn show. The chump would be gassed and injured after a few moves.

i hope he does get injured.

[Dauersack]

And now we know what The Rock agreed to in order to get that walking trash container, Nia Jax, rehired by the company I guess, everything to get the biggest names for the anniversary Wrestlemania, too bad Lesnar likely won't be included, thats one part timer I actually enjoy watching in the ring every once in a while. A bit conflicted about this, on one hand I am pissed about Gunther not getting the world title match he deserves, and I don't want this freakshow match between Roman and Rock to be for the biggest title in the industry given that we'd have TWO part timers taking up the main event spot now, on the other hand it spares us from having a lazy rematch from last years Wrestlemania and Rhodes vs Rollins is at least sure to be a better match than Rhodes vs Reigns, even if we have also seen that one plenty of times. Let's see if they go through with this first before I waste too many words on it.

 

Owens getting another shot at Paul was predictable, Bayley having a falling out was too, Rhea therefore likely facing Becky for Wrestlemania, not that I am complaining, I am fine with these outcomes, other than that not too much happened, gotta say as much as I dislike Reigns, at least he did a good job with the promo this time around, usually he doesn't even bother to do that, but this was a solid heel promo at least.

 

On other news, people are excited about 2K24, as if the past 2K games haven't all been lazy copies off each other and complete disappointments that were released in a downright broken state, many sports games fans are a masochistic bunch indeed, either that or they are too dumb to learn from their mistakes. I am staying clear off of that one for sure, as much as not playing a WWE game in way over a decade annoys me, but with them being released by this dogshit company, in the state that they are in, I am better off not paying for the privilege of tainting my memory of playing wrestling games.

 

On 2/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

During that OVW period I can certainly see Punk as being on the lower end height wise, and unlike others at his size or slightly shorter, he wasn't either massively athletic (ala Ziggler) or built like a fridge (ala Cena).

That was on his lack of effort though. I get it when someone does not want to take roids and bulk up as massively as a John Cena and others did at times, but getting close to Ziggler or Balor territory should be somewhat of the norm for non bulky, professional athletes who get paid a lot of money to work out and perform in the ring. If some midcard guy has a sloppy physique, or even a bum physique like Owens, ok who cares if they can still go in the ring, but the top guy of the company looking like someone working the gas station? Thats definitely coming off as lazy, even Bryan with his super relatable average guy making it big gimmick was in good shape for most of his earlier career before injuries added up, even old returning guys with broken down, fused bodies like Edge were in better shape than Punk usually was in.

On 2/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

Okay, but doesn't that itself help others get over off her? Even the likes of Lana got reactions based off her getting victories against Nia like Lana winning the Survivor Series match (though logically Nia was completely correct in that instance) and Lana winning the tables match. Nia having 'go away heat' means that people don't want her to win and will be happy if she loses. They'll also boo if she literally squashes her opponent with her new finisher, which on its first usage injured Rhea meaning that many who see it coming now think 'oh no'. Reactions are heavily important. What is happening can absolutely suck, but if the crowd reacts then it lifts it up. Likewise you can have the best match in the world happening and it'll get hurt if the crowd is asleep.

What gets people over are good matches, good back and forth promos, or being cheered over someone established who is a big deal and therefore respected, heel or not. You can't have a good match with Nia, you can't have a good promo segment with Nia, and Nia is not respected because people know she is a nepotism hire with no wrestling talent. She has go away kind of heat as mentioned, this means everyone will get cheered by the people who haven't switched the channel or gone off for a toilet break anyway.

Being cheered over someone people detest for real does not really improve the standing of that wrestler with the crowd though, as they are not cheering that wrestlers for his qualities, they cheer because that wrestler is not the person they hate for real inside the ring and out, they'd still prefer to see a different match though. In times past this would improve a faces standing with the crowd, when the crowd still thought that the guy just beat up a truly hated heel for real, but these times are long gone, people know there is no real beating happening. Unless the hated heel is at least able to have good matches or promos, there isn't anyone coming out of this encounter better, if anything, having a snoozefest of a promo and a horrible match that stinks up the arena decreases someones value, sometimes wrestlers take months to regain the standing they had with the crowd.

On 2/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

Many were models and barely trained yes, but regardless you simply shouldn't bury people like that. People were getting told that these women were trash, should be fired, and you shouldn't give them any support. What benefit is there in that? Women like Naomi who while sloppy at the time, but had clear potential due to how athletic she was, was getting buried alongside all those other women. Alicia Fox was getting buried by this sort of stuff when she had the best Northern Lights Suplex in the business and could do the crazy woman gimmick better than AJ Lee or Paige could. Nikki Bella was one of the women who took the brunt of it when she actually put the work in and became a better wrester than AJ Lee or Paige were. The only woman spared was Tamina of all people, likely due to her position as AJ's bodyguard and the fact she was a bigger woman (I imagine her being massively beloved by the woman's roster wasn't a thing at the time).

The segment was a failure, I agree with you on that, a funny and entertaining failure, but still a failure. AJ Lee was supposed to be a heel during that time if I remember correctly, but people knew that she wasn't a model before who just got hired off of her looks like most of the others, but an actual life long wrestling fan working the indies before, who got handed some horrible gimmicks, but pushed through anyway, so people would cheer her over most others no matter what, which meant that burying most of the roster was giving next to no net benefit on AJ. The Bellas were both still trash at that time though, Nikki barely improved later before injuries took her out, and even then she wasn't all that good, I would never compare her to someone like Paige, but then again the comparison would not be fair anyway given that Nikki was a model with no background in wrestling, and Paige basically grew up in the business.

On 2/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

The Cena/Bryan stuff was ugly and I completely disagree with it. Brie certainly only got her match at SummerSlam that even had HHH taking a bump for her because of her relation to Bryan, but it served as part of the long Bryan vs The Authority story. Beyond that she was a flunky for her sister who ate pins. Nikki meanwhile became champion... and it was completely deserved. She improved heavily and was essentially an early Mandy Rose as she integrated power moves you rarely saw women do at the time into her moveset. She had better matches with both AJ and Paige than those women had with each other, which was the big dream match at the time that underdelivered massively (I wasn't surprised). Then at WrestleMania, in AJ's last match, the Bellas did the job against AJ/Paige, in a match which was largely wrestled by Paige. In regards to promos AJ Lee was basically allowed to tear the Bellas apart who'd just have to stand there and take it. That was really all that Cena's influence, the face of WWE, could get her?

Brie became champion too, and when Nikki first got the title she was atrocious. You are being a bit dishonest here. So Nikki had to take a bit of a verbal beating by someone clearly much better on the mic, big deal, that is what many wrestlers do, just look at how often Cena himself got destroyed on the mic despite being undeniably capable to verbally tear most people a new one if he actually wanted to, didn't hurt her much especially as a heel. What she got with Cena's influence was a divas title when she was far from ready, a guaranteed place at the top of the card, including many top feuds, and of course a Hall Of Fame introduction putting her in the same class as someone like Trish Stratus. Don't tell me you think either of the Bella's would have ever stayed around for long enough to become champions, let alone be introduced into the Hall Of Fame, had it not been for who they were, literally, lying in bed with, and in Nikki's case the boob job likely helped too, big fake tits were quite popular at that point.

 

On 2/2/2024 at 12:39 PM, Rozalia1 said:

Meanwhile with AJ... I'm not in the business of doing these comments that women were sleeping with management for their position, but I never got how people who made such comments never thought of AJ as being such a woman. She was with Punk, someone I'd peg as being more likely to use his influence to help someone than a Cena would be (look at how much Punk helped his mentor Steel in AEW), and enjoyed loads of screen time. On her own as GM, being paired up with numerous popular talent, and then as champion being by far the most featured woman with plenty of promo time. Said champion run had her going on a massive run where she got to bury the entire division at will. When Punk took his ball and went home people predicted that she'd get buried for it and... nope, infamously petty at the time WWE took no issue and even had her win her last match before she left. All of this while being minute in the land of giants that you'd expect would have seen her as too small.

In the Bella's case it is very obvious, them fucking Bryan and Cena helped them getting to and staying at the top, which they certainly didn't reach with mic or wrestling skills, and now that we learn more and more details about how much big Johnny was into abusing his power over women I'd say him choosing mostly former models with zero wrestling background or interest makes a lot more sense now, I am sure I do not have to spell out what his screening process most likely looked like with most, if not all, of these model hirings.

With AJ it is less obvious, she worked the indies for a few years and was already someone before she got into the WWE via the NXT 2.0 show that Laurinitis had no hand in as far as I am aware at least, already had experience and a few championships under her belt, and then got trained even more in NXT long before she ever even appeared on the main roster. Sure, maybe she sucked dicks backstage to get promoted or trained, who knows, harder to tell than with some others is all I am saying. From what I remember she started dating Punk after already being in several high profile programs, and was widely considered to be the best in the ring at that time already, which admittedly isn't saying much, especially after Beth Phoenix and Melina left, so she was already part of the top programs with the likes of Bryan, Cena, Kane and Punk by that time anyway. Also it would have looked really bad to not give her a lot of promo time after her publically calling out Stephanie on Twitter for not giving the women any time, that was smart on her part, and for women size is not really an issue either, just look at Alexa Bliss, at least AJ looked super athletic.

 

Pretty sure AJ does not return because she knows she wouldn't be able to hang with most of the current generation though, and not just because of ring rust, she was lucky to be in the company when the womens roster was a joke, making her look legitimate by comparison.

Edited February 3 by Dauersack

[Don_Chipotle]

Of all the paths they took the worst one, this confirms they are taking the choices in short term/as quick as possible as long as it "prints money", even skipping what was previously happening, if Cody was supposed to go with Seth in the first place, why the hell he did he win, or even pointed at Roman after winning, sadly this makes no sense storywise, the way this was made just made the rumble look awful and pointless, because it was the most terrible way to put rock vs roman, no reasons why he quitted, no explanation, not a clear direction of the storyline, and this will affect everyone, because even if they give a 6 star performance, people will nuke with boos and chants the cody/seth and rock/roman matches, because from being an expected main event match, it may become one WM with the most letdowns in recent memory, for the hype and potential wasted, momentum killed with injuries, awful choices, and predictable results.

 

Even if they add Cody at the Wm match with rock and cody with some crazy idea, i think the damage is done, totally absurd that rock made a heel jerk move and they are delivering his character like he is the good guy, even if you are going to screw that, at least try to do something different or deliver something great with the heat the choice created.

 

 

[Dauersack]

41 minutes ago, Don_Chipotle said:

Even if they add Cody at the Wm match with rock and cody with some crazy idea, i think the damage is done, totally absurd that rock made a heel jerk move and they are delivering his character like he is the good guy, even if you are going to screw that, at least try to do something different or deliver something great with the heat the choice created.

I mean they could still change shit back, wouldn't be the first time, or maybe they are delusional enough to think that they could repeat the Lesnar vs Reigns main event from a few years ago, which was saved by Rollins cashing in, but going with Priest cashing in now, who is as much as a downgrade to Rollins as an old Rock match is to a Lesnar match. Been a few years since they made booking decisions so bad that they got The Rock booed, but if they actually go through with it and present this freakshow as the last match of the night, I reckon we will hear it happening again once the novelty is gone.

[Glorious Fury]

What a complete clusterfuck for WWE. Makes Cody look like a complete chump and talk about rendering the Royal Rumble meaningless. Sad that a younger full-time talent also was denied a opportunity to face Rollins at WrestleMania which could elevate them into a more significant position, while sticking with the clear plan to make Cody the FOTC beating Reigns. Beating Rollins won’t have the same impact for him.

 

PWI seem to be reporting this could have been a TKO-board (of which The Rock is a member, lol) led change rather than a Triple H creative change which is quite concerning. Still at this stage it's potentially salvageable considering the backlash against Cody being moved aside. Might end up a triple threat I guess.  

Edited February 3 by Glorious Fury

[JeffGordon2]

On 2/2/2024 at 2:31 PM, Rozalia1 said:

 

I was a big fan of Cody in his first run. Post his tag title run with his brother and then after his father died they could have started raising him up the main event and just kept jobbing him out. I thought it foolish how they pushed Finn to the top of the card when to me Cody was already there and superior in every aspect (Finn grew on me over time).

 

 

Jacob Fatu (31) has become a free agent and has had Rikishi promoting him so I'm thinking he'll be coming to WWE. The only thing is... do you introduce him before Mania to help beat down Cody and establish that Roman is running so scared that he is calling in more family members to help him? Or do you have Solo get foiled and then have Jacob debut to hit the interference and make people believe that Cody is going to lose again.

 

MJF getting injured like he did means that even if he doesn't have a contract beyond 2024, Khan can certainly delay him going to WWE as he can add time injured to the contract. Hopefully the Jay White affair (that dive to the floor was so stupid) and how his face run went will have taught MJF some lessons. Does he want to try and maintain himself as a big fish in a small pond? Or go to WWE where the Miz spot (not a bad spot) might well be his limit

Cody really did get done dirty in his first run for sure.  I think he'll still get his match for the WWE title just unsure if it'll be at Mania now due to the craziness that was smackdown last Friday.  They probably can just change the stipulation to be sometime during the year.  I also think it's a matter of time now for Fatu as well to join WWE.  I would think if MJF were to join WWE that Miz role makes sense but he also could be contending for titles easily too. 

[SelectiveGamer]

I'm going back on WWE hiatus again. Fuck this shit. And no I'm not watching AEW. I didn't the last time I went on hiatus.

 

FUCK DWAYNE JOHNSON

Edited February 6 by SelectiveGamer

[GoldenShaka]

I hope all of this is a work, and we'll get Roman vs Cody at Mania. Let's be honest many people were annoyed having Cody in last mania, maybe wwe producers were checking that there are still many people against Cody finishing the story. Call me crazy but I think it's all planned to have Cody vs Roman at mania.

[RoastedPeanut]

If they do go ahead with this disaster of a main event, I really hope people in the crowd either walk out when the match is about to begin or just boo the absolute shit out of it non stop. Remember how pissed off Dwayne was when people didn't give a damn about him and the rub he was trying to give Roman after he won the Rumble? The Ego better prepare himself again!

 

Also, if the reports coming out that the only reason he joined TKO was under the condition that he get the mania match, that's beyond fucked up. Why to 100% devalue the Rumble, dickhead. 

 

So Cody vs Rollins at Mania? Snooze. Cody may as well come out as Stardust at this point

[Dauersack]

The Rock stealing the spot from Cody became the most disliked WWE video of all time on Youtube, by a lot, within a day or two of being uploaded. The crowd on Raw reflected that, even the commentators mentioned that The Rock likely didn't get that kind of feedback since 1996, and he wasn't even there while they were loudly shouting that he sucks.

Personally by this point I am more interested in Rock vs Reigns than ever because just seeing what the crowd will make of this most likely boring clash between two lazy part timers would be more interesting than the repetition of Cody vs Reigns would have been. Drew is killing it in the segments currently too, if it is in the cards to get another opponent for Rollins I'd still prefer Gunther though, more original of a match up.

[DakotaKai_fan20]

On 2/6/2024 at 8:48 AM, Dauersack said:

The Rock stealing the spot from Cody became the most disliked WWE video of all time on Youtube, by a lot, within a day or two of being uploaded. The crowd on Raw reflected that, even the commentators mentioned that The Rock likely didn't get that kind of feedback since 1996, and he wasn't even there while they were loudly shouting that he sucks.

Personally by this point I am more interested in Rock vs Reigns than ever because just seeing what the crowd will make of this most likely boring clash between two lazy part timers would be more interesting than the repetition of Cody vs Reigns would have been. Drew is killing it in the segments currently too, if it is in the cards to get another opponent for Rollins I'd still prefer Gunther though, more original of a match up.

Dwayne Johnson will be another W for Roman. Him being champion has gotten stale back in 2022. Now if I was around at the time of Bruno Sammartino, I would of liked Bruno. Roman sucks and he needs to lose the damn belts already. Vinnie Mac started the tradition of screwing wrestlers over with Roman Reigns, now Triple H is doing the same thing. I was raging when he beat Cody last year. Then he is screwing Cody over some more this year. Just finish Cody's story already. I thought Triple H was good until he screwed Cody at WrestleMania 39. Obviously the fans didn't like that. Roman should NOT break Bruno Sammartino's record or I will give up on WWE until he leaves the comany. Man Roman Reigns' title run feels worse than the Montreal Screwjob.

[Maxximum]

Every time I stop by the forums I make sure to check out the WWE discussion thread since this is pretty much the only thread I can openly read and share thoughts about anything regarding one of the products of pro wrestling. I swear I was only gone for like a week and a half max and I find 4 new pages. I'm guessing it's about The Rock "stealing" Cody's mania spot. 

I read the replies and damn, I saw that Infected Elite got banned and I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the contributing factors towards his ban. Like I get it, you hate Roman or Punk but come on, it's just wrestling. Shouldn't be that serious to wish death upon them or anything of that sort. 

 

Anyway, I'm sure this is all a work. Triple H stay trolling and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Even if the Royal Rumble win was "pointless", it's not like this is the first time it'd be happening. John Cena used his 2008 rumble win to face Randy Orton at No Way Out before Mania. Let's not forget that Royal Rumble winners aren't even guaranteed a main event spot at the grandest stage of them all. 

 

The press conference is tonight. They have used the past week since Smackdown to build Cody even more. The Rock vs Roman Reigns is way too big to jumpstart the feud on a short notice. I would say it deserves a longer build; it's probably one of the most anticipated WrestleMania matches since John Cena vs The Rock in 2012. I see The Rock as a special guest referee or being involved in Roman vs Cody II one way or another to ensure a clean finish.   

 

 

[RoastedPeanut]

So Cody is still challenging for the match against Roman at Mania. It should be interesting to see if they can actually make this work. Seth Rollins just standing there in the background, probably thinking to himself that The Rock missed the memo when picking his attire for the press conference. At least having Seth there dressed like that means that if Steve Harvey can't be tracked down they could still host an impromptu episode of Family Feud

[Rozalia1]

I'm so happy to have been worked. I don't agree with all that talk of this being a 'pivot'. To me it comes with people who are obviously concerned with never getting worked because they think it makes them look stupid, which they aren't because they're 'smart'. WWE wanted a big moment for this event and they got there.

 

The Smackdown 'not at WrestleMania' thing can be explained easily. Cody being the good guy that he was stepped aside for Rock to sort out the family issues with Roman, seeing that as being more important than his own desire. At the press conference the Rock was out there talking about how there was only one dynasty in pro-wrestling and about how Roman vs Rock was going to be the biggest match ever. That showed Cody that Rock wanted the match for selfish reasons, so he picks Roman.

 

Seth was a bystander out there and you could say got disrespected again, but this too gives him an out with the Cody match. The disrespect from Roman and now Rock means that Seth can put forward that he now wants Cody to get one over on them. Him being there and being in support of Cody means we may likely be getting a tag match out of this. Some are thinking Night 1, but I don't see why you wouldn't do it an Elimination Chamber. Last time Rock had a run they did just that where him and Cena teamed up against Awesome Truth. Seth's knee apparently has rehabbed really well and they're going to put surgery off until after Mania so he should be able to do the tag. Does mean no Rock match at Mania, but that is a good thing, and he can be the 4th man at ringside for Roman.

 

Another aspect that was noticeable which I wonder if they'll do anything with was the dynamic between Rock and Roman. Due to getting most of the promo time, attacking Cody, being huge to the point that he dwarfs everyone else, and him walking ahead of Roman in the part backstage... Roman sure didn't look like the head of the table/tribal chief. Looked more like Rock's little cousin. A part of Roman's story has been how insecure he has progressively become, which helps explain why he went from smashing everybody, to needing Solo to interfere in every single match. The Rock being one of the reasons for Roman's growing insecurity would make sense. He knew that at any moment the Rock could return to WWE and usurp his authority.

[Maxximum]

Even though Roman vs Cody II was set in stone long ago, I wonder where this leaves Rock. I think the decision made was Triple H being told by The Rock to "fix it or we will". He basically put The Rock in his place after dropping that F bomb that got bleeped/censored out for those of us who were streaming. 

 

13 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

I'm so happy to have been worked. I don't agree with all that talk of this being a 'pivot'. To me it comes with people who are obviously concerned with never getting worked because they think it makes them look stupid, which they aren't because they're 'smart'. WWE wanted a big moment for this event and they got there.

 

The Smackdown 'not at WrestleMania' thing can be explained easily. Cody being the good guy that he was stepped aside for Rock to sort out the family issues with Roman, seeing that as being more important than his own desire. At the press conference the Rock was out there talking about how there was only one dynasty in pro-wrestling and about how Roman vs Rock was going to be the biggest match ever. That showed Cody that Rock wanted the match for selfish reasons, so he picks Roman.

 

Seth was a bystander out there and you could say got disrespected again, but this too gives him an out with the Cody match. The disrespect from Roman and now Rock means that Seth can put forward that he now wants Cody to get one over on them. Him being there and being in support of Cody means we may likely be getting a tag match out of this. Some are thinking Night 1, but I don't see why you wouldn't do it an Elimination Chamber. Last time Rock had a run they did just that where him and Cena teamed up against Awesome Truth. Seth's knee apparently has rehabbed really well and they're going to put surgery off until after Mania so he should be able to do the tag. Does mean no Rock match at Mania, but that is a good thing, and he can be the 4th man at ringside for Roman.

 

Another aspect that was noticeable which I wonder if they'll do anything with was the dynamic between Rock and Roman. Due to getting most of the promo time, attacking Cody, being huge to the point that he dwarfs everyone else, and him walking ahead of Roman in the part backstage... Roman sure didn't look like the head of the table/tribal chief. Looked more like Rock's little cousin. A part of Roman's story has been how insecure he has progressively become, which helps explain why he went from smashing everybody, to needing Solo to interfere in every single match. The Rock being one of the reasons for Roman's growing insecurity would make sense. He knew that at any moment the Rock could return to WWE and usurp his authority.

 

The Elimination Chamber card already got ruined by the injuries so the tag team match makes sense I guess. I just hope Roman vs Rock gets a bigger, better and longer build like Rock vs Cena. I was thinking about the point where The Rock costs Roman the title at Mania 40 and that's where Roman unleashes the post-Mania 31 Brock Lesnar where he'd destroy everyone and everything in his path, get suspended and call out The Rock. This angle should make Roman more intimidating than usual, forgetting that insecure label of him depending on Solo in all his recent matches.

Seth Rollins continues to be disrespected yet again and that leaves me wondering when Drew McIntyre and/or Sami Zayn step in. 

Edited February 9 by Maxximum

[willmill97]

Heel Rock until mania where he turns on roman, finish cody's story, and set up Rock/Roman for summerslam for Head of the table status, it writes itself.

[GoldenShaka]

As expected it was all a work, and happy that they're building a Reigns/Rock vs Cody/Rollins. 

Sadly Jade didn't go to Raw, i was expecting a Jade vs Ripley for Mania. Women's division is being reduced to Becky/Charlotte/Bianca. I thought Zoey was getting a bigger push. But I guess wweuniverse doesn't care about anybody else.