WrestleZAYNia XXXIX - 4/1 & 4/2/2023

[The Natural]

Bobby Lashley misses out on a WrestleMania match while Shane McMahon gets one.

[Raziel]

Just now, The Natural said:

Bobby Lashley misses out on a WrestleMania match while Shane McMahon gets one.

Well, a couple minutes of one.

[Niners Fan in CT]

2 minutes ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

Exactly. This is also why lately the only WWE match I watch each year is the Mania main event (as long as I can stream it somewhere/watch it at my brother's house). It's exciting seeing if Roman will lose or not but when he wins it just makes me not want to follow again until next year's Mania when the stakes are back up. 

That's good for you but you are pretending that everyone in the world feels the same way you do and that's obviously not the case given they just packed SoFi for two nights.  Other opinions exist. 

[Cobra Commander]

This might be lost on some non baseball fans, but Cody post-tonight is like when the big prospect on your team comes up and experiences adversity and people begin to doubt if this guy really as good as a #1 prospect should be. There's still ways for that player to become the best player in the game, but also ways for the whole thing to be sort of a bust or for people to crap on that prospect for not being better because he's not the best player in the game.

Same comparison could be made with NFL QBs. A bunch of guys get money with the hope that they can be as good or better than Patrick Mahomes, but if they struggle, cya!

I guess if they wanted to, they could move things in a way where Cody isn't seen as a failure who now has a section of fans with reasons to crap on him, which could fester. Like how AEW Cody likely had a peak as a face and then kept declining and declining in popularity. Of course people at WWE shows are different.

But Cody just had a 90 OPS+ rookie season after Baseball America said he was gonna be the next Jeter.

In theory, they could be doing some larger story to put the belt on Cody Rhodes later. But consider that this is the WWE and that Cody's small by their standards and not seen as being as good of a worker like other small guys that they put the titles on. Also, it's the WWE and they don't associate small guys with big money.

So say hello to Roman Reigns becoming the new Hulk Hogan once he gets turned face and has to fight off the Bloodline.

[southofheavy]

Great match. The right man won. 

Cody is corny, y'all. 

[The Natural]

Sucks for Shane. Get well soon.

[A_K]

Called it. When you know, you know 

Did you really think they were going to let their franchise player drop the first pin to the AEW guy on the grandest stage of them all? Cody will take it - but not today. 

[Octopus]

1 minute ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

That's good for you but you are pretending that everyone in the world feels the same way you do and that's obviously not the case given they just packed SoFi for two nights.  Other opinions exist. 

Where did he imply anyone else’s feelings other than his own in this post?

[Andrew POE!]

Before people jump down my throat about wishing people in the audience would hurt Roman Reigns.....let me explain.

WWE have essentially killed ANY babyface looking to build momentum and win the title off of Reigns. Drew McIntyre is now a midcard wrestler. Edge is nowhere near the main event now. Brock Lesnar hasn't even bothered going after the titles. Now the same thing happened to Cody. He won't be in the main event spot again. He'll be in midcard feuds (hope leaving AEW where he could have been AEW Champion RIGHT NOW was worth it Cody).

It's obvious the WWE doesn't listen to the fans, so the most extreme reaction (such as fans hurting Reigns) would remove Reigns from being on TV -- the thing is, the fans won't do that. They'll sabotage the show with chants or just won't show up at PPVs. We'll have the piped-in crowd noises we've gotten in the past except it's with a guy who can barely speak up in promos closing in on 1000 days of a title reign.

Besides who would the WWE build up next for a title match? The Rock? MJF (seriously MJF don't sign with WWE, look at what they did to Cody)?

Edited April 3, 2023 by Andrew POE!

[The Natural]

What a match. GUNTHER and Triple H brought prestige back to the WWE Intercontinental Championship. You love to see it.

[Belgian_Waffle]

2 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to retain the reminds me of Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship vs. Tetsuya Naito at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12. You have a history making run going up against a hot face expecting a title change.

I was thinking of this too oddly enough. On that night I thought it was a 5* match and that the right guy won. In hindsight maybe Naito should have won (I know everyone thought so at the time), but I think at the time it was more important to continue Okada's dominance and save it for Omega. Where they screwed up was giving away Omega's first win over Okada in the G1 and not waiting until the next Dome show to change the title. 

Tonight's match kind of stunk except for the epic feel of the whole thing. I don't even really mind Reigns winning except that it seems like they don't know where they're going with his reign which makes it hard to commit to keeping up with the storylines in between major shows. There's probably something to the idea of Sami winning the Rumble and getting another shot at Mania 40 (assuming the Rock hasn't already committed), but that's a lot of television and ppvs to fill in the meantime. 

[The Natural]

Bianca Belair is 3-0 at WrestleMania.

Asuka is 0-5 at WrestleMania.

I thought Asuka was winning here.

 

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

6 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

This might be lost on some non baseball fans, but Cody post-tonight is like when the big prospect on your team comes up and experiences adversity and people begin to doubt if this guy really as good as a #1 prospect should be. There's still ways for that player to become the best player in the game, but also ways for the whole thing to be sort of a bust or for people to crap on that prospect for not being better because he's not the best player in the game.

Same comparison could be made with NFL QBs. A bunch of guys get money with the hope that they can be as good or better than Patrick Mahomes, but if they struggle, cya!

I guess if they wanted to, they could move things in a way where Cody isn't seen as a failure who now has a section of fans with reasons to crap on him, which could fester. Like how AEW Cody likely had a peak as a face and then kept declining and declining in popularity. Of course people at WWE shows are different.

But Cody just had a 90 OPS+ rookie season after Baseball America said he was gonna be the next Jeter.

In theory, they could be doing some larger story to put the belt on Cody Rhodes later. But consider that this is the WWE and that Cody's small by their standards and not seen as being as good of a worker like other small guys that they put the titles on. Also, it's the WWE and they don't associate small guys with big money.

So say hello to Roman Reigns becoming the new Hulk Hogan once he gets turned face and has to fight off the Bloodline.

Cody's not a prospect he was a prospect 15 years ago

[Cobra Commander]

for the purposes of plotting out the end of Roman's reign in a few years.. are there any current referees with twin brothers and will NBC give the WWE another Friday Night slot?

[peterien]

Edge winning is more annoying (imo) than Cody losing. Dude hasn’t been one bit interesting since his return and the return after his return. 

[Casey]

Night 2 felt really different from Night 1. That’s all I’m gonna say.

[Belgian_Waffle]

5 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

That's good for you but you are pretending that everyone in the world feels the same way you do and that's obviously not the case given they just packed SoFi for two nights.  Other opinions exist. 

What part of what I wrote insists that everyone feels the same way as me? Why don't you sober up and get some sleep, it might ease the senseless hostility of your posts a little. 

[mystman]

The way some people on this board are tripping over themselves to defend this absolute horseshit booking is mind boggling. This was one of the most appalling endings  in WrestleMania history. Cody is the most over face in the company, even ahead of Sami. And him going over their biggest heel on their biggest show is a no brainer. You want to see where this is going? I'll tell you where it's going. They'll build, let's say, Rollins for a year. He'll face Roman at Mania. But then they'll decide he's not over enough, and they can squeeze another year out of the Bloodline, so he'll lose. Then the following year it'll be Breakker. And they'll build him up. But then his shithead dad will say something stupid, and they'll chicken out, and he'll lose. And etcetera and etcetera until the Bloodline angle loses all steam, and then they'll have Cody, or Riddle, or Sami or whoever and they'll win a flaccid WrestleMania 45 main event, and no one will give a shit.

Sorry, but there's been a lot of bad booking this weekend, not just from these guys, and I'm overly pissy.

[The Natural]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

Night 2 felt really different from Night 1. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Night 1 continues to be the better of the two. The new WrestleMania streak alongside Bianca Belair 3-0 there.

[For Great Justice]

Reading (admittedly, way) between the lines on Hunter’s answer just now at the presser as to why Cody didn’t go over, I got a vibe that he was concerned the fans would turn on him at some point later in the run. I could be seeing ghosts there, though.

Hunter’s doing great here. Him marking out over Gunther was awesome.

[A_K]

4 minutes ago, mystman said:

The way some people on this board are tripping over themselves to defend this absolute horseshit booking is mind boggling. This was one of the most appalling endings  in WrestleMania history. Cody is the most over face in the company, even ahead of Sami. And him going over their biggest heel on their biggest show is a no brainer. You want to see where this is going? I'll tell you where it's going. They'll build, let's say, Rollins for a year. He'll face Roman at Mania. But then they'll decide he's not over enough, and they can squeeze another year out of the Bloodline, so he'll lose. Then the following year it'll be Breakker. And they'll build him up. But then his shithead dad will say something stupid, and they'll chicken out, and he'll lose. And etcetera and etcetera until the Bloodline angle loses all steam, and then they'll have Cody, or Riddle, or Sami or whoever and they'll win a flaccid WrestleMania 45 main event, and no one will give a shit.

Sorry, but there's been a lot of bad booking this weekend, not just from these guys, and I'm overly pissy.

Nah. That's not where its going 

The booking is great. That's why these guys are running multi-mil viewers in a hostile media environment while the other lot shed hundreds of thousands by the month.

Roman is money. He'll drop the belts this year, but he wasn't doing it at WM. He put the company on his back and ran with it: did you really think they were going to let the AEW guy saunter in and take the mantle from him at WM? Please.

Edited April 3, 2023 by A_K

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Meltzer’s recapper piles on Shane,

Quote

Shane was doing whatever his offence is before he suddenly fell, apparently injuring his leg.

I mean, he didn’t suddenly fall.  He leapfrogged Miz and landed wrong.

 

[Cobra Commander]

1 minute ago, ExcellenceofAirPollution said:

Cody's not a prospect he was a prospect 15 years ago

In this era, there really aren't pure prospects like Goldberg in 1998. Someone like Bron Breakker isn't gonna surge up the ranks with how NXT works.

Roman was around for 10 years before it finally clicked and they were trying to push him within 4 years of his debut. So Cody challenging for the title a year after returning to the WWE is a relatively meteoric rise in this company.

But if some people wanna mention Cody having to overcome some adversity, well, that's a real world comp to athletes with expectations who have to overcome something. So if they tell the story one way, people could stay loyal. Or they could not do that and people will move on to someone else.

People are fickle. Remember.

[Octopus]

2 minutes ago, For Great Justice said:

Reading (admittedly, way) between the lines on Hunter’s answer just now at the presser as to why Cody didn’t go over, I got a vibe that he was concerned the fans would turn on him at some point later in the run. I could be seeing ghosts there, though.

Hunter’s doing great here. Him marking out over Gunther was awesome.

I tuned in for a bit. There was a weird moment where he talked about someone earning the title from Roman and not just being handed it. 

[Cobra Commander]

It's kinda hilarious that Cody Rhodes can inspire this level of passion when you consider that a Cody title reign would likely be sort of a footnote and would have been transitional anyways.