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

[Dolphman 3000]

2 minutes ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

SummerSlam is yet another stadium show,  this time in Detroit.  I believe it's Ford Field the site of WrestleMania 23.  I'm not saying they will or won't or should or shouldn't but it's probably going to be 60,000+  in that place.  This is where WWE is at right now.  Another stadium show will be packed to the brim. 

Cody demanding a rematch tonight and giving it 5 months of build would be great

Worst possible thing they could do is Roman vs. Sami vs. Cody in a triple threat to milk the cash cow with Roman going over again, so I have a bad feeling that's inevitable

[Greggulator]

I think people also need to redefine “fell into their lap.”

KofiMania was falling into their lap. Kofi got over in a losing effort in a gauntlet match he was not even supposed to be in. Then he ended up winning the title at WM a few weeks later after the groundswell of popularity.

Becky Lynch fell into their lap. She went from being the fourth place Horsewoman not doing too much on the roster to finding her voice as a super defiant insurgent and a counter to Ronda Rousey and headlined WM. 

Cody Rhodes came in with a monster push. Then he got hurt. He came back winning Royal Rumble. That is literally “we are hand picking this guy to headline WM.” He had a really compelling storyline and did a great job at finding himself in The Bloodline saga. But that is not falling into anyone’s lap.

Cody is going to be fine. 

[Greggulator]

Also: I am pretty sure the way to not bury someone who you are pissed at for starting in AEW is to:

1) Give him a lot of money

2) Have him win the Royal Rumble

3) Give him a lot of screen time where he does promos he wrote

4) Have him main event WrestleMania and lose via screw job in a way that very much protected him. 

Yes that is exactly the way to bury someone.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

2 hours ago, Nineteen said:

After digesting it, I at least hope there's a plan after this. 

Meltzer has been saying Heyman and Triple H have a year’s worth of storylines laid out, post-WM.

[Craig H]

Found Andrew POE getting a Platinum Trophy for throwing a temper tantrum for Roman winning.

 

[Go2Sleep]

1 hour ago, Greggulator said:

I think people also need to redefine “fell into their lap.”

He fell into their lap because he never should've been available to them in his current form. They got extremely lucky that he had a fallout with the co-founders of his new company. WWE had 6 years or so with young Cody and never got him above IC/US level, and was a jobber by the end of his run. He goes out on his own, finds a style and presentation that works for him, and WWE gets all the benefits of a potential ace despite doing not just no work, but counterproductive work to get him to that level.

He'll be fine like Seth Rollins is fine booking wise. This was their chance to officially make him the top guy everyone thought he would be when they signed him.

[Greggulator]

30 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

He fell into their lap because he never should've been available to them in his current form. They got extremely lucky that he had a fallout with the co-founders of his new company. WWE had 6 years or so with young Cody and never got him above IC/US level, and was a jobber by the end of his run. He goes out on his own, finds a style and presentation that works for him, and WWE gets all the benefits of a potential ace despite doing not just no work, but counterproductive work to get him to that level.

He'll be fine like Seth Rollins is fine booking wise. This was their chance to officially make him the top guy everyone thought he would be when they signed him.

Define “everyone” because I did not think that. Nor did a lot of people. Cody won me over the past few weeks but before that I thought he was a total tool. 

[Gonzo]

Wrong thread

Edited April 4, 2023 by Gonzo
Wrong thread

[NoFistsJustFlips]

20 hours ago, Thunder Down Under said:

The Rock story is obvious, but if it’s not him, Punk is the only big enough name that’s either not on the roster or that hasn’t already been tarnished by losing to Reigns.

I'm still catching up but waned to comment on this thought. I would tend to age with you. Except Sami started being with The Bloodline in what, May? Within 9 months he went from comedy jobber who got beat in a literal mouse trap to The Jackass Guy to the most over babyface in foreverrrr having one of the most memorable matches in a decade. I believe in Heyman and his storytelling. No one right now looks like much of anything. But Heyman can make anyone credible given enough time. And if lightning strikes just right he can create mega stars over night. Who knows maybe Montez Ford all of suden gets a deep rich story with The Bloodline that gets him just as over as Sami was.

And unrelated to the comment above... imagine how silly all this bickering about 'is Jey going to be the one to beat him' / 'who is ready to beat him now' will look in 4 more years... when Roman is still the champion. I think people really have to start getting their minds around the possibility they have cemented that they wanted him to beat Bruno's record. I keep beating on this horse. But this is literally the most likely chance of this happening in 40 years. It's something people have to start treating as totally possible.

 

Spoiler

This reign doesn't end a day before May 3rd, 2028.

 

[The Natural]

In life it's all about timing, momentum. It was Cody Rhodes time here to win and he didn't. Rhodes can still win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and probably will. However it won't be as big as it would have been here, on the grandest stage of all. This was the peak to do it at.

Edited April 4, 2023 by The Natural

[NoFistsJustFlips]

14 hours ago, SirFozzie said:

Instead it's "Hey, it's "Bloodline saves Roman in a bullshit ending", part XXV!

Sorry for back to back posts here but this one is extra funny to me lol.

"I want wrestling to be more like the 80s!"

*Does modern day Horsemen with lots of fuck finishes to save Flair.*

"No not like THAT!"

Don't mean for that to suggest that you said that specifically, just seems like a lot of the same sentiment I'm seeing here. The Bloodline is just The Horsemen. That's literally all this is. They even call Solo The Enforcer. They have the generational tag team. They just replaced the boozing and parting with family pride & heritage. I think we all have to dial back our personal opinions and realize that's all they are, opinions. Not facts. There's been 39 Wrestlemanias. By my count there's been 26ish babyface wins to end the show with the happy ending. Just because the ratio is 70% that doesn't mean it HAS TO end that way every single time. And frankly if it does, the event loses it's impact (narrative speaking, financially they are set probably forever regardless).

[SirFozzie]

Some of it is Roman Fatigue, I agree. The sad thing is it takes a little bit of the gloss off Zayn/Owens as it wasn't the end of the Bloodline, just took a couple pounds of gold off the Uso's shoulders when they save Roman. So Zayn got revenge on.. his friend in the Bloodline? (and yes, I'm looking at it half full). They had a chance to end a superlong running angle (The Bloodline have gold) on a super successful note, and they didn't.

[Go2Sleep]

37 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

Define “everyone” because I did not think that. Nor did a lot of people. Cody won me over the past few weeks but before that I thought he was a total tool. 

Cody signing with WWE was the biggest (on screen) story of the year. People were talking about him beating Roman as soon as Summer Slam. After he cemented himself with his (probably stupid) HIAC performance, he was the clear successor to the throne. Cody losing here would've been like Austin losing to Shawn or Cena losing to JBL. The story is obvious but everyone wants to see it. It's why Marvel movies make a billion dollars each.

I'm pretty confident that whatever angle they go with will not produce a moment as hot as if Cody had won Sunday.

[Thunder Down Under]

40 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

I'm still catching up but waned to comment on this thought. I would tend to age with you. Except Sami started being with The Bloodline in what, May? Within 9 months he went from comedy jobber who got beat in a literal mouse trap to The Jackass Guy to the most over babyface in foreverrrr having one of the most memorable matches in a decade. I believe in Heyman and his storytelling. No one right now looks like much of anything. But Heyman can make anyone credible given enough time. And if lightning strikes just right he can create mega stars over night. Who knows maybe Montez Ford all of suden gets a deep rich story with The Bloodline that gets him just as over as Sami was.

And unrelated to the comment above... imagine how silly all this bickering about 'is Jey going to be the one to beat him' / 'who is ready to beat him now' will look in 4 more years... when Roman is still the champion. I think people really have to start getting their minds around the possibility they have cemented that they wanted him to beat Bruno's record. I keep beating on this horse. But this is literally the most likely chance of this happening in 40 years. It's something people have to start treating as totally possible.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

This reign doesn't end a day before May 3rd, 2028.

 

It’s hard to rely on capturing lightning in bottle for a second time. Given this company’s track record you described, it is just as likely Sami will be doing something insignificant next Mania due to the failure to capitalise on the chance they had this year.

[Dolphman 3000]

Babyfaces traditionally walk out of the decade-Manias as champion

X - Bret

XX - Benoit

XXX - Danielson

What I'm saying is there's still plenty of time for Roman to turn face and retain next year

Edited April 4, 2023 by Dolphman 3000

[Go2Sleep]

And ya know, Brock killing Cody right after Mania would've actually made a ton of sense if Cody won the belt. Brock can go for the belt again, so he found his inner monster. As it is, well, I think we can put the "maybe Cody was better off losing" argument to bed.

[Thunder Down Under]

2 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

And ya know, Brock killing Cody right after Mania would've actually made a ton of sense if Cody won the belt. Brock can go for the belt again, so he found his inner monster. As it is, well, I think we can put the "maybe Cody was better off losing" argument to bed.

Yeah short of winning the title tonight, it was hard to see how Cody would’ve been better off. As it is, Cody likely would’ve been better off not even being on Raw. So not only did he fall short on the biggest stage after making a big deal about how he had to win, he got turned down for a rematch and then was stupid enough to pick a partner who turned before the bell even rang and got absolutely destroyed by said partner. What motivation do the fans have to see him as anything but a loser now?

[The Natural]

Cody Rhodes went from Lex Luger at WrestleMania XXXIX to Stupid Sting the RAW After Mania.

[Dolphman 3000]

2 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Cody Rhodes went from Lex Luger at WrestleMania XXXIX to Stupid Sting the RAW After Mania.

At first I thought you were referencing Sting losing to HHH at Mania and then thanking him on RAW the next night like a rube, then I realized you meant Stupid Sting in general

Both are applicable

[StarChief EagleDemon]

I was set to give things a chance last night, but then was left thinking "does WWE even know what a babyface is anymore?" after Raw last night. But then, I thought "well, we have to go alllll the way back to...Saturday night to see them present a babyface well". ."

I then thought that I'll be going back to watching 10% of Raw like I have been for the past 5 years.

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

8 hours ago, The Natural said:

In life it's all about timing, momentum. It was Cody Rhodes time here to win and he didn't. Rhodes can still win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and probably will. However it won't be as big as it would have been here, on the grandest stage of all. This was the peak to do it at.

Weren’t you the same person posting that Roman needed to win, because he needed to go over the 1,000 day mark, and telling about how you “wish” it had been with the more prestigious belt? I remember saying to you on Sunday that he’s elevated the Universal Title already thus he could afford to lose. It seems like you wanted it both ways, now you’re just unhappy Cody lost. 

I get that as I wanted Cody to win too, but look at my post from Sunday afternoon after the sale was announced. I said the odds were easily 75-25 Roman retains, because of the sale. Sure enough that was correct. Vince has the worlds largest hard on for him, and he won’t lose the belt for at least a year.

[Craig H]

I really don't think the sale had anything to do with Roman retaining. Someone us pointed out that given how much of a fan HHH is of Crocket and old NWA and WCW stuff that it makes sense for him to keep the title on Roman a little longer and keep the Bloodline as their version of the Four Horsemen.

That said, sometimes it's better to read the room, read the reactions Cody was getting week in and week out, and make the title change.

[mystman]

The problem with Bloodline= Horsemen is that Flair would lose the title periodically and then win it back later. If they wanted to do that, I would be more willing to go along with it. But it's like they're combining Flairs run with Hogan's or Sammartino's. That just doesn't work with a heel. You can't screw with fans emotions for that long before they're burnt out.

 

[worldcupfever]

We need to get away from the idea of "tarnished by losing to the champ" - an individual or a team going back to the drawing board and redefining themselves, especially if it's specifically to defeat a certain roadblock (not Rochester) is one of the best stories you can tell in any sports-related medium.  We're not automatically devaluing half the NFL because they lost to the Chiefs last year, we're looking forward to seeing what they've all done to adjust to the task of beating the Chiefs and/or winning the Super Bowl.  

Let's not focus on the tarnish, let's focus on the retooling:

https://youtu.be/YNv4fGQvKQQ

[supremebve]

27 minutes ago, worldcupfever said:

We need to get away from the idea of "tarnished by losing to the champ" - an individual or a team going back to the drawing board and redefining themselves, especially if it's specifically to defeat a certain roadblock (not Rochester) is one of the best stories you can tell in any sports-related medium.  We're not automatically devaluing half the NFL because they lost to the Chiefs last year, we're looking forward to seeing what they've all done to adjust to the task of beating the Chiefs and/or winning the Super Bowl.  

Let's not focus on the tarnish, let's focus on the retooling:

https://youtu.be/YNv4fGQvKQQ

I am 100% on board with this idea. The champion is the champion for a reason and taking him to the brink and losing has been a big part of wrestling since the very beginning. Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes are the two biggest babyfacesv that WWE has produced in years. Nobody is ironically booing, nobody is complaining about them being shoved down or throats,  everyone is just wildly cheering. I honestly think Sami should eventually be the one who beats Roman,  but only after this high tide starts receding. Don't get me wrong,  they could fuck this up before that,  but they could also keep the momentum going. I personally believe in not fucking up a good thing. When the hot girl takes interest in you,  you can start ranting about your political beliefs or you can shut the fuck up and enjoy feeling on her booty. The most amazing booty you've felt in in years is in your hands right here and right now, and we are over here looking at other booties wondering what they feel like. 

Edited April 4, 2023 by supremebve
My phone just types anything it wants