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

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

If they really wanted to get heat on Dom, they’d change his ring name to Dominic Guerrero.

[Eivion]

I've heard myself accidently call him that at least a few times and I totally want it to happen.

[DragonZombie]

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[EVA]

Incredible use of incongruous music for Charlotte/Rhea.

[HumanChessgame]

Does it make sense to say that even though I'm not terribly interested in most of the card, I still think they've done a much better job building to most of the matches on Mania this year than in a while?

[odessasteps]

1 minute ago, HumanChessgame said:

Does it make sense to say that even though I'm not terribly interested in most of the card, I still think they've done a much better job building to most of the matches on Mania this year than in a while?

Makes sense. The effort on the top programs means you can have some.paint by numbers on the bottom part of the card and still feel satisfied. 

[RIPPA]

Well it looks like Lashley/Wyatt is officially off as it was all but confirmed last night that Lashley will be in the Andre on Friday (and one would presume winning)

[RIPPA]

Most up to date confirmation of what night was announced for what Night (I am taking this from Wiki but all the original sources were WWE.com. Obviously things can change)

Saturday (Night One)

• Austin Theory (c) vs. John Cena - WWE United States Championship (confirmed to be opening show)
• Seth "Freakin" Rollins vs. Logan Paul
• Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky)
• Brock Lesnar vs. Omos (with MVP)
• Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka - WWE Raw Women's Championship
• Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley - WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Sunday (Night Two)

• Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Cody Rhodes - Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

There are 6 matches (that have been announced) still left to be placed so if both nights are exactly equal - 1 more will happen on Sat and the rest will be Sunday

[Chaos]

10 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Most up to date confirmation of what night was announced for what Night (I am taking this from Wiki but all the original sources were WWE.com. Obviously things can change)

Saturday (Night One)

• Austin Theory (c) vs. John Cena - WWE United States Championship (confirmed to be opening show)
• Seth "Freakin" Rollins vs. Logan Paul
• Trish Stratus, Lita, and Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky)
• Brock Lesnar vs. Omos (with MVP)
• Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka - WWE Raw Women's Championship
• Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley - WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Sunday (Night Two)

• Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Cody Rhodes - Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

There are 6 matches (that have been announced) still left to be placed so if both nights are exactly equal - 1 more will happen on Sat and the rest will be Sunday

I'm going to guess that both Owens/Zayn vs Usos and the 4-way women's showcase go to night 1.  Or you have maybe a third match added so you leave room for a longer main event and for there to be some impromptu matches.

[EVA]

All three of the most prominently featured women’s matches on night one doesn’t make any kind of sense. 

[Chaos]

3 minutes ago, EVA said:

All three of the most prominently featured women’s matches on night one doesn’t make any kind of sense. 

I don't think Bianca/Asuka was announced for night 1 yet. I've always assumed it'd be night 2. A title match each night. 

[RIPPA]

Oh it absolutely makes sense to be split across nights - as I said, people are pulling from everywhere including WWE.com which notoriously stealth changes their stories (and I just checked and the story doesn't specify a date.)

[Dolfan in NYC]

My main pushback is the Rhea/Charlotte match's whole build has been based on the 2020 match.  If that's the case, then it really should take the same spot the '20 match did, and that's first on the 2nd night.  

End night one with Bianca retaining and the tag title switch.  

[EVA]

The number of people on Wrestling Twitter posting some variation of “I loved the Bloodline/Goodfellas parody. I’ve never even seen Goodfellas!” is really disheartening.

[Tarheel Moneghetti]

Would it make sense to load up night two?  Night one airs opposite the NCAA tourney semifinals.  Do they lose many people to the tourney?  I was really into WM until I realized I’d have to choose between Night One and the Final Four.

[Greggulator]

I think this show is going to be the hotness with the crowd. They built so much of this stuff up so incredibly well. 
 

1) The main main event has been done perfectly. Everyone thought Cody was going to get swallowed up because of the reactions Sami got. The absolute exact opposite has happened. I thought that would happen. But they managed to weave Cody into the story seamlessly and he has hit it out of the park, and I say that as someone who was not a fan. But the secret to this is that Roman has been so little involved in interacting with him. It makes Roman both look incredibly important - less is more - and like an even bigger asshole heel. 

2) Not much else needs to be said about the tag match. It is the most perfectly built match possibly ever. They legitimately have set up the biggest tag match in WWE history. They have four of the best performers of all-time firing on all cylinders (KO has been on fire with the whole reuniting with Sami story). They have made this a deeply personal and multi-faceted feud. This feud has done not just a lot for those guys but for wrestling as a whole. They showed that a storyline like this is possible. And they also have elevated the tag titles into the most important titles in the world right now, and that is not going to go away for a while. 

3) Dom and Rey has been fantastic. This could by Rey’s last match and you know he wants to have a masterpiece with his son in real life. And they might be able to pull it off since Rey is the best babyface ever and has incredible sympathy headed into this. And Dom has become a wonderful heel based on leaning into this ridiculous stuff while also real sneakily becoming solid in the ring. 

4) Seth/Logan has been fun. Logan is a great weasel. Seth is not always my favorite face but he just owned that crowd last night and knows how to use that to his advantage. That match is going to be a perfectly fine match of really athletic dudes doing really athletic stuff. 

5) Edge/Finn is in a Hell in the Cell and is slept on. Heel Finn is so good and the Judgment Day stuff went from something DOA into a really fun group of asshole heels. Edge as a face I am not the biggest fan of but he is going to do some great over-the-top selling and vengeful face stuff that might not be good for Raw but is perfect for WM.

6) Rhea/Charlotte is not that hot a feud. But the basic premise of: “Rhea has been on a tear and won the Rumble and wants a second chance at the champ” is a perfectly fine way to build a match. I also think Charlotte is a fantastic in-ring worker (albeit way better as a heel.) But Rhea is just world class and has emerged as a perfect WWE wrestler. She is like a female Kevin Owens: She is everything all at once. She is a force of nature in the ring, a Chyna-style enforcer for a stable while also being great at smarmy gloating, and she has been aces with the goofball stuff with Dom. Crown her and let her rule over all for a few months.

7) I even like Brock/Omos. They kept it really simple — Omos has gotten the better of Brock twice, and who else can say that? 

8 Cena vs. Theory is going to be a spectacle. Theory is at least pretty good in the ring and Cena is having a match with him for a reason. 

The match I am least interested in is Bianca vs. Asuka. That is pretty amazing because Bianca has had absolute classics at the last few WMs and Asuka is so consistently good and has been doing some good stuff with the goo in her mouth shtick. 

What a great job building all of this. 

[Greggulator]

On 3/26/2023 at 2:38 PM, Eivion said:

I've heard myself accidently call him that at least a few times and I totally want it to happen.

I just call him that. Even better, Vickie said in an interview she wishes she could be involved in the angle and her AEW contract is up. I have no clue if Vickie is interested in a full-time schedule but man her managing Dom for a few months would be perfection. 

This is also just another way of me saying I want Vickie back on my TV screen. 

[Craig H]

Man, feel bad for Lashley. Goes from a feud with Brock Lesnar, to a feud ending match where the winner gets to face Bray Wyatt which is the worst prize for winning, gets stuck in some shitty segments for a couple weeks, then does nothing because who knows what's going on with Bray, and now he's been relegated to the Andre battle royal. 

I would say just make Omos vs Lesnar a 3 way match with Omos vs Lashley vs Lesnar and Omos can just take a powder outside for the majority of the match or take some cool double team moves from Lesnar and Lashley. Just watching that segment with a bunch of JAGs and jobbers all getting worked up over being included in the Andre battle royal and then it cuts to Lashley and it's like, damn, feels bad dude.

[hammerva]

16 minutes ago, EVA said:

The number of people on Wrestling Twitter posting some variation of “I loved the Bloodline/Goodfellas parody. I’ve never even seen Goodfellas!” is really disheartening.

I wonder how much of this is a joke because CM Punk said he never watched a Rocky movie.  Which I would argue is so much worse because there was about 6 of them.

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by hammerva

[EVA]

I suppose we can’t rule it out!

[The Natural]

37 minutes ago, EVA said:

The number of people on Wrestling Twitter posting some variation of “I loved the Bloodline/Goodfellas parody. I’ve never even seen Goodfellas!” is really disheartening.

If y'all want to revisit it:

Roman Reigns is “funny how?” as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood - YouTube

[Craig H]

The "do I amuse you" scene is probably the most watched scene from Goodfellas. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've at least seen the clip of that scene or Henry Hill's insane laugh.

At the same time, Goodfellas is now an "old" movie and all of these youngsters need to watch it and Casino...just to see that while Goodfellas is good, Casino is better...

/ducks at items thrown his way

[The Natural]

Just now, Craig H said:

The "do I amuse you" scene is probably the most watched scene from Goodfellas. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've at least seen the clip of that scene or Henry Hill's insane laugh.

At the same time, Goodfellas is now an "old" movie and all of these youngsters need to watch it and Casino...just to see that while Goodfellas is good, Casino is better...

/ducks at items thrown his way

Still need to see Casino.

[Craig H]

1 minute ago, The Natural said:

Still need to see Casino.

You should because it's better than Goodfellas. Just fast forward through the scenes with coked up Sharon Stone and when Sam has a late night talk show.