John from Cincinnati Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 51 minutes ago, Greggulator said: Man, the Rock is a legitimate movie star being the single biggest asshole heel imaginable. Dude has absolutely nothing to gain from being in WrestleMania at all. After Black Adam flopping and some Dwayne fatigue setting in, retreating to things people used to like him for and re-upping his relationship with that audience is actually pretty smart. He gained a lot from it when he did it with Cena. And between lucking into this heel stuff that people seem to be responding to, and doing a Benny Safdie A24 movie I get the sense people like him getting out of his comfort zone of the last decade or so. He seems to be gaining a lot out of this. And he still plays it safe by saying he’s playing a heel when he goes on Kimmel. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 8 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said: Huh. TIL Mindy's is in Wicker Park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Also, that may have been the best Chicago Raw in a long time. I didn't watch all of it because I was skipping around, but everything I saw was great and the amazing Chicago crowd was back and eating everything up. Ending segment was awesome. And with each week goes by the tease Austin more and more and, man, this motherfucker is about to be pants free if he comes out at Wrestlemania to stun the Rock on night 2. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Hollywood Rock is best Rock. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Well that certainly was one hell of a way to end a RAW. I saw there was like 8 minutes left so I wondered what they would do and what a masterful 8 minutes it was by The Rock. Cody getting his ass kicked in the rain and being left bleeding was just so damn unexpected. Best ending to RAW in ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I asked this earlier of a friend “if Cody beats Roman with Austin’s help, does that dilute the impact of his win?” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 9 minutes ago, odessasteps said: I asked this earlier of a friend “if Cody beats Roman with Austin’s help, does that dilute the impact of his win?” IMO, if Roman takes a Stunner or Austin otherwise causes the finish, then yes. Otherwise, no. I don't have any real logic behind it, just instinct, and the amped up crowd might well prove me naive, but I think if Cody's sidekicks are losing to the Masters of Samoan Evil outside and Rock is about to make it to the ring but Austin pops up to even the odds, it probably won't hurt Cody or the win. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eivion Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Opening segment with Cody and Rock was decent. JD/Ricochet was good with Dom continuing to be a well used prop/heta magnet in Judgement Day matches and segments. I thought the Punk segment was by far the best he has looked since his return talking wsie. He seemed to feel so much more comfortable and I dug the barbs between him and Drew. I know they wanted to bring it back to the title match with Seth, but I really wish they let Drew murder Punk for the heat and run off from Seth. Ivy/Candice was another short match just further getting across the Candice heel turn. DIY vs. New Day was pretty nice up until the Judgement Day run in and beatdown on everyone.Awesome Truth were fun on commentary, and I loved Truth trying to stay out of the beatdown until Judgement Day dragged him in. Andrade/Vinci was a nice showcase for Andrade. The Becky/Rhea segment was solid. Was good to see them finally come to blows and Dom was once again well used. Still they have to understand there is basically no way the audience will look at Rhea as a heel properly. They really need to turn her face when this is all said and done. Sami/Bronson was pretty solid. Dug Günther's appearance psyching Sami out for the finish.Really digging the idea of Gunther being able to get into guys' heads and Sami needing more than his usual spirit to succeed. Its been a good way to use Gable and keep him involved, giving Sami the tough love and honesty he needs to have a chance. Jey/Nakamura was solid, but this was all the post match going back to Cody vs. Rock. I thought th segment could have used a minute or two less, but Loved Cody taking an absolute beating and bleeding from the Rock. Good matches and segments building for Wrestlemania nd just a few things after. Dug the show a good deal. Length is the only thing that keeps me from calling it good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 NSFW: Spoiler https://m.youtube.com/shorts/J-YJO9xzpBM 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_MJ_ Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) Rock 11 hours ago, John from Cincinnati said: After Black Adam flopping and some Dwayne fatigue setting in, retreating to things people used to like him for and re-upping his relationship with that audience is actually pretty smart. He gained a lot from it when he did it with Cena. And between lucking into this heel stuff that people seem to be responding to, and doing a Benny Safdie A24 movie I get the sense people like him getting out of his comfort zone of the last decade or so. He seems to be gaining a lot out of this. And he still plays it safe by saying he’s playing a heel when he goes on Kimmel. It's more than just "luck" though. He really could have just come back and did the face stuff even though I would have found it boring. He's been booed before at WrestleMania against bigger stars than Cody. Austin couldn't do this in the same way. Nor Hogan. I think Cena could if he wanted to but not sure. Storyline wise - they've done the "you can't your partner" device (Rock/Reigns and Rhodes/Rollins) now that we've talked about in these threads the past couple of weeks so we can check that one off. Good narrative checkmark there. I heard some people guessed that the Rock would play it safe and help Cody win the title against Roman early on in this his turn, but I wasn't convinced and recent segments from Rock/Cody makes me believe it even less so now. If Rock vs Reigns is still on the cards in the distant future, I can see them keeping Rock heel for it....not sure if they would go full face turn for Roman, but I don't think a turn (or partial turn) is out of the question especially if Rock wins the tag match, but Roman loses the title. Edited March 26 by _MJ_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cwKkZhLxmfg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Moose Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Guest Ref Punk was an intriguing part of the journey, such that feels like it undermined the eventual Special Guest On Commentary destination. it was like the sound chip on the talking The Rock doll got stuck between "look at you now" and "MAMArhodes" Also if Mama Rhodes doesn't slap The Rock real hard during 'mania (or I guess whip him with the belt?) what are we even doing here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 MAMARHODES needs to whip the shit out of the Rock. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 It’s been like 10 hours since Raw, so I’m sure someone has beaten me to this connection by now, but Cody with his blonde hair bleeding in the rain made me think of the end of Blade Runner. I’ve no doubt that a true cornball geek like him was lobbying production to let him cut a social media promo after the show where he could work in a “tears in rain” quote. 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 "Rocky, I've... seen... things... you people wouldn't believe. Explosions botching in the heart of Jacksonville..." 1 1 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 This was beautiful. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Is Dustin still under AE-Dub contract? Cause him coming out to get absolutely slaughtered by Roman would be the bee's knees. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Great episode, really pulled the nose up from last week Me at the start: Haha, Rock and Cody got a This is Awesome chant for standing still. But goddam, something tells me the booking just got all messed up. Did Rock babyface himself in Memphis to set up a turn at Mania? Is he truly so fragile he couldn't stand to be the bad guy for long? What D of chess are we playing, 3 or 4? 5?! Me at the end: God damn, that was a beautiful beat down! And things are clearer now, they could have rode the intrigue over the next two weeks but having a straight ahead showdown seems more effective Ricochet and McDonagh tore it up. Between all their shows WWE is a Tajiri short of having the cruiserweight division of my dreams right now (although it might also be most of the roster) Good to see Punk back and with Drew firing on all cylinders and Rollins upping his game this was a fantastic modern promo segment. It's funny that Sting became Punk for the Bucks and Drew is now one big Buck for Punk, both sides had to exorcise that stuff in the ring I like the LeRae turn so far, it's some character development and experience for the younger women and it's short. The idea that they should only show the women who are already stars is so myopic and yeah Maxxine and Ivy shouldn't be learning on national TV but this is how you build for the future. The one I hope benefits most from this angle is Hartwell, she's good but needs to find another gear Backs and Rhea had a good exchange, Zayn/Reed was good stuff. I called for Zayn/Gunther months ago but it's not as hot a program as I thought it would be. Keeping Gable in the mix has stolen some of the focus, again it's tough to tell if that's intentional and is leading somewhere or just a misstep Nak/Uso wasn't much, it was just there to set up the chaos to end the show 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 This Mania build has been quite the roller coaster. YAY CODY/ROMAN 2! BOO ITS ROCK/ROMAN INSTEAD YAY THEY FIXED IT! CODY/ROMAN IS BACK ON AND ROCK IN A TAG MATCH! Now, we’ve crossed over into the bittersweet realization…yeah, but Cody/Rock would be better than either of the matches we’re actually gonna get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I do agree that there’s so much more heat for Cody vs Rock now. If Rock is going to show the movie career down a little bit for the next year then you may as well do Cody vs Rock at Summerslam and then Roman vs Rock at WM41. Provided the Rock stays healthy, which is a big if. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 BTW, I rewatched the closing angle again and man, the Rock was seriously channeling southern slave owner with his dialogue. He was like something out of Django Unchained with how over the top he was. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 38 minutes ago, Craig H said: BTW, I rewatched the closing angle again and man, the Rock was seriously channeling southern slave owner with his dialogue. He was like something out of Django Unchained with how over the top he was. Now I'm remembering Quentin Tarantino horrible cameo in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, Infinit said: This was beautiful. I meant to say this last week but I'm really loving the changes in production they're doing on Raw. They're trying new things and from what I saw so far it's fucking great. I remember last week the had the camera follow Sami walking to the back and after he disappears they focus on another angle with Miz and R Truth. It was so awesome and man do I not miss dipshit Kevin Dunn. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Uncensored version The Rock crushing Cody at the end of the show: 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zendragon Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I've been following this Cody / Rock stuff on youtube. Most interested I've been in a WWE storyline in years 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts