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

[Niners Fan in CT]

1 minute ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

Ha, deleting most of the post, and ignoring the counter point. I'll ask point blank: Why can't Jey/Roman be a non title match and you make *gasp* a SECOND big star on this show? Until you answer that, you are basically just saying "I don't actually have a counter point" in big bold letters without typing them.

I never said that can't happen.  You can absolutely do that.  I would be perfectly fine if the internal issues with The Bloodline leads to Roman having no help and dropping the title to someone and then Jey and Roman have a big blowoff match.  That's fine. I'm not someone who is stuck on one idea and if that one thing doesn't come to fruition it's the end of the world.  There are a lot of booking choices that WWE has made even since Triple H has taken over that I have to question but tonight ehhh..  didn't bother me. 

[username]

I am torn as when Cody first showed up back in WWE and got the reactions he did I thought the play was to have him challenge roman at Summerslam or Survivor Series, lose, and then get him at Mania. I felt this as because of the story they are telling he really should fall short at least once, there's too much fertile ground there. Then he got hurt and I went "well it is Mania, he should probably win".

So yeah, it's a big featured spot to lose in, possibly too big of one to do so safely... but I still think there is a lot of story potential in his first shot falling short and how he deals with that.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Also, there's still potential with Cody being the guy to do it, I don't think this kills him or they can't build up anticipation for a rematch. Rocky didn't beat Apollo the first time.  WrestleMania is in Philly next year. 

[The Natural]

Heartbreaking. That poor girl.

Edited April 3, 2023 by The Natural

[ExcellenceofAirPollution]

4 minutes ago, username said:

I am torn as when Cody first showed up back in WWE and got the reactions he did I thought the play was to have him challenge roman at Summerslam or Survivor Series, lose, and then get him at Mania. I felt this as because of the story they are telling he really should fall short at least once, there's too much fertile ground there. Then he got hurt and I went "well it is Mania, he should probably win".

So yeah, it's a big featured spot to lose in, possibly too big of one to do so safely... but I still think there is a lot of story potential in his first shot falling short and how he deals with that.

For sure.  And he's learned from his last big title match not to stip that he'll never challenge for the title in the promotion again.  Save that for the rematch

[Thunder Down Under]

It’s hard to argue people have been made by this storyline when they only got the reactions they did when people thought they were going to be the ones to end it (Sami & Cody) and it’s questionable to think they will get the same outside of that story given they let the people down. It’s also hard to assume they are using this as a tool to elevate someone given they have passed up their 2 best opportunities in the last 2 months, and the conditions that led to that aren’t really replicable. 

So assuming they are using this as a situation where it will be a “big star” that comes in to win it, the only 2 possible names that make any sort of sense which would fit are The Rock……and CM Punk. 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. His storyline connection to The Sheild debut/Heyman would also allow for a decent story to be told, without even worrying about the buzz a Punk/Reigns feud would create.

 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

I still think this is a Cody story rather than or moreso a continuation of the Bloodline.

Cody wins the Rumble at #30. You then spend weeks talking about how Stardust sucked, so he left, he couldn't get over in AEW, so he left, he couldn't get a job in Hollywood, so he quit that too.

The story is about whether Cody can overcome adversity, and not run when the going gets tough. It's the more interesting route, rather than winning the title here and the usual Wrestlemania rematches on the next 2 PPVs where the guy that went over at Mania hardly ever loses it straight back.

It's possibly even a story that they tried to tell with Cena after he lost to the Rock at Mania, and his need for a redemption story (except there was like a whole year of minor stuff in between and it was hardly ever brought up until Mania season). 

The directions you can go are also far more than the options of who can dethrone Roman:

- I think they should do a Texas Bullrope match for the next PPV. Ideally Cody bleeds buckets, but it won't happen. Cody wins the title there. Roman remains without being pinned or submitted for 4 years. Which happens at the next PPV. 

- They could do the Cena redemption path and have Cody find ways to redeem himself in his own and the fans' eyes before a rematch at next year's Mania. Closure to the Orton and Rollins programs. Is there an ending to Stardust? Some big face to face in-ring confrontation with HHH? Do they bring Dustin in? 

- Maybe you lean into this, and you build Cody up as the next big heel when Roman goes away, unable to win the big one, unable to be The Guy because they want Sami or The Rock instead. That when given his big opportunity, he Lugered it.  

- If they're going to split the titles. Give Cody a rematch but only for the Universal title. Have him win, but be taunted that he's still not WWE Champion - he still hasn't done what his father set out to accomplish. Chase Roman for the year and then win the WWE Championship at Mania next year

[Eivion]

Thinking more about it I do think it was a mistake to not have Cody win here as I don't think there will be a better opportunity for the title change to feel like such a major moment regardless of who wins it. That said, I also don't think it was such a massive fuck up either as I don't think Cody or anyone can really come out of beating Roman as the next big star per say. At least not in the way Roman has been the past 2-3 years. I think that is something people have to make happen eventually on their own over time opposed to being tied to a specific torch passing moment. I also think the soap boxing by some (not necessarily here save for one obvious poster) is a bit much as I don't really think the ones who left WWE will ever really come back regardless of whose champ or the shows' quality. The fact that so many are tying to the whole weekend/show to one particular match when there were multiple great matches where people mostly thought the right person came away the winner kind of says enough about some kind of looking for an excuse to be mad.

As for who beats Roman, I still think Cody and Sami are still the best options. Jey being the guy might have worked for a shorter story and reign but not at this point. He should probably be involved in the finish but not the actual guy. He has come far and is a far bigger star than he was at the beginning of this story, but he still isn't the guy people are going to typically pay to see on his own. I'm also thinking more and more whenever the loss happen it should be before Summerslam, ideally within the next couple of months instead of trying to drag it out. 

[matwarz]

For what it’s worth, logic says bloody cage match for the win

[Just Adam Bay Bay]

12 hours ago, LF2 said:

Based on the fact it’s being sold to Endeavor, and Vince is staying on in his current role I’d say it’s better than 75-25 Roman retains

Acknowledge me.

And yes I’m kidding. I’m just posting this since others are reposting stuff where they hedge their bets, then still picked wrong. Picking Cody doesn’t need to be reposted or bragged about, because you said Romans streak is good. It’s still a wrong pick.

[Matt D]

A story in two gifs:

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[For Great Justice]

I like how over here it’s all “fuck this company,” and just one subforum over it’s “I can’t believe they didn’t have Mark beat Joe, but I guess there’s more to the story.” And one dude’s shoot brother died and the other had never won anything meaningful in his career until this year’s Rumble.

Love all the passion. And I get that 80 percent of the board disagrees with me on this, and that’s why this place is great.

But to me, booking wrestling is a lot like being a magician in that there are two parallel stories going on with the audience: there’s the trick itself (the show you see on TV), which is the most important one and it needs to be impressive. And then there’s the question of how the magician pulled the trick off (the wrestling equivalent being the writing and will they / won’t they / why are they when it comes to booking decisions). And you want to show just enough of the strings of (2) to enhance (1). That’s part of what makes great booking to me, and it drove a lot of the appeal of this exact match as well as Montreal last month. That’s on purpose.

And I think Triple H gets that. “I can’t believe these fuckers didn’t put Cody over” is one of those components from that second layer that will be used to reinforce the story from the first layer as they move this forward. That’s how this works.

Edited April 3, 2023 by For Great Justice

[Matt D]

7 hours ago, Casey said:

Demolition Ax should have ended Hogan’s 4 year title reign, not Andre, damnit!

I too would be a lot happier with WWF history if they pulled the trigger one Backlund program different and Eadie was the transitional champ instead of Sheik. 

[Coach]

How the hell this board doesn’t see Gunther as the next biggest star to dethrone Reigns is astounding. 
 

Reigns is gonna pass Morales for 4th all time, and then sometime around November they’ll start mentioning more about Hogan’s reign. 
 

Gunther wins the Rumble, Cody wins the  chamber. Titles split.

Gunther wins night 1 as the man to finally dethrone Reigns for the Universal/Working Man’s World Heavweight Title. 
 

Cody wins on Night 2 to win the big one in Philly to finish HIS story with the WWE/promotional marketing World Heavyweight title. 
 

How we get there we can write in 1000 ways. 
 

 

[SirFozzie]

between Cody losing and Asuka losing, fuck off WWE. Roman Reigns needs to go away for 3-6 months. He's been a great champ, but how many times can you re-run the same old story with Bloodline interference?

 

At wrestlemania, too?

 

Double fuck off.

 

edit: WWE booking: "Hey, it's the Grandest Stage of them all. What are we doing with the main event of Wrestlemania?" "I dunno, let's just throw on a re-run of Bloodline interfernce and bullshit ending" "That's so money."

Edited April 3, 2023 by SirFozzie

[Andrew POE!]

19 minutes ago, SirFozzie said:

between Cody losing and Asuka losing, fuck off WWE. Roman Reigns needs to go away for 3-6 months. He's been a great champ, but how many times can you re-run the same old story with Bloodline interference?

 

At wrestlemania, too?

 

Double fuck off.

 

edit: WWE booking: "Hey, it's the Grandest Stage of them all. What are we doing with the main event of Wrestlemania?" "I dunno, let's just throw on a re-run of Bloodline interfernce and bullshit ending" "That's so money."

Again, my problem isn't that Cody Rhodes lost - just that WWE is expecting fans to be happy with what they did, pay their money to show up at the next Raw or at the next PPV. At this point, they just as well be back at the Thunderdome if they keep this up. Roman Reigns at the presser talked about what they are doing wasn't like McDonald's or TikTok. "We're making filet mignon." Except it's filet mignon being done terribly. 

WWE doesn't need Roman Reigns as Double Champion to be relevant.

(Also some people on Twitter are taking it too far by wishing Reigns's leukemia would kill him. I get the sentiment and don't agree with it, but just stop watching at that point since the outcome of Reigns losing the titles won't happen. And yeah, I know wishing the crowd would riot and attack Reigns is bad and very extreme and almost at the same level - but like I said earlier, pissing off lapsed fans or fans that have been around since the near beginning isn't going to help people stick around or grow the audience)

Edited April 3, 2023 by Andrew POE!

[SirFozzie]

They're cooking filet mignon like it's a mcdonald's hamburger. Impeccably prepared ingredients, thrown on the grill and cooked to mcdonalds standard (with the remnants of all the past hamburgers still on the grill)

[SirFozzie]

I mean, if you're going to have Reigns retain, do it in a way that excites the crowd. Have Rhodes have it nearly won, and then make that one mistake that leads to Reigns taking over, and then something like three Spears to finish Rhodes. a finish worthy of WrestleFUCKINGMania. Instead it's "Hey, it's "Bloodline saves Roman in a bullshit ending", part XXV!

I mean, it's not like this was the biggest show of the year, 160,000 people over two days./ Who cares that you give them the same type of ending that you would on a general RAW.

[StarChief EagleDemon]

Maybe just me, but I think Cody winning would have been the perfect bow to the story between Roman and Sami, since he'd have gotten some consequential revenge against Roman with the helluva kick. 

[Octopus]

I’m more irritated we didn’t get a Brandi run in

[John from Cincinnati]

9 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

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

Nah, we're good. 

[Greggulator]

A few points here:

1) They had a weekend where 80% of the matches were nothing short of awesome. You would all know better than me, but was there a better WM in terms of match quality overall? It was consistently a game of "hold me beer." It feels like a lot of people are missing all of that because of one booking decision.

2) The WWE weekly threads are absolutely dead compared to AEW. Hell, there aren't even breakouts for Raw or NXT or Smackdown. There are only a handful of people who post there regularly. It sort of leads me to believe that a lot of people who are talking about how crappy it is that Roman beat Cody haven't been watching or paying attention. And dare I say a few people are posting about how crappy WM was have said the WWE has almost always put out a crappy product, and you'd find something else to complain about. 

3) The person who is going to take Roman down is Jey. Maybe he beats him solo. Maybe it happens another way. But the whole story has been building up to that for months. Jey even said when Sami was still in the Bloodline "I don't give a damn what the Tribal Chief says." The whole last few weeks of build touched on Jey's loyalty to Roman, and Roman already pre-emptively blaming Jey for losing the straps. 

[Matt D]

25 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

3) The person who is going to take Roman down is Jey. Maybe he beats him solo. Maybe it happens another way. But the whole story has been building up to that for months. Jey even said when Sami was still in the Bloodline "I don't give a damn what the Tribal Chief says." The whole last few weeks of build touched on Jey's loyalty to Roman, and Roman already pre-emptively blaming Jey for losing the straps. 

Shall we make a wager? DVDVR standard. 3 Match Reviews chosen by the winner. That when Roman loses the title, Jey's key to that happening.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Matt D

[Log]

1 minute ago, Greggulator said:

1) They had a weekend where 80% of the matches were nothing short of awesome. You would all know better than me, but was there a better WM in terms of match quality overall? It was consistently a game of "hold me beer." It feels like a lot of people are missing all of that because of one booking decision.

It's sort of a Game of Thrones thing, though. Amazing, amazing, groundbreaking series that has a lot of ill will now because of the way it ended. That happens with wrestling shows, especially big ones where the main event is important.

Even as someone who's been out on WWE for a while, I thought the main event was damn near perfect up until the finish. It's not that I'm particularly invested in Cody winning, it's just that the match itself was structured in such a way that Cody winning made the most sense. I won't comment on the storyline because I'm not familiar with it. I have seen a lot of you saying the story makes sense with Roman retaining, and I won't argue with that. It's just that, to me, the way the match was presented and laid out, a Cody win made the most sense for a satisfying conclusion.

[EVA]

Endings matter!

Edited April 3, 2023 by EVA