Craig H Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 This is time stamped at 7 minutes. For 5 minutes and 52 seconds this is a hell of a segment. Roman breaks it down that Cody can be the very best #2 or he can take another crack at #1. Cody comes out, responds, says he wants that title, he's going to take that title, finishing the story now means taking everything from Roman, and then literally 2 seconds later he says he's moving his own goalpost and again says he's going to take that title from Roman. And then 8 seconds later it turns into utter dogshit and nonsense. He's going to take the title. He's going to finish the story. But not at this WM?! So everything said about winning the Royal Rumble was...what? I can't even begin wrap my head around this whole crummy situation. And sure, it's a neat moment when the Rock's music hits and Roman realizes who Cody is talking about, but reality quickly sinks in that the Rock can't go anymore, that this flies directly in the face of everything that was being said by Cody just a minute earlier. The other thought that sinks in is the promo Cody and Punk had with each other. That 10 years ago Punk was where Cody is now and someone came in and stole his spot and this time that person's name is CM Punk. Turns out, no, the person's name is still the Rock. It's 10 years later and it's still happening. And for what? There are no buyrates. Ratings are good and better than they have been, but they're stagnant and they're going to be worse for SmackDown once it moves to USA and ratings will be irrelevant for Raw, nevermind the fact that none of that is happening until next year. WM is already sold out so there's no tickets to move. Cody is already the top merch mover and people are going to be a fuckton of merch regardless. Peacock is in the toilet and the Rock main eventing one night of WM against the Rock isn't going to change that. In fact, Peacock doesn't even give a fuck about live viewers for WWE PPVs or PLEs or whatever you want to call them. The Rock doesn't mean fuck all for Netflix at this moment in time. And this happened on a Friday. When the opening bell on the trading floor rings on Monday morning, is this going to matter that much then when there is still an avalanche of trouble Vince has caused? Maybe there's a bump, but it's going to settle back down. The point is, this is completely and utterly illogical. The Rock came in to raise Roman's hand at the Royal Rumble years ago to try and give Roman some kind of a rub because Roman was trying to become the guy and it didn't work. And yet here we are, again, with the Rock stepping in someone else's way. Someone who isn't old as shit, someone who can actually go in the ring, and someone who can help elevate talent. I think where most of my saltiness comes from is that I started watching Raw again, and SmackDown. I watched the Royal Rumble. I've been into the story of Cody finishing the story and my god, they actually made it a whole year without an injury or something else happening to Cody or Roman, and it's blown to bits. What's worse is Cody didn't even say what he was even going to do at WM. So, what, he goes on Raw on Monday with his tail tucked between his legs and challenges Roman to be the very best #2 in the company? How dumb and weak is that? So I reinvested myself because a lot of things were looking better and then once again it's like Charlie Brown and the football. It makes it feel like WWE isn't a company you can get emotionally invested in as a fan because there's never a payoff. For a short bit it looked that way. And shit, we're still 2 months away from WM. Is Dwayne going to wrap himself in bubble wrap so he doesn't tear something while working out again? So let's say that happens and Cody has locked himself into this not as good match against Seth. And never even mind that you still have Elimination Chamber coming up to determine a contender for Seth's title. The solution to all of this was so fucking simple. Drew wins the Chamber and challenges Seth. Drew wins or loses based on if he re-signs or not. On night 1 of WM you do the Rock vs Roman for Head of the Table. Regardless of the outcome, it's non title, but it's still a huge, huge match. And then night 2 you go with Cody vs Roman. Maybe to even the playing field on night 1 Cody has to overcome the odds against Jimmy and Solo, or hell, Solo and a recently debuted Jacob Fatu. This shit ain't hard to book for, and yet here we are, even after Vince is gone, with overly complicated and nonsensical booking. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 The other amusing thing is that here we are again with another milestone WM where the booking going into it feels completely fucking sideways and you just don't know if they're going to straighten it out. It felt like that with WM 10 with Bret with pivoting back and forth from Lugar to Bret, it felt like that with WM 20 with Benoit with Benoit muscling out Big Show but then HBK gets involved and you wonder if Benoit will actually win it, it felt like that with WM 30 with Danielson and there's no sense in rehashing that whole story, but this time, for 40, they're completely locked into this fucking zoo of booking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 (edited) If you believe Meltzer, the Rock challenging Reigns is a combination of Rock pushing for it hard, the WrestleMania card changing already due to Punk’s injury and Brock being pulled, and them wanting to drown out the Vince news. I feel like that last bit is the most important part. Edited February 3 by Casey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E. Dynamite Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Per the Roman Gotta Beat Hulk Theory-cum-Practice: the entire idea is based on the notion that by eclipsing Hogan's 1,400~ days, Reigns becomes the longest-reigning champion in "modern" WWE history. But that's based on the notion that the "modern" WWE started the moment Vince Jr. bought the company from his dad, which is an event that is now basically impossible to celebrate. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 6 minutes ago, Casey said: If you believe Meltzer, the Rock challenging Reigns is a combination of Rock pushing for it hard, the WrestleMania card changing already due to Punk’s injury and Brock being pulled, and them wanting to drown out the Vince news. I feel like that last bit is the most important part. Well, good luck drowning that out because it's going to get a whole lot louder this week most likely. I'm guessing the Vince stuff won't die down a little for another week or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Anyway, can someone ask HHH what inning of the story are we in at this point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 22 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said: Per the Roman Gotta Beat Hulk Theory-cum-Practice: the entire idea is based on the notion that by eclipsing Hogan's 1,400~ days, Reigns becomes the longest-reigning champion in "modern" WWE history. But that's based on the notion that the "modern" WWE started the moment Vince Jr. bought the company from his dad, which is an event that is now basically impossible to celebrate. Arguably, it’s not really the “modern” era of the company anymore. You could say that start with either going public or the name change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 44 minutes ago, Craig H said: Anyway, can someone ask HHH what inning of the story are we in at this point? Wasn’t Heyman the public origin of the “inning” analogy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 If I'm Cody Rhodes, I'm pissed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Currently in a rain delay for Cody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Cody was pinch-hit for 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zendragon Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 7 hours ago, The Natural said: Cody Rhodes looks a wuss stepping aside for The Rock. It's always been about the WWE Championship, the title Dusty Rhodes never won. It's like WWE's trying to appease those if indeed it's Rollins/Rhodes than Reigns/Rhodes but the World Heavyweight Championship is a consolation prize and will be seen as such. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steventon Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 AHAHAHAHAHA. Just shows even with Vince gone, Wrestlemania is still an event for chasing mainstream clout rather than putting on an actual good show. I'm not a massive Cody guy, but seeing him get cucked so hard is mental. It's a secondary brain explosion after the Roman vs Rock whiplash, but Cody vs Seth in yet another tediously boring workrate finisher fest that WWE will try to present as some sort of 'classic rivalry' nonsense is a massive 'tap out' moment for me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 8 hours ago, The Natural said: Cody Rhodes looks a wuss stepping aside for The Rock. It's always been about the WWE Championship, the title Dusty Rhodes never won. It's like WWE's trying to appease those if indeed it's Rollins/Rhodes than Reigns/Rhodes but the World Heavyweight Championship is a consolation prize and will be seen as such. Fuck, the World Heavyweight Championship is in name only supposed to be the top belt on RAW when in fact it's the Intercontinental Championship held by Gunther. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Imagine been a fly on the wall when Cody Rhodes found this change out and he'd have to deliver that promo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
For Great Justice Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 (edited) 3 hours ago, Craig H said: Anyway, can someone ask HHH what inning of the story are we in at this point? fa la la fa la la fa la la Edited February 3 by For Great Justice 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godfrey Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 We got used to WWE’s shit booking under Vince but if it’s true Dwayne forced his way into the main event of the biggest show of the year due to his position on the board then this is a whole different kind of WWE shit booking. Not looking forward to the stock holder booked era 1 hour ago, The Natural said: Imagine been a fly on the wall when Cody Rhodes found this change out and he'd have to deliver that promo. ”Sure Paul, whatever’s best for the company”. Since people like to throw around pot theories about wrestlers they have a parasocial dislike for, I’ll say Cody is politicking like mad right now to get the EVP job he really wanted 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogwelder Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 It's all a swerve. Cody's going to face Ilja or Trick for the NXT title at WM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 7 hours ago, Cobra Commander said: It's not like the WWE has really been punished much monetarily over the last 10 months after the WM39 decision. They've gotten their rights deals. The money keeps coming in at live gates. The argument over losses are more of a "what if" sort of thing. Right now, the machine keeps humming along despite itself. This is the same argument from when they landed the FOX deal. There's a live TV/sports media rights bubble that was on it's way to bursting until FAANG started getting involved in streaming. WWE didn't get the Netflix deal because of ratings or live gates, it's what Netflix needed to break into live streaming. Promotions can get hot and then get very cold, very quickly. Triple H had some goodwill built up by 1. Simply not being Vince. Meaning the booking would be better because they had nowhere to go but up. 2. The Bloodline Saga. That's why attendance has been up for 2 years. But decisions like this are the type of shit like the Fingerpoke of Doom that start a downward turn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vgmastr Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 (edited) Playing Devil's advocate, what if the plan is still Cody and Roman and this is just a way to build some groundswell support behind Cody a la the Yes Movement? Not saying I believe that, but I think we see a lot of "We want Cody!" chants in the coming weeks. Edited February 3 by Vgmastr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 ^ I don't necessarily think we will because Cody volunteered to step aside, which makes him just look like a total dork. I know my own "fandom" for Cody just took a massive hit. Why should I or anyone cheer this dude? I thought with Vince gone we wouldn't be getting cuckold angles anymore... I hope Roman beats The Rock clean, but I doubt The Rock's ego would allow that. Roman's promo was great. I loved him burying Seth and now he's going to get to drag Cody too for not stepping up to him. Reigns being Forever Champion sounds good to me at this point. They just assassinated Cody's character, Rollins is a try-hard, company shill who couldn't get it done and wears a consolation prize around his waist, The Rock is an egomaniac who is going to tear a whole bunch of muscles at WrestleMania, and CM Punk is a massive hypocrite who has gotten injured in like 3 out of 5 of his last matches. Roman Reigns is the only one out of the whole bunch that's cool. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 11 minutes ago, Vgmastr said: Playing Devil's advocate, what if the plan is still Cody and Roman and this is just a way to build some groundswell support behind Cody a la the Yes Movement? Not saying I believe that, but I think we see a lot of "We want Cody!" chants in the coming weeks. I don’t think you will get a lot of those chants. Like others have said, I think the “hijacking” fans are gone. Ok, purely anecdotal, but my son’s your prototypical young WWE fan. He wanted Cody and John Cena as his top figures for Christmas. We catch him playing Cody’s theme on Alexa all the time. He’s watching Smackdown last night and I walk in right as Cody gets to the ring. I say, “Oh, is he going to officially challenge Roman?” Son says, “Yeah dad. He has to complete the story!” Then, when it switches to Rock/Roman he jumps up and is all excited for that match. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 The thing about all the "Cody isn't the guy" stuff is that I don't actually care if he's the guy. He could win at Mania and then get knocked off the next night by another heel champ for all I care. I'm just tired of an absentee champ who does one TV or so a month and wrestles at every other PLE being the center of the universe (sorry Tiffany). Obviously the last year of business and ratings shows that I'm in the minority, but I was rooting for Cody because of that, not because of Cody. And aside from a brief period of NXT when Corbin, Breeze, etc were new I did not watch WWE at all from 2011 til Stand and Deliver last year. I can't imagine how some of the lifers feel. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dokdoyle Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Cody: That is not the Hollywood title Introduces the living embodiment of Hollywood Profit? 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Have we not touched on how stupid the overly-choreographed “stare for a bit, then take one step forward” shit was? Someone backstage thought it was so dramatic, didn’t they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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