Nick James

Cody 'Maury' Rhodes is the replacement for Cena that they have been seeking for years. There is absolutely nothing they can do to slow his support down. 

I would even say if he lost to Roman he wouldn't lose the momentum and support.

If we are picking holes in the Hangman / Swerve segment for not making sense, then we need to talk about pretty much every aspect of wrestling in existence. Seems like nit picking for nit pickings sake. 

Sting being lowered from the rafters like a sack of shite was brilliant. Just a massive nostalgia moment that is exactly what people want. Fantastic stuff.

10 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

Since the thread started in March 2023 i'd imagine you'd find the "AEW lot" either loving or hating him and it having nothing to do with WWE.

Sorry Tony, interchange 'this thread', with the Dynamite / Rampage / Collision / Raw / Chippy Tea threads. 

13 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

That's why people hold him to a different standard than the likes of Keith Lee, Moxley or Leo Rush or indeed any number of the many wrestlers who have left not on the best of terms. At least, that is how I see it.

People hold Punk to a different standard depending on who he works for. Always have, always will. The AEW lot were Punks biggest fan when he came back, WWE fans hated him. When he left AEW and went to WWE, the wind changed and the AEW lot hated him and WWE fans love him. You can see it going back in this very thread in fact. 

Punk is an enigma. He will never be compared with the likes of your Johnny Kickpads or the stars of the 90's. You either love him, or you hate him and people flip flop between the two interchangeably. 

Feels very much like a points scoring exercise for the age old AEW Vs WWE debate, similar to when allegations of AEW wrestlers came out. Nothing to do with genuine concern for the victims, just online one up-man-ship. 

Gone are the days when trolling just meant asking Mr Park Ji-Sung for Yorkie Terrier meat.

I forgot to mention how much of a joy the pre-show match was, purely for the fact of how over Indi Hartwell was. Waiting for the hot tag and then it finally happening was brilliant. She was absolutely loving the reaction she got and it was heart warming to see.

Yeah, I couldn't see shit. My seat was facing one of the corners so one of the pillars were completely blocking pretty much the whole ring. Ended up moving after the pre-show, but this is what my view was initially.

Pretty much everyone in the arena had their phones pointed at the entrance during the Waller Effect segment expecting The Rock to appear, then there was an audible groan when the segment just ended. 

Good show, but I think that was only because I was there and the crowd were great throughout, if I watched on TV I'd have been disappointed. My lad kept asking me who I thought was going to win and every match was so clear cut it was ridiculous when I thought about it.

Stratton was ridiculously over, to the point that I thought the crowd were going to boo everyone in the match after she was eliminated. On the flip-side, not a single person in the arena gave a solitary fuck about Rodriguez. She has absolutely no presence at all.

It was hilarious how much people hated Dom and Logan Paul. Logan was tremendous fun taking the piss out of everyone's poses as they did their entrance. 

I've always thought the theory that Nia Jax is dangerous was a little overplayed and not very fair on her, but fucking hell did I think Rhea was going to end up with a concussion during that match. I was wincing with some of the spots.

All in all, a good show to attend, poor show to watch overall. My little lad told me it was the best day of his life, so that's sealed it for me as the best event ever. 

I was on the fence about buying a ticket to the show, but my son decided to bring home a wrestling book from school to read with me because he knows I watch wrestling, and with it being his 6th birthday a few days away from it, decided to grab two tickets and take him to his first show.

Since I bought the tickets, the show has just crumbled. No mens title matches, no Punk, Reigns, Rock, no Cody match. Then apparently the Chamber almost didn't make it due to being held up by pirates in the Suez Canal.

He will have a cracking time, I'm sure of it, but I am terribly disappointed in the card.

EDIT: Oh and it's fucking raining. Been in the 40's for weeks with no sign of rain.

You could 100% make a case that Cena was actually created in a lab in Stamford. He's always been brilliant at the Make-a-wish stuff, but he's a fucking robot that's dead behind the eyes. Always has been.

Dolph Lundgren in Universal Soldier, if you will.

20 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

My acceptance speech

 

 

Always throws me off when you see (and hear) the face and voice behind the avatar. Looking well, Scorchy! 

Also, a massive congrats to @Frankie Crisp. Genuinely one of the nicest blokes on the internet, just an absolute gem. I bet there isn't a person on this board who has struggled at one time or another and not received a message from Sir Francis himself offering support and help. Well done, mate.

The best thing about Edge being in AEW, is you can see he is doing exactly what he always said he wanted to do on his Pod with Christian. Just wrestle people he wants to wrestle and you can see with who he has worked with so far, that AEW is the best place for him right now to do that.

I still think he will have his last ever match in WWE, but what a run he is on currently just going out there and showing out against different people each week. 

It's crazy to think how different Edge and Christian have been and performed in AEW compared to both Hardy Boys, granted, we were deprived of both Edge and Christian for many years so they don't feel over played, but even still, they are putting in performances better than that of people 20 years younger than them after being out for so long.

Long may it continue. 

It's absolutely astounding how Dreamer always lands on his grotty feet. 2024 and not only is Dreamer being booked, he's now the booker. TNA really bringing back the old TNA feeling.

This is still brilliant.

This has got to lead to The Rock turning on Roman to give Cody the win, right? Rock takes out Solo and Jimmy at Mania thus leading back around to Cody having a conversation with The Rock prior to Smackdown? 

Rock surely can't pass up the chance to be cheered at Mania again and share Cody's big moment, leading to Roman / Rock at Summerslam.

Fucking hell that logo looks like a round on Catchphrase.

Cody / Rock / Roman is like when they shoe-horned Charlotte in to Becky / Rousey. Just a load of old bollocks to appease one person and one person only.

Whilst I am giving WWE WAAAAAAY more credit than they deserve and is almost wishful thinking at this point, but could this all be a swerve to ensure Cody has full backing going into Mania? Almost Daniel Bryan-esque? Or maybe that with Cody saying he wants to take everything away from Roman, he is setting the Rock / Roman match and once that's in place, THEN calls his shot for his Mania match with Roman, meaning Roman has to pull double duty?

That way taking both the Head of the Table and the title away from Roman all at once?

I'm just clutching at straws at this point, but it's not entirely impossible.

Fuck it, at this point I'd even take Cody backpedaling and saying he meant 'Wrestlemania...Night 1'.

I couldn't think of anything worse than Cody Vs Seth either, Drew deserves the shot against Seth. 

It's a shame they shit the bed with the ending of the episode, because now no one is talking about how good it was when Bayley spoke Japanese and the trio looked like they had seen a ghost. 

The Rock may as well have patted Cody on the head and shoo'd him away. 

Fuck sake.

I think a lot of eyes need to be cast over the wrestling 'media' secondary to what needs investigating within WWE. According to Meltzer (lol), it has been a well known secret for years and even people outside of the company were aware. IF that was true, why the fuck hasn't one of these so called 'journalists' reported anything? 

Hacks, that would either lose their meal ticket to fame if they leaked something like that or as usual, they don't know as much as they hope they do.

As shown in the multiple press conferences over the last few years, it's only when the real press or the ones outside of the dirt sheets (dirt sheets being Meltzer, Fightful and the like) start asking questions do we actually get anything of relevance.

There needs to be something done about the state of wrestling from top to the absolute bottom and that includes the people that have a high follower count and claim to be 'In The Know'. 

Yeah, it's not a massive shock revelation that Laurianitis is a complete wrong 'un. That Bella's statement just comes across like they have been pestered for a comment on it and tried to give a statement without actually saying anything of note. Saying they weren't aware of his past is like saying HHH didn't know about Vince.

On another note, the comparisons between Tony Khan addressing the Jericho allegations and HHH addressing Vince's needs to stop. Comparisons about serious allegations should not be happening. Both are terrible, horrible situations. That one is worse than the other does not make the lesser one ok or how it is dealt with. 

Who would have thought people involved in the wrestling business couldn't treat situations delicately and seriously, eh? 

I honestly thought it was being set up for a Punk win with Cody winning in the Chamber. Once The Rock didn't arrive so was pleasantly surprised at a Cody win.

The women's match was decent enough, with a forgettable stretch in the middle. What was noticeable, however, was how tall some of the women seemed to look. Chelsea and Indi (swoon) both looked huge.