d-d-d-dAz

12 minutes ago, SpykeDudlei1 said:

The only issue I’d have with a Rollins heel turn is the impact on his title match on day two.

I realise the clear lines between heel and face are long since dissolved in general but if you turn Rollins, that immediately switches McIntyre’s positioning in the match. He’s been such a great shithouse heel surely it wouldn’t make sense to dilute that.

It would obviously give him his Mania world title moment in front of a crowd but I think he still gets something from that personally without going in as the smiley babyface.

Maybe I’m missing something but just a thought.

It's why I think, if he turns, he does so after Mania.

Night 1, maybe The Rock turns on Roman and Cody/Rock cuddle and kiss and mutually masturbate like it was the plan all along; Night 2 shithouse heel Drew beats Rollins, still recuperating from a bruising Night 1; in the main event Cody gets his crowning moment as he defeats Roman Reigns and wins the title.

This drives Rollins mad as he invested time in Cody, got distracted and lost his title... only for it all to be a wheeze set up by Cody and The Rock, so he stomps Cody's head in.

Draft comes, and shithouse heel DM Punk and shithouse face CM Punk are moved to Smacky-D to feud over the consolation prize in the main event, whilst on Raw Cody and Rollins are left to feud over the big boy belt.

Rock and Roman take some time off, before returning to feud over who's THE FINAL BOSS later in the year.

19 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

The ‘D’ stands for Dwayne.

I hope someone Smacky's D after what he's done to this Wrestlemania build.

2 minutes ago, Daaaaaad! said:

Thought the segment slightly petered out to be honest, but I did like Jey being involved this time. It only makes sense after all.

The crowd definitely struggled to stay engaged through the whole thing, but you can hardly blame them - they've been given zero reason to give a shit about Cody/Roman in recent weeks, and were probably sat on their hands hoping The Rock was coming out any minute.

5 minutes ago, air_raid said:

What a wonderful, odd man. I like the roots era of his hair. I hope he brings it back the next time he's on Smacky-D.

Smacky-D.

Smacky-D.

Smacky-D.

I, for one, am stunned that without The Rock present the segment made far more sense, was much more consistent and delivered a clear, accessible, understandable story between good and evil heading into Wrestlemania.

Stunned.

I definitely think Seth's turning, but I'm wondering whether there's some fuckery in the weeks following Mania. Seth turns on Cody on the Raw after Mania, furious that he became distracted by the Cody/Bloodline business and ultimately lost his title to Drew whilst Cody beat Roman, before Drew gets drafted to Smacky-D.

Get the big boy title over to Raw.

I don't know. He might lose. Rock might come back next week and I'll stop caring.

But this was good, at least.

Best explanation I ever heard was from Michael Cole, who said it related to his determination to never give up, to always get up, to always be in his opponents face ready for a fight and be their 'worst nightmare'.

I didn't hate that as a retcon explanation of a name that actually doesn't make much sense on paper, because the actual answer is he picked that nickname when he was a heel in the indies/NJPW and it just stuck (I'm fairly sure).

I think it's harsh to say everything with Cody is surface level. If anything I think he overthinks things, but just isn't as clever as he wants to be. The stuff with the kids and disabled fans is genuine too, I think.

You'll have to be really bloody patient. They'll only be on TV 6 times between them in the next year.

11 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Is that true though? Granted a lot of focus has been on The Rock but, whether you agree on the content or whatever, surely the clear point of all of this is to get Cody over more?

 

I actually didn't mean fans, I meant the participants. There might be fans who care, and more power to them as the wrestlers involved don't seem to. 

Even if the point is to get Cody over more, I'd argue that's still a misstep - the point should always have been building to this major showdown between their two biggest stars.

But I'd say getting Cody over doesn't seem to be the main point, the main point seems to be getting to Rock/Roman - albeit slower than they planned.

It would appear anyone that celebrated changing WWE's destination when they brought Rock back, might need to consider that they only ever changed their route.

I'm more convinced than ever that Cody doesn't win, and we end up with Seth/Cody and Rock/Roman later this year for the respective titles.

I appreciate I'm the Wrestling Grinch at this point, but what a load of absolute shite. Nothing makes sense and the blame falls squarely at the feet of whoever tried to insert The Rock into an easy, natural storyline.

The promo made zero sense. The Rock is a bad salesman? A whiny bitch? Is he? Really? That's very much not his character.

No one knows who they are or what they're doing because of the mess they've created. Barely anyone cares about Cody/Roman. Shite.

I'll need to get back to watching AEW at this rate.

They've got a jointly branded t-shirt.

It's all over lads.

I'm having Logan Paul for this, certainly in the modern era.

BadBunny had a bit of life in him too, but I think Logan Paul might be the most naturally gifted novice since Kurt Angle.

Ronda was good, but it's Logan for me.

45 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Jack Swagger is a bizarre one. Two of his four Wrestlemania main card appearances have been in high profile matches. In his ‘Mania debut (at 26), he won Money in the Bank. At 27, he didn’t make the card at all. Then at 28, he was in the same tag match referenced by @gmoney. But at that point, it seemed unthinkable that he’d appear in a top level ‘Mania match again - yet at 29, he was in the World Heavyweight Title match against Alberto Del Rio - a match he might actually have won had it not been for his out-of-ring failings. One year later, he was on the kick-off show for a four-way tag match also featuring Los Matadores. His final Mania appearance didn’t come until 32, where he appeared briefly in an Andre the Giant battle royal won by Baron Corbin. 

So it was a Wrestlemania career of real extremes for the guy.

Jack Swagger is a fascinating character in WWE history. When he was 25, if you wrote an elevator pitch for him as a wrestler, and handed it to a booker alongside his stats and a glossy promo picture they'd have bet the house he was going to be the biggest star in the world.

Then holes just started to appear... oh, he doesn't really understand how wrestling matches work and doesn't seem capable of working it out; oh, he can't speak; oh, he actually carries himself like a man half his size.

Just a really interesting example of a book that benefitted hugely by being judged by his cover for ages.

He fought on a show I promoted when I worked on Bellator in the States, though, and he was a tremendously nice bloke. So there's that.

In terms of the hispanic vote, a lot of that will be breaking for Trump because he's seen as someone who embodies the 'American Dream', to an audience who typically have a historical aversion to the ideas of left wing politics (which is why Trump so often calls Biden a 'communist', despite that being clearly hilarious).

I think the central flaw at the heart of the anti-Trump campaign is the message that 'don't vote for him, he's a threat, and now he knows how Washington works he'll be much more effective at doing what he wants next time.'

How is that their key message? It completely ignores the fact that if you actually want what Trump's selling, or think you do, that's quite attractive.

The Democrats incredibly STILL assume people vote for Trump out of blind ignorance, and its still their weakest point and why they'll probably lose this year.

They need to find someone who can convince people that pulling up the drawstring and creating a 'Fort America' is a bad idea, and someone who can find a way of putting into simple terms how global leadership and democracy actually benefits their daily lives.

Just like in 2016, I'm left thinking - again - that I can fully understand why people would vote Trump over Biden. To apolitical people, he's promising strong leadership and a promise that nothing bad will happen to American's whilst he's in charge; and the Democrats appear to be offering no counter to the idea that strong leadership is good, and still place America at the heart of global conflicts with no real argument as to why that's a good thing.

The best argument against Trump was his own personal chaos, which is 4 years in the rearview so far less effective. It's such a mess.

I think the issue with the Uso match is that over the course of their 'story', since Jimmy turned on Jey, it was a secondary priority to getting Jey over as a singles guy.

Jey was peaking, so they made the decision to break him away but it was far too early if they wanted to seriously sustain the Uso v Uso feud for Mania. As such, Jey went and did his thing with the air slowly leaving the feuds balloon, and Jimmy was sort of victim to both Jey's push and the gap between the turn and Mania.

Jimmy might be a tremendous performer, but they had absolutely zero plan for him between the turn and now. He did it to save Jey from Roman, but oh wait he's Roman's mate again... or is he? ... no, yeah... yeah, he's just Roman's mad little mate again.

So whilst Jey's been off yeeting away and having a good time (allowing people to think about him feuding with Gunther or Seth or being in fun tag teams with Cody), Jimmy's been kicking his heels doing nothing that makes much sense. It means that when they finally brought them back together, it felt like I hadn't seriously thought about it for ages and had lost a bit of interest.

35 minutes ago, thevestofdeanambrose said:

Personally I'm loving The Rock. I haven't tuned into Smackdown weekly for years and I'm locked in ATM!

Then I open this thread and all I see is certain opinions trying to suck the fun out of it. It's not that deep.

This could be the The Rocks finest run and it may seem like he's over shadowing Reigns but we all know that's going to come to a head too. 

I'm loving it and fuck the miserables fucks in this thread. Hollywood Dwayne 4eva.

 

 

Well, first of all, I'd definitely say grow up. Its really important to understand other people can have different opinions without needing to say 'fuck them'.

The best part of the UKFF, and one of the reasons I've been here for two decades (Jesus Lord have mercy) is that different opinions have always been tolerated and debated in a way that was less maddening than a social media comments section.

Like you say, it's not that deep. Its just me sharing an opinion whilst also saying I'm glad everyone else is enjoying it, it's just not for me.

Still, yeah, fuck me. What a prick I am.

9 minutes ago, FUM said:

 

I think you’re really overthinking some fans in Memphis who were buttered up and given a Rock Concert. There’s no question of what the fans want when Cody appears.

I mean, it's not overthinking it, I'm simply saying what I personally make of it - acknowledging others have a different opinion.

For me personally, and my preference for clear lines and simple heel/face dynamics, having a live audience chant 'whoop that trick' when the heel talks about beating Cody half to death in front of his mother, or booing when shown a live tape of Cody's huge babyface promo on Monday, isn't for me.

For my tastes, last night was everything I hate about wrestling and, recently, The Rock. The first priority last night was The Rock, the distant second was building the beef between Rock/Cody albeit with unclear edges, and the third priority was planting the seeds for Rock/Roman. Roman/Cody didn't even register.

And that's why I'm a bit jaded, as for someone who likes clear lines, it finally felt after years like WWE had found it. A top heel everyone hates, a babyface everyone loves... and they've chosen to get back into the split crowd business voluntarily. I'm happy people are enjoying it, but it just isn't for me.

5 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It’s mad that they kept the belt on Roman for so long, only for his eventual loss to be completely overshadowed by The Rock. Rock vs. Cody now feels like the biggest match of all time. Roman’s the sidekick goon. They should switch Night 1 and Night 2. Main course should come last.

All because Black Adam bombed. Bet Roman is wishing he bought more tickets for that theatrical run.

Whilst I agree with this, last night did worry me that as well as losing interest in what they're up to, I might be about to lose my bet with Scorcher. I could absolutely see a world where they plough on regardless with Rock/Roman, Final Boss v Universal Champion, later in the year and Seth/Cody for the participation trophy.

8 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Yes there was a logical story there originally and yes it could have been a lot more straight forward but at some point the majority had to make the decision to let go of that and make the most of what we're getting now.

'Make the most of what we're getting now' - the WWE brand proposition summed up as succinctly as I've seen it.

I mean, it's fine, whatever. People seem to be eating it up, and are happy to cheer The Rock and boo Cody. Good for them.

It's wrestling, it doesn't matter hugely, but I've personally gone from thinking about booking the Monday off work and watching both nights live, to now just thinking whether I'll have even have time in the week to watch it.

But, again, whatever. I'll live. If I don't watch, I'll give it a few weeks and pretend it was a moral boycott based on the McMahon scandal.

9 minutes ago, air_raid said:

This is what I’ve been getting at when I’ve said I’d do Reigns vs Rock at SummerSlam then potentially Cody vs Rock (if that’s on the cards) at Mania 41. We still end up with Rock vs Reigns on last and overshadowing Cody, we just get it next year instead of this year.

That said… at least it looks like we’ll get Cody winning THE title at the landmark Mania and getting his run, so I’ll live with it. Even John Cena had to make do with just being on the card rather than on last at a few Manias (3 in a row in fact) during his peak title-winning years, once he’s made it to the top. Once he’d made it…. As long as Cody still makes it.

Next years fine, whatever.

It's just frustrating that for once, this year, they've told a long story that was set to peak at the right time, between a clearly defined heel and babyface who were the two biggest stars of the industry, and they've just needlessly took a massive diversion.

Chucking in The Rock who can't bring himself to be a heel without letting everyone know he's really a good egg, and Seth Rollins who has no idea what he is, is like seasoning a gourmet ice cream with lime pickle. Absolutely needless and just clashes completely with all the things that made the original proposition so exciting.

And, as much as I might not like The Rock, I accept that he's a huge megastar that eclipses everyone around him. I just don't think that was a helpful addition to a feud which was about how they'd finally found their big, clearly defined rivalry that everyone gave a shit about.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm absolutely buzzing for the huge Wrestlemania main event between superstar babyface 'Final Boss' The Rock and crybaby heel Cody Rhodes.

Imagine starting the week with that Cody Rhodes promo, and ending the week with the audience booing him and chanting for The Rock to whip Cody and make him bleed. Absolute fucking disaster in my books.

I know I'm riding this bus on my own, but The Rock's introduction into this story has ruined Wrestlemania for me completely. It's shit. The Rock may be personally entertaining at times, but he's just completely knackered the balance of all of this. 

Seth Rollins and The Rock can fuck off. Pricks. Hate it.

I know this 'final boss' thing will eventually play into the Roman Reigns/Rock feud, but the way this is all playing out they may as well have not bothered changing their plans back. Instead of shooting Cody in the head, they're just letting him slowly bleed out. 

I'm surprised they kept Gable in the hunt as long as they did, if he wasn't getting the nod. It suggests to me they didn't realise the extent to which Gable connected with the audience.

I've had people who I consider otherwise sensible express genuine annoyance that Sami is facing Gunther, and not Shoosh boy.

30 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Cody and Sami are the only two that I would say genuinely feel like a worthy next step from Roman.

Anyone else feels more like a secondary Seth title holder. I don't think in any era they would've strapped that rocket to LA Knight THAT much to give him the Roman title.

 

But it's only the Roman title because we've all been collectively Bloodlined. Prior to the sexpot, the Universal title was held by The Fiend, Braun Strowman, Goldberg for a bit and Seth Rollins.

I think title reverance is a new phenomenon in WWE, and had Roman not returned in 2020 there's loads of people who might have got a short run.

Orton, Edge and Cena are great shouts, as there was just no real room for that elder statesman huge star once Roman kicked into gear.

Roman Reigns. 

Champion. Conqueror. Sexpot.

The man has held some variant of the World Title since August 2020, and for a large part of that time was the only show in town. What struck me watching Smackdown, as AJ Styles cut a promo about LA Knight, is there will have been quite a few people over that time who would've otherwise had a World Title run in that period but didn't because 50% or 100% of the World Title's were around the waist of the Tribal Chief. Perhaps there are some people who now will never win the big one, where there may have been some momentum behind them in the last 4 years.

The obvious one for me is AJ Styles getting another run, as I think his time may well be gone now. In another LA Knight probably won the title in his really hot period. I'm sure Supremo will make the argument for Sami Zayn, and Scorcher may try to upset me by saying Cody Rhodes. But, who else is there? Could anyone make the argument that Daniel Bryan might still be there if Roman's career hadn't been resurrected as the saviour of Smackdown?

For all the positives of Reigns' reign, who or what has been sacrificed at the altar of the Bloodline to allow this huge title run to continue?

KSI doing the neck brace gimmick on social is perfection.

9 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Sure, but you realise Cody isn’t winning right?

I bet you he does.

I win, you have to stop watching AEW. You win, I'll give up the Cody bedspread.