d-d-d-dAz

Seth Rollins was perfect for that brief era where doing crossfit seemingly replaced having any discernable talent for pro-wrestling. Around the time WWE bought Tapout and everyone just seemed really into how fit they were.

Ever since a modicum of sanity was restored in the company, he's been lost.

Saw Les Savy Fav on Friday. Utterly nuts live band. A lot heavier live too, and the vocalist sounds like Cedric from At The Drive In live.

8 hours ago, Jazzy G said:

Fury is bae, and you can see Legend is having a great time.

 

My wife said the same about Legend, and as much as I hate the heel shtick stuff I think I'd agree now. He just seems to be having a laugh.

He's got a cheeky chappy Instagram page, too, where he just seems to be quite laid back and funny.

Thst contestant Jake trying to be a heel inexplicably? Not for me, thanks.

They should do one of those mad scramble matches for the US title.

Orton, LA Knight, KO, Logan Paul, AJ Styles... someone give Bad Bunny a buzz, get him in on it.

Great laugh.

8 minutes ago, uklaw said:

 

Bronson Reed was mentioned earlier in the topic.

This is quite a strange statement.

On initial glance it reads as he had to miss the show because of his wifes pregnancy, but if you re read it he's just saying they didn't book him but its fine because his wife went into labour early.

Which, good for him obviously, still doesn't excuse the decision to not book him.

Thanking Triple H for not booking him? Simp.

Randy Orton's response was the most authentic I've seen. Just read like a bloke who's got nothing to hide, isn't playing personal politics, and just gave his opinion.

Orton is a treasure these days. 

Cena is an alien.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3jTtVRs6n-/?igsh=ZzY4ZHV0bHJ2a25s

Seth Rollins part in this is making me very nervous. Go away.

Michael Chandler?

Hard pass. Not for me, thank you very much.

He's like John Cena, only he seems to actually like people.

13 hours ago, Liam O'Rourke said:

Another little thing - I fucking hate when they slow down the tackle that ends a game on The Edge. Overproduced shite. The whole drama is in watching the fall in real time and we never get to, the replay is in slow-mo as well, and the Gladiators fucking up and falling off is way more exciting if we're just seeing it as is because it's so sudden. 

I think they do it because the drop is actually quite small. There's a lot of flex in the net, so in the end when they go back to full speed it looks like they've fallen miles, but the actual first contact with the net is pretty instant; I think they use the slo-mo to make it seem like the fall lasts longer than it does.

Do you know one of the key tells that this wasn't the plan all along? The nervous breakdown Rock continues to have across all his social media platforms where whether its in his own posts, or comments on others, he feels the need to really stress to people that it's a character and he's still really a lovely guy.

Bollocks.

I've worked out how it actually ends.

Everything I said before, Rock watching on and not helping Roman etc, but as Cody celebrates in the ring he looks back at Rock who's up on the ramp and The Rock does that awful thing he does where he sort of arrogantly smiles into the middle distance and points at the goosebumps on his arm.

Quick pan to Gerwitz who's holding a sign saying 'plan all along #goosebumps' and cut.

17 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I think you might be giving them more credit than they deserve Dazzles. 

The fuck did I do?

19 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

How was the reaction to The Rock? The Observer writeup seemed surprised that the initial reaction was positive, and that it took him doing hokey "you're all inbreds and your local sports team is bad" cheap heat to really turn the crowd on him.

They may have played their hand too early, if heel Rock is key to the story, as it seems that most audiences might not actually want to boo The Rock and were only doing it to express their frustration at Cody not getting the main event - now he has his match back with zero effort, what do we hate The Rock for again?

I think that's a misreading, actually.

Initially there was plenty of boos, but clearly a bit of excitement just to see The Rock which is always going to happen.

As he started to make those jokes he got more over with the crowd, actually, as they found it funny. It became like a comedy roast. You could see the glee in peoples eyes, cheering and willing him to do another gag. He had to pull it back, change his cadence and stop the jokes to go back to being full heel.

It was a bit of a microcosm of The Rock's career generally, in that people finding him funny was turning him face.

4 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

My money's on Cody winning clean, The Rock coming down to watch the match, Roman moans that he didn't help him, only for Rock to turn face and Rock Bottom him.

I bet you a million pounds that Rock doesn't get the decisive moment end to Mania.

He'll be next to Cody being bezzie mates, but he won't risk properly upstaging him. Rock's a worker, he'll know he has to tread carefully to stop the Cody fans permanently taking against him.

It'll be handshakes and raised arms all around.

"You're the best", "no, you're the best".

I think there's more chance of me leaving Wrestlemania weekend as WWE Champion than there is of Rock leaving it still a heel, so I think the standing and watching it happening - betraying through inaction - is as good as it gets. 

Cody still pulls the sword from the stone (good metaphor @Chili) but we get The Rock back on the side of the angels and they can start planning for Rock/Roman.

I'm leaning towards;

Jimmy comes out, Cody fights him off...

Solo comes out, Cody fights him off...

Heyman tries to get involved, Cody fights him off...

Rock comes out, and as Roman pleads for help, Rock stalls and watches Cody finish the story.

Cody gets a clean heroic victory, Rock gets to be a good guy again, and all roads lead to Rock/Roman at Summerslam.

I'd quite like it if the ghosts of Christmas past all got involved as quasi-lumberjacks to help Cody finish the story though. Jey offsetting Jimmy, KO/Sami fighting off Heyman/Solo. Then when the Rock doesn't save Roman, he can come down and break up the Jey/Sami/KO/Cody party... only to shake Cody's hand and raise his arm.

Basically, none of the scenarios I'm keen on involve Seth Rollins.

20 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

It's not Wrestlemania without some old lads stealing the spotlight from the current crop; having Rock, Triple H and Austin hanging around Roman and Cody and turning it into Attitude Era nostalgia wouldn't surprise me at all.

To be fair, done right I think Austin/Rock passing the baton to Cody/Roman could be a net positive.

They've never really done nostalgia in that way before, with a proper endorsement of two lads as the new Rock/Austin.

I think it could work, and really elevate Cody, in particular, even further.

I don't actually think it's going to happen though, as I'm more convinced by the argument they'll do Rock/Roman v Cody/Rollins; Rollins eats the pin but with a hint of dissension between Rock/Roman; night 2 Rock doesn't save Roman (I don't think they'll have Rock cost him and detract from Cody, but not saving Roman when all else fails I could see) and then we get Rock/Roman at Summerslam where Roman 'loses everything'.

I'm not sure Roman needs the Rock/Austin endorsement, especially as he's already far nearer the end than the beginning of his run and is already at the stage of taking most of the year off.

Even if you don't think he was a bit out of breath, you have to admit he was very purple and veiny. Like a squeezed old chap.

I imagine he's at the stage of his muscledom, where if his heart skips a beat for whatever reason his life flashes before his eyes. 

I actually think The Rock grew into it, and pulled back at times when the audience was getting to into it, and kept himself the bad guy throughout.

It started poorly, like a heel Rock tribute act but I thought it actually became more fluent and interesting as he went on. Also, hinting at being a heel because the fans rejected him and chose Cody is a braver angle than I thought they were going to take.

Then it ended back in tribute act territory. Shame.

Cody has been elevated throughout this though, but I think the person suffering is Roman. He's so much cooler than The Rock, and the best part of his act is how he oozes the aura of 'final level boss'; yet he feels a bit 'little brother' at the minute. Or 'little cousin'.

It's almost impressive how ice cold The Final Testament are. Good grief.

Roman Reigns teasing that 'everything changes' on Smackdown tonight.

I wonder if we're going to lean into that power struggle stuff, and Rock/Roman will insist that Rock calls the shots and Cody isn't getting a main event at Mania.

I hope they do a single Bloodline entrance with them coming out together, rather than separately. The spectacle of Roman/Rock coming out together as part of a new Two Man Power Trip would be quite something.

2 hours ago, air_raid said:

The Punk-baiting has been so good that for a few minutes last Saturday I actually wondered if his prognosis wasn’t as bad as reported and that he’d actually be back for Mania to fight McIntyre. Then I remembered that would leave Seth scratching his arse.

Nah, Seth is costing Cody the WWE title. Big role.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3VzDUaO4Yw/?igsh=cHZ0dXluOGJoeDNr

Cody and Seth going on the Grayson Waller Effect in Australia.

Either Rock and Roman are sneakily booking flights as we speak, or they're going to further the tension between Cody and Seth ahead of the big betrayal at Wrestlemania...

...sorry @Supremo 😔