d-d-d-dAz

I thought Drew - who I'm on record as having been iffy with in the past - was spectacular in that segment. Upon winning the title the frustrations and anxieties and resentments of the past few months washed away, and he was able to feel appreciated and recognised and like he was where he belonged. For 2 minutes he was the archetypal babyface, a nod of respect to the opponent, the handing of the title to his wife... but, then, it just wasn't enough. How could he be properly appreciated or recognised whilst CM Punk was sat at ringside? And then all the bitterness came back, and he needed to rub it in Punks face before he could feel like a true winner. He's a superb character. He can't clear the chips from his own shoulders, can't get out of his own way and he's on a spiral down to full madness. Again, it's great stuff.

I love seeing pictures of people like QT Marshall and Ricky Starks backstage with Cody. I hope they cried, too.

I came here to post the same thing. Incredible stuff. Lord only knows where they go from here. That 'what do you want to talk about?' might bring the roof down..

Imagine how happy they were when, just as they thought they'd squeezed every Paul 'Triple H' Levesque homage in they could to the weekend, someone came up with spiky Americana Skeletor. Brandi should have taken her wedding ring off to cap it off.

Lads, lads. Let us not fall for the temptation of cynicism. Whether you want Samantha Irvin crying or not, Cody is champion, The Rock is back, Cena's hair is clinging on and Michael Cole is my spirit animal. It's a good day.

I actually had no real beef with the Cody call, it fit the moment. I thought the Damian Priest 'hes cashing in' call was horrible. But yeah, my point remains she's absolutely brilliant at what she's trying to do/what they want. I just don't want it. She's pomegranate seeds. No matter how good they are if you like them, they're still going to make me feel ill.

Once upon a time, before I just got angry about The Rock or paranoid about WWE's handling of Cody Rhodes, I did a post on here (after All In) about why at its best I absolutely loved AEW at times. It was because, at their best, their shows are love letters to the pro-wrestling world in its entirety; a Danielson classic here, a hard-core homage there, a nod to Japan somewhere else, oh look heres a Freebirds tribute. That sort of thing. I think this Wrestlemania is so good because it was the WWE version of that. WWE is obviously a more insular universe, so it was a love letter strictly to itself and its own history, but it was a love letter nonetheless. After years of snark and cynicism and the vague hint that at best the WWE hates pro-wrestling, and at worst hates both pro-wrestling and pro-wrestling fans, this was something completely different. This was the biggest stars of past, present and future going 'yeah, you know what, we love it as much as you do. It's great isn't it? Don't feel ashamed, it's okay to love this silly shite.' It peaked in the main event of Night 2 obviously, but across both nights it felt like WWE finally made peace with themselves, who they are and who we as an audience are. It was great. It felt like a big celebration of WWE, and a reassurance that the future is going to be something better that we can all enjoy. Watch them book Baron Corbin to feud with Cody now..

Please let's not retrospectively pretend last night was anything but well booked. It may not have been to your tastes, but you have to at least be self aware enough to see you're in the minority. It was perfect. The Bloodline went on so long, they'd made so many enemies, that the scales finally tipped the other way and they were outmanned and outgunned. That was the story. Roman was a Champion because he'd built a wall around him that kept him that way, but over the years the resistance grew strong enough that they could scale the wall. A straight one on one would have been great, but it wouldn't have been the point as Roman would leave just as strong as he went in, and the favourite for a rematch when he could find a way to regroup and get the Bloodline involved. Now, not only is Roman beaten, but the Evil Empire know they're not enough, they've been vanquished as a force. It's good stuff.

You're just giddy because Priest won.

Anyone wanting my thoughts on why I don't love Samantha Irvin can consult this video. Still, yeah, the opening match and post-match chaos was superb. Punk/Drew is so exciting.

Cody's sister gets this years Rubber Chicken award for seemingly smashing her leg to pieces getting into or out of the ring and having to be helped to the back by medical staff.

Fucking hell Flipper, I'd just started to sort myself out.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5fMiH7gHf-/?igsh=OHY5dGY1d2g4bTN3 I've gone again lads. I'm going to need a minute.

Trying to compose myself, Cody bedspread still around my neck like a cape, tears rolling down my cheek. But, yeah, that was the best thing I've ever seen. Pitch perfect from start to finish. It wasn't a match, it was a coronation, but they got every note right. Beautiful opening promo video, lovely touch including Matt, Nick and Kenny. The Buck's should steadfastly refuse to get involved with any back and forth bullshit whilst Cody is king. Started tearing up during Cody's entrance as he was doing that Edge thing of telling you the result with his face. Roman's entrance was epic, and I started going again when it was clear Heyman was crying when he got in the ring. The crowd who were shite all night were incredible. Genuine emotion in this feud, that the WWE should remember in the future when they consider trading in pure pro-wrestling emotion for celebrity. They made it work this time, but that won't always be the case. The crowd were so into it, it was so special. Perfect. The run-ins were the best kind of schmozz, and The Shield/Taker were genuine surprises as it felt like it was going another way. Roman losing in part because he still can't quite forgive Seth breaking up The Shield was brilliant. Roman is another level of performer, and this was him at his absolutely imperious best. The Rock's role was perfect, too, as didn't come close to overpowering anything. Cody is just a wonderful person and seeing the outpouring of emotion when he won was beautiful. Amazing. Incredible. I'm fucking delighted. And, for those keeping score, yes I started tearing up the pre-match video, really started wobbling during Cody's entrance when it was clear what was happening, and by the end when he handed his old dear the title I was mess. It was actually a pretty fun show all round, and the opener was brilliantly put together, but who cares? I'm a mess. WO-OAHHHHHHH!!!!

Sure I deserved it.

See, @LaGoosh, madness. Everyone needs to get over themselves, stop pretending any of this shit matters and just make good wrestling shows. Have a coke and a smile, and book Danielson to do something amazing. It'll all be grand.

I can't shake Roman's press conference from my mind. The man is still on oral chemotherapy and still doing this shit? Maybe he should win.

Gooshy, stop. This way madness lies. There'll always be a reason why the other fucker is just as bad. The only route to sanity here is for everyone to lay down their arms.

This sounds like you're putting the blame on to Cody for that pedigree, where I think the blame probably needs to sit squarely on The Rock's absurdly muscly, massively inflexible shoulders. That was as far back as the fuckers arms would go.

This is a better way of saying what I was trying to earlier. They might all be as bad as each other, but Tony Khan will let WWE win if he allows this shit to stink up his actual shows. Just keep the shows fun, lads.

If either one of them has the gall to try and pass one of their superkicks off again as effective offense, they can get in the bin. In kayfabe terms, the one thing that came out of that Uso match is that neither can possibly throw an effective superkick as they threw so many and they had close to zero impact.

That's a batch. And Rock's flares are still stupid.

I don't know that it's concerning necessarily, it's just a bit disappointing and it absolutely didn't have to be this way. But, that ship has sailed. Ultimately, it's The Rock in front of a Wrestlemania audience. Wrestlemania audiences are the most like the bad old days audiences because tickets cost so much and you likely have to travel and get accommodation, so it brings out the 35-45 year olds with surplus income again as opposed to the casual families. And, to that audience more than any, Rock will have been their absolute icon growing up. Some of their formative wrestling memories will feature The Rock. He was their guy. The minute they pivoted this was inevitable. Even in front of a casual audience you'd probably get some Rock fans booing Cody... at the end of the day it's The fucking Rock. I haven't seen enough yet, though, to say the boos stick around after The Rock is gone. They should have had him in the flares from the start. No one would be cheering him.

Oh God, they've even split the UKFF.

This is absolutely the worst part of this, isn't it? It's just going to end up with it confirming what people already think. I actually think the trap AEW might fall into is doing this the week Cody wins the world title for the first time, and whilst I'm sure they're not thinking about that at all, it'll be easy to cast it as a classless act given how he always did right by them, and continues to be pretty classy about them. *EDIT* Nevermind, I've just been told they're doing Dustin vs Joe for a world title shot on Wednesday. Maybe they are thinking that way. When's MJF back, brochacho? Can we just go back to July 2023 and all have a bit of a laugh again?