d-d-d-dAz

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.

Just now, Devon Malcolm said:

She actually grew on me this weekend. I still think she's a bit much at times but her natural reactions in this match and the main event were really funny and wholesome. 

You're just giddy because Priest won.

4 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Pat McAfee's "shit" at the end reminded me of this:-

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.

1 minute ago, FLips said:

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!!!!

6 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Reported.

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.

Just now, LaGoosh said:

Good thing WWE don't have any negativity going on right now that could distract from their product. 

Oh wait, the rapes. I forgot about the rapes.

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.

Just now, Arch Stanton said:

Never seen a less convincing false finish in my life than that double Pedigree! 😅 Never in a million years was the Rock going to do the job to that move.

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.

1 minute ago, RedRooster said:

This is pretty much how I feel. I’ve come to realise that all I want from my wrestling shows is to feel like I’ve had fun watching them. That’s why I really enjoyed Wrestlemania last night in spite of its flaws. I felt similarly around the early years of AEW, there was a feel-good factor surrounding the promotion which made each show a delight to watch.

The undercurrent of negativity and backstage drama is something I find more than a little exhausting. And it can pretty much all be traced back to Tony Khan. Any good intentions he may have are lost in the leadership skills he appears to lack, along with his ridiculous behaviour on Twitter. 

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.

5 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Cody being booed is concerning though. 

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.

8 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

 

At the very least I hope this is leading to a specific angle. If it's just to make CM Punk look like a cunt...well I knew that already.

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?

2 minutes ago, NeverYield said:

Well night 1 was a bit pants wasn't it.

Genuinely the first fully negative review I've read (I guess it's a review), would love to hear more.

I hate to use THAT cliché, but if there was nothing for you in Sami/Gunther or the Main Event, 2024 WWE might just not be for you.

5 minutes ago, Loki said:

  Something that hasn't been mentioned much yet, but Cody was definitely getting booed.  Now, it's a Philly crowd but I presume they'll do it again tomorrow, which could spoil Cody's victory somewhat.

I touched on this earlier, but was (rightfully) distracted by how stupid FandangDwayne looked on his entrance.

But yeah, they've split the crowd which is a shame. It wasn't 50-50, and it seemed to stop by the final stretch when the fans got into it and stopped making a conscious effort to boo the babyface, but it was enough to be noticeable and give me PTSD about the bad old days of snarky, smarky, contrarian crowds.

The worst thing about split crowd's is that even a small amount of boos can overpower cheers, and it sounds like no one likes anything at times. Cody hits a punch, Rock-ites boo, Rock hits a punch, the crybabies boo... all just sounds like booing.

5 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

I genuinely have absolutely no idea why people are shitting on Samantha Irvin, I think she's fantastic. Looks incredible, strong voice, doesn't fluff her lines. Not sure where she's supposed to be going wrong.

To be fair, she's very good at what she does. She's clearly made the decision/been told to be hyper-dramatic, theatrical and involved.

You can see in how WWE share videos of her overreaction ringside to various moves or whatever, that they want a character-ring announcer.

So it's not fair to say she's bad, she's a very good version of what she's chosen to and/or been asked to do.

But, I think it's a marmite style. I much prefer a more passive, muted ring announce who's got a sort of reverence for the moment, and compliments the product rather than being an active part of the product/drama.

But yeah, if you're into that style I'm sure she's great at it.

I actually find Samantha Irvin far more tolerable when she's not on camera. It's how pleased she looks with herself that does for me, I'm afraid.

2 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Good grief. Folk in here would have hated watching in the 90s when all the two companies did was take shots at each other.

I'm all for it, bring on any type of chaos possible.

I think there's a few things about this, one is I think society has moved on a bit and constant cynicism and shithousery isn't as charming as it might have been. Things, and people, have changed a lot since then.

But even if you accept its still as welcome as it might have been, it's a different kind of fight. WWF and WCW were trying to fight in the same weight class, as it were. They were trying to compete in the same world, so conflict probably felt more natural.

WWE and AEW are so different, both occasionally great in their own ways, but when they bicker it just entrenches the conflict between two types of people who already think what they think. It's shit and boring and just means were all talking about CM Punk and his AEW drama for more time. It's been years. Literally years. It baffles me people don't just want to move on.

Plus, Jack Perry is so shit.