Duke

No spoilers, but they finished the story.

A fantastic end to the main event, and surely the culmination of the "let's get the lads out for run ins" of mania matches. You're unlikely to top that.

It was a great win, but I can't help but be disappointed by Cody's title reign so far. Maybe it's time to take the belt off him.

I also thoroughly enjoyed Cody at the end saying that HHH would never want to come out in front of the people and they'd have to drag him out to get his flowers. Hilarious at the best of times, but even funnier with how much this show was about him.

Surprising bit of self-awareness from Piss Jericho, a man known for literally the opposite of that, as he seemingly starts a storyline about attaching himself to a young star to leech off all their popularity and success. Kind of genius.

Ospreay! Ospreay! continues on his path to be the biggest star in the company. Special props to the fan in the front row who had a sign about maple syrup for him and turned it upside down whenever Billy was on the mat so he could still read it. It's not much, but I enjoyed it.

Finally, it took this week to make me realise that the match I'm most desperate to see Okada have is with Orange Cassidy, and I truly hope that the Young Bucks vs Best Friends sets that up some how.

The focus has been on maybe Seth turning, and I've been wondering if it's going to be Jey going back to the bloodline.

Him turning up dressed like the fanny pack photo tonight is CONCLUSIVE PROOF. Jey's rejoining the bloodline on night 1.

6 hours ago, RedRooster said:

 Honestly, I’m all in for Christian to take the title from Joe. 

Is this 2006 TNA?

I really enjoyed Nitro saying "the problem is he tried to outrun me. What you might not know is I'm ab olympic sprinter". That's what a gladiator should be, but also shows the show is MASSIVELY underplaying him in the stats.

My wife and I disagree on one thing. She wants it to feel more fair and likes the gladiator's being nice to the contestants. I want it to be as one sided as possible and the gladiators to be massive heels so it's great when the contestants do win.Pro wrestling 101.

9 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I don't understand this prolonged narrative of hiding Cargill's perceived weaknesses. Nobody knows where she is in terms of her progress. Nobody also seems that bothered about hiding Bron Breakker's weaknesses, by way of comparison.

You're right that Jade could well have come on leaps and bounds since leaving AEW, she's obviously been training and working hard in that time, but I think the reason no one's concerned about Bron's weaknesses is because they're not as big as Jade's.

1 minute ago, Supremo said:

Heel authority storylines in twenty twenty four, though?

 

AEW does tournaments, WWE does heel authority figures. The company is a heel. Expect Cody to hit a Cross Rhodes on Paul Levesque in his glasses soon.

I seriously wonder if the story is going to be that Cody got pressured into announcing the Rock by "the board" last week, he tried to be a company man but "you people" showed him that he shouldn't give up on his dream.

So, I didn't watch the presser but true or false, if everyone in WWE had taken the last 10 days off we'd be better off than we are right now?

The poster literally says "Bo$$ton". I'm pretty sure people will get it.

Also, don't forget that Mercedes has a...devoted...fanbase who will talk this up as the most important wrestling event in the history of our great sport 

3 minutes ago, air_raid said:

OK, not Fightful Select. Tomato tomato. The rest of them are all going mental over words like "vision" and "focus."

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2024/02/06/mercedes-mone-drops-cryptic-tweet-about-executing-a-vision-amid-aew-debut-rumors/

Any decent sources that she's signed a deal, or are we relying on the bloke that thinks it was going to be Seth vs Drew vs Zayn at some point?

Alvarez and Meltzer seemed convinced before the rumble, and then pointed to the fact that she wasn't in the rumble as evidence.  More convinced than they are for, say, Okada.

Whether you count that as a decent source or not is up to you.

8 hours ago, Supremo said:

The best thing The Rock has done in decades is the body-swap comedy in his two Jumanji films. Answer seems obvious. Somehow, Cody ends up in The Rock’s body, and then Cody - as The Rock - finishes his story by beating Roman at Wrestlemania. Problem solved.

Slight change in the finish, Cody in Rocks body attempts the Cross Rhodes and the twisting motion causes all of his muscles and ligaments to simultaneously tear, leaving him motionless until Roman pins him, leaving the story for one more year.

The pivot is definitely on. A load of signs being handed out, all in the same font, commentators referring to it, some of their talent tweeting the hashtag and playing into the rocky sucks chants. A three way isn't a good idea as it ruins both stories, so I expect the double header is on. Seth having his reject belt rejected and defending it against the mens chamber winner (surely not Drew) in the 2nd tier main event is probably appropriate.

So, essentially, in storyline, Cody caved to the Rock and then had a bit of a cry and wants his ball back. What a babyface. 

3 hours ago, Supremo said:

Meltzer on today’s Observer Radio reckons that whilst they might not have wanted The Rock to get the backlash he’s getting, they did want Cody to become a Daniel Bryan-style martyr.

Even if true (I’m not particularly convinced), they’ve absolutely lost their heads. We’re really going back to this shit? I’m so sick of babyfaces being meta martyrs. I’m so sick of the company being the heel and us only being expected to root for guys on the level of, “you-deserve-it-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.”

All these (correct) storyline elements aside, the major thing that's missing from turning Cody into Daniel Bryan is he wasn't screwed out of it. He willingly gave it up like an absolute knob. He doesn't deserve it clap clap clap clap clap because he chose not to take it!

Meltzer now saying this was in Rocks contract to join the board and they just didn't tell anyone sounds a lot like something he'd do these days, but also completely absurd

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

hE's tEh SaViOuR

Your move, Kasparov

This is small in the scheme of things, and he was in a corner, but I thought it was interesting that Cody said finishing the story wasn't about winning the belt, but about taking everything away from Reigns (and him not even being the one to do it, necessarily). That means the story is no longer about Cody winning, but about Reigns losing. Cody is no longer the main character in his own story.

He'll be fine when he eventually wins the title at Summerslam, but man there's some rehabbing to do.

27 minutes ago, Pinc said:

It was clearly deliberate that Cody didn’t quite come out and say he wasn’t challenging Reigns. They have left themselves an out if they need it.

A two-night fuckabout is clearly the way to please everyone.

I mean...he said "just not at Wrestlemania", so I think it does rule that out. But to be fair a week ago he said "you. I'm coming for you" after winning the rumble.

Has anyone considered the possibility that maybe Cody doesn't want to win the belt? Maybe he should do a stip like he did in AEW just to put everyone out of their misery

Another thing is, if Cody is challenging Seth and they're not going "oh actually I get my title shot at the chamber" (which would also be bad as Romans winning streak ends before facing The Rock) then Roman should not have cut that promo saying all the stuff everyone thinks about Seth's silver medal.

31 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Unless I missed it, he didn’t say he was going after Seth. Which makes me wonder if we’re getting that match at Elimination Chamber or somewhere else, making Rock/Roman non-title? Why have Cody win the Rumble only to do this? What was the plan if Punk didn’t get injured? Was Cody going to keep his title shot on reserve? Was Seth/Punk never on the cards?

If Seth held the WWE title, and Roman the Universal title, this might feel less shit, I don’t know. But this is a title that has no lineage or importance; a title that’ll disappear as soon as they want to unify the belts again. It’s a pretend reign with a pretend title, nothing more, nothing less. 

If this isn’t a misdirect - and if it is, it’s a stupid thing to do - this is such a short-sighted decision. I’m really disappointed. I don’t typically like people shitting over matches, but I hope people make their voices heard in the coming weeks.

Romans not booked for the chamber, so I wouldn't expect it,  but plans can of course change. According to Meltz they pivoted toward Rock for Mania after the Vince news kept getting worse and Punk got injured, and Rock was going to challenge Roman later in the year.

If that's true, it's explains this show really well, as they wanted to get Rock v Roman on the agenda really quickly so they hot shotted it.

3 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

 

Off to buy a lotto ticket

I mean, go right ahead, but be prepared for a Bruce almighty situation where half the population win too.

Anyway, this does make you wonder, what would the plan be if Punk didn't get injured? Presumably Rock was always coming back and therefore Cody would've always chosen Seth? So that mania main event was never coming?

It's going to be so difficult when everyone finds out Cody was actually responsible for getting Colt Cabana fired.

17 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I'd honestly be shocked if Okada goes to AEW.
I can't see him officially leaving New Japan, relinquishing whatever title he had and (apparently) moving to America to go to AEW.
I know money talks and all the reports are saying he's going to AEW but I just can't see it.

Because he'd likely to be paid more for an easier schedule, because they'd let him go home a lot more, because he'd probably have more top matches or because he's got a load of mates there?

WWE is miles more prestigious, no doubt and if they pushed to main event a mania, come up with a story and finish it its undoubtedly the biggest thing he can do, but he might not be pursuing that. Fair play to him either way for making the billionaires dance for him.

31 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I mean I get it, but I'm also not convinced if they were playing it straight this isn't how they'd do it. It's a marmite thing with their character work, I guess, and that blurring of "Everything we do's a kind of zany pisstake" schtick's not for me. 

I think the inherent problem here is trying to picture the Bucks playing any gimmick totally straight. It's just not their style.

Totally get that the Bucks style isn't for you. I'm actually amazed they're as popular as they are with it as it feels so niche.

15 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

Is the Buck's latest "Are they super serious now or are they cosplaying as wrestlers kinda meta funny serious?" shit gimmick going to move beyond two of them going "Hey use our REALLL names please!" every single week? 

How could anyone look at how they're dressed and not know the answer to that question?