The Smackers Thread

[air_raid]

4 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Think this is the least likely outcome.

No shit. Dwayne’s not wrestling at Mania. It was a joke about wishing all my predictions could come true so I could be even more insufferable than usual.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

It’s like turning down a burger because your bodies a temple, then eating a six pack of own brand crisps.

This doesn't work as crisps >>> burger

The Rock being involved last year turned out to be a good decision, but that was almost in spite of him and the others involved.

This just sounds like an absolute mess thus far.

[LaGoosh]

32 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Specifically why is Dwayne talking about it not needing to mean a match? For as long as I can remember, through the worst crap of WCW, TNA or Russo’s batshit Attitude stuff, I’ve long believed that if the point of the segment isn’t leading to making people pay to see a wrestling match, either in person or on telly, then it shouldn’t be on your show

Surely it's just the logical end point to the "this isn't wrestling, this is a story"/"this is cinema" bollocks they've been spouting so hard the past few years?

[HarmonicGenerator]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

A shockingly bad show, capped off by a truly terrible Rock promo. Streets are saying more stuff happened after The Rock and Cody’s segment, but I immediately switched it off and refuse to believe anyone continued watching. What a load of shite. Dreadful.

 

This was an excellent post, but if you did switch off afterwards (and who could blame you), you did miss another outstanding Kevin Owens Twitter promo.

He might have also posted it on non-awful social platforms so I’d seek it out.

[Chili]

This is a ridiculously obscure reference, but The Rock is less like the Final Boss and more like the invisible boss from early 2000's Scottish sketch show Chewin' the Fat. I can't unsee it now, this must be what they have to be like when he turns up.

 

 

[Snitsky's back acne]

How much do you reckon HHH hates The Rock? As has been said, it was the easiest story to tell but Rock fucked it up on the Netflix premier, made it worse on NXT the next night and pissed all over it here.

WWE does not need The Rock but it seems like The Rock thinks WWE needs The Rock. I can only imagine how pissed off the talent and the writing team are with him. 

The Rock should be a permanent fixture in the Negativity Thread. 

[FLips]

Laughed at Supremo's post about switching off after The Rock promo because that's exactly what I did.

Is he face, is he heel? Is he having a match, is he not? I don't know what he was on about to be honest. Never thought we'd end up in a place where The Rock is one of the worst promos of all time but here we are.

[AndyUK]

The Cody and Rock story has been all over the place ever since Rock returned last year and the promo was a strange one to say the least. 

Hopefully now they can actually stick with a direction for once, which looks to be attempting to turn it into an Austin/McMahon thing. 
 

 

[Merzbow]

1 minute ago, AndyUK said:

turn it into an Austin/McMahon thing

I'm not the only one that thought it was an awful take on that early promo in to the feud where Vince wanted Steve to go corporate? But yeah, a dreadful bit of TV that almost sent me down in to a K Hole and not a fun one I imagine Dwayne has nightly.

[Supremo]

Genuinely funny how Rock was so gotten to after everyone slagged him off following the Netflix debut, that he’s just going to crowbar himself into a Cody feud as a non-wrestler. You either retire a hero or you hang around long enough to become The Debra in Austin vs. Rock leading to Wrestlemania 17.

We’ll tell our Grandchildren about where we were during the inevitable Rock/Cody/Cena promos, where Rock plays Vince McMahon and tries to corrupt one of them with Corporate Ketamine. Three weirdest men alive.

[RedTwoster]

There was one promo I hated on this show but, at the risk of being a contrarian, it wasn’t the Rock/Cody thing - it was Tiffany Stratton. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - I think she’s one of the worst characters in wrestling. She grates on me as much as Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly. But she’s clearly popular, so what do I know. 

As far as Rock/Cody goes, I really liked it . The Rock - probably unintentionally- comes across as insincere and up his own arse. He’s seen Cody rip it up over the past year and realises he can’t beat him; not now at least. But he can offer him something he thinks Cody wants. 

Maybe Cody will accept, maybe Cody will say no - but I think there’s a good chance this leads to Rock interfering in Cody/Cena at Wrestlemania, with the show ending with Cody as champ, celebrating alongside Rock. Then you have a year of Cody as a corporate champion, building up to a Cody/Cena rematch as Cena’s final match. Along the way maybe you get Rock/Cena one more time, perhaps at Summerslam.

Alternatively, if this was to lead to Cody/Rock at Wrestlemania, I’m fine with that too. But it’s definitely leading somewhere, and that’s what excites me about it. The Final Boss is a great character, and he kept that up by simply being Rock - name-dropping, boasting about how much his movies have made etc. I don’t even think he did it intentionally - that’s just Rock. But that aspect of his personality is detestable and that’s why a Cody/Rock pairing could work. Or it’s a reason why a feud between the two could be a lot of fun.

Perhaps someone else steps in to be Rock’s champion - maybe it’s Jacob Fatu, maybe it’s Drew, maybe it’s someone else entirely - but I think it’s an idea that could work well. We’ll see, though.

[digforvictory]

Supremo called it either last week or after the last Raw, but you can definitely see the cracks starting to appear in this boom period. I thought the build to Mania so far was a mess anyway but The Rock turning up again has amplified it.

What the fuck was that promo? I'm assuming the intention was Rock is pressuring Cody to turn heel but they did it in such a rambling shambling mess of a segment it was embarrassing.  What is going on with The Rock? That's 3 promos in 2025 and they've all been absolutely fucking awful.

So yeah The Rock is coming back to make things worse again but unlike last year the shows are already not very good. Having Jimmy Uso pin Drew McIntyre clean is a bonkers decision, then of course having Drew beat him up after the bell so everyone looks a loser. Awful stuff.

Edited February 22, 2025 by digforvictory

[DavidB6937]

Part of me thinks that was a fucking terrible awkward segment with Cody and Rock.

Part of me thinks they did some really good shit together last year and so I'm at least slightly intrigued to see where it goes despite the weird ass start to it all.

Tiffy needs to be a heel again.

Jacob needs to dump Solo and just go on a rampage.

The rest was there. In some weird sense I'm almost looking forward to where they go AFTER Mania than what's building at the moment. I'm ready for them to get behind Jacob fully.

[RedTwoster]

6 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Part of me thinks that was a fucking terrible awkward segment with Cody and Rock.

Part of me thinks they did some really good shit together last year and so I'm at least slightly intrigued to see where it goes despite the weird ass start to it all.

Yeah, I think it was more weird than it was bad. But I definitely found it intriguing. I’m assuming Rock is going for ‘insincere’ - pretending to be the good guy, while occasionally letting the mask slip and having a go at the crowd. WWE has had more good than it has bad in recent years, and it’s also shown the ability to course correct, so I’m not pessimistic about whatever this ends up being.

[Captain SlackBladder]

So... just for clarification... has big Dewey gone full Bi-Polar Satan? Can't decide if he's face or heel and wants to steal Cody's soul. ?