Wrestlemania 41 Discussion Thread

[OzExile]

Where is all this chat from the Rock? McAfee show or something? 

[mim731]

8 hours ago, OzExile said:

Where is all this chat from the Rock? McAfee show or something? 

Yep.

Tbh Rock is full of shit constantly, and no-one within the company is going to correct him given he's on the board so I suspect that his take on Mania etc might also be self serving bollocks. 

[air_raid]

I’m still waiting to find out who thought this was a good idea and what it’s going to lead to. At least Jon Stewart wasn’t a title change or at Mania.

[The Gaffer]

I imagine Rock and Triple H are working for W̶W̶E̶:̶ ̶B̶e̶h̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶i̶c̶ the pacemaker on a pole match at WrestleMania next year. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

14 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I imagine Rock and Triple H are working for W̶W̶E̶:̶ ̶B̶e̶h̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶g̶i̶c̶ the pacemaker on a pole match at WrestleMania next year. 

Read that as 'Peacemaker' and am now imagining John Cena swinging around in costume as Rock and Triple H argue about longform storytelling.

[Arch Stanton]

18 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I’m still waiting to find out who thought this was a good idea and what it’s going to lead to. At least Jon Stewart wasn’t a title change or at Mania.

If you're talking about Travis Scott's involvement, it's obviously not supposed to lead to anything. As far as WWE are concerned it served its purpose in the moment, on Raw they were boasting about the record breaking 1.1 billion social media impressions or whatever the fuck metric it was. It fucking sucked, but it drives 'engagement'. That's the goal for them now. Moments > Storytelling.

[thatvinylgeek]

50 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

If you're talking about Travis Scott's involvement, it's obviously not supposed to lead to anything. As far as WWE are concerned it served its purpose in the moment, on Raw they were boasting about the record breaking 1.1 billion social media impressions or whatever the fuck metric it was. It fucking sucked, but it drives 'engagement'. That's the goal for them now. Moments > Storytelling.

The more I read the more I think it's entirely this now. 

From wha Rock has said it seems he was never going to make Mania due to "other commitments"...but they did what they at the Chamber because they got a very cool clip of Rock and Cena that they could plaster everywhere online. 

It's more about "what can we stick online to get eyes on the product" rather than "let's make sure the product delivers when the eyes are on it" 

It's starting to feel like one of those Instagram ads for the best smart watch you've ever seen, it suckers you in even though you know it just looks shiny...but when it turns up it's been drop shipped from Temu and looks like it cost 50p, you convince yourself it might still be good, and it's "ok" for a day, then you realise half the features are missing or misold so you chuck it in the drawer and forget about it. A week later you're on Insta again...ooooh this one looks much better!

Ad infinitum

 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

2 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Read that as 'Peacemaker' and am now imagining John Cena swinging around in costume as Rock and Triple H argue about longform storytelling.

I'd definitely watch this. 

[Supremo]

Original plan was for Cena to turn heel at Wrestlemania, wasn’t it? I think what they did on Sunday all but confirmed that. It was like they’d spunked their good idea at Elimination Chamber and didn’t have a clue what do instead. It is interesting to imagine if Cody and Cena had wrestled a Babyface vs. Babyface match, with Cena turning heel to win the Title. Would’ve felt seismic and likely distracted from the slow motion match they had.

The Rock’s, “I'm always here if you need me,” is the funniest part. Like he’s fucking Mr. Miyagi is something. The man turned up, made a massive mess, left them to tidy it up, and then had to cheek to say, “give me a shout if you need more help, lads.” They must hate his guts.

You have to respect the art of bullshit politics though. Slagging off Hunter when you’re the very reason his plans keep falling through and pivoting is top tier dickheadery. I bet Bret loves it.  Bret and Rock definitely making each other laugh sending eye roll emojis.

Edited April 23, 2025 by Supremo

[DavidB6937]

Honestly I'm surprised The Rock didn't end that Pat interview with a rendition of You're Welcome.

[mim731]

28 minutes ago, Supremo said:

You have to respect the art of bullshit politics though. Slagging off Hunter when you’re the very reason his plans keep falling through and pivoting is top tier dickheadery. I bet Bret loves it.  Bret and Rock definitely making each other laugh sending eye roll emojis.

Bret and Rock when they talk about Triple H.

[Callum1993]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

I’m still waiting to find out who thought this was a good idea and what it’s going to lead to. At least Jon Stewart wasn’t a title change or at Mania.

I’ll be pedantic here and say the Jon Stewart thing was a title vs title WWE Champion vs US Champion winner takes all match between Cena and Rollins. Cena had done wonders to up the importance of the US Title with the weekly open challenges so it felt a bit of a cop out for him to lose it thanks to Jon Stewart. Generally celebrity involvement is awful across the board. 

[tiger_rick]

9 minutes ago, Callum1993 said:

I’ll be pedantic here and say the Jon Stewart thing was a title vs title WWE Champion vs US Champion winner takes all match between Cena and Rollins. Cena had done wonders to up the importance of the US Title with the weekly open challenges so it felt a bit of a cop out for him to lose it thanks to Jon Stewart. Generally celebrity involvement is awful across the board. 

Andy Kaufman, Cyndi Lauper, Mr T, Mike Tyson, William Shatner, Dennis Rodman, Laurence Taylor, Kevin Federline, Pete Rose, Floyd Mayweather, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul and, fuck it, Donald Trump, all immediately jump out as people whose involvement ranged from funny to well booked to absolutely pivotal to pro-wrestling history.

Using celebrities for the sake of it like WCW after Bischoff lost his fucking mind or the abysmal idea that was celebrity General Managers and forcing their presence on the viewer is rarely a good idea but "across the board" is hugely untrue. Wrestling might still be in Vince's favourite smoke filled halls if it wasn't for Cyndi. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Original plan was for Cena to turn heel at Wrestlemania, wasn’t it? I think what they did on Sunday all but confirmed that. It was like they’d spunked their good idea at Elimination Chamber and didn’t have a clue what do instead. It is interesting to imagine if Cody and Cena had wrestled a Babyface vs. Babyface match, with Cena turning heel to win the Title. Would’ve felt seismic and likely distracted from the slow motion match they had.

The Rock’s, “I'm always here if you need me,” is the funniest part. Like he’s fucking Mr. Miyagi is something. The man turned up, made a massive mess, left them to tidy it up, and then had to cheek to say, “give me a shout if you need more help, lads.” They must hate his guts.

You have to respect the art of bullshit politics though. Slagging off Hunter when you’re the very reason his plans keep falling through and pivoting is top tier dickheadery. I bet Bret loves it.  Bret and Rock definitely making each other laugh sending eye roll emojis.

I don't mean to blow smoke up your harris, but this is a brilliant post/insight.

If you think about in terms of Cena turning heel, him turning at Mania makes perfect sense of the angle. They could have still done the meta bullshit they like, but cranked up over time between Chamber and Mania until eventually he snaps. Then Cena turns up on Raw cutting the dysfunctional relationship stuff (using the mixed reaction at Mania as a catalyst, rather than pulling it out of his backside when it hadn't been an issue for years) and talking about the dates he has left.

Good grief, one simple tweak I hadn't even considered and the angle could have made much more sense.

[air_raid]

3 hours ago, Supremo said:

Original plan was for Cena to turn heel at Wrestlemania, wasn’t it?

Dwayne's original plan was for Cody to go with him and be the heel so Cena could chase the title as the hero going in. Hunter thought that was stupid after what they've done with making Cody the new top hero. Nick Khan was leading towards Dwayne (MILD SHOCK) until Cody got wind of it and stood up for himself and said he didn't want to do it, so they immediately decided to turn Cena instead. This is in all the space between the week before Rock turned up wanting Cody's soul, and Chamber itself.