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Post by Dan on Jul 1, 2023 14:43:28 GMT -5
Was a fun and fast paced Mens MITB Match, but most of the big spots were spent worrying they’d botch. Not too sure what they had originally planned for that Ricochet/Logan Paul spot? Were they supposed to both bounce off the top rope from falling off the ladder and both go through the table in one move? Hard to tell, but Ricochet just said we’re going anyway.
Don’t care for Priest at all. It’s probably a bit early for LA Knight, even if he is hot as hell, but no harm in him cashing in on the World Heavyweight Championship at some point down the road.
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Post by Dan on Jun 3, 2023 2:47:44 GMT -5
The new Belt is lazy, but it feels very much to me like they are doing it as they just want to simplify and clarify that it’s one Championship that he holds. Visually though, he definitely looked greater with two Belt’s, and whilst Rollins is the standard World Champion it almost separately elevated Roman and his Undisputed Championship to something entirely bigger, akin to Streak levels. Side note, if this is just a temporary placeholder Belt to summarise Roman’s reign, they should’ve just gone all in and put a gold strap on it, as this still essentially just looks like a standard WWE Championship.
Now, however, you just know that once again this is going to gradually be rephrased out to just solely the ‘WWE Championship’, and come Wrestlemania 40, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we get Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins (or Cody Rhodes), for the Undisputed Championship again, which if was the case, should have just kept the WWE and Universal Championship separated so the Winner could hold all three Belts.
Either way, it’s clear that they are going to now merge the Universal lineage with the WWE so that they can just say Roman has ‘X’ amount of days as WWE Champion, and update the history books. It just feels messy, that’s all.
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Post by Dan on May 12, 2023 17:50:44 GMT -5
I’d be shocked if Edge doesn’t win the Smackdown side of things in this Title Tournament. Surely the finish to the triple threat is Rey going for the West Coast Pop, only for AJ to catch Rey into the Styles Clash, but Edge then spearing the two of them before AJ hits it, for the win. I think Edge is going to win the whole tournament to be honest, especially if he’s going to instantly gain interest and high stakes on the Title with his career now supposedly being on the line every time he defends it. Everybody will want to watch every single Match incase it’s the one he loses.
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Post by Dan on May 12, 2023 6:59:59 GMT -5
If this had happened at Wrestlemania XXX, I think it would have been the biggest match of all time whilst Taker’s streak was still intact. The way it ended up, they obviously wanted to stay clear of billing it as a proper Match, as I think they wanted to avoid having a 25-30 minute Match where Cena would lose clean. Hence, they ended up gimmicking the Match instead, where despite it being a very quick squash, didn’t really hurt Cena due to it barely counting as a Match, and afterwards being very much forgotten.
I’ve always had a feeling Taker never wanted Cena at Wrestlemania though, potentially because he knew the Streak would be at stake. It always felt strange that it never went down during the decade or so that Cena was the face of WWE. Ultimately, eventually they couldn’t get away from it since neither really had anybody left to face, but it ended up just being more of a quick bit of fun. They never even had a proper stare down in the middle of the Ring before hand.
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Post by Dan on May 7, 2023 1:30:48 GMT -5
Crowd made what was somewhat of an average card a lot more enjoyable. Lesnar's botched blood spot seemed to overshadow anything else that followed, and it felt like they rushed to finish the match once he had cut open. It's sad that in an after-hours show, on a Premium Live Event, that they can't celebrate his cut, and instead had to have him face away from the hard cam and use further-out cameras to show the rest of the match with, and almost hide his injury rather than sell it. The finish was also botched pretty bad on Lesnar's part, so it's hard to tell if this was done on purpose to set up a rematch, or if it was just a fluke quick win for Cody to now move on. A roll up was probably the only way they could realistically have Cody go over clean here, since it's catching Lesnar off guard. Hard to know what to make of it, but it wasn't a classic, and Lesnar looked pis*ed at the end.
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Post by Dan on May 1, 2023 12:47:33 GMT -5
The entire brand split/draft feels naked without GM's. Adam Pierce in charge of both shows just doesn't cut it. Don't get me wrong, the legends were fun but I miss the days when a GM would gloat over getting a certain superstar. I also felt that AJ's return was lacklustre. No announcement, no surprise, he just came out with The OC like nothing had happened. Assume that if they'd built up AJ's return, like they had with Cody, then they'd automatically face potentially creating another movement in which everyone wants him to beat Roman, which of course they want to avoid because, Roman. It's clear that they're keeping Cody and Reigns apart until they inevitably cross paths again come Wrestlemania 40. I do wonder if Cody at some point wins the World Title, potentially around Summerslam time, and Reigns wins the Rumble, setting up the unthinkable to happen, again.
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Post by Dan on Apr 25, 2023 15:37:22 GMT -5
I think they were clever in targeting the visual aesthetic of this Title towards the fans who appreciate heritage and nostalgia, since the profile of this Champion will presumably be a more workhorse type wrestling Champion.
However, it really is quite a baffling route and explanation to have taken, with this essentially all but confirming that nobody is going to beat Roman anytime soon. It's a bronze medal. They've essentially booked themselves into a corner, and more or less made another new World Championship purely because nobody can beat Roman, which is just ridiculous. They didn't have a choice to have Roman function on both shows as Undisputed Champion since there's barely anybody credible left for him to face, but I'm not sure how you're supposed to take this Champion seriously. The only thing this does do, is now make Roman as Undisputed Champion probably the closest thing to the Streak. Beating Roman is now almost more of a rub in itself than actually winning the Championship. But it also feels like Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are intertwined, with Cody more or less also separated and 'above' this new World Title.
Anyway, I think there's only a few credible names that can go for this belt initially, and that's because it simply has to be someone who hasn't already been toppled by Roman. Anybody who couldn't beat Roman for the Title but then wins this one, just devalues the credibility of the Title from the off. I do think Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor, to come full circle from Summerslam, would be quite fitting at this point. I think it's also a safe bet at this point that the MITB Winner will cash in on this Champion.
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Post by Dan on Apr 4, 2023 3:33:23 GMT -5
Can’t help but think they’re going to book themselves into a corner with Cody Rhodes vs Brock Lesnar. Neither can really afford to lose, and if Brock loses clean then his aura is kind of diminished. As daft as it sounds turning Lesnar heel again, it was probably the only route they could go to avoid an immediate drop off from viewers. Part of me wonders if they’re going to slowly build for a Triple H vs Cody Rhodes Match somewhere down the line, in what would be a more ‘real’ version of the Triple H vs Bryan feud. I know Triple H’s situation, but you just never know.
The redemption arc on Cody is a huge risk to take. Last night’s Raw was extremely similar to Brock Lesnar & John Cena back after Wrestlemania 28. Nobody cared for Cena winning at Wrestlemania 29, he’s never going to lose twice, and by then another organic babyface could grow and work their way into the picture. The stars won’t align as well as they did at Wrestlemania 39, the crowd was hot for it, and the Bloodline has already been toppled in a sense that Sami undid them. This could all start to get very WCW if they end up expanding the group to keep them fresh for another year.
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Post by Dan on Apr 3, 2023 13:38:43 GMT -5
The Main Event was a pretty incredible Match, and it was all perfectly there for Cody to hit that third one in a row, and that would have had everybody saying it was one of the best Main Events in Wrestlemania history. Reminded me a lot of Gargano’s Takeover’s. But man, what a way to blow it. If they are ever putting the Belt’s on Cody, then Sunday was the place to do it. Sure, you can muster up a story about him having a setback, taking down each Bloodline member before finally doing it, but the next time they face it will be even more obvious he’s winning, and the defining moment won’t be anywhere near as hot as it would have been this Wrestlemania. People will cool off now.
My gut feeling is they’re actually going to have The Rock be the one that finally beats him, which will be an absolutely awful decision. It should have been the mega match with Rock at 39, with Roman cementing his legacy and greatest run of all time, and then onto Summerslam when he loses to Cody, or whoever else. Part of me does wonder if the Endeavor deal has anything to do with it though. I’m not sure where they go from here if this isn’t the plan. The Uso’s losing the Tag Titles and The Bloodline being exposed by Sami felt like it was all but done, and it was just a case of Roman finally toppling that was left. It’s going to be a long, long stretch to get to Wrestlemania 40 now.
Side note, I thought Michael Cole was absolutely unbearable on Night 2. The way he was giggling throughout the Intercontinental Title Match like a schoolchild in hysterics was so distracting. It then became even more unbearable during Hell in a Cell when he switched to absolutely blowing everything a million times over the top when reality was, it was a pretty standard Street Fight and ultimately a very underwhelming Hell in a Cell Match.
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Post by Dan on Mar 28, 2023 14:32:28 GMT -5
I can’t be the only one who’s already starting to wonder how long Cody will stay truly over for once winning the Title. It already feels like his theme song is more over than he actually is, and that won’t stay hot forever. Once it starts to simmer, I can’t see everybody being patient sitting through his packaged up entrance every week still, I’m already tiring of it.
It just seems to me like the plan was always to get to the inevitable Roman Reigns vs The Rock Match at this years Wrestlemania to cement the legacy and run, most of it was filler up until that point, and then he could drop it to a Cody or whoever at Summerslam. But it feels like now that didn’t happen, Cody is the only real one in line that could potentially step up and take it, but I’m questioning whether that means he really should or not.
I expect Orton will return on Raw and have a staredown with Cody, and he’ll keep it until around Summerslam time, possibly slightly longer. But I think he’ll drop off very quickly once he’s won the big one, that’s all most people really want to see.
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Post by Dan on Mar 25, 2023 17:46:24 GMT -5
I still can't believe they went with a new opponent for Lesnar and left the Lashley feud unfinished just before Wrestlemania. It makes zero sense and now its backfired, leaving no credible opponent for Lashley. I was glad they wen't with al alternate route, as I always prefer fresh Matches for Wrestlemania, but just not the route they went with, especially given there's so many better opponents he's yet to face. Can only imagine after testing the waters with the faceoff between Lesnar and Gunther at the Rumble that he's since signed a new deal, and they're holding off with that one. I wonder if they just booked themselves into a corner with Lesnar and Lashley, knowing that one would have to essentially go over the other clean on the big stage, which would harm one of them. They had three Matches and none of them really had any clean definitive ending.
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Post by Dan on Mar 25, 2023 17:39:48 GMT -5
It's strange with Brock as he's one of the very few you could never really pinpoint who his last Match would be with, or how he'd go out. It doesn't feel like he has any real emotional tie to anyone throughout his career, bar Undertaker and Kurt Angle. I guess you could always have Roman be the one to actually retire him, but surely they won't revisit that.
It feels to me very much like he's staying on until Wrestlemania 40, otherwise they'd surely be pulling the trigger on the Match with Gunther for this years Wrestlemania, especially since they tested the waters at the Royal Rumble. Perhaps they want to shift Gunther to the Title picture and do the Title vs Career thing when it comes to that Match. Either way, there's not a lot left for him, outside of a Match with Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio and Bray Wyatt, though I don't feel like I need to see them. I'm also not fussed about a Brock Lesnar vs Edge Match.
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Post by Dan on Jan 29, 2023 8:04:44 GMT -5
X-Seven, followed by XX and XIX for me. XXX is the only one that comes close to breaking that top three for me in terms of an Event which really lasts in the memory. Night one of last year's is probably the best of the last 8 or so though.
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Post by Dan on Jan 29, 2023 6:40:39 GMT -5
I do find it pretty shocking that they didn't manage to lock in Roman Reigns vs The Rock for this Wrestlemania. I was convinced that this was seemingly what everything had been leading to for Roman for the past 6-12 months. At times a lot of it felt like filler for him just to get to Wrestlemania 39 for this inevitable mega match, and I had a feeling this was locked in a long time ago.
With the Rumble kicking off the Show, I then felt like they were then going down the route of getting Roman to do double duty at Wrestlemania, as surely they'd only close with Roman vs KO if we were getting The Rock show up to close the show.
Couple of pointers though. Cody had to come in at 30 if the Rock wasn't going to feature, purely because if he comes in any earlier, then everybody is going to be expecting Rock to be that final entrant, and would then feel deflated when it's not him. Logan Paul got a lot of heat for coming in at 29, as everyone then knew that we wouldn't be getting Sami Zayn. In the end, it turned out a pretty predictable Rumble, and while it did Gunther huge favours to have him go from 1 all the way to the end, I do feel like it shouldn't have gone that long since everybody knew Cody was winning.
The storytelling with the close to the show however was incredible. It's without doubt the best long-term story they've told in some time, but you almost feel like we should be going with Roman vs Sami at this point, and not Cody, and I'm wondering if this might even be detrimental to Cody's run to Wrestlemania now. All in all, it does now feel like since we're not getting The Rock vs Roman Reigns, with Roman finally losing around Summerslam time, that they're going to speed things up now. Wrestlemania will be the end of the Bloodline and the end of Roman's Title run. I think we'll get Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beating the Uso's for the Tag Title's, and then Cody putting the final nail in the coffin and defeating Roman. If we do get The Rock vs Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 40, it won't be anywhere near as big as it could have been, as this was the perfect time to do it.
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Post by Dan on Jan 9, 2023 16:58:47 GMT -5
Not really, and it would probably mean John Cena would go over this time too, which shouldn't happen. There's not a great deal of fresh matches left for either that I'd want to see in all honesty, as much as I love Brock Lesnar too. John Cena vs Goldberg and John Cena vs Stone Cold would be dream matches that no longer still work as dream matches due to their age being long past novelty attractions. Brock Lesnar vs Sami Zayn, potentially once Sami Zayn has the World Title would be good to see though.
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Post by Dan on Jan 9, 2023 16:52:36 GMT -5
I can't get my head around why people want Cody involved with the Roman Reigns vs The Rock situation. I understand he's returning, and it's all about when he finally wins the Title, but Roman Reigns vs The Rock is one of the biggest money matches of all time, and reaches a worldwide mainstream casual audience. It's what everything Reigns has been doing the past 2.5 years has been leading up to, this has always been in the pipeline.
Roman beats The Rock to retain the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship in the defining moment of his career, after already seeing off Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Goldberg, Triple H and the Undertaker, along with every other top-level current main roster superstar. Only once this has happened can you start to look towards him dropping the title, and I think it'll most likely be at Summerslam to a Sami Zayn. It seems clear they're prepping him up in the Daniel Bryan role, mixed in with a little bit of the Batista Evolution scenario, as the ultimate underdog to dethrone the gaslighting Roman and bring down the Bloodline once and for all. Cody will get his run at some point, most likely Wrestlemania 40 or somewhere further down the line.
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Post by Dan on Dec 26, 2022 14:37:40 GMT -5
I think they are heading this direction with Cody. They are going to push what a "stud" he was for gutting it out & defeating Rollins in HIAC with that injury & give him the old time return from injury, win the Rumble and go to WM fairytale to see does it stick. If The Rock doesn't win the Rumble, I think they'll do this, and have it all set up for it to look like he's going to be the one to finally end Roman's run, but then Roman still wins. Cody has remade himself, and I'm not sure he needs to be the one to beat Roman. I feel like Roman retains past this Wrestlemania whatever happens, and then he eventually loses to Sami Zayn, who subsequently will have become the new Daniel Bryan.
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Post by Dan on Jul 27, 2022 16:55:20 GMT -5
I actually can't believe Triple H vs AJ Styles has never really been on the table considering how long AJ has been with WWE now. Was convinced it would have been in the pipeline for one of AJ's first two Wrestlemania matches. Having said this, Triple H's best feud's always tend to be more story driven as opposed to just being randomly paired up in a Match that just sounds good on paper, so probably Cody Rhodes or Seth Rollins would be the most logical choice.
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Post by Dan on Apr 4, 2022 5:04:02 GMT -5
I still don't think he'd be over as a face. The reason it's working so well now is quite literally because he's had a ridiculous CV given to him that the stats and numbers don't lie, so we all have no choice but to accept him as legit. He works as a heel because he generally doesn't have a likeable personality. He's smug, cocky, and his moveset is slow, methodical and dull. He won the Rumble and even had the Rock try to get him over, but nobody cared (and they rightly held fire on the trigger at 31). He had the entire Royal Rumble devoted around him and his WWE Championship so that he could then chase it back against Triple H at Wrestlemania 32. Nobody cared. They had him go over clean on the Undertaker at Wrestlemania, and it still didn't work. Main Event again the following year vs Brock Lesnar to finally beat him clean and redo 31, but he still wasn't accepted. He was still not accepted as a face even after returning from leukemia. But now, with that CV behind him, those stats and numbers behind him, Paul Heyman by his side and a stable in the Bloodline, clean Title wins over the likes of John Cena, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, they're going to fully push him as the 'GOAT' now. And, ultimately people will end up having no choice but to respect or, acknowledge him with everything they've had him accomplish.
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Post by Dan on Apr 4, 2022 4:42:26 GMT -5
For me, the two night Wrestlemania really doesn't work, but I can't see them ever undoing it. They're going to fully rinse it and get as much as they can. I think if you were to compile the highlights from both nights, you'd have a pretty solid and memorable Wrestlemania, but each card has way too much that I just don't care about, and a lot of carry over/repeat. I think Night 1 had a lot more going for it due to the way it was booked, as by having Austin and Cody that going into the show it naturally carried those elements of surprise and intrigue. On the other hand, Night 2 had the expectation which is a heavy thing to hold up to, with the likes of AJ Styles vs Edge and 'The Biggest Wrestlemania Match of all time'.
It was interesting that they went with an older style Wrestlemania card placement too, gradually building and building with the level of Matches, which actually worked quite well. The second half of Wrestlemania Saturday felt like a completely different show from the first, it kicked in to another gear from Becky vs Belair onwards.
I was shocked that Stone Cold vs Kevin Owens became an actual Match. Surely they'd have hyped and plugged everything out of it in advance if this was the case, but I imagine it would have put a ton of pressure and expectation onto Austin which he probably didn't want, and if it's called on the fly then the crowd can build and build in anticipation, which is what happened. The only disappointment for me was that Austin didn't go topless with the vest with the jean shorts he had on. This was the vision I was hoping for, and he didn't look out of shape to the point he couldn't have done it. The plugging of the beer was all a bit too much for me to the point that at some points it came across as being the only reason he'd done the skit in the first place.
It was good to see Triple H get a moment to kick off Wrestlemania Sunday, and Cody looked gold, the way he was packaged and presented. Match of the weekend for me, though there wasn't too much else for me to get excited about in terms of the in ring.
Was disappointed that we didn't get the Roman Reigns vs The Rock staredown to close, as I was convinced that was what we were going to get.
The biggest letdown for me, like many, was Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. Don't get me wrong, I was fully expecting Reigns to go over, and go over clean at that since Lesnar did him clean at 34, and they pulled the plug at 31. But man, what a lack of storytelling. Considering '34 was an absolute 'finisher fest' with Reigns taking 5 F5's and being cut open, and all the other Matches they've had, I really felt like this had to have something new to separate it from all the other encounters. Not so much a screwy finish but, maybe Reigns drawing blood from Lesnar this time, or Lesnar even sympathetically 'acknowledging Reigns' ala HBK to Undertaker at 26, before taking the final spear. Something emotional in the ring with Paul Heyman. I don't know, just some form of storytelling that made this feel memorable. I'm not buying that the Match was cut short due to Reigns shoulder, I don't think too much else would really have been done bar one or two more finishers each. Everything for the past 7 years has revolved around Roman Reigns, and this is Vince's ultimate moment for him. Side note, I'm not sure if it was time or what but, I thought Roman at the very least was going to get some form of special entrance capitalising on the whole God mode higher level thing. The entire Main Event was just so anti-climatic. Essentially, it was all to get that one shot of Roman at the end as Undisputed Universal Champion, and even that they didn't do too well. If there was no Rock, you'd have felt at the very least they'd then go all in on that visual, and have him in the Ring with both Titles, showered with gold confetti, Heyman and Usos by his side for that crowning, career defining image. Instead he just rushed to the ramp.
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