[02/02] SmackDown: Road To WrestleMania... or to the Endgame?

[Roid Jones]

When the Rock lays down and let's Roman pin him then Cody cashes in his Rumble victory and wins the title.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Kind of surprised how much sympathy Cody is getting online. People want to see him complete the story badly

The Cody part of it is only a fraction. People expect Hunter's writing to make sense and so far it doesn't make sense that a guy would win the Rumble and then give up his shot at WrestleMania. I see the stooges are jumping through hoops already so this will be fun

 

[Rayzah]

From Meltzer on the F4W message board.

"Dwayne pushed super hard for it.
Read last week's issue and this week's. The card changed when Punk & Brock were out and all the dominoes fell. Dwayne already wanted it and they felt they now needed it as well. Felt this was better to change the news flow away from Vince.

Cody was the plan. Dwayne was going to face him later, maybe next year's Mania, maybe Saudi. shyt happens with Vince and Punk, the Vince thing ends up worse than they thought and they changed the plan. I literally didn't know until yesterday that it could change and then I was told it's under lock. But 100% it was Punk vs. Seth and Cody vs. Reigns until Punk got hurt"

WWE is saying none of those shows are as big as mania, not summer slam, not suadi not any of them.

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Like I’ve said before, Roman and his family can circle jerk in their own universe while Roman holds an increasingly meaningless title until he goes over some arbitrary number of days.

Hope Dwayne can go for 5 minutes without blowing up. Dwayne Hoegan-ing his way into the main event is some ho shyt

Hopefully Philly fans shyt all over this

Kind of surprised how much sympathy Cody is getting online. People want to see him complete the story badly

He’s so clearly the right guy for this moment is the thing and they dragged it out another year for no reason. If Cody wins last year and we get Roman vs Rock with no belt on the line in the undercard, we’re all hyped same as when Rock faced Hogan in 2002.

Seeing this after how dirty they did Punk, Brian, Cesaro, Drew, KO/Jericho in 2017, Nakamura, Rusev, Bray Wyatt, Zack Ryder, AJ Styles, LA Knight with his 2 losses to Roman that didn’t help him, and the whole roster in general by letting Roman take the belt on vacation so long they had to revive the big gold belt makes it feel sleazy in the worst ways imaginable. It’s similar to how Jericho & KO got done dirty in 2017 which is why Jericho left. We’re supposed to be long beyond Punk’s grievances he laid out in the pipebomb which was nearly 13 years ago now . Instead this looks like they’re doubling down on the stuff that played a huge role in his walking out ironically just as he returns. This shyt makes me feel bad for the entire roster. It’s a high key burial of them all if they go through with this match because the show hasn’t revolved around a #1 face the crowd actually likes since Rock & Austin at the end of the attitude era.

The ruthless aggression era revolved around the reign of terror & evolution on raw while smackdown didn’t have a true #1 guy after Brock left and they hurt both Cena and Batista by switching their shows in the summer of 2005. The PG era revolved around Cena who the majority of most crowds rejected. The 2011-19 era revolved around them trying to force feed us more Cena and big dog Roman while the company rejected every top face the crowd wanted too. It’s exhausting as a fan to watch a show that’s actively hostile to the most over acts.

 

[Tres Leches]

I need 97 drew to go in on Cody on Monday like he goin in on punk pause

 

[Lucky Millionaire]

From Meltzer on the F4W message board.

"Dwayne pushed super hard for it.
Read last week's issue and this week's. The card changed when Punk & Brock were out and all the dominoes fell. Dwayne already wanted it and they felt they now needed it as well. Felt this was better to change the news flow away from Vince.

Cody was the plan. Dwayne was going to face him later, maybe next year's Mania, maybe Saudi. shyt happens with Vince and Punk, the Vince thing ends up worse than they thought and they changed the plan. I literally didn't know until yesterday that it could change and then I was told it's under lock. But 100% it was Punk vs. Seth and Cody vs. Reigns until Punk got hurt"

i agree in the sense that the decision was made within the last week given how cody clearly chose roman. feels like a panicked corporate business decision clashing with wrestling booking.

punk and seth being injured affects the whc scene not the wwe title picture. u could put rhea/becky as the main event or have drew brutalize seth (if hes cleared) for the title. i get the panic but injuries happen it is what it is.

i hope cody fought like hell backstage cause no star would willingly give up a mania main event. its still absurd just thinking about it. this is one of the moments yeah you gotta be selfish and say fukk rock/roman this is my shyt. i did business at 39 now im not getting to 40? fukk that

i think they blinked when they didnt need to. if the vince shyt is really bad to warrant a federal investigation and other wwe higher-ups were doing similar stuff the main event of wm 40 wont matter since theyre all gonna get questions about it. might as well stick to the plan since people already invested this much in it.

the internet (and some stars) being on fire about it says it all really.

it just an unprecedented thing for a babyface, ur most popular star to do this late in the game. sacrificing full-time stars for a former star was hated because it puts a glass ceiling on them perception wise and drawing wise. fans were trying to be patient with Cody after WM39 and bought in for the most part but the stupid way they pivoted to rock/roman and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory just makes cody look dumb as fukk in a cutthroat industry. and roman as great as he is hes getting nothing the longer the reign goes on. it means nothing to pass hogan/sammartino number of days and they should stop doing it.

 

[Tres Leches]

I thought the chamber match was facing Seth I guess they threw that in the bushes

Only womens chamber this year pal

 

[RammerJammer]

I haven’t seen fans this mad at WWE since the big dog Roman days

WWE might be back

 

[HoldThisL]

Last year you had people saying that Sami should beat Roman at EC and then get his rematch at Mania, but now they want to act like they've always wanted Cody to win. The truth is that these complainers just want to bytch no matter what.

Bro, I wanted The Rock vs Roman for Wrestlemania 38 and Wrestlemania 39. I did not give af about Cody last year too until it became known that Rock was not part of the plans.

Now that I have been fully invested in this Cody storyline, this feels shytty as a fan of it. Rocky should have shown up when the time was right before, and the way Cody just hands him the spot felt weird af.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

I believe the story about them wanting the focus off the Vince news. The Rock and Roman will get more media attention from ESPN and shyt like that.

But I don't think it's going to bury the Vince shyt. If it's true there are more accusers coming forward and now the Feds are investigating, it's going to be a big story no matter what.

 

[Dipsey Doo]

The Cody part of it is only a fraction. People expect Hunter's writing to make sense and so far it doesn't make sense that a guy would win the Rumble and then give up his shot at WrestleMania. I see the stooges are jumping through hoops already so this will be fun

This turn of events reeks of political bullshyt with Dwayne being on the board.

Hunter is in charge of creative but that seems to be limited. Dwayne and Nick Khan made the call at the last second.

Everything about this seems to be contrived and lame

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

I haven’t seen fans this mad at WWE since the big dog Roman days

WWE might be back

They passed the cod: infinite warfare trailer in just 9 hours

 

[Rayzah]

Bro, I wanted The Rock vs Roman for Wrestlemania 38 and Wrestlemania 39. I did not give af about Cody last year too until it became known that Rock was not part of the plans.

Now that I have been fully invested in this Cody storyline, this feels shytty as a fan of it. Rocky should have shown up when the time was right before, and the way Cody just hands him the spot felt weird af.

That’s fair but shyt happend and they felt they had to do this match now, look at it this way. Vince is gone, Brock is gone, Goldberg is gone, and after this match the rock will be gone too. Y’all can finally have your current stars headlong mania from next year onwards

This mania will be the end of the part timers and there will be no more excuses for the current stars to main event mania.

Oh wait 45 year old punk will still want his moment as well. But after that the young stars like LA knight can. Wait he will be like 45 as well. Randy? No aj? no. Look by 41 I think even Cody will be over 40. Oh well atleast they are full time right?

 

[Brad Piff]

As damaging as having yet another screw job finish in the main event of wrestlemania last year was after 2 years of nothing but screw job finishes while your champ becomes a part timer who almost exclusively worked with part timers, tossing your top face in the bushes to just give the main event and the title match to a guy who hasn’t wrestled in 11 years and leaving your top face with nothing to do that has any real heat would be even worse. That’s some 2014 or 2015 royal rumble quality booking.

I’ve been saying for years that Roman vs Rock for the belt is an awful idea and it’s a worse idea than ever now. If rock wins a guy in his 50’s wins the belt after 3.5 years of Roman holding it and that hurts the rest of the roster. If Roman wins, there’s nobody credible to face Roman, there’s nothing interesting for him to do after it, and he likely goes on vacation for another 3-4 months which leaves the show once again with no main event scene. If he doesn’t defend the belt in Australia he’s gonna go into wrestlemania with 3 title defenses over the previous 11 months. Enough of this shyt.

The difference is that hogan was 3-4 years younger and had been wrestling full time until 2000. Rock hasn’t had any matches in the last 11 years and is now 22 years removed from his time as a full time wrestler. His last run on tv where he was even on every week for more than a month straight ended 21 years back. He disappeared off tv 2-3 weeks after wrestlemania 18 until late June, was on tv July and August to put over Brock, went away until February 2003 and was there until April. Then he was there for about 3 weeks in 2004 to build wrestlemania 20 and didn’t work another match until survivor series 2011.



The only Roman match I’ve enjoyed in the last 2 years was the match with Rollins at the royal rumble. Every other one has followed the exact same formula.

Roman takes way too long to get to the ring (yeah I know taker’s entrance was long too, but he at least had cool lighting, smoke, and pyrotechnics), they take a long time locking up, Roman overpowers the other wrestler, we get a lot of rest holds, Roman talks into the camera and monologues like a Dragonball Z villain (think the Freiza on namek fight), good guy fights back into the match, there’s a ref bump/distraction, at least one guy interferes just as Roman is about to get beat, Roman hits a spear, 1-2-3, then he goes on vacation for another few months and the other guy has to find a way to get his heat back with nobody to work with. I skipped the 2021 one on one match vs edge, summerslam match vs Brock, the clash at the castle match vs Drew, the match vs KO at the rumble last year, missed half the match vs Sami in Montreal, and didn’t watch and of his matches last year after wrestlemania and I don’t think I missed anything special

Another thought just came to mind. Since winning the belt here are the guys Roman has faced at wrestlemania if they go through with this:

37: Edge (47 year old part timer) & Brian Danielson (40 years old & about to leave the company
38: Brock Lesnar (45 year old part timer & a match that nobody wanted to see ever again after 2015-18)
39: Cody Rhodes (full timer & super over babyface)
40: Rock (51 years old & hasn’t wrestled in 11 years. Suffered a major injury in 2 of his last 4 matches)


They’re not even letting full time guys work with Roman at the big stage. What’s the upside of the main event of the biggest show of the year being part timer vs part timer? The last time the main event of wrestlemania was decided by all full time wrestlers was 2011. Every year there’s at least one part timer if not more. Here’s every year since:


2012: Rock vs Cena
2013: Rock vs Cena
2014: Brian vs Randy vs Batista
2015: Brock vs Roman
2016: Roman vs triple h
2017: Roman vs taker
2018: Roman vs Brock
2019: Ronda vs Charlotte vs Becky
2020: Drew vs Brock
2021: Roman vs Edge vs Brian
2022: Roman vs Brock
2023: Roman vs Cody

Check the edit and it’s appalling. Honestly Roman has been booked so horribly except for the fall of 2020 into the late spring of 2021 and his stuff with Sami and Cody last year that it makes me miss super Cena which was so bad it made me miss evolution. We got 2 good matches in the main event of wrestlemania from his booking but several that were worst match of the year candidates and another that was great until an all time bad ending. Who is the last guy besides who benefited from working with Roman? Maybe the usos but Jimmy is regressing into a lackey for Roman for some reason we have no answer for and I can’t see what their plan is for Jey. He’s been in purgatory since the end of the summer.

To be fair, pretty much anyone winning the belt would be an improvement at this point. The way Roman has been booked for most of the past 2 and a half years with the belt has managed to channel the worst of super Cena (never taking any opponent seriously and beating them every time anyway), 2005 Jeff Jarrett & 2004-05 JBL (essentially 100% of their title matches end with run ins that ultimately make both wrestlers look worse), and 2015-18 era Brock Lesnar (lazy, arrogant, apathetic champ whose entire gimmick revolves around them never showing up to work and seemingly enjoying the fact that he’s sabotaging the show by holding the belt hostage while spending months at a time off tv). It gets real old real fast and before you know it, basically anything is an improvement. shyt, the whole angle was dead in the water until Sami came along.

At the point he came along, Roman had officially become a part timer and in the previous 15 months the only two full time wrestlers he’d faced for the belt were Matt riddle on a random episode of smackdown and Rollins at the royal rumble which had the whole “heel champ intentionally gets himself disqualified” finish that sets up future matches only they dropped the program entirely to set up his 1000th match with Brock which turned out to be one of his worst matches against him.

The way this company uses part timers is the problem. They’re consistently presented as a bigger deal than the full time guys and for the past 11-12 years have more often than not consistently taken top spots on the card from the full time guys, which makes everyone look bad. The problem with Rollins is he’s a lousy face whether his matches are good or not. I don’t want a show built around someone who is likely to disappear for months on end for no reason being booked as a higher priority than the people who are there every week. Look at smackdown for the past year. They’ve had no world title picture because a part timer is champ and they’ve had no tag title picture either. All the guys on the roster have one title to go after and it’s the mid card title the company clearly cares less about. It’s a huge part of why I rarely tune in to smackdown. None of it works because it makes no sense. Cody wins the rumble and just gives away his title match, does this idea, and then we’re expected to wait another 4-5 months for that match? Throwing away the main event of wrestlemania to set up a match at a later date? They did that in 2011 and it was terrible. Rock has no claim to a title match since he hasn’t worked since the undertaker’s streak still existed and seeing as how Roman buried Seth and the world heavyweight title 2013-16 Stephanie McMahon style for no reason, Cody looks bad just by even thinking about it.

He’s so clearly the right guy for this moment is the thing and they dragged it out another year for no reason. If Cody wins last year and we get Roman vs Rock with no belt on the line in the undercard, we’re all hyped same as when Rock faced Hogan in 2002.

Seeing this after how dirty they did Punk, Brian, Cesaro, Drew, KO/Jericho in 2017, Nakamura, AJ Styles, LA Knight with his 2 losses to Roman that didn’t help him, and the whole roster in general by letting Roman take the belt on vacation so long they had to revive the big gold belt makes it feel sleazy in the worst ways imaginable. It’s similar to how Jericho & KO got done dirty in 2017 which is why Jericho left. We’re supposed to be long beyond Punk’s grievances he laid out in the pipebomb which was nearly 13 years ago now . Instead this looks like they’re doubling down on the stuff that played a huge role in his walking out ironically just as he returns. This shyt makes me feel bad for the entire roster. It’s a high key burial of them all if they go through with this match because the show hasn’t revolved around a #1 face the crowd actually likes since Rock & Austin at the end of the attitude era.

The ruthless aggression era revolved around the reign of terror & evolution on raw while smackdown didn’t have a true #1 guy after Brock left and they hurt both Cena and Batista by switching their shows in the summer of 2005. The PG era revolved around Cena who the majority of most crowds rejected. The 2011-19 era revolved around them trying to force feed us more Cena and big dog Roman while the company rejected every top face the crowd wanted too. It’s exhausting as a fan to watch a show that’s actively hostile to the most over acts.

Blud has written an entire thesis over this cody shyt overnight

 

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Blud has written an entire thesis over this cody shyt overnight

I just want my wrestling to make sense, and this shyt makes no sense