You do bring up an excellent point though in how this would’ve worked if Bronson was healthy.Originally Posted by mth
I like to think they may have had them on separate shows save for the staredown at the crossovers.
I would give Jacob the slight edge on lineage and mic skills but only slight.
Ultimately though I think they were priming Jacob for this regardless.
Jacob being forced to give up his tag title by Solo, sensing Batista vibes.
I was doing the go home math and I don't see much happening tonight on SD. Still should be a decent show.
My gosh angel Garza is so dreamy
Jey is so over it’s unbelievable, watching the entire audience vibe along with him is something special.
He’s gotta take the belt at Mania…
I'm fully on board the YEET train.
Yeah they just need to do it. Gunther, main event, title win. He likely isn't going to be the franchise player, but he's the hot hand and you have to play it.
Presuming the Tiffy turn happens next week. Works underneath against Nia, clean win, Charlotte attacks after. Not sure if the angle has the legs given how long 'Mania is, so maybe you write her off for a month with Charlotte trying to claim a forfeit to build heat.
Solo back makes me think they're going Jacob and Solo at 'Mania when Solo fails the family again against Cody. I loveD you Solo!
More of a struggle this episode. The tag and US divisions aren't connecting, so felt a bit Velocity in large parts. Pretty much every match has to get 2-3 segments with a 3 hour run time, so you can skip 10 minutes on most segments unless you absolutely have to watch LA Knight and The Miz chain wrestle.
Positive was the Solo and Jacob developments. Should be Solo gaslighting Fatu until the turn. They've got NINE fucking weeks til 'Mania, no rush. Bron and Jacob should be getting pencilled in for hugely dominant 'Mania showcases, and Jacob vs. Solo is a strong choice on that end.
Negative, Charlotte Flair. All feels a bit Batista in 2014, where nobody's really arsed anymore despite the extended absence. If it's a vehicle to get Tiffany over it will work though, because if this is what she gives the next 9 weeks she'll be getting John Cena 2005 heat.
Charlotte needs to be full heel. I thought she would attack Tiffy but maybe they are holding it back.
I know the wrestlers are older now but the Motor City Machine Guns look like a pair of divorced dads on a night out.
I was a bit surprised that Jacob didn't win the chamber match. I'm not sure that Priest is quite at the level of the other guys in that match.
I think they've positioned Damien at that level over the last year, with the Wrestlemania cash in and how protected he's been in defeat. Has been given a few stand out spots too - first SNME, main evented one of the first Netflix Raw's, obviously the MITB win. He's definitely not winning but they clearly want him in the mix ahead of a big year. At the minute he looks to be the man that gets the 'spare' main eventer in Drew at 'Mania. He's 2008 Umaga.
I'm fine with Fatu and Sikoa building away from the Chamber. There's a lot going on in that thing. Saves giving up a fall too. Maybe do Cody and the Uso's against The Bloodline at the PLE with the full breakup happening there. Tama there to take the full. Big scene wrecking brawl between Solo and Jacob after.
Seems a bit of a downer for Drew that. He should really be facing either Cody or Cena at WM. He is the top heel in the company now. He should certainly get a title run post Mania, the guy has just been killing it.
Drew will get it at some point but he’s content just trolling the audience at this point. Nothing to worry about right now really.
The Saturday main event likely, Jey and the Yeet Nation get their massive WrestleMania moment. I don’t foresee a long run with the big belt, maybe holds it until SummerSlam, seeing as the main event is so fucking stacked.
On Sunday, Cody drops it to whomever emerges from Elimination Chamber. My money is on John Cena, who wins #17 at his last Mania…
The Rock has been announced for tonight, as The Final Boss. Be interesting to see if this is another shake up like his involvement last year, or whether it's more of the crap he did at the Netflix show.
Definitely curious, as his participation affects pretty much the entirety of the card.
Social media suggests that the last (?) Fast movie starts production shortly, which most likely hinders Dwayne’s involvement at Mania.
Not a big fan of Dwayne, wish he'd stay away. Hopefully he doesn't wrestle at Mania.
I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up and that's going to be Cody's opponent for Mania.
I don't really want to see that.
Here's the thing about The Rock showing up tonight. If it's a nothingburger then it just basically pisses off half the audience imo. There's so much negativity surrounding the build to Mania, even going back to the debut on Netflix where people thought The Rock was killing everything they had been building. Despite him going on NXT the following night saying The Final Boss is always 21 steps ahead....What's tonight? Feb 21st. The impatient wrestling community (IWC 2.0) will hopefully be at ease after tonight.
I feel like if he's showing up, it's to set in motion what's going to happen in exactly 2 months at WM 41. I don't know how he would be able to challenge Cody after it's been made crystal clear the winner of the EC goes on to face Cody for the title. We can't be having this bullshit become a trend where something is set in stone and then someone fucks it up yada yada. The Rock v. Roman Reigns has to be the plan, right? Roman's not in the Chamber and he's not going to show up and cost Seth the match that's petty shit that Roman doesn't do and he's not going to start now especially as a babyface. The way him and Rock were looking at each other the last time they were in the ring together.....The Final Boss is dropping someone with the Rock Bottom tonight setting the stage for what's to come.
But would Cody agree?
In any world, Cody is starting a new feud post Elimination Chamber. And people are complaining about Cody being stale. Have the Final Boss cheat, get himself in the EC, and then face Cody? The IWC goes nuclear. You buy a few more Cody face months, and then turn him after Mania to have a big draw over the Summer.
Sounds like he is going to announce Mania is coming to New Orleans. But yeah he could be setting up some kind of match for Mania. No idea what since Cody is supposed to face the winner from the chamber match. He is right at the time frame that he says he needs to train for a match.
This is pretty much what I said to my wife.
He's gonna kick Cena out of the elim chamber and take the spot himself
I don't actually think that, but I expect he will fuck with someone otherwise he will be useless.
Triple H is hyping up "anything can change omg!"
I think it's a nothing appearance like Netflix. 'Mania direction looks set. 2k hype and announcing 42 for NOLA, maybe teases a future angle by working a promo with Drew, Jacob or Solo.
Lol. I think its still Cena. But part of me thinks there's been less build-up, and maybe you do Cena vs. Cody as Cena's last match.This is pretty much what I said to my wife.
He's gonna kick Cena out of the elim chamber and take the spot himself
Louisiana Knight is now his new name.
Dwayne, man…what the fuck was that.
Maybe if Cody plays the greatest song in the world, his soul might be saved?
It will be interesting to see if this leads to “Corporate Cody” though. Him retaining thanks to Rock or resisting leading to a battle down the road will be interesting. It’ll be a slow burn though no doubt.
What the fuck was that? Is Dwayne doing some new avant-garde heat seeking by making everything he does non-sensical and shit? Only thing that I can think of. Pretty bad episode honestly. A victim of this now ludicrously long 'Road to Wrestlemania'. Hopefully they correct course post-Chamber.
Just watched that Rock segment and man… that’s gotta be the worst Rock segment ever or close to it. He went on and on and on like the horizon and looped back saying the same things over and over. Overall, it was like uhhhh… ok?
Came on here expecting to be the only one that thought that Rock segment was fairly stinky. Dude did more face/heel turns in one segment than Big Show did in his whole career and of course, in classic Dwayne fashion, it was three times longer than it needed to be. On the plus side, I will admit the premise is somewhat intriguing and was a welcome alternative to him setting up a match for himself at Mania which I have no desire to see.
Also, I'm far from a Charlotte hater but good gawd was she bad in the booth.
The rest of the show was fine.
the Rock should have kissed Cody on the lips and then Cody could kiss him back if he wanted to
I only saw a 3 minute highlight video on YouTube and caught the soul line at the end. The whole segment sounds like Rock might’ve been high lol.
Dwayne the Cuck Johnson
See, now that would've been some good television.
Though all being said, Cody supposedly refusing Rock and screwing Cena and/or Punk at Mania or Rock secretly backing one of the others would be fantastic.
Probably shouldn’t judge it too much on this promo as Hunter likes the loooong game.
It sorta reminds me a bit when Dibiase in 94 looked like backing Luger when it was Tatanka all along. Wouldn’t put it past me if threatening to eat Cody’s soul was the red herring.
Last edited by Badger; February 22nd, 2025 at 4:10 PM.
Did we ever find out what Rock gave Cody on the post-Mania Raw last year when he said Cody broke his heart?
Don't think so.
The Rock segment was painful. I’m not convinced there is a long game here. After Wrestlemania, Rock had a weird interaction with Cody which hinted he was still the endgame for him but the bloody beatdown before Mania was now an afterthought. Then he shows up at Bad Blood and does the throat slash. The Netflix debut is a complete pivot away from that - he hugs Cody and shows respect for Reigns, which was a bizarre way of throwing away those potential feuds. Then he goes to NXT and addresses the criticism in another rant.
This week’s appearance on Smackdown was largely incoherent apart from the evil boss schtick that emerged at the end. Rock’s real life standing in the company could make that interesting, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that is forgotten at some point. Every time he shows up, what he said or did the last time is upended. I’m not sure how much control Triple H has over Rock’s promos or whether he sees a problem with any of this.
Triple H gets lots of praise for his booking whereas I think he’s quickly becoming a bit of a one trick pony with the Bloodline and many other talents are underutilised. But we were nearly at a point where Cody’s Rumble win was going to be tossed away in favour of Rock vs Reigns. The worst aspect of that was Cody being presented as happy to stand aside. They badly misjudged what the fans wanted. The chaos at the end of Cody vs Reigns might have been really cool but it was the definition of pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. That whole Mania run was not good booking, but an emergency pivot after the backlash towards a silly decision.
All this rubbish continues to hang over Cody. He looked like a total mug being pals with Rock on the Netflix debut and he looked lost while Rock droned on this week. Though to be fair, it’s hard to react to something when you have no idea what’s going to come out of someone’s mouth. Rock was one of the best ever behind the mic but nowadays he needs a script and a time limit.
More worrying was Rock’s press conference where he inferred that there won’t necessarily be a match between him and Cody at the end of this. To me that’s a complete waste of Cody’s time and ours. Either have the match or move on entirely and let this be the latest addition to Wrestlecrap in years to come. Rock doing a Mr McMahon character might work if he was available for a three month stretch. But these sporadic and nonsensical promos are so tiresome now.
Punk, Drew, KO, and others must be livid at the possibility that they might lose out on a big Mania spot, or have to put up with Rock’s blethering antics as he tempts Cody to the dark side before inexplicably turning face again a few weeks later.
The worst part about the Dwayne stuff is definitely how flippant he is with the work/shoot stuff. If you're doing an angle, do the angle. Commit to it. Stop wanking yourself off to the media about booking the angle because it kills the angle. We don't want kayfabe, but we don't want wrestlers openly talking about storylines DURING the storyline. Particularly with authority angles. They were shit and played out a decade ago anyway, but they're unwatchable when the tension is completely phony.
I hate how kayfabe has not only died but been murdered, especially on the latest Smackdown with the LFG adverts during the show.
I am fine with pulling back the curtain - but you don't have adverts during Breaking Bad for how the series was shot.
First, welcome to the Forum. I hope you stick around, as I liked this post.
Kayfabe died 35 years ago, when Vince testified to the NJ legislature to remove WWF from the entities subject to the State Athletic Commission fees/oversight.
The issue is, as fans, we don't want it to be fully dead. We want to suspend disbelief, as we enjoy the show/storylines. Every once in a while, WWE goes out of their way to remind us that what we are watching is predetermined. But WWE often does listen to its audience. Last year, Cody's "Finish the Story was not their original Wrestlemania plan, and the fact that they were able to change it, helped make it one of the best moments in decades. We can go back to KofiMania, or Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania, for other examples.
A good chunk of fans are interested in looking behind the curtain. I hope this turns out better than Tough Enough.
Thanks, I was actually here back in the early 2000s... can't even remember what my account name would have been but I've probably been visiting this forum off and on for 20+ years - since the Rajahwwf.com days!
I mean TBF they do have a bunch of shows where the last 4-5 minutes are "behind the scenes" The Penguin, The Walking Dead, they all did this. I always tell people the story of my mom telling back in the 80's "I liked wrestling when it was real like Rufus R Jones" and I'm like....that shit looked more fake than the Young Bucks doing a 720 into 40 people standing around waiting to catch them.
With that said....I wish they could at least TRY to make it believable. The most egregious I think was seeing Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman embracing while they were in a blood feud. But it is what it is. The Curtain Call was May 1996, heels and babyfaces embracing. I think it's better to just accept we weren't as dumb as our grandparents thinking this shit was real.
The watch.
I wanted to comment on the Rock's terrible promo. He knew he's so popular with the crowd, and that they would cheer along with the "Finally..." bit. And there's no way they'd boo him saying the NOLA is getting another Mania. But then where was he going?
If there EVER was a reason for Cody to use his catchphrase, it was on SmackDown! when the Rock wanted him out there. Cody should have said "So....Whaddya wanna talk about?"
Rock rambled and repeated himself multiple times, as if he was trying to remember why he was out there. The whole segment made Cody look like a jabroni, instead of the champion he is supposed to be.
Trying to figure out where this is going, I now get the stronger sense that Cena is winning at Elimination Chamber, and that Cody will accept Rocky's offer, to become a hated heel. Cody needs something to re-invigorate his character as he's becoming stale as babyface, as nobody measures up as an opponent since Roman was so strong as a heel. Should we expect "You Sold Out!" chants and cheers for Cena to win his 17th.
Truth renaming his partner Louisiana Knight, with the Po Boy and bead necklace, quite firmly brought LA Knight back to the midcard. I really hope we will get the Miz, Melo, and Nakamura calling him Louisiana Knight as well. I am happy that Melo has gotten a couple of wins lately, and I'd rather see him on TV than not.
I have to think that the Rock's long appearance was the reason that the Liv match with Naomi was cut, and became a pre-match attack.
Nia's A-NIA-later on the stack of Trish and Tiffy looked awful, as Nia too clearly was holding herself back to not hurt both ladies. Charlotte HAS to be putting Tiffy over at Mania.
I did not expect Big Jim Uso to defeat the Scottish Warrior. I'd wager that Drew gets his win back next week.
I am glad to see Alexa Bliss back, and getting a vignette.
Chelsea Green deserves an Emmy for being so damn entertaining, even in such a short backstage segment. First, she tells Nick Aldis to have no fear, Piper and Green are here, and will happily take the Elim Chamber spots to be vacated by Naomi and Bianca. When Nick says no, Bianca and Naomi will be in their spots at the Elim Chamber, Chelsea says "Nooo, I have an outfit!" Then "This is a travesty, to not have the greatest Canadian export since maple syrup, on a Canadian show? Nicholas, do you know who I am? I am the longest reigning, first ever, tallest, shortest, beautiful richest tannest sparkliest oldest youngest United States Women's Champion!" And Piper asking "What's all this aboot, eh?" made me chuckle.
Pretty Deadly worked as faces against DIY, and were getting the crowd behind them as tehy actually got in some offense. I would have been fine with just the Street Profits interruption, but they had to throw in MCMG to get tossed around as well. Street Profits were far more entertaining as faces, but lets' see if this rebuild works. I hope they both stay healthy.
I hope KO's segment at Sami's house doesn't lead to fans being creepy as well.
Good main event. The crowd was on fire for Fatu, even as a heel. All gas. No brakes.
That was definitely a weird segment with The Rock/Cody. But has anything but normal with the Final Boss? Go back over a year ago. It's been very interesting and Chamber will be even more interesting now that we know there's something going down with Cody and The Rock. Who knows who else might show up.....OTC?
The crazy part is that it's been said to death, the winner of the Chamber v. Cody Rhodes at Mania 41. They can't finesse that shit like they did Bayley/Iyo when they said "the winner of the Rumble will go on to main event WrestleMania!" and they didn't. So I'm wondering.....There was a weird rumor that Cody was going to defend his title in a triple threat, and one of those ideas was Cody/Roman/Rock. Roman's not in the Chamber. But what if The Rock pulls some strings and gets Roman in there? Or himself? We've seen a 7-man Chamber before and this is the type of crazy booking I could see from the WWE.
IDK maybe I'm one of the few who like not knowing or being able to make an educated guess.
Andrade vs, Jacob Fatu absolutely slapped. The lil US Title tourny thing was a fun way to fill a show.
Cody/Rock segment was horrendous. This storyline sucks.
Oh man this place is really dead these days isn't it - I guess everyone is over on Reddit? Sucks..
Me, eagerly anticipating Corporate Cody. Would definitely extend his shelf life as champion…
Interesting that Naomi seemingly turns heel then immediately gets destroyed again. She's going to have to do something if she wants to be seen as a threat against Jade.
Cody is the man. So good when he's locked in. The New John Cena is going to rule and that's a killer main event for 'Mania.
The Naomi/Bianca confrontation was excellent. Great performance from both of them. The emotion felt real. Jade was a badass again though the beatdown was a little lackluster considering. Interesting angle, seems like Naomi's gonna need some backup or something (Meta Girls?).
Cody's promo was really, really good. Gawd, him and Cena going at it together on the mic is gonna be something special.
Chelsea's Cactus Jack gear was dope. The match was ok. Happy to see Alba's got a new role. Stillfor Isla, though...
Nakamura's title reign was shit, sadly, but I'm not mad that Knight got it back, either.
Everything else was pretty decent.
Orton with his Rock Bottom line was pretty savage as well. Cena winning at Mania and Orton getting a shot, maybe towards the end of Cena’s retirement would be TV and promo gold most likely.
I do wish Bianca turned heel at the end saying it was her idea, though that may still come. She’s so played out as a face and nothing grabs me about Bianca vs Iyo storyline-wise (though they can obviously go). So there’s likely more twists to come.
I also wish Isla was in with Alba so Chelsea could have a wee “cabinet” going as well. I loved the Chelsea Jack outfit though!
US title division is spinning its wheels. I think Shinsuke might have only gotten the title in the first place for exposure for NAOH I think?
I hadn't picked up on it but read about it where Kross has been duplicating the hairstyle of certain opponents - Zayn, Rollins (I think) and just recently AJ, and during that segment I thought they look so alike I never noticed, they should be as a tag team.
Likewise with the hair, I've never really noticed their attire before, but like the way Woods was wearing dark gear seemed to tease a heel turn, both Bianca and Naomi had black gear on so that was a nice throwoff of what to expect. If there's more to it like bringing in someone for Naomi that would be best if intending to build her up, otherwise just pairing her in a feud against Jade doesn't appeal to me. I feel like we're going to have Naomi and Bianca, Bianca gets caught in the middle and "accidentally" wipes out Jade at some point.
Yeah I just noticed it yesterday as well. Good old mirroring technique.
I’d love to see him try Bianca lol. Shame Cena’s already turned or he coulda done a bald spot for kicks.
I could still see Bianca turning eventually when she decides/realizes that Naomi was right all along...
Great segment with Bianca and Naomi but there's a part of me that still thinks Bianca was behind this and it's all a big ruse. I'm just hoping that this leads to Jade v. Naomi at Mania.
So we're supposed to believe that with months of an investigation as to the identity of the attacker, neither Nick Aldis nor Bianca Belair bothered to call / text Jade even once, and Jade never took a moment to contact them either.
I would LOVE for someone like Chelsea to slip in a question like this to Aldis in the midst of one of her tirades, then add - but enough about Jade, what is important is ME.
Congrats to Louisiana Knight. I can't recall a face having such significant a drop after losing a title since probably Damien Priest. Some characters need a title to be seen as relevant, others are better during the chase.
Nick Aldis was too busy with his tag team board. He's only one man. Give him a little leeway.
And again here are with you expecting every little detail to be revealed and explained within a few days. JFC man let this shit breathe. You're like 50-60 years old, you grew up watching feuds that lasted 2-3 fuckin years how are you this impatient?
You don't think it's fair for us to criticize storylines where they are asking too much for us to suspend disbelief.
I say over and over that WWE does a lot of stuff right, and I am happy to be taken along on the ride for many of their storylines.
You make it seem like all I do is complain about everything. I wasn't super negative about Chad Gable being shown left nearly dead/unconscious as part of the Wyatt Sicks debut because that was a story still happening and they played it out over several weeks.
But they've had a couple months with Jade to be on the shelf. It seems REALLY STUPID to suggest that in all those months, her tag team champ partner Bianca never would have talked with her, especially when they spent so much time reminding us of the "investigation" into the attack. When storytelling has bad logic holes, don't be afraid to suggest that they can / should do better.
Give it some time so they can fill these supposed holes. Again, you expect it all to be laid in full detail by now but maybe they're getting to it. We haven't even seen Jade and Bianca speak to each other face to face about this whole situation.
Not hard to explain: Jade just went dark while she was out.
x
Because these three ladies are all over, this story has my interest. Again, I don't expect it all to be laid out in full detail, but don't be idiotic and deny these storyline holes exist - when it was the WWE who created them by spending so much TV time mentioning the "investigation". Calling them "supposed holes" is just that. Saying "maybe they're getting to it" omits the real and much more likely probability that they won't address it.
This is a storyline that they've been working on for months, and so far its disappointing, at least to me.
It's easier to overlook plot holes when it is clearer that they've cared about what the storyline has meant to various characters. For now at least:
Jade - looks like a fool/idiot. She was laid out on a car windshield, and sat out for several months. While the rest of us watched WWE programming, including substantial time spent on an investigation as to the attacker's identity, she knew but apparently chose to stay silent at home. She returns at the Elimination Chamber only to attack Naomi, then leaves the building before her supposed bEST friend and former tag partner enters the match.
Bianca - looks like a fool. Her character is supposed to be the EST of WWE, but she's only proven that she is not the smartEST. During the attack, she left her match to help and got counted out. We are supposed to believe that she had no contact with her best friend
Naomi - potentially comes out of this looking better than she did going in to the story. Before this story, even though she was a former funkadactyl and women's champ, she had the "Feel the Glow" entrance and her ring work was well above average. But she was mostly going to be remembered for walking out of the company, as a tag champ, with Sasha Banks, and getting fired for it. Her eventual return was welcoming, but like most of the women's roster, she needed a solid story / fued. She's doing her best to make chicken salad instead of chicken shit.
Nick Aldis - all GM's look like idiots, but this prolonged story certainly has done him no favors.
Liv Morgan - Liv was only tangentially involved, but she has shined, as she has for the last year. She deserves the screen time she has gotten, and the tag champs with Racquel
It's not any more a plot hole than it is a common trope of serialized TV wrestling storylines. Right up there with refs that don't see/hear outside interference, the backstage camera that shows everything and faces backstage that don't come out to help when faces are getting dogpiled in the ring.
This Jade/Naomi/Bianca storyline is playing out about the same as many previous 'taken out by an attacker backstage' storylines. The only time it's worth going for the reveal and the pay-off is when the attacked party finally comes back from the absence. Bianca coming out that following week months ago and saying "I talked to my girl Jade on Wednesday after she got released form the local medical center... and she said it was YOU who attacked her!" doesn't have the same zing to it.
3pup is the type of person who stands outside a movie theater asking if the killer was revealed in the first act.
Yeah Jade/Bianca/Naomi can cook so I’m fine waiting. I will say that Aldis as a GM is looking a bit weaker these days referring to higher ups in comparison to his promo on Reigns a bit back saying he was a sharp knife and the buck stops with him.
Got my ticket for Raw in Glasgow, although pretty high up I might have trouble seeing Cena but might post a review anyway and may or may not wear my Cena shirt.
I don't think this is necessary, or even fair. Did I call you an ostrich sticking your head in the sand as you seem to want to pretend there's nothing going on around you? Your insistence there's nothing wrong with how the WWE has presented what we've seen thus far?
Just because the WWE created a storyline, where they spent lots of time talking about an investigation into the attacker's identity, and in the process has shown nothing resembling even a basic investigation, makes perfect sense to you.
Speaking of wrestlers not running out to help someone...I wondered why no one came out to help Cody after Cena and Travis Scott attacked him at the PLE, but then I thought, maybe they thought the Rock would fire them?
Pretty much how I took it. It's one thing if it was just Cena out here whipping Cody's ass with American Made and out comes Jey Uso, Pentagon and Otis. It's a whole different approach if The Rock is out there. When you think about it, up until that point who did The Rock have any beef with? Rollins and Cody were it. He was/is still cool with Roman, Usos, etc. That's what makes this whole thing even more interesting.
I'm not an Attitude Era mark fan but I don't think there has been a time in the WWE since where you had so many different people involved in angles that have branched off a storyline that's been going on forever it seems. Just like how the AE basically starts with Bret Hart returning after Mania 12 and by 2000 you have half the roster entangled with each other with the Corporation, Ministry, Stone Cold, DX, so many characters and angles thrived off what Bret, Shawn, Montreal, Vince, and Austin pretty much set in motion like I said starting back in 1996.
They didn't even plan this shit that's the craziest part about wrestling.
-European fans always understand the assignment. Respect.
-Loved Liv calling out Jade’s bullshit. As an OG Morgan truther, seeing her career absolutely take off makes me very happy.
-Can we get Charlotte to 17 ASAP so she hangs up the boots, please
-Did I miss the reason why the heat between Tiffany/Charlotte was suddenly turned up to 11/10? That escalated quickly…
-Congrats to the Profits. Hopefully the precursor to an eventual amicable split and successful singles runs for the both of them.
Happy for the Profits. Much deserved. Rest of the show was pretty solid. Crowd was hot AF. Seems like there's a pull apart brawl every week on one of WWE's shows. They're getting a little overused but the crowd seems to love them so what do I know. But it feels like there's a lot of similar build for feuds right now with pull apart brawls and outside the ring brawls ending with a big spot off the set or whatever. It's not bad, it's just a bit samey.
ALSO! Vignettes for Fenix and Black!
Last edited by mth; March 15th, 2025 at 10:43 AM.
TNA ran a 23 vignette that was the arrival date of the person it represented. April 4th is a Friday, which might be the reveal date for that one as well. If it was an A, a little more of a reveal but expecting the former. So 3 weeks to go.
Having Heyman come out just to plug the next WWE game with merely a sprinkling of the triple thread feud is a total waste of his talents. One of my biggest bugbears in the HHH era is everything is over-commercialised and the celebrity plugs. Like that Schulz guy for example, had to look him up and apparently nearly as much of a POS that Logan is. But yeah just stop with the plugging and twenty gagillion replays of Cena’s heel turn. We get the point!!!
Happy for the Profits though and Tiff/Charlotte getting some much needed heat. I kinda get where mth is coming from with pull-apart brawls seeming repetitive but they get reactions so that’s why they do them. Reckon Charlotte is gonna go mental on Tiff’s knee with a chair/steps soon.
Last edited by Badger; March 15th, 2025 at 3:35 PM.
I fully agree with your first two points - the Barcelona crowd was HOT, and Liv was absolutely right to call out Jade's bullshit.
But I don't want Charlotte to hang up the boots at all. She's freakin' amazing both in the ring and on the mic. Just working with her means something, because she has the rare ability to get the most out of her opponents, whether she ends up on top or not. This build to mania was not going well before this, because Charlotte was just attacking Stratton post match. They finally decided it's Tiffy Time, and the pull-apart was very effective in adding some much needed heat here. Given Charlotte's history/ability, I figured this would be a very good match, but now they've given the WWE universe another reason to care - because both the challenger and the champ care. The match is always better when the build/story is done right. I am so glad they made this compelling
Orton/KO promo segment was fine but by the book. Tag match after that was forgettable. Tiffany/Charlotte interview segment was awful. Fatu/Strowman was good while it lasted. Piper/Zelina was good. Jade/Liv was very good. Didn't mind the finish on that one as it was good for the story. Nalomi's gear was sick. Profits/Garza was a banger. Main event promo segment was pretty good but shock of shocks, yet another pull apart brawl. Jeezus gawd.
Yes, the Charlotte/Tiffy segment was awful. Not a good thing when the babyface is having to repeat herself.
And yes, Charlotte in the ring, one of the best they've ever had, but everything else about her makes me want to change the channel.
Will probably stop watching Smackdown so religiously when they're back in the States. 3 hours does feel like such a long slog of a show.
Crowd still hot, but not as rowdy as the other shows so far on the tour. Expect that to continue tonight and Friday, with being a bit less.
Naomi's promo was the best thing on SD this week. Damn, girl.
Naomi deserves this, she has been very patient and deserves a bit of the spotlight.
Fellow Americans, we need to up our games to compete with European crowds. They are straight killing us on synchronization and musical ability. And that's across all sports.
Seth/Roman/Punk/Heyman stuff was alright, if not stretched out a bit too much considering I think everyone saw the favor coming a mile away. Not really sure how Heyman changing corners changes much as he barely actually gets involved but I guess it's more of a psychological advantage.
I like both but goddamn, another horrible talking segment with Tiffany/Charlotte. Started off ok and then just derailed but I read they went off script so yeah, maybe don't let them do that.
Fenix's debut was awesome. Never seen his work but he impressed. Frazer got some nice spotlight, a well. Really like how Fenix's entrance mirrored his brother's.
Naomi/Jade progression was good. Their outfits were both fire. Nice to see B-Fab getting used regularly, too.
DIY/MCMG was good.
Kevin Owens' segment was a real weird one. You have this guy feuding with Zayn/Orton all about ending each others' careers with injuries and Owens playing a coward...and then he announces this and I think me and everyone in the damn arena assumed he was bullshitting in an attempt to get out of the match with Randy so no one reacted or believed a word he was saying (he was surprisingly unemotional in his delivery, as well) and then Orton comes out and we all think "ok, here's where he attacks Randy and reveals he was bluffing" and then...nope, all legit, apparently.
Hunter never likes to pull the trigger right away, likes to toe the line between work/shoot and with Orton RKOing Aldis afterwards (he did prepay that fine after all lol) this late in the game, there’s possibly something afoot. Definitely not the way they present these things as apparently he’s been dealing with this for like a month and yet they’ve been promoting it heavily til now.
As for Heyman, could see him possibly siding with Seth or they pull a swerve and have him call in Bron and wreck everyone. They apparently work together behind the scenes hinting at things the year before so would be loooong term.
Last edited by Badger; April 5th, 2025 at 5:08 PM.
KO is either swerving everyone or the WWE were waiting until the last minute to see if he would be able to wrestle. We're 2 weeks away. If he's been fucked up since January A-why did he do the ladder match with Cody and why did he do the Non Sanctioned match with Zayn. I mean where the hell is Sami Zayn? Was he also hurt?
Right now if this is legit you have to slide someone in to face Orton. I'm kind of shocked Solo Sikoa doesn't have a match as hard as he was pushed in 2024 up until losing to Roman he's kind of taken a step or two back. Karrion Kross has the most interesting character in the WWE (imo) and they've done jack shit with him but he would be an interesting choice. Aleister Black and Rusev are supposedly coming back. Andrade, Carmello Hayes, Santos Escobar....I mean there's a laundry list of talent that could simply attack Orton next week saying they want a match with the Legend Killer.
As a mark for Black, I'd gladly kill a man with my bare hands to see him come in as Aldis' punishment for Orton RKOing him, laying him out with a Black Mass next week, and then having a nice strong Mania match with Black going over and immediately getting established as a deadly threat (like he was in AEW for about five minutes at the start).
Though Karrion would have to shave his head bald before trying to talk to Orton to match his style lol.
He is an interesting character playing Sean O’Haire 2.0 Devils Advocate but they axed the stable just when they were getting momentum beating the Wyatts who’ve also been MIA. Zayn was a possibility there but fuck knows what’s going on there.
Honestly I think HHH puts the whole hog into main storylines but struggles in the midcard. It doesn’t seem that much different from Vince at this point. Given more women have got spotlight but the midcard division has barely scraped the spotlight.
Hate to cliche at this point but the more things change, the more they stay the same.
You’re taking the absolute piss, right?
Because the crazy old man was totally about long term storytelling…dude was notorious for ripping up scripts as shows were literally about to go on air…
Maybe that wasn’t entirely fair as they do take different approaches which has worked in some areas better than Vince did but not in others. The US title for instance since Knight won it the first time, it’s cooled off and been largely disappointing reigns like in the Vince era. Hopefully though, Jacob wins and gives it a breath of fresh air. Bron’s had good matches as IC champ but it’s mostly been the same few people he’s defended against. Maybe Penta winning could help in that regard if they’re not giving it to Sheamus yet.
They've cut it too close to Mania for any story with Randy facing anyone else to feel anything but rushed. So, in WWE wisdom, does that mean Randy will win the ARMBAR? I had Sheamus pegged for that, with Sami as a dark horse.
I'd like to see something more intriguing for Randy. Since Smackdown is a 3 hour show, they have plenty of time in multiple segments to show Randy attacked by someone not just credible, but arguably at his level. This person could immediately explain his actions - which we'd all believe - and it would set up a 1-1 match with Randy at Mania that we'd like to see.
But they probably aren't going to
If KO is legit about his injury and not going to be around for upwards of a year, he will be missed. The simple fact that we are even wondering about the potential swerve speaks volumes about KO's creativity / ability.
It will be painfully obvious that they're just sliding someone in KO's spot but you never know how that might wind up moving forward. If they slide in Kross for example, and he actually wins, that could set up the next ppv or several between him and Orton and really cement Kross as a upper card player. I would love for someone to ask Triple H what-if any-are the plans for all these stuff with Kross to finally pay off? He set up something with Sami Zayn, AJ Styles, fuck it why not add Orton to it.
I think it would be as simple as Randy Orton coming out on Smackdown saying "Well, now I don't have a match but I'm ready to fight, who wants some?" and just have someone who's in need of a big boost come out.
With Kross coming out looking identical to his opponent's hairstyle in recent months it'll be hard for him to go from Orton to someone like Zayn in a month.
That’s a minor problem, if at all.
Like you said, it’s as easy as someone not currently on the card being tempted to make their bones by putting down The Legend Killer in a singles match at Mania. In fact, I’d be really disappointed if there wasn’t already a lineup of superstars banging down Paul’s door. I wouldn’t even blink an eye.
If, as I think he would, Randy puts over wrestler X, they immediately get thrust into the conversation for one of the two big belts.
Exactly. It's Randy Orton. The name value alone sells the match. If you're not ready to have a good match with Randy Orton at WM what the fuck are you even doing in the WWE? They could have The Wyatt 6 pop up this Friday and destroy him to get revenge for Orton being 2-0 against Bray at Mania.
The worst thing they could do is sit back and go "Ok let's just let the fans build up anger toward the situation and the payoff will be the next ppv" There's also still a part of me that thinks this is all bullshit because KO can't be trusted. He's proven several times that he's ready to be what is tattooed on his arm, EVIL. I'm extremely interested in the direction they are going with this. Do I want to see Nick Aldis v. Randy Orton? Only if that means Nick Aldis is getting a real push but honestly as much as I'm sure him and Pearce miss being NWA World champ, they probably don't miss the concussions and injuries.
There are 20 guys who could step in right now and it would be intriguing solely based on the "what's next" factor. They will probably do what they did with Seth/Cody and wait until the night of to reveal who it is. Give someone a superstar entrance just crazy all out blank check budget lol.
As a long-time Braun Strowman mark, really want to see him step up against Orton and get back into the main event scene.
He’s getting the Big Show treatment when he should be getting a monster (pun intended) push…
Are you me?
Did we just become best friends?
Yep!
Another week, another impressive showing for Rey Fenix. Made a fan outta me real quick. Berto looked stellar here, too.
Great promos from Jade/Naomi. Love Namoi's new caution tape/razor blade motif. This match and Jey/Gunther are my personal two matches I'm most looking forward to at Mania.
Tiffany/Roxy was good and some interesting handling of the stuff from last week.
Strong promo from Cody.
Tag gauntlet was quite good.
Main event stuff was fine enough. If it's Orton/Solo for Mania, which seems most likely given the way things ended, I'm not interested at all/ If it's Orton/Aldis, I'm more intrigued/ If it's Orton/someone else...
Orton/Solo would be so zzzzzzzz. Sheamus said he’d be open, would’ve been more up for that.
Let Fenix and Orton go apeshit for 10-15 minutes, I'm sure they could come up with some flippy way to do the RKO that they can replay in packages for years to come.
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