Probably time for this thread to go up.
Here’s my idea of the match split so far:
Night One:
Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins v CM Punk *Main Event*
Jey Uso v Gunther (c)
Bianca Belair v Iyo Sky (c)
Jade Cargill v Naomi
???/??? v Liv Morgan/Raquel Rodriguez (c)
Night Two:
John Cena v Cody Rhodes (c) *Main Event*
Charlotte Flair v Tiffany Stratton (c)
Jacob Fatu v LA Knight (c)
AJ Styles v Logan Paul
Last edited by Tyson; April 5th, 2025 at 4:57 AM.
Part of me is thinking that Jey v. GUNTHER will kick off night one, and they will move Roman v Seth v Punk to the main event, especially if they make it a #1 contender for Jey's title. It hasn't been all that compelling a feud for a couple weeks now, but Jey is still massively over.
But I also thought Bianca v Sky was going to be a triple threat match including Rhea, and it has a chance of main eventing. With a month to go for the build, this can certainly heat up quite a bit more.
Drew v. Priest may kick off night two, but they probably go with the tag multi-team match, for the Street Profits titles.
Not sure where they put Logan Paul v. AJ Styles, or what they do with LA Knight's US title match. Maybe they will do a ladder match also involving both Fatu and Solo, Shinsuke and Braun.
Bron Breakker's IC title defense is still in question as well. For a while I thought it was Sheamus' chance, but Penta is quickly making an impression
Aye, Punk is getting his 'main event' on night one.
I wouldn't be negative to see Skye/Belair/Ripley main event night one. It's obvious Cena/Cody are headlining night two. Jey/Gunther would be a good opener of either night. I don't want to see that match in the middle of the card. It has to set the tone, get everyone hyped up especially if Jey wins.
Punk/Reigns/Rollins main eventing night one is also a good choice.
Gonna be the first Mania I willingly skip.
It's starting to feel like those last few 1 night 'Mania's with the thrown together multi-mans. At least it won't go on 8 hours in a sitting I guess, and the main event should rule. Build has been VERY uninspiring outside of the PLE's.
They waited too long to pull the trigger on certain things. I have no issue on letting things play out but take Cena/Cody for example. We didn't really go anywhere with the segment today. Feels like today was some rough draft of what they were going to do last week. Roman/Seth/Punk not having much Roman in the mix. Punk cut a nice promo on Raw but it meant what? Just to hold people over.
We have to remember the guy booking the show is a fan of Harley Race and Ric Flair. He's the guy who ushered in the boring 20 minute monologues, he always had to have the longest match at Mania, so again I get it. Let's see how it plays out but ffs you're charing NBA championship prices and you're barely up to 5 matches for Mania in a month. For 2 nights.
I feel less hype for a variety of reasons for this year. One, I am not going to it. Two, Cena/Cody seems like a given Cody is going to win especially after tonight. Third, Gunther/Jey feels like a US Title match and Last, I feel like almost two months between Chamber to Mania is way too long for some of these feuds. We have been had the same segments for both Raw's main titles two weeks in a row. I am sure when we get to Mania it will be great, but there is no do or die feuds like the Bloodline has been for the last two years. This time its more like here is a possible dream match that by SummerSlam, you are going to be sick of.
Yep as people have said Punk/Rollins/Reigns main event night one, Cody and Cena night two
Yeah I’d guess Jey/Gunther opens night one and Rollins/Punk/Reigns main events that night. Cena/Cody main events night two, Tiff/Charlotte or the Raw women’s triple
I get what lot is saying about Jey/Gunther but that's the downside of having 2 "world" champions on the roster. One is always going to take a backseat to the other. I can't even think of a time where both titles were ever on the same level no matter what they called it.
I think we're going to see both men's World titles change hands. I was hoping WWE would wait until maybe Summerslam or even Survivor Series to pull the trigger on Cena winning #17 but what good does it do for anyone if Cena loses? If someone can sell me on why he should lose and what would be next I'm here for it. Not saying the WWE wouldn't come up with something but I just don't see it yet. Jey Uso winning is a must. Gunther's reign has been lackluster due to inactivity and some of the angles just haven't been hitting. Let Jey have a little run he's 1000% earned it.
Nothing exciting so far with this Mania. I doubt they'll have any surprise match-ups in the next three weeks to change my mind about watching this PPV. It just doesn't feel like Mania season this year.
Thoughts, post SmackDown:
-don’t have the faintest idea how to book that massive triple threat
-think Jey/Gunther opens night one so Uso’s win doesn’t get lost in the later shenanigans
-heart says Tiffany, head says the egomaniac with the questionable facelift
-put the belt on Jacob, he’s ready for the rocket
-Cody needs to go over. Brock and Roman have both given Cody incredible heat, Cena doing the job cements Rhodes as the 1A face of the franchise.
-part of me hopes this neck surgery angle is a work, part of me hopes the company is smart enough to not joke around with that kind of devastating injury
-Iyo to retain, please and thank-you
-one way or another, Orton gets on this card
-curious if DJ makes an appearance
I think if we've learned anything from pro wrestling is that storylines can and will walk the line. Especially if we're talking about Kevin Owens. His character is like watching people team up with The Joker and wondering why he does what he does.
What I want to know is are we getting anything with the tag titles at Mania, or will that be for the Smackdown before and Raw after? Women's tag are on the line and honestly they shoudl've just did a gauntlet. I think Street Profits v. MCMG would be fire, put a ladder in the mix.
I keep expecting to hear them announce a multiple team ladder match for the smackdown tag titles since they have kind of built this chaos around who is next in line and all that.
Not sure what they do with Raw tag titles.
They should just pull a WM 20 and have 2 Fatal Fourways for each brands tag-team titles. Raw you have War Raiders, New Day, American Made, and you could probably figure out a combo of 2 guys from LWO. Smackdown there's Profits, MCMG, DIY, and either Pretty Deadly or Los Jabronis.
A-Town Down Under have fallen quite a bit, haven't they?Originally Posted by Nash Diesel
If I had any say in the booking I would split them up but keep them both heel. I would do the Waller Effect with someone like Randy Orton. Have them break up during the segment and Orton drops them both with an RKO. They're Smackdown right? You could also just move one to Raw. The tag-team was ok but it's time to move on but neither guy should be a babyface right now. IDK if people are ready to fully cheer Theory.
Theory defeating Cena at Wrestlemania, and Cena coming to get payback for the loss would be where I would start. It may only have a short term effect but Cena is getting good reactions with the turn.
They missed the boat with Cena destroying Truth in the build-up. They missed the boat by this point as Truth being destroyed probably would’ve extracted even more heat.
Instead he's helping destroy the dynasty Vince created.
A 4 way for Raw titles would work with those teams and since there is basically 5 teams in play on Smackdown they should just do a ladder match. Need a ladder match dammit. lol
Theory is at the bottom though he's not going to benefit from Cena beating his ass.
I hear this is the match breakdown in no particular order:
N1
Punk Roman Seth
Raiders New Day
Cargill Naomi
LA Knight Fatu
Charlotte Tiffany
Mysterio Americano
Jey Gunther
N2
Iyo Ripley Bianca
Breakker Penta Dom Finn
Sin City SF Drew Priest
Orton vs TBA
Styles Paul
Women's Tag
Cody Cena
I'm digging it.
I'm looking forward to this. I have Thursday-Monday off. I bought a buffet set up, making a big dinner featuring things from all 3 WWE cookbooks. I bought stuff for a mini casino set up in my house, Roulette, Black Jack and a slot machine. I got lots of merch for prizes. It's also Easter, so have a Easter egg hunt planned. Plus it's 420 so I'm rolling blunts. Place is going to be chaos but fun for sure.
I am coming to your house. lol
I'm pretty confident that it will be the best Wrestlemania party in upstate NY.
I’ll just keep this brief as stupid o’clock here. I feel it started off slow and kinda mixed about the Jey submission finish though appreciate what they were going for using his game against him. It picked up a bit more in the second half. Heyman betraying the other guys was expected but still done well. Some good entrances like Tiffy’s Barbie house, the Jey entrance and Punk’s. Appreciated Rollins symbolism entrance but was hoping Reigns would’ve had more.
Kinda a shit crowd I felt, not that loud. Hopefully better tomorrow.
I thought it started off hot with Jey winning and then slided down a bit til the main event. I don't think the wrong people went over, it was just the matches were ok. I was hoping for Tiffany and Charlotte to go short and it did not. They did make Jacob look like a beast and I don't hate any of the booking, it just felt mid. The Heymen turn was probably the most WrestleMania bit besides Jey winning. Too many ads, a lot of dead air and the lightening made it look like a white out which considering WWE PR this week is not that big of a surprise. Seth has to be the MVP of the night just for coming out as Jesus Christ for Easter.
I think they slightly missed a trick with Jey not going to all four corners with the splashes and then maybe going for the sleeper though the four splashes would’ve been enough. Maybe a minor gripe but felt the execution was just a bit off. Still a good match. I actually exepected Tiff/Charlotte to go a few minutes longer tbh though might have to rewatch it in the cold light of day.
I do agree that we haven’t had anything GOD tier yet though.
-Congrats Jey, you deserve it. I didn’t have it by submission, nor Gunther tapping that quickly.
-Am really looking forward to The Wiseman with Seth, should make for quality television.
-Massive resume win for Tiffany
-Unleash the werewolf, I’m calling a Gunther-type run for Jacob. Fatu was my early prediction for this year’s MITB, so that field now opens up: my head says Bron (after dropping IC tomorrow but not taking the loss), heart says Montez Ford.
Well booked show. Jade, Jacob, Tiffany and Jey absolutely needed to win big matches clean at Wrestlemania. Jacob could be a future main eventer, and while Jey has peaked and won't be THE guy, it was a must to pay off the story. Jade and Tiffany should be 2 of the top women going forward and were set up for that by two old pros.
Heyman turn was predictable but I don't think it's over. They're joining Cena tonight. Rock, Cena, Rollins, Heyman. Maybe Bron if they're doing an Evolution like thing. It makes a lot of sense. Rollins takes his focus off his World title defence to fight alongside Cody against Rock and Roman. Loses his title and his health but still helps him stop Roman. Then while he's crying on the outside CM Punk of all people celebrates in the ring with Cody. Then Cody teams with Roman. Then Punk teams with Roman. So he's in it to crush those guys. Heyman got destroyed in New York City and both of his 'Paul Heyman Guys' stay home. The two scorned parties assemble to help ruin wrestling by stopping Cody, Punk and Roman.
Yikes, the quality of that show was shocking. All the right people went over but the execution of most of the matches was mid at best. That is the risk of WWE really laying it on thick about how epic the show is going to be and to just enjoy the story instead of criticising it.
The show was saved by the main event. I wasn't on board with a triple threat that has nothing at stake, but they did a great job with some of the near falls. They also managed to avoid some of the cliches in this kind of match, by having Reigns twice refuse the offer to team up with Rollins. Lots of people called the Heyman turn in advance, to the point where I thought WWE wouldn't go through with it just to swerve the fans, but it sets up Rollins for a big year.
Jey vs Gunther was what I expected, though it was too conventional given the bloody build-up and I think Gunther lost too easily.
War Raiders vs New Day fell totally flat. The crowd didn't care and I can't blame them. I don't understand why a TLC match with Smackdown's tag teams gets dumped on next week's TV while this match is felt to be worthy of the Wrestlemania card.
Naomi impressed in her match with Jade. I was hoping for a faster paced brawl - some of the spots where Jade is just standing waiting for the move were painful - but I have to say they pulled out some nice sequences which made it memorable.
Knight vs Fatu was decent. It wouldn't have looked out of place on TV but at least it was competitive and got the crowd invested. The BFT counter to the moonsault was brilliant.
Fenix and Gable did the best they could with such a late change in circumstances. Some nice spots from both guys.
Glad to see Stratton get her big Wrestlemania win but that match was rotten. It was like they were moving in slow motion at times. Lots of sloppy and mistimed sequences where they just weren't clicking with each other.
I really liked the entrances for Stratton and Rollins. Can't fault the production values for the show. The video package for Punk was a good way of feigning that he was on course for a big main event win. Triple H coming out to welcome everyone to the show, after already narrating the long video package, is overkill. He did this for the Netflix debut as well.
Triple threat was pure cinema. Increíble. Loved every second of it. Definitely excited to see if they get involved in the Cody/Cena match tonight.
Didn’t expect Jey to win.
Bron’s “Steiner math” promo on Friday was awesome. Give me a Fatu/Bron feud ASAP.
Jey/Gunther was good enough but could have been a bit more vicious and violent given the stuff with Jimmy. Great feel good moment and very happy for Jey.
Raiders/ND should be on TV and the TLC next week should gave been here. Figured being on Mania we might see Big E's revenge costing them the win at least but nope.
Jade/Naomi was good outside of a few bits of waiting as mentioned above.
Fenix/American was underwhelming.
Tiffany/Charlotte was excellent.
Knight/Fatu was fine.
Main event was outstanding. I realized too late for the predictions thread that Heyman was clearly helping Seth but oh well. Played out beautifully. Not sure why Cole was painting it like this was a heel thing when Seth was being heroic in the build up and Heyman was helping him win for the better good. Seems like the crowd felt similarly as they were pretty happy about it.
Good not great night one.
I prefer the card tonight. War Raiders vs. New Day and El Grande Americano vs. Rey Fenix were pure Wrestlemania 7 style filler, whereas night 2 has much more substance. The most over women's and men's wrestlers (and thus, by consesus, the top title matches per gender), the woman of the year in a match with a surprise entrant, an all time great getting a mystery opponent, the most consistent full timer of last year in a gimmick match, the prospective top star in a 4-way showcase, and an all time great against a crossover star. Last night couldn't be great with that line up. I think tonight can if the right hits get played.
Bianca over Iyo in the opener, with Naomi interference. They've got loads of fresh options going forward - Rhea, Bianca, Tiffany and Jade haven't done any singles on the main roster to my knowledge, certainly haven't in years. Bianca vs. Rhea is the play for Summerslam. Not sure whether you turn Bianca here or wait until Jade's in the picture. Probably the latter.
Drew over Priest. As clear a booking choice as you could have. Priest might get there eventually, but Drew needs the win here to stay at the main event level. A loss I think shows he's not there after the Punk feud loss.
Orton mystery opponent I think loses, but there's such a high bar for mystery opponents at 'Mania after Cody's return that it shouldn't be a Carmelo Hayes. So it's tough to book, which is interesting. I'm going for Sami Zayn, who gets a big pop, sells his injuries as coming back too early and loses clean.
Becky replaces Bayley. Although it could be one of those where they bate it and she returns after the match. Either way, she's back in this match. If she's in the match they win, and I think Liv deserves a 'Mania win. So going the partner being Chelsea, her abandoning Lyra, champs retain, Becky return.
Logan beats Styles. I wouldn't be against AJ getting a big win and a last push, particularly with Cena potentially needing big opponents during his heel run, but Logan is a current star and should be beating AJ where they both are at the minute.
4 way either Bron gets the big win, or Dirty Dom cheats to win against Balor. I think the latter. His act's great and would be a fine chickenshit champion.
Cena over Cody with the big ending angle being the Cena/Rock/Rollins coalition. I think the WWE have relied on a strong heel group on top for as long as I remember, and it's been all of 5 months since the Bloodline war essentially ended the last one. So here's the start of the new one. I can see Cody winning clean with Cena turning back face after, but it's not very interesting, and I absolutely can't see him losing if he's staying heel.
IYOOOOOO
I love the fact that Iyo went into back to back WrestleManias as champ and now walked out of this year still champ. Excellent feather on the cap for her
Never mind that….
DOOOOMMMM!!!!!!
We believe!!!!!
That Logan Paul match maybe one of the worst matches I have seen at Mania. Sucks for AJ to have to deal with that.
Austin making WrestleMania moments by murdering someone with a quad bike. Legend.
17!
What a lame ass end.
Cena's done. Maybe he'll get up to speed after a few more singles matches, but it wasn't particularly good. Was heading to an all timer after the first 3 matches but lost the momentum. There was no need for the Travis Scott bit other than trying to leech off the Coachella press or something. Killed the match that ludicrous long entrance.
At least we got Joe Hendry!! Also marked hard for Dirty Dom. Probably the perfect opponent for Sheamus to beat eventually too. Hoping we get a Honky Tonk Dom
Like reign.
Although could’ve been executed better, fuck it seventeenth! End justify the man’s lol
Drew was great. Tweeting during the match!
Overall, nice WM. It was fine.
The future looks bright though. Jacob Fatu... Bron... those two are the future.
I hope Jacob makes the US title relevant because Knight’s reigns were in all honest shit
-Congrats to the GOAT on #17.
-So glad Iyo retained, MOTY candidate. Kudos to Rhea/Bianca/Iyo.
-Banger of a match between McIntyre/Priest.
-Bayley was robbed.
-Were those cheers for Dom?
-Paul/Styles was good but not great.
-No Final Boss? Boooooooo.
The second Austin came early was the indication no Rock
In retrospect, I wonder if the Chamber was always the planned destination for the Cena turn, or whether it was going to be at the finish last night. Story makes more sense as the latter, given Rock wasn't scheduled until just before. It hasn't really worked so far, mainly because it really looked like Rock called the shots, then bounced. Thanks, Dwayne.
Dirty Dom was the highlight last night. He's really gotten over and him legging it back to the ring to celebrate was fantastic. Triple threat ruled and was match of the weekend. Drew and Priest was excellent. Joe Hendry was a nice surprise that rightfully didn't overstay its welcome. Logan and Styles did overstay its welcome. Tag titles was fun with them oddly going all in on Lyra who doesn't really seem a top tier star. Main event was a let down given the template set by big title matches lately. It just didn't make much sense.
had no idea dom was getting over as a babyface. his win was fun to see and the match was pretty good too. the women's triple threat was also good. overall i couldn't call either of the two nights good shows. seeing cena win #17 was cool even though the match was lame. the ice cream commercial literally in the middle of the cody's entrance and the run-in from travis scott who was literally only there so they could say the name "travis scott," was all emblematic of so much of what sucks about modern day Private Equity WWE.
It looked like Night 2 was going to make up big time for Night 1, which I thought was terrible for the most part, but it petered out by the second half.
The triple threat will surely go down as one of the best Mania openers of all time. Super hot crowd, fantastic pace, crisp moves, and the changes in momentum were well timed. I'm glad Iyo won as she was a complete third wheel in the build-up.
McIntryre and Priest had a good brawl. Nothing earth shattering - the usual standard of WWE street fights these days - but it still felt like a worthy blow-off to their hastily arranged feud.
The fatal four way was good. Dom running back to take in more applause after the match was a nice moment.
Hendry being Orton's surprise opponent was a great moment for him and you could tell how much it meant to him being at Mania. I see some people online talking about the TNA champion jobbing in a few minutes, but I don't think there'll be any damage done from a fun throwaway match. I liked how they built the sudden RKO into his pose.
Paul vs Styles was a borefest. Paul just isn't good at a regular match with no crazy spots and everything had to be slowed down to accommodate him.
The tag match was okay and thankfully short. Good to see Becky back but what a shitty way to treat Bayley. They had no plan for her after her big Mania win last year, she gets a last minute tag match at this year's show and then gets booted.
The main event was bad. At first I thought it was deliberately paced to reflect Cena's heel turn. I liked his non-flashy entrance and constantly going for the rope break at the beginning. But then it became evident that the whole match was going to be slow and ponderous. The Rock totally fucked this match by not bothering to show up since Elimination Chamber. Cena had to win but to have the match grind to a halt while Travis Scott saunters to the ring was shite.
They betrayed Cody's character last year by having him give up his Mania slot for Rock and they did it again last night by having him fall for yet another nuts shot. It made him look so weak. I can't imagine how it felt to pay insane amounts of money to go to the show and experience that ending. I'm sure we'll hear Triple H urge us yet again to just enjoy the ride and say that we don't know where the story is going. I don't think he knows where it's going since it seems to be entirely at the whim of Rock's schedule.
I have to also agree that Private Equity WWE is trending towards be worse than Vince when it comes to celebrities. Granted, wrestling has always tried and most failed to be mainstream media by mostly leeching off of other more popular acts to get more attention. This year felt worse than most. Logan Paul thinking he is a New Japan star, the constant celebrity fan shots through out the night, the thousand of ads and then ending the entire PPV weekend with Travis Scott who is literally ripping off Mick Foley to be the reason Cena beats Cody to break Ric's record is just dumb.
I am not as optimistic as everyone else about the future. Cena is going to part time the belt like Roman and Brock. Jey seems destined to lose to Seth. Cody is probably going to wander around til Cena comes back. AAA is now going to be NXT Mexico which once WWE acquires something it usually shits the bed at some point. The women's division still feels like its not that deep, Becky coming back will help, but it feels like Iyo and Tiff have no real challengers. The tag division on Raw is on life support while the Smackdown guys couldn't even got on a 8 hour Mania. They have great wrestlers, they always will, but I am still afraid WWE is stuck in the phase of we could make so and so a star, but we have Cena, Rollins, Roman and Orton. Cody is maybe on that level, but we will see if last year was a blip due the fans rioting over Rock being there. It would not shock me to see Jey lose tonight or at Backlash to Seth. So, we will be back where we were with a part time champ and a ten year old plus vet heel holding the belt without giving the other guy the rub . I would rather see Bronn vs Jey or Jey vs Drew, but with Heymen working with Seth, its only a matter of time til they get the belt and make Raw about them. As hot as they were, I am thinking we are headed for a bit of a cool off period not ice cold like the 2010s, but not as hot as it has been for the last few years.
Last edited by lotjx; April 21st, 2025 at 8:54 AM.
Oh think the Jey run will definitely be a long un. He is extremely over and does sells merch.
Honestly the booking of N2 and yeah think they telegraphed Cena winning with the TV finishes. I kinda also didn’t wish they telegraphed his upcoming TV appearances but yeah had to advertise I guess.
Think this was one of those where the booking execution mostly lacked. Still fun overall though!
Mania tonight should be hooot though!!!
Having Jey have back to back short singles reigns would be bad for business.
Though I do wonder where they go from here for GUNTHER. In all honesty an underwhelming world title reign buuuut it does open him up for future singles matches like Punk etc. Rusev and Black coming back though so the future’s still…bright…the future’s orange!!
Reflecting on it, the hunt for the viral moment hurt the overall effectiveness of the Cena turn. It should have happened last night. Cena working as an underdog heel challenging for the title got the dynamics all wrong. Last night made Cody look fucking dumb as he already knew John would take a shortcut to win. He gave it him on a silver platter. If that match ending is the culmination of a face vs face rivalry it's an all timer. Sure, the heel turn at the Chamber felt massive and was well executed, but it meant there was a lack of drama in the title change. The bonus is that now that it's done, the actual story going forward works - Cena as heel champion against career rivals (Orton, Punk), the new generation of top stars (Cody, Roman) and hopefully the eventual coronation of a new top star (Breakker) at the end of it. They just pigeonholed themselves into an anticlimactic conclusion to the Wrestlemania main event.
I'm interested in the post-Mania reset. The last couple of months haven't been good TV. It felt like they put the card together on a fag packet, undoing a lot of the careful work they did throughout 2023-24 with patient builds. I guess The Rock being a weird company albatross hasn't helped. The lacklustre multi-person heavy card means they've still got a load of fresh matches queued up. Drew hopefully gets his teeth back into the top of the card. Gunther had a relatively nondescript title reign so hopefully this serves as a turning point. Bron getting a top push should be fun. Rusev and Black should get opportunities to succeed with Cena and Roman on part time schedules. Hopefully they get back to that excellent Bloodline-centric intertwining of storylines that seemed to stop at the Rumble, as it felt all the top players were logically connected.
Don’t let Codycrybabies breathe your smoke?
Night 1. Decent show. Highlights were definitely Jey winning the title and the triple threat main event was fire. Honestly the only match that I really wasn't feeling was the New Day/War Raiders but I'm just really into WR and New Day needed the win. Charlotte/Tiffy time was good. Jade/Naomi was a decent women's match. Rey/Americano was what it was nothing super special very entertaining. Honestly, the middle of the show felt like an ok Raw/Smackdown. 7/10.
Night 2. Much better show. It went by fast. I liked every match. Triple threat was probably my favorite match with the fatal fourway and Drew/Damien tying for 2nd. Honestly shocked Dirty Dom won. I was actually a little shocked Lyra/Becky won I thought Becky was going to turn on Lyra or vice versa. Interesting to see the mega push for Lyra. A little suprised that Cena ended up winning but they basically booked themselves into a corner where he had to win because how does he lose? Weird they had back to back nights with the heel going over. Crowd was about 70/30 pro Cena though so I guess it worked lol. 8/10.
I think that as it's been said, the whole heel turn and lack of The Rock really hurt the build for Cody/Cena. We never really got a definitive answer as to why Cena joined The Rock. He never said "And this is why I'm with my long time rival" We needed more people involved too. Nobody in the back felt betrayed, nobody felt like confronting John?
I will say this....Cody did a tremendous job and will obviously still be in the conversation. Cody's story of winning back the title as he's up against impossible odds could take us through the summer with him getting a rematch at Summerslam. I spaced off this year will be a two-night Summerslam. Great lol.
You would think up next is Orton. Technically this is a Smackdown title, and Orton is on SD. But Drew also had a very big win himself. Does Orton's win over Joe Hendry trump Drew's win over Priest? Will the story have to override the rankings so to speak?
Something else that was fascinating last night and it's something I don't normally have to do but my 14 year old daughter asked how you get to be on the WrestleMania card? Do you have to win a certain match/matches? It was a loaded question because she asked during the women's triple threat lol. I explained to her that sometimes you win a certain match to get a title shot, sometimes you have "beef" with someone and you settle it at WrestleMania just like you would on other shows it's just that Mania is the biggest show of the year.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love Cody/what he did too but Cena’s points about fans wanting new toys is true. Fans were starting to turn….they love an underdog and superhero but WWE can only produce so many of those.
Why did Logan Paul wear Benoit's tights?
It's bonkers to me that we're probably getting heel champion John Cena vs. Hometown babyface challenger Randy Orton for the WWE title in 2025. The revisit in 2013 was met with total apathy, but I think the dynamic will work. It'll be a good heater for Cena as well, as Randy unbelievably has settled in as the adored legend and thus it should be a pure face/heel dynamic. The issue being, Cena looks far off the pace in ring now and Orton is pretty devoid of the bells and whistles to get around that. We'll see if it works.
I think they go straight into Drew and Cody with Drew getting the win at Backlash. The natural story is Cody needing to find the spite in his game to work his way back up, but he needs a loss or two to get that. Cena vs. Orton, Punk vs. Rollins 3 and Rhodes vs. McIntyre would be a big old triple main event.
A big no for me was all the adverts. Do they not make enough money without having to advertise biscuits during main event entrances?
Last edited by Fanny Batter; April 21st, 2025 at 1:00 PM.
Bianca/Iyo/Rhea was excellent.
Drew/Priest was good though I thought it would've gone up a notch in violence and gotten bloody given the build.
IC fourway slapped. Dom winning was great. Love him.
Hendry as Orton's opponent was a nice surprise and the match was a fun piece of business.
Tuned out during Paul/Styles. I'm fucking done with Logan at this point.
Women's tag titles was good enough. Becky back is cool and as a big Lyra fan, I'm stoked she's a doulbe belter.
Cody/Cena was disappointing. Started off slow but I got why and then started picking up and then...Travis Scott killed the whole thing dead and it went out like a wet fart. Bleh. Even so, the story going forward with Cena as a champ is very interesting. Could've been a much better way to get there, though.
Overall, i think it evened out to a mid Mania. Not a lot of highlight reel/iconic stuff.
I don't think they were starting to turn it's just that anyone who thought Cena would be 100% booed are delusional. This will be a good revenge storyline for Cody to ride out through the summer until getting another shot at the title. IDK why but I feel like the end game is going to be Roman winning the 2026 Rumble and we get the rubber match at Mania 42. The Rock v. Roman will probably go down at Summerslam. Or never. lol
Personally I’m over the Roman match hype. Summerslam would be ok but yeah not Mania worthy.
Cena has delivered but still wouldn’t be shocked if fans would turn on Cody anyway. Nature of the beast…they love an underdog and Cody isn’t that anymore.
HHH foreshadowing with Cody standing tall two SDs before the PPV lending credence to that old adage lose on TV, win on PLE lol
If we don't get Roman/Seth at next year's Mania then I have no idea what the point of this year's Mania was. The more I think about the more I think they have blown the brains out of Cody's character. I am seeing Cody not hitting Cena to Bayley not using the kendo on Alexa which ruined Bayley for years. It took a heel turn, Sasha and a pandemic for Bayley to get back on track. If Cody wins it back, he is going to have murder Cena to do it. He murdered KO at the Rumble and lost his balls since then. Cody should win the title back tonight. Cena got his win and he broke the record even though Flair may have more title wins depending on the territory company he was in. If they are going to have Cena kill the belt tonight, I am not sure where they go. You can't do a tournament, because it would be feel weird. You can't have Pearce strip him, because it will look like Adam beat Cena not Cody. Besides getting the belt off of him tonight, the other best option is Orton RKOing Cena and then punting Scott is probably the only way to go forward. Orton just embarrasses him. But that leaves Cody out in the cold. I just think they may have done a lot of harm to their biggest babyface.
I don't think we need an entire year long build to get to Roman v. Seth. At least in this story arc. Maybe they revisit it going into Mania but I imagine we're going to get Roman v. Seth, Seth v. Punk, and Roman v. Punk before Mania 42. We might even get the triple threat match again.
I disagree that they've done harm to Cody. He needed to lose, just like Gunther. Just like Seth needed to lose at least year's Mania shit he probably should've lost it to Nakamura several months prior. For Cody it's simple. #1-he lost to Cena. This was going to happen and the circumstances give WWE several outs. Something else people forget about is who pinned Cody last year at Mania 40 Night 1? The Rock. There's just so many variables.
The whole thing with Cena saying they're going to have to make a new championship yada yada, I don't see that happening. Unless The Rock overrules something "behind the scenes", Cena is going to be defending that title. They might have him chill for Backlash to sell the whole thing but he's going to be defending it. The idea of Cody winning it back tonight would be insanity but we've seen crazier shit. When Cena tied the record, he lost the title at the next ppv to Bray. So he might not get a long run but I think he should get a few ppvs out of it.
If they're trying to make out that Cody needs to tap into a darker side to defeat Cena, and being too good cost him the belt, we already got a version of that at the Rumble and how he took out KO in that match. The Mania finish was awful - Cody looked like a total fool.
Cena winning and threatening to retire undisputed opens up lots of avenues on paper. But it leaves a really bad taste in the mouth to have his last ever Mania be tainted by that rubbish with Travis Scott and such a weak finish. Also he either has major, and completely understandable, ring rust or he is totally shot in terms of his endurance.
Seth and Roman shouldn't be held off to next year. Mania to Mania booking makes sense with something massive like the Bloodline but it shouldn't be the template from here on. I want title changes. Give Jey a few months with the belt and then drop it to Drew or Seth. Do a Summerslam rematch with Punk and Cena and get the belt off him that way. Cody could have dropped the belt to KO for a month or so. It would have legitimised the threat from KO and switched Cody back to chasing for a bit. Long title reigns get stale without the right booking, they lose their prestige if multiple people are doing it in a short space of time, and they are pretty crap with part-timers who leave their opponents to do all the promos.
Pauls gonna start a new Dangerous Alliance with Seth and maybe Drew but I can see a big group with Seth as the leader, taking the belt off Jey at SummerSlam.
I think it's just going to be Seth and Paul. I don't think they're going to start adding anyone else and if they do, it won't be until the relationship with these two has been clearly established.
In the scenario of getting us to Drew & Cody, Drew was my preference for Rumble winner, Mania title winner but this can still work. Especially with Backlash and possibly landing on Orton-Cena, that leaves Cody out from getting into the rematch, unless it becomes a triple threat that breaks off into Orton-Cody, minus a title on the line. I could see Cody calling out Cena, and Drew showing up instead.
Bloodline is over, HHH needs something juicy to book and loves old WCW stuff. Punk and Roman are both gonna be gunning for Seth and Paul. They will need back up.
Plus War Games in November, we gotta start now.
Also Judgment Day is looking to be done. There'll be a new group soon.
I think it begins to get established with Seth and Paul tonight. I can see Drew costing Jey the belt down the line because Seth will challenge. I can see Bron joining up too, elevate young talent.
Bron/Heyman needs to be a TV thing like today. Roman and/or Punk has him cornered and Heyman pushes the Bron button.
R K Called it.
I mean the next PLE is in St. Louis, it's not hard to see coming.
Orton can’t even see who he’s facing let alone an RKO lol.
Becky turning heel. Throw her in with Seth and Paul.
Did anyone catch Cena's comments at the post-mania press conference?
I loved how HHH ran with that during his portion, when the first question came from a kid reporter, and HHH replied "I hate to do this to you but that sounds like a clickbait question"
Heyman on McAfee's show Monday was masterful.
I am really happy for Jey, Dirty DomDom, IYO, Tiffy, and Jacob Fatu. Excepting Lyra/Becky, which of the champs coming out of Mania will lose their titles first? (Cena?) Who will hold their title the longest? (I am hoping Dirty DomDom.)
Really disappointed for Bayley.
Between the two nights you could have had a really, really good one night show. Just a lot of fluff that didn't need to be on there. Lackluster Mania for me.
Wade Barrett is a master, I wish the commentary team for all shows was him and Graves.
And we saw the official end of the Stone Cold/ATV gimmick.
TKO ain’t risking that payday going forward…
Had a blast watching all this at the weekend. Had a little predictions contest with my boy and I got every one right, except El Grande Americano winning. Was convinced Dom was taking the title and called the Heyman turn, as did most.
Didn't call Joe Hendry, but had to be someone Orton was going to defeat, so that ruled out Rusev, essentially.
Favourite match of the weekend was the Iyo/Bianca/Ripley classic. Loved it. Didn't think anything was outright bad, except the finish to Cody/Cena, which granted, was a massive thing to be such utter shit.
And TLC should have replaced New Day/War Raiders.
Thrilled for Jey, mostly because my boy was desperate for him to win.
We both really enjoyed Dom's moment. And he must have been advised to run back to celebrate the win due to the massively positive reaction it got. Lovely moment.
A face Dom Vs a heel Rey in Rey's last match at 'Mania 42 would be wild.
Yeah even though that lady totally faked her fall they're not going to risk it unless it's absolutely necessary. I mean ffs the reason it took so long for him to come out was he missed the ramp and had to have people turn him around. I'm actually shocked it took 25 years for him to "crash" into the barricade or something.
I wonder how many of those IPAs ole Stone Cold had beforehand.
What?
To this day I'm still shocked he didn't fuck himself up years and years ago when he went down the ramp at like 90mph and plowed into the ring.
Man if I got hit by Austin on an ATV I'd be over the moon. Suing would be the last thing on my mind haha.
Plus if you're front row at WrestleMania, do you really need any extra money?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote