According to fightful.com as cited by PWInsider
1 Like
I feel we’ve all shared our opinions elsewhere. But to recap…
-
Hopefully its a great deal for him and his family.
-
He, more than anyone else in AEW, seemed like he wore out his welcome with plenty of fans - so a change of scenery will do everybody involved some good.
-
Hopefully he gets treated better than his last run there.
-
I’m not sure how this will be creatively fulfilling, but again, I wish him the best.
-
Cody will actually do well with an editor for his promos.
-
I fully expect to see him back in AEW within the next three years - and the time away will work wonders for him.
-
I feel like so much of the excitement and buzz from the initial reports of him leaving a month ago, have really died down. The news cycle is too quick these days. Since that broke, we’ve had Tony buying ROH, Cesaro’s contract ending, Jeff Hardy debur in AEW, Swerve debut in AEW, and Regal debut in AEW. Cody should have appeared on TV immediately several weeks ago when the news was fresh.
-
Also, the idea that AEW fans will suddenly tune into WWE programming feels unlikely. It doesn’t matter who gets plugged into WWE from whenever, they’re just becoming part of the larger well-oiled machine. People know what to expect.
2 Likes
Agree with every single point.
Out of curiosity, I know you dont watch WWE, but will you watch his debut? Either on TV or Youtube?
2 Likes
I am sure I’ll come across clips online and probably be exposed to it. But I won’t likely seek it out.
I’ve enjoyed a lot of Cody’s work the last few years… but can’t picture him fitting into the current WWE landscape.
I mean, you’re probably right lol. I think he has three things going for him.
-
He does come from a wrestling family, and Vince does have a tendency of pushing SOME guys like that. Roman, Uso’s, Orton etc. With that said, you could probably name a bunch if not more he has squashed as well.
-
If Vince wants to ever pull top guys from AEW, the way he pushes Cody is paramount, especially with guy like Jericho and Omega set to be free agents next year (both apparently signed 3 year deals with 1 year options) . I’m not saying the writing and storylines will be perfect, they wont. But I do think he will be pushed in the way WWE pushes guys.
-
According to Meltzer, this will be a big money deal, and typically Vince will give guys he pays big money TV time and a push.
Time will tell, but with WWE nothing will surprise me.
Having a “big money” contract nowadays also seems to put you on the chopping block for “cost savings” if it doesn’t work out well. So either Cody is a featured main event player pushed to the moon. Or it flames out quickly. Either way it will be interesting to watch which is all WWE wants.
That’s always a possibility.
1 Like
I just have a hard time seeing just about anybody coming in for a sustained main event level run or push.
Everybody settles into a role aside from Brock and Roman, and that is a pattern that will continually for a couple of years until their time is done, and then they get behind Gable Stevenson and Bron Breaker other NIL candidates.
I would assume Cody settles into, at best, a Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Randy Orton position. Comfortable upper midcard. Made to look like a fool for 40 weeks of the year, and then heated up occasionally.
Thats how their system works these days. Cody isn’t changing it. Unfortunately.
Bryan Danielson, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, etc. All examples of returns that were squandered and eventually all settled onto mid level roles.
Again as I wrote elsewhere…WWE is going to WWE. The same way they have for the last 21 years.
1 Like
I’ve agreed with everything you have said up to this point, and I agree with parts of this, but I cant agree with all of this.
If you want to speak to the larger issue in WWE that is poor writing and knee jerk booking decisions, there is a ton of merit to that. If you want to argue that Brock and Roman are booked to be the kings of the promotion, and that nobody is at their level for the moment, I agree with that as well.
My issue is your “upper mid card” comment. I don’t think its fair to just label a guy like Rollins “upper mid card”, that’s like saying a guy like CM Punk has been relegated to an upper mid card role in AEW.
Maybe our definitions are different, but for me a main event talent is a guy who can be thrown into the main event scene at any time, for the most part be a viable challenger, is thrown in from time to time each year, and is given sufficient/featured time each week they are on TV, Rollins is all those things. Not everyone can be in the main event scene every month.
You can say you don’t like his character, you can say you think there have been questionable booking decisions (Brock killing him at chamber), but its unfair to label a guy like him “an upper midcarder”. I would say the same thing for Orton as well, sure he cycles out of the main event scene which he should, but hes not “a mid carder”. Owens has been pretty prominent this year outside of the time period they thought he wasn’t re-signing and he feuding with Freddy Mercury, and AJ has been booked pretty well outside of the awful tag team with Omas.
I know you don’t watch WWE, and from what you’re probably reading I can see why you may come to these conclusions, but trust me when I say, the way @Bdubz talks about AEW, alot of fans do the same about WWE. This isnt a shot at you, its a shot at some of the false narratives out there, or maybe I should say hyperbolic narratives out there.
Obviously Cody wont be booked like Roman or Brock, so I guess the real question is, will Cody be booked like Rollins or AJ? Or will he be booked like Rey or Hardy? If he’s booked like Rey or Hardy, then that is unfortunate. If hes booked like Rollins or AJ, I’d consider that a success.
1 Like
For all the flak WWE gets, you can’t argue with the fact that both Brock and Roman are over like crazy and there is interest in that match.
Yes you may not like what they’re doing with those two personally, but it’s created two huge larger than life stars and people want to see them clash.
Roman Reigns is the biggest star in wrestling right now. There’s nobody else, maybe with the exception of CM punk, that’s even close.
However with CM punk it’s like someone like the Rock or Austin – all of that popularity is based on things he did 10 years ago. He came in that popular because of who he is. Roman has kind of created this character to be as hot as it is in the last couple of years.
I mean if Roman shows up on dynamite and says acknowledge me the place is going to lose their mind. So for everything they’ve done wrong, and while you may not like what they’ve done with Roman, it does work.
2 Likes
I don’t think anybody will argue the star making abilities of the WWE machine. I think my biggest complaint with the system for the last two decades has been when people get over who aren’t in their plans to be top guys.
In thr late 90’s you had a main event scene built around half a dozen truly top stars who could all be players. And all of them got over organically with the assistance of machine behind them.
At some point, it didn’t matter what you did - if you weren’t part of the plan, you fell to the wayside.
There are tons of examples that can be found. And tons of guys who they went with eventually, but never truly got behind. Thats my main complaint with the system today.
Roman is a star. Brock is a star. There is no reason why they don’t have a handful of others they got behind, who are portrayed in an equal light.
3 Likes
I agree with most of this, Vince has kind of always had this mentality. Even the late 90’s, if you look at the PPV’s almost every PPV for like 5 years had one of Austin, Rock, Hunter, or Taker in the main event (I remember I submitted this as a fact to The Daily Lariat on PWInsider lol and they published it).
Vince has always looked at wrestling like a movie, you have your stars, your secondary characters, and your extras. For the record, I hate this philosophy and prefer the way AEW does it, and agree with you that when people get over organically in WWE, Vince fights it. The last person I think that completely got past this would have been Austin, and maybe to a lesser degree Foley. Bryan did to an extent, but its like WWE gave in kicking and screaming.
To be fair though that is what works in something like boxing. You don’t need a strong undercard just need a big main event. So that’s kind of the old-school philosophy.
Even if you look at the John Cena years, who did they really create is a star outside of John Cena?
WM 22 - HHH and Cena and Angle/Orton/Mysterio
WM 23 - HBK and Cena and Batista and UT
WM 24 - HHH/Orton/Cena and Edge vs UT
WM 25 - HHH vs Orton and Cena/Edge/Big Show
WM 26 - Batista vs Cena and Edge vs Jericho
WM 27 - Miz vs Cena and Edge vs ADR
WM 28 - Cena vs Rock
Who was created in this 7 year Cena run? Which is about as long as Hogans run at WM.
Rock, HHH, HBK, Angle, Rey, UT, Jericho, Big Show are older Attitude stars
Batista and Orton were created a little before this as event stars
So over 7 years the created Edge (an older star who was pushed harder here) and the Miz (a joke to build to Cena vs Rock who is a mid carder for life)
It’s no different now. That’s just what he does.
2 Likes
All good point and fair points.
Before I gave up on WWE programming, I cut down to monthly PPV viewing only. And I enjoyed it much more.
Part of the problem with WWE’s booking has become the fact they need to create content to fill TV time. Everybody on every show, regardless on necessity. Everybody doing “something” to fill time.
Nothing matters. It’s all filler to get to the next week.
And within WWE, because of this, no matter who you are, you’re filling a spot. And that’s where I lose interest.
I hate turning into a WWE vs AEW thing… but the entire thing about everybody not needing to be on every show, every week, is really something I’ve really come to enjoy about AEW.
Stars feel like stars. Matches have purpose. Sure, at the end of the day, its all to create content. But the illusion of “reason” and “meaning” is still there.
2 Likes
Nailed it on the content thing……I do watch WWE, but I fast forward through 90% of the matches on TV because most are pointless. At this point, I’m pretty good at knowing when a match is going to have a clean finish or at least be a hot match.
This is why I was so annoyed that AEW came out with Rampage. WWE has 5 hours of TV a week which is wayyyy too much. AEW was killing it with two, I think the 3 is ok, but I’m praying that they don’t go any more then that.
I agree with your overall narrative, WWE is too content driven, AEW isn’t yet, and I hope it stays that way (AEW wise, I would love it if WWE cut hours but that won’t happen)
1 Like
2 Likes
WrestleMania 38 will be the third WrestleMania this match has headlined. They’ve also had three other one on one matches and been involved in two other multi man matches on ppv. They’ve “clashed” eight times in 7 years. Part of not building anyone else to their level is the result being endless trips to the same well.
2 Likes
Yet the manage to sell out two nights of wrestlemania stadiums. I don’t know what to say. The WWE fan puzzles me. It’s clearly an abnormal human being who thinks it’s great to attend these shows and be fed the same stuff over and over again.
We know from research that they’re usually lower income , and I imagine more likely to not be a discerning user or watch much othet wrestling. We also know that when they switched FS1 they’re unable to find the channel on the remot so that kind of tells you kind of people you’re dealing with.
The bottom line is the company makes more money than it ever has and sold out two nights of stadium wrestlemania. Whether or not all of us agree that the matches are redundant doesn’t really matter. AEW hasn’t even have the balls to run a stadium yet. So it said something when you can sell it out for two nights in a row
Not sure how comfortable I am with equating income 1:1 with intelligence…
Re: AEW not having the “balls” to run a stadium. It’s business, not a dick measuring contest. They’ll likely only run one when they’re confident it makes sense financially, if ever. No sense of losing a few hundred grand just to try to flex at Vince McMahon.
1 Like
Not equating with intelligence but the comment about them not being able to find the remote with something else for me which is true. They don’t seem to know how to change the channel when it’s not on the regular channel.
Also someone who religiously watches Raw and Smackdown, I’m not sure but you can’t judge their intelligence unless they’re just watching to laugh at it.
2 Likes