I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but if you ask me, my answer is yes and here are my reasons why:
Cody has held the title for around 8-9 months, I feel it’s been enough time where the title reign will not feel like a failure. Not every world champion has to hold the title for a year plus.
It feels that the matchup at mania is either going to be Cody vs The Rock, or some type of Triple threat vs the The Rock and Roman, a program with either of these two just doesn’t need the title. If this program with Owens keeps getting hotter, you could also do Rock vs Roman and Cody vs Owens framed as a grudge match.
Kevin Owens is red hot, and probably doing the best work of his career since 2016, winning the title could put him give him that boost his career needs, which for WWE wouldn’t be a bad idea given his contract is coming up next year (unless he re-signed, and I missed it) and they obviously want this pillar to re-sign.
Bringing back SNME is a big deal, and having a major title change would help give it legitimacy just like the Hogan/Andre deal did back in the 80’s.
Ahem, pushing up me nerd glasses - Andre / Hogan didn’t happen on SNME. It happened on The Main Event, which aired in prime time on a Friday. (vs., SNME being a late night replacement for SNL).
But that said, I see no downside to Owens getting a win and setting up a rematch for Mania, or whenever.
That would be so cool for Owens but I just don’t see them doing it. With the Netflix shows starting soon and Wrestlemania season on the horizon I think they’re gonna want the title on Cody for all of that. I think Owens is gonna be feuding Orton without a title in the picture going into Wrestlemania.
Oh lol……I always thought that was SNME. Those were shows that I remember watching in highlight form on Superstars, Challenge or a collosium video rental, but I never actually watched them.
I tend to agree. As for Orton, that’s definitely a possibility, but I’d much rather have a triple threat with Owens. Normally I prefer one on one, but an Orton vs Cody match will just be so boring in ring despite a strong story.
Yeah I’m not really sure what the Cody match is with the Rock off the table, but I think with Netflix at play I think they’re gonna want Cody to have as marquee an opponent as possible. I’m not even sure Orton is the guy they’d want up there, and I agree that match would be a snooze. Maybe Cody/Cena? Or Cody/Punk?
I agree, with all the Netflix promotion, they like to have a big star at the forefront of all of it. Cody is one of those guys, can’t see them taking the belt off him.
25 years ago, Cody would have lost the belt at Survivor Series or something so he could win it back at the SNME premiere.
To me, that’s the kind of booking I like as a wrestling fan. It’s logical and not completely ignoring the business side of things, but it also doesn’t totally write off the chances of something cool happening just because it’s not 100% maximizing every single moment (in terms of money and ratings).
But as I said in another thread this week, the WWE Champ is an executive position at this point. Doesn’t mean there will never be another heel and/or transitional champ again, but they will be few and far between.
Just to play devils advocate, there is something to the chase is a better story for the top babyface. Kind of along the lines of what @RocketKing just said (just out of sequence), this could be about taking the belt off of Cody and giving him an obstacle to overcome (ie. a good friend who turned on his) where he will then be chasing right when the Netflix deal begins. Though, in the US isnt SD still on USA? I would imagine that anything motivated by Netlfix would be targeted more so towards Raw, right?
They just announced they will be switching rosters up, so Cody could easily be moved to Raw and have Gunther go to Smackdown. To your point, Owens would have to go also which I think they’ve done in the past to keep storylines moving forward.
USA still has SD but that’s besides the point. The WWE champion is the face of the entire company. So he’ll be involved in any big thing that the company is involved in.
I hear you, I really do, and I dont even think you are wrong. I just dont think having one of the faces of the company chasing hurts the company. Roman and Cody dont have to be champions all the time just because they are the biggest names. IMO, it’s more about the storyline being told.