I think the bigger story here is Rock and Endeavour flexing their muscles. HHH got his balls cut off.
This thread is pretty much going as I expected lol.
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This was clearly filmed before SD, but thats his theory about last years Mania. I can see it.
I wanted to watch the whole show before I commented, even though I basically knew what to expect. Apologies for anything that’s just repeating what others have said…
If this goes through as expected, or perhaps even if it doesn’t, this could be the dumbest booking decision (creatively) in WWE in a very, very, very long time.
This isn’t the IWC wanting who they want (Daniel Bryan) or fans being sick of the top guy (Hogan, Cena). Cody is the top babyface in the top angle in the company. And judging by the reaction to Friday night’s swerve, the damn thing was working. He was and is the top guy to the kids, the IWC, the regular fans, and the company that has been booking him that way for two years.
But in about 15 minutes, they buried Rollins’ title (not by saying anything untrue, by the way), change the whole point of Cody‘s story (to win the belt his dad never won), and turned the fans against The Rock, of all people.
Maybe, one way or another, we still get Cody beating Roman Reigns and raising the strap at the end of Mania. But I’m not sure that any amount of additional storytelling (planned or ret-conned due to fan reaction) or any promos by Cody, Heyman or Dwayne can fix it.
But the biggest problem might be that “the company“ probably doesn’t care. Mania will still put up numbers, because it’s Mania, and Rock/Roman will look really nice in the publicity photos.
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It all comes down to the follow-up. If Cody is not the person to take the title from Roman, I agree this is a huge issue and I agree with all the negative comments in this thread. I think whats happening is confirmation bias (I also think there are some people upset that he jumped that are using this as a “haha shouldnt have jumped” moment). People have it so ingrained in their heads that WWE will fuck this up due to the Vince era, that they are looking at this as confirmation that they are right in that its going to happen again and they are going to screw Cody over, and while it could be the case, I dont think its a guarantee.
If Cody beats Seth for the World title in the match of the show, Roman beats Rock in lets face it, a match that will not be match of the show and they can frame it coming out that Cody is an equal champion, and then the two face off in the main event at SummerSlam (or another big show) and Cody goes over clean, I think it all works out and is a win-win.
I didnt even mind the bashing of the title, I read that as Roman being insecure that someone would even CONSIDER going after the other title because his character is a narcissist. Now if they make it seem that way in the follow-up, they they are in fact hurting the World Title. But if Cody proves Roman wrong and overcomes, I have zero issue with it.
Again, all about the follow-up.
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At the time of the Rumble, prior to Mania I didnt think Cody should have won because I felt he was cold. He only really wrestled 2-3 months going into that Rumble win with the pec injury, it just felt too quick as he hadnt overcame anything but the injury.
Once the week of Mania came, he just took off and that was the point where he was clearly ready. During the match which before the finish was on pace IMO to be a match of the year candidate and it was evident that he should have won. Cody not winning did scream the crazy old man, Ill give you credit as it appears you were right.
Seems like they may already be “ret-conning” some things by having other wrestlers tweet #WeWantCody. But in the 0.01% chance that this was all a work from the start, they still made Cody into an idiot who got pretty easily fooled into handing his Mania main event spot to The Rock.
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It was the burying of the other title and Rollins for me. Reigns was way too good and accurate about everything. And now if Cody decides against Rollins, I just don’t know how anyone take him or the title seriously again.
That is the one part I had an issue with. If they were going to do this, Cody should have made his decision based on what Rollins said, and finalized it. Then the following week Reigns could have cut a promo that Cody was scared of him (again setting up a future match) and then having the The Rock challenge him. By having it appear Rock and Cody made the decision together, and then have Cody just walk away, it did put all the spotlight of his decision on The Rock. I would have changed that aspect of it.
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I’ve wanted Rock vs Roman for years and now I’m getting it at Mania 40. I’m super stoked that I get to be there in person for it.
Cody will finish his story eventually. Long term booking.
So with the #WeWantCody groundswell trending as well as the negative reaction to the Rocks videos maybe this is looking more like a WM30 situation than 2008.
WWE has a plan for a main event with the current champion facing a returning star who they have a history with. In most years it’s a storyline and matchup that fans would be excited about. In 2014 it was Batista vs Orton. Now it’s Rock vs Roman.
But the company might be forced to pivot because of a red-hot baby face. So maybe Cody does get inserted back into the match somehow.
An easy solution is that in Roman and Rocks trash talk they reiterate that the Samoan’s are the only Royal family in Wrestling. Cody won’t stand for that and while he was originally okay letting Rock handle his family business, Cody has decided they both need to be taught some humility. And now it’s a triple threat match between Cody vs Rock vs Roman. Which will likely be a much better match anyway than just Rock vs Roman. It’s not exactly an elegant solution to a convoluted situation but it solves everybody’s problems.
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Another solution could be to have Cody somehow take the MITB contract from Priest, use that to challenge Roman in Perth, then at Mania still do Roman vs Rock and Cody vs Rollins.
Would definitely make the Perth show seem gigantic.
I hope they stick with Rock vs Roman at Mania. I dont give a shit about this lame ass Cody story. His entire WWE run has been garbage.
Feud with Rollins for months and never lose
Feud with Roman in a lacklustre feud
Feud with Brock for months in a story that made no sense
Feud with the Judgement Day for like 6 or 7 months and take part in rematch after rematch and never lose
With with Shinsuke for months and never lose
All the same old shit.
Look, I’m not a WWE viewer - so I’m going based on what I get from POST and other podcasts. But I find it weird that they’re trying to make Cody of all people to be an underdog.
As you said, Cody has lost like once since he came into WWE. There is nothing about him that feels like he’s been done wrong or overlooked.
WWE has literally dangled Rock vs. Roman out there for nearly a decade. They have made a big spectacle of the announcement. There is no sense for them to backtrack on it now, from a logic standpoint.
That said, I see no reason, other than he small chance Rollins is leaving WWE this spring, to once again for Cody vs. Rollins, where once again, Cody wins.
Cody’s Babyface run in WWE has never been about overcoming read adversity, if you look at the big picture. It’s hard to buy into it suddenly becoming that.
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I don’t buy that they were actively trying to underdog Cody here. I agree with you 100% that Cody was never built on being one and it doesn’t fit here. The story on screen doesn’t even suggest that he’s been hard done by. Cody Rhodes made the decision himself, then endorsed the Rock and ducked out. I think they expected that the weight of Roman vs. Rock would be enough that people would accept Cody ducking out of it.
There’s no way they’re booking this in such a way on purpose, that encourages fans not just to boo the Rock’s on screen persona, but also believe that Dwayne Johnson himself - immediately after becoming the PR face of the company - is an asshole who politicked Cody out of the only one thing fans relied upon happening all year. They thought they had such a slam dunk with Reigns/Rock that it didn’t matter how they got there.
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I feel like the online “Justice for Cody” type stuff is an attempt to build a strange grassroots underdog story of a man vs. a corporate leader (Rock).
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, at all. But, it feels like the only direction they could go with it.
That’s the story they’re telling now but I just don’t buy that it was the direction all along. Dwayne Johnson comes across as someone who cares way too much about his public image to willfully volunteer for a storyline that villainizes him on a meta level. I mean just this press conference coming up that didn’t have to happen, is basically a parade for the Rock coming back to wrestling. It just seems weird to me that he’d willingly put himself through a humiliation gauntlet like this has the potential to be.
We’ll see. As opposed to the previous regime I at least trust that they’ll navigate this into a semi-acceptable but not ideal resolution. My prediction for tonight is that Cody cuts a “wait a minute what the fuck was I thinking?” promo where he walks back his decision to let Roman go and redeclares his intention to finish the story, with a slice of “Rock’s still cool though.”
Prior to this I think they maybe could have gotten away with Cody finishing the story in Australia and letting Rock challenge Roman’s head of the table status at Mania afterwards, but now I think they have to lock Cody in for a Roman victory at Wrestlemania or it’s gonna be a fiasco. Even if it means Rock vs Roman and then Cody vs Roman on separate nights. Even a triple threat I think is putting Dwayne Johnson in a spot he doesn’t wanna be in.
They could also stay the course and save face for Rock by having him cut a promo to the the very WWE-friendly media this Thursday, and simply promising Cody a shot in the future after he beats Roman.
I too have a hard time believing that Rock is coming in to be presented anything other than a top tier Babyface, at this stage in his career. He’s come into WWE to rehab his image.
Could totally see Championship vs. Career even - to try and drum up more support for Rock.
Probably no point in taking another lap at this before this week’s TV, but with all of the conflicting rumor and innuendo coming out, here goes…
When the best case scenario is that you have turned a straightforward babyface triumph that was going to be huge, into a mess that AT BEST will get exactly the same pop, you have failed creatively. It’s like they couldn’t believe they booked a main event storyline that was going over that well, so they had to add an extra step.
(They in this case being any number of people at WWE/TKO, which is most certainly part of the problem)
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